As a six-time NBA champion and regular season Most Valuable Player, Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar knows a thing or two about basketball.

Diversity, equity and inclusion were the topics at hand, rather than his famous skyhook layup, however, as he joined psychology professor Dr. Gina Turner for Northampton Community College’s annual Humanities Keynote Lecture, held remotely via Zoom the evening of April 8.

Abdul-Jabbar, who is also considered one of the greatest amateur athletes of all time for his success at UCLA in the late 1960s, is as well-known for his decades of activism and advocacy off the basketball court as his skill and dominance on it.

The session – conducted as more of an informal discussion than a lecture – opened with a question from Turner about his Skyhook Foundation, and its promotion of the ‘STEM’ (Science, Technology, Education and Math) disciplines. These fields are critical for all children, Turner said, but especially those in Black and other underserved communities.

“STEM are the disciplines that will enable long-term employment in the science field,” he said. “If we can get our kids to pay attention in chemistry, physics and math classes, they can go on to be scientists, engineers and technicians … and that hasn’t happened in the Black community.”

Turner also noted that Abdul-Jabbar has pointed out in recent interviews that Black and brown communities have been particularly hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. He has been vocally supportive of vaccinations and has encouraged other popular Black athletes to publicly promote them as well.

Turner then asked him to address skepticism among some Black Americans who have, or know someone who has experienced racism or other trauma when seeking or receiving medical care,

These fears are not entirely unfounded, Abdul-Jabbar said, as he and Turner briefly discussed the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, in which Black men were essentially used as ‘guinea pigs’ by the CDC from 1932-72, among other historical instances of documented medical racism.

“I think people who know and trust me will listen when I say that vaccines are safe,” Abdul-Jabbar said.

Abdul-Jabbar, who was born and came to national prominence playing college basketball under his given name at birth – Lew Alcindor – also spoke of his conversion to Islam as a young adult and his experiences over the past several decades as a Muslim in America. When he first became Muslim, Islam was very much under the radar in America, he recalled. Things changed after the attacks Sept. 11, 2001 and Islam has increasingly been seen as threatening.

“Its association with terrorism and violence is contrary to what it supposed to be about,” he said. He has worked over the past two decades to challenge Americans’ assumptions about his religion.

Abdul-Jabbar also fielded questions from guests. He was asked about the societal backlash he felt during his playing career in response to his activist work, and specifically what modern athletes such as Colin Kaepernick have dealt with more recently for their public support of the Black Lives Matter movement.

He praised athlete/activists who came before him, such as Muhammad Ali and Tommie Smith, as well as current NBA superstar LeBron James ,for carrying on their legacy. James could be on an island somewhere counting his money, but instead he’s doing something else with it, Abdul-Jabbar said, by performing charitable acts and speaking out publicly on injustice.

With thoughts on the current political climate as well as the future, Abdul-Jabbar offered this advice for young activists, particularly those in the public eye as he has been for over half a century: “Most Americans will listen to you if you’re sincere and have the patience and courtesy to address them politely. People don’t want to be approached with anger.”

More information on Abdul-Jabbar’s charitable efforts can be found at www.skyhookfoundation.com.