Helen Keller: Not Blind to War Crimes

[dweller]

By Mickey Z.

In a textbook example of whitewashing, if today's America knows Helen Keller (1880-1968) at all, it's the
easy-to-digest image portrayed in the 1962 film, 'The Miracle Worker.' Brave deaf and blind girl 'overcomes' all
obstacles to inspire everyone she meets. 'The Helen Keller with whom most people are familiar is a stereotypical
sexless paragon who was able to overcome deaf-blindness and work tirelessly to promote charities and
organizations associated with other blind and deaf-blind individuals,' writes Sally Rosenthal in Ragged Edge.

But, in 1909, Helen Keller became a socialist. Soon after, she emerged as a vocal supporter of the working class
and traveled the nation to voice her opposition to war. 'How can our rulers claim they are fighting to make the world
safe for democracy,' she asked, 'while here in the U.S. Negroes may be massacred and their property burned?' Of
course, as a woman with disabilities, she was patronized by the same mainstream media that previously
championed her as a heroine. The editors of the Brooklyn Eagle wrote: 'Her mistakes spring out of the manifest
limitations of her development.'

Keller minced no words in her responses...one of which appeared in newspapers across America: 'So long as I
confine my activities to social services and the blind, the newspapers compliment me extravagantly, calling me an
'arch-priest of the sightless' and 'wonder woman'. But when I discuss poverty and the industrial system under which
we live that is a different matter.'

As the militaristic frenzy spread across America, Keller appeared at New York City's Carnegie Hall on January 5,
1916. 'I have a word to say to my good friends, the editors, and others who are moved to pity me,' she said. 'Some
people are grieved because they imagine I am in the hands of unscrupulous persons who lead me astray and
persuade me to espouse unpopular causes and make me the mouthpiece of their propaganda. Now, let it be
understood once and for all that I do not want their pity; I would not change places with one of them. I know what I
am talking about. My sources of information are as good and reliable as anybody else's. I have papers and
magazines from England, France, Germany and Austria that I can read myself. Not all the editors I have met can do
that. Quite a number of them have to take their French and German second hand. No, I will not disparage the
editors. They are an overworked, misunderstood class. Let them remember, though, that if I cannot see the fire at
the end of their cigarettes, neither can they thread a needle in the dark. All I ask, gentlemen, is a fair field and no
favor. I have entered the fight against preparedness and against the economic system under which we live. It is to be
a fight to the finish, and I ask no quarter.'

Keller's critique of the government propaganda campaign to stir up Americans to support U.S. intervention in the war
remains more germane than ever. 'Every modern war has had its root in exploitation' Keller said.

http://www.pressaction.com/news/weblog/full_article/mickeyz08132005

dp

[BQueen]

1. Great Find!

I hope I remember to look up the whole book when it comes out, sounds fascinating.

(btw, nominated -- we need ALL our historical patriots to the fore these days)

[dweller]

2. thanks BQueen!

we do need all the voices these days, and this was an amazingly singular voice that spoke, so to speak, for Democracy and the people.

dp

[patdem]

3. She is even MORE than I knew...needs one more nomination!!!

I had no idea she was a social activitist also. She is so much more than how she was portrayed. She understood foreign languages, and as she said, though, that if I cannot see the fire at
the end of their cigarettes, neither can they thread a needle in the dark.

What a remarkable woman. I am glad she lived so long!

[niallmac]

4. Go Helen! I was unaware as usual.

That gave me much more of a boost than this home made latte.
The way the socialist movement in this country has be purged from our schools etc is just so embarrassing in a so called free society.

[Briar]

5. Just imagine

what the MSM (and the Dems, let alone the Right) would have done to her if she had made that speech post 9/11.

This vision is what we have lost.

[checks-n-balances]

7. And she had more vision as a sightless person than a thousand

people with literal 20/20 eyesight vision. She could also "hear" the cries of suffering people in a way that many of the people around her could - or would - not.

She was one of my childhood heroes but I didn't know anything about this dimension of her. Learning bout her outspokenness on sociopolitical issues reinforced how intellectually brilliant and morally astute she was.

A great thread.

[suziedemocrat]

6. A quote from her is my signature. (I need to live it!)