L.A. Lakers player Kobe Bryant opened up in a new interview with The New Yorker, and one of the issues they touch on is Trayvon Martin and Bryant has this to say:
“I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American,” Bryant said. “That argument doesn’t make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and a culture, but, say, if something happens to an African-American we immediately come to his defense? Yet you want to talk about how far we’ve progressed as a society? Well, we’ve progressed as a society, then don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African-American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right? So I won’t assert myself.”
Can someone tell Kobe Bryant to read a book ? It's not about him being an African American it's about justice. African Americans have been treated unfairly in America for years from Jim Crow to Police Brutality or Racial Profiling. (ex. Rodney King, L.A riots)
Hall of Fame NFL running back Jim Brown told the article’s author Bryant doesn’t understand the African-American culture. “[Kobe] is somewhat confused about culture, because he was brought up in another country,” Brown said. (This is being said because Kobe grew up in Italy where his father was a professional basketball player)
Self-described civil rights activist Najee Ali, director of Project Islamic H.O.P.E., angrily called for a boycott of all things Bryant.
“African American youth should no longer buy Bryant’s jerseys or shoes and should boycott all products he endorses,” Ali said in a statement. “Bryant doesn’t identify with the struggle that our African-American youth face nationally. So why should we continue to support Bryant who has never truly identified with the African American experience.”
So the question becomes, is Kobe Bryant aware of what it means to be black in America. Should he be held accountable to for it.
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