Photo by Frank Niemeir, AJC
Well, if anyone had any illusions about Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy helping the nation get over its racial divide — especially if they thought it might finally bury the old racism that has stained the nation’s history — the past few weeks should finally lay that to rest.
As Glennzilla points out, it’s now evidently become acceptable for mainstream news organizations like The Washington Post to distribute "white supremacist cant about Obama’s ‘blood equity’ and ‘heritage’ " (in the form of a truly execrable Kathleen Parker column) for popular consumption to the rest of the nation’s papers. We’ve got assassination jokes and a panoply of dog whistles and race-baiting campaign ads.
It’s all indicative of a shifting national mood that seems to find open expressions of racism increasingly acceptable and even normative — thanks, no doubt, to a decade and half’s worth of right-wing yammerers essentially defending racism as being merely "politically incorrect." It’s manifested itself in Democratic voting patterns as well, and is embodied in the racism encountered by young Obama campaigners while on the campaign trail.
And then there is the bar in Georgia selling "Curious George" shirts with "Obama ‘08" as the script:
The T-shirts are being peddled by Marietta bar owner Mike Norman at his Mulligan’s Bar and Grill in Cobb County. They show a picture of Curious Georgie peeling a banana, with the words "Obama ‘08" underneath.
Rick Blake, a spokesman for publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which owns Curious George, said Wednesday that the company didn’t authorize the use of the character’s image, but hasn’t been in touch with anybody selling or manufacturing the shirts.
"We find it offensive and obviously utterly out of keeping with the value Curious George represents," Blake said. "We’re monitoring the situation and weighing our options with respect to legal action."
Norman has said he got the T-shirts from someone in Arkansas. He started selling them at his bar — known for the provocative, ultra-conservative political slogans often posted on signs out front — in April but said he has no plans to mass market them.
The sales came to light this week when a loose coalition of local groups called a protest of the T-shirts.
About a dozen protestors rallied against the shirts Tuesday afternoon, condemning them as racist and asking Norman to stop selling them.
Norman acknowledged the imagery’s Jim Crow roots but said he sees nothing wrong with depicting a prominent African-American as a monkey.
"We’re not living in the (19)40’s," he said. "Look at him . . . the hairline, the ears — he looks just like Curious George."
Comparing blacks to apes has been a time-tested favorite of the racist right, of course. It was a staple of both Nazi propaganda (Hitler called blacks "born half-ape") and the Klan over the years (a Klan speaker in Alabama, for instance, once warned: "Black apes in our high schools and elementary schools with our superior White children and forced them to mix. And the day a Black ape lays his Black paw on a little White girl, the Ku Klux Klan will move in and trim that paw back.")
Here’s a classic example: This was a flyer that was circulated around the Bellevue, Wash., area by someone from Matthew Hale’s then-organization, the National Socialist White Americans’ Party back in 1995. (Hale, you may recall, gained later notoriety by becoming the leader of the white-supremacist World Church of the Creator, eventually earning jail time for plotting to have a judge assassinated.)
The "Curious George" shirts are more than a mere dog whistle: they’re an outright resurrection of the ugly racism that was commonplace in America a century ago. No, we’re not living in the 1940s; but the right — including the Kathleen Parkers of the world and their enablers — sure wish we were doing so again.
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Leisure Guy!
jus cogens!
PRESSSCOTT BUSH and Poppy and Barr…all supported EUGENICS….the ARYAN race rules babe
if there were ever a time this country would elect a person who is not white, we can thank gw for it
I believe we can do it…there is so much vile hatred toward the republican party that if ever, then now
Is it your view that the national view is changing or that these views are becoming increasingly public?
freaks
The Human Genome Project, as it admits on the very first page of its website – http://vector.cshl.org/eugenics.html, is derived from the eugenics movement in the US and Nazi Germany during the first half of the 20th century. The Eugenics Records Office at Cold Springs Harbor NY-where American eugenics started-was built by the Harriman family-the Bushes’ Wall Street business partners in funding Hitler. This is the new frontier of colonialism in the 21st century-the total domination and exploitation of the earth and everything on it-the New World Order both former President Bush and Adolf Hitler so frequently called for
“There is no scientific justification for the notion of ‘race’.”
- Craig Ventner, Celera Genomics
I think it’s always been latent. It’s just that after a decade and more’s worth of signals giving permission to express these sentiments again, it’s becoming more acceptable.
I think these things are going to backfire bigtime on Republicans. The majority of people don’t want to associate with this kind of thing. The more they think of racism when they think of Republicans, the better it is for us.
Maybe that it’s out in the open is a good thing. A conversation can begin and people who aren’t racist can start to really push back. I think a large percentage of Americans actually have believed that racism was almost gone and they could stop thinking about it. Light does a lot of harm to bacteria.
Sheikh bin al JeremiahBaraBitterBlackHusseinFarrakhMadrassaSharpto
MuslimSleeperAgentOsamaBamaNotQuiteABrothuh will surmount this racist shit as well.
Let them go down this path.
I made a similar (if longer-winded) point recently on my blog, where I argued that the 2008 election at its core is a battle between two mentalities: one, a tribalistic, bigoted psychology that sees enemies and threats from “the other” on all sides; the other, a long-exiled hunger for genuine solutions to our increasingly dangerous problems.
http://insideoutthebeltway.blo…..illed.html
I do tend to agree that the winning side is the one that yearns for real leadership and solutions. It will have to overcome increasingly strident racism and regressivism of the kind showcased here, but I think it will triumph.
At least electorally.
Since his name is getting longer you need to petition Jane for a wider page. This always makes me just crack up. Thanks for all the laughs.
I doubt that there can be a conversation while Republics have any power. Race-baiting is part of their political bread-and-butter.
A contributor to this “forever hatred/bashing” of blacks came from that genre in American TV comedy, starting (or continuing) with more mainstream, open and “accepted” racist slurs in shows like Sanford and Sons, a lot of Eddie Murphy’s stand up, etc.. That was just never funny to me and I always thought it was going to create repercussions one day. Those programs made racist jokes and ugly comment acceptable through humor. This is but a personal rant, but I just never thought those jokes and programs to be that funny.
Doesn’t something have to be dead to experience a resurrection? This shit isn’t dead in Georgia, the South or anywhere else in this counrty.
Totally agree. Which is why we do what we do here.
Mebbe “reanimation” would’ve been a better word.
sorry, that was pretty picky
Anyone aware of any research on the relationship between racist attitudes/behaviour and age/generation?
Nice blog ya got there. BTW, as a middle-class whitey, my experience with racism is about as personal as it gets (scroll down).
Also, btw, Taibbi has a good rant about “tribalism” in the current Rolling Stone.
What I said
I live to serve.
;)
I’m reading his book and it’s killer
Yes. And we consumers, particularly in the educational community, can weigh our options too.
Interesting thought. Reminds me of how Dave Chappelle said that part of the reason he quit doing Chappelle’s Show was the more and more widespread misunderstanding and abuse of his humor by racists who would simply ape his jokes as an excuse to express their own bigoted attitudes.
I remember Chappelle recounting a story of one show in which he heard a laugh coming from the audience that sounded particularly nasty, as if laughing at him for the bit he had done.
My take is that humor by marginalized groups about their marginalization is a healthy and effective way to move beyond victimization. However, there will always be those who misunderstand and misuse the humor as a long-awaited opportunity to say what they’ve been thinking secretly, or only amongst the like-minded.
Every time my Rolling Stone comes I immediately go straight to his articles. Gotta buy his book ASAP.
Thank you, I’ll check out your piece just after this.
Oh, I can’t wait to read Taibbi’s new column! He is, hands-down, my favorite political commentator. I bought his new book The Great Derangement and it is blowing my mind.
Someone in Georgia is a racist? I’m shocked- shocked I tell you.
I wish I had said that.
I don’t think the idea ever was that Obama’s candidacy was going to magically erase racial divisions; he talked about how we will have to talk about these things, not just “get over it.” And I think it will still have a positive effect; the more blatant actions of the mouth breathers undermine conservatives’ attempts to declare that racism is over so we don’t have to do anything about it. When they talk like this about The President of the United States, it will drive a wedge between the 28%-ers and those Republicans who actually do believe that the respect due the presidency and is real and not just a partisan weapon, (like the Clinton impeachment, actually.)
The Obama candidacy was never going to be the end of racism as we know it in America, but with luck it may be the start of the end.
I’m certainly not the first!
Tired of me reminding folks that MLK said people from Mississippi need to “come to Chicago to learn how to hate”?
Great photo.
Timing is everything!
agreed, I’m sick of being bullied by a racist minority, and I’m not th eonly one.
I would be equally shocked to discover a rascist in Chicago.
Try Cicero
Thanks David.
FWIW, the online comments at the WaPu are overwhelmingly critical of Ms. Parker’s refined white supremacy. The problem with her using words such as “heritage” and “whites” in the same piece is that it focuses attention who really is “white.” Does Ms. Parker want to include the Jews? Does she want to include the Irish? Does she want to include the Italians? Does she want to include the slavs? Does she want to include Asian Americans? Is she really being fair to her “heritage” if she does?
The fact that Ms. Parker added gaybashing onto her refined white supremacy only made her piece more disgusting.
That’s a very powerful story, BobbyG. Thank you for sharing that.
mebbe it’s time to listen to Obama’s Philadelphia speech again
Per Raven excellent comment.
I also love Parker’s (at least implied) disqualification of, um, SLAVERY and other discriminatory labor conditions, from the category of the sacrifice required to call one’s self a true “American.”
To take a slightly longer view, remember that what they care about is power, not how they get it. So while I agree it’s true that they have to be turned out of power before they’ll stop using racism, I do have some hope that if we can keep up the fight so it doesn’t work for them, they’ll eventually catch on and move on to something that does. It may be the hazy memories of youth, but Republicans overall didn’t used to be as awful as they are nowadays, and they could recover. (It might be a better object lesson if they went the way of the Whigs, but I don’t want to get too optimistic.)
Seems to me the whole War on Terror is race-based.
Hard to see how Obama’s candidacy could quell racism, more likely that it will stir it up—as people come to grips with the distinct possibility of an African American president.
A successful presidency, on the other hand- could do some good..
English philosopher Edmund Burke said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’
The racism bubbling up because we have a black presidential nominee was inevitable. It is time to for us to say “bring it on” unAmerican right wing yahoos…. and we are up for this fight. It is time for the “good” but many heretofore not heroic people in this country to walk the walk. To get proactive. The right wing bullies have I pray pushed us to a critical mass of activism or pre-activism and we have to push back.
A wonderful old film, Gentleman’s Agreement with Gregory Peck deals with anti-Semitism. A great speech in that movie is about how good people being silent and uncomfortable BUT PASSIVE means they are not so good people… not so much… in fact they are colluding and enabling EVIL, as Burke says above.
This is our war at home.
It’s sad that the life-begins-at-conception crowd is never required to deal with the draconian monitoring that would be required to detect and adjudicate responsibility for fertilized eggs that don’t result in babies.
You’re not suggesting that this country’s almost wholesale replacement of Osama bin Laden with Saddam Hussein had anything to do with racial (and religious) bigotry, are you???
You are welcome. I had to re-learn a lot of attitudinal shit pretty quickly.
I disagree because these were aimed at a black audience. Why point fingers at who started it or perpetuated it? The fact is it’s here, has always been here and some element of society will always keep it going. With each passing generation such thinking becomes less dominant. The best thing to do is do what these folks did, protest against it to show that it will not be tolerated.
When I lived in Germany, I witnessed many a counter protest against neo-nazis. Signaling that they (germans) were not going to tolerate it.
Obama doesn’t want an election based on race- he wants an election based on the issues- but he will get race as well unfortunately.
That’s why I posted that. Some stuff is just way obvious, and way indicative of the lack of clear thinking.
No, that had to do with Bush family crony protection, Bush family psychotic revenge, and Bush family lust for plunder.
Digg this
In a strange way- the Obama candidacy is a giant step backwards to Jackie Robinson and the breaking of the color barrier in baseball. Jackie was told what to expect and he handled things well, Obama will likely face some similar issues..
Can’t have clear thinking in this country. No one would ever vote for a Republic.
Right, but their ability to convince so many Americans that we should invade Iraq, and to believe that Iraq was such an existential threat, had very much to do with bigotry, don’t you agree?
and George Allen, Virgil Goode, and Tom Davis approve Norman’s message.
Another ‘proud’ Macaca moment in modern Murka.
Racism seems lively and active.
Yes.
Well, 9/11- addled mindless, unreflective bigotry against any and all people from that region, perhaps in part. I recall news accounts of Indian Sikhs etc getting the shit beat out of them by Murkin rednecks.
Is the woman holding the tee shirt in that photo above an african american?
And then to play on pseudo-humanitarianism rationalizations for cover … we must save people and grant them democracy… as long as they are in oil rich countries which we can exploit financially by destabilizing in the name of “saving” and spreading democracy.
Tendency to demonize is a natural human tragic and pathetic human response. Charismatic leaders take free floating fear and anger of others and use it to manipulate and target others for their own self aggrandizement.
Oh I know – in my blue-collar hometown, Hindus from India were being stared at as terr’ists.
Norman acknowledged the imagery’s Jim Crow roots but said he sees nothing wrong with depicting a prominent African-American as a monkey.
“We’re not living in the (19)40’s,” he said. “Look at him . . . the hairline, the ears — he looks just like Curious George.”
Marietta native Pam Lindley, 47, joined Tuesday’s protest after reading about the controversy.
“I don’t want people to think this is what Marietta is all about,” she added, motioning towards the tavern. “This is what some people think the South is still like. Marietta’s come a long way but I guess it’s still got a little ways to go.”
She said she’d like to see the city ban Norman’s provocative musings regularly posted on a sign out front of the bar, which is near Marietta’s downtown square. Those who gathered Tuesday say they will continue their campaign against Norman’s “hate speech.”
But his defenders are just as resolute. Mulligan’s is a refuge, they say, in an otherwise hypersensitive world. Smoking isn’t only allowed at the bar, it’s expected.
“This place is a diamond in the rough,” said Gene McKinley, a Woodstock engineer among the patrons Tuesday. “People here are genuine and honest. It’s the one place I can go without having to worry if I’m offending someone.”
Norman said he fielded calls throughout Tuesday about his T-shirts. An ajc.com story about the controversy was picked up on the Drudge Report. “One guy in New Jersey wanted me to send him 100 shirts,” said Norman, 63.
Uh-oh, here we go…fasten seat belts…
Jeeezzz…
Maybe,maybe not. African american has many constructs. Africans that are naturalized are african americans, americans of african descent are african americans but considering that biology and anthropology ahs shown that life began in Africa, that would make everyone in America –African Americans
(I think she is a protestor showing the shirt not promoting it)
The ignorance of Americans regarding other cultures is bottomless. I was very concerned about the Indians locally because we have many.
Yes–I just read the story- thanks
oh for corn’s sake.
Gang code…. LOYALTY above all …. those who will suspend ALL critical and moral thinking… and enter the thrall of powerful others
You left out references to gays and rap/hip hop … *g*
Part of our new hearts and minds policy: we’ve lost our hearts -and- our minds.
Thanx, my Bad. Next Time.
:)
I get your point DC, on the one hand it works to air things out a bit, but on the other hand it’s damaging and negative in message.
A yes, the predictable refuge of racists and bigots: “we’re just plainspoken folk rebelling against a hyper-PC, overly sensitive world of censorship!”
How long can they milk the anti-political-correctness cow? The new political correctness is declaring any revulsion at something offensive “political correctness.”
This is not news in the Middle East or other countries outside of America … it’s been known for years …
nicely done
Is it racist to dislike rap? Yikes!
Yes.
I just wish these bigots would stop using “Aryans” and our beloved Swastika to further their hateful agenda, which is against the principles of Hinduism/Yoga …
Stringer Bell for President.
;)
Nope, just to blame it for the ‘continued denigration of society’ …
Whhose message? Problem is the majority has a stinking habit of defining the minority. Naming and defining are inherently very powerful things and the only way to capture that power back is to take that same definition made by majority and redefine what it is as a minority. Think of it was defining yourself instead of being defined by someone
A lot of us 100% European Americans need to be Stan Musial.
Race isn’t an issue? My view is that when you get down to brass-tacks there are subtle and unspoken inter-relationships bewteen race and poverty, race and gender issues, race and war, race and education, etc. Many of the issues of the “culture war” are clearly related to race and ethnicity. Immigration issues…race. Music censorship…race.
While one can make an argument that ones positions on these issues are NOT related to race and are independent of such influences…that’s untrue for many folks who actually vote against their own interests because some Republican does a “dog-whistle” on race. Look at the “War Against Poverty” by LBJ and how it was resisted in the South and led to Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” despite the fact that whittes in the Deep South would have been the major beneficiaries of major poverty alleviation programs. Instead their education stinks and poverty levels remain ridiculously high.
It;s always easier to take something already in existence and erase it’s meaning by giving it a different meaning.
Yep – that’s the point. And the problem for Dems – we have allowed the Repubs to define us for 30 years and it has worked beautifully for them. Hopefully we can now start to tell the American people who we are and what we stand for.
i know wobblybits, and many that I’ve talked to about this agree with you. it’s a controversial opinion, i know.
still, that type of comedy just never did sit right with me, and i didn’t find it funny, but rather, offensive. i respect that there are many who don’t agree with my thoughts on it.
no one is 100% anything in this country. If your family has been here for a few centuries, you have some umm colourful genes
Thank you for the power and beauty of your story…we humans need beauty, the food of the soul, imo. Speaking of movies, what do you think of American History X? I thought it was powerful, and Ed Norton is a great actor.
Hitler started using both terms to give his movement history and therefore respect … the ‘neo bigots’ removed the Cross and salute he used but kept these two symbols …
I understand how it might be found offensive but my thing is how do you counter things that make you want to cry…make fun of it and point out just how absurd all this ‘defining’ is
Whew!!
((( rwcole )))
he did it to Wagner as well and the German national anthem, etc. Appropriation of things once cherished and soil them to the point where they have lost all their original meaning
Happened in Sacramento, too. A turbaned Sikh was run-down by a racist in a car…idiot didn’t even know that Muslims don’t wear turbans.
And the Buddhist temple was targeted with graffiti.
These people don’t have the highest intellectual capacity in the world, it seems. Anything that is not “US” is “THEM”…if you don’t wear a flag pin you’re a Commie.
You make a good point- still, I think Obama doesn’t want this election to be about race.
Fear of the ‘other’
it’s always something….. i am soooo sick of racist attitudes that still persist and sadly this particular primary season has brought out horrible feelings lurking below the radar even on some “progressive blogs”…..
That’s the snarling, tribalistic lizard-brain that will be facing off directly against Obama, and against the Democratic agenda of the next 8 years.
As it becomes more marginalized, it becomes more extreme.
right, but it seemed to me that we’d actually come a long way since the days of “black face” comedy in vaudeville. then this new genre emerged, and it was like 10 giant steps backward. i hope that it did help, bring the ignorance into the light and assuage and validate some feelings by making light of it. racism is just such a stupid and abhorrent issue to me, like no. 2 on my top 5 list of things i hate so badly i could go all whoop ass over it, i’m really touchy about it. and these WERE jokes by blacks FOR blacks. A white person could NEVER repeat them and get the laugh. it never felt good or right to me.
It wasn’t about race in the beginning. IT started to rear its ugly head when the decision was made to paint him as the ‘black’ candidate. Go back and read articles up to South Carolina. Very little to no discussion of race
Racism AND Sexism are both an issue. I wish I could have heard similar rants against the mysogyny of pundits who villified Hillary Clinton and then decided she should quit. When the Democrats walk away from women they do so at their own peril. I for one will not sit down, shut up and vote for the boys choices.
Thanks.
That was a very, very good movie. I love anything with Ed Norton in it generally, but American History X was a courageous flick.
Actually, as I recall, on “Sanford & Son” the only people who could be counted on, at all times and in all situations, to act like complete idiots were white people. Redd Foxx was enjoyable, but I prefer his comedy albums.
Sorry, another shameless plug.
http://insideoutthebeltway.blo…..brand.html
This one’s about how the Republicans’ attempt to “rebrand” themselves as non-Bush change agents will fail, forcing them to revert to their core tribal nature to an even greater degree than before.
The best ever, IMO, was Dick Gregory. I would love to see him do standup again.
There are too many reasons to not want Clinton in the White House (again) that have NOTHING to do with her sex. I’d have been on the band wagon for a woman president, i always HAVE been since we were burning bras. Just not THIS woman.
I’ve never felt that this country has come a long way. How many people of color have won prestiges prizes in the last 20 years? There is still the stereotype casting as cleaning ladies, gardeners, gang members, pimps, prostitutes, etc. Not very reflective of the America I know.
Your right, these are jokes told by and for blacks, hispanics, etc. and they couldn’t be retold by a white person because it is not in their realm of experience. Very few whites (hippies excluded) can relate to driving while black or borwn. Or being followed around in a store because they think that your kind is prone to stealing.
There were posts about it. No one here advocates any of the isms
yeah, especially when they’re doing things in Congress like voting down Mother’s Day. teh stupids won’t even quit for an election season. talk about PASS THE POPCORN! it’s hysterical watching them cut their own throats and dig their own graves and cry something about “changing the message”.
wrensis: Why don’t you try to chill? Plenty of people stuck up for Hillary Clinton when jerks were calling her filthy names. She’s a good woman and I wouldn’t mind at all if she became president, but I’d damn sure rather have any Democrat in there than McCrazy.
I thought it was a great movie, one that every teenager should see. Thankfully, Canada is a multicultural society and my kids & their friends recognize racism and denounce it.
yes, and i have actually seen those two examples that you mentioned when I was out with a friend who wasn’t blonde blue eyed like me, a “brown person”. I’ve been drawn into those experiences by association and it’s just unreal.
good to hear.
I didn’t like Sanford & Son or All in The Family … the jokes were about racism which I faced at the time and I didn’t find it funny, although I knew they were shining a light on issues of the day.
I agree. There’s an archetypal and astrological correlation between this period and the 1960’s, when the country was grappling with race, and many other issues, as well as an unpopular war. Having said that, it doesn’t mean things will play out exactly in the same way. I mean, there are other cycles that have led us to this point which contribute to the mix of this moment in history. But, yes, we’re entering a climate when scapegoating which is central to racism becomes more prevalent and Barack will need to handle that.
siri, i think in a way, people who ’don’t do it’ in the first place don’t joke about it…..in other words, is in poor taste to do that. you wouldn’t do that, cuz you’re looking down on something you find offensive (being racist), which also means that it’s something you don’t do in the first place, so, doing that is condoning what you find offensive…….i get what you’re saying. if that made sense.
and by ’you’ i mean youse-universal meaning.
bbl
Well, here’s what I posted on a pro-Hillary blog (from which I got banned forthwith):
Doesn’t have shit to do with her gender. Has everything to do with my perceptions of the candidates’ policy ideas and personal ethics.
So, please spare me, at least, the “misogynist” canard.
AFAIK, large groups of European Americans only came over after 1850. I don’t have a link.
Also, afaik miscegenation laws prevented European Americans from marrying anyone who had any ancestors who were slaves. AFAIK, most of the “lightening” of the slaves’ offspring happened between 1815? – 1865 through what was essentially non-consensual sex. Frederick Douglass documents this in his autobiography. I’m using 1815 as an approximation of the date when it became illegal to import slaves into the US.
That is my reasonong as to why many of these jokes can’t be retold by a white person. That is why I never agree that it is all about race as that is a social construct. It’s a cultural issue (skin color being one of the factors). Even though we grow up here in america, we (minorities) are still socialized within our own cultural groups about the steroetypes that the majority have about us and how we must work 2x as hard as a white person to prove that we deserve to be there as well. It’s fucked up but tah-dah it’s america
There was no need to get that flywheel turning until it was certain whom the nominee would be. Now its time. It will backfire on them. They don’t really have a handle on it. They will drop it on their own toes. Did you hear the cheers for Obama on Letterman the other night? Awesome. Letterman started with McCain (decent amount of applause – had me concerned), then Hillary (mostly boo’s – had me a little worried), then Obama – Four times the applause that McCain had rec’d.
I thought All in the Family was a stunning break-through and was so glad it was on. The racists ideas were made to look ridiculous which is what they should be. I wonder how many bigots saw themselves.
Anything that shines a light on hate is good by me.
The mother of my daughter’s best friend made a racist comment (we’re the same community) and my daughter told all her friends to approach her best friend and let her know that is wrong … she got a triple scoop of ice cream from me … *g*
As a middle-aged WM, I have to disagree as I can gay-roan-tee this country has come a long way in my life time.
I remember the “Whites Only” and “Coloreds Only” water fountains and areas of the movie theatre’s when I was a child. And the Blacks only schools
Nowadays an African-American woman being named Miss America or Miss USA is not all that big a news story. A black winning an Oscar is still a bit unusual but not like when Sidney Poiter won it the first time.
We definitely have a long way to go but we have also definitely come a long way from where we were.
So you’ll vote for McCain?
Frankly, I wish about 100 black NFL linemen would go to this bar and just take it over. They wouldn’t have to do anything else.
rape doesn’t need permission and was pervasive during slavery times. Many of the offspring from these violations could pass for white some did, some did not.
What a great idea. I would love to watch it.
oh. exactly! great point!
For some people it is. The issue is wherther they hate it because of WHO is producing it or it’s origins. Do they hate jazz, R&B, African music, anything produced by blacks…but find almost all music produced by Whites acceptable.
Much of the opposition to Rock and Roll and R&B in the 1950’s-60’s was explicitly founded on racist grounds…that it was a devious means to promote interaction between blacks and whites, that it was tribalistically sexual, jungle rhythms, etc. The attacks on DJ’s like Alan Freed (who promoted musicians like James Brown, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Chubby Checker) in the early 1960’s where couched in pretty explicit racial language.
That said, I don’t like rap because it is no longer very creative (it once was far more diverse) and has hit a wall with what one can do with the approach of rhythm and voice. It also was highly misogynistic and, with a few exceptions (Boogie Down Productions), promoted an image of the “gangsta” as the sole route of success in the African American community. It was rarely introspective and self-critical…but there are again exceptions. There are hip-hop songs I do like, because that’s a more open ended form.
I didn’t see that but that is good to hear (the cheering, not booing for Clinton)
With each generation, it improves. My own generation could give a damn who your mate of choice happens to look like
Well said.
The producers and actors of the show deserved all the plaudits … and bringing on the character of George Jefferson to show the bigotry on both sides was amazing. I’m sure it helped a great deal in shining a light on bigotry, it was just too close to home for me (teen at the time) so I avoided watching the show.
This is funny.
There were many such “rants.” Did you not see them? If cannot hope to make progress if we constantly engage in this internecine squabbling over which grievance is worse, gets more attention, etc.
It’s all part of the same sickness, folks.
yeah, i know and i hate that. i was having this conversation with a girlfriend the other day and she made the point that racism is “hard wired” into America. It’s there and it’s ugly and we all need to work to remove it completely. that is true, but i hate it only second to thievery. Bu$hCo scores big on BOTH. it’s been heartbreaking to see what’s happened to the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department. I’ve read that the damage will take decades to repair. Just to get back to where we were preBu$h. I can hardly accept that!
I didn’t say it hasn’t improved but it’s not as far forward thinking as some people would like. Great we have had a few brown/black Ms Americas but over how long a period of time?
“*We* cannot hope to make progress…”
I can understand. I cheered every time Archie got taken down. Americans had never had a light shown on them before and people talked about the show constantly. I think that’s when the conversation actually began.
I’m still a huge fan of Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Queen Latifah because it was creative and positive. This crap nowadays is why I’m a huge House Music fan and detest most rap
Phoenix Woman upstairs taking on the myth of St John the Environmentalist.
“Much of the opposition to Rock and Roll and R&B in the 1950’s-60’s was explicitly founded on racist grounds…”
_______
The term “rock” in “rock & roll” back then was reputedly
blacknegro slang for “fuck.”“…gonna rock you babeeee, rock you all night long…”
Seriously. One reason the phrase was controversial.
Bea Arthur as Maude was tremendous as well …
It is not a myth but rather a fairytale.
I’m reading An Imperfect God - George Washington, His Slaves and the Creation of America, by Henry Wiencek. There are many, many examples (cerca 1770) of black slaves mixing with their white contemporaries (typically white indentured servants, but also their masters); mulatto (slaves) mixing with both black slaves and white indentured servants and masters, etc.
I can tell you that it has improved tremendously in Toronto from 30 years ago, when we first came here. Every generation will become more inclusive, regardless of what the bigots try to preach …
And part of the irony is, Carroll O’Connor pretty much believes the exact opposite of Archie Bunker – I believe it took quite some time for him to get out from under the stereotype that he was Archie.
Thank you very much and I apologize for my ignorance above.
I will have to get that book.
I really don’t think the Civil War would have been fought if Washington had not freed his slaves.
It was never dealt with rather it was passed on to each successive generation. Some steps were taken and some positive things resulted but that core issue has never been dealt with. It is easier to deal with a weed before it spreads. It wasn’t dealt with and it spread and dug down deep roots. The conversation needed to deal with it is just too much for some people to handle as they see it in such concrete terms. It’s not about blame but about addressing this country’s bloddy history with regards to Native Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, Women, etc.
The one show I did see was when Sammy Davis Jr. was on …
I had read that he was horrifed that people thought he was Archie and he apparently was a wonderful person.
Wonderful!
Yep, he did the role to shine a light on bigotry and stamp it out, same for “In The Heat of the Night” TV show …
When Richard Widmark passed away, recently, I read similar stores about him, when he played some very white supremacist part. He kept apologizing to the actor who had ancestors who were slaves.
huh? The civil war was not fought over slavery rather over the preservation of the union (of which slavery was an issue/reason for the cessations – state rights vs federal )
It’s one of those roles that helps me to realize that even actors that I detest because they play the a**hole so well are still just acting.
HAH ! Great idea !
The weird thing about the Curious George comparison is that I remember seeing the monkey used to refer to George Bush not that long ago. I understand the racial slur, but it’s hard to vilify one and not the other.
right on
The racists are so jealous of Obama. Here is a polished, intelligent, educated AA and they are still just rubes. Always will be.
What was the basis of vilification for Obama? He is not in office so it isn’t intellect. It is based upon appearance as the man in the article stated.
Artistes in every vocation are the first to transcend the wall of racism.
My dad told me a story of how Frank Sinatra and other white performers were allowed to go through the front door but Nat King Cole and other black performers had to use the back door.
Frank Sinatra made the club owners stop that practice and the black artists were allowed to use the front entrance.
Right. So wobblybits, do you think Obama can make the giant strides he’s shooting for? I do. I think he can mend a lot of the wounds that are so pervasive in our culture today, by following through on his campaign promises and being the leader we’ve been waiting for for decade upon decade. Do you agree?
Yep. That’s the gist of it.
You’ve made an important point about marginalization. What is the response that works? Not to marginalize is very important, not to polarize and “split off” from racist manifestations, to soften, rather than harden, which takes work on oneself. Otherwise, the pattern of scapegoating – which racism is a form of – continues.
I think he will, but he will need the majority, who are not racist to get involved just as he will need all Americans to work and reverse the course of the past 8 years.
Can you imagine what the Middle East will think as they watch the GOP do one racist attack on Obama after another? I think it will show the GOP as it really is. And George Bush will be out front too leading the band.
If we can get him into the WH people will see that the earth doesn’t crack open, skies don’t fall and that the country moves right along. The familiar is not scary.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
I think that his presidency may put some fears that people have about he as a black man (that he would favour blacks over any other group, etc.) But more importantly it may show many that we share more similarities (economic hardships) than differences.
I don’t think any one man can heal a 400+ year old gaping oozing wound but the multitude of dialogs that need to happen to move this country toward healing can certainly start with him. (hope that makes some sense)
Bosnia is when Hillary lost me too. No reason to lie about such a thing. It also exposed her lack of recognition of what goes on over the internets. I thought that Macaca taught all politicians a lesson.
Of course. he’d prefer to come at from the very POV that I was making…that these issues have solutions beneficial to ALL Americans and the country overall. But the use of race to Divide has a very long history. It was used by Corporations to weaken the union movement, by demagogue politicians to make poor whites defend the only mark of prestige and advantage they thought they had…their pigmentation.
How much we have grown from that will be tested in this election BECAUSE it is the one of the only things that the Republicans have in their bag of tricks. They can’t run on their effectiveness as leaders after the last eight years of Bush and long-term control of Congress. They’ve blown the economy, foreign policy is in shambles, they have no single accomplishment in terms of international treaties that benefit anyone but the most wealthy. Enron, Abramoff, an onslaught of holier-than-thou Congressmen and Senators who attacked consensual and long-term relations between adults while lying about their own sexual depravities. The Republican brand isn’t “dog food”, it’s Dog s**t.
All I know is that this may be the best of times to make major progress on getting people over these bogus psychological traps. Ironically it may have been the Pugs themselves that opened the doors…by building up Colin Powell as an acceptable potential candidate a few years ago. And then there was the crypto-fascist “24″ with it’s strong Black President.
In addition, we have an integrated volunteer Armed Forces that is going to be returning. It’s going to be a little difficult for these folks to disparage the Blacks and Latinos that followed the (bad) decisions of the War President to fight a war in Iraq. They’ll be challenged on the Patriotism front.
I’d suggest that the protestors get a few African American veterans down at Mulligan’s Bar & Grill and ask the owner if he finds something wrong about their service in the military?
You don’t change things that are festering underneath the surface by delaying and dillay-dallying and ignoring their reality. One has to deal with them…and whether it’s strategically best to confront and challenge them directly, or to “educate” from the podium about what’s our common journey.
Yes, and we in this household are doing all we can to GET him elected, and then we stand ready to contribute in what ever way we can to further that exact agenda!
Well we’re off. We’re going to a lecture at our local museum (I volunteered there for years, then took a hiatus until we are shut of this regime). A member of a tribe of natives in Mexico is speaking. They have remained relatively untouched by outsiders and are known for making beautifully carved violins.
Really ? The way my Dad told the story, it was narrated by Nat Cole …
It makes perfect sense and I agree. it’s just really good to hear you say that. My neighbor is a black woman, a dear friend, a surgeon and a wonderfully enlightened soul and she thinks the same exact thing, wobblybits. How wondrous to see that happen in my lifetime! As I said above, we stand ready here to do whatever we can in whatever way possible to make that happen with a President Obama. (Pray, pray, pray!)
As far as the men who fought in the war are concerned, you are right. Most confederate soldiers did not own slaves. Most Union soldiers were not abolitionists. Jefferson Davis badly overplayed his hand. The Confederacy wanted to expand slavery west and the rest of the country didn’t. If Davis hadn’t overplayed his hand so much, the war never would have ended slavery.
FWIW, in 1863 everyone knew George McClellan would beat Lincoln for President in 1864 and sue for peace. McClellan would have allowed slavery to remain legal in the south. Most Americans were not abolitionists. It changed with two heroic battles on the second day at Gettysburg. The 1st Minnesota (many of them were abolitionists) made their heroic suicidal charge to buy Winfield Scott time to block a hole in the federal lines. If they hadn’t made that charge, Lee could have split the Union army and basically marched south unopposed into Washington DC. Game over.
Later that afternoon the 20th Maine held on the extreme left of the Union lines at Little Round Top. It was those two victories (about the only ones the Union had to that point) at Gettysburg, that forced Lee to order Pickett’s charge the next day. It was that loss that doomed McClellan’s bid for the Presidency (Although Grant’s victory at Vicksburg helped).
The Confederacy never believed in states rights then any more than the GOP does. The Fugitive Slave Act was national. It meant bounty hunters could come north and reclaim property, the slaves. The 3/5 compromise gave the south a huge advantage in the FEDERAL House of Representatives.
I heard from friends in New York, of ‘the other side” circulating a story among immigrant communities that Barack will turn America into Zimbabwe A la Robert Mugabe … we’ll need all hands on deck to win in November …
I’m not sure I completely understand the question.
Good grief. What next? Their imaginations are huge.
And so was the term for “jazz”…and a lot of other music related slang (mojo).
She lost me on the war vote, the “Syria Accountability Act”, her vote against banning cluster bombs, her vote in favor of the Kyl- Lieberman foulness, and on and on.
It’s the killing and warmongering that I object to. Though I have to admit that lying really makes me angry and the Bosnia thing was just too stoopid.
(though I will never vote for McBush and will go Dem no matter what…)
I think the problem the GOP will run into is that Barack is so thoroughly European American in terms of culture. He’s what white supremacists want all “blacks” to be.
European Americans were afraid of WEB Dubois so they anointed Booker T. Washington the “black” leader. They hated Jack Johnson, so they built Joe Louis up. They didn’t like Jackie Robinson’s rhetoric about “integration,” so Willie Mays got great press. They hated Malcolm X and that helped Dr. King. They hated Muhammed Ali, so they tried to make Joe Frazier the good “black” heavy weight.
So far Barack has been terrific at not getting “hooked” into responding to the baiting. I think it’s what makes him such a strong candidate. IMHO, if Barack’s campaign was not going so well, there would have been a lot more violence in NYC after the cops who shot Sean Bell got off with no punishment.
But it came down to these states individual rights to have slaves if they wanted and not have that be mandated by the federal govt. So while slavery was the flash point, this war was a long time coming as the tension had been there since the countries inception
Actually, Barack Obama is the not Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton black candidate.
I proudly voted for Jesse Jackson when he ran for president but you’re right – Obama is different.
wow. now that is what i call desperation. if you can’t win on merit, lie your way to victory. It’s not going to work this time. the GOP has made immigrants a target for the past few election cycles. hell Barack’s father was an immigrant. But to tie his father to that crackpot who won’t give up his ill gotten power is just patently stupid
oops country’s inception
what does it mean to be thoroughly “European American in terms of culture”?
A bit more complicated…Southerners like to argue the “States Rights” theme but the Southern States loved the Dred Scot decision…which essentially did away with States Rights when it came to establishing laws declaring runaway slaves free. And when Western States banned slavery they frequently argued it was an INDIVIDUAL right to have slaves.
The motives of many of these “free states” wasn’t so nobel, admittedly. any States, like California, wanted to prevent slaves from coming in because they feared that slaves would more efficiently work the claims, which would eventually result in all the gold-rich areas being controlled by slave owners. Plus there was a good deal of racism. They wanted to ban both free blacks as well as slaves, and also Chinese. Slavery had been banned under the earlier Mexican Constitution, but didn’t exclude free individauls, and an Irish American actually fought back against such restrictions based on race and religion.
Of course, he knew that many of the smae arguments against banning blacks could had been levied against members of his own race.
Racist image used against Irish Americans
Apelike Images of Irish and Blacks
The Alien Menace
Anti-Irish Racism
BTW That bar where they are selling those Curious George T-Shirts? It’s an Irish Bar, isn’t it?
“Rick Blake, a spokesman for publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, which owns Curious George, said Wednesday that the company didn’t authorize the use of the character’s image, but hasn’t been in touch with anybody selling or manufacturing the shirts.”
Admittedly, this is a very personal thing. My dad spent his working life with Houghton Mifflin. We are a dedicated “Curious George” family. All that bias aside, what’s up with Mr Blake. If the company owns Curious George, what would it take to get the use of that image shut down. Find out later what one’s grounds for suing may be. This is ridiculous. The t-shirt not only offends Sen Obama; it is offensive to the Curious George story and cast and to all of us who love the character and the book. Curious George is quite a lovable fellow, but I seriously doubt that that is the message intended by the redneck bar owner.
Good question.
Joe Biden would say, “clean and articulate.” Joe Lieberman would say, “more like Bill Clinton, not like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. Hillary would say “hard-working.”
The facts are that Europe, especially if you include Russia dominated the planet from about 1750 – 1940 Then the US, whose leaders have always been European American dominated until 2000. It’s only been with the rise of China and India that European American culture is beginning to ebb.
I don’t mean that is in any way a comprehensive definition of the plurality of opinions about what defines “European American” culture, but I think it’s a start.
way more complicated but that is my short quick synopsis when people say that it was fought over slavery which is patently false
oops
I meant to add. yes, that was my point that it was a matter of ‘rights’ that they fought over. individual for each person, city, county etc to decide whether they would hold slaves or not and for that determination to hold true for any future states. It would also alter their power in congress.
Articulate would denote educated and that is not monopolized by White americans or europeans (pleanty of ignorance to go around).
link? What do you mena by dominated the planet? in sheer numbers? In a certain field? Russia or do you mean the whole former USSR?
I think you’re wrong here.
If you look at the US in 1860 and 1866, there is only one difference. It’s no longer legal to buy and sell Africans.
Although some forms of indentured servitude were allowed in some parts of the the U.S. it’s not slavery. The servitude could only last a maximum of seven years. Families could not be split up. You couldn’t sell an indentured servant.
Slavery was not legal in the US for European Americans or Native Americans. They were human beings and it was against the law to enslave them.
The south understood itself to be harnessing sub-human labor, just like cattle. They did not consider (what we call slavery) to be enslaving human beings.
funny considering that many of californias settlers after the native americans were mexicans of african descent.
You’ll have to talk to Joe Biden about that. As far as I am concerned Joe is a refined white supremacist.
Yes, militarily, economically, technologically. England, France, German peoples, Russia, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, dominated the world in a way not seen since the Roman Empire.
You can disagree all you want but the civil war was not over slavery, it was over the RIGHT to hold slaves if one wanted without the federal govt mandating it. States left and threatened to leave the union because of what they argued was their individual right to make that determination. Lincoln could sit back and watch the cessation occur to bring them back into the fold by force. He did that hence the Civil war and in 1865 the 13th amendment was passed that abolished slavery. I’m not sure where your getting european and natives were not aloowed to own slaves. If they resided in a state that alloed it, no problem for them to have slaves. Native americans, depending on the tribe, regularly held slaves (captured from other tribes)
You’re right, but I think the issues were in play long before this…a decade or more, back in Tylers and Buchanans’ time. The whole Kansas-Nebraska War was over the issue of whether the States would be free or slave. Both sides pushed thousands of immigrants into the States so that they could vote on the referenda hatched up by a pro-slave legislature. Thousands came across the border from Missouri on election day to vote…there were only 4000 legal residents but 7000 ballots were submitted…and this was despite a general boycott by the “free-staters” over the wording of the two referenda. It was a bit like what was happening in Kosovo-Bosnia…except it wasn’t “ethnic cleanising” but elimination of political opponents through terror. Whole towns were razed, Federal armories broken into to obtain weapons, and Sharp’s Repeating Rifles smuggled in as farm equipment or “books” (hence the name “Beecher’s Bibles”) against Territorial and Federal Law. The term “Jayhawk” is actually derived for the carrion-eating bird that would swoop in after the massacres that occurred….stealing the land and effects of the victims.
The great fear by the South was that as more and more Free States were admitted to the Union the South would be eventually outvoted in Congress, and the Peculiar Institution would be eliminated. Without the expansion of slavery (and picking up the Senators and Legislators from those States) they would soon be, legislatively, unable to resist increasing abolitionism.
The schism in the Whigs and the split of the “Democrats” into two branches…occurred over these very issues surrounding slavery, and it’s expansion. This was one of only three major party restructurings in US History and the only time a majority party actually disappeared.
The Lincoln-Davis debates, in fact, dealt with these issues. Of course, neither man, argued from an abolitionist perspective. But they were quite sharp in their differences over the expansion of slavery.
I fail to see how all these countries make the european culture especially since Russia inclusion as distinctly European could be argued
Not to mention that much of what catipulted europe into its era of dominace was borrowed from China, Egypt, Arabs, etc. I will give them credit in imperialism and colonialism…in that there was no greater mark left than by the european.
But it was fought over slavery. It just wasn’t fought over the ending of slavery in the South at that very point in time.
It certainly wasn’t fought over States Rights…except on the issue OF SLAVERY. In fact the Confederate Constitution is almost identical to the United States Constitution with the exception of Slavery and the incorporation of territories that accept slavery. On the few other points of difference the Confedrate Constitution is actually MORE Federalist, taking rights from States that they previously had under the US Constitution.
If the South had retained the indentured servant system in lieu of slavery it’s almost certain that the Civil War would never have been fought.
It’s really a question I ask of myself and others. When confronted by ignorance or evil, how do I, we, respond? It’s a challenge to each of us I believe that requires awareness. I’m really talking more about the psychological dynamics, rather than from the perspective of an activist, not that these are mutually exclusive. Marginalizing people, including the ones that are harmful or destructive, in any society in my opinion is a form of violence and ultimately self-defeating.
That is where we disagree. It was over the RIGHT, not necessarily slavery. that waas the sticking point and had been for the union since its inception. it hadn;t change and with the induction on new states the balance of slave states and free states threatened to take the right to own slaves/their livlihood out of their hands and into the nads of the fed govt .
Agree. Your mention of the wars in Kansas and Missouri are key to understanding the greater escalation that was the Civil War.
I love Lincoln. I think he towers as a moral force of his time. But, imo, he was a white supremacist. I think he would have allowed segregation. You address this well I think in your comments about the Lincoln Douglass debates.
The caveat with indentured servitutde is the time that one stays in servitude. Not to mention the pool of labor needed to do the very physical and year around work of tabacco and later cotton.
It was over the RIGHT, not necessarily slavery. that was the sticking point and had been for the union since its inception. it hadn’t change and with the induction of new states, the balance of slave states and free states threatened to take the right to own slaves/their livlihood out of their hands and into the hands of the fed govt .
excuse the spelling errors
Okay, I’m kinda dumb so forgive me for asking this, as you’re probably a lot better-researched on it than I am, so if you don’t mind expositing a little bit: How is a war over the RIGHT to own slaves not really a war over slavery?
Maybe this will help, Emancipation Proclamation.
The south firing on Ft. Sumter initiated the hostilities. As the war progressed, resentment against the south increased in the north. That gradually made it politically possible for Lincoln to issue the EP. It then evolved into the 13th Amendment.
I’m out. need to go feed the baby kitty but thanks for the discussion
wow. don’t need that but thanks
Actually, one of the principles discussed amongst the Confederate states for their new constitution was:
http://docsouth.unc.edu/imls/c…..const.html
The “states rights” argument was – and today often still is – a smokescreen for a concealed desire to enforce other policies on a federal level.
not a dumb question at all. Start with definition (per websters)
right: the power or privilege to which one is justly entitled
that was one of the reasons for the cessations..that is this individual right being attacked by the fed gov. this intrusion could be thought of as starting with slavery but extending to other rights these people felt they had.
As far as Lincoln, it was a war over the preservation of the union. He was no advocate for slaves he just wanted the union to endure. Up to this point the slavery issue had not been dealt with on the fed level and with the entry of new states, it became even more tense. For the southerner this was an attact on their right of livlihood..not a moral question. For the abolitionists, it was a moral question as to whether it was okay to own another human being.
That is certainly one interpretation
okay for real, i’m out
later
That’s a somewhat existential question, and too big for a casual discussion such as this. The best response to ignorance or “evil,” to me, depends a great deal on the nature of the ignorance or evil. If it’s the kind that just doesn’t care about ever evolving beyond its state, I go after it aggressively, often using ridicule to tear it down.
On the other hand, if it shows signs of openness to other views (as I try to show from the outset), I might take a more forgiving approach based on reason or sympathy. Also, if the person is a relative or close in some other way, I use a softer touch.
Ultimately, though, the best cure for ignorance is through the very rare but very powerful instrument of attitude-breaking life experience. A personal connection or occurrence that finally shows the ignorant person how drastically wrong they were in their views. These experiences, unfortunately, often cannot be created – they have to occur organically.
Okay, thanks, later.
I get that argument, I just always read it as, the tension you had building over the decades was specifically where you had a great moral imperative becoming anathema to the “peculiar” economic system, and that the states’ rights advocates were clinging to a differing interpretation of the constitution (kind of the one the Libertarians — vs libertarians — hold today) than Lincoln’s. In other words, I get that whole thing about Lincoln’s intention was to preserve the union, versus his motives being specifically to END the peculiar institution, but it would seem to me that the peculiar institution was the at the root of the constitutional question question. the “loose compact” theory, in other words, has never really held water for me, it just seemed convenient sophistry for rich white guys to maintain an archaic feudal economy.
But again, I can be dumb on some stuff.
Well…what a state want’s to do and what a person wants to do is very different. My Mormon great-great-grandfather, Robert Porter Smith learned this very well when he brought several slaves from Utah, down into California in 1850. Although he asserted that these were “family” (and they may have been THAT, too) the local posse in Los Angeles (which included several black vaqueros and freedman) “confiscated” the two black women and their children as he tried to remove them to Texas and placed Smith on trial. He skipped bail and left without trial, the women were freed by Judge Hayes in one of the few cases of manumission after Dred Scot.
Southerners would argue that my ancestor Smith had the right to have such slaves, even in California. Even if the State of California, and it’s citizens had decided otherwise. In this case (and in Dred Scot)Southerners argued “States Rights” were trumped by Federal Law relating to property. The Supremes had decided in Dred Scot that Federal Law supeceded State Law and that Scot was “property”. Eminent domain required not only compensation, but a significant governmental benefit to obtaining that property.
I recall that Bush made a statement about the Dred Scot decision in his debate with Kerry arguing that the Court made an “Unconstitutional Decision”. In fact, they didn’t…which is why the 14th and 15th Amendments had to “correct” the Constitution. The South used every law they could State, Federal, and local and even the sue of mobs and war to maintain slavery and defend the institution against threats.
Sure they used non-slave owners as troops…but for these the fear was economic and social competition with freed slaves. And they were part of an economic system, whether they held slaves or not, which was itself “enslaved” to slavery.
and apparently can’t fucking type coherently. sorry.
Bobby.
That is one beautiful story. I had previously noted how humorous you are. Your a lot more. As a contemporary in age and middle class white maleness, I salute you. I can imagine what those decisions took at that time.
P.S. It’s also beautifully written.
correaction: your should have read you’re.
Sorry. I jumped in assuming. Sammy Davis was part of the rat pack with Sinatra and crew … and I once heard him talking about the double standard he went through before he passed on. On the stage he was an equal…. but not off at really awkward and ambushing times.
Would love to hear the Nat Cole stuff.
The shift from indentured servitude to true enslavement was gradual over the 18th century…many blacks were treated as indentured, and under the same terms as Irish and Scots and poor English being brought into the plantation economies of the South. The Revolution cut off that supply of European poor immigrant labor for many years. Thus the terms for blacks became more severe, and not only became “in perpetuity” but soon included their children. With the advent of the cotton gin the demand for intensive labor (even above that needed for tobacco) increased. “King Cotton” also made the expansion of slavery into areas unsuitable for tobacco utterly reasonable.
In some ways slavery might have petered out if the Cotton Gin hadn’t sped up the milling of the fiber. But it also took land away from the small poorer farmers (although they could sell it off to “agribusiness” and move West). That was another incentive to homestead areas that might eventually come under plantation systems. It was a type of speculation. And the idea of using slaves in mines, as in South America, was another grand scheme suggested for slavery in the West. Fortunately we missed out on some of the more horrific exploitation schemes with enslavement that occurred in South America mining.
BTW Another branch of my family from North Carolina actually was intermarried with freed-black erstwhile indentured servants in the early 1800’s. This branch of the family is recorded as land-holding coloreds in the 1830 Census, and there actually many people in this status in the South. By 1850 there are almost none. Some of those families had moved North.
I’ve been trying to find some book on the freedmen of the South and what happened to them on the eve of the Civil War, to no avail. But it’s interesting that slavery for blacks wasn’t an “absolute” in the antebellum South.
Fascinating shit. It actually puts me a-mind of something I learned in an OLD OLD book of now-mostly-forgotten Iowa history that I read a couple years ago upon moving back here:
Much of the state’s early Scots-Irish and German inhabitants were staunchly abolitionist from the get-go (1840sish, into the 50s). But they were not necessarily color-blind, egalitarian and inclusionist. Rather, what informed their anti-slavery stance was particularly socio-economics, as many had migrated from Southeastern states because of economic disenfranchisement of the feudal system there. In essence, they couldn’t make a go of it with the shitty topland they were relegated to, couldn’t afford the bottomland, and were excluded from good jobs in an agrarian system predicated on free labor. Obviously this is generalizing, but the curious thing is, abolition became a moral issue here, but one stemming from a commonsensical desire for economic opportunity versus the deck being institutionally stacked against them.
actually there was evidence that it was waning prior to the intro of technology (cotton gin)
Have you checked Jstor to see if anyone has written any articles? it may lead you to somre research and/or books.
The Kathleen Parker column is far more insidious than the obviously racist “Curious George” t-shirt, ugly as it is. Parker’s work, placed in the traditional, respected media, is pure evil: some blood is better than other blood.
BTW I have no ties to slavery or slave owners in this country but plenty to the slavery in Brasil both indigenous and african thanks to sugar, coffee, minerals and rubber
I have never lived in the South, but I have friends from the South. I know there are good people, intelligent people and graceful people in the South. It must be difficult for them to bask in the reflected light of so many racist and ignorant morons. Racism is born out of ignorance. It is sad that grown people have failed to evolve beyond racism. It is the racist that is inferior, not the object of his racism.
I have been listening to black music since I was a girl of 12….a lot of years ago. My father hated it, really hated it. He was not exactly the soul of racial understanding. I love R&B, jazz, and especially soul.
I don’t like rap for all the reasons you named…just doesn’t seem very creative to me and very anti-women. Mostly though, I have a hard time defining as music anything that doesn’t have a melody. Most rap has none.
However, the American music world would be a pretty poor place without the contributions of black musicians, writers and vocal performers. So here’s to B.B. King and Ray Charles.
Well said. I call it “refined white suprmacy.”
Don’t forget to thank the Pope, and the Roman Catholic Church. Most of the owners of Africans in New Orleans, through the Carriabean, and south down to Brazil were Roman Catholics. They were huge benefactors to the papacy, because of all the wealth they accrued from NOT paying for labor. Popes did not want to lose that revenue stream, so the Vatican was officially neutral during the US Civil War. Being thoroughly anti-moderninst, the Vatican was actually pro-Confederacy, but they didn’t want to admit it. Sometime after 1865, the popes gradually, grudgingly came out against owning Africans.
I didn’t hear that one, don’t know if it was Davis or Cole.
I did hear that the Klan almost beat Cole to death when he was performing on stage in the south, Florida I think. Frank called his mob buddies and they sent a couple of enforcer types down to transport Cole back up north in safety. I guess the fear was that the Klan was going to come back and finish the job.
How generous of you to fill me in on that and sharing at this late point!
The reason I posted Sammy Davis’s name is that I wanted his courage to be remembered and honored, too (if it were he).
And Nat King Cole!! (And Frank S. standing by him … though the mob guys … mixed feelings on them, but God Bless them if they saved Nat’s life.)
We usually have no idea the enormity of what such heroes faced. But hearing about them makes me want to be braver. Courage is contagious.
It is so important to talk the talk to stay conscious and aware of the truth, but to walk the proverbial walk…. for the sake of your sense of integrity … to not let society get away with stifling your best potential … that is leadership … that is freedom …that is truly living as your highest self!
Thank you so much for sharing that BobbyG. I came back to the site to spend a little more time on this discussion, and to read your blog. It was so worth it, and profoundly moved me. So elegantly written, and the story itself is poignant and inspiring. Lucky girls to have you. Lucky father, too, to have them. :)