Josh Norman and Demario Davis didn’t want any publicity for this, but they deserve it because it was for a very good cause.
Norman plays for an owner that publicly supports Trump, does that mean he can’t do good deeds? Someone should ask Eric Reid that.
Jose Bello was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement two days after reading a poem that was critical of the agency at a public meeting in May. The 22-year-old farmworker spent the next three months imprisoned at Mesa Verde Detention Center in Bakersfield, Calif., which forced him to put his education on hold and limited his contact with his 1-year-old son.
On Monday afternoon, Bello was freed on $50,000 bail, thanks to contributions from the New York Immigrant Freedom Fund, the National Bail Fund Network and two people he had seen on TV before — Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman and New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis.
“Jose Bello was exercising a fundamental right that we pride ourselves on as Americans,” NFL player Norman said. “If he was detained for reciting a peaceful poem then we should really ask ourselves, are our words truly free? This is America right? Where the 1st Amendment is freedom of speech unless I missed the memo somewhere. He was exercising that right.”
“In this month alone, we’ve seen ICE round up a 22-year old father, Jose, because he read a critical poem,” NFL player Davis said. “We’ve seen ICE round up nearly 700 people in Mississippi and leave their children without parents, we’ve seen them turn away asylum seekers who will face certain death in their home countries. Is this America? We must say no, and we must start by helping our most vulnerable.”
Norman and Davis are part of the NFL Player’s Coalition.
While there were definitely some issues with the coalition deal with NFL, the fact they are doing good things can’t be overlooked.
Flip the page for Bello’s beautiful poem.