On October 4, Daryl Morey, manager of the Houston Rockets, posted a tweet that included the words “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong.” Afterwards, China severed several partnerships they had with the Rockets in retaliation, leading Morey to delete his tweet and apologize for it and also prompting missioner Adam Silver to issue a statement declaring that the NBA does not regulate the speech of its players. Since then, however, the NBA has made attempts to appease China. So what’s the current state of the NBA’s relationship with China and does the NBA have a moral responsibility to denounce China? Micah Watson, professor of political science at Calvin University, joins Acton staff to discuss.Afterwards, Robert Doar, president and Morgridge scholar at es onto the show to speak about effective solutions to poverty in America. He also shares how he came to be deeply interested in battling poverty, recalling the career of his late father John Doar who did heroic work in the U.S. Justice Department fighting racial discrimination and working for voting rights during the 1960s and ’70s.

Check out additional resources for this episode:

Read: “NBA abandons Hong Kong for Communist rule,” by Dan Hugger

Read: “Corporate America’s bet on China,” by Jordan Ballor

Game Over? Meet the Chinese NBA fans calling time out over Daryl Morey’s Hong Kong tweet

Watch: Hongkongers protest at NBA game in New York

The NBA may have just thrown Hong Kong’s protesters a new lifeline

How China gets panies to parrot its propaganda

How One Tweet Turned Pro-China Trolls Against the NBA

Watch: Robert Doar on poverty in America

Listen: AEI Banter podcast with Robert Doar on poverty, think tanks and the future of AEI

John Doar remembered as a Civil Rights pioneer

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