INDEPENDENCE: At the ESPY Awards on July 14, the Cavaliers’ LeBron James stood alongside Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade as the four spoke about gun violence, police brutality against African-Americans and the country’s racial divide.
Earlier this month, the Cavs’ Iman Shumpert released a rap song online titled His Story in which he vowed he was going to take a knee for the national anthem.
The anthem debate was spurred by 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel in protest to make a statement about wrongdoings against blacks and other minorities in the United States. Kaepernick has received death threats and been criticized for disrespecting the flag and the military.
Shumpert has since changed his mind about the anthem, saying he will go along with the consensus of his teammates when the defending NBA champions open the preseason Oct. 5.
While General Manager David Griffin said Monday the Cavs will discuss the issue as a team, James said he plans to stand.
“Me standing for the national anthem is something I will do. That’s who I am, that’s what I believe in,” James said during Cavs Media Day at the Cleveland Clinic Courts. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t respect and don’t agree with what Colin Kaepernick is doing. You have the right to voice your opinion, stand for your opinion and he’s doing it in the most peaceful way I’ve ever seen someone do something.
“What I do not like about the situation is the negative attention that’s been thrown upon him from certain people, because it’s not deserved. He was very educated, very smart, very candid and very demanding about what he wanted to do and he didn’t ask anybody else to join him.”
When James and his closest friends in the league talked at the ESPYs, James wasn’t just thinking about African-Americans like Cleveland’s Tamir Rice who had been senselessly gunned down. He said his children — LeBron Jr., 12, Bryce, 9 and Zhuri, 2 — were also on his mind.
James said, “It’s tough being a parent right now when you have a pre-teen,” and he fears what might happen when sixth-grader LeBron Jr. starts to drive in four years and is pulled over by the police.
“You tell your kids, ‘If you just listen to the police, they will be respectful and things will work itself out.’ And you see these videos that continue to come out, it’s a scary ass situation,” James said. “If my son calls me and says he’s been pulled over, I’m not that confident that things are going to go well and my son is going to return home.
“I don’t have the answer; none of us have the answer. But the more times we can talk about it ... I’m not up here saying all police are bad because they’re not. I’m not up here saying that all kids are great and all adults are great because they’re not. But at the same time all lives do matter. It’s not black or white, it’s not that. It’s everyone.”
James wasn’t the only Cavalier who spoke passionately about the racial issues that have been revived in America. Kyrie Irving shared James’ strong feelings, and not just because he became a father last year.
“I think that’s kind of being swept under the rug a little bit within our society, the respect we have for us as humans ... being great people, not holding any grudges or having preconceived judgments about anyone. It’s plaguing us right now,” Irving said.
“A lot of mistakes, you can call them accidents as well, decisions that can happen so quick that can change a person’s life in a matter of a moment. We have to take a step back, not only as a black community, but as a society, we have to be better.
‘‘We have to call upon, not only athletes, I think it’s personally unfair to put all the pressure on us athletes to say something in order to change the world.”
Kevin Love appreciates the dialogue Kaepernick sparked but is appalled at what continues to happen, with police shootings last week in Tulsa, Okla., and Charlotte, N.C.
“Everybody has a right to their opinion,” he said. “But if you’re not aware and seeing what’s going on, you’re not paying attention. I think most people feel that they should be pretty disgusted with what’s going on and we need to be better as a country.”
Griffin felt the same disgust and wants the focus on the issues behind Kaepernick’s decision to kneel, not the quarterback himself.
“Far too much is being made of what nonviolent protest somebody chooses to implement and not nearly enough is being paid to the actual issues that spawned that outrage in the first place,” Griffin said.
“Let’s start talking about what we actually did about it.”
Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read her blog at www.ohio.com/marla. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.