On Sunday about midday someone involved in a public affairs type position told me that she had been informed that Muhammad Ali had died. I, of course, revved up my engines -- cellphones, e-mails, land line phones, whatever -- to find out the truth of this. Throughout the late afternoon and evening, I heard from folks in sports and in media who'd also heard that and who, like me, eventually after going through similar anxiety, had been assured that Ali was having a grand old time, even enjoying his favorite Popsicles.
When I heard it from Howard Bingham, his longtime friend and official photographer, I believed.
Long live the King!
Monday, February 26, 2007
Sunday, February 25, 2007
So Al Sharpton Is Discovering the Roots Beneath the Hairdo!
The New York Daily News and the Rev. Al Sharpton are making a big deal -- as in a multiple-part series -- about the Rev's learning a few days ago that some of his ancestors were once owned by some of the kinfolk of the late Sen. Strom Thurmond.
Well, wow!
Anyone who knows the history of this country knows that that is no big thing.
Most Blacks in the US, myself included, can trace some part of their family tree to some White folks -- and vice versa if Whites are so inclined. I do now have older White people considering me a "cousin" or somehow in an-as- yet-to-be-defined way, kinfolk. I've even been graciously hosted by White people on a visit to the remains of an Allison plantation in North Carolina where some of my folks toiled and some of their descendants still live. In South Carolina, there is a city called Aiken, named for White folks from Ireland whose family in South Carolina and in Georgia owned some of my ancestors. I've got a bill of sale for Ike Aikens -- spelling was always a matter of who was doing the writing -- the grandfather of my 103-year-old grandmother, Ethel Mae Aiken Moore, still ruling the roost in Conyers, Ga. I know so much about the White Shipp lineage that I sometimes hear from the White folks about getting started with their genealogical searches. (A bit of trivia: the "S" in Harry S. Truman, the president, was apparently SHIPP.)
After the death of Thurmond, a notorious racist as he built his political career but repentant towards the end, it was officially acknowledged that he had fathered a Black daughter some 70 years before and had, in his own typical-of-the-old-South way, supported her through college and beyond.
As I have said many times before, we are all mutts. A little dab of this, a little dab of that -- and that makes us all the more American.
Perhaps the presidential odyssey of Barack Obama, a true African American because of his White American mother and his Black Kenyan father, has us more attuned to issues of racial identity. Think of this: The only certified descendants of the relationship between Thomas Jefferson, the president, and his Black slave/concubine/mistress Sally Hemings is a WHITE family in Staten Island, N.Y. The putative BLACK descendants haven't been able to convince those who need to be convinced.
To understand how all of this is ridiculous when defining ourselves in the 21st century, take a look at a booklet done by the late J. A. Rogers called "The Five Negro Presidents." It was published in 1965 and is available online and in Afrocentric bookstores. Based on the way Blackness in the US was defined as any knowable or rumored genetic connection to a Black person, however meager, Rogers came up with five; to his list, others have added at least one more. So neither Jesse Jackson nor Colin Powell nor Barack Obama would, truly, be a first.
And, of course, we are ALL Africans, if you believe the scientists who have traced all living humanity to that continent. The Rev told the News this about the discovery of his supposed connection to Thurmond: "It tells you who you are. Where you come from. Where your bloodline is."
I beg to differ: This information may tell you something about your bloodline, but it can never tell you who you are.
Well, wow!
Anyone who knows the history of this country knows that that is no big thing.
Most Blacks in the US, myself included, can trace some part of their family tree to some White folks -- and vice versa if Whites are so inclined. I do now have older White people considering me a "cousin" or somehow in an-as- yet-to-be-defined way, kinfolk. I've even been graciously hosted by White people on a visit to the remains of an Allison plantation in North Carolina where some of my folks toiled and some of their descendants still live. In South Carolina, there is a city called Aiken, named for White folks from Ireland whose family in South Carolina and in Georgia owned some of my ancestors. I've got a bill of sale for Ike Aikens -- spelling was always a matter of who was doing the writing -- the grandfather of my 103-year-old grandmother, Ethel Mae Aiken Moore, still ruling the roost in Conyers, Ga. I know so much about the White Shipp lineage that I sometimes hear from the White folks about getting started with their genealogical searches. (A bit of trivia: the "S" in Harry S. Truman, the president, was apparently SHIPP.)
After the death of Thurmond, a notorious racist as he built his political career but repentant towards the end, it was officially acknowledged that he had fathered a Black daughter some 70 years before and had, in his own typical-of-the-old-South way, supported her through college and beyond.
As I have said many times before, we are all mutts. A little dab of this, a little dab of that -- and that makes us all the more American.
Perhaps the presidential odyssey of Barack Obama, a true African American because of his White American mother and his Black Kenyan father, has us more attuned to issues of racial identity. Think of this: The only certified descendants of the relationship between Thomas Jefferson, the president, and his Black slave/concubine/mistress Sally Hemings is a WHITE family in Staten Island, N.Y. The putative BLACK descendants haven't been able to convince those who need to be convinced.
To understand how all of this is ridiculous when defining ourselves in the 21st century, take a look at a booklet done by the late J. A. Rogers called "The Five Negro Presidents." It was published in 1965 and is available online and in Afrocentric bookstores. Based on the way Blackness in the US was defined as any knowable or rumored genetic connection to a Black person, however meager, Rogers came up with five; to his list, others have added at least one more. So neither Jesse Jackson nor Colin Powell nor Barack Obama would, truly, be a first.
And, of course, we are ALL Africans, if you believe the scientists who have traced all living humanity to that continent. The Rev told the News this about the discovery of his supposed connection to Thurmond: "It tells you who you are. Where you come from. Where your bloodline is."
I beg to differ: This information may tell you something about your bloodline, but it can never tell you who you are.
Justice: Entertainment or the Real Deal?
I don’t quite get it that so many people love all these judge shows – Judge Judy and Judge Hatchett, Judge Joe Brown and Judge Greg Mathis, Divorce Court and People’s Court, Texas Justice and, God knows, what all else. My mother is one of those who can sit in front of the television for hours following the ridiculous travails of plaintiffs and defendants – usually friends and family members in rather petty but potentially Hatfield versus McCoy conflicts– while wise and wise-cracking judges pronounce decisions on who is right and who is wrong. Who gets the dog. Who gets the car. Who gets reimbursed.
Perhaps that is why so many people – pundits in print or on the Internet and lawyer-commentators on TV – have been so quick to see Judge Larry Seidlin building an audition tape as he presided over an admittedly weird hearing in Florida over who should decide where Anna Nicole Smith should be buried. The former Bronx resident, who drove a taxi and studied law at night before eventually landing in Florida, establishing a legal career and becoming the judge assigned to the Anna Nicole Smith case, IS quite a character. But some prominent members of the Florida bar vouch for his sanity while laughing at his quirkiness.
I spent lots of time in court in years past – as a reporter, I should say – and, yes, there were quite a few characters among the judiciary. I swear that the sitcom Night Court was based on a judge about whom I had written. He once had a defendant flip a coin to determine what his sentence would be. And I’ve seen a judge walk through the courtroom during the night session of arraignments and introduce himself and explain what the “audience” of friends, family members and homeless people just looking for a place to keep warm could expect to see. I’ve known a judge who wore cufflinks, one of which said “Bull” and the other “Shit”, and he’d subtlety flash them at reporters covering proceedings before him. That was his commentary on the testimony we were hearing. One judge, with whom I was sitting as a reporter observing proceedings up close asked me what sentence I would give in a particular case and then, much to my horror, pronounced that sentence to the defendant.
I’d suggest that, rather than watching judges on TV, more people combine their interest in the general subject of courts and justice and do good at the same time: Volunteer to be a court observer, watching real trials and contributing to reports on how real courts actually work – or don’t.
In New York, we have, among other avenues, the Fund for Modern Courts, which has a Citizen Court Monitoring Project and a Citizen Jury Project. (www.moderncourts.org; 212-541-6741). Check YOUR local listings, as they say. But get up off the couch.
Perhaps that is why so many people – pundits in print or on the Internet and lawyer-commentators on TV – have been so quick to see Judge Larry Seidlin building an audition tape as he presided over an admittedly weird hearing in Florida over who should decide where Anna Nicole Smith should be buried. The former Bronx resident, who drove a taxi and studied law at night before eventually landing in Florida, establishing a legal career and becoming the judge assigned to the Anna Nicole Smith case, IS quite a character. But some prominent members of the Florida bar vouch for his sanity while laughing at his quirkiness.
I spent lots of time in court in years past – as a reporter, I should say – and, yes, there were quite a few characters among the judiciary. I swear that the sitcom Night Court was based on a judge about whom I had written. He once had a defendant flip a coin to determine what his sentence would be. And I’ve seen a judge walk through the courtroom during the night session of arraignments and introduce himself and explain what the “audience” of friends, family members and homeless people just looking for a place to keep warm could expect to see. I’ve known a judge who wore cufflinks, one of which said “Bull” and the other “Shit”, and he’d subtlety flash them at reporters covering proceedings before him. That was his commentary on the testimony we were hearing. One judge, with whom I was sitting as a reporter observing proceedings up close asked me what sentence I would give in a particular case and then, much to my horror, pronounced that sentence to the defendant.
I’d suggest that, rather than watching judges on TV, more people combine their interest in the general subject of courts and justice and do good at the same time: Volunteer to be a court observer, watching real trials and contributing to reports on how real courts actually work – or don’t.
In New York, we have, among other avenues, the Fund for Modern Courts, which has a Citizen Court Monitoring Project and a Citizen Jury Project. (www.moderncourts.org; 212-541-6741). Check YOUR local listings, as they say. But get up off the couch.
Food for the Soul
If I needed encouragement for changing my diet, all it took was seeing all those rats running around in a downtown Taco Bell/KFC restaurant in New York City’s Greenwich Village like the Mouse King leading his mice into battle in an after-hours romp in The Nutcracker. There were rats here, there and everywhere from the kitchen to the counter to…. Oh, you don’t want to know!
Well, if you do, check out: http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=64901
Watch what you eat, but also watch where you eat. If I go into a restaurant restroom and see signs reminding employees to wash their hands and then notice that the only water coming out of the tap at the sink is cold, I know that there’s a problem. Employees who handle food are supposed to wash their hands in very warm water, lathering up to their elbows, for at least 30 seconds. You cannot do that if the only water available is cold. MAKE SOME NOISE. COMPLAIN! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
You need to be aware of how long food has been sitting around waiting for you to come order it; don’t put it past cost-cutting managers to trot out the stuff they didn’t sell the day before or the day before that – and probably didn’t even store properly.
I love food. That’s why, most of the time, I’d rather cook it myself. I wash my hands so much and go through so many paper towels to dry my hands and wipe down counters that I sometimes look like a prune in winter.
Down home now – in Georgia – and even at friends’ gatherings here in New York, it’s hard to find food someone you actually know is responsible for preparing.
Whether it’s rats roaming around the premises along with the cockroaches, kitchen help that may or may not sanitize all utensils and dishes in preparation for the day’s shifts, insolent waiters spitting in the food of customers they disdain or the salt content of the food itself – you’ve got to be on guard.
I think I’ve just talked myself into preparing a nice Sunday dinner! And for extra inspiration, I'm going to tune in to one of my favorite shows, Soul Food, the family drama now in syndication on BET-J. Check it out.
Well, if you do, check out: http://video.wnbc.com/player/?id=64901
Watch what you eat, but also watch where you eat. If I go into a restaurant restroom and see signs reminding employees to wash their hands and then notice that the only water coming out of the tap at the sink is cold, I know that there’s a problem. Employees who handle food are supposed to wash their hands in very warm water, lathering up to their elbows, for at least 30 seconds. You cannot do that if the only water available is cold. MAKE SOME NOISE. COMPLAIN! GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!
You need to be aware of how long food has been sitting around waiting for you to come order it; don’t put it past cost-cutting managers to trot out the stuff they didn’t sell the day before or the day before that – and probably didn’t even store properly.
I love food. That’s why, most of the time, I’d rather cook it myself. I wash my hands so much and go through so many paper towels to dry my hands and wipe down counters that I sometimes look like a prune in winter.
Down home now – in Georgia – and even at friends’ gatherings here in New York, it’s hard to find food someone you actually know is responsible for preparing.
Whether it’s rats roaming around the premises along with the cockroaches, kitchen help that may or may not sanitize all utensils and dishes in preparation for the day’s shifts, insolent waiters spitting in the food of customers they disdain or the salt content of the food itself – you’ve got to be on guard.
I think I’ve just talked myself into preparing a nice Sunday dinner! And for extra inspiration, I'm going to tune in to one of my favorite shows, Soul Food, the family drama now in syndication on BET-J. Check it out.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Massachusetts' New Governor Should Be Ashamed
Deval Patrick surely knows better. He was elected governor of Massachusetts, not emperor. But he has begun his term rather imperiously. There are the $12,000 draperies for his office. There’s a Cadillac being leased for nearly $1,200 per month. And, rather than assigning a staffer to help his wife with her public schedule as is typically done, he hired someone for a salary of $72,000. All on the state taxpayers’ dime at a time they are being told to face a shrunken government to address a budget deficit.
If he needed to transform his office decor, he could have raised tens of thousands of dollars privately. Wealthy man that he is, I’m sure he knows others with money.
Boston media have pounced upon this, but he should have expected each and every step he makes to be under a microscope. After all, he is the first Black man to hold that office. Now, the media have nicknamed him Governor Deluxe and Cadillac Deval.
For days he ignored the media uproar before finally acknowledging, “Oh, yeah, we screwed up.”
His experience reminds me of what happened in New York City in the early 1990s when a Black woman was put in charge of public housing – you know, housing for the poor? – and promptly spent $345,000 re-doing the executive offices, including $115,000 for her private office. The symbol of her out-of-whack priorities was a $3,000 pink leather sofa. She was forced to resign.
Commentators are saying that since this is so early in his term, Patrick has time to redeem himself. That begins with ending the lavish spending while asking others, less fortunate, less privileged, to make sacrifices.
Symbolism is sometimes as important as substance, Mr. Patrick.
If he needed to transform his office decor, he could have raised tens of thousands of dollars privately. Wealthy man that he is, I’m sure he knows others with money.
Boston media have pounced upon this, but he should have expected each and every step he makes to be under a microscope. After all, he is the first Black man to hold that office. Now, the media have nicknamed him Governor Deluxe and Cadillac Deval.
For days he ignored the media uproar before finally acknowledging, “Oh, yeah, we screwed up.”
His experience reminds me of what happened in New York City in the early 1990s when a Black woman was put in charge of public housing – you know, housing for the poor? – and promptly spent $345,000 re-doing the executive offices, including $115,000 for her private office. The symbol of her out-of-whack priorities was a $3,000 pink leather sofa. She was forced to resign.
Commentators are saying that since this is so early in his term, Patrick has time to redeem himself. That begins with ending the lavish spending while asking others, less fortunate, less privileged, to make sacrifices.
Symbolism is sometimes as important as substance, Mr. Patrick.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Hillary and Obama
So far surrogates are doing the trash talking while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama insist they are taking the high road.
David Geffen, the Hollywood mogul, hosted a $1.3 million fundrasier for Obama Tuesday; in the past he has raised millions for the Clintons. This time around, though, he tries to boost Obama by calling the Clintons liars. Of course, much of media -- mainstream, fringe, Internet, whatever -- are having a field day with this. Of course, Hillary, rolling in the political dough, demands that Obama, who is just getting started, give back the money raised by his Hollywood supporters. Don't be a bitch, Hillary. And, Obama, don't be a sucker and fall lower than that high road.
"We aren't going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters," Obama's communications director, Robert Gibbs, said in a statement. "It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when he was raising $18 million for them and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom."
Geffen has said that his words are his own. Let's leave it at that and get on with the real issues of this campaign.
David Geffen, the Hollywood mogul, hosted a $1.3 million fundrasier for Obama Tuesday; in the past he has raised millions for the Clintons. This time around, though, he tries to boost Obama by calling the Clintons liars. Of course, much of media -- mainstream, fringe, Internet, whatever -- are having a field day with this. Of course, Hillary, rolling in the political dough, demands that Obama, who is just getting started, give back the money raised by his Hollywood supporters. Don't be a bitch, Hillary. And, Obama, don't be a sucker and fall lower than that high road.
"We aren't going to get in the middle of a disagreement between the Clintons and someone who was once one of their biggest supporters," Obama's communications director, Robert Gibbs, said in a statement. "It is ironic that the Clintons had no problem with David Geffen when he was raising $18 million for them and sleeping at their invitation in the Lincoln bedroom."
Geffen has said that his words are his own. Let's leave it at that and get on with the real issues of this campaign.
The British Are Leaving! The British Are Leaving!
OK, maybe not as memorable as Longfellow's rendition of "The British are coming! The British are coming!" -- what Paul Revere supposedly yelled in the lead-up to what became the war between the American colonies and England in 1775.
But what does it say that Tony Blair, the Prime Minister in Great Britain, announced today that he is beginning to withdraw his troops from southern Iraq -- and that President Bush is still insisting upon sending more than 21,000 US troops into Baghdad?
But what does it say that Tony Blair, the Prime Minister in Great Britain, announced today that he is beginning to withdraw his troops from southern Iraq -- and that President Bush is still insisting upon sending more than 21,000 US troops into Baghdad?
Remember Malcolm X Today
He was murdered 42 years ago in New York City by Black people. At whose behest is still debated, but Black men fired the shots in the Audubon Ballroom. Malcolm's been dead longer than the 39 years he walked and spoke among US. As is the case with Martin Luther King Jr., as time goes by, his image becomes less radical than it was as he lived. He's an image on a piece of headgear or a T-shirt. He's the name of a street in Harlem that we denizens still call Lenox Avenue.
Let's remember the radical, non-conformist, in-your-face and media-savvy Malcolm "by any means necessary"!!!
Let's remember the radical, non-conformist, in-your-face and media-savvy Malcolm "by any means necessary"!!!
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Who Kept The Dog Warm?
I'm rather flummoxed by the notion of various narcissistic adventurers that if their butts get in trouble while they are climbing some mountain that doesn't cry out for their climbing it, others will risk their lives to find said adventurers.
Latest example: A group that decided to climb the 11,239-foot Mount Hood in Oregon. Three fell off a cliff, along with their dog, Velvet, a 4-year-old Labrador mix.
This from the Associated Press after an arduous, but ultimately successful, attempt to rescue them:
"The rescuers credited the group's rescue to two things — one low-tech and one high-tech: Velvet, who offered warmth as the three climbers huddled overnight, and the activation of a radio transmitter the size of a sunglasses case that helped rescuers to the group."
And this:
"Velvet, owned by [one of the three, Matty] Bryant, had minor cuts and abrasions on her back feet and legs caused by prolonged exposure to the snow. She was cleared to go home.
"'The dog probably saved their lives' by lying across them during the cold night, said Erik Brom, a member of the Portland Mountain Rescue team."
Are we obligated to indulge the hubris of men and women who choose to tackle mountains just because they are there? What about the humans and, in this case, dogs, who risk their lives to save them from themselves?
Latest example: A group that decided to climb the 11,239-foot Mount Hood in Oregon. Three fell off a cliff, along with their dog, Velvet, a 4-year-old Labrador mix.
This from the Associated Press after an arduous, but ultimately successful, attempt to rescue them:
"The rescuers credited the group's rescue to two things — one low-tech and one high-tech: Velvet, who offered warmth as the three climbers huddled overnight, and the activation of a radio transmitter the size of a sunglasses case that helped rescuers to the group."
And this:
"Velvet, owned by [one of the three, Matty] Bryant, had minor cuts and abrasions on her back feet and legs caused by prolonged exposure to the snow. She was cleared to go home.
"'The dog probably saved their lives' by lying across them during the cold night, said Erik Brom, a member of the Portland Mountain Rescue team."
Are we obligated to indulge the hubris of men and women who choose to tackle mountains just because they are there? What about the humans and, in this case, dogs, who risk their lives to save them from themselves?
Monday, February 19, 2007
CNN As Arbiter of "New Black Leadership"?
The new black leaders? What gives CNN the right to crown a new generation of so-called “Black leaders” as it plans to do this week in its focus on Blackness?
God bless her. Soledad O’Brien seems earnest in “uncovering” the Black America that is undiscovered territory for her and so many others in the US. Why do so many of US have to be “uncovered” for the rest of US? My folks have been in this country from at least the early 1700s. Why haven’t we and ours been “discovered” until now?
To pick a group of people, mostly entertainers it seems from the promos, as the “new Black leadership” is an embarrassment, an insult and a sign that corporate America, including mainstream media in the US, is not that far removed from two centuries ago when Blacks decided to form their own media to “plead our own cause.” While you’re “discovering”, check out 1827 and the first Black newspaper in the US. If you don’t know US by now, will you ever, ever, ever know US?
Ms. O’Brien in the introduction to a piece in this series said: “When it comes to African Americans, do two famous reverends have the first, last and only words?” Only, my child, if that is where you start and end.
When Blackfolk get in trouble, here and abroad, they often reach out to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, men with whom I’ve had—and still do have – disagreements on certain actions and topics. But they are the men to whom people turn when they need a spotlight focused on police brutality, the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, political shenanigans, Darfur, etcetera. As Sharpton told CNN, he is more the ambulance than the ambulance chaser. “People know we will come when the ambulance won’t come.”
I see all the time in photographs and in news telecasts a focus on Jesse or Al without the reporter having acknowledged any of the others in the frames I’m seeing. I see politicians and clergy, neighborhood activists, entrepreneurs, educators and even other should-be-respected journalists. But those sending the stories out to the world are IGNORANT most of the time. They go for the face(s) they know, not the real story of the people who are demanding – sometimes just begging for – justice.
“The media is lazy,” Bruce Gordon, the head of the NAACP says to CNN. Rep. Maxine Waters expands: “The media has identified who Black leadership is. They go to the same people over and over again. They are saying to the American public, ‘This is the person who speaks for the Black community.’”
Unless we people of color allow them to, media cannot define who leads people who are Black any more than they can define who leads people who are White. Gone are the days of Booker T. Washington and even Martin Luther King Jr., when one person was considered the HNIC – to use polite 21st century language: Head Negro In Charge.
We Blackfolk speak many languages and live in various settings. Give us credit for being Americans as reticent or as outspoken as anyone else among the US.
God bless her. Soledad O’Brien seems earnest in “uncovering” the Black America that is undiscovered territory for her and so many others in the US. Why do so many of US have to be “uncovered” for the rest of US? My folks have been in this country from at least the early 1700s. Why haven’t we and ours been “discovered” until now?
To pick a group of people, mostly entertainers it seems from the promos, as the “new Black leadership” is an embarrassment, an insult and a sign that corporate America, including mainstream media in the US, is not that far removed from two centuries ago when Blacks decided to form their own media to “plead our own cause.” While you’re “discovering”, check out 1827 and the first Black newspaper in the US. If you don’t know US by now, will you ever, ever, ever know US?
Ms. O’Brien in the introduction to a piece in this series said: “When it comes to African Americans, do two famous reverends have the first, last and only words?” Only, my child, if that is where you start and end.
When Blackfolk get in trouble, here and abroad, they often reach out to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, men with whom I’ve had—and still do have – disagreements on certain actions and topics. But they are the men to whom people turn when they need a spotlight focused on police brutality, the Hurricane Katrina aftermath, political shenanigans, Darfur, etcetera. As Sharpton told CNN, he is more the ambulance than the ambulance chaser. “People know we will come when the ambulance won’t come.”
I see all the time in photographs and in news telecasts a focus on Jesse or Al without the reporter having acknowledged any of the others in the frames I’m seeing. I see politicians and clergy, neighborhood activists, entrepreneurs, educators and even other should-be-respected journalists. But those sending the stories out to the world are IGNORANT most of the time. They go for the face(s) they know, not the real story of the people who are demanding – sometimes just begging for – justice.
“The media is lazy,” Bruce Gordon, the head of the NAACP says to CNN. Rep. Maxine Waters expands: “The media has identified who Black leadership is. They go to the same people over and over again. They are saying to the American public, ‘This is the person who speaks for the Black community.’”
Unless we people of color allow them to, media cannot define who leads people who are Black any more than they can define who leads people who are White. Gone are the days of Booker T. Washington and even Martin Luther King Jr., when one person was considered the HNIC – to use polite 21st century language: Head Negro In Charge.
We Blackfolk speak many languages and live in various settings. Give us credit for being Americans as reticent or as outspoken as anyone else among the US.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Caught Between Heat and a Cold Place
Granted, hundreds of thousands of US citizens are now pawns in a geopolitical competition between the US and Venezuela, as the latter's president does all he can to castigate and embarrass the Bush Administration.
It’s too easy to berate Joe Kennedy – mainly for his name than his actions – than to DO SOMETHING. If the US provided ways and means for the less fortunate among US to afford heating oil to stay warm this winter, Americans wouldn’t need to call 1-877-Joe-4-OIL.
“I’m Joe Kennedy. Help is on the way,” he assures in his ubiquitous television commercials. What galls people who themselves are benefiting from fuel from questionable places – including Venezuela, which sends oil to Kennedy’s nonprofit Citizens Energy Corporation at a discount -- is that Kennedy gives credit to “our friends in Venezuela.” That country’s president, Hugo Chavez, is clearly no friend of President Bush, whom he has denounced at the United Nations as an incarnation of “the devil.”
Having unsuccessfully sought commitments from the major US oil companies and from oil-rich countries in the Middle East, this is what Kennedy has said about going with Venezuela and Citgo, which is a Venezuelan-owned company:
"Every single company said no. Every single one except one, and that was Citgo. So it is important that when a major company reaches out and does something like this, that we should acknowledge and celebrate the kind of action they are taking.
"Exxon made $10 billion in a quarter - in three months out of the year they made $10 billion. And they say, when it comes to helping the poor, 'Sorry, there is no money in the till'."
A Florida congressman whose tush is well-warmed has taken Kennedy to task, practically accusing him of being unpatriotic. To work with Chavez is to deal with a real devil, but if 400,000 American households are warm this winter…….???
As Kennedy says at the end of his ads: “No one should be left out in the cold.” Clearly the US government and its good friends don't give a heck while ignoring the fact that so much of corporate America – from Vice President Cheney’s good friends at Haliburton to airlines – is racking up billions in profits by doing business with Venezuela.
It’s too easy to berate Joe Kennedy – mainly for his name than his actions – than to DO SOMETHING. If the US provided ways and means for the less fortunate among US to afford heating oil to stay warm this winter, Americans wouldn’t need to call 1-877-Joe-4-OIL.
“I’m Joe Kennedy. Help is on the way,” he assures in his ubiquitous television commercials. What galls people who themselves are benefiting from fuel from questionable places – including Venezuela, which sends oil to Kennedy’s nonprofit Citizens Energy Corporation at a discount -- is that Kennedy gives credit to “our friends in Venezuela.” That country’s president, Hugo Chavez, is clearly no friend of President Bush, whom he has denounced at the United Nations as an incarnation of “the devil.”
Having unsuccessfully sought commitments from the major US oil companies and from oil-rich countries in the Middle East, this is what Kennedy has said about going with Venezuela and Citgo, which is a Venezuelan-owned company:
"Every single company said no. Every single one except one, and that was Citgo. So it is important that when a major company reaches out and does something like this, that we should acknowledge and celebrate the kind of action they are taking.
"Exxon made $10 billion in a quarter - in three months out of the year they made $10 billion. And they say, when it comes to helping the poor, 'Sorry, there is no money in the till'."
A Florida congressman whose tush is well-warmed has taken Kennedy to task, practically accusing him of being unpatriotic. To work with Chavez is to deal with a real devil, but if 400,000 American households are warm this winter…….???
As Kennedy says at the end of his ads: “No one should be left out in the cold.” Clearly the US government and its good friends don't give a heck while ignoring the fact that so much of corporate America – from Vice President Cheney’s good friends at Haliburton to airlines – is racking up billions in profits by doing business with Venezuela.
Friday, February 16, 2007
The King Memorial Inches Forward in Washington
A sculptor from China has been chosen to carry out the project along the Tidal Basin on the National Mall, and according to a report in The Atlanta Journal Constitution, 16 quotations have been selected to adorn the proposed structure.
Among them:
• "Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."
— Feb. 4, 1968, Atlanta
• "We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
— April 16, 1963, Birmingham, Ala.
• "Make a career of humanity... commit yourself to the noble struggle ... you will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."
— April 18, 1959, Washington, D.C.
• "If we are to have peace on Earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."
— Dec. 24, 1967, Atlanta
• "True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."
— April 16, 1963, Birmingham, Ala.
For more information on this $100 million project – and to contribute – go to: www.mlkmemorial.org
Dreaming is fine; DOING SOMETHING is better.
Among them:
• "Say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter."
— Feb. 4, 1968, Atlanta
• "We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly."
— April 16, 1963, Birmingham, Ala.
• "Make a career of humanity... commit yourself to the noble struggle ... you will make a greater person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in."
— April 18, 1959, Washington, D.C.
• "If we are to have peace on Earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."
— Dec. 24, 1967, Atlanta
• "True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice."
— April 16, 1963, Birmingham, Ala.
For more information on this $100 million project – and to contribute – go to: www.mlkmemorial.org
Dreaming is fine; DOING SOMETHING is better.
Hardaway's Big Mouth Costs Him
Obviously, Tim Hardaway forgot to study the play book before going off on a homophobic tirade on a radio show just before the National Basketball Association's annual All-Star splash.
So the former star player has lost a PR gig as an official representative of the league in the leadup to the big game, which will be held in Las Vegas this weekend.
"It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours," NBA commissioner David Stern said after Hardaway’s anti-gay rant created a storm.
Hardaway has a right to his views, but he doesn’t have a right to represent the corporate NBA, which likes to make money and put forth a face of tolerance when, as everyone knows, a lot of folks associated with the league probably agree with Hardaway. Why do you think John Amaechi waited until he had retired from professional basketball to disclose that he is gay? (His newly published memoir is "Man in the Middle.")
Hardaway, apparently not comfortable enough in his own sexuality and ignorant enough to believe that homosexuality is contagious, said, while discussing Amaechi’s revelation:
"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room."
When the radio host challenged him, Hardaway went on and on: "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."
Maybe it’s views like Hardaway’s that “shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”
His handlers tried to clean up the mess he’d made by issuing a statement that you just know he did NOT write: "As an African-American, I know all too well the negative thoughts and feelings hatred and bigotry cause. I regret and apologize for the statements that I made that have certainly caused the same kinds of feelings and reactions.”
At least he didn’t claim to be checking into gay rehab -- either to become more sensitive to gay people or to be cured of one's own flirtation with homosexuality -- the way the actor Isaiah Washington (“Grey’s Anatomy”) did or the way the disgraced evangelical preacher Ted Haggard did.
So the former star player has lost a PR gig as an official representative of the league in the leadup to the big game, which will be held in Las Vegas this weekend.
"It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours," NBA commissioner David Stern said after Hardaway’s anti-gay rant created a storm.
Hardaway has a right to his views, but he doesn’t have a right to represent the corporate NBA, which likes to make money and put forth a face of tolerance when, as everyone knows, a lot of folks associated with the league probably agree with Hardaway. Why do you think John Amaechi waited until he had retired from professional basketball to disclose that he is gay? (His newly published memoir is "Man in the Middle.")
Hardaway, apparently not comfortable enough in his own sexuality and ignorant enough to believe that homosexuality is contagious, said, while discussing Amaechi’s revelation:
"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room."
When the radio host challenged him, Hardaway went on and on: "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."
Maybe it’s views like Hardaway’s that “shouldn’t be in the world or in the United States.”
His handlers tried to clean up the mess he’d made by issuing a statement that you just know he did NOT write: "As an African-American, I know all too well the negative thoughts and feelings hatred and bigotry cause. I regret and apologize for the statements that I made that have certainly caused the same kinds of feelings and reactions.”
At least he didn’t claim to be checking into gay rehab -- either to become more sensitive to gay people or to be cured of one's own flirtation with homosexuality -- the way the actor Isaiah Washington (“Grey’s Anatomy”) did or the way the disgraced evangelical preacher Ted Haggard did.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Iraq-- God Damn!
I'm hearing Sister Nina Simone and her outrage about Mississippi in the 1960s, the loss of lives there and the hesitation if not full-fledged resistance of those in power. Her song was Mississippi God Damn!
"Oh, but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying 'Go slow!'
'Go slow!'"
Iraqis are killing Iraqis by the hundreds on a daily basis -- and the US is still serious about sending in 20,000 more young American men and women to babysit and run the real risk of being killed or maimed?
Republicans still beholden to President Bush say the Democrats have no plan for victory. Well, excuse me, what is Bush's plan? Cheney's plan? Rice's plan? For four years they have been in charge of this mess that most Americans seem to realize is a mess. About 40 Americans have been killed this month alone in Iraq, adding to the total of more that 3,100. Even more alarming is that more than 20,000 of our men and women -- many of them teenagers or just barely out of their teens -- have been seriously wounded. I can envision that some years from now in the not-too-distant future we will be arguing about whether and to what extent to pay for their medical care. While still ensuring tax breaks for the friends of Washington powerbrokers.
We cannot even get a good argument in Congress on the course of the war -- now and in the future. What are our goals, really? Members of the US Senate are more interested in arguing about the rules of debate than carrying on an actual debate that would force their comfortable butts to take a stand. They are pathetic.
The House is poised to carry the debate to the public. Now is the time for all those Black chairs to pause in their celebrations of elevation to leadership in the House and begin to lead. Hmmm. What would Adam Clayton Powell do were he still the top Black dog in the House? I don't think he would "go slow."
"Oh, but this whole country is full of lies
You're all gonna die and die like flies
I don't trust you any more
You keep on saying 'Go slow!'
'Go slow!'"
Iraqis are killing Iraqis by the hundreds on a daily basis -- and the US is still serious about sending in 20,000 more young American men and women to babysit and run the real risk of being killed or maimed?
Republicans still beholden to President Bush say the Democrats have no plan for victory. Well, excuse me, what is Bush's plan? Cheney's plan? Rice's plan? For four years they have been in charge of this mess that most Americans seem to realize is a mess. About 40 Americans have been killed this month alone in Iraq, adding to the total of more that 3,100. Even more alarming is that more than 20,000 of our men and women -- many of them teenagers or just barely out of their teens -- have been seriously wounded. I can envision that some years from now in the not-too-distant future we will be arguing about whether and to what extent to pay for their medical care. While still ensuring tax breaks for the friends of Washington powerbrokers.
We cannot even get a good argument in Congress on the course of the war -- now and in the future. What are our goals, really? Members of the US Senate are more interested in arguing about the rules of debate than carrying on an actual debate that would force their comfortable butts to take a stand. They are pathetic.
The House is poised to carry the debate to the public. Now is the time for all those Black chairs to pause in their celebrations of elevation to leadership in the House and begin to lead. Hmmm. What would Adam Clayton Powell do were he still the top Black dog in the House? I don't think he would "go slow."
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Obama Makes It Official: “Let’s Get to Work!”
Barack Obama stood in front of the statehouse in Springfield, Ill., where, like him, Abraham Lincoln served and in 1858 gave a speech known to history as “A House Divided.” ("A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”) It was his justification for campaigning to save the US from its growing sectarianism. For Obama this was the setting for his justification for entering presidential politics – and winning – to save the Union once again by cutting through the partisan crap and bringing about peace and prosperity.
To those who braved the wintry weather and, of course, who were watching on TV, he said: “In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect Union.”
Meanwhile, at Hampton University, in Virginia, where Tavis Smiley was hosting his annual talkfest about the state of Black America, one panelist, the Rev. Al Sharpton, said that Obama should have made his announcement there rather than at the house from which Lincoln launched his career. “We’ve got to quit giving the wrong people credit for our history!”
Sharpton’s notion of “we” and “our” is too much of the old school. Obama sees a wider canvas when talking about “we” and “us” – not bound by Black and White. His is, he said in making the announcement that he is campaigning to become the next president of the US, an “improbable quest.” He sounded much like Jack Kennedy, another senator with limited Washington experience, who upon his election in 1960, called upon his generation to take charge. Obama says it’s time for his generation – which I take to be my generation though I am a few years older than he – to answer the call to fix what’s broke in the US by honoring our core values.
"I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness - a certain audacity - to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change."
He probably hasn’t even thought how much he has to overcome to be heard by people who, even though they watched his speech, seem to have been hearing a different language. One of the first callers to C-SPAN after the speech was a woman who said that the United States did not need a Muslim as president. The call-in host told her that Obama was not a Muslim, that, indeed, he’s a member of the United Church of Christ. The woman said she thought he’d been influenced by some Muhammadism and had changed his name. The host explained that the senator was born with the name Barack Obama.
People are looking for reasons to sully the man before they even get to know him. (See Politico at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2694.html). Obama, you do, indeed, have to get to work. But so do those who share your vision of “what this country can be.”
To those who braved the wintry weather and, of course, who were watching on TV, he said: “In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect Union.”
Meanwhile, at Hampton University, in Virginia, where Tavis Smiley was hosting his annual talkfest about the state of Black America, one panelist, the Rev. Al Sharpton, said that Obama should have made his announcement there rather than at the house from which Lincoln launched his career. “We’ve got to quit giving the wrong people credit for our history!”
Sharpton’s notion of “we” and “our” is too much of the old school. Obama sees a wider canvas when talking about “we” and “us” – not bound by Black and White. His is, he said in making the announcement that he is campaigning to become the next president of the US, an “improbable quest.” He sounded much like Jack Kennedy, another senator with limited Washington experience, who upon his election in 1960, called upon his generation to take charge. Obama says it’s time for his generation – which I take to be my generation though I am a few years older than he – to answer the call to fix what’s broke in the US by honoring our core values.
"I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness - a certain audacity - to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change."
He probably hasn’t even thought how much he has to overcome to be heard by people who, even though they watched his speech, seem to have been hearing a different language. One of the first callers to C-SPAN after the speech was a woman who said that the United States did not need a Muslim as president. The call-in host told her that Obama was not a Muslim, that, indeed, he’s a member of the United Church of Christ. The woman said she thought he’d been influenced by some Muhammadism and had changed his name. The host explained that the senator was born with the name Barack Obama.
People are looking for reasons to sully the man before they even get to know him. (See Politico at http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2694.html). Obama, you do, indeed, have to get to work. But so do those who share your vision of “what this country can be.”
Friday, February 9, 2007
Obama TOO Black?
In an earlier post (Feb. 2) I examined the notion among some Blacks that Barack Obama is not Black enough because of his parentage (White mother from Kansas; Black father from Kenya) and where he grew up (Hawaii and Indonesia).
Now on the eve of his expected formal announcement of his candidacy for president Saturday, some White people are saying that he is TOO Black because he belongs to a Chicago church, the historic Trinity United Church of Christ, that is dedicated to uplifting Black people and especially to strengthening Black families. These critics are zeroing in on the church’s 12-point Black Value System (www.tucc.org/about.htm) and its motto: “Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian.”
This too-Black salvo comes from a certain sector of White conservatism that is showing its true colors. (Illinois Review, www.illinoisreview.typepad.com)
On its web site (www.tucc.org), Trinity says: “As a congregation of baptized believers, we are called to be agents of liberation not only for the oppressed, but for all of God’s family…. W.E.B. DuBois indicated that the problem in the 20th century was going to be the problem of the color line. He was absolutely correct. Our job as servants of God is to address that problem and eradicate it in the name of Him who came for the whole world by calling all men, women, boys and girls to Christ.”
Obama told The Chicago Tribune, which carried a prominent story on this issue Feb. 6, "If I say to anybody in Iowa--White, Black, Hispanic or Asian--that my church believes in the African-American community strengthening families or adhering to the Black work ethic or being committed to self-discipline and self-respect and not forgetting where you came from, I don't think that's something anybody would object to.
"I think I'd get a few Amens."
Obama’s announcement will be carried on C-SPAN Saturday morning and no doubt on cable networks like CNN. My guess is that whatever he says will attempt to bridge the gulfs that race-based campaigns – on the Black side and on the White side – have revealed. This will be a true test of his mettle.
Now on the eve of his expected formal announcement of his candidacy for president Saturday, some White people are saying that he is TOO Black because he belongs to a Chicago church, the historic Trinity United Church of Christ, that is dedicated to uplifting Black people and especially to strengthening Black families. These critics are zeroing in on the church’s 12-point Black Value System (www.tucc.org/about.htm) and its motto: “Unashamedly Black and Unapologetically Christian.”
This too-Black salvo comes from a certain sector of White conservatism that is showing its true colors. (Illinois Review, www.illinoisreview.typepad.com)
On its web site (www.tucc.org), Trinity says: “As a congregation of baptized believers, we are called to be agents of liberation not only for the oppressed, but for all of God’s family…. W.E.B. DuBois indicated that the problem in the 20th century was going to be the problem of the color line. He was absolutely correct. Our job as servants of God is to address that problem and eradicate it in the name of Him who came for the whole world by calling all men, women, boys and girls to Christ.”
Obama told The Chicago Tribune, which carried a prominent story on this issue Feb. 6, "If I say to anybody in Iowa--White, Black, Hispanic or Asian--that my church believes in the African-American community strengthening families or adhering to the Black work ethic or being committed to self-discipline and self-respect and not forgetting where you came from, I don't think that's something anybody would object to.
"I think I'd get a few Amens."
Obama’s announcement will be carried on C-SPAN Saturday morning and no doubt on cable networks like CNN. My guess is that whatever he says will attempt to bridge the gulfs that race-based campaigns – on the Black side and on the White side – have revealed. This will be a true test of his mettle.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
No Laughing Matter
The meltdown of Lisa Nowak, the astronaut who went on a 900-mile trek by car from Houston to Orlando to confront the woman she thinks is in the way of a relationship she wants to develop with a fellow astronaut, has been good for laughs on the late-night television shows. I confess: I chuckled at a few Jay Leno jokes on the Tonight Show.
But the reality is that this is really a sad story -- and one from which I hope more of us will learn. Nowak, like her confreres in NASA, is driven, intense, competitive, super intelligent and, to the world that sees only that side of her, she has a near-perfect life. But she knows differently. She is as emotionally fragile as any of us.
And, like many of us, she hasn't managed to reach out for help in addressing that fragility before doing something so extreme and uncharacteristic. It's easier to laugh at her than to admit that we could BE her.
Reach out for someone's hand.
But the reality is that this is really a sad story -- and one from which I hope more of us will learn. Nowak, like her confreres in NASA, is driven, intense, competitive, super intelligent and, to the world that sees only that side of her, she has a near-perfect life. But she knows differently. She is as emotionally fragile as any of us.
And, like many of us, she hasn't managed to reach out for help in addressing that fragility before doing something so extreme and uncharacteristic. It's easier to laugh at her than to admit that we could BE her.
Reach out for someone's hand.
Monday, February 5, 2007
Florida Last Week; New Orleans So Many Months Ago
Am I the only one who noticed that within hours – hours! – survivors of that string of tornadoes that brought death and destruction in their wake in Central Florida saw the US government swing into action? People may be receiving relief checks as soon as Tuesday.
And back in New Orleans…..
On television and in newspapers the faces of Central Florida have been White, except for some of the prisoners (we used to call them “chain gang”) out there working on debris clearance. The faces of New Orleans have been Black. Even now, Black people are asking for help in rebuilding their lives and their New Orleans, as they did last week when US senators toured the Lower 9th Ward to see for themselves how destructive Hurricane Katrina was and how inadequate government response has been. Duh! What’s taken so long?
“Whatever response is needed, we will make it quick and sure,” President Bush said in a speech over the weekend, even as relief was already on the ground in Florida, where his brother Jeb, the most recent former governor, is still a wielder of clout.
Granted, New Orleanians may be too much dependent upon government to jump start their hearts while the attitude expressed after the tornadoes in Central Florida was, according to CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, “We don’t need FEMA; we have Floridians.”
But if one can say that the response to the tornadoes reflects lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, then those lessons should be applied forthwith to -- and within -- New Orleans.
And back in New Orleans…..
On television and in newspapers the faces of Central Florida have been White, except for some of the prisoners (we used to call them “chain gang”) out there working on debris clearance. The faces of New Orleans have been Black. Even now, Black people are asking for help in rebuilding their lives and their New Orleans, as they did last week when US senators toured the Lower 9th Ward to see for themselves how destructive Hurricane Katrina was and how inadequate government response has been. Duh! What’s taken so long?
“Whatever response is needed, we will make it quick and sure,” President Bush said in a speech over the weekend, even as relief was already on the ground in Florida, where his brother Jeb, the most recent former governor, is still a wielder of clout.
Granted, New Orleanians may be too much dependent upon government to jump start their hearts while the attitude expressed after the tornadoes in Central Florida was, according to CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, “We don’t need FEMA; we have Floridians.”
But if one can say that the response to the tornadoes reflects lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, then those lessons should be applied forthwith to -- and within -- New Orleans.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Civil Rights Era "Cold Cases" Apparently Warming Up
One can only say: It's about time. There are many unsolved cases from that time, when men and women were killed or disappeared under suspicious circumstances. One of those cases now supposedly being seriously examined by the FBI occurred in the section of Georgia where my roots are deep: Four young black people, two couples, were slaughtered in Walton County, where some of my relatives still reside and where I've found the burial sites of relatives going back as far as some of my great-great grandparents.
The lynching took place on July 25, 1946. The victims were Roger and Dorothy Malcom; Dorothy's brother George and his wife Mae. George was a veteran of WW2, one of those Blacks who, by their very exposure to the world beyond near-slavery that existed on the cotton farms, were considered "uppity" -- and, thus, a threat. White men were accustomed to having their way with their Black women servants; that may have sparked a fight that led Roger Malcom to stab the son of Dorothy's boss. As he was taken to jail, he predicted that he would not be seen alive again. "They're gonna kill me!"
Later, apparently after the White farmers had readied their plans, the owner of the farm where Dorothy, George and Mae were working offered to drive them into town to bail Roger out of jail. On a circuitous ride back, they stopped at a place along the Apalachee River known as Moore's Ford. The two couples were forced out of the car and marched into the woods and, according to reports, shot hundreds of times.
I'd heard nothing of this story until 1992, when a White man came forward to say that, when he was 10 years old, he'd inadvertently witnessed the entire slaughter in the woods. That brought the case to light to several new generations, though there are still elderly Blacks who know that of which they could not speak in the 1940s. And there are apparently some elderly Whites still in the area who were part of the lynch party.
Unlike in the 1940s, the FBI says it is now trying to do as much as possible to prosecute whoever is still alive (even if barely) in this case and others. As I said: It's about time.
The lynching took place on July 25, 1946. The victims were Roger and Dorothy Malcom; Dorothy's brother George and his wife Mae. George was a veteran of WW2, one of those Blacks who, by their very exposure to the world beyond near-slavery that existed on the cotton farms, were considered "uppity" -- and, thus, a threat. White men were accustomed to having their way with their Black women servants; that may have sparked a fight that led Roger Malcom to stab the son of Dorothy's boss. As he was taken to jail, he predicted that he would not be seen alive again. "They're gonna kill me!"
Later, apparently after the White farmers had readied their plans, the owner of the farm where Dorothy, George and Mae were working offered to drive them into town to bail Roger out of jail. On a circuitous ride back, they stopped at a place along the Apalachee River known as Moore's Ford. The two couples were forced out of the car and marched into the woods and, according to reports, shot hundreds of times.
I'd heard nothing of this story until 1992, when a White man came forward to say that, when he was 10 years old, he'd inadvertently witnessed the entire slaughter in the woods. That brought the case to light to several new generations, though there are still elderly Blacks who know that of which they could not speak in the 1940s. And there are apparently some elderly Whites still in the area who were part of the lynch party.
Unlike in the 1940s, the FBI says it is now trying to do as much as possible to prosecute whoever is still alive (even if barely) in this case and others. As I said: It's about time.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Obama's Blackness
Why do so many American-born Blacks, who take on African names and don African or African-inspired garb, now question the authenticity of a true African-American: Barack Obama? He is the progeny of a White American woman and a Black Kenyan man. How much more American and African can you get?
Barack Obama has never denied his Blackness. He has embraced it, though he has never denied his White or Indonesian relatives. In his pre-Senator Rock Star career, he was a community organizer in Black Chicago neighborhoods. He lobbied for Black interests as an Illinois state legislator. He's married to a Black woman, and he has two Black children.
Maybe it is fortunate that the Blackness issue is emerging so early -- even among well-meaning but patronizing folks like Joe Biden, who has been taken to task for thinking he was praising Obama when he described his fellow senator and potential presidential campaign rival as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."
Jesse Jackson has defended Obama's Blackness and has tried to depict Biden as guilty of nothing more than "foot-in-mouth syndrome." Forget Biden, though, and the kind of benign ignorance he represents. I'm more concerned about Black folks.
Is having a slave in one's family tree REALLY the litmus test? More important than that, and I say this as one who has slaves in her family tree, is his stand on the issues we care about -- or should care about.
Barack Obama has never denied his Blackness. He has embraced it, though he has never denied his White or Indonesian relatives. In his pre-Senator Rock Star career, he was a community organizer in Black Chicago neighborhoods. He lobbied for Black interests as an Illinois state legislator. He's married to a Black woman, and he has two Black children.
Maybe it is fortunate that the Blackness issue is emerging so early -- even among well-meaning but patronizing folks like Joe Biden, who has been taken to task for thinking he was praising Obama when he described his fellow senator and potential presidential campaign rival as "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."
Jesse Jackson has defended Obama's Blackness and has tried to depict Biden as guilty of nothing more than "foot-in-mouth syndrome." Forget Biden, though, and the kind of benign ignorance he represents. I'm more concerned about Black folks.
Is having a slave in one's family tree REALLY the litmus test? More important than that, and I say this as one who has slaves in her family tree, is his stand on the issues we care about -- or should care about.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Black History Month
Today marks the beginning of Black History Month. If you have your eyes and ears open, you will be bombarded with all sorts of images of Black heroes -- many of these images shaped by corporate America. Think of this not as a full course of history, however. This is a sampling of what should be a year-long menu. Enjoy, but don't feel satiated.
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