Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140708

Or whether this will be an entirely clinical public opinion. I dont see the u. S. Having a real hand in stopping the israelis from stopping what they want to do in gaza. Purex a more limited set of strikes may be the more obvious. Set of more limited strikes may be more obvious. In may be a good idea to escalate. From the past. S those we part of the mixture. But i do not think the american side of it will be a big rd equation, whether to launch this attack or not. I agree. Right now, the objectives for american diplomacy have to be conflict management. Rather crisis management, not conflict resolution. Lets be clear about the goals of american diplomacy, what they can and should be at the time. But we are trapped in thinking that either john kerry does or does not get it done. Diplomats. Usands of now is the time, i would argue for active american diplomacy at out,low john kerry to go to be seen, to being gauge, to be small to be engaged, to be small anecdotes. In palestine and turkey for that matter, the once it the one thing they said to me, where are you guys . You guys are not here. I got a call from the palestinian minister that said, is the u. S. Going to say anything . A call for america and the policy that is not there. But at what cost . A few thousand dollars for airplane tickets . I think that is a worthy cost. If israel does not go in, and i dont think it will go in. I think israel has a dilemma about gaza right now, it is not for thes willingness ground incursion or willingness to sustain casualties. Thomas as theo hamass to be the enforcer. It is looking for the political out or some kind of base saving out. Right now, it is refusing to be haveecause it wants to gotten something for it. That is a miscalculation. Israels reluctance to go into gaza right now is a fear, not for its own casualties, but rather in the essence absence of, scott there will be something even worse. , which is the absence of a real strategy right now on either side, the israeli or palestinian side. Strategic code to set, because there is no way out for reconciled and two sides or ending the Political Division that exists today. Im not completely convinced that this is only about israeli selfrestraint. Factionsk there are within, center happy to escalate. Within hamas that are happy to escalate. There are rockets coming from palestine into israel. You have hamas taking responsibility for the first time in a long time. There are factions that are interested in escalating. With, whore aligned is pushing them forward, i think that is anybodys guess. You could make an informed guess, but why bother . There is space for several parties to choose about escalation and deescalation. I would not have secretary kerry pack his bags. I would say that this whole inflagration that we are shows again, how and why the United States should not stop engagement with this issue. You draw them back down to the point where it seems to be a question of benign neglect below the level of conflict management and things tend to happen fairly quickly. And i already explained where i think the opportunities are for serious stuff that can have an days and weeks. Now to your questions. Please, wait for the microphone, which hopefully is coming. Presented by yourself and ask her question. It will be here in a second. I am josh rogan and im reporting with the daily beast. Wondering if you can put a finer point on this question. What exactly is the failure of to this. Talks john kerry rather publicly that if the two parties did not reach eight two state solution soon, there could be a problem with in intifada. Was he right . If so, does this government race mx bear some Response Party for raising expectations for what was the wrong way at the wrong time . First, i think the actual abduction of the israelis and then the palestinians, that could have happened any time, with no regard to the Peace Process. We have seen it historically. I do not think that it in itself is historically connected. What is connected is the mobilization that we see that is unbelievable. It is resonating. It is generating what we would not have known what happened. Match . L light up the match, can light of the but it does not always catch. The environment is ready for it to catch fire. That is, in part, a function of many things, including the collapse of the Peace Process, of a two state solution. I do not push that to say to raise the expedition to high and therefore, that is what happened. I think the expectations for incredibly low before. We have seen that. If anything, john kerry succeeded in extending the time of hope for a little bit longer. Years ago, three years ago, we were already seeing majorities of israelis and palestinians thinking it was too late for a twostate solution. It was not that this administration is saying, it is coming, and then he collapses. I think that is wrong. He should be committed and for trying. Commended for trying. Is not linear. You could look back to july of 2000. Had a fullfledged president ial summit. Expectations were at that point running, as my three colleagues note, and interest the high. There was a sense of drifting away from the failure of that summit. Even though the United States followed up to at the best of its capacity. Is the the failure absence of monopoly in the forces of violence. Clearly, when it comes to the Palestinian Authority but increasingly i think you see even on the rig the israeli side. That goes along way to explain the s is s cycle. Escalatory cycle. I would agree that the minister should be commended rather than not. To the granular level of politics, it was pressure side rather than the big picture negotiations. And the question of reality on in ground got sort of dumped favor of big picture stuff. There was a certain loss of way. The whole International Community, and all of third parties, and there were quite a few of them, combined to drop the ball and let the state and Institution Building become a ondary and in dispensable and indispensable project, when it was not at all. If there was any progression that i would draw, there was the collapse to palestinian politics and allowing the politics to constrict like this and allowing hope to dry up on the ground, on the one hand, and the sort of outofcontrol situation that we have today. I think there is a much more direct cause and effect between those two factors then then i think we have between those two factors and diplomacy now. One thing to keep in mind is the violence did not come out of nowhere. There had been a significant uptick in what is called price take uptick in what is called price tag violence. None of it had come to the point it had come to recently. But the violence is part of the landscape, unfortunately. What we have seen is a village is rendition in diminution and violence. Not an absolute wants. But i do not think it is fair to blame john kerry for the violence. But we do have a diplomatic vacuum. What is of concern is the way the violence culminated in april. There was no plan b. There should be some diplomatic fallback short of an all or nothing type of approach. And that is what we are trying to allude to in the previous. But there was no coveted to plan a. No alluded to plan a. There was no need for a to go to the rest of plan a. It was a perfect a viable part of plan a and it should have continued to thrive. There has been a lot of firstn of intifada intifada, second, and third. Conditions have changed in a major way. Now there is a new focus by the posting in by the palestinian leadership on the long struggle of leadership and International Agencies mobilizing supporters to put clinical and economic rusher on israel, specifically through the boycott and the sanction movement. Yet while this is happening we need a question. Yes, and the u. S. Has restricted these new efforts. Isnt it time for a new shift . Or a more nuanced position on the u. S. By the u. S. On these nonviolent oppositionists . I think the american position has been consistent. One of the biggest obstacles to progress and why the twostate solution is dying as a solution is opposition to settlement. There have been no teeth in the policy. Israelis are frustrated with the fact that there is no pressure to stop that from happening, even though it is eating up the two state solution every day. You can even argue, and i think probably credibly, that one of the reasons israelis agreed to get back to the negotiating table when john kerry started the negotiating process was this pressure from europe to boycott products from israeli settlements, expanding as we speak. Just in the past week, up to 17 European Countries have they have warned against dealing with israeli settlements. The administration itself, i think, actually looked at that. And one option on the table was, if they are not going to do it, if they are going to do, clearer allies in europe to do it. The settlements are something very specific as a poised to board cutting israel. Boycotting israel in europe and name the u. S. , how do you do this you . You you oppose the policy of israel and support israel at the same time . How do you do it . Europe ased action as opposed it relates to settlements matters. U. S. Or opinion poll in the about American Attitudes toward the israeliamerican israelipalestinian conflict, i asked people whether they supported if a two state solution was no longer a possibility, would they support occupation indefinitely, or israeli annexation of the territories, without full citizenship . Those people who said initially that they would support a two state solution, the majority of aem said they would support one state solution with the full citizenship. Americans have a problem with the idea that you have an indefinite occupation or a relationship with relationship of inequality. Any Peace Process, then maybe its going to come. If you do not have a Peace Process, then you have a resignation and it took like its not going to happen and you look like you have a permanent situation. People do not want to accept it. Including people who care a lot about israel. We see that in the perl in the polling. Something you see moving in that direction if you have a lot of violence. If you have a lot of violence, violence created completely different environment. It becomes a zerosum. Its about survival. Its about a narrative. It takes you in a different direction, and that is what we see potentially happening if there is an escalation. Next question. My name is herbert roseman. Im a retired judge. Thewould you think that state Department Officials could contribute to a peaceful solution there when you have no credibility with the israeli . Ide the state officials in the state department have always been antagonist and toward israel. People inthe working the state department, they have always been antiisrael. You have no credibility there. Got it. You first. To 56, you are speaking 56 5060 years of state department experience between us. It does not reflect the way the state bar state department is today. Things have changed. Tensiont, there may be between the Prime Minister stop us an the white house and the high this levels highest levels. In the broadspectrum, u. S. Israel relations, there is a working relationship that is close at all levels. The state Department Arabists who hate israel, so israel will never listen to us, that does not correlate to the relationship today. Yound the counterpart to would stand up here and stay say that the problem is the opposite. In the last 30 years, the state department as well as the white house has been consistently, fundamentally, and avowedly proisrael, to the degree that it tends to look at is really did is really requirements as the departure for any american policy. And i would argue that is, frankly, more correct and incorrect. I dont think that is the case. I am a Research Assistant at the eurasia center. With netanyahu coming out next week saying hes in favor of an independent kurdistan, what is your take on him being more prosettlement and everything . Isnt it ironic that he is prokurdish stand that but protwo state solution . Back dateay back further than the 2003 war. In recent years, they have always the obviously built a close relationship with kurdistan. It is a strong autonomous region regardless. From the israeli point of view, it is a strong Strategic Asset in that region. It is not surprising for me that they would call for that. The problem for them, for the israelis, is that they have a lot of other arabs that dont agree. Look at the new Egyptian Government under sec, for example, who has been asisi, forg under example, who has been cooperating with israel. I think they will have a lot of pushback, a lot of countries that they are trying to get close loop close to. They are trying to get close to sunni arabs versus the iranian influx in the region. I dont see that sitting very well, because most sunni arabs are opposed to an independent kurdistan. Not a particular meaningful thing, and problematic for the relationship. I see it as palmetto for as problematic for those who are trying to engineer it for the long run. Many israelis have come at it from independence. It israelis, before the kurds themselves, have made that a public goal. It is entirely unhelpful, frankly. We have an overflow room filled with at least 50 people. There are several questions. I will take that and they move go to you. Be avery be will there Peace Process between israel and palestine . If religion was taken off the table . Would there be a Peace Process . A presumably, would it be dimension . One of it one of you take it. For a long time that the minute you start adopting religious language to justify nationalism and conflict, them and it you are in trouble that is the minute you are in trouble. Because ultimately, you are allowing the most fanatic religious groups to claim the upper hand. Legitimacyave more to speak in the name of the religion and you will as a nationalist. And the israelipalestinian conflict went to a religion revolution over the years because it moved to a nationalist conflict, because people would be satisfied with a nation of their own rather than assuming religious claims. That is undoubtedly the case. Inclusion of religious symbols and meanings in the struggle have made it harder to resolve the conflict. Undoubtedly. Fascinating panel. Aic, you started this not channel about the two state solution, but about politics. Salam fayyad was in aspen last week. The people know he was Prime Minister of Palestinian Authority, and before that finance minister. He still is in the region. He drafted a twoyear plan for palestinians to earn statehood. It was enormously half popular with the west. Was not a lot of street credibility, but he is obviously still interested, very, in palestinian development. Outuestion is, could a phi fayad comeback make a difference . Fascinating question. Two powers that he is enacted are not his soul position. They could be put into powers power by others. The concept of having accountable, responsible government that looks to me the needs of the people as they exist today and to build the bottomup from the up as both the topdown, this can be enacted by anybody. I do not want to link it only to yad, whoout mr. Faa are respect enormously. Enacted with the thrust of a lot of what ive said today, and what ive said has been to suggest that the Donor Community and other parties have tried to promote that exact kind of thinking. It was a terrible pity that the space for that project was shut down. In a kind of fit of not understanding at all the consequences of International Policies on Palestinian National life in the aftermath of the unsuccessful the first unsuccessful and even other successful u. S. Bids on pf of the palestinians on behalf of the palestinians. And even at the cost of the appeal go of the plo. The cost of the Prime Minister to proceed. As i talk about lots of little projects through the occupied territories, many of them through the not high jacobousual nonhigh jackable usual bepects, not only will there a future, but in a big way, yes, for that. Collect there has been a backlighting of the bottom up approach, the faith approach. We have seen through palestinian politics a freedom of expression. And part of that is the topdown focus. Yad, theerence from fa degree to which his population is still measured. And unfortunately, his father passed away recently and the for populars called demonstration any approach he adopted. That is good news for the approach. The bad news is, there is no mechanism within palestinian transfer politics to thirdparty ethics. That is why i have been advocating throughout my comics part of a political through my comments part of a political change. We have talked a lot about the reform through 2006. They just has not happened. And most in the west bank are skeptical that it will ever happen. The good news is, the majority of palestinians are sick of just as fatah, they are sick of hamas. Tore is still no mechanism translate it. That is part of the reason we have no we have violence today. But i have i have respect ayad and still do. Part of the problem and he has is a political one. No one can transform it as far as occupation goes, and there is no political horizon. It is not something he can deliver. Im from the news network in kurdistan. Why is there some much more International Support for palestine as opposed to the kurds . Is it because they are primarily Kurdish People and not arabs, or primarily sunni people as well . May be on an emotional level you can find more people interested in the palestinian cause precisely because of the israelipalestinian conflict and because it is an international issue. Inyou look at the the way which the kr g has been steadily independence and i say this as unconnected from anyone unconnected to. Crossedic was caused in a way that it was not before. This is virtually a done deal and its a question of when, not if. While there are certainly a lot of players in the region i do not want it, the key ones either do or will. Of iink i didnt ofnt of by dint strategic sense and willingness of those who might have opposed this move of kurdish independence, to start to acquiesce, to start cooperate and smile on it in baghdad and elsewhere, you will start to see that. I think the kurds are much closer to their independent then palestinians are. Unrequited kurdish nationalism may be the Largest Single Group write it nationalism single unrequited nationalism in the world, but location is important. Israelis and palestinians walked onto the stage of history at an extraordinary place, a place that is not on the resident nant, but reso simple. Coverage was easy. It was this portion only disproportionately covered. And given the ever coverage other coverage in the world, all of the focus in one place, the center of the world, so to speak, the kurds did not have that. Are a couple of attitudes that are important. The International Community has opposed the integration of state. This particular case, the consequences are not only because you have the kurds. You have a ron, iraq, syria. With the palestinians, it is a completely different conflict. Youre talking about territories under occupation and there is a huge difference. [inaudible] the boundaries are determined by what the u. N. Excepts. Pts. Cce the boundary on borders is what its excepted and legitimized by the united nations. It is not about history. The history of every question every country can be question. You can look at premodern states in the middle east. You can raise questions about the legitimacy of any state. But that is not the way the International Community is set up. It is set up based on a clump that is legitimized through u. N. Resolutions that defines what boundaries are. But the question is actually reversed by the palestinians. The question is actually reversed by the palestinians. That in itself is intriguing. This,oubt i would not do but we have one additional file question. From the overflow room. I should not do this, but i will. Agree that ititly may be too late for is to take 482state solution it might be too late for a tostate solution. Briefly, all right. Close your eyes and imagine the worst. If there cannot be a twostate solution, what should be the solution . Lets differentiate what is likely to happen. If i were to reach the conclusion that two states are impossible, i would support one state with equal citizenship. That is the moral thing to do. That is the only one i could harmony with my moral beliefs and justice. Is that likely to happen . Probably not. In fact, the probably only thing that is keeping the two state solution is alive alive is that the majority of israelis think that a two state solution is no longer possible, they do not think there will be one state. There will be violence for years to come. How do you manage it from exploding . If you look at it from not a moral point of view or something i would advocate as an individual with moral point of how do you manage the conflict, we are in trouble. No matter what you do, we will have an irruption. Equilibriumobvious point. For theibility would be israelis to increasingly control the west bank even more, even though they dont call it annexation, possible annexation. Possibly legal annexation, but not gaza. It does not solve the problem of gaza, or the problem of refugees outside. It does not address a lot of the questions that out that palestinians would have. That is not a prescription that you would have. It would bring violence for years to come. It is a proximity problem in essence. First, i do not think it is too late. Least 1937, 8at if not earlier, everyone who has looked at the problem has come isthe same conclusion, which partitioned. In some form or another. Third, i do not think there is such a thing as one state solution. There could be a one state outcome, but that is a prescription for continued intricately no intracommunal violence at best. Best,is one solution at and the approach i could envisage would be palestine and israel within the Security Council now to enshrine the idea of two states between israel and palestine, but that is a diplomatic answer. The short answer, i do not think there is such a thing as a one state solution. I agree with that. There are two real outcomes. It is not a smorgasbord of fascinating outcomes. It is a short binary. We can have a workable solution that is only one. A two state solution would meet the minimum needs of both parties. It can be done. It can be done in theory. Doneroblem is, can it be within the two parties with this asymmetry of power. Is it possible for the palestinian to extract the concessions from political leaders and enforce them and take the clinical cost . That is the question. The other outcomes are only that, outcomes. They involve for the conflict. There is a one solution versus a number of other conflicts. Therefore, it is not dead. I will say, like rock n roll, the Peace Process will never buy never die. And there will be a serious effort in a changed environment. And because the israeli process is a history of transform, think outcomell be a possible on the road for a two state solution perhaps better than the one we see now, but please join hand thanking our turf at our trip panel. On book tv this weekend, the harlem book fair. Live coverage starts saturday morning at 1145 eastern. On the next washington journal, we look at some of the key issues before congress, including immigration, with grover norquist. The president of prochoice america will take your questions about recent support Supreme Court rulings. We will look at global coproduction and to report that shows the u. S. Has surpassed saudi arabia and russia as the Worlds Largest oil producer. Our guest is bloomberg reporter mark shank. You can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. A forum on the role of sports and how society does with racial issues. Panelists include Kareem Abduljabbar and michael irvin. This is a little more than an hour. Things, matthew. I hope thanks matthew. I hope you guys are seated. We will have a really dynamic panel. I know you had a good time over the weekend it we are looking forward to it. One, wee on monday for have business to conduct and it is this really impressive panel. Let me give a little background. From Jackie Robinson integrating baseball, sports played a pivotal role in advancing civil rights. Nba commissioner adam silvers swift and decisive response to la clippers owner Donald Sterlings racial comments makes clear that in Todays Society institutionalized 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. Indianapolis mayor greg ballard is chair of the mayors professionals Sports Alliance. The mission of the alliance 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. Mr. President , distinguished guests sports bring people , together. They bring communities together. Certainly during the deep layoff layoff playoff run when athletes do good work in the community, sports bring nations together. How many of us gasped at portugals last second goal last night . Sports can also divide us. There can be a meanness and ugliness as is the case in this clippers episode. I was prior proud that the mayors Sports Alliance stood with our president Kevin Johnson as he worked with the players and the alumni as they addressed the situation. I do applaud the nba for taking swift and decisive action. Ultimately 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 clippers organization. Sports mirror society insofar as inclusion and respect has come at such a great price. Such 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. Our first panelist that i would like to bring out to give a male mayoral role perspective is our very own michael letter. Philadelphia has the reputation for being a passionate sports talent. You can hear boos all over the county. It has a long history of sports as it is spurred on serious conversations about race. Former phillies manager ben chapman was one of the loudest voices opposing Jackie Robinsons integration to baseball. Lets give a very loud round of applause to michael nutter. [applause] secondly, i would like to bring out go ahead, have a seat. You are good. 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 bet and cnn. Most recently, tv one. He has his own program called news one now. He is from houston. Went to texas and dam texas a and m. 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] youre good. 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 put him on the schedule intentionally. So mayor rawlins would be surprised. He led the Dallas Cowboys to three super bowl championships. He is one of 17 children from Fort Lauderdale, went to the the university of miami. He won a championship there. One of the greatest Wide Receivers to ever play the game. Lets give around of applause to michael irvin. [applause] that me say two hello to everybody. Most of you know that michael is also a personality and commentators on football on a regular basis. He has 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 introduction im ever going to make. His is not exciting, who is about to come out . You should clap before i even say his name. Just let them know that we love him before we say his name. [applause] just listen to this. I did not want to go long. Listen to this for a minute. Sixtime nba championship. This man won six of them. Sixtime most valuable player. 19time nba allstar. Hall of fame inductee. Played with the bucs in milwaukee. Won a championship. Went out west to l. A. And won five more. From new york, went to ucla, played under john wooden. Won three championships in college. If you add those up, that is nine. [laughter] the man is a freshman and was not allowed to play varsity sports or he wouldve had a 10th. In college he was so effective they literally changed the rules because he was there. This is a rulechanger in a real way. He is a legend. He is also a New York Times bestselling author. He has written books on history and civil rights. Including black profiles in books, a a host of documentary has been made about one of his books. Two time naacp image award winner. Get on your feet and give a round of applause for the one and only 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 and we have not said a word yet. 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 out front person. Last night, he took mayors at cash out to dinner. Give him a round 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 here because i am losing my voice. I want to throw the first question out to mayor nutter. Mayor what was your gut reaction , when you heard the Donald Sterling tape . Was have to tell you, i really stunned. At first, my folks told me about it and i said, i mean is this , true . Did somebody really say this . You have all these tapes and youtube and all that and elected officials know about that. Maybe it was doctored. How does somebody say all of that . So 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. Every piece it just went on and on and on. At the end i was disgusted. Magic, you want to talk about people . You are the owner of a team. You are like an adult. You are supposed to be responsible. You know, i had some other thoughts. This is a family program. [laughter] it was insane. Obviously 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. Same question. You wrote an impressive Time Magazine piece which was awesome. What was your first reaction and there will probably be a surprise under common, but go ahead. 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. I had no idea exactly what was going on. Through association i know elgin , baylor. I know what he was complaining about. I was confused not knowing which 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 someone who relies on black americans for so much of his success and public profile, it was amazing. I couldnt believe that someone could have that much bigotry inside and think that it was ok. Michael, what was your gut reaction would you first heard it . I was hurt. I was hurt for the players on the court and for the fans. Because, lets be real here. The clippers have been waiting a long time for this. [laughter] where they are right now, they 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. And then two point out and attack one of the best we have johnson i wasagic , hurt. I wont say that i was totally shocked. I truly believe, we still have the remnants of some of these still left. I am not shocked, but i was hurt. We have heard some things prior to this about Donald Sterling. The bible says out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. As we go on and 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. Lsu the same question. For everyone out here watching what he is doing right here he , does not have add. Well, he may have that too. He is just a twitter maniac. He tweets like no ones business. I want you to know that he is paying attention. Ive got dad some new followers. My reaction was, and . People were surprised by it. I think what people were more surprised by was the fact that he said it to the degree that he did. Somewhatn i was pleased with it was because we are living in denial because there are too many people saying , we have a black president. This is the postracial america. Fox news says racism doesnt even exist. All you have to do is go to the eeoc website and 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. When dr. King said, and chaos or Community Come out where do we go from here . What do we do about what is in somebodys heart . For him to be a team owner, it is no shock. Look 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 she is unapologetic saying that we need to get those blacks off the school board. We have to say, wait a minute. We have to confront the reality of race in america, who is here from akron, ohio . The newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for a series on race and ushering in a citywide conversation. Part of this is because 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 own businesses, 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 causes a lot of people to force themselves to say, wait a minute. We might want to examine ourselves. It forced the nba to answer some questions when you had examples of this owner and the issues of race over the years and you are silent about him. From thatothing aside major housing lawsuit that he had to pay money out of and delete did nothing. Kareem, i want to come back to you. Kareem went to college in the 1960s when civil rights was at the top. He played professional sports in the 60s and 70s. Tell us are we at the end of an era . Help was what help us connect with what you are going to then and where you think we are today. I think what has happened is is when we have the fact that we had the legal means to combat institutionalized racism, a lot of black americans said ok. , now we have the tools to achieve something. It is taken us decades to achieve those things that we have the tools to work on. When it comes to working on what is in peoples hearts, we have a 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. It is so endemic to the human experience. It many people dont get when they are very intensely affected by racism and you racist acts they are not even aware of it. We have a long way to go. Position this properly. Bustgomery boycott boycott begins in 1965. March on the washington in 1963. Civil rights act, fair voting act, nixon gets elected in 1968. Period of 13 years, the country was transformed. If 1960 it was the marker of full freedom for africanamericans, that is 46 years. Right now, 45. 5 years. If you say that dr. King was killed in 1968 and affirmative action, 1968, nixon as the marker. Full freedom for black folks in 1968. That is a 46 year. 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, 1968, whichicans in was known as a false year because of other things 46 years of socalled freedom. Expand on the Donald Sterling and the issue of housing and economics and inclusion and go beyond that, we we have come a long way but we are 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. Same way in south africa, when they celebrated Nelson Mandelas passing but you still have the country where blacks dont have access to power, economically and politically. It might be president of the country, but they dont control capital. I will ask you both the same question. I think most of you remember a Philadelphia Eagles Football Player who was recorded saying the n word. What are your thoughts when you first heard that . A couple of things. Hold on to what you talked about 45 years. I will address the riley cooper situation. It was my job on sunday and thursday to talk about it. Riley cooper, i had watch. He has been playing football for a lot of years. One of the things i talked about up, i wasissue came 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. 50 different ways to sunday. Everybody was rocking and have a great time. In out in ansteps angry situation and drops the word. And here we go saying everything about riley cooper. I felt, first of all i said it , then and i will say it now, we ought to take responsibility as africanamericans for injecting the word out there and making it ok. Riley cooper said it in a moment of heat. The word has already been put in your spirit from all the songs you listen to and in a moment of heat you let it go. 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 exactly what the word was used and how it was used back in the day. Used it as aito systematic way to break down another man. That is what i call racism. Of writing down the other man. That is not tolerable. [applause] i want you to know that when you say athletes are not smart, look at these two appear. I am sitting next to the dictionary. This 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 enough credit for what they do. I think these are great examples. He knows more words than don king . Yes, he does. Put him on the spot. This is true. Kareem and i were on streetcar in san francisco. We were getting an award. We were riding around. I was looking at him the whole we are running around. I said tell me something about , the great walls of china . The man said, did you know rock was accorded built for i was like, hold on. This is a true story. [laughter] nutter, same topic because you had to do with it head on. Yes, i did. My reaction was swift, aggressive, and negative. I saw that tape. That said a statement he needed to clean up and fix it. I sawk quite honestly, as 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 try to deal with it. All of a sudden he suddenly had , to go away. Clear, but ireally think they were just trying to get him out of town. Out of the situation. We wereot a teasing in the back, michael irvin, because he always loved laying in philadelphia. Playing in philadelphia. [laughter] our fans are passionate. It is not an overreaction kind of town. There was a lot of reaction to that. It is a player. They were home, not on the field. It was a very negative reaction. I have some thoughts about how it was handled. Whether it was completely handled properly. The season started and there wasnt much self. He went on to had a pretty good season and i will not say that all is forgotten. If you asked the question people , remember. He is trying to get past it. When i see him on tv or if i am at the game, i hear his name. I immediately remember that. He has to deal with that. We have a false reality about race. This is what it has evolved into. Riley cooper, racist or not a racist . You watch these cable news shows and it was the same thing as the Donald Sterling conversation. It becomes racist or not a racist . As if there is nothing in between those two. What happens is people say you are a racist and you have people on that and. And you have people defending him, i know him, we have hung out, he is not a racist, as if there is nothing that is in between that deals with how we perceptions, our i will make this example. There is nothing that pisses me off more than people asking me if i played ball there. Hell, i didnt play ball. The first question is not did you graduate or what did you major in . I was playing golf and the dude said, how was it i was brother, af with my m graduate, and i had just written a column called no, i am not a Football Player. He asked the question. I did not respond. My brother was just going, please dont answer. We finally got done. He goes, i dont know why i asked that question. Yes, you do. What happens is we have perceptions. We have beliefs. A lot of them are based on race. If i see a 65 white guy i automatically dont assume he played basketball. Is, when we talk about race, we have to a knowledge that there is something in between not a racist or you are a racist that plays into this and then we simply dont like to have that. Now it brings into question how our mothers and fathers raised us how are friends are around , us. There are all of these black and white and hispanic and asian students. They get along great. Consider going, this is a bunch of bs. I said, let me ask you a question. Would you eat lunch with . Who do you asked, mean . Who do you eat lunch with . When i asked that question, they got uncomfortable. They start butt dancing. I call that when someone gets uncomfortable. They start doing it, the entire room. I 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. What happens is school and work are involuntary situations. You do not control who gets hired. 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 a lot of time it is based on race. When i put that out there the , whole conversation changed. They realized they had self segregated. They thought they were all multiracial and it was all wonderful and it never dawned on them that they were still segregating. They thought because they sat in the same classroom that they were living in a multiracial world. Again if you take donald , sterling and these other how do you begin to examine race in a different way . You say we have to be careful. There is a schism. It is not so black and white. If a guy comes up to you and ask, and i have on a u tshirt, what year did you play ball . Does that mean he is racist . We have to be careful as well. If he saw a dude my size, a white guy my size, he is not asking that question. Lets be honest. You cant say you are not saying anything about him you , just made an assessment. Is not going to ask. You see what i am saying . That is what we have to be careful with. If i see a 65 white guy, i will wonder if you play basketball or not. Maybe that has something to do with 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 when someone sees you in an a shirt, wee it or a u can assume it doesnt mean i played sports and didnt graduate. In order to have growth and be at a fight we have to watch it on both ways. I didnt call him a racist. I did not say you were were. There are perceptions and stereotypes that we buy into. We see it over a. Years, i did not realize i 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 for abilene state, right . No, i am a doctor. Wow. That is what we are talking about here. Prejudging and assessing are in the same area but two different things. I can prejudge, which means i made up my mind who he is. Assessing means im trying to figure out who he is. When asking a question about, what position did you play . I may be assessing but not prejudging. That is not a question. You judged. [laughter] texas a and m sure, so i am thinking sports. There are 500,000 former aggies out there. All of them didnt play. Everybody may not wear a jersey either. Mayor, can you sit between these two . [laughter] i may be offended. Nobody ever asked me if i played ball. [laughter] [applause] i can actually throw. I can tell you something worst that happens to me. People come up to me and asked me if i am will to chamberlain. Chamberlain. I say, Wilt Chamberlain is dead, man. What is that all about . [laughter] maybe they want dating advice. Let me ask you this question. I want to get away from sterling for just one second. Mike 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, because sports garners so much attention from the world and it is right there on tv. I cant believe they pay me what they pay me to talk about it. I am with you. I get paid to talk. I was fortunate enough to make millions faking out people with my hips and now i make millions talking about how to fake people out with my lips. This is incredible. This is an incredible world. I love it. Having that opportunity is so real. We dont get that if it is happening in our fortune 500 companies. We do not get those opportunities to talk about those things. Edifieddo is we are through those conversations. Lets take the michael sam situation for a moment. For me growing up, calling michael sam or guys that have a Sexual Orientation opposite of mine, we didnt even know that. When we used the word, i dont even want to say it f word. Whenever the use the f word it wasnt about Sexual Orientation, it was about a sign of weakness. Now as we have these conversations, we start dispelling all the myths and edifying one another and Getting Better at it. That is why i said i want the first guy to be a linebacker so he can knock somebody out. It does not matter, so he can squash all of the stereotypes to move forward. That is what is great about it. That is what is great. Having conversation is what we need. I hate that we focus on the one , like the sterling and those guys. We do need to have these conversations. I want to build on Michael Irvins point about sports. In a more serious way for a moment. It does play out literally on the biggest stage. People are watching. It is broadcast. There is money. There are all kinds of things going on. A couple of names. Jesse owens. It wasnt just about running. What was going on at that time . At war, near war, world issues. At the olympics. This was literally the United States of america against germany. Now being defined on a track. Americas strength. 1968 olympics. John 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 of what was on his mind. Life changed. Never really anything for john carlos. Our friend here. Comes in to the nba and changes his name. You have a right to change her name. Huge controversy in sports. Cassius clay. I know where i where i was listening on the radio. You are either joe frazier fan , and that had one set of perspectives, or you are a mohammed ali fan. That had eight different perspective. They were both in each of those camps, trying to define, are you a radical or are you in an establishment . That is what has been going on. Up,ainly from the 60s on issues playedther 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. Has been a change a little bit . I am asking the question because , respectively, maybe a some of you guys are a few years older than me. That was nice. That fight was about saying we were inferior and it was sports saying they were not inferior. Fraserali . 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. Yes. Here is what jumped out as me. 1936 was america versus not see nazi germany. When jesse owens came back he could not eat in restaurants in his own country. To bring it to presentday, we will praise our athletes as our warriors on the field but when we have a conversation about education reform and are they being taught in the very schools that are praising them for winning on friday night. Sudden, when we begin to force a conversation, sports allow us, because it is a unifying matter, sports and comedy sports, comedy, and music are the three areas where we come together regardless of background, ethnicity, gender, all those factors. We are all operating behind this one deal. But you notice that all of those are three entertainment venues. A lot of times we are we can get along and that is great. When we go outside of that, your you are 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. I went to a journalism high school. We, in thes is media, do the exact same thing in the real world. Lets hurry up and end this conversation so we can move on lets move onto what we were talking about beforehand. Lets get off this stuff with 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 riley cooper, disagree with incognito, disagree with Donald Sterling or even agree with them it is like the old mark cuban discussion. Those that were upset, 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 into i remember seeing a clip on cnn, is cuban a racist . It was the stupidest conversation in the world. 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 the problem with a 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. When he made his comment about Trayvon Martin and a hoodie, 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 why he felt that way, which leads to the next question. We have evolved into statement , denunciation instead of statement, question. That has to happen. [applause] how much time do we have . We have a way to go. My flight leaves at 2 45. [laughter] a quick follow up and i will ask kareem a question on it. So when the Trayvon Martin incident happened, kobe bryant made a comment in the terms of 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 kobe 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 with kobe giving criticism for not being involved and more active on various issues, and then kobe 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 he was going back home a to watch the game. It was another two months before it blew up because, frankly, National Media ignored it. We drove it on social media. I remember tweeting dwayne wade, who i know, and i specifically said i am stunned that layers players 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. The heat players were not saying George Zimmerman guilty. It was sending a signal that we stand in solidarity. But 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 lebron or dwayne, so were just like trayvon. That is why i took issue with what he had to say and i went at kobe hard. I will make it perfectly clear. If i am willing to criticize the president and oprah, kobe, im going to swing at you, too. It does not even matter. My philosophy is if you do good, i will talk about you. Talk aboutad, i will you. Im going to talk about you. 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 of black men being accused of rape in america and some black folks jumped at your side when you were accused of rape [applause] so in that conversation i was flying somewhere and he hit me and i seen his number, and ugly i answered. He said, i see you are talking about me, and i was like, who the hell is this, and he said kobe. I stepped the site for a 20 minute conversation but it led to a discussion and what was great was i 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 radio, because there needs to be a broader discretion here because 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 so many of us are afraid. 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 . Can we also here again, on the other side if im walking with my little girl and i see 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 worried because i have my little girl with me. I dont know why you are hiding like that when it is 98 degrees. It does not mean i am racist. But i am worried. I thought with what happened with mark cuban the other day if i see someone walking towards me with all tattoos and he has those little teardrops in his eyes, i just saw on tv that that means you are a murderer. That means that with your dress, you wanted to scary. So im telling you, that worked. I am going on the other side of the road. What we can say 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. It is 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 another 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 in america that is driving these racial perceptions. Michael, are you good on that or no . [inaudible] i understand and 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 Lakers win 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. People from the Korean Community, southcentral l. A. , 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 incident and l. A. Was tearing itself apart. There are still charcoal alleys in different parts of l. A. Behind that. Sports can bring us together in 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. They are this, that, the other. You relate. What do you like . I like james lee or whatever. It enables people that would not necessarily have the opportunity to get to 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 joe lewis beats of max millan. They like that. That was pretty good. All of the sudden, they looked upon black americans in a different way. Jackie robinson breaks the color barrier in baseball. People say, he can play. He should be out there. If he is not out there that , means the best Baseball Players are not playing major league baseball. Sports has that 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 half of 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 morning. We are in l. A. On Tuesday Morning because we hear that adam silver, the commissioner, is about to make a ruling. I call you and your team and i team the night before. We come down to city hall. You come to city hall. We are in mayor garcettis office. You, norm nexen, ac green, steve nash, luke walton, 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 areas where black americans, at one point, were not considered. So i know that the nba, its heart 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] mayor nutter, i will give you flexibility 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 do you want to share . [inaudible] keep going. 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 person wanted to talk about race 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. Black men are 6 of the population and 43 of the homicide victims in america. Astounding circumstances could the question is, the mayor of new orleans talks about this issue. Yes, indeed. And hes white. In a conversation last night with the new mayor of boston, he wants to talk about this issue. So the question is, especially 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 victim, but it is obviously a little easier for an africanamerican mayor to talk about blackonblack violence it is doubly difficult for a nonafricanamerican leader, mayor, city councilman for, whatever, to Start Talking about blackonblack crime, can be as serious 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 mayors, 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 oath that we took to be in the office. That is one. 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. We work well together. Michael, the question for you is this broader context. You play football and there are the rivalries cowboysredskins. What is your take on mayor nutters question . Weve talked about this. 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. I want to have conversations with somebody to get an understanding of it, because i still do not know. But if it offends 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, dan snyder, 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] capitalist let me close with this. I want to go back to what he said about 1968 and everything, talking about a little over 40 years. Roland was 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. In 1968, a little bit past 40 years, in 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 the children of israel for 40 years to walk in the desert to get the old man land of 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. That is 40 years 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 , and 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 us out with a final thought. I sat 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 lynched 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. Kings chaos or community, you should. What we are talking about today, he wrote in 1967 when we were grappling with riots across the country. He said it did not cost america much to allow us to 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 connects, what each and every single one of you should do some thing reverend jackson often 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. 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, was going to achieve a level of success, because in the game of sports, you can perform or 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 it that in sports the rules are the same and we can measure success, but then off the court, off the field, it goes from objective to subjective . All of the sudden, your talent does not define whether or not you will become an allstar. What somebody else is thinking defines that. So when i am looking at the folks who are ceos not just, my goodness, we have several africanamerican ceos, but i am looking at how many black Board Members they have or hispanic Board Members they have. What we are still seeing in this country is an inequity in terms of folks at the top and the bottom. There is still not an africanamerican who is a prime time host of a Cable News Network with a black man in the white house, and that is a problem for me. What happens is we praise sports because our sports figures worked on their game and achieved success because they said if you run faster, throw longer, if you can shoot better and rebound better, it means you are going to succeed. We should have the exact same attitude in the rest of our society. And when that happens can we make it the point that we preach all the time, we will see the inequality gap closing. You look at average incomes, and you will must see these sub crime subprime loans. You will not see what you have seen and the home foreclosure crisis. It will take two generations to get just that money back. When we have that attitude about life, as we do about sports, then were going to see it. I would be remiss to his a we the exact same attitude when it comes to our sports teams for mayors out there building new arenas for owners and you want them to win championships. Would you should be saying when it comes to the education of our children, whether it is food choice or education reform, i want to make sure we had the same kind of access. If you want to win a championship in football, you sure as hell better win championships in educating our children. [applause] sports is leading the way to it we have five owners in sports. And seven of five of the Top Companies do not have any africanamericans on their board. Less than 2 . Google does not, facebook does not. I was not going to name them, but he did. I name everybody. Hes right. In sports, we have such a major amount of guys on the field. That is why we get a chance to talk about these things and hopefully change all the things we need to change. That these discussions are important. Before i let them go, it is an honor to give the president s award to Kareem Abduljabbar and his foundation for all of the outstanding work he is doing around the country. [applause] lets give a round of applause for all of our panelists. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] much, mr. U very chairman, and good morning. Welcome to this mornings hearing. Our panel. He received his bachelors. Gree thank you for the opportunity to be here. I am going to give you a few bigger thoughts on the search for life and in particular intelligence life the kind that could uphold its end of the conversation. Let me back up and say when you read in the paper about the disovery of new planet youre looking at one of three horses in a race to be the first to find some extra trestral biology. The first horse is simply to find it nearby and thats where the big money is. Rovers on mars, the moons of the outer solar system, there are at least a half dozen other worlds that might have life in our solar system. The chances of finding it i think