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Earlier than Colin Kaepernick, there was Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. A prime pick in the NBA draft, Abdul-Rauf rapidly discovered success in the NBA—and rapidly ignited a firestorm of controversy with his refusal to stand for the national anthem before video games. In Stand, a brand new feature-length documentary streaming on Showtime, we get an inside look at Abdul-Rauf’s life, profession, and the general public’s reaction that modified the course of his profession.
STAND: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: The central protagonist of Stand is Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who tells his story in on-screen interviews. His telling of the story is fleshed out by archival spotlight footage, but additionally by the corroborating views of individuals from his childhood and a variety of distinguished figures on the planet of basketball. It’s a well-known format for a biographical sports documentary, but it’s executed flawlessly here.
What Motion Pictures Will It Remind You Of?: For current documentaries on the intersection of sports activities and social justice, the closest parallels are the Colin Kaepernick-focused Colin In Black and White and the Arthur Ashe-focused Citizen Ashe.
Efficiency Value Watching: The crucial voice on this, after all, is Abdul-Rauf himself, but it surely really says one thing to see the lengthy record of fellow NBA gamers and folks from in and across the sport—individuals like Shaq, Steph Curry, and Steve Kerr—who present as much as effuse about simply how good Abdul-Rauf truly was.
Memorable Dialogue: “When it’s all mentioned and achieved, nobody desires you to criticize America,” Abdul-Rauf displays, following footage of the fireplace that destroyed his home in 2001, a fireplace that decided to be arson for which nobody was ever charged. “However, as James Baldwin mentioned, that’s part of being a patriot.”
Intercourse and pores and skin: none.
Our Take: “He wasn’t good,” displays former NBA famous person Shaquille O’Neal, a person identified for not at all times recognizing sport in different gamers. “He was nice.”
Much as Colin Kaepernick’s detractors have sought to minimize the embattled former NFL quarterback’s on-field accomplishments, many would like to forget Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s talent as a basketball participant following his refusal to face the national anthem before NBA games in 1996, a stance that sparked a media firestorm, earned him death threats from followers, and led to his suspension by the league until a compromise was reached. For many people nowadays, the protest—and the subsequent rapid decline in Abdul-Rauf’s professional career—is all they remember of him.
Right off the bat in Stand, a refrain of voices rises to counter this notion.
“Steph Curry was earlier than Steph Curry,” actor Mahershala Ali notes. That’s a daring assertion, but it’s surely rapidly backed up by Steph Curry himself, who speaks reverently of Abdul-Rauf’s expertise.
“The best efficiency I’ve seen, ever,” Shaq displays while watching the efficiency his future Louisiana State teammate placed on display towards blue-blood Georgetown. “Regarded like I used to be watching God play basketball.”
Others put it in easier, angrier phrases.
“One of the best gamers ever in the NBA was cheated out of his profession,” spits Dale Brown, Abdul-Rauf’s faculty coach at Louisiana State College.
Whereas he’s remembered as we speak principally for his protest, Stand is right here to remind you that Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was, in reality, extraordinarily good at basketball.
Born Chris Jackson in Gulfport, Mississippi, Abdul-Rauf grew up extraordinarily poor, raised by a single mom with an eighth-grade education. His brother recollects there typically being so few meals to go around that they’d hunt squirrels to have one thing to eat. His expertise was simple, although so was his drive to succeed.
He rapidly grew to become a sought-after star in high school, lighting up scoreboards and awing followers. After a profitable faculty career at LSU, he was drafted #3 overall by the Denver Nuggets and continued his run of success within the NBA, being named to the NBA’s All-Rookie Crew in 1991.
After all, the anthem protest is what Abdul-Rauf is best known for, and it’s central to the story told in Stand—both Abdul-Rauf’s reasoning for it and the fallout that resulted from it. It’s vital to get these career highlights out there, though, to remind viewers of just how much Abdul-Rauf gave up in taking his stance and why he was prepared to sacrifice it.
In a telling scene early in the movie, Abdul-Rauf recollects seeing members of the Ku Klux Klan marching down the seaside in his coastal hometown and asking himself if he knew the individuals below the hoods. “In all probability, I did.” “You knew you needed to tread lightly,” he recalls. “You knew you needed to play the sport.”
In all probability, Stand isn’t going to alter the minds of Abdul-Rauf’s detractors; there are nonetheless individuals who think of “draft dodger” first after they hear Muhammad Ali’s title, and no documentary is going to sway them from that stance. It’s nonetheless a vital piece of filmmaking, although it has the potential to show Abdul-Rauf’s title and activism to viewers who won’t know his story in any respect.
Our name is Stream IT. The story of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s life is a sophisticated one, however, and an important one that’s by no means been told in full until now. Stand accomplishes the job superbly.
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