NY- Derek Jeter yesterday bravely brushed off the “stupid letter” sent by a racist who threatened to shoot the Yankees captain or set him on fire for dating white women.
The superstar shortstop spoke out a day after the Daily News revealed he had become a target of a hatemonger who is believed to have sent similar poison-pen letters to dozens of prominent African-American men.
“It’s just a stupid letter,” Jeter said in Baltimore, where the Yankees were in town for a series against the Orioles.
“Obviously if this guy or woman or whoever it is is sending a lot of letters to a lot of people and making threats, you’d want someone to look into it,” he added. “But in my particular situation … it wasn’t a threatening letter. It wasn’t a big deal. If you’re making threats to other people, then it’s serious.”
Jeter said he hadn’t read the letter, which was sent to him at Yankee Stadium this season.
But sources said the letter called the 31-year-old heartthrob athlete a “traitor to his race” – and warned him to stop dating white women or he’ll “be shot or set on fire.”
The FBI is investigating the missive along with similar hate mail sent to Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, married actors Taye Diggs and Idina Menzel, and Miami Dolphin player Jason Taylor, among others.
Investigators said yesterday two other athletes, controversial former basketball star Dennis Rodman and Tae Bo guru Billy Blanks, had received such letters.
FBI sources said Jeter’s letter fit the pattern of the other racist diatribes, most of which were postmarked from the Midwest.
But the letter to Jeter was postmarked from the New York area and had somewhat different wording than the other letters, sources said. Investigators were examining the possibility there’s another racist nut out there.
Either way, “It is a person who is clearly off his or her rocker,” said one investigator. “They want to get the message out that each race should stay with its own.”
Jeter, whose father is black and mother is white, told The News this summer that being biracial was a gift that allowed him to “relate to all people.”
“You have an understanding and an education of two races,” said Jeter, who has dated beautiful women of various races and ethnicities.
“I wouldn’t change it for the world. Have there ever been days where I wished I was this or I wished I was that? … No, It’s always been a positive.”
Jeter said there is no way to change small-minded people.
“You always hear stuff from stupid people. That’s never going to change,” he said.
“You chalk it up as ignorance, you know those people are just ignorant and they’re not familiar [with biracial people]. Sometimes I think [they’re] afraid of the unknown. That’s basically how I look at it.”
His parents raised him to look for the best in people, regardless of race, he said.
“You get called names and it bothers you as a kid, but my parents raised us [Jeter and his sister] to appreciate both worlds,” he said. My parents “never said you had to have this many black friends or that many white friends – just to be around good people.”
Last night, Jeter said he wouldn’t allow himself to be distracted by the letter, which came to light with the Yankees in the midst of a fierce pennant race. “I haven’t even thought about it,” he said.
The Anti-Defamation League called the letter to Jeter “a painful reminder that hate and racism are alive, and that nobody is immune.”