Good evening. Nonetheless original western regional director of United States Holocaust Memorial museum with our offices located in los angeles. First of all, i want to tell you how excited we are to be here tonight and really think our hosts, the california African American museum. Thepartnership between United States Holocaust Memorial museum and the California Africanamerican Museum has been a wonderful, wonderful experience. We have been treated so graciously and we have been very excited about the crowds of people who have come to the museum to see the exhibit. I was talking to dana who was in from washington that this will really serve as a model for the rest of the country in terms of the partnerships between and among institutions in the community. I want to thank again the illustrious board member from the california africanamerican senior staff, and just everyone we have worked with. It has been a wonderful experience. The holocaust museums traveling exhibit, politics, race and propaganda, hopefully you have all seen, nazi olympics in 1936 will be at the museum through february 26. We are so pleased to take the opportunity tonight to cover many issues that have really been uncovered through the development of the exhibit. More than 70 years since the end of world war ii, the holocaust remains one of the most singular events in global history. The united memorial, States Holocaust Memorial Museum continues its efforts to make never again a reality. Through programs and Holocaust Education and genocide prevention, the museum and his supporters on of the victims of the holocaust by working towards solutions in todays complex world. Today we are facing an alarming rise in antisemitism, holocaust denial, and ultimately genocide. Even in the very lands for the holocaust happened. This is occurring just as we approach the time when Holocaust Survivors and other eyewitnesses would no longer be with us. Sadly, 70 years after the liberation of the camps we are losing the eyewitnesses and the Holocaust Survivors. This is why tonights program and other programming we have done throughout the country are very important. When we think about world events, the olympics are commonly viewed as an opportunity for crosscultural appreciation and mutual respect. They are celebrated and embraced around the world. 1936ars ago in august of the world turned its attention to berlin for the summer olympics. The nazi regime exploited the games to dazzle spectators with an image of these full, tolerant peaceful, tolerant germany. The u. S. And other participants were forced to make a difficult decision. Condone a corrupt and prejudiced host or boycott what shouldve been a global moment of friendly competition and cooperation. This historic example exemplifies the complexity of the relationships between sport, International Relations and human rights. While there was an organized boycott, many athletes around the globe opted not to compete to protest. In the years since world war ii and the nazi olympics, there have been many opportunities for protests, both at the olympics and at home surrounding National Sporting events. These expressions of both protests and the victory in the field of controversy offer a poignant reflection of point. Tonights distinguished panel will discuss the actions of individual athletes from 1936 through the present, and the challenges and opportunities that arise when politics and sports intersect. It is my deep pleasure tonight to introduce tonights esteemed panel. Dr. Melinda abdullah, professor and chair of pan african studies, California State University los angeles. She was appointed to the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission in 2014 and is a recognized expert on race relations. She is an organizer at the Los Angeles Branch of black lives matter movement. Historianrack is a and exhibition curator with United States Holocaust Memorial museum. She developed the special exhibit on the 1936 berlin olympics and many others on racial science and medicine, complicity and refugees and rescuers. And derek jackson, essayist for the boston globe and espn, the undefeated, and a fall 2016 sure see fellow at Harvard Universitys Kennedy School of government. It is my pleasure to turn the program over to our moderator, tyree boys page boyd page. Welcome. Appreciate that. We all live in a very special time. Police, athletes are intersecting. Athletesof famous explaining black lives matter, and you also hear National Responses as to whether they do or they dont. This intersection is not new. Politics and race. In sports. This has been going on for much, much longer than that. We have been exhibition circling the 1936 berlin olympics where another individual tried to take a stand. His name is jesse a lens. We have brought some esteemed panelists who will contextualize that intersection between sports, race, and also allow us to engage in a more powerful dialogue about how we all move forward from there. To begin, i want to start a foot derek. Start off with derek. He has covered sports and race and can offer a bit of context for us. In times of turbulent and unrest, do we as americans look to athletes and other public heroes for guidance or inspiration . Thanks a lot. [laughter] everybody. G, me its a complex answer because there is a part of me that certainly wished this did not have to be, as you frame. The africanamericans, because of oppression, have been forced respect,ays to gain acceptance that White Americans have never had to do. Story,s been an unending from jack johnson to jesse kareem abduljabbar, muhammad ali, and even today with lebron james, Colin Kaepernick. So, in a Perfect World, for instance, if there was a Perfect World of opportunity, the nfl would not be two thirds black. The nba would not be 80 black. 13 basketball players, Football Players, and 13 scientists, teachers, computer geeks. You name it. I just needed to say that because on one level africanamericans have an particularly resourceful using sports to seek respect. Also have from really been an unfair playing field. Side in trying to make this brief is, indeed, africanamericans, jesse owens trying to prove to hitler and the nazis are humanity and equality. The bestali giving up years of his boxing career to protest induction into the military during vietnam. We have kind of forgotten many athletes boycotted other olympics. We in america as a general society put sports on a pedestal that also is exaggerated to the point of being ridiculous, i think you allnew about gaining and losses of football teams are the years, with Owners Holding the taxpayers hostage. Building a stadium or else. The whole nature of sports as a business is also political. Within that context it has been athletes tor black speak out when they can. , the only thing they owe you and me is her performance on the field, but because of those other inequalities and mentioned it has been one of this countrys greatest and most important assets when those athletes do speak out. Susan, good evening. I think all your points are well taken. Mind with regard to jewish athletes during the 1936 olympics. And what it meant politically for jewish athletes not only from the u. S. But from some of the European Countries that were going to the games. Could they in good conscience go to those games knowing what was going on and the persecution of jews in germany. That became a real conflict for some of those athletes. A very serious effort to boycott these games. If you get to the exhibit, you can see it failed by just a hair. No one remembers because it failed, but it was the first serious boycott effort for an olympics. That, before that a number of jewish athletes decided they were not going to compete in the trials, even though they were olympic caliber. Their times or whatever indicated they would have qualified. They chose not to. There was a political effort, and organized effort to inform those athletes about what was because maybeway they were not so well informed and they were young and all they cared about was really their sport and winning. But at the same time he still had a group of six Jewish Americans who ended up going, glickman whorty became lat famous later on as a sports announcer. He tells his story in the exhibit. They decided to go. And in california, the Jewish Community here in the newspaper were very upset that sam baldrige, jewish basketball player participated. They did not mince words. It became a very large political issue in a different way. It was complicated for africanamericans, and there was some africanamerican press that was very antinazi. They did not support the athletes going either. Story, complicated especially when athletes they have competed, they have trained, and the moment arrives and is very hard to say im not going to go. Point, how to deal with it even end up in berlin . Berlin was chosen when it was still the democratic republic. As we know the International Olympic committee chooses the host city years before the event because of all the planning. Power in 1933. The decision should we stick with berlin or not . That again is the story we tell. There was a big discussion about that. Interesting. You are sharing that there was a boycott going on during that time in 1936 in germany. In the u. S. It was part of a larger boycott that was organized here of german goods. The olympics and going to the olympics fell into that larger boycott. They came from labor organizations. The trade unions were abolished and the independent trade unions were abolished from jewish groups and also from antinazi groups. Effort of a coalition of groups. Thank you. Melina, what was the picture like for africanamericans and how are they treated at the time in the u. S. . Right. Let me just say thank you for having me on this panel. I dont know why im on it because i have nothing to do with sports. I watch the super bowl for the commercials. [laughter] now that i have read your piece i will be watching so i make sure atlanta wins. That as we talk about lack athletes its important for us i assume a role is not to be a sports expert. I do Study Questions of black power. So i assume my role is the kind of layout what the world looks like for people in 1936 and 1968, but also to kind of have a conversation about sports and politics now. That is why i am wearing my i do know the names of a few athletes. [laughter] i have never seen cap or nick play. I have only seen him not stand up. Or kneel. You might not want to see him play later. [laughter] i think its important we understand that black people, society which is really rooted in White Supremacy often tries to cast athletes and other black folks who occupy public spaces as things. As athletes who were seen for their bodies and who are not to have any minds. Enthusiastic endorsers of their own oppression, right. Trained to see athletes in that way. It is just the black body. Since wea resentment, started to work backwards, thinking about people like Colin Kaepernick. Even people like Marchand Lynch who dont comply, who dont conform, who are not enthusiastic about their oppression. Is a tendency, a structure built to say they are supposed to just be bodies. They are not supposed to have minds and think and not specific connections with anyone beyond themselves. There is a piece that is a holdover from chattel slavery of alienation. This idea that black people should not be connected with each other. 1936, if weabout think about what jesse owens was supposed to do, what black athletes were supposed to do, we have to understand whats happening in 1936. The harlem renaissance is dying down. But there are real questions about black people and our role as laborers, as workers with civil rights what did civil rights for black in this country. There is the assumption of black people should be prioritizing the liberation of other people ahead of our own liberation. Someone else is kind of determining what freedom struggle is supposed to look like. There is this complicated narrative around black athletes at the time. Should jesse owens stand in solidarity with the jewish athlete . Should he stay home . Should he boycott . There is a whole black community that doesnt have the answers. Black organizations saying, boycott or dont forgot . Family members saying we need you to be your best self. A kind of tension between individual and familial advancement, and what is your obligation to community. I think we can think about it and begin it historically by talking about 1936, but we can go forward back in history and also move forward in history. I know we will be talking about 1968, the contemporary period as well. I want to frame it in that way as black athletes as representing or experiencing this desire by White Supremacy to separate the black body for the black mind. Let me follow up with something. Here we go, guys. Reaction, Thee National reaction when Colin Kaepernicks piece will protest of kneeling before the National Anthem. He did not hurt nobody, he did not shoot nobody. It was a National Firestorm to tell him to get up and salute the flag. Go to another country. When jim brown retired at the height, the prime of his career because he had independent mind people said are you crazy . Retiring . Whenw up in milwaukee luella center changed his name to kareem abduljabbar. Blowback fromjor white fans in a lucky at the time. The natureid about of this national beast to get black people to not think independently for themselves, and you contrast that with i wrote a column today in the boston globe about the fact that the new England Patriots top three figures, bill belichick, the coach, the owner robert kraft and the quarterback tom als of donald p trump, and how so far they have been able to not have been notto own up to any offered a word of blowback or perspective any of trumps behavior during these two years he has been running for president. Thejust contrast that with andage from many sectors the firestorm that Colin Kaepernicks simple kneeling did. That tells you a lot about what this country is still at. You can argue this is why i say the requirement is enthusiastic endorsement of our oppression. Colin kaepernick, people called it a protest. That is not really a protest. For ause to stand National Anthem that is rooted in the oppression of your people , that is claiming humanity. That is just the refusal to endorse your oppression. That is not really protesting in my view. He has gone further and really kind of talked about why he has done that, but i think that kind of requirement is something we really need to think about. And i love your piece. Everybody should read it. Everybody will be rooting for the atlanta falcons. Yes, you will. If you want to have a response to that, i have a question. Im a diehard beaming with patriots fan. [laughter] born and bred new england girl. But it is putting a little color on things. No pun intended. [laughter] , imhat you are saying getting some strange associations because i usually dont share the stage with such thoughtful people political people. It is wonderful. The gesture, the symbolic gesture is interesting because i had a lot of conversations with friends around the time of the Colin Kaepernick thing because people always come to me to get the nazi angle on these things. [laughter] interesting. You had to start thinking and thee hilter salute pressures to conform that were set up enormous. A lawgiver there was supports to do that, the norm established this. There is a great, famous to some of us in the field that is a huge crowd of germans giving the salute. There is one year and that crowd one figure in that crowd that is not. That is his protest by not giving the salute. Hink the larger issue with beyond the one you are talking about has to do with conformity and certain situations and how the National Anthem has become used in the pressures are so. Reat for people even if you are not having some particular political thought at the moment, and we are supposed to be an utterly free society where freedom of expression is permitted. I think that should always be in my mind. The standard. Lets talk a little bit more about conformity and the pressures that it has on athletes during that time. Recognizing the pressure that jesse owens was under, why did the United States decide to send him and other athletes to prevent despite the controversy and the conformity that the period of time was inflicting on many . There was one very important figure involved whose name has really become identified with the Olympic Movement in the 20th century. Brundage. As he was a lifelong supporter of the olympics, starting with his participation as an athlete in the 1912 games in stockholm. He thought their recent cearley sincerely that sports and politics could somehow exists and coexist and they were separate things. That is a question we often ask when we talk about the subject with students. Separate from politics . Can hardly separate from politics . The big existential questions. Organized and works very hard to make sure the eventual vote by the image or Athletic Union and which are union. Uer athletic he even went on a tour of germany and at interviews with athletes and coaches to try to determine if they were being fair and following the rules and jews to qualify for the team and so forth. It was all very well stagemanaged and came back and said fine, fine, fine. Went through all the motions to try to get people to convince them this should go on. In terms of jesse owens, i dont know if itd be sorry biopic they came out this year, the jesse owens story, that focused on this moment. If presented him as being very conflicted about it. There is a statement that he did come out with initially and say, well, you know, they are racist. Im not sure we should go and so forth. Case there were a lot of pressures put on him on all sides. In the end probably his coach put on him, turned out to be the most important. His coach was like the second father to him and was very, very influential person. Probably won the day there. I think it was a more complex issue for this athletes because they really did feel that if they went, they can make a statement. About the socalled aryan supremacy and whether that was the case or not. The games went off despite mass protests. Black athletes run of the victory from jesse owens excellent performances. Melina, did Directory Service some form of protest in opposition to that nazi regime, and what to their victories really accomplish . Depends. It depends on how you interpret things. Do those victories mean anything . I think one of the things that happens when they come home if they recognize there is still they are not elevated at home. The treatment of African People in the United States that is a very real and very start, even for olympic athletes. Its important to remember that. Its important to river our athletes are often used to pretend as if the conditions we live under are not the conditions that we live under. And so i think we need to think about that in 1936 we are still coming home to the first wave of lynchings. The first lynching era is in full effect in 1936. I think it to a degree elevates the consciousness of black people knew what we lived under, but hope springs eternal. We recognize what we live under. This has been true for the duration of our residency in this country. We understand the conditions we live under. We experience these conditions. There is this reality, but still there is hope. There is hope that if we just do this, if jesse owens just brings home a gold, it will be all better for black people in the u. S. But that is never the case. It does not better his condition, and its important we understand those black olympic athletes wind up living in poverty. We need to understand that. They are elevated for a moment, but they live like the rest of what people after that moment is done. Even in terms of individual advancement, it is momentary individual advancement. It is important that we recognize that. That is kind of what we saw. This hope that it would advance is collectively or individually beyond the moment, but that did not happen. That resonates with me. If anyone has seen the movie race, there is a scene where the actor come back after winning the gold and he is to go through the back door of his own celebratory dinner. That scene was very powerful because it explained the exceptionalism one might feel coming back home, but under still some political duress. 1936, we are not even close to ending the era. We are not even close. We have to go all the way, 30 years forward, before the Civil Rights Movement really takes hold and begins to topple some of those structures, some of those american apartheid structures that are experienced by even those that are deemed exceptional. You look like you are about to hear something. Yes. I dont know that much about sports history. I know there are some young people in the crowd, i think it is important to point out that the black olympians who went on and got graduate degrees, and there were a number of them he did, they ended up in professional positions. Owens did not even finish college. I think that was one issue. You are right, of course. Medalist, he, a was not alive to compete compete at the u. S. Naval academy and a meet. It is really important to remember those moments. I wonder in terms of the history if it is part of the arc of movement. Are said tohers have inspired subsequent generations of athletes. We were talking earlier about the delayed integration of professional sports teams, but it does have some impact on that . I dont know. It is just a question i have asked. Can i compound that question a little bit . It is coming straight to you. Us 1936s asking is not a good context. If we fast forward 30 years to 1968, the Olympic Games went Gold Medalist tommy smith and bronze medalist john carlos raised their black gloved fists in a statement of black pride. While this was completely different circumstances, we have a major global sporting event at the center of a very public political statement. Was this david perceived by the global athletic community, by the majority of americans and ultimately by the majority of black americans . Says they were thrown out of mexico city no. I was 13 at the time. Andmember watching it with being profoundly proud of these guys. Question. Eat i think there is no doubt in my inspired that action hundreds of thousands, if not a few million young africanamericans to be strong wherever you are at and whatever you are doing. And that you could speak truth to power. Most of us did not do it with a black gloved fist, but we did it in other ways. That 1968 was right there also, the time that ali was barred from boxing. 1967 through 1970. Ali was out. Right andics, if im correct me if im wrong, kareem and other athletes refused to go. That was the lesser known of protest over those Olympic Games. Again, obviously huge swaths of White America are outraged over that. That also raise consciousness about what is this anger about. What is going on . So i look at it as a wonderful moment of athletes using that podium platform to Say Something is wrong in this country. Im running for this country or abroad, and yet when i go home either me or my folks are facing something terrible. Athletes sometimes you dont want an athlete open their mouth, but when they do and they do powerfully, in the right context for the most powerful context, right or wrong because other disproportionate amount in sports, it matters a whole lot. Are public statements like john carlos black fisted glove pumping in the air, are those generally perceived in a positive light . Are those been considered heroes today . Again it depends on by who. I went to college my dad is here. It was an athlete during that time. A College Athlete at uc berkeley. We were talking in the car. I was like quick, give me a crash course in that was happening. [laughter] hey dad. I asked him did john carlos and tommy smith serve as inspiration for you . One of the things we need to think about is how the difference between how black folks experience something and how white Supremacist Society experiences something. So for us, yeah, they are absolutely heroes and inspirations and continue to be. My dad, one of the things he talked about feeling conflicted by as a student athlete at pull. Ey was this there was a whole black Power Movement going on. 1968 is a beautiful year. Its a very difficult year as well, but its a beautiful year. 1968 is the year that black studies was born. 1968 was the year we see the black power Movement Really take full hold on society. We need to think about tommie smith and john carlos as both contributors to the black power beneficiariesalso of the black Power Movement. One of the things my dad was pointing to was that they went to san jose state where they have the opportunity to be educated by people like kerry by people like harry edwards, who grounded them in what it means to have voice. Inicked up on what you said that sometimes we dont want them to speak, but you have a right to speak. You made me think about malcolm x. This statement malcolm x. s statement that only in black communities do the white power holders go to athletes, entertainers, pretend they are leaders, and nobody goes to a white trumpeter to ask what he thinks about politics, but what was pointed to come and what we see with carlos and johnny smith, there is a difference between anointment and condoning of black athletes and black public figures as our leaders, and they willingness, and, kind and moving forward on their own volition, decided to step up. That is what we recognize, and why we in the back black community continue to see them as heroes. Susan. We are in a time machine. Raise your hand if you remember 1936 . The berlin did olympics have in the international community, and was the propaganda successful in the way hiller hoped it would be in eradicating a lot of conversation . It established germany as a legitimate player, which might have been the case. Countercultural history is always different what if. What was also very important, the Nazi Movement was really a Youth Movement in large part. And in 1936, the nazi regime had only been in harder power for three years. It was still consolidating support, so it was very important to the consolidation of germany youth that were very nazitant and a lot of the leaders were young, too, to have them see that the world was coming to germany for these games. Another thing is that german hospitality was praised. They rolled out the welcome wagon. Black athletes were very well treated. They said they were better treated their, certainly than they were back home. And it was all very useful. And the german athletes, if you look at the medals tally they won the most overall. Wensi think the story of o is important in any number of ways, but it has also been used as, kind of, the feelgood american way to look at this history. Now, in 1936, people did not know the holocaust was going to happen. The war had not come yet. Genocide had not happened. It is easy to look back and think, but still, the character of that regime and that dictatorship, you know, was quite well known at the time, and diplomats were advising us now to send a team. They knew the diplomats who were there and reporting on it. They talked a lot about youth, too, and how it was very important for them. So, i think the consensus is that, actually, it was a propaganda success. Andhinking about propaganda political statement, if we think of sporting events as the opportunity to share messages, do the athletes have the responsibility to speak out against, four, and endorsed these statements that go out . Yikes. Meis a big question let repeat, i think, in the abstract, athletes technically low us nothing but their performance on the field. That is in a country that is there is not any particular amount of duress, stress, friction, divisiveness, racism, all of that. Last i heard, we dont live in a country like that. And, in fact, president obama was quite pleased he said it was a good thing that lebron james, Colin Kaepernick, and the mother modern athletes were a beginning to speak out about Police Brutality and inequality in this country, and he helped there would be more of it. So, the nations top basketball fan for eight years, actually open weekly he did not directly buticize Michael Jordan he hearkened back to 15, 20 years ago when the voice of black athletes was fairly absent from public discourse, and i think i personally think that should athletes who, in terms of , are the richest you know, the richest black men in the country, for the most part there are many black businessmen and businesswomen who, unknown in this room, make lots of money as well, but should black athletes, with their money, with their clout, with their public exposure and , with their vastly disproportionate presence on the latentthey do have a power, unlike any other subset of africanamericans in this so, we live at a are when disparities arguably depending on how you measure them, higher now than 20, 30 years ago. We have people here we have people here that in in ways that should not be. So, i think that should the others, should the athletes, top athletes i was really impressed, even though it was not as prominent because women sports are not as played up in sports pages the wnbas supporthe for black lives matter was absolutely amazing. Ithink what was really cool about this modern moment was that cap bernanke Colin Kaepernicks gesture was picked up not just by basketball players, but white soccer players. The top stars. It spread to others. It is not just the black thing. I think this recognition of disparities and the fact that depending on the behavior of our new president , who im just going to say it, who nominated an attorney general who was rejected for a federal judge should in the 1980s because of his alleged racist statements. Our civil rights laws are now in those hands. I would say we will need all hands on deck, and that includes the athletes. Mr. Boydpates that deserves applause. I agree. [applause] and, that was the perfect segue into my final questions for you all in the years since world war ii, there have been many opportunities to protest, both at the olympics, and at home. Just to name a few muhammad. Li and the vietnam war the 1968 olympic statement of black power. Discussions of protests around sochi winter olympics. Recent protesting the u. S. Associated with black lives matter, i. E. Colin kaepernick. My question to you all his Many Americans are offended by the idea of athletes making political statements, however athlete themselves are citizens of the world with a social conscience and a freedom of expression. Are these displays of protest courageous, or disruptive, and i will give this to Melina Abdullah first. Ms. Abdullah well, i think courage and disruption are sometimes the same thing. It is courageous to be disruptive. We have to disrupt systems of oppression. We have to. And i think that the work that athletes are doing some athletes are willing to do to open their mouths and say you know, speak out against injustice, is really important work. W. E. B. Dubois once wrote that all art is propaganda, right . It is also important to remember that the point of his statement is the way in which we interact culture art and culture, and i would add sports to that is all propaganda. We are always considering whose side we are on. If the athletes, especially lack play, they are indoor a system that says they are no more than a black body. When they use their voice and say i am going to use this stage and i willa cause speak out on behalf of my people, i think that is part of our sacred duty. I think that is what we are seeing happen more and more, and my hope is that people wont crumble, and bow down to a regime that says we dont have the right to use our voices. The one thing i want to add, and in 1936 we did not know there was going to be a holocaust, right . I hope we learned a lesson. Considering or as the International Olympic consideration is concerned where to put the 2020 olympics, i hope they will see parallels. Banned countries now, right . So, to say that the olympics should come to los angeles or any other place in the United States, i think, is something they have to weigh recognizing history, the severity of the oppression, and the very focal and dangerous rhetoric and actions coming out of this white house. I hope that both individual athletes, but also sports communities, viewers, well use whatever we have our purchasing power, our viewing power, and the athletes the platform, and the microphone, when they have it, to speak out against it. Mr. Boydpates thank you. Susan . [applause] ms. Bachrach i think it takes courage in many situations to speak out when you are going against the crowd. It is true for athletes. So many different pressures, including the wellpaid ones, and they have their brand i mean, commercial pressures, their brand to protect, pressures coming from their team, their owners so many different pressures, and i think all of us, in our daily lives, face many different pressures to just, kind of go along, and not to stand out, and to speak out when we speak see injustice. I think one of the warnings and the messages of our museum, really, is to get people to think about those moments, and two, kind of, prepare for them, because if you dont prepare for that moment when it is going to come, then maybe you wont have the courage that it takes to stand up and because it does take courage. It definitely takes courage. It ises courage, and probably disruptive, too. Mr. Boydpates thank you very much. Derrick . Mr. Jackson when i was a kid i drew actually, unspoken inspiration from watching the Green Bay Packers. In a serious way that i did not understand until many, many years later. At time, at that time, the Green Bay Packers, in the 1960s under vince lumbar to, was one inthe most integrated teams the nfl, green bay, wisconsin, a city that even todays owing 100,000 people in its municipality. Now were not talking about black athletes now were talking about i want to switch a little bit. There is a responsibility of white athletes, white coaches, white owners as well, because it is too easy to put black athletes out there on a limb, on the gameplay can and say you, boy, you protest, meanwhile ande kraft, brady, belichick are going to trump tower. Vince lombardi he heard there was some discrimination in the restaurants in downtown green bay, and he went there, according to david marists great book on him, and by the way, lombardi was not a sacred he had a lot of demons in his family like. Saint. He had a lot of demons in his family life. He went to the restaurant and said any restaurant that doesnt serve all of my Green Bay Packers doesnt serve any of my Green Bay Packers, and that to a lot of black players wanted to play in green bay. A place that otherwise nobody [laughter] mr. Jackson i grew up in the state. I can talk about it, and many years later, a majority black team is playing in green bay, and still waiting championships every few years, and coming so close. I love my hail mary passes. So, i do think i just wanted to say that one thing. When i said all hands on deck, i did not mean all black people. I met one reason i am rooting for the falcons is because arthur blank has pushed back against the trunk phenomenon trump phenomenon even though he is an nfl owner. It is important to put it is athletes, latino athletes, athletes of color, to speak out against injustice, but we should also put the same energy into urging the white leaders who run these teams to also speak out for injustice. Mr. Boydpates well, that you all. [applause] for justice. Mr. Boydpates thank you for that. I want to say thank you both for sharing light on this pit of little Pivotal Moment in American History, and take these words to say we all have ownership to take to be courageous to disrupt, and to move forward as a community, so give them all a round of applause. Now, to my favorite part of the evening. We want to open up it to the entire audience to ask questions of our panelists, these experts, so we are going to figure out how were going to do this. Do we have a next her microphone, my man . Extra microphone, my man . Can you set up in the middle, and get a line of three to five people to ask questions, and you can line up at the microphone. These are questions not comments. Mr. Jackson maybe if people are not as able body mr. Boydpates absolutely. If you are not able bodied, we could bring the microphone over to you. Just raise your hand. Ok. I would like to say i was a history major, and i just want to comment on a few things the panel said. Mr. Boydpates is this a question or a comment . Can we get to the questions first . I have to be the moderator right now. [laughter] mr. Boydpates yes. Yes, thank you for coming in. I have enjoyed this panel. I would like to know from each one of you in very short answers, why you think america could accept, and, i guess, vote said president that has all kinds of things about people, but had difficulty kneeling toperson just say i dont agree with what might be happening in our society . Mr. Boydpates he will give about 20 seconds to each answer 30 seconds we will give about 20 seconds to each answer 30 seconds. Mr. Jackson sure. The short answer the really short answer that would do more elaboration is that after eight years of the first black president of the United States, a certain subset of americans couldnt handle it, but i would have said that might have been 25 , 30 , based on voting, based on surveys on what people think about Police Brutality, that kind of stuff. Unfortunately, the new president , during his campaign, figured out a way to play on the worst fears and worst aspects of american society, and with dr. Issue at wiped up issue after issue up issue after issue Muslim Americans over there, hispanics over here, and it added up to the point where even with the misogyny of the access of white tape, 54 women voted for trump. Mr. Boydpates susan . Thinkchrach well, i people have to learn to look at statements that are being made be informed, to and to try to critically think about those. That wasnot sure that done as much as could be, and i think that this was such a different kind of candidate, and so unconventional, that it might have been very hard for people to do that, but i think that we need people to think very, very , maybe,ly, and to make better informed decisions. In terms of analyzing the elections, im afraid it is really beyond my pay grade, and it is a matter of speculation, and repeated what i have read in the news for why this happened. Ms. Abdullah so, i wrote a longer piece on this that came out on Inauguration Day that can called black liberation in the era of trump, so if you want a longer analysis, it is there, but this is not the first time it happened. Talked about 1968. 23 member who was elected president in 1968 nexts nixons election in 1968. We have parallels with the black Liberation Movement in a can 68. We are in the midst of a black Power Movement. The short answer why this happened, why they want to demonize black athletes like Colin Kaepernick, and the black public folks who have a stage, who did to speak out, even people like beyonce why they want to do that is the same reason trump was elected. The short answer was White Supremacy. D live in a white Supremacist Society, very little has changed, and we need to recognize it. A briefson just followup, you look at who is his chief advisor, stephen ltright, a the a euphemism for young racists. One thing we want to take responsibility for, if you did trump iot think the kids say stay woke. Mr. Boydpates we say that sometimes. I hear that. We say that colloquialism. Mr. Jackson but people that want better angels to run the government cannot go to sleep. Everyone who was slaphappy that obama was elected in 2008, people stayed home at the midterms. Everyone was happy when obama got elected. Then they went back to sleep. Republicans got the senate. Part of that is on us. Ms. Abdullah let me say, though, it is also on them. I am sorry the democratic candidate who has garnered the least amount of enthusiasm in my lifetime is hillary clinton. Nobody voted for hillary clinton. Everybody who cast their ballot for clinton was just voting against trump. , but imaybe you two think that there is this idea this idea, and you asked for my ideas, so let me share my ideas, and then you can share yours. This idea that it is just republicans against democrats is a very, very flawed model, right . The democrats you know, they like to say black folks are wrong for not being as enthusiastic about clinton as they were about obama, right . Clinton did not represent liberation for us. She did not. She was just better than that, kind of, oppressive, and vocal, eokkk member that trump. Is. Make it how to politically correct, but the truth is our liberation has to be bigger than the Democratic Party, and if the Democratic Party wants us to support them, endorsed him enthusiastically, they have to do better by us. Mr. Boydpates thank you. We have one more question do we have anymore more questions after this . You will be the final one, unless anyone who isnt ablebodied as a question, and we can bring the megaphone over to you. Mr. Boydpates hi, im a former division i athlete, which might give you insight into my existing opinions on this question, but i elina, can you elaborate on your comments about Marchand Lynch, and presumably other professional athletes who are talking about their enthusiastic endorsement of their oppression. What would you say to someone who walks off the street and says these guys are millionaires where is the oppression in the situation . What would you say to them . So i think i do shaenhink that mar lynch i just saying he refuses to accept our repression. Not his own. Few see our collective freedom rather than individual liberation. Marshwhich is still awn lynch is still from oakland. What they were requiring from him is to be a new millennium sample and that is what they require from athletes and entertainers smile and dance, smile and dance, and if you refuse to smile and dance, then you are, kind of bucking that bucking the system. It is important to understand that even though athletes are well paid, there is still oppression experienced. This idea that if you dont dance, we will take it all away is oppressive. I am very impressed with lynchs decision to say look, i have enough, i expect him back, and this is what im going to do now. Them moreat angers because it is less power they are holding over him. Mr. Jackson i think it is important to add there is a difference between one of my buddies, former New York Times puzzle Columnist Bill logan wrote a book called 40 million slaves, and the thing that has not fundamentally changed in this country and the sports structure is that the sports structure is still black athletes and actually, even more so than years ago two thirds of nfl players are black. 80 or so of nba players are black. The ownership and coaching structure is still vastly disproportionately white. Are vastly disproportionately white. I have a cousin who was a sports agent, and it was just hell to compete. He did he was successful for many years. So, they i think we have to look past the money. I think, in terms of structures, 1would say that college d sports is far worse. I was going to do a quiz that people are shocked every time i do this quiz. On much you think is spent athletes at d1 the answer is 15,000. How much you think auburn spent on a Football Player . 500,0001 Million Dollars, 32,000 more times more. And the coaches are making nfl salaries. Making nfl are salaries, they are spending half of a Million Dollars on a player, and the player gets what, maybe a degree . Maybe . That, to me, if you want to talk about, sort of, systems i dont use the word oppression as much exploitation. Mr. Jackson exploitation. And with the brain damage and all of that in football. The big picture is it is still exploitive. Mr. Boydpates were going to take three more questions. We have two more, and she had a comment. We cannot forget her. Your comment will round us out. After john carlos and tommy smith by the way, great soc ks. Mr. Boydpates these old things . [laughter] republic ofring the south africa from participating in the olympics, after muhammad ali, and looking back 80 years ther, what is the lesson of what is thes, and future of politics in the Olympic Movement . Mr. Boydpates and we will try to get oneminute responses for that one. Well, you know, i thought the olympics had almost run its course. I felt as it became more and more commercialized over the years and also the whole issue of security now. O one really wants the cost van become so great. Communities do not want to support the building of the facilities and the stadium, so i dont know was that your question, the future of the olympics . The thing about the olympics is it is a world stage. That makes it different. Im in, the super bowl is a pretty big stage, too, but the olympics, bringing all the countries together, i think it is a little bit distinctive. Now we have the world cup. I do not know if there is anything comparable to that. So, i think it is totally possible. It just depends on the moment. If you look through the whole history, there are Many Political moments in the olympics. There is something political, probably, about every single one of them. Mr. Boydpates thank you, susan. Sir . Thank you, all of you. Great socks. Im a big soccer fan, and in the soccer, sayody of no to wrote racism is a thing that is pushed out in the world cup, and today i was reading it is morehat said of a problem for somebody to be called a racist than it actually is to be racist. From it is a get type of thing to be called racist or be perceived as racist, and to actually be racist and one other, that is not super related, but i think it ties into the 1936 06, and something in the first world war, where the harlem hell fighters i think two thirds were from harlem, black fighters that were in their own unit because they were segregated, but they got that name from the because theyfought had that much prowess on the battlefield. So, when we talk about these wars, or these major historical events, what do you think we need to do to show that there is that ats, new wants the end of the day, you deal of excrement it did not matter that jesse owens had the victory. It is a feelgood story that we tell ourselves. I am longwinded, but i think you know where i am going with this. I can take the first ms. Abdullah i can take the first part of that is ok the answer to that is way too permissive. Every answer is White Supremacy. The idea that we should be coddling people that say i am not a racist nobody thinks they are a racist, except for the ones that wear sheets, they know they are racist, they do not even want to be called racist publicly. The idea we should be coddling them, caring about what we call white tears, right . More than the black people, the brown people, the Indigenous People who are experiencing White Supremacy the answer to that, the reason that that is an argument that we even entertain is what supremacy. We are trained to center whiteness in all spaces. I am sorry that you feel bad, that i am oppressed, and maybe you have something to do with it would benefit from it somehow. That is a ridiculous argument to entertain, and the only reason we entertain it is because brooded in every system, the basis of those systems are White Supremacy. Mr. Boydpates did anyone else have a response . Mr. Jackson as a writer, i long ago ceased to speculate on whether in me any individuals are racist. I focus on the system and the result, and if the end is a racist structure, or has a affect, thatct, is what i focus on. As for intelligent discussion, that is what, you know, should be focused on, because one of the things i heard over and over again on interviews, whether they were npr or fox, trump voters were constantly saying i am for trump, but i dont want to be seen as a racist. And my view was that i dont really care. What i care about is whether you are about to vote for policies and politics that will harm untold amount of people. Mr. Boydpates thank you. Can we have a round of applause . I had her next. [laughter] as i said, i am a history major, and in order to share, make it a more balanced presentation, although you guys are the panelists, i do have some input. Of course, i love it, my mother did not like it, and a lot of her generation did not. So, even with Martin Luther king and malcolm x, they get much better press now, but i remember going leaving college, rushing down to the courthouse to listen to malcolm x speak, and i felt like even if you didnt even if you didnt believe in what he believed in, there were press from all over the world, and when they would ask him a question, it was, like, silence. He was a great or a tour orator. Like lot of people who are malcolm x now, or even Martin Luther king now and i heard him speak and it was wonderful also it wasnt like that. History has made us forget. I remember when martin was first getting popular, we called ourselves the negroes, and my mother would say colored. It took the longest for her to stop saying colored. People, we embraced it, and even the movement out of the south i believe, started with a lot of young people. Right now history has given it a much more, whitewash, but a lot of people did not like it, and people that embraced these changes were young people. I think i was about 18 when they had the march on washington and i wanted to just be there. I dont think my mother would let me, even if we had the money we didnt but she was just afraid. She did not want to she lived by it will be all right syndrome, and it will not be all right. You have to speak up. One more thing on Colin Kaepernick he is adopted. My daughter is adopted. People that are adopted, we all have issues, and he would go to places with his parents, and he would say he was treated differently, and the fact that he is making 1 million, or what have you they have to pay him. If they could get him for cheaper, they would. I think athletes athletes and the rest of us who have been privileged to have something unique to speak up. It is not always about race. I remember one time and i mothernish ice cubes invited me and my cousin to watch a game in the box. And there were several people, and we were all their guests, and i said would you like to have something, and she said would you like to have something, and some fool said just charge it to your son. She said i cant do that, and this fool said he can afford it, and to this day i resent i didnt Say Something to that person. As you say, be prepared. I couldve said, you know, you are rude. Mr. Boydpates thank you very much. [applause] mr. Boydpates thank you very much. At this stage, were going to have to close out the panel, but please feel free to pull over the speaker you fancied the most, and im sorry, as a moderator, i have to close this section, but take you for your interest, and lets give our panelists a round of applause, themhink them all thank all, and thank them for coming out tonight to the California Africanamerican Museum, and lets all enjoy the exhibition that is still open until 9 00 p. M. All, and have a blessed night. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] this weekend on American History tv on cspan3 this evening at 6 00 p. M. Eastern, on the civil work, Abraham Lincoln authorities slickly what might have been had he not been assassinated. We would have to assume he would follow a cautious plan, so he might not have been willing to have black codes implemented, for instance, but he certainly would have been much more conciliatory to the south. The 1992 0 00, 1952 film you we take stuff from where they make it to where they need. Sun dance at 6 p. M. Eastern, we will tour philadelphias carpenters hall. You all remember Patrick Henry for his give me liberty, or give me death, but even more significant was his remark made here in the earlier days, when he looked around the he said gentlemen, we are no longer from massachusetts. We are no longer from pennsylvania. We no longer are from virginia. We are all americans. At 8 00 p. M. On the presidency, ronald reagan, and the transformation of global politics. The Reagan Administration was also attempted to Human Rights Violations elsewhere in the soviet bloc, following attention of the 1981 decision to impose martial law in response to the growing issue of solidarity for the Union Movement there. For a complete schedule, go to cspan. Org. Yes, they had very nice lifestyles. Of course they have tons of money, but i do think the superh ubs that make it to the top and stated are not primarily motivated by money. Standing,to have status, want to be respected, and have power. Theunday night on q a, beyond Global Founder and ceo s usses her book superhub how the financial elites and the Networks Rule our world. Many see what is wrong with the system, but it is one of the key questions i ask in the book do they hold the system prisoners or are they of the system is it their fault, or the systems fault, and after analysis, i come to the conclusion it is the interaction of both. Sunday night at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspans q a. Sunday night on afterwards, richard haas examines his challenges in his book. He is interviewed by a senior fellow at Howard Universitys future of diplomacy project. Thesis you put forward as you say there is continuity and how the world worked during this period. Describe that. A lot of the structure of the world was based on this idea of sovereignty the idea that borders were significant, that they defined nation states, countries, and that there was a deal out there we wont try to change your borders by force if you dont try to change hours. Hours. Mr. Boydpates p. M. Y night at 8 00 10 00 p. M. Eastern on after words. now, author howard blum talks about the life of betty pack, a washington, dc debutante who worked as a spy for the british and americans during world war ii. Howard blum describes her ability to seduce diplomats and officials in order to learn secrets and provide information to her handlers
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