Seahawks QB Russell Wilson Details Racist Encounter at Restaurant in 2014

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson discussed a racist encounter he had with a man at a California restaurant in 2014 in a conference call with reporters Wednesday.

Wilson said an old white man told him "that's not for you" when he was waiting in line for breakfast:

"And I said, 'Huh? Excuse me?' I thought he was joking at first. My back was kind of turned. I had just come off a Super Bowl and everything else, so if somebody is talking to me that way, you think about [a different] circumstance and how people talk to you. In that moment, I really went back to being young and not putting my hands in my pocket and that experience. That was a heavy moment for me right there. I was like, man, this is really still real, and I'm on the West Coast. This is really real right now.

"That really pained my heart. But in the midst of that, what I understood was -- and [what] my dad always taught me was -- to not lash back out in that moment because then it becomes something that's hard to deal with. So I said, 'Excuse me, sir, but I don't appreciate you speaking to me that way.' He just kind of walked off. But in that little glimpse, even though it didn't turn into something, what if it did? That's the sad part about this, what we're talking about."

Wilson has been outspoken since the killing of George Floyd in police custody, saying he felt "pain, frustration, outrage and sadness" over the killings of Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others in a statement released earlier this week.

Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was initially charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter last week before he was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday. Chauvin was shown on video kneeling on Floyd's neck for more than eight minutes despite Floyd saying he could not breathe and beginning to bleed out of his nose. Three other officers involved in the arrest were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter.

Outrage over Floyd's death and the history of police brutality and discrimination against black people led to protests across the country that have continued for nearly a week.

"Not every police officer is bad by any means, but the reality is I think there needs to be a process of ... the background checks and checking on these people and constantly, not just the first time they get hired but also throughout the whole process as they're working as well," Wilson said. "I think there's so much there that needs to be changed."