Let’s start with the positive. There was a Major League Baseball game played in Birmingham, AL this week at Rickwood Field, the oldest professional ballpark in the country, which was once home to the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues. The game was a celebration of those Black players who had been denied entry into the Major Leagues. The recently departed Willie Mays played for the Black Barons when he was still in high school. For more on that story see WaPo, For Black baseball, game at Rickwood Field is tribute to past, hope for future or NPR, MLB game in Alabama takes on extra significance following Willie Mays’ death.
What I really want to highlight, however, is from (of all places) Awful Announcing: Reggie Jackson details sickening racism he faced playing in Alabama: ‘Wouldn’t wish it on anybody.’
One of the most important and powerful moments from the night occurred when Reggie Jackson teared up during Fox’s pregame coverage as he recounted the racial slurs and threats he encountered as a minor leaguer playing in segregated Birmingham.
“How emotional is it for you to come back to a place that you played with one of the greatest teams around?” Alex Rodriguez asked Jackson from the MLB on Fox set at Rickwood Field. After being drafted by the Kansas City Athletics, Jackson played with their Double-A affiliate, the Birmingham A’s, in 1967, who played their home games at Rickwood Field.
A clip can be found here:
I would echo the following from the write-up:
There’s often an inclination to spin racism off as a story of progress. It’s important to remember these horrific details shared by Jackson occurred just 58 years ago. Many of the people who targeted Jackson with vicious racist attacks and death threats in 1967 are probably still alive today.
I think this is worth noting for reasons I outlined, at length, in my post Thinking about the Past. It also intersects with the following:
Don’t get me wrong: Birmingham in 2024 isn’t the same as Birmingham from 1967 (likewise, America writ large has made important strides), but I can’t help but reflect on how recent 1967 is in the grand scheme of things and, to the point of those linked posts, the degree to which a host of difficulties (and just basic realities) of 2024 were shaped by 1967.
It is also a reminder that those who call for America to be made great again by turning back the clock are either ignorant of what they are asking for or are all too malignant in their desires.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Steven L. Taylor
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.outsidethebeltway.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.