The Daily Signal - NBA Star Jonathan Isaac Shares How Christ Inspired Him to Stand Tall Amid BLM Protests

Episode Date: May 26, 2022

During the often violent Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, many athletes kneeled during the national anthem in a show of solidarity with the movement. But one man, Orlando Magic player Jonathan Isaac, stood instead. Isaac is the author of a new book titled “Why I Stand” that details what led him to make that decision. He says his deep and personal relationship with Jesus Christ inspired him to stand. “I tried my best to see it from Christ’s perspective,” Isaac explains. “And so, as I looked out and saw what was happening, I didn’t want to join into a fight. I wanted to have my own mind, my own mindset, and stand and say that ultimately the love of Christ has been the difference in my life. And I want to portray that to the world.” Isaac joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to chat about his book and how his relationship with God guides his life. We also cover these stories: Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, a Republican, delivers remarks in the aftermath of the deadly shooting Tuesday at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says the Senate has no plans for new gun control legislation. Food and Drug Administration chief Robert M. Califf, a medical doctor, says that aftereffects of COVID-19 and mailing issues affected the FDA’s response to the baby formula shortage. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, accuses Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign of fabricating evidence to tie Donald Trump to Russia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Thursday, May 26th. I'm Kate Trinco. And I'm Virginia Allen. During the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, many athletes kneeled during the national anthem in a show of solidarity with the movement. But one man, Orlando Magic player Jonathan Isaac, stood instead. Isaac is the author of the new book titled Why I Stand that details what led him to make that decision. Isaac joins Doug Blair to chat about his book and how his relationship with God guides his life. But before we get to Doug's conversation with Jonathan, let's hit our top stories of the day.

We are continuing to learn more about the details of the tragic shooting in Uvaldi, Texas on Tuesday that took the lives of 19 students into teachers. Officials say that all the students and teachers who were injured and killed were in the same classroom. The shooter entered and barricaded himself in that room and began shooting anyone in his way. We now know that there were police officers who quickly tried to respond to that scene but were fired upon by the gunmen and were hit. Two law enforcement officers and an off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent were able to successfully enter the school. The gunman was still behind a barricade and shooting when those law enforcement were able to successfully shoot and kill him. Texas Governor Greg Abbott held a press conference Wednesday to give updates following the shooting per KSDK News.

But the reality is as horrible as what happened. It could have been worse. The reason it was not worse is because law enforcement officials did what they do. they showed amazing courage by running toward gunfire for the singular purpose of trying to save lives. Also during that same press conference, Democrat gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke was present

and approached the governor while he was on stage, per Fox 5 Atlanta. Take a listen to the commotion. Excuse me. Excuse me. The time to stop this. Excuse me. was after Santa Fe Hyros.

Sit down. You're out. You're out of lying. It was after El Paso. Sit out and don't play this stuff. The next shooting is right now, and you are doing nothing. No, you're offering us nothing.

You said this to not predictable. This is totally predictable when you choose how to do anything safety. Sir, you're out of line. You are out of line. Please leave this on the courtroom. Bitter-orke was swiftly escorted out of the room. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer

criticized Republicans over their position on guns in a Senate floor speech Wednesday. The New York Democrats said, if the slaughter of schoolchildren can't convince Republicans to buck the NRA, what can we do? He also indicated he was unlikely to hold a vote on any gun control legislation, noting that Americans were aware of Republicans' views on guns. Schumer said, Americans can make a choice. Americans can reject the Republican guns at all-cost doctrine. And, Americans can cast their vote in no way. for senators or members of Congress that reflect how he or she stands with guns.

And remarks made from the White House Tuesday night, President Joe Biden mentioned guns, saying, as a nation, we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby? What is the real problem causing the baby formula shortage? That was the question that many lawmakers were asking Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Caliph during a House subcommittee hearing this week. The commissioner said many factors like COVID-19 were contributors, including mailroom failure. The shortage largely stems from the Abbott, Michigan plant, which is the largest plant in the U.S. The FDA shut that plant down in February because of concerns over contamination.

Caliph explained during the hearing that positive samples of bacteria were found in the large plant, which led to a massive recall of the baby formula in mid-February. A whistleblower warned about the safety violations at the Abbott plant, but FDA officials say that an isolated failure in FDA's mailroom, likely due to COVID-19 staffing issues, meant that senior FDA officials didn't receive the warning until months after they were sent. That Abbott plant is expected to start production again next month. Senator Chuck Grassley, Republican of Iowa,

spoke on the Senate floor Tuesday about how the Clinton campaign was involved in the FBI, investigation of whether the Trump campaign had ties to Russia. Here's what Grassley had to say. It took on a new life when the Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman met with FBI General Counsel James Baker. In that meeting, Sussman provided information and data files that allegedly contained evidence of a secret communication channel between. Trump Organization and a Rysian Bank, Alpha Bank.

The evidence was fabricated by the Clinton campaign. The allegations about Trump organization being linked with a Rishan bank were false. Grassley also referenced Special Counsel John Durham. As a result of Durham's probe, Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussman is currently on trial regarding whether he lied to the FBI about the Clinton campaign's role in the Alpha Bank information. In additional remarks, Grassley focused on whether the government itself was guilty of misconduct. I fear these recent developments are just the tip of the iceberg. The FBI's exposure to false information and actually using that false information for investigative,

purposes reeks of a political vendetta. It points to an all-get-Trump at all-cost attitude. Whether Sussman is convicted or not, the evidence introduced by Durham shows serious government misconduct. misconduct by the federal government of the United States of America. Special Counsel Durham can't let government misconduct go unpunished. A yield. Now stay tuned for Doug's conversation with NBA player Jonathan Isaac as they discuss his new book and his relationship with God. At the Heritage Foundation, we believe voting is a sacred duty.

It's how people express what course they want our country. nation to take. Given the importance of the ballot box, it's necessary to have a transparent and fraud-free system that can be trusted. This is why Heritage created the election integrity scorecard. The scorecard compares the laws and regulations for elections state-to-state and ranks them on their security and transparency. Check out the election integrity scorecard at heredage.org slash election scorecard. My guest today is Jonathan Isaac, an NBA player for The Orlando Magic and author of the new book, Why I Stand. Jonathan, welcome to the show.

Thanks so much for having me, Doug. Yeah, two years ago, you made headlines as the only person on the court not to kneel for the national anthem during the widespread Black Lives Matter protests. To ask the question from your book, Why Do You Stand slash Why Did You Stand? So in order to answer that question, I have to go back. And that's really what the book does. The book starts at Jonathan Isaac as a young kid living in Bronx, New York, and takes you through the whole journey of his life, his struggles, his battles, where he was in that current time, and then to where he is today, and what has ultimately been the difference in his life. And the difference in my life has been Christ.

And so when I saw everything that was going on with Black Lives Matter, with George Floyd, as tragic as his death was, what I tried to do was not see it from Jonathan Isaac's perspective, not even the black Jonathan Isaac's perspective that was angry, that was heated, like, What is going on? I tried my best to see it from Christ's perspective. And so as I looked out and saw what was happening, I didn't want to join into a fight. I wanted to have my own mind, my own mindset, and stand and say that ultimately the love of Christ has been the difference in my life. And I want to portray that to the world. And I know that that's the thing that is ultimately going to change it for the better.

I think that's such a great story. Because in the description for your book, your book, you even mentioned this, that you say this book is the story of how, through a series of divine connections and a willingness to, to follow Christ. Your fear and insecurity driven life was transformed into one of confidence and purpose. Where can you, what do you mean by that? What is, what is the kind of aim of the story here? Well, the aim of the story is ultimately that my dysfunction in my life was overcome by love. And so when we talk about the love of Christ, my story is not that I was searching for God. I was, you know, a committed Christian on my life. My story is that God found me.

And when you hear the divine connections and the story, it really is something that you'd step back and be like, okay, that could only be God. And struggling with love growing up, struggling with anxiety and fear and having a God who is the God of the universe, come and find me. It gave me that peace and that solace. And I was able to grow as a man and as an individual to where in two years prior to me standing, I wouldn't have been the person that you would ever thought would stand for anything because of the fear that plagued my life. But as I grew, I am a man that's willing to stand for what I believe in, in love, knowing that it has been the answer for me and believing that is ultimately the answer for the world. So you're following Christ and you are confronted with this, with your team and a lot of the other members of the NBA are kneeling on the court. What's going through your head when you decide to stand? Well, I would say part of what's going through my head is that I understand.

I look out and I see the same thing as everybody else. But I also understand that it's a greater fight. And evil does not be evil. Evil only begets evil. Anger only begets anger. Hate only begets hate. And you can get into this perpetual fight that's been going on for years. But ultimately, if there's going to be ground covered, if there's going to be peace, if there's going to be progress, someone has to reach across the aisle and show love.

And so the Bible says that if you love only who loves you, what profit is there? You have to love your enemies. Pray for those who despisefully use you. and in that there can be growth. So do you view the way that Black Lives Matter handled a lot of these racial tensions during those years? Do you see that as non-biblical

and not acceptable in a way that a Christian can follow? Well, I think primarily with the Black Lives Matter organization, they're antithetical to the gospel, you know, to begin with. But it wasn't just saying Black Lives Matter is wrong. Black people are wrong in this situation. I can't get down with that. It's both sides. It's that both sides were fighting away to me that didn't honor Christ at that time.

And what I tried to do was stand up and say, guys, look, we've all sinned. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. And if this thing is going to change, we need to step up and show love in the moment. What was the response for when you did that when you stood? Were your teammates supportive? Did they have an issue with it? Yeah, I mean, everybody was kind of different. And again, this is a very emotional moment, emotional moment in time.

guys are affected by it in different ways. Some guys have had prior moments in the past of dealing with racism. I've dealt with racism in my old life, my own life, and that's also in the book. And so I understood it from that standpoint. But yeah, you know, certain guys were upset. Certain guys felt like I was, you know, hijacking the movement and making it all about me. But I try my best to reason with them and rationalize that my heartfelt position was not to protest their protest. But to stand in the moment and say, guys, I believe that Jesus Christ is the answer. want that to be what's what's stamped for Jonathan Isaac. I don't want to, I don't want to just go along with a fight just because it's what everybody else is doing. I want to be able

to stand for what I believe in in the moment. Yeah, after the game where you stood, you were quoted by a California newspaper saying, I believe that Black Lives Matter. A lot went into my decision. It's my thought that kneeling or wearing a Black Lives Matter t-shirt don't go hand in hand with supporting Black Lives. Do you believe that that was because of your faith that you were saying that this way of dealing with it wasn't necessarily and it was more through Christ that you were going to support black lives? Well, yeah. I mean, first and foremost, what I've been able to do in Orlando with my home church here,

Jump Ministries Global Church, lead pastor, Dr. Duran Hepburn, is be in the community and help people that look just like me and people who don't look like me as well. And so I've seen what Christ can do, what the love of God can do and showing the people around you and how that ultimately changes things. And what I felt uncomfortable with in the moment was that it was made the scene. if you didn't kneel and if you didn't wear the t-shirt, then you were not in support of Black Lives, and that was the only way to show support for Black Lives. And so that's where I differed. Now, do you believe that Black Lives Matter has done anything positive? Do you believe that there was

anything that you could sort of salvage from that movement? Well, I think awareness. I think people, you know, being able to highlight what is going on in the world. But my focus wasn't Black Lives Matter, to be honest with you, the organization, you know, pretty early on and me feeling like Christ was the answer, I didn't always feel completely comfortable vocalizing that inside of the movement. And so I was kind of always on the outside. And so my attention, honestly, wasn't really there about what Black Lives Matter is doing, what the other side is doing. It was ultimately like, this is the message that I want to carry and I want as many people to hear it as possible. And now with being able to bring out a book, it's saying, this is my story and why I believe that Christ is the answer for the world because he's been that

answer for me. How did you come to find Christ? How did you find him? Was it during your career as an NBA player? Was it before then? Well, I grew up Christian. And again, this is the whole story of the book, the whole timeline, and just how crazy it was. But I grew up Christian. My dad was a really strong believer, but my parents split up when I was about 10 years old, and I left from Bronx, New York to Naples, Florida, and had the biggest culture shock of my life. I tried really, really hard to fit in and get these kids to like me, but I struggled. You know, my nickname was Ethiopia for a certain time of my life while I was in high school. So I struggled with getting the acceptance of others and finding love.

So I always had anxiety. I always had fear about being accepted by other people. And so as I go through life, I go through Florida State. This is also in the book, but not a lot of people know while I was at Florida State, I was on anxiety medication. So I am the number one player in the state of Florida. I'm the number five player in the country, and I get to Florida State, and I am struggling to be big man on campus, what everybody's expecting of me to lead the team to the championship and all those things. And so I get to Florida State.

I'm dealing with the things and behind the scenes. Nobody knows. I'm trying my best to play through it and played off. But I ultimately get to the league. I'm drafted the six pick, and I'm still having these battles in the background while trying to be an NBA basketball player. I got injured my rookie year, and then that's where the story starts that a man, as I'm getting on the elevator one day, stop. me and says, I know how you can be great. And I said, how? He says, you have to know Jesus. I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm a Christian. I know Jesus, all this stuff. And from that point on,

the story just, I don't even want to go all into it because I want everybody to get the book. But the story just takes a whirlwind of what I truly believe is God's love and God's grace, just ordering my footsteps to be where I am today. And that man who stopped me on the elevator, not knowing who I was, he didn't know who I was. That man ultimately went on to become my pastor. Dr. Dr. John Henry today. And so that's how I ultimately found Christ, but it really was the love of looking back and saying, God, I could not have orchestrated this myself. There has to be someone out there who's thinking about Jonathan Isaac, and I don't have to fight for their love. They love me for me. And that's ultimately the love of Christ. That is such a wonderful story, and I'm really glad you shared that

with us. I guess my thought process here, too, is that you don't seem necessarily to think that the way that the kneeling was performed, it was particularly helpful. Do you feel that maybe there's a different way to fix the issues facing the black community that Black Lives Matter was addressing? Well, I think taking a step back, right? In such a heated moment as George Floyd's passing and people are making their decisions on, we're going to do this and we're going to do that. And the other side is upset about it. Don't do that. Don't do this. And it even goes back to, it even goes back to Kaepernick. And Kaepernick deciding to Neil for what he believed in in that moment and time. And I don't agree with everything that Kaepernick.

McSaid or Kavanaick did, but the response that he got from that. And so it's not to say that one side is right and one side is wrong. It is to say that, look, at the end of the day, if we are going to move forward and fix this thing, to me, in my heart of hearts and what I've experienced in my life, it's going to be Christ. It's going to be the love of Christ. And the love of Christ isn't like the love of the world. The love of the world loves you when everything is right, when you're, when you're on their side, when you agree with them. And they love you until you make a mistake. That's the love of the world. But the love of Christ is different. The love of Christ is unconditional. The love of Christ loves first. It loves in spite of wrong. So if somebody

wrongs me, it's still my duty to love them because that's how God treats me. And so I've done plenty of wrong, but God's grace and God's mercy keeps me and loves me in that moment. And so that's the love that I believe is going to change the world. That's wonderful. Now, I'm curious, do you see yourself as an activist? You have a lot of players in the NBA right now. We spoke with Inez Cantor Freedom a few weeks ago. Do you see yourself in that same vein as sort of an activist? You know, I don't know. I wouldn't call myself an activist. I don't think I take on that right. I think I'm just a Christian and I'm trying my best to live out my Christianity, you know, and where I'm at. And it just so happened that on that day it happened to be in the NBA standing for the National Anthem. Absolutely. Now, as we begin to wrap up here, I'm curious. It sounds like you are very strong in your conviction to follow Christ and to spread a Christ-like message with the way you do things. And of course, with your book, if you had the opportunity to, to go back to that game and you could stand or kneel, would you make the same decision that you did?

I would. I would 100%. And again, to the point of not wanting to interject myself into a fight and go along with it as everybody else is. I tried my best to see above it what was going on. And understanding that our fight isn't against flesh and blood and one person to another, but ultimately evil and the other things that are in the world that are influencing a lot of the things that are going on. And so, yeah, I would do it again. Before we go, where is your book available? Is it available online in bookstores? Where can we find your book?

Yeah, my book is available on Amazon.com. I've got one right here just so people can see the cover. Why I Stand, head to Amazon and just type in Why I Stand Jonathan Isaac and get your copy. Excellent. Well, thank you so much. That was Jonathan Isaac, an NBA player for the Orlando Magic and author of the new book, Why I Stand. Jonathan, I really appreciate you coming on and sharing your story. Thanks so much for having me, Doug.

I appreciate it. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thank you so much for listening to The Daily Signal Podcast. Be sure to subscribe to the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. And please leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening. We'll be back with you all tomorrow morning. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation.

The executive producers are Rob Blewey and Kay Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Doug Blair. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, please visit DailySignal.com.