Juneteenth

Today is Juneteenth. I don’t remember when I learned the meaning of it, but it hasn’t been long. I think that’s shameful I never learned about it in school. In fact, during my entire 12-year experience, we never got past the War of 1812, although Robber Barons (1890s) sounds a tad familiar from ancient American history twelfth grade.

Slavery is our nasty sin no one wants to talk about. We fought a civil war over it. President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The news spread quickly enough in most states and the Thirteenth Amendment, basically ending slavery in the US, came into being earlier in 1865.

News traveled slower than molasses in Texas. On June 19, 1865, some Union soldiers came to Galveston, TX as a part of the Reconstruction. In Galveston, TX, they discovered Black people who were still enslaved! So, the commanding officer broke the news to everyone that they were free and had been for two years. Naturally, the newly freed enslaved celebrated.

When did I learn this? I’m embarrassed to say it’s only been in the last few years, ever since the controversy began over the book 1619. I read it and, in many places, my hair about stood on end and I felt like I was going to throw up. Yes, I felt uncomfortable. I also wished I’d learned about Juneteenth earlier.

I read Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison.

I wanted to read other books, too. I wanted to learn what I hadn’t in school.

I read:

Across That Bridge, by former Congressman John Lewis

Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

A Way Out Of No Way by Sen. Raphael Warnock

The Hate U Bring by Angie Thomas

Punch Me to the Gods by Brian Broome

Didn’t Nobody Give A Shit About Carlotta by James Hannaham

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

These are books related not just to the Black experience but also to the experiences of marginalized, mistreated groups.

I mentioned that as a kid and teen, most of what I learned about what went on in history was from reading books.

I learned about Jim Crow and racial discrimination from To Kill A Mockingbird

I learned about ongoing racial discrimination from In the Heat of the Night and a boatload of other books.

I learned about Christian missionaries wiping out the native Hawaiian population from Hawaii by the ideas and diseases they brought. From the same book, I learned about Japanese Americans interred in concentration camps.

I learned about the slaughter and decimation of the Native tribes from Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

I learned about the Holocaust from Exodus

I wish I’d learned these things in school. As I read, there was no guidance. There was no teacher to help explain more of the history and the whys of it all. There was no one with whom I could share my shock and grief that these horrible things really happened.

Especially when you are a child (and I mean right through the teenage years), learning historical facts as awful as these are “discomforting” and that is ever so true. But feeling uncomfortable can be a good thing in the right hands of a teacher. These are events in our history and to learn them doesn’t mean we have to feel uncomfortable or guilty. It just means that we admit the wrong and take responsibility for it. In that way, we don’t keep repeating the wrong.

I am still learning more historical moments I didn’t know before, and I have to say I was today old when I learned it. I can live with the discomfort. I wish half the country would say the same.

 

Before It's Too Late

 I was looking at different sources to see how many people read books. By people, I mean teenagers to adults. I was thinking that perhaps there are too many complacent people in the country, ignoring the spreading fascism because they don’t read enough and don’t believe we could have such a thing in the United States. It turns out that the stats haven’t changed too much and that the average person reads at least one book a year.

To me, that’s shockingly low because I’ve been a bookworm all my life. People lead busy lives as adults, though, and many don’t have much time to sit down and read a book. Perhaps kids and adults would prefer to play video games or check out their social media. Maybe instead of wondering how much people read, I should wonder WHAT they are reading. They sure don't seem to be learning a damn thing about history.

The recent news has me shaking my head.

Florida’s governor Death Santis wants bloggers to register with the state if they’re going to write about him. He also wants reporters to not only register but turn over their material after covering one of his appearances. He wants to know the political views of professors at the college level. Now these are chilling ideas for anyone who has bothered to read what was happening in Germany in the early 1930s. This same governor has further restricted a woman’s right to make choices about her own health.  This same governor has made it harder for minorities to vote. This same governor has terrorized school teachers and districts into removing books from their shelves for fear of being charged with a felony. Does this sound like a book burning without the fire? This same governor had a “don’t say gay” law and an “anti-woke” law passed. That’s not even half of what he’s been up to. He’s a truly scary guy.

But where are the protesters? Why aren’t legislators speaking up about it? Understandably (I guess) half of our legislators side with the repressive fascist but why are there crickets from the other side? Why aren’t they speaking out?

When there was no outcry, fascism began spreading like wildfire. States seemed to be competing to see who could come up with the cruelest and most outrageous violation of a person’s rights. Texas and North Carolina would like to sentence a woman to death for having an abortion. And still … crickets?

Do the citizens and legislators choose not to speak up because they think: oh, that’s just crazy stuff? It’ll never happen here.

Oh yes, it could. Our democracy is still in danger. There are still folks who’d like nothing better than to overturn it and bring on authoritarian theocracies. At that point, it’s too late to say, “Hey, we didn’t want this.”

Today is the anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. It took place on March 7, 1965. There was a one-day mention of it on Sunday, but I haven’t seen anything about it since. Is its history too ancient? I’ll bet young people didn’t learn about it in their history classes and maybe it wouldn’t even be legal to teach it in half the states today. White supremacists and christian nationalists want to bring us back to the Jim Crow era or worse. Isn’t there some nut down in FL (where else?) who wants to make the Democratic party illegal?

Recently CPAC held its weekend-long convention in Oxon Hill, Maryland. And Michael Knowle said, “transgenderism must be erased.” Erased. If you erase transgenderism, you’re erasing people. If you erase people, isn’t that just a nice way of saying genocide? After all, the Nazis didn’t start by exterminating Jewish people. They started with “undesirables”. And when no one said anything, then they moved on to the increasingly inhumane treatment of the Jewish population.

There is too much rubbernecking going on. Everyone who disagrees with fascism, Nazism, oppression, suppression, racism, bigotry, and misogyny should be doing something. Boycott. Write letters. March. Sit in. United, peaceful protesting.  The time for that is now, not when it’s too late.

This Is The Twilight Zone

 

I have such a case of sensory overload.

President Biden somehow got into Ukraine, an active war zone, met with President Zelenskyy, and spoke on the anniversary of Russia’s unprovoked invasion. His speech made it pretty clear that the United States stands with and will support Ukraine. Putin will not win this time. This is major because Presidents don’t just go into a war zone where they might be injured or killed. The Ukrainians are amazingly resilient and patriotic, and I’m sure President Biden’s visit gave them a big boost. But Repubs are whining and complaining about it. They’re criticizing President Biden and are openly supporting Putin.

There are traitors running the House of Representatives. On the same day President Biden visited Ukraine, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene began advocating a “divorce” between red and blue states. That’s funny that she uses a word like divorce, where couples either happily go their own way or they fight each other forever. What MJT is talking about is not divorce. It’s succession That is treasonous. But this isn’t the first of her traitorous behavior. She’s one of those who were involved with the January 6^th insurrection. Why else would she have asked tRump for a pardon in his last few days of office?

She is sworn to uphold the Constitution. She’s in violation of that oath. No one is doing anything about it except saying “bad” to say that. Kinzinger and Cheney are the only two Repubs that have openly condemned MJT. MJT isn’t the only traitor. There are over 140 treasonous Representatives and Senators.

Why? Hello? Fourteenth Amendment? You know, the part that says a person who is a traitor can’t serve in Congress?

We’re slowly becoming more lawless, at least among the rich, mighty, and powerful.

MJT and many of her colleagues also espouse that they are christian nationalists. I absolutely insist on calling them christian with a small c because they aren’t Christian. Jimmy Carter is a Christian. He follows New Testament Jesus, who was all about welcoming immigrants, sheltering and feeding the needy, protecting children, and all-inclusive. You know, everything the Repubs are not.

These christian nationalists are dangerous. They want to declare the US a Christian nation, which is something the authors of the Constitution NEVER intended. They want to force their morals and beliefs on us and using violence is just fine with them. They are like a snowball rolling down a hill and picking up more along the way, becoming bigger and crushing. They could destroy our democracy.

Lots of people don’t agree with their mad desire to indoctrinate everyone, penchant for violence, and involvement in crazy conspiracies. The problem is that not enough people are bitching about it or trying to do anything to stop it. I write and write about it and I feel like I’m talking to myself.

You know, if Jesus was here today he’d be called either a socialist or a communist. He was all about telling people to set aside their worldly possessions to follow him. The story about feeding hundreds of people with just a few fish? Isn’t that about socialism, sharing everything with everyone?

Try discussing that idea with a christian nationalist. They’d say you were a blaspheming demon. And, yet, repeatedly, Jesus showed us he was with the poor, the sick, the hungry, the disenfranchised and loving everyone. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” “Let the children come unto me.” “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”  Jesus was woke.

New Testament Jesus would not be welcome in Florida, where “woke comes to die.” He would not be welcome in Texas. Texas and Florida have both been involved in taking advantage of and mistreating immigrants by placing them on planes or buses and shipping them, without warning, to blue states. For various reasons, I don’t think he’d be welcome in any red state.

I don’t believe Jesus would approve of what some of these red states are doing to trans/LGBTQ kids and adults. I don’t believe he would approve of them forcing dishonest history on students.

Each day, I find it harder to look at even my unbiased newsletters because of the increasing stories about fascism and intolerance spreading across this country.

This is what Real Jesus was teaching: Loving God is the greatest commandment. Then, love your neighbor as you love yourself. Would you want to be treated the way Blacks, Asians, trans/LGBTQ and immigrants are being treated now in some of these states? Hell, no, you wouldn’t. You would want to be treated with respect, decency, and kindness. That’s what we’re supposed to do. Half the country isn’t doing that.

So, what is the solution? I will keep posting even if I’m just talking to myself. I will vote. I will volunteer to make calls. I will find organizations to join. I’m most interested in Rev. Barber’s.

But everyone needs to be doing these things. Too many of us are just complacent and so fascism continues to spread.

I was listening to songs from the Viet Nam era and this one really hit me today. It’s the same thing, 50+ years later.

Eve Of Destruction 

It doesn't feel like Black History Month

 

It’s day three of Black History Month but, to be honest, it feels more like Black Suppression Month to me.

Yet another Black man, Tyre Nichols, was on his way home and in his neighborhood when he was pulled over by Memphis policemen. Now why it was necessary to have 5 or 6 cops at a traffic stop is beyond me. Five of the cops were themselves Black and part of a special force called Scorpions, a rather deadly name for those who are supposed to be the “good guys.” And just like so many times before, Nichols ended up dead.

I was surprised that the killer cops were Black. I’m used to killer cops being white. Well, after I read a bit about systemic racism in our society and in the police force, I came to understand that Blacks can be racist against other Blacks too. That comes from a lifelong experience of being made to feel inferior, less human, than whites. Disgusting and sad, but I do understand.

Not more than a day later, Los Angeles police went after a double amputee in a wheelchair. A stabbing victim had accused the man, Anthony Lowe, of assaulting him. When Lowe saw the group of cops coming for him, he got down off his wheelchair and ran as quickly as he could on his two stumps. He was tased repeatedly and then shot in his upper body ten times. The police claim they feared for their lives because they thought he still had his knife. Riiiight, feared for their lives my ass!

Today I was ready about a Black state legislator, Rep. Travis Nelson, in Oregon who was stoppedby white policemen twice in the last couple of days. He says he’s been stopped by police over 40 times since he began driving. He thinks the Oregon police may be biased. I think he’s right.

Just as when George Floyd was murdered in 2020, there have been protests and calls for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to be passed. That act passed the House twice and died in the Senate twice. The reason why it’s not passing is because the Act it would allow families of the victims to sue the killer cops. God forbid, say the Rethuglicans. And so, cops continue to kill Black men at traffic stops or Black women sound asleep in their homes (Like Breonna Taylor) invaded by cops going to the wrong place.

White supremacy reigns supreme and the Rethuglicans in Congress are working overtime to see that it stays that way.

The way to heal this country is for white people to face some ugly truths. First, there was slavery. There was the cruel theft of land and decimation of the Native American population. There was the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans. These are horrendous things and white people don’t want to have to look at or learn about it. Americans refused to help Jewish refugees and many of them perished because we turned them away.

White people seem to think they’re the chosen ones; they’re the ones who must take charge of the inferior “others”. What they don’t recognize is that the Jesus of their faiths was Middle Eastern and not white. They don’t give credit where credit is due to the advanced civilizations of African and Asian countries.  An investigation just uncovered a couple’s agenda to spread Nazi teachings to white children, and they’ve attracted thousands of parents.

If only these small, close-minded people were willing to learn about “others” and accept them as equals.  We are never going to be united at this rate.  Here is what will happen: open-minded people are appalled and tweet and complain and post for a few days. Then they move on to the “next thing” and forget about social/racial injustices until another Black man is killed at a traffic stop. Rinse and repeat.

There was an effort to introduce Advanced Placement African American Studies in Florida high schools. The A/P classes give high school students college credits while they learn from a rigorous program they take when they’re juniors or seniors. What a great idea, I thought. This A/P course was going to cover true history, not the white-washed watered down non-version you get in high school history or social studies.

But wait! “Woke” comes to Florida and dies there. Gov. Death Santis loves to brag about his “Anti-Woke” legislation. Therefore, the A/P course was rejected because it would cover topics that might hurt the feelings of white students. In Florida, we mustn’t have that.  To appease Death Santis and the other Rethuglican legislators, the College Board watered down the A/P class, eliminating topics and the mention of people deemed offensive and too “woke”.

Crickets from the Floridians.

Are they OK with this then? Are they all racist, or are they too scared to speak up? And so, Fascism marches on. One article I read compares Death Santis to the Fascist Benito Mussolini from the WWII era.

Do people read? Do they think? Or is complacency the easy, comfortable way out of confronting the truths of our bad behavior toward “others”? In Germany, people were complacent and forgiving of Hitler’s awful policies because they felt comfortable—they had more money, more food, and more fun things to do. So, what if the Gestapo pushed a few Jews around and broke windows?

Here we go again, this time in the red states of America.

Red states have begun passing legislation to restrict voting rights of minorities. They haven’t come right out and claimed to be reviving Jim Crow laws. They hide behind redistricting and making it harder for people of color to vote.

The tRump leaning Supreme Court can totally turn our voting rights upside down. The Voting Acts Right that President Johnson signed into law almost 60 years ago has already been stripped down. SCOTUS tRumpers have shown that precedent doesn’t matter to them. If they can make it hard for people to vote and impossible for women to decide what to do with their bodies, why wouldn’t they go about dismantling other fundamental rights under the 14^th Amendment?

Justice and the police clamp down hard on “regular” people, including whites and people of color. If any of us had done what tRump and legislators like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jim Jordan, Kevin McCarthy, and others had done, we would all be languishing in jail. Not them. They not only continue to walk free, but they’re also still in office. Clearly, law and order doesn’t apply to them.

So, it doesn’t feel much like Black History Month this year. Books are banned. True history is forbidden to be taught. Black men and women are erased from history when their stories need to be told. It’s sickening.

But where is everyone?  I know there are others who feel this way. Where are they? I’d like to find them. I don’t like to feel this way, that I’m in the dark, just talking to myself.

There was a voice and it said something moving and meaninful. It was Dan Rather's Race Matters.