In the moment, you’re absolutely correct: We’re not better than that as a nation in the moment. But you have to take a longer view if you’re going to move forward. I go back to the abolitionist movement. We came through a bloody civil war, but we came out with an end to slavery. We went through a bloody labor movement, but we came out with the eight-hour day and an end to child labor. We went through the women’s suffrage movement, where women were beaten and jailed and assaulted, but we came out with the women’s right to vote. We went through a bloody civil rights movement, that killed, between the turn of the 20th century and the assassination of Dr. King, three times as many people through lynching, murder and so forth as the attack on the twin towers, but we came out with the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. With Black representation in Congress and mayorships in cities across the country. So in order to evaluate and credibly understand the potential there, you have to look long-term, and athletes have always been in the forefront saying: We, the people, are better than this.
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