On racial injustice, Marlins CEO Derek Jeter asks: ‘How many more tragedies?’
Derek Jeter is a Pro Baseball Hall of Fame electee, a 20-year MLB veteran who won five-time World Series with the New York Yankees and is now the CEO of the Miami Marlins.
He’s also a biracial man who is tired of seeing racial inequality in the world.
So on Friday, as part of a Juneteenth discussion on MLB Network about racial injustice and inequality in society and baseball, Jeter reiterated what he has been saying for some time now: Things need to change.
That feeling has amplified even more by the social unrest in the country after George Floyd, an unarmed and handcuffed Black man, died on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer drove a knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes and 46 seconds while Floyd was face down on the ground.
“You get to a point and say ‘When is it going to stop? How many more tragedies?’ George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Jeter said. “There’s countless others that people never even hear those stories. Something needs to change. It gets to a point where you say enough is enough. But the one thing that I was optimistic about, for the first time you’re seeing people across all 50 states and roughly 20 other countries, people of all different races, different nationalities out there in agreement that now’s the time and things need to change because it’s been going on for too long.”
Jeter sent anonymous surveys to members of the Marlins front office and to the organization’s players to allow them to be open, honest and clear about their emotions.
He also held a video conference with Marlins players a couple weeks ago and encouraged them to use their own platform as well to speak up about injustice and inequality.
“Sometimes when you’re in an organization, you may be a little hesitant to speak up because you’re going to be concerned with your job and whether or not you’re going to be released by an organization. That is not the case here,” Jeter said. “We’re going to support our players and we’re going to be behind them. I told them that I encourage them to speak up. Make sure you’re very clear with with where you stand because the worst case scenario you don’t want to be in a situation where you have to apologize and say you didn’t mean it that way.
“Be very clear with how you feel and we’re going to support you.”
And players have taken advantage of that support.
Pitcher Sterling Sharp took part in an MLB roundtable discussion earlier this week about being Black in baseball and America and said it was “a reassurance that [the front office] won’t hold our voices down and they encourage us to speak up and use our platform. ... It’s just a really good feeling knowing that we have guys at the top looking out for us and encouraging us to use our voice and our platform.”
Outfielder prospect Monte Harrison published an open letter on his Twitter account on June 2, one week after Floyd’s death, asking why MLB hadn’t released a statement regarding Floyd and the social unrest in the country like the other professional American sports leagues and associations had done.
“I’ve sat back & been patiently waiting to hear from @MLB on social media platforms about the current situations that [are] going on in our world over time but specifically with the incident that happened in Minnesota... but it has not happened,” Harrison wrote. “... it hurts to see the game I love & play with all my heart, blood sweat & tears has not released an official statement regarding this matter. So I ask you what’s your ‘Why’?”
MLB released a statement the next day.
On June 1, Jeter put out a statement calling for “racial hatred to end and to be unquestionably recognized and responded to with severe punishment.”
“I hope we can all denounce the insidious signs of racial hatred and take action as human beings,” Jeter said then.
When asked specifically about the statement he responded succinctly by saying, “It’s how I feel.”
“Unfortunately, some people are still going to look at you differently, so you’re going to have to work harder and you’re going to have to be better,” Jeter said. “And you can’t have any excuses. Look, I’m not darkest brother in the world, but I’ve been pulled over driving down the street. I’ve been accused of stealing things from stores. We’re not here to go back and forth on whose stories are worse but that’s just that’s just how it is and that’s how it’s been. And unfortunately, you would have wished that things would have changed by now. But that’s not the case. but that’s why I’m hopeful with everything that I’ve been seeing over the last couple of weeks.”
The Marlins closed their offices Friday in recognition of Juneteenth and “will mark this day with an organization-wide service event to show our support for our community on this important day,” Jeter said.
‘Nobody’s free until everybody is free’
In addition to Jeter’s comments, three Black Marlins players released statements through the team’s Twitter account expressing what Juneteenth means to them.
For Sharp, “This day is important because Black history is American history, and everyone should know how Black people’s freedome was delayed.”
“Nobody’s free,” Sharp said, “until everybody is free.”
Fellow pitcher Stephen Tarpley sees Juneteenth as “more of the celebration of the strength and perserverance of my people.”
“It’s a day,” he continued, “where we reflect on past battles and recognize the importance of our current and future actions to improve our wellbeing across the globe.”
To outfielder Matt Kemp, a 14-year MLB veteran with the Marlins on a minor-league contract who took part in spring training as a non-roster invitee, Juneteenth is “a symbol of hope that maybe one day we will be respected and treated as equal.”
“That day has yet to come,” Kemp said, “but we continue to push forward and celebrate Juneteenth in the remembrance of that hope.”
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 6:11 PM.
.JPG)