FOX Sports Co-Host and Former NFL Player Marcellus Wiley: ‘Black Lives Matter’ On NBA Courts Is A ‘Bad Idea’

FOX Sports’ ‘Speak For Yourself’ co-host Marcellus Wiley, was asked by his co-host, Emmanuel Acho, if he thought that painting the courts with the saying ‘Black Lives Matter’ (BLM) was a “bad idea.”

Wiley goes on to say that he was impressed that the players were able to get this approved in the first place, but it sets a dangerous precedent. There is a problem where freedom of speech or expression becomes the reason why others who disagree with your point feel silenced.

Wiley says that there might be players or employees who do not agree with everything in the BLM movement but do support the idea that black lives matter and they will feel unsafe to speak their minds.

Wiley: “We know what identity politics does; it divides, and it polarizes. No matter how you want to look at it, that’s just a fact of it. No matter how great the intentions are, and we all know that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

He says that after researching the mission statement for BLM, there were a couple of things that he didn’t agree with. Wiley says, “I don’t know how many people looked into the mission statement of ‘Black lives Matter,’ but I did. And, when you look into it, there’s a couple of things that jump out to me. And I am a black man. Who’s been black and my life has mattered since 1974 and this organization was founded in 2013. I am proud of you, but I’ve been fighting this fight for me and for others a lot longer.”

In the video, he explains how important his family structure is to him, saying that the family he grew up in and the one he has created means a lot to him. He says that being a good father and husband is his life’s “mission.”

He says that makes it hard to reconcile a BLM mission statement that reads:

“We dismantle the patriarchal practice. We disrupt the western prescribed nuclear family structure requirement.”

Wiley went on to read statistics that we have all heard before about how important it is for children to grow up in a two-parent home. He reads, “Children from single-parent homes versus children from two-parent homes are five times more likely to commit suicide, six times more likely to be in poverty, nine times more likely to drop out of high school, 10 times more likely to abuse chemical substances, 14 times more likely to commit rape, 20 times more likely to end up in prison, and 32 times more likely to run away from home.”

Wiley emphatically says that he knew these statistics before he went to Columbia because he lived it. This was the world he grew up in. He said that a lot of his friends growing up did not have the nuclear family structure he did, and they found themselves outside of the possibilty to reach their goals or dreams.

The other major mission statement of the BLM movement that Wiley has an issue with is the idea of irradicating white supremacy. Wiley said that he is on a show that he hosts with another black man. He said his host replaced the black man that hosted before him, and that this is just one example of black men being successful in America.

His final statement:

“I understand and respect your space. I respect what you are protesting for, but will you respect others who don’t support that same protest?”

This is my exact point. Of course I wholeheartedly agree that black lives matter. The problem becomes when the statement shifts from black lives matter to black lives are the only lives that matter. Want to make a difference in minority communities? Let’s work on strengthing family units, and bring businesses back into the communities so that people can make a livable wage.

Enjoy the video below and please follow me on Twitter: @marmee_r and Parler: @marmee

.@MarcellusWiley breaks down why the NBA’s plan to paint ‘Black Lives Matter’ on courts is a bad idea. pic.twitter.com/EoCJNf7ho1

— Speak For Yourself (@SFY) June 30, 2020