Sports icon Kareem Abdul-Jabbar recently called out NBA players and athletes across professional sports for their refusal to get vaccinated.
As the NBA revs up for the upcoming season, the issue around vaccination is becoming more pressing and could result in players from certain markets being sidelined. Players like LeBron James and Draymond Green are among the vaccinated, however, their latest remarks about vaccine hesitancy drew the ire of Kareem who penned a piece about the topic on his Substack page.
“I’m a huge fan of LeBron James, both as one of the greatest basketball players ever and as a humanitarian who cares about social injustice,” Abdul-Jabbar wrote in the essay titled Why LeBron Is Wrong About “Honoring” Vaccination Hesitancy. “I have written his praises many times in the past and undoubtedly will in the future. I admire him and have affection for him. But this time LeBron is just plain wrong—and his being wrong could be deadly, especially to the Black community.”
“On the surface, it appears that Draymond and LeBron are arguing for the American ideal of individual freedom of choice. But they offer no arguments in support of it, nor do they define the limits of when one person’s choice is harmful to the community,” he continues.
“And while some who don’t get the vaccine might never get sick or if they do suffer mild symptoms, they are still unknowingly spreading the disease to others, killing some. While we’re honoring the unvaccinated, COVID cases are rising alarmingly among young children.”
Source: kareem.substack.com
