It
started with Derrick Rose, the Chicago Bulls star who wore a T-shirt
emblazoned with the phrase “I Can’t Breathe” during warm-ups before a
game last Saturday in Chicago.
Then on Monday, ,
the N.B.A.’s most prominent player, its biggest superstar, wore the
same black shirt during warm-ups before Cleveland’s game with the Nets
in Brooklyn. Not for the first time, James walked straight into the
politically charged arena that many professional athletes traditionally
try to avoid.
James’s
teammate Kyrie Irving also wore the shirt during warm-ups, as did four
Nets players: Jarrett Jack, Deron Williams, Alan Anderson and Kevin
Garnett.
The
“I Can’t Breathe” phrase that has become a rallying cry for protesters
in the wake of a grand jury’s decision not to indict a New York police
officer whose chokehold on an unarmed black man, Eric Garner, led to the
man’s death on Staten Island in July.
Some
of those protesters demonstrated outside Barclays Center before
Monday’s game. In the past, they might not have expected the explicit
support of James. But as he nears his 30th birthday, James has come to
embrace a role in which he is willing to speak out on real-world issues.
In
the shooting death of Trayvon Martin in Florida, the uproar created by
Donald Sterling’s inflammatory remarks last spring, the decision by a
grand jury in Ferguson, Mo., not to indict a police officer in the
shooting death of Michael Brown, or now, the Garner case, James has
shown a willingness to get involved.
On Monday, James spoke briefly about Garner before the game, wore the T-shirt and spoke to reporters again after the game.
“Violence
is not the answer, and retaliation is not the solution,” James said.
“As a society, we have to get better. It’s not going to be done in one
day. But we all have to do better.”
James
also said: “If it feels important to me, then I respond. If it doesn’t,
I don’t. There’s a lot of issues I haven’t talked about. For me it’s
about knowledge, it’s about the gut feeling.”
The
decision by James, Irving and the other players to wear the T-shirts
was applauded by Cavaliers Coach David Blatt, who said the players had a
right to express how they felt.
“It has an impact; those guys know that,” Blatt said.
“Obviously
we’re not on the front line of this movement,” said Garnett, a 19-year
N.B.A. veteran. “But I think it’s important to give to these communities
and support these communities.”
Irving said he planned to continue wearing the T-shirt before games “for a while.”
That,
in turn, may create some problems for Adam Silver, the N.B.A.
commissioner, who released a statement Monday in which he said he
respected “Derrick Rose and all of our players voicing their personal
views on important issues.”
“But my preference would be for players to abide by our oncourt attire rules,” the statement added.
It
is not known whether Silver plans to meet with any of the players to
discuss protest guidelines. The N.F.L. opted not to fine five St. Louis
Rams players who entered the field before a recent game against Oakland
with their hands raised in the “Don’t shoot” pose that was used by
protesters in Missouri.
The
T-shirts players wore on Monday were distributed by Jack, who said
before the game that he had heard that James wanted one. He had them
delivered to Cleveland’s locker room.
James said he had worn his T-shirt in part as a show of solidarity for Garner’s family.
“It was a message to the family, that I’m sorry for their loss,” James said.
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