Speaking out on political issues this is not star in 2018 which is what this documentary very much points out is the connective tissue that's always been there yeah and that's exactly what I was just about to ask you to do is give us a sense of what the documentary does it focuses on the n.b.a. And kind of this history of politics in pro basketball right yeah so it's a 3 part series and you know the Laura Ingram moment and where we are in 2018 is in many ways the catalyst that allows us to go back and really you know to the fifty's to the sixty's starting with guys like Bill Russell later Kareem of gold bar. Oscar Robertson Spencer Haywood some of these true pioneers that were not only dominant players and helped the n.b.a. Become the the sort of cultural. Rocked it that it is today but also at the same time we're dealing with you know Bill Russell is probably one of the foremost civil rights activists of his era and so while he was winning 9 championships in 11 years he was also one of the most outspoken athletes and people sort of in the country and there wasn't the sort of economic fortunes that there are today in the league so you know he was putting a lot of risk in so we tracked that lineage and so this idea that today the best players of their generation the Brawn James's and staff cars Kevin Durant's can be outspoken that has a foundation an origin story and that's what we explore we're speaking to Gotham show for the director and producer of the new documentary series shut up and dribble which premieres this weekend on Showtime and the series narrator Jamil Hill who's also a staff writer for The Atlantic would love to hear from you particularly if there are any athletes who are politically outspoken who's resonated with you regardless of what your politics are what their politics are. Are there any who have been particularly vocal about their views their beliefs their politics that resonated with you for one reason or another or what questions do you have about the way that politics sports business intersect these days comment on our Facebook page tweet us at one a or e-mail one a. You dot org Jamil Hill Bill Russell is the 1st player that's kind of profiled in episode one of the series he was drafted by the Celtics in 56 very much a civil rights activist as a professional athlete but it's almost the at least way the story is told in the series it was almost inevitable like the fact that Bill Russell was drafted when he was where he was it almost forced him into a place where the issues of society were going to follow him one of the court no matter what I mean the reality is that Bill Russell came along you know at a time you know pretty the Civil Rights Act where he is playing for this team and yet after. They've you know after any game or you know just them being on the road he is not even allowed to have dinner with his teammates in hotels or stay in the same hotels as some of his white teammates so regardless of whether you know he might have wanted some kind of separate relationships between sports and politics that was never going to happen just given what the times of the of the day were and here you have in this is always been kind of the tension and basketball in particular you have the rise of black athletes and. A black middle and upper class happening as a result of sports all for the enjoyment of largely white eyes and so you have this backdrop this racial dynamic that's happening and as much is people would like to think that these collision courses that somehow that they would not at all impact people just wanting the result but because of just the racial dynamics. Of the time you know politics was inherently and I hate to use it where politics because to me you know it's just simple right and wrong but for the purposes of this discussion those politics were just incubated in the game regardless Gotham there's a very famous picture if you look on Bill Russell's Twitter page is a shot of him with Martin Luther King Jr Muhammad Ali and a young basketball player at the time named Lew Alcindor who of course changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar you include him in the documentary as well he kind of was one of the early players whose presence in basketball kind of got politicized in a way where he chose to take a more socially outspoken path. Yeah he's in incredibly again and so we're talking about the best player of his generation possibly of all times the all time leading scorer in the league and he's in some in many ways the heir to you know Bill Russell Wilt Chamberlain of the prior generation and you know he comes across in the time the sixty's he's young he's the greatest high school player that's ever played the $68.00 Olympics are approaching so there's just like a lot of stuff going on both you know in sports but also in politics and so he becomes this you know flash point for a lot of this discussion and he's incredibly thoughtful and incredibly. You know articulated though you know not somebody who's particularly you know friendly with the press or and so he's just signon credible character study to understand the the different dynamics in this year and all the different things that are going on and again people have to remember this is a time when the league is not the cultural force that it is so it's on tape delay you know they're not getting paid that much money you know relative to what we what we know now and so he's a really interesting force that goes all through this that's dominating on the court but also having to face all these incredibly challenging incredible challenges off of it Michael from Ohio e-mailed absolutely the presence of politics in all of sports is needed welcome and essential every avenue of communication that is open for Americans to be educated is very important by the way we interviewed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on this program last May were guarding his memoir about playing at u.c.l.a. Under the amazing coach John Wooden you'll find that conversation on our website the one a dot org That's the word the the number one the letter a dot org We'll continue this conversation in a moment I'm Joshua Johnson and you're listening to one a from w.a.m. You and n.p.r. . Thanks for joining us for one day right here on w b Public Media. Program is made possible with support from Cool Digs at 6 Euclid drive in Athens featuring a variety of gems minerals fossils jewelry and garden supplies information at 740-249-4270 Also on Instagram and Facebook support also comes from the Athens real estate company providing service of the Athens area for 27 years information at 7405917007 or lose at my Athens House dot com. Take a look at the latest weather forecast from the National Weather Service. 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Comes from this station and from home instead senior care offering a team to support families and their seniors with a range of individual ised in home senior care services including bathing cooking and medication reminders home instead dot com slash n.p.r. . And from You Tube originals and Roadside Attractions presenting Viper Club starring Susan Sarandon as a mother struggling to free her captured journalist son also starring Matt Bomer and e.t. Falco in theaters Friday. This is one a I'm Joshua Johnson we're discussing sports in politics as depicted by the new documentary series shot up and dribble with its producer and director Gotham Chopra and the narrator Jamil Hill who is also a staff writer at The Atlantic We'd love to hear from you about the collision of sports and politics do you think that n.b.a. Players pro athletes should do what Fox News host Laura Ingram said should just shut up and dribble shut up and pass shut up and play hit tackle run jump or do you think that there is an appropriate place for politics and sports maybe you're involved in sports locally and you had to deal with this where you are maybe with a high school team or a college team with players who want to wear a certain kind of political outfit or who want to kneel during the national anthem How do you deal with the intersection of sports and politics where you are comment on our Facebook page tweet us at one a or e-mail one a am you dot org Before we get back to the documentary Jamelle it's worth noting our conversation is focusing on pro-basketball because it's the documentary focuses on but there are plenty of other athletes some of whom are referenced in the documentary in other sports whose outspoken This is groundbreaking and also destroys their careers where if you look at the 1968 Olympics or a boxer like Jack Johnson or a boxer like Muhammad Ali there's this kind of 1st wave of people who are the pioneering outspoken athletes they pay the price for it and then they but they pave the way for more to come after them if I mean the most obvious athlete to think in terms of that conversation is college capper Nick and you know I think that's another great piece about this documentary is that for a lot of younger sports fans they're looking at maybe what's happening with college happening and wondering how could this happen you know why are things like this and this film very much spells out that college had been it is just one of many that this is how. Too because before there was kind of capper Nick as in the documentary there was Craig Hodges and there was. And it's just interesting because today the n.b.a. From a cultural standpoint perception standpoint compared to the n.f.l. Is considered to be the more progressive open minded league that allows its players to be more socially activated and you know to express their political and social opinions and to be involved but the n.b.a. He was not always like that so we see but Craig Hodges Mahmoud Abbas the dress code Allen Iverson that a lot of the struggles that we see black athletes have in terms of expressing themselves that happened a lot in the n.b.a. And so it's a very interesting connective element that people can relate to today since you mentioned let's get to another moment from the door moment from the documentary Shut Up and dribble bliss is Rove kind of explaining himself and then dealing with reactions from fans at the time listen my religious beliefs and I look at the Caucasian American I look at the African-American be the person this country so. I don't stand for that you have to stand up for a national anthem it's your country and you should be proud of it is an American gets paid by the American from the Soviet America is the reason why he's making the big bucks and I mean this really is respect. To beat rather not get play in American dollars part of the documentary Shut Up and dribble regarding Denver Nuggets. Some very mixed opinions from several of you about whether and how athletes should protest Louis emailed these guys pay to read are paid a ridiculous amount of money to play a game and let's be honest they're entertainers people pay to watch them and get away from the outside world for a while and relax as a veteran I stand behind and bled for a person's right to speak up for what they feel is right but as a paying customer I say keep your opinion to yourself till you're off my dime. Matthew in car Barone North Carolina e-mailed if players choose to endorse or an endorser political candidate how is that worse than teams being required to endorse athletic brands such as Nike and Adidas on all of their athletic wear our society looks up to our professional performers they should be allowed to present their political opinions in our free country Gotham Chopra after putting this documentary together how do you view this controversy broadly in terms of athletes being paid a lot of money to play sports and then having this huge political platform. Well I think it's a conversation that's been going on for generations and and decades and so the argument that you know sports and politics should not mix I mean it's an argument but it's also you know if you look at history it's never really been that way and we could talk about the 36 Olympics or the 68 Olympics or you know calling cabinet which you brought up it was the it was the issue they kept on coming up over and over spontaneously in every conversation this is about the n.b.a. But all the people I was talking to wanted to talk about Colin capper Nick So look yes highly paid entertainers but beneath the highly you know all the money in the entertainment is also human beings human beings who are living in the same circumstances we all are right now and and watching the news and seeing what's happening and having their communities affected so they do have opinions and to silence those to me doesn't really make sense it's just not realistic and time I I think you know someone like Le Bron James who is the greatest player of his generation who is engaged and then also gives a platform not just you know for himself but for for other athletes the Dream on greens the the Jaylen Browns today these really young players who are outspoken who are coming into the league instinctively feeling like well well why wouldn't I share my my opinions and it's not just you know Le Bron It's also Steve Kerr Gregg Popovich you know the elders of this league so you know look it's a conversation that's happening in every corner of this country right now and I think that these athletes can help be a catalyst in and perpetuate that is a good thing Steve Kerr the head coach of the Golden State Warriors and Gregg Popovich the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs and we are hearing from some of you who are athletes who are politically outspoken including Ana Ana tweeted I am a Latino Native American member of Team USA representing the u.s. In multi-sport at the Worlds in Denmark this July locals and athletes from other countries repeatedly asked me how I could tolerate Trump as president my response I can't I won't my Twitter feed reflects this. Eleanor emailed it cost me several days' pay to take my family to a sporting event if games turn into political rallies I'm not interested and Ellen from Ann Arbor tweeted what that Fox pundit said about Le Bron could be said about her no one voted for her. Let's talk about Larry Bird from the eighty's a great player in an increasingly African American League and he game this nickname Jamelle of the great white hope not a title he wanted his team the Boston Celtics won in 1907 beat the Detroit Pistons in game 7 of the n.b.a. Championship and Isaiah Thomas from the piston said if Larry Bird were black he'd just be he'd be just another good guy highly controversial Thomas and Byrd addressed that in a press conference in the days after he was a piece of that press conference from the documentary Larry definitely works hard to get were I mean if he didn't work he wouldn't be a great player. But so many times it's been said about Isaiah that it's God given. I worked hard to get where I get to I wouldn't be here like I said if I said tells me that in a joking manner I think it we should leave it at that I'm very proud of the fact that I'm able to compete you know been slow and. You played it off pretty well there at the end you're male but there's this kind of underlying larger kind of cultural issue that that crept in the how do you think anybody around him Larry Bird Isaiah Thomas magic like none of them asked for this but they got sucked into it yeah they kind of gets back to one of the comments that you just read where they brought up oh they get paid all this money to just play a game and they don't that's going to be the inherent kind of disconnect between players and fans fans look at this game in this sport as just a game the players know it's a job and like with any job you have to put in a certain amount of hours a commitment your dedication and often what happens is that black players are not respected for their intellect they're not respected for the other elements they bring to the game beyond the athleticism and people look at them and just say you hit the genetic lottery that's it and they don't realize the amount of blood and sweat equity. They have put into what they do and so while anybody who watch Larry Bird knows that he's a tremendous talent regardless of what color he would be but the way that he was praised an elevated verses black players with similar or better abilities is the root of what Isaiah was talking about no leverage on that a little bit because as you were describing that I thought about and I I hate to say this to some of our listeners who are fans but sometimes the way people look at me and the way I do my work like a very is this impression that like I just have this talent that God just like tap me on the brain and suddenly I know everything to say as opposed to someone who spent 14 years 12 years pounding on my craft before I got to this point it's this weird duality that almost becomes political because of a social preconception Well I mean given what the history of this country is there has always been a there's always been a theory or at least either strongly suggested or it's been there in the in the Web's of our of our country's history about black inferiority when it comes to intellect and anybody who has watched Le Bron James Yes we know he's a marvelous athlete but what coaches and other players and his teammates talk about a lot is the fact that he has a photographic memory and he can remember players from 5 years ago he's extremely smart but when you hear him being described it's as a physical freak and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar went through the same thing and being a 7 foot you know tall black man in this country everybody's looking at physically what he does but not mentally what he also brings to the game and even within that it is just the mere suggestion that black athletes don't work as hard they just happen to be more physically talented this is just sort of a a weird. Extension of j. . What Jimmy the Greek said when he was talking about slave mating and it's sort of like even though people don't necessarily come out right and say it what they're really saying when they continue to either Marvel or downplay the dedication that black athletes have given to whatever game they play what they're actually saying is that you don't have to work as hard and so because you don't have to work as hard then I can only appreciate and praise you so much for what it is you bring to the sports spectrum is interesting as you mentioned Le Bron James how much of a businessman he turned into very early on I don't know how many of you watched that game show that was on n.b.c. Over the summer I think and last year called the wall that was such a big hit Lebron James was the executive producer yeah of a game show on n.b.c. So he is vertically vertically integrated by the way Gotham I have to say one of the fun things about this documentary was seeing footage of like Le Bron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when they were babies when they were coming out of high school I got a it's amazing like to see some of the early footage and just kind of watch them mature on camera was was pretty fascinating but other than people like me who just kind of geek out over that stuff Who is this documentary for Who's your target audience that you really want to see this. It's a good question I look at this documentary series almost like alternative history alternate history to the n.b.a. You know we don't spend much time in this here is doing is talking about the San Antonio Spurs of their early 2000 and probably the most dominant franchise you know possibly are one of the most dominant franchises ever we don't talk about who are M.V.P.'s you know through many of these areas we're looking at this other side so while you know to your point there's some great archival footage in there and you get to enjoy some of that you know Magic Bird rivalries the bad boys later this is really aimed at I'd say more a bit more of a friend audience in terms of who's not as familiar and perhaps doesn't care as much about just say the X.'s a X.'s and O's the wins and losses due to stakes etc but people who want to have this conversation that we're having right now which is what is the lineage behind sports in politics you know what is this mythology that has sort of underneath existed not just in the n.b.a. But across all sports leagues and that's also trying to understand the politics in which we are right now you know my hope is that this you know the coming 3 days before it's coming out 3 days before the midterms then you know it just sort of helps engage people in this conversation that I think we need to be having in this the civic engagement that you know needs needs to be going on all across this country you know there are several folks in our audience who for whom this resonates who aren't really the biggest sports fans including Henry who tweeted I don't care about sports but I care about Americans with a platform using it and for that athletes have my respect speaking to Jamil Hill of the Atlantic who narrated shut up and dribble and Gotham Chopra the documentary series director and producer Todd tweeted as a collegiate coach of 2 decades I always remind my students that their platform is huge and should be used to improve. Society most athletes are strong educated people who should be heard Dave is in Lancaster Pennsylvania Dave emailed when Candidate Trump was parading Nascar drivers on stage during the campaign I never heard conservative pundits say shut up and drive. Her Brianna say that but not conservative pundits and Patrick tweeted Rianna Nobody heard that song nobody never mind Patrick tweeted kneeling during the national anthem is the sort of in your face identity politics that only fosters resentment and tribalism not empathy and attempts at understanding I think Patrick might have a point I know a lot of people who saw that and had a really strong visceral reaction but the back story is Cullen Caprona got that idea from a service member because initially you know has to tell the story yeah the story is that Nate Boyer who is a former Army Ranger and one of Collins someone who noticed Collins protest and also somebody who is an athlete he told Callen to kneel because that's what you do for fallen soldiers as opposed to sitting on the bench which is what he was doing initially during the national anthem in ne Boyer a service man was the one who told him to to do that because he felt like it was it was more respectful and you know here's the thing though is that we have a Tennessee as a society to agree with protests after we already know the outcome and if you go back and look at any of the Pew Center research during the civil rights movement Martin Luther King Jr number one was one of the most hated people in the country Secondly they were in the movement during the movement Secondly the majority of Americans in this country did not agree with the civil rights protests they thought they were harmful to establishing full and equal civil rights so as much as we'd like to think that we're a little more elevated when it comes to this discussion at no point in our history have we ever love protests despite the fact that we are a nation founded by dissenters which has always been kind of ironic so I hate to tell people but there is no right way to protest that doesn't aggravate and annoyed that's the whole point but isn't that also the risk for someone like a college camper Nick I mean Collon was not a weak quarterback when he got bounced from the n.f.l. I mean the Niners made the Super Bowl as he was on his. Way out of the league now you know he wasn't at all and here's the thing is that some of these issues he had raised before. It doesn't matter because again it usually boils down to Do people believe that what they're speaking out about is really an actual problem and a lot of athletes pre during the national anthem talked about these issues and guess what their reaction was still the same so it's sort of like how provide me a blueprint in which somebody can discuss these things where people aren't acting emotionally and viscerally to what they're talking about there were some athletes who did have a huge platform in the n.b.a. N.b.a. And chose not to really use that platform politically got to talk about Michael Jordan when we continue of course there was that North Carolina Senate race that some felt he should get involved in and then he said that famous line or Republicans buy sneakers too we'll get to that ahead stay close Mr. Us Interior Department Secretary Ryan think he goes ahead with offshore wind so I certainly want to praise sinkings for the positive effort towards offshore wind but it's really a drop in the ocean compared to the disastrous policies across the board in the Drug Administration I'm Steve her with a problem ministration and wind power next time living on Earth from. You can catch living on Earth Saturday afternoons at 4 o'clock right here. 21 minutes before 12 Thanks for joining us for one a here on your n.p.r. 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Back now to our conversation with Gotham Chopra and Jamil Hill be director and narrator respectively of the new Showtime documentary series shut up and dribble still a little more time to get in some of your questions and thoughts about the role of politics in sports if you believe there should be a role for politics and sports comment on our Facebook page tweet us at one a or e-mail one a at am you dot org Sam emailed I wonder if I was wondering if your guest could touch on the role of money in all of this I find the sport politics connection particularly interesting in the ways that politics are brought into sport from those at the top such as owners and those who run the leagues in the form of military fly overs White House visits etc These things are done because it helps the leagues generate revenue but when athletes bring up politics they are criticized Gotham Chopra How would you respond to Sam. I think it's a great point I think you know all of these leagues I mean specially the n.b.a. The n.f.l. The ones we've been speaking about are you know multibillion dollar corporations and they're generating a lot of wealth for a lot of different people. So the one of the fascinating things is exactly about that national anthem issue you know we sort of subtly feature it across the series and you see it in the national anthem is such a big part of sports and so the link and how that's been used to sort of market and wrap these leagues in the American flag so the politics intersect and it's a complicated issue and what it means to fans versus what it means to owners and athletes are are slightly different so I think it's a great point and I think you know we do see this owners somehow are often left off the hook there are allowed to do and say whatever they want to you know we can all see know who's you know been contributing to who's campaigns but somehow when athletes and particularly you know African-American athletes are outspoken they take a lot of heat for it when there's also some political issues that affect owners not a whole lot but there are some I mean there's there's a football team here in Washington with a name that its owner Dan Snyder has made very clear he has no interest in changing no matter what every Native American in the country feels yeah I mean this is what people have to understand the moment that there's a stadium built an arena constructed it's inherently political because they need taxpayer dollars to do it and so that means a vote so that means politics is already there before you ever show up for one game and a lot of this to what what she started kind of digging deeper and looking at these relationships is that. Got to mention a lot of this is is marketing the n.f.l. . Has been taking money from the Department of Defense for years for military fly overs to market and sell patriotism players before I believe those 2009 didn't even come on the field for the national anthem so this is marketed purposeful patriotism that is being infected into the game because somebody is collecting a check so for all these people who look at it as some kind of natural part of the game it was always force because the one thing that the n.f.l. Considering the way they like to market themselves to family that was easy because you talk to any coach and they always tell you you know sort of the 3 F.'s with with football which is you know I guess the order is it's faith family football and that's a that's sort of a Amaan trend a slogan that they believe in in the n.f.l. That's how they're marketing this game to you but is that kind of a reflection of what fans want I mean this this is the national anthem in the post $911.00 America I think that's that event that tragedy is is exactly what changed it obviously a terror attack on u.s. Soil it changed the way that we all looked at the national anthem it probably deepened a lot of lot of those feelings but make no mistake that it is a business relationship for the n.f.l. Why that is marketed the way that it is and so I think fans may look at this emotionally but understand that the leagues that are marketing this to you they are looking at it as an opportunity to sell you speaking of the business relationship it's interesting how the business relationship comes from the executive offices as opposed to some of the pool as opposed to some of the players themselves in terms of how engaged or disengaged they are in politics Gotham you focus in part on Michael Jordan in this 2nd installment of the 3 part series he did not speak up about politics the way other players did I guess partly because he had so many endorsement deals and it's just this phenomenon that kind of hit the seam there particularly in regards to the Senate race in North Carolina in 1990 s. Tell us more about that. Yes Michael is an amazing character and cultural flashpoint and you know what when we talk about the 50 the sixty's the seventy's there are certain movements the civil rights movement Vietnam that are more overtly political you start to get into the eighty's and then later into the ninety's and there's a lot more subtlety in subtlety to it where you also have as the greatest player I think in the history of the game and not many people including you know the greats of this hero argue with that. And you have this rise in the economics of the league television deals and and just you know the Lakers hell take sort of take the league off of tape delay and put it in the mainstream and then comes the scieno David Falk Michael Jordan's agent has this great line in the documentary says you know 1904 was 1492 because you have Bird Magic in the n.b.a. Finals and then you're Michael Jordan drafted and yes Michael is an interesting character because what he represents culturally but also because of who he is and where he came from and how he grew up and so when he's asked later in the ninety's to sort of get behind you know this Jesse Helms Well Harvey Gant who's running against you know the notorious racist Jesse Helms and he sort of you know boxset it it becomes a thing and you know it's sort of like been hung on to him as a political statement when in truth it was probably a sort of casual flippant joking comment but you know it's something that stuck on to him and that to this day people really talk about and we try to sort of deconstruct that and it's complex because I think a lot of people and probably one of them come to his defense who says well you know why do we just assume that every black athlete now has to be outspoken and and also that the cost and the risk at that time is not what you know what we see today is Le Bron James Carmelo Anthony all these guys they can be outspoken by the way doesn't particularly effect. It certainly doesn't affect the bottom line Michael had a lot you know a lot at risk I want to also how much just the fact that we're social media society plays into all of this I mean it seems like if you're Michael Jordan with the Chicago Bulls who won 6 championship rings in their day it's easier to just insulate yourself from the constant 24 hour barrage in your pocket. Who are mad at what you said or didn't say or how you said it and then to me this is the the beauty of this documentary is that you know you it does wind kind of getting you to critically think about some things now I'm the opposite of Gotham I have been very critical of Michael Jordan for his lack seemingly lack of public you know social awareness in terms of speaking out however through this film and just seeing some of the footage I realize that you know Michael's activism every at every level of activism looks different depending on who they are who they are and so they all don't have to look the same where Michael Jordan elevated black athletes is with global marketing and being somebody because he was the face of a company and the face of an industry that he by extension was showing Fortune $500.00 companies and white businessmen and to some degree you know mainstream to a large degree rather mainstream America that you can make a black man the face of a company and the face of an industry and that is marketable and bankable that was his activism is that he was in control of his image and his empire and so once I started to see it that way it helped me understand Michael Jordan and why he chose not to be as vocal even if it's something as obvious as coming out against somebody who's in a Torrijos races like Jesse Helms Paul in Minnesota emailed What about team mates if you don't think that Anna. He builds you're naïve it does build players are drawing lines and standing on either side of the lines as a coach or team owner you would really not want this Gotham What about Paul's comment in terms of the players who choose to be more politically active the players who don't and whether that creates friction. Right well you know what we're talking about over the past hour is the inherent politics that are parts of these these because they're made up of human beings there is an element of you know there is an element of sports and politics sort of giving us space from each other and our sports giving us space and so I think what you see one of the beauty of sports is that you can bring together people of every different you know complection every ethnicity race socio economic class and put them on a team where they you know the great word is chemistry and sports where they do put their politics aside you know whether it's for 3 hours or whether it's for a season and and so you know athletes have and this happens with fans also when we go to games we're all you know I'm a Red Sox fan I am rejoicing in you know what is what is going on the last week I could feel the glow sort of my hearing through your bonus and so you know that's one of the beauty of sports and it is a rest bite at times from you know all of these politics and I think we should celebrate that I think we should enjoy that but we shouldn't be naive to think that that necessarily you know that that's ports is the place that it has to always be independent of politics Well here's what's so interesting about that I've been covering sports now for 21 years and when you talk to athletes they will tell you that the locker room is actually a great place for those different kinds of discussions to take place and better equipped to handle them then wider society than say a set our regular jobs because athletes are brutally honest with one another that's number one and so they're able to get to these things on a deeper level and even if guys are on different sides of the aisle it doesn't create a create an effect and the other thing I like to bring up too is do you realize that there are guys that are playing alongside each other. Knowing other players have been accused of crimes have done very serious things and they don't seem to my playing with them so I don't understand how somebody. You know being pro-life or pro-choice that that's going to all of a sudden anger somebody to the point they don't want to play with them and they also realize their window is short the average n.f.l. Career last 3 or 5 years I don't think that a guy is going to care about how somebody votes because he's trying to extend his career and make his money he gets a few more of your comments before we are out of time Mike in Kensington Maryland emailed African-American players are speaking from the heart about something they know very intimately racism I for one although I don't follow any sports think they should be honored not despised for this mark in Indiana e-mailed the current White House and conservative media will accept support from anyone and conversely attempt to shut down anyone with an opinion that's not in line with their agenda ever heard of a guy named Kanye West another listener tweeted politics have no place in sports it's the one place people go to escape keep the game pure Jamelle I wonder if you could respond to this particularly because I did a little you know because Google is a thing and so I asked the Google thing I was trying to member the guy who invented basketball Nicks myth James Naismith 1901 Massachusetts and so I Google you know James nice basketball 891 Naismith and I come on this link from the Department of humanities in Massachusetts about the history because the very 1st basketball game was played in Springfield Massachusetts in 1901 Dr James Naismith invented it and it tells me that he invented the game as a way to teach Christian people the true value of athletics Apparently he was watching a football game where one of the players started cussing and then eventually went over and apologized and according to the site from the state of Massachusetts the incident made such an impression on the Smith that he became committed to the idea that physical training could be a means of spreading Christianity. So there's something about the blending of sports and politics sports and values sports and advocacy that feels anathema but that is baked into the game however you kind of encountered this fault line firsthand because last September you made a comment about President Trump that ended up kind of getting you shuttled out of e.s.p.n. And let's you ending up at the Atlantic trumps the president's press secretary Sarah Sanders responded to a question about whether the president was aware of what you had tweeted at the time. He's aware of it I think that's one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that I think is right fireable offense by e.s.p.n. And the tweet was quote Donald Trump is a white supremacist who is largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists unquote I doubt those are words you would want to walk back but I wonder what that tells you going forward about the way that we have these kinds of conversations Well what's interesting is that you know. Forever have to point the this out to people who you know the stick to sports crowd that you know much like some of the feedback you're getting today that says they don't want any any politics or opinions of those natures of that nature in sports I didn't say that on e.s.p.n. Airwaves I said that on Twitter and I can relate to how some athletes are viewed when it comes to this particular topic because I went through it myself. Even though you know I know that these athletes and I guess to Mike's to some extent to myself that we're in the sports world but sports is not who I am 24 hours a day I'm also a taxpayer I'm also a citizen and in this country I'm also a black woman and so with all those layers if you would you want me to be this a political mindless person the entire day and it's like I can't be that and neither can they is that when they stop dribbling when they stop practicing when they leave the game they are. Men of color in this country and they are not despite their money despite their position despite their said as they are not removed from what is happening in their community what is happening in their own families the reason the Miami Heat when they decided to wear their hoodies after Trayvon Martin was killed is because many of them have sons and they live in rich fluent neighborhoods and if their sons are walking down a street and people don't know that that's Lebron James his son and if it's either the community police or neighbor and they call the police on them what do they think is going to happen what does that interaction going to be like so his nobody's money is going to protect you from that and they understand that and that's why they're so vocal and these issues and wider society tend to resonate with them as they do tend to resonate with me as just being a black woman in this country of online was also from Miami his mother was in Miami Dade County employees got them before we go what's the one main thing you want folks to take away from the series before we go get engaged I think I want people to watch this series and understand that. It's really important to to find your voice and to have to engage in this conversation sports is a great backdrop for it but you know I would like people to walk away feeling a little bit smarter and a little more motivated to go be part of the conversation Gotham show for director and producer of shut up and dribble the 3 part docu series premieres this Saturday night on Showtime Gotham thanks for being with us thanks so much for having me and Jamil Hill a staff writer at The Atlantic who narrates the series Thank you thank you this show was produced by every client to learn more about her and the rest of our team visit the one a dot org slash staff this program comes to you from w. Am you part of American University in Washington distributed by n.p.r. Until we meet again I'm Joshua Johnson thank you so much for listening and we will see you tomorrow for the Friday news roundup this is one. Support for n.p.r. 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Join us for all things considered between 4 and 7 right here. Each Monday afternoon. For activities that provide a sense of community for kids who may struggle to find people they can relate to the prism. Program offers weekly arts programming as well as afterschool snacks books and games to kids ages 12 to 18 you can read all about Prism in the culture section of. Rachel Beardsley has a report on that for us stay with us the takeaway is coming up next that includes a news update from n.p.r. And the latest news from the news room Good afternoon. Climate change may not be a priority in the mid terms but it's an important issue to young people across the political spectrum for the 1st generation really going to have to live with the consequences of a change in climate science a common ground on the issue between both parties might be something more bipartisan work is accomplished tell us how to close the generational divide on climate change. And this is the takeaway also on the show as marijuana legalization spreads one business woman warns against the racial gentrification of the industry the people that we cut out of this industry were literally the people that had the know how how to grow this industry and. How do you celebrate the holiday. To learn about a culture in which rather than the take away we'll be right back after these headlines. From n.p.r. News and Washington I'm Winsor Johnston the suspect in the deadly Pennsylvania synagogue shooting is pleading not guilty to 44 counts of hate crimes and firearms offenses Robert Powers entered a plea in federal court today he's accused of opening fire in the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh last weekend killing 11 people President Trump is continuing to crisscross the nation in a final push to drum up support for Republicans the head of next Tuesday's midterms He's scheduled to hold campaign events in Montana Missouri and Indiana this week as N.P.R.'s Mara Liasson reports Trump rallied supporters last night in Florida Florida is a crucial state for Trump he needs to win there if he's going to be reelected in 2020 and he wants a Republican governor in Florida to help him at the rally in a stero Trump described his trip to Pittsburgh to visit with the families of the 11 Jews killed in an anti-Semitic attack but he quickly pivoted to a new light of attack on the press and sadly turned on the news and watched as the far left media once again use tragedy to sow and defeat. The crowd broke into a chant of c.n.n. Sucks that's a staple of Troops rallies the president will be campaigning every day between now and Tuesday all in red states where Democratic senators are up for reelection Mara Liasson n.p.r. News Turkey is dismissing u.s. Complaints about Turkish artillery fire across the border into northern Syria Turkish media say at least 10 Syrian Kurdish fighters were killed in the attacks N.P.R.'s Peter Kenyon reports from Istanbul the state run Anatolia news agency reports at least 10 members of the Syrian Kurdish y.p. G. Forces were killed in the final Arab area of northern Syria the agency quotes a State Department spokesman is saying unilateral uncoordinated military strikes into Syria are of great concern. Washington particularly if u.s. Forces are nearby president ridgetop Bedouin has warned that the Turkish military may need to launch another operation inside Syria to clear out why p.g. Fighters ocracy says terrorists the fighters have been instrumental in coalition attacks against Islamic state forces in Syria Peter Kenyon n.p.r. News Istanbul officials in Indonesia say they found the flight data recorder from a passenger jet that crashed shortly after takeoff from Jakarta this week with 189 people on board N.P.R.'s Julie McCarthy reports investigators want to know why a 3 month old $737.00 Max 8 fell out of the sky on a clear day the plane updates Boeing's best selling model and discovering the flight data recorder is a step toward solving the mystery the box which is a bright orange was hauled aboard a recovery vessel and Diver said they had to contend with strong currents and dig through debris to reach it N.P.R.'s Julie McCarthy This is n.p.r. News. Support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include Newman's Own foundation workings and nourish the common good by donating all profits from Newman's own food products to charitable organizations that seek to make the world a better place more information is available at Newman's Own Foundation dot org for w.b. News I'm Chris Riddell as the campaigns for statewide offices the Ohio legislature u.s. Congress and the u.s. Senate come into the final weekend before Election Day candidates are getting a little help from their out of state friends State House correspondent Joel's Reports thank you very much everybody it's great to be back here remember President Trump will be in Cleveland on Monday Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham were also in Ohio but Democratic candidates are getting help from their star power friends to. Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren returns to Ohio today Her visit comes on the heels of former Vice President Joe Biden who made his rounds through the state earlier this week and President Obama appeared in Cleveland with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Richard Cordray and others in September at this point Obama isn't scheduled to return to Wyo before Election Day But with polls showing most of the statewide races are tight that could change Joe Ingles at the Ohio Public Radio statehouse news bureau Democratic u.s. Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Republican challenger Patrick Morrissey are due to participate in their only debate the debate is scheduled for tonight in Morgantown Senator Manchin is a former governor who is seeking his 2nd full term in the Senate Morsi is a 2 term state attorney general and staunch supporter of President Trump who is scheduled to appear in Huntington on Friday Manchin has said he supports many of.