The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
A long history on the right side of civil rights
“What has been will be again. What has been will be done again. There is nothing new under the sun.” Ecclesiastic.
However, some things such as race relations of unity that go on now and throughout history have not been well publicized, with countless unsung white activist of uncompromising integrity. They considered themselves not as saviors but equal allies in the quest for justice.
John Brown and Charles Sumner were two white standout figures, among many, who opposed slavery, albeit with different tactics. John Brown, who started an armed rebellion against slavery, wanted to recruit Frederick Douglass, a self-educated runaway slave. Douglass expressed view was it’s like walking “into a steel trap” and not “coming out alive!” Douglass had a less radical tactic . However, Brown paid the ultimate — his life. They both viewed Judge Roger Taney as someone who should have recused himself based on conflict of interest and vagueness, which is an article within itself.
Charles Sumner was a “radical Republican” before its present day evolution. Sumner labeled the slave institution as the “harlot” of the nation in which people and women in particular were exploited. To which Preston Brookes, who was a supporter of the institution of slavery, caned him until he had become unconscious. About a century before Brown vs. Board of Education, Sumner tried to integrate schools, albeit failingly.
About a century after Brown and Sumner’s valiant efforts, there were other whites who were God-inspired to carry on their good works. During the heyday of the Civil Rights movement, Doy Gorton, who was a photographer, covered that nuances of behavior of the other Southern white America. There were Southern whites who gathered at Pentecostal revival with Black people to stand against segregation, at risk of their own peril. It did not make the news in mainstream media during that day. The “if it bleeds it leads” media mindset was the same as it is today.
In contemporary times, a white, female Heather Heyer, was killed in a counter protest in Charlotteville, Va. These were white people of unsung bravery who had the spiritual conviction to stand up for what is right, which is “nothing new under the sun.”
On a personal note about the bonds of divine unity, there is a family member, Leonora Henderson, whose tuition was paid in full to an elite school by a white doctor. He paid tuition for many others, as well.
None of them were saviors. They were allies in the belief that we ought to be “one nation under God.” Tomorrow there will still be the hidden figures of unity. However, it is something beyond mortals understanding often that “There is nothing new under the sun!”
Everybody calm down.
Dr. Seuss is not being canceled, and his books are not being banned. If I had a little more energy, I’d put that in anapestic tetrameter.
No political party or branch of government has attempted to make Dr. Seuss books unavailable.
So when U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, addressed his colleagues on the floor or the chamber this week and said, of the Democrats, “first they outlaw Dr. Seuss ...” he was being a big lying liar.
McCarthy was actually speaking about HR 1, a major overhaul of federal election law, so bringing up Dr. Seuss was pretty random. It was also — did I mention this? — an untrue falsehood and lying lie.
McCarthy also posted a video of himself reading “Green Eggs and Ham,” which is not one of the six Seuss titles whose status caused the week’s uproar.
Kevin McCarthy is a silly person.
“Green Eggs and Ham” and, indeed, all of the most beloved Seuss titles were not affected by this week’s announcement. Dr. Seuss Enterprises — founded by Theodore Geisel’s widow to manage his literary estate after the author died in 1991 — announced that it would no longer publish six Seuss titles. The rest of his oeuvre — more than 60 books in all — will remain undisturbed.
Two of the titles — “If I Ran the Zoo” and “To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” — are mid-level favorites. The other four, if I hid them in a list amid 16 other fake Seuss titles, you would be unlikely to recognize.
Just so we’re clear, Republicans, the decision came from the people who own the material. Dr. Seuss Enterprises manages the intellectual property for Geisel’s estate. I’ve spoken to many Republicans in my day, and I always got the feeling that they believed people should be able to do what they like with their property.
On the other hand, there does seem to be a newfound uneasiness with Dr. Seuss. President Joe Biden failed to mention him in this year’s “Read Across America” proclamation, which is issued on Geisel’s birthday, the same day his estate announced it wouldn’t publish more copies of those six titles because of their “hurtful and wrong” portrayal of minorities.
Again, just so we’re clear, proclamations are staff work. There’s no way Biden knew that Trump and Obama had mentioned Seuss in the past or that Seuss was notably omitted this time.
This is not the same thing as canceling or banning. It’s not the same thing as calling Geisel a racist. In fact, there are significant parallels between Geisel, born and raised in Springfield, Massachusetts, and a fella from down the road, Mark Twain, who adopted Hartford as his home city.
Each man was troubled by racial and ethnic injustice and also not completely uncontaminated by it. I’ve always believed that people who are pure of heart tend to deliver a less powerful and compelling message than the messengers who know what’s right but are nagged for life by a pebble of wrong in their shoes.
If I ran the zoo, I’m not sure what I’d do. I abhor the banning of books and the sterilization of culture. You have to teach Twain, with sensitivity, to high schoolers, but maybe there’s some kind of an age cut-off. A ChineseAmerican second-grader shouldn’t see an offensive caricature of himself when he pulls a book off a shelf in the school library.
And we grown-ups have to admit to ourselves that some of what we loved is less innocent than we realized.
Those crows in “Dumbo” were my favorite part of the movie. They were funny and edgy, jiving out on a rail fence, and their song, “When I See an Elephant Fly” is the best song in the film. But they are unmistakably a source of minstrelsy and Black comic relief in a white movie. “But I be done seen about everything ...”
I wasn’t surprised when they didn’t appear in the recent Tim Burton remake. Crows, you gotta go.
As a kid I read and loved Booth Tarkington’s Penrod books, but there are two minor characters, local Black boys named Herman and Verman, who are so steeped in stereotype as to make the Penrod franchise a literary Superfund site.
We laughed when Robin Williams did an Indian accent or when Billy Crystal put on blackface to do an (unquestionably loving) impersonation of Sammy Davis Jr.
But it’s time to put away childish things.
It isn’t easy, fixing culture. If you keep what you love and ditch what you hate, you’ve done nothing. We will survive without any further printings of “McElligot’s Pool” or “On Beyond Zebra!”
We won’t grow by erasing their existence or embracing them in blind nostalgia. Don’t embrace or erase it. Just face it and taste it. Should it keep its place or fall from grace?
I have to stop now. Whether you write on a screen or papyrus, those Seussian rhymes are a cognitive virus.
Two of the titles — “If I Ran the Zoo” and “To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street” — are mid-level favorites. The other four, if I hid them in a list amid 16 other fake Seuss titles, you would be unlikely to recognize.
ATLANTA — It’s the NBA All-Star Game almost no one seemed to want.
Certainly not the players, who scoffed at the notion of playing an exhibition game in the midst of a pandemic.
The city of Atlanta, picked as a replacement for original host Indianapolis, didn’t seem so thrilled with the idea, either.
The mayor urged fans to stay away from an event renowned for wild parties and packed streets. Police scheduled 12-hour shifts and canceled off days in an
NBA All-Star Game
Sunday, 8 p.m. (TNT) attempt to crack down on any events that could lead to a surge of COVID-19 cases.
But the league pressed forward, eager to improve its bottom line and its brand by televising the popular midseason showcase around the world.
The NBA’s best will take the court Sunday in a onenight-only, hastily arranged event at mostly empty State Farm Arena, where only a limited number of invited guests will be allowed to watch in person.
“All-Star is part of our league. It’s no different than all the other games we play,” Commissioner Adam Silver said. “It begins and ends with the fans. This is an event the fans love to see. They love to see the players come together.
“But,” he quickly added, “nothing comes without controversy in a pandemic.”
The league’s biggest stars, led by LeBron James, would have preferred getting some much-needed time off during the six-day break.
James even went so far as to call it “a slap in the face” to players who had little time to recover from last year’s interrupted season, which was completed in a central Florida bubble, and are still dealing with burdensome protocols intended to stifle the coronavirus as much as possible (but still weren’t enough to prevent the postponement of 31
games in the first half).
Now that it’s game on, James is trying to make the best of the situation, using the All-Star platform to carry on with his efforts to expand voting rights — a fitting gesture with the game being held in a state that was one of the focal points of the 2020 election.
“Look what we made happen, what our voices made possible,” the Los Angeles Lakers star says in a 51-second ad that was set to air for the first time during the game. “And now, look what they’re trying to do to silence us, using every trick in the book and attacking democracy itself. Because they saw what we’re capable of, and they fear it.”
Some things to watch for in Sunday’s All-Star Game:
TEAM LEBRON VS. TEAM DURANT
This will be the fourth straight year to feature a format where the two top vote-getters served as captains and drafted their teams from the All-Star selections.
James has handled the duties all four times, going 3-0 in his previous stints — including last year’s 157-155 thriller in Chicago. Brooklyn’s
Kevin Durant got the nod for the first time, though he won’t be able to play in the game because of an ailing hamstring.
James used the top draft pick on two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who captained the squad that went against Team LeBron the last two years. They are joined in the starting lineup by Stephen Curry of Golden State, Luka Doncic of Dallas and Nikola Jokic of Denver.
Durant selected Nets teammate Kyrie Irving with his first choice, rounding out the starting lineup with Joel Embiid of the 76ers, 2020 All-Star MVP Kawhi Leonard of the Los Angeles Clippers, Bradley Beal of Washington and Jayson Tatum of the Celtics.
“I just try to pick players that can complement one another,” James said. “It’s the All-Star Game, so there’s going to be some shenanigans out there. But for the majority of the game, we’re going to try to play the right way and come out with a win.”
MAD SKILLZ
With only one night to get in all the events, two competitions will be held shortly before the All-Star Game tipoff.
The Skills Challenge, a test of ball-handling, passing and shooting ability,
will feature Doncic, Portland’s Robert Covington, Chris Paul of the Suns, Julius Randle of the Knicks, Indiana’s Domantas Sabonis, and Nikola Vucevic of the Magic.
Taking part in the 3point shooting contest are Curry, Tatum, Boston’s Jaylen Brown, Zach LaVine of the Bulls, and a pair of Utah guards, Donovan Mitchell and Mike Conley.
Conley was a replacement for Phoenix star Devin Booker, who can’t participate because of an injury.
HIGH FLYERS
The Slam Dunk showdown will take place at halftime between Portland’s Anfernee Simons and a pair of rookies: New York’s Obi Toppin and Indiana’s Cassius Stanley.
“I’ve been watching a lot of dunks the past couple of days,” Toppin said. “I’m going to try to do some stuff that hasn’t been done yet in the dunk contest.”
He got a few tips from his father, who was a wellknown streetball player in Brooklyn.
“I talked to him about some of the dunks,” Toppin said. “He’s basically telling me which ones are a little crazy.”
GOOD CAUSE
The NBA and the players
union are donating more than $3 million to aid historically Black colleges and universities, much of it decided by the outcome of the game.
Team LeBron will play on behalf of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, while Team Durant represents the United Negro College Fund.
Both organizations will receive $500,000 to start. Another $450,000 will divvied up based on the winners of the first, second and third quarters. Finally, the team that reaches the target score to win the game will ensure $300,000 for its cause.
LEFT OUT
The Atlanta Hawks, who are hosting the game for the third time and first since 2003, were shut out of festivities in their home arena.
Trae Young, a starter in 2020, was snubbed this season despite averaging 26.4 points — the most of any player not selected for the All-Star Game.
The Hawks also were left out of the skills, 3-point and dunking competitions. Their only All-Star selection was DeAndre Hunter to the Rising Stars, but that was merely symbolic since the game won’t be played and Hunter is recovering from knee surgery.
SHOW 9:00 p.m.
Frank (William H. Macy) tries his best to get back home to give his opinion on the fate of the Gallagher house when the kids disagree in this new episode. Meanwhile, Mickey (Noel Fisher) and Ian (Cameron Monaghan) seek out gay friends for their group.