Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Standing for Principles and Justice
The late Sister Dorothy Height was a legend in our community. She eloquently spoke about equality and justice and she worked tirelessly to help women worldwide. She stood up against sexism and she inspired so many human beings today in following the same journey for human rights and social justice. She was the quintessential representation of Black excellence. She was born in Richmond, Virginia and lived for 98 years. She witnessed so much from the era of Jim Crow to the age of the 21st century. Throughout her extensive longevity, she saw many magnificent events and along the way, she realized that we have so much far to go. She loved education and her social activism will forever be remembered by us. She being honored on the stamp for the Black Heritage series is an important development. We will continue to fight for human justice. I reject a lugubrious mentality. I have hope, faith, and I believe in action too. Rest in Power Sister Dorothy Height.
Sister Unita Blackwell is a civil rights hero. She was the first African American woman to be elected in a city of Mississippi. She fought for voting rights, justice, and she was always courageous. She is now 83 years old. She is one of the most courageous, greatest heroes of American history. She also spoke about issues in the Eyes of the Prize series. That was a great documentary and the most inspirational, audacious documentary about the civil rights movement in history. It is truly a shame that such events occur constantly in American society. It is a pattern where unarmed black people are unfortunately killed by the police and cops are rarely if at all held accountable for any transgression. Kajaun Raye's family is owed justice plainly speaking. Chicago has a long history of the torture, terrorist policies of Burge. Many Brothers and Sisters being oppressed by crooked cops, economic deprivation, and discrimination. Also, Chicago is home to many black people who embrace and activate a revolutionary spirit. Some of greatest black people that I have communicated with and talked to in real life are black people from the Midwest. We desire the efflorescence of human justice. We don 't live in a land of felicity. That is why we have to fight and we have the free speech right to outline our views here in a paramount fashion and to use activism in public to defend the rights of our black people period. The past has not been filled with halcyon. We had to fight for our rights. I hope that an independent investigation exists to determine the real truth and the family of Kajaun Raye deserve condolences and prayers.
Dr. Aprille Joy Ericsson is a legend. In her youth, she loved STEM fields. She was born in 1963. She is an American aerospace engineer. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City. She received her Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Masters of Engineering and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace from Howard University. She was the first female to receive a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Howard University and the first African-American female to receive a Ph.D. in engineering at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. She won many awards including the 1997 "Women in Science and Engineering" award for the best female engineer in the federal government, and she is currently the instrument manager for a proposed mission to bring dust from the Martian lower atmosphere back to Earth. She love athletics (I saw a video of her playing basketball) and she loves to help humanity graciously. Margaret Walker was an unsung hero of black people. She was part of the Chicago Renaissance. Many people know about the Harlem Renaissance, but many people don't know about how impactful the Chicago Renaissance was in African American history. The Chicago Renaissance took place in the early to mid 20th century. It was impacted by the First Great Migration where millions of black people left the deep South into the Midwest, the North, and the West Coast for economic opportunities and for a better life in general. What they found was those places still had racism and discrimination just like the deep South. Margaret Walker was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She moved into Chicago to be a great writer and poet. Her notable works include the award-winning poem For My People (1942) and the novel Jubilee (1966), set in the South during the American Civil War. She was a wife and a mother to four children. She was a literary professor at Jackson State University in Mississippi. She passed away in Chicago in 1998. She was 82. Rest in Power Sister Margaret Walker.
There is no excuse for the action of the pro-Trump passenger. That male acted disrespectful and cruel. This sick mentality is embraced by many Trump supporters too. The reality is that we will promote labor rights, economic justice, and environmental justice. Also, we believe in black liberation. Delta did a disgraceful job. There are many people who disagree with Trump, and believe in the diversity of thought at the same time. Many people who disagree with Trump are always told by the far right crowd to either tone it down, wait to see what he will do, or get with the program. I have noticed that the far right crowd is never lectured by the media or anyone else (en masse) on having an open mind, compromise, and just see what progressives are coming from. The truth is that progress in history is made by struggle, resistance, and standing up against the status quo. The abolitionist movement grew by resistance and the black freedom struggle in general achieved victories by civil disobedience, boycotts, many protests, and self defense when necessary. Therefore, the call for black liberation is real and any black person has the right to disagree with Trump's support of the anti-civil rights activist Sessions and the hypocritical male Giuliani. The drunk male was a sexist and Delta acted in a disgraceful way. The drunk male (who must experience personal responsibility) harassed passengers inappropriately without justification in a profane way. This story has nothing to do with all black people. It has to do with the actions of one white male and the lax response of Delta. The drunk male shows the sexism among many Trump supporters and it outlined how America is not in a post racial, Utopian society. This is a new generation and tons of people of the younger generation will not compromise to Trump. Trump disrespected women, minorities, and a disabled human being. His supporters voted for him. They voted for a xenophobe, a sexist, and a person who lied about the Central Park Five. It is in our right to stand up for black liberation without apology.
This is appalling (of some people trying to infiltrate the Standing Rock protests to promote Burning Man rituals and other things that disrespect the movement). We all reject neocolonialist schemes. The Native Americans and their allies are heroic in standing up against corporate interests who want to pollute the sovereignty rights of the American indigenous people. That proposed pipeline has no environmentally sound reasoning and many protesters have been subjected to brutality including water hose attacks by cops. Human liberation means that black people should be free and all oppressed people should be free. We know what it is like to be mistreated as black people. The indigenous human beings have gotten their land stolen and their people have experienced unjust mistreatment by racists and evil imperialists for multiple centuries. The common right wing talking point is that we should not discuss about these issues or we should not be involved in social activism. That is a lie, because social activism is one way in getting results. The social activism of abolitionists fought slavery. The social activism of Fannie Lou Hamer and Septima Clark caused many changed in the Deep South and throughout America. Therefore, I stand in solidarity with the NoDAPL movement (which is more than about hating white racism, which is righteous. Some people want to ignore the serious evil of white racism and ignore the necessity of promoting Black Unity. It is about promoting environmental justice, respecting sovereignty rights, and standing up against oppression). There is nothing wrong with solidarity being shown legitimately and with respect. Calling other people heroic in their activism and believing in black liberation at the same time are not mutually exclusive. In other words, showing respect to the NoDAPL movement has nothing to do with minimizing the legitimate aspirations of black people. This movement in North Dakota should never be portrayed as a Burning Man ceremony. This is a serious movement for social change. We have every right to talk about this issues and other issues via our free speech and this is relevant to our community. The same police brutality and the same ecological exploitation that the Native peoples have experienced in North Dakota is what we (as black people) have experienced. No one on this Earth can refute the reality of intersectionality involving oppression. So, I believe in black liberation forever.
By Timothy
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Monday, November 28, 2016
News
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/246572148328185993/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/132574782756177996/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Williams
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/28/elec-n28.html
http://time.com/4346542/radical-politics-marilyn-monroe/
http://cityonfire.com/feature-bob-wall-interview/
http://ahabit.com/vietnam/
http://www.vulture.com/2016/11/watch-leah-reminis-scientology-series-trailer.html
http://www.workers.org/2016/11/28/fidels-legacy-and-african-liberation/#.WD10H9UrLIU
http://www.workers.org/2016/11/28/fidel-i-shall-be-a-marxist-leninist-to-the-end-of-my-life/#.WD10SdUrLIU
https://socialistworker.org/2016/09/08/a-flawed-revolutionary-icon
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/132574782756177996/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathay_Williams
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/28/elec-n28.html
http://time.com/4346542/radical-politics-marilyn-monroe/
http://cityonfire.com/feature-bob-wall-interview/
http://ahabit.com/vietnam/
http://www.vulture.com/2016/11/watch-leah-reminis-scientology-series-trailer.html
http://www.workers.org/2016/11/28/fidels-legacy-and-african-liberation/#.WD10H9UrLIU
http://www.workers.org/2016/11/28/fidel-i-shall-be-a-marxist-leninist-to-the-end-of-my-life/#.WD10SdUrLIU
https://socialistworker.org/2016/09/08/a-flawed-revolutionary-icon
Remembering Fidel Castro
Today is a day of reflection. Fidel Castro (who influenced the history of Latin America greatly) has died today at the age of 90. He was a complex man who done many great things for humanity and he made mistakes. The mainstream media neglects to mention that Batista was a brutal dictator that oppressed people during the 1950’s. They also ignore how the U.S. Military occupied Cuba during the early 20th century and enforced Jim Crow policies in Cuba too. First, I will show what he did what was right. He was right to oppose the dictatorship of Batista and successfully made the Cuban Revolution a reality. Batista (who was a cruel dictator with a secret police torturing and oppressing human beings) worked with many corporate elites and even with the Mafia (Batista allied with American mobsters Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano) to make economic profit at the expense of the people of Cuba. Later, Batista was gone by heroic people in January 1, 1959 who wanted to end dictatorship. At first, the American government was willing to recognize Castro's new government. Later, things changed. Fidel Castro explicitly condemned racial segregation (which existed under Batista) and executed policies to fight against racism in Cuba. Castro nationalized all U.S. properties in Cuba in August of 1960. This caused the USA to want to invade Cuba among other reasons. After the nationalization, the American Eisenhower administration froze all Cuban assets on American soil, severed diplomatic ties and tightened its embargo of Cuba. The CIA failed to kill him via the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and other assassination attempts. He lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 where JFK and the Soviets negotiated a deal to get rid of Russian missiles from Cuba while the US would get rid of some of their missiles from Turkey. Castro survived hundreds of CIA attempts to assassinate him. Castro was right to protect Sister Assata Shakur, to stand up against U.S. imperialism, and to oppose apartheid. He was an ally of Nelson Mandela. Castro did what was right in improving health care, literacy, and many other services in Cuba. Fidel Castro was right to support the independence movement in Angola. He met Malcolm X too when he came into New York City. Fidel Castro sent doctors all around the world to help Africans for real. Therefore, his righteous deeds should be noted. Fidel Castro resigned as leader of Cuba in 2008. His brother Raul is the leader of Cuba currently. The U.S. and Cuba started to normalize relations with each other historically in July of 2015. Many reactionaries have double standards. Many of them condemn Fidel Castro for his embrace of communist, but they trade with Communist nations like China. Many folks lecture Castro on human rights, but support the war crimes done by Western imperialists (like the bombing of nuclear weapons in Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Operation Phoenix, Operation Ajax, and other crimes in various wars). A real revolutionary always criticizes the current capitalist system. Fidel Castro wasn't perfect and many of his policies on civil liberties or on human rights are policies that I disagree with. Yet, Castro wasn't a Hitler and he wasn't a person who committed mass genocide against millions of people. Castro didn't cause the Iraq War and he didn't invent Guantanamo Bay. He was a person who was part of the history of the 20th and 21st centuries. The Cuban embargo should end. We all want Cuba to improve and we want Cuba to be independent forever. I send prayers and condolences to his friends and family. We are in solidarity with the black Afro-Cuban people in Cuba too. Ultimately, Fidel Castro's legacy with be a mixed legacy filled with good actions and mistakes. We don't want Cuba to be a pro-Western capitalist puppet state. We want Cuba to be an independent, progressive society.
One of the most cowardly actions of the Birmingham police back in 1963 was when they used fire hoses and police dogs on innocent men, women and children. Connor found out that the Birmingham jail was full. ON May 3, he changed police tactics. That was done in order for the police to keep the protesters out of the downtown business area. Another thousand students gathered at the church and left to walk across Kelly Ingram Park while chanting, "We're going to walk, walk, walk. Freedom ... freedom ... freedom." As the demonstrators left the church, the police told them to stop and turn back, “or you’ll get wet.” When they continued, Connor ordered the city’s fire hoses. They set them at a level that would peel bark off a tree or separate bricks from mortar to be turned on the children. Boys’ shirts were ripped off. Young women were pushed over the tops of cars by the force of the water. When the students crouched or fell, the blasts of water rolled them down the asphalt streets and concrete sidewalks. Connor allowed white spectators to push forward, shouting, "Let those people come forward, sergeant. I want 'em to see the dogs work." During this time, A.G. Gaston was on the phone with the white attorney David Yvann. He disagreed and was appalled at the use of children in the protest. He tried to negotiate a resolution to the crisis. When Gaston looked out the window and saw the children being hit with high-pressure water, he said, "Lawyer Vann, I can't talk to you now or ever. My people are out there fighting for their lives and my freedom. I have to go help them", and hung up the phone. Black parents and adults who were observing cheered the marching students, but when the hoses were turned on, bystanders began to throw rocks and bottles at the police. To disperse them, Connor ordered police to use German shepherd dogs to keep them in line. James Bevel wove in and out of the crowds warning them, "If any cops get hurt, we're going to lose this fight." To the contrary, crooked police officers assaulting innocent black people are evil. Black people have every human right to use self-defense against terrorist cops assaulting innocent black men, women, and children. At 3 p.m., the protest was over. During a kind of truce, protesters went home. Police removed the barricades and re-opened the streets to traffic. That evening King told worried parents in a crowd of a thousand, "Don't worry about your children who are in jail. The eyes of the world are on Birmingham. We're going on in spite of dogs and fire hoses. We've gone too far to turn back." A battle hardened Huntley-Brinkley reporter later said that no military action he had witnessed had ever frightened or disturbed him as much as what he saw in Birmingham. 2 out of town photographers in Birmingham during that day were Charles Moore (he previously worked with the Montgomery Advertiser and was working for Life magazine) and Bill Hudson (with the Associated Press). Moore was a Marine combat photographer who was "jarred" and "sickened" by the use of children and what the Birmingham police and fire departments did to them. Moore was hit in the ankle by a brick meant for the police. He took several photos that were printed in Life. The first photo Moore shot that day showed three teenagers being hit by a water jet from a high-pressure firehose. It was titled "They Fight a Fire That Won't Go Out". A shorter version of the caption was later used as the title for Fred Shuttlesworth's biography. The Life photo became an "era-defining picture" and was compared to the photo of Marines raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima. Moore suspected that the film he shot "was likely to obliterate in the national psyche any notion of a 'good southerner'. Hudson remarked later that his only priorities that day were "making pictures and staying alive" and "not getting bit by a dog." Right in front of Hudson was Parker High School senior Walter Gadsden. The police officer grabbed Gadsden’s sweater and a police dog charged him. Gadsden had been attending the demonstration as an observer. He was related to the editor of Birmingham's black newspaper, The Birmingham World, who strongly disapproved of King's leadership in the campaign. Gadsden was arrested for "parading without a permit", and after witnessing his arrest, Commissioner Connor remarked to the officer, "Why didn't you bring a meaner dog; this one is not the vicious one." Hudson's photo of Gadsden and the dog ran across three columns in the prominent position above the fold on the front page of The New York Times on May 4, 1963. Television cameras broadcasted to the nation images and scenes of fire hoses knocking down schoolchildren and police dogs attacking innocent unprotected demonstrators. This coverage and photos shifted international support in favor of the protestors. Bull Connor was a villain. President Kennedy told a group of people at the White House that The New York Times photo made him "sick.” Kennedy called the scenes "shameful" and said that they were "so much more eloquently reported by the news camera than by any number of explanatory words." The images caused a great effect in Birmingham. The black community had differences, yet black people solidified in support behind Dr. King. Horrified at what the Birmingham police were doing to protect segregation, New York Senator Jacob K. Javits declared, "the country won't tolerate it", and pressed Congress to pass a civil rights bill. Similar reactions were reported by Kentucky Senator Sherman Cooper, and Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, who compared Birmingham to South Africa under apartheid. A New York Times editorial called the behavior of the Birmingham police "a national disgrace." The Washington Post editorialized, "The spectacle in Birmingham ... must excite the sympathy of the rest of the country for the decent, just, and reasonable citizens of the community, who have so recently demonstrated at the polls their lack of support for the very policies that have produced the Birmingham riots. The authorities who tried, by these brutal means, to stop the freedom marchers do not speak or act in the name of the enlightened people of the city." President Kennedy sent Assistant Attorney General Burke Marshall to Birmingham to help negotiate a truce. Marshall faced a stalemate when merchants and protest organizers refused to budge.
The Czar dissolved the Duma and World War I soon started. Nicholas II in 1914 made the decision to bring Russia into World War I. Russia had unprepared military and economic problems. Its generals struggle to create a plan for military action. That is why the German military executed many victories against the Russian armies during WWI. German machine guns mowed down Russian troops in the thousands. Soon, more than 4 million Russian human beings were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. The czarist movement was not strong and the military leadership experienced struggles all over the war. In 1915, Nicholas moved his headquarters to the war front. In that location, he hoped to rally his troops to victory. His wife or Czarina Alexandra ran the government when he was away. She ignored the czar’s chief advisors. She followed the advice of the mysterious Rasputin. Rasputin called himself “a holy man.” He claimed to have magical healing powers. Nicholas and Alexandra’s son was Alexis. He was suffering from hemophilia (or a life threatening disease). Rasputin seems to lower the child’s symptoms. Alexandra rewarded Rasputin by making him to have power to make key political decisions. Rasputin didn’t want reform. IN 1916, a group of nobles killed him since they didn’t like his role in the Russian government. Meanwhile in World War I, Russian troops mutinied, deserted, or ignored orders. Food and fuel supplies were declining because of the war. Prices were hugely inflated. People from many classes were clamoring for change and an end to the war. Nicholas and Alexandra faced a serious crisis in Russia. The March Revolution started first in March of 1917. It happened when women textile workers in Petrograd led a city wide strike. In the next five days, rebellions existed over shortages of bread and fuel. Almost 200,000 workers came into the streets shouting, “Down with the autocracy!” and “down with the war!” At first, the soldiers obeyed orders to shoot the rioters. Yet, they sided with them. Local protests expanded into a huge uprising. The March Revolution caused Czar Nicholas II to abdicate or leave the throne. The year later, Nicholas and his family would be executed by his opponents. The March Revolution caused a provisional government to exist. A provisional government is a temporary government. Alexander Kerensky headed it. A leader of the moderate-socialist Trudoviks faction of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Kerensky was a well-known person in Russia. He continued fighting in WWI. He lost support among soldiers and civilians because of that action. Russia suffered more because of the war. Angry peasants wanted land. Workers in the city became more radical and socialist revolutionaries formed soviets. Soviets were local council made up of workers, peasants, and soldiers. In many cities, the soviets had more influences than the provisional government. The Germans allowed Lenin on a train to return to Russia or in Petrograd in April of 1917. The Germans believed that Lenin could go into Russia, cause more unrest, so the Russians would end their attack on Germany during the war. The November Revolution of 1917 changed the world forever.
For long centuries, the Native Americans have fought against oppression. Today, the heroic indigenous people and their allies are protesting and fighting back against the corporate interests who want to build the Dakota Access Pipeline on sovereign land. This pipeline has no environmentally sound benefit and it is against the people’s wishes in the territory. On April 2016, tribal members stated to protest the 1,172 Dakota Access Pipeline construction. They set up camps along the banks of Lake Oahe in North Dakota. By August, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed suit in federal district court in Washington D.C. They are filing suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is the primary federal agency that granted permits used for the construction of the pipeline. Also, the NoDAPL movement grows and many people among many walks of life have expressed support and solidarity with the Native American human beings who desire that pipeline to not be constructed. In August 22, protests help to block the construction sites at Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The protests are led by the Standing Rock Sioux who said that their drinking water was threatened by the pipeline. The small Sacred Stone Camp grows by the thousands. They people there make up over 200 tribes in September of 2016. In an act of disrespect, Dakota Access bulldozers on September 3, 2016 plow a 2 mile long, 150 ft. wide path through the sacred tribal burial ground. The Sioux contest the permits for that land in its lawsuit. Protests continue on the anniversary of the Whitestone massacre, a day in 1863 when the US Army killed more than 300 members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. Video surfaces in September of private security attacking Native protesters with dogs and mace. At least 30 people were pepper-sprayed and six people, including a child, were bitten by dogs, according to tribe spokesman Bear. In September 6th, the U.S. District Judge James Boasberg agrees to temporarily halt construction on a portion of the pipeline—too late to save the Standing Rock Sioux burial ground, but enough to stop the bulldozers ahead of a more final ruling, expected September 9, as to whether construction will be allowed to continue. This movement is one of the largest Native American protests in American history. The authorities in North Dakota used tactics of intimidation, threats of arrest, and arrests to harm the protest movement. Yet, they only motivate protesters even more to fight for justice. Water protesters are arrested and jailed without bond after locking themselves to construction machinery. Morton County Sheriff pursues felony charges on those arrested. 23 people and their charges are named. As of 9/14 a total of 69 individuals have been arrested for protesting actions. The Judge drops injunction against tribal leaders allowing them to protest lawfully. In later October 2016, the police again used brutality against water protesters in Standing Rock. Protesters were maced and beaten at the hands of the police. 141 people were arrested. Many buffalo came around the hill and the protesters watched them in awe. It symbolized how the buffalo was slaughtered by the U.S. government over 100 years ago and now the Native Americans are being violated of their rights in our generation. As the police closed in on the water protectors, they drew inspiration from the Black Lives Matter movement chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot." Black Lives Matter activists have expressed their support for the Standing Rock protesters--sending a delegation to Standing Rock over the summer and, this week, calling for renewed solidarity in the wake of the most recent repression. Palestinian rights supporters, labor unions, and other progressive human beings have expressed solidarity with Standing Rock activists as well. What we see is that the state allowing human rights abuses via an occupying army against the original inhabitants of the American soil. The Standing Rock human beings are defending the environment and promoting tribal sovereignty. America was founded on the genocide of the Native Americans and the enslavement of African people. We reject oppression. In the wake of the decision (on September 9, 2016), the Department of Justice, the Department of the Army, and the Department of the Interior issue a joint statement, acknowledging the district court's opinion but refusing to authorize construction in the Lake Oahe area, near the protests. The departments ask Energy Transfer Partners to voluntarily cease all construction within 20 miles of the region until it can be determined whether the construction is in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. In November 20, 2016, the police utilized some of the vicious acts of violence against the protesters in North Dakota. The event happened at a bridge near the main Oceti Sakowin resistance camp by the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. Later, authorities expressed a brutal assault on water protectors. The attack started after a group from the camp tried to clear the nearby public bridge. The authorities blocked the area with military equipment chained to concrete barriers. Police moved in. The footage records the police attacking unarmed protesters with rubber bullets and concussion grenades. They fired flares and grassfires developed. They attacked the protestors with high pressure streams of water form water cannons and fire hoses. More than 100 activists were injured. Many people lost consciousness and one person went into cardiac arrest, but revived by medics. The most seriously injured appears to be 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky from the Bronx, who was struck by a concussion grenade as she tried to bring water to protesters under assault. She may lose her arm as a result. Sophia's father Wayne Wilansky sobbed as he told reporters about his daughter's condition. "In America, she's hit with a grenade," he said. "She's not in Iraq or Afghanistan...And they're trying to kill her." We will never forget what these crooked cops have done. Therefore, we will continue to stand up for the people of Standing Rock 100%.
By Timothy
One of the most cowardly actions of the Birmingham police back in 1963 was when they used fire hoses and police dogs on innocent men, women and children. Connor found out that the Birmingham jail was full. ON May 3, he changed police tactics. That was done in order for the police to keep the protesters out of the downtown business area. Another thousand students gathered at the church and left to walk across Kelly Ingram Park while chanting, "We're going to walk, walk, walk. Freedom ... freedom ... freedom." As the demonstrators left the church, the police told them to stop and turn back, “or you’ll get wet.” When they continued, Connor ordered the city’s fire hoses. They set them at a level that would peel bark off a tree or separate bricks from mortar to be turned on the children. Boys’ shirts were ripped off. Young women were pushed over the tops of cars by the force of the water. When the students crouched or fell, the blasts of water rolled them down the asphalt streets and concrete sidewalks. Connor allowed white spectators to push forward, shouting, "Let those people come forward, sergeant. I want 'em to see the dogs work." During this time, A.G. Gaston was on the phone with the white attorney David Yvann. He disagreed and was appalled at the use of children in the protest. He tried to negotiate a resolution to the crisis. When Gaston looked out the window and saw the children being hit with high-pressure water, he said, "Lawyer Vann, I can't talk to you now or ever. My people are out there fighting for their lives and my freedom. I have to go help them", and hung up the phone. Black parents and adults who were observing cheered the marching students, but when the hoses were turned on, bystanders began to throw rocks and bottles at the police. To disperse them, Connor ordered police to use German shepherd dogs to keep them in line. James Bevel wove in and out of the crowds warning them, "If any cops get hurt, we're going to lose this fight." To the contrary, crooked police officers assaulting innocent black people are evil. Black people have every human right to use self-defense against terrorist cops assaulting innocent black men, women, and children. At 3 p.m., the protest was over. During a kind of truce, protesters went home. Police removed the barricades and re-opened the streets to traffic. That evening King told worried parents in a crowd of a thousand, "Don't worry about your children who are in jail. The eyes of the world are on Birmingham. We're going on in spite of dogs and fire hoses. We've gone too far to turn back." A battle hardened Huntley-Brinkley reporter later said that no military action he had witnessed had ever frightened or disturbed him as much as what he saw in Birmingham. 2 out of town photographers in Birmingham during that day were Charles Moore (he previously worked with the Montgomery Advertiser and was working for Life magazine) and Bill Hudson (with the Associated Press). Moore was a Marine combat photographer who was "jarred" and "sickened" by the use of children and what the Birmingham police and fire departments did to them. Moore was hit in the ankle by a brick meant for the police. He took several photos that were printed in Life. The first photo Moore shot that day showed three teenagers being hit by a water jet from a high-pressure firehose. It was titled "They Fight a Fire That Won't Go Out". A shorter version of the caption was later used as the title for Fred Shuttlesworth's biography. The Life photo became an "era-defining picture" and was compared to the photo of Marines raising the U.S. flag on Iwo Jima. Moore suspected that the film he shot "was likely to obliterate in the national psyche any notion of a 'good southerner'. Hudson remarked later that his only priorities that day were "making pictures and staying alive" and "not getting bit by a dog." Right in front of Hudson was Parker High School senior Walter Gadsden. The police officer grabbed Gadsden’s sweater and a police dog charged him. Gadsden had been attending the demonstration as an observer. He was related to the editor of Birmingham's black newspaper, The Birmingham World, who strongly disapproved of King's leadership in the campaign. Gadsden was arrested for "parading without a permit", and after witnessing his arrest, Commissioner Connor remarked to the officer, "Why didn't you bring a meaner dog; this one is not the vicious one." Hudson's photo of Gadsden and the dog ran across three columns in the prominent position above the fold on the front page of The New York Times on May 4, 1963. Television cameras broadcasted to the nation images and scenes of fire hoses knocking down schoolchildren and police dogs attacking innocent unprotected demonstrators. This coverage and photos shifted international support in favor of the protestors. Bull Connor was a villain. President Kennedy told a group of people at the White House that The New York Times photo made him "sick.” Kennedy called the scenes "shameful" and said that they were "so much more eloquently reported by the news camera than by any number of explanatory words." The images caused a great effect in Birmingham. The black community had differences, yet black people solidified in support behind Dr. King. Horrified at what the Birmingham police were doing to protect segregation, New York Senator Jacob K. Javits declared, "the country won't tolerate it", and pressed Congress to pass a civil rights bill. Similar reactions were reported by Kentucky Senator Sherman Cooper, and Oregon Senator Wayne Morse, who compared Birmingham to South Africa under apartheid. A New York Times editorial called the behavior of the Birmingham police "a national disgrace." The Washington Post editorialized, "The spectacle in Birmingham ... must excite the sympathy of the rest of the country for the decent, just, and reasonable citizens of the community, who have so recently demonstrated at the polls their lack of support for the very policies that have produced the Birmingham riots. The authorities who tried, by these brutal means, to stop the freedom marchers do not speak or act in the name of the enlightened people of the city." President Kennedy sent Assistant Attorney General Burke Marshall to Birmingham to help negotiate a truce. Marshall faced a stalemate when merchants and protest organizers refused to budge.
The Czar dissolved the Duma and World War I soon started. Nicholas II in 1914 made the decision to bring Russia into World War I. Russia had unprepared military and economic problems. Its generals struggle to create a plan for military action. That is why the German military executed many victories against the Russian armies during WWI. German machine guns mowed down Russian troops in the thousands. Soon, more than 4 million Russian human beings were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. The czarist movement was not strong and the military leadership experienced struggles all over the war. In 1915, Nicholas moved his headquarters to the war front. In that location, he hoped to rally his troops to victory. His wife or Czarina Alexandra ran the government when he was away. She ignored the czar’s chief advisors. She followed the advice of the mysterious Rasputin. Rasputin called himself “a holy man.” He claimed to have magical healing powers. Nicholas and Alexandra’s son was Alexis. He was suffering from hemophilia (or a life threatening disease). Rasputin seems to lower the child’s symptoms. Alexandra rewarded Rasputin by making him to have power to make key political decisions. Rasputin didn’t want reform. IN 1916, a group of nobles killed him since they didn’t like his role in the Russian government. Meanwhile in World War I, Russian troops mutinied, deserted, or ignored orders. Food and fuel supplies were declining because of the war. Prices were hugely inflated. People from many classes were clamoring for change and an end to the war. Nicholas and Alexandra faced a serious crisis in Russia. The March Revolution started first in March of 1917. It happened when women textile workers in Petrograd led a city wide strike. In the next five days, rebellions existed over shortages of bread and fuel. Almost 200,000 workers came into the streets shouting, “Down with the autocracy!” and “down with the war!” At first, the soldiers obeyed orders to shoot the rioters. Yet, they sided with them. Local protests expanded into a huge uprising. The March Revolution caused Czar Nicholas II to abdicate or leave the throne. The year later, Nicholas and his family would be executed by his opponents. The March Revolution caused a provisional government to exist. A provisional government is a temporary government. Alexander Kerensky headed it. A leader of the moderate-socialist Trudoviks faction of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, Kerensky was a well-known person in Russia. He continued fighting in WWI. He lost support among soldiers and civilians because of that action. Russia suffered more because of the war. Angry peasants wanted land. Workers in the city became more radical and socialist revolutionaries formed soviets. Soviets were local council made up of workers, peasants, and soldiers. In many cities, the soviets had more influences than the provisional government. The Germans allowed Lenin on a train to return to Russia or in Petrograd in April of 1917. The Germans believed that Lenin could go into Russia, cause more unrest, so the Russians would end their attack on Germany during the war. The November Revolution of 1917 changed the world forever.
For long centuries, the Native Americans have fought against oppression. Today, the heroic indigenous people and their allies are protesting and fighting back against the corporate interests who want to build the Dakota Access Pipeline on sovereign land. This pipeline has no environmentally sound benefit and it is against the people’s wishes in the territory. On April 2016, tribal members stated to protest the 1,172 Dakota Access Pipeline construction. They set up camps along the banks of Lake Oahe in North Dakota. By August, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe filed suit in federal district court in Washington D.C. They are filing suit against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is the primary federal agency that granted permits used for the construction of the pipeline. Also, the NoDAPL movement grows and many people among many walks of life have expressed support and solidarity with the Native American human beings who desire that pipeline to not be constructed. In August 22, protests help to block the construction sites at Cannon Ball, North Dakota. The protests are led by the Standing Rock Sioux who said that their drinking water was threatened by the pipeline. The small Sacred Stone Camp grows by the thousands. They people there make up over 200 tribes in September of 2016. In an act of disrespect, Dakota Access bulldozers on September 3, 2016 plow a 2 mile long, 150 ft. wide path through the sacred tribal burial ground. The Sioux contest the permits for that land in its lawsuit. Protests continue on the anniversary of the Whitestone massacre, a day in 1863 when the US Army killed more than 300 members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. Video surfaces in September of private security attacking Native protesters with dogs and mace. At least 30 people were pepper-sprayed and six people, including a child, were bitten by dogs, according to tribe spokesman Bear. In September 6th, the U.S. District Judge James Boasberg agrees to temporarily halt construction on a portion of the pipeline—too late to save the Standing Rock Sioux burial ground, but enough to stop the bulldozers ahead of a more final ruling, expected September 9, as to whether construction will be allowed to continue. This movement is one of the largest Native American protests in American history. The authorities in North Dakota used tactics of intimidation, threats of arrest, and arrests to harm the protest movement. Yet, they only motivate protesters even more to fight for justice. Water protesters are arrested and jailed without bond after locking themselves to construction machinery. Morton County Sheriff pursues felony charges on those arrested. 23 people and their charges are named. As of 9/14 a total of 69 individuals have been arrested for protesting actions. The Judge drops injunction against tribal leaders allowing them to protest lawfully. In later October 2016, the police again used brutality against water protesters in Standing Rock. Protesters were maced and beaten at the hands of the police. 141 people were arrested. Many buffalo came around the hill and the protesters watched them in awe. It symbolized how the buffalo was slaughtered by the U.S. government over 100 years ago and now the Native Americans are being violated of their rights in our generation. As the police closed in on the water protectors, they drew inspiration from the Black Lives Matter movement chanting, "Hands up, don't shoot." Black Lives Matter activists have expressed their support for the Standing Rock protesters--sending a delegation to Standing Rock over the summer and, this week, calling for renewed solidarity in the wake of the most recent repression. Palestinian rights supporters, labor unions, and other progressive human beings have expressed solidarity with Standing Rock activists as well. What we see is that the state allowing human rights abuses via an occupying army against the original inhabitants of the American soil. The Standing Rock human beings are defending the environment and promoting tribal sovereignty. America was founded on the genocide of the Native Americans and the enslavement of African people. We reject oppression. In the wake of the decision (on September 9, 2016), the Department of Justice, the Department of the Army, and the Department of the Interior issue a joint statement, acknowledging the district court's opinion but refusing to authorize construction in the Lake Oahe area, near the protests. The departments ask Energy Transfer Partners to voluntarily cease all construction within 20 miles of the region until it can be determined whether the construction is in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. In November 20, 2016, the police utilized some of the vicious acts of violence against the protesters in North Dakota. The event happened at a bridge near the main Oceti Sakowin resistance camp by the Standing Rock Sioux reservation. Later, authorities expressed a brutal assault on water protectors. The attack started after a group from the camp tried to clear the nearby public bridge. The authorities blocked the area with military equipment chained to concrete barriers. Police moved in. The footage records the police attacking unarmed protesters with rubber bullets and concussion grenades. They fired flares and grassfires developed. They attacked the protestors with high pressure streams of water form water cannons and fire hoses. More than 100 activists were injured. Many people lost consciousness and one person went into cardiac arrest, but revived by medics. The most seriously injured appears to be 21-year-old Sophia Wilansky from the Bronx, who was struck by a concussion grenade as she tried to bring water to protesters under assault. She may lose her arm as a result. Sophia's father Wayne Wilansky sobbed as he told reporters about his daughter's condition. "In America, she's hit with a grenade," he said. "She's not in Iraq or Afghanistan...And they're trying to kill her." We will never forget what these crooked cops have done. Therefore, we will continue to stand up for the people of Standing Rock 100%.
By Timothy
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Man Explains How He Assembled the Largest African Artifacts Collection In America
http://financialjuneteenth.com/man-explains-how-he-assembled-the-largest-african-artifacts-collection-in-america/
http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/23/news/economy/black-working-class-trump/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/rosa.clemente.779/posts/10154188289203741
https://twitter.com/hashtag/byebernie?src=hash
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/20/afro-latinos-in-texas-proud-of-identity-history-la/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38049535
http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/11/22/502068751/the-standing-rock-resistance-is-unprecedented-it-s-also-centuries-old?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social
http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/23/news/economy/black-working-class-trump/index.html
https://www.facebook.com/rosa.clemente.779/posts/10154188289203741
https://twitter.com/hashtag/byebernie?src=hash
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/nov/20/afro-latinos-in-texas-proud-of-identity-history-la/
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38049535
http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2016/11/22/502068751/the-standing-rock-resistance-is-unprecedented-it-s-also-centuries-old?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social
Stand Up for your Rights.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/22/politics/angela-rye-sounds-off-trump-supporter-cnntv/index.html?sr=fbCNN112216angela-rye-sounds-off-trump-supporter-cnntv0919PMVideoVideo&linkId=31460692
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/802021668948414464
https://twitter.com/angela_rye?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/802021668948414464
https://twitter.com/angela_rye?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
NoDAPL
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-history-of-dakota-resistance-the-crimes-committed-against-americas-first-nations-1492-2016/5558342
http://www.globalresearch.ca/dakota-police-blast-nodapl-activists-with-water-cannons-in-sub-freezing-temperature/5558533
http://www.globalresearch.ca/november-221963-remembering-jfks-state-sponsored-assassination/5558492
http://www.globalresearch.ca/dakota-police-blast-nodapl-activists-with-water-cannons-in-sub-freezing-temperature/5558533
http://www.globalresearch.ca/november-221963-remembering-jfks-state-sponsored-assassination/5558492
Fidel Castro has passed away at the age of 90 years old (August 13, 1926 – November 25, 2016)
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/nov/26/fidel-castro-death-cuban-leader-live-updates
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-38114953
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/world/americas/fidel-castro-dies.html
http://socialistworker.org/2002-1/408/408_07_IsCubaSocialist.shtml
https://socialistworker.org/2009/01/07/contradictions-of-cubas-foreign-policy
http://blackagendareport.com/content/%E2%80%9Cscientific-assassinations%E2%80%9D-are-part-cia%E2%80%99s-modus-operandi
http://www.internationalist.org/defendcuba0503.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/fidel-castro-is-a-true-internationalist/5541022
http://www.globalresearch.ca/obama-end-the-embargo-on-cuba-before-trump-presidency/5558832
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/26/pers-n26.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/02/cast-f20.html
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/26/devo-n26.html
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/26/medi-n26.html
https://socialistfight.com/2016/11/21/trump-triumphs-the-global-rise-of-the-far-right-and-fascism/
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/01/cuba-j20.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/19/pers-d19.html
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-38114953
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/world/americas/fidel-castro-dies.html
http://socialistworker.org/2002-1/408/408_07_IsCubaSocialist.shtml
https://socialistworker.org/2009/01/07/contradictions-of-cubas-foreign-policy
http://blackagendareport.com/content/%E2%80%9Cscientific-assassinations%E2%80%9D-are-part-cia%E2%80%99s-modus-operandi
http://www.internationalist.org/defendcuba0503.html
http://www.globalresearch.ca/fidel-castro-is-a-true-internationalist/5541022
http://www.globalresearch.ca/obama-end-the-embargo-on-cuba-before-trump-presidency/5558832
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/26/pers-n26.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2008/02/cast-f20.html
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/26/devo-n26.html
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/11/26/medi-n26.html
https://socialistfight.com/2016/11/21/trump-triumphs-the-global-rise-of-the-far-right-and-fascism/
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/01/cuba-j20.html
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/12/19/pers-d19.html
Friday, November 25, 2016
More News
http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/capitalism-crisis-part-1-4-capitalism-war
http://www.radio4all.net/files/kschwartz.toronto@gmail.com/3141-1-CIC_1_-_Capitalism_is_War_-_128_kbps.mp3
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/69012
http://www.internationalist.org/electionfromhell1610.html
https://blackthen.com/long-misty-copeland-ballerina-raven-wilkinson/?utm_source=ReviveOldPost&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ReviveOldPost
Civil Rights History
The protest actions in Birmingham started in 1962. Activists modeled this plan on the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The events started when students from local colleges arranged for a year of staggering boycott. This caused downtown business to decline by as much as 40 percent. It attracted attention from the Chamber of Commerce president Sidney Smyer. He said that the "racial incidents have given us a black eye that we'll be a long time trying to forget.” In response to the boycott, the City Commission of Birmingham punished the black community by withdrawing $45,000 ($350,000 in 2016) from a surplus-food program used primarily by low-income blacks. The result, however, was a black community more motivated to resist. The SCLC believed that economic pressure on Birmingham businesses would be more effective than pressure on politicians. This was a lesson learned in Albany as few black people were registered to vote in 1962. In the spring of 1963, before Easter, the Birmingham boycott intensified during the second-busiest shopping season of the year. Pastors urged their congregations to avoid shopping in Birmingham stories in the downtown district. For six weeks supporters of the boycott patrolled the downtown area to make sure blacks were not patronizing stores that promoted or tolerated segregation. If black shoppers were found in these stores, organizers confronted them and shamed them into participating in the boycott. Shuttlesworth recalled a woman whose $15 hat ($120 in 2016) was destroyed by boycott enforcers. Campaign participant Joe Dickson recalled, "We had to go under strict surveillance. We had to tell people, say look: if you go downtown and buy something, you're going to have to answer to us." After several business owners in Birmingham took down "white only" and "colored only" signs, Commissioner Connor told business owners that if they did not obey the segregation ordinances, they would lose their business licenses.
Later, Project C existed. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came into Birmingham. His presence wasn’t welcomed by everyone in the black community. A local black attorney complained in Time that the new city administration didn’t have enough time to confer with the various groups invested in changing the city’s segregation policies. At one time, black hotel owner A.G. Gaston agreed. A white Jesuit priest assisting in desegregation negotiations attested the demonstration were poorly timed and misdirected. Yet, the protesters continued to heroically stand up for justice. Protest organizers knew that violence would come to them from the Birmingham Police Department. They chose a confrontational approach to get the attention of the federal government. Wyatt Tee Walker was one of the SCLC founders and the executive director from 1960 to 1964. He planned the tactics of the direct action protests. He targeted Bull Connor’s tendency to react to demonstrations with violence: "My theory was that if we mounted a strong nonviolent movement, the opposition would surely do something to attract the media, and in turn induce national sympathy and attention to the everyday segregated circumstance of a person living in the Deep South." He headed the planning of what he called Project C, which stood for "confrontation". Organizers believed their phones were tapped, so to prevent their plans from being leaked and perhaps influencing the mayoral election, they used code words for demonstrations. The plan called for direct nonviolent action to attract media attention to "the biggest and baddest city of the South." In preparation for the protests, Walker timed the walking distance from the 16th Street Baptist Church, headquarters for the campaign, to the downtown area. He surveyed the segregated lunch counters of department stores, and listed federal buildings as secondary targets should police block the protesters' entrance into primary targets such as stores, libraries, and all-white churches. The campaign used a variety of nonviolent methods of confrontation like sit-ins at libraries and lunch counters. People used kneel-ins by black visitors at white churches. There was a march to the county building to mark the beginning of a voter registration drive. Most businesses responded to these events by refusing to serve demonstrators. Some white spectators at a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter spat upon the participants. A few hundred protesters, including jazz musician Al Hibbler, were arrested, although Hibbler was immediately released by Connor. The SCLC wanted to fill the jails up, that would force the city government to negotiate as demonstrations continued. Yet, not enough people were arrested to affect the functioning of the city. Many black people questioned this tactics. The editor of The Birmingham World, the city's black newspaper, called the direct actions by the demonstrators "wasteful and worthless", and urged black citizens to use the courts to change the city's racist policies.Most white residents of Birmingham expressed shock at the demonstrations. White religious leaders denounced King and the other organizers, saying that "a cause should be pressed in the courts and the negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets." Real change comes in the streets beyond the courts. Some white Birmingham residents were supportive as the boycott continued. King promised a protest every day until "peaceful equality had been assured" and expressed doubt that the new mayor would ever voluntarily desegregate the city.
On April 10, 1963, Bull Connor obtained an injunction. This banned the protests and subsequently raised bail bond for those arrested from $200 to $1,200 ($2,000 to $9,000 in 2016). Fred Shuttlesworth called the injunction a "flagrant denial of our constitutional rights" and organizers prepared to defy the order. The decision to ignore the injunction had been made during the planning stage of the campaign. Dr. King and the SCLC had obeyed court injunctions in their Albany protests and reasoned that obeying them contributed to the Albany campaign's lack of success. In a press release they explained, "We are now confronted with recalcitrant forces in the Deep South that will use the courts to perpetuate the unjust and illegal systems of racial separation". Incoming mayor Albert Boutwell called King and the SCLC organizers "strangers" whose only purpose in Birmingham was "to stir inter-racial discord". Connor promised, "You can rest assured that I will fill the jail full of any persons violating the law as long as I'm at City Hall." Many in the movement found themselves out of the required bail money. Dr. King was one the major fundraisers. His associates wanted him to travel the country to raise bail money for those arrested. He had, previously promised to lead the marchers in jail in solidarity. He hesitated as the planned date arrived. Some SCLC members grew frustrated with his indecisiveness. "I have never seen Martin so troubled", one of King's friends later said. After King prayed and reflected alone in his hotel room, he and the campaign leaders decided to defy the injunction and prepared for mass arrests of campaign supporters. To build morale and to recruit volunteers to go to jail, Ralph Abernathy spoke at a mass meeting of Birmingham's black citizens at the 16th Street Baptist Church: "The eyes of the world are on Birmingham tonight. Bobby Kennedy is looking here at Birmingham; the United States Congress is looking at Birmingham. The Department of Justice is looking at Birmingham. Are you ready, are you ready to make the challenge? I am ready to go to jail, are you?"With Abernathy, King was among 50 Birmingham residents ranging in age from 15 to 81 years who were arrested on Good Friday, April 12, 1963. It was King's 13th arrest.
During this time, Connor had used police dogs to arrest demonstrations. The media didn’t report on it as much. The organizers wanted to re-energize the campaign. SCLC organizer James Bevel did promoted a controversial alternative plan called D Day. This was called the “Children’s Crusade” by Newsweek magazine. D Day wanted students from Birmingham elementary and high schools as well as nearby Miles College to take part in the demonstrations. Bevel worked in the nonviolent Nashville Student Movement. He worked with SNCC. He was SCLC’s Director of Direct Action and Nonviolent Education. Bevel talked about the education of students in nonviolent tactics and philosophy. Dr. King approved the use of children with hesitations. Bevel believed that children placed in jail would not hurt families economically as much as the loss of a working parent. He said that adults in the black community were divided about how much support to give the protests. Bevel knew that high school students were a more cohesive group. They knew each other as classmates since kindergarten. He recruited girls who were school leaders and boys who were athletes. When the girls joined, the boys were close behind to join them. Bevel and the SCLC created workshops to help the students overcome their fear of dogs and jails. They showed films of the Nashville sit-ins organized in 1960 to end segregation at public lunch counters. Birmingham's black radio station, WENN, supported the new plan by telling students to arrive at the demonstration meeting place with a toothbrush to be used in jail. Flyers were distributed in black schools and neighborhoods that said, "Fight for freedom first then go to school" and "It's up to you to free our teachers, our parents, yourself, and our country." On May 2, 1963, more than 1,000 students skipped school. They gathered at the 16th Street Baptist Church. The principal of Parker High School attempted to lock the gates to keep students in, but they scrambled over the walls to get to the church.
Demonstrators were given instructions to march to the downtown area to meet with the Mayor. They wanted to integrate the chosen buildings. They were to leave in smaller groups and continue on their courses until they were arrested. They marched in disciplined ranks, some of them using walkie-talkies, they were sent at timed intervals from various churches to the downtown business area. More than 600 students were arrested. The youngest of these children was reported to be 8 year old. Children left the churches while singing hymns and “freedom songs” like “We Shall Overcome.” They clapped and laughed while being arrested and awaiting transport to jail. The mood was compared that to a school picnic. Although Bevel informed Connor that the march was to take place, Connor and the police were dumbfounded by the numbers and behavior of the children.They assembled paddy wagons and school buses to take the children to jail. When no squad cars were left to block the city streets, Connor, whose authority extended to the fire department, used fire trucks. The day's arrests brought the total number of jailed protesters to 1,200 in the 900-capacity Birmingham jail. The use of children was very controversial. Incoming mayor Albert Boutwell and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy condemned the decision to use children in the protests. Kennedy was reported in The New York Times as saying, "an injured, maimed, or dead child is a price that none of us can afford to pay", although adding, "I believe that everyone understands their just grievances must be resolved." Malcolm X criticized the decision, saying, "Real men don't put their children on the firing line." King, who had been silent and then out of town while Bevel was organizing the children, was impressed by the success of using them in the protests. That evening he declared at a mass meeting, "I have been inspired and moved by today. I have never seen anything like it." Although Wyatt Tee Walker was initially against the use of children in the demonstrations, he responded to criticism by saying, "Negro children will get a better education in five days in jail than in five months in a segregated school." The D Day campaign received front page coverage by The Washington Post and The New York Times.
By Timothy
Later, Project C existed. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came into Birmingham. His presence wasn’t welcomed by everyone in the black community. A local black attorney complained in Time that the new city administration didn’t have enough time to confer with the various groups invested in changing the city’s segregation policies. At one time, black hotel owner A.G. Gaston agreed. A white Jesuit priest assisting in desegregation negotiations attested the demonstration were poorly timed and misdirected. Yet, the protesters continued to heroically stand up for justice. Protest organizers knew that violence would come to them from the Birmingham Police Department. They chose a confrontational approach to get the attention of the federal government. Wyatt Tee Walker was one of the SCLC founders and the executive director from 1960 to 1964. He planned the tactics of the direct action protests. He targeted Bull Connor’s tendency to react to demonstrations with violence: "My theory was that if we mounted a strong nonviolent movement, the opposition would surely do something to attract the media, and in turn induce national sympathy and attention to the everyday segregated circumstance of a person living in the Deep South." He headed the planning of what he called Project C, which stood for "confrontation". Organizers believed their phones were tapped, so to prevent their plans from being leaked and perhaps influencing the mayoral election, they used code words for demonstrations. The plan called for direct nonviolent action to attract media attention to "the biggest and baddest city of the South." In preparation for the protests, Walker timed the walking distance from the 16th Street Baptist Church, headquarters for the campaign, to the downtown area. He surveyed the segregated lunch counters of department stores, and listed federal buildings as secondary targets should police block the protesters' entrance into primary targets such as stores, libraries, and all-white churches. The campaign used a variety of nonviolent methods of confrontation like sit-ins at libraries and lunch counters. People used kneel-ins by black visitors at white churches. There was a march to the county building to mark the beginning of a voter registration drive. Most businesses responded to these events by refusing to serve demonstrators. Some white spectators at a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter spat upon the participants. A few hundred protesters, including jazz musician Al Hibbler, were arrested, although Hibbler was immediately released by Connor. The SCLC wanted to fill the jails up, that would force the city government to negotiate as demonstrations continued. Yet, not enough people were arrested to affect the functioning of the city. Many black people questioned this tactics. The editor of The Birmingham World, the city's black newspaper, called the direct actions by the demonstrators "wasteful and worthless", and urged black citizens to use the courts to change the city's racist policies.Most white residents of Birmingham expressed shock at the demonstrations. White religious leaders denounced King and the other organizers, saying that "a cause should be pressed in the courts and the negotiations among local leaders, and not in the streets." Real change comes in the streets beyond the courts. Some white Birmingham residents were supportive as the boycott continued. King promised a protest every day until "peaceful equality had been assured" and expressed doubt that the new mayor would ever voluntarily desegregate the city.
On April 10, 1963, Bull Connor obtained an injunction. This banned the protests and subsequently raised bail bond for those arrested from $200 to $1,200 ($2,000 to $9,000 in 2016). Fred Shuttlesworth called the injunction a "flagrant denial of our constitutional rights" and organizers prepared to defy the order. The decision to ignore the injunction had been made during the planning stage of the campaign. Dr. King and the SCLC had obeyed court injunctions in their Albany protests and reasoned that obeying them contributed to the Albany campaign's lack of success. In a press release they explained, "We are now confronted with recalcitrant forces in the Deep South that will use the courts to perpetuate the unjust and illegal systems of racial separation". Incoming mayor Albert Boutwell called King and the SCLC organizers "strangers" whose only purpose in Birmingham was "to stir inter-racial discord". Connor promised, "You can rest assured that I will fill the jail full of any persons violating the law as long as I'm at City Hall." Many in the movement found themselves out of the required bail money. Dr. King was one the major fundraisers. His associates wanted him to travel the country to raise bail money for those arrested. He had, previously promised to lead the marchers in jail in solidarity. He hesitated as the planned date arrived. Some SCLC members grew frustrated with his indecisiveness. "I have never seen Martin so troubled", one of King's friends later said. After King prayed and reflected alone in his hotel room, he and the campaign leaders decided to defy the injunction and prepared for mass arrests of campaign supporters. To build morale and to recruit volunteers to go to jail, Ralph Abernathy spoke at a mass meeting of Birmingham's black citizens at the 16th Street Baptist Church: "The eyes of the world are on Birmingham tonight. Bobby Kennedy is looking here at Birmingham; the United States Congress is looking at Birmingham. The Department of Justice is looking at Birmingham. Are you ready, are you ready to make the challenge? I am ready to go to jail, are you?"With Abernathy, King was among 50 Birmingham residents ranging in age from 15 to 81 years who were arrested on Good Friday, April 12, 1963. It was King's 13th arrest.
During this time, Connor had used police dogs to arrest demonstrations. The media didn’t report on it as much. The organizers wanted to re-energize the campaign. SCLC organizer James Bevel did promoted a controversial alternative plan called D Day. This was called the “Children’s Crusade” by Newsweek magazine. D Day wanted students from Birmingham elementary and high schools as well as nearby Miles College to take part in the demonstrations. Bevel worked in the nonviolent Nashville Student Movement. He worked with SNCC. He was SCLC’s Director of Direct Action and Nonviolent Education. Bevel talked about the education of students in nonviolent tactics and philosophy. Dr. King approved the use of children with hesitations. Bevel believed that children placed in jail would not hurt families economically as much as the loss of a working parent. He said that adults in the black community were divided about how much support to give the protests. Bevel knew that high school students were a more cohesive group. They knew each other as classmates since kindergarten. He recruited girls who were school leaders and boys who were athletes. When the girls joined, the boys were close behind to join them. Bevel and the SCLC created workshops to help the students overcome their fear of dogs and jails. They showed films of the Nashville sit-ins organized in 1960 to end segregation at public lunch counters. Birmingham's black radio station, WENN, supported the new plan by telling students to arrive at the demonstration meeting place with a toothbrush to be used in jail. Flyers were distributed in black schools and neighborhoods that said, "Fight for freedom first then go to school" and "It's up to you to free our teachers, our parents, yourself, and our country." On May 2, 1963, more than 1,000 students skipped school. They gathered at the 16th Street Baptist Church. The principal of Parker High School attempted to lock the gates to keep students in, but they scrambled over the walls to get to the church.
Demonstrators were given instructions to march to the downtown area to meet with the Mayor. They wanted to integrate the chosen buildings. They were to leave in smaller groups and continue on their courses until they were arrested. They marched in disciplined ranks, some of them using walkie-talkies, they were sent at timed intervals from various churches to the downtown business area. More than 600 students were arrested. The youngest of these children was reported to be 8 year old. Children left the churches while singing hymns and “freedom songs” like “We Shall Overcome.” They clapped and laughed while being arrested and awaiting transport to jail. The mood was compared that to a school picnic. Although Bevel informed Connor that the march was to take place, Connor and the police were dumbfounded by the numbers and behavior of the children.They assembled paddy wagons and school buses to take the children to jail. When no squad cars were left to block the city streets, Connor, whose authority extended to the fire department, used fire trucks. The day's arrests brought the total number of jailed protesters to 1,200 in the 900-capacity Birmingham jail. The use of children was very controversial. Incoming mayor Albert Boutwell and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy condemned the decision to use children in the protests. Kennedy was reported in The New York Times as saying, "an injured, maimed, or dead child is a price that none of us can afford to pay", although adding, "I believe that everyone understands their just grievances must be resolved." Malcolm X criticized the decision, saying, "Real men don't put their children on the firing line." King, who had been silent and then out of town while Bevel was organizing the children, was impressed by the success of using them in the protests. That evening he declared at a mass meeting, "I have been inspired and moved by today. I have never seen anything like it." Although Wyatt Tee Walker was initially against the use of children in the demonstrations, he responded to criticism by saying, "Negro children will get a better education in five days in jail than in five months in a segregated school." The D Day campaign received front page coverage by The Washington Post and The New York Times.
By Timothy
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Thanksgiving 2016 Part 5
Conclusion (for Thanksgiving 2016)
For long years, we have seen victories and problems. We have seen the greatness of humanity and the evil found in many people. Therefore, we are not naive of the problems facing America. Millions of Americans struggle to eat food on this Thanksgiving day. Over a million-and-a-half people were homeless last year, including some 300,000 children and 450,000 disabled people. Millions more live in substandard housing, doubled up with other families, or in motels. Such conditions may affect only a minority of American families directly. But the great majority of the population is economically insecure. Forty-six percent of adults are so financially strapped that “they either could not cover an emergency expense costing $400, or would cover it by selling something or borrowing money,” according to a survey released by the Federal Reserve this year. Health care premiums have increased for many Americans which proves that universal health care is better than the ACA. We witness militarism and police brutality in a wide scale in our generation. We have a future President having a scandal of conflicts of interests. The voters of Donald Trump knew that the bigot Bannon was his adviser. They still voted for Trump since they support the bigoted, sexist, and xenophobic agenda of Donald Trump. Bannon is an enemy of truth, an enemy of democracy, and a person that I don't agree with. Many Trump voters have voted against their economic interests, because many of them don't care about black liberation or about social justice. The alt right movement is not new. It was embraced by Joseph McCarthy, by Charles Lindbergh, by the John Birch Society, by Alex Jones, and by other extremists who reject the necessity of advancing labor rights, racial justice, and true human liberation.
Yet, we still have hope. In our time, there is the growth of progressive independence who desire justice. There are workers and the poor who desire equitable treatment and social programs to be strengthened. Also, we should be embracing of our creativity and legitimately explore the world. Today is certainly a time where people travel to visit their families and friends. It is certainly a time to reflect and to continue to believe in the Dream. There is no shame in getting advice. Therefore, we should always learn, grow, and incite inspiration in the lives of people. Not to mention that it is important to love music, the arts, dance, and all of that good stuff. Life is not all mechanical and we are here to be creative prodigiously. In our lives, we have the right to express ourselves with joy and happiness. Also, it important to make this point known. It is not too late to change for the better if you're alive. Therefore, we thrive to be better, to do better, and to impact the world in a just way. Therefore, we are against oligarchy. We desire human justice and freedom. I do thank the Most High God for giving me my life, for giving me many blessings, and giving me the opportunity to write information for the masses of the people. I am also thankful for my strength and my love of researching information. Therefore, we will continue to stand on our principles, believe in love and help our neighbors. We will tell the truth in season and out of season as well.
By Timothy
Thanksgiving 2016 Part 4
Denver
Today, it is time to mention information on the great city of Denver. Denver is found in the Mountain West region of America. It has the most population of any city in the state of Colorado. Also, it is found in the South Platte River Valley. That is located in the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Plains, which is just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Denver is the capital of Colorado as well. It has been nicknamed the Mile High City, because its official elevation is about one mile (or 5,280 feet, which is the same as 1,610 meters) above sea level. So, Denver is one of the highest major cities in terms of altitude in America. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich, the longitudinal reference for the Mountain Time Zone, passes directly through Denver Union Station. Its population has grown rapidly in the past 10 years. It has over 682,545 people. It has the 19th most populous population in America and it’s the fastest growing major city in the United States.
Geographically, Aurora is to the east of Denver. Thornton is north of Denver. Colorado Springs is to the south of Denver too. South of Colorado Springs is Pueblo. Grand Junction is to the southwest of Denver as well. Its metropolitan area has over 3 million people. Denver is not just famous for its history of the American West and for its architecture. It has dynamic culture from a diversity of its citizens. In 2016, Denver was named the best place to live in the USA by U.S. News & World Report. Mount Evans can be seen in the skyline. Denver is located in the center of the Front Range Urban Corridor, between the Rocky Mountains to the west and the Plains to the east. Denver's topography consists of plains in the city center with hilly areas to the north, west and south. According to research, the city has a total area of 155 square miles. About 78 different neighborhoods reside in Denver. Denver is a key area of America where it is a location for storage and distribution of goods and services to the Mountain States, the Southwest states, and the Western states. Tons of well-known people are born from Denver like Chauncey Billups, Jerry Robertson, Joseph C. Philips, Hanna R. Hall, Jane Culp, India Irie, and other human beings. Therefore, it is important to anyone to appreciate the strength of Denver and research about the historical significance that Denver has. For a long time, Denver represents progressive thinking, human cultural advancement, and the spirit of determination succinctly.
The Beginning
Denver has a long history. The first people of Denver were Native Americans. As time went onward, the Denver area was part of the Territory of Kansas. It was land that existed from May 30, 1854 to January 29, 1861. It was created by the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which dealt with slavery, popular sovereignty, and whether Kansas would be a free state or not. The Denver area wasn’t settled that much until the late 1850’s. Many prospectors looking for gold moved on. This changed in July 1858. During that time, Green Russell and Sam Bates found a small placer deposit near the mouth of Little Dry Creek (in the present-day suburb of Englewood) that yielded about 20 troy ounces (620 g) of gold, the first significant gold discovery in the Rocky Mountain region. News spread rapidly and by autumn, hundreds of men were working along the South Platte River. By spring 1859, tens of thousands of gold seekers arrived. Henceforth, the Pike's Peak Gold Rush was under way. In the following two years, about 100,000 gold seekers flocked to the region. By the summer of 1858, there was a group of people from Lawrence, Kansas. They arrived. They also formed Montana City on the banks of the South Platte River (or modern day Grant-Frontier Park). This was the first settlement of European Americans that would become the Denver Metropolitan Ara. The site ended very quickly. The reason was that there were poor findings by miners. Most of the settlers and some structures moved north to the confluence of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek. At that location, a new settlement called St. Charles was established. That location was accessible to exiting trails and had previously been the site of the seasonable encampments of the Cheyenne and Arapaho (who are Native Americans). Five weeks after the founding of St. Charles in October of 1858, the town of Auraria was founded by William Greeneberry Russell and a party of fellow settlers from Georgia on the south side of Cherry Creek. The town was named for the gold mining settlement of Auraria, Georgia. It was formed in response to the high cost of land in St. Charles and gave away lots to anyone willing to build and live there. A post office was opened in Auraria in January 1859 serving the 50 cabins that had already been constructed. A short time later a third town, called Highland was founded on the west side of the South Platte River.
Surrounded by steep bluffs and separated from the other two settlements by the river, it was slow to develop. In November 1858, General William Larimer placed logs to stake a square mile claim on the site of the St. Charles claim. He was a land speculator from eastern Kansas. The claim was across the creek from the existing mining settlement of Auraria. The majority of the settlers in St. Charles returned to Kansas for the winter and left only a small number of people behind to guard their claim. Larimer and his followers gave the representatives whiskey, promises, and threats and the St. Charles claim was surrendered. The name of the site was changed to Denver City. This was named after the Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver. Some wanted the city would be the county seat of then Arapaho County, Kansas. Ironically, when Larimer named the city after Denver to curry favor with him, James Denver had already resigned as governor and no longer had say in naming the capitol. Denver was a mining settlement in the beginning. Gold prospectors panned gold from the sands of nearby Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. Larimer, along with associates in the Denver City Land Company, laid out the roads parallel to the creek and sold parcels in the town to merchants and miners. They had the intention of creating a major city that would cater to new immigrants. During the early years of Denver, land parcels were traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria. More gold deposits were found in the mountains west of Denver in early 1859 as gold was lacking in the Denver area. This might cause Denver City to be a ghost town. The gold rush started and Denver was used as a hub for the new mines. Early expeditions into the area, such as the Pike and Long expeditions, had returned east referring to the plains as the "Great American Desert" which deterred immigration. Despite this, frontier posts and forts existed and traded with the natives and frontiersmen. However the closest major trading routes, the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, didn't come with in a hundred miles of the Denver area. Until a permanent trading route was established the locals had to make due with what little extra new immigrants brought with them. New immigrants migrated into Denver. Auraria began to take an early lead with the first saloon, smithery, and carpentry shop. But in May 1859, Denver City donated 53 lots to the Leavenworth and Pike’s Peak Express in order to secure the region’s first overland wagon route. Offering daily service for “passengers, mail, freight, and gold,” the Express reached Denver on a trail that trimmed westward travel time to as few as six days. With supplies being delivered to the Denver side of Cherry Creek, businesses began to move there as well. By June, Auraria had 250 buildings compared to Denver's 150 buildings, and both cities were growing quickly. With this growth, there came a need for a wider government.
The new area of Colorado
Back then, Arapahoe County included Denver, Auraria, and the land west of the Continental Divide. This area was in the western portion of the Kansas Territory. Arapahoe County was created in 1855. It was occupied mostly by the Cheyenne and Arapaho Native Americans. At first, only a few white settlers lived there. The county wasn’t organized in the beginning. There was no county government and the Kansas Territory was preoccupied with the violent events of Bleeding Kansas. Bleeding Kansas was about pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces fighting each other literally for the right to control Kansas Territory. The United States Congress didn’t give much attention to Arapahoe County. Congress dealt with threats of secession to move beyond the borders of the Kansas Territory. The mine fields began to move beyond the borders of Kansas Territory. These mines were closer to Denver. Some people started to form a new territory or state. On October 24, 1859, an election was held to form a provisional government for the goldfields and the formation of the Jefferson was approved. The elected Governor of the Territory of Jefferson, Robert Williamson Steele, opened the first session of the Jefferson Territorial Legislature in Denver City on November 7, 1859. The Congress, embroiled in the debate over slavery, failed to consider the new territory. The election of Abraham Lincoln for the President of the United States eliminated any chance for federal endorsement of the Territory of Jefferson and any role in government for Governor Steele, a staunch pro-Union Democrat and vocal opponent of Lincoln and the Republican Party.
The Republicans wanted a free state quickly. So, the Republican led Congress hurriedly admitted the portion of the Territory of Kansas east of the 25th meridian west from Washington to the Union as the free state of Kansas on January 29, 1861. Kansas statehood left the western portion of the now defunct Kansas Territory, which the Jefferson Territory also claimed, officially unorganized. On February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan signed an Act of Congress which organized the free Territory of Colorado. President Abraham Lincoln appointed William Gilpin of Missouri the first Governor of the Territory of Colorado and he arrived in Denver City on May 29, 1861. On June 6, 1861, Governor Steel issued a proclamation declaring the Territory of Jefferson disbanded and urging all employees and residents to abide by the laws governing America.
The Colorado General Assembly first met on September 9, 1861 and created 17 counties for the territory on November 1, 1861, including a new Arapahoe County with Denver City as its seat. The legislature approved the reincorporation of the cities of Denver, Auraria, and Highland as Denver City on November 7, 1861 in order to better administer the quickly growing cities. Denver City was part of the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until it became its own county in 1902. In 1867, Denver City became the permanent state capital.
The 1860's
Before 1861, Denver was part of Arapahoe County, Kansas. Yet, the county wasn’t organized greatly. The reason was that there was a lack of government services. This resulted in vendettas and vigilantism. There was also the growth of entrepreneurialism too. William Hepworth Dixon, an English traveler, once noted of Denver, "a man's life is of no more worth than a dog's" but that in its people he saw "perseverance, generosity, [and] enterprise." After Colorado became a territory courts were set up, judges were appointed, and laws were created but mob justice was still common. In the same year of 1861, Colorado became a territory. The American Civil War broke out. Colorado was involved in the Civil War too. Most Denverites were from the North and their support for the Union drove many Southerners from town, including Denver's first mayor John C. Moore. William Gilpin, Colorado's first territorial governor, organized Colorado's volunteer militia, and sent them south in February 1862 to fight Confederate Texans at the Battle of Glorieta Pass. With resources tied up in the war there was little left over for mines, farms, and infrastructure and Denver stagnated. Denver was growing rapidly.
It was a frontier town in the beginning. Churches, lacking permanent facilities readily held their services in public halls or saloons. Children attended pay schools led by teachers of questionable ability. Gold mining declined as miners exhausted the shallow parts of the veins that contained free gold, and found that their amalgamation could not recover gold from the deeper sulfide ores. Many people left Colorado, and often those that stayed lacked continuous work during the economic slump, spending their time drinking and getting into fights. Denver’s early wooden buildings were extremely flammable and on July 15, 1862 citizens organized a volunteer Fire Department. Unfortunately, almost a year later, carts and buckets were still on order, and firemen were untrained and untried. On April 19, 1863, a fire broke out in the center of downtown Denver. High winds fed the sparks and, in a few hours, a great majority of the wooden buildings in the heart of Denver had been destroyed. Losses totaled over $250,000, and although the buildings themselves were of minimal value, the loss of inventory devastated many new businesses. As a result of the fire, new laws were passed to prohibit using wood and other flammable materials to construct downtown buildings. Denver's new buildings were built with brick, often larger than the original. As the rebuilding progressed, Denver began to look like a town rather than a temporary campground.
On May 19, 1864, which was a year after the fire, the spring melt combined with heavy rains caused severe flooding on Cherry Creek. The flooding damaged many low lying areas in Auraria. It destroyed the Rocky Mountain News building, the Methodist Church building, City Hall, other offices, warehouses, and outbuildings. Eight Denver residents had been killed, and enormous number of livestock had been drowned. Financial losses totaled approximately $350,000 and left many homeless. The water was badly contaminated and threatened a major epidemic. Despite these overwhelming losses, rebuilding began almost immediately. Ignoring the risk, many rebuilt well within the flood plain, and flood waters continued to engulf Denver in 1875, 1878, 1912, and 1933. It was not until the 1950s, when the Army Corps of Engineers completed Cherry Creek Dam, that the flooding was stopped. During the summer of 1865, Denver saw attacks on supply trains and market manipulations drive up prices. In 1865, grasshoppers swarmed through the area. It stripped away all of the vegetation. Real estate values fell so low that entire blocks changed hands during poker games. The town's population shrank from 4,749 in 1860, to only about 3,500 in 1866. Many of the original gold miners and town founders were among those who left.
By the mid-1860s the Civil War was over and Denver had survived many tragedies. The city began to grow again and ended the decade with a population of 4,759. With the freeing up of capital that the end of war brought, new investment was once again possible. Denverites began to look toward the next step for growing their city, ensuring the route of the transcontinental railroad traveled through Denver.
The Transcontinental Railroad
The Transcontinental railroad being created in North America was one of the most important events of American history. By the 1860’s, investment once again came into the Denver area. Yet, transportation became a greater concern. It was expensive back then to transport goods to and from Denver. So, people wanted railroads to come into Denver as a means to make transporting goods less expensive. In 1862, the United States Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act. This caused Coloradans to be excited at the prospect of the railroad crossing the Rockies Mountains through Colorado despite the dismal surveys by John C. Fremont and John William Gunnison. The Union Pacific Railroad choose to go north through Cheyenne, Wyoming. Back then, people thought it would cause Cheyenne to blossom into the major population center of the region. Thomas Durant was the vice president of the Union. He was wrong to assume that Denver was “too dead to bury.” Colorado Territorial Governor John Evens said that “Colorado without railroads is comparatively worthless.” Later, Evans came together with other local business leaders and they partnered with East Coast investors. They formed a railroad company that would link Denver and the Colorado Territory with the national rail network. The company was incorporated on November 19, 1867 as the “Denver Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company.” There was a sense of urgency, because there was a rival company called the Colorado, Clear Creek and Pacific Railway (later the Colorado Central Railroad), by W.A.H. Loveland and citizens of nearby Golden.
This rival company wanted to link the city of Golden directly with Cheyenne in trying to make Golden the natural hub of the territory. That is why within several days; the company sold $300,000 in stock, but was unable to raise further funds to begin construction. The efforts seemed to be on the brink of failure when Evans was able to persuade Congress to grant the company 900,000 acres (3,600 km2) of land on the condition that the company build a line connecting the Union Pacific line in Wyoming with the existing Kansas Pacific line, which then extended only as far west as central Kansas. Evans’ company wanted to beat the Golden investors. The company that Evans supported broke ground on its Cheyenne line on May 18, 1868. It was finished in 2 years. The first train from Cheyenne arrived in Denver on June 24, 1870.
Two months later, in August 1870, the Kansas Pacific completed its line to Denver and the first train arrived from Kansas. With the completion of the Kansas Pacific line to Denver, the Denver Pacific became integral to the first transcontinental rail link between the east and west coasts of America. While the Union Pacific line had been declared finished in 1869 with the Golden spike event in Utah, linking it with the Central Pacific Railroad, passengers were required to disembark the train and cross the Missouri River at Omaha by boat. With the completion of the Denver Pacific line, it was finally possible to embark a train on the east coast and disembark on the west coast. The Denver Pacific’s rival (or the Colorado Central line from Golden) was not finished until 1877. By 1877, Denver established supremacy over its rival. Denver became the population center and capital city of the newly admitted State of Colorado. The railroad in Denver brought residents, tourists, and much needed supplies. In the 1870's, it is estimated that the railroad brought 100 new residents to Denver each day. Population statistics bear this out, for Denver's population soared from 4,759 in 1870 to over 35,000 by 1880. In addition to bringing new residents, it put Denver on the map as a tourist destination and brought 1,067 visitors in its first month of operation. That first month also brought 13,000,000 pounds (5,900,000 kg) of freight. Denver now had the people and supplies it needed to flourish and solidify its dominance in the region.
The Silver boom
There was the silver boom in Denver too during the 19th century. Silver was discovered near Montezuma, Georgetown, Central City, and Idaho Springs in the mid 1860’s. Yet, mining was delayed for the most part. This changed when smelters were built during the late 1860’s. Despite the early silver discoveries, Colorado’s largest silver district (or Leadville) was not discovered until 1874. Silver mining soon boomed in Colorado. Wealth came to the residents of Denver. Denver’s economy had a strong base based upon railroads, wholesale trade, manufacturing, food processing, and servicing the growing agricultural plus ranching hinterland. Between 1870 and 1890, manufacturing output soared from $600,000 to $40 million. Denver's population grew by a factor of 20 times to 107,000. In 1890, Denver grown to be the 26th largest city in America and the fifth largest city west of the Mississippi River. The rapid growth of these years attracted millionaires and their mansions. Poverty and crime existed in Denver too. So, Denver existed from a gold mining town into a supplier of goods and services. Many miners, other workers, and travelers lived there. There were saloons and gambling places. In 1859, the Apollo Hall theater opened followed over the years by such notables as the Denver Theatre, home to the city's first opera performance in 1864, and the Broadway Theatre which brought in internationally renowned performers. There was the luxurious location of the Tabor Grand Opera House, which was built in 1881. Horace Tabor built the opera house. He made money from mining silver. The Tabor Grand Opera House in Denver was said to be opulent and a great building. It had much equipment. It filled a whole block and it changed Denver’s architecture. Denver became a world class city. Other grand buildings were constructed like Union Station in 1881, the 10-story Brown Palace Hotel in 1892, and the Colorado State Capitol Building in 1894. There were elaborate, large homes for millionaires like the Croke, Patterson, Campbell Mansion at 11th and Pennsylvania and the now-demolished Moffat Mansion at 8th and Grant. There was progress and corruption during the 1880’s and the 1890’s. Soapy Smith and Lou Blonger were underwood bosses.
They worked together city officials and the police to profit from gambling and other criminal enterprises. Gambling grew. Many miners gambled too. There were madams and prostitution. A justice system in Colorado came by the late 1800’s. Denver had a chief of police in 1874. The law was enforced by the Vigilance Committee. Some took their law in their own hands.
Elizabeth Wallace writes of these vigilantes, "A judge presided and the offender was tried by a group of his peers. Once given, the decision was final. Between 1859 and 1860 fourteen men were accused of murder and were brought before a jury of twelve men and at least one judge presiding. Six of the fourteen men were sentenced to death."
Many people fought to end crime and corruption. The women’s suffrage movement existed in Denver to fight for women’s suffrage. Some wanted prohibition and others wanted to purify society. There was the social gospel movement that wanted to end suffering and poverty. Protestants, Reform Jewish people, and Catholics in Denver built the social welfare system in the early 20th century. They gave help to the sick and hungry. Thomas Uzzel, leader the Methodist People's Tabernacle, established a free dispensary, an employment bureau, a summer camp, night schools, and English language classes. The Baptist minister Jim Goodheart, city chaplain and director of public welfare in 1918, set up an employment bureau and provided food and lodging for the homeless at the mission he ran. The United Way of America has roots in Denver, where in 1887 church leaders began the Charity Organization Society, which coordinated services and fund raising for 22 agencies. Denver’s climate helped people with respiratory diseases. Hospitals grew. Jewish people created great hospitals that helped people like the National Jewish Hospital for Consumptives (now National Jewish Health) and the Jewish Consumptives' Relief Society. Denver grew and African Americans, German Americans, Italian Americans, Chinese Americans, and a diversity of people lived there. Later, the rightwing backlash of the Klan and the Red Scare would exist in the early 20th century. Yet, the authentic, progressive people of Denver would continue to fight for justice.
Home Rule
In 1893, there was the Panic of 1893 and later came home rule in Denver. The 1893 financial panic occurred nationwide. The silver boom collapsed. Denver, by that time suffered economically, because of droughts and harsh winters. That weather harmed the agricultural industry. The agricultural distress along with the withdrawal of foreign investors (plus the over expansion of the silver mining industries) caused stock prices to decline. Banks closed and businesses failed. Numerous farms ceased to operate. With no federal insurance to support the money in the banks, many people lost their life savings. Denver banks closed and real estate values dropped. Smelters stopped working and the Denver Tramway had trouble getting people to ride and pay their taxes. The Union Pacific Railroad, which had absorbed both the Denver Pacific and Kansas Pacific in the 1880’s, declared bankruptcy. National unemployment was between 12-18% back in 1894. Wages declined. Strikes took place. One strike that took place in Colorado was the Cripple Creek miners' strike which lasted five months.
As the silver mines began to close due to the continued drop in silver prices, unemployed miners and other workers from the Colorado Mountains flooded into Denver in hopes of finding work. Because of the city's inability to take care of the jobless, some train companies began offering reduced or free fares for people wanting to travel from Denver. This effort contributed to the exodus from the city. Denver's population dropped from 106,000 in 1890 to 90,000 in 1895. A new municipal charter was given to Denver in 1893 by the state legislature. This decentralized much of the mayor’s powers into 6 different administrative departments. 2 of which were elected. 2 were appointed by the mayor and the remaining two were appointed by the governor. King writes "The plan gave the maximum of opportunity for [political] party groups and corporate control." The municipal board members appointed by the governor had complete financial control over the police, fire, and excise departments. Over half the expenditures of the city went through this board which gave the governor and his party much direct control over Denver.
Governor Davis Hanson Waite was elected in 1893. He was elected on a Populist Party reform platform. It tried to overturn the corruption in Denver in 1894 by removing police and fire commissioners that he believed were shielding the gamblers and prostitutes that he believed were resulting from and also worsening the depression. The officials refused to leave their positions and were quickly joined by others who felt their jobs were threatened. They barricaded themselves in City Hall, and the state militia was sent to remove them. Federal troops were called in from nearby Fort Logan to intervene and quell the civil strife. Eventually Governor Waite agreed to withdraw the militia and allow the Colorado Supreme Court to decide the case. The court ruled that the governor had authority to replace the commissioners, but he was reprimanded for bringing in the militia, in what became known as the "City Hall War.” The governor was elected by the whole state. He had so much power over the workings of Denver. That was not lost on the citizens in Denver. The economy flattered and the new six departments were divided. Later, the first nonpartisan mayor was elected in Denver back in 1895. His name was T.S. McMurray. He was reelected in 1897 and defeated in 1899. There was the home rule movement after people didn’t like the major political parties. In 1902, an amendment to the state constitution was passed that allowed cities to adopt home rule and Denver became a consolidated city–county. In 1897, the U.S. economy started to recover. Jobs slowly came back into Denver. Real estate prices remained depressed through 1900. Agriculture grew. Irrigation infrastructure and crop diversification increased. The processing and production of food in the state helped to not make the depression much worse. Denver gained back the population it had lost during the depression, mainly through the annexation of neighboring towns, and ended the century with a population of more than 133,000.
The Progressive Era
The Progressive Era existed in Denver during the early 20th century. There was the Efficiency Movement that occurred in 1902 when the city and Denver County were made in coexistence. Robert W. Speer was elected Denver mayor in 1904. He started many projects that added new landmarks, updated existing facilities, and improved the city’s landscape including the City Auditorium, the Civic Center, and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. City leaders came into Washington, D.C. They assured the politicians there that Denver was no longer a frontier town, so they secured the first major party convention in a western state, which was the 1908 Democratic National Convention. Denver back then also pioneered the juvenile court movement under Judge Ben Lindsey. He gained national fame for his efforts. With his efforts, an act was passed to create a juvenile court in Denver. This was a new development in America as it relates to children and the court system. Emily Griffith in 1914 opened the Opportunity School. She was a Denver school teacher. The Opportunity School had language and vocational instruction. It also had both day classes and night classes, so nontraditional learners should have the opportunity for self-improvement. During this time, Denver’s park system was expanded. Land in the mountains was acquired for a future mountain park system. Cattle pens began to develop around the existing railroad depots as farmers began shipping their livestock to the existing meat packing industry in Kansas City and Chicago. Local ranchers wanted to concentrate on raising cattle rather than the logistics of shipping them east and in 1906 the first National Western Stock Show was held which quickly became the preeminent livestock show in the region. These events helped raise the national profile of Denver and live up to its nickname, the "Queen City of the Plains."
Labor unions were also active in Denver. There were construction and printing crafts affiliated with the AFL or the American Federation of Labor. There were railroad brotherhoods there as well. After being welcomed at the 1908 Democratic National Convention, the AFL unions, who formed the Denver Trades and Labor Assembly, generally supported Democratic candidates. In early 1913, members of the Industrial Workers of the World (or the Wobblies) conducted a free speech fight in Denver. The deal was that city authorities refused to allow IWW organizers to speak to people on street corners. Union members challenged this policy. They aimed to even fill the jails to put pressure on city leaders. This Wobbly tactics, which they had employed successfully for half a decade throughout the North and West, clogged the courts so they couldn't handle anything but free speech cases. Taxpayers complained that they were being forced to feed "whole armies of jailed Wobblies."
In her autobiography, Emma Goldman wrote of twenty-seven IWW members, arrested during the Denver free speech fight, who were "tortured in the sweat-box for refusing to work on the rock-pile. On their release they marched through the streets with banners and songs..."
The union eventually won the right to speak to workers, and within a year had formed two Denver "branches." On the brink of World War I, Denver mirrored the rest of the nation in wanting to stay neutral. But once America entered the war in 1917, Denver contributed what it could to the war effort. Clothing and supplies were donated, children enrolled in agricultural and garden clubs to free up young men for the war, and mining and agricultural interests were expanded to support the troops and the nation. As prices for goods rose with the demand from the war effort farmers began planting crops in greater numbers and mining companies opened new mines for molybdenum, vanadium, and tungsten. During WWI, anti-German sentiment was very high in Denver, because the United States was fighting Germans in Europe.
Before the war Germans had been a very prosperous immigrant group, who often congregated in their own ethnic clubs. They had enough political clout to have a law passed in 1877 that required German and gymnastics be taught in public schools, and until 1889 all of Colorado's laws were printed in English, Spanish, and German. The Germans built churches and owned interests in mining and agriculture, but many in the temperance movement primarily associated them with the production and consumption of alcohol. Believing all evil began with the drink, prohibitionists cracked down on what they considered "un-American" activity. In 1916, alcohol was banned in the state. Many saloon owners and brewers lost their jobs and with the outbreak of World War I, many others were fired and ostracized. German stopped being taught in schools and many Germans abandoned their heritage to avoid conflicts.
Many individuals within the prohibition movement associated the crime and morally corrupt behavior of the cities of America with their large immigrant populations. That xenophobic, racist rhetoric is similar to the views of Donald Trump. In a backlash to the new emerging realities of the American demographics, many prohibitionists subscribed to the doctrine of “nativism” in which they endorsed the notion that America was made great as a result of its white Anglo-Saxon ancestry. In other words, these bigots wanted to promote the myth of white racial supremacy. The original people of America weren't Anglo-Saxons, but Native Americans. Not to mention that many of the Anglo-Saxons intermarried with the Picts, the Celts, etc. in the UK. This hate rhetoric from the nativists fostered xenophobic sentiments towards urban immigrant communities who typically argued in favor of abolishing prohibition. These sentiments led many in Denver to join the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) both because it opposed foreign immigration and because it defended prohibition. The Klan is an evil, racist terrorist organization that has murdered and raped black people. Roman Catholic immigrants, particularly of Irish or Italian descent, were often the target of KKK discrimination. These communities gradually became "Americanized," and the KKK quickly lost influence especially during KKK member Clarence Morley's term as governor from 1925-1927. As Prohibition lingered on many citizens saw the negative effects: toxic bootleg liquor, corruption, bribery, and binge drinking. Colorado voters suspended the state’s Prohibition laws on July 1, 1933. While white racism and discrimination against a new wave of Mexican and African-American immigrants persisted, the KKK decreased its overt visibility in Colorado politics.
The Early 20th century
After World War I, the economy in Denver grew for a time. Yet, there was less demand for goods. This caused prices to drop and 1918 saw a short recession. There was more severe one from 1920 to 1921. The mining industry in Denver suffered badly by decreasing prices and more foreign competition during the post-war recession years. Coal mining in Colorado was definitely negatively impacted, because alternative sources of fuel was widely used and labor strikes hurt production. In 1928, Denver was just on the receiving end of a major natural gas pipeline from Texas and more households and businesses switched to gas, so the demand for coal fell. From 1905 to 1929, there was the longest recorded wet period in Colorado history. This favorable weather combined with war-time demand saw farmers over plant during WWI and significant price drops after the war ended caused many farmers significant losses. Costs began to exceed profits and many farmers were forced to sell their land which was then rented to others or simply left abandoned. Dryland farming was common on the prairies though many farmers removed the native grasses that helped control erosion. In 1929, the national economy crashed leading to the Great Depression.
In 1930, the weather turned dry beginning the most widespread and longest lasting drought in Colorado history, a period of time that would later be referred to as the "Dust Bowl." Dry weather, soil erosion, and a depressed economy led to a huge social upheaval felt across the entire nation. The Dust Bowl decimated agriculture. The Great Depression made many industries and mines to close. Workers were laid off. Many of the unemployed came to Denver to try to work and get a better life. In 1933, it was estimated that 25 percent of Demverites were out of work. The Hoover administration promised that the recession would end quickly. The economy continued to worsen though. Franklin D. Roosevelt won the 1932 Presidential election with his promise of a “New Deal.” The New Deal bought funds and jobs to Colorado and Denver. The Historic American Buildings Survey hired architects and photographers to document historic buildings. They inspired the nascent historic preservation movement. The Civilian Conservation Corps built trails and campgrounds in Denver’s Mountain Parks. The Works Progress Administration build roads, fixed schools, and funded artists to decorate government buildings. The new roads and trials encouraged tourism. The improved rail and air travel made Denver a hub for transportation. The new Moffat Tunnel came about in the mid 1920’s. It was cut through the Rocky Mountains. It opened in 1928. It shorted need the distance between Denver and the Pacific coast by 176 miles.
During the 1930’s, the rail system was transformed. In 1935, the Burlington Railroad introduced the Zephyr with a record breaking 13 hours and 5 minutes trip from Denver to Chicago. It was a revolutionary new diesel-powered train, streamlined and luxurious. That changed the public's expectations of rail travel. Having a direct link to the west coast, it helped Denver compete against Cheyenne and Pueblo for rail business and it quickly became a major hub for railways. Air travel grew in the same time period. When Mayor Benjamin F. Stapleton opened Denver Municipal Airport in 1929, it was derided as a taxpayer subsidy for the powerful elite who flew for sport. Built northeast of Denver, The Denver Post complained that it was too far from the city center and the location had been chosen to benefit the mayor's financial backers. But with four gravel runways, one hangar, and a terminal it was greeted by others as "the West's best airport." At the time unpressurized planes were the norm, and transcontinental flights went through Cheyenne or south through Texas as the mountains were smaller there. Denver Municipal Airport was used mainly for mail service and private pilots. As pressurized planes came into general use, the mountains were no longer an issue and the advanced airport attracted major airlines positioning Denver as a major hub for air travel in the region. The economy recovered by the end of the 1930’s as World War II started in Europe. Demand for goods increased. America was preparing to fight in that war. Denver benefited from the military buildup. Denver had been selected for a new training airbase, Lowry Air Force Base which opened in 1938, and in 1941 the Denver Ordnance Plant opened. These facilities brought many jobs with them which in turn attracted more people to the city. Denver had started the decade with just under 288,000 people and by 1940 had over 322,000.
WWII in Denver
Before World War II, Denver’s economy was mainly about processing and shipping of minerals and ranch products (like beef and lamb). Most Denverites were isolationists. Yet, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Denver joined the war efforts. Denver’s leaders continued to use policies to bring businesses to the city during the war and afterwards. Specialized industries were introduced to the city. Denver soon became a large manufacturing center. Denver was away from either coast. This made an attack from the Axis Powers unlikely. During World War II, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, Buckley Air Force Base, and the Denver Ordnance Plant all opened during the war. In 1941 over 6,500 federal employees lived and worked in Denver. With so many federal employees already in Denver, it was easier to convince the government to add more and by 1946, the number increased to over 16,000. After the war, many of the facilities continued to be used and some were converted to different uses. One example is that the Denver Ordnance Plant was converted into the Denver Federal Center. More federal agencies began to come to the area which already had a large federal footprint and a well trained work force. The Commission, National, National, and Technology all opened offices in the Denver area. From 1953 to 1989, the Rocky Flats Plant, a Department of Energy nuclear weapon facility formerly located about 15 miles (24 km) from Denver, produced fissile plutonium "pits" for nuclear warheads. A major fire at the facility in 1957, as well as leakage from nuclear waste stored at the site between 1958 and 1968, resulted in the contamination of some parts of Denver, to varying degrees, with plutonium-239, a harmful radioactive substance with a half-life of 24,200 years. The bad news is that studies documented that the contamination to an increase in birth defects and cancer incidence in central Denver and nearer Rocky Flats. With the large military and federal presence in the area the aerospace industry followed. Large corporations such as IBM, Packard, Honeywell, Ball Aerospace, and Lockheed-Martin came to Denver. These businesses brought jobs and money with them and began to influence the city displacing the wealthy entrepreneurs and pioneer families that had previously dominated political life.
In 1947, J. Quigg Newton was elected mayor and began the process of modernizing the government, expanding public housing, setting up one the nation's first civil rights commissions. At the time restrictive racial covenants were common in every major city in the country. Long before the Civil Rights Acts were enacted, the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission passed one of the earliest fair housing laws in the nation permitting Mexican-Americans, African-Americans, Japanese-Americans, and Jewish people to move into neighborhoods previously denied to them. These new laws upset many and contributed to the flight of middle-class families to the suburbs. Despite these laws, discrimination was still very prevalent. Yet, the work of the Newton’s Human Rights and Community Relations spared Denver some of the racial unrest that occurred in other cities in the post-war years. Over four million soldiers had come through Denver during the war for training or recuperation and after the war ended many choose to make Denver their home. As Denver's population expanded rapidly, many old buildings were torn down to make way for new housing projects. The Denver Urban Renewal Authority demolished block after block to make room for apartments and parking lots. Many of Denver's finest buildings from the frontier era were demolished, including the Tabor Opera House, as the city expanded upward and outward. By 1950, middle-class families were moving away from the downtown area seeking larger houses and better schools; the suburbs multiplied as more people moved out of the city. In the 1960's, Victorian homes were considered old-fashioned and unpopular and were targeted for demolition.
The destruction of so many of these homes spurred Denverites to form the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission and Historic Denver, Inc. which raised awareness of the value of these historic buildings and established the local historical preservation movement. During this time, Denver was a gathering point for poets of the "beat generation." Beat icon Neal Cassady was raised on Larimer Street in Denver, and a portion of Jack Kerouac's beat masterpiece "On the Road" takes place in the city, and is based on the beat's actual experiences in Denver during a road trip. Beat poet Allen Ginsberg lived for a time in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, and he helped found the Buddhist college, Naropa University or the "Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa" in nearby Boulder. Denver was also a gathering place for a new Chicano Movement. In March 1969, a convention hosted by Rodolfo Gonzales's Crusade for Justice was held in Denver and the Plan was adopted as a manifesto for the movement. The Crusade for Justice was instrumental in bringing attention to the plight of Mexican-Americans living in Denver and laid the ground work for Hispanics to be in city government.
Denver and the Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement of Denver has a long history. Back decades ago, African Americans in Denver faced harsh discrimination and violence in their struggle for equality and justice. There are countless stories of people among many backgrounds who fought for equality and justice. Denver is in the West, so there were many African American farmers, ranchers, and cowboys in the Denver area during the 19th century. The racist Anti-Chinese riot of 1880 was when racists assaulted Chinese people in Denver, especially in Chinatown. Many citizens tried to protect Asian Americans during that riot. Dr. Joseph Henry Peter Wesbrook was another early Denver figure involved in early civil rights history. He was born in 1878 in Mississippi. He graduated from Fisk College and Meharry Medical College in Nashville. He came into Denver in 1907 to start his medical practice. He was a doctor and pharmacy owner in Denver for 35 years. He was part of the NAACP too. Human beings like Grace Jordan were members of Denver’s early civil rights movement. Grace Jordan experienced racism and other forms of oppression. A little after World War II, Grace Jordan and other activists fought against segregation in Denver. Decades ago, black people experienced discrimination, racism, economic deprivation, and violence. Thelma Gash worked hard and became a teacher and principal for several schools in Denver. Even during the 1920's, Denver Mayor Ben Staplton openly pledged his support to the Klan.
Grace Jordan fought to open doors of diner to people of any race. In 1961, Denver had its CORE branch as the civil rights movement grew. Segregation in Denver existed in stores, schools, and other places back during the early 1960’s. CORE pressured department stores to integrate schools, housing, and other places. Purnell Steen spoke about the sit-in movement in Denver, Colorado during the 1960's and the successes of that movement in desegregating local businesses. He recalled, “There was a department store … they had maids and janitors … but they did not have any people of color. We met with the manager of the store who assured us…as long as he was the manager … there would never be a person of color.” June 25, 1963 was when white and black marchers joined hands to approach the Denver City and County building to have a demonstration to protest discriminatory practices. On September 21, 1963, civil rights organizations representatives at parade ordinance meeting. The people in that meeting included Richard Young, James Reynolds, Edward Shoman, Alan Swallow, William Pinkett, and Sheldon Steinhauser.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came into Denver in 1965. On March 13, 1965, thousands of Coloradans were in the Denver Capitol to express solidarity with the Selma voting rights movement. In 1965, Rachel B. Noel was the first African American elected to the Denver Public School board and the first African American woman ever to serve elected office in Colorado. She promoted civil rights then and now. She was born in Hampton, Virginia. On April 25, 1968, she presented the DPS board with the Noel Resolution, which asked the superintendent to develop a plan to integrate Denver's public schools. Under a cloud of threats to Noel and her family, the resolution passed in 1970. The decision of 1973 Keyes v. Denver School District made Denver the first city outside of the American South to get instructions by the Supreme Court to address segregation with school busing. Noel was a teacher and African American studies in 1969. She served as chair of the African American Studies Department from 1971 to 1980. Noel served on the Advisory Board of the United States Civil Rights Commission.
Rachel B. Noel passed away in 2008 in Oakland at the age of 90. On November 17, 1965, The Civic Center assembly, from behind the platform, had a choir in the foreground and torch bearers beyond at the Wednesday night ceremony. The Denver Religious Council on Human Relations gave homage to the martyrs in the civil rights cause during the hour-long meeting in which some 350 persons, including clergy, participated on a chilly night in downtown Denver. George Morrison was a black man who fought to end segregation in Denver public school. He was the first African American principal at a Denver Public School. “I stood on many shoulders and they’re standing now on our shoulders and we’re hoping that future generations will stand on their shoulders to keep this whole process of desegregation going,” Morrison says. Decades ago, Hispanic Americans also fought for their human rights too. Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales in Denver defined the meaning of Chicano through his epic poem entitled, I am Joaquin. He convened the first-ever Chicano youth conference in March 1969, which was attended by many future Chicano activists and artists. The conference also promulgated the Plan Espiritual de Aztlán, a manifesto demanding self-determination for Chicanos. As an early figure of the movement for the equal rights of Mexican Americans, he is often considered one of the founders of the Chicano Movement. His early political involvement in the Democratic party centered around campaigning for mayor of Denver Quigg Newton in 1947 when he registered Latino voters for the Democratic party in 1950. He lead the Colorado “Viva Kennedy” campaign. Corky’s unsuccessful efforts to organize for change within the Democratic party became a crucial turning point for his alternative politics and the foundation of the Crusade for Justice in 1967.
Many black people live in the Five Points area, which is a historic landmark and an African American region of the city. Many jazz musicians performed in the Five Points in Denver. It was called the “Harlem of the West.” Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and other legends all played to packed houses here in the 1940's and 1950's. On January 14, 1975, Black legislators lead walkout Tuesday at inaugural ceremonies for Gov. Dick Lamm. State Rep. Wellington Webb, left, and State Sen. Regis Groff leave ceremony as Dick Lamm was preparing to be sworn in as Colorado's 33rd governor Tuesday at the State Capitol. They led a group protesting Lamm's failure to make any appointment to high office from black applicants.
The Black Power movement also had a great importance in the city of Denver too. Lauren Watson was the founder of the Denver Chapter of the Black Panthers. The Black Panther movement was strong in Denver. On December 12, 1968, Denver Black Panthers leave the post office building after filing a complaint. The people there were Sorl Shead (Denver Black Panther deputy minister of finance), Clarke Watson (he’s the brother of Lauren Watson or a Denver Panther leader), Lauren Watson, and Ronnell Stewart (Panther department minister of information). In February 23, 1972, a group of University of Denver students protested the lack of news coverage of minority affairs on the campus by the school’s newspaper called the Clarion. The students burned copies of the paper on Wednesday. About 3-0 students of the Black Students Alliance took part in protest in front of the student union. Russ Richardson, a DU Law school student and Spokesman for the group, said he and other members of the group wanted to meet with Chancellor Maurice Mitchell to handle the situation.
There was a Miss Black Denver pageant in 1969. On April 17, 1969, Paul Chambers, of the Black Student Alliance at CSU, told a crowd estimated at 500, that President Morgan, right, with arms folded, apparently doesn't understand demands presented to administration. Morgan told audience on grounds at Administration building, more money would be needed to meet stated goals. X-Ray Technician Florine Callaway, Colorado's first black pro bowler.
Today, many civil rights activists are in Denver like Alvertis Simmons. Jackie Wesley is an African American woman who is the founder of Fighting Together to Save Lives. This group is trying to help people with breast cancer. Dr. Bernard Gibson is Colorado’s first board certified African American surgeon. Carlotta Walls LaNier (she was part of the Little Rock Nine) works in Colorado to have many people. Sandra Dillard-Scott, the first African American woman to be hired by a Colorado daily newspaper and 29-year veteran of The Denver Post. There is still a long way to go in Denver with poverty, economic inequality, and other issues. Yet, Denver will get better and heroic people are in Denver fighting for real, progressive change too. We shall overcome someday.
Downtown Growth and the Suburbs
After World War II, oil and gas companies opened offices in Denver. The reason is that they are in close proximity to the mountains and the energy fields contained within. The price of oil rose during the 1970’s energy crisis. So, these same companies fueled a skyscraper boom in the downtown area. A second office core was opened in the suburban Denver Tech Center. That center was made to accommodate the higher demand for office space. Many original downtown saloons and old buildings were renovated and revitalized. Many other cities during that time were threatened with bankruptcy and crime, but Denver was actively growing and renewing its downtown. In 1969, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that ‘optional’ attendance zones constituted segregation and ordered schools to be de-segregated. This triggered the dynamiting of school vehicles and fire-bombing of school buildings. Denver complied with the law by annexing neighboring towns and busing students.
By the mid-1970's many wealthy residents were leaving Denver. In 1974 anti-integrationists used the fears about the impact of interracial relationships as well as the recent tensions between Denver and its neighbors to pass the Poundstone Amendment to the state constitution. Its supporters claimed the amendment would prevent Denver from abusing its size and status, while detractors pointed out that it greatly limited the ability of the city to absorb other school districts and thus end segregation in its schools. With the combined spending of the energy companies and the federal government, Denver expanded quickly. Denver went from having a small urban core surrounded by rural farms to a booming downtown dotted with skyscrapers and surrounded by growing suburbs. The majority of the new people settled in the suburbs; Denver's population was essentially flat at about 490,000 from 1960 to 1980 even as the land area grew by 40 square miles (100 km2). With the expansion came problems. Traffic increased due to poor public transportation and pollution increased due to traffic.
Denver Tramway had been responsible for all public transportation in Denver since the turn of the century, but with aging equipment, low revenues, and lackluster ridership it eventually dissolved. Author Sherah Collins writes, "... in 1970, Denver had more cars per capita than any other place in the country, which is not surprising due to the lack of public transit options." In 1974 the Regional Transportation District took over responsibility for Denver's public transportation. During this period a "brown cloud" began to form over the Front Range, a result of air pollution from the increasing number of cars and people in the area. This cloud of pollution would take more than two decades to get rid of and was a serious concern for people living in the Denver area. Many people had moved to Denver for the beautiful landscapes and climate. The environment had always been an important issue to Coloradans and when Denver was selected to host the 1976 Winter Olympics to coincide with Colorado's centennial anniversary, a movement against hosting the games was formed based largely on concerns around the environmental impact of having so many people come to the area. Colorado voters struck down ballot initiatives allocating public funds to pay for the high costs of the games, and they were subsequently moved to Innsbruck, Austria.
The movement against hosting the games was led by then State Representative Richard Lamm who was subsequently elected as Colorado governor in 1974. With the 1979 energy crisis the price of oil rose to over $30 a barrel, but by the mid-1980's the price had slid to under $10 a barrel. Thousands of oil and gas industry workers lost their jobs and unemployment rates soared. Downtown Denver had been overbuilt over the past two decades and the cost of office space dropped as office vacancy rates grew to the highest in the nation at 30-percent. Housing prices fell, the exodus from the city to the suburbs continued and the city fell into disrepair. By 1990 the population of the city had fallen to 467,610 the lowest level in over 30 years. Yet, Denver would revitalize by the 1990's.
Recession and new Growth
During the 1980’s, Denver experienced a lot of changes. In 1983, Federico Peña became the city's first Latino mayor. One of his central campaign messages was a promise of inclusiveness targeted at minorities. Latino turnout reached 73% in 1983, a contrast to the usually low Latino rates elsewhere. When the economic downturn happened in the mid-1980s, Peña convinced Denverites to reinvest billions in their city even though many critics complained that taking loans in the middle of a recession was a wrong policy. Under the leadership of Peña voters approved a $3 billion airport, the $126 million Colorado Convention Center, and a $242 million bond for infrastructure. Also, the voters approved a $200 million bond for Denver Public Schools, and a 0.1 per cent sales tax to build a new baseball stadium for the Colorado Rockies. Many people worried that Denver was on the wrong track when the city's total bonded indebtedness peaked at over $1 billion. Mayor Peña wanted more investments in Denver. He worked with the surrounding suburbs to market Denver as a vibrant city. He used the special tax district model exemplified by the Regional Transportation District, a Scientific and cultural Facilities District was set up and a 0.1 percent sales tax. This sales tax was approved by voters to fund artistic, cultural, and scientific organizations in the Denver metropolitan area. In 1995, these organizations attracted over 7.1 million visitors. But one of Peña's signature achievements was the laying of the foundation for Denver. In 1957, Denver’s original airport, Stapleton International Airport, was the eighth busiest airport in the nation. By the mid 1980’s, it had become the seventh largest airport in the world and the fourth busiest in the United States. It was at first built 3 miles east of downtown. It was in farmland. As decades came about, the city began to surround it. Stapleton didn’t have room to expand. The Colorado General Assembly brokered a deal to annex land from Adams County to Denver County for the new airport. It increased Denver’s size by 53 square miles in the single largest annexation in the city’s history. It opened 2 years late and shuttered a much hyped automated baggage system. Denver International Airport is widely considered a success has contributed significantly to economy of the region.
In 1991, at a time when the city was 12% Black and 20% Latino, Wellington Webb won a come-from-behind victory as the city's first black mayor. The Hispanic and Black minority communities supported the candidate at 75-85% levels. Webb, who also won 44% of the white vote, reached out to the business community, promoting downtown economic development and major projects such as the new airport, Coors Field, and a new convention center. During his administration, Denver built the Blair-Caldwell African American Research Library in the historic Five Points neighborhood, and helped pass several neighborhood bonds for infrastructure improvements citywide. At the end of the eighties, Denver’s economy started to grow. The unemployment rate in Denver dropped to 5.3 percent. It was in a high of 9.7 percent in 1982. Pollution control measures existed. That helped to eliminate the noxious “brown cloud” had hung over the city. Lower Downtown was at first a warehouse district. It was renovated and became part of a new urban development area. Denver had very cheap office space. So, many local companies started to lock in long term leases. This kept those companies in Denver. Prices went up. As inventories emptied out and prices stabilized from speculation of earlier years, Colorado's climate and well educated labor force began to bring people and business back to the area. The economy grew and the population grew as well. Many Denverites left the city for the greater space offered by the suburbs, but for each citizen lost others came from out of state to settle in their place. Traffic grew and many people from the suburbs moved out to rural areas. This situation of urban sprawl was a cause of concern, and the Club ranked the Denver metro area among its 10 worst offenders. In 1999, Colorado residents ranked growth as the state's number one problem. That same year Denver metro area voters approved two property-tax increases to help fund the Transportation Expansion (T-REX) project, which reconstructed congested highways and laid light-rail tracks between downtown and the Tech Center. Colorado's population had expanded from 3.1 million at the beginning of the 1990s to over 4 million by the end, and Denver closed out the decade with more than 554,000 people.
The 21st Century
Denver in the 21st century has gone through a lot of changes. By the year of 2001, the First Look Film Festival began and the Mizuna restaurant was in business there too. Denver has experienced a lot of growth. There are many transporation projects in Denver too. T-REX was completed in November 2006, which was 22 months ahead of schedule. T-REX transportation system has been very successful in Denver. This has led to public support for the FastTrack’s expansion project in 2004. These projects helped to alleviate some of the worst traffic congestion in the Denver metro area. Projects are growing. Through the late 1990's the majority of Denver's economy was concentrated in a few key sectors: energy, government and the military, technology, and agriculture. In 2005, Denver has legalized marijuana. Over the next decade Denver and Colorado attracted new industries and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) says the state now has 14 core industries including health care, financial services and tourism. This diversification of the economy helped cushion the city and state from the global recession of 2008-2010. The fact that Denver's tax base is made up mostly of sales and income tax meant that it felt the economic downturn faster than others, but this meant it also recovered more quickly, helping Denver weather the recession better than many other U.S. cities reliant mainly on property taxes.
In 2008, Denver hosted the Democratic National Convention where Barack Obama gave his historic speech to accept the nomination of Presidential candidate for the Democratic Party. Barack Obama would later become the first African American President and win 2 terms. In 2012, the Denver Comic con begins. A Comic Con is when comic book fans and science fiction fans unite to celebrate comic books and science fiction culture. There is also celebrations and many people there where costumes. Businessman John Hickenlooper was elected mayor in 2003 and reelected in 2007 with 87% of the vote. After he was elected governor of Colorado in 2011, Michael Hancock was elected Denver's second African American mayor.
The Culture of Denver
The culture of Denver has a long history and a diverse composition. Denver is a Western city. Back during the 19th century, Denver had the Apollo Hall and the Horace Tabor Opera House that gave people enjoyment. Also, today, there are a lot of parks, parkways, and museums which represent the longstanding, beautiful culture of Denver. Denver Pavilions is a popular arts, entertainment, and shopping center on the 16th Street Mall in downtown Denver. The municipal Auditorium was home to the 1908 Democratic National Convention and is now known as the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Denver and the metropolitan areas around it continued to support culture. In 1988, voters in the Denver Metropolitan Area approved the Scientific and Cultural Facilities Tax (commonly known as SCFD), a 1 cent sales tax that contributes money to various cultural and scientific facilities and organizations throughout the Metro area. The tax was renewed by voters in 1994 and 2004 and allows the SCFD to operate until 2018. Denver is known for its locations that promote scientific research. The Denver Museum of Nature and Science currently holds an aquamarine specimen valued at over one million dollars, as well as specimens of the state mineral, rhodochrosite. Every September, the Denver Mart, located at 451 E. 58th Avenue hosts a gem and mineral show.
Denver has a rich African American heritage too. The Black American West Museum shows information about the huge role that black Americans played in the settlement of Colorado as miners, soldiers, homesteaders, school teachers, ranchers, blacksmiths, cowboys, lawmen, and more. It shows the history of the West. It shows the pioneer black town of Dearfield. The five Points is the area in Denver where there was great African American commerce existed during the early 20th century. It was called the Harlem of the West since it had clubs where Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Bille Holiday, and Duke Ellington including other legends performed in the 1940’s and the 1950’s. The Stiles African American Heritage Center celebrates the contributions made by African Americans. It has artifacts, memorabilia, cultural exhibits, and guided tours. Denver has one of the country's largest populations of Hispanic Americans and hosts four large Mexican American celebrations: Cinco de Mayo (with over 500,000 attendees), in May, El Grito de la Independencia, in September, the annual Lowrider show, and the Dia De Los Muertos art shows/events in North Denver's Highland neighborhood, and the Lincoln Park neighborhood in the original section of West Denver. Denver is also famous for its dedication to New Mexican cuisine and the chile. It's best known for its green and red chile sauce, Colorado burrito, Southwest (Denver) omelette, breakfast burrito, chiles rellenos, and tamales. Denver is also well known for other types of food such as Rocky Mountain oysters, rainbow trout, and the Denver sandwich. Asian celebrations are found in Denver too.
By Timothy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)