Lee Daniels’: The Butler

Man is a credulous animal, and must believe something; in the absence of good grounds for belief, he will be satisfied with bad ones.
  - Bertrand Russell

My wife and I watched this movie the other day.  I’m not in the habit of critiquing movies, so I won’t even try to rate the movie’s artistic merit, acting prowess or music.  It is the message that I want to comment on.

Just to clarify, Lee Daniels is not the name of the butler in question; it is the name of the producer and director.  So the title does come across as a bit of an ego trip.  

The main part of the story covers the presidential periods of Eisenhower to Reagan.  Those who weren’t old enough to remember that era need to see this movie as a history lesson.  Those who do remember need to see it as a reminder.  It pretty well covers the entire period of the civil rights movement in the U.S.  It also introduces the introduction of sanctions against apartheid.  It is a good reminder of the travails that blacks have had to endure to get equal rights in the U.S. and South Africa.

I witnessed some of the things that happened on the journey to civil rights when I spent two years as an exchange officer with the US Navy in the early to mid-1970s.  Among other things, I was under the command of the first black admiral in the US Navy, Rear-Admiral (later Vice-Admiral) Samuel L. Gravely.  He was a good officer who deserved his rank and who had a good sense of humour about his situation.  I spent the first year in Newport, Rhode Island, the heart of northern liberalism.  I spent the second year in Charleston, South Carolina, the heart of Confederate sympathy.  What was interesting was the reaction to our command’s move to Charleston from some of the black members of our staff.  When I asked one of them, a senior Petty Officer, about what he thought of the move, he said that at least in Charleston, he and his family knew what to expect.  The message was that there was discrimination in both parts of the country, but it was more overt, more “honest” in the south. 

It was a time of considerable tension in the US.  The Viet Nam War was just finishing.  President Nixon was under considerable pressure over the Watergate cover-up.  He eventually resigned just as we were leaving.  And racial tension was high.  One of the US Navy’s aircraft carriers had to be brought into port because of what amounted to race riot in the lower decks.  The ship was met in San Diego by a cordon of US Marines.  After that, the Navy instituted a series of racial sensitivity sessions called Upward Seminars.  They were run by outside facilitators and lasted two or three days.  When it came to our command, I was asked to attend.  I found it both disturbing and interesting.  To have one of the black facilitators call me a bigot was pretty upsetting.  But I could see how having the tables turned on you could cause high emotions.  I don’t think that I am racially bigoted; I try to treat everyone equally and fairly.  But it does make you wonder.

In my time in Charleston, I was asked to join a panel of three officers who were tasked with selecting the most suitable candidate Petty Officer for promotion to Warrant Officer (the commissioned rank for officers promoted from the ranks).  This same Petty Officer was one of the two candidates, the other being white.  Since both were outstanding sailors, it seemed a Hobson’s choice. One was afraid that whatever the choice, racial issues would crop up. After looking at every criterion that we could think of, and avoiding discussion on the racial considerations, we finally found grounds to select one over the other.  I’ll let you guess which one.

I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.
  - Mahatma Gandhi