By Khalid Bennett
The Seattle Medium
The Seattle Seahawks, along with the rest of the teams in the NFL began their Sunday night match-up amid controversy following the remarks made by the president at an Alabama rally just over two weeks ago. The added drama off the field was almost enough to make the fans forget about the questionable play on the field over the course of the first three games. Michael Bennett has been the most vocal of the Seahawks players, expressing that his decision to sit during the anthem is partially motivated by an incident in Las Vegas in which he was detained by police was excessive, and racially motivated.
“Like Martin Luther King said or the people before me, you hope to be judged by the content of your character and not the color of your skin but sometimes you get judged on that,” said Bennett at a Sept. 6 press conference. “That’s the reality I live in…people ask why I sit down, and this is why. These are the things that I go through, what people go through who look like me.”
In their week 3 match-up in Tennessee, Both the Seahawks and the Titans remained in the locker room during the national anthem in what seemed to be in direct protest to the words from President Trump in which he described players who are protesting as “sons of b—–s” and suggesting that the owners should fire them. Many teams and owners around the league showed their contempt for the president’s words with displays of unity including Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, who took a knee with his team prior to the anthem, but then all stood for the anthem. On Sunday night, Bennett was joined on the bench by eight other teammates. Michael Wilhoite, Marcus Smith, Garrison Smith, Nazair Jones, Sheldon Richardson, Jarran Reed and Frank Clark all sat with Michael Bennett while Justin Britt and Oday Aboushi stood alongside with a hand on the shoulder of Bennett.
With the rough start to the season, especially on offense, some wonder if the anthem protests have been a distraction for a team that many believed has the talent to make a Super Bowl run. If you tie in the incident in Las Vegas, the words from the president, and the employment status of Colin Keapernick, who began protesting police brutality and police accountability along with racial and social injustice, one could argue that the entire offseason has been distracting. On a national stage, Sunday Night Football, the Seahawks were able to come together as a team not only off the field, but on it as well. After being down 15-10 in the first half, the Seahawks exploded after halftime, setting a franchise record by scoring 36 points in the second half on their way to a 46-18 dismantling of the Indianapolis Colts.
At 2-2 on the season, the Seahawks seem to be coming together at just the right time. The fans may be split on the issue of anthem protests, but the team remains unified. Not all are protesting during the anthem, but all in the organization stand behind their brother Michael Bennett and others who protest racial injustice and social inequality in this country. Football players feel all of the same emotions that we all feel when we see tragedies in the world. Anything from hurricane relief, to college scholarships, athletes express themselves in a variety of ways. Michael Bennet and others are not expressing the political views, these are their views of the world in which we live. A knee is taken by the players when another player is hurt. Right now, the players participating in anthem protests see a country hurting.
