(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.
You make some excellent points mtrot. On the one hand I feel proud of the young men of the NBA that are standing up and showing passion for their brothers showing up in disturbing incident after incident across America.
I'm glad as an African American myself that they don't simply retreat into their comfortable salaries and celebrity enclaves and just watch the brothers and sisters of their own communities die.
The problem is we have to understand that young NBA players don't necessarily have the right answers to the problems that plague their communities. They have emotional, visceral reactions just as many of us do but why should we think that the NBA is best equipped to hold the right people accountable for what is going wrong?
Quote:So it's a mistake to say they don't do the things you ask for.
They no doubt do some good things to help and support their communities. That doesn't mean they are best addressing the root problems. In fact the way things continue to deteriorate suggests that the best things are not being done enough. What is being done, has not been working. Do they really know the reasons why that is the case?
How much time and energy are these young men and the NBA business owners spending thoroughly examining all sides of the issues and the root causes of the problems they are protesting?
The NBA was and is organized to entertain America. They have proven to be very good at that as they have spent many years collecting information and developing processes for that purpose.
Why do they or we think they can also push and promote the best legal and moral positions and push specific elected candidates with the best decision making processes.
Having the right to do something doesn't make someone the best equipped to do something.
Does the NBA and NBA players understand that their support for the slogan also support an organization that is fueling this sort of "free speech'" in the nation's capital?
A BLM leader is encouraging this crowd of protesters to fight the DC cops on the frontlines. Saying he’s “ready to put them in their graves”
This speech took place on Black Lives Matter Avenue in Washington DC.