CHILDREN AND MORE THAN A VOTE
ORGANIZATION, MADE WAVES BY
ENLISTING PEOPLE TO VOLUNTEER AT
POLLING CENTERS ALL AROUND THE
COUNTRY.
JOINING OUR CONVERSATION, JEMELE
HILL, A CONTRIBUTING WRITER FOR
"THE ATLANTIC" AND HOST
OF "JEMELE HILL IS UNBOTHERED."
SHE’S ALSO CO-HOST OF
VICE’S "CARIE AND JEMELE STICK
TO SPORTS."
THANK YOU FOR BEING WITH US.
UNDER BETTER CIRCUMSTANCES, YOU
WERE KIND ENOUGH TO JOIN OUR
COVERAGE OF TIGER WOODS’S CAR
ACCIDENT, THANK GOD HE SEEMS TO
BE JUST DEALING WITH HIS
INJURIES THERE.
BUT I WANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT
LeBRON JAMES’S IMPACT ON
DETRACTORS.
WHY DOES HE BOTHER PEOPLE FOR
DOING WHAT HE DOES WHEN SO MANY
PEOPLE ARE SO THANKFUL THAT HE
DOES USE HIS PLATFORM AND HIS
VOICE THE WAY HE DOES?
>> WELL, IN THIS CASE, NICOLE,
IT WAS REALLY KIND OF STRANGE OF
WHERE THE CRITICISM WAS COMING
FROM.
YOU KNOW, ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL
STAR, IBRAHIMOVIC, LOOKING AT
HIS BACKGROUND, YOU WOULD BE
SURPRISED THAT HE WOULD BE
CRITICAL OF LeBRON FOR SPEAKING
OUT BECAUSE THIS IS THE SAME
SOCCER STAR WHO YEARS AGO TALKED
ABOUT HOW MUCH HE LOVED MUHAMMAD
ALI AND IN THE PAST, HE’S TALKED
ABOUT WHAT IT MEANT FOR HIS
FAMILY WHEN HIS PARENTS
IMMIGRATED TO SWEDEN AND THE
RACISM THAT THEY FACED THERE
BEING THAT THEY WERE BOSNIAN AND
CROATIAN.
SO I DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHY HE
THOUGHT THAT THIS CRITICISM WAS
APPROPRIATE WHEN HE HIMSELF HAD
FACED A LOT OF STRUGGLES AND
CHALLENGES AND GREW UP IN A WAY
THAT THERE ARE SOME
COMMONALITIES BETWEEN HIM AND
LeBRON JAMES.
BUT LeBRON CONTINUES, MUCH LIKE
A LOT OF BLACK ATHLETES IN THE
TRADITION OF SPEAKING OUT, HE
CONTINUES TO, UNFORTUNATELY,
INVITE A LOT OF CRITICISM, NOT
THAT IT’S HIS FAULT, BUT PEOPLE
GENERALLY HAVE A PROBLEM, AS WE
HAVE SEEN THROUGHOUT OUR
AMERICAN HISTORY, OF WHEN BLACK
ATHLETES BEGIN TO SPEAK UP FOR
THEMSELVES, SPEAK OUT AGAINST
THEIR CONDITIONS AND THE
CONDITIONS THAT ARE FACED BY
THEIR PEOPLE.
PEOPLE DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT
BECAUSE OF WHERE IT’S COMING
FROM BECAUSE THESE ARE ISSUES
THAT THEY WOULD RATHER NOT FACE.
BECAUSE IT’S FUNNY HOW WHEN
OTHER ATHLETES SPEAK OUT ABOUT
THINGS THAT PEOPLE TEND TO AGREE
WITH, THEN WE DON’T
THINGS THAT PEOPLE TEND TO AGREE
WITH WE DON’T HEAR STICK TO
SPORTS OR THESE SAME KINDS OF
THINGS.
AND I JUST THINK IN GENERAL
PEOPLE ARE JUST VERY BOTHERED BY
BLACK EMPOWERMENT IN ANY WAY.
>> CAN YOU TALK ABOUT IT FROM
THE ATHLETES’ PERSPECTIVE?
HOW MUCH PRESSURE IS THERE ON
ATHLETES IF THEY MAKE THIS
CHOICE TO SPEAK OUT?
AND I THINK YOU’D PROBABLY AGREE
THAT LeBRON’S IN A LEAGUE OF HIS
OWN AND HAS A PLATFORM THAT NOT
ALL FLEETS HAVE.
BUT WE SAW IN THE LAST 12 MONTHS
A WHOLE LOT OF ATHLETES USED
THEIR VOICES IN THE WAY HE DOES.
>> WELL, I THINK I WOULD LOOK AT
IT AS PRESSURE OR OBLIGATION
THAT THEY FEEL FORCED INTO
DOING.
THE BOTTOM LINE I THINK --
>> I MEAN THE OTHER SIDE.
WHAT PRESSURE DO THEY GET EITHER
FROM FANS OR FROM THE PRESS NOT
TO?
>> WELL, I THINK IT’S
SIGNIFICANT.
LISTEN, THERE IS A LOT OF --
THERE ARE A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO
LOOK AT SOMEBODY LIKE LeBRON OR
REALLY ANY BLACK PROFESSIONAL
ATHLETE, PERIOD, AND THEY LOOK
AT THEM AS PEOPLE WHO HAVE,
QUOTE UNQUOTE, MADE IT.
AND BECAUSE THEY HAVE MADE IT
THEY FEEL AS IF HEY, YOU’RE
PLAYING A GAME, YOU’RE DOING
SOMETHING THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE
WOULD LOVE TO DO, WHY ARE YOU
DECIDING TO GET INVOLVED IN VERY
COMPLICATED AND MESSY MATTERS
THAT MIGHT CAUSE PEOPLE TO
DISLIKE YOU.
CERTAINLY FROM A FINANCIAL
STANDPOINT THERE’S A LOT TO
LOSE.
AND LeBRON, YOU’RE RIGHT.
HE’S IN A DIFFERENT POSITION.
WHO DOESN’T WANT TO BE IN
BUSINESS WITH LeBRON JAMES?
THERE’S A WHOLE LOT OF PEOPLE
WHO DO.
SO WHATEVER IT IS HE CHOOSES TO
PUT HIS VOICE BEHIND THEY’RE
GOING TO SEE THIS AS AN OKAY
RISK-REWARD.
BUT THERE ARE CERTAINLY PLAYERS
ON A SMALLER LEVEL WHO FEEL AS
IF IF THEY DO SPEAK OUT, IF THEY
DO SAY SOMETHING THAT IT’S GOING
TO COST THEM SOME KIND OF
OPPORTUNITY OR THEY’RE GOING
TO -- WHAT’S GOING TO HAPPEN TO
HIM IS WHAT HAPPENED TO COLIN
KAEPERNICK.
NOW, COLIN KAEPERNICK IS STILL
ABLE TO PROVIDE FOR HIMSELF.
BUT THE FACT IS IT COST HIM HIS
NFL CAREER AND A LOT OF ATHLETES
DON’T WANT TO FACE THAT.
BUT I THINK 2020 WAS SUCH A
DIFFERENT MOMENT FOR A LOT OF
THEM THAT THEY DECIDED AND THEY
UNDERSTOOD THAT THEY CAN NO
LONGER KIND OF HIDE BEHIND THAT,
THAT NOW MORE THAN EVER IS THE
TIME THEY NEED TO USE THEIR