Social media has become the platform for resourceful outsiders to find success. Internet personality Benny Drama (a.k.a Benito Skinner) and comedian Matt Rife have been two of the breakout successes from social media in recent years, now Dennis Kasumba, a 19-year-old catcher from Uganda, is using social media to make it into Major League Baseball.
Kasumba, a talented baseball player, has a long history of using whatever is around him to help train his athletic skills.
Recently, the young athlete shared a video on social media of him throwing bricks, using a rain-drenched clearing as his practice field. He captioned the video with an inspiring statement, “Quitting is not an option. I will keep working hard till I will become better at this. @MLB I’m coming soon.”
Quitting is not an option. I will keep working hard till I will become better at this. @MLB I’m coming soon pic.twitter.com/Ef0hATLUC7
— KASUMBA DENNIS (@KASUMBADENNIS4) October 26, 2023
In another video, Kasumba is seen making a workout bench out of a chair and some scrap wood and a straight barbell out of a rod, some weights, and cinder blocks. Kasumba captioned this video “Turned [sic] that pain to fuel… and survive.”
Turned that pain to fuel
and survive. pic.twitter.com/NxGzSra2hp
— KASUMBA DENNIS (@KASUMBADENNIS4) October 4, 2023
and survive. After being discovered by the MLB on social media, Kasumba’s dream to play baseball in the U.S. has suffered stops and starts, due mostly to his visa status. A high school in Florida offered to let the Ugandan finish his senior year of high school there but his visa application was denied, Kasumba only succeeded in his immigration process after the Frederick Keys, an MLB Draft League team, made him an offer, according to the Associated Press.
Kasumba expressed gratitude to the United States when his visa was approved, stating on X, “l want to take this opportunity to thank the American Embassy for giving me this opportunity.”
To all my friends,supporters,family and followers.L would like tell you that at last we have made it. My visa has been approved. It has been a great journey full of up and down.But first l want to take this opportunity to thank the American Embassy for giving me this opportunity. pic.twitter.com/uKC05AGhrA
— KASUMBA DENNIS (@KASUMBADENNIS4) May 18, 2023
However, Kasumba’s stint in the MLB’s developmental league was cut short, as his visa expired after the first half of the season, causing Kasumba to return to Africa where he remains today.
Kasumba’s grit, gratitude, and resourcefulness are refreshing. Kasumba does not seem to hold the United States and much of its citizenry in contempt, as has become de rigueur for many athletes in major league sports. That is the refreshing part.
However, Kasumba’s story is also extremely frustrating.
Kasumba has exceptional athletic skills and is in the top 90th percentile of all baseball players. Yet Kasumba’s visa application was denied while millions of unskilled illegal immigrants pour across the border every year and members of Congress rally behind taking millions of Palestinian refugees.
One must wonder why a talented and productive visa applicant from an overwhelmingly Christian and English-speaking country must be denied the ability to play a full baseball season while our leaders seem content to open America’s gates permanently to those who have no clear ability to produce anything special for the United States and whose country’s could not be more alien to our own.
One cannot also help but notice that Kasumba has demonstrated his intent to observe lawful behavior while in the United States. Kasumba only entered the United States when given permission. Additionally, while tens of millions of aliens illegally overstay their visas, Kasumba left at the termination of his.
While Kasumba’s story is a tale of gumption, it is also a microcosm of the absurdities strangling America’s immigration system.
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