Mike Pilewski writes about life, politics and culture in the United States
Among the aging paperbacks on my bookshelf is a thin volume from 1963 by Martin Luther King, Jr., called Why We Can’t Wait. King wrote this nearly 10 years into a civil-rights movement whose origin he placed in a Supreme Court decision in 1954. The book came years after the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott and several marches King had organized. … >>
The recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, have played out in a way that only Quentin Tarantino could have imagined. Tarantino’s films, which are very violent, often tell their story from more than one perspective. Scenes are not shown in the usual order. Key information is presented after the fact, reversing whatever conclusions one may have drawn up to that point. … >>
You’ve just turned 17. You’re at your dad’s fiancée’s house, watching a basketball game. There’s a break, so you take a walk out to the local convenience store to buy some Skittles and a can of iced tea. On your way back, you notice a stranger in a car is watching you. You walk away from him, but he follows … >>
These are crazy times. On one TV channel, mobs are destroying cities in England. On another channel, mobs are destroying San Francisco. The first is presented as news, and I’m supposed to be shocked by it. The second is presented as entertainment, and I’m supposed to enjoy it. Is this sick or what? Obviously the makers of Rise of the … >>
The US Civil War had ended, and the slaves were free. They just didn’t know it, because nobody had told them. Many found out only when occupation troops arrived. The war had been over for two months when Union troops finally showed up in the last Confederate area, Texas, in June 1865. On June 19, General Gordon Granger stood on … >>
Every revolution needs a poet. The civil-rights movement was won not by people marching in the streets or setting fire to their neighborhoods, but by the eloquence of their leaders, who opened the ears and minds of the establishment. Martin Luther King talked about the problems in his neighborhood, but his dream was a dream for everyone. He made civil … >>
Yesterday, April 21, was the 100th anniversary of the death of Samuel Langhorne Clemens. The author from Missouri was better known by his pseudonym, Mark Twain. How do you describe such a well-traveled and versatile individual? The sum total of his life was much greater than the individual things he did. He was a steamboat pilot, a businessman, a newspaper … >>
It was the darkest time in our nation’s history: four years of brother fighting brother. The Civil War started and ended in the month of April — in 1861 and 1865. So it’s only natural to remember this during April, right? That’s what Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell said last week when he declared each April to be Confederate History Month. … >>