3 Generations of Athlete Activists All in 1 Place

3 Generations of Athlete Activists All in 1 Place

3 Generations of Athlete Activists All in 1 Place

Legends in their sport. Legends in the community.

Dave Zirin
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This week, three generations of activist athletes take the stage at Wake Forest University for a powerful conversation as part of the Rethinking Community conference. It’s me, your Edge of Sports host Dave Zirin, interviewing 1968 Olympic legend John Carlos, former NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and Olympian Ibtihaj Muhammad. If only there were something to talk about in the world of sports and politics.

Also, I have some choice words about what the NFL players truly won after their meeting this week with NFL owners.

Special thanks this week go out to Melissa Harris-Perry, Shanta Covington, and Rolisa Tutwiler at Wake Forest.

Dr. John Carlos, ’68 Olympian
The John Carlos Story

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, Former NBA Player
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Ibtihaj Muhammad, USA Fencing Olympic Medalist
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Zirin,
Colin Kaepernick Was Mocked and Threatened for Taking a Knee. He’s Also Winning.

We cannot back down

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Today, we also steel ourselves for the fight ahead. It will demand a fearless spirit, an informed mind, wise analysis, and humane resistance. We face the enactment of Project 2025, a far-right supreme court, political authoritarianism, increasing inequality and record homelessness, a looming climate crisis, and conflicts abroad. The Nation will expose and propose, nurture investigative reporting, and stand together as a community to keep hope and possibility alive. The Nation’s work will continue—as it has in good and not-so-good times—to develop alternative ideas and visions, to deepen our mission of truth-telling and deep reporting, and to further solidarity in a nation divided.

Armed with a remarkable 160 years of bold, independent journalism, our mandate today remains the same as when abolitionists first founded The Nation—to uphold the principles of democracy and freedom, serve as a beacon through the darkest days of resistance, and to envision and struggle for a brighter future.

The day is dark, the forces arrayed are tenacious, but as the late Nation editorial board member Toni Morrison wrote “No! This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

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Onwards,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editorial Director and Publisher, The Nation

Dave Zirin Dave Zirin is the sports editor at The Nation. He is the author of 11 books on the politics of sports. He is also the coproducer and writer of the new documentary Behind the Shield: The Power and Politics of the NFL.


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