As the National Football League begins its new season, one of its most outspoken players has revealed he was recently detained and assaulted by police in Las Vegas. Seattle Seahawks star Michael Bennett issued a statement on Twitter Wednesday, writing an officer threatened to, quote, “blow my f****** head off” and that, quote, “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,” unquote. The incident took place outside a boxing match last month in Las Vegas while police were responding to reported gunshots.
The Las Vegas police union has accused Bennett of making false accusations against the officers. Bennett has a long record of speaking out against racial and social injustice. He’s joined a protest movement led by former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick against racial injustice, sitting on the sidelines during the playing of the national anthem ahead of Seahawks games.
Dave Zirin talking:
it was the Saturday before last, the famous Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor match in Las Vegas. And I received phone calls from friends of Michael Bennett and texts from Michael saying what happened immediately. And what happened sounded just incredibly traumatic. And I really want to say something to Democracy Now! listeners. People have to understand that Michael Bennett, as you so beautifully laid out, Amy, he’s one of us. I mean, he has the soul of an activist. He has stood with people from Seattle to Houston to the Gaza Strip to Haiti. He’s given his time. He’s given his money. And what he described to me that night was so frightening. And all I could think to myself, as I’m hearing this story about him having a gun against his head, police officers saying they were going to blow his effing head off, him speaking about like his daughters and whether he would ever be able to hug his wife again or kiss his daughters
There were reports inside a casino called Drai’s, right on the Las Vegas Strip, of gunshots. And people started yelling “Gunshots! Gunshots! Guns! Guns!” And there was loud noises. There was a scuffle of some kind. Hundreds of people ran out onto the Strip. Statues were toppled over—just to give you an idea of the chaos. And Michael was one of the people who was running out, trying to find somewhere safe to go, because of gunshots. And what it looks like what happened, what Michael described to me happened, is that police honed in on him as somebody who could possibly be a suspect in what may have happened. And they took him to the ground. They handcuffed him. They put a knee on his back, which is very scary, because if a knee is on your back and you move, that can also look like you’re resisting arrest. And then, as photographs clearly show, a weapon was unholstered by the police and put by his head.
And what’s so disturbing about this police union letter that you referenced, by the Las Vegas police union, is that they say they’re putting out this letter to refute what Michael Bennett said in his own letter about what police did, but they don’t refute any of those facts—the gun against his head, the threat to blow his head off. They don’t refute any of that. Instead, what the police union wrote—and, I mean, this is so disturbing to me—is that, in the first paragraph, they write, “While the NFL may condone Bennett’s disrespect for our American flag and everything it symbolizes, we hope the league will not ignore Bennett’s false accusations against our police officers.” So think about what they’re doing here. They’re calling upon the NFL to investigate Michael Bennett for telling the truth about what we see on tape of what happened. And they’re saying, basically, that, well, maybe he deserved it because of his stance about the flag. That is so frightening to think that the police would put forward the statement that one’s personal politics justifies brutality.
there’s some very interesting developments at work. First and foremost, the National Football League and Roger Goodell has already put forward a statement saying that they stand with Michael Bennett in this, and they describe him as one of the people in the league who they really are proud of, because of the community work that he does, which is epic and legion, from Seattle to Houston.
I’ve got to tell you, Amy, one of the reasons why Michael didn’t come forward the week right after this took place is because Michael Bennett is from Houston. So he immediately was getting to work to raise money for victims of the hurricane. I mean, that was why the week layoff before he came forward with this. I mean, that’s just the kind of person that he is.
And so, I think the NFL has already announced that they would not be investigating Michael Bennett for false statements against the Las Vegas police. Michael Bennett’s team is thinking about ways that they can stand with him. And a week from this Sunday—I’ll tell you this right now—which is the home opener for the Seattle Seahawks, there’s going to be a rally that’s held in front of the Seattle Seahawks stadium that’s going to be put on by the Seattle branch of the NAACP, that is about standing with former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick. That’s why it was originally called, but now it’s turned into a solidarity rally for Michael Bennett to let him know that he will not be alone in this process as he goes forward with a lawsuit, and really to send the message that Las Vegas police may have victimized Michael Bennett, but he is somebody who refuses to be a victim in this case, and they really picked on the wrong big black man outside a melee in Las Vegas.
Like Michael Bennett says, he says we’re all standing up, and it started with a knee. It started before last season, with Colin Kaepernick. And what Colin did—and I think this is sometimes undervalued—is he took this knee before the anthem for four straight months. Sixteen straight weeks, he did this protest. I remember speaking to John Carlos before the—the man who raised his fist during the ’68 Olympics. And John said, “Wow! I just raised my fist once.” Colin Kaepernick did it—for 16 straight weeks, he took a knee. And I think what it did is, as Michael said, is it inspired people, from middle schools to high schools to colleges, cheerleaders, soccer players, hockey players. And what it did was it expanded the discussion in uncomfortable spaces. It forced sports radio to talk about police brutality.
And that’s something that Michael Bennett is doing right now. It would have been so easy for him to be silent after what happened in Las Vegas. But he refused silence because he knows that he has the resources and the platform to be public and perhaps make sure that the next time Las Vegas police think about racially profiling somebody, maybe they’ll think twice, because of Michael Bennett.
this is a post—largely a post-9/11 phenomenon. College football players still don’t come out before the national anthem. I mean, that’s what’s so crazy about this, is that everybody says that Michael Bennett and Colin Kaepernick, they shouldn’t be mixing politics and sports, when that’s all the NFL does. I mean, the reality is what the NFL doesn’t want to have mix is politics—I’m sorry, they don’t want resistance politics to mix with sports. When it comes to politics like militarism, they’re all too happy to have that mix with sports.
Colin Kaepernick’s future will be—I don’t know. I mean, it’s going to take an NFL owner being very courageous. But I communicate with Colin Kaepernick, and one thing I can tell you, he just gave another $100,000 earlier this week to an organization that’s fighting for DACA kids and immigrant children in this country. He’s not going to stop organizing. He’s not going to stop being political. The NFL—an NFL team should be proud to have Colin Kaepernick on their roster. If none of them can wake up and see that, he’s not going to stop trying to change the world.
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Dave Zirin
sports editor for The Nation magazine. He is also the host of the Edge of Sports podcast. He is working on a book with Michael Bennett about Bennett’s life, Things That Make White People Uncomfortable.
— source democracynow.org