Even in the increasingly social media-driven age we live in, bigoted, vile and oftentimes racist trolling of athletes and celebrities isn't just restricted to Twitter.
ESPN reporter Jemele Hill, who is African American, provided a wince-inducing reminder of that on Friday morning when she tweeted out a photo of a slur-riddled piece of hate mail from an ESPN Radio listener with a fondness for capital letters. Here is Hill's tweet, but be advised that the language in the letter is very odious:
I gotta say, this guy executed the hat trick of racial slurs twitter.com/jemelehill/sta…— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) January 4, 2013
Hill is one of ESPN's more recognizable names and has more than 137,000 Twitter followers, so her post gained a lot of attention from fans and sports media folks. Unfortunately, the ugly letter is not at all out of the ordinary, according to this conversation following her original post:
@artvandelay____ a week? I get one a day. Usually you expect one or two slurs per letter. Dude had 50-11 of them in one letter— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) January 4, 2013
While Hill didn't out the letter-writer's identity (if it was included), her tweet was a pretty powerful reminder that bigotry still flourishes in some people, and that public figures often have to put up with much more than outsiders are aware of.
Do you think Hill sharing this letter was a good move, or should she have kept it to herself? Let us know what you think in the comments.