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Cavaliers star LeBron James and singer John Legend have both weighed in on police relations and the Ferguson protests in recent days and what they shared might surprise you. Find out why LeBron won't discuss Ferguson with his kids and read John's call to social activism inside...
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LeBron James took a controversial stance this week when he entered the Barclays Center wearing an "I Can't Breathe" t-shirt. While his actions were vocal on the court, he's silent about the issue in front of his sons (ages 10 and 7). According to him, he's opting to "protect" them from the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Eric Garner and Mike Brown.
During an interview with NBC News in Cleveland, he explained why he will support the families of Garner and Brown, yet shield his own offspring from the horrors of their deaths and the current uprising amongst protestors:
"To pay respects to the family, it doesn't get any larger than that. Obviously, we know our society needs to do better, but like I said before, violence is not the answer and retaliation isn't the solution. As a society, we know we have to get better, but it's not going to be done in one day. Rome wasn't built in a day, and we know that, but we all have to do better....
It caught my attention just because I live in this country and I'm up to speed with a lot of stuff that goes on. Anytime you hear a kid, an African-American kid, for myself, being gunned down in any way, shape or form, I try to find out as much information as I can about it.
"It was a pretty heartfelt thing, something you don't want your kids to see. My kids know nothing about it, and I'm going to keep it away from them. It's something they don't need to be exposed to, but to be educated is more important."
Food for thought: Is there an appropriate age to sit Black boys down and talk about police interactions? Because keeping any child ignorant of social issues going on around them--that could also very likely affect them--seems to be more harmful than helpful.
In Billboard magazine...
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From Mike Brown to Eric Garner, John Legend consistently uses his pop star platform to pursue racial equality and to bring awareness to social issues in America.
In addition to writing "Glory", the Golden Globe-nominated theme song from the film Selma (he shares the nomination with Common), the UPENN grad penned an op-ed for Billboard. He breaks down the effects of structural racism, the wealth gap, voting restrictions and the criminal justice system while simultaneously calling out President Obama who he has always vocally supported.
John argues, "We can’t wait for gradual and incremental change. Our government is a democracy, by the people and for the people. It is time for the people to wake up, stand up and demand change." Here's his op-ed:
When Common and I wrote the song "Glory" for the stunning new film Selma, we drew inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his contemporaries who strived and sacrificed to achieve racial equality in the face of seemingly hopeless odds. As I watched the final version of Selma, I did so with the backdrop of the streets of many of our major cities filled with protesters, crying out for justice after yet another unarmed black person's life was taken by the police with impunity. After the events of the past few weeks, in Ferguson, Mo.; Staten Island; Phoenix; and Cleveland, things feel eerily the same. While it is important to recognize and acknowledge racial progress through the years, it is also clear that we are far from King's dream of equality and justice for all.
Slavery ended 150 years ago. The most egregious elements of Jim Crow were deemed illegal 50 years ago. But the problems of structural racism are old and ongoing. We still have a huge wealth gap rooted in decades of job, wage and housing discrimination. Voting restrictions that disproportionately affect the poor, minorities and youth are in place and growing. A persistent gap between black and white student achievement points to an education system that fails to provide a ladder of opportunity for everyone. African-American communities are being crushed by a criminal justice system that over-polices us, over-arrests us, over-incarcerates us and disproportionately takes the lives of our unarmed youth because of the simple fact that our skin, our blackness, conjures the myth of a hyper-violent negro.
I did an album with The Roots in 2010 called Wake Up! We wanted to use music to encourage young people who were politicized by the election of President Barack Obama to continue mobilizing. We covered songs from the 1960s and '70s by artists like Nina Simone and Curtis Mayfield as inspiration and a blueprint. They marched. They wrote songs. They met with political leaders. They provided financial support. They risked arrest.
Today, I am part of a generation of artists who benefit from unprecedented access to our fans. Tools like Twitter and Facebook act as a megaphone, allowing us to speak directly and powerfully to millions of people. Yet our actions, or lack thereof, speak louder: 140 characters cannot excuse us of our obligation to stand up, sit in or march forward.
Obama recently told the young activists gathered in the Oval Office to "think big, but go gradual." His words reminded me of President Lyndon B. Johnson's reluctance to tackle voting rights, as depicted in Selma. Despite Johnson's qualms, civil rights activists refused to wait for a more convenient political time. They took to the streets and used grass-roots organization and the moral force of their argument to create better conditions so the legislation could pass. We can’t wait for gradual and incremental change. Our government is a democracy, by the people and for the people. It is time for the people to wake up, stand up and demand change.
Thought provoking. We'd love to hear your reactions in the comments!
Photo via John Legend's Instagram/USA Today Sports/Getty/AP/Reuters/Lebron's Instagram
