Why has Fenway Park been front and center for race issues lately?
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Why has Fenway Park been front and center for race issues lately? – BDC Commenter
Karmic punishment for not signing Willie Mays or Jackie Robinson when Tom Yawkey had the chance, probably.
I actually hadn’t connected the dots until you mentioned it, but yeah, there have been a few race-oriented stories bunched together this season at Fenway.
There was the ugly Adam Jones incident in May and the embarrassing oh-yeah-prove-it-happened response from too many among us.
Then we had Red Sox (and Globe) owner John Henry’s revelation in mid-August that he wants to rename Yawkey Way in large part due to its namesake’s dubious racial history as Red Sox owner.
And now we have Wednesday night’s bizarre incident, when a few fans unveiled a black and white banner in the Monster seats that read: Racism Is As American As Baseball.
Watching the response in real-time on social media was interesting. It seemed the initial reaction was, “There goes Boston, being all racist again.” The relatively close proximity to the Jones incident, when the respected Orioles center fielder said he was called a racial epithet by a fan in the bleachers, probably played into that immediate response Wednesday.
But that shifted quickly to a collective, “Wait … what are they trying to say? Racism is as American as baseball? Are they saying that with gross bigoted pride, or are they decrying it?” Turned out it was the latter, but the sign was awfully ambiguous and couldn’t have had the effect its creators desired. Once again, we all learn the hard way about the value of a good copy editor.
To actually answer the question, though, this stretch of Fenway- and race-centric stories is pretty coincidental and nothing more than that. I do suppose that protesting at Fenway – especially inside the ballpark during a television broadcast – is a decent way to get publicity for whatever point you’re trying to make. But good luck to anyone who tries sneak a banner in to the ballpark again. There’s a better chance of Yawkey Way being renamed after Carl Everett than there is of another one of those slipping past security.
But what do you guys think? Is there an actual reason Fenway has been the scene of race-centric stories lately? Am I off base? I’ll hear you in the comments.
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