A New Book Post!: sadly, it's just another article about music and politics
(Sandi! Why oh why did you have to post about music and politics yesterday? I actually tore myself away from the beach for ten minutes this past Saturday putting this little article together, and you have to go and write about something similar the day before I post it? There is no justice!)
I know we’ve spent a bit of time discussing MLK here in the past, (and I also know my role is disagreeing with everyone about politics rather than posting on them) so I hope this post isn’t repeating stuff. I recently finished reading the book: Bono in Conversation with Michka Assayas. During their conversation, Assayas asks Bono a lot about his work as an activist. During one section, Assayas asks how Bono works with politicians who have vastly different political views than he has. Bono has a few good things to say, and I’m about to copy a bit of the book below. The first thing, he says, is that he tries not to assume the worst of politicians. He knows politicians could easily make a lot of assumptions about him because he’s a rock star. So, he does his homework on the issue (in the book he focuses on his work with Debt Relief in Africa, and trying to get funds for medicine for Africans) so that he doesn’t waste their time. And then he does his homework on the politician to find common ground with them.
The following is Bono’s version of a story Harry Belafonte told him about Dr. King.(And reading the story is a bit ironic given Belafonte’s recent comments, but the story is ultimately about King, I guess, not Belafonte.) The italics are Bono telling the story. The bold sentence is Assayas. When you get back to normal font, it's me again. I'm cutting into the middle of a discussion about balancing idealism and the realities of dealing with people you have little in common with.
Harry Belafonte is...an old-school leftist and holds on to certain principles like others hold on to their life. He told me this story about Bobby Kennedy, which changed my life indeed, pointed me in the direction I am going now politically. Harry remembered meeting with Martin Luther King when the civil rights movement had hit a wall in the early sixties: ‘I tell you it was a depressing moment when Bobby Kennedy was made attorney general. It was a very bad day for the civil rights movement.’ And I said: Why was that? He said: ‘Oh, you see, you forget. Bobby Kennedy was Irish. Those Irish were real racists; they didn’t like the black man. They were just one step above the black man on the social ladder, and they made us feel it. They were all the police, they were the people who broke our balls on a daily basis. Bobby at that time was famously not interested in the civil rights movement. We knew we were in deep trouble. We were crestfallen, in despair, talking to Martin, moaning and groaning about the turn of events, when Dr. King slammed his hand down and ordered us to stop the bitchin’: "Enough of this," He said. "Is there nobody here who’s got something good to say about Bobby Kennedy?" We said: "Martin, that’s what we’re telling ya! There is no one. There is nothing good to say about him. The guy’s an Irish Catholic conservative badass, he’s bad news." To which Martin replied: "Well, then, let’s call this meeting to a close. We will re-adjourn when somebody has found one thing redeeming to say about Bobby Kennedy, because that, my friends, is the door through which our movement will pass." So he stopped the meeting and he made them all go home. He wouldn’t hear any more negativity about Bobby Kennedy. He knew there must be something positive. And if it was there, somebody could find it.’
Did they ever find anything redeeming about Bobby Kennedy?
Well, it turned out that Bobby was very close with his bishop. So they befriended the one man who could get through to Bobby’s soul and turned him into their Trojan horse. They sort of ganged up on this bishop, the civil rights religious people, and got the bishop to speak to Bobby. Harry became emotional at the end of this tale: ‘When Bobby Kennedy lay dead on a Los Angeles pavement, there was no greater friend to the civil rights movement. There was no one we owed more of our progress to than that man,’ which is what I always thought. I mean, Bobby Kennedy is still an inspiration to me. And whether [Belafonte] was exaggerating or not, that was a great lesson for me. And what Dr. King was saying was: Don’t respond to caricature – the Left, the Right, the Progressives, the Reactionary. Don’t take these people on rumor. Find the light in them, because that will further your cause."
I read that a week or so ago, and it’s had me thinking. Not that I have access to any politicians or anything, but I do think this sort of suspension of belief in caricatures is lacking in a lot of political discussions going on. I’m definitely guilty of it. I’m not sure how successful this philosophy would work as far as running for political office. However, the point is not directed at politicians but at activists. I have no desire to go into politics as a career, but I do think that this could be a much more productive approach to activism than is going on in America right now.
I also think it is important because Bono, with King as his inspiration, isn’t advocating ignoring the policies of politicians that you think are unjust. But if you have a goal in mind, civil rights or debt relief, then you have to focus on the goal and refuse to let someone you think is unjust stand in your way. Rather than complaining about unjustness, you have to find a way to overcome it.
The reason our editor didn’t ask me to write about politics is, well, I really don’t have any original insights. So this is my excuse for an article about books. Deal with it. (It is a good book, by the way, and it’s out in paperback – Riverhead Books, your local bookstore, you can probably read it in the bookstore because it’s a quick read, and if you aren’t a big U2 fan, then a lot of the book won’t be that interesting to you. If you are a U2 fan, then it might be interesting to you, although I’d recommend Bill Flanagan’s U2 at the End of the World instead of this one if you want more about the band and music and touring and writing songs and history, but it’s a bit longer and harder to find.)
I know we’ve spent a bit of time discussing MLK here in the past, (and I also know my role is disagreeing with everyone about politics rather than posting on them) so I hope this post isn’t repeating stuff. I recently finished reading the book: Bono in Conversation with Michka Assayas. During their conversation, Assayas asks Bono a lot about his work as an activist. During one section, Assayas asks how Bono works with politicians who have vastly different political views than he has. Bono has a few good things to say, and I’m about to copy a bit of the book below. The first thing, he says, is that he tries not to assume the worst of politicians. He knows politicians could easily make a lot of assumptions about him because he’s a rock star. So, he does his homework on the issue (in the book he focuses on his work with Debt Relief in Africa, and trying to get funds for medicine for Africans) so that he doesn’t waste their time. And then he does his homework on the politician to find common ground with them.
The following is Bono’s version of a story Harry Belafonte told him about Dr. King.(And reading the story is a bit ironic given Belafonte’s recent comments, but the story is ultimately about King, I guess, not Belafonte.) The italics are Bono telling the story. The bold sentence is Assayas. When you get back to normal font, it's me again. I'm cutting into the middle of a discussion about balancing idealism and the realities of dealing with people you have little in common with.
Harry Belafonte is...an old-school leftist and holds on to certain principles like others hold on to their life. He told me this story about Bobby Kennedy, which changed my life indeed, pointed me in the direction I am going now politically. Harry remembered meeting with Martin Luther King when the civil rights movement had hit a wall in the early sixties: ‘I tell you it was a depressing moment when Bobby Kennedy was made attorney general. It was a very bad day for the civil rights movement.’ And I said: Why was that? He said: ‘Oh, you see, you forget. Bobby Kennedy was Irish. Those Irish were real racists; they didn’t like the black man. They were just one step above the black man on the social ladder, and they made us feel it. They were all the police, they were the people who broke our balls on a daily basis. Bobby at that time was famously not interested in the civil rights movement. We knew we were in deep trouble. We were crestfallen, in despair, talking to Martin, moaning and groaning about the turn of events, when Dr. King slammed his hand down and ordered us to stop the bitchin’: "Enough of this," He said. "Is there nobody here who’s got something good to say about Bobby Kennedy?" We said: "Martin, that’s what we’re telling ya! There is no one. There is nothing good to say about him. The guy’s an Irish Catholic conservative badass, he’s bad news." To which Martin replied: "Well, then, let’s call this meeting to a close. We will re-adjourn when somebody has found one thing redeeming to say about Bobby Kennedy, because that, my friends, is the door through which our movement will pass." So he stopped the meeting and he made them all go home. He wouldn’t hear any more negativity about Bobby Kennedy. He knew there must be something positive. And if it was there, somebody could find it.’
Did they ever find anything redeeming about Bobby Kennedy?
Well, it turned out that Bobby was very close with his bishop. So they befriended the one man who could get through to Bobby’s soul and turned him into their Trojan horse. They sort of ganged up on this bishop, the civil rights religious people, and got the bishop to speak to Bobby. Harry became emotional at the end of this tale: ‘When Bobby Kennedy lay dead on a Los Angeles pavement, there was no greater friend to the civil rights movement. There was no one we owed more of our progress to than that man,’ which is what I always thought. I mean, Bobby Kennedy is still an inspiration to me. And whether [Belafonte] was exaggerating or not, that was a great lesson for me. And what Dr. King was saying was: Don’t respond to caricature – the Left, the Right, the Progressives, the Reactionary. Don’t take these people on rumor. Find the light in them, because that will further your cause."
I read that a week or so ago, and it’s had me thinking. Not that I have access to any politicians or anything, but I do think this sort of suspension of belief in caricatures is lacking in a lot of political discussions going on. I’m definitely guilty of it. I’m not sure how successful this philosophy would work as far as running for political office. However, the point is not directed at politicians but at activists. I have no desire to go into politics as a career, but I do think that this could be a much more productive approach to activism than is going on in America right now.
I also think it is important because Bono, with King as his inspiration, isn’t advocating ignoring the policies of politicians that you think are unjust. But if you have a goal in mind, civil rights or debt relief, then you have to focus on the goal and refuse to let someone you think is unjust stand in your way. Rather than complaining about unjustness, you have to find a way to overcome it.
The reason our editor didn’t ask me to write about politics is, well, I really don’t have any original insights. So this is my excuse for an article about books. Deal with it. (It is a good book, by the way, and it’s out in paperback – Riverhead Books, your local bookstore, you can probably read it in the bookstore because it’s a quick read, and if you aren’t a big U2 fan, then a lot of the book won’t be that interesting to you. If you are a U2 fan, then it might be interesting to you, although I’d recommend Bill Flanagan’s U2 at the End of the World instead of this one if you want more about the band and music and touring and writing songs and history, but it’s a bit longer and harder to find.)
posted by Michael Lasley | 9:32 PM
6 Comments:
Interesting stuff. Especially to me, since MLK and RFK are heroic figures for me. The attitude Belafonte recounts MLK encouraging among his lieutenants reflects the spirit of Jesus, certainly, but it also reflects Ghandi's influence on King, which I've been reading about, lately. (Actually, I thought there was a mention of Ghandianism in your post, but I couldn't find it when I went back to quote it.) Ghandian political activism is pretty heroic stuff.
Bobby Kennedy is one of my heroes because he's a terrific example of the human being's ability to transform itself into something better. The man really had two lives: one before John was killed, and another -- too short -- one after. The period in between transformed him from the person Belafonte describes at that meeting -- a hardnosed, law-and-order at any cost, illegal wiretapping, McCarthyite anti-communist crusading, civil rights dismissing, feared and hated son of a gun -- to the person who became civil rights' best friend, who could visit a coal mining town in WV and come away saying, "If I lived in those conditions, I'd be a Communist."
He'd learned humility, the dangers of power, and how to truly put himself in another's shoes. He was still feared and hated by some, but now they were the ones who had power and arrogantly abused it, not the ones who were abused by it.
I wish I knew more about Bobby. I plan to read a couple of books this summer about him. (Of course, I always have big reading plans but often get sidetracked -- any suggestions? I remember you started a book on him a few years ago and said it was very poorly written, no?.) The story Bono tells highlights MLK, but I think the willingness to change so radically, like Bobby did, is just as important.
I don't know of a good book on RFK. I wish I did. There are several biographies. The one I read was Arthur Schlesinger's, which was like reading a recipe several hundred pages long. Evan Thomas wrote one a few years ago, but I haven't heard anything good about it.
This PBS documentary is quite good.
The Thomas book was one I'd thumbed through in a bookstore. I think I own the other one, but there's no telling where it is. Do you own this DVD? If so, maybe we can watch it in a few weeks when I'm home and celebrate the Kennedy's Irish heritage.
I do not, sadly.
Well, we can celebrate his (and our) Irish heritage anyway.
Post a Comment
<< Home