NBA center Enes Kanter fights for rebounds in the paint, but fights for a much bigger cause outside of it.
Freedom.
That fight has pushed him to confront dictatorships across the world. This includes his homeland of Turkey and his latest target, China.
Enes’ battle against Turkey is well documented.
He fearlessly criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling him a dictator despite the threats to his life. Afterward, the Turkish government briefly arrested his father and revoked Enes’ passport in 2017, leaving him trapped in Romania. Fortunately, he made it to London and then safely back to the United States.
That life-threatening experience, which has deterred him from traveling internationally, fueled his outspoken attacks on human rights violations and oppressive countries.
His stance has cost him his family and homeland, yet today the latter is no longer an issue as Kanter has a new homeland and a new name to go with it.
According to The Athletic, Enes becomes a U.S. citizen today and has officially changed his name to Enes Kanter Freedom. Kanter is now his middle name and Freedom is his last name.
The 11-year NBA veteran turned up the heat this year in his pursuit of human rights. That fight has brought China, Nike, Nets’ owner Joe Tsai, the Olympics, Michael Jordan, and LeBron James into his arena.
“Michael Jordan has not done anything for the black community because he cares too much about his shoe sales.” said Enes on CNN.
He even donned a pair of sneakers with designs of LeBron bowing to Chinese president Xi Jinping.
“Money over morals for the King” tweeted Enes.
“Xi Jinping is a control freak” he posted in another tweet
Enes has received support from people such as the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-Wen, and NBA fans all over the world.
But he’s also received a great deal of backlash as well, including from NBA fans and China, which pulled the plug on a Celtics game last month after Enes spoke out against the Chinese government over their treatment of Tibet.
Most interesting, yet not surprising, is the support he’s received from Republicans and right-leaning media, including Fox News, Clay Travis, and politicians. Their support of Enes is hypocritical in light of their targeted attacks on democracy, voting rights, and equality. Not to mention their disdain for Black athletes who demand the same types of rights that Enes fights for, only they seek them at home in America.
But Kanter seems to welcome all of the attention and support for his international human rights campaign despite the domestic source of support.
Wonder what would happen if new American citizen Enes Kanter Freedom suddenly spoke out against racism and those opposing voting rights here at home.
