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The graffiti was
spray-painted on the front gate of James' house. Investigators
are looking for any possible suspect involved, Los Angeles
police spokeswoman Norma Eisenman said.
Eisenman declined to specify the racial slur used. It was
reported to police shortly after dawn on Wednesday and has since
been painted over, she said.
"No matter how much money you have, no matter how famous you
are, no matter how many people admire you, being black in
America is tough," James, a three-time NBA champion, told
reporters when asked about the incident at a news conference in
Oakland, California, where he is preparing for the NBA Finals.
"And we've got a long way to go for us as a society and for us
as African-Americans until we feel equal in America," he added.
James was not at his west Los Angeles residence at the time of
the vandalism, Eisenman said by phone.
James, 32, is the National Basketball Association's most
prolific playoff scorer and has been named the league's Most
Valuable Player four times. The Cavaliers are scheduled to face
off on Thursday against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland.
Mary Kay Wulf, who lives a couple houses away from James, told a
group of reporters that she was appalled by the vandalism.
"I hope that they find the people who have done it and they
label it for what it was - a hate crime - and punish them," Wulf
said.
Police are investigating the graffiti as an act of vandalism and
have not determined whether to treat it as a hate crime, another
Los Angeles police spokeswoman, Irma Mota, said by phone.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Alan Devall in Los Angeles;
Editing by Alistair Bell and Leslie Adler)
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