HELLO AMERICA!—By the year 1968, America had lost some of the most freedom loving men of the nation. First, it was Jack Kennedy, then Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy’s murder at the Ambassador Hotel where I was during his presidential campaign was taking place shocked the world. The film industry reached out to maintain the belief and hope for the people to keep calm and not lose belief in our system of democracy which was an obvious test of its power and strength.

Stars such as Sammy Davis Jr., Nancy Wilson, Eartha Kitt, and Marlon Brando were there supporting this banner of hope and determination to assure us all that nothing, not even these tragic horrors would not daunt our determination in keeping freedom alive.

As a youngster growing up during the second World War, it was the film industry which kept “hope” alive.  The many films induced such determination for all people to be treated decently as human beings and we all had to pull together in making it a world of peace and not of hate which always lead to disaster. The recent murders at the Pittsburgh synagogue should not be taken lightly, but as an indication of what lies in the future. Those who yawned and reacted as if it was simply another indication of political disagreement are repeating the same naiveté which many expressed when a man named Hitler turned the world upside down for us all in 1941.

Then when photos were published of millions of Jews being thrown in death pits following the war, these same people expressed disbelief and horror. The intensity of that feeling was even more electrifying when viewing the newsreels which flooded our cinemas throughout our nation and the world when the so-called peace treaties were signed.

Now we are plastered with a kind of dictator residing in the house which symbolizes the best of what we are supposed to be touting everything which brought the world to the edge of death, yelling with utter conviction that we all should cling together in making AMERICA GREAT AGAIN when that phrase sickens millions of those who couldn’t vote based on their color. Women were here simply to gratify the needs of men and there was definite place for the rich and the have nots no matter who it is because of the power of television, these sick, defeating notions which dominate the airwaves day and night.

Swaying non-thinking millions of people in a direction of total ignorance and a false sense of superiority has always resulted in human confrontation. There always seem to be those such as Senator Mitch McConnell and Ted Cruz around to make a pitch for a sad, restrictive life, representing a time and world of superiority. Regardless, the song, “We Shall Overcome” still rings loud, reminding millions of people why freedom remains a powerful force. Still Hollywood can make a difference if only they open the archives of yesterday and remember the sound bombs, children and families running for cover or those of millions of young men and women who lying on the battlefield, all believed they might make a better world for all us in which to live in hope and freedom.