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it may be easy to stand up to racism now eighty years ago
it wasn't your team a junior baseball players did just that and now their
story will live on forever
and a children's book authored by Springfield College professor
Richard Anderson who is here with me today thank you so much
prosper joining me so tell me about
this but that you for an for kids tell me the story that came from
the story takes place in 1934
the American Legion post 21 baseball team
won the New England championship and
this gave them the opportunity to travel to Gastonia North Carolina
for regional playoff with you too can overnight rain
and when the team got off the train them so welcoming band
and the as soon as they saw the team put their feet on the platform they
put on there instruments and they they walked away the team went to take the
busts to that we drew
transport them to the hotel in as the driver saw the team approach he pulled
away from
the curb they made it to the hotel carrying their
all their equipment in bags when they got to hotel
they were told that their rooms are ready in all the players could check and
except one and not one player with the only black player
on the team his name is Ernest elia Farrell and he was called bunny
by his friends his very fast and as a
X your name worse a football player Cacique it sickens Ag without changing
speed amuse really remarkable
athlete the are a discussion
followed and it was resolved that okay
funny can stay when they can stay at the hotel but
I'm he can sleep in a bed that's reserved for white people. he had to
sleep on a cot
he has asleep in the coach's room and he has to be listed as the coaches
LA and no guest in hotel can mistake him for a player he has to be a valet
as long as he's in there on proximity other
the hotel the team holds its first practice that afternoon
and word has gotten out that the Massachusetts team has a black player
2,000 people show up at batting practice not two thousand people as more people
than showed up for all the games
that that team that played all all summer long and a
there there too jere and threaten
and intimidate these kids in in some at waseda almost unspeakable
the kids were told that the if they took the field they waited that the people
with with tear their shirts off their backs
I'm they were told that the parents would never see them again
that the Ku Klux *** would kidnap him in the nightly would literally disappear
from the
faces the earth they told me if they didn't attempt to play
would be the last game that they would ever play but the kids took the field
anyway the coach was that pitching coach
further teen and he took the mound and the first person not
was the team's pitcher bunny telly a fairer
he stepped into the batter's box the crowd went wild as a big
a a wooden Stadium stopping on the wood again the *** the threats you can
imagine what the
sound was like funny is 15 years old he is
he's never experience he's never heard things like this is never seen
such behavior but he steps into the batter's box and I should say this to
up to this point bunny and and none of the players really
have any any voice in this area they they had not been able to say what they
think about they feel everything has been decided for them
by the adults but bunny does had something that he can speak with and
it's his baseball bat
and he has the athletic prowess to know how to use it
the pitch throws if first pitched over the plate but he hits it at the ballpark
the silence is the crowd for a few seconds but they start in
again louder than ever second pitch comes company hits over the part for
more pictures followed by the hitch
it's one of them out at the park and not just over the head of the outfielders
out above the ballpark airmail special delivery to the people love gastonia
that's when the insults are become replaced by
empty coca-cola bottles on and tea tin cans
loose stones that can be picked up and thrown
half-eaten hot dogs and the team has to flee the
field when they get back to them hotel
they're told that the have as long as money is on the roster the team cannot
attend the welcoming banquet that was being given for all the teams
that evening and the teams from Maryland and Florida have already announced that
they're not playing on any field
were bunny takes a position so the coach also special meeting in this room
and he gives the players a choice he says look
we can play without buying any makes it very clear to them that
he thinks they can win without by noon if they win they're going to the
national champions
ships in Chicago and the
Bunny will play then they can they can't do this or they can go home
and the first one to speak is the team captain
Tony King still alive is ninety six years old today is the sole surviving
member the team he sixteen-years-old and he's given the honor speaking first
because he's the captain
he says bunny is a member of this team
if I'm not playing I'm sorry if money is not playing
I'm not playing either all the players follow suit they vote unanimously
and without debate to pack their bags and tear
and to go home now nowadays if this happened
of course would be appalled we can't believe that this is happening but
eighty years ago
it's been the complete opposite where people would be appalled
at these young boys decisions but they decided
to stand up 413 E why
I think they're a number of explanations but I i should say
also today that racism does exist to take some
more subtle forms but for those who were victims of racism
they feel pretty much at the same way that the bunny dies Semenya but his
racism do with it it diminishes it demeans
it makes our bunny and those who have suffered
I'm from discrimination they feel I'm embarrassed
their humiliated they're made some tends to feel ashamed which is the idea
other Vitol arm and also in the case have bunny
Albany feels responsible for what's happened he feels guilty it it's him its
because the color of his skin that's cause these things to
to happen so the behavior is outrageous
the the extent of their above the display of racism
doesn't exist to today but the racism does
and wanted when it hits the people who I'm
experience it that that the feelings aren't much different then
and bunnies you decided to take this story and
basically make it live on forever and form a children's book
are you hoping that this will impact kids in future generations to never
forget
what happened in the paths yes arm
the thing is that it will want to give I'm a common
occurrence in schools today and probably in both the bar Times's
is pulling and it's only been in the last couple years that bullying has
should have caught the attention in the media and people doing things a
about it in one way bunny is a role model for had to stand up to
bullying he stands up to 2,000 people and hit six home runs out at the park
this is an extraordinary feed right many people that can stand up
and hit and an accomplished something like he did
bernie is it is a true hero but he's one of those heroes that's older than a
class by
himself so maybe we can't all be bunny Talia Ferris
we can all be Tony Kings we can all say
I'm not playing this game I'm not doing it I'm not participating
in any event or activity that demeans or diminishes
or degrades another person in in any way
what reaction to the boys get when they came back home after making a decision
the they they were welcomed home as heroes
and more people showed up in Springfield and showed up at the batting practice in
in Gastonia and and they've been euros endeavor sense but they've been
quiet heroes I'm that for the
I white kids on the team their story was passed on from generation to generation
so that there are many people in Springfield today they
they know the story they know they know the they know the event
bunnies family did something very different this speaks to
racism as well and and and something that still exist
today for those who are victims of racism bunny
when he got married he and his wife sweets funny & Suites
they decided that they were not going to speak about this
in fact they didn't tell any of their five children anything
about companies athletic prowess I'm
wala any of his accomplishments he's the first to
student athlete ever to play a varsity basketball baseball and football in his
freshman year
he played all three sports let it all three times all three
all three all four years captain have every team
all the way through on high school is undefeated is a picture
and stole more bases hit more home runs scored more touchdowns was all city
football 1934 1935 I love
college scholarships offers some places said as
reputable was as Dartmouth but they decided
not to tell their kids anything anything about it and it wasn't until bunny died
on is fifty-years-old 1967
I was his birthday died it wasn't until
his funeral that the late Judge Denny keys and other members of the team
a congress state congressman Janie Coffey these are the pallbearers
and the members of his family his kids were wondering
judges Congressmen what are they doing here
I Y is a caring aren't are dead and a
and they found out but they still didn't know
much about funny because they were connected with the with the white
families
sometimes people ask why did bernie & Suites decide not to tell
not to tell anybody about what happened in in this this
again speaks to what happens for people who are victims have
racism sometimes the experience is so painful
it's so hurtful it's so damaging
that they just don't wanna go there why go through you know five kids why go
through all
that over and over again with all those kids and talking about it at family
functions and the rest will lose
is better just to erase it from the
the Family Center history talk about this coming full circle the first
african-american governor of our state just recently read
this book cue children as cool and he was joined by Tony came with 96 like you
mentioned earlier
talk about the full circle that coming around I
well bunnies with the thing i think thats most impressive about
bunnies behavior in the team's decision to come come back to Springfield
is that happen so much before any of these wonderful things have taken place
thirteen years before the world heard of Jackie Robinson
this was a group of 15 year old kids who decided to stand up for their friend
tend to take a stand against am against
racism it's twenty-nine years before
doctor martin luther king gave his I have a dream speech
the decision I think the have the kids to return to Springfield
this maybe if not the earliest one of the earliest
on civil rights protests against discrimination at the kind that
down that the a doctor martin luther king
let us in it was terrific seeing
and Governor Patrick speak to the kids
he arm he has a way of communicating with children that is
absolutely beautiful to watch in your truck into someone who's been a teacher
for 47 years
and I got a clinic today on
how to how to read a book to to children
had to get them to be it to interact with their
with the story and with each other who's really
really absolutely superb bennett genuine human being at a fixed price say
something personal about
what happened well at one point in this story where Tony King says
bunnies remember this team if I if he's not playing I'm not
I'm not playing either when I first wrote that story every time I get to
that point
tears would well you know i i would get really emotional
about it but after so many drafts
so many years go by II I didn't have that same response when I
when I read those lines but when Governor Patrick was reading them
his eyes welled with tears his voice
choked hand it just brought me
right back to what this story was all about
it's about friendship it's about loyalty it's about placing human beings above
winning it's about it's about ordinary people doing
Orton extraordinary things and it sends a message to eat the
it sent the message to should the kids who were listening to govern factor hope
that set this message
that they can be a hero at any age we can all be
heroes at any age or we have to say no
a return and I'm sure funny was in there in person you're still there in spirit
professor thank you so much for your time now thank you