Athletes Support Voter Registration
Recently, it has been an uphill battle for black athletes to speak up due to racist, intimidating acts from individuals in power. Led by Fox News hosts, Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, and many individuals in high power, athletes of color have continuously been bashed for voicing their opinions in efforts to help combat racial injustice that has existed in society. By telling black athletes such as Lebron James and Kevin Durant to “shut up and dribble” while praising Saints QB Drew Brees for “sharing his opinion,” Ingraham and others have clear issues with the skin color of the athlete, not the athlete themselves.
James, just coming off a NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers has yet again provided assistance and support to voters in the 2020 election. Ex-felons are required, due to an unconstitutional law passed by Republican lawmakers, to fully back back court fines and fees before they are given their right to vote back. This law was brought to an appeals court, deemed unconstitutional, and was overturned by judges. Just this week, Lebron teamed up with NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg and fellow NBA legend, Micheal Jordan, to assist in paying millions of ex-felon fees for almost 13,000 individuals in Florida. James personally took on almost 27 million dollars in fines and Bloomberg accounted for 13 million.
This past Monday at a Pennsylvania rally, Trump and his supporters led a “Lebron James Sucks” chant. On the eve of election day, the President of the United States decided to criticize the NBA’s rightful decision to support the BLM movement, something that he has openly disapproved. While Lebron’s donation to assist ex-felons comes off the tail of this, James made no formal comment on the chant. The ‘war’ against the NBA and James specifically has been fueled by claims that TV ratings were down because of the social justice stances that were taken in the wake of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd’s death. While this has been declared incorrect, backed by compelling evidence, this narrative is encouraging a negative viewpoint towards social justice movements.
With a strong supporting cast of WNBA players Chiney Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins, NFL QB Patrick Mahomes and other impactful athletes, James helped launch the “More Than a Vote” campaign this June. The group’s message is “Our organization is not here to tell you who to vote for. As individuals, we may choose to talk about specific policies or candidates, but as a team, we came together to focus on one issue this year: systemic racism’s impact on our right to vote.” The group recruited over 10,000 people to help as poll workers because due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many poll workers fall under the high risk category. The “More Than a Vote” group also helped turn 23 NBA arenas and various stadiums into poll centers.