LeBron James: The Nigga that Should Have Stayed on the Plantation, or, LeBron James: Freed Slave Haunted by Black Bounty Hunt
I find it hard to remain silent on the building phenomenon of LeBron James, who most of us have never met, who has never made a disparaging statement about Black folks or any Black person to that matter, becoming one of the most hated men in history amongst Blacks, just short of Hitler, George Bush and Idi Amin.
Let me start here. For a while, I knew LeBron would become a great player, but I was skeptical about whether his game of deferring to team mates would allow him to translate from great potential to “the all time great”. As a long time supporter of Dwayne Wade who I believed to be one of the best three players in the game, even more so than Bron Bron, and as a long time supporter of the Heat (dating back to Steve Smith from Detroit) I accepted LeBron into the family although I wasn’t a big fan, still not.
Getting to the point; I have monitored facebook for years and many of my friends have been my fb friends for that duration. I used to see nothing but praise for LeBron (though some will say they never liked him) and watched as many Black folks that celebrated him quickly turned on him. This is no irony, it’s what we do, we practice division because it’s what America forced upon us for generation after generation. I find it sad that even in the so called “conscious” community and so called self loving Blacks have fallen into this mouse trap.
Let’s look back to the point in which most people were ordered by the media to hate or turn against or discredit LeBron. Now in this heavily corporate, big money business of the Nba, owners/teams commonly are very public about how they pursue trades, free agents and drafts. In fact in the trade scenario, sometimes a player learns about being traded from watching espn or their local news before even knowing they are on the trading block, let alone a trade.
In the case of Lebron, a FREE AGENT, weighing his options on where he wants to go, a luxury only afforded to the best of the best players, Lebron engaged in the benefits of being courted. Rarely is a player courted on a significant level even close to this. Teams sent in the extravagant troupes such as parades, jet flights to exotic places, etc. For the first time ever, a player had teams by the gonads instead of vice versa, a Black man had a corporations swooning over him and going all out to have him on their roster. Lebron asked for none of this, however he was vilified for receiving it. Most of us, in our everyday life wish for the day we are experiencing financial freedom and the desire to move about freely in the field of their choice and passion. However, for some reason Lebron having this option and enjoying it became increasingly troublesome the more the media, who often reported it as him being spoiled or non-deserving, covered it.
Fast forward: The signing. Lebron accepted ESPN’s multi-million dollar donation for the boys club (a necessary foundation) in exchange for announcing where he chose to go. The media immediately dismissed it as arrogant, wrong and self absorbed. Now last time I checked, the media almost never goes after a team/company for publicly presented action or pursuit. Lebron is signed in the nba as a company not as a person so in essence it is a merger not an acquisition especially since there is a contract end date. The media did not discredit the new York knicks for spending millions of dollars courting Lebron.
This Lebron announcement is one of the very few examples that we have of a Black man having command of the media, a company and his own legacy and displaying it all in one action and we as a group of people largely admonish him for it and hold it against him. We cry freedom and we cry make history and we cry rise to the top and let no one take advantage of you and the moment this young man does it we find reasons to tear him down. He said not 1 but two and three…. Championships. He said I’m taking my talents to south beach.. He is playing with another superstar (I don’t count bosh as a superstar) just like magic and Michael and bird and melo and kobe and malone and payton and many others have. The truth is, he went to a team with a superstar and an almost superstar with very few good role players and people hated him because they saw him on tv having what they do not and cannot have. They became enraged as if to say “who is he to”. Listen no one gets mad at you when you change jobs or when you get a better contract or pay raise or when you start your own business and attract powerful vendors or when you buy a bigger more beautiful home for your family.
In essence what I am saying is honestly reevaluate yourself and your feelings, because some of you have a very unhealthy hatred or dislike for this guy you have never met that has absolutely no impact on your life or from what I can tell the oppression of others.. This man employs most of his high school basket ball team at a very gainful level.. he sent them to school to learn respective aspects of his business and they now run his entire camp without micro management.
I believe this is much bigger than Lebron, as for many he is a symbol that agitates their internal self hatred and or their inability to grow out of the divisive social ways embedded and forced into our society for many years. Look at your philosophy and be honest in answering this question, is it hard knowing a slave escaped the plantation and became a success or is there a genuine reason to dislike this man? Then ask yourself, why do I dislike him at such a major level?
(Remember… he isn’t as good as _______ isn’t an argument to establish purpose of hate or dislike and him whining isn’t either as most superstars are whiners.. no one has whined in the game more than mikes temper tantrums, kobe’s take my ball home, karl Malone always falling back with his hands on his head, Mourning wrinkling his face up.. its an emotional game. Please don’t use this petty stuff as your argument. )
when did the rule change to 3 steps after the dribble
