WEBVTT	#Elemental Media Engine(TM) 2.15.1.406479
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Ordinarily every year we

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celebrate my dad on April 15th.

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The day in 1947 when he

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officially broke baseball's

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color barrier the coming of

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Jackie Robinson the first black

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player.

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But 20/20 of course hasn't been

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like any other year.

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And so here we are at the end of

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August commemorating Jackie

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Robinson Day.

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Yet as you go back through my

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father's story.

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You should know that today

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hardly represents just another

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day on the calendar.

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Exactly.

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Seventy five years ago August 28

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1945 a monumental meeting took

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place in Brooklyn New York.

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Branch Rickey the general

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manager of the Dodgers had

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invited my dad to his office

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without telling him the reason

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why.

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Jackie Oribe Ricky explained he

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wanted to sign him to the

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Dodgers and make him the first

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black player in the 20th century

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to play in the major leagues.

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From now on character.

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But first he had to answer some

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questions.

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We talked about all the people

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who were going to be and I said

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we're going to have some people

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on our side.

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But we really are not going to

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have very many allies.

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We have to do the thing simply

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by the box score and you've got

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to turn your cheek at every

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opportunity.

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You want to know what.

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I can do it for three long

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hours.

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Rickey pelted him with those

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questions assuming the role of

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racist opponents fans and more

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testing Jackie's poise his

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self-control his willingness as

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Ricky put it not to fight back.

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I find his responses satisfied.

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Ricky's concerns in a few months

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later he was signed to a

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contract.

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Thank you very much Mr. Rickey.

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I am certainly delighted with my

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contract.

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The rest is baseball history.

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Now fast forward to exactly 57

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years ago August 28 1963.

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By then my dad had been retired

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for years.

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But after baseball he kept

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fighting for civil rights and

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equality.

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And on that day he took our

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whole family to participate in

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the march on Washington

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alongside a quarter million

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other Americans.

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It was an experience I will

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never forget.

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And when Martin Luther King so

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loudly and beautifully shared

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his dream that day with the

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world we hold these truths to be

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self-evident that all men are

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created.

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It all felt like a continuation

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of the progress a dad had been

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at the center of.

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Ever since he first played at

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Ebbets Field.

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Even then my father was starting

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to battle health problems.

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He had less than 10 years to

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live.

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Still remarkable when you think

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of the kind of athlete it was

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that his life would be cut so

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short.

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Nearly a half century after his

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passing people have asked me

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what Jackie Robinson would have

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thought about what we've seen

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transpire in the year 2020.

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What would have saddened him.

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People still don't care.

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What would have angered him what

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would have moved him.

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I think the only thing I can say

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for sure is that my dad would

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have been focused on the change

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that needs to come.

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Identifying ways for it to

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impact the most people and make

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the most difference.

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He would have embraced the

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BlackLivesMatter struggle and

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believed in the fight.

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And on this very different but

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fundamentally the same.

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Jackie Robinson Day 2020.

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Here would be my question for

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all of us.

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What do we want the world to

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look like.

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Seventy five years from now.

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Fifty seven years from now next

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year.

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What do you want the future to

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say about the moment we lifting

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the chance we had to move the

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world forward.

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A game like baseball can play a

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part in that progress.

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Jackie Robinson proved for all

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time.

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As we remember him keep in mind