If Marx knew about Allah

“Always on Watch” is living up to her name by vigilantly blogging about the firing of Michael Graham for daring to express criticism of Islam. It seems that a political philosophy is exempt for criticism if it tosses-in the word God with regularity. Marx and Lenin just didn’t get it. Il Duce was more flexible; he and Der Fuhrer knew to occasionally throw in a few gratuitous references to the Deity.

This reminds me of the time when I saw Elderidge Cleaver give a campaign speech. Did I tell you about that? Let me back up and explain.

I grew up in Queens, New York City. But this wasn’t the Queens of Norman Lear’s All in the Family – that was the Irish Queens of Woodside. This is the Queens of David Horowitz’ Radical Son – he grew up in Sunnyside. (Can you keep this straight?) David and I went to the same high school – a decade apart. However, in the 1960s Red Diaper Babies (see Radical Son) were more open and accepted. Some of my best friends were leftists. In any case, in 1968, some friends were attending a speech of Cleaver’s and I decided to tag along.

Here was an obvious thug. He and his gang were posturing on the stage like the criminals they were. Among the obscenities and treasonous venom, he stuck in the obligatory homage: “And we should dust off that old book, Das Kapital, …” At this point the white radicals erupted in wild applause – they were in love. That’s all it took. Instead of Jesus or Allah, just mention Das Kapital and leftists can overlook everything else.

Afterwards, it was apparent to my friends that I wasn’t moved as they were. I remember Rita “the Red” (no, she was brunette) trying to explain that one has to understand what these thugs … I mean poor souls … have gone through in life.

That’s the New York I remember in the sixties. How was it that I didn’t go down the path on the left, even as I continued my education at CCNY (the Harvard of the proletariat?) That’s another story, which I’ll leave for another post.