NASCAR Releases Photo Of Noose Found In Bubba Wallace's Garage.
CABRERA: As the nation faces a surging pandemic and a growing movement for racial equality, professional sports remain at the forefront of both issues. Take the NBA. On Friday, the league and its players finalized a plan to restart the season on July 30th from Disney World outside Orlando. But they didn't just lay out new safety protocols like daily coronavirus testing. They also laid out a plan to, quote, "combat systemic racism and promote social justice." Joining us now, ESPN host and sports and culture columnist for the "L.A. Times," L.Z. Granderson. L.A., first, on coronavirus, Florida is now shaping up to be the new epicenter of the pandemic here in the U.S. Are NBA players concerned about this bubble season being there?</s>L.Z. GRANDERSON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. Yes, they are. And you heard the concern early on in this entire conversation. But it stems from two different directions. One was obviously the health risk. And we've seen players, like Avery Bradley, from the Lakers, say that because of my child is at risk, I cannot go to this bubble because I'm afraid that I may infect my child. That's one string, the health factor. But then the other factor is just simply, what you talked about earlier, which is we're in the midst of social justice reform sweeping across this country. And people -- some players don't feel as if now is the time to, quote, unquote, "not be focused in on that and playing basketball." So you have two reasons why players are concerned about the retirement.</s>CABRERA: So there were some players threatening to sit out because they didn't want to distract from the fight for racial equality. What is in the league's plan to address that and is it enough?</s>GRANDERSON: Well, listen, it's never going to be enough from anyone because this is going to be an ongoing thing. What we continue to try to do for the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, all sports leagues, is to continually be involved in this moment, in this movement, and continue to ask the questions about, what more can I do. Because you're never going to have a checklist of things and then be able to say, we've done our share because it's an ongoing problem. And there's no cap. There's no ceiling to it. As far as the NBA players are concerned and what the league has done, you know, it's important to mention that this league, and particularly NBA, has been the forefront of this conversation for the better part of a decade now. And they're just going to continue to lend resources as well as use that platform to draw attention to the issues at hand. And shoutout to LeBron James and Maverik Carter for their announcement earlier this week about the $100 million being utilized to help bolster their media companies so that it can continue to use their platform in a variety of ways to deal with these issues. That is exactly some of the things that needs to be done in order to make sure the NBA and the other leagues have a sustained effort and not be caught up in the moment.</s>CABRERA: Let me ask you about the developments in NASCAR this week. NASCAR released a photo of the noose that was found in Bubba Wallace's garage, saying the real concern here -- the concern was real, I should say, even though the FBI, ultimately, found he was not a target of a hate crime. Here's what Wallace had to say about it.</s>BUBBA WALLACE, NASCAR RACE CARE DRIVER: The -- the image that I have and I have seen of what was hanging in my garage is not a garage pull. I've been racing all of my life. We've raced out of hundreds of garages that never had garage pulls like that. It was a noose. It was a noose that was -- whether tied in 2019 or whatever, it was a noose. So, it wasn't directed at me but somebody tied a noose. That's what I am saying.</s>CABRERA: L.Z., what's your reaction to the fact that he's having to defend himself instead of the conversation being, why was there a noose hanging at Talladega for months.</s>GRANDERSON: Brother Bubba needs to stop defending himself because he's only defending himself against people, at this point, who don't want to listen. They simply want to confirm their own beliefs about the way that the world is. No rational person, who's not a racist, is looking at that tie and not thinking that's a noose. It's in Alabama. The NASCAR did a sweep of more than 1,600 garages across all of their racetracks and they only found one such noose in the garage. That was Bubba Wallace's. So, at this point, Bubba, just concentrate on winning, first and foremost. And then also continue to work with those who are being rational and who aren't racist and those who continue to suggest that it didn't have enough loops around it to be a noose, it wasn't directed at you, it's just a garage tie. At this point, you're just a racist. And you know, really, we don't need to be spending too much time trying to placate you or entertain your arguments, because that's not what this moment is about. This moment's about significant social change. It's not about entertaining you and trying to convince you why you shouldn't be a racist.</s>CABRERA: Duke's legendary Coach K. just released this powerful statement. Take a listen.</s>MIKE KRZYZEWSKI, HEAD COACH, DUKE UNIVERSITY MEN'S BASKETBALL: Black Lives Matter. Say it. Can't you say it? Black Lives Matter. We should be saying it every day. It's not political. This is not a political statement. It's a human rights statement.</s>CABRERA: As much as people, like Donald Trump, would like this issue to leave the sports arena, it's clearly not going away. L.Z., what do you say to people who don't understand why politics and sports are intertwined?</s>GRANDERSON: Well, politics and sports aren't just intertwined, they are one. Can you point to any area in life that they haven't been one? I mean, whether you're talking about countries that have boycotted the Olympics or other world games because of geopolitical views. You can talk about segregation and Jackie Robinson. You talk about we're still waiting for the first openly gay player, male player, in the big four sports to be out there consistently. There's so many conversations -- the funding for women's sports. There's so many conversations in which these two worlds are one. The notion that they're separate are only the notions that people use when they're trying to not actually deal with the real problems. Because let me tell you, no one talks about sticking to sports when it's time to wear pink in honor of trying to raise funds for breast cancer awareness month. No one says, stick to sports, when you're trying to raise funds for hurricane relief. They only say stick to sports when they hit a topic that makes them uncomfortable or may force them to actually change some behaviors. That's when you hear, stick to sports. So I would say to those individuals, President Trump on down, or up, depending upon your point of view, these two worlds are one. And instead of trying to look for ways to separate the two, why don't you look for ways to try to resolve the issues that sports and sports figures have been pointing out for decades and decades and decades.</s>CABRERA: The NFL's Roger Goodell says he's now encouraging teams to sign Colin Kaepernick. Do you think it will happen this time?</s>GRANDERSON: I sure hope so. I hope so because I would like to believe at this point the NFL owners and Roger Goodell, realize their error. And instead of giving him a job, they'll at least present him an opportunity to earn a job. I believe that's the only thing anyone that's been advocating for Colin Kaepernick wanted. We've seen other players, I'm thinking of Craig Hodges, in particular, who took a strong stance on social justice and paid a terrible price and never got his career back. I would hate for that to happen to a 32-year-old quarterback who led his team to the Super Bowl and, by all accounts, has not been playing, so he's not injured, completely healthy. And is certainly better than some of the trash we've seen rolled out there over these last four seasons. And, yes, I said trash because I've seen some awful play at the quarterback position over these last four seasons. And Colin Kaepernick was certainly better than some of those men I saw on the field.</s>CABRERA: L.Z. Granderson, thank you so much for the thoughtful discussion. I really enjoyed it.</s>GRANDERSON: Thank you. A reminder. CNN's Don Lemon is tackling hard conversations about being black in America with his new CNN podcast, "SILENCE IS NOT AN OPTION." Find it on Apple podcasts or your favorite podcast app. We'll be right back.