Mr. RUBEN NAVARRETTE (Columnist): Yo. Couple things. I have to disagree gently with my former Dallas Morning News brother, Kevin. I think there are people out there, Kevin, in Cleveland, they all live in Cleveland, who do begrudge him the right to exercise his free agency.
And it starts with the owner, you know, one of the part owners of the Cleveland Cavaliers who just laid out in this just ugly, wining screed about how LeBron was a coward and he had betrayed the city and betrayed the people of Cleveland. And I promise you that we're going to win a championship before the Miami Heat does and all this other stuff.
There are folks out there who just do think that he didn't have the right to leave. And when I read that letter I thought to myself, again, this is from the owner of the team. What part of free agent what part of free in free agent doesn't this plantation owner understand? Because clearly, you know...
Mr. IZRAEL: Oh, right, snap.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: ...this is a different mindset. So, this is not I mean, this is a guy who has the right to go anywhere he wants to. And when he exercises that right, there are people who push back on it. And I think, you know, Michel made a point before, it's actually, as we all know, the 13th Amendment that freed the slaves.
MARTIN: Thank you.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: The 14th Amendment was put there to give the 14th Amendment, Michel, as you recall, was there to make sure that the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants become citizens, that's why that's there. Another ba-dum-bum.
MARTIN: School me. School me. Thank you. Thank you for helping me out with that.
'Shop Talk': Was LeBron James' Primetime TV Frenzy Too Much?
Copyright © 2010 National Public Radio®. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
MICHEL MARTIN, host:
And it's time for our weekly visit to the Barbershop where the guys talk about what's in the news and what's on their minds. Hmm, I wonder what's on their minds this week. Anything happening in Cleveland? I just don't anyway, sitting in their chairs for their shapeup this week are freelance writer Jimi Izrael, civil rights attorney and editor Arsalan Iftikhar, TV and media critic for the St. Petersburg Times Eric Deggans, nationally syndicated columnist Ruben Navarrette and national columnist for Internet sports blog AOL FanHouse Kevin Blackistone. Take is away, Jimi.
Mr. JIMI IZRAEL (Writer): Thanks, Michel. Hey, fellas, what's good? Welcome to the shop.
Mr. ERIC DEGGANS (Media Critic, St. Petersburg Times): Thank you, what's happening?
Mr. ARSALAN IFTIKHAR (Attorney, Editor): Hey, hey, hey.
Mr. IZRAEL: So, what's new? I mean...
(Soundbite of laughter)
MARTIN: Anything new in Cleveland?
Mr. IZRAEL: Well, I...
MARTIN: Jimi, you're in Cleveland, anything new?
Mr. IZRAEL: Well, apparently, there was big news here in Cleveland last night. Basketball star LeBron James, the Ohio native, well, he's made his decision and he's leaving Cleveland for Miami, Michel.
MARTIN: Yeah. Well, do you want to hear what he had to say? For the eight of you in the world who didn't hear it.
Mr. IZRAEL: Yeah, no kidding. Right.
MARTIN: Let's play it. Here it is.
Mr. IZRAEL: Drop it.
(Soundbite of recording)
Mr. LEBRON JAMES (NBA Basketball Player): You know, it's hard to explain, but at the same time, my heart, in the seven years that I gave to that franchise, to that city, was everything. I mean, those 20,000-plus fans that came out every night we played. And they've seen me grow from an 18-year-old kid to a 25-year-old man. And I never wanted to leave Cleveland. And my heart will always be around that area. I also felt like this is the greatest challenge for me is to move on.
MARTIN: Jimi.
Mr. IZRAEL: I wonder if his heart has a three-point shot. Thank you for that, Michel.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MARTIN: You know, you I think you're choked up, but I'm not quite sure, Jimi.
Mr. IZRAEL: You know what? Personally, I'm bittersweet about it. You know, Cleveland, as I wrote on the blog, the TELL ME MORE blog, Cleveland, there's really, in my opinion, took LeBron for granted. And, you know, he never got a whole ton of love while he was here. And today people are sad, they're angry. They're taking it hard like any bad breakup. You know, one of those breakups where it's not you it's them. You know?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. IZRAEL: But you got to look at it like this. He's a young man. He's got 10 more good years in the game. And none of us, none of these people are walking around wearing witness T-shirts are going to help him out of bed when his knees are blown, when he's 38.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Aw, poor LeBron.
Mr. IZRAEL: So, wait a second. Wait a second. Wait a second. He's not playing for fun. He's playing to win. So the notion of the franchise player, it's kind of romantic, but it's antiquated. I wish he would've stayed, you know, but I wonder if Cleveland took it for granted. You know what? A-train, it's hard, but it's fair, baby.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Yeah, you know, Jay-Z once said if Jay-Z's playing LeBron and playing Dwayne Wade, it looks like Miami got a twofer here.
Mr. IZRAEL: Right.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: You know, it's one of those things, you know, for those of us, you know, who are neither Cleveland fans, but are basketball fans and like LeBron, you know, Blackistone and I were talking outside, you know, we think that this really might hurt his personal legacy, you know. For those of us who loved him as a basketball player, it's kind of, you know, it's kind of hard to swallow the fact that, you know, he bounces from Cleveland in the middle of the night to go to Greenwich, Connecticut to not even notify his team and basically say, hey, you know, thanks for the seven years, but I'm out.
MARTIN: I'm sorry, what does free agent mean? Does free agent mean something?
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Yes, it does. But...
MARTIN: Does the 14th Amendment mean anything? I thought Mr. Lincoln took care of that. You don't have to work for free.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MARTIN: Excuse me, I'm not a lawyer, but...
Mr. IFTIKHAR: But to have a one-hour hype documentary on ESPN called "The Decision," you know, where you're essentially, you know, selling ad time for Vitamin Water and Gatorade and things like that, you know, to not even notify your own team to the point where Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, came out with a scathing letter against LeBron shortly after the announcement, you know, just did not seem like a class act.
MARTIN: Well, you know, I think Ruben has something to say about that letter. So we'll talk we just need to take a short break. But when we come back, I promise we're going to continue this conversation with Arsalan Iftikhar, Jimi Izrael, Kevin Blackistone, Eric Deggans and Ruben Navarrette. That's coming up.
This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Please stay with us.
(Soundbite of music)
MARTIN: I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News.
We're back for our weekly shapeup in the Barbershop with Ruben Navarrette, Jimi Izrael, Arsalan Iftikhar, Eric Deggans and Kevin Blackistone. We, of course, we're talking about what else, LeBron James and his decision to leave Cleveland Cavaliers for where's he going again? Where's he going again?
Mr. IZRAEL: Um...
MARTIN: Oh, nobody knows? Oh, sorry, sorry. I was...
Mr. IZRAEL: Florida.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MARTIN: Back to you, Jimi.
Mr. IZRAEL: Thanks, Michel. KB, ESPN.com's own. Check in here, man.
Mr. KEVIN BLACKISTONE (Columnist, AOL FanHouse, ESPN.com): Well, I'm not, you know, first of all, I would just say that nobody begrudges, I don't think, LeBron James' desire to exercise free agency. He put this in play about three years ago or four years ago when he signed his last contract so that he could look around if he wanted to leave. I think it's just the way that he orchestrated this entire event that really cast him in another light.
You know, he was just in D.C. last summer at the AFI Silverdocs Film Festival for the debut of his movie which they used to open up the thing. And I was there and I was really stunned by how genuine he seemed. He hung around with people afterwards. He didn't big-time anybody with his superstar-itis. And all of sudden...
MARTIN: He also shared the floor with his friends. He was very generous.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: He was very generous. And all of a sudden, a year later, he has a horrible playoff experience. And goes into secrecy and gets involved in this free agent summit. And then the way he leaves Cleveland is just it just is a really sour kind of way to do it. And I think that overnight he has turned himself from being one of the most beloved players in pro sports to one of the biggest villains.
Mr. IZRAEL: Ruben.
Mr. RUBEN NAVARRETTE (Columnist): Yo. Couple things. I have to disagree gently with my former Dallas Morning News brother, Kevin. I think there are people out there, Kevin, in Cleveland, they all live in Cleveland, who do begrudge him the right to exercise his free agency.
And it starts with the owner, you know, one of the part owners of the Cleveland Cavaliers who just laid out in this just ugly, wining screed about how LeBron was a coward and he had betrayed the city and betrayed the people of Cleveland. And I promise you that we're going to win a championship before the Miami Heat does and all this other stuff.
There are folks out there who just do think that he didn't have the right to leave. And when I read that letter I thought to myself, again, this is from the owner of the team. What part of free agent what part of free in free agent doesn't this plantation owner understand? Because clearly, you know...
Mr. IZRAEL: Oh, right, snap.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: ...this is a different mindset. So, this is not I mean, this is a guy who has the right to go anywhere he wants to. And when he exercises that right, there are people who push back on it. And I think, you know, Michel made a point before, it's actually, as we all know, the 13th Amendment that freed the slaves.
MARTIN: Thank you.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: The 14th Amendment was put there to give the 14th Amendment, Michel, as you recall, was there to make sure that the U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants become citizens, that's why that's there. Another ba-dum-bum.
MARTIN: School me. School me. Thank you. Thank you for helping me out with that.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: So...
Mr. IZRAEL: (unintelligible) for just a bit.
MARTIN: See, Arsalan is going to help me out. Arsalan, I've got my lawyer sitting right across from me.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: So much bigger. It's gotten so much bigger.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Unidentified Man: (Unintelligible) LeBron James.
Mr. DEGGANS: Can I (unintelligible) while you guys are talking?
Mr. IZRAEL: Yeah.
Mr. DEGGANS: This is Eric from Florida. Number one, we are very happy to welcome LeBron with open arms.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: You think?
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. DEGGANS: Even though he's going to be playing about five hours to the south. We're happy to see him coming. But, you know, the first thing that strikes me is that if he wins, I think a lot of this is going to be forgotten because he'll have proven why he needed to move. There's this weird tension between, you know, seeing him talk about needing to go to a better team, essentially, to win a championship, but leave in a way that puts the spotlight on him.
And this ESPN documentary was just well, it wasn't a documentary, it was a LeBron-fomercial was what I called it. It was bizarre. It was a lot of tap dancing to lead up to a decision that every sports writer in America had already reported by the time that the show had aired, that he was likely coming to Miami.
So ESPN, I think, was in a weird way the big loser here. They sacrificed their credibility for the chance to tell America about something that it already knew about by the time they got around to revealing it. And that's the weird tension here. You know, sports and entertainment. You know, team player versus an individual, everybody feels weird about this for a lot of reasons that are very hard to...
MARTIN: I mean, I take your point as a journalist the idea that the fact is oh Eric, could you just describe for people who dont know what the arrangements were for that hour-long session.
Mr. DEGGANS: Sure. Basically...
MARTIN: Although, but I do have to remind people that youre not under subpoena to watch this. I mean nobody's making you watch this event, so it's your choice. I mean, so excuse me.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: We bought into it.
Mr. DEGGANS: Oh, most definitely. We bought into it.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Most definitely.
MARTIN: But Eric, just tell people what the arrangements were and why it is that there's an ick factor here.
Mr. DEGGANS: Sure. Sure. Basically, okay, a free-lanced journalist came to LeBron's people and suggested that he turn his announcement about where he was going into a special. So LeBron's people developed this idea for an hour-long special and they pitched it to ESPN and they basically said we have to pick the guy who interviews LeBron first.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Right.
Mr. DEGGANS: They said we get to choose who the sponsors are in the hour-long special, and the revenue will go to a charity which turned out to be the Boys and Girls Club. But what was troubling about this, was that ESPN basically gave as much time as LeBron wanted - it turned out to be about 40 minutes, not an hour - to him and his people to do with what they would. He occupied about five minutes of it, you know?
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Why is that a problem? This is Ruben. Why is that a problem?
Mr. DEGGANS: I think that's a problem because ESPN has always had trouble juggling its two roles. Number one, its an entertainment company, number two; it tries to practice sports journalism.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Yeah.
Mr. DEGGANS: And in this case, it allowed all the entertainment values to overwhelm the journalism part, which was reporting sizably on this...
Mr. IZRAEL: KB?
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Yeah.
MARTIN: But that's an - I think that's an...
Mr. IZRAEL: KB?
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Yeah.
Mr. DEGGANS: ...and not distracting people.
Mr. IZRAEL: You know, people, jump in here now.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Well, I dont defend ESPN. Theyve already called me once with some comments I made just yesterday on NPR, about the uneasiness that I had with the arrangement that they made. I criticized them over the way they handled the Ben Roethlisberger news - or didnt handle it. And I think that this sets a really bad trend, particularly in sports journalism.
We saw a bit of it earlier this year when Tiger Woods pretty much established the rules under which he was going to be interviewed for the first time. And I think this is just another step down that road and I was sad to see it.
MARTIN: But I dont know how this reflects on LeBron.
Mr. IZRAEL: So. Right.
MARTIN: I mean it may be reflect poorly on ESPN...
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Right. Exactly. I dont...
MARTIN: But I dont understand how this reflects on LeBron.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: WELL...
MARTIN: I mean my attitude is, you can ask and they're supposed to say no.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Exactly. And quite frankly, had ESPN said no they would've turned to Turner Broadcasting and...
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Well, that brings up the point, and this is Ruben again.
MARTIN: Go ahead, Ruben.
Mr. IZRAEL: Go ahead, Ruben.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: This brings up the point. All this talk about ESPN gave this and gave that and gave that, what did ESPN gibe back? There were still commercials. They were still running commercials. They were drawing public attention. The deal that ESPN made in its mind, was okay, we're going to give up this but there's going to be enormous public interest or substantial public interest, and were going to benefit from that.
So, you know, dont necessarily pounce on ESPN, I think, on this notion that somehow they gave away the store. They got plenty of stuff coming back to them and it all worked out. Again, like Michel said at the beginning, nobody put a gun to people's heads. If people dont want to watch it, the whole deals falls apart and LeBron doesnt get what he wants and ESPN doesnt get what they wants. But everybody participated - all worked out for everybody.
Mr. DEGGANS: Well, let me break in real quick, though, and disagree and say that this was not about ESPN giving up. This was about ESPN getting while pretending that it was giving up for charity. They got a lot of notoriety. They got tons of blog hits. They got a ton of mention in the media blogosphere and they produced programming that was awful. It was terrible.
Mr. IZRAEL: Well...
Mr. DEGGANS: And I think that's the bottom line.
MARTIN: That's right. It was pretty bad.
Mr. DEGGANS: You know, the actual show was not that great.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: And let's not forget guys, from a...
Mr. IZRAEL: Hold on a second. Hold on a second. Hold a second. Now, weve been talking about this media frenzy, you know, because, you know, this has been, it's been called the most hype-free agency period in NBA history.
MARTIN: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but...
Mr. IZRAEL: Can we hear a little bit of it?
MARTIN: Well if you want.
Mr. IZRAEL: Well, yeah.
MARTIN: I dont know. Do you really to?
Mr. IZRAEL: Yeah. Can we hear a little piece?
MARTIN: Okay. All right. Well, okay. Okay.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Let's do the piece where he says LeBron's going to Miami.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MARTIN: Which is really all we need. I mean that's the part that's lame about it. I mean it took him like five - I have a lot of respect for Jim Gray who did the interview because I think he's a fine journalist. But the fact is, he buried the lead. I mean, this 10 minutes about all handwritten and how you feel and blah, blah, blah. And I'm just interested in...
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Right. Well, that's what happens when entertainment trumps journalism.
MARTIN: ...hang ringing and how you feel as the rest. You know, how I am. I'm totally interested in that.
Mr. DEGGANS: You got to sell ads. You got to sell ads.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: That's what happens when entertainment trumps journalism.
MARTIN: But to bury the lead? I mean that's what happened. So, well, we have a short clip from LeBron talking about letting people down and his feelings and how he came to his decision because I'm a girl. That's the part I like. So here it is.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. JAMES: This is tough. It's very tough because you feel like you let a lot of people down. Youve raised a lot of people's expectations also. But it was a tough decision because I know how loyal I am. And the one thing my mother told me when I was going through this process and what ultimately helped me make my decision is, you have to do whats best for you and what's going to make you happy at the end of the day because no one can live with the consequences or anything that comes with your decision besides you. And once I heard that from my mother, the person that I always look to for guidance, it was easy.
MARTIN: And just in fairness...
(Soundbite of crying)
MARTIN: There you go.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MARTIN: I love it.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Hater. Hater.
MARTIN: I love it. He's a hater. He can do that though. But and just and of speaking of hateration, just because Ruben mentioned this letter from the Cleveland Cavaliers majority owner, Dan Gilbert, posted this lengthy open letter to Cleveland fans. We could post it on our site so you can read it for yourself but I'll just read a part of it.
(Reading) This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national special of his "decision," in quotes, unlike anything ever "witnessed," in quotes, in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment. I'm sorry for laughing. Clearly, this is bitterly disappointing to all of us. The good news is that the ownership team and the rest of the hard-working, loyal, and driven staff over here at your hometown Cavaliers have not betrayed you nor NEVER - in caps - will betray you.
There you go. There's more.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Again, right out of "Gone with the Wind." Right out of "Gone with the Wind."
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. BLACKISTONE: But let me say one thing.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Picturing the big Dan Gilbert holding a mint julep. I can just see it.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Well, let me say just one thing about Dan Gilbert that people have to...
MARTIN: Go ahead, Kevin Go ahead.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: ...realize. I mean this guy has been as much on his team since he bought it in 2005 as anybody else in the league. He's changed up this roster year in and year out. He tried to squeeze some more greatness out of Shaquille O'Neal. He made a last second deal last year for Antoine Walker.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Jamison.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: He got a back - I mean for Antoine Jamison. He got him a back court, all star in Mo Williams. Theyve won more games the last two years than any NBA team in the last two years. So I just think we need to disabuse people this notion that Cleveland wasnt doing anything to try and help LeBron James get to a championship. They did everything that they could do and were willing to pay him more money...
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Yeah. Nobody's saying that. Nobody is saying that.
Mr. IZRAEL: Okay. Wait a second. Wait a second.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Let's not forget that from a...
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Talking about how condescending it is for owners to talk about narcissism.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Hey Ruben, from a basketball vantage point, let's also not forget that it's not a forgone conclusion that Miami's going win the championship next year. They have three max guys.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Right.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: They have to sell out nine guys with minimum wage, you know, me, Blackistone, Jimi, Eric and Ruben; we can all play for minimum wage. So...
Mr. NAVARRETTE: I'm available.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. IZRAEL: Okay. Wait a second.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Orlando and Boston are...
Mr. IZRAEL: Okay. Hold on fellas. Hold on fellas. Hold on fellas. In case you forgot, the world didnt stop spinning. There was other news.
MARTIN: Yes it did.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Really?
Mr. IZRAEL: As it happens. Yeah. Yeah. So...
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Let me point out quick. But, Jimi, can we point out that the NBA minimum wage...
Mr. IZRAEL: Briefly.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: ... is substantially higher than the NPR minimum wage.
(Soundbite of laughter)
MARTIN: Thank you. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you, Ruben.
Mr. IZRAEL: But in case, in all the hubbub, if you forgot the Emmy nominations were announced yesterday. And the big networks had a really strong showing, and not everybody expected that, Michel.
MARTIN: Well, we did forget.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Mr. DEGGANS: I didnt forget. I had to watch it.
MARTIN: All right, Eric. Go ahead. Tell us. Do tell us. Anything exciting that we want to know about - other than LeBron? Snore.
Mr. DEGGANS: Yeah. Exactly. Well, no, what was great about the Emmy Awards was that a lot of new shoes got recognized. I dont know, you guys probably haven't been watching "Glee." Maybe Michel has, I dont know. But "Glee" did real well. "Modern Family" did real well. "The Good Wife," it's this wonderful show with Julianna Margulies, did well. And it was just a sign that, you know, broadcast networks are back. They're doing good programming and it's getting recognized. And the thing I like the most was that Conan O'Brien got four nominations.
Mr. IZRAEL: Yeah.
Mr. DEGGANS: Jay Leno, zero.
MARTIN: Oh see. Okay. Youre just a hater.
Mr. IZRAEL: Yeah.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: There is a lot of haters.
MARTIN: That is just the hatred. But Arsalan...
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Dont hate the player. Hate the game.
MARTIN: But wait a minute. Ruben and I are on Team Jay. You know Letterman, you know, Eric, Letterman didnt get a nomination either.
Mr. DEGGANS: No he didnt.
MARTIN: What's up with that?
Mr. DEGGANS: Well, you know, I think with all this turmoil it was an odd time. Maybe Letterman got punished for the sex scandal that he had.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Right.
Mr. DEGGANS: You know, everybody kind of forgot about that in the wake of all this Jay Leno stuff. But I dont think Emmy, necessarily forgot about it. And I think the competition got a little stiffer. "The Daily Show" was really good this year. "Colbert Report" was really good this year. And Letterman, you know, distracted by some of the stuff he had to go through, I dont think he really stepped up either. I dont think it was that bad a choice really. I dont know that he deserved it.
MARTIN: Okay. Well, we're almost out of time, so we're going to go from the ridiculous to the sublime. As I mentioned at the beginning of our conversation, we're celebrating a birthday over the weekend. It's the classic piece of American literature. Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird." It turns 50 on Sunday. And I just - I'm sure that at some point in your school days all of you read the book. And I just wondered if it still has meaning for you today. I dont know, Ruben?
Mr. NAVARRETTE: It does. I mean, it does because of the image of Atticus Finch, this attorney that fights the good fight, defends somebody. It's easy to defend people who everybody thinks is going to - people who are innocent and people who think youre going win, that its an easy case. To go after a difficult case, as a champion in this way, is something that I recall every time I sit down to interview a lawyer who does, particularly, criminal defense work, because it is a thankless job and it's not a job I think I could do, depending on the crime - alleged crime. But it's important. Right.
MARTIN: Well, the other piece that makes me think about it, Ruben Is for you, as a person of Latino descent who sometimes takes unpopular positions and the opprobrium that you sometimes get...
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Yeah. Right. Sure.
MARTIN: ...for your positions, I do think of that too in the sense of what does it take to sort of stand up and look at your own community and say I dont agree with you and I'm going to challenge you.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Yeah. Yeah.
MARTIN: And I think that there's a measure of courage, if I could just say that to you. I dont know. Arsalan, what about you?
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Well, thank you. I appreciate that.
MARTIN: Youre the civil rights attorney here.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Yeah. And, you know, obviously, you know, Harper Lee's, you know, depiction of Atticus Finch is something that has sort of transcended throughout the last 50 years. I think, you know, the movie adaptation is something that probably, you know, resonates more with, you know, the younger generation, you know, in terms of seeing how Harper Lee's words, you know, transformed into Hollywood and sent that same resonating message that Ruben mentioned.
MARTIN: Kevin, you had something.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Well, I just think race and justice always goes together and we need not look back to the book coming out, but just look to the anger and frustration going on in Oakland, California right now.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Yeah.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: I mean this is just an image and a discussion...
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Or, for that matter, in Arizona.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: And in Arizona. Exactly.
MARTIN: Eric, what about you? Anything you want to add?
Mr. DEGGANS: Well, you know, what's interesting for me is I've got three children. I've got three girls still living with me and I've got - two of them are teenagers. The two teenagers have read the book and weve all watched the film together several times. And, you know, they have their wonderful friendships and, you know, cross race. But we live in the South and I want them to remember that there was a different time and that things worked differently once upon a time.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Right. Right.
Mr. DEGGANS: And that's a wonderful lesson. And also for them to learn that there was some white people, even back then, who didnt totally buy that line and resisted it. So its an important lesson and something for kids to know that things weren't always the way they are now.
MARTIN: Jimi, final thoughts from you?
Mr. IZRAEL: I hope Harper Lee, as she gets, well, you know, she's no spring chicken. I hope she decides to open up a little bit more about her creative process in writing the book, you know, because she's an infamous recluse. So that's how I feel about it.
MARTIN: Happy Birthday.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Happy Birthday.
MARTIN: Jimi Izrael is a freelance journalist and author of the book, "The Denzel Principle." He joined us from member station WCPN in Cleveland. Ruben Navarrette is a syndicated columnist who writes for the San Diego Union Tribune and CNN.com. He joined us from San Diego. Eric Deggans is TV and media critic for the St. Petersburg Times. He joined us from the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida.
And here with me in our Washington, D.C. studio, Arsalan Iftikhar, the founder of muslimguy.com. Kevin Blackistone, a national columnist for the Internet sports blog AOL FanHouse and a panelist on ESPN's "Around The Horn."
Thank you all so much.
Mr. IFTIKHAR: Peace.
Mr. BLACKISTONE: Thank you.
Mr. NAVARRETTE: Thank you.
Mr. IZRAEL: Yup-yup.
MARTIN: And that's our program for today. Im Michel Martin. This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Lets talk more on Monday.
(Soundbite of music)
Copyright © 2010 National Public Radio®. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to National Public Radio. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment