NBA icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has praised Harvard College amid its ongoing battle with Donald Trump.
The six-time NBA champion hit out on the president and his administration as he addressed the elite college’s graduating seniors throughout Wednesday’s Class Day celebration.
Talking at Harvard’s Tercentenary Theatre throughout the annual ceremony, the 78-year-old branded Trump’s White Home ‘tyrannical’ as he mirrored on his personal social activism.
Abdul-Jabbar went on to recall Martin Luther King Jr.’s declare that ‘if something occurs to me there might be others to take my place.’
‘One of many causes I am so happy to be right here at present is as a result of I view Harvard College as being among the many “others” keen to take Dr. King’s place,’ Abdul-Jabbar stated, by way of the Boston Globe.
‘When a tyrannical administration tried to bully and threaten Harvard to surrender their educational freedom and destroy free speech, [Harvard President] Dr. Alan Garber rejected the unlawful and immoral pressures the way in which Rosa Parks declined…’ he continued to riotous applause.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has praised Harvard amid its ongoing battle with Donald Trump
The President has minimize billions in federal funding from the establishment and capped he variety of international college students who can attend the elite college
The Los Angeles Lakers legend’s remarks come amid Harvard’s feud with Trump’s administration after the president has minimize billions in federal funding from the establishment.
Trump moreover vowed to make Harvard ‘nice once more’ by capping the variety of international college students who can attend the elite college.
The president additional accused the college of accepting college students who come from radical international locations.
Trump has railed towards Harvard and different colleges for not stopping pro-Palestine protests that popped up within the wake of the Hamas assault on Israel in October.
He has additionally demanded Harvard get rid of its range, fairness, and inclusion program; minimize the facility of its professors; refuse international college students; and ban masks at campus protests.
Harvard has fought again simply as exhausting, submitting a lawsuit final month that seeks the restoration of greater than $3 billion in federal funding. One other filed final week requested a federal court docket to reinstate its proper to enroll worldwide college students.
Final week a federal choose briefly reinstated Harvard’s proper to enroll worldwide college students. There might be a listening to on Thursday to find out whether or not that order needs to be prolonged.
And Abdul-Jabbar stated Wednesday that Harvard president Garber’s ‘defiant refusal to succumb to concern’ gave him hope that ‘there are nonetheless folks keen to take Dr. King’s place.’
The Lakers legend delivered the handle at Harvard’s Class Day on Wednesday
The college (pictured: Harvard president Alan Garber) has fought again towards Trump
Class Day is an annual celebration forward of the varsity’s graduation workouts
‘After seeing so many cowering billionaires, media moguls, legislation companies, politicians, and different universities bend their knee to an administration that’s systematically strip-mining the US Structure, it’s inspiring to me to see Harvard take a stand for freedom,’ he stated.
Class Day is an annual celebration forward of the varsity’s graduation workouts, which might be held Thursday morning.
Abdul-Jabbar, who spent 20 seasons within the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks and Lakers, joined the likes of former vp Al Gore and comic Amy Poehler among the many Class Day speaker ranks.
Whereas most well-known for his profession on the court docket, which included a document six MVP nods, the Harlem native can also be an award-winning creator and a former Time journal, who has written on a variety of subjects, together with race, faith, sports activities and black historical past.
In 2019, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former president Barack Obama for his social justice work.
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