For '42,' actor had to please Jackie Robinson's No. 1 fan - Los Angeles Times

For '42,' actor had to please Jackie Robinson's No. 1 fan - Los Angeles Times


(Ficklin Media Note: 42 Opens on April 12. This is going to sound unpatriotic, but history is history. Black exploitation economic history is written daily as we shake, rattle and roll from harlem to haiti to havana to heaven and to hell , but I digress.

Point number one,I am sick and tired of seeing films about how white policy and government oppression is sanitized. Ask yourself a fundamental question- Did not Jackie Robinson join the army to protect this country? How  is it umpteen years after the bill of rights and the living breathing constitution was it legal for black men not to be able to play on a white major league team prior to Jackie Robinson?


We toss around the historical euphemisms of legal segregation and jim crow as if they were titles for academic white papers rather than state sanctioned terrorism.

Point number 2. By all means see the film and take your children,but ask yourself, is it possible that "the integration of White Baseball, SAVED a dying industy? Do the research. Look up attendance figures . Do the longitudinal analysis. )

Comments

Gary McElroy said…
I am sure that Branch Rickey had the financial interests of the Dodgers in mind with Jackie Robinson's employment, but it still took a good bit of courage and conviction to do it. Jackie had to pull the weight, of course, and we owe him the greater measure of gratitude for doing it.