Ep. 55: Dr. Harry Edwards: The Devil Is In The Delivery (Part 1)

After years of concealing evidence about the dangers of head trauma, the NFL settled a class-action lawsuit with former players… and employed “race norming” as a criteria, a practice racist in both its premise and systemic impact. Dr. Edwards, who regards race norming as part of the “medical apartheid” with which Black Americans have long been confronted, explains why its revelation could spark locker-room revolts and why the devil is not in the details, but in the delivery, as the league attempts to rectify it. In tracing his own journey, from an impoverished upbringing in East St. Louis to pronounced academic achievement and high-profile Civil Rights activism, the esteemed sociologist addresses the personal danger he has faced as a high-profile target--and a recent brush with a would-be assassin’s spray of bullets. Edwards also tells us why Donald Trump was a symptom, rather than a root cause, of the racism that fueled his presidency, and how women are imperative in the fight to conquer climate change, gun violence and other societal ills.