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Michael Bennett’s book Things That Make White People Uncomfortable, which was composed and produced while Bennett still played for the Seattle Seahawks and originally announced last summer, will be released early next month. Bennett will tour to promote the book, including a visit to Seattle—his erstwhile semi-hometown before the Seahawks traded Bennett to the Philadelphia Eagles at the beginning of March.
The Seattle stop will be at Elliott Bay Book Company on April 9.
Bennett’s outspoken personality made him a mostly-beloved though charged figure, in part due to his refusal to stand for the national anthem during 2017 in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s protest and disenfranchisement, and his challenging of the Las Vegas police department’s account of an incident when Bennett was briefly detained by officers there last summer. Bennett’s activism as well as his life story and views on community challenges throughout America make up the material of his book, which is also told with great humor according to the book’s co-author Dave Zirin who has helped arranged many similar books with athletes. The book features blurbs from as diverse commentators as scholar Cornel West, climate change author and political activist Naomi Klein, senator Bernie Sanders, former U.S. gold medalist John Carlos, New York Daily News columnist Shaun King and The Breakfast Club’s Charlamagne tha God.
You can pre-order copies of Bennett’s book and see the current list of tour dates at his website michaelbennettbook.com. The tour was presumably lately adjusted to kick off in Philadelphia March 31, after Bennett’s recent trade. Bennett is already also scheduled to visit New York, Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Chicago, with probably more stops to be scheduled later in April judging by the gap between the Seattle date and its destination in Chicago (where Bennett’s publisher is based).
You may also want to listen to Michael and his brother Martellus Bennett discuss the book and activism in the NFL on Bill Simmons’s podcast on the Ringer.