In the wake of Baltimore Orioles’ outfielder Adam Jones being taunted with racial slurs, including the N-word Monday night at Fenway Park, Yankees’ pitcher CC Sabathia shared his own experiences with the Boston faithful with reporters.
“I’ve never been called the N-word [anywhere but Boston],” said Sabathia, per Erik Boland of Newsday. “There’s 62 [black Major Leaguers]. We all know. When you go to Boston, expect it.”
Sabathia said in his big league career "I've never been called the N word" anywhere but in Boston
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) May 2, 2017
Sabathia said it's talked about among black major leaguers: "we know. There's 62 of us. We all know. When you go to Boston, expect it."
— Erik Boland (@eboland11) May 2, 2017
It’s unfair to indict the entire population of a city and no doubt this is likely a small proportion of the population. However, Boston has a long history of racism that should be acknowledged here.
This is a city that protested school bus desegregation as late as 1976 — 11 years after being ordered to desegregate by the Massachusetts legislature and 22 years after Brown v. Board of Ed. It’s also a city which subjected its iconic basketball star, Bill Russell, to so much racism that he refused to come back when they retired his number in 1972.
At one point, someone broke into Russell’s house in order to defecate on his bed. Evidently, Boston’s own stars are still being subjected to racism today.
#RedSox players told John Henry and Sam Kennedy they have been subject to racial slurs at Fenway.
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) May 2, 2017
The fact that this is still happening today is reprehensible. It’s probably a small portion of the fans and of the city that think this way and it’s unfair to indict an entire population over that, but there’s clearly some sort of institutional problem at work. If every black player in the league — including those that play for the Boston Red Sox — is subjected to racial slurs at Fenway Park, something has to be done.