Klonor
12-08-2005, 22:55
Okay, picture this. You're a black musician in turn of the century Harlem (1902 to be exact), you're quite successful (Nice clothes, nice food, and even a brand new Model-T), and you've just managed to win back The One That Got Away who left you so long ago and took your unborn son with her. Sound good so far? It goes downhill.
Now, one day you and your future wife and son are out for a pleasant Sunday drive in the afore mentioned Model-T. But wait, what's that up ahead? Why, it seems to be three firemen standing in the road blocking you from continuing on. They seem quite irritated at something, too, as their profane language and waving of axes suggests. You cautiously approach and ask if they'll let you pass, and they say they will after you pay them a $25 toll (Extravagant now, even more so then). Of course you refuse (What right have they to extort money from you?) and quickly usher your fiancee and infant son to safety away from the angry men who turn their anger on your car. But, now that they're safe, you plan to save your car from the angry men currently defacing it. Since you're not going to attempt to fight three axe-armed men with only your fists, you go in search of a police officer or another fireman, somebody who works for the government to talk some sense into these madmen. Sadly, nobody does a damn thing and when you get back to your car it's hard to recognize it as such.
The windows are shattered, the doors are gone, the roof is practically torn to shreds, the engine is scattered across several city blocks, and there's a pile of human excrement on what's left of the drivers seat.
Needless to say, you're a bit miffed. You also want to see justice done. But, again, nobody will do anything.
City officials state that the men who defaced your car are volunteer firemen and thus not subject to disciplinary actions on their part. The police state that, since only you witnessed the act, they can't arrest the hooligans because there isn't enough evidence. Civil rights lawyers are to busy dealing with lynchings and rape to bother with something as small as vandalism (Okay, that one I kinda get) and regular lawyers simply won't take on a black client against a white defendant. Essentially, you're up a certain unpleasant creek without a paddle. What could you possibly (legally) do in this situation?
This is a problem with which Coalhouse Walker, a character in the novel, movie, and musical play Ragtime, is faced. It even gets worse after all this, when his fiancee is beaten to death by the Secret Serivce when she was trying to attract the Presidents attention. See, Coalhouse had sworn that he wouldn't marry his fiancee until he'd seen justice done (In my opinion a big mistake on his part) and she didn't want to go forever unwed to the man she loved. So, she thought "I need somebody of sufficient authority to get the city officials to prosecute the men who deserve it" and the President of the U.S.A. happened to be making an appearance in the city. Hoping to plead her case before him, and hoping that the fact that she had an infant son who needed a father would help sway him to help her, she tried to speak to the President and opened with "I have a son!" The Secret Service, thinking she said "I have a gun!", proceeded to beat her senseless and then leave her in the street.
Now, try as I might, apart from not swearing off marriage, I really can't see any options open to Coalhouse that would had a positive effect. What could he have done? He went through legal channels, he made rational requests, and still nobody lifted a finger to help. What could he have possibly done to have justice served when it was needed, which in turn would have saved his wifes life and (later on) his own?
Now, one day you and your future wife and son are out for a pleasant Sunday drive in the afore mentioned Model-T. But wait, what's that up ahead? Why, it seems to be three firemen standing in the road blocking you from continuing on. They seem quite irritated at something, too, as their profane language and waving of axes suggests. You cautiously approach and ask if they'll let you pass, and they say they will after you pay them a $25 toll (Extravagant now, even more so then). Of course you refuse (What right have they to extort money from you?) and quickly usher your fiancee and infant son to safety away from the angry men who turn their anger on your car. But, now that they're safe, you plan to save your car from the angry men currently defacing it. Since you're not going to attempt to fight three axe-armed men with only your fists, you go in search of a police officer or another fireman, somebody who works for the government to talk some sense into these madmen. Sadly, nobody does a damn thing and when you get back to your car it's hard to recognize it as such.
The windows are shattered, the doors are gone, the roof is practically torn to shreds, the engine is scattered across several city blocks, and there's a pile of human excrement on what's left of the drivers seat.
Needless to say, you're a bit miffed. You also want to see justice done. But, again, nobody will do anything.
City officials state that the men who defaced your car are volunteer firemen and thus not subject to disciplinary actions on their part. The police state that, since only you witnessed the act, they can't arrest the hooligans because there isn't enough evidence. Civil rights lawyers are to busy dealing with lynchings and rape to bother with something as small as vandalism (Okay, that one I kinda get) and regular lawyers simply won't take on a black client against a white defendant. Essentially, you're up a certain unpleasant creek without a paddle. What could you possibly (legally) do in this situation?
This is a problem with which Coalhouse Walker, a character in the novel, movie, and musical play Ragtime, is faced. It even gets worse after all this, when his fiancee is beaten to death by the Secret Serivce when she was trying to attract the Presidents attention. See, Coalhouse had sworn that he wouldn't marry his fiancee until he'd seen justice done (In my opinion a big mistake on his part) and she didn't want to go forever unwed to the man she loved. So, she thought "I need somebody of sufficient authority to get the city officials to prosecute the men who deserve it" and the President of the U.S.A. happened to be making an appearance in the city. Hoping to plead her case before him, and hoping that the fact that she had an infant son who needed a father would help sway him to help her, she tried to speak to the President and opened with "I have a son!" The Secret Service, thinking she said "I have a gun!", proceeded to beat her senseless and then leave her in the street.
Now, try as I might, apart from not swearing off marriage, I really can't see any options open to Coalhouse that would had a positive effect. What could he have done? He went through legal channels, he made rational requests, and still nobody lifted a finger to help. What could he have possibly done to have justice served when it was needed, which in turn would have saved his wifes life and (later on) his own?