Civil Rights, Change, and the Sit-in's 50th Anniversary

From a three-volume history of the "King years" I've been slowly making my way through:

"No one had time to wonder why the Greensboro sit-in was so different.  In the previous three years, similar demonstrations had occurred in at least sixteen other cities.  Few of them made the news, all faded quickly from public notice, and none had the slightest catalytic effect anywhere else.  By contrast, Greensboro helped define the new decade.  Almost certainly, the lack of planning helped create the initial euphoria.  Because the four students at Woolworth's had no plan, they began with no self-imposed limitations.  They defined no tactical goals.  They did not train or drill in preparation.  They did not dwell on the many forces that might be used against them.  Above all, they did not anticipate that Woolworth's white managers would -- instead of threatening to have them arrested -- flounder in confusion and embarrassment.  The surprise discovery of defensiveness within the segregated white world turned their fear into elation."

The Greensboro sit-ins galvanized the civil rights movement -- 4 students without a plan turned into more than 80, and the sit-in spread to other cities in North Carolina and gathered momentum as it went. The spontaneous demonstration of the illogic of the segregation laws gave powerful proof that people would respond to the ideas that had been percolating in the South for some time.  I'd like to think there was a direct line between the events of 50 years ago (today) and our present difficulties, but I know it's much more complicated than I can probably address here.  There are still people who oppose change, even democratic change (small "D" there) that comes from the ground up. The "Tea Party" protests may be "grass roots" to an extent, but they are also motivated in part by political gamesmanship played in Washington, D.C.  The history I've read shows that there was no shadowy political organization behind the sit-ins, no "profit motive," as some have accused the Tea Party groups of having.  The organization that was there in the 1960's capitalized on the momentum the sit-ins generated, to be sure, and there was a group of students who emerged as leaders in the movement around the sit-ins.  But times were different, and the need for change was real.  Now, President Obama may be styling himself as a change agent, and I hope that he becomes a real change agent in Washington.  But real change from the bottom up has more to do with societal change than it does with elections and politics.  Real change in society comes when people are willing to sacrifice something, when people meet up with other like-minded people and express not just outrage but also constructive ideas for how things can be made better.  Non-violence was one such constructive idea.  More later, perhaps...

Why Martin Luther King, Jr. Matters

I've heard two competing versions of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s meaning this long weekend -- one from my pastor and one from this column in the New York Times.  The pastor, understandably, claimed Dr. King as a hero of faith, quoting one of his last sermons about seeing the promised land from the mountaintop.  The column claims Dr. King as a fighter for economic justice, in addition to civil rights.  Both of these views have some support in the history I've read on the subject of "the King years" -- I've read the first volume and a little bit of the second of a three-volume history by Taylor Branch.  The emphasis in the history, though, is on the struggle itself, not so much attempting to claim Dr. King as part of one camp or another.  The civil rights story is very much a human story, filled with hate and mistakes and questing for something better, groping for answers in the face of overwhelming obstacles.  The "I Have a Dream" speech, as much as it was a triumph, was also the beginning of a long, political campaign, similar to a war in all its fits and starts.  And Dr. King was a leader who galvanized the battle on both sides, bringing the situation to a head with his stand against violence and for human rights.  Dr. King's character was not saintly, but it was principled, and it is his struggle for something better in human nature and in the real world of politics and everyday life that is worth remembering.  Dr. King demonstrated the force of moral action in the face of ruthless hatred and ignorance, and he ultimately helped millions of people overcome those fearsome obstacles.  So he is a good example for us as Christians, and it is important to see him as someone who was concerned with economics as well as more abstract forms of justice, but more than both of those ideas, I see him as a symbol of humanity's struggle for meaning in a world that would deny us all some of those chances at meaning if it could.

Covert Ops in Iran, Torture in the U.S.A., and the Fox News Effect

The New York Times is reporting this evening on remarkably open details of the covert operations that have been going on in Iran, aimed at disrupting the nuclear program. There are some scary time estimates in the story, but I think they are just that -- estimates.

Secondly, Fox News and its allies (Dick Cheney, Charles Krauthammer) are calling for more torture in the U.S. to try to prevent another terrorist attack, according to direct quotes included in this blog post from Andrew Sullivan. I literally had to leave the room a couple of days ago when my father-in-law was watching Fox News -- the opinions were so predictable and so alarmist that I literally couldn't stand to watch the network.

How about a boycott of Fox News until they return to some standard of responsible journalism? I know everyone thinks that CNN and the NYT are just as biased, but the fact is, they aren't. Fox News is reactionary, not just right wing, and they are destroying any potential for civil debate in this country.

Case in Point -- Iranian analyst jailed

Iranian officials, even if they wanted to engage, have been hamstrung because of the protests, Iranian analysts said. "It is the internal crisis that really worries our leaders. They can't speak with one voice in the international community at this point," said Mashallah Shamsolvaezin during a phone interview conducted before he was arrested Tuesday in Tehran for unknown reasons. He said there will be no compromise with the West as long as Iran's internal political crisis continues.

Here's the full article discussing President Obama's apparent tack on Iran. Here's a link to Amnesty International.

Here's a relatively thoughtful blog post on Iran from Andrew Sullivan. Better than "the decade that sucked" or whatever from Time, anyway.

More Bad News from Pakistan

Here's another story about the perversion of justice in Pakistan. Brave, good reporting from the New York Times that should raise the level of interest in human rights there. Pakistan is an ally, because "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." But Pakistan is hardly a democratic country where the rule of law is primary. Let's hope things change there, and soon, so that we don't end up with another failed state -- this time with nuclear weapons in the arsenal of whatever thugs manage to cling to power.

By the way, Afghanistan hasn't been doing so great on human rights recently, either.