As a white man and a Jew I never really understood Rev. Jesse Jackson. While I always found him to be an intelligent and articulate spokesman for the African American civil rights cause, I regarded him as arrogant even polarizing and divisive. His "Hymietown" slur in January, 1984 referring to the New York City Jewish community and "Hymies" for Jews offended me deeply, especially so coming from a recognized leader of one minority group slighting another. Although the insult was supposedly uttered in private, it was nonetheless reported by the national press.
In spite of these insensitive remarks and his eventual apology, it came as no surprise that he was a presidential candidate for the first time that same year and again in 1988. What audacity I thought. What sort of support did he expect to garner from white America? He had to have that support to be taken seriously. Equally important, could his candidacy hurt the Democratic Party's chances and further divide an already unstable party? Sure the black community rallied to his side, and rightly so, chanting "Run Jesse run" but minority numbers of support and catchy slogans do not make for a successful campaign and Jackson was too savvy a politico to deny this simple truth. But like any American he had every right to seek the presidency as long as he met federal requirements to run for office. And he certainly met those minimum requirements.
Then in 2004 Rev. Al Sharpton exercised his right to seek the highest office in the land. If Rev. Jackson failed to muster meaningful support did the Reverend Sharpton even have a prayer? He was regarded with as much disdain, if not more, to white America as Jackson. History recorded that neither man gained any significant support outside the black community and that was just fine with me and other members of white America.
It wasn't until five years later and three months into the Barack Obama administration that it finally dawned on this writer that by their presidential bids Reverends Jackson and Sharpton had made one of the most unheralded yet important inputs to the American political landscape since Reconstruction. I was casually watching a televised baseball game last April 15th. unaware the date corresponded with the 62nd. anniversary of Jackie Robinson integrating baseball to play with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Every player, manager, coach and umpire in both leagues wore Robinson's number, number 42, that day to commemorate the permanent break in baseball's color barrier making this an unprecedented, well-designed tribute in the world of major league baseball.
I was thunderstruck. I made the analogy that Jackson and Sharpton had been to American politics what the legendary "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and other ballplayers from the old Negro Leagues' era must have been to baseball. Like Joe Jackson paving the way for Jackie Robinson's career and race, they planted the seed that an African American, acceptable to white America, could one day enter the political arena as a serious presidential contender. The analogy didn't stop there. Mr. Obama was now our 44th President and as the media incessantly reported, "The first Black president." Like Jackie Robinson before him our newly-elected president had from the earliest days of his presidency experienced the same vitriolic contempt by detractors that Mr. Robinson knew all too well so many decades before while always maintaining his characteristic dignity in the face of racial adversity.
The history of baseball and politics are unmistakably intertwined as a result of race. Melanin. That subdermal pigment responsible for skin color, symbolizes the essence of hatred in a country that has had to confront prejudicial ugliness whether on the playing field or the halls of Congress.
Men like Reverends Jackson and Sharpton are indispensable to any organization that has as its agenda civil rights inclusion, acceptance and respect. Their methods in meeting these ends might seem controversial or reprehensible to outsiders but more often than not they eventually meet with success in promoting civil rights which justifies their welcome to any White House.
The 106th. World Series is now history and for the 27th. time in its history the New York Yankees were victorious, a fact that doesn't surprise anyone from the baby boomer generation. The question of race was never at issue. The only time we were reminded of baseball's racial past was the tribute to Jackie Robinson. A Black man now occupies the Oval Office as our duly elected by the people 44th. President. Despite the demands as head of state, President Obama probably made time to enjoy the series. He is after all an ardent baseball fan. Maybe between innings he contemplated the once inconceivable social change his election forged or that of countless black ballplayers that preceded Robinson, Mays and Aaron (whose jersey bore the number 44 during 23 years of service). And maybe, just maybe, he thought that one day the media will no longer find it so necessary to inform us of the first, second or third African American, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native American or Woman to enter a particular field. Just like in baseball.
Writer: Allan R. Marshall
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