2 weeks Ago
LOS ANGELES — The 78th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s breaking of Major League Baseball’s color barrier centered on the Los Angeles Dodgers, as it always does. But on Tuesday, the league’s annual commemoration also served as a flashpoint of President Donald Trump’s quest to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, with the Dodgers trying to explain their decision to accept an invite last week to the White House and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar using a Dodger Stadium speech to issue a forceful rebuke of Trump’s policies, calling them a “ruse.” Advertisement “Trump wants to get rid of DEI,” Abdul-Jabbar said on Tuesday while speaking at the Dodgers’ celebration of Robinson.
“And I think it’s just a ruse to discriminate. So I’m glad that we do things like this, to let everybody in the country know what’s important. They also tried to get rid of Harriet Tubman.
But that didn’t work. There was just uproar about that. But you have to take that into consideration when we think about what’s going on today.
” A Trump executive order last month led to the scrubbing of government websites spotlighting historical contributions by women and minority groups, and the removal of articles on Robinson, Harriet Tubman and others. The article on Robinson on the Department of Defense website and one mentioning Tubman on the National Park Service website have since been restored . Major League Baseball removed references to diversity in its career page last month.
Abdul-Jabbar, who grew up listening to the Dodgers of Robinson and Roy Campanella on the radio and considered Robinson a mentor, pointed to the decision as part of an ongoing issue. “Jackie had an idea of what we had to confront,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “We had to confront segregation.
And in many ways, we’re still confronting it. But it’s worth it. And it certainly makes people respect us as a country when they see that there is some tension there, and good people are trying to do the right thing.
” Abdul-Jabbar, a Los Angeles Lakers great and activist, spoke at Dodger Stadium as part of Major League Baseball’s annual celebration of the day that Robinson made his debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. Seated in front of a statue of Robinson while donning the star’s jersey and a stitched blue Brooklyn cap with No. 42 on the side, Abdul-Jabbar spoke of his fandom and admiration for the Hall of Famer.
Advertisement The Dodgers themselves have received criticism during the last month for their handling of Robinson’s legacy in the wake of the Trump administration’s actions. The club was largely silent in the wake of the webpage’s brief removal. The reigning World Series champions accepted an invitation to the White House and were received by Trump last week in Washington, D.
C., where they repeatedly cited longstanding baseball tradition. Every member of the team’s traveling party attended, including manager Dave Roberts, shortstop Mookie Betts and utility man Kiké Hernández, each of whom has either been publicly critical of Trump or declined to visit the White House during his first term.
Eight days after presenting Trump with a No. 47 jersey, they stood in front of Robinson’s statue, all wearing Robinson’s No. 42.
“I don’t personally view it as talking out of both sides of our mouth,” Roberts said Tuesday. “I understand how people feel that way. But I do think that supporting our country, staying unified, aligned, is what I believe in personally.
I just believe in doing things the right way and I think people are going to have their opinions on what we did last week, but I do know that we all stand unified and we all have different stories and backgrounds and economic, political beliefs. But I was proud that we all stood together.” Betts stressed his decision was not political when he made it public, highlighting his unique position in the Dodgers’ clubhouse.
“Being Black in America in a situation like this, it’s a tough spot to be in,” Betts said then. “No matter what I choose, somebody’s going to be pissed. Somebody’s going to have an opinion.
“I told them I needed to think about it. Nobody else in this clubhouse has to go through a decision like this, except me.” That set the background for Tuesday’s celebration.
Abdul-Jabbar served as the headliner in what has become a tradition at Dodger Stadium, with the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies gathering in front of Robinson’s statue in the center field plaza for a 15-minute remembrance. The Dodgers wore caps with the Brooklyn “B” logo in front and Robinson’s signature inscribed on the underside of the bill. Two of Robinson’s eldest grandchildren, Sonya Pankey and Ayo Robinson , as well as scholars from the Jackie Robinson Foundation were in attendance.
During his speech, Abdul-Jabbar shared a story featured prominently in the article that had been wiped from the DOD site — the tale of Robinson refusing to move seats to the back of an Army bus during his time in the military in 1944. The incident led to Robinson being court-martialed. He was eventually acquitted, transferred to Camp Breckinridge, Ky.
, and honorably discharged in November 1944. Advertisement “The officer in charge of the base court-martialed Jackie,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “And Jackie beat him in court.
The guy was simply a racist. Jackie told him to go sit on it. I think that that was an important incident, because if Jackie hadn’t survived World War II, we wouldn’t be here.
” Roberts spent nearly all of his 12-minute pregame session with members of the media discussing Robinson, DEI and his own status as one of two Black managers in the major leagues. “I think he would say we need to do better,” Roberts said. Celebrating Robinson’s legacy, Roberts said, is even more important now, in this climate.
“This country needs a wake-up call,” Roberts said. “I kind of touched on it a little bit (during the remembrance). This is not a one-day situation.
It’s Jackie Robinson’s day for breaking the color barrier, but this is like an everyday sort of mindset, appreciation. “I think (we need) a wake-up call into the sacrifice. We’re talking about Jackie Robinson today, right? What he had to endure.
What he had to go through. The hate. To continue to persevere for the greater good .
.. I do think that having a mind of looking beyond is powerful.
I do. I think that Jackie just, he just figured it out much earlier than most people.” (Top photo of Abdul-Jabbar: Luke Hales / Getty Images).
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