Bruce Brown says that he had several racial slurs hurled at him when going to high school in Boston but claims to be desensitized by it.
Events that have taken place within the NBA in these past few days have once again opened up an important discussion about how much freedom fans are given when in the arena alongside players on the court. Russell Westbrook had popcorn thrown at him, Trae Young was spat on, and Ja Morant’s parents had racial slurs directed towards them; moments like these are what question the NBA’s ability to protect their players against racially charged attacks.
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Kyrie Irving, in the build-up to his return to TD Garden in Boston for the first time in the Playoffs, sounded off on New England/Boston fans and their questionable heckles. “I hope there’s neither racism going on nor people yelling s**t from the crowd,” said Irving. His former teammates Marcus Smart and Avery Bradley shared similar thoughts on Boston fans and even their own experiences with racism in the city.
Despite Danny Ainge discarding these claims, it’s a very well known fact that New England and Boston have a certain faction of ‘fans’ who seem to be completely alright with yelling racial profanities at the players. Kyrie Irving’s current teammate, Bruce Brown, backed Irving up and shared his experience of going to high school in Boston.
Bruce Brown opens up about the racial profiling he faced while studying in Boston.
Bruce Brown has transformed from a guy on the end of the bench into one of the most versatile PnR threats in the Eastern Conference. The undersized frontcourt player has shown flashes of being an extremely switchable defender while also having active hands in passing lanes. On the offensive end of the floor, he plays a spark plug type of roll in terms of hard rolls to the rim coupled with offensive rebounding.
As he proves to be a major part of the Nets core roster in their series against the Boston Celtics, Brown opens up about having gone through his schooling in Boston. As expected, being a minority in Boston wasn’t exactly a stroll in the park as the 2018 draftee claims to have been the subject of several racial slurs while in high school.
Bruce Brown told Matt Brooks of NetsDaily, “High school, I was called a few names before. Been called a monkey before just because I was dating the opposite race at the time. It was tough at the time. Now, it’s just like, whatever.”
Bruce Brown on racism in Boston: “High school, I was called a few names before. Been called a monkey before just because I was dating the opposite race at the time. It was tough at the time. Now, it’s just like whatever.”
— Matt Brooks (@MattBrooksNBA) May 28, 2021
It’s unfortunate that Bruce Brown had gotten so numb towards the constant heckling that he developed such a blasé attitude towards events that most certainly should not be shoved underneath the rug. It’s nearly impossible to control fans from spewing heckles/ throwing objects at players as they all happen in the spur of a moment. However, it is only right to commend the Sixers, the Knicks, and Jazz organizations for taking swift and decisive actions against any racially charged instances that take place during a game.
