David Robinson: Jackie Robinson's Son

[dr. zooeuss]

Watching him being interviewed by Tavis Smiley right now. Interesting stuff.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I heard Mrs. Robinson being interviewed on the Sunday night ESPN game, that was great too. Jackie Robinson was so important in history, not just in baseball. Even MLK gave him credit for breaking the ground for his civil rights work.

 

[dr. zooeuss]

Yes, when you think about it, Jackie Robinson paved the way for MLK in several ways.

 

[verte76]

Jackie Robinson was amazing.

 

[deep]

Yes, when you think about it, Jackie Robinson paved the way for MLK in several ways.

yes,

but it was Rosa Parks that made the stand
by refusing to give up her seat on a bus.

Why didn't J R have the courage to do something like that?


this is a test

 

[dr. zooeuss]

"Jackie Robinson served in the United States Army from 1942-1944 as a second lieutenant, and his actions during his military service not only presaged his breaking of the color line in baseball, but may also have influenced, however indirectly, President Harry S. Truman’s decision to integrate U.S. Armed forces in 1948. As the finding aid to the Jackie Robinson Papers at the Library of Congress succinctly notes, the archive includes:

"[P]ersonnel records from Robinson's military service[] includ[ed] court-martial charges of insubordination resulting from his refusal to obey an order to move to the back of a segregated military bus in Texas. A military jury acquitted Robinson, and shortly thereafter, he received an honorable discharge.”[18]

Jackie thus revealed himself to be a man of principle and courage years before he entered the public eye. His July 6, 1944 refusal to submit to Jim Crow laws while in the military pre-date, by more than a decade, a similar, but much more widely-known “stance” by Rosa Parks, who famously refused to give up her seat on a public bus in 1955. [19] At his August 2, 1944 court martial, Jackie was found innocent of insubordination. He was honorably discharged from military duty on November 28, 1944, but his story, and his resistance to hatred rooted in bizarre notions spawned by scientific racism and popular predjudice had only really just begun.[20]"

-from Jackie Robinson's bio on wikipedia.

 

[Headache in a Suitcase]

yes,

but it was Rosa Parks that made the stand
by refusing to give up her seat on a bus.

Why didn't J R have the courage to do something like that?


this is a test

i hope there's some sarcasm here and you're not really questioning jackie robinson's courage..

 

[deep]

i hope there's some sarcasm here and you're not really questioning jackie robinson's courage..

I think it is more frustration
than sarcasm

I learned about Rosa Parks in school

and the only thing they taught me about Robinson was that he was a polite guy that played baseball with white ball players.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Jackie Robinson took a huge amount of abuse and crap in order to do what he did in baseball. He also did things that predated Rosa Parks- he faced court-martial charges of insubordination resulting from his refusal to obey an order to move to the back of a segregated military bus in Texas. A military jury acquitted him an he received an honorable discharge. That was in 1944.

In baseball he was verbally abused by fans and even his own teammates.

Wikipedia

"On April 22, 1947, during a game between the Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies players called Jackie a "******" from their dugout, and yelled that he should "go back to the cotton fields."Branch Rickey would later recall that the Phillies' manager, Ben Chapman, "did more than anybody to unite the Dodgers. When he poured out that string of unconscionable abuse, he solidified and united thirty men." Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler admonished the Phillies and asked Chapman to pose for photographs with Robinson as a conciliatory gesture.

Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who would be a teammate of Robinson's for the better part of a decade, was one of the few players who publicly stood up for Robinson during his rookie season. During the team's first road trip, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Robinson was being heckled by fans when Reese, the Dodgers team captain, walked over and put his arm around Robinson in a gesture of support that quieted the fans and has now gained near-legendary status. Reese was once quoted saying about Robinson "You can hate a man for many reasons, color is not one of them." In addition, the Jewish baseball star Hank Greenberg, who had faced considerable anti-Semitism earlier in his career, made a point of welcoming Robinson to the major leagues."