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Baseball legend Reggie Jackson shares how team had his back when he faced racism

"If I couldn't eat in a place, nobody would eat…"

Jim Accordino/Wikimedia Commons

Reggie Jackson played pro ball for 21 seasons.

Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson played for 21 seasons in the major leagues, starting with the Kansas City Athletics in 1967 and retiring as a Los Angeles Angel in 1987.

But it was the year he spent playing minor league ball in Alabama that he opened up about in a Fox Sports pregame show at Rockwood Field in Birmingham. Jackson had played 114 games with the Birmingham Athletics before being called up to the majors, and when Alex Rodriguez asked him how it felt to be back in that place, he said bluntly that it was "not easy."

As a Black player in 1967, Jackson faced virulent racism when the team traveled throughout the South, from restaurants to hotels to fancy venues the team was invited to. He shared examples of being called the n-word and not being allowed into various establishments. He said he'd never want to go through that experience again and wouldn't wish it on anyone.

He also shared how his managers, coaches and teammates had his back during such incidents. They refused to eat where he couldn't eat or sleep where he couldn't sleep. He said they helped him refrain from responding to racist attacks when he was "ready to physically fight."

Watch him tell his story:

Here are his remarks in full:

"Coming back here is not easy. The racism when I played here, the difficulty of going through different places where we traveled. Fortunately, I had a manager and I had players on the team that helped me get through it. But I wouldn't wish it on anybody. People said to me today, I spoke, and they said, 'Do you think you're a better person, do you think you won when you played here and conquered?' I said, 'You know, I would never want to do it again.'

"I walked into restaurants, and they would point at me and say, 'The n***** can't eat here.' I would go to a hotel, and they would say, 'The n***** can't stay here.' We went to Charlie Finley's country club for a welcome home dinner, and they pointed me out with the N-word: 'He can't come in here.' Finley marched the whole team out. Finally, they let me in there. He said, 'We're going to go to the diner and eat hamburgers. We'll go where we're wanted.'

"Fortunately, I had a manager in Johnny McNamara that, if I couldn't eat in the place, nobody would eat. We'd get food to travel. If I couldn't stay in a hotel, they'd drive to the next hotel and find a place where I could stay. Had it not been for Rollie Fingers, Johnny McNamara, Dave Duncan, Joe and Sharon Rudi, I slept on their couch three, four nights a week for about a month and a half. Finally, they were threatened that they would burn our apartment complex down unless I got out. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"The year I came here, Bull Connor was the sheriff the year before, and they took minor league baseball out of here because in 1963, the Klan murdered four Black girls—children 11, 12, 14 years old—at a church here and never got indicted. The Klan—Life Magazine did a story on them like they were being honored.

"I wouldn't wish it on anyone. At the same time, had it not been for my white friends, had it not been for a white manager, and Rudi, Fingers and Duncan, and Lee Meyers, I would never have made it. I was too physically violent. I was ready to physically fight some — I would have got killed here because I would have beat someone's ass, and you would have saw me in an oak tree somewhere."

People praised the commentators and show producers for letting Jackson say what he wanted to say without interrupting or cutting him off. Some shared that it's vital to hear this part of our history from first-hand sources, as there are Americans who forget or deny that such incidents were commonplace within current adult lifetimes. Even knowing that Black players had a lot to overcome as segregation waned, it hits differently when you hear specific details.

Jackson's story is a difficult but important reminder that Civil Right Act of 1965 changed the laws but didn't magically flip the racist beliefs that made it necessary in the first place. But it's also a good reminder that individual Americans rejecting those beliefs and standing up for racial justice is a part of our national history as well.

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Education

Alabama community rallies around author after school district cancels Black History Month event

“How many teachers want those students to be able to have that opportunity to see themselves reflected in the people that we bring in?”

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Alabama community rallies behind author after school district cancels his Black History Month event.

There's something special about having a book read to you by the actual author. It means a lot to adults, so one can only imagine how children feel when they find out that the person preparing to read them a story is the person who wrote it. It's a small piece of childhood magic that never really goes away.

That's exactly the treat that several classrooms were primed to get when award-winning children's book author Derrick Barnes was scheduled to read to students at three schools in the Hoover City Schools public school district near Birmingham, Alabama. It's an event that was inquired about back in April 2022, nearly a full year in advance to ensure the author would be available for February. But just days before the start of Black History Month, the superintendent of Hoover City Schools abruptly canceled the scheduled readings.

The cancellation came as a surprise to Barnes, his team, as well as the parents and teachers within Hoover City Schools. The superintendent of the school district, Dee Fowler, cited one parent's concerns about the visits and the author's "controversial ideas." Fowler also stated there were contract issues, according to CNN.

No matter the reason, Barnes would not be reading at the schools, which not only affects the children but also leaves the author out thousands of dollars. But the Alabama community decided they were not going to allow this situation to stand and chose to do something about it any way they could. Hundreds of frustrated parents have worked together to raise a portion of the $9,900 Barnes lost by the event being canceled on such short notice, and they didn't stop there.

People in the town are stocking his book in the Free Little Libraries, which are small bookcases placed throughout towns and free for the public to use. Two teachers, Kent Haines and Reed Lochlamy, wrote a letter to the school district and 140 teachers from Hoover City Schools signed on as of February 3. According to WBRC, the teachers are asking for more transparency about the situation and how to avoid it in the future.

The award-winning author writes children's books that feature Black children doing normal daily activities and encourages positive self-image. These are books that Black children can see representation in and other children can see something other than Black people experiencing trauma or some other situation that needs to be overcome. Most of his writings center joy, and it would've been a joy for kids to see that reflected.

“I really try to focus on writing books where Black children are doing ‘slice of life’ things,” Barnes explained to CBS 42 News. “When I first got into the industry, all the books that were written by Black authors that got awards were always about civil rights or slavery. No bedtime stories. No stories about going to school."

“How many teachers want those students to be able to have that opportunity to see themselves reflected in the people that we bring in?” Haines asked WBRC before continuing, “More broadly, I am hoping that this leads our district to more fully enact its stated values regarding the diverse community that we live and teach in.”

The cancellation of authors speaking at elementary schools seems to be the latest trend seemingly stemming from the small faction of outspoken organizations that want to ban books in schools. Reasons for banning particular books span from "inappropriate" to Critical Race Theory, which is a graduate-level course taught to law students.

Throughout the process, it has not been clear what the exact offending material was that was posted to Barnes' social media page that started the cancellation. But the support shown is reason enough for the school district to reconsider hastily deciding things based on one person's dissent.

When asked about the support received by the teachers, Barnes told WBRC, “I look forward to finally coming down there hopefully this upcoming school year and I just want to tell all of them thank you, love them very much and keep up the fight.”

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Innovation

Alabama is turning to TikTok to help convince returning students to get vaccinated

Photo by CDC on Unsplash

Alabama ranks as the last state in the nation in COVID-19 vaccine rates, but one high school principal in Birmingham is doing everything he can to combat that.

Between February and June Principal of A.H Parker High School, Darrell Hudson, partnered with The University of Alabama at Birmingham to launch a vaccine site.

"It was a great opportunity to launch the site. We've always been more than a school in the community," Hudson tells Upworthy. "We feel good when any of our scholars decide to take the vaccine," he says. But, he adds that the number of students who're vaccinated is still quite low.


To keep the momentum going, two weeks before students returned to campus, Hudson and Parker High joined others in the Birmingham City Schools, in a social media campaign championed by the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH). A TikTok contest was launched for young people ages 13 to 29. Videos are themed "This is why I got vaccinated.," and on August 13, a panel of judges will announce four winners who will each be awarded a $250 Visa gift card.

The ADPH is hoping campaigns such as the TikTok contest will move the needle in getting the young vaccinated. Hudson says the students at Parker are excited about the contest.


"We've got some very creative scholars here and I can't wait to see what they come up with," Hudson says.

ADPH Assistant Health Officer Dr. Karen Landers told CNN's Jake Tapper that it's Alabamians between the ages of 12 and 49 who are the most adamant about not getting the vaccine.

"That's really where our problem is, reaching people who perceive that they're younger, they're healthier and therefore they don't need the vaccine, or continuing to buy into misinformation," Landers said.

Hudson told CNN that although most of his students are already vaccinated, some remain hesitant.

"We tried to educate them, but I've learned the best thing is to let them talk with the nurses," he said. "Let them talk with the scientists from a scientific standpoint."

"We have had some to come around," he added. "We do have some that are on the fence. And we have some that are pretty adamant about not going to take the vaccine, but we do try to educate our scholars. We've had this conversation with parents and guardians as well…But like I say, I think one of the best methods has been to let them talk with the nurses and individuals who have been doing this for a while, to give the pros and cons."


Photo by Hakan Nural on


According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than half of all Americans age 18 to 39 are fully vaccinated, compared with more than two-thirds of those over 50. And about 58 percent of those ages 12 through 17 have yet to receive a shot at all -- even though the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is authorized for most people age 12 and older.

On August 1, the White House enlisted a plethora of more than 50 Twitch streamers, YouTubers, and TikTokers with enormous online audiences to help push a pro-vaccine message and get jabs into the arms of young people.

According to a 2018 study by the marketing agency MuseFind, young people are more likely to trust their favorite social media influencer than a traditional celebrity.

"I know I won't stop until all my followers are safe and vaccinated," White House TikTok creator, Ellie Zeiler, 17, from Escondido, California told The New York Times.

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Wellness

Yoga has been banned in Alabama public schools since 1993. How is this real?

Image by Paulo Sérgio de Oliveira Rosa from Pixabay

The health benefits of yoga are understood so far and wide in modern society that the exercise is utilized by everyone from suburban soccer moms to professional football players. We also have a wealth of research about the emotional and mental benefits of meditation—so much, in fact, that some schools have successfully implemented meditation as a way to improve student behavior.

But apparently, in Alabama, some folks are afraid that letting kids do yoga or meditation in school might lead them to do something terrifying...like becoming a Hindu, or being attracted to Hinduism, or looking into Hinduism, or something.

Since 1993, Alabama has banned yoga and guided meditation from public schools, as it got wrapped up in a blanket ban on "the use of hypnosis and dissociative mental states."

"School personnel shall be prohibited from using any techniques that involve the induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, meditation or yoga," the State Board of Education's regulations state.

A new bill has been introduced—and passed in the Alabama House of Representatives in a 73-25 vote—that would allow schools to authorize yoga. However, for the bill to become law it has to pass through the Senate, where it is has stalled due to pushback from conservative groups who are concerned about the Hindu origins of the exercise.

Becky Gerritson, director of the conservative group Eagle Forum of Alabama, spoke out against the bill during the public hearing.

"Yoga is a very big part of the Hindu religion," she said, according to the AP. "If this bill passes, then instructors will be able to come into classrooms as young as kindergarten and bring these children through guided imagery, which is a spiritual exercise, and it's outside their parents' view. And we just believe that this is not appropriate."

The Eagle Forum website also states their official position:

"Many people see Yoga as harmless. Even many Christians churches offer Yoga. However, Yoga is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Āstika (orthodox) schools of Hindu philosophical traditions. In the Education Committee the sponsor made it very clear that Yoga was needed in schools to help with mental clarity which confirms that it is not intended to be just a physical exercise. We hold the position that if parents want their children to engage in the practice of yoga that they do it on their own time and not in public schools with tax payer money."

Ah yes. Mental clarity = a problematic religious influence of some sort. Makes perfect sense.

Considering the fact that the Eagle Forum has complained about school prayer being banned and the Ten Commandments statue being removed from a government building, that they and really, really wanted "under God" to remain in the Pledge of Allegiance kids say each day, their stance seems a smidge hypocritical. And banning an exercise that isn't overtly religious just because it originated from an Eastern spiritual tradition and not Christianity seems silly.

The fact of the matter is yoga has gone mainstream. In the U.S. especially, it's far removed from any religious connotations. That's not necessarily a good thing—there are ongoing discussions about cultural appropriation in Western yoga practices—but the idea that yoga turns you Hindu is illogical on its face.

The resistance seems particularly overreactive when you see that the bill includes strict rules for schools to teach yoga, such as limiting it "exclusively to poses, exercises and stretching techniques," using "exclusively English descriptive names" for the poses, and expressly prohibiting "chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, and 11 namaste greetings."

Stripping any and all Indian or Hindu elements from school yoga practices, what do they fear happening? Do they think kids putting their bodies into a specific position will somehow summon Hindu spirits that will somehow convince the children to be Hindu?

"This whole notion that if you do yoga, you'll become Hindu — I've been doing yoga for 10 years and I go to church and I'm very much a Christian," said Democratic Rep. Jeremy Gray, who introduced the bill, according to the AP. Gray was introduced to yoga when he played college football at North Carolina State University and enjoyed it so much he became a yoga instructor himself.

Rajan Zed, who is president of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that the overwhelming majority of yoga teachers and practitioners aren't Hindu and that anyone of any faith can utilize yoga.

"Traditionally Hinduism was not into proselytism. So, Alabamans should not to be scared of yoga at all," Zed wrote in a statement after the committee meeting.

The same goes for meditation, guided or otherwise. Yoga and meditation are ancient practices that people around the world from various cultures and traditions have benefited from without some big conversion to the faith of their origins. Every guided meditation I've ever done just walks you through peaceful mental imagery. We're not talking about holding seances or ritual sacrifices here, for the love.

When we have bullying and mental health crises and mass shootings happening in schools, kids doing a tree pose or imagining they're floating on a beautiful lake are the last things adults should be worrying about. Seriously.

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