Hawks Rumors: team apologize to players, city for racism issue
The Atlanta Hawks has been plagued with racism issue one after the other. That is why they felt it was just right that they apologized not only the team players but also to the fans and the public regarding the issues that they have been facing.
IT can be remembered that Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson has submitted himself to the NBA Organization regarding his actions of racism. He told NBA that he had sent an email last August 2012 with racist content and has announced that he will be selling the team.
Levenson sent an email to Hawks President Danny Ferry saying that the Hawks fanbase are heavily African-American and that it drives away the whites. Because of the, Levenson had to sell is stakes in the company.
Right after Levenson came Hawks GM Danny Ferry racist comment towards Luol Deng. Since the incident broke out, Ferry has already release a statement of apology regarding his actions.
Atlanta Hawks chief executive Steve Koonin posted an apology letter on the NBA team's website on Saturday.
He said in his letter "We are very sorry. Over the course of the last week, the Hawks have let down our players, our employees, our fans and the city we love."
He added "Our shortcoming have been broadly shared - including how we have failed to operate well internally and externally. It has been humbling and, while we have read, seen and come to know many things about ourselves, our learnings have just begun. "
"We ask our fans to continue to support our players as we all learn through this process -- we should not punish them. We aim to win as a collective team both on and off the court."
He said that the remarks where far beyond he expected and had made a deeper mark on the team.
He continued "Our shortcomings are beyond a single e-mail, a single person or a single event. To the contrary, over a period of years, we have found that there have been inflammatory words, phrases, inferences, and innuendos about race. We as an organization did not correct these failures. We did not do the right thing."
"As an organization, we must own these shortcomings and failures. I am angry that this has happened. I am deeply saddened and embarrassed that this has put a blemish on our team and our city... We should build bridges through basketball, not divide our community and serve as a source of pain."
"I am committed to seeing the Hawks change because of these past shortcomings. It starts by taking a hard look at ourselves, which in this case has been a particularly difficult thing to do."
