IN CONVERSATION: HANK WILLIS THOMAS AND BOMANI JONES

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  Joyce Clifford

  Thank you and Hank Willis Thomas for the compelling and very interesting discussion on the Phillips Museum website that I watched last night. I look forward to listening to it again and hearing more from both of you young men in the future. 40 years ago I was on the sidelines of collegiate athletics due to my husband's job as an academic advisor to athletes. At the time it was apparent that very few people saw, never mind understood, the contradictions in collegiate sports, particularly in football and basketball, and most didn't want to. I remember watching either the NFL combine or the NFL draft on then fairly new ESPN and being appalled by how closely it mirrored a slave auction. Those poor kids in their skivvies, it was shocking, really. So when I saw that picture with the cotton picker on one side and the football player on the other it really resonated and evoked that long-put-aside memory. btw, I also remember 1 commentator being a little embarrassed (maybe Steve Levy, really not sure now) but none of the others skipped a beat. Keep up the good work!