NOTES

INTERVIEWS

Conducted in person and by telephone and email between January 2016 and December 2017. Interviews were also conducted during this period with individuals who preferred to remain anonymous.

Eric Adams

Carmelo Anthony

William Astore

George Atallah

Dusty Baker

Charles Barkley

Billy Beane

Todd Boyd

Della Britton Baeza

Ellis Burks

Ken Burns

John Burton

Mary Carillo

Art Carrington

Tony Clark

Cat Collins

Patrick Courtney

Chuck D

De Lacy Davis

Nessa Diab

Sean Doolittle

Shawon Dunston

Harry Edwards

Cecilia Evans

Jeffrey Hammonds

John Hickey

Russel Honoré

Edwin Jackson

Malcolm Jenkins

Magic Johnson

Bomani Jones

Jacque Jones

Colin Kaepernick

Ann Killion

Donna Lieberman

Chris Long

Davey Lopes

Bruce Maxwell

Lee Mazzilli

Louis Moore

Sweeny Murti

David Ortiz

Eric Reid

C. C. Sabathia

Steve Sayles

Al Sharpton

Buck Showalter

John Skipper

DeMaurice Smith

Toni Smith-Thompson

Jimmie Lee Solomon

Etan Thomas

Joe Torre

Gabrielle Union

Ron Washington

Chris Webber

David West

Dave Winfield

Donald Yee

Mark Zinno

Dave Zirin

PROLOGUE: HERE I STAND

“The reason I am here today . . .” Bentley, Thirty Years of Treason.

“I am a Negro” . . . Robeson, Here I Stand, 1.

“hadn’t gotten around to it yet” . . . Tony Manfred, “An NFL Player Has Gone Weeks Without Cashing His $15 Million Signing Bonus Check,” Business Insider, Aug. 25, 2014.

“Wouldn’t you love to see . . .” Donald Trump, speech in Huntsville, AL, Sept. 22, 2017, CNN.

1

STICK TO SPORTS

“I really don’t care . . .” Muhammad Ali interview with Michael Parkinson, BBC, 1971.

“According to Barrett Sports Media . . .” “Barrett Sports Media: Top 20 Sports Radio Programs,” Barrett Sports Media blog, Jan. 2, 2017.

“For me, I just got to a point . . .” Eric Branch, “Colin Kaepernick: ‘This Stand Wasn’t For Me,’” San Francisco Chronicle, Aug. 28, 2016.

“I found myself remembering . . .” Batuman, The Idiot, 86.

“From an early age . . .” Robeson, Here I Stand, 20, v. Emphasis added.

“I guess no one bothered . . .” Brian T. Smith, “49ers QB Colin Kaepernick Has Rights, but He’s Not Correct,” Houston Chronicle, Aug. 27, 2016.

“When it was said (and it was said many times) . . .” Robeson, Here I Stand, 28.

“I cannot say it in the strongest . . .” Bob Glauber, “Colin Kaepernick Draws Criticism from Boomer Esiason, Praise from Bart Scott,” Newsday, August 30, 2016.

Since Esiason knew and cared . . . Joe Sexton, “Police, Youths and Toy Guns–1 Hurt, 1 Dead,” New York Times, Sept. 29, 1994.

“If I was ever involved . . .” “I’ll Bench Any Player That Doesn’t Stand for the National Anthem,” SportsCenter interview with John Tortorella, ESPN, Sept. 7, 2016.

“I think that’s disrespectful . . .” “Tony La Russa: Colin Kaepernick Protest All Publicity, No Substance,” SI.com. Sept. 14, 2016.

“Statement from Kansas City Chiefs Players . . .” Chris Korman, “Kansas City Chiefs Players Stand with Arms Locked in Solidarity During National Anthem,” For the Win (blog), USA Today, Sept. 11, 2016.

“I’m in support of anybody . . .” Charles Curtis, “Bart Scott on Colin Kaepernick: ‘I Think the Death of Muhammad Ali Has Stirred the Pot,’” For the Win (blog), USA Today, August 30, 2016.

“Far from disrespecting our troops . . .” “An Open Letter of Support for Colin Kaepernick from American Military Veterans,” Medium.com, Sept. 2, 2016.

“All voting is a sort of gaming . . .” In Thoreau, Civil Disobedience and Other Essays.

“It was embarrassing . . .” Mike Coppinger, “Colin Kaepernick: ‘Embarrassing’ That Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton Are Candidates,” USA Today, Sept. 27, 2016.

“You know, I think . . .” Jill Martin, “Colin Kaepernick: ‘It Would Be Hypocritical of Me to Vote,’” CNN, Nov. 15, 2016.

“I thought it was egregious . . .” Stephen A. Smith, First Take, ESPN, Dec. 3, 2016.

“What really fries me . . .” George Skelton, “Colin Kaepernick Chose Not to Vote. He Should Stop Complaining About the System,” Los Angeles Times, Nov. 21, 2016.

“According to the US Elections Project . . .” Pillsbury and Johannesen, America Goes to the Polls 2016.

“In any case . . .” Jean-Paul Sartre, “Elections: A Trap for Fools,” in Les Temps Modernes 318 (Jan. 1973).

“Why am I going to vote? . . .” Ibid.

“the loss of mission . . .” Rhoden, Forty Million Dollar Slaves, 2.

2

THE GOOD AMERICANS

“We are adamant . . .” Robinson, Baseball Has Done It, 22.

“‘No man,’” Lincoln said . . .” Donald, Lincoln, 176.

“I am not nor ever have been . . .” Ibid., 221.

“In music, Harry Dett . . .” Lewis, W. E. B. Du Bois, 520.

“It is important to understand . . .” White, Creating the National Pastime, 158–59.

“The Nazis often point out . . .” Schaap, Triumph, 125.

“Let America Be America Again . . .” Langston Hughes, Esquire, July 1936.

“The poster itself suggested Louis’ iconic status . . .” Roberts, Joe Louis, 219.

“I didn’t want to fall prey to the white man’s game . . .” Robinson, I Never Had It Made, 83.

“The white public should start . . .” Ibid., 84–85.

“Moulder: Mr. Robinson . . .” Smith, “The Paul Robeson—Jackie Robinson Saga and a Political Collision.”

“And one other thing the American public . . .” Ibid.

“door-breaker to progress [for] Americans of color . . .” Hartmann, Race, Culture and the Revolt of the Black Athlete, xi.

“With the coming of television . . .” Halberstam, The Fifties, 692.

“They see me in a suit and tie . . .” Kahn, The Boys of Summer, 401.

“Stan was one of the outstanding players . . .” Flood, The Way It Is, 52–53.

“The word of the day . . .” Carlos, The John Carlos Story, 78.

“Brent Musburger, who would go on . . .” Hartmann, Race, Culture and the Revolt of the Black Athlete, 11.

“On July 20, 1968 . . .” Ibid., 145.

“All the scared niggers are dead . . .” Quoted in Eyes on the Prize II.

“Perfect tactic . . .” Carlos, The John Carlos Story, 78.

“You had a lot of the elder African American ‘statesmen’ . . .” Ibid., 79.

“He said that our strongest leverage . . .” Ibid., 81.

“I know very well . . .” Hartmann, Race, Culture and the Revolt of the Black Athlete, 83.

“false props . . .” Carlos, The John Carlos Story, 114.

“My raised right hand stood . . .” Hartmann, Race, Culture and the Revolt of the Black Athlete, 6.

“Jim Brown told his biographer . . .” Zirin, Jim Brown: Last Man Standing, 118–19.

“The same was true . . .” Bryant, Shut Out, 77.

“There’s a little ‘Uncle Tom’ in Roy . . .” Kahn, The Boys of Summer, 357.

3

JUICE

“Give me a guy like O. J. Simpson . . .” Michigan Chronicle, Oct. 19, 1968.

“By 1969 and into 1970 . . .” Carlos, The John Carlos Story, 136–37.

“After the silent protest . . .” Smith, Silent Gesture, 180.

“It takes a tremendous amount of courage . . .” Snyder, A Well-Paid Slave, 165.

“It seems clear . . .” Ibid., 244.

“Although Mr. Robeson was unwelcome in many quarters . . .” New York Times, obituary, Jan. 24, 1976.

“Inevitably, like a mountain peak . . .” Lloyd Brown in Robeson, Here I Stand, preface.

“That statement was made . . .” Robinson, I Never Had It Made, 86.

“right-wing fantasy . . .” Pauline Kael, New Yorker, Jan. 15, 1972.

“The movie clearly and unmistakably . . .” Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com Archive, Jan. 1, 1972.

“Dirty Harry is obviously just a genre movie . . .” Kael, New Yorker.

“a physician’s warning . . .” Geoffrey R. Stone, “‘Our Nation Is Moving Toward Two Societies,’” Huffington Post, July 11, 2016.

“what white Americans . . .” Ibid.

In a meeting, the players . . . John Henderson, “Spirit of the Black 14,” Denver Post, Nov. 9, 2009.

“Every Negro athlete is a potential messenger . . .” “The Black Athlete: An Editorial,” Sports Illustrated, Aug. 5, 1968.

“In attempting to reverse this past discrimination . . .” University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Urban-Suburban Investment Study Group, Redlining and Disinvestment as a Discriminatory Practice in Residential Mortgage Loans, 4–5.

“Perhaps the most remarkable aspect . . .” Ibid., p. 15.

“I don’t think anyone . . .” Robinson, I Never Had It Made, 78.

“We answered ads . . .” Kahn, The Boys of Summer, 405.

The Color of Wealth in Boston . . . Munoz et al. The Color of Wealth in Boston, 20.

“I was driving down the street . . .” Early, The Muhammad Ali Reader, 144.

In 1979, his final season . . . Leonard Shapiro, “Simpson Was Paid $806,668 in 1979,” Washington Post, Feb. 1, 1980.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics . . . US Bureau of Labor Statistics, https://www.bls.gov.

4

JUMP, MAN

“They go down in history for just being athletes . . .” Ali interview, BBC, 1971.

A rising Yale-educated lawyer . . . Adam Liptak, “Three Supreme Court Justices Return to Yale,” New York Times, Oct. 25, 2014.

“As Jordan smiled . . .” Halberstam, Playing for Keeps, 146.

“The commercials worked . . .” Ibid., 181.

“It is understood in Natural history . . .” Isenberg, White Trash, 100.

“This was the same formula . . .” Ibid.

According to Lincoln biographer . . . Donald, Lincoln, 165–67.

In her book Team of Rivals . . . Goodwin, Team of Rivals, 406.

“In the United States . . .” Newman, Rael, and Lapsansky, Pamphlets of Protest, 229.

“In Zaire, everything was black . . .” Early, The Muhammad Ali Reader, 140.

“The summer of 1990 . . .” Hodges, Long Shot, 123–24.

“Michael was unusually image conscious . . .” Smith, The Jordan Rules, 184.

the first billionaire athlete . . . Autumn Rose, “11 of the Richest Athletes of All Time,” Huffington Post, Mar. 15, 2016.

Remember Fuzzy Zoeller’s . . . After Woods won his record-setting Masters, the responsibility fell on him to maintain the Masters tradition of the reigning champion choosing the menu for the following year’s champions dinner. Zoeller, who won the tournament in 1979, said of Woods’s victory, “He’s doing quite well, pretty impressive. That little boy is driving well and he’s putting well. He’s doing everything it takes to win. So, what do you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and you say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year . . . or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.” Woods attempted to diffuse the controversy by accepting Zoeller’s apology, but the larger point of the controversy undermined his later position of being “Cablinasian.” In the America of his dominance, Woods was African American. There were people at the time who gave Woods credit for his attempt at self-determination; others who saw him as naïve at best, greenwashed at worst, and at very worst another member of the O. J. Simpson camp who recognized early the advantage of distancing himself from anything that would indicate to the world that he identified as African American.

the average salary in baseball and basketball . . . “Average Baseball Salary,” ESPN.com, updated Dec. 4, 2008, http://www.espn.com/espn/wire/_/section/mlb/id/3744821.

5

“OUR WAY OF LIFE”

“Eventually, in Life on Earth . . .” Ralph Wiley, “Why We Need Sports Now,” ESPN.com, Sept. 11, 2001, http://proxy.espn.com/espn/page2/story?id=1250721.

The trading firm Cantor Fitzgerald . . . Julia La Roche, “The Amazing and Heartbreaking Story of the CEO Who Lived and Rebuilt His Firm After 9/11: Howard Lutnick,” Business Insider, Sept. 11, 2011, http://www.businessinsider.com/cantor-fitzgerald-9-11-story-howard-lutnick-2011-9.

According to the Centers for Disease Control . . . CDC, “Deaths in World Trade Center Terrorist Attacks—New York City, 2001,” MMWR Weekly Special Issue, Sept. 11, 2002, https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm51SPa6.htm.

Walmart sold more than five hundred thousand . . . Julian E. Barnes, “A Nation Challenged: Proud Spirits; As Demand Soars, Flag Makers Help Bolster Nation’s Morale,” New York Times, Sept. 23, 2001.

“Tonight, as we have done . . .” NBA.com video archive, Oct. 31, 2001.

“They were terrified . . .” “Phil Donahue on His 2003 Firing from MSNBC, When Liberal Network Couldn’t Tolerate Antiwar Voices,” interview, Democracy Now, Mar. 21, 2003.

“What didn’t you see? . . .” Timothy Dumas, “Truth and Consequences: Whatever Happened to Ashleigh Banfield?,” New Canaan, Darien & Rowayton, Jan. 2009.

“I said, ‘Yeah . . .’” “Bossier Rally Crushes Dixie Chicks CDs,” video by Christopher Fleeger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLAU4TexJ9s.

“These people may think they are patriotic . . .” “Let Them Hate Us,” Der Spiegel, July 11, 2006.

6

THE SANITATION DEPARTMENT

“Some officers even . . .” Skolnick and Fyfe, Above the Law, 139.

“As a transit cop . . .” Dennis Hevesi, “After Prison, Ex-Officer’s Advice on Police Violence: ‘Don’t Do It!’” New York Times, Jul. 12, 1991.

“The public thought it could do . . .” Marcia Chambers, “Judge Is Critical of Transit Police Over 3 Beatings,” New York Times, May 17, 1984.

“I considered myself the law . . .” Michael Daly, “Dangerous Lure of Street Justice,” New York Daily News, Aug. 24, 1997.

The show glamorized approaches . . . Ibid.

“It is absolutely a very powerful show . . .” Michelle Lanz, “Cops on TV: The Reality Show ‘COPS’ Is ‘The Best Recruiting Tool for Policing Ever,’” The Frame, Aug. 16, 2016, http://www.scpr.org/programs/the-frame/2016/08/16/51321/cops-on-tv-the-reality-show-cops-is-the-best-recru/.

“Crime-based reality . . .” Theodore O. Prosise and Ann Johnson, “Law Enforcement and Crime on Cops and World’s Wildest Police Videos: Anecdotal Form and the Justification of Racial Profiling,” Western Journal of Communication (Winter 2004): 75.

“battle between white officers . . .” Ibid., 76.

“I watch these ‘Cops’ shows . . .” Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, “‘Cops’ at 25,” American Conservative, Jan. 15, 2013, http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/cops-at-25/.

“Watching reality police shows . . .” Sarah Eschholz et al., “Race and Attitudes Toward the Police: Assessing the Effects of Watching ‘Reality’ Police Programs,” Journal of Criminal Justice 30, no. 4 (2002): 327–41.

“Koon ordered his men . . .” Report of the Independent Commission on the Los Angeles Police Department (Christopher Commission report) (Los Angeles, 1994 6–7.

“Perhaps the greatest single barrier . . .” Ibid., xx.

“Monkey slapping time . . .” Ibid., 72–73.

“Bottoming out meant . . .” “Americans Respect for Police Surges,” Gallup News, Oct. 24, 2016, http://www.gallup.com/poll/196610/americans-respect-police-surges.aspx.

“Hey Hodge . . .” Hodges, Long Shot, 138.

“I want to stay focused . . .” Ibid., 147.

“What do I need an education for? . . .” Ibid., 140.

“I knew [Bulls] management . . .” Hodges, Long Shot, 171–73.

“Having grown up . . .” “Arthur Ashe: More Than a Champion,” BBC, 2015.

“What’s my advice . . .” Connecticut Forum, Feb. 4, 1993.

“I just feel like something has to be done . . .” “Polynice Ends Hunger Strike,” New York Times, Feb. 21, 1993.

“What allegedly happened to Abner Louima . . .” Marie Brenner, “Incident in the 70th Precinct,” Vanity Fair, Dec. 1997.

Volpe bragged . . . “In Surprise, Witness Says Officer Bragged About Louima Torture,” New York Times, May 20, 1999.

“Dunleavy generally ignores . . .” Jeffrey Toobin, “The Driver,” New Yorker, June 10, 2002.

7

PROPS

“The new patriotism . . .” Rich, The Greatest Story Ever Sold, 38.

“As early as 1983 . . .” Balko, Rise of the Warrior Cop, 121.

“This settlement ensures . . .” New York Civil Liberties Union, “Yankees Settle ‘God Bless America’ Case, Won’t Restrict Spectators’ Movements During Song,” press release, July 7, 2009.

“When the New York Times . . .” C. J. Hughes, “At Stadium, Trip to the Bathroom Signals Free Choice,” New York Times, July 19, 2009.

8

FERGUSON

“Protest can be organized through social media . . .” Snyder, On Tyranny, 84.

“With very rare exceptions . . .” Rothstein, The Color of Law, 200.

“The captain noted that . . .” US Department of Justice, Federal Reports on Police Killings, quotes here and below from pp. 2, 16, 4, 5, 30.

“These people were balancing . . .” Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, interview with Dave Zirin, Edge of Sports podcast, Jan. 13, 2016.

In 2011, New York City . . . Henry Goldman, “NYPD Abuse Increases Settlements Costing City $735 Million,” Bloomberg, Sept. 4, 2012.

“and in 2015 . . .” “How Chicago Racked Up a $662 Million Police Misconduct Bill,” Crain’s Chicago Business, Mar. 20, 2016.

“I just think there has to be a change . . .” Adam Howard, “St. Louis Rams Players Show Solidarity with Ferguson Protesters,” MSNBC.com, Dec. 1, 2014.

“I know that there are those . . .” Ben Mathis-Lilley, “Spokesman Who Attacked Rams’ Ferguson Protest Was Fired from Police Job in 2001 for Misconduct,” Slate, Dec. 1, 2014.

“I’m ANGRY . . .” Benjamin Watson Facebook post, Nov. 25, 2014, https://www.facebook.com/BenjaminWatsonOfficial/posts/602172116576590.

Arrests without probable cause . . . US Department of Justice, Federal Reports on Police Killings, 183.

“If the Baltimore City Council . . .” Brandon M. Scott, “Who Killed Police Reform Bills in Baltimore?” Baltimore Sun, Apr. 21, 2017.

“My greater source of personal concern . . .” “Orioles COO John Angelos Offers Eye-Opening Perspectives on Baltimore Protests,” USA Today, Apr. 27, 2015.

9

A SEAT AT THE TABLE

“The NFL was a 70 percent black league . . .” Forbes.com, Annual valuation of sports teams.

“Do you have to bring them to my games? . . .” Amy Davidson Sorkin, “Donald Sterling’s Revealing Racism,” New Yorker, Apr. 28, 2014.

“million-dollar niggers . . .” Jim McLennan, “Baseball’s Greatest Scandals, #8: Marge Schott by Both Sides,” AZ Snake Pit (blog), SB Nation, May 9, 2011.

“he’s got AIDS . . .” “Donald Sterling on Magic Johnson: ‘He’s Got AIDS,’” For the Win (blog), USA Today, May 12, 2014.

“When I started doing it . . .” “The Rise of Allen Iverson and Reebok Basketball,” Nicekicks.com, June 7, 2017.

“It’s the best . . .” Ibid.

“Are there impediments . . .” “The Black Athlete,” Sports Illustrated.

“The NCAA today . . .” Branch, The Cartel, 11.

“As the football team . . .” Concerned Student 1950, dir. Adam Dietrich, Varun Bajaj, and Kellan Marvin, prod. Field of Vision, 2016.

“He’s backpedaling faster . . .” Joel Anderson, “Mizzou Football’s Long, Fraught History with Racism on Campus,” BuzzFeed, Nov. 14, 2015.

10

“WHO IS THE PATRIOT?”

“A patriot . . .” Snyder, On Tyranny, 114.

Tackling Paid Patriotism . . . McCain and Flake, Tackling Paid Patriotism. Quotes from pp. 1–2, 61, 37, 81, 66, and 14.

the UK Guardian newspaper . . . Les Carpenter, “Report Highlights the Obscene Price of NFL’s Paid Patriotism,” Guardian, Nov. 5, 2015.

During a high school . . . Dan Barry and John Eligon, “‘Trump! Trump! Trump!’: How a President’s Name Became a Racial Jeer,” New York Times, Dec. 16, 2017.

“a white man’s sport . . .” Bob Nightengale, “Adam Jones on MLB’s Lack of Kaepernick Protest: ‘Baseball Is a White Man’s Sport,’” USA Today, Sept. 12, 2016.

EPILOGUE: THE PEACEMAKERS

James pledged over $40 million . . . “LeBron’s Foundation to Spend S41M to Send Kids to College,” FoxSports, Aug. 13, 2015.

“The four of us . . .” “LeBron James on Social Activism: ‘We All Have to Do Better,’” ESPN.com, July 14, 2016.

As of 2017 . . . “Player Contracts,” Basketball Reference, www.basketball-reference.com.

The Motley Fool . . . Keith Noonan, “What Is LeBron James’ Net Worth?,” Motley Fool, Nov. 28, 2016.

“I can no longer stay silent . . .” Michael Jordan, “I Can No Longer Stay Silent,” The Undefeated, July 25, 2016.

“Colin Kaepernick began his protest . . .” John Branch, “The Awakening of Colin Kaepernick,” New York Times, Sept. 7, 2017.

Michael Vick said . . . Victor Mather, “Michael Vick’s Advice for Unemployed Colin Kaepernick: Cut Your Hair,” New York Times, July 18, 2017.

Ray Lewis said . . . “Ray Lewis to Kaepernick: Stay Quiet About Social Activism!,” TMZ Sports, Aug. 1, 2017.

“I accept this award . . .” Colin Kaepernick: ‘With or Without the NFL’s Platform, I Will Continue to Work for the People,’” Sports Illustrated, Dec. 5, 2017.

Reid was stunned . . . Author interview with Reid; Howard Bryant, “A Protest Divided,” ESPN the Magazine, Jan. 26, 2018.

Okung did, too . . . Adam Wells, “Russell Okung Explains Players Coalition Split, Says S89M Donation Plan ‘Farce,’” Bleacher Report, Dec. 2, 2017.

“I just love . . .” Ali interview, BBC, 1971.