Imrem: If society would only follow baseball's lead

I too have a dream, and it's that America becomes more like a baseball team than like what's happening on the street around the country.

On the Cubs and White Sox, for example, blacks and whites live, work and play together as one.

This might seem to be a foreign concept as our nation battles wildfires pitting white cops and black citizens against each other.

Sports writers see up close that members of diverse races really can get along. Some of them are black men from inner cities. Some are the sons of white police officers deployed in inner cities. The fit seems odd, but these players fit anyway.

We can only hope that the national pastime represents the true America and reflects most of our workplaces where racial conflict is something on the TV news rather than on the assembly line or in adjoining cubicles.

Tuesday night's baseball All-Star Game will demonstrate how all races can blend and blur, just as the common goal of a championship demonstrates it every day from spring to summer to autumn.

Certainly some players dislike or even hate teammates who are different. There might even be the occasional clubhouse fight behind closed doors.

Out front in Chicago, however, whites like Jake Arrieta and blacks like Dexter Fowler celebrated together during the Cubs' fast start and reassured each other as the surge retreated into a slump.

These white players and black players live together, work together, play together, celebrate together, suffer together like America at its best.

The White Sox, located not far from pockets of white cop-black citizen tension on the South Side, experienced similar ups and downs. Blacks and whites alike welcomed the arrival of black rookie shortstop Tim Anderson and lamented the loss of released white pitcher John Danks.

All of the Sox suffered with white third baseman Todd Frazier over his low batting average, just as all of the Cubs suffered with black outfielder Jason Heyward over his troubles on offense.

The Sox and Cubs realize that as teams they're all in this baseball season together, and wouldn't it be great if all Americans realized that we're all in this country together?

In Chicago baseball, Heyward trusts that Arrieta has his back and Arrieta trusts that Addison Russell has his back and Frazier trusts that Anderson has his back and Anderson trusts that Chris Sale has his back.

Meanwhile, mistrust of the police is common in black communities and mistrust of black citizens is common among police officers.

When I was young, it wasn't unusual for white players and black players to separate themselves. At the same time, it wasn't unusual for white cops and black citizens to be wary of each other.

Baseball players evolved and discovered ways to live and work and play and laugh and cry together.

Oh, how frustrating it is that the mistrust of more than a half-century ago persists between black citizens and white cops.

If the Cubs ever win a World Series, their fans of all races will rejoice together just as a diverse group of White Sox fans did in 2005.

If only the streets could catch up to ball fields and reap the benefits of everyone living, working, playing, celebrating and suffering together.

mimrem@dailyherald.com