A Quote by Hakeem Olajuwon
Sports plays an interesting role in society. The greatest sportsmen have platforms to speak out on issues and really affect how the public thinks about some very critical issues facing the world.
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The Bahamas has a lot to say about the issues that affect it - the specific issues that also affect other communities. It offers a unique level of looking at, of entering a story. It's just like a mini-world.
Right after undergrad, I started doing low-level work on health issues in sub-Saharan Africa, and what struck me was the disconnect between how people in New York would speak about some of the issues people were facing. At the time, 2006-ish, there were a number of big media campaigns to raise awareness about HIV in sub-Saharan Africa.
So when we're really addressing issues like poverty, you can't do that without addressing the real driver of some of those, which is stable homes, families. So that's why to me those issues are important. They're not frivolous. They're critical economic issues.
When you start talking about same-sex marriage, you start talking about abortion, and I think those issues are very very important and very interesting and very right for us to talk about, but when we allow those issues to cannibalize all other issues we find ourselves homeless while we debate about it.
I am really passionate about transparency and trans rights issues, so I embrace these opportunities to speak. I try to stay in touch with those who are prominent in both the trans and transparency movements, but more often than not, I am speaking out on a particular issue on my own. I certainly hope that people listen to me and think about these issues. But regardless of whether I had a public venue to speak in, I would still be passionate about them.
I don't much like being a public figure, because so often how people appear is not how they really are, and I think one of the issues about our society is that we make judgments about people on the basis of very flimsy evidence.
The choices and decisions we make in terms of how we use the land ultimately affect our very DNA. Environmental issues are life issues.
I think that language matters. I think that people who are in public life have an opportunity to help the public understand issues and understand the urgency of issues. And to that extent, I think it is important how issues are talked about.
Some of the issues with identity politics are critical moral issues. But we've got to show America that we don't have a plan just on these so-called identity politics issues, but that we have a plan for the economy, that we know how to provide for a strong national defense.
There are some very real areas where working together is critical, whether it's talking about public policy issues, enforcement, or how to work together to facilitate new business opportunities. The RIAA has gotten much more involved in that.
If you struggle with issues of documentation, issues of your health care, issues of whether or not you'll be punished for being open about who you are, those things affect how you can be employed or not employed, how you can get an apartment or not get an apartment, how it is that you feel free or not free.
We need to start identifying the triggers that aggravate mental health issues in our society - bullying, social media negativity and anxiety, gender based violence, substance abuse, stigma around issues such as maternal issues, etc., and we need to speak up about these more and get to the source of the problems.
We collaborate with other countries on issues like public health and climate change because we understand these issues affect our collective welfare.
This 2016 election better be about the future, not the past. It better be about the issues our nation and the world is facing today, not simply the issues we once faced.
These are old issues. Female power, misogyny, the treatment of women, how you make meaning in the world. And these are all issues that I've been thinking about and writing about for a very long time.
We are the greatest country in the world but we are facing serious issues.
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