Restoring friendships, seeking truths, denying propaganda

In 1936, in Berlin Germany, with the stirrings of war and the rise of the Nazi party and Adolf Hitler, two unlikely men walked a track together. The two men came from different parts of the world, with different backgrounds, faiths, and skin color. An unlikely duo to link arms. And yet.

James Cleveland Owens was born in Oakville, Alabama the youngest of ten children to a sharecropper family. He would go on to graduate high school and enter college as a track and field star.

Karl Ludwig Long, who went by Luz, was born in Leipzig, Germany to a well educated family and graduated from Leipzig University and law school. He continued to compete in track and field and when he met Jesse Owens on that track field at the 1936 Olympic Games, he held the European long jump record.

These two men should never have spoken to each other much less become friends. And yet.

After winning gold medals in several track events, Jesse faced his last hurdle: the long jump. As he warmed up to attempt qualification to the medal round, Adolph Hitler watched from the stands as the “inferior” black American Jesse Owens stretched and practiced his jumps. He also watched, just as keenly, as the perfect blond hair blue eyed Aryan, Luz Long did the same.

Both Jesse and Luz knew what was expected: Luz, with his “superior” genes would dominate and come out the victor, while poor Jesse would lose, his name forgotten in history. And it might have happened just that way if Luz had believed lies and propaganda, and had not searched for truth. But he didn’t and instead did something unexpected after seeing Jesse, in Luz’s mind, do something unexpected, too.

Before events, Jesse would kneel and pray. Luz lost his faith long ago and did no such thing. And when Jesse scratched on his first two jumps, leaving only one more attempt to qualify for the medal round, Luz gave Jesse a tip. After listening, Jesse took his final jump and secured his place in the medal rounds. He also secured something else: a lifelong friendship and the admiration of the world. Well, most of it anyway. When they stood on the podium to accept their Olympic medals, Jesse with the gold, Luz with the silver, and Japan with bronze, the stands were cheering, the national anthem was playing and the American flag was blowing in the wind. After the ceremony, with Adolph Hitler watching, the perfect Aryan linked arms with the sharecropper’s son and walked around the stadium to thunderous applause.

Their friendship continued though separated by an ocean and eventually by war. Until one day, Jesse received his last letter from Luz.

In it, Luz, who was in Africa, lamented that he was surrounded by blood and sand. Luz, who would later die in that land of blood and sand, asked Jesse to go back to Germany, after the war, and find Luz’s son, Karl. Luz wanted Jesse to tell Karl “what kind of man his father was”. The letter went further, imploring Jesse to tell Karl “what things are like when we are not separated by war; ….how things can be between men on this earth”.

Jesse did find his son, and when Karl married, Jesse was his best man. In 2009, at the the Association of Athletic Federation (IAAF) Marlene Dortch and Julia Long, grandchildren of Jesse Owens and Luz Long respectively, presented medals to the winners of the long jump. Once again the stadium crowd was cheering and the world smiled. And yet. We are smiling less these days. Covid, Ukraine, rising inflation and gas prices, run-offs and the general election that looms in November and party disputes. It feels overwhelming. It brings out the best, and sometimes the worst in people. My hope, after you read this incredible story, is that you will take a moment to reflect. If two unlikely men can stand side by side, put differences aside and unite, should any of us today act any differently? If one man can be stirred by another man’s faith so much that his faith is restored and he believes against all odds that his friend in another country will still get his letter- how do we not also turn to our faith and restore friendships, seek truth, deny propaganda?

There’s no doubt in my mind that Jesse and Luz had differences of opinion, of politics, of apple pie verses apple strudel. And yet.

And that, is just one gal’s opinion.

Becky Lay is the Chairman of the Bandera County Republican Party Election Integrity Committee. She resides in Pipe Creek. This column does not necessarily represent the views of the Republican Party.