Apparently nothing says, “I support strong, outspoken athletes who speak their mind” quite like ripping to shreds and willfully distorting the words of strong, outspoken athletes who speak their mind.
Writing in The Nation, former NBA player and current liberal activist Etan Thomas took exception with Richard Sherman’s statement that if “Black Lives Matter,” they should matter “all the time.”
“The main takeaway from your address appears suggest that “black-on-black” crime somehow excuses police brutality, or at least is a more urgent issue to address. Now, I know you didn’t say that exactly, but that’s what was heard.”
“It’s exactly what they have been waiting for and specifically what they want to hear. You are too brilliant to allow the media to twist and contort your message to mean what they want it to say.”
Of course at no point did Richard Sherman say that black-on-black violence excuses police brutality. Sherman’s plea was for the movement to be consistent. If outrage and demand for change accompanies the police killing of a black person, then outrage and demand for change should also attend the act of a black person murdering another black person. Especially since a black person is about eleventy billion times more likely to be killed by another black person as they are a police officer.
Which, yes Mr. Thomas, makes black-on-black violence a far more “urgent” issue than police-related killings.
Yet, true to his activist roots Thomas brushes aside any concern over the many black lives that could be saved from the truth bombs that Sherman is dropping and instead seems more concerned that Sherman’s rant might help Fox News’ ratings.
In closing, Thomas writes:
“I am writing this with the utmost respect. Your voice is too powerful. You embody what we want athletes to aspire to become. Athletes who use their position as a platform and create change. Athletes who are unafraid to speak their minds and are unapologetic when it comes to standing up for what they believe in. But with that power comes great responsibility and you have to choose your words very carefully because a lot of people see that you’re special and take what you say to heart.”
Except Thomas is a fraud in this as well, since his entire piece is aimed at making the Richard Sherman that he claims to want to be “unapologetic,” take back what he said. The only people attempting to “twist” Sherman’s words are radical activists like Etan Thomas who, despite their crowing about how much respect they have for strong and outspoken athletes, are acting like a BLM speech Gestapo.
If anyone’s words need changing, it’s the BLM.
