[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4402]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          JACKIE ROBINSON DAY

  (Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today is Jackie Robinson Day, declared such 
by Major League Baseball, but it should be declared such by the United 
States of America.
  On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier. For 80-
some odd years, there were no African American players in the major 
leagues. Branch Rickey put Jackie Robinson on the Brooklyn Dodgers and 
baseball became integrated. It truly became America's national pastime.
  Today, Major League Baseball players will all wear number 42, a 
number retired and allowed to be worn only on this day in honor of 
Jackie Robinson on the occasion of integrating Major League Baseball.
  Jackie Robinson was a great American and a great athlete. He lettered 
in four sports at UCLA. He was a great major league player with the 
Brooklyn Dodgers and was honored by being inducted into the Hall of 
Fame.
  Today there is a Jackie Robinson Foundation that gives young people 
scholarships to go to college and to do good deeds. He was very much 
interested in moving America forward in civil rights, and he did all he 
could.
  I was fortunate to travel to Cuba with the President. I met his 
widow, Rachel, and his daughter, Sharon, who gave me a button--and this 
is a replica of it--designating April 15 as Jackie Robinson Day. I 
think we should all think about his contributions to America and what 
contributions we can make to America to make us a more perfect Union.
  Thank you, Jackie Robinson.

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