08-30-2020, 11:49 PM
(08-30-2020, 09:49 PM)mtrot Wrote: Here is part of my problem with Lebron and the NBA and media BLM messaging. It's directed at the very people(the police) who can do the least about making things better. If young black men continue to widely engage in illegal activity, and then resist and fight the police when they are confronted, I don't see how police shootings of young black men can be eliminated.
What would it hurt Lebron to, perhaps just one time, urge young black men to stop breaking the law? And to stop resisting arrest? And to stay off of fentanyl and other illegal and dangerous drugs? What would it hurt to encourage them to stay in school, study hard, and work hard? The league could release all sorts of positive public messaging around this, but they don't. It's as if the NBA is of the opinion that the only solution to this situation is basically for the police to not enforce the laws against blacks.
The NBA is in a very strong position to be able to encourage young men in a very positive direction, but they show zero interest in doing so.
mtrot, if you'd like to say that the NBA should do more to help black communities deal with problems that plague them, then I don't think that's unreasonable. But I have two comments about that.
1. NBA players and black athletes in other sports are in the fight and trying to help black communities with problems other than police violence against black Americans. They fund schools, they build gyms and activity centers that will house after school programs, they speak at schools, they fund scholarships, they mentor. So it's a mistake to say they don't do the things you ask for.
2. I believe it's also a mistake to blame violence towards black folks on other social challenges that exist in the black community. Those two things shouldn't be conflated.
I have more thoughts but it's too late. Maybe tomorrow.