Naijiel Hale, the son of the legendary West Coast artist Nate Dogg, has had his share of run-ins with law enforcement in the past. When Hale was 21-years old, in 2017, as a cornerback on Montana State’s football team, he was at the center of a drug raid, when he allegedly made drug deals with undercover cops. Prior to this, in 2015, as a cornerback at Washington University, he was dismissed from the program for a “disciplinary” issue.
Today, he brings to light exactly what the “disciplinary” issue was, while speaking out against the NFL. The message was then shared by Snoop Dogg, drawing more eyes to it.
Naijiel explains that when he joined the team, he was honest with them about having mental health issues. He had been shot weeks before he arrived, as he says, and weed was his only way to cope with the trauma. Washington advised him to see a psychologist, only for her to then “run back and tell the coaches and for them to use it against me.”
He ends his post by advocating for better mental health programs, “We need better menta health programs when sending kids of color who been seeing trauma from viral videos to personal trauma to college! Instead of allowing them to think they ability on the field & money will make it go away.” He adds in his caption: “Or we can just start going to black colleges s/o all my niggas in the league who know the shit is a trash system if you truly need help. Ps: a guy who decided he’d rather speak and be misunderstood for a bit.”
Read his full message below, as well as an earlier post he shared calling out the NFL.