By the looks of the title of this piece, I can sense a collective “duh” while you read it. But yes, Floyd Mayweather recently visited Israel and had glowing things to say about Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, who is currently embattled in a controversial war with the Palestinian people. This is the latest example of an affluent American figure seemingly beholden to the power structure here.
It’s very common that when people end up making a ton of money, they go to these entities to help grow that money through a bevy of investments. But once people ingratiate themselves in that way, in many cases, they seek to maintain those relationships no matter what. It’s a slippery slope. That’s because when there’s atrociousness happening in the world that involves said entities, these people will continue to support them.
Mayweather isn’t the only figure to point to in this regard. However, he is a Black man who continuously, and consciously misses the forest for the trees. Admittedly, Mayweather is one of my favorite boxers ever. For me, as a fighter, maybe second to Mike Tyson as far as my favorites go. But there’s always a distinction that I’ve had to make with my fandom because when he does choose to assert himself, it’s never in the interests of Black people. Now broken clocks can be right twice a day. He did pledge to cover funeral costs for George Floyd. That’s noble. But where is the consistency?
He initially sought to give Donald Trump’s abhorrent comments about violating women’s credence. That was one of the first times where I felt such a disconnect with how he viewed everyday people. Make no mistake, I’m sure that Mayweather is generous to his own and probably gives out turkeys during Thanksgiving in Michigan. These types of people usually take care of those in their immediate circle. But when you have a real position of influence, when it’s gut check time, you see them do as Mayweather has and continue to side with the establishment above all.
It’s hard to make wealthy people feel the ills of their ways. That’s because they have tons of bread. They’ll never want anything in this life to be able to survive. But I do think that it’s important that we all take note of those who are for us and those who clearly show themselves to be against us. It wasn’t a misstep that Mayweather made. This was a pointed meeting during a polarizing time. When there was a choice to side with peace, he scoffed in the face of it. He sided with convenience, and that’s not always intelligent. I thought that was something that he needed to know.
