Every member of the Scrap Yard Fast Pitch softball team resigned after GM Connie May used them a photo of them standing for the anthem to tweet an anti-BLM message to Trump.
The Texas-based team is predominantly white, with only two Black players, but they have had run-ins with their GM before over her racist "All Lives Matter" BS. This move, wherein they say they felt used by her as political props to send a message they explicitly reject, was the final straw. They conferred for an hour, confronted May, and left their jerseys on the locker room floor.
We might be standing in this photo but we SURE AS HELL AREN’T STANDING FOR THIS. I’m embarrassed. I’m heartbroken. I’m DISGUSTED. @ScrapYardFP I will never be associated with your organization again. BLACK LIVES MATTER. The tone deafness on this is UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/5jSNipTFLd
— Haylie McCleney (@hayliemac8) June 23, 2020
According to The New York Times,
It was not the first time that May’s politics had been a topic of discussion among the team, which is made up of 18 women ranging in age from 22 to 37. When Scrap Yard released a statement about the killing of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis, it read, “We believe black lives matter, as do all lives,” causing some consternation among the players.
The tweet on Monday, though, struck a raw nerve. “I never really thought that she didn’t care about my life or Kiki’s life until that post,” said Kelsey Stewart, one of two black players on the team, along with Kiki Stokes.
May came to talk with the team, and again repeated that “all lives matter,” players said, a phrase that has been criticized as a way to invalidate the specific concerns of black people.
“People got very, very angry,” said Stewart, 25, who phoned into the meeting after missing the game for personal reasons.
I DO NOT support the comments made during our game by @scrapyardfp & I will not represent them. We as a people are working towards change, and THIS IS NOT IT. pic.twitter.com/ziSTiYxuzQ
— Cat Osterman OLY (@catosterman) June 23, 2020
I am so hurt but Hate and Ignorance will never win. pic.twitter.com/81tV29G4HH
— Kiki Stokes (@KStokes10) June 23, 2020
Furthermore, The Mary Sue reports that the team Scrap Yard was playing that Monday evening has also taken a stand in solidarity with them, and with the Black Lives Matter movement.
Additionally, the USSSA Pride, who the Scrap Yard Dawgs played in Monday’s game, has suspended the rest of their planned games in solidarity. (The two were the teams on each other’s schedules, so presumably, this means the USSSA is refusing to win by default.)
An update on our season: pic.twitter.com/MBt7IbvP9m
— USSSA Pride (@USSSAPride) June 24, 2020
This is a great example of how to show allyship and unity. The Mary Sue article rightly points out that professional softball players already get paid only a pittance for their incredibly hard work, and now, they are sacrificing that. Kudos to these women for standing strong and supporting their Black teammates against racism, police brutality, gaslighting, and for doing their share heavy lifting.
