Respectively decline attending Marlins games

Respectively decline attending Marlins games

By Don Valentine

The Marlins are striking out in more ways than one!

The President was spot on in his controversial podcast interview. He illustrated that just because you don’t use the “N” word in proper company that doesn’t mean you’re not a racist. It is the covert, furtive racism that is the cancer in our society.

Let’s take the Miami Marlins rebuke toward the Black community as a patron. The Westside Gazette recently made a request for two passes to review and praise the renovations of the new ballpark. Marlins media coordinator Maria Armella responded to the request, “We respectively decline.”

This scribe went to public schools and I’m admitting to not being great with math. One could conclude that if the Marlins have the third worst attendance in all of Major League Baseball they could use the free exposure. ESPN chronicled that in 2015 the Marlin’s rank 28th out of 30 teams in attendance ranking for the national past time.  Based on ESPN numbers the Marlins average 18,000 empty seats per home game. That would leave 17,998 available seats if they let the Westside Gazette review a game.

It would seem they could use the

additional exposure and fan support.  Except if the other 18,000 seats in each home stand are filled by people with too much melanin in their skin. The Marlin’s seem to think that telling 22 percent of the tri-county population that we don’t value your money is a wise move. From the Marlin’s prism, they thought that replacing a tenured baseball manager with the general manager who never coached in professional baseball was a savvy decision.

This type of covert racism is exactly what the President illustrated in his interview last week. It is not necessary to be overt, blatant to show your disdain for a people of color. I’m expounding on this Marlin’s episode to remind you that in 2015 hatred exists in subtle shades even today.

I wonder if Andre Dawson, the “Hawk” and special assistant to the Marlins president, would condone their snub. He played most of his career in Chicago and understands the disparity of color. I wonder if he would find this rebuke of Broward County’s oldest Black heritage paper palpable.

The President, Dr. King and countless Black men have had to hold their tongue in the past. In this century President Obama had to endure the Republican governor of Arizona wagging her finger in his face while berating him. In this incarnation from the Marlin’s we have the power of the Purse. We don’t have to support a team that does not want to welcome us in their home. Don Valentine, Free Lance Writer, U.C. Berkeley ’89 B.S. Psychology, McGeorge Law School J.D. ‘92