As the Co-Host with Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees were instrumental in bringing the 3rd Annual Major League Baseball Diversity Summit to New York and their Senior Vice President Corporate/Community Relations, Brian Smith, tells me how it came together.

Check out the video interview with Brian Smith

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Brian Smith: Good to see you, we're honored to be here today, this is an amazing event as you can see the turnout, tons of people here, jobseekers and vendors and we're looking forward to be a productive two days here at this summit.

Glenn Gilliam: Were you guys instrumental at all in making sure it came to New York this year?

Brian Smith: We had some conversations in house and we went back and forth with MLB and we decided that this is something we're committed to on a day in, day out basis and it would be a great thing to bring it here to NY. We were excited to partner with MLB, Wendy and her team to make it happen.

Glenn Gilliam: Are the Yankees involved in outreach to other diverse pockets like RBI?

Brian Smith: Across the board there's a push to promote and sustain an inclusive environment and when we mean that, it's not only for the job seekers, for the vendors, it's for our neighbors. We have to provide access and if you don't you're not a productive neighbor and we're committed to being a productive member of our community. We do that by hosting events at the Stadium, I was talking to some teachers a couple of weeks ago and they said the most exciting classroom in New York City is Yankee Stadium, where we host diversity business initiative, where we engage local youth to expose them to careers in the professional sports field.

In addition, through our program such as Healthy Home Plate, where we take young people in from our community who are recognized, you know unfortunately our community is recognized for a number of areas where we're in first place where you're not excited about. For example there's Juvenile Diabetes, Stage 2 Diabetes in Youth, obesity and asthma. We came up with this Healthy Home Plate initiative where we turn Yankee Stadium into a classroom, to educate these young people on healthy lifestyle initiatives, where we bring them in on a consistent basis. So these types of programs and that ongoing commitment by the organization and that push from the ownership down to be a productive member and a cordial and cooperative neighbor, that's our day to day focus.

Glenn Gilliam: Are you a native New Yorker?

Brian Smith: I am from NY, I grew up in Mt. Vernon, NY and because of our organization providing access, a young African American male that grew up on the south side of Mt. Vernon has the opportunity to talk to you today as the Senior Vice President Corporate & Community Relations for the NY Yankees.

Glenn Gilliam: Are you friends with fellow Mt. Vernon, Yankee fan, Denzel Washington?

Brian Smith: No, he's a little older, more around my sister's age, but I know he is a big Yankees fan and we appreciate it and I've seen him around with the NY on his hat and we thank him for that.

Glenn Gilliam: Where did you go to school?

Brian Smith: I'm a graduate of Mt. Vernon HS and I went to undergrad and grad school at the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma.

Glenn Gilliam: What took you out to Oklahoma?

Brian Smith: I was fortunate as a student-athlete I excelled playing and did decently in the classroom and excelled as an athlete on the football field and I was provided the opportunity to get a full football scholarship to the University of Tulsa and I was recruited by a number of other schools and I said I'm going to get away. And the young kid from New York went to Oklahoma and it all worked out well.

Glenn Gilliam: Where were you before coming to the Yankees?

Brian Smith: When I finished grad school I was briefly with SoBRO, South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation, I was a case manager and a teacher but I knew I wanted to get into the sports industry. I still had that drive to work and be involved with sports and I was able to make some contacts and got in front of some Yankee personnel and got my foot in the door as an intern.

Glenn Gilliam: What do you expect from this summit and where do you hope it goes for future years?

Brian Smith: As far as this summit, I wish everybody in attendance a productive two days, I want to see people coming out of here with not only securing jobs opportunities and vendors securing opportunities, I want people to come out of here saying this is amazing, how can I continue this push and this drive and just to be a part of that is incredible. We want to see this grow not only today but on an annual basis.

Glenn Gilliam is a host of What's The 411, an award-winning entertainment and lifestyle television show, and What's The 411Sports, a sports news and commentary television show. Bringing his love of sports, culture, media, and the business behind it, he's especially interested in covering the under-reported African-American stories and their contribution to the industry. Glenn enjoys contributing a broader perspective of multicultural achievement than is found presently in mainstream media. After starting on Wall St. as an International Bank Examiner for the Federal Reserve Bank of NY, he spent the next twenty-plus years, excelling as a sales, marketing and advertising executive. He has managed the marketing investments of Fortune 500 clients such as, Coca-Cola, Burger King, McDonald's and NASCAR while working for corporate and advertising industry leaders.

As Principal & Marketing Consultant for Reel Dreamz Entertainment, a boutique marketing, events and production company, he successfully launched the marketing and branding strategies for JTE Spirits, a premium liquor industry start-up and TAKK Systems, an online inventory control upstart. Glenn also manages Strategic Partnerships for Super Bowl Gospel Celebration, LLC, the premiere faith-based event & NFL approved vendor, Latino Sports Ventures, ICON Sports, Urban Aggregate, The Tiger Woods Foundation events and golf tournament fundraising properties, including "Tiger Jam", Quicken Loans National and Tiger Woods Invitational @ Pebble Beach, to name a few and other non-profits including Career Gear and the Black Culinary Alliance (BCA Global).

Glenn's expertise encompasses media, PR and communication strategy in both general and multicultural markets. Reel Dreamz Entertainment specializes in production, events and integrated marketing across a variety of platforms. Combining his interests in sports, history, marketing and film, he has secured corporate sponsorships and produced intellectual content for documentaries and broadcast properties including, Black Wheels - History of African American Achievement in Motorsports, "Legacy of 21": the Story of Roberto Clemente, "Rainbow On The Green", chronicling multicultural achievement in golf and Making It Happen - Masters of Invention: History of African American Inventors. Giving back to our youth he created the Reel Dreamz Film Challenge, a high school filmmaking competition that connects students to career opportunities behind the camera in film and TV.

A native of Jamaica, Queens in New York City, Glenn graduated from Forest Hills High School and later earned a degree in Economics and Government from Dartmouth College.

Flushing Meadows, NY - The air is filled with anticipation, as kids from Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities Community Center from Corona, Queens, fill the Grandstand court waiting to meet the reigning US Open Women's Champion, Serena Williams.

The Back Story at the US OPEN 2014

It is Thursday afternoon of "Qualies" week and after participating in the Open "Draw Ceremony", the No.1 Women's Player in the world who had already appeared on Dave Letterman the day before, will be front and center during Arthur Ashe Kids Day in two days on Saturday. I mention these activities because I think we take for granted the Williams Sisters and Serena especially and the hefty responsibilities that she and her sister have carried for the better part of 15 years as the best of American tennis and never more so than now. It's amazing to watch them handle their media and philanthropic obligations, play singles and doubles in the same day, and on consecutive days. It really shows how strong-willed they are, their incredible commitment, sacrifice and desire to win and how important it is to have that strong family bond that their parents created from the start. It's also been a real boon, as fan favorites, to the entertainment value of each day's US Open ticket, to have them as part of the daily draw.

An unfortunate casualty of the first round draw was pitting the defending champ against American Junior Champion, Taylor Townsend of Chicago. The eighteen year old lefty, as an American and African American, may have made some noise in the tournament, if not for playing her mentor and friend in the opening round. That is correct, I said friend, as we confirmed in Serena's first interview, when asked What was your initial reaction when you found out you were opening against top ranked junior, Taylor Townsend?

"Yeah it's going to be a great match for me," said Serena. "She's such a great player. Extremely young, I have been able to see her play a little bit. She does everything really, really well. We're really good friends. We always talk and always text each other. It's going to be a really tough match for me."

I followed by asking about her thoughts on the history that lay ahead.

"You talked after winning the Western & Southern, you feel like you could play for a long time," I said. "If you get to 22 or 23 Grand Slam titles might you decide to hang them up?"

"Well, that would be just really amazing if I can make it that far,' she said. "Competition is a little stiff now, so I have to do the best I can and I can't even think that far to be honest."

Watch Video: Serena Williams on Getting to 22 or 23 Grand Slams

"Well would you consider it an unsuccessful year if you don't win a Grand Slam," I asked.

"Probably, yes," Serena stated. "But there's always next year and the year after, so I don't necessarily – you don't give up. You just keep going and you keep fighting to continue to win more."

Watch Video: Serena Williams on If She Didn't Win a Grand Slam This Year

How is your school in Kenya going," I asked switching the subject.

"It's going good," responded Serena. "We just had a great update. We built a new building. It's been really, really amazing".

A reporter asked Serena that a couple of people had heard that she was having a show for Aneras in a couple of months and asked if she could talk about it.

"Yeah, no; I'm having a fashion show for Serena's Signature Statement and I'm launching Aneras," Serena Williams responded. "They are two totally separate fashion lines. This show we are doing for fashion week, New York has always been a dream of mine to have a fashion show at NY Fashion Week. We are doing the collection that sold on HSN for Serena's Signature Statement. We have casted the models and it's been a really great experience. I'm really excited and nervous at the same time to see the reactions and hopefully we'll get a full house."

Watch Serena Williams talk about her fashion line, Serena's Signature Statement

During her early matches Serena's biggest challenge was the unpredictable winds that made consistent serving difficult, until adjustments could be made, but her opponents never really threatened her, as she never conceded more than 3 games in any set, winning each match in straight sets as she did in two previous title wins. Although she hadn't really been tested in the singles and unfortunately lost in the doubles with sister Venus, this is the first Grand Slam all year that she had reached the Singles Quarterfinal round and it showed as she raised her arms in victory over Kaia Kanepi in the 4th Round and gave a ball to an adoring fan and emphatically declared to the cheering crowds "I made it to the Quarterfinals!" And with all that was riding on it, it seemed like destiny, here's what was at stake.

The milestones are historic:
-15th Anniversary of her first Grand Slam victory, and US Open - the 1999 US Open.
-18th Grand Slam Title which ties her with Chris Evert & Martina Navratilova, for fourth all time. Margaret Court (24), Steffi Graf (22), Helen Wills Moody (19)
-She is a three-peat US Open Champion, winning the Open 3 years in a row.
-Her 6th US Open Title overall, tying Chris Evert for top honors.
-At 32, Serena continues to extend her reign as the Women's Champion with the greatest number of years between her first and last titles (15)
-She is the 2014 Emirates Airlines US Open Series Champion winning an additional $1MM and Serena's prize money has made Women's Tennis history, taking home a record $3MM check for a new highest payday in tennis and wining $4MM total after clinching the title. She already holds the previous record at $3.6MM, with Rafael Nadal, for winning it last year.

In our last interview we asked her what we know everyone's been dying to know.

"Does the new leopard print outfits mean the "catsuit" might be making a comeback," I asked.

"That's a good question," said Serena. "We all loved the catsuit; at least I did."

"Gives us hope," I responded.

"Keep hope alive," Serena added.

"Where is the catsuit," another reporter inquired.

"Yeah, I have all of my outfits. I saw it the other day actually in my closet, Serena said.

"Sounds like a hashtag campaign," I added.

"Right," Serena concurred and then added, "Of course hashtags didn't exist back then."

So please hit us up at #411SportsTV and join the #BringBackSerenaWilliamsCatsuit campaign.

Watch Serena Williams Talk About Her Famous Catsuit

All jokes aside, Serena Williams' victory in the US OPEN 2014 Women's Final over close friend Caroline Wozniaki (6-3, 6-3) was another seminal moment in arguably the greatest female athlete's career ever and it makes us even more excited about 2015 and going down under to Australia...we'll see ya there.

COMMENTARY

Now that some of the dust has settled following the NBA press conference and the Clippers victory, I'd like to offer a few thoughts on the recent revelations regarding the racist declarations and unfortunate history of discrimination by LA Clippers owner, Donald Sterling and the varied responses to them.

First, what is most important and unfortunately, always under-reported when these racially charged events arise, is the connection this particular revelation has to the broader cultural context of institutional racism and plutocrat entrenchment evidenced in the real time decision by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) last week that upheld the ban on affirmative action at the University of Michigan. The SCOTUS made this ruling while "legacy" for the rich and elite never gets touched and it also equated money to speech with the Citizens United decision.

Other issues with broader racial cultural context include: the vote on unionizing the student athletes at Northwestern University initiated by their black QB; the settlement paid by EA Sports to college football players after years of using their likeness for huge video game profits; recent election voter suppression efforts and the assault on the Voting Rights Act on its 50th anniversary; the difficulty in securing equal pay for women and by extension, blacks & Latinos; the obstacles to raising the minimum wage and fight against unions; the impediments to the President of the United States (POTUS) and Attorney General's efforts to roll back mandatory prison sentences against non-violent drug offenders; the NFL's effort to legislate the N-word out of pro football after the Incognito vs Martin texting/bullying scandal; Riley Cooper's N-word outburst; Clive Bundy's rants about blacks and slavery; Paula Deen's racist comments; the beliefs that Mitt Romney holds that corporations are people and that 47% of Americans are freeloading, non-taxpayers that don't assume responsibility for their lives and are dependent on the government; and the continuing persecution of our first black POTUS by the right and Republicans.

Unfortunately, the list goes on and on. Occupy Wall Street, try Occupy NBA...NFL...MLB, you get the idea.
The thread that stitches all of these events together is the growing disparity between the 1% super affluent and the 99% middle and working class and poor and how race has historically been exploited to maintain the divide, increase power (economic & political) and a perpetual cheap labor underclass. Sterling represents all of these dynamics as Hall of Famer Elgin Baylor painstakingly recounted in his wrongful termination suit, "he wanted the Clippers team to be composed of poor black boys from the South, with a white head coach."

This is echoed in the comments Sterling made to his mistress, "I support them and give them food and clothes and cars and houses. Who gives it to them? As the New Yorker's Ben Greenman wrote on Twitter "It's not just Donald Sterling's ignorance that's the problem. It's the decades that ignorance has been tolerated because of wealth."

As far as what the NBA presented yesterday, while I don't share the euphoria that many expressed, including all past and present players, and Clipper fans, I'll credit the Commissioner with doing the minimum he had to do, given the global implications and urgency of enforcing some tangible punishment that would help stabilize the crisis and minimize advertiser and fan defections in the middle of their premier showcase, the PLAYOFFS. Timing is everything and I can only imagine if this recording showed up in July instead of April, during what most have observed as some of the best first round playoff basketball they can remember.

Crickets!

The massive assembled press, of at least 200 waited anxiously, leaning forward every time the podium door cracked open and after a prolonged delay, Silver emerged with all the stress of this first nightmare for his administration, etched on his bespectacled face. He expressed that he was outraged and distraught and said Donald Sterling is banned for life from the Clippers and the NBA. But he also curiously admitted during the Q&A, that Sterling's history of well documented bigotry had no influence in determining the lifetime ban but the owners will include his public record of lawsuits and shameful prejudicial behavior and comments as part of their review in casting their vote to force the sale of the Clippers. Silver must have gone to the Chris Christie School of Incredulous Press Conferences, please.

Silver said he was "shocked" when he first heard the audio file and wished the audio recording was not Sterling or had been doctored and I could only conclude, that again, he appears to want to protect Donald Sterling and would assume David Stern felt the same when earlier allegations and lawsuits were filed. For Silver to say he was shocked either makes him exceedingly naïve, incompetent, or a fantastic liar only interested in maintaining the status quo and all of these are unacceptable. As written in an article for CBS Sports, Gregg Doyle makes it plain, 'Sterling's awful statements made it clear he considers African Americans beneath him and it didn't surprise anybody." Maybe if there was a black Commissioner or at least some C-Suite level blacks at the NBA, maybe there would be more sensitivity to actual discrimination that could be checked at the source early on.

"There's plenty of blame to go around. It's not only the NBA that allowed Donald Sterling to be Donald Sterling though. We did it, we accepted him. Hell, we enabled him. Every ticket you bought put money in his pocket. Every jersey you paid for. Every game that came and went without a protest outside Staple Center, by fans of the NBA, of basketball, of simple human decency. You allowed this.
Every column we never wrote, begging the NBA to rid itself of the canker sore that owns the other franchise in LA. I accepted this. Every contract an NBA player and coach signed with Sterling, they enabled this."

Just as the Dow Jones winning corporations, media and by extension government lobbyist and the elected officials they control, didn't want to acknowledge or respond, except by police force, to Occupy Wall Street, so did the NBA wait until the last minute.

Going forward, fans, players, coaches, advertisers, sponsors, and guardians of the game at the Commissioner's level must not ignore the signals. We all must be well-informed, courageous, and vigilant about addressing all inequities when confronted or known. If necessary, we must protest, direct our dollars, support firms or organizations that value our community in order to make substantive progress. We draw the line in the sand here, no one-- owners, commissioners, or the so-called entitled is above scrutiny or sanctions.

Lastly (for now), I think Adam Silver owes Elgin Baylor a long overdue apology, just saying.

This commentary is the opinion of Glenn Gilliam and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of What's The 411 Networks

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