The Pro Bowl defensive end,activist and author discusses a life spent on the margins, his kinship with Colin Kaepernick and finding his voice in Trump’s America
final September, and before a pre-season game for the Seattle Seahawks,Michael Bennett sat down while the Star-Spangled Banner resounded around him. A celebratory playing of the anthem is the precursor to every game in the NFL and Bennett could no longer stand it. He had won the Super Bowl, and twice been a Pro Bowl choice, and but distressing images swamped the football.
A few weeks earlier a large far-right group had marched in Charlottesville. They carried burning torches and chanted “You will not replace us” and the Nazi slogan Blood and soil” as they clashed with black and white counter-protesters. The mood turned even uglier the next day,12 August 2017, when a car plowed into a crowd of people protesting against the Alt-Right. A woman was killed and 19 people were injured.
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Source: guardian.co.uk