seattle seahawks all-pro defensive end michael bennett has decided to sit during the national anthem for the upcoming football season. bennett, on sunday, during the team's preseason opener against the san diego chargers, sat alone to protest racial and social injustice.
bennett said he'd been considering protesting the national anthem for awhile. but the recent events in charlottesville, virginia - where a man drove his car, killed a woman and injured counterprotesters at a "unite the right" rally - fueled his decision to act with courage, faith and passion.
bennett said, "first of all, i want people to understand i love the military. my father was in the military. i love hot dogs like any other american. i love football, like any other american, but i don't love segregation. i don't love riots. i don't love oppression. i don't love gender slander."
"i just want to see people have the equality they deserve, and i want to be able to use this platform to continuously push the message of that, you know, and keep journeying out and keep finding out how unselfish we can be as a society," bennett said.
former san francisco 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick kneeled during the national anthem last season to raise awareness for mass incarceration, police oppression and racial inequality towards people of african descent. bennett's former teammate marshawn lynch sat during the national anthem of the los angeles raiders' preseason game sunday, but didn't say why.
rams defensive end robert quinn and eagles safety malcom jenkins raised a fist during anthems this week in protest of police brutality and police oppression. seahawks head coach pete carroll said he "plans to support bennett in anyway possible, " but also said, "we should all be standing for the national anthem."
seahawks wide receiver doug baldwin said he "absolutely considered" joining bennett and supporting his cause. baldwin also said he plans to sit during the national anthem throughout the entire regular football season.
i am
- mark j. tuggle
- harlem, usa
- same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.
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