Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf stands up to demonstrate how he used to practice being an unpredictable basketball player to strengthen his skills at SFSU’s Jack Adams Hall for the STAND speaker event on April 26, 2023. (Tâm Vũ / Golden Gate Xpress) (Tam Vu)
Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf stands up to demonstrate how he used to practice being an unpredictable basketball player to strengthen his skills at SFSU’s Jack Adams Hall for the STAND speaker event on April 26, 2023. (Tâm Vũ / Golden Gate Xpress)
Just over 200 people filled the seats in Jack Adams Hall, leaving only standing room. SF State students, faculty, administrators and the general public listened to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf share his journey about how basketball and religion shaped his beliefs in social justice.
The panel discussion was based on the recent documentary on Abdul-Rauf’s life journey called “STAND.” The documentary captures how he overcame adversity on and off the NBA court.
While in the NBA, Abdul-Rauf converted to Islam, hence his name change from Chris Jackson to Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. His conversion also led to a refusal to stand for the national anthem before games, which caused him to be ousted from the league after nine seasons in the NBA.
A clip of the “STAND” documentary was shown during the panel and Abdul-Rauf states in it that his decision to not stand for the national anthem started from the books he was reading about American exceptionalism and American innocence.
Abul Pitre, Larry Salomon, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Rama Ali Kased (L-R) speak on a panel at SF State’s Jack Adams Hall for the STAND speaker event on April 26, 2023. (Tâm Vũ / Golden Gate Xpress)
“You had Rodney King, you had the bombing of the World Trade Center, you had the Gulf War, over 90% of its existence from the inception of this country they’ve been at war,” Abdul-Rauf said in the documentary. “I’m coming across information now that I’m really offended [by]. I feel like I’ve been cheated, I feel like the educational institutions cheated me.”
Abdul-Rauf sees the American flag as a symbol of oppression and tyranny, and the morals and values he embraces as a Muslim do not support what the flag symbolizes.
Dale Brown was Abdul-Rauf’s coach when he attended Louisiana State University. Abdul-Rauf said he believes Coach Brown was planting the seed in terms of his activism.
“When we’re on the plane or the bus, he [was] reading profusely. He [was] constantly reading and constantly passing information, even if it [was] a sentence, he [was] always giving you stuff to think about,” said Abdul-Rauf during the discussion.
When Brown gave Abdul-Rauf the autobiography of Malcolm X his sophomore year, Abdul-Rauf said he saw a lot of himself.
“My curiosity grew about so many things. I began to take little steps, telling people “no” and sitting with what that discomfort feels like. Taking certain positions, slowly each day,” Abdul-Rauf said.
Jeremiah Franklin, a third-year BECA major, managed the event’s sound system. He said that he had never heard of Abdul-Rauf but was struck by his story.
“Everything he said about the flag and racism struck me as very true, people look at America and think it’s great,” Franklin said. “It was very refreshing to hear that. I want to look into his [religious] beliefs. I agree with what he says but I never connected that to [being] Muslim in any way, so maybe that has some correlation.”
Brianna Smith, a student and faculty leader at City College of San Francisco, was inspired by Abdul-Rauf’s lifelong fight for social justice.
“I was thinking about the idea of persistence and perseverance with continued struggle,” Smith said. “Even two of the people on the panel I know of some of their struggles. Here they are giving themselves to continue to be a part of the resistance, because it’s easy to give up and say ‘I can’t do this anymore.’ It’s really something special, something engrained differently in you when you want to keep speaking up.”
Abdul-Rauf explained how he continues to fight for social justice after everything he has been through.
“I’m always reading and for me the blueprint is the Quran. But also I’m constantly reading those stories about people who were selfless and people who took those risks,” Abdul-Rauf said.
“The more I study and read and come across material by men and women, my heroes and my influencers change, people who began to influence me became thinkers and people who took positions.”
Kimberley Bonilla, a second-year business administration major, believes Abdul-Rauf sharing his story supports the fight for social justice.
“I feel like it’s a matter of sharing and talking more about experiences. It all depends on perspectives, him [Abdul-Rauf] coming out here and talking about his experiences and what he went through. I think it’s important to speak out,” Bonilla said.
Destiny Walker (she/her) is the online editor for Golden Gate Xpress. She is majoring in Journalism and minoring in Labor and Employment. She is from Sacramento, California, born and raised. This semester her beat will be about sports, but when she is not writing about sports she’s probably playing them. She grew up watching and playing sports so she loves to be active, whether that's a pickup basketball game or adventuring the great outdoors.
Tâm Vũ (she/her) is a Vietnamese-American photographer for Golden Gate Xpress and Xpress Magazine. She is a fourth-year photojournalism major with a minor in Asian American studies. She originally entered SF State as a print and online journalism major, but switched to photojournalism in her second year after finding her passion for visual storytelling. Her special interests include Asian American identity and music journalism. In the near future, she hopes to make a video documentary on her parents' immigration story to highlight the generational impact that the Vietnam War has on many families. Outside of school, she loves to attend live music shows, find new music, and crochet.
