Shut Up and Dribble: Athletes' Right to Talk About Politics

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Last year prior to the National Basketball Association, NBA, All-Star Game, Lebron James, one of the most well-known athletes in the United States, was interviewed by an ESPN reporter about the challenges of being an African American athlete in America. In the interview, Lebron goes on to talk about the problem of race in the country, President Trump and other political issues. In the days following the airing of Lebron's interview with ESPN, Fox News journalist Laura Ingraham on her program, The Ingraham Angle, criticized and denounced Lebron's comments on public television. She starts off her segment by saying, "this is a Jumb Dock alert" and later calls Lebron to just "shut up and dribble." More from this segment of The Ingraham Angle can be seen below. 


The term "Shut Up and Dribble" spread quickly on social media and became a rallying cry for athletes across the nation to stand up and voice their opinions about racial and political issues.

When I first heard about this conflict between Lebron James and Laura Ingraham, I definitely sided with Ingraham. "Who is he to talk about political problems when he gets paid millions of dollars to play the game of basketball" is what I initially thought when coming across this story. However, after analyzing and examining the meaning of American citizenship for the past 10 weeks in my Expository Writing course, I have completely changed my mind about this issue.

Lebron James, like any other person who was born in the United States, is a citizen and is entailed to all the rights and privileges of US citizenship. Therefore under the 1st Amendment, Lebron, like any other American citizen, has "the freedom of speech" and the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Laura Ingraham used the "dumb jock" stereotype as a way denounce his political opinions and strip of his 1st Amendment right. But my question to Ms. Ingraham is what makes you more of a citizen than Lebron? Just because you are a news journalist does not mean you possess more of a right to talk about politics than Lebron does. As citizens we have a right to discuss, argue and debate over the conflicts our nation encounters on a daily basis. The Founding Fathers wanted all people to take part in the creation and preservation of our great nation. Therefore, Lebron has a right to complain and criticize the government like any other citizen. Whether you are an athlete, political journalist, teacher, lawyer or welder, we all have the equal right to voice our opinion about political matters regarding the United States. 

Source Used:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/02/19/587097707/laura-ingraham-told-lebron-james-to-shutup-and-dribble-he-went-to-the-hoop

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