WEBVTT - The A Building: Justice For George Floyd 0:00:04.000 --> 0:00:05.240 Coming up on the AID building. 0:00:06.040 --> 0:00:08.160 I do not care if my protests made a difference. 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:11.360 I do not care if Colin Kaepernick's protest makes a difference, 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:13.720 because's not what you create for, that's not what you 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:15.960 play for, and that's not what you protest for. 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:19.720 I was watching a man suffocate to death slowly. It's 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:21.960 traumatizing for anybody who watches it. 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:30.040 Episode two, Justice for George Floyd. 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.560 See him? Is this the room? No? 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:49.519 I think it's at the end of the hall. 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:52.959 Are we really gonna do this? Of course we are. 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:58.080 Here was the moment, the moment when a group of 0:00:58.160 --> 0:01:02.000 concerned students made their final towards the boarder Trustees building. 0:01:02.680 --> 0:01:05.880 Tensions are high, the reality of what they're about to 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:07.520 do is starting to kick in. 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:12.360 The gear for the heights was simple, some water, some food. 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.919 They purchased some padlocks from a local Atlanta hardware store. 0:01:16.319 --> 0:01:19.040 They plant to chain the door and lock themselves into 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:20.280 the Board of Trustee meeting. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:23.640 Lock in protests have become a popular tool of activism. 0:01:23.680 --> 0:01:26.920 In the sixties, anti war movements spread around the country, 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.560 and students would attach themselves to police cars, works of art, 0:01:30.800 --> 0:01:33.360 and even storm in the boardrooms to draw attention to 0:01:33.400 --> 0:01:34.000 their cause. 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:39.480 Beautifully manicured lawns sprawled over the Moorhouse campus. The administration 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.759 wanted the grass to be kept in perfect condition. They 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:46.080 placed giant chains around the grass to keep the students 0:01:46.120 --> 0:01:49.200 off the lawn. Those very chains were used to lock 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:56.720 in the board of trustees. Okay, okay, okay, everyone relaxed. 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:03.240 We don't have guns. We're just here to talk. This 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:06.560 event was more than a simple protest. This was a 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:10.120 call for action. The future of Morehouse and perhaps all 0:02:10.320 --> 0:02:14.959 historically black colleges and universities, were at stake. These students 0:02:15.000 --> 0:02:18.200 were willing to put their entire academic future at risk 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:20.720 for the chance to make change. 0:02:21.000 --> 0:02:23.720 They wanted Morehouse to be part of a larger conversation. 0:02:24.600 --> 0:02:28.079 Martin Luther King Junior was just murdered that his father 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.679 in Monkey Senior would be present as a member of 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:35.280 the board. Truly, you understand what they were fighting for. 0:02:35.880 --> 0:02:39.920 Ironically, the education at Morehouse encouraged students to take exactly 0:02:40.080 --> 0:02:43.840 this kind of bold action. To be a morehouseman was 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:47.600 to be active and engaged. Right from the mission statement 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:51.720 and I quote Morehouse College mission is to develop men 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:54.680 who lead lives of service and leadership. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:58.320 They want to develop men with discipline minds. They want 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.200 to teach the history and culture of black people. They 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:03.840 want to promote a sense of belonging for all. They 0:03:03.919 --> 0:03:06.280 prepare students for a rapidly changing world. 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.720 In the late sixties, it felt like the world was 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:13.280 changing by the minute, and the men of Morehouse refused 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.519 to be left behind. This takeover would be the first 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:20.800 step in that process, a process for reform and change. 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:25.240 At the epicenter of black intellectual thought. 0:03:24.880 --> 0:03:28.360 This was more than a protest. It was a heist, 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.320 a heist of ideas, and a heist for the future. 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:43.000 But what is a protest? May twenty twenty, a world 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:46.600 already made a one ten a century pandemic would again 0:03:47.200 --> 0:03:51.800 change forever. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, a forty six year old 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:55.880 black man named George Floyd is murdered by Derek Charlott, 0:03:56.040 --> 0:04:00.400 an officer when an extensive record of razor complaints and brutality. 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:06.840 Please please are gave release please man, please. 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.280 On this day. The death of this man would create 0:04:14.360 --> 0:04:17.000 a worldwide movement against police brutality. 0:04:17.400 --> 0:04:20.960 Unlike the nineteen ninety two Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:24.919 these riots would spread much like the invisible monster that 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:28.080 was keeping us all in our homes. But this monster 0:04:28.240 --> 0:04:33.039 was protests. This monster was resistance. Any social distancing from 0:04:33.040 --> 0:04:36.719 this issue was impossible, and it brought people back out 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:37.400 to the streets. 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:43.080 What is a protest? What does it actually need to resist? 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:50.240 Resistance in the Black experience go hand in hand. The 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:54.400 uncomfortable connection to Black pain and the American experiment make 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:56.760 some holidays and memorials awkward. 0:04:57.200 --> 0:05:00.520 In the summer of toy twenty many of those memorials 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:03.960 were burned to the ground. And of course, in times 0:05:03.960 --> 0:05:07.440 of turmoil, we live to our leadership to provide calm 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:08.920 in the face of chaos. 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:18.760 Our nation has been gripped by professional anarchists, violent mobs, arsonists, saluters, criminals, writers, Antifa, 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:23.159 and others. A number of state and local governments have 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:28.600 failed to take necessary action to safeguard their residents. Innocent 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:32.960 people have been savagely beaten, like the young man in Dallas, 0:05:33.000 --> 0:05:36.440 Texas who was left dying on the street, or the 0:05:36.480 --> 0:05:41.480 woman in upstate New York viciously attacked by dangerous thugs. 0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:47.120 Small business owners have seen their dreams utterly destroyed. New 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:50.000 York's finests have been hit in the face with bricks. 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:55.159 Brave nurses who have battled the virus are afraid to 0:05:55.279 --> 0:06:00.360 leave their homes. A police precinct has been over run 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:05.400 here in the nation's capital. The Lincoln Memorial and the 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:10.279 World War II Memorial have been vandalized. One of our 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:16.280 most historic churches was set ablaze. A federal officer in California, 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:23.320 an African American enforcement here was shot and killed. These 0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:27.120 are not acts of peaceful protests. These are acts of 0:06:27.560 --> 0:06:33.680 domestic terror. The destruction of innocent life and the spilling 0:06:33.720 --> 0:06:37.560 of innocent blood is an offense to humanity and a 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:45.720 crime against God. American needs creation, not destruction, Justice not chaos. 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:50.880 This is our mission and we will succeed one hundred percent. 0:06:51.760 --> 0:06:55.400 We will succeed. Our country always wins. 0:06:56.200 --> 0:06:58.919 Well. I didn't help. For more detail in this event, 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:02.320 I spoke with film Mark schum whose award winning film 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.719 Police on Trial covered the murder of George Floyd in 0:07:05.839 --> 0:07:08.560 Chauvin's trial. He was one of the first reporters on 0:07:08.600 --> 0:07:11.560 the ground when the riots began in Minnesota. So, Mike, 0:07:11.600 --> 0:07:13.800 where were you when George Floyd was killed? 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.120 I was living in the Twin Cities in Minnesota when 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:21.560 George Floyd was killed. In fact, where I was living 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:24.600 was maybe less than eight miles from where he was killed. 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:26.760 Well, I didn't even realize you were that close to 0:07:27.440 --> 0:07:31.760 actually where it happened. Yeah, So draw the timeline of 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:37.280 his murder versus like the date of the murderer versus 0:07:37.280 --> 0:07:43.280 when the the actual footage came out, Like what was that? 0:07:43.560 --> 0:07:46.480 What was the initial reaction just right there at ground 0:07:46.560 --> 0:07:48.640 zero in Minnesota to all that. 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.240 You know, to your point, I think even myself I 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:56.680 was surprised at how close I was to where he 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:02.440 was killed, because so much of how any of us 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.240 were interacting with the world was through social media, so 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:08.520 everything's spelt so close but also so. 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:09.480 Very far away. 0:08:09.520 --> 0:08:14.720 And so when I was seeing video footage primarily across Facebook, 0:08:14.800 --> 0:08:22.440 actually being shared about George Floyd's killing, I didn't watch 0:08:22.480 --> 0:08:25.880 the video at first too quickly. I actually think my 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:29.120 wife watched it first, and as she was watching it, 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:34.319 I could just see her mortified, And so for myself, 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:38.480 shortly after that I sat and watched it. I have 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:41.040 to sort of when I'm about to watch disturbing material, 0:08:41.280 --> 0:08:44.800 I sort of have to rewire my brain for a second. 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:51.520 So my initial watch of Darnella Frasier's video was shocked. 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:51.880 No doubt. 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:54.880 But then I sort of paused and sort of rewired 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:57.160 my brain and focused a bit to see what am 0:08:57.200 --> 0:09:01.160 I looking at here? And I watch the entire video 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:06.080 and it was, you know, nothing short of horrific. I 0:09:06.160 --> 0:09:12.120 was watching a man suffgate to death slowly. It's traumatizing 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:14.400 for anybody who watches it. 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:19.439 The violence was so visceral, and it was also so organized. 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:25.760 Show then his reaction and nonchalant attitude as he was 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.200 you know, pressed against his neck, and there was the 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:34.240 other cops organizing the crowd. Nothing to see here. It 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:38.800 was the other human beings around saying, hey, it seems 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.920 like you're killing that guy, you know, like it seems 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:45.719 like the ignoring of that. It was such an interesting 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:50.920 manifestation of all the elements of the human condition, right, 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.320 kind of all happening in one moment. You kind of 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:59.079 saw the extremity of the state. You actually saw good 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.200 Samaritans like, hey, that doesn't seem right. There was an 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:05.560 actual first responder there saying, yeah, you're actually putting that 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.840 you're actually killing that guy for you know, for a 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.319 non violent offense. All these things were happening at once, 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:16.520 and I think at a time where emotions were high anyway, 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:21.760 where we literally were facing kind of this invisible monster 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:25.160 that had all kind of forced us into the house 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.400 and had forced us to, i don't know, re evaluate 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:32.880 our own social contracts in a lot of ways. That 0:10:32.880 --> 0:10:35.080 that was a really visceral thing to see at that 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:36.080 particular moment. 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:38.200 I think there are a couple of things you said 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:41.840 that was striking. The first thing is my god, I mean, 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.960 if you think about it, we had only been sheltered 0:10:46.040 --> 0:10:49.480 in place for less than three months. It felt like years, 0:10:49.800 --> 0:10:52.600 but it was only less than three months. Lockdown started 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:57.840 happening pretty uniformly, like March twelfth, March thirteen, something around then, 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.439 and this happened May twenty five. God you all right, 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:07.040 But being relegated to the indoor and and sort of 0:11:07.080 --> 0:11:11.040 shelter in place was in its own way, its own trauma, right. 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:15.839 And then everything we're watching is heightened everything you said 0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:23.080 about this sort of confluence of moments, people highlighting that 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:29.880 these police officers were killing George Floyd. And more than that, 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:33.400 this felt like protocol. There's a sort of this is 0:11:33.440 --> 0:11:38.760 how we do things. Don't interrupt what we do, and 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:43.080 yet bystanders felt the wherewithal to interrupt something that was 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:46.559 clearly inhumane and clearly dehumanizing. 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:52.240 Almost two months since the eyewitness video sparked a global movement, today, 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:55.880 for the first time, previously unreleased police body camera footage 0:11:55.880 --> 0:11:59.320 showed that George Floyd told officers at least twenty eight 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.000 times that couldn't breathe. 0:12:01.120 --> 0:12:04.080 It's one of those things you can't take out of context. 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:07.080 Right when you just sit there and look at it, 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:11.640 it's undeniable. Right then you see kind of the firestorm 0:12:11.720 --> 0:12:15.280 that it led to all over the world. So, speaking 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.880 to your point, going back to what you talked about, 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.319 in all of the different stories you've covered around the world, 0:12:22.880 --> 0:12:27.199 you've seen protesters put their lives in danger for their 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:31.480 beliefs right there that they're taking it beyond just the hey, 0:12:31.559 --> 0:12:35.079 this is a geopolitical argument, or this is a this 0:12:35.160 --> 0:12:38.160 is a matter of civics. You've seen people say, Hey, 0:12:38.240 --> 0:12:42.000 I'm actually prepared to die for this belief. What have 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:43.920 you seen that brings a person to that? 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:47.480 To that point, honestly, there's I don't know that I 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:52.160 have a very clear, straightforward answer to this, because this 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:56.000 is something that I've been wrestling with for the better 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.240 half of my life. I think a cause is broad 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:05.360 enough to cover a lot of area. That is anger 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:09.160 over an event, anger and frustration over an event like 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:15.200 George Floyd's murder, and wanting accountability. The accountability is especially 0:13:15.200 --> 0:13:19.760 in that situation is deserved, was deserved. But what does 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.560 that look like is another question. I think about the 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:27.319 Arab Spring and Egypt and Jussie Babarik and Atarier Square, 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:32.600 where people just had enough and wanted to feel that 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:35.880 there was agency. And I think that's the case, or 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.559 at least a pattern across most social movements is this 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:47.040 desire for agency and feeling disempowered. But then mobilizing and 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:50.160 protesting is a form of power. It's the power in 0:13:50.200 --> 0:13:53.960 everyone's feet to be able to come together and speak 0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.240 out to and against power in that sense, and that's 0:13:57.360 --> 0:13:59.840 I would say, that's a general idea of how I 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:01.760 see people protesting and coming together. 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:07.120 Some resistance is planned like a heist, with elaborate steps 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:12.000 and concise moments for peak attention. Keen understood this in 0:14:12.040 --> 0:14:15.959 Birmingham and Selma. He knew the images of unarmed black 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.760 youth attack by a violent arm of the state with 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:20.440 elicit rage. 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:25.360 Hey, I want to tell the city yourself, tell them 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:29.120 doctor that we are not about to turn around. Yes, sir, 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:33.040 we on the move now, Yes sir, Yes, were on 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.160 the move and no way, but racism can stop us. 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:47.360 Speak to my feet. Our God is marching on glory. Hallelujah, Colora, hallelujahujah. 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.840 Some resistance come from the direct defiance to the state. 0:14:52.760 --> 0:14:53.120 Huey p. 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.440 Noton understood the power of seeing black men in leather 0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:02.080 coats holding legally purchased weapons. The image itself was the 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:06.520 act of resistance. In twenty twenty, all of these elements 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.560 came to a shocking collision. But the roots take us 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.920 back to our story. The roots take us back to 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:23.360 the A Building. Welcome back to the A Building. The 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:27.120 demands for the locking would be simple and straightforward. Number 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:31.440 One a black studies program. By the late nineteen sixties, 0:15:31.880 --> 0:15:36.040 black studies programs were sprouting nationwide, but not at Morehouse. 0:15:36.440 --> 0:15:41.360 Number two community involvement in the housing projects around Morehouse College. 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:46.200 Morehouse students felt isolated from the growing metro Atlanta. They 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:48.920 want to be seen as members of the Atlanta community. 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.880 Number three more people of color on the board of trustees. 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:58.640 Morehouse College, the epicenter of black intellectual thought, was controlled 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.200 by a predominantly board of trustees. 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:06.960 This had to change. Number four. The boldest request the 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:12.560 creation of Martin Luther King University, the consolidation of the 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:16.080 six black schools in the area to become one large 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:19.320 university with a focus on black studies. 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:23.600 The take was clear, but the consequences of such an 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:28.640 extreme measure could be devastating. One man learned the consequences 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:37.680 of a simple act of protest. On September one, twenty sixteen, 0:16:38.000 --> 0:16:40.960 Colin Kaepernick took in me doing the national anthem of 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:42.640 a preseason NFL game. 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.800 I mean, ultimately is to bring awareness and make people 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:49.440 realize what's really going on in this country. There are 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.480 a lot of things that are going on that are unjust. 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:55.120 People aren't being held accountable for and that's something that 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.720 needs to change. No, this country stands for freedom, liberty, 0:16:59.800 --> 0:17:02.520 just this for all, and it's not happening for all 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:03.040 right now. 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.800 This act would set off a firestorm of controversy from 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:10.480 the conservative media and even the President of the United States. 0:17:11.280 --> 0:17:13.479 Well you can imagine what Trump had to say about this. 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.520 Would you love to see one of these NFL owners 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:21.040 when somebody disrespects our flag to say, get that son 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:22.760 of a bitch off the field. 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:23.720 Right now out. 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.720 He's fired. He's fired. 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:31.960 Colin Kaepernick was by no means the first athlete to 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.560 use his position to promote an important issue. 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:38.760 In December twenty fourteen, Cleveland bounds wide receiver Andrew Hawkins 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.760 war shirt onto the field before the game against the Bengals. 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.879 Hawk was called attention to two black o'hai ends guilt 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:48.320 during an encounter with law enforcement. The T shirt read 0:17:48.359 --> 0:17:52.960 simply Justice for Timyir Rice and John Crawford. The move 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:56.560 drew startain criticism from some, with local police labeled his 0:17:56.680 --> 0:17:59.879 protests as pathetic and demanding an apology. 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:03.879 Here's part of Hawk's elegant and touching response in conversation 0:18:04.000 --> 0:18:06.600 with the media the following day. I have a two 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:08.840 year old little boy, and. 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:17.240 That little boy is my entire world, and the number 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:22.760 one reason for me wearing the T shirt was the 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:26.679 thought of what happened to Tamir Rice. Happened into my 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:35.080 little Austin scares the living hell out of me, and 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:41.800 my heart was broken for the parents of Tamir and 0:18:42.119 --> 0:18:43.320 John Crawford. 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:44.880 Knowing they had to. 0:18:46.840 --> 0:18:52.360 Live that nightmare of a reality. So, like I said, 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:54.280 I made the conscious decision to wear the T shirt. 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:57.000 I felt like my heart was in the right place. 0:18:57.080 --> 0:19:01.399 I'm at peace with it. And those who disagree with me, 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:03.120 it's this is America. 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:03.600 That's the point. 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:08.040 Everyone has his right to their first First Amendment rights. 0:19:11.320 --> 0:19:15.359 Those who support me, I appreciate your support, but at 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:20.720 the same time, support the causes and the people and 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.800 the injustices that you feel strongly about. 0:19:25.119 --> 0:19:27.880 Stand up for him, Speak up for him no. 0:19:27.840 --> 0:19:30.760 Matter what it is, because that's what America is about, 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:32.880 and that's what this country. 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:35.920 Was founded on. We spoke with former NFL player turned 0:19:35.960 --> 0:19:40.000 pundit and media entrepreneur Andrew Hawkins about his protest and 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:43.760 what came after. Andrew's really a pleasure to meet you. 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:45.960 It's a pleasure to meet you guys as well. Appreciate 0:19:46.000 --> 0:19:47.919 you having me. Melick used to have a dream of 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:48.800 being in the NFL. 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:52.280 Hawk I was a lowly Division III football player. 0:19:52.400 --> 0:19:54.520 Yeah, it's as close as he's ever gotten. 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.239 So I mean, guess even the contextually, because I mean 0:19:58.240 --> 0:20:01.520 I remember this story of a big NFL fan, and 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:11.240 I remember the backlash, but hearing your personal connection to 0:20:11.320 --> 0:20:15.280 the community and really all the things you were putting 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:18.400 at stake. Do you remember the immediate reaction? 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:19.840 So I put my shirt on. 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:22.119 Just so happened that they were going to announce the 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:25.320 offensive players this game, because it typically alternates offensive defense 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:28.320 the starters, and so I was a starter, one of 0:20:28.359 --> 0:20:30.119 the last people to get announced. I come out with 0:20:30.119 --> 0:20:32.600 a T shirt on. All the pictures happened. We played 0:20:32.600 --> 0:20:35.040 a game, we get our ass kicked Johnny Manziel's first 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:37.440 game starting. So it was like, I do you remember 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:41.880 Johnny manziel experience. It was like media everywhere. I mean 0:20:41.920 --> 0:20:47.720 it was every media there anyway, everything was there already 0:20:47.760 --> 0:20:50.080 and I hadn't even thought about that, but that's like 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:52.760 what made it blow up. And so during the game, 0:20:52.800 --> 0:20:55.320 I guess it started to It started to take on 0:20:55.400 --> 0:20:58.200 its own life, regardless of even what's happening in the game. 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:00.160 And so afterwards it so. 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.680 I get dressed, I take a T shirt off after 0:21:02.720 --> 0:21:05.080 I wear it, throw it to the side, if somebody 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:06.320 grabs it, puts it on my locker. 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:08.600 I get dressed. Afterwards, I'm headed home. 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:14.159 And the lead PR person for the Browns calls and 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:16.879 He's like, hey man, we got a little situation, and 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:18.919 so they were a little blindsided by it. There is 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.320 a part of me that does feel, even to this day, 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.800 bad about that, because you want to get even no 0:21:24.840 --> 0:21:26.480 matter where they sit, you want to give them the 0:21:26.520 --> 0:21:29.719 option to be prepared for what is happening next. And 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:32.600 so things started blowing up really quickly. My mom was 0:21:32.640 --> 0:21:35.480 in town that night, and the calls keep coming in. 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:38.440 My phone's blowing up. I mean, I'm being called every 0:21:38.520 --> 0:21:42.280 name you can imagine on Twitter, on social media, you know, 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:44.320 which I expected. I'm not reading it. I'm kind of 0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.600 letting it go, you know. So one call comes, the 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:48.640 next call comes. 0:21:48.400 --> 0:21:50.480 I'm getting blown up by everybody in the media. 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:52.520 The PR guy calls me back and was like, hey man, 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:55.280 this is like, uh, we got it. 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:57.480 We got to do something. The police are. 0:21:57.160 --> 0:22:00.800 Demanding an apology, they're threatening not to check the stadium, 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:04.640 and I'm like, look, I'm not apologizing. I'm like I can, 0:22:04.720 --> 0:22:06.879 I'm gonna go. I'll come in tomorrow, I'll say my 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:08.480 piece and go from there. And so I didn't sleep 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:10.600 that night. I stayed up, you know, me and my 0:22:10.640 --> 0:22:14.399 mom just talking and I kind of just started to 0:22:14.400 --> 0:22:16.760 gather my own thoughts, you know, and I wanted to 0:22:16.800 --> 0:22:18.840 be very clear, and I wanted to as much as 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:22.280 I could explain what my thought process was to a point, 0:22:22.440 --> 0:22:26.560 but also just be very clear about why I'm completely 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:29.280 okay with everything that happens after this. 0:22:36.240 --> 0:22:37.720 Welcome back to the A Building. 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:41.879 Here's former NFL player Andrew Hawkins about his protest and 0:22:41.920 --> 0:22:44.720 what came after. As it blows up, blows up. 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:47.960 It's in USA today, It's on CNN, it's on Fox News, 0:22:48.040 --> 0:22:49.280 It's on you. 0:22:49.240 --> 0:22:52.359 Know, Anderson Cooper, John Dally, I mean, you name, it 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:53.000 is everywhere. 0:22:53.040 --> 0:22:55.080 And so I come in the next day and I 0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:56.840 tell them I'm not answering any questions. 0:22:57.400 --> 0:22:59.240 Get your cameras rolling. I'm just gonna save my piece 0:22:59.280 --> 0:22:59.880 and go from there. 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:04.080 And so I went on about five to ten minute, 0:23:04.520 --> 0:23:07.160 you know, talk, just trying to speak from the heart, 0:23:07.280 --> 0:23:10.160 trying to hit the points that I felt like were 0:23:10.200 --> 0:23:14.600 important to hit. I said thank you, and I walked out. 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:17.720 And I think from there it took on an even 0:23:19.119 --> 0:23:22.199 like in some ways, like fire to it, and it 0:23:22.240 --> 0:23:25.879 even went even bigger than because now you had people 0:23:25.920 --> 0:23:30.760 from every side having a very strong opinion about whatever 0:23:30.760 --> 0:23:33.360 they had an opinion about So did you. 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:38.080 Ever get a sense as to why the police were offended? 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:40.280 I mean, I probably have my opinions. I don't know 0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:42.280 if I got a sense in the moment. Now, I 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:46.639 am not, especially at this time, would not consider myself 0:23:46.680 --> 0:23:51.919 political whatsoever. Very rarely, if ever, spoke on issues that 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:55.560 didn't pertain to Am I catching the first down to 0:23:55.600 --> 0:23:56.520 get this contract? 0:23:56.520 --> 0:23:57.840 To provide for my family or not. 0:23:58.560 --> 0:24:01.000 Not to say that I'm not passionate about these things, 0:24:01.000 --> 0:24:04.080 but I think in that moment, for me, it was 0:24:04.160 --> 0:24:06.200 so very clear, like, yo, I don't give a fuck 0:24:06.400 --> 0:24:09.679 about football right now, right, And that's just the fact 0:24:09.720 --> 0:24:11.960 and that like and I'm okay because again, like I 0:24:12.080 --> 0:24:14.840 tell you, my passion for football was not driven by 0:24:14.920 --> 0:24:17.480 money or me being able to sit in a certain spot. 0:24:18.000 --> 0:24:20.439 My passion for football was driven by exactly that, my 0:24:20.520 --> 0:24:21.480 passion for football. 0:24:21.560 --> 0:24:25.040 And do you find that the audacity of that in 0:24:25.080 --> 0:24:28.399 itself offends people? You know what I mean, just the 0:24:28.440 --> 0:24:31.399 fact that this is what I think, because I feel 0:24:31.400 --> 0:24:35.640 like I think that there's an expectation and you see 0:24:35.680 --> 0:24:38.560 this in political discourse when it comes to athletes, where 0:24:38.600 --> 0:24:42.920 it's just hey, black guy, just be grateful. These people 0:24:42.920 --> 0:24:43.760 have given you all this. 0:24:43.840 --> 0:24:46.719 Money money, yeah, to play football. You really shouldn't have 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:50.040 things to say yeah, or you shouldn't have passion. 0:24:50.640 --> 0:24:52.440 You should have passion for it exactly. 0:24:53.359 --> 0:24:59.000 I think that is absolutely what the overwhelming feedback was 0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:02.159 to me in that moment, regardless of like, hey, and 0:25:02.240 --> 0:25:04.119 even I would say that in some ways, man as 0:25:04.119 --> 0:25:06.719