Dear Mr. James,
On Thursday, you weighed in on the Kyrie Irving anti-Semitism question. You tweeted that Irving should be back playing for the Nets, and that while you don’t believe in “sharing hurtful information” like he did, what the Nets are asking him to do in order to return to the team is “excessive.” You asked for people to “help him learn.
You are one of the most famous and powerful people on this Earth, and when you share your opinion, people listen. This letter is intended to help you learn as well, because while you might have just been sticking up for a friend, your words greatly minimized the pain felt by others, and signaled to some very bad people that it is not such a terrible thing to repeatedly demonize one particular group.
First off, Irving did not share “hurtful information.” In a time of rising and rabid anti-Semitism, he endorsed horrendously offensive falsehoods about an oft-persecuted minority — falsehoods that have consistently, throughout history, led directly to discrimination and anti-Jewish violence.
The film Irving shared a link to accuses Jews of orchestrating a global conspiracy. It also amplifies classic anti-Semitic tropes about Jewish power and greed; declares that the Jews of today are not even really Jews, and cites extensively to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Heck, as part of its “evidence” about the nature of Jews, it even includes two quotes attributed to none other than Adolf Hitler.
On that note: 6 million innocent Jewish men, women and children were tortured and murdered in the Holocaust. Irving publicly promoted (and then defended) a “documentary” that claims the Holocaust never happened, and that Jews made it up “to conceal their nature and protect their status and power.”
Irving has quite the platform. In fact, he has more followers on Instagram than there are Jews in the world. Like you, when he talks, people listen, for better or for worse. He didn’t share hurtful information; he spread incredibly dangerous lies.
Perhaps Irving was (somehow) unaware at first of how incredibly wrong and dangerous these ideas are. He was, however, repeatedly told exactly why the ideas were hateful, and exactly why they were false, and yet he still refused to apologize. Online, anti-Semites who felt that he was finally giving voice to their own deeply held and ugly beliefs tweeted furiously in support of their new hero. Offline, anti-Semitic attacks in New York, nearby New Jersey, and around the country continued their steady rise.
Of course, Irving has the right to say anything he wants, however anti-Semitic. But that doesn’t take away the right of his employers to dissociate themselves from hate. And so, after he was given multiple opportunities to distance himself from anti-Semitism but would not, the team responded by suspending him until he accomplishes a list of six very simple tasks:
First, he had to apologize; that part should have been easy.
Second, he has to fulfill a deal he had already voluntarily agreed to, i.e. donate $500,000 to causes and organizations that work to eradicate hate and intolerance. This amount is far from extraordinary. When a part-owner of the Warriors shoved and cursed a player in 2019, the NBA fined him $500,000 (and suspended him for a year).
Third and fourth, Irving has to complete both sensitivity and anti-Semitic/anti-hate training. Again, this should not be controversial. Many if not most workplaces today require this type of training for all employees, even without a predicate act of open and defiant anti-Semitism.
Fifth, Irving has to meet with leaders from the community that he repeatedly insulted and harmed. Again, this is fairly standard practice. For comparison, after former Clippers owner Donald Sterling was ousted from the league for racism, Commissioner Adam Silver met with representatives from civil rights groups to discuss and address their concerns moving forward.
Finally, sixth, Kyrie was told that before he can come back to work, he needs to meet with his boss. Employers have both the right and the obligation to monitor workplace culture and ensure that it is a safe, non-discriminatory environment.
What, pray tell, is excessive about these demands?
Earlier this year, the NBA suspended Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver for a year and fined him $10 million after a report found he had engaged in both racist and sexist behavior. In that case, LeBron, you criticized the NBA’s punishment for not being harsh enough, tweeting that “there is no place for misogyny, sexism, and racism in any work place. Don’t matter if you own the team or play for the team. We hold our league up as an example of our values and this aint it.”
If there is no room for racism, is there room for open anti-Semitism?
This is an open letter written by Director Mark Goldfeder and originally published by Daily News available here.
