The lead-up to Game 1 of the NBA Finals was, unfortunately, dominated by news that LeBron James‘ Los Angeles home had been vandalized with a racial slur. But instead of brushing the incident aside, the three-time champ decided to tackle it head-on when speaking to reporters on Wednesday, using a reference to Emmett Till to make a powerful statement on the topic of racially-motivated hate crimes in America.
He spoke about it again in an exclusive interview with Rachel Nichols of ESPN’s The Jump, saying that the incident was a “frightening” reminder of what’s like to be a black man in America. Just about everyone agreed that LeBron did the right thing by using his platform and his voice to bring awareness. Everyone except for expert-troll Jason Whitlock, that is, who made the absurd proclamation that LeBron had merely been “inconvenienced” and that his considerable wealth should somehow render him immune to such hatred.
Packers tight-end Martellus Bennett quickly went in on Whitlock via Twitter for his wildly-dismissive comments, and one of LeBron’s teammates followed suit soon after. In an interview with Sam Amick of USA TODAY Sports, Dahntay Jones offered a measured response for why Whitlock was misguided in his assessment.
“Money does not make you immune to insensitivities or ignorance,” said Jones, a 35-year-old African-American. “It still has an impact on your family, and it’s still uncomfortable. People asked (James) about it. He gave his opinion, and he said that he made a (comparison) to Emmett Till. He just said what came to his mind. He didn’t say it was the same thing as Emmett Till.
“He (said), ‘We have to make sure we bring these issues to the forefront, and we have to speak on them. And we have to not brush them under the rug. …(Whitlock) tried to push it, and make it seem like it doesn’t exist for him because he has money. No, it exists. [Chris] Broussard was speaking truth. …I guess for (Whitlock’s) ratings, he just wanted to shut it down because Broussard never had a chance (to talk). He took the (stance) of ‘This is my show, I can interrupt you.’.. It was disrespectful, I thought.”
Given his penchant for outlandish takes, it’s hard to take anything Whitlock says seriously these days, but the topic of hate crimes in our country – particularly in light of the double-murder that left Portland reeling last week – is far too important to be dismissed in such manner.
