Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History, has asked New York City to remove James Earle Fraser’s 1939 bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt from in front of the museum as it shows an African-American and a Native American i… — Ellen V. Futter, president of the American Museum of Natural History, has asked New York City to remove James Earle Fraser’s 1939 bronze statue of Theodore Roosevelt from in front of the museum as it shows an African-American and a Native American in an inferior position to the white president.

Black votes matter, too

June 25, 2020

Well, we didn’t have to worry about social distancing at the Trump rally in Tulsa after all. Even Asa Hutchinson, Republican governor of Arkansas, wryly told Judy Woodruff on the “PBS NewsHour” Monday that those Arkansans who crossed the state line to attend the event at the Bank of Oklahoma Center and had seats on the main floor had better get tested on their return. Those, however, who were spread out in the vast blue expanse of the upper tiers? They’re good, Hutchinson said.

Hattie McDaniel as Mammy, Olivia de Havilland as Melanie and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett in a publicity still from “Gone With the Wind” (1939). Neither Clark Gable (Rhett) nor Leslie Howard (Ashley) initially wanted to participate in what they rightly … — Hattie McDaniel as Mammy, Olivia de Havilland as Melanie and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett in a publicity still from “Gone With the Wind” (1939). Neither Clark Gable (Rhett) nor Leslie Howard (Ashley) initially wanted to participate in what they rightly intuited was a women’s picture in which the ladies would take the lead. Even after George Cukor, famous for directing fine actresses, was fired from the movie and replaced by Gable pal Victor Fleming, the female stars continued to receive secret coaching from Cukor.

'Gone With the Wind' indeed

June 13, 2020

As the Black Lives Matter movement galvanizes the nation, there are renewed calls to remove the names and statues of prominent Confederate leaders from the Capital (and the Capitol) as well as from Army bases throughout the South. As I have written in these pages— and as one young African-American woman put it recently on TV — this isn’t even primarily a case of black and white, even though the issue is pretty much black and white. The Confederacy lost, and the losers don’t get to dictate either the terms of their surrender or the trophies of their defeat. There are no statues of Adolf Hitler in Berlin.

Still, as President Abraham Lincoln said, “Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history.” The monuments and names of the Confederacy should belong to schools and museums — or at least photographs of them should be. We can’t preserve every one. There they can be curated and studied, so that present and future generations can understand how they came to be erected in the post-Reconstruction and civil rights eras as a way to reassert white supremacy.

The issue of works of arts and entertainment is a more complex matter, however.

The ancient practice of genuflecting — seen here in Leonardo’s “The Annunciation” (1472, oil on panel, the Uffizi Gallery), as the archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus — has been brilliantly repurposed… — The ancient practice of genuflecting — seen here in Leonardo’s “The Annunciation” (1472, oil on panel, the Uffizi Gallery), as the archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to be the mother of Jesus — has been brilliantly repurposed by the Black Lives Matter protesters, beginning with Colin Kaepernick.

Taking a knee for social justice

June 9, 2020

The horrific murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police May 25 set off a tidal wave of national and global outrage that has renewed interest in and debate on Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 protests against racial inequality and police brutality.

A world lit by fire, part two

May 31, 2020

The great comedian Red Skelton acidly remarked of the well-attended funeral of tyrannical movie boss Harry Cohn, “Well, it just goes to show you: Give the people what they want and they’ll turn out for it.”

President Donald J. Trump has given the people what they didn’t want — American carnage — and they’ve turned out for it anyway. Boy, have they turned out for it. Protesters from sea to shining sea this weekend have made the tiki torches of the white supremacists .who terrorized Charlottesville in 2017 look like candles in the wind. (I wonder if Trumpet is measuring the size of these crowds.)

Robert F. Kennedy addressing an Indianapolis crowd on the night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.

Leadership, race and 'the awful grace of God'

May 29, 2020

Well, so much for those “You Ain’t Black” T-shirts .

President Donald J. Trump and the Republicans — always ready to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as their handling of the pandemic demonstrates — were all set to capitalize on former Vice President Joe Biden’s gaffe that presumed to tell black people they couldn’t really be black if they voted for Trump, as if there aren’t black Republicans and conservatives. But Biden’s remark, however maladroit, contained the kernel of a question: Might a black Trump supporter actually be voting against his own interests?

Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Susannah and the Elders” (1610), oil on canvas. Collection of Schloss Weissenstein. The biblical theme of an assaulted woman and the men who both prey on and condemn her had special resonance for Gentileschi, herself a rape… — Artemisia Gentileschi’s “Susannah and the Elders” (1610), oil on canvas. Collection of Schloss Weissenstein. The biblical theme of an assaulted woman and the men who both prey on and condemn her had special resonance for Gentileschi, herself a rape victim who was tortured to ensure she was telling the truth.

Tara Reade and the passion of our perceptions

May 20, 2020

Context drives not only perception but the passion with which we hold that perception. Witness Tara Reade, who has accused presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden of sexual assault when she was an aide in his Senate office in 1993. In another time, Reade would be one more explosive chapter of the #MeToo movement. But as Eleanor Roosevelt might put it, this is no ordinary time.

Detail of Charles Le Brun’s “Battle of Arbela (Gaugamela)” (1689), oil on canvas. Musée du Louvre. It shows Alexander the Great leading the charge against Darius III in the battle that would cement his conquest of the Persian Empire.

'Meeting' the moment

May 19, 2020

In 334 B.C., Alexander the Great took an army of 35,000 – roughly the size of the New York City Police Department -- against a Persian army of a quarter of a million in a bold quest to conquer the Persian Empire. Three years later, on the eve of the decisive battle at Gaugamela in what is now northern Iraq, he told his troops that they had no need for long, inspirational speeches. Their bravery and deeds made them more than prepared. But he wanted them to know that they had something the enemy did not. They had him. He would have their backs by leading from the front. They would endure together. And together, they would be victorious.

Why care about Alexander and the Greeks? For that matter, why care about history? Because they tell us something essential about leadership — that to be a leader you have to communicate a clear goal, demonstrate what’s in it for others and lead from the front. Whatever you may think — or not — about Alexander, he led from the front. He was a leader. And leadership is a quality that is in short supply these days.