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Apr. 29th, 2013 10:47 amI figured last night's Mad Men episode would be about the King assassination (last week's was set in March of '68). Yep. Wow. Even the background actors on this show are amazing--the cook who started sobbing when her heard the news over the radio in the diner really got to me.
Pete's showdown with Harry was awesome. The contempt on his face, in his voice when he said "we have a racist here!" Pete has many, many flaws but I love his noblesse oblige.
I like that they included the Lindsay story, although it was even more awesome than what Henry recounted. When Mayor Lindsay--a man as WASPy as I am, he went to Yale and St. Paul's, a man wrapped in privilege--heard the news about King, he said I have to go into Harlem. "Somebody has to go up there. Somebody white has to face that emotion and say we're sorry." As you can imagine his aides thought this was a Bad Idea but he insisted. He went up there with some people and walked down 125th St., walking through the crowd, telling them how much he regretted it, how important King's work was. He said this is a terrible thing. He was there. He wasn't cowering in a bunker or atop a high-rise, he was there in front of them. A real face, a real person, speaking to them as another human being, saying I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
THAT is a leader. That is some Guiliani on 9-11 stuff. Lindsay made some mistakes as mayor but that was an amazing moment.
The RFK assassination ep should be epic. My mother told me when she heard the news she started screaming, literally screaming. She said it's happening all over again, they killed him like they killed his brother. The 1-2 punch of two great men gunned down, within 2 months--just awful. Interestingly RFK had a similar reaction to the King assassination--he was giving a speech in Indianapolis when the news came in and the crowd was obviously very upset. Like Lindsay he didn't give some stiff prepared speech, he made it human, personal--he told them I too have a brother who was gunned down by a white man. I'm so sorry. Lindsay and RFK are credited with why there was no major rioting in Indianapolis and NYC in the aftermath of King's murder--unlike most other major cities, including DC. DC (aka Chocolate City--racial issues have always been a big problem in the district) was hit HARD--the P Street corridor didn't really recover for at least a generation.
Pete's showdown with Harry was awesome. The contempt on his face, in his voice when he said "we have a racist here!" Pete has many, many flaws but I love his noblesse oblige.
I like that they included the Lindsay story, although it was even more awesome than what Henry recounted. When Mayor Lindsay--a man as WASPy as I am, he went to Yale and St. Paul's, a man wrapped in privilege--heard the news about King, he said I have to go into Harlem. "Somebody has to go up there. Somebody white has to face that emotion and say we're sorry." As you can imagine his aides thought this was a Bad Idea but he insisted. He went up there with some people and walked down 125th St., walking through the crowd, telling them how much he regretted it, how important King's work was. He said this is a terrible thing. He was there. He wasn't cowering in a bunker or atop a high-rise, he was there in front of them. A real face, a real person, speaking to them as another human being, saying I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
THAT is a leader. That is some Guiliani on 9-11 stuff. Lindsay made some mistakes as mayor but that was an amazing moment.
The RFK assassination ep should be epic. My mother told me when she heard the news she started screaming, literally screaming. She said it's happening all over again, they killed him like they killed his brother. The 1-2 punch of two great men gunned down, within 2 months--just awful. Interestingly RFK had a similar reaction to the King assassination--he was giving a speech in Indianapolis when the news came in and the crowd was obviously very upset. Like Lindsay he didn't give some stiff prepared speech, he made it human, personal--he told them I too have a brother who was gunned down by a white man. I'm so sorry. Lindsay and RFK are credited with why there was no major rioting in Indianapolis and NYC in the aftermath of King's murder--unlike most other major cities, including DC. DC (aka Chocolate City--racial issues have always been a big problem in the district) was hit HARD--the P Street corridor didn't really recover for at least a generation.
