On Wednesday afternoon, all eyes turned to Washington, D.C. as. a pro-Trump mob scaled the walls of the Capitol building before breaching the premises and gaining entry in a violent attempt to prevent president-elect Biden from being inaugurated as the official winner of the 2020 election. Many have already weighed in on the riot, condemning the actions of the mob. Lebron James is now joining other basketball players in speaking out against the savage act.
During a press conference on Thursday, the basketball player discussed the events that occurred at the nation's Capitol and how he explained them to his small children. “You just show them the photos,” James said, referring to the Black Lives Matter protests that occurred throughout the summer. “All you got to do is look at the photos from the peaceful protests of what we were fighting for.”
Comparing the violent suppression of the BLM activists and the minimal repression the Trump mob faced, he added “When we were out there, we were out there fighting for lives. What we saw yesterday, they’re talking about votes.”
He then declared that “We live in two Americas and that Wednesday's events were "a prime example of that. He continued, "And if you don’t understand that or don’t see that after seeing what you saw yesterday then you really need to take a step back — not even just one step, maybe four or five or even 10 steps backwards and ask yourself… How do we want to live in this beautiful country? Because yesterday was not it.”
James then concluded that, “Being a part of a household with three kids — two boys, a daughter — a wife, a mother-in-law and so many Black folks in my household during that time and it’s on the TV, I couldn’t help but to wonder, if those were my kind storming the Capitol, what would have been the outcome? And I think we all know. There’s no ifs, ands or buts.”