The NBA Places Profit over Inconvenient Social Justice Issues
The NBA and Nike kneel at the altar of Black Lives Matter while ignoring the evils of slave labor and Communist China
NBA superstars like LeBron James made headlines when they supported their support for Black Lives Matter and their version of “racial justice” after George Floyd’s death. You couldn’t escape racial messaging if you watched a game or program related to the league. They went all-in on racism being everywhere and LeBron was afraid to leave his house because he thought he was getting hunted by the police.
In 2019, the league considered moving away from the term “owner” because of its ties to slavery in a majority Black league that lacks diversity. The league brass and ownership seem to be very concerned over slavery issues of the past so you could assume their feelings would be the same about present-day slavery. A good social justice warrior should condemn slavery anywhere it occurs right?
That couldn’t be further from the truth because the NBA has a massive financial investment in China. It happens that modern-day slavery happens there in concentration camps full of minority Muslim population the government wants to eliminate. Uighur slaves get forced to pick cotton for brands like Nike which the NBA uses. What would the NBA would do if Black people were getting enslaved in another country to make Nike apparel where they didn’t have a financial interest?
A good social justice warrior should condemn slavery anywhere it occurs right?
Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter isn’t afraid to speak out but doesn’t get the same media adulation LeBron and his ilk got when they protested injustice. That’s because not all injustice is equal in the social justice world. Some forms of justice are more equal than others like in Animal Farm. He called China’s leader China’s Xi Jinping a "brutal dictator," advocated for Tibet, and released a message focusing on Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region of China all in one week.
Part of his statement said:
“Right now as I speak this message, torture, rape, forced abortions, sterilizations, family separations, arbitrary detentions, concentration camps, political reeducation, forced labor … this is all happening right now to more than 1.8 million Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region in northwestern China.”
"The Chinese government has been taking sweeping measures to crackdown on the Uyghur people simply because they embrace their own religion, their own culture, language, history and identity. The Uyghur region has become an open-air prison and surveillance state where freedoms are non-existent for the Uyghur people. The Chinese government has sent Uyghurs along with Kazaks, Tajiks and other Muslims groups to concentration camps for simply applying for a passport, for texting someone overseas or for believing in anything that does not align with the Chinese Communist Party’s agenda."
He also called out prominent Muslim athletes for not speaking out like Mohammed Salah, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Amir Khan. He brilliantly turned the tables on them by saying their silence shows they are complicit as the Black Lives Matter activists say silence is violence. Abdul-Jabbar found time to support BLM and the racist anti-racist agenda but doesn’t have time to say anything about enslaved Muslis in China.
Kanter called out Nike president Phil Knight, LeBron James, and Michael Jordan to visit the factories in China but got no response. James never hesitates to put his opinions on Twitter when something triggers him that won’t cost him anything, but don’t expect him to take a stand on something where he could lose money or anger the elites who run the NBA. It’s a pretty gross double-standard, but one everyone should be used to when the Left brings up social justice issues.
The only significant response from Kanter’s comments has come from China’s actions. Celtics games were pulled after he spoke the truth, not his truth, on the issue. Philadelphia 76er games also aren’t televised because the former General Manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey, said what you can’t say about China in 2019 and works in their organization. NBA leadership makes it clear that only certain issues matter and never to bite the hand that feeds you with China because money is more important than social justice.