Originally Posted by
Mr KLC
Michael Bennett joined the small but visible protest Colin Kaepernick started last summer by kneeling down for the national anthem. The Seattle Seahawks defensive end sat during the anthem before the team’s first preseason game over the weekend and continued to discuss the issue on Wednesday.
The veteran defender said white players joining the movement would change the conversation.
“It would take a white player to really get things changed,” Bennett said during an interview on ESPN’s “SC6.” “Because when somebody from the other side understands and they step up and they speak up about it … it would change the whole conversation. Because when you bring somebody who doesn’t have to be a part of (the) conversation making himself vulnerable in front of it, I think when that happens, things will really take a jump.”
So far, only a small number of black players have knelt or sat for the anthem since Kaepernick’s initial protest in August 2016 as the San Francisco 49ers quarterback. The 31-year-old Bennett said the current standing of Kaepernick — a free agent — scared some players from voicing their support for this cause, one Kaepernick began because of the police brutality that’s been exposed to the country via various incidents captured on video.
“He had to sacrifice. He spoke up and dealt with a lot of things that were going on — from death threats, people not wanting him in the stadium, people hating him,” said Bennett, who is in his fifth season with the Seahawks. “I think a lot of players were scared of that. Then on top of that, players feeling like he was being blackballed, people were eventually scared.
But now, just because he’s out of the league, we didn’t want to lose that message, pushing for liberty and equality for everybody, we just wanted to keep that message alive.”
Bennett said during the interview he finalized his decision to join the protest after the events on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.
“Over the weekend, so much violence, so much hate,” Bennett said. “I just wanted to remember why we were American citizens, remember the freedom, the liberty and the equality, make sure we never forget that. I really wanted to honor that, the founding principles of what we’re all supposed to be.”