Quote:
Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry
I understand and respect the point you're trying to make, but saying he "brought people together" is revisionist history. Honoring him now brings most people together, but there are still many, many deeply racist people in this country, some of whom would certainly stoop to stealing and burning a Jackie Robinson statue to make a point. Remember a few years ago how they had to make the Emmett Till memorial in Mississippi bulletproof after it had been riddled with bullet holes over and over again?
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I don’t think it’s revisionist history. Robinson’s existence in MLB caused many racists to reexamine their previously held positions on Blacks. And eventually Blacks in baseball became commonplace, allowing a once-excluded race access to America’s pastime. I don’t know how a statue today has even a fraction of the impact on race relations as Jackie breaking the color barrier back then did.
And yeah there are still racists in America. That is a fact which will remain regardless of the motive behind the theft of the statue, which still is unknown. The story I recounted in my post was designed to underscore that — when the WW2 statue was stolen it was presumed it was an anti-American statement when in reality it was nothing of the sort.