For one of my bonus readings, I decided to read “Red Sox acknowledge racism at Fenway Park ‘is real,’ promise action”. This article is written by Matt Bonesteel who has a BA in history and journalism from George Washington University and has been writing for the Washington Post for 17 years. This article focuses on racism and the Red Sox, but more specifically Boston as a whole and what the team and the owners are trying to do to change the narrative, post George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020.
First, Torri Hunter went on ESPN to talk about the racism in Boston and his hesitancy to come to the Red Sox because of it. His quote in this article states, “I’ve been called the n-word 100 times, and I’ve said something about it.” He later goes on to talk about how he gets called this word by kids as well as adults. This became a spark of conversation about racism in Boston.
Second, many other Black players have acknowledged what Torri Hunter expressed to ESPN. There have been reports of people all around Boston that have been calling the players racial slurs and being outright rude and degrading to them. This has been such a normality within Fenway Park that players have tried to speak out and have been ignored or do their best to ignore these words. It wasn’t until the Black Lives Matter movement that a conversation was sparked about the racism that goes on in Boston and players voices became acknowledged. But the players still feel unheard. However, they still go out and play the game normally because they love what they do.
Third, the response of the Red Sox was only posted on Twitter after the Black Lives Matter movement sparked. Their response was ‘this is real’ and the Red Sox acknowledged what was happening and called the behavior “inexcusable” and “unacceptable.” Even the Boston Mayor responded to this and was upset at the information present. Yet, there was not much done other than that. The team acknowledged the racism and wanted to do better, however the article does not mention if much else was done for prevention, as it is the fans and the people of Boston who are causing the racism and the degradation within the park.
