A Monumental August 28th

Gregg Schoenberg
Aug 28, 2017 · 2 min read

On August 28, 1945, Branch Rickey, the legendary former general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Jackie Robinson met in the Dodgers’ executive offices, located on the fourth floor of a modest building on Montague Street in downtown Brooklyn. A few books and even a 1950 film, The Jackie Robinson Story, have portrayed how the discussion between Rickey and Robinson occurred. It’s tough to know how accurate those accounts are, but it’s fair to say that a significant wound to the heart of Jim Crow would have unfolded differently had it not been for the agreement reached on this day 72 years ago.

Frequently, I walk by the site of the Dodgers’ former HQ, which is now occupied by a white-marbled building housing a bank. Outside is a generous sidewalk to accommodate the throng of people passing by on their way to or from the Borough Hall subway stop nearby. Most of these people don’t bother to notice the plaque on the bank’s wall commemorating the deal between the Dodgers and Robinson.

Statues and monuments work much better in denoting significance than do plaques or paintings. Flat surfaces are easily ignored, but three-dimensional figures that bear the likeness of the real people, their struggles and emotions are harder to breeze by.

As our municipalities undergo the contentious process of decommissioning monuments that represent a shameful chapter of our nation’s history, I hope that new symbols can fill the void created when foundations are ripped-up. As in Brooklyn, there’s plenty of room on America’s sidewalks for new statues to celebrate America’s braver people.

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Gregg Schoenberg
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