John Whitehead, who founded the Rutherford Institute, a right-leaning civil liberties organization, has an essay at the RI website about civil libertarian Nat Hentoff, formerly of the Village Voice, among other publications. See, Nat Hentoff: A Civil Libertarian Takes on Obama and the World.
Hentoff, a contrarian, and a bit of a cranky one, is also one of America’s great civil libertarians. Now eighty-five, he’s been advocating for civil liberties his entire life, tirelessly and effectively. He’s very much a model of a dedicated American. I’d disagree with Hentoff on any number of points (he describes himself contrarily, for example, as a Jewish atheist), but I can think of no one who’d do a better job advocating on behalf of someone’s rights and liberty. Truly, I can think of no one from our time who would be a better advocate.
Hentoff also appreciates and knows jazz well, and that’s admirable. I grew up in a jazz-loving household, favoring that music over any other all these years, and Hentoff’s reviews and assessments have always seemed insightful.
Here’s part of Whitehead’s description of Hentoff:
At the age of 85, Nat Hentoff is a radical in the best sense of the word- a true freedom fighter and warrior journalist with a deep-seated intolerance of injustice. His integrity and willingness to buck the trends have earned him the well-deserved reputation of being one of our nation’s most respected, controversial and uncompromising writers.
Armed with a keen understanding of the law and an enviable way with words, brandishing a rapier wit and teeming with moral outrage, Nat has never been one to back down from a fight, and there have been many over the course of his lifetime – one marked by controversy and fueled by his passion for the protection of civil liberties and human rights. There was the time Nat testified for stand-up comic and political satirist Lenny Bruce during his obscenity trial; stood up for a woman rejected from law school for being white; called into Oliver North’s talk show to voice his agreement about liberal intolerance for free speech; and resigned from the ACLU in protest of their position on assisted suicide, as well as their position against revealing the results of HIV tests on newborn babies.
This is also a man who has walked among political and cultural giants and lived to tell the tale. He was friends with Malcolm X, was labeled “the Antichrist” by Louis Farrakhan, and came to know some of the most talented jazzmen of all time – Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, and Dizzy Gillespie, to name a few. He also wrote liner notes for such musical greats as Bob Dylan, Billie Holiday, and Aretha Franklin….
It’s people like Nat Hentoff who keep us honest, inspire us, and push us to think. As he once told me:
“I am optimistic. I have to be optimistic, as I know you are. That is why you keep writing and keep doing what you do. You have to do this because we have been through very dark periods before. There are enough people who are starting to be actively involved that we can turn things around. And we need to encourage others to become involved.”
Nat Hentoff, thanks for being “a general pain in the ass.” We’ve all been the better for it.
It’s easy to be optimistic for an America that produces champions like Hentoff. I’d say it’s impossible, truly, to be anything other than an optimist for so many reasons. Hentoff’s work has its place among those many reasons. The Rutherford Institute’s right to acknowledge and praise that admirable, impressive work.