Negro League mural in Miami vandalized with racist graffiti
While we all had to endure the ongoing saga of the destroyed Jackie Robinson statue of Witchia, Kansas, last year, the only silver linings were that it was an act of thieves, not racists, and the theft and destruction had the unintended benefit of pulling the citizens of Witchia together.
Unfortunately, the act clearly seems to be racially motivated.
Trent Kelly of WPLG 10 Tampa reported that Miami leaders, artists, and residents are already trying to restore the Kyle Holbrook mural, which was commissioned in 2012.
'Today we are here to document that a hate crime has happened in our community,' Metris Batts-Coley, of the Overtown Business Association, said.
'What you see behind me is not paint on the wall, it's pain, it's hate, it's disgrace,' added Anthony Robinson, of the Overtown Children and Youth Coalition.
'The individual who did this is hurting, the individual who did this feels that they have been embodied with the ability to spill their hate back onto a community that has not served them hate,' Terrance Cribbs-Lorrant, of the Miami Black Police Precinct Museum, said.
The mural was covered but has now been uncovered as resources are being marshalled to remove the graffiti. The park was the former home of the city's Negro League baseball team.
The Miami Marlins issued a statement expressing dismay over the vandalism last week.
Oddly enough, Holbrook, a Pittsburgh, PA resident, had two of his murals defaced over the same rough period: the one in Dorsey Park and another in Oakland, CA.
The Oakland murals had nothing to do with Jackie Robinson but were focused on racial inclusion. And yet the installation was also defaced with slur and Nazi imagery.
No arrests have been made. We will provide any relevant updates as they become available.
More from truebluela.com:
Dodgers blank the Pirates behind Ross Stripling, trio of homers
Andrew Toles returns to Triple-A lineup after missing 46 games
Dodgers 2018 MLB draft tracker
Caleb Ferguson to join Dodgers for major league debut
Position players headline Day 2 of the draft for the Dodgers
Dodgers draft LHP John Rooney in the 3rd round, No. 104 overall
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
13 minutes ago
- New York Times
Position changes – for Mookie Betts or Teoscar Hernández – aren't coming any time soon for Dodgers
DENVER — Shortly after Monday night's debacle, Mookie Betts was in his manager's office. The six-time Gold Glove right fielder turned shortstop had already showered and changed as media entered the visiting clubhouse at Coors Field, and the door remained open as Betts sat on the couch and talked with Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and manager Dave Roberts. Advertisement Betts' transition to shortstop has been an unquestioned individual defensive success, as the 32-year-old has more than handled his own at the game's premier position. The defense in Betts' old position — the one he stood at when the Dodgers recorded the final out of their World Series run last October — has fallen off. Teoscar Hernández's inability to record an out on a ball that (according to Statcast) had a 90 percent catch probability had sunk the Dodgers in a walk-off loss to a putrid Colorado Rockies team, once again drawing the attention on his right field play that has been amongst the worst in baseball. The topic of Monday night's conversation, according to all parties involved, never touched upon right field. Rather, it was one of several check-ins that Betts has had with Roberts — some of which have been visible to media — as he's dealt with his struggles over the course of the worst offensive season of his career. 'Mookie pops into my office all the time,' Roberts said. 'I hope too much wasn't made of that.' Betts is not the only one; Freddie Freeman was spotted in Roberts' office prior to Tuesday night's contest for a brief conversation. Betts and Friedman each independently told The Athletic before Roberts' comments that the three were discussing the progress of Betts' swing as he's gone 16-for-48 (.333) over his last 12 games — and not about a possible switch at right field. Sure enough, Betts did not replace Hernández in right field on Tuesday night, as both former All-Stars assumed the same positions they started the season in. Tonight's #Dodgers lineup at Rockies: — Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 19, 2025 Still, the tumultuous 24 hours at least temporarily brought back calls for Betts to return to the outfield, as he did last August for the team's stretch run after starting that season as the team's shortstop. Roberts said right field has not come up 'at all' in conversations with Betts this season. Advertisement 'I think that's a fair question,' Roberts said. 'But I don't think we're there yet.' Roberts pointed to the lack of options in the Dodgers' infield, which is currently without Tommy Edman, Hyeseong Kim, Kiké Hernández and Max Muncy. The Dodgers are reluctant to put Miguel Rojas into an everyday role at age 36, especially when he was far from 100 percent last postseason. They've already forced prospect Alex Freeland into what is essentially an everyday role to make up for their absences, and would exacerbate that by moving Betts to the outfield. The absences of Edman, Hernández and Kim also remove certain options from the outfield mix that could reduce Teoscar Hernández's exposure to right field without moving Betts off of shortstop. Roberts said Edman will not return until his sprained right ankle can physically handle center field, which would move Andy Pages to right field and, in theory, put Hernández in left field for certain matchups. That would, in theory, also boost the lineup offensively, with Michael Conforto still providing nothing at the plate and Alex Call going 4-for-23 to start his Dodgers career after being acquired at the deadline. There's also the fact that Betts might not even be the best defensive right fielder on the roster right now. Pages' arm ideally puts him in right. Betts' defensive metrics (as much as public metrics can be trusted) had not been as strong as his peak years in Boston even before he moved off the position, and he was essentially average at the position in the final month and a half of 2024 by Outs Above Average. That's still better than Hernández's -9 Outs Above Average so far this season, but worse than Betts' 2 Outs Above Average at a more important defensive position so far in 2025. Roberts still acknowledged that this all becomes more of a conversation if the Dodgers can get closer to full strength, anyway, before retracting some of his pointed criticism of Hernández from Monday night and doubling down on his belief that Hernández can improve his range. Advertisement 'I think, just in totality, we can all do a better job,' Roberts said. 'All of us. So I just refuse to pin it on one position, one person. … That's just not what I do. But I do believe … if there's ways to get better on the margins I think that way to look at it is completely fair and completely honest. 'I do know that Teo feels more comfortable in right. I know the numbers don't speak to it this year. I'm counting on him to improve play out there. I really am. I'll leave it at that.' Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Walker Buehler whiffs Holiday
Walker Buehler strikes out Jackson Holiday on a foul tip for the first out of the game
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
The Dodgers Swept The Padres To Regain First Place, But All Is Not OK
Sometimes a team needs to get punched in the mouth. Sometimes a team needs to be knocked down a peg or two. Sometimes a team just needs a change in perspective. When the Los Angeles Dodgers faced off against the San Diego Padres on Friday night, the Dodgers had been punched in the mouth – losers of four straight games; they had been knocked down a peg – out of first place for the first time since April 26th; and their perspective had changed – they were now looking up at their Southern California rivals. Had the Padres come into Chavez Ravine and swept Los Angeles, they would have left town with a four game lead in the National League West and asserted some dominance over the World Series champs. Alas, that is not what happened. In an old-fashioned pitcher's dual on Friday night, old-fashioned pitcher Clayton Kershaw showed the world – and the Padres – why he is the best of his generation and the last of his kind. Six innings, two hits, one earned run, and the Dodgers beat San Diego 3-2 to move into a tie for first place in the division. On Saturday night, the Padres essentially beat themselves. To wit, three runners reached base in the top half of the first on three hits, but no runs scored as two runners were caught stealing. In the bottom half, San Diego's ace (?) Dylan Cease walked the first three batters he faced, then, after a sacrifice fly, walked another. A two-run single gave Los Angeles a quick 3-0 lead. The second inning was more of the same. Xander Bogaerts led off the frame with a single, only to be caught stealing on the next pitch. In the bottom half, two more Cease walks both came around to score on an error by center fielder Jackson Merrill. The Dodgers tacked on another run in the fifth inning, and won the game 6-0 to retake first place. On Sunday, the Dodgers broke out to a quick 4-0 lead on two first inning homers from Freddie Freeman and Andy Pages. But the scrappy Padres battled back – little by little. A single and a double in the third got them on the board, making the score 4-1. And then A.J. Preller's trade deadline acquisitions kicked into gear. Ramón Laureano homered in the fifth to make it a two-run game. In the sixth, doubles by newly acquired Gavin Sheets and Ryan O'Hearn cut the lead to one. Laureano struck again in the eighth, with a double to put runners on second and third. A grounder by Jose Iglesias tied the game at four. In the eighth inning, Mookie Betts – maybe starting to get some traction after a season's-long slump – slammed a 2-0 fastball into the bleachers to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead that they would not relinquish, allowing them to complete the sweep. When Sunday ended, supremacy was restored – the Dodgers were back in first place in the NL West, and the Padres were licking their wounds, wondering what just happened. The teams will face off again this coming weekend in San Diego, so nothing has been settled yet. One situation that bear observation is Teoscar Hernández. On Sunday, with the Dodgers clinging to a one-run lead in the sixth inning, Hernández hit a high pop fly to center with two outs. He jogged out of the box, loafed down to first, and was standing there when Laureano (a) could make the catch and (b) kicked the ball away as he tried to make a dazzling play. Had Hernández been even moderately hustling, he would have been standing on second base when Laureano finally corralled the ball. That would have allowed him to score an insurance run when Pages singled to center on the next pitch. At this point in the season, with mouths being punched and perspectives being changed, lapses like that simply cannot happen. And then, on Monday night in Colorado, with the game tied at three in the bottom of the ninth inning, Ezequiel Tovar hit a soft fly to right. According to the ball was hit at 77.3 MPH with a 52 degree launch angle, and traveled only 224 feet. According to publicly available Statcast data, that ball should be caught between 98-99% of the time. For whatever reason, Hernández did not catch it. And Tovar, unlike Hernández, hustled out of the box and found himself safely on second base. He then scored the winning run two pitches later on a Warming Bernabel single. It has been reported that manager Dave Roberts, Betts, and Freeman met in a closed-door meeting after the game. The agenda of the meeting is unknown, but there is a high likelihood that they discussed the possibility of Betts moving back to right field with Hernández (with his 1st percentile range factor and -7 run value) moving over to left. There are six weeks left in the season, and the Dodgers cannot afford to take any more punches or deal with any further changes in perspective.
