Reflections on the Ted Nugent Debacle

Note by Hunter Bear (April 20 2012):

I found Ted Nugent's controversial [a mild term under the circumstances] words to an NRA group at the organization's just concluded annual meeting to be considerably more deplorable than simply, say, "shabby."  While I know little about him, he is not someone with whom I'd care to have had "a glass" in my drinking days -- or a cup of coffee in these times.  The human race is full of loose screws and I suspect we have more of those than ever in the USA of today, caught up in profound economic crisis and bearing the frustrations of more than a decade of misbegotten and hideous foreign wars.  Nugent's words were incendiary -- and, while he obviously wasn't speaking in a literally lethal sense, they served only to pour more irrationality into dark rivers.

This doesn't lessen my personal ties to the NRA.  I've been a member of that for 62 years and while rhetoric can sometimes become heated in its settings -- as it can in any advocacy organization -- this debacle is unusual.  I've seen something of this, on rare occasions, on the podiums of other organizations whose Cause I support.  Whoever and wherever, this serves no useful purpose for anyone -- and throws dangerous seeds to the Four Directions.

A Southern Black clergyman with a long and valiant history of fighting racism, sitting near me once as I spoke vigorously to a large civil rights gathering, leaned over to me when I'd finished and, shaking my hand, asked, "Boy, where did you learn to speak?" To him I nodded and smiled most appreciatively.  I've always been pretty good at speaking, ever since I was a totally silent little kid in the second grade, and school authorities tried to persuade my parents to put me in an institution for the mentally challenged.  My parents knew that, if I had any speaking problems, it was simply that I was too damn "lippy."  After that little crisis, I did speak in class -- and I've sometimes said that I've kept right on since, if I stopped, "They would put me away."

Throughout my life, I've had two cardinal rules when I speak publicly in any setting of any kind.  I never -- ever -- have a drink before I speak, and I almost -- almost -- always use my words with the greatest care. [I've never used drugs -- or even pot, though I privately tried that a couple of times. Had no effect on me.]

But just once, I did "lose it" -- briefly and not irreversibly.  And I learned a lesson that I've never forgotten:

From "Forces and Faces Along the Activist Trail":

I learned a very important lesson in 1964 in a hot and crowded church one night at Enfield, in Northeastern North Carolina.  Our Movement was indeed moving quite well indeed.  But it was a very tough struggle against great odds and crises were many. Feelings in that church were high and strong. and when I, the organizer/speaker rose to the podium, I was fired up.  Somewhere in my call-to-arms, I began to talk about the County Attorney, Rom [Romeus] Parker, a key foe and, although not one of the thick-as-sand-fleas Klansmen, a very committed segregationist. He was a man of average build, seemed to wear the same dark business suit and tie, and his not-that-old a face was rather heavy and worn.

And one of his legs was badly crippled.

In that church, my focus on Rom Parker and his sins sharpened.  The eyes of people glistened.  I noted signs of movement, angry tension. Full agreement with my every hot-eyed word.

And then, I began to mimic Rom Parker's crippled gait.  I jerked back and forth in front of the crowd -- noting the considerable resonance this pantomime evoked.

The tempo of angry feeling in the church rose higher, and higher.

And then, suddenly, I stopped my act.  Cold turkey.

There was sudden silence.

I am not known for apologies -- whether sparingly delivered or profuse.  But, in my own way, in that hot, tense church, I did just that.

Shaken, I told the people:  "I should never have done that -- mocked another human being in such a cruel and thoughtless way.  We're all committed to something much, much higher -- vastly higher, vastly better."

I finished, "Rom Parker is a human being."

And heads began to nod. There were murmured "Amens." Then there was silence for a few moments more -- and then the minister led off with "Amazing Grace" and we all joined in.

I continued my talk and we continued our most successful Movement.

And I never did anything like that again.  Never.

Months later, spearheaded and pushed by our Movement, The Change began to come to that hard-core section -- and others across the sweep of Dixie.  Under the eyes of Klansmen, angry white parents, state and some Federal officials, we had succeeded some time back in securing token school desegregation -- Blacks and one Indian -- into schools in two of the towns.  And now I and a few others were meeting at the county courthouse with school administrative officials to work out the integration / transfer of even more "minority" students.  It was a low-key meeting involving some discussion of new Federal guidelines, nothing dramatic.  Rom Parker was there as County Attorney.  Earlier, I had loaned my car to a colleague and, with the meeting adjourned, I suddenly realized as I approached the courthouse door that it was raining very hard outside.  My friend had not yet come back with my vehicle.

Most people had already left.  But, behind me, I heard someone coming down the stairway.  It was Rom Parker.  He and I looked at one another.  Then he said, "I'm heading back to Enfield.  Could you use a ride?"

I was almost tempted -- but my car was coming.  "I've got someone bringing my car here," I said.  "Or I would be happy to go with you."

And then I added, "I greatly appreciate your offer."

And we shook hands.
http://hunterbear.org/forces_and_faces_along_the_trail.htm

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR/JOHN R SALTER JR] Mi'kmaq /St. Francis 
Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk 
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´ 
and Ohkwari' 
Member, National Writers Union AFL-CIO
www.hunterbear.org 
(much social justice material)

See the Stormy Adoption of an Indian Child [My Father]:
http://hunterbear.org/James%20and%20Salter%20and%20Dad.htm

For the new, just out (11/2011) and expanded/updated
edition of my "Organizer's Book," JACKSON MISSISSIPPI -- 
with a new and substantial Introduction by me.  We are close upon
the 50th anniversary of the massive Jackson Movement of1962-63.:
http://hunterbear.org/jackson.htm

Personal Background Narrative (with many links):
http://hunterbear.org/narrative.htm