We Matter

by Etan Thomas

  My question to you is, what happened?

  Etan: So what I saw happen was, you had the Trayvon Martin murder. Then you had Eric Garner’s murder. Then you had Michael Brown’s murder. Then you had Trump elected. I think that’s what happened.

  Hayes: So you think it’s just like society was driving consciousness among the athletes, who then pushed the league in a direction?

  Etan: That’s exactly what I think. What do you think?

  Hayes: Yeah, I think that’s right. I also wonder . . . I’m just curious about the demographics of the league’s fandom . . . because the thing about basketball is it’s all about economics, as is all sports. And the people that spend money on NBA league pass packages, jerseys, they’re majority white but disproportionately Black. Right? So the league’s fandom, the people it’s marketing to, are a greater share of African Americans than the American populace. And I wonder how much of the “progressiveness” is simply because they recognize their fan base.

  Etan: There’s no question. Because you look at the difference in the NBA and NFL. The NFL is completely different—I don’t think they would have embraced some of the activism we saw in the NBA. Can you imagine if all the NFL players wore I Can’t Breathe jerseys?

  Hayes: They’d go crazy. But you think that’s also about the fan base?

  Etan: I’m not sure if it’s the fan base. I think the powers-that-be in the NFL are a lot more conservative. So it just kind of trickles down.

  Hayes: Right.

  Etan: So . . . there’s a little bit of suppression of athletes speaking out in a way that you don’t really see in the NBA.

  Hayes: Yeah. That’s definitely how it feels.

  Etan: Because LeBron doesn’t get the backlash that Kaepernick gets.

  Hayes: No.

  Etan: LeBron has done a lot and said a lot of the same things that Kaepernick has said, but the backlash is completely different. I think that’s just the way it is.

  Interview with Alonzo Mourning

  Back in high school and college, if anybody asked me what type of player that I wanted to play like, I would immediately say Alonzo Mourning. When I saw him transform his body from his early years at Georgetown to his years with the Miami Heat, where he at times almost resembled an action figure, it made me get in the weight room. His power jump hook to the middle of the lane. His sweep to the middle, then spin to the baseline. The way he blocked shots, the physicality and intensity he played with, and how hard he worked on the court. In fact, one of the reasons I wore 33 at Syracuse was because of Alonzo Mourning.

  Another thing I noticed about Alonzo Mourning was how much work he did in the community—his activism, and his willingness to take a stand on different issues. It was an honor to serve with him as a “surrogate” for President Obama during both terms. As a surrogate, I campaigned on the president’s behalf: I woud appear at rallies performing spoken word or giving speeches; and I participated in debates and political discussions on MSNBC and at various events in DC. Alonzo would engage in other types of activities, such as hosting campaign fund-raisers in Miami. I would support Alonzo’s events and he would support mine. He has sat on a few of my panel discussions, including the Black Lives Matter program we did during All-Star Weekend 2015 in Harlem.

  Alonzo is a great example of an athlete who took his education seriously, wasn’t afraid to speak out, and has used basketball to open doors to change.

  Me and President Obama shooting hoops at the Easter Egg Roll. It was an honor being a surrogate for the Obama administration, participating in his fatherhood initiative, and working with My Brother's Keeper.

  Etan: What led to your decision to throw your full support behind President Obama?

  Alonzo Mourning: When I saw the opportunity and the potential he had, and the overall way he communicated to the American people, that drew me to understand that this brother is going to need all of the support he can possibly get to become the commander in chief. So when I had the opportunity to support him, I jumped at that opportunity. He is a huge basketball fan as everybody knows, and through the up-close-and-personal interactions that we did have, we developed a brotherly type of relationship and it was genuine. We shot around on the court . . . We developed the type of relationship that allowed me to continue to support him on his journey and utilize that camaraderie to build bridges. He had a dedication to helping boys and young men of color, and by serving on his initiatives and boards like My Brother’s Keeper and the President’s Counsel on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition, which was very near and dear to my heart . . . And as his term progressed, and he won the presidency and his responsibilities increased, it became more and more evident that there were forces who did not want to see him succeed, which made me want to support him even more.

  Etan: You live in Florida, a state that often goes “red” in presidential elections. Did you ever fear the blowback for your support of President Obama?

  Mourning: I wasn’t concerned with anybody else’s opinion in any way, shape, or form . . . I did what I thought was right and I chose to support a man who was on the right side of right. Yes, he was the first African American president . . . but if he wasn’t on the right side of right, he wouldn’t have received my support. I closely examined the candidates that he was up against . . . but there was a genuineness behind President Obama in his understanding and caring about the American people, and that’s what set him apart. You could hear it in his speeches of how he laid out the plans for us to be a better nation . . . It wasn’t about color; it was about service and doing the right thing for our country as a whole, inclusive of everybody. And I think during his terms he did a phenomenal job, especially considering what he inherited and the opposition he received throughout his entire presidency. No other presidency in history experienced the level of disrespect and opposition that he experienced. No one. But he never turned bitter. When they went low, he went high, like First Lady Michelle Obama said. And they represented themselves with nothing but grace and class.

  Etan: There were probably more athletes who actively supported President Obama than any other president in history.

  Mourning: That definitely didn’t surprise me. The way he communicated to the American people and the way he articulated his message helped us understand the genuineness behind his purpose and reason in wanting to become the president of the United States. That drew athletes to want to support him.

  Etan: Now, with the Trump administration, the opposite is happening. We are seeing an unprecedented number of athletes and management speaking out against the president.

  Mourning: The one thing about our political system is that everyone has their own different values and different opinions of how they see our country. And based on those different perspectives, each elected official is put into those positions to make decisions to serve the public, and unfortunately, it is very apparent that not everybody has those intentions. Some people speak a certain rhetoric that encourages people to vote for them and to put them in that particular position, but when they get there, their words are simply not genuine and their hidden agendas become revealed. Hearing the messages from the Trump administration, it is quite disheartening. There are not a lot of facts that are being expressed; instead, there are a lot of untruths . . . So of course you will have a lot of people, not just athletes, who object to those messages and the rhetoric, the untruths.

  Etan: You do a lot of work in the community, especially through the Mourning Family Foundation and the Overtown Youth Center. In this Trump era, what is your direct message to the youth?

  Mourning: To first of all do your homework. We live in a world that is dominated by technology. You are able to find the truth. Don’t just believe what you hear on television, or what you hear people say on social media, but actually do your homework and educate yourself about what is going on and the rules of the game. There is a reason why the current administration put a gag order on our environmental agencies. Because they speak the truth . . . Think about
it right now: as we speak, our executive government is actually putting a gag order on our environmental agencies, and that’s a problem. That’s a huge red flag. That has never happened in the history of the United States. So that should send you the signal or raise your curiosity as to what they are hiding . . .

  Etan: So you are basically telling them to arm themselves with knowledge to combat the hidden and many times not-so-hidden agendas of this current administration?

  Mourning: The easiest way to control somebody is to keep them uneducated . . . They made it illegal for us to be educated during slavery. It was against the law . . . That’s why we had to sneak in churches and act like we were just having Sunday-morning church service—because our ancestors knew the power of being educated. And just as it was crucial then, it is crucial now. Education is the only way for you to be an active participant; you have to educate yourself on what is going on. So, for instance, when you don’t vote, that’s a problem. Educate yourself on, first of all, why you have the right to vote, educate yourself on the sacrifices that other people have made way before you even existed . . . Then you will understand the reason behind your vote, and that’s just one example.

  Etan: What would be your advice to other athletes?

  Mourning: When you think of the stage we have, the presence we have on social media and with the media in general, when an athlete says something, people hear it. Doesn’t mean they agree with it, but they hear it. They are exposed to it . . . We live in a society where everyone wants to follow but people don’t want to lead. The way you become a leader is you create a positive movement that everybody can attach themselves to with the goal of making a difference in other people’s lives. When you do that, it will become infectious . . . We as athletes have to realize how much power we have.

  Interview with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

  I remember my mother giving me a VHS cas about Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called, Kareem: Reflections from Inside. I must have watched it a million times. And my grandfather always had a tremendous amount of respect for Kareem, going back to his days at Kareem’s Power Memorial Academy in New York City. My grandfather always said that the sky hook was a shot that more people should utilize, including myself, but he also always talked about Kareem’s intelligence. Different books that he had written, and projects that he has been involved with.

  When I took my grandfather to meet Kareem, he immediately began asking the legend about people from the playground back in the “Rucker Park heyday.” He thanked Kareem for being a great example for his grandson to follow, in how he was never afraid to stand up for what he believed and how he valued his education and pursued his writing and all of his other talents. It was an honor to interview Kareem for this book, and an honor that he was eager to be a part of it.

  Etan: You of course have been on the Mount Rushmore of athlete-activists since your days at UCLA, but in the contemporary matters of police shootings and President Trump, how crucial is it for athletes to continue to let their voices be heard?

  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: I think that anyone who is concerned with his/her community should be involved. It doesn’t matter if you’re an athlete or not . . . I understand the tremendous platform that athletes have, but sometimes regular everyday concerned citizens have a tendency to sit back and expect someone else to speak out or take a stand. We don’t want to put it all on the shoulders of athletes and entertainers . . . This is America. The First Amendment gives you the right to speak out on issues that you feel are important, and you should not hesitate to do that. Now, back to your specific question: all athletes have that right, and their additional status as athletes will make their platform bigger and enable them to reach more people on their platform and gain more attention, and it is my belief that they should definitely continue to do so in a positive way.

  Etan: How do you feel about the people who go out of their way to tell athletes to just shut up and play?

  Abdul-Jabbar: Pay them absolutely no attention at all. Nobody has the right to tell you what you can or cannot or should not be involved in. Athletes are no different from any other person. If you are concerned about something and you have a platform, then use it. The reason why those people focus on athletes is because their additional status in their community, among their peers, fans, and the entire country, means they have power and can really influence people. And of course just think of it logically: if you have someone with that type of power and influence, pushing for something you don’t agree with, of course they are going to try to do whatever they can to silence them, because they are a threat to them . . . But athletes should definitely never shy away from their power, but rather recognize and embrace their capabilities. Look at what happened at the University of Missouri. The football team made a statement and the people on campus had to listen. They had that much power. Now, they should always use that power wisely, but that power is there.

  Etan: You recently expressed a “rage of betrayal” that you felt from the election results, which seemed to roll back progress for people of color in America. You also stated that the country will find it difficult to make this transition if society “embraces the leadership of a racist.” How do you see us as a country surviving the Trump presidency?

  Abdul-Jabbar: Well, that’s a tough question. I can’t predict what is going to happen. I definitely don’t want people hanging on my words thinking that I have some answers that I don’t have. But I will tell you this: unless we get together and organize politically, whatever answers we do come up with won’t be listened to. I think that is the most important issue here. President Obama said it very clearly: “Don’t boo, vote.” That means you have to organize, you have to understand what the issues are and vote with the people who agree with you in how to achieve progress. One thing that everyone really woke up to when Mr. Trump was elected was there was too much apathy, too many people said, “Well, the people who vote will take care of it.” Well, your vote was missing, and your vote would have made a difference in that election. So we have to change that.

  Etan: What was your reaction when you heard about the Muslim ban?

  Abdul-Jabbar: Well, anytime that one group is singled out, that’s an alarm. Just think about this logically, and historically: if one group is being singled out, subjected to sanctions, pointed at as the cause of problems, or thought of to need extra vetting or to be an overall threat to the well-being of the larger society . . . it’s only a matter of time before the finger will be pointed at your group as well. This is a slowly creeping situation. I am glad that the system of checks and balances stepped on Mr. Trump’s toes and made that an impossibility. But we have to be careful here. We are starting to regress . . . and that’s really what we have to avoid. We are looking at a blatant attempt to erode all of the progress we have made over these last eight years, and that’s not to say that President Obama was perfect or all of his policies were perfect, but there was a lot that we accomplished as a whole under his two terms, and it’s sad to see that so much of that is being undone with the swipe of a pen . . . This is a tragedy and we have to combat it with all of our ability and all of our strength. And we have to do this together: Black, white, Christian, Muslim, male, female. We all have a common problem, and we have to come together to fight against this common problem.

  Etan: How would you advise young people to get involved?

  Abdul-Jabbar: They should use whatever means they have to get people out to vote. The whole “Get Out the Vote” campaign—that takes money, you know. One thing that we are sadly lacking is the financial wherewithal to become active politically. When we do not vote, our voice is diminished. That’s how we increase our voice. And we have to increase our organizational capacity so that we can go out and vote and make our political power known.

  Trump’s plan involves scaring voters with a constant barrage of lies and exaggerations. The fact that this propaganda is so effective is especially sad, because the nation that once stood up to bullies like Hitler, Castro, and Khrushchev
is now falling into goose-step behind a homegrown bully who seems afraid of everything that isn’t part of his entitled life, who responds to his irrational fears the way a child does.

  There is a reason that the administration continuously attacks the news media—because if they can continuously create doubts in the minds of the average person who is too lazy to read and educate themselves on these issues, they’ll be incorrectly informed . . . People have to get to the point where they are not gullible. But, of course, that may be wishful thinking.

  Etan: Another aspect of the current administration that has brought many athletes out is Trump’s misogyny. We saw a massive women’s protest all across the country . . . Talk about the importance of not only female athletes but also male athletes continuing to speak out against the sexism coming from the Trump administration.

  Abdul-Jabbar: It’s an indication of how they view women and the status they want to keep. We have to educate people and the women have to organize. If you look at some of the polls, so many women actually voted for Trump and helped put him in office, which I definitely had a hard time and I still have a hard time comprehending. They actually voted against their best interest. They are either naive or ignorant to exactly what his intentions were and what his history was. But I don’t see how they could be ignorant to that fact, because it was broadcasted so much prior to the election, so I am just as befuddled on that one as anyone else. We have to inform people and inform voters. But it’s not just women who voted against their own interest. Many people . . . are now getting a rude awakening as they discover who he is and the direction he is taking us. We all should be very, very concerned about that.