Another beautiful weekend for this Summer 2007. I had a good time visiting family in Nueva York and wishing that freakin' SEPTA was as entertaining and as economically feasible as the NYC subway. Okay, maybe I'm comparing apples and oranges...Regardless, visiting my dear Mamazonita is always a venture into adolescence, but isn't that the case for many of us? My little man loved the trains and thoroughly enjoyed mimicking the sounds of the doors closing and was fascinated by the varied faces, voices, and garb of New Yorkers.
La Mamazonita is an urban gardener. She has taken her small patch of land and transformed it into an oasis of roses and black eyed susans, lilies of all hues, numerous herbs, and a towering butterfly bush that really is a haven for these delicate insects.
I was reminded of one of my mother's heroes in a blog I stumbled upon...Roberto Clemente. Apparently, there is talk of retiring his baseball number-read on:
(For those who don't know, Willie Perdomo is a great writer and poet. I look forward to his upcoming book.) I remember how my mother said she used to love to watch baseball (in the 70's) and stopped watching the sport altogether when her beloved Roberto Clemente died. She admired his love for his people and the positive image he provided for Latinos in the U.S. I wonder, can I say I feel the same about any Latinos-who are the philanthropic, community-serving Latinos today? Hmmm. folks do not easily come to mind, though recently I was inspired by another baseball player (David Ortiz) who despite not having millions is already giving back to his community.RETIRING ROBERTO CLEMENTE'S NUMBER? IT'S A NO-BRAINER
By Willie Perdomo
The New York PostMLB icon Clemente deserves his props.
Should MLB retire Roberto Clemente's 21 like it did with Jackie Robinson's 42? Vote Now!
June 6, 2007 -- In A RECENT profile of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, one of his closest advisors commented on the in-fighting amongst Latino politicians and said, "We have a propensity, like other minorities, to screw one another."
I've erased the word "minorities" from my vocabulary a long time ago, but the comment made me think about Sharon Robinson (the daughter of the great African American baseball player Jackie Robinson) and her reluctance to endorse the retirement of Roberto Clemente's jersey, No. 21.
Ms. Robinson was quoted in a January 2006 Associated Press article as saying that her father's situation was "very unique and historical. (Roberto) Clemente did an awful lot of good things and was a terrific ballplayer, but I don't think it's the same type of situation as Jackie Robinson."
Ms. Robinson's type of thinking is endemic to the racial divisions that currently plague our major cities. For her to imply that "the situation" was different for the Puerto Rican ball player is to negate the struggle that Clemente endured as a dark-skinned, Spanish-speaking man in this country.
Did he not encounter the same Jim Crow injustices that were experienced by Robinson, Willie Mays and Don Newcombe? Did he not, unlike the aforementioned players, have the courage to speak up about these injustices? Must an argument really be made to retire the number of a baseball player who was called a prince?
A player who consistently got the good wood on a bad pitch and a consummate All-Star who made playing baseball look like modern ballet.
A ball player who hit a cool 3,000 hits, won 12 Gold Gloves in twelve consecutive seasons, four batting titles and virtually ensured the Pittsburgh Pirates a victory in the 1971 World Series by hitting safely in every post-season game for a .421 average.
Sure, Jackie Robinson was the first African-American man to wear a Major League Baseball uniform, but ask the million-plus Puerto Ricans who will be parading up Fifth Avenue on Sunday if Clemente's number should be retired. I guarantee that you will hear a resounding "Claro, que si" and "Hell, yeah!" followed by a "Wepa!" and then a symphonic clanging of cowbells to rally the issue.
If the problem, as W.E.B. Dubois reflected, within our Latino and African-American communities (and I include myself as a member of both) is that we fall prey to the "crabs in the barrel phenomenon" then Sharon Robinson is acting like a queen crab to a man, Roberto Walker Clemente, who died en route to a humanitarian mission to feed the poor in Nicaragua.
A man who, after having reached the top of the barrel, would undoubtedly grab a rope and throw it back down to help lift up some of his fellow crustaceans.
Willie Perdomo is the author of the upcoming children's book "Why They Call Me Clemente" (Henry Holt/BYR). He's also the husband of Tempo Editor Sandra Guzmán.
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