ESPN will present An Undefeated Conversation: Athletes, Responsibility, and Violence - a discourse on athletes, guns, violence and law enforcement - on Thursday, Aug. 25 at 9:30 p.m. ET. The 90-minute program will be taped earlier that day during a town hall at the South Side YMCA of Metro Chicago from 2 - 4 p.m. ET (1 - 3 p.m. CT). Jemele Hill, co-host of ESPN2's popular weekday sports discussion program His & Hers, will anchor the show on television and moderate the forum.
The event will include four distinctive panels featuring current and retired athletes, executives, coaches, sports commentators, community activists, a minister, a historian, and more. ESPN.com and
ESPN The Magazine columnist Robert "Scoop" Jackson, a Chicago native, will narrate vignettes and taped openings for select segments in the program. An audience of invited guests from the community including local leaders will participate in the forum.
An Undefeated Conversation: Athletes, Responsibility, and Violence is the first in a recurring series of conversations, forums and debates that will be convened by ESPN's "The Undefeated" to address topical issues at the confluence of sports and race.
"Sports are great bridge builders in our country, bringing together people who think differently and live differently," said Kevin Merida,
ESPN Senior Vice President and Editor-in-Chief of The Undefeated. "Athletes, in greater numbers, have been saying they want to use their influence to drive social change. We hope this townhall will help push that conversation forward."
Panelists scheduled to appear include: Chicago Bulls' point guard Rajon Rondo; Basketball Hall-of-Famer and Chicago-native Isiah Thomas; retired NFL player and
ESPN Sports Nation co-host Marcellus Wiley; Chicago White Sox Executive Vice President Kenny Williams;
ESPN commentator and Chicago native Michael Wilbon; Chicago-based Baptist pastor Jolinda Wade, the mother of NBA star Dwyane Wade; The Undefeated senior writers Lonnae O'Neal (Chicago native) and Clinton Yates; Stephanie Brown, Chicago mother who lost her son to gun violence; University of Illinois at Chicago history professor Elizabeth Todd-Breland; and former MLB player and
ESPN analyst Doug Glanville. (More panelists will be announced later)
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