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Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice, has criticized Cleveland Cavaliers鈥� NBA star LeBron James for not making a public show of support for her son who was fatally shot after reaching for his pellet gun, which police believed to be real.

Cleveland Officer Timothy Loehmann shot Tamir in November 2014 less than two seconds after arriving at the scene. But on Dec. 28 a grand jury declined to indict Loehmann or his partner Frank Garmback, in what Cuyahoga County prosecutor Tim McGinty said聽聽described as "a聽perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications ... that did not indicate criminal conduct by police."

The decision elicited聽further frustration and protests from groups including Black Lives Matter and the Rice family.聽

And Samaria is disappointed with a number of people for their role in Tamir鈥檚 case, but the basketball star seems to be at the top of her list 鈥� reigniting a debate about the role of professional athletes in the racial justice movement.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 quite sad that LeBron hasn鈥檛 spoken out about my son,鈥� Rice said in an interview with NewsOne Tuesday.

Activist Tariq Toure has promoted the Twitter hashtag #NoJusticeNoLeBron calling for James, because of his position of influence in the community, to sit out on NBA games in protest of the grand jury鈥檚 decision.

Rice said she isn鈥檛 calling for such extreme measures, but she would like a milder show of support.聽

鈥淚鈥檓 not asking him to sit out a game,鈥� Rice told NewsOne. 鈥淚 know his kids got to eat too, but you can at least . Some of the other athletes, some of them have said something, some of them haven鈥檛. I think they should just make a statement. I鈥檓 not asking nobody to quit their job or anything, but make a statement for us black people out here.鈥澛�

If she was basing her expectations on James's recent past history, it's not too surprising that Ms. Rice was hoping for a response from him.聽

In March 2012, of the entire Miami Heat team wearing hooded sweatshirts similar to the one worn by 17-year-old Trayvon Martin when he was shot, with the hashtag #wearetrayvonmartin. And while warming up with his Cleveland Cavalier teammates for a Dec. 8, 2014 game against the Brooklyn Nets, James chose to wear an 鈥淚 Can鈥檛 Breathe鈥� T-shirt instead of his jersey to show solidarity with Eric Gardner, another African-American man who was killed by police.聽Unlike Martin or Gardner, Tamir was a Cleveland native 鈥� like James.

President Barack Obama has praised James for frequently speaking out on social issues.聽

鈥淲e went through a long stretch there where [with] well-paid athletes the notion was: just be quiet and get your endorsements and don鈥檛 make waves,鈥� Mr. Obama told People Magazine in December 2014. 鈥淟eBron is an example of a young man who has, in his own way and in a respectful way, tried to say and focus attention.鈥澛�

Yet James says Tamir鈥檚 case is different because he doesn鈥檛 know enough about it.聽

鈥淔or me, I鈥檝e always been a guy who鈥檚 took pride in that I鈥檝e ever spoke on,鈥� James told ESPN after the Cavaliers beat the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 29. 鈥淎nd to be honest, I haven鈥檛 really been on top of this issue. So it鈥檚 hard for me to comment鈥�.鈥澛�

James鈥� influential, yet sometimes controversial, response to social issues highlights a common paradox faced by many famous US athletes.聽

And there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus. Some say it鈥檚 not the job of professional athletes to comment on social controversies because they signed up to play a sport, not steer public opinion.聽NBA Hall-of-Famer Charles Barkley is famously quoted as saying: "I'm not paid to be a role model. I'm paid on the basketball court."

While others say that professional athletes signed up to be famous, and in that way they agree to all subsequent expectations of a role model.聽As Leigh Steinberg writes for Forbes, if professional athletes want to benefit from 鈥渉uge sums for playing or endorsements or exalted lifestyle that ensues,鈥� then they need to play ball with a number of responsibilities.

Obama seems to agree with the latter school of thought.聽

鈥淲e forget the role that Muhammad Ali, Arthur Ashe and Bill Russell ,鈥� Obama told People. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to see more athletes do that. Not just around this issue, but around a range of issues.鈥�