The Old Tradition: Racial Oppression
We often think that things are good just because they are old. Well, many old things are good. Time and tradition have tested Shakespeare’s plays, homemade ice cream, and the First Amendment. When something works for many years, we think that is good.
At the same time, however, tradition can never excuse injustice or wrongful deeds. A long tradition, enshrined in Alabama law, had deprived African Americans of basic rights. One of those was the simple right to occupy a bus seat that one has paid for. Indeed, just because we have done a wrong thing for a long time does not mean that we should continue to do it. Winfrey explained:
“So I thank you again, Sister Rosa, for not only confronting the one white man whose seat you took, not only confronting the bus driver, not only for confronting the law, but for confronting history, a history that for 400 years said that you were not even worthy of a glance, certainly no consideration. I thank you for not moving.”
Yes, time had tested a 400-year tradition. But when that tradition proved to be wrong, over, and over, and over, it was time to change. Rosa Parks, in her turn, started a new tradition.
A New Tradition Arose
Yes, when Rosa Parks refused to leave her seat, she rejected the old tradition. What she did was new. In Jim Crow Alabama, it was almost unprecedented. But Oprah Winfrey thanked Rosa Parks for making possible new opportunities and new traditions:
“That day that you refused to give up your seat on the bus, you, Sister Rosa, changed the trajectory of my life and the lives of so many other people in the world. I would not be standing here today nor standing where I stand every day had she not chosen to sit down. I know that. I know that. I know that. I know that, and I honor that.”
In part because of Parks’ actions, the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s has now been enshrined in law and (often, but not always) in the way Americans treat one another today. What was once new has become accepted. Every tradition started with an innovation. In her brief eulogy, Oprah Winfrey acknowledged the courage and wisdom of the woman who started the new tradition.
Will We Forget?
This does not mean that the battle has ended. Across large parts of the United States of America, angry people – white people – attend school board meetings to scream in rage because their children are being taught Black history. Many schools are backing down, removing essential parts of American history from their bookshelves for fear of offending white people who don’t want to remember people like Rosa Parks. So, the danger still exists that the evil tradition against which Parks protested could rise like a murderous zombie. Yes, racism can be violent. Black people who confronted law enforcement in the 1950s South often disappeared into jail, never to be seen again. Never underestimate Parks’ courage.
A eulogy’s purpose is to honor a person’s life by showing how that person can inspire us today. It is not enough to honor Rosa Parks. People today need to find the courage and wisdom to stand up against the forces of wickedness, no matter how old – how traditional – those forces might be. That is why Winfrey ended her speech with these defiant words:
“I owe you – to succeed.
“I will not be moved.”
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Barack Obama’s Eulogy of Clementa Pinckney
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Speech, "Love, Law, and Civil Disobedience"
Frederick Douglass’ 1852 Fourth of July Speech and the Christian Right
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P. S. “I will not be moved” referred to the old Christian hymn, “I Shall Not Be Moved.” Winfrey’s audience surely picked up the illusion instantly.
The Memorial African Methodist Episcopal Church was also the home church of Frederick Douglass. Located a few blocks north of the White House, it is on the National Register of Historic Places.
I continue to express my gratitude to my graduate school classmate, the late Martin Medhurst, and the other good people at Americanrhetoric.com who assembled such a treasure house of American public speeches.
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Research Note: Howard Kahane’s book, Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric, introduced the idea that it is a fallacy to appeal to tradition. In contrast, Boyd and Richerson’s book, Culture and the Evolutionary Process, argues that people are not very good at reasoning and are often wise to rely instead on tradition. I’m on the fence: I think that tradition is often valuable – if you click on “William D. Harpine’s Publications” above, you’ll see that I’ve often written that tradition helps us make decisions. At the same time, Kahane is right that something is not necessarily good just because it is old. Racial oppression is traditional, but it is always wrong.
Research Note: Howard Kahane’s book, Logic and Contemporary Rhetoric, introduced the idea that it is a fallacy to appeal to tradition. In contrast, Boyd and Richerson’s book, Culture and the Evolutionary Process, argues that people are not very good at reasoning and are often wise to rely instead on tradition. I’m on the fence: I think that tradition is often valuable – if you click on “William D. Harpine’s Publications” above, you’ll see that I’ve often written that tradition helps us make decisions. At the same time, Kahane is right that something is not necessarily good just because it is old. Racial oppression is traditional, but it is always wrong.
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