BONUS: The Youth Baseball Coach Who Fended Off ICE

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The Best People podcast was always about bringing you the best people I knew and the best people I came across in my life, in my career, and on Deadland White House.

Yesterday, I met one of those people, Yeoman Wilder.

He answered the question that I think I've been wrestling with since November's election.

What would I do?

What would I do if I saw someone who I thought was being confronted by ICE or harassed by ICE or singled out or profiled?

To be honest, I'm not sure I'd have the presence of mind that Eumen did to remind people of their rights, to remind law enforcement officials about the letter of the Constitution, but he did in the moment.

He tells his story and we want to share it with you, our Best People family, for a couple of reasons.

One, it is entirely inspiring to know that there are people like Euman out there.

But second, there's something we all need to ask ourselves in this moment that he describes.

What would you do?

Would you stop what you were doing if you were walking your dog or out on a run and you you saw what he saw?

Would you bear witness at a minimum or stand up for other people's rights as Coach Euman did?

Or would you walk right by like the Upper West Side community members that he describes?

Take a listen and let me know what you think.

This is from my conversation with Coach Euman Wilder with University of Maryland professor Kevin Blackistone and Democracy Dockett founder Mark Elias on Deadline White House on Monday, July 14th.

Now you should know that since our interview aired, the Department of Homeland Security, it refutes this version of events.

They told us, ICE agents were not in the area at the time.

We'll continue to follow Euman's story and bring it to you.

Despite Donald Trump's repeated campaign promises that his mass deportation raids would target the, quote, worst of the worst, we've seen his administration actually target some of the best, young students, high school students, landscapers, hardworking people on the job, at work.

And now American kids practicing the ultimate American pastime, baseball, at practice.

One baseball coach, Ewan Wilder, described his experience.

at protecting his players after Ice Agent showed up at the baseball practice he runs on Manhattan's Upper West Side in Riverside Park.

Wilder says the agents who were armed with guns and tasers approached some of the kids, some of the players, and began asking about their country of origin.

Here's what he told local news.

I told my kids

to walk to the back of the cages right here.

And I said, they're going to invoke the Fifth Amendment, right?

They're not going to say anything.

Their parents are, you know, from the Dominican Republic,

South America, Mexican, Africa.

But they're kids who are born here.

They have a 14th Amendment entitlement to live here.

I never in my life thought this was going to happen on the Upper West Side in New York City.

That whole thing, you know, until it happens to you, you're not aware, and it happened to us.

One local assemblywoman who first brought the raid to public attention warns of this, quote, the only thing that stood between those kids in Riverside Park and a Florida detention center buried deep in the Everglades was a brave coach who knew the law.

The coach, Wilder, has since moved the location in practice time to try to protect his kids and prevent this from happening again.

Despite that precaution, the kids and their parents were so shaken up by the incident that only two Two have returned to practice so far.

Joining our conversation is that extraordinary baseball coach, Euman Wilder, founder of Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy.

Also joining our conversation, sports columnist for the Washington Post, professor of journalism at the University of Maryland.

Kevin Blackestone is here.

Mark Elias is with us as well.

Coach, thank you for being here.

Thank you for having me.

I want to ask you and I want to understand and I want to try to learn where your presence of mind came from to reach for your knowledge of the Constitution, which not everybody has.

But I first want you to just tell me what happened again.

Just recount this experience for us.

Well, our practice was pretty much finishing up.

We usually practice about two hours, two and a half hours.

Whenever my iPhone goes out, we're finished with practice.

We videotaped all our practices for the last 22 years.

So I went over to shoot some hoops because my kids are telling me how old I was and I couldn't shoot a hoop like Stephanie Curry, which I can't.

And

I just saw these ice officers walking.

And I had seen them in Washington Heights.

I had seen them in Dykeman,

up where more Dominican kids and South American kids live.

And when I turned around to get the ball and I turned around again, I saw them approaching my kids.

And I just went over and I just heard them stating, where you from, where your parents from.

And I just stepped in and said, this is very inappropriate to ask these kids anything.

And I said, as a person who's

supervising them, I'm just going to have them implement their fifth name and write and not say anything to you.

What did the agent say when you you confronted them and said these kids, these kids have rights?

And you got between the agents.

Yeah,

he is

a wonderful word for, oh, another YouTube lawyer.

What did they do?

Did they leave?

I mean,

were they ultimately persuaded to leave the kids alone?

No, they kept changing the goalpost.

It became a thing.

If they have nothing, you know, the whole thing, if you have nothing to hide, you should see, you know, just Trump and the Fourth Amendment right didn't really care.

The whole thing came up like, I don't care what you say.

I don't care what the law says.

And

the only thing I had that day was my uncle, Pete, my ear, who's my bishop, my mother in my ear,

the Constitution,

and prayer.

That's the only thing I had that day.

And you were, tell me how old the kids were and where you guys were.

You were in a park on Riverside in 72nd where there are a bunch of ball fields, right?

Well, there's batting cages there.

We usually work in Harlem, where the Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy.

And, you know, I always tell people it's very important that we don't want to be sought out as a victim.

This academy has been around for 22 years.

We've graduated 400 kids out of college who walk around with degrees from Stanford and Princeton and Harvard, all African-American and Latino kids.

So

we're not going around saying, poor little us, because we do very, very good work.

Our thing is,

it should not have to have a person who has a master's degree in law to know rights, and this can happen to anybody.

If it can happen on the upper west side of 72nd Street, it can happen to anybody.

And that's why

we have to, there's got to be a better way to, for the administration to deal with this, and it's got to be a better way for people to understand their rights.

Coach, what did people,

I mean, it's a really crowded area.

A lot of people run in that area.

A lot of there's a lot of organized practices, and there are other folks trying to practice in that area.

What did the bystanders do?

They were,

I'm a New Yorker, bone and bone, and we're tough people here, but we, I saw cowards.

And I hate to say that as somebody who loves the city.

it's okay.

They're kids.

Yeah, tell me, tell me, what did you want to see, and

what disappointed you?

Obeying to authoritarian to authority that was

out of line,

pissing on the Constitution.

And

I

they came up with, I don't care.

I don't care.

How are the kids now?

We usually carry between 20 and 25 kids.

Some of our kids are playing in tournaments throughout the country.

Matter of fact, when I get off here, one of our kids will actually be drafted this evening.

And

he'll be our 45th Major League draft pick.

Our kids,

no one shows up.

I mean, we have one kid showing up.

We usually carry, you know, between 20, 20, 25 kids

who are playing.

And we usually carry during the summer between 11 and 15 kids.

And we're having one kid show up at practice right now.

The Major League All-Star Game is this week.

And I've just taken a break.

But on the other side, I want to ask you what you'd like.

You know, it's not just an attack on your kids or you, it's an attack on the sport.

I want to ask you what you'd like to say to Major League Baseball on the other side of a break.

I also want to bring Kevin and Mark into the conversation.

Please stay with us.

Well, I'll be right back.

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Hey, best people listeners.

Join me on October 11th live in New York City.

I will be joined by Martin Sheen at MSNBC Live25.

For a live taping of the Best People podcast, go to msnbc.com slash live25.

When you buy tickets to the morning session, just type in promo code BEST20 for a special 20% off discount.

See you on October 11th.

We're back with Eumen.

Kevin and Mark are here as well.

Eumin, what do you want Major League Baseball to know, a sport that depends on players from all over the world?

Major League Baseball has disappointed the African-American community so much that

just to ask them for anything is irrelevant.

I mean,

unfortunately, when it comes to black people in Major League Baseball, they find us irrelevant.

They don't see us.

They've done everything in their power to

erase African-American inclusion.

So I don't have anything to say to Major League Baseball.

What do you have to say to the community

about how they can do better if this happens again?

My son plays baseball, plays travel baseball, and has practiced on those fields for years.

I can't imagine doing nothing.

And kids were targeted by armed agents.

Well, I think the only thing we have to do, you know,

we have a professor

right there

who,

you know, we have to teach kids about civics.

We have to have our kids understand that the Constitution, no matter whether you are born here or you're here illegally, that you still have constitutional right.

You have a young man there who is one of my idols when it comes to voting rights in this country.

So we have to have people like him go out and tell people and people who understand the Constitution, who can defend people's Fourth Amendment right, people's 14th Amendment right, people's right to be able to live in this country freely if they're born, raised, and have done nothing illegal to warrant any type of inclusion, an intrusion into their civil rights.

Kevin Lackistone, your thoughts?

Well, first of all, Coach Wilder gets an MVP for his actions.

It's unfortunate, of course, that he had to go that far at all.

But we need more coaches like that

everywhere.

Everybody needs to be aware of what's happening,

not just from watching the news, but being active in your community.

You know, and I'm one of those people that went out and I downloaded the IceBlock app.

And I've been stunned to hear it ping and to see that some of these very same situations are happening not too far from where I live, not too far from where where I work.

And it's really unfortunate that this situation has poisoned sports.

You mentioned the All-Star Game coming up.

I think I counted a couple dozen Latin American baseball players who will be on the field for the All-Star Game.

And I know that some of them,

certainly some with the Dodgers,

have expressed how upset they are with what happened at Dodger Stadium,

talking about ICE ICE showing up and forcing the Dodgers organization to

turn those folks away, just like Coach Wilder did on his own.

And so we need more of this.

And

it really is sad that

it has injected itself into

our sports culture.

People want to tell you that sports and politics don't mix.

And yet, We saw sports and politics mix right here on the show, which Coach Wilder was talking about, with the Dodgers, with the FIFA Club World Cup the other day.

I, for one, don't think that this country under this administration is really fit to host the World Cup or fit to host the Olympics coming up, because

those organizations have

have information in their charters about what they stand for and who they stand for.

FIFA has an entire section about human rights.

And yet

Gianni

Infantino, the head of FIFA,

had the nerve to embrace President Trump the other day at the championship game of the Club World Cup.

Someone who does not stand for human rights, but instead is trampling human rights.

Yeah, including those of kids.

Mark Elias, your thoughts.

Yeah, look, you and I talk a lot on this show about what it is we all need to do to protect democracy.

And Coach Wilder did it.

Like he is the hero of the story because he showed courage and he was surrounded by cowards.

The cowards

who were staking out and approaching these kids with badges and guns should be ashamed of themselves.

History will remember them for the cowards they are.

The bystanders that the coach got so emotional about.

What were they doing?

You know, we all ask ourselves, what would we do if democracy were at stake?

What would we do if we were facing injustice?

What would we do if our children, our children

were being threatened?

Well, those bystanders told us what they did.

They did nothing.

They are the cowards too.

And we are only going to get through this part of history.

We are only going to make it through to the other side if we have more people who are willing to take a stand like Coach Wilder did, and fewer people who will go along and get along and not stand up and do what is right.

And finally, I'd add this for Major League Baseball.

You know, in 2021, you told us that the voter suppression laws in Georgia were bad enough for you to move the all-star game.

Where are you today?

Where are you, Major League Baseball?

Where are you, the billionaire owners of these sports teams when democracy needs you?

Why aren't you supporting?

those kids.

Why aren't you supporting your players?

Why aren't you speaking out in favor of democracy?

Because you're cowards also.

Human, you want a last word on this, Herman?

My only fear is

the gateway.

There's a gateway drug to

things.

And the gateway is now do we

take kids who are going to predominantly

Latino schools.

I'm in Harlem, but I'm close to to Washington Heights, where Manny Ramirez Rod Carew went to high school.

It's 98% Latino.

Lopeon is another school that is predominantly Latino.

Now, do ICE agents go to those schools and demand those kids out?

And now, when their mothers and fathers come and try to pick them up, do they detain these parents now?

So it's a slippery road that deals with a lot of things that we have to be very conscious of.

And that's why we have to have people speaking up and we have to have a better way to do this stuff.

You know, I'm no fan of

any of this, but I'm also a fan of the fact that we can be better as people and we can protect people.

And only way you can protect people is understanding that the Constitution has a right, we have to rely on that.

And we can't cherry-pick it.

We can't let it, we can't take people's First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, Fifth Amendment right, but yet you want to hold on to your Second Amendment right, and that's and that's that's to your old God.

But we're willing to take rights from other people and not care, have a concern.

We have to care about people, young people.

Well,

any of those kids that have you in their corner are very, very, very lucky.

And we feel lucky to get to talk to you today.

Please come back anytime.

Anytime.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

I appreciate it.

You're wilder.

Yeah.

Airmen, Kevin, and Mark.

My favorite conversation in a very long time.

Thank you very much, all of you.

Thank you so much for listening to this special bonus episode of The Best People with Nicole Wallace.

There will be a new episode, like usual, this Monday.

And for MSNBC premium subscribers only, early access this Friday.

See you then.

Saturday, October 11th from New York City.

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