winter olympics and over hundreds of others, the causing trouble. tony's media had since been flooded with comments supporting to say more tolerance failure and had background on us as china continues to push, it seems to succeed. it's unlikely that any of it to live, this will be free from politics or the president for any time. katrina, you al jazeera aging. ah, to have a quick chat on the top stories here. the white house as a phone call between the u. s. and russian leaders on ukraine did not result in any fundamental change. the kremlin said the call was businesslike, but criticize what it sees as war hysteria in the west year sector of state anthony blinkin says, a diplomatic part remains open with moscow and that it must deescalate. if moscow chooses the path of aggression and further invade ukraine, the response in the united states and our allies will be swift. it will be united,

it will be severe. yesterday we ordered the departure of most of the americans still at the u. s. embassy and keith, the risk of russian military action is high enough and the threat is imminent enough that this is the prudent thing to do. no one should be surprised if russia instigates a provocation or incident, which it then uses to justify military action. it had planned all along well, that's coming from the u. s. sector of state came during a meeting with his japanese and south korean counterparts and how why the talks are focusing on north korea's recent missile tests. lincoln said washington's opened a dialogue with north korea. but he hasn't ruled out the possibility of further provocative actions from pyongyang. the canadian government is wanting of increasingly severe consequences for anyone participating in blockades of cities. old border crossings. anti vaccine or testers are slowly moving their trucks off a key us canadian border bridge. they've been blocking since monday

french police abuse, tear gas to break up a similar protest in paris. they're running against vaccine passes, which are required to enter restaurants and other venues. a convoy of fighters from libby as joint forces as rolled into tripoli to support the interim prime minister, abdomen de baber ordered by him to secure the capital. on the eastern base, parliament moved to replace him. he says he won't handle a power until elections a health and a sports court is set to meet in beijing to decide whether russian figure skater kimler valley eva should be allowed to continue competing in the winter. olympics organizers delayed, presenting her team at gold medals. after report surfaced, she tested positive for using a band drug before arriving in beijing. well, those are the headlines. news continues here on al jazeera after upfront state. you intend to watch him by for britain's beloved curry houses are in crisis. 2 in the

door is shut down every week. the use of rex it financial thrive and the padded in $1.00 0, $1.00 east investigate on out you 0. from the 968 olympics, when to black athletes, tommy smith and john carlos raised their fist in the black power salute during the national anthem. to mohammed leave risking his career in boxes by refusing to be drafted by vietnam war through billie jean king leading the fight for equal treatment of women. political statements have long been a part of us. were recently, we've seen at least protesting police brutality like naomi or dr. wearing face map, bearing the names of people killed by the police in the united states. and in 2016, a seminal moment. how and cabinet player and the national football league or nfl began kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial injustice. then last week, just after we reported the conversation that you're about to watch. another moment of reckoning, fired miami dolphins coach brian flores is suing the nfl and 3 team,

alleging systemic and structural racism in their hiring practice. flores and soup pump. just as the nfl is working to rehabilitate its image. and per pause for boycott over its treatment of happening with the super bowl, the annual championship game, the nfl coming up right around the corner. we take a look at the state of politics and sports today, an exam and just how far we've come. the wanted me to discuss sports and activism. we have michael bennett, junior, former nfl player with the seattle seahawks pro bowler activists, an author of things that make white people uncomfortable. a book that he co wrote with dave's iron sports editor of the nation magazine, an author of 11 books on the politics of sports, including his latest the cap and effect, taking any, changing the world. good to see you both. mike, i want to start with you back in 2017. you decided not to stand for the national anthem until you saw equality and freedom. why did you make that decision?

and what kind of response did you get? who's a hard decision? i think internally would team i think there was a lot of those a lot of barriers within the organization just because a lot of people feel like you know, politics and sports don't mix, but i think there's a sense of where we have to connect to humanity see what's happening around us, and although you freedom isn't always expected in a lot of things, but being able to use our platform just to bring awareness to people who are experiencing a different life than we're experiencing, then trying to build it says empathy. so there was a lot of backlash from, like just you know, this is a white america who doesn't understand a black man who's ah, it seems to have no material when they only equate our humanity to material one is like, is not about the money. it's about when you don't have the money, just recognize as you're black, being black, what can happen to you and give the police are you engage in the wrong barrier?

how your life can be short? and just because a simpleton is just the color of your skin, my god, do you think that there was an expectation that because you had a different class position because you were, are well paid athlete that you wouldn't care about what was happening to every day black people on the ground. no, you know, this is interesting because in mom nelly's books, he was talking about the tare, one in the big metal, and he tried to be in a restaurant. although here were the elliptic metal and all these different things are happening. they still can't get in the restaurant, i do it in a metal into, into the river. and it's like in a day, doesn't really matter what kind of actually will come to work for you calmly and america at the end of the day, which has a lot to do with what's happening to people around this country. they've. michael was speaking to these powerful relationships between sports and politics. there are a lot of people who argue and who genuinely believe that sports is supposed to be

the respite from politics as sports is where you go for entertainment. it's not where you go to find an arena for political change. you obviously made a career saying just the opposite. why? well honestly, because when i hear people say sports and politics shouldn't mix, i feel like what they really mean is that sports and a certain kind of politics shouldn't mix. you know, the politics of a, michael bennett, the politics of people who stand for social justice and human rights. that's what they don't want to see in sports. when it comes to nationalism when it comes to militarism when it comes to commercialism. when it comes to all those kinds of political issues, that's politics. and so just because we say we don't want to see politics or we don't think politics should be in sports. i mean, honestly, that sort of like saying you don't believe in gravity when you're falling out of an airplane my go, how do i get here? you know, there was a moment when mohammed ali is refusing to fight in the vietnam war. there's a moment in the ninety's though, where athletes stood suddenly,

a less willing to share their opinions. ah, they don't want to take political statements. i think about when michael jordan famously said a republicans by sneakers, too, as a response to why he wouldn't endorse a particular political candidate. how do we get from the arly moment to that moment in the ninety's where athletes are doing less and speaking less about these issues, i think is a sense of why i feel like it is not just, i actually think, i think we're lucian has always been brought to come in and i think there's a historical evidence of that. and also i think sometimes is half east on the title of athlete allows us not to be connected to the idea of what a tardy of where he may experience. and we kind of put ourselves in a bubble, and i think ali burst your bubble. and then as we start to get more in tune with capitalism, that bobo started to feel banker covers and consumers, again, you know, we got, there was so much money that was happening so much to the contracts. got bigger

television got bigger, the commercial has got bigger, they just became dis, disconnect what was happening on a daily basis to all kinds of communities. my god, how conscious is that capitalist piece in the minds of athlete in your experience? in other words, like, do athletes just get caught up in the moment and they don't realize it or have you experience athletes who are like now bra, i am not doing that protest. i'm not making a statement because it's too much money on a line. yeah, because i think it is money. there's a lot athletes who are like, now i'm doing this for the money, which i can understand are some moment people are doing it for the moment and they really want to support their families. but also there's moments were there after that, i don't understand all the ones who are significantly compensated or that are also worley renown, and don't take the opportunity to share the message which, which makes capron very interesting. and also somebody like on the brand, james, who constantly is on the forefront of all that regardless of the money that he's made. he's also is saying things. i think there's

a lot of athletes that are granted to like, i'm not sending thing. i don't want anything to happen to me and you know, there's people who, you know, one of my actually friends, he said he supported to some of us and in his family, got burned back in texas. so i think there is a sense of where a lot of people are affected by their communities and their families are still living in the certain area. so, so thomas about may, but also sometimes about the safety of the families. interestingly enough, like even i just in britain was telling the story about how he supported us and then back to make sure he travels the bar camp and nobody wanted to come to serve him at a restaurant or did they not want to support the law? can be more, wow, those are those are high stakes. and you mentioned colon capital gave you wrote a book called the catholic effect, taking in the changing the world tapper nick, isn't the only person who's ever taken a stand? he's not even though the person is innovation or in the nfl who took a stand. but his stand did have a specific impact on the league, and indeed, on the country and the national discourse around sports and politics. what was the effect of capra nick? you say he changed the world. how?

yeah. um, before i just want to say a quick edition in case some listeners don't know who the justin. brett is. who michael bennett was just referring to. that was a white see me of michaels. ah, who is in solidarity with michael, so that's a white former player not being served in a restaurant and not having people at his can imagine what it's been like for black athletes all over the last 10 years. as we've seen this return of politicized athlete. and it really has been like a 10 year period. ah, women athletes, male athletes, l g, b, t, q, athletes. there's been an explosion of politics over the last decade in capron. it is only just a part of that story, you know, but he came up, taking that knee in 2016, and we're talking about right now a period that i think goes back to the murder of treyvon martin in the miami heat, lead by le bron ah, speaking out against that. so capron is just a part of the story, but i think he represented an incredible acceleration and elevation of the politics

and the new athletic movement. and that's how he changed the world. he changed the world because he took this feeling of protests that was out there and he brought it to the point of, i think, the greatest contradiction of every sporting event. and that's the playing of the national anthem. and by taking that knee, he was issuing a direct challenge to this country, saying that there is a gap between what this country says it represents. and the lived experiences of black and brown communities, particularly around the issue of police violence. and by doing that, what he did was he forced white vans to confront the bigotry racism, and violence that exists in u. s. society force them to confront it against their will. and i think that something that the entire black lives matter movement has done. and it's generated both solidarity in white communities. we saw that in the protests in 2020. it's also generated. i horrific and violent backlash seen in everything from book

burning to the patriot front, which is some clown right wing, a group that just marched in d. c by the re lincoln memorial. i mean, the confidence of the hard right in this country is one of the effects of polarization. and collin capron. it is a part of representing that polarization. now some people have said to me, o, collin capra, nick, you're celebrating someone who polarize this country. and my response to that is just to say, column capron, it didn't polarize this country, you know police brutality polarized this country racism polarized this country inequality has polarized this country. what con capron did was just point out for everybody to see that the emperor right now is not wearing clothes when the response comes to current. capron is michael and believe start to make some changes. there are some people who argued that the league's changes weren't

real, that they were superficial, that they were performative that you know, the nfl, letting people have slogans on their helmets, like stop hater or black lives matter. you know, when you see stuff like that, or is there any real substance of change there? or is that just the league sort of playing into a narrative for its own benefit? and if that, if it is the latter, what is real change look like? and again, it's all tries to make positive, tries to lead issue, but i think there's just such a disconnect between either the nfl to really ever have the impact that it could have. because color can predict never been into the becket and abroad. number one thing that could have really helped in a film really make his impact was in great contact and need to have a seat at the table to help control the narrative to bring in the ideas and the people to hear man ra activation. people truly are here, so the stories ahead the feet to the ground and really understand what's happening is communities how that there could have been and bring

a great change. and i think the greatest thing i think then, to me that can be changed on top of police brutality is you know, investment and things such as education. ah, oh, hospital hospitals and access to fair nutrition, libraries, parks just like the everyday necessities. the human beings need not just the victimization of it, but also the opportunity to actually have a real foot at the starting line and really have the opportunity to really run that race. that america says that everybody has the opportunity to be, you know, has a dream to be what they want to be. i think as opportunity to really allow people like us to go to our communities and really change the way that we see fit. a one of the ways that the nfl attempted to change those communities and to bring people in because michael makes an important point. car capitan made the sacrifice a league made every shift except finding a way to get talent happening back in the mix. to have a seat at the table and to help is he said shift the narrative. one personally

didn't bring in to help shift. the narrative was jay z and his company rock needs to those exact as he is he, that responses what the nfl for you thought of the rock? that's exactly what people say the nfl. i know that happened right. is that, you know, if you bring jersey and he's popular, he's beloved by the community. the streets love him. and if you bring him in to not just do the half time show the super bowl, but to do the community engagement piece that it will make black people stop complaining that it'll make protesters say, look, the nfl does care about what's happening in black communities. and jazzy can now run interference, pardon the metaphor, but jesse can now run an offense for the league as opposed to doing the substance of work. when you see the nfl make moves like that, does it make you more skeptical? does it make you wary of the movie? does it make you say maybe, maybe to some positive opportunity here? i mean, it makes me realize that they're operating with a carrot and

a stick. at the same time, the carrot is, look, we're bringing in j z. look, we're putting slogans on the helmets. look, we've got a special committee that's going to work on these issues, all carefully controlled by the league. look at the half time show this year. we're bringing out dray and snoop and amen. m. that's going to be the half time show this year. look at all these things and that's on one side. but we can't forget the stick part like look column capron. it's still unemployed. look at the executive class of believe the ownership class of the league. we're talking about counting on one and the people of color who truly have a seat at the power tables in the national football league and you know, a leading nfl rider name michael silver to even works for the nfl network. after some of the recent round the firings of black coaches, michael silver said look, there is institutionalized racism in this league. and there are very real races in positions of power in this league. so they're trying to operate a very delicate dance right now. because at the same time,

they can't just let their races freak flag fly and just polite yet this is a faces for payton, because the league is 70 percent black. so you need and that's why i think people like colony cabinet. and michael bennett, ah, what their greatest sin in the eyes of, of nfl power is that they stepped outside this highly autocratic, very top down and structure and they sit, they basically live the words of mohammed ali even said i don't have to be who you want me to be once you have black athletes saying that it kind of upsets the whole apple cart of the structure of league, which is let's try to appease the players. while at the same time closing the door on real power migrant. you spoken about before about a fear of serious injury or, you know, brain damage due to repeated knocks on the head. in your book, in fact, you said, or i'm scared, every time i go out in the field that something possibly could go wrong. and i might leave my kids for good. how are leagues like the nfl structure to deal with

series player injuries? you know, when it is so interesting because i mean, dave is working on the book. oh, there are some moments in a book where it was like this. ah vulnerability, an honesty that it graphs you for a moment and he hit you which all reality. like there's a moment, there's a moment that was a moment where i had the stockings i gave, i need a moment because tears don't come down my eyes because it's emotional because it's like looking, looking at you look at g, you say as you look at all these different people who have experience of brain trauma or experi some type of pain like that. and you and you wonder sometimes am i looking at them when i look in a mirror arm looking at a broken man. and i think this is very scary when you start to think about when you could be harmed or you could be injured. but you notice i could deal with the devil . can the nfl do something more to make sure that the players are protected? cuz you're right, i mean if, if it's a sport, it's a gladiator, sport,

and you're running into each other. there's a level of violence that's inevitable in the sport. you can't play football and not get hurt right now, but i think i'm good if i could do, i think personally within a foot can doing where my view would be would be be bill bill treatment centers around america where athletes all that, all the sport and things come together is where people can go and get treatment and find out what's going on with the bodies. it's been a certain amount of time there. and when you retire someone like you have to go on a and you have to spend a month do site training and go to bring your wife in there, bring your kids in there and just deal with injuries. so you can have the opportunity to keep going to these places when you feel pain. also give her, you know, health care and money fraud is different things they're doing. but i think there's just a deeper thing that we have to deal on a ment aside to guys go through and i think when you go to sports like this, you build up a sense of numbness and cows this to your body and your motion is that it's hard to even deal with things in life because you all have been told to plates and pain.

you even know the relationship with pain nor do you, hey, shit with low order issue, which only motions. while david mike was talking about building structures in place to deal with the physical trauma, the mental anguish that comes with planning sports. but in the current moment, the nfl seems to be responding quite differently to player injuries up in 2019 to form a black players filed a civil rights lawsuit against the nfl for what's called race norming. which assumes that black players have lower cabinet of function than white players. talked to me about this practice. ah, is it still happening and why was it happening in the 1st place? well, hopefully due to public pressure. ah, this will not be happening going forward. i mean, a couple of things about it. first of all, as you well know, mark, i mean, race norming. this idea of judging ah, black bodies in white bodies differently. i. it is something that's been going on in this country since the trans atlantic slave trade. i mean,

this is something that this kind of racism in medicine runs very, very deep in the american psyche and it pushed forward into this concussion lawsuit that was negotiated by the nfl by the nfl players association together. you know, it was this idea that said that if you were a black player, then your cognitive ability, your baseline cognitive ability is inherently lower than your white teammates. therefore, you don't need to be paid as much in the concussion loss and fall out because for lack of a better way to put it because you're cognitively impaired. anyway, are you to lose my brain function cuz your brain and work? very good. anyway. yes. yet that, that, that's the ugliness of this. and it was so ugly, a technician that we only know about this because of a b c news because some technicians were whistleblowers, or these technicians were emailing each other like, wow, this is really racist. what we're dialing right now. this is wrong and then it came

forward and then the players came forward and in the nfl did what the nfl does very effectively. they were, you know, it's like the famous scene in casablanca, like, were shocked that there's gambling going on here. here's your winning, sir, that, you know, it's like we're, we're, we're going to be on the front lines ending race norming. not only in concussion settlement, not only are we going to change that, but in all of medicine, we're going to play a leadership role in making sure this never happens again. and you know, immediately switching the narrative instead of saying, well, why was this practice seen as okay? and to me, very importantly, how does the fact that you exercise this practice? how does that connect with the fact that there are so few black people in positions of power and leadership in the national football league? and that's the point that i want to get to because michael, you played in the nfl. ah, your black 70 percent of your teammates were black. ah, there are almost no black coaches in the end of the head coaches in the nfl. why?

actually, i don't know why this is. i think there's a way i think the black clears have to say more. i think black players have to say more. i think black players have been very silent on this and i think we is black players. even though the info is doing is the inner, feels for on a doing this, but i think is black players. we can really take a stance and work to support our fellow workers and because a lot of the cultures used to be players, right? so it's like what i've never heard of yet, but that's what i'm saying. i'm which you, my god is like, there's a way that players can certainly do more to, to leverage their power to get the nfl to do the right thing. i just want to started to please know that they're not doing the right thing. i mean coaches that you're doing right thing i'm agreeing with you get in there doing the right thing, but i'm just saying just like common cabinet was able to step up and change the narrative and what's happening outside of the, in a bill, how do we have that same narrative that are saying percent of all players plan to we start getting more black cultures and position of power to we get more black

cultures in this there's we can take the victimization of it, take the power and the control and the st. we're not playing, we'd love our black coat. she should have the opportunity. maybe he may raise a raise. a good point about the nfl players responding to the kind of structural institutional racism is reflected in the, in the power dynamics right. between who owns the teams. ah, who coaches, the teams, et cetera. but how do we get to this space where it's just accepted that all these black and brown people on a field are going to be led by white men on the sidelines? oh, we've gotten to this place because the average career is only 3 and a half years and the contracts aren't guaranteed. and so everybody feels in a state of profound uncertainty all the time. and so this idea of speaking up, it comes with a cost him in collin cap, the specter of someone like fallen capron, it haunts this new generation of players because it's like, hey, you want to speak out, you want to step out of line, go right ahead we can also take away your livelihood, and we have to remember this,

now's thinking about this when we were talking about class earlier, like players overwhelmingly come from working class or poor backgrounds. and this 3 and a half year career, that's the average length. that's when they're gonna make over probably over 95 percent of the wealth that they're going to make over the course of their lives. and so the idea of keeping quiet and not risking a year of that due to a strike or a lockout or more of that becomes very important. so there's a lot of powerlessness in terms of being labor in the nfl. but there's also a lot of power because this is a multi $1000000000.00 operation, and it only works if the players are willing to be on board. i think one of the most powerful nfl political moments of the last several years was after the police murder of george floyd. the nfl issued a very tepid statement. and a group of players put out their own video saying the nfl is not doing enough to stand up at this critical moment in history. and the person who helped organize

that and who led the charge was patrick ma homes. now, why is that important? you're not going to get rid of a patrick. my home is patrick holmes could walk out naked on to madison avenue and, and do a little dance and the nfl would say, oh, that just shows he has character. and i think in the nfl in patrick mahoney did that, it sent at least a message to me that if the players wanted to, they could grab a piece of the string on the sweater that is the nfl. and give it a mighty mighty pull. we'll see what happens, but in the meantime arm, i'm excited that the energy on the ground is still there at the players are still resisting that. the analysis still happening and i'm glad that you, tourists were able to join us to that away in on it. michael bennett, thieves are in thanks so much for joining me on a front that's our so upright. we'll be back next week.

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