On his 100th birthday, with more than 50 years spent organizing and fighting for civil rights behind him, H.B. “Bob” Law sees it this way: “The world ain’t ready yet.”
Not ready for harmonious race relations. Not ready to look past differences. Not ready to give everyone the same opportunities.
“There’s been great progress, but it ain’t enough,” said Law, the former Chicago Urban League president who celebrated his birthday Monday at his Hyde Park home. “It won’t be enough until people start looking at each other as equals, and they don’t.”
Law is frail now and uses a cane every few steps. His hearing and eyesight have weakened slightly, he said. Still, he finds the time to work on his memoirs with a secretary every day.
Born in Milwaukee on Feb. 21, 1894, he is one of the few remaining World War I fighter pilots still alive, and he headed his own advertising firm for more than 40 years. But it was in the fight for civil rights, he said, that he found his most important and rewarding work, beginning in 1937 when he became active in the Urban League.
“Bob has given a lot of his resources, his time and his mind to the mission of the Urban League and its work,” said James Compton, Chicago Urban League president. “He is a unique human being.”
Law remembers the early 1960s as the glory days of the civil rights movement: working with Martin Luther King Jr. on his trips to Chicago, sitting 10 feet from King during the March on Washington as King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, fighting for equality in areas such as housing, education and employment.
Though the challenges at the time were greater, Law said, the work also was easier: Discrimination was so blatant that activists had a clear goal. The current fight for civil rights is more complicated, he said, because the issues are more complicated.
“It used to be the issues were sharp, now they’re more subtle,” Law said. “How do you march for funding for education? What does your sign say?”
As the goals have become blurred, the quality of civil rights organizations has suffered, Law said.
“It used to be organizers took to the streets and marched and organized and demonstrated,” Law said. “The NAACP used to be an effective force, but that was only through the courts, and they’re not doing much of that anymore. Organizations like the Congress on Racial Equality don’t even exist anymore.”
Nor does Law spare the current crop of civil rights leaders: “I can’t really consider any of them outstanding. . . . The leadership is not people who lead. The leaders are followers, too.”
Law sees the greatest progress in corporate America, citing the half-dozen corporate leaders who sit on the Urban League’s board now, where previously none would join. He is also heartened by the number of blacks who hold prominent positions at top corporations.
“Among corporate leaders, (there has been) tremendous improvement,” he said. “The reason for that is the corporate leaders have realized good race relations are good business.”
No matter what the current issues or status, though, Law said the ultimate goal of the civil rights movement is the same as when he first became active 50 years ago: “For people to get rid of their prejudices, to see blacks and whites as equal.”
