A day before the start of the NBA Finals, LeBron James was expected to talk merely about basketball.
Instead, on Wednesday, James spoke to reporters about the n-wordbeing spray painted onto the front gate of his California home.
Speaking before the media, he offered a reflection,
No matter how much fund you have , no matter how famous you are , no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough.
The Cleveland Cavaliers starsmessage was pretty straightforward. No quantity of reputation or luck can attain you immune to racism.
What happened at James home should only be a reminder of that fact , not a revelation of it. That tell us, the degree he carried should already be known.
Simply put, there are a number of incidents well-known athletes have faced that demonstrate whatLeBron says to be true: You cant rich away discrimination.
Heres is a series of those incidents.
Adam Jones at Fenway
At the beginning of May, Jones spoke out about how “hes having” been on the receiving endof racial epithets from members of the crowd at Bostons Fenway Park.
A couple of weeks later, he reflected on the accident for The Players Tribune,
Well, its 2017, and some people are still just stupid. Ive heard plenty of material on a baseball field over the years. You expect trash talk from fans. Sometimes you even enjoy it.
But to be out there playing video games you love, and to hear person call you the n-word? To have peanuts hurled at you, like youre not even a human being? Its disgusting.
It wasnt the first time Jones was the at the center of such a story. In 2013, a fan threw a banana at him in San Francisco.
Michael Rose-Iveyat Nebraska
Last September, the Nebraska linebacker spoke about the backlash he received from fans of his universitys football team after multiple musicians on the roster of experts knelt during the national anthem.
Some belief DaiShon, Mohamed, and myself should be kicked off the team or suspended, while some tell we deserve to be lynched or kill, just like the other black people that have died recently. Another believe that, since we didnt wishes to stand for the anthem, then we should be hung before the anthem for the next game.
These are actual statements we received from fans.
Like James, Rose-Ivey prefaced his statement by telling reporters that despite the status he enjoys as an athlete at his school, he still endured racism.
Thabo Sefolosha and the NYPD
In 2015, after the NBA player was incorrectly arrested outside a Manhattan nightclub, Sefolosha and his lawyers opposed a occurrence that they described as an instance of racial profiling and police brutality.
The arrest resulted in Sefolosha missing the 2015 NBA playoffs because of an injury suffered while officers arrested him. After he deemed not guilty at the end ofhis initial trial, he mentioned.
Justice was served yesterday, it aches me to think about all of the innocent people who arent fortunate enough to have the resources, visibility, and access to quality legal counsel that I have had.
Here, Sefolosha become clear that he had the money to defend themselves. But the money did nothing to prevent his wrongful apprehend from happening.
Young Tiger Woods
Tiger is available on national Tv when he was just a toddler. While “hes in” grade school, he was known to win tournaments against musicians who were two years older than him.
By the time he was 14, he was so well-known within golf circles that he was touted as the next phenom. It was atthat age that he devoted an interview to Trans World Sport about his rise.
When asked whether he feels any racism while playing, a young Tiger Woods mentioned,
Every time I go to a major country club I can always feel better. Always sense it. People always staring at me. What are you doing here? You shouldnt be here.
When I go to Texas or Florida you always feel it. They tell, What are you doing here? Youre not supposed to be here.
And thats likely because thats where all the bondage was.
Magic Johnson and Donald Sterling
As a businessman and part-owner of multiple dealerships, Magic Johnson was a peer of Donald Sterling, the shamed former owned of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Yet, how Sterling “was talkin about a” Johnson in private was telling.
The NBA legend was still at the center of a scandal that started with the revelation of an audio videotape on which Sterling appeared to ask a mistress to not bring black people, like Johnson, to Clippers games.
Serena Williams at Indian Wells
In 2015, Serena ended her boycott of the tournament at Indian Wells. The tennis legend had avoided playing at the California-based event since 2001, when an ugly episode watched her roundly booed during the final of the tournament.
The backstory was that her sister, Venus, had pulled out of the tournament amid rumors that their father-god, Richard Williams, secured matches to help one of the sisters win.
In a Time magazine column, Serena said she seemed their was an undercurrent of racism to the boos she received all match long.
Meanwhile, her father-god claimedhe and Venus were the subject of racist scoffs on the same day. Richard Williams told USA Today,
When Venus and I were strolling down the stairs to our seats, people kept calling me[ expletive ]. One guy mentioned, I wish it was 75; wed skin you alive. Thats when I stopped and walked toward that way.
Then I realized that[ my] best bet was to handle the situation non-violently. I had hassle holding back tears. I belief Indian Wells dishonor America.
Mario Balotelli all over
There is no one incident to point to when it comes to the types of racist chants soccer star Mario Balotelli has faced.
He wassubjected to racist scoffs in Italy, his house commonwealth where he used to play, and, earlier this year, he faced similar chantsin France, where he currently plays.
Regarding the January incident, the playerwrote on Instagram,
So is racism LEGAL in France? Or merely in Bastia? Football is an astounding athletic .. those people like Bastia advocates make it horrible!
Ultimately Balotelli is just one of a number of athletes who has proven that no amount of money and reputation could make one immune to racism.
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