LeBron James is thrilled with the prospect of a Biden administration, and the Washington Post's Kevin Blackistone is gleeful over President Donald Trump's presumed demise. The Washington Nationals have already invited Biden to throw out the first pitch in their 2021 home opener. However, Blackistone warns athletes not to be too quick to jump on the Biden-Harris bandwagon until they earn their social justice spurs.
James and others "should curb their enthusiasm before accepting another White House invitation, no matter that they often campaigned for the man who’ll shortly inhabit it," writes Blackistone, suggesting that the White House should celebrate social justice activism instead of team championships.
Don't get Blackistone (seen in file photo) wrong. He had called for athletes to snub the Trump White House, and he's "filled with glee" over the election. He says that if sports can serve as an "elixir to the fears and ignorance that afflict us — such as racism, sexism and xenophobia" then no athletic teams should visit Trump's White House. "Trump gave succor to white supremacists, behaved misogynistically without apology and was particularly hostile to foreigners of color."
Trump's conduct was odious and belligerent, and so many people had enough of his four years of "-isms” of the past four years, Blackistone complains.
University of Louisville professor Evan Frederick, author of the Sage Journal article, “ ‘I’m Not going to the f***ing White House’: Twitter Users React to Donald Trump and Megan Rapinoe,” asked, “How do you justify an endorsement of a newly-elected President until meaningful action is taken to address systemic issues that exploit, disenfranchise, and adversely impact people of color?”
Blackistone qualifies that question by admitting that celebrations by James and fellow SJWs were due more to the apparent defeat of Trumpism than the Biden-Harris ticket.
Angela Davis, the radical communist icon from California, agrees.:
“I don’t see this election as being about choosing a candidate who will be able to lead us in the right direction. It will be about choosing a candidate who can be most effectively pressured into allowing more space for the evolving anti-racist movement.”
Relief over the election should not breed complacency, Blackistone warns athletes on the Left. "If James and other athletes are sincere in their advocacy for immigrant rights, their fight against voter suppression, their promotion of a return to ample federal government support for public education, they should continue to use their White House invitations — which seek to use them to score political points — to make points of their own."
They can accomplish this by holding the next occupants of the White House accountable to their promises. They should not rollick with a President Biden who would have former Chicago mayor/Obama adviser Rahm Emanuel in his cabinet because he is the "full antithesis to Black athletes’ protests of racist policing." Emanuel had suppressed police dash-cam video of Chicago cops shooting unarmed Black teen Laquan McDonald, Blackistone says.
Blackistone will be satisfied when the White House celebrates athletes succeeding in social justice activities instead of team championships.
