2 In case you think it only happened a long time ago in a very different America, Randall Kennedy’s fascinating book, Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, recounts how Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods heard the same words growing up. Worse still was the mail routinely received by slugger Hank Aaron as he pursued Babe Ruth’s legendary career home run record in 1973. Typical of his mail was a letter that read, “Dear Nigger Henry, You are not going to break this record established by the great Babe Ruth if you can help it. . . . Whites are far more superior than jungle bunnies. . . . My gun is watching your every move.”