James’ L.A. house vandalized
LeBron James hopes the incident can teach how entrenched racism is in the U.S.
After a racial epithet is spray-painted on the gate of his Brentwood home, LeBron James speaks out about racism.
A racial epithet was spray-painted on the front gate of LeBron James’ home in Brentwood, and the NBA star said he wanted to use the incident as a learning experience for his family and others.
The vandalism was discovered about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday and has since been painted over by the property manager, Los Angeles Police Officer Norma Eisenman said.
A source who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case described the slur as the N-word.
In a news conference, James said his family was safe and that the vandalism revealed how deeply entrenched racism is in the country.
“It goes to show that racism will always be a part of the world, a part of America. Hate in America, especially for African Americans, is living every day,” James said.
He said he thought about the funeral of Emmett Till, an African American teenager brutally killed in the South in 1955, whose body
was visible in an open casket at his mother’s request.
“She wanted to show the world what her son went through as a hate crime and being black in America,” James said. “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. And we got a long way to go.”
James, who was in Oakland with the Cleveland Cavaliers preparing for the NBA finals, said it was difficult knowing that he wouldn’t see his children for another week. They are in Akron, Ohio, with his wife. His daughter is too young to understand what happened in Brentwood, but his sons are old enough to know, he said.
“I like to do face-to-face conversations when it comes to a situation like this,” said James, about speaking with his sons. “But at the end of the day, they’re going to have to walk their own path, and hopefully I give them enough life skills throughout their journey where when they’re ready to f ly, they can f ly on their own.”
The 32-year-old superstar acknowledged that he wasn’t energetic while speaking with the media Wednesday, but said it would pass.
“Time heals all. And at the end of the day, like I said, if this incident that happened to me and my family today can keep the conversation going and can shed light on us trying to figure out a way to keep progressing and not regressing, then I’m not against it happening to us again. I mean as long as my family is safe,” he said.
James bought the 9,440square-foot Brentwood estate in 2015. Records show it sold for about $21 million. It was built in 2011 and designed by architect Ken Ungar, The Times reported at the time of the purchase.
Detectives from the LAPD’s West L.A. Division are investigating, Eisenman said.
Police said they would have to determine a motive for the vandalism before deciding whether to classify it as a potential hate crime.
According to the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations’ 2015 report, the most recent statistics available, 58% of racially motivated hate crimes in the county that year targeted blacks. Vandalism accounted for 29% of all hatecrime offenses in 2015, the report said.
James and the Cavaliers will play the Golden State Warriors in the first game of the finals Thursday.
‘It goes to show that racism will always be a part of the world, a part of America.’ — LeBron James, on his Brentwood home being vandalized