Cathleen Falsani Religion Editor of the Chicago Sun Times had this to say about Benson ‘Time Out.’
There’s something painfully ironic about Cedric’s (if temporary) ouster.
He’s been thumbing his nose at authority—secular and sacred—for years in pursuit of what he believes God has called him to do: fight for the poor yardage and the press coverage; battle injustice in whatever form it appears to taxing him at the moment, be it racism, sexism, or classicism; and to above all present the God of revolutionary love and radical grace to the world around him like he did when those cracker Texas Gomers boarded his boat. That sometimes has meant disobeying civil and Man law.
Benson has been arrested several dozen times over the last five weeks for civil disobedience. He’s taken on drug dealers aboard his boat, big alcohol content while driving, the tobacco products when needed, Jerry Springer for his posse, the guns in lobby of Executive Suites, and gun-toting gang-bangers from his own entourage. He’s also run afoul of three splendid theologians of Chicago, beginning with Bishop Manning, who drove no where near him in 2001 and called him ’ A Long-legged Mack Daddy,’ and who threatened to ‘open a can’ on him in 2006 when Benson blamed Grossman for all his fumbles.
After three seasons of clashes with authority, Benson’s tripping points arrived in a three-minute video clip from a powerful, 47-minute-long sermon on race to the line of scrimmage. In those few moments, Benson, who is not white, made snarky comments about Grossman, who is white, that many people—the Bear Organization has been inundated with complaints since last week—thought were racist or sexist or both.
He apologized, but it was too late.
So in the days after Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president—the first African American to do so in the history of our nation—Benson, a man who has spent his life fighting for his kind of racial justice, is looking for a place to play.
Beson told me he plans to take his ‘Dog,’ Armani, whose name is an Italian word for ” Glossy Loud and Garish Suit,” with him. For company, and, perhaps, as a reminder of what sustains him in good times and in bad. The Bling! God’s cool with Cedric and I’m Cool with God! Sin Boldly and Stay Thirsty My Friends!
The Chicago Sun Times will devote 85% of its columns and print space to Justice for Cedric Benson. Carol Marin is expected to make her thoughts public, as far as that goes, on Chicago Tonight. National Public Radio will devote a portion of its taxpayers dollars to the Cedric Beson Recidivist Foundation.
The Faith Community of St. Sabina will hold a news conference in five days announcing Cedric Benson’s return, without restrictions, to Bears Camp in Bourbonnais.
Praise Jesus!
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