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"&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;President Barack Obama complimented Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James for wearing an \"I Can't Breathe\" shirt and said more athletes should speak out on political issues, he told PEOPLE Magazine.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After Derrick Rose debuted the shirt, James and several teammates wore shirts protesting the decision not to indict the police officer who placed Eric Garner in a fatal&amp;nbsp;chokehold&amp;nbsp;in July. Garner said \"I can't breathe\" before he died.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Obama referenced past examples of&amp;nbsp;athletes using their fame to bring change.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;\u2022&amp;nbsp;Obama: NFL was 'behind the curve' in its handling of domestic violence&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n\"You know, I think LeBron did the right thing,\" Obama told PEOPLE two days after that Cavaliers-Nets game.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n\"We forget the role that&amp;nbsp;Muhammad Ali,&amp;nbsp;Arthur Ashe&amp;nbsp;and Bill Russell played in raising consciousness,\" the president continued.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n\"We went through a long stretch there where [with] well-paid athletes the notion was: just be quiet and get your endorsements and don't make waves,\" he also said. \"LeBron is an example of a young man who has, in his own way and in a respectful way, tried to say, 'I'm part of this society, too' and focus attention.&amp;nbsp;\r\n\r\n\"I'd like to see more athletes do that,\" he added. \"Not just around this issue, but around a range of issues.\"\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There have been a series of protests by athletes in recent weeks. Five St. Louis Rams players took the field with a \"Hands Up, Don't Shoot\" pose protesting a grand jury's decision not to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Cleveland Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins wore a shirt reading \"Justice for Tamir Rice and John Crawford\"&amp;nbsp;last Sunday. The 12-year-old Rice was shot and killed last month by police who mistook his air gun for a real firearm. Crawford died in August after police shot him in an Ohio Wal-Mart while he was holding an air rifle.\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;\u2022 &lt;strong&gt;The Browns' Johnson&amp;nbsp;Bademosi explains why he wore an \"I can't breathe\" shirt&lt;/strong&gt;\r\n\r\n&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;- Paul Palladino&lt;/em&gt;\r\n&lt;/p&gt;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.si.com/nba/2014/12/19/president-barack-obama-lebron-james-athletes-political-voices>