Taking a page out of the Kyle Korver "I'm white, privileged and sorry" book, the Miami Heat's Meyers Leonard told The Undefeated sports blog's Marc J. Spears why he stands for the national anthem and also gets down with the Black Lives Matter movement. He says he's trying to be a good white guy by listening and educating himself and clueless folks back home on the farm about the effects of systemic racism.
Last year, Korver (see "Privileged") beat himself up as a privileged NBA white guy in a post on The Players Tribune. Leonard has emerged as the NBA's 2020 self-flagellating, guilt-ridden white poster child.
Playing for a team in the NBA Finals, Leonard said, "You can be both. I can love and have appreciation for the military while also feeling pain in my heart for what’s going on in America, particularly to the African American community." Leonard stands for the national anthem because his brother joined the Marines after 911. He's catching some flak for standing, but says everything's cool because he gets it, he understands what African Americans are enduring.:
I 100% know that my teammates aren’t kneeling to disrespect the flag or the military. They have their reasons for protest and equality, and I respect that and honor that. At the same time, I have my reasons to stand and they respect me for that, too. They have embraced me, in fact. I’m so damn thankful that they have, because they know I’m pure in the heart and in the fight with them as well.
Leonard wanted everyone to like him and was so hurt when Twitter-heads called him racist and worst because he stands for the national anthem. He sympathized with and felt the pain of veterans struggling with suicidal thoughts and African Americans. Leonard came from a white, rural community and confessed, "I still have white privilege."
"Being a white man, from a mainly white community, I haven’t been directly impacted by these things, so I have to listen and learn," Leonard said before turning on those who actually say "all lives matter":
"And there’s plenty of people around the United States of America and around the world who say, ‘Yeah, well, f— that, All Lives Matter.’ No, that’s bulls—. Have some sympathy. Learn. Educate. Flip on the TV. Do some research. All lives can’t matter until Black lives matter.
"How do I now, in military terms, put boots on the ground and continue to make an impact or just use my voice?"
The Black Lives Matter movement is not fake news, Leonard insisted. It's real pain.
Someone from Meyers' home town asked him, '‘Well, what about All Lives Matter?’' and he responded: '‘Whoa, whoa.’ UD (teammate Udonis Haslem) told me stuff like this would be coming and I told the man, ‘I got to stop you right there.’ " Korver could not have been prouder of his protegé.
Leonard said it's now his job to educate the unenlightened know-nothings who don't get it:
Look, this s— f—ing matters. That’s one of the most powerful things and opportunities I think I have personally is to help educate people who are like me, from small white communities, who may be good people that just don’t ever see it.
Some of these rubes might even say, '‘Meyers, thank you for saying something, because we don’t know what’s going on in these other places.’' He just wants them to know "I am with it."
Leonard is not only with it, but fully indoctrinated in the Marxist BLM madness turning the minds of athletes into mush.
