http://www.advancementproject.org/
http://www.english.illinois.edu/Maps/poets/s_z/stevens/africanamer.htm
Friday, June 30, 2017
Savant's New words in 2017.
I was exposed to the Panthers as a kid while growing up in then 1960s & 70s.. It turns out they were quite correct in inferring that the then nascent technological revolution, electronic revolution within global capitalism, would eventually make work obsolete, and that as black (and other) labor became obsolete, the danger of greater repression, possibly genocide, might increase. The Panthers were looking at the big picture, but were way ahead of their time. The police were always inclined toward destruction or containment of the Black community; but when a revolutionary movement like that of the Panthers emerged, then naturally authorities would see them as a special threat, or in the words of former FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, the Panthers were "the greatest threat to national security." The more highly conscious you are, the more dangerous you are---at least if this consciousness is REAL, and expresses itself in a commitment to fundamental social transformation. As for an effort to destroy biracial women I know of no such effort by police, the government, or the corporate sector. There may be biracial black women who, contrary to yourself, possess of social (and even REVOLUTIONARY) consciousness, and who may be targeted. But they're not targeted because they're biracial or light skinned. They're targeted because of their defiance, their dissidence, their subversive activism. At your present level of consciousness, you needn't worry.
One difference now is, as you observed, the social media. Prior to this century, or at least prior to the 1990s. Negroes with these self-hating anti-Black attitudes couldn't avail themselves of computers and the internet to spew their venom at each other. Probably such attitudes were not as common nor as extreme where they did exist. Black communities were once more cohesive than they are now, less polluted by possessive individualism, acquisitiveness, narcissism and sheer simplemindedness. Our values were more COMMUNAL than they are now. People looked out for children, and not just their own biological children. Under the more overtly repressive old Jim Crow regime with its naked terrorism, Black folks knew they needed each other, and most acted accordingly. Even those Negro males and females who did have negative attitudes of that kind usually kept it to themselves. They didn't spew their venom into newspapers, magazines or radio. Unlike Uncle Tom Soto or SBT, they'd be ashamed to do so, and were half ashamed for even having such attitudes anyway. Fortunately, such venomous Negro gender warriors and haters are not a majority even now. But they feel a lot freer to show their dumb a___ _, and the internet aids in their buffoonery.
The failure to make such distinction is evidence of an underdeveloped. For such discernments are essential to critical thinking. Actually, the records of the time seem to indicate that in communities which had Panther patrols police abuses against the community decreased, but was intensified against the Panthers themselves. In some communities where Panther presence was strong one often saw communities come alive creating clinics, breakfast for the children, neighborhood associations, etc. One often saw substantial drop in violent crime and in the flow of drugs. Claims that it didn't work are bogus. In the eyes of fascistic police Blacks are not "ladies" and "gentlemen "--nor even human. That is why Blacks from all walks of life have found themselves targets of police brutality. Some of the tactics of the Civil Rights Movement need to be reconsidered and revised in light of the needs of a new time and movement.
If you do, then you should be publicly chastised---which I once saw members of the Fruit of Islam do to a wayward brother for wife beating. Rarely, do I agree with anything said or done by NOI. That was an exception. I despise punks who beat women. But that seems to have become acceptable to some younger Negroes. At least in the past it was deemed unacceptable even by most men--because they were MEN.
I don't think Angela Y. Davis is a fool but I suspect that you are--at least if you actually believe the misinformation you post, and especially if you're as academically trained as you say and believe it. Black only look like animals to racists. That is not the doing of Angela Y. Davis. Also, what evidence have you that "most black intellectuals have fled to the South"? There are Black intellectuals throughout the country, but the South is still home to over half the Black population of the USA. Many Black intellectuals were already in the South, especially those who taught in black colleges and universities--most of which were and are in the South. But black intellectuals can be found all over the country, though there is some concentration on the East Coast. As for your being brighter than Angela Davis, or even close to equally bright as Angela Y. Davis, you've thus far shown no evidence of this. And if you have notable accomplishments as a "National Achievement Scholar," no one--not even the most perceptive--would have guessed it from posts that we've seen thus far.
First of all, Angela Davis didn't have Blacks marching with guns. This was the practice of the Black Panther Party and also the Deacons for Defense. And as long as racist Klan and cops patrol and terrorize Blacks with guns then Blacks have a right to self defense, including even the forming of militias if necessary. That's a natural human right--and rightly regarded as INTELLIGENT, not "declasse. " (By the way, your use of the word declasse is incorrect, a malaproprism.) No evidence exists, or you have not offered any, of white supremacist support for the Black Panther Party or even the Nation of Islam. I was around (though very young) when the BPP operated in Baltimore. They organized in Black churches (mostly Protestant) as well as Catholic churches (white and black). They also had their own offices. They held meetings on college campuses and properties of civic organizations. Frankly, your claim about their being funded by white supremacists is a fabrication. As for the Nation of Islam, as best as anyone can tell they were founded by a religious leader whose leadership was eventually followed by that of Elijah Muhammad. No evidence I know of indicates that they were started by the government, but we know they were infiltrated by the FBI---which is a different matter altogether. They did at times have questionable contacts with the American Nazi party.
Anyone who has actually read Dr. King thoroughly knows that he didn't think northerners were particularly trustworthy, or that racism was some peculiarly southern malady. After all, he did say that MOST white Americans lived racism as a way of life. And also that his experiences of racism in Chicago easily equaled or exceeded what he had seen in Alabama and Mississippi. And these observations run throughout his works from 1950s --1968.
Obviously, you are unintelligent as well as new here. Most people know that I am a revolutionary and scholarly African American man--with little tolerance for BS even from other Blacks, Secondly, you committed an Argumentum ad Hominem, a fallacy of relevance. Your statement was FALSE, and I called you on it. Learn some history, fool. And a bit of advice in case you happen to be a male--for you're clearly not yet a black MAN-- of color, from Malcolm X: "The Black man will get respect from NO ONE until he learns to respect his black woman."
Ghettoes were created mainly by segregation imposed on us by WHITES, not by interracial Black feminists. Stop making up history, fool! (
The Confederate flag does have the same meaning it always had: white supremacy, nativist fascism, slavery, racist terrorism, and right wing government tyranny.
Dr. King made disparaging comments about capitalism, some going back to his college years. Dr. King also expressed sympathy for socialism, a democratic socialism.
If you look at his famous speech against the Vietnam War you can see that he denounces American IMPERIALISM which he sees as emanating from capitalism. Moreover, he was attempting to organize an anti-capitalist Poor Peoples Campaign when he was assassinated, a campaign which may have included shutting down the US government.
It was not China which was threatened by Dr. King's increasingly revolutionary movement. It was the United States government and American capitalism that was threatened.
Dr. King acknowledged no innate intellectual differences between races because none exist--nor can they exist. As early as the 1960s he noted that modern anthropologists hold that "there is no basic differences in the racial groups of our world" and that most "deny the existence of what we have known as race." (TESTAMENT OF HOPE, pp. 121--122). Modern genetics offers even stronger evidence that race is a social category, not a creation of Nature. Hence King was right in arguing--as do most contemporary scientists in biology and genetics--that "there are no superior and inferior races" if for no other reason than that there are no races. Race exists only as an historical-social phenomenon, and only is a racialized--indeed RACIST--society can there be superior or inferior races.
King's comments on capitalism were scathing, and saw in its a similar moral relativism and materialism. He also stated more than once that he favored socialism.
As he was speaking his true convictions, he was neither lying nor being misleading. You may try to prove him wrong, but that entails another philosophical argument.
Personalism, which was King's basic philosophical position, is a form of philosophical idealism. Hence his opposition to materialism whether it be the philosophical materialism of Marx, or the crude practical materialism of capitalism or Soviet style Communism.
The Civil Rights Movement was primarily a movement for freedom and justice at least as such are possible within a bankrupt capitalist society. Peace, as Dr. King repeatedly emphasized, can only be achieved on the basis of justice. Without justice peace is at best a tragic mirage.
The difference between Dr. King and both Communists and capitalists is that he believed in the inherent dignity of every human personality. Communists sometimes claimed to believe in it, and human dignity is often trumpeted in western capitalist countries. But it is mostly a pretext which their practice proves to be a sham.
By the way, communism in the original sense of a classless society King did not see as objectionable. But the practice of Communist parties was a different matter.
Actually, Venezuela is the latest victim of imperialism whose motivating force is capitalism, the market. It is interesting that the corporate media--both liberal and conservative--have the same line on Venezuela, denouncing the democratically elected government in favor of the local plutocracy and proto-fascist opposition which operates by means of violence that would be denounced as terrorism if directed at one of America's right wing allies.
It is also interesting the liberal and conservative corporate media has not directed its animosity to the reactionary government in Honduras, established by a military coup against another democratically elected government. That coup received the implicit blessing of Obama, and apparently also of Il Duce Don Trump.
It goes to show the Democrats and Republicans, "liberals" ad "conservatives" are both subservient to imperialism, to corporate money and interests.
Both parties must be neutralized and a revolutionary democratic alternative formed.
-Savant
One difference now is, as you observed, the social media. Prior to this century, or at least prior to the 1990s. Negroes with these self-hating anti-Black attitudes couldn't avail themselves of computers and the internet to spew their venom at each other. Probably such attitudes were not as common nor as extreme where they did exist. Black communities were once more cohesive than they are now, less polluted by possessive individualism, acquisitiveness, narcissism and sheer simplemindedness. Our values were more COMMUNAL than they are now. People looked out for children, and not just their own biological children. Under the more overtly repressive old Jim Crow regime with its naked terrorism, Black folks knew they needed each other, and most acted accordingly. Even those Negro males and females who did have negative attitudes of that kind usually kept it to themselves. They didn't spew their venom into newspapers, magazines or radio. Unlike Uncle Tom Soto or SBT, they'd be ashamed to do so, and were half ashamed for even having such attitudes anyway. Fortunately, such venomous Negro gender warriors and haters are not a majority even now. But they feel a lot freer to show their dumb a___ _, and the internet aids in their buffoonery.
The failure to make such distinction is evidence of an underdeveloped. For such discernments are essential to critical thinking. Actually, the records of the time seem to indicate that in communities which had Panther patrols police abuses against the community decreased, but was intensified against the Panthers themselves. In some communities where Panther presence was strong one often saw communities come alive creating clinics, breakfast for the children, neighborhood associations, etc. One often saw substantial drop in violent crime and in the flow of drugs. Claims that it didn't work are bogus. In the eyes of fascistic police Blacks are not "ladies" and "gentlemen "--nor even human. That is why Blacks from all walks of life have found themselves targets of police brutality. Some of the tactics of the Civil Rights Movement need to be reconsidered and revised in light of the needs of a new time and movement.
If you do, then you should be publicly chastised---which I once saw members of the Fruit of Islam do to a wayward brother for wife beating. Rarely, do I agree with anything said or done by NOI. That was an exception. I despise punks who beat women. But that seems to have become acceptable to some younger Negroes. At least in the past it was deemed unacceptable even by most men--because they were MEN.
I don't think Angela Y. Davis is a fool but I suspect that you are--at least if you actually believe the misinformation you post, and especially if you're as academically trained as you say and believe it. Black only look like animals to racists. That is not the doing of Angela Y. Davis. Also, what evidence have you that "most black intellectuals have fled to the South"? There are Black intellectuals throughout the country, but the South is still home to over half the Black population of the USA. Many Black intellectuals were already in the South, especially those who taught in black colleges and universities--most of which were and are in the South. But black intellectuals can be found all over the country, though there is some concentration on the East Coast. As for your being brighter than Angela Davis, or even close to equally bright as Angela Y. Davis, you've thus far shown no evidence of this. And if you have notable accomplishments as a "National Achievement Scholar," no one--not even the most perceptive--would have guessed it from posts that we've seen thus far.
First of all, Angela Davis didn't have Blacks marching with guns. This was the practice of the Black Panther Party and also the Deacons for Defense. And as long as racist Klan and cops patrol and terrorize Blacks with guns then Blacks have a right to self defense, including even the forming of militias if necessary. That's a natural human right--and rightly regarded as INTELLIGENT, not "declasse. " (By the way, your use of the word declasse is incorrect, a malaproprism.) No evidence exists, or you have not offered any, of white supremacist support for the Black Panther Party or even the Nation of Islam. I was around (though very young) when the BPP operated in Baltimore. They organized in Black churches (mostly Protestant) as well as Catholic churches (white and black). They also had their own offices. They held meetings on college campuses and properties of civic organizations. Frankly, your claim about their being funded by white supremacists is a fabrication. As for the Nation of Islam, as best as anyone can tell they were founded by a religious leader whose leadership was eventually followed by that of Elijah Muhammad. No evidence I know of indicates that they were started by the government, but we know they were infiltrated by the FBI---which is a different matter altogether. They did at times have questionable contacts with the American Nazi party.
Anyone who has actually read Dr. King thoroughly knows that he didn't think northerners were particularly trustworthy, or that racism was some peculiarly southern malady. After all, he did say that MOST white Americans lived racism as a way of life. And also that his experiences of racism in Chicago easily equaled or exceeded what he had seen in Alabama and Mississippi. And these observations run throughout his works from 1950s --1968.
Obviously, you are unintelligent as well as new here. Most people know that I am a revolutionary and scholarly African American man--with little tolerance for BS even from other Blacks, Secondly, you committed an Argumentum ad Hominem, a fallacy of relevance. Your statement was FALSE, and I called you on it. Learn some history, fool. And a bit of advice in case you happen to be a male--for you're clearly not yet a black MAN-- of color, from Malcolm X: "The Black man will get respect from NO ONE until he learns to respect his black woman."
Ghettoes were created mainly by segregation imposed on us by WHITES, not by interracial Black feminists. Stop making up history, fool! (
The Confederate flag does have the same meaning it always had: white supremacy, nativist fascism, slavery, racist terrorism, and right wing government tyranny.
Dr. King made disparaging comments about capitalism, some going back to his college years. Dr. King also expressed sympathy for socialism, a democratic socialism.
If you look at his famous speech against the Vietnam War you can see that he denounces American IMPERIALISM which he sees as emanating from capitalism. Moreover, he was attempting to organize an anti-capitalist Poor Peoples Campaign when he was assassinated, a campaign which may have included shutting down the US government.
It was not China which was threatened by Dr. King's increasingly revolutionary movement. It was the United States government and American capitalism that was threatened.
Dr. King acknowledged no innate intellectual differences between races because none exist--nor can they exist. As early as the 1960s he noted that modern anthropologists hold that "there is no basic differences in the racial groups of our world" and that most "deny the existence of what we have known as race." (TESTAMENT OF HOPE, pp. 121--122). Modern genetics offers even stronger evidence that race is a social category, not a creation of Nature. Hence King was right in arguing--as do most contemporary scientists in biology and genetics--that "there are no superior and inferior races" if for no other reason than that there are no races. Race exists only as an historical-social phenomenon, and only is a racialized--indeed RACIST--society can there be superior or inferior races.
King's comments on capitalism were scathing, and saw in its a similar moral relativism and materialism. He also stated more than once that he favored socialism.
As he was speaking his true convictions, he was neither lying nor being misleading. You may try to prove him wrong, but that entails another philosophical argument.
Personalism, which was King's basic philosophical position, is a form of philosophical idealism. Hence his opposition to materialism whether it be the philosophical materialism of Marx, or the crude practical materialism of capitalism or Soviet style Communism.
The Civil Rights Movement was primarily a movement for freedom and justice at least as such are possible within a bankrupt capitalist society. Peace, as Dr. King repeatedly emphasized, can only be achieved on the basis of justice. Without justice peace is at best a tragic mirage.
The difference between Dr. King and both Communists and capitalists is that he believed in the inherent dignity of every human personality. Communists sometimes claimed to believe in it, and human dignity is often trumpeted in western capitalist countries. But it is mostly a pretext which their practice proves to be a sham.
By the way, communism in the original sense of a classless society King did not see as objectionable. But the practice of Communist parties was a different matter.
Actually, Venezuela is the latest victim of imperialism whose motivating force is capitalism, the market. It is interesting that the corporate media--both liberal and conservative--have the same line on Venezuela, denouncing the democratically elected government in favor of the local plutocracy and proto-fascist opposition which operates by means of violence that would be denounced as terrorism if directed at one of America's right wing allies.
It is also interesting the liberal and conservative corporate media has not directed its animosity to the reactionary government in Honduras, established by a military coup against another democratically elected government. That coup received the implicit blessing of Obama, and apparently also of Il Duce Don Trump.
It goes to show the Democrats and Republicans, "liberals" ad "conservatives" are both subservient to imperialism, to corporate money and interests.
Both parties must be neutralized and a revolutionary democratic alternative formed.
-Savant
Information in Friday.
Other information is important to know about the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement was diverse. Some black Americans believed in nonviolence. Some followed the Black Power movement. Some believed that activism should go slower. Others believed that issues within the black community should be addressed. Some believed that law and order would bring about change. Rev. Joseph H. Jackson supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1956, but he was a conservative and told his denomination to not be involved in civil rights activism involving civil disobedience by 1960. He allied with Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago and the Chicago Democratic machine against the efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who wanted housing rights. He denounced Dr. King, SNCC, and the SCLC, because of them using social activism via the means of social resistance. He wanted civil rights to be done by “law and order.” The problem is that much of the laws then and now are without logic and promotes disorder against the lives of black people. An unjust law is no law at all. The law is never infallible therefore resistance to unjust laws is necessary in order for freedom to be reached. Jackson opposed the sit ins and the movement using civil disobedience (although, the early Americans centuries ago used civil disobedience and outright insurrection against the British Crown to form the American nation that he so loved). He rejected Black Power.
Ironically, Dr. King appealed to the Constitution and love of country in organizing his actions. Dr. King wanted the whole society to be changed radically instead of just focusing on patriotism. Rev. Jackson (who believed in a conservative black patriotism) was from an older generation who in many cases believed that self-help alone could make change. He believed in a patriotism that had faith in the system. So, Rev. Joseph H. Jackson focused on more individual means while Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. focused on more collective means in establishing justice for humanity. The movement wasn’t headed by one man. Sociologist Doug McAdam has stated that, "in King's case, it would be inaccurate to say that he was the leader of the modern civil rights movement...but more importantly, there was no singular civil rights movement. The movement was, in fact, a coalition of thousands of local efforts nationwide, spanning several decades, hundreds of discrete groups, and all manner of strategies and tactics—legal, illegal, institutional, non-institutional, violent, non-violent. Without discounting King's importance, it would be sheer fiction to call him the leader of what was fundamentally an amorphous, fluid, dispersed movement." Some black people were in favor of legal segregation (who wanted the white power structure to control their lives. Church ministers, businessmen and educators were among those who wished to keep segregation and segregationist ideals in order to retain the privileges they gained from patronage from whites, such as monetary gains), which is treason in my eyes. These proponents were different than the Black Nationalists. Black sellout defenders of segregation wanted the status quo while black nationalists disagreed with both NAACP-style integration and Jim Crow. Black nationalists wanted autonomous all-black institutions controlled solely by black people without Jim Crow oppression. They believed in self-determination in a nationalist fashion. The overall scope of the black freedom movement wanted freedom and justice for black people. The Civil Rights movement was slandered as heavily controlled by Communists by Hoover and the John Birch Society including other far right extremists. On December 17, 1951, the Communist Party–affiliated Civil Rights Congress delivered the petition We Charge Genocide: "The Crime of Government Against the Negro People", often shortened to We Charge Genocide, to the United Nations in 1951, arguing that the U.S. federal government, by its failure to act against lynching in the United States, was guilty of genocide under Article II of the UN Genocide Convention. The petition was presented to the United Nations at two separate venues: Paul Robeson, concert singer and activist, to a UN official in New York City, while William L. Patterson, executive director of the CRC, delivered copies of the drafted petition to a UN delegation in Paris. William L. Patterson was a Communist. He helped the black freedom movement in defending the Scottsboro boys in Alabama in 1931. The Communist Party was very influential among many African Americans from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. The 1950’s was the time of McCarthyism and some Communists made the mistake of supporting the Stalin-Hitler agreement (which turned many people off of Communism along with the totalitarianism of Stalin).
As earlier Civil Rights figures such as Robeson, Du Bois and Patterson became more politically radical (and therefore targets of Cold War anti-Communism by the US. Government), they lost favor with both mainstream Black America and the NAACP. The NAACP was overtly anti-Communist, especially by the 1950's. Roy Wilkins and Thurgood Marshall were key anti-Communist pro-NAACP leaders. The mainstream of the Civil Rights Movement distanced themselves from Communists. According to Ella Baker, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference adopted "Christian" into its name to deter charges of Communism. J. Edgar Hoover used surveillance of the movement too. This action was challenged by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC). SNCC embraced people who people who were Communists and non-Communists for a person’s political views should never be used as an excuse for political persecution. The NAACP disagreed with this move. The American Jewish community supported the Civil Rights Movement heavily. Many Jewish students and Jewish adults funded CORE, SCLC, and the SNCC. Many Jewish people were volunteers. Unfortunately, we live in a time now that many Hoteps and white racists are anti-Semitic and I condemn anti-Semitism as evil and wrong period. Jewish people were about half of the white northern volunteers involved in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project and approximately half of the civil rights attorneys active in the South during the 1960’s. Jewish leaders were arrested while heeding a call from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in St. Augustine, Florida, in June 1964, where the largest mass arrest of rabbis in American history took place at the Monson Motor Lodge—a nationally important civil rights landmark that was demolished in 2003 so that a Hilton Hotel could be built on the site. Abraham Joshua Heschel, a writer, rabbi, and professor of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, was outspoken on the subject of civil rights. He marched arm-in-arm with Dr. King in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. In the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, the two white activists killed, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were both Jewish. Brandeis University, the only nonsectarian Jewish-sponsored college university in the world, created the Transitional Year Program (TYP) in 1968, in part response to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. The faculty created it to renew the university's commitment to social justice. Recognizing Brandeis as a university with a commitment to academic excellence, these faculty members created a chance to disadvantaged students to participate in an empowering educational experience. The American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, and the ADL promoted civil rights.
Jewish people were active in the civil rights movement in the South. Many Jewish individuals in the Southern states who supported civil rights for African-Americans tended to keep a low profile on "the race issue", in order to avoid attracting the attention of the anti-Black and anti-Semitic Ku Klux Klan. However, Klan groups exploited the issue of African-American integration and Jewish involvement in the struggle to launch acts of violent antisemitism. As an example of this hatred, in one year alone, from November 1957 to October 1958, temples and other Jewish communal gatherings were bombed and desecrated in Atlanta, Nashville, Jacksonville, and Miami, and dynamite was found under synagogues in Birmingham, Charlotte, and Gastonia, North Carolina. Some rabbis received death threats, but there were no injuries following these outbursts of violence. African Americans and Jewish people in the South didn’t experience a massive strained relationship. The North is a different story. There was a more strained relationship among American Americans and Jewish people in the North. Many communities of the North had white flight, urban decay, police brutality, anti-black racism, and rebellions. Many Jewish Americans were often the last remaining whites in the communities.
Black Power grew by the late 1960’s. Many black people believed in justice for Palestinian people back then. This was not anti-Semitism. Palestinians deserve human liberation and independence just like anyone else. SNCC members did in many cases supported the Palestinian liberation movement as early as the 1960's. Other activists were outright anti-Semites. In New York City, most notably, there was a major socio-economic class difference in the perception of African Americans by Jews. Jewish people from better educated Upper Middle Class backgrounds were often very supportive of African American civil rights activities while the Jews in poorer urban communities that became increasingly minority were often less supportive largely in part due to more negative and violent interactions between the two groups. Black people suffered economic exploitation by many capitalists in urban communities of the North (these capitalists were both non-Jewish people and Jewish people). This exploitation is based on class oppression, discrimination, racism, and other issues. It has nothing to do with every single Jewish person on Earth. Black people are victims of the policies of the 1%. Black Power was taken to another level inside prison walls. In 1966, George Jackson formed the Black Guerrilla Family in the California San Quentin State Prison. The prison rights movement did receive its origin from the 1960’s. Back then, black people were tortured, murdered, raped, abused, and disrespected in prisons. Many Freedom Rides in Mississippi’s prisons were heavily punished. Many black prisoners developed a militant consciousness while being in prison. The Cold War existed during the Civil Rights Movement. Many people criticized America’s hypocrisy of promoting democracy overseas while racial discrimination and violence existed among American citizens domestically. This reality influenced civil rights legislation to be passed. The Third World was struggling for liberation from colonialism and imperialism. Many in the Black Power Movement allied with anti-imperialist movements overseas. This is why the Black Power Movement included Black Panthers who opposed the Vietnam War and supported revolutionary movements overseas at the same time.
By Timothy
Ironically, Dr. King appealed to the Constitution and love of country in organizing his actions. Dr. King wanted the whole society to be changed radically instead of just focusing on patriotism. Rev. Jackson (who believed in a conservative black patriotism) was from an older generation who in many cases believed that self-help alone could make change. He believed in a patriotism that had faith in the system. So, Rev. Joseph H. Jackson focused on more individual means while Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. focused on more collective means in establishing justice for humanity. The movement wasn’t headed by one man. Sociologist Doug McAdam has stated that, "in King's case, it would be inaccurate to say that he was the leader of the modern civil rights movement...but more importantly, there was no singular civil rights movement. The movement was, in fact, a coalition of thousands of local efforts nationwide, spanning several decades, hundreds of discrete groups, and all manner of strategies and tactics—legal, illegal, institutional, non-institutional, violent, non-violent. Without discounting King's importance, it would be sheer fiction to call him the leader of what was fundamentally an amorphous, fluid, dispersed movement." Some black people were in favor of legal segregation (who wanted the white power structure to control their lives. Church ministers, businessmen and educators were among those who wished to keep segregation and segregationist ideals in order to retain the privileges they gained from patronage from whites, such as monetary gains), which is treason in my eyes. These proponents were different than the Black Nationalists. Black sellout defenders of segregation wanted the status quo while black nationalists disagreed with both NAACP-style integration and Jim Crow. Black nationalists wanted autonomous all-black institutions controlled solely by black people without Jim Crow oppression. They believed in self-determination in a nationalist fashion. The overall scope of the black freedom movement wanted freedom and justice for black people. The Civil Rights movement was slandered as heavily controlled by Communists by Hoover and the John Birch Society including other far right extremists. On December 17, 1951, the Communist Party–affiliated Civil Rights Congress delivered the petition We Charge Genocide: "The Crime of Government Against the Negro People", often shortened to We Charge Genocide, to the United Nations in 1951, arguing that the U.S. federal government, by its failure to act against lynching in the United States, was guilty of genocide under Article II of the UN Genocide Convention. The petition was presented to the United Nations at two separate venues: Paul Robeson, concert singer and activist, to a UN official in New York City, while William L. Patterson, executive director of the CRC, delivered copies of the drafted petition to a UN delegation in Paris. William L. Patterson was a Communist. He helped the black freedom movement in defending the Scottsboro boys in Alabama in 1931. The Communist Party was very influential among many African Americans from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. The 1950’s was the time of McCarthyism and some Communists made the mistake of supporting the Stalin-Hitler agreement (which turned many people off of Communism along with the totalitarianism of Stalin).
As earlier Civil Rights figures such as Robeson, Du Bois and Patterson became more politically radical (and therefore targets of Cold War anti-Communism by the US. Government), they lost favor with both mainstream Black America and the NAACP. The NAACP was overtly anti-Communist, especially by the 1950's. Roy Wilkins and Thurgood Marshall were key anti-Communist pro-NAACP leaders. The mainstream of the Civil Rights Movement distanced themselves from Communists. According to Ella Baker, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference adopted "Christian" into its name to deter charges of Communism. J. Edgar Hoover used surveillance of the movement too. This action was challenged by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC). SNCC embraced people who people who were Communists and non-Communists for a person’s political views should never be used as an excuse for political persecution. The NAACP disagreed with this move. The American Jewish community supported the Civil Rights Movement heavily. Many Jewish students and Jewish adults funded CORE, SCLC, and the SNCC. Many Jewish people were volunteers. Unfortunately, we live in a time now that many Hoteps and white racists are anti-Semitic and I condemn anti-Semitism as evil and wrong period. Jewish people were about half of the white northern volunteers involved in the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer project and approximately half of the civil rights attorneys active in the South during the 1960’s. Jewish leaders were arrested while heeding a call from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in St. Augustine, Florida, in June 1964, where the largest mass arrest of rabbis in American history took place at the Monson Motor Lodge—a nationally important civil rights landmark that was demolished in 2003 so that a Hilton Hotel could be built on the site. Abraham Joshua Heschel, a writer, rabbi, and professor of theology at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, was outspoken on the subject of civil rights. He marched arm-in-arm with Dr. King in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery march. In the 1964 murders of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner, the two white activists killed, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, were both Jewish. Brandeis University, the only nonsectarian Jewish-sponsored college university in the world, created the Transitional Year Program (TYP) in 1968, in part response to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination. The faculty created it to renew the university's commitment to social justice. Recognizing Brandeis as a university with a commitment to academic excellence, these faculty members created a chance to disadvantaged students to participate in an empowering educational experience. The American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, and the ADL promoted civil rights.
Jewish people were active in the civil rights movement in the South. Many Jewish individuals in the Southern states who supported civil rights for African-Americans tended to keep a low profile on "the race issue", in order to avoid attracting the attention of the anti-Black and anti-Semitic Ku Klux Klan. However, Klan groups exploited the issue of African-American integration and Jewish involvement in the struggle to launch acts of violent antisemitism. As an example of this hatred, in one year alone, from November 1957 to October 1958, temples and other Jewish communal gatherings were bombed and desecrated in Atlanta, Nashville, Jacksonville, and Miami, and dynamite was found under synagogues in Birmingham, Charlotte, and Gastonia, North Carolina. Some rabbis received death threats, but there were no injuries following these outbursts of violence. African Americans and Jewish people in the South didn’t experience a massive strained relationship. The North is a different story. There was a more strained relationship among American Americans and Jewish people in the North. Many communities of the North had white flight, urban decay, police brutality, anti-black racism, and rebellions. Many Jewish Americans were often the last remaining whites in the communities.
Black Power grew by the late 1960’s. Many black people believed in justice for Palestinian people back then. This was not anti-Semitism. Palestinians deserve human liberation and independence just like anyone else. SNCC members did in many cases supported the Palestinian liberation movement as early as the 1960's. Other activists were outright anti-Semites. In New York City, most notably, there was a major socio-economic class difference in the perception of African Americans by Jews. Jewish people from better educated Upper Middle Class backgrounds were often very supportive of African American civil rights activities while the Jews in poorer urban communities that became increasingly minority were often less supportive largely in part due to more negative and violent interactions between the two groups. Black people suffered economic exploitation by many capitalists in urban communities of the North (these capitalists were both non-Jewish people and Jewish people). This exploitation is based on class oppression, discrimination, racism, and other issues. It has nothing to do with every single Jewish person on Earth. Black people are victims of the policies of the 1%. Black Power was taken to another level inside prison walls. In 1966, George Jackson formed the Black Guerrilla Family in the California San Quentin State Prison. The prison rights movement did receive its origin from the 1960’s. Back then, black people were tortured, murdered, raped, abused, and disrespected in prisons. Many Freedom Rides in Mississippi’s prisons were heavily punished. Many black prisoners developed a militant consciousness while being in prison. The Cold War existed during the Civil Rights Movement. Many people criticized America’s hypocrisy of promoting democracy overseas while racial discrimination and violence existed among American citizens domestically. This reality influenced civil rights legislation to be passed. The Third World was struggling for liberation from colonialism and imperialism. Many in the Black Power Movement allied with anti-imperialist movements overseas. This is why the Black Power Movement included Black Panthers who opposed the Vietnam War and supported revolutionary movements overseas at the same time.
By Timothy
Thursday, June 29, 2017
More News
https://urbanintellectuals.com/2015/08/31/can-you-believe-a-black-man-was-stopped-ticketed-for-making-direct-eye-contact-with-police-officer/#.WVEiq0opCEd
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/04/red-cross-haiti-report_n_7511080.html
https://www.freedomunited.org/
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19413:Hersh%3A-Trump-Ignored-Intel-Before-Bombing-Syria
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/04/red-cross-haiti-report_n_7511080.html
https://www.freedomunited.org/
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19413:Hersh%3A-Trump-Ignored-Intel-Before-Bombing-Syria
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Women in the Civil Rights Movement
It is always important to make known about the heroic, courageous women of the civil rights movement. The truth is that black women have had a leadership role in every era of the black freedom movement. They have taken care of families, funded people's livelihoods, and sacrificed a great deal for black people in general. The contributions of black women from 1954 to 1968 will be shown here. Thousands and millions of women were involved in the Civil Rights Movement. During the early 1950’s, Gwendolyn Brooks not only wrote great literature. She was active in promoting the civil rights of black Americans. She allied with the NAACP, progressive activists, and Black Power activists later on. Charlotta Spears Bass promoted not only progressive politics, but liberation for black people. In 1952, Bass became the first African-American woman nominated for Vice President, as a candidate of the Progressive Party. Her platform called for civil rights, women's rights, an end to the Korean War, and peace with the Soviet Union. Bass's slogan during the vice presidential campaign was, "Win or lose, we win by raising the issues." She lived to be 95 and passed away at the year of 1969. Ella Baker and Septima Clark during the 1950’s and beyond stood up for our rights. They are the Mothers of the modern Civil Rights Movement. They have fought for justice since the early 20th century. They have organized programs, inspired the youth, and promoted grassroots organizing. Ella Baker would work in the SCLC and in SNCC. Septima Clark would work in South Carolina to promote voter registration, education in generation, and the fight against Jim Crow.
Ella Baker and Septima Clark are just as important in the movement for social justice as are Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are. Mamie E. Bradley-Mobley was the mother of Emmett Till. She spoke nationwide and spoke in favor of racial justice. By the time of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Claudette Clovin and Rosa Parks were already activists fighting for change. They refused to sit down in a segregated seat. They worked with lawyers and others in order to make the boycott successful. Women led that movement too. They were leaders in the carpools who allowed people to travel without buses. Jo Ann Gibson Robinson was one black woman leader who organized as well. She wrote a book entitled, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It” about the humiliations that black people faced while riding the buses. Black people were about 75 to 80 of the total ridership. Black people from the North were arrested, harassed, and shot dead for refusing to move to the back of the bus. Robinson was part of the Women’s Political Council to stand up for human rights. Robinson was involved with other to start the MIA newsletter to help people. The MIA (or the Montgomery Improvement Association) had the President of Dr. King. Thelma McWilliams Glass helped to organize the boycott too. Georgia Gilmore (February 5, 1920 - March 9, 1990) was a cook and midwife who supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott by raising hundreds of dollars a week through the "Club From Nowhere" which sold sandwiches, chicken dinners, and baked goods to boycott supporters. Her home was often a meeting place for the Montgomery Improvement Association. Tons of black women worked hard in the movement. NAACP southeast regional secretary Ruby Hurley helped Autherine Lucy to go into the University of Alabama during the late 1950’s.
Daisy Gatson Bates was the President of the Arkansas NAACP and she was involved in helping the Little Rock Nine children to integrate in Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daisy Bates worked hard in advancing civil rights from being a journalist to being involved in numerous demonstrations for justice. Mrs. A. L. Mothershed was the mother of the Little Rock Nine member Thelma Mothershed. Septima Clark in the late 1950’s organized Citizenship Schools to give people economic and political opportunities. Coretta Scott King was an activist too who promoted an end to nuclear weapons, peace, women’s rights, and civil rights. Lorraine Hansberry was an activist who fought housing discrimination and oppression throughout the 1950’s and the 1960’s. The 1960’s saw the growth of black activism from women. Ella Baker was the Mother of SNCC. She inspired the youth to go in independent action not following a centralized leadership. One of the leaders of the sit-in movement was Diana Nash who worked in Nashville. She was from Chicago and attended Fisk University in Nashville. SNCC was founded heavily by the youth. It was heavily diverse and spread nationally. One of the greatest organizers of SNCC was Ruby Doris Robinson who was a secretary and fought for gender and racial equality. Sexism existed in many sectors of the Civil Rights Movement and that is wrong. Likewise, many in the Civil Rights Movement rejected sexism as sexism is evil. Black women continued to protest, were involved in the Freedom Rides (many women involved included Jean Thompson, Doratha 'Dodie' Smith-Simmons, Catherine Burks Brooks, Carol Silver, and others) ,and supported justice. By the early 1960’s, black women graduated from previously segregated universities like Charlayne Hunter at the University of Georgia. Vivian Moore also was in the University of Alabama. Gloria Richardson and Fannie Lou Hamer fought for freedom too. Gloria Richardson wanted equality and Cambridge, Maryland and Fannie Lou Hamer from Mississippi spoke about the injustices in America (and she wanted change). Also, singers like folkorist Bernice Johnson Reagon promoted Freedom Songs to promote cohesiveness, and solidarity in the freedom struggle. Shirley Verrett was a famous opera singer who sang the song, "Oh Freedom." The Freedom Singers were known for singing the song "Woke up This Morning" to promote freedom. The Staple singers also performed "Freedom Highway" nationwide back in 1965. One great singer who expressed black frustration at injustice and love of Blackness was Nina Simone. She was a friend of Lorraine Hansberry and so many other people too. Nina Simone taught all of us not only about musical talent, but about a consciousness in favor of justice for our people. She influenced both the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement.
Unita Blackwell from SNCC working in Freedom Summer inspired many people worldwide. During the Selma, movement, Amelia Boynton was a leader who stood up against racism and police brutality. After Selma, thousands and millions of black people had the right to vote via the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Annie Maude Williams of Selma, Alabama on August 10, 1965 celebrated her voting eligibility certificate. In Alabama alone, black registration grew from 66,000 in 1960 to 250,000 by 1966. One of the most intelligent theological experts and civil rights activists was Pauli Murray. She opposed Jim Crow and fought for civil rights and women’s rights. As a lawyer, Murray argued for civil rights and women's rights. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Chief Counsel Thurgood Marshall called Murray's 1950 book, States' Laws on Race and Color, the "bible" of the civil rights movement. Murray served on the 1961–1963 Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, being appointed by John F. Kennedy. In 1966 she was a co-founder of the National Organization for Women. Another co-founder of NOW was a black woman named Anna Arnold Hedgeman. She promoted civil rights and she was a friend of the legendary hero Dorothy Height. Dorothy Height worked for decades involving justice. Black women were heavily involved in the Black Panther movement, the Black Power movement in general, and in the anti-Vietnam War movement.
For example, the National Black Anti-War Anti-Draft Union (NBAWADU) was spearheaded by Gwendolyn Patton. She opposed the Vietnam War and Western occupation and domination of Third World nations. Patton was born in Detroit in 1943 and she was involved in the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott as being in the MIA or the Montgomery Improvement Association. She was part of SNCC and the LCFO or the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. She supported Black Power as a way to transform the black community positively. Black women were involved heavily in anti-war rallies of the 1960’s. Many black women in the Black Panther party were Assata Shakur, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, Elaine Brown, Barbara Easley-Cox, Charlotte Hill O’Neal, Tarika Matilaba, Judy Hart, Chaka Khan, and tons of black women who wrote articles, organized programs, helped the poor and the elderly, and lived out their lives in fighting for human liberation. One of the greatest activist from SCLC was a black woman named Dorothy Cotton. She was one of the greatest leaders of the SCLC too. She was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Dorothy Cotton can sing too. Cotton’s close work with Septima Clark and Esau Jenkins, via both the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, created a grassroots movement in rural southern areas during the Civil Rights Movement. She came into Olso to celebrate Dr. King receiving his Nobel Peace Prize. She worked in the Birmingham Movement of 1963. She worked in the Memphis sanitation workers movement in 1968 too. Cotton currently resides in Ithaca, New York. Black women involved in the 1968 sanitation movement also include Maxine Smith, Cornelia Crenshaw, Tarlease Mathews, (who is also known as Mrs. Adjua Abi Naantaanbuu later in her life). New voices of literature and activism were shown by Sonia Sanchez and Nikki Giovanni. Sonia as born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1934. She worked for CORE during the early 1960's when she met Malcolm X. She became a great advocate of black culture and literature. Nikki Giovanni was born in 1943 at Knoxville, Tennessee. The Civil Rights Movement and Black Power movements inspired her early poetry that was collected in Black Feeling, Black Talk (1967),which sold over ten thousand copies in its first year, Black Judgement (1968), selling six thousand copies in three months. So, there are tons of contributions that black women made throughout the black freedom struggle in general. We honor their service to humanity and we are always inspired by their heroism. Black women are heroes.
By Timothy
Ella Baker and Septima Clark are just as important in the movement for social justice as are Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are. Mamie E. Bradley-Mobley was the mother of Emmett Till. She spoke nationwide and spoke in favor of racial justice. By the time of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Claudette Clovin and Rosa Parks were already activists fighting for change. They refused to sit down in a segregated seat. They worked with lawyers and others in order to make the boycott successful. Women led that movement too. They were leaders in the carpools who allowed people to travel without buses. Jo Ann Gibson Robinson was one black woman leader who organized as well. She wrote a book entitled, “The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Women Who Started It” about the humiliations that black people faced while riding the buses. Black people were about 75 to 80 of the total ridership. Black people from the North were arrested, harassed, and shot dead for refusing to move to the back of the bus. Robinson was part of the Women’s Political Council to stand up for human rights. Robinson was involved with other to start the MIA newsletter to help people. The MIA (or the Montgomery Improvement Association) had the President of Dr. King. Thelma McWilliams Glass helped to organize the boycott too. Georgia Gilmore (February 5, 1920 - March 9, 1990) was a cook and midwife who supported the Montgomery Bus Boycott by raising hundreds of dollars a week through the "Club From Nowhere" which sold sandwiches, chicken dinners, and baked goods to boycott supporters. Her home was often a meeting place for the Montgomery Improvement Association. Tons of black women worked hard in the movement. NAACP southeast regional secretary Ruby Hurley helped Autherine Lucy to go into the University of Alabama during the late 1950’s.
Daisy Gatson Bates was the President of the Arkansas NAACP and she was involved in helping the Little Rock Nine children to integrate in Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Daisy Bates worked hard in advancing civil rights from being a journalist to being involved in numerous demonstrations for justice. Mrs. A. L. Mothershed was the mother of the Little Rock Nine member Thelma Mothershed. Septima Clark in the late 1950’s organized Citizenship Schools to give people economic and political opportunities. Coretta Scott King was an activist too who promoted an end to nuclear weapons, peace, women’s rights, and civil rights. Lorraine Hansberry was an activist who fought housing discrimination and oppression throughout the 1950’s and the 1960’s. The 1960’s saw the growth of black activism from women. Ella Baker was the Mother of SNCC. She inspired the youth to go in independent action not following a centralized leadership. One of the leaders of the sit-in movement was Diana Nash who worked in Nashville. She was from Chicago and attended Fisk University in Nashville. SNCC was founded heavily by the youth. It was heavily diverse and spread nationally. One of the greatest organizers of SNCC was Ruby Doris Robinson who was a secretary and fought for gender and racial equality. Sexism existed in many sectors of the Civil Rights Movement and that is wrong. Likewise, many in the Civil Rights Movement rejected sexism as sexism is evil. Black women continued to protest, were involved in the Freedom Rides (many women involved included Jean Thompson, Doratha 'Dodie' Smith-Simmons, Catherine Burks Brooks, Carol Silver, and others) ,and supported justice. By the early 1960’s, black women graduated from previously segregated universities like Charlayne Hunter at the University of Georgia. Vivian Moore also was in the University of Alabama. Gloria Richardson and Fannie Lou Hamer fought for freedom too. Gloria Richardson wanted equality and Cambridge, Maryland and Fannie Lou Hamer from Mississippi spoke about the injustices in America (and she wanted change). Also, singers like folkorist Bernice Johnson Reagon promoted Freedom Songs to promote cohesiveness, and solidarity in the freedom struggle. Shirley Verrett was a famous opera singer who sang the song, "Oh Freedom." The Freedom Singers were known for singing the song "Woke up This Morning" to promote freedom. The Staple singers also performed "Freedom Highway" nationwide back in 1965. One great singer who expressed black frustration at injustice and love of Blackness was Nina Simone. She was a friend of Lorraine Hansberry and so many other people too. Nina Simone taught all of us not only about musical talent, but about a consciousness in favor of justice for our people. She influenced both the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement.
Unita Blackwell from SNCC working in Freedom Summer inspired many people worldwide. During the Selma, movement, Amelia Boynton was a leader who stood up against racism and police brutality. After Selma, thousands and millions of black people had the right to vote via the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Annie Maude Williams of Selma, Alabama on August 10, 1965 celebrated her voting eligibility certificate. In Alabama alone, black registration grew from 66,000 in 1960 to 250,000 by 1966. One of the most intelligent theological experts and civil rights activists was Pauli Murray. She opposed Jim Crow and fought for civil rights and women’s rights. As a lawyer, Murray argued for civil rights and women's rights. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Chief Counsel Thurgood Marshall called Murray's 1950 book, States' Laws on Race and Color, the "bible" of the civil rights movement. Murray served on the 1961–1963 Presidential Commission on the Status of Women, being appointed by John F. Kennedy. In 1966 she was a co-founder of the National Organization for Women. Another co-founder of NOW was a black woman named Anna Arnold Hedgeman. She promoted civil rights and she was a friend of the legendary hero Dorothy Height. Dorothy Height worked for decades involving justice. Black women were heavily involved in the Black Panther movement, the Black Power movement in general, and in the anti-Vietnam War movement.
For example, the National Black Anti-War Anti-Draft Union (NBAWADU) was spearheaded by Gwendolyn Patton. She opposed the Vietnam War and Western occupation and domination of Third World nations. Patton was born in Detroit in 1943 and she was involved in the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott as being in the MIA or the Montgomery Improvement Association. She was part of SNCC and the LCFO or the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. She supported Black Power as a way to transform the black community positively. Black women were involved heavily in anti-war rallies of the 1960’s. Many black women in the Black Panther party were Assata Shakur, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, Elaine Brown, Barbara Easley-Cox, Charlotte Hill O’Neal, Tarika Matilaba, Judy Hart, Chaka Khan, and tons of black women who wrote articles, organized programs, helped the poor and the elderly, and lived out their lives in fighting for human liberation. One of the greatest activist from SCLC was a black woman named Dorothy Cotton. She was one of the greatest leaders of the SCLC too. She was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Dorothy Cotton can sing too. Cotton’s close work with Septima Clark and Esau Jenkins, via both the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, created a grassroots movement in rural southern areas during the Civil Rights Movement. She came into Olso to celebrate Dr. King receiving his Nobel Peace Prize. She worked in the Birmingham Movement of 1963. She worked in the Memphis sanitation workers movement in 1968 too. Cotton currently resides in Ithaca, New York. Black women involved in the 1968 sanitation movement also include Maxine Smith, Cornelia Crenshaw, Tarlease Mathews, (who is also known as Mrs. Adjua Abi Naantaanbuu later in her life). New voices of literature and activism were shown by Sonia Sanchez and Nikki Giovanni. Sonia as born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1934. She worked for CORE during the early 1960's when she met Malcolm X. She became a great advocate of black culture and literature. Nikki Giovanni was born in 1943 at Knoxville, Tennessee. The Civil Rights Movement and Black Power movements inspired her early poetry that was collected in Black Feeling, Black Talk (1967),which sold over ten thousand copies in its first year, Black Judgement (1968), selling six thousand copies in three months. So, there are tons of contributions that black women made throughout the black freedom struggle in general. We honor their service to humanity and we are always inspired by their heroism. Black women are heroes.
By Timothy
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Research in 2017
http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/10-black-authors-to-read/#.WVKV-uvyvZ4
http://www.rockmusictimeline.com/1960.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/05/civil-rights-art_n_5420940.html
https://www.amoeba.com/blog/2010/02/eric-s-blog/black-cinema-part-iii-the-tv-age-and-beyond.html
http://juliusspeaks.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-black-film-actresses-by.html
http://www.pbs.org/black-culture/explore/10-black-history-documentaries-to-watch/#.WVJN6-vyvZ4
https://www.longwharf.org/aint-misbehavin-harlem-renaissance-time-line
http://www.blackpast.org/timelines/african-american-history-timeline-1900-2000
https://blackthen.com/george-washington-carver-the-black-man-with-over-100-uses-for-peanuts/?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Black+Then+FB&utm_campaign=SNAP%2Bfrom%2BBlack+Then
https://blackthen.com/floyd-b-mckissick-visionary-soul-city-desegregated-university-nc-chapel-hill-law-school/?utm_source=FB&utm_medium=Black+Then+FB&utm_campaign=SNAP%2Bfrom%2BBlack+Then
Monday, June 26, 2017
Other News
http://www.kolumnmagazine.com/2017/06/22/newly-uncovered-recordings-find-thelonious-monk-prime-npr/
https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/louisiana-locks-more-its-citizens-any-other-state-nation-reform-coming
http://educationpost.org/how-do-we-support-black-male-students-start-by-acting-on-their-feedback/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Betcon&utm_content=FBBetconSupportBlackMaleStudentsMf
https://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/30/an-interview-with-cornel-west-on-occupy-obama-and-marx/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/01/dr-cornel-west-on-unpopular-james-baldwin/
https://www.democracynow.org/2016/12/1/cornel_west_on_donald_trump_this
http://www.phillytrib.com/lifestyle/diane-turner-s-lifelong-passion-for-preserving-african-american-history/article_0da0561f-9432-519a-8e93-853c5ab1d2ba.html?mode=jqm
https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/louisiana-locks-more-its-citizens-any-other-state-nation-reform-coming
http://educationpost.org/how-do-we-support-black-male-students-start-by-acting-on-their-feedback/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Betcon&utm_content=FBBetconSupportBlackMaleStudentsMf
https://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/30/an-interview-with-cornel-west-on-occupy-obama-and-marx/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/01/dr-cornel-west-on-unpopular-james-baldwin/
https://www.democracynow.org/2016/12/1/cornel_west_on_donald_trump_this
http://www.phillytrib.com/lifestyle/diane-turner-s-lifelong-passion-for-preserving-african-american-history/article_0da0561f-9432-519a-8e93-853c5ab1d2ba.html?mode=jqm
The Rebellions of the 1960's.
The rebellions in America from 1963 to 1968 changed America forever. They were a part of the expressions frustrations of many about the injustices going on in the United States of America. These rebellions were different from the anti-black riots from white racists in that white racists had the intention specifically to murder and target black people violently. These rebellions of the 1960’s were created out of anger and out of hurt from neglect and oppression from capitalist America. The Second Great Migration allowed millions of African American to go into large urban centers in the North, the Midwest, and the West. Black people in those locations still faced de facto segregation (which is segregation by unwritten policies not by legal mandate), struggling educational services, police brutality, racism, discrimination, and bad social plus economic conditions. The 1963 Birmingham rebellion was a watershed movement in American history. This was long before the Watts rebellion. Black people in the South used self-defense for centuries and this rebellion was the beginning of the others in the future years after 1963. It started after white racists bombed many homes belonging to African Americans like the Gaston Motel, and the home of A.D. King (or Dr. King’s brother). The bystander Roosevelt Tatum survived one bombing too. Tatum said that the local police planted the bombs and A.D. King demanded that the FBI arrest local police members. Dr. King received a death threat. The Klan threatened people too. The Klan abhorred the agreement reached in Birmingham. On May 11, 1963, it started. One officer was stabbed. Many people started to reject nonviolence. State troopers came. One tank arrived. Armed cops patrolled the streets. White journalists and black people were sequestered in a bombed motel with no food or water until morning. President Kennedy wanted to promote law and order.
JFK enacted Operation Oak Tree which involved military force to end the rebellion in Birmingham. Operation Oak Tree was the first time in modern United States history that the federal government deployed military power in response to civil unrest without a specific legal injunction to enforce. Yet, Malcolm X accurately stated that Kennedy didn’t intervene when bombs were coming in the homes of black people or when dogs bit black men, black women, and black children in the streets. Malcolm X said that he only responded when black people used rebellion and self-defense. He’s right. New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell said that if Kennedy didn’t move quickly on civil rights in Birmingham and nationwide, then rebellions would spread nationwide including the capital of Washington, D.C. He was right also. Ironically, the rebellion increased the speed in which civil rights legislation would be passed. In August 1-4, 1963, white racists use bricks and bottles to harm the house of Reginald Williams (who is a black man) in the Englewood section of Chicago. More than 220 people are arrested. There was the Cambridge rebellion in 1963 too. Cambridge was in Maryland in the Maryland section of the Eastern Shore. The Civil Rights movement in Cambridge was led by Gloria Richardson and SNCC against the pro-segregationist police and power structure. I have been to Cambridge before in real life. The movement wanted to end discrimination. The Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC) is founded soon after these initial demonstrations to support and continue local protests as early as 1962. SNCC and the CNAC also want fair housing, equal employment opportunities, and desegregation of public accommodations. The power structure refuses to budge. On June 14, 1963, a protest happened. Later, businesses were burned. White and African American citizens exchange gunfire and then martial law was declared by Governor Tawes. Governor Tawes declared martial law and deployed the Maryland National Guard to Cambridge after the CNAC refuses a year-long moratorium on protests. The guardsmen remain in the town for a 25-day period, from June 14 through July 8. During the summer, both white and blacks exchange gunfire continuously and the Maryland National Guard occupied Cambridge. In 1964, rebellions grew. During the summer of 1964, they existed in New York City, Rochester (in New York State), Philadelphia, Elizabeth (in New Jersey), Paterson (in New Jersey), and Dixmoor (or a suburb in Chicago).
The common factor among all of these rebellions is that these locations are filled with people who were victims of many injustices (like police brutality, racism, housing discrimination, economic exploitation, de facto segregation, and educational issues). Many people in the rebellions were working class. Most of these rebellions took place during the Summer of 1964. During the Watts rebellion of 1965 in Los Angeles changed everything. It happened when the police in Watts arrested a black person. The person’s mother’s intervened and the rebellion happened. For years, black people in Los Angeles were oppressed by the police. African Americans since the 1950’s have complained about excessive force by the police and discriminatory practices. Restrictive covenant policies restricted African Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian Americans from receiving adequate housing of their choice. White racists in the early 1950’s bombed homes, fired homes, and burnt crosses on the homes of black Americans in Suasion Avenue. White gangs harassed black people in LA since the 1920’s. In August of 1965, the Watts rebellion happened. Homes were bombed. Stores were destroyed. The California Army National Guard arrested people. The military response was huge and some people used physical combat against the military. This was the beginning of some of the biggest urban unrest since the Civil War. Most of those involved in the rebellion had no criminal record. They were mostly working class human beings. Between 31,000 and 35,000 adults participated in the riots over the course of six days, while about 70,000 people were "sympathetic, but not active." Over the six days, there were 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests, and over $40 million in property damage. In a 1966 essay, black civil rights activist Bayard Rustin stated: "The whole point of the outbreak in Watts was that it marked the first major rebellion of Negroes against their own masochism and was carried on with the express purpose of asserting that they would no longer quietly submit to the deprivation of slum life."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. immediately came into Watts to access the situation. He was booed by some black people. Dr. King said that the rebellion was part of the frustration of black Americans. While he condemned the violence, he recognized that something must be done to address the needs of the black residents of Watts. The McCone Commission report identified the root causes of the riots to be high unemployment, poor schools, and other inferior living conditions for African Americans in Watts. The McCone Commission called for “emergency literacy and preschool programs, improved police-community ties, increased low-income housing, more job-training projects, upgraded health-care services, more efficient public transportation, and many more." Most of these recommendations were not acted upon. In 1966, rebellions happened in Chicago, Omaha, Cleveland, Waukegan (in Illinois), Benton Harbor (in Michigan), in Atlanta, and in other places. The 1967 rebellions were large and it was called by the media as ‘long hot summers.’ The biggest of such rebellions happened in Detroit from July 23-29, 1967. It happened because of many reasons. A white racist gang killed Danny Thomas, who was a black Army veteran. Since the 1950’s, there has been massive white flight. Detroit is known for its racism spanning decades and centuries. The police raided an after-hours club in Detroit. The police claimed that the club was didn’t have a legal license. One cop slammed the window of a social club with a sledgehammer. Later, in a memoir, Walter Scott III, a doorman whose father was running the raided blind pig, took responsibility for starting the riot by inciting the crowd and throwing a bottle at a police officer. Then, the rebellion happened. It involved looting, sniper fire, burning of cars, and other actions. Local, state, and federal authorities were called. During these rebellions, police brutality was abundant too. Shortly before midnight on Monday, July 24, President Johnson authorized the use of federal troops in compliance with the Insurrection Act of 1807, which authorizes the President to call in armed forces to fight an insurrection in any state against the government. This gave Detroit the distinction of being the only domestic American city to have been occupied by federal troops three times. The U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division had earlier been positioned at nearby Selfridge Air Force Base in suburban Macomb County. Starting at 1:30 on Tuesday, July 25, some 8,000 Michigan Army National Guardsmen were deployed to quell the disorder. Later, their number would be augmented with 4,700 paratroopers from both the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, and 360 Michigan State Police officers. The local police assaulted those they have arrested both blacks and whites. The Algiers Motel incident was when the police murdered innocent people. The economic damage and the human life loss were huge. Thousands of people were injured. Dozens in about 43 people died. Damaged ranged above $40 million. Almost 400 families were homeless. The events caused the Housing bill in the state level to be passed in Michigan. It caused an acceleration of white flight. After 1967, Detroit’s infrastructure started to rapidly decline because of loss of tax revenue, underfunding, and the deindustrialization. The scale of the riot was surpassed in the United States only by the 1863 New York City draft riots during the American Civil War and the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Detroit once had some of the highest growth of the black middle class in the nation. Detroit is resilient and today, Detroit has tons of real people doing great work. Many black nationalists like H. Rap Brown welcomed these rebellions as precursors to the revolution. Dr. King condemned the violence in the rebellions while understanding that riots are the voices of the unheard (and that you must do more than just condemn a riot. You have to understand what causes riots in order to find the solutions). 1967 saw rebellions in Cincinnati, Buffalo, Newark, Plainfield (in New Jersey), Cairo (in Illinois), Cambridge (in Maryland), Saginaw (in Michigan), and Milwaukee.
The 1968 Orangeburg Massacre in South Carolina involved the police killing innocent black demonstrators (who were protesting racial segregation in a bowling alley in Orangeburg, SC. Many of the protesters were students from South Carolina State University) in February 8, 1968. South Carolina State University is a HBCU or a Historically Black College or University. The state and local police officers fired guns on an unarmed group of black students. 3 students were killed and 27 people are wounded. It was an injustice by the police. In a state trial in 1970, the activist Cleveland Sellers was convicted of a charge of riot related to the events on February 6 at the bowling alley. He served seven months in state prison, getting time off for good behavior. He was the national program director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1973 he wrote The River of No Return: The Autobiography of a Black Militant and the Life and Death of SNCC. Twenty-five years later, Sellers was officially pardoned by the governor of South Carolina. Cleveland Sellers was an innocent man who was oppressed by a racist regime in America. After the April 4, 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., rebellions happened in over 100 cities. Roy Wilkins and many moderate civil rights leaders wanted calm. Kwame Ture said that white America made a big mistake when Dr. King was murdered. Some people felt that nonviolence wouldn’t work to cause change. Johnson called Coretta Scott King to send condolences and to promote a sense of justice. Attorney General Ramsey Clark pushed the FBI to find the murderer. Troops and tanks were in the streets of Washington, D.C. Troops with machine guns were guarding the U.S. Capitol. This was the biggest insurrection since the Civil War. There were questions about whether the nation would survive. There were questions on whether people can come together. We, who live in this generation, are the answers to those questions. The truth is that the nation survived. The truth is that both nonviolence and self-defense are legitimate avenues of activism and hope should always be embraced by any oppressed people. The rebellions taught us that the voices of the oppressed must not only be heard, but respected. We are not naïve either. We have a long way to go. Imperialism, racism, police terrorism, sexism, xenophobia, and other forms of fascism still exist globally. Those evils must be eradicated completely. Compassion and empathy go a long way in fighting for justice. The movement continued and persisted.
By Timothy
JFK enacted Operation Oak Tree which involved military force to end the rebellion in Birmingham. Operation Oak Tree was the first time in modern United States history that the federal government deployed military power in response to civil unrest without a specific legal injunction to enforce. Yet, Malcolm X accurately stated that Kennedy didn’t intervene when bombs were coming in the homes of black people or when dogs bit black men, black women, and black children in the streets. Malcolm X said that he only responded when black people used rebellion and self-defense. He’s right. New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell said that if Kennedy didn’t move quickly on civil rights in Birmingham and nationwide, then rebellions would spread nationwide including the capital of Washington, D.C. He was right also. Ironically, the rebellion increased the speed in which civil rights legislation would be passed. In August 1-4, 1963, white racists use bricks and bottles to harm the house of Reginald Williams (who is a black man) in the Englewood section of Chicago. More than 220 people are arrested. There was the Cambridge rebellion in 1963 too. Cambridge was in Maryland in the Maryland section of the Eastern Shore. The Civil Rights movement in Cambridge was led by Gloria Richardson and SNCC against the pro-segregationist police and power structure. I have been to Cambridge before in real life. The movement wanted to end discrimination. The Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee (CNAC) is founded soon after these initial demonstrations to support and continue local protests as early as 1962. SNCC and the CNAC also want fair housing, equal employment opportunities, and desegregation of public accommodations. The power structure refuses to budge. On June 14, 1963, a protest happened. Later, businesses were burned. White and African American citizens exchange gunfire and then martial law was declared by Governor Tawes. Governor Tawes declared martial law and deployed the Maryland National Guard to Cambridge after the CNAC refuses a year-long moratorium on protests. The guardsmen remain in the town for a 25-day period, from June 14 through July 8. During the summer, both white and blacks exchange gunfire continuously and the Maryland National Guard occupied Cambridge. In 1964, rebellions grew. During the summer of 1964, they existed in New York City, Rochester (in New York State), Philadelphia, Elizabeth (in New Jersey), Paterson (in New Jersey), and Dixmoor (or a suburb in Chicago).
The common factor among all of these rebellions is that these locations are filled with people who were victims of many injustices (like police brutality, racism, housing discrimination, economic exploitation, de facto segregation, and educational issues). Many people in the rebellions were working class. Most of these rebellions took place during the Summer of 1964. During the Watts rebellion of 1965 in Los Angeles changed everything. It happened when the police in Watts arrested a black person. The person’s mother’s intervened and the rebellion happened. For years, black people in Los Angeles were oppressed by the police. African Americans since the 1950’s have complained about excessive force by the police and discriminatory practices. Restrictive covenant policies restricted African Americans, Latino Americans, and Asian Americans from receiving adequate housing of their choice. White racists in the early 1950’s bombed homes, fired homes, and burnt crosses on the homes of black Americans in Suasion Avenue. White gangs harassed black people in LA since the 1920’s. In August of 1965, the Watts rebellion happened. Homes were bombed. Stores were destroyed. The California Army National Guard arrested people. The military response was huge and some people used physical combat against the military. This was the beginning of some of the biggest urban unrest since the Civil War. Most of those involved in the rebellion had no criminal record. They were mostly working class human beings. Between 31,000 and 35,000 adults participated in the riots over the course of six days, while about 70,000 people were "sympathetic, but not active." Over the six days, there were 34 deaths, 1,032 injuries, 3,438 arrests, and over $40 million in property damage. In a 1966 essay, black civil rights activist Bayard Rustin stated: "The whole point of the outbreak in Watts was that it marked the first major rebellion of Negroes against their own masochism and was carried on with the express purpose of asserting that they would no longer quietly submit to the deprivation of slum life."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. immediately came into Watts to access the situation. He was booed by some black people. Dr. King said that the rebellion was part of the frustration of black Americans. While he condemned the violence, he recognized that something must be done to address the needs of the black residents of Watts. The McCone Commission report identified the root causes of the riots to be high unemployment, poor schools, and other inferior living conditions for African Americans in Watts. The McCone Commission called for “emergency literacy and preschool programs, improved police-community ties, increased low-income housing, more job-training projects, upgraded health-care services, more efficient public transportation, and many more." Most of these recommendations were not acted upon. In 1966, rebellions happened in Chicago, Omaha, Cleveland, Waukegan (in Illinois), Benton Harbor (in Michigan), in Atlanta, and in other places. The 1967 rebellions were large and it was called by the media as ‘long hot summers.’ The biggest of such rebellions happened in Detroit from July 23-29, 1967. It happened because of many reasons. A white racist gang killed Danny Thomas, who was a black Army veteran. Since the 1950’s, there has been massive white flight. Detroit is known for its racism spanning decades and centuries. The police raided an after-hours club in Detroit. The police claimed that the club was didn’t have a legal license. One cop slammed the window of a social club with a sledgehammer. Later, in a memoir, Walter Scott III, a doorman whose father was running the raided blind pig, took responsibility for starting the riot by inciting the crowd and throwing a bottle at a police officer. Then, the rebellion happened. It involved looting, sniper fire, burning of cars, and other actions. Local, state, and federal authorities were called. During these rebellions, police brutality was abundant too. Shortly before midnight on Monday, July 24, President Johnson authorized the use of federal troops in compliance with the Insurrection Act of 1807, which authorizes the President to call in armed forces to fight an insurrection in any state against the government. This gave Detroit the distinction of being the only domestic American city to have been occupied by federal troops three times. The U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division and 101st Airborne Division had earlier been positioned at nearby Selfridge Air Force Base in suburban Macomb County. Starting at 1:30 on Tuesday, July 25, some 8,000 Michigan Army National Guardsmen were deployed to quell the disorder. Later, their number would be augmented with 4,700 paratroopers from both the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions, and 360 Michigan State Police officers. The local police assaulted those they have arrested both blacks and whites. The Algiers Motel incident was when the police murdered innocent people. The economic damage and the human life loss were huge. Thousands of people were injured. Dozens in about 43 people died. Damaged ranged above $40 million. Almost 400 families were homeless. The events caused the Housing bill in the state level to be passed in Michigan. It caused an acceleration of white flight. After 1967, Detroit’s infrastructure started to rapidly decline because of loss of tax revenue, underfunding, and the deindustrialization. The scale of the riot was surpassed in the United States only by the 1863 New York City draft riots during the American Civil War and the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Detroit once had some of the highest growth of the black middle class in the nation. Detroit is resilient and today, Detroit has tons of real people doing great work. Many black nationalists like H. Rap Brown welcomed these rebellions as precursors to the revolution. Dr. King condemned the violence in the rebellions while understanding that riots are the voices of the unheard (and that you must do more than just condemn a riot. You have to understand what causes riots in order to find the solutions). 1967 saw rebellions in Cincinnati, Buffalo, Newark, Plainfield (in New Jersey), Cairo (in Illinois), Cambridge (in Maryland), Saginaw (in Michigan), and Milwaukee.
The 1968 Orangeburg Massacre in South Carolina involved the police killing innocent black demonstrators (who were protesting racial segregation in a bowling alley in Orangeburg, SC. Many of the protesters were students from South Carolina State University) in February 8, 1968. South Carolina State University is a HBCU or a Historically Black College or University. The state and local police officers fired guns on an unarmed group of black students. 3 students were killed and 27 people are wounded. It was an injustice by the police. In a state trial in 1970, the activist Cleveland Sellers was convicted of a charge of riot related to the events on February 6 at the bowling alley. He served seven months in state prison, getting time off for good behavior. He was the national program director of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In 1973 he wrote The River of No Return: The Autobiography of a Black Militant and the Life and Death of SNCC. Twenty-five years later, Sellers was officially pardoned by the governor of South Carolina. Cleveland Sellers was an innocent man who was oppressed by a racist regime in America. After the April 4, 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., rebellions happened in over 100 cities. Roy Wilkins and many moderate civil rights leaders wanted calm. Kwame Ture said that white America made a big mistake when Dr. King was murdered. Some people felt that nonviolence wouldn’t work to cause change. Johnson called Coretta Scott King to send condolences and to promote a sense of justice. Attorney General Ramsey Clark pushed the FBI to find the murderer. Troops and tanks were in the streets of Washington, D.C. Troops with machine guns were guarding the U.S. Capitol. This was the biggest insurrection since the Civil War. There were questions about whether the nation would survive. There were questions on whether people can come together. We, who live in this generation, are the answers to those questions. The truth is that the nation survived. The truth is that both nonviolence and self-defense are legitimate avenues of activism and hope should always be embraced by any oppressed people. The rebellions taught us that the voices of the oppressed must not only be heard, but respected. We are not naïve either. We have a long way to go. Imperialism, racism, police terrorism, sexism, xenophobia, and other forms of fascism still exist globally. Those evils must be eradicated completely. Compassion and empathy go a long way in fighting for justice. The movement continued and persisted.
By Timothy
Sunday, June 25, 2017
Saturday, June 24, 2017
US Senate health care bill guts Medicaid, slashes taxes for the wealthy
Friday, June 23, 2017
1963 and Civil Rights
1963 would be one of the most explosive and important years of the Civil Rights Movement. It would be the 100th year Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which was a policy that wanted to free slaves from Confederate territories. On January 14, Governor Wallace wanted to maintain segregation forever in his January 14, 1963 inaugural address. He wouldn’t get his wish as segregation is not only racist and immoral. Jim Crow segregation has been involved in the torture and murder of black people. Harvey Gantt was the first black person to be in Clemson on January 28, 1963 (in the state of South Carolina). In February, about 400 people would be arrested in Baltimore in seating in a whites only movie theater. Baltimore would soon change the policy. The Birmingham Campaign would exist in 1963 too. Birmingham was one of the most segregated cities of the South. It was filled with violence, racism, and police brutality. The civil rights leaders learned lessons from the Albany movement in order for the Birmingham Campaign to be successful. The SCLC, SNCC, and other groups were involved in the campaign. Wyatt Tee Walker formed a plan to try to desegregate Birmingham downtown merchants rather than total desegregation as it was in Albany. Eugene “Bull” Connor was a brutal person. He was the Commissioner of Public Safety. He was especially cruel towards black protesters and he instigated violence against black people too. Connor had great political power and lost a mayoral election to the less rabidly segregationist candidate. Connor wanted to stay in office and formed a political clash with the new mayor. The Birmingham campaign involved many tactics. They included sit-ins, kneel-ins at local churches, etc. People marched to the county building to mark the beginning of a drive to register voters. Men and women were jailed.
The city issued an injunction barring all such protests. Many people defied it as viewing the injunction as unconstitutional. The campaign defied it and prepared for mass arrests of its supporters. Many protesters were arrested including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 12, 1963. Dr. King wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” while he was in jail. He wrote his words on the margins of a newspaper. He did this, because he wasn’t allowed any writing paper while he was held in solitary confinement. He wanted to answer the moderate clergyman in Birmingham who didn’t want protests, didn’t want real change, and wanted people to wait for equality (which is ludicrous). Dr. King refuted them by saying that you don’t await for black people’s freedom and resistance against injustice in a radical way is legitimate. Supporters appealed to the Kennedy administration, which intervened to obtain King's release. King was allowed to call his wife, who was recuperating at home after the birth of their fourth child, and he was released early on April 19. James Bevel or the SCLC’s Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education wanted to train high school students to demonstrate. This was controversial as many civil rights activists opposed this plan. This plan was the Children’s Crusade. Dr. King reluctantly agreed to this action. The children came since it ran out of adult demonstrators to protest. On May 2, 1963, more than 1,000 students skipped school to meet at the 16th Street Baptist Church to join the demonstrations. More than six hundred marched out of the church fifty at a time in an attempt to walk to City Hall to speak to Birmingham's mayor about segregation. They were arrested and put into jail. In this first encounter the police acted with restraint. On the next day, however, another one thousand students gathered at the church. When Bevel started them marching fifty at a time, Bull Connor finally unleashed police dogs on them and then turned the city's fire hoses water streams on the children.
National television networks broadcast the scenes of the dogs attacking demonstrators and the water from the fire hoses knocking down the schoolchildren. This caused more outrage at how cowardly police officers would use dogs and water to attack black children. Widespread public outrage led the Kennedy administration to intervene more forcefully in negotiations between the white business community and the SCLC. White racists and many black conservatives opposed Dr. King during the Birmingham campaign. White racists didn’t want justice or freedom for black Americans. Both the racists and many black conservatives viewed Dr. King as a troublemaker and an outsider who would cause more problems. Racist whites didn’t want desegregation while conservative black people wanted Dr. King to leave and allow them work behind the scenes to solve the issue. Yet, direct action is necessary to make a solution beyond the racist intimidation of whites and conservatism of the black middle class. Sacrifices must be made for freedom. Malcolm X continued to oppose police brutality in Los Angeles in May of 1963 via a speech. On May 10, the parties announced an agreement to desegregate the lunch counters and other public accommodations in downtown Birmingham, to create a committee to eliminate discriminatory hiring practices, to arrange for the release of jailed protesters, and to establish regular means of communication between black and white leaders. The problem with the agreement was that it was too moderate and lacked a strong enforcement mechanism. Many in the black community opposed the agreement as being too compromising like Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth (whose home was bombed twice and he was beaten by white racists numerous times). He was skeptical about the good faith of Birmingham's power structure from his experience in dealing with them. Parts of the white community reacted violently, because they opposed the agreement. They bombed the Gaston Motel, which housed the SCLC's unofficial headquarters, and the home of King's brother, the Reverend A. D. King on May 11. In response, thousands of blacks used a rebellion. Some people burnt numerous buildings and one of them stabbed and wounded a police officer. Many black people used self-defense against white racists too. On May 20, the U.S. Supreme Court finds Birmingham and any other city segregation ordinance unconstitutional, thus making sit-ins legal. Kennedy prepared to federalize the Alabama National Guard if the need arose. Four months later, on September 15, 1963, a conspiracy of Ku Klux Klan members bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, killing four young girls. The killing of 4 innocent girls once again shown the cruelty of white racism.
The events of Birmingham caused protests in over 100 cities. The March on Washington inspired a nation. In late May of 1963, in the South side of Chicago, black people rebelled after a white police officer shot a fourteen year old black child, who was fleeing the scene of a robbery. Violent clashes between black activists and white workers took place in both Philadelphia and Harlem in successful efforts to integrate state construction projects. On June 6, over a thousand whites attacked a sit-in in Lexington, North Carolina; blacks fought back and one white man was killed. Edwin C. Berry of the National Urban League warned of a complete breakdown in race relations: "My message from the beer gardens and the barbershops all indicate the fact that the Negro is ready for war." In Cambridge, Maryland, a working‐class city on the Eastern Shore, Gloria Richardson of SNCC led a movement that pressed for desegregation but also demanded low‐rent public housing, job‐training, public and private jobs, and an end to police brutality. On June 1, 1963, African Americans Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were the first black students to graduate from the University of Georgia. They celebrated and people cheered. Hunter would be a doctor and a reporter. On June 11, struggles between blacks and whites in Cambridge, MD escalated into violent rioting, leading Maryland Governor J. Millard Tawes to declare martial law. When negotiations between Richardson and Maryland officials faltered, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy directly intervened to negotiate a desegregation agreement. Richardson felt that the increasing participation of poor and working-class black people was expanding both the power and parameters of the movement, asserting that "the people as a whole really do have more intelligence than a few of their leaders.ʺ Gloria Richardson would be involved in protests and sit-ins in order to desegregate schools and hospitals in Cambridge, Maryland. John F. Kennedy was very moderate in his Presidency on civil rights. He didn’t want militant demonstrations.
Robert Kennedy on May 24, 1963 had a meeting with black intellectuals from Lorraine Hansberry to James Baldwin on racial issues. Black people criticized Robert Kennedy and the Kennedy administration for not going far enough on civil rights. Both sides didn’t compromise. Nonetheless, the Kennedys ultimately decided that new legislation for equal public accommodations was essential to drive activists "into the courts and out of the streets." The problem with this assumption is that any successful revolution used both the courts and the streets, not just the courts alone. Using the streets is a legitimate instrument of social change. To Robert Kennedy’s credit, he would change by the late 1960’s to be more militant and a powerful voice on issues of race and class. On June 11, 1963, George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, tried to block the integration of the University of Alabama. President John F. Kennedy sent a military force to make Governor Wallace step aside, allowing the enrollment of Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood. That evening, President Kennedy addressed the nation on TV and radio with his historic civil rights speech, where he lamented "a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety." He called on Congress to pass new civil rights legislation, and urged the country to embrace civil rights as "a moral issue...in our daily lives." In the early hours of June 12, 1963 Medgar Evers, field secretary of the Mississippi NAACP, was assassinated by a member of the Klan. The next week, as promised, on June 19, 1963, President Kennedy submitted his Civil Rights bill to Congress. James Meredith graduated on August 18, 1963. He graduated from the University of Mississippi. By the late 1963, Chicago in about 220,000 protested de facto segregation in schools back in October 22, 1963. Malcolm X gave his famous A Message to the Grassroots speech in Detroit on November 1963. JFK was assassinated in 1963 and a new chapter began. JFK’s unjust assassination made people aware bout the brutality of murder and Dr. King reflected on his mortality too. The Civil Rights Movement became more militant by 1963.
By Timothy
The city issued an injunction barring all such protests. Many people defied it as viewing the injunction as unconstitutional. The campaign defied it and prepared for mass arrests of its supporters. Many protesters were arrested including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 12, 1963. Dr. King wrote his famous “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” while he was in jail. He wrote his words on the margins of a newspaper. He did this, because he wasn’t allowed any writing paper while he was held in solitary confinement. He wanted to answer the moderate clergyman in Birmingham who didn’t want protests, didn’t want real change, and wanted people to wait for equality (which is ludicrous). Dr. King refuted them by saying that you don’t await for black people’s freedom and resistance against injustice in a radical way is legitimate. Supporters appealed to the Kennedy administration, which intervened to obtain King's release. King was allowed to call his wife, who was recuperating at home after the birth of their fourth child, and he was released early on April 19. James Bevel or the SCLC’s Director of Direct Action and Director of Nonviolent Education wanted to train high school students to demonstrate. This was controversial as many civil rights activists opposed this plan. This plan was the Children’s Crusade. Dr. King reluctantly agreed to this action. The children came since it ran out of adult demonstrators to protest. On May 2, 1963, more than 1,000 students skipped school to meet at the 16th Street Baptist Church to join the demonstrations. More than six hundred marched out of the church fifty at a time in an attempt to walk to City Hall to speak to Birmingham's mayor about segregation. They were arrested and put into jail. In this first encounter the police acted with restraint. On the next day, however, another one thousand students gathered at the church. When Bevel started them marching fifty at a time, Bull Connor finally unleashed police dogs on them and then turned the city's fire hoses water streams on the children.
National television networks broadcast the scenes of the dogs attacking demonstrators and the water from the fire hoses knocking down the schoolchildren. This caused more outrage at how cowardly police officers would use dogs and water to attack black children. Widespread public outrage led the Kennedy administration to intervene more forcefully in negotiations between the white business community and the SCLC. White racists and many black conservatives opposed Dr. King during the Birmingham campaign. White racists didn’t want justice or freedom for black Americans. Both the racists and many black conservatives viewed Dr. King as a troublemaker and an outsider who would cause more problems. Racist whites didn’t want desegregation while conservative black people wanted Dr. King to leave and allow them work behind the scenes to solve the issue. Yet, direct action is necessary to make a solution beyond the racist intimidation of whites and conservatism of the black middle class. Sacrifices must be made for freedom. Malcolm X continued to oppose police brutality in Los Angeles in May of 1963 via a speech. On May 10, the parties announced an agreement to desegregate the lunch counters and other public accommodations in downtown Birmingham, to create a committee to eliminate discriminatory hiring practices, to arrange for the release of jailed protesters, and to establish regular means of communication between black and white leaders. The problem with the agreement was that it was too moderate and lacked a strong enforcement mechanism. Many in the black community opposed the agreement as being too compromising like Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth (whose home was bombed twice and he was beaten by white racists numerous times). He was skeptical about the good faith of Birmingham's power structure from his experience in dealing with them. Parts of the white community reacted violently, because they opposed the agreement. They bombed the Gaston Motel, which housed the SCLC's unofficial headquarters, and the home of King's brother, the Reverend A. D. King on May 11. In response, thousands of blacks used a rebellion. Some people burnt numerous buildings and one of them stabbed and wounded a police officer. Many black people used self-defense against white racists too. On May 20, the U.S. Supreme Court finds Birmingham and any other city segregation ordinance unconstitutional, thus making sit-ins legal. Kennedy prepared to federalize the Alabama National Guard if the need arose. Four months later, on September 15, 1963, a conspiracy of Ku Klux Klan members bombed the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, killing four young girls. The killing of 4 innocent girls once again shown the cruelty of white racism.
The events of Birmingham caused protests in over 100 cities. The March on Washington inspired a nation. In late May of 1963, in the South side of Chicago, black people rebelled after a white police officer shot a fourteen year old black child, who was fleeing the scene of a robbery. Violent clashes between black activists and white workers took place in both Philadelphia and Harlem in successful efforts to integrate state construction projects. On June 6, over a thousand whites attacked a sit-in in Lexington, North Carolina; blacks fought back and one white man was killed. Edwin C. Berry of the National Urban League warned of a complete breakdown in race relations: "My message from the beer gardens and the barbershops all indicate the fact that the Negro is ready for war." In Cambridge, Maryland, a working‐class city on the Eastern Shore, Gloria Richardson of SNCC led a movement that pressed for desegregation but also demanded low‐rent public housing, job‐training, public and private jobs, and an end to police brutality. On June 1, 1963, African Americans Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes were the first black students to graduate from the University of Georgia. They celebrated and people cheered. Hunter would be a doctor and a reporter. On June 11, struggles between blacks and whites in Cambridge, MD escalated into violent rioting, leading Maryland Governor J. Millard Tawes to declare martial law. When negotiations between Richardson and Maryland officials faltered, Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy directly intervened to negotiate a desegregation agreement. Richardson felt that the increasing participation of poor and working-class black people was expanding both the power and parameters of the movement, asserting that "the people as a whole really do have more intelligence than a few of their leaders.ʺ Gloria Richardson would be involved in protests and sit-ins in order to desegregate schools and hospitals in Cambridge, Maryland. John F. Kennedy was very moderate in his Presidency on civil rights. He didn’t want militant demonstrations.
Robert Kennedy on May 24, 1963 had a meeting with black intellectuals from Lorraine Hansberry to James Baldwin on racial issues. Black people criticized Robert Kennedy and the Kennedy administration for not going far enough on civil rights. Both sides didn’t compromise. Nonetheless, the Kennedys ultimately decided that new legislation for equal public accommodations was essential to drive activists "into the courts and out of the streets." The problem with this assumption is that any successful revolution used both the courts and the streets, not just the courts alone. Using the streets is a legitimate instrument of social change. To Robert Kennedy’s credit, he would change by the late 1960’s to be more militant and a powerful voice on issues of race and class. On June 11, 1963, George Wallace, Governor of Alabama, tried to block the integration of the University of Alabama. President John F. Kennedy sent a military force to make Governor Wallace step aside, allowing the enrollment of Vivian Malone Jones and James Hood. That evening, President Kennedy addressed the nation on TV and radio with his historic civil rights speech, where he lamented "a rising tide of discontent that threatens the public safety." He called on Congress to pass new civil rights legislation, and urged the country to embrace civil rights as "a moral issue...in our daily lives." In the early hours of June 12, 1963 Medgar Evers, field secretary of the Mississippi NAACP, was assassinated by a member of the Klan. The next week, as promised, on June 19, 1963, President Kennedy submitted his Civil Rights bill to Congress. James Meredith graduated on August 18, 1963. He graduated from the University of Mississippi. By the late 1963, Chicago in about 220,000 protested de facto segregation in schools back in October 22, 1963. Malcolm X gave his famous A Message to the Grassroots speech in Detroit on November 1963. JFK was assassinated in 1963 and a new chapter began. JFK’s unjust assassination made people aware bout the brutality of murder and Dr. King reflected on his mortality too. The Civil Rights Movement became more militant by 1963.
By Timothy
Thursday, June 22, 2017
The Trump's health care bill as a disgrace
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/6/22/15854614/senate-gop-health-bill-poor-pay-more
https://thinkprogress.org/senate-health-care-medicaid-essential-health-benefits-16d4adbe9ba6
https://thinkprogress.org/extremists-got-to-decide-medicaid-policy-adb158393d21
https://thinkprogress.org/tagged/healthcare
https://thinkprogress.org/senate-health-care-medicaid-essential-health-benefits-16d4adbe9ba6
https://thinkprogress.org/extremists-got-to-decide-medicaid-policy-adb158393d21
https://thinkprogress.org/tagged/healthcare
Wednesday, June 21, 2017
Important Facts.
It's totally despicable actions by the cops. They murdered a pregnant black woman in Seattle. The cops could have easily left the location and called mental health experts to assist the woman. They can get relatives to the house. They can also even use non-lethal methods to deal with the situation. Yet, they killed her first and asked questions later. That is the tragedy. There are many stories where white people aimed shotguns at the police and the police do not kill that white person. Charleena Lyles wanted to allow the police to deal with a burglary and she was a victim of being killed in a sick fashion. The system for centuries in America not only have laws that were oppressive and discriminatory. The state has actually used those unjust laws to execute oppression against black people (from the 3/5s clause to the covenant policies in the Midwest and the West). The Sister deserved much more respect than this. The family of the woman is angry and want answers as they should. It is a known fact that Seattle is filled with economic inequality and racism. This is another story about how a black woman was oppressed by evil cowards. I know much of the black heroes in Seattle who fought for civil rights and against police brutality too. We aren't naive. This is a situation where we are at war against police and oligarchical tyranny. DOJ has mentioned Seattle (who is shown as a "progressive" bastion) has having a serious problem in their police department over racial intolerance and corrupt policies. Massive racism and ableism (i.e. bigotry against those with mental health issues and those with any disabilities) exist in Seattle and nationwide. We have no choice, but to resist this tyranny. The current system must be eradicated and replaced with a progressive system filled with justice and true freedom.
Rest in Power Sister Charleena Lyles.
Black Lives Matter
To racists and reactionaries, it is taboo for black people to express legitimate outrage and anger at anti-black murder. Many people are absolutely right that innocent black people are not only murdered, but many pro-cop fanatics scrutinize the victim more than the cop terrorist who inflicted murder against innocent black human lives. The victims' families are always told to unconditionally forgive the brute brutalizing their relatives (within the realm of respectability politics). As black people, we not only know the history of America. We are the victims of American hypocrisy and American oppression. The same person who wrote the Declaration of Independence was a slaveowner and a hypocritical barbarian. Jim Crow was not only evil and filled with discrimination, racism, and lycnhing. It was executed by the state governments for real in order to deny black Americans inherit freedoms. As others have mentioned countless times before, the system is not broken per se. The system, as it is, has been doing its job to oppress black people since the origins of the modern American nation. A system that maintains the myth of police infallibility and oppression is no system that we respect. Valerie Castile has every right to express her frustration and anger at a disgraceful verdict and a cruel judicial system. As other great people have stated, we have to end misogynoir and defend the human rights of black people in general.
RIP Philando Castile.
Black Lives Matter.
The crisis in Central High School (in Little Rock) was about debates in dealing with education. State and local governments in the South promoted segregated schools and the federal government had little involvement. Many schools refused to enforce the Brown decision back then during the late 1950’s. So, conflicts arose. The 1957 Little Rock crisis in Arkansas changed America forever. The situation started when the Little Rock school board had formed a plan to gradually desegregate its schools. It wanted to start with the Central High School. Nine African American schools volunteered to enroll. They were supported by Daisy Bates and these students had excellent grades. Later, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus said that he opposed integration and called out the state National Guard from Arkansas on September 4, 1957. When the nine students came at Central High, the soldiers from the state National Guard blocked their way. One of the nine was Elizabeth Eckford. She said that white racists wanted to lynch her in screaming. Eckford was spat upon by a white racist woman. On the first day, the Little Rock Nine didn’t go into the school. Elizabeth Eckford was brave and this story was shown in the London Times, the Times of India, and the South China Morning Post. Television coverage was shown of these events too. President Eisenhower before this time didn’t provide great leadership on the civil rights movement. He wanted the status quo. He didn’t urge rapid enforcement of the Brown decision. In private, he criticized the Brown decision. It was when the Governor Faubus resisted the will of the federal courts is when he acted. Eisenhower sent federal troops (from the 101st Airborne Division) to Little Rock to protect the students and to enforce the Court’s decision.
This was the first time since Reconstruction that a President of the United States sent federal troops to the South to protect the rights of black citizens. He gave his federal address on TV to enforce federal law. For the whole school year, federal troops stayed in Little Rock. They escorted the nine black students to and from Central High. They protected them on the school ground. Many of the students still experienced harassment and violence from racist students. They had to pass through a gauntlet of spitting, jeering whites to arrive at school on their first day, and to put up with harassment from other students for the rest of the year. Although federal troops escorted the students between classes, the students were teased and even attacked by white students when the soldiers were not around. One of the Little Rock Nine, Minnijean Brown, was suspended for six days in December 1957 for dropping her tray, on which she had a bowl of chili, on the floor and splashing two white boys, after several chairs had been pushed in her way, withdrawn, and then pushed in her way again, in the cafeteria. Later, in February 1958, a group of girls threw a purse filled with combination locks at Minniejean. She responded by calling the girls "white trash" and she was immediately expelled. That expulsion was unjust. Minnijean Brown-Trickey continues to fight for civil rights and human rights to this very day. Ernest Green was a senior and was the first African American to graduate from Central High School. Southern politicians still found slick ways to not comply with the Brown decision. The journey for freedom continued.
There is news of a U.S. plane shooting down a Syrian aircraft. This is the first time this has happened since the days of Kosovo during the 1990's. Later, Russia withdrew collaboration with the U.S. on dealing with the Syrian crisis. Russian Defense Ministry says this is an “act of aggression” or an act of war in other words. In the middle of April, Donald Trump gave his generals “total authority” to conduct military strikes in Syria without his approval. Also, Russia says that they will treat U.S. military aircraft as targets if they travel to the west of the Euphrates River. This is the world that Trump has created. Trump is a militarist. Trump's irresponsible foreign policy actions are outright dangerous. On a sad note, the rapper Brother Prodigy (Albert Johnson) passed away recently of sickle cell anemia today. He was 42 years old. It's shocking news. That is a serious illness in the African American community. Since I was a kid, I knew about it. Many of our people deal with it all of the time. He was born in Long Island and was raised in Queens. He is known for his lyricism. I send prayers and condolences to his family and friends. Of course, I don't agree with some of the language that some rappers use, but during this time, we all send heartfelt condolences to his relatives and his children. This is a time to honor the value of human life and to send respect to a Brother who recently passed away.
RIP Brother Prodigy.
By Timothy
News
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/jun/13/healthcare-gap-how-can-a-child-die-of-toothache-in-the-us
http://www.velocity.net/~edju70/PForum/BkRev1.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Tribune
http://shareblue.com/white-house-says-diabetics-dont-deserve-health-insurance/
http://blackdoctor.org/514564/monica-recovers-from-8-hour-surgery-count-it-all-joy/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chad-copley-kouren-thomas-shooting_us_57ab45e2e4b06e52746e8fa4
http://www.velocity.net/~edju70/PForum/BkRev1.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_Tribune
http://shareblue.com/white-house-says-diabetics-dont-deserve-health-insurance/
http://blackdoctor.org/514564/monica-recovers-from-8-hour-surgery-count-it-all-joy/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chad-copley-kouren-thomas-shooting_us_57ab45e2e4b06e52746e8fa4
Tuesday, June 20, 2017
Culture
http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/black-women-are-changing-pro-basketball
http://nbahoopsonline.com/Players/LusiaHarris.html
http://aas.olemiss.edu/documenting-the-african-american-experience-at-um/timeline-of-african-american-experience-at-um-1970s/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/389561436493987947/
https://www.typewolf.com/blog/most-popular-fonts-of-the-year
http://kentakepage.com/ora-mae-washington-the-forgotten-queen-of-tennis/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/316237205055094569/
https://www.pinterest.com/bwarden32/female-athletes/?lp=true
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19358:The-Whole-Bushel%3A-Free-Fall
http://harlemworldmag.com/the-harlem-chics-and-the-harlem-queens-basketball-team-1958-1960/
Monday, June 19, 2017
News
http://www.blackfives.org/players/tarzan-cooper/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/102245854014184523/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/419327415295167595/
https://twitter.com/CultPerfectMoms/status/876676350341300224?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2017/06/19/fake-left-and-fake-right-msm-says-nothing-about-potential-ww-iii-inciting-event/
http://www.kolumnmagazine.com/2017/03/20/lifetime-life-ruby-dee-ossie-davis-ebony/
http://www.blackfives.org/new-york-rens/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/102245854014184523/
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/419327415295167595/
https://twitter.com/CultPerfectMoms/status/876676350341300224?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
https://willyloman.wordpress.com/2017/06/19/fake-left-and-fake-right-msm-says-nothing-about-potential-ww-iii-inciting-event/
http://www.kolumnmagazine.com/2017/03/20/lifetime-life-ruby-dee-ossie-davis-ebony/
http://www.blackfives.org/new-york-rens/
More News about Consciousness
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_strikes#1970s
http://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/brief-history-slavery-and-origins-american-policing
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/philando-castile-no-justice_us_59444c46e4b0f15cd5bb6415?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/kaepernick-compares-modern-cops-to-runaway-slave-patrol-after-castile-verdict/?ftag=SPM-05-10abb2i&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=5946b9c604d30148aecdf385&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/08/22/priority-roman-times-salt-worth-weight-gold-soldiers-sometimes-paid-salt-hence-word-salary/
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19336:Ignoring-Humanitarian-Pleas%2C-Senate-OKs-Saudi-Weapons-Sale
http://plsonline.eku.edu/insidelook/brief-history-slavery-and-origins-american-policing
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/philando-castile-no-justice_us_59444c46e4b0f15cd5bb6415?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/kaepernick-compares-modern-cops-to-runaway-slave-patrol-after-castile-verdict/?ftag=SPM-05-10abb2i&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_content=5946b9c604d30148aecdf385&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/08/22/priority-roman-times-salt-worth-weight-gold-soldiers-sometimes-paid-salt-hence-word-salary/
http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19336:Ignoring-Humanitarian-Pleas%2C-Senate-OKs-Saudi-Weapons-Sale
Important Civil Rights History.
Robert F. Williams was a heroic Brother who not only stood up for self-defense in the South. He inspired many movements from the Black Panthers to SNCC. Back then (during the late 1950’s), Jim Crow was not only harsh, but murderous. Many people were murdered, raped, homes bombed, etc. as a product of the acts from pro-Jim Crow white racist terrorists. In many cases, the Klan worked with the local police in open collaborations to oppress black citizens. The violence of the Klan harmed many efforts of Civil Rights activists. Therefore, many black organizations (in the South) started to use armed self-defense to protect themselves, their families, and their communities. Self-defense is a human right. Robert F. Williams of the North Carolina chapter of the NAACP started to promote self-defense during the late 1950’s. He rebuilt the NAACP chapter after the Klan terrorized black people in North Carolina. He wanted a newer, working class membership to be armed and defend themselves against attackers. When Klan nightriders attacked the home of NAACP member Dr. Albert Perry in October, Williams’ militia exchanged gunfire with the stunned Klansmen. The Klansmen retreated. During the next day, the city council held an emergency session. They passed an ordinance banning KKK motorcades. Later, the Lumbee Native Americans in 1958 successful led an armed standoff against the Klan (i.e. the Battle of Hayes Pond). This caused Klan leader James W. “Catfish” Cole to be convicted of incitement to riot. Many white men sexually raped black women in Monroe, NC. The white men were acquitted. This caused Williams to say in the United Press International that he would “meet violence with violence" as a policy. Williams' declaration was quoted on the front page of The New York Times, and The Carolina Times considered it "the biggest civil rights story of 1959." NAACP National chairman Roy Wilkins immediately suspended Williams from his position, but the Monroe organizer won support from numerous NAACP chapters across the country. Later, Wilkins was so wrong that he caused a campaign to fight against Williams. The suspension was upheld. The NAACP convention nonetheless passed a resolution which stated: "We do not deny, but reaffirm the right of individual and collective self-defense against unlawful assaults." Martin Luther King Jr. argued for Williams' removal, but Ella Baker and WEB Dubois both publicly praised the Monroe leader's position. Robert F. Williams and his wife Mabel Williams continued to fight for justice in the Monroe movement. They became national heroes. Both Williamses published “The Crusader” which was a nationally circulated newsletter starting in 1960. Robert F. Williams wrote the influential book entitled, “Negroes With Guns” in 1962. In that book, he called for “flexibility in the freedom struggle” and self-defense. He knew of legal tactics. He worked to defend a black child in the Kissing Case of 1958 and he supported lunch counter sit-ins in Monroe back in the day too. He believed in self-defense as a complementary tactics along with nonviolence. He supported the Freedom Rides. SNCC leaders Ella Baker and James Forman invited him to participate. He campaigned for peace with Cuba. The FBI targeted him and falsely accused him of kidnapping as he was cleared of all charges in 1976. Meanwhile, armed self-defense continued discreetly in the Southern movement with such figures as SNCC's Amzie Moore, Hartman Turnbow, and Fannie Lou Hamer all willing to use arms to defend their lives from nightriders. Taking refuge from the FBI in Cuba, the Williamses broadcast the radio show "Radio Free Dixie" throughout the eastern United States via Radio Progresso beginning in 1962. During this period, Williams advocated guerilla warfare against racist institutions, and saw the large ghetto rebellions of the era as a manifestation of his strategy. University of North Carolina historian Walter Rucker has written that "the emergence of Robert F Williams contributed to the marked decline in anti-black racial violence in the US…After centuries of anti-black violence, African-Americans across the country began to defend their communities aggressively – employing overt force when necessary. This in turn evoked in whites real fear of black vengeance…" This opened up space for African-Americans to use nonviolent demonstration with less fear of deadly reprisal. Of the many civil rights activists who share this view, the most prominent was Rosa Parks. Parks gave the eulogy at Williams' funeral in 1996, praising him for "his courage and for his commitment to freedom," and concluding that "The sacrifices he made, and what he did, should go down in history and never be forgotten."
Rest in Power Brother Robert F. Williams.
The Freedom Rides took place in 1961. They represented a transitional phrase of the Civil Rights Movement. These rides wanted to enforce existing law that stated that it was legal to integrate interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States. The Supreme Court in 1960 from Boynton v. Virginia made it clear that segregation was unconstitutional for passengers engaged in interstate travel. It was organized by CORE. Also, many CORE members did something similar back during the 1940’s. The first Freedom Ride of the 1960’s existed on May 4, 1961. They left Washington, D.C. and were scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17. This was an execution of social activism beyond using the court system to fight for justice. The Freedom Rides were made up of black and white people who wanted to travel into the Deep South to also integrate seating patterns on buses and desegregate bus terminals. They wanted to desegregate restrooms and water fountains. This was a dangerous journey, but the Freedom Riders were courageous in their deeds. When the Freedom Riders came into Anniston, Alabama, one bus was firebombed. Passengers escaped the bus to save their lives. In Birmingham, Alabama, an FBI informant reported that Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor gave Ku Klux Klan members fifteen minutes to attack an incoming group of freedom riders before having police "protect" them. The riders were severely beaten and it was a totally horrible experience. James Peck, a white activist, was beaten so badly that he required fifty stitches to his head. White racists executed violence against Freedom Riders again in Montgomery, Alabama. The Freedom Riders followed in the footsteps of Rosa Parks and rode in an integrated Greyhound bus from Birmingham. They were protesting interstate bus segregation in peace. Still, they experience violence by a white mob in Montgomery. The large, white mob attacked them since they used activism to fight for justice. They caused an enormous, 2-hour long riot which resulted in 22 injuries, five of whom were hospitalized. This violence in Anniston and Birmingham temporarily stopped the rides. Yet, SNCC activists from Nashville like Diane Nash brought in new riders to continue the journey from Birmingham to New Orleans. In Montgomery, Alabama, at the Greyhound Bus Station, a mob charged another bus load of riders, knocking John Lewis unconscious with a crate and smashing Life photographer Don Urbrock in the face with his own camera. A dozen men surrounded James Zwerg, a white student from Fisk University, and beat him in the face with a suitcase, knocking out his teeth. By May 24, 1961, the Freedom Rides rode into Jackson, Mississippi. They were arrested for “breaching the peace" by using "white only" facilities. New freedom rides were organized by many different organizations and continued to flow into the South. As riders arrived in Jackson, they were arrested. By the end of summer, more than 300 had been jailed in Mississippi. Many of the Freedom Rides suffered harsh conditions in jail. Some male prisoners were forced to do hard labor in 100 degree heat. The cells were filthy. Some were transferred to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Some of the men were beaten. Some were suspended by wrist breakers from the walls. Many of them couldn’t breathe by the cells shut tight on hot days. The Kennedy administration was so disgraceful during this time that some of them were openly hostile to the Freedom Rides. They compromised with the racist Southerners by saying that the Freedom Rides would travel and do nothing when the Riders were arrested. Support for the Freedom Riders grew. Pressure caused the Kennedy administration to order the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to issue a new desegregation order. When the new ICC rule took effect on November 1, 1961, passengers were permitted to sit wherever they chose on the bus; "white" and "colored" signs came down in the terminals; separate drinking fountains, toilets, and waiting rooms were consolidated; and lunch counters began serving people regardless of skin color. The student movement involved such celebrated figures as John Lewis, a single-minded activist; James Lawson, the revered "guru" of nonviolent theory and tactics; Diane Nash, an articulate and intrepid public champion of justice; Bob Moses, pioneer of voting registration in Mississippi; and James Bevel, a fiery preacher and charismatic organizer, strategist, and facilitator. Other prominent student activists included Charles McDew, Bernard Lafayette, Charles Jones, Lonnie King, Julian Bond, Hosea Williams, and Kwame Ture. After the Freedom Rides, the young people of the Civil Rights Movement developed their own independence and their own unique personalities politically.
The 1963 March on Washington, D.C. was one of the most important parts of the Civil Rights Movement. It was a march for jobs and freedom. It was a march that had people of many races to fight for civil and economic rights. It started by a long history. A. Philip Randolph had a dream to march on Washington for black people working in integrated industrial jobs back in the 1940’s. By 1961, he and Bayard Rustin including others would plan for the March on Washington during the 1960’s. Both men would form a wide ranging alliance of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations to come together in order to advance justice. During the 1960’s, Jim Crow laws were very pervasive in the South and in parts of the Midwest. Discrimination existed. Police brutality and economic exploitation were in epidemic levels. Black people feared for their lives literally because of racist terrorism in America. There was a Prayer pilgrimage for Freedom march held on May 17, 1957 in the Lincoln Memorial to promote equality. Now, times have changed. 1863 was the 100th year anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. People from the NAACP, the SCLC, SNCC, the Urban League, CORE, etc. put their differences aside to unite in the March on Washington movement. Violent confrontations broke out in the South: in Cambridge, Maryland; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Goldsboro, North Carolina; Somerville, Tennessee; Saint Augustine, Florida; and across Mississippi. Most of these incidents involved white people retaliating against nonviolent demonstrators. Some people (who supported the March on Washington) wanted total civil disobedience in D.C., some wanted to focus nationwide on issues, some wanted speeches, and everyone was interested in the movement. During this time, JFK was criticized by many black leaders as not going far enough on civil rights. Rustin and Randolph planned for the march as early as December 1961. Union leaders joined. By May of 1963, Randolph called for the March officially. In June 1963, six men met in NYC to get funds and messaging for the movement. They were A. Philip Randolph, Dr. King, Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, Whitney Young, and James Farmer. Some didn’t want Rustin to lead the march, because he was a former Communist (ironically, he would be very anti-Communist before he passed away) and he was a homosexual, but the Big Six allowed him to lead as a massive organizer. With Randolph concentrating on building the march's political coalition, Rustin built and led the team of two hundred activists and organizers who publicized the march and recruited the marchers, coordinated the buses and trains, provided the marshals, and set up and administered all of the logistic details of a mass march in the nation's capital. President Kennedy met the Big Six in June 22, 1963. He initially didn’t want the March on Washington for fear of violence and reducing the chance of the Civil Rights bill to be passed. Yet, Dr. King wouldn’t back down and JFK reluctantly supported the march. The catch was that Kennedy issued a program to close liquor stores and do other silly actions in preparation for the March. Rustin and other planners issued a button, phone, and advertising campaign to get people to go into Washington, D.C. The goals of the March were clear. They wanted strong civil rights legislation, an end to segregation, a public works job program, a higher minimum wage, labor rights, ending police brutality, and an end to discrimination. Many of the haters like Hoover and the hypocrite Strom Thurmond slandered the March as Communist inspired, but people from across political spectrum were in the movement. People arrived by the thousands from road, rail, and air to Washington. D.C on August 28, 1963. The March was a large success. It inspired the Civil Rights Movement. It inspired the Civil Rights Act to be passed by Congress. There were controversies though. Malcolm X was in D.C. He accused the March of being co-opted by white establishment figures (especially liberal establishment figures) in order to pacify the black freedom movement. He called it the “farce on Washington.” John Lewis was censored in some of his speech that was to really criticize the Kennedy administration. John Lewis refused to do so at first, but A. Philip Randolph told him that he waited his whole life for this moment. He censored it out of respect that he had for Randolph. James Baldwin didn’t speak as he was prevented to do so, because of his political views. Also, the March prevented many women from speaking. Anna Harold Hedgeman tried to stop this, but even some members of the movement were stone cold sexists. Daisy Bates and Josephine Baker spoke. Gloria Richardson had her microphone taken away from her when she said “hello”. Rosa Parks and Lena Horne were prevented to speak too, which is disgraceful. Mahalia Jackson sang music including Marian Anderson. Celebrities from Sidney Poitier to Jackie Robinson including Bill Russell were there. Roy Wilkins gave condolences to the recent passing of WEB DuBois. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech outlined his views. It wasn’t just about hope. It was a speech that criticized American society filled with discrimination, racism, voting rights deprivation, and police brutality. It was a call for progressive change in America. President Kennedy praised the march and met with the leaders afterwards. The March on Washington gave new life to the Civil Rights Movement. It was a time of hope. Estimates of the number of participants varied from 200,000 to 300,000 people. The most widely cited estimate of the amount of people in the march is 250,000 people. Observers estimated that 75–80% of the marchers were black. The march was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history. The same goals of the March on Washington are the same goals that we are fighting to this very day. Legal advances since then have been made, but we have a very long way to go in terms of economic issues (from poverty, lax wage, housing, educational issues, and economic inequality) in our communities. The March is a reminder of what the future can be.
By the end of the 1960’s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other heroic activists fought for the Poor Peoples Campaign and for the Memphis sanitation striking movement. The Poor Peoples Campaign started in 1967. It was about a multiracial coalition (made up of African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, poor whites, etc.) that wanted to march to Washington, D.C. to desire the federal government to send billions of dollars to abolish poverty in American society. It wanted an economic bill of rights, economic rights for poor Americans, a guaranteed annual income, adequate housing, and a commitment to full employment. Dr. King said that the Vietnam War neglected the needs of the poor and that war harmed the vision of the Great Society. Welfare rights activists and Marian Wright Edelman contributed heavily to the Poor People’s Campaign. Dr. King also wanted civil disobedience, if necessary work stoppages, to fight injustices. The movement publicly announced the Poor People’s Campaign in during early December 1967. Not everyone in the SCLC agreed with this. Jesse Jackson wanted other priorities. Rustin opposed civil disobedience. Yet, Dr. King continued with the plans. He wanted people to arrive in Washington, D.C. by May 2, 1968. The SCLC announced the campaign on December 4, 1967. King delivered a speech which identified "a kind of social insanity which could lead to national ruin." In January 1968, the SCLC created and distributed an "Economic Fact Sheet" with statistics explaining why the campaign was necessary. King avoided providing specific details about the campaign initially and attempted to redirect media attention to the values at stake. The Poor People’s Campaign held firm to the movement’s commitment to non-violence. “We are custodians of the philosophy of non-violence,” said King at a press conference. “And it has worked.” King originally wanted the Poor People's Campaign to start in Quitman County, Mississippi because of the intense and visible economic disparity there. In February 1968, King announced specific demands: $30 billion for antipoverty, full employment, guaranteed income, and the annual construction of 500,000 affordable residences. Dr. King visited Marks, Mississippi to see starving black children, and poverty in a vicious way. The FBI wanted to disrupt and monitor the campaign,because they oppose Dr. King's progressive views. Nixon didn’t want the demands to exist. Dr. King courageously moved forward. While this was going on, the Memphis sanitation strike continued. For a long time, Memphis was a victim of racism and economic discrimination. Some of the worst anti-black violence in American history took place in Memphis (like the 1866 anti-black riot in Memphis). By the 1960’s, the conservative mayor Henry Loeb refused to promote public unions. Black workers faced discrimination, lax wages, and horrible conditions in various jobs. Thomas Oliver tried to form a local union. He was restricted to do so. By February 1, 1968, 2 black sanitation workers were killed by a city truck for trying to escape the rain. This changed everything. A strike soon existed. Maxine Smith, T.O. Jones, James Lawson, Bill Lucy, and so many people joined forces to fight for their human rights. The strike lasted for over 2 months. Cornelia Crenshaw and other people were leaders in the Memphis sanitation workers movement too. The more anti-nonviolence Invaders wanted to join and they did. They disagreed with many of the nonviolent activists (like Rev. James Lawson), but they desired the same goal which is justice for the striking workers.
Rev. James Lawson was a pacifist and a minister who was totally committed. Many of the strikers wore “I Am a Man” posters to show the word that they are men. The police used police brutality against protesters. Dr. Martin Luther King came into Memphis on March 18, 1968. Many of his allies didn’t want him to go, but he did since if the strike is successful, the Poor People’s Campaign would be successful in his mind. A snowstorm prevented another march. The march came on March 28, 1968. We know now that provocateurs caused violence and the violence by the police existed too. Dr. King and others left. People were maced and filled with tear gas. The media in many cases falsely blamed Dr. King for the chaos and Dr. King vowed to do another march. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was told to go to Mason Church to speak on April 3, 1968. He was tired, but the crowd was waiting for him. He came into the Church to give his famous “I Have Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It was a great speech and he moved the crowd. One day later, he was assassinated at 6 pm. on April 4, 1968. Rebellions happened in over 100 U.S. cities and the strike would end on April 16, 1968, which caused an agreement to be reached. The striking workers celebrated and a new era would exist. Future actions of workers would be successful in Charleston, South Carolina by 1969 (of hospital workers) and in Atlanta by 1970. The Poor People’s Campaign continued in June 1968. It was a failure (as Congress refused to send strong legislation), but it raised awareness on the problems of poverty and economic exploitation. Programs that helped the poor were further created. Resurrection City was the encampment in D.C. that provided awareness of poverty during the Poor Peoples Campaign. It soon ended when government authorities shut the camp down. People were forced to leave the Washington Mall. Ralph Abernathy led the Poor Peoples Campaign after Dr. King was assassinated. The Poor Peoples Campaign represented the same issues we deal with today from housing discrimination, economic exploitation, educational problems, poverty, and economic inequality. The rise of 1968 outlined the end of one era of Black American history. A new era started, which was the Post Civil Rights Era (from 1968 to 2008).
By Timothy
Rest in Power Brother Robert F. Williams.
The Freedom Rides took place in 1961. They represented a transitional phrase of the Civil Rights Movement. These rides wanted to enforce existing law that stated that it was legal to integrate interstate buses into the segregated Southern United States. The Supreme Court in 1960 from Boynton v. Virginia made it clear that segregation was unconstitutional for passengers engaged in interstate travel. It was organized by CORE. Also, many CORE members did something similar back during the 1940’s. The first Freedom Ride of the 1960’s existed on May 4, 1961. They left Washington, D.C. and were scheduled to arrive in New Orleans on May 17. This was an execution of social activism beyond using the court system to fight for justice. The Freedom Rides were made up of black and white people who wanted to travel into the Deep South to also integrate seating patterns on buses and desegregate bus terminals. They wanted to desegregate restrooms and water fountains. This was a dangerous journey, but the Freedom Riders were courageous in their deeds. When the Freedom Riders came into Anniston, Alabama, one bus was firebombed. Passengers escaped the bus to save their lives. In Birmingham, Alabama, an FBI informant reported that Public Safety Commissioner Eugene "Bull" Connor gave Ku Klux Klan members fifteen minutes to attack an incoming group of freedom riders before having police "protect" them. The riders were severely beaten and it was a totally horrible experience. James Peck, a white activist, was beaten so badly that he required fifty stitches to his head. White racists executed violence against Freedom Riders again in Montgomery, Alabama. The Freedom Riders followed in the footsteps of Rosa Parks and rode in an integrated Greyhound bus from Birmingham. They were protesting interstate bus segregation in peace. Still, they experience violence by a white mob in Montgomery. The large, white mob attacked them since they used activism to fight for justice. They caused an enormous, 2-hour long riot which resulted in 22 injuries, five of whom were hospitalized. This violence in Anniston and Birmingham temporarily stopped the rides. Yet, SNCC activists from Nashville like Diane Nash brought in new riders to continue the journey from Birmingham to New Orleans. In Montgomery, Alabama, at the Greyhound Bus Station, a mob charged another bus load of riders, knocking John Lewis unconscious with a crate and smashing Life photographer Don Urbrock in the face with his own camera. A dozen men surrounded James Zwerg, a white student from Fisk University, and beat him in the face with a suitcase, knocking out his teeth. By May 24, 1961, the Freedom Rides rode into Jackson, Mississippi. They were arrested for “breaching the peace" by using "white only" facilities. New freedom rides were organized by many different organizations and continued to flow into the South. As riders arrived in Jackson, they were arrested. By the end of summer, more than 300 had been jailed in Mississippi. Many of the Freedom Rides suffered harsh conditions in jail. Some male prisoners were forced to do hard labor in 100 degree heat. The cells were filthy. Some were transferred to the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman. Some of the men were beaten. Some were suspended by wrist breakers from the walls. Many of them couldn’t breathe by the cells shut tight on hot days. The Kennedy administration was so disgraceful during this time that some of them were openly hostile to the Freedom Rides. They compromised with the racist Southerners by saying that the Freedom Rides would travel and do nothing when the Riders were arrested. Support for the Freedom Riders grew. Pressure caused the Kennedy administration to order the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to issue a new desegregation order. When the new ICC rule took effect on November 1, 1961, passengers were permitted to sit wherever they chose on the bus; "white" and "colored" signs came down in the terminals; separate drinking fountains, toilets, and waiting rooms were consolidated; and lunch counters began serving people regardless of skin color. The student movement involved such celebrated figures as John Lewis, a single-minded activist; James Lawson, the revered "guru" of nonviolent theory and tactics; Diane Nash, an articulate and intrepid public champion of justice; Bob Moses, pioneer of voting registration in Mississippi; and James Bevel, a fiery preacher and charismatic organizer, strategist, and facilitator. Other prominent student activists included Charles McDew, Bernard Lafayette, Charles Jones, Lonnie King, Julian Bond, Hosea Williams, and Kwame Ture. After the Freedom Rides, the young people of the Civil Rights Movement developed their own independence and their own unique personalities politically.
The 1963 March on Washington, D.C. was one of the most important parts of the Civil Rights Movement. It was a march for jobs and freedom. It was a march that had people of many races to fight for civil and economic rights. It started by a long history. A. Philip Randolph had a dream to march on Washington for black people working in integrated industrial jobs back in the 1940’s. By 1961, he and Bayard Rustin including others would plan for the March on Washington during the 1960’s. Both men would form a wide ranging alliance of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations to come together in order to advance justice. During the 1960’s, Jim Crow laws were very pervasive in the South and in parts of the Midwest. Discrimination existed. Police brutality and economic exploitation were in epidemic levels. Black people feared for their lives literally because of racist terrorism in America. There was a Prayer pilgrimage for Freedom march held on May 17, 1957 in the Lincoln Memorial to promote equality. Now, times have changed. 1863 was the 100th year anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by Abraham Lincoln. People from the NAACP, the SCLC, SNCC, the Urban League, CORE, etc. put their differences aside to unite in the March on Washington movement. Violent confrontations broke out in the South: in Cambridge, Maryland; Pine Bluff, Arkansas; Goldsboro, North Carolina; Somerville, Tennessee; Saint Augustine, Florida; and across Mississippi. Most of these incidents involved white people retaliating against nonviolent demonstrators. Some people (who supported the March on Washington) wanted total civil disobedience in D.C., some wanted to focus nationwide on issues, some wanted speeches, and everyone was interested in the movement. During this time, JFK was criticized by many black leaders as not going far enough on civil rights. Rustin and Randolph planned for the march as early as December 1961. Union leaders joined. By May of 1963, Randolph called for the March officially. In June 1963, six men met in NYC to get funds and messaging for the movement. They were A. Philip Randolph, Dr. King, Roy Wilkins, John Lewis, Whitney Young, and James Farmer. Some didn’t want Rustin to lead the march, because he was a former Communist (ironically, he would be very anti-Communist before he passed away) and he was a homosexual, but the Big Six allowed him to lead as a massive organizer. With Randolph concentrating on building the march's political coalition, Rustin built and led the team of two hundred activists and organizers who publicized the march and recruited the marchers, coordinated the buses and trains, provided the marshals, and set up and administered all of the logistic details of a mass march in the nation's capital. President Kennedy met the Big Six in June 22, 1963. He initially didn’t want the March on Washington for fear of violence and reducing the chance of the Civil Rights bill to be passed. Yet, Dr. King wouldn’t back down and JFK reluctantly supported the march. The catch was that Kennedy issued a program to close liquor stores and do other silly actions in preparation for the March. Rustin and other planners issued a button, phone, and advertising campaign to get people to go into Washington, D.C. The goals of the March were clear. They wanted strong civil rights legislation, an end to segregation, a public works job program, a higher minimum wage, labor rights, ending police brutality, and an end to discrimination. Many of the haters like Hoover and the hypocrite Strom Thurmond slandered the March as Communist inspired, but people from across political spectrum were in the movement. People arrived by the thousands from road, rail, and air to Washington. D.C on August 28, 1963. The March was a large success. It inspired the Civil Rights Movement. It inspired the Civil Rights Act to be passed by Congress. There were controversies though. Malcolm X was in D.C. He accused the March of being co-opted by white establishment figures (especially liberal establishment figures) in order to pacify the black freedom movement. He called it the “farce on Washington.” John Lewis was censored in some of his speech that was to really criticize the Kennedy administration. John Lewis refused to do so at first, but A. Philip Randolph told him that he waited his whole life for this moment. He censored it out of respect that he had for Randolph. James Baldwin didn’t speak as he was prevented to do so, because of his political views. Also, the March prevented many women from speaking. Anna Harold Hedgeman tried to stop this, but even some members of the movement were stone cold sexists. Daisy Bates and Josephine Baker spoke. Gloria Richardson had her microphone taken away from her when she said “hello”. Rosa Parks and Lena Horne were prevented to speak too, which is disgraceful. Mahalia Jackson sang music including Marian Anderson. Celebrities from Sidney Poitier to Jackie Robinson including Bill Russell were there. Roy Wilkins gave condolences to the recent passing of WEB DuBois. Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech outlined his views. It wasn’t just about hope. It was a speech that criticized American society filled with discrimination, racism, voting rights deprivation, and police brutality. It was a call for progressive change in America. President Kennedy praised the march and met with the leaders afterwards. The March on Washington gave new life to the Civil Rights Movement. It was a time of hope. Estimates of the number of participants varied from 200,000 to 300,000 people. The most widely cited estimate of the amount of people in the march is 250,000 people. Observers estimated that 75–80% of the marchers were black. The march was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history. The same goals of the March on Washington are the same goals that we are fighting to this very day. Legal advances since then have been made, but we have a very long way to go in terms of economic issues (from poverty, lax wage, housing, educational issues, and economic inequality) in our communities. The March is a reminder of what the future can be.
By the end of the 1960’s, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other heroic activists fought for the Poor Peoples Campaign and for the Memphis sanitation striking movement. The Poor Peoples Campaign started in 1967. It was about a multiracial coalition (made up of African Americans, Latino Americans, Asian Americans, poor whites, etc.) that wanted to march to Washington, D.C. to desire the federal government to send billions of dollars to abolish poverty in American society. It wanted an economic bill of rights, economic rights for poor Americans, a guaranteed annual income, adequate housing, and a commitment to full employment. Dr. King said that the Vietnam War neglected the needs of the poor and that war harmed the vision of the Great Society. Welfare rights activists and Marian Wright Edelman contributed heavily to the Poor People’s Campaign. Dr. King also wanted civil disobedience, if necessary work stoppages, to fight injustices. The movement publicly announced the Poor People’s Campaign in during early December 1967. Not everyone in the SCLC agreed with this. Jesse Jackson wanted other priorities. Rustin opposed civil disobedience. Yet, Dr. King continued with the plans. He wanted people to arrive in Washington, D.C. by May 2, 1968. The SCLC announced the campaign on December 4, 1967. King delivered a speech which identified "a kind of social insanity which could lead to national ruin." In January 1968, the SCLC created and distributed an "Economic Fact Sheet" with statistics explaining why the campaign was necessary. King avoided providing specific details about the campaign initially and attempted to redirect media attention to the values at stake. The Poor People’s Campaign held firm to the movement’s commitment to non-violence. “We are custodians of the philosophy of non-violence,” said King at a press conference. “And it has worked.” King originally wanted the Poor People's Campaign to start in Quitman County, Mississippi because of the intense and visible economic disparity there. In February 1968, King announced specific demands: $30 billion for antipoverty, full employment, guaranteed income, and the annual construction of 500,000 affordable residences. Dr. King visited Marks, Mississippi to see starving black children, and poverty in a vicious way. The FBI wanted to disrupt and monitor the campaign,because they oppose Dr. King's progressive views. Nixon didn’t want the demands to exist. Dr. King courageously moved forward. While this was going on, the Memphis sanitation strike continued. For a long time, Memphis was a victim of racism and economic discrimination. Some of the worst anti-black violence in American history took place in Memphis (like the 1866 anti-black riot in Memphis). By the 1960’s, the conservative mayor Henry Loeb refused to promote public unions. Black workers faced discrimination, lax wages, and horrible conditions in various jobs. Thomas Oliver tried to form a local union. He was restricted to do so. By February 1, 1968, 2 black sanitation workers were killed by a city truck for trying to escape the rain. This changed everything. A strike soon existed. Maxine Smith, T.O. Jones, James Lawson, Bill Lucy, and so many people joined forces to fight for their human rights. The strike lasted for over 2 months. Cornelia Crenshaw and other people were leaders in the Memphis sanitation workers movement too. The more anti-nonviolence Invaders wanted to join and they did. They disagreed with many of the nonviolent activists (like Rev. James Lawson), but they desired the same goal which is justice for the striking workers.
Rev. James Lawson was a pacifist and a minister who was totally committed. Many of the strikers wore “I Am a Man” posters to show the word that they are men. The police used police brutality against protesters. Dr. Martin Luther King came into Memphis on March 18, 1968. Many of his allies didn’t want him to go, but he did since if the strike is successful, the Poor People’s Campaign would be successful in his mind. A snowstorm prevented another march. The march came on March 28, 1968. We know now that provocateurs caused violence and the violence by the police existed too. Dr. King and others left. People were maced and filled with tear gas. The media in many cases falsely blamed Dr. King for the chaos and Dr. King vowed to do another march. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was told to go to Mason Church to speak on April 3, 1968. He was tired, but the crowd was waiting for him. He came into the Church to give his famous “I Have Been to the Mountaintop” speech. It was a great speech and he moved the crowd. One day later, he was assassinated at 6 pm. on April 4, 1968. Rebellions happened in over 100 U.S. cities and the strike would end on April 16, 1968, which caused an agreement to be reached. The striking workers celebrated and a new era would exist. Future actions of workers would be successful in Charleston, South Carolina by 1969 (of hospital workers) and in Atlanta by 1970. The Poor People’s Campaign continued in June 1968. It was a failure (as Congress refused to send strong legislation), but it raised awareness on the problems of poverty and economic exploitation. Programs that helped the poor were further created. Resurrection City was the encampment in D.C. that provided awareness of poverty during the Poor Peoples Campaign. It soon ended when government authorities shut the camp down. People were forced to leave the Washington Mall. Ralph Abernathy led the Poor Peoples Campaign after Dr. King was assassinated. The Poor Peoples Campaign represented the same issues we deal with today from housing discrimination, economic exploitation, educational problems, poverty, and economic inequality. The rise of 1968 outlined the end of one era of Black American history. A new era started, which was the Post Civil Rights Era (from 1968 to 2008).
By Timothy
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