Can't wait to see 42
Click to viewI am so excited for the movie 42 to come out this April. I've watched the trailer about six times now, and it looks great. Plus I am a huge Jackie Robinson fan. He was just so cool. You see how truly amazing he was when you look at what that demanded from him in breaking the color barrier. He was actually not the best player in the Negro Leagues. Old man Satchel Paige was a better pitcher, and Josh Gibson was considered to be the best all-around player. But he was damn talented, and moreover, he was a special man. He was polite, well-spoken, a personable and charismatic guy. He was a soldier and even went to college; none of my grandparents did. They picked Jackie because he had the guts to face the brutal, disgusting racism he would encounter with dignity and grace.
Because what he did was about so much more than just making a major league career for a talented ball player. It was a huge mission for the civil rights movement. The eyes of the nation whose minds needed to be changed were on him. And what they saw was that a black man could be so remarkable- smart, classy, strong, talented, all the sorts of things people like and respect -succeeding in the highest arena of the most American game there is. While other men acted like beasts, he faced them with courage and dignity. He never gave in, never let anybody drag him down to their level, no matter how many slurs they yelled at him, no matter how many pitchers tried to bean him. Jackie made people love him, respect him. And when they realized they could love and respect one black man, it suddenly wasn’t so strange to think that maybe all of them deserved that same chance. His virtue and strength were directly responsible for tangible social change.
Because that’s the way. Hate and prejudice’s greatest enemy is humanity. Seeing the humanity of another person does more to break down barriers between people than anyone else.