In today’s world, not even the immense money and fame can protect you from being victimized by racism. A few days ago, the Los Angeles home of Cavaliers superstar and the best player in the world, LeBron James, was broken into and vandalized with racist remarks. James spoke about the unspeakable act a few hours after in the NBA Finals media availability session, and didn’t hold back.
However, the struggle did not end there as Fox Sports 1’s Jason Whitlock went a step too far, making the absurd statement saying that James isn’t really a victim of racism because he is rich.
With that remark made on a broadcast of “The Herd with Colin Cowherd,” Whitlock angered a lot of people in the sports community. This was to be expected, since his comments were out of place and, as it can be seen from what happened to LeBron James, untrue.
First to LeBron’s defense came Green Bay Packers tight end Martellus Bennett, who tweeted out about how fabricated those statements are, adding the amount of money is irrelevant to this debate since it does nothing to protect you from racism in general.
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870414148613681152
https://twitter.com/MartysaurusRex/status/870415472344391680
Another athlete who came out in support of LeBron James was his teammate, Dahntay Jones. Jones decided to take the calmer approach and gave his reasoning why he believes Whitlock was wrong in his claims.
“Money does not make you immune to insensitivities or ignorance,” said Jones, in an interview with USA TODAY Sports. “It still has an impact on your family, and it’s still uncomfortable. People asked (James) about it. He gave his opinion, and he said that he made a (comparison) to Emmett Till. He just said what came to his mind. He didn’t say it was the same thing as Emmett Till.
“He (said), ‘We have to make sure we bring these issues to the forefront, and we have to speak on them. And we have to not brush them under the rug. …(Whitlock) tried to push it, and make it seem like it doesn’t exist for him because he has money. No, it exists. [Chris] Broussard was speaking truth. …I guess for (Whitlock’s) ratings, he just wanted to shut it down because Broussard never had a chance (to talk). He took the (stance) of ‘This is my show, I can interrupt you.’.. It was disrespectful, I thought.”
However, it was not only athletes who came out in support of James. Mike Hill, who covers the L.A. Clippers at times during the season for Fox Sports, where Whitlock works, also spoke out on Twitter. His point was that the only reason why Whitlock was doing this was for attention and, like Jones said, possible for ratings.
When you're saying stuff jst for the shock value or think it's going to bring attention 2u, you're jst a media whore. Selling it 4 attention
— @ItsMikeHill (@ItsMikeHill) June 1, 2017
One thing must be clear – racism is a problem, and it is still ongoing in the United States. Now, is it an issue of richer or poorer African-Americans, that does not even matter in the grand scheme of things. The only thing that matters is for us all to accept that it is still an issue, and to try more and more each day to come to a solution to the problem.
