The Unknown Candidate: Herbert Keeps His "Eyes on the Prize"

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Herbert Keeps His "Eyes on the Prize"

Bob Herbert is himself a testament to the civil rights movement he memorializes in today's Times op ed. Through his writings, he has faithfully kept his eyes on 'The Dream' envisioned by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; his columns, always infused with deep passion and optimism for a better world, often decry the sufferings of social and political injustice. He has literally dedicated his work and his life to continuing King's dream.

The irony is, that the memorial to King in Washington this week was desecrated by one individual who has done next to nothing to further the cause of civil rights and who nonetheless, because of his office, was asked to appear and speak at the celebration. I'm speaking, of course, of "The Decider" himself, who was, in this writer's opinion, decidedly out of place.

Here stood a man who has blatantly abused the civil and privacy rights of all citizens through his illegal wiretapping program, a man who has defied international law by condoning torture, secret prisons and the abolition of habeas corpus, a man who has enflamed religious prejudice with his mantra against "fascist Islamists" and his claims of doing "God's" work by waging immoral wars -- here was this individual lauding one of America's greatest non-violent, civil rights leaders. It sickened me to my core to watch this lying fear-monger stand before America and speak glowingly about the Constitution he has single-handedly violated:

"... [W]e recommit ourselves." said Bush, "to working for the dream that Martin Luther King gave his life for: an America where the dignity of every person is respected; where people are judged not by the color of their skin -- by the content of their character; and where the hope of a better tomorrow is in every neighborhood in this country....

"The hope for a better tomorrow in every neighborhood in this country?" We haven't seen much hope for a better tomorrow in New Orleans lately. Or in the stagnant wages of workers all over America. Or in our double-digit rising health care costs. Or on the faces of our underpaid teachers and their students in our underfunded schools. Or in the cuts of Pell Grants and loans to help young Americans achieve their college dreams. Or in the rising cost of energy. Or in the lack of environmental laws and alternative energy programs to prevent global warming and to protect our planet. Or in the lack of funding for stem cell research so that one day we can proceed to wipe out some of our most debilitating diseases and help those with spinal cord injuries to perhaps walk someday. Or in the faces of our youth, valiantly fighting in a war that never should have been. Or in the faces of parents and wives and husbands and children and friends and family when their loved ones come back from war severely disturbed, or maimed, or worse -- in flag-draped coffins.

"...Our Constitution was written," Bush continued, "to put the principles of a free and equal society into practice. It is a living document. It required amendment to make sure that promise was fulfilled, amendments like the abolishment of slavery, the guarantee of equal protection, and the right to vote for all Americans. Dr. King called these documents America's great "charters of freedom," and he continued to trust in their power even when the practice of America did not live up to their promise."

I can only imagine what Dr. King would say about how well Bush has worked to protect the promise of our Constitution. I am certain he would not be pleased by the disenfranchisement of Black voters in the last three elections by operatives of the Bush regime. I am sure he would not be encouraged by Diebold voting machines, with their lack of paper trails and vulnerability to sabotage. I am confident he would not approve of dirty-trick robo-calls and dishonest smear-campaigns directed at those candidates who vow to uphold the Constitution and protect our rights.

I can only wonder what thoughts were going through the heads of Black Americans as they watched and listened to George Bush robotically memorialize one of the greatest men of all time, in a futile attempt to elevate himself, by association, to a level worthy of standing on the same stage with Dr. Martin Luther King.

Honestly, I don't know how they could stomach it.

Photo credit: The Shrub, attempting to look more noble than the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (whitehouse.gov)

A Story of Struggle and Hope
By Bob Herbert
The New York Times

Watching “Eyes on the Prize” again was like reminiscing with an old friend or relative about the bad old days that, in some important respects, were also the good old days.

Already the story so brilliantly told by this masterpiece of documentary filmmaking, the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and ’60s, is fading, like the images on old film stock, from our collective consciousness.

It’s fantastic to have a memorial to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the National Mall in Washington. But “Eyes on the Prize” is the most powerful reminder we have of how broad the struggle was, how many people of great courage — from small children to very old men and women — signed on to it, how many of them suffered and sometimes died, and what all of us owe to all of them.

“Eyes on the Prize” shows us the many tragic byproducts of insane bigotry, like the hanging bodies of blacks who were lynched, their heads and necks forever frozen at grotesque angles. It shows us young whites beating the daylights out of unresisting protesters who had the temerity to take a seat at a segregated lunch counter.

These are things that should never be forgotten.

The bigotry of the period was so pervasive it flowed easily from the mouths of people who considered themselves sympathetic to the plight of blacks. A well-groomed, obviously middle-class white woman smiles into the camera and says, “I have thought for a long time that nigras should be allowed to sit at the counters where we are served downtown.”

“Eyes” first ran in 1987 and is being shown again this fall on PBS. Understated, mostly in black and white, it has lost none of its startling emotional impact. There were moments, as I watched the episodes unfold, when I wanted to jump through the television and throttle somebody.

Because of a logistical mix-up on Sept. 4, 1957, Elizabeth Eckford, a 15-year-old black student who dreamed of becoming a lawyer, showed up alone on the first day of the attempted integration of all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. (Eight other students, accompanied by adults, arrived at the school in a group.) Ms. Eckford was met by a mob of whites and a contingent of National Guard soldiers who were determined to keep blacks out of the school.

The images of this frightened young girl in sunglasses and a white dress surrounded by adults who were all but foaming at the mouth, calling her the worst names, and screaming that she should be killed, lynched, for trying to go to school, never fail to enrage.

I think of “Eyes on the Prize” as a gift from the filmmaker Henry Hampton, whose goal was not just to document the struggle but to show it from the perspective of the people who were there. He once told me: “You have to get the story right in order to get its meaning. And the way to get it right it is to listen to the people who lived it.”

Mr. Hampton, who had suffered from polio as a child, died from the effects of lung cancer in 1998. He was only 58.

For all the hideous occurrences documented in the series — the murder of Emmett Till, the church bombing in Birmingham that killed four young girls in 1963, the tragic “freedom summer” in Mississippi the following year — there is nevertheless the stirring sense of achievement that runs like a golden thread through the narrative.

The bad old days were also the good old days in the sense that one can look back at many wonderful things that were associated with the movement — the iron-willed commitment of so many people, the sense of a great and common endeavor, the lifetime friendships that were forged, and the pride that came from an unwillingness, in even the darkest hours, to accept defeat.

There are many people now who have never heard of Emmett Till or Roy Wilkins or James Farmer, or the Edmund Pettus Bridge or the 16th Street Baptist Church, which is reason enough to want “Eyes on the Prize” to be with us forever.

Black Americans are far better off in almost every respect than they were in the mid-1960s, thanks in large part to the successes of the movement. But racism and discrimination persist, and there are still substantial disparities between blacks and whites on most indicators of social and economic well-being. There is also much still to be done about the self-inflicted wounds that have hindered the progress of many blacks.

“Eyes on the Prize” is a demonstration that even the greatest challenges can be overcome. It’s a national treasure, important for all the reasons that history is important.

Photo credit: Bob Herbert. (The New York Times)