FREEDOM
This Is Not Turkey
When Enes Kanter was nine years old, growing up in Turkey, he was confronted by some friends who were burning American flags and breaking crosses. One friend handed him a lighter and an American flag, then instructed him to burn it. Why he asked? His friend simply said; “we must hate America, Christians and the West.” Kanter did not understand this hatred, so he asked his mother why people would do and say these things. His mother simply told him that some people are just ignorant. She then made him promise her that he would never hate anyone he had not met. Enes took his mothers’ words to heart and years later, as a young man, his father suggested he go to America and see it for himself. “Go see for yourself what the Western world is really like.” So Enes, seventeen at the time, came to America to attend school and play basketball.
One story, that is pretty well known by now is of Enes overhearing a teammate criticize the President of the United States. He asks: ‘hey, aren’t you scared?’ to which the teammate responds with a laugh: “this is not Turkey.” Enes then begins to educate himself about America, its history, the Constitution, and soon he realizes his teammate is right. Around this same time, the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, finds himself caught up in a massive corruption scandal and is barely able to survive a coup attempt. He starts cracking down hard on the Turkish people, squelching free speech, persecuting and arresting anyone perceived to be in opposition to his regime. Kanters’ public condemnations of the Turkish government start coming freely and frequently from his mouth, thus earning him a place on Turkey’s terrorist watch list, the rescission of his passport in 2017, and the issuance of a Turkish arrest warrant in 2019.
While Kanters’ star as an NBA Center is on the rise, back home his scientist father is sentenced for terrorism and imprisoned, while his mother, a nurse, loses her job and becomes unemployable as a result of being blacklisted by the regime. Due to his outspokenness about the Turkish Government, Enes is now unable to see or communicate directly with his family members in Turkey, who may or may not have, under pressure from the government, disowned him. Considering that surviving a regime like Erdogan’s often requires people to do and say things they otherwise wouldn’t, the sincerity of his families statement is dubious. Right from the start though, Kanters’ teammates and NBA management fully supported him in his public criticism of Turkey’s government.
It’s A Little Different Though, When You Poke The Panda (Teddy Bear)
Enes became an American citizen in 2021, and officially changed his last name to “Freedom” in honor of his adopted country. However, it did not take long before he learned another lesson about modern America. It’s one thing to criticize the Turkish government, but a whole different ballgame when you speak out against Human Rights abuses in the People’s Republic Of China. At least as far as the NBA (Nike Basketball League) is concerned.
Here in the good old U.S.A. we have a saying: Money talks and Bull sugar walks. In the case of China, money (lot’s of it), not only talks, it screams! It doesn’t matter the money comes from a country not much different from Turkey, at least where human rights are concerned. Two things China has going for it which Turkey doesn’t are; 1) a much larger population (Pool Of Potential Customers For NBA Products And Services) and; 2) a much fatter wallet (No Doubt Due To All The Decades Of American’s Buying Cheap Chinese Crap, (like Air Jordans, NBA jersey’s, etc.). A less committed person might roll over and say “oh well, I tried.” Not Freedom, he doubled down, started wearing basketball shoes he had specially made for him, shoes with anti-China messages printed on them. He began wearing them on the court during games, with messages like: “FREE TIBET” and “MADE WITH SLAVE LABOR.” This didn’t exactly go over well with NBA management.
The Cost Of Speaking Truth To Power
This type of activism was no different from things other pro athletes had been doing at the time. No different from what the Sports Leagues themselves were doing, whether it be putting “end racism” and “BLM” messages on the court, or in the end zone at NFL games, or having players wear Pink Shoes to promote Breast Cancer Awareness, or allowing players to write their own personal political and social justice messages on their uniforms and helmets. As long as the messages were “Politically Correct” nobody cared. And who can forget the NFL condoning, even flat out promoting Colin Kaepernicks’ bending the knee during the National Anthem in protest of “Police Brutality”. But of course Kaepernick only insulted America, not the Chinese overlord, so he was okay. By the way, Kaepernick and Freedom had been friends right up until Enes took a stand against Nike/China. According to Enes, since he began criticizing China’s human rights violations, Kaepernick will no longer speak to him. The good news I guess, if there is any, is that standing on politically inconvenient principle will at least let you know who your real friends are.
After wearing his special shoes in a few games, one of his teammates walked up to him and said, “Enes, you know this is your last year in the NBA right, if you ever criticize China, NIKE then you never gonna be able to play basketball in this league. So have fun, smile and I hope we win a championship this year because this is your last year, and your basketball career is going to end.” In February of 2022 it did end (as predicted by that teammate), and he was released by the league. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver insists that Freedom’s departure from professional basketball had nothing to do with his activism or the league’s attempt to expand into the lucrative Chinese market. Purely coincidental.
For The Love Of Money
“Tell me, Gordon, when does it all end, huh? How many yachts can you water-ski behind? How much is enough?” That was the question Charlie Sheens’ character “Bud” asked of Gordon Gekko in the 1987 movie Wall Street. So Adam Silver, how many yachts can “YOU” water-ski behind, and why is money all that matters to you? Of course this question is not just for Mr. Silver, NBA Commissioner, but for all of us, rich, poor or Comfortably Numb in the middle class.
“Don’t think money does everything or you are going to end up doing everything for money.”- “Voltaire”. And sometimes that might mean doing the wrong thing, or maybe just doing nothing when you should be doing something, like - uh, I dunno, standing up to China and Nike? If for no reason other than, it’s the right thing to do. So “Just Do It”
Why, in today’s sports world do Professional athletes seem smaller, less worthy of “Hero Status” when compared to athletes of yesteryear? It cuts across all sports of course, not just basketball, it’s true even in less popular sports and in amateur sports. Athletics, like all earthly endeavor is susceptible to human sins such as narcissism, greed and corruption. Just consider the recent gambling scandal in the NBA (What, The Nike Basketball League again?), where financially well off, successful professional athletes and coaches still, for some reason, engaged in shady activities to affect the outcome of games. The overall condition of American society today is sadly broken. What else explains so many people openly celebrating the assassinations of Brian Thompson, United Healthcare CEO, and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk? How sick and twisted is that? America, we have a “WE” the people problem. How else can there be so many of our fellow citizens who find these attitudes acceptable, or at the very least, don’t seem to care.
In a society constantly “admiring its own reflection in the mirror.” Where little value is placed on morality and self sacrifice. Where enormous value is placed on self esteem (earned or not) and on comfort, it’s not surprising that large scale atrocities conducted against other human beings in China and elsewhere, solely for the purpose of increasing THE BOTTOM LINE, go largely unnoticed. Perhaps this widespread apathy explains why the actions of a few celebrity athletes like Enes Kanter Freedom or Pat Tillman (who quit the NFL in his prime playing years to go to war after Sept. 11, 2001.) stand out so much, loom so large, especially juxtaposed with the usual narcissistic, fame seeking, dollar chasing ethos of players like LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick.
I recently watched an interview with Freedom conducted by Mike Rowe, it’s about an hour long and is linked here: The Way I Heard It. In it, Kanter calls out, even challenges, other basketball stars like LeBron, (the only player he mentions by name). What if the NBA’s top tier players, not just LeBron, but others like Steph Curry for example, had stood up alongside Enes, for the cause of human rights in China? Might the leagues response have been different? What if they stand up now? It wouldn’t require too many players, just the elite talent, six or seven star players could make a huge impact. Their participation would certainly draw in other lesser known players to the cause. Therein lies the nugget of truth behind the leagues quick reaction to Kanters’ protestations. Courage, It Turns Out, Can Be Contagious.
One Way
So, how does America fix its’ “WE” the people problem? Our compromised institutions, sports leagues, corporations, government agencies, and churches are not going to fix themselves simply because the occasional celebrity athlete or entertainer stands up and speaks out. It’s going to require widespread “REVIVAL.” A genuine spiritual revival of faith, in God.
Revival is, by its nature, bottom up and grassroots. It begins “within” each individual, then expands outward. The good news is that some green shoots may already be appearing. Many in the younger generations, increasingly frustrated with the status quo, are seeking answers not in more materialism, not by acquiring more stuff, but in faith God. This new “JESUS REVOLUTION” needs to be encouraged everywhere and every way possible. Encourage it to grow, to become self sustainable over time and then, ironically, inject itself back into the Churches. Churches, which have gone so far astray, most can no longer honestly call themselves “Institutions of Faith.” (Not to pick on Catholics, but the Pope recently blessed a large ice cube. Whaaat?). Unfortunately, this is just one example of “Hollowed Out Faith” and it cuts across all denominations.
America, As Founded And Intended, Will Only Work For A Moral And Religious People
A revival as I mentioned, begins within ourselves. It is our responsibility, each one of us individually, to fix, and heal, first ourselves, then our local communities and churches. Once religious institutions are again leading, preaching and teaching the Gospel as written (quite the opposite of what most have been doing), the number of the righteous and Godly will expand, and institutions like sports, business, education and government can be captured back (maybe kicking and screaming), over time. Captured back to where they belong, back to where they should never have strayed from, in the first place. Only then will we begin “recreating” an America deserving of all God’s blessings, including FREEDOM.
What’s A Shabbat Dinner?
Early in his education about America, young Enes meets a girl who invites him to dinner with her family. The dinner invitation is for a Friday, but he’s not available until Saturday. However, the young lady insists it must be on Friday because Saturdays are always set aside for the family “Shabbat dinner.” So Enes inquires: what’s a Shabbat dinner? As she begins to explain, he quickly figures out he is speaking with a Jew, so he immediately hangs up the phone. Later, when he ponders what has just happened, he remembers the promise he made to his mother many years ago and calls the young lady back and agrees to come over for Shabbat dinner. In Freedoms’ own words, his experience at that dinner was amazing. He describes it as a turning point in his life, an awakening of sorts, shattering whatever lingering prejudices he was still holding on to from his youth in Turkey. (Revival begins “within” each individual then expands outward). Hear the entire story in his own words, beginning at about 10 minutes into the Mike Rowe Interview.
In our modern world it’s getting harder to figure people out, to see the true motives behind what they do and say. There are many reasons for this. Having said that, I personally believe Enes Kanter to be an honest and sincere man. I’ve been following his story a while, going back to his early NBA days when I was at least a casual fan of the game. My fandom ended several years ago, along with my interest in most sports, but my interest in people of courage, people honestly seeking knowledge and truth, is still strong. I’ll close by saying something many readers may not understand, but that’s alright, perhaps a few will, and that is this: Don’t be surprised to learn someday that Enes Kanter Freedom has become a Christian. After all, where else does an honest journey of truth seeking ultimately lead, but to the ultimate truth, Jesus Christ?