LeBron James Encourages Chiney Ogwumike To Continue To Defy Expectations
LeBron James thanked Chiney Ogwumike for all of her work on his voting rights coalition, More Than a Vote.
Ogwumike, a power forward on the Sparks, is one of many athletes and entertainers who joined forces with James on his coalition to help end black voter suppression. James wants Ogwumike to keep her foot on the gas in helping make changes.
James retweeted an interview Ogwumike did with MSNBC and wrote: “🦶🏾on the ⛽️!!!!!! Let’s go @Chiney321!! And to all my other Beautiful, Powerful Black Queens continue to push the envelope, break thru barriers and defy expectations as Chiney says!”
Ogwumike, who is also an NBA analyst for ESPN, is using her platform and voice to empower black women to vote.
The 28-year-old former Stanford star joined the coalition, which James helped found in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Floyd was a 46-year-old black man who died after white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25 in Minneapolis.
“I’m proud to hold it down for the black women on this coalition because as a black woman myself, I’m blessed with a platform and I must speak for those I represent,” Ogwumike said in an interview on MSNBC. “ We must continue to defeat the odds as black women and defy expectations.
“I was born and raised in Cypress, Texas, the northwest part of Houston Texas and, yes, in my experience I have been called racial slurs at high school games. As a black female hooper, I have been told to get back in the kitchen. As a black female broadcaster in the NBA, I’ve been questioned and judged based upon my long, beautiful Nigerian name, Chinenye Ogwumike, based upon my gender and my skin. But my parents have taught me that my existence is my residence. That we have to go through it in order to get to it, right? We are going to go through difficult times as we are now but I fully believe that positivity and purpose will always prevail and that’s why I’m really glad to be part of this campaign.”
This is the second time this month on social media that James has praised the work of Ogwumike.
James also recently tweeted: “And I wanna say THANK YOU @Chiney321!! Love you 🙏🏾✊🏾❤️👑 #MoreThanAVote #BlackQueensandKings”
