[MGSA-L] Stepping forward against racial injustice: Greek Americans and the Civil Rights Movement

Christos D. Katsetos cd_katsetos at yahoo.com
Tue Feb 19 13:46:57 PST 2013


February is Black History Month in the United States. On this occasion, the historic
Greek American newspaper, The National Herald (Εθνικός Κήρυξ), published in its
English edition, on February 14, 2013, an Op-Ed by Washington DC-based political
advisor, commentator and attorney, Andreas Akaras, titled “When Philotimo Stood
with African-Americans". http://www.thenationalherald.com/article/58327

http://politis-dukakis-center.act.edu/blog/2013/02/15/when-philotimo-stood-with-african-americans/


This was followed by another article by New York-based journalist and publisher of 
NEO magazine, Demetrios Rhompotis, titled "Black History Month and the Greeks". 

http://usa.greekreporter.com/2013/02/18/black-history-month-and-the-greeks/


These articles recall the Greek American attitudes during the Civil Rights Movement in the
turbulent 1960s, exemplified by the principled and proactive stance of Archbishop Iakovos,
the Primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America and a vocal opponent of racial 
intolerance. The Archbishop had marched alongside with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
in 1965 in Selma, Alabama. This historic scene was captured on the cover of Time Magazine
(March 26, 1965) leading to the following comment in The New York Times report, 
"The striking cover of Time magazine that showed Dr. King side by side with the black-garbed Archbishop Iakovos marked a new presence of Greek Americans and the Greek Orthodox
church in American life."

To the numerous examples of Greek Americans who participated, one way or another, 
in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960s, I would like to add the story of my late cousin,
U.S. Navy Lt. Chris Louis Katsetos, PhD. The story was described in Robert J. Schneller's
book _Blue & Gold and Black: Racial Integration of the U.S. Naval Academy_, Williams-Ford
Texas A&M University Military History Series (Book 11), 2007, page 68.
http://books.google.com/books?id=OiJFC4P52f8C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Blue+%26+Gold+and+Black:+Racial+Integration+of+the+U.S.+Naval+Academy&hl=en&sa=X&ei=0ZIiUbCWD6y10QGcqYHgBA&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAA

The relevant excerpt reads as follows:

"... Midshipmen from different parts of the country often forged bonds by finding common
ground with one another... In one extraordinary case, a white plebe used his body to 
shield a black classmate from racially motivated mistreatment. During plebe year 1964/65,
Chris L. Katsetos, a white plebe from Rhode Island, James K. Orzech, a white plebe from 
a suburb of Cleveland, and Emerson F. Carr, a black plebe from Minneapolis, were assigned
to the same squad. Orzech, had grown up in a place where white people did not want black 
people moving into their neighborhoods, and he had interacted only infrequently with black 
people before, so he was a bit standoffish with Carr. But he was surprised when a few of his
white classmates openly expressed their resentment of a black midshipman by making racist
remarks. Even more surprising to Orzech was the attitude of Chris L. Katsetos. While
virtually every other plebe tried his best to remain invisible, Katsetos would deliberately
provoke upperclassmen. "Who is this nut case Katsetos?" Orzech often wondered. After 
plebe summer, Orzech, Katsetos and Carr joined the 14th Company. Soon, the three of them 
found themselves coming around together to a room occupied by upperclassmen from the 
Deep South [...] Whenever Katsetos felt that the southerners were going too far, he would
deliberately provoke them into punishing him instead of Carr [...] The come arounds 
lasted for several weeks. Ultimately, they failed to prevent Carr from graduating, back he was
turned back into the class of 1969. Katsetos graduated with honors, the first midshipman to 
graduate with a bachelor's and a master's degree, but died as a passenger in a crash of a 
military aircraft in 1973 ..."

Excerpted verbatim from http://books.google.com/books?id=OiJFC4P52f8C&pg=PA68&lpg=PA68&dq=chris+katsetos+black&source=bl&ots=rseeKqIVHU&sig=ZwqB9MaSqXrakKwFaYa6R9srX9Q&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6YMiUdW9O6e40QHyq4GYAw&ved=0CBgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=chris%20katsetos%20black&f=false
For "Fair Use" and educational purposes only. Copyright 2008 Texas A&M University Press.

My cousin's fateful trip was on August 28, 1973 (the day after his 30th birthday). The U.S. 
Air Force transport military aircraft, which was on a flight from the USAF Athens Air Base to 
the Dover AFB, exploded mid air, near Huete, Spain.
 
Later that year, my cousin was awarded posthumously his (earned) PhD in Ocean Engineering
from the University of Rhode Island. 

The memory of the Greek American experience during the Civil Rights Movement can serve
as a shining example, but also as a somber reminder, especially to young people in Greece 
and the Diaspora, in the face of escalating manifestations of racial hatred and intolerance, 
spearheaded by an openly racist ultranationalist movement, during these trying times.
http://www.xryshaygh.com/index.php/enimerosi/view/scholio-anagnwsth-ta-ellhnopoula-kai-h-zougkla-me-ton-tarzan
 
RELATED LINKS

THE ARCHBISHOP IN ALABAMA
The following excerpt is from the Orthodoxy in America Lecture given by Professor
Albert J. Raboteau at Fordham University, Bronx, New York, entitled, “In the World, Not
of the World, For the Sake of the World: Orthodoxy and American Culture” on April 4,
2006.  
http://www.roadtoemmaus.net/back_issue_articles/RTE_33/THE_ARCHBISHOP_IN_ALABAMA.pdf


Christos D. Katsetos, MD, PhD, FRCPath
http://www.drexelmed.edu/Home/AboutOurFaculty/ChristosKatsetos.aspx
http://www.stchristophershospital.com/find-a-physician/120


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