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On Pro Basketball
Michael Jordan Was an Activist After All
Jordan wasn’t vocal about social justice like today’s N.B.A. stars, but his secret brand of activism is a key reason they have the spotlight now.
On the first road trip of his N.B.A. career, in the fall of 2001, Etan Thomas looked out the window of the Washington Wizards’ team bus and was stunned by the massing crowd around the hotel.
He asked Christian Laettner, the veteran forward: “Is this how the N.B.A. is?”
Laettner laughed. “No, young fella,” he said. “This isn’t for us. They’re here for M.J.”
This was lesson No. 1 of Thomas’s two-year tour with Michael Jordan, who had returned to the league from a three-season absence following his last dance with the Chicago Bulls. Along with him came the deluge of lights, cameras, action.
The young, inquisitive Thomas couldn’t help but wonder: What about the activism? Why wasn’t Jordan doing more with his spotlight?
“I was thinking that Michael didn’t lend his voice to causes where he could have helped,” Thomas said in a recent interview, 20 years removed from his time with the man on whose shoulders the sport dramatically rose in popularity worldwide.
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