Racist Hate Mail Reportedly Sent to NFL Players Thu Dec 4,10:47 AM ET Add U.S. National - Reuters to My Yahoo!
MIAMI (Reuters) - A dozen black NFL players have been sent threatening hate mail telling them African-Americans should not be allowed to play professional football and earn stacks of money, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
Florida's Palm Beach Post said the NFL's security department sent out a memo last week warning players, and stating that the letters all appeared to come from the same person and were postmarked in Erie, Pennsylvania, or Cleveland and Youngstown, Ohio.
"We do not have any suspects," special agent Robert Hawk of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Cleveland office told the newspaper, saying the bureau was investigating the letters and would prosecute whoever was sending them.
"These letters contained veiled threats. There were overtures of violence," Hawk added.
No one was immediately available for comment at the FBI (news - web sites) office in Cleveland, nor at National Football League headquarters in New York. A spokeswoman for the FBI office in Miami told Reuters she had no information on the case.
The Palm Beach Post said one of the targets of the hate mail was an unidentified player with the Miami Dolphins.
"It was a threatening letter," Dolphins team security investigator Stu Weinstein told the paper.
"It said: 'African-Americans shouldn't be allowed to play professional sports and shouldn't be allowed to make the money that football players make and entertainers make.' Mostly it was about the dangers of racial mixing in our society."
The NFL memo said the sender was usually identified as "All Whites" or "Angry white women."
Does anybody find it odd that the quote uses the term "African American" rather than a slur? I'm originally from the opposite corner of the state and there the first suspects for such letters would either be the cops or Marge Schott...
To be fair, Wellington Mara, Jim Fassel and Jeremy Shockey all received threatening letters recently as well. Last I checked, all 3 were white.
Why Pro Wrestling proves the INS cannot keep terrorists out of the United States: If a felon like Nathan Jones is allowed into the United States with no special skills (unless being totally inept in the ring counts, but I think there are enough totally inept people in the US to keep that skill from being unique or special), then how the hell can they justify keeping anyone else out?
Originally posted by redsoxnationTo be fair, Wellington Mara, Jim Fassel and Jeremy Shockey all received threatening letters recently as well. Last I checked, all 3 were white.
I think this is why no one seems to be taking the threats very seriously. According to the report on the ESPN website, no one is all that concerned with it - just another ignorant bigot with too much time on his or her hands. The fact that the letters included racist statements may have gotten them on the news, but it doesn't make them any more legitimate than the letters that most famous people get. I'm sure if a serious cause for concern comes up it will be dealt with accordingly. NFL teams don't travel lightly in the security department, keep that in mind.
I think whats really gotten everyones attention isnt the fact that the players are beiong threatened. Maybe, Its the threat to use bombs in some of the letters that has the FBI interested.
Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor and Eagles wide receiver Freddie Mitchell received two of about 30 threatening letters sent to prominent, successful black people over the last two years.
This really isn't anything new. Bruce Smith recieved threats back durring the Bills Super Bowl losing days that were similar to these. I think the only reason this story is getting any attention is the fact that America as a whole seems more sensitive to terroistic threats and that they seemed to have tageted so many NFL players rather than one local player. Its sad really, I'de rather they kept this quiet so that whatever nutjob is writing these doesn't get the attention that they are seeking.
Now you will receive us. We do not ask for your poor, or your hungry. We do not want your tired and sick. It is your corrupt we claim. It is your evil that will be sought by us. With every breath, we shall hunt them down. Each day we will spill their blood, 'til it rains down from the skies. Do not kill. Do not rape. Do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace. These are not polite suggestions, these are codes of behavior, and those of you that ignore them will pay the dearest cost. There are varying degrees of evil. We urge you lesser forms of filth, not to push the bounds and cross over, in to true corruption, into our domain. For if you do, one day you will look behind you and you will see we three, and on that day you will reap it. And we will send you to whatever god you wish. Collin & Murphy MacManus
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