Sorry, I am just tired of romanticising and reliving this particular time in our nation's history. And I am glad the Jackie Robinson experiment worked for Branch Rickey and the boys, but the very idea of having to pick the right Negro who had the temperament to take all the crap thrown his way is a bit unsettling. Sorry Branch, you are no hero, you played right along with the rest of the good ole boys to keep Negroes out of your league until your desire to win and make money got the better of your prejudices.
Wouldn't 'it have been nice if the old Negro Leagues remained segregated and major league baseball would have been forced to start integrating on their terms back then? Maybe even a merger like the AFL forced the NFL to do in football.
If no integration how about paying big dollars to Negro league teams at the time such as the Birmingham Black Barons and Philadelphia Stars to acquire their top players? (Think how soccer leagues across the world do it now.)Satchel Paige,Josh Gibson, and Buck Leonard were some of the best that ever played "America's game", but they never got their just due because it was...well "America's game".
So now we have to watch a movie about the poor "guinea pig" selected to break the color barrier and watch everyone pat themselves on the back because of how far we have come as a country when it comes to race relations. Critics will love the movie (even if it sucks) because it's the politically correct thing to do, and everyone is always on board when it comes to soothing our guilt for past wrongs.
Thank you Jackie, you were a good test subject. I just don't like the results of the experiment.
*Pic from The New York Times.
Joe Louis & Jesse Owens were also "good negroes." But they had the advantage of being solo athletes. They didn't need to live & travel with a team. Even good change is filled with mixed motives. The percentage of African-American baseball players has been falling for decades.
ReplyDeleteI know where you're coming from Field, but you can't tell the story of American sports without spending a greet deal of time on our peculiar institution (race), and you sure as hell can't tell THAT story without Jackie Robinson. I haven't seen the movie, yet, because, like you I suspect it'll be yet another triumphalist feel-good that, as you point out will sugar-coat the one step forward and ignore the two steps back it came with. But, in the end, it's a movie about baseball which means that it's a good movie (just try to find a baseball movie that isn't) so, one of these nights it'll be "honey let's watch a movie" night and it will get me out of 2 hours of chickmovie hell
ReplyDeleteAs I said in the previous thread, "42" was a great movie and you ought to cut yourself some slack and go enjoy it. I grew up during the Jim Crow days. Jackie Robinson inspired the entire black race and many Whites too. None of it would have been possible without Branch Rickey.
ReplyDeleteYou see, brotha Field, our advancement as a race in ALL fields has been because some Whites made it possible. Hell, Black advancement began during the Civil War where thousands of Whites fought and died so we could be free. Of course, the lineage from those Southern slave owners today still refuse to acknowledge us as their equal.
Field, your problem is you are an "angry black man". You think and have angry emotions just like those "angry white men". That makes you every bit of a racist and as negative as them. Hell, I have seen you find fault with Christ which puts you on the dark side of humanity. No pun intended. You have got to be the most 'negative' person on the planet. You can ruin a wet dream.
The movie was great. And I am grateful to Jackie R. and Branch R. for opening the doors for Blacks to enter MLB. The game has been for the better for everyone. Most of all, I am grateful to Hollywood for producing such a fine entertaining movie!
Field, "Wouldn't 'it have been nice if the old Negro Leagues remained segregated and major league baseball would have been forced to start integrating on their terms back then? Maybe even a merger like the AFL forced the NFL to do in football."
ReplyDeleteYeah, it would have been nice but the reality it just didn't happen. So, brotha Field, you got to deal with 'what' really happened and let go of your fantasy because it isn't real.
No wonder you have a hard time with reality. You live in fantasy. GET REAL, Brother. I hope Panther2 comes on FN and explain a few things to you about the Jim Crow days and what Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey did for the game of baseball.
Brother Field...echo the sentiments. For America, right movie and right time for the race that want to feel good. Spent a life time of having and seeing Negros being vetted to perform certain positions. I now know more about one player than I know of the inventor of the game-a Native American. I have read many articles over the last decade about the of African American youth. How does recruiting middle age men to lead the youths as coaches sound to you. Baseball was my number one sport as a youth. My peers played all the games in their seasons. In my city there are more kids of color that are now playing for the city's school teams....thanks for the 300% rise in coaches ( from 0 to 3) of color. Go Upton brothers from Tidewater area Virginia. Needless to say, my role models were white as well as Black.....Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Willie Mays and Norm Cash. Glad I kept my race index low during my pre-teen years. At present I am in training (mentally) for the city's senior games for the sport of baseball. My last hurrah and my need for some healthy competition. Wish me luck. again....the same crew of people will be getting the lion's share of an African American first (sic).
ReplyDeleteI think this video applies to many of the "commentator" on your blog Field?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dKuuELzptDs#!
Field this sounds like some of the commentators on your blog:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dKuuELzptDs#!
Well, I guess nothing stays the same, it just gets worse.
ReplyDeleteBtw, why is that every time I see Mitch McConnell I think of that song "The Freaks Come Out At Night" only the lyrics have changed to the "The Crooks Come Out At Night"? Hint, hint!
I smell some scandals on the horizon. Okay, I gonna be good and hush for now. *wink*
Dear Mr Field, I am so glad you wrote about the movie "42". I am in sympathy with you on this one.
ReplyDeleteI am an animal lover and a big advocate for pigs. Well, let me tell you they were selling hot dogs in that movie and I didn't like it. I mean, no one ever stands up for pigs and say the American public, leave pigs alone. It's a damn shame the way pigs are treated and there is no law protecting them! Hell, we even have laws protecting shitting pigeons but no law for pigs. Now, why is that, Mr Field.
This discrimination against pigs has got to stop. Mr. Field, I implore you to please put on your R chasing shoes on this one.
Anon@12:32 AM, u have no one to blame for that wet dream being ruined but yourself. :)
ReplyDeleteAnon@1:51 AM, you are being sarcastic, but for their own health the American public should leave the pigs alone.
“42”, hmmmmm, ………. I’ll pass and perhaps wait for the DVD release. Just another feel good movie for white folks, just like the movie Lincoln was, sprinkled with soooo many lies. Hey Hoolywood, whatever happened to the idea of a raw, threatening Field Negro movie?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the reaction will be to the first player to come "out" as gay on a baseball, hockey, basketball or football team. Especially if he is black (which I don't hink he will be).
ReplyDeleteenjoy your posts it is very interesting to read thank you
ReplyDelete"Wouldn't 'it have been nice if the old Negro Leagues remained segregated and major league baseball would have been forced to start integrating on their terms back then?"
ReplyDeletePining for the good old days of segregation, Field? You ain't the only one.
Black Sage, "“42”, hmmmmm, ………. I’ll pass and perhaps wait for the DVD release. Just another feel good movie for white folks, just like the movie Lincoln was, sprinkled with soooo many lies. Hey Hoolywood, whatever happened to the idea of a raw, threatening Field Negro movie?"
ReplyDelete6:42 AM
---------------
It was not just a feel good movie. It was factual history. And so was Lincoln. You don't know what you are talking about.
As far as a raw threatening Negro, go see Django. Now That was not a feel good movie at all. It was bullshit with sorry bullshit acting by Jamie Foxx. It truly sucked.
Nevertheless, let's face the truth: Negroes are too fearful to be threatening to Whites or anybody else. Per Jesse Lee Peterson, we are only threatening to ourselves as the black-on-black stats prove. Now why would a leftwing Negro like you dream of a Negro who is threatening?
You and Field have off the chart fantasies. You progressive no moral Negroes should knock off the bs before it's too late. Haven't you learned what happens to us when we mouth off? Check what happened in Tulsa, OK. during the early 1900s. Better yet check what has happened to Blacks in New Orleans and other parts of Louisiana. So please, for the sake of peace, STFU.
I know MLB seems to have had an obsession with Jackie Robinson over the past several years, but it is long past time to turn it up a notch. You can count on Hollywood to continuously deliver dramatizations that reinforce white guilt and hold up the ideal of black saintliness, and they have come through again. You can never have too much wallowing in civil rights nostalgia, no sir.
ReplyDeleteI don't think baseball can be let off the hook for the segregation of the early 20th century until 90% of the players and coaches are black, and they have changed the name of the sport to "JackieRobinsonBall". Home runs should be called "Jackies" and RBI's will be called "Robinsons". Stealing a base will be called "JackieRobinsing" it.
I swear to Obama, I will make this happen.
Field said: AND I LOVE IT!!!
ReplyDeleteSorry Branch, you are no hero, you played right along with the rest of the good ole boys to keep Negroes out of your league until your desire to win and make money got the better of your prejudices.
AVE MARIA CONJO! Finally an Afrikan who can freely spktruth2power.. Where we may not agree at all times we are connected and with utmost respect i raise my fist.
I will not spend my $$ watch this and do not want to hear anyone tell me anything about it. When the conversation came up in the IP office today i excused myself and went into the law library.
I am not a follower, my memory is too long and out of all of the trips i have made to my mother house (Afrikah) i have yet to visit a slave castle
Neither have any of my fam members WHY? lol why should we..We are those castles and to date we are not impressed.
We Afrikansin the Garcia, Villamil, Perez Lumumba, Santiago etc etc fam are used to being "SURVIVORS not vics of countries wanting to carve up our mother or subvert our sovereignty. It is unparalleled in African history to have another people rise to the defense of one of us like Cubans did
The overwhelming defeat of the racist army at Cuito Cuanavale provided the possibility for Angola to enjoy peace and consolidate its own sovereignty!
Cubans, Fidel, El Che and the man and the men!~ who became my fathers allowed the struggling people of Namibia to finally win their independence as well
The defeat of the apartheid army was an inspiration to the struggling people inside South Africa as well
Why visit a castle?
case in point
My beloved father and my uncle asked me long ago in the 90's if i would agree to accompany them back to Afrikah to meet new family members and take a look at the progress made in Angola ( my birth country)
Of course i jumped right on the op and off we went.
That was just one of the visits i have made back to my mother and one which has been forever sealed in memory.
Why you might ask..That answer is etched in my memory of being a small girl who lost her entire family to Portuguese terror.
Today, my story is known by those in the Villamil family et/al and is forever etched in stone as a monument to courage, tenacity determination and a willingness by all to overstand "FREEDOM" And that our pains as Afrikan Cubans are as bad as an invisible wound ..
However, life goes on and it must because time will not heal wounds only we can.
In my lifetime i align myself with people who will not allow bitterness fear or racism to deny us the air we breathe. Suffice that, my best achievement comes from the fact that i can and still spktruth2power on and offline.
As usual there are always those house negros and wanna be "black" non Afrikans who clap their hands, jump high like stepin fetchit and squeal like sissies, when a new movie myth about our people finally make it to bollywood
ReplyDeletehmmm lmao
And then there are those like miss tissy in Gone with the wind who dance a jig WTF is this?
1 El Lincoln Racista
It is mind boggling to see how many house negros today sigue to hold up the memory of Senor Ibraham Lincoln as if he had actually done something for them.
Of course many ghosts do the same thing. Por exemplo, there is an entire industry operating nowadays, consisting of people, many of whom are academics, whose entire goal in life seems to be the attempted beatification of "Saint Abraham." Most of this foolishness is due to the fact that, in our government schools, we have been taught a laughable, shoddy imitation of history. The facts must never be allowed to get in the way of the fantasy.
Emancipation whose?
A Proclamation is a dubious document that has been widely touted as having "freed the slaves." It didn't. It was aimed at the slaves in Confederate territory where Lincoln had no legal authority. Slaves in both states and territory controlled by Mr. Lincoln's dictatorial regime remained firmly in bondage until the 13th Amendment freed them, several months after Mr. Lincoln's demise.
Even Lincoln, himself, admitted the proclamation was a war measure and probably would not have passed any sort of constitutional muster. So who did it really free? No one, that's who. It was never intended to "free" anyone. It was excellent propaganda and that was it. Period!
So the next time your told to shut the f up make sure that person knows the facts and do not tell them to STFU just tell them to read
To be continued
Ps
The Lincoln Myth Did you know?
ReplyDeleteIf so why are people applauding Lincoln?
If you did not know why?
FYI Senor Lincoln expressly opposed political and social equality for Afrikans in amerikkka
His words" They should be equal all right, but not here...Lincoln's segregationist views are soft-peddled, shrugged off, explained away, or simply ignored...the fantasy Lincoln must be maintained at all costs. And who to pander the movie to best?
And this is exactly what many establishment scholars today do. They maintain the cottage industry that promotes the "Fantasy Lincoln" while conveniently ignoring his racist views views they seem to find abhorant in anyone else yet perfectly alright in Mr. Lincoln.
So far as Lincoln's overt racism, let us go right to the horse's mouth as it were, and find out what the great emancipator said himself.
In the Lincoln-Douglas debates, in 1858, while debating in Ottowa, Illinois year, Mr. Lincoln stated, I have no disposition to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which in my judgment will probably forever forbid their living together on terms of respect, social and political equality, and in as much as it becomes a necessity that there should be a superiority somewhere, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position;"
Stepin fetchit had not yet been born
Google it!
ReplyDeleteDesertflower said...
Matanzas, thank you for elucidating on such a troublesome and sensitive subject.
Spiritually, I have not yet fully reconciled with this.
I guess deep down in my soul, I do still believe in the utopian and I guess unrealistic and unattainable concept of living by rules that will obliterate the necessity of such a heinous procedure as is the termination of a gestation.
35 million white babies have been aborted in 10 yrs and if Dr's like Goshell are allowed to continue murdering live babies Afrikan numbers will rise twice as high.
Sadly Desertflower this is not going to stop and esp under POTUS
This is almost a done deal
Also do not accept any WIKI facts posted here by anyone You know the truth
Stand up sis and spk your truth
Hispanics are pushing out blacks in baseball just like in cities all across the USA. I wonder what Jackie Robinson would think of that?
ReplyDeleteBTW As long as Jackie a decent man was allowed to play ball he put up with anything said and done
ReplyDeleteAnd even as times changed and NOTHING changed the house negro and wanna be uncles are still crawling on knees acting like stepinfetchit WHOOOPPEE!!
They saw a movie which was more than likely over priced. HOLD IT They are the ones who will claim they saw it free as an exclusive YA RIGHT So i ask in what bankrupt city LMAO
Those are the people who make me scratch my head and keep home schooling I love to agitate Chess anyone?)
Just saying
I know MLB seems to have had an obsession with Jackie Robinson over the past several years, but it is long past time to turn it up a notch. You can count on Hollywood to continuously deliver dramatizations that reinforce white guilt and hold up the ideal of black saintliness, and they have come through again. You can never have too much wallowing in civil rights nostalgia, no sir.
ReplyDeleteI don't think baseball can be let off the hook for the segregation of the early 20th century until 90% of the players and coaches are black, and they have changed the name of the sport to "JackieRobinsonBall". Home runs should be called "Jackies" and RBI's will be called "Robinsons". Stealing a base will be called "JackieRobinsing" it.
I swear to Obama, I will make this happen.
Dear Hollywood,
ReplyDeleteI’m sick of being sick of the same movie themes where a white savior rescues Negroes from almost certain death or something of this sort. You know exactly the type of movies that I’m referring to, like the movie “42.”. Movies where Negroes are docile, obsequious, “yes mam, yes sir” when responding to white folks. Are white folks secretly harboring wishes for those days to return? Indeed, it sure seems like!
Take the movie Lincoln, for example, you completely left Frederick Douglass out of the movie. Douglass wasn’t exacly a Field Negro, well, he once was, until he escaped. Douglass challenged Lincoln to the hilt regarding the conditions of slaves. Hell, he even once referred to Lincolc as being a racist as well. My point being, where are the rough, roudy, witty, challenging type Negroes? Don’t you dare tell me that they never existed. Don’t make me begin scrolling through my rolodex of Field Negroes.
Furthermore, Lincoln was one of the most racist Amerikkkan Presidents. For example, he once uttered the following statement: “I agree that he (blacks) is not my equal in many respects, certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowment.”
Ssshhhh, this is some seriously, tired ARSE sh#t here in Amerikkka!
Here is some advice for you Hollywood, why don’t you make a movie of the life and times of Nat Turner, the most real Field Negroe that ever existed or make a movie about Toussaint Louverture, that Haitian Field Negroe who completely kicked the Frenchmen out of Haiti or my hometown Field Negroe, Denmark Vessey, who coordinated one of the biggest slave revolt that Amerikkka has ever witnessed. Unfortunately, House Negroes of the day snitched to the slave masters regarding Vessey’s rebellion plans and just the same as House Negroes of today. Much like the fools that appeared on Fox News approximately a week ago or so. Yes, House Negroes are still licking booty for some crumbs to be swiped off of the table.
By the way Hollywood, if you do decide to make a movie regarding one of the FN mentioned above, I’m willing to play the role of either one of them. You may contact me via the Field Negroe’s blog-spot.
Field, don't you know better than to mess with Chief Keef? Have you lost your mind?
ReplyDeleteAnon@7:56PM,I don't know better so that Negro better fall back.
ReplyDeleteBesides, can he even read?
field negro said...
ReplyDeleteAnon@7:56PM,I don't know better so that Negro better fall back.
Besides, can he even read?
He sure cannot THINK or play chess
I have lots of fam in Boston a city i grew up in and lived in forever I am on my way there to help as needed..As usual i cannot stay away
ReplyDeletesince I am part of the Caribbean Nurses Assoc and many from our comm have been injured
ALSO
My son follows you field and he is amused at some of the posts here ..I do not get the chance to read many and i shun a certain few, due to my knowing that i play fair, love my people and dislike anyone who tries to demean women or other Afrikans
I guess that is the kind of Afrikan sistah i am.
Having said that here is a ?
What conscious AFRIKAN would ask about HOMOSEXUAL sports figures?
My answer? A homosexual who is downlow, or one who is curious. i suggest that because what does it have to do with Jackie?
just askin
n
It's amazing to me how much Whites hate Black men while they're alive and after either they're killed or die from racial stress, 50 years down the pike how lovingly they're revered. I'm sure if they could be revised for a minute from their permanent sleep, they'd tell all of you "to go pound sand." And that's putting it mildly.
ReplyDelete