Happy Negroes, Unhappy Slaves Redux

A continuing conversation on race in America

Back in February of 2008, I wrote about a conversation that I had with a man, whose name I don’t know, about Black people, white people and the political campaign of Barack Obama, who, at that time was merely running for president. You can read about that conversation here.

Even after the conversation, we continued to talk and a year later, we’re still engaging in our favorite weekend past time and still talking. He’s not happy with Barack as president. He voted for him as did I, but he is unable to be patient. He wants change now, as in "Okay, we put the Black guy in.....now what’s the difference..."

Today we went back to race again coming at the question from differing viewpoints. He has progressed from slaves being happy during slavery to Blacks should be grateful they were taken off the slave ships and allowed to live. According to my friend, Blacks don’t show gratitude for what whites did for them way back when, which was to save our lives from the big bad Spaniards who stole them in Africa, forced them onto ships to survive or die.

He told me that Blacks should be glad nobody forced them to get back onto those ships because the Spaniards would have killed or drowned them rather than transport them. So slavery was something of a godsend for Black people. It was a blessing that we, Blacks today, are not properly thankful enough or respectful for.

That last thing on respect comes from my reading of him as he was telling me this. He didn’t say it, and I don’t want to put more words into his mouth because he is well capable to choking himself. He doesn’t need my help to do that.

As I listened to his theory, it dawned on me that I was hearing a theory that under lay the thoughts and actions of a lot of white people....that Africa, the slave ships, were bad, but getting to America was the good thing for Black people. It saved us.....I asked him....saved us from what exactly.....the freedom of living in your own country, with your own family, on your own land, surrounded by your own stuff? Being free to make your own decisions and not have to worry about whether you put too much starch in your master’s underwear?

How can being brutally snatched to another country to serve and become the property of another man be considered salvation? He still has no answer for me. He can’t seem to get past the "Africa bad, America good" scenario, or that Blacks blame whites for a situation not of their making. I couldn’t get past the "issues" of choice.....once Blacks were unchained and taken off the ships...no one forced white people to engage in slavery....It was a conscientious choice to do that after attempts to enslave Native Americans failed. It was a dehumanizing situation from which we all, both Black and white, still suffer.

So at this point, after a couple of thrusts about the still ongoing institutionalization of racsim that permeates everything in America, we move on, saving this saga for another day. We turned instead to Herbert Hoover’s presidency as the reason why most Black people are democrats. Seems he saw something recently on television that made this connection.

In my friend’s mind he felt that Blacks should have been republican from jump instead of adopting the politics of their owners who were primarily southern democrats. I explained that many blacks were republicans or believed in the politics of abolition and the party of Lincoln, and that persisted well through the 1960s.

I have already chronicled how much of my family was republican. The switch happened when southern democrats left the party to become republicans rather than allow Fannie Lou Hamer to be seated the Democratic Convention, I believe in 1964. I can remember hearing older family members talk about the death of FDR, and of watching his funeral train. They recalled the tears they shed and shock they felt when this man passed. Yet they still called themselves republicans.

I reminded my friend that what Blacks may have felt politically, was different than expressing it, because getting the right to cast a vote was in and of itself, an adventure. It remains that way today despite the voting rights act of 1965. And unless anyone thinks the fight is over, the Voting Rights Act is not a permanent law-it must be renewed every 25 years.

It is also coming before the United States Supreme Court in the next couple of weeks. A Supreme Court that is led by an activist conservative. What will happen is anybody’s guess.

There are any number of possibilities, including striking it down and declaring it unconstitutional....just like affirmative action in California.....In the aftermath....the colleges and universities have once again become primarily all white institutions.....Will that happen to the right to vote?

Don’t know.....Just asking questions....as always....

My conversation with my friend.....to be continued....................

Tea Party Questions....

Okay....So We had a tea party....

And they were protesting because they don't like the fiscal policies of Barack Obama...

They do have that right....after all....this is America....land of the free, home of the brave and sometimes of the monumentally stupid....

90% of those who protested in Cincinnati yesterday....got a tax cut, not a promise...Are they going to give it back.....,, are they going to refuse to allow Obama to pad their paychecks with the rest of us deadbeats?

They marched on City Hall demanding that the City refuse stimulus money...okay...does that mean that all the senior citizens in the crowd are now going to refuse their social security or their medicare?

Aren't those the socialist programs that they are railing against?

Isn't the patriotic thing to do is to not take any of the government's money? Or is picking and choosing which socialistic activity that you engage in the way to do it..

George Bush/GOP socialism okay.....Barack Obama socialism=equals welfare for black people...not okay....just askin'....I'm trying to understand...

How about all those student loans...did they all come from the private sector...or are there some Pell grants thrown in.....you young'uns refusing that money and allowing your parents to foot the bill for your 8th grade education?


They are protesting policies...policies that were put into place by George Bush...

They were silent while Bush took a government surplus and turned it into two wars costing a billion dollars a month...two wars that we still have to pay for and to deal with....Americans are still dying for lies....

They were silent while Bush gave Obama and us.. a 1.6 billion dollar deficit....

Tax laws haven't been changed for 16 years....Obama didn't do that.....

Since these guys are also against education....how could they know that capitalism in its purest form is a consumer driven situation.... a survival of the fittest, darwinian system..the kind of system that is currently killing us and would kill them...

because 90% of the protestors at the tea party are road kill in a pure capitalistic system... and god forbid that we should ever turn to pure capitalism like George Bush tried to do...by privatizing everything including social security...

Hell....how could they know...since they don't like books or learnin'.....that America is a republic...not a democracy....how could they know that democracies lead to tyranny...without fail...

I would say go back and look at the past eight years if you don't believe me.... but would they understand....given their demonstrated level of understanding and comprehension....

How could they know the difference between capitalism, communism, socialism and fascism...they keep tossing those words around with nary a clue as to what they are talking about....c'mon now...the best way to seem smart...when you don't know...is to keep your mouth shut....

For the record....the Boston Tea Party...the last time I checked....was about "no taxation WITHOUT representation" .......well, we have representation in America...trouble is..the protestors don't like their representation.....King George (I love that) wanted to tax the colonies to pay for the French Indian War..And he wanted to do this without giving the colonies representation in the British House of Lords..


Oh yeah...one other bone to pick....the news media said the crowd was diverse....the phrase was....out of the mouth of my old friend at channel 9...who said "diverse...young, old, men, women"....c'mon Tom....you didn't finish it....young, old, men, women, black, white...

Where was the black-white part of that standard diversity phrase straight out of reporting school...

Maybe because the only black people and brown people down there...were the ones protesting the protestors....huh..ya think?

World AIDS Day

Did you know that if black Americans, all 13% of us, were a separate country, that our country would rank 16th in the world in HIV/AIDS infections? African Americans represent 49% of all new infections worldwide, according to the Center for Disease Control.

Did you know that black women in America between the ages of 25 and 49, are the group at highest risk for contracting AIDS?

Did you know that black women are infected primarily through their heterosexual partners...men who sleep with other men?

Today is World AIDs Day....the world has 33 million cases of infection, more than 70% of it happening in sub Saharan Africa.

Black AIDS Day is February 7th.....Educate yourself...for your own protection...I say this as someone who has lost too many friends and a couple of relatives to this vicious virus..

Par-Tay! Ya Feelin’ Me?

All right all you Hip Hop Republicans.....Hey all you Black GOP members....Yo, to all you minority folks who don’t like our new president...Now is the time for you to step up into the breach!

The Republican party is in danger of extinction. It’s paler members have broken out the AK-47's and are currently involved in a circular firing squad. They’re cannibalizing their savior, Sarah Palin. They really, really don’t like her. Or maybe they’re just jealous about all the attention she is getting. Anyway, now is the time. This is your hour. Go ahead, jump in, take over. America has voted. We like our politics dipped in chocolate. And the GOP does need some spice in the soup its trying to serve to the public.

The real republicans have jumped ship. They support Obama, or at least are willing to support him for awhile. True non bigoted conservatives are also bolting. A bipartisan government is the utopia we have all been waiting for. But that leaves the party to the delusional right wing fringe who want to continue the marriage of church and state, creating a new talibanic regime on the most western of western soils. These people think they lost the election because their ticket didn’t push their so called moral agenda strong enough. In their collective mind, all the GOP has to do is to get more rigid in its views...fight the culture wars like they did back in the 90's when the moral majority was in its hey day. They want Saint Sarah to be their patron saint, their Joan of Arc, to lead them back to the white house and control.

I have a suggestion for you. Maybe while these folks are home cleaning their guns, depressed and sulking about current events, now is the time for all you young hip hop repubs to take over. Join the party. Stir yourself into that vanilla milkshake. Make it more flavorful and appealing to real America. Let's get rid of the virtual, Beaver Cleaver reality that many republicans can’t seem to delete from their minds.

The Republican party has to survive. America is no good if there is just one party. Americans are addicted to good cop-bad cop. The parties need to bounce off each other, rub against each other like a good bonfire. Oh sure there are lesser parties, like the green party, the communist party, the socialist party, the libertarians. We do have all kinds of political parties in America. We just don’t take them seriously unless there is a big “D” or “R” in front of them. “Ism parties” scare us to death and the only places that Americans like to see the color green is on frogs, in beer on St Patrick’s day and on our money, which is currently looking like more of a rainbow these days.

Someone has got to save the GOP. We can’t let it pass the way of the Whigs, can we? I will be honest, I can’t lead this revolution because I can’t stomach myself being a republican. I’ll admit that I have some conservative tendencies as some of my readers like to point out. And I’m a lesbian, too, so I can fit into the gay ole party. But I think the GOP needs some new minority blood. It needs some brown immigrant blood. It needs a shot of sangria, sweet, marvelous sangria.

So how about it, all you Q-dogs..Ya’ll like a good party. Some of you are even upstanding citizens. You know you know how to make money. Spend it too. Take on this new project. Rebuild the Republican party. I’m sure the Alphas and Kappas would be willing to help out. C’mon, make it more like America. Make America more Barackish. I like vanilla, but it’s the 21st century, time for another flavor. Time for some rap with the Ravel. Let’s chase that glenfiddich with a 40. How about some Miles with that Lawrence Welk.

Now is the time to stir this new chili. Variety is the spice of life, isn’t it?

Who’s Being Polled?

Public Policy Polling, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, released a poll today saying that John McCain and Barack Obama are tied in Ohio. PPP says Obama is having trouble with middle aged white women who backed Hillary in the primaries. PPP rightly surmises that the old girls are still sulking.

According to PPP, Obama’s numbers among Democrats stands at 75%-17% backing him for president, while McCain has 89%-7% support of Republicans.

The polling group goes on to state in its release that Obama would be better off campaigning with Hillary when he comes to the Buckeye state. Maybe...maybe not. In my own personal polling, which amounts to me talking to friends and neighbors and acquaintances...Hillary’s name being put into nomination at the upcoming convention is the height stupidity. Folks are really ticked off at the Clintons and the arrogance of their supporters. But back to the poll....

I was willing to let this poll pass unnoticed until I looked at the numbers. One of the hidden figures inside this poll says that Obama is ahead of McCain in women and voters under 45...but is only 80%-18% supported by Blacks in Ohio. McCain leads Obama among whites 49%-38%.

Honestly, that does not look like a tie to me...even if the black vote is correct...which I don’t for a minute believe that it is....

Here in Ohio, which is Disneyland for the GOP, McCain can’t carry 18% of the black vote in a galvanized bucket with a padded handle. Ain’t gonna happen. . Things have changed since the days of Ken Blackwell...he lost the last election, remember? McCain may take Ohio...he has to, to win...but he’s not gonna take the black vote...not in anyone’s universe.

So, who did PPP interview to come up with these numbers.....950 folks who chose to pick up their telephones.....

I’m sorry.....I don’t like polls and don’t trust them because they never represent a true cross section of people. No poll has been right this year because of these small sectors. Yet the MSM continues to quote them...to swear by them....and then try to dissect them when they turn out wrong...

Until pollsters make a real effort to reach out to all people, they’ll just keep getting wronger and wronger ( I know it’s not a word...but it fits.)

Like a Big Lead Balloon....

Buried under all the presidential campaign B.S. last week was a truly historic event. The United State House of Representatives passed a resolution apologizing to black Americans for slavery. The full text is as follows from the Library of Congress:
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HRES 194 EH

H. Res. 194

In the House of Representatives, U. S.,

July 29, 2008.

Whereas millions of Africans and their descendants were enslaved in the United States and the 13 American colonies from 1619 through 1865;

Whereas slavery in America resembled no other form of involuntary servitude known in history, as Africans were captured and sold at auction like inanimate objects or animals;

Whereas Africans forced into slavery were brutalized, humiliated, dehumanized, and subjected to the indignity of being stripped of their names and heritage;

Whereas enslaved families were torn apart after having been sold separately from one another;

Whereas the system of slavery and the visceral racism against persons of African descent upon which it depended became entrenched in the Nation's social fabric;

Whereas slavery was not officially abolished until the passage of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865 after the end of the Civil War;

Whereas after emancipation from 246 years of slavery, African-Americans soon saw the fleeting political, social, and economic gains they made during Reconstruction eviscerated by virulent racism, lynchings, disenfranchisement, Black Codes, and racial segregation laws that imposed a rigid system of officially sanctioned racial segregation in virtually all areas of life;

Whereas the system of de jure racial segregation known as `Jim Crow,' which arose in certain parts of the Nation following the Civil War to create separate and unequal societies for whites and African-Americans, was a direct result of the racism against persons of African descent engendered by slavery;

Whereas a century after the official end of slavery in America, Federal action was required during the 1960s to eliminate the dejure and defacto system of Jim Crow throughout parts of the Nation, though its vestiges still linger to this day;

Whereas African-Americans continue to suffer from the complex interplay between slavery and Jim Crow--long after both systems were formally abolished--through enormous damage and loss, both tangible and intangible, including the loss of human dignity, the frustration of careers and professional lives, and the long-term loss of income and opportunity;

Whereas the story of the enslavement and de jure segregation of African-Americans and the dehumanizing atrocities committed against them should not be purged from or minimized in the telling of American history;

Whereas on July 8, 2003, during a trip to Goree Island, Senegal, a former slave port, President George W. Bush acknowledged slavery's continuing legacy in American life and the need to confront that legacy when he stated that slavery `was . . . one of the greatest crimes of history . . . The racial bigotry fed by slavery did not end with slavery or with segregation. And many of the issues that still trouble America have roots in the bitter experience of other times. But however long the journey, our destiny is set: liberty and justice for all.';

Whereas President Bill Clinton also acknowledged the deep-seated problems caused by the continuing legacy of racism against African-Americans that began with slavery when he initiated a national dialogue about race;

Whereas a genuine apology is an important and necessary first step in the process of racial reconciliation;

Whereas an apology for centuries of brutal dehumanization and injustices cannot erase the past, but confession of the wrongs committed can speed racial healing and reconciliation and help Americans confront the ghosts of their past;

Whereas the legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia has recently taken the lead in adopting a resolution officially expressing appropriate remorse for slavery and other State legislatures have adopted or are considering similar resolutions; and

Whereas it is important for this country, which legally recognized slavery through its Constitution and its laws, to make a formal apology for slavery and for its successor, Jim Crow, so that it can move forward and seek reconciliation, justice, and harmony for all of its citizens: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives--

(1) acknowledges that slavery is incompatible with the basic founding principles recognized in the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal;

(2) acknowledges the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality, and inhumanity of slavery and Jim Crow;

(3) apologizes to African Americans on behalf of the people of the United States, for the wrongs committed against them and their ancestors who suffered under slavery and Jim Crow; and

(4) expresses its commitment to rectify the lingering consequences of the misdeeds committed against African Americans under slavery and Jim Crow and to stop the occurrence of human rights violations in the future.

Attest:

Clerk.

END

It was a nonbinding resolution passed by voice vote. No reparations attached. I can and will forgive but it's still too early to forget.

Speaking in Tongues other than English

All this talk about making English the national language got me to thinking about my upbringing and how I was taught to speak by my parents and grandparents as well as the other grown ups around me. I'm not an immigrant. I'm an original native born American and anyone who knows history, knows that only two ethnic groups can make that claim; Native Americans and, since 1619, the descendants of slaves. My people were slaves. Since they were ripped from their homeland, I don't have any other country to claim other than the United States of America where we've been here in a direct line, since 1790.

Since I was born five years after the end of World War II, there was Jim Crow, but no Brown vs The Board of Education. The Ku Klux Klan was ascendant. Integration was a new concept. Separate but equal was the law of the land.

Growing up you were expected to know your place, be as respectful and as invisible as you possibly could be around Whites. That meant being clean, quiet and well spoken at all times when in public. Failure to do this, especially if you were male, meant at the minimum, a public tongue lashing from the offended white person, jail or sometimes even death. Blending in was a survival tactic taught from birth. And that brings me back to language.

You were expected to speak "proper English." What the kids today call "talk white." When I was a child that was simply survival, the best way to get thru school and to get a job. It's second nature to me now,

But how we talked at home and around the neighborhood with our neighbors is and was different. Sometimes it's called "slang." Sometimes it's given the official name of "Ebonics." Under any name it is and has been derided by both Blacks and Whites as not a good way to talk. When the City Schools of Oakland tried to teach Ebonics, school officials were castigated and roundly chastised by everyone, nationwide. They were accused of bringing down the race and making fun of Blacks. I guess if the slaves forced to come to this country could have somehow preserved their languages intact, despite the bombardment of white European/Christian culture, maybe Ebonics would have been taken more seriously.

But when you think about, Slang, Hip Hop and yes the bigger catchword Ebonics are languages. Just like French, Spanish, German, Italian, Polish, Czech, Hebrew. It's the language of America's Black neighborhoods. So why do we get laughed at when we choose to speak our first language but Hispanics and other immigrants get rewarded with multi lingual signs, English as a second language courses, and a myriad of defenders of all walks of life standing up for their right to speak what they know?

I don't think there needs to be an official law recognizing English as the official language. It's really just another attempt by the ruling class to keep things "pure" if you will, and to preserve the comfort level of the paler masses. Blacks and Native Americans have always been bi lingual and will continue to be until there is a complete blending of the races in this country. The very language itself has changed and will continue to change to reflect America's ever-changing population.

Ya feel me on this?