Following Rodney King’s victory, the Chicago Bulls are Craig Hodges’ base to stage a protest ahead of the first game of the 1991 NBA Finals.
Hoping to make money for his cause, Hodges turned to Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, who “authorized” him.
“I knew the answer before I met them. What’s funny to me is how they temporarily turned it down,” Hodges told Jasmyn Wimbish of CBS Sports. “Both conversations lasted less than two minutes. The magic came to the court the day before the first game, and I asked him about it and he said, “It’s too extreme.” I already talked to Mike in the locker room. , and he says, ‘Dude, it’s wild, man.’ So it’s not something I’ve faced before.”
Jordan and Johnson spent most of their NBA careers being apolitical, and MJ refused Harvey Gantt in a heated north Carolina Senate feud in 1990 opposed to Republican Jesse Helms, considered a racist.
In March 1991, police officers beat and nearly killed King after a high-speed car chase. Four officials were charged with excessive use of force, three of whom were subsequently acquitted, leading to the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.
Led by the Milwaukee Bucks, players walked out on games last week after the police shooting of Jacob Blake, covering the same issues of police brutality and discrimination against Black people that led to the King riots.
Protests are ongoing in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after Blake’s shooting. Two protesters were killed and others injured in a shootout last week.
Jordan has been more outspoken about corporate issues since the end of his NBA career, adding his Jordan logo promising $100 million over the next 10 years for social justice causes.