Just the other day, we were catching up on the sports world in our daily dose of ESPN. It was on this day that SportsCenter was reporting on the previous day’s celebration of the life and legacy of Jackie Robinson. Everywhere in major league baseball, players wore the number 42 in commemoration and in celebration of Jackie Robinson.
Many of you may remember the day, I only remember the story. But on April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. He will be remembered, not only as a great ball player in his own right, but as the person who put up with all manor of behavior, most of which is unspeakable, just to play the game he loved. Up until his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, baseball had been segregated. At that time in the United States, many white people believed that blacks and whites should be kept apart in many aspects of life, including sports.
If you place this event into a timeline, Robinson's entrance into the National League in 1947 came a year before the President desegregated our military, and seven years before the Supreme Court ruled desegregation in public schools was unconstitutional in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education.
As Tracy and I watched that morning, we noted that Jackie Robinson exposed the world to the issue of race with grace and poise. He could have been quite resentful about the time that he did not spend in the big leagues, but instead loved the game and even offered grace to those who reviled and persecuted him.
As Sports Illustrated's Bill Nack wrote: "Robinson was the target of racial epithets and flying cleats, of hate letters and death threats, of pitchers throwing at his head and legs, and catchers spitting on his shoes(ESPN.com)." Tracy then noted, “He was treated like a dog!”
Our six year old only heard one phrase that morning. Her bagel was more important and made more sense than words like prejudice, racism and color barrier. But what did make sense to her was someone being treated poorly. “Why would they treat that man like a dog?” she asked innocently and curiously. “Because of the color of his skin, sweetie,” we tried to explain. To which she responded, “Why would somebody treat him like a dog for their skin?” Good question, my dear, good question.
My kids don’t understand racism. They don’t understand, and I hope for quite some time, why someone is treated differently. Racism is a difficult concept to describe to children, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
Racism can be defined as any action, attitude, or practice that subordinates an individual or group of persons based upon skin color or ethnicity. It can be enacted individually, culturally, systemically, or institutionally. It can be conscious or unconscious.
Unfortunately, because we “celebrate” broken color lines; we’ve elected a minority as President of the United States; and our children don’t understand racism; some erroneously believe that racism is no longer a problem in America.
Even more unfortunate is the reality that racism does exist and it must be something for which we stand against as a church. The gospels support that mandate, not in words about color, but about how we are to treat all individuals with love, respect, dignity, and affirmation.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like the first, that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Those familiar words from Matthew 22 remind us that our relationship with a loving God demands that we treat others as equals. Yes, we are different, but we are all chosen and precious in the sight of God.
I once had a professor at Allegheny College who during our class entitled; “Black Culture and Black Radicalism” admit that he was a “recovering racist.” To our initial unbelief, he explained that racism is something that we have to fight every day of our lives. He grew up in the south during a time of segregation. He had seen things that are often unspeakable. To be prejudicial and participate in a racist society comes quite easy for us as white Americans. But just as some fight everyday from addictions, he also fights the feelings and the sentiments that are exhibited in racist belief and behavior.
Consciously and unconsciously, racism exists. And it is something from which we must be delivered. I pray that God would speak to us in these moments of Easter and Pentecost – that God’s mighty Spirit might break through the lines that separate us and bring us to a place of wholeness and life in the Risen Christ.
Many of you may remember the day, I only remember the story. But on April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. He will be remembered, not only as a great ball player in his own right, but as the person who put up with all manor of behavior, most of which is unspeakable, just to play the game he loved. Up until his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers, baseball had been segregated. At that time in the United States, many white people believed that blacks and whites should be kept apart in many aspects of life, including sports.
If you place this event into a timeline, Robinson's entrance into the National League in 1947 came a year before the President desegregated our military, and seven years before the Supreme Court ruled desegregation in public schools was unconstitutional in the landmark case Brown v. Board of Education.
As Tracy and I watched that morning, we noted that Jackie Robinson exposed the world to the issue of race with grace and poise. He could have been quite resentful about the time that he did not spend in the big leagues, but instead loved the game and even offered grace to those who reviled and persecuted him.
As Sports Illustrated's Bill Nack wrote: "Robinson was the target of racial epithets and flying cleats, of hate letters and death threats, of pitchers throwing at his head and legs, and catchers spitting on his shoes(ESPN.com)." Tracy then noted, “He was treated like a dog!”
Our six year old only heard one phrase that morning. Her bagel was more important and made more sense than words like prejudice, racism and color barrier. But what did make sense to her was someone being treated poorly. “Why would they treat that man like a dog?” she asked innocently and curiously. “Because of the color of his skin, sweetie,” we tried to explain. To which she responded, “Why would somebody treat him like a dog for their skin?” Good question, my dear, good question.
My kids don’t understand racism. They don’t understand, and I hope for quite some time, why someone is treated differently. Racism is a difficult concept to describe to children, but it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist.
Racism can be defined as any action, attitude, or practice that subordinates an individual or group of persons based upon skin color or ethnicity. It can be enacted individually, culturally, systemically, or institutionally. It can be conscious or unconscious.
Unfortunately, because we “celebrate” broken color lines; we’ve elected a minority as President of the United States; and our children don’t understand racism; some erroneously believe that racism is no longer a problem in America.
Even more unfortunate is the reality that racism does exist and it must be something for which we stand against as a church. The gospels support that mandate, not in words about color, but about how we are to treat all individuals with love, respect, dignity, and affirmation.
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like the first, that you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Those familiar words from Matthew 22 remind us that our relationship with a loving God demands that we treat others as equals. Yes, we are different, but we are all chosen and precious in the sight of God.
I once had a professor at Allegheny College who during our class entitled; “Black Culture and Black Radicalism” admit that he was a “recovering racist.” To our initial unbelief, he explained that racism is something that we have to fight every day of our lives. He grew up in the south during a time of segregation. He had seen things that are often unspeakable. To be prejudicial and participate in a racist society comes quite easy for us as white Americans. But just as some fight everyday from addictions, he also fights the feelings and the sentiments that are exhibited in racist belief and behavior.
Consciously and unconsciously, racism exists. And it is something from which we must be delivered. I pray that God would speak to us in these moments of Easter and Pentecost – that God’s mighty Spirit might break through the lines that separate us and bring us to a place of wholeness and life in the Risen Christ.
