February 21, 2005

Discovery

By Tony Brown

Today is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X.

A few weeks ago, I bemoaned here on this LJ the death of Ossie Davis, who delivered Malcolm’s eulogy back in 1965.

I mentioned how much I respected Ossie Davis.

I didn’t say that I’ve had, for years, a strange sort of regard for him, as if I had known him.

Tonight, I found out why.

In 1976, I entered a contest to win a college scholarship. The contest was sponsored by NBC Radio. Five winners were to be chosen to each receive a $5K scholarship.

I won one of the five.

The topic was “What is an American?” I don’t have a written copy of it…more on that in a minute. Some things never change, though: the piece includes lines about the need to include dissent in any definition of patriotism, a reference to my own mixed racial heritage, and a fairly damning comment about apathy in the body politic. (I was 16 at the time…the obvious links to my current stances makes me feel both old and, I admit, proud of that kid I was.)

The 5 pieces were broadcast on NBC Radio on July 4, 1976, the Bicentennial.

I was interviewed over the phone by Gene Shalit. Then, the pieces were read over the air. For years, I believed that the voiceover for my piece had been done by Alexander Scourby, the voice of the old National Geographic specials (pre E G. Marshall).

Tonight, I was at my folks’ house and we got on the subject of the recent Kennedy Center honors, and of how pissed Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee looked at having to sit with the Shrub.

My mom and I were discussing their histories and she said, “And I’ll never forget how great your essay sounded when he was reading it.”

WTF???

I argued with her, told her what I had believed, and she just went to the desk…and came out with a cassette tape. And I listened to it, for the first time in almost 30 years.

And son of a bitch…it’s indeed Ossie Davis, reading my essay. He read the boys’ essays, Ruby Dee read the girls’ essays.

I find this out on the day after Hunter Thompson and Sandra Dee died, 40 years after Malcolm X died, and a few scant weeks after Ossie Davis himself died.

I’m still here, thinking about all that.

What is an American? I am, for one. And I suspect that somewhere in that list of names are all the other answers you’ll ever need to that question.

About Tony Brown

Unknown's avatar
A poet with a history in slam, lots of publications; my personal poetry and a little bit of daily life and opinions. Read the page called "About..." for the details. View all posts by Tony Brown
This entry was posted on Monday, February 21st, 2005 at 11:07 pm and posted in uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

70 responses to “Discovery”

Leave a reply to just_jeff Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.