Lebron James' Akron Crusade
April 9, 2023 12:12 PM Subscribe
The Athletic has a long piece on the legacy that Lebron James is building in Akron, his home town. He has opened a Starbucks to provide both jobs and job training, and a bank branch, and bought buildings for housing, in addition to the school and mentorship programs his foundation runs.
In the basement is a wine room designed by LeBron and longtime business partner Maverick Carter; a cozy bar and social room donated by LeBron’s financial adviser and the tequila company he’s partnered with; a sports bar and grill bearing LeBron’s name; and a LeBron museum that will include a recreation of Spring Hill Apartment 602, where he and his mother, Gloria, lived for years before he was drafted No. 1 by the Cavaliers in 2003.
In the basement is a wine room designed by LeBron and longtime business partner Maverick Carter; a cozy bar and social room donated by LeBron’s financial adviser and the tequila company he’s partnered with; a sports bar and grill bearing LeBron’s name; and a LeBron museum that will include a recreation of Spring Hill Apartment 602, where he and his mother, Gloria, lived for years before he was drafted No. 1 by the Cavaliers in 2003.
This is brilliant.
posted by maggiemaggie at 2:15 PM on April 9, 2023
posted by maggiemaggie at 2:15 PM on April 9, 2023
I have concerns about the way our philanthropy is dependent on the good intentions of wealthy people, and about how James' program is so closely tied to major corporations. But it's still good work.
posted by suelac at 2:55 PM on April 9, 2023 [17 favorites]
posted by suelac at 2:55 PM on April 9, 2023 [17 favorites]
I have the same concerns. But you look at the way that Lebron James is using his wealth and contrast it to the way that a Harlan Crow is and you have to give James credit. (Or if you think that the comparison to a malignant billionaire is a bit of a stretch and would rather pick another sports figure who's probably closer in wealth, look at the crap-tastic ways in which Brett Favre has used the wealth and influence his career brought him..)
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:09 PM on April 9, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by Nerd of the North at 3:09 PM on April 9, 2023 [14 favorites]
I live right around most of his projects in west Akron. The presence and impact is amazing. I agree that philanthropy should not be a stand-in for adequate public service (which in Akron is not bad, not great, full of good intentions), but is refreshing to see good works like this that aren’t apparently part of some grift.
posted by slogger at 3:20 PM on April 9, 2023 [10 favorites]
posted by slogger at 3:20 PM on April 9, 2023 [10 favorites]
I have concerns about the way our philanthropy is dependent on the good intentions of wealthy people
We're back in the pre-WWI level of wealth and income inequality. Around a decade ago a Swiss financial firm declared our era to be Gilded Age 2.0. So we're doing the old routines, where Carnegies, Vanderbilts, etc. splash around funds.
posted by doctornemo at 4:33 PM on April 9, 2023 [5 favorites]
We're back in the pre-WWI level of wealth and income inequality. Around a decade ago a Swiss financial firm declared our era to be Gilded Age 2.0. So we're doing the old routines, where Carnegies, Vanderbilts, etc. splash around funds.
posted by doctornemo at 4:33 PM on April 9, 2023 [5 favorites]
I’d still prefer a Carnegie Library to whatever Ron Desantis would build…
posted by rickw at 4:11 AM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by rickw at 4:11 AM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've thought a lot over the last decade about the difference between the current gilded age and the last one, and the loss of mainstream Christianity as a driving moral force for philanthropy among the ultra-wealthy. I'm not a huge fan of organised religion in general or Christianity specifically, but in the 19th century there was at least a decent chance that the average ultra-wealthy person would exist within a Christian-inspired moral framework that made giving back in some way to the less fortunate a moral imperative.
With the shift to areligious individualism in the intervening century, we now have a generation of billionaires whose attitudes are closer to "fuck you, got mine" than "I am absurdly privileged and philanthropy is one way to atone for that in the name of my immortal soul". LeBron James strikes me as a rare example of a modern-day ultra-wealthy person with the attitude of a Victorian philanthropist. And, as other commenters have noted, that's better than a greedy hoarding ultra-wealthy person but not as good as a robust state with a genuine sense of duty of care towards its citizens. And it's striking that his attitude seems to stem from having grown up in and witnessed poverty first-hand - something that ultra-wealthy folks with generational wealth have been able to insulate themselves from the realities of for a very long time.
Don't get me wrong, I'd still prefer the ultra-wealthy not to exist, and I don't think a return to Christian morality is what the 21st century needs (though there are plenty of misguided hands trying to claw society back in that direction). But we've lost one widespread moral imperative for those with too much to give at least some of it back to those with too little, and haven't replaced it with any other kind of moral imperative. It seems much rarer for today's ultra-wealthy to come to the same conclusions via secular frameworks unless they also have lived experience of what it's like to have needs (as an individual and as a community) that aren't getting met, and most of today's ultra-wealthy weren't born into poverty. I guess fear of damnation was once a decent proxy for empathy, and now instead of that we just have low-empathy rich people.
posted by terretu at 6:04 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
With the shift to areligious individualism in the intervening century, we now have a generation of billionaires whose attitudes are closer to "fuck you, got mine" than "I am absurdly privileged and philanthropy is one way to atone for that in the name of my immortal soul". LeBron James strikes me as a rare example of a modern-day ultra-wealthy person with the attitude of a Victorian philanthropist. And, as other commenters have noted, that's better than a greedy hoarding ultra-wealthy person but not as good as a robust state with a genuine sense of duty of care towards its citizens. And it's striking that his attitude seems to stem from having grown up in and witnessed poverty first-hand - something that ultra-wealthy folks with generational wealth have been able to insulate themselves from the realities of for a very long time.
Don't get me wrong, I'd still prefer the ultra-wealthy not to exist, and I don't think a return to Christian morality is what the 21st century needs (though there are plenty of misguided hands trying to claw society back in that direction). But we've lost one widespread moral imperative for those with too much to give at least some of it back to those with too little, and haven't replaced it with any other kind of moral imperative. It seems much rarer for today's ultra-wealthy to come to the same conclusions via secular frameworks unless they also have lived experience of what it's like to have needs (as an individual and as a community) that aren't getting met, and most of today's ultra-wealthy weren't born into poverty. I guess fear of damnation was once a decent proxy for empathy, and now instead of that we just have low-empathy rich people.
posted by terretu at 6:04 AM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
I’d still prefer a Carnegie Library to whatever Ron Desantis would build…
That kind of preference is what it's like to live in an oligarchy.
posted by doctornemo at 9:03 AM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
That kind of preference is what it's like to live in an oligarchy.
posted by doctornemo at 9:03 AM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
The only thing I remember from a political theory course I took from Gad Horowitz many decades ago:
He was supposedly quoting Andrew Carnegie: "In a true democracy there would be a 100% inheritance tax."
posted by morspin at 2:08 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
He was supposedly quoting Andrew Carnegie: "In a true democracy there would be a 100% inheritance tax."
posted by morspin at 2:08 PM on April 10, 2023 [1 favorite]
With the shift to areligious individualism
You misspelled prosperity gospel.
concerns … about how James' program is so closely tied to major corporations
I mean, it's a mutually beneficial arrangement for those corporations. They get to do some philanthropy that has an outsized impact because of the celebrity involved, LeBron gets to leverage somebody else's money to help his community (and not just put everything up himself) and people who do the job training programs might get on a career path that could lead to stability, instead of just a sequence of part time, low skill jobs. Where it will be interesting down the line is if any of those corporate partners are actually hiring the people who come through the program, and if they're putting them in positions with actual career tracks. The cynic in me says it's lip service and the corporations footing the bill won't actually do anything with the talent they're training, but I would love to be wrong.
posted by fedward at 5:31 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
You misspelled prosperity gospel.
concerns … about how James' program is so closely tied to major corporations
I mean, it's a mutually beneficial arrangement for those corporations. They get to do some philanthropy that has an outsized impact because of the celebrity involved, LeBron gets to leverage somebody else's money to help his community (and not just put everything up himself) and people who do the job training programs might get on a career path that could lead to stability, instead of just a sequence of part time, low skill jobs. Where it will be interesting down the line is if any of those corporate partners are actually hiring the people who come through the program, and if they're putting them in positions with actual career tracks. The cynic in me says it's lip service and the corporations footing the bill won't actually do anything with the talent they're training, but I would love to be wrong.
posted by fedward at 5:31 PM on April 10, 2023 [2 favorites]
I remember reading an interview with LeBron James where he talked about those supposedly inspiring up-by-their-bootstraps stories so many athletes seem to have, and he said that while they were inspiring, we never talk about why people were so impoverished in the first place. I think he's doing his bit to pull people out of those circumstances and into normal lives. So good for him. He doesn't have to do any of it.
posted by etaoin at 8:05 PM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by etaoin at 8:05 PM on April 10, 2023 [4 favorites]
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