Political Quotes

“Mr. President, last week, journalists at ESPN published the results of a bombshell investigation into human rights violations at NBA training academies in China. When you think about a basketball camp, you probably think of shooting drills or running sprints, but these camps look much different. The investigation focused on training camps located in Xinjiang. This particular region in western China has achieved a certain level of notoriety in recent months for the horrific political violence its government officials inflict on the Uighur Muslim minority. So it is no surprise that the stories told by trainers, coaches, and other NBA employees who helped to run these camps employ disturbing and familiar imagery. According to the ESPN investigation, one former league employee compared the atmosphere at the Xinjiang camp to ``World War II Germany.'' An American coach, who worked at a similar facility, described it as a ``sweat camp for athletes.'' Now, according to the investigation, almost immediately after the NBA launched this program back in 2016, multiple coaches who were staffing the camps reported to high-ranking organization officials that they had witnessed Chinese coaches beating and berating student athletes. Bear in mind that these reports were made in 2016. They also reported that the Chinese Communist Party officials who were in charge of the camp were denying students an education.…”