Reflective Ramblings on Robinson

Tonight I went and saw the new movie about Jackie Robinson, 42, and it gave me the same feelings I always have when I watch (or read) something about someone who struggled through such strong prejudices. I feel angry. I feel sad. I feel mad. I feel determined. There was more than one occasion during the movie that I wanted to yell at someone or throw my popcorn at the screen. How could people be so cruel? How could they say such hurtful things? More importantly, how could you think that God loves someone less because of the color of their skin? One of my favorite lines in the movie is when Branch Rickey, President of the Brooklyn Dodgers says something along the lines of, "How are you going to feel when you meet God someday and he asks you why you wouldn't play baseball with a black man? What are you going to say then?"

How many situations in my life does that apply to? What am I neglecting that God wants me to see? How would I have responded if I lived in 1947 and was raised to think differently than I have been now? I struggled with this when I read and saw The Help two years ago and when I first saw Hairspray five years ago. So much segregation. So much prejudice. How can I make a difference, even today, when there are still prejudices out there that need someone to stand up for them? Lord, help me to see these needs and do something about it.

The most redeeming part of the movie for me was not actually part of what I watched on screen, but what I saw (and heard) in the theater. There is a scene in the movie where Robinson and the Phillies coach are going to shake hands and Robinson picks up a bat and suggests that they shake the bat so the coach wouldn't have to touch a black man. A few seats down from me a young boy, probably 10 or 11, turns to his dad and asks, "Why would he not want to touch him?"

Prejudice and racism are things we learn. Not things we are born with.

Knowing that this little boy didn't understand what was going on meant that he is living in a world where prejudice does not rule (or so I am assuming). We are not born with the instinct to think less of someone because they are a different color, race, religion, or ethnicity. How we interact is a learned trait from parents, friends, culture, and more. My prayer is that each generation would know less and less prejudice in every aspect of life.

"And he answered, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.'"

Luke 10:27 ESV