NBA star LeBron James posted a video Thursday to his 53 million followers on X, formerly Twitter.
The video showed multiple instances of Donald Trump promoting racism and violence. Included was a clip of a comedian at Trump’s New York rally last weekend who pointed out a Black person in the audience and said: “That’s one of my buddies. We carved watermelons together.” The same comedian, Tony Hinchcliffe, drew strong criticism to the campaign from the rally when he called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage.
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The video James shared showed other incendiary Trump moments, such as his comment that immigrants were “poisoning the blood of our country,” a slur some compared to Adolf Hitler’s rhetoric; his call for cops to be given a free hand for “one rough hour” to deal with bad people; and his separate call for police to be given immunity for any actions.
“What are we even talking about here??” James asked on X. “When I think about my kids and my family and how they will grow up, the choice is clear to me. VOTE KAMALA HARRIS!!!”
On Friday, former President Barack Obama retweeted the LeBron post and video to his 151 million followers and thanked the basketball star for making clear what’s at stake. He wrote: “Listen to LeBron, make sure to vote.”
What are we even talking about here?? When I think about my kids and my family and how they will grow up, the choice is clear to me. VOTE KAMALA HARRIS!!! pic.twitter.com/tYYlTmQS6e
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 31, 2024
Assault at Trump rally in Fayetteville part of LeBron James’ posted video
One of the video images from James’ video, about 43 seconds in, will look familiar to Fayetteville people; it showed a quick cut of Rakeem “Keem” Jones being elbowed as he tried to exit Trump’s March 2016 rally at the Crown Coliseum. The video went viral at the time, cast by reporters and Trump critics as an example of Trump inciting violence. This was years before the former president and current Republican presidential candidate stirred up the failed insurrection and riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
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“It’s still surprising,” Jones said to me Friday. “To this day it surprises me about the significance of what happened. To me, it was something that happened so long ago. Anytime I’ve ever seen it, it’s always been a shock.”
Jones’ attacker, John Franklin McGraw, who was nearly 80 at the time and was charged with misdemeanor assault. In Cumberland County District Court, McGraw apologized to Jones and the two shared a hug. McGraw pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 12 months probation.
Rakeem Jones forgave his Trump rally attacker in court
Jones’ forgiving attitude took a lot of people by surprise at the time. But if you know him like I do now, it is not a surprise.
His background includes street activism as part of the Black Lives Matter movement — and he was there that day in the Crown Coliseum to protest the Trump rally. But I have learned that he is fundamentally a peacemaker, someone who gets along with all different kinds of people, whatever their politics or beliefs.
These days, he writes opinion and entertainment stories for The Fayetteville Observer, is enrolled at Fayetteville State University, and serves as opinion editor for The Voice, the student newspaper.
Since 2016, he has played a major role in numerous community events related to the Black community, including organizing events related to the former Vick’s Drive-In and helping preserve the history and life of the former Orange Street School, off Murchison Road.
In short, he is a long way from that fateful Trump rally. But he finds himself awed it is still a part of history. Among places he has seen the video is “The 13th,” which is “Selma” director Ava Duvernay’s award-winning documentary on mass incarceration of Black people.
“I’m grateful that my story is able to resonate with others,” he said.
When I talked to Jones on Friday, he was covering a Trot to the Polls event at FSU, a get-out-the-vote rally on the second-to-last day of early voting in North Carolina.
I thought that, in every way, “That’s Keem.”
Opinion Editor Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Opinion: Fayetteville’s Keem Jones in LeBron James video against Trump
