42: Jackie Robinson
The movie 42, directed by Brian Helgeland, discussed the life of baseball player Jackie Robinson. Robinson, the first African American major league baseball player, had to deal with all the discrimination from white people who were angered by him playing. He was first accepted to play on the minor league team, the Montreal Royals, and was later signed to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers. He had to deal with pitchers hitting him with the ball, white fans booing and taunting him, and the entire white population of America essentially hating his guts and threatening his life. At one scene, Robinson even says the crowd is full of “crackpots still fighting the Civil War.” Jackie Robinson is married, with one son, and has to deal with the stress and worry of those who threaten him actually taking action and potentially harming his family. Branch Rickey, who signed Robinson to the Dodgers, wanted to bring in extra money by targeting the black audience in New York. He knew what chaos Jackie was in for, and wanted to hire “a player who’s got the guts not to fight back.” Jackie Robinson was a legend on and off the field, and the number 42 is the only retired number in baseball. Robinson had the courage to do what no black man had done before, and is revered as a hero to African Americans.
My thesis states that part of the American experience is having rights without the freedom to use them. Jackie Robinson is a free, African American, and he has just as much a right to play baseball as any white man. However, Robinson is discriminated against because of his skin color. Hotels refuse to let him spend the night, the airport gave away his seats and made him take the bus, and some of his teammates even signed a petition so they wouldn’t have to play with him. All of these are examples of how Jackie Robinson has the right to play baseball without freedom from discrimination and fair treatment. His rights are being limited, and the white society sees nothing wrong with this injustice.
My thesis states that part of the American experience is having rights without the freedom to use them. Jackie Robinson is a free, African American, and he has just as much a right to play baseball as any white man. However, Robinson is discriminated against because of his skin color. Hotels refuse to let him spend the night, the airport gave away his seats and made him take the bus, and some of his teammates even signed a petition so they wouldn’t have to play with him. All of these are examples of how Jackie Robinson has the right to play baseball without freedom from discrimination and fair treatment. His rights are being limited, and the white society sees nothing wrong with this injustice.