racism Archives - Page 9 of 33 - Ramblin' with Roger

“Get in good trouble” – John Lewis

“necessary trouble”

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

John Lewis, who died July 17, tweeted that in 2018. But he used the term “good trouble” a lot. I heard him recite it on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart back in 2015. In fact, there’s a new documentary, John Lewis: Good Trouble. It has been streaming since July 3, though I’ve not seen it yet.

I HAVE read March, Books 1-3, a series of graphic novels with Lewis as a co-author. It covers his life up to the twin victories of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act (VRA) of 1965. Then it fast-forwards to the inauguration of one Barack Obama.

A casual reading would suggest that Rosa Park refused to stand, Martin Luther King gave a speech, Obama was elected, and voila! We HAVE overcome. Of course, this was not true for a variety of reasons, including the mass incarceration fueled by the drug wars.

The war on voting

Worse, there has been a real retrenchment of voting rights. In 2013, the Supreme Court eviscerated a key provision of the VRA. Section 5 of the law required jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to obtain approval before changing voting rules.

The Court held in Shelby County v. Holder “since the coverage formula was last modified in 1975, the country ‘has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.'” In other words, IMO, the Court decided that America was post-racial.

Just this week, SCOTUS allowed limits on felon voting in Florida. This action was taken in spite of the wishes of a majority of Sunshine State voters.

Google voter suppression 2020. In Rolling Stone, read The Plot Against America: The GOP’s Plan to Suppress the Vote and Sabotage the Election. The Minnesota Daily reminds us that in 2018, “gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp, then Georgia’s Secretary of State, was blocking 53,000 voter registrations in Georgia,” and essentially stole the election.

Wisconsin voters in 2020 were forced to cast their ballots in the midst of a pandemic. Long voter lines, often in communities of color, are the result of selectively closing polling booths. It’s critical to continue to fight for the right to vote and run for office.

I just sent some money to FairFight.com. Also, I’m supporting the HEROES Act to safeguard our elections regardless of the pandemic. This will allow millions of voters to vote safely this November. Related, support the United States Postal Service from someone’s personal animosity.

As someone once said, “If voting weren’t important, they wouldn’t spend so much time keeping us from doing so.”

Fortunately…

Right now, there are groups of people recognizing the systemic injustices that continue to take place in the United States. Many are young, though there are a few gray hairs among them. They are every racial and ethnic grouping you can imagine. The timing couldn’t be better. I’m sure they’ll easily be able to find their own issues to address.

As friend Arthur wrote: “To really honour the man, the country should rededicate itself to finishing Lewis’ life’s work. That’s not just the good and right thing to do, but a moral imperative, too.”

In his 2017 memoir, Across That Bridge: A Vision for Change and the Future of America, John Lewis wrote something we need to remember about the struggle. “Freedom is not a state; it is an act. It is not some enchanted garden perched high on a distant plateau where we can finally sit down and rest. Freedom is the continuous action we all must take, and each generation must do its part to create an even more fair, more just society.”

GWTW, Song of the South, and race

the highest-grossing movie ever

Song of the South.Aunt Tempy — Hattie McDaniel as Aunt Tempy

When Gone With the Wind was temporarily shelved by HBO Max before returning with an intro by a black scholar, I knew I had to make a confession. I have actually never seen the movie. Ever.

Oh, I tried a couple times. After all, adjusting for inflation, the 1939 film is the highest-grossing movie ever. Its appearance on commercial television, in two parts in 1976, were both in the Top 10 of the highest-rated broadcasts of all-time.

But nope. It was frankly boring to me. I just didn’t give a damn about watching it.

The GWTW news reminded some of us about the indignities faced by Hattie McDaniel. She played “Mammy” in the movie, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Know that she became the FIRST African American to win an Oscar. “She and her escort were required to sit at a segregated table for two… The discrimination continued after the award ceremony as well as her white costars went to a ‘no-blacks’ club, where McDaniel was denied entry.”

She was philosophical about her movie roles. “Why should I complain about making $700 a week playing a maid? If I didn’t, I’d be making $7 a week being one.”

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

Now, this very year, I DID finally see Hattie McDaniel in the movie Song of the South (1946), in which she played Aunt Tempy. “The kindhearted storyteller Uncle Remus tells [children] stories about trickster Br’er Rabbit, who outwits Br’er Fox and slow-witted Br’er Bear.”

Its controversial history is well known. Walter Francis White, the Executive Secretary, said in 1946 that the organization “recognizes in Song of the South remarkable artistic merit in the music and in the combination of living actors and the cartoon technique. It regrets, however, that in an effort neither to offend audiences in the north or south, the production helps to perpetuate a dangerously glorified picture of slavery. Making use of the beautiful Uncle Remus folklore, Song of the South, unfortunately, gives the impression of an idyllic master-slave relationship which is a distortion of the facts.”

A couple of clarifications. I never got the sense that the story took place during slavery, but rather during Reconstruction. Yes, Uncle Remus does the Magic Negro thing near the end, but it was the times. And the film itself was well done, as the NAACP chief noted, with the usual solid Disney animation and fine acting by James Baskett.

While the narrative of the Uncle Remus stories in cartoon form made me uncomfortable, I’ve seen so much worse. The Abraham scene in Holiday Inn (1942), which I wrote about seven years ago. Alas, the link no longer works. But A.O. Scott in his 2008 Critics’ Picks for the New York Times, provides a snippet.

Here’s something awful: Judy Garland in blackface in Everybody Sing (1938). Chuck Miller notes Warner Bros. cartoons that should stay out of circulation.

In that context, I didn’t find Song of the South nearly as offensive as I had built it up in my mind. Judge for yourself.

June: Trauma of Systemic Injustices

no conception of a public good, common wealth, shared interest.

a-century-of-progress — **A Century of Progress: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 Unported License**

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: shady uses of facial recognition and Prisons & Jails and coronavirus could turn into ‘a full-blown homelessness crisis’.

How loneliness could be changing your brain and body.

The Oatmeal: Compliments

The Benefits Of Fasting.

Useful Resources from Family Hype

Internet basics for seniors.

The Pirates of the Highways.

Edward Everett Horton Finds A Place to Relax in the North Country.

Solutions to The Circuit Breaker Riddle and the The Pickleball Puzzle.

Now I Know

How Dead Rabbits and Cocaine Saved Thousands of Lives and Why You Shouldn’t Always Read Between the Lines and How to Lose the Lottery Without Even Playing and How to Punch Your Way Out of Prison.

Race and America

How to Support Black-Owned Small Businesses.

Why Now, White People? and Here come the white people — a new antiracist movement takes flight. Can ‘deep canvassing’ and other tactics better support Black activists and produce real change? and The emotional impact of watching white people wake up to racism in real-time.

Angela Davis interview.

Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman on race, injustice, and protest.

A letter to Roy. He’s the black guy in my pictures.

Black Clinicians on the Trauma of Systemic Injustices.

What’s in a Slogan?

I’m Protesting for a World That Affirms My Black Son’s Life Matters.

Ottowa W. Gurley was the Bezos of Black Wall Street.

A White Woman, Racism, and a Poodle.

Native Americans Need More Funding to Battle COVID-19.

Wikipedia: Rubber bullets.

Amaury Tañón-Santos sermon:Choose the Jesus option.

IMPOTUS

“HE’S THE CHOSEN ONE TO RUN AMERICA” : INSIDE THE CULT, HIS RALLIES ARE CHURCH AND HE IS THE GOSPEL.

He Says Masks Are Worn to Spite Him.

EPA will no longer regulate toxic compound in drinking water.

How Mary Trump’s Bombshell Was Built.

Tulsa, Oklahoma Rally Speech Transcript

For the Greeks, “idiot” carried a precise and special meaning. The person who was only interested in private life, private gain, private advantage. Who had no conception of a public good, common wealth, shared interest. To the Greeks, the pioneers of democracy, the creators of the demos, such a person was the most contemptible of all. Because even the Greeks seemed to understand: you can’t make a functioning democracy out of…idiots.”

The Lincoln Project ads: Chyna and truth (testing to be slowed down).

Seth Meyers Finds Bolton — And Trump — Despicable.

Pence Denies djt Ever Downplayed the Coronavirus.

Sarah Cooper’s Tulsa Takedown.

MUSIC

Old Man Trump – Ryan Harvey, ft. Ani DiFranco & Tom Morello.

Old Man Trump (Ain’t My Home) – Middle-Class Joe.

Ethiopia’s Shadow in America by Florence Price.

I Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere – Rick Moranis.

We Need a Little Christmas – Nancy Sinatra.

March, March – the Chicks.

Ray of Hope – the Rascals.

Exhuming McCarthy – REM.

Live From SpragueLand:Episode 2 with Peter Sprague and Rebecca Jade , the niece (start at 8:15).

Mr. J’s Lockdown – The Penny Sue Wilson Birthday Special On Smart Radio GY 29/06/20.

The Curse of Ham – Buggy Jive.

Lola – MonaLisa Twins.

Summer means new love – Variaxgery (Beach Boys cover).

5 Seconds of Summer.

Charles Dickens 150th anniversary projections, Westminster Abbey.

Dame Vera Lynn has died at the age of 103.

THE WHO REHEARSE FOR ’89 TOUR IN GLENS FALLS (Listen! four hours!)

A Clear Head in Troubling Times: Why We Need to Listen to Bob Dylan.

Coverville: 1312: The John Fogerty & Creedence Clearwater Revival Cover Story II and 1313: The Pointer Sisters Cover Story.

Under a Violet Moon – Blackmore’s Night.

K-Chuck Radio: One Less (dumb) Bell to Answer.

Help – Beatles.

I Love the Lord – Richard Smallwood Singers.

Talking to your 2019 self: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 Unported License

The white liberal, per ML King Jr.

not only love but justice

martin-luther-king-jr-speech-1967 [Every year, on his birthday, I find a quote or two from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to reflect upon. It’s because most people have no idea what Dr. King stood for that wasn’t enunciated in a five-minute portion of one speech.

For reasons having to do with the events of 2020, I find it necessary to do that again right about NOW.

From the New York Times, MLK holiday, 2019:]

In his 1967 book “Where Do We Go From Here,” Dr. King noted the limits of Northern liberalism: “Negroes have proceeded from a premise that equality means what it says. But most whites in America, including many of good will, proceed from a premise that equality is a loose expression for improvement. White America is not even psychologically organized to close the gap.”

“There is a pressing need for a liberalism in the North which is truly liberal,” he told an interracial audience in New York City in 1960. He called for a liberalism that “rises up with righteous indignation when a Negro is lynched in Mississippi but will be equally incensed when a Negro is denied the right to live in his neighborhood.”

[You should read the whole article, which takes a shot at a 1964 New York Times editorial.]

The challenge

[From a UU blog, quoting Where Do We Go From Here – Chaos or Community?]

A leading voice in the chorus of social transition belongs to the white liberal… Over the last few years many Negroes have felt that their most troublesome adversary was not the obvious bigot of the Ku Klux Klan or the John Birch Society, but the white liberal who is more devoted to “order” than to justice, who prefers tranquility to equality…

The White liberal must see that the Negro needs not only love but justice. It is not enough to say, “We love Negroes, we have many Negro friends.” They must demand justice for Negroes. Love that does not satisfy justice is no love at all. It is merely a sentimental affection, little more than what one would love for a pet.

Love at its best is justice concretized. Love is unconditional. It is not conditional upon one’s staying in his place or watering down his demands in order to be considered respectable…

The white liberal must rid himself of the notion that there can be a tensionless transition from the old order of injustice to the new order of justice… The Negro has not gained a single right in America without persistent pressure and agitation…

For too long, order has been more important than justice

Nonviolent coercion always brings tension to the surface. This tension, however, must not be seen as destructive. There is a kind of tension that is both healthy and necessary for growth. Society needs nonviolent gadflies to bring its tensions into the open and force its citizens to confront the ugliness of their prejudices and the tragedy of their racism.

It is important for the liberal to see that the oppressed person who agitates for his rights is not the creator of tension. He merely brings out the hidden tension that is already alive.

Last summer when we had our open housing marches in Chicago, many of our white liberal friends cried out in horror and dismay: “You are creating hatred and hostility in the white communities in which you are marching, You are only developing a white backlash.” I could never understand that logic.

They failed to realize that the hatred and the hostilities were already latently or subconsciously present. Our marches merely brought them to the surface… The white liberal must escalate his support for racial justice rather than de-escalate it… The need for commitment is greater today than ever.

Vergangenheitsbewältigung

a good German word

Stelae, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Berlin, Germany

Vergangenheitsbewältigung. There’s usually a good German word for everything, even if I can’t pronounce it. It means the “struggle to overcome the [negatives of the] past” or “working through the past”). The term describes “processes that, since the later 20th century, have become key in the study of post-1945 German literature, society, and culture.”

In other words, vergangenheitsbewältigung explains How Berlin Has Faced Its Nazi Past. And now, about 30 months after this article was written, vergangenheitsbewältigung has come to America. And it’s damn messy.

The United States should have decided, thoughtfully and systematically, how to dismantle the symbols of its racist past. But no. The years-long clamor to remove Confederate statues was met with the need to establish committees to discuss it. Post George Floyd, they’re coming down swiftly.

Other vestiges of our imperfect history are being torn down. Sometimes, it’s the government, but at least as often, it’s being done by protesters. Likewise, symbols that some have perceived as offensive have been pre-emptively been removed by companies, who suddenly recognize the “problem” with that logo.

What is the procedure?

Inevitably, there are people complaining, “We should have a system to address these things!” And naturally, they were correct. But right now, we have a tsunami of reformers, removing or changing items, some of which weren’t bugging you. Or me. (They’re reviewing the Cream of Wheat guy? I LOVE that dude. Not every logo with a black person is offensive.)

When you plug up the dam for so damn long, it’s going to be chaotic when it finally ruptures the wall. Or you can see this as a pendulum that had been frozen in place. It’ll have a lot of energy as it swings strongly in the other direction. Eventually, there will be more of an equilibrium. But while white America seems to have ended its centuries-long snooze, one is motivated to address as many issues as possible.

Of course, some of these changes are symbolic. But many have economic incentives. One I particularly love that involves both economic and criminal justice reform, made by the University of Florida. “Ending the use of unpaid inmate labor is a very important step in de-incentivizing our current incarceration system which has been set up to recreate the racist slave labor our country was built on.”

And maybe we ARE having our vergangenheitsbewältigung moment. The article ends: “To secure that future for all Americans, we must honestly confront our past.”