Photo Illustration by CLAIRE ZUGMEYER and MICHAEL
FALCONE/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Humanitarian and former United
Nations undersecretary Ralph J. Bunche, UCLA
alumnus (’27) will be featured in a documentary airing Friday on
PBS.
By Dexter Gauntlett
Daily Bruin Contributor
Ralph Johnson Bunche, a Watts native orphaned at the age of 12
who became the valedictorian of his UCLA graduating class and later
an international conflict resolution specialist, was honored in a
documentary at Korn Convocation Hall on Monday.
The West Coast screening of the documentary on the 1927 UCLA
alumnus and 1950 Nobel Peace Prize winner premiered four days
before its national airing on PBS Friday.
The documentary, titled “Ralph Bunche: An American
Odyssey,” was produced by the Emmy award winning filmmaker
William Greaves. The film chronicles Bunche’s contributions
as a civil rights leader and international peace keeper.
“(Students) should look at his life of commitment to
society, the world and his academic excellence,” Greaves
said. “His education is more than just intellectual and
celebrity understanding, it’s his compassion for humanity and
use of his intellectual gifts. He was a doer, a scholar-
activist.”
Bunche was second in command as undersecretary general of the
United Nations after World War II and helped write its charter in
1945. His experience in the Middle East eventually led him to
extend his peace keeping efforts to the newly formed state of
Israel and its four Arab neighbors.
“Bunche was very critical of decolonization, imperialism,
fascism and was very much for inter-group harmony. He developed the
strategy for peacekeeping that is still used today. He was called
the “˜U.N. troubleshooter’ or “˜Mr.
U.N.,'” Greaves said.
It was his role in negotiating the Arab-Israeli armistice
agreement of 1949 that won him the Nobel Peace Prize half a century
ago. Even though it was the first time an African American had won
the prestigious international honor, Bunche almost declined the
award.
Such a gesture was typical of Bunche, who made it a point to
work from behind the scenes and never forgot where he came from.
While researching for the documentary, Greaves recounted how
Bunche’s international expertise affected two notorious gangs
in Bunche’s hometown of Watts.
“The Crypts and Bloods used (Bunche’s) tactics from
the Arab-Israeli armistice in an attempt to settle their problems,
without even knowing that Bunche was a black man or that he was
from Watts,” Greaves said.
Approximately 200 alumni, faculty and several branches of the
Bunche family tree heard speeches that preceded the two-hour
documentary. The event was hosted by the Center for African
American Studies.
Acting director for the center, Richard Yarborough, said Bunche
was “one of the most, if not the most distinguished member of
UCLA.”
“Bunche is an example of how conflicts can be resolved and
how we can live together as citizens of this world,”
Yarborough added.
The documentary described Bunche as an “extremely
competitive” person. Excelling in debate, writing as a Daily
Bruin columnist and fulfilling a basketball scholarship, he
graduated summa cum laude in 1927 as valedictorian.
His undergraduate success landed Bunche an Ivy League
scholarship, and he became the first African American to receive a
doctorate in government and international relations at Harvard
University.
Bunche attributed much of his sense of perspective to his
experiences at UCLA.
“In those college years of maturing, I came to know
broader perspectives and horizons,” he said at the dedication
of Bunche Hall in 1969.
Chancellor Albert Carnesale described Bunche as a shining star
in the legacy of UCLA. He used a quote from Bunche to explain his
relationship to the university and his professional life:
“UCLA was the catalyst and the genesis for all that
followed.”
Even 74 years after his graduation, UCLA is seeking to honor
“his enduring image as a peacemaker, and bringing us
together,” said professor in chair of the Political Science
Department, Michael Lofchie.
“We’re trying to create a professorship in his name
in order to commemorate his international efforts,” Lofchie
added.
Furthermore, the Ralph Bunche Scholarship Fund is the
school’s second-largest source of grants, doling out $53,760
to 53 students from historically underrepresented groups.
In a statement, Greaves said that since Bunche, there has been
nobody to fill his shoes.
“This man was one of humanity’s greatest servants.
Boy, do we need him today.”