Politics Plus

Just as not all our National Parks are known for their natural scenic beauty – not all revolutions begin on battlefields.  So in celebration of the Centennial of our National Park Service this year, a week ago today Pres. Obama made The Stonewall Inn and adjoining Christopher Park the latest addition to our treasure of National Monuments.

Located in Greenwich Village, The Stonewall Inn gives its iconic name to the legendary uprising that broke out in the early-morning hours of June 28, 1969 when, for the first time, the gay community stood up to police harassment.

“There was no out, there was just in.”

Let’s listen to the historical story from eyewitness recounting by Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt and the words of Pres. Obama from his proclamation and video announcement making the 7.7 acres America’s newest National Monument.

Pres. Obama:

"Raids like these were nothing new, but this time the patrons had had enough.  So they stood up and spoke out.  The riots became protests.  The protests became a movement.  The movement ultimately became an integral part of America."

Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, a veteran of the Stonewall Uprising who was there on June 28, 1969, shares some of his memories when the NYCPD sent its Public Morals Squad (yeah, it actually existed) to raid the bar.  Such raids were commonplace back then when it was illegal to be gay.

“We grew up in an era when everything was totally repressed.  Liberals thought we should be thrown in mental asylums and conservatives thought we should be thrown in jail.”

An unidentified group of young people celebrate outside the boarded-up Stonewall Inn (53 Christopher Street) after riots over the weekend of June 27, 1969. The bar and surrounding area were the site of a series of demonstrations and riots that led to the formation of the modern gay rights movement in the United States.

Pres. Obama from his Proclamation:

As part of a crackdown on LGBT bars in June 1969, the Public Morals squad of Manhattan's First Police Division raided the Stonewall Inn on June 24, 1969, confiscated its liquor, and arrested its employees.  The Stonewall Inn reopened the next day.  Having made only minimal impact with this raid, the police decided to plan a surprise raid for the following Friday night or Saturday morning, when the bar would be crowded.

On June 28, 1969, undercover police officers raided the Stonewall Inn around 1:15 a.m., after one of them witnessed the illegal sale of alcohol.  Customers resisted the police by refusing to show identification or go into a bathroom so that a police officer could verify their sex.  As police officers began making arrests, the remaining customers gathered outside instead of dispersing as they had in the past. 

They cheered when friends emerged from the bar under police escort, and they shouted "Gay Power!" and "We Want Freedom!".  As word spread, the gathering grew in size and a riot ultimately ensued.  Around 3:00 a.m., the City's riot-control force appeared, and started to push the crowd away from the Stonewall Inn.  But the crowd refused to disperse. 

A scene during the 1969 Stonewall riots, as seen in Kate Davis and David Heilbroner’s documentary STONEWALL UPRISING. A First Run Features Release. Photo by Bettye Lane.

Groups of demonstrators retreated to nearby streets, only to cut back and regroup near the Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park. 

The riot finally abated about 4:30 a.m., but during the next week several more protests formed, and in some cases, led to new riots and confrontations with the police.

Crowds gathered on the evening of Wednesday, July 2, 1969, five nights after a raid on the Stonewall Inn, a nightclub on Christopher Street popular among gay men and lesbians, which touched off disturbances. The Stonewall uprising has come to be seen as a defining event in the development of the gay rights movement.

Lanigan-Schmidt: “We fought back because we were humanized in there.  That night everything changed.”  And so the Stonewall riots became the flashpoint that launched what would become the gay rights movement.

Pres. Obama puts these historical protests in perspective in his proclamation read at the unveiling of the plaque:

“Viewed from Christopher Park's central location, this historic landscape — the park itself, the Stonewall Inn, the streets and sidewalks of the surrounding neighborhood — reveals the story of the Stonewall Uprising, a watershed moment for LGBT civil rights and a transformative event in the Nation's civil rights movement on par with the 1848 Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls and the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March for voting rights in its role in energizing a broader community to demand equal rights.”

A number of icons of the LGBT civil rights movement were present for the unveiling of the Stonewall National Monument Plaque, including Edith Windsor (on the Left) of United States v Windsor SCOTUS fame that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 2013.

Let’s close with a small tour of The Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park as they currently appear:

And let's be thankful we have a President in the White House who is dedicated to not only protecting, but also celebrating the diversity that makes America strong.

RESOURCES

https://www.nps.gov/ston/index.htm

https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/24/presidential-proclamation-establishment-stonewall-national-monument

http://www.npr.org/2016/06/24/483385747/obama-names-lgbt-landmark-as-national-monument

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-stonewall-lgbt-monument-20160627-snap-story.html

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/24/travel/stonewall-inn-first-lgbt-national-monument/

(Due to a major PC glitch resulting from the automatic downloaded “Windows Update” I’m going to do a simple brief tribute recognizing some of the vigils and remembrances from around the world for the victims of the mass shooting in Orlando.)

American flags and a rainbow banners hang at the Paris City Hall Monday, June 13, 2016 in Paris. The Eiffel Tower will shine in the colors of a rainbow on Monday night to honor victims of the mass shooting at an Orlando gay club. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

Paris City Hall

Berlin Memorial in Front of US Embassy

People attend a candlelight vigil for the victims of the Orlando attack against a gay night club, held in San Francisco, California, U.S. June 12, 2016. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach – RTX2FVPG

San Francisco City Hall

Zurich Church

Brussels City Hall

Sydney City Hall

Lapel Pin from Mayor of Paris

People hold a gathering to mourn victims of the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, in Hong Kong, China June 13, 2016. REUTERS/Bobby Yip – RTX2FY0D

People hold up signs in solidarity at a candlelight vigil in remembrance for mass shooting victims in Orlando, from San Diego, California, U.S. June 12, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Blake – RTX2FVAY

Love Is Greater than Hate

WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 26: Rainbow colored lights shine on the White House to celebrate todays US Supreme Court ruling in favor of same-sex marriage June 26, 2015 in Washington, DC. Today the high court ruled 5-4 that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage in all 50 states. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Obama Biden Pat Back

Today – the first Friday in June … and EVERY first Friday in June since 1938 –has been designated as “National Doughnut (or Donut) Day”!

In spite of a common misconception, it was NOT Homer Simpson who was responsible for creating this “Holey” Holiday.

Since we’re in the middle of a raucous election season, a burning historical and political question that I’ve wondered about that maybe you could answer: Was Pres. Kennedy really saying he was a popular type of donut when he famously declared, “Ich bin ein Berliner”?

So if you, like Pres. Kennedy, want to carry on the tradition of pledging yourself to donut-zealotry, today is your day – and with good historic and patriotic reason! 

It was soon after our entrance into WWI that the Salvation Army sent a fact-finding group to France to learn how they could best serve the morale needs of our soldiers.  It was their conclusion that setting up canteens called “huts” would fill the bill for helping with morale.

It soon became evident that their original hopes of providing “home-cooked meals” was beyond their scope – but two Salvation Army volunteers (Ensign Margaret Sheldon and Adjutant Helen Purviance) came up with the idea of serving doughnuts.  In fact they even sometimes would use the helmets of the soldiers to heat the oil used to fry the doughnuts.  (Yeah, I, too, wondered if that is where the term “doughboys” came from in referring to infantrymen – but "doughboys" origin has a decidedly longer history.)

There were about 250 Salvation Army volunteers on the front lines during WWI serving up the treats, and it wasn’t long before these women were referred to as “Doughnut Dollies”.  And when boosting the morale of the guys in WWII was largely taken over by the Red Cross, they too were called “Doughnut Dollies”.

But it wasn’t until the depths of the Depression in 1938 that the Chicago Salvation Army, in order to raise funds for the needy as well as to honor the women who served on the frontlines in WWI, created the first “National Doughnut/Donut Day”.

And if you’re wondering how cops are so commonly associated with donuts, there’s a good reason.  Back in the 1940s, policemen working the graveyard shift had few options for grabbing a quick bite while on their beats.  Donut stores famously start working very, very early to be ready for the morning rush – so it was convenient for cops to stop in and grab a cruller and a cup of Joe.

Some police units have embraced the tradition.  Police in the Chicago suburb of Schaumburg, Illinois climb up on the rooftop of their local Dunkin’ Donut shop every year to help raise money for the kids of Special Olympics.

And another police outfit in Michigan actually pooled their money to buy a struggling donut store, expanded it and turned it into Cops and Doughnuts.  So while you’re munching on one of their “Misdemeanor Weiners” you can buy one of their “Don’t Glaze Me, Bro” T-shirts.

If you want to get the old salivary glands a-churning, here’s a gallery from “USA Today” guaranteed to get a gourmand like you drooling.

And if you’re wanting to score a FREE DONUT, try one (or more) of these today – or maybe one from a local favorite in your neighborhood:

Dunkin’ Donuts

https://twitter.com/DunkinDonuts/status/738368858344415232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Krispy Kreme

https://twitter.com/krispykreme/status/733655676187250688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Giant Eagle

https://twitter.com/GiantEagle/status/738382672096067584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Duck Donuts

https://twitter.com/DuckDonuts/status/736239756187701248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Lamar’s Donuts

http://www.lamars.com/salvationarmy/

Oh, and whether by coincidence or design, the American Heart Association and Red Cross have designated the first week in June as “CPR Awareness Week”.

Those of us who have (or have had) hearing know what earworms are: those catchy snippets of a song or tune that loop endlessly in our heads.  Well, today’s “Friday Fun” may well implant one in your brain, but at least hopefully it will be a pleasant one.

A week ago today, Friday the 13^th, Bill Backer, the real Don Draper of “Mad Men”, passed away at the age of 89.  Backer was the creator of what has been called by Adweek “The world’s most famous ad” – Coca-Cola’s “Hilltop/I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing”.

And since that tune is now implanted as today’s earworm in your brains, you might as well go ahead and enjoy it in the remastered version …

For those of you who were “Mad Men” aficionados, you may recall the iconic final scene of the series-ending finale with Don Draper meditating (beginning ~ the 1:45 mark) while envisioning a utopian scene of a culturally diverse, youthful chorus singing about “apple trees and honeybees and snow white turtledoves” on an Italian hilltop while wanting “to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.”

But the background on how the ad actually came to be is quite a different story.

In January of 1971 Backer was flying to London to meet with his songwriting team when his flight was diverted to Ireland’s Shannon Airport because of a pea-soup thick fog engulfing London.

“[W]e were marooned in the Shannon Airport, which was not set up to handle big loads of offloaded passengers. So we were stuck in a tiny motel, sharing rooms, sleeping in the lobby, and we sat around with people from all over the world.”

At first, Backer and his fellow travelers found little to be happy about under these stressful circumstances.  But by the next day Backer was surprised to see those same unhappy, irate passengers in the airport’s restaurants and cafes laughing and sharing stories of their adventure while enjoying snacks over bottles of Coke, bound together by their common experience of being grounded.

"In that moment [I] saw a bottle of Coke in a whole new light… [I] began to see a bottle of Coca-Cola as more than a drink that refreshed a hundred million people a day in almost every corner of the globe.

So that was the basic idea: to see Coke not as it was originally designed to be — a liquid refresher — but as a tiny bit of commonality between all peoples, a universally liked formula that would help to keep them company for a few minutes."

Straight out of a movie script, he grabbed a paper napkin and scribbled: “I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.”

But when he finally reached London and shared what he had jotted down, his fellow songwriters complained: "Well, if I could do something for everybody in the world, it would NOT be to buy them a Coke.  I'd buy everyone a home first and share with them in peace and love"

Backer said, "Okay, that sounds good.  Let's write that.…”  And so was born “the world’s most famous ad”:

I’d like to buy the world a home and furnish it with love,

Grow apple trees and honey bees, and snow white turtle doves.

I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony,

I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.

[Repeat the last two lines, and in the background:]

It’s the real thing … Coke is what the world wants today.

The ad first aired on radio stations on Feb. 12, 1971.  Immediately it became so popular that DJs began receiving requests to play the commercial as if it were a song.  And the Hillside Singers original recording version actually peaked at number 13 on Billboard.  Backer then had the New Seekers record a slightly different version of the song, titled “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)”, which topped out at number 7.

The Coke ad greatly exceeded its $100,000 budget – eventually costing $250,000 to create, which made it the world’s most expensive commercial ever produced to that point.  They hired five hundred people from Rome to stand on the hilltop in Manziana, Italy to lip-sync the lyrics for the aerial shot.

You may ask: “OK – I get that for many of you of a certain age it brings back pleasant memories of your youth.  That’s all interesting, but what about the Koch connection?”

Well, we can now all enjoy that Coke/Koch earworm all over again – and maybe even more so with its reincarnation as the Koch parody that I saw not so long ago!  It’s hard for me to choose which lyrics I like better – but I think I’ll go with the new Koch parody version:

I’d like to buy the Kochs a world – So they’d leave ours alone

Then go back to Park Avenue – And crawl beneath their stone

I’d like to teach the Kochs about – A true democracy

Where working class kicks corporate ass – From sea to shining sea

They’re the Evil Thing

I’d like to give the Kochs the bird – From my whole family

Just keep your phony culture war – And keep your f*cking tea

They’re the Evil Thing – Make them go away

EPILOGUE:

To honor Mr. Backer’s memory, let’s close by revisiting some of his and his team’s most memorable jingles and slogans:

“Things go better with Coke”

“Coke – it’s the real thing”

Miller Lite “Everything you ever wanted in a beer… and less”

Campbell’s brand “Soup is good food”

… And while “Little girls have pretty curls, but I like Oreos”

RESOURCES

http://www.newsweek.com/bill-backer-adman-buy-coke-mad-men-died-460978

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/famed-adman-bill-backer-best-known-coca-colas-hilltop-dies-171534

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/17/id-like-to-buy-the-world-a-coke-the-story-behind-the-worlds-most-famous-ad-whose-creator-has-died-at-89/

http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-hilltop-story