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Septem ber 6, 2000
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P ortl and O bserver
We humans spend far too much o f our time on this small planet searching for
a quick fix o f the problems that beset us — the ones that stand between the
status quo and our individual concepts ofCamelot. This popular, purposeless
pursuit inspires us to buy lottery tickets, watch soap operas, follow the fad du
jour, daydream, toss coins into fountains, besiege the Almighty with petitions,
pop open another can o f Bud Light, wish upon a star, pore through lists o f
missing heirs, and open urgent mail from Ed McMahon.
Although Creationists and believers in the Big-Bang Theory say “aye” to
“aye” in few other areas, they agree that homo sapiens was the last arrival in
the known Universe.
Thus, our earliest ancestors were provided with behavioral models in plant and
animal life before, both for better and for worse, devising their own modus
vivendi. From this decision evolved such human refinements as prejudice,
n u c le a r w a rfa re , d ru g a d d ic tio n , p o litic s and H o w ard S tern.
From both plants and animals, they could have learned (and we still can) to
change whatever we can, accept what we can’t change and play the cards w e’re
dealt to the best o f our abilities.
When you think o f the physical handicaps and environmental challenges
facing all other living things on earth, it’s hard not to admire the pluck,
ingenuity and persistence that has enabled them to survive and prosper. And
it’s equally difficult to feel sorry for ourselves, given our free wills and
incredibly powerful minds, even though Eve and the snake (or some unfavorable
by-product o f the first bomb) deprived us o f an Eden-like existence.
W e’re still hell-and-gone better o ff than the cockroaches that were here before
the likes o f us and will almost certainly be crawling about when future
archeologists dig up our civilization.
If we humans are destined to be the dinosaurs o f the future, it’s because we
didn’t learn the lessons o f survival placed here Ijefore our time, either by the
hand o f God or fallout from a long-ago explosion. So how does this philosophy
translate into rules for coping with fear, uncertainty, disappointment, PMS,
bum luck, boorish bosses, domestic strife, bad genes, nasty neighborhoods
and other invitations to a pity party?
H ere’s the how-to:
First o f all, don’t hesitate to ask yourself how you feel at any given moment.
The easiest question might be: “Am I having fun right now?”
If the answer is NO, follow it up with this query: “Do I have any alternatives?
Any doable choices? Any escape strategies that are not illegal, immoral,
fattening or worsening o f the status quo? If the answer is again NO, just shut
the hell up and do what you’ve gotta do. It’s just as simple as that. Moaning
about what w asn’t, what isn’t and what w on’t ever be makes little more sense
than fighting fire with gasoline or obesity with pecan pie.
If the answer is YES - i.e., that there IS something you can reasonably do to
avoid or mitigate the problem, DO it without delay. Not necessarily (or likely)
without some stress, self-doubt, uncertainty and sweaty palms, but with the
assurance that you’ 11 fare better stepping onto a road to change than wallowing
in a cesspool o f inertia.
¡6
(Ofall sad words o f tongue or pen, the saddest are these: “It might have been ’)
Some o f the hands you are dealt by fate are unavoidable and can’t be
folded or improved by selective discarding. Neither can they be wished away,
gambled away or spirited away by prayer alone. In this last regard, it is well to
note that winners in the game o f life pray for a miracle after everything possible
has been done, while losers do so before anything has been tried.
Are ya havin' any fun? If so, stay the course. If not, check out every possible,
logical, workable, acceptable alternative...and when you find one, GO for it.
If there is no discernable way out (or way up to a more comfortable
level), bite the bullet and do as much as you can about what needs to be
done. It may bring little or no light into the darkness or relief from
the pain, but y o u ’ll feel b etter about y o u rse lf for having tried.
Above all, knock o ff the bitching. But for the grace o f God or the DNA
in that Big Bang, you might been bom a cockroach. Or, worse still, Howard
Stem.
Lynching: the Federal
Government’s dirtiest racial secret
Compulsive collector James Allen is causing quite a
stir with his macabre one man exhibit in New York City
ofblack lynching victims. The 68 gruesome pictures
show black men and women being burned, dragged in
chains, roasted alive, dismembered and bullet ridden
while whites crack jokes and mug for the cameras.
According to official NAACP figures, between 1890
and 1960,5,200blacks were burned, shot, and mutilated
by lynch mobs. The horrid death toll is almost certainly
higher since in many cases sheriffs and local officials
didn’t deem the murders or victims significant enough
to report.
A llen’s photo display and his book “W ithout
Sanctuary” which presents a bigger array o f macabre
lynch photos has infuriated many blacks and whites.
They rail at the barbarism and sadism o f Southern
white mobs. But their anger is misdirected. The real
blame for the seven decades o f racial bloodlust lies
with the federal government.
Federal officials were well aware o f lynch violence.
The lynch murderers made no attempt to hide or mask
their acts. They took out ads in newspapers, and
circulated flyers announcing lynchings. They ignored
the 1908 ban by the U.S. Postal Service on violent
material in the mails and conducted a brisk trade in
souvenir postcards and letters with snapshots o f
lynched victims. NAACP officials meticulously
compiled photos o f lynchings, collected witness
statements from law enforcement and public officials,
even the lynchers themselves, and promptly turned
the incriminating documents over to federal officials.
They took no action. The NAACP also relentlessly
lobbied Congress and the White House to pass an
an ti-ly n c h in g law . T hey also ig n o red them .
Every president from Theodore Roosevelt to John F.
Kennedy refused to draft or vigorously support a
federal law to end lynching. Nearly every attorney
general refused to push for indictments against public
officials or law enforcement officers complicit in lynch
murders. FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover successfully
manipulated Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Dwight
Eisenhower, and Kennedy to prevent the FBI from
direct investigation of lynchings. The Department of
Ju stic e seld o m d ire c te d H o o v er to co nduct
investigations.
Presidents, attorney generals, and federal officials
wailed that their hands were tied because it was the job
o f the states to prosecute the lynch murderers. But
they w ouldn’t. Less than one percent o f the murderers
were ever tried in state courts. Rather than risk alienating
politically powerful Southern state officials and
jeopardize votes and legislative support, they
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rationalized their hands-off policy toward lynching
with a narrow and rigid interpretation o f the federalist
doctrine o f separation o f state and national power.
This was a face saving political cop-out. In many
cases a bevy o f Southern sheriffs, mayors, and
municipal and state officials openly aided and abetted
the lynch mobs. The Justice Department had two
powerful legal statutes to go after them. The statutes
authorized prosecutions o f public officials and law
enforcement officers who, acting under color o f law,
committed or conspired with others to commit acts o f
racial violence. They were based on the Fourteenth
Amendment due process and equal protection clause.
The statutes were expanded under Reconstruction-
era civil rights laws passed in the 1870s to specifically
punish racial attacks against blacks. They were
repeatedly challenged by local and occasionally federal
officials, as poorly worded, unconstitutional violations
o f states rights. Even though they remained on the
federal books, federal officials rarely used them to
prosecute lynch murders. By contrast the White
House and Congress did not bat an eye in passing and
enforcing legislation that widened the jurisdiction
and broadened the power o f the FBI and the Justice
Department to prosecute crimes such as bank robbery,
kidnapping, illegal weapons violations and carjacking.
Congress and the White House made few claims that
these laws violated states rights or infringed on the
Constitution. The hideous legacy o f the near century
long hands off federal policy toward lynching is the
current reluctance o f federal officials to vigorously
prosecute racially motivated hate crimes, let alone
police violence, against blacks and Latinos. Federal
officials still argue that it is the responsibility o f local
officials to prosecute these crimes. They will not
intervene unless there is a compelling federal interest.
Federal officials have never bothered to spell out
what that means. But in practice, federal intervention
in hate violence cases is almost always measured by
the yardstick o f political expediency. Attorney
generals generally will not authorize investigations
and prosecutions o f police violence or racist terror
acts unless civil disturbances occur in cities or
following mass national protests. The beating o f
Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers and the
torture-beating o f Abner Louima by New York police
officers are textbook examples o f this. It took riots and
mass outrage for officials to prosecute the cops.
Collector Allen deserves much praise for exposing
the shame and disgrace o f the American horror o f
lynching. The tragedy is that it’s a shame and disgrace
that presidents and Congress apparently never felt.
And until federal officials publicly admit their
complicity in lynch violence it will remain the federal
government’s dirtiest racial secret.