By the time you read this the commemoration of the deaths of the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will have passed. Past also will be the celebration many set aside for the memory of the great Paul Robeson, and his stalwart stand against racism, fascism, and as the tyranny of the state returns with terrifying currency under the Trump regime. Robeson, who died in 1976, would have been 127 years old on April 9. Few citizens were as gifted, talented, and outspoken against the injustices ordinary folks faced than Robeson. When the “Red Scare” and McCarthyism rained persecution down on the land, particularly for those daring to voice militant opposition to state power, Robeson was undaunted and bravely endured the wave of repression.
Exemplary of this unwavering conviction is this statement in 1954 from Freedom, a newspaper he created: “Now, if you preach the doctrine of peace, friendship and brotherhood among the world’s people — you may still run into a little trouble in the United States. That old devil McCarthy may set out to get you! But a lot of Americans are waking up to the fact that to be the victim of an attack by McCarthyism may not be fatal. In fact, the only thing fatal for the American people would be the failure to fight the McCarthyite madness. McCarthyism means destruction of the constitutional rights of free speech and free press and free religion. It means the prohibition of free assemblies … We must counterpose to the Big Lie the Big Truth of our times … that different social systems must live together in peaceful cooperation and competition, that the American people will not be abrest of the rest of the world until we choose a government really dedicated to the needs and welfare of the working people, the poor farmers, the Negro millions and all the oppressed of this land.”
Happy birthday, Paul, and let your words and courage be an inspiration to those now marching in your massive footprint for freedom and justice. And unlike Trump in his messages, I will resist the temptation to emphasize in caps the correlations — they should leap out at you!