Speaker 1: Welcome to The No Sports Report, a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio Entree Fork Media. My name is Jensen carp
Speaker 1: and I'm as sports fan and I miss watching it.
Speaker 1: But over the past few weeks doing this podcast, I've
Speaker 1: realized maybe sports is just a conduit from normalcy. Maybe
Speaker 1: I missed normalcy, and I really all of us think
Speaker 1: sports can help get us there again. And the truth
Speaker 1: is it can, maybe even in more ways than you think,
Speaker 1: And even if we're off the field just trying to rebuild,
Speaker 1: so as we face unprecedented times in this country, I
Speaker 1: continue to talk to athletes and sports industry professionals about
Speaker 1: what they're doing right now, hoping to figure out if
Speaker 1: famous competing as much as I miss watching it. This
Speaker 1: is the No Sports Report. Craig Hodges played in the
Speaker 1: NBA for ten seasons and is considered one of the
Speaker 1: greatest three point shooters of all time. He's one of
Speaker 1: only two players who win three consecutive three point contest
Speaker 1: during All Star Weekend. The other is Larry Bird. Hodges
Speaker 1: also holds the record for the most consecutive shots made
Speaker 1: in the contest with nineteen, and is tied for most
Speaker 1: points scored in a single round at He won two
Speaker 1: NBA championships with the early nineties Bulls alongside Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: and Scottie Pippen and was an instant offensive threat, But
Speaker 1: it was the threat of Craig off the court as
Speaker 1: a political activist that seemed to outshine his undeniable stats.
Speaker 1: When the team visited the White House to celebrate their
Speaker 1: NBA championship, his decision to wear a daishiki and attempt
Speaker 1: to get a letter to President Bush found him labeled
Speaker 1: as militant and a problem within the NBA. He questioned
Speaker 1: black representation in the league and had revolutionary ideas for
Speaker 1: African American players to shine a light on issues within
Speaker 1: the black community. A year later, his time in Chicago
Speaker 1: ended abruptly, and he was then ignored and denied to
Speaker 1: work out with any other team in the league. It
Speaker 1: became obvious to anyone following the game at the time
Speaker 1: that he was being blackballed. The following year, he became
Speaker 1: the first free agent to compete during All Star weekend,
Speaker 1: defending his three point championship in an NBA logo jersey,
Speaker 1: since he couldn't get signed by a specific team. As
Speaker 1: our nation faces a familiar problem of prejudice and racial inequality.
Speaker 1: I can't help but notice Craig Hodges has been at
Speaker 1: the front and center of these issues since he entered
Speaker 1: professional sports in the eighties, and he paid the price
Speaker 1: for it. Today we talked about his past, our present,
Speaker 1: and his hopes for the future. This is Craig Hodges
Speaker 1: on the No Sports Report From Creig Hodges to Accept
Speaker 1: Press One. Hello Craig, Yes, I wanted to first start
Speaker 1: off just by asking where you've been quarantined and how
Speaker 1: you're holding up during the the COVID pandemic. Well, first
Speaker 1: of all, just pointed out for hopefully everybody's well and
Speaker 1: saved this crazy period of time man on this rogo
Speaker 1: right now in the South suburb. Well, I'm happy to
Speaker 1: hear that everything is going well with you, but clearly
Speaker 1: the events of this past weekend unfolding. I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk to someone who has had a racial identity and
Speaker 1: politics that I've always looked up to and helped shaped,
Speaker 1: you know, help shape me sort of a white kid
Speaker 1: growing up in the suburbs. And and even if this
Speaker 1: wasn't a sports podcast, you truly were the first name
Speaker 1: that I sat when asked, and it means a lot
Speaker 1: for me to be able to talk to you today.
Speaker 1: So for people who don't know who Craig Hodges is,
Speaker 1: is there any way you could kind of go over
Speaker 1: your upbringing and how as a kid you first got
Speaker 1: into activism growing up? Yeah, well, once again I was
Speaker 1: Bush the nutho came down in the Hodges how so
Speaker 1: James twenty nine, at the height of the Civil rights movement. Um,
Speaker 1: my mom was instrumental in as part as being the
Speaker 1: secretary of the movement in the South suburbs. And you know,
Speaker 1: during that period of time, there wasn't baby for it.
Speaker 1: So where Mom, when you went? And I was at
Speaker 1: all the meetings, watching a love leadership, watching Robert Low
Speaker 1: who was the president of the organization, and to see
Speaker 1: how it was when, you know, when everybody was repressed
Speaker 1: from the same telling, the same pressure from the same place,
Speaker 1: whether you're a millionaire or a bus driver. And for me,
Speaker 1: how's it called? Coming home? Ninety eight April fourth and
Speaker 1: and my granny and mym crimes I got never say
Speaker 1: before it Dr King had been murdered. So from that
Speaker 1: point on I was on the quest to see what
Speaker 1: his life meant and how much it mentor so many
Speaker 1: people and then to have you know, models in front
Speaker 1: of me like Muhammad Ali, John Carlos, Tommy Smith, Jim Brown.
Speaker 1: And my family was one that was My granddad was
Speaker 1: the he was the director of the parks in our community.
Speaker 1: And my granny was the homemaker and stabilizer. So for me,
Speaker 1: I was blessed to have anch who taught me how
Speaker 1: to read before I went to school. So education was
Speaker 1: primary and secondary was my athletics. So it's truly m
Speaker 1: a trainer of student athleticism with the overriding principles that
Speaker 1: undergrated so the civil rights movement, social activism, and now
Speaker 1: where we face is truly a human rights situation that
Speaker 1: the planet has to face that has never been taught
Speaker 1: to about it. Really wanted to really look into the
Speaker 1: depths of it. Yeah, absolutely, And your basketball skills, like
Speaker 1: you said, your athleticism sent you to the West Coast,
Speaker 1: out to Long Beach State to play where you had
Speaker 1: a friend to become a victim to police brutality. Correct, Yeah,
Speaker 1: no doubt. And once again, you know, I think text
Speaker 1: winner Laura rush isself for recruit me at Northwestern and
Speaker 1: then he got to drive the Long Beach State he
Speaker 1: took me the Long Beach State UM. I was blessed
Speaker 1: to have had Dr Malanikringer, who's the founder of Plans
Speaker 1: as my first professor at Long Beach, and I was
Speaker 1: turned on. And that was almost just a reconnection of
Speaker 1: what I had landed his child and how important what
Speaker 1: we were doing in the movement was concerned. And during
Speaker 1: that period of time, during my first three years, I
Speaker 1: had a chance to become friends of a better body
Speaker 1: man of Ron Settles. It was the premier football player
Speaker 1: and I was just pretty a basketball player and me
Speaker 1: the summer before I senior year, he was murdered by
Speaker 1: the Signal Real Police and UM Sitnal World, California, and
Speaker 1: you know the data that happened. Happened June six, and
Speaker 1: I recalled before I left LL, I never really came
Speaker 1: on campus because you met of golf campus. But the
Speaker 1: two days before I got ready to leave, he came
Speaker 1: on campus looking for me, and he was just telling
Speaker 1: me how he was gonna be ready. He's getting ready
Speaker 1: in the summer because he knew he's gonna get drafted
Speaker 1: in the NFL and at the Dallas Cowboys was looking
Speaker 1: at him and I said, I didn't know who was
Speaker 1: gooding at me, but we were gonna have great senior years.
Speaker 1: And I was coming home to Chicago the train and
Speaker 1: then I get a call to find out he had
Speaker 1: been he has been hung in his jail cell and
Speaker 1: and it was it was a very eye opening thing
Speaker 1: for me, and and that far when we went back
Speaker 1: to school, we protested, and you know, it was there
Speaker 1: was value of lessons for me and as far as
Speaker 1: how valuable life is and how oftentimes we are looked at,
Speaker 1: we are looked upon as equals, and those who were
Speaker 1: uniforms often times have a certain eager trip that they're
Speaker 1: on for whatever reason. And and Ron happened to be
Speaker 1: the victim of that that so many other people. Once
Speaker 1: we had covered the truth of what was happening and
Speaker 1: sticking the heel police for itself, for me, there was
Speaker 1: a it's another endue quest man, the truth and justice
Speaker 1: and for human rights for all people on the planet. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm such a big fan of your book that was released,
Speaker 1: which we'll get into a little bit later. And I remember,
Speaker 1: I think the detail is he went to jail for speeding. Correct. Yes,
Speaker 1: And the thing about that was, you know, it was
Speaker 1: it was camera showing and it didn't go down and
Speaker 1: what they said, So it was a lot that went
Speaker 1: on then. And then to find out that the other
Speaker 1: victims of the Signal Hell police force which was only
Speaker 1: like a police officers and one of which was got
Speaker 1: by a name of Jid Round, Jerry Wilson or something
Speaker 1: like that. But you know, it was it was crazy, man,
Speaker 1: just to have had that experience as a year old,
Speaker 1: to know that, you know, life is precious and and
Speaker 1: you have to protect it. And when one of your
Speaker 1: you know, one of your partments will victims, you can't
Speaker 1: you can't stand by and watch. You have to, okay,
Speaker 1: some type of proactive measure, but you have to make
Speaker 1: sure that you maintain your fability and when what is uh,
Speaker 1: what is life? Men? And you know, being twenty years old,
Speaker 1: like you said, and the era in which you were,
Speaker 1: you were in college, like, were there any ramifications for
Speaker 1: what happened back then? What were the chances of justice
Speaker 1: actually being served or getting to the truth. Well, you
Speaker 1: know that that was one of Danny Cockinents first big cases.
Speaker 1: So he was able to get the family some restitution.
Speaker 1: But you know, I think at that point in time
Speaker 1: there was we were still in that climate where cops
Speaker 1: having violence against young Bladen man with the other centers
Speaker 1: all over the country. That was at the height of that,
Speaker 1: you know, and there was the height of the all
Speaker 1: of the the stuff come along with the crack and
Speaker 1: everything else. It was one of those things where the
Speaker 1: almost suspects on site as opposed to it would actually
Speaker 1: went down. So, you know, we have to realize that
Speaker 1: it today's combination of a live has gone on for
Speaker 1: the found years and when not a country is coming
Speaker 1: to a drastic reality of it's not just black people.
Speaker 1: I think people of all nationalities and ethnicoes and cultures
Speaker 1: and relating to are can the realities and the injustice
Speaker 1: of gone on that gives you Black men and black
Speaker 1: people in America for years? Absolutely, And and so let's
Speaker 1: get to the NBA. You have an incredible tenure career
Speaker 1: playing with the San Diego Clippers, the Bucks, the Sons,
Speaker 1: but most notably the Chicago Bulls. You won two championships
Speaker 1: with them. The team obviously we've been seeing a lot
Speaker 1: of during the pandemic with Michael Jordan's ninety two. After
Speaker 1: winning the ninety two championship, you visit the White House
Speaker 1: as most teams do that win, and you visit the
Speaker 1: president at the time, which is George Bush, and and
Speaker 1: explain to people who don't know the story, what controversy
Speaker 1: came out of this visit. Well, you know, actually is
Speaker 1: I told the first one went after the first campionship
Speaker 1: and gave President Bush and letter. Actually I wrote a
Speaker 1: letter as night before we went, and I had planned
Speaker 1: on win African Daishiki, you know, because that's how it's
Speaker 1: caught growing up, is that whenever you come to a
Speaker 1: royal event, become with your culture. And for me it
Speaker 1: was was probably one of the greatest days in my life. Man.
Speaker 1: Then as far as representing um people who can't represent
Speaker 1: the plays and delivering their message to the most possible
Speaker 1: man on earth. Whether you read it or not, I
Speaker 1: don't know, but uh, through my research for my book,
Speaker 1: and and the book has has been optioned by the
Speaker 1: producers A Black Mirror in Britain, so we're getting really
Speaker 1: and I have a documentary and future film come out
Speaker 1: on the book, which is you know, it's another great
Speaker 1: thing for me and as far as been able to
Speaker 1: utilize its the economic vehicle as opposed to just my
Speaker 1: own personal wealth. For me and my family. Um, and
Speaker 1: you know that thay are to do the things for
Speaker 1: me man, just knowing that within the context of how
Speaker 1: you raise you can't stand unflexible. And you know, the
Speaker 1: chance to need to take go to the White House,
Speaker 1: regardless of what it what it may have cost me
Speaker 1: on an immediate level the next four or five years
Speaker 1: which I felt I could have played. Uh, he gave
Speaker 1: me a chance to you know, become closer and tiedle
Speaker 1: with my son and to see and being able to
Speaker 1: be in their lives on the level that I hadn't
Speaker 1: been for years because of the league. So it was
Speaker 1: a blessing in the burden then that period of time.
Speaker 1: But now I see it for what it is is
Speaker 1: lessons learned, and you know, lessons learned for this period
Speaker 1: of time where we can you know, be strong and
Speaker 1: courageous and the strategic in the manner in which we
Speaker 1: come out of this thing and not be re actionary
Speaker 1: and violence. And you were only thirty two at that time, correct, Yeah,
Speaker 1: same age as Kevin Durant right out. I mean someone
Speaker 1: watching from afar right. So for for research for this,
Speaker 1: I remember you being in a daishiki was was a
Speaker 1: very big deal in the press, and doing research for this,
Speaker 1: I thought that I would find pictures and that you
Speaker 1: would be very much ostracized at the White House and
Speaker 1: not smiling, and it was literally the exact opposite. You're
Speaker 1: having a ball, George Bush asked you to shoot a
Speaker 1: three pointer. You guys are all laughing together. I'm so
Speaker 1: surprised by the militant angle that was taken by the
Speaker 1: press and to people like me who were sports fans
Speaker 1: at the time about that visit and the letter, which
Speaker 1: I remember people saying was about the Gulf War, but
Speaker 1: but it wasn't. You had a completely different angle in
Speaker 1: the letter. Absolutely, and that's the part where you know,
Speaker 1: the stand that can happen from professional sports franchise is
Speaker 1: from professional sports in general is media driven, and if
Speaker 1: the media is into with the franchise, that the franchise
Speaker 1: has a certain look at a player, then that player
Speaker 1: is going to be pilted in that night. And for
Speaker 1: me it was one that you know, he's for salmon
Speaker 1: and rather, don't you know, no one asked me what
Speaker 1: the letter said until I did thirty with ESPN, and
Speaker 1: they never showed it, which is funny to me again
Speaker 1: of how you could to come out and do a
Speaker 1: whole documentary about the letter and then never released it
Speaker 1: because or whatever. And when we were filming and I
Speaker 1: told them, I said that they're not gonna let you
Speaker 1: show this because it's too important and it's too clear,
Speaker 1: and it wasn't anything bash in America or any of that.
Speaker 1: Is just laying down the historical facts of what my
Speaker 1: people have been through, as well as those who have
Speaker 1: been disenfranchise. It's not just about black people. It's about brown, yellow, red,
Speaker 1: and white who evolved in um totally disenfranchise in so
Speaker 1: many ways because it's only about the rich and the
Speaker 1: powerful that have been able to flex their their will
Speaker 1: and power over people. And you become a free agent
Speaker 1: at that time after this, you know, quote unquote controversy,
Speaker 1: and you don't get any any tryouts from any other
Speaker 1: teams in the NBA. Even the Bulls coach who you know,
Speaker 1: Phil Jackson at the time, who was coaching you, doesn't understand,
Speaker 1: even looking back now, how someone with your three point
Speaker 1: average uh and and you know your athleticism at thirty
Speaker 1: two wasn't given that. And so a lot of people
Speaker 1: in the league believe you had been blackballed right. And
Speaker 1: you know, the funny part about it is that when
Speaker 1: I came in SWAG in nineteen eighty two, I was
Speaker 1: drafted to forty eight player selected. There was no pretty
Speaker 1: point shot in college basketball and during that period of time.
Speaker 1: So when people look at my career and they said,
Speaker 1: and then needs a pretty point shooter, that's cool. But
Speaker 1: I was I'm a professional basketball player. And then my
Speaker 1: my basketball intellectors. You know, I I challenge anybody on
Speaker 1: the planet when we want to sit down and talk
Speaker 1: basketball and strategy, look get at it. So from that end,
Speaker 1: and I was talked by the best, I was talked
Speaker 1: about tech s winner. I came into a league under
Speaker 1: Paul Silence. I had Jimmy Lynon, I uh don, I
Speaker 1: had done Nelson, I had kind of send me by
Speaker 1: a bad Collins, and I had Till Jackson. But then
Speaker 1: when we talk about the staff, just to coaching staffs
Speaker 1: under Phil Jackson alone, when you talk about a hundred
Speaker 1: years of service, when he come about Johnny Back, Jim Clemens,
Speaker 1: Text Winn and Frank Hamblin, you're talking about you know,
Speaker 1: you're talking about guys who had you could just you
Speaker 1: could just learning from them just about sitting next to
Speaker 1: them and not saying anything. So right, right, So for
Speaker 1: the fact that you're coming off the two World championship
Speaker 1: and three consecutive prepoint titles and no one wants to
Speaker 1: even bring you in, it's it's crazy insane, you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And and before this instance, and I remember this from
Speaker 1: the book, you had talked to Magic Johnson and Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan about boycotting that game one of the NBA Finals
Speaker 1: as a response to the beating of Rodney King and
Speaker 1: and they looked at you like it was crazy, right.
Speaker 1: And you know, the funny part is that when we
Speaker 1: look at the hierarchy of both society and then whatever
Speaker 1: realm you're in, there's a certain pecking order, and if
Speaker 1: you're on the bottom part of that packing order and
Speaker 1: the people aren't hearing you, man, it's almost you know,
Speaker 1: you casting aside and anything that I'm saying to agree
Speaker 1: unless we're on the court hoop. And I guess, but
Speaker 1: you know, from me, it was one of those things
Speaker 1: where I talked to Michael about, you know, opening up
Speaker 1: the same manufacturer we have overseas in America, and that's
Speaker 1: being able to produce, choose and stuff here, and that's
Speaker 1: the part that I felt like we kind of missed
Speaker 1: a boat in its pri championship on both levels, Chicago
Speaker 1: and Los Angeles, two of the biggest media markets. What
Speaker 1: would happen if we would have said, we're going to
Speaker 1: have a work stoppage and we want to change the
Speaker 1: condition of police and civilians and you know, we want
Speaker 1: to protect the Sarah to really mean something. But at
Speaker 1: that take period of time, I was asking us to
Speaker 1: boycott in order to create some type of ownership black
Speaker 1: ownership within the league. Having the lead looked reflective on
Speaker 1: the ownership level to what was on the court. And
Speaker 1: it continues today. You know, I've seen yesterday what the
Speaker 1: lead is talking about, some type of um ratial justice
Speaker 1: committe or whatever. I'm glad to see that. Hopefully they'll
Speaker 1: bring in the mood up the role for myself and
Speaker 1: other players who are short feel like they have been
Speaker 1: castigated in the past. Yeah, yeah, I mean it was
Speaker 1: right around the same time of the beating of Rodney King,
Speaker 1: correct of that game that you would you would ask
Speaker 1: maybe to boycott. Absolutely, it was. And that's you know,
Speaker 1: and that's the thing where you know, how oftentimes, man,
Speaker 1: I think you know, we have the ability to turn
Speaker 1: the blind eye or play ignorance to causes and issues
Speaker 1: because it's not palpable to be endurance since we may
Speaker 1: have or to a deal, we may be trying to
Speaker 1: strike or whatever, and we have to start to put
Speaker 1: to human the human condition above money. And that through that,
Speaker 1: I think is one of the things that I have
Speaker 1: a lot of love for is what Lebron has been
Speaker 1: doing and and not being afraid to stand with what's right. Man.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows this way. Yeah, well, ironically I thought, I mean,
Speaker 1: I thought of you pretty quickly when I saw on
Speaker 1: Sunday that Michael Jordan put out a three paragraph statement
Speaker 1: about racism and brutality. Did did you get to read it? Yeah,
Speaker 1: saying that this morning, and I was and and you know,
Speaker 1: once again and I give a pause where Paul is
Speaker 1: due man, and I loved my brother and I never
Speaker 1: you never have not. You know, they've been to agree
Speaker 1: with a lot of a lot of the principles that
Speaker 1: he supported and endorsed, and as far as products and
Speaker 1: and the like, so that you know, it's not on
Speaker 1: need to judge anyone that it's going everyone to come
Speaker 1: to their consciousness and do what they feel necessary to
Speaker 1: given time, but too much, as given much is required.
Speaker 1: I was with him when they were riding in Miami
Speaker 1: and ride and stopped just so we could come down
Speaker 1: to Miami so they could see Michael Jordan play. So
Speaker 1: I know the power and impact that he has. So
Speaker 1: him putting out a statement is it is very good.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's um, it's timely and hopefully it would
Speaker 1: just be the start of much more more with Craig
Speaker 1: Hodges after this. Right now, Feeding America is working tirelessly
Speaker 1: to ensure our most vulnerable population, like students who are
Speaker 1: out of school, the elderly individuals whose jobs are impacted,
Speaker 1: and low income families continue to have access to food
Speaker 1: and other needed resources during the COVID nineteen pandemic. The
Speaker 1: Feeding America Food Bank Network is committed to serving communities
Speaker 1: and people facing hunger in America, and their greatest need
Speaker 1: is donations and support of local food banks. This podcast
Speaker 1: is committed to donating a portion of the proceeds from
Speaker 1: the show to Feeding America, and we hope that you
Speaker 1: can join us in this effort to find out how
Speaker 1: you can help Feeding America dot org. Backslash COVID nineteen
Speaker 1: and now the rest of my chat with NBA legend
Speaker 1: and activist Craig Hodges. So let's talk about this past weekend. Now,
Speaker 1: what went through your head when you saw the horrific
Speaker 1: video the murdering of of George Floyd. Well, it's just
Speaker 1: just a continuation then, and I think for I think everyone,
Speaker 1: any human beings, Ah, the we canness in it, saw
Speaker 1: the unholiness in it, saw the vitality, and you know
Speaker 1: the fact that you can murder someone and feel comfortable
Speaker 1: with doing it and thinking that you're going to get
Speaker 1: away with it. And I think that's the part and
Speaker 1: parcel of what white suffromacy, racism, and the systematic brutality
Speaker 1: have gone on, unh untried, unprosecuted, unjustified. And now we're
Speaker 1: seeing where the planet is riding up there, having demonstrats
Speaker 1: in Tokyo, Japan. Black Lives Matter, Germany, Black Lives Matter.
Speaker 1: So that's telling us that the human condition is one
Speaker 1: that vibrates worldwide and that what effects one affects all.
Speaker 1: So those who have power and might are waking up
Speaker 1: this morning with a different idea and scope. When you
Speaker 1: think about the magnitude of people power and people being
Speaker 1: able to take this thing and take anger to a
Speaker 1: level where they're destroying it, and they're destroying the system.
Speaker 1: And you know, it looks like it may be a
Speaker 1: wal model and maybe a Maciez or maybe this or that,
Speaker 1: But when we look at the root of it, then
Speaker 1: people are angry with the system and they don't have
Speaker 1: any way to express it in a lot of manage
Speaker 1: other than to strike out. And for me, I don't
Speaker 1: I don't justify it, but I realized it. We like
Speaker 1: Dr King realized, he said in ninety eight, the evil
Speaker 1: triples the racism, militarism and economic injustice. We have to
Speaker 1: fight with every given breast. So when how can he
Speaker 1: tell young brothers in nineteen sixty eight not to throw
Speaker 1: model to our cocktails when this country is going over
Speaker 1: there to vietnambalming the people and destroying in the family unit.
Speaker 1: So that's where we are today, when we see the
Speaker 1: powerful protect themselves with the police force, with the military
Speaker 1: might and be able to help hold acas doctrines. Man
Speaker 1: For me and on my level, when I look at
Speaker 1: the NBA, how can Donald Sterling, How can Donald Sterling
Speaker 1: be a racist and get two billion dollars for a
Speaker 1: golden parachute to leave. Believe that's telling you how many
Speaker 1: other people in the league had that same policy of mindset.
Speaker 1: Absolutely uh. And in your book you had talked about it.
Speaker 1: And one of the reasons that you had approached other
Speaker 1: players to boycott game one after the Rodney King beating
Speaker 1: is because you realize the riots in the media, there
Speaker 1: was a problem between the word thugs and the oppressed,
Speaker 1: and we're seeing that again. This is you know, decades later,
Speaker 1: and it is the same exact discussion. Do you think
Speaker 1: we will ever understand the difference between those two things?
Speaker 1: This is what's happen and man, is that what we're
Speaker 1: getting ready to overstand him is redemption and reconstruction of
Speaker 1: the people. And that's what you're getting ready to see
Speaker 1: among the African people worldwide. In America's first and that's
Speaker 1: why the world as I am America and how they're
Speaker 1: treating the former slave because we're not slaved anymore. And
Speaker 1: that's the problem that the systems to the system was
Speaker 1: built on us being slaves. Pitio. No one wants to
Speaker 1: face that issue. No one wants to face that you're
Speaker 1: sitting on the capitalist system you're at the top of
Speaker 1: it now that you're inheritance factor, the inheritive factor of
Speaker 1: where you're sitting on the job, the inhertives factor, whether
Speaker 1: you're a CEO of a fort or five hundred company
Speaker 1: that dates back five hundred years, and and how those
Speaker 1: how the ramifications is that is is coming up with
Speaker 1: this people that's rioting, but it's not rioting. Is rebellion
Speaker 1: against a system that is crooked at the core. So
Speaker 1: the foundation of America is one built on white exceptionalism
Speaker 1: and that you know, and you know, it's a wild
Speaker 1: to me manage. I was studying Market Center and how
Speaker 1: the connections of and the filters through to Hillary Clinton.
Speaker 1: And you're supposed to vote for Hillary Clinton is black
Speaker 1: folks and everybody really, but we don't study we don't
Speaker 1: study our Hillary Clinton with Margaret Singer is a who rock,
Speaker 1: Margaret Singer who came up with this doctrine that I
Speaker 1: want to eliminate black people, and no nobody want to
Speaker 1: question that as Americans. I'm talking about American's question that
Speaker 1: we have to look into ourselves. And when I'm putting
Speaker 1: myself as an American, I tell I have the right
Speaker 1: to do that because my people built the country. Now,
Speaker 1: going on that point, those who look at us in
Speaker 1: a blind eye and say, man, they ain't got no
Speaker 1: you know, and no black fathers, you know, you're killing them.
Speaker 1: So you're asking young black lin to grow up with
Speaker 1: our fathers that they didn't seem murdered, and then you
Speaker 1: want them not to have some type of rebellious steered
Speaker 1: about it. Come on, and you know how many fathers
Speaker 1: are in jail that could be out here and jail
Speaker 1: on trump up charges or charges that I nowhere near them,
Speaker 1: having ten fifteen years in prison away from these young
Speaker 1: boys on the street. So now me of the years
Speaker 1: the young brother looking out here and still being a
Speaker 1: young mindset, and how many brothers can I take under
Speaker 1: my wing who ain't got fathers around to take care of,
Speaker 1: you know? And then how many of us don't have
Speaker 1: that mindset because we've been brought up on this capitalist
Speaker 1: system where it's all about me and I just want
Speaker 1: to get mine. So I want to be a multimillionaire,
Speaker 1: so I can add ten houses, and we gotta break
Speaker 1: that model. Man. So I love that NJA coming out.
Speaker 1: Maybe that will break that model. If I want to
Speaker 1: be like Mike and just be a millionaire and half
Speaker 1: cards and models, a ritees and all of this. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. Then, So it's a whole new
Speaker 1: vibration going on, brother, And I'm so blessed. I feel
Speaker 1: so blessed to be on the planet to see it happening.
Speaker 1: Because when you say it's a man, it's happened right
Speaker 1: before our eyes. So this is the whole prophecy that
Speaker 1: that was told. You know how long we've been here, man,
Speaker 1: America is gonna be shut down. You better make sure
Speaker 1: you have groceries for two weeks. You better make sure
Speaker 1: you have water. How long have we heard that? I'm
Speaker 1: fifty nine. I heard that as a baby during the
Speaker 1: Civil Rights movement, thinking that forning was gonna happen, not
Speaker 1: knowing in was gonna be the time that it is
Speaker 1: truly gonna happen where America is gonna be chaotic like
Speaker 1: a third world country. So what I'm looking at is Venezuela.
Speaker 1: What I'm looking at is Panama. What I'm looking at?
Speaker 1: And why is it happening to America? The richest, most
Speaker 1: powerful country by our president standard by he says it
Speaker 1: all the time. We are the greatest and everything is
Speaker 1: a competition. So within that, that's been the American mindset.
Speaker 1: When when when? When when when at all costs, win,
Speaker 1: at all costs that we have to drop a bomb
Speaker 1: on na Yasaki and Hiroshima? When at all costs that
Speaker 1: we have to destroy the planet? Heurge, When did all costs?
Speaker 1: Western Empire? Sharting with Britain, Why are you're in the
Speaker 1: shape that you're in? Why are you in the shape
Speaker 1: that you're in? America? And she we are who we are,
Speaker 1: We're here and were It's not like we have a choice.
Speaker 1: Our souls come down, man, you know, and it bothers you.
Speaker 1: I mean, did you ever looking back now, do you
Speaker 1: consider your activism at that time so ahead of its time,
Speaker 1: even though it cut your career short? Do you see
Speaker 1: that as your legacy? Which would you do it all
Speaker 1: over again? And that's the mus let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: We laugh about it that my office side went to
Speaker 1: a demonstration he got in California. He went to a
Speaker 1: demonstration yesterday in San Diego and that's the first one
Speaker 1: he ever went to. And he's like, man, Dad, I
Speaker 1: see where you're coming from. Then I understand you now,
Speaker 1: And he said, man, I was wrapped up into it.
Speaker 1: I said, yeah, he was in something bigger than yourself
Speaker 1: on side and he's like, man, and I never felt
Speaker 1: like that before. I said, yeah, you'ven't been on championship teams,
Speaker 1: but it ain't nothing like that, huh. I was like yeah,
Speaker 1: Because when you're standing on principles undergird humanity, something that
Speaker 1: date predates yourself, that's something man and to feel that
Speaker 1: and have that energy as something that's powerful and then's
Speaker 1: something that is only captured in certain generations. In this
Speaker 1: generation is being able to feel a palpable energy where
Speaker 1: something has been wrong on the front of for so
Speaker 1: many millennia and now is trying to change it. And
Speaker 1: when I look across the spectrum of leadership across American
Speaker 1: and I see how many African American women are in
Speaker 1: position of the power. I see the transitional phases coming
Speaker 1: where the African woman is being restored to her rightful
Speaker 1: placed under the sun and we are experiencing the birthing
Speaker 1: tanks of that. Well, I can't thank you enough for
Speaker 1: what you've done in the past and for doing this interview.
Speaker 1: But again, like I said, being uh an NBA fan,
Speaker 1: white guy, in the suburbs, and and and watching your
Speaker 1: career and what you've done and what you stood for.
Speaker 1: I I commend everything we're catching up to you. Craig
Speaker 1: Hodges brother. You know it's so crazy, you know, say
Speaker 1: you and I have um have two year olds right now, Okay,
Speaker 1: I have an eleven month old. Well great, great, Okay,
Speaker 1: I don't let's put taken the second what we're talked about. Okay,
Speaker 1: if we put them on the ground together in the
Speaker 1: play pin thing, you don't see white or black, you know,
Speaker 1: they not, they not. If we if I came on
Speaker 1: to this planet and I and everything was just people,
Speaker 1: that's the people. That's the people. That's the people you
Speaker 1: don't and people who look how they look and they
Speaker 1: have whatever you they have. But somebody put into my
Speaker 1: mind that white is better than black. As a little boy,
Speaker 1: as a little boy is as a nine year old
Speaker 1: going to the park, we have to be back on
Speaker 1: the other side of the tracks because if we weren't,
Speaker 1: white was gonna get you. And that's a sad state
Speaker 1: of affairs to put on the line of a young
Speaker 1: person who's ready to be a brilliant spectrum of what
Speaker 1: God has in store for their lives. All of that
Speaker 1: is stunned by uh falsehood that just because you look
Speaker 1: different than me, you're better in me, and that did Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: I thank you again, man, and I push everyone to
Speaker 1: go pick up the book Longshot, especially now. It resonates
Speaker 1: even more than did a couple of years ago when
Speaker 1: it first came out. And thank you for talking to
Speaker 1: me today, Craig. Everybody water and stay out of the
Speaker 1: way of the madness again. You mean a lot to me,
Speaker 1: Craig Hodges, Thank you for everything you do. The No
Speaker 1: Sports Report is produced and distributed by tree Ford Media.
Speaker 1: The show was executive produced by Kelly Gardner, Lisa Ammerman,
Speaker 1: Matthew Coogler, and me Jensen Carr. Tom Monahan is our
Speaker 1: senior audio engineer and sound supervisor, with production and editing
Speaker 1: by Jasper Leak additional production help from Tim Shower, June Rosen,
Speaker 1: and Hayley Mandelberg. Our theme music is composed by Spilkus.
Speaker 1: If you've enjoyed what you've heard, please subscribe, rate us
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Speaker 1: The No Sports Report is a production of I Heart
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