Critics of free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick—who made headlines last year when he began a silent protest for the “oppressed” during the playing of the national anthem—might want to do some soul-searching. Another National Football League player and Super Bowl champ has written a scathing tweet recounting a recent run-in with Las Vegas police officers.
In the tweet, simply titled “Equality,” Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett—who himself recently sat during the national anthem at a preseason matchup and said that he’d be protesting for the entirety of the season—posted an essay. He explained that on August 26, 2017, the night of the Mayweather-McGregor fight, he was heading back to his hotel when he “heard what sounded like gun shots.” Running for cover with others, Bennett says police “singled me out and pointed their guns at me for doing nothing more than being a black man in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
He was then ordered to lie facedown on the ground, and a police officer allegedly pointed a gun near his head and told him that if he moved he would “blow my f—g head off.” Another officer kneed Bennett in the back, “making it difficult for me to breathe.” Bennett says he thought he was going to die, and thought about never being able to kiss his wife again or see his children grow up.
The fiasco ended after the police put Bennett in the back of a police car, only to realize that he was an NFL player and “not a thug, common criminal, or ordinary black man.”
Bennett explained that “I have always held a strong conviction that protesting or standing up for justice is just simply, the right thing to do,” noting that this was why he would be carrying on his silent protest during the national anthem this season. He followed this by saying, “No matter how much money you make, what job title you have, or how much you give, when you are seen as a “[N-word],” you will be treated that way.”
Bennett says he has retained a prominent civil rights attorney, John Burris, to “explore all my legal options.”
Although Bennett did not mention Kaepernick in his tweet, the former quarterback retweeted Bennett, saying “This violation that happened against my Brother Michael Bennett is disgusting and unjust. I stand with Michael and I stand with the people.”
TMZ Sports has exclusive video footage of the arrest. Watch it below.
Read Bennett’s full tweet below.
Equality. pic.twitter.com/NQ4pJt94AZ
— Michael Bennett (@mosesbread72) September 6, 2017
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