April 9 marks the 126th anniversary of the birth of Paul Robeson, the best known American in the world in the late 1940s at the height of his magnificent career as an artist and activist in the struggle for peace, justice and equality. Today, however, he still remains largely unknown and uncelebrated in the land of his birth, an abiding indictment of the pernicious militaristic mindset gripping the prevailing worldview of America’s ruling class and its mouthpieces, then as well as now. As one noted historian put it: What does it say about America that the most talented African-American of the century, a scholar, athlete, artist and human rights activist, a man whose singing voice sent chills through those who heard it and who mastered thirteen languages could be turned into a non-person by the hysterical manipulation of public opinion? Paul Robeson broke no laws. His crime, to those who attacked him, was that he refused to denounce the Soviet Union as the major source of evil in the world and to sever ties to American communists he worked with in civil rights organizations, labor organizations, and campaigns to end European colonialism. The political and cultural leaders of the United States were so threatened by Robeson’s political outlook and his utter lack of deference to the leaders of white America, that they decided to make an example of him that would resound through the ages. Yet his truth goes marching on, and progressives throughout America and beyond are determined to continue his heroic anti-fascist and anti-racist legacy.
His close associate and fellow member of the World Peace Council, W.E.B. Du Bois, also a victim of the same fascist forces which tormented Robeson, captured the irony of Robeson’s ostracism in the USA with a biblical reference regarding prophets: He is without doubt today, as a person, the best known American on earth, to the largest number of human beings. Only in his native land is he without honor and rights.
Robeson regarded the World Peace Council as an “international body which is the ardent spokesman for peace-loving humanity in all lands”. The US Peace Council is the American branch of the World Peace Council, and the Ohio Peace Council is a certified chapter of the USPC. Since, as Robeson expressed it, peace is everybody’s business, everyone is invited to join us.
