Ever since he made it to the NBA in 2003, LeBron James has always been an advocate for racial equality and a leader for the African American community. Obviously, that has earned him a lot of fans and also plenty of detractors.
The King, however, just doesn’t seem to care about what people think or say of him when it comes to his work off the court, and he continues to commit money, time, and efforts to the fight against racism and social injustice.
That’s why he invited former President Barack Obama to his show ‘The Shop’ by HBO to discuss the roots of racism in America and the next steps in the fight against racism ahead of the upcoming election.
The 2020 season made @KingJames question everything. #TheShopHBO @hbomax
Barack Obama Explains The Roots Of Racism In America on LeBron James’ Show ‘The Shop’
“The roots of racism in this country is deep. The psychology of it has lessened, but it never fully went away. The legacy of slavery and Jim Crow means that we started the race behind, with respect to resources in our communities, the way the criminal justice set-up, and lack of representation in corporate America,” Obama said.
“The idea that you would just stop and give up is something that would be a betrayal to our ancestors.” @BarackObama tells @KingJames why it's our obligation to continue the fight for equality #TheShopHBO @hbomax
“All those things didn’t just go away. They built up over 400 years, they weren’tgonna go away in just 50 years, let’s say my lifetime. We could say that, each time we took two steps forward there was gonna be some pushback. Because there are forces in our society that don’t wanna give us status and privilege. They don’t want a level playing field,” Obama continued.
Barack Obama Shares Advises With LeBron James Over Fighting Racism
“The key is to be able to sustain both our spirits, our hope, and our focus and, we vote, we get a win like the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. We consolidate that power and then we go at it, all over again. To go after the next injustice. And sometimes it gets exhausting and sometimes it doesn’t feel fair. But the idea that you would just stop and give up is something that would be a betrayal to our ancestors. It would be a betrayal to all the folks. Black and white, and Latino, and Asian who fought to allow us to be able to sit here,” the former POTUS concluded.
LeBron James has been an outspoken detractor of Donald Trump and the POTUS hasn’t shied away from the fight either. They’ve been trading jabs for some time now and that’s only going to get more heated as election day comes. Still, whether you like LeBron or not as a person or as a player, his commitment as a philanthropist and activist is just remarkable.
