Eyes Have Seen by Fred Anderson

Reviewed by Timothy Niedermann

The great strength of this memoir by Fred Anderson is that it shows the humanity behind the struggles he has experienced, both as a black person in the American Deep South and as an illegal immigrant in Montreal.

Anderson was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, in 1947 and grew up in conditions that are barely imaginable to most Canadians today: abusive segregation, pervasive racial injustice, an ever-present fear of violence, even death, at the hands of armed white people. Yet, Anderson paints a loving portrait of the close-knit Black community in Hattiesburg as they try to live their lives with as much dignity and, indeed, hopefulness as they can.

This was a time when the Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum in the US, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and others. As a teenager, Anderson became involved with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a voters’ rights organization, and worked in various towns in Mississippi to convince black people to register to vote. It was dangerous work. He was jailed and shot at, and forced to change locations more than once for safety reasons.

But rehashing the well-known politics of that era is not Anderson’s purpose. Rather, his focus is on the people: the administrators of the movement who guided and advised him, as well as the people the SNCC was trying to reach, rural and urban black people whose courage in facing the institutionalized bigotry of the South at the time was often inspiring. By doing so, Anderson does the service of giving flesh and dimension to the human elements in the Civil Rights struggles in the US in the 1960s.

Anderson was becoming respected for the work he did for the SNCC, mingling with such people as future Congressman John Lewis and radical organizer Stokely Carmichael, when in 1966, at age nineteen, he received a letter ordering him to report for induction into the military. This meant one thing: being sent to Vietnam.

In 1966, the US population was just beginning to question their country’s role in Vietnam. The US’s involvement there had been news for several years by then, especially since the overthrow and execution of President Diem in 1963. Anderson made the decision not to be inducted. But this meant he would face prison if he stayed in the US, so he chose to move to Canada, specifically Montreal, with two of his friends who had made the same decision.

But, despite Canada’s reputation, both then and now, as a place of refuge, it wasn’t (and still isn’t) easy to be illegal here. Anderson was able to get fake IDs and get work that paid under the counter. The story of how he made his way from both scrounging for a living and keeping a low profile to avoid being sent back to the US is humbling.

Eventually, however, upon feeling that the authorities were getting too close, Anderson sought an attorney’s advice and was able to obtain legal status. And, in January 1977, after over ten years in Canada, he was sworn in as a Canadian citizen.

Anderson reflects a good deal, both directly and through the voices of friends and family, on what “home” is. While in Canada, he sincerely missed his home in Mississippi, despite the difficult situation there. His need for his family, fond childhood memories, and enduringly strong feelings for his community in Hattiesburg were emotions he could not shake off. But even after President Carter granted all draft dodgers pardons in January 1977, on his first day in office, Anderson chose to remain in Montreal. It had become his new home.

What Anderson has written is deeply heartfelt, not just for the intimate view of the horrors of American racism, but also for what he says about family and belonging. The result is a wonderfully moving book.

Eyes Have Seen is published by Baraka Books.