Atheletes Obsolete in African-American Issues

November 5, 2008
Former NFL player, Jim Brown recently shared his thoughts on MJ and Kobe:
The way Brown sees it, many of today’s athletes are simply in it for the money and celebrity, refusing to accept responsibility for having a huge impact on the culture around them. And he’s not afraid of naming names. “Athletes need to represent more than that just getting a big contract and lots of endorsements,” he says. “Take Michael Jordan. To me, he’s full of bull. He’s hiding his true self. All he cares about is getting ahead, being popular and enjoying the wealth of this country. Same with Kobe Bryant. For them, it’s all about making money and doing all the commercials.” Brown expects more from today’s athletes. After all, he walked the walk. When Muhammad Ali was stripped of his heavyweight title and threatened with jail time for refusing to register for the draft during the Vietnam War, it was Brown and Boston Celtics star Bill Russell who led a contingent of black athletes who offered Ali their support. “Sports is detrimental to the development of culture if all you’re willing to do is enjoy the fruits of this country,” he says. “You’ve got to reinvest in the culture, not just exploit it. Today people just want non-combative heroes, who smile and say all the right things. That’s fine, but that doesn’t mean you have to play the fool and shake your butt just because you caught a pass for a touchdown.”
Although we have always loved MJ, and ‘no comment’ on Kobe, but those two guys have been almost non-existent when it comes to real issues facing Black America.
The Question of the Day is: Are athletes like MJ and Kobe responsible for investing in a positive future for Black America solely based on the fact that they are successful athletes?

I've been saying this for years about black athletes. They don't have a voice. I start asking why, don't they ever speak on the issues that African-Americans go through such as Jena 6. If we lived in a country that did have obvious racial biases this conversation wouldn't come up. We all know that their are still some injustices that African-Americans face in this society.

In the past we had heroes like Muhammed Ali, Kareem Abdul, Arthur Ash etc that were very vocal on the cultural issues. Unfortunately, I think that most of our generation of young black men are just not showing the potential that they have as leaders and don't show any signs of black pride especially in the sports industry. They just care about money, fame, hoes and clothes. It's so sad. You see these guys showing off their big homes, cars, and big stones on cribs. It's like "enough already"!!! Been there seen that. NEXT!!! I once heard that the NBA and NFL restricts players from getting involved in political matters and speaking on conflicting cultural issues. Even still one has to make the choice to stand for something, and these guys only stand for the glamour and the fame. How unfortunate.