WBEZ: Chicago Cubs And Muslim Civil Rights Group Agree To Anti-Bigotry Plan

WBEZ covered the recent joint statement from CAIR-Chicago and the Chicago Cubs released Monday, February 18th, 2019. In it reads:

The Cubs and the Chicago Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations have agreed upon next steps to address Islamophobia and bigotry. The plan comes after leaked emails of Joe Ricketts, patriarch of the family that owns the team, were published online. The emails included racist and Islamophobic exchanges.

“I think we’re at a point now where we have trust in the (Cubs) leadership, that they understand what Islamophobia is and why it’s a problem, and what ‘Everybody In’ really means,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR-Chicago, referring to the Cubs’ 2018 slogan.

Rehab said that Tom Ricketts, chairman of the Cubs and son of Joe Ricketts, reached out to CAIR-Chicago the week that the emails were leaked to discuss the controversy. Since then, Rehab said the two organizations have been in communication about what the Cubs could do to rectify the concerns among Muslims that the team might not stand for inclusion or diversity.