Jackie Robinson: A Spiritual Biography
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not seek reelection, and Robinson was not entirely displeased with
that development, given what he had earlier written to Rockefeller:
“While, in my opinion, [Johnson] has been the greatest influence in
our domestic racial policies, he leaves so much to be desired on the foreign policy level.”20
Vietnam was beginning to wear on Robinson, too.
Complicating matters for Humphrey, however, was that Rockefeller
was now a force in the race, even though he had earlier declared that he would not be a candidate. Rockefeller defeated Richard Nixon in the
Massachusetts primary on April 30.
More bad news came in May, when Robinson learned that his
beloved mother, Mallie, had collapsed in the driveway of her home in Pasadena. Jackie left to be with her as soon as he could, but Mallie—
the courageous woman who had taught her children that God treasures
their blackness, wants them to struggle for freedom, and will always help them find a way—died before he arrived.
Robinson found it difficult to enter the room where she lay dead.
“Somehow I managed to,” he later recalled, “and I shall always be glad that I did. There was a look, an expression on her face, that calmed me.
It didn’t do anything about her hurt, but it made me realize that she had died at peace with herself.”21
She had also died at peace knowing that she had passed her fierce
faith on to all her children.
Back home in Connecticut, Robinson quickly slid back into the
political thicket, this time taking on Robert F. Kennedy, who was running for the Democratic nomination for president.
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Jackie had harbored resentment against Kennedy for moving to
New York and defeating incumbent Kenneth Keating, a racially pro-
gressive Republican, in the 1964 senatorial race. “I cannot help but feel that Robert Kennedy is a vindictive opportunist,” Robinson told Rockefeller in March.22
While conceding that Kennedy had made “commendable contribu-
tions” during his tenure as attorney general, Robinson emphasized that the historical record would reveal “damning things” that Kennedy had directed. “It will show how Bobby upheld the appointment of segregationist judges in the South,” Jackie argued in his newspaper column.
“It will show he urged the Freedom Movement to ‘wait’ and to ‘cool
off’ at times when the Movement needed the moral support of all sin-
cere men. It will show how Bobby’s Justice Department persecuted the Martin King forces in Albany.”23
On the same day that this scorching criticism appeared in print,
Sirhan Sirhan, a Jordanian angered by Kennedy’s support for Israel,
shot the senator while he was campaigning at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Kennedy died the next day.
Robinson felt horrible.
But he neither apologized for nor backtracked on his criticism.
He did note, however, that Kennedy was “a brilliant man, that he
made some important contributions to racial progress in America and that he deserved better—as any man does—than to be gunned down because
someone disagreed with him or hated him for what he stood for.”24
Far less deserving, Robinson believed, was American society. “We
have become a corrupt society,” he complained. “We live in a day
when, instead of gaining the victory with ballots, we seek to still dissent and opposition and the call to freedom and justice with bullets.”25
American society had indeed become “one of the most violent ‘civi-
lizations’ on the map,” he added. “And the world knows it.”26
So, too, did God. Robinson turned to Jesus’ words—“He who lives
by the sword will die by the sword”—to suggest that America’s mur-
derous ways deserved nothing less than divine retribution, death at the hands of an angry God. “Let us hope that a merciful God will delay the retribution which we deserve.”27
Robinson invoked a merciful God again near the end of June, when
he suffered a mild heart attack. There was no significant damage, and Robinson saw the experience as a reprieve from God.
In a letter to his friend Caroline Wallerstein, he wrote: “I guess the good Lord has a job for me, or else I could or would have had some
“I Guess tHe Good lord Has a JoB for Me”
167
serious heart damage. . . . I have not been too disturbed and know
when it’s time nothing will prevent any of us going. I don’t know what it is but the good Lord has one job for me or else I would be a lot sicker than I am. I am heeding his warning and am really doing well, getting plenty of rest and reading.”28
Hope remained one of the hallmark characteristics of Robinson’s
faith even in this most challenging year. “I can’t imagine what else can happen to us this year,” he wrote to Wallerstein. “We had our share of problems but as has been said frequently if we can stand the test all will come out fine. I am sure we have the courage. I pray we have seen the last of trouble for a while, anyway.”29
Robinson’s prayers during this time focused especially on his son
Jackie Jr., now a resident at Daytop Rehabilitation Program, which was known for its rigor and discipline. “This is a tough period, only God knows how he will do,” Jackie wrote to Wallerstein. “We can only hope and pray, for Jackie has lots of problems and only he can solve them.”30
A lot more than prayer was on Robinson’s mind as he faced yet
another pressing problem: the Republican nomination of Richard
Nixon for the presidency.
Robinson’s doctors had instructed him to stay away from the Repub-
lican convention, and Jackie conceded that their advice was no doubt
“all for the best.”31 Even from a safe distance, though, the convention left Robinson sickened and perplexed.
“How sickening it was to hear Strom Thurmond, an arrogant lit-
tle race-baiter, declaring that Mr. Nixon had promised him and the
Deep South veto power over the choice of a vice-presidential can-
didate,” Robinson stated.32 Nixon’s selection of Maryland governor
Spiro Agnew, known for his intolerance of African American demands,
seemed only to confirm Robinson’s fears that avowed segregationists
like Thurmond of South Carolina and other Dixiecrats wielded con-
siderable power over Nixon.
And how “incredible” and “stupid” it was, Robinson added, for the
Republicans to choose Nixon—”a double-talker, a two-time loser, an
adjustable man with a convertible conscience”—over the principled,
honest, and progressive Rockefeller.33
On August 11, Robinson announced his resignation from Rock-
efeller’s staff and his plan to campaign full-time for the Democrats.
Predictably, Robinson did not mince words at the time of his
announcement. “Now he’s sold out,” Robinson said about Nixon,
“he’s prostituted himself to get the Southern vote.” The Nixon-Agnew
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ticket, Robinson added, was “racist in nature” and “inclined to let the South have veto powers over what was happening.”34
Robinson was angry. “The Republican Party has told the black man
to go to hell,” he said. “I offer them a similar invitation.”35
On August 14, Robinson stood next to a broadly smiling Hubert
Humphrey at Freedom National Bank in Harlem to announce that he
was formally endorsing the liberal Democrat for president.
Republican leaders were not pleased.
&n
bsp; Among the most vocal opponents was the ultraconservative William
F. Buckley, who described Robinson as a “pompous moralizer” guilty
of reverse racism.36 Robinson delivered a fiery response, calling Buckley an “intellectual dilettante” opposed to the truth.37
“One truth I learned long ago . . . is that I am black first, American second and that political parties are at least as far down as third in my life,” Robinson retorted. “If that is racism, so be it. I am proud to be black. I am also embattled because I am black.”38
Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican nominee, wrote to protest
Robinson’s decision to support Humphrey over Nixon. Normally,
Robinson would send a quick and pointed reply to such a letter, but
Jackie Jr. was in trouble again.
On August 23, Jackie Jr. was arrested in a hotel room and charged
with “using females for immoral purposes.” His female companion in
the room was charged with “loitering for the purposes of prostitution.”39
Although the police reported that Jackie Jr. had pointed a revolver
at them, he avoided jail time and returned to Daytop with a suspended sentence of two to four years in prison. The Robinsons prayed all the more and stayed in touch with their son as he set out, once again, on the road to recovery.
Two weeks later, Robinson sent his reply to Goldwater, explaining
that it was pride in his blackness that fueled much of his opposition to the Republican ticket. “Because I am proud of my blackness and the
progress we have made, and because I can’t feel that America will continue this progress under Nixon-Thurmond rule, I refuse to support
the ticket.”40
It was this same sense of racial pride and dignity, instilled in him so deeply by his mother, Mallie, and by the Rev. Karl Downs, that led Robinson to make a surprising, even shocking, decision to stand side by side with members of the Black Panther Party in New York City.
Robinson, it seemed, was moving closer to the militancy articulated so powerfully by Malcolm X.
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169
On August 21, three Black Panthers had been arrested for assaulting
a police officer, and at their hearing in Brooklyn on September 4, about 150 white men stormed the courthouse and used their fists, feet, and blackjacks to beat a dozen Black Panthers and several white sympathiz-ers. Among the attackers were off-duty New York City police officers, and no arrests were made in the immediate aftermath of the melee.
The incident angered Robinson, who showed his support for the
Panthers by speaking with them at their headquarters in Harlem.
Before he did so, he held a news conference in which he depicted the Panthers as a peaceful group willing to use democratic processes to
air their legitimate grievances. Robinson also sharply criticized the off-duty police officers who had participated in the violent melee.
Unlike Martin Luther King Jr., who had invoked the nonviolent
teachings of Jesus even in the context of police brutality, Robinson also made a rare public admission that police brutality justified the use of force by blacks seeking to defend themselves. But Robinson certainly hoped that Panthers would not resort to violence, and to that end he sought to open an avenue of constructive dialogue between the Panthers and the office of New York City mayor John Lindsay.
Around this time, Robinson also sought to reestablish a relationship with Richard Nixon after the Republican nominee had cruised to victory in the 1968 presidential election.
Warning of a racial “holocaust,” Robinson pleaded with Nixon
to do something concrete to advance equality for African Americans
and bridge the gap between blacks and whites. “This, Sir, is the most important role your administration must play, for a house divided unto itself cannot stand,” he wrote. “Surely you see we are a divided nation searching our souls for answers. It can only come from sincere, dedicated leadership. I pray to God you have the capacity to provide that leadership.”41
As a member of the Black Economic Council, a private group seek-
ing to advance economic opportunities for African Americans, Rob-
inson joined other council members in picketing the White House
because of their concern that the Nixon administration would not continue to fund loan assistance for businesses in slums.
Robinson warned that Nixon had better continue funding business
development in the nation’s slums. “If he doesn’t,” he said, “I think we’re in for a confrontation such as this country has never seen.”42
In February, Robinson became interested in a program that seemed
to be a perfect combination of his roots in rural Georgia and his spiritual
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belief that God helps those who help themselves. The developing program, begun by individuals long associated with groups such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and the National Sharecroppers Fund, called for the creation of a planned community in rural Georgia that would help poor Southerners, especially African American families, become self-sustaining farmers. The planned community, located on
4,800 acres in southwest Georgia, would accommodate eight hundred
families whose members would work at intensive farming and learn skills for light industry that the community would develop.
Robinson was not opposed to welfare programs; he found them
both helpful and necessary to help certain poor folks survive their
deplorable living conditions. But he certainly preferred policies that would help people help themselves, and the planned community was
so attractive to him that he asked his good friend Nelson Rockefeller to offer financial support to it.
“It seems whenever a real need arises I look to you,” Jackie wrote. “I hope you don’t consider me presumptuous. I do so only because there
are so few people with your capacity, both as a humanitarian and as
one who has means.”43 Rockefeller sent a check, and Robinson, steeped in his mother’s stories about her impossible financial struggles in rural Georgia, was delighted.
Robinson’s spiritual belief in human responsibility was also expressed at this point in his decision to found Jackie Robinson Associates, a private group of business leaders committed to providing business loans for affordable housing and minority-owned businesses. It was Robinson’s effort not only to make money but also to offer a hand up to minorities struggling to enter the mainstream of the US economy. It
was also his way of helping minorities avoid reliance on the govern-
ment, especially the Nixon administration.
Robinson expressed deep frustration with the Nixon administration’s
lack of attention to minority concerns: “I’m afraid we are going to have a conflict such as this country has never seen. I think we’re just a rumor away from it, unless there is concrete action—not by the black community, but by the federal, state, and local governments. The black community has no confidence in the leadership of this country today.”44
Never one to put too much hope in politics, he had other business
ventures in mind at this point, and the most significant was the Jackie Robinson Construction Corporation.
Robinson had long been interested in advancing the cause of civil
rights through affordable housing for minorities. In 1954, for instance,
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171
while still with the Dodgers, Robinson sought assistance from the
Eisenhower administration in securing a federal mortgage for a New
York City housing project for low-income minorities. Nothing came of the project. But Robinson’s dream of building affordable housing, one no doubt rooted in the stability he enjoyed i
n his own childhood home in Pasadena, remained strong throughout his postbaseball life. And it came to fruition in the spring of 1970.
The Jackie Robinson Construction Corporation sought to build
low- and middle-income housing in the New York City area, a
project that would benefit blacks and other minorities. The type of
housing Robinson had in mind was large apartment buildings, and
the project would include training minority contractors unfamiliar
with big construction. Robinson also insisted that as much of the
money as possible remain in the community where the construction
was taking place.
Robinson’s new office was in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and
because of his failing vision, he had to rely on a driver for the commute.
On many days, the driver would also take Robinson around to several
wholesalers so that he could collect meat and canned food for distribution at Nazarene Baptist Church in Brooklyn, a church pastored by his good friend Lacy Covington.
While the construction company reinvigorated Robinson’s profes-
sional life, his personal life was eased by Jackie Jr.’s progress at Daytop.
The young man slid back into drugs here and there, but his prayerful parents had noticed marked progress by the spring of 1970. And so in May, the Robinsons hosted a picnic at their home to thank Daytop for its work in helping Jackie Jr. on his road to recovery.
The best part of the day for Robinson was at the end, just before
Jackie Jr. boarded the bus to head back to Daytop. The occasion
reminded Robinson of the time his son had left for the army, when he hurtfully spurned his father’s attempt at a hug. But this time was different. “I stuck out my hand to shake his hand, remembering the day of
his departure for the service,” Robinson recalled. “He brushed my hand aside, pulled me to him, and embraced me in a tight hug. That single moment paid for every bit of sacrifice, every bit of anguish, I had ever undergone. I had my son back.”45
Sharon and David were also doing well. Sharon, following in her
mother’s footsteps, was studying nursing at Howard University in
Washington, DC, where she met and, to her parents’ pleasure, married a Howard medical student. David, an academically superior student at