Apples, meet oranges

OK, so I wasn't going to say any more about this, but then LeBron James had to speak up. And now I feel compelled to once more point out a few things, most of which should be obvious.

What Lebron said the other day, see, is he was disappointed media types didn't ask him about Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and a 65-year-old photograph, when they were all asking him about Kyrie Irving's little foray into anti-semitism.

I suppose the implication was that the media's reaction was about race, and how society always seems to bang on people of color while letting white folks off the hook.

Now, I've got no beef with LeBron. I think the guy's done a ton of good with the platform he has as the greatest basketball player of his generation. I'd even agree that there are lots of people out there -- a dismaying number, frankly -- who do react differently when it's a black person we're talking about as opposed to a white person. That's just the plain truth.

Problem is, this particular situation is a lousy example of that. Or no example at all.

First off, Kyrie Irving re-posting tired anti-semitic tropes happened, like, yesterday. It's current events. And it involves a prominent current NBA player who happens to have been a teammate of LeBron's. So of course the media asked LeBron about it.

That photo of Jerry Jones?

It was taken in 1957. Jerry Jones was a kid. And all he's doing in the photo is standing at the back of a crowd watching some good old boys harass six black students who are trying to integrate a high school in Little Rock, Ark.

Lots of folks who should know better think this means Jones, who's freaking 80 years old now, is a racist who hasn't changed a bit since he was 14 or 15 years old, even though almost every single person on the face of the earth does. So they think he should publicly denounce racism based on a 65-year-old photo in which he's committing no other offense than rubbernecking.

Sometimes I despair for America.

Look. I don't know much, but I do know that in the 65 years between that photo and today, Jerry Jones likely has denounced racism dozens of times over -- if not in word, then in deed. And if he'd been screaming at those black kids or waving a baseball bat at them or suggestively dangling a noose in front of them with an evil grin, then he'd have some 'splainin to do. Sixty-five years or not.

But he wasn't doing any of that. And so what exactly do people want from him?

Gee, guys, I'm sorry I grew up in Little Rock in the 1950s, and I'm sorry I happened to be there that day 65 years ago, and I'm sorry I got caught rubbernecking because I was a dumb kid who just wanted to see what was going on, like any other dumb kid. I now realize that rubbernecking is racism, and I denounce it.

Something like that? Seriously?

Point is, Kyrie and Jerry Jones are apples and oranges, and that's as clear as a winter's night. I'm disappointed LeBron can't see the difference in context. I'm disappointed a lot of folks can't see that.

Yeesh. Sometimes I REALLY despair for America.