James opened a school in Akron yesterday for 240 academically underperforming local childrenGETTY IMAGES
Lakers F LeBron James said discussions around race relations in the U.S. have "taken over” because he believes President Trump is "trying to kind of divide us.” Appearing on “CNN Tonight” last night, host Don Lemon interjected James and said, “Kind of?” James replied, "Is, I don’t want to say ‘kind of.’ He’s dividing us, and what I’ve noticed over the last few months is that he’s used sport to divide us and that’s something that I can’t relate to because I know that sport was the first time I ever was around someone white and I got an opportunity to see them and learn about them, and they got an opportunity to learn about me.” James: “Sports has never been something that divides people. It’s always been something that brings people together.” James said he has become more vocal politically, and it "starts with the Trayvon Martin situation." James: "The reason it starts with that I believe is because having kids of my own, having boys of my own, it hit home to me to see ... to think that if my boy left home and he never returned. That hit a switch for me, and from that point on I knew that my voice and my platform had to be used for more than just sports” (“CNN Tonight,” CNN, 7/30).
HEAR ME ROAR: James in a Q&A with ESPN's Rachel Nichols said, "I have a voice. I have a platform, and I have so many kids and -- not only kids but also adults that look for guidance and look for someone to lead them at a time when they feel like their voice isn't powerful. And when you see something that's unjust and you see something that's wrong and you see something that's trying to divide us as a race or as a country, then I feel like my voice can be heard and speak volumes. Especially coming from the point of sports. I live in sports. Without sports, we all wouldn't be here." He added, "You know, sports, it stops race. Every race comes together to fight for one common goal, and that's to win and to have fun and to have camaraderie and things like that. And for someone or a body or parties to try to divide us by using our platform of sport -- sport has given me everything I could ever ask for -- I couldn't let that happen. By using my voice and letting the youth know and the people that need the guidance know that I care for them and that I'll be their voice, it's passionate for me because, like I said: Sports is just the ultimate to bring people together. That's what I'm here for" (ESPN.com, 7/30).
TRUMP STAYS QUIET, FOR NOW: ESPN's Mina Kimes noted Trump has not gone after the NBA, and James in particular, when compared to his battles with the NFL in part because the NBA "is not as much a clear winner for him, especially with his supporters." Kimes: "The NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial inequality ... is obviously something that the President sees as a winning issue. He wants to talk about it. He doesn't want to talk about LeBron James. He doesn't want to go after these individuals who are so beloved by sports fans." But ESPN's Domonique Foxworth said he does not understand why Trump "hasn't gone after" James yet. Foxworth: "He's gone after individuals all the time. Individuals much smaller than LeBron James and, you could argue, individuals bigger than LeBron James, where he's pushing leaders of other countries around. ... I understand maybe you don't go after (James) the day after he's opened a school. That's pretty difficult, but you could go after him the five or six other times when he called you out directly by name" ("First Take," ESPN, 7/31).
SCHOOL IS IN SESSION: In Akron, Theresa Cottom notes the LeBron James Family Foundation's I Promise School opened yesterday to 240 "academically underperforming third- and fourth-graders." James "hadn't seen the school until the doors opened to the students." Since he announced the school in April of last year, James said he has been involved “throughout the whole journey.” The curriculum and school building "came together at the hands of Akron Public Schools, the LeBron James Family Foundation and dozens of other community partners, but the school’s overall concept and look are both directly inspired by James." James said that he still "plans to be involved, though 'not as much as I wish I could be,'" after signing with the Lakers (AKRON BEACON JOURNAL, 7/31). In L.A., Tania Ganguli notes every student at the I Promise School "gets a bicycle because when James was growing up, he used one to get away from the more dangerous parts of his community." The students also "get a Chromebook to complete their homework." The children were "randomly selected from a pool of Akron students whose reading levels were a year or two behind where they should be" (L.A. TIMES, 7/31). ESPN's Nichols said the school in some ways is the "physical embodiment" of James' growth and the "way he's changed as a person." He is "aiming for nothing less than generational change" in Akron ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 7/30). In California, Kyle Goon notes the school is James' "most ambitious off-court project so far" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 7/31). James said that yesterday was "perhaps the greatest day of his life." In DC, Jerry Brewer writes, "It is his ambition that makes James the quintessential American sports superstar." In everything he does, he "refuses to settle, and he dreams a little differently" (WASHINGTON POST, 7/31).
