Sad to say, a group of kids who desperately needed encouragement and positive reinforcement got the worst lesson of all last week: that the adults they thought they could trust to give them a moment of joy had instead exploited them.
Like thousands of kids like them across the United States and the world, A group of 13 African-American boys from Chicago, aged 11 and 12, banded together last spring and summer to play baseball, a game that increasingly is being abandoned by kids like them for other flashier sports like football and basketball.
These boys played hard and smart. They respected their opponents and learned to respect themselves. By summer’s end, their skill, determination and dedication took them all the way to the Little League World Series. Eventually, those boys became the first all-black team to reach and then win the American championship. And though, their title hopes were crushed in a loss to a South Korean team in the world championship game, those boys won the admiration of millions.
That they played under the name of Jackie Robinson, perhaps the most heroic African-American athlete ever, made the story all the more appealing, all the more heartwarming. Their story couldn’t have come at a better time and to a needier place, as sections of Chicago have more closely resembled a war zone than an American city, what with gang violence and a murder rate that has spiraled out of control. These boys were celebrated all over the nation for rising above their situations and not only achieving, but excelling. President Obama, an adopted Chicagoan, heralded them at the White House. They went to Disney World and were hoisted atop the city of broad shoulders, and rightfully so.
Early last Wednesday morning, we discovered that while the kids had exhibited great nobility and brought honor to themselves and their city, people who should have known better, namely the adults who ran their league, didn’t. After an extensive investigation, officials at Little League International reported that there were players on the Jackie Robinson West squad that did not live in the team’s geographic footprint.
The officials sadly, but correctly, stripped the team of all of their titles.
Immediately, the parents and coaches of Jackie Robinson West did precisely what we’ve come to expect from adults who are caught doing wrong. They pointed fingers at Little League officials, claiming other teams did the same thing. They hired lawyers and threatened to sue. Heck, they even dragged Jesse Jackson out to waive the banner of possible racism.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel apparently wants to buy the kids championship rings to give them a concrete memory of their magical summer. Actually, the last thing those kids need is proof that the adults they’re supposed to look up to can be more childish than they are.