Character Matters

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.  It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant. Matthew 20:25-26

Is the character of civic leaders important in this day and age, or is it just about who delivers the outcomes that I want? I find it particularly disturbing that so many of my fellow citizens, especially many conservative Christians, seem so willing to sacrifice the former for the latter. Leadership is not just about doing the right things, it is also about doing them in the right way and setting a good example for others to follow.

In one of my favorite scenes in the absolutely delightful A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, the journalist doing research for his piece on Fred Rogers, so brilliantly portrayed by Tom Hanks, asks Mr. Rogers how the character he plays in his children’s TV show differs from the real Mr. Rogers. Hanks’ Mr. Rogers stares at the reporter without saying a word in a look that says it all: Character? What character? That is of course what made Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood so endearing. It wasn’t an act. The gentle, affirming character of Fred Rogers, his essential nature, was the character of the show.

When François Clemmons, the gay black man who portrayed Officer Clemmons on the show, relayed to Fred Rogers an account of black children being denied access to public swimming pools, Mr. Rogers introduced a kiddie pool to the set and invited Officer Clemmons to sit with him as they shared the delight of relaxing on a hot summer’s day with bare feet in the cool water. Now that’s character.

This past week Bubba Wallace, the sole African-American in the top circuit of NASCAR drivers, called upon NASCAR to ban the confederate flag from all of its venues. A sport that has a huge fan base in the South, confederate flags have been as ubiquitous at NASCAR races as mosquitoes at a mountain lake. To their credit, NASCAR agreed and issued the ban shortly thereafter. Though he drives the No. 43 car for the Richard Petty team, 43 being the number of the famed NASCAR driver, Wallace has no prime sponsors. So instead of a logo for some oil company on the hood, the 43 car shows a black arm and a white arm with clasped hands on a black background with the words “Compassion, Love, Understanding” in white letters underneath. Not exactly the typical message one pictures racing around an oval with 30 other cars at 180 mph. That’s character.

General Mark A. Milley is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Called to the White House on June 1 for a press conference with the President, Gen. Milley dutifully obeyed his Commander in Chief. Thereafter he unwittingly found himself in the infamous photo op in front of St. John’s Church. This past Thursday he apologized for that gaffe, telling the graduates of the National Defense University that it is wrong for military officials to be so used for domestic politics. In his commencement address Gen. Milley went on to say that the protests after the killing of George Floyd “not only speak to his killing, but also to the centuries of injustice toward African-Americans. What we are seeing is the long shadow of our original sin in Jamestown 401 years ago…” A shadow which, the General confessed, was reflected in the lack of racial diversity among the top brass of the military. Though nominated by the President for his current position, Gen. Milley has been one of the consistent voices opposed to the deployment of the U.S. military in response to the protests. Standing up to your Commander in Chief takes character.

Everyone, of course, has character. To paraphrase Glenda of Oz, the question is, are you a good character or a bad character? But when we say “it takes character” or someone is “a person of character”, we mean they are someone to be admired; they have qualities others should emulate.

Martin Gugino is such a person. A devout Catholic who has often acted on traditional Catholic teachings concerning human and civil rights of the disenfranchised and the poor, Mr. Gugino was no stranger to protest marches. Tall, soft spoken and committed to non-violence, he was known as a gentle giant among social activists in Buffalo where he had moved after retirement to care for his elderly mother. At a Black Lives Matter protest, for reason unknown he approached a large group of police officers in riot gear moving in formation towards a group of protestors. In the widely seen video, two officers shove this 75 year-old man backwards, causing him to stumble and fall, hitting his head on the concrete. As the officers walk past, not breaking formation, blood can be seen pouring out of his ear. His lawyer reports that he sustained a brain injury and faces a lifelong “new normal”. Meanwhile the President, who vowed to be on the side of peaceful protestors like Mr. Gugino, tweeted this unfounded conspiracy theory:

Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?

The only thing factual in this tweet is Mr. Gugino’s age and the fact that he was shoved by police. This is nothing but pure slander directed at a defenseless senior citizen who in the act of protesting police brutality was himself the victim of such brutality. He will bare that scar in ways we do not yet know for the rest of his life. The President’s tweet is the moral equivalent of blaming a 14 year-old rape victim for wearing “suggestive” clothing. It says volumes about the character of the man who absurdly claims to have done more for black Americans than any other President in our history.

But who can be surprised by any of this? As a candidate Mr. Trump shamelessly mocked a reporter with a physical disability, criticized John McCain for being a P.O.W. and attacked the Muslim parents of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq, chiding his mother for standing silently next to her husband while he addressed the Democratic National Convention. Actions, they say, speak louder than words. True enough, but the words of this President are deafening and demeaning to large swaths of the public.

But does character matter? Or is it worth it to sell the collective soul of this nation for the sake of one more vote on the Supreme Court or the end to Obamacare? I for one believe character does matter and the only politicians worthy of being returned to office are those with the character to stand up to the one who has none.