In April, Ira Newble, a teammate of James' on the Cavaliers, drafted an angry open letter to the Chinese government, excoriating it for its heavy investment in Sudan and, therefore, its involvement in the genocidal atrocities in Darfur. Every member of the Cavaliers save two signed the letter. One was Damon Jones. The other was LeBron James. Since then, James has taken a bit of heat for his reluctance, most notably in the Christian Science Monitor, which not unreasonably speculates on the economic reasons why he failed to put his weight behind Newble's letter.Point taken: Nike is paying the bills and doesn't want the business it does in China jeopardized.
But let's give Newble a little more credit for doing something that the president and every member of congress ought to be doing. He attended Miami of Ohio, and apparently went to class often enough to develop a worldview that's larger than just himself, visions of championships, and shoe contracts. LeBron has been on ESPN since before he finished High School. It is it any wonder he has no perspective? You'd pity him if he wasn't so rich.
So yeah, like Michael Jordan, LeBron refuses to leverage his celebrity for political causes. Does that make him a bad person? Perhaps. But I'd say he's probably just uninformed. As with many folks, the crisis in Darfur doesn't really register. It's just part of the background noise of world news. Something a lot of people feel pretty comfortable in ignoring.
Kudos to Ira Newble and three cheers for the wonders of a liberal arts education. Let's hope he can make a difference.
