LeBron calls for peace after Fergusion riots

Akron Beacon Journal

LeBron James spoke out Tuesday against the violence in Ferguson, Mo., condemning the protestors who rioted and burned buildings after a grand jury voted not to indict the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown.

“What’s that really do?” James asked. “Just hurt more families, hurt more people and draw more attention to things that shouldn’t be going on instead of people going to the family’s household and praying with them and saying things are going to be great, Mike Brown is in a better place now, Trayvon Martin is in a better place now. That’s where it should be.

“Burning down things and shooting up things and running cars into places and stealing things, what does that do? That doesn’t make you happy.”

James sidestepped questions surrounding gun violence and Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy shot and killed by Cleveland police this week. James said he wasn’t aware of the details surrounding Rice’s shooting, but added the issues facing society are bigger than a handful of instances. He harbors no resentment toward Darren Wilson, the officer who killed Brown, and said he’s focusing his energy on the victim’s family.

“I don’t have anything against the cop,” James said. “It’s all prompted on me having my best wishes and prayers for the families. That’s what we should be having our energy toward, these families that continue to lose loved ones at an early age and these kids don’t get to live out their lives.

“Violence is not the answer and retaliation is not the solution.”

James is one of the few athletes not afraid to speak out on controversial social issues. In 2012, he and his Miami Heat teammates posed with hoodies pulled over their heads in tribute to Martin, the unarmed Florida teen who was gunned down by George Zimmerman. He was acquitted of all charges in 2013.

James researches all topics before speaking on them and said he doesn’t pay much attention to what other athletes say or don’t say about social issues.

“If it feels authentic to me and hits home to me, it’s just who I am. I don’t get caught up in what other athletes do,” James said. “Obviously I’ve been one of those rare athletes off the court that the sport has ever seen. I understand I have a huge responsibility to speak on things I think are important.”

James said he did not follow the news coverage of the Ferguson riots, but he posted a message on his Instagram account, along with a cartoon drawing of Martin and Brown walking with their arms around each other.

James wasn’t alone in speaking out. Lakers star Kobe Bryant condemned the justice system for allowing incidents like this.

“The system enables young black men to be killed behind the mask of law,” Bryant wrote on his Twitter account.

James, however, said the issue transcends African Americans.

“These families that continue to mourn their loved ones at a young age, that’s where the energy should be going, supporting these families,” James said. “Not just black families, but all families. Their kids leave home one day and you expect them to return and they just don’t return either because of someone’s stupidity or not knowing what’s going on. Either from a pedestrian with a firearm or a cop with a firearm. It’s a sensitive subject and it’s a thing we just can’t continue to go through.”