A Penn State Alumnus Wrote a Racist Letter to Football Player Jonathan Sutherland About His Dreadlocks

This week, Penn State football's defensive tackle Antonio Shelton posted a photograph on Twitter of a letter his teammate received from Dave Peterson, an alleged alumnus of the university.

The letter, addressed to teammate Jonathan Sutherland, called the player's dreadlocks "certainly not attractive" and "disgusting" while also saying, "Though the athletes of today are certainly superior to those in my days, we miss the clean-cut young men and women from those days."

He also added, "Watching the Idaho game on TV, we couldn’t help but notice your — well — awful hair. Surely there must be mirrors in the locker room!" The seemingly racist, horribly offensive letter then went viral on Twitter, with support for Sutherland coming out in droves. One user replied, "Dear Dave, No. Sincerely, Every other Penn Stater."

According to ESPN, Penn State coach James Franklin voiced support for Sutherland saying, "He’s a captain, he’s a dean’s list honor student. He's confident. He’s articulate. He’s intelligent. He’s thoughtful. He’s caring and he’s committed."

This issue brought about many mentions of Penn State Football's sordid and condemned past — insinuating PSU fans have much bigger issues to be concerned about than unjustly targeting a current player for his appearance. But one Twitter user called out the hypocrisy.

And even though Penn State has experienced many large-scale, disturbing issues, this is still incredibly important to recognize and call out for what it is — racist and uncalled for. In response to the letter, Sutherland posted a statement on Twitter yesterday, saying the letter was "degrading" and "indeed rude, ignorant and judging."

He also said, "At the end of the day, without an apology needed, I forgive this individual because I'm nowhere close to being perfect and I expect God to forgive me for all the wrong I've done in my life." And, "I appreciate everyone who has reached out to me and showed their support."

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time people have been discriminated against for wearing their own natural hair in various styles. This summer, Kerion Washington, a 17-year-old from Fort Worth, Texas, was denied a summer job at Six Flags because of his dreadlocks.

While the government has begun to protect against this discrimination, there's still work to be done to combat this pervasive issue. In July, New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an amendment to prohibit discrimination for natural hairstyles — joining California as the only two states that currently prohibit policies that disproportionately affect people of color.

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue