Richard Sherman delivers powerful speech about race during Seahawks press conference — then leaves the room

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman declined to take questions during his press conference Wednesday ahead of his team's upcoming game against the San Francisco 49ers. "I'm not going to answer any questions today and it's no offense to you guys," Sherman told the press, "but I think the state of things in the world today is very interesting."

Sherman — who has never held back from speaking on topics of race and racism — went on to address the deaths of Terence Cutcher and Keith Lamont Scott, two black men who were killed in separate incidents by police officers this week, as well as 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who has spent the NFL season kneeling when the national anthem is played before games.

"The reason these guys are kneeling, the reason we're locking arms is to bring people together to make people aware that this is not right. It's not right for people to get killed in the street," Sherman said. He concluded: "Something needs to be done. And so when a guy takes a knee, you can ignore it. You can say he's not being patriotic, he's not honoring the flag. I'm doing none of those things. I'm saying, straight up, this is wrong and we need to do something. So thank you guys, have a blessed day."

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Then Sherman walks out of the room. Watch the powerful moment unfold, below. Jeva Lange