“I can only imagine what Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Charleena Lyles felt.”
Michael Bennett, an NFL player who refuses to stand for the national anthem, had a pig in Las Vegas threaten to “blow my fucking head off.”
September 6, 2017 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From a Reader:
“I can only imagine what Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Charleena Lyles felt.”
Michael Bennett, an NFL player who refuses to stand for the national anthem, had a pig in Las Vegas threaten to “blow my fucking head off.”
Below is a letter posted on social media by Michael Bennett, who plays for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL and has refused to stand for the national anthem in protest of police brutality and murders of Black people, and who had his life threatened by a Las Vegas pig. (See TMZ video at http://www.tmz.com/videos/0_2i42pk8o/)
Dear World,
On Saturday, August 26, 2017 I was in Las Vegas to attend the Mayweather-McGregor fight on my day off. After the fight while heading back to my hotel several hundred people heard what sounded like gun shots. Like many of the people in the area I ran away from the sound, looking for safety. Las Vegas police officers singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than simply being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.
A police officer ordered me to get on the ground. As I laid on the ground, complying with his commands not to move, he placed his gun near my head and warned me that if I moved he would “blow my fucking head off.” Terrified and confused by what was taking place, a second officer came over and forcefully jammed his knee into my back making it difficult for me to breathe. They then cinched the handcuffs on my wrists so tight that my fingers went numb.
The officers’ excessive use of force was unbearable. I felt helpless as I lay there on the ground handcuffed facing the real-life threat of being killed. All I could think of was “I’m going to die for no other reason than I am black and my skin color is somehow a threat.” My life flashed before my eyes as I thought of my girls. Would I ever play with them again? Or watch them have kids? Or be able to kiss my wife again and tell her I love her?
I kept asking the officers “What did I do?” and reminding them that I had rights they were duty bound to respect. The officers ignored my pleas and instead told me to shut up and then took me to the back of a nearby police car where I sat for what felt like an eternity until they apparently realized I was not a thug, common criminal or ordinary black man but Michael Bennett a famous professional football player. After confirming my identity, I was ultimately released without any legitimate justification for the officers’ abusive conduct.
I have always held a strong conviction that protesting or standing up for justice is just simply, the right thing to do. This fact is unequivocally, without question why before every game, I sit during the national anthem—because equality doesn’t live in this country and no matter how much money you make, what job title you have, or how much you give, when you are seen as a “Nigger,” you will be treated that way.
The system failed me. I can only imagine what Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, and Charleeena Lyles felt.
I have retained Oakland civil rights attorney John Burris to investigate and explore all my legal options including filing a civil rights lawsuit for the violation of my constitutional rights.
Sincerely,
Michael Bennett
Bennett was recently called an “activist disguised as a football player” in an article in The Undefeated. (See http://theundefeated.com/features/seahawks-michael-bennett-is-an-activist-disguised-as-a-football-player/.) (Also see, “Michael Bennett, NFL football player, supports the women’s strike on International Women’s Day,” in Voices of Conscience and Resistance in the Time of Trump-Pence, Revolution newspaper, March 7, 2017, @ revcom.us, and see “Pro Football Player Michael Bennett Refuses to Be a Shill for Israel,” in Voices of Conscience and Resistance in the Time of Trump-Pence, Revolution newspaper, February 14, 2017, @ revcom.us.)
His brother, Martellus Bennett, who plays for the Green Bay Packers, responded to Michael’s letter saying, “I’m glad your voice is one of the ones being heard. You are as real as they come, well at least how they used to come. I encourage you to continue telling your story and the stories of those that came before. I love you very much.”
Colin Kaepernick, who led the anthem protest in the NFL, tweeted out, “This violation that happened against my Brother Michael Bennett is disgusting and unjust. I stand with Michael and I stand with the people.”
After Michael Bennett’s letter was posted, all the sports networks have been putting this out front, and it has been a major topic of conversation today in the world of sports.
Keyshawn Johnson, former NFL player, said on ESPN that the same thing has happened to him.
Domonique Foxworth, who played in the NFL and writes for The Undefeated, spoke on ESPN about the police, and said his experience shows him that this is not about “good apples, bad apples.” (See “If It’s Just A Few ‘Bad Apples,’ Then How Do You Explain THIS?” Revolution newspaper, September 5, 2017.)
He said, “I’m not surprised that this happened.” He brought in Charlottesville and how “this type of hate exists.” He said that “the idea that there are bad apples—I don’t feel comfortable with using that as an explanation. The issues we have with race are pervasive that is engrained in the way many of us think. When those things [police murders of Black people] continue to happen, at a certain point in time we have to accept something is wrong with our culture and not just point at the officers and say that that officer is bad or the people [Neo Nazis and KKK] marching in Charlottesville are bad and I’m good. No! This a problem that continues to exist in our society that we allow to continue, to pervade, and to influence the decisions that we make.”
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