After Trump’s victory, James urged patience and optimism among young fans concerned about the Republican nominee’s stances and policy proposals. Last week, when the Cavs visited Manhattan to take on the New York Knicks, James and several teammates were “excused from staying” at the Trump SoHo with the rest of the squad. While James told reporters it was the first time in his career he hadn’t stayed in the team hotel on the road, he insisted that it was a matter of personal preference rather than an attempt to make a statement about the president-elect, according to Brian Mahoney of the AP:
It would be the same if I went to a restaurant and decided to eat chicken and not steak,” James said. […]
“At the end of the day I hope he’s one of the best presidents ever, for all of our sake,” James said. “For my family, for all us.”
That said, James did make a statement on Trump in the course of his interview with Jenkins for the SI cover story:
Two days later, James and his wife [Savannah] stayed up until 4 a.m., watching the state and the country choose Donald Trump. “When I was growing up, I didn’t have my father, so you looked up to people in positions of power,” James says. “It could be athletes or actors or leaders, like presidents. I think parents could use some of those people as role models. But when we elect a president who speaks in a disrespectful way a lot, I don’t know that we can use him in our household.” The next morning, James and Savannah ate breakfast, before the Cavaliers flew to D.C. for their championship ceremony with President Barack Obama. “I think we’re going to have to do more,” he told his wife. “I think we’re going to have to step it up more.” […]
“I understand protests, but I think protests can feel almost riotous sometimes, and I don’t want that,” James says. “I want it to be more about what I can do to help my community, what we can do so kids feel like they’re important to the growth of America, and not like: ‘These people don’t care about us.’ I’m not here to stomp on Trump. We’re here to do our part, which starts in the place we grew up, street by street, brick by brick, person by person.”
Not everybody believes the safety pin to be a truly effective symbol of solidarity. Fusion’s Tahirah Hairston last month called prospective allies donning safety pins “a gesture with good intentions” but “ultimately a bystander form of activism entirely on white people’s terms,” a trendy choice with “no binding commitment” for future action to help marginalized people feel and (actually be) safer.
Interestingly enough, in that same piece, Hairston quotes a source who name-checks James and his fellow NBA players for providing an example of aesthetic intention that can make a powerful statement:
Derica Cole Washington, a costume designer, says the most recent moment of effective fashion activism was in 2014 when Derrick Rose, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Garnett, Kobe Bryant, and other black NBA players wore “I Can’t Breathe” T-shirts after the jury decided against indicting the police officers who killed Eric Garner.
“That was a huge moment for them to actually wear those shirts,” she says. “[The] NBA is made up of mostly black men so for them to really come together that was a specific statement…the big thing is it created a different wave of conversation.”
James will accept his award at a gala event on Monday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn before heading back to Ohio, where the Cavs will take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday
Article Appeared @https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/lebron-james-wore-a-safety-pin-on-the-cover-of-sports-illustrated-185042615.html