Hi Rev. John

God only made one Jackie Robinson, a VIP truly.

I'm ridin' in on my horse  to drop off some   droppins'  as follows:

The movie "42" has people talking again about Jackie Robinson and the sad, sad things he endured to become the first black player in Major League Baseball.

Even though I haven't seen the film - maybe some night this week - it got me thinking about a Newfoundland man who witnessed racism directed at Robinson firsthand.

http://www.thetelegram.com/Blog-Article/b/24143/Dinner-with-Jackie-Robinson-Newfoundland-ballplayer-remembered-baseball-legend-as-a-super-guy

Robinson was not just an example, but also a voice for change.

 "In July 1949, he testified on discrimination before the House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1952, he publicly called out the Yankees as a racist organization for not having broken the color barrier five years after he began playing with the Dodgers," notes Biography.com.

After he retired, he continued to support the cause of civil rights and served on the board of the NAACP.

According to "Grand Slams and Fumbles" by Peter Bellenson, Robinson once said: "I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being."

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Tech-Culture/2013/0131/Jackie-Robinson-honored-by-Google-Doodle-and-Hollywood-video

American Legend

 

 

Definitely planning to see 42. Thanks for your thoughts.

Thanks for your reveiw RevJohn - it's on my 'to see' list too.  It is quite amazing, to me anyway, to think all this took place not so very long ago.  There are tales of black musicians facing similar discrimination.  Some change has happened ... but I hope we can grow more. 

Not as much as you might think. Racism south of the border has simply gotten quiet due to th threat of reasonable people speaking out against the racists. The current anti-Obama diatribe including the "birther" movement is racist at it's core, it's primarily anger by racist whites at the idea they are being led by a black man.

And then there's the current anti-Muslim trend, which although it hides behind being about religion, is primarily racist at the core level. We see that even here in this very web site.

Racism is facing more opposition than before, but I don't think it's down and out yet. Like any prejudice, it simplky shifts targets based on convenience

I plan on going to see the movie. Thanks for the review.

It almost seems inconceivable that a black person couldn't play in a major league when we see how most sports are now predominately filled with those who are the best at what they do. My kids shake their heads in disabelief when I tell them how things were segregated not so long ago. They are disgusted, but the fact is, had they been born 60 years ago they might have thought it was normal. Of course the reality is we do still have a long way to go but thank God for those few that forged ahead, in spite of all the odds against them.

Here's to Jackie Robinson for gracefully showing us the error of our ways through his sacrifice.

Hi Carolla,

There was, once upon a time in my hometown of Brantford, Ontario an employee of the City of Brantford who drove a streetsweeper.  I suspect he did other things for the City of Brantford, at the time I only knew him in this one role.

I didn't even know his name.  I just knew that if he came by with the streetsweeper and you shouted out "Hey Yogi!" he would wave back and holler "Hey Boo Boo!"  He was black which made him pretty exotic.

As I grew up I learned more about the man.

I learned that his name was Jimmy Wilkes.  I learned that he played ball for our hometown Brantford Red Sox some years earlier when Brantford was a powerful presence in Ontario's Major Intercounty League (they still are but I digress.)

I learned that my grandfather Joseph managed the team while Jimmy played and because I love the game of baseball I began to read some of the stories of players I admired, like the legendary Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.

It threw open a window on my world as then unexplored, the notion of hating a person because of the colour of their skin.

Back to Jimmy . . .

Jimmy was, by all accounts as good a ball player as anyone else but he was a bit older than Jackie and not nearly as tolerant.  Though he also signed with the Dodgers he never played in the Major Leagues and returned to the Negro League until it folded.

Then he came to Canada to play semi-Pro for the Brantford Red Sox and this city loved him.

I came to know him well as an umpire in the Major Intercounty League.  He loved the game, loved the fans had a great sense of humour and knowing that myself and some friends had great fun with him.  We never heckled a close call that Jimmy made, we'd give him hell on obvious calls we didn't like as if it had been a close play.

We never knew where Jimmy would be umping at any given game.  He might be behind the plate, at first or over on third.  When he came down the first base line we were ecstatic because we loved sitting behind the visitors bench and heckling the visiting team to distraction.

And it would start, we'd tell him that he was looking good for an old man, ask if he brought the right glasses for close plays, typical razz the ump stuff.  He'd put on a huge grin and fire tell us how much he looked forward to working our side of the field.  And there would be good natured banter all evening.  Especially when we would plead for our Red Sox after Jimmy made a call not in their favour.  We majored in histrionics and we made him crack a smile more than once during the game.

I remember one game in particular, as I said we never made a sound about a close call especially if it went against Brantford.  We admired and respected him too much to treat him like any other umpire.  Not at all close calls against Brantford and we were like a Greek chorus chanting laments of despair and flingin typical umpire barbs.

This evening the Kitchener Panters were in town and it was not at all a close game.  Our boys were hammering them good and because there were not a lot of close calls at first we had occasion to sing Jimmy up for most of the evening.  Then there was a close call that went Brantford's way and the Kitchener bullpen started to complain.

We were indignant and we turned our heckling towards their relief pitching staff particularly this one guy we nicknamed "Hollywood" because of his hair being all very fashionably styled for the mid-80s.  The game wore on and as Brantford was beating the stuffing out of Kitchener the close call at first appeared to the Panther pitchers be a key turning point in the game.  And that was when somebody made the crack about Jimmy being a former Red Sox player and biased in his judgement.

We were on our feet and about to let loose when Jimmy, who had been putting up with their guff for three innings spun around and in his very loud umpire voice which could be heard for blocks pointed at several of the players shouting, "You, you, you, and you.  One more word out of any of you and you're all gone!"

Silence reigned.  Hollywood and his pitching buddies dropped their heads then Jimmy looked up at our little group and said, "Of course I'm not talking to you boys, you make all the noise you want."  Then he went back to happily umping a pretty easy contest.  We of course, were quite merciless to the Panther pirtchers and whenever one of them turned toward us to defend himself we would pointedly ask Jimmy if he was one of the guys who had to shut up or get tossed.  That would cut off the retaliation immediately and I will never forget the huge grin and the wink we got from Jimmy after the game.

Jimmy "Seabiscuit" Wilkes died August 11, 2008.  Baseball in Brantford hasn't been the same since. 

More on Jimmy in the following:

http://www.attheplate.com/wcbl/profile_wilkes_jimmy.html

Some of the articles point to the respect Jimmy commanded as a man.

I can't see a street sweeper anywhere without being reminded of Jimmy Wilkes and what a good man he was.

Grace and peace to you.

John