Los Angeles, CA — Kobe Bryant made a controversial statement recently when he said that he wouldn’t react to something just because he’s Black. He was responding to an interviewer’s question about the Miami Heat’s 2012 hoodie photo, which was taken and posted on social media to show support for Trayvon Martin.In the upcoming March 31st issue of the New Yorker, Bryant talks about his career in basketball, and briefly touched on the Trayvon Martin case and how he personally felt about it.
He is quoted as saying that the Miami Heat’s “hoodie” photos showed “a lack of progress”.
He added, “I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African American. That argument doesn’t make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and a culture, but, say, if something happens to an African American, we immediately come to his defense? Yet you want to talk about how far we’ve progressed as a society? Well, we’ve progressed as a society, then don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right? So I won’t assert myself.”
Some agreed with his comments, but many criticized him saying he’s out of touch with real African American issues. His comments actually created a huge backlash and a debate across the country.
Kobe, however, later responded to such critics via his Twitter account.
He posted: Travon Martin was wronged THATS my opinion and thats what I believe the FACTS showed. The system did not work #myopinion #tweetURthoughts
Here’s the interview as featured in The New Yorker:
www.newyorker.com/reporting/2014/03/31/140331fa_fact_mcgrath
What do you think? Is Kobe out of touch? Or is he on point with what he said?