NBA Defends Money-Making China from Athlete Activism

In February, LeBron James expressed his support for Colin Kaepernick by wearing a jacket with Kaepernick's number on it and spreading his message of fighting against the social injustice American minorities face. It was a small gesture but one that clearly pointed that James supports Kaepernick's cause. So it came as a shock when James criticized Houston Rockets General Manager, Daryl Morey, who did something similar by tweeting support for the Hong Kong protesters.

The Hong Kong protests are about the implementation of a new bill that would allow China to extradite people on trial from Hong Kong to China's more strict legal system. Protesters feared that the bill would give China more influence in Hong Kong and allow them to silence activists and critics.

Morey drew the ire of both China and the NBA when he sent a now-deleted tweet expressing support for the Hong Kong protesters. China responded by pulling Rockets merchandise off their shelves. Soon after, the NBA issued a public statement on Oct. 7 apologizing for Morey's actions stating that, "the views of...Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable."

James stood by the NBA and criticized Morey's statement. James stated, "I don’t want to get into a ... feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand and he spoke."

So why would the NBA side with China? After all, NBA athletes like James and Stephen Curry have vocally shared their views on the current presidential administration and on police brutality, and they weren't penalized for it. Why is China different? Well, according to USA Today, the NBA has multiple billion-dollar deals with China.

This isn't the first time China has exerted its influence with U.S companies like the NBA. Earlier in October, when a Hearthstone e-sports player spoke in support of Hong Kong, Blizzard, the company in charge of Hearthstone, initially punished him by rescinding his prize money and banning him from attending tournaments for a year. They even took that further and punished the commentators of that event for no reason other than to placate China.

There are those that argue that these athletes shouldn't be involved with politics or social issues, that they should just stick to sports and nothing but sports. That argument is dehumanizing and implies that athletes are nothing more than show dogs. Athletes have been at the forefront of political and social activism for the last century.

In the 1940s, Jackie Robinson fought against racism. Katherine Switzer and Billie Jean King cemented the status of women as being talented athletes and fought for equal pay. Even more recently, players on the Miami Heat and the Oakland Raiders respectively protested the killings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown.

Athletes can and have used their positions to bring about change or to bring awareness to social issues like the Hong Kong protests.

What James, the NBA, and the various U.S companies like Apple, Blizzard, and Disney are doing is protecting their bottom line because China is a big moneymaker. They're doing everything they can to keep the money rolling.

It's downright shameful and hypocritical of these companies to completely ignore or criticize the people who are trying to keep their freedom. James should be calling out China for their brutality and using their positions to draw support for these protesters.

If they don't want to do it, then we have to. We need to do everything we can to keep this story of the Hong Kong protests going. We need to call out the companies for their apathy and hypocrisy. We cannot let the people of Hong Kong die in silence.