On Monday night, members of the San Francisco Giants, including manager Gabe Kapler, took a knee during the national anthem ahead of their exhibition game against the Oakland Athletics.
The gesture was in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, as Kapler said he and his team wanted to “amplify the voice of the Black community and marginalized communities as well.”
Members of the Cincinnati Reds also took a knee during their game on Tuesday.
Mets first baseman Dominic Smith had a very emotional and open conversation with SNY’s Steve Gelbs during MLB’s hiatus about racial injustice, including acts of racism that he’s experienced in his life.
Smith was asked about the Giants’ kneeling on Tuesday, and while he said he thought the support for the Black Lives Matter movement is great, he also wants to see people around the game go a step further to make sure change happens.
“I heard about it, and obviously that’s great. It’s great support from those guys who took a knee,” Smith said. “Obviously, I’m African American. It means a lot to me. For me, taking a knee just isn’t enough. If you really want to show change, then there are things you can do on your own time during the offseason to show how much you really want to change.
“Like I said, it’s great to see those guys’ support, but I don’t want them to just support during the season. I haven’t really thought about kneeling, because like I’ve said, I do so much in the community to help, to show face, to show change. I just haven’t really thought about taking a knee or not. Who knows what I might do.”
Smith, who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, knows firsthand about the challenges faced by children growing up in the inner cities, and he’s used his platform as a major leaguer to not only give back to his community, but to try to inspire young people as well.
“For me personally, I’m from South Central L.A., kind of in the hood. I came from poverty, pretty much,” Smith said.
“I like to go back to the inner city and show a lot of kids from poverty from where I come from that you guys have somebody who made it to the highest level who actually believes in you guys. Because for me, donations and stuff like that, that stuff is good but it’s way more impactful and powerful when you actually are there spending quality time with the kids and actually inspiring the kids and stuff like that. I have camps and stuff I do every offseason. We do toy drives, we do a bunch of things to help a lot of kids in the inner city. That’s why I started the company Baseball Generations.”
You can watch Smith's full interview with Gelbs from late June in the video below.