Saturday, March 13, 2010

DBTL 73: Today's Tom Sawyer

This is the latest installment of the Drowned Baby Timeline, an alternate history where Adolf Hitler drowned at birth, and where World War II never took place. In the United States, the appointment of the first negro to the Supreme Court in 1941 and the desegregation of the armed forces by President Taft the following year are highlights of the slow but steady retreat of institutionalized racialism . . .

Afro-Objectivism? The mind boggles
--Carlos Yu, 17 September 2001


San Francisco, California, USA
24 June 1968

A modern-day warrior
Mean mean stride
Today's Tom Sawyer
Mean mean pride

Waiting in the green room at the KNTV studio, Bobby Seale stood in front of a mirror, adjusting his black beret and smoothing his mustache before a production assistant came for him. He was led out onto the set during a station break, where he was met by a white man around his age who shook his hand.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Seale," the man said. "I'm Jerry Brown, and I'll be conducting the interview."

"Likewise, Mr. Brown," Seale said in his best Establishment voice. He'd heard of Brown; a native of the Bay area, Brown's father had been the state's Attorney General before an unsuccessful run for Governor back in '58. Brown himself had gone into journalism, working for the Examiner before joining KNTV.

"Please, call me Jerry," said Brown.

"Thank you, Jerry," Seale replied. "And you can call me Mr. Seale."


Oakland, California, USA
25 June 1968

Though his mind is not for rent
Don't put him down as arrogant
His reserve a quiet defense
Riding out the day's events
The river

Bobby Seale walked through the streets of West Oakland like a king walking through a realm that he held by sword-right. As co-founder and chairman of the Afro-Objectivist Movement, Seale was indeed the uncrowned king of Oakland, and he knew it.

The Man knew it too. Ever since the Boycott the police had been treating the city's Afro-American community with kid gloves. Shoot at The Man and he'll just shoot back, but cut off The Man's money and he'll treat you like a Prince.

Seale's eyes were drawn to the words spraypainted across a brick wall: Who is John Prince? You saw that everywhere in Oakland these days. Even people who had never read Atlas Shrugged knew who John Calvin Prince was.

"Bobby!"

A man was calling to Seale from across the street. Looking over to see who it was, Seale winced. It was Eldridge Cleaver.


San Francisco, California, USA
24 June 1968

What you say about his company
Is what you say about society
Catch the mist, catch the myth
Catch the mystery, catch the drift


The red ON AIR sign went on, and the anchorman did a short intro for the interview before going to Brown.

"Thank you, Brad," said Brown. "I'm speaking today with Bobby Seale, founder and chairman of the Afro-Objectivist Movement. In the last two years, the AOM has mushroomed from a local organization to a national phenomenon with chapters in twenty-three cities. The AOM is best known for organizing a six-week boycott of white-owned businesses in Oakland early last year in response to the killing of a member named Huey Newton by police. Mr. Seale, I understand that the idea for the boycott originally came from Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged."

"That's correct, Jerry. Miss Rand wrote her novel after taking part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and she based the events in Atlas Shrugged on Doctor King's struggle against the Jim Crow racial-collectivists."

"Mr. Seale, some of Miss Rand's other followers have denounced your boycott, and indeed the whole of the civil rights movement, as being itself a form of collectivist action. How do you respond?"

Seale knew that Brown was trying to get an angry denunciation from him against his fellow Objectivists. He didn't hold it against him; after all, Brown was a reporter and stirring up controversy was his job. "The effort to free the Afro-American people is and always has been an effort by independent individuals to bring down a collectivist tyranny. If we act in concert, that only shows that the goal of freedom is one that all people can objectively recognize as a desirable one, and mutual co-operation is an objectively optimal means of reaching that goal. I regret that some of my fellow Objectivists have misinterpreted our actions as collectivist, and I sincerely hope that one day they will join with Miss Rand herself in supporting our efforts."


Oakland, California, USA
25 June 1968

The world is, the world is
Love and life are deep
Maybe as his skies are wide

A year older than Seale, Eldridge Cleaver had been part of the Movement right from the start. Articulate and impassioned, Cleaver more than anyone else had drawn the nation's attention to the Boycott with his fiery pen and helped make it a success.

But something had happened to him. Right after the Boycott ended, Miss Ayn had come to Oakland to share in the victory. She and Cleaver had hit it off immediately, and he had remained behind after the celebration in her hotel room. The next morning, Seale had found him in the Movement's office, curled up in a corner, shaking like a leaf, his face streaked with tears. Cleaver had never talked about what had happened to him, but whatever it was had broken him. He had dropped out of the Movement, and Seale hadn't seen him in over a year.

Reluctantly crossing the street, Seale greeted Cleaver with the Movement's raised fist salute. "What's up, my man?" he asked, forcing himself to look into the other man's haunted eyes.

Cleaver started in on a long, rambling explanation of how he was in a jam and needed fifty dollars to straighten it out. Silently, Seale pulled out a money clip and peeled off some bills. "Here, man, no problem," he muttered as he handed them over.

Cleaver responded with effusive thanks and promises to repay Seale in the future. Seale turned and walked away as fast as he could without seeming to hurry. He breathed a sigh of relief as he turned a corner and fell out of earshot of the other man.


San Francisco, California, USA
24 June 1968

Today's Tom Sawyer
He gets high on you
And the space he invades
He gets by on you


"Mr Seale," said Brown, "let's turn now to the upcoming All or Nothing rally in Washington. Many Americans are still uncomfortable with this country's membership in the League of Nations, and they find control of our atomic weapons by the League's Atomic Control Commission intolerable. Once more, your fellow Objectivists are among the League's most vocal critics. And yet, with the All or Nothing rally, the AOM is advocating even greater League control over America. How do you reconcile this with your movement's basic principles of self-determination?"

"Jerry," said Seale, "the Afro-Objectivist Movement sees the Minorities Commission as a moral authority in an amoral world. It stands for the things we stand for: creative expression in a world of suffocating conformity; individuality in a world of collectivism; and freedom in a world of enslavement. If the government fears to let its actions be scrutinized by an objective institution, then the government threatens the freedom of the individuals it claims to govern."


Oakland, California, USA
25 June 1968

No his mind is not for rent
To any god or government
Always hopeful yet discontent
He knows changes aren't permanent
But change is


When he reached the Movement's offices, Seale was met by David Hilliard, his Chief of Staff. "How's the road trip looking?" Seale asked.

"Looking good," Hilliard answered, quoting Jack Nicholson's catch phrase from Welcome Back, Casey. "We've got five buses chartered. We're set to go on the 29th, and we're scheduled to hit D.C. on July 3rd."

"Right on," Seale exclaimed. The upcoming All or Nothing rally was shaping up to be the biggest protest march in the country's history, and the Afro-Objectivist Movement was one of the major players making it happen.

Back when the League of Nations was founded, the Allied nations had set up a Minorities Commission to monitor compliance with the Covenant's articles on minority rights. All the newly-created Central European nations had been required to submit to the Commission's oversight, while the West European imperialist nations had carefully exempted themselves and their colonial empires.

After the Danzig War, the Poles had formulated their All or Nothing Doctrine: either all League members had to submit to the Minorities Commission, or none of them had to. One by one over the course of the 1940s, the imperialist nations had given in to the combined pressure of the Warsaw Pact nations and their own people and adopted the All or Nothing Doctrine. Portugal had been the last to capitulate in 1953 as quid pro quo for being admitted into the European Customs Union.

When the United States finally joined the League in 1959, it had done so without accepting the All or Nothing Doctrine. The other League members, anxious to finally have the American atomic weapons program under formal League control, had let the matter slide.

The rest of the world might let it slide, but the American civil rights movement wouldn't. All through the 1960s support for the Doctrine had been growing. Now the Nixon-Humphrey bill was being debated by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and was expected to reach the Senate floor after the August Recess.

Seale shook his head in amazement. Whoever would have thought that Senator Knowland's protégé would end up on the side of the angels? But they didn't call him Tricky Dick for nothing, and it was looking more and more certain that Nixon would be able to ride his newfound support for the Doctrine to the Republican presidential nomination, and maybe even to the White House.


San Francisco, California, USA
24 June 1968

What you say about his company
Is what you say about society
Catch the witness, catch the wit
Catch the spirit, catch the spit

"Mr Seale," said Brown, "would you care to comment on the rumors that have been making the rounds that Senator Nixon will be addressing the All or Nothing rally?"

"The All or Nothing rally was conceived as a non-partisan event, and it remains a non-partisan event," said Seale carefully. "While we in the Afro-Objectivist Movement, along with the other participating organizations, applaud those members of the political Establishment who choose to support our goals, we are independent of any political affiliation, and we intend to remain so. If Senator Nixon, or even President Warren, wish to address the rally, we would not in principle be opposed, provided that they respect the purpose of the rally and do not attempt to inject their own partisan concerns into the proceedings."


Oakland, California, USA
25 June 1968

The world is, the world is
Love and life are deep
Maybe as his eyes are wide

Bobby Seale walked the streets of West Oakland, a Prince of the city, two armed bodyguards in his train. The people he passed by, brothers and sisters, raised their fists in salute. The Movement had given them pride, made them see themselves as strong, self-reliant individuals, masters of their own destiny. Some of them would be going to Washington with the Movement's caravan, but more would find their own way there. They would be joined by hundreds of thousands more from across the country, showing The Man the power of the individual.

Let Tricky Dick stand up and make a speech. Let him think that he could walk to the White House on the backs of the Movement. The Boycott had only been the beginning, and the All or Nothing rally was only a single step. The power of the minorities, especially the Minority of One, was growning, and in time all of America, all the world, would recognize that power.

Bobby Seale was going to make it happen.

Exit the warrior
Today's Tom Sawyer
He gets high on you
And the energy you trade
He gets right on to
The friction of the day

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