Should LeBron Be More Involved in the Tamir Rice Case?

Last week, Tamir Rice’s mom, Samaria, spoke to Roland Martin about how she was disappointed with LeBron James’ lack of response and inaction in regards to the shooting death of her 12-year-old son. In a nutshell, LeBron said he didn’t have much knowledge about the case, just what he heard from his “folks on the side.” He went on to say that there’s a lot of other things going on like the San Bernardino terrorist case, theater shootings and the like. Since Tamir’s death happened in Ohio, where LeBron grew up and has played pro ball twice, Samaria believes LeBron should be more than informed but should at least make a statement since he holds such sway in the city. It’s even more of a slap in the face since he wore an “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirt in honor of Eric Garner, the black man killed in an officer-involved New York City incident.

While people have asked LeBron to sit out games to influence the prosecutor’s decision to bring charges in the case, Samaria only wants LeBron to speak out about the case. That’s nothing too hard to do, especially when it’s someone of LeBron’s stature, power and prominence. LeBron sitting out games isn’t the right route. However, if he would encourage the people of Cleveland to take a stand, vote on people in local, state and national elections who serve their interests and best case scenario, build up their own political and community leaders, perhaps we won’t have another Tamir Rice tragedy on our already bloodstained hands.