President Barack Obama defended his decision to attend an exhibition baseball game in Cuba between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Cuban National Team following the terrorist attacks in Belgium as defying the mass murderers’ wishes.
“The whole premise of terrorism is to try to disrupt people’s ordinary lives,” President Obama said, admitting that “it’s always a challenge when you have a terrorist attack anywhere in the world.”
A moment of silence was observed before the game in recognition of the Belgium attacks, which left dozens dead and scores injured.
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The president drew a parallel to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, when the city — led by Red Sox star David Ortiz — refused to give in to fear, calling the it one of his “proudest moments as president.”
“When [David] talked about Boston — how strong it was and that it was not going to be intimidated,” said President Obama, who was seated with Cuban President Raul Castro at the game.
The president also cited the power of sports to bring change, as when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in the major leagues.
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“It can change attitudes sometimes in ways that a politician can never change, that a speech can’t change,” he said. “All of those kids who started growing up watching the Brooklyn Dodgers, suddenly they’re rooting for a black man on the field and how that affects their attitudes, laying the groundwork for the civil rights movement that’s a legacy that all of us have benefited from, black and white and Latino and Asian.”
