Los Angeles Lakers co-owner and CEO Jeanie Buss took to social media on Friday to share the contents of a racist letter recently sent to her by a fan. Perhaps most troubling is how Buss reveals she has received countless letters of this nature throughout her decades-long involvement with the Lakers organization.
The image of the disturbing letter posted to Instagram has been redacted by Buss, but the words obscured are plainly evident.
“Dear w—e, After 60 years as a huge Lakers fan, I now say to hell with the overpaid n—-r traitors and the NBA,” the letter reads. “Go to hell and join [redacted] Kobe Bryant.”
In the post, Buss explains why “after much thought” she felt compelled to share the contents of the letter she received on Monday, writing she did “so that everyone can see the hate is real and living out there. This is happening in our world TODAY.”
“To Joe: Did sending this letter make you feel better? Really all you did was waste your time, and energy and your postage stamp. (But thank you for including your return home address) Why don’t you look in the mirror and see your ugliness because I refuse to,” Buss writes.
“I have received letters like this over the years. The advice I always got? ‘Ignore it.’ I did. But not anymore.
“On this day, Juneteenth, I ask my white friends to join together, acknowledge the racism that exists in our country and around the world, and pledge to stop ignoring it. We all must do better.“
It’s obviously unclear what in particular, if anything, inspired the fan to write such a letter. It stands to reason, though, that it may stem somewhat by the ongoing activism by LeBron James, not to mention other Lakers players, which understandably has only increased in size and scope in recent weeks.
That said, amid the ongoing unrest, protests and social outcry inspired largely by the death of George Floyd on May 25 while in Minneapolis police custody, among other incidents of police misconduct, it’s clear Buss refuses to remain silent any longer on what she evidently encounters as the Lakers owner far too often.
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