Red Sox manager boycotts White House over Trump's Puerto Rico response

The Boston Red Sox are headed to the White House on Thursday to celebrate their 2018 World Series victory.

But the team’s manager Alex Cora, who helped lead the baseball franchise to victory, won’t be on hand. He is instead choosing to sit out the celebration in protest of the Trump administration’s response to hurricane relief in Puerto Rico.

“The government has done some things back home that are great, but we still have a long ways to go,” manager Alex Cora said on Sunday, according to the Associated Press. “That’s our reality. It’s pretty tough to go celebrate when we’re where we’re at. I’d rather not go and be consistent with everything.”

Cora has been active in humanitarian efforts to help the island recover from Hurricane Maria, which devastated much of Puerto Rico’s infrastructure and has left the island struggling almost two years after the storm hit.

In January of 2018, Cora led an effort by Major League Baseball to deliver nearly 10 tons of supplies to Puerto Rico, including food, water purifying systems, first aid kits, and personal hygiene materials, among other things.

Trump, however, has disparaged the island of Puerto Rico and even questioned why more aid should be sent to the devastated island. Trump, as well as his administration officials, have also wrongly said Puerto Rico residents are not U.S. citizens — even though they most certainly are.

Cora won’t be the only Red Sox player sitting the ceremony out. Shortstop Xander Bogaerts also won’t be in attendance, according to the AP.

There’s been a trend of both amateur and professional athletes skipping out on White House celebrations honoring their championship victories.

The University of Virginia’s men’s basketball team recently declined an invite to celebrate their 2019 NCAA Tournament victory with Trump.

The school is located in Charlottesville, Virginia, which became national news in the summer of 2017 when pro-Confederate Nazi apologists held a violent protest in the city that led to the death of anti-racism activist Heather Heyer. Trump, however, praised some of those Nazi apologists, saying there were “very fine people” on both sides of the protests.

“No thanks Trump,” UVA player De’Andre Hunter tweeted following the team’s official announcement that it would not attend a celebration with Trump.

The NBA’s Golden State Warriors have twice refused an invitation to celebrate their NBA championship victories with Trump. And a bevy of New England Patriot players declined to celebrate their 2018 Super Bowl victory at the White House.

It appears athletes want nothing to do with the racist commander-in-chief.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.