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.
Lebron also tweeted a link to a petition website called change.org where Martin’s parents are hoping to acquire 2,000,000 signatures inorder to prosecute Zimmerman for murder.
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.
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