Yes, there was ALWAYS pushback against bigotry of all kinds, even in the most repressive eras: The Union of Rights for Men in Germany in 1922, and Chicago's The Society for Human Rights, both gay rights groups founded in in the 1920s well before the foundation of The Mattachine Society in 1951; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in New York City in 1909, and continues to this day; and the National Urban League was founded a year later also in NYC, and also still active to this day (they filed a lawsuit against Trump's anti-DEI Executive Orders last month!). The NAACP publicly protested D.W. Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION, which I finally saw about fifteen year ago after an entire lifetime of hearing it called a "classic" but not seeing it—and Boy, Howdy!, is Spike Lee right about it as a racist pile of garbage!; as they protested GONE WITH THE WIND (GwtW) in 1939 and SONG OF THE SOUTH in 1946, both of which I recently rewatched in horror.
Unfortunately, these were considered "fringe" views back then, and no more embraced by the mainstream than "Women's Liberation" was in the 1960s and early 1970s. Eleanor Roosevelt took a LOT of shit for her views, being hinted at being a lesbian (because you couldn't say "gay" back then at all without being censored!) to openly accused of being a Communist(!) by mainstream news outlets. GwtW producer David O. Selznick and Walt Disney both blew off the NAACP as "extremists", and it didn't hurt the profitability or popularity of either of their movies.
Every time you think we've pushed the bigots back under their rocks, something like Donald Trump and Fake Hillbilly Vance slithers out again to great acclaim....
Sorry, GONE WITH THE WIND. I didn't want to type the whole thing out, and figured that since I'd already mentioned it previously everybody would get it.
I'll put the acronym after the first time I mention it to make it clearer.
As always, the clarity of your writing is like a bright star shedding light over the shadows and cobwebs in my mind.
I agree, supremely clear thinking succinctly expressed.
oh that's very kind. thank you!
Yes, there was ALWAYS pushback against bigotry of all kinds, even in the most repressive eras: The Union of Rights for Men in Germany in 1922, and Chicago's The Society for Human Rights, both gay rights groups founded in in the 1920s well before the foundation of The Mattachine Society in 1951; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in New York City in 1909, and continues to this day; and the National Urban League was founded a year later also in NYC, and also still active to this day (they filed a lawsuit against Trump's anti-DEI Executive Orders last month!). The NAACP publicly protested D.W. Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION, which I finally saw about fifteen year ago after an entire lifetime of hearing it called a "classic" but not seeing it—and Boy, Howdy!, is Spike Lee right about it as a racist pile of garbage!; as they protested GONE WITH THE WIND (GwtW) in 1939 and SONG OF THE SOUTH in 1946, both of which I recently rewatched in horror.
Unfortunately, these were considered "fringe" views back then, and no more embraced by the mainstream than "Women's Liberation" was in the 1960s and early 1970s. Eleanor Roosevelt took a LOT of shit for her views, being hinted at being a lesbian (because you couldn't say "gay" back then at all without being censored!) to openly accused of being a Communist(!) by mainstream news outlets. GwtW producer David O. Selznick and Walt Disney both blew off the NAACP as "extremists", and it didn't hurt the profitability or popularity of either of their movies.
Every time you think we've pushed the bigots back under their rocks, something like Donald Trump and Fake Hillbilly Vance slithers out again to great acclaim....
GwtW?
Sorry I always need help with acronyms. They interrupt the flow of reading.
Sorry, GONE WITH THE WIND. I didn't want to type the whole thing out, and figured that since I'd already mentioned it previously everybody would get it.
I'll put the acronym after the first time I mention it to make it clearer.
Yay!!
Thank you.
“Everybody is of their time. The question is, what do you do with that time?”
What a poignant observation.
Hear hear!