Montreal Theosophy Project: Orson Welles on Universal Brotherhood, Tolerance, Altruism, Freedom, Responsibility and Social Justice Part 2/2 (Isaac Woodard case, To Be Born Free, 1946)

Below is a transcript from Orson Welles Commentary: To Be Born Free August 11, 1946. Orson Welles Commentaries (1945–46) is an ABC radio series produced and directed by Orson Welles. Featuring commentary by Welles, with reminiscences and readings from literature, the 15-minute weekly program aired Sunday afternoons at 1:15 p.m. ET beginning September 16, 1945.

It was part of a series of five episodes championing the cause of Isaac Woodard Jr. (March 18, 1919 – September 23, 1992) was an American soldier and victim of racial violence. An African-American World War II veteran, on February 12, 1946, hours after being honorably discharged from the United States Army, he was attacked while still in uniform by South Carolina police as he was taking a bus home. The attack and his injuries sparked national outrage and galvanized the civil rights movement in the United States, with Welles thus becoming a pioneering voice for post-war social activism.

It seems to be based partly on two articles written for a political magazine, “Moral Indebtedness”, Free World, October, 1943, and ‘Race hate must be outlawed’, "Free World", July 1944 and is something of an ethical manifesto that touches upon universal brotherhood, tolerance, altruism, freedom, responsibility and social justice. At the time, Welles was associated with American Vice-President Henry Wallace, who was known to have esoteric interests, although he distanced himself from Wallace in 1948. In my opinion, it ranks as one of the greatest American speeches of the twentieth century and one of Welles' finest moments. Unfortunately, a month after this impactful civil rights action, Welles' radio show was cancelled, due to political pressure. A final radio editorial, found in an archive collection, touching upon the situation, has recently received some attention.

And then there’s the soldier in the hospital. The blind soldier. The soldier said he was blinded, and the mayor and the chief of police in the place where the soldier says it happened, are most indignant with me for repeating what he said and swore to. The Times the other day was full of their official protests. Sent under seal all the way up to New York City via the inviolable borders of Aiken county, in South Carolina. My investigators are still hard at work on the case. If the soldier was wrong about the place, I’m going to do something about it. But he isn’t wrong about his eyes. He lost them. I’m going to do something about that. All the affidavits from all the policemen in the world won’t protest his eyes back in his head. Somebody, somebody who called himself an officer of the law, beat that boy with a stick, until he lost his sight. Now, that somebody is nobody. He’s vanished, he’s never been heard of, he hasn’t any name, well…he’s going to be heard of. The blind soldier has my promise of that. That somebody is going to be named. Editorials, and lots of newspapers, and lots of people, are writing me to demand to know what business it is of mine. God judge me if it isn’t the most pressing business I have.

The blind soldier fought for me in this war. The least I can do now is fight for him. I have eyes. He hasn’t. I have a voice on the radio, he hasn’t. I was born a white man. And until a colored man is a full citizen, like me, I haven’t the leisure to enjoy the freedom that colored man risked his life to maintain for me. I don’t own what I have until he owns an equal share of it. Until somebody beats me and blinds me, I am in his debt. And so I come to this microphone not as a radio dramatist, though it pays better, not as a commentator, although it’s safer to be simply that, I come in that boy’s name, and in the name of all who in this land of ours have no voice of their own. I come with a call for action. This is a time for it. I call for action against the cause of riot. I know that to some ears, even the word “action” has a revolutionary twang, and it won’t surprise me if I’m accused in some quarters of inciting to riot. Well, I’m very interested in riots. I’m very interested in avoiding them. And so I call for action against the cause of riots.

Law is the best action, the most decisive. I call for laws prohibiting what moral judgement already counts as lawlessness. American law forbids a man the right to take away another’s right. It must be law that groups of men can’t use the machinery of our republic to limit the rights of other groups. The vote can’t be used to take away the vote. It’s in the people’s power to see to it that what makes lynchings and starts wars is dealt with. Not by well-wishers, but by policemen. And I mean good policemen. Oh, for several generations there may be men who can’t be weaned away from the fascist vices of race hate. But we should deny such men the responsibility in public affairs exactly as we deny responsibility to the wretched victims of the drug habit. There are laws against peddling dope, there can be laws against peddling race hate. But every man has a right to his own opinion as an American boasts, but race hate is not an opinion, it’s a phobia. It isn’t a viewpoint, race hate is a disease. In a people’s world, the incurable racist has no rights. He must be deprived of influence in a people’s government. He must be segregated, as he himself would segregate the colored and semitic peoples. As we now segregate the leprous and the insane.

Anything very big is very simple.¸ If there’s a big race question, there’s a big answer to it. The big answer is simple. Like the word no. This is my proposition: that the sin of race hate be solemnly declared a crime. What makes this difficult is the conservative fear of raising issues. Well, let’s admit that this fear is often no more sinister than an honest dread of going to the dentist, but let’s respect the effectiveness of reactionary manipulations of that fear, which is the fear of anarchy and revolution. It is put to wicked use against the same general welfare conservative opinion seeks to protect. Forced to acknowledge Hitler’s enmity, conservatives are loathe to admit that even as he surrendered in Europe, he succeeded in America. Let conservatives evaluate the impudent candor of fascism in Argentina today. And be reminded that the heroic survival of our liberty is no proof of its immortality. Our liberty every day has to be safe from marauders whose greed is for all things possessed by the people. Care of these possessions is the hope of life on this planet. They are living things, they grow. These fair possessions of democracy. And nothing but death can stop that growth. Let the yearners for the past, the willfully childish, learn now the facts of life.

The first of which is the fact of that growth. In our hemisphere, the growing has begun, but only just begun. America can write her name across this century, and so she will, if we, the people, brown and black and red, rise now to the great occasion of our brotherhood. It will take courage. It calls for the doing of great deeds, which means the dreaming of great dreams. Giving the world back to its inhabitants is too big a job for the merely practical. The architects of freedom are always capable of hope. The lawmakers of true democracy are true believers. They believe quite simply in the people, in all of them. Only the devout deserve the trust of government, for only the devout can face the unimaginable vistas of man’s destiny. God grant them steadfast hope and the rest of us enduring patience. For we must not expect from any leadership a shiny ready made millennium in our time. No one of us will live to see a blameless peace. We must strive and pray and die for what will be here when we’re gone. Our children’s children are the ancestors of a free people. We send our greetings ahead of us to them.

To history yet unmade, our greetings.To the generations, sleeping in our loins. Be of good heart. The fight is worth it.

Further Viewing

I'm not aware of a comprehensive study of the political facet of Welles' work, which would make for a substantial book, but I would say that the above transcript serves as a good overview of his pro-active, participative, responsible perspective on political and civic deontology. A further text on political ideologies and bureaucracy in modern society can serve to round out a basic summary of his views: La jeunesse décidera, La Démocratie Combattante, décembre 1952 in Orson Welles, Maurice Bessy, 1964, pp. 114

Orson Welles Commentary: To Be Born Free August 11, 1946 Isaac Woodward anti-racism speech Academic commentary

youtube.com/watch?v=q_hnSg

"Orson Welles' Sketchbook" discusses invasion of privacy by police, authorities, & overbearing, bloated bureaucracy. May 22, 1955; briefly summarizes Isaac Woodard case youtube.com/watch?v=Crn_mP

Dick Cavett Show July 27, 1970 pro-active anti-tyranny stance youtube.com/watch?v=XsyXbe

Freedom River - Orson Welles narration Compelling 1971 pro-democracy, pro-ecology, anti-capitalism parable, animation film 8 min Sam Weiss Joseph C Cavella Warren H Schmidt, Stephen Bosustow from the makers of Mr. Magoo..

https://wellesnet.com/freedom-river-orson-welles-narrated-parable-on-xenophobia-greed/

The Eyes of Orson Welles-documentary 2018 Mark Cousins Touches upon humanistic, ethical, political philosophy youtube.com/watch?v=27FyMn

The Cave: A Parable Told By Orson Welles, 1973, Sam Weiss, Dick Oden

Part 1