October 17, 2018

Aretha Franklin: Freedom, Respect, and the Moral Universe

Powerful and proud, Aretha Franklin’s music championed the ideas of freedom and dignity,
making her voice an integral part of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States with songs
like “Think” (1968) and “Respect” (1967). When I hear the word “freedom” sung repeatedly in
the chorus of the song, “Think,” I am reminded of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic, “I Have a
Dream,” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963, where he etched the words “Free
At Last” into the vocabulary of the Civil Rights Movement. The song, “Respect,” unwaveringly
and unapologetically demands just that and translates effortlessly into a voice for the feminist
movement of the time. I was a child in that era, born in 1960. But the messages expressed by
voices like Ms. Franklin’s, have left an indelible imprint on me and many in my generation, as
well as subsequent generations. Those are the voices that made me feel that “The arc of the
moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” (Martin Luther King, Jr.). They made me
feel like the United States was a place of social progress despite its struggles.

That said, it is with sadness that I write this piece in honor of the legend of soul, Aretha Franklin,
who died 16 August of this year. Yes, we mourn her loss; she was an icon of human resilience.
But there is another sadness that emerges from what I can only describe as dashed hopes and
aspirations that relate themselves to a false perception of social progress. In other words, I feel
remorse when it seems that the battles that were fought and the ground gained in the Civil
Rights Era and the Women’s Movement were aberrations in the “arc of the moral universe”. I
feel remorse that Aretha Franklin's voice of strength and fortitude that has resonated for
decades could become inaudible. Finally, I feel remorse that the country that I thought I knew
has moved in a direction that I never would have predicted. The irony doesn't escape me that
just today as I write about an artist whose message speaks about strength and social progress,
the United States Senate confirmed a Supreme Court justice whose influence could take the
U.S. down a dangerously conservative path for decades to come.

But as we turn our gaze back to Ms. Franklin, we see that not only did her music express the
ideals of social justice and equality of her time, so did her actions. She contributed her time and
money to Dr. Martin Luther King's efforts in the Civil Rights Movement. Her father, C.L. Franklin,
was a civil rights activist and organizer as well as a friend of King's. Thus, the young Aretha
Franklin had grown up surrounded by activism. The clause in her singing contract early on
stated that she would never perform for a segregated audience. She was also a vocal advocate
for the rights of women, and her words in a 2016 interview with Elle magazine echoed the
sentiment of her 1967 hit song, “Respect”: “Women absolutely deserve respect. I think women
and children and older people are the three least-respected groups in our society." Finally, like
the chorus of “freedom” in her 1968 song, “Think,” Ms. Franklin demonstrated her dedication to
the freedom of blacks by posting bail in 1970 for political activist, Angela Davis, who had been
arrested on fabricated charges. She told Jet magazine during that same year, “Angela Davis
must go free. Black people will be free...I’m going to see her free if there is any justice in our
courts, not because I believe in communism, but because she’s a Black woman and she wants
freedom for Black people. I have the money; I got it from Black people—they’ve made me
financially able to have it—and I want to use it in ways that will help our people.”

FREEDOM and RESPECT: Those are two very valuable concepts to embrace in moving
towards a more peaceful and civilized world. It is difficult to imagine anyone being against such
fundamental values. Yet here we are. The freedom and respect that Aretha Franklin sang about
are absent in the political climate of our day. Instead, rudeness and the restriction of freedoms
are the preferred policies. Yes, we have taken some steps backwards in the vision of equality
and civil rights that was clearly expressed by activists of the 1960s and 1970s. There were
many who struggled hard and lost their lives in order to change oppressive and unjust laws. If
we are to overcome the current oppressive regime of Donald Trump, we must find the same
strength and tenacity within ourselves that the great activists possessed. The arc of the moral
universe can continue to bend towards justice, except that it is perhaps a little longer than we
thought.