EVERYONE in Ireland has probably heard of Tiger Woods, the 21 year old African Asian American golfer who won the Masters title at Augusta, Georgia, last weekend. But how many have heard of Jackie Robinson?
It was 50 years ago this week that Robinson became the first African American to play in National League baseball when he stepped out for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Until that day, black baseball players could only play in the "Negro leagues", so Robinson was making history.
He was also embarking on a career which was to make him, in his own words, "the loneliest man in America" as he confronted racial prejudice and bigotry, not only from hostile white crowds but from even his own teammates. He refused to respond to taunts and went on to become a legend in baseball for fans of all skin tones.
It was an amazing coincidence that Tiger Woods should have triumphed at Augusta, the site of a former slave plantation, in the same week that Robinson's heroic deeds in advancing the cause of African American sportsmen were being celebrated nationally. President Clinton invited Tiger to the ceremony for Robinson at Shea Stadium in New York last Tuesday. It was to crown the months long commemoration of Robinson's exploits; but Tiger had a prior commitment.
Tiger in his moment of triumph had paid generous tribute to the handful of African American golfers who had inspired him to reach the top in a sport which is still a bastion of white domination. A black golfer did not play in the Masters until Lee Elder in 1975, and Augusta did not admit a black member until 1990.
The coming together of the Tiger Woods triumph and the Jackie Robinson commemoration has led to an outpouring of commentary on the significance of both for the state of race relations today. Things don't look too good.
As the Washington Post described the Robinson event, "The National Pastime and the American dilemma converged tonight on a field of dreams. On the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers, baseball honoured a legend, and the nation once again asked just how far it had come on the road to racial justice."
President Clinton, flanked by Robinson's widow, Rachel, warned that the 1947 break through should not lead to complacency. "We can do better," he said. "We need to establish equality in the boardrooms of baseball and corporate America."
This is a reference to the fact that there are scarcely any African Americans managing baseball teams or at the head of major corporations. The exceptions in other areas can give a false impression.
Gen Colin Powell's rise to the most senior post in the armed services was an inspiration for racial minorities, and integration in thee services is seen as a real achievement. In sports such as boxing, basketball and football, African Americans are often the stars.
But in everyday life the strains of racial tensions are causing genuine concern. Carl Rowan is a black American whose success in a white dominated society should have given him a positive outlook, one would think. He is one of the best known political commentators on TV and the press, has been an ambassador and was the first black American to serve in the cabinet and the National Security Council.
Yet he has just written a book called The Coming Race War in America - a Wake Up Call. Commenting on the hailing of this week's double celebrations as a closing of the "racial divide", he says: "Well, there we Americans go again looking for some cost free panacea to our most debilitating social problems ... Robinson would agree with Clinton that racism remains a terrifying curse on this society and that nothing in sight suggests that this curse will soon vanish," Rowan warns.
President Clinton has made the improvement of race relations a priority. He will soon apologise on behalf of the government for one of the most appalling official acts of racial discrimination. This was when 400 black men were denied treatment for syphilis in the 1930s as part of a medical experiment in Alabama.
The President is also considering setting up a commission on race relations. But no one is holding their breath about yet another commission.
Tiger Woods may be drawing the adulation of the crowds, but he still gets the hate mail. One recent letter said: "Just what we don't need. Another nigger in sports." His inspirational figure, Lee Elder, got death threats 20 years ago. The Philadelphia baseball fans used to throw dead black cats and watermelons at Jackie Robinson.
But the New York Times yesterday carried a full page advertisement for the book, How to Succeed in Business Without, Being White by Earl G. Graves, who heads the Pepsi Cola company in Washington and founded the successful Black Enterprise magazine. Colin Powell calls the book a "clarion call for African Americans". If he becomes President in 2000, that would be the ultimate success story for the descendants of the slaves.