2.1995: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s National Anthem Stance

Long before Kaepernick’s anthem protests, NBA player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf conducted his own in 1995.

A former professional basketball player, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf played in the NBA for nine years with the Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings, and Vancouver Grizzlies.

During the 1995-96 NBA season, Abdul-Rauf refused to stand for the national anthem because doing so would be a violation of his Muslim faith. The American flag was “a symbol of oppression, of tyranny,” he later told reporters.

The act got him suspended for one game by the NBA. After talks, he and the NBA come up with a solution. Abdul-Rauf would stand and pray during the anthem. Still, Abdul-Rauf was punished in another way. He was traded to Sacramento after the season, and his NBA career was over by age 29.

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Despite the shortening of his career, years later the ex-baller said he did not regret his actions.

“It’s priceless to know that I can go to sleep knowing that I stood to my principles,” Abdul-Rauf told The Undefeated. “Whether I go broke, whether they take my life, whatever it is, I stood on principles. To me, that is worth more than wealth and fame.”

#LSU legend Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf had his jersey retired during halftime of today's game. The last part of his speech might've been the best part.

"Growing up without a father…I would wake up and I would train relentlessly because one of my goals was to have a family someday." pic.twitter.com/P3N26vguxi

— Jared Paul Joseph (@JaredPJoseph) February 29, 2020

Abdul-Rauf decided to study Islam after reading “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.”

“His life fascinated me,” Abdul-Rauf said of Malcolm X. “Just the mind that he was, how he articulated his views, how moral he seemed to be…The truth meant more to him than what you thought or what people thought of him. And that was something that really touched me, fascinated me. It was something that I didn’t really have. You know, you have things you want to say, you have things you’re thinking, but you feel apprehensive and hesitant about communicating.”

By 1993 he changed his name from Chris Jackson to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf.

As Malcolm X once said, “People don’t realize how a man’s whole life can be changed by one book.”