On the 78th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s breaking of Major League Baseball’s color barrier, the Los Angeles Dodgers, successors to the Brooklyn Dodger franchise that brought Robinson into the big leagues, hosted its traditional annual commemoration of the culture-altering event. For some reason Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, L.A. Lakers legend, was on hand to give a speech, and as a smart and articulate social commentator instantly proved that bias makes you stupid by saying,

“Trump wants to get rid of DEI. And I think it’s just a ruse to discriminate. So I’m glad that we do things like this, to let everybody in the country know what’s important. They also tried to get rid of Harriet Tubman. But that didn’t work. There was just uproar about that. But you have to take that into consideration when we think about what’s going on today.”

Oh.

A few points: D.E.I. is explicit discrimination, just of the anti-white male variety. How could banning clear discrimination be a “ruse to discriminate?” Would Kareem support DEI in the NBA when he was playing, which would have meant inferior white players taking the jobs of better black players in the interests of diversity? Why would a smart individual say something so self-evidently Orwellian?

And how does “something like this,” meaning the annual Jackie Robinson event, advance Jabbar’s theory? What does it say is important? Let’s see…justice, courage, excellence, competition, earning your success and achievements without regard to your race. How is any of that an argument for preserving discriminatory DEI policies?

Jackie wasn’t promoted to play in the Majors because of his race; he was promoted because he was a fantastic player, and Branch Rickey understood that a player’s race shouldn’t prevent him from succeeding based on his talent, achievements and character. So honoring Robinson constitutes recognition that advancing individuals based on their physical characteristics and group memberships makes sense? How/

“They” didn’t try to “get rid of” either Robinson or Tubman. A few bureaucratic morons couldn’t figure out that honoring great Americans after assessing their lives and achievements should have nothing to do with their race, and that highlighting heroic figures like Jackie and Harriet is the opposite of DEI, because it is based on what they did and how remarkable and important it was.

Meanwhile, what does “But you have to take that into consideration when we think about what’s going on today”mean? I’ve read Jabbar’s essays; he’s better than this. Take what into consideration? What’s “going on today”? I don’t think Kareem knew what he was trying to say, just babbling some vaguely anti-Trump smears so the IQ 80s in the crowd would think, “Yeah, what he says.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could be and should be an influential voice for conciliation, reason, unity and understanding, and instead he’s opting for insinuations, suspicion and division.