964 NFL Star Michael Bennett: Activism, Racism in Sports, & Making a Difference

This is episode number 964 with Super bowl champion and New York Times bestselling author Michael Bennett. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur, and each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. LeBron James said, I will definitely not shut up and dribble. I mean too much to society. I mean too much to the youth. I mean too much to so many kids that feel like they don't have.

A way out and they need someone.

To help lead them out of the situation they're in. And author Sonya Parker said, don't spend all of your time trying to find yourself. Spend time creating yourself into a person.

You'Ll be proud of.

Welcome to this episode. I'm very excited to share my interview.

Today with NFL star Michael Bennett.

The defensive lineman is a three time Pro Bowler and Super bowl champion with the Seattle Seahawks. Legion of Boom. All that. Despite being undrafted out of college, he's also one of the more outspoken players.

In the NFL and a true leader in his community. With When Colin Kaepernick started kneeling in.

Protest of racial injustice, Bennett immediately joined in support and he became a New York Times bestselling author of his book Things that Make White People Uncomfortable. Now he's hosting a podcast with his wife, Pele, that's called Mouthpiece, which encourages difficult conversations on a wide range of topics. And in this interview we discuss the evolving relationship between athletes and and activism, how Michael has dealt with criticism both on and off the field, the mental tools that helped him go from undrafted free agent to NFL superstar, what he's learned from being a father to three daughters, and if he wishes he had.

Boys, and so much more.

I hope you enjoyed this episode and make sure to share it with a friend if you find this resource helpful. And without further ado, let me introduce to you the one, the only Michael Bennett.

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School of Greatness podcast. We've got the inspiring Michael Bennett in the house and I want to start.

Off by saying how much I appreciate.

Your career and all the things that you've overcome in your life to get to where you're at. And I want to talk about that. I want to talk about your podcast with your wife, which I heard some episodes which were interesting and also just what's going on in the world in America right now. And so thank you so much for being here.

Thank you, man. I think it's a. I'm excited to be on here. I know you only have the greatest thinkers in American history on Here.

So in the world, man, in the world.

What's. What's this week been like for you?

It's been obviously a crazy week for a lot of people. What's this been like for you?

I think it's a really crazy week because the emotions are overwhelming, right? You're dealing with this is weight that's been bearing down on America for a long period of time. And the size of the weight is starting to lift up, and everybody's starting to see what's been underneath the. Been underneath the souls of America, right? And so it's overwhelming to see people die and what's happening. And then you look at the president and you look at all these things that die, you seem like it's just overwhelming you. Like, what is the reality of what's happening? Where are we going? What is happening to our society? I mean, there's a lot of things in this society that are or they need to be challenged, that are being challenged. And how are people going to respond, ultimately is the question that I have.

You know, obviously this has been happening for a long time. And do you feel like this is different now than four years ago, two years ago, eight years ago, or do you feel like it's kind of all been the same feeling and energy?

It may be different for white people, I think. I think white people are finally having to pay attention right here. You have companies, you have all these people who are making statements like, where were those statements four years ago when Michael Brown died and all these other people died? And why did it take so many people to die to wake people up? Right? So I think we've been living and existing in this trauma of America. If you think about the historical place of African Americans in American history, the fabric of who we are in the essence of our contribution to America, and we've been definitely living with trauma for long periods of time. If you look back at some of the pictures and things that people experienced in the 40s, the 20s, the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s, the 2010, you can put those pictures side by side and there'll be a lot. The color will change. The cars could be different, the way that the pictures taken. But the race issue is still the underlying issue of American society. And so I think for me, as an African American man, it's just been the way. And the trauma, the history of what African American parent tells his child and what a white person tells their child has been different for long periods of time. I think we're finally with the state Where I feel like white people are having a conversation with their children about race and how do they fit into the world's issue with what's happening.

You've got three kids, right?

Three daughters.

What are some of the conversations you've had with them in the past?

I think I've had the conversation about over policing and toxic masculinity. What does it look like to have a man with daughters and how proud you can be to have daughters. Because I think if you look at the world before Kobe died, being a girl dad was not cool. You know, people thought brought up and it's like, I mean, it's unfortunate that waves in our society is, I would say, followers mostly. Right. Most people in the world are followers at this point. And so we follow the trends and the waves of the world. But right before then, being a girl dad, if you had daughters, people look at you and the first thing they say is, oh, you need to protect them. They don't see that they are people and that they have voices and that there can be something great. Right. They just assume that they're going protection. So I've had conversations about that and about, you know, race and how. And also them being a woman in society. What are their gender ceilings and how they have to break those ceilings and what they need and how a father in the middle plays a role in that. So I had so many different conversations, you know, about race and. And gender.

Yeah. And what I'm hearing is I don't have kids, so I don't. I don't understand from that perspective. But what I'm hearing you say is most white parents don't have to teach their white kids how to protect themselves or be aware when they enter a room or if a cop is following them. They're not having those conversations.

But the thing too is what you said, and I think that is the most important thing that I think everybody in America is missing right now. What you said to me is the most important. One of the most powerful things that needs to be elevated is that I can't understand. Right. I don't have kids, so I wouldn't know from that perspective. I think a lot of times people are trying to talk about their perspective instead of listening. And I think that's important because I think so many people are trying to make statements and say things, but they don't have the right words to say because they haven't had any experience to really have the education to really be putting out a statement. How does the Washington Redskins put out a statement about race. It's impossible. How could the NFL say something about race when they've been dealing with racial tension within the league? It's like we haven't acknowledged to even listen to ourselves and our fellow men to really make a true distinction of what they really feeling. Right?

Yeah. What's your opinion on the Redskins put a black image to Blackout Tuesday? Right. What's your thoughts on that?

I think it's funny because you have. Here's Dan Snyder, and he's been a Trump follower. He's been donating to his campaign. He's refused to change the name of his organization. He refused to change the logo. He's refused to do that. And that perpetuates a certain cycle of what indigenous people have felt in American history. Right. He think it's a proud thing and it's something like that to cause somebody to acknowledge somebody by the skin. What if a team was called the White Skins? What people would be outraged? But indigenous people don't have that voice. That really will change the idea of the Redskins. If he really wants to be a part of the change of racial injustice, he would just change the name of his team.

What's he changed?

This is so many different names. We could name the Washington Trumps. What's wrong with that? He loved Trump so much. Why don't you just name Washington Trumps right now?

I love this podcast you did recently. 8 minutes, 46 seconds long. Same amount of time the officer had his knee on George Floyd's neck. What did you want to say in that special episode?

I think it was just to really reclaim the humanity of George Floyd. Right. Reclaim what it is that this man took from him. He took his life, he took his family, he took his existence away. And where do we as human beings stand on that moral line of righteousness? Right. What is it we have to deal with to really reclaim the humanity of our fellow man?

Right.

And that's really what that's about. It's not about me. It's not about me. It's about how we as individuals have really taken the dignity away. And specifically the police department, they have really taken a dignity away for African American people for such a long time. But I don't think people really understand to see a man lose his life, to ask for his mother, to ask for his children, that's just him reclaiming, trying to reclaim and remind him that this person is human. But for some reason, this man continuously put his knee on his neck to this man no longer exists. That's truly an issue. And It's a true issue with the moral and spiritual side that we have really disconnected from as human beings and disconnected from American society.

Yeah, yeah. I thought it was beautiful. I think everyone should go listen to that episode. And you really ask a great question at the end for all of us to think about as well, which I thought was really inspiring. You know, we talked about you having three daughters and, you know, now it's cool to be a girl. Dad, do you think it'd be a different man if you had three sons?

Yeah, I think I would be a different man. I think there's this ability to where you said. And I'll go back to what you said, right. Because I think, like I said, is a. It's a fundamental issue in America.

Right.

If I was a man, I could never have the experiences to see what a girl goes through. Right. So it's like when I have these girls and these daughters, I literally get to see their experiences. And what does it do for me? It allows me to have a better understanding and understand their journey, what they're experiencing, what they're going through, what's happening to them. And so I think it makes me a stronger person because it allows me to really dig into the other side of me and really put out a side of me that isn't allowed as a man in America. Right. It's not allowed to be known in the moment. Right. So it's allowed me to really develop my few full human being scale. Right. So I think that's important. Yeah.

You seem like a gentle giant. You're this big, strong NFL guy, but you got a gentle heart and I love that about you. Do you think you would be a. I don't want to use the word better, but I'd say a different type of football player. If you had three sons, same ages as your daughters, and not having three daughters, would you be different, better, worse? What do you think?

I think so. I think football, to me, I've always been able to like, decipher and break up the boundaries between being an athlete in my real life. So the football field is what I've been doing since I was a young kid. And that's just who I was as an individual and what I believed in and how I played the game. But being a father, it takes a lot more work. So I think it would have been. I think I'd probably be the same player because it's just different. It's two different things. I think what kids do to you and whether it's male or female, they Allow you to realize that life is more than just about yourself. Right. For me, personally, that's what's happened. It made me realize that when I went out there, I was planning for something a little bit bigger than myself. I was planning for my true. So that's kind of how I connect children to what really impacts my career. Impacted my career.

And your mom had you when she was young. I think he was 16 when she had you. And she had five kids by 20, is that correct?

Yeah, five. Yeah. By 21. Yeah. So it was very difficult. Right. I think when. When I look into myself, when I look back into that. Right. I look as a parent, I'm like, man, I have everything to, like, take care of kids. Right. Momentarily and monetarily. And it's just like, okay, it's not about money when it comes to kids, really about. You never know the burden of what it takes to raise a child. And I can only imagine what my mother was feeling at 16. And within that journey of, like, seeking myself and seeking the reason for being right is just one of those things that being able to forgive. Because such a young person having a young kid, this can only be devastating to their career and what they really wanted to accomplish in life. But because they had to sacrifice for kids, it's just a different experience.

Yeah. Did you. I know your parents didn't end up working out. Who would you say is the greater teacher for you growing up? And who taught you what was the greatest lesson each one of them taught you that you use today as a parent?

I think all of them are equally being impacted my life. I think living with my father, it allowed me to understand how to be a husband, how to be. How to be. How to be a comforter, how to be a protector, how to be different things. Different things that are required of being a husband. Right. And being a father. I think both my mothers have taught me about love and passion and the part. And the importance of community. Right. So this, like, it's true what they say, it takes a village to raise a child. And I truly believe it takes a village to raise a child. So I think every one of them have really impacted me in a certain way.

Yeah. With Kaepernick and everything that he's been taking a knee for since four years ago, you chose to immediately support him in your own way.

So I have been, like, talking about blackness in the NFL and blackness in the career my whole life. Right. My mom was a teacher. She went to historically black college. I grew up in a small town, so I'VE always had the historical context of what it means to African American in this society and the people who have fought for freedom and what they stand for. So it was easy to be a part or help Colin's voice be amplified on myself because I truly believe in what he was doing right. I truly believe in the freedom and the liberation of people who are being oppressed. So it's easy to connect to that. And I think over the whole time I was finding different ways to connect with different people. Not just African American people too.

Right?

We have our struggle. I connected with people in the indigenous community all over the world. So it's definitely eye opening experience. Four years ago, I think it was the first time on mainstream since the 60s that we really were elevating the racial tensions and the racial divide in America.

It seems like it started to be amplified with the media and with athletes really getting on board in a bigger way. And I know you, you talked to John Carlos on your podcast who famously raised his fist during the 1968 Olympics, and you asked him if he felt afraid what would happen afterwards if he did that. And I wanted to ask you the same thing. Did you ever feel afraid that, hey, if I take a stand in my own way for this, what I believe in, did you feel like maybe I could get fired or maybe I'd get criticized or judged or bullied? Did you ever have that fear?

I think criticism is a part of my job. I've always been in a position where criticism was a part of my performance. Where we didn't perform good, the criticism was high. When I perform, when I performed great, the criticism was low. So for me, it was more about like the fear, like the fear of living. Right? Because, you know, you say something like race is such a strong issue in America, right? It's been. People have died because of race. We can look back at the facts. These are facts. People have lost their life because they have brought up race in America. They've been killed by the government, they've been killed by left wing organization. So there was a fear of having this, of being ridiculed at a high level. Right? You really are really are bringing attention to something that people don't want attention to. So I think there is a fear. And I think what John Carlos was referencing, his, his experience and what he's been through, I think it's important that we reference these things. And when people take stances, what can come with stances? Right? Because we look at the glory of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, but we don't look that they die, right? That's not something people really bring up all the time, right? They bring up, like, look at this quote. But we, like, every time we bring up this quote, it's a man who was, like, executed. We think about Jesus and we say we bring, of course, with Jesus, but then we think about Jesus. Jesus was killed by the government. Like, so it's like, it's like we have to know that it's possible. And I think sometimes people don't know that. And I think even with protests right now, a lot of people are getting hit and beat by the police. They're like, you got to know that that's a part of it, right? And that's a part of you taking a stance to you going against the grain of society. So with that comes resistance, and with resistance comes battles. And you got to be able to withstand the battles individually, spiritually, mentally, and physically.

So I love what you said that, you know, you're used to being critiqued on the football field, but this was a different type of worry and concern for your health and your safety and your life for standing up for this Now. I played college football. I was a receiver. I played in the Arena League for a little bit as well. So I know all about the locker room and I know about, you know, I played on where I was.

One.

Of the only white guys in the team in Huntsville, Alabama, and mostly black teammates. I've been on teams where it's mostly white guys and a few black teammates in Ohio. I've seen kind of both sides. And personally, I never saw any type of racism, at least in my bubble of the locker room, personally. Do you feel like there's racial divides in locker rooms in the NFL that you've seen?

I think there's a racial divide on issues, right? I don't think there's racial divides on where we are, because when we come in a locker room, we all see each other as football players and we're kind of just like, oh, man, you.

Get the job done.

Divide in the battle to have a position, right? But at the same time, the underlying issues of what they're happening within our communities, I think that's where the divide comes, right? Because that's when we finally see the divide right before we don't really see it because we have a quarterback. We say quarterback, receiver one, throwing the ball to receiver one. But it's when stuff like taking a knee comes out that we really start to see the social divide between scamming.

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Who and where People were raised because as football players, there's only one ideology. There's winning and winning at a high level. But when it comes to race, there's so many different ideologies and I think the racial disparities will come. We start to see the racial inequality when we start talking about race and I experienced it personally when we talk about, we talked about taking knee as a team. We saw the divide. We saw the fear of African American players of not having an opportunity and what that feels like. The Seahawks were more of the more consciously aware team in the NFL. We were more than the most, we were probably the most famous team outside of the Patriots as far as players individual glory. I think the Patriots were more team glory and Tom Brady glory.

Right.

But I mean the Seattle glory of all types of players with superstars and most of the superstars came from African American neighborhoods. And we kind of never forgot our blackness. So we were, we forced the team to do what they did. We were the leaders of our team. See, a lot of teams, they get led in direction by the ownership and tell them what to do. But us, we were, we were one of a kind team. Right. We were a different team. We were the outlaws of the NFL. You would think.

Yeah. And Pete Carroll has been getting some, I guess some backlash lately. But what was your experience of him and supporting the team?

And I think Pete Carroll wants to do right. I think any coach wants to do right. Right. They want to do right, to do right by their players. But I think the thing that coach Pete Carroll was coming back with the thing that he doesn't realize, too, is that, okay, you want to do right, but there's evidence of you doing wrong. And so by you saying the words, if you do right, the evidence is, as the court would say, the evidence against the prosecution would say that there's evidence that says that you not who you say you are. Right. So that's what people are really trying to, like, argue, saying you had opportunity, psychopathic, but you didn't do it right. But then it's like, well, you saying one thing and you actually do another. That's what makes people mad. And I feel like people feel like you've been a hypocrite. But I don't think Coach Carroll has a bad heart. I actually think Coach Carroll is one of the most progressive coaches I've ever been a part of, and his philosophies were very. We talked about a worldly of things of any team I've ever been on. So I just think when he didn't sign or he didn't give Kaepernick the opportunity, that's kind of left the door open for other people to scrutinize him for his beliefs.

Yeah. And what about your thoughts on Drew Brees? Did you experience connecting with him throughout your time in the league and your thoughts on his post and his response to it?

I think Drew Brees is missing the whole gamut of what's happening. Right. Here's a man who's trying to protect his privilege at every corner. Right. But this requires you to drop your privilege when you talk about race, it requires you to drop your privilege. If you. A man talking about what women are going through, it requires you to drop your privilege and to listen what's happening to women. Like, it's like when a woman's saying that she's been victimizing, she's. Something's happened to her and she's been a victim of rape or sexual assault. It's like a man said, what did you wear? What did you do? Why did you. How did he. It's like you're trying to victimize them and make them feel like. And you try to defend men instead of defending what's happening to this individual and how it has made them feel. And so when he's talking about his father and his grandfather, he's actually a defense mechanism to defend his privilege of why he should stand up instead of saying, you know what? I don't know what to say. So you know what? I don't know what the right thing to say I know talk about my grandfather is not this moment. I think talking about the trauma that African American, my teammates have felt over the years that I haven't had the courage to stand up on, but I have the courage to donate and talk about different issues like COVID 19. Why can't I talk about COVID 19? Why? Because it's pertaining to everybody. So I don't be seen as I'm supporting just black people. But to stand up on this issue is that you're being an ally and you acknowledging that you have privilege. I don't think Drew Breeson really wants to acknowledge that he's had privilege because in his mind he's worked hard for everything he's got. Maybe in football that is true, right? Maybe in football he's had. He's worked hard, but in life he's not had. Worked hard to get the white skin that he has. He was born with that privilege. And I don't think he's really wanted to acknowledge that being white is a privilege. And that's okay with him if that's what he truly believes. At least he's being honest, right? At least he's being honest and we can say there's some place to work on him. Right? But the fact that he has such a disconnect with his black team and his black brother is really the issue because he's saying that he still hasn't gotten to his mind that other people have experienced a different America than he has.

What are your thoughts then on, I guess, people with a platform or athletes talking about it if they don't know what to say, like you said right there, like, maybe he should have just said nothing. Should be. Should people be speaking up and saying something? Is. Are they.

Should.

Should they say nothing if they don't know what to say? What's your thoughts?

I think they. I think they should say something if they feel the need to say something, to acknowledge if they have a particular position. Like. Like Drew Breezy has a particular position. He's an African American driven league, right. He's obligated to say something. And his something should be in the manner of supporting his people who are 70% of that organization. Right? So I think we people just need to make the most honest statement, right? The honest statement is not to try to like find. It's just you coming at your heart and saying like, I don't know. I think that's a great statement, saying, hey, I don't know, but I want to know. Like that's the kind of Stuff statements people have to make. Right? And people have to understand, like, look, this isn't just about being black. This is about, like the system. Understanding the system that has oppressed people of color for generations and generations. At the time, one route, we talking about defending the police, but we talking about defunding the police and policing. Right. But we also got to think about the judicial system which has plagued African American people in American history. Brown people in history. Look at the. Look at the facts. There's more African American and brown people in jail than any other race in history. We have more people in jail in America than any other country. Right. We talk about marijuana. We talk about the country that America wanted. So many people are in jail for marijuana and they're being prisoned right now. But now marijuana is a business and is privileged and is ran by a white suicide society. And there's a whole bunch of brown and black people who are in jail for smoking A J. Right. And smoking a J is nothing wrong with smoking. Want to get your mind right, you puffy?

Smoking A J.

Right. But at the same time, people are being persecuted for something. Right?

And so we have.

The whole system is seeing how the cycle of racism has been perpetuated over the time. It really comes down to our consciousness. I really believe that people have been unconscious, so they really haven't really had the opportunity to really look at the world through different eyes. Right. Because they're so. They're so focused on one thing, and then I'm focusing on somebody else's pain.

Yeah. What do you think is going to happen in the NFL next year when you guys start playing again? Do you think there's going to be changes? Do you think there's going to be more protesting with athletes doing their own thing? What do you think is going to happen?

I think more athletes are going to take a stance. I think there's going to be a big change. Right. I think there's going to be more people standing up.

Right.

Because now you really have your white teammates. When we were taking a knee, not a lot of white people wanted to be involved, but now you got people like Kirk Cousins and all these people trying to make statements and they're trying to be a part of the movement. So I think because there's going to be more players willing to move and talk about the issues, I think the NFL is going to be forced and obligated and it's going to be subjected to is players will. And I think there's gonna have no opportunity but to do that. But you know what, to be Honest, I think COVID 19 was really the factor in a lot of this, right? Because I think COVID 19 and Floyd together, right? Because one side, we see the disparities of color for policing, right? Then the other side, we see the racial disparity in healthcare, the central needs of America, the. And we're seeing. On one side, we're seeing an issue that's facing with African American people, but then on the other side, we see that we are dealing with poor people all across the world who are dealing with poverty, and they have a system. So I think two of those things connect, and we're realizing that all of us connected together. And I think we've seen that a lot of essential workers in the American workforce were African American and brown people.

You know, I love your story about how you've become just a successful athlete, let alone being a great man, great father, a great husband, but a great athlete. You were undrafted, and yet you've been, you know, in the Pro Bowl. You've won a Super Bowl. You should have won two Super Bowls. How did that whole journey go for you from being undrafted to winning a Super Bowl?

I think it's when you go talking about school of greatness, right? I think it's really mindset, right? Because you get into a situation, you have to be able to find this grit and this will and this perseverance to overcome. And I think for me, that was the biggest thing that kept me going was like, okay, here's this opportunity to have this child. I have all these things just weighing on why I shouldn't succeed. But my mindset was on success and putting in more work, right? I think loving the game of football and actually having. Loving the history of football and the knowledge of it and loving the actual X's and O's of it, it actually made me a stronger player, right? Because I love to study on. I love to watch the games, I love to do different things. So I think it was definitely. It was a great time. And being on Drafted really propelled me to have the success that I've had.

Do you think if you were drafted, you'd have the same success, or did that give you that extra hunger to work harder and prepare more?

It gave me the extra. I think it gave me that extra hunger, right? It gave me the extra hunger. It's like, I was already used to being the underdog, and now having that. It was just another way to, like, continuously, like, I was like, man, if I would have been drafted, would I have had the Same hunger. I don't know if I would have had the same hunger. I think being attracted allowed me to keep a chip on my shoulder, which that chip kept on my whole career.

Do you feel like, would you have changed anything? Do you wish you would have been drafted in the first round and got some big signing bonus, or are you glad you've had to build it the way you have?

I'm glad I had to build the way I had. I think a lot of people, when you go to the way I did, you built the story. And I think a lot of people connect to that story because there's always. People are like, wait, you did that? And so it's like, it's just a great connection.

What about your legacy? What do you want your legacy to be? Do you want it to be more about being a great football player, being a great father, being a great activist?

I think they're all the same. I think it's just overall, just being a great man. Right. Being a great man within everything that I tried to. Everything I was a part of, I was a father. I was a great father when I was this. I think the most hurtful thing is when you die and they only bring up what your attributes or your stats in the NFL, like, oh, he died.

He.

At this mini sex and this provost. And that's one thing I think it's more about, like, what did you contribute to your community? What did you contribute to yourself? And what did you contribute to life? I think that's the ultimate thing that I want to be, is to leave a great legacy of being a great contributor to all facets of life.

Yeah. And you have an amazing story about your relationship with your wife and how you guys met and how she's been a part of this journey with you. Was she always supportive of you for. For taking a stand as an activist and an athlete? And. And also what brought about you guys coming together, co hosting Mouthpiece, and doing the podcast together?

My wife is as strong as me, too, because she believes in a lot of stuff and she stands up on herself and what she believes in. So I think it's just us coexisting and growing up in the same area. Right. We grew up in high school together and we dated in high school, so we saw a lot of the same thing. We saw a lot of the different tragedies. We saw a lot of the great things in life and what it feel like to be at the bottom of the. Feel like to be at the top. So we experienced a lot together. So for us, we both amplify each other's voice and what we experience. And I think with the podcast was an opportunity for husband and wife to come together and talk about real issues and talk about things that are happening in America and when we're raising kids, this is a perfect opportunity to use our platform in a positive way. We talk about all the great things. Like, there's shortcomings of all of us. I think in a world where we become and we've fallen a lot of people, we seeing a lot of their great moments, and we're challenging their great moments moments against our great moments. And unfortunately, if somebody with 60 million followers, their greater moment is going to seem more greater. Right. And so it's good for us to be honest about our experience and be honest about what we need to work on as individuals and what we need to work on as society.

Do you and your wife ever have disagreements about approaching the world, about approaching parenting, about approaching what you should be saying or not saying?

Every day. Every day. I think that's the. I think that's the evolution of us as people, right? We are constantly battling and struggling with what we think is right. The compromise. Where do we compromise at? What do we do? And I think we're doing it every day where we're constantly going up and challenging our thoughts. I think a great partner is who can challenge and continuously grow. I mean, there's things that we agreed on fundamentally, but our approaches may be different, so that's a normal thing.

How do you find peace in between your disagreements, to not let it affect your kids or the relationship for too long? And how do you kind of resolve things?

I think that's. I think that's the. I think that's one of the hardest things that a lot of people do because you place where you become a part of the business and you become a part of the. You become a part of what you're doing. And I think for us, we just try to disconnect the two things. Like. And I think, like I said, we've had a great opportunity to do that because we've been in NFL, we've been able to disconnect from the NFL, then do something else. So I think this is just a evolution of that, honestly.

Yeah.

I got a couple final questions for.

You, and I appreciate you opening up and sharing all this. Michael, this question is called the Three Truths, and I ask everyone at the end the same question. So it's a hypothetical question. I'd love for you to imagine it's your last day on earth many, many years from now. And you've accomplished all your dreams, you've seen your kids grow up and achieve great things, and you've seen things move on in the world and you've done it all. But it's your last day. And everything you've created in the world, you've got to take with you. So all of your podcast and your book and all the posts you put out there, it's got to go with you to the next place. But you can leave behind three things you know to be true. About life, about experiences. And these will be the three lessons that we would all have to remember you by. What would you say are the three things you'd want to share with the world?

Three truths? I think the three truths that I would like to share with the world would be self reflection. I think we all need to self reflect on a daily basis and self reflect into a way that we can manifest our self reflection into something positive. I think is important. I think the second is to have a sense of, to understand about for every luxury, there's somebody else that's sacrificing for us, right? Because every luxury, luxury creates a certain suffering for somebody else, whether it's our iPhone. When we get an iPhone, we don't realize that somebody that has an iPhone, they. Somebody they create. The iPhone worked in a non factory. So it's like when you get your tomato, there's been a Hispanic person who's come from Mexico who's picked it that didn't have a fair trade, fair trade system, right? So it's understanding that there's other people who are experiencing something and to understand that these luxuries that we have, people are suffering. So when people are screaming that they need attention, we need to acknowledge their attention. Right? And I think the third is being in the moment. I think a lot of times we're so. When I say unconscious, I feel like we have become so unconscious as a society that we get our realities mixed up with the other realities that are happening. And the next thing you know, we don't know which one is real, which one is, which one is fake. So I would say being in the moment to when we were our children to like be with your children. Being a moment. I know it's the hardest thing too because of phone allows us to be everywhere at once. But I would. To be in the moment, right? Be in the moment. Because those moments are so, we think they're so. We think they're so small and superficial, but those moments are really the most magnificent moments in their life. When your child is trying to show you a picture, you're like, yeah, okay, okay. You know, who knows what that does to that character when they know that their parents love them? So being in the moment is something I think is important.

Yeah, you've got. You've got your podcast mouthpiece with your wife. That's super inspiring. You guys share some great stuff there. You've also got a book, which I think is a great title. It's called Things that Make White People Uncomfortable. Why did you write a book with that title?

I think it's one of those things where I wanted to make people uncomfortable because the conversation that we have in now is not a comfortable conversation. That's why there's chaos, because if it was comfortable, it was easy for us to judge the NBA. LeBron just took that final shot. Like, that's easy. That's a comforting thing because it brings life and it brings this. But having uncomfortable situations and conversations where we truly go. Right. That's what I talk about. When you have those teeth and those. When you have those limbs growing, it's uncomfortable when you're growing, but at the end of the day, you have growth. Right? And I think we just needed to have an uncomfortable conversation. There's a lot of things that's important that we need to have those conversations because it's too late. When we have war, and then we want to have peace, we need to have peace before we have the war. Right? Because once we have the war, there's casualties. Right? There's too many casualties. And peace. When the war that comes with peace is too many people have died. Millions of people have died. But we had the peace before the war. We don't have to have the war because we have peace. Right. The war would be just about morals and morality, but this moment, we have to. This book is about being uncomfortable and not to be reactive anymore, because now we have a reactive society. And what comes with reaction, unwanted action. Like, you just. You just react in a way that you don't even know, right? Because it's like, boom, you just react. So that's really why I wrote the book.

Yeah. And what would. What would you respect about your. Your teammates, both your white teammates and black teammates moving in from now into next season? What would you respect about them the most if they did what?

I think I respect everybody. We just kind of just stood up on what we believe in, right? The purpose of our living, the perfect place of our existence. I think what I respect most of us that we could put our. Our titles down, right? Titles are meant to divide us. Everybody has a title and people. A person could be a regular person, right? And we run into those people and we just pass them. But if they have a title, we acknowledge them.

Right?

So it's time for us to put our titles down and acknowledge that we're just a human being. We exist with these people. We're a fellow man. We bleed and eat and shit the same way. Just because we have money doesn't make us exist. And we witnessed Paul Allen be one of the richest people in the world but die at 50 something, right? Because as of today, we are just human beings. Money is the thing that breaks our barriers, but at the same time, it also builds more barriers.

Wow, that's powerful. I want to acknowledge you for a minute, Michael, for being a stand for what you believe in, for being a stand for other people, for being a stand for your life and your family and change. You're doing some amazing work, man. I appreciate your voice and. Well, hopefully I can come watch a game wherever you're playing this year. I'd love to come watch a game sometime and support you. So you get that 70th sack in the bag, man. Final question for you. It's what's your definition of greatness?

My definition of greatness is to be different. I think the greatness is such a. It's like this tears of being something, right? I think it's like average, bad, this good, better. Then greatness is like the highest thing that you could be. I think it's because you're different. I think the ability to be different is the most important thing, right? I think greatness is a difference because they. People who are great do different. They become outliers in everything. They become conscious to their being. And I think there's a very few people who actually reach greatness and enlightenment in life.

Michael Bennett, man, I appreciate your wisdom. Thanks for coming on and sharing it all, man.

Thank you, man. Appreciate you.

Appreciate it, man. Have a good one. And if I can help with anything, just let me know.

All right. Thank you. Bless you, man.

Thanks, man too, bro.

Thank you so much for listening to this episode with Michael Bennett. If you haven't yet listened to my podcast last week with Reverend Michael Beckwith on racial justice and spiritual healing, it was so profound.

I highly recommend you check it out and I'm going to put a link.

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