ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith made an emotional plea for LeBron James to break his silence on his vaccine plans, pointing to the disproportionate rate at which Black Americans are dying from the coronavirus.
Over the weekend, James called his choice to take the vaccine, “a conversation that my family and I will have,” adding, “Pretty much keep that to a private thing.”
“When you decide to do something, that’s a conversation between you and your family and not for everybody. I’ll keep it that way,” he said.
Smith noted that he respects James’ decision to be private, especially considering “this nation’s history, its unethical behavior when it came to using Black folk as guinea pigs in our lives.”
Smith went on to say that while he once thought that the vaccine was a private matter, he has now changed his mind — revealing that he will take the vaccine on Tuesday.
“I have come to the conclusion that that is an error in judgment on my part that needs to be corrected immediately,” Smith added. “If you look at Covid-19, this coronavirus pandemic, it has clearly disproportionately affected the African American community.”
Smith then referenced an article by Dennis W. Pullin that addresses how and why Black Americans are disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
“If you look at the hospitals, and you look at people with pre-existing conditions, high blood pressure, diabetes, and things of that nature, clearly when you look at that you see that the African American community is disproportionately affected, and something needs to be done,” he continued. “And when we look at the 50-plus million people who have been vaccinated, most happen to be White.”
Smith added that he completely understands the hesitation, noting that this is why public figures should be open about taking the vaccine — to combat any doubt.
“So we get back to LeBron James, and I say this to LeBron James, my brother, all of our brothers, who’s an incredibly, incredibly influential figure, I would say to him, he has taken positions on many, many, many things of incredible importance to our community,” Smith added. “One could easily argue when you see the amount of deaths that have come associated with Covid-19, it’s very little that he has encountered that is more challenging or daunting than this, and if you could speak up about those things, you just might want to think about speaking up about this.”
ESPN’s Max Kellerman later praised Smith’s decision to take the vaccine on Tuesday, noting that there is value in discussing the topic publicly.
“This is a public health crisis. It’s defined as a public health crisis,” he added. “I don’t believe it’s the time to be private about it.”
“I certainly had my misgivings, ain’t no doubt about that. We understand the history. We understand the hesitation. We definitely should understand the hesitation that Black people have,” Smith responded. “And I think that LeBron, that’s what he’s speaking to.”
Despite understanding James’ stance, Smith ended by repeating that “Black people are dying,” exclaiming that, “this is not the time to get private,” as James’ silence might end up hurting others.
Watch above, via ESPN.
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