Teach and share Black history — everywhere, and every damn day.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
By now, most people have heard the shouts and slogan of Neo-Nazi white supremacists, “You will not replace us” and the fear mongering that is being spewed across this nation, rallying racist white folks and their Latino, Asian and Black “white wannabes” to their cause.
As we watch white supremacist politicians, who were once known as Republicans, increase their efforts to whitewash and eliminate Black History as a foundational element and component of American History, each one of us — no matter our “race” — bears a responsibility to become teachers and join the battle against erasure.
You don’t need a college degree or a teaching certificate. If you are reading this, you have access to the internet.
Here’s a piece of recent history, that the vast majority of people in this country have never heard of.
What interested me was this response:
There is really no excuse for “not knowing” simple facts of recent — not ancient — history.
I was talking to one of my godchildren the other day, who happens to be white, and from Oklahoma, and he mentioned that he had never heard of the Tulsa Massacre, until he saw the HBO series “Watchman.” Curious, I searched Twitter and found hundreds of posts like this one:
I am not an historian. Though I got an extensive grounding in Black History from my parents (who I bless everyday for that) I take a few minutes each day to visit the Black Facts website. I then check several other history sources and always find something that I didn’t know. I then take a little more time — and pass that information on, sharing it to social media, or mentioning it in phone calls I have with friends and family.
In a phone conversation I had with our co-editor Chitown Kev, the other day, we were talking about the Black Press. I grew up in a home, like many many other Black homes across the nation, where there were always copies of Ebony and Jet on the coffee table, along with all of the other “standard white” magazines like Life, Look, and Good Housekeeping. Our copy of the Amsterdam News lay beside the New York Times. To be honest, I never saw copies of Jet or Ebony in the homes of my white friends — and their parents didn’t subscribe to Black papers. (Link to the Ebony and Jet archives). My parents were NAACP members, so we also read The Crisis (all are available online). As a result, much of what was going on in the Black community, or being done to the Black community was not erased — this of course was before the advent of social media and hundreds of cable channels, YouTube and podcasts. Nowadays, there is no damn excuse for remaining ignant. The information is right there at your keyboard fingertips.
The question is, are you serious about ending the erasure and doing more to end the long reign of white supremacist mis-education in our nation?
Yes — we must elect more and better Democrats. However, that in and of itself ain’t gonna end hate, and eliminate haters. Each and every person who wants this more than 500 year old nightmare to end has to step up and make a commitment to passing on truths — no matter the reception. It is important to note that you can’t pass on what you don’t know, so I strongly suggest that you take yourselves back to school via google and bone up on a dose of history a day.
The next step is to read more. There’s a reason for Jimmy Baldwin’s photo up top. James Baldwin should be required reading for anyone who thinks they understand what has been done to Black folks in this country.
PBS American Masters compiled some of Baldwin’s quotes on race back in 2022:
–From “The Fire Next Time,” 1963: “You were born where you were born and faced the future that you faced because you were Black and for no other reason. The limits of your ambition were, thus, expected to be set forever. You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity, and in as many ways as possible, that you were a worthless human being. You were not expected to aspire to excellence: you were expected to make peace with mediocrity.”
–Chair of Princeton’s Department of African American Studies and author of “Begin Again: James Baldwin’s America and Its Urgent Lessons for Our Own,” Eddie Glaude quoting Baldwin in 1980: “What we are dealing with really is that for Black people in this country there is no legal code at all. We’re still governed, if that is the word I want, by the slave code.”
–Dick Cavett interview, 1969: “If any white man in the world says give me liberty or give me death, the entire white world applauds. When a black man says exactly the same thing – word for word – he is judged a criminal and treated like one, and everything possible is done to make an example of this bad nigger so there won’t be any more like him”.
–Dick Cavett interview, 1969: “(The police) are a very real menace to every black cat alive in this country. And no matter how many people say, ‘You’re being paranoid when you talk about police brutality’ – I know what I’m talking about. I survived those streets and those precinct basements and I know. And I’ll tell you this – I know what it was like when I was really helpless, how many beatings I got. And I know what happens now because I’m not really helpless. But I know, too, that if he (police) don’t know that this is Jimmy Baldwin and not just some other nigger he’s gonna blow my head off just like he blows off everybody else’s head. It could happen to my mother in the morning, to my sister, to my brother… For me this has always been a violent country – it has never been a democracy.”
–From “Florida Forum” on WCKT-Miami in 1963, answering the question on whether the racial conflict in Alabama and Mississippi could happen in Florida: “The situation in Alabama and Mississippi which is spectacular and surprises the country is nationwide. Not only could it happen in Florida, it could happen in New York or Chicago, Detroit or anywhere there’s a significant Negro population. Because until today, all the Negroes in this country in one way or another, in different fashions, North and South, are kept in what is, in effect, prison. In the North, one lives in ghettos and in the South, the situation is so intolerable as to become sinister not only for Mississippi or Alabama or Florida but for the whole future of this country.”
Listen to this clip.
Transcript
I'm both glad and sorry you asked me that question, but I'll do my best to answer it. I can't be a pessimist because I'm alive. To be a pessimist means that you have agreed that human life is an academic matter, so I'm forced to be an optimist. I'm forced to believe that we can survive whatever we must survive. But the future of the Negro in this country is precisely as bright or as dark as the future of the country. It is entirely up to the American people and our representatives -- it is entirely up to the American people whether or not they are going to face, and deal with, and embrace this stranger whom they maligned so long.
What white people have to do, is try and find out in their own hearts why it was necessary to have a nigger in the first place, because I'm not a nigger, I'm a man, but if you think I'm a nigger, it means you need it.
The question you have got to ask yourself -- the white population of this country has got to ask itself -- North and South, because it's one country, and for a Negro, there's no difference between the North and South. There's just a difference in the way they castrate you. But the fact of the castration is the American fact. If I'm not a nigger here and you invented him, you, the white people, invented him, then you've got to find out why. And the future of the country depends on that. Whether or not it's able to ask that question.
I have quite a few “go to” daily/weekly sources to stay up on history and white supremacy. I check Howard Zinn’s Education Project regularly, The Southern Poverty Law Center Hate Map, and The InJustice Project.
Those of you who read Black Kos regularly know that I post tweets from Jazz the Professor — an amazing brother from Detroit, in each Twitter Roundup.
Tweets like this:
Sad that he only has 5,930 followers — when there are accounts held by those who would be happy to see us disappear, followed by the hundreds of thousands of haters.
So step up your own education and pass it on. Ultimately, the lives you save won’t just be those of Black folks.
Post any suggestions you have of good sites to read/visit to the comments section below.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Supreme Court announced Monday it will hear a case that could give state lawmakers even more leeway than they already have to draw gerrymandered maps.
In January, a federal court determined that South Carolina violated the Constitution’s prohibition on racial gerrymandering when it drew one of its congressional districts in the 2021 redistricting cycle. This case, known as Alexander v. South Carolina Conference of the NAACP, tees up the question of whether state lawmakers may use race to identify Democratic voters, and then draw district lines intended to diminish these voters’ ability to elect a candidate of their choice.
Should the Supreme Court permit this kind of gerrymandering, it would likely have profound consequences for voting rights throughout the nation — potentially shutting down one of the few remaining ways to challenge a gerrymandered map that violates the US Constitution.
Briefly, the lower court that heard Alexander determined that South Carolina’s mapmakers intentionally kept nearly 80 percent of the Black population of Charleston County out of the state’s First Congressional District in order to shore up the Republican vote in that district. The lower court rested much of its reasoning on the Supreme Court’s decision in Cooper v. Harris (2017), which held that a district is presumptively unconstitutional if “race was the predominant factor motivating the legislature’s decision to place a significant number of voters within or without a particular district.”
The evidence examined by the lower court, in other words, suggests that state lawmakers were driven by a desire to empower the Republican Party at the expense of Democrats, rather than by a purely white supremacist desire to prevent Black voters from electing their preferred candidates. But, regardless of why the state decided to exclude so many Black voters from the First District, the fact remains that, according to the panel of three federal judges that heard this case, the state sorted voters into districts based on their race.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The former mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, tells theGrio he looks forward to telling the "good news" of the Biden-Harris administration as the new director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. The Grio: Meet Stephen Benjamin, the most senior Black man in the White House
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As senior advisor to President Joe Biden and the new director of the Office of Public Engagement, Stephen Benjamin is the most senior Black man working inside the White House.
It’s a public-facing job that Benjamin, who was the first Black mayor of South Carolina’s capital city, tells theGrio he is “thankful” for because the job goes beyond serving the United States at the pleasure of the president. It also allows him to serve as a liaison between the Biden-Harris administration and local communities, especially Black communities.
“I enjoy this role in the White House,” said Benjamin, who served 12 years as mayor of Columbia. “Every single day really has been a blessing.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brandon Johnson commenced his mayoral term Monday with a rousing promise to propel the “soul of Chicago” to its greatest era yet, capping off the former commissioner and longtime labor organizer’s once-improbable rise to be the most progressive leader of the nation’s third-largest city in decades.
Johnson took the oath of office, administered by Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans, minutes before noon inside the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Credit Union 1 Arena, following a series of performances that included an African dance group stomping in tune to a steady drumbeat and a youth choral group crooning “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” known as the Black national anthem.
Johnson began his sweeping remarks by shouting out the greatness of Chicago: the “beauty” of Lake Michigan, its “boundary-breaking” arts and cultural scene and even the signature Italian beef. And, ever eager to reference his former profession as a social studies teacher, he shouted out the unique history of Black Chicago, starting from its founder, the Haitian voyager Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, before broadening to the city’s tapestry of immigrants who hail from all corners of the earth.
“There is something special about this city, and I call it the soul of Chicago,” Johnson said. “It was alive in the hearts of tens of thousands who arrived here in the Great Migration, including my grandparents, who came to Chicago in search of a home. ... It is the soul of Chicago that brought immigrants from all over the world to work, to organize, to build the first skyscraper.”
The new mayor’s speech struck an earnest tone with the humorous touches he was known for on the campaign trail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A nearly 150-year-old stained-glass church window that depicts a dark-skinned Jesus Christ interacting with women in New Testament scenes has stirred up questions about race, Rhode Island’s role in the slave trade and the place of women in 19th century New England society.
The window installed at the long-closed St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Warren in 1878 is the oldest known public example of stained glass on which Christ is depicted as a person of color that one expert has seen.
“This window is unique and highly unusual,” said Virginia Raguin, a professor of humanities emerita at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, and an expert on the history of stained-glass art. “I have never seen this iconography for that time.”
The 12-foot tall, 5-foot wide (3.7 meters by 1.5 meters) window depicts two biblical passages in which women, also painted with dark skin, appear as equals to Christ. One shows Christ in conversation with Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, from the Gospel of Luke. The other shows Christ speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well from the Gospel of John.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WELCOME TO THE TUESDAY PORCH
IF YOU ARE NEW TO THE BLACK KOS COMMUNITY, GRAB A SEAT, SOME CYBER EATS, RELAX, AND INTRODUCE YOURSELF.