Dear Steve Clevenger, please be better than that

2012/08/09 Clevenger"s ejection

Updated at 10:59 a.m. ET

Alright, Steve Clevenger, here"s the deal.

You and I aren"t that dissimilar. We"re both white, born in the 1980s, went to very privileged high schools in places that otherwise have a lot of diversity me in Brooklyn at the same school as Lena Dunham and Zac Posen, you in Baltimore at the same schoolas Mark Teixeira and Gavin Floyd. We"re both catchers who won"t be in the major leagues next year because we can"t hit.

Other than that, Steve, I won"t pretend to know you, but I need to tell you, from one privileged urban white kid to another, be better.

Be better as a human being in this world than to think for a second that it"s OK to end a tweet about Black Lives Matter with "Everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals!" The tweet included calling Barack Obama "pathetic," so basically, youdehumanized millions of people, including the President of the United States.

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Be better than apologizing by saying "First and foremost, I would like to apologize to the Seattle Mariners, my teammates, my family, and the fans of our great game for the distraction my tweets on my personal Twitter page caused." The apology you owe is notfirst and foremost to the Mariners. The problem you caused was not distraction. The problem you caused was fanning the flames of racism.

Be better at listening, and read a bit more. It was just last week that Adam Jones, your former teammate with your hometown Orioles, said "Baseball is a white man"s sport." Think about what he said, why he said it and how it applies to you.

MORE: Steve Clevenger"s offensive comments

"Just dont do something because youre told to do something," Jones said. "Do it because you understand the meaning behind it and the sacrifice behind it.

He was talking about standing for the national anthem, but, Steve, the words also fit your apology, which seemed more designed to get people off your back than to show that you intend to grow and learn from your mistake, if you even believe it was a mistake.

Be better.

Source: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/news/steve-clevenger-please-be-better-seattle-mariners-mlb-black-lives-matter-national-anthem-protests/cdmqoilddefu1g0tfp9tdneol