China’s egregious human rights abuses have been widely discussed recently in light of the 2022 Winter Olympics, but during an appearance on ESPN, J.A. Adande indicated that the U.S. is not well positioned to decry China’s record.
Adande, who is the director of sports journalism at Northwestern University’s Medill School, asked, “who are we to criticize China’s human rights records when we have ongoing, attacks by the agents of the state against unarmed citizens and we’ve got assaults on the voting rights of, of our people of color in various states in this country?”
He said that it is difficult to locate any nations that are not “problematic when it comes to human rights — including here.”
“I think we can bring attention to it. I think it’s, it’s notable that we did have a Uyghur participant lighting the torch,” he said.
The U.S. announced in December that it would engage in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is advising athletes not to criticize China during their stay in that country.
“I do not encourage them to speak out against the Chinese government there because I fear for their safety if they do,” Pelosi said.
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