A Tale of Two Cities

“When I said we would take dead aim at the Tale of Two Cities, I meant it. And we will do it. I will honor the faith and trust you have placed in me. And we will give life to the hope of so many in our city. We will succeed as One City.”  -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Inaugural Address, January 1, 2014

“What parents have done for decades who have children of color, especially young men of color, is train them to be very careful when they have ...an encounter with a police officer.” -- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to ABC News, December 7, 2014 following the Eric Garner Grand Jury Decision

Old Gadfly:  Mayor de Blasio spoke of two cities in New York, presumably speaking about the income equality gap.  Following the Eric Garner Grand Jury decision he claimed another example of two cities based on race.  What do you make of this?

IM:  Ironically, last night I watched the movie, Red Tails.

AM:  It’s an excellent movie, but more so, an important story.

Old Gadfly:  The story portrays heroism among a group of African-Americans from Tuskegee, Alabama, who fought for America even though they were treated as second-class citizens.  The obvious bigotry, even among fellow military men, did not deter these men from being free to fight for their country.  Sixty-six of these Tuskegee airmen died for America and in the process became one of the highest decorated units during World War II.  While these airmen have a legendary reputation, there were other African-American units in other branches of the military who also fought with heroic distinction.

AM:  Don’t forget the 54^th Regiment Massachusetts Voluntary Infantry, the first black unit formed by freed slaves during the Civil War.  The movie, Glory, does an excellent job of capturing the bravery these men demonstrated in fighting to preserve the American ideal:  life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all men and women.

IM:  Yet, even leading up to the American Revolution, black men freely fought alongside white men on the side of liberty.  Crispus Attucks was one such man, who was perhaps the first American killed in the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770.  The Irish poet, John Boyle O'Reilly, created a poem in honor of a monument to Attucks.  Here is an excerpt:

And honor to Crispus Attucks, who was leader and voice that day;
The first to defy, and the first to die, . . . .
Call it riot or revolution, his hand first clenched at the crown;
His feet were the first in perilous place to pull the king’s flag down;
His breast was the first one rent apart that liberty’s stream might flow;
For our freedom now and forever, his head was the first bid low.

Old Gadfly:  Think about two lines in the poem.  The first line, “His breast was the first one rent apart that liberty’s stream might flow” certainly speaks to not only the moral courage of Crispus Attucks, but also to the moral courage of the 54^th Regiment and the Tuskegee airmen.  Then there is this line: “Call it riot or revolution, his hand first clenched at the crown.”  Might this line speak to what motivates behavior in another city:  Ferguson?

IM:  The question recognizes a conundrum in our current culture.  We have no crown, unless our current President establishes one by diminishing the checks and balances in Congress or the Supreme Court. 

Old Gadfly:  So, against what do these people riot?

AM:  The system.

Old Gadfly:  What is the system?

AM:  Inherited customs, traditions, and institutions.

Old Gadfly:  What specifically is wrong with these elements of our culture?

IM:  I believe the flaws are manufactured to agitate the masses in order to organize them for revolution.  This is why poet O’Reilly’s line is relevant to what is happening today.  The crown is the American ideal—life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, individual liberty, and a constitutional republic.

Old Gadfly:  What is the logic for a revolution?

AM:  The logic is ideology, rooted in Marxism.

Old Gadfly:  Do you have any evidence to support the assertion?

AM:  Yes:  Eldridge Cleaver.  Cleaver was a radical Marxist and founding member of the Black Panthers in the 1960s.  He, like Bill Ayers, was never repentant for the harm he caused.  (I can’t help but to point out the hypocrisy of scandalizing a speech the new Republican whip gave to a supremacist group 12 years ago.  Today, we have a president that freely associated with Bill Ayers, a radical terrorist in the 1960s.)  While in prison, Cleaver authored a series of essays that became Soul on Fire.  In his book, Cleaver admitted that he was a serial rapist, initially “rehearsing” on black girls and women before getting more serious and aggressive with white women.  He was exiled for seven years in three different communist countries, Cuba being one of them.  When he returned to America, he admitted to a total misunderstanding of the dangers of communism, finally realizing the tremendous opportunities, freedoms, and equality that were so abundant in America.  He even converted from atheism to Christianity, and from Democrat to Republican.

IM:  The notable economist, social theorist, and political philosopher Thomas Sowell also spent the 60s as a Marxist.  While Sowell did not commit any crimes or promote violence, he quickly realized how dangerous the Marxist revolutionary ideology was and still is.  His writing is powerful—it reinforces the customs, traditions, and institutions that are what make American great.

Old Gadfly:  Dickens opened A Tale of Two Cities with the famous line, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”  It was a sobering observation of the French Revolution. 

Old Gadfly:  Does the Ferguson, Missouri mob behavior represent a mere riot or a symptom of a more sinister revolution?

IM:  I hope just a riot.  When I watched Red Tails, I had tears in my eyes as I realized how proud and brave the Tuskegee airmen were to fight for America and its potential to transcend current circumstances.

AM:  We have politicians calling for the transformation of America, not transcendence.  Perhaps France’s Jacobins and Robespierre are America’s progressives and Obama.

          Old Gadfly:   Excellent observation.  It is worth the time to evaluate history.  It can reveal how myopic and self-centered many of today’s Americans are.