The Giants, yesterday, joined the Dodgers and several other clubs in support of black teammates and opponents who felt they could not play a game that day due to yet another apparently needless and racially motivated police shooting of an unarmed black man....in the back....7 times. The Dodgers made it clear where they stood on the issue led by Mookie Betts and Manager Dave Roberts with full support of Clayton Kershaw. Unfortunately it's less clear if the Giants clubhouse supported the action or if their hand was forced by the Dodgers.
It is sad when non-baseball issues disrupt a game we all love and receive joy from watching on a daily basis, but this is something that had to be done. It is clear by now that incidents like this should not happen and are happening in greatly disproportionate numbers to black victims. I know policing is a hard job. It's a dangerous job. But we repeatedly see undeniable evidence of police behavior that is unnecessarily violent and discriminatory. It is not anti-police to believe that these incidents can and should stop happening. It's called quality improvement and involves better education and training but also requires a change in culture and attitudes. Ask any person responsible for QI in any industry and they will tell you changing culture and attitudes is absolutely essential and starts with accountability.
Accountability, in this case, starts with We The People. We must hold ourselves accountable for our reactions to these things and whether we are willing to continue to accept living with an extreme injustice. I don't see how a black player could play under these circumstances as if this is not happening around us. White players must support their black teammates and opponents and use their privilege as a platform to hold society and it's police forces accountable. We as fans must support the players in their statement and demand accountability and positive change ourselves from our police departments. We must help the police do their job better. It starts with us telling them that we demand and expect improvement.
This has to stop!
Black Lives Matter!
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I will accept a limited number of respectful and thoughtful comments.
Great post, Doc, and hats off to the Giants and Dodgers; it's time.
ReplyDeleteAs a reader of yours since the Fan Forum days, I really appreciate all you do for us fans, including timely and poignant posts like this. Baseball is a game and more than a game. Well done!
Rob in Vancouver, BC
Dr. B , I share your dismay following the latest shooting. Thais shooting certainly supports the current BLM narrative of an out of control police force targeting Black men. Law enforcement can certainly do a better job of interacting with Black communities, however, I would like to offer some evidence that gives some context to violent crime and police shootings. First, many more white peoples have been shot by police in recent years than Black people. This is to be expected because of their relative percentages in the population. The point though is that we don’t hear or see video accounts of these shootings in the media. Secondly, police respond to where crimes occur and naturally have more interaction with the people of those communities. Black communities experience far more violent crime as a percentage of the population than white communities.- thus more opportunity for bad outcomes caused either by the police or by the criminals. There is a disproportionate number of shootings of Black men by police and also a disproportionate number of violent crimes committed by Black men.This may be an unpopular assertion but it is based on facts that can be easily obtained from th DoJ. Unless we deal openly and honestly With this problem and work together as Americans we will continue to isolate into different groups and never solve the problem. I believe that a lack of economic opportunities and not law enforcement is the major threat facing the Black communities. We are all Americans and we are capable of so many great things if we work together. Each of us (myself included) should objectively examine the issues that divide us and be willing to understand the circumstances and conditions that we are faced with. Bad cops are being dealt with and we should, as Dr.B suggests, demand accountability. At the same time there are far more good cops that deserve our respect and I am concerned that an emotional narrative casts a negative light on all police and threatens the essential service they provide.
ReplyDeleteWith great respect, I disagree.
ReplyDeleteI have bitten my tongue over your partisanship for most of this year, or might I say, "term"!
This is my last post. I will miss your insightfulness on baseball and Giant matters, but after 50+ years an SF fan, I am returning to my roots, to the team of my mid-western birth to the team that was part of my parents lives. I actually remember the 1946 World Series on the radio.
All Lives Matter, including unBorn Lives Matter.
Farewell, Sear of Sears.
I’m in my 75th year as a Giants fan, NY and SF, and although I’ve often been very happy to be one, I have never been so proud to be one as I am this year, with my team’s open-mindedness in hiring Alyssa Nakken and its staunchness in antipathy to racial brutality. That someone, no matter what their fandom, Giants or Cardinals, should think that it’s partisan to be horrified and vocal when white police shoot a black man seven times in the back at point-blank range—that’s a posture I can’t comprehend though in my 85th year as an American, I can’t say it surprises me. Neither, sadly, did the shooting itself. That America was part of my parents’ lives, and mine, that I profoundly hope is no part of my descendents’.
Deletewell said!
ReplyDeleteProtests like these area a great way to start the conversation on racial injustice. Change will take time, but it will happen.
ReplyDeleteIt also sends a strong message to a minority that their voices are being heard, and hopefully will prevent acts of desperation.
Between MLB, the NBA and WNBA, it may be possible to reach people who would normally not engage on the racial equality/racial justice issue. We as a country have to work together to find answers, then we need to pay the price, whatever that price is, to bring those solutions to reality. Putting aside the social component for a moment, I think we vastly underestimate what it would do for our economy to unlock the business and entrepreneurial potential that exists in minority communities that is being stifled by policies and practices that are not fully inclusive. We can be so much better than this.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your blog and we agree on the Giants especially going back into the 60's when I first became a Giants fan. However. I respectfully disagree with your opinion. I just don't see the Kenosha incident as a racial incident. I have heard nothing that says the cops were racists. The cops all deserved to go home alive at the end of their watch that day. Anybody who resists arrest, disobeys an officer's commands and then makes a move to get something from his vehicle is going to get shot by the police. It doesn't matter what the persons race is. Once all of the facts are out the cops may not be charged in this incident. That is when the real riots will start. Anyways I hope you find my post respectful. Keep blogging and I'll keep reading.
ReplyDeletethen makes a move to get something from his vehicle is going to get shot by the police.
ReplyDeleteThere are non-lethal alternatives to shooting.
Tasers, hi-velow beanbag, rubber bullets.
Cannot understand why these are not used when situation calls for
Shot in the back 7 times; attempting to get in his vehicle where his 3 sons were!
ReplyDeleteNow laying in a intensive care bed with both hands handcuffed!
Beyond senseless!
Richard in Winnipeg