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Over the weekend, LeBron James responded to the violence that erupted in Charlottesville, Va., and offered a critique of President Donald Trump. On Tuesday, James tweeted another critique of the president, saying that “Hate has always existed in America. Yes we know that but Donald Trump just made it fashionable again! Statues has nothing to do with us now!”
Hate has always existed in America. Yes we know that but Donald Trump just made it fashionable again! Statues has nothing to do with us now!
— LeBron James (@KingJames) August 15, 2017
What James is talking about is white supremacist leaders — including former KKK grand wizard David Duke — openly thanking Trump and feeling emboldened in presidency. In the wake of Charlottesville, where one person died after James Fields, an Ohio resident, drove a car into a crowd of anti-protestors. He has since been denied bail and Fields’ mother said her son went to the rally because “it had something to do with Trump.”
The president has been criticized for not condemning the white nationalists and instead blaming “both sides” for what happened.
The statues James is referring to are statues of Confederate leaders that are being taken down across the South. The white supremacists who came to Charlottesville came in the first place after the Charlottesville City Council voted to take down a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee and change the name of the ark the statue was in from Lee Park to Emancipation Park.