Thursday, April 5, 2018
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Tuesday, April 3, 2018
Standing Tall
An excerpt from the Undefeated -
The reign of Lew Alcindor in the age of revolt
When black collegians debated boycotting the Olympics in 1968, he emerged as the most prominent face on campus
BY JOHNNY SMITH
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is known as one of the greatest basketball players in history. During his 20-year professional career with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, he appeared in 19 All-Star Games, won six championships and collected six MVP awards. In retirement, he has become a prominent cultural commentator and writer, a leading voice on the intersection between sports and politics. Recently, he published a memoir about his collegiate career at UCLA, Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court.
Fifty years ago he was the most dominant college basketball player America had ever seen. Between 1967 and 1969, he led UCLA to three consecutive national titles and an 88-2 record. Yet, his legacy transcends the game; in the age of Black Power, he redefined the political role of black college athletes. In 1968, when black collegians debated boycotting the Olympics, Lew Alcindor, as he was then still known, emerged as the most prominent face in the revolt on campus.
Why did Alcindor refuse to play in the Olympics? To answer that question we have to return to Harlem, New York, in July 1964, the first of many long, hot summers.
https://theundefeated.com/features/lew-alcindor-kareem-abdul-jabbar-ucla-boycot-1968-olympics/
The reign of Lew Alcindor in the age of revolt
When black collegians debated boycotting the Olympics in 1968, he emerged as the most prominent face on campus
BY JOHNNY SMITH
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is known as one of the greatest basketball players in history. During his 20-year professional career with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, he appeared in 19 All-Star Games, won six championships and collected six MVP awards. In retirement, he has become a prominent cultural commentator and writer, a leading voice on the intersection between sports and politics. Recently, he published a memoir about his collegiate career at UCLA, Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court.
Fifty years ago he was the most dominant college basketball player America had ever seen. Between 1967 and 1969, he led UCLA to three consecutive national titles and an 88-2 record. Yet, his legacy transcends the game; in the age of Black Power, he redefined the political role of black college athletes. In 1968, when black collegians debated boycotting the Olympics, Lew Alcindor, as he was then still known, emerged as the most prominent face in the revolt on campus.
Why did Alcindor refuse to play in the Olympics? To answer that question we have to return to Harlem, New York, in July 1964, the first of many long, hot summers.
https://theundefeated.com/features/lew-alcindor-kareem-abdul-jabbar-ucla-boycot-1968-olympics/
Imagine If He Was Black
An excerpt from the NY Times -
Ethan Couch, ‘Affluenza Teen’ Who Killed 4 While Driving Drunk, Is Freed
By DANIEL VICTOR
Ethan Couch, whose trial for killing four people while driving drunk sparked widespread conversations about the privilege of being raised wealthy, was released from a Texas jail on Monday after nearly two years.
Mr. Couch, 20, became known as the “affluenza teen” after a psychologist suggested during his trial that growing up with money might have left him with psychological afflictions, too rich to tell right from wrong. He attracted further attention when he and his mother, Tonya Couch, fled to Mexico in an effort to evade possible jail time.
He served his 720-day sentence in a jail in Tarrant County, and was freed about a week before his 21st birthday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/us/ethan-couch-affluenza-jail.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share
Ethan Couch, ‘Affluenza Teen’ Who Killed 4 While Driving Drunk, Is Freed
By DANIEL VICTOR
Ethan Couch, whose trial for killing four people while driving drunk sparked widespread conversations about the privilege of being raised wealthy, was released from a Texas jail on Monday after nearly two years.
Mr. Couch, 20, became known as the “affluenza teen” after a psychologist suggested during his trial that growing up with money might have left him with psychological afflictions, too rich to tell right from wrong. He attracted further attention when he and his mother, Tonya Couch, fled to Mexico in an effort to evade possible jail time.
He served his 720-day sentence in a jail in Tarrant County, and was freed about a week before his 21st birthday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/02/us/ethan-couch-affluenza-jail.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share
Monday, April 2, 2018
Killing His Character
An excerpt from the Huffington Post -
Killing Him While He’s Dead, A Eulogy For Stephon Clark
By Imam Omar Suleiman
The victim is somehow always made out to be the aggressor. Because if you cast enough aspersions on his character, create enough doubt about the circumstances of his murder and maintain an omnipresence of criminal identity, then maybe Stephon was asking for it. Maybe he’s not worth fighting for.
Many will, in fact, say that, though he didn’t deserve to be shot at 20 times, we also shouldn’t feel too bad.
Because if you distort his reputation enough, then you can discredit his status as a victim, and disregard his status as a human being.
The same media that humanizes domestic white terrorists like Dylann Roof and Mark Anthony Conditt deliberately vilifies black victims like Alton and Stephon.
And I, for one, don’t think it’s unreasonable to demand that black victims be treated with at least the same amount of dignity as white terrorists.
It’s not Stephon’s record or reputation that needs to be brought into question, it’s the way we police in this country that needs to be on trial.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-suleiman-stephon-clark_us_5abf90f1e4b055e50acdf47c
Killing Him While He’s Dead, A Eulogy For Stephon Clark
By Imam Omar Suleiman
The victim is somehow always made out to be the aggressor. Because if you cast enough aspersions on his character, create enough doubt about the circumstances of his murder and maintain an omnipresence of criminal identity, then maybe Stephon was asking for it. Maybe he’s not worth fighting for.
Many will, in fact, say that, though he didn’t deserve to be shot at 20 times, we also shouldn’t feel too bad.
Because if you distort his reputation enough, then you can discredit his status as a victim, and disregard his status as a human being.
The same media that humanizes domestic white terrorists like Dylann Roof and Mark Anthony Conditt deliberately vilifies black victims like Alton and Stephon.
And I, for one, don’t think it’s unreasonable to demand that black victims be treated with at least the same amount of dignity as white terrorists.
It’s not Stephon’s record or reputation that needs to be brought into question, it’s the way we police in this country that needs to be on trial.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/opinion-suleiman-stephon-clark_us_5abf90f1e4b055e50acdf47c
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