Welcome to Edge of Sports, the podcast. I'm Dave Ziron. This week we are talking about Alton Sterling,

Philando Castile, and the sniper shootings in Dallas. And I'm going to speak to sports writer Scoop

Jackson of ESPN, former editor of Slam magazine, about these issues. And I've got a just

stand-up award this week, a very special one to give to six

athletes who really raise the bar in responding to this crisis.

But I actually want to start the show by reading something that Scoop Jackson sent to me

over email.

It hasn't been published yet, and it was 1,800 words when he sent it to me.

So with his permission, I cut it down to about 800 words, and I wanted to read it to kick off the show because it gives a pretext to our discussion.

These are the words of Scoop Jackson.

Thank you. discussion. These are the words of Scoop Jackson. Once they became connected, the spark was lit. The minute, I'm sorry, I forgot the times in which

we live. The second, the media, both social and mass,

packaged Alton Sterlings and Philando Castile's deaths at the hands and guns of non-black police

officers. It became the all too proverbial straw that broke the elephant in the room's back,

which led to the breaking of this country's heart. One death in Baton Rouge, one in Falcon Heights, Minnesota,

five in Dallas, all senseless, all inexcusable, none random, or by mistake. Yet depending on who

you speak to, interact with, or share beliefs, all unnecessary, but understood. Not one of these

killings should make sense to any of us, but unfortunately to too

many they do. Many of those on the police force disagree with, yet understand the deaths of

Sterling and Castile. Many black people totally and categorically disagree with the root

Micah Xavier Johnson took to retaliate against

the police climate that too many black people have been living in for far too long, but many of

...