Nothing personal, Georgia.
Baseball sticks it to minorities in Georgia in the name of social justice
Let me get this straight: Because the elected representatives of the people of Georgia changed the voting laws in the way they feel works best for the state, Major League Baseball is taking their All-Star Game from Atlanta and going home.
In the name of racial justice, the bosses of baseball are yanking away a massive event from a city in which the population is 51% black. A move expected to cost Georgia at least $100 million.
MLB had contracted out 8,000 hotel rooms. Sayonara to those and the thousands of others meant to be filled in and around Atlanta.
But it has to be done, says the white lawyer Baseball Commissioner, Rob Manfred — loudly cheered by white middle and upper class progressives from coast to coast. For the Range Rover set this is a fantastic development. Social media selfies featuring vaccination cards and self-congratulatory comments about “Fauci Ouchies” give way to stern declarations about Georgia and “Jim Crow,” — something they know zilch about. Amazing that after all these years white Americans still manage to squeeze benefit — albeit emotional — out of that vile set of laws.
Okay, fine. We are culturally wretched and historically vapid and routinely our demonstrations of virtuousness hurt those less fortunate with no ramifications to us. I’d call that privilege but who am I?
Before I forget —
Now would be a good time to remind you that the President of the United States helped vamoose the All-Star game from Atlanta with this magnificent turn of phrase:
“I’m convinced that we’ll be able to stop this [Georgia Law] because it is the most pernicious thing, this makes Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle.”
Jim Crow is not an element involving birds. Obviously, these comments are nuclear-level stupid and no human being could defend them, right?
Okay fine. We’re pushing boundaries. I get it.
Back to the real effects of arbitrary corporate actions in the face of warped social trends.
About twenty-thousand people work in the hospitality industry in Atlanta, many of them black.
They’ve had a tough year. Covid-19 nearly destroyed the industry over the course of the pandemic. The All-Star weekend was to last at least three days and include MLB related events like the Home Run Derby, the All-Star Futures game held on All-Star Sunday and the All-Star Legends & Celebrity Softball game.
Not to mention the All-Star Game itself along with the countless parties and promotions around the city.
But because media and politicians fabricated a story about the Georgia GOP ripping water and pizza out of the hands of weary voters which is NOT true and also not Jim Crow (shame on you) it is all gone.
In the name of equity this is just a partial list of who we have shafted.
Black Uber drivers and other transportation professionals.
Black hotel door men.
Black hotel bellmen.
Black hotel front desk personnel.
Black hotel housekeepers.
Black hotel security.
Black Airbnb purveyors.
Black hotel waitstaff and kitchen staff.
Black hoteliers.
Black vendors.
Black small business owners.
Black ballpark and Atlanta stadium personnel.
Black law enforcement.
Add to that any black person in retail in and around Atlanta and about a thousand more occupations. Now multiply that by the many years of continuing benefits the city would be sure to gain after a week of positive promotion.
This after a terrible year for black people in Atlanta and across the country, but Atlanta is especially notable.
According to the Wall Street Journal.
Violent crime has been on the rise in many parts of Atlanta since last summer, not just Buckhead. From Jan. 1 to Feb. 20, there were 18 homicides in Atlanta, up 80% compared with the same period last year, according to the Atlanta Police Department. Shooting incidents were up 32% for the same period; robberies, 17%; and aggravated assaults, 47%.
The state is approaching the nineteen-thousand Covid-19 death threshold and as has been widely reported, minority communities are hit hardest for several reasons.
That we as a country are kicking Georgia while it is already down is remarkable, that we are patting ourselves on the back for it is beyond disgraceful. But if it is any consolation, the authors of the Jim Crow laws would be proud.
One more thing.
What does Major League Baseball think is going to happen next? No matter what location they find for their All-Star Game, according to the woke rules Commissioner Manfred has signed on to, it is going to be problematic.
For starters, the host city better at least have a 51% black population.
Baseball is boring and I’d never watch the All-Star Game but I do look forward to MLB having to navigate the path they’ve set themselves on.
They are about to learn a lesson. Once you invite the social justice umpires into your operation all they see are opportunities to make bad calls and eject those they find intolerable. It is their game now.
Play Ball!
“Nuclear level stupid”... agreed and cool quote
Somewhere in Brookline right now, John Henry is pouting because his gigantic political statement along the pike wasn’t enough to attract the all star game, just like it wasn’t enough to sell 12,000 tickets through the box office this week. When will the pain of alienating the (majority of) fans set in for professional sports?