Unpleasant. Baseball is a hobby. I dont write about professionally. Wasame drop a bit, i invited to have a lunch with the president. Across the field with a players only other team from a town around its bird was jim leylands son. Justs sitting across and was a dad. Thinking how thrilled i was to see that guy. President , they come and go. Just as toledo, we will let you close. Basing baseball with the rest of life, i think for fans what channel does is jail natural aggression and tribal instincts which people have. David and i are sitting with a phillies hat and a mets that and we are very civil. The prices have gotten ,igher and things have changed back in the not so old days if i went to shea stadium with a phillies at and cheered too loudly in the phillies were winning or if they came to the and he was tearing too loudly for the mets, they have a lockup in the stadium. There would be fisticuffs. It channels peoples natural tendencies to fight with each other into something that isnt really important as opposed to fighting about something that is. Wanted turn the program over to george. [applause] let me thank cspan. No more significant thing has happened in politics than cspan. If you believe in the necessity of government and the process of government, cspan has been extraordinary in what they have done. We are grateful that cspan decided to share this time with us today. We will share it with the nation. I want to acknowledge the the cochair of homeland security. My appreciation to my wonderful friends. To all of you, lets do the appropriate thing and thank this extraordinary panel. [applause] more about a market for its next with nba hall of famer kareem abduljabbar, Michael Irvin and others talking about sports and race. The panel is hosted by the United States conference of mayors. It is just over an hour. Let me give a little background. Jackie robinson integrating baseball, sports played a pivotal role in advancing civil rights. Adam silvers swift and decisive response to Donald Sterlings thatl comments makes clear in Todays Society institutional racism is not welcome. In light of both events and the longstanding battle against institutional racism in sports, we are taking the action today to discuss the social and political implications of racism in sports. Through the interactive conversation, panelists will tackle questions that ask white racism pervades sports and society. We are convening today to learn and to discuss how sports should serve communities and how we together can become agents of change in our cities with our sports teams. Before we move on to our panel i would like to introduce a leader in addressing the intersection between sports and cities. The ballard is chair of mayors professionals Sports Alliance. It is to share among mayors resources and information on issues related to professional sports and to work effectively with leagues, players, and owners. Give around of applause to mayor ballard. [applause] good morning. Sports bring people together. They bring communities together. Deep layoffring the run when athletes do good work in the community, sports bring nations together. At many of us gasped portugals last second goal last night . Sports can also divide is. There can be a meanness and ugliness as is the case in this clippers episode. That he Sports Alliance stood with our president Kevin Johnson as he worked with the players and the alumni as they addressed the situation. I applaud the nba for taking swift and decisive action. Sports organizations are part of who we are. They represent us as a community. Despite the elite athleticism we witness, we really want them to embody character and compassion as a community. That includes the respect for all of our citizens. Diversity has always been about respect. Respect was lacking in the clippersorganization. Respect has come at such a great price. This is the life of jackie robinson. It is our responsibility to continue the march. I look forward to the panel. Thank you so much. [applause] thank you, mayor ballard. I going to introduce the panelists and we will have a serious conversation. Panelist that i would like to bring out to give a male oral perspective is our very own michael letter. Michael the reputations for being a passionate sports down. Sports a long history of as it is spurred on serious conversations about race. Ben chapman was one of the loudest voices opposing Jackie Robinsons integration to baseball. Very loud round of applause to michael nutter. [applause] secondly, i would like to bring out a person who was originally scheduled to moderate. I thought he would give a better perspective sitting on the panel. We switched places. I did know i was going to lose my voice. Roland martin is an influential reporter and commentator. He has a long career at bt and cnn. Et and cnn. He is from houston. He went to texas and him. He is a journalist with a masters degree in christian communications. He has written several books. Lets give around of applause for roland martin. [applause] all right. Since we are in dallas, this is for you. I get a chance to introduce a dallas cowboy legend. This is a surprise guest. We did not him put him on the schedule intentionally. Toled the Dallas Cowboys three super bowl championships. Children from7 Fort Lauderdale florida. He went to the university of miami. He won a National Championship there. One of the greatest wide receiver to ever play the game. Lets give around of applause to Michael Irvin. [applause] most of you know that michael is also a personality and commentators on football on a regular basis. He is got that personality that is just magnetic. It is awesome to have him here. I dont know if you get a chance to see his acceptance speech into the hall of fame, it was one of the most amazing acceptance speeches of all time. One more round of applause for the playmaker. [applause] this is the biggest and production im ever going to make. This is exciting. You should clap before i even say his name. Just let them know that we love him before we say his name. [applause] listen to this. I did not want to go long. Time nba championship. He won six of them. Six time most viable player. 19 time nba allstar. Hall of fame inductee. Played with the bucs in milwaukee. Went out west to l. A. And 15 more championships. Ucla,ew york, went to played under john wooden. Won three championships in college. Isyou add those up, that nine. And wasis a freshman not allowed to play varsity sports or he wouldve had a tent. In college he was so effective they literally changed the rules because he was there. This is a rule change are in a real way. He is a legend. Is also a New York Times bestselling author. He has written books on history and civil rights. Documentary has been made about one of his books. Two time naacp image award winner. Give around of applause to the greatest player to ever play the game, kareem abduljabbar. [applause] i feel like we can all go home. I feel like we have been to church. Look at kareem for just a second. Dignified and distinguished. What makes him so amazing is not only the arguably best player to play the game, it is what he did off the court. For him to be here today with these panelists is amazing. This is often something that people do not know about him. He is not an upfront for some. Last night, he took mayors at the dinner. Of applause for treating our mayors to dinner last night. [applause] are you ready . We are going to get it going. Were going to have this panel discussion. Im going to stand up to her because i am losing my voice. I want to throw the first question out to mayor nutter. What was your gut reaction when you heard the Donald Sterling tape . I was stunned. Is this true . Did somebody really say this . We have youtube and elected officials know about that. Maybe it was doctored. That . Somebody sale of i watched it. I knew it was nine or 10 minutes. Im probably not go watch the whole thing. It is the epitome of an accident. It was fascinating. It just went on and on and on. At the end i was disgusted. People . To talk about you are the owner of a team. You should be responsible. I had some of the thoughts. This is a family program. It was insane. It is been found to be true. It is legit. We know the end of the story. We have to give our president huge recognition for the role that he played in the nba and the commissioner handled it properly. It was a stunning moment in america. A question for kareem. You wrote an impressive Time Magazine piece which was awesome. What was your first reaction and there will be a surprise of where youre coming from . My first reaction was surprise. I had worked for mr. Sterling. I coached the clippers in the year 2000. He invited me to his daughters wedding. Idea exactly what was going on. I know elgin baylor. I know what he was complaining about. Whichconfused not knowing set of facts mr. Sterling stood behind. Then when his words came out it was so obvious and shocking. It was disgusting. All of those things wrapped in one. The surprise of it, to find that sentiment in a person who relies on black americans for so much of his success and public profile was amazing. Someonet believe that could have that much bigotry inside and think that it was ok. Your gutl, what was reaction would you first heard it . I was hurt. I was hurt for the players on the court. And for the fans. Lets be real. The clippers have been waiting a long time for this. Now, they are right have been waiting a long time and there have been a lot of loyal fans. They have chris paul and doc rivers. People that are such upstanding africanamericans that represent the best we have to offer. Of point out an attack one the best we have to offer in Magic Johnson tom a i was hurt. I wont say that i was totally shocked. , we still have the remnants of some of these still left. I am not shocked, but i was hurt during we have heard some things prior to this about Donald Sterling. On and he kept going on and on, i think we heard more of his heart. I was shocked and hurt for all those people. He does not have add. He is just a twitter maniac. I want you to know that he is paying attention. Ive got dad some new followers. And . Reaction was people were surprised by it. To the degree that he did. The reason i was pleased with it was because we are living in denial because there are too saying this is Postracial America because there is a black president. Racism doesnt exist. To the internet you can see case after case after case. We act as if things are changing. You see black mayors and ceos. Somehow these people have been wiped out. What do we do about what is in somebodys heart . For him to be a team owner, it is no shock. You have a city councilwoman in texas who was recorded saying we need to get those blacks off the school board. And she refuses to apologize. She is on a pollock genex saying that we need to get those blacks off the school board. Of raceont the reality in america, who is here from akron, ohio. . A pulitzerer won prize for a series on race and ushering in a citywide conversation. What we love to do in america is we love to not have that brutally honest discussion. We want to have the nice we all get along conversation without realizing there are people in power who are elected officials who might be in charge of having black people who work for them but have a hardcore view on the issue of race. It forces people to say we might want to examine ourselves. It forced the nba to answer some questions when you had examples of this owner and you are silent about him. He league did nothing when lost a housing lawsuit. I want to come back to. Kareem went to college in the 1960s when civil rights was at the top. Inplayed professional sports the 60s and 70s. Era . E at the end of an help us connect with what you are going to then and where you think we are today. Is when wehappened have the fact that we had the legal means to combat institutionalized racism, a lot of black american said ok. Now we have the tools to achieve something. It is taken us decades to achieve those things. When it comes to working on what we have ales hearts, very long way to go. Even though we have these tools, we have a long way to go because people do not understand their own bigotry. So endemic to the human experience. Theye dont get it when are intensely affected by racism. They are not even aware of it. We have a long way to go. Emmett till was killed in 1965. You go to the march on washington in 1963. Nixon gets elected in 1968. It. Of 13 years, the country was transformed. If 1960 it was the marker of full freedom for africanamericans, that is 46 years. Say that dr. King was killed in 1968 and , full freedomtion for black folks in 1968. I am 45. I will be 46 and november. We walk around as if things are changed. We have amazing freedom. In the history of the country, 46 years ofcans socalled freedom. When you expand the on Donald Sterling and the issue of housing and economics and inclusion and go beyond that, we have come a long way. Talking about 46 years of socalled full freedom. If you think that we have gotten over the issue of race, we have to be delusional. It did not happen in 46 years. You still have in south africa blacks dont have access to power. They dont control capital. I will ask you both the same aestion, you remember Football Player for the Philadelphia Eagles who got the recorded saying the n word. What are your thoughts when you first heard that . Im going to hold on to what you talked about 45 years. I want to come back to that. I will address the riley cooper situation. My job on sunday and thursday to talk about it. I had watched riley cooper. He is been playing football for a lot of years. One of the things i talked about was i was coming from a basketball camp with my son in las vegas. As we walked by the pool, they had music blasting with the n word. Everybody was having a great time. Angrycooper steps in situation. And here we go saying everything about riley cooper. I said it then and i will say it we ought to take responsibility as africanamericans for injecting the word out there and making it ok. Riley cooper said in a moment of heat. You let the word go in a moment of heat. Do i count him as a racist . I dont think so. He is been around people all of his life. Richie incognitos situation is different in miami. I thought that is what the word and how it was used back in the day. He used it as a systematic way to break down another man. That is racism. A systematic way of raking down the other man. That is not tolerable. [applause] when they say athletes are not smart, you get these to appear. I am sitting next to the dictionary. Knows every meaning of every word and for him to be able to break down the issues, this drives me crazy as a former athlete. People dont give athletes credit for what they do. These are great examples. He knows more words than don king . This is true. Streetcar i were on in san francisco. We were getting an award. We were riding around. Tell me something about the great walls of china . Know a cory was built . You had to deal with it. Was swift,ion aggressive, and negative. I saw that tape. Statement that said he needed to clean up and fix it. I was left with the impression that it was not the first time in his life he did use that word. That calls into question a host of other issues. The team tried to deal the. He suddenly had to go away. Clear. Never really they were just trying to get him out of town. Out of the situation. Illy, Michael Irvin always loved playing in philadelphia. Our fans are passionate. It is not an overreaction kind of town. There was a lot of reaction to that. It was a very negative reaction. I have some thoughts about how it was handled. Whether it was handled properly. The season started and there wasnt much. He had a pretty good season. I am not going to say that all is forgotten. I think people remember. He is trying to get past it. Tv, i ame him on usually remember that. He has to deal with that. Reality aboutalse race. This is what it has evolved into. Riley cooper, racist or not a racist . As donald same thing sterling. It becomes racist or not a racist . There is nothing in between those two. Say youpens is people are or you are not. As if there is nothing that is in between that deals with how we have grown up or our perceptions. There is nothing that this is me me offe that pisses more than people asking me if i played ball there. I didnt play ball. Not didt question is you graduate or what did you major in . I was playing golf and the dude. Sked me a columnt written called no i am not a Football Player. Question. He i did not respond. We finally got done. Is we haves perceptions. We have beliefs. A lot of them are based on race. I i see a 65 white guy dont assume he played basketball. I just dont. Race, we havebout to acknowledge that there is something in between not a racist or you are a racist that plays into this and then we dont like to have that. Now it brings into question how we were raised, how are friends are around us. There are all of these black and white and hispanic and asian students. They get along great. I know this is a bunch of bs. I asked them who they ate lunch with. Who do you eat lunch with . Theyi asked that question, got uncomfortable. Said you cant tell me you get along and you live in this wonderful race neutral world because who you choose to go to lunch with defined your view. I look at the parents and say who eats at your house for dinner . The room got really uncomfortable. Work are in voluntary situations. Who you eat with and who you go to lunch with is a voluntary situation. Often we eat with people we are like as opposed to people who are different. The whole conversation changed. They realized they had self segregated. They thought they were all multiracial. It never dawned on them that they were still segregating. If you take Donald Sterling and these other issues, you examine race in a different way. There is a schism. If a guy comes up to you and , what year did you play ball . Does that mean he is racist . We have to be careful as well. Dude my size, a white guy my size, he is not asking that question. You just made an assessment. You see what i am saying . Bet is the thing we have to careful with. Maybe that has something to do with the time or the people we have been around or the culture that we came up with. Sports are huge. Lets think through this. Sports are huge in this country. The money we spend on sports and, maybe he went to anna m or shirt, and it doesnt mean i played sports and didnt graduate. In order to have growth and beatified we have to watch it on both ways. I didnt call him a racist. There are perceptions and stereotypes that we buy into. When we see it over a. Realize ii did not jumped to a conclusion. What we are dealing with is the idea of the word prejudiced. It means prejudging. When you come into a situation and you already know you played no, i am a doctor. That is what we are talking about. Prejudging and assessing are two different things. I get prejudged, that made it my mind to he is. Assessing means im trying to figure out who he is. Assessing but not prejudging. I may be thinking sports. There are 500,000 former aggies out there. All of them didnt play. Mayor, can you sit between these two. I may be offended. Nobody ever asked me if i played ball. [laughter] people come up to me and asked me if i am will chamberlain. Say, will chamberlain is dead. What is that all about . Maybe they want dating advice. I want to get away from sterling for just one second. You said it best. You said sports gives us an opportunity. What we were talking about is Donald Sterling and michael sam situation. When they happen in sports, sports garners so much attention from the world and it is right there on tv. They pay me what they pay me to talk about it. I was fortunate enough to make millions and now i make millions talking about how to fake people out with my lips there in this is an incredible world. I love it. Opportunity is so real. We dont get those opportunities in fortune 500 companies. What we do is we are at a five through those conversations. Lets take the michael sam situation for a moment. Callingrowing up, michael sam or guys that have a Sexual Orientation opposite of mine, we didnt even know that. Whenever the use the f word it wasnt about Sexual Orientation it was about finding weakness. Now as we have these we startions, dispelling all the myths and edifying one another and Getting Better at it. Guy to be airst linebacker so he can knock somebody out. Gaten squash all of the stereotypes to move forward. That is what is great about it. Having conversation is what we need. I hate that we focus on the one like sterling. We do need to have these conversations. I want to build on Michael Irvins point about sports. It does play out literally on the biggest stage. People are watching. There is money. There are all kinds of things going on. Jesse owens. It wasnt just about running. What was going on at that time . War, world issues. At the olympics. This was literally the United States of america and germany. Now being defined on a track. Americas strength. Carlos decides to stand on the podium with a black glove on his hand and puts his fist up in the 1960s as a sign to the world that what was on his mind. Our friend here. And changesthe nba his name. Huge controversy. Cassius clay. This is during my lifetime and my childhood. I know exactly where i was in march 1971 as people you are an or youe frazier fra were a mohamed ali fan. Thoseere both in each of camps. They were trying to define are you a radical or are you a more establishment kind of mode. That is been going on. Certainly from the 60s on up. Race and other issues of played out on a larger scale in the United States of america. It is shaping attitudes and perspectives on who we are and what we are about. A lot of that continues today. I am asking the question you are older than me. That fight was about we were sportsr and it was saying they were not inferior. And jesse owens and all of those things. Through sports we show that we are not inferior. Is that still the same fight we are having today . . Yes. 1936 was america versus not see germany. When jesse owens came back he could not eat in restaurants in his own country. Presentday, we will praise our athletes as our but whenon the field we have a conversation about education reform. All of a sudden we begin forcing the conversation, sports allows. S sports, comedy, and music bring us together because of ethnicity, gender, all those factors. We are all operating behind this one deal. Those are three entertainment venues. We can get along and that is great. We go outside of that, your back in the real world. The problem i have in we have these conversations and is somebody who spent six years on cnn, i have been involved in media since i was 14. In the media we do the exact same thing in the real world. Lets hurry up and end this conversation. Lets move onto what we were talking about beforehand. With get off this stuff michael sam and dealing with race and gender so we can get back to playing games. We like to play games. Verses dealing with the hard stuff. What i try to do is say wait a minute. You have to keep that conversation going. Even if you disagree with michael sam, disagree with , this is, riley cooper a whole part human discussion. I had no problem with what mark cuban had to say because some he said i had prejudices. I am biased in he puts it on the table and the argument turned. Nto it should have been he puts it on the table so can we not own up to our own biases and have that conversation . Part of probably race discussion is a lot of whites want to talk about their personal feelings are afraid to say it because they will be called a racist. You have to create an environment where people can be honest about how they feel and begin to say ok. My First Response was it you are a racist. My first question would have been, mark, what is caused you to feel that way . What has brought you to that particular viewpoint . If the moderator had asked that question, it wouldve led to the next question. We have evolved into statement and denunciation. [applause] how much time do we have . We have a way to go. My flight leaves later today. So when the Trayvon Martin incident happened, kobe bryant terms ofmment in the the way the miami heat players addressed it. They came out with the hoodies on in solidarity. And you take a little bit of exception to what will be bryant had to say. Give us your perspective. First, he gave an interview to the new yorker. I read the piece, and the question that the interviewer asked really was a ridiculous question. He sort of mixed several things together. He mixed with the miami heat did criticism forng not being involved and more active on various issues, and then kobe bryant responded. First of all, people seem to forget the Trayvon Martin was killed on the night of the nba allstar game in sanford, florida. The game took place in orlando. He was going to come to watch the game. It was another two months before it blew up because, frankly, National Media ignored it. It was on social media. I remember tweeting dewayne wade, who i know, and i specifically said i am stunned that lawyers who live in orlando and miami are saying nothing about this, because he lived in miami gardens. So i remember him tweeting thanks, brother, for pushing us and keeping us on these issues. A day later, they made the statement. The problem i had with kobe was he was missing critical facts as to what actually happened and what took place. Players were not saying George Zimmerman guilty. It was sending a signal that we stand in solidarity. With they also were saying with those hoodies was that even though we might be nba ballers, depending upon where we go, they might not recognize the face of , so weredwaynek just like trayvon. If i am willing to criticize the president and oprah, kobe, im going to swing at you, to double up talk about you, too. He called my office. We had a discussion, and he said, you know, the issue i stated was i have a problem when people jump to someones side because of race. I said, kobe, let me remind you because of the history of the black man being accused of rape in america and some black folks jumped at your side when you were accused of rape [applause] i wasonversation flying somewhere and he hit me and i seen his number, and luckily i answered here it he said, icu are talking about me, and i was like, who the hell is this, and he said kobe. The interview made it sound as if the heat players jumped to the conclusion because trayvon was black, and that is not what they were saying. That is what i took exception to. But it led to a conversation. I told him we can discuss it offline or on television or beio, because there needs to a broader discussion jim brown criticized him for the same thing. That is what i am saying when these things happen, we can either respond or we can communicate and really break it down and have a backandforth. That is why media is so important. You should not have the eightminute quick discussion, racist or nonracist. It is, ok, what do you mean, and how can we get to that . Here again, on the other side if im walking with my little girl and i see some somebody walking and it is 98 degrees out, like it often is here in texas, and you have on an hoodie over your head in 98 degrees they do not come much blacker than me, but i will be a little bit worried that i do not know why youre a heady hiding like that when it is 98 degrees. It does not mean i am racist. I so it happen with mark cuban the other day. If i see someone walking towards me with all tattoos and he has those little teardrops in his that i just saw on tv that means you are a murderer. So i am telling you, i am going on the other side of the road. That is what i am telling you, we are all human and have to assess the things around us. Freeze it right there. You said i just saw it on tv. An assessment. We are making absolutes out of things. I am glad you said that. You are proving my point. What happens is we are watching television were watching movies or the news. All of the sudden, what we are being fed is driving our perceptions of one and other, which also goes back to the work that you are involved in in terms of your documentaries, your movie, your book, and what i am doing by saying part of the problem is we have an unbalanced diet of what we have been fed and america that is driving these racial perceptions. Michael, are you good on that or no . [inaudible] i believe some of that is reality. We are wrapping up here. I have a twopart question. The first one is in terms of just simply what role has sports played in Race Relations . Just give us that perspective. I think sports has the potential to be a great area where people can bridge to one another. By that i mean the los angeles the World Championship and they have a street parade downtown in front of city hall. The whole community was there. On the spanishlanguage movie theater, people from the Korean Community [speaking foreign language] speaking different languages, go ahead or people from the Korean Community, westside, the valley, they all came together. It was wonderful. Then you look at the opposite, when things do not work like that, and we had the rodney king issue, and ellie was tearing itself apart. And l. A. Was tearing itself apart. Inrts can bring us together terms of the big community, as individuals. You go out there every day and you work in the baseball field or in the weight room or on football fields with people who are not like you, and you see that they are hardworking and have a sense of humor. You relate. What do you like . I like james lee or whatever. It enables people that would not necessarily have the opportunity know each other and understand hey, they are just like us and we are dealing with the same issues, trying to get to the same place. The potential for sports to overcome a lot of ignorance and lack of knowledge of other people is huge. White americans did not ever see a black american as having any value, especially heroic value, until [inaudible] that was pretty good. All of the sudden, they looked upon black americans in a different way to her robinson breaks the color barrier in baseball. People say he should be out there. If he is not, that means the best they spot players are not playing major league baseball. Potential, and i think for that reason, it is a good thing, especially as we know it here in america, and the things it makes possible for all of us in terms of understanding and knowing each other. I have this final question for you. When the Donald Sterling incident happened, you wrote the article in Time Magazine. I did not understand have your big words, but it was a good article. Read a dictionary. [laughter] here is what i want to ask you. The incident became public on a saturday, friday night, saturday l. A. Onhere we are in Tuesday Morning because we hear that adam silver, the commissioner, is about to make a ruling. I call you and your team and i before. We come down to city hall. You come to city hall. Ettis in mayor garc office. You, norm nixon, steve nash, luke walter, all these great players there. Why was it so important for you to be there at city hall, and what were you thinking right before adam silver made his ruling . I was thinking that the nba had been my life and i do not want some racist clown being the face of the nba. That was the one thing that got to me. [applause] commissioner silver did such a great job. My first year in the league, i played in milwaukee. It was that year that they hired the very first black general manager, wayne embry, and my whole life since then, i have seen the nba make more and more reaches to be inclusive and to open up doors in the front office, management, and other atas where black americans, one point, were not considered. So i know that the nba, its hard is right and it has tried to do the right thing. And if Donald Sterling is the face of that, some thing has to be done. That is why i got on my horse. Round of applause for kareem abduljabbar. [applause] nutter, i will give you flicks ability on your question. You are a mayor with a unique perspective. You are dealing with my brothers keepers. You talk about violence in our communities and in church. You took everybody to task. We know this race issue is real in our country. What final thought you want to share . [inaudible] lean in. [laughter] let me put a stop to that right now. [laughter] i aint scared of a brother. Roland said some thing earlier, and i may not get it exactly right. He was talking about if a white racen wanted to talk about or wanted to get into a race conversation, there may be some challenges. Mayor johnson certainly knows this i mean, when we talk about my brothers keepers, cities united, challenges going on in africanamerican communities for black men and boys as it relates to violence. 6 percent of the population and 43 of the homicide victims in america. A standing as downing circumstances could the question mayor of new orleans talks about this issue. Yes, indeed. In a conversation last night with the new mayor of boston, she wants to talk about this issue. Especiallytion is, for the africanamerican community, are you prepared to have a conversation and have someone who does not look like you talk about these things, not criticizing, not blaming the it is obviously a little easier for an africanamerican mayor to talk ut lackonblack violence it is doubly difficult for a nonafricanamerican leader, mayor, city councilman for, whatever, to Start Talking about blackonblack crime am a can be as yours issue, and have black folks jumping up talking about, why are you talking about this . So we have to create a safe and comfortable space for folks to be able to talk about real issues. I say, look, somebody might criticize you for talking about it. I can assure you some folks will criticize you for not talking about it. Because death is death. Killings are killings and shootings are shootings. As mayor, we have an obligation and responsibility to deal with these issues. That door has to swing both ways. That field has to be open. People have to be ready for a serious conversation if we do our jobs and live up to the owners that we took to be in the office. That is one it secondly, from time to time, we read stories about a team in washington, a Football Team with a particular name, and some people are offended. This is a real issue here in the country. Should that issue be addressed and taken on . In light of what has happened with the clippers and all of this other stuff going on and that a growing proportion of the americanindian community is offended by the name of the team in washington, d. C. , that plays football. Is that a real issue . Well, that is the question i was actually going to ask michael. We work well together. Michael, the question for you is this broader context. You play football and there are the rivalries cowboysredskins to what is your take on mayor nutters question . Having these conversations is so vital. For years, growing up in Fort Lauderdale and watching my dad who loved the cowboys, we watched cowboysredskins games and i did not know. I did not know as a young man. I did not know that it was offensive to them, to native americans. I did not know. In getting that, i was like, wow, this is the importance of having those conversations. To have conversations with 70 to get an understanding of it, because i still do not know. But if it offense somebody, we should do something about that. We understand that. That is a great part about it. Here is the best part even with the owner, i know they love making money. It could make a lot of money for them because everybody that has all the redskins things, they have got to get new ones. [laughter] so you can really satisfy both sides in understanding that. People say it is the tradition of it, and i appreciate tradition and everything, but moving forward is what is important, and moving Forward Together it will is what is important, i believe. [applause] let me close with this pair to want to go back to what he said about 1968 and everything, talking about a little over 40 years. It is correct, we will take these moments and deal with these tough spots, these tough roads that we hear from the one Donald Sterling and people like that that will invite these kinds of conversations, but as we leave here, i want as leaving with the right taste in our mouths. Andttle bit past 40 years, the bible, they call that a generation. The reality is we have to be realistic when we are expecting change. Just because we Start Talking about it and mentioning it does not mean it is going to happen overnight. There is a reason god allowed this for 40 years in the desert land ofold man slavery out before they get to the new land of promise without the issues of slavery on them. We still have the remnants of the Donald Sterlings. But i do not want us to miss the bigger point. We say it is not a big thing, but it is humongous. I have seen africanamericans who cried because they do not think it would be possible in their lifetime of having an africanamerican president mo cowan that happened. And we focus on this one dude Donald Sterling all we want. But we can look at what we accomplish when we all come together as one. That is what i think we should do. That is my closing comment. [applause] roland will close is out with a final thought. On the set of cnn that night then when i was shedding tears, folks asked me why. I said it is not because of this election. I did not do it because i saw him. I saw the u. S. Soldiers who were hanging from trees and lyn ched in their uniforms. That was the image they came to my mind. But what ties in with sports is that i recognize that the inauguration parade is over. And if you have not read dr. Community, you should. What we are talking about today, he wrote in 1967 when we were grappling with riots across the country could he said it did not tot america much to allow us sit at the same lunch counter or to be in the same hotel. He said now the question is the real cost is about to be tabulated, and is america prepared to write that check . He put that whole thing down in terms of where we are and in terms of society. When i look at opportunity, when i look at the idea of sports and how race can ask, what each and every single one of you should do some thing reverend jackson ,ften talks about he said the reason africanamericans have been able to achieve a level of success in sports and entertainment is because in sports, if it is basketball, the court is 94 feet for everybody. It is 10 feet high for everybody not shot clock is the same. Fouls are the same. Everything is the same. So when you go play, your talent will determine whether you succeed or not. It was undeniable that kareem, working on his game mo cowan was going to achieve a level of success, because in the game of sports, you can perform are you cannot perform. You have the talent or you do not. Same with michael. It does not matter. But the real question that you should be challenging people in your city and your corporate citizens and your schools and everyone else is to say why is