Bell: 'I can talk on the Black experience'

Josh Bell wanted to attend the protests in Pittsburgh on May 30. He planned on going after his girlfriend's mom, who was visiting that day, left.

But as the day went on, the protests became more violent. There were helicopters flying overhead. It was turning into a riot. That's when he was convinced by his girlfriend not to go.

" 'Josh Bell is at a protest' is a good thing, but 'Josh Bell is at a riot' is a terrible thing," Bell said during a Zoom call Saturday, reflecting on a conversation he and his girlfriend had that day. "That’s something that could change your career in a heartbeat."

So the idea changed to Bell using his platform to make a difference. He has done interviews through Major League Baseball and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum discussing race in the country. On social media, he and other players got #SocialReformSunday to trend, hoping to use it to promote positive change that fights injustice.

He has reached out to local schools and youth academies and had a Zoom call with the local RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) Academy, who he has worked with in the past. The group's mission is to increase participation and diversity in baseball and softball, with a focus on the underserved and under-represented.

Despite being an All-Star, Bell has been mostly reserved with his personal life in his time in Pittsburgh, but he felt this was a time to make his voice heard.

"First and foremost, I grew up as a Black kid in America and secondly as a baseball player," Bell said. "I can talk on the Black experience. I can talk about the baseball side. I feel like social justice is something that a lot of people are learning right now. For the most part, I’m trying to stay as politically correct as I can. I’m not trying to bring emotions into anything.

"You guys know me by now. I’m not trying to be the guy who has the headline for something negative. I’m doing my best to try to learn."

The Pirates reached out to Bell and told him they supported him if he wanted to make an impact in the community. That support, plus a more accepting atmosphere across the country and on social media, has given him confidence to continue to use his voice.

"It wasn't just shut down from the get go like a couple years ago with Kap [Colin Kaepernick] and doing what he did," Bell said. "Like if you listened to his interviews, he had some really interesting things to say. Do I agree with every last thing [he] said? Of course not. I feel like a lot of people don't. But in regards to where he wanted to conversation to go,  that got shut down pretty much from the get go and his career was forever changed from that. So that was where a lot of players felt silenced."

Derek Shelton has said he and the organization will "100 percent support our players" if they choose to make statements or protest racial inequality in some way.

Since coming to the Pirates, Shelton has stressed having open channels of communication within the organization. That extends beyond baseball to social issues as well.

"I think that it’s important my job as the leader of this team, it’s my job as a parent, to make sure that I continue to learn and educated myself so I can have educated conversations with our players, and educated conversations with my children," Shelton said Friday.

Other members of the Pirates also reached out to Bell, including Trevor Williams. He wanted to tell Bell he was "in his corner" and that he wanted to do more than just send a tweet in support, so he asked what he could do to help. The two ended up having long phone conversation on how to do that.

"The best thing we can do is educate ourselves," Williams said in a Zoom call Saturday. "We’ve been reading some books together, JB and I. It’s opening eyes, it’s giving me perspectives that I didn’t think I was going to need until this happened. It’s almost a second awakening for us, a great racial awakening to take positive steps forward."

Williams is also joining another Bell initiative: A book club. As of right now, part of the reading list consists of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander and The Optimist Creed by Christian D. Larson.

They won't all be books dealing with race, though.

"It’s kind of like who I am as well as books that I feel like everybody should read so everybody can be on the same page in regards to not only understanding what social justice looks like, but understanding what being a good human being looks like," Bell said. "I feel like if I promote that message, it’s not going to be going up into a conversation like this, like one side or the other, like you’re either right or you’re wrong.

"We’re all in this thing together. We’re all here. It’s July 4 right now. We’re all celebrating. This is the best nation in the world, and we have an opportunity to be even better. And that’s exciting. I’m excited for the conversations to continue and for that book club to pop off.”