America’s streets are full of protesters and activist after the life of a black man, George Floyd, was taken by the reckless actions of a Minneapolis police officer. Social media is equally full of messages asking for equality and to stop racism in all of its forms. Sadly, New York Yankees‘ fans were splashed on Tuesday after bigleaguer Delino DeShields said that he recalls fans of the Bombers yelling the n-word at him in the 2017 season.
He was with the Texas Rangers at the time. From now on, he will play for the Cleveland Indians after being involved in the Corey Kluber trade.
“They were wearing me out, talking about my sister, how I would never be as good as my dad, normal stuff,” DeShields told ESPN’s Joon Lee during a wide-ranging conversation about race in baseball, quoted by the New York Daily News.
But then, things got ugly when Yankees’ fans started using racial slurs.
“I turned around and I told them to f–k off. I’ll beat your ass,†said DeShields at the moment he heard the racist insults. “I was mad as f–k at that point. That’s f–ked up. In that sense, you feel very alone. Even if you do say something, how many people are going to do something about it? That’s just a situation where you feel alone.â€
An ugly tactic
While some may see it as a regular attempt of getting in a rival player’s head, that kind of behavior should not be tolerated. And in that case, it was a New York Yankees’ fan (or group), but racial slurs are thrown by fans in virtually all venues, directed to players. The fact that it is a widespread practice doesn’t make it normal or tolerable.
Floyd’s death occurred on May 25. After that, many players and athletes have raised their voices against racism.
“I was always taught to not make the white man mad,†DeShields said. “That was how I was raised with whatever I was doing, just respect white people cause white people have the power in America.
“If I felt like I was disrespecting somebody who was giving me an opportunity to play, who was writing my checks and I disrespected them, well all right, if you disrespect me and how I feel, then I don’t want you on my team. That’s scary to think of, that people have so much control over your life and way of living.”