Let me stipulate that Kirby Puckett was a great baseball player.
He was electric. I loved watching him.
But his life was marred by allegations of violence against women.
Fans don't want to talk about that. They want to wait to talk about that. But it should be talked about.
Right fucking now.
Why?
(More on the Flip)
Fans want to talk only about the good. Well, that may satisfy the boylike fan in each of us, the childlike wish for heroes and innocence.
But this is a politics site.
And South fucking Dakota just claimed state property rights to women's bodies.
So we men better start talking about what we don't ever like to talk about: the pandemic of violence against women.
Guys, "we" collectively rape an American woman every three minutes.
Our brothers, sons, coworkers, teammates and best buddies do it. Likable people like Kirby Puckett, whom we know and even admire in one context, commit violence against women.
And there's never a time when we want to talk about it. So spare me the "let's not speak ill of the dead" crap. People who don't want to talk about it today more than likely won't make the connection tomorrow, either.
Kirby Puckett was a great baseball player, and men all over the country will be talking about him this week. And we progressive men need to avoid the temptation to avoid discussing his connection to violence against women.
Crashing the Gate makes the eloquent case that, to build a progressive movement, we need to get beyond single issue politics and band together. Violence against women is not a women's issue, it is a men's issue, a citizen's issue and a progressive issue.
The acts of the state of South Dakota are not isolated. They are part of a national movement.
This week, as we remember Kirby and appreciate his on the field greatness, we need also to talk about his weaknesses, and our own, collectively. We need to connect this to contemporary politics. We men need to do it. Not just women, but we men need to do it. . . for our daughters, mothers and sisters.
While it may be comforting to wallow in nostalgia, Kirby can't hear us. All the fuzzy lenses of memory we put to him are about us, not him. They make us feel good, and they can keep us from confronting the other parts of his life that have very real lessons to teach us as we confront contemporary politics and build a progressive movement.
ACTION ITEM
When you talk about Kirby with your friends guys, bring up the violence aginst women issue. Talk about how common this is, and connect it to South Dakota's decision to rescind the right to abortion in the cases of rape and incest. Women's bodies are not men's property.