PHOENIX —
A rise in hate crimes toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to send an email to the entire organization decrying the wave of bullying and violence as “cowardice.”
Roberts, the son of a Japanese mother and Black father, said the email, the contents of which were first reported by the Athletic on Monday, was prompted not by a specific event but by “something that was on my heart that needed to be shared.” The five-paragraph note was sent earlier this spring.
“I just think there’s a lot of things going on inside and outside of our country toward Asians — racist, bullying acts,” Roberts said before Monday’s exhibition game against the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch.