What is it about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) that has the Trump administration in such atwitter? Is it bigotry, is it racism or just plain ignorance and hate? Why else would the Department of Defense remove references about the Navajo Code Talkers, or the Tuskegee Airmen of WWII or Jackie Robinson from its website if not for the above? DEI is simply a mechanism for promoting fairness for groups of individuals who have been historically discriminated against.

Thinking about Jackie Robinson, on April 15 when most Americans will be trying to meet the deadline for filing their federal income tax returns, every Major League baseball player in every ballpark will be wearing number 42 on their jersey. It was on April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson, wearing number 42, became the first black man to play in the majors. Robinson failed to get a hit in his debut but did reach base on an error and scored the winning run as the Brooklyn Dodgers beat the Boston Braves, 5-3.

Robinson’s career with the Dodgers spanned 10 years, during which time he was named to the National League All-Star Team six times, voted the most valuable player in 1949 and played a pivotal role in the Dodgers winning the 1955 World Series. Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Branch Rickey, an owner and president of the Dodgers in 1947, was determined to break the color barrier in major league baseball. He needed a true leader, a trailblazer, a man who would keep his cool while being verbally and physically abused and still play the game at the highest level. Jackie Robinson was his man.

The resistance to this black man playing in the all-white major leagues was immediate. Some of his Dodger teammates didn’t want to play with Robinson on the team, but manager Leo Durocher convinced them that Robinson would help them get to the World Series and make them more money and if they didn’t want to make more money he would trade them to another team. They stayed, they played, and they made more money. The St. Louis Cardinals even threatened to strike if Robinson came to St Louis to play. Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler told them any striking player would be suspended, so they played.

Few people could have handled the pressure and endured the abject degradation and outright hatred hurled at Robinson during his rookie season of 1947. But none of this was new to Robinson. While serving in the Army and a decade before Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, 2nd Lt. Jackie Robinson, an officer and a gentleman, boarded an Army bus and refused to move to the back as ordered by the bus driver. This incident resulted in Robinson being court-martialed for insubordination. He was later acquitted by an all-white panel of military officers.

Robinson was considered by many as opinionated, stubborn and combative. What else could he possibly have been? He said, “I had to fight hard against loneliness, abuse and the knowledge that any mistake I made would be magnified because I was the only black man out there. Many resented my impatience and honesty, but I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.”

Jackie Robinson did not get to the major leagues because of DEI, he earned it. Robinson died from complications of diabetes and heart failure on Oct. 24, 1972. Jackie Robinson not only made baseball better, he made America better.

Ken Zornes has a MA in Education, was formerly on the Trustee Board in Estes Park and is a former K-12 teacher. He resides in Longmont.