Category: History

A Pop Culture Tribute to the End of the Terror Color Levels

Terror Threat Colors
Starting last Thursday, the U.S. Homeland Security Department began phasing out the color-coded terror-threat system that was created after September 11, 2001. The system will end completely by April 26, 2011. The national level has been at yellow (elevated) since 2006, with air flights being at orange (high risk).

Hopefully, in the future, anyone born after today will not know anything about this system. For posterity, here is a popular culture explanation of the meaning behind all of the colors:

* Red: severe risk: When we are at this level, it is like the days when we thought the communists were taking over and were going to attack. Panic time. (The movie Reds, starring Warren Beatty.)

* Orange: high risk: This level is like being locked in prison. You cannot go anywhere.  (“Orange Blossom Special” at San Quentin, by Johnny Cash.)

* Yellow: Elevated – significant risk: When you are at this level, it is a little bit better than being in prison, as you may leave your room, but you still cannot go out. It is like being in a submarine.  (“Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles.)

* Blue: Guarded – general risk: It’s better than the options above, but you’re still a little sad.  (“Blue” by the Jayhawks.)

* Low (green): low risk: This is a happy level, like living with puppets. But it’s not easy to get this green level.  (“It’s Not Easy Being Green,” by Kermit the Frog.)

In all seriousness, I recommend the movie and the songs above. But if you only watch one, check out “Blue” by the Jayhawks. It is a great song with an introduction by a very young Jon Stewart.

Here’s to hoping we never hear anything more about terror levels again.

Will you miss the terror colors? Leave a comment.

Stevie Wonder’s Happy Birthday to MLK

Martin Luther King Jr.On January 15 in 1929, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia.  Today we celebrate that birth.

A generation has grown up with the third Monday in January being Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  Thus, it may be difficult for some to understand why there was a debate about whether or not to have a day of celebration for the great man.

The Work for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day

A campaign for a Martin Luther King Jr. Day started not long after King’s assassination in 1968.  But the day did not become a federal holiday until 1983 when Pres. Ronald Reagan signed it into law.   Even then, some were opposed to the holiday.  Pres. Reagan initially was opposed to it, citing cost concerns.

But the matter did not end in 1983, and it took time for some states to get on board to make it a state holiday. In the early 1990s, Arizona received much criticism for its failure to have an official paid holiday after Gov. Evan Mechan rescinded an order from the previous governor, Bruce Babbit, who had made the day a holiday.

Eventually, Arizona recognized the day through a popular referendum (after an earlier one lost in 1990). New Hampshire was the last state to have a day named after MLK, adopting it in 1999 (the state had adopted the day as “Civil Rights Day” in 1991).  South Carolina was the last state to adopt the holiday as a paid holiday for state employees, and that occurred in 2000.

Time marches on. Just as kids today may not understand how MLK Day was even an issue in the 1980s and 1990s, it is hard for me, born in the 1960s, to comprehend the violent discrimination that went on in the 1950s and 1960s. And I’m sure most of the kids who were alive in 1911 did not understand how people kept a race of people in slavery just fifty years earlier.

Humans can be pretty stupid, but fortunately, a lot of times we start to figure things out, even if it takes a long time. And we still have a lot to figure out when it comes to discrimination against others.

Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday”

One person who does have great perception of human beings is Stevie Wonder. In 1980, when people were debating whether MLK Day should be a federal holiday, Stevie Wonder recorded a song asking why something so logical was taking so long.  He released “Happy Birthday” in 1981.

In “Happy Birthday,” Wonder reminded people why Martin Luther King Jr. deserved a special holiday.

The time is overdue,
For people like me and you,
Who know the way to truth,
Is love and unity to all God’s children.


It should be a great event,
And the whole day should be spent,
In full remembrance
Of those who lived and died for the oneness of all people.


So let us all begin
We know that love can win
Let it out don’t hold it in
Sing it loud as you can,
Happy birthday to you.

So, crank it up and take some time to celebrate the birth of a great human being. Sing it loud as you can. Happy Birthday to You! And thanks.

Bonus MLK Songs: See a discussion of 15 songs inspired by MLK.

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Will Gov. Quinn Sign the Death Penalty Bill?

Yesterday, the Illinois Legislature passed a bill to abolish the death penalty in that state. In order for the bill to become law, the governor must sign it. The bill now sits on Governor Pat Quinn’s desk, and he has said that he does not yet know what he will do.

Lethal Injection ChamberIllinois has been a leader in the death penalty debate in recent years, so it will be interesting to see if the governor has the courage to accept the role in abolishing the death penalty. After several Illinois death row inmates were found to be innocent in the 1990s, then-Gov. George Ryan ordered a commission to review the criminal justice system and he ultimately commuted the sentences of everyone on Illinois’s death row. The results from the commission, and studies by other states inspired by Illinois, in effect, found that there are so many flaws in the criminal justice system, that we can never be sure that we will not execute an innocent person.

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia do not have the death penalty, and there has been a strong worldwide trend for decades to get rid of the death penalty. Yet, when we hear about a violent crime, like the recent tragic shootings in Arizona, our first reaction is to reach for the lethal injection needle. That quest for revenge is normal and human, but it is also normal and human to act out of rational thought instead of anger. And rational thought and experience tell us that the death penalty is more expensive than life in prison, ineffective, racist, inaccurate, and discriminates against the poor.

Steve Earle touches on several of these themes in his excellent song, “Billy Austin.” The stark tale is narrated by a death row inmate who is part Native American. He does not claim to be innocent, and he describes committing a murder during a filling station robbery. The song then addresses the trial, referencing the poor representation often given to those charged with capital crimes. Earle seems to be telling us that the death penalty is not given based on the worst crimes, it is given based on what happens in a courtroom.

But my trial was over quickly
And then the long hard wait began
Court appointed lawyer
Couldn’t look me in the eye
He just stood up and closed his briefcase
When they sentenced me to die

The narrator then describes the wait on death row, touching on the racism in the system.

I ain’t about to tell you
That I don’t deserve to die
But there’s twenty-seven men here
Mostly black, brown and poor
Most of em are guilty
Who are you to say for sure?

And the song ends with another question.

Could you take that long walk with me
Knowing hell is waitin’ there
Could you pull that switch yourself sir
With a sure and steady hand
Could you still tell yourself
That you’re better than I am.

And those are the questions that face Gov. Quinn. If he does not sign the bill, he will be the one pulling the switch on everyone executed in Illinois from this day forward. And that is a heavy responsibility to bear. Because the death penalty ultimately is not about the person being killed, it is about who we are.

Bonus Governors’ Dilemmas in Other States: In the past week, Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, and Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen granted clemency to men on death row. Meanwhile, also in the last week, Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter granted a posthumous pardon to Joe Arridy, who was executed in 1936, because evidence now shows Arridy was innocent.

Bonus Discussion of Another Steve Earle Song on the Death Penalty:  Justice Stevens and Steve Earle’s “Ellis Unit One.”

  • Illinois Abolishes Death Penalty: Steve Earle’s Over Yonder
  • “Nebraska” and the Death Penalty
  • Dylan’s “Julius & Ethel”
  • The Journey of “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me” From the Scaffold to the Screen
  • The End of Maryland’s Death Penalty and “Green, Green Grass of Home”
  • The Killing of “Two Good Men”

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    Rosie the Riveter RIP

    In the middle of holiday celebrations, many may have missed that Geraldine Hoff Doyle, the inspiration for the famous poster of “Rosie the Riveter,” died on December 26 in Michigan. Doyle’s memorial service will be held this weekend on January 8, 2011.  [2018 Update:  See update at end of article about another woman credited with inspiring the famous poster.]

    Rosie the Riveter

    When Doyle was 17, a photographer took a photo that was apparently of her working at a metal-stamping machine in Ann Arbor. Artist J. Howard Miller used the United Press photo as the basis for a famous World War II poster that praised contributions made by working women. The poster, encouraging women to enter the work force, featured a strong independent woman flexing her muscle saying “We Can Do It!” Others named the woman in the poster “Rosie the Riveter,” after a popular song about women contributing to the war effort.

    Norman Rockwell also created his own painting of Rosie the Riveter used for a 1943 cover of the Saturday Evening Post.  The Four Vagabonds sang the song “Rosie the Riveter.”

    A little-known fact about the woman in the poster is that Doyle only worked at the plant for a couple of weeks. She quit the job after she learned that her predecessor injured her hand in the metal press machine. So, the woman who inspired the poster with the flexing muscle was not flexing her muscle in the job for long.

    Still, her brief work at the plant inspired other women to do the work. She contributed to the continuing long journey toward obtaining equal rights for women as well as to helping defeat the Nazis. And that’s pretty cool. “Making history, working for victory,” just like in the song. Thanks Rosie, and thanks Geraldine.  Rest in peace.

    2018 Update:  New research indicates that it probably was not Doyle in that original photo that inspired the Rosie the Riveter poster.  A researcher concluded that the woman in the original photo was Naomi Parker Fraley.  Fraley died at the age of 96 in January 2018.  Either way, Fraley and Doyle both did important work for the war effort and womens’ rights.

    Bonus Song Information: Although Doyle became associated with “Rosie the Riveter,” another woman, Rosalind P. Walter, inspired the song. Walter worked a night shift building fighter planes. Another woman, Rose Will Monroe, who worked as a riveter in Michigan during WWII, appeared in a promotional film during the war. Many at the time saw Monroe as the real Rosie the Riveter icon.

    Bonus New Video: Pink’s new video for her song, “Raise Your Glass,” features her impression of the Geraldine Doyle poster.

    Have a Safe New Year’s Eve (Billy the Kid Rises Again)

    Billy the Kid

    Today it was announced that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will not pardon Billy the Kid. People debated this year whether Billy the Kid should be pardoned. The debate was based on a deal that Billy allegedly had made with the territorial governor in exchange for testimony in a case.

    According to USA Today, Gov. Richardson, whose term ends at midnight tonight, said that the evidence of the deal was ambiguous, so he chose not to act on the pardon. Others on both sides debated whether or not the evidence was so ambiguous.

    The descendants of the territorial governor and of Pat Garrett, the sheriff who shot and killed Billy the Kid, asserted that they were outraged that Gov. Richardson had considered the pardon. We are invested in the legacy of our families, even for things that happened more than 100 years ago.

    Nobody knows what happened in that secret meeting between Billy the Kid and the territorial governor in March 1879. But, like Tom Petty in the song “Billy the Kid,” Billy keeps getting up in our American imagination.

    Chimesfreedom has been out of town, but we will have a New Year’s Post tomorrow, so be sure to stop by again in the new year.  Thanks for your visits and comments in 2010 as this site has got off the ground, and we look forward to seeing you in 2011!

    May you continue to get up from any adversity in the new year.