Reply #21: if only that were all it took [View All]

[iverglas]

to establish one's bona fides as a progressive, eh?

Here's one from much longer ago:

http://www.google.ca/search?q=cache:b4naBPuh2vAJ:www3.cbc.ca/sections/newsitem.asp%3FID%3D1786+%22this+hour+has%22+-22+kkk&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
http://209.47.161.50/articles/NewYorkTimes/nyt021013.htm
http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/T/htmlT/thishourhas/thishourhas.htm

THIS HOUR HAS SEVEN DAYS

Canadian Public Affairs Series

This Hour Has Seven Days has repeatedly been cited as the most exciting and innovative public affairs television series in the history of Canadian broadcasting. It was certainly the most popular, drawing more than three million viewers at the time of its controversial cancellation by CBC management, which was unable to withstand the cries of outrage from offended guardians of public morality and the growing insurgence of the Seven Days production team. The creation of two young producers, Patrick Watson and Douglas Leiterman, the series debuted on 4 October 1964 and came to its well-publicized end after 50 episodes on 8 May 1966. ...


... The episode for 24 October 1965 opened with a satirical and irreverent song by Christie about the Ku Klux Klan, followed by preview cuts of later show segments, credits and a welcome of the live studio audience by LaPierre. (Live audiences were a staple of the program, contributing to its actuality impact.) ... Running almost 22 and a half minutes was the final story on the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). After an introduction by Christie, a satire of the KKK appearance before the U.S. House Un-American Activities Committee, and a short film of the civil rights struggle in the United States, two members of the Klan were invited into the "hot seat" to be interviewed in full costume. About halfway through the interview and after a question as to whether the Klansmen would shake hands with a black man, a black civil rights leader from the United States was invited to join the interview. There was some exchange of views until the interviewer tried to get the KKK members to shake hands with the black leader, at which time they stood up and left the set. ...

The civil rights leader in question was a young clergyperson from the US. He apparently didn't think it necessary or advisable to throttle the KKK types, but I didn't doubt his bona fides.

I saw this episode recently. (I was unfortunately just a smidgen too young to have appreciated 7 Days at the time it ran. It was modeled on the British That Was The Week That Was, and it's the reason the current show that used to feature Talking to Americans is called This Hour Has 22 Minutes.) ... Well, I've been searching in vain ... I thought that one of the ghouls on the episode was the then-grand wizard, but none of the sites about 7 Days identifies him, and I can't find anywhere on the net that says who the grand wizard was in 1965. Given recent developments, I'm curious who was under those hoods on the stage.


Anyhow, as to CORE: it certainly was a progressive organization in the 1960s, when it was involved in organizing 1964's Freedom Summer, for instance. This is simply no longer the case.

http://www.africanaonline.com/orga_core.htm

By 1963 CORE had already shifted attention to segregation in the North and West, where two-thirds of the organization's chapters were located. In an effort to build CORE's credibility as a black protest organization, leadership in these Northern chapters had become almost entirely black. CORE's ideology and strategies were increasingly challenged by its changing membership. Many new members advocated militancy and believed nonviolent methods of protest were to be used only if they proved successful.

As the tactics were being questioned so was the role of white members. In 1966 CORE endorsed the term Black Power, and by 1967 the word multiracial was no longer in the CORE constitution (see Black Power in the United States). Finally, in 1968, Roy Innis replaced Farmer as the national director, and Innis soon denied whites active membership in CORE and advocated black separatism.

Under Innis's leadership CORE took a conservative turn, lending its support to black capitalism and nationalism. In the 1970s Innis joined Southern whites in promoting separate schools rather than desegregation. Farmer cut his ties to CORE in 1976, returning in the 1980s in a bid to remake CORE into a multiracial organization. Innis, however, remained firmly in leadership. In the 1990s CORE chapters engaged in little direct organization, but Innis remained one of the most prominent black conservatives in the United States.

We are of course absolutely clear that I (and all credible critics) criticize the Innises and CORE not because of the shift to exclusively African-American membership/leadership, although that was certainly not in line with its origins and its founders' intentions, but because of their utter disregard for the interests of the community they pretend to represent and on whose behalf they pretend to act, and their use of the organization for no purpose but to further their own personal interests.

Of course, how many times do we have to do this ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=118&topic_id=33922#33995
(and posts following)