Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett has joined teammate Richard Sherman in speaking out on the Black Lives Matter movement.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Bennett disagreed with Sherman's Wednesday comments on Black Lives Matter. Sherman had voiced his support for the movement, but was quick to suggest that "internal" issues within the black community like "black-on-black crime" needed to be addressed first -- a view that was met with swift criticism:
"I would like to say I disagree with some of the things that he said yesterday," Bennett said in response to Sherman on Thursday. "I think when people talk about the black lives matter thing, I think he’s misinterpreting it, that black people kill black people, white people kill white people. People kill people every day."
While killers and victims often share the same racial identity, "black-on-black" crime simply does not exist as an isolated cultural concept.
"I think there are a lot of murders in a lot of communities, but a lot of time it deals with the segregation within the communities around the world," he said. "You look around, there is a white neighborhood, a black neighborhood, a Spanish neighborhood, instead of just calling them all American neighborhoods, or American communities."
Bennett went on to throw his support behind the Black Lives Matter movement, explaining, "I think the black lives thing is more about the social injustice, not so much the injustice of people killing within the community, it’s about the social injustice of the people that is supposed to protect them, and building the community through the black community."
In his closing remarks, Bennett echoed Sherman, who also called for unity when finishing up his Wednesday thoughts on Black Lives Matter.
Said Bennett, "People are too worried about if he’s Spanish or if he’s black or if he’s Chinese, and not just talking to them and saying we’re all just people at the end of the day."
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