While the sports community has embraced various human rights causes over the past few years, it has been noticeably quiet when it comes to one of the greatest offenders: China.

Enes Kanter of the Boston Celtics is trying to change this. He is a man at this time who stands alone as an athlete in criticizing China’s human rights record. There is nothing to gain for him in taking up this fight and everything to lose, yet he goes forward anyway.

Enes Kanter isn’t fighting for his native country nor family members or friends. Rather he is supporting certain oppressed people within China including minorities like the Uyghurs and Tibetans who are being denied even the most basic human rights as well as LGBTQ individuals in that country who face substantial discrimination.

With little media attention, the Chinese government has cracked down on the Uyghur people trying to extinguish their culture, language and religion. For the offense of trying to maintain their identity as a people, many of them have been detained, sent to reeducation or forced-labor camps, or disappeared altogether. The treatment of the Uyghurs is similar to what the Chinese government has been doing in Tibet for many years in trying to stamp out that proud people’s identity, culture and history.

Enes Kanter’s journey to this point in life has been a long one. He was born in Switzerland and raised in Turkey. He came to the US in high school to play basketball and has gone on to play professionally. Along the way he came to embrace this country’s fundamental values probably more so than the rest of us and became a US citizen earlier this year. He truly believes in the words “justice for all” and “all men are created equal” as well as the freedoms guaranteed in our Bill of Rights. He applies them in his own life and is asking his adopted country to press China and other countries to extend and honor human rights in their own nations.

Enes Kanter is not new to speaking out on human rights. He has done so before at great risk to himself and his family. He has been an outspoken critic of Turkish President Recep Erdo?an on his human rights record in Turkey. As a result he has been deemed as an enemy of the republic, his passport was revoked in 2017 and warrants for his arrest for defamation and terrorism by Turkey were issued. In addition, in our own country Kanter was one of the first athletes to speak out in regard to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

In response to Kanter’s public call for change in China, Chinese officials, as they have done with others who question the regime. have struck back. They retaliated against the NBA and particularly the Celtics by blacking out any of their games being broadcast in China. The not-so-subtle threat is that the Chinese leadership would cancel broadcast rights altogether in China, if criticism in the league became more widespread, which would cost the NBA several hundred million dollars annually.

While the NBA Commissioner and the league did not criticize Kanter for his comments on human rights in China, they also have not shown any support. Rather, it appears to be the opposite. It seems that the NBA has quietly sought to appease China’s leaders in that they never mention the issue and seem to have quietly cautioned owners and players against speaking out against China on this important matter.

In addition to the NBA’s silence, there has been a dearth of support from other professional athletes. Many of those players expressed their support for Black Lives Matters, Me Too, Mental Health and LGBTQ movements, but not one has joined Enes Kanter on his brave journey for justice for the Chinese people. Not one has questioned Nike, of whom many have endorsement contracts, about the company producing shoes and products in shops which may involve forced labor and in conditions that would be viewed as inhumane here. Not one has raised issues about the thousands of political prisoners in China of which many are minorities. It appears for many of those athletes that their social commitment ends when it jeopardizes lucrative contracts.

Enes Kanter is now in his tenth year in the NBA, which is notable when one realizes that the average career for an NBA player is 4.5 years. He is with the Boston Celtics and is probably in the twilight of his career but still a valuable commodity in a league that prizes big men. Despite this, there is a good chance that Enes Kanter may not be in the NBA next year. His playing time with the Celtics has dropped noticeably this year and some believe it directly relates to his outspokenness on China. If he is cut or his contract is not renewed, it’s very likely that he may not be signed by another NBA team for fear that their games may be blacked out in China, as has happened with the Celtics, and they may lose lucrative broadcast revenues as well as the sale of team merchandise in the Chinese market.

It isn’t only the NBA that has ignored and remained silent on the abuses in China but the vast majority of businesses in our country. Why? Because many of them are dependent on goods from China or sell products to that burgeoning market and they fear reprisals from the Chinese government in the way of blocking access to their markets, terminating trade deals, or imposing trade barriers that could adversely affect their businesses.

It takes a bold person to risk everything on behalf of people that he has never met and may have little in common. It takes an even bolder one to do so against one of the most powerful nations in the world. Enes Kanter is one of those rare individuals who place principles and ideals above his own welfare. We could use more like him.

Greg Fulton is the president of the Colorado Motor Carriers Association representing over 600 companies directly involved in or affiliated with trucking in the state.