Both Michael Jordan and King James approach life differently. Jordan had to be convinced into sharing the ball with his teammates, while James was criticized for using his teammates too often. James is one of the most unique physical specimen in the history of sports, while Jordan is one of the best basketball players of all time.
Both Jordan and James were All-State football players in high school. Jordan abandoned his bald head in the late 1980's and turned it into a style that many people in the 1990's should never have copied. A 21-year-old Jordan met an ambitious Phil Knight when Nike was finding its footing as a company, while 21-year-old James had his sights set on becoming a billionaire before his 21st birthday
People compare the two because they play basketball in completely different ways, and their lives are also more similar. Five months before the March on Washington, Jordan was born in a two-parent home with four other siblings. James was born at the end of 1984 in Ohio and it was just him and his mother who were left in a desolate Midwest.
Outside of being tall Black males who are two of the best basketball players to ever walk the Earth, and 21st century billionaires, there doesn't seem to be much in common between the two. It was a reminder of the commonality that they share with millions of other people when James prayed for his city on the day before the 4th of July. Being black and at the wrong place at the wrong time can be dangerous.
Both James and Jordan grew up in cities that were hostile to black people.
The life of Jayland Walker ended in Akron. The foot pursuit ended with gunfire after a car chase. Walker was shot at least 60 times. Walker was supposed to be pulled over for a traffic stop. Walker fired a shot out of the driver's side window and they recovered a gun from his vehicle. Walker was shot because he reached for his waistband.
He ran from the vehicle and was hit by gunfire. They attempted to revive him after one officer reloaded. After the public was able to view some of the body cam footage of Walker, the curfew was lifted. There were more protests Wednesday night. The father of a man who was shot by police in Wisconsin and the aunt of a woman who was killed by police in Louisville were arrested.
The police department has taken questionable actions before. The city paid $900,000 to Jamon Pruiett and Latrent Redrick after they were shot by police. A fight broke out near a downtown club, Redrick owned a gun with a conceal and carry permit, and when an officer charged into the fight and fired into it, Redrick was wounded. When Pruiett grabbed the gun, he didn't know it was an officer who fired at them. After body camera footage showed him forcing snow into the mouth of a man who said he couldn't breathe, John Turnure resigned.
There was a Mark Fuhrman moment in 2020. James Gilmore, Jesse Moore II, and Kevin Piner were fired for using violent and bigoted language. Gilmore criticized the department for its response to the George Floyd protests and said that white people were worshiping Blacks.
Piner and Moore were talking on the phone. Moore talked about an arrest. He said that she needed a bullet in her head to move on. The body needs to be moved out of the way. Piner said that he was going to buy a new assault rifle and that he was going to start slaughtering people. I can't wait. Piner said that civil war would wipe them off the map, even though Moore didn't want to go that far. It is terrible coming from the police in Wilmington.
The committee hearings are about an attempted coup. The only successful place in American history is located in Delaware. In 1898, Wilmington had the highest share of black residents in the South. Many of the white people in town were unhappy with the results of the election. While researching a story about Jordan, Wright Thompson discovered that a group called the Red Shirts bought so many weapons that the stores had to alert other states so they could replenish their supply. At least 60 black people died. The mayor, chief of police, and all of the city's elected officials were forced to resign. Even though the population is at its highest ever, the town is still 18 percent Black.
Many Black communities in America were badly damaged by the racist past of the city of Akron. Similar to Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles and more, the construction of highways is meant to help white suburbanites get in and out of the city quicker. There is more than one twist to the story in Akron. The construction of the Innerbelt was never finished. $300 million was wasted in a city that was in the middle of its most important industry, rubber production. More than 3000 households were displaced and 100 businesses were forced to close as a result of the Innerbelt and three other urban renewal projects.
James was missing around 100 days of school in the fourth grade and moving six times. For those who think segregation was a thing of the past, the case of Brown vs. Board of Education passed in 1954. One of the most famous people to ever walk the earth, and not yet 60 years old, has attended a colored school.
Both men seem to have won at life with Jordan owning an NBA franchise and worth more money than the owner of the team he played for, the Chicago Bulls, and James' production company being worth over $700 million. A black man shoots out of a car during a police chase, not directed at any of the officers, and is met with a hail of gunfire from eight uniforms just seconds after fleeing from his vehicle. A white man is accused of killing six people at a parade in a suburb and will get to have his day in court.
The two greatest basketball players of all time, James and Jordan, are billionaires. There are many similarities between the two places. They didn't play the same game at the same time. Their personality is apples and oranges. The journey they were forced to take in hostile territory was due to their color.
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