PROVING THEIR POINT
Incident shows Bennett, others in NFL justified in protesting inequality
I didn’t need to see the video to believe Michael Bennett.
In a heartfelt letter posted on Twitter on Wednesday, the Seattle Seahawks star defensive end revealed the details of a recent encounter with police in Las Vegas — just harrowing stuff — that is all too common for African-American males in America.
A police officer put a gun to Bennett’s head, according to the football player I have no reason not to believe, and threatened to blow “my (expletive) head off.” A second officer came over and “forcefully jammed his knee into my back,” Bennett wrote, “making it difficult for me to breathe.”
Disgusting.
Bennett was subjected to such apparent abuse amid the chaos that ensued with reports of a shooting on the Las Vegas strip in the aftermath of the Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Conor McGregor fight Aug. 26.
It’s a striking coincidence that of all the NFL players to find himself in such a predicament, it’s Bennett, who has long been outspoken about racial issues and supportive of so many causes.
Truth is, it could have been just about any African-American NFL player — or any African-American male from any walk of life — regardless of status.
“The conversation isn’t about
this one particular incident, but coming to accept that there are prejudices,” former NFL defensive back Domonique Foxworth, a senior writer for The Undefeated, told USA TODAY Sports. “That sounds super remedial, but that’s the conversation we need to have.”
In other words, the same types of conversations about race that have been relevant for generations still apply in 2017.
In a world of racial profiling, systematic inequalities and extreme prejudice by too many people who are sworn to serve and protect, such disrespectful treatment of people of color by law enforcement sometimes is a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Now Bennett, among a handful of players who have kept the spirit of Colin Kaepernick’s protests alive in the NFL by refusing to stand for the national anthem, is alleging police misconduct as he weighs a potential lawsuit for the violation of his civil rights. After being detained, he ultimately was released.
Of course, there were no charges.
It’s a good thing it wasn’t any worse, that Bennett wasn’t injured or killed by some nervous, biased officer who might justify cruel actions by contending he feared for his life — which we’ve heard as a defense repeatedly in explaining what happened to unarmed victims.
Yet unfortunately, Bennett’s episode illustrates exactly why Kaepernick — fed up with police killings of unarmed African-American men — launched his protest.
Too many people have twisted the reason for the national anthem protests, interpreting them as a slight to the American flag or the military. It was always about police brutality, systematic injustice and oppression.
As Bennett expressed in his one-word intro to the post of his letter on Twitter: “Equality.”
On a video released by TMZ that showed only a portion of the episode, Bennett can be seen and heard pleading with the officer as he is being handcuffed — while the officer rudely barks. At one point, Bennett even calls the officer “sir.”
“Don’t try to remediate your civil rights until later,” civil rights attorney John Burris, whom Bennett has retained, told USA TODAY Sports on Wednesday. “Not on the street. You’d be killed.”
“The conversation isn’t about this one particular incident, but coming to accept that there are prejudices. ... That’s the conversation we need to have.” Former NFL player Domonique Foxworth
It’s a shame that Burris has to be so blunt.
Then again, contrast the Bennett video with the police dashcam video that surfaced recently showing a Cobb County, Ga., officer, Lt. Greg Abbott, comforting a nervous white woman who had been pulled over and expressed her fear. “But you’re not black. Remember, we only kill black people,” Abbott said.
In the wake of the furor, Abbott retired — with full benefits.
A Las Vegas police undersheriff, meanwhile, said there was “no evidence race played any role in this incident.” But the officer who apprehended Bennett did not have his body camera on.
“What happened with Michael is a classic illustration of the reality of inequalities that are demonstrated daily,” Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said in a statement Wednesday.
Bennett has a strong mind, but even with that, there is emotional distress. In his letter, he wrote about the fears of losing his life and leaving his wife and two daughters without him.
Green Bay Packers tight end Martellus Bennett wrote on Instagram about the disturbing phone call he received from his brother after the incident and how it left him “in one of the saddest places ever.”
There are undoubtedly many people in this nation who can’t relate to what Bennett experienced, because they choose not to understand, are naive to the extent that they can’t believe it or have some other factors shaping their world views.
Carroll said he hopes the incident inspires people to respond with compassion.
“We can do better,” he said. We should do better. And not just because a high-profile football player was subjected to such apparent abuse.