Cardinals' Flaherty: 'The badge and blue uniform are not a pedestal'

St. Louis Cardinals ace Jack Flaherty is calling for police officers to step up and be held accountable in the wake of George Floyd's death.

"The system continues to fail time and time again and nothing seems to change," Flaherty wrote early Monday morning on Twitter. "Officers are not being held accountable for their actions. The badge and blue uniform are not a pedestal that puts a citizen of the United States of America above the law."

Flaherty added: "That being said, not all police officers are bad, but those who are not bad need to be speaking up about the injustices. Your voice needs to be heard. Your silence is speaking just as loud."

Protests erupted in the U.S. last week after video emerged of now-former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pinning Floyd to the ground with his knee for over eight minutes while three other officers acted as bystanders. Chauvin has since been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

"What happened to George Floyd and what continues to happen in America is inexcusable," Flaherty continued. "Changes must be made so that people like officer Derek Chauvin are held accountable for their actions. He and the other officers, officer Thomas Lane, officer Tou Thao, officer J. Alexander Kueng, knew what they were doing was wrong."

Cries for justice have been pouring in from players, teams, and executives across North America's four major sports leagues, as well as many other professional sports leagues from around the globe.

In MLB, New York Mets star Pete Alonso has vowed not to stay silent about racial discrimination, while Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito said equality and justice for all Americans is "way overdue." Washington Nationals reliever Sean Doolittle and New York Yankees outfielder Giancarlo Stanton also called for change.