The man who accused the Las Vegas Police Department of racism without evidence and still has yet to be challenged on that fact by any member of the mainstream sports media, has more things to say. Mainly, that he has no plans to stop his protests and that attempts to force players to respect the anthem, are akin to slavery.
In an interview on Wednesday, Bennett was asked what he would do in the event that the league mandated that players stand for the anthem. Bennett said, “I plan on sitting down. Like I said, I continue to do what I’ve been doing and the consequences are the consequences I guess.”
This constitutes a true profile in courage for a man who is making well over $11 million this year, has never been disciplined by his league for protesting, and received the unqualified support of the NFL commissioner while he slandered the Las Vegas Police Department.
When asked for his thoughts on NFL owners like Dallas’ Jerry Jones, who said he would take away playing time from his players if they chose to protest, Bennett gave a quote for the ages.
“If teams don’t want guys to play, even if you think about what Jerry Jones said, it’s crazy,” Bennett said. “It’s inconsiderate of a person being a human being. To me, I just thought it reminded me of the Dred Scott case. You’re property; so you don’t have the ability to be a person first. And I think in this generation that sends the wrong message to young kids and young people across the world — that your employer doesn’t see you as a human being; they see you as a piece of property. And if that’s the case, then I don’t get it.”
Other than the fact that Dred Scott was a penniless 19th Century slave, and Michael Bennett is a disgustingly rich 21st Century football player, the similarities are startling.
Dred Scott v. Sandford, was a landmark Supreme Court case that in no small way led America down the path to Civil War. Dred was a slave, taken by his owner into free states and territories, before eventually being taken back to the slave state of Missouri. After his owner’s death, Dred Scott attempted to sue for his freedom. Essentially claiming that his owner’s death and the fact that he living in territories where slavery was prohibited, had made him free.
The Supreme Court disagreed.
In that case the Supreme Court, led by the slavery-sympathizing Chief Justice Roger Taney, found that “a negro, whose ancestors were imported into [the U.S.], and sold as slaves,” whether enslaved or free, could not be an American citizen and therefore had no standing to sue in federal court.”
So yeah, other than the fact that Michael Bennett is not a slave, is in fact a citizen, can sue anyone he wants at anytime, and can apparently slander cops whenever he wants with impunity, Michael Bennett is just like Dred Scott.
Nor can Jerry Jones, or any of the other billionaire businessmen who transform jocks like Michael Bennett into millionaires overnight, be called slave owners. The NFL embraces freedom of employment. Meaning you are free to come, and you are free to go. Plus, they furnish you with a pretty handsome salary and benefits package as well.
Dred Scott certainly wouldn’t have called that slavery.
While Bennett’s ludicrous statement represents a true, faux profile in courage for him. This episode represents nothing short of a disgrace for American media and journalism. Putting aside the fact that no member of the sports or mainstream media has ever challenged Bennett on his unsubstantiated racial slander of the Las Vegas Police Department. How in the world, can media members listen to this buffoon compare himself and other protesting millionaires to the tortured and tragic saga of a slave who merely wanted freedom?
Republican or Democrat, should never have concerned here. Instead, a basic respect for the history of mankind should have dictated that someone, anyone, challenge this person and his lying rantings. Yet, no challenge came forth. Because if lying rantings help to advance your political agenda, then none dare call them lies, apparently.