Cardinals plan to display ‘unified’ message regarding social justice on Opening Day Friday

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    ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOV) — The topic of social justice has risen to the forefront of public discourse throughout the United States in recent weeks and months, and the sports world has not been an exception to the trend. Athletes across various sports and leagues have made conscious decisions to use their platforms to promote messages and causes that are important to them.

Cardinals starter Jack Flaherty has been among the most prominent professional athletes in expressing his support for the Black Lives Matter movement. The conversation surrounding the concept of kneeling for the national anthem before sporting events has returned, with eyes on Major League Baseball as the league begins its season this week. In exhibition contests over the past week, several teams, including the Giants and Reds, have had players and coaches kneel during the anthem. Giants manager Gabe Kapler also knelt to show his support for the movement.

When asked Wednesday whether he anticipated any of his players might kneel for the anthem this season, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said his team will show its support for Black Lives Matter in a “unified manner” before Opening Day at Busch Stadium on Friday.

Though Shildt did not specifically say that the Cardinals plan to kneel for the anthem, he was steadfast in his expression that whatever the Cardinals do, they will do it together.

“Some of the conversations, it’s just making sure that what we do, we do together, we voice together, we unify together,” Shildt said. “And it’s not a polarizing effort so we can eventually elicit real solution and change, ongoing change.”

The Cardinals earlier this week welcomed a guest speaker to whose message related to social justice, and Shildt described that the conversations stemming from that event were productive for the team. Flaherty, Dexter Fowler and Willie McGee have been among the leaders in the Cardinals clubhouse expressing their points of view through valuable internal conversations throughout camp. That’s the whole point for Flaherty, who emphasizes that individual discussions with teammates are a key starting point for attaining the kind of unity the team—and the nation—seeks.

“Having one voice, or having one person speak and do this and that is great, but if everybody’s not on the same page and if you cant get everybody unified, then what are you really accomplishing?” Flaherty said. “It starts with the person next to you. It starts having conversations, and being able to to be open, be understanding, and just be able to have a conversation.”

Flaherty shared his belief that kneeling for the anthem is not the only way to raise awareness for these issues, noting that every person has the right to use their platform in whatever way feels comfortable for them.

“Everybody has their own right and their own way of doing things,” Flaherty said. “There’s no right way. There’s no wrong way of doing things. We are all together. We are all unified. If somebody wants to kneel, that’s phenomenal for them. If somebody doesn’t want to kneel, that’s phenomenal for them. Everybody has their own right to go out and—whatever you want to call it—protest in their own way… It’s not like kneeling is the one way to show it or to make your statement. Everybody has their own right to do whatever they feel.”

For Flaherty, his method of expression Wednesday came in the form of his t-shirts. During a Zoom interview session prior to Wednesday’s game, Flaherty wore a shirt with the phrase “I STILL CAN’T BREATHE” etched across the front. During the anthem, while many of his teammates wore their uniforms out on the field, Flaherty had emerged in another black t-shirt that featured another variation of the “I CAN’T BREATHE” message that originated following the death of Eric Garner in 2014, and has been popularized again after George Floyd was killed while in police custody in Minnesota earlier this year. No Cardinals knelt during the anthem Wednesday.

With specific regard to the notion of kneeling for the anthem as a means to call attention to social justice issues, Flaherty expressed frustration for the way that particular form of protest is frequently perceived by the public.

“There’s still the misconception about kneeling,” Flaherty said. “People still take it politically and they still take it as, you know, they want to say ‘you’re disgracing the flag’ or ‘you’re disgracing the soldiers.’ People still want to take it that way even though it’s been publicized and it’s been said that that is not at all what it’s about it. It has been said that it has nothing to do with that. But people still want to take it that way. It’s frustrating to continue to have to have that conversation.”

If anything, it is clear based on the words of Shildt and Flaherty Wednesday that these matters of social justice are important to the team—and the conversation surrounding them is not going away.

“The great news is that awareness has been created,” Shildt said. “Friday will be an opportunity to create awareness for something that we’ll do together. Then beyond that, what’s the solution look like so we can have a society that has equality across the board, and we don’t have to think twice about how they operate or whether there are going to be any prejudices against them or not. Those are our thoughts, as a group. And it’s been an impressive leadership on our club. Not only Dex, Jack, but a lot of opinion leaders on our club have spoken up. Our club has been unified on what this looks like. We’ve had good conversations about it and you’ll see moving forward how it works.”

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