By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear.” My old UCLA coach, John Wooden, used to quote that Walt Whitman poem often, and I’ve been hearing its…
Fifty years ago this week, two proud Olympians raised their fists to call attention to social injustices. Their gesture made my heart swell with pride. By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Guardian…
By Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sports Illustrated — I have never been prouder to be an American. That might seem like a strange confession in these dark times, when there is so much divisiveness in the country. Every day we are faced with cringe-worthy behavior by our country’s leaders: sexual harassment, enabling hate groups by publicly echoing their messages, the enactment of policies that curtail the constitutionally guaranteed civil rights of the…