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The players, who spoke at a Harvard Law School summit on criminal justice reform, said they capitalized on the attention surrounding the protests to highlight issues they care about, like mass incarceration.

Now, they’re using their platform to talk to lawmakers, police chiefs and prosecutors across the country about injustices they see in the communities where they grew up.

”With all of the controversy and the fanfare around (the protests), it created a platform that was probably larger than any of us would have had individually, and we were able to leverage that,” said Malcolm Jenkins, a safety on the Philadelphia Eagles and co-founder of the Players Coalition, a group of NFL athletes advocating for policies to further social and racial equality.

Colin Kaepernick started the NFL anthem movement when he was with the San Francisco 49ers in 2016 to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Some players knelt during the anthem, an act that drew the ire of Republican President Donald Trump Chaz Green Jersey , who called for NFL owners to fire such players.

In response to the player demonstrations, the NFL agreed to commit $90 million over the next seven years to social justice causes in a plan that involves league players.

New England Patriot Devin McCourty said in an interview with The Associated Press that the NFL’s support of the players’ mission has been encouraging.

”I think the NFL has seen the bigger picture – that this is not just the players trying to do something to give back – but these are real issues that not just the players should care about but we should all care about,” said McCourty, who spent Thursday at the Massachusetts statehouse lobbying lawmakers on juvenile justice issues.

The athletes were joined at the Harvard summit by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and other lawyers as well as professors, judges and activists. The players participated in small group discussions about policing, prosecutors and sentencing reform.

During a panel discussion led by The New York Times Magazine’s Emily Bazelon, the players discussed personal experiences – like watching videos of police shootings of black men or hearing the stories of their own family members – that drove them into activism.

They spoke of the need for police to have stronger relationships with people in their communities and the importance of having real conversations about race, even when it makes people uncomfortable.

”We have the unique ability to bring people to the table and now we have the responsibility when we have everyone at the table to speak truth and kind of force that conversation,” Jenkins said.

The players said some athletes worry that getting involved in social or political issues will hurt their careers. But they said they hope that lending their voices to these causes will inspire others to take action.

”A lot of people just think about athletes as just jocks, but there are some brilliant minds in those locker rooms,” said Anquan Boldin, a former Baltimore Raven.

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This story has been corrected to reflect that Jenkins’ first name is Malcolm not Malcom.

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KANSAS CITY Emmanuel Sanders Jersey , Mo. — The Cincinnati Reds have the worst record in the National League at 24-43, but they still have a better record than the Kansas City Royals.

The Reds beat the Royals 5-1 in 10 innings Tuesday. The Royals have dropped eight of their past nine and are 22-45 overall. Only the Baltimore Orioles (19-47) have a worst record.

The Royals are 23 games below .500 for the first time since Sept. 13, 2011, when they were 63-86.

The Reds will go for a sweep of the two-game mini-series in Kansas City on Wednesday night. The Reds’ victory Tuesday was their first over the Royals since June 12, 2010.

Right-hander Tyler Mahle of the Reds and Jason Hammel of the Royals are scheduled starting pitchers for the series finale.

Mahle (4-6, 4.33 ERA) is 1-0 in two June starts, allowing 11 hits and two earned runs in 10 innings, while striking out 11 and walking four.

This will be Mahle’s first time facing the Royals, but not his first time on the Kaufman Stadium mound. He threw a mound session before the 2013 draft when the Reds chose him in the seventh round.

“They had a high school workout,” Mahle said. “Pitchers just threw a bullpen off the game mound; that was it. All the scouts were here.”

He said never pitching against the Royals does not change his preparation.

“It’s the same between every start,” Mahle said. “I prepare to go out there and hit my spots and compete. It’s a new team, and I’ve never seen them play before Daryl Williams Jersey , so I’m going to do my homework and kind of make a game plan out of it.”

He said he pitches not to the Royals’ weaknesses, but his strengths.

“You always play to your own strength,” he said. “We’re going to find out what their weaknesses are and kind of find something there in the middle. I throw a lot of fastballs, but if there’s a guy who likes a lot of fastballs, it kind of collides there.

“But, at the same time, if you hit spots, good things are going to happen. Obviously if you throw it down the middle, he’s going to hit it, but if you hit a corner, or something like that, always if you make your pitch Cam Newton Jersey , good things are going to happen.”

Good things happened to the Reds in the Tuesday victory. They trailed 1-0 entering the ninth, but Tucker Barnhart led off the inning with a blast off Kelvin Herrera that landed in the Royals’ bullpen.

“That is against one of the best closers in the game, so that was huge,” Reds manager Jim Riggleman said. “Both pitchers are pitching so good it’s probably going to be a home-run type game. Nobody was putting a rally together. They got one and we got one, and our bullpen really did a great job.”

Hammel (2-6, 5.12 ERA) is 2-1 with a 2.59 ERA in his last four starts after a 13-start winless streak in which he went 0-8 with a 7.28 ERA. He has issued two or fewer walks in 10 of his 13 starts this season.

Hammel is 0-3 with a 4.70 ERA in five home starts this year and is winless in his last seven Kauffman Stadium starts dating to Aug. 20.

He is 4-1 with a 3.42 ERA in 12 career outings (11 starts) against the Reds. He has won his last four starts against Cincinnati with a 0.75 ERA, but has not faced the Reds since 2016.