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How Do The Red Sox Move Forward After Reminders Of A Painful Racial Past?

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Baltimore Orioles' Adam Jones looks up at fans during a baseball game against the Red Sox, Tuesday, May 2, 2017, at Fenway. (Michael Dwyer/AP)
Baltimore Orioles' Adam Jones looks up at fans during a baseball game against the Red Sox, Tuesday, May 2, 2017, at Fenway. (Michael Dwyer/AP)

Last week, Baltimore Orioles player Adam Jones complained of fans at Fenway Park throwing a bag of peanuts at him and taunting him with racial slurs. The following day, a fan notified ushers that a fellow spectator leaned over to him and used a racial slur to describe to a Kenyan-born singer after she performed the national anthem.

The Red Sox were quick to issue an apology, and vowed to make Fenway Park a place that is safe and welcoming to all. In the second incident, the fan received the first ever lifetime ban from Red Sox games. But players say this behavior is something that they have come to expect while playing in Boston.

Guests

Adrian Burgos Jr., professor of professor African American and Latin American History at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Baseball historian. He tweets @adburgosjr.

Shira Springer, sports and society reporter for WBUR. She tweets @shiraspringer.

This article was originally published on May 11, 2017.

This segment aired on May 11, 2017.

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