Albertie: What LeBron means to a black man in America

LeBron James is an American hero, an African-American hero and an African-American American hero. Now that’s powerful.

Take it from me, a 25-year-old black man who has lived in places from Alaska to Georgia and from Ohio to Texas.

LeBron James is the most inspirational and influential black man in America today.

This doesn’t have a lot to do with the hate he incites from political figures like President Donald Trump and his supporters like Fox News anchor Laura Ingraham.

However, their reactions to an African-American man supporting his community with charitable donations amounting in the tens of millions and defending his community by denouncing racist and xenophobic rhetoric will have a large role in this piece.

Let’s start, though, by looking at how James has inspired the African-American community.

As a young kid in the inner-city (a code name for “the hood”), LeBron saw plenty of the same issues that others saw and issues that still plague the African-American community today: petty crimes, substance abuse, gun violence and gang activity.

Because of that exposure, LeBron’s investment in at-risk youth is authenticated. That matters because while a donation from a person who doesn’t relate can help, only a person who can relate can truly understand the issue and hope to combat it.

So when he’s opening up the LeBron James Family Foundation or the I Promise School, the African-American youth know it’s being run by a man who cares to get them out of a socioeconomic situation they didn’t put themselves in.

He knows the struggle of barely having money to eat or get new, let alone fashionable, clothes. Consequently, kids at the I Promise School get free uniforms and lunch at school. There’s also a “food pantry.”

LeBron knows that the parents could be in between a rock and a hard place, wanting to further their education but lacking the resources or falling hard on their luck in trying to find a new job. Parents can earn their GED through the I Promise School and receive job placement.

LeBron knows about the chaotic emotions both kids and parents face in the inner-city. The stress of not having money for necessities. The stress from watching your parents struggle. The stress from having to decide whether or not to do things you won’t be proud of for money or even social acceptance.

The I Promise School offers emotional support as well.

I haven’t even mentioned his $41 million scholarship fund at the University of Akron. His production of important documentaries on civil rights activists this and renowned boxer Muhammad Ali, student-athletes and now one called “Shut Up And Dribble.”

To think that LeBron — this guy who is giving so much back to the community through charity and education — lived in similar circumstances and not only can provide that service but wants to, is inspiring.

It’s even better because he’s not whitewashed by society.

He’s unapologetically black.

He rocks some nice European-cut suits and drinks some pretty expensive wines but you can catch him with a durag on at 7PM outside listening — no, JAMMING — to mainstream rap artist Tee Grizzley.

You can even hear the “hood” in voice the way you can hear the residual accent on immigrants who have lived in America for years.

Perhaps that’s what Ingraham and Trump hate almost as much as his attacks on Trump’s hate-filled political platform.

Yet, for an African-American to see a black man reach that level of wealth and not be afraid to be himself is inspiring.

Many African-Americans are taught about code-switching in order to sound more appealing, and thus acceptable, around non-black employers or co-workers.

LeBron’s success lets us know we can be ourselves and still be successful. He lets us know we can be attacked by the most prominent people in the country and come away unscathed.

Whether you were raised in a suburban home, on a military base or in project housing, as an African-American man, there are two truths that are inescapable:

(1) People won’t expect anything but the worst from you, thanks to perpetuated stereotypes painting you as criminally inclined, unintelligent or unambitious.

(2) People will always hate you, particularly when you’ve exceeded their expectations.

To be frank, it’s just racism.

Though there are many that would have you believe that these truths are lies, there’s a great chance that the person telling you that racism doesn’t exist isn’t a black man. The man who thinks that racism is a social construct that’s being confused with classicism can be black men like Kanye West.

Yet, that theory holds no water; just ask LeBron.

LeBron is obviously one of the wealthiest people in the country and a business mogul but that didn’t stop people from vandalizing his Brentwood home with “the N-word.”

It didn’t stop Ingraham — a white woman — from telling him to “shut up and dribble” and questioning his intelligence all because LeBron said Trump doesn’t care about the African-American community.

Nor did it stop Trump from criticizing James’ intelligence after James criticized his political agenda in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon.

The reason that a racist attitude exists in America is what you would call “a long story.”

The transatlantic slave trade, the Civil War and segregation are major pieces of it, as we all know, and the history stretches back over 400 years.

Yet, beside the historical events that would drastically change the life of African-Americans are the psyches of the people who wanted African-Americans to submit to a supposed supremacy.

The people who want to exert their will over African-Americans by any means are people afraid of both sweeping change and the power people of color. Their racism is both reactionary and a “proactive” way to diminish our potential.

This can all change, though.

Throughout history, African-Americans have been powerful figures but we’ve yet to earn global respect and admiration for anything that’s not in the world of music or sports.

Yet, in the last 10 years, like the African-Americans before him — Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey — LeBron has become a major sociopolitical figure earning respect on a national level for his life outside of sports. With the path he’s on, he’ll soon be globally recognized for his sociopolitical achievements.

With that, comes a major shift in what seems possible.

Unlike the Obamas, LeBron is no college graduate. He’s not a politician, technically. The Obamas grew up in Chicago and they understand a lot of what LeBron went through but there’s something to be said about LeBron being a dark-skinned black male in America.

The expectations from the outside world and the neighborhood are different when you’re a dark-skinned black male.

You’re almost expected to do the wrong things. You’re expected to be a thug. Racial profiling isn’t just something the police are guilty of.

Yet, LeBron has defied all of the odds to become this hero. This American hero. This African-American hero that everyone can aspire to be.

I haven’t mentioned his family yet because frankly, if he was a bachelor with no kids, he still would have been a hero with his actions.

Yet, knowing that LeBron married his high school sweetheart and that they have three kids together is just icing on top of his American image. He’s a family guy.

He’s also never been in trouble with the law in any capacity. That, in and of itself, is the type of decision-making that young black men should adopt.

Because LeBron has also lived in the hood, he also knows that while it’s somewhat difficult to always avoid, it’s possible. You just have to want more for yourself than what the neighborhood is offering you and what the world expects of you.

LeBron has truly been an inspiration to and role model for the African-American community. For black men, particularly.