Racism and Baseball

So last week Milton Bradley came out and said that the reason he so underperformed (and single handedly killed my OF’s in fantasy baseball) was due to racism in Chicago.
This angered a lot of people. One talk show on the Four Letter Self Proclaimed World Wide Leader (all of the other four letter words were taken) had commentators, hosts that were so irate I could hear their tirade down the hall from where my T.V. was on.
Then Tori Hunter came out and said that Latin players were not black players. The actual quote is this according to the 4 letter word station

People see dark faces out there, and the perception is that they’re African-American. They’re not us. They’re impostors. Even people I know come up and say: ‘Hey, what color is Vladimir Guerrero? Is he a black player?’ I say, ‘Come on, he’s Dominican. He’s not black.’ …

As African-American players, we have a theory that baseball can go get an imitator and pass them off as us. It’s like they had to get some kind of dark faces, so they go to the Dominican or Venezuela because you can get them cheaper. It’s like, ‘Why should I get this kid from the South Side of Chicago and have Scott Boras represent him and pay him $5 million when you can get a Dominican guy for a bag of chips?’ … I’m telling you, it’s sad,

Then this week, he clarified his comments with this:

What troubles me most was the word ‘impostors’ appearing in reference to Latin American players not being black players. It was the wrong word choice, and it definitely doesn’t accurately reflect how I feel and who I am,” “What I meant was they’re not black players; they’re Latin American players. There is a difference culturally. But on the field, we’re all brothers, no matter where we come from, and that’s something I’ve always taken pride in: treating everybody the same, whether he’s a superstar or a young kid breaking into the game. Where he was born and raised makes no difference.”

What do you think? Big deal? Bradley’s claim’s are somewhat concerting but as one person pointed out, Chicago loves Jordan, they love the Big Hurt. Is Bradley just making excuses?

Is Hunter defending Latin American players and pointing out that for as far as the game has come, it still has a way to go or is he guilty of some level of racism? Personally, I think  he’s making a point that people don’t seem to make a distinction between ethnic groups. Perhaps, that is because people get tired of being told two separate messages.

On the one hand, we’re told to be “color blind,” to see people as people. As Black Eyed Peas so succinctly put it, “One Tribe ya’all.” Of course, on the other hand we’re told that all White People are racists (I just read this in two separate books).
Maybe when people ask if Vlad is black or Latin, they are afraid of the PC police so they want to get it right.

We have come a long way in the race issue in baseball and even in America. Here’s hoping we continue to progress.
What are your thoughts? I tend to think that Hunter’s heart was in the right place.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.