Suni Lee’s pepper-sprayed attack: Recent cases of racist attacks in sports – MARCA.com
American gymnast and Olympic gold medalist Suni Lee revealed that she was pepper-sprayed on the arm by a passenger in a speeding car during a racist attack while out with friends in Los Angeles.
However, racism in sports has a history behind it, with multiple cases and accusations, although in recent times more people have dared to denounce these attacks.
Last October, Jon Gruden resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders after the release of emails in which he used racist, homophobic and misogynistic language.
In one email he lamented the NFL drafting “queers” after the St Louis Rams selected Michael Sam, who is gay, in 2014.
In another, he referred to the head of the NFL Players’ Association DeMaurice Smith, who is Black, as having “lips the size of michellin tires”.
On July 2021, was reported the racist harassment of Black players for England’s national soccer team following the team’s loss in the Euro 2020 championship Final.
The abuse was aimed at the three English players who missed their penalty kicks, Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka.
In recent days, British cricket player Azeem Rafiq said he was subject to racism at Yorkshire CCC while playing there between 2008 and 2018, and an inquiry took place.
Last September 18 at a Winooski High School, in Vermont, boys soccer game, Winooski athletes were called racial slurs by several Enosburg Falls athletes as well as fans.
“They were called the N-word, monkey, and terrorist. This is not the first time EFHS soccer players and spectators have racially abused WHS students,” Winooski superintendent Sean McMannon wrote in a letter.
Lee was waiting for an Uber ride
Lee, a Hmong American, told in an interview with the website Pop Sugar that she was waiting with friends, all of Asian descent, for an Uber ride.
I was so mad, but there was nothing I could
Suddenly, a group sped by in a car yelling racial slurs against them, and one person in the car pepper-sprayed Lee on the arm, she said.
“I was so mad, but there was nothing I could do or control because they skirted off,” Lee said. “I didn’t do anything to them, and having the reputation, it’s so hard because I didn’t want to do anything that could get me into trouble. I just let it happen.”
Lee, 18, won gold in the individual all-around at the Tokyo Olympics and is currently in Los Angeles as part of the latest season of “Dancing with the Stars.” Acording to CNN, the incident happened in October.
Attacks on people of Asian descent have been growing recently in the United States since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to different media.