Before Colin Kaepernick, there was Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. A top pick in the NBA draft, Abdul-Rauf quickly found success in the NBA–and quickly ignited a firestorm of controversy with his refusal to stand for the national anthem before games. In Stand, a new feature-length documentary streaming on Showtime, we get an inside look at Abdul-Rauf’s life, career, and the public stand that changed the course of his career.
STAND: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: The central spine of Stand is Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, telling his story in on-screen interviews. His own telling of the story is fleshed out through archival highlight footage, but also through the corroborating perspectives of people from his childhood, and from a wide range of prominent figures in the world of basketball. It’s a familiar format for a biographical sports documentary, but it’s executed well here.
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: For recent documentaries at the intersection of sports and social justice, the closest parallels are the Colin Kaepernick-focused Colin In Black and White, and the Arthur Ashe-focused Citizen Ashe.
Performance Worth Watching: The most important voice in this, of course, is Abdul-Rauf himself, but it truly says something to see the long list of fellow NBA players and people from in and around the game–people like Shaq, Steph Curry and Steve Kerr–who show up to effuse about just how good Abdul-Rauf actually was.
Memorable Dialogue: “When it’s all said and done, no one wants you to criticize America,” Abdul-Rauf reflects, following footage of the fire that destroyed his house in 2001, a fire determined to be arson for which no one was ever charged. “But as James Baldwin said, that’s a part of being a patriot.”
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: “He wasn’t good,” reflects former NBA superstar Shaquille O’Neal, a man known for not always recognizing game in other players. “He was great.”
Much as Colin Kaepernick’s present-day detractors have sought to minimize the embattled former NFL quarterback’s on-field accomplishments, there’s many who’d wish to memory-hole Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s skill as a basketball player following his refusal to stand for the national anthem before NBA games in 1996, a stance that ignited a media firestorm, earned him death threats from fans, and led to his suspension by the league until a compromise could be brokered. For many people today, the protest–and the quick tapering-off of Abdul-Rauf’s professional career in the aftermath–is all they remember of him.
Right off the bat in Stand, a chorus of voices rises up to counter this notion.
“Steph Curry before Steph Curry,” actor Mahershala Ali notes. That’s a bold statement, but it’s quickly backed up by Steph Curry himself, who speaks reverently of Abdul-Rauf’s skills.
“The greatest performance I’ve seen, ever,” Shaq reflects on watching a performance his future Louisiana State teammate put on against blue-blood Georgetown. “Looked like I was watching God play basketball.”
Others put it in simpler, angrier terms.
“One of the greatest players ever in the NBA was cheated out of his career,” spits Dale Brown, Abdul-Rauf’s college coach at Louisiana State University.
While he’s remembered today mostly for his protest, Stand is here to remind you that Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf was, in fact, extremely good at basketball.
Born Chris Jackson in Gulfport, Mississippi, Abdul-Rauf grew up extremely poor, raised by a single mother with an eighth-grade education. His brother recalls there sometimes being so little food to go around that they’d have to hunt squirrels to have something to eat. His talent was undeniable, though, as was his drive to succeed. He quickly became a sought-after star in high school, lighting up scoreboards and awing fans. After a successful college career at LSU, he was drafted #3 overall by the Denver Nuggets, and continued his run of success in the NBA, being named to the NBA’s All-Rookie Team in 1991.
Of course, the anthem protest is what Abdul-Rauf is best known for, and it’s at the heart of the story being told in Stand–both Abdul-Rauf’s reasoning behind it, and the fallout that ensued from it. It’s important to get these career highlights out front, though, to remind viewers of just how much Abdul-Rauf gave up in taking his stance, and why he was willing to sacrifice it.
In a telling moment early in the film, Abdul-Rauf recalls seeing members of the Ku Klux Klan marching down the beach in his coastal hometown, and wondering to himself if he knew the people under the hoods. “I probably did. You knew you had to tread softly,” he recalls. “You knew you had to play the game.”
Stand probably isn’t going to change the minds of Abdul-Rauf’s detractors; there are still people who think “draft-dodger” first when they hear Muhammad Ali’s name, and no documentary is going to sway them from that stance. It’s still an important piece of filmmaking, though, because it has the potential to expose Abdul-Rauf’s name and activism to viewers who might not know his story at all.
Our Call: STREAM IT. The story of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf’s life is a complicated one, but an important one that’s never been told in full until now; Stand accomplishes the job beautifully.