With teams like the Celtics and Red Sox, Boston houses some of the most passionate sports fans in the United States. As much as Boston is known for athletic excellence, however, the city has also been subject to criticism over its racist past and present. Legendary Boston Celtic superstar player and coach Bill Russell, who died July 31, 2022 at the age of 88, knew all too well the scourge of racism that was thrown at him during his time as a player. In a 1987 New York Times op/ed Russell’s daughter Karen recalled how when her father first came to Boston as the Celtics’ only black player, “…fans and sportswriters subjected him to the worst kind of unbridled bigotry.” Russell himself said, “Boston itself was a flea market of racism. It had all varieties, old and new…city hall-crony racists…and in the university areas phony radical chic racists.” Upon giving Russell his Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011, President Obama said:
“…I hope that one day, in the streets of Boston, children will look up at a statue built not only to Bill Russell the player, but Bill Russell the man.”
In a July 2022 episode of his HBO show “The Shop,” LeBron James voiced his dislike of Boston fans, stating that they are “racist as f*ck.” Further, the Los Angeles Lakers player recalled incidents of racism that he personally experienced while playing in Boston, such as facing racist taunts from Celtics fans and even having beer poured on his head.
The issue of racism in sports is not unique to Boston, though. Black athletes represent a country that still does not fully accept them, thus creating a precarious position where if they win they are lauded but if they lose, they are subject to vilification. Asian American athletes face a similar struggle, where they are expected to not only represent the US, but the entirety of their race as well. Although Asian Americans are the fastest growing population in the greater Boston area and the US as a whole, they are severely underrepresented in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Racism follows athletes even to the Olympics, with Asian such as snowboarder Chloe Kim, Gymnast Yul Moldauer, and Karate athlete Sakura Kokumai coming forward about the racist harassment that they have endured. In April of 2021, Kokumai was training at Grijalva Park in Orange, California when she started recording a man who had approached her and yelled racist insults such as “Chinese” and “Sashimi.” “I was angry, frustrated, confused, scared, but I was also heartbroken to see and experience how people could be so cold,” she said. “Please take care of each other. Please look out for one another.”
LeBron James isn’t the only athlete to speak out about racism that they’ve experienced in Boston, though. There have been multiple accounts of racism at Fenway Stadium, the latest of which being in May when a Red Sox fan threw a bag of peanuts at Adam Jones of the Baltimore Orioles and called him racial slurs. Kyrie Irving, former Celtic player and current point guard for the Brooklyn Nets, has alluded to being the subject of “subtle racism” from Boston fans. Current Celtics player Marcus Smart has also come forward about the reality of being a Black player in Boston, revealing that he was called a “f—ing n—” once by a woman wearing an Isaiah Thomas Celtics jersey while in his car after a game.
Boston has long struggled with its perception of being a racist town. Some of the flames have been fanned by non-Celtics fans, creating a stigma against being a Black Celtics fan when outside of Boston. At the height of the Celtics-Lakers rivalry in the 1980s, even when the Celtics had several Black players and a Black coach, it was still seen as shameful to be a Black fan of the team outside of Boston. Cedric Maxwell, who was drafted by the Celtics in 1977, said that Black Celtics players were “stereotyped as being traitors to [their] race.”
This stigma of being a Black Celtics fan still follows the team today, with the Celtics having the lowest percentage of Black fans out of all the teams in the NBA. The status of racism in Boston sports is not that simple, though, as despite the perception of Boston being racist the Celtics have broken many barriers in terms of achieving racial equality in basketball. The team was the first to draft a Black player, Chuck Cooper, in 1950 and had the first all-Black starting team in 1964.
It can be said, however, that fans have been slower to accept Black players than the team’s owners and coaches. Bill Russell faced constant harassment from fans in the 1960s despite his athletic success, even having his home in Reading, MA burgled and covered in racial epithets. In 1990, when Dee Brown had just joined the Celtics, he was surrounded by cops while leaving a post office in Wellesley. The cops had thought he was the suspect of a bank robbery that had occurred the previous week, and Brown was only able to walk free because of a passing fan who had recognized him as a Celtics player.
The demographics of Boston are changing, though, and maybe its reputation as a racist town will soon be overturned as well. Although Boston has a reputation for being racist, Marcus Smart and other Boston players have stated that they still love Boston and its fans. “Everywhere you go you’re going to find ignorant bigots and misunderstood people,” Smart said. “I recommend it for anyone who wants to play there. I love the city. It’s beautiful.” James Cash, one of two Black owners of the Celtics, has echoed similar sentiments. “Boston is an amazing place. I go to South Boston now and think back to 40 years ago, it’s the kind of thing that just causes you to know there are more people out there trying to do the right thing than the people we have to hear and see highlighted that are jerks.” Former Celtics player Kevin Garnett stated that “the narrative of Boston before you get there is that it is a racist town,” but after becoming a Celtic he found a home in Boston. “Once you became a Celtic, it was a whole other protection. It was another shield. … It was a whole other flip.”
