My position is LeBron is a fraud and a hypocrit as well as not educated on topics he uses his platform to make comments about. We rag on Presidents for making comments because of the audience they have. But give people like LeBron a free pass for just simply being successful. He’s good at basketball. He’s made a lot of money putting a ball in a hole. He and his people have made good financial decisions that, at the end of the day, put more money in all their pockets... therefore you deem him unworthy of being an idiot. I never called him an idiot but I’ll just say he’s been smart enough to pay for smart people... because at the end of the day I’ve never really heard him say very smart things.
Just so I understand what we are talking about here, and him "not educated on topics he uses his platform to make comments about"
is this the kind of thing you are talking about?
.Harmful disinformation is being weaponized to block the voices and votes of Black Americans — but we have the power to stop it,” said the co-founders, Andre Banks and Ashley Bryant.“Through this partnership, Under Review will urgently flood the zone with the facts we need to counter the targeted attacks coming from bad actors at home and abroad.”
In a phone interview with The New York Times, Mr. James discussed the importance of voting, and how he sees his evolving role as both an athlete and a social activist. Mr. James, who as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers
recently won his fourth N.B.A. championship, framed off-the-court activism as a key part of how he views his legacy.
These are edited excerpts from the conversation.
The latest push from More Than a Vote is about combating misinformation targeted at Black voters. Why was that something you all wanted to get involved with?
It’s simple. We believe that Black people, our community, we’ve been pushed away from our civic duty. We’ve been fed misinformation for many years.
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And I’m in a position where I can educate people and, through More Than a Vote, educate people on how important this movement is, and how important their civic duty is. Not only to empower themselves, but to give back to their community as well.
It’s something that we’re very passionate about — that I’m very passionate about. I’m happy and honored that I can have these athletes and these influencers and the people that want to be engaged with me as well.
Each of More Than a Vote’s issues has been targeted at Black communities. Why is that racial lens important to your political involvement?
It’s authentic to who I am. I come from the Black community. I understand my Black people and what we go through on a day-to-day basis. I understand that we’ve not been given a lot of information along the course of time, and I understand how important our vote is.
I listen to my kids in my hometown of Akron, Ohio, I listen to my kids in
my I Promise School, and one of the things that we always talk about is how we don’t get a lot of information, or we feel that we’re not appreciated, or we feel that our vote does not count.
So, you know, not only am I trying to to engage with my kids at an early age — third, fourth, fifth graders — but also the ones that also have the opportunity to vote now: the 18-year-olds, the 22-year-olds, the 25-year-olds, the 40-year-olds.
Because a lot of us just thought our vote doesn’t count: That’s what they’ve been taught, that’s how they’ve been educated, that how they’ve always felt. They’ve felt kind of institutionalized. But I want to give them the right information, I want them to know how important they can be.
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Last election cycle, you campaigned for Hillary Clinton in Ohio. This time, you've focused more on issues rather than an individual candidate. Can you explain to me the thinking behind that shift?
I don’t want to say it’s a shift. It’s just what needed to be done at this point in time.
We’ve been talking about voter suppression, we’ve been talking about police brutality, systemic racism. We’ve had so many things going on, and voter suppression in our communities happens to be at the forefront. So that’s something we wanted to educate our people on.
What is most important to you come Election Day? Is it greater participation from Black voters? Is it the removal of President Trump, who I know you’ve had some back-and-forth with?
I define success by our people going out and voting.
You know, there’s so many stats out there, you can see it every time. Who didn’t vote? What counties didn’t vote? What communities didn’t vote? And a lot of that has had to do with our Black people. So, hopefully, we can get them out and educated and let them understand how important this moment is.
I don’t go back and forth with anybody. And I damn sure won’t go back and forth with that guy. But we want better, we want change in our community. We always talk about, “We want change,” and now we have the opportunity to do that.
The N.B.A. had a work stoppage this summer after the shooting of Jacob Blake. When you look back at that fraught moment for the league, a political one also, how do you think it handled it?
I think they handled it great. And the great thing is the partnership. The understanding — I don’t even want to just say understanding — them listening to us. They listened to the players.
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Like I said, we want change. To be able to have action and to have change, that’s what is important to us.
This is not where you were at the beginning of your career, in terms of off-the-court activism. How did you transition from LeBron James the basketball player to embracing your role as a social leader?
We all have moments in our lives where we know who we are and we know what we’re about.
And it’s about growth. I’ve grown over the course of my career. I’ve grown over the course of being an 18-year-old kid that came into the league in 2003, to a 35-year-old man that’s a husband and a father of three kids.
I’ve grown to know who I am and what I stand for. And it’s not just about me, it’s about my people. That’s why I’m leading the charge.
Perhaps you find this objectionable. I do not.
And it may have to do with my kin, my progenitors and how they felt about immigrating to this country and their right to vote.
I definitely don't carry water for the WASP experts and partcularly not for someone from Mr. Jefferson's (aka Sally Hemmings boy toy) university.
I don't care how long Lebron continues to dribble.
But, just speaking for me and my mine, I hope he never shuts up, and instead increases using his voice.
and I hope he keeps going with the ipromise school. I assure you I have some involvement with not-for-profits and have seen what hypocrisy they can commit (tax fraud/grant fraud, executives stealing computers for their kids/accounting fraud)
But I think Lebron and his ipromise school, based on my diligence is different.
and I'm not expecting Tish James to shut it down anytime soon.