Things That Make White People Uncomfortable

by Michael Bennett, Dave Zirin, Martellus Bennett (Foreword by)

Overview

This sports book, memoir, and manifesto from a Super Bowl Champion elucidates racism in the United States.

Michael Bennett is a Super Bowl Champion, a three-time Pro Bowl defensive end, a fearless activist, a feminist, a grassroots philanthropist, an organizer, and a change maker. He’s also one of the most scathingly humorous athletes on the planet, and he wants to make you uncomfortable.

Bennett adds his unmistakable voice to discussions of racism and police violence, Black athletes and their relationship to powerful institutions like the NCAA and the NFL, the role of protest in history, and the responsibilities of athletes as role models to speak out against injustice. Following in the footsteps of activist-athletes from Muhammad Ali to Colin Kaepernick, Bennett demonstrates his outspoken leadership both on and off the field.

Written with award-winning sportswriter and author Dave Zirin, Things that Make White People Uncomfortable is a sports book for our turbulent times, a memoir, and a manifesto as hilarious and engaging as it is illuminating.

A version for Young Adults is also available.

“A courageous and compassionate story of a great athlete and grand human being full of deep care for his fellow citizens! Don't miss it!” —Cornel West

“There is a revolution underway inside professional sports and Michael Bennett is at ground zero. In this revelatory book, he puts everything on the line to share the reasons, strategy, pain and deep thought behind this historic uprising. And he invites us into a vision of justice and liberation that is simply irresistible. This book is pure fire.” —Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608468942
Publisher:	Haymarket Books
Publication date:	11/04/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	214
Sales rank:	977,994
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Michael Bennett is a two-time Pro Bowler, Pro Bowl MVP, Super Bowl Champion, two-time NFC Champion and PFWC All-Team selection.

Dave Zirin is the sports editor for the Nation and the author of several books, most recently Brazil's Dance with the Devil. Named one of UTNE Reader’s “Fifty Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World,” Zirin is a frequent guest on MSNBC, ESPN, and Democracy Now! He hosts WPFW's The Collision with Etan Thomas and has been called "the best sportswriter in the United States," by Robert Lipsyte.

Table of Contents

Foreword Martellus Bennett xiii

Introduction 1

The Sit-Down / On Fear 9

Roots 31

The NCAA Will Give You PTSD 49

Sports Are NOT Integrated 69

Soap Opera for Men 85

Brotherhood 103

Without Food, Your Ass Is Going to Die 127

"N-r" 151

Time Out: A Moment of Silence 163

Black Lives Matter 171

Intersectionality Also Matters 195

Our Daughters and the Power of Women 209

Athletes for Impact 223

You Have to Forgive to Grow 237

Afterword: Get Comfortable 249

Editorial Reviews

This book is the necessary prelude to the serious work of Bennett's life, which will take place once he's done with football.

The New York Times Book Review - Justin Tinsley

03/26/2018
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. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Michael Bennett is an agent of change.”
—The New York Times

 “A shockingly honest take on sports and politics.”
—The Stanger

“This book is a courageous and compassionate story of a great athlete and grand human being full of deep care for his fellow citizens! Don't miss it!”
—Cornel West

 “It would be easy for Michael Bennett to remain silent, to play in the NFL and make his mark through accomplishments on the field. Instead Michael has chosen to use his voice and his platform to fight injustice.”
—Senator Bernie Sanders

 “There is a tradition of athletes who understand that sports is a way to reach people and change the world. I am proud and humbled to be recognized as part of that tradition. I believe that Michael Bennett's name deserves mention alongside the best of us. This book doesn't only explain the roots of Michael Bennett's courage. It will inspire the people who read it to conquer their fears and fight for what's right.”
—Dr. John Carlos, 1968 Olympic medalist

 “I was going to say this is the most courageous books on race written by an athlete in my lifetime, but I actually think this is one of the most courageous books on race and racism in America that has ever been written by anyone. It’s that good and that important.”
—Shaun King, columnist for The Intercept and writer-in-residence for Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project

 “There is a revolution underway inside professional sports and Michael Bennett is at ground zero. In this revelatory book, he puts everything on the line to share the reasons, strategy, pain and deep thought behind this historic uprising. And he invites us into a vision of justice and liberation that is simply irresistible. This book is pure fire.”
—Naomi Klein, author of No Is Not Enough

From the Publisher

2018-02-06
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.

Kirkus Reviews