Cavaliers Newble is rallying support for Darfur
By HOWARD BECK
May 15, 2007 (CLEVELAND) — Ira Newble was not politically active until he read about Eric Reeves. Reeves was not a fan of professional basketball until he received a flurry of e-mail messages from Newble.
But Reeves, a 57-year-old English professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, is now rooting hard for the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Newble, a Cavs reserve, is now pushing hard to advance Reeves’s humanitarian cause.
Their common ground is Darfur, the region of Sudan where an armed conflict has caused the death of an estimated 500,000 civilians and the displacement of 2.5 million others. It has been called genocide by a number of governments, including the United States, and by Reeves, a leading scholar on the conflict.
A passionate advocate for international intervention, Reeves was profiled by USA Today in March. Newble read the story while the Cavs were on the road, and was so moved that he reached out to Reeves.
“There’s innocent people dying, and it’s just a tragedy to stand back and let them do what they’re doing,” Newble said.
So Newble chose to act. He absorbed as much information as he could find on the Internet. He downloaded fact sheets and articles, made printouts and put copies in every teammate’s locker.
The result is a letter, signed by Newble and most of his teammates and released last week, that takes aim at China, which supplies the Sudanese government with money and weapons. China, in turn, is a major importer of Sudan’s oil.
The letter reads in part, “We, as basketball players in the N.B.A. and as potential athletes in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, cannot look on with indifference to the massive human suffering and destruction that continue in the Darfur region of Sudan.” It concludes with a plea to the Chinese government “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.”
The letter has not been signed by the star LeBron James but has been endorsed by most of the Cavaliers’ roster, including the starters Drew Gooden, Larry Hughes, Sasha Pavlovic and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Reeves said this simple gesture could be the start of something much greater.
“This is the catalyst that’s going to stimulate within the sports world a phenomenal response, and an international response to the realities in Darfur, which the world has allowed,” Reeves said in a telephone interview. “This is the fifth year of genocidal destruction. It’s unconscionable that the international community has allowed this to continue for so long.”
Newble is reaching out to as many of the N.B.A.’s 400-plus players as he can. His agent, Steve Kauffman, has spread the word through his peers. Kauffman also plans to contact the players unions of the National Football League and Major League Baseball to enlist their support.
Reeves envisions the movement spreading across the athletic spectrum. Advocates have reached out to Muhammad Ali, perhaps the most famous athlete-activist, and are optimistic that he will join their cause.
Reeves and others say China holds the key to improving the situation in Darfur. They are highlighting Beijing’s role as the host of the 2008 Olympic Games, but are not calling for a boycott.
Newble, a seven-year N.B.A. journeyman playing for his third team, is probably unknown to most basketball fans. He is not in the Cavaliers’ regular rotation and has made only a token appearance in their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Nets.
Newble will probably have little impact on the series, which Cleveland leads, 3-1. But the longer the Cavaliers play, the more chances Newble has to recruit players to his cause and to give interviews on Darfur, which is why Reeves finds himself rooting for Cleveland.
In the Cavaliers’ locker room, Newble — who idolized Ali as a child — is known for his outspokenness, his intellect and his keen interest in world affairs.
“He’s a very caring person and he’s very educated, very knowledgeable about a lot of different things,” his teammate Damon Jones said.
The campaign is straightforward and relatively restrained, but is potentially awkward for the N.B.A. Last week, Commissioner David Stern hinted at operating a league in China and designated the Cavaliers’ James as the N.B.A.’s ambassador. The players union just announced its own partnership with a Chinese corporation.
Stern declined to address Newble’s letter specifically but said through a spokeswoman, “We respect our players’ rights to express their views on important public issues.” The players union issued a statement stressing that it was doing business with a Chinese corporation, not the Chinese government, adding, “The problems and issues in the Sudan and Darfur are extraordinarily complex and nuanced.”
Only three of Newble’s teammates did not sign the letter, and two of them — James and Jones — have business ties to China. (The third player, David Wesley, is away from the team tending to family matters.)
James, one of the N.B.A.’s most marketed stars, has a $90 million endorsement contract with Nike, which has extensive dealings in China. Jones has an endorsement deal with Li Ning, a shoe company in China.
“It’s basically not having enough information,” James said of his decision not to sign the letter.
Jones said of the letter, “I can’t comment about that.”
Newble considers the impact that a major N.B.A. star — perhaps Shaquille O’Neal, Dwyane Wade or Carmelo Anthony — could have on the Darfur campaign. He says he understands that some will be reluctant to risk their names and business opportunities.
“But at the end of the day,” he said, “if you’re doing something good, it’s all going to come back to you.”
(New York Times)