The New Orleans Saints’ Benjamin Watson had no idea a Facebook post of his would go viral. That may be a cliché but it explains how this American football player went from posting a social media comment to becoming a commentator on race in America, to writing a book urging readers to get real about race. The spark was the grand jury decision not to indict the officer involved in the fatal shooting of an African-American robbery suspect. Watson’s post explained why the decision made him angry, frustrated, fearful, embarrassed and more. It’s not hard to see why those heartfelt comments hit a nerve.
A demonstrator protests the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown in Missouri. Photo: AFP
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His introspection in that message and this book is cause enough to recommend Under Our Skin. He laments that while white America may feel that everything is equal now, “black people know in their bones that there’s still a residue of neo-slavery that sticks to so much of life”. Black people may not be as segregated as in his grandfather’s day, he writes, but it would be more accurate to say they are “not segregated in the same way”. Watson’s personal history adds weight to this emotional response to America’s racial problems.
