Hundreds of thousands of fans lined the streets in the nation’s capital yesterday to celebrate the 2019 World Series champs Washington Nationals.
The team loaded red tour buses and paraded down a route starting near the National Mall and ending at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Third Street.
The team, which was considered the underdogs, beat all odds to win its first World Series against the Houston Astros.
The celebration continues tomorrow Monday with a visit to the White House.
But one player will not make the trip.
Pitcher Sean Doolittle has declined to visit the White House Monday.
In an interview with the Washington Post, he said President Trump’s rhetoric is the reason.
Doolittle said Trump’s rhetoric has widened division in this country by enabling and empowering racism and white supremacy.
Doolittle told the Washington Post he feels very strongly about Trump’s issues on race relations and he pointed to the Central Park 5 case, the Fair Housing Act and Trump’s controversial comments after the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Doolittle says his wife has two mothers involved in the LGBTQ community and he felt like he would be turning his back on them if he met with Trump.
Doolittle also referenced Trump’s 2015 attack against a New York Times reporter who had a physical disability.
He says he has a brother-in-law who has autism and he didn’t know how he would explain to him that he hung around with someone who mocked the way he talked or the way he moved his hand.
Doolittle said “At the end of the day, as much as I want to be there at the White House with my teammates and share the experience with them, I can’t do it. I just can’t do it.”
The Closed Caption version of this video can be found here: https://sign1news.com/2019/11/03/sign1news-11-3-19/
Sign1News is the first and only digital network, partnered with world news leader CNN, to offer on-line news and information in American Sign Language. Sign1News provides equal access to local, regional and national news and information to the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community via a daily post-produced broadcast. Sign1News: Your Life. Your Language.