After answering questions about the Los Angeles Lakers’ victory over the Portland Trail Blazers (128-109) on Wednesday, LeBron James posed his own question to reporters in the room.
Why, he asked, wasn’t he asked about a photo that recently surfaced that shows Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, 14, looking over a mob of white students trying to stop six black students from walking through the doors of North Little Rock High School in 1957?
“I have a question for you before you leave. Coming here, I was wondering why you didn’t ask me about the picture of Jerry Jones,” James said. “But when the Kyrie case [Irving] caught our attention, you were quick to ask us about it. »
On November 5, after the Brooklyn Nets suspended James’ former teammate after he shared a link to a documentary containing anti-Semitic language on social media, reporters asked James why he believed so few many league players had commented on Irving’s post and subsequent comments.
“Me personally, I don’t tolerate any hate whatsoever. For any breed. To Jewish communities, to black communities, to Asian communities. You know where I stand,” James replied at the time. “I believe what Kyrie did hurt a lot of people. And he has since […] apologized. But he caused harm, and I think that’s unfortunate. »
November 23rd, Washington Post published an article about the background of Jones, who has not hired black coaches since becoming a Cowboys owner. The article included a black-and-white photo showing a young Jones observing the harassment of black students a few feet in front of him.
Speaking to reporters at the end of his post-match press conference on Wednesday, James said: “When I watch Kyrie speak and he says, ‘I know who I am, but I want to keep the same energy when we talk about my people and the things that we’ve been through,” and this picture of Jerry Jones is one of those times that our people, black people, went through in America. And I feel like as a black man, as a black athlete, as someone with power and a platform, when we do something wrong, or something that people don’t disagree, it’s in all the tabloids, in all the news, it’s on the ticker. We talk about it every day. »
“But I feel like the whole Jerry Jones thing, the picture – and I know that was years and years ago and we all make mistakes, I get it – but I have the felt like she was buried. It’s like saying, “Oh, it happened. OK, let’s move on.” And I was just a little disappointed that I didn’t get that question from you. »
Asked about the 65-year-old photograph, Jones told reporters last week that he was merely there as a curious viewer and did not discriminate against black students.
“I didn’t know at the time the monumental event that was really unfolding,” Jones said. “I’m certainly glad we’re away from that. I’m. It reminds me that we must continue to do everything in our power to ensure that this kind of thing does not happen. »
James grew up in Akron, Ohio, about an hour from Cleveland, where the Browns played their NFL home games, but identified as a Cowboys fan as a child, explaining as an adult that he just wanted to be associated with a winner. In October, during an Instagram Live appearance with longtime friend and business partner Maverick Carter to promote “The Shop”‘s partnership with Amazon, James explained why he had stopped joining the Cowboys.
“There’s just a lot of things going on when the guys took a knee. The guys had freedom of speech and wanted to do it in a very peaceful way. […] The organization told them, “If you do that here, you’ll never play for this franchise again.” I just thought it was inappropriate. »
Jones in 2017 when scores of NFL players began kneeling during the national anthem in a show of solidarity for then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who was peacefully protesting police brutality, said he would “not tolerate” any of his players “disrespecting the flag. »