LeBron James demands justice for Breonna Taylor
In LeBron James’ eyes, Black Lives Matter is not a movement.
Before he was a worldrenowned athlete a millionaire several times over, James was poor and Black. He and his single mother moved from home to home, and James nearly had to repeat fourth grade because he missed 83 days of school while weathering housing instability.
One gets the sense from the Lakers star that he wonders where he would be if he had not had the gifts and work ethic that helped make him one of the most accomplished basketball players ever. To him, Black Lives Matter isn’t a movement, subject to the whims of popular culture — it is a daily struggle for Black people to feel that their lives are valued in America.
“When you wake up and you’re Black, that is what it is,” he said. “It shouldn’t be a movement. It should be a lifestyle. This is who we are. I don’t like the word ‘movement’ because, unfortunately, in America and in society, there ain’t been no damn movement for us.”
That sense of frustration fueled comments that James made after Thursday’s scrimmage against the Dallas Mavericks.
In the past eight years, James has been a key figure in some of the NBA’s most memorable calls for social justice, calling for more accountability for violence against Black people. The photo of his Heat team donning hoodies was a powerful statement after the death of teenager Trayvon Martin. In 2016, he, Dwayne Wade, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony gave a speech at the ESPYs challenging athletes to be more committed to social justice causes. Through his foundation, the I Promise school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, and an emerging voting rights organization More Than A Vote, James is commonly cited as one of the foremost athletes attempting to change the world beyond the court.
As teammate Anthony
Davis said: “When he speaks the whole world listens.”
But James has also been troubled by many developments since then, including the election of Donald Trump who he has feuded with in the past. While Pew polls last month showed some two-thirds of American adults support Black Lives Matter and discourse on race in America has increased since the death of George Floyd, James seemed to question the notion that true progress has been made, citing profiling incidents he continues to see on video.
“I mean, 2016 Barack (Obama) was our president. We know what’s going on now,” he said. “So is that progress? I don’t think, I think we all can see and say that’s not progress, the conversation that’s being had right now, and how many people are really listening, or are just having conversations trying to make things happen? I think that’s progress, but we got a long way to go.”
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