“He has a little African in him.”
A little? That is what was said by an Atlanta Hawks scout in a scouting email. From what I know, Miami Heat small forward Luol Deng has a lot of African in him. He has more African in him than the majority of African-Americans in this country. And before you take my words out of context, the “lot of African in him” quip was from Deng himself.
On Tuesday afternoon, Deng responded to a racist email read aloud by Hawks GM Danny Ferry. The letter, written by a team scout, described Deng as a person who looks like he runs an honest business, but sells you illegal stuff in the back.
I already covered in another article why Ferry should not be fired for reading an email that he did not write, so I’m not going to go to cover that. This piece is about Deng’s reaction, and he responded professionally and with class to the email.
Luol Deng has issued a statement on Hawks GM Danny Ferry’s racist remarks regarding him during free agency. pic.twitter.com/xkWHNQPQoN — SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 9, 2014
Yes, every person should be treated with respect, and it is sad that this type of talk goes on today. But it should not catch us by surprised. Yes, the Hawks management was caught doing racist things, but how many other teams not only in the NBA, but in pro sports have the same thinking as Bruce Levenson and the scout? Deng is right by saying that it is not fair to generalize the entire Hawks organization based off of the actions of a few, and I think that is what has happened since the whole issue broke over the weekend.
As an African-American man myself, I am proud of my race and my heritage, which is the primary reason why those emails don’t affect me, nor does it affect Deng. Deng is on a team that actually has championship aspirations, and he is thankful for that, as he should be.
Deng has said his peace and has moved on, and we should all do the same, unless we are actually going to do something about racism in this world, and not make this a 24-hour issue.
Kareem Gantt covers breaking news for Rant Sports. For more from this author, ‘follow’ him on Twitter, ‘like’ him on Facebook, and ‘add’ him to your network on Google.
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