Baseball great Reggie Jackson shared a powerful story about racism in the early days of his baseball career. He said that what he experienced "he wouldn't wish it on anybody." I’m a huge Reggie Jackson fan, and react to his message. I think it's a warning because the racist, sad world that Jackson experienced isn't too far in our history:
I was born in 1952. I grew up in the South. Jim Crow is still real in places like Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina. Hitler used "Jim Crow" as a blueprint for his treatment of the Jews and anybody else he didn't like. The US fought a war to destroy Fascism, yet here we are not even 100 years later with people trying to justify this garbage. We know better. Reggie is one of many who can tell us what it was like. Listen to him.
Trump has no ideology except the relentless means to scam money anyway possible. Trump truly has no attention span, not more than episodic focus, and a severe sense of inferiority that he hides at all costs. Control is essential for him because he could never compete on a level playing field. So he cheats and lies and and makes up facts to convince himself that he is a superior human. He has to surround himself in sycophants to reinforce his hide his frailties. That’s why he freaks out when anyone is unflattering to him. So he has surveyed the land and found useful idiots to protect from his self truth.
As long as he is in control, no one will find out his truth. As long as he is in control he feels superior.
To achieve this, he is willing to promise whatever he thinks these useful idiots want to hear. He won’t fulfill these promises unless it benefits him. He is not a man of his word and pivots on a dime if it will benefit him , like the abortion issue, now the Ten Commandments, …
He has no ideology other than what’s in it for him. He will say anything to get what he wants. Ask the people who have done work for him, then he stiffs them when it’s time to pay.
Trumps racial prejudice came from and was embedded in his youth by his daddy. He just has hidden to achieve his lifetime of grift.
Growing up in northern New Jersey, I never missed a Yankee game in the 1970s, whether it be by attendance, TV, or radio. I remember the radio broadcasts of Bill White, Phil Rizzuto, and Frank Messer. Reggie was a huge presence in my life.
I do feel today, unfortunately, that many Americans — far too many — want to bring the country back to Jim Crow. You have today in the supporters of the MAGA Fascist Party, as Martin Luther King once said, sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
And, down here, in The South, we have idiots electing idiots like Mark Robinson, who has said the Civil Rights Movement was a ridiculous premise that cost freedoms.
Unfortunately he is the Lieutenant Governor of my state and thus I see his hate, ignorance, stupidity, misogyny, and homophobia every day. Why on God’s green earth 2,856,000 North Carolinians voted for him is beyond my comprehension. They are complicit.
The entire situation has me down. He is polling even with Josh Stein and he is just a spewer of hatred. He has no clue about governing. A no class man — and the people supporting him are just as bad.
Great video, Steve. Reggie didn't take shit from anybody. Neither did Dick Allen. It's a crime that Dick isn't in the Hall of Fame. I think it's wonderful that MLB finally included Negro League statistics in with Major League statistics. This allows for many great Negro League players to finally get their due.(Veterans committee, are you listening?)
Reggie and Dick hit some of the most awesome Home Runs ever. The ball that Reggie hit in the 1971 All-Star game in Tiger Stadium.(Off the top of the right field light standard!) Dick hit one in St.Louis to the back row of the upper deck in Busch Stadium. Another guy who didn't suffer fools was Bob Gibson.
In 1988 Reggie Jackson had an $8,000,000 car collection and lost 32/100+ vehicles to a fire. I remember one was an early Camaro with an aluminum engine, one of less than 10.
Mr. October. He hit 3 homers in a World Series championship game, tying Babe Ruth’s long held record.
He claimed that when he faced Nolan Ryan he took three swings and hit the bench, lucky to survive.
I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. I was 7 years old when the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed by the KKK where four little girls were killed. I don’t remember my mother or grandmother ever discussing the bombing in front of me at that age. We lived in the East Lake area of town right beside the “colored” neighborhood and both my mother and grandmother had black friends who were around my grandmother’s age whom they would often visit before all the civil unrest and violence started happening in B’ham. When that occurred I don’t remember them visiting anymore. I’m not sure of their reasons but it might have been to protect themselves and their black neighbors. It was a shameful period for Birmingham and many other urban areas in the South. Nat King Cole came to the city on the train to perform. At the time Birmingham had a beautiful train station that welcomed visitors but unfortunately, he was forced back on board and thus out of town. My mother was so angry and embarrassed. She loved his music and was very disappointed, to understate. I’m sure and I know, there are many other “Trail Blazers” like Reggie Jackson who can tell similar stories and I heard many and met many in the years when I taught in Birmingham Public Schools. Now those on the far right want to erase all those stories from our history books and literature and it’s for the very reason you have mentioned Steve. They want it washed over and forgotten to keep us from learning from the mistakes, injustices, and hatreds of the past. Unfortunately, we will always have racism, prejudice, intolerance, lack of compassion, and hatred among some in our society. And unfortunately, it’s not only in the South, but it’s the sacred responsibility of a democratic nation and its leaders to protect against those evils. We won’t have that protection in Trump is elected.
"Outspoken and charismatic, Reggie Jackson was never afraid to speak his mind," is the first line of his bio on the Baseball Hall of Fame website. As a compulsive investigator of why people are the way they are, and why things happen when they do, that opening line made me think about what we'd find in Jackson's horoscope, and why he is making news now. A super-charged Mercury (symbolizing how someone needs to think and communicate), and/or strong placements in Sagittarius are what I expected when I calculated his birth chart for noon (because we don't have an exact birth time). May 18, 1946 in Cheltenham, PA = Taurus Sun; Moon in Sagittarius. Someone born with Moon in Sagittarius is driven by the need to be respected for their opinions. Jackson has Mars-Pluto together in Leo with an exact Mercury-Mars square, which suggests athletic power and a persuasive mindset & communication. Transiting Mars is at 9 Taurus today, activating that t-square. In other words, a strong Sagittarius placement & super-charged Mercury were in the horoscope, as anticipated. Mercury is currently activated, reflecting the astro-logic of why Jackson is making news NOW. Plus, with transiting Uranus on his Taurus Sun, we anticipate the potential for intense individuation; i.e., recognized and/or celebrated for being a maverick, rebel, innovative -- whatever disrupts the status quo. This video clip has been shared all over social media today, and I'm really glad to see it shared here. Steve, you are so right to see it as a warning. On my last cross-country flight, I watched "42" --the 2013 film starring Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson. The hateful experiences Jackson recounted were similar to Robinson's. We need to be reminded so we don't go back.
Okay, so I'm not familiar with astrology, so will defer to you on that. Just wanted to say that I agree that "42" (ahem not "47" Steve 😉), is an excellent movie. Lifelong Dodgers fan, so remember the disappointment as a 14-year-old when Jackson and the NYY beat my Dodgers in the '77 and then again in the '78 World Series, but grew to have so much respect for Reggie Jackson and his aptly deserved "Mr. October" moniker.
The overall theme of Steve's video provides yet another important message about the direction TFG and the MAGA crowd sadly want to take our beloved country in. We need to fight for this election and support Biden and the anti MAGA candidates up and down the ballot.
Hopefully at some point Steve will do an interview or discussion with Josh Stein, the man running against Mark Robinson for Governor of North Carolina. Martin Luther King’s son said his father would be gravely disappointed in Mark Robinson. I am gravely disappointed in the people of this state. We’ve lost our way when people filled with hatred and contempt for others become our highest ranking public officials.
In his stories he mentioned being called the, “N” word at Oakland Athletics owner Charles Finley’s banquet place. I knew Mr. Finley and his sons in high school, LaPorte, IN. I can assure anyone if this actually occurred it would have been dealt with immediately, either by termination or a trip to the woods for some country justice. I NEVER heard anything of this nature, either by Mr. Finley or his sons.
I do thank Steve for writing about this. I do thank ESPN for its coverage and MLB for iits support. That side, it was a lost opportunity, especially given today’s push back in the political world, from Tim Scott to Byron Donalds.
Addressing contemporary racism is crucial because it persists in various forms, affecting individuals' lives and societal structures today. Public figures, like Scott and Donals, deny this reality. Limiting discussions to historical racism overlooks the ongoing inequalities and systemic issues that people of color continue to face. Addressing ongoing racism ensures that the fight against racism is not seen as a completed chapter in history but as an ongoing struggle requiring continuous effort and vigilance.
Not sure it’s in our history. Still alive and well in far too many American hearts. And there’s a few million MAGA creeps who are working to make sure it’s in our future as well.
The spirit and consequences of racism live on in today's politics, economy, and society. Nothing better illustrates the ugly and pernicious nature of racism and how deeply rooted it is than a study of the career of Newt Gringrich. LZ Granderson, Op-Ed columnist for the L.A. Times, wrote this in a recent column:
"Gingrich called the vice president both 'uneducated' and 'uneducable' not for the sake of truth and honesty but to protect the pillar of caste that would be threatened by the truth about Harris.
The one identified in Wilkerson's book, 'Caste, The Origims of Our Discontent,' as 'inherent superiority vs. inherent inferiority.'"
Newt Gingrich is mean-spirited, racist s.o.b., who throughout his life has never lived by the Christian values he cynically used to advance his career. A true representative of just how ugly MAGA and Trump are.
I was born in 1952. I grew up in the South. Jim Crow is still real in places like Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina. Hitler used "Jim Crow" as a blueprint for his treatment of the Jews and anybody else he didn't like. The US fought a war to destroy Fascism, yet here we are not even 100 years later with people trying to justify this garbage. We know better. Reggie is one of many who can tell us what it was like. Listen to him.
Trump has no ideology except the relentless means to scam money anyway possible. Trump truly has no attention span, not more than episodic focus, and a severe sense of inferiority that he hides at all costs. Control is essential for him because he could never compete on a level playing field. So he cheats and lies and and makes up facts to convince himself that he is a superior human. He has to surround himself in sycophants to reinforce his hide his frailties. That’s why he freaks out when anyone is unflattering to him. So he has surveyed the land and found useful idiots to protect from his self truth.
As long as he is in control, no one will find out his truth. As long as he is in control he feels superior.
To achieve this, he is willing to promise whatever he thinks these useful idiots want to hear. He won’t fulfill these promises unless it benefits him. He is not a man of his word and pivots on a dime if it will benefit him , like the abortion issue, now the Ten Commandments, …
He has no ideology other than what’s in it for him. He will say anything to get what he wants. Ask the people who have done work for him, then he stiffs them when it’s time to pay.
Trumps racial prejudice came from and was embedded in his youth by his daddy. He just has hidden to achieve his lifetime of grift.
Growing up in northern New Jersey, I never missed a Yankee game in the 1970s, whether it be by attendance, TV, or radio. I remember the radio broadcasts of Bill White, Phil Rizzuto, and Frank Messer. Reggie was a huge presence in my life.
I do feel today, unfortunately, that many Americans — far too many — want to bring the country back to Jim Crow. You have today in the supporters of the MAGA Fascist Party, as Martin Luther King once said, sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
And, down here, in The South, we have idiots electing idiots like Mark Robinson, who has said the Civil Rights Movement was a ridiculous premise that cost freedoms.
Did you hear Mark Robinson today? One scary, racist, hateful individual.
Unfortunately he is the Lieutenant Governor of my state and thus I see his hate, ignorance, stupidity, misogyny, and homophobia every day. Why on God’s green earth 2,856,000 North Carolinians voted for him is beyond my comprehension. They are complicit.
I'm here in NC too, very scary!!
The entire situation has me down. He is polling even with Josh Stein and he is just a spewer of hatred. He has no clue about governing. A no class man — and the people supporting him are just as bad.
Great video, Steve. Reggie didn't take shit from anybody. Neither did Dick Allen. It's a crime that Dick isn't in the Hall of Fame. I think it's wonderful that MLB finally included Negro League statistics in with Major League statistics. This allows for many great Negro League players to finally get their due.(Veterans committee, are you listening?)
Reggie and Dick hit some of the most awesome Home Runs ever. The ball that Reggie hit in the 1971 All-Star game in Tiger Stadium.(Off the top of the right field light standard!) Dick hit one in St.Louis to the back row of the upper deck in Busch Stadium. Another guy who didn't suffer fools was Bob Gibson.
In 1988 Reggie Jackson had an $8,000,000 car collection and lost 32/100+ vehicles to a fire. I remember one was an early Camaro with an aluminum engine, one of less than 10.
Mr. October. He hit 3 homers in a World Series championship game, tying Babe Ruth’s long held record.
He claimed that when he faced Nolan Ryan he took three swings and hit the bench, lucky to survive.
I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. I was 7 years old when the 16th Street Baptist Church was bombed by the KKK where four little girls were killed. I don’t remember my mother or grandmother ever discussing the bombing in front of me at that age. We lived in the East Lake area of town right beside the “colored” neighborhood and both my mother and grandmother had black friends who were around my grandmother’s age whom they would often visit before all the civil unrest and violence started happening in B’ham. When that occurred I don’t remember them visiting anymore. I’m not sure of their reasons but it might have been to protect themselves and their black neighbors. It was a shameful period for Birmingham and many other urban areas in the South. Nat King Cole came to the city on the train to perform. At the time Birmingham had a beautiful train station that welcomed visitors but unfortunately, he was forced back on board and thus out of town. My mother was so angry and embarrassed. She loved his music and was very disappointed, to understate. I’m sure and I know, there are many other “Trail Blazers” like Reggie Jackson who can tell similar stories and I heard many and met many in the years when I taught in Birmingham Public Schools. Now those on the far right want to erase all those stories from our history books and literature and it’s for the very reason you have mentioned Steve. They want it washed over and forgotten to keep us from learning from the mistakes, injustices, and hatreds of the past. Unfortunately, we will always have racism, prejudice, intolerance, lack of compassion, and hatred among some in our society. And unfortunately, it’s not only in the South, but it’s the sacred responsibility of a democratic nation and its leaders to protect against those evils. We won’t have that protection in Trump is elected.
"Outspoken and charismatic, Reggie Jackson was never afraid to speak his mind," is the first line of his bio on the Baseball Hall of Fame website. As a compulsive investigator of why people are the way they are, and why things happen when they do, that opening line made me think about what we'd find in Jackson's horoscope, and why he is making news now. A super-charged Mercury (symbolizing how someone needs to think and communicate), and/or strong placements in Sagittarius are what I expected when I calculated his birth chart for noon (because we don't have an exact birth time). May 18, 1946 in Cheltenham, PA = Taurus Sun; Moon in Sagittarius. Someone born with Moon in Sagittarius is driven by the need to be respected for their opinions. Jackson has Mars-Pluto together in Leo with an exact Mercury-Mars square, which suggests athletic power and a persuasive mindset & communication. Transiting Mars is at 9 Taurus today, activating that t-square. In other words, a strong Sagittarius placement & super-charged Mercury were in the horoscope, as anticipated. Mercury is currently activated, reflecting the astro-logic of why Jackson is making news NOW. Plus, with transiting Uranus on his Taurus Sun, we anticipate the potential for intense individuation; i.e., recognized and/or celebrated for being a maverick, rebel, innovative -- whatever disrupts the status quo. This video clip has been shared all over social media today, and I'm really glad to see it shared here. Steve, you are so right to see it as a warning. On my last cross-country flight, I watched "42" --the 2013 film starring Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson. The hateful experiences Jackson recounted were similar to Robinson's. We need to be reminded so we don't go back.
Okay, so I'm not familiar with astrology, so will defer to you on that. Just wanted to say that I agree that "42" (ahem not "47" Steve 😉), is an excellent movie. Lifelong Dodgers fan, so remember the disappointment as a 14-year-old when Jackson and the NYY beat my Dodgers in the '77 and then again in the '78 World Series, but grew to have so much respect for Reggie Jackson and his aptly deserved "Mr. October" moniker.
The overall theme of Steve's video provides yet another important message about the direction TFG and the MAGA crowd sadly want to take our beloved country in. We need to fight for this election and support Biden and the anti MAGA candidates up and down the ballot.
Great video!! FYI I think Jackie Robinson was number 42 not 47. The last player to actively use that number was the great Mariano Rivera.
Hopefully at some point Steve will do an interview or discussion with Josh Stein, the man running against Mark Robinson for Governor of North Carolina. Martin Luther King’s son said his father would be gravely disappointed in Mark Robinson. I am gravely disappointed in the people of this state. We’ve lost our way when people filled with hatred and contempt for others become our highest ranking public officials.
In his stories he mentioned being called the, “N” word at Oakland Athletics owner Charles Finley’s banquet place. I knew Mr. Finley and his sons in high school, LaPorte, IN. I can assure anyone if this actually occurred it would have been dealt with immediately, either by termination or a trip to the woods for some country justice. I NEVER heard anything of this nature, either by Mr. Finley or his sons.
If I heard Reggie correctly, once Finley heard this, he marched the entire team out of there.
I missed that part but I believe it. Charles “O” Finley was a class act.
I do thank Steve for writing about this. I do thank ESPN for its coverage and MLB for iits support. That side, it was a lost opportunity, especially given today’s push back in the political world, from Tim Scott to Byron Donalds.
Addressing contemporary racism is crucial because it persists in various forms, affecting individuals' lives and societal structures today. Public figures, like Scott and Donals, deny this reality. Limiting discussions to historical racism overlooks the ongoing inequalities and systemic issues that people of color continue to face. Addressing ongoing racism ensures that the fight against racism is not seen as a completed chapter in history but as an ongoing struggle requiring continuous effort and vigilance.
Not sure it’s in our history. Still alive and well in far too many American hearts. And there’s a few million MAGA creeps who are working to make sure it’s in our future as well.
The spirit and consequences of racism live on in today's politics, economy, and society. Nothing better illustrates the ugly and pernicious nature of racism and how deeply rooted it is than a study of the career of Newt Gringrich. LZ Granderson, Op-Ed columnist for the L.A. Times, wrote this in a recent column:
"Gingrich called the vice president both 'uneducated' and 'uneducable' not for the sake of truth and honesty but to protect the pillar of caste that would be threatened by the truth about Harris.
The one identified in Wilkerson's book, 'Caste, The Origims of Our Discontent,' as 'inherent superiority vs. inherent inferiority.'"
Newt Gingrich is mean-spirited, racist s.o.b., who throughout his life has never lived by the Christian values he cynically used to advance his career. A true representative of just how ugly MAGA and Trump are.
Very much enjoyed this one