Orioles’ Jones on racial slurs:
‘Nothing is at rest when it comes to race’
Orioles center fielder Adam Jones said Tuesday that he’s all for the typical trash talk that comes from the stands at ballparks across the country, and yet made it clear that racial slurs hurled his way at Fenway Park on Monday crossed a line.
“I’ve got great hearing,” Jones said in a 15-minute interview session Tuesday. “We understand that we’re the road team, and that the fans, they don’t need to welcome us. It’s all part of the competitive edge for the fan base to tell the opponents, ‘You suck,’ or ‘Ha ha, you struck out’—various things on performance, which is completely understandable and within the lines of just how sports work and how fan bases work.
“I just heard that all night, and some of that caught my attention. I heard the N-word. I get certain reactions when someone says something clev-
er, or something really, really stupid and ignorant. Last night was not clever. It was really stupid and ignorant, so it caught my attention.”
A day ago, he said the treatment he received from portions of the Fenway Park crowd—including having a bag of peanuts hurled in his direction by the dugout and racial abuse directed his way—warranted more punishment than a simple ejection from the park.
So after the game, Jones spoke out, and the ensuing 24 hours has brought attention to an issue that he says stretches far beyond the city of Boston or the boundaries of a ballpark.
Jones, asked how many times he has heard the “N-word,” and responded he doesn’t “know how many fingers I have or toes to keep count, but you hear it.”
And when asked about accounts that didn’t include any slurs directed his way, Jones was emphatic that he heard what he heard while condemning those who would defend people who use that language.
“It’s just unfortunate that someone would resort to trying to bring you down like that and dumb you down by calling you such a name that’s just nasty,” Jones said. “My biggest thing is I just let people be who they are. The reality of it is that most won’t call you that to your face. It’s easy to say it though social media or through the stands, but it’s just unfortunate.”
Jones’ response when asked to send a message to the culprit was simply to “square up—let’s fight and get it over with,” but his comments were otherwise expansive on issues faced both in Boston and in the game in general.
He said he appreciated the quick response of the Boston Red Sox, including owner John Henry, who met with Jones and manager Buck Showalter on Tuesday afternoon. But Jones said he was also told stories of Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell and his struggle in the city a half-century ago.
“I heard a Bill Russell story today,” Jones said. “Bill Russell won 11 championships here. And things I heard happen to him based solely on skin color, it’s unfortunate. You think that you get away from that, especially being in sports. You come across all walks of life. I get to change not just my life, but other people’s lives. But for something like this, it just shows that people still live in their own world. They still have their own views, obviously. Some people like to express hatred toward another person and other groups.”
Jones has spoken out on race issues several times in his career, and said he picks his spots as to when to publicize incidents like Monday’s.
Jones, who starred in this year’s World Baseball Classic for the champion United States and earned the moniker “Captain America” for his leadership off the field and his stellar play on it, said he feels racial divides are still part of our nation’s fabric.
He had a banana thrown his way in San Francisco in 2013. He spoke out about race relations during Baltimore’s Freddie Gray riots in 2015, and made headlines by declaring baseball was a “white man’s game” last September as the NFL was roiled by protests during the national anthem led by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
When asked whether this was a one-day story or a dialogue that needed to continue, Jones was firm.
“Nothing is at rest when it comes to race,” he said. “Let’s be honest with ourselves. It’s been going on for a long, long time, way before I’ve been in baseball and right before I was alive. It’s all about having a conversation. Once you have the dialogue, that means you can work toward a resolve. I think with the dialogue, we can work toward something. This isn’t the only place that’s like that.”