A legacy for 'Black Moses'

ISAAC HAYES, who died of a stroke this week at age 65, has rightfully been praised for the genius that helped produce the Stax soul sound in Memphis and a defining hit of his era, the 1971 Oscar and Grammy-winner "Theme from Shaft." It is also a cultural irony that he passed away at a time when two African-Americans serve as governors - in Massachusetts and New York - and an African-American is about to receive the Democratic nomination for president of the United States.

In his prime, Hayes was dubbed "Black Moses." It was the ultimate moniker for a time when black entertainers and athletes (unlike their white counterparts) bore extraordinary burdens to lead their people. They were expected either to part the waters toward opportunity or keep a lid on black anger (think James Brown's 1968 riot-prevention concert at Boston Garden after the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.).

They also faced the maddening conflict of singing to the world about how black was beautiful even as the Hollywood blaxploitation machine insisted on ugly stereotypes of violent black pimps and pushers.

In interviews in the 1990s, Hayes said he was reluctant to take on what he called a "sacrilegious" moniker "until I understood what it meant to the people." He said: "My music helped the brothers in Vietnam, it made people fall in love, it mended broken relationships, it got people through a lonely night."

Hayes can go to his reward assured that his music did just what he described. The children of his black-awareness era now part the waters of real power in state capitols, the State Department, and now in presidential politics.