Dear Progressive Reader,

April 9 marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of singer and activist Paul Robeson. As Paul Von Blum writes on our website this week, “In these times, Robeson’s fervent antifascist vision and multifaceted record as an artist should also be resurrected. People of all ages can see him as a beacon of hope and inspiration.” Robeson’s outspoken political activism brought him up against rightwing harassment by the 1950s Republicans in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere. Today, some of the same McCarthyite tactics are being used by governors and state legislators to silence voices that speak out. As Von Blum notes, “banned Black authors and public figures have been notable targets [of the likes of Governors Ron DeSantis, Glenn Youngkin, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders].”

On April 11, 1947, Jackie Robinson put on his Dodgers uniform and played in an exhibition game against the New York Yankees. It was the first time the “color line” had been broken in Major League Baseball. According to Paul Marx, writing in The Progressive ten years ago, “[Paul] Robeson had declared the signing ‘the greatest step ever taken by organized baseball on behalf of the American Negro.’ ” Marx, who two years later would travel to see Robeson perform at the famous concert that would be halted by a violent mob in Peekskill, New York, went on to note, “I did not bargain for the rocks that would come flying through the windows of the bus as we neared Peekskill.” Tayo Aluko, a Nigerian-born playwright, has been touring the world since 2008 with a one-person show about Robeson. Writing for The Progressive in April 2021, Aluko said, “Watching the horrific scenes unfolding in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last August [2020] as a rightwing vigilante shot and killed two people protesting police violence and wounded a third, and then seeing the mob of white supremacists attack the U.S. Capitol in January, a lyric came to mind . . . . [it] was sung by Paul Robeson” Aluko’s new 2021 radio play firmly draws the connections between Kenosha, Wisconsin, and that Peekskill concert-turned-riot of 1949. As Von Blum reminds us this week, “Robeson’s 1956 statements about ‘fascist-minded people’ in the United States were eerily and tragically prescient, making it all the more compelling to resurrect his memory yet again 125 years after his birth.”

The expulsion, by Republicans in the Tennessee State Legislature, of two young Black elected representatives—Justin Jones and Justin Pearson—for speaking out on the floor in favor of stricter gun legislation is possibly a precursor of further actions of silencing and disenfranchisement to come as Republican legislators around the country seek to take advantage of their majorities in a number of states. As the website Axios noted last fall, “State legislatures have the power to shape voting rules, gun control laws, abortion access, and other issues that often have a more direct impact on Americans than federal policies.” This power was also used by Donald Trump in 2020 to try and subvert the national election, and will no doubt rear its head again in 2024. Meanwhile, as cartoonist Mark Fiore illustrates, Trump had his first of probably many court appearances over the next few years. Many commentators have made comparisons to President Gerald Ford’s 1974 pardon of Richard Nixon to avoid a possible trial and prosecution for the crimes of Watergate. Nixon’s greater crimes against the world were not even mentioned. Now a new book, Fire and Rain, addresses the years of war in Southeast Asia, led by Nixon and his chief aide Henry Kissinger. Sarah Cords reviews the extensive volume, pointing out, “Throughout Fire and Rain, [author Carolyn Woods Eisenberg] reminds readers how the Vietnam War affected American veterans and citizens, but also of the war’s overwhelming human and ecological cost to the people of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.”

Elsewhere this week on our website, Henry Redman looks at the significant victory of Janet Protasiewicz in the race for Wisconsin’s supreme court that was termed by The New York Times “the most important election of 2023.” Meanwhile, incarcerated writer Steve Brooks brings news of a proposal in California to allow people in prison to vote. “Many incarcerated people at San Quentin, including myself, see having political representation as pivotal to their rehabilitation and reconnection to their families and their communities,” Brooks says. Also, Mike Ervin discusses a bill to ban the beating of disabled students that is having a hard time passing in Oklahoma’s state legislature in 2023. And Gall Sigler reports on a revival of the left in Israel as the rightwing government moves to gut the power of the country’s judiciary. Plus, Eleanor Bader reviews “Those Who Said No,” a new series of young adult fiction that showcases the biographies of dissidents and activists.

At 7:00 p.m. on April 10, I will be introducing a screening of the new film Ithaka, about the imprisonment of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange, which is being hosted by The Progressive. Assange is currently sitting in Britain's Belmarsh prison awaiting possible extradition to the United States for the WikiLeaks publication of documents showing many of the untold horrors of the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The film seeks to raise awareness about the case and the principles of press freedom that are under threat should Assange be prosecuted for the publication of this information. The film will be shown at the Barrymore Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin, and will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Assange’s father John Shipton and film producer Gabriel Shipton, along with journalist John Nichols. As Nichols wrote in 2021, “The Justice Department’s moves to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act—for working with a whistleblower to acquire and disseminate classified documents—poses a clear threat to press freedom.” Tickets are available in advance at barrymorelive.com or by calling 608-241-8864.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. - The new 2023 Hidden History of the United States calendar is now available. You can order one online.

P.P.S. – If you like this weekly newsletter, please consider forwarding it to a friend. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to this free weekly email, please share this link: http://tiny.cc/ProgressiveNewsletter.

P.P.P.S. – If you don’t already subscribe to The Progressive in print or digital form, please consider doing so today. Also, if you have a friend or relative who you feel should hear from the many voices for progressive change within our pages, please consider giving a gift subscription.

P.P.P.S. – Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated to support The Progressive! We need you now more than ever. If you have not done so already, please take a moment to support hard-hitting, independent reporting on issues that matter to you. Your donation today will keep us on solid ground in 2023 and will help us continue to grow in the coming years. You can use the wallet envelope in the current issue of the magazine, or click on the “Donate” button below to join your fellow progressives in sustaining The Progressive as a voice for peace, social justice, and the common good.