This is How it Starts

[Jimmy O'Connell]

This is How it Starts
He was our four hundred dollar a month
Shortstop. We been going to the same
Filling station for thirty years. ‘I’m
Using the restroom’, he says. ‘Boy, you
Can’t use the restroom’. He tells him, ‘Take
The hose out of the tank. No restroom,
No gas’. Simple as that. He started

Something right there. Yes, he did. That was
Oklahoma nineteen forty five,
Just before Branch Rickey asked him,
‘Do you have the guts not to fight back?’
So, every place we go we wanted
To know, first could we use the restroom.

[lizzytysh]

This sounds like a true incident of our U.S. history, Jimmy. Was it?
I like what it says and how you say it.
It took some courage to find other ways to deal with the immense conflict of those times.
That really comes through.

[Jimmy O'Connell]

Liz,
The 'shortstop' is Jackie Robinson. It's a strue story. It took place in Oklahoma when Jackie was playing with the Kansas City Monarchs (the 'Negro' League). Soon after Branch Richey (owner/manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers) signed him up. The first black man to play in the major leagues. The quote from Richey is a real one. Richey told him that he wasn't to react to any taunts for three years, after that he was free to do and say what he wanted... which he did.

[Cate]

Can’t use the restroom’. He tells him, ‘Take
The hose out of the tank. No restroom,
No gas’.

I like the twist of words here - I almost imagine a sign hung over the bathroom door saying No gas, No restroom and the driver nodding to it while he's telling the gas guy to take out his pump. I also like how they check if they want to buy gas from someone later - smart guys.

It's timely story Jimmy. I'm not sure if you would have heard about this story across the pond but few days ago http://www.torontosun.com/2012/04/26/ra ... -ot-winner twitter fury after a black player scored a winning goal, in fall somebody threw a banana at a player (??? wtf)

[lizzytysh]

Thanks so much for the back story, Jimmy.
There was a lot going on there.

As Cate noted, the twist of words shows the depth and resolve of Jackie's decision.
And how it became an ongoing acid test for them.
A very effective poem to note our country's history with race relations.
I love it that you took something from so far away and long ago and put it to poem.

I hadn't heard about that incident, Cate .
It has to make you wonder when the ignorance, prejudice, and mean-spiritedness will finally dilute out.

[Jimmy O'Connell]

Prejudice and stupidity alive and well, Cate... as ever it will be...

[lizzytysh]

This is How it Starts... such an apt title for the truth of it all.
We have far to go, but these kinds of personal statements made through individual action act as beginnings.
We haven't reached the critical mass, yet; but, if we keep doing what we're doing, we hopefully one day will.

Your poem put me there and I heard the dialogue as if it were happening right now.