When I Think Of Trayvon Martin's Last Moments... I Can't Help But Think Of This By Norman Rockwell

never realized he did drawings like this. Most we see are of a peaceful home life etc.

I asked my father, how could anyone shoot that man in his yard, in front of his family, and would they come for us, too?

Then the little girls who were in the church in Birmingham, where they should have been safe, killed by racist bombing, in September of that year.

Then President Kennedy was killed in November of that year.

We'd barely recovered from that, then came the murder of the young men in your first portrait there, in June of 1964.

Then the Vietnam War got bigger and we pretty much know how many years were involved in that.

Then the murder of Martin Luther King in April of 1968, and the murder of Robert Kennedy in June of 1968.

And the Vietnam War got bigger. It was horror after horror. And that was just with the big names.

The same groups that were opposing America moving forward, are still here and have not given up. They are funded very well and have pushed to destroy every progressive movement.

Memory is a political act. Forgetfulness is the handmaiden of tyranny. - James Carroll

Birmingham Sunday (by Richard Farina - as sung by his sister in law Joan Baez)

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are still here and have not given up"- no truer words have been spoken here.

He hasn't talked about it much, but let it slip in a lecture a while back that I saw uploaded by someone on youtube.

Reich was young and targeted for being small and the older boy stood in the way and kept his tormentors away while he was in school and they became friends. His friend's passion for justice influenced Reich and when he was murdered, it set him on the road to never give into bullies.

This is why I don't go for lumping all Democrats in the same mold as the GOP, or calling my representatives people weak. I have known personally some who have gone through opposition from the forces of regression and intolerance, to the point of being terrorized, and it tries their soul. I tire of 'they're all crooks' meme by people who have not been through the fire.

Many have served for the common good in small ways, have had their own personal struggles that millions will never hear about and that drive them to be active. Each are individuals with their own story that we never hear.

We need to avoid disrespecting those who are putting themselves on the line for us. Reich said that he was no hero; that man was his hero and role model growing up. Just adding that, as these events made us stronger and to know our purposes.

Rockwell gets demeaned by those who think he was just a commercial artist, but I think that is unfair. He was very effective in getting an important message across in his works.

or it was when I took the tour in 1986. I keep telling a friend we should do that on one of our trips to NYC, she's only seen the outside of the building & I keep telling her she needs the tour just for the way you feel bombarded by high ideals. It's a great feeling.

I've only seen the little girl one....I'm speechless. That first painting...I know nothing about Rockwell. Was he a fighter for racial quality?
Thank you for posting this.

the little girl one was a cover for the Saturday Evening Post & shocked a lot of people, made them the civil rights fight in a different light.

thanks for these.

I must say these have completely altered my view of Norman Rockwell. I think we generally assume him to be the artist of choice for white-bread America yearning for the 1950's. I'm very grateful to you for changing my mind.

"I own a rare picture of Normal Rockwell striking a small child" -- Steven Wright

The common man and woman. Life the way it really was back then. I have never seen the first one and would be interested in what it is depicting.

The city is famous for two things:

1. A group of men murdered 3 Civil Rights activists then were acquitted by an all White jury even after bragging about committing the murders. They could not then be retried because that would violate the double jepoardy clause in the Constitution. This is why we now have Federal hate crimes enabling the Feds to go after those sheltered by local government.

2. Ronald Reagan announced his candidacy there in 1980. His speech, centered on State Rights (Powers), can only be interpreted as support for the above action since the city's only claim to fame was exercising their right to kill Civil Rights activists.

He went down to Oxford Town
Guns and clubs followed him down
All because his face was brown
Better get away from Oxford Town

...
Two men died ’neath the Mississippi moon
Somebody better investigate soon

Thank you for this thread.

I had forgotten some of these

The first and the third pictures are new to me, and wow. He really got it.

I do not understand why we cannot live in accord with the Golden Rule...

It would be paradise.

no money in it, Peggy. We have greedy little people running this country, keeping us all bickering amongst ourselves while they rob us blind. Race is one of the hot button issues they use to keep us stirred up. There is little hope for this species.

These paintings are one reason why.

Thanks for the thread, WillyT.

On June 21, 1964, three young civil rights workers—a 21-year-old black Mississippian, James Chaney, and two white New Yorkers, Andrew Goodman, 20, and Michael Schwerner, 24—were murdered near Philadelphia, in Nashoba County, Mississippi. They had been working to register black voters in Mississippi during Freedom Summer and had gone to investigate the burning of a black church. They were arrested by the police on trumped-up charges, imprisoned for several hours, and then released after dark into the hands of the Ku Klux Klan, who beat and murdered them. It was later proven in court that a conspiracy existed between members of Neshoba County's law enforcement and the Ku Klux Klan to kill them. /snip

Read more: The Murders of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman & Michael Schwerner - Civil Rights Case — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmjustice4.html#ixzz1qNHJxN66

DU a year (years?) ago, and it was mentioned then. If I recall, the person who linked to the story had a better link than I found, but this still tells tragedy.

Hate makes my heart hurt.

I love that Rockwell has painted himself into Do Unto Others.

Beautiful work.

All of the originals in the OP were on display, with the exception of Murder which was on loan to an unnamed museum (and replaced with a comparatively dull architectural study of Stockbridge, which the artist allegedly spent 12 years on because it bored him to tears.) Fun fact: the model for the rabbi in "The Golden Rule" was Irish Catholic. Other random factoid: the artist stopped working for the Saturday Evening Post because he couldn't address meaningful social justice issues (beyond "The Four Freedoms", the role of ragdolls in patient-centered healthcare, and the dangers of runaway children in pre-Taser America), so the first two pics in the OP were commissioned by Look magazine IIRC.

His wife (at the time) appears in the painting, but I didn't realize he also makes a cameo appearance. In his dueling blacksmith painting (http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Blacksmith-s-Boy-Heel-and-Toe-Posters_i8348911_.htm) he uses one model as the basis of four different characters, and the (much younger) artist is represented by the awestruck boy on the left.

He did make a cameo in, I think, one of the Four Freedoms, but only part of his face.

That's interesting about his wife. I'm going to check out the dueling blacksmith now -- I've always loved Rockwell.

embossed into the hearts and minds of all. Thank you

Billie Holidays 'strange fruit' was a reaction to seeing hanging black men when she was in the south. Trayvon Martin is america's bitter fruit of today. sad indeed that this can still happen here.

It's a tragedy, but I don't think Mr. Zimmerman is a Caucasian...

Kind of an odd choice.

Some would call it VERY dry.

I see demographics questions on forms all the time where a person can choose "hispanic" for ethnicity, and THEN the question on race comes up - whether one considers themselves caucasuan or black or mixed race, etc.

I'm still not sure these fine pieces of art align with the situation in Florida. Seems to be a stretch.

the people who killed civil rights workers saw them as less than human. zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin as less than human.
simple.

Looks like ol Zimmy had no injuries at all.

They were posted on DU some time back. Always worth seeing again -- they are simply stunning.

I'll never forget these three names. Their murder had a powerful effect on me. Martin just rekindled my sadness at the mean and vicious nature of American dog eat dog society. Still with us almost 50 years later.