NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's fight for social justice has always been about sacrifice
The NBA’s all-time leading scorer shares his path to becoming a social justice advocate and how today’s athletes can build on what he and others started.
In 1968, Lew Alcindor, a UCLA junior, declined to represent the United States in basketball at the Olympics in Mexico City. While the college superstar saw it as an appealing opportunity, he didn’t have the enthusiasm to compete for a country that was denying rights to Black people.
Three years later, Alcindor changed his name to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and went on to become an NBA legend, amassing a list of achievements on the hardwood longer than his 7-foot, 2-inch frame. But despite all the awards and six championship rings, the Lakers great has sought to define himself as “someone more than the guy with the skyhook,” referring to his signature shot.
Long before Colin Kaepernick
Understandably, much of the talk these days about athletes being advocates for social justice has centered on Colin Kaepernick. While Kaepernick's story is important, its outsized attention can crowd out the rest of the picture: Athletes have been using their platforms to bring awareness to civil rights and inequality long before the San Francisco 49ers quarterback, in 2016, declined to stand during the playing of the national anthem to protest police brutality and racial injustice.