After a Grand Jury decided on Monday (Dec. 28) not to charge Officers Timothy Loehmann and Frank Garmback in connection to the shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, many have voiced their disdain.
One of Cleveland’s kings- the Cavaliers’ star player LeBron James– is speaking out about the case, admitting to reporters that he has been slow to react to the news simply because he doesn’t know many details about it, reports ESPN.
“For me, I’ve always been a guy who’s took pride in knowledge of every situation that I’ve ever spoke on,” said James to reporters after the Cavs’ win over the Denver Nuggets Tuesday night (93-87). “And to be honest, I haven’t really been on top of this issue. So it’s hard for me to comment.”
Many activists have called on James to sit out during future games as a means of protest on the verdict by starting a social media campaign- #NoJusticeNoLeBron. He has become a lot more outspoken in recent years when it comes to social issues, such as taking a recent stand on gun control and wearing hoodies with his former teammates, the Miami Heat, in solidarity for Trayvon Martin in 2012. However, the Twitter mentions calling on the baller for help went virtually unnoticed by him, he alludes.
“I’m not much of a social media guy,” he said when asked about the campaign. “I’m on it, for sure, but I’m not always looking at what’s going on in it.”
.@KingJames Take a stand Lebron. You have the opportunity to use your status to make a real difference. #NoJusticeNoLebron #TamirRice
— D (@Delo_Taylor) December 29, 2015
No cynic ever changed the world… #NoJusticeNoLebron#TamirRicepic.twitter.com/XEXnefSyoC
— TariqTouré (@TariqToure) December 29, 2015
“I understand that any lives that [are] lost, what we want more than anything is prayer and the best for the family, for anyone,” he continued to say about the Rice case when a reporter asked what someone in his position can do to enact social change.
“But for me to comment on the situation, I don’t have enough knowledge about it. There’s been the San Bernardino massacre, there’s been guys going in movie theaters, shooting up movie theaters, there’s been other issues. Those are not something that … I don’t have much knowledge of so I don’t speak about it. So for me … if I feel like it’s something that I have a lot of knowledge about [I’ll add my voice to the issue], because I don’t like to speak when I don’t know about it.”
Albeit his lack of information, LeBron offered up his two cents on the growing number of cases of black youth being killed by officers, which at times appears to be unwarranted.
“But I think the most important thing that we all need to understand, the most important thing, this issue is bigger than LeBron,” he continued. “This issue is bigger than me; it’s about everyone. And gun violence and tragedies and kids losing lives at a young age, some way, somehow we need to understand that that matters more than just an individual.”