On the eve of his seventh straight NBA Finals, Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James’ Los Angeles-area offseason home was vandalized with a racial slur, according to multiple reports. Los Angeles Police Department detectives are investigating an alleged hate crime after someone spray-painted the N-word on the front gate of James’ house in Brentwood, Calif. TMZ Sports first reported the incident, which has since been confirmed by the LAPD through the local NBC affiliate. Police were called to the home around 7 a.m. local time, and the racially charged graffiti was painted over within hours of its discovery, according to reports.
In a news conference in Oakland, James told reporters, “No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough.” “It just goes to show that racism will always be a part of the world, a part of America,” James added. “And, you know, hate in America, especially for African Americans, is living every day. And even though that it’s concealed most of the time, even though people hide their faces and will say things about you, and when they see you, they smile in your face, it’s alive every single day.”
James compared modern day racism to that of the tragic story of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old boy from Chicago who was brutally attacked and killed in 1955 for allegedly whistling at a white woman during a visit to Mississippi. His mother insisted on having an open casket at the funeral, so attendees could see what race-based hatred had done to her son.
Some bigots claimed that this didn't happen or even more ludicrously that LeBron did it himself in order to drum up sympathy. Not to be outdone in his desire to show his disdain for all things black, sports analyst and professional troll Jason Whitlock took it upon himself to chastise, not the unknown person or persons who vandalized James' home, but James himself.
The people that murdered Emmett Till got off, an all-white jury let them off; there was no real investigation, the whole town was against him. LeBron’s $20 million Brentwood home gets vandalized and I see two or three police cars trying to get to the bottom of it,” Whitlock said Thursday. “LeBron’s staff, I’m sure, cleaned up the spray paint within hours. This ain’t Emmett Till.”
Whitlock said the racist vandalism was simply “a disrespectful inconvenience” for James, who he said had “fallen into the far-left trap of there’s value in embracing your victimhood.”
“Racism is an issue in America but is primarily an issue for the poor. It’s not LeBron James’ issue,” Whitlock said. “He has removed himself from the damages and the ravages of real racism.”
But the whole point of racism is that racists don't care about how much money you make, how important your job is, what your education might be, how well dressed or well spoken you are or any other characteristics. In fact, some racists really seem to enjoy showing wealthy, successful or powerful blacks that none of their worldly power means as much as their race.
The tennis player James Blake is worth $8 million or so. That didn't protect him from being assaulted by the police. Oprah Winfrey is worth around $3 billion and change. That didn't mean anything to a white boutique employee who assumed that Oprah couldn't afford an expensive handbag. Professor Henry Louis Gates is a world famous intellectual who's worth over $1 million. His intelligence and urbanity didn't prevent him from being seen as suspicious by a white neighbor and arrested for entering his own home. Former NFL Houston Texans player Ryan Moats is worth around $6 million. His wealth was irrelevant to the white police officer who purposely prevented Moats from visiting his dying mother-in-law, pulled a gun on him, and snidely lectured him as if he were a child in a transparent attempt to antagonize Moats so that the cop could use deadly force.
If the police decide to assault me they won't hesitate and ask for my W2 or most recent 401K statement before proceeding. If someone doesn't want to sell me a home because they don't like blacks, the fact that I could pay cash won't change their mind. If I am walking or driving in what someone considers to be the wrong neighborhood they will not be mollified by me waving $100 bills around. That's not how it works. It's not how any of this works. It's almost like the universe is trying to tell us that Whitlock doesn't know what he's talking about. Whitlock certainly didn't bother to talk to other wealthy or noted black athletes about their experiences. He must not have talked to C. Nicole Mason, scholar, author and professor, who likely has more than a few nickels to rub together, about her recent arrest.
But when you spread false ideas and only attack other black people, that's a problem. Whitlock would never dare aim his so-called "tough love" truth telling at whites. He'd be out of a job if he did. Whitlock uses his media platform to spew bigotry at blacks and other minorities like a modern day real life Archie Bunker. However unlike the late actor Carroll O'Connor who made the Bunker character famous, Whitlock doesn't realize that he's a joke. He doesn't deal in facts. Whitlock deals in resentments and hatreds. He trades on his skin tone to regurgitate anti-black poison. Whitlock evidently thinks that a black man with money should be silent about racism. No. It's the very black people who have made it who have the opportunity and ultimately responsibility to speak out and where possible make changes so that the next generation has a slightly easier time of it.
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But ultimately NFL Packers Tight End Martellus Bennett put it best
To say that it's not someone's fight because they're rich is just ridiculous. Racism doesn't care how much money you make.— Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) June 1, 2017
