badrogue17 wrote:
veganfan21 wrote:
Juiced wrote:
Hawg Ass wrote:
Looks like the Brewers are doing the same thing, fuck this piece of shit world.
Nothing wrong with them protesting a game. Would you rather they loot the streets and rob the stores?
This protest hurts no one and sends a powerful message. Well done NBA for showing there are other ways to protest then violence and disrespecting the flag.
If the NBA players and other athletes really wanted to be brave, they'd condemn the looting and rioting in the middle of making other points about police shootings. Maybe some of them have, I don't know, but that'd be braver than kneeling or taking a day off from bouncing a ball.
That functional idiot Lebron certainly isnt going to make that distinction, even when he's wearing his " Im smart" LeBron glasses.
Hate to make this sweeping generalization but it seems there's a massive failure of imagination when it comes to community development and social change. Obviously there are many individual actors out there trying their best but if the first reaction to perceived injustice is to rob Walgreens and set fire to Burger King, then there's clearly some sort of ethic missing. I know there are many community programs out there designed to cater to individuals with troubled histories and/or addictions, the existence of which causes repeated encounters with cops. And not all of those encounters are 100% bias free or justified, I get that part too.
To circle back to athletes, and again many already do this, but they need to find some private economic model that drives meaningful investment in communities at elevated risk for crime, drug abuse, etc. Government programs are obviously not working so that's where in particular wealthy individuals with a conscious need to help fill the gap. I don't mean writing checks MJ style but actual meaningful community program development, recurring scholarships, better technology in schools, counseling services for recently released inmates, etc. I've seen this work at a very small scale but typically you always run into funding issues and then the programs just collapse and disappear. I think if the players can come up with something like that in addition to all these public displays of nothingness then it might add more credibility here. It's not really their responsibility so that's why I think there has to be a general paradigm shift when it comes to poverty, crime, recidivism rates, etc., which typically are only discussed by important/powerful/wealthy people during election cycles and then put aside until the next election. Can't wait on the state forever. Fuck that