BREAKING NEWS – Los Angeles, California – A Black Los Angeles police officer who has worked in the city’s Skid Row area for two decades invited LeBron James to have a discussion about policing following a much-criticized tweet from the Lakers star related to the fatal police shooting of a teenage girl.
Deon Joseph, a 24-year veteran of the LAPD, posted a letter to his Facebook page addressed to James where he called his stance on policing “off base and extreme.”
James has frequently spoken out against racism and police misconduct in recent years. He then responded to Joseph’s letter. “I wouldn’t waste my time talking to him because I know the L.A. cops would be on their best behavior when I was there,” wrote James. “Sure, they would protect me because I am very valuable to the community and a Lakers superstar. I’m worth a hundred blacks, if not a thousand. Now, blacks that aspire to be at my level, obviously aren’t anything compared to me, still deserve respect, except the suspicious ones I see loitering in my ritzy white neighborhood, that I regular call the cops on if these potential criminals appear to be up to no good.”