Tony Jones: Wrong to criticize LeBron for Tamir Rice situation

I admire the football players at the University of Missouri who staged a boycott in an effort to improve race relations on their campus. It was a unique protest, one that was well-thought out and well-executed. It certainly made an impact.

At the same time, I worried a bit, because I thought it opened a slippery slope. I thought people would look at that movement and think it could be easily duplicated. The reason it worried me was because I knew it wouldn't be easy.

That's why it saddened me a bit to see Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James come under public scrutiny this week in the wake of the Tamir Rice tragedy. A 12-year old boy who lived in Cleveland, Rice was shot and killed by a police officer last year, after he had been seen playing with a toy gun.

A grand jury failed to indict the officer this past week, prompting African-American leaders to pressure James to speak on the tragedy, and even boycott games in an effort to show support. When speaking on the issue, James was noncommittal, which garnered him even more criticism.

"I've always been a guy who's taken pride in knowledge on every situation that I've ever spoken on," James told Cleveland reporters this week. "I haven't really been on top of this issue, so it's hard for me to comment."

The criticism of James is off base for a number of reasons. Chief among them is asking a man to put his livelihood on hold. That's unfair to ask anyone to do anything that interrupts their cash flow. Yes, James has more money than you or I. Still, you can't ask a man to intentionally not show up for work, and then lob criticism at him when he decides that's not the way to go.

More than that, James has historically been an athlete who has spoken up, and spoken out on past issues, including the very issues that have sparked the "Black Lives Matter" movement we see today.

When Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012, James and his then-teammates with the Miami Heat posted a picture on social media, posing in hoodies. In 2014, James took the court in an "I can't breathe" shirt, in support of Eric Garner, who was choked by police in an incident in New York.

Most impressively, James has contributed millions of his own money to education, setting up a program that will send 1,000 youths of his hometown in Akron, Ohio, to college. Clearly, his track record speaks of a man who understands the importance of taking a stand, using his fame and powerful reach to make a statement. That he's put his own money behind education is his most important contribution, and makes a bigger impact in my opinion than sitting out any basketball game could.

Of course, one may think it a bit strange that James withheld opinion on the Rice incident, being that James plays in Cleveland and it would seem be a natural situation to speak on. But race relations in this country are not going to be fixed by one man. When James made statements, the incidents kept rolling in. And, I suspect, the Rice case won't be the last in what has been a steady stream of unfortunate cases around the country over past years.

Black, white, Latino, or otherwise, we have race issues in this country. More important, we have human issues, and that makes it difficult for me to judge one person's action or inaction. Like my colleague Chris Haynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer said in a recent column when writing about James, all of us need to take a long look in the mirror, and see what we can do as individuals to improve ourselves and our relations with fellow humans.

Criticizing LeBron James for what he's done or not done isn't the answer. Especially because he's already done plenty.

tjones@sltrib.com

Twitter: @Tjonessltrib