Racial Discrimination Considered from Movie “42 - The Jackie Robinson Story”  〜映画「42〜世界を変えた男〜」から人種差別を考える〜

11/20/2013

  The U.S. movie “42 - The Jackie Robinson Story” was released in Japan on Nov. 1. The hero in this movie is Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson (played by Chadwick Boseman) who was well known as the first black man to play in Major League Baseball (MLB).

The story begins in 1945 when Wesley Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), then general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, signs Robinson for his team, opening the MLB door that had been closed to colored players. That happened in the days when racial segregation was legal in most southern states in the country. Being an African American, Robinson faces various forms of discrimination, such as harassment and threats from spectators, other teams, the mass media and occasionally even his teammates. However, his existence comes to be gradually accepted by the society as a whole all because of his earnest play and gentlemanly behavior. His great achievement has made not only black men but various other races from across the world eligible to play in MLB now. In 1997, MLB retired his uniform number of 42, the title of this movie, across all teams in tribute to his distinguished services as a player.

 

 11月1日から米国映画「42〜世界を変えた男〜」が日本でも公開された。この映画の主人公は、黒人初のメジャーリーガーとして著名なジャッキー・ロビンソン(チャドウィック・ボーズマン)。物語は1945年、当時ドジャースのジェネラルマネージャーだったブランチ・リッキー(ハリソン・フォード)が、白人選手以外に開かれていなかったメジャーの門戸を開き、ロビンソンを球団に迎え入れるところから始まる。ロビンソンは黒人であるがゆえに観客や相手チーム、マスコミ、時にチームメイトからも嫌がらせや脅しなど様々な形の差別を受けるが、彼の真摯なプレーと紳士的な振る舞いで次第に周囲に認められるようになる。ロビンソンの活躍で後のメジャーリーグでは、黒人だけでなく世界中の選手がプレーできるようになった。ロビンソンの偉大な功績が讃えられ、この映画のタイトルになっている彼の背番号42は97年から、大リーグ全球団で永久欠番となっている。

 

  Though not depicted in the movie, Robinson assumed the chairmanship of the freedom fund movement of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) after retirement and made a big contribution to enhancing the black people’s social status through positive participation in the African American Civil Rights Movement. His activities also inspired President John F. Kennedy to seek enactment in 1960 of a bill that overruled the so-called "Jim Crow laws" (state and local laws in force mainly in southern states to ban the use of public facilities by African Americans). President Lyndon B. Johnson who took over the presidency following Kennedy’s assassination worked energetically for the enactment of the Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964, putting an end to the legal racial discrimination that had continued for decades in the United States.

 

 映画本編には描かれていないが、ロビンソンは引退後、全米黒人地位向上協会(NAACP)の自由基金運動議長に就任するなど、積極的にアフリカ系アメリカ人公民権運動に参加し、黒人の社会的地位向上のため大きな貢献を果たした。彼の活躍もあり、60年には南部諸州のいわゆる「ジム・クロウ法」(おもに黒人の一般公共施設の利用を禁止制限した法律の総称)を禁止する法案が、当時の大統領ジョン・F・ケネディによって成立。さらにケネディの後を継いだジョンソン大統領の精力的な働きかけの結果、64年7月2日に公民権法(Civil Rights Act)が制定され、ここに長年アメリカで続いた法の上での人種差別は終わりを告げることとなった。

 

 

  However, blacks did not immediately attain equal status with whites simply because the act came into force. The discriminatory sentiment among some whites did not disappear overnight. In 1965, the year after the enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, what was known later as “Bloody Sunday” occurred during the first "Selma to Montgomery march" where African American marchers were attacked by state and local police with billy clubs and tear gas. Meanwhile, some members of the anti-racial discrimination movement came to use violence after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., himself a strong advocate of nonviolent civil disobedience. Their radical activities continued till the 1970s.

 

 しかし、公民権法ができたからと言って、いきなり黒人が白人と平等な地位を獲得したわけではない。白人の一部にある差別感情は急には消えず、公民権法が制定された翌年の65年には「血の日曜日事件」と呼ばれる、白人警官による公民運動家への流血事件が起きた。一方、反人種差別運動の一部勢力は、非暴力主義のキング牧師の暗殺後、暴力的な活動をするようになり、この動きは70年代まで続いた。     

 

  Introduction of "affirmative action" in the U.S. is mentioned as one of factors that led to gradual improvement of the situation. This refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group "in areas of employment, education and business". Measures based on these policies helped more colored people including African Americans take leading posts in the economic and judicial circles. Enlightenment of anti-racial discrimination further progressed through the spread of "political correctness" which encouraged use of politically correct words or terms to show differences between people or groups in a fair, non-offensive way.

 

 こうした状況が徐々に改善されていった要因のひとつに、米国における「アファーマティブ・アクション政策」の導入が挙げられる。この政策は民族、人種、出自よる差別と貧困に悩む被差別集団の進学や就職、職場における昇進で特別な採用枠を設置するなどの優遇措置を施す政策。この措置により、経済界や法曹界のリーダー的地位に就くアフリカ系アメリカ人をはじめ有色人種が増加したほか、言葉や用語に社会的な差別、偏見を含まない公平さを示す「ポリティカル・コレクトネス」の浸透で反人種差別の啓蒙が進んだ。

 

 

  However, incidents of violence and cases of false charge rooted in racial discrimination occur frequently in various parts of the United States even today. During the presidential election campaigns in 2008, discriminatory remarks against Democratic candidate Barack Obama came one after another from politicians, media people and intellectuals. That illustrated how deeply discriminatory sentiments against colored races including African Americans are rooted in American society. As globalization progresses, international exchanges in culture and business are deepening day by day. What changes will we be able to see in racist feelings not only in the U.S. but in various other parts of the international community in the years ahead?

 

 しかし、現在も全米各地で人種差別感情を背景にした暴力事件や冤罪事件が数多く起きている。2008年の大統領選挙時には、民主党のオバマ候補に対する人種差別的な発言が政治家やマスコミ関係者、文化人から相次ぐなど、いまだにアフリカ系アメリカ人をはじめとする有色人種への差別感情は根強く残っている。グローバル化が進む中、文化やビジネスでの国際間の交流がますます深まっているが、米国に限らず国際社会における人種差別的感情がどう変わっていくか注目したい。

 

 

Written By : Kento Isogai