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October 18, 2005
Scientific progress?
I returned from the culturally backward Midwest just in time to see a dramatic breakthrough for the forces of progress in Philadelphia public schools. Today's Philadelphia Inquirer, reports the renaming of a school from the name of a famed colonial era botanist to the name of a Stalinist actor: Bartram High School for Human Services yesterday was renamed and officially dedicated as the Paul Robeson High School for Human Services.John Bartram, considered "the father of American botany," was also a co-founder (with Benjamin Franklin) of the American Philosophical Society. "Carl Linnaeus called him "the greatest natural botanist in the world." Paul Robeson was an accomplished actor and singer, but he was a committed Stalinist who refused to criticize the Soviet system despite clear evidence of Stalin's crimes. Which man contributed more to the cause of human knowledge is probably not the issue here. Aside from his scientific accomplishments, Bartram was ahead of his time in his social thinking. He freed his slaves, advocated against slavery, and treated his former slaves as equals long before such things were in vogue. Had his advice been heeded, the United States might have avoided much misery. I'm glad Robeson's advice wasn't heeded. From the right wing Wikipedia: If the United States and the United Nations truly want peace and security let them fulfill the hopes of the common people everywhere -- let them work together to accomplish on a worldwide scale, precisely the kind of democratic association of free people which characterizes the Soviet Union today.- Daily Worker; November 15, 1945It's bad enough to name a school after an unrepentant Stalinist. But when a name is changed as it was here, I think it's fair to ask why. Is it the message that an acting and singing career -- coupled with an unshakable belief in Stalinism -- is superior to groundbreaking accomplishments in botany and philosophy? (The Philadelphia School District might want to take a second look at Stalinist genetics. Perhaps the goal is to forget about Darwin, and revive Lysenkoism.) posted by Eric on 10.18.05 at 08:41 AM
Comments
Nope. I disagree with you on this one. While John Bertram was all that you say, Paul Robeson was much, much more than an "committed stalinist." Communism caught up many sincere souls who hoped to end racism and segregation in the United States. We now know the "equal races" party line was nothing more than Communist propaganda, but to those living under Jim Crow, it must've been enticing. We shouldn't judge historical figures out of the context of their lives. Otherwise we end up with school boards that ban Mark Twain's books because he used the "n-word," or "activists" who want to change public school names if they were named after founding fathers who owned slaves. Bonnie · October 18, 2005 02:30 PM You certainly have a point about Communism having caught up many sincere people opposed to Jim Crow. The problem is that unlike many who were caught up in the CP, Robeson never repented from hard-core Stalinism: http://www.wpunj.edu/~newpol/issue25/finger25.htm http://www.washingtontimes.com/commentary/20040112-091552-4941r.htm And they're not just naming a school for him but renaming one already named for a good man. I think that even if Robeson's Stalinism is excusable because of Jim Crow, that doesn't justify renaming of schools. Eric Scheie · October 18, 2005 03:07 PM Let's call it was it really is; Race Pandering by local Black politicians to their Black constituients. Simply-put, yet another conscious, overt 'dis to yet another "Dead White Man". And I'll wager that they are aware of, and do not care about, Robeson's Stalinist connections. The African-American Hall-of-Fame is full of revoluntionary Communists, unrepentent-Socialists, and overt racists as radical as any Kleagle. Just as it's full of principled activists who held that such opinions where anathema to Equality for All. Ted B. · October 18, 2005 04:21 PM |
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Says it all. Too much. A microcosm of what is wrong with our culture today.