Protesters Unfurl 'Racism Is As American As Baseball' Sign At Boston Red Sox Game
Baseball fans online were left confused after protesters in the stands at Fenway Park unfurled an ambiguously written banner about racism over the scoreboard on Wednesday night.
The protesters draped the banner, which read “Racism Is As American As Baseball,” over the famed Green Monster during the fourth inning of the Boston Red Sox’s home game against the Oakland Athletics.
Security guards confiscated the sign within a matter of minutes and the unidentified demonstrators were escorted from the stadium, per Deadspin. But the stunt left many people baffled as they struggled to decipher what the message actually meant.
Some believed that the banner was taking aim at racism:
Fan unfurls sign during Red Sox at Fenway Park: "Racism is as American as baseball."✊🏾
Name it. Reject it. Commit to fighting it. #EndRacism pic.twitter.com/FMmzN73aBq— Simran Jeet Singh (@SikhProf) September 14, 2017
People are saying they're "confused" by what that sign at Fenway means? Guess next time it has to say: "Racism is bad"
— Nubyjas Wilborn (@nwilborn19) September 14, 2017
Others criticized the protesters:
Morons hang "Racism is as American as Baseball" banner over the Green Monster. #FTFY #FakeFans https://t.co/F4oknDIooo
— Elliott Hamilton (@ElliottRHams) September 14, 2017
To the fans who draped that banner at Fenway you are disgraceful you do not exemplify Boston sports, you are the worst kind of people
— Dylan (@DJDmoney3) September 14, 2017
A few tweeters wondered how the fans were able to get the banner past security and into the stadium in the first place:
Sneaking a massive banner into Fenway (radius X pi X length) means I can probably smuggle a 12-pack in. Challenge accepted
— Jerry Thornton (@jerrythornton1) September 14, 2017
That banner has gotta be 10 x 7. How do you get that past security in 2017?
— Mike Mutnansky (@MutWEEI) September 14, 2017
But the majority were just bewildered by its questionable phrasing:
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Hopefully the sign at Fenway was written with the right intent/message in mind...but the fact that's not clear means it was a bad idea.
— Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) September 14, 2017
The Fenway banner people probably should have used less ambiguous phrasing...
— Lindsey Adler (@lindseyadler) September 14, 2017
I'm confused by this Fenway sign. Are they (the sign holders) racists or are they calling out racism? Forgive me, my brain is crap today
— Andy (@clevelAndy_) September 14, 2017
If the group's intent was to denounce racism, the sign seems to have confused a lot of people.
— Jen McCaffrey (@jcmccaffrey) September 14, 2017
The protesters later revealed to CSN New England that the banner was intended to be an anti-racist statement.
“We want to remind everyone that just as baseball is fundamental to American culture and history, so too is racism,” one of the protesters told the news outlet.
“White people need to wake up to this reality before white supremacy can truly be dismantled,” the protester said. “We urge anyone who is interested in learning more or taking action to contact their local racial justice organization.”
In a statement, Red Sox officials said the protesters’ actions were “in violation of the club’s policy prohibiting signs of any kind to be hung or affixed to the ballpark.”
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