by Etan Thomas
So I kept speaking at different events across DC. Some rallies had all of twenty-five people, others had hundreds, but whenever I got a chance to speak at a rally, I did. Then one day I was invited to a rally at the National Mall. I had no idea how enormous of an event it was until we got there. Malcolm was in a stroller at the time and my wife Nichole was pushing him around with the baby bags and formula and snacks and rattles and toys and everything else.
So we get to the Mall and there are literally thousands of people there. Dr. Cornel West was speaking and a person with headphones came up to me and asked me if I needed anything and said that I was on next. I was like, “Y’all got me following Cornel West? Could you put someone in between us or something?” He said he had seen me before and that I would be just fine.
So I performed a poem called “The Field Trip” and the crowd went crazy. Dr. West came up to me and gave me a hug and—I’ll never forget it—said, “You young brothas gotta carry the torch. That was brilliant.”
Dr. Cornel West called my poem “brilliant.” I was interviewed by Amy Goodman, the host of Democracy Now! I ran into sportswriter Dave Zirin, whom I had met at an anti–death penalty rally, and he asked me why hadn’t I talked about this to any of the newspapers. I told him that I tried but nobody wanted to touch it. He informed me that he was working for a small paper called the Prince George’s Post (PG Post for short) and he would be happy to write it—and he did just that. The title was “The Anti-War Speech Everyone Is Talking About,” and soon it was everywhere.
This was during the summer, so we had not officially begun practice yet. The next week I was at the Verizon Center working out and received a message that Mr. Pollin, the CEO of the Washington Wizards, wanted to speak to me in his office. When I heard that, I remember saying, “Well, I guess this is the end for me.” I didn’t really think this one through at all. Abe Pollin didn’t ask anyone to talk to him in his office and definitely not in the off-season.
As I enter his office, Mr. Pollin has this big smile on his face. He shakes my hand and begins to tell me that his son attended the antiwar rally and was raving about my speech. He said he read the text and was really impressed. We then began to have a lengthy conversation about politics. We covered Iraq, the Bush administration, child malnutrition in Africa, Vietnam, inner-city schools . . . We even debated the gentrification processes taking place throughout the city. He told me of his dedication to building housing units for people at a range of different incomes, not just the high-income bracket.
Needless to say, I was very impressed. We looked up and an hour and a half had gone by. He told me to keep standing up for what I believed in and said not to be surprised if I received a tremendous amount of criticism, but that he respected the stance I was taking, and any way he could help or support me, to just let him know.
I went home and told my wife what had happened and she was just as surprised as I was. It was extremely refreshing to have someone in his position offer words of encouragement and support.
There is a notion, especially after the apparent blackballing of certain players like Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Craig Hodges, and now Colin Kaepernick, that athletes will be punished by the powers-that-be if they speak out. But I didn’t suffer any repercussions whatsoever. Now, I don’t know if my experience in DC was the norm, but I had no management pushback at all. As reflected in the following interview with the current CEO of the Wizards, the organization is continuing its fine tradition of supporting players when they speak out on issues that are important to them and their communities.
It was great to hear Ted Leonsis express so much support for the activism of the Wizards players.
Interview with Ted Leonsis
Etan: After everything happened with former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling getting caught on tape making racist comments in April 2014, I noticed that you were one of the first NBA CEOs to condemn him. What prompted you to speak publicly?
Ted Leonsis: I acted organically, not coached and not handled. It was an authentic response . . . because his comments were just not acceptable in any way, shape, or form . . . I think the league acted accordingly, and Adam Silver had the same reaction that I did. When I watched Adam address this situation, I was so incredibly proud.
Etan: You said, “There should be zero tolerance for hate-mongering. Hate speech demonstrates an ignorance that is unacceptable, and I implore all of us to help eliminate any form of discrimination. I have full confidence that Commissioner Silver will conduct a thorough investigation and act accordingly upon his findings.” And you issued this response almost immediately after the tape was leaked.
Leonsis: And I meant every word of it. Again, that was my natural, unfiltered, uncoached, unhandled response. That’s what I felt in my heart, and I felt led to make that known . . .
You know, we expect so much from our athletes in the NBA . . . so if we are asking them to be exemplars and leaders in the community and really hold them to this incredibly high standard, why would we say, “Be with the people, but don’t have an opinion on issues that directly affect the people”? Why would we tell them, “Don’t get political”? . . . These are really experienced, intelligent people who probably know a lot more about what is going on in the community than we do . . . They know I am not going to attempt to silence them. I know a lot of players have their agents telling them, “This may be bad for business,” or, “You’re alienating this group if you do that.” And my position, or my advice if I am asked, is, the worst thing for anybody is inauthenticity.
Etan: Do you think players on the Wizards now feel that they have that freedom and support from you and the entire organization?
Leonsis: Without a doubt . . . I think this next generation of players, the thing that is going positively for them is, they make a lot of money, and money gives people freedom . . . it gives them independence. So before, the prevailing notion—whether true or not—was, If I talk about this subject, I may lose my sneaker contract or some other endorsement or sponsor. Now, not so much.
Etan: Last summer, Philando Castile and Alton Sterling were killed by police officers. It was really a horrific time. Wizards guard Bradley Beal came out strong about those murders.
Leonsis: It was also very personal to Bradley. It was organic; he gave an honest, not-coached, not-handled opinion. And when I read it, I said, “Good for Bradley. He is letting his voice be heard.” Bradley was definitely authentic and he had our full support as an organization.
To me, the only time I would ever get involved, or offer advice, is if I felt that someone had put you up to it. Or if I knew someone felt really strongly about something, and their manager or agent advised them to keep silent because it may hurt their chances of being successful with the Wizards. I would assure them that they have the freedom to speak their minds and to be passionate about whatever it is they are passionate about . . .
And I think these have become really big platforms for people. And each generation of players, their cognizance around the opportunity is becoming better all around.
Interview with Mark Cuban
I was part of Mark Cuban’s first draft class in 2000. Myself, Courtney Alexander, Donnell Harvey, and Eduardo Nájera. Mark Cuban changed the way NBA CEOs conduct themselves. He was outspoken, argued with the refs, argued with David Stern, got fined, and kept arguing. One time in the Dallas Mavericks locker room (he was always there and had his own locker, something that I am pretty sure wasn’t commonplace in the NBA), I asked him why he always argued with and criticized the refs. Didn’t he know he was going to get fined?
He said it didn’t matter, that if something was not right or fair, someone needed to speak up about it. “So let them fine me. Nobody is above being criticized, not even David Stern.”
I was like, Whoa, okay, this cat is different.
I was very excited to interview Cuban. He has been outspoken about the Trump administration since the election. He has been an NBA CEO who doesn’t dissuade his players fr
om using their voices and speaking out. In fact, right around the time I was speaking out about the war in Iraq, Steve Nash, then on the Mavericks, was doing the same.
Steve Nash is a nineteen-year-career, two-time NBA MVP recipient with a dazzling highlight reel of passes that will keep him regarded as basketball royalty for a long time. But he also made a huge mark with his willingness to use his voice and his platform. After the US invasion of Iraq, Nash began wearing a T-shirt during warm-ups that read, No War. Shoot for Peace. He verbalized his perspective to reporters: “I believe that us going to war would be a mistake. Being a humanitarian, I think that war is wrong in 99.9 percent of all cases. I think it has much more to do with oil or some sort of distraction, because I don’t feel as though we should be worrying about Iraq.”
Nash’s comments incited a backlash from the media; some journalists were outraged that a professional athlete had the audacity to criticize President George W. Bush, especially after all the newfound patriotism following 9/11.
ESPN’s Skip Bayless, then of the San Jose Mercury News, not only told Nash to “shut up and play” but suggested that basketball players “are paid money because they serve as an escape.” Dave Krieger of the Rocky Mountain News said that athletes “seldom know what they’re talking about.” But just as Abe Pollin did with me, Mark Cuban continued to give Steve Nash the support and freedom to speak his mind and stand up for what he believes in, as he continues to do today with the present-day Maverick players.
Etan: You have been very critical, to say the least, of Donald Trump. We talked to Steve Kerr and you don’t really see that a lot with coaches, and you definitely don’t see it a lot with NBA CEOs. So, what really pushed you to come out so strong in this election?
Mark Cuban: I was never really into politics all that much. Back when we drafted you to the Mavs, it’s not like I was out there taking a stance in the 2000 elections, or the 2004 elections, or even the 2008 elections for that matter. And when Trump entered into the presidential elections, when he first got in, I was for it, shockingly enough. I thought he was honest, open, authentic, wasn’t a politician, spoke his mind, wasn’t scripted, and because of that, he put my quotes in his book and showed the world that I supported him. And I was really anti-Cruz. I thought Ted Cruz would be dangerous, plus he was smart, and that was a bad combination, so I said I’m gonna help Donald and see what happens. And the problem was, the more I got to know him . . . (laughing) the worse it got. So that led to the point of, do I say something or not say something? And seriously, the more I got to know him, the more it bothered me that if this guy wins, it’s not going to go in the direction that I think this country should go.
Etan: So there were things that you did like about Trump at first?
Cuban: Well . . . I think corporate taxes should be lower. Put this all in the context of: there are things that we need to accomplish socially, and we have to figure out how to pay for them. But I’m a believer that with a little bit less taxes—not a lot, but a little bit less—the economy can grow more and that creates more tax revenues. It’s not about reducing total revenue, it’s about increasing total revenue . . . For every dollar you put into the government, instead of 90 percent going to the people who need it, 70 percent goes to the people who need it. When you try to start and run a business, there are so many rules that you need to spend a boatload of money on lawyers and accountants instead of just doing your business. And that’s all the way down to the local level.
Etan: One of the things I did like about Trump—I do have the ability to point out something positive—was when he said that you can’t become a lobbyist if you were recently working for the government.
Cuban: Exactly, and I like that he wants to reduce two regulations for every one you create, because it reduces the friction. My attitude is that we do need to help people, but if we are going to help people, let’s do it the right way. The government right now has gotten so big and disconnected and bureaucratic that it doesn’t accomplish the job it needs to do . . . And it’s a little bit of a disconnect that he just wants that money to flow right back into people like me and my pocket.
Etan: The 1 percent.
Cuban: Right. And in reality, I’m not worried about it getting back to me. I just don’t want the government to keep getting bigger and bigger, because it just won’t work at some point. In his mind, the more money I have, the more money I will have to invest, and if I invest wisely, I can build bigger businesses that will benefit more people. It doesn’t always work that way, of course. But if business invests more, you’ll get a greater return on that money than what the government can. But there are still obligations that we have to our citizens and people who are disadvantaged, and I definitely believe that people should work for it, I don’t believe in just giving anybody anything. So we may agree in the tactics, but strategically, we are just in a very different place. So I don’t want people to think I am just some full-time, biased Trump-basher and critic . . . There are some concepts of his that I as an Independent can agree with. Now socially, that’s a whole different story. What he wants to do with immigration, the EPA, rounding up immigrants that are illegally here, his implementation of ideas are so lacking and so not thought through, and ultimately so not presidential.
Etan: Talk a little more about the social part, because I could name quite a few problematic areas of his platform—the Muslim ban, the rhetoric, the racism, xenophobic rants, misogyny.
Cuban: That’s the part that’s appalling, to be quite honest. He has absolutely no leadership skills, no management skills whatsoever, and you see it with all the leaks. A good leader . . . would go office to office and say, “Listen, if you have an issue, bring it to me.” He would ensure the people who work for him that he will hear their grievances and take into consideration their concerns, and they would come to some common ground . . . The reality is, if you believe in the economic stuff we just talked about, if he were a good leader, if he had the communication skills, he could go out and say, “You know what? I was a little abrasive during the elections, but I want to bring people together and here’s how I think we can accomplish that.” And he probably could get a lot more than the people who voted for him to support him. But to your point, he doesn’t know how to deal with people. He is like that athlete you grew up with who passed school but never really did the work, where they would sit in the meeting and they would say, “What do you think?” And they just fake it till they make it. That’s him.
Talking politics with Mark Cuban. He was as spirited in discussing Donald Trump as he is on the Mavericks sidelines cheering for his team.
Etan: So let’s talk particulars. The Muslim ban: your thoughts?
Cuban: There are two sides to it. If you want to “keep us safe,” just picking these six or seven countries is not keeping us safe. That does nothing. Now, if you want to improve the extreme vetting program for all refugees, then just say that. “I want to improve our system, and we are not picking out specific countries, or religions, or ethnicities. But anyone who is a refugee from anywhere, we are going to go through a more extensive vetting process for the safety of all Americans.”
Etan: Well, if he would have said that, I don’t think anybody would have had an issue.
Cuban: Right! That’s my point. So on one hand, he was trying to do that, but on the other hand, he was proving to the people who voted for him, who showed up in masses, that he is exactly who they think he is.
Etan: He was using the dog whistles.
Cuban: Exactly, and of course everyone wants to be safe, but we want to be humane too. And reducing the refugees isn’t going to change anything. It’s not like President Obama didn’t deport any refugees. But he communicated. Trump doesn’t know how to communicate, even on an elementary level, and he loves to blow that dog whistle, like you mentioned earlier, just to get the people all riled up. And then Rudy Giuliani comes on and says how great the Muslim ban is and I’m just thinking, They can’t be serious here. So one of the r
easons I turned against him is that Donald Trump makes no effort to learn, really learn, not just read the footnotes but actually learn the issues. He hasn’t read a book in thirty years. If you asked him about Obamacare, he couldn’t detail for you what was wrong with it.
You saw that in the presidential debates. It wasn’t even close as to who was more knowledgeable. He would say things like, “Obamacare is a death spiral.” Really? Why, Donald? . . . He is just going to tell you what he has been told to say. And if you don’t understand the issues, how are you going to understand the impact of immigration? How are you going to understand the impact of free trade or fair trade? How are you going to understand the impact of health care or human rights? You’re not going to, and that’s his problem. He’s just not smart enough for the job.