I don't know what the demographics of the Communist Party were in the
1940s, but in my political lifetime they have always had a large Black
contingent. I think they lost a lot of them when the split that founded
the Committees of Correspondence happened though. Responding to another
part of your message, you reminded me of something that happened when I
was working for the Red Cross. I was talking to a coworker about bars.
He happened to be Black. He recommended a certain bar to me that I had
never visited. So I dropped in on it one evening. Somehow it had not
even crossed my mind that the complexion of my coworker might predict
the complexion of the bar patrons. Once I was there, though, it was
obvious that in that very crowded nightclub I was the only patron with
white skin. That was okay with me except that everyone there was staring
at me. No wonder, I am sure that I did appear out of place. I felt like
I was on display as if I was a zoo animal. If it had not been for that I
would have stuck around longer.
On 8/31/2017 11:02 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
Since my dear old dad is no longer able to defend himself, I can pick
on him from time to time. All of my life I have looked up to my dad,
admired him for his quick mind and his caring for not only his family,
but for the down trodden people around the world. But I do remember a
much younger dad, too. As I've said before, I recall a group of young
men sitting around our living room and deciding what high ranking
positions they would hold, once the Revolution came.
During this period in their lives, dad and his buddies always saw
themselves as part of the "Inside" group. They would be the ones
making Laws and meting out punishment, and building this wonderful new
Utopia. Among my dad's pals I recall a Catholic fellow, several
professing Christians and a couple of avowed Atheists. But they were
all White men. In the 1940's there were virtually no People of Color
in North Seattle. And the American Communist Party did not think of
reaching into the Central District and recruiting Negros or Hispanics,
or Indians, or Chinese, or Japanese or Filipinos. When I went with my
dad to the Central Headquarters down town on First Avenue, I never saw
any face other than White. A number of bossy women and lots of stern
faced men, but all White. And I never even thought about it at the
time. Not for many years. My world was White. I remember thinking
the Negros "looked funny". I never thought that if the shoe were on
the other foot that I would "look funny" to Negros. Prejudice is
passed through a group of people without ever being noticed. Of
course during WW II our Propaganda Machine deliberately turned
Japanese into "Japs" sporting big buck teeth and thick glasses, and
when all Germans were depicted as being bald headed and wearing
monocles, only then were Blacks portrayed as "normal" looking
people...darker of color but looking very White in their features. I
remember when all of us boys turned out to the Paramount Theater to
cheer our hero Joe Lewis. He came on stage dressed in his Army
Uniform and talked to us about the need to stop the Nazis and defend
Freedom. He then took off his shirt and flexed his muscles and
punched the daylights out of a punching bag, while offering to "go a
round or two" with any boy in the audience. Joe Lewis looked just
about like any other well put together man...only with a Hershey
Chocolate Color. But after the War, we slipped back into our normal
prejudicial mode of "keeping them in their place".
During the 40's and 50's, I remember Seattle's central district, and
what we called "China Town", now referred to as the International
District. The Central District was not actually the Down Town
District. It lay to the East of the business area. Crowded into this
Central District were nearly all of the Negro families. Seattle
business leaders "red lined" entire areas where Negros could not even
look at a house. Later the area finally broke the wall of Racism and
poured South into Southeast Seattle. But back in those days when I
roamed "my" city, I never saw a face of any color other than White,
except when I did wander through the Central District and China Town.
And I never thought anything about it, never questioning why these
people of color were not living on my block and shopping in my stores.
It was the way the world was, so it must be the natural way of things.
At 82, it is hard for me to remember what my mind set was, and how the
world really was, because I and the world have undergone so many
changes. My memories are biased by new information and new memories.
But I do know that I never wondered why only White people shopped in
the big department stores in downtown Seattle.
When I was doing free lance photography, I recall taking a bus to a
public beach on Lake Washington, Leshipark. I was somewhat surprised
to see black bodies covering the grass, swimming in the lake, playing
a game of baseball, and unfolding big wicker picnic baskets. Not one
White face, other than mine, and people looked at me with either blank
expressions or suspicion. Not a friendly look to be found.
And like any good superior being, I blamed the victims for their
"troubles". These people were behaving in a very surly manner, I
thought. No wonder no one wants them in their neighborhood. It never
even crossed my mind that these people resented me...as part of the
White Power that kept them pinned down. Today, as I listen to
president Donald Trump and his Billionaire Cabinet, I begin to
understand what those people were feeling so many long years ago. I
have no warm smiles for them, the Ruling Class. And I'm sure that
they look through me just as I looked through that park filled with
Black People back in the mid 50's. They have not a thought about the
"rightness" of the world. They are where they are because it is the
way things are. I am where I am because I was not as clever or
industrious as they. In short, there is no communication possible
because of that invisible wall between their understanding of the
world, and mine.
Carl Jarvis
On 8/31/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Richard,
It depends on how you define progress. If you don't define it in material
terms, but in terms of loving relationships, caring for others, and a
respect for all living things, then progress isn't achieved at the
expensive
of others.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of R. E. Driscoll
Sr
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 10:02 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: NFL Plantation Owners Ban Uppity Quarterback
Miriam:
It seems to me that all progress made by any group has been at the expense
of another group- normally termed 'slaves'.
Richard
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 30, 2017, at 7:54 PM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
Oh, this guy isn't stupid. He is literate and articulate. He didn't useany nasty racial slurs. He was talking to this black journalist as politely
and reasonably as you please. He just managed to omit the fact that this
western civilization which he so treasures, has always taken what it needed
from the rest of the world, that his white culture was built on slavery and
colonialism. And I suspect that when he talks about the white nation that
he
wants, he actually expects to have a hoard of low wage serfs around to care
for its white citizens.
Miriamwork alone when it comes to destroying the Human Species. Greed has a
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 8:00 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: NFL Plantation Owners Ban Uppity
Quarterback
The unmitigated arrogance! I'm beginning to believe that Greed does not
brother named, Stupid. While Greed goes about enticing people to do
anything for more wealth and power, Stupid works at dulling the senses and
blowing heavy fog into our brains.
I simply cannot get my head around how so many people live their entirelives on this planet, yet they never question how, on the one hand we can
be
such wise and compassionate Beings, and at the same time be so ruthless,
vicious and Evil.
Carl Jarvispeople of color.
On 8/30/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I've read and listened to several articles and podcasts dealing with
white nationalists and what they say and believe. There was a truly
amazing interview done by an African American journalist with Richard
Spencer, who is, one of the most horrifying white men I've ever
listened to. It was a very calm discussion which, if you weren't
using your brain, might have sounded rational. In it, Richard Spencer
was explaining why he believes that our society is damaging to white
people. He has, he explained, nothing against people of color. It's
just that their numbers are damaging to, "white culture", which, he
equates, with western civilization. All he wants to do is preserve
western civilization which means that our society must rid itself of
former Great, Whiteness". Or is that, to her former White Greatness.Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl
Jarvis
Sent: Wednesday, August 30, 2017 1:56 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: NFL Plantation Owners Ban Uppity
Quarterback
Certainly Colin Rand Kaepernick understood the very real consequences
of his actions. Indeed, the treatment of Colored Citizens is what
brought him to send his protest to the public. And the System has
responded in a manner that proves his point. His career is squashed
like a bug under foot. In the days when America was Great, a time
Trump wants to return to, Colin Rand Kaepernick's protest would have
been dismissed with the words, "That ought to teach that uppity
nigger a lesson!" But the lesson is not lost on a growing number of
Americans. Reinforced by president Donald Trump's pardon of Joe
Arpaio, the Word goes out for one and all to hear, "Return America to
her
other way.Carl Jarvis
On 8/30/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Colin Kaepernick. (photo: Jake Roth/Reuters)
NFL Plantation Owners Ban Uppity Quarterback
By William Boardman, Reader Supported News
29 August 17
American Shame: Colin Kaepernick is jobless for thought crime
To watch America's structural racism at work, one need look no
further than the National Football League (NFL) and its treatment of
nonviolent unorthodoxy as expressed by Colin Kaepernick going to one
knee during the national anthem in support of the unacceptable
thought that black lives should matter as much as anyone else's. Of
course, that's still a relatively new idea in the United States,
dating from
1863 in law and still not fully accepted in much of the country.
Colin Rand Kaepernick, who turns 30 in November, is a proven
professional football quarterback who chose to become a free agent
after the 2016 season.
He led San Francisco to the Super Bowl in 2012. He is good enough to
play for most any of the NFL's 32 teams, but none have signed him. A
year ago, when unarmed black men shot by cops were getting heavy
news coverage and while presidential candidates Clinton and Trump
disparaged Black Lives Matter, Kaepernick undertook a solo protest,
sitting during the national anthem before the first NFL pre-season
game. In subsequent games, Kaepernick went down on one knee in
silent, respectful protest during the Star Spangled Banner. Asked by
an NFL Network reporter why he was doing that, Kaepernick
said:
I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country
that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is
bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the
profit.There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and
getting away with murder..
This is not something that I am going to run by anybody. I am not
looking for approval. I have to stand up for people that are
oppressed.... If they take football away, my endorsements from me, I
know that I stood up for what is right.
At the time, official football - the league, his team, his coach -
all spoke carefully about respecting Kaepernick's "right as a citizen,"
without engaging the issue he was raising. Kaepernick is bi-racial.
He was adopted by white parents and raised in Wisconsin with white
siblings.
Zeitgeist signals: Kaepernick blacklisted, Arpaio pardoned
In November 2016, a Miami Herald reporter asked Kaepernick about a
shirt he had worn showing Fidel Castro and Malcolm X with the caption:
"Like Minds Think Alike." In discussing the shirt, Kaepernick
reportedly said: "One thing that Fidel Castro did do is they have
the highest literacy rate because they invest more in their
education system than they do in their prison system, which we do
not do here, even though we're fully capable of doing that."That
sort of truth, spoken out loud, does not endear one to the overlords
of the NFL or other American authorities, especially the ones who
created and profit from the unaddressed, unending scandal of prisons
for
immigration.A year after he first spoke out by kneeling in silence, Colin
Kaepernick is unemployed. Unarmed black men are killed by cops at a
faster rate now than in 2016, but it's not news so much any more.
Kaepernick had his free speech, now he's paying the price. The
country has moved on to a more ardent defense of free speech by
Nazis, white supremacists, the KKK, anti-Semites, and other bigots.
The Trump administration is contributing to social calm and order by
setting out to give local police more military weapons, from armored
troop carriers to grenade launchers.
The ugliest sign of the country's darkening racial zeitgeist is
President Trump's pre-emptive, unprincipled, unconditional pardon of
one of America's most notorious police bigots, former sheriff Joe
Arpaio of Arizona, a man who spoke proudly of his brutal and deadly
prison system as a "concentration camp." Arpaio was awaiting
sentencing when the President interdicted the judicial process with
a hasty pardon, granted without any of the usual review and
consideration. The brief White House announcement concluded with
these
lies:
Throughout his time as Sheriff, Arpaio continued his life's work of
protecting the public from the scourges of crime and illegal
intractable.Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now eighty-five years old, and after more than
fifty years of admirable service to our Nation, he is worthy
candidate for a Presidential pardon.
Arpaio's record is reasonably clear that he did little protecting of
the public or the Constitution. His office operated with racist
standards that encouraged police brutality and led to prisoner
deaths from violence and neglect. Arpaio's service as sheriff was
not admirable but self-serving, obsessed with targeting Latinos
regardless of guilt, while ignoring real criminal offenses,
including domestic abuse and child abuse.
Kaepernick and the Star Spangled Banner of American irony
Some say Kaepernick is the victim of a blacklist. Others deny what
seems obviously true. One of the deniers makes much of a few other
players making similar gestures without consequences. But he leaves
out critical facts:
that these are players currently under contract and that they have a
union to defend them. He makes a point of saying that "NFL rosters
are
70 per cent Black," without wondering why NFL rosters are close to
100 per cent without any expressed social conscience. He does not
mention that NFL owners would be 100 per cent white but for some
limited partners like Reggie Fowler of the Minnesota Vikings.
American racism is structural, institutional, shameless, and
ourselves.Electing Barack Obama in 2008 didn't make the country a post-racial
society any more than electing Donald Trump in 2016 makes the
country a post-sane society. The abiding ambiguity of American
madness can be seen in our "national anthem," which has been our
national anthem less than 100 years (adopted 1931).
The Star Spangled Banner celebrates the defense of Fort McHenry in
Baltimore Harbor in 1814 in Maryland, a slave state. The attacking
British force included numbers of escaped slaves fighting for the
British on the promise of earning their freedom. Francis Scott Key,
who wrote the Star Spangled Banner, was a lifelong slave owner. A
lawyer who served as US Attorney, Key used his office to prosecute
abolitionists. In an 1837 prosecution of abolitionist Dr. Reuben
Crandall for instigating a slave rebellion, Key said in his
summation to the jury:
Are you willing, gentlemen, to abandon your country, to permit it to
be taken from you, and occupied by the abolitionist, according to
whose taste it is to associate and amalgamate with the negro? Or,
gentlemen, on the other hand, are there laws in this community to
defend you from the immediate abolitionist, who would open upon you
the floodgates of such extensive wickedness and mischief?
Rendered in modern language, these are the same sentiments the
racists of Charlottesville expressed in their exercise of free
speech. In 1837, the jury acquitted Dr. Crandall. On the
Charlottesville hordes, the jury is still out.
Maybe, should our public consciousness come to grips with the
reality that our national anthem is a slave owner's paean to the
defense of a slave state, we might think more seriously about kneeling
That might be a better way to express our hope to become, truly, the
land of the free and the home of the brave.
William M. Boardman has over 40 years experience in theatre, radio,
TV, print journalism, and non-fiction, including 20 years in the
Vermont judiciary. He has received honors from Writers Guild of
America, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Vermont Life magazine,
and an Emmy Award nomination from the Academy of Television Arts and
Sciences.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work.
Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
e-max.it: your social media marketing partner
