Jackie Robinson's story is of another place and time, another America. If you're of a certain age, you'll have trouble comprehending that it really existed. For many, it flickers only in the grainy black-and-white images of a different United States. We were once a nation almost completely separated by race.
Now that time and that place, with all its evil and all its injustice, has burst onto movie screens for mass audiences around the world with the opening of "42," a movie of beauty and power that will force us to again confront our country's uncomfortable past.
Thank you, Hollywood. Thank you, director Brian Helgeland. Thank you for telling this story and for introducing Jackie Robinson to another generation of Americans. Thank you for not over-sanitizing it.
On this Jackie Robinson Day around Major League Baseball, its honoree may soon be our country's most famous athlete, something he never was during 10 seasons with the Brooklyn Dodgers. His life will be discussed, debated and dissected in a way it never has been before, and that's hugely important because his impact was so profound.
