--- title: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Obama Election Gives False Sense of Achievement description: NBA Legend and TIME columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar believes "more whites in America believe in ghosts, than believe in racism." canonical: https://time.com/89259/kareem-abdul-jabbar-donald-sterling-obama-racism/ author: TIME Video article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-05-06T14:51:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:54:03.094Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Obama's Election Gives A False Sense Of Achievement og:description: NBA Legend and TIME columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar believes "more whites in America believe in ghosts, than believe in racism." og:url: https://time.com/89259/kareem-abdul-jabbar-donald-sterling-obama-racism/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt871ddfc1016346fc/69868e18810bbb1fcfc916a6/kareem-abdul-jabbar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at a press conference in response to the NBA decision on Donald Sterling ownership at Los Angeles City Hall on April 29, 2014 in Los Angeles. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Obama's Election Gives A False Sense Of Achievement twitter:description: NBA Legend and TIME columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar believes "more whites in America believe in ghosts, than believe in racism." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt871ddfc1016346fc/69868e18810bbb1fcfc916a6/kareem-abdul-jabbar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Obama's Election Gives False Sense of Achievement > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=ab3278fe-af00-460f-adda-5efda39e4a9a&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video May 6, 2014 2:51 PM UTC  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at a press conference in response to the NBA decision on Donald Sterling ownership at Los Angeles City Hall on April 29, 2014 in Los Angeles. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at a press conference in response to the NBA decision on Donald Sterling ownership at Los Angeles City Hall on April 29, 2014 in Los Angeles. Noel Vasquez—Getty Images by [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video May 6, 2014 2:51 PM UTC NBA Legend and TIME columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar [believes](http://time.com/87024/kareem-abdul-jabbar-why-donald-sterling-does-not-think-he-is-racist/) “more whites in America believe in ghosts, than believe in racism. That’s why we have shows like Ghostbusters and not Racistbusters.” Talking about the election of Barack Obama in 2008, he said some people viewed that “as the end of racism,” but warned that we still have a long way to go. When people see Obama talk, as a black man “they assume he has an agenda. White Americans are not a group that is targeted.” [Read Abdul-Jabbar’s full column here](http://time.com/author/kareem-abdul-jabbar/). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/89259/kareem-abdul-jabbar-donald-sterling-obama-racism/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/89259/kareem-abdul-jabbar-donald-sterling-obama-racism/"},"headline":"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Obama's Election Gives False Sense of Achievement","datePublished":"2014-05-06T14:51:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:54:03.094Z","description":"\"It's a surprise to many white Americans that discrimination and bias can affect people's lives\"","url":"https://time.com/89259/kareem-abdul-jabbar-donald-sterling-obama-racism/","keywords":["Racism","donald sterling"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt871ddfc1016346fc/69868e18810bbb1fcfc916a6/kareem-abdul-jabbar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Video","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-video/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt871ddfc1016346fc/69868e18810bbb1fcfc916a6/kareem-abdul-jabbar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at a press conference in response to the NBA decision on Donald Sterling ownership at Los Angeles City Hall on April 29, 2014 in Los Angeles.","caption":"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at a press conference in response to the NBA decision on Donald Sterling ownership at Los Angeles City Hall on April 29, 2014 in Los Angeles.","creditText":"Noel Vasquez—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/racism/","name":"Racism"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/89259/kareem-abdul-jabbar-donald-sterling-obama-racism/","name":"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Obama's Election Gives False Sense of Achievement"}}]}] ```