LeBron James condemns invasion of US Capitol by Trump supporters, highlights racial divisions

Basketball superstar LeBron James believes events in Washington on Wednesday night showed that there are “two Americas” after watching as supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump temporarily overran the US Congress.

A violent mob encouraged by Trump stormed the US Capitol to delay the process of certifying Joe Biden’s victory over Trump in the November election.

Trump has repeatedly rejected the result of the election in which he was roundly defeated, claiming widespread fraud in states where he lost.

The President and a number of high-profile Republicans spoke at a rally to protest the election results and energised the mob who then marched to the Capitol and violently disrupted the certification session, with lawmakers needing to be evacuated.

After Los Angeles Lakers’ Thursday night defeat to San Antonio Spurs, James intimated that the rioters may not have been treated the same way if more black people had been involved.

“We live in two Americas and a prime example of that was yesterday,” the four-time NBA title winner said at his post-game press conference.

“If you don’t understand or see that, then you need to take a step back. Not just one step but four or five or even 10 steps backward.

“If those were my kind storming the Capitol, what would have been the outcome? And I think we all know.

“There’s no ifs, ands or buts – we already know what would’ve happened to my kind if anyone would have even got close to the Capitol, let alone storm inside the offices, inside the hallways.”

James wore a shirt as he walked into the arena which read ‘Do You Understand Now?’ and also had it written on the trainers he wore during the game.

He added: “You will never understand the feeling of being a black man and woman in America.”Do you understand how hard it is to continue to inspire and give everything we got?

“Everyone jumps on the bandwagon of what we provide, what we bring. How we dress, our music, our culture, our food.

“We don’t get our due diligence or anything back, except a slap in the face.”

James was angered by Trump’s election and has remained a critic of the President, who he blames for Wednesday’s ugly scenes.

“The events that took place yesterday were a direct correlation of the president that’s in the seat right now – of his actions, his beliefs, his wishes,” said James.

“We saw the tweets along the whole path to this destruction. Over the last four years, we all knew.

“One thing you can never get back is time. We’ve literally just [thrown] away four years.

“Four people died in the aftermath of the invasion and there are calls for Trump to be removed from office before his term ends on 20 January.

Source: Skysports.com.