As sports stinks go, they don’t come much more fascinating. In a video released last Friday, NBA superstar LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers – always an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, particularly on racial politics – was asked, while sitting next to Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant, his thoughts on the political climate in the US, and the flak faced by sports stars like them when they speak out.
“Well, the climate is hot,” James said. “The No.1 job in America, the appointed person, is someone who doesn’t understand the people. And really don’t give a f— about the people.”
He went on.
“This time right now, with the president of the United States, it’s at a bad time. And while we cannot change what comes out of that man’s mouth, we can continue to alert the people that watch us, that listen to us, [that] this is not the way.”
(By way of background, President Trump has done such things as call on the NFL owners to sack players protesting racial inequality by taking a knee during the national anthem, and had to be coaxed towards finally condemning the protesting white supremacists in Charlottesville last year.)
This time, the flak for James’ remarks was even more savage than before, and it was led by a woman on Fox News, Laura Ingraham.
“Oh, and LeBron and Kevin: You’re great players but no one voted for you. Millions elected Trump to be their coach. So keep the political commentary to yourself or, as someone once said, shut up and dribble.”
That was it, that phrase, shut up and dribble, that has lit the powder keg that has subsequently exploded all over the front and back pages across America.
Do you get it? The racial politics are stark and goes something like this: “White woman tells black man to shut the hell up with his carry-on over racism, and get back to doing the only thing he does well.”
Where to even begin?
Shut up and dribble, yes, Ms Ingraham?
Because we all know that it is only white professional commentators able to make commentary on the racial politics wrought by President Trump.
After all, what would the black athletes know about it?
What would those who “take a knee”, during the American national anthem, know about how deep the anger towards them runs?
How would those who join the street marches, who make loud commentary about racial injustices in America, have any clue as to the realities of racial discrimination?
Of course it is only the professional commentators – and white ones at that – who truly understand the black American experience.
So just, shut up and dribble, play your ball, collect your millions, and go home. But don’t trouble us.
Of course, you don’t get to be a champion of James’ stature without having a strong character and you can believe he did not back down a jot, only ramped it up further.
“I will not just ‘shut up and dribble’,” James said. “I will definitely not do that. I mean too much to society. I mean too much to the youth. I mean too much to so many kids that feel like they don’t have a way out and they need someone to help lead them out of the situation they’re in.”
Bravo.
The New York Times reported that in his own remarks, James made reference to previous black athletes who had inspired him, men who had themselves spoken out on America’s fraught racial politics and helped forge a path for successive generations of black Americans to follow, including Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Jackie Robinson.
“We know it’s bigger than us,” the basketballer said. “It’s not about us. I’m going to continue to do what I have to do to play this game that I love to play, but this is bigger than me playing the game of basketball.”
Bravo to the lot of them.
To reprise a theme, far from trying to shut down and shut up athletes who involve themselves in the politics of the day, they should be encouraged, particularly when they have lived the experiences they speak of.
Yes, the likes of James, Durant and Steph Curry are now multi-millionaires, respected the world over, and are capable of cocooning themselves from much of the racism experienced by others. But not for the first 18 years or so of their lives. They know this stuff. They come from communities that still live this stuff. And the fact that they don’t turn away, don’t shut themselves in their cocoon, but actually get involved is the most admirable thing of all.
Curry, in support of James, expressed it particularly eloquently.
He said, referring to Ingraham’s comments: “That’s the tone that people [use to] try to put athletes and black athletes in a box, to say, ‘Basketball is the only thing that you can provide in this world. It’s really, obviously, very upsetting. I think the way that we handle the response is to highlight all the good that we’re doing … Every single NBA athlete here that plays this game, that’s not what we’re about. That’s not all that we contribute to this world. Guys are going out, putting resources and funds, and raising awareness in the community and trying to make the world a better place through what we do.”
Bravo to the lot of them, just as in this country we can say bravo to the likes of Peter Norman, Evonne Goolagong, Nicky Winmar, Adam Goodes and Ian Roberts, among many others, who have done so much to combine their experiences with their enormous followings, to help advance important causes.