Midday Culture Connections with Dr. Sheri Parks: Jay-Z's NFL Controversy; the ----1619 Project----

On this month's edition of Midday Culture Connections, Tom is joined again by Dr. Sheri Parks, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the Maryland Institute College of Art. As the NFL marks its 100th anniversary, controversy continues to surround the league.Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, remains unemployed three years after he began his kneeling protest against police brutality and racism in America, and the NFL's new partnership with hip hop mogul Jay-Z has raised eyebrows, rather than hopes, about the league’s commitment to addressing a history of racial discrimination.Milton Kent, host of WYPR's Sports at Large and a professor of journalism at Morgan State University, joins us for a conversation about how the dynamics of race and power are playing out, off the field. Then, Tom and Dr. Parks discuss the New York Times 1619 Project, a multimedia, multi-part reframing of the history of slavery in America. The Project has generated a backlash by some leading conservatives. Four hundred years after the arrival of the first enslaved Africans, how does the legacy of slavery fit into our historical memory? This conversation was livestreamed on WYPR's Facebook Page, and you can watch the video here.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.