Dodgers should meet Trump. In jerseys n ° 42 Jackie Robinson

When the news announced that the dodgers planned to visit President Trump in the White House to commemorate the winner’s victory last year, Grumbles quickly spread over the

Who at the front office or at the clubhouse thought that it was intelligent to celebrate the incredible Dodgers race in 2024 – powered by local and international talents that resemble the city on its logo – with someone who lost the county of the counter Kamala Harris of almost 33 points?

Why would the blue crew be seen with the redest member of the Red Army in this country?

How the team of Jackie Robinson and Jaime Jarrín – with appreciation evenings this season for seven ethnic groups, the LGBTQ + community And The unions – perhaps want something to do with a commander -in -chief who declared everything that is dei Verboten and wants to prohibit labor rights?

The calls immediately came to make Dodgers follow the example of champions like the Golden State Warriors and the Eagles of Philadelphia, who boycotted the White House during Trump’s first mandate as a reprimand of everything he represents.

One of these voices was my comrade columnist Dylan Hernández, who wrote last week that if the dodgers follow the invitation, they will “fold their knees to hate forces similar to those they disputed when they broke the color barrier of their sport”.

But to introduce yourself should not necessarily mean losing.

Boycotts are a secular tradition in sport. In 2020, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to play to protest against the police of the police of a black man in the Wisconsin, leading to similar actions of the NBA teams, Major League Soccer, Baseball and WNBA. University athletes have left training to protest against racism on campuses. Countries return to the Olympic Games for political reasons all the time.

But the most powerful and recent political demonstrations of athletes are when they take their measures, well, where the action is. Think of Tommie Smith and John Carlos standing in silence, without boost, gloved fists raised in a salvation of black power, during the 200 -meter medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympic Games. The quarter -arre of the 49ers of San Francisco Colin Kaepernick on his knees during the 2016 season while the national anthem career. The Muhammad heavyweight boxing champion criticizing the Vietnam War and anti-black racism as part of his career.

These athletes brought dissent where it was to be heard: in the face of power, during their brightest moments, in danger for their livelihoods. And history has absolved them.

Visits to the White House by the championship teams are a silly affair, quickly forgotten. But they are now a tradition of American sports, so I understand why the president of the Dodgers, Stan Kasten, tried to justify Hernández’s decision saying: “This is what (the players) all come together to be world champions. Everyone wanted to go, and we did it. ”

But for him to insist, as he did to Hernández, that there is nothing political on this subject is as laughable as the proposed Dodger Stadium Gondola. This is why the team should not only go to the White House on Monday, it should do it with the weight of the at the head.

I do not expect the Dodgers to attack Trump and his policies, who were a giant adult for California and everything he represents. But the simple fact of being there is a powerful reprimand, if they have it.

They should bring the owner to Billie Jean King, the legend of tennis who fought machismo in sport and was one of the first LGBTQ athletes to be released publicly. Leave Miguel Rojas, from Venezuela, to support Trump so that the Internet can emphasize that the president wants to end the deportation protections for 600,000 of his compatriots.

Ask Shohei Ohtani, the reigning national MVP and the biggest baseball player in the world, shake Trump’s hand to allow big titles to flower about Trump’s prices at 24% on Japan. What, does the president then dropped foreign athletes on behalf of the promotion of American talents?

Everyone should wear jerseys No. 42 in honor of Robinson, who broke the baseball color line and also fought segregation in the army. The Ministry of Defense initially withdrawn an article on its website on Robinson’s military service – and its refusal to move to the back of an army bus – until everyone Furious Possback with a feeling of decency.

All these gestures are simple and achievable and say a lot. Sometimes, simply to introduce yourself and not hide who you are, how best is back.

Opponents of Trump cannot scream in the void, or between them, and think that it is sufficient resistance. They should not give in the traditions of this country, such as the flag, the white house and democracy, to a tyrant like Trump simply because he wrapped in them.

Going to the White House does not normalize Trump – it’s a reminder that the place is ours, not his.

In addition, it should not prevent Trump from our lives, especially while he is in power. It must be treated in all possible ways – and that understands it in person.

This is why when Trump visited the wreckage of palisade fires earlier this year, the mayor of the Karen Bass and the supervisor of the County of Los Angeles Kathryn Barger sat with him during a round table, reminding the president in front of the press what it is and challenging him to help him.

Dodgers cannot think that the installation of photos and the delivery of a commemorative jersey qualifies as well as time. Or maybe everything is a pile wish on my part. For all the media threshing on being there for fans and reflecting it at any time, the dodgers have only been careful: the dodgers.

So, my last argument for the team to do something important with their visit in fact everything.

The guys: you have all launched the type of globalism and multiculturalism that Trump hates, which now illustrates it and which continues to fuel the best deductible in baseball. It’s time to stand up for Dodger Way when it is most important.