Adam Jones Defends Kaepernick, Says Baseball is a White Man's Sport

RadioOnFire.com - Baltimore Orioles center fielder, Adam Jones, came to Colin Kaepernick's defense on Monday, September 12, in an interview he did with USA Today. Jones shared his position on the protest a growing number of players are standing behind in the NFL, and spoke on why he thinks it is that some of the world's most recognized basketball players, soccer players and football players have given their voice to the cause, while players [specifically Black players] across Major League Baseball have remained silent.

Baseball has a storied history of protest dating back to the inception of Jackie Robinson, which many believe beyond breaking the sports' color barrier, represented a pivotal moment for the transition of race relations in society, in general. Since the Robinson years, there have been other events that challenged the status quo, including the introduction of free agency into the game, after Curt Flood's refusal to accept a trade escalated into a battle that went to the Supreme Court. There was the players unifying to strike during the '94-'95 season, and as recently as 2004 Carlos Delgado drew controversy when it caught on that in protest of the Iraq War, he had been refusing to come out of the dugout for the singing of "God Bless America."

Despite such legacy, Jones expressed that as a Black man in the game, he feels inhibited from partaking in any kind of radical gestures, saying, “We already have two strikes against us already so you might as well not kick yourself out of the game. In football, you can’t kick them out. You need those players. In baseball, they don’t need us… Baseball is a white man’s sport.” Taking the shifting of racial dynamics in the sport into consideration, with the percentage of Black players having dwindled over the decades, one might understand why the notion of standing out to speak on issues affecting the Black community might seem overwhelming for guys like Jones. African Americans make up 68% of players on NFL rosters, and only 8% of those throughout all of baseball.

Only time will tell whether baseball catches up with the spirit of activism that has grown among African-Americans in the public eye. But even if overt gestures of solidarity with the likes of Carmelo Anthony or Colin Kaepernick don't begin to spring up in MLB, it is safe to assume that the movement is weighing on the consciousness of Black players on the diamond. “What he’s doing is showing that he doesn’t like the social injustice that the flag represents,” Jones told USA Today. “Here’s my thing. There’s somebody on the 49ers’ team that commits an act like that, accosts a 70-year-old man and his kid, and nobody’s talking about that. But they talk about Kaepernick doing something that he believes in, as his right as an American citizen. People need to talk more about that guy than Kaepernick.”

Source: baltimore.cbslocal.com