Former NBA megastar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar added his 2 cents to the Donald Sterling-Clippers flap with a bold statement of his own about whites — that most don’t truly believe racism exists.
He said: “More whites believe in ghosts than they do in racism,” he said, during a Sunday appearance on “This Week” on ABC.
He also said in a recent op-ed for Time Magazine that Mr. Sterling has been under fire for making racist statements on previous occasions and that his current predicament is no surprise. For instance, the Justice Department sued Mr. Sterling in 2006 after allegations surfaced in which he referred to housing and then said, “Black tenants smell and attract vermin,” Mr. Abdul-Jabbar said, Politico reported.
On Sunday, the former basketball great also said racism is “something that’s still part of our culture, and people hold onto these ideas and practices,” Politico reported. The NBA has a duty to keep track of the “temperature” of race relations and “keep the issue in people’s minds when it’s appropriate.”
Mr. Sterling has been banned for life from the NBA after comments he made about blacks that painted them in a negative light were captured on audio.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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