As police investigate the break-in of New York Giants fullback Nikita Whitlock’s home earlier this week as a hate crime, his teammate Victor Cruz says the racist vandalism reflects the current divided political state of the U.S.
Burglars drew a swastika and wrote “KKK,” “Trump” and “Go back to Africa,” on the walls inside Whitlock’s home in Moonachie, New Jersey, on Tuesday night, The Record reported, and Cruz was asked about it by reporters in the Giants locker room Thursday.
“I think it’s definitely a direct reflection of how this country is being run and how this country is reacting maybe to some of the decisions and some of the ways that this country is being run and the things that are being said by the people at [the] helm of this country and at the helm of our day-to-day lives,” Cruz said, according to ESPN.
“From social media all the way up to the White House, these are things that are being spoken of and talked about on a daily basis, the good and the bad — more so the bad at this point right now because that’s all we have to work with. It’s just an unfortunate situation that we’re going through right now,” the veteran wide receiver and Super Bowl champion continued.
When asked by reporters if the actions of the burglars reflects the mindset of Donald Trump supporters, he responded: “Absolutely.”
“I think there’s a specific mindset that comes with supporting a guy like Donald Trump and supporting what he stands for, and there’s a certain type of person that comes with that. I’m not sure that person is always a positive-minded person, if you know what I mean,” the Pro-Bowler and New Jersey-native added. “You’ve just got to be careful.”
“As [a] minority, you have to be careful, as a person of influence you have to be careful and you’ve just got to make sure your family is safe and give them the knowledge that they need to stay safe in this world.”
However, Cruz made it clear that he doesn’t think all Trump supporters are racist, saying some likely just wanted change while others wanted a businessman in charge of the country, ESPN reported.
“You can’t think of anything that that person that follows Donald Trump — that they’re going to do something positive,” he said. “And for someone to vandalize someone’s house and write Trump’s name or whatever they wrote on the walls, it’s just proving that exact fact that I’m saying — that people that may follow him aren’t necessarily the most positive people in our community.”
According to WCBS, Whitlock had to drape a blanket over the swastika to protect his 6-year-old son from the racist vandalism. “It’s about to be 2017,” he said. “Oppression, racism, hatred, violence — there’s no need for that.”
Valuable items were taken including jewelry, although items like computers were left behind. This is the second time Whitlock’s home has been burglarized in a matter of weeks, and the fullback says there’s no way this was a 10-minute break-in.
“I’m sad. More for them though to have that level of hate. For someone to break into a house and draw something on the wall, it makes no sense to me,” Whitlock said.
The Giants next face the Cowboys on Sunday.
Shootings, Stabbings, Dog Fighting: 11 NFL Scandals That Rocked the League (Photos)
After signing a five-year, $40 million contract extension with the New England Patriots, Aaron Hernandez had a spectacular fall from grace in June 2013, when his friend Odin Lloyd was fatally shot and his body dumped in an industrial park near the tight end’s Massachusetts home. Hernandez was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and later indicted for a 2012 double-murder. He was quickly dropped by the Patriots and is currently in prison awaiting trial, facing life without parole.
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The NFL’s most-notorious defendant, OJ Simpson went from being a Pro Bowl quarterback and "Naked Gun" star to being America’s most wanted when he came the prime suspect for the brutal 1994 murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Following the “trial of the century,” the former Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers player was acquitted, but is currently serving time in a Nevada prison for armed robbery and kidnapping.
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Chad Johnson and “Basketball Wives” star Evelyn Lozada’s 2010 reality TV wedding was marred when the former wide receiver was arrested a month later for domestic battery for allegedly head-butting his new wife. Lozada quickly filed for divorce and Johnson avoided jail time with a year-long probation, but was fired by the Miami Dolphins in an embarrassing stand-off that aired on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
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Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers was arrested for DUI in 2012 and then received stab wounds that June when a fight broke out at his house party, during which two other people were shot. Next up was crash when he was allegedly under the influence of marijuana, and finally this year a bizarre event at Los Angeles airport when he allegedly told a TSA agent that he had a bomb. Smith is sitting out for the first nine games of the 2014 season.
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Ray Rice’s former teammate was embroiled in a scandal of his own when Ray Lewis and two of his colleagues were indicted for a January 2000 murder that occurred after a fight at a Super Bowl party. The Baltimore Ravens linebacker negotiated a plea deal and got 12-month probation and $250,000 fine, and even went on to win another Super Bowl. His companions, Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting, were later acquitted and the killer has never been found.
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Michael Vick was implicated in an illegal interstate dog fighting ring that had operated for five years. The quarterback pleaded guilty in 2007 and served 21 months in prison for the crimes against canines at Bad Newz Kennels, and has since returned to the field with the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Jets.
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Dez Bryant’s troubled childhood included his mother being arrested for dealing crack cocaine when he was 8. Their relationship remained volatile, and in July 2012 the Dallas Cowboys wide receiver was arrested after allegedly hitting her in the face during an argument. He later went through counseling and told a Dallas Men Against Abuse event, “I’m done with domestic abuse.”
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After bouncing between teams as a wide receiver, Donte Stallworth’s darkest hour came in March 2009 when he hit and killed a pedestrian while driving on a Miami Beach causeway in the early hours of the morning. Stallworth had a 0.12 alcohol level and tested positive for marijuana, leading to a charge of DUI manslaughter. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 1,000 hours of community service and eight years probation, along with settling a civil case with the victim’s family.
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Now back playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger was suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2010 season for violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy after “Big Ben” was accused of sexual assault on two separate occasions by different women. Charges were later dropped, but Steelers owner Art Rooney was reportedly “furious” at his star player.
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Cherica Adams was eight months pregnant with Carolina Panthers’ Ray Carruth’s child when she was shot four times in her car, calling 911 and naming the wide receiver as the one of the assailants. After both Adams and the unborn baby died, Carruth fled police and went on the run, before finally being found hiding in the trunk of a car in Tennessee. He was later sentenced for murder but escaped the death penalty.
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Adam "Pacman" Jones was suspended for the 2007 season, losing a total of $1.3 million in salary, for repeated violations of the NFL's personal conduct policy — including an altercation in a strip club when he allegedly pulled a dancer off stage and attacked a security guard, who was later shot by a member of his entourage and paralyzed from the waist down. Jones was charged with one count of felony coercion, one misdemeanor count of battery and one misdemeanor count of threat to life. He later signed with the Dallas Cowboys but was again involved in an incident with his bodyguard at a Dallas hotel.
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Ray Rice’s brutal elevator attack on his now-wife is the latest disturbing violent incident to plague the NFL over the decades
After signing a five-year, $40 million contract extension with the New England Patriots, Aaron Hernandez had a spectacular fall from grace in June 2013, when his friend Odin Lloyd was fatally shot and his body dumped in an industrial park near the tight end’s Massachusetts home. Hernandez was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and later indicted for a 2012 double-murder. He was quickly dropped by the Patriots and is currently in prison awaiting trial, facing life without parole.
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