Breaking barriers
Sept. 22, 1947
By Spike Lee
In my unhumble opinion, Jackie Robinson is the greatest American in history/ herstory. I met him only once. It was in his later years, at a Long Island University basketball game, which was played at what used to be the Paramount Theatre, where Frank Sinatra sang to thousands of Bobby Soxers, at the corner of DeKalb and Flatbush, across the street from Junior's cheesecake, in the People's Republic of Brooklyn, New York.
During halftime, my Father pushed me toward Jackie, whose head was full of gray. At first, I couldn't believe this man was the great Jackie Robinson. I went up to him and said, My name is Spike Lee and I know who you are. His big hand swallowed mine. Jackie said, Young fella, do you play baseball? I answered, Yes, sir. Jackie said, What position? I quickly answered, Second base. So did I! Jackie shot back. After that, my Father taught me how Branch Rickey signed Jackie to the beloved Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color barrier.
Dem Bums were the favorite team for Black Folks, even the ones who didn't know about baseball. They said their prayers every night on bended knee that Jackie would get a hit. They knew a lot-maybe everything was riding on this. The advancement of The Negro Race. No African American had more pressure on him/her to succeed than Jackie. OK, you may throw President Barack Obama in there, but if Jackie had failed the Great Experiment, would Obama be the First Black President? Jackie's failure would have set Black Folks back for many generations afterwards. Martin Luther King Jr. said himself, without him I would never have been able to do what I did. He was a Sit-Inner before Sit-Ins. A Freedom Rider before Freedom Rides.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) من Time.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 13 - 20, 2023 (Double Issue) من Time.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Pioneers
America Ferrera Kennedy Odede Ophelia Dahl Sharon Lavigne Sam Tsemberis Lesley Lokko Stuart Orkin Asma Khan Priyamvada Natarajan Yoshua Bengio + more
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Icons
Taraji P. Henson Jenni Hermoso Michael J. Fox Sofia Coppola Burna Boy Thelma Golden Elliot Page Mark Cuban Kylie Minogue Hayao Miyazaki + more
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Innovators
Jensen Huang Rachel Hardeman Akiko Iwasaki Shawn Fain Maya Rudolph Dominique Crenn Marina Tabassum Dave Ricks Tory Burch Siya Kolisi + more
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Leaders
Yulia Navalnaya Ajay Banga William Ruto Rena Lee Andriy Yermak Donald Tusk William Lai William Burns Narges Mohammadi Marina Silva + more
The 100 Most Influential People in the World -Titans
Patrick Mahomes A'ja Wilson Kelly Ripa Donna Langley Satya Nadella Beth Ford Jack Antonoff Kelley Robinson Larry Ellison Max Verstappen + more
The 100 Most Influential People in the World - Artists
Dua Lipa James McBride Da'Vine Joy Randolph Alex Edelman Dev Patel Lauren Groff Alia Bhatt Jeffrey Wright 21 Savage Jenny Holzer + more
William McRaven The retired admiral who took down Osama bin Laden on why U.S. leadership matters, the AI race, and what he's going to do with $50 million
You recently received the Bezos Courage and Civility Award, with $50 million to give to charities of your choice. How are you planning to use it? Almost all of this is going to be focused on veterans and their families the children who've lost fathers and mothers in combat. And the other area is mental health for servicemen. What don't the VA and the military health care system cover?
The real Carmichael show
JERROD CARMICHAEL HAD BEEN a famous comedian for almost a decade when he dropped his average-dude persona and started being real. In his 2022 special, Rothaniel, he came out as gay, speaking with rueful humor about internalized homophobia and his fractured relationship with his devoutly Christian mother. It was a creative turning point as well as a personal one.
A jumbled parable with a glowing core
EVEN WHEN A MOVIE IS FAR FROM PERFECT, YOU CAN tell when a director has poured his soul into it. Dev Patel's directorial debut Monkey Man-he's also the movie's star-is trying too hard, and for too much. It wants to be a political allegory, a somber study of a man haunted by childhood trauma, a clarion blast of inspiration for downtrodden humans seeking to summon strength, and last but hardly least, a brutally exhilarating action entertainment.
The pacifist gospel of Civil War
OUTSIDE OF ATLANTA, A CREAKY WHITE VAN WEAVED down a highway lined with abandoned cars. A helicopter sat in the parking lot of a charred JCPenney. Armed guards in military fatigues patrolled checkpoints. A death squad dumped corpses into a mass grave. Artillery boomed in the offing.