To the surprise of no one, Bubba Wallace’s mother insists that her son has faced racism time and time again throughout the course of his professional racing career.
During an appearance on Sirius XM’s The Joe Madison Show, Desiree Wallace made it a point to call a thing a thing.
“This is not his first incident,” she said, in reference to the noose recently discovered in Bubba’s garage stall. “If he gets into an incident with another driver, they’re quick to throw out the n-word. He’s been told he doesn’t belong. We’ve been through all of that.”
As the only Black driver in NASCAR’s Cup Series, a sport that’s never been particularly welcoming to any of our Black asses, none of this should come as a surprise. A thorough FBI investigation concluded that Bubba wasn’t the target of a hate crime in regards to the noose that was discovered in his garage stall, but that doesn’t alleviate or erase the racial tensions that Bubba must constantly navigate.
Prior to the FBI completing its investigation, Bubba made it a point to relay the advice that his mother had bestowed upon him.
“As my mother told me today, ‘they are just trying to scare you,’” he wrote in a statement. “This will not break me, I will not give in nor will I back down. I will continue to proudly stand for what I believe in.”
While Desiree expressed her excitement that “the sport is changing,” in light of NASCAR’s decision to finally ban the Confederate flag from its events, she’s also acutely aware that it has a tremendous amount of work to do to create a more welcoming environment.
“I told him: ‘At the end of the day, God has got you, God’s got you. They’ll do anything to try to stop you; this is just a telltale sign,’” she said. “Racism exists, people. Wake up!”