We recently lost Hall of Famer Henry Aaron. All over the internet, people are rightly praising his life, character, and accomplishments. In particular, people have praised his strong and stoic dignity in the face of stark racism. But I think this praise misses the mark if we do not also address the White supremacy itself and how it ate away at him.
Here’s Aaron’s own words recorded in The Washington Post about how the racist fans of “America’s pastime” affected him.
“It really made me see for the first time a clear picture of what this country is about,” Aaron told the New York Times in 1994, 20 years after he hit No. 715. “My kids had to live like they were in prison because of kidnap threats, and I had to live like a pig in a slaughter camp. I had to duck. I had to go out the back door of the ballparks. I had to have a police escort with me all the time. I was getting threatening letters every single day. All of these things have put a bad taste in my mouth, and it won’t go away. They carved a piece of my heart away.”
The Washington Post
American White supremacy stole a piece of Aaron’s heart. His heart and life are not the only ones damaged by unchecked racism. Frankly, Aaron’s legacy deserves more than just statistical discussion. We owe it to him to honestly address the evil he and other Black baseball players never deserved but daily faced.