-: How's everybody doing tonight?
You guys feeling good tonight, yeah?
(audience cheers and applauds)
You guys excited to meet Jaylen Brown?
-: Yes. -: Yes.
So amazing to see y'all here.
My name is David Sun Kong.
I'm the director of the Community Biotechnology Initiative
here at the Media Lab.
So I'm a synthetic biologist, which means
that I work on developing technologies to make
the living world easier to engineer.
I'm also a DJ and a photographer and a mediocre rapper
and beat boxer, but most importantly for today,
I'm a massive, massive Celtics fan.
So, I grew up in the Boston area bleeding green,
watching the 80s Celtics.
That maybe dates me a little bit.
Actually, today's my birthday,
so I'll just put that out there.
(audience cheers and applauds)
(David laughs)
So, I personally couldn't think of a better present
than to be able to spend some time
with both Jaylen Brown and also Kade Crockford,
who's gonna be hopping up here in a second.
So, you know, we kind of went through this very lean,
you know, decade of 90s Boston Celtics
into the Big Three era, and now I think we're
kind of in like, the Big Five era probably, right?
We got basically, you know, all stars at every position,
and hopefully some up-and-coming all stars this year too.
It's a real, real renaissance for Celtics basketball.
So, anyways, this is an official ML talk,
and so this is our talk series here at the Media Lab.
We're gonna do the conversation,
and then we'll have an opportunity for Q&A.
And so, I think at some point in the back here, yes,
you can ask questions via Twitter, #mltalks or visit Slido
and then send your questions there, and they'll
pop up on a screen, and we'll ask 'em that way.
Also, for those of you that may not have technology,
if you don't have a card or a phone with you,
Chia, who is over there, so Chia has a series of note cards
in the back, so if you have questions,
you can also write then down there,
and then she will get them to us in the front.
And so, those are kind of the basic logistical elements,
and yeah, I really just couldn't be more excited today
to bring Jaylen Brown here to the Media Lab
to come and have a conversation with us,
and before we do that, I'm super, super excited as well
to introduce my cohost for this evening, Kade Crockford.
So, Kade is the director of technology for Liberty program
at the ACLU, and is also a directors fellow at the lab.
So everybody, big, warm
round of applause for Kade Crockford.
(audience cheers and applauds)
-: Come sit here?
Okay.
-: And so, before we brought out Jaylen,
Kade, I thought it'd be great for you to introduce yourself
to the audience and also to the internet.
I forgot to mention this event's also being livestreamed.
So, hello, internet.
Kade, yeah.
-: Hi, everybody.
As David said, my name is Kade Crockford.
I run something called the Technology for Liberty program
at the ACLU here in Massachusetts.
Basically, we work to ensure that your digital rights
are maintained, mostly first and fourth amendment rights,
but also now we're looking into stuff like artificial
intelligence and machine learning and the impacts that those
technologies are having on civil rights and civil liberties.
Shout-out to Joy in the front row.
We really on a lot of her work, so it's really wonderful
to be here at the lab surrounded by so many practitioners
of these tools, and I'm honored to be here.
So thanks, David.
-: Amazing.
So, everybody, I think without any further ado,
we're gonna welcome Jaylen.
And so, Jaylen, I think, as you all know,
is an NBA player for our hometown Boston Celtics.
He played one season at Cal Berkeley
where he earned First Team All Pac-12 and Pac-12 Freshman
of the Year honors, but beyond that, of course,
Jaylen has really, really deep interests off the court
with passions ranging from Spanish to history,
finance, technology, meditation, philosophy,
social justice, and beyond, and we're gonna
get into all of that and more right here on stage.
So everybody please join me in welcoming
from the Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown.
(audience applauds)
So Jaylen, welcome to MIT.
Welcome to the Media Lab.
I know we got to spend a little bit of time together
in visiting the building and checking out the space.
What are your first impressions of MIT so far?
-: I feel smarter already.
(David and Kade laughing)
-: So, again, you know, the Media Lab, we had a nice chance
to check in with Joy and talk a little bit as well,
and you got to see, you know, Joy's projects
and some of the other projects at the lab.
Was there anything that kind of stood out to you
so far from your visit?
-: Yeah, right away the first place I got to see
was the Civic Media Lab, and basically, for people
who don't know what it is, it's just basically connecting
technology to like, social justice issues, and it's
a really, really dope space and stuff that I'm just now
getting introduced with, and it's like the forefront
of like, what civil rights is gonna look like in the future.
So it's really dope to get to see that.
-: Yeah, and Kade, you know, again, this is one of your
major areas of expertise, is looking at that intersection
between, you know, race, social justice, and AI.
So, you know, I wonder, with Joy's work and Jaylen's
position as young emerging star in the NBA,
how do we kind of pull that all together?
What's the opportunity there for Jaylen?
-: Well, if you'd like to be
a spokesman for the ACLU, fantastic.
(David and Kade laughing)
We can talk about that later.
Yeah, I mean, you know, the work that, like I said,
the work that Joy has done here at the lab has really helped
us a lot at the ACLU, because we're trying to figure out,
you know, technology moves so quickly in this building
and in places like this all over Kendall and in Silicon
Valley, and the law moves quite slowly, actually.
It does not move at the same speed
of the development of technology.
And so, it's a real challenge for us to not only stay
on top of the accelerating demands on civil rights
that technology is producing, but also to be able
to communicate the threats and the opportunities,
frankly, that those technologies
pose to lawmakers and to courts, right?
So, you know, being here at the lab is a really important
thing for the ACLU, because the work, for example,
that Joy did showing, and I think you saw this project,
that face recognition systems that companies like Microsoft
and other large technology companies are developing
are not race-neutral, right?
Like everything else in our society, they are actually
not colorblind, and tend, Joy's work showed,
to be able to recognize white faces with almost
100% accuracy, white male faces, and are really, really bad
at recognizing darker female faces, which has, you know,
a clear impact on civil rights and civil liberties,
particularly when we see things like, you know,
the US Customs Border Patrol using face recognition
now at airports to basically perform security checks.
You know, it's just like I said.
It's actually imperative that we have that kind of research,
because it really helps us make the arguments
to lawmakers and to courts about why these technologies
are dangerous and why we need, you know, to pay
a whole lot more attention to not just the impacts
that they're gonna have, but actually the way
that the technologies themselves work.
-: So, and to kinda connect that, you know, Jaylen,
with a lot of your passions, right,
one thing we talked about was this whole idea
of anti-disciplinary research, which, you know,
for those of you that are new to the Media Lab,
one of the big ethoses that we have is that when you
look at different technologies, there's kind of silos.
You know, chemistry, biology, or the arts.
But, you know, really, kinda the magic happens
in the white spaces in between all of those disciplines.
And so, I think you were feeling that term,
anti-disciplinary research.
-: I just learned that term like, 30 minutes ago.
(David laughs)
We say intersectionality, but it's just basically
the combination of like, learning different things
and bringing them together, and I guess that's
kind of why I'm here, as being an athlete,
a person of influence, and talking about technology.
I've been to Harvard and talked about education.
A lot of times, we dichotomize them as like, separate.
Like, education, technology, sports, music,
all of those different things are separate,
and a lot of times, we forget to build
those bridges and connections in between 'em.
And I think it's very powerful to be able to do that.
-: So, and again, you know, I think one of the things
that's been so exciting learning about you is all
of the different passions that you have off the court.
So I wonder if you could share a little bit more
about, you know, kind of what are some of those passions
that you have these days that you're really exploring?
-: It's just hobbies, just like anybody else.
I don't think I'm any different from or any more spectacular
than any of you guys that are here.
It's just having different hobbies, and my goal is just
to be very successful at my hobbies, so.
(David laughs)
That's what I'm going for.
-: What are some of your favorite ones right now?
What are some of the ones you're focused on?
-: Right now, I'm taking guitar lessons,
taking Arabic lessons, doing some streaming with Twitch.
-: Really?
-: Yeah, so I just got into the video game thing.
I've never been like a heavy video game player,
but I went to Twitch, I went to Twitch's campus
up in the Bay area, and it's really taking over the world
in terms of kids can be any skin color, shape, size,
and you can, to be a video game player,
you can be anything, you know what I mean?
So, for me to be able to tap into that
and get on an start streaming and putting it online,
I think that's gonna be pretty cool.
-: Very cool, man.
And so, I'm wondering too, you know, again,
going back to the anti-disciplinary concept,
like, do you feel like some of the interests that you have,
be it through language, philosophy, chess, and so on,
like, do those different
forms of expression influence your play at all?
'Cause I mean, I know for me, for example, like, as a DJ,
I actually feel like being a DJ helps my science.
It's something that I didn't put together early on,
but later on, I felt like all of those different interests
like really, really benefited me as a person.
Are you seeing any different ways that those forms
of expression for you are influencing your career?
-: Absolutely.
I think they all have to do with not only my career,
but just life in general in terms of situations,
like growing up, I used to play chess, and I think
that's the best thing that I picked up at an early age,
'cause when I started making decisions,
and I had to make tough decisions like choosing a college,
you know what I mean, and things like that, chess helped
me see the long, the endgame, rather than so much
worried about what's going on in the beginning.
So, all of that stuff kinda relates
not only in my career, but my life as well.
-: Amazing, amazing.
So, I just wanna bring a little bit in, you know,
some of your interests around tech and innovation too.
So, you know, one thing that, and for those of you all
that may not know, Jaylen's organized a couple
of technology summits, actually.
You've done a lot of work organizing a lot of the younger
players, some of the newer players in the league.
And so, I'm wondering, you know, and again,
I think you interned at a VC firm,
and then you also saw some Y Combinator pitches.
Is there a particular way that you feel like technology
is playing a role in your career, both on and off the court?
-: Absolutely.
I'm so fascinated.
The reason why I'm here is like, technology is like,
always been like the forefront
of industrializations in the United States.
Anything in terms of the betterment of society,
making things more efficient for human activity,
technology has always been the leader of that.
So you come to MIT; what better place to start here?
-: And so, this is a softball question.
I know that you did go to Harvard.
So, you prefer MIT to Harvard, right?
(audience laughs)
(Jaylen laughs) -: I plead the fifth.
(David laughs)
I plead the fifth.
-: I know, just from your expression,
I think we all know what the answer is.
(audience laughs)
-: Right, right.
-: But I felt that in my heart, Jaylen.
So yeah, you know, again, thinking about the long-term
of your career, you know, you've got all these
different interests, and so, do you feel
like there's something kind of about how your career
is unfolding that may be a little different than other
professional athletes or other players in the NBA?
-: What do you mean?
-: I don't know, man.
I mean, you know, I've heard you talk about this before,
you know, this idea that certain athletes,
like the multi-dimensionality of athletes is often,
you know, it's like people are surprised that you have
all these intellectual passions and pursuits, for example.
Do you feel that you're looking at your career
in a different way than some other athletes?
Are certain athletes maybe too focused on the court,
and your interests are so varied.
Is there something unique about that,
or do you feel like there's a trend in the league
towards multidimensionality evolving?
-: I think it's changing, I think it's definitely changing.
Society puts a lot of pressure
on athletes just to be athletes.
Like, any time you make any type of political statement
or anything that has to do outside of basketball, it's
a push back, like we're paying you millions of dollars.
We don't wanna hear you talk about education.
We don't wanna see you at MIT.
We just wanna see you at Boston playing basketball,
and it's changed so much in the last 20 years,
in the last 10 years or so in terms of like,
the athlete having influence and being able to talk
and having a voice, really.
You're seeing LeBron James and Kevin Durant
talk about the shut up and dribble thing that kind of really
sparked it up and have people talking and things like that.
But being able to not be put into a box is my whole thing.
You know, being able, just how everybody has hobbies,
just how people have day jobs and then they
go watch sports and go watch the Celtics play,
or wherever you're a fan of; like, sports is my
day job, and I like to do other things as well.
-: Dope, man.
And so, you know, again, you said earlier, you've got your
hobbies, but you also wanna be great at your hobbies, right?
And I think that's one thing, as a huge fan of yours
and a Celtics fan, you know, watching you train and all
the videos you're posting on social media and so forth.
What inspires you to be great?
You know, not everybody wants to be, I learned how
to play the guitar, but I'm not like, you know what I mean?
I don't have necessarily the mentality to be great,
but it feels like you have kind of a DNA for greatness
in these different domains.
(Jaylen laughs)
Where does that come from?
-: I appreciate that.
(David laughs)
Thank you.
I guess my source of inspiration, I guess,
would be sitting in the front row, my mom.
Mom, can you stand up for a second please?
-: Yeah, mom!
(audience applauds)
-: I guess she doesn't like attention,
so she's gonna get me for that.
(David laughs)
That's my number-one source of inspiration
and motivation from the beginning in time.
But as you travel, you have different experiences.
You start to see and pull from different places.
I read a book called Steal Like an Artist.
I'm forgetting the author's name, but like,
the concept of the book was basically,
everybody's learned or got it from somewhere else.
People get ideas, they gravitate towards different things,
and they just compile it and start some of the most
creative companies that's ever been about.
So that's kind of how I look at it,
like I've been to fashion week in Paris.
I've been to Bloomberg and had technology summits.
I've been to a lot of different places, different countries,
Indonesia, and I've seen different things
that always catch my eye, and I just add it.
I write it down is the first thing,
and then I just add it to my repertoire.
-: So, in addition to your mom, and again, it's been
really great hanging out with your mom and your family.
It's so great that you brought everybody here.
You know, again, mentorship seems
to be like, a really big part of your life.
You've only been in a year, two, three years, but you've
already been mentoring a lot of the younger players.
You wanna just comment a little bit about your role,
or what you feel mentorship, why it's important, and then,
the followup is, you know, who are some of your mentors?
Who are some of the big people in your life, other than mom?
-: I'll start with that question first.
I think I've had a lot of mentors.
You can learn, one thing my mom taught me,
you can learn something from anybody.
So I've had a lot of people that I've pulled
information from, but some of the people that have
really stood out that people would recognize
and know, like, P Diddy, Sean Combs.
-: I've heard of him.
(David and Jaylen laughing)
-: His thing was like, for me, when I met him,
I met him right out of college.
I was 19, and I came and say down in his office,
and we just had a mutual friend or a mutual connection
between friends, and I told him I really wanted to meet him
and sit down with him, and he was selling me on a water
that they had just came out with.
(David and Kade laughing)
That's the reason why he wanted me to be there, but I wanted
to talk to him about something totally different.
He was trying to get me to sponsor or use my influence
for AQUAhydrate or something like that.
So he said a lot of people have tried to be in his office,
and he looked at me right now and said, why are you here?
So that struck me in the sense that that was
the first question that was impactful in terms of like,
it made me be like, why am I here?
Not even just like, here in his office.
Like, why am I here on this planet?
Why am I on the Boston Celtics?
What am I here to do, you know, and I just started thinking
about, what is my influence, what is my purpose,
and how can I help and affect people?
-: So why were you there?
-: I was there to talk to him about,
I was just there to see Diddy, you know?
(all laughing)
And we started talking about multiple means of influence,
just how he was a producer, he was a, you know, he had
his own clothing line and now he has his own line of vodka.
He's done so many different things, and he's taken serious
in so many different avenues, and it was, the word
that I always like to say was multiple means of influence.
-: So, and maybe that, you know, my final two questions
in this section, you know, again, going back
to the leadership abilities, you've expressed, I think,
some interest in the Players Association and playing
a more prominent role there, and again, you know,
you're really doing a lot of leadership,
it feels like, amongst the younger players.
Do you have kind of aspirations beyond basketball
for other types of leadership roles?
I'm not necessarily asking you if you're gonna be,
you know, senator of Massachusetts in 20-whatever,
but yeah, maybe, you know?
(David and Jaylen laughing)
But yeah, do you have those
types of aspirations in leadership?
-: You could say that.
I guess either you're a leader or you're a follower, right?
And I choose to be a leader in a sense.
But to lead, you have to know how to follow, right?
Is that what they say?
That sounds about right.
(David laughs) -: I think that's a saying.
Yeah.
(Jaylen laughs)
-: But yeah, I have some aspirations.
Like, I wanna be first, my first goal,
I wanna be the player president of the union.
Hopefully I can be the youngest one appointed,
but we'll see how things turn out.
-: Amazing.
And then, you know, question here, this is a big question,
but how do you wanna be remembered
when your basketball career is over?
-: Man, I just don't wanna be forgotten.
I think that's the biggest thing.
I just wanna make an impact in terms of, you know,
maybe people remember me not only for,
hopefully people will remember me not for what I did
on the basketball court, but a lot of people remember me
for what I do outside the basketball court as well.
Just leave this place better than I found it, ultimately.
-: So we wanna talk about that, but before we do,
I just wanna followup on the union question.
What is it about the goal
to be the president of the Players Union?
Like, what do you wanna ado in that role?
(Jaylen laughs) -: What do I wanna do?
Just basically be a bridge, I think, being in that position.
I think Chris Paul has done a great job
in terms of being in that position, and you've seen
a lot of the stuff emerge, and things that they've
partnered with and things that they're doing now
in terms of moving along with the future.
You see what the union is doing now.
They're doing investment.
They have some VCs that they hire.
Now they're doing venture capital work, in terms of like,
balancing out the leverage between players and owners.
I don't wanna say too much, but there's a lotta stuff
that's going on that, basketball players,
they say, shouldn't know about.
-: Cool.
-: It's a lot of business deals or a lot of things.
That disparity is different, and we see it.
We're taking it back, a lot of that power in today's time.
-: Worker power. -: Right, worker power.
-: Yeah, hell yeah. -: Exactly.
(Kade laughs)
-: So, on the question of social justice, you know,
you've written in the Guardian, you've spoken publicly
about the Black Lives Matter movement in the United States,
about, you know, the reaction
to Kaepernick's decision to kneel in the NFL.
Can you talk a little bit about first, like,
what motivates you to speak about those issues that,
you know, potentially could both have
positive and negative consequences for you personally?
-: What motivates me?
I think, like everybody, our pain is what drives us.
You know, seeing different things in your neighborhood,
seeing different things around you,
and then going to a university like Berkeley,
a liberal university, and you start to be able
to put a term to your pain.
Now you have a name for what you've seen
or what you've experienced.
So that was like, my biggest motivation.
Like when I first set foot at UC Berkeley,
I took an education class, and I started learning
about all the different inequality and social injustice
that you see, the subtle, like racism
and stereotypes you see in the education system.
There was a name for it.
So I didn't know that there was,
I'm thinking this is just coincidental.
So when I figured it out that this is by design,
it started making me passionate and started motivating me
to start talking about this, and here we are today.
-: Yeah, it's not an accident, it turns out, right?
And actually, before when we were talking,
you said you had been doing some reading about MIT
and the history of MIT.
Is there anything you wanna share about that?
-: Anything I wanna share?
I know MIT was founded in, what, 1861 by William Rogers.
I know that it was before the Civil War.
It was just basically just an industrialization;
like, the technology age in America
just needed some type of change.
And it's similar to where we're at now, in terms of like,
we're still in that industrial age where we're still tryna
see what's next, and we're forever in it, but that's it.
Also, I did some reading about Robert Robinson Taylor.
He was the first African-American to graduate from here.
Ellen Richards was the first woman to graduate from here,
so I did some research of my own, yeah.
(David laughs)
-: Cool.
So, one of the things that you've
talked about previously that has really struck with me
is this concept that in the United States,
sports are used as a tool of social control.
So can you talk a little bit more about that
and maybe specifically unpack, do you mean it's used
as a tool of social control in terms of controlling athletes
or the public or both?
-: Can be used. -: Uh-huh.
-: Can be used.
I love sports.
People, when I said that, I got some backlash
and said, why are you, you're an NBA player.
What do you have to say about sports?
Why are you talking shit about sports?
That's what they were saying. (Jaylen laughs)
But sports as a mechanism can be a mechanism of control.
Just basically saying that sports
not only is a part of a society where it's like,
it's an outlet for aggressive energy, in terms of kids,
what they're experiencing, especially lower to middle class.
They use sports as an avenue to release,
not only just people who play; people who watch.
I know a lot of people in here can relate.
Like, when you go to basketball game, a Celtics game
after work, it's just like, you can just let loose.
Same thing with somebody, how I felt when I was an athlete
growing up in a single-parent household, you know,
everything that was going on in my home situation.
Like, sports was a way to just get away from that.
And that plays an influential role in America,
in terms of keeping people distracted, but also keeping
like, control over the masses.
-: And maybe just to bring it a little bit local here too
for the franchise you play for, the Boston Celtics.
By the way, I just feel like, let's go Celtics chants,
it's like, appropriate.
Not right now, but in general,
(audience laughs)
if you wanna do it later.
But the Celtics have a really interesting history
with race relations.
So, the team itself, and these are some facts
that I've been learning as well, but the Celtics
were the first NBA franchise to draft
an African-American player, Chuck Cooper in 1950;
the first NBA team to send an all-black starting lineup
on the floor in 1964, and then Bill Russell
was the first African-American coach in the NBA.
So all of that was happening at the same time that
Bill Russell had a very, very tumultuous relationship
and experienced a lot of racism in this town in the 60s.
And so I'm wondering if you have any reflections
about, you know, kind of the history of the Celtics
and kind of where we are today in 2018.
-: It's dope.
It's dope to know the history of the Celtics
and then be playing for them.
It's amazing when you start to hear stories from like,
people who are older than me, my elders,
and they tell you about, you know, I used to rock
with the Celtics just for that specific reason, or just
because of that specific reason, and it almost makes it
feel like it's fitting, in a sense, like, I was drafted
to the right place, and I'm happy to be here in Boston.
(David laughs)
-: So, to get back to social change and politics,
we sort of briefly mentioned Kaepernick, right?
What do you think, if anything has changed in US sports,
and this could be the NBA, the NFL, whatever,
since Kaepernick made the decision last year to take a knee?
-: I think the awareness is like, through the roof.
I think everybody's concerned.
I think what Kaepernick did, like,
a lot of owners are nervous and scared
that somebody on their team is gonna do the same thing.
So everybody's on like, on shaky ground, 'cause nobody
wants to deal, like the media, the team, nobody wants
to deal with no political issues and things like that,
just because it's just a lot to deal with.
But what Kaepernick did and put his career on the line,
it takes a lot.
Like, it's more than most would do.
I mean, not a lot of people would do that.
So, in terms of being able to see him win an award
yesterday at Harvard, the W.E.B. Du Bois Award, was special,
'cause not only was he, it was uncomfortable for him,
which I got to see, 'cause he's getting a reward for other
people's pain, so he didn't feel, like, happy about it.
You know, he felt like he just had to be there
just because he had to be there, and just to see, like,
interactions with him was really cool for me.
-: He's also suffered, though, right, I mean, quite a bit
for the decision that he made, and for refusing
to back down in the face of threats from the NFL
and even from the president of the United States,
right, who has turned Kaepernick's kneeling
into like, a campaign issue that he rails about.
-: Yeah, I think he's content, though.
Like, he lost over $50 million because of him taking a knee.
Like, I don't think anybody in this room would probably,
would do that, and that's what makes him special.
Like, would you give up $50 million?
-: I don't have $50 million.
(all laughing)
-: So, that's what intrigues me about him, 'cause not a lot
of people would do that, and for him to put himself
on the line like that for a cause that everybody thinks
is important is amazing, simply amazing.
-: And I'm assuming, you can tell us because you are
a professional athlete, there's a sense of solidarity
among pro athletes across sports with Kaepernick's stand?
-: Yeah, like, people respect him for sure.
They respect his protest,
but they respect his sacrifice as well.
'Cause you gotta think, for athletes, we got families.
Some of us have kids, wives, et cetera,
or business aspirations, and things outside of basketball
or football or whatever sport that they wanna do.
To sacrifice that much amount of money is tough for anyone.
So, we definitely respect
Colin Kaepernick and salute him for that.
-: So, one thing that's kinda interesting to me is like,
you know, in basketball, it feels like the past two years
before the finals were even over, both the Cavs
and the Warriors were like, yeah,
we're not gonna go to the White House, right?
And it feels like there was a real kind of united front,
you know, LeBron, Seth, KD.
It was just, yeah, it felt like Trump is kind of like,
poking the NFL, and there's been all this kind of division
and things have happened there, but the NBA,
it just feels like there's been more of a united front.
I don't know if that's an accurate description, do you
think, or if you as a player feel that way about the league.
-: I guess it's subjective.
I think, I guess the team, the Warriors, the last few years
have been able to win the championship.
They have similar, like-minded guys that feel the same way.
But I guess, football has more players,
so it's hard to come together as a group
and decide something between 60 to 80 players.
You've got 11, 12, 13, 14 guys coming together
to make a decision, it's a little bit easier.
-: So you talked about your mom being an inspiration for you.
Was there anybody who inspired you to think critically
about politics, your role in the world, you know, racism,
white supremacy, someone, or even a book that you read that
really inspired you to think differently about politics?
-: That's a good question.
I've actually never got that question before,
so I'll have to sit here and think.
(David and Kade laughing)
But, can we come back to that one?
-: Yes, definitely, definitely.
So, the last question in this section around, you know,
social and political challenges, basically,
I guess it's a very vague question, so you should
feel free to say I'm not answering that, are you crazy?
What do you see as like, the main challenge facing
the United States socially or politically right now?
I mean, there are a lot of them, obviously, so.
-: What do I see as the main challenge?
-: Yeah.
-: Socially and politically?
That's another good question, the main challenge.
I just think it's hard to really say.
I can give my opinion.
-: Yeah.
-: My opinion probably is different from everybody's in here.
So I think the main challenge is just, I think
the wealth disparity is definitely a challenge,
which starts to form into inequality,
'cause I think it's all about money.
I think really what it is, I don't think racism exists,
but like, it's a group of people who are comfortable
being more successful than others, and I think that
when the wealth disparity starts to change
and then social inequality starts to decimate.
In 2018, social constructs are becoming not a thing,
like in terms of, I talk to my family about this a lot,
things that used to be like, in place and embedded
are starting to dissipate, in terms of like,
how you're supposed to look, how you're supposed to dress,
what kind of hair color you got, your gender.
These certain things are starting not to matter
in terms of you can have red or blue hair
and dress any type of way and be the smartest guy
in the room, and people will respect you in that sense.
10 or 15 or 20 years ago, you walk into an interview
with red or blue hair, like, what is he doing?
Get out of here, you know, and you start to see things
start to change over time, and I'm just, hopefully
I'll be a part of the generation where it starts to become
a little bit more equal, so we can involve not only just
business people or educators or people in technology,
but as human beings, you know, stop looking at people
in these boxes and saying that because he's an athlete
or because he's short or he's tall or he's white or he's
black, that things should be a certain way, you know?
I disagree with that, and I challenge that statement.
-: So, just to build on that, like, do you feel like there's
a particular way that you see your role in that change?
-: Possibly; maybe that's why I'm here.
Maybe me seeing my role as being an athlete and starting
to untangle some of the stereotypes about athletes, maybe
that'll start a chain reaction in other things as well.
But, that's my first time
even really looking at it in that sense.
I just keep being myself and going from there.
-: One of the best quotes that I saw from you
from an interview was you said that you're either
the fly on the wall or the elephant in the room.
-: Yeah.
(Kade laughs)
-: Is that right?
-: I'm the fly on the wall
or the elephant in the room; you choose.
(David laughs)
-: So hopefully, you know, here too at the lab,
we can support you while you're the fly on the wall
until you're ready to be the elephant in the room.
So, amazing.
I think, is there anything else you wanna ask, Kade?
-: I don't think so.
If you can think of a book or someone who's inspired you.
-: Hold that one, hold that one.
-: Okay.
-: But no pressure if it's something that, you know.
-: I would say, when I first got to Cal,
I took an education 38 class, and our first reading
we got was Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
And that was by Paolo, what's his name?
-: Hell yeah.
-: It was Paolo Freire, and he's a Brazilian educator,
and he devoted his life's work to education.
And that was one of the things that kind of really
stood out to me, and it's a really, amongst educators,
it's like one of the significant pieces I would think.
And that would be one of the pieces that stood out to me.
-: Awesome, awesome.
So, let's talk a little bit
about kind of what's happened to you in the off season, too.
So, you mentioned earlier
that one of the places you went to was Indonesia.
I got some family here from Indonesia as well,
and yeah, so I'm curious.
You know, it feels like each kind of experience
that you have opens your mind and really
kinda gives another part of the puzzle for Jaylen.
So do you have any particular reflections
about your trip to Indonesia?
(Jaylen speaks in foreign language)
(audience laughs)
(David and Jaylen laughing)
-: Which means like, I love you.
(David laughs)
Indonesia was great, like for me to be able to travel,
for me to be able to travel 20 hours away from where
I'm comfortable at and be somewhere where I'm not,
it just makes you see life in a different way.
Like, for me, going out there,
they told me it was a third-world country.
Like, I went to Bali first, and I went to Jakarta next,
and Jakarta's probably one of the most beautiful cities
that I've ever seen in my life, if not the most, in terms
of like the technology, in terms of how up to date it is.
The city is just like, amazing.
Like, I thought I was in the future.
Like, it looked like I was 20 years
beyond the time that we were in.
They had like, projectors in the sky.
Everybody's watching like, anime, the whole city.
(David laughs)
I was like, man, this is amazing, this was incredibly dope,
and I really appreciated my time there.
-: Do you have any other places that are on your list
that you really wanna go visit?
-: Tokyo, Japan is one,
just another city that's really big in technology,
and I seen Tokyo Drift, and I was like, I gotta go there.
(Kade laughs)
-: So, you had a chance to meet Joey today.
Joey's the guy to show you Tokyo.
Actually, I don't know, he dropped out of college
to start a night club in Tokyo, back, back, back in the day.
-: Oh, man, that's hilarious.
-: So he's the guy, he's the guy.
-: Definitely so. -: Awesome.
So, maybe we can shift gears a little bit
and actually talk a little bit about hoops.
So I know, you know, I'm again, just, massive Celtics fan,
so it's a big season that we got coming on,
and, you know, I'm wondering, both Isaiah Thomas
who's one of your mentors and Tommy Heinsohn
have said that, you know, they predict that you're gonna be
the NBA's most improved player this year.
Obviously you've been working hard in the off season.
Are there particular elements of your game
that you've been working on that you feel
like we'll be able to see this year?
-: I hope so, yes, but I've gotten so much better
from my rookie year to my second year, and now
from this year to now, I mean from last year to now.
I've gotten so much better, so I can't wait
to be able to get on the floor with everybody
and have the full game plan and get things rolling,
because we got a really special team here in Boston,
and I'm super excited, and we really wanna
bring that banner home for everybody here in Boston.
-: I feel like now's the let's go time.
(David and Kade laughing)
(audience applauds)
So, there are several text threads that I have with my
friends where all we do is, totally, it's year-round.
I look at my phone, and I've got like 90 messages from these
guys who are always just talking about the Celtics.
And again, Kyrie has said that he's gonna re-sign now.
Any reflections about the specific team that you got going?
You said it's special, but can you just say
a little bit more about this team?
-: The talent level, it's a challenge every day.
Like, even today was a challenge.
Like, every day, it's like a challenge, because you got
somebody in your position or somebody that plays your
position that can also play other positions that's right
there, right next to you, challenging you for minutes,
challenging you for, you know, shot, everything.
On the defense end, they're challenging you.
On the offense end, they're challenging you.
So, it's beautiful, because you know, I love to compete.
Like, that really grinds my gears,
competing and being at the highest level.
So I'm gonna go against Kyrie, Terry Rozier, Jason Tatum,
Gordon Hayward, just being able to be in that room
and being able to compete with the best is amazing,
and we challenge each other every day.
-: So in practice, who drives you the craziest?
-: Who drives me the craziest?
-: Yeah. -: Marcus Smart.
(David laughs)
(audience laughs)
Not even close, easy.
It's just like he's fouling.
Like, today, he hit me with an elbow, and I'm like,
he was on offense.
(David laughs)
(audience laughs)
I was on defense.
He hit me with an elbow.
I was like, man, you know what, I'ma just go out, I'ma sub.
(David laughs)
-: Yeah, can we talk about the fact
that Marcus Smart got ejected from a pre-season game?
(audience laughs and applauds)
Wow, wow, yeah.
All right, all right.
So before we gotta turn it over the audience,
'cause I know everybody's excited to get in as well,
I got a bunch of just get to know you questions, okay,
and this is some technology here.
I've never used this before; we're gonna do this together.
All right, so this is some rapid-fire technology
or get to know you questions.
-: Let's hear 'em.
-: Or actually over here, over here with me first.
-: Over there? -: All right, so.
So first question, you kinda answered this
about the social part, but just general favorite book.
Do you have a favorite book?
-: A favorite book?
Man, I love books, but it's hard to choose like, a favorite.
-: How about one you're reading right now?
-: One I'm reading right now?
I'm actually reading a book called Brain Types.
-: Brain Types?
-: Yeah, by the doctor that gave it to me that works
with the Celtics, just categorizing different brain types.
Some weird stuff, but it's pretty entertaining.
Like, it's dope.
It's like, certain brain types that exist and understanding
people's brain types will help you understand them
and how they act and interact with them.
It's a bunch of weird stuff.
-: All right.
-: Does it help you with Marcus throwing bones?
(David and Kade laughing)
-: All right, favorite movie?
-: Favorite movie?
I'ma go Love and Basketball.
-: Mm, all right, all right. -: Great movie.
-: Favorite album? -: Favorite album?
I'ma go Kendrick Lamar, Good Kid, M.A.A.D City.
-: Mm, oh.
(audience applauds)
This is so great.
Song of the moment?
-: Song of the moment?
I'ma go Childish Gambino, Summertime.
-: Mm, all right.
Is there particular music that you like to play
to get yourself hyped before a game?
-: Anything Lil Baby or Gunna.
(David laughs)
Can we get some snaps for that?
(audience laughs)
-: Favorite food? -: Favorite food?
That's tough.
I love food, so it's hard to choose a favorite food.
-: And your mom's sitting right there.
-: I know, I was just gonna say.
(Kade laughs)
Oh, she just gave you the side eye.
(audience laughs)
-: She's good for that, she's good for that.
Favorite food, it's too hard to choose.
-: All right, we can hold that one.
Any favorite fashion or style icons?
You've been doing a lot of fashion work recently.
-: Yeah, like a lotta stuff I pull for my fashion
is like Japanese influence.
Like, I grew up watching anime,
in terms of like Sailor Moon, in terms of Avatar.
Anything anime, like I was watching, I love Dragon Ball Z.
Anything, Boondocks, like, all different types of like,
I grew up watching, so a lot of my style stuff
I pull from my anime and things like that.
So, some of my fashion influences are like Yohji from Y-3.
I think he's dope.
Man, I got to meet the designer for Sakai as well.
She's a Japanese-based influencer and creator and designer.
But I love fashion as well too.
-: Beautiful.
So, athletes are notoriously superstitious.
Do you have any superstitions that you can share with us?
-: I'm not superstitious, no, not at all, really.
Are you?
What's yours?
(audience laughs)
-: Man, well, before I play NBA games, I have a whole set
of things, non-things that I do, 'cause I've never played.
(Jaylen laughs)
-: There are a lot of fan superstitions, though.
You don't have any?
-: That's true, oh my God, of course.
You have to like, get up, and, you know,
if you're sitting in a certain spot for too long
and the Celtics start doing well, it's like,
all right, you know, I gotta play my role to help the team
and stand up. -: Exactly, exactly.
-: I've got a lot of friends.
I mean, we have very sophisticated systems
that are a big part of your game, actually.
(audience laughs)
-: Yeah, just so you know.
-: Just so you know.
We're gonna develop some suits here tonight actually
just to help you out this season.
-: Okay, cool.
-: David's really pulling for you.
(David and Kade laughing)
-: So other random question.
Who do you think's the funniest
guy on the team in the Celtics?
-: Funniest guy on the team? -: Yeah, funniest guy.
-: We got a lotta guys who think they're funny.
(all laughing)
-: So, you, you're the funniest guy.
-: No, I'm not the funniest guy on the team.
I like to just, I'm just watching, you know what I mean?
That's my role.
-: That was a good joke, though, that's what I'm saying.
-: Terry thinks he's funny.
(David and Kade laughing)
Marcus think he's funny, he's hilarious.
But it's something, like Marcus always,
he don't say nothing to nobody else,
but when I walk in, here comes JB, look at this.
Like, Marcus always got something to say to me.
Kyrie, some way.
Kyrie won't say nothing to nobody else,
but soon as I walk in, it's just like, I'm an easy target.
(David laughs)
So actually this year, I got some jokes written down.
(David and Kade laughing)
Prepared for each one of 'em so I can just,
so they know I'm not sweet, you know what I mean?
I got some jokes lined up for 'em.
-: Oh, amazing.
Well, I guess the final one for me is just, you know,
I found out actually from our mutual friend, from Boas,
that Kade actually hoops and was the star.
Were you the MVP of your high school basketball team?
-: Oh, God, no.
Why are you spreading these lies?
No.
-: I read that on the internet,
and everything on the internet is real.
So I heard that Kade was the star of her team.
-: I'm 5'2," just so you know.
-: So I was the star of my driveway basketball league.
-: I'll believe that. -: I was unbelievable there.
-: I can see that.
-: So what I think is, I feel like the three of us
in like a three-on-three tournament,
I think we can kinda take anybody.
-: We should just join the Big Three.
-: Yeah.
(audience applauds)
-: Y'all are right here, okay?
-: What does everybody think?
This'll be a pretty good team, right?
(David and Kade laughing)
-: A few claps, two claps.
(audience laughs)
-: Not a lot of enthusiasm.
I believe it, though, I believe it.
All right, well, why don't we shift
and take some questions from the audience?
So I think how this is gonna work,
oh, we're gonna adjust your mic a little.
But Kade, we can look at this too.
So I think everybody's been giving some questions.
-: Yeah, people really like the veganism question.
-: Yeah, let's go with that one.
You wanna? -: Are you a vegan?
-: I am not a vegan.
I do enjoy vegan cuisine; does that count?
-: Yeah, I think so.
And the question specifically is, do you think more athletes
should embrace veganism or part-time veganism more?
-: I hate putting the title on stuff.
That's my thing, is like, the title of it.
Like, say I go a whole year being a vegan, and then
it's like one day that I choose to eat a bowl of ice cream.
You're no longer a vegan, you know what I mean?
-: It's a very rigid, yeah.
-: Yeah, so it's like, you're no longer a vegan
'cause that one time that you had ice cream.
So I don't like putting titles.
I just enjoy eating healthy, and if anybody likes to eat
healthy, they should eat what works for them and their body.
-: Amen, yeah.
Harm reduction, right? -: Truth.
-: There was another question that got voted down,
but I thought it was interesting.
Did you fast this summer?
-: I actually did, yes.
-: Did that have any impact on your game or your training?
-: I actually did it during the playoffs, actually.
-: Okay, what was that like?
-: I felt like it took me to another level.
I think I had a pretty good playoffs this year,
but I didn't tell anybody or anything,
because I felt like, you know,
of course people would be like, what are you thinking?
Like, you're guarding LeBron James and you're not eating?
(audience laughs)
Like, you're done. (Jaylen laughs)
But it actually turned out to be
pretty good for me, and it worked.
-: All right, so, this is an interesting one.
What is, oh, they're moving so fast.
One was about the community.
So what are your favorite ways
to get involved in the community in Boston?
-: Anything, like I'm actually developing a routine now,
I have my community guy right here, John Borders.
John, can you stand up for us for a second?
-: Yeah, John.
(audience applauds)
(Jaylen laughs)
-: So, I'm actually developing a routine here in Boston
and just have it a little bit more effective
and a little bit more tailored to myself in terms
of going into the community and really, like,
affecting things, have some events, plan it,
and using some of my money in my own pocket
to kind of help out in these situations.
I'm here, so I'm a part of the community as well.
So any time you can reach out and uplift the youth
or the kids or any type of way, they're gonna be the future.
You know, the kids that are in the crowd that are
sitting here watching, they're gonna be the ones
that are gonna carry the torch.
So any time I can spill into somebody that's young,
I'm just like, making an investment hopefully that they'll
just do their part to continue on making society,
Boston, everywhere, a better place than what it was.
-: That's amazing, man.
I think just, you know, for me too,
and I'm sore for Kade and the lab, I mean,
I think we're all really excited about that, you know?
Hopefully you're here for the rest of your career, right,
and you can really put down some roots here
and do a lot of good work with us in the community.
So, really, really excited about that.
(audience applauds)
Is there a way for the questions to not move so fast?
I feel like we just gotta ask 'em.
-: Well, we just lost one about the Toronto Raptors,
which, are you scared of them, I think was the question?
(David and Kade laughing)
Right?
(Jaylen laughs) -: I won't even answer that.
(audience laughs)
There are a lot of questions coming in.
They're changing like, every three seconds.
Like, it's pretty cool.
-: Oh, okay, here's one.
Do you feel there needs to be a dichotomy
between being a famous athlete/entertainment figure
and being a politically conscientious or active individual?
-: No, I don't think it needs to be a dichotomy.
I think it's all, like what we just talked about,
what was the word?
Anti-disciplinarian? -: Anti-disciplinarian, yeah.
-: Yeah, it's like just the intersectionality
between the two.
Like, not only do I represent the Celtics;
I represent UC Berkeley; I represent my family, my parents.
I represent myself, so like when I go out there,
it's not like I'm just a Boston Celtics.
You know, I'm a member of UC Berkeley.
I just spoke at Harvard, I represent them.
So it's like, you gotta think in an account.
Like, there's a lot more.
There's a bridge between a lot of this stuff
that we're missing, I think.
There's a bridge between basketball and influence
and technology.
There's a bridge between technology and education,
of course, that everybody knows.
There's a lot of bridges that are there,
and I think bringing 'em all full circle
instead of looking at 'em are separate entities is the key.
-: Beautiful, man.
-: Can I just jump; you didn't say I represent Atlanta?
What is it like to be a professional athlete,
like, representing a city that you're actually not from?
What is that like?
-: It's interesting, you know.
That's the part, like, it's nothing you can,
I can't control that.
Like, Boston Celtics drafted me.
I'm happy that they drafted me.
The history here of Titletown, et cetera,
and I represent Boston as well now and since that point.
But just being from Atlanta and being from that area
and seeing the things that I've seen,
going to school there and some of that pain that I've
learned, have the title for now that I mentioned earlier,
is a part of my motivation.
So doing stuff a lot for my city
and going back to my city and giving back and talking
to kids that are from the same situation I'm from,
are going through the same system that I went through,
is inspiration, you know?
And everybody has that feeling when they go home.
Like, there's nothing like home, you know what I mean?
So a lot of my source of inspiration, I'm drawing
and I'm pulling from the people that I grew up with,
the teachers that I ran into, the community,
because I know that it's a lot of little kids
that might be watching this right now
that are from my same neighborhood,
from my same situation, and thinking, look, I can do that?
And they can. -: Beautiful, man.
The most popular upvoted question, I'm not sure.
We'll have to ask it, and we'll ask it.
So, it's in giant capital letters.
What do you think about the Jimmy Butler
situation, is the question.
(audience laughs)
-: So, Jimmy's my guy.
I think a lot of people know that.
I've been working out with Jimmy for like,
the last three years.
And Jimmy's a stone cold killer, man.
(David laughs)
Like, he is militant.
He has a routine.
Like, I'm learning that now, having a routine,
'cause there's a lotta power in routine.
But he has everything.
Like, he doesn't leave his life to chance at all.
Like, I've never seen it, like, in terms of when he eats,
when he sleeps, when he has company,
when he has Bible study, when he has practice, recovery.
All of this is on like a sheet, and he has somebody like,
no, we can't do that; we got this for 30 minutes,
and then we've got this for 30 minutes.
His whole life is on a sheet of paper.
-: Wow.
-: And it's like, so he really puts the dedication in,
like, takes it to another level.
So in terms of like, heart,
if anybody I'm riding with, I'm riding with Jimmy.
-: So do you feel like you're saying you're inspired by that?
Are you bringing some of those elements into your game too?
-: Absolutely, you know, in terms of work ethic,
in terms of that passion for the game, that sacrifice.
Like, to be in that point, you gotta sacrifice a lot.
Jimmy lives a very simple life.
Like, this summer, he was like, in the middle of like,
Calabasas, like away from everything and everybody.
It took me almost like an hour to get there
or two hours almost from the airport, and it's just like,
he's in the middle of nowhere, and he doesn't go out.
He doesn't go to the city.
Like, he sacrificed so much.
He doesn't drink or do anything.
He sacrifices so much for his body, his career,
and his mind, to be able to do, be in a position
that he's in now because his position wasn't the easiest
of positions, where he came from.
You know, at one point, he was homeless.
Now he's making a hundred million dollars in the NBA.
Just think about that.
-: Yeah, crazy.
-: I like the question about Arabic.
-: Yeah, let's do this one.
-: You said you're studying Arabic.
Why'd you pick Arabic, of all languages?
-: I have a few languages that I wanna learn.
Like, when I went to Indonesia,
I did a little study on Bahasa,
and I learned a little bit about that.
But like, I wanna be able to be not necessarily fluent,
but being able to converse,
and mostly it just makes you look more worldly.
When you go to different places, I think it goes a long way
when people, when you try to connect with people in their
language, you know what I mean, and things like that.
So that's what I'm going for.
I've been to Dubai a few times, and I have a lot of friends
who speak Arabic, so that's kind of where it started.
-: Cool.
It's a beautiful language, also.
-: It is, very, very.
-: I like the one on the bottom here.
What advice do you have for MIT students?
-: What advice?
-: We got a lotta MIT students in the building here, so.
-: What advice do I have for MIT students?
I would just say, just keep on open mind and connect
with as many people as you can.
There's a lot of people that can benefit
from the information that you guys are learning here at MIT.
Sometimes I know like a lot of the academia are private,
and they keep their information
in-house, but spread the world, man.
Like, people like me are thrilled to be here.
Like, I'm happy to hear about the Civic Media Lab.
I'm happy to hear about biomechanics and things like that.
This is dope to me. (Jaylen laughs)
Like, it is super dope just to be here,
because just, humble beginnings at first, but then these
are the type of things that are gonna be sparking change.
These are the type of things
that's gonna be affecting our future.
So, any time you can spread that information to the masses,
I think that's what's gonna be,
that's what civic media is, right?
-: That's a huge lesson, and I think if there are MIT people,
I think that's incredibly wise.
It's really easy in a place like MIT to just get focused
on the little gadget you're making, and I think especially
now more than ever, being able to communicate that,
understand the social context of the technology
we're working on is all hyper important.
So, and yeah, my hope is too over the years that we can
collaborate and really bring that layer of social context
onto the technology that happens at a place like MIT.
-: Uh-huh, I think that's the purpose of the Media Lab,
right, is just to create a space where you can make that
happen and just bring that influence and put it in a space
where you can connect with different people and broaden
a lot of the stuff that you guys are doing here, 'cause just
being able to see it, even if I was only here for a quick
amount of time, like, I can tell like, this stuff
is gonna be, this is some high-level information right here.
-: Beautiful, man.
-: I got two quick questions for you.
What is your favorite thing to do
in the weight room, and what is your
least favorite thing to do in the weight room?
(David laughs)
-: I'll start with my least.
My least favorite is to be
in the weight room with Ayron Baynes.
(David and Kade laughing)
(audience laughs)
He's loud.
He's lifting 400 pounds.
Like, he's yelling like a viking.
(David and Kade laughing)
I'm like, this is overwhelming.
Like, I don't wanna be there when Ayron Baynes is there.
(David and Jaylen laughing)
But that's his thing.
-: And what's your favorite thing?
-: My favorite thing, just probably working on my body.
I think your body just has to be able
to keep up with your mind.
-: But like, favorite lift, like you have squats you do?
-: Favorite lifts, what's my favorite lift?
I don't know, maybe like the ab exercises
to get your core, right?
-: Kade, do you have like a fitness thing going on right now?
(audience laughs)
-: No comment.
It's not about me, David.
It's about Jaylen.
(David and Kade laughing)
There was a question that was there that disappeared
that I thought was interesting.
Why do you think that Kaepernick style protests
have not spread to the NBA?
I mean, there was like a couple years ago
during the Eric Garner protests, LeBron had his team
come out in those I can't breathe t-shirts, right?
But like, you know, what was going on last season?
-: That's a good, I mean, that's a hard question to answer,
and I don't think, like, my opinion would justify that
answer and why I don't think that spread to the NBA.
In ways, it has, it's drawn awareness, and I think that
a lot of people have their foot in the door,
but why haven't people particularly taken the knee?
I think there's other ways to draw attention to something,
and there's other, other ways that you can do.
And I think the way that Kaepernick did it was like,
a way that people are gonna take notice of this right away.
I think it's been misconstrued about his intent behind it,
'cause people took it as disrespect to the flag.
So I think that people now, what they're doing now,
if an NBA player were to do it, I think people
wouldn't want to associate with the negative intent
side of it, you know what I mean?
But his intentions were pure, and his mechanism.
It just was misconstrued, and the media kinda ran with it,
and now he's painted as as picture of a bad guy,
but it was to raise social awareness of police brutality,
inequality in our neighborhoods, et cetera,
and it worked, it really did.
And I think that it's a continuing process.
I don't think this is an ever ending process.
But I think everybody can be a part of that.
It doesn't have to be an athlete.
It doesn't have to be a politician.
It can be social media.
Like a lot of people, everybody has a voice now,
and how positively are we using that voice?
You know, people will talk a lot of mess on social media,
and they enjoy doing it,
trolls and saying all type of things.
Like, your voice and what you put into this world,
into the universe, is powerful.
So I think we all play a hand in it, media, fans,
politicians, athletes.
We all can make a conscious effort to watch what we say
or try to put positive, not even to watch what you say,
just try to put positive energy back into the world.
We see a lot of people say a lot of negative, harmful things
about people they've never met or don't even know.
Like, what is the benefit of that?
What is the purpose of that?
Does that make you feel better for today?
-: Yeah, that's gotta be really hard.
I mean, I see some comments that people who are like,
sitting on their couch at home are making about professional
athletes on the internet, like, writing back to athletes
and saying like, oh, you suck or whatever, and it's like,
you're literally on your couch right now.
-: I'm fine with that.
I don't have a problem with that.
-: Really, so the haters don't, it doesn't bother you?
-: Yeah, like people tell me I suck all the time.
Like, that's cool, that's an opinion.
That's a different thing.
But when you start, it's like, it's a line you can cross.
Like, everybody has an opinion.
You can have an opinion about anything,
but when you cross that line and start
going into other things and stuff like that,
like, people tell you to be quiet or shut up,
you're just a stupid basketball player.
I feel like that's a little excessive, you know?
-: So it's okay if people critique your game,
but not if they critique you as a person?
-: That's life.
I mean, I can't stop anybody from doing anything.
I'm just little ol' me, you know what I mean?
But it would be nice to see everybody
kinda make a social effort to kinda, you know,
be better humans, right?
I think that's the goal.
-: Yeah, yeah.
That's beautiful, man.
I guess one final question for me, I was just thinking
about too, I mean obviously in the NBA, you know,
there's really quite a lineage of outspoken players.
You know, you had Craig Hodges.
I was reading about this recently, actually.
You know, my friend Manuk hit me to this article,
which I thought was really amazing, talking about,
you know, after the '95-'96 season, or sorry, in '91,
actually, Craig Hodges, he approached Michael Jordan
and Magic Johnson during the NBA finals and actually said,
like, hey, we should boycott the finals right now
to make a statement about race, right?
Which kinda blew my mind, that that was a thing,
and that, you know, Michael said that,
Michael Jordan apparently said he was too crazy
and Magic Johnson said it was too extreme, and then you had,
you know, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, formerly Chris Jackson,
who also, you know, had some really,
I apologize if I mispronounced the name,
had some significant kind of role at that time, too.
And I'm wondering, you know, just within the NBA,
do you have any reflections about some of those players
and kind of the activism that they had?
-: Absolutely, definitely.
I don't wanna say I'm following any particular model,
'cause I'm not.
I was just being myself.
Initially it just started from my passion,
from like education and my passion for,
you know, inequality and things like that,
and sports has a big influence in that.
But just seeing some of those guys
and hearing some of their stories is dope,
but I kind of do things my own way, in a sense.
I don't necessarily have a particular model
that I'm following or I'm trying to be
the next this or the next that.
Like, I see something that is important to me,
and if it comes and if it strikes me, and I feel
like I need to talk about it, like, I'm just not afraid
to talk about it, and I don't think
I'm trying to be the next anything.
People will hold you, when you start speaking on certain
things, they say you're the this, or they put you in a box.
And that's fine, that's cool, but at the same time,
I'm just not afraid of speaking
about the stuff I'm passionate about.
I'm not trying to be anything, you know?
I'm just being myself.
-: That's beautiful, man.
Well, I think that's a perfect note for us to end on.
So, everybody, can we just give
one big round of applause here?
(audience cheers and applauds)