Lebron James
Wearing an “I Can’t Breathe” tee shirt while warming up for a game your paid millions to play is not activism and it is not fair to either side involved when you blame the media for questioning you about it. Honoring Muhammed Ali, a self-avowed racial separatist, as a civil rights and cultural hero is equal parts unfair and inaccurate. But that’s what Lebron James does.
Ali had more in common with David Duke, Richard Spencer, or Robert Byrd than he did with MLK – yet people like James, enamored with the nonsensical social justice agenda, continue to advance this myth and ignore the double standard in front of their eyes. James is paid to slam dunk basketballs – not social or political subjects – and he’s better all-around when he adheres to this. While not directly calling out the police the way he has done in the past, here’s what he had to say on that June 16th 2016 at the ESPY’s.
“We all feel helpless and frustrated by the violence. We do. But that’s not acceptable. It’s time to look in the mirror and ask ourselves what are we doing to create change. It’s not about being a role model. It’s not about our responsibility to a tradition of activism. I know tonight we’re honoring Muhammad Ali. The GOAT. But to do his legacy any justice, let’s use this moment as a call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves. It’s for these issues. Speak up. Use our influence. And renounce all violence. And most importantly, go back to our communities, invest our time, our resources, help rebuild them, help strengthen them, help change them. We all have to do better. Thank you.”
Carmelo Anthony
While giving his portion of the ESPY speech that occurred the week of the officer involved shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, Anthony also looked to benefit in the PR department from a hot-button issue he had never really lifted a finger for before. Anyone willing to watch the Sterling shooting and take a moment to do some research on either policing or firearms – take your pick – knows that this was a necessary shoot and that officers felt their lives were in danger for good reason while wrestling with the armed suspect that they had been called to the scene to deal with.
As far as Castile goes, whether you agree with the cop’s decision to pull the trigger, whether you feel he was worthy of being a police officer in the first place, or whether you buy the angelic biography crafted for the late Castile by the media – the fact remains that the officer who shot him was not a white officer but Hispanic. The same people shouting down police officers in this country for racism against blacks are claiming police racism against Hispanics and other minority groups as well. In doing so, they create a white police officer super-villain in their own misguided minds. You cannot pick and choose when it is advantageous to ignore race or make it a focal point of your argument. Yet, Anthony had this to say:
“Good evening. Tonight is a celebration of sports, celebrating our accomplishments and our victories. But, in this moment of celebration, we asked to start the show tonight this way, the four of us talking to our fellow athletes, with the country watching. Because we cannot ignore the reality of the current state of America. The events of the past week have put a spotlight on the injustice, distrust and anger that plague so many of us. The system is broken. The problems are not new. The violence is not new. And the racial divide definitely is not new. But the urgency to create change is at an all-time high.”
Chris Paul
Paul decided to Bring up Michael Brown, who viciously attacked a police officer and went for his gun. He also decided to bring up Trayvon Martin who was killed by a Hispanic civilian he decided to attack. These stories became massive anti-police stories because the media saw dollar signs and people like Wade stupid enough to buy in. It’s regretful that the Hollywood and Pro-Sports Elite fishbowl world only knows what they are told to know by outlets who profit in division. Here’s what he had to say:
“We stand here tonight accepting our role in uniting communities, to be the change we need to see. We stand before you as fathers, sons, husbands, brothers, uncles and in my case, as an African-American man and the nephew of a police officer, who is one of the hundreds of thousands of great officers serving this country. But, Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Laquan McDonald. Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. This is also our reality. Generations ago, legends like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe and countless others, they set a model for what athletes should stand for. So we choose to follow in their footsteps.”
If I were Paul’s uncle, I’d tell him, “Leave me out of your social justice warrior crusade, son”.
Simone Manuel
Manuel became the first black woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming at this past Olympic Games in Rio De Janeiro. As a matter of fact, I remember watching it and rooting for her as she swam her tail off the same way I root for all Americans.
There’s something about seeing an athlete celebrate winning a medal in the Olympics in less glamorous sports such as swimming or track that touches me more deeply than seeing a wealthy professional win a ring in the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, World Series, etc. Olympic athletes seem more down to earth, more accessible – every day heroes dedicating their lives in pursuit of greatness and love of the sport, rather than for big money contracts, fame, and corporate endorsements.
I felt great for Manuel the way I always do when one of our own takes home a medal – but the more she spoke, the more unamerican she came off. The speech started off with this:
“This medal is not just for me. It is for some of the African-Americans who have come before me,” she added, referencing former Olympians Maritza Correia and Cullen Jones. “This medal is for the people who come behind me and get into the sport and hopefully find love and drive to get to this point.”
Then it went over to this:
“The title of black swimmer suggests that I am not supposed to win golds or break records, but that’s not true because I train hard and want to win just like everyone else.”
And finally ended on this:
“It means a lot, especially with what is going on in the world today, some of the issues of police brutality,” Manuel said. “This win hopefully brings hope and change to some of the issues that are going on. My color just comes with the territory.”
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking a moment to acknowledge that she’s the first black female gold medalist in swimming. That’s a record to be proud of. It’s where she goes from there that reveals her as classless in my eyes.
The Olympics is about competing for national pride on the world stage – it always has been and always will be. Patriotic American athletes at least take a moment to acknowledge their country when they get that big win. It’s how we share the moment together as Americans. It renews us and builds cohesiveness – but Manuel only pays tribute to black swimmers before pulling out the victim card on how the swimming world sets low expectations for people of her skin color. Finally, she takes her moment in the sun to deliver a good kick in the ribs to police officers – and the media fawns over her.
Try and imagine this white cop cheering you on as you swam for glory in Rio, Ms. Manuel. As hard as it may be for you to believe, I didn’t see black. I just saw red, white, and blue.
Colin Kaepernick
No such list can be complete without the mention of Colin Kaepernick – who I believe suffers from the same complex Sefolosha or white athletes face in the predominantly black professional sports industry where they feel perhaps bullied into adherence to the liberal doctrine of identity politics. His official stance on refusing to stand for the National Anthem is this:
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
While his official stance on why he is so over-the-top regarding race relations in America is this:
“What do I represent?’ And you know what? My racial heritage is something I want people to be well aware of. I do want to be a representative of the African community, and I want to hold myself and dress myself in a way that reflects that. I want black kids to see me and think: ‘Okay, he’s carrying himself as a black man, and that’s how a black man should carry himself.’”
Being the product of a bi-racial inception and raised by two white adoptive parents in today’s identity politics obsessed world seems to have taken its toll on this confused individual. It seems Kaepernick is hellbent with proving his “blackness” above all else. Being on the receiving end of a good old fashioned white-guilting can be brutal, but Colin clearly has not taken it well. If the “blackest” group in American society today decided it was moving to Pennsylvania to live with the Amish, Kaepernick would have changed his last name to “Yoder” yesterday. His behavior has been an astonishing thing to witness and it’s a microcosm of the insanity taking place in our society today.
