So…. LeBron James thinks that America had a mostly negative opinion of him for the way he departed Cleveland because he is black.  I just hate it when the race card is used all the time.  With that being said, there is still plenty of racism left in this country and it isn’t an issue to be taken lightly.  I try and teach my kids about the evils of hate and racism in my classroom all the time, but it just cannot be applied on every incident in which a minority appears.

LeBron used the most narcissistic method of saying goodbye I have ever seen.  An ESPN special to say where he was going was just ridiculous, but I understand why ESPN did it.  One word: money.  The obvious question is why did LeBron do it?  If the answer is money, that is unbelievable. How much does he need?  No, he did it because he always wants the spotlight on himself, in spite of basketball being a team sport.  So tell me, what did his skin color have to do with it?  We didn’t like him changing teams because he is black?  No…we didn’t like the way he did it, and I don’t care if his skin was purple.  Shaq has changed teams many times, and he is still beloved…and black.  So, LeBron, why is Shaq given a free pass and not you?  Could it be the way you did it and not the color of your skin?

I remember people saying the reason Barry Bonds has been singled out and has a negative image is because he is black. I very much dislike Bonds, but his skin color has nothing to do with it.  He is an arrogant butthead who has treated everyone in his world very poorly, including his teammates. Did you know that his teammates at Arizona State voted him off of the team when the coach put the decision on them? He then changed his mind and kept Bonds on the team.  So I am supposed to believe that if he had white skin, none of this would have happened?

If that is true, than why does America have a negative image of one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Roger Clemens, who is white?  For many of the same reasons we dislike Bonds-  it’s their behavior and character we are judging them on, not their skin color. If Clemens were black, we would be hearing about the race card for sure.There have been plenty of prima donna athletes who have been disliked through the years, and they have come in all of the colors of human beings.

All LeBron had to say was that the way he chose to leave was wrong, and in hindsight he would have done it differently.  When people humble themselves and apologize,we forgive them.  Why can’t these athletes figure that out?

If President Obama would not have won the election, would we have blamed it on his skin color? Probably.  But he won and that shows me that America is finally coming to its senses and starting to see people for what they are through their actions and values rather than their skin color.  It’s about time.  And it’s time to play the race card only when it is obviously true, and not on every single situation we encounter.  After all, no matter what our skin color,religion, or state we hail from, we all have one thing in common:  we are all Americans and we are members of the most important team in the world- the United States of America. And the word “United” is the most important word in our name.