Ode to Our Viola
“There are some things so dear, some things so precious, some things so eternally true that they're worth dying for. And if a man has not discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; Syracuse University; July 1965
In February of 2015, the long-lost tape of King's speech at SU was found. It is an important historical artifact, that reflects Dr. King's thinking shortly after the Selma campaign. King spoke about, among other things, the importance of education in the civil rights movement. The violence in Selma, which resulted in several deaths and hundreds of injuries among the victims of racism, would serve to educate white Americans about the realities of the black experience.
King mentioned Viola Liuzzo, who had been murdered by the combined forces known variously as the KKK, the White Citizens Council, or the local police who wore blue uniforms by day, and white sheets after dark. It took the films of the assault on the bridge, and the deaths of Liuzzo and James Reeb shocked the nation. The February 18 murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson by Alabama State Trooper corporal James Fowler, inside a cafe, got far less coverage; Jackson's crime was having attended a peaceful demonstration with his mother.
I find myself thinking of Viola Liuzzo, when I learn about Heather Heyer. It is sad that it takes such a tragedy to really catch the public's attention. Too few realized that the alt-right poses a serious danger to civilized society, that they aren't just the harmless 3rd and 4th generation spawn of European boat people that this nation allowed to immigrate to its southern shores.
There will be attempts to soil Ms. Heyer's reputation, just as there were attempts to soil Liuzzo's. Whenever anyone attempts to blame a victim, rather than the perpetrator of a violent crime, you know that their mind is sick.
“In March 1965, Dr. King asked me, along with many others, to accompany him to Selma, Alabama. I refused to join those brave people. If the 'Hurricane' was attacked by dogs, batons, mounted police, or hoses, he would have to fight back and kill someone or, even more likely, be killed.”
Rubin “Hurricane” Carter; Eye of the Hurricane; 2011; page 83
I used to talk with Rubin about Selma. He was friends with both Dr. King and Malcolm X. We discussed Malcolm's telegram to George Lincoln Rockwell, the head of the US nazi party, in which Malcolm made clear that if Rockwell's forces brought any harm to Dr. King or his followers, Malcolm would bring forces to Selma to fight fire with fire.
In 1998, a group of 17 racist white men in upstate New York had viciously assaulted my nephew, a black high school scholar-athlete, in a dark field serving as a parking lot for the General Clinton Canoe Regatta. Their cowardly surprise attack was witnessed by a lady who was inside her car, who described it as similar to a pack of wolves. They left my nephew – with his hands still inside his pockets – unconscious on the ground, assuming that he was dead. He lived, though he suffered permanent physical injuries.
Thus, I understand the urge to retaliate. To fight fire with fire. Yes, I do. As Rubin said, that was my first nature. Yet, I had to make it my second nature ….to respond to this ugly crime in a higher nature, to harness my better potential, so that the violence did not continue to gain a force of its own, beyond our control.
Instead of going to the thugs' community for “revenge,” I focused upon two things: trying to get justice through the legal system, and using the media to educate the public about the insidious nature of racism. The court hearings went from June to October, and crowds from over 50 miles came, every week, to insist that justice be served. My friend Robert Kennedy, Jr., issued a statement calling for the maximum legal prosecution for this hate crime. Newspaper, radio, and television reporters provided significant coverage of the case.
At first, my nephew's friends questioned the wisdom of this approach. They knew that this would be handled very differently than if a group of black men had assaulted a white teen. I had a couple of men offer to take care of business if I but said the word, and I knew they were serious. But such violence could only lead to more violence.
I've said all of that, to say this: I understand why young people felt the need to fight fire with fire at the Ku Klux Klown – nazi demonstration. I absolutely appreciate the human right to engage in self-defense when attacked. And I admit that, were I young, I would have loved to have been there, and non-violence would have been the last thing I'd have considered.
But I'm not a young man. Haven't been one for many decades now. And so I recognize that, when passions flow, young people might not consider my voice worth listening to. And that's fair. But I hope they will consider what Martin Luther King said, and to look at the lessons of Selma. Evaluate that important historical series of events. Honor Heather Heyer.
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