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<h1 id="reader-title">Craig Hodges: 'Jordan didn't speak out
because he didn't know what to say' | Sport</h1>
<div id="reader-credits" class="credits">Donald McRae</div>
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<div id="reader-estimated-time">April 20, 2017<br>
<font size="-2"><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/20/craig-hodges-michael-jordan-nba-chicago-bulls">https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/20/craig-hodges-michael-jordan-nba-chicago-bulls</a></font><br>
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<p><span class="drop-cap"><span class="drop-cap__inner">“I</span></span>’m
sad to say that one of our players was shot on Monday,”
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51k3HQyc7oA"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">Craig
Hodges</a> reveals after he has spoken for an hour
about his brave but tumultuous career in the NBA. Hodges
fell out with <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL--gQ2AvJY"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">Michael
Jordan</a>, <a
href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-10-07/sports/9103310888_1_bulls-guard-craig-hodges-native-americans-african-american-community"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">confronted
George Bush Sr in the White House</a> and won two
championships with his hometown team, at a time when the
Chicago Bulls were venerated around the world, before he
was ostracised and shut out of basketball for being too
politically outspoken.</p>
<p>At home in Chicago, where Hodges and one of his sons,
Jamaal, now coach basketball at his old high school,
Rich East, his urgency is tinged with pathos. “He’s in
surgery right now,” the 56-year-old says of his wounded
player. “He got shot in the hip. He’s only a freshman so
he’s just a 15-year-old. It’s stuff like this we’re
battling every day. A few weekends ago in <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/chicago"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">Chicago</a>,
five people got killed, so it’s terrible. There is so
much injustice, but it’s just a matter of time before we
win these battles.”</p>
<p>Hodges has told his compelling life story with fiery
passion, looping around a cast of characters stretching
from Jordan, Magic Johnson and Phil Jackson back to
Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
before returning to the present. Sport and politics are
entwined again in a country where Donald Trump is
president and Colin Kaepernick <a
href="http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/brandon-marshall-colin-kaepernick-is-better-than-every-qb-signed-in-free-agency/"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">remains
locked outside football</a> as an unsigned free agent
who had the temerity <a
href="http://www.latimes.com/sports/nfl/la-sp-chargers-kaepernick-20160901-snap-story.html"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">to
sink to one knee during the national anthem</a>. And
teenage African American boys, just like they were when
Hodges was trying to shake up the NBA, are still being
gunned down.</p>
<p>Hodges always wanted to voice his opposition to
injustice. In June 1991, before the first game of the
NBA finals between the Bulls and the LA Lakers, Hodges
tried to convince Jordan and Magic Johnson that both
teams should stage a boycott. Rodney King, an African
American, <a
href="http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/today-in-history-throwback-thursday-march-3/"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">had
been beaten brutally by four white policemen</a> in
Los Angeles three months earlier – while 32% of the
black population in Illinois lived below the poverty
line.</p>
<p>As he writes in his new book <a
href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/964-long-shot"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">Longshot:
The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter</a>,
Hodges told the sport’s two leading players that the
Bulls and Lakers should sit out the opening game, so “we
would stand in solidarity with the black community while
calling out racism and economic inequality in the NBA,
where there were no black owners and almost no black
coaches despite the fact that 75% of the players in the
league were African American”.</p>
<p>Jordan told Hodges he was “crazy” while Johnson said:
“That’s too extreme, man.”</p>
<p>“What’s happening to our people in this country is
extreme,” Hodges replied.</p>
<p>The finals were played as normal, and <a
href="http://www.nba.com/history/finals/19901991.htm"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">Hodges
and the Bulls won the championship</a>, but he regrets
the failure to stage a united protest. “Our generation
dropped the ball as a lot of us were more concerned with
our own economic gain. We were at that point where
branding was just beginning and we got caught up in
individual branding rather than a unified movement.”</p>
<p>Hodges became a one-man protest movement within the
NBA. In October 1991, the Bulls were invited to the
White House to meet President Bush. The assault on King
remained fresh in his mind, as did <a
href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/01/operation-desert-storm-25-years-since-the-first-gulf-war/424191/"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">the
US bombing of Iraq that January</a>, and so Hodges
wrote an impassioned eight-page letter to the president
– on behalf of “most specifically, the African Americans
who are not able to come to this great edifice and meet
the leader of the nation in which they live”.</p>
<p>He wore a dashiki and George W, the president’s son and
a future occupant of the Oval Office, spoke slowly as if
Hodges might not understand English. “Where are you
from?”</p>
<p>“Chicago Heights, Illinois,” Hodges answered, amused at
the way in which W’s excitement at meeting the famous
Bulls, which had him “bouncing around like a kid” at his
father’s workplace, had disappeared into startled
incomprehension.</p>
<p>Phil Jackson, the Bulls’ coach, informed the president
that Hodges was the Bulls’ best shooter. On a half-court
set up on the South Lawn, Hodges drained three-pointers
from 24 feet. He hit nine in a row, his white dashiki
swirling gently around him. As they left the court,
Hodges told the president he had written him a personal
letter.</p>
<p>Did Bush reply to the letter? “He never did,” Hodges
says, calmly. “I wonder sometimes if he got past page
one. I wonder if he even read it? When I was researching
my book I got in touch with the George Bush library to
get the original copy. The lady there loved it. She was
like: ‘Oh, this is a great letter. You actually gave
this to the president?’ I said: ‘Yeah, and I got in lots
of trouble for it.’”</p>
<p>Hodges did not mind that his letter was leaked to the
media in 1991. But it made him a marked man. He remained
with the Bulls and, the following year, emulated Larry
Bird by becoming the only other player in <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/nba"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">NBA</a>
history to win three successive three-point contests at
the all-star weekend – showcasing his skill in sinking
long-range shots.</p>
<p>Hodges won $20,000, and asked his fellow Bulls to join
him in each pooling a similar amount from their vast
earnings to help local communities. His team-mates
avoided the invitation, saying they would need to clear
it with their agents. Hodges was disappointed, because
“I envisioned the <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/chicago-bulls"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">Chicago
Bulls</a> making history in the most meaningful way.
We also had a basketball player [Jordan] whose
popularity exceeded that of the pope. If the Bulls spoke
in a collective voice during the golden age of
professional basketball, the world would listen.”</p>
<p>In his absorbing book, Hodges stresses how he tried
repeatedly to persuade Jordan to “break with Nike and go
into the sneaker business for himself, with the aim of
creating jobs in the black communities”. Jordan argued
he was not in a position to take control while he was
tainted by, allegedly, saying: “Republicans buy
sneakers, too.”</p>
<p>The veracity of that quote <a
href="http://deadspin.com/did-michael-jordan-ever-say-republicans-buy-sneakers-1784530317"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">might
be hazy</a>, but Jordan, unlike Hodges, clearly
avoided political engagement. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, such
a force in the NBA in the 1970s and 80s, said Jordan
chose “commerce over conscience”.</p>
<p>On 29 April 1992, with the Bulls cruising through the
play-offs, the Los Angeles riots broke out after the
four LAPD officers <a
href="https://www.thenation.com/article/april-29-1992-four-lapd-officers-who-beat-rodney-king-are-acquitted-prompting-riots/"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">were
cleared of all charges</a> resulting from their savage
assault on King. That same day, Jordan <a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVcwa99dBB4"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">scored
56 points against the Miami Heat</a>. Asked to comment
on the King verdict, Jordan said: “I need to know more
about it.”</p>
<p>Rioting spread across LA for six days and Hodges
followed the televised news – noticing how often, amid
play-off fever, a “<a
href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0AGiq9j_Ak"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">Be
Like Mike” commercial</a> in homage to Jordan was
repeated. After game two of the 1992 championship final
against Portland, Hodges was asked about the NBA’s lack
of black owners. He spoke out against racism in the NBA,
and across America, and criticised Jordan for failing to
address the judicial injustice towards King.</p>
<p><a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/1992/06/05/sports/basketball-hodges-criticizes-jordan-for-his-silence-on-issues.html"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">The
New York Times ran the story</a>; and Hodges’ career
was effectively over. Twenty-five days after Chicago
became champions again, Hodges was told he would not be
offered a new deal. He had just turned 32 – but Hodges
had been part of successive title-winning campaigns and
remained king of the three-pointers.</p>
<p>Hodges’ knowledge of the game and enduring shooting
skills could not compensate for his political
conviction. His belief that Jordan and his agent Dave
Falk were, in tandem with others, “going to run me out
of the league” came true. Not one NBA team would offer a
contract to a free agent of huge experience.</p>
<p>His precarious situation deteriorated when his own
agent, Bob Woolf, said he could no longer represent him.
Hodges could not even find a new agent. “No one would
return my calls,” he remembers. While he waited
forlornly for an offer from the NBA, which never came,
Hodges played in Italy.</p>
<p>Unlike when Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith made
powerful gestures of political defiance in the civil
rights-enflamed 1960s, Hodges was an outcast. “It was a
different climate. A brother facing oppression in the
1960s felt it the same, whether he was a bus driver or
Ali. Look what the brothers did in Mexico City [when
Carlos and Smith <a
href="http://time.com/3880999/black-power-salute-tommie-smith-and-john-carlos-at-the-1968-olympics"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">raised
their fists in black power salutes</a> during the
playing of the Star Spangled Banner on the Olympic
podium in 1968]. They faced unemployment and
disenfranchisement.</p>
<p>“I had that too but, in my era, not many people stood
up. The climate was very conservative – and it got worse
because athletes were afraid to speak because of the
ramifications I faced.”</p>
<p>In his foreword to Hodges’ book, the sportswriter Dave
Zirin recalls that, when he started covering the NBA in
2003, he asked players why they did not speak out
politically. The stock answer, fed to the players by
their agents, was stark: “You don’t want to be like
Craig Hodges.”</p>
<p>That troubling quote is echoed by Kaepernick’s failure
to win a new contract now he is no longer a quarterback
for the San Francisco 49ers. Hodges is sympathetic. “The
cruel part about it, man, is he’s speaking on behalf of
people who can’t speak for themselves. Now he’s spoken,
it seems his platform has been removed. It’s like [the
NFL] are saying: ‘We’re going to take him away because
we don’t want his views to catch fire. We don’t want him
in a locker room spreading this truth.</p>
<p>“I applaud Colin. I’m trying to reach out to the
brother so I can let him know personally: ‘I respect
you. If there’s anything I can do please don’t hesitate
to call me. I’ve got your back.’ I know he loves to play
the game. So not getting a contract is hurtful to his
essence. The fact he’s not even getting offers right now
is depressing for me, for him. I know these feelings.”</p>
<p>But Hodges <a
href="http://www.espn.co.uk/olympics/story/_/id/17664885/olympic-sprinters-tommie-smith-john-carlos-support-colin-kaepernick-anthem-protests"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">believes
the outpouring of support for Kaepernick</a>,
especially on social media, “has to be heartening for
him. He must know that, ‘Hey man, I’m doing the right
thing.’”</p>
<p>Hodges, in contrast, received no support. “None at all.
Today, on social media, people can vibe with you even if
they can’t do anything about your opportunity to play.
So I feel good he knows people support him. Now, if the
NFL doesn’t stump up and he doesn’t get an opportunity,
fans who are supportive of Colin should show their
displeasure and stage a boycott. Don’t buy jerseys or
don’t go to the game to show appreciation for his
stance.”</p>
<p>The way in which social media has publicised campaigns
such as <a href="http://blacklivesmatter.com/"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">Black
Lives Matter</a> has meant sportsmen can no longer
plead ignorance as Jordan and Scottie Pippen once did.
When Hodges tried to get his team-mates to read more
about black history, Pippen supposedly said: “What do I
need education for? I make six figures.”</p>
<p>Hodges harbors no animosity towards Pippen or even
Jordan. “Michael didn’t speak out largely because he
didn’t know what to say – not because he was a bad
person.”</p>
<p>It should also be pointed out that Jordan chose to snub
President Bush’s invitation when the Bulls visited him
in 1991. “I’m not going to the White House,” Hodges
remembers Jordan saying. “Fuck Bush. I didn’t vote for
him.”</p>
<p>How does he regard Jordan, 25 years on? “He’s a savvy
businessman. I applaud him for that, I don’t hate on
that. But he’s gained knowledge through life experience
and <a
href="https://theundefeated.com/features/michael-jordan-i-can-no-longer-stay-silent/"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">he
has been getting into decent projects</a>. I’m sure he
is more conscious now.”</p>
<p>Phil Jackson was the only man in the Chicago locker
room to share Hodges’ unhappiness at America’s bombing
of Iraq in 1991. “We get stuck in one idea of
patriotism,” Hodges says, “and if I don’t march to the
beat of that soundbite I’m unpatriotic. Me and Phil were
different. When the Gulf war broke out in 1991, on Dr
King Day, actually, everybody said: ‘We need to bomb the
shit out of them.’ Phil let them finish and he said: ‘If
we do that, then remember that’s going to leave an
orphan who will feel the pain as he grows up with the
idea of revenge. Don’t be too quick to cheer – because
retaliation is in his hands now.”</p>
<p>Jackson ended Hodges’ 13-year isolation from the NBA
when he offered him a coaching role at the LA Lakers.
Hodges won two more championships with Jackson and the
Lakers. The old wounds have healed but surely he
despairs when, apart from the continuing loss of young
black lives, Trump is in the White House?</p>
<p>“You would love to think we’ve come a long way, and
that’s saddening to me at times. The imagery portrays
that black people have come a long way. We had a black
president so we now can’t talk about race any more? But
we’re still the least represented people in this
nation.”</p>
<p>Hodges dismisses <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/gallery/2017/jan/04/barack-obama-presidency-best-pictures"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">Barack
Obama’s presidency</a>. “He did some good things, I’m
sure,” Hodges snorts, “but I don’t know what they are.
Maybe he tried to get healthcare for everybody, but
they’re still running it the way they want.”</p>
<p>Yet replacing Obama with Trump must dishearten Hodges?
“No. It’s not disheartening because there are natural
cycles of life. We have been so mis-educated we don’t
understand there is a supreme answer. You know that old
song – Age of Aquarius? It’s about the dawning of a new
age. It’s coming, even if Trump says we’re going to make
America great again. For me, as a black man, when was
America great? What’s so great about the founding
fathers, the civil war, the killing of Martin Luther
King, the killing of Malcolm X? The blackballing of
athletes during that period? What period are you talking
about when America was great?’</p>
<p>“But we are going to win, eventually, because poor
people will rise, the disenfranchised will be
franchised, and that franchisement ain’t coming by no
political act. It’s coming from time and energy where
people are getting tired of the bullshit. It will happen
naturally. Social media shows us many people have the
same feeling as <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/colin-kaepernick"
data-link-name="auto-linked-tag"
data-component="auto-linked-tag" class="u-underline">Colin
Kaepernick</a>. They’re just not as visible. But
there’s a grassroots thing going on. It’s a feeling in
America right now, especially among young people, that
something has to be done. Everyday life matters. Not
just Black Lives Matter. We all matter.”</p>
<p>Far from stressing over Trump, or lamenting the
millions he lost when shut out of the NBA, Hodges sounds
cheerful. “My son Jamaal loves to tell me: ‘You’re the
Forrest Gump of basketball because of all the people you
met. You’ve crossed paths with people that have been so
illuminating.’ He’s right. Take this conversation
between you and me.”</p>
<p>Hodges and I have swapped notes about him growing up in
Chicago while I was <a
href="http://donaldmcrae.com/underourskinabout.html"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">a
small boy living under apartheid in South Africa</a> –
where <a
href="http://www.arthurashe.org/blog/apartheid-exclusion-and-ashe-south-africas-complicated-history-in-international-sports"
data-link-name="in body link" class="u-underline">Arthur
Ashe was banned</a> from playing tennis because he was
black. “You can’t tell me that there ain’t some creator
in all of this. That’s why I say there are cycles of
time and natural rhythms of law which change things and
bring us together. The fact you and I are having this
conversation is cool. We have a young brother that was
in South Africa when they wouldn’t allow Arthur Ashe,
and a brother that was in Chicago watching Arthur Ashe
trying to go to South Africa. Now you and me are
talking.</p>
<p>“All the boundaries and divisions between us are
manmade. And the human family is starting to cast that
shit off. It was a South African, Nelson Mandela, who
gave me hope at my lowest point, when I was out the NBA.
He had been freed a few months earlier [after 27 years
in prison] and he came to Chicago. There was a dinner in
his honor and Mandela asked to sit next to me. I grew up
in the projects, man. So that’s a power bigger than me.
I was in awe. I kept asking him: ‘What was it like to be
away from your people for so long?’ He was amazing.
Truth gave him power. He didn’t need to be anyone other
than himself. That’s freedom.”</p>
<p>Hodges has also found freedom. He will keep teaching
basketball and speaking out – amid his belief that,
finally, justice will prevail despite the political
system and bleak shootings. “We’ll win all our battles
in the end. Until then I’m just doing what I can to keep
children out of harm’s way as much as possible. It’s the
right way.” </p>
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