On May 30, 2017, LeBron James was the victim of vandalism and harassment. That is a fact.
On May 31, 2017, LeBron James said “No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is — it’s tough,”
Both the left and the right have taken the quote and used it to move their agendas, but it's not the story of white or black in America, it's the story of what's important in America. An even bigger tragedy that transcends race.
Editor's Note: I have to be vague as to not give up the identity of the person I'm speaking of, so please forgive me.
I am associated with a mostly white local school district and I'm pleased to know a student named "JaMarcus." He's a great kid. He has an effervescent personality and has a smile that greets everyone who enters the room. Two other relavent facts are that he is black and his body type is that of a chiseled 24 year old man channeled into a young teenager's body.
I have nothing but good things to say about JaMarcus in the few interactions I've had with him, but I have noticed that people treat him slightly differently than the other kids. Old school teachers seem to single him out as to send a message that if they're tough with JaMarcus, they'll be tough on everyone. Are the old school teachers racist? Maybe, but in my experience I've never seen those same teachers single out the little black kid.
A lot of the other boys like JaMarcus, he is an extrovert and it's hard not to like him. Doesn't matter, some of the other boys still don't like JaMarcus. Is it because he's black, or because they're jealous? JaMarcus is better at sports than all of the other boys and has good looking girls flocking around him constantly.
High Schools were recruiting him in Middle School and the High School coaches love JaMarcus. Are they assuming he's going to be awesome in High School because he's an Adonis, or because of the stereotype of the superior black athlete.
Has JaMarcus suffered institutional racism in his young life? It doesn't appear so, but he's also one grade behind the other kids his age. His exceptional physical gifts seem to have opened doors not afforded to other average, at best, academic students.
Unless an injury sidetracks JaMarcus, he's going to be going to a Division I school on a full scholarship. Colleges are already approaching JaMarcus at his young age.
In JaMarcus' school, he is probably the most well known student in his class. Say his class has 200 students, I would say each and every student knows who JaMarcus is...
Just look at it statistically, if a million people know who you are, many will like you, many will dislike you, some will love you, some will hate you. And a few nutballs will love you for an insane reason, and a few whackadoos will hate you because you are, in LeBron's case, black.
But if a million people know who you are, there is always going to be a percentage who hate you for an insane reason. In the age of social media, fill in the blanks...
They hate me because I'm ...BLACK
...JEWISH
...A WOMAN
...AN IMMIGRANT
...GAY
...(NOT THE SAME AS ME!)
If there's a similar percentage of White Racists and Black Racists, in a nation of 250 million whites and 50 million blacks, there's just more white knuckleheads statistically than black knuckleheads. Those who say there can't be Black Racism are not familiar with the country of Zimbabwe.
Instead of asking if America is a racist nation, we should ask:
Why is America making athletes billionaires?
I don't buy into the premise that America is a Racist Nation. 100 years ago? Absolutely. But today, I think that America is a nation with a percentage of racists in it. More than others? It's hard to say, other nations don't advertise themselves as Melting Pots. Let's just use China as an example. Is China more racist than America? Again, hard to say, how many Black Chinese are there?
The answer is none. You can look it up. So is China the most racist nation because in a nation of a billion people, there are zero black citizens Or is it the least racist nation because there have been zero incidents against the black visitors in the nation?
Which circles us back to the LeBron example. I'm not saying "go back to Africa," that's an asinine argument, LeBron is from Akron. But what I'm saying is, LeBron has options. When all is said and done, he'll be a billionaire. If he truly believes America is a racist nation, which I take him at his word that's what HE believes, why would he stay here? He could pull a Madonna and move to Britain. Or, more practically, he could pull a Stephan Marbury and own China. Other billionaires don't have LeBron's problems...or do they?
Arguably the whitest of the white in America is Mark Zuckerberg. Somehow, despite being a billionaire, and a young white male, he needs a $5 million a year budget for personal security and over a dozen bodyguards because he gets near constant death threats. He has attempted to isolate himself from the rest of the world in Hawaii.
Despite having all the advantages of a suburban upbringing, including private tutors, college courses in high school, and a Harvard education, Zuckerberg fits the narrative of "it's hard to be Rich in America." But if he played that card, his popularity would surely plummet. LeBron, playing the "it's hard to be Black in America" card is buffered by being in the NBA Finals.
Did LeBron invent something I missed? No, he's awesome at basketball. He has leveraged his God given talents into excelling in a sport that's very popular in America. LeBron is basically JaMarcus, on an exponentially larger scale. Instead of being known to a full, closed group of 200 teenagers, it's three quarters of a nation of 300 million+, with the story being not what a great athlete the individual is, but how a group reacts to that said athlete.
Let's say LeBron was a the best Black American playing...Indoor Soccer? I find this hard to believe, but some teams in the MASL have a salary cap of $50,000 to $100,000, per team. Not per player, per team. Would LeBron still find himself with the problems he's having today playing in the MASL? He would say yes because America is a Racist Nation. I would say no, because instead of millions of fans, he would have hundreds of fans, with a statistically lesser number of dumb knuckleheads knowing about his existence.
If you believe the Soccer Publications in Europe, racism is a plague spreading across the continent. Stories of monkey chants and bananas being thrown at Black Athletes are common place. Because Americans don't throw bananas at LeBron, does that make us a less racist nation, or a more racist one because the narrative has changed from individual racism to "institutional racism."
(Editors Note: I did an article where soccer coach Bob Bradley could have argued that they hate me because I'm an AMERICAN.)
Speaking of the Russians, some Russian hockey players have now decided to forgo millions of dollars in America to make millions of dollars in... wait for it..... Russia. The world marketplace has now dictated that if you're a great Russian hockey player you can become a millionaire in your home country. Again, has LeBron even considered, even for one second, playing anywhere else but in the NBA? There are basketball leagues all over the world. Anywhere else but the United States of America? I don't believe so. The NBA was, and is, the place to make the most money in the world plying your trade as a basketball player.
Notice we keep talking about ATHLETES. Other than Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton (which are 2 other subjects I'm not touching with a 10- foot pole today), is there anyone more personally recognizable in America on this date, June 4, 2017? Even if you hate sports, you are familiar with LeBron due to the saturization of his brand on the American Psyche.
The irony of the whole conversation is, sports doesn't even matter. It is a release, a diversion, from everyday life. Whether the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Golden State Warriors win, it doesn't change the price of bread, and it doesn't determine who lives and who dies. Sports is the ultimate reality show where a multi-national corporation builds a platform, then lets the participants fight it out to see who's the best while the fans argue who their favorite challengers are.
America has evolved into a media driven competition with athletics being the biggest show of them all. The popular kids dictating the conversation, instead of the smartest, the brightest, or the most experienced. You can't have Reality Show contestants dictating the conversation in your democracy.
End article now. Ignore what I just said....
End article now. Ignore what I just said....
End article now. Ignore what I just said....