I know I won't get a response, but I am going to try: Can one of my black conservative friends please explain Erik Opczynski to me? I ask because I know that he belongs to your tribe and I am trying to understand his mind-set.
"THE CROWD cheered for nearly 20 minutes when Paul Robeson, filled with regret and faced with a ruined reputation, plunged a sword into his body on Oct. 19, 1943.
When the curtain dropped on Robeson's Broadway debut as Othello that night, he was arguably the world's best-known African-American.
But, like Shakespeare's ill-fated protagonist, Robeson later became an outcast whose reputation as accomplished scholar, artist, All-American athlete and civil-rights pioneer was replaced with one word - communist.
Unlike Othello, the New Jersey native and Rutgers University graduate refused to fall on his sword, even as the FBI and CIA files on him bulged and his
Time has faded the red stain on Robeson's life. Today, buildings across the country are named after him, including the library at Rutgers University-Camden, where Erik Opczynski is a 21-year-old undergraduate finance major and president of the Rutgers-Camden College Republicans. Last month, he published a letter in the school's newspaper asking Rutgers to rename the library because of Robeson's "radical socialism."
"Although he was a very intelligent and gifted man, Paul Robeson made a very unfortunate choice. He was a personal admirer of Josef Stalin," Opczynski, of Palmyra, told the Daily News. "My problem is Rutgers placing this man, Mr. Robeson, on a pedestal considering his unsavory, almost disgraceful past." [Article]
"THE CROWD cheered for nearly 20 minutes when Paul Robeson, filled with regret and faced with a ruined reputation, plunged a sword into his body on Oct. 19, 1943.
When the curtain dropped on Robeson's Broadway debut as Othello that night, he was arguably the world's best-known African-American.
But, like Shakespeare's ill-fated protagonist, Robeson later became an outcast whose reputation as accomplished scholar, artist, All-American athlete and civil-rights pioneer was replaced with one word - communist.
Unlike Othello, the New Jersey native and Rutgers University graduate refused to fall on his sword, even as the FBI and CIA files on him bulged and his
Time has faded the red stain on Robeson's life. Today, buildings across the country are named after him, including the library at Rutgers University-Camden, where Erik Opczynski is a 21-year-old undergraduate finance major and president of the Rutgers-Camden College Republicans. Last month, he published a letter in the school's newspaper asking Rutgers to rename the library because of Robeson's "radical socialism."
"Although he was a very intelligent and gifted man, Paul Robeson made a very unfortunate choice. He was a personal admirer of Josef Stalin," Opczynski, of Palmyra, told the Daily News. "My problem is Rutgers placing this man, Mr. Robeson, on a pedestal considering his unsavory, almost disgraceful past." [Article]
Yes Erik, and let's start removing all those MLK street signs as well. Because by your definition he had an "unsavory" and "disgraceful past". So Paul Robeson was a Communist in the fifties. Stop the presses. How dare he! I mean A-merry-ca was such a wonderful place to be black back then. His daddy was born a slave, so with all due respect to folks like Glenn Beckkk; I am guessing that my man didn't buy into what the forefathers were selling at the time.
Anyway, I am still waiting for an answer from one of you black conservatives. And no, I am not holding my breath.
So can we also take those early dead presidents off the US currency? They once owned black slaves, I consider that to be more than unsavory.
ReplyDeleteField, if Paul Robeson was a very conservative Republican so he would probably agree with Mr. Opczynski. Anyway, what do you care? Since 'when' did you start caring about a black conservative Repub?
ReplyDeleteLAA, "So can we also take those early dead presidents off the US currency? They once owned black slaves, I consider that to be more than unsavory."
ReplyDeleteNow, that's a slam dunk! you should send your comment to the University addressed to that sick ass racist Pennsylvanian. Because if you don't, he'll get Robeson's name removed. Whites get their way in and around South Jersey and Philly.
Not only did they own slaves, the majority of them were related by blood to slaves too. So, maybe, taking them off of US currency isn't such a bad idea.
ReplyDelete*sigh* do you think that is why they tried to erase blacks out of history and only wanted to address them by first name or gender only?
no granny. slaves were considered less than their masters. that's why. you have to remember the times. Blacks had no say so.
ReplyDeleteOh...I do remember the times more than you think. Slavery was that far back in time. It might seem like it to some of you young people, but it wasn't to us older people. There were some ex-slaves still living in the mid and early part of the late
ReplyDelete50s. Matter of fact, a few of mine lived to be over 100 years olds.
I meant to say...*slavery wasn't that far back in time.*
ReplyDeleteThis isn't a racial issue. Robeson sympathized with a particular political party that purged and imprisoned many innocent lives during the 1930s. Perhaps Erik really values Democracy and the Freedoms we are allowed simply by living here, and he doesn't want his school representing Communism. This simple fact is that, despite his many accomplishments in academia, theatre, and the Civil Rights movement, Paul Robeson was a Communist.
ReplyDeleteAs far as removing U.S. Presidents from our currency...I don't find it necessary. While I'm sure most, if not all, were slave owners, they still helped to build this nation. Without them we may not have the freedom to say/type whatever we please.
I know Erik well, I grew up with him. I can guarantee that if Robeson was White, he would still try to get his name removed from the Rutger's library. Please stop making this a racial issue. It is far from it. Robeson helped to pave the way for Civil Rights, and we cannot forget that. He was, however, a Communist, and for that, we must not use his tarnished name to mark our public reading facilities. In all of Rutger's history, I'm sure there was another bright human being that is worthy of having his/her name nailed to a brick wall.
Not only did they own slaves, the majority of them were related by blood to slaves too.
ReplyDelete? I've never heard that one. What's your proof for that assertion? How could someone as whitey mcwhiterson looking as Washington or Jefferson be related to slaves?
anon 12:03,
ReplyDeleteShould they remove all the segregationist from the hallowed halls of southern universities.
Back then righties were made afraid of Black Communist. Now it's Blacks, since we have a Black President, Muslims, Gays, and Mexicans. The Right Wing always has and always will create an 'enemy' for people to be afraid of.
ReplyDeleteHathor, "Should they remove all the segregationist from the hallowed halls of southern universities."
ReplyDeleteIf they are communists, then of course. Otherwise, the answer is "no".
Dear Field, Paul Robeson belonged to the communist party. Why did you leave this information out? Why must it ALWAYS be racial?
ReplyDeleteI hope Maria comes back. I miss her comments.
ReplyDeleteHey Granny and Anony 10:45, I was being sarcastic, but I think it's something seriously worth considering.
ReplyDelete"While I'm sure most, if not all, were slave owners, they still helped to build this nation.'
The dead Presidents on the US currency were all black slave owners. And they did not intend on having said freedom for "everyone", they will never be "heros" to me. Also, they are not the only people who "built" this nation. Many black Civil Rights activist and others were also "builders" of this nation. In fact, black Civil Rights activist and others were the ones who actually paved the way for just about everyone in this nation to have said freedoms you speak of and more.
"He was, however, a Communist, and for that, we must not use his tarnished name to mark our public reading facilities. In all of Rutger's history, I'm sure there was another bright human being that is worthy of having his/her name nailed to a brick wall."
The founding fathers were however, enslavers, murderers and rapist. We must not use their evil-inhuman legacy on our US currency in which we also have to pay federal taxes with, etc. I'm sure there are much more notable human beings worthy enough to have their faces on our US currency in that regard. Thank you.
That's right, La,
ReplyDeleteWe don't need WHITE faces on currency period! White men made this nation a prison and a hell. Colored faces on colored money.
Anon said:
ReplyDelete"Robeson helped to pave the way for Civil Rights, and we cannot forget that. He was, however, a Communist, and for that, we must not use his tarnished name to mark our public reading facilities."
Anon I get that this is not a racial issue. But you are kidding if you think it doesn't raise flags, because when has a campaign been made against someone who is white who has had a shameful past. There are plenty schools with lots of buildings named after murderers of Indians, and workers and slaveholders. Many are named after unsavory characters who stole, robbed and cheated to make their fortunes.
Evil and murder and misdeeds are the same no matter what banner flies over it.
You should be aware that everyone who fought for civil rights in the 30's through the 70's was called a communist. Anyone who stood for justice and equality was called a communist.
I think the fact that as you pointed out that he helped pave the way for civil rights is why he does have his name on the building, which considering what he had to deal with in his lifetime should be sufficient for having a building named after him.
For most folks of color and black folks the fact that he was a communist or communist sympathizer is irrelevant. After all we live in a country that has dropped an atomic bomb, made friends with Nazi's that served this governments interests, helped and aided terror on the part of South American dictatarships, murdered thousands in Vietnam, constructively engaged apartheid, cooperated with some of the most brutal dictatorships the world has known and now the government kidnaps folks and holds people in concentration camp called Guantanamo Bay, has killed tens and thousands in Afghanistan and Iraq.
But your friend wants to self-righteously eliminate an American who fought for the rights of a group of Americans who were suffering from second class citizenship. Because he was either a communist or a communist sympathizer during a time when the Stalinists at least acknowledged the evil of Jim Crow America.
Robeson spoke up for a people so beaten down that they barely spoke up for themselves.
This great man Robeson dared to speak up and speak out during a time when it was really dangerous to do so and lost his career as a result.
I disagree with you and your friend, Robeson's standing up for the oppressed black community in the so called democratic US of A is more than worthy of being honored.
Eriks stand against Robeson may have nothing to do with race, but it is clearly small minded and short sighted. Just think, this country refused to give black folks their due, now you want to even take away the due already given to one of our true heroes.
Fuck you haters and fake ass patriot bigots! There is nothing shameful about being a comunist! And sure as hell nothing wrong with Robeson deciding that the crap ass system in the US at that time was nothing great.
ReplyDeleteErik Opczynski.
ReplyDeleteIronic how a man who's essentially re-invoking the Red Scare most likely descended from someone who probably would have been involved in some "socialist" movement or activity in one form or another.
It also amuses me how the descendants of immigrants are more likely to be highly prejudiced towards this nation's assigned ethnic punching bags (you know who they are) in order to fit in with the "native" population. The third-generation Croat is more likely to be a raging bigot than than the guy whose family had seats on the Mayflower. Interesting, indeed.
LaAudio:
ReplyDeleteI know that you were being sarcastic. :)
Nevertheless, I spoke a truth regarding politicians.
Surely every black Republican or conservative with a blog is denouncing this latest attack on a black-American icon.
ReplyDeleteSurely they're standing up as one to condemn this outrage, to pen letters, to write e-mails, or send off faxes to Rutger in solidarity with a decision that was made in 1991 to name a library after Robeson, a black-American hero.
Here's the shame:
Unless blacks fully assimilate white folk values, their bigotry, the purity of capitalism, and the sanctity of democracy (which enslaved our black forefathers), then we're wanting in some way, we're un-American, not true believers, and lacking the American character to be considered American enough to be a part of this country which "God shed his grace upon."
Unless we capitulate to their image of us, as inferior creatures, mindless, brainless, and feckless, then we have violated a trust, violated a blood pact, which states essentially, if you're black, you're required to stay in your place, and never assume parity with, or stand up to, your white betters.
And this from a nation that relegated us to the back of the bus, rejected our presence but for the ghettos that were reserved for us, and gifted us with their hand-me-downs--outdated, and worn textbooks, jobs that they were too good to do, and scores of other secondhand junk to underscore our blessed condition in their superior presence.
Unless Paul Robeson embraced the system that rejected him, then it is only proper that he should be labeled an outcast. If he embraced the antithesis of this nation--dreaded Communism--then he's not one of us, not a "red-blooded" American, and his name should be expunged from the hallowed halls of academia, lest another black come along and presume to follow in his footsteps.
Today, I'm Paul Robeson. True American. Robeson's life became a living counterweight to the tyranny that was visited upon his black countrymen, and a physical, palpable reminder of how far this country needed to progress, before it could embrace its own ideals sufficiently, so that they would be palatable to him, and those that looked like him.
This is not a racial issue, and I will not make it one. In my original article, which you can read here (http://gleaner.rutgers.edu/2010/09/20/robeson-library-conveys-wrong-message/), you will notice that I made absolutely NO mention of race. The color of Paul Robeson's skin makes no difference to me, he supported Josef Stalin, possibly the most brutal and most lethal dictator of all time. I would also encourage Robeson fans to read this: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-6/robeson2.html
ReplyDeleteRobeson's son, Paul Robeson, Jr. provides details about how his father's Jewish friends were summarily executed by order of Stalin, and how he met with his good friend Yitzhak Pfeffer (who had to be taken out of a gulag to meet Robeson). Pfeffer told Robeson that he would certainly be executed at Stalin's order if nothing was done, and provided notes about the gulags & awful happenings of the time. Robeson destroyed the notes, and did not sound the alarm about the Soviet atrocities - Pfeffer was executed 3 years later by Stalin. Consider that all this happened several years BEFORE Robeson gave his greatest praise of Stalin with his "To You Beloved Comrade" eulogy (http://www.mltranslations.org/Miscellaneous/RobesonJVS.htm).
Folks, this is not an issue of race. Paul Robeson was a brilliant scholar, athlete, actor, and singer. No question about that. He also fought for civil rights, and he should be commended for that, no question. However, this is a man who openly supported Josef Stalin - murderer of some 40 million human beings. 40 million! Now, I think that Rutgers can certainly maintain ties with Robeson's legacy, and praise him for his good work, but how can we possibly justify naming a public library after this man? This very man who closely supported the executor of one his best friends and many ethnic minorities/political dissidents. To me, there are figures who can better represent our university library. The suggestion I made in my original article was Dana Redd, a Rutgers-Camden graduate and current mayor of Camden City. Many people are also suggesting the late Walt Whitman, great poet and Camden resident, as a possible replacement. I just want you all to know, as much as you might think this is a racial issue, it is not racially motivated.
Many of you make valid points about mistakes made in our past. And, sure, we should look into other questionable figures whose names are on public buildings, but why criticize my efforts at my campus? If I went to a university where the building was named after another questionable figure, I would be doing the same thing. Please realize that Robeson was not just a socialist, but a person who actively supported Josef Stalin, the Russian equivalent of Germany's Hitler, Iraq's Hussein, and Cambodia's Pol Pot. I hope this addresses most of your respective concerns.
Erik what you have said provides no comfort to me. Paul Robeson was a great man who did not I repeat did not support the ravages of Stalin no matter how much you repeat it. You are exageratting to make a point. One letter does not make him a supporter of all the evils of Stalinism.
ReplyDeleteAs I am sure you are aware a person is judged by their life's body of work and not necessarily an error in judgement here or there.
It doesn't matter what your motivation I still think its hypocritical in light of what the US and many of its much honored leaders have done supporting and participating in genocide. Yet there is no campaign to take their names off mounuments.
And if we really do have right to free association then Robeson being a socialist shot not keep his name from being placed above the library on your campus.
I think your position is short sighted and you are slandering a man who was slandered in life not because he was a communist, or a communist sympathizer.And he wasn't attacked in the Catskills because he supposedly supported Stalin.
He was attacked because he was a black man who had the nerve to call the US out in the international commmunity for its racism, and to campaign against Jim Crow and for the rights of workers.
If you are as well intentioned as you say, then you really ought to reconsider.
Robeson is now and will always be remembered by people of goodwill as a hero of the working class and especially black people.
May he rest in peace!!!
It is okay to honor bigots, mass murderers, liars, and thieves in America. That's the American way! In fact, my calendar is showing two days marked for Columbus Day coming up next week...Monday 11th and Tues 12th. Wow!
ReplyDeleteHow many people did Robeson murder or steal from?
Adolph Hitler said that Woodrow Wilson inspired him with his bigoted writings. Hitler was a brutal mass murderer too.
ReplyDeleteHow many people did Robeson inspire to commit mass murders?
Oh yeah and Wilson supported the KKK who went around burning and lynching people.
ReplyDeleteBTW Erik it is not against the law to be a socialist or a communist in the US. Someone as legalistic in their thinking as you should know that the US constitution allows freedom of speech and association. So that is not a reason to exclude Robeson either.
ReplyDeleteWhether you want to admit it or not, you simply don't like Robeson. You should just say that and not try to drag folks into this baseless smear campaign of yours.
I read your letter and you are not as gracious as you appeared here. You asserted in your letter that the very real groups that Robeson was a part of that fought racial injustice were fronts, because they were affiliated with socialists does not discredit their efforts at racial unity and justice.
YOu also suggest that the Vietnamese didn't have sense enough to fight for their own independence but were Soviet proxies. And then you assert that black folks didn't support Robeson when he appeared before the House UnAmerican Committee, which is a an outright lie.
But you are right to say that certain black "figureheads" disagreed with him. You are right to call them figureheads because they didn't represent the position of Black America. And in point of fact Jackie Robinson later admitted that he regretted what he said about Robeson and agreed that he was indeed a man of principle.
Young Erik from what I have read you are a demogogue. You merely parrot right wing propaganda.
And worse yet you ignore and cooly overlook and denigrate Robeson's body of work as if what he did and said was no big deal.
What you are doing in a word is "shameful". Let Paul Robeson rest in peace he has already suffered for standing up for humanity. And you young man wouldn't qualify to wear his shorts.
@Erik: If, as you say, Robeson supported Stalin who killed 40 million souls (although the number is invariably placed around 20 million) then that "support" makes Robeson quintessentially American, since our founding fathers not only "supported" slavery, but the slave trade, that saw millions of blacks die en route from Africa to the New World--deaths that some scholars say rivaled that of the Jewish holocaust.
ReplyDeleteRobeson neither held slaves, nor, to my knowledge, directly killed anyone.
If we're to judge the acts of persons by the number of human atrocities they commit, or is attributed to them, then Robeson stands essentially blameless--more blameless than George Washington, or Thomas Jefferson who owned slaves and "supported" the slave trade by virtue of that ownership.
How many indigenous people, directly, and indirectly, lost their lives here in the Americas, by those who are now held up as American heroes?
When their names, along with another George, George Armstrong Custer, are stricken from the public edifices of this country, then I'll call for the removal of Robeson's name from this University library.
"I just want you all to know, as much as you might think this is a racial issue, it is not racially motivated."
Just so you know: Where blacks are concerned, or considered, it's always a "racial issue," otherwise, you'd be calling for the expunging of other names from public buildings of those who really did do harm to people--and they aren't the names of blacks, but of whites--who are now idolized as American heroes.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete'This isn't a racial issue.... Perhaps Erik really values Democracy and the Freedoms we are allowed simply by living here, and he doesn't want his school representing Communism....Paul Robeson was a Communist.'
Anony, what I'm about to say next isn't racial, either: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and many other Founding Fathers were racists, slave-owners, and bigots. I really value 'Democracy' and 'Freedom.' You'll never know just how much it's valued, until you've lived without it.
Therefore, I must categorically state, as you have for Erik, I don't want any school, or public building 'representing' racism and slavery, or glorifying the names of slaveholders.
Erik said...'If I went to a university where the building was named after another questionable figure, I would be doing the same thing.'
ReplyDeleteFar worse that you live in a country where buildings are named for known figures who aren't 'questionable figure[s],' but whose heinous acts against humanity are widely known, and are indisputable, but who are, nevertheless, still idolized.
I think your crusade to remove Robeson's name from your blessed library is tantamount to "straining out gnats, and swallowing camels."
First go after the real villains of history, before you turn your focus to the likes of Robeson. If you do, your mission might acquire some credibility. Right now, it's lacking both credibility and reasonableness in light of what we all know is true of this nation's history, and how it's celebrated.
Do you celebrate Columbus Day? Surely, each year, you stand alongside those Native Americans who oppose it?
Glenn Beck is obsessed with Hitler and Woodrow Wilson. I'm just saying.
ReplyDeleteTruthfully speaking, I believe in my heart that Beck secretly admires Hitler. Beck is affiliated, supported by and supports a white supremacist group. That shouldn't be a secret because it has been reported in the news several times, but folks tend to ignore or act like they didn't see it or hear it. Smh!
He is a dangerous man. Out this way, one of his followers is locked up in Santa Rita Jail for having a shootout with the police on the freeway. Yup, he was hanging on every single word Beck spouts out and is a true believer that Beck is telling the truth nothing but the truth so help me...
It's ashame how many crazy folks we have running around loose these days and most of them are on the right side of the political spectrum. Palin with her arrogant wannabe in the limelight self is gonna put her foot in her mouth. I pray I don't miss seeing it when it happens. Just in case, I think I'll set the timer to record daily.
Like the O'Jays said some people will kill their own mother for that piece of paper which carries alot of weight. "For the Love of Money" Smh and giving major eye rollage!
"America is a mistake, a giant mistake."--Sigmund Freud
ReplyDeleteAmerica has been an experiment where Europeans left their country of origin for a life of freedom and religion. Unfortunately, they were living a giant hypocrtical lie in America because they were enslaving people and killing off Native Indians, which was pretty much genocide.
How did they reconcile this? By telling themselves they were superior and therefore had the divine right to do whatever they wanted to other humans not like them, such as Native Indians and Blacks. That is the way humans justify to make their wrongs acceptable.
That has been a great sin against humanity..such wretchedness! At some level of consciousness their guilt, shame and regret must be immense.
They have created a huge tsunami wall of karmic history for themselves. It has been a total insult to God, humanity and America... A huge ugly stain. Despite their wretched history, they keep demeaning and degrading Blacks by diminishing Robeson and others... Go figure.
I would much rather be a descendant of a slave than to be a descendent of an enslaver in America. There is a major difference in living with one's conscience.
Erik,
ReplyDeleteYou know what broke my heart as young person; when the tanks rolled over the Hungarians and the US did nothing to stop it. In fact Radio Free Europe had given the Hungarians confidence to revolt. I watched the Cold War and the duplicitous nature of the US.
Had you ever thought that US policy might have saved those millions of people? Also tell the Chinese that the Vietnamese War was about the Soviets. I suppose you think the issue of Taiwan and Tibet have to do with the Soviets too.
During the fifties the average Black person was proud of Paul Robeson accomplishments, being called communist didn't ring any bells, because every civil rights activity was called communist driven. The place, Highlander Research and Education Center, where Martin Luther King Jr. trained and learned the tactics of civil disobedience was considered a communist front. King, himself, was called communist.
I want to note that nothing ever was done by the US government to make Robeson's accusations false. Perhaps the last act until 1964 was when the military was integrated.
You are also talking to people here that are more than 25 years old.
Speaking of offenses, I went to the University of Tennessee, when that infamous mural was on display. To this day white folks don't understand why we were offended. The athletic center was name after someone my father abhorred for his companies racial and union policies, now there is an endowed chair in his name.
Black folk have lived with names of those whom have oppressed us, the song Dixie and the Confederate flag, so I am going to tell you, what many of you tell us, get over it.
Robeson was absolutely not a communist, his only 'crime' was that he refused to hate people who were.
ReplyDeleteHe did not support Stalin, nor did he ever join the Communist Party.
What he did do was stand shoulder to shoulder with the oppressed people of the world - wherever they may be. He is widely loved in South Wales for his unstinting support of Welsh miners, for instance.
He was a great American, and more importantly a great and noble human being.
I would much rather be a descendant of a slave than to be a descendent of an enslaver in America. There is a major difference in living with one's conscience.
ReplyDelete8:09 AM
I find this hugely comical. You don't get to choose who you are a descendent of. All you can do is work for the betterment of others. Not all Americans were "enslavers." But it's the master-servant mentality that will keep you mentally enslaved and hating whites forever. Good luck!
I have to clear up one fact Hitler physically kill anyone, but that's not to say he created an environment for which his supporters and foot soldiers to commit unspeakable acts against humanity.
ReplyDeleteAs Paul Robeson, I did not see what Erik's problem is with Robeson being honored after all the man has great accomplishments to be honored. Robeson didn't kill or hurt anyone, he doesn't even so much as a traffic ticket. It's fine that Erik doesn't agree with Robeson' politics, but at least the man conviction in what he believed and the integrity to stand behind it. You cannot discount his talent because of his politics. I guess Erik doesn't like Burt Lancaster or Gregory Peck because they protested and marched for civil rights. I suppose he doesn't like Humphrey Bogart because he was the only actor who supported and stood up for Lena Horne who wanted to move into the neighborhood. I guess he doesn't like James Cagney who fought to have an actors' union. Erik lives in a parallel universe, and can anyone tell what Erik has accomplish during his time on earth that went beyond his own interests.
Erik, why you trying to be the next Jimmy O'Keefe?
ReplyDeleteHmm...sure...it wasn't about race...when there are so many other buildings that have associations that wingnuts can whine about.
Does putting your name next to a well-known famous person give you some associative glamour?
All I can see is the comparative smallness...which you called attention to...odd that one would whine about how being tiny...after telling the world that they are minuscule.
Mold
Feld:
ReplyDeleteMany times we are drawn into frivolous conversations, that require us to educate the ignorant.
The problem with this is that most of the time people such as Eric's minds have already been made up, and trying to change it becomes fruitless.
Eric's lack of understanding of American history and the reasons that many Americans of the time, believed in the socialists way of thinking, and his lack of research.
Eric's, use of the phrase, "my university." Seems to forget that there are many African-American and Europeans that recognize the effort, intelligence, and mistreatment of Mr. Roberson, a proud to see his name on the library.
Too many times, the efforts of African-Americans have been dismissed and eliminated from the history books of the America, and therefore their accomplishments are forgotten and erased from history.
Within the walls of America, there haven't been many individuals whose thinking have not followed the true democratic way of thinking, but have been recognized for their definite contributions to the country, Henry Ford being one.
So Eric, the time you are spending and the effort you are putting into this project, might be better spent in investigating the true history of America.
Anon 12:26 PM, that's a good point.
ReplyDeleteThanks for trying to educate my man Erik. Mell, you too.
But here is the thing:(And I think BD touched on it) where are all the conservative black blogs speaking up for Mr. Robeson's legacy? *crickets*
Erik is how he is, we can't change that, but damn it would be nice if some of you wingnut black folks stood up for your peeps just once.
"Robeson was absolutely not a communist, his only 'crime' was that he refused to hate people who were."
PC, I wish I said that.
anon10:49am, "I find this hugely comical. You don't get to choose who you are a descendent of. All you can do is work for the betterment of others. Not all Americans were "enslavers." But it's the master-servant mentality that will keep you mentally enslaved and hating whites forever. Good luck!"
ReplyDeleteI am sure you do. You MUST make light of it. There is no other way for you to think IF you feel YOU had nothing to do with the painful history of slavery in America.
And IF there are laughing Whites such as yourself-- who were NOT "enslavers" there were very few and those 'few' stood in denial while slavery and later JIM CROW continued.
Of course, it is YOUR 'comical' White Priviledge to theorize and conceptualize and advise Blacks 'what' kind of 'mentality' Blacks should have.
You are quite funny yourself.
Unless blacks fully assimilate white folk values
ReplyDeletePlease share the values that are so different.
Thank you.
"He was a great American, and more importantly a great and noble human being."--PC
ReplyDeleteVery True. He was and is recognized as a great American by Blacks, Europeans and the International Community--But obviously NOT by some American Whites. It is understandable, considering America rests on a foundation of discrimination and racism.
Field, "Erik is how he is, we can't change that, but damn it would be nice if some of you wingnut black folks stood up for your peeps just once."
ReplyDeleteField, I am one of those Black conservatives on your blog today commenting FOR Robeson and speaking out against Erik's white priviledged arrogance. Don't you recognize me?
Considering I have been on your blog for some time, you should know me by now. I usually mess with all you whining progressive liberal black dems. I guess my position 'For' Robeson and his outstanding achievements threw you off? You really should find another way to define us conservative Blacks because you are waaaay off about who we are. There are times when we feel the same way as you crying liberal going-no-where black dems. FYI: most Black conservatives are NOT wingnuts. To paraphrase Christine: "WE are not wingnut witches...WE ARE YOU."
I bet even Michael Steele will speak up for Robeson.. AFTER the elections. And the great shocker will be when Beck stands up for Robeson. If he does, YOU owe me.
Anonymous 10:49:
ReplyDeleteCould you explain to me how speaking out the truth about history and America's chosen heroes equates to a master-slave mentality and hating whites? The truth is painful sometimes but it will set you free if you accept it.
I don't think you really understand or know what a master-slave mentality is, but let me assist you by defining what a master-slave mentality is so that you won't be confused or get it mixed up again.
A slave was not allowed to speak out against any white person and point out their wrongdoing. That was considered a criminal offense punishable by law. They were not even allowed to testify against them in a court of law. That's a master-slave mentality.
A slave could have been beaten, maimed, or killed if he pointed out a Master's wrongdoing or any of what we've pointed out on this blog concerning some of America's chosen heroes. That's a master-slave mentality.
A master could denigrate, humiliate, disfigure, kill or treat a slave anyway he chose too and nothing would be done about it because a slave had no rights whatsoever. No slave could speak up in another slaves defense as we have spoken up in Robeson's defense or they would have been severely punished if they did. That's a master-slave mentality.
Slaves speech was controlled by whites and the laws that they would be punished by. Where you have it all mixed up at and what you don't realize it is that a master-slave mentality is what you are trying to impose on us in wanting us to keep silent or control what we say or how we say it. That's a master-slave mentality.
What whites considered a good slave was one who heaped praises on them and the only word they were allowed to speak to their master was "yessuh master." In fact, they had no choice because if they had spoke up and told the truth they would have been risking their lives or their families would have been sold away from them.
When you were growing up and did something wrong and your parents told you the truth and pointed it out to you, did that mean they hated you? Or maybe, some older person that you respected or a sibling or friend pointed out where you were wrong at and told you the truth. Did that mean that they hated you too?
If blacks hated whites as much as you say we do, we'd be trying to eliminate them like they've tried to eliminate us, the Native Americans, and other minorities for centuries. Black folks have been whites conscience so to speak because we know you better than any other minority or nationality on this earth. We had to learn and study your ways, way of thinking, and know you in order to survive since the first slave boat arrived and an African set foot on American soil.
You take offense at what we have written about white heroes, which is the honest to God truth. It is written in history books plain as day. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out. I could tell you some things about quite a few of America's political heroes that is not written in history books because a lot of my ancestors knew them and were physically in their presence as slaves. If only you knew what the white and black connection really was it would blow your mind and stun you to the point that you would be in a stupor for a few days in order to digest it.
We're only trying to live in peace with whites, enjoy the same freedoms, the same justice, real equality, peace & tranquilly, good jobs, and the same American dream that whites enjoy.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, like a sore that is infected the poison has to be drained out in order for healing to take place. That poison is racism, injustice, inequality, denigration, humiliation, discrimination, and obstruction in enjoying those same freedoms, peace, justice, equality, respect, and the American dream. Instead there are whites who want to throw the same old dirty bandage on that sore and not change it.
Anon 2:58 PM, if you are who you say you are I apologize to you only.
ReplyDeleteI am just sorry you have to be Anonymous. Where are some of your more high profile brothers and sisters who have no problem with putting their names out there for other things?
Anonymous said...
ReplyDelete'Unless blacks fully assimilate white folk values
Please share the values that are so different.
Thank you.'
For one, blacks didn't leave their shores, find a new world, conquer the people, and decimate them to the point of extinction, indoctrinate them with their religion, nor bring in another group, along a Middle Passage that's noted for its inhumanity, and brutality, rob them of their heritage, enslave them, oppress them, and terrorize them once given their freedom.
You're welcome.
Well...let the sideshow begin. These folks are something else. Smh!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/10/eric-cantor-rich-iott_n_757235.html#comments
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/10/sharron-angle-social-security-unemloyment_n_757325.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/08/AR2010100805640.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/glenn-beck-mocks-fire-vic_b_753193.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/10/karl-rove-obama-chamber-of-commerce-enemies-list_n_757253.html
Granny@3:14pm, thanks for standing up to the insulting white privileged anon's@ 10:49. It certainly took you long enough. That's the trouble with you liberal black dems, you are slowpokes when it comes to the racial insults of your liberal white dems. Often, you overlook them but you are quick to criticize black conservatives...go figure.
ReplyDeleteIf anon had been what Field calls a wingnut, practically every liberal Black on this blog would have attacked. But only YOU-a liberal- and me, a black conservative have stood up to this racist white progressive. This must be a weird day for you to be on the side of a conservative Black?
Quite frankly, it is disappointing that more of you so-called Field Negroes aren't outraged at anon's insensitive condescending remarks. I suppose you hate black conservatives more than you do liberal white privileged racist dems? Even PC ignored the comment. But amazingly, if it had been no_slappz, who they consider a wingnut, they wouldn't hesitate to jump all over him. But this anon's comments are far more insensitive and insulting. At least no_slappz would have dressed his comments up a some.
Oh well, I'll never figure out you progressive liberal black dems. Your moods are more capricious than AB, UTS, MackLying and a sick pregnant woman combined. As a conservative Black, I sometimes wonder what kind of Field Negroes are you?
Hey Field thanks this one kind of got under my skin.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting about it otherwise I may not have run into this, yet another attempt by the right wing of the ruling class to rewrite and write us out of history.
mellaneous, "Thanks for posting about it otherwise I may not have run into this, yet another attempt by the right wing of the ruling class to rewrite and write us out of history."
ReplyDeleteWhat makes you think it's only the right wing who has been writing us out of history? You shouldn't be so assuming. But I agree with you about the post. Btw, Robeson was a black conservative, like me.
Robeson was a useful idiot for Stalinism, and I would not want any organization I was afffiliated with to honor him in any way.
ReplyDeleteThat the man was gifted does not excuse the harm he did.
Anon 6:07pm:
ReplyDeleteWhat harm do you believe Robeson caused? You made a statement without further investigation has to who the individual was. You have nary a clue because you prefer to allow others to think for you. So what you do not agree with Robeson's political view, it does not negate what he accomplished. I think some people in this country are intellectually lazy, and I may that you do not possess the wherewithal to do any research to make your decision. You act as if he Robeson went around and murdered people. And you probably didn't know that he founded the American Crusade Against Lynching in 1946 that was supported by Albert Einstein. You are definitely showing your ignorance because you don't know anything else about him other than the fact that he was a socialist and that's all you know. Only know what the news dictated to you that came in the 30 second sound bite. In fact, can you tell the rest of us what you have accomplished. Somehow I do not think that you are lawyer, actor, singer, trade unionist, All-American Athlete, writer, and peace-activist. In addition, I do not think you are much on self-reflection either as Paul Robeson publicly stated that he did have regret for having unwavering devotion for the Soviet Union. I don't have a problem with him being a Socialist and he every right to be politically affiliated with any political party. The last time I check that you have a right as a United States citizen to do so.
Anonymous 6:07:
ReplyDeleteAnd Woodrow Wilson, Columbus, Benjamin Franklin, the majority of white Presidents, General Custer, Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie, Pat Robertson, Glen Beck, Hannity, the rest of the Fox We Make It Up Crew, Sarah Palin, Meg Whitman, many of the white heroes that are too many too type in this little box, and their mommas and daddies are not worth the dung you can pick up with a knitting needle.
I'd rather be affiliated with Robeson which would truly be an honor than to even twist my lips and paint mass murderers, thieves, and liars as heroes. That would be a stain against my integrity.
Nevertheless, it is true that most pigs like swallowing in their own filth.
*wallowing*
ReplyDelete"That the man was gifted does not excuse the harm he did."
ReplyDeleteAnd that would be.....
Anon.@4:38 pm, you have to help me here. Are you the same Anon. I responded to earlier?
Oh the attacks contimue on one of my frat brothers;-) Erik seems to be unaware of the connection to Communism/Marxism with the Black community. For years the Communist worker's party was one of the only groups to stand for equal rights for women and people of color. This was in the 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's. You tell me sir, would you support a group that was fighting for your right to be treated as an equal or support a system that discriminated against you and your family and in many cases allowed people that looked like you to be killed for little or no reason? You seem honest in your opposition unlike several conservatives in the media that unfairly lable our heroes as commies without fully understanding or explaining the context of the time. Kinda like how the confederacy is absolved of their support of slavery as well as the founding fathers as "oh they were a product of their time". Why does this same rule not apply to our heroes? Dr. King was influenced by Communists and socialists i.e. Bayard Rustin so are you going to fight to get his name removed from every building and street it's on? You should be aware of why there is such a pushback from the Black community on this one. Hell, we'd have no heroes if we disowned them for any communist ties they had. Find another battle to fight, you'll lose this one.
ReplyDeleteThis has been great commentary, I think Erik (with the K) has learned a hard history lesson this weekend. I hope he ponders it well.
ReplyDeleteI think President Carter is a decent man. Yeah, and I like Albert Einstein too and few other whites, but it some that don't deserve hero status at all.
ReplyDeleteIn Arkansas they celebrate Cullen Baker day. Imagine that! A murderer who went around the country killing innocent people. They even had a bounty on his head wanted dead or alive for all the murders he committed. Now, they celebrate him as if he was born into this world with a halo on his head. What kind of hero kills innocent people? A member of his own family had to kill him because Baker's murder sprees were sickening to him.
Field:
ReplyDeleteI would like an answer to that question because I do not know what harm Robeson caused. Did the man run over a child or what? I really do not get it. This is a matter of coming from the world of "I do not know what I am talking about, I am just writing stuff out of the thin air because it seemed like a good idea at the time. Anon doesn't know anything about Paul Robeson for it if did, he would not have made that comment.
Field, "Anon.@4:38 pm, you have to help me here. Are you the same Anon. I responded to earlier?"
ReplyDeleteYes.
anon 6:07p is of the Aryan Nation, who loves to insult Blacks and keep racism alive. That is how 'it' justifies 'its' existence.
ReplyDeleteMr. Field, Anon Inc is looking into this. We cannot have some jackass tarnishing our good name.
I knew if Erik had a "k" at the end of his name, their would be trouble. Nevertheless, I am assuming that he is a 20 year old student expressing his right to free speech in the fantasy world of academia. Unfortunately, he decided to branch out into the 'real' world on FN and ran into Granny, Hennasplace, and Hathor.
Poor boy. I know how he must feel when they came after him, and I'm a conservative Black. Damn, it's rough out here.
Field, I am looking at the photo in your sidebar. I think you should be chasing her instead of an aging Lisa Turtle.
GrannyStandingforTruth said...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 6:07:
Nevertheless, it is true that most pigs like swallowing in their own filth.
We will take your word on that. Hope it goes down easy!
La♥audiobooks said...
ReplyDeleteThis has been great commentary, I think Erik (with the K) has learned a hard history lesson this weekend. I hope he ponders it well.
7:00 PM
I guess anyone you disagree with has to be Waacist (call a wambulance) and from the democratic KKK. Does this mean you are from the NBPP (New Black Panther Party) and are Waacist (call de amber lamps) too?
Anonymous 7:46:
ReplyDeleteLOL@you! Nah, you can take all those psuedo heroes you worship and celebrate word for it. After all, they demonstrate it with more clarity.
Hey Erik,
ReplyDeleteI know where you are coming from saying race doesn't mater. YOu say he request to remove his name is not racially moivated;lets just assume you are right. By "right" I mean completely misguided.
Have you given no thought to the situation of black people in those times? You hold our freedom and capitalism as sacred because it worked for you... "you" being white people. How was this same freedom and capitalism working for black people?
How short sighted to say race has nothing to do with it.
His communism had everything to do with his race and justifiably so.
You point to communist regimes muder of thousands; didn't America murder thousands of African-Americans?
Why... WHY would any black person alive then not look to an alternate system?
If you say you understand and respect his civil rights work, you have dramatically ignored the reality of America's oppression of black people.
I don't cal you racist Erik, I just don't think you have really looked at the situation.
Most of us white people never do.
"Does this mean you are from the NBPP (New Black Panther Party) and are Waacist (call de amber lamps) too?"
ReplyDeleteOh Lawd, I hate it when folks talk about others behind their back. It shows a lack of courage and straightforwardness. Maybe, someone should send an email to the New Black Panthers and tell them to get over here and defend themselves.
Robeson was a true renaissance man and cultural touchstone like Twain, King and Brando rolled into one. He should be taught in every High School in the land.
ReplyDeleteAnd, while I support everyone's 1st Adt rights, I think that people should be allowed to slap College Republicans' faces while we listen to them. It's only fair.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see Nat Turner and John Brown on my money. Robeson was a moderate.
ReplyDeletebrohammas said...
ReplyDeleteWhitey said...
I cosign. I still don't think poor Erik gets it, though. If he did, it would be a betrayal of his Republicanism, and his first break with his ideological center.
Erik's taken a couple of decades to become who he is. It's not easy to dismantle a lifetime of scaffolding used to build the structure in which he now lives so comfortably.
"Erik's taken a couple of decades to become who he is. It's not easy to dismantle a lifetime of scaffolding used to build the structure in which he now lives so comfortably."
ReplyDeleteZing, is that you-- the Zing with the Zingers? I thought you were in Atlanta working for CF.
Anonymous 4:38:
ReplyDeleteI don't hate black conservatives. In fact, I have a few in my own family. Field knows one of them and has been on his radio talk show before. I've met and talked to some that are very intelligent. Constructive Feedback was intelligent. We just disagree politically. That's it and that's all! Although, I despise Jesse Lee Peterson and a few others, not because they are conservative, but because of the degrading and denigrating statements they make against their own people just to make a buck.
However, I do feel sorry for some black conservatives at times and Steele is one of them whom I have compassion for and hate to see him being degraded, ridiculed, and humiliated as a black man by those whose party he chooses to represent and keep him in my prayers.
As for me speaking up in defense of my people, I don't know where you've been, but I have always spoke up when insults or condescending remarks have been made against my people. That's nothing new to those who have been posting on here before I came white or black.
I don't always read everyone's comments, especially, when it turns into a catfight or post after post after post is nothing but arguing and namecalling. So, sometimes I might not see some of those insults and condescending remarks.
Besides which, I am a very busy woman throughout the day and don't always sign on to blog. Since May, I've been going through dealing with the loss of different relatives left and right, one behind another, and trying to avoid too much unnecessary unpleasantness.
Elections are coming up in a few weeks and I am very busy during that time doing my part. When winter comes, well I'm like an old bear and sort of hibernate so to speak. :) Besides which, I'm not getting any younger, so I find myself taking more breaks from blogging periodically so that my body and mind can get the needed rest from all of the lumps and bumps of the world.
Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteField, "Anon.@4:38 pm, you have to help me here. Are you the same Anon. I responded to earlier?"
Yes.
7:28 PM
No, actually I made the post @ 6:07.
hennasplace said...
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:07pm: "What harm do you believe Robeson caused? "
robeson was an enabler and apologist for communist tyranny.
During a concert tour of the USSR in 1949, Robeson learned of Stalin’s planned liquidation of Soviet Jews (a liquidation that would aborted by Stalin’s death in 1953). He asked to speek with the imprisoned (and soon-to-be-executed) Russian Yiddish poet Itzhak Feffer, who he had met in the United States six years earlier. When Robeson saw Feffer -- in a room bugged with Soviet government listening devices -- Feffer, without speaking aloud, drew his fingers across his throat, indicating that he and others would soon be murdered (which they were).
Robeson chose not to tell anyone about Feffer's fate or what he had learned about Soviet anti-Semitism, since to do so would have hurt the Soviet cause in the Cold War. Upon returning to America, he told the press that he had seen Feffer in good condition; that he had seen "Jewish people [living freely] all over the place"; that he had heard "not one word about" Soviet anti-Semitism; and that the rumors of Yiddish writers being executed were utterly false. He did not even tell his comrades in the American Communist Party what he knew of the USSR's treatment of Jews.
Stalin recognized Robeson's loyalty and thus awarded him the Stalin Peace Prize in 1953.
GrannyStandingforTruth said...
ReplyDeleteElections are coming up in a few weeks and I am very busy during that time doing my part.
I hear you, it's tough work collecting all them blank absentee ballots and coming up with names to try and slip em through. Damn the hardest though is gettin those dead folk and disney characters to vote for domecrats, even dey wants to goes republicans nowadays!!!
"Anonymous said...
ReplyDeleteField, "Anon.@4:38 pm, you have to help me here. Are you the same Anon. I responded to earlier?"
Yes.
7:28 PM
No, actually I made the post @ 6:07.
9:03 PM
__________________________________
Oh, sorry...my mistake. My answer should have been "NO, I am not the same anon.
I am anon4:38pm and 2:58pm. The anon who degraded Robeson is not me. I have said nothing negative about Robeson. I am a black conservative who has nothing but respect and admiration for him. I DO believe that black liberals and black conservatives agree on 'most' of our Black heros.
Of course, when we start getting into the Michael Vicks, well, we tend to have different opinions on how much karma he has still remaining.:D But like CF, I still have good-will for you even though you and others call black conservatives 'toms' and talk about us like one of Vick's dogs.
But we are good Christians who forgive those who know not what they do.:))
Mr. Field, I hope that clears up things for you.
Granny sittin for Teeth Said:
ReplyDeleteOh Lawd, I hate it when folks talk about others behind their back. It shows a lack of courage and straightforwardness. Maybe, someone should send an email to the New Black Panthers and tell them to get over here and defend themselves.
Brings dem over heah, we make them cry bring de amber lamps real quick like. Dey got the intellect of 10 year olds. You evuh heah dem boys talk? C'mon bring dem hateful waacists over heah. Should have know you would be their friends. Bet you are King Shebooma walla walla bing bangs, kill dat krackas momma aint ya?
" I have said nothing negative about Robeson. I am a black conservative who has nothing but respect and admiration for him. I DO believe that black liberals and black conservatives agree on 'most' of our Black heros."
ReplyDeleteSo if Robeson had been white, his loyalty to Stalin would have been reprehensible, but since he was black, he could do no wrong?
Got you loud and clear.
That's a myth like diebold stealing elections from republiklan centtral. The real voting violations are challenge-purging of registration rolls and strategic under-service to minority-majority polling places.
ReplyDeleteAnon 9:06pm
ReplyDeleteI understand all that about Robeson, but he recognize that he should not have an unwavering devotion toward the USSR years later. It's called self-reflection, and the ability to change a once held belief when new information becomes available to you. He later changed his position, and I think that is the thing you have negated. I understand Stalin gave him an award, but that is just one and it still does not out weigh his other accomplishments. As for anti-Semitism, the United States had plenty of that going around during that time. As I recall, quite a few of were Jewish actors and writers were subjected to McCarthy hearings facing being black-listed from Hollywood for years and some of these people kill themselves due to the pressure. Robeson made a mistake by believing everything Stalin said, but aren't you doing the very same thing at this moment. Perhaps it's a lesson that we shouldn't believe what everyone tells us.
My last was for the the troll known as Ann G. Myma, above @ 9:40pm.
ReplyDeleteAnon: 9:07pm
ReplyDeleteYes Robeson was apologist, but the still didn't harm anyone for having such opinion at the time which he later regretted for his unwavering devotion to the USSR that mentioned earlier in my comments. It's time for you to let this go particularly when he had those views in the 1950s and later change the view in the 1970s. If there is one lesson that we can learn is that is not a good idea to believe everything tells you. I can't imagine that you hold the same views 20 years today because I certainly do not. Opinions over time, so let it go.
Nosmo Kiddie 9:45:
ReplyDeleteYou are so silly and immature! Cartoon Network for kids is down the hall and turn left. Maybe, you should go there and hangout with children your own age. This blog is for mature adults and we wouldn't want your mommy getting upset and blaming us because of some the X-rated language posted here at times.
When you leave don't forget to take your little toy soldiers with you and clean up your mess. Now be a good little boy and run along.
I don't know why those folks on the right are thinking they are gonna have some type of landslide or something on Nov 2. Boy, are they gonna be surprised.
ReplyDeleteHere Devil. Try to use your tricknology to get us to try to forsake another black shining prince.
ReplyDeleteGo ahead and attack Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Angela Davis, Kwame Ture, et al. while you're at it. We have many black people who identified with Communism and we will remain proud of them.
Paul Robeson stood up for working people and Black people and gave up his fortune and good name for his beliefs. Its a shame that I didn't even know the man existed until I was well into High School.
ReplyDeleteHe was a civil rights icon, legal giant, sports hero and stage star rolled up into one. If Rutgers finally wants to honor such a great hero, more power to them.
Seeing as I went to a college with several buildings named after slave owners and a Civil War Era secessionist, I don't see why the Rutgers College Republicans oppose naming a building after Paul Robeson, possibly one of their most famous alumni. They are real criminals we've honored in American history. Hell, aren't we celebrating a corporate pirate and mass murder tomorrow?
But then again, the modern Republican Party ain't too found of Negroes and have been screaming about Commies as the McCarthy Hearing were the day after Election. So I guess I'm not too shocked at all.
Anonymous 12:07 asked "? I've never heard that one. What's your proof for that assertion? How could someone as whitey mcwhiterson looking as Washington or Jefferson be related to slaves?"
ReplyDeletehello? Sally Hemings and her children anyone??? related may not mean the slaves were their ancestors. But in every damn plantation in this country there sure as hell were plenty of slaves who were the slave owner's descendents.
"? I've never heard that one. What's your proof for that assertion? How could someone as whitey mcwhiterson looking as Washington or Jefferson be related to slaves?"
ReplyDeletePuleeze...there are black people who if they didn't tell you, you would not know that they are black. There are so many black people that have been passing for white since slavery ended until even their own kids believed that they were really white. Ask archivist how many so-called white people have broke down and cried when they found out they were really black.
You might be black yourself and not know it. All black people don't have thick lips and coarse hair. Some have blue eyes, blond hair, and thin lips. The thing is that most black people recognize their own, but won't tell, and white people can't tell the difference. LOL!
"But in every damn plantation in this country there sure as hell were plenty of slaves who were the slave owner's descendents."
Yup and a whole bunch of them were their children that they had by their slave women.
LACoincidental said...
ReplyDelete"Hell, aren't we celebrating a corporate pirate and mass murder tomorrow?"
Your ignorance is exceeded only by your mendacity.
Have your duplicitous hero, you racist, lying hack. The time is coming when the truth will burn the world clean.
I would like to respond to the lies in the post of the anonymous poster of 9:06.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the old lies spread by Roy Wilkins of the NAACP in cooperation with J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI.
The truth of Robinson's relationship with Jewish intellectuals in the Soviet union is typically heroic.
Here is that truth.
The American concert singer and actor Paul Robeson met Feffer on July 8, 1943 in New York during a Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee event chaired by Albert Einstein, the largest pro-Soviet rally ever held in the United States. After the rally, Essie and Paul Robeson entertained Feffer and Mikhoels.
Six years later, in June 1949, during the 150th anniversary celebration of the birth of Alexander Pushkin, Robeson visited the Soviet Union to sing in concert. Concerned about the welfare of Jewish artists, Robeson insisted to Soviet officials that he meet with Feffer[1]. Forced to communicate through hand gestures and notes because the room was bugged, Feffer indicated that Mikhoels had been murdered in 1948 by the secret police. Feffer also indicated that many other Jewish artists had been arrested[2]. Robeson responded publicly during his concert in Tchaikovsky Hall, June 14, 1949 by paying tribute to his friends Feffer and Mikhoels. He then sang the Vilnius partisan song "Zog Nit Keynmol" in both Russian and Yiddish in defiance of Soviet authorities[3].
Sources:
1.http://www.midstreamthf.com/200207/feature.html
2.http://www.rachelkorn.com/text/articleyiddishculture.htm
3. (Russian) http://lib.ru/PROZA/LEWASHOW/mihoels.txt
BP
ReplyDelete"Surely every black Republican or conservative with a blog is denouncing this latest attack on a black-American icon.
Surely they're standing up as one to condemn this outrage, to pen letters, to write e-mails, or send off faxes to Rutger in solidarity with a decision that was made in 1991 to name a library after Robeson, a black-American hero."
I'm afraid not my brother.
Black conservatives exist to comfort the psyches and egos of white bigots.
And get paid of course.
IMO this is just another teabag effort by the republicans to play on racial animosity and ignorance of many white republicans. Many people today conveniently forget the victims of the genocide of slavery in this country for over 400 years. Robeson's father was a SLAVE, a inhuman and genocidal law that America supported and benefited from for hundreds of years. Seeing what the alternative was for black people at that time, communism didn't seem like too bad of a choice for Robeson.
ReplyDeleteToday we still see confederate flags flying on GOVERNMENT buildings and many of these building are named after whites who supported the genocide slavery and Jim Crow laws. This kid is concern about the victims of Stalin but doesn't care or just too ignorant of of the victims of slavery and Jim Crow. How many republicans of any age do we hear speaking out against that. I guess all victim aren't equal. But all 21 year old Erik Opczynski is concerned about is a building with Paul Robeson's name on it. We talk a lot about how our education system fails the black inter city kid but Erik Opczynski is a prefect example of it failing white children as well.
uptownsteve said...
ReplyDeleteBP
"Surely every black Republican or conservative with a blog is denouncing this latest attack on a black-American icon.
Yeah, sure thats the way. I know, I know you said OJ was innocent too.
"But in every damn plantation in this country there sure as hell were plenty of slaves who were the slave owner's descendents."
ReplyDeleteYup and a whole bunch of them were their children that they had by their slave women.
"That's now what you said though. You said a bunch of the founding fathers were themselves descendants of slaves. I just asked you where you got your proof to back up that statement.
Hey Erik (Opczynski), why not take all the names off everything at the University - even the University itself? Hendrik Rutgers and his kinfolk are in the historical record for engaging in a few unsavory acts themselves. Go to the campus History Dept. and research the following:
ReplyDelete^ On the 1741 slave uprising, see Jill Lepore, New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth-Century Manhattan (New York, 2005), 5, 164, 165, 226. ...Rutgers's slave Quash worked at the family brewery; Quash was burned at the stake, ibid., Appendix C, 268–69. Slaveholding by Henry Rutgers's grandfather and father, see abstracts of their wills, Collections of the New-York Historical Society for the Year 1895: Abstracts of Wills (New York, 1896), 4: 445–50, and Collections … for the Year 1900; Abstracts of Wills (New York, 1901), 9: 213–15. Henry Rutgers's 1823 will states: "It is my desire and will that my Negro wench slave named Hannah being superannuated, be supported out of my Estate," Will of Henry Rutgers (transcription), RUL. In 1892, his grandnephew William B. Crosby's youngest daughter, Mary, reminisced about her "great great uncle" Henry Rutgers: "My uncle had a strong voice, and report says that his orders to his negroes across the East River could be heard by them," "Reminiscences of Rutgers Place," William B. Crosby Papers, New-York Historical Society. In 1798 Henry Rutgers witnessed an agreement regarding an eleven-year-old female slave owned by his sister, Mary McCrea, Duyckinck Papers, New York State Library.
Anonymous 11:16 AM:
ReplyDelete"That's now what you said though. You said a bunch of the founding fathers were themselves descendants of slaves. I just asked you where you got your proof to back up that statement."
Are you one of those children left behind that can't read? Methinks you need to go back and read what I said.
Anonymous 10:43:
ReplyDelete"We talk a lot about how our education system fails the black inter city kid but Erik Opczynski is a prefect example of it failing white children as well."
I co-sign with you.
@PurpleCow:
You are one of my favorite posters. I love reading your post.
There were enough "white" colonial Americans descended from enslaved black fathers and indentured white mothers (race and slavery in colonial America being matrilineal) and enough mixed race "passers" passing into the "white" especially frontier population every year since, that recent African descent is mathematically quite common among "white" Americans today. In fact, if any branch of your family's been here for more than a few generations...... it's almost inevitable -Welcome to the Family!
ReplyDeleteGrannyStandingforTruth said...
ReplyDelete"@PurpleCow:
You are one of my favorite posters."
That figures.
@Whitey, Amen and this is true as well, "There were enough "white" colonial Americans descended from enslaved black fathers and indentured white mothers."
ReplyDeleteHey...like the record by the Pointer Sisters said, "We Are Family".
GrannyStandingforTruth said...
ReplyDeleteAnonymous 10:43:
"We talk a lot about how our education system fails the black inter city kid
Only the elders have failed the inner city kid. Not the system. Books and teachers are there, so is tons of funding, free food, free programs, free everything. Whats missing? Elder input, guidance and direction. Discipline and instilling standards of hard work and acceptable behaviour. Hard to study when your moms tells you to stop gettin uppity and tryin to be white aint it?
Hi,
ReplyDeleteGREAT BLOG! I'm long over due for a visit to say hello.
I've spent over 200 hours in the past year and half rebuilding Paul Robeson's wikipedia article and neraly 20 related sub articles, saving it from both the freaks like Erik Opczynski and the occasional overly romantic Lefty. I've alos been a board member of the Bay Area Paul Robeson Centennial Committee since the 1998 centennial. Needless to say, Paul Robeson is a huge part of my life and a love. So....
Firstly and for the record, when Paul Robeson (in his own community he is still affectionately known as Rob-e son) was drawn the the USSR he first and foremost drawn to the peoples, languages and the history, as much, if not more so than Marxism. "Stalinist" simply does not apply to Robeson, he was interested in Russia years before Stalin came to power and long after he was gone. The USSR played a relatively minimal role in when one takes account his entire oeuvre as a writer, performer and a public figure. The right wing press has perennially glomed onto the USSR and Robeson to justify his erasure. The fact that even wretched Time magazine has called him a "CP member" when there is no proof whatsoever that he ever was shows how deep the falsehoods go.
SEcondly: Many come to wikipedia with fictions and beliefs backed up by zero research about Robeson expecting snippets of what they heard to be included in this article.I've tried to weed all of it out. A big factor working against any editor is that much of what occurred in the USSR has come from conflicting sources or from a singular source, usually Paul Robeson, Jr. KGB and even basic government archives in Russia have yet to be open to scholars. When they are, the researcher will need to be fluent in Russian to really get any new information. Meanwhile huge portions of Robeson's FBI files were destroyed or are inked out. So where is the truth? With our own two eyes!
His life was actually not very negative when one looks at what actually happened without a right wing Republican Milton Friedman Christian style bias attached. I think it is hard for many white students of history and journalists (of all ages and eras) to accept a black male celebrity being a proponent and globally renowned friend of socialist countries. The under lying lesson (emphasis on LYING) in US "education" is that Black male celebrities who become political either go Muslim or stay close to the Democrats. The thought of a big tall dark black anti-Capitalist pro-Trade Unionist man deciding his politics for himself and directing world opinion makes many flip out with
ReplyDeletefear to this very day. Paul Robeson still scares the hell out of white conservative America and even many liberals.
Thirdly In 1952, Robeson was awarded the Stalin Peace Prize. In April 1953 shortly after Joseph Stalin's death he wrote a eulogy entitled To You Beloved Comrade,[26] in the New World Review, in which he praised Stalin's "deep humanity," "wise understanding," and dedication to peaceful co-existence with all peoples of the world calling him "wise and good." He also praised Stalin as a man that the world was fortunate to have for daily guidance: "Through his [Stalin's] deep humanity, by his wise understanding, he leaves us a rich and monumental heritage."[27]
Robeson's comments of praise for Stalin were made PRIOR to Nikita Khrushchev's 1956 speech "Secret Speech" at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union regarding Stalin's purges. Though Robeson would continue to praise the USSR throughout his life, he would neither publicly denounce nor praise Stalin personally after Khrushchev's 1956 revelations.Robeson also never met Stalin in person another common misconception surrounding the prize. His statements about Stalin and the Peace Prize itself are routinely used out of historical context to defame or disparage him. Stalin had been a friend and ally and Life magazine cover boy only a few years earlier.
"Robeson made a mistake by believing everything Stalin said, but aren't you doing the very same thing at this moment. Perhaps it's a lesson that we shouldn't believe what everyone tells us. "
ReplyDeleteWOW!!! WTF? That's not what happened AT ALL! Please show your sources for that fiction.
Here are Robeson's OWN words at HUAC:
"I have told you, mister, that I would not discuss anything with the people who have murdered sixty million of my people, and I will not discuss Stalin with you." and "I will discuss Stalin when I may be among the Russian people some day, singing for them, I will discuss it there. It is their problem." Asked if he had praised Stalin during his previous trip to the Soviet Union, Robeson replied, "I do not know.' When asked outright if he had changed his mind about Stalin he implored.
"Whatever has happened to Stalin, gentlemen, is a question for the Soviet Union, and I would not argue with a representative of the people who, in building America, wasted sixty to a hundred million lives of my people, black people drawn from Africa on the plantations. You are responsible, and your forebears, for sixty million to one hundred million black people dying in the slave ships and on the plantations, and don’t ask me about anybody, please."
_Paul Robeson
At no time during his retirement (or his life) is Paul Robeson on record of mentioning any unhappiness or regrets about his beliefs in socialism or his unwavering devotion for the Soviet Union.
He felt that criticism of the Soviet Union by someone of his immense international popularity would only serve to shore up reactionary elements in the U.S., the same elements that had lifted his passport, blocked anti-lynching legislation, and maintained a racial climate in the United States that also allowed Jim Crow, impoverished living conditions for all races and a white supremacist domination of the US government to continue. Robeson is on record many times as stating that he felt the existence of a major socialist power like the USSR was a bulwark against Western European capitalist domination of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean.
Hi Amanda, thanks for visiting and for your great work. Preserving the legacy of those who came before us is very important.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the welcome. I am an ally and I'm on it!
ReplyDeleteHere are few quotes from some recent attacks on the article. My responses are NOT in quotes. My wiki name is Catherine Hubescher:
"You recently changed the previous "civil rights" to "human rights" - that's pure hyperbole as blacks in the U.S. (and elsewhere) were impaired in their civil rights - NOT in their human rights."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Woodard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_II_of_Belgium
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firestone_Tire_and_Rubber_Company
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba
The American Renaissance stance where the defacto laws were in place so they were "of course guaranteed" does not apply in reality. Look at the above links and Stalin isn't really the "worst of them all" is he?
"For instance, he sided with the Soviet Union in the Cold War - party member or not"
Wrong. Robeson stood by the US his ENTIRE life and is on record NOWHERE disparaging the US. He disliked the right wing white supremacist US government --BIG difference. If you are US govt. love it or leave it" than this article is not for you-you will never be satisfied. May I suggest John Wayne's article? Robeson wanted a PEACEFUL co-experience and existence between nations and he wanted his first amendment rights guaranteed
"User: C. H. loves to admonish us dumb niggas at wp "
Radh: please don't use the N word, it is racist and nasty.
""Ardent involvement in the liberation of colonialist Africa was considered a threat to the U.S. government." is simply nonsense,"
WHAT? have you read even the most BASIC history of the cold war and Colonialism? the STATE department sent flyers denigrating Robeson all over Africa which were ghost written by Roy Wilkins of the NAACCP!! IT IS ALL OVER HIS FBI FILES.
"(though to my knowledge the U.S. did not support open colonial rule by Western powers"
Yes they did!! South Africa under Apartheid was a longtime friend to the US. The US only sucked and leeched off of colonial spoils along with the UK and other European countries for generations, Read about Operation Ajax and Firestone tires and dozens and dozens of other examples. Read about the US exploiting resources in Latin America. Please just read, both of you. This is disturbing. Because you both have no cites and have in such obviousness done virtually no research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Paul_Robeson
THE BATTLE CONTINUES!!
HEY ERIC!!! What was that again?
ReplyDeleteThe Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was originally established in 1937 under the chairmanship of Martin Dies. The main objective of the HUAC was the investigation of un-American and subversive activities. Soon after his appointment Dies received a telegram from the Ku Klux Klan: "Every true American, and that includes every Klansman, is behind you and your committee in its effort to turn the country back to the honest, freedom-loving, God-fearing American to whom it belongs."
The HUCA originally investigated both left-wing and right wing political groups. Some called for the leaders of the Ku Klux Klan to be interrogated by the HUAC. Martin Dies however was a supporter of the Klan and had spoken at several of its rallies. Other members of the HUAC such as John Rankin and John S. Wood were also Klan sympathizers. Wood defended the Klan by arguing that: "The threats and intimidations of the Klan are an old American custom, like illegal whisky-making."
Eventually Ernest Adamson, the HUAC's chief counsel, announced that: "The committee has decided that it lacks sufficient data on which to base a probe." John Rankin added: After all, the KKK is an old American institution." Instead, the HUAC concentrated on investigating the possibility that the American Communist Party had infiltrated the Federal Writers Project and other New Deal projects.
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ReplyDelete