Originally Posted by Vivienne

http://http://sportsillustrated.cnn....2002/0311.html

This was a cover of Sports Illustrated in March 2002, this time featuring Charles Barkley. At the time Barkley stated he was making a statement about the evils of racism by doing the cover. What do you think. Did the cover make the same headlines five years ago as LeBron's current feature?

Both covers represent different kinds of black men. The 2002 Barkley cover portrayed a man freed from his chains, while the 2008 LeBron cover shows a man reduced to the image of a beast. The question is, are black people now so accustomed to the discrimination still in America that they have become desensitised to it? Could Vogue have dared get away with this cover in 1998 as opposed to 2008? What changed so dramatically in the last six years.