Tampa Bay Rays Post Bold Social Justice Messages for Opening Day

The Tampa Bay Rays came out on throwing smoke on Opening Day and I don’t mean on the field. As teams and players are grappling with how to handle their platform in light of national calls for sweeping social justice reform, the Rays made possibly the most powerful team statement so far. In a message posted Friday morning to the team’s official Twitter account the Rays said:

Today is Opening Day, which means it's a great day to arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 24, 2020

That’s the Tampa Bay Rays adding their organizational voice to the many millions calling for justice for Breonna Taylor. If you’re somehow not familiar, Taylor is the woman who was murdered by police during the execution of a no-knock warrant in Louisville in March of this year. Taylor, an EMT, was shot eight times after police burst into her home in the night. As of now, no charges have been filed.

The team then went on to post additional messages in support of anti-racist movements and a strong Black Lives Matter message. The organization is committing $100,000 to groups in the Tampa area.

Systemic racism is real. Let’s unite for positive change. pic.twitter.com/4Qgv5HmM57

— Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) July 24, 2020

The Tampa Bay Rays have been leaders in advanced-thinking in MLB for several years now and they seem to be out ahead of the curve on this important issue as well. It will be interesting to see how other MLB teams follow suit. For their part, MLB players are largely making their positions known, with both games on the limited Thursday Opening Day taking knees prior to the playing of the National Anthem.

The Yankees and Nationals spread a black ribbon around the infield before kneeling in unison and rising together prior to the start of the song.

Players from both teams kneel together in unity before tonight's National Anthem. #OpeningDay #NYYforNY pic.twitter.com/ptW2FgfzUe

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 23, 2020

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And the Giants and Dodgers both did the same during a moment of silence on the field, which is arguably less special in an empty stadium, but meaningful nonetheless.

Like the Yankees and Nationals, the Dodgers and Giants took a knee during a moment of silence before the anthem. pic.twitter.com/l9vXpJMNIS

— Jorge Castillo (@jorgecastillo) July 24, 2020

New Dodgers superstar Mookie Betts took a knee with the symbolic support of new teammates Cody Bellinger and Max Muncy each placing a hand on his shoulder.

United. pic.twitter.com/ZnFyqyMNm3

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) July 24, 2020

With the Tampa Bay Rays bold statement on the killing of Breonna Taylor and players league-wide planning to take a knee or make other gestures, this won’t be the last of this sort of story we see. Hopefully that includes more team statements. It’s not a good thing that it takes this much, but there’s no denying that getting teams and ownership involved from an organizational level like the Rays have done takes things beyond just what can be dismissed by bigots as just the opinions of a few players and adds weight to the discussion. Black lives matter and the more it’s repeated the more it will sink in.

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