It always blows my mind when people try to act like black folks shouldn’t care about how their brothers and sisters are being treated in America. There’s distinct difference between right and wrong and anyone with a set of eyes and ears that actually cares knows that.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 401 years in this country you’ve at least heard of slavery, the Jim Crow era, the Civil Rights Movement, the prison industrial complex and mass incarceration that started two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. The continuous problem with police brutality, racial and social injustice that continues to plague this country.
However, folks continue to tell black athletes that they shouldn’t speak out against what is clearly wrong.
AC Milan and former LA Galaxy soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimovic got butt naked foamin’ at the mouth talking crazy on Thursday when he did an interview for UEFA for Discovery+ in Sweden.
Ole boy said that although he admired LeBron’s talent that he thought that “it’s a “mistake” when athletes step out of their lane and get involved socially and politically.” WHAT!!?
He went on to say, “LeBron is phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time. Do what you’re good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football. I don’t do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics. That is the first mistake people do when they become famous and they become in a certain status. Stay out of it. Just do what you do best because it doesn’t look good.”
Now you already know that LeBron was going to answer the door since ole boy rang his doorbell. Not only did he answer the door but he stepped out on the porch only after doing his homework.
LeBron opened the door like Fred G. Sanford in a smoking jacket and combat boots and said, “He was the same guy who said when he was back in Sweden … because his last name wasn’t a certain last name, that he felt there was some racism going on when he was out on the pitch. I speak from a very educated mind, so I’m kind of the wrong guy to actually go at because I do my homework.”
So it’s okay for Ibrahimovic himself to call out racism but not LeBron or other black athletes? These people are crazy.
Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Everything we do is political from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed at night. If you’re on daylight savings time someone voted for that law. We had to vote to place all of the politicians that represent the people at the local, state and federal government levels. All laws that we follow or not are put in place by those we vote for. So we all participate in politics daily.
So please don’t tell LeBron or other celebrities that they should only do what they do because they have a voice. The Civil Rights Movement or other social activism movements in this country have never been led by “politicians.”
Most politicians can’t lead movements against racism because they represent their constituents. Most of their constituents don’t care about racism depending upon who they represent. Black folks only make up 13 percent of the population. That means that the majority of politicians represent areas that don’t care about or experience racism.
Social activism movements have been led by citizens that have had enough of this foolishness. The Civil Rights Movement was led by clergy and college students in the 1950’s and ’60’s. So were they just supposed to just preach the gospel, go to class and stay in their lanes. If they had simply done that we’d still be living is a legally segregated country.
I applaud LeBron and others for their voices and I wish that even more would use their platforms to speak out in an effort to fight against racism in this country. Keep putting in work LeBron and please understand that we appreciate your voice. Stop me when I start lyin’!