*Re-posted here on this date from an earlier, personal writing.
October, 2015. It strikes me how events in history reverberate throughout time. They’re like links in our societal DNA; we might not know they’re there, but they form our very constitution, ruling both the collective consciousness and the private mind. Take a look back on who we are, and you can see these watershed moments popping up like large flags. In the case of my family on my father's side, it’s a red flag. And it bears the hammer and sickle.
The McCarthy era looms large in my past. It played a role in splitting one generation of my family from the other. It galvanized within us a tradition of social responsibility. It wreaked havoc on the lives of my father, his brothers and their parents. It’s a badge of honor. It’s a sad scar. And I believe that it ultimately had a heavy hand in my grandfather Albert’s early death.
Contrary to what Harvey Matusow and the United States government tried to get people to think, Albert wasn't a card carrying Communist. He had more faith in people and in ideas than in regimes. But he was unabashedly liberal and could never keep himself out of the fight to set things right for those who he felt couldn't do so for themselves. I didn't have to agree with all of his politics to learn that heroism is not reserved for the few and the distinguished. It can live in every-day choices and in quiet acts.
I've lived with the story of Albert's McCarthy era odyssey ever since I can remember. I first tried my hand at a script on it when I was in high school. And now, with the political climate the way it is, I'm convinced that the time is right to once again dig into this parable and to invite others to do the same. So here goes.
- Ben Kahn, Executive Producer
*Note from re-post: I picked today to start the blog on this site because celebrating the 4th of July is an important ritual for me. Perhaps, like Albert, I'm drawn to ideas more than institutions; in that spirit, I'm proud of the founding ideals of this country and of all the good it embodies and has done. I can't say the same for the harm this country has inflicted on so many (my own family included), but turning my back on it is not an option. This is my country as much as I am its citizen. And to disown our sins as simply the faults of others is to allow them to be repeated. So, to that, I choose to say not "my country, right or wrong," but "my country, right and wrong." Happy birthday, America. To a more perfect union in a new year. Now light that bottle rocket...