They almost canceled the James Brown show on April 5, 1968. Everyone was nervous and shaken by Dr. King's assassination 24 hours earlier. No one was certain what would happen.Â
Stokely Carmichael somehow managed to eulogize his former colleague while simultaneously dismantling his philosophy. His voice is flat and calm, but somehow relieved, almost eager, as he announces the end of the nonviolent era:
He was the one man who was trying to teach our people to have love and compassion and mercy for what White people had done. .... White America made her biggest mistake when she killed Dr. King. last night, because when she killed Dr King last night she killed all reasonable hope. When she killed Dr. King last night she killed the one man of our race in this country who the militants and the revolutionaries and the masses of black people would still listen to. ... The rebellions that have been occurring is just light stuff [compared] to what is about to happen. We have to retaliate for the death of our leaders ... in the streets of the United States. ... There no longer needs to be intellectual discussion. Black people know that they have to get guns. White America will live to cry.
In Boston, the profound scale of the "mistake" was surely apparent to the leadership. There had already been fires and some riots immediately after he was killed on the night of the 4th. The national guard was already on its way in.
I think to understand this concert you have to see the footage of troops defending the White House that week:
In the massive hall at Boston Gardens, in that crazy deep darkness you can see in the video, there was a current of grief and anger was going, everyone surely felt it. I wasn't there but just listen to this opening track for a minute. You can feel it.
The opener is That's Life, which I think might actually be about getting shot:Â
Thatâs life, thatâs what all the people say.
Youâre riding high in April, Shot down in May
But I know Iâm gonna change that tune,
When Iâm back on top, back on top in June.
At some point, the story goes, city council member Atkins realized the concert could work as a kind of pacifying civic media, if they could get it broadcast for free on local television station WGBH. They literally could keep people in their homes if there was something good enough on TV. Call it a memorial. Somehow they managed it at the last second at great expense.
And somehow, it seems to have worked. The Atkins strategy. Seems a bit of a tidy explanation to me but there you have it: That's why they call it âthe night James Brown saved Boston."Â
There are a lot of things to return to here, and I am especially interested to understand more about this kind of moment in rhetoric and strategy. I want to know more about the Atkins TV deal with WGBH, and the reality of what happened. What else was on TV? What were the commercials like? What time did the concert end? I'm glad Boston didn't burn, but there is something unsettling about a celebrated civic moment defined by watching TV. (At the very least, we should be careful with the idea of "success" in this context). Surely there is more going on that can help us learn about Boston leadership, or James Brown, or WGBH.
Ultimately the big questions here are about violence, and rhetoric, and competing theories of change.
Perhaps for now it's best if we just listen closely, and maybe scream along in the big darkness:
PS: watch the last song to see an incredible near miss with some apparently under-educated Boston Gardens police who nearly precipitate a riot inside the hall. The lights come up, you glimpse thousands in the audience, staring down at the police in the spotlight, and the band looks on nervously. The celebrated Atkins civic media plan appears moments away from turning out very poorly. But Brown keeps his cool, shit talking his way through it, pushing the kids off stage himself, and finishing the song.
