came from 12 states and appear.
>> We’re back with a new book
called The Locker Room helps open the discussion on
open the discussion on
difficult issues. A lot of
Americans are facing right now
including discrimination and
cancel culture.
>> Joining us this morning to
talk about his co-author Damon
West is also professor of
criminal justice at the
University of Houston Downtown.
Good Morning, David. Thanks
for spending some time with us
this morning.
>> Good morning, guys. Good
morning and thanks for that
man.
>> I want to tell us more first
off about the locker room.
>> Yes, so nobody. Steven
Mackey, you reach out to me
last summer and said, hey, when
you write a book with me about
in facilitating better
conversations, America, because
right now the American y’all,
we’re not having conversations
anymore. We’re we’re not
listening to each other.
And if we’re not going to
listen to each other, there’s no way we can get on to a
no way we can get on to a
resolution of the issues that
we’re facing right now. And
I thought to myself thing, you
know what? That is a good conversation. Having my
conversation. Having my
buddies, even just like myself
is in the sports world. So we
thought sports would be the
right medium to tell a story
because in America, sports
always gets there. First before there was Martin Luther King
there was Martin Luther King
Junior. That was Jackie
Robinson before we integrate
in. You before dinner and lunch
counter in America. We
interviewed in a locker room.
I think that sports always gets or for first in sports has the
or for first in sports has the
great lessons to teach us to
life. And so that’s why we use
sports and be the name the
locker room. Because right now
America doesn’t have a locker room. We don’t have a place
room. We don’t have a place
where we can go to. We can
discuss difficult talks because
the locker room your success is
my success. Will, you know, of
teams that win and win games,
right? I mean, you can have a locker room of a losing team,
locker room of a losing team,
but in the locker room where a
team wins your success is my
success. The standard is the standard. No one is above the
standard. No one is above the
standard and animist 8 doesn’t
make you a mistake is always a
path to become hole in the
locker room. The team that wins
game. So we wanted to try to
bring locker room to America.
And with that said, what are some of the best ways to start
some of the best ways to start
these kinds of conversations,
this difficult ones on
prejudice or discrimination?
>> I think humility and grace. That’s the thinking is that we
That’s the thinking is that we
keep talking about throughout
the entire book. Humility is
required on one side to be able
to listen to tough, tough
truths. Things you may not
think are in the nation. Man I think are true about the
Man I think are true about the
position you maybe end. But the
other side sees it differently
and it requires humility to
listen to what the other side has to say and really listen
has to say and really listen
for what they’re trying to tell
you what Grace is the other
component that I think it takes
that we don’t have right now in
this country that we have to
work towards. And grace is tough on me because grace
tough on me because grace
always cost the person giving
it more than it cost. The
person who receives it raises a
very tough thing and and so we
have more humility and grace. I don’t think we’ll ever get to
I don’t think we’ll ever get to
the other side of these
difficult topics that plague us
right now in this country.
We have the potential to be so
much greater. I tell people that I’m the only thing greater
that I’m the only thing greater
than America is her potential,
but we’re not living up to our
potential right now because
we’re not listening to each
other with humility and grace,
right? Right. And what about
cancel culture? You know, many celebs get next out by fans or
celebs get next out by fans or
comments or actions they made
in the past. Kevin Hart.
>> Ellen DeGeneres, Roseanne,
JK Rowling. What are your
thoughts about that phenomenon? Yeah, I think cancel culture
Yeah, I think cancel culture
and what there’s a difference.
But we holding someone
accountable and holding someone
hostage. And when cancel culture gets out of control,
culture gets out of control,
people feel like they’re held
hostage. I read a poll It was a
camera in the poll numbers New
York Times. But the poll said
almost like 80 something
percent of Americans don’t feel
like they can express their opinions on certain topics.
opinions on certain topics.
That’s 80 something percent
of people that do not say how
they feel about something
because they’re scared of this
thing called the cancel culture and look at that. I believe
and look at that. I believe
people should be held
accountable without being held
hostage. And right now, I think
in this country, too many
people feeling there held
hostage. I mean, we need to
hold people accountable when
a hostage.
I think part of the issue, too,
is a lot of these conversations
we’re having online were only
allowed to have in bits and
pieces of its Twitter. It’s
140 characters were as we can
sit here for even 3 or 4 minutes may not be a lot of
minutes may not be a lot of
time.
>> Compared to a tweet, it is a
lot of time. So so I guess what
is the time investment coming
into play and how we work
through these issues? >> Yeah, you know, and I will
>> Yeah, you know, and I will
be on time. You make time for
the things are important.
You know it in there. Find a
way. Are you finding scarce?
And we’ve got to find a way to to shift
to shift
ourselves back. The world of
social media has changed as the
in the end and a quick news
cycles have change shows where
more program
to one this thing called instant gratification. We want
instant gratification. We want
things now now now. And the
reality is the real world
doesn’t work that way. I mean,
things that are important.
Take time results. Yeah, the measure