“Silence is the oxygen that feeds injustice”

After the death of Renee Good thenAlec Pretty in Minneapolis, killed by federal agents, NBA and its actors remained extremely cautious in their response.

Victor Vembanyama summed up the situation well confident that Spurs’ communications department advised him not to deal with the subject. “Wemby,” next Guerschon Yabuselehowever, he did not shy away from questions, although his answers remained very measured in the end.

“I read the news and sometimes I ask myself very deep questions about my life, but I am also aware that saying everything that is on my mind at the moment would cost too much for me, so I prefer not to go into too much detail” he explains, before discussing the possible consequences. “Of course it’s scary. I know I’m a foreigner. I live in this country. I’m worried, that’s for sure.”

in the process Kareem Abdul-Jabbar published very interesting text to explain to the younger generation, especially athletes, that silence in the face of injustice will not protect them. On the contrary…

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“When we are silent, we are still afraid. That is why it is better to speak” – Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde, for those who don’t know her, was an activist who dedicated her life to confronting all forms of injustice. When I first read this phrase in the 1970s, I felt it not as a suggestion, but as a reminder of something I had been trying to do all my life. Speaking up—especially when the world would prefer you remain silent—is not an act of rebellion. It is an act of responsibility. And for those of us who have seen injustice up close, silence is not a good place to hide. It’s surrender.

I realized that very early on. Long before I was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the basketball player, I was Lev Alcindor, a young black man growing up in a country that claimed to be “post-racial,” while proving to myself daily that it wasn’t. By the time I got to UCLA, I had already seen enough to know that silence would not protect me—not me, or anyone who looked like me. I saw cities burn after the assassination of Dr. King. I saw the bodies. I heard sadness. I experienced fear. Speaking was not an option. It was the only honest answer.

In her letters and speeches, Lorde has made it clear that silence is the oxygen upon which injustice thrives. Power thrives when people doubt their own eyes, when they are told that the story they saw is not the story that really happened. And that’s why Lord’s words seem even more urgent today. We live in an age where institutions rewrite events before the truth has even taken hold. Where videos contradict official statements and where those holding the camera are treated as threats. Where we promise to be responsible in press releases, but where in practice we avoid it at all costs. In times like these, speech becomes more than expression. This becomes evidence.

I’ve been writing about social justice for decades, not because I love controversy or seek attention, but because I’ve seen what happens when we let others define reality for us. I have seen institutions that claim to value equality when their actions tell a different story. I’ve seen leaders talk about accountability while dismantling the very tools that make that accountability possible. And I’ve seen ordinary people — often the most vulnerable among us — risk their safety just to bear witness and then tell their stories about what really happened.

That’s why Lorde’s quote is so timely – especially today, this week. Speaking is not just raising your voice. It is the refusal to allow others to erase the truth. It’s about holding on when the story you’re pushing is lighter, cleaner, more convenient than the messy reality. It honors those who can no longer speak for themselves.

I’ve lived long enough to know that talking doesn’t guarantee change. But silence guarantees absolutely nothing. And if there’s one lesson I hope to see the younger generations pass on, it’s this: your voice is not insignificant. Your testimony is important. Your refusal to be silenced is part of a long, unbroken line of people who believe that the truth not only deserves defenders… it demands them.