The NBA's long-lasting relationship with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

            
            After watching the short documentary produced by ESPN titled “Michael Wilbon details the NBA’s profound relationship with Martin Luther King Jr.”, I learned a variety of new information on the history of the NBA’s support of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the civil rights movement. 

 

Many NBA legends already had a strong relationship with King before his “I Have a Dream” speech and the march. Boston Celtics great Bill Russell sat in the first row at the national mall on August 28, 1963, during King's "I Have a Dream" speech after receiving an invitation from King himself. 

 

Bill Russell was the star of the first all-African American starting lineup in the history of the NBA, but that did not mean everyone saw him as a hero. He has been open about how racist the city's people were back then, even though he was the cause of their favorite team’s success. 

 

            After King had become the foundation for the great movement, players from all sports started attending events to support other athletes who were experiencing racism or fighting for something they believed in. 

 

    On June 4, 1967, at the request of Jim Brown to support Muhammed Ali in his refusal to serve in the Vietnam war. Bill Russell sat right beside Ali as well as NBA all-time leader in regular season points, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who at the time was known by his birth name Lew Alcindor before he changed it after converting to Islam in 1971 while playing for UCLA.

Russell, Alcindor, and other professional athletes sit in support of Ali.

 

               When the Martin Luther King Federal Holiday Commission convened in the mid-1980s, the NBA hired its new commissioner David Stern, who was already a member of the Commission. Stern was a firm believer in King’s movement and message. 

 

David Stern helped show his support by debuting the NBA’s first MLK Day on January 20, 1986. MLK Day is still an annual event in the NBA that hosts not only basketball games all day long, but also community events across the country.

 

            Thanks to King for standing up for the end of Racism in America, the NBA has used its platform to continue King’s fight and create programs to help educate young African Americans and rebuild predominantly black communities that have suffered from poverty. 

 

The NBA continues to use its platform to inform people about the history of black athletes as well as to support Black history month and King by creating apparel that players wear during pre-game shoot-around and creating logos that are displayed in arenas, on courts, and even on the stanchion of the rim.

 

            The NBA has also continued to back the black community by supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and creating merch for players to wear and fans to buy. The NBA even had players wear jerseys with “Black Lives Matter” on the back where the players' last names would generally go. 

 

They let players openly voice their opinions about the movement during interviews, post-conferences, and even on social media. Players protested by kneeling during the National Anthem because they wanted a change in America and the NBA, despite mixed feedback, supported them in all efforts to make a statement. 

    

The players have more of an opportunity to create a following for support due to their celebrity status. LeBron James is one of the most-known NBA players of today’s generation and uses his platform to reach his massive group of followers and spread his beliefs in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

 

Without King and his many sacrifices, the NBA and the rest of America would be unable to stand up, arm in arm, with our brothers and sisters, who were all created equal in the fight against racism.