NFL stars Josh Norman and Demario Davis helped out a person in need this week as they helped pay a $50,000 bail for 22-year old Jose Bello who was in a detention center for 89 days. Bello, who is a student and farmworker, was arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents just 36 hours after attending a board of supervisors meeting and reading a poem that took shots at the immigration practices in the U.S.
“I speak for the victims that pay for this scam: Vietnamese, Jamaican, African, Cambodian, Mexican, Salvadoran, on and on, together we stand,” the poem stated via the American Civil Liberties Union. “We demand our respect. We want our dignity back. Our roots run deep in this country, now that’s a true fact.”
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“I’m here to let you know, we want to feel safe — whether we’re Brown, Asian, or Black. We don’t want your jobs. We don’t want your money. We’re here to work hard, pay taxes, and study.”
Norman and Davis spoke to Jim Trotter of NFL.com and they wanted to help Bello out because he didn’t have the money to get himself of the detention center.
“We’re always searching for a place where we can be of service, and this was one of those places,” Norman said. “Because of the indecency of what’s going on with these people – not just these people, but the immigration issue overall – we felt compelled to get involved. They’re fighting against a force that’s almost immovable, that’s attempting to silence them. So we’re trying to help the ones that do have a voice so they can be heard. It’s crazy that now our First Amendment right is being challenged, and we want to be on the right side of history.”
Davis said instead of reacting on social media, they wanted to do something about it.
“The work is just humanity. We see our roles as, if there’s a fire, it’s up to us to put it out. We want to motivate people to show them what they can do. It’s not just about going on social media and saying, ‘Oh, that’s messed up,’ or expressing your opinion. You can do something. It doesn’t have to be much, but if everybody was to donate $5 or $10 or $100, that could be the next person be released back to their family.”
Norman is a member of the Washington Redskins and Davis plays for the New Orleans Saints. Along with those two, the New York Immigrant Freedom Fund and the National Bail Network Fund helped pay for Bello’s bail.
