Happy Friday, Hawks and Hawkettes! Let me just start this Friday's book recommendation by saying that if the title of the book makes you uncomfortable, then you probably need to read it. We got this book in hard copy last year and it was checked out on its first day on the shelf. After a couple of checkouts and returns, I was able to take it home with me and read it. This book was definitely worth the wait.
Best known for his time on the Seattle Seahawks (you know, the team that you root for when they play the Rams...and the best uniforms in professional sports), Michael Bennett has never been afraid to speak his mind. That made him one of my favorite athletes to root for during his playing days. Sometimes professional writers seem to filter what they say by seemingly using a thesaurus on every other word, but Bennett says exactly what he thinks through exceptional prose. The result is a masterful work that confronts the issues of social inequity that our country has experienced throughout its history, still experiences today, and will continue to experience if its citizens don't get their acts together and start to make effective changes. This book is a call to action instead of simply a play-by-play (couldn't resist a sports pun) of historical injustice.
Some notes from the publisher:
"Michael Bennett is a Super Bowl Champion, a three-time Pro Bowl defensive end, a fearless activist, a feminist, an organizer, and a change maker. He's also one of the most humorous athletes on the planet, and he wants to make you uncomfortable. Bennett adds his 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, Sitting Down to Stand Up is a sports book for young people who want to make a difference, a memoir, and a book as hilarious and engaging as it is illuminating."
About the authors:
"Michael Bennett is a three-time Pro Bowler, Pro Bowl MVP, Super Bowl Champion, and two-time NFC Champion. He has gained international recognition for his public support for the Black Lives Matter Movement, women's rights, and other social justice causes. In 2017, he was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Americans by The Root, was the Seattle Seahawks nominee for the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year award, and was honored along with his brother Martellus with a BET Shine a Light award for exceptional service. He is the cofounder with Pele Bennett of The Bennett Foundation, which educates underserved children and communities through free, accessible programming. He has held free camps and health clinics in Seattle, in his hometown of Houston, in his current offseason home, Honolulu, and in South Dakota on the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe. He donates all of his endorsement money and the proceeds from his jersey sales to fund health and education projects for poor and underserved youth and minority communities, and recently expanded his reach globally to support STEM programming in Africa.
Dave Zirinis 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 hostsWPFW's The Collision with Etan Thomas and has been called "the best sportswriter in the United States," by Robert Lipsyte."
To access this book, please visit our Axis 360 shelf of ebooks. Directions for setting up an account can be found in our Google Classroom (linked is found in the icon below) or on our ebooks page of this website for site members.
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