http://sports.yahoo.com/olympics/beijing/basketball/news;_ylt=Ala1NCCN...jReQaPw
Will Kobe, LeBron pass on Darfur?
By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports
BEIJING – The Chinese government was so frightened that Joey Cheek,
the former Olympic medalist turned human rights advocate, would come
to the Beijing Games and mention the murder of 400,000 Sudanese that
it decided to revoke his visa.
They must be petrified then of Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, the two
global sporting icons who are immensely popular in this basketball-mad
country and are simply too big to silence.
Should either display the conviction they’ve flashed in the past in
publicly denouncing the genocide in Darfur, then the Chinese could be
humiliated by the attention on their decision to buy oil from, and
provide arms to, the murderous Sudanese government.
Will they, though?
Or will the enormity of it all, the general chilling of speech at
these bizarre games or the push by USA Basketball for Kobe and LeBron
to focus first on winning gold, allow the moment to pass?
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The situation is so tense in totalitarian Beijing that Cheek, who won
two medals as a speed skater at the Turin Games and then donated his
prize money, time and boundless energy to the children of Darfur, is
stuck back in Washington D.C. No less than President Bush is being
lobbied to fight for the return of his visitation visa.
“What I see is a major push globally by the Chinese to suppress speech
by any athletes anywhere,” Cheek said by phone Thursday. “Revoking my
visa probably stands as an example to anyone in China who wants to
speak about anything.”
James and Bryant probably don’t fear the Chinese. Bryant said he
didn’t even know who Cheek was, let alone what happened.
They have been among the most outspoken of the major American athletes
on the subject and are capable of generating a level of worldwide (and
in-China) attention like few others.
Bryant cut a public service announcement a year ago on Darfur,
demanding people to rise up and help (“Together we have the power to
change the world”). James, in an interview with ESPN, echoed the
sentiments (“We’re talking about lives lost”) and promised a bigger
statement here in Beijing.
On Thursday, however, both shied away from bold pronouncements.
“No, not really,” Bryant said when asked if he had anything to say
about Darfur.
“Basic human rights should always be protected,” James said before
adding, “One thing you can’t do is confuse sports and politics.”
“I think the political guys are going to do what they need to do,
that’s their job,” he added. “We are here to concentrate on a gold
medal. Sports and politics just don’t match.”
Whether they continue that approach remains to be seen. Perhaps they
are planning something big later in the Olympics. Perhaps they’ve
decided to step back.
Or perhaps they’ll come to the realization of the once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity they have here and will grow emboldened.
“For certain, when the Olympics are over, their opinions won’t carry
so much weight,” USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo
said. “Right now, it is a hot button.”
But will Kobe or LeBron push it?
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It’s not fair to demand that they do. If they want, Bryant and James
can embrace a potential hero’s role. You can’t demand a person to have
that in him, though.
Cheek, who makes this look almost easy, is the first to say each
person’s commitment to a cause is their own personal choice. Just two
years ago, he was advocating merely for the children of Darfur to play
sports and improve the basics of their life in refugee camps. His
demands for stronger action grew over time.
“At some point I said, ‘As great as it is that we have these programs
for kids to play, you know what would be really great is if their
government stopped gunning them down,’ ” he said.
So he makes no demands on athletes, just on China and the
International Olympic Committee to allow anyone to speak as they wish.
“Let me not say what anyone else should do, because that is not my
place,” Cheek said. “I think for everyone their first goal is to
compete, as well it should. But freedom of speech is implicit in the
Olympic charter.”
At the very least, he’s heartened that the U.S. Olympic team, in an
obvious statement, selected a former Sudanese refugee, runner Lopez
Lomong, now a naturalized citizen, to carry the American flag at
Friday’s Opening Ceremony.
James previously promised on ESPN that his decision would not be
affected by any possible pressure from his two main employers – the
NBA and Nike – both of whom see China as fertile ground for business.
“People should understand that human rights and people’s lives are in
jeopardy,” James said in May. “We’re not talking about contracts here.
We’re not talking about money.”
It was then that he promised to say something big in Beijing. One day
in, he didn’t. Has anything changed?
“No,” he said. “Nothing. It’s the same statement I’ve made.”
Bryant echoed the sentiment and claimed that this may not be the best
time.
“Nothing’s changed. It’s just time to play basketball,” he said. “I’m
not a government official or politician. I’ll let them do that.”
You weren’t a politician before and you spoke out, he was reminded.
“That’s different than coming out here and speaking about it on a
daily basis,” Bryant said. “If the politicians want to get paid to
shoot jump shots, then they can come and do that.”
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Colangelo and U.S. head coach Mike Krzyzewski have been adamant that
they have told no one what or what not to say.
“What we said was, ‘We don’t muzzle anyone. If you, in your heart,
think you need to say something, that is entirely up to you,’ ”
Colangelo said.
For Krzyzewski, however, the focus is basketball. He wants nothing to
affect the team. Not politics, not anything. His preference is
obvious.
“I don’t think there is a balance right now,” Krzyzewski said. “If
you’re a competitor … you have to be single-minded in what you’re
doing. It’s not about seeing the city or making political comments,
although they can say whatever they want.”
Krzyzewski wasn’t convinced they should even be put in the position.
“Why would you ask them? They are not the experts,” he said.
Because they spoke out about it before. And no one is asking a player
who hasn’t previously denounced the situation.
“Well, I’ve talked about the Duke team before,” Krzyzewski said. “I am
talking about USA Basketball right now. It’s not about avoiding an
issue; it’s about concentrating on one. I would hope people would be
respectful of that.”
Colangelo points to the importance of the team to represent the United
States with “class and dignity” and isn’t certain that making speeches
about major international policy is even the most effective course of
action.
“Let me ask you this, what carries more weight?” he said. “One of them
making a comment about what’s happening in Tibet or Darfur or two
nights ago in Shanghai when our players helped raise $430,000 for the
earthquake relief program where 70,000 Chinese died? I think that’s a
little bit more important.”
Can’t a player do both?
“Yes. A person may choose to do that,” Colangelo said. “If they chose
to do that, I don’t have any issue with that.”
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No doubt the Chinese government is waiting to find out if Bryant,
James or any other high-profile athlete makes that choice.
The torch hasn’t even been lit and this has already been an Olympics
overwhelmed by embarrassing questions about government crackdowns, the
curbing of free speech or, most comically, claims by the government
and its pawns at the IOC that the thick smog blocking the sun over
Beijing is really just innocent “mist.”
The Chinese people have been warm and welcoming, unfailingly polite
and positive. Their government has been the opposite, almost incapable
of dealing with an outside world they can’t control.
“Revoking my visa is just a small incident in a systematic effort
anywhere that China has the authority over a country or an athlete to
try to shut people up,” Cheek said.
“Right now, when we are celebrating this whole peaceful event, the
reality is the whole world is not together. There is this massive
conflict and a massive amount of people suffering, and the host
country is in position to do something about it. Not only are they not
doing anything about it (but also) they are keeping the people
perpetrating these crimes in power or at least keeping their pockets
full.
“What’s Olympic about that?”
Nothing, of course. And perhaps no one is in better position to point
it out than Kobe or LeBron. If they so choose.
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