Obama Decries Lack of Diversity in Baseball, Calls for Unity Against Terrorism in ESPN Interview

During the Tampa Bay Rays game against the Cuba national baseball team, ESPN’s Karl Ravech, Eduardo Perez and Doug Glanville interviewed President Barack Obama, who addressed the Brussels attack and the impact of his trip to Cuba.

Regarding the Brussels attack, President Obama called for the whole world to “unite” against ISIS.

“This is just one more example of why the entire world has to unite against these killers. The notion that any political agenda would justify the killing of innocent people like this is something that’s beyond the pale,” Obama stated.

The president was then asked about his connection with Jackie Robinson, whose wife, Rachel, is in attendance at the game.

He replied, “[Sports] can change attitudes sometimes in ways that a politician never can change, a speech can’t change. You know, all those kids who started growing up watching the Brooklyn Dodgers, and suddenly they’re rooting for a black man on the field. And how that affects their attitudes laying the groundwork for the civil rights movement. That’s the legacy all of us have benefited from, black and white and Latino and Asian. Because what it did was it taught America the skills, the talent, the character and not the color that matters. We still have a long way to go. That’s true in our everyday life. It’s true in our sports. If you look at the number of African-American managers and the number of Latino managers in baseball or owners, obviously there’s still a carryover from the past.”