Michael Jordan hasn’t always been open about his political orientation or his viewpoints on the most burning issues in the country. His silence on various inflammatory political and social issues has also received backlash from different circles. But Jordan has a concrete reason for not doing so, which links to his upbringing.
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In 2007, MJ revealed that his father discouraged him from speaking on controversial political issues. What if a political actor gains mileage in their career by tearing apart the influential athlete?
In a 2007 GQ feature, Michael Jordan opened up about the role of his father in the silence he maintains on divisive civic matters. During the GQ interview, he also revealed how his father called politics “the most crookedest business.”
“My father always taught us, You don’t put yourself in a situation if you’re not prepared for that situation,” the NBA legend told GQ. Apart from that, he also highlighted the effort he exerted on his basketball skills. To be on the top of the game, he only focused on “becoming the best”. MJ added, “I had absolute tunnel vision—everything was channeled toward that[being the best basketball player]. So I thought it was kind of unfair that people asked me to do something that I wasn’t accustomed to doing just because of my profession.”
Jordan had no problem engaging with the Make-A-Wish foundation or even endorsing Special Olympics. There is a ton of evidence that he pursued such matters with a sense of pride. However, if anyone asked him to make a political statement, he’d refuse. He found such requests “unfair” because he wasn’t “accustomed” to politically charged narratives. He was too invested in working on his hooping skills.
If he were to give an uninformed opinion, there would be no shortage of politicians using that to expose him. This would only affect the public perception of him. On the flip side, LeBron James speaks on social justice issues quite frequently. At least much more than MJ did.
LeBron James is more politically driven than Jordan
Taking into account Jordan’s open admission of interest in politics, in 2015, ESPN’s Howard Bryant opined that in this arena, James outdoes his GOAT rival. The ESPN journalist pointed out that while Jordan was playing in the 1980s, “a comprehensive wave of conservatism” was sweeping the USA landscape. Jordan remained silent when a wave of layoffs hit the public sector under the Republican presidency of Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1989. For the ESPN Journalist, the Bulls superstar chose money over social justice.
In contrast, when Black Lives Matter protests gripped the nation in the wake of Michael Brown’s death by police officer Darren Wilson, James used his resources to remedy the crisis by “pledging $41 million to send as many as 2,000 at-risk Akron kids to college.” The ESPN journalist had strong words for the retired Bulls legend as he claimed, “The similarities between James and Jordan end when their shared No. 23 jersey rests on a hanger, for Jordan has never been known for a single courageous social act.”
In summary, Howard Bryant called LBJ a much better citizen than MJ for his social justice actions. While James continues to champion causes like Black Lives Matter and condemn police violence, as per Bryant, Jordan has steered away from such subjects during his playing days. Similarly, MJ’s former teammate Craig Hodges claimed that the Bulls legend refused to speak on social issues. Hodges urged his influential teammate to take a stand on Rodney King who was brutally beaten by LAPD cops in 1991. However, Jordan didn’t publicly speak against this act by the cops.
However, it is essential to note that in 2016, a year after Howard Bryant’s opinion piece, MJ did speak about police brutality. He penned an op-ed for Andscape called ‘I can no longer be silent’. It lamented the loss of African American lives because of law enforcement. In 2020, he partnered with his Jordan brand and also pledged $100 million to Black Lives Matter causes.
