I don't know your background but as someone who isn't part of the aggrieved class, I am choosing to let those people decide how they want to make statements. They don't need my help or anyone else's in terms of defining the problem or the response.
Off the bat:
- I support the players right to sit out tonight and be active in this way
- I support players uniformly over owners in nearly every single labor dispute and believe they should take home the lion's share of money.
- I don't agree with the poster you're responding to
But your response encapsulates what is so confusing to a lot of people. You're choosing to define class by one definition, and it's a popular definition right now rooted in a political bent. By any other measure, NBA players are not part of an aggrieved class. They are wealthy and have very large and influential platforms. In terms of power dynamics, they are a part of the powerful. Lebron James could very easily change Ohio politics if he chose to spend his money that way.
The idea that people can't voice an opinion about the way their city is policed because of their identity is pretty corrosive. And that's what we're talking about when we're talking about the NBA players trying to "change' things. If change means holding police accountable, I think a vast, vast majority of America agrees with them. If it means defunding police departments, that's a very different story and one that a majority of Americans, including those in aggrieved classes, do not agree with, particularly because there's not a lot of evidence behind it. So if I live in NY, LA, Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta, wherever, yeah, I should be thinking about the problem and the response to it and voicing that opinion even if I'm not in the aggrieved class because it impacts the safety of the people in my community. Insulting these players is not cool, as their intentions are obviously good, but we should have the flexibility as a civil society to allow people to disagree with parts of the end goal.
So I don't know what the answer is here and I don't think a lot of people do, including the players. I'm glad they're making people ask the question. But I just disagree that people who aren't in socially defined classes need to sit on the side of these conversations and nod along in agreement.