Speaker 1: Today, February twenty first, marks the sixtieth anniversary of the
Speaker 1: death of the Activistiness of a rights leader, who was
Speaker 1: assassinated at the Auderbonn Ballroom in Harlem, New York in
Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five. Malcolm was a vocal advocate for black
Speaker 1: empowerment and the promotion of Islam within the African American community,
Speaker 1: of course and beyond. While a controversial figure to some
Speaker 1: accused of preaching violence, Malcolm X is also a widely
Speaker 1: celebrated figure of many Americans for his pursuit of racial justice.
Speaker 1: As I think about Malcolm X and what he stood for,
Speaker 1: I find myself wondering what he would think about today's culture,
Speaker 1: particularly when it comes to the modern athlete. But before
Speaker 1: I get into that, let me say this. Malcolm X
Speaker 1: was not a man that preached violence. We gonna put
Speaker 1: that to bed right now. He preached an I FORO
Speaker 1: and I. He preached the importance of one self protection.
Speaker 1: He preached the importance of not turning to turn in
Speaker 1: the other cheek when somebody punches you, or slaps you,
Speaker 1: or kicks you or beats you. Last time I checked
Speaker 1: that self defense. That's not preaching violence. He certainly didn't
Speaker 1: propose instigating it and igniting it. He talked about defending
Speaker 1: oneself and not letting people abuse you and just standing
Speaker 1: by idly and doing nothing.
Speaker 2: So let's get that out the way first.
Speaker 1: Secondly, I thought it was important to bring this subject
Speaker 1: up today because.
Speaker 2: We saw the Four Nations Hockey tournament.
Speaker 1: Come to his conclusion last night in Boston, Massachusetts, where
Speaker 1: Canada beat the United States three too after Donald Trump
Speaker 1: gave a call to the team USA by the way,
Speaker 1: you know, encouraging them the victory before they lost.
Speaker 2: But that's a different subject for another day.
Speaker 1: Not his fault, but it happened, and after we saw
Speaker 1: that match, and even when we saw it Saturday, and
Speaker 1: we saw United States being boolled while the United States
Speaker 1: national anthem was being song, and we saw the Canadians
Speaker 1: come at us the way that they did. We beat
Speaker 1: them Saturday, they beat us last night. We have to
Speaker 1: remember what instigated that, what started that to some degree,
Speaker 1: Donald Trump talking about making Canada the fifty first state.
Speaker 2: Obviously they don't take condy to that, okay.
Speaker 1: And Trudeau Trudell rather president of Canada, he came, you know,
Speaker 1: he spoke about that as well, in the aftermath.
Speaker 2: Of Canada's victory.
Speaker 1: It's important to recognize that emanating off of that subject
Speaker 1: at the same time that hockey had elevated its profile
Speaker 1: exponentially because everybody was watching. Because of the friction and
Speaker 1: attention that existed between Team USA and Canada, it was
Speaker 1: an opportunity to also lament what we had witnessed for
Speaker 1: NBA All Star weekend and same for Cisco this past Sunday.
Speaker 1: We saw a new format institute. We saw players, new
Speaker 1: rules implemented because players hadn't been given effort and they
Speaker 1: were walking around like they didn't care. Now, what would
Speaker 1: that have to do with the assassination of Malcolm X?
Speaker 2: Directly? Absolutely nothing.
Speaker 1: Indirectly, everything you see Malcolm X was about black empowerment.
Speaker 1: He was also about black economic empowerment. He wanted us
Speaker 1: he wanted equal opportunities and civil rights for US as
Speaker 1: a nation of people. He also wanted us to maximize
Speaker 1: those opportunities and achieve all we could. But in the
Speaker 1: process of that, uplift one another along the way. Become
Speaker 1: a coalition, not be collection of individual parts, but come
Speaker 1: together as one and understand the importance.
Speaker 2: Of being together.
Speaker 1: And how much that would serve to empower us in
Speaker 1: whatever agendas and missions we had moving forward. We just
Speaker 1: sat here and we talked about Donald Trump, and we
Speaker 1: talked about Donerald Trump talking about the president of Ukraine.
Speaker 1: We didn't talk about Donald Trump's position and purging parts
Speaker 1: of the federal government, including DEI. We didn't talk about
Speaker 1: some of the things black folks fair. As my buddy
Speaker 1: Roland Martin pointed out when he said that there's a
Speaker 1: concerted effort to scale back every bit of progress we
Speaker 1: made since civil rights legislation came into play in nineteen
Speaker 1: sixty four.
Speaker 2: We haven't talked about that. You know what else we
Speaker 2: wouldn't have to if we were together more not.
Speaker 1: And that's why I thought that on a day like today,
Speaker 1: where we're acknowledging the sixty year anniversary of the assassination
Speaker 1: of Malcolm Xwell, was to remind people.
Speaker 2: Of exactly who he was and what he would have
Speaker 2: hoped for.
Speaker 1: Yes, Malcolm x evolved, Yes, as he evolved, he thought
Speaker 1: a little bit differently, and he was more embracing of
Speaker 1: a mosaic society as opposed to just a black one.
Speaker 1: All of those things are true. But he also preached
Speaker 1: about the importance of togetherness. And I think about so
Speaker 1: many things that professional athletes have, and the wealth they've
Speaker 1: been able to accumulate, to accumulate, the generational wealth that
Speaker 1: some have been able to acquire, and how there's so
Speaker 1: many instances where we're nothing more than individual parts. I wonder,
Speaker 1: for example, when the George Floyd murders took place, the
Speaker 1: George Floyd murder in Minnesota, right around the time of COVID,
Speaker 1: I wonder what would have happened Instead of folks talking
Speaker 1: about taking a knee and locking arms with one another.
Speaker 1: I wonder what would have happened if the athletes themselves
Speaker 1: have pulled their resources and used that money to funnel
Speaker 1: the lobbyists on Capitol Hill to push their agendas to
Speaker 1: the politicians who are legislating laws.
Speaker 2: In our land.
Speaker 1: Could you imagine what that would have done. Think about
Speaker 1: some of the things that we're questioning right now. Think
Speaker 1: about some of the things that are going on in
Speaker 1: our society. Think about the fear that's permitting through our nation,
Speaker 1: where you talk about people losing their rights, wondering what's
Speaker 1: going to happen to them, Think about entitlement programs, is
Speaker 1: going to evaporate before our very hours think about all
Speaker 1: those things. Would we have to worry about it as
Speaker 1: much if folks had come together and pulled their resources
Speaker 1: to make sure to provide real influence.
Speaker 2: So real things could get done.
Speaker 1: When I think about Malcolm X, just like when I
Speaker 1: think about doctor Martin Luther King Jr. I think of that,
Speaker 1: and on a daylight today, not only do I think
Speaker 1: Malcolm X on the sixtieth anniversary of his assassination, I
Speaker 1: also think about doctor Martin Luther King Jr. And what
Speaker 1: the late great Harry Belafonte once said that Doctor Martin
Speaker 1: Luther King said to him in his waning days. A
Speaker 1: matter of fact, it might have been the day he
Speaker 1: was assassinated. He said, I fear that I've led our
Speaker 1: people into a burning house preaching about the importance of
Speaker 1: desegregation and all that could emanate from it. He wondered
Speaker 1: whether or not he truly had led us into a
Speaker 1: burning house, that what he had wished for, that what
Speaker 1: we would ultimately capture, would lead to our fragmentation instead
Speaker 1: of our togetherness. I don't know if that's what happened.
Speaker 1: More qualified minds than me can speculate about that or
Speaker 1: even edify you with their information. What I can say
Speaker 1: is that on a daylight today, it is appropriate to
Speaker 1: at least think about that, to at least ask yourself
Speaker 1: that question, how together are we, how together should we be?
Speaker 2: And if indeed we.
Speaker 1: Ever came together, how much beneficial would it be for
Speaker 1: all of us, not just the Black community, but America
Speaker 1: as a whole. It's just a thought that I thought
Speaker 1: I could leave y'all with for the weekend. I hope
Speaker 1: you appreciate where I'm coming from, and I thank you
Speaker 1: for listening.