When I was in social work school, I lived in a co-op for graduate students. I
was always a folk song fan so I planned to attend a Mahalia Jackson concert one
Saturday night when she was appearing at the U of Michigan. Mahalia Jackson
sang wonderful negro gospel music, much nicer than the kind I heard in the late
70's and early 80's in the black community in Westbury. Anyway, only three of
us from that co-op, were planning to attend the concert, to black female
students and me. We went together and they invited me to attend a party with
them after the concert. I had a really nice time at that party. Everyone was
friendly and warm. People asked me to dance. They were all graduate students at
the university and except for one other woman, I was the only white person
there and I was certainly the only visually impaired woman there. What I will
always remember is how warm and welcoming those people were, even though they
didn't know me. That brings something else to mind. When I traveled into the
city by Long Island Railroad in order to visit adoptive families, if I needed
assistance, black people were always ready and willing to help, no matter how
busy they were. White people rushed right by me. And one day I had to visit the
Family Court in Jamaica Queens. I had no idea where it was and I asked the
first person I encountered on a rather empty street, who was a young black man.
Not only did he explain where it was, but he agreed to escort me there so I
wouldn't get lost.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey ;
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Thursday, August 31, 2017 3:28 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; Carl Jarvis <carjar82@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: NFL Plantation Owners Ban Uppity Quarterback
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 Vieniwrote:
<miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Oh, this guy isn't stupid. He is literate and articulate. He didn'tany nasty racial slurs. He was talking to this black journalist as
use
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
-----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
a 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 theirlives on this planet, yet they never question how, on the one hand we
entire
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.
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