At the beginning of the World Series of 1947,I experienced a
completely new emotion,when the National Anthem was played.This time,I
thought,it is being played for me,as much as for anyone else.This is
organized major league baseball,and I am standing here with all the
others; and everything that takes place includes me.
About a year later,I went to Atlanta,Georgia,to play in an
exhibition game.On the field,for the first time in Atlanta,there were
Negroes and whites.Other Negroes,besides me.And I thought:What I
have always believed has come to be.
And what is it that I have always believed?First,that imperfections
are human.But that wherever human beings were given room to breathe
and time to think,those imperfections would disappear,no matter how
slowly.I do not believe that we have found or even approached
perfection.That is not necessarily in the scheme of human events.
Handicaps,stumbling blocks,prejudices — all of these are imperfect.
Yet,they have to be reckoned with because they are in the scheme of
human events.
Whatever obstacles I found made me fight all the harder.But it would
have been impossible for me to fight at all,except that I was
sustained by the personal and deep-rooted belief that my fight had a
chance.It had a chance because it took place in a free society.Not
once was I forced to face and fight an immovable object.Not once was
the situation so cast-iron rigid that I had no chance at all.Free minds
and human hearts were at work all around me; and so there was the
probability of improvement.I look at my children now,and know that I
must still prepare them to meet obstacles and prejudices.
But I can tell them,too,that they will never face some of these
prejudices because other people have gone before them.And to myself I
can say that,because progress is unalterable,many of today's dogmas
will have vanished by the time they grow into adults.I can say to my
children:There is a chance for you.No guarantee,but a chance.And this
chance has come to be,because there is nothing static with free
people.There is no Middle Ages logic so strong that it can stop the
human tide from flowing forward.I do not believe that every person,in
every walk of life,can succeed in spite of any handicap.That would be
perfection.But I do believe — and with every fiber in me — that what I
was able to attain came to be because we put behind us (no matter how
slowly) the dogmas of the past:to discover the truth of today; and
perhaps find the greatness of tomorrow.
I believe in the human race.I believe in the warm heart.I believe
in man's integrity.I believe in the goodness of a free society.And I
believe that the society can remain good only as long as we are willing
to fight for it — and to fight against whatever imperfections may
exist.My fight was against the barriers that kept Negroes out of
baseball.This was the area where I found imperfection,and where I was
best able to fight.And I fought because I knew it was not doomed to be a
losing fight.It couldn't be a losing fight-not when it took place in a
free society.And in the largest sense,I believe that what I did was
done for me — that it was my faith in God that sustained me in my fight.
And that what was done for me must and will be done for others.