Abdul-Jabbar compares calls for Olympic boycotts in 1968 and 2008
Alson Wong
From the Los Angeles Times
COMMENTARY
Abdul-Jabbar compares calls for Olympic boycotts in 1968 and 2008
Politics shadow Mexico City and Beijing Olympics, but Abdul-Jabbar sees
different options in China.
By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Special to The Times
7:37 PM PDT, May 4, 2008
In 1968 I was a 20-year-old college junior whose basketball success had made
me famous. I'd been honored as most outstanding player in the NCAA
tournament, named the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn. player of the year, and
played the "game of the century" against the Houston Cougars at the
Astrodome. So it wasn't surprising that I was invited to try out for the
Olympic basketball team to represent the U.S. in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico
City. Any other year I would have been proud and elated at the prospect of
playing for my country against the world's elite athletes.
But 1968 wasn't like any other year.
The Vietnam War had divided the country more violently than any time since
the Civil War. The nightly news clips of U.S. planes bombing the Vietnam
jungle were paralleled by clips of angry, sometimes bloody, clashes between
war protesters and war supporters.
Violence was almost as rampant at home. First Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was
shot, then Robert Kennedy. The 1968 Democratic National Convention in
Chicago featured thousands of anti-war protesters who were met with police
violence.
In the midst of all this international and domestic turmoil, the Olympic
Games represented, to some, an opportunity to bring people of all
nationalities together, maybe heal some wounds. To others it represented the
usual hypocrisy of ignoring the political problems in the name of
entertainment and profit.
And there I was in the middle. Twenty years old. The age of many of the
soldiers who were fighting and dying in Vietnam. Some of them were my
childhood friends. Because of my visibility as an athlete, whatever I chose
to do would have international reverberations.
At that time sociology professor Dr. Harry Edwards, only in his mid-20s,
urged black athletes to boycott the Olympic Games in Mexico City.
"For years we have participated in the Olympic Games, carrying the United
States on our backs with our victories, and race relations are now worse
than ever," he told the New York Times Magazine in 1968. "We're not trying
to lose the Olympics for the Americans. What happens to them is immaterial.
. . . But it's time for the black people to stand up as men and women and
refuse to be utilized as performing animals for a little extra dog food."
Harsh words to many white sports fans and self-proclaimed patriots alike,
but for African American athletes, there was a clear ring of truth behind
the rhetoric. Clearly the Olympic Games and the Vietnam War were parallel
competitions. In each, blacks were supposed to go overseas to drive
themselves as hard as they could in order to bring glory to their country,
only to return home and still be treated as second-class citizens.
All that gave me a lot to think about. Then baseball-pro-turned-broadcaster
Joe Garagiola interviewed me on the "Today Show" and for the first time I
spoke publicly about my concerns and frustrations regarding the direction
the country was taking politically. Garagiola was clearly annoyed that I
would even consider boycotting the Olympics. My response was that for black
Americans life in this country was still something that included racially
based discrimination in every area of life.
Eventually the idea of a boycott was abandoned because Edwards was unable to
attract a critical number of athletes to the idea. In my case, I had a
summer job with the city of New York that paid me very well and enabled me
to attend school without having to worry about financial matters.
However, that October at the Olympics, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, after
winning first and third in the 200-meter dash, raised their black-gloved
fists from the medal podium and bowed their heads during the playing of "The
Star-Spangled Banner." This image captured the spirit of the times: Whites
were outraged, blacks felt some rush of pride. Ironically, their gesture was
a compromise; dozens of black American athletes had debated boycotting the
Games but decided that this gesture would speak louder than not showing up.
Edwards was credited with suggesting this compromise.
Here we are 40 years later and we are once again about to send our young
athletes overseas to compete in games while we send our young soldiers
overseas to fight in war. And, as before, there is a social agenda attached
to the Olympic Games.
Should we boycott the Olympic Games to protest China's arrogant human rights
performance, its political imperialism, its shoddy exports that recently
have left some Americans ill or dead?
The answer is no. While it may seem disingenuous to be playing games with
countries that aim weapons at us, the same claim can be made about us by
many other countries.
I am of a mind that the actions of Smith and Carlos made a difference in
1968. However, this Olympics is an entirely different situation that
requires different tactics to achieve a satisfactory resolution. Instead of
turning our backs, we need to continue a dialogue with the Chinese.
The more we talk with each other, the more we understand each other and can
reach compromises that will benefit the lives of those we are trying to
help. Jackie Robinson once said that the great thing about athletics is that
"you learn to act democracy, not just talk it." That's what our athletes
will demonstrate to the 1 billion Chinese who may be watching.
A second means of influencing the Chinese is through globalization, in which
we share products, entertainment, and culture with others -- and they share
theirs with us -- in order to break down the barriers that make us fear each
other's differences.
The NBA is a good model for globalization. The Chinese Basketball Assn.
permits only two foreign-born players per team. But the NBA's policy of
choosing the best players, regardless of nationality, has not only kicked up
the level of play, but it's made basketball more popular on an international
level than ever. The fact that the NBA brought in China's Yao Ming, Wang
Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian, Sun Yue and Mengke Bateer has increased NBA fans in
China -- and when the Chinese people are exposed to America through
basketball, we become more human to them, less a threat.
So, let's not just pick up our ball and stay home. We have many more
options -- political, commercial, and cultural -- to express our displeasure
with China's policies. The more we have in common, the more impact we can
make. It's all about building trust.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, is the author
of six books, including "On the Shoulders of Giants: My Journey Through the
Harlem Renaissance."
PeterL
> http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-kareemchina5-2008may05,0,2850260....
>
> From the Los Angeles Times
> COMMENTARY
> Abdul-Jabbar compares calls for Olympic boycotts in 1968 and 2008
> Politics shadow Mexico City and Beijing Olympics, but Abdul-Jabbar sees
> different options in China.
> By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
> Special to The Times
>
> 7:37 PM PDT, May 4, 2008
>
> In 1968 I was a 20-year-old college junior whose basketball success had made
> me famous. I'd been honored as most outstanding player in the NCAA
> tournament, named the U.S. Basketball Writers Assn. player of the year, and
> played the "game of the century" against the Houston Cougars at the
> Astrodome. So it wasn't surprising that I was invited to try out for the
> Olympic basketball team to represent the U.S. in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico
> City. Any other year I would have been proud and elated at the prospect of
> playing for my country against the world's elite athletes.
>
> But 1968 wasn't like any other year.
It's interesting that Kareem for his worldly awarenes, was not aware
of a student massacre in Mexico City just before the Olympics.
Huang GAng
>
> - Show quoted text -
Where you got the impression that Kareem is awared of the world in the
first place? Relatively speaking, he is better than the average
americans, but that ain't saying much at all.