Celtics Notebook: Jaylen Brown wants to set record straight on Boston and race

Jaylen Brown wants the league and its fans to understand that while the conversation about racism in Boston is a welcome one, he doesn’t want the issue of hate at basketball games to diminish the problems Americans face every day as the result of systematic racism.

“I do not like the manner it was brought up, centering around a playoff game,” said the Celtics wing, who is recovering from wrist surgery.

“The construct of racism, right? It’s used as a crutch or an opportunity to execute a personal gain. I’m not saying that’s the case,” he said of recent issues raised by his former teammate, Brooklyn’s Kyrie Irving. “But I do think racism is bigger than basketball, and I do think racism is bigger than Game 3 of the playoffs. I want to urge the media to paint that narrative as well. Because when it’s painted in that manner it’s insensitive to people who have to deal with it on a daily basis. The constructs and constraints of systemic racism in our school system, inequality in education, lack of opportunity, lack of housing, lack of affordable housing, lack of affordable health care,

“Tokenism, the list goes on. So I recognize and acknowledge my privilege as an athlete. Once you get to the point where that financial experience overtakes the experiences people deal with on a daily basis, I want to emphasize that as well.”

Don’t get Brown wrong, though. Boston, in his words, has a lot of work to do.

“I know that every Celtics fan in our arena is not a racist. We have people of all walks of life, ethnicities, colors, that are die-hard Celtics fans,” he said. “So I think painting every Celtics fan as a racist would be unfair. However, Boston, we’ve got a lot of work to do, no question. Incarceration rate is ridiculous, the wealth disparity is embarrassing, the inequality in education specifically in Boston public schools needs to be better. There’s a lack of resources there, lack of opportunity. The tokenism here in Boston needs to be addressed as well. But if we’re going to talk about it and that’s what the media is going to bring up, I think a sporting arena, things might exist. But in the real world things exist to far different extremities.”

Bruce Brown’s perspective

Say what you want about the motivation behind Irving’s comments about the TD Garden crowd this week — he revived a conversation on race in Boston that has the sensitivity of an open wound.

Bruce Brown, the Nets guard who grew up in Dorchester and initially played high school basketball in Wakefield, said that racism in his formative years was fairly routine.

“When I was younger I experienced a few things for sure. I mean, it’s my city, you grow up and you try to get used to it, really not think about it too much,” said Brown. “I definitely in my high school days experienced a few things for sure. But it’s tough, you get through it. I try not to worry about it too much.

“I mean, high school I was called a few names before, I was called a monkey before just because I was dating a member of the opposite race at the time. So it was tough at the time, but now it’s just like whatever.”

A day earlier Marcus Smart said that he’s heard some of the racial abuse thrown at visiting players by the crowd that Irving had spoken of. Tristan Thompson acknowledged that, yes, he heard the same in the Garden as a Cavalier.

“Why did I think I was going to get this question asked to me? Um, yeah, of course, definitely,” he said. “I mean, I think that’s what makes Boston fans special — not the racism part, but the part that they’re very into the game and they want to be the sixth man on the court with how they can get under our skin and taunt us and try to do that.

“I’ve definitely heard guys say some crazy stuff, but I think that they’re just trying to do that to try into the player’s head and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t,” said Thompson. “At the end of the day, my experience, personally, being a Celtic, nobody has said anything racial to me as a player.

“As a visitor, it’s a different story. But if they choose to use those kind of words to get a player’s attention, that comes from their home training and the lack of home training, as my mom would say. So for us, me being a Celtic now, they’ve been great, they’ve embraced me with open arms and supported me. So hopefully they can be loud tonight and be a huge boost from the crowd tonight.”

Over-the-line fan behavior

Thompson also hopes this crowd doesn’t cross the line, as they did in Philadelphia and New York during games earlier this week.

“There’s certain cities you can expect some racial slurs will be used around the third quarter when someone has enough beers, and they know they’re far enough away from us where they know we can’t do nothing to them,” said Thompson. “Of course the fans are very important to us in this league, and we appreciate them and their support every night. But there’s a fine line of when it becomes too much — when you start using racial slurs or talking about someone’s kids. Then you’re going too far, past that line.

“The league’s doing everything they can. The arena gives all the rules and regulations. You saw in Philly and Utah, and even New York, the fans crossing that line. For that they got their season tickets revoked. There should probably also be like a fine, a criminal fine, because if you spit on someone going down the street — don’t you get fined or arrested or something, some s*** like that? If you spit on people in the arena and can’t on the street, it should be the same protocol.

“I dare a (bleeper) to spit on me. I’ll follow you right to your house.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/34siTTT