~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I wrote the 2016 Year In Review the story from last that most stuck out to me was how hopeful I was at the beginning of last year when I wrote on Friday Jan 8th, 2016 “Why I’m still hopeful and optimistic about race relations in America. “ In that opening commentary I wrote:
If to your eyes and ears, America seems more racially divided, maybe it’s because we’re all more aware of our racial shortcomings. Many white Americans have a shocked response to claims of white privileged, unfairness and discrimination. Maybe they have this reaction because it’s outside their daily experience. If you ask many white people, “Do you think traffic stops are done unfairly?” the majority of whites probably would say “NO” because it’s not something they experience. It’s not because of racism; it’s just that it’s not something that they see. Unfortunately personal experiences often are the most powerful foundations of belief systems.
I would be a liar if I didn’t say the results of November 8th 2016 didn’t give me pause and make me question my conviction. But it is also true that I’m less stunned than many of my fellow travelers on the left, because I’ve always been a mix of both optimism and realism. As I’ve often written over the years, every major American advance of racial progress has been met with a stiff resistance and then a backlash. I never been a believer in the idea of a “post racial” America. Ideas of race do and are changing over time, just as they always have and always will, but the social concept of race and everything that idea entails is still with us. Denying that hard fact doesn’t make it disappear. As I’ve written America’s racial history is a series of advancements and then set backs.
Initially blacks and poor white Scot-Irish worked together to develop the “New World” only to see slave codes that prevented further side-by-side progress. The American Revolution saw both black and white Americans fighting together under the belief that all men were created equal only to see that all me legally were not treated equal. After the Civil War for a time black and whites equally participated in rebuilding America, as Mississippi elected two black Senators, and Louisiana elected a black governor who started to enact land reform. But the backlash to Reconstruction lead to Jim Crow. The optimism of post WWI “rag-time” America, was followed by record numbers of lynchings during the Great Depression. The Civil Rights era was followed by the “Southern Backlash”. On and on this pattern repeats itself. So now we find the Obama era followed by the election of Donald Trump.
Progress. Two Steps Forward. Backlash. One Step Back.
The wheel of time of racial progress continues to turn and follow this pattern throughout time. But being a student of history I often take and borrow hope from those kept hope during dark times.
Think how Martin Luther King Jr must have felt both hopeless and hopeful at the same time sitting in that prison in Birmingham. I think of that often when I contemplate what we face during the age of Trump. We feel trapped and imprisoned by forces beyond our control, yet beyond our current prison we still can imagine hope beyond our gates. That is our current predicament, we feel trapped while in the world just beyond our influence the forces of racial demagoguery seem to have the upper hand. Our only power is that of the pen, to write letters to the American people to try and show them the way forward, to convince them to follow a better path forward.
Letters to the editor seem a weak thing when the power of the state is in the hands of those who detest you for simply who you are or whom you love. Put the power of the pen has toppled forces much greater than that of Trump and his band of fascist. The power of the pen can inspire woman and men of good heart to undertaken the noblest of actions even when facing the gravest of circumstances.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t Assume, Ask- A Rant
Commentary by Chitown Kev
It seems as if it’s been ages since I’ve written here at Black Kos.
Frankly, this entire election fiasco has thrown me off a bit.
It’s not as if I don’t have plenty of subjects to write about.
For example, I actually came across a combined copy of this...and I might even review the Gil-Scott Heron novels here.
But...”identity politics...”
Since the 2016 elections, I don’t think that any term has been utilized more as a progressive pejorative than identity politics; so much so that I actually did go and research the use of the term on Wikipedia and even a more academic/philosophical use of the term.
So now I don’t have to wash my mouth out with soap whenever I say it, I guess.
I suppose that, in part, the fact that I am a black man, a gay man, an editor at Black Kos, etc., that assumptions have always been made about what my views are about the broad-based topic known as “identity politics.”
The truth is, though, that I’ve never “liked” identity politics and it always seemed to me that “identity” (or "sameness" or, as the classicist and cultural critic Daniel Mendelsohn once put it, the thing that I repeatedly am) was one of the stupidest ways in which to organize a society.
Always?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thoughts on Trump’s unconstitutional Muslim Ban and Somali Americans.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
Hard to believe that it was only two months ago when I wrote about Ilhan Omar’s election victory in Minnesota.
Omar, who is black, female, a Muslim, and a refugee represents what the future of America should be, and not what Donald Trump is trying to illegally ram down our throats. In “Ilhan Omar's improbable journey from refugee camp to Minnesota Legislature” we learn that she faced death in Somalia at an early age.
In 1991, the reign of Somali President Siad Barre imploded. The country had had enough of his Cold War-style military dictatorship. Barre was ousted, the national army disbanded. The ensuing vacuum devolved into a war among clans, turning neighbors into enemies. Omar witnessed this firsthand when she was eight years old.
Nighttime fell as about 20 people milled about the compound in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. Bad noises outside announced unwelcome visitors. Men with big guns demanded to be let in. The group tried to bust down the front door, but it was unbreakable. Omar and her family fell to the floor moments before the militiamen let go a staccato of gunfire. Once they were satisfied with the evening’s damage, the attackers left.
Everyone survived. Omar hasn’t forgotten the sight of bullet pockmarks in the building’s cinderblock walls.
Her journey led her to Minnesota, and community service., and she was sworn in, in January, along with other newly elected officials:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMMENTARY: AFRICAN AMERICAN SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS
by Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
Roscoe L. Koontz was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1922. He graduated from Vashon High School in St. Louis. His college education at Stowes Teachers College was interrupted by a three-year hitch in the U.S. Army during World War II. While in the army, he received technical training through a special pre-engineering army training program at West Virginia State College. Upon discharge from the army in 1946, he returned to Tennessee State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry.
Roscoe Koontz was among the first formally trained Health Physicists by participated in the first Atomic Energy Health Physics Fellowship Training Program, sponsored at the University of Rochester in 1948. As a graduate student at the University of Rochester, Mr. Koontz conducted research on problems concerning neutron dosimetry, toxicology of uranium, plutonium and fission products. At Atomics International, a company in Southern California, which designs reactors, he developed techniques and procedures for measuring absolute thermal neutron fluxes using radioactive indium foils. He designed a pinhole gamma ray camera and collimator and helped to design and fabricate automatic air and water sampling equipment and radiation activity measuring devices.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
What is your knowledge and understanding of Black History?
Commentary by Chitown Kev
This past Sunday, I republished and modified a diary about Frederick Douglass, in part, because the current occupant of the Oval Office attempted to “name drop” the name of the great former slave, abolitionist, and women’s suffragist in a way that I felt was cheap and exploitative of the man’s legacy.
The honest truth, though, is that Mr. Trump is far from the only person that shamelessly name drops and exploits names, places, and events of black history of which they understand little
For example, in the aftermath of the passage of Proposition 8 in California and, more specifically, the scapegoating of black voters (and please, let’s not go there!), white gay folks sure loved to throw up the names of Dr. King and Bayard Rustin into the faces of black progressive folks, including myself (a black gay man).
I had absolutely no problem ever calling out the name dropping and selective quotations as a racial tinged attempt to browbeat black people.
(To be sure, there were homophobic black people that attempted to do the same in support for their homophobic positions. One of the most unforgettable blog encounters I ever had was when I responded to a homophobic black commenter at another blog with former Black Panther co-founder Huey Newton’s 1970 plea that black liberation movements should form “a working coalition with the gay liberation and women’s liberation groups.” The poster responded by reducing Huey Newton to being merely a “crackhead” and The Black Panthers to merely being the group from which Californian drug gangs originated.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frederick Douglass' indictment of hypocritical Christianity and so-called 'Christians'
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
The so-called President of the U.S. recently catapulted Frederick Douglass into black history month news headlines, demonstrating a clear ignorance of both black history and Douglass. Henry Louis Gates Jr. and John Stauffer wrote a piece in response to Trump’s ignorance for the Washington Post, “Five Myths about Frederick Douglass’ and one of those myths touched on his religious beliefs:
Douglass was a pious Christian.
Traditional Christian ministries such as the Colson Center claim that “Douglass was a committed Christian.” Likewise, Christian publishing house Concordia includes Douglass in its “Heroes of the Faith” book series. And Douglass referred often to Christianity in his speeches and writing.
But his views on the religion were less than conventional. While a practicing member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church for most of his adult life, Douglass used the Bible to interpret the North’s role in the Civil War allegorically, with “Michael and his angels” battling “the infernal host of bad passions” in our country’s version of the apocalypse. He frequently expressed his disgust at the fact that slaveowners cited scripture to argue that slavery was divinely ordained and that the Lord demanded the docility of the enslaved.
In his final years, Douglass became drawn to Unitarian and openly critiqued traditional doctrines. His home contained artifacts and writings from several world religions, as well as busts of his favorite philosophers, Ludwig Feuerbach and David Friedrich Strauss, both of whom viewed Jesus as a moral person but not the son of God.
To get a deeper understanding, one only needs to read the appendix Douglass added to his autobiography, Life of an American Slave, 1845.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voices and Soul by Justice Putnam Black Kos, Poetry Editor
When I attended Catholic School in Oregon; before, during and after Vatican II, the science classrooms displayed a poster that depicted, The Hierarchy of Life. Man of course, was at the pinnacle, then came the apes and other mammals in a descending order, I think dogs were ranked higher than horses; then birds, then fish; all the way down to nematodes. You'd think that bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa would have made it somewhere, considering that spermatozoa was considered life by the Holy See as a reason for condemning the use of prophylactics; and even nocturnal emissions. Regardless, the poster was another affirmation of Man's dominion over life. It was an affirmation of Man's Exceptionalism. It was an affirmation of biblical proportions to level the land if necessary; to obliterate some wild life if that wild life interfered with Man's quest of his own power and dominion of the Earth; or if he was just driving to get some milk.
I didn't quite see it that way. Even as a child, I thought all life was precious; and I didn't see myself as having any particular power over life. Sure, I could stomp some insects I suppose, in an almost god-like stomp, but I didn't. I would wonder for hours at an ant trail of ant-workers carrying a multitude of debris into their mound; I would observe the green-turning-to gray-pupa in the eaves of the house for weeks on end, wondering if what emerged would be a butterfly or a moth. Spiders were always gently moved outside when their webs grew unwieldy inside.
I like to think I grew into a more conscious human because of that wonder. I like to think that, almost St Francis-like, I see all Sentient Beings as being Divine. So I completely understand Nikki Giovanni's insistence on a road sign warning of a...
Possum Crossing
Backing out the driveway
the car lights cast an eerie glow
in the morning fog centering
on movement in the rain slick street
Hitting brakes I anticipate a squirrel or a cat or sometimes
a little raccoon
I once braked for a blind little mole who try though he did
could not escape the cat toying with his life
Mother-to-be possum occasionally lopes home . . . being
naturally . . . slow her condition makes her even more ginger
We need a sign POSSUM CROSSING to warn coffee-gurgling neighbors:
we share the streets with more than trucks and vans and
railroad crossings
All birds being the living kin of dinosaurs
think themselves invincible and pay no heed
to the rolling wheels while they dine
on an unlucky rabbit
I hit brakes for the flutter of the lights hoping it's not a deer
or a skunk or a groundhog
coffee splashes over the cup which I quickly put away from me
and into the empty passenger seat
I look . . .
relieved and exasperated ...
to discover I have just missed a big wet leaf
struggling . . . to lift itself into the wind
and live
-- Nikki Giovanni
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don’t forget how many decades white America allowed Jim Crow — our very own racial fascism.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
Reading the vile and racist comments from Republican Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa), who wants a monochrome white America—remarks applauded by David Duke, and a slew of white Trump voters—got me to thinking. Reading the outcry about his remarks, from the white left and white liberals made me think even harder. Why are people acting like this is something new? King’s comment,“If you go down the road a few generations or maybe centuries with the intermarriage, I’d like to see an America that's just so homogeneous that we look a lot the same,” comes out of a history — founded on racism — which dragged black people here to labor in chains and after finally freed to be kept separate and othered via the institution of Jim Crow laws after Reconstruction was defeated.
While folks point fingers at King for being the bigot he is, from my pov it is more important to point fingers at the people who have been electing him to Congress since 1997. His congressional district doesn’t look like the U.S. I know. Look at the demographics of his district
Distribution: 50.58% urban 49.42% rural
Population (2000) 585,305
Median income 38,242
Ethnicity
95.8% White
0.8% Black
1.1% Asian
2.5% Hispanic
0.2% Native American
Until places overloaded with white Americans who accept racism no longer hold electoral sway — we will continue to have Trumps and Ryans and Kings in office, Since black folks are only 13% of the U.S. population, and over 2 million black folks are still disenfranchised we can’t change this by our damnselves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voices and Soul
BY JUSTICE PUTNAM BLACK KOS POETRY EDITOR
At a recent holiday gathering, a friend recounted a story told by Senator Al Franken, in which he balanced Liberal and Conservative approaches to the history of the United States. The Conservative, Franken said, loves America and its past like a four year old. Whereas, Liberals love America like adults.
The four year old loves mommy and mommy can do no wrong; and woe to those in the sand box who might question mommy's correct and consistent exceptionalism. The adult sees their parents as flawed but noble creatures who did the best they could. Could have been better, but the adult still loves them for the energy in protecting the family, for keeping the family together.
The adult cannot just explain away or ignore the terrible compromises their parents made along the way; the adult will acknowledge and attempt to better their own futures with the knowledge of those ancestral histories.
The Conservative either feigns ignorance or simply ignores the history, or conjures a child-like myth to scare away the bedtime ghosts of our past.
On the Steps of the Jefferson Memorial
We invent our gods the way the Greeks did, in our own image—but magnified.
Athena, the very mother of wisdom,
squabbled with Poseidon
like any human sibling until their furious tempers made the sea writhe.
Zeus wore a crown of lightning bolts one minute, a cloak of feathers the next,
as driven by earthly lust
he prepared to swoop
down on Leda. Despite their power, frailty ran through them
like the darker veins in the marble of these temples we call monuments.
Looking at Jefferson now,
I think of the language
he left for us to live by. I think of the slave in the kitchen downstairs.
-- Linda Pastan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMMENTARY: AFRICAN AMERICAN SCIENTIST AND INVENTORS
by
Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
Dorothy McClendon has been a professional microbiologist for twenty-four years. She received a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1948 from Tennessee A&I State University. She studies microorganisms, living things too tiny to be seen by the naked eye, such as bacteria and fungi. Some microorganisms are harmful to the body and can cause disease by destroying cells in the body. Others can contaminate liquids and solid materials and cause them to spoil or decay.
Ms. McClendon coordinates microbial research for the U.S. Army Tank Automotive Command (TACOM) in Warren, Michigan. As a microbiologist, she develops methods to prevent microorganisms from contaminating the fuel and deteriorating military storage material. Currently, she is developing a fungicide, a chemical which will protect storage materials and not harm the people who use them.
She is a native of Minden, Louisiana, but she moved to Detroit, Michigan in her early teens. There she attended Cass Technical High School where her interest in science developed. In college, she majored in biology at Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial State University, and took advanced science courses at Wayne State University, University of Detroit and Purdue University. Before becoming an industrial microbiologist for the Army, she taught in the public schools in Phoenix, Arizona and Eldorado, Arkansas.......Read More
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A quick comment on the “Diversity” Controversy at Marvel Comics
Commentary by Chitown Kev
I had to surrender to the fact that I couldn’t find all of the online resources to do what I wanted to do for this posting (I’ve had no time to get to the research library and its invaluable databases) so i was searching for a story when an item about the recent comments of Marvel Comics’ VP of sales, David Gabriel.
Sam Thielman at The Guardian:
Last week, David Gabriel, Marvel’s vice-president of sales, told the comics industry trade reporter Milton Griepp that he had heard complaining from retailers about the company’s strategy of publishing books starring women and people of color in high-profile roles such as Iron Man, Captain America and Thor. The grousing, he said, correlated with a drop in sales.
The internet subsequently lined up to tee off on Gabriel, and perhaps understandably: the war between comics fans over whether to preserve in amber the cultural mores of a couple of kinda-progressive guys writing in the 1960s doesn’t feel like it has a lot of ambiguity in it. What’s been lost in the conversation is that Gabriel wasn’t talking about sales to bookstores, or, of course, box-office grosses, where diversity obviously sells – he was talking about the direct market: comic book stores.
I love going to comic stores and hearing people argue face-to-face about plot twists, retcons and character choices. Gabriel is not the only one who has heard moaning about Marvel’s penchant for dropping characters of different races or genders into costumes usually filled by white men. I’ve heard it, too: why is Thor a woman now? Why is the Falcon, a black superhero named Sam Wilson, doing double duty as Captain America? When do we get the old Hulk back?
There are a lot of elements in this brief excerpt; racial and gender diversity in Marvel Comics, a possible backlash against that newfound diversity, the distribution of comics, etc...but that a discussion such as this is taking place among fans of Marvel Comics seems very very... ironic to this old comic head and veteran of a rivalry seemingly as old and intense and bitter as the Michigan-Ohio State college football rivalry: DC v. Marvel.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMMENTARY: AFRICAN AMERICAN SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS
by Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
Katherine G. Johnson (born August 26, 1918) is an American physicist, space scientist, and mathematician who contributed to America's aeronautics and space programs with the early application of digital electronic computers at NASA. Known for accuracy in computerized celestial navigation, she calculated the trajectory for Project Mercury and the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the Moon.
Dissatisfied with teaching, Johnson decided on a career in mathematics. At a family gathering, a relative mentioned that the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), later to become NASA, was looking for new people. They especially wanted African American women for their Guidance and Navigation Department. Johnson was offered a job in 1953, and she immediately accepted.
According to oral history archived by the National Visionary Leadership Project:
"At first she worked in a pool of women performing math calculations. Katherine has referred to the women in the pool as virtual 'computers who wore skirts.' Their main job was to read the data from the black boxes of planes and carry out other precise mathematical tasks. Then one day, Katherine (and a colleague) were temporarily assigned to help the all-male flight research team. Katherine's knowledge of analytic geometry helped make quick allies of male bosses and colleagues to the extent that,'they forgot to return me to the pool.' While the racial and gender barriers were always there, Katherine says she ignored them. Katherine was assertive, asking to be included in editorial meetings (where no women had gone before.) She simply told people she had done the work and that she belonged."
[She is also a Medal of Freedom Recipient. Below is NASA statement:]
“Katherine Johnson once remarked that even though she grew up in the height of segregation, she didn’t think much about it because ‘I didn’t have time for that… don’t have a feeling of inferiority. Never had. I’m as good as anybody, but no better.’
“The truth in fact, is that Katherine is indeed better. She’s one of the greatest minds ever to grace our agency or our country, and because of the trail she blazed, young Americans like my granddaughters can pursue their own dreams without a feeling of inferiority.
“Katherine’s legacy is a big part of the reason that my fellow astronauts and I were able to get to space; it’s also a big part of the reason that today there is space for women and African-Americans in the leadership of our nation, including the White House.
“The entire NASA family is both proud of and grateful to Katherine Johnson, a true American pioneer who helped our space program advance to new heights, while advancing humanity’s march of progress ever forward.”
The following is a statement from NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman:
“The reach of Katherine Johnson’s leadership and impact extends from classrooms across America all the way to the moon. Katherine once remarked that while many of her colleagues refrained from asking questions or taking tasks further than merely ‘what they were told to do,’ she chose instead to ask questions because she ‘wanted to know why.’
“For Katherine, finding the ‘why’ meant enrolling in high school at the age of 10; calculating the trajectory of Alan Shepard’s trip to space and the Apollo 11’s mission to the moon; and providing the foundation that will someday allow NASA to send our astronauts to Mars. She literally wrote the textbook on rocket science.
“We are all so fortunate that Katherine insisted on asking questions, and insisted on relentlessly pursing the answers. We are fortunate that when faced with the adversity of racial and gender barriers, she found the courage to say ‘tell them I’m coming.’ We are also fortunate that Katherine has chosen to take a leading role in encouraging young people to pursue education in the STEM disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and math.
“Katherine was born on National Equality Day. Few Americans have embodied the true spirit of equity as profoundly or impacted the cause of human exploration so extensively. At NASA, we are proud to stand on Katherine Johnson’s shoulders.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voices and Soul
BY JUSTICE PUTNAM, BLACK KOS POETRY EDITOR
The ghostly creak and Doppler rumble of boxcars passing a remote Slavic forest resonates the same haunted railroad tie percussion along a rust belt corridor of iron, coal mounds and slaughter house stench.
Some might say it proves we are connected.
Some might say, history repeats.
Some might say both are correct.
Pandrol Jackson
Along a derelict railroad, abandoned machinery takes
its last tour of duty toward rust. Another town is stalling.
Another house smolders with rot while a television rages.
Crows patrol banked cinders beside a landfill with a sign:
No Dumping. We were Jews in Austria. No, we spoke German
in Czechoslovakia—by order of the Alliance, we filed
Into a railroad car and died. No, we were black in Arkansas.
Here is a filthy contraption, like a grim lawn mower
With flanged iron wheels, Pandrol Jackson in blue paint
on its rotted housing: a rail grinder, used to polish steel
To brilliance, forgotten here as after the Rapture. And the carcass
of a boxcar warps just down the track, groaning with a cargo of bones.
-- T.R. Hummer
Pandrol Jackson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good riddance to racist white supremacist rubbish — the Liberty Place Monument is removed.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver Velez
The long struggle to have monuments to the White League and Confederate white supremacy in New Orleans removed is finally coming to a close.
I first wrote about this monument in “Black codes and anti-black terrorism”
For decades there has been a battle over the Liberty Monument in New Orleans, erected to memorialize the Battle of Liberty Place, which was an insurrection mounted by the White League:an American white supremacist paramilitary terrorist organization started in 1874 to turn Republicans out of office and intimidate freedmen from voting and political organizing.
…
Although sometimes linked to the secret vigilante groups, the Ku Klux Klan and Knights of the White Camelia, the White League and other paramilitary groups of the later 1870s marked a significant change. They operated openly in communities, solicited coverage from newspapers, and the men's identities were generally known.Similar paramilitary groups were chapters of the Red Shirts, started in Mississippi in 1875 and active also in North and South Carolina. They had explicit political goals to overthrow the Reconstruction government. They directed their activities toward intimidation and removal of Northern and black Republican candidates and officeholders. Made up of well-armed Confederate veterans, they worked to turn Republicans out of office, disrupt their political organizing, and use force to intimidate and terrorize freedmen to keep them from the polls
Fast forward about a hundred years.
In 1970, the Times-Picayune noted that the monument "carried a defacing smudge of black pitch or paint on it." After numerous protests by black political activists in the early 1970's, Mayor Moon Landrieu's administration attempted to solve the problem by placing an explanatory plaque next to the historical marker which read, "Although the 'Battle of Liberty Place' and this monument are important parts of New Orleans history, the sentiments in favor of white supremacy expressed thereon are contrary to the philosophy and beliefs of present-day New Orleans."
This gesture satisfied almost no one. In 1976, the NAACP Youth Council requested the monument's removal, while some decried the plaque as"historical revisionism." Furthermore, modern white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan began to see the memorial as a rallying point for planned marches and demonstrations.
In 1981, the monument nearly left public view at Mayor Ernest"Dutch" Morial's order, sparking a new round of public discussion and protest. Ultimately, the City Council blocked any move or alteration, and the monument remained on Canal Street, although partially hidden behind tall bushes.
The monument was moved in the dark of the night.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tales from the African Diaspora, Anansi the Spider and Br’er Rabbit
By dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
Anansi is one of the most important legendary characters of West African and Caribbean folklore. In the legends, he often takes the shape of a spider. Anansi is considered to be the spirit of all knowledge of stories, and he is also known as Ananse, Kwaku Ananse, and Anancy; and in the southern United States he has evolved into Aunt Nancy.
Anansi is sometimes depicted in many different ways. He can looks like an ordinary spider, sometimes he is a spider wearing clothes, or with a spider with a human face. Sometimes Anansi looks much more like a human with spider elements, such as eight legs.
The Anansi tales originated with the Ashanti of present-day Ghana. The word Ananse is from the Akan language and means "spider". The tales of Anansi later spread to other Akan groups and then to the Caribbean, Suriname (in South America), and Sierra Leone (where they were introduced by Jamaican Maroons when they repatriated to West Africa) . On Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, he is known as Kompa Nanzi, and his wife as Shi Maria.
Br'er Rabbit (Brother Rabbit), also spelled Bre'r Rabbit or Brer Rabbit or Bruh Rabbit, is a central figure in stories of African-Americans from the Black Belt of the American Southern . Br'er Rabbit is a trickster who succeeds by his wits rather than by brawn, provoking authority figures and bending social mores as he sees fit. Walt Disney later adapted this character for its deeply racial stereo typed but groundbreaking 1946 animated movie Song of the South.
As a child I grew up listening to stories of Anansi from my mom and aunt (as some of you may know my family is from Jamaica). I heard them first as oral stories, and later I was given children’s book filled with his tales. Sometime later while I was in grade school, one of my older sisters was doing a book report on Br’er rabbit and she asked my mom to look at how similar the stories were. This lead to a fascinating summer, where my mom took us to the public library and we researched Br’er rabbit (took the book home with us) and compared them to the Anansi story books we had at home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pools and Palmer
Commentary by Black Kos editor Denise Oliver-Velez
While browsing my twitter stream I noticed a tweet that looked like it would be an important read, since it featured Jefferson Beauregard Sessions — Klansman-in-Charge of the Department of (no-longer) Justice.
The article linked was from ThinkProgress: The racist, discredited argument Trump’s DOJ just made in a federal court: Who knew something like this could happen with Jeff Sessions in charge?was an education for me — not because of the history of swimming pool segregation, which I experienced, but because I didn’t know the history of the Palmer v Thompson decision.
Here’s a pro tip for the lawyers at Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department: If you want to defend the president’s efforts to lock people out of the nation because of their religion, you might not want to rely on discredited Supreme Court decisions enabling a racist backlash.
Palmer v. Thompson is one of the great missteps in the Supreme Court’s often unfortunate history on matters of race. This case centered on the city of Jackson, Mississippi’s operation of five racially segregated public swimming pools. After a court ordered the pools integrated, the city closed the pools rather than operating pools where people of all races could swim. And the Supreme Court, in a 5–4 vote, let Jackson get away with this scheme.
As a federal judge acknowledged in 1989, “the Supreme Court has never expressly overturned Palmer, but it has all but done so.”
Nevertheless, the Trump administration cites Palmer favorably in a brief it filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which hears a challenge to Trump’s Muslim ban on Monday afternoon.
Linked in the ThinkProgress piece was an informative piece on Palmer:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Again. Rest in peace and pride young brother — Richard Collins III.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
Today was to have been the day that newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Richard Collins III would have been graduating from Bowie State, with proud family members watching.
Instead they are now faced with funeral plans and a life of grief ahead.
He was commissioned through Bowie State’s ROTC program on Thursday and was slated to graduate with a business degree on Tuesday.
Collins, a fourth generation member of the armed services, was to report to Missouri’s Fort Leonard Wood and train for countering weapons of mass destruction, according to his commission ceremony.
I say —again—since we face the deaths of our brothers and sisters as a result of white supremacist domestic terror, all too frequently. Not that this is new. We live with a history filled with massacres and violence against us. It will not stop until we significantly change this nation, and eradicate white supremacy from our collective consciousness.
I really have no more words today—other than condolences to his family, friends and fellow students.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMMENTARY: AFRICAN AMERICAN SCIENTISTS AND INVENTORS
by Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
James Edward Maceo West (born February 10, 1931 in Farmville, Prince Edward County, Virginia) is an American inventor and acoustician. Along with Gerhard Sessler, West developed the foil electret microphone in 1962 while developing instruments for human hearing research. Nearly 90 percent of more than two billion microphones produced annually are based on the principles of the foil-electret and are used in everyday items such as telephones, camcorders, and audio recording devices among others. West received a BS in Physics from Temple University in 1957. He holds over 250 foreign and U.S. patents for the production and design of microphones and techniques for creating polymer foil electrets.
In 2001, West retired from Lucent Technologies after a distinguished 40-year career at Bell Laboratories where he received the organization's highest honor, being named a Bell Laboratories Fellow. West then joined the faculty of the Whiting School at Johns Hopkins University where he is currently a research professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
In addition to his many contributions to acoustical science, throughout his career West has been a fervent advocate for greater diversity in the fields of science and technology. While at Bell Laboratories, West co-founded the Association of Black Laboratory Employees (ABLE), an organization formed to "address placement and promotional concerns of Black Bell Laboratories employees." He was also instrumental in the creation and development of both the Corporate Research Fellowship Program (CRFP) for graduate students pursuing terminal degrees in the sciences, as well as the Summer Research Program, which together provided opportunities for over 500 non-white graduate students.......Read More
Other resource [ John Hopkins article ]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Pet Peeve
Slight Commentary by Chitown Kev
Probably the most surprising aspect of The Occupant’s win in the 2016 presidential election was his path to victory through the industrial Midwest/Rust Belt/Big Ten states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania (even though I will never consider Pennsylvania to be a “Big Ten” state-but more on that later). Trump’s win in those states were in addition to wins in Indiana, Ohio, and Iowa.
A lot of the online post-election commentary has revolved around these so-called “Brexit states” and how to win back enough of the voters in those states.
Specifically, there is much concern (and rightfully so, to an extent) of Democrats winning back enough of the white working-class voters in these states.
It usually leads to comments like this; I’ll quote the portion of the comment that ticked me off a bit.
We need a new, younger face, preferably not from the West or East coast, who can inspire voters in the heartland that we’re also fighting for you.
First of all, usually when I think of “the heartland,” the image that comes to mind is of miles and miles of flat farmland located not in the original “Big Ten” states (Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio) but Nebraska, Kansas, and the Dakotas.
To be sure, there are miles and miles and miles of flat and gorgeous farmland that I have seen in the Midwest that contributes to the vision of the region that is my home.
But any picture of the Midwest that doesn’t include big cities like “The City of the Big Shoulders” or my hometown, “The Motor City,” or the “Mistake by the Lake” (Cleveland) is incomplete.
But why is there never a discussion of black people that live in rural areas of the Midwest, who own farms, who live in these small industrial towns; some of whom have lived there since before the Civil War and some of whom came to those towns (as opposed to the big cities like Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee and Cleveland) during the Black Migration.
Nobel Prize Laureate Toni Morrison’s is a product of one of those families, In a 2008 interview with the Guardian, she describes her hometown of Lorain, Ohio:
"There were factories there, shipyards, steel mills, and people came from all over to work," she says. The town was not segregated along racial lines - "Mrs Gallini lived next door and the Terschaks on the other side, that's the way it was and I thought the whole world was like that." Both her parents' families migrated north to escape poverty.
The rural Midwest is the setting of four of her first five novels (Tar Baby is the exception).
Yet prior to looking into this a bit, my assumption was that Ms. Morrison is usually not thought of as a “Midwestern” writer.
(Ironically, Richard Wright’s depiction of Bigger Thomas and Chicago’s South Side in Native Son probably remains the most powerful and long-lasting fictional portrayal of African Americans living anywhere in the Midwest. Ironically, because Richard Wright is, properly speaking, I suppose, a Southerner who moved to Chicago as a young adult and lived in Chicago for 10 years)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The list of our murdered dead is too damn long.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver Velez
I feel like I should just make a template with “insert name of black man/woman/child” — select one: murdered, shot, killed, run-down, lynched, dragged behind a truck, beaten, bludgeoned… by a (pick one): cop, police officer, terrorist, white supremacist, racist...you know the drill already.
The follow-up on the perp will read in almost every case—no arrest, no trial, trial with acquittal, time served.
Keely Macias wrote for Daily Kos — Who Was Charleena Lyles? She Was Shot & Killed After Calling 911
I sat here thinking of other similar cases — Déjà vu.
In one of them the cop perp, Sgt, Hugh Barry, is going on trial. He is (of course) being staunchly defended by the Sergeants Benevolent Association.
In case you forgot — or never knew, Barry killed Deborah Danner. She was 66 and living with mental illness.
And then there was 38 year old Alfred Olongo. His sister called the police to get him help. They helped him into a casket. The cop who executed him wasn’t charged.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voices and Soul
BY JUSTICE PUTNAM BLACK KOS POETRY EDITOR
At a recent holiday gathering, a friend recounted a story told by Senator Al Franken, in which he balanced Liberal and Conservative approaches to the history of the United States. The Conservative, Franken said, loves America and its past like a four year old. Whereas, Liberals love America like adults.
The four year old loves mommy and mommy can do no wrong; and woe to those in the sand box who might question mommy's correct and consistent exceptionalism. The adult sees their parents as flawed but noble creatures who did the best they could. Could have been better, but the adult still loves them for the energy in protecting the family, for keeping the family together.
The adult cannot just explain away or ignore the terrible compromises their parents made along the way; the adult will acknowledge and attempt to better their own futures with the knowledge of those ancestral histories.
The Conservative either feigns ignorance or simply ignores the history, or conjures a child-like myth to scare away the bedtime ghosts of our past.
On the Steps of the Jefferson Memorial
We invent our gods the way the Greeks did, in our own image—but magnified.
Athena, the very mother of wisdom,
squabbled with Poseidon
like any human sibling until their furious tempers made the sea writhe.
Zeus wore a crown of lightning bolts one minute, a cloak of feathers the next,
as driven by earthly lust
he prepared to swoop
down on Leda. Despite their power, frailty ran through them
like the darker veins in the marble of these temples we call monuments.
Looking at Jefferson now,
I think of the language
he left for us to live by. I think of the slave in the kitchen downstairs.
-- Linda Pastan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We have been here since the beginning of this nation
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver Velez
As people across the nation spend the Fourth of July — celebrating at parades or protesting in marches or barbecuing with family and friends, I’m thinking about black Americans and how we are often not included in the imagery of the founding of this nation. When we see “The Founders” — we see “white men”. When we hear “Daughters of the American Revolution” we see — white women. I was pleased when I saw the ancestry.com ad on my television, which had rounded up descendants of the signers and showed who they actually are.
Daily Kos diarist zenbassoon posted “How To Troll Trump Supporters, Ancestry.com Style” however, it isn’t just Trump supporters who fail to understand that black people have played a part in every aspect of what we call American History. We are acknowledged when people refer to “the slaves,” as if this is the sum total of who we were as Americans. A dark mass — losing identity as individuals based on enslavement. Without the wealth drained from our backs (and the land stolen from Native Americans) — how would that fledgling nation have survived? Rarely are the Free People of Color, and their descendants acknowledged either.
I spent time this morning listening to Frederick Douglass.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Consequent Evil
A Very Preliminary Sketchy Sketch by Chitown Kev
I am a 50-year old black gay man living in 21st century America.
I am fortunate enough that the perception of those having one or both of those individual characteristics has improved in my lifetime.
I am the first to acknowledge that, in many ways, the popular perception of people like myself is measurably better when compared to, say, the 19th century or the “golden years” of the 1950’s.
That doesn’t mean that harmful and bigoted messaging about “Others” has ceased to exist in the body politic (and I am so many different kinds of “others” that Professor Charles Xavier would give me a scholarship).
More than at any time in human history, there exists an array of tools and mass media that frequently continues to paint, at best, a partial and distorted carnivelesque picture of black communities (and other minority communities) nationwide.
Increasingly, I have become less and less concerned about how media messaging regenerates and feeds into already existing outward manifestations of racism, white privilege, homophobia, and other “-isms” (bigots will be bigots, after all) and more concerned about how these messages are received by the very people being degraded.
After all, black people (and other minorities) do not have any sort of genetic resistance to this messaging.
Probably the best known experiment into the way deragatory messaging is received by the very population being degraded would be the famous “doll test” conducted by Drs. Kenneth and Mamie Clark in the 1940’s.
In the 1940s, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark designed and conducted a series of experiments known colloquially as “the doll tests” to study the psychological effects of segregation on African-American children.
Drs. Clark used four dolls, identical except for color, to test children’s racial perceptions. Their subjects, children between the ages of three to seven, were asked to identify both the race of the dolls and which color doll they prefer. A majority of the children preferred the white doll and assigned positive characteristics to it. The Clarks concluded that “prejudice, discrimination, and segregation” created a feeling of inferiority among African-American children and damaged their self-esteem.
The doll test was only one part of Dr. Clark’s testimony in Brown – it did not constitute the largest portion of his analysis and expert report. His conclusions during his testimony were based on a comprehensive analysis of the most cutting-edge psychology scholarship of the period.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commentary: African American Scientists and Inventors
by Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
Clarence "Skip" Ellis (born May 11, 1943, in south Chicago, Illinois) is an American computer scientist, a professor of computer science at the University of Colorado at Boulder.[1]
Ellis had four brothers and sisters who were all raised by their single mother. At 15, Ellis got a job at a local company to help with the family bills. He worked the graveyard shift, working all night long. His main priority was to prevent break-ins and to watch over, but not touch, the company's new computer. In 1958 computers were very rare to own, so the protection of it was imperative. In Ellis's spare time at the insurance company he began to read the computer manuals that came with the machines. He taught himself the intricacies of the computer and became an expert.
The computer used punched cards to record and enter data. One day at work, Ellis single-handedly saved the company by fixing a crisis with the computer. They had run out of punch cards, but with a quick change of some of the settings on the computer, he found a way to make the old punch cards work perfectly.In 1964 he received a BS degree major in math and physics, from Beloit College. Clearance Ellis attended graduate school and received his PhD in computer Science from the University of Illinois where he worked on hardware, software, and applications of the IIIiac 4 Supercomputer. Clearance Ellis is the First African American to receive a Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1969. After his Ph.D., he continued his work on supercomputers at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Ellis has worked as researcher and developer at IBM, Xerox, Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, Los Alamos Scientific Labs and Argonne National Lab. His academic experience This experience changed his life and threw him into the computer science field.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Our Lioness in Congress
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
I have to admit to being totally biased about loving black women who do not bite their tongues. I grew up with aunts and older cousins and friends of my mom who we called — with all due respect— “Auntie,” whether or not there were any blood ties. And those Aunties were fierce. They knew if you were lying, they gave you side-eye and verbal flayings — but let anybody else try to mess with you they protected you by jumpin’ in their butts like mama lions guarding their cubs.
August born (Leo) Maxine Waters is a key example of black working class aunty-ism.
From her bio:
Maxine Moore Waters (born August 15, 1938) is an American politician, serving as the U.S. Representative for California's 43rd congressional district, and previously the 35th and 29th districts, serving since 1991. A member of the Democratic Party, she is the most senior of the 12 black women currently serving in the United States Congress, and is a member and former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. Before becoming a member of Congress she served in the California Assembly, to which she was first elected in 1976. As an Assembly member, Waters advocated for divestment from South Africa's apartheid regime. In Congress, she is an outspoken opponent of the Iraq War and Donald Trump.
Waters was born in 1938 in Kinloch, Missouri, the daughter of Velma Lee (née Moore) and Remus Carr. Fifth out of thirteen children, Waters was raised by her single mother once her father left the family when Maxine was two. She graduated from Vashon High School in St. Louis, and moved with her family to Los Angeles, California, in 1961. She worked in a garment factory and as a telephone operator before being hired as an assistant teacher with the Head Start program at Watts in 1966. She later enrolled at Los Angeles State College (now California State University, Los Angeles) and graduated with a sociology degree in 1970.
She married former NFL player Sidney Williams in 1977. Williams was appointed Ambassador to the Bahamas by President Bill Clinton in 1994.
I’ve heard teeth gnashing from right wingnuts (and some ultra-leftists) about the fact that Auntie and her husband live in an expensive house. Same racist shit different day when black people succeed financially, which was her opinion in a recent New York Times interview:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
History of Buffalo Soldiers and the Spanish-American War
BY DOPPER0189, BLACK KOS MANAGING EDITOR
On February 15th, 1898, over 250 American sailors were killed when the battleship Maine blew up and sank in Havana harbor. The war with Spain began in April, 1898 when Major General William Shafter, a former commander of the 24th Infantry led an expeditionary force of over 17,000 men, including nearly 3,000 Black regulars, into Cuba.
Although the Spanish American War was ostensibly fought to liberate Caribbean and Philippine islanders from Spanish oppression, the participation of African American troops was very controversial in the African American community.
In order to prepare for the invasion of Cuba, the Buffalo Soldiers were posted to the southeastern United States for the first time in their history.
Recruitment started near Tampa, Florida, where overt racial discrimination was the norm. Local white citizens refused "to make any distinction between the colored troops and the colored civilians" and tolerated no infractions of local discriminatory laws and racial customs. Despite this prejudice, the troops of the 9th and 10th Cavalry, and the 24th and 25th Infantry served with distinction on the battlefields of Las Guasimas, El Caney, and San Juan Hill.
The terrain and climate were challenging. Troops had to deal with heat, rainstorms, mud and yellow fever. When there was an outbreak of yellow fever in the army camps, Black 24th Infantry soldiers served as nurses and hospital orderlies for the stricken Caucasian troops, ordered to do so because of the stereotype that Blacks were physically better able to deal with tropical heat conditions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thoughts about Netroots Nation 17 in Atlanta
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
For those of you who missed Netroots Nation 17 in Atlanta this year, next year it is going to be in New Orleans. Yay!
Now that I’m home from Atlanta I can begin to process my impressions—the highlights and low-lights of the experience this year.
This is not an unbiased report. Nor is it a review of the big ticket events like Elizabeth Warren’s speech. It’s a commentary on the way I experienced it from my particular perspective as a black woman of a certain age (70).
Black Kos has been engaged in pushing Netroots Nation to be more representative for years. My first experience was at Netroots Nation 2009 in Pittsburgh, and from the perspective of representation of people of color — both as attendees, panelists and engagement of people from the local black community it was a failure. I did get to meet dopper0189 (David) face to face and we talked about pushing the organization to change. That push wound up as a panel in 2011: NNPanel: Promoting People of Color in the Progressive Blogosphere, and another in 2012. Things started to slowly get a bit better and in Detroit 2014 many of us were elated that the keynote speaker was going to be Rev. Barber. Sadly though there were Detroit activists at the conference, and Rev. Barber was beyond awesome, the turnout to hear him, and them was abysmal, which I covered in Thoughts on Netroots Nation, Detroit and activism and TrueBlueMajority wrote about in: I'm glad I didn't miss it: Transcript of The Rev. Dr. William Barber at NN14
This year, TBM, shanikka and I were reunited in Atlanta. The good news, from my pov, was that brothers, and especially sisters — were everywhere.
Was thrilled to see Kimberlé Crenshaw, who is the theoretical mother of intersectionality.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The (Not-So) Simple Life
Commentary by Chitown Kev
I wish that ESPN’s Jemele Hill didn’t have to say anything at all about Donald Trump’s white supremacy, even though, true enough, an overwhelming preponderance of the evidence points to the fact that The Occupant’s election and administration was founded on the basis of explicit appeals to white supremacy.
I would much rather that Ms. Hill’s commentaries be confined to things like sports reporting and shining shoes and trolling The University of Michigan sports teams and writing checks with her mouth that her alma mater can’t cash and other stupid sh*t.
Even as a little shorty, it simply occured to me that organizing a society simply based on skin pigmentation was a pretty stupid way of organizing society...it’s one of the reasons that some of the more extreme forms of ‘’black nationalism’’ never held any appeal to me.
But...social engineering based on skin pigmentation and the supremacy of ‘’white’’ skin pigmentation is what the Virginia colony was based upon.
And, as pointed out most recently, yet again, by Atlantic national correspondent Ta-Nehisi Coates, white supremacy is a permanent, permeating and, at times, suffocating part of the existential landscape of the United States of America.
Take, for example, the controversial editorial recently published in Nature magazine as reported by Undark.org’s Michael Schulson
The unsigned editorial, which ran on September 4 under the headline “Removing statues of historical figures risks whitewashing history,” struck many readers as being inept, poorly timed, or outright offensive. In response, Nature took the rare step of tweaking the online version of the editorial and changing its headline. (The old version was removed, though Divya Persaud, a planetary scientist, preserved it as a PDF.)
The journal also posted selected reader reactions and appended a lengthy apology that described the original version of the piece as “offensive and poorly worded.”
Not everyone is satisfied with the journal’s response, though, and the incident leaves open unanswered questions about editorial practices at Nature, the world’s most prestigious scientific publisher. More broadly, it brings up familiar questions about how scientists and scientific institutions should grapple with the long history of racism in science and medicine.
Yes, one of the statues that the Nature editorial spoke of preserving lest history be ’’whitewashed’’ is that of J. Marion Sims. Sims was the recent topic of Miss Denise’s Sunday, August 27 FP post.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Commentary: African American Scientists and Inventors
by Black Kos Editor, Sephius1
Chemist Dennis W. Weatherby will forever be associated with one of the United States’ most well known household cleaning products, the automatic dishwasher detergent known as Cascade.
Born in Brighton, Alabama in 1960, Weatherby attended Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1982. From there he moved on to the University of Dayton where he completed a master’s degree in chemical engineering in 1984.
Soon after finishing his studies, Weatherby began working for the Procter & Gamble Company in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a process engineer. Almost immediately he had a major breakthrough at the company: At the age of just 27 he was given a chance to lead a team to create a new consumer product, and the result of that effort was a lemon-scented, liquid dishwashing detergent that would become an instant and long-term success.
With his team, Weatherby developed a solution that employed a category of dyes that could be used in products containing bleach and, at the same time, would give the soap a lemon-yellow color that would not stain dishes. Before his invention, pigments were used in such solutions that often stained dishes and dishwasher interiors. With fellow inventor Brian J. Roselle, he received U.S. patent No. 4,714,562, issued on Dec. 22, 1987, for his breakthrough “Automatic dishwasher detergent composition.” The solution serves as the basic formula behind all of today’s “lemon-scented” cleaning products containing bleach.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Songhai Empire, Africa’s Largest Native Kingdom
BY DOPPER0189, BLACK KOS MANAGING EDITOR
The Songhai Empire is a medieval civilization In the 16th century it became the largest empire ever to have been created in tropical Africa. The Songhai empire is thought to have been started in the 9th century as a small principality (in West Africa) located on both banks of the Niger River referred to as Al-kaw kaw by Islamic scholars. The Niger River is the main river of western Africa. It is over 2500 miles long. It has a crescent shape and it goes through Guinea, Mali, Niger, on the border with Benin and then through Nigeria. It finally reaches the sea at a part of the Atlantic Ocean called the Gulf of Guinea. The Niger is the third-longest river in Africa (only the Nile and the Congo are longer).
The recent tragic loss of American soldiers in West Africa made me think of the great empires of the past that once occupied this space, and the proud people who lived there.
The Songhai kingdom arose from a fertile area which was very suited for livestock rearing and agriculture. The Niger river is also very suitable for fishing. As early as 800 A.D. the indigenous people of the area made full use of the natural resources of their region and by the time they entered into recorded history, they were already divided into two specialized professional groups, the Gabibi who were agriculturalists and the Sorko who were fishermen. The Songhai kingdom’s borders extended from the central area of Nigeria to the Atlantic coast and included parts of what are now Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea and Mauritania. Its capital was the city of Gao, on the bend of the Niger River in present day Niger and Burkina Faso where a small Songhai state had existed since the 11th century.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Racist, sexist"hat attacks" are not new.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
I am not going to post any of the vile racist, sexist attacks made about Congresswoman Frederica Wilson over the last few days — you can look at some them here if you wish. Be ready to take a shower and smudge your computer if you do.
A lot of the vitriol has focused on the fact that she wears hats. Cowboy hats. Of course, we know that even if hatless (like Auntie Maxine) she’d be a target for those who just can’t stand uppity black women.
Keith Boykin and many others posted comments like this
which he posted in response to this NY Times piece:
And I responded to a woman who who brought up the misogyny of the use of “flamboyant” by the Times.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Job Well Done
Commentary by Chitown Kev
Congratulations for a job well done is due for the work done by an Advanced Placement U.S. Government class at Hightstown High School in Hightstown, New Jersey; work that may have resulted in, perhaps, the first case of proposed Congressional legislation that was written by high school students.
Jerry Mitchell for the Clarion-Ledger (Jackson, MS) writing for USA Today:
JACKSON, Miss. — In the wake of the release of the secret John F. Kennedy assassination files, a group of high school students is pushing for the still-secret or redacted FBI files on killings from the civil rights era to be made fully public.
Advanced Placement U.S. government students from Hightstown High School in New Jersey have written legislation for Congress to do just that.
"This issue is not as prominent within the mainstream media, but it should be," said one of the students, senior Zabir Rahman. "The families of the victims of these atrocious crimes deserve justice if they can get it and some measure of closure."
The students based their Cold Case Records Collection Act of 2017 on the John F. Kennedy Records Collection Act of 1992. Like its precursor, the law creates an independent review board to facilitate the release of classified government records on civil rights killings.
H.R. 1272 is being sponsored by Congressman Bobby Rush of the First District of Illinois. The bill currently has nine cosponsors, including two Republican cosponsors (both Republican cosponsors represent New Jersey districts)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Voices and Soul
BY JUSTICE PUTNAM, BLACK KOS POETRY EDITOR
When all seems hopeless, when the hyena cackle of defeat is biting at pant cuffs and frayed nerves, when the crushing weight of today is laying low and leaden tomorrows cast dust devils across a vacant lot, when the heat stroke of burned out ambitions are sweating inside an oppressive solitary cage, a cage that is bolted in a boxcar rattling along this penal colony railroad earth, it is important to remember that other time when it was time to get out of Dodge, to swim that river home, to hoe that last row and pray tell...
Of Darker Ceremonies
Dear god of armed robberies and puff-puff-pass,
a chalk outline unpeels from the street, smashes
every windshield, and leaves florid temples of crack
on porches. Burnt-black pleats of joint-pressed lips
prophesied your return. Please accept these nickel bags
as offerings. Brick bastions of piss-stench thresholds
and boarded windows require a weekly sacrifice.
Is there a Tarot card called “The Corner,” a shrike
shown lifting a corpse from the pike of a middle finger?
Children speak to their murdered brothers with a cereal box
and construction paper cut into a Ouija’s tongue that licks
yes when asked if liquor could polish a skull in a way
pleasing to the dead, licks no when asked for a name.
-- Phillip B. Williams
"Of Darker Ceremonies"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver Velez
This subject seemed appropriate for today — election day Tuesday.
I went to vote at 6:30 AM, and took my husband with me. I had already printed out a sample ballot for him, and discussed the yes or no vote here in NY for a Constitutional Convention (we voted No). I’m only doing what I learned from my mom. She, my aunts and great aunts and female cousins would never, ever “not vote.” We were raised to understand how long and hard the price we had to pay for the franchise was—both as black descendants of enslaved persons, and as women.
I don’t know how well this ethic is being passed on to younger folks. I do want to highlight a group who is doing the work — and also encouraging sisters to not only vote — but to run for office.
Higher Heights is one such organization.
Higher Heights seeks to elevate Black women’s voices to shape and advance progressive policies and politics. By strengthening Black women’s civic participation in grassroots advocacy campaigns and the electoral process; Higher Heights for America will create the environment in which more Black women, and other candidates who are committed to advance policies that affect Black women, can be elected to public office.
Higher Heights is building a national infrastructure to harness Black women’s political power and leadership potential. Headquartered in New York, NY, Higher Heights for America, a national 501(c)(4) organization and its sister organization Higher Heights Leadership Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, is investing in a long-term strategy to analyze, expand and support a Black women’s leadership pipeline at all levels and strengthen their civic participation beyond just Election Day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hatin’ on Black Athletes: the Number 1 spectator sport for racists in the USA
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
Watching the disgusting public performance of the current President of the United States, spewing his daily twitter screeds, has become an ongoing nightmare for the sane in our society. The talking heads of right-wing racism and white supremacy amplify that message daily, not only on faux-news programs, but also on multiple sports channels and on online media platforms where bigots merrily parade their “ignant” biases in an unending stream of hatred.
The number one target these days has been Colin Kaepernick, amped up by his recent selection as Citizen of the Year by GQ magazine.
When announced, racists went into yet another frothing feeding frenzy. The Orange Klanman in the White House — true to form, continues to throw out blood red, white and rabid meat to his bigot base, tweeting nasty attacks against other black athletes.
Jamelle Bouie wrote for Slate
Puerto Rico still lacks power, millions of children are waiting for Congress to reauthorize a vital health insurance program, and a massive pipeline has leaked more than 200,000 gallons of oil into the American heartland. It’s possible President Trump is focused on these problems, but you wouldn’t know it from his Twitter feed. There, he is again preoccupied with well-known black people and and their perceived disrespect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THANK YOU EVERYONE SEE YOU IN 2018
THE PORCH IS NOW CLOSED