LeBron James received an enormous amount of criticism for his comments on the shooting of Ma’hia Bryant. At the time, his stance on the issue triggered a lot of people, who pointed out that the officer involved was simply doing his job by preventing Bryant from potentially stabbing, and killing, an innocent.
In the aftermath of all the criticism, James did delete the Tweet, but not before defending himself to the masses.
James has since issued a follow-up to the whole situation, recently posting a link on his Twitter, which he believes does a proper job educating folks on the topic.
I fueled the wrong conversation about Ma’Khia Bryant and I owe it to her and this movement to change it. Thank you @fabiolacineas for educating us about Ma’Khia and her story and why this needs to be about her. https://t.co/Owh1vDJWXi #sayhername #Blacklivesmatter
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 3, 2021
Here’s a clip from the article, which highlights some of its main points:
“But as crisis interventionists pointed out, the police officer could have taken steps to deescalate the situation, savings all lives in the process. Psychologist Merushka Bisetty explained in an essay for Vox that children like Bryant may “present with aggression and an inability to self-regulate their emotions and, consequently, engage in behaviors that can seem aggressive or involve weapons,” but that doesn’t mean that these situations “require or should be met with violent force.” Instead, it’s the role of intervening professionals to stop an aggressive interaction from becoming fatal.”
So, James hasn’t really back-traced from his opinion, more so changing the way in which he engages the conversation. And while the article certainly raises a lot of fair and valid points, many fans still aren’t convinced.
She was in the process of stabbing someone else. How was the police officer going to get in the middle of them? What would the response be if she stabbed and killed the other girl? I’ll be the first to stand up when a bad cop should be condemned, but in this situation? Wwyd?
— It's Just Me (@Hvnlyprncss13) May 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/GRIMIS15/status/1389364758910959616
What a shit article. Call the crisis interventionists next time then. All the hypothetical "well the officer coulda done this or the officer coulda done that" bullshit. It was over in an instant. There was no time the threat was immanent, not like some hostage negotiation.
— ShwankBob (@piperhigh13) May 3, 2021
https://twitter.com/stophebuckeye/status/1389333434221408264
Lol this article is still trying to make it seem like the girl wasn’t in the wrong and that the cop acted to quickly and there was still a hint of racism involved
— Chad (@CHINNGLAND) May 3, 2021
LMAO “I was mad at cops for the wrong reasons, be mad at them for this reason instead”
Take a break bro 🤡
— Rudy Gobert ▶️Cancun (@not_terrys_bbq) May 3, 2021
This is a topic that will continue to be highly debated for some time. While it’s never good or easy to see someone lose their life in a police altercation, it is necessary in some cases, and it isn’t always race-related.
Nonetheless, these sorts of issues do exist in America, and you can’t blame people, including LeBron James, for wanting change and standing up for those who don’t have a voice.
Kudos to him for standing by his opinion and informing those who may have only been looking at it through their own perspective.
