INDEPENDENCE, Ohio -- LeBron James said "standing for the national anthem is something I will do" on Monday, but threw his support behind Colin Kaepernick for his peaceful protest of police violence toward African-Americans and took credit for a speech he gave in July at the ESPYs for continuing the conversation.
"I'm all in favor of anyone athlete or non-athlete being able to express what they believe in in a peaceful manner and that's exactly what Colin Kaepernick is doing and I respect that," James said during Cavs' Media Day, kicking off training camp for the 2016-17 season.
"I think you guys know when I'm passionate about something I'll speak up on it, so me standing for the national anthem is something I will do, that's who I am, that's what I believe in," James said. "But that doesn't mean I don't respect and don't agree with what Colin Kaepernick is doing. You have the right to voice your opinion, stand for your opinion and he's doing it in the most peaceful way I've ever seen someone do something."
Kaepernick, a backup quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers, turned the sports world on its ear through his protest of refusing to stand (and, subsequently, kneeling) for the national anthem -- igniting a furious debate over whether Kaepernick was right to choose a time reserved prior to the start of every pro sports contest for honoring the country to make his statement.
Iman Shumpert, a reserve guard for the Cavs, initially said in a rap song earlier this month that he would kneel like Kaepernick, but has since changed his mind and pledged to donate money for each of his steals (on the court) to organizations devoted to social change.
At the top of the telecast for the ESPYs -- ESPN's annual sports awards show in Los Angeles -- James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, and Chris Paul made a joint speech that not only called for the end of police shootings of unarmed black men, but also for athletes to go into their communities to try and improve race relations, police relations, and the socio-economic conditions in inner cities.
"The conversation has continued from the ESPY speech...and that's definitely a good thing," James said.
In the last two weeks, two more shootings by police of African-Americans have again roiled the country: the shooting of Terence Crutcher in Tulsa, Okla. and of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte. Crutcher was unarmed; there is an ongoing debate whether Scott was carrying a gun. In both cases, the shootings were caught on video.
"I don't have the answer," said James, who has a track record for speaking out when notable cases of police violence toward blacks occurs. "None of us have the answer, but the more times we can talk about it, the more times we can conversate about it. Because I'm not up here saying all police are bad because they're not. I'm not up here saying that all kids are great and all adults are great, because they're not.
"But at the same time all lives do matter. It's not black or white, it's not that. It's everyone, so, it's just tough being a parent right now when you have a pre-teen."
James has never spoken critically of police officers involved in these shootings over the years, even when one happened in Cleveland with the 2014 shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice.
But James did say he feared for his own 12-year-old son, LeBron Jr., who in a few years will be able to drive a car and "leave the house on his own."
"You see these videos that continue to come out, it's a scary-ass situation that if my son calls me and said if he got pulled over, that I'm not that confident that things are gonna go well and my son is going to return home," James said. "My son just started the sixth grade."
James didn't say whether the Cavs had (or would have) something planned in terms of a protest. It's against NBA rules for a player to be on the court and not stand for the national anthem, but commissioner Adam Silver and Michele Roberts, executive director for the players' union, have pledged to find a way for the players to have their voices heard -- possibly through league-sponsored community building.
Cavs general manager David Griffin said he and coach Tyronn Lue would talk to their players about it, but "far too much is being made of what form of nonviolent protest somebody chooses to implement, and not nearly enough is being paid to the actual issues that spawned that outrage in the first place.
"I think this is a situation for us where nonviolence and direct action as, Dr. (Martin Luther) King said, is supposed to engender a sense of moral shame," Griffin said. "We should be ashamed of what's going on in this country that prompted the initial protest in the first place."
James said "we just want the conversation to continue to go -- to understand that police brutality and killings and things of that nature of innocent people, it's not the answer."