ESPN’s blog, The Undefeated, jumped down LeBron James’ throat for not calling on all NBA players to submit to COVID-19 vaccinations. The coronavirus pandemic is actually an act of social justice and a fight for equality rivaling opposition to police brutality, says The Undefeated’s senior writer David Dennis Jr.
That’s quite a stretch. But Dennis was only getting warmed up in his sensationalistic piece.
Both James and Draymond Green, Golden State rivals, defended players’ right to choose their vaccines. Dennis states, “It is not acceptable to seperate COVID-19 vaccinations from social justice work both men pursued.”
This logic misses that fighting COVID-19 constitutes social justice work, a fight for equality that is equivalent to fighting police brutality and other acts of anti-Black violence. What James fails to realize here is that the way COVID-19 is impacting the Black community is an offshoot of the same racism that renders Black folks victims of extrajudicial killings.”
Dennis claims, in a strange claim, that COVID-19 has a greater chance of death for blacks because of structural, medical, and environmental racism. Green is accused of contributing to the problem by refusing to speak out against vaccine holdouts. Green stated the following:
“You say we live in the land of the free? Well, you’re not giving anyone freedom because you’re making people do something, essentially. Without necessarily making them, you’re making them do something.”
To Dennis, Green missed the point that many black folks didn’t have a choice to resist the coronavirus because they’re more likely to work in low-income jobs that force them into closer proximity to one another. And they’re more likely to be in jail and catch the virus there because their “liberties and freedom of choice have been taken away.”
LeBron or Draymond ought to be fighting for all of these.
Dennis also wonders if these two NBA players would have the same “nonchalance about their teammates’ bodies if they were to refuse, say, MCL surgery that could help them make a speedier return to the court.” This is a pretty pathetic analogy because no otherwise healthy young athlete is going to die from knee surgery or suffer the adverse reactions some people have experienced with coronavirus vaccines.
Taking another stab at this apples-and-oranges comparison, Dennis cites the 2016 ESPY’s appearance by James, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade when they spoke of fighting for black lives in the wake of gun violence and police brutality. They stated,
“Let’s use this moment as a call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves, explore these issues, speak up, use our influence and renounce all violence. Most importantly, give back to your communities. Use our time and resources to help them rebuild, strengthen, change. We all have to do better.”
More black people need to realize that protecting themselves from the coronavirus is “just as dire an issue for Black folks,” Dennis insists. “Encouraging vaccination is a continuation of the work that they (the NBA players who spoke at the ESPY’s in 2016) asked of us five years ago.”
The ESPN Undefeated writer also says that Kyrie Irving and other vaccination resisters are perpetuating the possible spread of an epidemic ravaging black folks and this contradicts every statement they’ve ever made about standing for black folks in America. Their statements about black lives being important are not credible.
Dennis could have uttered this anti-freedom, anti-racism sentiment better than the dictatorial Democrats.