Photo Credit: AP Photo/John Raoux
Marcus Smart Shares Personal Story Of Experiencing Racism First Hand: “I Wasn’t A Person To This Woman”
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, that is seeking social justice and an end to systematic racism in the United States, and the entire world, many current and former NBA players have shared their personal stories of experiencing racism first hand.
The latest to talk about being a victim of racism is Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart, who wrote a brilliant article for The Players Tribune called ‘This Article Is Not About Basketball’.
In the article, the Smart recalled an encounter with a female Celtics fan and her little son after a game from a few years back, that shows you just how present racism still is in today’s society.
“I was pulling out of the arena parking lot when I saw a white woman with her five- or six-year-old son crossing against the light right as the cars were starting to come at them. I had my windows down and realized something bad was about to happen, so I yelled to her, politely, that she needed to hurry and get out of the street so the two of them wouldn’t get hurt. The woman was wearing an Isaiah Thomas number 4 Celts jersey and there were all these other Celtics fans around who were at the game. I figured she’d be cool. Nope.
She swung her hear around and it was… ‘F**k you, you f**king n-word!’ For a second it was like I couldn’t breathe. Did she really say that? And in an instant, just like that, I was made to feel less than human. I wasn’t a person to this woman. I was a form of entertainment. Nothing more.”
