My Two Cents: Rays, Yankees Take Bold Stance Against Gun Violence With Twitter Takeover
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — On a normal Thursday night, the Twitter feeds from the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees would have been filled with updates — good and bad — from their first game of the season against each other.
Instead, the two teams chose to raise awareness on the massive gun violence issues we have in our country, especially after the events in Buffalo, N.Y. and Uvalde, Texas in the past week or so.
In Texas, an 18-year-old gunman armed with an assault rifle killed 19 elementary students and two teachers on Tuesday in Uvalde, a town of about 16,000 that's 85 miles west of San Antonio.
In Buffalo, 10 people were killed in a supermarket shooting. Some of them hadn't even been buried yet when the Texas shooting occurred.
Just prior to Thursday night's game at Tropicana Field, the Rays issued the following statement:
“We all deserve to be safe — in schools, grocery stores, places of worship, our neighborhoods, houses and America. The most recent mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde have shaken us to the core. The Tampa Bay Rays are mourning these heartbreaking tragedies that took the lives of innocent children and adults. This cannot become normal. We cannot become numb. We cannot look the other way. We all know, if nothing changes, nothing changes.
"The Rays organization stands committed to actionable change and has made a $50,000 commitment to Everytown for Gun Safety’s Support Fund. Everytown is the largest gun violence prevention organization in America. Rather than our usual game coverage on social media tonight, we’ve partnered with Everytown to amplify facts about gun violence in America.
"We understand that no single organization can solve this crisis alone, but working together, we can make an impact. We invite you to join us and do what you can, when you can, where you can — because our lives depend on it.''
And then the Rays were true to their word, and did exactly what they promised. Instead of updates on the game all night long on social media, they tweeted out gun-violence facts all night, 21 in all.
And it was powerful. Here's just a taste:
The Yankees shared all the same facts as well.
This isn't just some generic thought by the two teams, either. It's something that matters. The pain and suffering is real, and it keeps happening far too often.
And it does hit close to home here, too.
Tampa Bay relief pitcher Brooks Raley is from Uvalde, Texas, and he talked about the shootings in soft tones in front of his locker in the Rays' clubhouse. He went to school at Robb Elementary himself, and still has plenty of family there.
“I walked those halls, and I can’t imagine what they've experienced,'' the 33-year-old Raley said. "It's just a tragedy. Obviously, growing up there, going to that school, it kind of hits home. Having young children myself, you just feel for those families. You pray for them, and your thoughts are with them.”
Raley left Uvalde to play baseball in college at Texas A&M and hasn't lived there since, but still has family there, including his parents and a younger brother. Raley is married, and has four young children himself.
“I’m feeling for that community,” Raley said. “It’s a small, close-knit community. It's the biggest city west of San Antonio. I mean we've got an H&B and a Walmart and a couple fast-food joints, but there's not a whole lot there.
It’s obviously a tough day today of mourning. There are a lot of good people there, a lot of very good families and whatnot. So it’s a tough time.”
Raley attended Robb Elementary from first grade through fourth, and later went to Uvalde High School.
It was tough watching him talk about it, because it was home to him, and he also has four kids of his own now. There's nothing scarier.
I give a lot of credit to the Yankees and Rays both for speaking up. As someone who's had first-hand experience with this in some of my book projects, the trauma that comes from events like this never goes away. Students, parents, teachers, they should never have to go through this stuff.
I'm also glad the two teams did it together, posting the same facts on each of their Twitter accounts.
Bravo for them.
