Nestor G. wrote: if I was USAmerican, maybe you would be right. I just noticed something. And, let us suppose that there were no American Indians, African Americans or Latinos in New England, then why is tiny New England representative of USAmerica? Still a problem.
Well, the problem is that tiny New England is precisely representative of USAmerica. But to be fair to Rockwell, in his later years he did tackle some of the more pressing problems related to civil rights in a few of his paintings. You can see them with commentary here: http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2008/02/norman_rockwell_and_the_civil.html Not so long ago I lived close to the Norman Rockwell museum and was able to see these pieces firsthand. "Southern Justice" I liked a lot, but "Murder in Mississippi" is actually quite haunting in its depiction of racist terror. Rockwell, influenced by his more liberal third wife, and the psychologist Robert Coles, himself a civil rights proponent, took advantage of his move to "Look" magazine to express his newly found interest in social concerns. But back to actual new england. They still have town meetings, sure. I recall the last one I monitored, in which the police force of Lenox packed the hall to vote in favor of the $300 fine for possession of small amounts of that deadly herb, marijuana. The state had recently rescinded its felony charge for possession to a misdemeanor plus a $100 fine. The police of Lenox thought the fine was too small, so they rushed through an "emergency meeting" on the topic and voted the increase into law, overriding the state fee. Even the sacred "town meeting" can be manipulated for nefarious purposes in its very birth place. With regard to other social issues, I remember a demonstration we organized on the side of a rural road next to the chimney of the former childhood home of W.E.B. Dubois, in South Egremont, Massachusetts, which is now in ruins after years of criminal neglect. We thought something should be done about that so we held a local rally to shed some light on the issue. A friend had parked on the side of the road in front of a house abutting the property in question. An irate old geezer stepped out on the front porch with shotgun in hand and threatened to blow us all to hell unless the car was moved off his property. To make the event into a classic xenophobic episode, he called us all a bunch of goddamned communists. (DuBois, of course, had been a communist, joining the party late in life). We could easily have been in mississippi. The only thing different was the accent. At the actual event, we were hounded by a couple of drunken provocateurs, relatives of the local sheriff. She happened to be female, but her brother-in-law filled in for the role of ignorant backwoods love it or leave it type. So much for freedom of speech and non-white privilege in USAmerica. You can have it but you damned well better be prepared to defend yourself. Greg McD ________________________________________________ YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
