Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Adam Jones has once again had to deal with racial taunts. This time, they came on Instagram.
The internet can be a wonderful place, allowing people from all over the world to connect with each other. It is a way to gain access to virtually the entirety of human knowledge and experience, a place to connect with people with similar interests everywhere. However, the internet can be a cesspool as well, where people hide behind a keyboard to threaten and harass others behind the cloak of relative anonymity.
Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Adam Jones had to deal with the latter earlier on Saturday. In an Instagram post that was since removed, he posted a screenshot of messages that he had received, where he was the target of racial slurs and told that he should die.
This is not the first time that Jones has been the target of such harassment. Back in 2017, Jones was targeted with racial insults during a game at Fenway Park, resulting in an apology from the Red Sox and the eventual expulsion of that fan.
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Obviously, racism is an ongoing problem in our society. Over the past couple of years, it has gotten progressively worse, as people have become more and more comfortable in letting their prejudices come out in the open. It is a particularly abhorrent trend that is happening.
Such thoughts and actions have zero place in baseball. The Red Sox acted properly in banning that fan. Players that had, in their younger days, tweeted out racist or otherwise offensive material have been hauled before the court of public opinion, their actions brought to light. Yunel Escobar served a three game suspension for having a homophobic slur on his eyeblack in 2012.
In this case, it seems that the vitriol that Jones received came from a teenager. The account was deleted, and Jones post was also taken down. Yet, the fact that such an act took place, or that we have to have this discussion in this day and age, is utterly revolting.
Racism has no place in society. The fact that Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Adam Jones has to endure these taunts yet again is deplorable.