so let's discuss now with ken belson, nfl reporter for "the times," and also ken jenkins, a former playerve both of you on. we wanted you to keep us updated on this story, and you all are, so thank you very much for that. so, ken belson, it's been a long battle getting to this point. explain this policy of race norming and what the agreement ll mean. >> sure. this started about a year ago -- actually last august, so a little more than a year ago when two former players sued the league claiming that their claims for payouts for dementia under the concussion settlement were denied in part because race was used as one of the categories to determine whether they were -- they had cognitive decline. and this was -- and there were two separate categories, one for black players, one for white players, and the assumptions made for the black players assumed a lower level of cognitive ability, and therefore they had to have a much steeper decline to get a payout. so this came to light more than a year ago. it was quite embarrassing to the league, especially when it's out there on the football field

but as ken jenkins mentioned, years have gone by. this was supposed to be a, quote, easy to use settlement. that's the way it was portrayed to the players four or five years ago, and it's been anything but. the second thing to add which is not relevant to the race norming issue, per se, is the guidelines or the reasons for players being disqualified. let's say a player can still drive or, you know, do a radio or tv interview. well, suddenly, the nfl might appeal that claim and say, well, he can't be -- he can't have dementia because he still drives a car. as we know, there is many grades of common sha and cognitive decline. so there are many other things, nothing nothing to do with race that are still holding up claims. >> i just have a short time left here, ken jenkins. you within the the doj civil rights division to get involved? >> yeah. i think that's the only way we will get full transparency of what transpired here. i think if they do an inquiry and open discovery, then we're going to actually find out the democratic informatio

. >> former running back ken jenkins doesn't have cognitive issues yet, but last year he and his wifenormingder change.org and i asked me friends to pass it along it ended up getting over 50,000 >> in june, the nfl together with attorneys for the players announced they would come up with new protocols >> and we're all somehow celebrating this, but that's like someone stole your purse and volunteers to help you find it >> now lewis and jenkins are calling on the department of justice to investigate possible civil rights violations. the league denied there was discrimination, but agreed that the race-based norms should be replaced roxy gordon sees this moment as an opportunity for the nfl >> i'm hoping that the nfl will take a look at these people and their families and do what's due today in court goes through a common period before going into effect. but that could be retroactive which could affect hundreds of former players as for that investigation into civil rights violations, the doj tells us it is still under review >> race norming in 2021, pretty ridiculous >> and we hope this c