I know I won't get a response, but I am going to try: Can one of my black conservative friends please explain Erik Opczynski to me? I ask because I know that he belongs to your tribe and I am trying to understand his mind-set.
"THE CROWD cheered for nearly 20 minutes when Paul Robeson, filled with regret and faced with a ruined reputation, plunged a sword into his body on Oct. 19, 1943.
When the curtain dropped on Robeson's Broadway debut as Othello that night, he was arguably the world's best-known African-American.
But, like Shakespeare's ill-fated protagonist, Robeson later became an outcast whose reputation as accomplished scholar, artist, All-American athlete and civil-rights pioneer was replaced with one word - communist.
Unlike Othello, the New Jersey native and Rutgers University graduate refused to fall on his sword, even as the FBI and CIA files on him bulged and his
Time has faded the red stain on Robeson's life. Today, buildings across the country are named after him, including the library at Rutgers University-Camden, where Erik Opczynski is a 21-year-old undergraduate finance major and president of the Rutgers-Camden College Republicans. Last month, he published a letter in the school's newspaper asking Rutgers to rename the library because of Robeson's "radical socialism."
"Although he was a very intelligent and gifted man, Paul Robeson made a very unfortunate choice. He was a personal admirer of Josef Stalin," Opczynski, of Palmyra, told the Daily News. "My problem is Rutgers placing this man, Mr. Robeson, on a pedestal considering his unsavory, almost disgraceful past." [Article]
"THE CROWD cheered for nearly 20 minutes when Paul Robeson, filled with regret and faced with a ruined reputation, plunged a sword into his body on Oct. 19, 1943.
When the curtain dropped on Robeson's Broadway debut as Othello that night, he was arguably the world's best-known African-American.
But, like Shakespeare's ill-fated protagonist, Robeson later became an outcast whose reputation as accomplished scholar, artist, All-American athlete and civil-rights pioneer was replaced with one word - communist.
Unlike Othello, the New Jersey native and Rutgers University graduate refused to fall on his sword, even as the FBI and CIA files on him bulged and his
Time has faded the red stain on Robeson's life. Today, buildings across the country are named after him, including the library at Rutgers University-Camden, where Erik Opczynski is a 21-year-old undergraduate finance major and president of the Rutgers-Camden College Republicans. Last month, he published a letter in the school's newspaper asking Rutgers to rename the library because of Robeson's "radical socialism."
"Although he was a very intelligent and gifted man, Paul Robeson made a very unfortunate choice. He was a personal admirer of Josef Stalin," Opczynski, of Palmyra, told the Daily News. "My problem is Rutgers placing this man, Mr. Robeson, on a pedestal considering his unsavory, almost disgraceful past." [Article]
Yes Erik, and let's start removing all those MLK street signs as well. Because by your definition he had an "unsavory" and "disgraceful past". So Paul Robeson was a Communist in the fifties. Stop the presses. How dare he! I mean A-merry-ca was such a wonderful place to be black back then. His daddy was born a slave, so with all due respect to folks like Glenn Beckkk; I am guessing that my man didn't buy into what the forefathers were selling at the time.
Anyway, I am still waiting for an answer from one of you black conservatives. And no, I am not holding my breath.
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