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Malaika Jabali is joined by NBA basketball star Jaylen Brown.
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00:00At the same time, I play for an organization, and I got to still be who I am, but a part
00:07of my foundation is how I be myself.
00:09That's what I'm saying.
00:10Y'all heard he used the word hegemonic.
00:11We know you a smart brother who went to Berkeley.
00:14Come on, hegemonic.
00:15And so you host a program called the Bridge Program every year.
00:19Tell us more about the Bridge Program.
00:21So the Bridge Program is something I created when I was in Boston.
00:26I got drafted in Boston when I was 18 years old, and I was scared kind of like everybody
00:33else would be, right?
00:34I didn't know anything about Boston.
00:36I grew up in Atlanta.
00:37I grew up around predominantly African American and black people.
00:42When I went to Boston, it was the total opposite, right?
00:47My family was scared.
00:48They didn't know what to expect.
00:50The things that you hear about Boston wasn't always positive, so I had a lot of apprehensions.
00:55But when I got there, it was a lot of people in the community that I was able to align
00:59with.
01:00It's a lot of black people that was there that was trying to fight against all the other
01:03things that go on in the city of Boston.
01:06So I was able to get up to the universities, Harvard, MIT, and I created a program that basically
01:14takes kids from the disadvantaged communities in the black neighborhoods and gives them resources,
01:20a direct funneling line to places like MIT and Harvard through my name.
01:25So I was able to create something for people like me, students like me that grew up single
01:31parent households, grew up in, you know, in disadvantaged situations, you know, father
01:36not around, lack of opportunity, lack of resources, you know, we didn't have money.
01:42So I find students like me that come from those areas, girls and boys around ages 12 to 17,
01:50and I create a space for them to go be at Harvard or be at MIT, and I make Harvard and
01:56MIT treat them the way they would treat me, because some of those spaces is not built for
02:01us.
02:02And so I think it's a really good place to accommodate.
02:03And the students get a lot of access to STEM, they get a lot of access to certain things,
02:08and it kind of just reshapes their future and what they could be.
02:10That's incredible.
02:11Y'all clap it up for that.
02:12Because you can easily just chill on your laurels, rest on your laurels, just chill out on your
02:20off-season.
02:21But the fact that you're doing that work is really incredible.
02:23Dan, I believe you're a social scientist and you've done some guest lectures at various
02:29universities.
02:30What inspires you to do those lectures?
02:32How do you pick the topics?
02:33Tell us more.
02:34That's a cute little tidbit.
02:35Yeah, it's something that I started doing at an early age.
02:40My first lecture I did at Harvard.
02:43I'm the youngest Harvard lecturer in Harvard history.
02:46When I was 20 years old, Harvard actually slid in my DM and invited me to come up and talk
02:55about whatever I wanted to talk about.
02:57At the time, it was an article that came out that came out.
03:02The title was, Sports as a Mechanism of Control.
03:05And it went viral.
03:06It was in The Guardian.
03:07And it was me talking about how sports is also used to control the masses.
03:12And how sports is used for people to be distracted from the realities of their communities and
03:17where they grow up and some of the lack of opportunity and resources that's going on in
03:22our society.
03:23And how sports plays this role in keeping people distracted.
03:27It's an outlet for aggressive energy.
03:29So I said that when I was like 19 and it went viral.
03:33And I got a lot of pushback like, how could he say this?
03:37He's making millions of dollars from the NBA.
03:40How could he try to disrespect sports and he's benefiting from sports?
03:44And for me, it was all about, you know, just because I escaped the barriers that was like
03:49set up around me don't mean I'm going to forget where I came from or forget about the people
03:53who didn't.
03:58So that game, STEAM, and then Harvard invited me out to talk about, you know, I did a lecture
04:03on inequalities in education.
04:06And from there I've been able to lecture at MIT, Berkeley, I've been to HBCUs in Clark,
04:13Atlanta, and Morehouse.
04:15And I'm looking to go to some more university.
04:17And I do it, especially HBCUs, I go to and just talk for free.
04:21I'm just spreading the stuff that I learned because it's really, really has an impact on
04:25our society right now.
04:26And like, right now, awareness needs to be made because it's decisions that's being made
04:30on our behalf and local politics, governmental politics, and 90% of us is not even aware.
04:37All right?
04:38Especially our young people.
04:40So being able to use my platform as an athlete, you know, I know a lot more people are going
04:44to be in tune to listen to me.
04:46They know me from the Celtics.
04:47But when I start talking about this, they might start to go check out some of the things
04:51I'm talking about.
04:52So that's kind of why I just started going on tour and doing lectures and stuff like
04:56this.
04:57And that's why I'm here today.
04:58That's what's up.
04:59And speaking of just kind of going on the inside and deconstructing things, you basically
05:04have become an activist and working internally.
05:08What inspired you to go that route?
05:11Again, you didn't have to use your platform to do those things.
05:15What inspired you to get involved in social justice?
05:18I think it's just innately in us.
05:21I think it's in everybody.
05:23We all feel like the cards are stacked against us.
05:27We all got that innate feeling inside like this is some bullshit going on.
05:31But a lot of people don't know how to deal or how to go about it.
05:36So in America, sports, music is probably the most influential things in our country.
05:42So once I knew I was going to have this platform, once I could see that, you know, God blessed
05:47me, that I knew right away that I was going to be able to use my voice in a positive manner
05:53and that people was going to listen for some sort, you know, and for the most part they
05:58have.
05:58And as I continue to grow and as God continues to allow me to grow, I plan on doing a whole
06:04lot more, you know.
06:05So stay tuned.
06:06More in store.
06:07Come on, Jalen X over here.
06:10Jalen Malik El Shabazz.
06:12All right.
06:13So I read some more trivia that you were in the chess club in school.
06:18So do you apply your chess skills when you're on the court?
06:23That's a good question because I think chess is like life.
06:27I applied chess skills to life when I was growing up.
06:30I fell in love with the game of chess.
06:33My grandpa taught me I was in the chess club.
06:36You know, I went to tournaments and stuff like that.
06:39I wanted to continue to do it but kind of overlap with my basketball career when I was young.
06:47But chess, like in my brain, image is like I don't really play chess on the board a lot
06:52anymore because it's like chess in real life.
06:55Like every decision you make has consequences.
06:58Because everything is politics, especially in the NBA.
07:01Every decision you make, every time you get on the microphone and talk, it's other people
07:06that's, you know, either for you or against you.
07:09So I think that's the best thing I could learn.
07:11The best game I could learn at an early age was chess.
07:14Because it taught me to think four, five, six steps ahead.
07:17You know, and if I had, I don't have any kids but if I did, that would be like one of the first things I would want them to learn is how to think ahead.
07:24You know, and strategize and how to move.
07:27Because sometimes you got to be able to adjust, be versatile.
07:32You know, adversity hits.
07:33Life hits.
07:34You don't want to be stuck.
07:35There's always an out.
07:36There's always another move you can make.
07:38You know, and a lot of times we get hit with adversity and we're done.
07:43You know, and a lot of times you keep persevering on the other side of adversity is blessings.
07:48And you got to just continue to persevere through it and move through it.
07:52Don't let one life circumstance turn into a 20-year life sentence.
07:56I think God meant for us to persevere.
07:59Life is about adversity.
08:00Life is about growth.
08:01Everybody experiences adversity.
08:04You know, whatever color, whatever shape, whatever form you're in, every living organism experiences adversity.
08:10Even plants struggle to get sunlight.
08:13So the quicker we get more accustomed to dealing and handling with adversity and being persevering
08:18and moving through it instead of letting it get us down and thinking it's only us,
08:23everybody that comes to Earth, everybody that's born here on this planet experiences it.
08:27So chess was a way for me to understand there's always another move.
08:31It's always another move to make no matter what, no matter how bad the game is.
08:34It's another game or it's always another move to make.
08:37So that's something I always wanted to teach to others because it's helped me so much.
08:42Yeah.
08:43That's so real.
08:46That's one of the things I think has been a common theme at SSS.
08:49We've had so many powerful panelists and guests speak about how the biggest thing that they were able to do
08:54is just overcome the challenges.
08:56So it's not always about the successes, but behind it, it's in our people, like as a whole.
09:01We've experienced so much adversity and the way that we've been able to come back stronger.
09:05Look at this festival full of beautiful black people.
09:08We just come back stronger because we deal with the punches and we know how to get back up always.
09:13So your activism, community work, athleticism, they kind of go hand in hand.
09:18But how do you balance it?
09:20You have a lot of work to do off the court.
09:22And how do you kind of stay focused on what you have to do on the court?
09:25It's tough.
09:28One thing about, you know, being at the forefront, being an athlete,
09:33everybody assumes like, you know, life is amazing.
09:37Like you get to go out, you're making a lot of money, everybody see your face.
09:41But there's other sides to it.
09:43You know, it's not for everybody.
09:45At times I struggle with being in front of cameras, being in front of people having to put my best foot forward every single day.
09:52For me, it's all about the next generation.
09:54So I look like I use my platform in order to be a role model for the youth coming up.
09:59Because I want the world to be in a better place.
10:02I want the next version of athletes to be more aware.
10:05I want them not to be taken advantage of.
10:06I want us to continue to grow as people.
10:09And sometimes that's a difficult walk.
10:12One, because I got to walk into a corporation, an organization that necessarily doesn't agree with everything that I agree with.
10:19You know, and I got to, you know, put on a face.
10:22I'm like, some of y'all are very familiar where you got to code switch and you got to be a certain way in front of certain people.
10:28And that bothers my soul at times.
10:31You know what I mean?
10:32I'm not switching up for nobody.
10:33I'm unapologetically black.
10:39So when I be in Boston, where the city I play, I rather I just say nothing.
10:44Sometimes where people will be looking like, oh, he's mad.
10:47Or he upset.
10:48Or he's just so serious all the time.
10:50And the people who know me the best know, like, I like to laugh and joke.
10:54But I got to be a certain way in order to deal with what's in front of me.
10:58You know, so before I be crazy and y'all see me running in the street smacking people around, I'd rather just keep it cool.
11:08You know, I keep my straight face and do what I got to do so I can represent my family, represent my community in the most positive way I can.
11:15But it's not easy, you know, being in spaces that wasn't designed for you to be in.
11:20And a large group of people might not want you there.
11:23And the media might not want you there.
11:25They're waiting for you to make a mistake.
11:26They're waiting to tear you down.
11:28Or they're waiting to compare you and make you look bad or in some type of way or assassinate your character every second they get.
11:35And they say, like, when you're getting paid millions of dollars, that's what you signed up for.
11:40Nah, I ain't signed up for that.
11:42I ain't signed up for you to talk crazy to me.
11:44I ain't signed up for you to call me out my name.
11:46I ain't signed up for you to disrespect me.
11:48No human should sign up for that no matter how much money you make.
11:51But if you ask certain people, they think because you make a certain amount of money, they can just talk to you, treat you.
11:58And as a man, I'm supposed to just take it and be quiet and not have nothing to say.
12:03Now they got the wrong one.
12:06That's right.
12:07That's right.
12:08We're not in shackles no more.
12:09They be forgetting.
12:10They don't own us.
12:12And so it's great that you're able to use that consciousness, that wokeness, and channel it in constructive ways.
12:19So this is going to be our last question, unfortunately, but your drive and commitment are unmatched.
12:25And the way that you mentor youth and are involved with their lives and mentorship is incredible.
12:30And you're also doing that with your peers as one of the VPs of the NBA Players Association.
12:35So what inspires you to also support your peers through this?
12:40We got to support each other more.
12:43And I'm a huge advocate of that.
12:45I'm the vice president of our union in the NBA.
12:47The NBA is a, thank you.
12:53The NBA is a billion-dollar corporation.
12:56You know, they announced it was like a nine-billion-dollar corporation, but that's a lot.
13:01It's worth way more than that.
13:03And supposedly we split the revenue 50-50, but that's not true either.
13:08It's extremely unbalanced.
13:11You know, as much money as they announced that we make, you know, they're making three times as much.
13:16You know, and it's off the back and the strength of our players.
13:19And that's not just the NBA.
13:20That's every entity and organization.
13:22That's the music industry.
13:24That's, you know, the fashion industry.
13:26You know, a lot of the influence is built off of our backs, right?
13:30And if we don't understand our value, we ain't never going to get what we deserve.
13:34All right, so me being a part of the union is, one, to fight for athletes, fight for our value, fight for the next generation.
13:46Because as equal as it may seem that, you know, this is a platform for African Americans.
13:53It seems like a league that's predominantly black, 70%, to make success.
13:58It's a lot of politics that go on behind closed doors that people might not understand or really know about, right?
14:05And it's still a lot of things that we got to fight for.
14:07Just six years ago, we got our licensing back from the NBA, which means, like, if I had a Jalen Brown jersey that was being sold in the Boston Garden,
14:17like, the players or me wouldn't even be making no money off of it.
14:21Just six years ago, like, I wasn't even making money off of my own name.
14:25We just got that back in 2017.
14:28I was already in the league before we got it back.
14:30So it's like, stuff like that, it might not be public persona, because the media controls the narratives
14:37and the players is afraid to speak on certain things.
14:39But, you know, at some point, the pressure got to be applied and things got to change.
14:44So right now, you know, I take my fight to the union.
14:49And even that is extremely difficult.
14:51There's a lot of situations that was going on that y'all might have heard about, like the Kyrie Irving situation.
14:56How that went.
14:57How they exiled Kyrie and nobody stood up for him.
15:01And how people felt about that.
15:03How the black community felt about that.
15:05Felt like he didn't do anything wrong.
15:06But maybe the other community felt like he did everything wrong.
15:09And it's just a lot of things that need people to be able to speak up, need people to be able to use their platform.
15:17And it's extremely difficult work.
15:18But, you know, I'm up for the challenge.
15:20I'm up for the fight.
15:21And, you know, hopefully I don't let nobody down.
15:24Yes, thank you.
15:26And we hope more players follow in your league.
15:28So give it up.
15:29I wish I could continue this conversation.
15:31We probably have so much more we could talk about.
15:33And I'm sure the crowd will want us to go on.
15:35But thank you for blessing the stage.
15:37Please give him a round of applause again.
15:40Because you went, you went deep on us.
15:44We went deeper than I thought we were.
15:46So thank you.
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