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The
banner, hung over the famed Green Monster wall at the Major
League team's Fenway Park stadium, read "Racism is as American
as baseball", ESPN reported.
A local activist group, the Boston Antifa, said on Twitter it
was responsible for the display, which it said was inspired in
part by Black Lives Matter.
"Now a question to you: Baseball is racist. Do you support
racism?" the group said in a Tweet.
The Black Lives Matter movement has grown amid an intense debate
about race and justice that has followed a series of
high-profile police killings of unarmed black men in U.S. cities
over the last several years.
The sign was hung up for one batter during the top of the fourth
inning in the Red Sox game versus the Oakland Athletics.
Four months ago the Red Sox banned a fan for life after he used
a racial slur during a game. The previous night against Orioles,
visiting outfielder Adam Jones was subjected to racial taunts by
Boston fans.
Wednesday's banner was "in violation of the club's policy
prohibiting signs of any kind to be hung or affixed to the
ballpark," a Red Sox spokesperson told the sports network.
"The individuals involved were escorted out."
The race and justice debate has intensified with a push to
remove symbols of the pro-slavery Confederacy across the United
States. Civil rights activists say they promote racism, while
advocates contend they recognize Civil War valor and are a vital
reminder of their Southern heritage.
In August, Red Sox team owner John Henry said the team would
lobby Boston authorities to change the name of Yawkey Way, the
street on which the ballpark sits.
It is named after former team owner Thomas Yawkey. Under his
leadership, the Red Sox were the last major league team to field
a black player, 12 years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball's
color barrier in 1947.
The Oakland Athletics won Wednesday's game 7-3.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; editing by John
Stonestreet)
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