Following comments Kobe Bryant made about black people rallying around Trayvon Martin because of the color of his skin, fellow basketball star Dwyane Wade had a different take.
If you recall, Bryant spoke with author Ben McGrath for an in-depth article in The New Yorker where he said this about Wade and the rest of the Miami Heat players posing in hoodies in an act of solidarity for the slain teenager:
“I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, just because I’m African-American. That argument doesn’t make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and as a culture, but, say, if something happens to an African-American, we immediately come to his defense? Yet you want to talk about how far we’ve progressed as a society? Well, if we’ve progressed as a society, then you don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African-American. You sit and listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right? So I won’t assert myself.”
Wade, however, disputed that allegation, citing the fact that many Heat players grew up in the Miami area and are also fathers to young boys.
“It was our backyard, and being in our backyard, being something that a lot of guys on this team—not only growing up in the kind of environment that Trayvon was in—but also having young boys,” Wade told Bleacher Report. “Knowing that he is a big fan of the Miami Heat. That is something that we got behind. As a team. I can’t even say the organization. It was as a team. We got behind it. And it was more so that than the color of his skin.”
To read more about how Wade and his Miami Heat teammates are often not afraid to step out into the political arena for a cause, click here.
For more on Bryant’s Trayvon Martin comments, click here.
SOURCE: Bleacher Report | PHOTO CREDIT: Twitter
