LeBron plays race card.

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SandraC said:
OK I guess we agree then. :confused:

And MY opinion is that Lebron is insulting all those who actually suffer from racial discrimination.


Sandra
Click to expand...

And his opinion states that he thinks race played a part in him getting heat for his decision. Neither of you are wrong...or right.;)

...isn't America great!:D:usa
 
Interesting....

GREAT article by ESPNs J.A. Adande.......

O'BRIEN: "Do you think there's a role that race plays in this?"

JAMES: "I think so, at times. It's always, you know, a race factor."

That's all it took. He didn't claim to be a victim of racial persecution, he didn't call for a racial revolution. He simply responded to a question and noted that race is a factor at times.It's a simple, fundamental truth in our society and, in particular, the NBA. As long as the NBA features predominantly black athletes playing for predominantly white owners who are selling their sport to predominantly white ticket buyers, there will be a race factor. It's an ongoing quandary, usually left unsaid.

Every once in a while the league will try to address it, never more awkwardly than the "Love It Live" ad campaign that utilized dead white singers as a means to sell tickets to see living black basketball players. Apparently the league felt Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra made better spokespeople than Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. And for the demographic that buys the bulk of season tickets and luxury suites, they very well could have been right.

That brings us to an essential component we must understand when it comes to any discussion of race and the NBA. It's OK for people to root for people who bear the most resemblance to themselves. I had no qualms with white Boston Celtics fans who bypassed racks of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce jerseys to buy a Brian Scalabrine jersey. If they could identify more with him -- to the extent almost anyone can identify with a 6-foot-9 man with OrangeSicle-colored hair -- that's fine. It's no different than black people who previously didn't care about the difference between a serve and a volley rushing to the TV to cheer for Venus and Serena Williams. We all do it to some degree, be it with athletes or even "Price Is Right" contestants. We tend to support those representing our racial group.

It's not racism. I prefer the term that movie producer (and soon to be Golden State Warriors owner) Peter Guber used repeatedly in his conversation with Charles Barkley in Barkley's 2005 book "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?": tribalism.

Tribalism is about familiarity within the known entity. It's not about hatred of others, it's about comfort within your own, with a natural reluctance to expend the energy and time to break across the barriers and understand another group.

Most of what we're quick to label racism isn't really racism. Racism is premeditated, an organized class distinction based on believed superiority and inferiority of different races. That "ism" suffix makes racism a system, just like capitalism or socialism. Racism is used to justify exclusion and persecution based on skin color, things that rarely come into play in today's NBA.

The color of LeBron's skin won't prevent him from making $14.5 million to play basketball for the Miami Heat this season. It didn't prevent him from signing endorsement deals with corporate titans Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Microsoft while in his early 20s. It didn't keep people of all races from buying his jersey. Racism has yet to come into play in LeBron's professional life. That doesn't mean he can exist in a racial vacuum.

Lately there's been a slow-moving racial weather front moving across the radar screen on the LeBron narrative, and ultimately he couldn't escape the story.

It began with Jesse Jackson's claim that Cleveland owner Dan Gilbert's late-night rant about LeBron's departure reflected a "slave master mentality" and that "He sees LeBron as a runaway slave." It was an overly exaggerated reaction to the reaction. If Gilbert really saw LeBron as a slave, he would have tracked him down with bloodhounds and lynched him. That's what slave masters did to escaped slaves. That's why I'll never equate professional or collegiate athletics to slavery.

Orlando Sentinel columnist Shannon Owens linked LeBron's appearance on a list of 10 most disliked athletes to his race. And on ESPN.com, Vincent Thomas said the growing resentment toward LeBron from white people would increasingly lead black people to embrace him, almost reflexively.

Now James has entered the fray himself, simply by acknowledging the presence of something we're never comfortable talking about. It came to his porch and he finally opened the door.

The counterargument is that James never felt compelled to address the league's racial element when everybody was an ally. No one wondered about the racial motivations of reporters and fans when they were writing praise and buying jerseys.

That's because race doesn't affect acceptance, it affects tolerance. When people behave in a manner accepted by society at large they are easy for everyone to embrace. It's who chooses to align with the outcasts that is telling.

LeBron quickly evaporated his reservoir of goodwill with the self-serving "Decision." His own actions were responsible for the ignition and the acceleration of the vitriol. Where race comes in is the continuation. The racial element won't be measured in the condemnation, which came from all corners. It will be measured in the willingness to forgive.

Self-indulgent? I always wondered why that tag didn't stick with white athletes such as Eli Manning, John Elway, Danny Ferry and Kiki Vandeweghe, who refused to play for the teams that drafted them until they could force a trade. Did they avoid permanent ostracizing for their blatant attempt to circumvent the rules that are essential for competitive balance in the league simply because they were white? They certainly don't pop up on the list when we talk about spoiled athletes.

LeBron, like the "draft dodgers," never was accused of a major crime against society. But this week LeBron made a transgression that fewer are willing to forgive. He just forced us to discuss the existence of something none of us feels comfortable doing. He caused us to examine the bias that's always lurking, that has the potential to spring from any of us.
Click to expand...

A close examination of LeBron James and race - ESPN
 
And there is MORE.....

....seems like we(myself included) have all knee jerked a tad...

LeBron James is right. Race probably played a part in some of the searing summer criticism heaped upon him. This wasn’t much of a revelation to most of us, and it shouldn’t be controversial. And yet, without context, without expansion, it predictably hit the news cycle like a tsunami.
Click to expand...

What James says has merit – basketball players are treated far more harshly in the general public. To say that stereotypes of race don’t factor into the debate because Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan and whatever scores of African-Americans were critical of his act has no merit. There was still an element of society – free of logic, free of valid points – that will judge him poorly because of his race.

The stereotypes surrounding the NBA are part of common vernacular, and some people don’t even realize they’re using them. In hockey, they call you a tough guy, an enforcer. In the NBA, you’re a thug, a punk. In football, players get tattoos, long hair and become cult heroes. In the NBA, that makes you a breakdown in society.

There are double standards, and, yes, James paid a price for them. Many more have paid far worse. And as long as James and Carter are truthful with themselves and understand why so many fair-minded and intelligent people had issues with them over the summer, they could’ve intelligently introduced this into the debate.
Click to expand...

Business as usual for LeBron and Maverick - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
 
salsadancer7 said:
GREAT article by ESPNs J.A. Adande.......



A close examination of LeBron James and race - ESPN
Click to expand...

I had no qualms with white Boston Celtics fans who bypassed racks of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce jerseys to buy a Brian Scalabrine jersey. If they could identify more with him -- to the extent almost anyone can identify with a 6-foot-9 man with OrangeSicle-colored hair -- that's fine.
Click to expand...

I have never seen anyone with a Scalabrine jersey. Guess he is just another sportswriter making crap up to justify a ridiculous point.

"Orange-sicled" I wonder if JA would like someone to call him a name associated with his hair?

Why doesn't JA go to Baltimore and ask them how they feel about John Elway, they hate him, they blame him for the Colts leaving town.

San Diego would probably be filled with the same venom against Eli Manning, if 1 they didn't get Philip Rivers or 2 they gave a crap.
 
Hart5150 said:
I've heard people call players like Claude Lemuiex, Sean Avery, Bart Scott, Rodney Harrison and many other NFL and NHL players "thugs". That argument is absolute rubbish.
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You have !? Really not on this forum they save that for the other kinds of people! Hum lets try to find one of those post's!:rolleyes:
 
Hart5150 said:
I've heard people call players like Claude Lemuiex, Sean Avery, Bart Scott, Rodney Harrison and many other NFL and NHL players "thugs". That argument is absolute rubbish.
Click to expand...

So you are saying it is rubbish because EVERYONE/the major of people agree or because you DISAGREE with his opinion....?

I have clearly posted two articles by two well respected writers(one who is white AND has been extremely vocal against ALL that is Lebron) that state that Lebron has a point.

But again, when race comes into light, everyone is afraid to talk about it.:rolleyes:
 
Race does not play a factor in his criticism. Would Barkley or Jordan criticize him then? My fav player is the same race as LeBron, I guess I still dislike LeBron because of race though.
 
Lkr said:
Race does not play a factor in his criticism. Would Barkley or Jordan criticize him then? My fav player is the same race as LeBron, I guess I still dislike LeBron because of race though.
Click to expand...
It seems like for YOU race does not play into the hate..:up At least that is what you are saying.
 
BlackHitachi said:
It seems like for YOU race does not play into the hate..:up At least that is what you are saying.
Click to expand...
I don't think race plays in for ANY NBA fan. Who's favorite NBA player is white(unless Tim Duncan or Ginobili are considered white. Ginobili is hispanic, not sure what that counts as for race haha).
 
BlackHitachi said:
You have !? Really not on this forum they save that for the other kinds of people! Hum lets try to find one of those post's!:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Perhaps he wasn't talking about this forum, he was talking about the rest of the sports world. When have you heard Lebron James referred to as a thug on this forum? :confused:


Sandra
 
Charles Barkley hits the nail on the head:

On LeBron talking about race being an issue in the criticism he’s received:

“It’s like watching a movie. Just when you think it couldn’t get any stupider, it gets more stupid.”
Click to expand...


LOL!!!


Sandra
 
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