[Editor’s Note: Second of three parts. See Part 1, “Dr. King Day Headliner Is Rich in Cinematic Accomplishments,” Jan. 14.]
Every producer who can spell
s-h-o-w b-u-s-i-n-e-s-s
yearns — nay, prays — for the kind of fantastic, unplanned break that tumbled like golden fairy dust this week into the laps of Bill Wynn and the rest of Culver City’s Committee for Dr. Martin Luther King Day this weekend.
The fairy godmother is Hillary Rodham Clinton.
With accidental timing, she presented a promotional gift to every hometown organizer of a King Day event across America.
Who Could Have Planned This?
In her supposed feud with Barack Obama, she stirred a previously becalmed bowl of race-tinged political soup, offering a strongly disputed opinion about how much credit Dr. King merits for one of the landmark events of his mercurial career. Mrs. Clinton told Fox News, “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.”
No public relations man could have put Dr. King’s name on the lips of tens of millions of Americans at a more propitious time.
The unending coverage of who to blame and who was more offended fuels freshly revived discussions of Dr. King’s resume — just in time for Saturday night’s 7:30 program and Sunday afternoon’s 2 o’clock lineup at the Senior Center.
A Wynn-ing Hand
When Mr. Wynn, the Vice Chair of the committee, sat down with the newspaper the other afternoon to talk about the flavor of Culver City’s King Day and how it evolved, he had no idea the budding Clinton-Obama controversy would grow into a serious conflagration.
Tall, spare and gentle yet passionate, Mr. Wynn, new to Culver City, represents a compelling character study that may help younger and older blacks — and non-blacks — appreciate the need for and offer insight to the meaning of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
He smiles easily, not necessarily deeply. He talks discreetly so that only his one-person audience hears.
For a show business figure, his unadorned business card introduces him simply:
“WEG
“Wynn Entertainment Group,
“Bill Wynn
“producer,”
following with his email (billwynn2002@yahoo.com or 213.300.1194).
Born in Camden, NJ, 69 years ago this spring of a loving mother who soon enough became a single mom and an inspiring role model, he dropped out of high school and joined the U.S. Marines at 17. The uniform was converted into his eventual ticket to Southern California.
In 1956, racism may not have been as flagrant in the military as in civilian life. But it was surely as angrily rampant even if it did not command much of Mr. Wynn’s young-man awareness.
What Was That?
Unlike many peers, racial mistreatment rather washed over him. While he was aware of his heritage, he was not so racially conscious that eyewitness racism would interrupt his life.
In his early 20s, he earned his diploma through night classes at nearby Dorsey High School. “From there,” says Mr. Wynn, “I stumbled onto computers,” and a career was born. “I found there were schools that trained people like myself, and I was in computers for the next 30 years.”
A breeze wafted through the booth of a popular Culver City eatery when Mr. Wynn segued into his upbringing.
“I grew up in a very supportive home with an amazing mother,” he said. “I am an only child. My mother and father divorced when I was 10 years old. So I actually grew up with my mother. We were very close. But I think I broke her heart when I joined the Marine Corps.”
Who Knew?
Unwittingly, Mrs. Wynn trained her son for life in the military. “I learned discipline from her, and that helped me as a Marine,” he said. “She came from a large family, and she was limited in her education as well.
“But she wrote. And she had great penmanship. She loved to write, and maybe that is why I am a frustrated writer today.
“She was born in Lawnside, NJ, which
has a great history. It was one of the exit points of the Underground Railroad (during the Civil War).
“As a youngster, I heard stories of this era, from my grandfather, my grandmother and my mother.”
Question: Did that have an impact on Mr. Wynn?
“Oh, yes,” he said. “It gave me a sense of connectedness, knowing my mother was born in a town of historic significance.”
Sadly, as with many black families of the period, Mr. Wynn’s relatives were unable to trace their history over the horizon and beyond — only a modest distance.
Not that he realized it as a kid of the 1950s. “A lot of people took (their backgrounds) for granted. I did. I took it for granted I had this history behind me. But as I have gotten older, then of course, it empowered me. That is what I am saying.
“This is why I am participating in (this weekend’s) Dr. King program — because I have all this wealth (of history) in my background. I grew up in the 1960s. I know about my family tree in Camden.”
Question: How did your mother’s background influence your life, then and now?
“She was this unique lady, and it is important to say again that she grew up in a large family with limited education. In large families, there often maybe is one child who stands out. I happened to be the son of that one person.
“She could write well. She had great ideas. She grew up as society was changing, prior to 1954 and the Brown v. Board of Education act. These changes were taking place when I was a little baby. She got caught up in the changes herself.”
Question: How old were you when you became aware that you were black and that made you distinctive?
“I was in the Marine Corps. I was in the South. I was stationed in Memphis, TN, between 1957 and 1958, and this was prior to the Freedom Rides. I used to listen to the radio, to accounts of what was happening with the Freedom Rides.
“I was a kid from New Jersey, and here I was in the South. I was not political then, not really conscious of what was going on.”
Face to Face with Prejudice
But a confrontation with the racial mores of the day was unavoidable for the teenage Marine.
“The city bus used to come to the Marine base and pick us up,” Mr. Wynn recalled. “One particular day, I remember. I took a seat in the front of the bus as I would anywhere else. The bus driver actually stopped the bus and he asked me to move to the back of the bus.
“That was my first experience to know that I was different. “
Instinctively, Mr. Wynn obeyed the directive. He does not seem to have considered resistance.
What Might Have Been
“I could have been Rosa Parks. But I had my Marine Corps uniform on. I was very proud to be in the Marine Corps. All of a sudden, I was in the back of the bus.”
Mr. Wynn points out that “the incident has stayed with me all of these years, more than 50.
“For me it became a wake-up call.
“There were two societies. I was treated differently because I was black.”
(To be continued)
