Etan Thomas: the NBA star talks about why he took a stand against the war and what kind of athlete he aspires to be.(Q & A)(Interview)

In 2005, you gave an anti-war speech that inspired a lot of people. Have your own thoughts about the war changed since then? That was a great experience, one I will remember for the rest of my life. I have spoken at many anti-war rallies, but none that big. Unfortunately, not much has changed in two years. In fact, things have gotten much worse. We are past the point of blame--although it does anger me that the Bush administration is still saying things like "stay the course" and "we'll stand down when the Iraqis stand up" and won't take responsibility that they led us into this mess under a false accusation of weapons of mass destruction. It still angers me that this entire debacle had absolutely no connection to 9/11, did absolutely nothing to make us safer here in the U.S., and has cost us the lives of well over 3,000 of our soldiers. In fact, I hold the Bush administration personally responsible for every mother who will never see her son or daughter again. This war has done far more harm than good, and it amazes me when I hear political pundits, mostly on Fox News, continue to defend it.

In recent months, there has been a lot of discussion about hip-hop, especially after the "Imus affair." What do you make of this chatter and the fallout from Imus? I wondered why there was this overwhelming attempt to somehow connect what is said by certain rappers to what Imus said. As if because these certain rappers use this language, that this somehow vindicates Imus for his comments. I can honestly say that I agree that offensive language is wrong no matter who is saying it, just as disrespecting women is something that everyone should be against, but we are really comparing two different things here. That's a totally different discussion.

Do you think hip-hop gets a bad rap? I think that people forget that hip-hop is a reflection of society. Now, do I wish there weren't so many negative aspects of hip-hop shown in abundance on MTV and BET? Of course, but you can't blame hip-hop for everything. When an out-of-work comic goes on a racist rant, how can you point the finger at hip-hop? Or when Imus publicly degrades a group of young Black women, you can't shift the focus away from him and place the blame on hip-hop. Place the blame where it should go. Hip-hop is used as a scapegoat too many times.

William Rhoden argues in his recent book Forty Million Dollar Slaves that high school and college sports ostensibly prepare a Black athlete to arrive at the professional ranks "with the correct mentality." They enter into a tacit agreement to let the system operate without comment. What do you think about this argument? How have you challenged the demand that athletes not rock the boat? I read this book, and although I don't agree with everything, I would definitely recommend it as a must-read, especially for athletes--mainly as an example of what not to become. This book also tells a lot of the history of the Black athlete, which I feel all current athletes should be aware of. I have had the pleasure of sitting on two different panel discussions with William Rhoden and have a lot of respect for ...