Waiting For Huey

by Franz Schurmann

(PNS) -- Over half a century ago in 1949 I walked into the Place d'Armes (military parade ground) and a small museum in New Orleans. In front of me stood a huge statue of Huey P. Long with the inscription, "just call me sui generis." (Latin for "one of a kind.")

Watching the images of Katrina, I remember another Huey P. as well. Two decades later I came across Huey P. Newton, the charismatic leader of the Black Panther Party.

Though both men lived short lives, their auras still radiate all over the world. Huey P. Long (1893-1935) believed he was destined for higher purposes, as did Huey P. Newton (1942-1989). Both emerged at a time of deep division, yet also a time of searching for common ground -- times not unlike today, when the country is in awe over nature's mighty force but in anguish over how deeply divided by class and race we remain. As in 9/11, Hurricane Katrina has united Americans. But this time unity has not taken the form of patriotism, but rather awe about some higher force that academic science and technology cannot explain, let alone control.

Huey P. Long was governor of Louisiana during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Louisiana had only 331 miles of paved roads in 1928. A few years later his road-building project extended that figure to 13,000 miles. He established an educational program that had schools within walking distance for pupils. He tried to make the oil industry pay for the schools but his own party turned against him.

The New York Times headlined, "Senator Long sets up a Fascist government in Louisiana." He was not liked in Washington, but he believed that he had a chance to become president of the USA. In 1935 he was shot to death in Baton Rouge. Some say that the alleged assassin, who was also shot to death, did not have a gun.

In 1970 I came to know Huey P. Newton, a co-founder of the Black Panther Party. I never asked him about his connection with Huey P. Long. After Huey's death, his brother Melvin said to me that their parents held Huey P. Long in high esteem and decided to name one boy in honor of Long's visions and achievements. The parents felt the "Kingfish" (Long) did a lot for "colored people."

Huey P. Newton was a revolutionary and also a voracious reader. But his books served a plan that he nursed after he got out of prison. It was his aim to turn Oakland into the first "liberated" city in the United States. He read Frantz Fanon and his book "The Wretched of the Earth," which dealt with torture and the liberation of Algeria from the French colonists. He read Malcolm X's biography, which showed the suffering of blacks in American society. He read Mao's Little Red Book, which showed a socialist movement was possible even in Oakland. And when he was in exile in Cuba he read "The Diary of Che Guevara."

Huey P. Long and Huey P. Newton shared certain political traits. Both were highly learned despite the poverty that each grew up in. But they also had a flair for the strategies and maneuverings of politics. If Long had lived to see the 1940 presidential race, he would have had a good chance of winning.

Like Long in Louisiana, Newton had grand designs for Oakland. With Oakland's black population at 40 percent, he kept saying that blacks are not exploited, but expendable. The result was that a good portion of that 40 percent went to the polling booths. A good friend Ron Dellums served in the Congress from 1971 to 1999 and played an important role in the House's Armed Forces Committee, and in Oakland many blacks got jobs. Newton also shrewdly kept saying "we leaders should look over our shoulders to see if people are following us." But he never lost sight of his vision to make Oakland the first "liberated" city in the United States.

Neither Long nor Newton lived long enough to realize their visions. Yet both left an indelible mark. The country was shocked to see the utter wretchedness and poverty that was made visible by Katrina. But it was that kind of despair and deprivation that once spawned the two Hueys. Now the country waits to see if a leader who is sui generis like them will emerge from the debris.