So, I’m reading a book about Jackie Robinson — “True: The Four Seasons of Jackie Robinson,” by Kostya Kennedy — and I’m thinking about all the sacrifices he made and all he had to endure so that athletes like Kyrie Irving could have a place in professional sports.
And, I find that as much as I am bothered by what Irving tweeted and his reluctance to apologize for his hurtful social media post, I am more outraged by his teammate, and the cluelessness he displayed in addressing the situation.
Kevin Durant is one of the greatest players to ever touch a basketball. But here is why he will always be a bus rider.
It’s not because he jumped on the Golden State bandwagon, or played with the Super Friends in Brooklyn.
It’s because of this right here:
“I ain’t here to judge nobody or talk down on nobody for how they feel, their views or anything,” Durant said at practice Friday, a day after Irving was suspended for tweeting a link to a movie with antisemitic messages.
“It’s just … I just didn’t like anything that went on. I feel like it was all unnecessary. I felt like we could have just kept playing basketball and kept quiet as an organization. I just don’t like none of it.”
We should have just kept playing basketball, Durant said.
We should have kept quiet as an organization, Durant said.
You know who says things like that?
Losers.
Silence may be golden in some circles, but it is deadly in others.
It’s silence that allows racism and bigotry to flourish.
It’s silence that allows the bullies to prosper, and the weak to get stepped on.
It’s silence, teamed with willful ignorance, that allows people to mistakenly believe that all speech is free, that there is no price to pay for hurt and hate.
