When I met with basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar a few years ago, he told me that if he had not become a professional athlete he would have become a history teacher.
He has become a model for an encore career, in his case in the service of advancing democracy and our nation’s highest values as a public intellectual.
At the time I chatted with Kareem at Hofstra, I told him that a friend of mine grew up in his Harlem neighborhood and remembered the young Lou Alcindor as an amazing Little League pitcher.
Naturally, I asked Abdul-Jabbar whether he considered playing baseball as well as being a basketball superstar when he was at Power Memorial High School. He told me that the same man coached both baseball and basketball, and they considered both sports.
Abdul-Jabbar indicated that he wondered how he might have fared (as in the endeavors of Danny Ainge and Michael Jordan) if he continued to play both sports.
Just as well he did not, because as he traveled around the nation playing basketball he became an avid reader, including a Sherlockian passion for Arthur Conan Doyle.
That enthusiasm prompted him to publish his first novel, “Mycroft Holmes,” about Sherlock’s mythical “older” brother.
The public scholar recognition has been increasing because of Abdul-Jabbar’s books about African-Americans in sports and American society.
His role as a social commentator has expanded with columns in “Time” magazine and in newspapers.
Last week in “The Washington Post,” he wrote about 49ers quarterback, Colin Kapernick who has been refusing to stand for the Star Spangled banner as a protest against social injustices in the U.S.
Offering thoughtfully incisive comments on this highly publicized activity, Abdul-Jabbar placed Kapernick’s actions in the context of his provocative 2016 book, “Writings on the Wall: Searching for a New Equality Beyond Black and White.”
Clearly, Abdul-Jabbar shares the quintessential views of Dr. King and Norwegian scholar, Gunnar Myrdal; they both celebrated the nobility of American principles, and argued that Americans should use their special civil liberties to protest for a better democracy and for justice.
I told Abdul-Jabbar that the deep influence of Myrdal’s “An American Dilemma” is highlighted in the Hofstra Archives with documents from the late Harry H. Wachtel (who had lived in Roslyn and Great Neck).
Wachtel organized Dr. King’s 1964 Nobel Prize trip to Oslo, and with King’s urging, included a side trip to Stockholm for a special visit with Myrdal.
Abdul-Jabbar’s expanding public service for democracy and justice is a direct extension of the perspicacious endeavors of people like Myrdal, King and Long Islander, Wachtel.
Jabbar emphasized that Kapernick was reflecting principles of Jefferson and Madison in the First Amendment – the freedom of speech, regardless of whether others liked it or not.
He did say that Kapernick — and everyone — should consider the best venues for being heard and making desirable changes.
Typical of Abdul-Jabbar’s modesty and openness to alternatives, he said he did not presume to tell Colin or anyone else how to choose their arenas of protest. But central to Jabbar’s fundamental commitments to democracy is his conviction that all speech and protests should foster dialogues.
He noted: “Without dialogue it’s just people retreating to their own emotionally held position; you need to have the ability to hear the other side.”
Our society is best served Abdul-Jabbar said when critics try to be a “bridge” between contending groups. He spoke specifically of one of Kapernick’s protests about police brutality.
With his measured calm and respect for others, in his writing and expanding media interviews, Abdul-Jabbar said that his father and grandfather were police officers, and that “police are a major part of what democracy is about.”
“We can’t do without police officers,” he emphasized, “but we can find better ways to police.”
Abdul-Jabbar’s continuing service to democracy comes from his human rights respect and inclusion for all people, from his gentle welcoming of all to discourse, no matter how much they disagree, and in his urgent call for civility in conflict resolution.
I wonder if Colin Kapernick has already been influenced by Abdul-Jabbar’s support and comments.
A few days ago, Colin announced he would contribute $1 million for community projects and he is reaching out to meet with supporters and critics. He is on his way to serving as a “Bridge,” Kareem’s high ideal. Bravo, Colin!
In his endeavors, Abdul-Jabbar (and Kapernick as well) represent a dramatic contrast to the name-calling, demonizing candidate of the Republican Party (Trump not only drives away his opponents, but every week he loses allies who once supported the party he is destroying).
Abdul-Jabbar will soon reach age 70. He is a refreshing and encouraging presence on race matters and on better paths to democratic discourse.
Fortunately for me, he was old enough when we met to know that the original “Black Magic” player was not Johnson of the Lakers, but Earl (later “the Pearl”) Monroe while he was at Winston-Salem (1963-1967), a historically black college in North Carolina.
Our chat led to Abdul-Jabbar inscribing his book (shown above) to me as “White Magic” — a recognition of my leading the Hofstra faculty basketball team to the only Intramural championship it ever won ( in 1972 – that doesn’t feel so long ago!).
Website: michaeldinnocenzo.com
