Sports

Jesse Jackson: Jackie Robinson West’s Punishment Is Inappropriate And Racist

Christian Datoc Senior White House Correspondent
Font Size:

Little League Baseball vacated all of Chicago-area Jackie Robinson West’s wins from the 2014 Little League World Series tournament on Wednesday.

After investigating allegations that several players on JRW do not reside within the team’s district borders, LLB stripped the team of both it’s Great Lakes Regional and U.S. national titles. (RELATED: Jackie Robinson West Stripped Of 2014 U.S. Little League World Series Title Amid Cheating Allegations) 

Despite the open and shut nature of the case, several of the team’s supporters — including Jesse Jackson and Michael Pfleger — stated at a Wednesday press conference that JRW’s punishment had nothing to do with any possible recruiting infractions and was born purely through…

RACISM!

According to Rev. Jackson, “this decision is untimely and inappropriate at this time. It should not take six months after a team has played a championship game to determine eligibility to play the game in the first place… Is this about boundaries or race?”

Rev. Pfleger’s comments expressed the same core message: “When you’re going over to voter registration and going to birth certificates and doing all this time of hunting and a witch hunt that’s been going on for the last number of months, I can’t help but wonder the question if the same thing would have been done with another team from another place, another race.”

While the team’s supporters made ample references to skin color, neither the Reverends nor the players’ parents mentioned Darold Butler, the team’s manager, or Michael Kelly, the league’s district administrator; both have been identified as the scandal’s masterminds and have been indefinitely suspended from all Little League activity.

Follow Datoc on Twitter