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147 Comments
- MattFromSeattle, on 11/07/2008, -8/+69True, but many inner city youths have only had drug dealers, basketball players, and rappers to look up to for the past 30+ years. So while I agree with your point overall, Lebron's point still holds weight.
- masterninja, on 11/07/2008, -16/+53obama or not, you can always be more than an athlete. obama or not, you can always be more than whatever career path you choose.
- zwendkos, on 11/07/2008, -6/+36"To those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight, we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope."
-- Barack Obama - Georgy, on 11/07/2008, -1/+30quite honestly i'd rather be a basketball player, especially one as good as lebron james...
- hollowex, on 11/07/2008, -7/+34It was true before he was president too... did i say too much?
- Wargala, on 11/07/2008, -2/+18As if being a multi-MULTI millionaire NBA player was such a bad thing.
- inactive, on 11/07/2008, -9/+24"You don't have to become a basketball player."
So if you are black you have been forced to become either an athlete or an entertainer? Last time I checked there are many black doctors, lawyers, politicians, scientists and other assorted professionals.
Has he never heard of George Washington Carver or even Johnny Cochran at the very least? What kind of victim mentality crap is this? - VinnieDaMac, on 11/07/2008, -1/+16He forgot Rapper. Obama means you can be more than an Athlete or a Rapper.
- Someguy101, on 02/19/2009, -0/+15Is anyone else as excited as I am to have a President who is capable of speaking to the nation coherently and energetically? I nearly forgot what a true leader sounded like.
- sfrench, on 11/07/2008, -0/+14While his basic premise is right. I having a little trouble swallowing " You don't have to become a basketball player" from a guy that purposefully turned down the ability to go to any college he wanted..... to go directly to the NBA.
- moocow1452, on 11/07/2008, -0/+12Let me tell you a little something about kids, they don't get history unless you shove it directly in their faces. When I was a kid, I was convinced that my grandpa's best friend was a dinosaur, and they walked to school fending off Indian raids. Once I learned that there was some disconnect between time frames and not everything happened 100 years ago, it obviously changed my perspective.
Now, despite the fact there have been a bunch of Black role models throughout the years, and the whole civil rights movement was a huge leap in social change, kids only know what's around them, and having Obama as president is worth a lot more than the "Days of Yore" speech, because it is now, and it is happening, and your not hearing it second-hand from some old senile man. - inactive, on 11/07/2008, -0/+11Well, it's not, obviously, but if you grow up believing that the only way you can be successful in life is to be a basketball player, or a football player, or a rapper, you're going to become very disappointed very quickly.
- trafficlight, on 11/07/2008, -1/+11Imagine you're 10 years old and living in the projects. Who, in your eyes, is successful? Who has the money? Drug dealers, rappers and basketball/football players. You don't get to see anything else. You wouldn't know anything about CEOs.
Nobody is out there telling kids that the only thing they can be in life is a basketball player. It's just, unfortunately, their reality. - elo91, on 11/07/2008, -1/+10its sad that a black guy has to be elected president before black people say they can believe in themselves. that being said, what happens if obama is an absolute disaster and makes bush look pretty good by comparison?
- whatup732, on 11/07/2008, -1/+9Dugg for the assumption that black parents apparently tell their kids they have to become basketball players
- RajaDeVo, on 11/07/2008, -2/+10I'm glad that blacks are seeing now that they can do anything, which they ALWAYS could have but didn't because of excuses. Now Obama is president there needs to be no more excuses. Don't you agree?
If you do, then you should also agree that blacks no longer deserve any special treatment. So lets abolish Affirmative Action.
What is it? A black man can be president but... - ileftfark, on 11/07/2008, -0/+8While I understand the sentiment, this is really looking at things from a negative angle, which only caters to the perception that one is disadvantaged from the start. This singular event could be just as easily seen as the 'exception to the rule' if you (as Lebron has seemed to) ignore the long and notable history of blacks in this country. I can see why seeing a mulatto President can be motivating, but only when looking through the most narrow of viewpoints. Coming from a multi-racial background myself, I never looked to people of my specific ethnicity for inspiration or motivation, when it could be so easily found anywhere in mankind. SES is by far the biggest factor in determining a person's aptitude for vertical ascension in the ranks of society, not race. Obama's children are light-years ahead of poor whites, blacks, asians, or hispanics growing up in inner cities. To make a statement like this, you are failing to give creedence to: G. W. Carver, Maya Angelou, Crispus Attucks, Jackie Robinson, Laurence Fishburne, Colin Powell, Martin Luther King Jr, Booker T. Washington, and FFS Oprah- one of the richest people in the country.
And last I checked, none of them were rappers. - trendygamer, on 11/07/2008, -6/+13They had Clifford Huxtable...
- slothlovechunk, on 11/07/2008, -0/+7Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice.... i can't... I can't get fooled again.
- publiclurker, on 11/07/2008, -0/+7Well, said. While kids understand the importance of the president and the coolness of an athlete, everything else just runs together in their minds. In my professional career, I've helped people design pacemakers and designed programs that are used to control multi-million dollar equipment and rescue hundreds of lives. Despite all this, my young kids are most impressed that I worked at a 7-11 and got to sell Slurpees and wear a neat apron.
- timrob, on 11/07/2008, -0/+7Heathcliff Huxtable
- inactive, on 11/07/2008, -1/+7i love me some me!!!
- Someguy101, on 02/19/2009, -0/+6"I AM! but where will the daily show get their new fodder? Oh the horror... the horror."
Creationists?
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice.... i can't... I can't get fooled again."
I'm going to throw the biggest freakin party when Bush vacates the White House. See ya Bushie, I won't miss you at all. - natenovs, on 11/07/2008, -2/+8yes, this seems to ignore all of the successful black people today. Does what Colin Powell and condi rice did mean anything to them?
- inactive, on 11/07/2008, -2/+8You have to learn self-motivation. It has to be taught to you. It doesn't just magically descend from on high.
- mcsenget, on 11/07/2008, -3/+9true, the only thing that changed was perception, but perception is everything.
- Oranqe, on 11/07/2008, -1/+6I'm not used to hearing the President of the America speak more intelligently then my kindergarten teacher.
- virtualball, on 11/08/2008, -0/+5Up here in Cleveland, what he's saying is completely true. He's not saying you can be better at what you do, he's saying that now black kids in the inner-city can look up to a black president, the highest office in America. My mom used to teach at an inner-city school and when she asked them their life goals, a lot said "rappers" and many more said an "athlete." In their position, they can't go to medical school or college, so what hope is there for them? Well, now that the next generation will grow up seeing a black, charismatic man in office, they can actually see that they can be him.
Oh, and I don't like basketball, so I'm not biased to what he's saying :) - ramd3z, on 11/07/2008, -1/+6I AM! but where will the daily show get their new fodder? Oh the horror... the horror.
- Skywise, on 11/07/2008, -0/+5Nor Clarence Thomas?
Nope, because they were with THEM. - NOFXY, on 11/07/2008, -1/+6Oh! he lives next to the poor people, he completely understands them. I mean, if Palin can reference her proximity to Russia as foreign policy experience, then, so too, can JiveRabbit claim his proximity to poor people as knowing what it's like to be poor.
- ak666jk, on 11/07/2008, -2/+7The problem is that our society focuses so much on race that they have no one to aspire to be like. You shouldn't base your role models off your race. Too bad that everyone seems to be encouraging that right now. I don't think anyone should give a ***** that Obama's black, they should pay attention to what he says and does, the content of his character, not the color of his skin. It's a sad thing people were saying that everywhere when Obama became the President Elect.
- whiledo, on 03/25/2009, -7/+12obama or not, you don't seem to get the concept of role models
- inactive, on 11/07/2008, -2/+6Four years ago, I didn't know a black man could be president. I was aware that the hypothetical possibility existed, but I never thought I'd see anyone actually prove that a black man could actually win the election.
- Soave, on 11/07/2008, -3/+7Lol black people. Did they really not think they could be "more than a basketball player" before this? Stereotyping themselves...
- mackii, on 11/07/2008, -2/+6Who else thinks that President Obama should be a bonus player in the next generation of basketball video games?
- Someguy101, on 02/19/2009, -2/+6Hoping in your mind that the path is there is one thing but watching someone walk it and wave at you from the finish line is a lot more convincing.
There were a lot of people that knew that opportunity existed for people of all races and circumstances but it was always bogged down by "someday" or "eventually we'll be able to do that."
Now that we have someone who's done it those barriers are gone from the minds of millions of blacks in America. I'm really happy for all my black friends out there, I'm as white as can be but It's just great to see another nail in the coffin of racism. Hopefully with time we'll eventually bury it completely. - Vesper73, on 11/07/2008, -1/+5T'was an incredible moment. Thanks for the quote!
- laserjesus, on 11/07/2008, -4/+8I really don't get all that hype.
Yes he is a good candidate. Yes he was better than maccain. Yes he is a good speaker.
But thats it. He hasnt done anything great. Why don't people understand that it's not the perfect act that makes someone a good politician, but good decisions and until then the real "change" won't come. - pintomp3, on 11/07/2008, -2/+6jiverabbit has never been to a school in a poor neighboorhood.
- randumbusername, on 11/07/2008, -0/+3quit the *****. you could always be what you want pre-obama.
reminds me of master p after katrina. this mofo talking about what the government should be doing when he's a multi-millionaire.
if one positive comes from obama hopefully folks will drop the slave mentality. - BuryBrigade08, on 11/08/2008, -0/+3http://www.thefreedictionary.com/abhorredabhor
Verb
[-horring, -horred] to detest utterly [Latin abhorrere to shudder at]
Looks like another diggtard failed grammar school. - mcsenget, on 11/07/2008, -1/+4liberty*
- JiveRabbit, on 11/07/2008, -0/+3prosperity*
equality*
* only for majority - Birukun, on 11/07/2008, -1/+4It was true, but now NO ONE HAS AN EXCUSE.
Except the Asian and Latino communities, and the Asian community really had no problem becoming successful.... - Gnar04, on 11/07/2008, -0/+3those were the presidents bitches.
- patriamus, on 11/08/2008, -0/+3I saw a white guy playing basketball the other day.
- Birukun, on 11/07/2008, -0/+3Has Bill Cosby weighed in yet? His opinion is more important than Lebron James. At least more experienced, having lived through some of the U.S. 's troubled times.....
- mvader, on 11/07/2008, -0/+3In my opinion, it is going to happen.
His policies make it VERY unprofitable to invest in the stock market (capital gains taxes and all that).
If he enacts those policies, a lot of people will pull their money out to avoid those taxes. This is just an extension to all the ways the liberals say that the rich evade taxes. And what happens when a lot of people pull their money out? Two words: Black Friday -
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