Alyssa Thomas, an African American forward with the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun, spoke to the media about the racism that she and her fellow Black players face on social media from the Indiana Fever fans. The Sun had just completed a sweep of the Fever to advance to the semi-finals of the 2024 “W” championship playoffs. (“W” is a popular term for the WNBA.)

Thomas felt compelled to raise this issue after her teammate, Sun guard DiJonai Carrington, shared a disturbing post on her Instagram account that included a racial slur and a threat of sexual assault from a Fever fan.

Thomas told the press: “I think that in my 11-year career I never experienced the racial comments like from the Indiana Fever fan base. It’s unacceptable, and honestly there’s no place for it. We’ve been professional throughout the whole entire thing, but I’ve never been called the things that I’ve been called on social media, and there’s no place for it. Basketball is headed in a great direction, but we don’t want fans that are going to degrade us and call us racial things.” (Associated Press, Sept. 26)

The Sun’s coach, Stephanie White, who is white, stated, “We’ve seen a lot of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia throughout the course of our country. Sport is no exception, and it’s unacceptable to be quite honest.”

Caitlin Clark, the white Fever guard who was just named the “W” rookie of year, stated in response to the racism: “It’s definitely upsetting.” Clark, speaking on Sept. 27 in a video shared by James Boyd of the “Athletic,” added, “Nobody in our league should be facing any sort of racism, hurtful, disrespectful, hateful comments and threats.” (people.com)

Clark had stated in an earlier interview during the summer that, “Everybody in our world deserves the same amount of respect. The women in our league deserve the same amount of respect, so people should not be using my name to push those agendas.” (Washington Post, Sept. 26)