You are fortunate, Gailee. My maternal family, Florida Crackers all to this day, are as racist as humanly possible. I'm practically an anomaly within the entire clan. If anyone wants to know where the term Cracker comes from I'll gladly tell you.
My great-great grandparents, poor farmers just a couple of generations off the boat, were among those "homesteaders" who were given land belonging to no-one - that is the land of the Seminole and other indigenous nations in the region of the St. John's River in the NE part of the state. The Spanish, who founded St. Augustine in 1565, ceded the area to the US in the early 19th century. That's when my ancestors started rounding up and branding the cattle left by the Spanish when they sailed home. The cattle flourished in the pine woods.
Florida became a state - among the most brutal of slave states, by the way.
My great-grandmother would tell of getting the food ready for the annual communal cattle drive from the St. Johns area to Tampa Bay and then to Cuba, Mexico and Texas: new calves would be branded and the ones headed for market would be part of the annual drive. The cracking of the whips - well, the ranchers were called Crackers.
But believe me, there was a lot of whip-cracking in the brutal treatment of slaves in the Sunshine State.
Thank you for sharing your story and the history lesson.
I live in Florida where I love the lifestyle and climate….the political climate..ugh!
In the past,anti-Semitic groups have hung signs( don’t want to give the words any more oxygen) over a local I95 overpass for several hours. According to the Florida Highway Patrol it was an illegal offense, but not one the group could be arrested for…so NOTHING happened to this hate group.
Don't forget the gigantic confederate battle flag that waved over I75 for so long where it was seen by everyone travelling on that highway. I live in Florida too. UGH
It was so disconcerting to me that the sheriff’s (aligned with TFG) deputies were there for several hours “monitoring “. Apparently FHP has jurisdiction for the overpass but it took them 2 hours to determine this was illegal, communicate to deputies, and to ask protesters/haters to leave?
On a + note, a senior editor at Huff Post wrote an in-depth article last week about how we became a breeding ground for 1/6 rioters here on the Space Coast. One small step for man, one giant leap backwards for mankind !
My heart. More than anything, I wish my parents were still alive. Children during the depression - my mother would be awakened in the middle of the night to move. Each move was a move down. I grew up with books, music, never one racist, sexist, homophobic comment by either of my parents. There were books of all the religions of the world. We were given amazing educations and the opportunities to make our own decisions. My mother's father was French Catholic. Her mother was Protestant. The priest wouldn't recognize the marriage. I'm grateful that we were never brought up in a rigidly religious (or political) home. My mother began college my freshman year. You are a truly amazing being. I would love to meet you one day.
Gailee, thank you. What a beautiful thing to say. I hope we do meet someday! I can't tell you why it is that I ended up on the other end of the spectrum from my maternal family. I think it has most to do with the children's songs in church: "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world: red and yellow, black and white - they are precious in his sight." and Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong: we are weak but he is strong." Those songs and the stories of Jesus holding little children up as the inheritors of the Kingdom, brought me through a childhood of lots of abuse. A number of people came across my path at various times who were seminal to the ways in which my path twisted and turned, the latest of which was my study advisor Gary Dorrien at Union Theological Seminary. My Mdiv focus was Christian Social Ethics. I wonder sometimes what would have become of be if I had had an easier childhood...
My parents
You are fortunate, Gailee. My maternal family, Florida Crackers all to this day, are as racist as humanly possible. I'm practically an anomaly within the entire clan. If anyone wants to know where the term Cracker comes from I'll gladly tell you.
Rosalind, do tell! I’m curious.
My great-great grandparents, poor farmers just a couple of generations off the boat, were among those "homesteaders" who were given land belonging to no-one - that is the land of the Seminole and other indigenous nations in the region of the St. John's River in the NE part of the state. The Spanish, who founded St. Augustine in 1565, ceded the area to the US in the early 19th century. That's when my ancestors started rounding up and branding the cattle left by the Spanish when they sailed home. The cattle flourished in the pine woods.
Florida became a state - among the most brutal of slave states, by the way.
My great-grandmother would tell of getting the food ready for the annual communal cattle drive from the St. Johns area to Tampa Bay and then to Cuba, Mexico and Texas: new calves would be branded and the ones headed for market would be part of the annual drive. The cracking of the whips - well, the ranchers were called Crackers.
But believe me, there was a lot of whip-cracking in the brutal treatment of slaves in the Sunshine State.
Rosalind,
Thank you for sharing your story and the history lesson.
I live in Florida where I love the lifestyle and climate….the political climate..ugh!
In the past,anti-Semitic groups have hung signs( don’t want to give the words any more oxygen) over a local I95 overpass for several hours. According to the Florida Highway Patrol it was an illegal offense, but not one the group could be arrested for…so NOTHING happened to this hate group.
When did this happen? December 2021
Don't forget the gigantic confederate battle flag that waved over I75 for so long where it was seen by everyone travelling on that highway. I live in Florida too. UGH
I remember that flag on trips to the west coast !
It was so disconcerting to me that the sheriff’s (aligned with TFG) deputies were there for several hours “monitoring “. Apparently FHP has jurisdiction for the overpass but it took them 2 hours to determine this was illegal, communicate to deputies, and to ask protesters/haters to leave?
On a + note, a senior editor at Huff Post wrote an in-depth article last week about how we became a breeding ground for 1/6 rioters here on the Space Coast. One small step for man, one giant leap backwards for mankind !
Lordy, the tales still untold. Go CRT
My heart. More than anything, I wish my parents were still alive. Children during the depression - my mother would be awakened in the middle of the night to move. Each move was a move down. I grew up with books, music, never one racist, sexist, homophobic comment by either of my parents. There were books of all the religions of the world. We were given amazing educations and the opportunities to make our own decisions. My mother's father was French Catholic. Her mother was Protestant. The priest wouldn't recognize the marriage. I'm grateful that we were never brought up in a rigidly religious (or political) home. My mother began college my freshman year. You are a truly amazing being. I would love to meet you one day.
Gailee, thank you. What a beautiful thing to say. I hope we do meet someday! I can't tell you why it is that I ended up on the other end of the spectrum from my maternal family. I think it has most to do with the children's songs in church: "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world: red and yellow, black and white - they are precious in his sight." and Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong: we are weak but he is strong." Those songs and the stories of Jesus holding little children up as the inheritors of the Kingdom, brought me through a childhood of lots of abuse. A number of people came across my path at various times who were seminal to the ways in which my path twisted and turned, the latest of which was my study advisor Gary Dorrien at Union Theological Seminary. My Mdiv focus was Christian Social Ethics. I wonder sometimes what would have become of be if I had had an easier childhood...