"I'm Willing to Die to Make Sure You Get Home"

Youman Wilder, Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy Founder

Guest Post by Kristine Schwartzman

It was supposed to be a fun day for the kids at the Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy. And, it was fun. Until it wasn't. The fun turned to fear when armed agents dressed in camouflaged uniforms with the letters "ICE"  emblazoned across them showed up. 

The agents swooped in and began asking the mostly African American and Latino group of kids where they were from. "Where are your parents from?"  "Where are you from?"

That's when Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy founder Youman Wilder stepped in. Sending the kids to the back of the batting cages, Wilder confronted the agents at the only entrance to the practice field, placing his body between the kids and the uniforms.

Informing the agents that it was inappropriate to ask underage kids anything, he said, "... I’m just going to have them implement their Fifth Amendment right, and not say anything to you." One agent remarked, "Oh, another YouTube lawyer." After a few tense seconds, ICE left the area. 

The Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy has a long and storied history. In the last 30 years, 400 of the Academy's participants have become college graduates, 42 became major league draft picks, 4 were major league players, 6 have become Team USA Gold Medal Winners, and 2 have been on World Series championship teams.

​Wilder founded the Academy to give often overlooked youth in underprivileged communities in the region the tools and leadership skills they need to lead productive lives, whether it's in sports or other professions.

"We have to have people speaking up, and we have to have a better way to do this stuff," Wilder said. He added, "We have to care about people, young people." 

In a CNN interview, Wilder said, "I got some tough New York City kids, so for them to be scared, it means something is really happening." As the kids distanced themselves from the agents, Wilder reassured them by saying, "Listen, I'm not going to let them get through me."

Wilder continued, "I just said to myself, 'I'm willing to die to make sure you get home.'" He even doubled down on his statement, saying, "I'm willing to die today."

First reported by ILovetheUpperWestSide, Linda Rosenthal, Assembly Member representing the Upper West Side said : 

“I recently learned that ICE agents approached a group of kids attending baseball practice near the batting cages near West 71st Street in Riverside Park.”

“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. Each one of us has the power to make a difference right in our own backyards.”

It's up to us.