Chapter 13
Education Matters
Coach Carter is one of my favorite movies to show young athletes. For those who haven’t seen it, it’s a riveting film inspired by the true story of a coach (played by Samuel L. Jackson) who takes over a struggling high school basketball team in Richmond, California. Coach Carter is cut from a different cloth and doesn’t tolerate bad team chemistry or students not taking their education seriously. The school board rejects his methods and even fires him when he puts the entire team on academic ineligibility.
Like many schools, the school in the movie is only concerned with wins. The team is undefeated, and more wins usually translates into more money for the schools. But Coach Carter takes on the entire town, parents, community, and school board, who are all furious with him for shutting down the season until the players bring up their GPAs.
I showed this to some of Malcolm’s teammates while we were on our way to a Wizards game; I wanted to use the movie as a teaching tool. And the message definitely resonated. I told the boys how I grew up with guys who didn’t have a coach like this, someone who held them accountable, made sure they respected themselves enough to give their absolute best both on and off the court.
One character in the movie, Junior, can hardly even read. How can a student make it all the way through middle and high school, become a senior like Junior, and not be able to read? That’s a catastrophe, but it happens. This is art depicting real life. And when you are finished playing, after school has used you all they possibly can, they may not return your phone calls because they don’t need you anymore. They have moved on. Which is why it is so upsetting to see so many guys put all of their eggs in one basket. No preparation, no future planning, nothing to fall back on. There have been so many guys I grew up with who I know should have made it to the NBA before me, but they lacked the discipline that Coach Carter demanded from his players—the preparation, the focus—and made a lot of bad decisions that not only ruined their sports careers but essentially ruined their lives.
I told the boys that getting your college paid for is an accomplishment in itself. Using basketball to get a degree, where you don’t have to spend the rest of your life in debt trying to pay off student loans and you can use that education to better yourself, is a huge achievement. Although so many people assume basketball is your only ticket out, in actuality it is much easier for you to become a doctor, lawyer, agent, businessperson, or entrepreneur than it is to become a professional athlete.
Chris, our center, was the first in the group with a question. He asked if most schools only care about what you can do on the court. I told him yes, unfortunately. I shared how my high school coach, Nate Harris, would give me the hardest time because I was just as focused on speech-and-debate as I was on basketball. He told me that I was wasting my time and needed to be focused on basketball and nothing else. I remembered telling him that I was really good, and winning in numerous categories—poetry, original oratory, standard oratory, and dramatic interpretation. His reply was simply that I needed to get my priorities straight. My response was to win a state championship in speech-and-debate and in basketball during my senior year. The boys all looked at me with eyes wide open, and I told them to never let anyone limit you academically, not even your coach.
I then asked them if they noticed the part in the film where Samuel L. Jackson talks about the school’s statistics. Tra Quan, one of our point guards, said he remembered Jackson’s character explaining that only half of the students are expected to graduate, and out of that, a large percentage of them are girls. Josh, one of our other centers, remembered that among young Black males who drop out of school, a large percentage of them will end up dead or in jail. I said, “Exactly.” Then I asked if they saw what ended up happening to all of the guys on the team. In unison, the boys said, “They all went to college and played ball.” I said, “Exactly, but if Coach Carter wasn’t there, they probably wouldn’t have made it to college.” I then went into a rather lengthy monologue about how the system is set up for them to fail, and that adults aren’t being honest enough with them about this fact. I told them to read Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, a book about the mass incarceration of Black Americans. And that when they pick what school they want to play for, they should pay attention to the coaches’ philosophies—if they are activists like Coach Carter, fighting the system, standing up for their education, and leading them the right way; or if they are only concerned with their play on the court.
On another trip to a Wizards game, I showed the guys Finding Forrester. I absolutely love this movie because it mirrors so many of my experiences in school. I had teachers like Professor Crawford, the teacher of the main character, Jamal, who doesn’t think the kid deserves to be in his classroom because he plays basketball. Professor Crawford also accuses Jamal of plagiarism because he doesn’t think a kid from the Bronx could produce the quality of work that he produces.
I shared my experiences with the guys—how my sixth grade teacher, Ms. Stewart, accused me of cheating because she didn’t think that I could do so well on a test. I also told them about how my ninth grade English teacher, Ms. Ennox, accused me of plagiarism because she didn’t believe that I wrote a paper that I had handed in to her. Malcolm, who has heard all of these stories before, asked me to tell them about my elementary school teacher Ms. Scalet. I said, “Okay, sure, well, Ms. Scalet was my fifth grade teacher and she told my mother that I would never be able to write in complete paragraph form because my brain developed slowly and I had a problem focusing.” Josh, another one of our centers, said, “That’s really messed up.” I said, “Yeah, it is, but I didn’t let her low expectations stop me. And as I got older and started writing articles and books, my mother would always send them to her.” They all started laughing, and Jaden, one of our guards, said, “Ooooooh, crack her face all over the pavement.” I hadn’t heard that expression before but I could put together what it meant.
I explained that people are going to have low academic expectations for them as athletes. I told them about the hardest class I have ever taken in my life, calculus. I was a business major and calculus was a required course. I was never someone who loved math, but I wanted to learn business, investing, and real estate. That way, if I did turn professional, I would know how to manage money. The first day of class, I walked into a big lecture hall filled with hundreds of people. As the professor was telling everyone to get seated, he looked right at me and said, “Hey, aren’t you Etan Thomas?” I replied yes. He said, “The basketball player?” Again I replied yes, now with a bit of skepticism as to where exactly this was going. And the professor’s next words are ones that I will tell my grandchildren about. He said, “What are you doing in my classroom? Shouldn’t you be in ‘Rocks for Jocks’ or something?” I just stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds. I didn’t know if it was a bad joke or if he was trying to put me down. Unfortunately, it turned out to be the latter. I took my seat, shell-shocked.
I paused the story and looked at the guys, and they were hanging on my every word. Roman, one of our power forwards, asked, “What happened next? Did you cuss him out, go off on him?” Red, one of our other guards, said, “I would’ve lost it.” I told them that I didn’t lose it. I just told myself that I wasn’t going to let this cat defeat me and that I was going to prove him wrong and be successful in his class. Now, anyone who has taken calculus knows that it’s a rather challenging class—ridiculously hard. There were many times it crossed my mind to quit. This class was really, really hard and taking up all of my time. I had no time for anything but calculus. I had a tutor and a study group that I met with two times a week. I remember all of the coaches coming to me at different times saying basically, “Why are you killing yourself with this hard class?” They didn’t tell me to drop the class or take something easier per se, but they did stress that I needed to work on my game as much as I was studying. It was a subtle suggestion that I shouldn’t forget why I was there.
I remember explaining to Coach Orr what had happened and that I couldn’t let this cat win, that if I didn’t study like this I would fail. Coach Orr understood completely and turned it into an entire lesson for me. He said, “Oh, you definitely can’t quit now.” He went off about how we are supposed to be student-athletes and not athlete-students. He told me to make sure I was successful in this class and that he would meet with me after my study group and do some extra drills. And that nobody would question my commitment ever again. I thanked him for having my back.
I ended up making it through the class, and of course the teacher never apologized to me, nor did I expect him to.
I told my players that they need to have the courage to never let anyone in life defeat them, and that I wanted all of them to grow up to be athlete-activists in their own right. See, I use AAU and coaching as a way to build young men. It’s not about running a basketball factory. Now, don’t get me wrong, we have talent, and although we are a church team, we have a list of elite teams that we are determined to beat. But we are teaching the players life lessons, which is why I take them to panel discussions and field trips to museums, plays, and lectures. Teaching young athletes about the types of people they should aspire to become is crucial, especially when you want to fully prepare the future generation to carry the torch of athlete activism.
I wanted to conduct an experiment, so I asked my team if they believed that if they wore Steph Curry’s shoes, they could shoot like him. Some of them said that they honestly thought it would help. I asked if they truly believed that if they wore an arm sleeve like Russell Westbrook, it would help them with their jump shots. A few of them said, “Well, yeah, probably.” So I turned this into a lesson. I told them that they needed to watch what guys do off the court to see how they become successful after basketball is finished. Michel Jordan makes more money after basketball than he did while he was playing. Most people can’t make that claim. LeBron James is setting himself up to be in the same boat as Jordan, but it takes proper planning, education, dedication, and discipline in order for that to happen.
Nobody will ever list Jordan with the great athlete-activists of the past. He’s wasn’t Muhammad Ali, he wasn’t Bill Russell. He is typically regarded just as Bill Rhoden describes him in Forty Million Dollar Slaves:
Michael Jordan is one of the most intriguing athletes of the twentieth century, a sports icon like Babe Ruth but not a paragon of principal like Muhammad Ali. Jordan was a marketing maven who never capitalized on his potential to mobilize African American athletes. Had he said, “Jump,” they would have jumped. Instead, he chose to remain publicly neutral in all matters political and racial. The essence of Jordan’s legacy is what he accomplished; the tragedy is what he could have done.
It is important to note that Jordan has evolved. Yes, he is alleged to have once defended his decision to not publicly support Black Democrat Harvey Gantt by saying, “Republicans buy sneakers too” (though Jordan denies having said this). That will probably haunt Jordan for the rest of his days.
Michael Jordan actively supported President Obama in both the ’08 and ’12 elections. I actually attended a huge fund-raising event that Jordan hosted called the “Obama Classic.” Almost fifty different NBA and WNBA athletes joined him in this.
The fact that so many athletes wanted to be involved in President Obama’s reelection campaign ran contrary to the popular image of professional basketball players. The reason for our stance? Many of us come from humble beginnings. And we have not forgotten where we come from. Personally, I don’t need a tax break, and I think many of us share this view. Teachers, firemen, construction workers, receptionists, farmers, Joe the plumbers—those are the ones we need to help along. It’s that mentality that caused all of these athletes to lend their names, time, and effort to help reelect President Obama—spearheaded by none other than Michael Jordan.
In the following interview, weekly columnist for ESPN and ESPN the Magazine Scoop Jackson offers a different perspective on Michael Jordan. It’s one that is very rarely presented—that Jordan’s form of Black Power has been a lot more revolutionary than many people think.
Etan: I want to go back to the article you wrote about me back in 2006 called “Etan Thomas’ Voice Is One Worth Listening To,” where you were calling on other athletes, especially the main top-tier athletes, to really be that voice. You brought up a lot of good points.
Scoop Jackson: I think that this article in particular still resonates today because it seems like things have changed and there is a lot more visibility in athletes taking stances, and I think that has come with the social climate that we are currently in . . . There are so many other players that had much more probably to lose than you did that were taking less of a stance than you were. And we are seeing a shift in that now, which is good . . . And I’ve always looked at you as being a symbol. But I still don’t see athletes doing the work nonstop that I saw you doing while you were with the Wizards and that I see you still doing. There seems to be more visibility to the symbolic gestures, but I still don’t see as much of the consistency that I would like to see.
Etan: But people like LeBron and Carmelo and D Wade and Chris Paul and Steph Curry have been doing a lot, and those are the top athletes of today.
Jackson: I’ll put it this way—to me, you are a protest person and they are statement people. There is a difference to making a statement and a protest . . . I always looked at you as a protest athlete. What LeBron and D Wade and all of them were doing, I look at as statement athletes . . . Now, I don’t want to start splitting hairs, but to me, Carmelo seems to be more of a protest athlete. He seems to be the athlete that is not afraid to get his hands dirty. He’s out on Front Street in Baltimore in the rallies on the street with the people speaking with his mouth, marching with his feet, representing Muhammad Ali 24/7 and what he stood for . . . He leads the town hall meetings that go on after the ESPYs thing he did with D Wade and LeBron and Chris Paul. Then he has the courage to show up on the cover of ESPN Magazine dressed as a Black Panther. That’s protest. So therein lies the difference. I see what everybody else is doing and they are making statements, which are great statements and very much needed in this day and age, especially with everything that is going on in present-day society . . . Now we just need some more protest athletes. And there is a place for everyone. There is a place for the Michael Jordans, who never gets mentioned in these conversations, but there is a definite value to the role that the Michael Jordans play as well.
Etan: Interesting, Jordan’s name always comes up in these conversations. You wrote a piece for ESPN.com called “Michael Jordan’s Contribution to Black Issues Greater Than Perceived,” which you begin by quoting Roland Lazenby, the author of Michael Jordan: The Life: “I say that M.J.’s story is a black power story, not the black power of protest and politics, but the black power of economics.” Talk to me more about Jordan’s role in this discussion.
Jackson: I think that we become really monolithic in how we judge people who are involved in that. We look for the Jim Browns, the Muhammad Alis, the John Carloses and Tommie Smiths. We look for those athletes who were very vocal about their protests and about their views and ideologies . . . And I understand that, but we are doing ourselves a disservice when we adopt the philosophy that everybody needs to look the same or have the same method of fighting, because there are different fights . . . It’s not strategic if you have too many of one and not enough or none of the other . . . Universal freedom for us in this country is us fighting to get freedom, justice, and equality in many fields, not just socially, not just politically, but also economically. America, if anything else, is rooted in and based in economics. We can break down the entire slavery movement and see that it’s strictly about economics . . .
So while Jim Brown and Muhammad Ali and John Carlos and Tommie Smith were standing on the front lines screaming for our equality on one end, for us not to have anybody in the economic field trying to find us leverage isn’t helping at all. Now, Jim Brown was in fact trying to do that in the entertainment business after he retired from football, and that was needed. And bringing it to the present . . . we are screaming on Michael Jordan to do the exact same thing when we really should be paying attention to the financial and business power moves he is making that we could tremendously benefit from.
Etan: That’s a very good point and one that is often completely left out of this conversation, so talk to me about the particular financial power moves that you are referring to.
Jackson: Okay, but I don’t want you to think that this means that there isn’t room for criticism of Michael Jordan even in the business world. I have written about how I felt that the first thing that Michael Jordan should have done when he retired was divest from all his other business ventures and focus on buying out Jordan from Nike and take that company under his name . . . and have it be a self-containing business where he is the principle owner of it . . . I’ve always wanted him to do that. And I have always been critical of him for not doing it. But I didn’t understand what his long-term goal and vision was. Nike would’ve looked at him as direct competition and they would’ve eventually folded Brand Jordan, because Nike was that powerful to do so at that time. He actually played it smarter and forecasted that he would benefit more if he did it this way . . . He has been able to turn that into a billion-dollar business. He now has Black people and executives who have been hired and put in place, and that still has not been matched by any corporation, any Fortune 500 company in America.
And then for him to become the only primary African American owner in America of a sports franchise . . . nobody across all the sports in America has an employment staff with as many Black people working for them in top management positions. From the janitors to the presidents of basketball operations of the Charlotte Hornets, it’s like Chocolate City. These are two companies—Brand Jordan and the Charlotte Hornets—that Black folks have been put in power to be able to create gateways and leverage in this playing field. Nobody else is doing it.
Etan: Is the statement, “Republicans buy sneakers too,” going to haunt him for the rest of his days, even though he denies saying it?
Jackson: No question. There will always be someone who brings it up whenever this discussion of athletes and activism takes place. A lot of individuals have shortsighted vision, and that’s why I am glad you are including this . . . I’ve read a lot of good books about this topic; none of them have recognized this point. I’ll give you a classic example . . . It’s interesting to me how nobody brings up the name of Denzel Washington and how he has subtly, over the course of his career, been the most powerful Black person in Hollywood that we have ever had. If you look at what he’s done and how he’s done it . . . Everything he has done has been Black. Like Black Black. Real Black. And Denzel isn’t out there talking about it, he is moving in silence. Do you know how many Black people have found places and gotten opportunities in Hollywood because he is the one who is in front of these films? . . . He is making things happen for us. And is quiet about it.
Etan: So now you have LeBron, and he has been one of the most high-profile “statement athletes,” to use your phrase, who we have had in this generation. He didn’t go the apolitical route, and he still leads just about all athletes in endorsements.
Jackson: Yeah, but let’s see what happens when the ball stops bouncing. I do believe he comes up in a generation that has a little more freedom to be vocal without feeling the immediate repercussions financially, and I do think that LeBron has put himself in a position where it would be a natural transition for him to remain vocal once he stops playing basketball and he is able to solely concentrate on the economic power and opportunities he can create for Black folks. I love what he is doing on both sides, as the social activist and the economic activist, but I still hold reservations.
Etan: The moves that he’s made off the court have kind of forced mainstream America to deal with him on a different level already.
Jackson: I hear exactly what you’re saying. But I still say that from a perception standpoint, he’s still looked at as a basketball player, and I’m saying once that is removed completely, it’s going to be interesting to see . . . When he becomes bigger than just a basketball player and he is still making noise vocally, that’s when I think we will be better equipped to answer that question.
Etan: Going back to M.J., right after the Alton Sterling murder and the Philando Castile murder and the policemen in Dallas were murdered, M.J. wrote a letter. Bemoaning both the deaths of the police officers and the injustice felt by Black people at the hands of law enforcement, he called for unity and problem-solving while also offering to donate one million dollars to both the Institute for Community-Police Relations and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. Some people complained that it felt so carefully worded that they would rather he hadn’t said anything at all. I didn’t take that stance. I was happy that he even said anything. What was your response?
Jackson: Of course, the one that was given to the Undefeated, I know it very well . . . I’m just happy that he wasn’t silent again. So I am exactly with you on this: at least he said something. And let me also point out, M.J. deliberately chose the Undefeated as the site that he put this letter out on. He didn’t go to ESPN or USA Today or any other white publication that would have gladly put out his statement and even paid to put out his statement . . . but he purposely chose the Undefeated. Why? He picked the one who prides itself on being the premiere platform for examining race and sports and culture. He picked the only major news organization that has a Black editor in chief. He didn’t have to say that’s what he deliberately did, we gotta be able to put two and two together.
Etan: Is it encouraging to you to see the younger athletes beginning to use their voices?
Jackson: We definitely needed something, from a civil basis, from a unity basis, to counter what was going on . . . Seeing young people respond in the way that they have to Eric Garner, to Trayvon Martin, to Donald Trump, created a sense of hope. Especially for an old guy like me . . . And we have seen the impact that sports has had on us as Black people in this country in finding our liberation. Without it, I would question where we would be. People forget that it was Jackie Robinson and Don Newcombe who were the athletes that Dr. King thanked for giving him the strength to do what he did. He used their stances as the platform for him to even get involved. They were his heroes, and they were sports athletes . . . So I’m with you.
When I saw that, I immediately was overcome with a sense of hope, because these young individuals to a certain degree get it, and I am happy they will stand for something and use their sports platform. Let’s go to the University of Missouri, with the football players who protested until things were changed, until the president was fired. And all of that happened through sports, and we cannot lose that sense of history, that sense of what sports means and the power that sports has.
Interview with Michael Bennett
I remember it clear as day: We were at AAU nationals and teams from all over the country—New York, Philly, LA, Detroit—were in a big hall receiving an inspirational message. I must have been in eighth grade at the time. I was just learning about Malcolm X and reading about my history and my culture, and I was on fire. I was ready to read everything I got my hands on. So the speaker picked me out of the crowd, looking to use me as an example for his lecture. He asked me for my name, and I told him my first name only. Then he asked me for my last name, and I said that I did not know it, and he walked away, saying he wasn’t even going to waste his time on a fool like me. Then he went on to continuously reference me as a person who thought everything was a joke and wouldn’t be successful in life.
After he had concluded his talk and he asked if there were any questions, my coach, Reverend Potter, raised his hand. He said that he would like me to explain why I said that I didn’t know my last name. So all eyes—the entire auditorium—turned and looked at me. I took a deep breath and responded, “When my people were kidnapped from our native land and brought here in chains by your people, the first thing your ancestors did was take away our history, our heritage, and give us new names, which were many times their own last names. So what I have now is a slave name, and thanks to your people, I don’t know my real last name.”
At that point, Reverend Potter said to the speaker, “I think it was very presumptuous of you to attempt to embarrass him the way you did without knowing all of the facts.” The guy’s face turned red like a beet and he started sweating. When he walked off the stage, all of the players in the audience started clapping.
My AAU coach Rev Potter is the perfect example of the power of mentoring through sports. It wasn't all about winning trophies and ribbons—he taught us about life.
The man did find me later and offered his apologies and said that he was not at all prepared for anything that I had said. He told me and Coach Potter that he had been hired to conduct a motivational and educational speech, but he was the one who’d been taught the lesson. I talked to Reverend Potter for two straight hours that night. He said that I better be serious about my education if I was going to keep talking like that. He said that his prayer for me was that I would put myself in a position where nobody could harm me financially for saying the things that I wanted to say. He used Michael Jordan as an example. Jordan has created so much wealth, not just in what he received as paychecks in the NBA, and nobody can tell him nothing. He can say what he wants. Coach Potter told me that is the financial model I needed to pay attention to and follow. He pointed out that even Malcolm X had the Nation of Islam, which attempted to control what he said because they handled all of his financial affairs. The Black church tried to control Dr. Martin Luther King the same way. He stressed to me that it’s so much easier to speak your mind when you have financial freedom.
Coach Potter also told me that I better always be serious about my education both in and out of school. He had no worries about me getting good grades but said my real education would take place outside of schoolwork. He gave me a list of about twenty books to read, and I actually got through the entire list. He told me to promise him that I would never fall into the trap of basketball complacency. I really didn’t know what he was talking about until I got older, but I made the promise and he said that I had a special kind of fire that he hadn’t really seen in a few decades. He said he would always have my back like he did that day, but that I better make sure I continued to go beyond what was taught in school. Some of the best advice I have ever been given.
That’s exactly what happened with Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett. Once he was educated beyond what he was taught in school, and his eyes were opened to broader realities, he had a whole new understanding of the world that changed the course of his life.
Etan: You have said that you view people like Muhammad Ali, John Carlos, and Angela Davis among your heroes, and that you see yourself as someone trying to build upon their history of both athlete activism and informed resistance.
Michael Bennett: It all started with my mother. She went to a historically Black university and I grew up being educated on my history . . . And as I got older, I wanted to follow in the footsteps of the people I grew up reading about. The system is made to not encourage people or athletes specifically to speak out, in my opinion. You get so much notoriety and fame because of what you can do, but if you speak out and someone disagrees with what you are saying, they come down on you. The criticism starts to pour in from every direction.
Etan: You and your brother have been very supportive of Kaepernick. You spoke out about your encounter with the Las Vegas police when they profiled you and had you on the ground with a gun to your head. You continue to sit during the national anthem and, in general, you and your brother have both really taken some strong stances. What has inspired all of this activity?
Bennett: Like I said, it all came from my mom. She was a teacher, and growing up I got a chance to be taught all of the things that I wasn’t being taught in school. The past struggle, the history, what we had to overcome as a people, what so many people fought and died for and sacrificed for me to be in the situation I am in today. So I value the opportunity now to use all of the info my mom taught me, and the classes we did at Grambling University and the NAACP program, so I have the opportunity to be woke. I think a lot of times as athletes . . . we forget that we are still Black men living in this society and the struggle is real.
Etan: Right. You said, “I’ll be done playing football someday, but I’ll be Black forever.”
Bennett: It’s the truth. Society wants us not to get involved in these conversations, because at the end of the day, we aren’t necessarily granted true equality and acceptance just because of the money or the fame that we receive from playing our particular sports . . . No matter what happens, no matter how much money I make or accolades I receive, or championship rings or whatever, at the end of the day, I am still a Black man.
Etan: You recently announced that you have chosen not to go to an NFL delegation to Israel. And you talked about how you didn’t want to go if the Palestinians were going to be rendered invisible. The day before you decided to cancel, our mutual friend Dave Zirin published an open letter to all of the NFL players going on the trip. The letter was signed by the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Jewish Voice for Peace, Dr. John Carlos, Danny Glover, and many others, and it urged players cancel their plans, noting that they “now have an opportunity to speak out against the injustices facing Palestinians.” How much did being educated on this subject affect your decision not to go to Israel?
Bennett: I wasn’t aware before . . . But after being educated on everything and shown what was really going on, my entire perspective changed. I actually spoke to John Carlos and Angela Davis and was really educated even further on exactly what was going on. I was pointed in the right direction so that I can research for myself and make an informed decision. She shared with me her personal experiences of going through Palestine and how they were being treated, and their living conditions, and the history of everything and how their land was taken away from them, and how they are persecuted—so when I started doing my own research, what I found was horrifying. I related and identified and had empathy for how the Palestinians were being mistreated.
There’s a lot of things that they don’t show us here in America. Even if we watch the news, our news especially on this topic is completely skewed. We’re dealing with Black Lives Matter and we’re dealing with the police brutality here, and little do you know, around the world, people are dealing with the same issues and worse. So I feel connected to the Palestinians, and for me to go all the way to Israel, and intentionally not be shown their story, that’s not something I could accept . . . I wasn’t going to allow the NFL to use me in that way.
Etan: I was reading about how you checked out an article in the Times of Israel that described the real purpose of the trip as a highly organized government-designed trip that would pretty much isolate you from the Palestinian people. Why do you think they would intentionally not expose you to the full story?
Bennett: That’s exactly the question I asked and what really baffled me. Why would they intentionally do that? I took a step back and shared with the world exactly what my thoughts were in an open letter, and you can print the letter in your book if you want.
Etan: Okay, we’ll do that:
Dear World,
I was scheduled to make a visit to Israel with fellow NFL players. I was excited to see this remarkable and historic part of the world with my own eyes. I was not aware, until reading this article about the trip in the Times of Israel, that my itinerary was being constructed by the Israeli government for the purposes of making me, in the words of a government official, an “influencer and opinion-former” who would then be “an ambassador of good will.” I will not be used in such a manner. When I do go to Israel—and I do plan to go—it will be to see not only Israel but also the West Bank and Gaza so I can see how the Palestinians, who have called this land home for thousands of years, live their lives.
One of my heroes has always been Muhammad Ali. I know that Ali always stood strongly with the Palestinian people, visiting refugee camps, going to rallies, and always willing to be a “voice for the voiceless.” I want to be a “voice for the voiceless,” and I cannot do that by going on this kind of trip to Israel.
I know that this will anger some people and inspire others. But please know that I did this not for you, but to be in accord with my own values and my own conscience. Like 1968 Olympian John Carlos always says, “There is no partial commitment to justice. You are either in or you’re out.” Well, I’m in.
Sincerely,
Michael Bennett
Etan: So, after this statement went viral, a lot of athletes retweeted it. You really started educating others after you received your own education. What was the response that you received from the letter?
Bennett: Of course there were a lot of people who didn’t like what I said, but I got a lot of support, especially on social media, and that always is encouraging. I also have been invited to do a lot of speaking engagements now because of that letter. People want to hear more, which is good because I am willing to say more . . . For me, not being deterred by what people think is something that I try to live by.
Etan: And again, that all started with education.
Bennett: Education is everything. The lack of education or awareness can really keep someone completely in the dark and unaware of what is going on. We have to control the type of education we receive, even if we can’t change what we are being taught in school. We have to teach our children what they need to know at home, so you get two different types of education.
Etan: Changing gears again, you had a very public debate with your teammate Richard Sherman after his statements during a press conference where he acknowledged police brutality and the impact it has on Black lives, but he also expressed that the more pressing issue was Black-on-Black inner-city gun violence. I actually wrote an open letter to him as well shortly after he made the comments, and both your debate and my open letter seemed to have been received very positively by Sherman. Talk about the importance of being able to educate someone on a respectful level.
Bennett: If you are not in tune to what is going on, and if you do not do your own research and rely solely on what the media presents to you, it is easy to become misguided and develop a not-complete understanding of what the full picture is, as I had with the NFL trip to Israel . . . I wanted him to realize that here is a problem with Black people killing Black people, white people killing white people, Mexican people killing Mexican people, but there is a system that is systematically putting this in place and having laws to create situations that we see in our communities, such as inadequate schools, lack or resources, lack of jobs, police violence, etc.
Black lives matter and should matter, just as much as everyone else’s lives, and unfortunately, it doesn’t look like society agrees with that . . . I feel that it is important for us to stand up and say that no matter how you are treating us, we are not going to accept it as okay . . . While I respect him and his opinion, I felt that I needed to give my perspective and my opinion so that two different sides are presented to the world. He understood where I was coming from and after our discussions he started to open up and see that maybe there is a bigger problem, and he was appreciative of the different perspectives that we both presented to him, and presented to the world, especially all of the young people who are watching. I tell the media all the time that as much as you guys love to glorify what we do on the field, glorify some of the work we are doing off the field as well.
Etan: What do you say to young people about the importance of educating themselves?
Bennett: To be honest, young people gotta get off their behinds and realize the power they have. They are the future. If you don’t like the type of education you are receiving, it doesn’t take much to research something yourself, especially with modern technology—you can look up anything you want . . . Young people gotta have a thirst for knowledge, they gotta want to know and want to be educated, and they can’t wait for someone else to educate them, they gotta educate themselves.
Etan: But do you agree that there is a problem with what they are not being taught in school? I mean, when I was young, my mother taught me what I needed to know at home, and my grandmother and grandfather taught me about my culture and my heritage. As a community, we need to stop relying solely on the schools to educate our children, don’t you think?
Bennett: Oh, 100 percent. Recently I had a problem with my kid’s school. I went to them and I said, “Look, I’m paying all this money for my kids’ schools, and you mean to tell me that they aren’t learning any Black history at all, whatsoever?” So I connected with this historian . . . and we put together a program for Black History Month for the school.
Etan: Wow, that’s great. We homeschool our kids so we are able to teach them a lot, but it’s really interesting thinking about how when I was younger, I really wasn’t taught Black history in school.
Bennett: It’s crazy because I’m a grown man and even now I am researching and learning stuff that I didn’t know and was never taught in school and should have been taught at some point.
Etan: Talk about the specific athletes you look up to and who have influenced you to be the athlete-activist that you are today.
Bennett: Obviously Muhammad Ali. I mean, he stood up to the American government in the sixties, at a time where we were being lynched and having water hoses turned on us and dogs attacking us, and he said, “I am not going to your war.” That was just amazing. And of course John Carlos and Jim Brown, but I really loved reading about Malcolm X and Marcus Garvey as a kid and Charles Hamilton Houston and James Baldwin and Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit.” We have a long way to go, but I really feel that athletes possess the power for change . . . Imagine all the athletes who are sponsored by Nike saying, “We’re not going to wear any more of your products unless you put ten million dollars into our inner-city schools that are all dilapidated and have old books and poor conditions.” You think they wouldn’t give in to that demand? . . . We have so much unrealized power and once we realize what we can really do, the sky’s the limit.
Interview with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf
Once you become educated everything changes, just as it did for Michael Bennett. I remember when my mother first introduced me to the story of John Carlos and Tommie Smith at the 1968 Olympics. I remember when I learned about how the third verse of the national anthem celebrates slavery. I also learned about the 1921 attack on Black residents and businesses in Tulsa known as the “Bombing of Black Wall Street.” Needless to say, the more I learned, the more reasons I had to protest. I began doing the Black Power salute during our Pledge of Allegiance in school assemblies. I remember how two teachers in particular grew irate with me. One went off on me in the middle of class, saying that I was anti-American. That I didn’t understand how privileged I was to live in the United States, and if I didn’t like it so much, I should consider leaving. I remember telling her that my forefathers built this country and if anyone should leave, it certainly isn’t their descendants. She looked at me with eyes that could kill.
One day my middle school principal, Ms. Bobbie Johnson, threatened to suspend me if I didn’t stop doing the Black Power salute during our school assemblies. We had a big debate that started in the hallway and ended in her office. I remember citing the First Amendment and saying (with all due respect) that we didn’t live in a dictatorship, and denying me freedom of speech would be not only a violation of my rights, but unconstitutional. Ms. Johnson couldn’t come up with an argument against that one.
I remember watching NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf take his stance during the national anthem in 1996 when he was playing for the Denver Nuggets. I was amazed at how fearless he was. How strong he stood in the face of such hatred spewed in his direction. I was in high school at the time and I remember watching the backlash he received and how he stood firm in what he believed. Born Chris Jackson, the NBA point guard changed his name in 1993 after converting to Islam, a controversial decision that bothered many Americans.
It was such an honor to be able to sit down with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. He was Kaepernick before Kaepernick. His career wasn’t cut short in 2001 due to injuries or diminishing basketball abilities; it was the result of the controversy he sparked for refusing to stand for the national anthem and calling the flag of the United States a symbol of oppression. The entire NBA, along with the rest of the country, immediately turned on him.
Abdul-Rauf was transformed into the symbol of an ungrateful American who didn’t appreciate the riches and fame that the NBA had provided for him. He lost a great deal of money, but he proudly says he has no regrets. When I asked if I could interview him, he replied, “Whatever you want, brother,” and said that he respects me for the stances I have taken throughout the years. That was an absolute honor to hear.
Etan: What gave you the strength and the courage to stage your protest in 1996?
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf: First answer is my faith in God and my relying on Him. Growing up, you see things. And you know that these things are wrong . . . seeing people in my neighborhood have this dismissive, slave-like approach to dealing with issues. And I borrowed some of that, I received some of that. And so as I began to analyze my life. I said, “Man, I don’t like the way this feels, this is not natural.” I made a decision. I said, “I gotta get out of this. I don’t want to live this way. I want to be able to speak regardless of the consequences.” And I was introduced to Malcolm by Dale Brown; he gave me the autobiography when I was at LSU. And I’m starting to read about this brother and I’m looking at how courageous he was, and I said, “This is what I’m aiming for.” And it was at that point that I started on a journey . . .
Etan: What were some of the specific challenges you faced while you were in the NBA?
Abdul-Rauf: The name change for some people just disturbed them. When you change your name, for a person that understands it, that’s huge because it’s just not a name change. It’s a change of ideology, it’s a change of the way you see the world and the way you’re thinking, and it frightens some people because some people want you to stay in that same place that you were before. This whole idea that because I am a Muslim, and Muslims are associated in some way with a negative radicalism and terror. Our life is in need of some radicalism sometimes, of going against the grain. That’s what protesting is and we need that. I used to have challenges with the team in terms of praying, fasting, and all of those types of things . . . I was like, “Come on, man, do a little bit of reading, educate yourself a little more.” I am big on dialogue. I don’t care what your faith is or what your political persuasion is, I think we get a lot done from sitting at the table communicating. We may not agree, but at least we can come away from the discussion fully understanding each other, and that’s missing a lot.
Etan: You lost a lot of money but you say that you would do it all again.
Abdul-Rauf: I definitely feel that way. When I make a decision, especially when I have thought it out, I stick to that decision. And anytime I can learn from it, I don’t look at it as a moment to have regrets. There is a quote that I have come across: Straight roads don’t make skillful drivers. In looking back at all of the decisions that I’ve made and looking back at my life now, I see the growth, I see the development, and I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
Etan: Do you think Islamophobia has gotten worse since your time in the NBA?
Abdul-Rauf: No question. It reminds me of when I read about the history of communism. America usually has to identify an enemy to be able to justify their exploitation globally. And then it was communism, everything was about communism. And now it’s Islamic terrorism . . . Of course it’s going to add to the condemnation that comes your way . . . Almost everything you see on television, and it’s a huge influence, and mostly everything you read, you’re seeing, Islamic terrorism. Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic radicalism. There is a tendency for the mind when you constantly hear this. It’s like walking the streets and you see a brother with his pants sagging down and a hood over his head, it’s like it’s ingrained in us . . . to think, Uh oh, he must be a gangster, he must be a thug. Words are powerful. Images are powerful. But that brother could be a 4.0 student and got his college paid for. We’re quick to judge based on what we hear and see every day.
Etan: When Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the national anthem, you offered support right away. And we also saw other pioneers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Jim Brown and John Carlos and Tommie Smith and Craig Hodges offer words of encouragement. Why did you feel the need to offer your immediate support?
Abdul-Rauf: I think he understands what’s going on and he came to this conclusion on his own, because . . . he wanted to investigate before he made this move, and I thought it was extremely intelligent to do that . . . It’s nice to know that there are people out there supporting you . . . that see things in a similar way that I see them. Which is why I wanted to come out and say, “Look, man, I’m for you 1,000 percent.” Especially the reasons why he chose not to stand in terms of police brutality and oppression of Black folks, but I think he even extends further beyond that.
Etan: I definitely agree, and as I’m watching everything unfold, I see an interesting parallel between your situation and Kaepernick’s. Correct me if I’m wrong, but not many of your teammates really had your back; they remained silent and didn’t support your First Amendment rights. Were you at all surprised?
Abdul-Rauf: No, I wasn’t surprised. We live in a society where we’re taught in a sense to think of ourselves first and sometimes only. I understand it, but I don’t agree with it. Because these are things that we talk about all the time . . . yet when it comes to making a public declaration, we become silent because we are threatened with the loss of what we worked so hard to gain. And we’re looking at it as a loss. We’re looking at it with limited vision. We’re not thinking about the future, how this can impact the future minds and decisions of others . . . When you look at history, if you look at almost all of the individuals who we admire today, who kind of like stood alone, they didn’t have an overwhelming amount of support . . . We do what we do because the truth means more to me than the love of these things. I believe God is the best provider. So if it’s something that is meant for me, then I’m going to have it . . . I’m on a path and a journey to live with a free conscience and a free soul, whether anybody likes it or not, and whatever the consequences are, at least I can go to sleep knowing I’m free.
Etan: A common criticism lobbed at Kaepernick is, “Who is he to speak about injustices when he has made so much money in the NFL?”
Abdul-Rauf: Who is he not to? We’re human beings . . . We see the same things you see. We’re affected by the same things that you’re affected by. We’re asked to vote every year, we pay taxes every year. If there’s a war and prices go up, we’re affected by those prices just like you. So to use money as an argument . . . is ridiculous as far as I’m concerned . . .
They can talk about the problems in America. But why can’t we? And a lot of it is because we’ve been conditioned to view athletes and entertainers just as athletes and entertainers. And now when one comes out and speaks, it doesn’t look normal. It’s like, “Wait a minute, hold on, this is not how we want people to see athletes. We want to see you self-absorbed. We want to see you into your fame and into your materialism.” It just bothers me that they bring up this stuff dealing with riches. Sometimes riches can be an instrument to purchase our silence, and when that is done, the fact that you have millions that you are trying to save makes you oppressed.
Kaepernick’s ex–college coach had mentioned something about, “Oh, he is selfish if this is true,” and I said, “No, I disagree, I think he is selfless because he has more to lose. He has his career that he’s worked most of his life for . . . His finances are going to be threatened. His life possibly. His family’s life is threatened. So he has way more to lose.” I’m not saying that we shouldn’t think about our families or ourselves. That’s human nature. Of course we should. But the society is more important than the individual. There is a saying in African philosophy, I am because we are. How can one be happy when the rest of us are sad? It takes those persons to come outside of themselves and to view an issue as bigger than themselves . . . And this is what I love about this brother with his stand.
Etan: That’s what makes you so special. And that’s why young athletes are going to be reading about you and learning from you and being inspired by you for decades to come. Much respect to you.
Abdul-Rauf: And much respect to you too, and all of the athletes who are fighting for change. We have so much power, and it’s beautiful to see so many of the younger generation continue to use their voices. We can’t afford not to.
Such an honor to shake hands with Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, an athlete-activist legend. He was Kaepernick before Kaepernick.