SI Insider: The 75th Anniversary of Jackie Robinson Meeting with the Brooklyn Dodgers Comes at an Appropriate Time
August 28th marks the 75th anniversary of Jackie Robinson meeting Brooklyn Dodgers GM Branch Rickey, in which Rickey famously pretended to be a bigot and antagonized Robinson, testing how well he would handle the "fans" he would come across.
This anniversary could not come at a more appropriate time, as Major League Baseball players around the country are canceling their games to bring the focus back to the Black Lives Matter movement as Jacob Blake became the latest black man to be victimized by police brutality.
Jackie Robinson's story serves as a reminder of the courage it takes for systemic change and how far baseball and the United States still have to go to unroot the systemic racism and injustice that is so deep within its laws and its culture.
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