--- 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: 2026-10-01T08:52:59.079Z 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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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=5d2e17c6-ce9a-49ef-8797-82cc8324860a&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## 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 [TIME Video](https://time.com/author/time-video/) ## TIME Video May 6, 2014 2:51 PM UTC Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: How To Tell If You're a Racist Like Donald Sterling 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/). ## Transcript [00:00] From what I can tell, more whites in America believe in [00:02] ghosts than believe in racism, and that's why we have [00:06] shows like Ghost busters and not racist busters. [00:08] [ LAUGH ] As a general rule things don't [00:13] end well if the sentence starts let me tell you [00:16] something I know about the Negro. People see the fact [00:20] that a black American could get elected President, they [00:23] see that as the end of racism. That's absolutely [00:27] not the case. [ NOISE ] It's a milestone in a marathon. [00:31] Just a tip for you. [ LAUGH ] Don't start your sentence [00:34] that way. I think it's pretty created a false sense of [00:38] achievement that we've done everything that we need [00:40] to do, and that we can just slump back into being [00:44] complacent. Racism, unfortunately, rears it's head in [00:47] places that you would never expect at, at times that [00:50] you would never expect. I think the President is in a [00:52] tough position because as a Black American, if he's. [00:55] Too proactive or too enthusiastic, about dealing with [00:59] racism. People think he has agenda. White Americans [01:02] are not a group that is targeted, so it's a surprise to [01:06] many White Americans that discrimination and bias can [01:10] affect people's life. They, they think it's a thing of the [01:13] past. We have shows like John Stewart and Stephen [01:16] Colbert they're like colonoscopies into America's [01:18] bowels. You know, they're looking for the polyps of [01:20] intolerance. There is no racism in America. There's [01:23] more Cholera in America than there is -. Than there is [01:27] racism. [ SOUND ]. More Cholera! Yes. Racism has [01:30] gone the way of [ NOISE ] where you drink. [ LAUGH ] [01:32] And I think that by pointing those things out and [01:36] ridiculing them we get a chance to identify issues [01:40] and and deal with them in a meaningful way. You know [01:43] there's only one lead story today and that is the racist [01:46] comments of LA Clippers owner and Darth Vader with [01:49] his helmet off, Donald Sterling. [ LAUGH ]. Racism has [01:52] obviously been a hot topic with regard to sports. And, [01:56] and Mr. Sterling's problems, but racism as it relates to [02:00] society at large is something that we don't talk about [02:03] enough. And inclusion should be the keynote of, of [02:06] American life. We have people from all over the world [02:09] that come here, and they can become American [02:11] Citizens and have a, have a wonderful life here. And [02:15] we, we have emphasize that as opposed to the things [02:19] that take us apart. ```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":"2026-10-01T08:52:59.079Z","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":"https://time.com/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/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"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar On Racism","description":"Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: How To Tell If You're a Racist Like Donald Sterling","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QPdUnHb2/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-05-05T08:04:52.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QPdUnHb2.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/89259/kareem-abdul-jabbar-donald-sterling-obama-racism/","duration":"PT2M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/89259/kareem-abdul-jabbar-donald-sterling-obama-racism/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```