I’m genuinely torn. Of course, I feel the sadness over such a tragic loss of so many young lives, including Kobe and Gianna. But the hagiography rankles. When even Jemele Hill’s piece on Kobe notes that he resisted supporting Trayvon Martin’s family BECAUSE KOBE SYMPATHIZED WITH ZIMMERMAN BECAUSE KOBE KNEW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE FALSELY …
I’m genuinely torn. Of course, I feel the sadness over such a tragic loss of so many young lives, including Kobe and Gianna. But the hagiography rankles. When even Jemele Hill’s piece on Kobe notes that he resisted supporting Trayvon Martin’s family BECAUSE KOBE SYMPATHIZED WITH ZIMMERMAN BECAUSE KOBE KNEW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE FALSELY ACCUSED (OF RAPE), and that makes me wonder if he really did have any reckoning regarding his actions in Colorado or before. Do we know that he stopped treating certain women that way, or was he just not caught? Do we know if he ever saw any wrong in the way he behaved?
Jemele’s point that Kobe learned to advocate for black men is well taken. But Trayvon Martin was murdered nearly a decade after the rape charge, and it’s telling that Kobe saw himself as a victim so many years later. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t an advocate for female athletes — especially his own daughters, but I wouldn’t hold him up as a supporter of all women because there are at least some we know he failed spectacularly.
Really good point about supporting Zimmerman a full decade after the rape case. This whole ordeal has made me so sad for him and all the families... and yet it's things like this which bring me back to reality, which is so much more complicated than He Built This Shining City on a Hill, which is what Alicia Keys said at the Grammy's.
I’m genuinely torn. Of course, I feel the sadness over such a tragic loss of so many young lives, including Kobe and Gianna. But the hagiography rankles. When even Jemele Hill’s piece on Kobe notes that he resisted supporting Trayvon Martin’s family BECAUSE KOBE SYMPATHIZED WITH ZIMMERMAN BECAUSE KOBE KNEW WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO BE FALSELY ACCUSED (OF RAPE), and that makes me wonder if he really did have any reckoning regarding his actions in Colorado or before. Do we know that he stopped treating certain women that way, or was he just not caught? Do we know if he ever saw any wrong in the way he behaved?
Jemele’s point that Kobe learned to advocate for black men is well taken. But Trayvon Martin was murdered nearly a decade after the rape charge, and it’s telling that Kobe saw himself as a victim so many years later. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t an advocate for female athletes — especially his own daughters, but I wouldn’t hold him up as a supporter of all women because there are at least some we know he failed spectacularly.
Really good point about supporting Zimmerman a full decade after the rape case. This whole ordeal has made me so sad for him and all the families... and yet it's things like this which bring me back to reality, which is so much more complicated than He Built This Shining City on a Hill, which is what Alicia Keys said at the Grammy's.