--- title: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Ferguson, Darren Wilson, Michael Brown & Justice description: White people feel targeted by these protests. That's how black people feel every day. canonical: https://time.com/3607193/ferguson-darren-wilson-kareem-abdul-jabbar/ author: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-26T16:25:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:18.284Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Ferguson, Darren Wilson, Michael Brown & Justice og:description: White people feel targeted by these protests. That's how black people feel every day. og:url: https://time.com/3607193/ferguson-darren-wilson-kareem-abdul-jabbar/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1043b67694b27a5/69876b338e0601445c458d9c/ferguson-police-michael-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2200 og:image:height: 1238 og:image:alt: A female protester raises her hands while blocking police cars in Ferguson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Ferguson, Darren Wilson, Michael Brown & Justice twitter:description: White people feel targeted by these protests. That's how black people feel every day. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb1043b67694b27a5/69876b338e0601445c458d9c/ferguson-police-michael-brown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: White People Feel Targeted by the Ferguson Protests—Welcome to Our World > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar On Racism [Watch (HLS stream): Kareem Abdul-Jabbar On Racism](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QPdUnHb2.m3u8) (2:21)  _Published 2014-05-05. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: How To Tell If You're a Racist Like Donald Sterling_  by [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://time.com/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/)  ## Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Nov 26, 2014 4:25 PM UTC  A female protester raises her hands while blocking police cars in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 25, 2014. A female protester raises her hands while blocking police cars in Ferguson, Mo. on Nov. 25, 2014. Adrees Latif—Reuters  by [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar](https://time.com/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/)  ## Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Nov 26, 2014 4:25 PM UTC In 1971, a riot broke out at the Attica Correctional Facility in New York during which prisoners demanded more political rights and better living conditions. About 1,000 inmates out of 2,200 took control of the prison, holding 42 staff members hostage. Negotiations went on for days before state police stormed the prison, resulting in 43 deaths. Attica has since become a pop-culture reference in movies, songs and TV shows. Even children’s shows like _SpongeBob Squarepants_, _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_, and _Sabrina: The Teenage Witch_ have referenced it. The word _Attica_ is no longer about what happened in that prison 43 years ago but is now simply a synonym for political oppression. **VOTE:** [**Should the Ferguson Protestors Be TIME’s Person of the Year?**](http://time.com/3562179/time-person-of-the-year-poll/) I hope the chanting of “Ferguson! Ferguson!” and the symbolic upraised arms of surrender will become a new cry of outrage over social injustice that will embed itself in our popular culture as deeply as Attica did. As always, there will be blacklash. Many white people think that these cries of outrage over racism by African Americans are directed at them, which makes them frightened, defensive and equally outraged. They feel like they are being blamed for a problem that’s been going on for many decades, even centuries. They feel they are being singled out because of the color of their skin rather than any actions they’ve taken. They are angry at the injustice. And rightfully so. Why should they be attacked and blamed for something they didn’t do? Which is exactly how black people feel. The difference is that when the media frenzy dies down, and columnists, pundits and newscasters take a break from examining the causes of social evils, white people get to go back to their lives of relative freedom and security. But blacks still have to worry about being harassed or shot by police. About having their right to vote curtailed by hidden poll taxes. Of facing a biased judicial system. Every. Single. Day. That’s the reason Attica makes such a poignant symbol 43 years later. The word isn’t about a specific prison and the terrible violence there; it’s about _feeling_ unjustly imprisoned. Many African-Americans feel imprisoned by walls that are no less restrictive for being built by lack of educational and employment opportunity than by concrete and razor wire. That’s not to say things aren’t a lot better than they were back in the ’60s and ’70s, but there still isn’t an equal playing field. The Ferguson grand jury’s decision not to indict Darren Wilson is troubling, not just for the sake of Michael Brown, but for our faith in legal institutions. Ben Casselman’s [recent article](http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/ferguson-michael-brown-indictment-darren-wilson/) in _FiveThirtyEight.com_ concluded that it was extremely rare for a grand jury not to indict. He cited statistics that showed U.S. attorneys prosecuted 162,000 federal cases in 2010, with grand juries refusing to indict in only 11 of those cases. Given those odds, why wasn’t Officer Wilson indicted? Not because he’s white, but because he’s a cop. Casselman reviewed various studies involving officer-related shootings and concluded that grand juries rarely indict police officers in on-duty killings. In addition to that disturbing information is the fact that the federal government keeps no national database on officer-involved shootings. One can find out how many unprovoked shark attacks occurred in 2013 ([53](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/03/number-of-shark-attacks-2013%5Fn%5F4719081.html)), but you can’t find out how many cops shot or even killed citizens. Right now, it’s left up to individual police departments to self-report (wink, wink). Even the Department of Justice has [stopped releasing figures,](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/09/08/how-many-police-shootings-a-year-no-one-knows/) because they were thought to be so unreliable. So, with a tendency for grand juries to give officers a pass and with no reliable information on just how many shootings and killings are police-originated, how can people feel confident that there’s effective oversight on those officers who might be more prone to shoot unarmed black people? The police and the judicial system are the infrastructure of our society, and right now that infrastructure is as cracked and potholed as many of our highways are. The people of Ferguson, and across the country, are not protesting against white people or police officers; they are protesting against the kind of racism that is so embedded in various social institutions that it’s invisible to all except those it affects. They are protesting a blind faith in any institution when the facts don’t warrant that faith. Perhaps [this quote](http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/RFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Senator-Robert-F-Kennedy-to-the-Cleveland-City-Club-Cleveland-Ohio-April-5-1968.aspx) has some resonance today: --- > “” --- Those words are from a speech by Robert F. Kennedy—in 1968, the year he was assassinated. He wanted things to change, and he recognized that meaningful social and political change always originates among the people, not the politicians; it originates among individuals, not institutions. When enough people are frustrated about an injustice, they will raise their voices until they are heard in the courthouse, the statehouse and the White House. That’s why I think people should peacefully protest whenever they believe there’s an injustice to be addressed. But we have to remember that the goal of protesting is to raise awareness in those that don’t agree. This is not done instantly, through one gathering. Nor is it done through the persistent occupation of one space. It has to be a national movement, and it has to keep its energy high. When enough people across the country gather to say something, more and more people will listen. Second, the violence and looting is counterproductive because it redirects the message away from the reasoned arguments to just the emotion. The roar of the fires and the sound of shattering glass drowns out the voices demanding change. The level of frustration that leads to violence is understandable: When you’re treated as if you’re not a valued member of society, why should you uphold society’s values? But violence turns away potential allies and only provides more targets to start the cycle over again. Yes, we must be passionate about the situation, but only because our passion will fuel the open discourse. **_Should the Ferguson Protesters Be TIME’s Person of the Year? Vote Below for #TIMEPOY_** Third, we must focus our protests, not on the individuals that disagree with us but on the institutions that are corrupted and therefore need to change. Change is brought on by political power, and political power requires numbers. Pointing out the hypocrisy of this politician or this media pundit has no effect. But lobbying politicians with a huge voting block behind us will be effective. While the word _Attica_ has become synonymous with “oppression,” perhaps one day the word _Ferguson_ will be inducted into American pop culture as meaning “justice.” _Abdul-Jabbar is a six-time NBA champion and league Most Valuable Player. Follow him on Twitter (_[_@KAJ33_](https://twitter.com/kaj33)_) and Facebook (_[_facebook.com/KAJ_](https://www.facebook.com/kaj)_)._ ## Transcript From what I can tell, more whites in America believe in ghosts than believe in racism, and that's why we have shows like Ghost busters and not racist busters. [ LAUGH ] As a general rule things don't end well if the sentence starts let me tell you something I know about the Negro. People see the fact that a black American could get elected President, they see that as the end of racism. That's absolutely not the case. [ NOISE ] It's a milestone in a marathon. Just a tip for you. [ LAUGH ] Don't start your sentence that way. I think it's pretty created a false sense of achievement that we've done everything that we need to do, and that we can just slump back into being complacent. Racism, unfortunately, rears it's head in places that you would never expect at, at times that you would never expect. I think the President is in a tough position because as a Black American, if he's. Too proactive or too enthusiastic, about dealing with racism. People think he has agenda. White Americans are not a group that is targeted, so it's a surprise to many White Americans that discrimination and bias can affect people's life. They, they think it's a thing of the past. We have shows like John Stewart and Stephen Colbert they're like colonoscopies into America's bowels. You know, they're looking for the polyps of intolerance. There is no racism in America. There's more Cholera in America than there is -. Than there is racism. [ SOUND ]. More Cholera! Yes. Racism has gone the way of [ NOISE ] where you drink. [ LAUGH ] And I think that by pointing those things out and ridiculing them we get a chance to identify issues and and deal with them in a meaningful way. You know there's only one lead story today and that is the racist comments of LA Clippers owner and Darth Vader with his helmet off, Donald Sterling. [ LAUGH ]. Racism has obviously been a hot topic with regard to sports. And, and Mr. Sterling's problems, but racism as it relates to society at large is something that we don't talk about enough. And inclusion should be the keynote of, of American life. We have people from all over the world that come here, and they can become American Citizens and have a, have a wonderful life here. 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