trump has attacked the nfl, nba, and some of their most popular athletes, like nba superstar lebron james, who spoke out in their defense. >> y you look at himim asking ml owners -- the nfl owners to get rid of players off the field because they are exercising their rights. and that is not right. amy: we'll look at how trump's comments sparked nationwide protests. on sunday "for the nfl, it was 'choose your side sunday" with many nfl players taking a knee during the national anthem, while others locked arms. or whole teams state in the locker rooms. some owners issued statements condemning mr. trump's comments. we'll get response from former nfl player donte stallworth, the nation's sportswriter dave zirin, and dr. harry edwards, sociologist, author, sports activist and the architect of the 1968 olympic project human rights longtime staff consultant with the san francisco 49ers, advising colin kaepernick. he is the author of "the revolt of the black athlete." then we look at climate justice after hurricane harvey in the fenceline community of port arthur, texas, home e to the largest oil refinery in the coununtry. >> i see your smoke rising i in the air, 2:00, 3:00 in thehe mornining when using no one is there in the still of the night, my child starts to sneeze and the other starts to weeds. of your flame i've learned to ignore, even though its combustion vibrates my feet on the apartment floor. amy: we will speak with tilting kelly, who became the first african-american man to win the green nobel prize, the goldman environmental prize. he is from port arthur. all that and more, coming upup. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. this weekend, the professional sports worldld was rocked byby widespread protests against racism, , police brutality, and president trump. on sunday, members of the majority of all national football league teams took the knee or locked arms during the national anthem, or even sat out the anthem entirely in the locker rooms. professional baseball players, wnba players, cheerleaders and national anthem singers also protested on sunday. the weekend of the five connector trump lashed out at players who joined a growing protest movement started by former 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick against racial injustice while speaking at a campaign rally in huntsville, alabama, trump on friday evening. and i andp: luther everyone in this arena tonight are unified by the same great american values. we are proud of our country. we respect our flag. wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say, get that son of a botch off the field right now? he's fired. he's fired! amy: this one, president trump tweeted -- over the weekend, trump also took aim at the nba, rescinding an invitation to basketball champions, the golden state warriors, to visit the white star after the team's player steph curry said he would not attend. in response, lebron james, one of the nation's best-known athletes, tweeted -- we will have more on the protest across the sports world after the headlines. in puerto rico, 100% of the island is still without power after hurricane maria. 70,000 people have been ordered to evacuate the areas around the guajataca dam, which was damaged by hurricane maria and is at risk of collapsing at any minute. >> yesterday, an emergency crew arrived and said we had to evacuate because the dam collapsed. it had a 30 foot crack and we had to move. when the water was escaping, it destroy the bridge. we made a path to leave you another way. we did not have much indication. the last thing the authorities said was to leave, and we cannot take anything. i don't hahave anything. it was all in n the house. amy: puerto rico's governor ricardo rosello has called thehe hurricane the e worst catastrope in the island's history. meanwhile, in mexico, the death toll from last week's devastating magnitude 7.1-earthquake has risen to 305 people, as southern mexico is shaken by two more earthquakes on saturday. among those who died from last week's earthquake are garment workers who were buried after their factory collapsed. this is a garment worker organizer. the conditions are the same as 1985. that is why we are here. it is painful to see this is just what happened before, there were so many bodies taken awaya. there were so many bodies trapped in the rubble. today, just as they did 32 years ago, they hide how many bodies they really found and how many have died. that is why we came out here to keep on struggling from each of our own spaces. amy: president trump has again threatened to destroy all of north korea, a nation of 25 million people. on saturday, trump tweeted -- "just heard foreign minister of north korea speak at u.n. if he echoes thoughts of little rocket man -- an apparent reference to north korea leader kim jong un -- they won't be around much longer!" trump's tweet came after north korean foreign minister ri yong ho said trump was on a suicide mission. >> due to his lacking in basic, knowledge of proper sentiment, he tried to insult us to bring dignity of my country by referring to it as a rocket. by doing so, he commits in your reversible mistake of making our rockets visit to the entire u.s. mainland inevitable all the more. none other than trump himself is on a suicide mission. in case innocent lives of the was are lost because of the suicide attack, trump will be held fully responsible. amy: on saturday, tens of thousands of north koreans rallied in pyongyang at a protest against u.s. military aggression. the trump administration has issued a new order expanding chad, north korea, and some government officials from venezuela. the order also includes citizens from iraq and all citizens of iran, libya, sendin syria, yeme. the new travel ban is slated to go into effect on october 18. it's even more extensive than trump's original bananwhich caused widespread protesests at airports nationwide and has been blocked by multiple courts. on capitol hill, republican lawmakers are scrambling to save their latest effort to repeal and replace the affordable care act after it looks like they will again fail to secure enough votes to pass the legislation. on friday, republican arizona senator john mccain has announced he will not support the graham-cassidy bill. kentucky senator rand paul also opposes the legislation, and maine senator susan collins, alaska senator lisa murkowski , and texas senator ted cruz have all indicated they may vote against the bill. top republicans have revised to add additional benefits for alaska and maine in efforts to woo those senators for their votes. in germany, chancellor angela merkel has won a fourth term in sunday's elections, although her victory was overshadowed by the surge in support for the extremist right-wing party, alternative for germany. the xenophobic and anti-immigrant party won 13% of the vote, becoming the first far-right-wing party to break into the german parliament in more than 60 years. meanwhile, tensions continue to escalate over catalonia's independence referendum on october 1. the spanish government has tried to take control of catalonia's police force, although catalan police chiefs rejected the move. also over the weekend, pro-referendum organizers distributed one million paper ballots ahead of sunday's vovot. in northern iraq, voters are heading to the polls today for a referendum on kurdish independence. the governments of iraq and iran haveve both retaliated against e referendum. iran has halted flights to and from the semi-autonomous kurdish regions and launched wargames at the kurdish border. iraq also tightened its control over the region's borders and called on countries to stop importing oil from the kurdish areas. the pentagon says it launched six drone strikes into libya on sunday, killing at least 17 people. the pentagon describes the drone strikes as an attack on anan iss training camp, and says the 17 victims were isis militants. it's the first time the u.s. has launched drone strikes into libya since president trump took office. in turkey, syrian-american journalist halla barakat and her mother, syrian opposition activist orouba barakat, have been assassinated in istanbul. their bodies were found in their apartment on thursday night. halla worked with the opposition outlet orient tv. her mother, orouba, was a member of the political opposition group, the syrian national coalition. their family members believe the syrian regime is behind the assassinations. inin france,e, union workers hae blocked access to fuel depots across the country, amid increasing resistance to the new, anti-worker laws signed by french president emmanuel macron on friday. the laws signal the biggest changes to the french labor market in decades. they radically empower corporations at the expense of workers, including by weakening collective bargaining rights and limiting workers' ability to win compensation for wrongful termination. on saturday, tens of thousands of people poured into the streets of paris to protest the new laws. this is leftist politician jean-luc melenchon. decreased become law, they have to come back before parliament. the battle isis only just stararting. we have been told that democracy does not happen in the street. mr. president, you will need to look at french history to learn it was the street that brought down the king, brought down the nazis. ran for president against macron. in st. louis, at least 22 people were arrested on saturday protesting the acquittal of white former police officer jason stockley for the murder of 24-year-old african american anthony lamar smith. saturday's protest at the st. louis galleria shopping mall is the latest in a series of protests over the police officers acquittal earlier this month. and in washington, d.c., students at the historically black college howard university disrupted a speech by former fbi director james comey on friday, over the fbi's efforts to undermine african american resistance to police brutality. >> zinke, president frederickck- [chanting] amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in the biggest display of athletic defiance for decades, football teams across the nation protested president donald trump after he attacked the nfl, nba, and some of their most popular athletes for daring to draw attention to racism and police violence. by taking any of the national anthem. at a campaign rally in huntsville, alabama, on friday evening, trump lashed out at players who have joined a growing protest movement started by former 49ers quarterback colin kaepernick against racial injustice, kneeling during the national anthem ahead of games. trump made the comments while stumping for senator luther strange to replace jeff sesessis in a close republican prarary. pres. trump: wouldn't you love to see one of these nfl owners when somebody disrespects our flag to say, get that son of a bitch off the field right now? he's fired. he's fired! wouldn't you love it? >> usa! usa! pres. trump: you know, some owner is going to do that. he is on a say, , that guy that disrespects our flag, he is fired. and that owner, they don't know it am they are friends of mine, many of all, they donon't know - they will be the most popular person for a week. they will be the most popular person in this country because that is a total disrespect of our heritage. that is a tototal disrespepect f everything that we stand for host ok? trump's speech took place in the city of huntsville, a couple hours from where alabama's governor george wallace openly embraced segregation in his 1963 inaugural address. during his remarks, trump urged football fans to turn off their tv's when athletes protested during the national anthem. pres. trump: do you know what is hurting the game more than that? turnpeople like yourselves on your television and you see people takining a knenee when they''re playing our great national anthem -- >> [boos] pres. trump: the only thing you can do better is if you see it, it, if it even if it is one player, leave the stadium. i guarantee, things will stop. just take up and leave. amy: trump's comments, immediately -- well, they immediately drew outrage and criticism. nfl commissioner roger goodell said in a statement "divisive comments like these demonstrate an unfortunate lack of respect." ththe nfl players' association president eric winston said trump's comments were "a slap in the face to the civil rights heroeses of the past and preses" former nfl wide receiver anquan boldin tolold abc nenews that hd other athletes are concerned about trump's s hate speech. >> i think the president's words are real divisive. i don't like the hate speech that is coming out of his mouth, neither do the players in the locker room. so i think as a leak, we need to stand together and show we all about uniting one another and not the divisive rhetoric coming out of the mouth of the president. amy: ahead of a series of nfl games on sunday, trump again urged football fans to boycott nfl games unless clubs punished players who protest during the national anthem. he tweeted -- "if nfl fans refuse to go to games until players stop disrespecting our flag & country, you will see change take place fast. fire or suspend! nfl attendance and ratings are way down. boring games yes, but many stay away because they love our country. league should back u.s." trump's comments sparked nationwide protests with players on most teams participating in some form of protest ahead of games. sunday nfl players who kneeled and locked arms during the national anthem included members of the buffalo bills, denver broncos, new orleans saints, miami dolphins, tampa bay buccaneers, cleveland browns, philadelphia eagles, and new york giants. super bowl champions new england patriots also protested, with white quarterback tom brady interlocking arms with teammates of color as others kneeled. several players and staff from the jacksonville jaguars and the baltimore ravens also knelt in defiance ahead of a game in london. journalist shaun king noted "27 players and staff" from both teams participated in the protest, making it the "most ever in one game." and nearly the entire pittsburgh steelers team sat out the national anthem in the locker room ahead of their game against the chicago bears, who stood on the sidelines with their arms locked in solidarity. meanwhile, during game one of the wnba finals, the lynx linked arms during the national anthem, while the sparks stayed in the locker room. the protests spread to baseball teams as well with the oakland athletics' bruce maxwell becoming the first major league player to kneel during the national anthem on saturday night. maxwell was born on an army base and his father is in the military. he told reporters he was "kneeling for people that don't have a voice." and on saturday, legendary musician stevie wonder joined protesting athletes by kneeling on stage before his performance at the global citizens festival. meanwhile, trump also took aim at the nba, rescinding an invitation to basketball champions the golden state warriors to visit the white house after the team's star player, steph curry, said he would not attend. curry told reporters he and some of his teammates disagree with trump and "the things that he's said and the things that he hasn't said in the right times." in response, trump tweeted -- "going to the white house is considered a great honor for a championship team. stephurry is hehesitating, thereforore invitation is withdrawn!" this is curry responding. >> it is surreal, to be honest. i don't know what he feels the need to target certain individuals rather than others. but it isidea why, company a it is just leader of a country to go that route. it is not what leaders do. we're amazing people in this league that have spoken out on both sides of the conversation. the amount of support a and encouragagement i saw ththis mog around the league was all types offrom players. amy: the golden state warriors say they will visit washington, d.c., but skip the white house and instead "celebrate equality, diversity, and inclusion." trump's tweet also true a sharp rebuke from nba superstar lebron james, one of the nation's best-known athletes. he tweeted at trump -- "you bum. stephen curry already said he ain't going! so therefore ain't no invite. going to white house was a great honor untitil you showed u up!" james posted this video on his instagram account on saturday as of sunday evening, it had been viewed over 2 million times. >> you look at him kind of to get ridnfl owners of players off the field because they're exercising their rights, and that is not right. and then when i wake up, i see a colleague of mine has been uninvited of something he said he did not even want to go to in the first place, you know, to the white house. you know, that is just something i can't stand for, m man. we got jemele hill and colin kaepernick and all of these people speaking up. it is for the greater cause. it is for us to all come together. it is not about a division. we as american people need to just come together even more stronger, man, because this is a very critical time. me being in the positition i ami have the voice.. y'all. eveven some of the anthem singes dissipated in the protester in the nfl games. the motown, before the lions game at ford field, the singer performed the star-spangled banner, pausing betweenen home f and brave and dropped to his knee, a move that recall the black power salute of the us olympians john carlos and tommie smith at the 1960 olympic games mexico cityty. freefor the land of the brave isome of the amy: when we come back from break, we will be joined by three guests, dr. harry edwards, advisor to colin kaepernick. we will also be speaking with sports writer dave zirin and we will be speaking with former nfl star donte' stallworth. this is democracy now! .ack in a minute will sto ♪ [music break] amy: stevie wonder performing saturday nightht at the global cicitizen concert in central pa. that was after he took both knknees as he said it, for amera and for the world. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in the biggest display of athletic defiance in years, sports teams across the nation -- football, baseball, and basketball -- protested president donald trump after he attacked the nfl, nba, and some of their most private letter athlhletes for daring toto draw attention to racism and policice violence. we go now to get response. we're joined by three people. in palo alto, california, we're joined by dr. harry edwards, professor emeritus of sociology at the university of california, berkeley. author of a number of books, including "the revolt of the black athlete," reissued this yeyear for its 50th anniversary edition. he was the architect of the 1968 olympic project for human rights. he is a longtime staff consultant with the san francisco 49ers, where he worked with colin kaepernick. in washington, d.c., we're joined by donte' stallworth, a sports commentator and former nfl player who spent 10 years in the league. and also with us is dave zirin, a sports editor for the nation magazine. his latest t piece for the nfl,- his latest piece "for the nfl, , it was 'choose your side sunday." we welcome you all. here he edwards, let's begin with you. have you seen anything like this ? in one day yesterday, what happened across this country, and beyond? >> absolutely not. in the 1960's, you had pockets of athletes who were engaged in political activities, some of the greatest sports personalities in the history of this country, but nothing on this scale. mr. trump has managed to participate something that all of us come activists and intellectuals and media types would never have been able to achieve. three segments and impulsiveness -- through his impulsivenessndnd vindictiveness. he is done more to put it on track than any other individual in history. amy: president trump has managed to do something that has not happening quite a while like roger vindictiveness. he is done goodell, the head ofe nfl being united with players? talk about the response of the predominately almost all white coaches, the staff, and the players -- describe what we saw yesterday from game to game, whether the players stayed back in the locker room for the anthem or went down on knee or locked arms like tom brady, not usually seen in solidarity in this way, who talked about president trump as being disrespectful. -- first of trump all, he threw the owners under the bus. the owners who had been supporting him come all of a sudden had to choose between him the alt-right and that cheaper plus he got in alabama and their own players. and they knew from the moment he theythose statements, if did not stand up on the right side of the issues and join their place, they signened the last freree-agent for probabably would haveve a great deal l of difficulty signing their draft choices, and it would have tremendous problems in the locker room because of the perception of what the owners stood for who took mr. trump's advice. again, this demonstrates mr. trump's utter ignorance of the dynamics of athletics in this country, particularly at the elite levels. what holds teams together, motivates them, and what they consider to be important and critical in terms of their own involvement in this great american sports institution. again, like an honest of other areas he is injured, he has shown an abysmal ignorance of what is important, what is going on, and he does not hesitate to throw even his closest associates and supporters under the bus. i will say something else, we have not heard the last of him and the sports arena. we had better prepare ourselves to respond objectively, collectively, in unity because going forward, he is going to continue this inductive tirade he is been on. amy: i want to turn to the head offl head coach, the new york jets, rex ryan, well-known trump supporter. speaking sunday on espn, ryan blasted trump for his criticism of nfl players saying he is appalllled by trump's commen. >> i am [ [bleep] off. i i supporteted donaldld trump. i sasat bacack and when hasaskee toto introduduce him aa rally, u know, in buffafalo, i did th.. but t i'm readining the comments and it is appalling toto me. i am sure it is apappalling to almo a any citizizen in ouour cocountry. it s should be. cacallg ouour players sob's and that k kind of sff? that ii know.the menen the n i i know in n the locker room im proud d of. i am proud to be associated with thosose peoplele. [bleep]ize for bebeing off, b but that isis it. right aw i a am associciated wih what dononald trumump standsds d all that because, you know, i introduced him. i never signed up for that. i never wantnted apples thatat : dave zirin, you have been covering sports and protest for a long time. everything that we saw -- we are not only talking about the nfl, nba, cheerleaders, the actual anthem singers themselves , wnba as well, women's basketball. >> yet. first and foremost, amy, i want to say what an honor it is to do the show with dr. harry edwards. he said it is impossible to think about this moment happening without donald trump. i think it is imimpossible to se this moment happening without the work of dr. harry edwards over the last five decades. i will say this. donald trump. he knew what he was doing in huntsville, alabama. he has a tremendous ability to speak to the worst instincts of his audience. i'm sure in his lizard brain he looked to that audience of senior citizens -- white senior citizens council in alabama and said to himself, you know what? i think that going after young black men will be a big win. that is what he does. he goes after people of color, women, people that his face will celebrate their destruction. what he did not understand, maybe because he never played football, he did not understand football locker rooms, that what michael bennett calls a brotherhood. brotherhood could be seen as another word for solidarity. it is kind of like a spartacus in, like an injury to one is an injury to all kind of thing. you think about what donald trump said that rally and what nfl players and owners heard. yet the taken all of what he said. sob'sls the players [captioning made possible by democracy now!] . he went after their mothers for stuff you would have to their livelihoods, their freedom, their right to dissent. not understandd the players who have been dissenting, talking about people like malcolm jenkins, michael bennett, they're not just individuals, not just people who are sitting during the anthem, their people considered leaders in locker rooms, the most respected people in the national football league. individuals, not justhe is goina lot of these coaches love. they love having these guys in the locker room. there are some of the most thoughtful people they have. what donald trump spurred is remarkable. i would be remiss if i did not read your audience comes as a people know how deep the politics of what we saw sunday was, the statement made by the real seahawks and the refusal to come out for the national anthem. it is brief and worth reading. this is what they said -- on "we will not stand for the injustice that is played people of color in this country. out of love for our country and in honor of the sacrifices made on our behalf, we unite to oppose those that we deny our most basic freedoms. we remain committed in continuing the work toward equality and justice for all. we reached a point where protesting the anthem is an act that actually demands more unity than whatever it is that donald trumump is saying from his bully pulpit." amy: i want to go to michael bennett himself, seattle seahawk, nfl star appeared on democracy now! a f few months s. i i asked him about nfl quarterback colin kaepernick's decision to protest against racial oppression and police brutality by taking the knee during the pregame national anthem. knee, ite took the just made me realize that, you and maden you did that people speak around the world about this? dowas like, wow, athletes haveve this platform that a lotf people just want too hear. when he made a decision to do that, i think it changed a lot of lives. they brought us and ugliness of people, but also brought out some beauty in people. for me for us, personally, it challenged me to join him and try to make everything in his message -- make it where people understand and then want to be a part of it, where young kids are speaking about it, tuples of amy: that is seattle seahawk michael bennett speaking to us in february. dave zirin, i would ask about the history of the playing of the national anthem. he was not always like this, was it? warned the teams usually in their locker rooms have go to this have to do with payment the pentagagon made to the nfl to start recruiting more people because you people watch football? >> playing the national anthem and having the teams line up for games has a long and how it history that goes back to the days of jersey shore and justin bieber. we're talking 2009. fast and furious four came out in 2009. that is how long players have lined up for the anthem. and yet it comes out of a partnership between the department of defense and the national football league. everything you see at games for years until it was uncovered by senator jeff flake from arizona, everything -- amy: and john mccain. thees will stop showing salute to the truth moments and all of these spectacles, they really were about recruitment for the armed forces and they pay tens of millions of dollars to the national football league to do these kinds of events -- which speaks to, i think, this partnership that exists in our patriotism exists in these events. this is not some long tradition. this is a very short tradition and one that was absolutely geared with post-9/11 war on terror concern about the recruitment levels for the armed forces and seeing the nfl as a way to shore up those numbers and paying billionaires money to make this a reality. and yet this was something also that was hidden. it was discovered by the investigation of those arizona senators. i think that sort of gives the game away as far as what this is all about. trump speaks about it as if it is this long-held tradition of players standing at attention for the anthem when it is something very recent and very, i think, just monetary in terms of the nfl's persrspective. amy: harry edwards? >> but you know it is not about the anthem. this is the part we don't want to get hung up on. what colin did was not an attack on the anthem ordered the military. it was not even an attack on police. it was an attack on injustice. he was no more against the anthem then he was against the soldiers who are in afghanistan and in iraq. we don't want to get too tied up its place in and sports and so forth. we want to look at the issues. anything elslse is a red herrin. that is what colin was about. it is ththat even about colin getting quarterback job agaiain. that is likeke saying g the montgomery b bus boycott movemet should have been about rosa parks getting her seat back. it has to be about much broader than that. we want to understand the history and dynamics o of the politics of the national anthem and how they're being plalayed y people such as trump, but we don't want to lose sight about what the struggle is about. inis about injustice american society. amy: dr. harry edwards, you're certainly speaking from personal experience. you are in advisor to colin kaepernick. for people who have not been following the whole controversy around him after he first took 49er's star, now not being able to get a job. i am talking to you from new york where 1000 people came out protesting outside of nfl headquarters. talk about collins response to what we're seeing, the mass protests across the country. >> colin kaepernick is getting ready to play football. i ththink thatat has beenn his commitment f from all of this didiscussion about whether he wants to play, is he willing to offer an apology -- an apology for what? he plays football. he is an activist in the struggle for human righthts, injustice in american society. those two things are not contradictory. this notion that perhaps he doesn't want to play anymore, perhaps he wants to be a civil rights leader -- i mean, those two things are not contradictory. a lot of that is simply rationalization for a reactionary colter. where owners, for whatever reason, are reluctant to give colin kaepernick the opportunity to play. the very idea that there are 96 quarterbacks in this league, including 32 clipboard holders come you're so much better than colin kaepernick who took his team to three conference championships and the super bowl , that they are so much betterer ththan colin kaepernrnick that e does not even deserve a chance for a tryout is ludicrous. this is something the league, along with siding with their players within the very near future, is going to have to correct. colin kaepernick belongs at least on the field holding a clipboard. you can't make any other argument, specially given some of the performances that have shown up in the first three weeks by quarterbacks in this league. that is a challenge that the league is still confronted with. what colin kaepernick is doing is preparing to play football, because that is one of the things that he does. amy: i want to bring in our third guest who has been waiting patiently, donte' stallworth, former nfl star -- oh, you play with the philadelphia eagles, the new england patriots, cleveland browns, baltimore ravens, and beyond. a lot of those teams took action yesterday. your thoughts and feelings as you saw them on the field and also those that stayed back in the locker room for the playing of the national anthem? >> first, i wanted to say that i totally agree with and share edwardsentiment on dr. and appreciate everything that he has done and everything that he is continuing to do in staying engaged in this political debate in this environment. >> i appreciate it. >> we appreciate you, dr. edwards. amy, i believe that when you look at the players -- we all use the word "solidarity," and that is what it is, brotherhood amongst people that are in the locker room. we see each other every day. we are essentially like family and we treat each other like brothers. haveen i see guys that long before today or long before the last couple of weeks, guys have been engaged in this political discourse, not just by talking about it, but in gauged where the president himself has been absent or in opposition to these reforms in helping to make this country a more perfect union. and by that i will say this -- you get a guy like chris long from the philadelphia eagles. he has donated or is donating his first six games checks, six out of 16 total game checks, donating to his hometown in charlottesville where, honestly, that the white supremacist and not these marching openly and freely. promotenating money to equality for education. donald trump and his administration has worked to defund groups that counter white and aacist, extremists, joint intelligence briefing was brought out in may. --y warned heavily about they warned heavily about the dangers of these white supremacist using violence. and you see the players have worked much more than the president has on his reform issues. you go to doug baldwin of the seattle seahawk who met with the seattle police chief and police officers from the police department department. he also spoke and had a meeting with the washington state attorney general. and anquankins boldin have been to the capital to speak to members of congress. i was able -- they invited me on one trip where for three straight days we spoke to members of congress on both sides of the aisle to move the needle forward about these issues. the players have taken the initiative or the president has been absent and where he is been in opposition towards these reforms. so the players themselves now have even seen -- now so more than ever that the president is in complete and total opposition to allowing players, number one, the first amendment right. that is the first thing. i think the other thing, too, that we have to be conscious of is to not allow mr. trump to hijack this conversation, to hijack the narrative. obviously, it is going to be in the video. we're going to talk about it for a day or so. after that, let's actually are keeping our i am a prize. i think dr. edwards and dave alluded to that earlier. that is the main focus. we can't allow the president to hijack this conversation and make it all about him. as we all know, he does love attention. amy: donte' stallworth, you mentioned charlottesville. president trump has spent more time now attacking black athletes and calling for them to be fired then he has spent in any way criticizing the torch carrying protesters, the white supremacists in charlottesville. can you talk about what we saw this weekend -- and it was not .ost on people in alabama in the mainstream media, you will often hear question, he did not realize the blowback that he would have. isn't it exactly what he did it? of course he understands what kind of response -- whether he is doing it to divert attention from perhaps losing the health care bill this week, not clear, but he has very clear, consistent pattern of taking on these issues of white supremacy through his campaign. talk about charlottesville and who he is attacking today and he did not attack and criticize. >> you always look at the president and when he speaks and you listen to him, his initial reaction was of his natural reaction. not a scripted tweet or not a scripted speech. you listen them off the cuff, at his rallies, at 6:00 in the morning when he has -- god knows what he is doing at 6:00 in the morning, but when he is tweeting at 6:00 in the morning. what he is naturally inclined to say about these issues. again, not from a scripted tweet or speech. time and time again, what he is shown is an adversarial tone to professional athletes, do people who are in opposition to his ideology, to his politics. here shown somewhat of an affinity for people that are dictatorial figures. i say that -- he obviously has said things about russian president vladimir putin. he is said favorable things about the philippines president duterte. we all know about him and mass killings with his "war on drugs." he is that it would be an honor to meet kim jong-un. he aspires to be a dictator. he is like the little dictator that good. he aspires to be a full-blown dictator. he is fighting against people that are in opposition of white supremacists and nzazis. he does not defend americans first to mimic right, but he will defend -- first amendment rights, but he will defend and even embolden white supremacist as he is not call them out within the first 48 hours. you get the media that has to come down on him and condemn or get him to condemn these voice supremacists that are marching in this 320 should be a natural reaction. don't give us as scripted speech or tweet. we need to hear what you think when it happens. time againime and where his ideologies s live. amy: with the vertebrae that will become back, we will continue this didiscussion. we want to bring in another issue and that is cte, the tragic brain injury that nfl players suffer. and talk about -- people are saying colin kaepernick began this all. i think the link is we have dr. harry edwards here, going from colin kaepernick back to john inlos and tommie smith back 1968 at the next girl olympics. -- at the mexico olympics. we will talk about that next. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. was the late great soul singer charles bradley who died 68 posted yes, we're continuing to talk about the biggest display of athletic defiance in years is that sports teams across the nation protesting president donald trump after he attacked the nfl, it nba, some of the must popular athletes. i want to go what happened on saturday night will stop going way beyond sports now to entertainment, to politics. i want to go to stevie wonder. he was singing before tens of york,nds of people in new in central park, when he took both knees at the global citizen festival. a kneeght i am taking for america. [applause] but not just one knee. i'm taking both knees. knees in prayer for our planet, our future, our leaders of the world. amen. amy: that was stevie wonder there on both knees next to his son. one of the people in the audidience who was rocking out o stevie wonder was the new york city mayor bill de blasio. i got a chance to ask him. what you think of stevie wonder taking the knee? >> stevie is like no one doubts his integrity and what he stands for. we respect anyone who stands up for what they believe. stevie always. amy: s so we're talking about se of the biggest sports and we'veainment protests seen. entertainers across the country took a knee this weekend. 2011 whengo back to we got a chance to speak to the 1968 on a bit medalist and international civil rights icon john carlos who talked about the shocked response of the audience in the mexico city stadium when he raised his fist in the now iconic blacack power salute. i asked him m what it was lilike afafter he retururned to the u d states from the mexico city olympics. >> i think the main focus when i came back was to realize i was -- it was to do whatever was necessary to do to support your family. i had individuals come to me with drugs in my house and summit, man, it is going to be rough, go that way. i looked at them and said, thanks but no thanks. you can move on with that. i did take jobs as security guards in nightclubs and so forth. amy: he could not get a job. you are often referred to as the protestt of the 1968 with tommie smith and john carlos, who we just heard. can you talk about the trajectory from 1968 to a man u now advise, colin kaepernick? >> first of all, let understand smitharlos and tommie could not get a job before the olympics. no one was surprised. once you random represented the country, you came back and went down to the neighborhood and join the rest of the people who are pushed to the level of second-class citizens. let me say one other thing. i don't want to o get into too deepf didiscussion about whether trump is deliberately looking to become a dictator or whether he is a white supremacist or any of that. i think we can all agree that even if he is not a whitee supremacist, even if he doesn't want to become a dictator, he mostlyly will do until the real thing comes along. that is what we have to deal with. in terms of the trajectory of developments and issues from of mexicoco prorost city and colin k kaepernick, ths is an ongoing struggle. 1960 it was the third d wave of athlete activismsm which was framed up by the black power movement. this is the fourth wave of athlete activism, which is been framed of substantially by the black lives matter movement and ideology. the thing about thesese athletes is they have been consistent. they have demonstrated. they have organized in a way that prorojected dignity, projected nonviolent, that , and thatcommitment projected come in many instances, programs. people inle you have the streetsts of ferguguson, pee in the streets of baltimore, yet streets of st. louis as we speak, these athletes are saying that, look, we can come together in unity and have an impact and make a differencece. streets of stst. it is nonot accidental that coln kaepernick moved from protest to programs in pursuit of progress in terms of the issues that he is concerned about. he is one of the brightest, most articulate and committed people that i've ever come across. i knew muhammad ali. i most certainly worked with carlos and smith. jim brown. some of these people from the 1960's, arthur ash. i put him in that class. i'm hoping will become a person of the year from all of the athletes collectively, and pepersonally pushing him for a nobel peace pririze n nominatio, evenen if he doesn''t get it. i think he i is going to have et imimpact as we look at 20 years fromom now, 30 years from now. i think it should be recognized. amy: dr. harry edwards, is any possibility that colin kaepernick, this athlete of the year, will not have played a siegel game this year? happen.might i don't think would be an interest of the game or the nfl for that to happen. now that the coaches, ownership and anna felt have come -- in the nfl have come woke, black lives matter people characterize it, i think someone is going to look around and look at some of the performances of the and webacks on the field are about winning football games. that is what we do. if we can have people does bring people back who has served prison time for murdering bites and bring people back who have been associated with double murders committed we can bring people back associated with domestic violence, if we can draft people who hit a woman so hard that he could have killed her, then we must certainly can bring somebody back who took a knee and stated to america and the world that we are better than 140 seven black men, women, and children being shot down in the street of this country each year since 1968. we can bring that person back and at least give him a tryout and see if he can help us win some football games. i would be surprised if every owner in the nfl is so blind and soso coward by trump and whatevr the fraternity of ownership mightt be avoiding that they would not look around and say, hey, there's a quarterback out therere who can help us win some football games and we're going to go and get him. amy: before we get to the end, i would ask abouout cte, about brn injury, about these super athletes and what they are experiencing, dr. harry edwards. i want to get donte'in on this as well. 111 brains examined and 110 of them suffering from cte after these players had died? >> every athlete that i know in the nfl have talked about this, is concerned about it. athletes that i knew going back bowl with theper san francisco 49ers, they are concerned about it. the one thing that is going to happen here as a consequence off this that nobody is looking at is the fact that it is going to become a predominately black league because that is who is going to be playing football. when you talk about not was on the roster but h he was on the field, it already looks like playing nigeria. it will become blacker because that is who is going to be playing football. there are fewer opportunities for these black athlete to move into other areas. oftentimes, they don't trust the medical profession in any event. as one mother toldld me, you're telling me about cte that might impact them m 25 years frorom n, when my talk to get his head blown off going to football practice right here in this community. we have to get up and out of here, so he is going to play fofootball. at the end of the day, we're lookinat a leagugue that will be overwhelmingly black, whicich brinings additional emphasis and importance to the standard owners and coaches and others have taken now. that is a side effect of the cte thing that nobody is talking about. as far a as the impact of hittig and football, there is only so much h hitting that you can take out of football before you have dodgeball. already we have protetected positions come along stabbers, centers, quauarterbacks, capers, forth., and so how much further down that road can they go? that becomes a contradiction that football has not figured a way out of down to the pop warner level. amy: 10 seconds, donte' stallworth, your response? >> i think the cte thing is going to be there for a while. away.nonot going players are becoming concerned more and more about not only their careers, but about their children and other people they care about. they want to know what the research is on this, and it is a limit coming more and more prevalent that we're finding out more and more about this disease. amy: we have to leave it there, donte stallworth, dave zarin of the nation, and dr. harry edwards, author of a book with the revolt of the black athlete." democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or

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