Azzi: Enes Kanter Freedom: Boston Celtic. Citizen. Critic.

Robert Azzi

Portsmouth Herald
Sat, December 11, 2021

I grew up with the Boston Celtics, listening (sometimes under bed covers so my parents couldn’t hear that I was still awake) to broadcaster Johnny Most extolling the exploits of Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, and Bill Sharman.

Robert Azzi

I’ve always been a life-long Celtics fan, supportive of a team that, as Bill Russell has pointed out, was the first NBA team to draft a Black player, the first NBA team to start five Black players and the first NBA organization to hire a Black head coach - and have had several since!

I remember a Ramadan Sunday in May 2020 when Celtics center Enes Kanter - today Enes Kanter Freedom - joined protesters following the death of George Floyd and chanted along with others: ”I can't breathe.”

He addressed the protestors, admirably telling them, "First of all, I want to thank you all for what you're doing. I really, really appreciate it. The second thing I want to say, man, is we need change. And change cannot wait. You know? I get emotional, but we are on the right side of history, man. ... Black lives matter.”

I’m one of Freedom's fans and today I applaud him for becoming an American citizen with a new and emotive surname. However, Freedom, well-known for his outspoken views on social justice and human rights issues dear to his heart - and mine - has recently stirred some controversy.

Exiled from his native land, Turkey, for speaking out against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s repressive policies, Freedom is today most visible challenging the NBA for seemingly prioritizing its Chinese business relationships over the rights of oppressed peoples like Muslim Uyghurs, Tibetans, and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong.

It’s important to remember that such activism from athletes is not uncommon.

I remember Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists during the 1968 Olympics, Muhammad Ali refusing the Vietnam draft, teenager Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (as Lew Alcindor) refusing to stand for the national anthem while at UCLA, Colin Kaepernick taking a knee in 2016 - all sports figures attempting to use their platforms to heighten awareness of issues they perceived to be unjustly resolved in their homeland - issues they believed fell short of being resolved, resolutions falling short of our aspirational values where all people are created equal.

I remember, too, hearing that when Enes Kanter Freedom joined the New York Knicks in 2017 they set aside a prayer room and made halal food available for him.

Freedom said at the time, “I have to pray five times a day, so the Knicks gave me a special room at the practice facility and at Madison Square Garden. We have to eat halal food, so they ordered me special food. It means a lot. This is not a Muslim country. But when you see a team do a respectful thing like that, it shows me how respectful people are in America.”

That was 2017; a time when, as I remember, Lebron James was opposing President Donald Trump’s proposed Muslim ban.

I remember, too, admiring Freedom for his religious fidelity in annually fasting during the Islamic month of Ramadan, often going 18 hours without food or drink for sustenance.

Before Freedom, perhaps the most famous Muslims in the NBA were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Hakeem Olajuwon, as well as Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who was suspended in 1996 for refusing to stand for the national anthem.

In 2017, when asked about Abdul Rauf being suspended Freedom responded: “I don’t know much about that, but everyone is allowed to express themselves as they wish. This is the beauty of America. We have that right, whether you agree with it or not, you have the right to protest peacefully. Having these rights in America is something I am proud of.”

Having such rights means it’s also important to recognize that, as Ta-Nehisi Coates argues, “For the majority of American history, this country has argued to itself that Black people are not fit to be equal citizens” and that not all Americans will embrace the same causes with equal ferocity - especially Black Americans struggling under the weight of systemic racism and discrimination.

Yet, concerningly, in spite of all this, Freedom, either ignorant of the racist and xenophobic history that preceded his becoming an American - or seduced by celebrity - has recently allied himself with right-wing white nationalist interests - with people who’ve been fighting for decades to exclude people like him from the Public Square.

When he tells Fox News’s Tucker Carlson that “that players should just keep their mouth shut and stop criticizing the greatest nation in the world, and they should focus on their freedoms and their human rights and democracy” he is just plain wrong; as wrong as Fox’s Laura Ingraham telling LeBron James to “shut up and dribble.”

When Freedom trash-talks Lebron James saying, “I don’t know if he’s educated enough, but I’m here to educate him, and I’m here to help him, because it’s not about money. It’s about morals, principles, and values. It’s about what you stand for…” he should first visit LeBron’s I Promise School; he should remember how James stood alongside our brother Muslims, recognize how James and the NBA have led all sports organizations in standing for the rights of the disenfranchised and dispossessed.

Today, I hope that if Enes Kanter Freedom wants to be a credible voice on social justice, human rights, and Muslim issues - domestic and international - he can’t allow himself to become a voice for the haters - the Islamophobes, antisemites, anti-human rights, and anti-democracy forces - who seek to to marginalize the very people for whom he advocates.

As-salamu alaykum, Freedom! Peace be upon you!

Robert Azzi, a photographer and writer who lives in Exeter, can be reached at theother.azzi@gmail.com. His columns are archived at theotherazzi.wordpress.com.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Azzi: Enes Kanter Freedom: Boston Celtic. Citizen. Critic.