"We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the scripture and as clear as the American Constitution."
President John F. Kennedy, 11 June 1963
1963 is the first full year of my life that I retain a relatively clear memory of; a bit less dreamlike and faded than the previous years. I turned five on August 16th - in Dayton, Ohio of all places. I spent that entire summer there, living with my uncle and aunt, Bill and Sheila Clements. Uncle Bill taught me how to hit a baseball on that day. Bill Clements would become a respected investigative reporter for the Chicago Daily News and, later, the Sun Times. It was his reporting that sent Illinois governor Otto Kerner to prison. He died unexpectedly in August of 1983 at age fifty. I miss him more than I can even express. To say that he had an influence on my life would be an understatement.
In 1963 I was still too young to understand what a monumental year I was living through. The only two news events I can clearly remember are the death of Pope John XXIII in June - and of course - the awful events of November 22. And although I have a vague recollection of all the people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in August, the civil rights saga pretty much went over my head. About the only thing of any cultural significance I was thinking about in the summer of that year was Peter, Paul and Mary's recording of Puff the Magic Dragon, which I loved. Ignorance is bliss as they say. I was pretty blissful in 1963.
In 1963 I was still too young to understand what a monumental year I was living through. The only two news events I can clearly remember are the death of Pope John XXIII in June - and of course - the awful events of November 22. And although I have a vague recollection of all the people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in August, the civil rights saga pretty much went over my head. About the only thing of any cultural significance I was thinking about in the summer of that year was Peter, Paul and Mary's recording of Puff the Magic Dragon, which I loved. Ignorance is bliss as they say. I was pretty blissful in 1963.
2013 is a year that is filled to the rafters with half-century milestones. There is no getting away from the fact that 1963 was a year that changed this country forever, in ways good and bad.
On June the 11th Jack Kennedy went before the American people to confront the moral issue of equal rights for all Americans. On that day, two "negro" kids, Vivian Malone and James Hood, were escorted onto the campus of the University of Alabama by the National Guard. To score a few cheap political points, Governor George Wallace had earlier stood in the doorway of the school, threatening to block their entrance. That was all Deputy Attorney General, Nicholas Katzenbach, needed to hear. In an exasperated but calm voice, he read Wallace the riot act. The District Court - of Alabama, Buster! - had ordered that these two students be admitted. That order was going to be obeyed - over or under Wallace's dead body, ya heah?.
George Wallace blinked.
On that very night, shortly after JFK addressed the nation, Medgar Evers, the Field Representative for the NAACP in Mississippi, was shot and killed in an ambush outside of his home. It was that kind of time in America, with events rushing by at the speed of light, or at least that's how it seems in hindsight. Before the summer was over (and less than three weeks after the March on Washington) a black church in Birmingham was bombed by a group of racist bastards who actually believed they were performing a heroic act. Four little girls were blown to smithereens. Sadly, their names have been forgotten over the course of fifty years. Their martyrdom was more responsible than anything for the passage the following June of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Let's now bow our heads, tip our hats and raise our glasses for these four little gals. It may be a bit of a stretch to do all three at once but let's at least give it the old college try, ay?
Addie Mae Collins (age 14)
Denise McNair (age 11)
Carole Robertson (age 14)
Cynthia Wesley (age 14)
At the time, only one of the four people responsible for this atrocity was brought to justice. He was fined $100 and received a six month sentence for the possession of dynamite - I'm not kidding. In 1977 he would be retried and sent to prison where he died. Two others were eventually put on trial in 2000 and convicted of murder. Only one of the four escaped justice by conveniently dying. C'est la vie. None of their names are worthy of mention.
Oh, I wish I was in Dixie
Oy vey! Oy vey!
George Wallace blinked.
On that very night, shortly after JFK addressed the nation, Medgar Evers, the Field Representative for the NAACP in Mississippi, was shot and killed in an ambush outside of his home. It was that kind of time in America, with events rushing by at the speed of light, or at least that's how it seems in hindsight. Before the summer was over (and less than three weeks after the March on Washington) a black church in Birmingham was bombed by a group of racist bastards who actually believed they were performing a heroic act. Four little girls were blown to smithereens. Sadly, their names have been forgotten over the course of fifty years. Their martyrdom was more responsible than anything for the passage the following June of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Let's now bow our heads, tip our hats and raise our glasses for these four little gals. It may be a bit of a stretch to do all three at once but let's at least give it the old college try, ay?
Addie Mae Collins (age 14)
Denise McNair (age 11)
Carole Robertson (age 14)
Cynthia Wesley (age 14)
At the time, only one of the four people responsible for this atrocity was brought to justice. He was fined $100 and received a six month sentence for the possession of dynamite - I'm not kidding. In 1977 he would be retried and sent to prison where he died. Two others were eventually put on trial in 2000 and convicted of murder. Only one of the four escaped justice by conveniently dying. C'est la vie. None of their names are worthy of mention.
Oh, I wish I was in Dixie
Oy vey! Oy vey!
It was easy to believe as the twenty-first century dawned that the mindset that produced this type of horror was behind us. True, we did elected our first African American president in 2008 - but the reaction of a whole lot of people who did not vote for him - particularly in the South and the Midwest - has been "instructive" (to say the least). The other important piece of historic legislation that came out of the nineteen-sixties was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which guaranteed that no one would be denied the right to cast his or her precious ballot simply because of the color of their skin. The election of the first black guy to the presidency has so freaked out the racists in Dear ol' Dixie, many of them are seeking the repeal of that law. "We'll be good this time", they're saying, "Trust us".
It would seem to me that Jim Crow is hellbent on taking his weird act on a national comeback tour. That is precisely what those proposed "Voter ID Laws" were all about. The GOP has been taken over by the ideological heirs of the racist Dixiecrats of yore - and has been corrupted beyond redemption. The "party of Abraham Lincoln" has devolved into the party of Uncle Fester. They know goddamned well that it has become politically impossible for them to win office on the national level. They need to deny the ballot to as many people as possible - starting with black people. Nowadays the success of the Republicans depends upon the suppression of votes. Think about that.
PREDICTION:
Unless those voter ID laws are successfully implemented between now and then, a Democratic administration will succeed another Democratic administration on Inauguration Day 2017. Do you know when the last time that happened? When Franklin Pierce handed over the reigns of power to James Buchanan in 1857. It hasn't happened since - check the history books. And it might very well be that the first black president bequeaths the office to the first woman president. The juiciest irony is that had the Democrats of 1857 known this - many of whom were Southern racists and (it goes without saying) sexist - they would have disbanded the party then and there. Life is funny that way, you know?
"Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood."
Martin Luther King, 28 August 1963
1963 still resonates across the decades in every respect - politically and culturally. By Thanksgiving Jack Kennedy was dead, replaced by Lyndon Baines Johnson, a Texan who would do more for the cause of Civil Rights than any president since Lincoln. Freedom was on the march and there would be no stopping it, baby! The racists might as well have tried to stop the sun from rising in the eastern sky. On New Year's Eve a previously obscure rock 'n' roll band from England called the Beatles would be the biggest thing on the American charts. So much had changed since New Year's Day.
George Wallace, Nick Katzenbach, Vivian Malone and James Hood are all gone now. Five months and eleven days after he reached out to touch the conscience of a nation, Jack Kennedy went to Dallas. Fifty years on, 1963 clings to the American soul. It lights the darkest American night. It won't let go. I hope it never does. Wasn't that a time?
It would seem to me that Jim Crow is hellbent on taking his weird act on a national comeback tour. That is precisely what those proposed "Voter ID Laws" were all about. The GOP has been taken over by the ideological heirs of the racist Dixiecrats of yore - and has been corrupted beyond redemption. The "party of Abraham Lincoln" has devolved into the party of Uncle Fester. They know goddamned well that it has become politically impossible for them to win office on the national level. They need to deny the ballot to as many people as possible - starting with black people. Nowadays the success of the Republicans depends upon the suppression of votes. Think about that.
PREDICTION:
Unless those voter ID laws are successfully implemented between now and then, a Democratic administration will succeed another Democratic administration on Inauguration Day 2017. Do you know when the last time that happened? When Franklin Pierce handed over the reigns of power to James Buchanan in 1857. It hasn't happened since - check the history books. And it might very well be that the first black president bequeaths the office to the first woman president. The juiciest irony is that had the Democrats of 1857 known this - many of whom were Southern racists and (it goes without saying) sexist - they would have disbanded the party then and there. Life is funny that way, you know?
"Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood."
Martin Luther King, 28 August 1963
1963 still resonates across the decades in every respect - politically and culturally. By Thanksgiving Jack Kennedy was dead, replaced by Lyndon Baines Johnson, a Texan who would do more for the cause of Civil Rights than any president since Lincoln. Freedom was on the march and there would be no stopping it, baby! The racists might as well have tried to stop the sun from rising in the eastern sky. On New Year's Eve a previously obscure rock 'n' roll band from England called the Beatles would be the biggest thing on the American charts. So much had changed since New Year's Day.
George Wallace, Nick Katzenbach, Vivian Malone and James Hood are all gone now. Five months and eleven days after he reached out to touch the conscience of a nation, Jack Kennedy went to Dallas. Fifty years on, 1963 clings to the American soul. It lights the darkest American night. It won't let go. I hope it never does. Wasn't that a time?
