Jacqueline Onassis might be America’s first queen. She was definitely the first First Lady to have a public reverence which was equal to and if not greater than the President. Maybe that’s a stretch, but I can remember how respectful the media had been with her during my awareness.
She was beautiful and dutiful. Now we are about to read a memoir from her which puts some of her most intimate thoughts and maybe some of the thoughts that she should have kept more intimate into the public record. She was privy to information that we can only politely call ‘sensitive’. It’s funny and sad what becomes public after someone’s death but even America’s Camelot was still just ultimately a fantasy fairytale.
I’m sorry to learn that MLK’s dalliances were dinner table discussions amongst the Kennedy clan, especially since JFK was getting it in with equal aplomb. It’s obvious now why she became such a fiercely private person after the assassination of the President. Once her world was rocked with the truth about her husband she realized she was not immune to the disease that is power and politricks.
Some folks can’t handle the truth
Not to defend Jacqueline Kennedy one way or the other re: MLK but it’s important to remember how and from whom she was getting her information. And, also, it’s entirely possible Civil Rights wasn’t one of her primary concerns.
That said, the record of the Kennedy Justice Department was generally admirable and sometimes moreso. The bugging of MLK is a tricky issue that came back to haunt Robert F. Kennedy after he came to love Martin…
… in part, he approved it because it would get the FBI OFF of Martin’s ass about “communism.” Then he ends up finding out these other things.
One of the great, yet untold stories is about Robert Kennedy and Brooklyn, the details of which are hugely glossed over with just briefest nod by folks with biz around Restoration Plaza.
That this is never referenced in hip-hop either is no surprise because of the time period (mid-late ’60s to early ’70s) and schisms within 1) local black community and 2) media distortion of RFK, i.e.
You don’t want to emphasize that he and certain of his closest aides really really cared because it only highlights that most people– the media included– do fucking NOT.
Assclowns and concerned citizens alike aren’t going to learn any of this from a motherfucking Shawn Carter record, that’s for sure.
^^^^^What he said.
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