« Do store owners prefer to be looted by whites? | Kamala's proportions »
November 30, 2021

The NBA's Enes Kanter Freedom is a totally awesome person

By Andrea Widburg

Enes Kanter, a 6'11" tall Turkish-born Muslim, is a really good basketball player.  He's so good that he's played with some of the best teams in the NBA and is currently on the Boston Celtics.  But more than being a fine basketball player, he's a truly good man, who bravely speaks up for oppressed people everywhere.  On Monday, he became an American citizen and took a new name to celebrate: He's now Enes Kanter Freedom.

My interest in basketball has always been very, very low, and it dipped even farther when the NBA bowed before the racist, Marxist Black Lives Matter movement.  It dipped farther still when I realized that the league was willing to grovel before China's dictatorial Communist Party to benefit from the profits to be made from China's vast market.  Having the whiny, vicious LeBron James become the face of the NBA didn't help.

However, a few weeks ago, I became aware that a guy named Enes Kanter was wearing sneakers and shirts attacking China's despotic, and possibly genocidal, incarceration of the Uighur people (along with attacking Nike and others supporting the regime):

Even as I admired his bravery, I cynically thought, "Well, sure, he's a Muslim, so he's going to say that...but where does he stand on Israel, the only liberal democracy in the Middle East?"  Well, I'm deeply ashamed of myself for that cynicism, because Kanter is truly dedicated to liberty.  The Jerusalem Post published an article talking about what a mensch Kanter is whenever people are oppressed:

For Enes Kanter, the 2.08-meter center for the Portland Trailblazers, fighting against oppressive regimes is personal. Kanter has long-standing beef with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his cronies, and has faced threats, harassment and outrageous violations of his basic rights by Turkey, simply for speaking out against Erdogan since a corruption scandal in 2013.

That corruption includes arresting Kanter's father, having an outstanding arrest warrant against Kanter, and making it impossible for him to communicate with family and friends.  Rather than backing down, Kanter is even more obsessed with liberty:

BUT INSTEAD of backing down, Kanter continues to speak out for those facing persecution, using his social media platforms to fight for human rights and even condemning Turkey's offensive action against the Kurds in 2019. Kanter's commitment to justice is motivated by his Muslim faith, he says. He is driven by a commitment to "respect and love for others who aren't like us" — and that commitment includes fighting racism and promoting cooperation between Muslims and Jews in Israel as well.

This past November he met with Israel's Ambassador to the US Gilad Erdan to discuss the importance of bridging gaps in society, and expressed his desire to launch a basketball camp for Arab and Jewish children.

[snip]

Since then, Kanter has gone full speed ahead, taking steps to the launch a Holocaust education project for Muslim students, and laying the groundwork for a project of the Enes Kanter Basketball Academy in Israel for Arabs and Jews. On Yom Hashoah, he and Erdan even wrote a joint article together speaking out against online antisemitism and racism and the importance of fighting it together.

Kanter is a mensch (that is, a truly good human being), and now he's an American mensch.  On Monday, Kanter became an American citizen and officially added the word "freedom" to his name.

Enes Kanter Freedom took the time to talk to Tucker Carlson, and it will do your heart good to watch the interview:

This is a happy warrior and one whom all lovers of freedom would do well to emulate.

Image: Enes Kanter Freedom, an American citizen.  Tucker Carlson show screen grab.

To comment, you can find the MeWe post for this article here.

If you experience technical problems, please write to helpdesk@americanthinker.com