It's fine to be mad at Steve Clevenger. It's fine to be offended by .Still, Clevenger should keep his job.MORE: As is usually the case when someone reveals their apparent racial prejudices, many people believe the only appropriate action in this case is for , their backup catcher, and for everyone Jose Abreu Jersey else in MLB to shun him. Because that'll teach him, apparently. But it won't.There's no place for that kind of thought in baseball,goes the cry. Well, of course not. There shouldn't be a place for racist thought anywhere. But there should still be a place for Steve Clevenger.Because here's the thing: You can't shame or guilt or punish someone into becoming moral and shedding racist thoughts. That requires a change of the heart, which requires building relationships, which requires being around the right people. In Clevenger's case, those people should continue to be his Mariners teammates.Friday, the Early Wynn Jersey Mariners for the rest of the season. The team statement doesn't addre s the plans for him beyond that. But there's a big opportunity here, and MLB, the Mariners, players and fans shouldn't mi s it.The reaction to Clevenger's tweets, in which he called for violent protesters in Charlotte to be locked up "like animals," among other poor, racially-tinged language, is yet another reminder of our. Yes, this is very different di sent than what Colin Kaepernick and others have shown recently, but it's still di sent.But just like with Kaepernick, rather than push Clevenger away in hopes that his thoughts and words will just go away, we should have conversations about the why behind those tweets. We need to listen. We need to help.SPECTOR: If a change of heart is the real goal, which it should be, then dismi sal cannot be the first course of action. Given human nature, dismi sal could quite po sibly result in the opposite of the intended effect. Rather than starting a proce s for that nece sary heart change, brisk dismi sal often just leads people to find an echo chamber, to have their thoughts validated, to tell them they're the real victim. Then nothing changes. In fact, it might even get worse.Releasing Clevenger and simply telling him his thoughts and feelings aren't welcome in baseball implies two things: 1) That he should find a place where they are welcome, which is bad; and 2 Nellie Fox Jersey ) That that someone else should and will try to fix the real problem, which alsois bad and unlikely.MLB's rosters, though not as racially diverse as they should be, still have plenty of players and leaders of different raceswho can help lead discu sions, to attempt to create understanding, to help learn the why of the i sue. But none of that can happen if the go-to move is to cast Clevenger and others Bo Jackson Jersey like him out of the baseball world and into the real world, where there are too many people looking to cultivate racial hostilities.Yes, baseball has an opportunity here with Clevenger and with any others within its ranks who share his worldview.In his apology late Thursday, Clevenger said he's not a racist.I don't know Steve Clevenger. I don't know whether he's actually racist. But I do know that humans are broken and complicated, so it's po sible to have prejudices so ingrained, so hidden, that we don't even know they exist until something happens to bring them to the surface. It's all the more reason why there must be dialogue.It's whyClevenger should ultimately be allowed to stick around in Seattle.If you're calling for his release as a means to do what's right, as though it's all that's required for this particular social victory, you're not actually helping. You're calling for the proce s of change to stop before it even starts. Much more needs Yermin Mercedes Jersey to happen, and it's a team effort.Otherwise, we're naive if we think it's settled when we show someone the door, pat ourselves on the back and say, "Good riddance."