http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/2307998,CST-NWS-stein24.article"The Good Negro," Tracey Scott Wilson's powerful drama about civil rights, begins with what should have been an ordinary event -- a mother takes her 4-year-old to a public toilet in a department store.
But the mother and daughter are blacks living in the South, the era is the early 1960s, and the bathroom is reserved for white customers -- and so unfolds the tragedy burning up the stage at the Goodman until June 6.
When I attended the opening two weeks ago, the story line seemed firmly situated in the past. But as William Faulkner said, "The past isn't history -- it isn't even past." Suddenly there's a current politician -- Tea Party darling and Kentucky Republican senatorial candidate Rand Paul -- obligated to defend his stance on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the landmark legislation that said little girls can't be banned from public toilets and that lunch counters selling grilled cheese sandwiches must sell them to all, regardless of color.
The specifics of Paul's statement are not important. He believes that private businesses should be free to discriminate, if they choose -- not an uncommon position for a Libertarian -- but when he found himself an actual contender, he began the furious backpedaling that most politicians do as they approach the levers of power.
"I unequivocally state that I will not support any efforts to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964," he said, adding that he is also against racism.
Big of him. Earlier, he had told Rachel Maddow that while the government may prohibit itself from discrimination, he draws the line at Big Brother telling businesses what to do, adding, "had I been around" when the bill was being debated, "I would have tried to modify that."
I never thought I'd live to see the day when would-be leaders are so captivated by their pet philosophies they would question 50 years of racial progress -- we just passed the half-century anniversary of the Greensboro, N.C., Woolworth lunch-counter sit-in.
This isn't about Rand Paul -- good luck to him. This is about a brand of politics -- call it Libertarianism, call it Tea Baggery, whatever -- that hates government, whatever it does, so much and sides so completely with business owners and their supposed right to decide who can use their toilets, that they'd ignore the greater right of 4-year-olds to use a public bathroom.
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