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(FOX 5 NEWS) - Former NBA star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar turned author and political activist stirred-up controversy during a recent interview on National Public Radio. Abdul-Jabbar, a Clinton supporter, said ill-informed voters should not vote.
"Ignorance is not something that lends itself to a meaningful discussion," Abdul-Jabbar told NPR. "Some of these people really shouldn't vote because they don't know what the issues are. And I think that people who are voting in the blind are doing a disservice to our country by not being better informed."
His comments sparked criticism from Morehouse College professor and political analyst Marc Lamont Hill.
"The reason why I'm concerned is there's long history of people saying certain people shouldn't be voting," Hill said. "And unfortunately the people who are often left out of these conversations are people who are black and brown."
Political analysts on both sides of the aisle think Abdul-Jabbar's comments went too far.
"I think it's a very dangerous thing to say because far too often in our history, recent history there were literacy tests, there were other tests employed by segregationists to try to keep African Americans from voting in America," Democratic political analyst Chris Hahn told Fox 5 via Skype.
"It would be great if people were educated on the issues -- I think that's wonderful for both sides of the aisle," Republican strategist Susan Del Percio said. "However you only need to as much as you have to when you register to vote. There should be no test. That would be impossible to enforce and it would lead to disenfranchised voters. People should be able to vote however they choose based on what they know because every vote does count."
I reached out to Abdul-Jabbar for comment about what his critics had to say. His camp told me they are traveling Tuesday and are too busy to respond.