Peter Dreier is professor of politics at Occidental College and co-author of two new books, “Baseball Rebels: The Players, People, and Social Movements That Shook Up the Game and Changed America” and “Major League Rebels: Baseball Battles Over Workers’ Rights and American Empire.”
Peter Dreier
By Peter Dreier
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Opinion Odessa, Ukraine has a rich Jewish baseball history
Fewer than 200 Jews have played in the majors. But three Jewish players born in Odessa, the Ukrainian city now under heavy Russian siege, excelled in their adopted sport.
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Culture How a forgotten Sidney Poitier film helps explain our current political moment
Editor’s Note; Sidney Poitier had died at the age of 94. As we mark that occasion, we look back at this article about the actor, author, and civil rights activist’s first film. It is a tribute to the civil rights movement and its recent incarnation as Black Lives Matter that, according to recent polls, a…
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News Here is baseball’s all-star all-Jewish lineup of all time
As Major League Baseball opens, here’s a question for a certain type of avid sports fan: Who would play on the ultimate all-star Jewish baseball team? The choices are surprisingly vast. Over the past decade, an average of 14 Jews have played on Major League Baseball teams each year. That is more than in any…
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Culture The forgotten Sidney Poitier film that helps explain our current political moment
It is a tribute to the civil rights movement and its recent incarnation as Black Lives Matter that, according to recent polls, a majority of white Americans believe that Black people are not treated fairly in our society, not only by police but also by other institutions. In fact, only 10% of American voters believe…
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Community Dodgers 2020: The thrill of victory – and the agony of injustice
As a longtime Dodgers fan, I’m thrilled that they won their first World Series in 32 years. But the victory is somewhat bittersweet because, despite the players’ remarkable triumph on the field and their camaraderie as teammates, I can’t ignore the reality that Major League Baseball in general, and the Dodgers in particular, remains rife…
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Community Is Trump lying about when he tested positive for the virus?
There’s a good chance that President Donald Trump is lying about when he caught the virus and is thus downplaying the number of people he put in danger. Given his history of lying about everything, journalists should be skeptical about the timing of Trump’s disease. They should not rule out the possibility that he actually…
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Community Why California Jews are backing Prop. 15
California is engaged in a David versus Goliath battle over wealth and inequality and a growing army of Jews is joining the crusade to slay the corporate giant. The battleground is Proposition 15, a statewide measure known as “Schools and Communities First” (SCF) that would increase property taxes on the state’s largest corporations and raise…
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News Remembering Sam Nahem, the Syrian Jew who integrated military baseball
Long before Black Lives Matter, there was the End Jim Crow in Baseball movement. For more than a decade before Jackie Robinson broke the sport’s color line in 1947, black newspapers, civil rights groups, progressive white activists and unions, the Communist Party, and radical politicians waged a sustained protest campaign to integrate the national pastime….
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Sports The college is Christian. Its point guard wears a yarmulke.
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News Conservative synagogue makes history with hiring of Hebrew Israelite clergy
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Culture George Santos covered ‘Hallelujah’ — it’s been through worse
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Quizzes News Quiz: Test your knowledge of Ilhan Omar and anti-antisemitism billboards
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Yiddish קאַרטון: שווער צו זײַן אַ ייִדCARTOON: Who said life was a bowl of cherries?
לעסלי טערנערס קאַרטון דערמאָנט אונדז אַז נישט אַלץ אין לעבן איז יושרדיק.