Commentary by Sanford D. Horn
August 28, 2020
I could not possibly care less if the NBA ever jumps center again. Dramatic gestures are merely empty gestures, that if arenas were not empty, would not be made. Business is business, after all.
But because this is the era of the Coronavirus, and in light of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI, the Milwaukee Bucks decided they would not suit up and play in their playoff game against the Orlando Magic. Not only did the Magic support this decision to not play on Wednesday, August 26, the other two games on that date and the several games on the next two days would also be postponed. Six WNBA regular season games, four NHL playoff games, and seven MLB games were postponed between Wednesday and Friday. The seven MLB games to be put on the back burner on Thursday, August 27 were the most on a single day since September 11, 2001.
Jacob Blake, 29, was shot in the back seven times by seven year police veteran Rusten Shesky on Sunday, August 23 in Wisconsin’s fourth largest city. An initial attempt to subdue Blake via taser failed, as he struggled to get into his car and flee. Blake also had a knife and there was an outstanding warrant for his arrest. Additionally, Blake has a history of assaulting police officers, as well as previous charges for domestic abuse and a sex crime.
That said, seven shots were six too many. However, arson, looting, and rioting are neither a form of peaceful protesting, legal, nor a solution of anything productive. All of the buildings burned, businesses looted and destroyed, monuments torn down, and innocent people, including police officers, getting assaulted, and in some cases killed in the name of racial and social justice are accomplishing just the opposite.
As cities such as Baltimore, Chicago, New York, Portland, St. Louis, and Seattle continue racking up the hours, days, and months of carnage, the bodies as a result of the carnage, more and more people are turning away from supporting domestic terrorist organizations such as Antifa and Black Lives Matter. In fact, since the Kenosha shooting and subsequent mob violence, support for, and of, BLM in that city has dropped and support continues to drop precipitously as the anarchistic violence continues to dominate the headlines of each and every news cycle.
Make no mistake, the anarchy, arson, looting, mayhem, riots, and vandalism are not about peaceful protesting. Nor are they about the tragic death of George Floyd, the shooting of Jacob Blake, or any other perceived victim of police brutality. This is just wonton destruction for destruction’s sake. Evil acts by unhappy people seeking vigilante justice by stealing and destroying what is not theirs. They should heed the message put forth by Julia Jackson, Jacob Blake’s mother:
“For anyone who is doing anything that is violent or destructive, please stop!”
Perhaps with all the destruction, mayhem, and violence in our city streets its a good thing sports fans are unable to attend games. It simply would not be safe enough for people to traverse the roads to the ballpark or arena.
But regardless of the sport, not taking the court, field, or ice will barely be noticed by fans already unable to attend games in person. They will just change the channel - to a live game or anything else. Eventually, the professional sports leagues will annihilate themselves with their growing amount of politicization of their games, angering fans who simply want to escape the day to day violence that occurs outside their windows. Fans will ultimately stop attending games of the teams they no longer support, stop buying merchandise representing players they no longer support, and find better ways to spend their hard earned dollars. Owners will realize that they cannot absorb such losses while continuing to pay the enormous salaries of these players. Many of the gestures being made by ballplayers are viewed as grandstanding - it costs them nothing, but they are credited with caring and doing something.
On Thursday, August 27 the New York Mets were set to host the Miami Marlins at Citi Field. Led by Dominic Smith and Billy Hamilton, the Mets starting nine took the field. The Marlins lead off hitter took to the on-deck circle and the umpires took their places at home plate and around the bases. The remainder of the Mets and Marlins teams exited their dugouts and lined up along the grassy edge on the first base and third base lines. The players bowed their heads for 42 seconds of silence before waving their caps at each other across the diamond. Lewis Brinson of the Marlins laid a Black Lives Matter t-shirt over home plate. The teams then left the field, through the dugouts and into their clubhouses. Finally, the Mets starting nine departed the field as well, suggesting the night was over as quickly as it had started. Mets radio announcers Howie Rose and Wayne Randazzo filled time chatting, indicating they genuinely did not know whether the teams would return or if the night was in fact, over. Following a commercial break, Rose and Randazzo were able to tell their audience there would be no game that night in New York City.
While it costs the players nothing, groups like BLM benefit financially from sycophants who know precious little about this organization. An organization rooted in Marxism, as defined on its website by its founders, and dedicated to anarchy, anti-capitalism, anti-nuclear family, anti-Semitism, and anti-Americanism.
On the other hand, who wouldn't want to tell their boss they are taking the day off in order to make a public statement. If I took the day off every time an act of anti-Semitism occurred, it's likely I would never see another paycheck. No, I am most certainly not making light of the continuing racial strife plaguing this nation. There are myriad solutions if the politicians would keep their partisan opinions to themselves and allow real people to come together to do the heavy lifting that might just open the doors to genuine progress.
“There’s no limit to the amount of good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.” -- Ronald Reagan
“It’s on us to make a difference. Change doesn’t happen with just talk - it happens with action,” said LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Let’s start with all the professional athletes from Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, the National Women’s Soccer League, the Professional Golfer’s Association, the Ladies Professional Golfer’s Association, the Professional Bowlers Association, NASCAR, and any other pro league unintentionally omitted. Representatives from each city where there are teams should appear in Public Service Announcements to appear during commercials of their games as well as during the local news on each station. These PSAs should implore their fans and residents of their cities that criminal activities and mischief of arson, assault, looting, rioting are not just against the law, but deleterious to those cities’ well being. The massive destruction is only hurting the people who live, work, and shop in those cities - lowering property values, creating an employment void, and deepening the despair and sense of hopelessness that rages through such downtrodden urban centers. The athletes should deliver that same message via editorials to appear in the daily newspaper of their home team city. Those messages are more meaningful than walking off the court, field, or ice, or taking a disrespectful knee during the national anthem. No major city newspaper would turn down editorials from famous athletes that would also boost circulation were they to appear on a regular basis.
They can follow the lead of the Players Alliance and donate a couple days pay. Curtis Granderson, a retired MLB player, and president of the Players Alliance, announced that the players in the alliance would be donating their salaries from Thursday and Friday August 27 and 28. August 28 was also designated Jackie Robinson Day. Traditionally, Jackie Robinson Day is held on April 15, as it was on that day in 1947 that he crossed the color barrier becoming the first black player to take the field in Major League history. That, of course, did not occur due to the Coronavirus this year. August 28 is also significant as it was on that day Robinson inked his first contract with Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Perhaps every athlete from all the professional leagues could donate one week of their salaries to be used for restoration of the destroyed cities and businesses. Additionally, money could be used to help build and open charter schools in, for starters, each city where there is a pro team. Education is the key to success regardless of race or ethnicity. But it must be quality education, not the brand currently being meted out by the failed public school system, whose greatest goal is the indoctrination of its charges - the children - your children and mine.
During the off season, some of the athletes could visit these same schools that they helped fund and build. Continue delivering the message of non-violence so often preached by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Stress the importance of education as the ticket to a better life. Instead of opposing police, the athletes should meet with police departments and make them sensitive to the plight of minorities; work with them to find a solution to the reform that is needed without handcuffing officers from doing their jobs properly. For one, all police officers should be outfitted with “cop-cams,” as that will shed light on how officers are conducting their business. Defunding police departments is not the answer, but weeding out officers who are not necessarily fit to wear the uniform, is a partial solution. No police department is perfect and unfortunately there will still be issues of race, but hopefully fewer and fewer. Perhaps if there is some way to have a series of roundtable discussions with local residents and local police precincts instead of burning them down, each side can take one step closer to each other in civility and maybe even respect. If not, more cities will be burned to the ground, more jobs lost, and ultimately more lives lost.
All lives matter - black, white, brown, red, and yellow - the lives of children, the lives of adults, the lives of police officers, the lives of civilians, and the lives of the unborn. If the race hustlers and organizations like Antifa and BLM could stop fanning the flames of death and destruction and if retraining of officers can be done sooner rather than later, perhaps there can be peace in our streets.
Sanford D. Horn is a writer and educator living in Westfield, IN.
