with nba all star weekend now behind us and black history month still with more days to go i began to think about how many brothers were running up and down those courts. now my favorite moment of the weekend had to be a tie between shaq dancing and reporter craig sager calling the jabowockeez or however you spell it the “wackojabeez”
in honor of black history month i thought about revolution and progressive thoughts. all things that are not prevalent within the nba. but along the years there have been some brief moments. here are my top 5 revolutionary moments by black men in the nba.

5. lew alcindor not trying out for the 1968 olympic games
at this point in his career lew straight outta nyc was the most dominant and impressive college basketball player in the nation. he was a straight lock but chose not to try out for the team due the treatment of the black community. these olympic games are often remembered by john carlos’ and tommie smith’s black fist in the air, but we forget to about young kareem. now the fact that i had to use lew’s example shows how much nba players over the last few years have not made moves.

4. ron artest fighting fans
now many look at this moment as a pure act of thuggery. i on the other hand look at this a the disgruntled slave having enough. he was being taunted, cursed at and these mofos were even throwing things at this dude. they were sitting there with their expensive tickets, yelling out all types of disturbing shit but they can do so because the nba allows. god forbid a player or coach criticize the hierarchy of the nba. right into the pockets. now i think ron ron is indeed a lil crazy, but what he did was show the people that he’d had enough. i bet you fans won’t be throwing things at his ass again. if you taunt the oppressed long enough, one day they are gonna break free and bust your shit. see ron artest

3.craig hodges calls a spade a spade
so the bulls win the title and craig visits the white house. craig throws on a dashiki. craig slides president bush the first, a note that expresses how tight he was about the administration’s treatment of the poor and the minorities.
a few years later craig goes at mj. he calls out mike for not taking more of a stand on particular social and political issues. i’m with craig on this one.

2. larry johnson and slavery
one of my favorite knicks over the years was my man lj. larry johnson was no longer grandmama by the time he came to the knicks and especially wasn’t grandmama during his last years. fast forward to nba finals 1999. “what we have is a lot of rebellious slaves on this team” and when bill walton called him a disgrace lj would go on to say “damn bill walton. tell him to trace his history and see how many slaves his ancestors had.”
larry had his full beard and hair grown out. he was not playin and in doing so provided one of the most poignant and i believe advanced statements involving black athletes in a long time.

1. mahmoud abdul-rauf and old glory
now we’ve all been to an event where the national anthem has played. sometimes we don’t take our hat off, sometimes we talk during the playing or singing and sometimes we are singing the theme to “fame” in our heads. that last one may only be me but whatever. regardless we always stand. not mahmoud. he didn’t stand, no hand over heart and back to the flag. he stated the flag represented tyranny which conflicted with his islamic beliefs. reckless? i say revolutionary. he eventually compromised and stood up but prayed during the anthem. big boy moves and oh yeah he could ball!

balllinnnn!
peace.love.funk.