Tom, I really don't know anything about any of that, but I know there are Communists in America. I was putzing around on google and found several famous Communists... including Woody Guthrie. Who knew?
Had heard of the name but could not place him so did a search. One of my Fav American songs which I always sang years ago. THIS LAND IS MY LAND.
@Lois Winters This I cannot understand. Being a "Communist" is characterized by just what? A belief in a type of leadership, just as might be a belief in God, no? "Being" a Communist required declaration as such. Awareness it was "illegal" discouraged non-zealous adherents, no? Frank
No way could she be labied a Commie but down was to the fact she was black and fought against the racists Interesting in the land of the free it was illegal to hold a political view that was iilegal could get you imprisoned or lyched
But she was not a Commie but accused of it and thrown out of her own country. Is that freedom???? As an Black American she recived France highest Honours in the war. And when she returned to Her country she was abused. For her was not the so called Land of the Free
Gloves Off Around 1958.( I was 16) At Lakenheath in the East of England an RAF base taken over by Americans. An American was to be discharged because he had done his draft service and could go back to the Land of the Free. Wanted to stay in England but it was refused. Applied for the Political right to stay which was granted by the UK Reason he was Black and had married a white English girl. He was from Little Rock if he went home would he would dragged out of his home and killed. In the Land of the Free. PS this is the History topic
England is not free from racism either, today or historically, but I'm not interested in bashing another country. England, Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands brought racial slavery to North America. It flourished under English rule and was abolished less than a century after the United States was formed. I say racial slavery because most of the Native American tribes kept slaves, who were usually from another tribe. For that matter, the first Africans who were brought here were already slaves in Africa because it was the custom of the African tribes to make slaves of people who were taken prisoner in battle, and slavery is still practiced in Africa and in some of the Muslim nations. So slavery is not a uniquely American problem. Nor is racism. On the one hand, you argue that in the land of the free, someone should be allowed to be a communist, yet you seem to believe that someone should not be allowed to be a racist in the land of the free. You don't seem to realize the contradiction. In fact, you seem to believe that, in a free country, people should be permitted to hold only those opinions that are acceptable to you. Given her associations, it is quite likely that Jo Baker had communist sympathies. At least, it wouldn't be unreasonable to suspect it. Whether or not she was a member of a Communist Party is another matter. Given that it was illegal at the time, a lot of people with communist sympathies were not card-carrying members. Either way, she was suspected of being a communist and, as she had given up her US citizenship, there would be no compelling reason for the US government to allow her entry into the country. As for being denied accommodations at a New York hotel, NYC is not well known for being a racist city. It has been a lot of other things that I wouldn't want to have anything to do with, but New York is not a hotbed of Klan activity. My guess is that there may have been reasons specific to her own behavior, or perhaps they didn't want the controversy, but I doubt that her skin tone had anything to do with it. For discussions of racism itself, we already have a thread for Racism.