The Brewers Blew It - "Let's Call Ice."

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” – Desmond Tutu

I saw the video the next day. A Brewers fan told a Dodgers fan, “Let’s call ICE.”

It happened at the same game I went to. I didn’t see it, didn’t hear anything about it until I saw it online the next morning. I just sat there thinking how fucked up it was. I waited to write this to see how it would play out, and it played out exactly how I thought it would, which is sad.

It was clear what was happening. A white Brewers fan, drunk and annoyed, wanted to shut up a Latino Dodgers fan. Instead of talking baseball, she went to a threat. “Let’s call ICE.”

That line isn’t about baseball. It’s about power. It’s about who feels safe in this country and who doesn’t.

The Dodgers fan didn’t deserve it. He wasn’t perfect, he was obnoxious but nobody deserves to have their citizenship questioned over a baseball game. It was confirmed that he was a Navy veteran. That made it worse. The man served this country, and still got told he didn’t belong in it.

The Brewers banned both fans. That decision said a lot. They went for the easy answer. They banned both, issued a short statement, and tried to move on. It was safe, not fair.

That’s not leadership. It’s corporate management.

One fan was loud. The other used intimidation. Those things aren’t equal. You can’t both-side a threat like that. But that’s what they did because it’s the easy way out.

I used to think the Brewers were one of the best-run teams in baseball. I said it more than once. I don’t think that anymore. You find out who people are when it’s uncomfortable. The Brewers showed who they are. They cared more about protecting the brand than about doing what’s right.

They talk about community, family, and being Milwaukee’s team. But when something ugly happened in their ballpark, they acted like it was just noise to manage. They care about optics, not integrity.

Mark Attanasio is a finance guy and a former Dodger fan. He runs the Brewers like a business, and that’s fine most of the time. But baseball isn’t just a business. It’s culture. It’s people. It’s supposed to mean something. This was a moment to prove that. Instead, they played it safe.

That’s what frustrates me. Milwaukee could have led here. The Brewers could have stood up for what’s right. They could have made it clear that threatening someone with ICE isn’t acceptable in their stadium or anywhere else. They didn’t. They tried to make it go away quietly.

That’s what most organizations do now. They issue fucking statements, act neutral, and move on. They think that’s professionalism. It’s not. It’s cowardice.

Then there’s ManpowerGroup. The woman in the video worked there. That company is supposed to be about opportunity and inclusion. They sell themselves as global and progressive. They publish reports about belonging and equality. Then one of their executives goes out and says “Let’s call ICE” to a guy at a baseball game.

Manpower didn’t act until the video started blowing up. They put her on leave first, then fired her once it became clear the story wasn’t going away. Then came the corporate line about “respect and accountability.”

They didn’t act because they were offended. They acted because they got caught. If there was no video, nothing would have happened. That’s the truth.

That’s how corporate America works now. Nobody makes hard decisions unless they’re forced to. They all wait to see how bad it looks before they do the obvious thing. It’s not moral clarity. It’s damage control.

If your company’s job is to connect people to work, you can’t have leadership that thinks “call ICE” is funny. That’s not bias. That’s cruelty. If someone has that kind of instinct in public, you have to wonder what it looks like behind closed doors.

And she was also on the board of Make-A-Wish Wisconsin. That one says it all. A person who helps sick kids get wishes thought it was fine to use ICE as a threat. She resigned after the video spread. Make-A-Wish put out a short statement, said it didn’t reflect their values, and that was it.

Three organizations. Three failures.

The Brewers banned both fans. Manpower fired her after getting called out. Make-A-Wish let her resign quietly. All of them handled it like a problem to be contained instead of a chance to lead.

None of them showed any integrity. They did just enough to make it disappear.

That’s the culture we live in now. People talk about values until it costs something. The Brewers talk about community. Manpower talks about inclusion. Make-A-Wish talks about compassion. They all failed to live any of it when it mattered.

I’ve lived in Wisconsin all of my life. I know the people here. Most are decent. But there’s an undercurrent people don’t like to talk about. The “I’m not racist, but” stuff. The small remarks. The judgment about who looks like they belong. It’s all there under the surface. That woman didn’t create it. She just said it out loud.

Milwaukee likes to think it’s a friendly city. And it is. But friendliness isn’t the same as fairness. This incident showed that clearly.

The Brewers could have made it right. They could have called it what it was and said, not here, not in this city. They didn’t. They played it down.

I’m not surprised. That’s how most institutions behave now. They talk about accountability until it gets uncomfortable. Then they hide behind rules.

Manpower did the same thing. Make-A-Wish did the same thing. They reacted after the fact. They managed the problem. Nobody wanted to lead.

Leadership isn’t about managing problems. It’s about facing them.

The Brewers failed that test. Manpower failed that test. Make-A-Wish failed that test.

It’s the same story over and over. Someone says or does something terrible. A video goes viral. There’s outrage. A few people get fired. Statements get posted. The outrage dies down. Nothing changes.

That’s why this kind of thing keeps happening. Nobody learns anything. They just move on.

For years I said the Brewers were one of the best-run organizations in baseball. I meant it. I respected how they built teams and handled their business. But now I see the difference between being efficient and being principled. They’re efficient. They’re not principled.

The Dodgers are. That’s the contrast.

The Dodgers have the most diverse fan base in baseball. You see every kind of person in those stands. Every background, every language, all wearing the same blue. It’s the best baseball environment in the country because it actually represents what the country looks like.

And this past year, the Dodgers didn’t just talk about community. They took a stand against ICE. They didn’t hide. They didn’t worry about backlash. They said exactly where they stand. That’s leadership.

The Brewers could learn from that. They could learn that “both sides” is not a value. It’s an excuse. They could learn that community means protecting the people in it, not protecting the company.

I can love Milwaukee and still be honest about this. The Brewers acted like a corporation, not a team that represents a city. They missed their chance to do something right. They showed what matters to them, and it isn’t character.

The Dodgers led. The Brewers didn’t. That’s the truth.

Baseball is supposed to be about everyone. You don’t need a press release to say that. You just need to act like it.