Lebron calls Celtics fans racist

[Roy H.]

Curious, Have any of the Celtics players stated that they have been subjected to racism themselves by the fans in Boston. Wouldn’t they also be targets as 95% of the team is non-white. Also, have any other NBA players other than Kyrie and Lebron recently stated that they’ve had bad experiences at the TD Garden?

Marcus has. 

[Moranis]

Curious, Have any of the Celtics players stated that they have been subjected to racism themselves by the fans in Boston. Wouldn’t they also be targets as 95% of the team is non-white. Also, have any other NBA players other than Kyrie and Lebron recently stated that they’ve had bad experiences at the TD Garden?

Marcus has.

Yeah.  I posted the link in this thread and pulled out relevant quotes.  It is on page 9

https://forum.celticsstrong.com/index.php?topic=106921.msg3073391#msg3073391

[Goldstar88]

Curious, Have any of the Celtics players stated that they have been subjected to racism themselves by the fans in Boston. Wouldn’t they also be targets as 95% of the team is non-white. Are the fans only racist towards the opposing teams players? Also, have any other NBA players other than Kyrie and Lebron recently stated that they’ve had bad experiences at the TD Garden?

Marcus has.

I thought he mentioned that he heard some things, but didn’t state that it was directed at him. Again, I’m not saying that it’s acceptable behavior or claiming that racism doesn’t ever occur at the Garden, but why aren’t the Celtics players coming out and saying that the fans are acting this way towards them. Are the Boston fans only racist towards the opposing teams? Also, why aren’t there players (not named Lebron or Kyrie) from other teams stating that they’ve had similar bad experiences at the Garden.

[JSD]

It wouldn’t be the first time Smart either lied or misheard though…


https://www.foxsports.com/stories/other/smarts-unanswered-question-does-him-a-disservice

[Moranis]

https://heavy.com/sports/boston-celtics/celtics-champion-puts-fan-base-on-blast/

Jaylen Brown 4.5 minutes talking about all of the problems Boston has with race, though doesn't directly discuss any specific incidents.


Pretty good historical view here https://andscape.com/features/celtics-being-a-black-player-in-boston/

Lots and lots of stuff about Russell, but that was so long ago, I'm not sure it is relevant to this discussion.

When Dee Brown joined the Celtics in 1990, he was ready to leave immediately after experiencing a racial incident. Brown and his then-fiancee, Jill Edmondson, were new homeowners in the area and were departing a post office in Wellesley when they were surrounded by cops.

“I was in a parking lot in my car with a pen in my hand signing bills and all I heard was, ‘Get your hands up,’ ” Brown said. “I looked out the window. I saw about eight cops with guns on me. It was scary because I heard a couple say, ‘Put the gun down,’ because they thought the pen was a gun. When I got out of the car they said, ‘Put the gun down.’ I said, ‘It’s not a gun. It’s a pen.’ They put me facedown to the [ground] and put guns to my head.”

Brown feared for his life until a passerby recognized him.

“Someone walked by and saw what was going on and said, ‘Hey, that guy just got drafted by the Celtics,’ ” Brown said. “If he didn’t say anything, I would have went to jail, handcuffed.”

Brown said the cops suspected he had robbed a nearby bank a week earlier after getting a call from an employee who saw him. He eventually saw a picture of the actual robber, who was of a much lighter skin tone.

“I seriously thought about leaving,” said Brown, who is currently general manager of the LA Clippers’ G League team. “I thought I was going to die that day. Really. I had been there for three months. It was tough.

“The funny thing was I ended up moving to the city and I never had a problem ever since.”

Avery Bradley, who played for the Celtics from 2010-2017, said one of his brothers had a racist incident at a Boston Bruins game.

“My family and friends experienced a lot of racism in Boston,” Bradley said. “If they weren’t with me, they experienced all types of stuff. At a hockey game, my brother almost got in a fight with some people because they were acting crazy. I never experienced it, but every other person I knew that was there experienced it.”

As Smart learned that night in his car outside of TD Garden, the difference can come down to street clothes versus game jersey. Former Celtics forward Glen Davis said Bostonians always gave him love and respect “because I wore the jersey of the Celtics,” but when he went out he occasionally heard racist words from fans.

“There were moments when you go out and a fan overdoes it,” Davis said. “For example … ‘Can you dunk, you big monkey?’ You would go out to the clubs, bars where some of the fans were drunk and would say things like that.”

[Roy H.]

It wouldn’t be the first time Smart either lied or misheard though…


https://www.foxsports.com/stories/other/smarts-unanswered-question-does-him-a-disservice

Or, he could be telling the truth. 

[nickagneta]

Guess we can close the voting on the dumbest post of the year award.

Which one? There's been like a dozen in this thread.

Just because people say racist things doesn't mean they are racist.

Yup, that one is probably top of the list.

[Amonkey]

I have been reading this thread for some time and there's a lot of digest from different points of racism, history and all that. One point I would like to note is of Lebron James not speaking about race eloquently. I think that is a fair criticism, but then again, I think that is the same of a lot of people that people look up to, like Elon Musk, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Rogan and so forth. For the most part, these are people that are just saying their opinion and we then go viciously attack them, sometimes with reason.

However, with this nuisance I have to say that this is what some people like the Trumps of the world. Because they speak their mind but somehow, when it's somebody from the other side, we are not trying to understand the substance of their opinion but instead attack the way it was said.

That is why I do think there is a benefit to being politically correct. It's not that you are lying, it means that you are conveying your message in a way that doesn't get distracted by the side noise. I think in this case, some people have mentioned that Lebron could have said the message in a way to say that he has experienced racist things, and not the whole city is racist, basically they just want him to be politically correct and I kind of agree with that. However, I also give him a break because he is not a politician and he is not trained in communication that way, the same way people give Trump a break for saying things in a certain way. As long as you make some attempt at understanding the message.

[celticsclay]

I actually only learned about the incident at Russells house from the Winning Time show on HBO. At first I thought it was something of an embellishment cause they exaggerated everything, but it actually happened. I do wonder if we were do a deep dive on a city like Philadelphia how many incidents there would be that were similar to this? Definitely think there is a good amount of racism in Boston, so not really trying to contest that in any way, it is just hard for me to imagine there are not some other cities that are very similar based on having gone to games in Philly for multiple sports as an example. I do think by comparison if someone did this at Chase Arena they would be kicked out very quickly and reported by fans from my experiences living in San Francisco for a long time. It is harder for me to tell where I live now, but I haven't really heard that much stuff crossing the line in any degree at Denver. The worst was probably a fan (black) that just kept calling all the nuggets players the n word as a nuggets fan. There were a lot of kids around the area and I did not know what the appropriate response was in that situation so I didn't do or say anything and nobody else did either.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

I would bet that this happens in many places. I didn’t think it was a good look that white GS fans were throwing garbage at Charles Barkley chanting “FU Chuck” on TV. You could tell he wasn’t happy, and Kenny had to keep telling him to sit down so he didn’t become the next Ron Artest.

You can try to analyze the motivations for this type of behavior. Is it racist or not racist? I don’t think there’s a definitive answer. In a country where abusing black men was the norm, you would think that we would try to discourage such behavior.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

It wouldn’t be the first time Smart either lied or misheard though…


https://www.foxsports.com/stories/other/smarts-unanswered-question-does-him-a-disservice

Why would a middle aged white man call a young black man a piece of crap? Who thinks this is appropriate?

Why would anyone defend this man’s perceived right to abuse another person, regardless of race?

[Neurotic Guy]

There are a few here, and many elsewhere, who are just fine believing all sorts of outlandish conspiracies that carry with them not a shred of evidence to support the claim.  One example is a stolen election in 2020, but there are ideas far less feasible and far crazier than that one.  Evidence needed?  Not really -- Trump said it, Alex Jones said it, Rudy said it, Rush said it, Sean or Tucker or Laura said it.... that's good enough.

But when a black person shares their experiences, or when a group of black Americans express the reality of common experiences, there is, from the very people who buy the evidence-lacking conspiracies, a tone of resistance, reluctance, and denial.  You're not buying it, you're searching your brain for "what abouts" and double standards to counter the claims.   If one's knee-jerk response (first thought) is to question the observations of a black person, it's evidence of prejudice, or bias, or racism. 

Of course it's OK for logical criticism of a person's comments (as in the case of Lebron) when the person's own logic falters.  But notice that almost everyone here who criticized Lebron also acknowledged in some way their acceptance that there is a difference in how blacks and whites are treated in America IN GENERAL (certainly not always).  And while there are some socio-economic and behavioral explanations for some of the treatment of blacks in some circumstances, there is acknowledgement by most that at least part of the difference (again, in general) occurs because of skin color.  While I realize it's frustrating for some that there is so much focus on race whenever a black person is involved in an incident, I think we need to continue to get better at our awareness of, and management of, the role race plays in our subconscious and our conscious actions.  I know this is something I try to get better at and am not all the way there for sure.  America is not striving for a more perfect union unless we continue to get better at dealing with this.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

I’m curious how people who are very critical of the BLM movement find themselves watching the NBA in 2022. Most of the the people that I know espousing racist beliefs think that the NBA is unwatchable. I don’t ask them to explain why, but I’ve been told that the league hasn’t been the same since Larry Bird left.

[Roy H.]

I’m curious how people who are very critical of the BLM movement find themselves watching the NBA in 2022. Most of the the people that I know espousing racist beliefs think that the NBA is unwatchable. I don’t ask them to explain why, but I’ve been told that the league hasn’t been the same since Larry Bird left.

I’m confused by the connections you’re making.

Why can’t somebody be critical of BLM and still love basketball?  Why can’t someone be critical of BLM and still love black people?

I think that BLM is divisive and based upon faulty facts.  I think that much of the fundraising has been diverted to enrich the founders of the movement. 

But, I love basketball, I love the Celtics, and I love the Celtics players.  Larry is my favorite player, but second and third on the list are probably Magic and Barkley.

I don’t like the litmus tests.  People can think differently and still not be racist.

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

I’m curious how people who are very critical of the BLM movement find themselves watching the NBA in 2022. Most of the the people that I know espousing racist beliefs think that the NBA is unwatchable. I don’t ask them to explain why, but I’ve been told that the league hasn’t been the same since Larry Bird left.

I’m confused by the connections you’re making.

Why can’t somebody be critical of BLM and still love basketball?  Why can’t someone be critical of BLM and still love black people?

I think that BLM is divisive and based upon faulty facts.  I think that much of the fundraising has been diverted to enrich the founders of the movement. 

But, I love basketball, I love the Celtics, and I love the Celtics players.  Larry is my favorite player, but second and third on the list are probably Magic and Barkley.

I don’t like the litmus tests.  People can think differently and still not be racist.

I said very critical of BLM. I don’t know any open minded people that get excited about the opportunity to hammer BLM. Maybe they exist and I haven’t met them.