Rabin died the first week of November 1995 after being shot. His assassin was a young Jewish man tied to right-wing extremist groups. The murder took place at a peace rally in Tel Aviv’s Kings Square.<\/p>\n
“I stood in the spot…Rabin was killed,” Pollin told The New York Times sports columnist George Vecsey upon returning from Rabin’s funeral. “Bullets connote killing, violence, death. Our slogan used to be, ‘Faster than a speeding bullet.’ That is no longer appropriate.”<\/p>\n
Pollin announced then that he was removing his team’s long-time nickname and would ask the team’s fans for a nickname that wasn’t offensive by conjuring such painful memories. (It is too bad those who’ve owned Washington’s NFL franchise haven’t been moved to do the same thing.)<\/p>\n
Arenas in recent days has all but spat on Pollin’s grave.<\/p>\n
Arenas is under investigation by the D.C. police department about his storing of guns at the Verizon Center. The District has strict laws that prohibit carrying guns openly or concealed. The league is also looking into the situation. Now there is a report that he actually brandished a gun against a teammate in a dispute over a bet.<\/p>\n
This isn’t about the hip-hop culture, of which Arenas is a part. That’s an old canard that dismisses the fact that hip-hop artists have sung about the self-destructive nature of violence and rapped about the manliness of walking away from conflict as A Tribe Called Quest reminded with the lyrics “You’re not any less of a man if you don’t pull the trigger, you’re not necessarily a man if you do.”<\/p>\n