Professional athletes have in advocating for racial and social justice. Speakers include Baltimore Ravens tight end Benjamin Watson and representatives from the nfls Player Association and aflcio. They discuss the National Anthem protest being led by nfl quarterback Colin Kaepernick and the work of labor unions. This is two hours. Good evening, everyone. Im Carmen Berkeley here at the national aflcio in washington, d. C. Welcome to the house of labor for those of you have never been here on behalf of our president , president richard trumka. Today, we will be talking about athletes, racial, and social justice. This intersection of workers and Racial Justice is work that the aflcio has been doing over five decades. Since recent happenings in our world, we started Digging Deeper into Racial Justice after the incident in missouri. For us, talking about workers with Racial Justice issues and how unions should protect people of color and the work that we do in the workplace. He workplace. You know, when i think about what is going on in our nation , there is so much conversation about Colin Kaepernick. We all know that that conversation about athletes taking a stand goes way far back. I dont know how many of you have actually been to the new africanamerican smithsonian. There is an actual section yeah, given applauded for that. They have a section with the most famous of athletes taking direct action with the olympics. But you think about the muhammad ali exhibit where he is literally talking crap. You talk about the desegregation in baseball, football, and basketball have done. The women, they have done recently with the wnba. Today is not the first time. Right now in history is not the first time that athletes have taken a stance. I would be remiss if i did not say that women have been taking about a stance in missouri, new jersey, alabama, massachusetts, and some of the other states where young people are inspired. They are taking that same knee that Colin Kaepernick is taking, and they are getting disciplined for this. We are excited to have these three incredible gentleman with us here at the house of labor. First i want to introduce my new friend, Benjamin Watson. He is a tight end from the Baltimore Ravens. Off the field, benjamin stays busy with his foundation, his growing family and the Nfl Players Association where he is on the executive committee. He is with the allpro dad campaign, and in 2005, benjamin published his first book about getting real with race and fears. We are honored to have a Baltimore Raven in the house of labor tonight. [applause] to my immediate right is my friend and labor activist joe briggs. He was first hired by the Nfl Players Association to manage their financial programs department, but because he is the bomb he became the top , counsel. He is the first individual to lead the Public Relations department. He is also a professor at georgetown and often speaks on subjects from politics to sports and everything in between. He was also a Scholarship Athlete at texas Christian University, earning three varsity letters, and i would also be remiss to say that we withlly hosted an event his group around the movie, concussion. It is great to have an activist but also someone that understands a why we need to be moving forward. Please give it up for joe briggs as well. And finally, the moderator i will give it over to is david books onthor of eight politics of sports, how politics has turned the world upside down. He is a frequent guest on espn and democracy now. He also hosts his own show, edge of sports. He cohosts the collision where sports and politics collide with nba player ethan thomas. Give it up for dave. Im going to hand it over to him. Dave zirin thank you, thank you, carmen. A big thanks to the aflcio for hosting this critical discussion, doing it in a way that we can be finished in time for the world series. Just so people know, i am rooting for the cubs, not because i have any great love for the cubs, but there is is just something about a racist mascot on television that makes my stomach turn. I am sure folks in d. C. Have no idea what that feels like, but it is very disturbing to see it on camera. So this is an important discussion to have a run this for us to have. It is particularly important to have it here at the aflcio so we can talk very particularly about what the role of unions are and what the role of unions can be in this struggle, and if there even is a role for unions at the intersection of sports, politics, and this important moment in the black lives matter against police violence. Sports of course has always been part of social justice struggle. We know this. You cannot talk about civil rights without Jackie Robinson. You cant talk about the 1960s without speaking about mohammed ali. I believe in the future, we will not be able to speak about lack black lives Matter Movement without speaking about Colin Kaepernick. There is a reason for that. The reason is he is effective in getting this message out, and he is effective because he is upsetting all the right people. Anytime your enemies include donald trump, ted cruz, supermodel kate upton, and rob lowe you know, the intellectual heavyweights you are doing something right. And of course, as carmen mentioned, this is all beyond Colin Kaepernick. It is remarkable. Tois from beaumont, texas washington, to volleyball teams, to football teams, to cheerleaders all taking a knee. It is clear that this has resonated in a profound profound , way. Leslie gibbs from think progress has set up an interactive graphic on their website that shows every time and other anthem protest is taking place. It is remarkable to see how it has spread. People talk about it being divided, red state, blue state, north, south. People feel like there is a gap between what we are told the flag represents and the actuality of peoples experiences, and they are expressing that within the public sphere of sports. Unionss talk about the and social justice unionism in , this struggle. As i start, i am so honored to be here with these folks. My first question is something that is probably not an argument in this room, but the mere fact that there is a camera here is something we need to address. Be that an nfl player could described as a worker and in do they need unions . I am sure when people think of a worker, the last thing they think of is a wellpaid athlete. Whoever wants to start we will go with you joe, then go to benjamin. When people say you work for the nfl union, is that a contradiction . Joe briggs first of all, thank you for having me. The first thing i usually say is these guys go to work like everybody else. They clock in. They have to be there on time, they have to be there for a certain period of time, and they have to perform and be measured by their manager. The manager may look different by having on sweats and a polo shirt, but the same things matter to them that matter to everyone else who has to go to work. Now it is Game Changing in some ways. But under his leadership, we have been able to get the people of this country to understand that a locker room is a work place, that the football field is a workplace, and safety is something that we need to take very seriously. We have tried to do that in every conversation we have had with the measuring counsel on the other side. The other thing i would say is , why yes, i do work for the Players Association, but i am also a player myself and a professor. It makes sense for me to work in the Players Association because i believe in workers rights. Dave zirin what about you, benjamin . How do you answer that question. . Benjamin watson thank you for having me. After i get upset, angry, and i look at them in a way where my wife says, stop looking at them like that, then i try to explain. We are workers who have expectations to meet. One of the first things i learned, maybe you have heard it before, you have heard players say that the nfl is a business. You hear that all the time. This is a business. And when you transfer into the nfl,om college into the you learn what being a business really means. You get paid, you get compensation, but there are expectations you must meet. When you are a young player and you are just happy to be there there is an education that comes , to understand the business side of football. One thing we always say in the nfl pa is understanding the business of football and all that that entails. Part of that is we are all part of the union. League Players Association, that includes everything from Bargaining Agreement how we interact with , management, even, the latest thing is how long we are going to be on the field, what kind of grievances we can file. All of those things are covered under the agreement, so it is important for our membership to understand that. Sometimes it is hard to explain that to someone who only sees days7 sundays out of 365 of a year and looks up to something that you do and say i , would love to play football. Dont get me wrong, i love playing football and being part of the game, but as a father and a husband, i understand that, when daddy leaves home, daddy is going to work. Daddy is going to provide for his family. The same way that you are. The same way as someone that drives a truck or is president of the United States, they are going to provide for their family and there are risks , involved. I tore my achilles. That is a risk and a hazard of going to work. It is important to have a union. Carmen, thoughts yourself. I know you have done work with , and the players are certainly workers. Carmen berkley if you think about it, actors are part of unions. You have other folks that people consider a higher salary like i was are unionized pilots are unionized. Engineers who worked at boeing and they are unionized. , as the brother said, it is about work. Coming from a people of color perspective, there are a lot of black folks that work in the nfl, from watching tv. Historically, we are generally paid less for no matter how much work we do. At least to me, i feel like from an equity perspective, unions make sure that, no matter what the color of your skin is, no depending on the profession you are playing no matter what , gender you have, there should be wage equity and we need to make sure that our brothers have health and safety. If you are working for a living and somebody is making money off of you, you should have a should be able to have a collective Bargaining Agreement. Dave zirin Brian Mitchell was a proud union man, and he always said, it is not even that we are labor. We are labor times two. Think of a cook. We are both the cook and the steak. We are basically cooking ourselves. Every single week, and when i see benjamin in the boot, i hear what ryan is saying. Maybe we can start with benjamin and work down to carmen. Your First Impression, to start the Colin Kaepernick discussion, what was your First Impression when you heard about Colin Kaepernick taking a knee, when you heard about his explanation about why he was doing it . Benjamin watson my First Impression was i was taken , aback. I was taken aback. Because as an american, our default position is to stand for the National Anthem. That is what we all want to do. We all know that there is iniquities. We all understand. I wrote a book about it, i have written about seeing what was happening in the streets, feeling the anger and the frustration about the things that happened in the past keep on happening, having a small sliver of hope sometimes only to be dashed again when i see another video of Something Like that. I heard what he said at first, i wanted to know why he did it. My biggest thing was, why did you do it go to art if you just did it because you want to disrespect the flag or someone, veterans that is one , thing. He said that he did it because he wanted america to be better. He did it because he was not disrespecting, you know, veterans. He was not disrespecting anyone who served the country. He did it because he wanted the country to be better. That is where i identified. If i was playing right now, i would not be taking a knee. It was not my idea. But i stand for everything he is doing. I am behind him 100 , and i support his right to do so. The question now, and as you see different guys taking a knee, some guys standing, i identify 100 where do we go from here . ,where do we transfer into advocacy . How do we need to educate ourselves . What are the conversations that we need to have . In baltimore yesterday we had a , town hall with all of the players. We talked about colin, policing neighborhoods. Guys give their experiences which some of us never heard before. We do know that people had had that experience with a police officer. You were able to hear from white players, black players. Some of us disagree, some of us agree. But that is moving to the next step of opening the conversation. I love what he did. He opened his avenue. He opened this conversation. If we are courageous enough and we are able to be honest with out namecalling we can , move forward. For athletes, i think that we play a vital part in moving this thing forward and having this conversation and eventually making permanent changes. Dave zirin same question for you, joe. I love the way benjamin spoke about it, as you were thinking evolved on it. Benjamin watson joe briggs my first thought was this is going to be an , interesting week at work. [laughter] joe briggs but then after i got past that thought, my thoughts got to be a little more serious. As benjamin said, knowing that i waited until spoke, colin spoke. Knowing that that would be a guide to what we would do and the response to Colin Kaepernick, how would would protect how it would protect Colin Kaepernick, a member of the Players Association, and how to protect his workers rights. After those thoughts, i started thinking back to Martin Lee Anderson. Most of the people in the room probably dont remember Martin Lee Anderson. I was in law school in 2006, and i remember Martin Lee Anderson because at the time i was still , affiliated with a law firm that i did a summer clerkship with. In summer 2004, i parked with clerk with parks and crown a , Small Law Firm in tallahassee, florida. A small case came across our desk in that law firm in 2006 when i was still working for the firm while at law school, with Martin Lee Anderson. My thoughts went back to him. The reason most of you dont know Martin Lee Anderson is because he wasnt Trayvon Martin. He also wasnt, he also wasnt michael brown. He also wasnt one of the people that came to the same fate as Martin Lee Anderson had after social media. But it was a case that was very similar on the facts where a young man who was at boot camp was strangled, killed while in that boot camp, at the hands of Law Enforcement. And i started to think back at to all the other young men Martin Lee Anderson and Colin Kaepernick that decided to sit that i had not only witnessed but paid attention to because of my start in my legal profession, being at that place. That is what i thought about it. Now how do i think about it and feel about the players as they continue to express themselves . I am proud of them even if in some instances i havent agreed with some of the things that have been said. And i mean that by the players who said they dont understand Colin Kaepernick and the players who have stood with Colin Kaepernick. To me that shows they all believe they have agency, which they do. That is one of the things we should want out of our athletes, because they are citizens of the United States of america and have rights just like everyone else. My hope is, as colin continues to express himself in the way he has chosen to and that other players find their voice, they will continue to educate themselves and find the support in the community as well inside the locker room and outside the locker room, so they can continue to grow as mature adults and be citizens of these United States. Dave zirin you know Carmen Berkley you know, Alicia Gardner who started black lives matter has this famous quote. It says, people love everything about black culture except black people. And often times, that is the reality that we have to face. People want to make money off us, they want to wear their hair like us. To actually face al