Red Sox Admit Boston Has a Racism Problem Following Torii Hunter Revelations

The protests all around the nation following the killing of George Floyd have sparked conversations about the ongoing problem of racial oppression in America. The world of sports is no exception, and former MLB star Torii Hunter specifically mentioned how bad Boston and Fenway Park were for him in terms of racist abuse over the course of his career.

Hunter had a no-trade clause to the Red Sox specifically to avoid the racist taunts he had heard in Boston as a visitor with the Twins and Angels. Other players like CC Sabathia and David Price shared their own experiences on the matter, and it was no secret that the Red Sox needed to address this problem. The team finally came to grips with this issue Wednesday in an impassioned statement on Twitter.

The team had never quite addressed this problem head-on, and revealed there were seven reported incidents of fans using racial slurs at Fenway last season. The amount of unreported incidents is impossible to track, but likely troubling.

Even Red Sox employees were not spared from these occasional displays of hate; it was about time the team spoke out and stopped pretending that this is a problem that will take care of itself.

The Red Sox were the last MLB team to integrate their roster, and are trying to be better in 2020 against a backdrop of racial reckoning in America. This statement is a good start. The "I don't personally see racism" crowd will likely tear into this statement, but the team is finally listening to players who are just asking for positive change. More than ever, it is now on Red Sox fans and good-faith allies to report incidents and hold people accountable for their senseless hate.