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Floyd, an unarmed 46-year-old black man, died
after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck
for nearly nine minutes on May 25, reigniting the explosive
issue of police brutality against African Americans.
"MLB is committed to engaging our communities to invoke change,"
the league said in a statement released on Wednesday.
"We will take the necessary time, effort and collaboration to
address symptoms of systemic racism, prejudice and injustice,
but will be equally as focused on the root of the problem."
The statement came more than a week after Floyd's death after
protests ramped up across the United States and the league faced
mounting criticism as the last of the five major men's
professional sports leagues to speak out.
As of Tuesday, only a third of all MLB clubs had issued
releases, according to research by Axios, while a handful of
individual current and former players made statements of their
own.
"Enough is Enough. It’s going to take everyone to help this
system change," Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton tweeted on
Saturday.
MLB, which every year celebrates Jackie Robinson Day, in honor
of the first African-American man to play in the league, said in
a Twitter post along with its statement: "We want to be better,
we need to be better, and this is our promise to do the work."
The league, whose season was upended by the coronavirus outbr
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