Eyes on the Prize.... PBS Series

[sirhrmechanic]

So two of the people I've always been fascinated with are MLK, Jr. and Malcolm-X... Because they 'got it' when it came to what it really means to be equal in a society that, during their lifetimes, was anything but. If you've never read The Autobiography of Malcolm X (it isn't... was ghost written by Alex Haley -- guy that faked Roots) it's a book that should be read and absorbed...

And this weekend while working in the shop (between sunshine episodes), I started watching the PBS series Eyes on the Prize, based on Juan Williams book, for which he won a lot of awards. Now I don't like Juan Williams much any more because he is such a schill for far left stupidity... bloviating talking points I don't think he believes on Fox for a 7-figure paycheck. But when he was at NPR, I thought he was one of the few voices of reason and good analysis. Never got around to reading his book... and never watched the series.

And it is fascinating. Brilliantly done. Interviews with some of the leaders of the movement and amazing footage from the early era of televison. And as I am only up to episode 7 (of 14 or 15)... the journey has been rather fascinating and a revelation into what real racism and White Supremacy in America once looked like. In fact, looked like in my lifetime since 1964 was when the Civil Rights Act was signed to 'try' and deal with some of the more egregious abuses against an entire community of Americans we have come a long, long way!

With all the talk about white supremacy and how bad people have it in our 'racist' society today, it is interesting to see what things were like just 50 years ago. And in watching the series, I am amazed how far we have really come in a single generation! These people didn't deal with 'dogwhistles' or cultural appropriation or other made-up historionic stuff which is, these days, almost pathetic to think about. They dealt with the real deal... Real racism. Real hate. Real danger. Fire-hoses in Selma, people getting lynched, skull-thumped, dog-bit... and that doesn't even start to count and folks getting killed by 'real' Klukker white supremacist scum. Shot in the back, lynched or killed by corrupt deputies... working for Southern bosses. Want to see 'real' racism and white-supremacy, almost all of which was fomented by Southern Democrats (and the powers-that-be in the Democratic Party) watch this series.

It's a long time commitment to watch... but as documentary series go, it has me completely hooked.



Worth the watch...

Sirhr

P.S. Right now, we are moving into c. 1967, and I think the movement is starting to come apart at the seams... A new, younger generation of activists (Including Jesse Jackson and Stokley Carmichael and Huey Newton) are starting to get impatient and take the movement in some ways that, well, probably did more harm than good. I think that I am about to watch the whole thing spin off the rails and get us where we are now. But for the early leaders of the movement, they accomplished a lot. And some even stayed alive while doing it. What came next? Guess that's for the other half of the episodes.

 

[Maggot]

Growing up in rural Virginia in the 50's I remember it well. I never saw it but read about crosses being burned on black peoples lawns. Black men 'knew there place', so to speak. they were 'free' technically, but it would be rare for a black man to look a white man in the eye, there was always a bit of a submissive glance toward the ground. I played with the black kids that lived at the back of the farm but bring them into the house...Mom would have had a shitting hemorrhage LOL.

 

[Dougie308]

I have a very German last name and my immediate neighbors growing up were Wachters, Theiss, Schmidt, Hecht and Hitler's (no kidding). I can remember blacks being pulled over for driving through our community. Very different in the old neighborhood now. Not sure it's better, but it's different.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

So watching the remaining episodes while in the shop. I’ll finish episodes 13 and 14 today.

Two interesting things stood out, one of which was how the movement essentially got hijacked by communists and socialists. The series does not make any link to the FUSSR, but it is well-known that the US-Canada Institute and other Soviet CimInterrn elements were taking a close interest in the movement. And that Marx and Lenin had both said that race would be a powerful force that could be harnessed to bring down capitalism.

Certainly Hoover believed that King was being unduly influenced by communists and his “war on poverty” that he was organizing before his death had nothing to do with voting rights and was all about social justice... not racial. Was it because that is what religious leaders do? Or was Hoover right? It is an interesting question.

The other piece that was very interesting was the roots of modern gun control. I always assumed that this was a reaction to the assassinations of King and the Kennedys. It was not... at least judging by the series.

The hard push towards gun control came out of California and Chicago where the Black Panther Defense Party was practicing open carry and ‘observing’ police. Interestingly, though they were stockpiling weapons and ‘visible’ in defending their communities by displaying weapons, they were quite vocal about how their arms were a response to a tyrannical government, not a sign that they were out to cause a revolution (despite the efforts of the media and government officials to brand them otherwise.)

Before 68 California had a long tradition of open carry and armed people in public. So did most of America. But the GCA and state bills went after interstate sales and created, among other things, prohibited persons lists. Though purportedly a response to the Kennedy assassinations and the MLK assassination, the real momentum for the bi-partisan legislation was racial, spurred by images of militant (looking, at least) blacks being shown surround-sound on the media in that era.

I guess I should have made that leap long ago... but always thought the gun control restrictions on blacks were being applied in the reconstruction South... and had not made the leap to GCA 68.

The net of it was that it got bipartisan support, almost equal in the house and passed for Johnson to sign it on his way out the door just 10 days before an election he was not participating in. After that, gun control became the darling of activist Democrats... And it may have started with JFK, MLK, and RFK. But the real momentum seems to have been the fright people were feeling when they saw armed blacks on their 11” RCAs.

Interesting what nuggets one finds in history... and what one doesn’t expect.

Sirhr

P.S. On the subject of PBS, they have been endlessly recycling their Ruby Ridge and Waco Frontline episodes, along with a new(Er) one on bro-nazi gangs in the military. I think that not new-new. But they are beating the drum hard about the armed right and the threat posed. Love to see my tax dollars spent on what is now a pure propaganda entity. I like a lot of stuff on Public Broadcasting... but it is well past the time to pull the taxpayer plug on these activists. Voting them money is like sending a check to Stalin every month and wondering why we ended up with dead Kulaks in the end...

 

[FS1]

It actually started in the 30's with scary gangster people. Then in the sixties it moved to scary black people. In the eighties in became scary white supremacist people. Right now I believe people both black and white are awakening to the real threat...scary Govt people. JMHO

 

[ArmyJerry]

I've always been a fan of Malcolm Little.

 

[j-huskey]

Gun control, California, the 60's.... re sirhr

The watts riots, 1965, the national guard, the fear response,
The Compton cafeteria riot, 1966,

Darryl Gates, and his "new policing" and his stance of guns, gangs, and riots, and the use of automatic weapons by black drug gangs, in Los Angeles,

Along with Chicago, the Panthers, and the Weather Underground, and...

How it all tied together gave us the 68 GCA... the PBS Series doesnt go deep enough there.

King, X, Booker T Washington, Charles Gomillan, and other moderate blacks who moved the country to slow measured assimilated change, were smothered by "militant" people who "wanted change right now" who became the movement faces, Carmichael, Brown, Jackson, etc,

Reaping the Whirlwind by Robert J. Norrell covers Tuskegee Al pretty well and documents how the forward movement was set back by the more militant groups.
This book is not 100% accurate because of Norrells local sources, but close enough. Several black and white moderate activists were not interviewed that could have given a more rounded view, but, the point is well made.

And it goes along with the PBS series.

It is undeniable that black rights were very severely restricted and injured in the South, but the southern blacks who fled both North and West document equally bad things North and West,

The Watts Riots, the Newark Riots, and other riots were much worse and damaging out of the south. Facts...

Facts hidden by people who wanted the south to stay the whipping boy, so other parts of the country was business as usual by the same group of people causing the most angst today in our country.

ymmv but the truth remains the same, racism and injustice, and inequality, was nation wide, not just the south.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Gun control, California, the 60's.... re sirhr

The watts riots, 1965, the national guard, the fear response,
The Compton cafeteria riot, 1966,

Darryl Gates, and his "new policing" and his stance of guns, gangs, and riots, and the use of automatic weapons by black drug gangs, in Los Angeles,

Along with Chicago, the Panthers, and the Weather Underground, and...

How it all tied together gave us the 68 GCA... the PBS Series doesnt go deep enough there.

King, X, Booker T Washington, Charles Gomillan, and other moderate blacks who moved the country to slow measured assimilated change, were smothered by "militant" people who "wanted change right now" who became the movement faces, Carmichael, Brown, Jackson, etc,

Reaping the Whirlwind by Robert J. Norrell covers Tuskegee Al pretty well and documents how the forward movement was set back by the more militant groups.
This book is not 100% accurate because of Norrells local sources, but close enough. Several black and white moderate activists were not interviewed that could have given a more rounded view, but, the point is well made.

And it goes along with the PBS series.

It is undeniable that black rights were very severely restricted and injured in the South, but the southern blacks who fled both North and West document equally bad things North and West,

The Watts Riots, the Newark Riots, and other riots were much worse and damaging out of the south. Facts...

Facts hidden by people who wanted the south to stay the whipping boy, so other parts of the country was business as usual by the same group of people causing the most angst today in our country.

ymmv but the truth remains the same, racism and injustice, and inequality, was nation wide, not just the south.

Don’t forget the Boston bussing riots in Southie and Roxbury! The same holier than thou northern town that whines about freedom riders and inequality was stoning schoolkids in busses... 20 years later. Because integration was all well and good for the South, but not in our lily- white Kennedy Klan neighborhoods.

The hypocrisy was palpable. Some of the first news stories I remember as a kid... Dan rather in Vietnam and wondering why grownups were throwing rocks at school busses.

Great post, Husky. I’ll have to look for that book.

Sirhr

 

[j-huskey]

Book is on Kindle and Amazon.
@sirhrmechanic

 

[pmclaine]

So Colin Kapernick edits Frederick Douglas to have him say what he actually didnt say....

Thats where we are.

We have gone from intellectual giants to shallow idiots preaching to the people.

As I mentioned in another post older movies from the era pre 1965 dealt with this stuff in a rational way.

It was recognized that the American experiment was a novel concept without precedent in history.

Sure it was formed with a flaw that was unable to be explained by other than human weakness.

Save that one measure of full commitment that the people of late 18th century America could not commit to a perfect Republic was founded and up until America hating became the norm that human failure was not accepted but understood by all.

Saw a good documentary on PBS of all places last night concerning the incongruity of the Founders words and actions and it was refreshing to hear the commenters stating that applying 21st century morals to 18th century times does not work.

I was surprised to learn how little slave trade actually came our way with the bulk going to Brazil and the Caribbean.

After ratifying the Constitution a 20 year window existed for the continued importation of slaves. It seems it was determined that the practice would end at some point. I dont know if its a good thing or bad thing but as many slaves were brought into the country in that twenty years as was done for the previous history of the existence in North America of that practice.

The answer to the original sin is not to destroy the United States but to work to ensure it continues as a Republic existing within the confines of the Constitution.

 

[j-huskey]

@sirhrmechanic

More reading....

1919 The Year That Changed America, by Martin Sandler.

Red Summer by Cameron McWhirter.

On the Laps of Gods by Robert Whitaker.

These are eye openers, and to our members who dont believe those in power will do it to us, please wake up...

 

[EddieNFL]

Growing up in rural Virginia in the 50's I remember it well. I never saw it but read about crosses being burned on black peoples lawns. Black men 'knew there place', so to speak. they were 'free' technically, but it would be rare for a black man to look a white man in the eye, there was always a bit of a submissive glance toward the ground. I played with the black kids that lived at the back of the farm but bring them into the house...Mom would have had a shitting hemorrhage LOL.

My grandad loved to fish. He had a friend named Andy he liked to fish with. He was a black gentleman about the same age as my grandfather. When I visited I always went fishing with them. They seemed pretty close and shared the same bottle (when they thought I wasn't looking). My grandfather called Andy by his name and Andy called my grandfather "Mr Ebbie". I was probably around seven-years-old when we were fishing a lake one day. I called Andy by his name and before I could blink, my grandfather broke a switch and beat my butt explaining I was to call him "Mr Andy".

I also recall hearing him sit in his rocker on the front porch and comment, "Wish I could shoot these damn n@#$%$ when they drive by.

Definitely different times. Talk about confused.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

The first time I really went to the South (except for a trip to Miami in the early '80s to visit grandparents), was in spring 1988. I was driving down to the Fayetteville area to find an apartment. It was sort of my 'spring break.'

Drove down from Upstate New York.

As I drove through North Carolina, I was on an Interstate, Probably I-40, but it was a long time ago. And in the opposite lane, was a broken down pickup truck. Working on it together, trying to get it running, were two of the poorest-sorry-looking folks I ever saw. One black, one white. Together trying to get the truck running again. I still remember thinking "That's not what I was told about the South."

When I lived there I realized that things were a lot different than what I had thought when it came to separation and segregation. Yup, there were shi+wads on both sides. Heck, it was Jesse Helms country then. But, really, it was good people. Of all kinds.

And there were shitbags, too. Of all kinds.

The only generally-easily-classed douche bags were the citified leftist Poughkeepsie/Newark/Boston/Manhattan/Ivy-League-my-effluviam-is-non-odiforous-alumni, banker, Lexus-buying Northern suburbanites moving in in droves... who brought their bad habits and peckerheadedness with them.

Fortunately, as a Northern country boy, I fit right in. Country folks from anywhere... of any color.. I like to think we're cut from the same cloth.

Sirhr

 

[j-huskey]

Something about that country person thing...........
And fitting in...
????

 

[Maggot]

The first time I really went to the South (except for a trip to Miami in the early '80s to visit grandparents), was in spring 1988. I was driving down to the Fayetteville area to find an apartment. It was sort of my 'spring break.'

Drove down from Upstate New York.

As I drove through North Carolina, I was on an Interstate, Probably I-40, but it was a long time ago. And in the opposite lane, was a broken down pickup truck. Working on it together, trying to get it running, were two of the poorest-sorry-looking folks I ever saw. One black, one white. Together trying to get the truck running again. I still remember thinking "That's not what I was told about the South."

When I lived there I realized that things were a lot different than what I had thought when it came to separation and segregation. Yup, there were shi+wads on both sides. Heck, it was Jesse Helms country then. But, really, it was good people. Of all kinds.

And there were shitbags, too. Of all kinds.

The only generally-easily-classed douche bags were the citified leftist Poughkeepsie/Newark/Boston/Manhattan/Ivy-League-my-effluviam-is-non-odiforous-alumni, banker, Lexus-buying Northern suburbanites moving in in droves... who brought their bad habits and peckerheadedness with them.

Fortunately, as a Northern country boy, I fit right in. Country folks from anywhere... of any color.. I like to think we're cut from the same cloth.

Sirhr

Keerful eyr now honable rednek, member Veer may tear you up for that run on sentence....?

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Keerful eyr now honable rednek, member Veer may tear you up for that run on sentence....?

He'es a redneck too... He knows it... I know it. Now we all know it! It's a state of mind, not a tan line!

Cheers,

Sirhr