American Muslim love of the Chicago Cubs want strong action after revealings this week that the patriarch of the family that owns the team for years emailed prejudiced jokes and Islamophobic conspiracy ideologies.
The email exchanges between Joe Ricketts, the billionaire TD Ameritrade founder and Republican megadonor who purchased the Chicago Cubs in 2009, and numerous family and love reportedly contained word that evoked Islam as a “cult” and decorated Muslims as the “enemy.”
Both Ricketts and his son Tom Ricketts, the team’s chairperson, have apologized for the emails, firstly published by Splinter on Monday.
But more has to be done to mend the now-damaged linkages between the Chicago Cubs and Muslim fans, Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told HuffPost.
“It is important that a beloved Chicago institution such as this does what is necessary to regain the trust of affected communities, and supporters in general, and recommit to our collective principles of anti-hate and’ everyone in ,’ ” Rehab said, referring to the Cubs’ 2018 motto .~ ATAGEND
Rehab said CAIR-Chicago plans to meet with Tom Ricketts on Friday to explain how Muslim love feel “rejected and isolated” by their team. He said he would like to see the Cubs take a strong posture against the “repugnant anti-Muslim beliefs” in Joe Ricketts’ emails.
“We will also discuss possible ways forward to fix what’s been broken and regain confidence, trust, and belonging, ” Rehab said.
Joe Ricketts, 77, reportedly exchanged 34 million TD Ameritrade shares for about $403 million to purchase the Chicago Cubs. His four children are now co-owners of the team .~ ATAGEND The elder Ricketts is also an influential political donor who has depleted millions supporting Republican candidates. He gifted$ 1 million to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Ricketts’ son, Pete Ricketts, became the bos of Nebraska in 2015. Another lad, Todd Ricketts, is the finance chair for Trump’s 2020 campaign.
Daughter Laura Ricketts is an LGBTQ organizer and Democrat. She sits on the National Leadership Councilof Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ advocacy organization.
The emails in question date from 2009 to 2013, according to Splinter. The words are series emails containing countless references to anti-Muslim plot possibilities, such as the widely circulated belief that former President obama is secretly a Muslim. Joe Ricketts would apparently send these bond emails to family members or friends, sometimes supplementing his own( often bigoted) mentions.
In an email responding to an commodity about “Radical Islam, ” Joe Ricketts apparently wrote that Muslims are “naturally my( our) enemy” and that Islam is “dangerous point in our society.” In another as a response to untrue claims that Obama favored Muslims over Christians and Jews, Joe Ricketts reportedly wrote that there is a continued “assault on Christianity in America.”
The emails too contained racist jokes about Latinx Americans and black Americans. In one, Joe Ricketts apparently wrote that “hes been” “tired” of “Political Correct, Multicultural and Diversity aspects of our culture.”
Joe Ricketts appeared to have received some pushback from some who received the emails. In one, future-Gov. Pete Ricketts heartened his father to research the anti-Muslim declares on snopes.com before elapsing them on. In response, Joe Ricketts wrote: “Thanks Peter. However, I mull Islam is a cult and not a religion. Christianity and Judaism are are based on enjoy whereas Islam is based on’ kill the infidel’ a thing of evil.”
Joe Ricketts was indicated in a declaration on Monday that he regrets and apologizes for “some of the exchanges I had in my emails.”
“Sometimes I received emails that I should have censured. Other hours I’ve said things that don’t reflect my price system, ” Joe Ricketts wrote in a statement released .~ ATAGEND “I are confident that bigoted minds are wrong.”
Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts was asked to distance himself from his father’s views.
“Let me are aware of: The conversation and views expressed in those emails have no sit in national societies, ” Tom Ricketts wrote in a statement obtained by ESPN.
“My father is not involved with the operation of the Chicago Cubs in any way, ” he continued. “I am relied with representing its organisation and our devotees with a respect for beings from all backgrounds. These emails do not reflect the culture we’ve made so hard to build at the Chicago Cubs since 2009. ”
Rehab told HuffPost that he believes that Tom Ricketts’ apology is an “important first step” and that the president appears to be “genuine” in his outreach to local Muslims. He was more skeptical about Joe Ricketts’ apology.
“Many beings are wondering if Joe’s apology is for these horrific goals being revealed, versus being held for so long, ” Rehab said.
Cubs fans who are Muslim have been uttering their dejection about Ricketts’ emails online.
Kamran Hussain, chairwoman of Chicago’s Muslim Community Center and a self-professed “1 5 year season ticket-holder and lifelong die-hard Cub fan, ” said Joe Ricketts’ apologetic seemed insincere. He expected the billionaire to attend a meeting with regional Muslims next week.
“I desired the Cubs and I have enjoyed them since 1983 and I have been with them through all the ups and downs and just as I require my children work best Muslims, it is also very important that they grow up to be Cubs fans and enjoy their summertimes in Chicago at Wrigley Field, ” Hussain wrote in an open word on Tuesday .~ ATAGEND
He supplemented: “Being a baseball fan can be heartbreaking in itself if your unit doesn’t earn the last sport of the season, and “its by” harrowing are well aware that the team you have loved ever since you are a kid has sentiments linked to it in the way that was represented by Mr. Joe Ricketts.”
Rimsha Ganatra, another loyal Cubs fan, said Tom Ricketts’ apology was not enough. She suggested that Cubs host a Muslim American light at Wrigley Field, with halal meat and prayers. The New York Mets put on a similar themed light for their Muslim supporters last year.
“Before every sport of the 2016 World Series I invested an extra 30 times praying for the Cubs to earn, ” Ganatra wrote in a tweet on Monday. “I went to a Cubs game last-place summertime where Louie at the front door convened me with the traditional Muslim greeting and let me know to come to him if anyone gave me disturb for my foreman scarf.”
“These are the fan experiences I demand for current and future generations of Muslim American baseball followers to encounter , not the views exhumed by Joe Ricketts today, ” Ganatra said.
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