| May 31, 2009 | Making Freedom Ring and Sing, Celbrating Paul Robeson Reverend Jane Bramadat |
Opening Words
Let us begin on a somber note so that we remember not only to celebrate life on Sunday morning, but also remember to continue to work ceaselessly for justice for all. Join me in reading the following words from Frederick Douglass, one of Paul Robeson’s hero’s.
# 579 “The Limits of Tyrants”
Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation,
are people who want crops without plowing up the ground.
They want rain without thunder and lightning; they want
the ocean without the awful roar of its waters.
This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be both moral and
physical, but it must be a struggle.
Power concedes nothing without a demand ;
it never did and it never will.
Find out what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact
amount of injustice which will be imposed upon them..
The limit of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance
of those whom they oppress.
Meditation
“Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season
It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year.
It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow.
Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes
the harvest and the playtime.”
SLT # 502 . W.E.B. Dubois. (University professor, and contemporary of Paul Robeson’s)
Songs: “Joe Hill” and “No More Auction Block for me”
Sermon
There are very few times in my life I have wished I were a bit older than I am, but I have always wished I had been able to attend some of Paul Robeson’s Peace Arch concerts in the ‘50s and absorb some of his passion for justice and other parts of life. When I was very young and naive I used to think that maybe we were related, since my father’s name was “Robson.” But the Robsons were from a relatively poor white Scottish/English background that had no connections to the American south. I am now slightly relieved to realise that we’re not related, because Paul’s white ancestors were slave owners and not imbued with much in the way of liberal views.
Fortunately it is not in my mandate this morning to talk in detail about my family background however, or you would know that there were equal amounts to wince about, even though we avoided being slave owners.
This morning I want to explain why Paul Robeson is one of my role models..
Now I was talking to a friend yesterday and I was surprised to realise that she knew nothing about Paul......and just perhaps that is the case with a few of you here. So let me begin with a brief overview of who he was.
Paul Robeson (1898-1976) was an all-American football athlete; a lawyer, an outstanding singer, a scholar and a social activist. He became internationally acclaimed and rewarded for his outstanding skills; yet in his own country he was insulted, defamed and denied the right of travel. In one year his income fell from more than $100,000 to less than $6,000 because the government made it known that it was not wise to give space in newspapers for advertising or space in halls for concerts by Paul Robeson.
In my opinion - in his moral integrity and in his dedication to the plight of others he was of the stature of Mother Teresa or maybe even bigger than that.. Because he did not have a powerful organisation behind him, because he was black and because he had the temerity to comment on the social and political inequalities of the time - he had the whole weight of the American system descend upon him. For 12 years he lived in England and traveled to many countries including Russia. He became interested in communism and socialism. He found no prejudice towards people of colour in communist countries. This of course, did nothing to endear him to the United States.
In his book Here I Stand , in which he states his beliefs he says,
"I have often been asked, "Paul, are you doing right by being so outspoken in these times of hysteria?" [this was during the McCarthy era] And: Wouldn't you be of greater service to the race if you just devoted yourself to being an artist and didn't make those speeches which get the white folks so upset?"
His response at one point was: “it’s a question of whether one wants to sing and act and at the same time, can have, as a citizen, political opinions. In attacking me the media suggested that when I was abroad I spoke out about injustices to the negro people in the United States...[and] ..I certainly did!”
When he comments on his family background he recalls proudly that his minister father's ruling passion was the concept of personal integrity including -inseparably - the idea of maximum human fulfillment measured not in terms of money and personal advancement but rather the highest development of one's own potential. To live up to this passion he had to be willing to overcome the protective tactic of Negro life in America at that time which was, "always show that you are grateful and above all, do nothing to give them cause to fear you"
Paul didn’t have any difficulty overcoming this protective tactic. He stood up and spoke his mind. There may be some of you here who remember or were even present during one of the concerts that Paul gave in the 1950's, standing on a flatbed truck at the peace arch between Canada and the United States, between British Columbia and the State of Washington. Thirty to forty thousand people came each year for four years to quietly (or not so quietly) show their defiance of the powerful country to the South's decision to refuse Paul permission to travel outside the United States. In those days one did not need a passport to come from the United States to Canada...but even so, Paul was prevented by the authorities from crossing the border. And in case you think this is all history, in 2002 there was a concert planned to memorialize 50 years since Paul Robeson had been refused entry into Canada...and even then...just 7 years ago, I was told that pressure was exerted to make sure there wouldn’t be too much publicity...
And maybe some of you were present in Peekskill, NY (1949) where Paul Robeson and Pete Seeger among others sang....and where after the concert the police orchestrated (or at the very least allowed) a frightening attack on the buses and cars taking people back to New York City and other locations. Cars and buses were directed into a narrow valley and there they were pelted with invectives and rocks that smashed windows and showered cut glass on the occupants.
These were frightening times. This was the time of McCarthy and the fear of Communism and Paul Robeson had shown a deep interest in both socialism and Communism. Some have called him a “flawed martyr” because he didn’t always see the harm that was being done underneath the slick sounding slogans. But there can be no question about the sincerity of his intent. He wanted the world to be at peace. He had seen through his travels what he called the “oneness of mankind” (humankind).
Two songs: “Love Will Find out a Way”
“Old Man River”
What are the qualities that I see in Paul Robeson that makes him a hero/role model in my eyes?
He stood strong and tall in the face of violent intellectual, emotional and even physical opposition. He had a sense of the pulse of the society in which he lived. He felt compelled to call attention to the emperor’s nakedness (in his day it was about racism...... now 50 years later it might be about something else...) He was also not too unwilling, proud or arrogant to accept help and advice from others when it was offered. He had a supportive community to go to for support and succor.
I ask myself, how would I acquit myself were I faced with some of the difficulties facing Paul Robeson? And here I do not mean only difficulties dealing with race. I find myself thinking about this a lot. There is an old UU saying that has some relevance here - "If you were charged with being a Unitarian Universalist, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" That is really a whole other sermon in itself, but it also asks the question: are you willing to stand up for what you believe? All the time? some of the time? Only if it's safe and convenient?
In my case, yes, I know I have freedom of the pulpit, but obviously if what I am saying begins to be too divergent from the majority of people who find both sustenance and stimulation here, then soon I would no longer be offered the pleasure of the pulpit. This has not happened either here or anywhere else I have gone, but I ask myself is that because I am cautious of what I say to make sure that I won't offend? I hope not, but the unease is there anyway.
With regards to this morning’s topic of making freedom ring and sing, I have two examples of lived experience that bear mention. First of all I have learned that telling the truth while often very painful and in the short-term of little obvious use, is still the best policy and leads to a sense of freedom in mind and heart.
My First example: Many years ago now one of my daughters had a boyfriend who had had an abusive family and upbringing from which he was neither able nor willing to recover. He committed a violent robbery and then turned himself in to the police. My daughter phoned me at work -frantic- to ask if I knew how to find him in the bowels of the penal system. I hesitated momentarily because I knew that if I lied to her and told her I didn't know how to do that, that she would not find him for months and that might help to loosen the rather unhealthy relationship they had. But I also knew that it would deny the young man the opportunity that would have been afforded to any of my friends' children - to get expert help rather than once again be labeled as the good-for-nothing that he was so convinced that he was. My daughter would also quickly figure out that I did know how (after all I had been a social worker and was at that time a counselor) and our relationship would suffer a strong blow. I told her, she found him, we found him a lawyer but after jail he went back to his self-destructive behaviour and my daughter quickly moved out of his life. I believe she continues to trust that I would never lie to her.
My second lived experience had to do with experiencing racism as the victim. When I lived in Trinidad I was of course in the minority...but it was the powerful minority. If I went into a grocery store I would often be taken out of the line and moved to the front....to the anger of everyone else and to my complete embarrassment. Then one day I had a taxi driver yell at me telling me to go home where I belonged and stop hanging out with the negroes and the indians - find my own kind if I wanted to have another baby. (I already had two!) I was enraged.....but realised that I could not speak out freely because it was also very dangerous.....and so for a very brief moment I was exposed to what some people of colour must handle on a daily basis. I was shocked and sickened by what we human beings can, and do, do to each other..... while others of us stand by and do nothing.....or don’t know what to do....
I try now to be more open to getting to know people who are different from myself so I can try to understand how they see the world and thus be more able to sympathise with or at least appreciate their concerns.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Do you ever feel afraid of standing up for your rights? Do you ever doubt that you will be supported or at least listened to by a caring, attentive loving religious community? Do your religious values sustain and uphold your stand - whatever it may be - and bring you safely home again - healthy in heart and spirit?
My religious values do this for me -from affirmation and promotion of the inherent worth and dignity of every person right through to respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part; from sources that stretch all the way from the transcending mystery and wonder that renews our spirit to the guidance of reason and the results of science.
I try continually to follow Unitarian William Ellery Channing's passionate recommendation that one keep a "mind free which does not cower to human opinion... which has cast off all fear but that of wrongdoing.." My mentor Phillip Hewett used to remind me that a person who stands for nothing will fall for anything. That thought has kept me on my feet for years!
I conclude by lifting up Paul Robeson’s courage in the face of strong opposition. I admire his drive to want to share with others some of his gifts - in particular, his musical gifts.
One final song: “Waterboy” - reputed to be Paul’s favorite.....
“If we are to remember Paul Robeson for anything, it should be for the courage and the dignity with which he struggled for his own personal voice and for the rights of all people.” http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/paul-robeson/about-the- actor/66/
For me, Paul Robeson is like Joe Hill - he may have died almost 35 years ago but he isn’t dead....his spirit lives, his dream of freedom for all rings and sings.
Closing words
“I shall take my voice wherever there are those who want to hear the melody of freedom or the words that might inspire hope and courage in the face of despair and fear. My weapons are peaceful for it is only by peace that peace can be attained. The song of freedom must prevail.”
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