LeBron James has been a very vocal activist in the last few years, rallying against basic racism that exists in America and somehow finds it way towards sport as well.
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LeBron and a lot of NBA stars have extensively spoken about how it is important to curb racism in the league and promulgate the same thought process in the generations to come.
However, when it comes to the NFL, LeBron James feels that racism in greatly engrained in the league, with the old white owners still having that slave mentality in place.
LeBron came out with this statement during the latest episode of ‘The Shop’, wherein he absolutely rammed into the NFL owners for treating the players like scum.
“In the NFL they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality,” James said.
“And it’s like, ‘This is my team. You do what the f— I tell y’all to do. Or we get rid of y’all.’ ” he added.
LeBron was in conversation with Todd Gurley, actor/rapper Ice Cube and business partner Maverick Carter.
He then went onto appreciate NBA commissioner, Adam Silver for always allowing the players to express themselves in whatever way they wished to.
James explained that Silver did not want the players to have a similar opinion to his own and trusted the players to be responsible in any way that they are addressing the United States and the world audience.
“I’m so appreciative in our league of our commissioner [Adam Silver],” James said.
“He doesn’t mind us having … a real feeling and to be able to express that. It doesn’t even matter if Adam agrees with what we are saying, he at least wants to hear us out. As long as we are doing it in a very educational, non-violent way, then he’s absolutely okay with it.” he added.
Adam Silver’s way of handling controversies(and bold gestures) in the NBA has been extremely different form how NFL have gone about their work.
The Colin Kaepernick fiasco is a testimony of how the NFL is run and how it needs a massive ‘mindset revamp’.
Kaepernick had knelt during the national anthem so as to show his displeasure around racial injustice, but the act was condemned by the league and a new player guideline for national anthems was issued.
Kaepernick has since been unable to find a team in the NFL, and even filed a grievance against the league owners, who according to him had conspired to keep him out of the league.
LeBron then went onto highlight the role of players in making a league tick and how it is important to value and respect them on all fronts.
“The players are who make the ship go,” LeBron said.
“We make it go. Every Sunday, without Todd Gurley and without Odell Beckham Jr., without those players, those guys, there is no football. And it’s the same in the NBA. … The difference between the NBA and the NFL: the NBA [cares about] what we believe [a player] can be, the potential. In the NFL, it’s what can you do for me this Sunday or this Monday or this Thursday. And if you ain’t it, we moving on.” he added.
James stressed on the fact that if he does protest in any way in the NBA, he won’t be forcing the others to do whatever he is doing.
“I am very educated about what I believe in and I’m not doing it in a violent way,” James said.
“I’m not knocking on your door saying, ‘Listen, I’m kneeling today and if you don’t kneel with me, I’ll knock you the f– out.’ But you know people go crazy when things are done outside the box. People don’t know how to react.” he concluded.
Do you think NFL is racist?
