Friday, June 29, 2018
Important News of late June of 2018
Yesterday, there was some sad news. A shooter with a shotgun murdered 5 people in Annapolis, Maryland (or the capital of Maryland) at the Capital Gazette. Many people have been injured. The suspect is in custody and he is being interviewed by authorities. Since the DMV area is the home to so many law enforcement agencies nationwide, many local, state, and federal forces came very quickly. People are investigating the motive of the shooter. We know that the shooter had a plan and targeted people in the newspaper building. He blasted the glass door. He used smoke grenades in the location. His named is Jarrod Ramos. He had a vendetta against the paper for years. He has threatened one person from the paper (who was an editor) before. His home is located in Laurel, Maryland. He initially didn't cooperated with authorities. I send prayers and condolences to the victims and their families. Also, it is also important to acknowledge the black women heroes of our lives. In real life, there are tons of black women that I know who are educators, community leaders, teachers, doctors, and other unsung heroes whose work will always be honored by me.
With the recent Supreme Court news, we are entering a new era of our history. Many of the rights that we fought for could be gone if another Supreme Court justice is nominated by the Senate. This is why voting matters. We are in the cusp of the total obliteration of many of our rights for the next 20 to 30 years. It's that serious. Anthony Kennedy was wrong to vote in against public unions and in support of the travel ban. This situation is part of the Trump's cruel agenda. Trump will not nominate a progressive judge. He will nominate a conservative extremist as he has promised to his illogical base. These are very dangerous times when our human rights are threatened. We have to fight for our freedom. The East Pittsburgh officer (Michael Rosfeld) who murdered the young black teenager in the back has been charged recently with criminal homicide. The child who was murdered is Antwon Rose II. Cops, who murder unarmed, non threatening black people, must be held accountable. Also, it is important to acknowledge Terry Crews' courageous testimony about his victimization. Far too often, there are many who demonize victims of sexual assault. That is wrong. In our time, more people are telling their stories. Terry Crews refutes the pernicious lies that a black man must be a brute to be a real man and a black man who talks about his sexual abuse is not a real man. Women have always taught us the truth that there is no shame in sharing your feelings no matter how painful that they are and there is no shame in receiving help when you need it. There is no need for toxic masculinity, just equality among the sexes.
There has been a lot of news about the victory of Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (she is a Puerto Rican woman) who won a Democratic primary 2 days ago. She is 28 years old and has heroically stood up against extremism. Like usual, the haters have attacked her. Her haters aren't just far right extremists, but moderate Democrats who believe in the myth that appealing to the center somehow makes revolution possible. History doesn't teach us that. Dr. King, for example, said that the white moderates, were more of an hindrance to civil rights than the far right Klan or the Citizens Council. The Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act were never caused by moderates collectively. It was created by progressive activists who marched, used civil disobedience, and confronted those in power. The New Deal wasn't created by those in the center. In fact, many conservatives and centrists back then opposed much of the New Deal. Social Security and other aspects of the New Deal were created by labor rights activists and others who protested and sparked a movement that ended the Great Depression of the 1930's. Legal, overt slavery in America didn't end by some moderates or those in the center. Slavery in America ended by militant abolitionists, Union soldiers, and other courageous black people who militantly fought the injustice of slavery. That's real. Therefore, we don't need centrist propaganda. We are either hot or cold not lukewarm.
Alexandria Ocasio Cortez has made it very clear that we need universal health care, free college tuition, an end to ICE, and real economic justice for poor plus working class Americans. She represents her own district in the Bronx and in Queens, NYC. For the establishment Democrats in the media and in Congress minimizing her historic victory should be used as a badge of honor by her. FDR once said I welcome their hatred. We have to refute the haters' lies that being a democratic socialist is a dirty word (when Dr. King praised democratic socialism in his words), or we have too much debt to pay for programs (when we always had huge debt yet we invested heavily in highways, schools, and other infrastructure for generations). Those deficit hawk hypocrites lecture us on debt, but won't speak on the massive spending involving the military industrial complex or the massive tax cuts for the wealthy which expands the deficit, etc. Not to mention that unregulated capitalism doesn't work to end poverty or improve the environment. There are tons of creative formulas to generate the revenues to invest in concrete, necessary social programs that help the people. To promote the general welfare is an essential democratic value. Crowley has shown amazing class involving his defeat. The people decided and we are committed to the Dream fully.
Congratulations to Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.
Joy, humor, and creative power always encompass the life story of Sister Tichina Arnold. Always a great actress, she has enthusiastically utilized an outstanding form of due diligence to achieve her illustrious excellence. Yesterday was her Birthday and she is 49 years old being born in Queens, NYC. Tichina has a great Northern accent. She attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts. She was famous for being in the Little Shop of Horrors back in 1986 with her long time friend Tisha Campbell. She was in the soap opera Ryan's Hope. Tichina Arnold was especially famous for her role as Pam in the comedy show of Martin. She went out and used comedy as friendly competitive banter in dealing with Martin Lawrence in that series that lasted from 1992 to 1997. Afterwards, she continued to be in movies and shows like Everybody Hates Chris, One on One, and the Lena Baker story (which is a movie about the story of the black woman Lena Baker, who was unfairly executed in Georgia many decades ago). She has been involved in music for years. Always on the cutting edge of roles, she continues to work. Not to mention that she is a well known philanthropist. She and her sister created the We Win Foundation, a foundation for people with lupus; her sister, Zenay, has the disease. She performed for those in the military in the United Service Organization's Holiday Tour. She has one daughter that she loves unconditionally. Charisma, her positive spirit, and a passion for living always represent the composition of the life of Tichina Arnold. Tichina Arnold also is a gorgeous black woman inside and out. She can make us laugh and most importantly she makes us think. The reason is that Tichina's words and deeds inspire us to further assist the lives of fellow people in an epic fashion. I wish Sister Tichina Arnold more blessings.
By Timothy
Thursday, June 28, 2018
Wednesday, June 27, 2018
More News.
http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/34448521/in-their-own-words-stories-of-former-sc-slaves-told-by-descendants
https://www.thedailybeast.com/detention-camps-on-military-bases-smacks-of-totalitarianism-troops-say
https://repeatingislands.com/2011/01/15/the-transatlantic-slave-trade-and-the-civil-war/
http://tarpley.net/mattis-eclipsed-by-bolton-and-pompeo-with-no-input-on-freezing-exercises-with-south-korea/
https://blackagendareport.com/malcolm_x_50_years_later
https://www2.gwu.edu/~folklife/bighouse/panel9.html
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wins.
https://twitter.com/Ocasio2018?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/26/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-joe-crowley-new-york-14-primary/index.html
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/26/17506970/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-joe-crowley-primary-new-york
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-defeats-house-democrat-joe-crowley-in-massive-upset/
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/6/27/17509604/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-democratic-socialist-of-america
The Supreme Court's wrong decision, Etc.
Recently on this day, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump travel ban will continue in the form of a 5-4 decision. It is a disgraceful, evil decision since it permits discrimination based upon nationality (or religious creed) and it omits the truth that just because a person was born from another country doesn't mean that this person is a terrorist. The ban doesn't apply to Saudi Arabia when Saudi Arabia is a very authoritarian nation (and has many persons involved in terrorism). The reason is that Trump wants a financial linkage with Saudi Arabia. Democracy is under attack in America and worldwide. In the UK, hate crimes exist against Muslims and Jewish people. Racist, far right groups are growing in Hungary, Greece, Italy, Germany, Poland, France, and other nations of Europe. That decision is akin to the Supreme Court decision that permitted Japanese internment decades ago. Trump wants the border wall when it is topographically impossible to implement it throughout the Southern border. A border wall is blatantly immoral. Trump appears to racists in his base. The President is explicit in abhorring the freedom of speech, the First Amendment, the rule of law, and due process (by him erroneously wanting to have no judges to deal with immigration issues. Sarah Huckabee saying that you can have due process without judges is the essence of promoting fascism). Trump is a total fascist and a threat to human civilization. The evil Supreme Court decision uses the phrase of "national security" as an excuse to increase the power of the executive branch unfairly when that liar originally wanted a travel ban based on religion (i.e. he wanted a Muslim ban at first). This is why elections matter. With elections, we get real judges. Now, no one can tell you that voting doesn't matter. We have to use our voices and our strength to enact positive, progressive change.
Recently, Maxine Waters called for the confronting of Trump supporters. As usual, Trump lied and implied that Maxine Waters wanted violence against Trump supporters. Maxine Waters later said that she wanted to have nonviolent protests against the Trump agenda. Schumer, like usual, has thrown Waters under the bus by making the ludicrous assertion that Waters wants to harass Trump supporters. Waters wants nonviolent protest not harassment as harassment is evil and wrong. Trump is a known hypocrite by saying in speeches about wanting the police to rough up suspects, wanting his supporters to enact violence against protesters, and promoting sexual assault against women. Donald Trump is known for his evil and antichrist sayings by saying that he doesn't ask God for forgiveness, he equated Neo-Nazis with anti-fascist protesters, he defended Confederate statues, he endorses waterboarding & torture, he is not compassionate when dealing with immigrants and refugees, he praises authoritarian dictators like Duterte, and he has a great tendency to demonize black women (like Maxine Waters and others). We have to support black women as black women have done so much for us as human beings and they are always worthy of dignity and respect.
Some, even in the media, wants us to be pc about Trump when Trump uses every evil invective imaginable (including disrespecting and threatening Congresswoman Maxine Waters). No, we will not be pc. We will passionately and unapologetically criticize that Deceiver in chief, who is the so-called President Donald Trump. Trump deserves no coddling. Some deluded people believe that the best way to defeat Trump politically is not to call his supporters racists and sexists. That's wrong since if a person supports a racist, that person is racist or is a supporter of racism by definition. We can't be naive. Trump is a threat to the world with his policies and the most extreme President since Reagan. The ironic thing is that many Evangelicals support him despite his deception, vulgarity, and evil. That tells me that some people care more for the Republican Party than for liberty and justice. In our time, we have to continue in our anti-fascist activism. Trump also said the racist comment that Maxine Waters has low IQ (which is a known racist epithet against black people). Trump is totally evil. Some people call him insane. He is not insane. He knows exactly what he is doing. He is an evil narcissist. Maxine Waters did the right thing in calling out Trump for the lying evil-doer that he is.
Yesterday was the Birthday of Michael Vick and he is 38 years old. He was born in Newport News, Virginia. For the record, I don't agree with abusing dogs. Yet, it is important to mention that Michael Vick admitted his mistake like a man, he did his time, and he is an active supporter of animal care to this very day. He is famous for being a football player in high school, college, and in the NFL. He is one of the most athletic quarterbacks in NFL history. He had tremendous speed and he has a family that loves him. Right now, he is a sports analyst. During his six years with the Falcons, Vick was regarded as having transformed the quarterback position with his rushing abilities and was named to four Pro Bowls. He holds the record for the most career rushing yards by a quarterback (6,109) and the most rushing yards by a quarterback in a season (1,039). His life shows that mistakes don't mean that your life is over. Mistakes are meant to be acknowledged and ought to be used to never repeat them in the future. Michael Vick has been involved in charities, activism, and care for his family a great deal. I wish Brother Michael Vick more blessings.
The common lie promoted by many Internet personalities and Hoteps is that if we express empathy for immigrant children locked up in camps, then we have no empathy for black children experiencing family separation, discrimination, police brutality, murder, and abuse. That lie is not only racist, but trivializes oppression. The reality is that I have empathy for black children and other immigrant children suffering. We always stand up against police brutality and solutions in making our communities better. We praise Black Excellence too. These Internet xenophobes forget that many black people are immigrants too. Some black people are undocumented immigrants and experience massive injustice in American society. These liars talks about institutions, media, etc. Yes, we should have more black institutions, more black owned media, and more Pan-African unity. Yet, these institutions should develop excluding xenophobic rhetoric and eliminating a mentality of capitalist exploitation. A lot of those who claim to be for us aren't for us. They (like some who criticize certain rap artists, but hypocritically curse like a sailor when someone disagrees with him) care more for capital exploitation and middle class bourgeoisie values (which doesn't address poverty, housing, environmental problem, health care issues, etc.) than value true black liberation. They care more for bashing poor people & refusing to fight the prison industrial complex than caring for the human race. You can't have black business without black politics (you need government and infrastructure to cultivate black economic power while ending unfair monopolies & corporate corporation). True black liberation is developing a class analysis, fighting for economic justice, cultivating our culture, loving black women, and promoting international pan-African unity. I believe in black liberation not Hotepism. There's a difference.
Black Lives Matter.
By Timothy
Tuesday, June 26, 2018
Savant Words
It's interesting that right wingers repeat over and over the same old talking point: Liberals are the ones who are most close minded, or least intelligent, or most racist, etc. Yet scholarly research shows quite the opposite. Naturally, the right wingers will simply offer up their "alternative facts" while insisting that scholarly findings are liberal propaganda. Hell, they even say that global warming or evolution are liberal propaganda. I guess for them science and reason are liberal propaganda and expressions of "political correctness." And they wonder why American rightwingers have not only a national but international reputation for obtuseness.
Believe it or not you can still find descendants of black slaves of Arab traders in Iraq and even India. But in the case of India, you must be careful...or so I hear. There are Blacks in India, or so I've read, brought there by the Arab slave trade over 1000 years ago. However, there are others who migrated from a time before the Christian era, and maybe before the time of the Greeks and Romans. (Has anyone seen a film called "The Story of India"?)
-Savant
Monday, June 25, 2018
More Early American History.
The time of 1849 to 1865 included some of the bloodiest times of American history. By the 1840’s, the Northeast had a powerful Industrial Revolution. Railroads, canals, textile mills, small industrial cities, and growing commercial centers existed as a network. Cities like Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia grew into new heights of influence and power. Pennsylvania and other places wanted a higher tariff. The tariff system was very low in 1857. Farming dominated the Midwest. Animal production existed there along with railroads and river systems. They send food to slave plantations in the south. Industrial cities in the East and industrial cities in Britain plus Europe received imports from the Midwest. Cotton plantations flourished in the South with a very high price on cotton on the world market. Cotton production can wear out the land. So, cotton crops constantly moved west. With the annexation of Texas by 1845, cotton grew there too. In essence, many supporters of the Texas state in its existence wanted the spread of slavery. Virginia and North Carolina had tobacco. The Upper South had slavery in its final era. Slaves were sent in the cotton plantations of the Southwest like in Texas. Urbanization dominated the Northeast. In the Midwest, there were growing urban centers in places like Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Chicago. Slavery was used to buy new lands and more slaves. Many conservatives say that most Southern whites owned no slaves and operated farms on a subsistence basis, serving small local markets. Yet, most Southern whites benefited from slavery, most Southern whites (and most whites in America in general) back then believed in the lie that black people were inferior, and did nothing to try to end slavery. International trade and transportation spread capital among London, Paris, Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia. Longer railroad system could spread long distance supplies like farm and industrial products including passengers. There were few railroads in the South. Many railroad lines in the South moved cotton to the nearest river or ocean port. Steamboats were a powerful transportation system in inland rivers too. Eli Whitney popularized interchangeable parts and textile factors grew. 16% of Americans lived in cities with 2500 or more people. This was a third of the nation’s income came from manufacturing. Water was used as energy to power industries from rivers. Steam engines came into factors too. By 1860, the railroads had made a transition from use of local wood supplies to coal for their locomotives. Pennsylvania became the center of the coal industry. America was a leader in cotton production and the development of: shoes, woolen clothing, and machinery. Many, if not most, of the factory workers and miners were recent immigrants from Europe, or their children. Throughout the North, and in southern cities, entrepreneurs were setting up factories, mines, mills, banks, stores, and other business operations. In the great majority of cases, these were relatively small, locally owned, and locally operated enterprises.
New immigrants in the 1840’s and the 1850 have filled factory jobs. This old school era of immigration saw 4.2 million people sincerely coming into America for opportunity, and freedom. Some were Irish as many of them escaped the Great Famine from Ireland to go into America. Most settled in the coastal cities of Boston and New York City. Some were not welcome since most were poor and Roman Catholic. They lived in crowded neighborhoods, dilapidated housing, and some were in low wage plus physically demanding jobs. Many early Americans viewed the Roman Catholic Church as a symbol of European autocracy. I am not a Catholic and we have to have freedom of religion along with a separation of church and state (so, no one of any religion is discriminated against while no religion can dominate a nation in a theocratic fashion). German immigrants came into America to avoid a looming financial disaster in their nation. German immigrants sold their possessions like the Irish. German immigrants were both Protestant and Catholic, so they didn’t experience the religious discrimination like the Irish did. Many settled in Midwest communities instead of the coast like in Cincinnati, Ohio, and St. Louis, Missouri. These locations have a high German population back then and today. German immigrants were mostly middle class, educated, and left for political reasons. Other immigrants like Italian people and Jewish people lived in ghettos or ethnic enclaves. There was the Five Points area in New York City. Many immigrants replaced women workers in places like Lowell, Massachusetts. Many industry bosses exploited immigrants to make them work cheap and experience bad working conditions.
More political upheavals came about during this era too. After 1848, Texas, and new territories of Mexico was acquired after the Mexican-American war via the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Missouri was admitted as a state. There was debate on whether the new territory in the Southwest would have slavery or not. Northern Congressmen wanted to limit slavery and Southern Congressmen wanted to expand it into new territories. Congressman David Wilmot promoted the Wilmot Proviso which banned slavery in the new territory won from Mexico. The proposal failed in Congress. It never became law. It was a rally cry from Southerners who cared more for slavery than human justice. Many Southerners back then used “state’s rights” as an excuse to condone oppression against black people. The truth is that human rights are superior to states’ rights. The Wilmot Proviso failed, so Senator Lewis Cass introduced the idea of popular sovereignty in Congress. Popular sovereignty means that the people decide in various lands on whether to have slavery or not. Cass believed that Congress had no power to deal with slavery explicitly, which is ludicrous. The Democrats were divided. Some Northern Democrats wanted people in states to decide on slavery and Southern Democrats wanted states to have slavery based on state constitutions. After Cass' defeat in 1848, Illinois Senator Douglas assumed a leading role in the party and became closely associated with popular sovereignty with his proposal of the Kansas–Nebraska Act. Zachary Taylor was the President after the 1848 election. He was part of the Whig Party. He didn’t seek another term since his health was declining and he felt his objectives were gained. The Free Soil Party was a group of anti-slavery Democrats who supported Wilmot's Proviso. The creation of the Free Soil Party foreshadowed the collapse of the Second party system; the existing parties could not contain the debate over slavery for much longer.
The question of slavery became all the more urgent with the discovery of gold in California in 1848. The next year, there was a massive influx of prospectors and miners looking to strike it rich. Most migrants to California (so-called 'Forty-Niners') abandoned their jobs, homes, and families looking for gold. It also attracted some of the first Chinese Americans to the West Coast of the United States. Most Forty-Niners never found gold but instead settled in the urban center of San Francisco or in the new municipality of Sacramento. California applied for statehood in 1850. The rush was on to see whether it would recognize slavery or not. This could change the balance of power in Congress. The imminent admission of Oregon, New Mexico, and Utah also threatened to upset the balance. Many Southerners also realized that the climate of those territories did not lend themselves to the extension of slavery. Debate raged in Congress until a resolution was found in 1850.
The Compromise of 1850 was proposed by "The Great Compromiser," Henry Clay and was passed by Senator Stephen A. Douglas. Through the compromise, California was admitted as a free state, Texas was financially compensated for the loss of its Western territories, the slave trade (not slavery) was abolished in the District of Columbia, the Fugitive Slave Law was passed as a concession to the South, and, most importantly, the New Mexico Territory (including modern day Arizona and the Utah Territory) would determine its status (either free or slave) by popular vote. The Compromise of 1850 attempted to disfuse the divisive issue, but the compromise did nothing to immediate millions of our black Brothers and black Sisters in bondage. This Compromise of 1850 continued the oppression against black people and it was a cruel, despicable measure.
Slavery was debated worldwide not just in America back then. Abolitionists were influenced by the European Enlightenment, the Second Great Awakening, heroic anti-slavery revolts, black people, etc. Many viewed slavery as an affront to God and/or reason. Some abolitionists were supporters of the temperance movement too. The temperance movement was about fighting alcoholism and it was very much anti-alcoholic drinking. During 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s published Uncle Tom’s Cabin galvanized the abolitionist movement greatly. Some debated slavery on constitutional and morality grounds. Free Soilers didn’t have a moral objection to slavery based on racial equality. They wanted slavery gone to maintain white dominated society without it. Slavery was anti-democratic by definition, so the South had an economic oligarchy dominating the majority of the land, property, and capital in the South (to the detriment of both black people and poor whites). Racists exploited the Nat Turner uprising of 1831 to promote more strict pro-slavery laws in Virginia and throughout the South. John Calhoun and others were so racist that they called black people savages and denied their human dignity. According to the 1860 U.S. census, fewer than 385,000 individuals (i.e. 1.4% of whites in the country, or 4.8% of southern whites) owned one or more slaves. 95% of black Americans lived in the South, comprising one-third of the population there as opposed to 1% of the population of the North. In the West Coast, new states were forming. President Millard Fillmore sent Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to establish Japan trade agreements in 1853. A railroad to the Pacific was planned. Senator Stephen A. Douglas wanted a transcontinental railway to go throughout Chicago. Southerners protested and wanted it to go through Texas, Southern California, and end in New Orleans. Douglas decided to compromise and introduced the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854. In exchange for having the railway run through Chicago, he proposed 'organizing' (open for white settlement) the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. Douglas anticipated Southern opposition to the act and added in a provision that stated that the status of the new territories would be subject to popular sovereignty. In theory, the new states could become slave states under this condition. Under Southern pressure, Douglas added a clause which explicitly repealed the Missouri Compromise. President Franklin Pierce supported the bill as did the South and a fraction of northern Democrats.
The act split the Whigs. Northern Whigs generally opposed the Kansas–Nebraska Act while Southern Whigs supported it. Most Northern Whigs joined the new Republican Party. Some joined the Know-Nothing Party which refused to take a stance on slavery. The southern Whigs tried different political moves, but could not reverse the regional dominance of the Democratic Party. Kansas was opened to settlers. Settlers came into the land. Both pro and anti-slavery supported rushed to go into the new territory. Violence existed among both sides. Abolitionists from New England settled in Topeka, Lawrence, and Manhattan. Pro-slavery advocates settled in Leavenworth and Lecompton. Many of them came from Missouri. Missouri was a slave state. In 1855, elections were held for the territorial legislature. While there were only 1,500 legal voters, migrants from Missouri swelled the population to over 6,000. The result was that a pro-slavery majority was elected to the legislature. Free-soilers were so outraged that they set up their own delegates in Topeka. A group of anti-slavery Missourians sacked Lawrence on May 21, 1856. Violence continued for two more years until the promulgation of the Lecompton Constitution. The violence, known as "Bleeding Kansas," scandalized the Democratic administration and began a more heated sectional conflict. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts gave a speech in the Senate entitled "The Crime Against Kansas." The speech was a scathing criticism of the South and the "peculiar institution." As an example of rising sectional tensions, days after delivering the speech, South Carolina Representative Preston Brooks approached Sumner during a recess of the Senate and caned him. Tensions among the North and the South would only increase. The new Republican Party started in 1854-1856 in the North. It had very small support in the South. Most of its early members were former Whigs or Free Soil Democrats. The Party was ideological, with a focus on stopping the spread of slavery, and modernizing the economy through tariffs, banks, railroads and free homestead land for farmers. The Republicans wanted to contain slavery and explain free states so much that the South would ultimately give up slavery legislatively. That wouldn’t work since the South would never give up slavery except by use of force. Sometimes, force (like freeing slaves, fighting injustice, etc.) is necessary to eradicate evil.
By Timothy
Sunday, June 24, 2018
Saturday, June 23, 2018
1968 Part 2
1968 Part 2
During this era of 1968, massive changes existed in America plus the world. The unjust murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968 changed our country. Many people were saddened at the cruelty of such an act. People mourned worldwide. His death in Memphis, Tennessee represented the end of the old school Civil Rights Movement era and the beginning of the post-civil rights era. Immediately, over 100 American cities had rebellions which lasted for several days. Buildings were destroyed, people mourned, and society had to reckon with the point that racial injustice has no place in the planet. The rebellions were the largest acts of urban revolt since the Civil War. Many people were angry. People have the right to be angry at an innocent black man being murdered by a coward with a rifle. Human beings continued to fight for justice. Floyd McKissick, the head of CORE back then said, "Dr. Martin Luther King was the last prince of nonviolence...Nonviolence is a dead philosophy and it was not the Black people that killed it." SNCC Leader Kwame Ture was at a press conference said, "When white America killed Dr. King last night, she declared war on us. We have to retaliate for the death of our leaders...The only way to survive is to get some guns... We are going to stand up on our feet and die like men. If that's our only act of manhood, then godd__mit, we're going to die." 168 cities burned. Chicago Mayor and reactionary Richard Daley sent police officers order to shoot to kill arsonists. Jesse Jackson said that it was a fascist response. Then Mayor of Baltimore, Spiro Agnew, falsely scapegoated Black Power advocates and other civil rights leaders for the situation instead of racial injustice and the assassination of Dr. King. 12 people died and more than 700 fires were in Washington, D.C. alone. Washington, D.C. had thousands of federal troops and national guardsmen to defend the Capitol and the White House. Tanks were in the streets in broad daylight. Roy Wilkins of the NAACP would outline the typical response of "Martin's memory is being desecrated" in exposing outrage at the rebellions, but Roy Wilkins would support the Vietnam War (and he criticized Dr. King for his anti-war. Wilkins would only oppose the Vietnam War after Richard Nixon was elected President). The reality is that rebellions are cries from the unheard and we have to understand the causes of a rebellion in order for everyone to activate a progressive solution. Dr. King's funeral existed on April 9, 1968 in Atlanta, Georgia.
On that same day of April 4, 1968, the Apollo Program allowed Apollo 6 to be launched. This was the second and last unmanned test flight of the Saturn V launch vehicle. Robert F. Kennedy gave his “The Evil Menace of Violence” speech at the Cleveland City Club on April 5, 1968. It was a very eloquent speech. The speech outlined the vicious nature of violence and how constructive avenues are key measures in establishing a society where justice is made real for all, regardless of someone’s race or color. By April 6, 1968, the Black Panthers and Oakland police had a shootout. Many people were arrested and died. One person who died was 16 year old Black Panther Bobby Hutton. This was personal to the Panthers since Bobby Hutton was one of the original members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. He carried guns as a means for him to promote self-defense. Witnesses say that Hutton was unjustly murdered by the police.
The first memorial service following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4, 1968, took place the following day at the R.S. Lewis Funeral Home in Memphis, Tennessee. This was followed by two funeral services on April 9, 1968, in Atlanta, Georgia. Many schools closed. The first funeral in Atlanta was held in Ebeneezer Baptist Church on Auburn Avenue. The first, private service began at 10:30 a.m. EST at Ebeneezer Baptist Church, and was filled with some 1,300 people; among the dignitaries present were labor leaders, foreign dignitaries, entertainment and sports figures and leaders from numerous religious faiths. The service began with Rev. Ralph Abernathy delivering a sermon which called the event "one of the darkest hours of mankind." At his widow's request, King eulogized himself: His last sermon at Ebenezer Baptist Church, a recording of his famous 'Drum Major' sermon, given on February 4, 1968, was played at the funeral. In that sermon he makes a request that at his funeral no mention of his awards and honors be made, but that it be said that he tried to "feed the hungry," "clothe the naked," "be right on the [Vietnam] war question," and "love and serve humanity." Per King's request, his good friend Mahalia Jackson sang his favorite hymn, "Take My Hand, Precious Lord", though not as part of the morning funeral service but later that day at a second open-air service at Morehouse College. Coretta Scott King is seen in picture comforting her youngest daughter (Bernice King), who was 5 at the time, in the Ebeneezer church. Ironically, Bernice King would be a powerful, eloquent voice for freedom just like her father.
The private funeral was followed by the loading of King's casket onto a simple wooden farm wagon pulled by two mules. The procession proceeded down the three-and-a-half mile journey from Ebenezer Baptist Church to Morehouse College. The procession was observed by over 100,000 people; the Southern Christian Leadership Conference commissioned a security detail to manage the crowd, while the Atlanta Police Department limited their participation to management of automobile traffic and to accompany dignitaries attending the events (like Charles Percy, Edmund Muskie, Hubert Humphrey, Ralph Yarborough from Texas, Harry Belafonte, Dick Gregory, etc.). The procession was silent, although it was accompanied on occasion by the singing of freedom songs which were frequently sung during the marches in which King had participated. About 120 million Americans watched the funeral proceedings on TV.
Among the persons leading the procession, besides the immediate family of the civil rights leader, were Jesse Jackson, who held the flag of the United Nations, now Congressman John Lewis, and Andrew Young who would later become the Mayor of Atlanta and also Ambassador to the United Nations.
The procession passed by the Georgia state capitol building.
At the conclusion of the ceremony, the group sang "We Shall Overcome."
The public and final service was held at Morehouse College, where King was eulogized by college president Benjamin Mays (on that same day of April 9, 1968), who had given the benediction after King's "I Have a Dream" speech. Benjamin Mays was 72 in 1968. Mays' eulogy that would later be known as the "No Man is Ahead of His Time" speech. He noted King's time in history to an estimated 150,000 mourners by stating in his most famous passage:
"..If Jesus was called to preach the Gospel to the poor, Martin Luther was called to give dignity to the common man. If a prophet is one who interprets in clear and intelligible language the will of God, Martin Luther King Jr. fits that designation. If a prophet is one who does not seek popular causes to espouse, but rather the causes he thinks are right, Martin Luther qualified on that score.
No! He was not ahead of his time. No man is ahead of his time. Every man is within his star, each in his time. Each man must respond to the call of God in his lifetime and not in somebody else’s time. Jesus had to respond to the call of God in the first century A.D., and not in the 20th century. He had but one life to live. He couldn’t wait..."
Following the funeral, King's casket was loaded into a hearse for his final trip to the South View Cemetery, a burial place predominantly reserved for African Americans. His remains were exhumed in 1977 and reburied at their current location at the plaza between the King Center and Ebenezer, and his widow Coretta was buried next to him in 2006.
There was a double explosion in downtown Richmond, Indiana that killed 41 and injured 150 people on April 6, 1968. President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1968 on April 11, 1968. This came after pressure from civil rights leaders and other Americans following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After 1966, this law was difficult to pass since Republicans dominated the Congress by 1966. This law banned housing discrimination in all of its forms. Vice President Hubert Humphrey announced his candidacy for President in the Democratic side on April 27, 1968. He was one of the greatest progressives on domestic issues of the 20th century (he was right to promote racial equality as far back as the 1940’s), but his weakness was that he was too tied to LBJ’s agenda (he supported LBJ's Vietnam war policies in public while having questions about it in private. Humphrey would split with LBJ in public on Vietnam completely late in the 1968 Presidential campaign by September). New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller ran for President on the Republican side on April 30, 1968.
The Voices of Students
Student activism against war, imperialism, racism, and economic exploitation grew by 1968. April 11, 1968 was the time when Germany's student radical Rudi Dutschke was almost assassinated. Outrage grew as demonstrations nad rioting existed in New York City, Berkeley, Toronto, Paris, Rome, Milan, Belgrade, Prague, and other locations worldwide. The student movement was part of a long revolutionary ethos that flourished during the late 1960's. Internationally, students cared about ending the war, ending imperialism, and wanting racism to end. They were against authoritarian, anti-democratic institutions, intransigent systems, and heinous political parties (that use technologies in inflict mayhem plus death worldwide).
The situation in Columbia started on April 23, 2018 (in about 50 years ago lasting until April 30, 1968) when students occupied Columbia University in New York City. The students protested racial discrimination and the Vietnam War. It was a very historic time in America plus the world. This event revolved around the student activist movement that desired an end to the war in Vietnam, women's rights, black studies in colleges, and the embrace of social equality. These young human beings desired an overall change in society whereby the status quo is gone (and true justice is subsequently made real for the human family). Hamilton Hall in Columbia was occupied first. The reason was that many progressive students wanted to protest against the institution’s ties to a Vietnam War research firm, the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). Also, the students (made up of people among many backgrounds) wanted to fight against Columbia University's construction of a new gymnasium in Morningside Park, whose design plan appeared to offer segregated access to black residents of Harlem, which was adjacent to the building’s lower side. This proposed gymnasium was heavily opposed by Harlem residents and many student activists. Five buildings were occupied and one dean was held. Those involved in the occupation were the SDS and Columbia' Students' Afro-American Society (SAS). Columbia was a private Ivy-League schools whose leadership or administration was traditional and autocratic (Grayson Kirk was one Columbia leader who criticized the students as potentially dangerous). One of the student protesters was Mark Rudd. Rudd would later be part of the Weathermen Underground later on. On April 22, Mark Rudd wrote an open letter to Kirk:
"...Grayson, I doubt if you will understand any of this... you call for order and respect for authority; we call for justice, freedom, and socialism. There is only one thing left to say. It may sound nihilistic to you, since it is the opening shot in a war of liberation. I'll use the words of LeRoi Jones [later Amiri Baraka, who was a great civil right activist and poet], whom I'm sure you don't like a whole lot: "Up against the wall, motherf____, this is a stick-up."
It lasted for over one week. It involved hundreds of students. The occupiers demanded the reinstatement of six students suspended for protesting against the IDA, an end to the construction of the gym, amnesty for all students joining in the occupations, and the reversal of an edict by university president Grayson Kirk banning indoor protests. Later, the authorities went too far in suppressing the student revolt. Kirk called the police. He cut the power and water off from the occupied areas. On April 30, at 2:20 in the morning, some 1,000 police brutally attacked the students. Cops used axes to cut the doors. They or the NYPD assaulted not only students unjustly and viciously. They assaulted journalists and photographers for no reason. Many students were beaten by plains clothes NYPD officers. Some cops destroyed photographic equipment. Within three hours, the occupation was crushed. About 720 students and faculty were arrested, and 136 demonstrators suffered injuries in the police attack. Leaders of the Columbia protests were Black Power activists and SDS members like Mark Rudd. The protests achieved two of their stated goals.
Columbia disaffiliated from the IDA and scrapped the plans for the controversial gym, building a subterranean physical fitness center under the north end of campus instead. More protesting Columbia and Barnard students were arrested and/or injured by New York City police during a second round of protests on May 17–22, 1968, when community residents occupied a Columbia University-owned partially vacant apartment building at 618 West 114 Street to protest Columbia's expansion policies, and later when students re-occupied Hamilton Hall to protest Columbia's suspension of "The IDA Six." Before the night of May 22, 1968 was over, police had arrested another 177 students and beaten 51 students. Mark Rudd said the following words to TIME on 2008 about the Columbia student protest movement:
"What surprised me was the extent of the violence the police employed and the administration condoned."
The legacy of the Columbia protests was that student activism could cause change. All of the freedom that we have today was a result of activists, who in many cases, shed blood in order for us to live on this Earth. We have to always honor the sacrifices of heroes (both men and women including the youth) who desire social and economic justice. The struggle continues and we shall overcome in the end.
The Prague Spring
The musical Hair opened on Broadway officially on April 29, 1968. It was a play that was ahead of its time that dealt with racism, the counterculture, religion, astrology, sex, sexuality, the Vietnam War, the counterculture, and other issues. The musical promoted the Age of Aquarius (which is a New age teaching of massive change in the world after the current Age of Pisces) and hippie living being against the Vietnam War. The play resolves around characters deciding about the draft and how to live in a changing world.
The Prague Spring lasted from January 5, 1968 to August 21, 1968. Today, we witness 50 years after that incident. It was one of the most important events of 1968. It revolved around the people of Czechoslovakia seeking independence and true freedom from the Stalinist Warsaw Pact. During that time, there was the viciousness of capitalist imperialism and the viciousness of Stalinism. After World War II, the victorious superpowers of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. divided Europe in that the Eastern Bloc was controlled by the Soviets while Western Europe was controlled heavily by other Western powers. The reformist Alexander Dubček was elected as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) on January 5, 1968. He replaced the hardliner Antonin Novotny. Dubček declared the party's mission was "to build an advanced socialist society on sound economic foundations ... a socialism that corresponds to the historical democratic traditions of Czechoslovakia, in accordance with the experience of other communist parties ..." During the Prague Spring, Dubček established numerous reforms in giving more rights to the people of Czechoslovakia. They included: the partial decentralization of the economy, democratization, ending restrictions on the media, promoting more free speech, and ending travel restrictions.
On March 4, 1968, Dubcek abolished censorship. He split the nation into 2 republics being the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. Other activists used nonviolent resistance to promote democratic freedoms too. Workplace democracy among workers grew. Dubcek made the mistake of denouncing workers’ strikes. The Soviets hated the reforms and fought back. On the night of August 20-21, 1968, Eastern Bloc armies from four Warsaw Pact countries – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Poland and Hungary—invaded the ČSSR (or Czechoslovakia). That night, 200,000 troops and 2,000 tanks entered the country. They invaded Czechoslovakia in trying to promote the status quo. The people resisted by painting street signs to confuse the Stalinist invaders. Many of them defied curfews. Some like Jan Palach used self-immolation suicides (i.e. burning oneself to death). After the invasion, the Soviets didn’t crush the aspirations of the people completely. People throughout the Warsaw Pact fought for their freedom continuously. Gustáv Husák ended the reforms of Dubeck. Also, it is important to note that the criminal acts of Stalinism are not representative of all socialists. There were revolutionary socialists who opposed the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. Ultimately, the Prague Spring inspired the future revolutions of the 1980’s that ultimately ended Stalinism in Eastern Europe, East Germany, and the Soviet Union itself.
Activism in America and Worldwide
Today, it is 50 years after the major Poor People's Campaign march in Washington, D.C. The people at the location were black people, Latinx people, Native Americans, white people, etc. The Poor People's Campaign was the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who wanted the poor to have economic justice firmly. Many of these human beings on May 29, 1968 marched on the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., to protest a high court ruling that affirmed limits on Native American fishing rights in several rivers of Washington state. The civil rights activist Ralph David Abernathy was the principal leader of the Poor People’s Campaign following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Another leader of the movement was Reies Tijerina, a leader of the Chicano movement in the state of New Mexico. Many protesters were at the doors of the U.S. Supreme Court building seeking justice. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., before he died, was becoming more left wing and more revolutionary. He saw that civil and voting rights are great, but you have to address an economic system that harms people of all colors if you desire true liberation. You have to have a massive redistribution of economic and political power in order to cause real change in our society. Dr. King wanted the Poor People's Campaign to be like the Bonus March back in the 1930's when WWI veterans wanted higher wages (while setting up tents in Washington D.C.). Douglas MacArthur used his troops to end the Bonus March brutally. One of the greatest mistakes of Douglas MacArthur was his excessive response to the Bonus March.
Also, it is important to note that Sister Mary Wright Edelman inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to go forward with the Poor People's Campaign. Since Dr. King was gone physically by April 4, 1968, Ralph Abernathy took over the SCLC and the Poor Peoples Campaign. Dr. King wanted the Poor People's Campaign to give the poor a living wage, adequate incomes, true land, allow to give the poor to experience true political and economic power, and the establishment of other policies. This was part of the Economic Bill of Rights. The Poor People's Campaign asked for the federal government to prioritize helping the poor with a $30 billion anti-poverty package that included, among other demands, a commitment to full employment, a guaranteed annual income measure, and more low-income housing. Even during that time (with the peak of the American post-World War II economic boom in the midst of the lowest economic inequality in American history, possibly in world history), the capitalist powers that be refused to follow the Economic Bill of Rights of the Poor People's Campaign (when these proposals from Dr. King and others were reasonable and legitimate). Dr. King once said that if the government can spend billions of dollars to send a man on the moon then it can spend billions of dollars to help the poor right here on Earth. He's right. Today, we have a new Poor People's Campaign desiring economic justice as well. Rev. Barber is one leader of this 2018 movement using rallies, civil disobedience, and other programs to fight for the poor. It has been a sick past-time for not only some of the rich, but some of the bourgeoisie middle class (many of whom are one or two paychecks away from poverty themselves) to mock and degrade the poor viciously, which is evil. Those days are over. The poor deserves respect and honor just like anyone else.
These are images of Paris during the Paris student revolt of 1968.
More than 50 years ago, there was the uprising in Paris, which was about students going onward to fight for their causes. Student protests erupted in Paris back in May 2, 1968. Students protested the closure of the arts college at Paris University at Nanterre, a newly-erected suburban campus that had been shut down in response to ongoing student protests. During the next day, the protests spread to the prestigious Sorbonne. The students wanted disciplinary action against Nanterre student Daniel Cohn-Bendit to be dropped. The police broke up both demonstrations.
On the night of May 3, in the words of one press account, “riot policemen using clubs and tear gas fought pitched battles with Sorbonne students” protesting the Nanterre closing. The arrested students totaled 573. In response, authorities ordered the indefinite closure of the Sorbonne, for the first time since its founding in 1253. On May 5, 1968, professors organized a strike in protest of the situation. They opposed the heavy handed actions of the police against the students. From May 6-7, 1968, something else happened. Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (UNEF) organized demonstrations. Then, the police and the students engaged in street fighting. The police used tear gas and batons to disperse the students.
Later, the students used barricades and gasoline bombs. Some overturned cars. In the Latin Quarter, street fighting continued between the police and students. More than 10,000 demonstrators blocked Boulevard St. Germain with overturned buses, and “wave after wave of police counterattacks were repelled,” according to the New York Times report on the event. “Police vehicles racing reinforcements to the scene were bombarded from roofs with stones and firebombs. The windows of countless paddy-wagons and police buses were smashed in, and scores of overturned and burning cars littered Boulevard St. Germain and Rue de Rennes.” After the revolt, there was the reactionary backlash led by Charles de Gaulle and others in France.
Le précepte de la liberté est l'idéal de l'humanité et nous gagnerons à la fin.
Robert Kennedy's 1968 Presidential Campaign
The Presidential campaign of 1968 continued. The Democratic race was wide open after Lyndon Baines Johnson withdrew from the race. Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver also ran against the Vietnam War in the Peace and Freedom party ticket. Vice President Hubert Humphrey officially announced his candidacy on April 27, 1968. He famous said that, "Here we are, the way politics ought to be in America, the politics of happiness, the politics of purpose, and the politics of joy." Once, liberals heavily honored Humphrey for his advocacy of civil rights back in the 1940's, but his allegiance to LBJ caused him to experience many protests. Even LBJ criticized him by saying, "just too old-fashioned, he looks like, he talks like he belongs to the past." Humphrey had a huge burden throughout his campaign and his domestic views were progressive while his foreign policy views were similar to LBJ's views. Pro-war Democrats, party bosses, and most labor leaders supported Humphrey. Kennedy and McCarthy battled for the anti-war vote while Humphrey quietly gathered delegates. Robert Kennedy was more energetic than McCarthy during the race. RFK said that, "I run to seek new policies, policies to end the bloodshed in Vietnam and in our cities, policies to sloe the gap that now exists between black and white, between rich and poor, between young and old in this country and around the rest of the world." McCarthy had progressive economic views, but he was seen by many as aloof. He wanted to limit the power of the Presidency.
There is nothing wrong with the politics of purpose, but we can't embrace a naivete that ignores the unhappiness found in the lives of the suffering and the poor. The United States and North Vietnam start to agree on peace talks in Paris by May 3, 1968. May 7, 1968 was when Robert Kennedy won the Indiana primary. Indiana had inner city black Americans, white ethnic factory workers, suburbanites,and rural farmers. RFK used the train to travel into many parts of the states to apeal to black people and whtie people. On May 14, 1968, the Beatles announced the creation of Apple Records in a New York press conference. Many thunderstorms created tornadoes that made huge damage plus casualties in Charles City, Iowa, Oelwein, Iowa, and Jonesboro, Arkansas. Robert Kennedy won the Nebraska primary on May 14, 1968 too. It was Kennedy’s first majority victory. He beat both McCarthy and LBJ. Nixon won the Republican primary in Nebraska over Ronald Reagan and Nelson Rockefeller. Back then, Rockefeller was a liberal Republican, Reagan was in the conservative wing, and Nixon was in the middle. On May 17, 1968, the Catonsville Nine enter the Selective Service offices in Catonsville, Maryland, take dozens of selective service draft records, and burned them with napalm as a protest against the Vietnam War. The U.S. nuclear-powered submarine Scorpion sinks with 99 men aboard, 400 miles southwest of the Azores. This happened on May 22, 1968. McCarthy won the Oregon primary on May 28, 1968 because Oregon was much more conservative back then (and RFK’s pro-gun control stance turned many Oregon voters off). Nixon easily won the Oregon primary. Robert Kennedy campaigned in California during this time. McCarthy stumped California’s many colleges and universities, where he was treated as a hero for being the first presidential candidate to oppose the war. Robert Kennedy campaigned in the ghettos and barrios of California’s larger cities, where he was mobbed by enthusiastic supporters. Charles Evers and John Lewis campaigned for Robert Kennedy in black communities. Cesar Chavez campaigned for RFK also in barrios. Kennedy and McCarthy engaged in a television debate a few days before the primary; it was generally considered a draw.
On June 4, 1968, Robert Kennedy narrowly defeated McCarthy in California, 46%–42%. However, McCarthy refused to withdraw from the race and made it clear that he would contest Kennedy in the upcoming New York primary, where McCarthy had much support from anti-war activists in New York City. Robert Kennedy ultimately gathered support among African Americans, white progressives, Latino Americans, Native Americans, women, and others to win the California primary. On June 5, 1968, U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy was shot at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, California by Sirhan Sirhan. Kennedy died from his injuries the next day on June 6, 1968. With the assassination of Robert Francis Kennedy, another tragedy existed where human beings (especially the youth) were sadden plus confused on where to go next in the movement for social justice. Many of the New left and the black freedom struggle questioned whether revolutionary change would be possible after another innocent man was murdered. Robert Kennedy was one of four American men (who also include JFK, Malcolm X, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ) who were assassinated by a murderer in the midst of ideological evolution in being more progressive on issues. Yet, RFK’s unfortunate, unjust death never ended the Dream. The Dream continues.
Appendix A: The Music of mid-1968
After Dr. King’s assassination, James Brown was on national television on April 5, 1968. He helped to defuse a rebellion in Boston. He calmed the feelings of anger among black people in the concert over the unjust murder of Dr. King. On April 7, 1968, Singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone's performance at Westbury Music Fair is dedicated to the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The song "Why? (The king of love is dead)" by Gene Taylor is performed for the first time. the show was partially released on the Emmy nominated album Nuff Said (1968). On May 4, Mary Hopkin performs on the British TV show Opportunity Knocks. Hopkin catches the attention of model Twiggy, who recommends her to Paul McCartney. McCartney would soon sign Hopkin to Apple Records. Aretha Franklin records her live LP Aretha in Paris at the Olympia Theater on May 7, 1968. At a press conference, John Lennon and Paul McCartney introduce the Beatles' new business concept, Apple Corps, Ltd., an entertainment company that included a recording studio, a record label, and clothing store (on May 14, 1968). On May 30, 1968, The Beatles begin recording The White Album (officially titled, simply, The Beatles). Sessions would span over 4 months, ending on October.
On June 20, 1968 was when David Ruffin was fired from the Temptations. The reason was that Otis Williams accused Ruffin of having a large ego and Ruffin wanted to inquire into the Temptation’s financial records. Ruffin demanded an accounting of the group’s money. On June 20, 1968, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas make their debut at the Copacabana in New York City, winning a rave review in the New York Times. The engagement was recorded but remains in the Motown vaults. By August 1, 1968, Jeff Beck Group released their album Truth. A seminal work of heavy metal, it incorporates blues and hard rock. It introduced the talents of Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. On August 1968, James Brown released one of his greatest records and an anthem of the Black Power movement. It is called “Say It Loud- I’m Black and I’m Proud.” It was released as a two-part single which held the number-one spot on the R&B singles chart for six weeks, and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100. Both parts of the single were later included on James Brown's 1968 album A Soulful Christmas and on his 1969 album sharing the title of the song. "Say It Loud – I'm Black and I'm Proud" was Brown's first recording to feature trombonist Fred Wesley. In the song, Brown addressed the prejudice towards blacks in America, and the need for black empowerment. He proclaims that "we demands a chance to do things for ourself/we're tired of beating our head against the wall/and workin' for someone else". The song's call-and-response chorus is performed by a group of young children, who respond to Brown's command of "Say it loud" with "I'm black and I'm proud!" The song was recorded in a Los Angeles area suburb with about 30 young people from the Watts and Compton areas. This record from James Brown certainly inspired confidence among black people worldwide and promoted the truth that BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL.
By Timothy
Friday, June 22, 2018
Friday Updates in Late June 2018
Trump is a notorious liar. He signed an executive order in trying to reunite children with their parents, but he also continues to blame Democrats alone for the crisis on the border. The reality is that undocumented immigration has declined massively since 1990. Immigration issues are not bounded by one party. Both major parties share responsibility in the issue of immigration. Trump has implemented the zero tolerance policy that has exacerbated the crisis in the first place. He once refused to do anything, but pressure has caused him to create an executive order. Trump has retreated on the family separation issue. His other lie is that he believes that Democrats want anyone to come into America for any reason whatsoever. What this situation is about deals with people escaping tyranny and massive violence from Central America. Many of those countries in that region were impoverished plus filled with violence by the existence of U.S.-backed military dictatorships. They or the undocumented immigrants are not an infestation (as Trump has called them). This situation ultimately deals with migrants seeking a better way of life for themselves and for their families. Not to mention that Congress does have the responsibility to make comprehensive solutions to this crisis legislatively as well. People are discussing about the Flores decision. Ultimately, the executive order promotes family detention instead of family separation. The act of children being placed into camps by themselves has been condemned by many quarters. The American Academy of Pediatrics calls this “child abuse”, Amnesty International says it is “nothing short of torture”, and the United Nations denounces it as “despicable” and an “unconscionable” violation of human rights. In a recent speech, Trump has effectively called for the abolition of due process for immigrants. “We don’t want judges, we want security on the border,” he said. “We don’t want people coming in.” Immigrants have the right to have due process and human equality.
There has been documented evidence of the abuse of immigrant children for years. Court documents made public in Virginia and Texas give a glimpse of the systematic brutality being meted out to immigrant children in both public and private jails. Children are strapped down, hooded and beaten, or drugged by force, as part of the everyday procedure in what can only be called the American Gulag. An Associated Press report published Thursday gave details of the abuses committed against young Latino migrants at the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center near Staunton, Virginia, last year. Lawyers for the teenage victims sued the prison—a state facility run by a consortium of seven towns and cities in the Shenandoah Valley—and a court hearing is set for July. According to a half-dozen sworn statements, given by the victims in Spanish and then translated for filing with the federal court for the Western District of Virginia, children as young as 14 were beaten while handcuffed, tied down to chairs while stripped naked and hooded, and held for long periods in solitary confinement, sometimes naked and cold. All these are forms of torture practiced at Guantanamo Bay and at CIA torture prisons around the world. These techniques have been transferred back into the United States and unleashed on immigrant children, who have been demonized by the Trump administration.
We are not silent. Trump has been notorious in using overtly racist rhetoric. Any supporter of Trump is a racist or supports racism period. This is beyond ignorance. This deals with Trump supporters being complicit in his bigotry. The neo-fascist, anti-immigrant movement isn't just limited to America. It's a worldwide problem. In Italy, people are calling for the registration of the Roma. The far right wants the deportation of 500,000 immigrants. Neo-fascists are growing in Germany in demonizing immigrants. Hate crime attacks against Muslims and against Jewish people have existed in England. The French government has restricted the right of asylum in their nation recently. Defense of the rights of immigrants to live on this Earth is a key revolutionary tenet. There are many protesters who are defending the rights of immigrants and refugees. Right now, there is confusion over how to unite children with their parents. Trump's new executive order makes the detention among families and their children de facto permanent. That must change. More than 600 members of the United Methodist Church issued a formal complaint against Sessions as a fellow church member, charging that his “zero tolerance” policy on immigration violates church rules and may constitute child abuse. It is evil to possibly punish migrants with 20 years in prison for migration in escaping persecution. Human beings have the right to move freely and safely worldwide.
Days ago was the Birthday of Sister Kierra Sheard. She is 31 years old and a worldwide well known gospel singer and fashion designer. She is also a radio host. She was born in Detroit and Detroit has a long history of gospel musicians. Throughout her life, she has sang in the choir, worked and finished albums, and worked in fashion. She was in the movie the Preacher's Kid and loves her family a great deal. She believes in God with an earnest passion and that's glorious. Her family has been involved in gospel music for decades as lovers and experts of gospel music know about. Sheard is a graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, where she received her bachelor's degree in English with a minor in psychology. She is young and excellently has worked hard in achieving her goals. She will continue to promote greatness in her life. I wish Sister Kierra Sheard more blessings.
Yesterday was the time of the murder of Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner. These human beings were advocates for freedom. They worked for the 1964 cause of Freedom Summer. Freedom Summer was a multiracial movement whose goal was to give black Mississippians voting rights, educational opportunities, job opportunities, and human equality in general. All three men were associated with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) and its member organization the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). Many people, who worked in Freedom Summer, came from all over America to work with people in Mississippi. This was during the 1964 Presidential campaign between LBJ and Goldwater (who explicitly opposed the Civil Rights Act). All 3 young men were shot, murdered, and their bodies dumped into a location by members of the Klan. Many people found their bodies. Their stories are found in many movies and documentaries like Mississippi Burning (which told the truth about the vicious racism of the Klan but it sugarcoated the FBI response as many FBI agents used a lax response in fighting oppression. We know that Hoover hated the civil rights movement and its leaders. Also, the movie ignored a lot of the self defense movements in the Deep South against Klan terrorism). Black folks in the South were not taking it without a response. The Deacons of Defense and other groups used self defense against racists throughout the South. This tragedy was a turning point in the civil rights movement in that afterwards American support for civil rights increased. So, we remember these martyrs and we are renewed in the fight for human justice.
By Timothy
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Black Liberationist Debbie Sims Africa Speaks Out After Her 40 Years in Prison
https://blackagendareport.com/black-liberationist-debbie-sims-africa-speaks-out-after-her-40-years-prison
http://6abc.com/move-member-freed-after-deadly-1978-shootout/3622205/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/18/debbie-sims-africa-free-prison-move-nine-philadelphia-police
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/philadelphia/move-philly-radical-group-debbie-sims-africa-michael-africa-bombing-powelton-village-west-philadelphia-20180619.html
http://6abc.com/move-member-freed-after-deadly-1978-shootout/3622205/
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jun/18/debbie-sims-africa-free-prison-move-nine-philadelphia-police
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pennsylvania/philadelphia/move-philly-radical-group-debbie-sims-africa-michael-africa-bombing-powelton-village-west-philadelphia-20180619.html
More Black Agenda Report News
https://blackagendareport.com/none-us-are-free-if-one-us-chained
https://blackagendareport.com/2018-left-forum-panthers-cant-save-us-now-imagining-21st-century-us-left
https://blackagendareport.com/oraa-aamaader-gaan-gaaite-dyay-naa-bengali-panegyric-paul-robeson
https://blackagendareport.com/nikki-haley-damn-un-human-rights-council-and-rest-you-too
People in Camps
One of saddest stories is how tons of babies and toddlers (in the hundreds) are being housed in at least 3 facilities in South Texas. They are suffering without their parents. They are experiencing emotional trauma that they will last a lifetime. Some children will never see their parents again. Trump certainly has no empathy. We know he has no empathy for my people (black people) and he certainly has no empathy for babies based upon their nationality. He even wants to decrease legal immigration which shows his massive xenophobia. Tons of people have spoken up and desire a real change and real compassion shown to fellow people. Activists have found that kids, who are young as 3 or 4 years old, face a judge without great legal representation. This is totally inhumane. This is America and this isn't new either. Decades ago, innocent Japanese people were forced into internment camps and we have modern internment camps. It's a shame. That is why we will continue to fight for justice. Trump is a notorious liar. MS-13 wasn't created in Central America. It was created in Southern California. Also, the immigrants are not equivalent to MS-13. They are desperate for survival. They are asylum seekers. Congress can make legislation that addresses this and Trump can issue a phone call today to end this massive separation of children from their parents right now. Trump wants to punish countries suffering when the Central American nations are victims of imperialist foreign policy. These human beings from those countries do represent their best. The situation of the border is a humanitarian crisis. Many of the migrants are turned away from the ports of entry. They are escaping horrendous conditions and they desire freedom and hope for the future. His rhetoric is totally xenophobic and he has no respect from me at all.
Hoteps and white supremacists are unison in their hatred of immigrants. They ask us black people why do we care? We care because we are human and an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. They forget that many immigrants suffering are of black African descent too nationwide. Many of the haters lecture us on borders, but those borders existed as a product of conquest and imperialist aggression not because of some fairly deduced process organized among both sides in a peaceful fashion. Dinesh is a person with greatly bad character. He even tried to justify the war criminal Christopher Columbus. Trump always have a tendency to pardon far right wing racist extremists. He or Dinesh made evil statements about the students from the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. He compared social welfare to a slavery plantation. He's a total hypocrite. He ignores the corruption shown by Republicans Nixon and Reagan.
She is one actress who has stood the test of time as being one of the greatest actresses in history. Her monumental kindness and humbleness has been acknowledged by a wide spectrum of human beings. Yesterday, it was her Birthday and she is Sister Phylicia Rashad. She was born in Houston, Texas and her sister is the famous dancer, producer, and actress Debbie Allen. Phylicia Rashad is also a singer and stage director as she is intimately involved in the art of theater. Right now, she is 70 years old. She graduated from the famous HBCU Howard University magna cum laude in 1970 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. She was in the theatrical plays of the Wiz, Dreamgirls, etc. Her album Josephine Superstar had a disco sound to it. Always giving advice and encouragement to the younger generation is part of her magnificent legacy. Supremely honest and dedicated to excellence, Phylicia Rashad appreciates justice. She has many children and we all love her wholesome spirit. She was the first black actress to win a Tony Award for her role in the Raisin the Sun play. She also star in the Raisin in the Sun movie (which came out in 2004) as well. She continues to outline great acting in theater plays to this very day. A diversity of TV shows and movies has found her playing a key role in showing the myriad of emotions and other forms of human expression. She is a living legend who continues to inspire humanity.
I wish Sister Phylicia Rashad a Great Birthday.
On this week, it has been 50 years since the Poor People's Campaign of Resurrection City (in D.C.) was shut down by government forces. The Poor People's Campaign (as promoted by Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy, and Mary Edelman) wanted billions of dollars to be used in America to end poverty once and for all. The growth of economic inequality continues and this issue of economic inequality is one of the most important political issues of the 21st century. 2050 is less than 35 years from now. It is our cause to fight for the same goals that heroic people fought back then. We are for democratic rights. Today, many people are involved in a modern day Poor People's Campaign too. Days ago was the Birthday of a living legend. Her name is Sister Ernestine Shepherd. Her life proves that faith is real and that hard work shown in the positive direction always causes blessings. She is now 82 years old and looks decades younger than her actual age. Also, she continues to help women constantly in fitness. She is a spiritual woman who is unashamed of her walk with God. That's admirable. Also, she is a wife, a mother, and a grandmother with a great husband. She is inspired by her late sister to exercise and help her neighbors for years. Always determined for achieving excellence, Ernestine Shepherd has ran marathons, won competitions, and published a book. She lives in Baltimore and Baltimore is home to so many strong, great people like many of my relatives. I visited Baltimore before in real life and I love its architecture and its people. Determined, Dedicated, and Disciplined is her motto and it's a great truth. Those three words are prerequisite in getting dreams or aspirations transformed into fruition. We congratulate anyone who loves their occupations and who make it their life's work to make the lives of others more enriched. I wish Sister Ernestine Shepherd more blessings.
As other great people have mentioned, yesterday was a great holiday. It is Juneteenth. It is a day of celebration of our black people against tyranny and slavery. It is a day that realizes that the Maafa was the worst slavery inflicted on people in human history while celebrating our glorious victory against the Confederate enemy. Also, it is a time of camaraderie, love of family, eating great food, and realizing the point that black liberation is very key in causing liberation for the human race in general. So, on this Juneteenth, we celebrate and realize that the struggle continues at the same time. In the end, we shall overcome and be victorious against injustice. Dancing, the arts, music, STEM fields, literature, theology, sociology, athletics, and other aspects of human living encompass greatly the black experience. We honor those unsung heroes making a difference in our current generation too. We are one as Brothers and Sisters regardless of our nationality, our income level, and our sex. The recent events, as shown in the news, makes the real truth known that children shouldn't be stripped from their parents and placed into camps. I love my black African American heritage as I am black and comely.
Black Lives Matter
We Shall Overcome.
Happy Juneteenth Day
By Timothy
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
American History
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OkxvfIiPw5ktI61enQJUHxaaOu3bz0Id/view?usp=sharing
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/20/17484546/executive-order-family-separation-flores-settlement-agreement-immigration
https://b-womeninamericanhistory19.blogspot.com/2013/06/1800-city-of-philadelphia-by-english.html
https://owlcation.com/stem/Prehistoric-Predators-of-Ice-Age-North-America
https://www.thoughtco.com/mammoths-and-mastodons-171039
https://www.livescience.com/51793-extinct-ice-age-megafauna.html
https://prezi.com/vnfchvubifzb/the-new-england-middle-and-southern-colonies/
http://mrnussbaum.com/southern-colonies/
https://www.landofthebrave.info/13-colonies-chart.htm
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/20/17484546/executive-order-family-separation-flores-settlement-agreement-immigration
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/20/17485488/executive-order-immigration-trump-families-together
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/20/17484546/executive-order-family-separation-flores-settlement-agreement-immigration
https://b-womeninamericanhistory19.blogspot.com/2013/06/1800-city-of-philadelphia-by-english.html
https://owlcation.com/stem/Prehistoric-Predators-of-Ice-Age-North-America
https://www.thoughtco.com/mammoths-and-mastodons-171039
https://www.livescience.com/51793-extinct-ice-age-megafauna.html
https://prezi.com/vnfchvubifzb/the-new-england-middle-and-southern-colonies/
http://mrnussbaum.com/southern-colonies/
https://www.landofthebrave.info/13-colonies-chart.htm
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/20/17484546/executive-order-family-separation-flores-settlement-agreement-immigration
https://www.vox.com/2018/6/20/17485488/executive-order-immigration-trump-families-together
Monday, June 18, 2018
The Early American Era
Early American society started with new changes. 1789 was a year of new beginnings in the American nation. George Washington was the first President of the United States under the new Constitution in 1789. He was once the American Revolutionary War general and commander in chief of the Continental Army. The United States Bill of Rights was established by 1791. The national capital moved from New York City to Philadelphia in 1790 and finally into Washington, D.C. in 1800. The Washington administration expanded the national government. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton assumed the debts of the states (the debt holders received federal bonds) and created the Bank of the United States. He wanted to stabilize the financial system. He created a system of tariffs or taxes on imports and other taxes to pay off the debt and grow the financial infrastructure. He was a leader of his political party of the Federalist Party. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison formed the opposition Republican Party (or the Democratic-Republican Party). Hamilton and Washington formed the Jay Treaty in 1794 which reestablished good relations with Britain. Jefferson and his followers protested this and the voters aligned behind one party or the other to form the First Party System. Jefferson was more sympathetic with the French Revolution too. Federalists promoted business, financial and commercial interests and wanted more trade with Britain. Republicans accused the Federalists of plans to establish a monarchy, turn the rich into a ruling class, and making the United States a pawn of the British. The treaty passed, but politics became intensely heated. The Anti-Federalists were heavily popular among farmers and many slave owners. The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 was about western settlers protesting against a federal tax on liquor. This was one of the early tests of the federal government. Later, Washington called out the state militia and personally led an army to end the rebellion (as the insurgents left) and the national government’s power was established. George Washington didn’t want to have more than 2 terms. He gave his famous farewell address. He promoted the benefits of the federal government, he claimed to promote ethics and morality (when he hypocritically owned slaves) and warned against foreign alliances. He opposed the formation of political parties as divisive. John Adams was a Federalist. He defeated Thomas Jefferson in the 1796 election to be the 2nd President of America. War loomed with France (with the French Revolution and the Haitian Revolution) and the Federalists used the opportunity to try to silence the Republicans with the Alien and Sedition Acts, build up a large army with Hamilton at the head, and prepare for a French invasion. However, the Federalists became divided after Adams sent a successful peace mission to France that ended the Quasi-War of 1798. Adams was completely wrong to sign the anti-democratic Alien and Sedition Acts.
From 1789 to 1849, slavery was very prominent in American society. During the first two decades after the Revolutionary War, there was an increase of freed African Americans. Many northern states abolished slavery being inspired by the ideals of equality (and some states were economically less reliant on slavery). Some states of the Upper South made manumission easier. There was, as a result, an increase in the proportion of free black people in the Upper South (as a percentage of the total non-white population) from less than one percent in 1792 to more than 10 percent by 1810. By that date, a total of 13.5 percent of all black people in the United States were free. After that date, with the demand for slaves on the rise because of the Deep South's expanding cotton cultivation, the number of manumissions declined sharply; and an internal U.S. slave trade became an important source of wealth for many planters and traders. In 1809, President James Madison severed the US's involvement with the Atlantic slave trade. By the turn of the century, Thomas Jefferson was finally elected President in 1800. Many of his policies influenced America to this very day. He was contradictory. He claimed to want a small government with independent yeoman farmers and planters living comfortably in a republican society. Yet, he allowed a massive expansion of government to exist with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. This allowed U.S. settlers to travel west beyond the Mississippi River. Jefferson distrusted cities, factories, and banks. He distrusted the federal government and judges. So, he was like a Tea Party member before the Tea Party ever existed. He wanted to weaken the judiciary. Yet, he didn’t prevail. He met his match in John Marshall, a Federalist from Virginia. Although the Constitution specified a Supreme Court, its functions were vague until Marshall, the Chief Justice (1801–35), defined them, especially the power to overturn acts of Congress or states that violated the Constitution, first enunciated in 1803 in Marbury v. Madison. He or Thomas Jefferson allowed Lewis and Clark to lend their expedition to explore lands west of the Mississippi River. The War of 1812 existed because of many reasons. One was that many Americans were angry at the British violation of Americans ships’ neutral rights in order to hurt France. The British used the seizure of 10,000 American sailors via the Royal Navy in order to fight Napoleon. That act was controversial. The British supported Native Americans in attacking American settlers in the Midwest. Some of the British may wanted to annex part or all of British North America. Despite strong opposition from the Northeast, especially from Federalists who did not want to disrupt trade with Britain, Congress declared war on June 18, 1812. The war was brutal among both sides. Both sides invaded each other and were repulsed. The Americans forces struggled to defeat the British until late in the war. The American militia was weakened since many of their soldiers didn’t want to leave their homes and invade Canada. The British used a blockade in the Atlantic Ocean.
This ruined American commerce and bankrupted the Treasury. New Englanders smuggled supplies to Britain in anger. The Americans under General William Henry Harrison finally gained naval control of Lake Erie and defeated the Native Americans under Tecumseh in Canada, while Andrew Jackson defeated many Native American forces in the Southeast. The Native American aspect to the War on 1812, involving settler expansion into the Midwest, was permanently ended. The British invaded and occupied much of Maine. The British raided and burned Washington, but were repelled at Baltimore in 1814 – where the "Star Spangled Banner" was written to celebrate the American success. That anthem was created by the slave owner Francis Scott Key. The anthem originally supported slavery. In upstate New York, a major British invasion of New York State was turned back. Finally in early 1815, Andrew Jackson decisively defeated a major British invasion at the Battle of New Orleans, making him the most famous war hero in the eyes of many. Napoleon was gone. Both sides came into the peace table. Prewar boundaries remain. Americans claimed victory on February 18, 1815 as news came almost simultaneously of Jackson's victory of New Orleans and the peace treaty that left the prewar boundaries in place. Americans swelled with pride at success in the "second war of independence"; the naysayers of the antiwar Federalist Party were put to shame and the party never recovered. The Native Americans were defeated as they never gained the independent nationhood Britain had promised and no longer posed a serious threat as settlers poured into the Midwest.
Soon, the Era of Good Feelings transpired. The Federalists were strong opponents of the War of 1814. Therefore, they held the Hartford Convention of 1814. Some hinted at disunion. There was national euphoria after the victory at New Orleans. The Federalists lost their power as a political party. President Madison and most Republicans realized that they couldn’t end the Bank of the United States since they had to finance the war. They used foreign bankers to charter the Second Bank of the United States in 1816. The Republicans also imposed tariffs designed to protect the infant industries that had been created when Britain was blockading the U.S. With the collapse of the Federalists as a party, the adoption of many Federalist principles by the Republicans, and the systematic policy of President James Monroe in his two terms (1817–25) to downplay partisanship, the nation entered an Era of Good Feelings. This era existed with far less partisanship than before (or after), and closed out the First Party System. James Monroe formed his Monroe Doctrine by 1823. It was the view that the United States' opinion that European powers should no longer colonize or interfere in the Americas. This was a defining moment in the foreign policy of the United States. The Monroe Doctrine was adopted in response to American and British fears over Russian and French expansion into the Western Hemisphere. In 1832, President Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States, ran for a second term under the slogan "Jackson and no bank" and did not renew the charter of the Second Bank of the United States of America, ending the Bank in 1836. Jackson was convinced that central banking was used by the elite to take advantage of the average American, and instead implemented state banks, popularly known as "pet banks." His policies ruined the U.S. economy for years. He was a slave owner, a racist, and a brutal enemy of the Native American people. He was so racist that he allowed Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This law authorized the President to negotiate treaties that exchanged Native American tribal lands in the eastern states for the lands west of the Mississippi River. In order words, it wanted to remove Native Americans (including the Five Civilized Tribes) from the American Southeast into the reservations of the West. Jacksonian Democrats wanted the forcible removal of native populations who refused to acknowledge state laws in the West. Whigs and religious people rightfully opposed the move as inhumane. Thousands of deaths resulted from the relocations, as seen in the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Many of the Seminole Native Americans in Florida refused to move west; they fought the Army for years in the Seminole Wars. Andrew Jackson was a disgraceful man to put it lightly. Soon, the Second Party System would exist after the First Party System of Federalists and Republicans ended in the 1820’s. The new party system was created from the well-organized local parties that appealed for the votes of almost all adult white men. Back then, most of the rights in America were given to adult white men for the most part. The former Jeffersonian (Democratic-Republican) party split into 2 factions. They split over the choice of a successor to President James Monroe, and the party faction that supported many of the old Jeffersonian principles, led by Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren, became the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party were heavily pro-states’ rights and believed in coalitions by 1828. The opposing faction was led by Henry Clay to help create the Whig Party. The Democratic Party had a small but decisive advantage over the Whigs until the 1850’s. The Whigs fell apart over the issue of slavery. The Democrats were diverse, but they believed in the Jeffersonian concept of an agrarian society, opposition to a central government, and opposed federal support to banks and corporations. Some Democrats opposed educational reform or even a public educational system. Jackson and other Democrats had no sympathy for American Native Americans too (i.e. They organized the Trial of Tears).
The Second Great Awakening spread from ca. 1790 to the 1840’s. It was led by Protestants to promote church growth. During that period, membership grew rapidly among Baptists and Methodist congregations. Preachers led the movement. Millions became Christians and others formed new denominations. The Second Great Awakening influenced the development of many reform movements like abolitionists and temperance activists. Some wanted to eliminate evil before the anticipated Second Coming of Jesus Christ. The abolitionist movement has existed for centuries. It grew into the next level by the 1800’s in America. The goal of the abolitionist movement wanted to end slavery completely. It had support among secularists, religious people, black people, etc. Some became abolitionists as a product of the Second Great Awakening. William Lloyd Garrison, a radical abolitionist, published the most influential of the many anti-slavery newspapers, The Liberator, while Frederick Douglass, an ex-slave, began writing for that newspaper around 1840 and started his own abolitionist newspaper North Star in 1847. It was divided too. Some anti-slavery activists were moderates like Abraham Lincoln. Others were progressives like Garrison, Douglass, and others who wanted slavery to immediately end. From 1800 to 1849, Westward expansion increased too. As the American colonies and the new nation grew in population and area, many lands of the Native Americans were gone. This process ended by 1890-1912 when the last major farmlands and ranch lands were settled. Many Native American tribes resisted militarily. Yet, they were repelled by the U.S. army and settlers. Many were relocated to reservations in the West. The Manifest Destiny myth was a racist view that that settlers had the God-given right to conquer the West literally irrespective of the original people living in those lands for thousands of years. Frederick Jackson Turner was a historian on the West who omitted the multicultural nature of the frontier. Many markets were formed. Cultures merged. The modern West was created by conflicts, migration, and cultural diversity. The first settlers of the West, other than the Native Americans, were the Spanish in New Mexico. They were U.S. citizens by 1848. The Latinx population in California (or Californios) was overwhelmed by over 100,000 gold rush miners. California grew explosively. San Francisco by 1880 had become the economic hub of the entire Pacific Coast with a diverse population of a quarter million. From the early 1830's to 1869, the Oregon Trail and its many offshoots were used by over 300,000 settlers. '49ers (in the California Gold Rush), ranchers, farmers, and entrepreneurs and their families headed to California, Oregon, and other points in the far west. Wagon-trains took five or six months on foot; after 1869, the trip took 6 days by rail.
Manifest Destiny was rejected by modernizers like many Whigs (including Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln) who wanted to build cities and factories not more farms. Democrats strongly favored expansion, and won the key election of 1844. After a bitter debate in Congress the Republic of Texas was annexed in 1845, leading to war with Mexico, who considered Texas to be a part of Mexico due to the large numbers of Mexican settlers. Mexico was freed from Spanish imperialism and became an independent country. White settlers came into Texas later (which back then, Texas was part of Mexico). The Mexican–American War (1846–48) broke out with the Whigs opposed to the war, and the Democrats supporting the war. The U.S. army, using regulars and large numbers of volunteers, defeated the Mexican armies, invaded at several points, captured Mexico City and won decisively. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war in 1848. Many Democrats wanted to annex all of Mexico, but that idea was rejected by southerners who argued that by incorporating millions of Mexican people, mainly of multiracial heritage, would undermine the United States as an exclusively white republic (back then, many white politicians were very overtly racist). Instead the U.S. took Texas and the lightly settled northern parts (California and New Mexico). The Latinx residents were given full citizenship and the Mexican Native Americans became American Native Americans. Simultaneously, gold was discovered in California in 1849, attracting over 100,000 men to northern California in a matter of months in the California Gold Rush. A peaceful compromise with Britain gave the U.S. ownership of the Oregon Country, which was renamed the Oregon Territory. That area would evolve into Oregon. 1849 was a beginning of the end of the early era of America. Tensions among the North and the South would evolve into the Civil War.
By Timothy