Salt of the Earth

“No man can terrorize a whole nation unless we are all his accomplices.” Edward R. Murrow (below)

What newsman Edward R. Murrow said of the red-baiting Republican Senator from Wisconsin Joseph R. McCarthy seems particularly relevant during a time when, once again, the timidity of Republicans allows demagoguery full reign, this time from the White House.  In 1954, during the so-called Army-McCarthy hearings, attorney Joseph Welch enunciated what others were too timid to say on the record: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness. Have you no sense of decency?”

The phrase “Salt of the earth”comes from the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus purportedly said to fishermen and, in effect, all simple folk, “Ye are the salt of the earth.”  It was a fitting title for a 1954 film about Mexican-Americans fighting for decent treatment at Empire Zinc Mine in the company town of Silver City, New Mexico.  The company paid Mexican-Americans less than Anglo miners and housed them in segregated units that lacked indoor plumbing or hot water.  Producer Paul Jarrico and director Herbert Biberman had been blacklisted for refusing to testify before the House UnAmerican Activities and in Biberman’s case, jailed for six months.  Will Geer played the role of sheriff; most cast members were not professional actors but rather miners themselves. When a Taft-Hartley injunction prevented workers from picketing, their wives took their place, in some cases against the husbands’ wishes.  Esperanzo Quintero, pregnant with a third child, gets arrested for leading the protest and is jailed, and, when consoled by a comrade, says, “I don’t want to go down fighting.  I want to win.” When the company attempts to evict the Quintero family, the community comes to their aid and the 15-month strike ends with the company granting most demands.  Most theaters refused to show “Salt of the Earth” after the American Legion called for a nationwide boycott, but it has since been recognized as a classic.

               Jencks in movie and later

Ron Cohen had me pick up a book for him mailed to the History department, “McCarthyism vs. Clinton Jencks” by Raymond Caballero.  A University of Colorado graduate, Jencks (1918-2002) served in the air force during World War II and after receiving an honorable discharge found work at Asarco’s Globe Smelter in Denver. Joining the International Union of Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, a radical union, he worked as a labor organizer in New Mexico and supported miners who in 1950 went on strike at Empire Zinc Company. Jencks participated in the blacklisted film “Salt of the Earth,” playing a role based on his own experiences.  In 1952 FBI agents arrested Jencks on charges of falsifiying a document by denying he belonged to the Communist Party. Convicted largely due to the testimony of FBI informant Harvey Matusow, who later recanted, Jencks appealed.  In 1957 the Supreme Court exonerated him due to his having been denied access to documents used against him.  During the 1960s he earned a PhD in Economics at Berkeley and became a professor at San Diego State before moving to Grand Rapids, Michigan with his third wife, a former grad student.

The Portage Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) is awarding an AR-15 to the winner of their raffle.  In an understatement Post-Tribunecolumn Jerry Davich opined that the prize was in bad taste.  One reader was more emphatic, branding it “crazy” and only possible in “redneck” Portage.  Other FOPs sadly have done the same despite the threat to law enforcement officers posed by semi-automatic rifles capable of mass destruction.

On the first week of bowling the Electrical Engineers were down to a single former electrical engineer, Frank Shufran, from our old Gary Sheet and Tin league, due to the retirement of Dick Maloney (macular degeneration) and Mel Nelson (bum shoulder). Fortunately, we picked up Ron Smith from Duke Cominsky’s Pin Heads, which disbanded due to teammates’ similar health problems. Lorenzo Rodriguez, on the DL all last year, would have been our fourth bowler had another team not reached him first.  Early in game one Lorenzo fell, sat down until his head cleared, then left, his return doubtful.  

On the cover of Time is Lil Nas X (Montero Lamar Hill), a gay, black, country rapper, with the hottest song of the year, “Old Town Road,” which has topped the Billboard charts for a record 19 weeks and already streamed well over a billion plays on Spotify, outperforming such heavy hitters as Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.  Just a year ago Lil Nas X was homeless, sleeping on a sister’s couch.  Here are lyrics to “Old Town Road”:

My life is a movie
Bull ridin' and boobies
Cowboy hat from Gucci
Wrangler on my booty

Can't nobody tell me nothin

Chancellor Lowe and Laila Nawab

Over a hundred faculty, administrators, staff, and students turned out for the Chancellor’s “Campus Conversation,” which resembles a convocation (something I suggested a decade ago) but without the typical pomp and ceremony. In her welcoming remarks Vice Chancellor Vicki Roman-Lagunas noted the steep increase in on-line offers to a round of applause (I felt like booing but kept silent) and paraphrased Chancellor Lowe’s statement that IU Northwest is the campus of the future, but we’re doing it now.  Faculty Org president Susan Zimmer’s most memorable line was, “Some students drink at the fountain of knowledge, and others just gargle.”  Chemistry major Laila Nawab, president of the Student Government Association gave the student welcome, noting efforts to get more students involved in campus affairs. Business students described an innovative mentoring program they started. 

Chancellor Bill Lowe’s state of the campus address was surprisingly upbeat, compared to the normal doom and gloom over budget matters.  He claimed that enrollment and retention were up after several lean years and that the university’s financial affairs were in order. Touting Hanif Abdurraqib’s October visit to campus, Lowe noted that all students can get a free copy of “They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us.” Before introducing Diversity director James Wallace, Lowe noted that the campus will soon be celebrating IU’s Bicentennial year and 60 years of being at our present Glen Park location.

At a luncheon in Savannah gym East Chicago Central grad David Bork, one of Dave’s best former students, who was recently hired as an assistant to Athletic Director Ryan Shelton, greeted me warmly.  Sitting with Chris Young and Nicole Anslover with plates of salad and brisket, string beans, rice, ands gravy, I told Chris I was looking forward to his September book club talk on the Pony Express.  He is presently reading Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” because his son has been assigned it in high school, something I did James’s senior year. I congratulated Nicole on being the new department chair.  Since she is teaching a fall upper division course on Postwar American, I told her about David Goldfield’s “The Gifted Generation: When Government Was Good” (2017).  She plans on inviting me to speak about race-relations in postwar Gary. Joining our table were sociologists Jack Bloom and Kevin McElmurry, geologist Zoran Kilibarda, photographer Jennifer Greenburg, and sculptor Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford (below).