Category: Racism

UNITE HERE is keeping busy

Collective bargaining, ICE threats, the World Cup, and strike threats. Local UNITE HERE unions have their hands full in 2026.

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Concessions workers at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins, have been rallying for improved pay and working conditions for some time now. At the Twins’ home opener this year, back on April 3, members of union UNITE HERE Local 17 gathered outside Target Field to speak to fans about the low pay they received, which, per UNITE’s own wording, “it takes more than an hour of work just to afford a hamburger at the stadium.”

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Notes: Dodgers and ICE, Fenway workers authorize a strike

The Dodgers finally speak up on what’s going on in their city, and Fenway’s workers authorized a strike.

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It’s like Lenin used to say: there are decades where nothing happens, and then there are weeks where for some reason a whole bunch of stories I can cover in this space happen one after the other. Let’s get to a couple of those today and hit the rest next time around.

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What we’re missing by focusing on the Pete Rose Decision

The stories have focused heavily on the Pete Rose part of the meeting with Trump, but there’s much more going on here.

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MLB commissioner Rob Manfred recently met with United States president Donald Trump, and the reports that came out of that meeting — and what subsequent time with the media has mostly focused on — is what this means for Pete Rose. Will he remain banned, will the ban be lifted, if the ban is lifted will he be able to enter the Hall of Fame? It’s not that none of this matters — because it does, reinstating Rose and undoing the idea of “permanent ineligibility” for gambling on sports is a terrible idea in a vacuum but even more so now when sports gambling is as ubiquitous in society as it is today — but there’s a more significant issue that’s been brushed aside a bit because of its existence.

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Notes: Jackie Robinson, Pirates debt, MLB broadcasts

A response to the federal government trying to erase Jackie Robinson, another responding to claim the Pirates are in debt, actually, and Rob Manfred’s latest on MLB’s broadcast plans.

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I had no inside knowledge that Steven Goldman would have a reaction to the Department of Defense briefly taking down Jackie Robinson’s military history to relabel it as “DEI,” but I knew he was good for it, and that it would appear if I would only be patient.

The reward for that patience was significant: Goldman wrote a wonderful rebuttal, explanation, whatever you want to call it to what went into the decision to remove Robinson, the history behind what made his being there in the first place such a significant deal, and some strong jabs at Thomas Jefferson’s trying-to-have-it-both-ways routine, for good measure.

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Notes: Rays and the Trop, MLB scrubs diversity, the A’s and Las Vegas

The latest from two stadium subsidy quests, and MLB’s recent political erasures and silence.

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The Rays declined the massive public subsidies they had in place for a new ballpark in St. Petersburgh, but they haven’t abandoned the city or Pinellas County just yet. Which, to be frank, is a little odd, but it seems that current own Stu Sternberg wants to buy a bit more time, but not 30 years’ worth, while he figures out whatever’s next.

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The Braves are chopping during Ryan Helsley appearances again

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Hey, do you remember the 2019 National League Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals? While playing at home in Game 1, the Braves, as they always do, utilized the Tomahawk Chop to engage the crowd, which led to rookie reliever Ryan Helsley of the Cherokee Nation to speak up on the matter:

“I think it’s a misrepresentation of the Cherokee people or Native Americans in general,” Helsley said. “Just depicts them in this kind of caveman-type people way who aren’t intellectual. They are a lot more than that. It’s not me being offended by the whole mascot thing. It’s not. It’s about the misconception of us, the Native Americans, and how we’re perceived in that way, or used as mascots. The Redskins and stuff like that.”

The Braves’ response was to essentially admit that the Chop was indeed racist…

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Just drop the appeal, Josh Donaldson

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The Yankees’ Josh Donaldson was suspended by MLB for exactly one (1) game for twice calling the White Sox’ Tim Anderson “Jackie” during last Saturday’s game between the two clubs. He is appealing the suspension, which is not exactly a great way to show that the supposed contrition in his statement is genuine:

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Round-up: The Chop, Commissioners, MLB for cord cutters

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I wrote about the failure that is the Tomahawk Chop making its way to the 2021 World Series back on Monday, but I certainly have not been alone this week in publishing pieces on the subject. Rob Manfred opened his mouth before Game 1 to let some bullshit spill out, about how MLB’s teams only market themselves regionally, and therefore no one outside of Georgia should be concerned with the chop, but also, Native Americans everywhere definitely support the chop; that certainly gave some folks an angle to work with.

Clinton Yates was one of those people, for The Undefeated, in a piece headlined, “Manfred misses the mark with Braves.” The focus here is on how the chop and MLB’s insistence that this is all progress and everyone who needs to be fine with the chop is fine with it is simply an extension of white supremacy. Yates also spoke with Natalie Welch, who participated in the video MLB and the Braves are now touting as proof that the chop has the seal of approval of Native Americans:

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Names and cultures have changed, but the Tomahawk Chop persists

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The Atlanta Braves are in the 2021 World Series, which means the Tomahawk Chop is also going to be in the 2021 World Series. Atlanta was briefly forced to confront the racist chant back in the 2019 postseason, but the lack of fans at games in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic gave them an opportunity to bury all of that talk of potential change, and now here we are. The Washington Football Team is a thing, the Kansas City Chiefs have enacted some protocols to combat the culture of racism in their fan base, and the Cleveland Guardians will officially replace the Cleveland Indians in 2022, but the Braves? They are still the Braves, and they are still chopping.

Let’s go back to 2019 for a moment. It was then that Cardinals’ reliever Ryan Helsley, a member of the Cherokee Nation, spoke out against Atlanta’s use of the chop. The Braves’ response was… lacking:

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Round-up: Athletes as workers, rediscovering America’s pastime, and the NWSL

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I’ve been pretty lax of late pointing y’all toward things I’ve been reading that I also think you should read, which was kind of the fault of a whole bunch of factors, but hey. Let’s change that up, and dedicate this whole newsletter entry to stuff I’ve been reading that I think you should read.

First up is Britni de la Cretaz and the return of Mic. Their first feature for the relaunched publication is on the fact we’re not used to seeing athletes as workers, even though they have to deal with management, even though they are not in control of capital within their own leagues, even though there are plenty of professional athletes out there who are making less money each year than some of the folks reading this right now. The topic is not only one that is close to me, but de la Cretaz spoke to me a bit about the subject, and I’m quoted in there a few times.

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