With the Major League Baseball Draft just days away, Theo Epstein and Cubs vice president of scouting Dan Kantrovitz hopped on a call with reporters to discuss the upcoming event.

But before delving into the draft, Epstein began the call with an opening statement on the current state of the country as protests march in hundreds of cities around the U.S. in an effort to end racism.

“I’d like to start just by offering my condolences to the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the countless victims that keep losing their lives to racist violence in this country year after year, decade after decade, century after century,” Epstein said. “I join my colleagues at the Cubs in standing up with the Black Lives Matter movement and the protesters who are doing their best to make this a real inflection point in our history.

“At this moment in time, silence is complicity. It’s important that all of our voices are heard.”

Epstein believes it is important to spend more time listening right now and explained where he feels his own responsibility lies.

“I think I can also look inward too and I think that’s another step that we all have to take in society, as well as in the game,” Epstein said. “Take a good look at ourselves. It can be painful to look at ourselves, but when you call it systemic, I think we all have to admit that we’re all part of the problem and we all have to be better to become part of the solution.

“…One thing we’ve learned with systemic racism in general is the system doesn’t check itself. It’s on each of us to take action, to stand up and to make some changes. If we all look inward, ask ourselves the hard questions and make some changes, I think that’s how you address systemic issues and that’s how you make things better. And hopefully we will move forward and make positive change in all those areas, including making the clubhouse the welcoming place it should be for all players.”

Epstein also said Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts and president of business operations Crane Kenney are in the process of creating a diversity committee to set better standards and hold the organization more accountable with regards to hiring diverse candidates.