LeBron James: Did He Really Play the Race Card or Did Soledad O'Brien?

Soledad O'Brien asked LeBron James if he felt this was about race. My question for her is, "Why did you ask that question?"

To this point James has never said anything about race. So why now? One reason, and one reason only—he was asked a question. So again, why did she ask the question?

Consider the possible answers to the question: "yes," "no," "somewhat," and "I don't want to answer." Every answer would come in one of those four categories. 

If he answers "yes," he becomes a lighting rod for even more criticism, far more than he received today. 

If he answers "no," he lies or is stupid. The thing is that virtually everyone agrees that there is some aspect that race plays in everything, so it plays a role in this—which is precisely what he answered. The fact is that part of the problem to some people, whether they want to acknowledge it or not, is that seeing three black men determine their own future and not be under the thumb of a white man bothers some—and the operative word here is some—white people are bothered because he didn't know his "place."

If that's not you, it's not you. That's fine. But don't tell me because Obama is president there aren't any racists left. It's one thing to see a black man perform for you and another to see him determine his own fate.

Most Americans aren't consciously bothered, but some are. Some are bothered beneath the surface but unconsciously, and most aren't bothered. But still the fact is that race DOES play a part of it, and because someone liked him when he was doing what he was supposed to doesn't mean they aren't racist. Millions of Americans embraced Sammy Davis Jr. while they fought civil rights reform. If on a much higher level the contradiction can exist, why not at a smaller level, as with James? 

If he answers "somewhat," which again is how he answered, we know what happens. What happened is what happens. Nuance is not a thing embraced by Americans. In our world of "our party is right and the other party is wrong," where things as dissimilar as abortion and capital gains are inseparably linked in the majority of minds. In a nation where both sides of both arguments point to the hypocrisy of contradictory views on the death penalty and abortion that the other side is guilty. In a nation like that are we really ready to accept that race has "somewhat" of a role in how we as a nation perceives something, "at times?" The very fact that there are right now at least a half dozen articles on Bleacher Report condemning James for playing the "race card" suggests that we aren't. 

It's easier to say he played the race card and then ignore the rest of the media in which Carter acknowledges that most of the reason for the reaction lies in the mishandling of "The Decision" and how it was wrong to spend "half an hour breaking Clevleand's heart." That fact fails to get the same attention. The fact is James didn't blame it on race. They placed the blame on a bad decision to host "The Decision." That doesn't plug well into the story line though. It's too "nuanced." 

If he answers, "I don't want to answer that," every talk-show host today is talking about is how he's too arrogant to answer a question. They would ask, "What is the point of going on national TV and being interviewed if you're not going to answer the question?"

So no matter how he answers the question everyone is talking about it today. He's an easy target and a bonfire this summer. It's easy to pour gasoline and act innocent. 

Soledad O'Brien is the other name. She knew what would happen. Now a name that no one would otherwise be discussing is on 10,000 blogs and 100,000 lips. So let me ask the question again: "Did James play the race card or did Soledad O'Brien? And who really stood the most to gain by doing so?"