Baseball may still be billed as the national pastime, but football actually surpassed it in popularity a long time ago. So for anyone born and raised in the United States, challenging the NFL is just unthinkable.
Dr. Bennet Omalu wasn’t born and raised in this country, however. Had he been, it’s doubtful that the forensic neuropathologist from Nigeria would have discovered CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a degenerative disease associated with repeated brain trauma that doesn’t show symptoms, and its connection to the NFL. He would never have felt the wrath of the NFL, either, and we wouldn’t have Concussion, which marks Will Smith’s finest performance to date.
The Root caught up with the good doctor for a one-on-one discussion about the film, his faith, his wife’s support and his status with the NFL.
The Root: When you turned down this road, did you have any idea of the magnitude of your actions?
Bennet Omalu: Remember, I grew up in Africa. Growing up as a child, I perceived America to be heaven on earth, a country that was closest to what God wants us to be as his sons and daughters. And I came from Nigeria, which is one of the most corrupt countries in the world. So when I came here, I had the study of Mike Webster and other retired football players, and I wondered: If they played this game where they had to wear a helmet, could it be they were damaging their brains without knowing it?
And so I did the autopsy on Mike Webster. I identified the disease and I most gladly took it to the NFL, believing that I had discovered something that would enhance the game. But then I got this pushback, and I discovered there was this systematic and systemic cover-up to conceal the truth. So that reawakened my faith in me, my faith in the truth.
God is the truth. The American experience and the American experiment are founded on the truth. Science was founded on the truth. My faith is founded on the truth. So you have a convergence of both science and America, my faith, coming together to this common objective or common exploit of the truth.
So it was my search for the truth, to become part of that American family, to contribute my part to a society and a country that has given me so much. Because, as the greater American family, we are one love, we are one spirit, we are one hope, we are one joy. So that was what kept me going. Because when you seek the truth, truth shall set you free.
The truth is liberating. Isn’t that what America is all about? One person at a time, one step at a time, one day at a time, we shall continue to build a greater family, if only we would start by the truth. That is what kept me going.
TR: Is the truth still leading you?
