NBA veteran Matt Barnes recently detailed a harrowing experience from his high school days. Shockingly, the 44-year-old said that he was once threatened by the KKK after he tried to protect his sister from a bully. Expounding on what had happened during an episode of Tidal League, Barnes detailed the context, as well as exactly how the bigoted organization attempted to put the scare in him.
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Barnes started by saying that his sister was getting bullied so often in high school, it had just about become a routine. However, one day, things got out of control when the bully chose to spit in his sister’s hair.
After she informed him of the incident, Barnes knew that he had to confront the bully. He said, “The guy that did it walked by, and I just did what any big brother would do…I took care of this kid and beat him down.”
When the matter reached the principal’s office, Barnes tried to explain the reason behind his actions. He even had his little sister by his side to show what the bully had done to her. To his surprise, the school wasn’t willing to believe him, instead choosing to make a case for the bully at every turn. He recalled,
“[They said] this kid wasn’t raised that way. His father is a prominent lawyer in Sacramento, pretty much like I’m lying.”
https://twitter.com/TidalLeague/status/1797655476026610063
As a result, Barnes was frustratedly suspended from school. However, as it turns out, this seems to have been a blessing in disguise.
The former NBA man said that halfway through his one-week suspension, the KKK vandalized his school. But the most horrific thing that they did was that they “hung a mannequin on a noose…my football jersey on it.” They also wrote life-threatening messages on his jersey and on the walls.
As a 17-year-old, Matt Barnes was targeted by this incredibly dangerous group. The mental fortitude required to make it out safely, and with one’s head held high is unimaginable. Yet, like so many others in the United States of America have had to, the former NBA man, survived, and thrived even, something he understandably is proud of to this day.
Another NBA player also received threats from the KKK in his childhood
As unfortunate as it sounds, dealing with the KKK is a harsh reality for several American athletes. They have had to live in an environment that’s not welcoming, and even downright dangerous to them.
Caleb Martin has also faced this ugly side of society in his childhood. The North Carolina-born was raised by a single mother as his father abandoned his family when he was a kid. Speaking on the matter, Caleb said,
“From my childhood I remember the ants in the sugar bowls, the cockroaches in the bathroom, and the white crosses the Ku Klux Klan burned in front of our trailer, which threatened us because we were black kids with a white mother.” [Per Marca]
Fortunately, he had a strong mother who knew how to protect her kids. As a result, Martin and his two brothers managed to move on from this situation. However, it is likely that he will carry the trauma with him for the rest of his life.
