Saturday, April 14, 2007

Irony in Jackie Robinson Week

One thing that I loved about baseball/softball was that it didn't matter if you were tall, short, fat, skinny, black, white - all that mattered was that you were good.

That's kind of why I always respected Jackie Robinson so much - he had to deal with so much stupid racist bullshit, but he showed the world through his ability and poise that all that matters is that you can play the game.

That's why on this week where we honor 60th anniversary of his achievement it bothers me that this Don Imus controversy has taken place.

Imus is a shock jock and what he said was wrong you can't diss good college kids trying to do the right thing like that. Imus as a man has done a lot of good thing but that is still no excuse for his actions he paid to face the consequences of his action. I understand and agree with his firing, but something still bothers me about it.

Jackie Robinson was strong enough to not fight back - he peacefully proved his worth, and in the end everyone won. But when so called activist like that phony Al Sharpton and to a lesser degree Jesse Jackson get involved then I feel like we all lose. They twist issues to their advantage for their own agenda creating a schism between the races. The Imus firing was right out of Salem Massachusetts - a witch hunt.

I think Jackie Robinson would have thought the firing was fair but he would have been unhappy about how it all went about. This issue seems to have further divided blacks and non blacks more than unite them and as a result, it seems we all lost something.

Having all this go down on Jackie Robinson week still tells me that we still have a long way to go.

1 comment:

  1. A lot further than we'd like to admit or believe. Every generation seems to take us back 1 step further. It's not good and not getting any better.

    Peace
    Jack S.

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