Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Empowering Change

Episode Date: November 24, 2023

Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay are joined by Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, former mayor of Baltimore and current Executive Director of the NBPA Foundation to discuss activism and philanthropy in the NBA (3:13), and serving as Mayor during civil unrest following the death of Freddie Gray (21:38). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Stephanie Rawlings-Blake Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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See terms at fandul.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash terms. Okay, hi, hi, I'm learning. Have a treat for you. A very, very accomplished sister joins us today. Former mayor of Baltimore, current executive director of the National Basketball Players Association Foundation. Wow. The NBA, catch the fever.

The midseason tournament is every Tuesday and Friday. I feel like I'm doing the NBA commercial. I love the midseason tournament. The end season tournament, shall I say. Stephanie Rallens, Blake, joins us today on Higher Learning. Stephanie, how are you doing? I'm wonderful. How are you feeling about the midseason tournament?

I don't understand it. Okay. And so here's the thing. It's, it's, I asked you how you felt about it. I didn't ask me if you understood it. Well, that's important, though. It's important. I'm feeling good about it because it's basketball, but I am wondering why.

You know, but, but it's fun. What I'm looking for more than anything, I'll tell you what I'm looking for. I'm looking forward to. I'm looking forward to another reason to. go to Vegas. That's what I'm talking about. I can't wait. Vegas to 6th.

I love Vegas. Love Vegas. Go down there. You guys do? I'm like, I got to be in and out of Vegas. Nah, man. I can't wait to the end season tournament.

The NBA basketball tournament in Vegas is going to be the worst display of humanity. You can possibly see all IG people are coming out. Everybody's going to be there. Any collegal will be there. I want to talk about.

I don't understand. I'm sorry. You have the whole agenda. I'm trying to figure out what's the problem with Vegas. But I'll let you do your interview. Sorry to take it off. No, no, there's no problem with Vegas. I want to know. What is your issue with Vegas? No, it's just a lot for me. I feel like the older I get, the more I'm like, I just want to get in, take care of business and go. There's nothing for me to enjoy. Unless I'm going for a specific reason, like Usher, then that's great. I was just there for 72 hours for BravoCon. I was just there for 72 hours for BravoCon. was ready to go. It was too much. Vegas takes a toll on me. And I didn't do it. And I didn't even appreciate it. I was just working there the whole time. I don't know. It's a very transactional thing with me in Vegas right now. I get in business and I got to get out. I don't know. Help me. Maybe I need to go to the in season tournament. Maybe that would bring back my you should or have an holiday party. Now I do love a good party. There's an NBA holiday party. Foundation, MBAPA Foundation holiday party. Yeah, we're celebrating about four or five

players in their philanthropy. The foundation, before I came on, really didn't have a fundraising strategy. They had existed off of the fines. And Raymond can only do what he can do. So I figured we needed to put together a real, that was a joke. Just for the record. No, no, no. Put together a real fundraising strategy.

So we had our initial, our inaugural golf tournament, during Summer League and we're doing a holiday party. I'm super, super excited about being able to showcase the players and what they're doing. For someone that had and has such a background in politics, like the highest level of politics, like mayor of a major American city, what made you want to work with the NBA?

It's interesting. I didn't think I did at first. I was approached a year before I actually took the position, and I didn't see the connection. And the crazy thing is I was invited to the, what do you call that, Tribeca Film Festival for the showing of game-change game. And I still get goosebumps when I talk about it

because I was sitting there in the cinema watching the players, literally knowing that they impacted the last presidential election, knowing that, you know, I think we can agree without having to see, like, official research, that young people aren't checking for politicians to be there, their North Star. They're not checking for religious leaders. Who are they listening to when it's players? And these players want to have an impact. they want to change the world for the better.

And I'm thinking, like, literally that's what I did. Like, you know, if you, there's one thing to protest, but if you're trying to get laws passed, you know, I think those are the skills that I'm obsessed. You know, having spent over 20 years in elected office, getting significant things done, fighting for police reform and accountability, like the things that they care about.

And I was, I sat there and I was like, that's the connection. The, the reason why I was involved in politics was because of my love of service and wanting to use my skills and talents to make my community better. And it was just like, it hit me like a boom. Like, this is a opportunity to do this literally on a global scale. Yeah, I'm always interested when people make that a transition like that, because you said you spent decades in public policy and then to make that transition to,

you know, with the foundation and basketball, was that difficult for you to be able to do that? And like, what advice would you give someone who maybe is saying, hey, I've dedicated my life to this. This has defined me for such a long time, but I want to switch to this because I'm also equally, if not more, passionate about the work that this thing is doing. So I am loathe to,

not to correct you, but to disagree. It is what I did. It did not define me. I was very, very clear about that. I was a person who was blessed to be able to work in elected office in something that I felt called to do. But the reason why I feel like I prospered on the other side of elected office is because that is what I did. That is not who I was. And that is an important distinction for me. But I will say on the other side of it, for people who are looking to do something different, I would, you have to really open your eyes to new possibilities. And just like I did, because initially I

didn't. But, you know, it is when I opened my eyes in sincerity to what was possible with, you know, the transferability, if that's a word of my skills, I was able to see it. And I'm very, very grateful for this opportunity to do good in a new arena. I mean, when I think about what I saw as mayor and how not just professional athletes, but people who were very active in philanthropy, a lot of people have good intentions, right? Oh, I want to put a community center here.

I want to do this here. And more times than not, it is not informed by the people that they want to serve. It is not informed by a partner, with the people who are already on the ground doing that work. And because I know how inefficient that is, that is what I'm talking to the players about. Yes, if you want to do a turkey drive, that's fine. But let's figure out what's going on on the ground.

Let's figure out, like, talk to the mayor, talk to the city council people, see where it is actually needed. Fill a gap. You know, you have to do more than just want to do good. I think if you are intentional about, you know, being effective in that work, you have to dig a little deeper. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable Internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business. They keep companies of all sizes connected with Internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services, plus 24-7 U.S.-based support.

millions of business owners already trust Spectrum business. So visit Spectrum.com slash business to learn more. Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. Did you know about one and three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you? Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away.

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Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about trimfaya. Tap this ad to learn more about trimfaya, including important safety information. You know, it's interesting. I'm very skeptical of leagues like the NFL and like the NBA and their ability to actual make structural change just because they're so deeply entrenched into corporate America, right? the players can go only so far. The players can only say so much because some things that they say that I think that

black people or specific groups would need might undercut the bottom line. The NFL, in my opinion, has tried and failed to reconcile some of the issues that the league has inside of itself and some of the social change they want to make outside of that. The NBA actually has a much more progressive front on these things, but I'm wondering how do these players or how are these players actually empowered to make actual systemic change when the fans of the league come from so many different, varying, political, religious, and demographic places? Like, how can these guys actually talk about what they need to talk about?

part of it starts with understanding how to create systemic change and understanding where they want to make systemic change. So for example, I talked about doing a turkey drive. It's about to be Thanksgiving. We know that that is a stopgap. That doesn't solve nutrition and security, food insecurity. So one of the first things that I started to do was talk to people in that space. I've been talking to the Milken Institute and some others in that space and trying to figure out, number one, how to inform players about the things that are going on in that work. So we're not just filling backpacks every year, but we're figuring out a way with the resources that are out there to end the cycle of food insecurity and nutrition insecurity.

And out of the work that's going out of there, what can you lend your voice to? What can you lend your time and your talents to move these systems? So it's, you know, you can't do the systems change without laying the foundation. And that's the thing that I've been doing in my first year at the foundation, which is really digging deep into the work and figuring out how we can engage the players in this work. I'm doing the same thing with the American Cancer Society. it infuriates me that a black man who is diagnosed with prostate cancer compared to a white man, it is the largest health disparity gap out of all of the cancers when a black man is diagnosed with prostate cancer.

And I'm sure you all know that it does not have to be. you know, I've been asking them the question, how can players engage with them to underscore the importance of screening, especially since screening is so much easier for prostate cancer than it has been in the past? How can we be a voice to spread the importance of screening? The WNBA players were equally, if maybe, if not more, vocal about using their platform, their positions to speak out against, you know, social change and as a form of protest of what was going on in the country as well, will there be some type of work or collaboration with the WNBA as well with the foundation so they can continue. continue to influence policy and social change? Yeah. Prior to this role, I served as an advisor. The WMBA PA head as a board of advisors that helps be as a sounding board for that work.

And in this role, I welcome an opportunity to partner. And I'm looking for ways that we can do that. I talk about prostate cancer. health is very, very important to me. I'm looking for, you know, maybe there's a possibility we can do work together around breast cancer because even though it's the health disparity is not as wide, the gap is not as wide when it comes to black women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, there still is a disparity. So, you know, I think that the sky is the limit. and I'm looking forward to ways that we can deepen our collaboration.

What about protest? Protest is a very effective tool, particularly with guys who have this type of platform. The NBA is, it exists in an interesting spot. Like it's a league that is very supportive, vocally supportive of a lot of things with great coaches that talk about things, Greg Popovich, Steve Kerr, that are really very vocal. But it is a league that different forms of protests,

and it's a very player-driven league. Sometimes it doesn't seem as open to players protesting and using their voice as I would like it to be or as others would like it to be. You were mayor when your city was gripped by a lot of protests surrounding the death of Freddie Gray. What did you learn about people's need and ability to protest and the freedom that they need to protest from that situation that helps you deal with players, particularly young players, that might want to be outspoken and say different things? Right. So if you recall during that time, I really took heat for protecting citizens and any protesters.

You know, I was very focused on making sure that they were able to have a place in a space to peacefully protest. That was important to me. And I still take heat to this day for it. You know, people say that, you know, I gave them, I gave them space to destroy the city. You know, I'm like, no, I was trying to protect people's First Amendment rights. Some people, and we've seen this, you know, subsequent to that, we've seen this time and time again where people who mean no good for the community come in and take advantage of a bad situation and create damage in communities.

But that's different than, you know, the speech that I was trying to protect. So with respect to their freedom, I will always protect it in any way that I can. But with respect to the protest, what I learned in that, and it's something that I knew, but something that was it was born out and it was really the, it was really evidenced by the, you know, what happened subsequently is after the protests, like after the signs come down, after you going on to care about something else, the work has to continue to be done. Protests are important and effective at shining a light.

Protests in and of themselves don't system change. You know, I think what I continue to be encouraged by so many young people who are taking up the opportunity to run for office, to serve to be a part of the change, to join community organizations, to join school boards, because, yeah, protesting is important, shining a light is important, but you have to get people who are ready, willing, and able to do the actual work on the ground, having these crucial conversations, trying to figure out, you know, how the laws need to be changed and why. You know,

that's, to me, that's what is often overlooked. When people, you know, want to pat each other on the back because they showed up in a t-shirt and a sign, what did you do after that? What time and talent did you commit after that when nobody was looking? You know, when CNN was gone, did you go to the meeting? Did you, you know, sit down with your representatives? Did you sit down with your community members? and think about how you wanted to show up for your community,

how your community wants to show up in partnership with your government. Did you do those things? And that's why I'm part of the reason why I like this role is because I'm able to emphasize the importance of the ongoing work. We can't wait until another tragedy to do the work that they want to see. I love that you were inspired by a game-change game, and that's one of the reasons that you wanted to be to work with or take on this role with the foundation.

A lot of people, a lot of fans, there's a lot of criticism around 2020 and what the players did and from fans who didn't want to see politics or activism in sports, even though there's a long history of that. Well, with the 2024 elections coming up, and this meant I'd even be something that the foundation does, but will there be something that the foundation does with the NBA players

in the community, whether it's voter registration, whether it's educational policies, or is that something that because the fan base doesn't necessarily love to see that they'll stay away from? I'm hoping that the players want to get as involved as they were in the last presidential election. And we're working with, we have partners on voter education, voter registration, player registration, all of those things. But it's really, you know, we can give the information. You know, my goal is to help them understand how valuable their voices are in this space. So they will want to engage at the same level. because since 2020, the level of engagement has, you know, it hasn't reached that level again.

And, you know, my goal is to get them, to get us to that level and maintain it. I just want to say something real quick. When you look at the agenda of the foundation, areas like childhood, nutrition, disaster relief, mental health, social justice, youth sports, those are things that these players definitely have the power and the cachet to affect. Like an unbelievable list of things right there. And they can definitely touch directly on them. So I think it's also important that the goals there are within reach to like what the guys

in the NBA can do. You know what I mean? Because if they were to say it like, oh, geopolitics, I'd have been like, whoa, pump the brakes. Well, I'll say this. I'll say this. you know, we have players almost like over 25% of the players international, right? So you told by geopolitics.

Now, I won't say geopolitics, but geo-environmental issues, players are very strong and interesting. You know, during the whole draft process, Wembe's mother came up to me and asked, because I had mentioned that we're doing some work around water infrastructure on water infrastructure on the country. continent with some of the players that, you know, that's their thing. And she said, you know, that that was something that they were interested in.

You know, they, these players have a reach. So it's just about how, um, I'm a big believer in, um, coalescing around issues. We do this matching grant program, 25,000 match, right? So they give 25, we give 25. You know, I've been talking to some of the players that are from the south. do you think you would be interested in coming together and putting, you know, layering all of these matching grants together to do something big? You know, how can we do more with the resources that we have to have a larger impact? So these are the types of things that I'm exploring. Wendy's mom, when she was tall, how tall was tall? It's all very, very tall, very poised.

He was incredibly, I mean, he is incredibly poised. I was very impressed with their family. You could tell that they have a very close family and they raise him with some common sense. His whole family of getting stuff off the top show. I know, right? I could definitely use that. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green.

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unless you plan on doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. Okay, so this is actually an amazing thing. You became the first and only black woman that was elected to serve as the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, an incredible, incredible, incredible. achievement. There have been a lot of black mayors recently elected in prominent cities across the country. It's good. It's a good deal. There's also been some criticism of those black mayors and their pro-policing stance. The question I have for you is that is it possible that there is a disconnect between, on policing, between the actual electorate of black people that vote in these elections and some of the voices in activism and protests and intelligentsia

that are trying to envision a different view of policing. Is it being a mayor of a city where you had to work with police, like... We almost made it through this podcast about me having to say something controversial. Well, I'm asking because me and Rachel talk about this a lot, my disenchantment, you know, with the Democrats, I'm a liberal, but it seems as if what black voters want and what the outcry that you hear from activism and activism, it doesn't always seem to match up. Am I reading that right or no? Okay.

I'm like, you want me, this is my honest, not speaking as the executive director of the foundation, but speaking at someone who has been in that space. Right. There are a lot of disconnects. I think one of the largest misconception is that there's a singular black voice when it comes to community collusion. What I will say is I've never once been to a black community that is besieged by violence, where grandmothers can't go to the corner store and safety, where they fear for the lives of their children. and their grandchildren, their community

every time that they go outside from gun violence, not police violence, from community gun violence. Never, you know, we say in Baltimore, never not once, did I hear them say that they wanted left police?

What they said was we wanted better police, right? Totally different. And what I, the disconnect that I see is when you have people who have the, who have the, are blessed to live in safe communities,

to, you know, that they can go to the, you know, the target and the, what do you call those, the Harris feeders and all of those things, right? They can do that. And while they're doing it, they care about the black community, but they don't live in those situations. So when you hear those people who don't live in the heat talking about defund the police and, you know, we should end policing.

The people who are impacted, that's not what, that is never what I've heard. So when I was mayor, I was committed to better policing, reforming the police department, getting more community engagement with the people, the people who committed to themselves to want to make the community safer. Like to me, that is the work. This whole this whole kind of nebulous, you know, we envision a world without the police.

People that are living with crime, people that are burying their kids, they're not talking about that. Is better police impossible? Absolutely. Absolutely. But I think it happens when people are willing to have honest conversations all around.

You know, when I was mayor, I can't even tell you the number of times I had conversations with the police union. And this is before the death of Freddie Gray about how their version of what, you know, their notions about policing are not going to last. Their ability to line up behind police officers even when they have done wrong. You know, that is going to end. I said, I can't tell you when it's going to end. I can tell you that it will end,

and you're not going to have the credibility that you want to be able to do your job until you're willing to have that conversation. Now, you don't have to have it out in public, but you don't need to have it internally because you can't think that a community is going to work with you when you refuse to acknowledge that there are some people among you who do not deserve to wear the uniform. So, you know, it is those, it's the police have to have the community, those conversations. You know, let me just say, we know electives need to have it, right?

But police need to have it. And the community needs to have it as well. Because we need to figure out as a community what we're willing to do to, to, I'm not saying we ignore the history, because that's silly. But the history is what the history is. If you say that we want better, we have to figure out what we're willing to. to do in partnership with the people who are hired to do it to create better, better. And that's accountability on both sides. Last question for me.

What are some of the, I know you guys have worked with some partnerships like the disaster relief partnership. You teamed up with the company with that. And what are some of the other team Rubicon? And what are some of the other initiatives that you guys are currently working on? as a foundation. So that was important to me. As mayor, you know, within 24 hours of getting sworn in 2010, we had snowm again. I had, I dealt with floods, earthquake, tornadoes, derachos. I didn't even know what a derachio was. I don't know what it is now. What is that? Right? It's like, it's,

it's somewhere between a hurricane and a tornado. Oh my gosh. Yeah, and it's crazy. I mean, it it blacked out a significant portion of the city. So what I'm saying is I've been through it, right? I've had to deal with all different types of disasters. And I understood very clearly the time to prepare isn't after you have an incident. It's before. So that's why the partnership with Team Rubicon was so important to me, because we are pre-positioning assets all across the country.

So we know that no matter what other organizations locally, players want to support when a disaster strike. What we know is Team Rubicon, which is veteran-founded, veteran-led, where military veterans are using their skills and talents to help rebuild communities. We know that they've agreed to be first on the ground. And if our players want to be a part of those solution and help respond, you know, they facilitate that happening. And that was very important to me. and we're also trying to get a feeding partner. So we're able to show up in communities immediately with feeding partners as well. So, you know, those are just some of the partnerships around disaster relief that we're working on that we have established and that we're working on.

At Stephanie Rawlings, Blake, the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association Foundation, she has just guaranteed us that is going up in Vegas. is going up. Does this tell you how old I am? Yeah. I'm raising the roof. I mean, we can still raise it.

We can still raise it. We can still raise it with you. We can still raise it. Listen, I believe in parting with the purpose. You know, I think the way that we maximize the impact of the players

to be able to raise money for the things that they care about is to be able to put on world-class events. My golf tournament was amazing in July. We're looking forward to doing it again. You know, we think about what Jay Z does with that one poker game and how many millions of dollars.

You know what I mean? It's true. It's true. You know. Last thing I'll say is I'm I'm a huge fan of the wire. So I did a wire rewatch podcast and so I'm coming to Baltimore. I'm doing a Baltimore food tour. Ooh, ooh, you're going to have fun.

We have great restaurant. See what I'm saying. See? I want to walk. I'm telling you. It's hard to be on a diet in Baltimore. So my thing is because I'm looking because it's like they ate so many different things on the wire. They ate pit beef sandwiches. Yep, I know where to go for that.

Okay, they ate crab. They ate, they lake trout carry out. They did, oh, you don't like the lake trout. No, no, no, I love it. It's just, it's like, you know, New Orleans and Gumbo. It's just like, that's a kind of fight. Crab cakes and lake trout is a, you know, it's like people like a different way. You know what I mean?

It's like Memphis and barbecue. It's just like, whose is the best. Right. I can tell you one thing. You're not going to get a bad crab cake. Okay. Because I'll tell you, you know,

when I'm saying this, I'm exaggerating. But, you know, you serve a bag crab cake in Baltimore. People want to burn your place down. So you can know you're going to get a good crab cake. And offline, I'm happy to tell you my, yeah, because with the food. Gotcha.

That's a win known for. Me and Jamel. Hill, going to go down there, we're going to do this because we did the podcast. Tell Jamil just to tell Sonny to text me, and I'll give her my... There you go. There you go. Yeah, I'll give her my restaurant.

Baltimore Food Tour. That's simply Rawlins Blake. Good work being done over there at the NBA. We hope to work with you guys more and talk more about what you guys have going on. Thank you for joining us on Higher Learning. Thank you. My pleasure, wonderful to talk to you guys.