White Sox's Anderson striving to see positives amid national turmoil
Like everyone else, Tim Anderson has been watching the nationwide protesting and widespread violence and mayhem sparked by the Memorial Day death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Late Monday afternoon, the Hennepin (Minn.) County medical examiner ruled the death a homicide resulting from being restrained.
"Definitely different," Anderson said on a conference call with White Sox beat writers Monday. "Definitely witnessing something I only have heard about, but I never have lived in. Just to see the things that are going on and how the world is reacting, I think there are a lot of angry people out there who feel like they are going unheard."
A star shortstop and the 2019 batting champion with a .335 average, Anderson was the lone African-American on the Sox last season.
"I know what it's like, coming from (my background)," he said. "I know what it's like, being in the position I'm in. So I just try to stay right in the middle of it."
While he understands the anger, Anderson is hoping for much more.
"I'm a person that kind of lives on both sides of things," he said. "I guess you could kind of say ... love everybody, but also understand the situation. There's no anger from me. I kind of have my own perspective.
"I think that's what makes me so different from other people is just understanding, understanding a certain situation and being able to speak on it, being open with it. I'm doing fine, just trying to stay in a positive lane as much as I can. It's easy to grab the negative because you see so much of it."
Anderson saw plenty of negatives Sunday when he was in downtown Chicago assessing the damage caused by rioters and looters.
He did not take part in any protests in the city, but the 26-year-old infielder wanted to capture what he could in photographs that he also posted on his social media accounts.
"It was definitely something I've never seen before," Anderson said. "It gives me an opportunity to remember those moments. I understand that some of the words that were in those photos might have been bad. But when you're going through certain situations, you have to show the good, the bad and the ugly. And in that situation, that's something that I don't (only) have to explain my kids but I can also show them, because I captured those moments.
"I think that was the biggest thing. Who knows where those photos may end up? That's a part of history. So it's just more to understand where I was coming from with the photo shoot, just capturing the moment. If you could remove me from the photos that would make it better, because that's real art.
"Just capturing real art and more so, it's historic. It's just moments for me to remember and also moments for my kids to understand, and understand what point we were at in this time and understand what we go through, whether it's good, bad or ugly. At the end of the day, it's all love."
During his first four seasons with the White Sox, Anderson was always willing to talk about issues that didn't "stick to sports."
That hasn't changed during one of the darkest periods in American history.
"It's kind of tough to make them understand because they don't really understand how it exactly feels," Anderson said. "So you try to explain it the best you can. We're at a moment where we all just need to come together. We're at a moment where we need everybody's love, regardless of what race. I think we're at a moment where we need to hold hands, every race, every color, it don't matter. I think we move better as one.
"It's a tough topic to talk about, but try to be understanding as much as you can. There's a lot of angry people, a lot of broken people that just don't understand a lot of things when things happen a certain way. A lot of things won't be understood. It's a tough moment, and it's kind of hard to explain when you're so wrapped up in tough moments. It's so hard to get to certain people when we're all going through such a tough moment."