One of the essential political tales in American historical past — one that’s notably germane to our present, tumultuous time — unfolded in Los Angeles some 65 years in the past.
Sen. John F. Kennedy, a Catholic, had simply obtained his social gathering’s nomination for president and in flip he shunned the wishes of his most liberal supporters by selecting a conservative out of Texas as his operating mate. He did so largely to handle considerations that his religion would someway usurp his oath to uphold the Structure. The final time the Democrats nominated a Catholic — New York Gov. Al Smith in 1928 — he misplaced in a landslide, so of us have been greater than just a little jittery about Kennedy’s possibilities.
“I’m totally conscious of the truth that the Democratic Celebration, by nominating somebody of my religion, has taken on what many regard as a brand new and dangerous threat,” Kennedy informed the group on the Memorial Coliseum. “However I take a look at it this fashion: The Democratic Celebration has as soon as once more positioned its confidence within the American individuals, and of their means to render a free, truthful judgment.”
Crucial a part of the story is what occurred earlier than Kennedy gave that acceptance speech.
Whereas his religion made social gathering leaders nervous, they have been downright afraid of the influence a civil rights protest throughout the Democratic Nationwide Conference may have on November’s election. This was 1960. The 12 months started with Black faculty college students difficult segregation with lunch counter sit-ins throughout the Deep South, and by spring the Scholar Nonviolent Coordinating Committee had fashioned. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was not the organizer of the protest on the conference, however he deliberate to be there, guaranteeing media consideration. To attempt to stop this complete scene, essentially the most highly effective Black man in Congress was despatched to cease him.
The Rev. Adam Clayton Powell Jr. was additionally a warrior for civil rights, however the Home consultant most popular the legislative strategy, the place backroom offers have been quietly made and his energy most concentrated. He and King needed the identical issues for Black individuals. However Powell — who was first elected to Congress in 1944, the identical 12 months King enrolled at Morehouse School on the age of 15 — was threatened by the youthful man’s rising affect. He was additionally involved that his incapability to cease the protest on the conference would hurt his likelihood to develop into chairman of a Home committee.
And so Powell — the son of a preacher, and himself a Baptist preacher in Harlem — informed King that if he didn’t cancel, Powell would inform journalists a lie that King was having a gay affair along with his mentor, Bayard Rustin. King caught to his plan and led a protest — despite the fact that such a rumor wouldn’t solely have harmed King, but in addition would have undermined the credibility of all the civil rights motion. Bear in mind, this was 1960. Earlier than the March on Washington, earlier than passage of the Voting Rights Act, earlier than the dismantling of the very Jim Crow legal guidelines Powell had vowed to dismantle when first operating for workplace.
That menace, my buddies, is crucial a part of the story.
It’s not that Powell didn’t need the perfect for the nation. It’s simply that he needed to be seen because the one doing it and was keen to derail the great stemming from the civil rights motion to safe his personal place in energy. There have all the time been individuals keen to make such trade-offs. Generally they gown up their intentions with scriptures to make it extra palatable; different occasions they play on our darkest fears. They don’t care how many individuals get damage within the course of, even when it’s the identical individuals they profess to take care of.
That was true in Los Angeles in 1960.
That was true in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
That’s true within the streets of America right this moment.
Whether or not we’re speaking about an older pastor who’s threatened by the rising affect of a youthful voice or a president clinging to workplace after shedding an election: To stay king, some males are keen to burn all the kingdom down.
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