The Patriot Post® · Free Hong Kong!

When LeBron James criticized Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey for practicing free speech by tweeting his support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, Mr. James ironically said Mr. Morey wasn’t “educated on the situation at hand.”

In reality, it is Mr. James who is not “educated on the situation at hand” regarding communist governments: namely, they view people as expendable.

Or is it that Mr. James simply doesn’t care?

Hopefully, Mr. James is just ignorant about the fact that the Chinese communist government harvests human organs, murders little children, imprisons and tortures people of faith, and oppresses more than one billion people in every area of their lives.

While NBA superstars like Mr. James are treated like kings when swooping into China to play their games, the people of China are treated like animals. While the privileged Americans feast and have their every whim catered to, many Chinese people starve as they slave away in forced labor.

Mr. James and his NBA associates who seek to keep Beijing happy can get a quick education on the brutality of communism by visiting the website VictimsofCommunism.org.

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation documents atrocities through the stories of survivors and historical accounts of famines, mass graves of the purged, and prison gulags. Mr. James will learn that in the past century, communists regimes have slaughtered and starved more than 100 million people.

The pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong are increasingly becoming victims of communism too. Residents are regularly kidnapped and imprisoned in mainland China, city officials are jailed, and pro-democracy activists are forbidden by law from running for office.

Maybe Mr. James doesn’t understand that the people of Hong Kong are protesting in the streets because they are afraid for their families, their futures, and their very lives.

VictimsofCommunism.org explains that the dismal conditions of mainland China juxtaposed against the vibrancy of Hong Kong is “proof that communism impoverishes and freedom enriches — economically, scientifically, artistically, spiritually. Like Taiwan, [Hong Kong] represents a better path that is possible for the Chinese people, one that doesn’t involve Beijing’s tyranny.”

“Hong Kong, therefore, is a mortal threat to [Chinese President] Xi Jinping and the Communist Party. China’s rulers will continue to squeeze Hong Kong, just as the Soviet Union tried to strangle Berlin,” the website states. “As we have heard from the city’s pro-democracy leaders, they fear the day is coming when Beijing does to them what it did to thousands of peaceful protesters in Tiananmen Square 30 years ago, and in the nationwide crackdown that followed.”

When Mr. James and others in the NBA try to silence their colleagues from supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters so that their Chinese business interests are not jeopardized, they put their greed on display for all the world to see.

And let’s be clear: The business arrangements that the NBA and Mr. James have in China have nothing to do with economic freedom or capitalism; they have everything to do with getting rich off the backs of people who live in servitude to an oppressive and evil regime.

For years the far leftists — those lovers of socialism and communism — have assailed capitalism, intentionally misleading an entire generation about the opportunity that comes with economic freedom. They’ve made capitalism the bogeyman, despite the fact it has resulted in raising more people out of poverty than any other economic system known to man.

Capitalism by definition exists only when people are free to use their money as they see fit. Capitalism thrives on freedom; communism is fueled on government dictates and the abuse of human beings who are treated as commodities.

While Mr. James et al. have become very rich because of U.S. capitalism, they have no qualms about doing business with the communist regimes that deny those same opportunities to the people they oppress.

The NBA used to be about promoting and celebrating athletic ability and the love of the game, but today many of the players and owners are turning it into an enterprise wherein money and power — not fair play — are front and center.

Even while it’s past time for the NBA and Mr. James to reexamine their relationships with China, courageous basketball fans who love the sport and freedom are showing their support for both by showing up at games wearing T-shirts that boldly proclaim “Free Hong Kong.”

You can get your own shirt and help educate Mr. James and so many others about the evils of communism by making a small donation at VictimsofCommunism.org.

Rebecca Hagelin can be reached at [email protected].