Kobe Bryant loved Los Angeles' Latino community, and in turn, they loved him back.
Many saw themselves and their culture in him: The work ethic. The marriage to a Mexican American woman. The devotion to his daughters. His better-than-not, if Italian-inflected, Spanish.
“They had multiple jobs and worked like crazy, but they never made excuses,” the Anaheim resident said. “That was Kobe. He’d play with broken fingers and torn ligaments, and would never say a thing. He set that example, and so we had to do the same.[you’re the biggest badass],” Flores added. “That was Kobe every night, every day.”Bryant’s special relationship with Latinos started almost as soon as he joined the Lakers in 1996.
“He came at the perfect moment, when L.A. had become more brown,” Alamillo said. “He became our Latino superstar.” Bryant embraced his wife during a nationally broadcast 2010 home playoff game against the Phoenix Suns while she wore a T-shirt that read, “Do I Look Illegal?” At the time, Arizona’s controversial Senate Bill 1070 — which critics said sought to make life miserable for immigrants living in the state illegally — dominated headlines.
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