Sam Smith Whenever anything like the Gates incident arises, we spend an inordinate amount of time assessing blame and hardly any discussing remedies. Calling someone a racist doesn't cure anything. In fact, racism is normal. That isn't to say that it's nice, pretty, or desirable. Only that suspicion, distrust, and distaste for outsiders is a … Continue reading WHERE BAD COPS COME FROM
Civil liberties & justice
When test tyrants enter the firehouse
San Smith 2009 - The real problem in the Ricci v. DeStefano case* is neither the white nor the black firefighters but the law and its technocratic application. For the past six years - as the lawyers have had their fun - no one of either ethnicity has been promoted in the New Haven fire … Continue reading When test tyrants enter the firehouse
SWAMPOODLE REPORT: THE SUPREME COURT DOES SOMETHING RIGHT
Sam Smith I don't own a gun. I was never any good at shooting a gun. I was educated by Quakers and avoid violence every chance I get. Still, I was delighted by the Supreme Court's Second Amendment ruling. Not simply because it upheld the Constitution, but because, in a land whose leaders are increasingly … Continue reading SWAMPOODLE REPORT: THE SUPREME COURT DOES SOMETHING RIGHT
Letter to a spook: But you don’t know me
Sam Smith 2005 I don't know for sure that you're out there at all, but from what I read and hear there's a pretty good chance, so I thought I would pass this along. You may be tapping my phone, scanning my e-mails and collating my other electronic ephemera, but you don't know me. Any … Continue reading Letter to a spook: But you don’t know me
THE TWO BEST KEPT SECRETS ABOUT SCHOOL INTEGRATION
Sam Smith 1. It would have been much easier if, at the time the country was fighting over school integration, it hadn't segregated its cities with hardly any debate. 2. It would have been much easier if zip code had been included as well as ethnicity. Even today, the issues of segregation by neighborhood and … Continue reading THE TWO BEST KEPT SECRETS ABOUT SCHOOL INTEGRATION
Clues your country may be turning into a fascist state
Sam Smith, 2006 NOTE: Some of these symptoms are found in non-fascist countries where they should be treated as serious warning signs. On the other hand, fascist states - unlike democratic nations - have many, if not all, of these symptoms. Your president asserts the right to ignore part or all of laws passed by … Continue reading Clues your country may be turning into a fascist state
Martin Luther King Day, Bull Connor years
Sam Smith, 2006 I would like to celebrate Martin Luther King Day but I can't get Bull Connor out of my mind. I look for reminders of Martin Luther King but they are either old and weary or in lonely, small places. Reminders of Bull Connor are all around us. The spirit of Bull Connor … Continue reading Martin Luther King Day, Bull Connor years
Who cares who was a Communist?
Sam Smith, 2006 - Reading about Arthur Miller's alleged Communist connections brings to mind some unfinished business for American historians: a fair account of American Communists. Even today, the image projected by the media is heavily tilted towards the FBI version of the tale, an absurd melding of fact, rumor, fiction, and extreme rightwing bias. … Continue reading Who cares who was a Communist?
Backing off of hate
Sam Smith 2006 When a situation such as the one created by the anti-Muslims cartoons and their reaction, the tendency for all parties is to seek ever higher ground of self-righteousness - all the time exacerbating the situation. The fact is that the biggest danger to the world at the moment comes from the conflicting … Continue reading Backing off of hate
Of pink suits, golf balls and civil liberties
SAM SMITH From a talk given at an upper school assembly at Maret School, Washington, DC, September 2006 In my son Ben's senior year at Maret, he and a couple of friends visited a used clothing shop where one of them - Chris Friendly - found a pink suit and a pink fedora that he … Continue reading Of pink suits, golf balls and civil liberties
Questions for a senatorial inquiry on gay marriage
Sam Smith, 2006 1. The Ten Commandments outlaw killing and adultery but that doesn't seem to bother your colleagues as much as gay marriage. Why do you think the Ten Commandments are less important to them than gay marriage? 2. Would you accept a compromise in which we outlawed not only gay marriages but support … Continue reading Questions for a senatorial inquiry on gay marriage
Integration of Glen Echo Amusement Park
A HOWARD STUDENT CONFRONTS GUARD AT GLEN ECHO Sam Smith, 2006 - In the summer of 1960, a local movement formed to end the policy of segregation at Glen Echo Amusement Park. Howard University students, members of the Bannockburn community, the local NAACP, Cedar Lane Unitarian Church and the Wheaton-Kensington Democratic Club, all picketed the … Continue reading Integration of Glen Echo Amusement Park
Zero tolerance
Sam Smith, 2004 - During the Cold War someone defined the difference between the major parties this way: In America everything is permitted that is not prohibited. In Germany everything is prohibited that is not permitted. In France everything is permitted even though it is prohibited. In Russia everything is prohibited even though it is … Continue reading Zero tolerance
The Post Office pays a visit
Sam Smith - Government censorship was never much of a problem for us. Other publications, however, did not fare as well. In B.W. (Before Web) the Post Office was the most powerful prude around. As a young radio reporter in 1959, I interviewed the Assistant Postmaster General in his office on the subject of obscenity, … Continue reading The Post Office pays a visit
An early terrorist suspect
EDITOR DETAINED AT AIRPORT 1998 - The Progressive Review''s editor, Sam Smith, was detained at Washington National Airport for a half hour on Wednesday Nov. 4 as five US Airways security officials, 3 police officers, and one bomb-sniffing dog attempted to determine if he was, as they suspected, a terrorist. Total evidence for the suspicion … Continue reading An early terrorist suspect