Starr Wars

Our first artifact in this unit included a handout with the lyrics of the song “War,” by Edwin Starr. The artifact described Starr as “the guy with the coolest voice ever.” I, like everyone else on the planet, have heard “War” many times on the radio and in movies. But I wanted to know more about the song: who wrote it, when was it written, and how did people react to such a hard-hitting, controversial song?

First written in 1969 by popular Motown songwriter and producer Norman Whitfield, “War” was a song of rebellion and protest against the United State’s seemingly useless war in Vietnam. It was not originally written for Starr. Instead, the song was created for the Temptations, one of Motown’s most popular singing groups. “War” was included on the album Psychedelic Shack, along with seven other songs. The anti-war tune was an instant hit, and fans clamored for it to be released as a single.

Whitfield fought to get Motown to listen to its fans and release the Temptations song as a single. But Motown said no. They worried that “War” was so hard-hitting and controversial, it could endanger the success of one of its most popular, profitable bands. Whitfield, however, kept fighting. Finally, another Motown singer, Edwin Starr, heard about the argument, and came up with an idea. He offered to re-record the song, giving Motown a less risky solution. At the time, Starr was a little-known black singer with a rough, vigorous singing style. The Temptations’ version of “War” had been done in a laid back, acoustic style. But Starr changed the song’s mood completely, turning it into a hard-driving, passionate single that boldly captured the nation’s angst about the futility and stupidity of war.

Starr turned Whitfield’s Vietnam protest song into an immediate smash hit. “War” reached number one in the United States in 1970, and boosted Starr’s career to a new level. The song resonated with millions of Americans who felt that the war in Vietnam was a waste of time, and that young men were getting killed over nothing. In the same year that the National Guard at Kent State University shot and killed four war protesters, Starr and Whitfield gave anti-war activists a renewed passion to fight for their cause.

The determination and persistence that Whitfield and Starr showed in re-recording “War” contrasts sharply with the story of the young man who runs away from the U.S. to Canada in “On the Rainy River.” The narrator, Tim O’Brien, holds the same convictions about Vietnam that Whitfield and Starr did in their song. But he doesn’t act on them because he doesn’t have the courage to risk the backlash from patriots like parents and friends at home. His dilemma is a lot like Motown’s: what was he willing to risk, and what would he lose, by voicing an unpopular view about war? What would be the cost of acting on his emotions, and leaving the U.S. to avoid the draft?

O’Brien describes his angst and torment in trying to resolve this as he writes a letter to his parents and confesses, “I try to explain some of my feelings, but there aren’t enough words…” He talks about how “Intellect had come up against emotion…” and he confesses to being in “desperate trouble…I couldn’t talk about it. The wrong word—or even the right word—and I would’ve disappeared.”

In the end, O’Brien doesn’t have the courage to leave the security of the life he’s always known for the sake of his convictions. And that, perhaps, is the key to the power of Starr and Whitfield’s song. Their music captured what words and logic in that Vietnam era never could. Their re-released single sang the story of the torment and passion of Tim O’Brien.

Bringing Cuba Back

After discussing America’s conquest of Cuba in the Spanish American War in class, I was interested in a recent New York Times article discussing President Obama’s new plan to reconnect the United States with Cuba. During George Bush’s presidency, Cuba was made out to be an enemy, a country with whom we should not have relations. Bush continued the embargo on Cuba the U.S. initiated in 1962, and made travel to the island nearly impossible. The former president alienated a struggling country that needs America’s help, but Obama is working to fix that.

This week, Obama and the presidents of 33 other countries in the Western Hemisphere held a summit meeting to discuss Cuba’s future and whether it should join the Organization of American States after it was expelled from the group in 1962. Cuba was not at the summit meeting, but talks seemed promising for the island that has struggled as a Communist country for the past 45 years. Unlike Bush, who brushed issues with Cuba aside, Obama is taking the challenge head-on.

Although Obama did not discuss the trade embargo on Cuba, he did promote the rights of Cubans living in the United States to “travel freely to the island and send money to relatives there.” Obama also opened the door to communicating with Cuba’s president, Raul Castro. While George Bush wanted to simply end all exchanges with Castro, Obama wants to create a relationship with the president, the first step toward making U.S.-Cuban relations move in a positive direction.

As we talked about in class, the United States once fought for Cuba’s freedom from Spain. But, as we saw in the political cartoons, Cuba was portrayed in very different ways in the early 20th century, both as a lovely woman in a ball and chain that needed America’s help, and also as a filthy, violent dark man that Uncle Sam is glad to be rid of. It had many different guises. Since Cuba became a Communist country in the early 1960’s, and the U.S. closed its doors to the poverty-stricken nation, there is only one way to view Cuba now: beaten down.

But today, a century after the Spanish-American war, President Barack Obama is attempting to mend relations between the United States and Cuba, and in the process stepping up to a challenge that no president has been willing to face for forty years. Obama’s plan may get Cuba back on its feet and allow it to rejoin the Organization of American States. From there, Cuba would decide whether or not to help make the world a better place. But first, it has to help itself—and America’s overtures might be the catalyst.

Barack "Billy Mays" Obama

This week, America watched in wonder as a new television pitchman was born. But he doesn’t want your money. He just wants to jumpstart our country’s economy. And he’s doing it like a marketing pro.

One of the activities we did in this unit was study advertising and how companies portray their products through television, billboards or magazines. We also talked about how salesmen draw consumers into buying their product, whether it’s giving the item a humanistic, compassionate feel in a magazine image, or repeating the toll free phone number on a commercial six times. Good marketing is key to a company’s success, and in this recession it is even more vital when consumers are spending less.

Recently, a new salesman has emerged on the advertising circuit. But he’s not selling ShamWows or deluxe butter knives. This man doesn’t even want you to spend a penny. He wants you to save thousands of dollars a year. But it’s not the Geiko gecko.

President Barack Obama is an infomercial salesman.

Well, not exactly. But according to a New York Times article, it sure seemed like it the way Obama repeated five different times a new web address that can help people refinance their home. Because of the housing industry crisis, interest rates on homes are almost at an all-time low. Millions of Americans are taking advantage of this by refinancing their homes, which lowers their interest rate. With rates so low, homeowners can save up to $3,000 a year. President Obama is making sure all Americans know about this golden opportunity.

On Thursday, Obama went on the air to spread the word about home refinancing. Besides using repetition, a common sales tactic, Obama also brought in people from the D.C. area to talk about how much money they saved by lowering their interest rates. Obama wanted to show that refinancing is a great way to save money, and he pushed to connect with homeowners by showing real people who endorsed his pitch. Obama spent hours promoting something that could begin to turn the economy in the right direction. And he could definitely compete for salesman of the week.

There is something to be said for Barack’s unique endorsement. He is the first President to ever use an “infomercial approach” to help the American people. It may be because our nation is in the worst financial crisis since the Depression, when FDR introduced new techniques like his “Fireside Chats” to connect with Americans. Perhaps Obama is beginning a new age of innovation that our country has needed for a long time.

An American Dream Dies

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Jiverly Wong was not doing well. A Vietnamese immigrant, Wong came to the United States for the same reason as millions of foreigners: he wanted to live the American dream. Unfortunately, that dream never became a reality for Wong. He lived in Los Angeles for over a decade, and later moved to New York City. But Wong could never hold a steady job. Unsuccessful at having any steady relationships, Wong worked as a sushi delivery man, vacuum assembler, and an I.B.M. computer dissembler. But Wong was extremely frustrated, financially and in his daily life. The man struggled to learn English, and a heavy Vietnamese accent made it hard for him to communicate and socialize with coworkers. As a man who worked with him at Shop-Vac said, “He was really a loner. He didn’t have any personality problems that I could see…he just didn’t speak very much English.”

From the outside, people who knew Wong thought he was just a quiet guy. But no one knew what was really going on in Wong’s head. He began taking out his frustration at a local firing range, where he would go every weekend and shoot targets. He got his gun certification in 1996. He used to talk about how he was going to shoot the politicians running for office. When a coworker told him he was going to call the police if he talked about killing people, Wong responded: “I’m just joking around.”
Yesterday in New York, Wong walked into the building where he had been trying to improve his English, the headquarters of the American Civic Association. With two handguns, he shot and killed 13 people. He then shot himself. It was the worst mass killing since the Virginia Tech shootings. The kid who killed all the people in Virginia was not so different from Wong, a loner who felt he had no place in the world.

This is an example of a man who came to America looking to find his foothold, to get a steady job and support a family. But he soon learned what it means to be impoverished in America. He was one of millions looking for employment in these tough times. His belief in the American dream slowly eroded as time went on, and it left an angry, bitter man who needed a purpose. He finally left his mark on history yesterday, in the only way he could.

But once, he was just a dreamer.