random quotes ... to amuse, inspire, enrage:
  There is a circle around every individual human being, which no government, be it that of one, of a few, or of the many, ought to be permitted to overstep; there is a part of the life of every person who has come to years of discretion, within which the individuality of that person ought to reign uncontrolled either by any other individual or by the public collectively. That there is, or ought to be, some space in human existence thus entrenched around and sacred from authoritative intrusion, no one who professes the smallest regard to human freedom or dignity will call into question.

tagged: privacy, government, intrusion
  —John Stuart Mill, II Principles of Political Economy 560, 561 (1848); cited in 43 AMJUR POF 2d 449, on Invasion of Privacy by Public Disclosure of Private Facts.

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anti-racist Einstein

Friday, November 4th, 2005 4:22 pm

A new book by Fred Jerome & Rodger Taylor, Einstein on Race and Racism, fleshes out the historical record on Dr. Einstein’s anti-racist work. The most amazing thing is that, apart from a few quotes, the work that Einstein did on race has been largely forgotten by the public, and obliterated from popular historical accounts of his life.

The avalanche of Einstein images – genius, brilliant, absent-minded, kindly, bumbling and more – has all but buried Einstein’s political dimension, and totally covered up his civil-rights activities which have remained virtually unknown to his tens of millions of fans and followers.

… Einstein and Paul Robeson, two of the 20th Century’s most famous and popular figures, were not only friends but co-chaired the American Crusade to End Lynching and shared a dozen other anti-racist activities ….

Yet, despite Einstein’s clear intention to make his politics public – especially his anti-lynching and other antiracist activities – the history-molders have seemed embarrassed to do so. Or nervous. “I had to think about my Board,” a museum curator (who doesn’t want his name used even today) said, explaining why he had omitted some of the scientist’s political statements from the major exhibition celebrating Einstein’s one hundredth birthday in 1979.

Racism in America depends for its survival in large part on the smothering of anti-racist voices, especially when those voices come from popular and widely respected individuals – like Albert Einstein. This book, then. aspires to be part of a grand un-smothering.

It’s on my library reading list now. [Link from Marian's Blog 10/31 via Dru Blood]

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» Southern “mistrust”, 2008-01-21 (score:20)
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This entry was posted on Friday, November 4th, 2005 at 4:22 pm and is tagged racism, science , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. 770 views.

2 Responses to “anti-racist Einstein”

  1. Neil Says:
    November 5th, 2005 at 4:53 pm

    Hey, check out Helen Keller!

  2. LQ Says:
    November 5th, 2005 at 11:04 pm

    I know she was a socialist — was she involved in anti-racist work? You’re absolutely right – I should look into her history! The last I read of her was when I was a kid, the sanitized-of-politics biographies of her that are prepared for children. — LQ

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