LeBron James told the truth about Brittney Griner and Boston… people got mad — in other news, water is wet – Deadspin

“It’s a statement about the value of women,” said Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard about Griner’s situation. “It’s a statement about the value of a Black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those things. We know it, and so that’s what hurts a little more.”

What’s at the heart of Griner’s situation is that she is a living and breathing representation of everything this country hates — a triple minority (Black, female, and gay) that White America has never gone the extra mile to protect, let alone appreciate or value. And so when somebody like James ponders about what she may be thinking as she sits in a Russian jail, of course, some will deem it unpatriotic as if this country has ever given African-Americans a reason to be proud of this place, let alone the sense of feeling welcomed.

Now on to Boston…

In the summer of 2014, I made a trip to Beantown. It was the first time I’d been there since a few visits to see family when I was a kid. It’s funny the things that you pick up on when you’re an adult compared to a child. During my visit, we walked around Fenway Park on game day. And this was years before fans would hang a sign that read “Racism is as American as baseball,” or before the Red Sox needed it to be the year 2020 before they could admit that a lot of racist things happen to Black players and people at their historic stadium, and prior to Celtics star Marcus Smart going public about an incident he had with a racist fan outside of TD Garden.

Despite being the place that gave us New Edition and Donna Summer, or the Black population and neighborhoods it features — outside of that, Boston is reminiscent of places like Mississippi, South Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama. There’s always a feeling in the air that you’re not wanted there, and the reaction that often takes place anytime someone holds a mirror up to that city is proof that our feelings have always been facts.

The message is always as important as the messenger, and vice versa. And in the case of LeBron James — a Black man that has felt the hate from Boston fans for decades, owns a piece of the Red Sox, and knows what it likes to be treated like a second-class citizen at times in your own country, even when you’ve won gold medals for them — he’s a perfect combination of the two. And if you disagree with his takes on Brittney Griner and Boston it’s because you still refuse to take that first step — which is admitting that in this country, Black lives have never mattered as much as white ones.

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