Anthem protest: Ex-NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf gives insight into actions.
Former NBA player offers insight into anthem protest
Marvin Pusung-Zita is one of the football players at Mission High in San Francisco who recently dropped to one knee during the national anthem, joining a spreading protest of racism and police abuse inspired by 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
On Friday, the defensive end didn’t miss his chance to seek some perspective on what he and his teammates had done.
In the school auditorium, he grabbed the microphone and asked a question of an unusual guest speaker: former NBA guard Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, whose own decision to refuse to stand for the anthem in 1996 prompted a backlash and a national conversation.
“The football team here at Mission had taken a knee,” Pusung-Zita said of the move in September, which generated national headlines after it was reported by The Chronicle, “and I was wondering if you had any comments about that?”
Abdul-Rauf, standing in front of more than a hundred students in the early afternoon, took a pause before answering a question that has been at the center of sometimes fiery debate in recent weeks touching on sports, social justice and patriotism.
“If it’s what you believe,
then stick by it,” he said. “I’m a supporter, obviously.”
The kneeling, Abdul-Rauf said, showed that “you’re willing to sacrifice and put yourself out there and stand up for what you believe in . ... Never allow anyone to take that away from you. Never lose that freedom.”
The visit was attended by players from the football team as well as many others from Mission High and neighboring schools. Abdul-Rauf reflected on his upbringing, his playing days as a young man, and ultimately the stand he took two decades ago.
The speech came nearly two months after Kaepernick decided to sit, then kneel, during the anthem as a protest of police brutality — a move that touched off similar demonstrations from high schools to the pros. Since then, Kaepernick and Abdul-Rauf have been photographed together.
Abdul-Rauf came to fame in the late 1980s as a high-scoring guard for Louisiana State University before he was picked third by the Denver Nuggets in 1990 NBA draft. Born Chris Jackson, he converted to Islam and changed his name in the early 1990s.
He became a national talking point when the NBA suspended him for a game for his refusal to stand for the national anthem. Soon after, an agreement was reached that allowed him to pray while standing during the anthem.
Abdul-Rauf told reporters at the time that the flag was a “symbol of oppression, of tyranny,” and that the country had a long history of that.
“I don’t think you can argue the facts. You can’t be for God and for oppression. It’s clear in the Quran, Islam is the only way,” he said then. “I don’t criticize those who stand, so don’t criticize me for sitting. I won’t waver from my decision.”
He added at that time that the decision was not meant in “any way to be disrespectful to those who regard the national anthem as a sacred ceremony. I am an African American, a citizen of this country, and one who respects freedom of speech and freedom of expression.”
On Friday, he said the decision emerged from a motto he developed during his early playing days.
“We don’t have the luxury to waste our time to not leave a legacy worth leaving — everybody is special and everybody is capable of doing great things,” he said. “This has become my motto … that eventually led to me making the conscious decision not to stand up for the flag.”
While he wasn’t looking for attention, he got it. There were death threats and a spraypainted “KKK” on a sign near a home he was building in Mississippi. He was traded at the end of that season.
Abdul-Rauf recalled that his decision to speak his mind had been relieving.
“I said, I like this feeling — there’s a freedom that comes with that. I feel free,” he said.
Abdul-Rauf was flooded after Friday’s speech with picture requests and questions from students and teachers. One of the people who came up to him was Mission High football coach Greg Hill, who introduced some of his players. Abdul-Rauf shook their hands and told them, “Much love to you.”
One of the players, Cheeko Wells, 16, said hearing Abdul-Rauf talk about his experience was revelatory.
“It’s very emotional,” Wells said. “He described what we had to go through taking the knee and all of the negativity. It was just crazy — I didn’t know that there was somebody else who could actually relate to us.”