The Silencing of Delgado? [J. Mark English]

Only recently did I come across this piece in the magazine, the Nation, about Carlos Delgado from months ago:

For the last two years, Delgado chose to follow the steps of his personal hero, Roberto Clemente, the Pittsburgh Pirates great and the first Latino elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and use his athletic platform to speak out for social justice. Clemente blazed a trail for generations of Latino ball players by standing up for the poor of Latin America and never accepting being treated as anything less than human. Delgado's contribution to this tradition of pride in the face of conformity was to refuse to stand for the singing of "God Bless America" during the seventh-inning stretch. This was his act of resistance to the war in Iraq. "I think it's the stupidest war ever. Who are you fighting against? You're just getting ambushed now," Delgado told the Toronto Star in 2004. "We have more people dead now, after the war, than during the war. You've been looking for weapons of mass destruction. Where are they at? You've been looking for over a year. Can't find them. I don't support that. I don't support what they do. I think it's just stupid."

Delgado's anti-militarist convictions grew from spending time and money to help clean up the small island of Vieques in his native Puerto Rico. The US Navy had used Vieques for decades as a bombing-practice target, with disastrous results for the people and environment.

But now, Mets' management is pushing Delgado back into the mold. The shame of this is that despite a guaranteed contract and support in the streets, Delgado isn't pushing back. He said at the November 28 press conference announcing his trade to the Mets from the Florida Marlins, "The Mets have a policy that everybody should stand for 'God Bless America' and I will be there. I will not cause any distractions to the ballclub.... Just call me Employee Number 21." And we saw him grin and bear it when Jeff Wilpon, son of Mets CEO and owner Fred Wilpon, said, "He's going to have his own personal views, which he's going to keep to himself."

The article goes on to treat the Mets slugger as a martyr for the cause of the anti-war movement, and that the Mets organization is a bully and tyrant for forcing their employee to stand at attention during 'God Bless America'.

Nevermind that Delgado is free to not play baseball. If he felt his deep rooted convictions were being trampled he could simply walk away. Instead, Delgado chooses now to salute the flag, and play ball.

What the Mets organization did is not to silence Delgado, but to enforce rules on its employees. The same goes for all players on the team with unacceptable appearances. Willie Randolph, will not allow any players to look unkept and unclean. All players must conform to an appearance that is acceptable to Randolph. If Milledge's long hair becomes an issue and he is forced to cut his hair, will a 'hair-rights' activist magazine write about the suppresion of Lastings Milledge?

Meanwhile, the Mets have done everything to bolster Carlos Delgado's charity work including Extra Bases which seeks to "help individuals and charitable groups in Puerto Rico and abroad who assist people in need, as long as requests fulfill the organizations criteria and funds are available."

All over Shea Stadium one can readily be able to purchase a 2 dollar white "Follow Your Dreams" wrist bands to show your support of Delgado's charity.

Hardly a real silence job on the part of the Mets, eh?