Kobe Bryant Was Not Impressed by the Miami Heat’s Trayvon Martin Protest

[CantStop]

I donated to justice for trayvon, I've done volunteer work at the Boys & Girls club many times over, I coached a little girls (BLACK) basketball squad for free 2 summers ago, and much more what have you done?

Married to a Afro-Latina, yeah, not some pasty white Mexican bytch that hates her own face and gets surgery done. She's not a mestizo demon like Kobe's and unlike Kobe, she identifies herself as a black latina

Nothing. And nothing you done has helped the Trayvon case. Last time I checked the stand your ground law still applies.

 

[Dwight Howard]

At least he's being honest. Thats alot better than dudes pretending to care just to boost their image, which pretty much sums up alot of the movement. Ive heard zero on the issue since forever, and all the laws are still in place.

 

[Wargames]

Didn't Jim Brown just call Kobe a c00n or Uncle Tom?

Da Gawd Jim Brown said Kobe just didn't understand because he isn't American and deep down doesn't consider himself one of us..... and Jim Brown was right

 

[Torrential]

where all the righteous coli wolves to flood the lakers' front office with requests that kobe lose his employment there?

you're a complete fakkit for this post btw

 

[CantStop]

Kobe does more for black people than this entire forum
combined 100x over but he's a c00n?

 

[BillBanneker]

In the March 31 edition of the New Yorker there’s a great profile of Kobe Bryant by Ben McGrath. In it, Bryant talks about aging out of his Hall of Fame career with the Los Angeles Lakers, and how he thinks his fame is “pretty fukking cool” for a kid who grew up in Italy and moved to suburban Philly as a teenager.

Throughout his career, Bryant’s been talking about as an outsider, specifically when it comes to being the most famous in the world in a sport that’s overwhelmingly black. It’s given him a politically moderate stance on things, which was on display when McGrath brought up the subject of LeBron James posting a photo online of the Heat players dressed in hoodies in solidarity with Trayvon Martin.

I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American,” he 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.”

The profile goes on to quote former NFL running back Jim Brown, who at one point said, “[Kobe] is somewhat confused about culture, because he was brought up in another country.” Bryant then defended himself on Twitter, writing, “A ‘Global’ African American is an inferior shade to ‘American’ African American?? #hmmm. that doesn’t sound very #Mandela or #DrKing sir.”


Setting aside a minute the fact that Bryant doesn’t seem know much about the Trayvon Martin case, what strikes me about this exchange is his insistence on questioning what it means to be black in America, particularly from the perspective of someone who grew up elsewhere. In this vein I think of Zade Smith and Chimimanda Ngozi Adichie’s recent discussion at the Schomburg, where Adichie talked at length about coming to the United States from Nigeria and learning how deeply embedded race is in American culture. What sets Bryant apart is his stingy insistence on clinging to a “post-racial” identity, this very old, conservative notion that black people should not be treated differently in this country — despite all of the evidence, like Martin’s death, that they are. People didn’t stand up for Trayvon Martin just because he was a black boy, they did it because his death so sharply illustrated the dangers of being a black boy in America.



http://colorlines.com/archives/2014...y_the_miami_heats_trayvon_martin_protest.html

You would think after that rape trial dude would at least be a little more sensitive to the matter of race. but I do want to see this quote in the context of the article.

 

[Ron Mexico]

I remember when Tobe was asked about his basketball Mt Rushmore he said he didn't know how many were on Mt Rushmore because he grew up as an ''Italian kid''.

He's always saying some dumb shyt.

 

[Malta]

Nothing. And nothing you done has helped the Trayvon case. Last time I checked the stand your ground law still applies.

Nothing? I helped his family the best I could If I had more to give, or could help in other ways I would.

I don't have power or money to affect change, at the very least I can stand by people who look like me and face similar struggles because of it.

 

[NelsonSwagdela]

being from a stable home with stable income does not excuse being ignorant to the issues of your own people, or being dismissive of capital injustice in any regard

No but it makes it a lot easier to ignore and harder to understand. Spending so many years away from America had me lose touch of the situation in America, it took my mother constantly exposing me to it and helping me not to forget where I come from to want to get involved when I came back to America. It's not an excuse but its certainly harder to understand and be involved in something that has never really touched you.

 

[Ron Mexico]

Kobe does more for black people than this entire forum
combined 100x over but he's a c00n?

What does he do?

 

[calh45]

Is what he said stupid as fukk considering the whole Trayvon incident was a valid case of racial injustice? Yes.

Is he a c00n? No.

Does he have a point about black people caping for black folks without hearing the entire story first? Yes. Ironically, Kobe's own rape case was a case of black people supporting someone blindly because they were black which makes it so stupid that he's the one complaining about it happening.

 

[Stinky Diver]

K K Kobe

 

[jadillac]

*anticipates improbable stan spin*

Kobe's not an African American















......he's a gawd

 

[Kang Deezy]

Kobe is right...

maybe you should realize that the people disagreeing with him (most of you) are the ignorant insecure ones.

If the race thing was so painful to you, if the past incidents hurt so bad, then shouldn't we aspire to be above it?

Just a lot of people using race as an excuse, but turning around and hating on other races at the same time does nothing to help improvement.

It's embarrassing.

 

[Walt]

This is one of those threads that identifies ignore list candidates.