UH, OH: Kobe Gets Slammed by The Left Because He Won’t Parrot Their Trayvon Opinions

Mediaite – L.A. Lakers player Kobe Bryant opened up in a new interview with The New Yorker, and one of the issues they touch on is Trayvon Martin and how members of the Miami Heat wore hoodies in his memory two years ago.

The relevant passage is only available to New Yorker subscribers, but ColorLines reposted it in its report on Bryant’s remarks.

I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American,” he said. “That argument doesn’t make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and a culture, but, say, if something happens to an African-American we immediately come to his defense? Yet you want to talk about how far we’ve progressed as a society? Well, we’ve progressed as a society, then don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African-American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right? So I won’t assert myself.”

Here are some of the responses he got on Twitter for his comments:

Kobe could've just shouted out love for Trayvon's parents, said he couldn't imagine their loss and kept it breezy. He didn't.

— Goldie Taylor (@goldietaylor) March 27, 2014

My issue is that Kobe reduces the Trayvon Martin outrage to blind racial solidarity, when it was about so much more than that.

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) March 27, 2014

I’m annoyed (not surprised) by Kobe’s stance on Trayvon. We support Martin b/c his race predetermined his fate. Not simply b/c he was black.

— rebkah howard (@pink_funk) March 27, 2014

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