This is an opportunity too good for any Olympic athlete to pass up. Not when so much is at stake.
The Chinese government has helped "fuel" the genocide in Darfur, where almost 300,000 Sudanese have been slaughtered and more than 2,000,000 have been displaced. The regime is also the world leader in state executions and has no regard for free speech, detaining and punishing those that dare to criticize the government. There's also the repression in Tibet, detention of prisoners without trial and widespread censorship of international media.
With the spotlight on them, Americans and freedom-loving athletes from around the world have a chance to condemn the host nation one or all of these issues (although I would go out on a limb and say the mass genocide should probably take top billing in the condemnation department).
So why are so many high-profile athletes remaining silent? They claim it's because they don't want to get involved in "politics." The thing is, we're not talking about politics here. We're talking about genocide and human rights.
When a sports reporter in southern Pennsylvania criticizes the Chinese government, not many people listen. When a gold medalist speaks out, the whole world is paying attention -- especially when this event is supposed to showcase the host nation. They shouldn't get a free pass. Not with all of the atrocities that have been committed.
This is more than just the right thing to do. These athletes should feel a responsibility as a member of the human race to show that these sort of horrendous acts by the Chinese government won't go unnoticed. They should feel obligated to let the world know that they are paying attention and that it matters to them.
That's why it makes me sick to my stomach to hear U.S. women's soccer player Abby Wambach tell Time Magazine: "That's a lot of responsibility, to ask an athlete to not only represent your country and perform and try to win a gold meal, and to have a political view," and American star gymnast Paul Hamm tell the same publication: "Politicians should be dealing with this stuff, not the athletes." It's gutless of both of you to just evade the issue when asked directly about it.
Of course, some athletes have an economic interest. China is a huge market with a ton of potential for budding capitalists and LeBron James knows it's in his best interest to make nice with the Chinese government so he and Nike can sell sneakers there. After all, Michael Jordan is the one who famously refused to back an Democratic Senate candidate in his home state of North Carolina because, as he put it, "Republicans buy sneakers, too." LeBron and Nike know that mass murderers buy sneakers, too -- and they can control whether or not those sneakers are available in China.
That's presumably why James was one of only three players on the Cleveland Cavaliers not to sign teammate Ira Newble's open letter to the Chinese government condemning its role in the "terrible suffering and destruction in Sudan." Only after widespread criticism and scrutiny did LeBron even bother to educate himself on the issue. Now he is beginning to speak out.
Hopefully others will recognize their responsibility and take an even stronger stand.
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