Raptors Star Chris Bosh Not About To Become Another Athlete-Activist
Posted October 30, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Don’t expect Raptors star Chris Bosh to become the next activist athlete.
While the big Texan says he’s keenly interested in politics, he likes to keep his views to himself.
“I don’t really get too political, ’cause that’s a religion,” Bosh said at Toronto’s practice on Thursday. “People follow it very closely, it’s a way of life for some people.”
The six-foot-10 forward says he has filed his absentee vote in the U.S. presidential election — “it’s a pretty exciting time in the United States,” he notes.
But he won’t say whether he voted for Democratic nominee Barack Obama or Republican John McCain. In the past, he has identified himself as a Democrat.
Still, the three-time all-star doesn’t feel comfortable making his political opinions public.
“I never want to get political because people might judge you because of your political stance,” he says. “So I just choose to leave that alone.”
Bosh is remaining tight-lipped just as more NBA players are becoming more politically active.
In 2007, Ira Newble, then a forward with the Cleveland Cavaliers, wrote a letter to the Chinese government asking them “to use all available diplomatic resources and economic pressure to end the agony of Darfur, and to secure access for U.N. peace support personnel.”
He then persuaded most of the Cavaliers to sign it, with the notable exception of star forward LeBron James.
Wizards centre Etan Thomas is a community and peace activist who released a book of poetry in 2005 and writes a blog for the left-leaning Huffington Post. And Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard was among the 600 people who wrote cheques of US$25,000 or more to Obama’s campaign in September.
Bosh says political awareness among NBA players tends to come with age.
“More people are getting into it, especially as they mature a little bit more,” Bosh says.
And, of course, this election is particularly interesting.
“It just shows how big it is if NBA guys are really participating,” he says. “It’s a big race.”
Toronto Raptors 2008-09 Primer
Photo Credit: Claus Andersen/Getty Images
