The Long Game

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A Dark Day
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A Dark Day

Trying to find words when there are none.

Molly Knight
Jun 27
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A Dark Day
mollyknight.substack.com

Hi friends-

Like most of you, I am exhausted and devastated by the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade. This assault on reproductive rights sets anyone with a uterus back 50 years, and re-affirms that no matter how hard we vote, this radical right wing court is coming for the rights of everyone who does not happen to be a straight, white, Christian man. It is hard to feel like we live in a democracy when a man who lost the popular vote by millions was able to appoint three radical justices to lifetime slots on the bench. Women’s rights were just gutted despite Democrats controlling the presidency, the house, and the Senate. These justices were not elected. The will of the people does not matter.

So many horrible things have happened in the last five years that it’s hard to still be hurt by anything new, but Friday felt as horrible to me as any day we’ve endured since Donald Trump became the Republican party’s nominee in 2016. That this court would vote to force unwanted pregnancies is akin to reclassifying women as service animals. It is truly difficult to get out of bed when people in power do not see you as worthy of making decisions about your own bodily autonomy. I was incapacitated by my personal grief over the weekend, but I am so grateful to those of you who were out in the streets.

I can’t write about baseball yet, but here is a round-up of tweets and interviews from current and former MLB players, broadcasters, executives and family members speaking out in support of reproductive rights:

Twitter avatar for @jerryblevinsJerry Blevins @jerryblevins
For those saying the SCOTUS ruling is just giving the right to the states: Let’s go further, let’s give it to counties to decide. Actually, let’s give it to cities. You know what, how about we go even further and give it to the individual woman to decide what to do. Oh wait…

June 25th 2022

1,838 Retweets15,664 Likes

Twitter avatar for @RAJr_20Ruben Amaro, Jr. @RAJr_20
I am appalled at what has happened today regarding Roe vs Wade. Rarely, if ever, do I get political on Twitter but this is insane. Cancel me if you'd like, but this is a grave and it is unilaterally unjust.

June 24th 2022

277 Retweets5,105 Likes

Twitter avatar for @DAVIDprice24David Price @DAVIDprice24
Their body. Their choice. PERIOD.

June 26th 2022

5,868 Retweets72,779 Likes

Twitter avatar for @paige_leckiepaige @paige_leckie
Chatted with Mark Canha about a plethora of social topics, including today’s #SCOTUS ruling. “It's sad. It's just kind of a sad thing, sad moment, sad blip in our history here. And it feels like we're going backward.”

June 24th 2022

92 Retweets844 Likes
Twitter avatar for @paige_leckiepaige @paige_leckie
Con’t. “I see [abortion] as a healthcare issue. And it's just it's sad that having, you know, seen what my wife went through it through pregnancy and, and it's not an easy thing to go through for a woman in most cases, from what I understand.”

June 24th 2022

16 Retweets262 Likes

Twitter avatar for @AndyMcKayHGAndy McKay @AndyMcKayHG
To every women who just lost her right to control what happens to her body, and to every person in a same-sex relationship who was put on notice that your rights are about to be “reconsidered”, I am sorry. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling right now. This isn’t right.

June 25th 2022

23 Retweets319 Likes

Twitter avatar for @_mcameron44MIKE CAMERON @_mcameron44
America got so many issues .. how do we continue to allow old men make laws on women rights .. it’s a damn shame, disrespectful and disgusting. I have so much to say on this cause I have 2 daughters but Twitter is not fit for who really needs to be called out🤬

June 24th 2022

79 Retweets1,207 Likes

Twitter avatar for @STR0Marcus Stroman @STR0
The strength of our women is unmatched. We must protect them all at costs. Unimaginable to see their rights taken away. Men should never be allowed to make laws about women’s bodies. Those of you who disagree need to realize you’re a direct part of the problem. Change is needed!

June 25th 2022

473 Retweets5,130 Likes

Twitter avatar for @STR0Marcus Stroman @STR0
Morning to everyone except those who are too stubborn/selfish/weak/dumb to grasp this concept. Shout to the real ones who continue to speak up. To those who disagree with this sign…seek help and be open to changing your perspective. Be a part of the solution…not the problem!
Image

June 26th 2022

542 Retweets5,102 Likes
Twitter avatar for @BMcCarthy32Brandon McCarthy @BMcCarthy32
Gutwrenching but a necessary thread.

Suzanne @SJohnsdottire

Pro-lifers don't like complexity. At 17 weeks my placenta detached and he was much too small. I thought I felt my baby's frantic attempts to breathe. My OBGYN advised me to terminate the pregnancy, there wasn't much time. But I couldn't.

June 26th 2022

66 Retweets259 Likes
Twitter avatar for @NBCSWhiteSoxWhite Sox Talk @NBCSWhiteSox
Liam Hendriks had strong words for the Supreme Court after they overturned Roe v. Wade.
Hendriks sounds off on Supreme Court reversing Roe v. WadeThe White Sox closer called it a terrible day for women’s rights.nbcsports.com

June 25th 2022

45 Retweets371 Likes
Twitter avatar for @emayswayErica Scherzer @emaysway
Having these girls was my CHOICE. I’m sick tonight knowing my daughters will grow up in a world with fewer rights over THEIR OWN BODY than I had. I dream of a better world for my children, not a world where countless women will now be forced into motherhood.
Image

June 25th 2022

242 Retweets3,880 Likes

Tweets aren’t the same as legislation, but all of these people exist or orbit around an industry where speaking out on this vital issue is not without consequences. The NBA and the WNBA released a joint statement decrying the Supreme Court’s decision, while MLB shamefully hasn’t uttered a word.


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I will get back to writing about baseball tomorrow (I think), but today it’s important to acknowledge those in the game who used their considerable platforms to speak out. It’s not lost on me that Black players make up roughly 8% of the men on MLB rosters, but sent about half the tweets I could find in support of reproductive rights. These men know what it’s like to have their rights trampled, and they are valuable allies, even if I wish they did not ever have to live in fear and despair that the system is stacked against everyone who looks like them.

I am sending strength to everyone who is hurting. I don’t have words to make it better. It is hard to keep going, but we have to.

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HS
Jun 27·edited Jun 27

I am in my mid 50s and the older I become the more I realized I was fooled in my youth and as a young adult. I went to a high school with 2200 students - less than 10 were non-white. I went to a Protestant church with a large congregation - there was one non-white family. I went to a public university that was 95% white. I wasn't exposed to people of color, other religions, or other points of view on frankly any topics. My parents were WW II children, born in the early 30s and taught that patriotism & God were the most important values.

It makes me sad, very sad, that it has taken me so long to understand what a complete pile of trash that all was and that I wasn't smart enough to figure it out sooner. But, better late than never. I changed my political affiliation from Rep to Dem when Rick Santorum came on the scene in my state and I have grown and changed markedly since then.

I have two daughters and it makes me sick they are treated as second-class citizens. I am not proud of this country and if anyone brings up the topic anymore, that's what I say to them. How can anyone be proud of a country that demeans women, minorities & LBGTQ, doesn't provide health insurance or proper maternal care, worships guns at the expense of its children and citizens as a whole, and has national level politicians that blatantly lie and support mistruths? I have friends that live in Ireland, England & France - what they see is unfathomable. What I see there is a proper and peaceful way of life.

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Michael Brourman
Jun 27

I’m a retired attorney, but I’m now ashamed that five people who graduated from law school could sign off on such a decision. (Chief Justice Roberts concurred but didn’t sign the opinion.) The legal principles cited, the distorted and irrelevant history on which they purport to rely is absolutely disgraceful. I have zero respect for the legal mind of anyone who could endorse that rationale.

I wish I could say I understand how you and millions of other American women are feeling today, but, of course, I can’t understand it. And, that’s the point isn’t it? Five men and a religious zealot purporting to be a woman made a decision affecting the rights of more than 160 million American women which they had absolutely no right to make.

And, unfortunately, this is just the beginning of the destruction they are going to cause to this country.

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