Red Sox score with White House RSVP
The Red Sox are doing the right thing by accepting President Trump’s invitation to visit the White House following their World Series win in October. Since Trump has been in the Oval Office, a number of athletes and professional sports teams have opted to skip the chance to press the flesh with POTUS due to Trump’s harsh criticism of NFL players taking a knee during the national anthem.
The Red Sox have been in the center of heated discussions about racism after several incidents at Fenway Park involving racial epithets. In addition, team owner John Henry made the decision to remove mentions of Tom Yawkey from the ballpark, and Yawkey Way has been renamed Jersey Street. Manager Alex Cora is a native of Puerto Rico and has been critical of the president’s comments regarding the number of casualties on the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Cora has been vocal but very respectful when addressing the issue.
“I hate that people are making it a political issue. It’s about human beings,” Cora said in September. “The effect of September 16th, the rain and the winds and whatever happens, maybe 18 people died. But the aftereffects, people don’t talk about that. You don’t have food, you don’t have water, no communication, no medicine.”
After the playoffs, Cora expressed gratitude toward the president. “Like I said before, and I know the headlines don’t show it, I said I respect the president of the United States and I know he helped our country.”
It shows a superb strength of character for Cora to show willingness to meet and engage with the president. The Sox’ skipper has seemingly done just about everything right since taking the helm and maybe his talents can translate to the political.
President Trump has proven that he is willing to take extraordinary steps when conversations with Americans, mostly with notoriety, convince him to, even when the actions play against Republican type. Just look at his criminal justice reform initiatives in partnership with political rivals such as Van Jones as well as his pardoning of Alice Marie Johnson, at the behest of Kim Kardashian.
Alex Cora and the Red Sox are doing the right thing in visiting the White House. Maybe the conversations there will yield results or at least act as a model for the rest of us.