IF YOU DONT LIKE THAT YOU DONT LIKE (UPDATE: he fired himself)

[homecourtloss]

Is it really about "Black Lives Matter"?

If it were, what about the ~2,800 homicides every year to black Americans?

90% committed by other African Americans.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-3.xls

Why doesn't LeBron ever tweet about that? Do their lives not matter?

It seems like this is actually about "The White Man is at Fault" or "The Police is at Fault" or "[White] America is at fault".

Apparently it's like the N word where if you're black, you're allowed to use it. Likewise if you're black, you're allowed to kill another black person without creating a movement or a protest.

Did you happen to ever ask yourself what's the reason why they shoot each other? Do you think that they inherently like crime, drugs, violence? I dont't know what those numbers mean to you, but I think the crime comes from the need to survive, putting food on the tables, having a place to live. As far as I know, there are hundreds of thousands homeless people living on the streets in USA, and that's not because people are lazy, but because the government can't provide them an opportunity to have a decent life. Their priority is to spend trillions of dollars of Venezuelan, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian people, so that they can have american democracy and freedom in exchange for their resources.
It doesn't really matter if you are a democrat or a republican. People who run your country don't give a **** whether you are a democrat or a republican, as long as they are where the money is. Politics is first and foremost about the relationship between the rich and the poor, and the poor struggle when the rich don't honsestly give a **** about thethe poor - unless they are a threat, just like right now. 40 million jobless people in a country, there is nothing else than protests that could or should happen.

See, this is the problem we have in our communities because the overarching theme we see is that “systemic racism means this is where are at and there’s nothing we can really do.”

Systemic racism LED us to this, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get out even before systemic racism ends, BUT the policies enacted have normalized these environments (only for the black community, though) and then the black community immediately just accepts it and we hand liberal elites (black and white) our votes thus keeping the same systems at play. Can’t realky blame anyone—in the face of **** circumstances, let’s look for temporary comfort.

Yes, systemic racism must be addressed, but infantalizing our people and making us dependent on government means there’s never a way out. Plenty of us have made it out and yes, we’ve had good fortune on our side, but there are ways to end these cycles but that’s going to take tough talk with ourselves on WHAT WE CAN DO to change things besides ending systemic racism.

When people talk about having the talk with our children about the police, I want to scream and say, yeah, but what about the fact that we’re **** killing each other for nothing and if anything, chances are I’m going to die at the hands of another black man.

[HotelVitale]

And this at the crux of what Malcolm X warned us about. Yes, a history of oppression and racism brought us to where we are, BUT liberal ideologies, racist at their core, keep us where we are. They have policies that provide temporary relief, garner almost all our votes, and then keep us from getting out of the cycle we’re in because most people are myopic anyway.

It's true and a great burn, but it sort of sounds like you're implying that Malcolm X was a Koch Bros tea party schill. Can you clarify that? It seems odd to imply that he wouldn't have a sophisticated critique of what's happened in the past 50 years.

[getrichordie]

I mean. Can both statements not be true? All lives do matter. Black lives also matter. I get that it is unpopular right now, but it doesn't make it less true.

And I'm one of the ones pushing the blacklivesmatter hashtag on twitter.

Nothing wrong with what he said. I have no reason to not take this man at his word, but I don't know him as well as maybe some of the (former) Kings players do.

[Jazz9]

I mean. Can both statements not be true? All lives do matter. Black lives also matter. I get that it is unpopular right now, but it doesn't make it less true.

Because it totally misses the point.
"All lives matter"....duh

Has anyone in the history of human existence asked themselves if white lives mattered for example?
No. Because everyone already knows the answer.

Do black lives matter?
Doesn't really seem to be the case for many unfortunately...
But they do.

[NapoleonII]

"Racial narrative"

LMAO.

America has been on its racial narrative for 400 years...

Stop blaming your culture's problems on journalists.

[mabundo_nagumbe]

Is it really about "Black Lives Matter"?

If it were, what about the ~2,800 homicides every year to black Americans?

90% committed by other African Americans.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2016/crime-in-the-u.s.-2016/tables/expanded-homicide-data-table-3.xls

Why doesn't LeBron ever tweet about that? Do their lives not matter?

It seems like this is actually about "The White Man is at Fault" or "The Police is at Fault" or "[White] America is at fault".

Apparently it's like the N word where if you're black, you're allowed to use it. Likewise if you're black, you're allowed to kill another black person without creating a movement or a protest.

Did you happen to ever ask yourself what's the reason why they shoot each other? Do you think that they inherently like crime, drugs, violence? I dont't know what those numbers mean to you, but I think the crime comes from the need to survive, putting food on the tables, having a place to live. As far as I know, there are hundreds of thousands homeless people living on the streets in USA, and that's not because people are lazy, but because the government can't provide them an opportunity to have a decent life. Their priority is to spend trillions of dollars of Venezuelan, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian people, so that they can have american democracy and freedom in exchange for their resources.
It doesn't really matter if you are a democrat or a republican. People who run your country don't give a **** whether you are a democrat or a republican, as long as they are where the money is. Politics is first and foremost about the relationship between the rich and the poor, and the poor struggle when the rich don't honsestly give a **** about thethe poor - unless they are a threat, just like right now. 40 million jobless people in a country, there is nothing else than protests that could or should happen.

See, this is the problem we have in our communities because the overarching theme we see is that “systemic racism means this is where are at and there’s nothing we can really do.”

Systemic racism LED us to this, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get out even before systemic racism ends, BUT the policies enacted have normalized these environments (only for the black community, though) and then the black community immediately just accepts it and we hand liberal elites (black and white) our votes thus keeping the same systems at play. Can’t realky blame anyone—in the face of **** circumstances, let’s look for temporary comfort.

Yes, systemic racism must be addressed, but infantalizing our people and making us dependent on government means there’s never a way out. Plenty of us have made it out and yes, we’ve had good fortune on our side, but there are ways to end these cycles but that’s going to take tough talk with ourselves on WHAT WE CAN DO to change things besides ending systemic racism.

When people talk about having the talk with our children about the police, I want to scream and say, yeah, but what about the fact that we’re **** killing each other for nothing and if anything, chances are I’m going to die at the hands of another black man.

If racism is systemic, it can only get resolved by changing this system, there is no other way of getting out of it. And before people dont figure out that they live under the tyranny of incomprehensibly rich and powerful elites who succed to sell this as a democracy, little will change.
Most of them don't care who you vote for, as long as they are in charge of amongst who you can choose from

[DavidSterned]

Well said. I'm not sure when mob mentality and raw, unchecked emotion became held in higher esteem than nuanced conversation that incorporates multiple layers and doesn't reduce everything to a tribal us vs. them binary. But it seems to be getting worse. The 24/7 news cycle certainly plays a part in that, and in further polarizing people and empowering their confirmation biases. It's almost considered treasonous now to even consider viewpoints that challenge your own and possibly moderate some of your preconceived notions.

The thing is that I think almost everyone could actually agree that there is almost objectively a real accountability problem in this country. Accountability at all levels. Lots of empty promises, empty threats, and less and less tangible conversation and tangible results. And of course the wealthy and political elites control a lot of that and are as lacking in accountability as ever. It all needs to change, and it starts with people coming together and not killing and demonizing each other over what often amounts to semantic pieces of a much bigger puzzle.

I read a really good article today that my friend sent me amidst all this chaos. I can't help but think you'd enjoy it:

https://standpointmag.co.uk/issues/may-june-2020/the-mark-of-an-educated-mind/?fbclid=IwAR2sUAG4d48t_6uJvapHfaKEmVwPKvZPibpXZTBgRhcf7FPgxIa8lUuc95Q

Good read. And it makes a great point that a lot definitely starts with our education system, which is inherently geared towards regurgitating rather than conceptualizing. That breeds a population that is reluctant to look at issues from multiple angles and/or be introspective about anything.

[spacemonkey]

lol Boogie didn't even break a sweat getting him to publicly out himself

[getrichordie]

I mean. Can both statements not be true? All lives do matter. Black lives also matter. I get that it is unpopular right now, but it doesn't make it less true.

Because it totally misses the point.
"All lives matter"....duh

Has anyone in the history of human existence asked themselves if white lives mattered for example?
No. Because everyone already knows the answer.

Do black lives matter?
Doesn't really seem to be the case for many unfortunately...
But they do.

I understand what you are saying. It misses the point of the movement and I get that but the facts remain the same. All lives matter encompasses black lives matter, IMO.

[Chandan]

nothing wrong with what he said. Cousins want to put words into his mouth and he refused to play ball and gave a answer that covered all bases. not everyone has to be on board with every movement. Let people live their lives and choose to support a cause of their choosing.

You dont want to stand with me?? **** YOU YOU ARE EVIL. <--- this is buffoonery.

This level of political correctness just counter acts the good intentions and spawns animosity. What kind of immature douche bag is Cousins to pick a fight at this situation. He's taking advantage of the situation to retaliate on a personal feud, what's the difference between that and looting? **** him and I finally realized why the NBA community considers him a headcase.

[Lunartic]

This is some dumbass purity spiraling

What does "matter" even mean? Matter in terms of equal representation and protection of the law?

Matter to me? To the average person? Don't make me laugh. Hundreds of millions of people have lived in and live in abject misery and oppression worldwide, do they matter to you? How much do they "matter" to you?

As long as you're a good person and treat people fairly and don't endorse or support the government abusing anyone, then you don't need to say some abitrary nonsense such as "black lives matter"

Actions speak louder than words. So go ahead and post your BLM and "hate has no home here" signs in the windows of your 99.9 white neighborhood. Don't make me laugh.

[DavidSterned]

nothing wrong with what he said. Cousins want to put words into his mouth and he refused to play ball and gave a answer that covered all bases. not everyone has to be on board with every movement. Let people live their lives and choose to support a cause of their choosing.

You dont want to stand with me?? **** YOU YOU ARE EVIL. <--- this is buffoonery.

This level of political correctness just counter acts the good intentions and spawns animosity. What kind of immature douche bag is Cousins to pick a fight at this situation. He's taking advantage of the situation to retaliate on a personal feud, what's the difference between that and looting? **** him and I finally realized why the NBA community considers him a headcase.

Cousins threw a hissyfit over the Kings promoting "Year of the Monkey" t-shirts during Lunar New Year because it coincided with Black History Month. Which was a pretty appalling display of ignorance on his part.

So yeah... he's not exactly the best authority on reasonable discourse.

[Lunartic]

I mean. Can both statements not be true? All lives do matter. Black lives also matter. I get that it is unpopular right now, but it doesn't make it less true.

Because it totally misses the point.
"All lives matter"....duh

Has anyone in the history of human existence asked themselves if white lives mattered for example?
No. Because everyone already knows the answer.

Do black lives matter?
Doesn't really seem to be the case for many unfortunately...
But they do.

Historically, yes. They didn't view it the lens of "white" but rather specific European ethnic groups.

Many many groups in Europe experienced extreme oppression throughout history not even mentioning the Holodomor and Holocaust. The value of these groups lives was in question.

[MrPerfect1]

If you're saying 'All Lives Matter' as a response to "Black Lives Matter" yes, you are racist.

That’s an either or fallacy.

It's really not. If that sentiment is your response to people saying Black Lives Matter, then you saying that black people are not treated any differently than white people, that minorities in general are not treated any differently than white people. And that is one, not true, but two, and more importantly, that sort of rhetoric is what denies progress on the issue of racial justice because it denies that there is a problem at all.

You are completely incorrect and trying to put words in to people mouths. It is possible for someone to believe both of the following statements:

-All Lives Matter

-Black people are treated worse than White People

Believing Blacks are treated worse than Whites doesn't stop someone from valuing all life.

***Nobody would respond with "All Lives Matter" if people instead said "Black Lives Matter Too". Some people say the "Too" is implied, but that shows the danger in leaving things to be implied instead of stated.

[Jazz9]

***Nobody would respond with "All Lives Matter" if people instead said "Black Lives Matter Too". Some people say the "Too" is implied, but that shows the danger in leaving things to be implied instead of stated.

Of course it's implied.
Did you think it was the "Black lives matter but screw everyone else though" movement?

And honestly if anyone feels the need to respond with "All lives matter" then that says a lot about the person...

[Metallikid]

What if you are a socialist? All lives matter is sort of the cornerstone of socialism and my general response when people ask about women's specific issues or LBQT issues, I'm never really trying to disqualify those specific issues when I say that but trying to include them under a wider umbrella and encourage people to look at a larger picture. BLM for sure, I'm canadian, don't let the common perception of Canada fool you there is totally still racism here, blacks as well as other visible minorities do face barriers everyday. The lions share of the racism I see here in Canada is usually directed at our indigenous communities by small minded intolerant jerks who have never gone out into the world further then one stop up the highway.

I love the message of these protests and the guys around the league who are speaking up to offer support.

As a Socialist, let me answer that one for you. Most lives matter, a vast vast majority in fact, but not all. Now that might sound unfair at first, but there's a clear set of reasons as to why we hold that position. The rich and people who own large businesses, landlords, and to a much lesser degree the small businesses who support them, are A-Okay with using their economic power to make the lives of all wage-earning workers worse, and this has gone on unabated for the last 40-50 years. In this way Capitalism is very much a zero sum game. The more power the rich have, the more they use it to gain an even greater advantage over society. They use donations, and lobbyists, and backroom influence to capture politicians and the political process (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulatory_capture), and write legislation that does not serve the people. They give those politicians cushy jobs when they're out of office, known as the public/private revolving door (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolving_door_(politics)). They get important regulations removed and make regulatory and oversight agencies ineffective; they fight against unions, they quash unionization efforts, and they attempt to destroy labour rights as a whole. They oppose the expansion of benefits, of healthcare, and the raising the minimum wage while demanding tax cuts. They attack the most vulnerable in society, calling for cuts to Social Security, pensions, welfare and other safety net programs that they deem 'entitlements'. They threaten regions and countries that say they will impose stricter rules and demand more from businesses by saying we will move our factory elsewhere, usually overseas offshoring. They hide their revenues in tax havens, commit tax evasion, and then when a crisis happens they rob the public purse by demanding taxpayers socialize their losses through massive bailouts that they never deserve.

The rich don't care about you or me, and they will always use their power to make our lives worse because it is in their benefit to do so. So we oppose the rich, the corporations, the landlords, and their enablers, because they are destroying our quality of life and our prospects for a fair and just future, they are destroying the environment and exploiting people worldwide, and they our destroying out political self-determination and democracy as a whole.

Here's an important message to remember from Tommy Douglas, the man who won us Universal Healthcare in Canada and was voted the Greatest Canadian.

[wutevahung]

It's funny that so many people actually believe the bolded. America actually isn't that great for economic mobility (27th in the world in this study)

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/ranked-the-social-mobility-of-82-countries-1028885766

There's a bunch of European countries where it's easier to change your economic status. Most people's economic status in the US is largely based on that of their parents.

#1 Denmark 85.2
#2 Norway 83.6
#3 Finland 83.6
#4 Sweden 83.5
#5 Iceland 82.7
#6 Netherlands 82.4
#7 Switzerland 82.1
#8 Belgium 80.1
#9 Austria 80.1
#10 Luxembourg 79.8
#11 Germany 78.8
#12 France 76.7
#13 Slovenia 76.4
#14 Canada 76.1
#15 Japan 76.1
#16 Australia 75.1
#17 Malta 75.0
#18 Ireland 75.0
#19 Czech Republic 74.7
#20 Singapore 74.6
#21 United Kingdom 74.4
#22 New Zealand 74.3
#23 Estonia 73.5
#24 Portugal 72.0
#25 Korean Republic 71.4
#26 Lithuania 70.5
#27 United States 70.4
#28 Spain 70.0
#29 Cyprus 69.4
#30 Poland 69.1

I guess your right. But That’s to move from poor the median. To reach above the median, id imagine it’s Still US. It’s also interesting the top of your chart is all small euro countries that have homogeneous populations and fairly tight immigration policies

Actually, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg are quite multicultural.

This guy probably has ever traveled outside US.

[wutevahung]

If you're saying 'All Lives Matter' as a response to "Black Lives Matter" yes, you are racist.

They could also be uneducated. But to label someone a racist is pretty harsh without knowing the person and the things they've said and done. Thus my question.

The problem is it's pretty hard to be uneducated unless you've had your head completely in the sand for the past three days. Possible I guess? But I think there are more plausible explanations that have been presented.

It's the reason why even bringing up the idea of being naive as a counterpoint in this thread is suspect. Posters likely have enough context just by reading even a small sampling of the posts to be 'educated'. The media saturation basically makes that train of thought look a lot like searching for excuses to bad behavior...

It’s about possible deniability for these people right now, because you can’t prove they are not uneducated, but what can I say? They learn from the best, or the worst.

[CIN-C-STAR]

I mean. Can both statements not be true? All lives do matter. Black lives also matter. I get that it is unpopular right now, but it doesn't make it less true.

Because it totally misses the point.
"All lives matter"....duh

Has anyone in the history of human existence asked themselves if white lives mattered for example?
No. Because everyone already knows the answer.

Do black lives matter?
Doesn't really seem to be the case for many unfortunately...
But they do.

Historically, yes. They didn't view it the lens of "white" but rather specific European ethnic groups.

Many many groups in Europe experienced extreme oppression throughout history not even mentioning the Holodomor and Holocaust. The value of these groups lives was in question.

Yeah, I don't want this to be taken as a false comparison with chattel slavery and the awful history of racism in America, because that's not what I'm saying, but I'm Scots-Irish and the lives of Scots and Irish people definitely have not mattered at different times in history.
Hell, Irish people, along with Italians, and probably others now considered white, were even considered black at one point. Race is just a social construct. It can be redefined to practice the erasure of rights and humanity of anyone.
As I said before, it's easy to be woke about things that directly affect you, but few people put in the effort to be socially aware of all the social injustices that don't affect them.
This guy said something tone deaf, but it wasn't racist. If we are going to kick people out of the league for being tone deaf then Lebron can go too because his comments on China and Morey were tone deaf about the plight of the people of Hong Kong, right? C'mon, gtfoh w that.
It's obvious Demarcus Cousins has a personal problem with this guy because the guy has slammed Cousins in the past.

[wutevahung]

[gfycat][/gfycat]

All Lives Matter is not a racist comment. Dismissive? Yes. Misses the point? Yes. Racist? Absolutely not. The definition of racism hasn't changed.

Depends on the context. If you didn’t opt into the “modern definition” of that term, then yes, you are being uneducated, insensitive and dismissive, which is fine, because you can improve.

If you use ALM to purposely dismiss and gaslight BLM, then yes, you are being racist.