Giants manager Gabe Kapler posts in support of Black Lives Matter, vows to take action
"The number one thing I can do right now is carefully listen to black people," Kapler wrote. "I can hear their stories, their experiences and their pain. I can ask follow-up questions.
Following a weekend in which dozens of protests took place around the Bay Area and a week in which thousands occurred around the country, San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler posted in support of Black Lives Matter on his Instagram Monday.
The first-year Giants manager shared an Instagram story in which he explained the action steps he’s taking “to demonstrate my support beyond posting #BlackLivesMatter.”
“The number one thing I can do right now is carefully listen to black people,” Kapler wrote. “I can hear their stories, their experiences and their pain. I can ask follow-up questions. I can use my platform and my voice to amplify theirs. The follow-up step is to encourage and have the difficult conversation in the clubhouse.”
Kapler’s post noted that racism, sexism and homophobia “are happening all the time in baseball environments as well as society,” and he vowed to push for more “raw, open and sometimes uncomfortable conversations” that rarely take place inside baseball clubhouses.
Supporting black-owned businesses and challenging his sons to be better about supporting Black Lives Matter are among the steps Kapler vowed to take in his post.
“I donate to causes that work to support equality and justice,” Kapler wrote. “I seek out diversity when I have the opportunity to hire people. And I recognize that these efforts are constant, continuing and must be lived every day and need amplification now more than ever.”
Kapler was among the many members of the Giants organization to post to their Instagram accounts last week on #BlackOutTuesday, which was a collective action across social media to protest racism and police brutality.
On Sunday, Kapler posted a photo outside Oracle Park which showed the words Black Lives Matter on the Giants’ scoreboard.
Many other Giants have posted in support of Black Lives Matter on social media since George Floyd was killed by police in Minneapolis on May 25. Some posted black squares to their Instagram accounts on #BlackOutTuesday while others have posted more, including reliever Trevor Gott, who has shared a few examples of police brutality on his Twitter account.
Kapler joins other Bay Area head coaches in voicing his support for Black Lives Matter, including Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr and San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan.
On Wednesday, several Golden State Warriors players including Steph Curry and Klay Thompson joined a 3.4-mile march around Lake Merritt in Oakland to protest in the wake of Floyd’s death. The protest was organized by Warriors guard Juan Toscano-Anderson, a Castro Valley native of African American and Mexican descent.