Hank Aaron pursued by racists in 1974

                                                ... and they are still out there

Forty years ago this week, Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's career home run record of 714. Aaron went on to finish his career with 755 home runs, a record that held for 33 years until it was eclipsed in 2007 by the (controversial) accomplishment of Barry Bonds, who hit 762.

However, Aaron talked this week about a tie that his family had to the KKK while living in Mobile, Alabama. His mother had her children hide under the bed as the KKK marched through town on their way to burn a cross. 

When Aaron was pursuing that dream later in his career, he also experienced some discrimination first-hand. Aaron was sent approximately a million letters as he was chasing Ruth's dream. Many of them threatened his life if he continued to chase the record established by a Caucasian man. 

The CNN story by Jen Christensen that I link to below points out that Aaron grew up in a South during the 1930s and 40s that was segregated. For instance, the University of Alabama did not integrate its football team until 1970. Today, if you look at a photo of Nick Saban's football team, at least half of the players are black. (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW2Jhyphenhyphenv-vwIJeqtDszCaRolTxhjLgEGnvbYtX1JJFS90A_tFfKjg7EU_iIw2HXwIL3pnQBlf0yJh4o6a_5FVim1KryLlc8-CKHUlkwp4MOF6NVc77dQsrgjmeMgluA2uEfhzmdkd-Ovvg/s1600/team-photo-kauslerjpg-4e4ecf117e5fa4b8.jpg)

Society has changed, but not everyone is happy with the results of integration. The Southern Poverty Law Center said in 2012 that the number of white supremacist groups had been increasing significantly in recent years. "White supremacist groups have been having a meltdown since the census bureau predicted that non-Hispanic whites would lose the majority by 2050," Mark Potok, spokesman for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), told ABC News. "The demographic change in this country is the single most important driver in the growth of hate groups and extremist groups over the last few years." The SPLC is a group that monitors the hate groups in the country.

Do we have hate groups in Pa.? In 2007 when Mike Tomlin was hired as the coach of the Steelers, I had a conversation with a friend. "Is Western Pa. ready for a black coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers?" he asked. I retorted, "They will be fine as long as they win, but wait until they start to lose."

After the Steelers won the Super Bowl in the 2008 season and reached it again in 2010 before losing to the Packers -- two Super Bowl appearances in the first four years -- all was going well. Tomlin's critics were quiet. 

 With consecutive 8-8 seasons, the natives are restless. How much of that is driven by race? 

Bob Smizik asked that question last fall on the Post Gazette blog when he wrote about the reaction of fans to Tomlin's straying over the sideline on a kickoff return against the Ravens. You can read that here.
(http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/smizik-on-sports/2013/12/02/Why-is-Tomlin-so-disliked-by-fans/stories/201312020159)

Here is the problem. How much of that animus toward Tomlin is legitimate and properly directed at him because his teams are not performing well? Trying to say that legitimate criticism is racism is also misguided. Remember: Bill Cowher was the target of tremendous animus during his two losing seasons in 1998 (7-9) and 99 (6-10).

To quell the critics, Tomlin has to do what Cowher did in 2000 (9-7) and 2001 (13-3). Right now 9-7 may be doable, but 13-3 is not even on the horizon. That has to do as much with poor drafting as much as coaching.  

In Hank Aaron's South, the racism was real and tangible. The U.S. has come a long way in race relations in the past century, but we have a long way to go. Having white supremacist groups throughout the U.S. reminds us that hate is out there. Just check Pennsylvania on this map: 
http://www.businessinsider.com/active-hate-groups-by-state-2014-2

CNN story about Aaron:

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2014/04/us/hank-aaron-anniversary/?hpt=hp_c4

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