While some fans were shocked to hear about Michael Bennett‘s arrest after the McGregor-Mayweather fight in August, no one was more heartbroken than his father.
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Michael Bennett Sr. got the call at 4:30 on the morning of Sunday Aug. 27. He knew that the early morning ringing was a terrible sign.
“You don’t want to answer the phone because you don’t want to find out [what happened], but you know you got to. So I answered it. And it was Michael,” Bennett Sr. told Sports Illustrated.
Bennett told his father the horrifying story of how what sounded like gun shots erupted in Vegas, which led to an officer putting a gun near his head and telling him he’d “blow his f***ing head off,” if he moved.
Bennett Sr. could hear the fear in his eldest son’s voice: “He was really upset, he was nervous, he was scared, he was shook. He felt like his life just flashed right before him. Any wrong move and he would have lost his life that night. Fortunately for him he didn’t say anything. If he had said something, maybe he wouldn’t be with us today.”
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And, as Bennett would go on to explain, that’s what it’s like to grow up Black and raise sons who have to live with that fear. Hanging out with friends is never that simple. Two Black kids in a car are fine, but four is a gang.
“They’d be looked at as a gang and they’d get treated as such. That should not be the case. Nobody should have to tell their 15-year-old son he can’t go get a burger with his friends because you look like you’re in a gang. Because of the color of your skin. Growing up we taught them that, we instilled that in them because we wanted them to be safe when they were not with us,” said Michael’s father.
The eldest Bennett, who served in the military, also finds it interesting that people are criticizing his son for being “unpatriotic” because he sits during the national anthem.
“I joined the military so people like Michael and Martellus and whoever else out there can take a knee or make a stand, peacefully, and get their point across and not be ridiculed,” he said.
Read the rest of Michael Bennett Sr.’s Sports Illustrated interview here.
SOURCE: Sports Illustrated
SEE ALSO:
How Michael Bennett’s Arrest May Help Colin Kaepernick Return To The NFL
Martellus Bennett Posts Chicken-Eating, Kool-Aid-Drinking Black Olympics Video
67 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police
67 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police
1. De’von Bailey, 19
1 of 672. Christopher Whitfield, 31
2 of 673. Anthony Hill, 26
3 of 674. De'Von Bailey, 19
4 of 675. Eric Logan, 54
5 of 676. Jamarion Robinson, 26
6 of 677. Gregory Hill Jr., 30
7 of 678. JaQuavion Slaton, 20
8 of 679. Ryan Twyman, 24
9 of 6710. Brandon Webber, 20
10 of 6711. Jimmy Atchison, 21
11 of 6712. Willie McCoy, 20
12 of 6713. Emantic "EJ" Fitzgerald Bradford Jr., 21
13 of 6714. D’ettrick Griffin, 18
14 of 6715. Jemel Roberson, 26
Source:false 15 of 6716. DeAndre Ballard, 23
Source:false 16 of 6717. Botham Shem Jean, 26
Source:false 17 of 6718. Robert Lawrence White, 41
Source:false 18 of 6719. Anthony Lamar Smith, 24
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19 of 67
20. Ramarley Graham, 18
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20 of 67
21. Manuel Loggins Jr., 31
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21 of 67
22. Trayvon Martin, 17
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22 of 67
23. Wendell Allen, 20
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23 of 67
24. Kendrec McDade, 19
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24 of 67
25. Larry Jackson Jr., 32
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25 of 67
26. Jonathan Ferrell, 24
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26 of 67
27. Jordan Baker, 26
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27 of 67
28. Victor White lll, 22
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28 of 67
29. Dontre Hamilton, 31
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29 of 67
30. Eric Garner, 43
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30 of 67
31. John Crawford lll, 22
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31 of 67
32. Michael Brown, 18
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32 of 67
33. Ezell Ford, 25
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33 of 67
34. Dante Parker, 36
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34 of 67
35. Kajieme Powell, 25
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35 of 67
36. Laquan McDonald, 17
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36 of 67
37. Akai Gurley, 28
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37 of 67
38. Tamir Rice, 12
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38 of 67
39. Rumain Brisbon, 34
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39 of 67
40. Jerame Reid, 36
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40 of 67
41. Charly Keunang, 43
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41 of 67
42. Tony Robinson, 19
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42 of 67
43. Walter Scott, 50
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43 of 67
44. Freddie Gray, 25
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44 of 67
45. Brendon Glenn, 29
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45 of 67
46. Samuel DuBose, 43
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46 of 67
47. Christian Taylor, 19
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47 of 67
48. Jamar Clark, 24
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48 of 67
49. Mario Woods, 26
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49 of 67
50. Quintonio LeGrier, 19
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50 of 67
51. Gregory Gunn, 58
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51 of 67
52. Akiel Denkins, 24
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52 of 67
53. Alton Sterling, 37
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53 of 67
54. Philando Castile, 32
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54 of 67
55. Terrence Sterling, 31
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55 of 67
56. Terence Crutcher, 40
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56 of 67
57. Keith Lamont Scott, 43
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57 of 67
58. Alfred Olango, 38
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58 of 67
59. Jordan Edwards, 15
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59 of 67
60. Stephon Clark, 22
Source:false 60 of 6761. Danny Ray Thomas, 34
Source:false 61 of 6762. DeJuan Guillory, 27
Source:false 62 of 6763. Patrick Harmon, 50
63 of 6764. Jonathan Hart, 21
64 of 6765. Maurice Granton, 24
65 of 6766. Julius Johnson, 23
66 of 67
Continue reading 67 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police
67 Black Men And Boys Killed By Police
UPDATED: 9:54 a.m. EDT, November 16, 2019 -- Police shooting and killing Black males is all but a centuries-old American tradition among law enforcement in the U.S. But the fact that this apparent rite of police passage was still thriving in 2019 and expected to continue well into 2020 and beyond should give any American citizen pause as more and more names of Black males continue to be added to a growing list of victims with what seems like a new shooting every week. READ MORE: Police Shootings And The Public Execution Of Black People Other victims' names include, but certainly, aren't limited to: Tamir Rice; Botham Shem Jean; E.J. Bradford; and Michael Brown. As NewsOne continues covering these shootings that so often go ignored by mainstream media, the below running list Black men and boys who have been shot and killed by police under suspicious circumstances can serve as a tragic reminder of the danger they face upon being born into a world of hate that branded them as suspects since birth.
Michael Bennett Sr. Opens Up After His Son Is Detained By Vegas Police was originally published on newsone.com
