Ibram Kendi defends LeBron James targeting officer who shot Ma’Khia Bryant: “People are angry”
Major critical race theory proponent Ibram X. Kendi has risen to the defense of LeBron James, who was savaged for painting a target on the back of the police officer who saved the life of a black girl after he shot her attacker, Ma’Khia Bryant, preventing her from stabbing others.
In a tweet, James posted a photograph of the police officer, now identified as Columbus Police Officer Nicholas Reardon, with the words “YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABLITY,” and included an emoji of an hourglass, signifying that time would soon run out for him.
Kendi, who promotes critical race theory and other divisive forms of education, which were branded as “un-American propaganda” by the Trump administration, appeared on CNN to defend James’ tweet.
“In this particular case, LeBron James spoke out, he tweeted a picture of the officer, the officer who allegedly shot Ma’Khia and he said, ‘you’re next,'” CNN host Brianna Keilar said. “He has since deleted that tweet. What is your reaction to that? Does that add to the tension? Is that appropriate?”
“I think it’s important for us to recognize that people are very, very angry and upset and outraged and people including LeBron James, you know, including others, they witnessed, you know, I don’t want to speak for LeBron, but I know many people feel as if they did not witness police work,” Kendi stated.
“They witnessed someone being killed and even potentially murdered. And of course, like with any other case, people are going to be outraged that someone did not come and de-escalate, the situation, disarm that girl, so everyone could have gone home safely that evening,” he added.
Kendi chastises Columbus cops for shooting a girl threatening to stab two others: “What would have happened” if the attacker had instead been rich and white? pic.twitter.com/60i7NC5BX4
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) April 22, 2021
Despite Kendi’s defense, most people criticized James for his remarks, prompting him to delete it less than two hours after he posted it. In a later post, James refused to apologize for his initial tweet and blamed others for using his post to “create more hate.”
“ANGER does [sic] any of us any good and that includes myself!” James said. “Gathering all the facts and educating does though! My anger still is here for what happened that lil girl. My sympathy for her family and may justice prevail!”
“I’m so damn tired of seeing Black people killed by police,” James continued. “I took the tweet down because its being used to create more hate -This isn’t about one officer. it’s about the entire system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more ACCOUNTABILITY.”
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