single mom, grandmother was my nanny, so on, i was reading and looking around and guys looking at me reading gretchen carloson s book why is so important for men to step up. on my study more men stop med to thank me for what i did and want to shake my hand and they say thank you for my daughters. okay. women are also appreciative, but the man chapter in my book became the longest chapter because i found so many amazing men who were already doing great work. most men want i safe environment for women in the workplace so i wanted to honor men. this is not male bashing this is saying come join us in this fight together because we can t accomplish it without men. it s similar, hear me out here, to what s happening in the nfl, what s happened with minorities, that even though you may not be affected by that, you should at least prioritize
kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. president trump doubling down again tonight on players kneeling. we believe that our great american flag should be treated with reverence and respect and that young americans should be taught to love our country, honor our anthem and proudly recite the pledge of allegiance. joining me now is marvin washington, a formal nfl player. marvin, thank you for joining us this evening. i just want to read a portion. this is from your op-ed on cnn.com. and you said the inscapable reality for those of us raising black sons is that we pray every time that they don t end up becoming a viral video after an encounter with police. those are really strong words. what are your thoughts behind it?
but i ve talked to players and talked to a couple of league officials. both sides have said that they feel like this meeting was a very productive start, and it s the very beginnings of something they want to continue in the next week or so. and there s going to be a lot of things that are going to happen from a standpoint of players again, and i ve said this before and got a little flack for it. but players are not just looking at these racial inequality issues. again, they re looking at the gender pay gap. they re looking at housing discrimination. you will see what players will do in the weeks to come, and the nfl is going to give them a platform to do all this just as they do breast cancer week i m sorry, breast cancer month. and just as they do the military month in november. and that s what the players have been wanting all along for the nfl and the owners to step up to the plate. they don t want this to be an
owners versus players issue. they want the owners to support them in these endeavors. but that s easier said than done because that s what the president has done. he s turned it into an owners versus player but, don, the president was not even brought up in the meeting today from what i ve urd heard. but listen, he turned the conversation that way. it wasn t that way until he did it. lee, it s so good to have you on. and it s unique because you re on agent for a number of players in the nfl. what are they telling you about the protest, what do they want to see happen, and what advice are you giving them if any? players have had political consciousness and willing to stand up for what they believe. but the symbolism of the protests needs to be followed up by action. and now players are starting to think about how in combination with the league and the owners, they can go into the ener city,
say the last few years, because that s not new. the cameras are new. the thing we ve been fighting this fight for a long time. and it s kind of, you know, it s kind of frustrating that we re relitigating things that my mom and her sisters and my dad were fighting for in the 60s and 50s. let s talk about colin kaepernick, because he filed a grievance against the nfl alleging collusion. whether or not his attorneys can find evidence of collusion, that s one thing. but there have been a number of quarterback injuries in the nfl, and kaepernick still doesn t have a job. what is your opinion on the situation? well, you know, article 17 either applied or expressly, you know, that the owners have colluded against him. you can say it s implied because i do not believe there are 90 something quarterbacks in the nfl that are better than colin kaepernick. he s shown a lot of patience, because if it was me, i would