The DC Ballpark Is Being Well Received
From the Examiner (and via the BBTF Newsblog) comes a disturbing bit of news on the brand spanking new $670 million stadium being built on the banks of the Anacostia River in Southeast DC. An electrician from Maryland hung a noose at the work site this week, heightening what is already an apparently tense racial situation.
The DC Sports Commission, which is running the construction, has taken criticism for failing to hire African-American laborers and instead opting for predominantly white union workers. Truland Electric, which employed the man who hung the noose, has had problems before. African-American workers complained last year that Truland employees called them “monkeys.”
Uh, quick reaction, very not good. The building of this ballpark has been controversial from the very beginning, and the fact that it’s located in Southeast, an area that’s still populated largely by African-Americans in a city that is becoming more and more gentrified by the day figures to only increase the possibility for racial strife. One thing’s certain: I’ll be following this story more closely than I have been, especially as I plan to be in the press box for my fair share of Nationals home games this year.
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