To Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jackie Robinson’s legacy is as important now as it has ever been.
And on Tuesday, as the guest speaker at the Dodgers’ annual celebration of Jackie Robinson Day, he made the reason he believes so abundantly clear.
“Trump wants to get rid of DEI, and I think it’s just a ruse to discriminate,” Abdul-Jabbar said to a scrum of reporters, while sitting at the base of Robinson’s statue in the center field plaza of Dodger Stadium.
“You have to take that into consideration,” he added, “when we think about what’s going on today.”
Indeed, Tuesday was no typical Jackie Robinson Day — not for the Dodgers, or the rest of the baseball world at large.
Since President Trump returned to office in January, his campaign against diversity, equality and inclusion initiatives has had direct cross-overs with Robinson’s legacy, as well as Major League Baseball’s public communications.
This spring, the Department of Defense removed an article from its website detailing Robinson’s history of military service, only to later restore it amid a wave of public criticism. In what appeared to be a capitulation to Trump’s anti-DEI stance, MLB’s league office has also struck all DEI-related references from its website, as The Athletic detailed last month.
Another sign of the times surfaced Tuesday, when the league’s annual press release detailing Jackie Robinson Day made no reference to the phrases “Black,” “racism,” nor “color barrier” as it has in years past, as noted by an editor from the Southern California News Group.
The Dodgers’ decision to visit Trump’s White House last week, of course, also continues to be a point of consternation among many in the fan base who would have rather not seen the team celebrate its 2024 World Series title with such a polarizing political figure.
Against that backdrop, Abdul-Jabbar called it “absolutely important” to uphold Robinson’s trailblazing legacy.
That’s why, as part of the Dodgers annual celebration of Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier on Tuesday, he highlighted Robinson’s historical significance in a speech to members of the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies (all of whom were wearing No. 42 jerseys) before the start of that night’s game.
“I’m glad that we do things like this,” he said, “to let everybody in the country know what’s important.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts also fielded Robinson-related questions for almost the entirety of his pregame address with reporters, and agreed with Abdul-Jabbar’s comments about the importance of Robinson’s legacy amid the country’s current political climate.
“I’d like to think it’s a continued wake-up call for everyone, to take a step back and appreciate what made our country, the people who shaped our country,” Roberts said, before later adding: “This is not a one-day situation. It’s Jackie Robinson’s day for breaking the color barrier. But this is like an everyday sort of mindset, appreciation.”
Roberts disputed the notion that the Dodgers’ commemoration of Robinson this year felt hypocritical, given their visit to Trump’s White House just the week before.
“I don’t personally view it as talking out of both sides of our mouth,” he said. “I understand how people feel that way. But I do think that supporting our country, staying unified, aligned, is what I believe in personally.”
Roberts did, however, express the personal responsibility he feels to ensure Robinson’s legacy endures in his current role as Dodgers manager — and later lamented the fact he is one of only two Black managers currently in the big leagues, along with Ron Washington of the Angels.
“I think he would say we need to do better,” Roberts said, when asked how Robinson might react to the league’s lack of managerial diversity. “It’s important to get the best qualified people. … But I do think there’s a lot of people of color that are qualified to do this job.”
When told of the revised language in MLB’s Jackie Robinson Day press release, Roberts seemed surprised.
“The way he was treated was racist,” Roberts said. “It was wrong.”
Then, like Abdul-Jabbar, Roberts emphasized the need to keep Robinson’s legacy relevant.
“There’s more people from different countries than there ever has been in this game, which is great, and there’s room for more,” he said. “I hope it’s not getting lost on why we’re celebrating this day, because somebody’s got to break through.”
