Thread by @VPNiX0N

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” -MLK

Thread incoming in response to this article:

cbssports.com/mlb/news/oakla…

One of the more painful and confusing dynamics that’s has reared it’s ugly head in recent months is something that I call the “oppression Olympics.” It is the idea that it is necessary to rank the severity of historical and current acts/systems of oppression...

...as if one should be considered more worthy of attention than another. I have even heard of professors who are “experts” on this history who have used their classes to make the case that certain historical examples of oppression are worse than others...

Disagreement with this opinionated conclusion would then mean a lesser grade in said class.

I think that MLK’s poignant quote above from his timeless Letter from a Birmingham Jail is an instructive response and pushback to this line of thinking...

I dare not say that every single act of oppression is the same, but I am saying (and I think that MLK would agree) that all manifestations of injustice should be called out. No matter how seemingly small, or insignificant, we cannot allow symbols/ideas of hate to go unchallenged.

Oakland A’s bench coach Ryan Christenson clearly makes a Nazi salute in the attached video. In fact, after a player pulled his arm down, he laughed, turned around and did it again. The response of the team and Major League Baseball has been laughable...

We don’t just tolerate ignorant anti-Semitism because a few people who work with him say he’s a nice guy...this flippant disregard for such a painful symbol of hate is deeply concerning to me.

As a baseball fan, and a person who is passionate about pushing back on injustice in all of its forms, I am calling on the @Athletics & @MLB to take more direct action. The half-hearted apologies and claims of the act being unintentional are woefully inadequate.

Christenson needs to be disciplined, and it needs to be made clear that this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

#EndAntisemitism #EraseHate #AntiRacism

cbssports.com/mlb/news/oakla…