By: Rev. Alveda King:
While I’m often accused of finding Pro-Life messages behind every tree, it can’t be denied that “42” brings an inherent message of courage, compassion and composure that prevailed in the lives of Jackie and Rae Robinson as well as Dodgers Manager Branch Rickey. These same principles are needed so much in the ongoing heated moral debates of our time.
While the skin color/racism devil is somewhat subdued today, it still rears its ugly head. Then we are also contending with moral questions surrounding the sanctity of natural life and marriage. This “three headed monster” of racism, anti-procreative liberty and sexual perversion has crept into our lives with the intent of leading us further astray.
This is why the movie “42” is so inspiring; and the themes of racial unity, nonviolence, marital fidelity and Christianity are so very refreshing. They apply to our present day struggles; while they stir our hearts and rouse our conscience.
Today, we are fraught with unjust laws such as legal abortion – the killing of human babies in the womb. Where is the justice for the babies?
Uncle M. L., Jackie and Rae Robinson and Branch Rickey challenged the immoral unwritten laws of their day. We cannot afford to do less in Century 21. Uncle M. L. once said “a just law squares with the law of God.”
God’s Word is God’s law. The Bible charges us to love each other, and that law transcends human efforts to redesign God’s plan for continuity.
Jackie Robinson left the Dodgers the year after Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in Montgomery. Yet that wasn’t the end of the baseball great’s mission to advance civil rights. He became a statesman and defender of my uncle, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I know that Robinson was a super ball player and Rickey was a phenomenal businessman. But they were so much more than that. They dealt with the human issues if their day.
The movie “42” has heart. We could all learn a lot from their examples of courage, composure and compassion.
