Sunday, March 25, 2012

Miami Heat Takes Bold Action

Before taking care of business on Friday night in a lopsidedvictory over the Detroit Pistons, The Miami Heat banded together to take care of business both socially and ethically by shedding light on the unfortunate death of a 17-year-old, hooded Trayvon Martin.
Nearly a month ago, Martin was shot and killed by the captain of his community’s neighborhood watch while he was returning home from a nearby convenient store after iced tea and skittles. The neighborhood watch captain, 28-year-old George Zimmerman, alleged that he shot and killed Martin as self-defense. Police reported that Martin was unarmed.
The police officials who handled Martin’s case initially dismissed what occurred. Those same police are now under heavy scrutiny for their lack of effort to seek justice for Martin. Many people believe the lack of follow through by the police was caused by Martin being African American.
In response to the event, the Miami Heat took a team photo where every individual was hooded in a similar fashion to Martin. NBA All-Star and Miami Heat small forward Lebron James tweeted the photo (seen below) prior to the game with hashtags #WeareTrayvonMartin, #WeWantJustice, #Stereotyped, and #Hoodies accompanying the photo. The team scribbled similar messages on their shoes to honor the murdered teenager. They wore them during their game against the Pistons.
The Miami Heat is a team that is considered to be the filled with villains of sports and stereotyped to represent all that is unethical in the National Basketball Association. The Heat’s poor reputation primarily stems from two events: Lebron James’ “The Decision” and Dwayne Wade’s hard foul on Kobe Bryant and subsequent comments earlier this season. Despite this, the members of the Heat did a bold thing.  They opened themselves up to criticism and public scrutiny by publically supporting the Martin family. They took this risk, however, because they are leaders in their communities and not just athletes. They did what they thought was ethical and used their prominence to bring the social inequalities/ racial undertones associated with the shooting of Martin to the forefront of both the media’s and the general public’s attention.

NOTES
During the summer of 2010, free agent all-star Lebron James hosted the ill-advised “The Decision” on ESPN. During the special, he announced that he would leave the Cleveland Cavaliers—where he had been a stalwart for both the team and the city—and “take his talents to south beach.”
The Heat’s reputation for unethical discourse was furthered in early 2012 when all-star shooting guard Dwayne Wade showed little remorse after breaking the nose of fan favorite Kobe Bryant and leaving him with a concussion during the 2012 NBA all-star game.

 

Saturday, March 24, 2012

How much do we value life in America?

How much do we in America value the lives of our youth? As the French government unintentionally revealed four days ago, we don’t value life enough. On Monday March 20, unprovoked gunman opened fire at a Jewish school in Toulous, France and killed three students and a rabbi. Late that day, French President Nicolas Sarkozy released a statement calling the shooting a “national tragedy,” and according to NYTimes reporters StevenErlanger and Scott Sayare, Sarkozy “ordereda minute’s silence at schools across France at 11 a.m.
This nationally sanctioned pause from the day, although very small, shows that the French nation really values life and the journey it affords the person. More than anything, this action shows that the members of the French nation value the lives of their children and are willing to unite—if only for a minute—to pay homage to a child tragically slain. Nothing similar to this occurred, however, when Chardon High School students died last month in a school shooting last month in Ohio, news coverage swirled around the topic for hours. That was it. President Obama released no statement acknowledging the situation and no apparent resolution, or attempt for resolution, was provided for the community of Chardon, OH. Sure, CNN, ABC, and others responded quickly and accurately to the situation.
We as a nation responded greatly from a news standpoint; however, we barely responded from a human standpoint. It is sad to see this, for it alludes to a sad, crippling reality that our nation is moving towards. The American culture is becoming more and more desensitized to tragic, unwarranted violence. Instead of looking at things with a human or emotional lens, we analyze things very systematically. Something is ethically and cognitively wrong with this innate reaction to unnecessary and unpredicted violence. This scares me, and hopefully this scares you as well.