Jackie Robinson's Struggle Against Racism

42 is a 2013 film based on a true story and stars Chadwick Boseman and Harrison Ford. This is another movie that shows an underprivileged black athlete standing up to racism. The film depicts Jackie Robinson overcoming racism to become the first black athlete to play in the Major League of Baseball. Before the 1947 season, no black athlete had ever played at the major league level. There were other organizations and leagues outside the MLB in which black athletes could play, but before Jackie Robinson none had played for a MLB club. Robinson would go on to win the Rookie of the Year award as well as a Most Valuable PLayer award two years later in 1949. Being the first black baseball player in the MLB, Robinson faced many instances in which

While the majority of the quote is only a projection of what will most likely happen, the first part about not being allowed to use the washroom did happen and is racist. Racism is defined as “a system of advantages based on race, ” or structural oppression against a certain group, and in these scenes there are clear systems of oppression based on race.(Tatum 1997, 126). Robinson is not allowed to enter the washroom because it is for white people only and not for people of color. This is racist because whites have the benefit of using the washroom and the “colored” are not allowed because of their skin. When Ricky is listing off possible scenarios to Jackie he is trying to see how he will react to different forms of oppression. The examples he provided, checking into a hotel and entering a restaurant both dealt with racism because Jackie would be denied service while the other members of his team would be given the benefits in these situation. Furthermore, the entire plot of the movie is based on racism because there is a system or culture that does not give all races the same benefits. That system is controlled by the general managers of MLB teams across the United States. This culture is setup to not allow blacks the same privileges as whites because the black athletes cannot play in the MLB or make as much money as the white athletes. This movie shows Jackie playing baseball in the MLB and winning the Rookie of the Year award and essentially overcoming racism. As I have shown, the movie 42 shows how Robinson was faced with racism and dealt with it by standing up to it and overcoming it in the