A social media social movement calls on LeBron James to sit out in protest over a grand jury declining to indict two policemen in the 2014 shooting of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old Cleveland native killed while wielding an Airsoft gun in a park.
James responded to the demands by scoring 34 points in a 93-87 Cleveland Cavaliers road victory over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night.
Tariq Toure, who describes himself on his website as “a Muslim essayist, poet, educator and public speaker from Baltimore” who “uses prose as [a] medium for shedding new light on issues such as social justice, racial inequality, black culture and Black Muslim narratives,” launched the “NoJusticeNoLeBron” hashtag.
The success of the University of Missouri football team’s boycott in ousting the school’s president last month, and James’ willingness to delve into controversial issues such as the killings of loosie cigarette salesman Eric Garner in New York in 2014 and teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in 2012, sparked hopes that the NBA’s most famous player would corrupt his role on the court to make a protest about a decision made in court.
James says he just does not possess enough information on the case to speak on it with confidence.
“For me, I’ve always been a guy who’s took pride in knowledge of every situation that I’ve ever spoke on,” James explained to the media Tuesday night. “And to be honest, I haven’t really been on top of this issue. So it’s hard for me to comment. I understand that any lives that [are] lost, what we want more than anything is prayer and the best for the family, for anyone. But for me to comment on the situation, I don’t have enough knowledge about it.”
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