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Seattle Seahawks star Michael Bennett is writing a book: ‘How to Make White People Uncomfortable’

Michael Bennett, left, during practice with the Seattle Seahawks.
(Ted S. Warren / Associated Press)
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Michael Bennett, the outspoken Seattle Seahawks football star, will publish a memoir titled “How to Make White People Uncomfortable” with Haymarket Books next year.

Publishers Weekly reports that the book will be co-written by Dave Zirin, the sports editor at the Nation magazine and host of the popular podcast “Edge of Sports.”

Haymarket Books founding editor Anthony Arnove promises the book will be “a sports memoir and manifesto as hilarious as it is revealing.”

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Bennett, who played college football at Texas A&M, was selected to play twice in the NFL’s Pro Bowl. The defensive end was a standout in Super Bowl XLVIII, notching eight sacks and three recovered fumbles, as the underdog Seahawks routed the Denver Broncos.

He’s also been outspoken on social justice issues. Bennett supports the Black Lives Matter movement, once telling a reporter, “These things go all the way back to 1955, to Emmett Till. You got to think about it, the last hanging in America was in the ‘60s. There’s a lot of social injustice that’s been going on for a while.”

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Bennett also voiced displeasure with President Trump last year, after a tape of the then-presidential candidate bragging about fondling women to “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush surfaced not long before the election.

“That was kind of crazy to be talking about a woman like that,” Bennett said. “Women are so important. Without women none of us would be here. So you can’t disrespect women at all. That stuff that’s going on, it’s terrible.”

Zirin told the Stranger that Bennett is the “architect” of the book and that he’s “just ... along for the ride.” He also promised the book will display Bennett’s sense of humor, describing the football player as “Bill Hicks with shoulder pads.”

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On Twitter, Zirin offered some information about the book’s subject matter, referring to Bennett with the defensive end’s favorite nickname: Black Santa.

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