I’m Jackie Robinson, and I broke the color line in Major League Baseball. In 1945, while I was a student at Sam Huston College, the Kansas City Monarchs sent me a written offer to play professional baseball in the Negro Leagues. Similarly, to American Indians, no one was scouting blacks, so I took the opportunity that I got. I accepted the contract and played there for a season, but I managed to get an interview with Branch Rickey about possibly joining the Montreal Royals. Just like how coaches were skeptical of American Indians because of their stereotype to drink and return to the reservation, Rickey was skeptical of whether or not I could take the discrimination that I would receive joining the team. I asked Rickey if he was looking for a Negro who was afraid to fight back, but he told me he needed a negro player with guts enough not to fight back. After I agreed to turn the other cheek to racial discrimination, we agreed on a contract. To simply put, to battle racial discrimination, one must ignore that the discrimination is there. Likewise, I believe that all it takes is one instance to break such a barrier. When I got to Daytona for spring training in ’96, the manager of the Royals immediately asked Rickey to assign me to any other Dodger’s affiliate, but he refused, so they were stuck with me. I wasn't allowed to stay in the hotel with my team, so I stayed with a local black politician while I was there. The chief police in Sanford, where our training camp was, threatened to cancel all the games if I didn’t stop training there, so I was sent back to Daytona while the rest of the team continued training. After that, a few of our games were cancelled without us even knowing until we showed up because they didn't want a black man playing in their stadium. They believed that we were uncivilized, and unable to follow the rules. They thought we would ruin the purity of their game. That did not stop me. After playing for a ye