March 17, 2025 • 44 mins
In this thought-provoking episode of Broken Brains with Bruce Parkman, we take a deep dive into the long-term effects of brain trauma in contact sports, with a particular focus on CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) and its disproportionate impact on Black athletes.
Joining host Bruce Parkman is Alexis “Lexi” Alston, a dedicated pre-med student and advocate, who is passionate about raising awareness around CTE, brain trauma, and the socioeconomic factors influencing youth sports participation.
🔹 Why Are Black Athletes at Greater Risk? – Exploring the systemic issues and cultural factors that increase CTE risks for young athletes in underserved communities.
🔹 The Role of Football & the Need for Reform – How youth sports culture shapes communities and what can be done to make football safer for future generations.
🔹 Mothers on the Frontlines of Change – Why education, advocacy, and informed parental decisions are crucial in protecting young athletes from long-term brain trauma.
🔹 Breaking Barriers in Organ Donation – Tackling the cultural stigmas in the Black community and the importance of understanding how CTE impacts brain health and mental well-being.
This episode is a must-listen for athletes, parents, medical professionals, and sports advocates seeking to understand the risks, push for reforms, and protect the next generation from the devastating effects of repetitive brain trauma.
👉 Tune in now and join the movement for safer sports! Subscribe, like, and share on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts to help spread awareness and drive change.
Broken Brains with Bruce Parkman is sponsored by The Mac Parkman Foundation
Support The Mac Parkman Foundation by donating today!
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=CR24MY2GDUCZL
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Repetitive Brain Trauma
01:28 Meet Lexi: A Passion for CTE Awareness
04:06 The Disproportionate Impact on Black Athletes
08:49 Socioeconomic Factors in Sports Participation
12:35 The Role of Football in Communities
17:02 Addressing Safety in Youth Football
22:19 Towards a Safer Future for Football
23:08 Cultural Perspectives on Organ Donation
24:31 Awareness and Education in Sports
25:54 The Impact of Contact Sports on Mental Health
27:43 The Role of Mothers in Sports Decisions
29:52 Community Initiatives and Education
31:11 Passion and Advocacy in Research
33:03 Making Football Safer for Future Generations
39:09 Current Research and Future Aspirations
https://www.mpfact.com/headsmart-app/
Follow Lexi on LinkedIn and on social media today!
LinkedIn: Alexis Alston
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisalston4/
Instagram: almostdoctoralston
https://www.instagram.com/almostdoctoralston/
Produced by Security Halt Media
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Broken
Brains with your host, bruceParkman, sponsored by the Mack
Parkman Foundation, where welook at the issues of repetitive
brain trauma whether it'srepetitive head impacts from
contact sports or repetitiveblast exposure for our military
veterans and we look what theseimpacts are doing to the brains
of our veterans, kids andathletes and the outgoing
(00:35):
torrent of mental illness that'saffecting our society up to the
point of suicidality.
And the reason is that theseissues are not understood,
they're not trained and they'repoorly understood by
stakeholders in our children'sand athletes' lives wives,
mothers, kids, as well as ourmilitary veterans and spouses.
So every time we're out there,we're looking for advocates and
(00:55):
researchers and scientists andauthors, journalists, patients
and fathers and mothers ofchildren that are no longer here
to talk to you about theseissues and how they're impacting
, how they've impacted them andhow they could be impacting you.
And you might not even know it,because you must be informed.
(01:16):
That's the whole purpose ofthis whole podcast is to get you
informed on these issues so youcan make better choices for you
yourself, your kids and yourloved ones.
Today we have a remarkable younglady, ms Alexis, or Alexi
Alston, and she's attending JMUUniversity up there in the state
of Virginia.
She's currently a seniorpre-medical student aspiring to
continue her medical educationin Boston.
(01:37):
As she works towards her goalof becoming a family medicine
physician, since the age of 16,she's been actively involved in
CTE research and awareness, witha particular focus on the
intersectionality of blackathletes and their height and
risk of CTE.
Alexi is passionate aboutspreading awareness and bringing
this knowledge back to her homecommunity.
In her free time she loves toattend rock concerts, going for
(02:01):
runs and spending quality timewith her cat, keith.
That's a pretty unique name fora cat, so Alexi is Alexi, okay,
or Alexi?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
what do you want?
No, alexi is great, alexi'sgreat All right.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
So, Alexi, welcome to the show and give us some
background, because I think Iremember you from our conference
last year.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Hi Bruce, thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited and passionatejust to be able to talk to you
and really just spread awareness.
As my bio said, and thank youso much for that introduction
I've been passionate about CTEsince a high school project, my
junior year of high school,where I discovered it for a
psychology class and I wastalking to some of the football
(02:40):
players from my high school andI'm thinking a lot of them kind
of line up with these symptoms.
This just isn't right.
And then, moving forward, whenI went to, as my time passed at
JMU, being able to reallyunderstand what CTE is and what
it looks like, and then I wasdoing the data for actually the
research that I was able topresent last year in Tampa at
(03:01):
the conference, and I wasthinking this isn't really
something that's being talkedabout and I was kind of looking
for where the black athletes are.
I was really looking for youknow where that gap is, and I'm
thinking, okay, I'm scrollingthrough the Google page, okay,
where's the rest of it?
And there was no rest of it.
And so just kind of spreadingawareness to a gap and a
(03:21):
specific group of people thatseem to be impacted a little bit
more but not really talkedabout as much.
That just kind of is part of mywhy when it comes to medicine
and so moving forward, you know,becoming a family medicine
physician where I can reallyjust make an impact, starting at
a very young age, and thoseplayers and my patients that may
have a concussion, I thinkthat's just what I'm here on
earth to do and I just thank youguys so much for giving me this
(03:44):
platform to continue justtalking about and just spread
awareness to those who reallyneed it the most.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Absolutely no, and I think it's fascinating that you
became involved with such acomplex subject at such an early
age and decided to follow this,because I'm 63, and I'm just
starting to figure out what mypurpose is.
Actually.
I'm 62.
My wife tells me I exaggerate,but I'm starting just figuring
out what my purpose is.
So I mean, your passion isobviously about athletes of the
(04:14):
African-American race, and whydo you feel that they're more
disproportionately affected thanother, than than other
nationalities?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I mean starting off.
I mean it all can go back tosystemic racism.
I mean something that's alwaysbeen kind of an underlying topic
when it comes to just Americaas a whole.
But really looking into it, Ifeel like there's a variety of
factors that goes into play.
I recently just finished mysenior capstone that really
talks about these topicsspecifically with high school
and collegiate football playersand you know a socioeconomic
(04:46):
background whether they're thefirst one you know in their
family to go to college and theycome from a lower background,
lower, you know, economic class,which means they have to play
football because it has to helpthem get to the next level.
Or even, you know, on the NFLleague, on the NFL level, you
know they have to keep playing,not just because this is their
passion but because it helps outtheir family at home and it's
(05:06):
their only way to making it out.
I mean talk to these players andknowing them personally,
football gave them a male figure, a male role model in their
life that they may have beenlacking.
I mean football also gave thema place.
Instead of therapy, they wouldgo to the field and take their
you know frustrations out there,or just a sense of camaraderie,
a sense of belonging.
I mean there's a lot that goesinto play.
(05:27):
I mean it all goes back down toracism.
But I mean the bottom line isthey're playing more football
because they have to and notbecause you know they want to,
but they're playing morefootball as a way to survive and
of course we all know that morefootball exposure, more playing
time, unfortunately you knowthose hits, those concussions
over that extended period oftime which does increase their
(05:48):
CTE risk later on in theircareer.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
No, that's a very good point Now.
So your point is not that, asAfricans versus other, you know
football affects them all thesame, that's not the point.
But your point is, because ofthe socioeconomic disadvantages
that a lot of African-Americanscome from, that they see
football as a way out.
And that's a very, verypoignant point when we talk
(06:16):
about this, because we wrestlewith this a lot, you know at the
foundation because you know itshouldn't be so.
Know at the foundation becauseyou know it shouldn't be so, and
that is, I think, more or less.
It's kind of.
To me it's more or less a myththat's propagated, that and I
think it denigrates our AfricanAmerican population.
Like, oh, you can't be a doctor, you can't be a nurse, you
(06:36):
can't be this, you have to goplay football.
And I don't agree with that atall.
I think a lot of these youngmen are coerced or pushed into
this, maybe by their parents,maybe by society and maybe by.
You know the bling, the bling.
Hey, man, you know if you'rewalking around.
You know Dion Jones, dionSanders son's driving around.
You know a six hundred thousanddollar Bentley truck, right, I
(06:58):
mean, there's some.
You know who doesn't want thislifestyle.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Right, but to your point.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I think that there is pressure put on these young men
to go the football route and tostay there when they're no
longer interested or passionateabout the sport.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Exactly, and I agree with that wholeheartedly.
I mean it's very rare that youknow we see black male athletes
in.
You know the safer sports, theswimming, the tennis.
You know the sports wherethere's less, the baseball even.
I mean, even though we haveblack baseball greats, it's very
rare that you see a lot ofblack players be rising to
stardom when it comes to the MLBversus the NFL or NBA.
(07:37):
And a lot of times that comesfrom again where these black
players come from, where theirhomes are.
Because I know, for me, at leastin my school district, I mean,
the only two sports that youcould count on for certain were
basketball and football.
Other than that, you know therewas a very low chance for them
to get out and play.
And even you know, withbasketball and football, or even
football specifically, you knowyou'd have to go and pay for
(07:58):
these expensive camps and itadds up a lot.
And a lot of the times you knowthe parents don't have this
money for that or they can'tafford to take off work to go
and, like, introduce their kidsto other avenues and other
athletic avenues.
I mean one example of this, whois very much the exception that
really stands out to me, is theformer NFL player, dr Myron Roll
(08:19):
.
I mean, he played at FSU and hehad a very, you know, brief
stint in the NFL, but he wasalso a Rhodes Scholar when he
was in college and so it'spossible out there for and now
he's a neurosurgeon and it'spossible for, you know, players
to thrive academically andathletically, especially in the
sport of football.
But it's very much my role oncein a lifetime, you know dime a
(08:42):
dozen kind of thing, and I thinkyou know part of the Matt
Parkman Foundation part, youknow, while we're even having
this conversation, so that youknow that can stop being such,
you know, an abnormality.
It can totally become the normand it's going to take time, but
I think it's, I know it'spossible.
It's just getting the educationout there really.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
You know, I often think that you know, like here
in Manatee County we convertedthe local police activity league
from tackle to flag and youknow we discussed, you know, and
of course a lot of parents arekind of fired up.
But you know we found out thatflag football is not available
here in our inner city, that is,out in the suburbs, where you
(09:21):
know indigenous, you knoweconomically challenged
populations, and these arelargely Latino and there's a lot
of challenged white populationshere in our town, here in
Florida, but they can't get outthere, they don't have bus
service, they don't have, youknow, vehicles, they can't, you
know, just go out there and look.
Yet tackle football.
They're teaching boxing tothese children.
(09:44):
Eight-year-olds are boxing andthat's another big problem,
especially, you know, in oursocioeconomic.
That's another sport that'spromoted to, you know, heavily
minority communities, right, Imean, that's a way out of the
hood.
Yet we're punching these kids inthe head and I think you're on
to a huge problem here andbecause I feel, I feel it's
(10:06):
grooming, I feel it's targeting,I feel that we are being made
to accept the fact that you knowthat our ethnic minorities have
this only way out.
And I hear it over and overagain and I constantly tell
people I said you aredenigrating your child If you do
not think that that kid can bea doctor.
And we have so many programs toget loans to get up there.
(10:28):
You don't have to be wealthy togo to school anymore, okay, you
just, you know, have to desirelike you did, right.
I mean, you chose the path of aphysician, right, and what's
your background?
If I may ask, my background.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I'm a first-generation college student
.
Neither of my parents went tocollege.
My parents went straight fromhigh school to the workforce.
I am a triplet, so I have twoother twin sisters that are also
in college and my parentsworked very hard I mean 20
something years working, youknow, in the manufacturing
industry to be able to providefor us.
But I am at J&B on scholarship.
I know I would not be able tomy twins, we would not be able
(11:04):
to go to school, especiallythree kids at the same time
without scholarship.
And I do have an older sisterand she was able to graduate
college, but again, she hadloans and scholarships.
And my high school back home, Imean it was predominantly Black.
When I say it was 99.8% Black,it was all Black students.
That's very Black, I mean, andvery, very black.
(11:26):
And then the football teampredominantly black.
We had our one whitequarterback but all black
football teams in all fourschools and my school district
back home.
Very similar demographics.
I mean we were not and I lovethat is my hometown.
Shout out Hampton Roads.
Shout out Hampton Virginia.
Hampton Roads that is myhometown.
(11:48):
Shout out Hampton Rose, shoutout Hampton Virginia.
But but I mean, I saw itfirsthand and that is why I am
so passionate about it, becauseI mean they're telling these
things, you're either going tobe on the football team, and
you'd be great, or you're goingto be on the street or in jail,
or just the worst thingimaginable.
There is no in between, whereit's, yes, you can play football
for now, and that can be thestepping stone for you to, you
(12:09):
know, get some, you know, begrounded and really learn some
discipline.
And let's still further youacademically, it's either you
play football and then you justkeep your 2.0 or 1.0, whatever
the minimum bare minimum GPArequirement is, and then that's
it, and we just hope and praythat.
And then we all know thestatistics.
I mean not a lot of high schoolkids even make it to that next
(12:31):
level.
So then it's like what are theydoing this for?
Doing this?
For they don't have any backupplan, except for I'm going to
make it to the league, and noone is saying, ok, but let's
really.
You know there's other optionsto greatness than that.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
So, ma'am, you need to meet.
I've got a senator here inFlorida that's actively blocking
our legislation, corey Simon,and he has come out saying that
this is how I got out and thisis how you know
African-Americans have to getout, and he is blocking any
legislation to inform parents onthe risk of damage to their
child's brains and, of course,and he's involved with Pop
Warner.
And so I'm like come on, youknow, senator Simon, I'm talking
(13:09):
to a lawyer lobbyist.
Like you know, this is not theway out for our children.
They have brains, they can usethem and they're every good as
good a brain as God made inother nationalities.
So we need to provide thesechildren a chance and to give
them the hope where this is notthe only way out.
It's a fun way.
(13:30):
Everybody likes to play sports.
I'm all about it, but we've gotchildren right now playing at
sixth.
Pop Warner is actively promotedand PAL are only in the big
cities.
You don't have PAL in a lot oftowns.
And guess who plays in theseleagues?
All right, our economicallychallenged citizens.
And they keep playing because,you know, not only are they
(13:51):
playing, the dads might haveplayed, or the dads live in
vicariously through them, or youknow, the dads just don't know
and they really don't care.
It's kind of cool, right?
So yeah.
But I think you're, you'reabsolutely on an awesome mission
to educate, as a, as a, as a,as an African-American female,
(14:14):
you know that has the power andthe credibility of being from
that race to go ahead andeducate these folks on this
issue.
And you're a shining example ofwhat you can do when you want,
when you understand that thereis no limit, okay, that you can
do what you, what you want to do, and and if it's coming down to
(14:36):
hurting your children, let'swait.
Let's promote flag football andall this Exactly.
Did you have a lot of like whenmy son was in high school.
We had female wrestlers.
They were letting the girlsplay football.
They weren't letting them playfootball, but there are other
leagues where they allow thewomen to play football.
(14:58):
I mean that weight disparity.
It does not sit well with me.
I mean, what's your position onjust women in these men's
sports, other than like you knowwhat I'm saying like physical
sports where you're're getting ahundred pound female lining up
against 175, 200 pound man.
(15:20):
It's just.
I don't think it's safe to tellyou the truth.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
It's truthfully not.
I mean we can take everything,we can take the political
correctness, we can take thesocietal things out of it.
I mean just by my biologicallyI mean I am a hundred pounds, I
would not, you would never catchme.
I guess, proving a point orpursuing my passion in that way,
(15:43):
by playing up against men, ifanything, I would just see it's
safer.
I mean, even like wrestling, Iwill say, for example, with
wrestling they have the weightclasses.
You know they have the.
I wouldn't go up against a girltwo times.
I saw they put me with someoneelse, my size for comparison.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So I do understand why you know, and I'm you know,
the women that are out thereplaying the football, the female
kickers.
That is so cool.
That is so, you know, bad.
I'll give you that, I'll giveyou that, I'll give you a kick,
Me personally.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I would not let my.
I just know me personally.
I would not let my daughter dothat.
I would not let my daughter goout and risk her brain.
I wouldn't let my son do it.
I wouldn't let my son do it.
So I just I don't see ifthey're not playing up against,
it's not a fair playing field,essentially.
I mean I don't think it's fairwhen they have the, I mean
technically, I mean even forhigh school, you know you'll
have kids that are a little bitunderdeveloped.
(16:27):
They'll have the 113-pound,skinny-pound, you know kid and
varsity, because he has to begoing up against players that
are again now D1 prospects thatare like five-star athletes, 300
pounds, and they're going towhat?
Because of a gender thing.
I mean truthfully, in thefuture, in a dream world where
we don't get rid of all football, we can still have it.
(16:48):
I mean high school footballshould be instead of JV
University, weight class shouldbe, you know, kind of a limit
there to say, if you can evenplay if it's even safe.
At that point you know the coachis straight up, say no, you
can't make the team until you,you know, bulk up, or but now
the way you know things arelooking, that may not be a
conversation a player can havewith the coach or vice versa,
(17:08):
but I just don't think that it'ssafe at that point.
I mean just it's not.
I mean we see the speed thatthey're being hit at now and the
kids are getting bigger andbigger.
I don't know what's in theschool lunch now or what's in
the mail, but these kids don'tlook like kids anymore.
It's like car crashes everysingle day.
It's just insane.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
My boy was lined up against guys with mustaches, I
was like dude and they just ranover the whole team.
I'm like I said, son, what wasup with number 75?
He.
I'm like I said, son, what wasup with number 75?
He goes.
Dad, that guy had a mustachelike a full one.
He's like a sophomore orsomething right.
But so I mean, where do we,where do you think we can start?
I mean, you have identified andyou vocalized a problem.
(17:50):
This is very, very hard formost people to understand that
this is absolutely ingrained inour socioeconomically challenged
communities, that this you gotto play football.
Whether you're black, if you'rein a Latino town, or a white
guy, you got to play football.
You got to get out of here andand there's no really.
(18:10):
And then you know, becausethey're tough towns, they
practice tough, they play allthe time.
And here we have the NFL, whohas no practices during, you
know, their football season.
We have the Ivy League collegesno practices during the contact
season.
Yet a lot of colleges and allof our high schools and Pop
Warner practice every time theyget together on the field and
(18:33):
their football season is fivedays a week.
Why do we do this?
We have the nfl setting theexample.
How do we get that down in thename of, you know, just saving
brain health?
What are your thoughts there?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I guess my first step , the first step with everything
, would just be addressing aproblem and everyone being on
the same page when it comes tothis problem, and so if we're
not all on the same page withthat, really nothing will get
done.
So the first thing, when itcomes to this problem, and so if
we're not all on the same pagewith that, really nothing will
get done so the first thing isjust going to be adjusting the
problem and then, immediatelyafter saying my goal, right now,
I can't change the world andI'm not getting rid of football.
That is with every presentationI do, I always say I am not
(19:10):
trying to get rid of footballbecause when you go into those
communities, the black community, you know the socioeconomic
challenge communities.
If your first thought is I amsmarter than you, I have these
degrees, you don't.
I think football is bad, I'mgoing to get rid of it the very
next thing they're going to dois walk away and say this lady
is not in touch.
I don't care that she's my skincolor.
Skin folk isn't kin folks.
She does not know what she'stalking about and ignore they're
(19:32):
going to.
So the first thing is justsaying I'm just here to educate
and I'm not trying to get rid offootball Because, truthfully,
I've seen the good that footballhas had on my community.
I've seen personal people Iknow personally they would not
be where they are withoutfootball.
And the second thing would justbe education.
And I say educate the Blackcommunity specifically on these
dangers at that young age.
(19:53):
But then it immediately goes myfuture physician, brain and
scientist brain kicks in and sayokay, well, I'm looking and I'm
seeing thousands of CTE studies, but I'm not seeing that same
number reflected in thosemarginalized groups.
So then it's saying educate notthose who look like me, but
educating those who don't looklike me, the ones that are, you
know, the high reps that aremaking these decisions now, that
(20:15):
are having the million billiondollar studies right now, that
are actively practicing medicinenow, that are actively seeing
patients who have concussionsnow, educating them because they
can do that right now, here now, and then going back, kind of
working in reverse I guess, thengoing back and saying, okay,
black community, okay, you knowmarginalized group, okay, you
know poor communities.
(20:36):
Here's the dangers right now.
Here's what we see.
Here's the data.
Statistically, football is adangerous sport.
There's no safety helmet orsafety collar.
There's no way, truthfully, tomake tackle football an entirely
safe sport, because I thinkwe've all seen that.
You know, with the safetyhelmets and safety collars,
(20:56):
safer football equals harderhits and that's just always been
the correlation.
You know, we get something safer, then immediately the players
get bigger, the hits get harder,to kind of prove a point.
I mean, it's nothing buttestosterone flowing 24-7 in
these groups.
It's just going to happen.
We just have to be realisticwith ourselves here, going back
and saying, ok, we can't makefootball the safest in this way
(21:18):
and we can't make tacklefootball a safe thing.
So then let's look at, ok, fromthese age groups, how about,
instead of tackle football, youknow, at such a young age, let's
lean towards flat football.
And then, you know, migrate totackle football, Just kind of
giving baby steps, just kind ofnot breadcrumbing, but just kind
of one step at a time and kindof handholding the entire way
(21:38):
and saying, okay, we won't giveit a tackle football, but let's
kind of gear you towards thatwhen you're in tackle football.
Kind of fostering, and that's mygoal as a future physician.
I want to be able.
And why I'm going into familymedicine?
Because I want to be the doctorthat fosters an environment
where a player says, doc, I knowthis is going to be on my
record.
A player says, doc, I know thisis going to be on my record, I
know I may have to sit.
(21:59):
You know, the next few gamesout I have a concussion and then
I then say, okay, let's look atit further.
How many truthfully are you nottelling me about and really
having that you knowrelationship and say you're not
going to be in trouble and I'mnot going to stop you from
playing the game, but thank youfor telling me and we'll move on
from there.
And that's the biggest thing wecan do is just letting them
know that at least me personally, me just letting them know I'm
(22:19):
not in my lifetime.
Football is not going away.
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
It'll never go away.
It's a religion.
You can't change the world.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, and so you know , because there's some
scientists out there saying,okay, we're just going to get
rid of football and CTE is goingto be cured and it's going to
be rainbows and sunshine.
That is not at all the case.
That will not happen anytimesoon.
So just saying, okay, we can'tchange football, but how can
each step of the way we can makeit safer for everyone involved?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
For everyone, and I think you know one of the issues
that we have.
So let me ask you a questionand I'll have to check the ratio
of white to black in the CTEgrain bank.
I'm not sure.
So you're saying and I've reada lot of studies and you're
right, it really I don't know.
I guess they do havedemographics broken out in those
(23:03):
studies.
So you're saying that a lot ofthe studies were done with
higher socioeconomic footballteams that don't have a higher
percentage of African-Americanathletes.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I can't even say's, not even that, because I mean
it's about 50-50 when it comes,a little over 50-50 with the NFL
and about 50-50 with NCAA.
It's not that I mean alsocorporately, which is something
that I'm also, you know, onestep at a time, but culturally
in the black community it is notnormal to be an organ donor.
There's a very big distrustwith the Black community and
medicine as a whole, and so it'snot normal for Black people to
(23:41):
sign up.
Yeah, I'm going to be a braindonor.
Yeah, I'm going to be an organdonor, because a lot of it comes
from the fear and the thingsthat have happened in the past
where it's like, oh, theytreated Black patients poorly.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I don't even think they know that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I don't think they even know it's an option.
It's, they don't.
I mean it's not.
I mean other than when you knowthat you check the box on your
driver's license.
But for me I didn't know Icould sign up to be a brain
donor.
So now I am, because they needthe control brain, so my brain's
going to ct research.
I won't be using it when I'mgone, but even now, with my most
recent study, my capstonestone,I was able to interview 263
(24:18):
athletes from across.
You know it was four highschools and then 30 college
institutions, d1 to D3, coast tocoast.
And you know, at the very endit was all anonymous.
So at the very end I gave thelink to you know, said hey, even
if you don't want to just checkthis out, here's how to become
a brain donor.
When it comes to this kind ofresearch, because the players
are passionate about it a goodamount of them, at least a good
amount of ours like.
(24:38):
They want to know more, theywant to be.
They don't want to, you know,be a statistic or end up, you
know, like aaron hernandez orantonio.
But they don't want that.
That's not.
That's their biggest fear.
But also they don't, they don'twant to stop playing.
So it's just that little thing,just knowing that, okay, I can
donate, because that issomething you know when you look
at the statistic.
That's something I did keep inmind.
I said, okay, well, the datamight not be out there because
(25:02):
they're not donating theirbrains, because they don't know
about it, because they don'twant to.
So it's not that, that's athing.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
No, the data exists that football does harm.
Right, it harms everybody.
There's no racial lines onwhose brain gets hurt.
More than that, you know, I'mabsolutely agree with you and
and I do think that the studiesthat have been done on
repetitive head impacts, I meanthey do break it out by
demographics, but they're alldesigned to prove that we have a
(25:28):
problem here.
You know, as human as humanity,right as a as a society, we got
a big problem.
Now we look at a segment ofsociety that is particularly
challenged here and it bothersme when I watch you know the few
times I'll watch a college gameand people have no idea that
these young men, most of them, alot of them African-American,
(25:49):
depending on the university haveplayed football since they were
six years old.
We are in touch.
I mean, I don't know if youknow, uh, ray Lewis, famous
African-American linebacker, baddude right.
Well, his son, uh, he lost hisson, you know a lot not too long
ago, and his wife we weretalking and she goes Bruce and
she's coming on the podcast, butshe says I have, we're a
(26:12):
football family, we started atsix and now I have two more sons
that I have to be concernedabout because we did not know
what we do.
And I think that you know, whenwe look at incarceration rates,
right, we look at mentalillness rates across America and
(26:33):
we start, you know, going intothese, you know, and evaluating
people, for have they beenexposed to this?
Not just contact sports, butdomestic abuse, right?
Family, inter-family violence?
Did they also box as well asplay football?
We might have an entire and Iwill tell you this.
We have a huge segment of ourincarcerated population that's
(26:55):
incarcerated because they areaggressive, hostile, you know,
impulsive because of contactsports.
And I will say that right nowthat I don't care, you know what
their race is, but if theystarted out with violence in the
family, regardless of theirrace, and they played contact
sports since they were young andthere is a good chance that,
(27:18):
like my son who committedsuicide, that they didn't get to
that point but the activitiesthat got them in jail could have
been a result of their brain,and their brain has not been
touched, they've not beenassessed and they're merely in
jail because they played toomuch contact sports.
And I think you're one of the.
(27:40):
You know, gosh, you could makesuch a difference, spreading
this message around so that youknow moms, right, nobody messes
with mama bear.
I don't care how big yourhusband is, right, nobody messes
with mama bear.
But we had a lady on thepodcast is talking to mothers.
They're like give meinformation, cause my husband is
telling our sons they areplaying football and we need to
(28:01):
educate these moms because theyare the ones that are defending
and the dads, right, the onesthat will listen.
But you know how crazy.
You know you know people canget about these sports, man, I
mean exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I mean it's, it's like you said, it's a culture.
I mean I can't imagine goingdown to Texas and trying to have
the same conversation thatwe're having now and saying, hey
guys, stop playing football.
And I know you said the age ofsix, but I mean a lot of times
it starts younger.
As long as they can walk, thekid can hold football and the
kid can win.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
If that helmet fits.
They're out there playing man.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I mean it's such a crazy thing and I'm glad you
mentioned the ray lewis and hissituation, unfortunately with
the sun.
I mean, I talked about the raylewis, the rl3 foundation, I
talked about the foundation atmy most recent conference
tatiana's amazing the stuff thatthey're doing and the way it
really stood out to me becausethey're doing it, for it seems
like it's really is cateredtowards educating the black
(28:55):
community.
I mean their, their most recent, their upcoming activities
weeks that they have, and Ithink the last week in May and
June they have, you know, hbcubands, so historically Black
bands, and Divine Ninehistorically Black, you know
sororities and fraternitiescoming in and educating and
doing things for the community,and where it is in Florida, it's
like okay, this is good, thisis great stuff.
(29:15):
But again, I found theirfoundation.
I think I was scrolling throughthe Mac Parkin Foundation likes
.
One day their foundation cameup and I said, oh wait, who are
they?
I've never heard about them.
So again, it was just theirinformation isn't out there,
which really, really stinks.
I mean, even right now there'sa conference going on about
black men, health and footballand it's hosted, you know, by a
(29:36):
former NFL player in New Orleansand I didn't even know about it
until yesterday when I saw, Ithink Boston BU CTE center
reposted it.
It's like the education's outthere, people that want to talk
about this kind of thing is outthere.
It's just getting the, you know,the awareness out to everyone
who needs it and the people thatneed the most, and then just
(30:01):
have them turning on theirlistening ears.
Because, you know, a lot oftimes we're talking about it and
because we're passionate aboutit, we know about it and it's
the people that need it the mostthat may just turn a blind eye
and you know they, because,again, it's a very depressing
and sobering topic, truthfully.
So, of course, those playersdon't want to hear about how
their brain could become astatistic, because what does
that then mean for them?
I mean, I feel like at thatpoint, it could lead to even
identity crisis.
Okay, well, this is my future.
What does that mean?
Next, I'm now freaking outabout it and how you brought up
(30:22):
the incarcerated population.
Again, I didn't even think tothink of those.
I mean, I didn't think to thinkabout that kind of population,
and now you brought it up likewell, the data's not out there.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
We need to start researching, because we need to
get in, we need to get in andit's just, I mean, all it takes.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I think it's like this for everything in science
it just takes one person to bevery, very passionate about
something to really make adifference and get their voice
heard.
Because I mean, all theresearchers out there that came
out of Boston, especially whenit comes to those groundbreaking
CTE studies, they were justvery, very passionate about CTE,
and that's great.
And then you go to me and it'sI'm very, very passionate about
(30:58):
this specific niche Avenuebecause it impacts me personally
and you know you can tell meright now, do a paper report on
lung cancer.
Lung cancer sucks and I'm goingto do it and I want to, you
know, help change it.
But that's not my passion.
I won't really have that driveand so it's just going to take
more people like you and I justhaving that one thing and
hopefully not a personal story,that really with a sad ending,
(31:20):
but just hearing.
You know our passion through thescreen and through the events
that you host and thefundraising.
Then they say, okay, why, I seehow, why I see how she's so
passionate.
Let me figure out why this is.
Why is she just yapping for noreason?
Why is she posting CCE funfacts and how to look for a
question every single day onInstagram.
Why is she always wearing green?
Why should I have that greenpin on?
(31:41):
You know little things likethat, to just get people's
interest piqued.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
So that's all you can do, and feel free to offer up
the book.
We got the app now.
It's on the Google Store.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I mean we're together .
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I mean because we need more voices in the
African-American community,because it's muted there.
And it's muted because of justthe pressure to to succeed.
And the storylines aren't good.
I don't like it and every timeI hear it I come a little
unglued.
I'm like do not talk about ourchildren like that.
I don't care what color theyare.
(32:15):
They deserve the same chance.
And maybe you know they weren'tborn with a silver spoon.
But that does not mean thatthey're you know uh, they're,
they're, they're got this burdenthat the only way out is
through these contact sports andthey're going to damage the
brain.
And now that you know that thebrain's going to damage, you're
going to insist that this istheir path.
No, we're trying to get to snoopdog right now.
(32:36):
Snoop dog has a massive, amassive tackle league in
California and here is a famousguy who thinks he's doing good
for his community and he'shurting them.
And so we met with MarthaStewart.
I guess she's buddies with himnow.
So I gave her the bracelet.
I was trying to get this.
They haven't called me back.
So if anybody knows MarthaStewart, get a hold of me.
(32:57):
We need to talk, lexi, and Ineed to get with Snoop Dogg and
help him understand that there'sa safer path forward.
Because your point, lexi, it'snot about banning these sports.
We only want to make them safer.
And they can be made safer Ifwe took contact.
If we took contact out ofpractice and made football about
fun and sportsmanship.
(33:20):
Yeah, whoever wins wins.
All right, who cares?
We got out there, we got sweatyon game day and the rest of the
day we drilled.
Guess what?
You're not going to stop thetalent that gets into the NFL.
If you're that guy, you'reDeion Sanders, you're Ray Lewis,
you are Lamar Jackson, you'regoing to the NFL and there's not
anybody that's going to stopyou.
(33:41):
And guess what?
If you didn't start at six?
The fact that you're going tobe in better physical condition
with less injuries, less scarsand less bad habits.
If you started in high school,we say 18, but we're not going
to get football out of it.
But if we got football to sayno more practice, just like the
NFL in high school flagged to 14, 14, four years of no contact
(34:03):
practice, guess what?
These guys are going to getdrafted.
They can learn how to play inthe, in the, in the ncaa, and
then they're going to be starsin the field.
They're gonna make all thisbling and we're not going to
have the tragedies that we have.
I mean, the percentage ofafrican percentage of football
players doesn matter unlessthey're quarterbacks or kickers.
Right that are suffering frommental illness right now is
(34:24):
through.
If you heard Mike McGlynn atour thing, 90% of his friends
are a mess and it just doesn'thave to be this way, and I'm so
glad that you're speaking out onthis, because we need more
voices now we do.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Thank you.
I mean because even when yousay like the in the um, ncaa now
, you think, especially now thatnil deals brought into
everything, where I mean these17 year olds, I mean alabama's
quarterback, what seven?
I think he just turned 18, likehis freshman, his first
semester.
He's walking around with thesame chain that jalen hurts is
(34:59):
kind of wearing, making thesemillions.
As a kid, I mean he's a baby.
And then I'm thinking like I'mseeing you know the tiktok edits
and how great he is.
I'm thinking he's a baby, likehe is 17 years, like he can't
even vote easy child and I can'timagine the pressure that he
has on or drinking.
I can't imagine when thepressure you may have on him to
(35:20):
be that young and to be kind ofthe face of the dynasty now that
you know their coach has goneto so much pressure.
And then also, I mean I talkedabout this in my last
presentation.
You know one of the pressuresthey have is the fact that if
you are a star player like, say,jalen Hurts, somehow gets a
concussion between now andSunday, they're not going to
practice.
They're not going to practicebut say you know, first quarter
Jalen Hurts not even becauseagain, they can't diagnose a
(35:42):
concussion on the field.
But say he gets a nasty hit andhe's not laid out like Tua,
he's able to get off and walk itoff.
They're not going to take JalenHurts out of the game on Super
Bowl Sunday.
How?
Speaker 1 (35:51):
many times has Patrick Mahomes been jammed on
the field in a playoff game andwas allowed to keep playing
right?
Exactly, I mean even tula.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I mean, I'm a dolphins fan myself and so
seeing tula say in that pressconference, I'm gonna, I would
die in the field, and it's likewe know this.
We have almost seen it a fewtimes.
We've seen you take those hitswhere surgeons are going on cnn
the next day saying that is notnormal we.
And then they have thisconversation after a big hit,
after a big play, and then it'sokay, we have the doctors come
(36:20):
on the news and then that's it,that's.
And then they just wait untilit happens again.
And that should not be the case.
I mean, I mean, because whatdoes this mean for our kids, you
know, or the kids that arewatching us at home?
Yeah, we saw him get that badhit.
He got back up and he wasallowed to come back the next
game, or he's allowed to getback up and play the rest of the
game.
I mean, what kind of message isthat really sending?
And so I mean, yes, it doesstart with the NFL, but we've
(36:43):
also known, historically, theNFL has not been great when it
comes to listening to the realdata.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
The NFL is a business and it's horrible what they do
to these football players.
They groom them, they take careof them and they get them in
the sport and then, when they'redone're just discarded.
Man, I mean, it's, it's they.
They need to do a much betterjob, recognizing the damage that
that sport causes these youngmen a thousand percent.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
But I mean, once you recognize that sport again, what
is that going to mean?
So we can say right now, saythere's a magic test, magic
brain scan that comes out todaytelling the nfl players hey, if
you take this brain scan, wewould tell you right now how bad
you're C, if you have CT, howbad it is and what this means
for the rest of your life.
Do you think those players aregoing to do it?
Do you?
Or do you think they're goingto say you know what's in the
(37:29):
dark?
Speaker 1 (37:30):
I've got friends that have reached out to NFL players
to go through brain treatmentand they don't even want to get
scanned.
They.
They don't want to know becausethey're committed, they have to,
they're on this plan, they'vegot to give, they've given it
all.
But you know what, lexi?
What you and I are talkingabout is that football can be
made safe.
And it's not going to behelmets, it's not going to be
gizmos, it's not going to benothing more than reducing the
(37:53):
total amount of exposure thatthese young kids have from their
early age until they die, andthat's it.
That's the only thing that wecan do to make the sport safer.
And that means it's not aboutwinning.
It's going to be aboutpracticing and having fun as a
team.
My son played sports to be withother boys and have fun.
He didn't click the one, helost most of his wrestling match
(38:16):
, but he gave it his all man, Imean, he was in there until, but
, you know, the coach put himagainst these big kids, whatever
, right.
But my boy was in there withheart, but his biggest, his fun
was being on the school bus,going to a match or hanging out
with these guys and wearing theshirts to school, right, you
know, with the, with the tiesand all that stuff, and being
one of the boys, right.
That's why these kids play.
(38:36):
They don't play to get hurt andand we've got to stop this and
where the messaging is poor,like if in our African-American
communities, in our Latinocommunities, in our poor white
communities, same message goeson, but it's more prolific in
African-American communities, Ido believe, because I keep
hearing it over and over again.
It's our only way out and I'mlike I'm done with this.
(38:58):
It is not.
You are not going to denigratethese young souls.
You're not going to, you know,enslave them to a life, to a
sport that's going to harm them,only because you feel that they
cannot become a doctor, lawyer,architect or whatever.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
So that's what.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
I would like to see, and I think you're going to be
the voice that carries thatmessage.
I absolutely believe this.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhere you're at right now with
your research studies.
What are you planning topresent?
I think you should probably geta spot at the Mack Parkman
Conference this year, you know,but this is amazing.
(39:33):
So what's going on with LexiAlston right now?
Speaker 2 (39:35):
So thank you so much.
So recently, like I said, Ifinished my capstone.
So my capstone, which is one ofthe hardest things I think I've
ever done, because I decided tostart my research where I was
able to talk to, you know,almost 300 football players from
coast to coast I started inAugust, I finished August, I
started in August of 24.
And then I was able to finishDecember of last year.
Why I decided to start inAugust I thought that was me
(40:04):
getting ahead of the curve.
Then I remember the footballseason and the timeline, and so
you can imagine it was a lot ofno's, a lot of ignoring, and
also a lot of the programsthemselves wouldn't reach out.
So it then took me to DM andemail, I mean, thousands of
football players.
So I'm glad I was single at thetime, because my DMs on
Instagram, my emails I mean itwas just verified checks and hey
, I'm Alexis, this is what Iwant to do, please get back to
me and a lot of yeses and then alot of hey.
(40:27):
I don't want to do your research, but you know it was a fun time
, very hard time, but it was fun.
And so I was able to recentlypresent the students for Student
National Medical Association,or SNRA.
It's Student National MedicalAssociation, or SNRA it's a
national organization basicallyhelping and creating a platform
and environment for future Blackand brown and underrepresented
minorities in medicine, and sothey had a regional conference
(40:53):
last weekend where I was able topresent at the University of
Virginia and I won the posterfor best pre-med poster which I
was not expecting at all.
It was just one of those thingswhere I didn't think I was doing
the most or doing.
You know, I didn't think I wasnot expecting at all.
Um, it was just one of thosethings where I didn't think I
was doing the most or doing.
You know, I didn't think I wasextraordinary, but I I do
believe that my passion aboutwhat I was talking about kind of
, you know, shine through and Iwas able to answer all the
questions.
And so in April yeah, it'sFebruary now in April I'll be
(41:16):
going to the national umconvention and St Louis and I'll
be presenting as the nationalconvention in St Louis and I'll
be presenting again thatresearch, just highlighting, you
know, those disparities fromwhat I found personally with the
data I was able to collect andbe able to present.
You know, with other black andbrown doctors specifically, you
know family medicine doctors,and I had a lot of people come
up to me at the end of this lastconference.
You know asking do you want todo neurology, do you want to?
(41:38):
You know focus.
You know asking do you want todo neurology, do you want to?
You know focus.
You know on.
You know psychology Like whatdo you want to do?
Do you want to do neurosurgery?
And I was thinking, well, no, Imean, those fields are great
and I love the academic side.
But then I want to be a doctorto help people and see the
change I'm making in thoseday-to-day lives.
And I know that you know, withfamily medicine one, there's not
a lot of family medicinedoctors anyway, but with family
(41:59):
medicine, I can see my playersand the patients I'm seeing Over
time.
they can come to me, you know,when they're not playing tackle
football.
Hopefully by the time I'mpracticing medicine at the age
of six.
I can see them at six and thenat 12 and at college.
I can just see them throughouttheir lives and see, you know,
and also just have thatdocumentation.
Well, they're acting verystrange versus before.
(42:20):
So that's what's going on forme and, of course, if the spot
is open, I would love to talkand speak at the Matt.
Hartman conference.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
It's very exciting.
We're definitely going to havea poster presentation this year.
So, Adam, I'd love to have you,you know, maybe on a panel or
come down and talk about thisbecause you're very passionate.
You're obviously researching.
We need this new generation.
You know I mean we need, youknow, a younger generation.
All the researchers are gettingon.
You know they're thinking aboutretiring.
(42:51):
You know me, I'm still.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
I still got decades on this one, I'm not giving up,
and it's going to take folkslike you, lexi, to pick up the
torch and keep it going.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
So I cannot thank you enough for coming on this
program.
God bless you.
God bless you on your journeyand I wish you all the luck, and
please stay in touch with thefoundation.
You are an amazing young womanwith an amazing message that
this world needs to hear.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
Thank you so much for having me.
I just I can't wait to keepfollowing the foundation and
making everyone I know knowabout the foundation.
Guys, you guys, it's February,it's CTE Education Awareness
Month, so please stay, you know,in contact, stay up to date,
because the data is out there.
It's growing.
So just thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Absolutely A great closing message.
And for all you out there,don't forget that we do have a
free book, youth Contact, sportsand Broken Brains that you need
to read.
Download it from our website.
We have the HeadSmart app nowon the Google and Apple store.
Go out there and get that.
Educate yourself.
Remember, the secondinternational conference on
repetitive brain trauma will beheld in Tampa this September
(43:55):
Dates to be announced.
We're going to have a town hallfor veterans here in March and
we're going to start doingseminars for NFL players and for
military veterans to educatethem on this issue so they can
make better decisions about whatto do, because what they don't
know is that they can be healed.
There is a path back from thedamage done by football and all
(44:16):
these sports, and we're seeingit with veterans, we're seeing
it with these ballers.
We can get them back and theyneed that message of hope and
that's what we're going to startoffering them.
So thank you so much for payinganother attention to another
episode of Broken Brains.
This is Bruce Parkman signingoff.
We'll see you soon.
God bless you all.
Take care, let's eat.
Thank you.
Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Broken
Brains with your host, bruceParkman, sponsored by the Mack
Parkman Foundation, where welook at the issues of repetitive
brain trauma whether it'srepetitive head impacts from
contact sports or repetitiveblast exposure for our military
veterans and we look what theseimpacts are doing to the brains
of our veterans, kids andathletes and the outgoing
(00:35):
torrent of mental illness that'saffecting our society up to the
point of suicidality.
And the reason is that theseissues are not understood,
they're not trained and they'repoorly understood by
stakeholders in our children'sand athletes' lives wives,
mothers, kids, as well as ourmilitary veterans and spouses.
So every time we're out there,we're looking for advocates and
(00:55):
researchers and scientists andauthors, journalists, patients
and fathers and mothers ofchildren that are no longer here
to talk to you about theseissues and how they're impacting
, how they've impacted them andhow they could be impacting you.
And you might not even know it,because you must be informed.
(01:16):
That's the whole purpose ofthis whole podcast is to get you
informed on these issues so youcan make better choices for you
yourself, your kids and yourloved ones.
Today we have a remarkable younglady, ms Alexis, or Alexi
Alston, and she's attending JMUUniversity up there in the state
of Virginia.
She's currently a seniorpre-medical student aspiring to
continue her medical educationin Boston.
(01:37):
As she works towards her goalof becoming a family medicine
physician, since the age of 16,she's been actively involved in
CTE research and awareness, witha particular focus on the
intersectionality of blackathletes and their height and
risk of CTE.
Alexi is passionate aboutspreading awareness and bringing
this knowledge back to her homecommunity.
In her free time she loves toattend rock concerts, going for
(02:01):
runs and spending quality timewith her cat, keith.
That's a pretty unique name fora cat, so Alexi is Alexi, okay,
or Alexi?
Speaker 2 (02:10):
what do you want?
No, alexi is great, alexi'sgreat All right.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
So, Alexi, welcome to the show and give us some
background, because I think Iremember you from our conference
last year.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Hi Bruce, thank you so much for having me.
I'm so excited and passionatejust to be able to talk to you
and really just spread awareness.
As my bio said, and thank youso much for that introduction
I've been passionate about CTEsince a high school project, my
junior year of high school,where I discovered it for a
psychology class and I wastalking to some of the football
(02:40):
players from my high school andI'm thinking a lot of them kind
of line up with these symptoms.
This just isn't right.
And then, moving forward, whenI went to, as my time passed at
JMU, being able to reallyunderstand what CTE is and what
it looks like, and then I wasdoing the data for actually the
research that I was able topresent last year in Tampa at
(03:01):
the conference, and I wasthinking this isn't really
something that's being talkedabout and I was kind of looking
for where the black athletes are.
I was really looking for youknow where that gap is, and I'm
thinking, okay, I'm scrollingthrough the Google page, okay,
where's the rest of it?
And there was no rest of it.
And so just kind of spreadingawareness to a gap and a
(03:21):
specific group of people thatseem to be impacted a little bit
more but not really talkedabout as much.
That just kind of is part of mywhy when it comes to medicine
and so moving forward, you know,becoming a family medicine
physician where I can reallyjust make an impact, starting at
a very young age, and thoseplayers and my patients that may
have a concussion, I thinkthat's just what I'm here on
earth to do and I just thank youguys so much for giving me this
(03:44):
platform to continue justtalking about and just spread
awareness to those who reallyneed it the most.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Absolutely no, and I think it's fascinating that you
became involved with such acomplex subject at such an early
age and decided to follow this,because I'm 63, and I'm just
starting to figure out what mypurpose is.
Actually.
I'm 62.
My wife tells me I exaggerate,but I'm starting just figuring
out what my purpose is.
So I mean, your passion isobviously about athletes of the
(04:14):
African-American race, and whydo you feel that they're more
disproportionately affected thanother, than than other
nationalities?
Speaker 2 (04:23):
I mean starting off.
I mean it all can go back tosystemic racism.
I mean something that's alwaysbeen kind of an underlying topic
when it comes to just Americaas a whole.
But really looking into it, Ifeel like there's a variety of
factors that goes into play.
I recently just finished mysenior capstone that really
talks about these topicsspecifically with high school
and collegiate football playersand you know a socioeconomic
(04:46):
background whether they're thefirst one you know in their
family to go to college and theycome from a lower background,
lower, you know, economic class,which means they have to play
football because it has to helpthem get to the next level.
Or even, you know, on the NFLleague, on the NFL level, you
know they have to keep playing,not just because this is their
passion but because it helps outtheir family at home and it's
(05:06):
their only way to making it out.
I mean talk to these players andknowing them personally,
football gave them a male figure, a male role model in their
life that they may have beenlacking.
I mean football also gave thema place.
Instead of therapy, they wouldgo to the field and take their
you know frustrations out there,or just a sense of camaraderie,
a sense of belonging.
I mean there's a lot that goesinto play.
(05:27):
I mean it all goes back down toracism.
But I mean the bottom line isthey're playing more football
because they have to and notbecause you know they want to,
but they're playing morefootball as a way to survive and
of course we all know that morefootball exposure, more playing
time, unfortunately you knowthose hits, those concussions
over that extended period oftime which does increase their
(05:48):
CTE risk later on in theircareer.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
No, that's a very good point Now.
So your point is not that, asAfricans versus other, you know
football affects them all thesame, that's not the point.
But your point is, because ofthe socioeconomic disadvantages
that a lot of African-Americanscome from, that they see
football as a way out.
And that's a very, verypoignant point when we talk
(06:16):
about this, because we wrestlewith this a lot, you know at the
foundation because you know itshouldn't be so.
Know at the foundation becauseyou know it shouldn't be so, and
that is, I think, more or less.
It's kind of.
To me it's more or less a myththat's propagated, that and I
think it denigrates our AfricanAmerican population.
Like, oh, you can't be a doctor, you can't be a nurse, you
(06:36):
can't be this, you have to goplay football.
And I don't agree with that atall.
I think a lot of these youngmen are coerced or pushed into
this, maybe by their parents,maybe by society and maybe by.
You know the bling, the bling.
Hey, man, you know if you'rewalking around.
You know Dion Jones, dionSanders son's driving around.
You know a six hundred thousanddollar Bentley truck, right, I
(06:58):
mean, there's some.
You know who doesn't want thislifestyle.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
Right, but to your point.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I think that there is pressure put on these young men
to go the football route and tostay there when they're no
longer interested or passionateabout the sport.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Exactly, and I agree with that wholeheartedly.
I mean it's very rare that youknow we see black male athletes
in.
You know the safer sports, theswimming, the tennis.
You know the sports wherethere's less, the baseball even.
I mean, even though we haveblack baseball greats, it's very
rare that you see a lot ofblack players be rising to
stardom when it comes to the MLBversus the NFL or NBA.
(07:37):
And a lot of times that comesfrom again where these black
players come from, where theirhomes are.
Because I know, for me, at leastin my school district, I mean,
the only two sports that youcould count on for certain were
basketball and football.
Other than that, you know therewas a very low chance for them
to get out and play.
And even you know, withbasketball and football, or even
football specifically, you knowyou'd have to go and pay for
(07:58):
these expensive camps and itadds up a lot.
And a lot of the times you knowthe parents don't have this
money for that or they can'tafford to take off work to go
and, like, introduce their kidsto other avenues and other
athletic avenues.
I mean one example of this, whois very much the exception that
really stands out to me, is theformer NFL player, dr Myron Roll
(08:19):
.
I mean, he played at FSU and hehad a very, you know, brief
stint in the NFL, but he wasalso a Rhodes Scholar when he
was in college and so it'spossible out there for and now
he's a neurosurgeon and it'spossible for, you know, players
to thrive academically andathletically, especially in the
sport of football.
But it's very much my role oncein a lifetime, you know dime a
(08:42):
dozen kind of thing, and I thinkyou know part of the Matt
Parkman Foundation part, youknow, while we're even having
this conversation, so that youknow that can stop being such,
you know, an abnormality.
It can totally become the normand it's going to take time, but
I think it's, I know it'spossible.
It's just getting the educationout there really.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
You know, I often think that you know, like here
in Manatee County we convertedthe local police activity league
from tackle to flag and youknow we discussed, you know, and
of course a lot of parents arekind of fired up.
But you know we found out thatflag football is not available
here in our inner city, that is,out in the suburbs, where you
(09:21):
know indigenous, you knoweconomically challenged
populations, and these arelargely Latino and there's a lot
of challenged white populationshere in our town, here in
Florida, but they can't get outthere, they don't have bus
service, they don't have, youknow, vehicles, they can't, you
know, just go out there and look.
Yet tackle football.
They're teaching boxing tothese children.
(09:44):
Eight-year-olds are boxing andthat's another big problem,
especially, you know, in oursocioeconomic.
That's another sport that'spromoted to, you know, heavily
minority communities, right, Imean, that's a way out of the
hood.
Yet we're punching these kids inthe head and I think you're on
to a huge problem here andbecause I feel, I feel it's
(10:06):
grooming, I feel it's targeting,I feel that we are being made
to accept the fact that you knowthat our ethnic minorities have
this only way out.
And I hear it over and overagain and I constantly tell
people I said you aredenigrating your child If you do
not think that that kid can bea doctor.
And we have so many programs toget loans to get up there.
(10:28):
You don't have to be wealthy togo to school anymore, okay, you
just, you know, have to desirelike you did, right.
I mean, you chose the path of aphysician, right, and what's
your background?
If I may ask, my background.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I'm a first-generation college student
.
Neither of my parents went tocollege.
My parents went straight fromhigh school to the workforce.
I am a triplet, so I have twoother twin sisters that are also
in college and my parentsworked very hard I mean 20
something years working, youknow, in the manufacturing
industry to be able to providefor us.
But I am at J&B on scholarship.
I know I would not be able tomy twins, we would not be able
(11:04):
to go to school, especiallythree kids at the same time
without scholarship.
And I do have an older sisterand she was able to graduate
college, but again, she hadloans and scholarships.
And my high school back home, Imean it was predominantly Black.
When I say it was 99.8% Black,it was all Black students.
That's very Black, I mean, andvery, very black.
(11:26):
And then the football teampredominantly black.
We had our one whitequarterback but all black
football teams in all fourschools and my school district
back home.
Very similar demographics.
I mean we were not and I lovethat is my hometown.
Shout out Hampton Roads.
Shout out Hampton Virginia.
Hampton Roads that is myhometown.
(11:48):
Shout out Hampton Rose, shoutout Hampton Virginia.
But but I mean, I saw itfirsthand and that is why I am
so passionate about it, becauseI mean they're telling these
things, you're either going tobe on the football team, and
you'd be great, or you're goingto be on the street or in jail,
or just the worst thingimaginable.
There is no in between, whereit's, yes, you can play football
for now, and that can be thestepping stone for you to, you
(12:09):
know, get some, you know, begrounded and really learn some
discipline.
And let's still further youacademically, it's either you
play football and then you justkeep your 2.0 or 1.0, whatever
the minimum bare minimum GPArequirement is, and then that's
it, and we just hope and praythat.
And then we all know thestatistics.
I mean not a lot of high schoolkids even make it to that next
(12:31):
level.
So then it's like what are theydoing this for?
Doing this?
For they don't have any backupplan, except for I'm going to
make it to the league, and noone is saying, ok, but let's
really.
You know there's other optionsto greatness than that.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
So, ma'am, you need to meet.
I've got a senator here inFlorida that's actively blocking
our legislation, corey Simon,and he has come out saying that
this is how I got out and thisis how you know
African-Americans have to getout, and he is blocking any
legislation to inform parents onthe risk of damage to their
child's brains and, of course,and he's involved with Pop
Warner.
And so I'm like come on, youknow, senator Simon, I'm talking
(13:09):
to a lawyer lobbyist.
Like you know, this is not theway out for our children.
They have brains, they can usethem and they're every good as
good a brain as God made inother nationalities.
So we need to provide thesechildren a chance and to give
them the hope where this is notthe only way out.
It's a fun way.
(13:30):
Everybody likes to play sports.
I'm all about it, but we've gotchildren right now playing at
sixth.
Pop Warner is actively promotedand PAL are only in the big
cities.
You don't have PAL in a lot oftowns.
And guess who plays in theseleagues?
All right, our economicallychallenged citizens.
And they keep playing because,you know, not only are they
(13:51):
playing, the dads might haveplayed, or the dads live in
vicariously through them, or youknow, the dads just don't know
and they really don't care.
It's kind of cool, right?
So yeah.
But I think you're, you'reabsolutely on an awesome mission
to educate, as a, as a, as a,as an African-American female,
(14:14):
you know that has the power andthe credibility of being from
that race to go ahead andeducate these folks on this
issue.
And you're a shining example ofwhat you can do when you want,
when you understand that thereis no limit, okay, that you can
do what you, what you want to do, and and if it's coming down to
(14:36):
hurting your children, let'swait.
Let's promote flag football andall this Exactly.
Did you have a lot of like whenmy son was in high school.
We had female wrestlers.
They were letting the girlsplay football.
They weren't letting them playfootball, but there are other
leagues where they allow thewomen to play football.
(14:58):
I mean that weight disparity.
It does not sit well with me.
I mean, what's your position onjust women in these men's
sports, other than like you knowwhat I'm saying like physical
sports where you're're getting ahundred pound female lining up
against 175, 200 pound man.
(15:20):
It's just.
I don't think it's safe to tellyou the truth.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
It's truthfully not.
I mean we can take everything,we can take the political
correctness, we can take thesocietal things out of it.
I mean just by my biologicallyI mean I am a hundred pounds, I
would not, you would never catchme.
I guess, proving a point orpursuing my passion in that way,
(15:43):
by playing up against men, ifanything, I would just see it's
safer.
I mean, even like wrestling, Iwill say, for example, with
wrestling they have the weightclasses.
You know they have the.
I wouldn't go up against a girltwo times.
I saw they put me with someoneelse, my size for comparison.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So I do understand why you know, and I'm you know,
the women that are out thereplaying the football, the female
kickers.
That is so cool.
That is so, you know, bad.
I'll give you that, I'll giveyou that, I'll give you a kick,
Me personally.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
I would not let my.
I just know me personally.
I would not let my daughter dothat.
I would not let my daughter goout and risk her brain.
I wouldn't let my son do it.
I wouldn't let my son do it.
So I just I don't see ifthey're not playing up against,
it's not a fair playing field,essentially.
I mean I don't think it's fairwhen they have the, I mean
technically, I mean even forhigh school, you know you'll
have kids that are a little bitunderdeveloped.
(16:27):
They'll have the 113-pound,skinny-pound, you know kid and
varsity, because he has to begoing up against players that
are again now D1 prospects thatare like five-star athletes, 300
pounds, and they're going towhat?
Because of a gender thing.
I mean truthfully, in thefuture, in a dream world where
we don't get rid of all football, we can still have it.
(16:48):
I mean high school footballshould be instead of JV
University, weight class shouldbe, you know, kind of a limit
there to say, if you can evenplay if it's even safe.
At that point you know the coachis straight up, say no, you
can't make the team until you,you know, bulk up, or but now
the way you know things arelooking, that may not be a
conversation a player can havewith the coach or vice versa,
(17:08):
but I just don't think that it'ssafe at that point.
I mean just it's not.
I mean we see the speed thatthey're being hit at now and the
kids are getting bigger andbigger.
I don't know what's in theschool lunch now or what's in
the mail, but these kids don'tlook like kids anymore.
It's like car crashes everysingle day.
It's just insane.
Speaker 1 (17:27):
My boy was lined up against guys with mustaches, I
was like dude and they just ranover the whole team.
I'm like I said, son, what wasup with number 75?
He.
I'm like I said, son, what wasup with number 75?
He goes.
Dad, that guy had a mustachelike a full one.
He's like a sophomore orsomething right.
But so I mean, where do we,where do you think we can start?
I mean, you have identified andyou vocalized a problem.
(17:50):
This is very, very hard formost people to understand that
this is absolutely ingrained inour socioeconomically challenged
communities, that this you gotto play football.
Whether you're black, if you'rein a Latino town, or a white
guy, you got to play football.
You got to get out of here andand there's no really.
(18:10):
And then you know, becausethey're tough towns, they
practice tough, they play allthe time.
And here we have the NFL, whohas no practices during, you
know, their football season.
We have the Ivy League collegesno practices during the contact
season.
Yet a lot of colleges and allof our high schools and Pop
Warner practice every time theyget together on the field and
(18:33):
their football season is fivedays a week.
Why do we do this?
We have the nfl setting theexample.
How do we get that down in thename of, you know, just saving
brain health?
What are your thoughts there?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I guess my first step , the first step with everything
, would just be addressing aproblem and everyone being on
the same page when it comes tothis problem, and so if we're
not all on the same page withthat, really nothing will get
done.
So the first thing, when itcomes to this problem, and so if
we're not all on the same pagewith that, really nothing will
get done so the first thing isjust going to be adjusting the
problem and then, immediatelyafter saying my goal, right now,
I can't change the world andI'm not getting rid of football.
That is with every presentationI do, I always say I am not
(19:10):
trying to get rid of footballbecause when you go into those
communities, the black community, you know the socioeconomic
challenge communities.
If your first thought is I amsmarter than you, I have these
degrees, you don't.
I think football is bad, I'mgoing to get rid of it the very
next thing they're going to dois walk away and say this lady
is not in touch.
I don't care that she's my skincolor.
Skin folk isn't kin folks.
She does not know what she'stalking about and ignore they're
(19:32):
going to.
So the first thing is justsaying I'm just here to educate
and I'm not trying to get rid offootball Because, truthfully,
I've seen the good that footballhas had on my community.
I've seen personal people Iknow personally they would not
be where they are withoutfootball.
And the second thing would justbe education.
And I say educate the Blackcommunity specifically on these
dangers at that young age.
(19:53):
But then it immediately goes myfuture physician, brain and
scientist brain kicks in and sayokay, well, I'm looking and I'm
seeing thousands of CTE studies, but I'm not seeing that same
number reflected in thosemarginalized groups.
So then it's saying educate notthose who look like me, but
educating those who don't looklike me, the ones that are, you
know, the high reps that aremaking these decisions now, that
(20:15):
are having the million billiondollar studies right now, that
are actively practicing medicinenow, that are actively seeing
patients who have concussionsnow, educating them because they
can do that right now, here now, and then going back, kind of
working in reverse I guess, thengoing back and saying, okay,
black community, okay, you knowmarginalized group, okay, you
know poor communities.
(20:36):
Here's the dangers right now.
Here's what we see.
Here's the data.
Statistically, football is adangerous sport.
There's no safety helmet orsafety collar.
There's no way, truthfully, tomake tackle football an entirely
safe sport, because I thinkwe've all seen that.
You know, with the safetyhelmets and safety collars,
(20:56):
safer football equals harderhits and that's just always been
the correlation.
You know, we get something safer, then immediately the players
get bigger, the hits get harder,to kind of prove a point.
I mean, it's nothing buttestosterone flowing 24-7 in
these groups.
It's just going to happen.
We just have to be realisticwith ourselves here, going back
and saying, ok, we can't makefootball the safest in this way
(21:18):
and we can't make tacklefootball a safe thing.
So then let's look at, ok, fromthese age groups, how about,
instead of tackle football, youknow, at such a young age, let's
lean towards flat football.
And then, you know, migrate totackle football, Just kind of
giving baby steps, just kind ofnot breadcrumbing, but just kind
of one step at a time and kindof handholding the entire way
(21:38):
and saying, okay, we won't giveit a tackle football, but let's
kind of gear you towards thatwhen you're in tackle football.
Kind of fostering, and that's mygoal as a future physician.
I want to be able.
And why I'm going into familymedicine?
Because I want to be the doctorthat fosters an environment
where a player says, doc, I knowthis is going to be on my
record.
A player says, doc, I know thisis going to be on my record, I
know I may have to sit.
(21:59):
You know, the next few gamesout I have a concussion and then
I then say, okay, let's look atit further.
How many truthfully are you nottelling me about and really
having that you knowrelationship and say you're not
going to be in trouble and I'mnot going to stop you from
playing the game, but thank youfor telling me and we'll move on
from there.
And that's the biggest thing wecan do is just letting them
know that at least me personally, me just letting them know I'm
(22:19):
not in my lifetime.
Football is not going away.
I'm not.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
It'll never go away.
It's a religion.
You can't change the world.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Yeah, and so you know , because there's some
scientists out there saying,okay, we're just going to get
rid of football and CTE is goingto be cured and it's going to
be rainbows and sunshine.
That is not at all the case.
That will not happen anytimesoon.
So just saying, okay, we can'tchange football, but how can
each step of the way we can makeit safer for everyone involved?
Speaker 1 (22:43):
For everyone, and I think you know one of the issues
that we have.
So let me ask you a questionand I'll have to check the ratio
of white to black in the CTEgrain bank.
I'm not sure.
So you're saying and I've reada lot of studies and you're
right, it really I don't know.
I guess they do havedemographics broken out in those
(23:03):
studies.
So you're saying that a lot ofthe studies were done with
higher socioeconomic footballteams that don't have a higher
percentage of African-Americanathletes.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
I can't even say's, not even that, because I mean
it's about 50-50 when it comes,a little over 50-50 with the NFL
and about 50-50 with NCAA.
It's not that I mean alsocorporately, which is something
that I'm also, you know, onestep at a time, but culturally
in the black community it is notnormal to be an organ donor.
There's a very big distrustwith the Black community and
medicine as a whole, and so it'snot normal for Black people to
(23:41):
sign up.
Yeah, I'm going to be a braindonor.
Yeah, I'm going to be an organdonor, because a lot of it comes
from the fear and the thingsthat have happened in the past
where it's like, oh, theytreated Black patients poorly.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
I don't even think they know that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (23:58):
I don't think they even know it's an option.
It's, they don't.
I mean it's not.
I mean other than when you knowthat you check the box on your
driver's license.
But for me I didn't know Icould sign up to be a brain
donor.
So now I am, because they needthe control brain, so my brain's
going to ct research.
I won't be using it when I'mgone, but even now, with my most
recent study, my capstonestone,I was able to interview 263
(24:18):
athletes from across.
You know it was four highschools and then 30 college
institutions, d1 to D3, coast tocoast.
And you know, at the very endit was all anonymous.
So at the very end I gave thelink to you know, said hey, even
if you don't want to just checkthis out, here's how to become
a brain donor.
When it comes to this kind ofresearch, because the players
are passionate about it a goodamount of them, at least a good
amount of ours like.
(24:38):
They want to know more, theywant to be.
They don't want to, you know,be a statistic or end up, you
know, like aaron hernandez orantonio.
But they don't want that.
That's not.
That's their biggest fear.
But also they don't, they don'twant to stop playing.
So it's just that little thing,just knowing that, okay, I can
donate, because that issomething you know when you look
at the statistic.
That's something I did keep inmind.
I said, okay, well, the datamight not be out there because
(25:02):
they're not donating theirbrains, because they don't know
about it, because they don'twant to.
So it's not that, that's athing.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
No, the data exists that football does harm.
Right, it harms everybody.
There's no racial lines onwhose brain gets hurt.
More than that, you know, I'mabsolutely agree with you and
and I do think that the studiesthat have been done on
repetitive head impacts, I meanthey do break it out by
demographics, but they're alldesigned to prove that we have a
(25:28):
problem here.
You know, as human as humanity,right as a as a society, we got
a big problem.
Now we look at a segment ofsociety that is particularly
challenged here and it bothersme when I watch you know the few
times I'll watch a college gameand people have no idea that
these young men, most of them, alot of them African-American,
(25:49):
depending on the university haveplayed football since they were
six years old.
We are in touch.
I mean, I don't know if youknow, uh, ray Lewis, famous
African-American linebacker, baddude right.
Well, his son, uh, he lost hisson, you know a lot not too long
ago, and his wife we weretalking and she goes Bruce and
she's coming on the podcast, butshe says I have, we're a
(26:12):
football family, we started atsix and now I have two more sons
that I have to be concernedabout because we did not know
what we do.
And I think that you know, whenwe look at incarceration rates,
right, we look at mentalillness rates across America and
(26:33):
we start, you know, going intothese, you know, and evaluating
people, for have they beenexposed to this?
Not just contact sports, butdomestic abuse, right?
Family, inter-family violence?
Did they also box as well asplay football?
We might have an entire and Iwill tell you this.
We have a huge segment of ourincarcerated population that's
(26:55):
incarcerated because they areaggressive, hostile, you know,
impulsive because of contactsports.
And I will say that right nowthat I don't care, you know what
their race is, but if theystarted out with violence in the
family, regardless of theirrace, and they played contact
sports since they were young andthere is a good chance that,
(27:18):
like my son who committedsuicide, that they didn't get to
that point but the activitiesthat got them in jail could have
been a result of their brain,and their brain has not been
touched, they've not beenassessed and they're merely in
jail because they played toomuch contact sports.
And I think you're one of the.
(27:40):
You know, gosh, you could makesuch a difference, spreading
this message around so that youknow moms, right, nobody messes
with mama bear.
I don't care how big yourhusband is, right, nobody messes
with mama bear.
But we had a lady on thepodcast is talking to mothers.
They're like give meinformation, cause my husband is
telling our sons they areplaying football and we need to
(28:01):
educate these moms because theyare the ones that are defending
and the dads, right, the onesthat will listen.
But you know how crazy.
You know you know people canget about these sports, man, I
mean exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
I mean it's, it's like you said, it's a culture.
I mean I can't imagine goingdown to Texas and trying to have
the same conversation thatwe're having now and saying, hey
guys, stop playing football.
And I know you said the age ofsix, but I mean a lot of times
it starts younger.
As long as they can walk, thekid can hold football and the
kid can win.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
If that helmet fits.
They're out there playing man.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
I mean it's such a crazy thing and I'm glad you
mentioned the ray lewis and hissituation, unfortunately with
the sun.
I mean, I talked about the raylewis, the rl3 foundation, I
talked about the foundation atmy most recent conference
tatiana's amazing the stuff thatthey're doing and the way it
really stood out to me becausethey're doing it, for it seems
like it's really is cateredtowards educating the black
(28:55):
community.
I mean their, their most recent, their upcoming activities
weeks that they have, and Ithink the last week in May and
June they have, you know, hbcubands, so historically Black
bands, and Divine Ninehistorically Black, you know
sororities and fraternitiescoming in and educating and
doing things for the community,and where it is in Florida, it's
like okay, this is good, thisis great stuff.
(29:15):
But again, I found theirfoundation.
I think I was scrolling throughthe Mac Parkin Foundation likes
.
One day their foundation cameup and I said, oh wait, who are
they?
I've never heard about them.
So again, it was just theirinformation isn't out there,
which really, really stinks.
I mean, even right now there'sa conference going on about
black men, health and footballand it's hosted, you know, by a
(29:36):
former NFL player in New Orleansand I didn't even know about it
until yesterday when I saw, Ithink Boston BU CTE center
reposted it.
It's like the education's outthere, people that want to talk
about this kind of thing is outthere.
It's just getting the, you know,the awareness out to everyone
who needs it and the people thatneed the most, and then just
(30:01):
have them turning on theirlistening ears.
Because, you know, a lot oftimes we're talking about it and
because we're passionate aboutit, we know about it and it's
the people that need it the mostthat may just turn a blind eye
and you know they, because,again, it's a very depressing
and sobering topic, truthfully.
So, of course, those playersdon't want to hear about how
their brain could become astatistic, because what does
that then mean for them?
I mean, I feel like at thatpoint, it could lead to even
identity crisis.
Okay, well, this is my future.
What does that mean?
Next, I'm now freaking outabout it and how you brought up
(30:22):
the incarcerated population.
Again, I didn't even think tothink of those.
I mean, I didn't think to thinkabout that kind of population,
and now you brought it up likewell, the data's not out there.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
We need to start researching, because we need to
get in, we need to get in andit's just, I mean, all it takes.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
I think it's like this for everything in science
it just takes one person to bevery, very passionate about
something to really make adifference and get their voice
heard.
Because I mean, all theresearchers out there that came
out of Boston, especially whenit comes to those groundbreaking
CTE studies, they were justvery, very passionate about CTE,
and that's great.
And then you go to me and it'sI'm very, very passionate about
(30:58):
this specific niche Avenuebecause it impacts me personally
and you know you can tell meright now, do a paper report on
lung cancer.
Lung cancer sucks and I'm goingto do it and I want to, you
know, help change it.
But that's not my passion.
I won't really have that driveand so it's just going to take
more people like you and I justhaving that one thing and
hopefully not a personal story,that really with a sad ending,
(31:20):
but just hearing.
You know our passion through thescreen and through the events
that you host and thefundraising.
Then they say, okay, why, I seehow, why I see how she's so
passionate.
Let me figure out why this is.
Why is she just yapping for noreason?
Why is she posting CCE funfacts and how to look for a
question every single day onInstagram.
Why is she always wearing green?
Why should I have that greenpin on?
(31:41):
You know little things likethat, to just get people's
interest piqued.
Speaker 1 (31:46):
So that's all you can do, and feel free to offer up
the book.
We got the app now.
It's on the Google Store.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
I mean we're together .
Speaker 1 (31:54):
I mean because we need more voices in the
African-American community,because it's muted there.
And it's muted because of justthe pressure to to succeed.
And the storylines aren't good.
I don't like it and every timeI hear it I come a little
unglued.
I'm like do not talk about ourchildren like that.
I don't care what color theyare.
(32:15):
They deserve the same chance.
And maybe you know they weren'tborn with a silver spoon.
But that does not mean thatthey're you know uh, they're,
they're, they're got this burdenthat the only way out is
through these contact sports andthey're going to damage the
brain.
And now that you know that thebrain's going to damage, you're
going to insist that this istheir path.
No, we're trying to get to snoopdog right now.
(32:36):
Snoop dog has a massive, amassive tackle league in
California and here is a famousguy who thinks he's doing good
for his community and he'shurting them.
And so we met with MarthaStewart.
I guess she's buddies with himnow.
So I gave her the bracelet.
I was trying to get this.
They haven't called me back.
So if anybody knows MarthaStewart, get a hold of me.
(32:57):
We need to talk, lexi, and Ineed to get with Snoop Dogg and
help him understand that there'sa safer path forward.
Because your point, lexi, it'snot about banning these sports.
We only want to make them safer.
And they can be made safer Ifwe took contact.
If we took contact out ofpractice and made football about
fun and sportsmanship.
(33:20):
Yeah, whoever wins wins.
All right, who cares?
We got out there, we got sweatyon game day and the rest of the
day we drilled.
Guess what?
You're not going to stop thetalent that gets into the NFL.
If you're that guy, you'reDeion Sanders, you're Ray Lewis,
you are Lamar Jackson, you'regoing to the NFL and there's not
anybody that's going to stopyou.
(33:41):
And guess what?
If you didn't start at six?
The fact that you're going tobe in better physical condition
with less injuries, less scarsand less bad habits.
If you started in high school,we say 18, but we're not going
to get football out of it.
But if we got football to sayno more practice, just like the
NFL in high school flagged to 14, 14, four years of no contact
(34:03):
practice, guess what?
These guys are going to getdrafted.
They can learn how to play inthe, in the, in the ncaa, and
then they're going to be starsin the field.
They're gonna make all thisbling and we're not going to
have the tragedies that we have.
I mean, the percentage ofafrican percentage of football
players doesn matter unlessthey're quarterbacks or kickers.
Right that are suffering frommental illness right now is
(34:24):
through.
If you heard Mike McGlynn atour thing, 90% of his friends
are a mess and it just doesn'thave to be this way, and I'm so
glad that you're speaking out onthis, because we need more
voices now we do.
Speaker 2 (34:38):
Thank you.
I mean because even when yousay like the in the um, ncaa now
, you think, especially now thatnil deals brought into
everything, where I mean these17 year olds, I mean alabama's
quarterback, what seven?
I think he just turned 18, likehis freshman, his first
semester.
He's walking around with thesame chain that jalen hurts is
(34:59):
kind of wearing, making thesemillions.
As a kid, I mean he's a baby.
And then I'm thinking like I'mseeing you know the tiktok edits
and how great he is.
I'm thinking he's a baby, likehe is 17 years, like he can't
even vote easy child and I can'timagine the pressure that he
has on or drinking.
I can't imagine when thepressure you may have on him to
(35:20):
be that young and to be kind ofthe face of the dynasty now that
you know their coach has goneto so much pressure.
And then also, I mean I talkedabout this in my last
presentation.
You know one of the pressuresthey have is the fact that if
you are a star player like, say,jalen Hurts, somehow gets a
concussion between now andSunday, they're not going to
practice.
They're not going to practicebut say you know, first quarter
Jalen Hurts not even becauseagain, they can't diagnose a
(35:42):
concussion on the field.
But say he gets a nasty hit andhe's not laid out like Tua,
he's able to get off and walk itoff.
They're not going to take JalenHurts out of the game on Super
Bowl Sunday.
How?
Speaker 1 (35:51):
many times has Patrick Mahomes been jammed on
the field in a playoff game andwas allowed to keep playing
right?
Exactly, I mean even tula.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I mean, I'm a dolphins fan myself and so
seeing tula say in that pressconference, I'm gonna, I would
die in the field, and it's likewe know this.
We have almost seen it a fewtimes.
We've seen you take those hitswhere surgeons are going on cnn
the next day saying that is notnormal we.
And then they have thisconversation after a big hit,
after a big play, and then it'sokay, we have the doctors come
(36:20):
on the news and then that's it,that's.
And then they just wait untilit happens again.
And that should not be the case.
I mean, I mean, because whatdoes this mean for our kids, you
know, or the kids that arewatching us at home?
Yeah, we saw him get that badhit.
He got back up and he wasallowed to come back the next
game, or he's allowed to getback up and play the rest of the
game.
I mean, what kind of message isthat really sending?
And so I mean, yes, it doesstart with the NFL, but we've
(36:43):
also known, historically, theNFL has not been great when it
comes to listening to the realdata.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
The NFL is a business and it's horrible what they do
to these football players.
They groom them, they take careof them and they get them in
the sport and then, when they'redone're just discarded.
Man, I mean, it's, it's they.
They need to do a much betterjob, recognizing the damage that
that sport causes these youngmen a thousand percent.
Speaker 2 (37:09):
But I mean, once you recognize that sport again, what
is that going to mean?
So we can say right now, saythere's a magic test, magic
brain scan that comes out todaytelling the nfl players hey, if
you take this brain scan, wewould tell you right now how bad
you're C, if you have CT, howbad it is and what this means
for the rest of your life.
Do you think those players aregoing to do it?
Do you?
Or do you think they're goingto say you know what's in the
(37:29):
dark?
Speaker 1 (37:30):
I've got friends that have reached out to NFL players
to go through brain treatmentand they don't even want to get
scanned.
They.
They don't want to know becausethey're committed, they have to,
they're on this plan, they'vegot to give, they've given it
all.
But you know what, lexi?
What you and I are talkingabout is that football can be
made safe.
And it's not going to behelmets, it's not going to be
gizmos, it's not going to benothing more than reducing the
(37:53):
total amount of exposure thatthese young kids have from their
early age until they die, andthat's it.
That's the only thing that wecan do to make the sport safer.
And that means it's not aboutwinning.
It's going to be aboutpracticing and having fun as a
team.
My son played sports to be withother boys and have fun.
He didn't click the one, helost most of his wrestling match
(38:16):
, but he gave it his all man, Imean, he was in there until, but
, you know, the coach put himagainst these big kids, whatever
, right.
But my boy was in there withheart, but his biggest, his fun
was being on the school bus,going to a match or hanging out
with these guys and wearing theshirts to school, right, you
know, with the, with the tiesand all that stuff, and being
one of the boys, right.
That's why these kids play.
(38:36):
They don't play to get hurt andand we've got to stop this and
where the messaging is poor,like if in our African-American
communities, in our Latinocommunities, in our poor white
communities, same message goeson, but it's more prolific in
African-American communities, Ido believe, because I keep
hearing it over and over again.
It's our only way out and I'mlike I'm done with this.
(38:58):
It is not.
You are not going to denigratethese young souls.
You're not going to, you know,enslave them to a life, to a
sport that's going to harm them,only because you feel that they
cannot become a doctor, lawyer,architect or whatever.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
So that's what.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
I would like to see, and I think you're going to be
the voice that carries thatmessage.
I absolutely believe this.
So tell us a little bit aboutwhere you're at right now with
your research studies.
What are you planning topresent?
I think you should probably geta spot at the Mack Parkman
Conference this year, you know,but this is amazing.
(39:33):
So what's going on with LexiAlston right now?
Speaker 2 (39:35):
So thank you so much.
So recently, like I said, Ifinished my capstone.
So my capstone, which is one ofthe hardest things I think I've
ever done, because I decided tostart my research where I was
able to talk to, you know,almost 300 football players from
coast to coast I started inAugust, I finished August, I
started in August of 24.
And then I was able to finishDecember of last year.
Why I decided to start inAugust I thought that was me
(40:04):
getting ahead of the curve.
Then I remember the footballseason and the timeline, and so
you can imagine it was a lot ofno's, a lot of ignoring, and
also a lot of the programsthemselves wouldn't reach out.
So it then took me to DM andemail, I mean, thousands of
football players.
So I'm glad I was single at thetime, because my DMs on
Instagram, my emails I mean itwas just verified checks and hey
, I'm Alexis, this is what Iwant to do, please get back to
me and a lot of yeses and then alot of hey.
(40:27):
I don't want to do your research, but you know it was a fun time
, very hard time, but it was fun.
And so I was able to recentlypresent the students for Student
National Medical Association,or SNRA.
It's Student National MedicalAssociation, or SNRA it's a
national organization basicallyhelping and creating a platform
and environment for future Blackand brown and underrepresented
minorities in medicine, and sothey had a regional conference
(40:53):
last weekend where I was able topresent at the University of
Virginia and I won the posterfor best pre-med poster which I
was not expecting at all.
It was just one of those thingswhere I didn't think I was doing
the most or doing.
You know, I didn't think I wasnot expecting at all.
Um, it was just one of thosethings where I didn't think I
was doing the most or doing.
You know, I didn't think I wasextraordinary, but I I do
believe that my passion aboutwhat I was talking about kind of
, you know, shine through and Iwas able to answer all the
questions.
And so in April yeah, it'sFebruary now in April I'll be
(41:16):
going to the national umconvention and St Louis and I'll
be presenting as the nationalconvention in St Louis and I'll
be presenting again thatresearch, just highlighting, you
know, those disparities fromwhat I found personally with the
data I was able to collect andbe able to present.
You know, with other black andbrown doctors specifically, you
know family medicine doctors,and I had a lot of people come
up to me at the end of this lastconference.
You know asking do you want todo neurology, do you want to?
(41:38):
You know focus.
You know asking do you want todo neurology, do you want to?
You know focus.
You know on.
You know psychology Like whatdo you want to do?
Do you want to do neurosurgery?
And I was thinking, well, no, Imean, those fields are great
and I love the academic side.
But then I want to be a doctorto help people and see the
change I'm making in thoseday-to-day lives.
And I know that you know, withfamily medicine one, there's not
a lot of family medicinedoctors anyway, but with family
(41:59):
medicine, I can see my playersand the patients I'm seeing Over
time.
they can come to me, you know,when they're not playing tackle
football.
Hopefully by the time I'mpracticing medicine at the age
of six.
I can see them at six and thenat 12 and at college.
I can just see them throughouttheir lives and see, you know,
and also just have thatdocumentation.
Well, they're acting verystrange versus before.
(42:20):
So that's what's going on forme and, of course, if the spot
is open, I would love to talkand speak at the Matt.
Hartman conference.
Speaker 1 (42:29):
It's very exciting.
We're definitely going to havea poster presentation this year.
So, Adam, I'd love to have you,you know, maybe on a panel or
come down and talk about thisbecause you're very passionate.
You're obviously researching.
We need this new generation.
You know I mean we need, youknow, a younger generation.
All the researchers are gettingon.
You know they're thinking aboutretiring.
(42:51):
You know me, I'm still.
Speaker 2 (42:52):
I still got decades on this one, I'm not giving up,
and it's going to take folkslike you, lexi, to pick up the
torch and keep it going.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
So I cannot thank you enough for coming on this
program.
God bless you.
God bless you on your journeyand I wish you all the luck, and
please stay in touch with thefoundation.
You are an amazing young womanwith an amazing message that
this world needs to hear.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (43:15):
Thank you so much for having me.
I just I can't wait to keepfollowing the foundation and
making everyone I know knowabout the foundation.
Guys, you guys, it's February,it's CTE Education Awareness
Month, so please stay, you know,in contact, stay up to date,
because the data is out there.
It's growing.
So just thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
Absolutely A great closing message.
And for all you out there,don't forget that we do have a
free book, youth Contact, sportsand Broken Brains that you need
to read.
Download it from our website.
We have the HeadSmart app nowon the Google and Apple store.
Go out there and get that.
Educate yourself.
Remember, the secondinternational conference on
repetitive brain trauma will beheld in Tampa this September
(43:55):
Dates to be announced.
We're going to have a town hallfor veterans here in March and
we're going to start doingseminars for NFL players and for
military veterans to educatethem on this issue so they can
make better decisions about whatto do, because what they don't
know is that they can be healed.
There is a path back from thedamage done by football and all
(44:16):
these sports, and we're seeingit with veterans, we're seeing
it with these ballers.
We can get them back and theyneed that message of hope and
that's what we're going to startoffering them.
So thank you so much for payinganother attention to another
episode of Broken Brains.
This is Bruce Parkman signingoff.
We'll see you soon.
God bless you all.
Take care, let's eat.
Thank you.
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