Racism is one of the most atrocious issues that most of humanity is trying to eliminate. Even though some people are reluctant to admit it, racism is still around, even after hundreds of years of resistance against it. Sports is no exception when it comes to racism, especially the National Basketball Association.
The NBA has had a long history of racism, whether it came from the league’s players or the fans attending. We saw a couple of incidents during the pandemic, where a famous Asian player, Jeremy Lin, was subject to racism because of his ethnicity by another player. Due to this incident, along with other hate crimes against people of Asian descent, The NBA instituted a “Stop Asian Hate” initiative.
We are currently in the middle of the NBA Playoffs, and unlike Lin’s situation, some capacity of fans are allowed in the arenas. While playing the New York Knicks, who had not played in the postseason since 2011, a fan at Madison Square Garden spat on Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young. This fan was booked and banned indefinitely from the venue. However, a couple days later, Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets was playing against his previous team, the Boston Celtics, when another fan threw a water bottle at him while he was walking toward the tunnel. This fan was arrested and is currently pending trial.
It does not matter what religious beliefs one might have, racism should not have a place in this world. These people often think that particularly sports players are not human and that humiliating them is fine, but they have to understand that the players are regular human beings with their own feelings just like all of us.
It does not matter what religious beliefs one might have, racism should not have a place in this world. These people often think that particularly sports players are not human and that humiliating them is fine, but they have to understand that the players are regular human beings with their own feelings just like all of us.
