NBA superstar LeBron James has talked about the ordeal of suffering racism after the "N-word" was spray painted on to his Los Angeles home.
"No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are... being black in America is tough," he said.
LAPD officials confirmed to the BBC the highly offensive nature of the racial epithet.
Officers are reviewing surveillance footage to try to identify the vandal.
James addressed a group of reporters on hand to cover Game 1, he said that all he wanted at that moment was to be with his children.
“This
is kind of killing me inside right now,” he said. The “this” James was
referring to was that he was not at home to comfort his children over
the racial slur that, the police said Wednesday, was painted on the
front gates of a Los Angeles-area home that James owns.
Several
hours after the episode was disclosed, James discussed it at what
became a frank and emotional news conference in Oakland at Oracle Arena,
the home of the Warriors. James said the vandalism illustrated the
difficulties black people faced in America.
Continue reading the main story
“No
matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter
how many people admire you, being black in America is — it’s tough,”
James said. “And we got a long way to go for us as a society and for us
as African-Americans until we feel equal in America.”
“My
family is safe,” James said, adding: “Obviously, you see I’m not my
normal energetic self. It will pass. That’s fine. I’m figuring it out.
I’m thinking about my kids a lot.”
If nothing else, James said, he saw the episode as another opportunity to address an issue that is important to him.
“If
this incident that happened to me and my family today can keep the
conversation going and can shed light on us trying to figure out a way
to keep progressing and not regressing, then I’m not against it
happening to us again,” he said. “I mean, it’s as long as my family is
safe.”
Last week he became the all-time leading scorer in the play-offs, surpassing Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan's record.
0 comments:
Post a Comment