From Peter Applebome’s NYT account of politics and historical memory in Peekskill, New York, specifically as relates to Paul Robeson:
[Robeson] became a pioneering and uncompromising human rights advocate. He spoke out against segregation decades before the civil rights movement began, and was a fierce opponent of colonialism when that was barely an issue.
He also became an enthusiastic, unflagging admirer of the Soviet Union, something he never renounced or backed away from, even in the face of Stalin’s atrocities.
I certainly don’t defend the blacklisting and harassment of Robeson and the nefarious politics of the Red Scare. But the fact is that Robeson’s advocacy of human rights was not “uncompromising.” It was very severely compromised. I’m not sure how blatantly contradictory passages like the above can even be written and get past an editor.
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