Dodgers manager Dave Roberts spoke out against racism towards Asian Americans
"Such bullying is cowardice."
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Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told The Athletic recently that prior to 2020, he had “always shied away from using my voice outside of being a ballplayer.”
That changed a year ago, when Roberts — a member of the 2004 Red Sox — and Dodger players supported Mookie Betts’s decision to not play an August game following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
“Once Mookie said he wasn’t going to play, that really started our conversation as a team on what we could do to support that.” @mookiebetts, Dave Roberts, @ClaytonKersh22 & @kenleyjansen74 share their thoughts on the #Dodgers decision not to play tonight. pic.twitter.com/WUQoorsdXR
— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA) August 27, 2020
A year later, Roberts has become more vocal in the fight against racism.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, attacks on Asian Americans have “skyrocketed.” It’s an issue that affects Roberts personally.
“I have just come to a peace about speaking out about things that I believe are right,” Roberts told reporters Dennis Lin and Pedro Moura. “And this particular situation towards Asians, Asian Americans, is something that obviously affects me personally, having a mother from Okinawa, Japan. Seeing what’s going on in our country, I just felt that I wanted to internally put something together for our organization, showing my support toward Asian Americans in our organization and acknowledge what’s going in our country and around the world that I just don’t believe is right.”
Robert explained that he was inspired to speak up following a social media post from Jeremy Lin, who wrote about being called “coronavirus” during a game.
In response, Roberts — manager of the Dodgers since 2016 — wrote an email to the entire Los Angeles organization.
“Over the past year, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of hate crimes against Asian Americans and the Pacific Islander community,” Roberts began in the email. “In recent months, those attacks have intensified and have targeted the elderly in California and New York – such bullying is cowardice.”
Roberts concluded by noting that he’s “proud to stand with my Asian American co-workers, the community, and all others who support an inclusive and open-minded society.”
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