Our Hero, Too: Jackie Robinson?s fight against racism made him an American hero. His struggle against anti-Semitic black nationalism makes him one for Jews as well. Image by Getty Images

NEW YORK – Vandals defaced a statue of barrier-breaking baseball star Jackie Robinson in Brooklyn, scrawling a racial slur, a swastika and anti-Semitic language on the figure outside a minor league baseball park, police said on Wednesday.

The hate crimes task force was investigating and no arrests had been made, a police spokeswoman said.

The statue depicts former Brooklyn Dodgers player Pee Wee Reese putting his arm around his teammate, Robinson, who became the first black player in the modern era of Major League Baseball in 1947.

Antisemitism Decoded

Arno Rosenfeld helps you separate the signal from the noise about antisemitism and understand current debates over Jewish safety.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Reese’s gesture before a game in Cincinnati was seen as helping fans accept an African American player in what had been a segregated sport.

Police received a call early Wednesday reporting the statue at MCU Park, home of the Brooklyn Cyclones, in Coney Island, was vandalized. It has since been scrubbed clean, the police spokeswoman said.

Robinson died in 1972 at age 53.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount