Sports, Activism, and Equity: A conversation with Dave Zirin and Mi’Chael Wright

Join us for a special online event about the intersection of sports, activism, and equity with special guests Dave Zirin and Mi’Chael Wright. This event is a fundraiser for the East Side Freedom Library to support our equity work in community.

About Dave:
Named one of UTNE Reader’s “50 Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World,” Dave Zirin writes about the politics of sports for the Nation Magazine as their first sportswriter in 150 years. Winner of Sport In Society and Northeastern University School of Journalism’s ‘Excellence in Sports Journalism’ Award, Zirin is also the host of the Edge of Sports podcast. He has been called “the best sportswriter in the United States,” by Robert Lipsyte. Dave Zirin is, in addition, a columnist for SLAM Magazine and the Progressive. Dave is a graduate of Macalester College in Saint Paul.

About Mi’Chael:
Mi’Chael N. Wright is a PhD student in the Dept. of Sociology at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Her primary esearchfocuses on sociology of media, sociology of mental health, collectivememory and trauma, and identity. She is specifically interested in how digital communities, which can be simultaneously encouraging and hostile, constitute the identity development of Black and Brown adolescent girls. Mi’Chael is also interested in digital sociology, a sub-discipline of sociology that highlights the role of digital media in everyday life and its contribution to social relationships. Mi’Chael is a former Division I athlete who organized taking a knee in 2016 and has much to share from that experience.

About the new book, The Kaepernick Effect

Riveting and inspiring first-person stories of how “taking a knee” triggered an awakening in sports, from the celebrated sportswriter.

“The Kaepernick Effect reveals that Colin Kaepernick’s story is bigger than one athlete. With profiles of courage that leap off the page, Zirin uncovers a whole national movement of citizen-athletes fighting for racial justice.” —Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award–winning author of Stamped from the Beginning and How to Be an Antiracist.

In 2016, amid an epidemic of police shootings of African Americans, the celebrated NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick began a series of quiet protests on the field, refusing to stand during the U.S. national anthem. By “taking a knee,” Kaepernick bravely joined a long tradition of American athletes making powerful political statements. This time, however, Kaepernick’s simple act spread like wildfire throughout American society, becoming the preeminent symbol of resistance to America’s persistent racial inequality.

The book is available for pre-order, with a publication date of September 14, just before our event.