“Cannon Baller Pride Night will be a wonderful event to showcase how our community is slowly but surely marching towards a day when Fannie Lou Hamer’s statement can be relegated to history books – ‘Nobody’s free until everybody’s free’.” Alissa Redmond   

I am grateful to live in an area where sports teams, such as the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, recognize the value of hosting a Pride Night to counter decades of homophobia in athletics and popular culture.  I can’t wait to bring my kids (and my dog – it’s Bark at the Park night, too!) to Atrium Health Ballpark on July 6 at 7pm to cheer on Salisbury’s amazing Mayor Pro Tem Tamara Sheffield as she throws out the game’s first pitch.  We are already huge fans of the park’s new playground and splashpad, and it will be nice to know that homophobic season ticketholders won’t be there to steal all the glitter and good vibes. 

I encourage everyone to grab tickets and support this, the Cannon Ballers’, first ever pride night.  It was less than 50 years ago Glenn Burke (possible inventor of the “high-five”?) was traded by the L.A. Dodgers after coming out. It was less than 25 years ago that Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered in Colorado; Shepard, a gay college student, who briefly attended Catawba College, was killed by individuals who “inspired” federal hate crime legislation after they tortured his broken body and left him for dead by the side of a road. There remains so much hate in this world for those whose love is just that – love.

Cannon Baller Pride Night will be a wonderful event to showcase how our community is slowly but surely marching towards a day when Fannie Lou Hamer’s statement can be relegated to history books – “Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”  

Alissa Redmond