[h=2]The best player in the world has a chance to make an important statement -- and kneel[/h]
When the NBA regular season begins in Cleveland with the playing of the national anthem Tuesday night, a swirling subtext of divisiveness and attention will surround the moment.
Colin Kaepernick still will be suing the NFL for collusion. The NFL, grappling with what to do, still will meet later Tuesday to discuss a plan on whether players should be required to stand. NBA commissioner Adam Silver's decree that he expects players to stand during the anthem -- and abide by a rule the players previously agreed to in the NBA's collective bargaining agreement -- will take on added significance.
So allow me a polite suggestion to LeBron James: He should take all this in, respectfully weigh this moment and his place in it -- and take a knee.
For one game.
During the anthem.
I hope Dwyane Wade would follow suit. Then Kyrie Irving. Then the rest of the Cavaliers and Celtics and, later that night, Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr, Kevin Durant, James Harden and the entirety of both the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets.
Not to disrespect America. To love her, in the most difficult and important of ways: By exercising peaceful protest in the face of those who would silence through fear, threats and the power of government.
I don't write these words lightly. I'm named after my grandfather, William Reiter, who volunteered during World War II, served under General Patton and believed until the day he died four years ago that the flag must be honored at all costs. The story goes that once, during the national anthem at a Cubs-Brewers game, Grandpa grew agitated and angry when a man kept his cap on. Another man, watching all this, snatched the hat off and said to the stranger, "Take your f------ hat off for the anthem."
I understand why so many of you shudder and grow angry at that moment being used for protest. It makes me uncomfortable, too.
Which is why it works. And why, in this case, the disrespect of insouciance during the anthem can be replaced by the difficult patriotism of using that moment for the greater good.
So LeBron James, the most politically involved high-profile athlete of his generation, should take a knee for a single game and hope players around the league follows his example. The NBA's contours and nuances have always been shaped by the face, or faces, of the league. And civil rights -- what this is all actually about, even if others would try to distract us from that -- have always found a necessary vehicle in sports.
ackie Robinson didn't just integrate baseball. He had a falling out with Malcolm X over their shared goals and different means, and he wrote letters -- many skeptical toward and frustrated with -- President Kennedy. Those letters most likely had a strong effect on history. Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised fists from the podium of the 1968 Olympics. Muhammad Ali didn't just use sports as his platform for social commentary -- he jeopardized his boxing career on behalf of it.
No one is asking that of James or his fellow NBA players. But I do suggest, respectfully, that he and they have the power to tell Adam Silver and the rest of the country that they stand -- and kneel -- with those NFL players who believe violence against unarmed black men is worth our time, recognition, discomfort -- and hopefully, someday, justice.
It will surely make some, maybe many, of the league's 510 rostered players uncomfortable. Some will surely follow their own consciences and do the opposite. But even 100 doing as I hope would be powerful, and meaningful.
This isn't easy stuff. I get it. Former Texas football player and Green Beret Nate Boyer struggled with Kaepernick sitting during the anthem. So they talked. And after that conversation Kaepernick kneeled -- an evolution in his own attempt to make sense of what to do.
There's a difference between kneeling and other forms of disrespect during the anthem that we don't talk about enough. Wearing a hat, which so inflamed by granddad. Buying a beer or shouting profanities about the opposing team or surfing the internet on the phone, all of which are common. Shouting out "Home of the Chiefs!" in place of "Home of the brave," to cite what happens at Arrowhead Stadium every Kansas City Chiefs home game. These are people being careless and rude and self-centered during the anthem, and we don't blink an eye. How can that be OK, while simply kneeling and knowingly trying to raise awareness about a real issue is not?
Here's how things now can evolve: To the NBA becoming a league where players kneel for the first game of each team's season, led by LeBron James. Because James, agree or disagree, has long been at the forefront of blending his celebrity and stature with his politics and views on social justice. He honored Trayvon Martin with his shoes, he wore an "I can't breathe" T-shirt, he called the President of the United States "U bum" on Twitter. And . And spoke last year at the ESPY's on unarmed black men being killed by police officers.
Here's also why players should kneel: Because a president -- any president, of any political affiliation -- trying to cajole specific political behavior from private citizens should be met with that special brand of American individualism.
I'll quote Rush Limbaugh here, a former "Monday Night Football" commentator with a view from the other side of James' place on the political spectrum: "I am very uncomfortable with the president of the United States being able to dictate the behavior and power of anybody."
Me too.
James and his fellow players should kneel one time because Silver can't suspend the entire league if they unite and do this as a group. Because kneeling during the anthem makes many of you angry, but it is not and has never been disrespectful to this country, its soldiers or the flag. Because if James and his fellow NBA players do this, they will have the chance to speak and be heard -- to say they knelt once, because protesting is their right, come what may.
None of this is easy, and I understand and respect those of you who see it differently. My grandfather, who I love and look up to, almost certainly would have found my perspective wrong, if he were still alive to tell me so.
He would also have agreed that the great part about America is having that disagreement and still being connected as family and countrymen.
We know James feels strongly about this issue, this president and this moment in time. In America, good-meaning people should never be silenced, right or wrong.
We know James is the most important socially active and socially vocal American athlete of his generation. And we know we are better as a country when we are not cowed by fear or by the mob -- from Robinson to Ali to, I hope Tuesday night, James.
The "RIP Trayvon Martin" and "We want justice" shoes haven't worked, not to the point where enough people care about the actual message rather than the way it's delivered. The "I Can't Breathe" shirts haven't, either. But Kaepernick -- love or hate what he has started -- has shown that the anthem is a moment the world won't look away from.
That's why I hope the greatest basketball player on Earth stares at his flag and, out of love for his country and a belief he can help make it better, takes a knee.
<figure class=" img">
</figure> Bill Reiter National Columnist
follow Bill Reiter began his career as a newspaper journalist before becoming a national columnist at CBS Sports. He currently hosts a national CBS Sports radio show from New York City from 6 to 10 p.m. ET called... Full Bio
- <figure class=" img">
</figure> - by Bill Reiter
- @sportsreiter
- <time datetime="2017-10-17 14:15:00 UTC">21m ago</time> • 6 min read
When the NBA regular season begins in Cleveland with the playing of the national anthem Tuesday night, a swirling subtext of divisiveness and attention will surround the moment.
Colin Kaepernick still will be suing the NFL for collusion. The NFL, grappling with what to do, still will meet later Tuesday to discuss a plan on whether players should be required to stand. NBA commissioner Adam Silver's decree that he expects players to stand during the anthem -- and abide by a rule the players previously agreed to in the NBA's collective bargaining agreement -- will take on added significance.
So allow me a polite suggestion to LeBron James: He should take all this in, respectfully weigh this moment and his place in it -- and take a knee.
For one game.
During the anthem.
I hope Dwyane Wade would follow suit. Then Kyrie Irving. Then the rest of the Cavaliers and Celtics and, later that night, Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr, Kevin Durant, James Harden and the entirety of both the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets.
Not to disrespect America. To love her, in the most difficult and important of ways: By exercising peaceful protest in the face of those who would silence through fear, threats and the power of government.
I don't write these words lightly. I'm named after my grandfather, William Reiter, who volunteered during World War II, served under General Patton and believed until the day he died four years ago that the flag must be honored at all costs. The story goes that once, during the national anthem at a Cubs-Brewers game, Grandpa grew agitated and angry when a man kept his cap on. Another man, watching all this, snatched the hat off and said to the stranger, "Take your f------ hat off for the anthem."
I understand why so many of you shudder and grow angry at that moment being used for protest. It makes me uncomfortable, too.
Which is why it works. And why, in this case, the disrespect of insouciance during the anthem can be replaced by the difficult patriotism of using that moment for the greater good.
So LeBron James, the most politically involved high-profile athlete of his generation, should take a knee for a single game and hope players around the league follows his example. The NBA's contours and nuances have always been shaped by the face, or faces, of the league. And civil rights -- what this is all actually about, even if others would try to distract us from that -- have always found a necessary vehicle in sports.
ackie Robinson didn't just integrate baseball. He had a falling out with Malcolm X over their shared goals and different means, and he wrote letters -- many skeptical toward and frustrated with -- President Kennedy. Those letters most likely had a strong effect on history. Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised fists from the podium of the 1968 Olympics. Muhammad Ali didn't just use sports as his platform for social commentary -- he jeopardized his boxing career on behalf of it.
No one is asking that of James or his fellow NBA players. But I do suggest, respectfully, that he and they have the power to tell Adam Silver and the rest of the country that they stand -- and kneel -- with those NFL players who believe violence against unarmed black men is worth our time, recognition, discomfort -- and hopefully, someday, justice.
It will surely make some, maybe many, of the league's 510 rostered players uncomfortable. Some will surely follow their own consciences and do the opposite. But even 100 doing as I hope would be powerful, and meaningful.
This isn't easy stuff. I get it. Former Texas football player and Green Beret Nate Boyer struggled with Kaepernick sitting during the anthem. So they talked. And after that conversation Kaepernick kneeled -- an evolution in his own attempt to make sense of what to do.
There's a difference between kneeling and other forms of disrespect during the anthem that we don't talk about enough. Wearing a hat, which so inflamed by granddad. Buying a beer or shouting profanities about the opposing team or surfing the internet on the phone, all of which are common. Shouting out "Home of the Chiefs!" in place of "Home of the brave," to cite what happens at Arrowhead Stadium every Kansas City Chiefs home game. These are people being careless and rude and self-centered during the anthem, and we don't blink an eye. How can that be OK, while simply kneeling and knowingly trying to raise awareness about a real issue is not?
Here's how things now can evolve: To the NBA becoming a league where players kneel for the first game of each team's season, led by LeBron James. Because James, agree or disagree, has long been at the forefront of blending his celebrity and stature with his politics and views on social justice. He honored Trayvon Martin with his shoes, he wore an "I can't breathe" T-shirt, he called the President of the United States "U bum" on Twitter. And . And spoke last year at the ESPY's on unarmed black men being killed by police officers.
Here's also why players should kneel: Because a president -- any president, of any political affiliation -- trying to cajole specific political behavior from private citizens should be met with that special brand of American individualism.
I'll quote Rush Limbaugh here, a former "Monday Night Football" commentator with a view from the other side of James' place on the political spectrum: "I am very uncomfortable with the president of the United States being able to dictate the behavior and power of anybody."
Me too.
James and his fellow players should kneel one time because Silver can't suspend the entire league if they unite and do this as a group. Because kneeling during the anthem makes many of you angry, but it is not and has never been disrespectful to this country, its soldiers or the flag. Because if James and his fellow NBA players do this, they will have the chance to speak and be heard -- to say they knelt once, because protesting is their right, come what may.
None of this is easy, and I understand and respect those of you who see it differently. My grandfather, who I love and look up to, almost certainly would have found my perspective wrong, if he were still alive to tell me so.
He would also have agreed that the great part about America is having that disagreement and still being connected as family and countrymen.
We know James feels strongly about this issue, this president and this moment in time. In America, good-meaning people should never be silenced, right or wrong.
We know James is the most important socially active and socially vocal American athlete of his generation. And we know we are better as a country when we are not cowed by fear or by the mob -- from Robinson to Ali to, I hope Tuesday night, James.
The "RIP Trayvon Martin" and "We want justice" shoes haven't worked, not to the point where enough people care about the actual message rather than the way it's delivered. The "I Can't Breathe" shirts haven't, either. But Kaepernick -- love or hate what he has started -- has shown that the anthem is a moment the world won't look away from.
That's why I hope the greatest basketball player on Earth stares at his flag and, out of love for his country and a belief he can help make it better, takes a knee.
<figure class=" img">
</figure> Bill Reiter National Columnist follow Bill Reiter began his career as a newspaper journalist before becoming a national columnist at CBS Sports. He currently hosts a national CBS Sports radio show from New York City from 6 to 10 p.m. ET called... Full Bio
