The golden rule of athlete activism
The golden rule of athlete activism
Bahlali1,
Michael Jordan celebrated his 60th birthday last month. As part of these celebrations Michael Jordan and the Jordan Brand announced $2.3M (~R41M) in Community Grant awards to 48 grassroots organizations across the United States to help create more equitable futures for Black people. Notably, for 2023 the community grant will include 43 new organizations, along with a re-investment in five organizations previously awarded grants. To be a grant recipient, your organization must do work within the following key pillars: economic justice, education, narrative change and social justice. The goal for funding these grassroots organizations is to create equitable futures for Black people.
This announcement is giving practical expression to the pledge made by Michael Jordan and the Jordan Brand, during the Black Lives Matter movement, of donating $100 million (~R1.8 billion) over the next 10 years to organizations dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education.
Why is this important?
Michael Jordan has always been characterized as apolitical. By his own admission he never thought of himself as an activist. He focused solely on his craft - Basketball. In fact, Michael Jordan was so iconic that he revolutionized the game of basketball, the athlete business and the business of sport. But beyond the selfish pursuit of greatness, the man was and has always been an activist.
During the 1990’s U.S. Senate race in North Carolina between incumbent Republican Jesse Helms and Democrat challenger Harvey Gantt, despite the public outcry, Jordan stayed away from political commentary. Instead he made a comment in jest to teammates saying that “Republican buy sneakers, too”. This painted the picture that Jordan cared more about commerce than social issues.
Unfortunately, the comment in jest hogged the spotlight and overshadowed the fact that Michael Jordan made a contribution and supported (financially) Harvey Gantt’s political campaign. The reality is that activism is not always about using your voice to influence. It is equally, if not, more important to resource organizations and/or individuals who lead activist programs. Michael Jordan has chosen to deploy his resources into people and organizations. And what is impressive is that he has been consistent with this approach since playing days. This in my view, dispels Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s notion that Michael Jordan chose commerce over conscience.
The golden rule of athlete activism
As a rule the world only respects and listens to athlete’s voices who are on top of their game. In fact, the system will close you out if you bring up awareness to the plight of the marginalized inside or outside the sport if you are an average athlete. Your voice will be drowned out and your career destroyed. That’s why it takes an enormous amount of courage and authenticity to stand up for what you believe in - even if you are at the top of your game.
The real art of making an impact as an athlete activist is knowing when and how to use your social power and leverage it for the good. To my mind, there are three effective approaches to athlete activism. The most popular method is the Muhammad Ali approach, whereby you leverage your immediate on-field excellence to drive the sport and bring attention to your just cause. The culmination of excellence on the field and a lucid articulation of social justice and civil rights issues that made Muhammad Ali an iconic boxer and political activist.
The second method is the Michael Jordan method extensively described above. In short, become a great athlete and build wealth from your talent. Then build your own organization that will deploy resources to assist organizations and/or individuals that pursue just causes.
The final method is the Lewis Hamilton method. That is to focus on your craft until you are at the top and you command sufficient respect and influence. This will allow you to use your voice to influence for positive change. And then deploy your own resources to build organizations that support your vision and just cause for the world. Athletes like LeBron James, for example, have chosen a similar path.
The point is that whatever your chosen path of activism it must be authentic to who you are. Your character is your destiny, and if your intentions are pure, your just cause will find resonance with the public immediately or with the passage of time.
Thank you for reading. I look forward to your thoughts.
Have a great week ahead.
Bahlali formally means residents (or dwellers). A loose translation can also refer to friends and it’s this loose translation together with its formal tenants that I want to adopt to greet all readers of this blog - main residents and visitors.