Comments

1. Nanette wrote:

   I just read about that Sheffield/Latino comments thing yesterday, and I wanted to include this link from a couple of days after the original incident to give more context.

   I have no idea who Sheffield is and know very little about baseball, but I thought that the points brought out in the Salon article were important and would make for good discussion somewhere, among those that do, maybe.

   It seems that (according to this) that the “they can be controlled” bit relates to the fact that there is often a threat hanging over their heads of being sent home. This has reportedly led to some non-citizen players living in substandard housing, not being provided with translators, playing while too injured and other things.

   Posted 11 Jun 2007 at 10:42 am ¶

2. tasha wrote:

   Ok, the only people that Sheffield meant to offend were team owners and MLB officials. He didn’t communicate his sentiments well enough to get his point across, but I agree with the spirit of the argument none the less. The way I understood it was that he thinks that as long as Latin American players can be exploited for cheap labor that there’s no incentive for MLB to do anything about the dwindling participation in baseball among black Americans. Because as long as black faces are present in MLB, who cares if they were born in Venezuela as opposed to the US? Black is black, right?

   What Sheffield doesn’t address is why fewer African Americans are in contention for the draft. Now there are a myriad of reasons for why that is, and they have little to nothing to do with discrimination by MLB. This goes back to that Grady Sizemore “Is MLB neglecting African American talent” post a while back. I listed a bunch of reasons why fewer black Americans are playing, and those reasons diminish the pool of potential black American players way before they’re old enough to be drafted. The “dwindling participation problem” has to be attacked before the draft, not at the draft. Basically one day we all woke up and baseball was expensive. I have a little cousin that plays on one of these psycho, kiddie, traveling, all-star baseball teams. He lives in Florida, so they play practically all year round because it’s hot, and you know what? It’s not cheap, but he gets the best coaching and clinics that money can buy, but see now, how many other black kids can say that?

   Posted 11 Jun 2007 at 2:08 pm ¶

3. s wrote:

   I have been to probably 10 or so baseball games in my life and I can not recall a single game that did not host hostility toward the black players. After all these years, a significant number of white people still find it important to create a racist atmosphere for black people, even if it means INNOCENT black children. That is ONE of the reasons why many black PARENTS chose not to invest their money and their childrens time in baseball. It not only comes off as a “white” sport, but a racist one, like hockey, lacrosse, swimming, ice skating, gymnastics, etc. Sometimes you just can’t seem to get white people in these sports to act civil like human beings.

   One aspect that’s overlooked is the finacial one. Many black families can’t afford to send their children to baseball camps and traveling teams. However, for FREE, they can learn basketball from the neighborhood superstar, big brother, uncle, etc.

   Of, course, what Shef said isn’t anything hat hasn’t been said before. I heard a similar conversation several years ago when I first saw a national Little League game on TV.
   His comment is no different than the comments of many people regarding the cheap labor of immigrants. The only difference is the bluntness in his statement.
   There seems to be a high demand to control brown people in this country – if you can’t control one, try to control another and pit them against eachother. Done.

   Posted 11 Jun 2007 at 3:23 pm ¶

4. FrancesM wrote:

   The post by the blog Last Plantation about Sean Owen is to me at least a bit homophobic. Just a heads up.
   ~F

   Posted 12 Jun 2007 at 4:15 pm ¶

5. LM wrote:

   FrancesM,

   Why do you feel that way?

   Posted 12 Jun 2007 at 5:10 pm ¶

6. FrancesM wrote:

   LM-
   I’ll post here the comment I made on that post which seems to not appear on Last Plantation for some reason.

   -You may not be attacking GLBTQ persons per se but I would argue there is a hint of
   homophobia in the tone of your post. I say this because of this statement that you
   made: “Second, gay rights groups have attempted to ride the coat tails of the black
   civil rights movement to further their agenda.” Agenda is a completely
   inappropriate term because anyone seeking to not have to suffer due to legalized
   inequality is not having an agenda but striving for the equal right to a full life.
   Equality is not an agenda but a human right that all deserve. Also many groups
   including immigration activists & the poor have aligned themselved with the civil
   rights movement of the 50’s & 60’s (which I thought was for all people of color &
   not just African Americans). Though for GLBTQ’s, immigrants & the poor the
   circumstances may be different, the desire for equality & justice is the same. Any
   and every human being wants to be free to love & live without being forced to
   subjugate. Gays are not alone in this so to target GLBTQ persons solely and say
   they are riding the coat tails of the civil rights movement is, in my opinion,
   erroneous at best. Peace!

   Posted 13 Jun 2007 at 1:00 pm ¶

7. LM wrote:

   FrancesM,

   Thanks for the response. I agree with your comments — all except for the reason you made them in the first place.

   To me, “agenda” is a neutral term in The Last Plantation post. Part of our agenda is to knock down barriers to an “equal right to a full life,” eh? Substitute “mission,” “goal,” etc. and I think the meaning is the same. Would those words be cause for ire?

   I realize that many right-wing writers/speakers/groups have used “agenda” in a more sinister way (especially when they add the word “hidden”), but this has everything to do with the context of their message. I’d hate to have to drop a perfectly good word from my vocabulary just it comes out of my enemy’s mouth.

   Would appreciate any critique of this comment.

   Posted 13 Jun 2007 at 2:34 pm ¶