- Valedictorian of his college class at Rutgers
- NFL athlete
- Hollywood actor
- Shakespearean stage actor (his portrayal of Othello was considered definitive)
- World-class bass-baritone singer
gotta admire Robeson's dedication to the cause of Human liberation, he had all the credentials to be heralded by the US establishment as a great black role model if he just sold out. They could've easily molded Robeson's public image as some liberal like they do all other radical icons. Now he is basically forgotten and hardly mentioned as a Great Black Icon in the mainstream press. Out of all the people listed in rat Orwell's letter to the British Intelligence, him listening Robeson as "anti-white" really showed Orwell's racism.
Now he is basically forgotten and hardly mentioned
https://hexbear.net/post/186341
Jesus Fuck, I didn't even know my respect for Orwell could get lower until now!!!
This is the sort of thing that needs to spread properly to get people to understand what communism is, what it has historically meant, and why nearly everyone in the US should be a communist. Of course, being a fascist country, the US prevents that from happening.
His righteous indignation gives me life. :stalin-feels-good:
Gentlemen, in the first place, wherever I have been in the world, Scandinavia, England, and many places, the first to die in the struggle against Fascism were the Communists, and I laid many wreaths upon graves of Communists. [...]
[T]he reason that I am here today [...] is: I should not be allowed to travel because I have struggled for years for the independence of the colonial peoples of Africa. For many years I have so labored and I can say modestly that my name is very much honored all over Africa, in my struggles for their independence. [...]
The other reason that I am here [...] is that when I am abroad I speak out against the injustices against the Negro people of this land. [...] This is the basis, and I am not being tried for whether I am a Communist, I am being tried for fighting for the rights of my people, who are still second-class citizens in this United States of America. [...]
I stand here struggling for the rights of my people to be full citizens in this country. And they are not. They are not in Mississippi. And they are not in Montgomery, Alabama. And they are not in Washington. They are nowhere [...] You want to shut up every Negro who has the courage to stand up and fight for the rights of his people, for the rights of workers, and I have been on many a picket line for the steelworkers too. And that is why I am here today.
Robeson to HUAC: "I have medals for diction. I can talk plenty loud." (my favorite part)
What an amazing voice (James Earl Jones). What an amazing person (Robeson). What a terrible fuckin country.
Also, the relatives of that racist, fascist motherfucker on the house committee are probably still rich and powerful today.
Jones is probably the only modern person who could do justice to Robeson's voice. Their voices are very similar, as you can tell from Robeson's recording of the Soviet Anthem (which he translated himself, I believe).
