Paul Shaffer is a talented musician and funny man, who has made a name as an actor, composer, singer, writer, you name it. But most of what he has done has been full of entertainment and comedy, his most notable role as the band director for David Letterman.
One of the most memorable moments of his life, however, was something not funny at all. It was the first time he truly witnessed racism first-hand, and it was in the presence of Martin Luther King Jr.
Shaffer detailed the encounter in his memoir, “We’ll Be Here For the Rest of Our Lives: A Swingin’ Showbiz Saga.”
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Shaffer, who was born in Canada, was on vacation with his family to the Bahamas, getting away from the cold. The family was staying at the Royal Victoria Hotel in Nassau.
Here is what followed in Shaffer’s own words from his memoir:
The next day Dad spotted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by the pool. The great leader was in matching shirt-and-bathing-suit cabana attire. My father approached him and said, “My family and I greatly admire you and would be honored if we could take your picture.” “With pleasure,” said Dr. King.
Dad snapped the photo. We all shook hands and went to the lounge chairs. A few minutes later Dr. King entered the pool from the deep end while I entered from the shallow.
Just like that, the dozen or so vacationers, white people all, who were in the pool suddenly got out, as if the water had been contaminated. Dr. King and I stayed in and swam for the next 20 minutes or so.
When I got out, my father took me aside and said, “We’re changing hotels. I’m not staying anywhere the guests display this kind of racist behavior.”
… When I told this story to my son, Will, who was nine at the time and studying the civil rights movement in school, he was puzzled and said, “Dad, how could Dr. King stay at that hotel when there were segregation laws?”
“Those laws were in the United States, son,” I said. “That’s why to vacation comfortably, he had to leave his own country.”
It was a story that stuck with Paul Shaffer, and should stick with the rest of us as we remember Martin Luther King.