NBA superstars LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and Dwyane Wade opened the 2016 ESPY Awards addressing the recent shootings of black men by police officers and the slaying of officers in Dallas. The four perennial All-Stars also urged fellow athletes to speak out on social issues.
Calling for change
All four stars spoke on uniting divided communities and bringing an end to violence. Anthony spoke on the need for change: "The events of the past week have put a spotlight on the injustice, distrust, and anger that plague so many of us," Anthony said during the ESPY's opening (r/t Time Magazine). "The system is broken. The problems are not new. The violence is not new. And the racial divide definitely is not new. But the urgency to create change is at an all-time high."
"The racial profiling has to stop. The shoot-to-kill mentality has to stop. Not seeing the value of black and brown bodies has to stop," Wade said. "But also, the retaliation has to stop. The endless gun violence in places like Chicago, Dallas, not to mention Orlando, it has to stop. Enough. Enough is enough."
"We stand here tonight, accepting our role in uniting communities, to be the change we need to see. We stand before you as fathers, sons, husbands, brothers, uncles — and in my case, as an African-American man and the nephew of a police officer, who is one of the hundreds of thousands of great officers serving this country," Paul said. "But, Trayvon Martin. Michael Brown. Tamir Rice. Eric Garner. Laquan McDonald. Alton Sterling. Philando Castile. This is also our reality."
Paul and James separately evoked the names of past athletes, including the late Muhammad Ali, who spoke out on the social issues of their time, urging current stars to do the same. "Generations ago, legends like Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jim Brown, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe and countless others, they set a model for what athletes should stand for," Paul said. "So we choose to follow in their footsteps."
"I know tonight we’re honoring Muhammad Ali. The GOAT. But to do his legacy any justice, let’s use this moment as a call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves," James said. "It’s for these issues. Speak up. Use our influence. And renounce all violence."
A history of activism
According to ABC News anchor T.J. Holmes via Twitter, the NBA stalwarts' intro was not an ABC network idea. James, Anthony, Paul and Wade went to the network and requested to open the show in light of the recent shootings of Castille and Sterling. Sterling, a 37-year-old, was shot in the back and chest by police in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Sterling was selling CDs in front of a Triple S-Mart. Castille, who worked in the St. Paul Public School System, was shot and killed during a traffic stop in St. Paul, Minnesota. Police shot Castille four to five times in the arm as he raised arms. The incident escalated after Castille told the officer he was legally carrying a concealed weapon.
James, Paul, Anthony, and Wade, who are close friends off the court, are no strangers to taking social stances. James and Wade wore hoodies in protest following the shooting of Trayvon Martin as members of the Miami Heat in 2012. On his Instagram, Anthony recently called for athletes to speak out on injustices even at the cost of endorsements. Anthony also participated in protests in his hometown of Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray. "Now, as athletes, it’s on us to challenge each other to do even more than we already do in our own communities," Wade said. "And the conversation, it cannot stop as our schedules get busy again. It won’t always be convenient. It won’t. It won’t always be comfortable, but it is necessary."
James express similar sentiments: “We all to have do better,” he said.