The Red Sox are teaming up with all of the other major professional sports teams in the Boston area to air an anti-racism public service announcement during games beginning later this month.
Adrian Walker of the Boston Globe reports that the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins and Revolution are all taking part in what has been called the “Take The Lead” project. Each of the teams has agreed to air a PSA featuring prominent local athletes taking a stand against racism.
“When the incidents in May occurred, one of the first things we recognized was sports teams are high-profile, and we have the opportunity to help lead a high-level discussion around this,” Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy said. “We wanted to take the lead in taking a stand against racism.”
The PSA will first be shown at Fenway Park on Sept. 28.
The first of the incidents Kennedy referred to involved Baltimore Orioles outfielder Adam Jones, who said he was on the receiving end of racist taunts from fans in Boston during a game in May. The following night, a Kenyan woman sang the national anthem and a fan used a racial slur to describe the performance to another fan. The fan who used the racist language has since been banned from Fenway Park.
The Red Sox have a long history with racism, as they were the last team in baseball to sign a black player after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. Last week, a group of fans was removed from Fenway Park for draping a sign off the Green Monster that featured an anti-racism message, though there was some confusion over whether the sign was promoting racism. Weeks before that, Red Sox owner John Henry said he would support any movement to change the name of a street outside the ballpark that’s named after former team owner Tom Yawkey, who had a racist history.
