In a difficult season filled with “heated” sideline conversations for the Patriots, Keion White says the team is trying to overcome the struggles by working together.

The defensive end, one of the lone bright spots in New England’s 1-6 start, wishes politicians could take the same approach.

“A lot of times in politics, we have politicians who are not very interested in improving their constituents,” White said earlier this week. “There are a lot of policies that they can act on today — simple policies that would be easy votes that they just choose not to work with across the aisle.”

“It’s not beneficial to anyone,” he added.

Fresh off the Patriots’ disastrous trip to London, where they fell 32-16 to Jacksonville, White made the comments at a forum on the importance of voting hosted by the Patriots Foundation Monday at the JFK Library in Boston.

Foundation President Josh Kraft and White held the nonpartisan voting forum for college-aged individuals as part of the NFL Votes initiative, which supports and encourages community engagement among NFL players, fans and club and league personnel.

White, the Patriots’ sack leader with four, called football a “really interesting sport” with players from all walks of life. He highlighted how he and his teammates have “political conversations all the time” in the locker room and discuss new policies.

One problem White said he sees in society is how people often surround themselves with those who look like them and share similar backgrounds, leading to polarization when confronted with different perspectives.

“It’s good because I often talk to them and say, ‘How could you think this?’ and they tell me their perspectives,” White says. “Now I see it more as not someone who is an enemy who is looking for to get hold of me, but as a person who has not been exposed to the same experience as me.

“Those are the things (that) need to be in place in politics,” he added, “and I feel like we need to start coming together more to achieve a common goal instead of just achieving nothing and feeling like the other is winning.”

Earlier this month, White’s teammate, defensive lineman Deatrich Wise, held his fifth annual block party that included voter registration at the Mattapan Teen Center.

Kraft, a possible Boston mayoral candidate, spoke of how hundreds of thousands line Boston’s streets during Duck Boat rolling rally championship parades when asked what lessons in sports could be brought to US government.

“That’s where you see real unity,” he said. “I’ve been lucky enough to be in Patriots parades, I know Keion and I will soon be in a parade in the next few years. But when you walk down the parade route you see everybody and everybody … because barriers break down in celebration .”

Originally published: 25 October 2024 at 17.26