The NBA Has Become a Site of Resistance Against Racism and Trump
Howard Bryant, author of the forthcoming book The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism, once said the following to me, and it has tattooed itself on my brain: “The difference in the sports world between today and 20 years ago is that in the 1990s, if something horrifically racist happened, we would have been shocked if Michael Jordan said something. Today we would be shocked if LeBron James and others didn’t say something.”
Monday saw the collision of the national holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the aftermath of yet another racist dirge from the Oval Office. As a bonus, the president branded himself as “the least racist person.”
Again, the shock would have been if LeBron and other voices of resistance in the NBA had said nothing. When King James was asked about Dr. King he said, “He literally took a bullet for us.”
Then LeBron—and again, I would have been surprised if he had done otherwise—transitioned without prompting to the current moment, saying,
And for us to stand here even though we’re trying to be [divided] right now by somebody, today is a great day for people to realize how America was built and how we all have to stand united in order to be at one…. Like I said before, we are in a difficult state right now as Americans as well with the leader of our country.
But us, like I said, no matter the religion, no matter the shapes and sizes, we all have to continue to come together and shine a brighter light on, you know, I mean, (I don’t want to) use the word stupidity, but that’s basically what it comes down…