Toni Smith-Thompson Travels Full Circle

Toni Smith-Thompson Travels Full Circle

The activist  joins the show to talk about a huge recent development in her story.

Dave Zirin
Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

In 2003, a Manhattanville College basketball player named Toni Smith caused a media frenzy when she turned her back on the National Anthem during President Bush’s wars in the Middle East. It was not received well. Now, two decades later, Toni Smith-Thompson was the commencement speaker at the Manhattanville graduation and received an honorary doctorate. We speak to Toni Smith-Thompson about that journey.

In this episode, we have Choice Words about the silence from male athletes when it comes to Brittney Griner’s unjust detainment in Russia. We also have a Just Stand Up award for the US women’s soccer team for being victorious in their landmark suit for equal pay. And we have a Just Sit Down award for sports bloviator Doug Gottlieb, who seems unable to recognize what real racism looks like, let alone a history book. All this and more on this week’s show!

Subscribe to The Nation to support all of our podcasts: thenation.com/podcastsubscribe.

Support The Nation’s June Fundraising Campaign

With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.

As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.

The Nation elevates progressive ideas, movements, and elected officials achieving real change across the country into the national conversation. At the same time, our journalists are exposing how crypto and AI-funded super PACs are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to knock out candidates they oppose, reporting on the devastating impact of the Supreme Court’s evisceration of the Voting Rights Act, and sounding the alarm on attempts by red states to quickly redraw electoral maps, disenfranchising Southern Black voters.

We can play this critical role because of support from readers like you. This June, we’re raising $20,000 to power The Nation’s independent journalism in the run-up to November’s immensely consequential elections.

It’s in our power to build a more just society, and your support at this critical moment brings us closer to that bold vision. I hope you’ll donate today.

Onward,

Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation

Dave ZirinDave Zirin is the sports editor at The Nation. He is the author of 11 books on the politics of sports. He is also the coproducer and writer of the new documentary Behind the Shield: The Power and Politics of the NFL.


x