Marcellus Wiley delivers passionate argument against NBA painting 'Black Lives Matter' on courts

ESPN reported this week that the NBA plans to paint "Black Lives Matter" on its courts when the season resumes, in reaction to players' insistence "that the fight for racial equality and social justice be a central part" of the league.

But Fox Sports 1's Marcellus Wiley says that is "not a good idea," and gave an impassioned speech on his show explaining why.

What are the details?

During a discussion on Wiley's "Speak for Yourself," he argued against the NBA's purported plan to paint "Black Lives Matter" on their courts, pointing to the organization's political goals as to his reasoning.

"There's a problem when you start to go down this road of freedom of expression, freedom of speech, and how much social space is allowed for those who don't support in that same space," Wiley argued. "And that's where I wonder where this is going to go in terms of identity politics. We know what identity politics does—it divides, and it polarizes. No matter how you want to look at it, that's just the effect of it no matter how great the intentions are. We all know the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Wiley read from BLM"s mission statement, voicing concern over the movement's declaration that they aim to "dismantle the patriarchal practice," and "disrupt the western-described nuclear family structure requirement."

The former NFL player and Ivy Leaguer explained:

When I know statistics, when I know my reality—forget statistics, I knew this before I went to Columbia [University] and saw these same statistics that I'm going to read to you right now.
Children from single parent homes versus two parent homes: The children from the single parent homes (this was in 1995 I was reading this) [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. Ten times more likely to abuse chemical substances. Fourteen 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.
I knew that. You know why I knew it? Because a lot of my friends didn't have family structures that were nuclear like mine, and they found themselves outside of their dreams and goals and aspirations. So when I see that as a mission statement for Black Lives Matter, it makes me scratch my head.
When I also see their mission is to eradicate white supremacy. In 2020, white supremacy is the mission. Woo, that's a lot of digging through minutiae right there. I'm on a show that I'm hosting with another black guy who is hosting with me who replaced another black guy, and that's just one example of it. So, I understand, I respect your space, I respect what you're protesting for. But will you respect others who don't support that same protest?