Boo
Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy founder Youman Wilder was wrapping up his practice at Riverside Park in NYC the other day. That’s when ICE agents approached his young players.
The coach overheard them asking, “Where are you from?” “Where are your parents from?” That’s when Wilder thought, whoa, whoa—this is not good. So he stepped in and told the agents, “This is not right. You shouldn’t be asking these kids those questions.”
The ICE agents were in full military gear, with guns and tasers. Wilder said, “These kids have rights—and all of them are American citizens just playing baseball.” Wilder, by the way, has a master’s degree in law, which he mentioned to the agents. One of them heckled him and called him a “YouTube lawyer.” Since the raid, Wilder—who typically has 20 kids per session—now has only one who shows up. The rest stay away, afraid.
This ain’t right. They’re just kids playing baseball. And they’re Americans. I thought the deal was they were going after thugs, criminals, and drug dealers.
A coach plays a vital role in a young kid’s life. They’re role models, mentors—they help steer a kid straight. I always stayed in touch with my first coach, Buddy O’Neill, because of what he stood for. And to me, he stood tall. Yeah, we stayed in touch until Buddy’s last inning. In fact, the two of us were featured in a seven-minute Today Show segment on Holyoke youth baseball. The piece was done by NBC’s Mike Leonard and Terry Maday.
To wrap it up, Coach Wilder said, “I may die here, but they are not taking one of these kids.”
Keep your dukes up.
https://www.scrippsnews.com/politics/immigration/nyc-youth-baseball-coach-confronts-ice-i-may-die-here-but-they-will-not-take-one-of-these-kids
If you know someone who’d like these ditties in their inbox every week, have ‘em shoot us an email at darbyo@darbyobrien.com and we’ll add ‘em to the list.