More than an entertainer
It is becoming more prevalent in today's age for sports and politics to combine. This has hurt some American's before and it is hurting them even more today. People feel the playing field is not a place for an athlete to voice themselves. We have seen this in Colin Kaepernick who is now without a job after stating his opinion on America vocally and physically. It even dates back to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who boycotted the 1968 Summer Olympics because of the unequal treatment African-Americans received. In all of the instances, American's looked down upon those athletes because they failed to understand them.
Just recently released in a Bleacher Report Uninterrupted segment with Uber, LeBron James and Kevin Durant rode through Akron, Ohio while giving their opinions on different aspects of their life from being a father, playing in the NBA, to giving their opinion on Donald Trump. They didn't hold their tongue about any of those topics. Even with the strongest things they said though, a news anchor had to critique the political part. Laura Ingraham recently summed up her critique of the two athletes by saying "Shut up and dribble". That is quite frankly disrespectful for Ingraham to belittle the two by saying that. LeBron would give her a simple response of "No, I won't shut up and dribble". I can agree and say both could have used different language but for Ingraham to make the two athletes look irrelevant was disrespectful.
Athletes always find a great way of responding to how people critique their opinion and make their opinion even stronger and effective. Once Muhammad Ali was facing the public backlash from his opinion he organized a summit with other African-American athletes who were there to support Ali's decision and stand with him by saying that there was an unequal treatment for African-Americans in the late 60's. In 2016 when Kaepernick took a knee to express the oppression he noticed and to show disdain for the cops killing unarmed African-Americans, people criticized him of course. What made his movement much stronger was when across the league other athletes kneeled also to voice the same message Kaepernick was stating. It touches people so much when it is not just one athlete who states these opinions but hundreds and thousands of athletes. The synergy that comes out of these movements is what causes the "shut up and dribble", "get that son of a b-tch off the field right now", and "Angrier, nastier, uglier' better describes the scene in Mexico City last week." replies. Athletes are more than just entertainers. They have voices that need and want to be heard by America.
An athlete could make hundreds and millions of dollars and that does not mean they are comfortable with the life they are living. I would think it would be cowardly of athletes to see there are problems present in America and not speak on them. Just like anyone would feel if the president did not speak on the problems in America. This is country is the athletes country just as much as anybody else and they should not have to keep their mouths shut to voice their opinion. When athletes go home they have to deal with the same problems as anyone else! That's what makes them more than just your entertainer.
