Tim Wise: To understand white denial about American history, consider two photos.

[Nevilledog]

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Tim Wise
@timjacobwise
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To understand white denial about American history, consider two photos. First, this pic of Hazel Bryan screaming at Elizabeth Eckford during the integration of Little Rock Central High. The date: September 4, 1957. As for the second photo, follow along...(1)
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To understand white denial about American history, consider two photos. First, this pic of Hazel Bryan screaming at Elizabeth Eckford during the integration of Little Rock Central High. The date: September 4, 1957. As for the second photo, follow along...(1)


This is a promo pic for the TV show Leave it to Beaver: a much-beloved program, especially for white conservatives, who view it as a nostalgic representation of family life and the ultimate example of a more "innocent time..." But here's the thing...(2)


Leave it to Beaver premiered on October 4, 1957: one month to the day after that photo from Little Rock was taken. America was not innocent, and the evil wasn't only in the heart of Hazel Bryan or other Little Rock whites. It was a national sickness. One most whites ignored...(3)

...or simply couldn't allow themselves to see. Any nation that produces hagiographic representations of itself, at a time when others are being assailed and destroyed, deserves to be exposed as the fraud it is...(4)

And those who bought the lie -- whose childhoods were dependent upon it -- deserve to have their memories assaulted with truth, to be confronted with reality no matter how difficult. It's called growing up. It's called not being able to wallow in infantile naivete anymore...(5)

White Americans have an understanding of this country which is, by and large, infantile. And we are held hostage by our own ignorance. James Baldwin said it best...(6)

'These innocent people are trapped in a history they do not understand, and until they understand it, they cannot be released from it.' We want release without recognition, pardon without pain, forgiveness without facing the truth of what this nation has done in OUR name...(7)

And to our relative benefit for centuries. We want the America of the Cleaver family, because we fail to realize it NEVER EXISTED. It was a myth. A lie. Always. Reality was represented by that other picture from Little Rock...(8)

And it wasn't just the overt haters like Hazel Bryan and her fellow racist students. It was the millions of whites who maybe wouldn't have screamed hate like that, but did NOTHING to bring down segregation. That was the vast majority of our parents/grandparents...(9)

And that silence, that acquiescence, was more evil than Hazel Bryan. At least Hazel had the courage of her awful convictions. Far worse to be the white person who accepted segregation quietly and compromised their humanity without even having the guts to own their sickness...(10)

At some point, we will have to grow up, like it or not. This country cannot much longer abide white denial and the perpetuation of the mythology that passes for American history. That mythology tethers us to systems of injustice and prevents us from becoming what we could...(11)

And it guarantees conflict and violence in years to come. We must kill the mythology and bury the lies deep in the soil. Only this will save the country from utter ruin (END)
• • •

[Scrivener7]

1. Kick. This is great.

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Most important thread on DU...

[underpants]

3. Like other syndication successes Beaver really wasn't much watched in its first run

It never made it into the top 30. Only the big sitcoms were able to get into the top 30. It became a giant of syndication and the right wing jumped on it.

Brady Bunch and Gilligan also were just middle of the pack shows in prime time.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leave_It_to_Beaver

In spite of solid and consistent ratings, Leave It to Beaver never climbed into the Nielsen's top-30 though similar sitcoms of the period such as Father Knows Best, The Donna Reed Show, The Real McCoys, and Dennis the Menace managed to do so.

Leave It to Beaver faced stiff competition in its time slots. During its next to last season, for example, the show ran against The Defenders, a program examining highly charged courtroom cases about abortion and the death penalty. In its final season, the show was up against Perry Mason and Dr. Kildare but was in the ABC line-up with television greats The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Donna Reed Show, and My Three Sons.[2]

Critical response Edit

[zipplewrath]

18. Star Trek

As much of a Treker as I might be, it is hard to ignore that it was "only" three seasons long and limped into a third season at that. There are so many shows that were vastly more popular with the back side of the baby boom than the early years. Many of them in reruns. The reality that many don't understand today is that there were only 2 - 3 "networks and that they only "broadcast" between 7 and 11:00. Johnny Carson was the ONLY show on at that time in the early days. I watched local stations "sign off" roughly between 11:00 and midnight with the national anthem and a test pattern. As much fun as some of those early shows were, All in the Family and others of much later had better competition and were of much better writing than one can understand on an absolute basis without ignoring the "ratings" of their day.

[underpants]

19. Also people watched TV shows

Not a whole night of TV. Sure some did but ratings showed that the shows around Father Knows Best had drastically less viewers.

[zipplewrath]

31. The end of bowling

I read an examination years ago about the effect of TV on bowling leagues. Many different leagues suffered greatly because of the habit of people just staying home and watching TV.

[underpants]

34. I could see that. 👍

[Crunchy Frog]

71. I used to enjoy watching it on Nick at Nite in the 80's or 90's.

If had been politicized, I wasn't aware of it.

[Jilly_in_VA]

75. I absolutely HATED

Leave it to Beaver. I hated Father Knows Best, Dennis the Menace, The Brady Bunch, and Donna Reed almost as much, but I hated Gilligan's Island even more. I watched Ozzie and Harriet for a brief time when I was in junior high because I was briefly enamored of Ricky Nelson, but my taste improved after a few months. I found My Three Sons, Patty Duke, and The Real McCoys mildly amusing. I preferred Gunsmoke and Have Gun, Will Travel, and later, Star Trek. Also later, The Addams Family (but never The Munsters, a pale imitation!). And there was a time a group of us had a standing tradition of gathering at a local watering hole to watch reruns of Maverick, which we enjoyed for its sly humor.

[COL Mustard]

76. I Loved (And Still Do) Gilligan's Island

I know it wasn't real, anymore than the road runner/coyote cartoons were real. But it was, for me, innocent escapism. I also liked Gunsmoke but I was too young (hard to believe now, although I got carded tonight in the Giant buying wine) for Father Knows Best and some of the others. But it's still a trip down memory lane, and by the way, don't start in on Hogan's Heroes...where all the Nazis were played by Jews...and LeBeau is the only one still alive, and an actual concentration camp survivor.

[Jilly_in_VA]

79. Different strokes

and all that.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Really important post. I cannot say it enough! REALLY IMPORTANT POST. n/t

[Solly Mack]

5. K&R

[Blue Owl]

6. Double K&R

[brush]

7. One of the best posts I've seen. Straight to my favorites.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

8. Was there something inherently racist about that show that I don't remember?

I feel like he's being a bit hard on The Beaver.

[Skittles]

9. it's the image it presented

it just wasn't reality for a big portion of America

[RobinA]

48. It Probably Wasn't

reality for any portion of America. It was television. People then, like people now, somehow got the idea that television was a reflection of reality for everybody but them. They then and now drive themselves nuts trying to be like what's on TV or feeling bad because they can't make their lives like that.

[AZ8theist]

36. It wasn't racist. It was pornographic....

June Cleaver:

"Ward, you were a little hard on the beaver last night"......

[Carlitos Brigante]

46. .

.

[progressoid]

69. O!

[Random Boomer]

65. It was also a mythic representation of women

Aside from the lily-white neighborhood, you also had June Cleaver serving breakfast to her family while dressed up in heels and pearls. She glided effortlessly through her house, no hair out of place, and looked immaculate even while cleaning.

The show, in so many ways, was a idyllic fantasy of what childhood could be like as long as no real humans were involved.

[Pacifist Patriot]

72. That was my takeaway.

[llashram]

11. +

[czarjak]

12. Par.

[NJCher]

13. it's just painful

to look at the yelling woman and the woman she is yelling at. Why would anyone want to do this? What does it get you?

I'd like to ask what the source of such cruelty is but I already know the answer.

[Skittles]

15. I think that every time I see the "Karen and Ken" videos

WHAT exactly makes a person think they are superior to others?

[AZ8theist]

37. My given name is Ken. Don't associate me with these imbeciles....

That's one reason I hated the "Karen" moniker.

I always felt the derogatory labels should be "Ivanka" and "Jared".....

[Skittles]

39. that's why I put it in quotes

this is about racism, not you

[StarfishSaver]

50. Sigh

[CloudWatcher]

22. It's worth knowing ...

They became friends for a while ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazel_Massery

[Pinback]

51. Interesting backstory - thanks. (nt)

[ailsagirl]

41. Awful!!!

Shameful 😧😪😖

[Just Jerome]

14. AMEN

Brothers and Sisters!

[KS Toronado]

52. Welcome to DU!

[Hekate]

16. Excellent post. I was just under 10 yo; we'd moved to O'ahu that May. I was fortunate that Mom...

…always had something to say about the news on TV, and I think that’s why I remember these events so clearly.

For one thing, she had a way of personalizing the Civil Rights movement when she spoke about it to me. As a white Roman Catholic girl born and raised in Colorado during a great resurgence of the KKK, she knew very well they didn’t just hate black people, but Jews and Roman Catholics with nearly equal virulence ( “Nearly” only because ethnic whites can more or less blend in as long as they keep their mouths shut and don’t “look” too ethnic. It was another time. ) Stand up for all — or you will be next.

As for Leave it to Beaver — she tended to be sarcastic about its fantasy world. But that was Mom all over — what she had to say about the Cinderella/Snow White/Prince fantasies was worse.

[yourmovemonkey]

17. He really drilled to the heart of it

This is so concise. I'm going to use this over and over again.

[Wounded Bear]

20. K & R...nt

[bdamomma]

21. Great post

and thread. I bookmarked this thread. We have a lot of skeletons in our country's closet, way past the time to get the truth out and right the wrong.

[panader0]

23. Recommended.

[StarfishSaver]

24. Thank you

[Cha]

25. Rts TY!

[DallasNE]

26. September 4, 1957 Changed My Life

Growing up in rural Iowa I did not know that there was such a thing as segregated schools in America. Sure, I was very aware of Jackie Robinson but did not relate baseball integration with the broader American culture. That and a high school field trip to Chicago the following year and our tour to "Brownsville" (South Chicago) where on a work day there were all of these black men that were just wondering around on the streets, obviously not having a job. My America wasn't what I was taught it was in school at all. It was filled with hate. The year after that I started work in the office of Union Pacific in Omaha, NE and a couple of months later I asked why are there no Negroes working here - not a boss, but one of the old timers. He told me that Negroes only worked on passenger trains.

You quickly leaned that you don't question the status quo or you would lose your job. That is a pretty stiff deterent when you have a job that pays well.

[Hoyt]

27. Often wondered how white people captured in these photos at their hateful

worst felt decades later. Usually there is no name to investigate.

I just read about Hazel Bryan after seeing her name above. Apparently, she felt awful about being captured in a hateful rage, but I can’t really tell if she genuinely has changed. At least she acknowledged some remorse, but I bet most others never did.

“Innocent time” portrayals definitely missed a chance to help change things sooner. But employers, schools, healthcare, city planners, sports teams, churches, even unions, etc., all played a deplorable part.

Great post.

[zentrum]

28. Important Post. Huge Kick.

[The Conductor]

29. There is a coda to the story...

If being a liberal means anything at all, it means being able to concede mistakes and allowing that people are not perfect, but may aspire to be that way. Hazel Bryan later became good friends with Elizabeth Eckford, and they seem to have genuinely enjoyed each other's company. Always haunted by the singular image of that hateful time, the later Hazel Massery and Elizabeth Ekford apparently overcame the awful start they had on first meeting.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazel_Massery

https://spartacus-educational.com/USAeckford.htm

The same photojournalist who took their photo in 1957 caught up with them in 1998, when they were photographed together. People can learn to get beyond their hate - and we can all learn from that. That does not mean there is no consequences for hold hate in the first place, something that tortured Hazel Massery later and she always felt responsible for the trauma Elizabeth Ekford suffered all those years. So learning not to hate is good, but not hating in the first place would have been far better.

[madaboutharry]

30. There is an excellent book by David Margolick.

It is called Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock.

I read it several years ago. It immensely interesting and very sad.

[bullwinkle428]

32. Hazel Bryan absolutely would have been amongst the January 6 insurrectionists.

K&R.

[A HERETIC I AM]

67. I wouldn't bet on it.

Perhaps the Hazel of the day that picture was taken would participate, but she grew to understand her racism was wrong and atoned, eventually becoming friends with Elizabeth Eckford.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazel_Massery

[Fiendish Thingy]

33. Not a fair comparison- a better 2nd photo would have been "Father Knows Best"

Leave it to Beaver always gets mentioned as the stereotypical, WASP sitcom. Although all of its main characters were white, compared to other sitcoms of its time, it was positively “woke”.

Leave It To Beaver actually had an episode that dealt with racism (when Eddie tricked Beaver into telling the new Latino kid in the neighborhood “you have the face of a pig” in Spanish), as well as an episode that dealt with alcoholism. The writers listened to their kids playing, and wrote dialog that reflected the way kids actually talked. For a sitcom, there was a good amount of tension between characters that wasn’t played just for laughs. Again, for the 50’s.

On the other hand, Father Knows Best was a bland, unfunny show that actually did try to portray the fantasy of the stereotypical happy, white middle class family without any problems. It’s star, Robert Young was a raging alcoholic.

I think Leave It To Beaver gets picked on because these days, it is better known and loved than Father Knows Best, but FKB was much more popular and ran for more seasons, IIRC.

The message and point of the thread is still true- the America of the stereotypical sitcom family never existed, and people who buy into that myth participate in a potentially lethal form of white denial.

[DallasNE]

40. I Was Guessing The Comparison Was Going To Be To Ozzie And Harriet nt

[I_UndergroundPanther]

42. Brady bunch

Was that same fantasy updated for the 60s

Growing up in a violent home I couldn't stand watching the Brady bunch.

Because I wondered why my father was not nice,and hated us.

I longed to be in a home where it was safe and the Brady bunch lie just hurt.

[mountain grammy]

57. Yes, those shows were hard for abused kids

My husband was one too. No hotline for kids back then.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

58. One time

When en my father hurt me really bad,
I called the sheriff for help. All he said was to drink some warm milk and go to bed.

Glad 911 services happened. Wish it existed in the 70's.

[mountain grammy]

60. that's sickening.

my husband learned to hide when his dad was home. The man didn't even drink. He was just a mean, awful man. No child should have to live like that.

[Crunchy Frog]

73. I got really into The Brady Bunch when I was a kid in the mid 70's.

I think I liked the idealized image of a blended family since I was growing up in the blended family from Hell.

[Evolve Dammit]

35. The time has come for us to confront our origins. Our slaughter; our racism. Then we heal.

[Lonestarblue]

38. I do not remember my parents watching Leave It to Beaver.

They actually didn’t watch much television at all, and we did homework after dinner, so no TV. I do clearly remember my father watching the evening news every night for what was happening with the Vietnam War since my older brother was serving there. Fortunately, he came home okay. Many others didn’t. My high school was integrated peacefully when I was a Junior, and I think that was a reflection of a pragmatic people who saw the need for change. I can never appreciate enough that my parents provided an example for treating all people just as people—not as a skin color.

Somehow it seems that we have come full circle, and there are those in the country who are determined to undermine the idea that we are a country of many races, and all with the same rights of citizenship. I so wish we could honor MLK’s words to judge people by their characters rather than the color of their skin.

[Marcus Pullarius]

43. Sponsors ultimately controlled the programming,

marketing came before programming. The sponsors were targeting a specific audience and the programs were solely used to sell something to the most affluent and gullible public available. Therefore (IMHO) it is the advertisers that should bare responsibility for the misrepresentation of the real America to those of us born in the 50's.

[Midnight Writer]

44. Now do Friends. Or Seinfield. Or Cheers. Or Dallas. Or Captain Kangaroo. Or...

TV is a fantasyland aimed at white audiences.

[robbob]

53. I stumbled upon a web page dedicated to "Friends moments that make us cringe now"...

just last night. Forget how I got there, just some link I clicked on. But wow! The examples of misogynistic, racist, fat shaming behaviour (among other things) that were presented on that show as “funny” were just mind boggling. Never was a big fan, glad I didn’t watch it.

[calimary]

45. Kicking so I can find this later.

Cuz I need to be able to!

[twodogsbarking]

47. This is one of the best things I have seen on DU

Thanks

[RobinA]

49. You Can't "Kill" Mythology

some other mythology will just grow in its place. Find out what purpose the mythology serves, find something else that serves that purpose and is less damaging. If, that is, you (generic "you" ) think you have enough control over mythmaking in your culture to change it to that extent. Meanwhile making sure that you aren't giving people reasons to create even more virulent mythologies. Good luck with that.

[malaise]

54. Excellent

Rec

[malaise]

55. Excellent

Rec

[sheilahi]

56. my shame

As a teenager growing up in Amarillo Texas and working at a movie theatre, I will never forget the day I went to work and saw a line of black people waiting to get inside to watch a movie. It was obvious that it was a big deal for them since everyone had taken the time to dress up in their very nicest clothes and holding their money so we'd know they could afford to see a movie. Know what we did? We kept the doors locked and hid inside. The kids outside waited and waited and waited in their pretty clothes in that scorching Texas heat while knowing that "us white folks" in the air conditioned theatre were feeling superior to them simply because of the color of their skin. I remember feeling sick to my stomach about treating other human beings like this. That was the day I knew I had to leave the south.........and i did. I also know that I owe each and everyone of these people an apology.

[mountain grammy]

59. K & R for this excellent post

and for Tim Wise and his relentless exposure of the truth,

[TraceNC]

61. Oh man. Wait til this guy hears about The Lone Ranger.

[Marthe48]

62. My family was racist

My Dad was overtly racist, my Mom didn't think she was, but she was. I don't know about my Mom's family, but my Dad's family, just cousins now, are racist. I have been doing genealogy research and by inference, it seems like I come from a long line of racists. My husband's dad was racist and I called him on that, once. My husband didn't realize his Mom was racist, and when he realized that, by something she said, he was stunned.

I didn't want to follow in their footsteps, and so I didn't. I had arguments with my Dad and discussions with my Mom, but I am not an activist. I have never lived where I can march or had the ability to go somewhere to demonstrate. Our kids do march, attend BLM and other civil rights events. I am troubled that I haven't ever done enough. Through my life, I've tried to set an example and I hope that helps.

[New Breed Leader]

63. As always Mr. Wise comes through with truth.

[Seinan Sensei]

64. Ms Eckford served in the US Army

For five years.
Supporting and defending the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

[BannonsLiver]

66. There's a whole lot of Captain Obvious in this piece

I’m not sure it’s any revelation that America wasn’t as woke in 1957 as it is today.

[The Mouth]

68. I think the interesting point is the

utter disconnect between television and reality. And how very little that has changed.

The fact that Cosmos had 13 episodes and the Kardashians 20 years tells me all I need to know about TV viewers.

[Ziggysmom]

70. OMG Hazel's face looks just like a modern day Magat!

You saw hundreds that looked just like her at #45 rallies and the 1/6 terrorist attack.

[SYFROYH]

74. Have any sitcoms reflected the harsh reality of racism or other types of discrimination of its day?

Not really.

It is true that dominant cultures have a heroic view of themselves at the expense of social injustices.

[liberalla]

77. bookmarking... K&R

[Sparkly]

78. I was born in 1957 and attended an integrated school

It seemed weird to me that adults kept repeating that we're all the same under our skin, that everyone is equal and should be treated fairly, that Black people are in no way inferior to White people - I wondered why they felt the need to keep repeating it. The answer sounded like, "Well, there used to be a problem. It was really bad, and people want to make sure it never happens again."

I was terribly naive, and thought prejudice was just a problem of a few old people. It caused a stir when I sat with my Black friend at her lunch table in elementary school and had a playdate at the "projects" where she lived; it raised some eyebrows that my high school sweetheart was Black, but we found that hilarious. If we saw people staring, we made them more uncomfortable. (In a bakery where he worked, we asked about an interracial bride-and-groom cake topper to see the woman be flustered coming up with an answer; in a grocery store when there was a gawker, we loudly questioned each other about whether we had enough diapers and baby food at home!)

There were some White people who grew up in the south during the Great Depression, fought/lived through WWII, went to college on the GI Bill, and raised their kids to be the antithesis of blind faith or bigotry of any kind. "You're not less than anyone else, but you're not better than anyone else" was the message.

I can't quite separate the rise in my awareness of racism from the rise in its expression since the Reagan era. Once Newt Gingrich created his image of The Welfare Queen, poverty and Blackness were merged as powerful targets of hate. White racism is played like a fiddle by the GOP, and their base never fails to dance to the music.

Do Republican politicians themselves actually believe anything they say? Do they even think about what they are doing to communities, to families, to children, or have they so distanced themselves from their actions that, like the worst criminals in history, they have had to adjust their thinking to consider Black people other than human.

It's not 1957 anymore, but there is A LOT of work to be done at local levels for voting rights, and fair housing (which relates to business investments and employment, food security, education and healthcare). We ALL need to see what we can do to help in local urban areas.