#1619Gate Part Four
@nhannahjones “I was invited to give an MLK speech today and a small number of members of the group hosting me wrote and then leaked emails opposing my giving this speech, as it dishonored Dr. King for me to do so. They called me a “discredited activist” “unworthy of such association with King”” “So, I scrapped my original speech and spent the entire first half of it reading excerpts from a bunch of Dr. King’s speeches, but without telling anyone that I was doing so, leading the audience to think King’s words were mine. And, whew, chile, it was AMAZING.” … “Oh, the uncomfortable silence as I read Dr. King’s words at a commemoration of Dr. King’s life when people had no idea that these were his words. When I revealed that everything I said to that point was taken from his speeches between ’56 and 67… Can you say SHOOK!”
Nikole Hannah-Jones is up to her orange-haired mischief. A twitter thread details her latest adventure. The adoring media heaps uncritical praise on her antics.
At least one person did ask where the speech was given. @nhannahjones Replying to @BlueCrew2018 “NO! That’s next week. And I intentionally did not say whom because my hosts were very gracious.” The “next week” reference is probably Northwestern University. UPDATE: The MLK Day speech was given at Union League Club of Chicago.
Mrs. Hannah-Jones is also speaking at UW-Madison. “The speaker’s fee to bring Hannah-Jones to campus is $55,000, which is on par with past speakers for this event, McGlone said. Gift funds will be used to pay the speaker’s fee.” Another appearance will be at University of Colorado Boulder. Between speeches, Mrs. Hannah-Jones is a tenured professor at Howard University.
A search on youtube does not turn up the speech. This search did reveal two fun items. A robot voice describes Mrs. Hannah-Jones as the “author of the best selling book, the one thousand six hundred nineteen project.” Another video announces “Activist Ida B. Wells gets her own Barbie lookalike”.
Somebody needs to question this. Who, outside of nit-picky historians, is publicly calling Mrs. Hannah-Jones a “discredited activist”? Even if those leaked emails exist, how does that justify the cheap stunt Mrs. Hannah-Jones is boasting about? Presenting the words of Dr. King as your own, and then bragging about it on twitter, does not honor the legacy of the civil rights leader. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. More #1619Gate episodes are available. One Two Three Five
Examine Your Whiteness
Is the Owner of Popular Atlanta Drag Bar a Racist? This article started the current controversy. A “former employee” of Burkhart’s sent some screen shots to a local publication. The shots allegedly came from the facebook page of the bar’s owner, Palmer Marsh. The first post that you saw said “Obviously Vladimir Putin thinks that Barack Obama is a stupid (magic word). He just might be right.” The pearl clutching started immediately.
PG noted that the screen shot did not have a date or time. Three other shots were shown in the initial presentation. None of the other comments had a fraction of the offensive power of the Putin comment. The showpiece comment was suspect.
If you are going to have a public controversy about someone’s racial values, you need something strong to get people’s attention. Stories about poorly treated employees or customers will not do this. Facebook comments like “I used to think that NYC was the most intimidating place on Earth. Thanks to Mayor Rudy Giuliani … ” do not have the explosive power of the magic word. If you do not have the comment about Putin, you do not have a controversy. The ex-employee does not get their revenge.
For all the talk about institutional oppression, the public debate on racism remains very shallow. Style rules over substance any day. If you talk about economic equality, equal housing, or access to education, the audience will ignore you. Talk about police brutality, and mass incarceration, will get you a bit more attention. Palmergate is none of these things. It is about an old man, who owns a popular business, saying things on facebook that people do not like. The most spectacular of these comments is impossible to prove or disprove.
A few days later, there was another facebook thread about the comment. PG noted “Did anyone see the Obama/n-word post when it first appeared? What was the time and date? Is there a cached copy available? Do you realize how easy it would be to fake that screen shot? If an incendiary post like that appeared, why wasn’t it noticed at the time?” There was a vigorous reaction.
“this is racist apologist trash. there could be video of him typing the words in and y’all would still be like “that could be someone in prosthetics and a wig. you don’t know for sure!” ~ “Here’s a screenshot of a screenshot posted closer to the original occurrence. Is it so hard to believe that an older white man is racist?” ~ “This is on Palmer Marsh’s FB page now. You can go take a look yourself if you think I’m faking it. Doesn’t necessarily mention the racism, but is a good indicator:” ~ ‘This is also still on his FB wall. Go take a look yourself if you think someone is faking it:” ~ “And someone calling out his racism in 2013. Also on his wall. Go scroll down and look:” ~ “Do you need more? I’m happy to keep scrolling if you’re too lazy/afraid to confirm the truth yourself” ~ “alleged” I can’t with you. Look at my posts. I advise you do some research before making a public comment that makes you look like a racist apologist. I’m out.”
There are arguably racist comments on Mr. Marsh’s facebook page. (“Here in Brunswick, GA there is a billboard that reads, “Blue lives matter.” Indeed!”) Mr. Marsh went on a bit of a facebook binge sometime in 2015, and said all sorts of things. ( “I have been drinking so much liquor that I do not know what I have been saying. My apologies to those of whom I have offended. Now would probably be a good time to shut the blank up.”) However, none of these comments are evidence that he made the Putin post. They are not nearly as explosive, or overtly racist. They don’t have the same tone as the Putin comment. Also, how many people were talking about Vladimir Putin in 2015? It just does not add up.
It should be noted that there is a possibility that the Putin quote is legitimate. There are rumors that Mary Marsh, the wife of Palmer, “basically confirmed by making a status the other day saying Palmer was drunk and that she gave him hell at the time.” (PG has not seen this comment.) However, showing far less offensive posts, from the same account, is not convincing evidence.
“Do yourself and the POC in your life a favor and Examine. Your. Whiteness. Examine why its so hard to believe an old white man said the n word. Examine why you are so invested in defending a man who by all accounts was an outspoken racist. Examine why you are calling this so deeply into question.” Logic is not always a facebook friend.
After a while, PG took a break from the action. When he got back, he decided to look for cached copies. It seems that the Internet Wayback Machine does not have copies of this facebook account. The Putin post remains impossible to prove, or disprove.
Palmer Marsh on facebook is up. What has not been deleted is easy to look through. Some of the comments are still up. Some posts are arguably racist. (“If the South had won, we would be a hell of a lot better off.”) There are also some comments that contradict the racist narrative.
“Because of love, part of my heritage is West African. Some tings you cannot change. I treasure my heritage.” “I am from McIntosh County Georgia. The first dialect of English that I spoke was Gullah-Gitchee. It was a fantastic beginning as I have a perspective of the Third World that few Anglo-Americans understand. Now I feel more at home in the Bahamas than I feel at Home. I like turning back the clock.”
For those who are new here, Gullah-Gitchee is a dialect used mostly by African Americans. Does this sound like something a racist would say?
The truth is a bit more complicated. Palmer Marsh has posted some things that rub liberal fee fees the wrong way. A man from the Georgia coast, who has been around black people all his life, probably has some complicated feelings about this whole racism thing. Not everyone falls into the racist/woke binary. If we are going to have a public debate, on the statement Resolved: Palmer Marsh is a racist, the we should do a better job of examining the evidence. Don’t just accept a screen shot from a former employee. Maybe it is none of your business.
There have been some new developments in the Burkhart’s melodrama since Examine Your Whiteness was published. For those who are new here, a facebook screen shot appeared, showing the owner of a popular Atlanta bar saying the magic word. A community hissy fit followed. The drag queens who performed at the establishment quit. PG questioned the validity of the screen shot. Global warming got worse, Atlanta traffic slowed down, and Donald Trump got a haircut. It was a bad week.
Someone finally talked to Palmer Marsh, the bar owner with a facebook habit. Yes, he did say the magic word on facebook. He took the post down soon after, but not before a cunning employee got a screen shot. The evidence would prove handy.
Mr. Marsh made another noteworthy comment. “Marsh says his son-in-law is black, as are several of his own grandchildren.” This puts a new spin on the old saying… I can’t be racist, some of my best grandchildren are black. The people upset about the facebook post were not impressed. Don’t confuse me with the facts, the man is a racist, because I said so. The issue remains unresolved, as well as the issue of why anyone should care.
Racist is the one of worst things you can say about anyone. It is also tossed around casually, with no proof, or thought, required. Once accused, you are guilty until proven innocent. If you defend someone accused of racism, you are considered racist yourself.
Racism is not an either/or binary. Many people have conflicting feelings on the matter. While the facebook post is apparently valid, what is in Palmer Marsh’s heart remains a mystery to most observers. Maybe he is a racist, and maybe he is not.
Why does a person need to be politically correct to own a queer bar? Historically, bar owners have been shady characters, who settled disputes with contract killing, and convenient fires. The business revolves around selling alcohol, a deadly, addictive, legal drug. People often misbehave under the influence, and the bar will use brute force to resolve the issue. Enemies are made. It is a tough, dirty business. And now we are supposed to shun an bar owner, because he used the magic word one time on facebook. (Full disclosure: PG is a retired drunk. He has been sober since 1988.)
Anti racism can be highly superficial. Lip service is paid to high minded definitions of racism: “Rather, according to the newly uncovered formula, racism = prejudice + power (or “prejudice + privilege” in some trendier renditions). White people are the ones with all the power and privilege here, so, per the formula, they cannot possibly be the objects of racism.”
That is good in theory, but boring in practice. When there is a racism controversy these days, it is frequently because someone said the magic word. (One exception is when the police kill someone.) Honest to G-d oppression is boring, and will not get attention. Catching someone saying the magic word gets attention. The ex-employee, who leaked the screen shot, wanted attention.
The other development is the sale of the bar. Supposedly, a group was planning to buy Burkhart’s. This group included the General Manager, Don Hunnewell, who gave a statement soon after the original screen shot emerged. “Yesterday it took everything I had to soldier on and not terminate my employment agreement.” A few days later, he was part of a group trying to buy the bar.
You might ask, how does a complicated sale like that happen so quickly? The answer is, it doesn’t. The owner of The Jungle, a now closed cha cha palace, is said to have made an offer. The Jungle got in SJW trouble a few years ago for hosting a performance by Sharon Needles. For the foreseeable future, Palmer and Mary Marsh own Burkhart’s.
An ex-employee had a problem with the club. Ex-employee leaked the screen shot to the press, and the fun started. Now, there are three possible motives for the ex-employee. 1 – Someone was offended by racism at the club, and wanted to call attention to it. 2- Release of the screen shot is somehow connected to a sale of the bar. It is not known if the ex-employee was part of the group that was going to buy the club. 3 – The ex employee had a problem with the club, and wanted to get revenge. Number 3 is the most likely, although all are possible. All things are possible in a world without G-d.
Where does this put the performers who quit, and the pearl clutching public? If this is motivated by sincere concern for racism at Burkhart’s, then people are entitled to the self congratulation. OTOH, if this whole mudbath is just part of the proposed sale, or a shot at revenge by an embittered ex-employee, the the pearl clutchers are being played.
Pictures are from The Library of Congress. Part one and part two are reposts. Part three is boring.
Conversations I Am Tired Of Having
There was a post a while back, 10 Conversations On Racism I’m Sick Of Having With White People The original started at The Chronicle, but LiveJournal is kind of weird, so a mirror image will have to do. There are comments, at the sourced post, that illustrate some of the points covered today.
I got to thinking about “10 Conversations”, and a reply began to take shape. I started a list of conversations the I am tired of having, and before you could say toxic masculinity, there were a dozen items. Many of these incidents have involved people of color, or POC. Many others have not. Often, the ethnicity of the other person has little importance to the discussion. Therefore, the title of this feature will not be racially specific. This monolog will probably not go viral, or even bacterial. Washing your hands might be a good idea when you are finished reading.
Meetings where one person does all the talking The word conversation implies that more than one person says something. Often, this does not happen. One person will talk for a while. Before person two finishes a sentence, person one will interrupt them.
This does not work. When the other person is talking, listen. Don’t be thinking of your clever comeback, but pay attention to what the other person is saying. What the other person says is just as important as what you say.
Listening is not valued in our culture. It is seen as a loss of control, a sign of weakness. It is really a sign of strength. If you are weak, you don’t want to allow the other person to say anything. Have you ever heard anyone boast about the clever things that they say to someone? Of course you have, just like you never hear anyone talk highly about himself because he is a good listener.
My question is not an excuse to make a speech. Some people have an agenda. Whatever you say is an obstacle to the message they want to broadcast. When you ask a question, some people think you are handing them the talking stick, to do whatever they want. When your eyes glaze over, they plow on, in total disregard to your discomfort, and lack of comprehension. It is almost as if they are talking to hear the sound of their own voice.
I’m not talking to you. If you are screaming something, anyone with earshot can hear you. Do not get offended if there is a reaction to your words, especially if it is subtly directed at the person you are not talking to. This applies to the internet as well, where all of humanity is *privy* to your innermost thoughts. Keep the farmyard meaning of *privy* in mind when sharing your innermost product.
Conversations should be with people. If you are a business, and you want to tell me something, send me a written message. Please refrain from using robocall machines. I feel very foolish talking to a machine, especially one that doesn’t understand southern english.
You don’t have to shout. The amount of truth in a statement is not increased by the volume of expression. If you are standing next to me, the odds are I can hear you in a normal tone of voice. If you are across the room, come stand next to me, rather than shout across the room. If your normal tone of voice is shouting, then you have a problem.
The same principle goes to controlling your temper. When you choose not to control your temper, you show disrespect to yourself, and the person you are talking to. There is no situation that cannot be made worse by angry speech.
Privilege Racial polemic is getting more subtle these days. We are not quite post racial, although there are rumors of a PostRacial apartment community. The phrase that pays these days is Privilege. This is always something owned by the group you do not belong to. Last summer, I heard this quote in a discussion, and nearly fell out of my chair.
This is getting longer than the attention span of many readers. It might be continued at a later date. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
Ta-Nehisi Coates On WTF Podcast
Episode 878 of Marc David Maron’s WTF podcast features Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. Chamblee54 once wrote about a video featuring Mr. Coates. This seems like a good day to listen to the show, and take notes. This is a repost from 2018.
The show starts with TPC and MDM (Is Ta-Nehisi two words?) discussing the business of writing books. The word black is not heard until 28:33 of the show. At 31 minutes in TPC is talking about when he moved to New York, and struggled. He mentions that when you lie to other people, you begin to accept yourself as a liar.
At 53 minutes, TPC is talking about sexual harassment, and how he… a man … could never know what a woman experiences. MDM says that he … a white man … could never know what a black man feels, and how books by TPC made MDM realize this. You get the sense that this is what MDM wanted to talk about all along, and that TPC is tired of talking about race. MDM had the prominent black intellectual on the show, and MDM was going to talk about race, whether PBI wanted to, or not.
At 1:02 pm est, the show is over. PG has more respect for TPC now. Most of the show was about fatherhood, writing, and the struggle to succeed. The expressions whiteness, and white supremacy, were not heard. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Many of them were edited while listening to this show. The depression was a different era.
More Monroe And Boulevard
A recent facebook discussion covers that old crowd pleaser, why does Monroe Drive turn into Boulevard? The story is that the street name changed because White people live North of Ponce De Leon Avenue, and Black people live south. Chamblee54 has covered this topic before. The information today will be a bit dry. If you want to skip over the text, you can always enjoy the pictures, from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.”
“The name changes were intentional and rooted directly in racism.” This judgment from Atlanta magazine is a popular opinion. Unfortunately, there are some street name changes that apparently are not racial. In discussions like this, once racism is blamed, the conversation shuts down. Asking any questions, or exploring the possibility of nuance, is considered racist.
The Atlanta magazine article does not really address Monroe/Boulevard. A 1913 measure, the Ashley Ordinance, is brought up, as well as some of the skirmishing in SW Atlanta over integration. None of those items were in play in the Monroe/Boulevard matter.
The opinion of chamblee54 has not changed. It is entirely possible that Monroe/Boulevard was racially motivated. That sounds like something a Georgia government, of a certain era, would do. However, it does not address the other streets. When were the names changed, and by what government? The answers to the last two questions have been elusive. If anyone reading this has any answers, please leave a comment.
In the space between I-85 and Dekalb County, there are four streets that change names when they cross Ponce De Leon Avenue. These are Juniper/Courtland, Charles Allen/Parkway, Monroe/Boulevard, and Briarcliff/Moreland. Several streets cross Ponce without changing names, including Spring, Peachtree, Piedmont, and North Highland. A wikipedia page, List of former Atlanta street names, has some information about the name changes. More information was found in a collection of maps at the GSU library.
It turns out that Juniper/Courtland change names at North Avenue, one block south of Ponce. As early as 1895, those streets have the same names. On old maps, Juniper ends at North, and Courtand starts a quarter-block west. Wikipedia adds this about Courtland: “North Collins Street (for pioneer James Collins — renamed because of South Collins Street’s reputation as a red light district)”
Briarcliff/Moreland has always been a problem for the racism hypothesis. The race change has traditionally been at the railroad tracks, a half mile south of Ponce. Moreland Avenue was originally County Line Road. It was renamed in honor of a Confederate officer, Major Asbury Fletcher Moreland. “He owned quite a bit of land between County Line Road and Pike Road, which is now Euclid Avenue, some of which is now part of the city’s Bass Recreation Center. Ever the businessman, Moreland built rental homes and a park, which featured a pond and animals — appropriately called Moreland Park — that became a summer getaway for city dwellers.”
Briarcliff was originally known as Williams Mill Road. It changed to Briarcliff after Asa Griggs “Buddy” Candler Jr. built a palace at 1260 Briarcliff Road. The house still stands, barely, and served as the GMHI facility for many years. In 1911 and 1917, Briarcliff is known as Williams Mill, before changing into Moreland. In 1925, and maps issued after 1925, the road is shown as Briarcliff.
Charles Allen/Parkway, one block west of Monroe/Boulevard, was originally known as Jackson Street. The road is still known as Jackson Street, south of Highland Avenue. The earliest map to show Jackson is 1895. By 1930 it has been changed to Parkway, ending at Piedmont Park. Charles Allen Drive does not appear until 1959. Charles Allen was the pastor at Grace United Methodist Church.
Wikipedia has this on Boulevard: “Jefferson Street (marked in 1878 map from North Ave. to Foster St. (now Edgewood Ave.) in today’s Old Fourth Ward) – Rolling Mill Street (north of the railroad) from the late 1860s to about 1880, for the Confederate Rolling Mill, which the retreating Confederate army inadvertently destroyed in 1864.”
Wikipedia has a surprise “Monroe Drive (to honor the Monroe Landscaping Company which did extensive plantings in the area)[17]” The footnote links to a Morningside neighborhood newsletter. There is no mention of Monroe Drive in the cited newsletter.
Before going further with Monroe, we should look at a controversy involving the landscaper William Lott Monroe. “1941 (Jan. 25) Monroe’s Landscape & Nursery Co. is removed from Fulton County’s payroll: “…[D]rawn more than $17,000 from the county in the last year and one-half… The company was drawing $500 a month for supervising landscaping of county parks, which was in addition to flowers, shrubs and blueprints sold by it to the county.” (“Nursery Company Is Cut Off Pay Roll.” Atlanta Constitution, Jan. 25, 1941)” In 1941, Mr. Monroe was working on North Fulton Park, later known as Chastain Park. This park was annexed into the City of Atlanta on January 1, 1952.
The first time Boulevard is mentioned on maps is 1895. The first mention of Monroe Drive is 1951, when Monroe starts at Montgomery Ferry. (Before the Northeast Expressway was built, the road ended at Plasters Avenue, north of the present I 85.) It is not until 1959 that Monroe appears immediately north of Ponce De Leon.
These maps were used in researching this feature. 1878 1895 1911 1917 1921 1925 1930 1930 1931 1934 1935 1939 1946 1951 1952 1952 1954 1959 1967
Unarmed Black People
Police killing unarmed Black people continues to be a hot topic. Every once in a while, someone will quote some exact numbers. Finally , curiosity got the best of PG. He went to the Washington Post Police Shootings database. As of December 5, 4 Black people have been shot to death, by police, in the United States. 7 unarmed White people met a similar fate.
Lindani Myeni April 14, 2021 Honolulu, HI
Daverion Kinard February 13, 2021 Fontana CA
Jenoah Donald February 4, 2021 Vancouver, WA
Patrick Lynn Warren January 10, 2021 Killeen TX
Every case is different. At least two of these four cases involve a physical altercation. Both police, and family attorneys, have been known to lie. It comes down to who’s side of the story you choose.
Chamblee54 ran a 29 week series in 2017-18, Killed By Police, and a report in 2020. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library.”
Are My Racial Attitudes Your Business?
PG was living his life when see saw something on facebook: “And another thing: if you are going to claim NOT to be racist, I feel like you should familiarize yourself with some contemporary writings and definitions of racism, not just what Mirriam Webster says.” The first reaction was to ignore this. If you reply to a comment about racism on facebook, you are asking for trouble. Life is too short to be wasting time on such unpleasantness.
But the thought engine had been kickstarted, and continued to idle in the background. When PG pulled into the Kroger parking lot, the idea hit full force. Maybe it is none of your business.
Some people say that a PWOC is not affected by racism. If this is the case, then why should the racial attitudes of a PWOC affect another PWOC? If a person treats you fairly, do you really need to know this person’s attitudes about race?
The fbf ex-fbf does not say what the context of this claim is. Did anyone ask you whether or not you were a racist? If not, are you assuming that they are interested? Maybe someone assumed the listener was interested. Maybe the proper response to look bored, and say TMI.
The comment mentioned “contemporary writings and definitions of racism.” Who are the people who set themselves up as arbiters about what we should think about race? What are the qualifications? Who asked them what they thought? How do we know that these people are dependable?.
Maybe the answer is to show compassion and kindness to your neighbor, and don’t worry about their racial attitudes. If you are proud of your racial attitudes, please refrain from boasting. Not everyone is interested. This is a repost. Pictures are from The Library of Congress.
2020 Homicide Statistics
The FBI 2020 crime statistics have been issued. The report has a challenging format; this source will be used for today’s post. This blog published reports on homicide numbers for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
Statista is the source of murder statistics. These numbers are broken down by race, gender, ethnicity, and other factors. (Hispanic or Latino … hereafter known as Hispanic … is considered an ethnicity, rather than a race. Hispanic people are included in White/Black/Other, according to their race.) In 2020, there were 17,754 homicides. The gender breakdown is Male 14,146 (79.6%), Female 3,573 (20%), and Unknown 35 (0.2%). I don’t know how gender non-conforming people are counted.
Quick Facts, from the U.S. Census Bureau, is the source of population numbers. (This link only works in full screen.) On April 1, 2020 there were 331.4m people in the United States. White people were 252.9m (76.3%), and Black people were 44.4m (13.4%). Hispanic people were 61.3m (18.5%).
17,754 homicides breaks down into White 7,029, Black 9,913, Other/Unknown 812. Hispanic, counted separately, had 2,847 homicides. Divide the number of homicides, by the population, and you get homicides per million (hpm). Overall, this is 53.5 hpm. For White people, 27.8 hpm. For Black people, 223.8 hpm. For Hispanic people, 46.4 hpm.
50.8% of the population is Female, according to the census bureau. We will use this 50.8/49.2 breakdown in this next section, even though there are indications that the percentage of Females is higher for Black people. The Male/Female ratio for homicides is, for White people, Male 5,123 (72.8%) and Female 1,904 (37.1%). For Black people, Male 8,469 (85.4%), and Female 1,440 (14.5%). For Hispanics, Male 2,377 (83.4%)), and Female 470 (16.5%). On a per capita basis, Males had 86.7 hpm, and Females had 21.2 hpm. White Males had 41.2 hpm hpm, with White Females 14.8 hpm. Black Males had 383.2 hpm, with Black Females 64.0 hpm. Hispanic Males had 79.0 hpm, with Hispanic Females 15.1 hpm.
The Washington Post reports 1,021 people shot-and-killed by police in 2020. The breakdown: White 459, Black 244, Hispanic 171. (Using these numbers for comparison may be tricky. The FBI groups Hispanics into White/Black/Other as appropriate, while WAPO considers Hispanics to be a separate racial category.) If you divide the WAPO number by the total number of victims, you get a killed-by-police percentage. For the overall population, this is 5.7% (1021/17,754). For White people, this is 6.5% (459/7,029). For Black people, this is 2.4% (244/9,913). For Hispanics, this is 6.0% (171/2,377).
The 2020 homicide numbers show a big increase over 2019. The graphic below shows some of these numbers. For more information, go to the 2019 post.
Michael Donald
PG was looking at facebook, minding his own business. Then he saw something he could not unsee.(TRIGGER WARNING) The NSFW image showed a dead black man hanging in a tree. You can see his face. The caption: “Fox News commentator and Trump sycophant Tucker Carlson said yesterday that “white supremacy is a hoax.” I wonder if this poor man would agree? (I apologize if the image offends but sometimes right-wing idiots have to have reality stare them in the face.)”
The gut level reaction was that of being violated. What gives a facebook “friend” the right to shove a gruesome image in the viewers face? A lot more than “right-wing idiots” will see this picture. We understand that a Fox-boi said something you don’t like. That does not give you the right to disturb the community peace of mind.
There are plenty of arguments you can make. You can post your two-wrongs-make-a-right all day long. No doubt _______ did something terrible last week. That does not give you the right to post an obscene picture on facebook. UPDATE: The image has been *hidden* by facebook.
White Supremacy® is an expression that grows by leaps and bounds. It used to mean the kkk, and other hard-core racists. Now, it means whatever you want it to mean. The definition of WS has expanded to the point where the term is meaningless. It is tough to say what, if anything, Tarlson Cucker meant. We would be better off using the phrase White Supremacy® a lot less frequently.
When you are collateral damage on facebook, you have a few options. You can unfriend the perp, and say rude things about them behind their back. This has always seemed petty and childish. Another thing you can do is research the picture. PG did a google images search of the picture. It turns out to be a powerful story. Is it proper to appropriate this image to shame Tarlson Cucker? As if he would know it happened, or care.
Michael Donald is the man hanging in the tree. Here is the story of how he got there. “That week, a jury had been struggling to reach a verdict in the case of a black man accused of murdering a white policeman. The killing had occurred in Birmingham, but the trial had been moved to Mobile. To (Bennie) Hays — the second-highest Klan official in Alabama — and his fellow members of Unit 900 of the United Klans, the presence of blacks on the jury meant that a guilty man would go free. … Hays had said that Wednesday, ”If a black man can get away with killing a white man, we ought to be able to get away with killing a black man.””
“On Friday night, after the jurors announced they couldn’t reach a verdict, the Klansmen got together in a house Bennie Hays owned on Herndon Avenue. According to later testimony from James (Tiger) Knowles, then 17 years old, Tiger produced a borrowed pistol. Henry Francis Hays, Bennie’s 26-year-old son, took out a rope. Then the two got in Henry’s car and went hunting for a black man.”
“Michael Donald was alone, walking home, when Knowles and Hays spotted him. They pulled over, asked him for directions to a nightclub, then pointed the gun at him and ordered him to get in. They drove to the next county. When they stopped, Michael begged them not to kill him, then tried to escape. Henry Hays and Knowles chased him, caught him, hit him with a tree limb more than a hundred times, and, when he was no longer moving, wrapped the rope around his neck. Henry Hays shoved his boot in Michael’s face and pulled on the rope. For good measure, they cut his throat. … Henry Hays and Knowles returned to the party at Bennie Hays’s house, where they showed off their handiwork, and, looping the rope over a camphor tree, raised Michael’s body just high enough so it would swing.” For a while, it looked like the case would go unsolved.
Some people kept looking. “After hearing a lot of lies and following many unproductive leads, (Thomas H.) Figures and (James) Bodman uncovered one key fact: On the night of the murder, Tiger Knowles had returned to Bennie Hays’s house with blood on his shirt. With this new evidence, the Justice Department convened an investigative grand jury in Mobile. Incredibly, the Klansmen called to testify did not bring lawyers with them. In short order, one witness told the grand jury that young Henry Hays had admitted everything to him. This got back to Tiger Knowles, who began to worry that Henry Hays would confess — and, by trading testimony against Knowles for a reduced sentence, leave him bearing the greater burden of guilt.”
“In June of 1983, Knowles confessed to F.B.I. agent Bodman. After pleading guilty to violating Michael Donald’s civil rights, he was placed in the Federal witness protection program — a fairly standard accommodation for Klan informers — and sentenced to life in prison. In December, when Henry Hays was tried for capital murder, Knowles appeared as a prosecution witness.”
Henry Hays was found guilty. “Hays was executed in Alabama electric chair Yellow Mama after Governor Fob James refused to commute his sentence. He was the first white person executed for murder of a black in Alabama since 1913.” Mr. Hays died June 6, 1997.
“Donald’s mother, Beulah Mae Donald, in assistance of SPLC, sued United Klans of America in a civil suit. An all White jury found the Klan responsible for the lynching of Michael Donald and ordered it to pay 7 million dollars. This resulted in the Klan having to hand over all its assets including its national headquarters in Tuscaloosa.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. This is a repost.
Measuring Racism
PG hears the word “racist” tossed casually so much, he suspects it has lost it’s meaning. Dictionary definitions are of little use. The meaning of the word depends on who is saying it.
The modest suggestion here is for a seven point scale to measure racism. Zero would be totally colorblind, and six would be metaphysical hate. For the sake of simplicity, this scale, in the beginning, will only apply to white-black relations in the United States.
The model for this is the Kinsey scale. In his books on human sexuality, Dr. Kinsey described a seven point scale. Zero was totally heterosexual, and six was totally homosexual.
PG does not have a clue how to write a test for this scale, or how to score this test. White people see racism differently than black people. White people are affected by racism in different ways than black people. Different cultures view racism in different ways.
How would PG score on this scale? He has black friends and black enemies. Certain parts of black culture are enjoyable, and certain parts make him want to turn the radio off.
PG does not like people that do not like PG. When it is us against them, you need to remember which one you are. How does this register on this racism scale? It depends on who does the judging.
This is a repost. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”. These images are from “… a collection of images of downtown Atlanta streets that were taken before the viaduct construction of 1927 – 1929. Later, some of the covered streets became part of Underground Atlanta.” The renovation at Underground never stops.
[ __ ] Head Rock
@GlennLoury and @JohnHMcWhorter are the “Black guys at Bloggingheads dot tv.” PG has been an enthusiastic fan for years, with several posts resulting. (051815 032016 091416 112018 101119) Lately, the show is not as much fun as it used to be. Wokeism is officially boring. There are endless examples of logical ineptitude in America’s racial rectuming. The face that PG largely agrees with BGAB does not make it any more interesting.
Episode 62569 was more engaging. Glenn and John said the magic word 9 times, between 5:08 and 20:17. Youtube’s transcribing bot rendered the phrase-that-pays as [ __ ]. John uttered the hard r eight times, while Glenn was content with one. (one – five six seven eight – nine)
[ __ ] has a special place in America’s problem of color. Glenn and John have the “right” to say the magic word, by virtue of their melanin content. PG’s caucasity forbids him to say, think about, or have opinions about [ __ ]. Many discussions of racism begin with soul stirring denunciations of systemic oppression, only to quickly devolve into “soandso said [ __ ].” Glenn and John have n-word privilege, so it is ok. [ __ ] puts the privy back in privilege.
PG has written two posts about the magic word, which sum up a lot of what he thinks. The Ta-Nehisi Coates Video deconstructs the “perfect answer” to why white people shouldn’t say you-know-what. In James Baldwin And The Word, there is a video. The author has a few common sense observations about the magic word. Later, PG substitutes “racist” for [ __ ], with amusing results.
The Racist Rock of Wisconsin is a key player in today’s drama. “The University of Wisconsin was removing a 70-ton boulder from its Madison campus on Friday at the request of minority students, who view the rock as a symbol of racism. Chamberlin Rock … was referred to as a derogatory name for Black people ([ __ ] head) in a Wisconsin State Journal story in 1925 … University Chancellor Rebecca Blank approved removing Chamberlin Rock in January but the Wisconsin Historical Society needed to sign off because the boulder was located within 15 feet of a Native American burial site”.
@JohnHMcWhorter wrote an opinion piece about the rock, for the paywall happy New York Times. He thought the students were a bunch of pathetic snowflakes. Why be triggered by a rock, which someone called [ __ ] head 96 years ago? Dr. McWhorter had a few choice words for the UW-Madison administration, which he saw giving into the demands of entitled children. To him, the decision to remove [ __ ] head rock was “racist.”
“… you use the r word in reference to her and i wanted to be clear I am not saying Rebecca Blank is a racist because one I don’t know and two she almost certainly is not under any sense of the word that makes sense …” John was careful to make the distinction between “doing something racist” and “racist.” This was generous of BGAB. In social justice jihad, you get called racist for any transgression, no matter how minor. You are guilty until proven innocent. If you don’t like being called racist, then quit being a racist. How hard is that?
Rebecca Blank is a professional acquaintance of Glenn’s. Throughout the discourse, BGAB took greats pains to says that they were not calling her a racist. As it turns out, her twitter handle is @BeckyBlank. Before Karen, Becky was America’s favorite racial slur for white women. Rebecca Blank may not be a racist, but she is a Becky.
Intellectual Bulimia
One of the touted TED talks in the weekly email is Color blind or color brave? It is by Mellody Hobson, a POC in the investment business. It is the standard call to talk more about race. Talk, talk, talk, and talk some more. The word listen is not used.
At the 3:13 mark, Mrs. Hobson makes a remarkable statement. “Now I know there are people out there who will say that the election of Barack Obama meant that it was the end of racial discrimination for all eternity, right?” (Yes, this is a TED talk.) It is possible that someone has said that. There are also people who say the earth is flat.
PG asked Mr. Google about this. The top two results are about the TED talk. The third result is an article in Forbes magazine, Racism In America Is Over. It is written by John McWhorter, one of the “black guys at Bloggingheads.tv.” Dr. McWhorter does say racism is over, sort of. The problems that remain are a lot worse. Too much food for thought, for a population with intellectual bulimia.
There is a quote in the Forbes article that is pure gold. “When decrying racism opens no door and teaches no skill, it becomes a schoolroom tattletale affair. It is unworthy of all of us: “He’s just a racist” intoned like “nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!””
There are a lot more results. PG is getting tired of looking. If you want to see for yourself, google “the election of Barack Obama meant that it was the end of racial discrimination for all eternity.” Except for a rogue title editor at Forbes, almost nobody has said that. This is a repost. Pictures today are from “The Special Collections and Archives, Georgia State University Library”.
Chamblee54 
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