Things That Make White People Uncomfortable

March 26, 2018
Like athletes-turned-authors Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the late Arthur Ashe, Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Bennett uses his professional fame to shed light on American racism in these astute personal essays. Cowritten by Zirin (Brazil’s Dance with the Devil), the book begins at the 2017 NFL preseason opener, where Bennett took a knee during the national anthem. He defends his decision to kneel in support of his friend, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who started the practice to protest racist police violence. Bennett recounts experiencing that brutality firsthand when police officers in Las Vegas pinned him to the ground and held a gun to his head. “I know what it’s like to be treated like an animal... because of my race. I was guilty until proven innocent,” he writes. Over the course of these essays, Bennett condemns the way NFL players are prodded, evaluated, and inspected, which he compares to “slave auctions,” where they feel like “property”; expounds on the importance of Black Lives Matter; and issues an heartfelt apology for his use of the N-word in his youth, saying that at the time he didn’t understand the word’s “magnitude and its power to dehumanize black people.” He also shares personal stories of growing up in deeply prejudiced Louisiana, moving to San Diego with his family and witnessing gang violence there, and finding a welcoming community of “so many different types of people” in Houston. Equal parts memoir and manifesto, Bennett’s book proves he can tackle the ills of society as capably as he tackles quarterbacks.

February 15, 2018
An outspoken activist athlete practically dares readers to think of professional football and its players in the same way again after finishing this book.To say that Bennett, who co-authored this book with activist-minded Nation sports editor Zirin, has a chip on his shoulder would be an understatement. He was born to a teenage mother and raised by his father with his brother Martellus, also an outspoken pro football player. After the family split and he finished his college career at Texas A&M, he went undrafted by the NFL because he wasn't considered "coachable"--i.e., he thought too independently and spoke his mind. He calls the NCAA "a gangster operation, a shakedown, and a system that works for everyone but the so-called student-athletes." He notes how his brother has called the NFL "Niggas For Lease'--and that's the most brutally honest thing I've ever heard"--later, though, he engages in a nuanced analysis of that hateful epithet and its variations. He compares the dehumanizing flesh market of the NFL combine to "slave auctions," staunchly defends Colin Kaepernick as an athletic hero, and makes an impassioned defense for taking a knee or locking arms during the national anthem. In places, the book reads like the author is trying to be as provocative as possible, but he ultimately shows a commendable seriousness of purpose, providing a call to arms to other pro athletes to use their platforms for cultural responsibility and to fans to understand the human dimension of the NFL and the price paid for the on-field violence that serves as their entertainment. Bennett is particularly incisive on branding and on the conditional nature of fandom: "I'll be a football player for just a few more years," he writes, "but I'll be Black forever." He ends on a moving note of reconciliation, as he bridges the gulf with his birth mother and tries to get his father, stepmother, and brother to do the same.A fiery memoir/manifesto by an athlete with his heart in the right place.

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