An open letter to Kobe Bryant

You are angry that there are people telling you to shut up and dribble . Fair enough, sounds demeaning. But did you even for a second consider the implications behind this? People like you because you are good with the orange ball. It in no way means you are good with words, knowledgeable in politics or able to come to the right conclusions from such points. You could as well be but your insistence to speak from a position of authority is really not backed up by anything here.

But wait, maybe you are using your platform? Speaking for the folks that can not be heard? Well, how about you bring up those folks and let them speak? Because you do realize how it sounds when a black man worth 350 million talks about racial injustice and inequality to white folks who barely meet ends and still spare $200 to watch the NBA? These are the people that made your 350 million bucks Kobe. And do you know how these money gathered? By digging in mines, cleaning up the city streets, putting their lives at risk so that you can walk around safely, by cultivating the crops we get for almost free. That sounds like a real inequality to me. These guys left their health at the bottom of some hole for a few bucks. And from those few they most likely took away 200/month so that they can watch you. Watch you play ball. Play ball for 350 million.

Inequality has many axes. If you bring up just one and keep linking it to skin colour that's racism-plain and simple. Social Justice circles are coming to terms with that lately and more and more openly admit their "whiteness" talk is racist and they are racist themselves. It's up to you and the rest of us to decide where we stand on the issue.