Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi, everybody. This is Stefan Molyneux from Freedomain Radio. I hope you're doing well.
This is the truth about Maya Angelou, the American poet, who died recently and had,
well, I guess we could say a fairly storied life that largely seems to being glossed over
by the media so I think it's worth having a look at who we consider our heroes and heroines
these days.
Marguerite Ann Johnson was her original name. She was born April the 4th 1928 in Saint Louis,
Missouri. Her parents divorced when she was three years old and she was sent along with
her 4-year-old brother to stay with their paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas.
Both children, Maya and -- I guess then Marguerite -- and her brother were placed on a train
with only tags on their wrists that read "to whom it may concern" with their names and
destination. So some rough travel for little kids.
I mean imagine these days sending a 3 and 4-year-old on a long train journey with just
a wrist stamp. Their grandmother whom the children called mama lived at the back of
a general stall with her son Willy who is Marguerite's uncle. Uncle Willy had been dropped
by a babysitter as an infant and was left physically handicapped. There Marguerite and
her brother absorbed a strict religious and moral training highlighted by frequent lashes
with a switch from a Petri. And as I mentioned last year in my video about Travon Martin
and George Zimmerman, physical abuse within the black community remains at tragically
high levels and is one of the things that the black community can do to further advance
their children and make sure that they grow up as smart and as socially skilled as possible.
But it still remains somewhat unaddressed within the black community. I hope that I
could remind this community to focus on that.
The children did not hear from either of their parents until three years later when they
received a few unexpected gifts which brought up a great deal of emotion and questions.
"Why was she sent away?" she thought. "Did she do something wrong? Was it her fault?"
Marguerite described struggling with these questions all throughout her childhood.
One year later when she was 7 years old, her biological father arrived without warning
and said he was taking the children back with him to California. Midway through the trip
their father told the children, "Ah, instead of taking you to California, I'm going to
take you to Saint Louis to live with your biological mother and maternal grandmother."
Marguerite described a feeling of sadness and panic over the news aware that she may
never see the lady she called mama again and not knowing what to expect from the biological
mother she hadn't seen in over four years.
This kind of childhood is a recipe for all of the disasters to come. Without a significant
culture of introspection, self-reflection, the Socratic pursuit of self-knowledge, then
these disasters are almost certain to replicate like a blind, broken, rabid photocopier of
trauma.
When Marguerite first saw her mother, Vivian Baxter, she was awestruck by her physical
beauty. She went on to believe that if her mother was too beautiful to watch after children
and this is why she was sent away. She recalls her mother saying, "Baby, wait a minute. I
think you're the greatest woman I've ever met." And Marguerite thought, "Suppose she's
right, suppose I'm going to be somebody. Goodness!"
Marguerite's mother drank and danced in gambling halls while they took residence in an incredibly
rough area of Saint Louis where gambling and bootlegging was prevalent. This, of course,
was during prohibition. This made for a very rough transition with her brother developing
a stutter and Marguerite's nights often going sleepless due to her nightmares. Six months
after Vivian Baxter moved in with her boyfriend whose name was Mr. Freeman and brought along
the children, I'm sorry to say, what comes next, Marguerite would often crawl into bed
with both her mother and Mr. Freeman due to the aforementioned nightmares and difficulty
sleeping.
So this is not the biological father and tragically when a single mother shared a cup with non-biological
fathers, the children are 20 or 30 times more likely to be abused.
One morning when the rest of the family was absent, Freeman *** 8-year-old Marguerite
and threatened to kill her brother if she told anybody about the crime. So this was
the man that her mother invited into her children's lives and invited her children into bed with.
As you can imagine, Marguerite suffered terrible physical pain after being *** by an adult
at the age of 8, was barely able to walk for several days.
This is an act of pure soul murdering *** on the part of Mr. Freeman. She described
being overcome with guilt and confusion blaming herself of what had happened. And as I mentioned
in my recent video on Pamela Anderson, not quite of the same literary quality, but these
assaults upon children generally occur when the parent-child bond, in particular the mother-child
bond, is not strong. And of course, in this case, when the child was sent away at 3 and
didn't return till she was 7, the bond would be very weak.
After days of not eating and staying in bed, Vivian figured out what had happened when
she attempted to change the bed linens and Marguerite fought her out, I assume because
of copious amounts of blood. Marguerite was taken to the hospital and the maternal grandmother
called the police leading to the arrest and trial of Freeman. Eight-year-old Marguerite
testified at Freeman's trial where he was found guilty and sentenced to prison for one
year and one day for the brutal and possible reproductive system destroying *** of an
8-year-old he got one year and one day.
Freeman was released temporarily prior to serving his sentence so that he could get
affairs in order but was found beaten to death later that evening. Marguerite felt responsible
for Freeman's death and believed he died because of her court testimony. In the absence of
very strong moral instruction from moral parents, it is hard for children to process these kinds
of horrors. But of course, if you have strong moral instruction from moral parents, connected
parents, then it's very unlikely that this would happen to children anyway.
So Marguerite thought, "My voice killed him. I killed that man because I told his name
and then I thought I would never speak again because my voice would kill anyone." And due
to this, little Marguerite did not speak for the next five years. This is not a family
that helps children to process their grief as you can imagine.
Her family eventually became frustrated with this behavior and began spanking her for not
responding to them verbally, nothing better than dealing with a child's trauma after ***
and the *** of the *** by beating her. Shortly after Freeman's death, Marguerite
and Bailey were sent back to live with mama, the paternal grandmother. During this five-year
period, Marguerite developed her interest in the written word, shaping her memory and
observational skills.
While back in Stamps, Marguerite spent significant time with Mrs. Bertha Flowers, a family friend
who she credits teaching her the power of the spoken word which led her to speak once
again. At 9 years old, Marguerite started writing poems.
While attending a school graduation ceremony, Marguerite was struck by the speech of white
politician, Edward Donleavy, told the completely black class that they were not equal to whites
and would thus be limited in their employment options. At 12 years old, Marguerite recalls
an incident where her brother returned home incredibly upset after witnessing several
white men transporting the corpse of a lynched black man. The whites demanded that Bailey
and several other black assist in transporting the body to the local jail, even threatening
to lock them up with the deceased.
Mama decided it was no longer safe for them in the area and planned a trip back to California.
After six months, Marguerite and Bailey moved back in with their biological mother who they
had now not seen for five years. Vivian Baxter has remarried before the return of the children
and Marguerite referred to her stepfather as Daddy Clidel. Tension remained among the
family and Marguerite described Vivian's behavior as highly unpredictable but relaxed. Marguerite
and her brother weren't pressured to study hard in school and instead of going to the
church on Sunday mornings, the family went to the movies. Well, at least there was one
sensible decision.
In 1941, Marguerite was 13 and witnessed the disappearance of Japanese-Americans into internment
camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor because remember, in America you have rights. With
the shrinking Japanese-American population, many blacks moved into the area to fill the
now available jobs. That being said, Marguerite described the feeling of underlying racism
within the city.
At 15 years old, Marguerite visited her father but almost immediately there were issues with
her father's girlfriend who was close to her own age to which I can only say, "Ooh!" After
a physical altercation, i.e. probably a fistfight, Marguerite left and ended up spending the
night in an abandoned car at the local junkyard. In the junkyard, she met a group of homeless
teens and lived with the group for six weeks.
I'm so sorry for these kinds of childhood. It's so heartbreaking.
Marguerite eventually returned home to her biological mother but conflicts between Vivian
and Bailey were frequent which results in Bailey moving out. With the diminishing interest
in school and a desire to earn money, 16-year-old Marguerite took up a job with the Market Street
Railway Company, becoming their first black streetcar conductor. She told the company
she was 19 years old.
She worried, according to herself, according to her many autobiographies, she worried she
might be a lesbian and initiated *** intercourse with a teenage boy. She became pregnant. Worried
that her pregnancy would bring shame on the family, on the advice of her brother, Marguerite
kept the pregnancy a secret.
In June 1945, after graduating high school, she left Daddy Clidel and her mother a letter
telling them about her pregnancy. The family insisted that Marguerite and her baby live
with them. Later that summer, at 17 years old, Marguerite's son, Clyde Bailey Johnson,
was born. Marguerite took jobs as a waitress, exotic dancer, cook and served as a madame,
a manager of prostitutes and sometimes *** at a brothel but had trouble maintaining employment.
Before her 19th birthday, terrified of her possible arrest for illegal activities, Marguerite
decided to join the Army. She was rejected due to her ties to the California Labor School
where she studied dance and drama which was sponsored by the Communist Party. Communism,
while a massive evil and stain upon human society and human history, responsible for
the deaths of hundreds of billions of people far more than Nazism, did have within it a
slight shining light of focusing on racial justice.
In the interim, she eased the pain of rejection with marijuana and continued exotic dancing,
i.e. stripping. More short-term jobs followed including being a fry cook and a second stint
in prostitution. At this point, Bailey intervened in his sister's life and urged her to abandon
drugs and seek legitimate employment. While working a job at a local music store, Marguerite
met Tosh Angelos, a white man. And despite warnings from her mother, they married in
1952 and moved in together.
Now, kind of an ambiguous and ambivalent situation if your mother who invited your *** into
your bed as a child is warning you against a man, that could either mean that he is literally
Satan's armpit on earth or he walks on a Frisbee throw of halos.
Now, married at the age of 22, Marguerite left her job and became a full-time mother
to Clyde. The marriage quickly became strained as Tosh wasn't religious and didn't want Marguerite
going to church. He also didn't want to include her family in their lives. Marguerite was
deeply religious and secretly began attending church which when discovered further damaged
the relationship.
You know, if I was married to a woman whose mother had invited the *** into her bed
and then beat her for not speaking as the result of the trauma after her *** was
murdered as a result of her testimony, I guess I wouldn't be that keen on having those people
in my life either but what do I know?
After two and a half years, Marguerite and Tosh divorced much to the dismay of Clyde
who is incredibly angry about the break-up. During another stint as an *** dancer,
during this period Marguerite decided to use her childhood name Maya and changed her married
name Angelos to Angelou.
At 26 years old, Angelou got a job as a singer and dancer for a US Department of State musical
production which was to tour Europe and Africa. While on tour, Angelou decided to leave her
9-year-old son with her mother despite her mother's earlier failures to protect her as
a child and the incredible sadness she herself experienced by her own parental abandonment.
These unprocessed traumas have such a terrifying and terrible way of replicating and this would
be an example.
After having been on the road for over a year, Maya received a letter from her mother describing
her plans to move to Las Vegas and become a dealer in a new African-American casino.
This meant there was no one to take of now 10-year-old Clyde who had come down with a
severe rash that would not respond to medical treatment.
Angelou returned to reconnect with her son who had grown quiet and withdrawn. His skin
was also now raw and scaly and despite seeing several medical professionals, nothing helped.
I would imagine stress but again, what do I know?
Angelou felt guilt that in her absence this had happened and blamed herself for Clyde's
poor health.
You know, it's funny. Blame and responsibility are just words that really kind of the same
thing. I blame myself is sort of like a self-attacking phrase that other people are supposed to stop
you from doing. "Don't beat yourself up." "I take responsibility for Clyde's poor health"
is a positive thing but kind of means the same thing.
Upon her return, she also learned that her brother Bailey was serving time in prison
for the sale of stolen goods. Upset over Bailey's imprisonment and Clyde's illness, Angelou
talked to a counselor but that session did not give her much comfort. In the end, she
realized or she believed and then incessantly put forward the doctrine that you must just
forgive yourself and forgive others for everything, which means not taking any responsibility
fundamentally for what you do.
Angelou then made the decision that from then on she would not take a job if it meant separation
from Clyde. Angelou spent the next few weeks with her son and his rash slowly healed and
his appetite returned.
You know, it's interesting. I sucked my thumb until I was 16 and my father left my family
when I was a baby. When I was 16 I went to go and visited my father and spent my first
night in his house and I never ever sucked my thumb again nor had any desire to. It's
just fascinating the way this stuff works.
During this period, Clyde, now 14 years old, told Angelou he would no longer answer to
the name Clyde but instead he wish to be called Guy. A year after her return, Angelou became
restless as she knew her singing career would only advance if she lived near an active professional
music community. Angelou moved to Los Angeles with Guy. She connected with black poet, John
Oliver Killens. With Killens' encouragement, she decided to move again to New York and
join the Harlem Writers Guild to further develop her writing skills.
Since Guy's birth, Angelou and Guy had lived in five different areas of San Francisco,
three areas of Los Angeles and even in Hawaii for a brief period of time. Guy had moved
so often that it was difficult for him to make and keep friends. Despite these concerns,
Angelou could not resist the intense desire to belong to an artistic black community.
In 1957, 28-year-old Angelou and Guy moved to Brooklyn, New York without a job waiting
for her or a place to stay. After arriving in Brooklyn, Angelou supported herself and
Guy by singing in nightclubs while honing her writing abilities with the Harlem Writers
Guild. Just before Angelou decided to quit singing and pursue a more meaningful career,
the manager at the famed Apollo Theatre offered her a week's engagement which she could not
refuse.
One day after her act to close at the Apollo Theatre, she went to church in Harlem to hear
the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking about the changes taking place in the south and
throughout the country.
I have a video on YouTube about it and of course at freedomainradio.com, which is The
Truth About Martin Luther King Jr. which you might want to check out.
Dr. King talked of achieving racial equality through peaceful marches, demonstrations and
boycotts. Dr. King asked the audience for support and Angelou was so inspired that she
decided to put on a show to raise money for his organization, the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. The show Cabaret for Freedom ran for the entire summer of 1960 and raised a
huge amount of money for the SCLC. After the show closed, 32-year-old Angelou was hired
as a coordinator by the organization.
In addition to working for this group, Angelou was one of the founders of the Cultural Association
for Women of African Heritage. This group of African-American women made themselves
available to the performances or fashion shows to aid in SCLC fundraising.
Now, probably, as a result of her communist indoctrination as a younger woman, Maya Angelou
was a supporter of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. And on September 18th 1960, Castro
led the Cuban delegation to the United Nations in New York City.
In her fourth autobiography, The Heart of A Woman, Angelou describes her experience
of the event: "We watched as Castro and Khrushchev embraced on 125th Street." As the Cubans applauded
and the Russians smiled broadly showing metal teeth, black people joined the applause. Some
white folks weren't bad at all. The Russians were okay. Of course, Castro never had called
himself white so he was okay from the get-go. Anyhow, America hated Russians. And as black
people often said "wasn't no communist country to put my grandpapa in slavery, wasn't no
communist lynched my papa or *** my mama."
Yeah, well, but as Christians it was a significant portion of Jewish leadership of the Communist
Party after the 1917 Revolution in Russia that murdered tens of millions of Christians
gulags so out of the frying pan into the fire.
She also described her son's reaction to the events: "Mother, I guess you'll never understand.
To me, a black man, the meeting of Cuba and the Soviet Union in Harlem is the most important
thing that could happen. It means that in my time I'm seeing powerful forces get together
to oppose capitalism. I don't know how it was in your time, the olden days. But in modern
America, this was something I had to see. It will influence my future."
It was great to see communist hatred of capitalism not interfere with her desire to sell books
in the free market and take profits as an author. It's nice to have that kind of ideological
flexibility. It keeps you from getting all tied down in things like consistency.
During this time Angelou became engaged to Thomas Allen, a local bail bondsman. At John
Killens' home, Angelou met an African freedom fighter named Vusumzi Make. Make, a member
of the Pan-African Congress, was in America to petition the UN against South Africa's
racial policy. Angelou and Make were both attracted to one another almost instantly.
And when unstable people from bad childhoods are instantly physically attracted to each
other, nothing but good stuff can result. Haven't you found that to be true?
The next time Angelou saw Vusumzi Make, he took her hand and said that he intended to
change her life and would take her to Africa. Both Allen and Make heavily pursued Angelou
by sending her gifts, notes and flowers but Angelou decided she would marry Allen. She
arranged to meet Make but before Angelou could explain, Make pleaded so intensely that Angelou
changed her mind.
Angelou had known Make only a little over a week but she accepted his marriage proposal,
thus providing the base plot line for the movie Frozen in a couple of decades. When
she resigned from her job at SCLC, she sent King a letter that noted: "I joined with millions
of black people the world over in saying you are our leader."
At the end of the week, she traveled with Make to London. While on the plane, Make took
her hand and said that he was marrying her that very minute and Angelou agreed. They
never formalized their relationship or spoke of marriage again.
Guy and his new stepfather quickly became devoted to one another but Make was obsessive
about cleanliness insistence that Angelou not work outside the home and his controlling
nature quickly strained their relationship.
Angelou continued to attend meetings with the Harlem Writers Guild and hid her relationship
dissatisfaction. And this is something I've also noticed about communists is their personal
lives are complete chaos. I'm not saying Angelou was a committed communist but she was a fan
of communism and had received education in communism and hated capitalism so you fill
in the dots if you see fit but I see a hammer and sickle.
Their personal lives are such chaos and the interesting thing is that while they reject
things like hierarchies in economics, they often submit to the most brutal hierarchies
in their personal relationships.
Angelou attended the live speech by a fellow named Malcolm X. His philosophy of civil rights
and politics would be opposite of Dr. King and found a different, more angry tone attractive
due to her frustrations with the treatment of blacks in the United States.
On the same day that Angelou heard Malcolm X, she received the news that Patrice Lumumba,
a freedom fighter in the African Congo, had been assassinated. She and her group planned
to hold a demonstration at the UN General Assembly and drew a surprisingly huge crowd.
They went to Malcolm X to ask his advice about future events, and while he was supportive
he would not commit to further assistance. He specifically told Angelou he did not believe
in peaceful public demonstrations.
In 1961, Angelou and Guy connected with a group of black America expatriates in Ghana
and 16-year-old Guy made plans to attend the University of Ghana for college. But in three
days of arriving in Ghana, Guy was seriously injured in a car accident, suffering a broken
neck. This time Angelou developed an alcohol dependence because remember, it was capitalists
who were exploiting her and oppressing her.
Guy was released from the hospital one month after the accident and plans were made for
him to move into the University of Ghana dorm and begin college. "There's something I want
you to remember. It's my neck and my life," he said. "I will live it whole or not at all.
I love you, mom. Maybe now you'll have a chance to grow up." That is a pretty terrible thing
to hear from your child that day which you had or would someday grow up.
After frequent situations where Make did not come home at night and several community interventions
to save the relationship, Maya and Make separated. In the spring of 1963, Angelou arranged a
demonstration in front of the American embassy in Ghana in conjunction with Dr. King's march
on Washington despite being angry and impatient with the slow progress of the American Civil
Rights Movement.
At 19, Guy started to date a woman older than his mother, much to her disagreement and Angelou
decided to distance herself from Guy. That's a great solution there. This led to a confrontation
where Guy told his mother that he considered himself an independent man and he wanted them
to lead separate lives. Tragic.
In 1964, Angelou reconnected with Malcolm X who had been changed after his pilgrimage
to Mecca and no longer preach hatred for white Americans. Malcolm X approached Angelou and
asked if she would return to New York and work for his group, the Organization of Afro-American
Unity. She accepted.
Two days after she arrived in New York, Malcolm X was shot and killed while giving a speech
at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Filled with sadness, Angelou could not understand
the lack of demonstrations following Malcolm X's assassination. It was at this point where
she decided that she no longer wanted to have anything to do with politics and with the
New York job no longer being available, she moved to Los Angeles.
After finishing college in Ghana, Guy traveled to San Francisco but was tragically involved
in another car accident and suffered yet another broken neck. Angelou stayed with her son for
several weeks before leaving for New York and arrangements were made for him to stay
with his grandmother upon his release from the hospital. Just terrible.
While in New York, Angelou once again is connected with Dr. King and agreed to assist with fundraising
for his upcoming Poor People's March on Washington, D.C.
April the 4th 1968, Angelou's 40th birthday, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. This
news sent Angelou into depression where she once again contemplated going silent much
as she had after the death of her *** at 8 years old. Several friends insisted that
she call them once a day and not return to her muted state. 8
Angelou was eventually hired by San Francisco television station to write and direct a 10-part
series on an insider's view of African-American. The series was called Blacks, Blues, Blacks
and received favorable reviews. During this time, she was approached by Random House Publishing
about writing her autobiography. While she originally resisted, she eventually agreed.
In 1970, 42-year-old Angelou published I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings, the first volume
of her autobiography which detailed her life from childhood through the birth of her son.
She became the first black woman to make the non-fiction bestseller list and thus began
a period of great happiness and further success with both writing and lecturing, including
a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her first volume of poetry.
In 1973, Angelou married her third husband, Paul du Feu, and also became a grandmother
with the birth of Guy's son Colin Ashanti Murphy-Johnson. In 1975, Angelou was appointed
to the American Revolution Bicentennial Council by President Gerald Ford. She also received
an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Nyo Boto in the television miniseries Roots.
After the publication of her fourth autobiography, her third marriage fell apart and she divorced
in 1981. Shortly after her divorce, she received the first lifetime Reynolds Professorship
of American Studies of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where she
lectured and continued her writing to great success and critical acclaim.
During this time, the mother of Guy's child absconded with Angelou's grandson and it took
over four years to find him and these family tragedies continue no matter how much success,
how much money, how many prizes. A lack of self-criticism and self-knowledge leads to
these inevitable whiplash disasters.
When Sharon Johnson pleaded guilty to child stealing, Guy Johnson and Angelou asked the
court for leniency. Angelou explained, "Guy does not want Colin to think we put his mother
in jail" and explained to Guy that there is a bond made in the womb between the child
and the mother. I mean that bond is irreducible. Well, although she did abandon her children
just as she was abandoned and just as the mother ripped the son from the father her
own child. Guy agreed, "There's no way we can get any joy out of her being in prison
or get back any of the four years."
In 1992, Angelou's mother, Vivian Baxter, died. Angelou's professional success continued
and she was asked by president-elect Bill Clinton to compose and read a poem for his
inauguration and became the first black woman to read a poem at a presidential inauguration.
In '94, the NAACP presented Angelou with the prestigious Springarn Medal which has been
described as the African-American Nobel Prize.
In '95, Angelou spoke at the Million Man March organized by Nation of Islam leader Louis
Farrakhan and lent her support to the convicted cop killer and former Black Panther, Mumia
Abu-Jamal, advocating that he receive a new trial. Abu Jamal is currently serving life
in prison without the possibility of parole.
In '97, Angelou commented: "A black person grows up in this country and in many places
knowing that racism will be as familiar as salt to the tongue." The reasoning from that
premise she praised affirmative action and head started programs that were not only good
for the country but quite necessary because she said, "The playing field had been terribly
unlevel, terribly unfair for centuries." In the same interview, Angelou was asked if she
thought our free market system capitalism itself creates the visions and equality to
which she replied, "Yes, absolutely. Unfortunately, I cannot find many other isms that don't do
the same thing."
Affirmative action has been largely disastrous for blacks in many ways because underqualified
blacks gain entrance to a university. The intelligent qualified blacks get lost in the
mix and then employers don't know who was qualified and who wasn't and thus avoid hiring
blacks which lowers the value of a college education even for the intelligent and ambitious
blacks, which is one of the reasons why it tends to diminish.
In 2010, President Barack Obama named her a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
the country's highest civilian honor, probably for running point and calling anyone who didn't
agree with him a closet racist. In 2012, Angelou strongly supported Obama's reelection bit
saying, "I think he has done a remarkable job knowing how much he has been opposed.
Every suggestion he makes, the Republicans en masse fight against it or don't vote at
all."
In an email she authored for the Obama campaign, Angelou said, "Since President Barack Obama's
historical action, we've moved forward in courageous and beautiful ways. More students
can afford college and more families have access to affordable health insurance. Women
have greater opportunities to get equal pay for equal work."
So I guess she did fiction as well as non-fiction.
As the election approached, Angelou predicted that Obama's detractors would undoubtedly
give voice to their own inner racism. "I tell you we're going to see some nastiness, some
vulgarity I think. They'll pull the sheets off." So if you criticize President Obama,
you are a racist. But don't worry, that will change next year. When a few oppose Hillary
Clinton, you suddenly go from racist to sexist. It's a great trick.
In a discussion with Al Sharpton, Angelou derided Obama's critics as "stupid, thick
and dense people who want to keep us polarized." Well, at least that's not polarizing -- Maya,
good job not being polarizing. And also a great job with the forgiveness thing because
forgiveness and gentleness and so on is great I guess unless there's political power in
play.
In 2013, Angelou opposed the acquittal of George Zimmerman. She lamented that "the jury
verdict showed how far we have to go as a nation; that one man armed with a gun can
actually profile a young man because he is black and end up shooting him dead. It is
so painful." I also, of course, have a video on Travon Martin and George Zimmerman which
we'll link to below.
Angelou died on the morning of 28th May 2014 at 86 years old. She wrote 16 books, won dozens
of awards and was awarded over 30 honorary doctoral degrees. She always ended her lectures
by telling the audience "Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without
courage you can't practice any other virtue consistently."
"Forgiveness," she says, "is the greatest gift you can give yourself. It's not for the
other person," Angelou said. "You must forgive. It's for your own sake, to rid yourself of
that weight. That's the answer. Forgive everybody."
I guess, except capitalists, white people, the man who *** her, you sort of can go
on and on. Those people who preach forgiveness in general have done terrible wrongs in their
own life and wish to unburden themselves and thus don't end up applying this as a universal
principle across the board.
In her book, Mom & Me & Mom, which discussed unconditional love and support, Angelou thanks
her mother "who generously taught me how to be a mother" -- who generously taught me how
to be a mother. Sentimentality as Jung pointed out is the superstructure or flipside of brutality.
And her mother abandoned her, put her on a train at the age of three with a "to whom
it may concern" wrist stamp, invited a ***, a child *** into her bed, and beat her
when she went mute after her *** was murdered to some degree as a result of her testimony,
and this is the mother who generously taught her how to be a mother.
Tragically, there's probably some truth in that but probably not in the way that she
intended.
She says, "History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with
courage, need not be lived again." When you look at the cycle of abuse that occurred in
this family, how can she say that she overcame her history and has enough wisdom and enough
knowledge to tell other people what is virtue, what is good motherhood, what is good parenting,
what is being a good human being and can she really, I would say, with a straight face,
honorably tell people that she knows how to break the cycle of abuse when you look at
what happened with her own children?
I think that we need to look elsewhere for our moral heroes and have a clear-eyed view
of how people live rather than what they say which tends to, in general, be at opposing
poles of the moral spectrum.
This is Stefan Molyneux for Freedomain Radio. Thank you so much for watching. As always,
if you'd like to help out the show, fdrurl.com/donate. It would be gratefully, gratefully appreciated.
Thank you so much.