Thoughts stirred by "The Butler"

Sam Smith - "The Butler" covers exactly the same period in the capital that I covered Washington: first story in 1957, last after Obama's inauguration. . .The night before Obama was inaugurated I was on the block of my old office at 8th & Mass NE. There was a national guardsman with a rifle in one hand and a coffee cup in the other. What's familiar with this scene, I asked myself and then realized: the last time I had seen a national guardsman with a rifle and coffee cup at that corner was after the riots of 1968.

The movie is great and is a rare work that deals with the role of family in social change.

It also reflects a side of Washington history that often gets ignored. When Cecil Gaines arrived in DC, a huge black migration from the south was taking place, leaving the former minority in the majority. There was a silent deal between the government and its black population, middle class and up. The government would provide jobs as long as you didn't rock the boat. Thus when the civil rights movement came along, there were more than a few better off Washingtonian blacks who viewed it either with hostility or fear, once again illustrating how class and ethnicity can be out of sync. The Butler was not alone.