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 carry the same approach.

“A lot of times in politics, we have politicians that are not so much interested in the betterment of their constituents,” White said earlier this week. “There are a lot of policies that they can take action with today – easy politics that would be easy votes that they just choose not to work with the other side of the aisle.”

“That’s not beneficial to anybody,” he added.

Fresh off the Patriots’ disastrous trip to London, where they fell 32-16 to Jacksonville, White made those comments at a forum on the importance of voting that the Patriots Foundation hosted 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 civic engagement among NFL players, fans, and club and league personnel.

White, the Patriots’ sack leader with four, called football a “real 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, discussing new policies.

A problem White said he sees in society is how people often surround themselves with those who look like them and share similar backgrounds which leads to polarization when confronted by differing perspectives.

“It’s good because a lot of the time I’m talking to them and saying ‘How could you think this?’ and they’re telling me their perspectives,” White said. “Now, I see it more as not somebody who is an enemy who is out to get me but as a person who was not exposed to the same experience that I was.

“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 featured voter registration at the Mattapan Teen Center.

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

“That’s where you see real unity,” he said. “I’ve been lucky enough to be at Patriots parades, I know soon Keion and I will be at one in the next couple of years. But as you’re going down the parade route, you see anyone and everyone … because barriers are broken down in celebration.”

Originally Published: October 25, 2024 at 5:26 p.m.