Phil Ellsworth / ESPN Images(LOS ANGELES) — LeBron James has spoken out after police said a “racially motivated slur” was spray-painted on a front gate of the Cleveland Cavaliers star’s West Los Angeles home.
The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating the incident, which was reported to police Wednesday morning, one day before Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors.
Property management removed the graffiti before officers arrived and investigators are reviewing security footage, police said.
James, who was not at home, told reporters Wednesday, “As I sit here on the eve of one of the greatest events we have in sports, race and what’s going on comes again.”
“On my behalf and my family’s behalf, I look at it like this: if this is going to shed a light and continue the conversation, then I’m OK with it,” James said. “My family is safe, and that’s the most important. Just goes to show that racism will always be a part of the world, a part of America. Hate in America for African-Americans is living every day, even though it’s concealed most of the time.”
“Emmett Till’s mom, actually, one of the things I thought of, one of the reasons she had an open casket was so that people could see what he went through as a victim of a hate crime,” James said of the African-American teenager who was lynched in Mississippi in the 1950s.
“No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in America is tough,” he said.
“We got a long way to go, for us as a society, and for us as African-Americans, until we feel equal in America.”
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