Former star NFL quarterback shoots down coronavirus racism

Former NFL quarterback Dan Pastorini is speaking out against an internal email which blames Chinese for the coronavirus.

An employee of the Houston charity, Be an Angel, sent the the email to 200 employees at the Aldine Independent School District, ABC13 reported

Pastorini is president of the Board of the non-profit which serves children with disabilities. The former first round draft pick and star of the Houston Oilers posted his response on the home page of Be an Angel.

“It has come to my attention that an employee of Be An Angel sent out an email containing a racially insensitive remark regarding Chinese people and the COVID virus.” he wrote. “As Chairman of Be An Angel, I wish to personally apologize to anyone who was offended by this email. There is simply no excuse for this behavior, and I have ordered appropriate and immediate disciplinary steps to be taken with the employee in question.”

Pastorini pledged to require staff at Be an Angel to participate in racial sensitivity training. According to ABC13,Russ Massey, the program director for Be An Angel, sent out the email as part of a fundraising campaign.

The message read in part:

“Well, thanks to the good folks overseas that brought us egg rolls, firecrackers, and the @#%!& Corona Virus! our annual gala [our largest fund raiser of the year], our summer camps, and our Fourth of July fun run have all vanished like truth in the news.”

State representative Gene Wu could perpetuate attacks on Asian Americans due to the pandemic.

“People who are sort of already on the edge, people who are sort of already looking for people to lash out at, they take this as a cue that, ‘It’s okay. Go after them. These people hurt us,'” said Wu to ABC13.

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