BLACK HISTORY: Strange Fruit

Every month, it seems, there is news of another black man gunned down simply because he was black. These actions are eerily similar to the lynching’s that took place in the early half of the 20^th century for pretty much the same reason as the murder by white vigilantes in our society today.

The reason could be as simple as the concept of "Manifest Destiny", which speaks to white  privilege. White America has never accepted African American’s as anything more than illegal aliens, in spite of the fact they captured the race against their will and brought to American in chains. I have repeatedly said, “We are a nation of people living in a nation without a nationality” basically because the Constitutions tells us so. You do remember the 3/5th human phrase.

In the wake of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager who was shot and killed by George Zimmerman in 2012, and Jordan Davis, who was also unarmed, are the most recent high-profile examples of young black men who have been killed because white men claimed they feared for their lives.

Let’s also include the murders and shootings by the police, sanctioned by law, against African American’s such as Oscar Grant and countless others. Then there are people like Garrick Hopkins, 60, and his brother, Carl Hopkins Jr., 61, two brothers from West Virginia, who were shot and killed by a white man for what he claimed as trespassing on his land – when, in fact, they were inspecting a shed on their own property.

The attached  video is straightforward yet nuanced. The song “Strange Fruit” tells a story that must be told to our youth. We must never forget because when you forget history it is destined to repeat itself. We know the importance of Billie Holiday's recording. But this indispensable video vivid imagery the history of the struggle against lynching, something that was very real, and for Black rights with a wealth of common history of African Americans, Jewish Americans, and the American Left. It is part of our history, part of our heritage. Teach your children and learn this chapter in our past.

The song “Strange Fruit” creates immediate controversy. Call it a grim reminder of an unnecessarily painful and ugly chapter in American history. The song retains its force, because the issues it raises about the legacy of racial terrorism in American society still resonate. The story tells a song that compelled its listeners to confront the past, which was genuinely disturbing then, and it is no less disturbing today.

While many people assume Strange Fruit was written by Billie Holiday herself, it actually began as a poem by a Jewish schoolteacher and union activist from the Bronx, who later set it to music. Disturbed by a photograph of a lynching, the teacher wrote the stark verse and brooding melody about the horror of lynching under the pseudonym Lewis Allan in 1938. It was first performed at a New York teacher’s union rally and was brought to the attention of the manager of Cafe Society, a popular Greenwich Village nightclub, who introduced Billy Holiday to the writer.

LISTEN TO THE WORDS AND NEVER FORGET THE TERROR!!!

"Southern trees bear a strange fruit, Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees. Pastoral scene of the gallant South, The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth, Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh, And the sudden smell of burning flesh! Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck, for the rain to gather, for the wind to suck, for the sun to rot, for a tree to drop, here is a strange and bitter crop."

Let's look at the murder of young black men and boys murdered as a modern day version of lynchings or have the murders an evolution whereas black people are nothing more than pray! And that’s my thought provoking perspective…

Black History Fact: Juneteeth

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration in the African American community that commemorates the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that those enslaved were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863.

The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive Order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger’s regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance. Later attempts to explain this two and a half year delay in the receipt of this important news have yielded several versions that have been handed down through the years.

The story that is often told is of a messenger who was murdered on his way to Texas with the news of freedom. Another story is that the news was deliberately withheld by the enslavers to maintain the labor force on the plantations. Then there is yet another story that federal troops actually waited for the slave owners to reap the benefits of one last cotton harvest before going to Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. All of which, or neither of these version could be true. Certainly, for some, President Lincoln's authority over the rebellious states was in question. Regardless, the conditions in Texas remained status quo well beyond what was statutory.

One of General Granger’s first orders of business was to read to the people of Texas, General Order Number 3 which began most significantly with:

"The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and free laborer."

The reactions to this profound news ranged from pure shock to immediate jubilation. While many lingered to learn of this new employer to employee relationship, many left before these offers were completely off the lips of their former 'masters' - attesting to the varying conditions on the plantations and the realization of freedom. Even with nowhere to go, many felt that leaving the plantation would be their first grasp of freedom.

North was a logical destination and for many it represented true freedom, while the desire to reach family members in neighboring states drove the some into Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Settling into these new areas as free men and women brought on new realities and the challenges of establishing a heretofore non-existent status for black people in America. Recounting the memories of that great day in June of 1865 and its festivities would serve as motivation as well as a release from the growing pressures encountered in their new territory. The celebration of June 19th was coined "Juneteenth" and grew with more participation from descendants.

The Juneteenth celebration was a time for reassuring each other, for praying and for gathering remaining family members. Juneteenth continued to be highly revered in Texas decades later, with many former slaves and descendants making an annual pilgrimage back to Galveston on this date. A range of activities were provided to entertain the masses, many of which continue in tradition today. Juneteenth almost always focused on education and self improvement. Thus, often guest speakers are brought in and the elders are called upon to recount the events of the past. Prayer services were also a major part of these celebrations.

Dress was also an important element in early Juneteenth customs and is often still taken seriously, particularly by the direct descendants who can make the connection to this tradition's roots. During slavery there were laws on the books in many areas that prohibited or limited the dressing of the enslaved. During the initial days of the emancipation celebrations, there are accounts of former slaves tossing their ragged garments into the creeks and rivers to adorn clothing taken from the plantations belonging to their former 'masters'.

Economic and cultural forces provided for a decline in Juneteenth activities and participants beginning in the early 1900’s. Classroom and textbook education in lieu of traditional home and family-taught practices stifled the interest of the youth due to less emphasis and detail on the activities of former slaves. Classroom text books proclaimed Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863 as the date signaling the ending of slavery - and little or nothing on the impact of General Granger’s arrival on June 19th.

The Civil Rights movement of the 50’s and 60’s yielded both positive and negative results for the Juneteenth celebrations. While it pulled many of the African American youth away and into the struggle for racial equality, many linked these struggles to the historical struggles of their ancestors. This was evidenced by student demonstrators involved in the Atlanta civil rights campaign in the early 1960’s, whom wore Juneteenth freedom buttons. Again in 1968, Juneteenth received another strong resurgence through Poor Peoples March to Washington D.C. Rev. Ralph Abernathy’s call for people of all races, creeds, economic levels and professions to come to Washington to show support for the poor.

The future of Juneteenth looks bright as the number of cities and states creating Juneteenth committees continues to increase. Respect and appreciation for all of our differences grow out of exposure and working together. Getting involved and supporting Juneteenth celebrations creates new bonds of friendship and understanding among us. This indeed, brightens our future - and that is the Spirit of Juneteenth.

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A Look At History

Black History Month will soon be underway and I would be remised I did not pay homage to Alex Haley's groundbreaking television mini-series, “Roots”. This powerful story was the first time African Americans, or dare I say, the world got to see and feel the slave experience. Sure we have seen pictures and read books but the visual presentation of the mini-series was an eye opening experience for most who witnessed the epic story. It remains one of the highest rated television shows of all time.

The story chronicles the life of an African boy living in Gambia, West Africa in 1750. The main character, Kunta Kinte, was trying to carry out a simple task to catch a bird when he sees white men carrying firearms, along with their black collaborators. He is captured by these black collaborators under the direction of white men, sold to a slave trader and placed aboard a ship to endure the Middle Passage for the long journey to America.

The ship eventually arrives in Annapolis, Maryland, where the captured Africans are sold at auction as slaves. Kunta was sold to a Virginia plantation who him the name Toby. The owner of the plantation assigns an older slave, Fiddler, to teach him to speak English, and to train him in the ways of living and working as a chattel slave. Kunta in a persistent struggle to become free makes several unsuccessful attempts to escape to preserve his Mandinka heritage and maintain his Mandinka roots.

The most chilling aspect of the story, for me, was when an overseer gathers the slaves and directs one of them to whip Kunta after his latest attempt to escape and continues whipping him until he finally acknowledges his new name. Then to settle a debt to his brother, the owner transfers several of his slaves, including Toby and Fiddler, to another plantation where Kunta tries again to escape and a pair of slave catchers seize him, bind him, and chop off half his right foot to limit his ability to run away again.

As we watched the mini-series, it took us on a journey through generations of suffering until the climax where Chicken George, Haley’s grandfather, accumulated enough money to move his family to Tennessee to what was as close to freedom as they could hope for at the time. Chicken George purchased land based on the concept “God Bless the child that has his own”.

I don’t want to tell the whole story because I am sure you know it. If not the movie is well worth viewing again and again. There were those then and some now, who say the epic journey of Kunta Kinte was a myth and that it was mere fiction. Those are the people who refuse to understand or see the wretchedness of the state sectioned institution of slavery. To these people, unfortunately this is the foundation of America and for African Americans this is our sorted legacy that I will argue remain scares untreated to this very day.

I’ll end by sharing these words by Maya Angelou: “history, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” We need to see this story and it was shown at the right time for us to understand! And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

The Making Of A Slave

I wrote this piece sometime ago, but I thought it was appropriate to share it on this celebratory weekend of the birth of Dr. Martin Luther King. It is relevant because some have proclaimed that a slave is born. I do not agree with this notion because a slave is made by means of a defined calculated and well thought-out plan devised for the purpose of being a beast of burden.

We know the reasons for this atrocity. It was done to build a nation on the back of human beings to obtain wealth. But what is not understood, en mass, is how it was designed to be sustainable or that slavery continues in varying forms overtime and this footnote to history seems to go unnoticed. For example, today's prison system does the same thing to minorities who are over represented in the system. 

This reminds me of the powerful words Harriet Tubman expressed succinctly concerning the effectiveness of this system of mental conditioning. She was asked shortly before her death, if she knew how many slaves she freed while conducting the Underground Railroad. She did not think about it, replying quickly, “I could have freed a lot more, if they had only known they were slaves.”

From that day in 1619, when it is believed the first Africans were dragged onto the shores of Jamestown to today where we’ve witnessed the first man of color elected President of these United States (or as Jesse would put it – from the outhouse to the White House), there is no doubt that our story is the greatest story ever told.  As it was said in scripture, “the first shall be last and the last shall be first.” But let’s understand that there was a plan, a sinister master plan, conceived at some point to ensure that people of our hue remain the least of thee.

As the story goes, a British slave owner from the West Indies was invited to Virginia sometime during the year 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners. Willie Lynch was the name of the man credited with a speech delivered on the banks of the James River. It is noteworthy to mention that the James River was named for the diabolical King of England, who was ironically the same guy responsible for the twenty-eighth version of the cherished Holy Bible.

Lynch brought with him, as he put it, a foolproof method for controlling black slaves that will last for a thousand years. Consequently, it is believed the term “lynching” was derived from his last name as a way to pay homage to him for delivering this ingenious approach. The name Willie Lynch is interesting because it may be a simple play on words. For example, Will Lynch or Will he Lynch. Whatever the reason, it no doubt had significant psychological implications that played heavily on a naive race of people.

Lynch began his historic presentation with a warm greeting: “Gentlemen, you know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems. I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag here, I have a foolproof method for controlling your black slaves. I guarantee every one of you that if installed correctly it will control the slaves for at least three hundred years. My method is simple…The black slave after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self refueling and self generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands….” The seeds of devastation were fertilized and the process of destruction was underway for the making of a race into slaves.

In the speech, Lynch outlined a number of differences among the slaves. He stressed to his audience that they should take these differences and make them bigger. These differences included such things as age, color, intelligence, fine hair vs. coarse hair, tall vs. short, male vs. female. These tactics were not new; however they were more than likely put together collectively for this specific purpose for the first time as keys to control.

This short eight paragraph speech was profound in that it was the embodiment of the cruelest demoralizing agenda ever imposed upon a people since the days when the Romans crucified our Lord. As Lynch closed his speech that day, he said, “They must love, respect, and trust only us.” This is the key to producing a successful strategy. Whether this story is true or not is cause for much speculation. However, as history demonstrates, a manufactured plan was developed by someone to achieve these results that continue to this day.

The Willie Lynch letter first appeared in the early 1970’s but gained widespread notice during the nineties, when it began appearing on the Internet. Since then, it has often been promoted as an authentic account of slavery during the 18th century, but its inaccuracies and anachronisms have led historians to conclude that it is a hoax. Let’s be honest, I don’t think any reasonable person would think that those persons present, if there was a meeting, took written notes. However, the same reasonable thinking person can see that there was a designed plan created by someone in order to sustain such division. It may have been something as simple as “divide and conquer.”

So let’s suppose the Willie Lynch story is a modern creation; either the concept was ingenious or the biggest urban myth ever. Then it begs the question, why are we still fighting amongst ourselves. Further, how can the ruling people, or anyone for that matter, justify a philosophy for building and maintaining a government which sanctioned murder, among other atrocities, to enslave human beings?  This I know, and mind you I was not taught this in school nor did anyone explain that the government, through legislative sessions, passed laws to ensure that our bondage was sustained.

This wicked system was sanctioned by the church in the name of God. Therefore, it is important to understand, when the church endorsed slavery and the vehicle that drove it, this meant in the eyes of the system that God himself authorized this immoral agenda. If this was the mentality of the church, and it is a historical fact that religion sanctioned and justified enslaving people for centuries. It begs the question, does that mentality still exist?

When I look at the mass and over population of today’s prisons with mostly people of color; I don’t see much difference than the chains around ones neck or on the wrists. And that is my Thought Provoking Perspective...

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A Slave's Christmas

African American, arguably, are the most religious people on this little rock called earth and have always been since arriving in this place the slaves called “merica”. With that said, I am sure many have wondered, in spite of the wretched system of slavery, how was it celebrated by the slave population?

The American slaves experienced the Christmas holidays in many different ways. Joy, hope, and celebration were naturally a part of the season for many. For other slaves, this holiday conjured up visions of freedom and even the opportunity to bring about that freedom. Still others saw it as yet another burden to be endured.

I suppose the enslaved African Americans; if there was ever any joy, it might well have been during the Christmas. At least their captures, in the spirit of Jesus’ birth allowed them to have a day free from drudgery. The prosperity and relaxed discipline associated with Christmas often enabled slaves to interact in ways that they could not during the rest of the year.

They may well have received material goods from their masters: perhaps the slave’s yearly allotment of clothing, an edible delicacy, or a present above and beyond what he or she needed to survive. For this reason, among others, slaves frequently married during the Christmas season – if it was allowed. More than any other time of year, Christmas provided slaves with the latitude and prosperity that made a formal wedding possible.

This ironic annual inversion of power occasionally allowed slaves to acquire real power. Henry, a slave whose tragic life and death is recounted in Martha Griffith Browne’s Autobiography of a Female Slave, saved “Christmas gifts in money” to buy his freedom. Some slaves saw Christmas as an opportunity to escape. They took advantage of a relaxed work schedules and the holiday travels of slaveholders, who were too far away to stop them.

While some slaveholders, presumably treated the holiday as any other workday, numerous authors record a variety of holiday traditions, including the suspension of work for celebration and family visits. Because many slaves had spouses, children, and family, who were owned by different masters and lived on other properties. Slaves often requested passes to travel and visit family during this time. Some slaves used the passes to explain their presence on the road and delay the discovery of their escape through their masters’ expectation that they would soon return from their “family visit.”

Jermain Loguen plotted a Christmas escape, stockpiling supplies and waiting for travel passes, knowing the cover of the holidays was essential for success: “Lord speed the day!–freedom begins with the holidays!” These plans turned out to be wise, as Loguen and his companions were almost caught crossing a river into Ohio, but were left alone because the white men thought they were free men “who have been to Kentucky to spend the Holidays with their friends”.

It was during Christmas that Harriet Tubman helped her brothers escape. Their master intended to sell them after Christmas but was delayed by the holiday. The brothers were expected to spend the day with their elderly mother but met Tubman in secret. She helped them travel north, gaining a head start on the master who did not discover their disappearance until the end of the holidays. Likewise, William and Ellen Crafts escaped together at Christmastime. They took advantage of passes that were clearly meant for temporary use.

“This same Jesus, whom the civilized world now worship as their Lord, was once lowly, outcast, and despised; born of the most hated people of the world . . . laid in the manger of a stable at Bethlehem . . . this Jesus is worshiped now”. For Ann, Christmas symbolized the birth of the very hope she used to survive her captivity. Not all enslaved African Americans viewed the holidays as a time of celebration and hope. Rather, Christmas served only to highlight their lack of freedom.

Frederick Douglass described the period of respite that was granted to slaves every year between Christmas and New Year’s Day as a psychological tool of the oppressor. In his 1845 Narrative, Douglass wrote that slaves celebrated the winter holidays by engaging in activities such as “playing ball, wrestling, running foot-races, fiddling, dancing, and drinking whiskey”. He took particular umbrage at the latter practice, which was often encouraged by slave owners through various tactics.

In My Bondage and My Freedom, Douglass concluded“the license allowed [during the holidays] appears to have no other object than to disgust the slaves with their temporary freedom, and to make them as glad to return to their work, as they were to leave it”. While there is no doubt that many enjoyed these holidays, Douglass acutely discerned that they were granted not merely in a spirit of charity or conviviality, but also to appease those who yearned for freedom, ultimately serving the ulterior motives of slave owners.

Now we know! And that is my Thought Provoking Perspective!

Make these books the gift that keeps on giving.

Legacy – A New Season 

AMAZON

Just a Season

Slavery By Another Name

Everyone has an opinion on the prison system and incarceration. Some view it as the New Jim Crow and of course there are others who see nothing wrong with the system at all. My view is that it makes you wonder about the fairness received by some, namely minorities and the poor, whether it works for those unable to afford justice. I think everyone will agree that it is a cash cow. Not unlike what was slavery the prison system is Slavery, just by another name.

It is reported in news accounts daily people are released after spending years incarcerated for crimes they did not commit. Then, there is the sad irony of people being put to death who are innocent that may fall into the category of shameful; executions of the mentally disabled and life sentences for minors are all a fact of American justice. In addition, there is the fact that once released the convicts voting rights are taken away in most cases forever.

There is a long history of lynchings, chain gangs, and the free labor derived from this unholy system of injustice. It was not until recently that the disproportionate sentencing in crimes such as cocaine vs crack being clearly unfair! There is also the Stand Your Ground Laws and Stop and Frisk that I would compare to the Fugitive Slave Laws championed by the American government.

Let me say, again, that it is not my position that laws and order or punishment is not necessary. What is disparaging is that the justice system disproportionately affects the minority population of the citizenry. Did you know the clothing worn by our soldiers are made by the cheap labor of the incarcerated? In closing, let me suggest that you read Michelle Alexander’s book “The New Jim Crow”.

When you work for free and someone else receives the profit that is slavery regardless of the new name given to it. And that’s my thought provoking perspective… 

Does Race Matter

Since the G-Man got away with murdering Trayvon Martin or should I call it an assassination or the court’s decision regarding the controversial “Stop and Frisk” polices and surely the recent Supreme Court decision that said black voters don’t count begs the question or at least consideration of thought – “Does race matter?”

This is a conversation most Caucasians struggle with, at least openly, whereas most seem afraid to talk about the subject of race and view the topic as “nothing to see here”. They said the same thing in 1963! They know and clearly understand racial inequity is an issue that needs to be addressed but based on a biased they believe is their right to have control and an inherent privilege to be superior the clock is being turned back every day. Then maybe the hands of time, in their mind, never really moved.

The stories based in fact of oppression, racism, segregation and even slavery are very real. Most African Americans have experienced it in one form or another and know it is real. Of course, slavery was not physically visited upon African American people today by law but the tactics used mentally and institutionally is “slavery and by any other name is SLAVERY”.

You cannot view the history of America and not see that race has and still does matter. The obvious differences can be found in neighborhoods, employment, schools, and surely in every aspect of the legal system – causes one to ask why. I read a poll recently that said the Trayvon Martin story differed tremendously along political and racial lines. Many said, the murderer had a right to kill this child (white-conservatives) and others say absolutely not (Black-liberal). Personally, I side with the sane and not insane.

More to the point, there was a time in my life where I saw police trample peaceful protesters on horseback, marchers beaten in the streets, and fire hoses turned on people. During the Civil Rights era African-American citizens, who were called Negro’s at the time, where only asking for and in most cases begging for the basic human right to live. Then a few years prior to that, in the first half of the last half century, black men where lynched by the hundreds for entertainment. Yet, most of white America believed and supported by law these actions as just.

Was this colorblindness that dictated these policies that allowed justice which is blind to permit the wretchedness of racism to exist in the hearts and minds of people? You may realize that whenever the conversation of race comes up; there is the usual quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “we want to judge people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” If the issue of race was only that simple – the world would be a better place, but it’s not. So let’s talk about it – honestly – and take the necessary steps to correct the wrongs.

The historic March on Washington for jobs and freedom occurred fifty-years ago and another march is planned in commemoration in a few weeks asking for the same thing fifty-years later. African Americans see matters of race from a completely different perspective. When you’ve felt the brunt of this wretched ideal you know it and see it.

Look at it this way, there was an old man who was bent over. Someone told him to stand up. The old man had been bent over so long – he said, “I thought I was!” Most minorities today do not wish to wait another fifty-year’s for that promise to be realized. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

Do We Need Freedom Papers

In the wake of George Zimmerman not guilty verdict a man, in my view a vigilante, that hunted him down and killed a young black boy in his gated neighborhood. Although we know the end result of the night of the murder; we do not know all of the particulars of that night, but we do know for sure, if we can believe what we hear from the jury members, George Zimmerman did get a jury of his peers; obviously of his mindset.

As I think about history I am reminded of a time when slave catchers roamed the nation in a historical context surrounding and preceding this case. I came to realize that people of African descent who were required to carry “freedom papers” to prove they belonged when they were and when they did not produce them the encounter often ended with similar outcomes from the Zimmerman types; upholding a system of racial slavery and the bodies of laws which restricted and criminalized black mobility and autonomy.

These laws resulting in blackness being synonymous with enslavement, and the movement and activities of black people were severely curtailed. There was no right to bear arms which was banned for the purpose of control. This legal system relied upon all white colonists to police and survey black bodies. They were the eyes and ears of the law, and the courts gave them great latitude in assessing where black people could and could not be at any given time.

Overtime the criminal justice slave system became more sophisticated with the courts requiring blacks to carry documents which validated their rights to be in certain spaces and their ability to navigate their freedom to move. Enslaved people carried pieces of paper called slave passes, documents written by their owners, which indicated their destination, time of departure, arrival and return, and sometimes the purpose of their journey.

Even free people of African descent were required to carry “freedom papers” at all times to validate their free status and hence delineate the places where they could be. Any white person, regardless of their legal authority, could demand to see these documents and interrogate a black person at any time, without any justifiable cause. If the black person in question could not produce such documents, they could be arrested, beaten, maimed or murdered with impunity.

Towns and communities hired groups of white men, everyday citizens, to “patrol” Southern space, which was a more formal arm of this system of surveillance. These vigilantes had the power to control and police black movement in any way they saw fit, with the sanction of law behind their actions, no matter how brutal they might be. Black people lived in constant fear of these men that evolved into the KKK.

People of this ilk during and after Reconstruction created “Black Codes” not only sought to maintain a cheap, servile labor force throughout the South, they also criminalized black movement and were arrested for violating Black Codes. After arrest, they were fined, jailed, and often times their labor was sold to white landowners who forced them to work as though they were slaves again. Over time, this kind of law and order morphed into its most extreme and horrific manifestation; the lynching of African-Americans throughout the twentieth century.

This is the legacy of America’s racial past that is similar to George Zimmerman’s decision to kill Trayvon Martin and his acquittal. This mindset is part of the reason why black males are suspicious and criminal to many whites who assume they are “up to something” simply because they were moving through space.

Zimmerman was simply doing what many Southern whites have done for centuries and believes they are right to do so. Martin seemed out of place, and Zimmerman was going to find out where he belonged. When Trayvon Martin did not present his “freedom papers” that night, when he elected not to explain why he was where he was; he chose to confront, and Zimmerman stalked the boy and killed him because it was “God’s plan”.

The Police department seemed to agree with Zimmerman’s assessment of Martin’s alleged out-of-place-ness. Therefore, on the night of February 26, 2012, George Zimmerman decided that Trayvon Martin was not entitled to move freely as a free American. He was not entitled to be free without verifying his freedom to a white man. When Zimmerman came upon a black male body that refused to justify his movement through a space that he deemed off limits, he enacted a brand of “law and order” which generations of white Southerners have practiced.

History is known to repeat itself. It looks like we are witnessing a return to America’s wretched past. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

Post Racial America

We are living in what most say is something called a post racial society. Based on the word “post” it implies that racism no longer exists. It amazes me that anyone would come to this conclusion when you look at the state of relations in America today on any level. African Americans and people of color lead every negative category across the board; be it unemployment, healthcare, housing, education, you name it. Yet, there are those who say things have changed.

I share many Thought Provoking Perspectives on a wide range of subjects but interestingly enough the hate mail comes when I speak to a reality we all know is truth. I know it sound good and all that but the reality is that not much has changed. Yes, we do have a “Black Face” in the White House and I am glad to have lived long enough to have witnessed this phenomenal event.

Frankly, no one living or dead would have thought that an African American would ever live in the White House as president. But just for the record; let me remind you of what Carter G. Woodson said in 1933 in his still relevant novel “The Mis-Education of the Negro:  

“History shows that it does not matter who is in power... those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.” In the same novel he also reminded us that “if you control what a man is thinking you don’t have to worry about what he thinks”.

Post racial in many respects is nothing more than putting a new name or title on what I would argue will never change. I can recall in my lifetime where the “N-Word” was the last thing a black man, or woman, heard before being lynched. I remember vividly the KKK terrorizing black communities burning down houses and bombings churches under the protection of law; this is also to include murder with no justice for the crime. These cowards held down and raped black women for amusement.

Like the Dixcrats that are now the Republican and Tea Partys are not that much different than the Citizens Counsels of old. Today, the police still act in many regards under a similar code. They can “Stop and Frisk” you at their pleasure, beat and brutalize, and kill with no repercussions. The Prison Industrial Complex where you find “Just Us” is big business filled with 21^st Century Slaves trade on the Stock Market; just like slaves were back in the day.

I’ve seen guns and drugs proliferate black communities with murder at unprecedented rates. We just accept it and the legacy and lifestyle that come with it. When there was talk of a revolution; CONINTELPRO was created and that put an end to any thought of freedom. The president spoke loudly of “Change” and said “Yes we can”. I have not seen it!

Mr. President, with all due respect, it’s time that we hold you accountable and make possible change we can believe; just like at the drop of a dime you send billions all over the world in an instant. You can reach out and touch or throw a lifeline to the millions who look like you right here in America. You say that you are trying to be the president of all people. Well aren't African Americans people or are you viewing it as the Constitutions say -3/5 human.

African Americans have been here since August of the year 1619 and they are still debating whether or not we can vote. Just for clarity, every so many years that portion of the Voting Rights Act must be reauthorized and signed into law, and in the span of time between re-authorization they try every trick imaginable to suppress the vote. Mr. President if you do nothing more for the people and their children who look like you; use your power to at least make Voting Rights permanent.

So it’s time for the rational minds to return to earth and stop using the meaningless term “post-racial” because there’s no such thing! There’s no place that fits that description in America. There’s no “post-racial era.”  Never has and never will! It’s a term for a concept that does not exist. 

I knew Jim Crow and see his son, James Crow Jr. Esq., as being more clever and wicked than his namesake. I never thought I would say this but I felt more comfortable and safe during segregation. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

Beware: Civil War Facts May Change

The prolific French writer, historian, and philosopher Voltaire made one of the most profound statements in the history of speech. He said, “History is a pack of tricks we play upon the dead”. In other words, rarely will you get truth; rather what you will get is what I call “His-Story”. For example, the soon to be new president of the NRA made a comment a few days ago telling his troops that “Southerners refer to the Civil War as the war of northern aggression”.   

   

If you are not aware, we have enter into five years of untruths, unreal assessments, and in some cases out and out lies; 2011 marked the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. A critical point in time because a divided nation faced an immoral crisis – itself! It started in the early morning hours of April 12, 1861, when Confederate batteries fired upon federal troops occupying Fort Sumter. Union forces surrendered the next day after 34 hours of shelling; the bloodiest war in the nation’s history had begun with the question of slavery at its core.     

There is no question this major event in the country’s history is significant. However, we should be candid about its causes and not allow the distortions of contemporary politics or long-standing myths to cloud our understanding of why the nation fell apart. There will be a lot of misinformation that will surely come, as both sides of the debate relive this chapter of American history. So be prepared for the revisionists to create many illusions pertaining to the facts as they relate to the realities of Civil War history.    

  

It’s already begun with a surge of activity, especially among conservatives, to adjust the story to reflect contemporary political positions. One prominent recent effort occurred in Texas a few years ago when the state school board tried to revised social studies standards to increase the study of Confederate leaders and reduce emphasis on the Founding Fathers’ commitment to separation of church and state. Some wanted to stop referring to the slave trade and substitute a euphemistic phrase, the "Atlantic triangular trade." Thankfully, after opposition, that idea was dropped.    

In Virginia the Department of Education conceded its error in allowing a misleading textbook to be used in classrooms. The disputed passage was a gross falsehood that says two battalions of African American soldiers fought for the Confederacy under famed Gen. Stonewall Jackson. The department would go on to say that it anticipates teachers "will have no difficulty working around one objectionable sentence". It is worth mentioning that they allowed the history book to continue to be used and the offending passage will remain even after admitting that the inaccurate passage was "outside of accepted Civil War scholarship." 

    

Before I go any further, let’s be clear, the war was NOT fought to free the slaves. That narrative came much later when the north was not winning and needed a reason to allow colored solders to fight. Abraham Lincoln, Honest Abe, although not a proponent of slavery, had no desire to end slavery at the onset of the war. The issue of slavery, as he stated, “was the morality and future of the slaves and of slavery”. He believed if the nation remained divided on the issue of slavery, the nation would not last. If you recall he borrowed a statement made by Jesus to support this position; “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”      

Actually, Honest Abe was considering the option of sending the slaves back to Africa or somewhere outside of America to solve the problem. IN FACT, as an experiment, he sent thousands to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This experiment was not successful because many became ill and died causing him to reevaluate the decision. He also had another plan, which was to acquire land in South America to host this unwanted population to include other locations as well.   

   

On the other side, the southerners, secessionist, saw it this way. Confederate President Jefferson Davis, a major slaveholder, justified secession in 1861 as an act of self-defense against the incoming Lincoln administration. Abraham Lincoln's policy of excluding slavery from the territories, Davis said, would make "property in slaves so insecure as to be comparatively worthless . . . thereby annihilating in effect property worth thousands of millions of dollars."      

The Confederate vice president, Alexander Stephens said, "Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea… Its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the Negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical and moral truth." These guys were very straightforward in their belief that the proper status of the Negro in America’s form of civilization, if free, would be the immediate cause of the rupture.   

   

Views such as this continue today from in many quarters. Yes, nearly one hundred-fifty years after the wars end there remains enormous denial over the fact that the central cause of the war was our national disagreement about race, slavery, or more specific states' rights. The historian Douglas Egerton says, "The South split the Democratic Party and later the country not in the name of states' rights but because it sought federal government guarantees that slavery would prevail… routinely shifted their ideological ground in the name of protecting unfree labor." I believe it was all about states’ rights similar to today’s conservative perspective.      

Let’s understand slavery was about one thing – economics. The institution and the economics derived from it built America and that wealth made America a powerful force in the world as a result. Therefore, those who try to rewrite or obscure the reality of this wretched evil do so wishing the greatest crime ever inflected upon a people never ended or that it would return. I suggest that you listen carefully to those who use the code word “States Rights” and hear what they are not saying.   

The Confederacy broken up the United States and launched a war that killed 620,000 Americans in a vain attempt to keep 4 million people in slavery does not confer honor upon their lost cause. It’s been 150 years of folks, like back then and now, trying to change the narrative to justify why the war was fought. Some say slavery. Some say tariffs. Others say the Constitution.

A captured Confederate soldier was asked while being marched off to prison, "Why are you fighting?" He was said to have grunted, "Because you're here." To him and other who share his views; we are her and we are not going anywhere – “get over it”! and that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

http://johntwills.com

The Facade of the American Dream

This video is a true depiction of the African American Diaspora explaining how America removed Africans from their country of origin. Working them to death as slaves to build a nation through brainwashing and terror to make believe they are inferior in every aspect. Moreover, this video will cause you to, hopefully, see our world through our eyes.

You can take my life but you cannot take my soul. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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The Middle Passage

Imagine if you can, being captured, put on a force march, beaten, put into pins while shackled, and then placed in a tomb like environment with people you cannot, in many cases, communicate with for months.

These were the conditions leading to that horrible journey into the unknown for millions of African’s forcibly interned into the belly of the beast with a destination unknown. His-Story speaks to this wretched practice as part of the Atlantic slave trade. However, this was more commonly known as the "Middle Passage", which refers to that middle leg of the transatlantic trade triangle in which millions of Africans were imprisoned, enslaved, and removed forcibly from their homelands never to return.

The transatlantic trade triangle worked this way. Ships departed Europe for African markets with commercial goods, which were in turn traded for kidnapped Africans who were transported across the Atlantic as slaves. The enslaved Africans were then sold or traded as commodities for raw materials, which would be transported back to Europe to complete the "triangular trade". A single voyage on the Middle Passage was a large financial undertaking that was generally organized by companies or groups of investors rather than individuals.

African kings, warlords and private kidnappers sold captives to Europeans who operated from several coastal forts. The captives were usually force-marched to these ports along the western coast of Africa, where they were held for sale to the European or American slave traders. Typical slave ships contained several hundred slaves with about thirty crew members. The male captives were chained together in pairs to save space with their right leg chained to the next man's left leg, while the women and children may have had somewhat more room. The captives were fed beans, corn, yams, rice, and palm oil. Slaves were fed one meal a day with water, but if food was scarce, slaveholders would get priority over the slaves.

The duration of the transatlantic voyage varied widely, from one to six months depending on weather conditions. Although, the journey became more efficient over time as the average transatlantic journey of the early 16th century lasted several months, by the 19th century the crossing often required fewer than six weeks. West Central Africa and Southeastern Africa was the most common region for traders to secure the human cargo that was destined for the Caribbean and the Americas.

An estimated 15% of the Africans died at sea, with mortality rates considerably higher in Africa itself in the process of capturing and transporting indigenous peoples to the ships. The total number of African deaths directly attributable to the Middle Passage is estimated well into the millions. A broader look at African deaths directly attributable to the institution of slavery from 1500 to 1900 suggests up to four million perished but some say the number was close to one third of the Africans captured, and it is believed that nearly 60 million were captured.

For two hundred years Portugal had a quasi-monopoly on the export of slaves from Africa. During the eighteenth century however, when the slave trade accounted for the transport of about 6 million Africans; Britain was responsible for almost 2.5 million of them. In addition to markedly influencing the cultural and demographic landscapes of both Africa and the Americas, the Middle Passage has also been said to mark the origin of a distinct African social identity. These people, in American anyway, came to be known as “Negro”, which is a Spanish word that means “Black” but no Spanish country refers to its people of color that way.

Most contemporary historians estimate that between 9 and 12 million Africans arrived in the New World while others remain firm that it was more like one third of the continents population. Disease and starvation due to the length of the passage were the main contributors to the death toll with dysentery and scurvy causing most of the deaths. 

Then there were the outbreaks of smallpox, syphilis, measles, and other diseases spread rapidly in the close-quarter compartments. The number of dead increased with the length of the voyage, since the incidence of dysentery and scurvy increased with longer stints at sea as the quality and amount of food and water diminished with every passing day. In addition to physical sickness, many slaves became too depressed to eat or function efficiently because of the loss of freedom, family, security, and their own humanity.

While treatment of slaves on the passage varied, the treatment of the human cargo was never good since the captured African men and women were considered less than human. Yes, they were "cargo" or "goods" and treated as such as they were transported for marketing.

Slaves were ill treated in almost every imaginable manner. While they were generally fed enough to stay alive and supplied with water simply because healthy slaves were more valuable but if resources ran low on the long unpredictable voyages the crew received preferential treatment. Slave punishment was very common and harsh because the crew had to turn independent people into obedient slaves. Whipping and use of the cat o’ nine tails were common occurrences or just simply beaten for “melancholy.”

The scares of this and that of slavery linger to this very day. I would call the loss of land, soul, and our history as Post Dramatic Slave Syndrome. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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