We Matter

Athletes and Activism

Etan Thomas

• Publisher: Edge of Sports
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781617756122
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Sociología

Interviews with sports stars, activists, surviving family members, and others fighting racial injustice: "Before Kaepernick, there was Etan Thomas."— The New York Times

A Library Journal Best Book of the Year

Professional athletes have long been influential figures in American life. Today, many of them are using their platforms to speak up about injustice and inequality. This book features interviews by former NBA player Etan Thomas with over fifty athletes, executives, media figures, and more—interwoven with essays and critiques by Thomas.

Includes personal stories and opinions from:

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook, Steve Kerr, Oscar Robertson, Mark Cuban, Michael Bennett, Carmelo Anthony, Derrick Rose, Swin Cash, Alonzo Mourning, Chris Webber, Jemele Hill, Anquan Boldin, Jamal Crawford, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson, Shannon Sharpe, James Blake, John Carlos, Laila Ali, Michael Eric Dyson, Joakim Noah, Eric Reid, Adam Silver, Soledad O'Brien, John Wall, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Bradley Beal, Tamika Catchings, Curtis Conway, Harry Edwards, Chris Hayes, Chamique Holdsclaw, Scoop Jackson, Bomani Johnes, Shaun King, Jimmy King, Ted Leonsis, Thabo Sefolosha, Ilyasah Shabazz, Torrey Smith, Kenny Smith, Michael Smith, David West, Michael Wilbon, Jahvaris Fulton (brother of Trayvon Martin), Emerald Snipes (daughter of Eric Garner), Allysza Castile (sister of Philando Castile), Valerie Castile (mother of Philando Castile), and Dr. Tiffany Crutcher (sister of Terence Crutcher)

"In We Matter, Thomas strives to show the influence professional athletes can have when they join the conversation on race, politics, and civil rights. Thomas conducted 50 interviews, which included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Laila Ali, Michael Bennett, and Eric Reid, among many other athletes, as well as journalists, television personalities, and family members of unarmed black men who were shot and killed. Thomas also explored his ties with the Wizards and spoke with John Wall, Bradley Beal, and current majority team owner Ted Leonsis."— The Washington Post

"The honest conversations, published in transcript form and often accompanied by black-and-white photos, serve as a primer on recent police violence cases, a history lesson on the first athletes who stood up for racial injustice, an examination of the experience of being young and black in the United States, and an insightful look at how it feels to lose a loved one to tragedy, from contributors such as Jemele Hill, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Carmelo Anthony...An important read, executed uniquely."— School Library Journal (starred review)

"Voices of pain, anger, and hope resound through these pages--and through the reader's heart."— Kirkus Reviews

Chapter 1
The Children of the Movement

My son Malcolm was six years old at the time of Trayvon Martin’s murder. He was a fun-loving kid, liked sports, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and swimming. Everyone thought he was absolutely adorable. People would look at his long dreadlocks, his big smile, they would admire his kind and playful heart, and they would comment on how respectfully he spoke to adults. He was a big kid; I am 6'10" and my wife is 6'0" so Malcolm was head and shoulders above everyone else in his class. But I had to explain to him that he will not always be viewed as a cute little kid. That as he gets older, so tall for his age, he will be looked at as a threat. He had an innocence that I had to ruin for him. He was still under the impression that everyone would be treated fairly.

The case of Trayvon Martin was disturbing on so many levels that I don’t even know where to begin. According to published reports, on February 26, 2012, Trayvon had gone to a 7-Eleven before the start of the NBA All-Star Game. He was walking back through a gated community; he had been visiting a member of that very community. George Zimmerman, who was not a member of any police force but rather a neighborhood watch volunteer, called 911 to report “a suspicious person” in the neighborhood.

Zimmerman: “Hey, we’ve had some break-ins in my neighborhood and there’s a real suspicious guy . . . This guy looks like he’s up to no good or he’s on drugs or something . . .” He later informed the dispatcher that the guy looked Black.

He then said, “He’s just staring at me.”

While on the phone with the dispatcher, Zimmerman explained that Martin was “running.” When asked where, he replied, “Entrance to the neighborhood.” On the recording you can hear deep breathing as the dispatcher asks Zimmerman, “Are you following him?”

Zimmerman replies, “Yeah,” and the dispatcher clearly says, “We don’t need you to do that.”

From this tape, it sounds as if Trayvon was the one who was scared, which would be understandable. If I turned around and saw a man looking at me from an SUV in the dark for no apparent reason, I would be a little uneasy myself.

When police arrived, seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin, who had a squeaky-clean record, no priors, and only a bag of Skittles, an iced tea, his cell phone, and his headphones, was dead from a gunshot wound.

Zimmerman wasn’t arrested, even though he admitted to the shooting, because the police claimed to not have probable cause and Zimmerman claimed self-defense.

My question is, what exactly constitutes self-defense?

An unfortunate reality is that in Zimmerman’s mind, he didn’t have to see a gun, or actually see Trayvon doing something wrong. All he saw was that he was Black, as he repeated two times in the short 911 call. Is the unfortunate reality that “young Black male” equals “threat,” and “young Black male at night” even more so?

Never mind the fact that most guidelines for how you run a neighborhood watch have a primary rule of thumb that you are not supposed to be armed.

I won’t dwell on the fact that over a span of eight years, Zimmerman had called police forty-six times, or that in 2005 he was charged with resisting arrest with violence toward a police officer—that alone should have made him questionable as a self-styled neighborhood watch captain.

Nor am I going to argue that the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law shouldn’t have been applicable in this case for the simple fact that, as heard in the released tapes, Zimmerman left his vehicle and went after Trayvon.

Nor am I going to make the race of Zimmerman an issue.

To quote Rev. Al Sharpton: “The race/ethnicity of Zimmerman or any citizen in this type of scenario doesn’t matter, because at the end of the day, it is the race of the victim—Trayvon—that does matter. It is his race and his demographic that is consistently depicted as the threat, and negatively portrayed in popular culture.”

It is this perception that I had to teach my son—the unfortunate reality that in Zimmerman’s mind, he was justified and understandably afraid as soon as he laid eyes on young Trayvon. He didn’t see a cute little kid who was drinking an iced tea. He saw a threat, a criminal, someone who could be on drugs or “up to no good.”

I had to ruin my son’s rosy view of the world we live in. I had to teach him that:

1) There are going to be people who view you as the enemy when you have done nothing wrong.

2) You are going to be harassed and accused, and some people will be terrified of you.

3) If the police stop you, try to get to a well-lit area and don’t make any sudden moves.

4) Keep your hands visible. Avoid putting them in your pockets.

5) Orally broadcast your actions (e.g., “Officer, I am now reaching into my pocket for my license”).

6) Always get the receipt after making a purchase, no matter how small, so no one can falsely accuse you of theft later.

7) Many times, actually being guilty has nothing to do with being viewed as guilty.

I also had to teach him about Emmett Till, James Byrd Jr., Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, Rodney King, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Rekia Boyd, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Terence Crutcher, John Crawford, Alton Sterling, and Freddie Gray.

I had to teach him these things for his own safety. I wish I didn’t have to take away his innocence, but for his own well being, I had to.

I started taking my son to panel discussions to hear different perspectives. He has met Jahvaris Fulton (Trayvon Martin’s brother) a few times, and each time Malcolm was hit hard. One of those panel discussions took place at the Congressional Black Caucus. I was on a program with attorney Benjamin Crump, and the Martin family came in between their own panels and listened. After the event, Malcolm went up to Jahvaris and hugged him, and I saw his eyes tearing up.

Later that day, Malcolm and I had the following exchange:

Malcolm: “Dad, I understand why you do these panels that you do where you combine different athletes and celebrities with people like Jahvaris who have lost a brother or a family member to the police, but why aren’t these panels shown on TV?”

Me: “Why do you feel they should be on TV?”

Malcolm: “Because everyone needs to see how they are affected by what has happened to them, and people need to keep saying how wrong this is. I get why you have the celebrities and the athletes too, because people know them and they draw the people there because they want to hear the athletes talk, and while they are there, they hear them talk about issues like what’s going on with the police and society and schools and everything you all talk about. You should keep doing these, Daddy. They are really helpful. In fact, I want to write another poem that I can perform because I want to help too.”

I was very moved by the impact that Jahvaris Fulton had on my son. I was also pleased that Jahvaris then allowed me to interview him for this book, and appreciative that he spoke with me so candidly about everything that he and his family have had to deal with in the aftermath of their tragedy.

Me and Malcolm showing our support for Trayvon Martin.

Interview with Jahvaris Fulton
(Brother of Trayvon Martin)

Etan: On March 23, 2012, the Miami Heart released a statement in support of your brother. What has been the impact of that statement?

Jahvaris Fulton: It was just all shocking, to be honest. Because we never expected anybody to really say anything, let alone LeBron and the team . . . I am not sure if this has happened before. Not like this. Where this many athletes come out and support. I mean, my brother was not the first one to have this happen to him. But there was this connection to my brother that pushed them to all come out in support. So we really didn’t expect it would turn into this. And definitely not with the president. I mean, President Obama, we figured had to make a generic statement about it, but he personalized it. He said, If I had a son . . . I feel like my brother was the tipping point. This has been going on for a while, and people have been seeing them get away with it, and they just grew tired. Like this is enough. And the terrible thing is it’s happened before him and is still happening after him . . .

Millions of people watch NBA games, NFL games, hockey games, every single week. So the volume of people that have the ability to touch just by making a statement is astronomical . . . We were definitely appreciative of the different athletes speaking out on our behalf because, to be quite honest, it couldn’t have happened without you guys . . . and the tremendous amount of support we received from the community. Everybody had to come together in order for it to be a movement. People around the world know my brother’s name. I don’t know if a lot of people know this, but in the beginning, the news outlets didn’t want to run the story.

Etan: Oh wow, I didn’t know that.

Fulton: We had to literally fight for this to be a story. We had to almost beg and plead for local news to cover what happened to my brother, and they didn’t want to do it. But when athletes started talking about it on their various platforms on social media, and when they took that picture in the hoodies, it almost forced the media to cover it and it forced people from around the country to take notice because these athletes were talking so passionately about this. So if it weren’t for you guys, I honestly think people would never have even heard the name Trayvon Martin. I remember one time, my parents were literally pitching the story to different stations and they had the attitude that this isn’t news. Just another dead young Black man isn’t newsworthy enough for them to run a story. Now, there was one reporter who tried to help and I can’t remember her name . . . You have to excuse me because, as I said, so much from that time is a blur and I’m trying not to lose it even recalling that time period now . . .

My emotions just flow differently nowadays and I kind of cry at the slightest hint of anything. But . . . she was the only one who at least tried to help and tried to run a story on it, but nobody really wanted to.

Etan: Dwyane Wade talked about why this hit him so hard and LeBron spoke passionately about it, and you saw a lot of athletes pose with their sons in hoodies. I myself posed on social media with my son Malcolm in a hoodie.

Fulton: The personal connections that I saw were really amazing to me for a lot of reasons. Sometimes people think that athletes are so far removed from things that go on in the community or that you can’t relate to things that happen in everyday life, and I think one of the things that was so striking was so many athletes talked about your sons, and the fact that y’all are Black men, and that this could’ve happened to anyone, and it made you all scared for your children, not just outraged. That was really . . . words can’t even express.

Etan: Tell me about all of the work you have been doing since then.

Fulton: I’ve been doing a lot. Currently I work for the young men’s initiative out of the mayor’s office. Mayor Bill de Blasio here in New York. Our job is to create opportunities for young people of color throughout the city. Mentoring programs, tutoring programs, programs for court-involved youth. There’s programs for young fathers . . . A lot of young people of color aren’t given opportunities, depending on where they live, and their household income, and resources that are in their neighborhood, it’s just not a level playing field. So, we provide those opportunities . . . and introduce them to the networks that wouldn’t give them a second look, or bridge those gaps where some of these hard-working, aspiring young men and women get a better chance at life.

Etan: Talk about the Trayvon Martin Foundation.

Fulton: Both of my parents wanted to create a space that was healing for parents, so that’s why my mom brings in the mothers, and they have their circle of mothers and it’s just relaxation and healing. And my dad’s is more about talking in actions. There is definitely still healing there as well. And the overall goal is to support other families that are like us. So many people call the office and they want to know what they should do next.

And I see my brother in so many of the people we help, and we only have so much time here on this earth and everyone should feel the need to help someone else. But sometimes it takes a tragedy for someone to step into their purpose . . . And I am starting to sound like my mother, but it’s true, she always said that with great power comes great responsibility . . . Essentially, I have been given the tools, so not to do anything with them is just wrong. I wear this bracelet on my wrist and on this side ...