Lessons from Jackie

"A country of immigrants and you all hate immigrants. White hate black, black hate Jew, and you all hate anyone new! And you think your kids don’t see that?" - Brooklyn the musical

I'm a stickler for a feel good Hollywood movie.  Even overly romanticized films starring attractive actors making exorbitant amounts of money and inflated 'true' stories don't bother me much.

Last evening I watched 42, the movie about Jackie Robinson and his experience as the first black man to play Major League Baseball.  I knew it would be "hard to watch" as my father warned.... but I didn't expect to be so blown away by the vignettes presented.  One man faced great hatred so baseball and society could speed their rate of evolution ever so slightly. 

Last evening, I sat on my bed watching this movie and wept. 

Though the portrayal of Robinson by Chadwick Boseman was very good, it wasn't the performance that got to me.... or even the scenes of blatant racism.  What bothered me so was the fact that in some ways things haven't gotten too much better since Jackie's days in the late 1940's. Jim Crow laws are a thing of the past and we don't see "White Only" restrooms anymore, but new targets for hatred have emerged. The recent stripping of the voting rights act is just the latest blow to Hispanic Americans. Immigration reform seems to have stalled and high stakes tests that are all the rage in public education today are written in English.  Meanwhile Hispanic Americans are working (and working and working) to stay in this country which is a supposed "nation of immigrants." Too many Americans lump all Arabs and Arab Americans into simplified categories that don't accurately reflect who these people are.  Brown is seemingly the new black.

I'll fully admit that I'm no race expert.  I haven't done the research to make an academic analysis of these issues/situations. But my mind often wanders to questions like:

Why are we so quick to hate? Why are we so quick to judge? Why are we so quick to point the finger? Why are we so quick to tear others down to make ourselves feel better? Why do people need to have an enemy? Why do people derive such pleasure from hurting others?  

Seen from another angle, why don't we as a culture celebrate people helping people?  Why is the front page of the paper and the lead story on the evening news nearly always about corruption, violence, adultery, or scandal? Where are the stories of cooperation, respect, kindness, and love?  I know violence and sex sell... but is there no room for sunshine in the news?

We can do better, America. When will we start?