The death of Tamir Rice reminds us about things bigger than sports.
A kid, no older than ten years old, tells his friend those words as they walk across the diamond they play baseball at every summer. That kid has his Game 7, bottom of the 9th, 2 outs, bases loaded, down by 3 make-believe World Series at the same park that Tamir Rice was shot and killed by a police officer on November 22, 2014.
This isn’t sports and politics, it’s sports and life.
I never wrote about the realities of coaching an inner-city baseball team while or after I did it this past summer. For whatever reason, it didn’t feel right. I didn’t want you to think I was grandstanding about my Hardball moments, but that player’s quote has stuck with me ever since. And now seems like the time to talk about it.
While players, owners, and staff from the NFL and various other professional leagues coordinate organization-wide efforts to protest police brutality in this country by way of kneeling or choosing to abstain from the national anthem entirely, I can’t help but think about the kids I coached.
Now before I get too far into this, I want to acknowledge that yes, I do think that on some level these protests are disrespectful to our men and women in uniform, veterans, and their families. I also think that the Steelers, less Alejandro Villanueva, failing to step onto the field at all during the anthem was one step too far. But at the same time, I support anyone who wishes to take a stand against injustice, whether you reading this see the problems being protested against as real or perceived.
And while you may disagree with how the protests are being conducted, let’s remember protests generally don’t get much attention unless they spark controversy. The protests we’ve seen are not about a degradation of the flag, just as The Woolworth Lunch Counter Sit-In wasn’t about BLTs. The Star-Spangled Banner is simply the vehicle used to draw attention to some of America’s ills. And if you protest effectively, as the players, owners, and staff have, you inevitably piss some people off.
A common sentiment I’ve heard all week is that politics and sports need to remain separate, that sports should be an escape from reality. Go tell that to the kid I coached who can’t use one to avoid the other. In his head, they are intertwined. Baseball and a boy from his neighborhood being shot by police occupy the same space in his brain.
For anyone who says that any protest that has been done so far is un-American, I beg of you to consider the fact that this country was built on rebellion, demonstration, and a belief that individual citizens should never be required to swear blind obedience to power.
There may be no better authority figure on the confluence of sports and politics than Marie Tillman, wife of Pat Tillman. She issued a statement earlier in the week, which read in part: “The very action of self-expression and the freedom to speak from one’s heart – no matter those views – is what Pat and so many other Americans have given their lives for. Even if they didn’t always agree with those views.” And while I acknowledge that probably no two soldiers or veterans think exactly the same way on this, many have come out with similar statements.
The actions these athletes are protesting happen in cities across the country, and while those actions may not happen in your community, that does not mean they don’t happen. They happen to kids in Cleveland, Ohio. Those are who these protests are for. They aren’t for the 40-year old suburban season ticket holder who is burning his tickets and posting the video on social media in a feigned attempt at patriotism. The protests won’t change his mind on these issues. They’re for kids like those I coached this summer. They’re for them to know that their heroes they watch every Sunday recognize that it’s those kids’ friends and neighbors who are most affected by police brutality and violence across the country.
It’s for their parents and grandparents to know that someone out there is listening to their cries. These protests are a way to say that high-powered, wealthy individuals recognize that there is an issue in this country that needs addressing, and has needed to be for a very long time. Maybe it’s time some of our politicians knelt down to listen, instead of standing over these athletes casting judgment.
These protests aren’t about you, they aren’t about a love of country, they’re about the kids. Because this isn’t sports and politics, it’s sports and the next Tamir Rice’s life.
