Clint Eastwood said that “we see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff. When I grew up, those things weren’t called racist…”
When he was a kid, nobody said anything because they couldn’t. Just because the victims did not speak up doesn’t make the racism non existent.
Clint Eastwood has said a ton of stuff in the past, yet he believes that like Trump, people say dumb things, but that should not be held against them.
In part, I agree with him.
The things you say are not held against you, they are reflected in your being. What you say is a direct reflection of who you are, and is the mirror to your soul. While the light is on you, it may not be in you; it may also be fleeting as soon as the clouds appear, or darkness falls. While we Americans have experienced some dark days, it is becoming clear that the lightness on many of our leaders was simply a reflection of the world around them. The clouds have removed the masks.
Now, we don’t look the same each moment we pause in front of the mirror; as time goes on, even the familiar reflection modifies itself. Our gluttony is just as revealing as our sorrow, contempt, happiness. A projection is a snapshot of we we are in time, and one slip up in speech is about as close to having a personal portrait. Yet the artist who puts our image to film, canvass, screen, or bust is seeing us many times over, and is capturing our essence for all time. Trump’s reflections, like Eastwood’s, are a many decades’ full portfolio. There are so many screen shots there, that the image is as recognizable as the universal imagery of the white Jesus–everybody knows what the white Jesus looks like, just as everyone knows what we see when we look at pictures of Abraham Lincoln. When we see the best Republican, we see his soul, no matter the picture, no matter the statue.
The attribtues that should be held against you are the things that you have done……now I know your acts can also be your words: yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater, causing people to flee with panic and to be injured or even trampled to death; yelling at a pedestrian to ‘look out’ from a potentially fatal car crash; lying to authorities about a rape that does not happen, sending an innocent boy to jail for 5 years…the lists goes on of examples of how words matter.
Even as your words fail you, they are only one measure and must be accompanied by other factors to reveal your three dimensions. There are physical acts and actions that should be held to judge us, to fill in the width and depth of the image, and to show the person. It is with this context that I offer the last part of this post.
Clint Eastwood and I graduated from the same high school; albeit almost 40 years apart.
In these decades that have separated us, many people have come to him and asked Eastwood to step up and not be a whiner, a coward, a “pussy” in a variety of ways; in his personal life with his lack of support for his kids, by standing up to his political party as a former Mayor/elected/revered leader, or giving back to the community to which he was raised.
In all estimations, just like the abject blindness he shows towards hate speech of yesteryear, he has side armed many of us when we have sought kindness, or compassion, or duty. In the old days to which Eastwood reflects, people of stature gave of themselves; they believed it was their duty to sacrifice and leave a legacy to society, independent of their earnings or personal reward. Eastwood seems to forget that when people built railroads and factories, these greats also built museums, libraries, parks and schools.
I wasn’t ever planning to show this (I have only shared this with one person, the man who forwarded this to Eastwood’s secretary for me), but after 14 months, I feel compelled to letting this go.
The following is a part of a letter that I wrote to Clint Eastwood in June 2015, after quite frankly, being fed up with the months of understanding that he knew what we were doing, but didn’t have the courage or decency to acknowledge us, and unless his secretary prematurely threw it in the trash, I am pretty sure he got it…even though he still doesn’t get it:
“June 2015
Dear Mr. Eastwood,
My name is Harold Lowe. As the Chair of the Oakland Technical Centennial Committee, I wanted to reach out to you now that the celebrations are over. Many of our other folk have contacted your office, but I wanted to express remarks about your noteworthy achievement.
For two years, parents, students, administrators, alumni and supporters prepared to mark the 100th anniversary of Oakland Tech. Our purpose was to rekindle the relationships with peers, the school and the community, and to usher in a renaissance of engagement.
We kicked off a series of ‘fun’ events, and continued the campaign with a ‘serious’ effort to improve the infrastructure and programs at the school. Tech is Oakland’s second largest high school (and 25th largest school in the Bay Area), and the highest academically ranked public school in the area. While many of us recognized that Tech was special long ago; it took the academic community some time to appreciate it. Fifteen years ago, a Tech student won 3 medals (2 gold, 1 silver) in the International Mathematics Olympics. Five years ago, Tech had more students accepted to MIT than any school west of the Mississippi; last year an African American male was accepted into every Ivy League University. This notoriety has accelerated its popularity at a time that Oakland and its public schools are under fire. It also has spotlighted our blemishes….we need over $1 million to fix broken buildings, buy science equipment, etc.
We honored your contributions to the entertainment industry and your significant successes in business and political leadership in the Monterey Bay area at the inaugural Oakland Technical High School Hall of Honor gala. I understand that our committee contacted you on several occasions, requesting your attendance at the Gala.
Of the 120 people considered for the Hall of Honor, your selection was a slam dunk. You are without question our most famous alumnus.
There is an unfortunate price which comes with that distinction, and I can empathize with the challenges of paying the bill. Leadership has a cost that is rarely valued fairly.
When I joined the Centennial Committee, I understood that people had been trying to contact you for years. My first question was why would we contact you if there wasn’t a plan? If you came back to contribute your time, treasure, or talent, to whom would you be working? How would you know if the requests were legitimate? Celebrity and financial success has a way of attracting all the wrong types of attention, and I could imagine the types of requests you’ve received over the decades. I made sure that no matter the outcome, we would be reaching out to our Tech family only after we gave them a reason to reach back.
In your case, Mr. Eastwood, the chance for Tech to be acknowledged by its most famous celebrity is important to us. Your presence validates our standing by having our senior statesman on board.
My primary goal as Centennial Chair was that we are able to articulate that message to you and to all of the honorees, alumni, and supporters. In addition to the conversations, we created a 20 page plan to express our wishes. There is another aspect of the notoriety that we anticipated should come easier; disengagement with a response. If for any reason, that an honoree was not available or willing to interact with the Oakland Tech community, we were more than certain that we gave the opportunity for someone to let us know.
The challenge for the backers of Oakland Tech is to maintain enthusiasm and a public face in the wake of missed opportunities. This benchmark for help is set by the champions at other institutions. For years, assistance to improve the conditions at Tech has been compared to the level of assistance at the other campuses. Castlemont had its favorite son, baseball Hall of Famer Joe Morgan; Skyline had its Oscar winner in Tom Hanks. They have been visible in their support for their schools, and both the donor and the institution benefited from their philanthropic efforts.
It has been an inexplicable answer to the question of ‘what are Tech’s notables doing to help maintain the institution?’ For the few Marshawn Lynch’s that have come forward, there are dozens who have lived a longer period of time in absentia. The first words I heard from dozens of people were all related to involvement of our honorees. “Will so and so be there?” “Are you getting help from so and so?” “That athlete can help raise a lot of money to fix the gym; that actor should help fix the stage like so and so did at that other school…”
Last month, the silence was obvious, and it was deafening. Many of our most accomplished who are still with us, were not with us.
Just shy of 47, I hope to have as many days ahead as I have behind me. Even with that awareness, I have come to understand that there is a lasting legacy that must be honored, not for any particular personal fulfillment to which I may be bestowed, but in order for the cycle to continue. There must be that acceptance of a higher ethos to value those who have come before, and the determination to preserve our institutions for those to follow.
We hope that you recognize the value that you have to the hearts and minds of the Tech community, and we encourage you to take the formative leap to collaborate with us.
Your support could bring about institutional changing results.
Please consider bringing the leadership you show to the world back home. We welcome you to speak, lending your name for special activities, and direct sponsorship.
The letter below has been sent to our local supporters….”
Meow Mr. Eastwood….meow.
holowe 