To have been a black lawyer in the deep south of America in the early 1960s would have taken a level of courage well beyond the ordinary. Chevene Bowers King was just such a man. He could have worked in the desegregated north, but instead chose to risk his life in Georgia, defending black people imprisoned on trumped-up charges and organising non-violent demonstrations to end segregation. David Morley’s two-part play on Radio 4, The Trials of CB King, took us through the blatant racism, the everyday brutality and dangerous reality for the black citizens of Albany, Georgia, where the sheriff encouraged the police to beat up the innocent purely because of the colour of their skin. Those who dared to befriend black people or fight their cause could also end up literally under fire. King’s black sister-in-law loses her unborn child after being beaten in the stomach by the police for daring to visit young demonstrators who were being held without charge in the county jail. Another black man is accused of pulling a knife on the sheriff while in handcuffs and is then badly beaten. In spite of King’s efforts, he’s declared guilty by the all-white jury.
This kind of radio play, retelling history through drama, can be very effective, breathing life into the narrative arc. There’s no need to create a stylised tableau or a pageant of figures in period costume; the focus is on what people are saying, how they behave, and how as listeners we can connect with their stories. How could such hatred have taken root? And, perhaps more significantly, how could King have remained so restrained in the face of such unreasoning hostility.
‘Never lose your bearings,’ says King (played with measured dignity by Leo Wringer) to the young white privileged Yale student who goes down south as a civil-rights activist but has yet to understand how to survive in a town where such ignorant dogmatism operates as the rule of law.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in