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LeBron James has some thoughts about the racial climate in the US under President Donald Trump. The NBA all-star and four-time MVP gave a wide-ranging interview to CNN's Don Lemon that aired Monday night, during which he talked about Trump's rhetoric toward professional athletes of color.
"What I've noticed over the last few months, he's kinda used sports to divide us, and that's something I can't relate to," James said, referring to Trump's tendency to lash out at athletes who communicate their views on politics through word and action.
Colin Kaepernick, a former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, has been at the forefront of that practice by kneeling on the field during the national anthem, a silent protest against police brutality and civil injustice.
Other athletes have used their platforms to reject discriminatory rhetoric from Trump and his administration.
The Golden State Warriors are another example. The team preemptively declared they would not accept an invitation to the White House after they won the NBA championship last fall, a move that prompted Trump to lash out on Twitter .
Trump has attempted to flip the narrative on the athletes' demonstrations and frame them as an insult to patriotism and US service members, seemingly ignoring that the act of protest is protected by the US Constitution's First Amendment, and is, by itself, patriotic.
During his CNN interview, James said "I can't sit back and say nothing" in the face of the president's scapegoating.
On Monday, James took part in the grand opening of the I Promise School in Akron, Ohio. The public school, in which James is a stakeholder through the Lebron James Family Foundation, serves 240 third and fourth-grade students, and will expand to grades one through eight by 2022.
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