My Heroes Are Not Your Heroes

Don’t tell me how my heroes should act.

The other day I went on Facebook and saw a lot of non-black, (and yes there were more than just white people joining in), talking about how LeBron James should act in terms of civil injustices going on in today’s climate. For the most part, (per every single Facebook post it seems these days), there were mostly people saying that LeBron James needs to play basketball and not worry about what’s going on with the black community. Another person echoed out that if the Black Lives Matter movement was doing so well we wouldn’t need LeBron to speak on our behalf, or with the help of any athletes at that.

Usually I euro-step all of these kind of posts because usually they’re filled with idiots or people that aren’t educated or well versed in how the world usually operates. But today I felt myself with a slight tick in my eye, and a clinching jaw, realizing that I have time to address it today. Simply for the fact that people who aren’t black can speak on anything that a black person should or shouldn’t be doing. Especially when it comes to them thinking they know what’s going on in MY community and them talking down on MY movements in the very same breath.

That’s what got us here in the first place.

Now the article in question was one written by the good folks over at ESPN entitled “Waiting For LeBron”. It’s actually a pretty well written article with some very valid points in it; but I’m not writing about the article, I’m writing about why folks think it’s OK for pro athletes not to say or do anything, just because they play a sport. That within itself is a disrespectful statement because it suggests that athletes are mindless drones that are only able to understand the concepts of only sports related matters. That goes along the lines of them thinking the same way about musicians as seen from the way they treated Beyoncé in light of her Superbowl performance and Formation video.

The argument is that when a famous black person opens their mouth they only hinder instead of helping. They suggest that instead of the message of certain cops do certain bad things, it will get taken as all cops do bad things and that none can be trusted. That people will only follow the word of a famous person rather than looking up the facts that point to different sayings. That propaganda will run rampant and cause civil unrest in the communities, making the jobs of law enforcement that much tougher than what it already is.

Well, tough shit.

That’s really not our problem because if anything they were saying about every single police officer, government official or rich person with some kind of influence wasn’t inherently only out for themselves and like colors, then we wouldn’t be here talking about any of this. We wouldn’t log onto Facebook every single day and find some post that’s right on our news feed, with some person calling a black person a million and one names. Or we wouldn’t log onto Twitter and see a status of an interracial couple and their child being attacked by white people because they feel as though major companies are participating in White Genocide: (yes that’s a real thing).

For the simple fact that every single place a black person occupies, there is at least a hundred white people doing something utterly dumb that requires us to defend ourselves. Whether that be in the workplace, in a grocery store, at a concert, on the street and even in our homes. There is literally nowhere a black person can go that is safe for us in this country because that’s how it was ultimately designed to be all of those hundreds of years ago. Then on top of all those situations, we still are gunned down and murdered in the streets like some wild animals. And when that happens, we STILL questioned as to what WE did to deserve being shot down in the middle of the street.

Now is the time for OUR athletes, politicians and entertainers to come forward and speak on our behalf. Now is the time where someone like a LeBron James needs to be heard talking about how these murders are getting out of hand and how they need to be bought to the light. Now is the time where Beyoncé needs to be making videos about African-American women and their plight in this country and how they are sick of their very appearance being stolen and “stylized” by everyone else. Now is the time where we need Killer Mike on the campaign circuit talking about political agendas and those who seek to run and keep us in the same position in this country.

Now is the time.

So for anyone who is not black to tell me how my athletes, politicians and entertainers should act when it comes to civil unrest and injustices, is nothing more than a laughable statement and it only fans the fire of anger. For too long in this country we had to be regulated by so many things that wanted to exploit us and keep us down and now that we are on a war path of equality and just respect, it scares the living hell out of a lot of people and that makes me happy on the inside.

Now I’m far from a racist and I know a lot of white people that are inherently good in their heart. No race is 100% of anything anyone says they are; I’m not saying that all white people are racists. I’m speaking to the ones that are constantly calling my First Lady a Gorilla and slamming her for things that a normal women does. I’m speaking to the ones that go on these Facebook profiles with the fake profile pictures and talk about how we ruined a once great country that they stole from the Native Americans.

I’m speaking solely to the uninformed, uneducated and ill-advised folks.

There will be a time where our athletes will step up and talk about things that aren’t basketball related. There will be a time where our entertainers will step up and make music that speaks on everything wrong in this country. There will be a time where our politicians will seek to push through bills that reform how this country works. The time is coming and it’s slowly creeping up on you faster than what you know what to do. These things scare those people who have hatred deep down in their souls and they know nothing more than to do than to be scared of a race of people that literally did nothing to them.

The days of jiving in a circle for you are over; and that should scare the hell out of you.