Social media has been on fire ever since word came down that the police officer who shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice would not be indicted. An Ohio grand jury made the decision Monday, and people immediately began passing around the same tweets and putting up the same social media posts that proclaim Black. Lives. Matter.
There have also been marches scheduled across the nation to protest the grand jury's decision. But a particular call to action involves NBA superstar LeBron James. James is from Ohio and plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, so folks think that his involvement in the protest would strike a hard blow to the heart of America—especially since we're knee-deep in the NBA season.
They want James to boycott NBA games until a federal prosecutor brings an indictment against the officer who killed Rice.
https://twitter.com/MsPackyetti/status/681664360683548672https://twitter.com/es_snipes/status/681889761456295936https://twitter.com/crazypastor/status/681649065214504960https://twitter.com/JAHIasPE2_0/status/681906070827089921https://twitter.com/Delo_Taylor/status/681666032126263296https://twitter.com/MsPackyetti/status/681662416791404545https://twitter.com/FreshcutMo/status/681656282810597376
Not everyone agrees, of course. Some say that a boycott by James wouldn't solve a thing, and others point out that he has done so much for working-class communities in Ohio already.
https://twitter.com/WesBellamy/status/681659737545424897https://twitter.com/Delo_Taylor/status/681884340842807296
If you recall, James and the rest of his teammates (back when he played for the Miami Heat) protested the shooting death of Trayvon Martin by wearing hoodies in a photo. And Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose last year donned a T-shirt that read "I Can't Breathe" during practice—a reference to the police officer's fatal choke hold that killed Eric Garner in New York City. So NBA players—and African-American athletes in general—have a history of getting into social-justice movements, especially as of late.
For more of black Twitter, check out The Chatterati on The Root and follow The Chatterati on Twitter.
Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele is a staff writer at The Root and the founder and executive producer of Lectures to Beats, a Web series that features video interviews with scarily insightful people. Follow Lectures to Beats on Facebook and Twitter.
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