Brandon Mebane Says He and Teammates Experienced Racial Discrimination in LA

In an interview with the Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Chargers defensive tackle Brandon Mebane spoke out against racial discrimination he and teammates have faced since the team moved to Los Angeles.

"People tell me it's not true, but they don't understand what it's like to be black in America. The only way we can move on and hear each other is by talking about this," Mebane told Ryan Kartje in a story published Saturday.

Mebane, 32, was born in Los Angeles. The Chargers' move to L.A. spelled something of a homecoming for the 10-year veteran, who hoped he would be welcomed with open arms but instead found resistance in the city's white communities.

Mebane spoke of the difficulty he and his wife had finding a home in the area. He said their application to rent a new house in a neighborhood in Irvine was denied after the renters chose someone who had a credit score that was four points higher.

"They chose somebody else because their credit score was four points higher," Mebane said. "When your credit score is in the 800s, it's pretty much a wash. But you can't tell a person they can't come in your neighborhood because they're black; that's against the law. They don't actually say those types of things. But they'll point out things like those four points. The neighborhood was brand new. There were no black families there."

Mebane said one of his teammates, who was not named, had a rental application for a home in Newport Beach denied despite offering to pay a year's rent up front. Another player who had pets was initially told they were allowed at a home he was trying to rent, Mebane said, "then they find out the family is black and decide they weren't accepting pets."

"My whole thing is not to cause division or anything," Mebane said. "I want to talk about my experience, how it is, what it's like for me."