Below is a Q&A with former Lakers and UCLA center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar about his political and social activism, racial inequalities, athletes that take social and political stands, among other issues.
You have listed Jackie Robinson, Dr. Martin Luther King, Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X as some of your mentors. What did you learn from them/which messages resonate with you?
Abdul-Jabbar: “From all four, I learned the meaning of courage. For each of them, it wasn’t enough to talk about what was right, they took action, putting their own safety in peril in order to do the right thing.