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Do you know what the practice of redlining is? How much longer prison sentences do Black and brown citizens serve in relation to their white counterparts for the same crime? Are you aware of the disproportionate toll that COVID-19 has taken on minority communities? If you have not started thinking about the answers to those questions — or are coming across those questions for the first time — continue to read and, we hope, listen to our latest and most important podcast yet.
A number of sports leagues came back from their pandemic-induced interruptions this past summer with raising awareness of institutionalized racism a bigger priority than at any point in this generation, and our latest edition of The A Lot of Sports Talk Podcast hits on some of those very issues with a conversation with New York City public defender Eliza Orlins. The interview, which took place in June in the midst of the nationwide protests sparked by the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor (among other recent and countless incidents), we asked Eliza, who has spent over a decade in her position as public defender, to describe some of the many ways the justice system marginalizes black and brown communities while many others do not see the same justice for their crimes and/or profit from the prison industrial complex.
As programs such as “Defund the Police” gained traction during the summer, we felt a need to separate the framing of that topic with the actual definition and analysis of what the idea entails, and Eliza goes into further detail of what it would mean and how it would benefit relations between law enforcement and the citizens it swore to protect. Toward the end of the interview, we asked Orlins about what motivated her to throw her name into the hat and run for district attorney in New York County, as the Democratic primary for the race occurs in March of 2021. Also, Orlins goes into detail on a couple of stories involving clients that she has represented in New York whose cases are a microcosm of the nationwide plight that Black Americans of all genders face and are continuing to speak out against.
To learn more about Eliza and her campaign, this link will take you to her homepage.
Along with hoping that you enjoy the podcast, we are encouraging those of you who are serious about educating oneself and making a tangible difference in the fight against social injustice — but struggling to find a starting point — to click this link, an anti-racism resource guide for white people. Please enjoy the podcast, and leave us any and all comments that you have. Click here to go to the A Lot of Sports Talk podcast page on Apple Podcasts, or click here to find the podcast on Google Play Music. From there, you can download this show as well as subscribe to our podcast page and receive new episodes on your device the second it is posted. You can also open iTunes, and in the Podcasts section, type in “The ‘A Lot of Sports Talk’ Podcast” in the search window to find our shows.
Interview Order: Intro (0:00 – 9:32); Eliza Orlins (9:36 – 39:17); Wrap-up (39:25 – 44:13)
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