Last December, Lebron James took a stand on a controversial issue involving race and the police when he wore an “I Can’t Breathe” shirt during warm-ups prior to an NBA game.
This December, however, the “social conscience” movement on Twitter didn’t ask Lebron to stand. They asked him to sit. After a grand jury declined to indict Cleveland police officers in the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a group on social media began calling for Lebron to boycott his games.
Tariq Toure, who describes himself as a poet as well as a writer for The Islamic Monthly, began the hashtag #NoJusticeNoLebron with this tweet:
And of course others joined in:
Ah yes, thank you for this Mizzou. Thanks to you, sports fans everywhere need not only worry about their star players not playing because they are hurt, but can now also sweat the possibility that their team leader will be besieged by a leftist Twitter mob demanding his compliance.
Though, for his part, Lebron declined to sit and made this statement:
"For me, I've always been a guy who's took pride in knowledge of every situation that I've ever spoke on," James said following the Cavs' win over the Denver Nuggets. "And to be honest, I haven't really been on top of this issue. So it's hard for me to comment. I understand that any lives that [are] lost, what we want more than anything is prayer and the best for the family, for anyone. But for me to comment on the situation, I don't have enough knowledge about it."
Odd that Lebron would be well-versed enough on the Eric Garner situation in New York, and not have “enough knowledge” about Tamir Rice, considering Rice was shot in Cleveland which is where Lebron lives and plays basketball.
Or, perhaps unlike the Mizzou players who are unpaid, Lebron, who is handsomely paid, decided there are limits to his “social activism.” In any event, Lebron made his bed with BLM when he put on that T-shirt a year ago, and again when he put on that hoodie for Trayvon Martin.
Now he’s going to have to lie in it.
