[Warning: the 13th paragraph of this piece, beginning “They did,” graphically describes racial violence.] July 16 marks the 160th anniversary of the most destructive riot in U.S. history. On July 13, 1863, certain Democrats in New York City rose up against the Lincoln administration. Four days later, at least 119 people were dead, another 2,000 wounded. Rioters destroyed between $1 and $5 million in property including about fifty buildings, two churches, and an asylum for orphaned Black children. In today’s dollars, that would be between $20 million and about $96 million in damage.
And no fair-minded person can miss the racial animus today with the Republicans continuing and heightening their attack on fair elections by gerrymandering Black voters out of the process.
And we now have a religious RW super majority SCOTUS deciding that discrimination is acceptable by saying religious objections are a valid excuse to prevent serving a public business, racism "doesn't exist any more" and that women are deemed irrelevant, since they can't control their own bodies. Will that super majority next say that slavery is OK? I wouldn't put it past them.
"Will that super majority next say that slavery is OK? I wouldn't put it past them." We have witnessed the ability of man to RATIONALIZE ANYTHING, so slavery per se - no. Low pay, long hours, poor healthcare, poor housing, etc, YES!!
Marge, I was just thinking about child labor and of course, convict labor. Plus there is the labor of the undocumented who cannot dare say anything. Oligarchs getting richer and opposing anything that helps the more unfortunate.
In a real sense, our healthcare system is a form of slavery. If people must work to be able to obtain healthcare, they are chained to jobs. Immigrant work visas chain the recipient not only to work but also to a specific company. Hard to unionize, make a complaint about wage theft or unsafe working conditions when the punishment is being sent back.
Barbara, and many beautiful, brilliant people of color will continue to be born and will continue to rise to the top because they choose working hard and educating themselves and they will rise to the top as others continue to fight and argue and make IGNORANT decisions that are weakening our nation and point their fingers.....rather than serve as responsible citizens of this great country. Maybe they just do not know how to govern. Maybe they are choosing to destroy our nation. Just observe the recent decisions they have made. Are these leaders??
People of color will grow in influence and wisdom. The battle against prejudice has and will continue to grow people of color into the salvation of this nation and the world while small minded white people continue to shoot themselves in the foot over ignorant and thoughtless ideologies. ( I am a white woman if you need to know)
Women of all colors will grow stronger...
LGBTQ citizens are also making great contributions.....we will be such a better nation and be able to contribute so much more goodness towards healing our plant and growing as the human race if we would accept one another and work together!!!
Each and all of us need to focus TOGETHER on the good we can do working for the well-being of our world and for our planet.
As they always have. It is better to have the hoi polloi fighting each other while the wealthy make off with the fruits of their labor behind gated estates and communities. And tell poor whites that their white skin makes them superior to any POC.
Excellent! You have characterized an optimal America....
Playing devil's advocate, I need a lesson on politically correct terminology. Why is it OK to say "people of color" and not "colored people?" Historical context? Why is Black men capitalized and not white people?
Gina's right. Down here the moniker of "colored people", along with "Negro", were the standard words used most specifically for Black people/African-Americans, and used up through the '60s. Both more or less went out of favor in the rest of the country before they fell from favor in the South. I was brought up to say "colored people", or "Negroes", which when rendered in Southern dialect, came out "Nigras". The other more pejorative "N" word was considered "low-class", at least in my home. The term "colored people" does have negative associations for Black people, which I can understand, even though the term did hang on in some areas --Archie Bunker tended to refer to Black people as "coloreds", showing it wasn't just in the South. It's really weird how languages can evolve and adapt all by themselves, but I also think that in the US press and media, there was an unspoken rule that came about in the '60s/'70s to avoid using these monikers, in favor of Black of African-American. Now, the latter of these two is used a bit less now. A lot of the impetus for these changes came from the Black communities themselves, which is what SHOULD happen, but it was a gradual shift. I'm a big-time language nerd and it fascinates me to no end!
Bruce, I had a similar upbringing. My racist dad and uncles used the N word, but my more thoughtful mom and her relatives used "colored people", or "Negroes" to show they weren't full or hatred and contempt. I think the term "Black" became acceptable with the introduction of "Black Power".
I’m interested in words also. Especially their roots.
In my house growing up we used the term colored people which to me and my family was a respectful term because the Blacks we knew then were respectable people. I didn’t know any disreputable Blacks. I still feel colored people is the warmer term but I don’t use it in ordinary conversations in case it’s offensive. Everyone knows it’s really not about the words anyway. It’s the love or malice behind them.
Speaking only for myself (and maybe flying in the face of what has become standard practice), I tend to capitalize the letter of the color when describing a race collectively. In a way, I see doing that as simply a courtesy. "B" for "Black people; "W" for White people; "B" for Brown people. In my opinion that kind of elevates the color descriptor applied to a race and slightly sets it apart. I don't think we use any other specific color descriptors for races, right? If we had Green or Purple people I'd capitalize those too. Generally, I use the "POC" letter combination to mean anyone non-White. If I refer to Native Americans, I would capitalize Indigenous. We do it for almost any qualifying of a race (Asian, Pacific Islander, Inuit, etc. etc.), so capitalizing the color descriptor seems to follow the same rule. Again, this is just me . . . not Strunk & White, or Chicago Manual of Style.
If I remember correctly, W.E.B. du Bois (pronounced 'du boys') used 'negro' in referring to black people, and the NAACP is the National Association for the Advancement of ... (you know the rest). Not exactly right wing white supremacist racists. I don't see the point of capitalizing color words when referring to people, but, if you do so, it should be for all colors, as someone stated above.
Yes, but DuBois and the NAACP are products of an earlier time when these terms were more widely accepted. The practice has shifted and these terms have fallen out of favor. I think it wisest to defer to how Black people themselves prefer to be referred to and that seems to be "Black", "African-American", or even lumped into "POC" (or even "BIPOC").
I was someone who said above I prefer to capitalize ALL color words when referring to a race. What is true for one should be true for all.
Emily, your remarks reminded me of a conversation I had with two of my oldest friends this week. We met in college in 1970. We’re all old white women, and unapologetically liberal. We were sitting around the dining table repairing the binding on a quilt. Yes, literally, a quilting bee. ☺️ The talk had turned to politics in our home state, and I remarked how heartbroken I had been when Stacy Abrams had lost the second time to that numbskull, Brian Kemp. My friend MJ, barely looking up from her hands, said, “I don’t think we’ve heard the last from Stacy Abrams.” I have to agree, and we will all be better for it when she wins. There are so many astoundingly smart and talented Black politicians. Stacy is one of the shining stars. It will happen. I just hope I’m alive to see it.
Years and years ago I read of an experiment done in puddles with fish that kept mating with one another because the puddle held only that species. After some time the evolutionary evidence showed that the fish actually mated themselves into disease and extinction because they kept in-breeding. Integration of healthy species leads to healthier species. And out of that comes a healthier ability to gain intellect, character, adulthood . Mixing the best of all is practiced throughout nature.
We trap ourselves, particularly when “character” has an ability to grow and we shut its’ advancement down by in-breeding the same old need to make someone( something) wrong in order to be right.
Getting our history out there in Black and White will advance our thinking.
I do not for a moment think that the members of SCOTUS that voted the way they have and take bribes, just big grifters, believe in a just and all powerful God. In fact, I have a hard time imagining what they might believe about their actions, if they feel that afterlife is important, and judgement will be called upon them. Obviously, they feel that they can sin all they want and atone for it in the end through confession like in the Godfather. As for slavery, it exists in many forms right here in the USA. Slavery is still legal for people in prisons, a shocking part of our constitution that seems to allow for abuse. What our prison system says about our country is not very good. Secondly, states like Florida are known to keep people in slavery in the agricultural sector. Thirdly, there are people in Red states and Blue that are kept in slavery by their employers taking away their passports and making them work in horrendous conditions as well as beating them when they do not comply. Then we have women who are kept enslaved in sex work. Not just foreign women, but also minors. So, slavery goes on, even in most instances it is illegal, which is another reason that the Evangelical Church disgusts me, because as I have been reading, and watching programs about it more and more of late trying to understand this voting block of support for Donald Trump, I see that the men have turned their women and children into slaves too. Look at the story of the Duggars and other stories of members of their so called "Church," the IBLP.
For the Supreme Court members, it is pure hubris and they can confess all the want, they are still reprehensible in their decisions and lack of ethics.
Linda, these are sins of unfettered capitalism. If the multi billionaires of this world would recognize that working people helped them make their fortunes then instead of building huge yachts they might have on-site child care for their employees, give them decent medical benefits, provide low cost housing, and give grants to local schools. Instead they pass these actions on to a government that they work to minimize an d starve of funds. Only a woke electorate can bring about true reform but 50% of the public have their eyes and ears close.
Hello, Linda. Have you watched the Amazon Prime documentary "Shiny, Happy People"? It's an expose of Bill Gothard ,IBLP, and their connection with the Duggar family. It also details the impact that TLC's series promoting the Duggars had on spreading Gothard's "gospel". Disturbing to put it mildly.
An ironic juxtaposition of the comments of (a) George Baum and (b) Kamila Novicki about (a) the behavior of the multibillionaires and (b) an Amazon Prime documentary about the Duggars.
Sadly, Linda, human slavery is a global phenomenon…man’s inhumanity to man on display, tho’ gussied up using other terms (employment, inmate, spouse, child, etc.) than the “slavery”/indentured servitude it really is.
Let us hope that the public at large wakes up to what Mitch McConnell has wrought and vote the bastards out of office. Mitch beware of what you wish for. This country is not a Christian Democracy. And the people do not want their bible based nonsense shoved down their throats. We have no problem with what anyone believes as long as it is not foisted on everyone else. Freedom means doing whatever you want as long it does not harm others.
I would expand that to say that freedom also comes with responsibilities to our fellow citizens. We have long defined freedom mainly in individualistic terms. That, I am glad to say, is shifting to a perspective that includes our participation as members of the communities we live in and participate in, from our neighborhoods to our nation... and beyond.
Annie, yes, you describe the long-held concept of “the commons”…we seem to forget that. “The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth.” Instead we privatized and plundered to satisfy our greed at the expense of what sustains us all. Unfortunately, we now see where it’s gotten us.
Well, not quite. You can inject all the drugs you want in private for instance, but that 911 call and emergency hospitalization takes attention away from other sick people and may cost the taxpayers if you can’t pay. There are indirect costs to others when you “do whatever you want.”
They are a total disgrace. I think about McConnell and wonder how he can stand himself for what he was responsible for with the appointments to the Supreme Court.
Linda, thanks for these links. As one who has "a dog in the fight", I read with interest the "respect marriage" link and have come to wonder: What about my religious beliefs in this matter? Why is their Christian Nationalist religion more important than mine? Why do they get to decide, on the basis of what their religion says, what I can and cannot do that my religion calls me to do?
As has been pointed out to me, many times, by many people here, the conduct of the white Christian Nationalists is not "Christ like" and therefore they shouldn't be lumped in with the "real" Christians, who do follow Jesus's teachings. So why is it that their "flavor" of Christianity is the "one, true way"? Why aren't other "flavors" of equal importance?
Indiana has always been racist. I grew up in northern Indiana and that made no difference. Read A Fever in the Heartland which focuses mostly on the KKK in Indiana during the 1920s....a book mentioned several times by posters here.
Yes. Agreed! Drove from Chicago to Bloomington with a Russian Jewish friend in the 80s, to pick up artwork of a friend from her ex-boyfriend who was in graduate school there. I told my Russian Jewish friend, with a big camera hanging around his neck, that we were not stopping at any bathrooms along the way, because for some reason he just stood out with his camera. Bloomington was great, but then we went to a State fair with our friends at Indianan U, where the lot was filled with pick up trucks that had shotguns hanging on gun racks and signs like "We hunt coons with blueticks." I got the double entendre. I knew that the KKK had been active recently in the state, and it worried me. At the state fair we saw a John Birch Society booth was the best attended in the fair. We went in and did not have any problems, but I imagine that if we had been talking with people it could have been different.
Bloomington is a light in the darkness of southern Indiana. I had friends who grew up in southern Indiana. One made it a point to lose the twang. The other told me you could cut the prejudice with a knife. There were parts of her home county that weren't safe to go to...Lawrence County, Bedford is the county seat...just south of Monroe County where Bloomington is.
You mean the guy who said that other cases that were based on the same foundation as Roe should be looked at? The guy who thinks that gay sex (Lawrence v. Texas), gay marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges), and easy access to contraception (Griswold v. Connecticut) should go the way of Roe v. Wade? Yeah, who happened to leave out Loving v, Virginia. Gee, I wonder why.
The debatable constitutional principle underlying these cases is "substantive due process." Is that a viable doctrine for interpreting the Constitution? If so, where can I find a good explanation?
Before slavery the Extreme Court will make up some history and declare the 19th Amendment void and strip women of the right to vote or hold office or be judges.
Yes. The piece yesterday in Propublica on Georgians contesting 89,000 voters causing someone in full throes of cancer to have to leave their hospital bed to go to a 2-hour hearing to defend their right to vote, all issued mostly from the same 6 right wing people is a scandal of the highest proportions. I hope that the Justice Department goes after them.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
The first recorded use of this expression is by French critic, journalist and novelist Alphonse Karr in 1849 in Les Guêpes, a monthly journal he founded: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose .
What an outstanding point of view of those events. I've heard bits and pieces of this story before but of course the way you present it here reflects what's going on today, to some degree.
One thing it shows is the dis ingenious Republicans taking advantage of their lesser people by touting that this republican party is the party of Lincoln that freed the slaves ! Thanks Dr. Richardson.
This history serves as a warning to rank and file members of our Democratic Party of 2023 to hold our own establishment operatives accountable to prevent a similar change. To fear subscribing to the hubris that "this cannot happen to us" seems like healthy fear.
The Republican Party has not changed for some time. We were just not able to see them for what they were when they put affable hate mongers in power (like Reagan and Bush I and II).
Listen to this podcast by Rachel Maddow where she outlines the origins of "America First". Beyond unbelievable to an ignorant like me. Republicans have been fascist bent for a long time.
Now, this podcast takes time, I mostly prefer reading, but this particular podcast is well worth the time invested. Absolutely history we should ALL know.
A modern example of the fascist bent the Republicans have taken: On September 11, 2001 planes hit the World Trade Center as a result of George Bush repeatedly ignoring warnings by the CIA that some form of attack, led by Osama Bin Laden, would occur.
Bush's popularity had been waning prior to this event, and initial reports of Bush's oversight in the press were embarrassing.
Now, not one of the pilots flying the planes that hit the world trade center that day were from Afghanistan, the attack was not planned in Afghanistan nor was the training for the mission conducted in Afghanistan.
One could make the argument that Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda DID reside after the US had created it to ward off the Soviet Invasion in the 1970's, had absolutely NOTHING to do with the World Trade Center twin tower collapse.
One could also make the argument, with the public knowledge at the time, that the World Trade Center collapse was due entirely to George W. Bush sleeping through his intelligence briefings, where, Osama Bin Laden, was mentioned as a threat (note Osama Bin Laden was ALSO not in Afghanistan, he was in Pakistan).
BUT?? After the World Trade Center Bush II began a highly effective disinformation campaign to take the heat off of his own culpability and point Americans toward Afghanistan. Then, we invaded a country where essentially 100% of the people were innocent of any attack on America.
And? We did all that just to take the embarrassment focus factor off of George W. Bush II. We did NOT invade Afghanistan because it had any culpability, at all, in the World Trade Center collapse.
A fascist would start a not needed war just to avoid the embarrassing fact that he was incompetent and ignored warnings about Osama Bin Laden.
Note, the planning for the attack occurred in Germany and the training for the attack on the World Trade Center occurred RIGHT HERE IN THE US IN FLORIDA FLIGHT SCHOOLS.
Thank you Mike. This truth is not being discussed because it's not popular. What country wants to admit that it was led by a dunderhead puppet of the neocons and the military industrial complex oligarchs? Nobody wants to say it, but in many ways it was Halliburton's war. Our kids were just canon fodder.
One of the many ironies of this war on innocents for me is the common idiocy of Afghanistan and Vietnam. Crimes against humanity.
The French spent decades trying to subdue the Vietnamese. They failed and left. We thought we could do it. We failed. And we killed or disrupted the lives of millions.
The Russians spent decades trying to subdue the Afghans. They failed and left. We thought we could do it. We failed. And we killed or disrupted the lives of millions.
But maybe we just needed the practice? So we invaded another country that had posed no direct threat to the US. We failed and we left. Is Iraq the third strike?
In each case we wrapped our cause in a false promise. We tried to "nation build". And we failed each time. It was American hubris and American greed on display. Death for MIC money.
As the song goes: "...when will they ever learn, when will they eevverrrr learn?"
It is wonderfully amazing that our standing in the world has been resurrected by President Biden. He has performed diplomatic miracles. If I were a citizen of the Middle East or Asia, why would I trust a country that spends trillions on needless wars? A country that thinks it can convince people with bombs, napalm and drones?
"Nobody wants to say it, but in many ways it was Halliburton's war. Our kids were just canon fodder."
Definitely, the invasion of Iraq was Haliburton's war for sure. Afghanistan, well, perhaps but Afghanistan is sans oil as far as I know.
And, yes, the invasion of Iraq, based on another disinformation campaign and lies about Al Qaeda being in Iraq (who would think Saddam Hussein would put up with an alternative power source in Iraq?) WAS a fascist move. Also, Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq (which the weapons inspectors put on the ground by Ronnie himself, dispelled publicly in all major publications).....another disinformation campaign that broadly failed among a significant population BUT......
Bush went on anyway. Then, came no bid Haliburton projects.
Based on lies that, even I, at the time, who had voted Republican to that point in my adult life, could see.
On the day of the Iraq invasion, I became a permanent Democrat and remain an embarrassed former Republican who had been duped by propaganda that started with Reagan when I was 19.
We forget that two Republican oilmen got US into useless, horrible wars. Thank you for the reminders. It’s also good that Reagan is at last being remembered for who he was.
Dovetailing on Mike's quote of Bill about "our kids being cannon fodder" I want to go a step further. With an all volunteer army, the impact of the 20 year GWOT was borne by (and I don't have the exact stats, so I am making my best guess at recall here) 10% of the number called to fight in Viet Nam. In that (also futile) war, many were called for one hitch. In GWOT, few were called and served multiple deployments, and in several cases, had both parent and child serve in the Armed Forces in "the sandbox".
That is a significant difference. Another word for "all volunteer army" is "mercenary army." This change took it away from our early roots and the present Swiss model in which "the people are the army." This change coupled with tight oligarch control of a media by design made certain that "the mercenary army" could be conscripted to serve corporate ruling class economic interests all over the globe and the rank and file citizens would hardly even be conscious that their military was being used shamefully, not to "defend democracy." Note the Swiss Constitution has a safety that prevents their citizen army from being used by Swiss Corporations. Developed nations governments regulate their nations' corporations. We have transitioned to where a ruling class representing corporations for all practical purposes regulates our federal government.
And yet, we wonder how Dems could have voted to allow Bush the authority to attack Iraq. My theory is this: many informed Congress members did not believe that Iraq was a threat to us, nuclear or otherwise, despite Colin Powell's famous warning. The Big Lie they believed was NOT that Iraq was a threat to us or even to Israel; the Big Lie people (see...Al Franken) believed was that the administration Knew What It Was Doing and that America Would Do the Right Thing even if we all didn't understand it. Turns out, the Bush Admin was basically ignorant of MidEast history and didn't have a clue, plus they were guided by greed and desire for power.
Excellent assessment, Mike. I will never forget the video of Shrub reading to some school children, and the look on his face when told about the attacks on the WTC. I do not forget that the only planes allowed out of the US contained Saudis that were friends of the Bush family. "A fascist would start a not needed war just to avoid the embarrassing fact that he was incompetent and had ignored warnings about Osama Bin Laden". A good Republican would, however, create an environment where his friends (and VP) could make a metric crap ton of money in that not needed war.
Mike S, thanks from me also for the history lesson of our failures; and it DOES point out the incredible job Biden is doing to repair our reputation and bring nations together. And thanks for the link to Rachel Maddow podcast, I will try to find it.
The things I have read about the transition from "Eisenhower Republican" to where we are today (and, IMO, we haven't arrived at their version of "perfection" yet) has the actions taken by LBJ with respect to civil rights, and getting the Civil Rights Act passed was the pivot point. Nixon (or one of his band of merry men) coined the "Southern Strategy" whereby they took the Democrats of the "solid south" (aka the "Dixiecrats") and welcomed them into the Republican party; they also courted white Evangelical Christians at the time (even Barry Goldwater was against that, suggesting that was a road not to go down). The constant of the Republican party throughout time, however, is that the wealthy oligarchs have always been a part of that party, irrespective of the "social" bent of the party. So, in some ways, they've changed on the social platform but remain in lock-step about favoring the wealthy white men with money.
"So, in some ways, they've changed on the social platform but remain in lock-step about favoring the wealthy white men with money."
Or, they have continued to maintain the social platform of the antebellum south where a small number of white plantation owners controlled......EVERYTHING.
Ed, I am glad you reminded us that there have been two significant switches in the Republican Party. For a lot of us, the first shift is confusing, because it took place far enough in the past, when so much was changing in our country. Itt's easy to forget that the Democratic party of Lincoln's time was not the same as the party of today. That whole process is kind of mind-bending: though I've known of it since childhood, the manner in which it happened still perplexes me. Somehow human conscience kicked in during a period of intense questioning and northern Dems stepped into the breach.
Southern Dems supporting white supremacy did not, and for years sought to undermine the movement toward equity. Then, their legal status challenged by black voters who won when their candidates were seated in lieu of the white slate, the old school Southern Dems turned to the Republican party- by then taken over by power seeking elements, and the switch was complete.
For many people, that is the switch that often isn't clearly seen for what it was: the stepping away from the GOP, which had served as a complementary ballast for the efforts by Dems to move the USA into a more democratic place. Increasingly, the Republicans picked up the philosophy of an authoritarianism that has long been the undercurrent holding us back. They are no longer the GOP, but a ragtag force against democracy. Those Republicans who could be the ballast seem unwilling to stand up for decency in the numbers needed to keep the minority extremists from taking over.
Your closing paragraph makes an important point. We do need that healthy fear and the willingness to work to keep the Democratic party going in the right direction.
Thanks, Annie. The "ragtag force" is funded well enough to end democracy. All it takes is party candidates willing enough to sell our government to the buyers.
'As the business capital of the nation, New York City had not welcomed the onset of the Civil War, as it meant losing the South as an important trading partner.'
'Cotton was an extremely valuable product for New York’s merchants: Before the Civil War, cotton represented 40 percent of all the goods shipped out of the city’s port. And long after the slavery trade was made illegal in 1808, the city’s underground market in enslaved people continued to thrive.'
'As the war progressed, New York’s anti-war politicians and newspapers kept warning its working-class white citizens, many of them Irish or German immigrants, that emancipation would mean their replacement in the labor force by thousands of freed enslaved people from the South.'
'In September 1862, President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation (which would take effect early the following year), confirming the workers’ worst fears.'
'At the time, Lincoln’s decision for emancipation sparked protests among workers in the city, as well as soldiers and officers in New York regiments who had signed up to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery.'
'Aftermath and Legacy'
'In addition to the death toll, the riots had caused millions of dollars in property damage and made some 3,000 of the city’s Black residents homeless.'
'When the Colored Orphan Asylum attempted to rebuild on the same site after the riots, neighboring property owners protested, and the orphanage would eventually be relocated to the sparsely settled area north of the city that would later become Harlem.'
'Stunned by the riots, the abolitionist movement in New York City revived itself slowly, and in March 1864, less than a year after the draft riots, New York City saw its first all-Black volunteer regiment in the Union Army march with pomp and circumstance through the streets before boarding their ship in the Hudson River.'
'But despite this meaningful victory, the draft riots would have a devastating impact on the city’s Black community. While the 1860 census recorded 12,414 Black New Yorkers, by 1865 the city’s Black population had declined to 9,945 by 1865, the lowest number since 1820.' (History.com) See link below.
They need to teach this in school. Maybe they do teach this somewhere. I never learned about this from school. Especially some of the detail put forth by you and Dr. Richardson.
The American people have been systematically robbed of our rightful inheritance -- the knowledge of and connection to our own past. We have become so ignorant of cause and effect that we can’t believe how we got here now, where our democracy hangs by a thread, while so many can’t be bothered to vote, because the connection to our past has been stolen from us. Take away the ‘why, when, where, how and whom’ and nothing makes sense. No reason to do anything. Those who deny us our true history are an enemy. No both sides-ing is appropriate as far as I can see.
Thank you, Mary Hardt, for sharing your interest in the consequences of this devasting riot. We see at that time, 160 years ago, some of the same forces at work against Black people, along with other principles of democracy that we must continue to work, fight and struggle for.
The labels of the groups working against minorities and principles of democracy may change, but their actions are always the same. Thank you for your presentation of additional facts.
Among the least known stories of the brutal attrocities committed against black people is told by Jill Lepore in her book, Burning New York. Just 40 years before the country declared our Independence based on words we all know and love, black people were burned at the stake in New York.
I was a Selective Service board member and local chairman for 20 years, ending in 2008. I’m embarrassed that I never learned this bit of history. If I ever had it included in a history text, it was probably one paragraph and never discussed. My husband with East Texas education said he had read of it in recent years. I am learning so much vital American history from these daily readings. Thank you Heather and all of you faithful participants in these daily discussions.
What happened in New York City is astounding, and some how the information has eluded me all these years. Thank you. Such hatred and brutality still lurk today beneath a veneer that's easy to see through.
The Republican Party is the party that was for freeing the slaves. The Democratic Party was not, so your comment is odd. And, It was predominately the Democratic Party membership that founded the KKK and killed multitudes of black Americans.
'Fact check: Democratic Party did not found the KKK, did not start the Civil War'
'Historians agree that although factions of the Democratic Party did majorly contribute to the Civil War's start and the KKK's founding, it is inaccurate to say the party is responsible for either.'
'This is not a new argument'
'Princeton University Edwards Professor of American History Tera Hunter told USA TODAY that this trope is a fallback argument used to discredit current Democratic Party policies.'
“At the core of the effort to discredit the current Democratic Party is the refusal to accept the realignment of the party structure in the mid-20th century,” Hunt said.
'In September, NPR host Shereen Marisol Maraji called the claim, “one of the most well-worn clapbacks in modern American politics.”
'Comedian Trevor Noah tackled the misleading trope on an episode of "The Daily Show" in March 2016, after two CNN contributors debated the topic.'
“Every time I go onto Facebook I see these things: ‘Did you know the Democrats are the real racist party and did you know the Republicans freed the slaves?’” Noah joked. “A lot of people like to skip over the fact that when it comes to race relations, historically, Republicans and Democrats switched positions.”
'A similar meme attributing the claim to U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson has been circulating on social media since November 2016.'
“Who started the KKK? That was Democrats. Who was the party of slavery? Who was the part of Jim Crow and segregation? Who opposed the Civil Rights Movement? Who opposed voting rights? It was all the Democrats,” the meme reads.
'Other posts making more specific claims about the Democratic Party starting the Civil War or founding the KKK continue to circulate.'
'This trope was rated false by PolitiFact and the Associated Press in October 2018.' (USAToday) See link below.
Thank you, Marge. Among the fine aspects of subscribing to LFAA is learning from HCR as well as from subscribers who participate on this forum and extending my learning through research. We are together in our work on behalf of democracy.
I didn't say it was the Democratic Party that founded the KKK. I said it was a majority of Democrats that founded the KKK and that is true! I didn't say Dems started the Civil War. It was more Republican war because Lincoln was President.
'A group including many former Confederate veterans founded the first branch of the Ku Klux Klan as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865. The first two words of the organization’s name supposedly derived from the Greek word “kyklos,” meaning circle. In the summer of 1867, local branches of the Klan met in a general organizing convention and established what they called an “Invisible Empire of the South.” Leading Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was chosen as the first leader, or “grand wizard,” of the Klan; he presided over a hierarchy of grand dragons, grand titans and grand cyclopses.'
'Founded in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) extended into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for Black Americans. Its members waged an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed at white and Black Republican leaders. Though Congress passed legislation designed to curb Klan terrorism, the organization saw its primary goal—the reestablishment of white supremacy—fulfilled through Democratic victories in state legislatures across the South in the 1870s.'
'After a period of decline, white Protestant nativist groups revived the Klan in the early 20th century, burning crosses and staging rallies, parades and marches denouncing immigrants, Catholics, Jews, African Americans and organized labor. The civil rights movement of the 1960s also saw a surge of Ku Klux Klan activity, including bombings of Black schools and churches and violence against Black and white activists in the South.' (History.com) See link below.
I understand what you're saying. But that was then, this is now. There was a shift in ideology. Todaze Republican party has nothing to do with the Party of Lincoln or for the Republican Party of McCain and Powell for that matter. This is the maga republican party.
And Heather Cox Richardson has spoken and wrote about these processes in detail. Those of us who began following her Letters early on (and then her video talks on FB, which is where LFAA began) are aware of this.
But for many folks coming in later, especially if the only history they have had is the highly condensed and edited high school version, it would not make sense, lacking that context. We are all learning, both from Heather and each other. For many of us, what we learn here spurs us to revisit earlier HCR Letters and the FB videos of her talks.
Some go further, to read other historians with other areas of focus, and start putting together that larger picture. Others look at LFAA as a short way of keeping up on how history shapes current affairs. It is a good idea for all of us to remember that no one of her letters is complete in and of itself, but has connections not only to other of her letters, and the background provided by her talks, but to the perspectives of other historians and observers. It's up to us to go there.
Yes indeed. One of the greatest contributions an educator can make, is to inspire others to further research of their own volition. Professor Richardson and some of her readers do that for me all the time.
As a child growing up in NY in the 1950s and 1960s, I never learned about the draft riots. Reading about them now, learning about them for the first time tonight, I can see how what we do and and don't teach our children about our history warps their understand of who we are today. I have known for a long time about the MA 54th Regiment from the replica of the Robert Gould Shaw memorial at the Brooklyn Museum (https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/262 and https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.102494.html), but I wonder how many people have seen it.
Betsy, same. As a child growing up in California, I never learned that at exactly the same time HCR details, leading up to the Civil War and during, Southern forces were actively working to turn California into a slave state. California's first senator, William Gwin, was a wealthy Mississippi slaveholder who put all his own Southern Cavaliers into federal positions to gain control of the state. A pro-South ally of his shot and killed his main California opposition, Senator David Broderick, in a duel. Gwin and other Southerners, very much including Jefferson Davis, were lobbying to get the Transcontinental Railroad to route through the South to ensure Southern supremacy. And during the war a group of wealthy Southerners, the Knights of the Golden Circle, were working on various fronts to get California to secede with the South or form its own, slaveholding Pacific Republic.
We DON'T get taught the full history of our country. We need to know it and teach it ourselves.
I would also add that California's history is, as you and I am sure many others on this thread are well aware, rather complicated. But it is important to note in the context of HCR's essay tonight, that the American Republic expanded in the mid 19th century by "acquiring" our two largest continental States, Texas/Tejas, and California within the same, one term Presidency of the Tennessean, pro-slavery President, James Knox Polk. Those who sought to take Texas from the nascent Mexican Republic were open about their aims to make it a slave state, while the pro-slavery factions within California were never nearly that strong.
The Mexican American War, perhaps the first of our wholly unnecessary wars, was opposed by a back bencher congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln, who unsuccessfully presented to Congress his "Spot Resolution", demanding to know what exact spot the supposed blood of Americans had been shed by soldiers of Mexico, justifying war.
To give the devil his due, at least Polk was quite honest. When he campaigned for President in 1844, he promised he would take Texas, take California, and serve one term only. He kept each of those promises.
Good morning, Daniel! I've had too much coffee already. It's true, Texas was always far more Southern. I've just been truly shocked by how strong the pro-slavery faction was in California. You have to know it to own it.
As we peruse all this hitherto unrevealed and unpleasant history Alexandra, I may need some of your coffee. Maybe with something a little stronger added thereto!
Born & raised in S California. Is there a good book to read re Ca HX? I have triaged one I read I think it was "Men to Match My MOuntains" In school the hx taught re CA was a lot about the missions & slavery of the indigenous peoples, Spanish land grants. A family story from my great Aunt Ramona told about her father who had a land grant that was taken from him was that the only English he would speak is "Damn Gringos".
Carole, I wish there were just one I could recommend, or a few that even start to cover everything! During the pandemic I read hundreds of histories, biographies, novels, letters, journals of the time - to start piecing it together. I haven't found one yet that follows all the threads that I want to follow (the militia massacres of indigenous peoples, the history of the Black community in San Francisco, feminist history, Chinese history, the Californios, the land grabs (grants), the literary community, the gay community, California's participation (or non-participation) in the Civil War, the silver boom, the transcontinental railroad.
Your question is making me think back over my vast bibliography to see if there's anything that would remotely suit the question, but at the moment I'm coming up blank. Maybe someone else has read something more inclusive? I'd love to know, too!
Your reply reminders me of how complex CA is. For a while I lived on the San Mateo Coast. The local newspaper published weekly history stories of that part of the coast. although every state & region & local has its stories & history, the diversity of CA is truly amazing. Maybe it is a book or 2 or 3 that you plan on writing.
First: what is this "too much coffee" of which you speak? I am unfamiliar with this term.
Second: "You have to know it to own it" EXACTLY SO!! Oregon is as bad (if not worse) than California. We are not, in any way, shape, or form close to owning it.
Yes. Oregon's Constitution prohibited Black people from living in the State. They considered also excluding Chinese, but in the end only Black people were actually named.
However it could also be seen as an easy out of the attempts to balance slave states vs non slave states in admitting new states in the run up to the Civil War. Oregon became a state in 1859.
Hah, Ally! You must be made of stronger stuff. Any more than two cups and I am intolerable. I've read a lot of Oregon history, so entwined with CA's - and you're right, it is horrific, as Mary Ellen notes below. But some great women's history: Abigail Scott Duniway and Frances Fuller Victor are fascinating.
Exactly; I am going to have to look up those women! Coffee tolerance was well established in 20 years of working overnight shifts in law enforcement. I actually did hit "too much" just once; a trainee of mine bought me a six shot mocha (I don't usually drink sweet drinks). YOWZA!
Signs now installed at The Alamo make clear that the fight of the Texans against Mexico was almost entirely related to Mexico's outlawing of slavery, while the Texans, who were illegal aliens in Mexico to begin with, had established slavery as the basis of their economy. These signs were erected during prior administrations and as a national park, Governor Abbott does not have the ability to take them down, if he wanted to.
Thank you Alexandra, 4th generation California here. No, we were not taught the full history of CA, not about the idigenous people, not about the history of the Civil War nor the 1515 Union soldiers that lost their lives at Ft.Wagner nor the full on-going history of this Country. LFAA is good gathering spot to learn, know & teach that history.
Bryan, agree 100%. LFAA is essential. It is so frightening how Facebook and Twitter just stopped promoting any kind of political or historical posts. Thank god/ess - the Universe and HCR for this place.
Thank you Alexandra. I believe a few this in LFAA Community are aware that I monitor Platform legal liability cases & positive state statutory legislation and will comment at LFAA when relevant
Some places in California still retain names chosen by enthusiastic supporters of slavery. Two examples are Fort Bragg (coast, north of SF) and Alabama Hills (near the foot of Mt Whitney, Eastern Sierra).
Perhaps we will get our Fort Bragg renamed, as the base in North Carolina was just renamed to Fort Liberty. I too never knew the origin of the name but a quick search brought up:
"The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall."
Bragg was incompetent, so a huge military installation was named in his honor. His incompetence alone should have disqualified him from the honor, not to mention he was a traitor. We never held the traitors to account after the Civil War.
oh nvm, just did a little more searching and came across this Wikipedia citation:
TLDR: (solely my interpretation) lack of interest and motivation to change the city's name
"In 2015, members of the California Legislative Black Caucus petitioned Fort Bragg to change its name due to Braxton Bragg's links to the Confederacy.[16] The mayor of Fort Bragg at that time, Lindy Peters, stated that there was not really much interest among the residents, and cited the costs that every company and institution in the area would have to pay to change all of the addresses.[22]
There were further calls to change the name in June 2020, following the murder of George Floyd. On June 22, the Fort Bragg City Council considered whether to put a proposition on the November ballot asking its residents if they would like a name change,[23] but decided instead to form an ad hoc committee to explore options for the city's name.[24] They estimated the cost to change the name would be $271,000. Among the alternative options that were explored was to simply rededicate the city to a different notable person named Bragg.[24] By late January 2022, the commission announced that it could not come to a consensus on a name change.[25]"
And with a population of less than 7000 people (and declining) over 3 square miles, the 2023 Fort Bragg Demographics - According to the most recent ACS, the racial composition of Fort Bragg was:
Interestingly I was at the now ex Ft .Bragg NC during the Cuban missile crisis. When the crisis ended and all the called up reservists left, one group of them threw paint on the Airborne statue leaving fingerprints in the paint. They were tracked down as MPs (military police).
Right next to the Manzanar Japanese “internment camp” by the way, which finally got a good visitor center after about 75 years of persistent effort by the victims and their descendants.
Fort Bragg is a tough one. Although I'm a SoCal guy who cannot claim knowledge of the Ft. Bragg area, it seems to me that the Confederate origins of the town's name are wholly ephemeral to the residents there. In other words, not like statues of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Nathan Bedford Forrest are degrading the public space there.
Bragg should have been hanged, along with all the other Confederate soldiers above the rank of sergeant. The town would still be named for a traitor, but at least it would be a traitor who was hanged.
And the amazing part is the amount of past history that is hidden in plain sight. Book banners must not accomplish their plan of controlling a free press - it has reared its head more than once in history
I understand the use of hot-button cultural issues to distract us from the increasing control by our American Oligarchs. But it’s mind-boggling to me how much effort it takes to wind up and sustain public outrage over books and history. Do you think the oligarchs and fascists are literally following the Dictators’ Playbook? Do they collaborate on their agenda as obviously as they coordinate talking points? Do they assign outrages to each member of their group? I always believed that people who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Now I wonder if that belief is ass-backwards. Those who want to repeat history learn from it.
I agree with what you say here, Marge. I love your take on repeating history and learning from it. If you haven't listened to Rachel Maddow's podcast "Ultra", you owe it to yourself to do so. It is mind boggling.
Kristin, I know, right? I have been blown away and really disturbed at how very little I know about the real history of our state, and how we fit into the history of slavery (and its overthrow). It took a LONG time for California to throw off Southern influence and become a progressive force. But we did, and the history of HOW is invaluable.
It's amazing , the extent these folks would go to in order to subjugate other human beings for gain. What kind of mindset do you have to have? Sometimes, I don't want to know the details because being mad is no good. That's why I want our children to learn our history lessons along with Math, Sociology, Physics and Education Thanks for your lesson as well A.S.
"Disneyfied narratives"! What an amazing description of the sanitized history I was given in Southern Oregon in the 60's and 70's. That continued into college, where I took a full year of US history and NEVER HEARD of the things I have learned in three years of reading LFAA.
Death and disaster and even treachery seem to be inevitable, although there seems to be ways to navigate them, even to blunt their impact, that are wiser than others. There is plenty of harsh reality, but also jaw-dropping beauty and kindness. Summer fruits grow on trees. It is a pathetic delusion to suppose that we "conquer" nature, but there are rewards to be reaped and pitfalls to avoid by learning her ways, part of which is taking an earnest look at our own nature. If we mange to improve the integrity of the mechanics of our republic but are poorly informed, the nation will be run by fools.
I am not surprised that any education leaves a whole lot our, but some facts are significant than others, and some reveal patterns that we need to watch for, anticipate, and address. Our medical establishment gave us vital information about what the COVID-19 virus is, and how to minimize its spread, and yet political agendas and wishful thinking markedly increased our death toll in a nation that should have been better positioned than most to minimize the impact with our access to knowledge and resources. The well-researched pattern of climate disruption https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/300/video-climate-spiral-1880-2022/ is becoming self evident. We know from past events what "big lies", oppression and fascism is and yields. We don't look (it) up at our own peril.
The Shaw Memorial original is at the sculptor's home in New Hampshire. St Gauden's, one of America's great sculptors , also did the majestic statue of Gen. Sherman on 5th Ave in NYC
Let me recommend a visit to the Saint-Gaudens park (https://www.nps.gov/saga/index.htm). I remember it as a very tranquil place when I visited with friends on one of our motrcycle day trips to New Hampshire.
Over my first 56 years I thought America had made great strides overcoming racism and hate, arrogance and patriarchy. But 12-13 years ago I learned that there is a whole segment of America that still harbors these appalling so-called "conservative" attitudes. It's like a part of America laid dormant under a rock only to be let loose and empowered by the lowly characters of Newt Gingrich, Pat Robertson, Mitch McConnell and eventually Donald Trump (please add more if you like). Nevertheless, I believe that progress will always surmount regression - otherwise humans would have perished long ago. Now our job is to help drive voters to the polls so these "conservatives" values are swept away by the power of equality, justice and moral conscience. ASB
Andrew, while Rush Limbaugh riled up his followers who spoke only of their bigotry in “safe” groups, TFG gave them permission to say the quiet stuff out loud and proud. I believe that a lot of what we’re seeing is a backlash against gains in freedom. It’s a case of two steps forward and one step backwards.
Well said. We wake up each day and we are assaulted by the horrors of the Supreme Court and the racist, sexist, homophobic behavior of members of Congress...and governors!
But if we look at the longer arc of history, we have made enormous strides. It was in our recent past that women couldn't vote! I am drinking my optimistic coffee again today. The current outrages are not going to stand. Gen Y and Z are not going to accept them.
There are more of us than the bad guys. The ghosts of the KKK may reappear, but we will vanquish them in the voting booths.
Yes-voter suppression works. In A Fever in the Heartland Timothy Egan reported that in 1880 50% of Black men voted in Confederate states. By 1920 less than 1% votes.
The things we have to go through to vote in a “democracy “ are ridiculous and life threatening for many.
'July 16 marks the 160th anniversary of the most destructive riot in U.S. history.' (Letter)
In summing up the day, Heather Cox Richardson wrote, 'The contrast between white mobs railing against the government and murdering their Black neighbors while Black soldiers fought and died to defend the United States was stark. No fair-minded person could miss it.'
Lewis Henry Douglass
Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Lewis Douglass and his wife Amelia. FRDO 4552
'The eldest son of noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass and his wife Anna Douglass, Lewis Henry Douglass (1840–1908) was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In his youth, Lewis apprenticed as a typesetter for his father’s publications The North Star and Douglass' Weekly. Heeding the call for black recruits from Frederick Douglass and others during the Civil War, Lewis Douglass enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on March 25, 1863. The regiment's commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, immediately appointed Douglass as a sergeant major, the highest rank an African American could hold at that time. Douglass saw action at the battles of James Island, Olustee, and Fort Wagner. The valor shown by the 54th Massachusetts in this last engagement went a long way toward proving the mettle of black soldiers to their white fellow soldiers and civilians in the North. Discharged from the army in 1864 because of a medical disability, Douglass married Helen Amelia Loguen in 1869 and settled in the Anacostia section of Washington, D.C. Also in 1869, he became the first African American typesetter employed by the Government Printing Office. His tenure in this position proved short-lived, however, because the typesetters' union refused him membership because of his race. Following this setback, Douglass helped establish and publish The New National Era, a weekly newspaper aimed at Washington's African American community. Lewis Douglass also served as Assistant Marshall of the District of Columbia and a term on the Legislative Council of the District of Columbia.' (Library of Congress) Link is posted below.
Thank you for giving contextual detail to the New York draft riots, an incident that is rarely even mentioned. The Federal prosecution of the January 6th rioters has helped defuse the bomb of anti-democratic forces. But that battle is far from over, judging from the recent votes by the radical House Republicans. Social progress is never inevitable. It can always go slip sliding away.
It seems that liberty and justice are an activity, not a state. Entropy nibbles constantly; or collides like a bolt from the blue. It is maintained only with energy and stewardship, like many other things.
The cleavige in our society depicted in tonight's history lesson is reflected in a different way in the remarkable passage of the Defense appropriations bill on Thursday night. For many years until this week, it has been a bi-partisan agreement because the appropriation of hundreds of billions was, and still is, necessary for the safety of the Nation. And, thus, bi-partisanship was also a symbol of some degree of unanimity in Congress. That symbol was shattered by Keven McCarthy's willingness to let the most radical members of his caucus rule everyone else and thereby shock the foundation of bi-partisanship. McCarthy could have told the crazies, "No, you don't, not now, not ever," and appeal to ten moderates to join him and the 207 Democrats in forging the usual bipartisan deal without attaching severe abortion restrictions on the young women in our armed forces who make up 20 percent of the military. And there was so much more garbage from the Ultra-Right. McCarthy will go down in history as the most politically craven Speaker in the past fifty or even more years!
The question that has not been answered in public is why did those every single one of those alleged "moderates" (like the notorious Nancy Mace and the Brian Fitzpatricks and the Mike Garcias) cave on such an important piece of legislation? In my humble opinion, there is only one reason: FEAR!. Fear that their own evangelical, trumpy base would destroy their political careers--many of them-- in potentially severe primary battles over the course of the next twelve months. This commonly understood rationale within their caucus is that the Republican Party is now owned "lock, stock and barrel" by the evangelical-Christian sub-group that controls 30-50% of Republican voters in primaries and probably 20-30% of Republican voters in general elections. That group will willingly destroy any Republican in their way who does subscribe entirely to anti-abortion, anti-gay, and anti-trans legislation as well as a strict nation-wide abortion law that will be enacted by Congress as the first measure of legislative business in January 2025--which then will be signed by Trump in a triumphant public ceremony of the transition of America officially to a "Christian Nation."
That is what is at stake, my friends. Now, what are you going to do about it? One suggestion: it’s getting clearer day by day that entire federal democracy is on the line in Nov 24! So the answer is, my friends, our youth, women 18 to 35, and as a new poll indicates--conservative women in suburbs relatively near big cities and aged 35 to 44, who are justifiably worried about the health and lives of their daughters! Makes sense? So we desperately need all your help; please go to www.turnup.us/ to help these brilliant young Harvard students register the young men and women and their conservative mothers and TURN THEM Out! Please? Our democracy depends on them! Many thanks all! I'm sorry of my repeating this appeal, but what happened in Congress this week is the fore-runner of what is ahead of us if each one of us does not act NOW and UNTIL November 5, 2024!
Don't worry about the typos, Ira, although I appreciate your candor in pointing them out. We all need a Maxwell Perkins now and again.
I fully agree with you but would add one caveat---The concept of a "Christian Nation" in the fevered and synaptically deprived minds of the Boeberts, Jordans, Greenes, Goetzes, et. al., has nothing to do with actual Christianity.
At no time did Jesus inveigh against gay people, women, immigrants, or anyone else except the money changer fraudsters in the temple who sought to profit from religious sanctimony. Boy, does that sound familiar?? In fact, Jesus went out of his way to embrace the outsider, the immigrant (the Good Samaritan), the practitioners of the world's oldest profession, and of course, the woman who was his most courageous friend, Mary Magdalene.
Thank you Daniel. Contrary to religious obviously Jewish family in the Lower East Side, I went to the oldest Methodist College in the country, Randolph-Macon College in sleepy Ashland, Virginia with mandatory Bible courses, vespers, and 50% preacher’s sons! What I don’t understand (please explain) how did that generous and compassionate Christianity be captured by these dogmatic evangelicals? Where are the Methodists, Presbyterians, Northern Baptists, etc,?
'What does The United Methodist Church say about racism?'
'Racism has long been described as America’s “original sin.”
'The 2020 killings of three African Americans — George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who died at the hands of police, and Ahmaud Arbery, chased and shot to death by two individuals — sparked a national outcry against white supremacy and institutional racism, a protest that has now spread globally.'
'How is the UMC responding?'
'United Methodist Church leaders and members have joined those voices. The denomination’s Council of Bishops called for every United Methodist “to name the egregious sin of racism and white supremacy and join together to take a stand against the oppression and injustice that is killing persons of color.”
'The United Methodist Church has created an advertising campaign, #EndRacism, in an effort to actively engage in the ministry of dismantling racism and promoting racial justice. Logo courtesy of resourceumc.org.
Other voices from across the denomination, from individual bishops and general agencies to students at Africa University in Zimbabwe, have also responded and issued statements.'
'The United Methodist Church has mounted a denomination-wide campaign, "United Against Racism," that urges its members not only to pray, but to educate themselves and have conversations about the subject, and to work actively for civil and human rights.' (United Methodist Church) See link below.
Thank you for this and thank you to the UMC for speaking out loudly and repeatedly! what are the Methodist MOC on the Republican side doing by voting quietly in lock step with their evangelical crazies?
You know the answer to that. When 'silence' is the gilt on trump's walls and when they support autocracy? What's that about the 'golden calf'?
'Golden Calf: (Exodus 32:4, Exodus 32:8; Deuteronomy 9:16; Nehemiah 9:18). This was a molten image of a calf which the idolatrous Israelites formed at Sinai. This symbol was borrowed from the custom of the Egyptians. It was destroyed at the command of Moses (Exodus 32:20).'
'Golden Calf Bible Story'
'The Bible Story of the Golden Calf is very revealing of human nature and the tendency of people to stray away from devotion to God. It is ironic that while Moses was on Mount Sinai, receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the Israelites were breaking the very first commandment "thou shall not have any gods before me." This makes it very evident why the commandments were needed as people exhibit a natural drift towards sin without the proper leadership and constitution of morality. As the Israelites grew impatient with Moses on Mount Sinai, they decided to make a new god to "go up before them" or worship so they took their gold jewelry and melted it down to build a Golden Calf. God saw that his people had constructed a false idol as his replacement and planned to "consume" or kill all of them but Moses courageously requested God to "relent from this disaster against your people."
'Moses then went down from the mountain with two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments written by God and saw the Israelites dancing and singing around the Golden Calf. So enraged by their betrayal to God, he threw the tablets and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He then "took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it." Moses informs the Israelites, "You have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." God tells Moses to lead his people to the promised land of Canaan, and he will visit them there. The chapter ends with a plague being cursed upon the Israelites for the Golden Calf as they embark toward Canaan.' (BibleStudyTools) see link below.
OMG, Ira! I wish I knew, my friend. I wish I knew.
These days, I share a religious (or semi-religious) identity with the great writer/director John Sayles who identified himself as, "Catholic agnostic".
You are, of course, right, Daniel- but my take is that is actually what ira was getting at. He wrote:
"That group will willingly destroy any Republican in their way who does subscribe entirely to anti-abortion, anti-gay, and anti-trans legislation as well as a strict nation-wide abortion law that will be enacted by Congress as the first measure of legislative business in January 2025--which then will be signed by Trump in a triumphant public ceremony of the transition of America officially to a "Christian Nation."
Those quote marks make clear that the "Christian Nation" is a fiction, a political tool used by the Maga Republicans to manipulate the voting public. I'd like to think it won't work, but I also think that under the circumstances, we'd best not take that for granted. I am preparing to work on getting out the vote where I can.
That said, I do have to thank you deeply for recognizing Mary Magdalene in the way you did. I'm not a Christian, but there is beauty in the Christian teaching, and your comment raises up women in the way the man Jesus meant.
Good early morning, Ira. By pressing one of the dots to the right of reply at the end of your comment, you will see the edit function. You can use that to correct, add, subtract, etc., anything in your post. After editing, just press the save function. You can then delete your apology as the comment has been corrected. Salud!
And don't be put off if your corrected text appears to disappear when you hit Post and the comment box appears to be empty. It will reappear if you reload the page. I've had that happen multiple times now. I reload and search my name on the page and voila! there's my comment. Weird. I hope substack will fix that as it did with the unresponsive hearts.
That happens to me too. But when I try to post the corrected comment. I end up with an empty box. Hitting cancel restores the original post, but my corrections are lost. If I renew the page, I am jumped to the beginning, with no idea how far down my post is, or even if it is. It's probably there someplace, but with hundreds of posts (and the need to repeatedly "load more"), I just gave up on editing. If it is something germane, now I simply add it in a reply to my post rather than edit. Otherwise, oh, well.
Annie, that's why I suggest that, after refreshing the page, you search on your name and you'll find it fairly easily in order to confirm that the changes are registered.
That seems to work for some. Not for me. As I mentioned, I get jumped to the top of the comment list. Search works only on what is on the screen, and I have to use "load more" repeatedly. I don't care to spend my time doing this, so simply adding any significant changes as a response works best for me. I could do a "newest first" sort, but then I completely lose my place in reading what others have written. I like doing things the simplest way available.
Thanks for the reminder, MLM. I've got it marked, but keep up the reminders. I'm holding off from donations right now until after I get my heating system and run it a few months to get an idea of how to budget for it.
A bit off-topic, but I'm getting heat pumps to replace an oil-based furnace- tank red-tagged, cranky 20 yr old furnace. Finally got a date: Aug 10/11. I CAN HARDLY WAIT!
Work delayed because of godawful weather and huge demand- and when heat started in late spring I gave my window air conditioner to am elderly farmer to use for his chickens. My grandparents were chicken farmers and chickens have always been a part of my family's lives. Chickens are very vulnerable to heat and I am a sucker for old farmers who care for their birds, so I am feeling righteous. I helped save some chicken lives. What's a few weeks of hot, humid weather with almost daily thunderstorms? Ok, it's miserable, but I am still glad I donated my air conditioner to the old farmer (who is actually younger than me, but still reminded me of my grandfather when I was growing up). Guess I should really post this over on Joyce Vance's page!
I’m unfortunately still immunocompromised from chemotherapy two years ago, and I don’t do much outside my home for Covid reasons. But I do go to a dog park full of young people, and I’m sure I drive some of them crazy with my - hey, do you have a plan to vote in August? questions. But I’ve explained lots, and maybe it’ll make a small difference. Otherwise, I feel like my postcard writing and donations are all I can do, and it feels feeble given what’s at stake.
I wish you well and I greatly admire your participation! Overall, the battle in November 24 and all these preliminary, but significant pre-events such as the No vote in Ohio, is the battle for our democracy writ large! We need everyone on board so please go to www.turnup.us today and particpate? Chances are we're going to see random violence when the indictments issue--this existential crisis will put it all on the line but the election will set us on a path to begin again to restore our democracy but only with the help of all of us on this thread!
Omg Ira. Former congressman and now head of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce is my neighbor. He is fully backing the 60% proposal along with the weight of the Chamber and along with some seriously sketchy citing of statistics. We have a full line of “vote no” signs in the side of the street facing his house, and we all wish he would just move! We are thrilled with the number of signatures we got for the amendment, almost double the number required and from all 88 counties. Red Wine and Blue is doing a bang up job and I’m cautiously hopeful. Next up after this: protecting Sherrod Brown’s senate seat.
Virginia, I mean www.turnup.us which is the most successful nonpartisan youth voter registration and turnout group according to Forbes. I’ve been working closely with this brilliant and effective group of Harvard students for about a year and they are terrific! I’ve merged my own voter registration foundation “Inspire2Vote” into TurnUp as they are much more effective and operate at a different level. My organization “Inspire” has registered 104,000 high school students in 9 states in 5 years sending full time staff to different high schools but TurnUp can beat that in 3 weekends on social media and has done so! Please contribute? Thanks
Ira, maybe I shouldn’t admit it, but the combination of Harvard (Ted Cruz, DeSantis) and Forbes (corporate and hedge fund fortunes) terrifies me. Co-opted by the third party threat they could put Trump back in the White House. I am delighted to see students get involved, but these auspices do not seem auspicious to me.
We need to learn from the painful history of this date that Heather just identified. Lincoln’s party freed the slaves and the Dems of those days were the bad guys….we need to be very very clear about the constitutional principles that were developed initially at our founding and profoundly challenged on this day 160 years ago, over slavery misadventures….
Since then and with considerable effort in the last 140-150 years we have managed to keep those principles intact…
But currently our democracy’s fundamental promises need to be reinforced ..those constitutional foundations totally understood and reaffirmed. For we are at another crucial point where we could lose the founding constitutional base…it was Franklin, when asked what our Founders had created…” A Republic, if you can keep it”…
The roles of liberator and predator seems to shift over time and place, and seems to emerge and fade as enduring scripts with an ever-changing cast. That said, many argue that humanity in general has become more empathic overall over the centuries. The question is whether that general trend can continue as technology amplifies both the best and the worst it occurs to us to do?
I keep harping back to the mail in vote deals in states like Oregon where the possibility of fraud is minimal to non existent and the vote appears to be sensible…(and essentially dem) or in CA, where we are now up to 87% choosing this more simple system….some folks even driving their ballot to the voting site..
In CA, mail-in ballots, postage paid, are now sent to each registered voter. The only choices now are whether to use it, vote in person or not vote at all. No need to request a mail ballot.
Voting in person has become more tricky, though, due to reductions in polling sites due to difficulties in recruiting enough poll workers. It's an onerous job requiring training classes and horrendously long days at the site on election day.
Judith…I’m very grateful that I live in a state that makes it very easy for me to vote, whenever I receive my ballot…at home, with a walk to the mailbox, at 85.
Not a state that tries to prevent my voting with every possible nasty ruling that requires me to jump through difficult hoops to even register to vote, and then I’m made to go to a poling place, on an approved and possibly very inconvenient day and time, stand in long lines, quite possibly for many hours in all sorts of weather. And apparently in some states with no possibility of being offered water or assistance!
J L, I think you make an interesting observation that bears some truth. I do have something for your consideration, though. It's normal for people to assume that somehow their culture represents "humanity" (at least ours does). But our culture is, if not broken, pretty dysfunctional in one way or another almost all the time.
It does not represent "humanity": there are, in spite of the efforts of our culture to characterize and subsume all humans in terms of our assumptions, many people's whose cultures have a strong base in empathy (other terms sometimes used to express this). Though often marginalized, many of those cultures retain that primary foundation in spite of the values our culture has tried to impose on them.
Sometimes that foundation is expressed in terms of "seven generations" as an expression of our responsibilities to each other and to all we depend on as human beings. There is a reason for that. At points in our lives we are connected to seven generations.
I've used this to teach the concept: I ask people to hold hands, and then think of themselves as holding the middle position in the seven generations. The person on either side is a child or a parent generation. The person on either side of them is a grandparent or grandchild. These represent direct connections (even for people whose parent or grandparent generation is represented by someone not related to them by blood, but by community). On the other side of those are people who represent the great-grandparent and great-grandchild generations. Often we don't know them directly but their knowledge and wisdom and history are available to us through our direct connections with the parent and grandparent generations.
What we do, think, believe, act on, experience, good or bad, is passed through those generations. I encourage people to try this in their imaginations, but there is something powerful in standing linked with others and allowing oneself to *feel* those connections, and carry them with you into the world.
Each of us occupies the different positions in the generations during our lifetimes, and have a role in passing what we learn from the elders to the children and from the past to the present. It's what we do with what we learn in the present that we pass on, and it is where things can be broken or healed.
I am well into the elder end of that generational lineup. I am in the position of needing to recognize and teach what broke and needs healing (including my own mistakes), and to pass on the memory of the teachings of my own elders. I don't yet have great-grandchildren, but I see my grandchildren (this includes the many young adults now joining the recreation of a functional society) doing the best they can to live within the values I'd hoped they would. All of us make mistakes, but by paying attention to that foundation of compassion, respect, and community passed through the seven generations, we can heal.
I think it's difficult to separate culture from fundamental characteristics of humanity and objectively define what human rights might be, but I think we can tease some of it out, knowing that we will harbor inevitable cultural biases as we do so, but at least being alert for them. I think your exercise is an interesting, tactile (even imagined to be so, what to look at the legacy of knowledge and values we pas between generation's A great, great, many generation brought us to this point, and it seems to me that we get to try to apply, appreciate, reinterpret, and update the legacy that go in to making us who we are, as well as passed along skills we can apply to negotiating our hour upon the stage.
Thank you, Professor for more history and context about the Republicans, Civil War and New York. I echo Betsy Smith’s statement above about what we teach and don’t teach our children determines their perspective and understanding of history, past and present.
History is our record of how things came to be and how things tend to work. You can't step in the same river twice, but you can pick up useful clues about when and if the river may freeze, flood, and bear fish.
Though born in Cleveland (where my parents grew up) I lived my 6 mo. to nearly age 5 years in a very rural area where some of the farmers still pitched haystacks and, had I stayed, I would have attended a classic one -room school. I lived in Cleveland and then Akron and vicinity after that. I recall clouds of soap suds on the Ohio Canal. Fibrous scum at least 2 inches thick on one of the slower parts of the Little Cuyahoga, a tributary. Inviting beaches on Lake Erie closed to swimming.
That said, the State of Ohio overruled local money resistance to cleanup. I saw the scummy part of the Little Cuyahoga (that we as kids threw rocks in to make "moon craters) in 2005 and it was a lovely little park, with no visible pollution. That said, at least that part of Ohio did not feel nearly as right wing as the vibe I get today, even though (it seems to me) Reaganomics screwed them over.
Glad you got to see the Little Cuyahoga without pollution. It's hard living in Ohio these days. And to think we had a Democratic governor (Strickland) just 16 years ago. People keep electing these yahoos to the General Assembly and all they talk about is abortion, guns and, lately, trans-sexuals.
JL, as a former Clevelander, thanks for the memory. I was 17 when the Cuyahoga River caught fire. It was one of many reasons (including Kent State) why I picked an out-of-state college and have been in my blue Minnesota ever since!
J L- The words you wrote in the intro to Randy Newman's song is a beautiful and succinct description of what history really is. With your permission, I would like to use as a trailer for my email. If it is ok with you, please let me know how you would like them attributed.
PS: I am a big Randy Newman fan, from way back before he hit the charts. I think this song brought awareness to a lot of people who hadn't realized how bad the pollution was, and started them taking a look at the rivers in their own places. I am a river person, and just beginning my journey from advocate based on identity to professional based on passion. I still retain that passion. (Another of my Newman faves was "Short People". Some of my friends were baffled by that. Me, I loved the irony, part of Randy's appeal for me.
I think that humor can be a very powerful mode of communication that can fly under the RADAR to deliver a payload, and song in general can do that. The same can be said of other arts, "The play's the thing...". "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is widely credited with raising awareness of the evils of slavery and reinforcing the Abolitionist movement, even though a melodramatic work of fiction. I recall in a school history book images by Thomas Nast and "Herblock". Randy served his humor dry, as in the sardonic song "Political Science".
Use what you like. I post this stuff to share some thoughts. The source could be credited as "a blog" or by my "handle", J L Graham. Thanks for asking. I repeat some specific phases here I read elsewhere, often after forgetting the specific source, but I at least try to acknowledge what what is specifically borrowed. That said, so much of what we think we know is drawn from the commons.
Above all, IMHO, we should educate rather than teach. Develop citizens that are armed with critical thinking skills— that are able to see what is happening and think for themselves.
To add to Dr. Richardson’s excellent written account, please check out the film, “Glory.”, which came out in 1989. Very powerful film of the forming of the MA 54th Regiment, starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher, Do not confuse it with the series, “The Glory” which often pops up when you search for the 1989 film. Not an easy film to watch, but one of the best. ❤️🐼
"Glory" was magnificent, and introduced the world to Denzel Washington broadly, or at least those who didn't see the even better film "A Soldier's Story", prior thereto.
Also, the Martin Scorsese film "Gangs of New York" depicted the NYC draft/race riots with eerie accuracy.
It's so disheartening to fight the same battles over and over again. Women must fight to have control over their own bodies. LGBTQ people must fight to maintain hard-fought gains. Minority students must fight to gain admission to many colleges.
Right now we maintain or lose our rights at the whim of the Supreme Court and state legislators. Right now it looks to me like we are not winning the battle.
Well, as this history shows, things can turn very quickly, and I'm hoping they will. The Senate will probably cancel the worst of the Republican House's anti-woke provisions, and revelations about Clarence Thomas's latest contributions via Venmo may just push the needle over on the Supreme Court's lack of accountability. That's why it's important to focus on what's happening in real time and not the worst that could happen.
Why disheartening? Do you think our opponents just go away? Do you think all of them see the error of their ways? Or, do a small, significant number brood, let their anger fester and wait for an opportunity to strike back?
As much as I wish they’d all see the error of their ways, I’ve come to the latter conclusion. When I was a kid in the fifties, the South was still refighting the War of Northern Aggression.
A very moving account. What those soldiers went through in that bloody war.
I suspect Stonewall Jackson's death at Chancellorsville was a lucky break for the Union. Otherwise, Gettysburg might have ended differently. Some southern military men apparently thought that Jackson was a better general than Lee, and they considered Jackson Lee's "right hand man."
There was also an odd respect and even fondness among some Northern soldiers for Stonewall. Phoebe Sheldon, whose great great grandfather enlisted in 1862 at age 17, turned his copious letters home into a narrative--a soldier's eye view of the war. (Rufus: A Boy's Extraordinary Adventures in the Civil War.) Rufus Harnden fought at Chancellorsville, and recounted that his commanding officer had told his soldiers to flee QUIETLY as the southern army was routing the Union soldiers on the evening of the second day of fighting. In his flight, Harnden came out of the forest onto a road, and cut loose with his musket, out of pure fright.
Months later, Harnden, who had been let off from fighting due to injuries, was now a "pill boy" at an army hospital near Chattanooga (he later became a doctor). There were some southerners at the hospital, including doctors who treated their men. There was some eavesdropping when the docs were at dinner. One of the Southern docs said he had known Stonewall's personal physician, and they were talking about Stonewall's injuries and death.
Then, one of them says, "they say some fool yank boys come poppin' up out of a thicket. Just stumbles outa the bushes alongside the road, lost behind our lines. One of them damn fools up and fires a shot at the General's party."
Harnden: "His words froze the very air inside my chest into shards of ice... For I knew in an instant the identity of the man feel he was talking about! I was that very same man. It had to have been me. The shot, my one lonesome shot fired that night in my over wrought state, against General Knipe's strict orders."
Harnden feared that he had either killed Stonewall, or catalyzed the friendly fire that had killed him. He was mortified, for although he believed strongly in the Union's cause, that the slaves should be free, he wrote that "Stonewall was the noblest of Christian men... to have caused such a man to die was a thought too horrible and confusing for my youthful mind to absorb."
Another history lesson that shines as much of a light on the present as the past.
Thank you, again, Professor Richardson, for the history lesson, and for stirring up a personal memory of my own.
In 1969 I was a high school senior and an anti-draft, anti-Vietnam War, aspiring long-haired, guitar-playin', protest-song-singin', commie-pinko hippie. I chose the New York City draft riots as the topic for my senior term paper, assuming they were probably similarly inspired as the anti-war, anti-draft demonstrations I had attended in New York and Washington DC.
As HCR has described, that was not the case at all.
Doing research for my term paper, I spent time in the main NY Public Library, the one on 5th Ave. with the lions out front, looking at microfilmed editions of the NY Times from the dates of the riots and the days following. It was my first "came to believe" moment that virulent racism in America was not at all limited to "The South". There have been many such moments since.
Much has changed since those halcyon days. And much hasn't changed at all.
It appears that the history of America is that we are always at war with ourselves because one group with a skin color or a righteous motive ( so they say) is out to force others not of their persuasion to capitulate or die. As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and they is us."
I echo Mimi,Penney, and Bill: this is a superbly pointed history lesson that even some of the more obfusc members of MAGA would have a hard time denying.
And no fair-minded person can miss the racial animus today with the Republicans continuing and heightening their attack on fair elections by gerrymandering Black voters out of the process.
And we now have a religious RW super majority SCOTUS deciding that discrimination is acceptable by saying religious objections are a valid excuse to prevent serving a public business, racism "doesn't exist any more" and that women are deemed irrelevant, since they can't control their own bodies. Will that super majority next say that slavery is OK? I wouldn't put it past them.
"Will that super majority next say that slavery is OK? I wouldn't put it past them." We have witnessed the ability of man to RATIONALIZE ANYTHING, so slavery per se - no. Low pay, long hours, poor healthcare, poor housing, etc, YES!!
Excellent. And may we add incarceration and probation and parole to the many ways those without power, wealth and influence are kept in line.
Absolutely!!
Convict labor, child labor: still around and still forms of slavery.
Marge, I was just thinking about child labor and of course, convict labor. Plus there is the labor of the undocumented who cannot dare say anything. Oligarchs getting richer and opposing anything that helps the more unfortunate.
In a real sense, our healthcare system is a form of slavery. If people must work to be able to obtain healthcare, they are chained to jobs. Immigrant work visas chain the recipient not only to work but also to a specific company. Hard to unionize, make a complaint about wage theft or unsafe working conditions when the punishment is being sent back.
Wow. What wonderful comments. How inspiring. Thank you.
And that would seem to be a reason why "Corporate Joe" Biden is so loose about immigration:
Important people need to revive the stream of ultra-low-wage virtual slave labor that Trump cut off.
John,
It turns out that, under Biden, per month border crossings are higher than under Trump. I checked because I figured your hyperbole would be disproved.
Again.
But, throw enough rocks and, dang, look at that, one hit.
And these are the same people who pound their chests and declare themselves "warriors for Christ" . Somehow they totally missed the Beatitudes.
The warriors are the very worst hypocrites. They have no idea of what one finds in the first three Gospels. But hey, Revelations is great.
In a psychedelic way...
Jennifer, Missed 'em by a thousand miles!
They are what they are, so we have to defang their leaders--from 'pastors' to presidents....
There is also the slavery/ involuntary servitude imposed upon women by mandated forced birth forced upon them by the outlawing of abortion.
Here too!
Barbara, and many beautiful, brilliant people of color will continue to be born and will continue to rise to the top because they choose working hard and educating themselves and they will rise to the top as others continue to fight and argue and make IGNORANT decisions that are weakening our nation and point their fingers.....rather than serve as responsible citizens of this great country. Maybe they just do not know how to govern. Maybe they are choosing to destroy our nation. Just observe the recent decisions they have made. Are these leaders??
People of color will grow in influence and wisdom. The battle against prejudice has and will continue to grow people of color into the salvation of this nation and the world while small minded white people continue to shoot themselves in the foot over ignorant and thoughtless ideologies. ( I am a white woman if you need to know)
Women of all colors will grow stronger...
LGBTQ citizens are also making great contributions.....we will be such a better nation and be able to contribute so much more goodness towards healing our plant and growing as the human race if we would accept one another and work together!!!
Each and all of us need to focus TOGETHER on the good we can do working for the well-being of our world and for our planet.
OUR ENEMIES ARE WORKING TO SEPARATE US!!!!
As they always have. It is better to have the hoi polloi fighting each other while the wealthy make off with the fruits of their labor behind gated estates and communities. And tell poor whites that their white skin makes them superior to any POC.
Excellent! You have characterized an optimal America....
Playing devil's advocate, I need a lesson on politically correct terminology. Why is it OK to say "people of color" and not "colored people?" Historical context? Why is Black men capitalized and not white people?
Colored people harkens back to Jim Crow when there were White and Colored signs all over the place to keep us separated.
People of color today includes not just Black people but all people with darker skins.
I wonder why we use the term “nonwhite” as if whiteness is the standard.
Bottom line-racism doesn’t make sense.
Gina's right. Down here the moniker of "colored people", along with "Negro", were the standard words used most specifically for Black people/African-Americans, and used up through the '60s. Both more or less went out of favor in the rest of the country before they fell from favor in the South. I was brought up to say "colored people", or "Negroes", which when rendered in Southern dialect, came out "Nigras". The other more pejorative "N" word was considered "low-class", at least in my home. The term "colored people" does have negative associations for Black people, which I can understand, even though the term did hang on in some areas --Archie Bunker tended to refer to Black people as "coloreds", showing it wasn't just in the South. It's really weird how languages can evolve and adapt all by themselves, but I also think that in the US press and media, there was an unspoken rule that came about in the '60s/'70s to avoid using these monikers, in favor of Black of African-American. Now, the latter of these two is used a bit less now. A lot of the impetus for these changes came from the Black communities themselves, which is what SHOULD happen, but it was a gradual shift. I'm a big-time language nerd and it fascinates me to no end!
Bruce, I had a similar upbringing. My racist dad and uncles used the N word, but my more thoughtful mom and her relatives used "colored people", or "Negroes" to show they weren't full or hatred and contempt. I think the term "Black" became acceptable with the introduction of "Black Power".
I’m interested in words also. Especially their roots.
In my house growing up we used the term colored people which to me and my family was a respectful term because the Blacks we knew then were respectable people. I didn’t know any disreputable Blacks. I still feel colored people is the warmer term but I don’t use it in ordinary conversations in case it’s offensive. Everyone knows it’s really not about the words anyway. It’s the love or malice behind them.
Speaking only for myself (and maybe flying in the face of what has become standard practice), I tend to capitalize the letter of the color when describing a race collectively. In a way, I see doing that as simply a courtesy. "B" for "Black people; "W" for White people; "B" for Brown people. In my opinion that kind of elevates the color descriptor applied to a race and slightly sets it apart. I don't think we use any other specific color descriptors for races, right? If we had Green or Purple people I'd capitalize those too. Generally, I use the "POC" letter combination to mean anyone non-White. If I refer to Native Americans, I would capitalize Indigenous. We do it for almost any qualifying of a race (Asian, Pacific Islander, Inuit, etc. etc.), so capitalizing the color descriptor seems to follow the same rule. Again, this is just me . . . not Strunk & White, or Chicago Manual of Style.
If I remember correctly, W.E.B. du Bois (pronounced 'du boys') used 'negro' in referring to black people, and the NAACP is the National Association for the Advancement of ... (you know the rest). Not exactly right wing white supremacist racists. I don't see the point of capitalizing color words when referring to people, but, if you do so, it should be for all colors, as someone stated above.
Yes, but DuBois and the NAACP are products of an earlier time when these terms were more widely accepted. The practice has shifted and these terms have fallen out of favor. I think it wisest to defer to how Black people themselves prefer to be referred to and that seems to be "Black", "African-American", or even lumped into "POC" (or even "BIPOC").
I was someone who said above I prefer to capitalize ALL color words when referring to a race. What is true for one should be true for all.
Emily, your remarks reminded me of a conversation I had with two of my oldest friends this week. We met in college in 1970. We’re all old white women, and unapologetically liberal. We were sitting around the dining table repairing the binding on a quilt. Yes, literally, a quilting bee. ☺️ The talk had turned to politics in our home state, and I remarked how heartbroken I had been when Stacy Abrams had lost the second time to that numbskull, Brian Kemp. My friend MJ, barely looking up from her hands, said, “I don’t think we’ve heard the last from Stacy Abrams.” I have to agree, and we will all be better for it when she wins. There are so many astoundingly smart and talented Black politicians. Stacy is one of the shining stars. It will happen. I just hope I’m alive to see it.
Emily ,You are sadly right on.
Years and years ago I read of an experiment done in puddles with fish that kept mating with one another because the puddle held only that species. After some time the evolutionary evidence showed that the fish actually mated themselves into disease and extinction because they kept in-breeding. Integration of healthy species leads to healthier species. And out of that comes a healthier ability to gain intellect, character, adulthood . Mixing the best of all is practiced throughout nature.
We trap ourselves, particularly when “character” has an ability to grow and we shut its’ advancement down by in-breeding the same old need to make someone( something) wrong in order to be right.
Getting our history out there in Black and White will advance our thinking.
I hope!!!
BIG. * AMEN*. Emily !!
RIGHT ON !, Camilla ;
I do not for a moment think that the members of SCOTUS that voted the way they have and take bribes, just big grifters, believe in a just and all powerful God. In fact, I have a hard time imagining what they might believe about their actions, if they feel that afterlife is important, and judgement will be called upon them. Obviously, they feel that they can sin all they want and atone for it in the end through confession like in the Godfather. As for slavery, it exists in many forms right here in the USA. Slavery is still legal for people in prisons, a shocking part of our constitution that seems to allow for abuse. What our prison system says about our country is not very good. Secondly, states like Florida are known to keep people in slavery in the agricultural sector. Thirdly, there are people in Red states and Blue that are kept in slavery by their employers taking away their passports and making them work in horrendous conditions as well as beating them when they do not comply. Then we have women who are kept enslaved in sex work. Not just foreign women, but also minors. So, slavery goes on, even in most instances it is illegal, which is another reason that the Evangelical Church disgusts me, because as I have been reading, and watching programs about it more and more of late trying to understand this voting block of support for Donald Trump, I see that the men have turned their women and children into slaves too. Look at the story of the Duggars and other stories of members of their so called "Church," the IBLP.
https://www.tearsofeden.org/blog/i-am-a-survivor-of-the-bill-gothard-homeschool-cult It is unfortunate that so many women and children are under the thumbs of truly reprehensible men who will keep them working to make the family wealthy, while the men control all the money earned. Their goal is to get a lot of their ilk into government to force the rest of us to have to live like that too. See the MAGAt agenda. https://screenrant.com/duggar-family-secrets-iblp-biggest-political-connections/#madison-cawthorne
For the Supreme Court members, it is pure hubris and they can confess all the want, they are still reprehensible in their decisions and lack of ethics.
Some of them think they are gods.
Linda, these are sins of unfettered capitalism. If the multi billionaires of this world would recognize that working people helped them make their fortunes then instead of building huge yachts they might have on-site child care for their employees, give them decent medical benefits, provide low cost housing, and give grants to local schools. Instead they pass these actions on to a government that they work to minimize an d starve of funds. Only a woke electorate can bring about true reform but 50% of the public have their eyes and ears close.
Hello, Linda. Have you watched the Amazon Prime documentary "Shiny, Happy People"? It's an expose of Bill Gothard ,IBLP, and their connection with the Duggar family. It also details the impact that TLC's series promoting the Duggars had on spreading Gothard's "gospel". Disturbing to put it mildly.
An ironic juxtaposition of the comments of (a) George Baum and (b) Kamila Novicki about (a) the behavior of the multibillionaires and (b) an Amazon Prime documentary about the Duggars.
Sadly, Linda, human slavery is a global phenomenon…man’s inhumanity to man on display, tho’ gussied up using other terms (employment, inmate, spouse, child, etc.) than the “slavery”/indentured servitude it really is.
They are the arbiters of our world, sad to say
Let us hope that the public at large wakes up to what Mitch McConnell has wrought and vote the bastards out of office. Mitch beware of what you wish for. This country is not a Christian Democracy. And the people do not want their bible based nonsense shoved down their throats. We have no problem with what anyone believes as long as it is not foisted on everyone else. Freedom means doing whatever you want as long it does not harm others.
I would expand that to say that freedom also comes with responsibilities to our fellow citizens. We have long defined freedom mainly in individualistic terms. That, I am glad to say, is shifting to a perspective that includes our participation as members of the communities we live in and participate in, from our neighborhoods to our nation... and beyond.
Annie, yes, you describe the long-held concept of “the commons”…we seem to forget that. “The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth.” Instead we privatized and plundered to satisfy our greed at the expense of what sustains us all. Unfortunately, we now see where it’s gotten us.
Well, not quite. You can inject all the drugs you want in private for instance, but that 911 call and emergency hospitalization takes attention away from other sick people and may cost the taxpayers if you can’t pay. There are indirect costs to others when you “do whatever you want.”
Doesn't that come under not harming others?
They are a total disgrace. I think about McConnell and wonder how he can stand himself for what he was responsible for with the appointments to the Supreme Court.
I suspect he’s actually very proud of himself.
He is very proud of what he's done to our country.
Yes, plenty done TO and little done FOR.
Maybe they should also ban interracial marriage while they’re at it.
At least be consistent.
I know that it has been brought up by a couple of people. https://www.newsweek.com/senate-passes-respect-marriage-act-1763282
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/03/republican-sen-mike-braun-says-supreme-court-should-not-have-struck-down-state-laws-banning-interracial-marriage-then-backtracks-unconvincingly.html
I knew that my neighbor state, Indiana had a politician that said that. Mike Braun is scum.
Linda, thanks for these links. As one who has "a dog in the fight", I read with interest the "respect marriage" link and have come to wonder: What about my religious beliefs in this matter? Why is their Christian Nationalist religion more important than mine? Why do they get to decide, on the basis of what their religion says, what I can and cannot do that my religion calls me to do?
As has been pointed out to me, many times, by many people here, the conduct of the white Christian Nationalists is not "Christ like" and therefore they shouldn't be lumped in with the "real" Christians, who do follow Jesus's teachings. So why is it that their "flavor" of Christianity is the "one, true way"? Why aren't other "flavors" of equal importance?
Ally, when it gets
DOWN TO IT,
There will be only
*ONE FLAVOR !*
TRUE SCRIPTURE BASED, HOLY SPIRIT
Taught,
KING of Kings & LORD
of Lords,
FAITH!, in Our
LORD/GOD !
BLESSINGS !
( Oh ! , VANILLA !)
Indiana has always been racist. I grew up in northern Indiana and that made no difference. Read A Fever in the Heartland which focuses mostly on the KKK in Indiana during the 1920s....a book mentioned several times by posters here.
Yes. Agreed! Drove from Chicago to Bloomington with a Russian Jewish friend in the 80s, to pick up artwork of a friend from her ex-boyfriend who was in graduate school there. I told my Russian Jewish friend, with a big camera hanging around his neck, that we were not stopping at any bathrooms along the way, because for some reason he just stood out with his camera. Bloomington was great, but then we went to a State fair with our friends at Indianan U, where the lot was filled with pick up trucks that had shotguns hanging on gun racks and signs like "We hunt coons with blueticks." I got the double entendre. I knew that the KKK had been active recently in the state, and it worried me. At the state fair we saw a John Birch Society booth was the best attended in the fair. We went in and did not have any problems, but I imagine that if we had been talking with people it could have been different.
Bloomington is a light in the darkness of southern Indiana. I had friends who grew up in southern Indiana. One made it a point to lose the twang. The other told me you could cut the prejudice with a knife. There were parts of her home county that weren't safe to go to...Lawrence County, Bedford is the county seat...just south of Monroe County where Bloomington is.
TOO Scary Parallel,
With this Season,
OF TIMES !
(A Strong Read !
THANKS !, Michelle !
While I was reading it, I was thinking about our own times.
Jen, in the Punchlines, of
Monty Python,
" I'M Being. REPRESSED !!"
Oops....What about Uncle Thomas???
Maybe he needs a taste of racism again. Seems to think it doesn’t apply to him, because the extreme Court made him white.
Nothing like pulling up the ladder behind you.
The question is, who would They arrest, him or Ginni?
I vote both.
You mean the guy who said that other cases that were based on the same foundation as Roe should be looked at? The guy who thinks that gay sex (Lawrence v. Texas), gay marriage (Obergefell v. Hodges), and easy access to contraception (Griswold v. Connecticut) should go the way of Roe v. Wade? Yeah, who happened to leave out Loving v, Virginia. Gee, I wonder why.
Among other things, he is a huge hypocrite.
And of course the opposite of "substantive due process" is "originalism"...
The debatable constitutional principle underlying these cases is "substantive due process." Is that a viable doctrine for interpreting the Constitution? If so, where can I find a good explanation?
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/substantive_due_process#:~:text=Substantive%20due%20process%20is%20the,fundamental%20rights%20from%20government%20interference.
Law school.
Religion has been used to justify some of the greatest atrocities in history.
Before slavery the Extreme Court will make up some history and declare the 19th Amendment void and strip women of the right to vote or hold office or be judges.
sad but true.
So scary....and not out of the realm of possibility.....
Make that "so-called" religious right winged.
Also gerrymandering Democrat-voting areas and using sophisticated voter info to draw the lines. They have no shame.
Yes. The piece yesterday in Propublica on Georgians contesting 89,000 voters causing someone in full throes of cancer to have to leave their hospital bed to go to a 2-hour hearing to defend their right to vote, all issued mostly from the same 6 right wing people is a scandal of the highest proportions. I hope that the Justice Department goes after them.
They are well organized and a few people can cause lots of problems. And in the Senate it only takes one....Tuberville for instance.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
The first recorded use of this expression is by French critic, journalist and novelist Alphonse Karr in 1849 in Les Guêpes, a monthly journal he founded: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose .
Here we go again. Why is tfg allowed to run for President after conspiracy to attack the US Capitol on Jan 6?
What an outstanding point of view of those events. I've heard bits and pieces of this story before but of course the way you present it here reflects what's going on today, to some degree.
One thing it shows is the dis ingenious Republicans taking advantage of their lesser people by touting that this republican party is the party of Lincoln that freed the slaves ! Thanks Dr. Richardson.
It is good to be reminded yet again of how "Republicans" and "Democrats" exchanged places since the years preceding Civil War.
It is even more shocking how the Republican Party of Eisenhower 100 years later changed so drastically since the 1950s. https://i0.wp.com/jcmooreonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/aagop-platform.jpg.
This history serves as a warning to rank and file members of our Democratic Party of 2023 to hold our own establishment operatives accountable to prevent a similar change. To fear subscribing to the hubris that "this cannot happen to us" seems like healthy fear.
Ed,
The Republican Party has not changed for some time. We were just not able to see them for what they were when they put affable hate mongers in power (like Reagan and Bush I and II).
Listen to this podcast by Rachel Maddow where she outlines the origins of "America First". Beyond unbelievable to an ignorant like me. Republicans have been fascist bent for a long time.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra/id1647910854
Now, this podcast takes time, I mostly prefer reading, but this particular podcast is well worth the time invested. Absolutely history we should ALL know.
A modern example of the fascist bent the Republicans have taken: On September 11, 2001 planes hit the World Trade Center as a result of George Bush repeatedly ignoring warnings by the CIA that some form of attack, led by Osama Bin Laden, would occur.
Bush's popularity had been waning prior to this event, and initial reports of Bush's oversight in the press were embarrassing.
Now, not one of the pilots flying the planes that hit the world trade center that day were from Afghanistan, the attack was not planned in Afghanistan nor was the training for the mission conducted in Afghanistan.
One could make the argument that Afghanistan, where Al Qaeda DID reside after the US had created it to ward off the Soviet Invasion in the 1970's, had absolutely NOTHING to do with the World Trade Center twin tower collapse.
One could also make the argument, with the public knowledge at the time, that the World Trade Center collapse was due entirely to George W. Bush sleeping through his intelligence briefings, where, Osama Bin Laden, was mentioned as a threat (note Osama Bin Laden was ALSO not in Afghanistan, he was in Pakistan).
BUT?? After the World Trade Center Bush II began a highly effective disinformation campaign to take the heat off of his own culpability and point Americans toward Afghanistan. Then, we invaded a country where essentially 100% of the people were innocent of any attack on America.
And? We did all that just to take the embarrassment focus factor off of George W. Bush II. We did NOT invade Afghanistan because it had any culpability, at all, in the World Trade Center collapse.
A fascist would start a not needed war just to avoid the embarrassing fact that he was incompetent and ignored warnings about Osama Bin Laden.
Note, the planning for the attack occurred in Germany and the training for the attack on the World Trade Center occurred RIGHT HERE IN THE US IN FLORIDA FLIGHT SCHOOLS.
Right under George W. Bush II nose, so to speak.
Thank you Mike. This truth is not being discussed because it's not popular. What country wants to admit that it was led by a dunderhead puppet of the neocons and the military industrial complex oligarchs? Nobody wants to say it, but in many ways it was Halliburton's war. Our kids were just canon fodder.
One of the many ironies of this war on innocents for me is the common idiocy of Afghanistan and Vietnam. Crimes against humanity.
The French spent decades trying to subdue the Vietnamese. They failed and left. We thought we could do it. We failed. And we killed or disrupted the lives of millions.
The Russians spent decades trying to subdue the Afghans. They failed and left. We thought we could do it. We failed. And we killed or disrupted the lives of millions.
But maybe we just needed the practice? So we invaded another country that had posed no direct threat to the US. We failed and we left. Is Iraq the third strike?
In each case we wrapped our cause in a false promise. We tried to "nation build". And we failed each time. It was American hubris and American greed on display. Death for MIC money.
As the song goes: "...when will they ever learn, when will they eevverrrr learn?"
It is wonderfully amazing that our standing in the world has been resurrected by President Biden. He has performed diplomatic miracles. If I were a citizen of the Middle East or Asia, why would I trust a country that spends trillions on needless wars? A country that thinks it can convince people with bombs, napalm and drones?
"Nobody wants to say it, but in many ways it was Halliburton's war. Our kids were just canon fodder."
Definitely, the invasion of Iraq was Haliburton's war for sure. Afghanistan, well, perhaps but Afghanistan is sans oil as far as I know.
And, yes, the invasion of Iraq, based on another disinformation campaign and lies about Al Qaeda being in Iraq (who would think Saddam Hussein would put up with an alternative power source in Iraq?) WAS a fascist move. Also, Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq (which the weapons inspectors put on the ground by Ronnie himself, dispelled publicly in all major publications).....another disinformation campaign that broadly failed among a significant population BUT......
Bush went on anyway. Then, came no bid Haliburton projects.
Based on lies that, even I, at the time, who had voted Republican to that point in my adult life, could see.
On the day of the Iraq invasion, I became a permanent Democrat and remain an embarrassed former Republican who had been duped by propaganda that started with Reagan when I was 19.
And whpo was the head of Halliburton? Cheney
We forget that two Republican oilmen got US into useless, horrible wars. Thank you for the reminders. It’s also good that Reagan is at last being remembered for who he was.
Dovetailing on Mike's quote of Bill about "our kids being cannon fodder" I want to go a step further. With an all volunteer army, the impact of the 20 year GWOT was borne by (and I don't have the exact stats, so I am making my best guess at recall here) 10% of the number called to fight in Viet Nam. In that (also futile) war, many were called for one hitch. In GWOT, few were called and served multiple deployments, and in several cases, had both parent and child serve in the Armed Forces in "the sandbox".
That is a significant difference. Another word for "all volunteer army" is "mercenary army." This change took it away from our early roots and the present Swiss model in which "the people are the army." This change coupled with tight oligarch control of a media by design made certain that "the mercenary army" could be conscripted to serve corporate ruling class economic interests all over the globe and the rank and file citizens would hardly even be conscious that their military was being used shamefully, not to "defend democracy." Note the Swiss Constitution has a safety that prevents their citizen army from being used by Swiss Corporations. Developed nations governments regulate their nations' corporations. We have transitioned to where a ruling class representing corporations for all practical purposes regulates our federal government.
And yet, we wonder how Dems could have voted to allow Bush the authority to attack Iraq. My theory is this: many informed Congress members did not believe that Iraq was a threat to us, nuclear or otherwise, despite Colin Powell's famous warning. The Big Lie they believed was NOT that Iraq was a threat to us or even to Israel; the Big Lie people (see...Al Franken) believed was that the administration Knew What It Was Doing and that America Would Do the Right Thing even if we all didn't understand it. Turns out, the Bush Admin was basically ignorant of MidEast history and didn't have a clue, plus they were guided by greed and desire for power.
I am with you
“Afghanistan is sans oil as far as I know.” What about the opium poppy fields as a motivator?
Excellent assessment, Mike. I will never forget the video of Shrub reading to some school children, and the look on his face when told about the attacks on the WTC. I do not forget that the only planes allowed out of the US contained Saudis that were friends of the Bush family. "A fascist would start a not needed war just to avoid the embarrassing fact that he was incompetent and had ignored warnings about Osama Bin Laden". A good Republican would, however, create an environment where his friends (and VP) could make a metric crap ton of money in that not needed war.
Thanks Ally.
and, yes, Bush and Cheney made out like bandits on those wars.
Mike S, thanks from me also for the history lesson of our failures; and it DOES point out the incredible job Biden is doing to repair our reputation and bring nations together. And thanks for the link to Rachel Maddow podcast, I will try to find it.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra/id1647910854
Carol,
Thank you.
To find “Ultra”: just go to wherever you listen to podcasts and type in “Ultra.”
Should have been observations from Ed, Bill and Mike
The thread of our demise is captured here, Ed and Mike. Almost feels like TCofLA reporting. Thanks.
Thank you for reminding us about this.
Helen,
You are welcome.
I'll check it out.
Yes indeed. Look at folks like Tulsi G. and Kennedy for Christ sake !
Puke, says me
You always pack a punch with brevity and clarity, Jeri!
The things I have read about the transition from "Eisenhower Republican" to where we are today (and, IMO, we haven't arrived at their version of "perfection" yet) has the actions taken by LBJ with respect to civil rights, and getting the Civil Rights Act passed was the pivot point. Nixon (or one of his band of merry men) coined the "Southern Strategy" whereby they took the Democrats of the "solid south" (aka the "Dixiecrats") and welcomed them into the Republican party; they also courted white Evangelical Christians at the time (even Barry Goldwater was against that, suggesting that was a road not to go down). The constant of the Republican party throughout time, however, is that the wealthy oligarchs have always been a part of that party, irrespective of the "social" bent of the party. So, in some ways, they've changed on the social platform but remain in lock-step about favoring the wealthy white men with money.
"So, in some ways, they've changed on the social platform but remain in lock-step about favoring the wealthy white men with money."
Or, they have continued to maintain the social platform of the antebellum south where a small number of white plantation owners controlled......EVERYTHING.
Exactly, Mike. Men with money didn't care where or how it was made, only that it was made.
Ed, I am glad you reminded us that there have been two significant switches in the Republican Party. For a lot of us, the first shift is confusing, because it took place far enough in the past, when so much was changing in our country. Itt's easy to forget that the Democratic party of Lincoln's time was not the same as the party of today. That whole process is kind of mind-bending: though I've known of it since childhood, the manner in which it happened still perplexes me. Somehow human conscience kicked in during a period of intense questioning and northern Dems stepped into the breach.
Southern Dems supporting white supremacy did not, and for years sought to undermine the movement toward equity. Then, their legal status challenged by black voters who won when their candidates were seated in lieu of the white slate, the old school Southern Dems turned to the Republican party- by then taken over by power seeking elements, and the switch was complete.
For many people, that is the switch that often isn't clearly seen for what it was: the stepping away from the GOP, which had served as a complementary ballast for the efforts by Dems to move the USA into a more democratic place. Increasingly, the Republicans picked up the philosophy of an authoritarianism that has long been the undercurrent holding us back. They are no longer the GOP, but a ragtag force against democracy. Those Republicans who could be the ballast seem unwilling to stand up for decency in the numbers needed to keep the minority extremists from taking over.
Your closing paragraph makes an important point. We do need that healthy fear and the willingness to work to keep the Democratic party going in the right direction.
And both times the parties shifted had to do with racism against Black people-the first time was slavery and second time was civil rights.
Thanks, Annie. The "ragtag force" is funded well enough to end democracy. All it takes is party candidates willing enough to sell our government to the buyers.
'New York City Divided Pre-Civil War'
'As the business capital of the nation, New York City had not welcomed the onset of the Civil War, as it meant losing the South as an important trading partner.'
'Cotton was an extremely valuable product for New York’s merchants: Before the Civil War, cotton represented 40 percent of all the goods shipped out of the city’s port. And long after the slavery trade was made illegal in 1808, the city’s underground market in enslaved people continued to thrive.'
'As the war progressed, New York’s anti-war politicians and newspapers kept warning its working-class white citizens, many of them Irish or German immigrants, that emancipation would mean their replacement in the labor force by thousands of freed enslaved people from the South.'
'In September 1862, President Abraham Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation (which would take effect early the following year), confirming the workers’ worst fears.'
'At the time, Lincoln’s decision for emancipation sparked protests among workers in the city, as well as soldiers and officers in New York regiments who had signed up to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery.'
'Aftermath and Legacy'
'In addition to the death toll, the riots had caused millions of dollars in property damage and made some 3,000 of the city’s Black residents homeless.'
'When the Colored Orphan Asylum attempted to rebuild on the same site after the riots, neighboring property owners protested, and the orphanage would eventually be relocated to the sparsely settled area north of the city that would later become Harlem.'
'Stunned by the riots, the abolitionist movement in New York City revived itself slowly, and in March 1864, less than a year after the draft riots, New York City saw its first all-Black volunteer regiment in the Union Army march with pomp and circumstance through the streets before boarding their ship in the Hudson River.'
'But despite this meaningful victory, the draft riots would have a devastating impact on the city’s Black community. While the 1860 census recorded 12,414 Black New Yorkers, by 1865 the city’s Black population had declined to 9,945 by 1865, the lowest number since 1820.' (History.com) See link below.
https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/draft-riots
They need to teach this in school. Maybe they do teach this somewhere. I never learned about this from school. Especially some of the detail put forth by you and Dr. Richardson.
The American people have been systematically robbed of our rightful inheritance -- the knowledge of and connection to our own past. We have become so ignorant of cause and effect that we can’t believe how we got here now, where our democracy hangs by a thread, while so many can’t be bothered to vote, because the connection to our past has been stolen from us. Take away the ‘why, when, where, how and whom’ and nothing makes sense. No reason to do anything. Those who deny us our true history are an enemy. No both sides-ing is appropriate as far as I can see.
The right to know one’s own factually accurate history should be in the Bill of Rights, which education should then provide to every citizen.
It’s intentionally not taught. America is baseball and apple pie.
Thank you, Fern. More that I didn’t know about Eastern states in the Civil War!
Thank you, Fern, for these new facts.
Thank you, Mary Hardt, for sharing your interest in the consequences of this devasting riot. We see at that time, 160 years ago, some of the same forces at work against Black people, along with other principles of democracy that we must continue to work, fight and struggle for.
The labels of the groups working against minorities and principles of democracy may change, but their actions are always the same. Thank you for your presentation of additional facts.
Among the least known stories of the brutal attrocities committed against black people is told by Jill Lepore in her book, Burning New York. Just 40 years before the country declared our Independence based on words we all know and love, black people were burned at the stake in New York.
And we wonder why our society is so violent now-especially when White people are not held accountable signaling that Black lives don’t matter.
I was a Selective Service board member and local chairman for 20 years, ending in 2008. I’m embarrassed that I never learned this bit of history. If I ever had it included in a history text, it was probably one paragraph and never discussed. My husband with East Texas education said he had read of it in recent years. I am learning so much vital American history from these daily readings. Thank you Heather and all of you faithful participants in these daily discussions.
What happened in New York City is astounding, and some how the information has eluded me all these years. Thank you. Such hatred and brutality still lurk today beneath a veneer that's easy to see through.
The Republican Party is the party that was for freeing the slaves. The Democratic Party was not, so your comment is odd. And, It was predominately the Democratic Party membership that founded the KKK and killed multitudes of black Americans.
'Fact check: Democratic Party did not found the KKK, did not start the Civil War'
'Historians agree that although factions of the Democratic Party did majorly contribute to the Civil War's start and the KKK's founding, it is inaccurate to say the party is responsible for either.'
'This is not a new argument'
'Princeton University Edwards Professor of American History Tera Hunter told USA TODAY that this trope is a fallback argument used to discredit current Democratic Party policies.'
“At the core of the effort to discredit the current Democratic Party is the refusal to accept the realignment of the party structure in the mid-20th century,” Hunt said.
'In September, NPR host Shereen Marisol Maraji called the claim, “one of the most well-worn clapbacks in modern American politics.”
'Comedian Trevor Noah tackled the misleading trope on an episode of "The Daily Show" in March 2016, after two CNN contributors debated the topic.'
“Every time I go onto Facebook I see these things: ‘Did you know the Democrats are the real racist party and did you know the Republicans freed the slaves?’” Noah joked. “A lot of people like to skip over the fact that when it comes to race relations, historically, Republicans and Democrats switched positions.”
'A similar meme attributing the claim to U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson has been circulating on social media since November 2016.'
“Who started the KKK? That was Democrats. Who was the party of slavery? Who was the part of Jim Crow and segregation? Who opposed the Civil Rights Movement? Who opposed voting rights? It was all the Democrats,” the meme reads.
'Other posts making more specific claims about the Democratic Party starting the Civil War or founding the KKK continue to circulate.'
'This trope was rated false by PolitiFact and the Associated Press in October 2018.' (USAToday) See link below.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/30/fact-check-democratic-party-did-not-found-kkk-start-civil-war/3253803001/
You said it in way more detail than I. I can't believe that anyone can't discern this shift. Thank You F.M. !
They *choose* not to acknowledge that shift - it doesn't fit their purposes.
Fern, you are another of my favorite sources for fact-checking and historical context. Thanks for contributing to truth and knowledge!
Thank you, Marge. Among the fine aspects of subscribing to LFAA is learning from HCR as well as from subscribers who participate on this forum and extending my learning through research. We are together in our work on behalf of democracy.
FERN ! YOU !, are BLESSED ! What Marge, has Stated, Would be SAID, by Many Others ! , of US, that Follow Dr Heather !! ( and You ! )
Fern,
Thanks for the information and links as always. Appreciate it.
Here is a picture from the Rochester, NY newspaper in 1926. A huge Klan meeting. Way after the founding for sure. But, thousands of folks involved.
A local man who runs the organization that promotes the AntiRacist Curriculum, Shane Weigand, found this in our local Newspaper Archives.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5QL5yGrg7Qbr9m3CA
I didn't say it was the Democratic Party that founded the KKK. I said it was a majority of Democrats that founded the KKK and that is true! I didn't say Dems started the Civil War. It was more Republican war because Lincoln was President.
'Founding of the Ku Klux Klan'
'A group including many former Confederate veterans founded the first branch of the Ku Klux Klan as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865. The first two words of the organization’s name supposedly derived from the Greek word “kyklos,” meaning circle. In the summer of 1867, local branches of the Klan met in a general organizing convention and established what they called an “Invisible Empire of the South.” Leading Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was chosen as the first leader, or “grand wizard,” of the Klan; he presided over a hierarchy of grand dragons, grand titans and grand cyclopses.'
'Founded in 1865, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) extended into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for Black Americans. Its members waged an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed at white and Black Republican leaders. Though Congress passed legislation designed to curb Klan terrorism, the organization saw its primary goal—the reestablishment of white supremacy—fulfilled through Democratic victories in state legislatures across the South in the 1870s.'
'After a period of decline, white Protestant nativist groups revived the Klan in the early 20th century, burning crosses and staging rallies, parades and marches denouncing immigrants, Catholics, Jews, African Americans and organized labor. The civil rights movement of the 1960s also saw a surge of Ku Klux Klan activity, including bombings of Black schools and churches and violence against Black and white activists in the South.' (History.com) See link below.
https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/ku-klux-klan
No sir, your comment is odd. I suggest you reread HCR's letter, as you seem to have utterly missed the point.
I understand what you're saying. But that was then, this is now. There was a shift in ideology. Todaze Republican party has nothing to do with the Party of Lincoln or for the Republican Party of McCain and Powell for that matter. This is the maga republican party.
And Heather Cox Richardson has spoken and wrote about these processes in detail. Those of us who began following her Letters early on (and then her video talks on FB, which is where LFAA began) are aware of this.
But for many folks coming in later, especially if the only history they have had is the highly condensed and edited high school version, it would not make sense, lacking that context. We are all learning, both from Heather and each other. For many of us, what we learn here spurs us to revisit earlier HCR Letters and the FB videos of her talks.
Some go further, to read other historians with other areas of focus, and start putting together that larger picture. Others look at LFAA as a short way of keeping up on how history shapes current affairs. It is a good idea for all of us to remember that no one of her letters is complete in and of itself, but has connections not only to other of her letters, and the background provided by her talks, but to the perspectives of other historians and observers. It's up to us to go there.
Yes indeed. One of the greatest contributions an educator can make, is to inspire others to further research of their own volition. Professor Richardson and some of her readers do that for me all the time.
Well said, Annie.
As a child growing up in NY in the 1950s and 1960s, I never learned about the draft riots. Reading about them now, learning about them for the first time tonight, I can see how what we do and and don't teach our children about our history warps their understand of who we are today. I have known for a long time about the MA 54th Regiment from the replica of the Robert Gould Shaw memorial at the Brooklyn Museum (https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/262 and https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.102494.html), but I wonder how many people have seen it.
Betsy, same. As a child growing up in California, I never learned that at exactly the same time HCR details, leading up to the Civil War and during, Southern forces were actively working to turn California into a slave state. California's first senator, William Gwin, was a wealthy Mississippi slaveholder who put all his own Southern Cavaliers into federal positions to gain control of the state. A pro-South ally of his shot and killed his main California opposition, Senator David Broderick, in a duel. Gwin and other Southerners, very much including Jefferson Davis, were lobbying to get the Transcontinental Railroad to route through the South to ensure Southern supremacy. And during the war a group of wealthy Southerners, the Knights of the Golden Circle, were working on various fronts to get California to secede with the South or form its own, slaveholding Pacific Republic.
We DON'T get taught the full history of our country. We need to know it and teach it ourselves.
Hi Alexandra!
I would also add that California's history is, as you and I am sure many others on this thread are well aware, rather complicated. But it is important to note in the context of HCR's essay tonight, that the American Republic expanded in the mid 19th century by "acquiring" our two largest continental States, Texas/Tejas, and California within the same, one term Presidency of the Tennessean, pro-slavery President, James Knox Polk. Those who sought to take Texas from the nascent Mexican Republic were open about their aims to make it a slave state, while the pro-slavery factions within California were never nearly that strong.
The Mexican American War, perhaps the first of our wholly unnecessary wars, was opposed by a back bencher congressman from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln, who unsuccessfully presented to Congress his "Spot Resolution", demanding to know what exact spot the supposed blood of Americans had been shed by soldiers of Mexico, justifying war.
To give the devil his due, at least Polk was quite honest. When he campaigned for President in 1844, he promised he would take Texas, take California, and serve one term only. He kept each of those promises.
Good morning, Daniel! I've had too much coffee already. It's true, Texas was always far more Southern. I've just been truly shocked by how strong the pro-slavery faction was in California. You have to know it to own it.
As we peruse all this hitherto unrevealed and unpleasant history Alexandra, I may need some of your coffee. Maybe with something a little stronger added thereto!
Both Bailey's and Jamison are good choices for that. DAMHIK.
Born & raised in S California. Is there a good book to read re Ca HX? I have triaged one I read I think it was "Men to Match My MOuntains" In school the hx taught re CA was a lot about the missions & slavery of the indigenous peoples, Spanish land grants. A family story from my great Aunt Ramona told about her father who had a land grant that was taken from him was that the only English he would speak is "Damn Gringos".
Carole, I wish there were just one I could recommend, or a few that even start to cover everything! During the pandemic I read hundreds of histories, biographies, novels, letters, journals of the time - to start piecing it together. I haven't found one yet that follows all the threads that I want to follow (the militia massacres of indigenous peoples, the history of the Black community in San Francisco, feminist history, Chinese history, the Californios, the land grabs (grants), the literary community, the gay community, California's participation (or non-participation) in the Civil War, the silver boom, the transcontinental railroad.
Your question is making me think back over my vast bibliography to see if there's anything that would remotely suit the question, but at the moment I'm coming up blank. Maybe someone else has read something more inclusive? I'd love to know, too!
Your reply reminders me of how complex CA is. For a while I lived on the San Mateo Coast. The local newspaper published weekly history stories of that part of the coast. although every state & region & local has its stories & history, the diversity of CA is truly amazing. Maybe it is a book or 2 or 3 that you plan on writing.
First: what is this "too much coffee" of which you speak? I am unfamiliar with this term.
Second: "You have to know it to own it" EXACTLY SO!! Oregon is as bad (if not worse) than California. We are not, in any way, shape, or form close to owning it.
Yes. Oregon's Constitution prohibited Black people from living in the State. They considered also excluding Chinese, but in the end only Black people were actually named.
However it could also be seen as an easy out of the attempts to balance slave states vs non slave states in admitting new states in the run up to the Civil War. Oregon became a state in 1859.
Hah, Ally! You must be made of stronger stuff. Any more than two cups and I am intolerable. I've read a lot of Oregon history, so entwined with CA's - and you're right, it is horrific, as Mary Ellen notes below. But some great women's history: Abigail Scott Duniway and Frances Fuller Victor are fascinating.
Exactly; I am going to have to look up those women! Coffee tolerance was well established in 20 years of working overnight shifts in law enforcement. I actually did hit "too much" just once; a trainee of mine bought me a six shot mocha (I don't usually drink sweet drinks). YOWZA!
Thank you, Alexandra and Daniel, for these revelations about our history.
Thank you, Lynell! Most sweet of you.
I'm just drafting off of Alexandra's force field
Oh, please! We're all in this together.
Your humility is welcome. But your observations and historical knowledge are a rush of revelations. Thank you.
Signs now installed at The Alamo make clear that the fight of the Texans against Mexico was almost entirely related to Mexico's outlawing of slavery, while the Texans, who were illegal aliens in Mexico to begin with, had established slavery as the basis of their economy. These signs were erected during prior administrations and as a national park, Governor Abbott does not have the ability to take them down, if he wanted to.
Thank you Alexandra, 4th generation California here. No, we were not taught the full history of CA, not about the idigenous people, not about the history of the Civil War nor the 1515 Union soldiers that lost their lives at Ft.Wagner nor the full on-going history of this Country. LFAA is good gathering spot to learn, know & teach that history.
Bryan, agree 100%. LFAA is essential. It is so frightening how Facebook and Twitter just stopped promoting any kind of political or historical posts. Thank god/ess - the Universe and HCR for this place.
Thank you Alexandra. I believe a few this in LFAA Community are aware that I monitor Platform legal liability cases & positive state statutory legislation and will comment at LFAA when relevant
Thank you, Counselor. I appreciate the work you do in that matter.
Some places in California still retain names chosen by enthusiastic supporters of slavery. Two examples are Fort Bragg (coast, north of SF) and Alabama Hills (near the foot of Mt Whitney, Eastern Sierra).
Perhaps we will get our Fort Bragg renamed, as the base in North Carolina was just renamed to Fort Liberty. I too never knew the origin of the name but a quick search brought up:
"The North Carolina base was originally named in 1918 for Gen. Braxton Bragg, a Confederate general from Warrenton, North Carolina, who was known for owning slaves and losing key Civil War battles that contributed to the Confederacy’s downfall."
Bragg was incompetent, so a huge military installation was named in his honor. His incompetence alone should have disqualified him from the honor, not to mention he was a traitor. We never held the traitors to account after the Civil War.
oh nvm, just did a little more searching and came across this Wikipedia citation:
TLDR: (solely my interpretation) lack of interest and motivation to change the city's name
"In 2015, members of the California Legislative Black Caucus petitioned Fort Bragg to change its name due to Braxton Bragg's links to the Confederacy.[16] The mayor of Fort Bragg at that time, Lindy Peters, stated that there was not really much interest among the residents, and cited the costs that every company and institution in the area would have to pay to change all of the addresses.[22]
There were further calls to change the name in June 2020, following the murder of George Floyd. On June 22, the Fort Bragg City Council considered whether to put a proposition on the November ballot asking its residents if they would like a name change,[23] but decided instead to form an ad hoc committee to explore options for the city's name.[24] They estimated the cost to change the name would be $271,000. Among the alternative options that were explored was to simply rededicate the city to a different notable person named Bragg.[24] By late January 2022, the commission announced that it could not come to a consensus on a name change.[25]"
And with a population of less than 7000 people (and declining) over 3 square miles, the 2023 Fort Bragg Demographics - According to the most recent ACS, the racial composition of Fort Bragg was:
White: 77.39%
Other race: 8.93%
Two or more races: 8.71%
Native American: 2.29%
Asian: 1.58%
Black or African American: 1.1%
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander: 0%
https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/fort-bragg-ca-population
"There were further calls to change the name in [July 2023]" by the Ad Hoc LFAA Commission.
Interestingly I was at the now ex Ft .Bragg NC during the Cuban missile crisis. When the crisis ended and all the called up reservists left, one group of them threw paint on the Airborne statue leaving fingerprints in the paint. They were tracked down as MPs (military police).
Bragg was a monster.
Rex, I didn't know about Alabama Hills, had to look it up! https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2020-06-25/a-confederate-warship-haunts-californias-alabama-hills-national-scenic-area
Beautiful place but should be renamed using a name given by people who lived there before European invaders arrived.
Right next to the Manzanar Japanese “internment camp” by the way, which finally got a good visitor center after about 75 years of persistent effort by the victims and their descendants.
Fort Bragg is a tough one. Although I'm a SoCal guy who cannot claim knowledge of the Ft. Bragg area, it seems to me that the Confederate origins of the town's name are wholly ephemeral to the residents there. In other words, not like statues of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Nathan Bedford Forrest are degrading the public space there.
The name degrades the space, not just the physical presence of statues. Bragg was a traitorous Confederate general, who deserved no such honor.
Bragg should have been hanged, along with all the other Confederate soldiers above the rank of sergeant. The town would still be named for a traitor, but at least it would be a traitor who was hanged.
Double ‘likes’ if I could give them.
And the amazing part is the amount of past history that is hidden in plain sight. Book banners must not accomplish their plan of controlling a free press - it has reared its head more than once in history
Pat, it IS in plain sight. It's so easy to bring it to the forefront. We can't let the NeoConfederates continue rewriting and suppressing history.
I understand the use of hot-button cultural issues to distract us from the increasing control by our American Oligarchs. But it’s mind-boggling to me how much effort it takes to wind up and sustain public outrage over books and history. Do you think the oligarchs and fascists are literally following the Dictators’ Playbook? Do they collaborate on their agenda as obviously as they coordinate talking points? Do they assign outrages to each member of their group? I always believed that people who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Now I wonder if that belief is ass-backwards. Those who want to repeat history learn from it.
I agree with what you say here, Marge. I love your take on repeating history and learning from it. If you haven't listened to Rachel Maddow's podcast "Ultra", you owe it to yourself to do so. It is mind boggling.
Wow! I grew up in California and never heard anything at all about that!
Kristin, I know, right? I have been blown away and really disturbed at how very little I know about the real history of our state, and how we fit into the history of slavery (and its overthrow). It took a LONG time for California to throw off Southern influence and become a progressive force. But we did, and the history of HOW is invaluable.
Same for me in Oregon. Our racist history is still prevalent today.
“We DON’T get taught the full history of our country”, and the GOP is working to make sure of that.
And thanks to Heather for enlightening and teaching us about history we never learned in school.
It's amazing , the extent these folks would go to in order to subjugate other human beings for gain. What kind of mindset do you have to have? Sometimes, I don't want to know the details because being mad is no good. That's why I want our children to learn our history lessons along with Math, Sociology, Physics and Education Thanks for your lesson as well A.S.
I had no idea. The more I learn the more tumultuous US history seems compared to the Disneyfied narratives I received in K-12.
Ain’t that the most confounding truth J L Graham.
"Disneyfied narratives"! What an amazing description of the sanitized history I was given in Southern Oregon in the 60's and 70's. That continued into college, where I took a full year of US history and NEVER HEARD of the things I have learned in three years of reading LFAA.
Death and disaster and even treachery seem to be inevitable, although there seems to be ways to navigate them, even to blunt their impact, that are wiser than others. There is plenty of harsh reality, but also jaw-dropping beauty and kindness. Summer fruits grow on trees. It is a pathetic delusion to suppose that we "conquer" nature, but there are rewards to be reaped and pitfalls to avoid by learning her ways, part of which is taking an earnest look at our own nature. If we mange to improve the integrity of the mechanics of our republic but are poorly informed, the nation will be run by fools.
I am not surprised that any education leaves a whole lot our, but some facts are significant than others, and some reveal patterns that we need to watch for, anticipate, and address. Our medical establishment gave us vital information about what the COVID-19 virus is, and how to minimize its spread, and yet political agendas and wishful thinking markedly increased our death toll in a nation that should have been better positioned than most to minimize the impact with our access to knowledge and resources. The well-researched pattern of climate disruption https://climate.nasa.gov/climate_resources/300/video-climate-spiral-1880-2022/ is becoming self evident. We know from past events what "big lies", oppression and fascism is and yields. We don't look (it) up at our own peril.
AMEN!
The Shaw Memorial original is at the sculptor's home in New Hampshire. St Gauden's, one of America's great sculptors , also did the majestic statue of Gen. Sherman on 5th Ave in NYC
A beautiful copy is built into a memorial across from the Massachusetts Statehouse.
That glorious piece of art! Every time I see it, I can’t keep from weeping!
Let me recommend a visit to the Saint-Gaudens park (https://www.nps.gov/saga/index.htm). I remember it as a very tranquil place when I visited with friends on one of our motrcycle day trips to New Hampshire.
James, thanks for the link…just took a little “trip” there via the internet!
Very true, and starkly meaningful words.
Over my first 56 years I thought America had made great strides overcoming racism and hate, arrogance and patriarchy. But 12-13 years ago I learned that there is a whole segment of America that still harbors these appalling so-called "conservative" attitudes. It's like a part of America laid dormant under a rock only to be let loose and empowered by the lowly characters of Newt Gingrich, Pat Robertson, Mitch McConnell and eventually Donald Trump (please add more if you like). Nevertheless, I believe that progress will always surmount regression - otherwise humans would have perished long ago. Now our job is to help drive voters to the polls so these "conservatives" values are swept away by the power of equality, justice and moral conscience. ASB
Andrew, while Rush Limbaugh riled up his followers who spoke only of their bigotry in “safe” groups, TFG gave them permission to say the quiet stuff out loud and proud. I believe that a lot of what we’re seeing is a backlash against gains in freedom. It’s a case of two steps forward and one step backwards.
"Forward Together, Not One Step Back," Poor People's Campaign to counter the backlash!
Well said. We wake up each day and we are assaulted by the horrors of the Supreme Court and the racist, sexist, homophobic behavior of members of Congress...and governors!
But if we look at the longer arc of history, we have made enormous strides. It was in our recent past that women couldn't vote! I am drinking my optimistic coffee again today. The current outrages are not going to stand. Gen Y and Z are not going to accept them.
There are more of us than the bad guys. The ghosts of the KKK may reappear, but we will vanquish them in the voting booths.
Bill, if our votes are not suppressed, gerrymandered, etc........
Yes-voter suppression works. In A Fever in the Heartland Timothy Egan reported that in 1880 50% of Black men voted in Confederate states. By 1920 less than 1% votes.
The things we have to go through to vote in a “democracy “ are ridiculous and life threatening for many.
Hate is buried under a rock not so deep I must lament.
Talk radio - Newt Gingrich ... I used to marvel at the things he said, that he could even think with a clear conscience and yet, here we are
I totally agree….
Progress = life
Conservatism = formaldehyde
And then they came after the women...
'July 16 marks the 160th anniversary of the most destructive riot in U.S. history.' (Letter)
In summing up the day, Heather Cox Richardson wrote, 'The contrast between white mobs railing against the government and murdering their Black neighbors while Black soldiers fought and died to defend the United States was stark. No fair-minded person could miss it.'
Lewis Henry Douglass
Courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, Lewis Douglass and his wife Amelia. FRDO 4552
'The eldest son of noted abolitionist Frederick Douglass and his wife Anna Douglass, Lewis Henry Douglass (1840–1908) was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts. In his youth, Lewis apprenticed as a typesetter for his father’s publications The North Star and Douglass' Weekly. Heeding the call for black recruits from Frederick Douglass and others during the Civil War, Lewis Douglass enlisted in the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on March 25, 1863. The regiment's commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, immediately appointed Douglass as a sergeant major, the highest rank an African American could hold at that time. Douglass saw action at the battles of James Island, Olustee, and Fort Wagner. The valor shown by the 54th Massachusetts in this last engagement went a long way toward proving the mettle of black soldiers to their white fellow soldiers and civilians in the North. Discharged from the army in 1864 because of a medical disability, Douglass married Helen Amelia Loguen in 1869 and settled in the Anacostia section of Washington, D.C. Also in 1869, he became the first African American typesetter employed by the Government Printing Office. His tenure in this position proved short-lived, however, because the typesetters' union refused him membership because of his race. Following this setback, Douglass helped establish and publish The New National Era, a weekly newspaper aimed at Washington's African American community. Lewis Douglass also served as Assistant Marshall of the District of Columbia and a term on the Legislative Council of the District of Columbia.' (Library of Congress) Link is posted below.
https://loc.gov/exhibits/civil-war-in-america/biographies/lewis-henry-douglass.html
Thank you!
Thank you for giving contextual detail to the New York draft riots, an incident that is rarely even mentioned. The Federal prosecution of the January 6th rioters has helped defuse the bomb of anti-democratic forces. But that battle is far from over, judging from the recent votes by the radical House Republicans. Social progress is never inevitable. It can always go slip sliding away.
It seems that liberty and justice are an activity, not a state. Entropy nibbles constantly; or collides like a bolt from the blue. It is maintained only with energy and stewardship, like many other things.
The cleavige in our society depicted in tonight's history lesson is reflected in a different way in the remarkable passage of the Defense appropriations bill on Thursday night. For many years until this week, it has been a bi-partisan agreement because the appropriation of hundreds of billions was, and still is, necessary for the safety of the Nation. And, thus, bi-partisanship was also a symbol of some degree of unanimity in Congress. That symbol was shattered by Keven McCarthy's willingness to let the most radical members of his caucus rule everyone else and thereby shock the foundation of bi-partisanship. McCarthy could have told the crazies, "No, you don't, not now, not ever," and appeal to ten moderates to join him and the 207 Democrats in forging the usual bipartisan deal without attaching severe abortion restrictions on the young women in our armed forces who make up 20 percent of the military. And there was so much more garbage from the Ultra-Right. McCarthy will go down in history as the most politically craven Speaker in the past fifty or even more years!
The question that has not been answered in public is why did those every single one of those alleged "moderates" (like the notorious Nancy Mace and the Brian Fitzpatricks and the Mike Garcias) cave on such an important piece of legislation? In my humble opinion, there is only one reason: FEAR!. Fear that their own evangelical, trumpy base would destroy their political careers--many of them-- in potentially severe primary battles over the course of the next twelve months. This commonly understood rationale within their caucus is that the Republican Party is now owned "lock, stock and barrel" by the evangelical-Christian sub-group that controls 30-50% of Republican voters in primaries and probably 20-30% of Republican voters in general elections. That group will willingly destroy any Republican in their way who does subscribe entirely to anti-abortion, anti-gay, and anti-trans legislation as well as a strict nation-wide abortion law that will be enacted by Congress as the first measure of legislative business in January 2025--which then will be signed by Trump in a triumphant public ceremony of the transition of America officially to a "Christian Nation."
That is what is at stake, my friends. Now, what are you going to do about it? One suggestion: it’s getting clearer day by day that entire federal democracy is on the line in Nov 24! So the answer is, my friends, our youth, women 18 to 35, and as a new poll indicates--conservative women in suburbs relatively near big cities and aged 35 to 44, who are justifiably worried about the health and lives of their daughters! Makes sense? So we desperately need all your help; please go to www.turnup.us/ to help these brilliant young Harvard students register the young men and women and their conservative mothers and TURN THEM Out! Please? Our democracy depends on them! Many thanks all! I'm sorry of my repeating this appeal, but what happened in Congress this week is the fore-runner of what is ahead of us if each one of us does not act NOW and UNTIL November 5, 2024!
Once again, in my zeal, I have overlooked several typos; please accept my apologies.
Don't worry about the typos, Ira, although I appreciate your candor in pointing them out. We all need a Maxwell Perkins now and again.
I fully agree with you but would add one caveat---The concept of a "Christian Nation" in the fevered and synaptically deprived minds of the Boeberts, Jordans, Greenes, Goetzes, et. al., has nothing to do with actual Christianity.
At no time did Jesus inveigh against gay people, women, immigrants, or anyone else except the money changer fraudsters in the temple who sought to profit from religious sanctimony. Boy, does that sound familiar?? In fact, Jesus went out of his way to embrace the outsider, the immigrant (the Good Samaritan), the practitioners of the world's oldest profession, and of course, the woman who was his most courageous friend, Mary Magdalene.
Thank you Daniel. Contrary to religious obviously Jewish family in the Lower East Side, I went to the oldest Methodist College in the country, Randolph-Macon College in sleepy Ashland, Virginia with mandatory Bible courses, vespers, and 50% preacher’s sons! What I don’t understand (please explain) how did that generous and compassionate Christianity be captured by these dogmatic evangelicals? Where are the Methodists, Presbyterians, Northern Baptists, etc,?
'What does The United Methodist Church say about racism?'
'Racism has long been described as America’s “original sin.”
'The 2020 killings of three African Americans — George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who died at the hands of police, and Ahmaud Arbery, chased and shot to death by two individuals — sparked a national outcry against white supremacy and institutional racism, a protest that has now spread globally.'
'How is the UMC responding?'
'United Methodist Church leaders and members have joined those voices. The denomination’s Council of Bishops called for every United Methodist “to name the egregious sin of racism and white supremacy and join together to take a stand against the oppression and injustice that is killing persons of color.”
'The United Methodist Church has created an advertising campaign, #EndRacism, in an effort to actively engage in the ministry of dismantling racism and promoting racial justice. Logo courtesy of resourceumc.org.
Other voices from across the denomination, from individual bishops and general agencies to students at Africa University in Zimbabwe, have also responded and issued statements.'
'The United Methodist Church has mounted a denomination-wide campaign, "United Against Racism," that urges its members not only to pray, but to educate themselves and have conversations about the subject, and to work actively for civil and human rights.' (United Methodist Church) See link below.
https://www.umc.org/en/content/ask-the-umc-what-does-the-united-methodist-church-say-about-racism
Thank you for this and thank you to the UMC for speaking out loudly and repeatedly! what are the Methodist MOC on the Republican side doing by voting quietly in lock step with their evangelical crazies?
You know the answer to that. When 'silence' is the gilt on trump's walls and when they support autocracy? What's that about the 'golden calf'?
'Golden Calf: (Exodus 32:4, Exodus 32:8; Deuteronomy 9:16; Nehemiah 9:18). This was a molten image of a calf which the idolatrous Israelites formed at Sinai. This symbol was borrowed from the custom of the Egyptians. It was destroyed at the command of Moses (Exodus 32:20).'
'Golden Calf Bible Story'
'The Bible Story of the Golden Calf is very revealing of human nature and the tendency of people to stray away from devotion to God. It is ironic that while Moses was on Mount Sinai, receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the Israelites were breaking the very first commandment "thou shall not have any gods before me." This makes it very evident why the commandments were needed as people exhibit a natural drift towards sin without the proper leadership and constitution of morality. As the Israelites grew impatient with Moses on Mount Sinai, they decided to make a new god to "go up before them" or worship so they took their gold jewelry and melted it down to build a Golden Calf. God saw that his people had constructed a false idol as his replacement and planned to "consume" or kill all of them but Moses courageously requested God to "relent from this disaster against your people."
'Moses then went down from the mountain with two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments written by God and saw the Israelites dancing and singing around the Golden Calf. So enraged by their betrayal to God, he threw the tablets and broke them at the foot of the mountain. He then "took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it." Moses informs the Israelites, "You have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." God tells Moses to lead his people to the promised land of Canaan, and he will visit them there. The chapter ends with a plague being cursed upon the Israelites for the Golden Calf as they embark toward Canaan.' (BibleStudyTools) see link below.
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-stories/the-golden-calf-bible-story.html
OMG, Ira! I wish I knew, my friend. I wish I knew.
These days, I share a religious (or semi-religious) identity with the great writer/director John Sayles who identified himself as, "Catholic agnostic".
This quasi political/religion question needs some dissecting? Anybody?
See: Paul Weyrich and Pat Buchanan.
Good one, MLM. Spot on.
You are, of course, right, Daniel- but my take is that is actually what ira was getting at. He wrote:
"That group will willingly destroy any Republican in their way who does subscribe entirely to anti-abortion, anti-gay, and anti-trans legislation as well as a strict nation-wide abortion law that will be enacted by Congress as the first measure of legislative business in January 2025--which then will be signed by Trump in a triumphant public ceremony of the transition of America officially to a "Christian Nation."
Those quote marks make clear that the "Christian Nation" is a fiction, a political tool used by the Maga Republicans to manipulate the voting public. I'd like to think it won't work, but I also think that under the circumstances, we'd best not take that for granted. I am preparing to work on getting out the vote where I can.
That said, I do have to thank you deeply for recognizing Mary Magdalene in the way you did. I'm not a Christian, but there is beauty in the Christian teaching, and your comment raises up women in the way the man Jesus meant.
Good early morning, Ira. By pressing one of the dots to the right of reply at the end of your comment, you will see the edit function. You can use that to correct, add, subtract, etc., anything in your post. After editing, just press the save function. You can then delete your apology as the comment has been corrected. Salud!
Thanks; I forgot but I appreciate your friendly reminder! Be well
And don't be put off if your corrected text appears to disappear when you hit Post and the comment box appears to be empty. It will reappear if you reload the page. I've had that happen multiple times now. I reload and search my name on the page and voila! there's my comment. Weird. I hope substack will fix that as it did with the unresponsive hearts.
That happens to me too. But when I try to post the corrected comment. I end up with an empty box. Hitting cancel restores the original post, but my corrections are lost. If I renew the page, I am jumped to the beginning, with no idea how far down my post is, or even if it is. It's probably there someplace, but with hundreds of posts (and the need to repeatedly "load more"), I just gave up on editing. If it is something germane, now I simply add it in a reply to my post rather than edit. Otherwise, oh, well.
Annie, that's why I suggest that, after refreshing the page, you search on your name and you'll find it fairly easily in order to confirm that the changes are registered.
That seems to work for some. Not for me. As I mentioned, I get jumped to the top of the comment list. Search works only on what is on the screen, and I have to use "load more" repeatedly. I don't care to spend my time doing this, so simply adding any significant changes as a response works best for me. I could do a "newest first" sort, but then I completely lose my place in reading what others have written. I like doing things the simplest way available.
And while we’re at it, a group from this forum started a giving circle to raise money for The States Project, which directly affects us nationally.
It is https://www.grapevine.org/giving-circle/1XQhnyD/Tending-to-Democracy. Right now we are raising funds for Virginia; the opening page describes what’s at stake there.
Thanks for the reminder, MLM. I've got it marked, but keep up the reminders. I'm holding off from donations right now until after I get my heating system and run it a few months to get an idea of how to budget for it.
A bit off-topic, but I'm getting heat pumps to replace an oil-based furnace- tank red-tagged, cranky 20 yr old furnace. Finally got a date: Aug 10/11. I CAN HARDLY WAIT!
Work delayed because of godawful weather and huge demand- and when heat started in late spring I gave my window air conditioner to am elderly farmer to use for his chickens. My grandparents were chicken farmers and chickens have always been a part of my family's lives. Chickens are very vulnerable to heat and I am a sucker for old farmers who care for their birds, so I am feeling righteous. I helped save some chicken lives. What's a few weeks of hot, humid weather with almost daily thunderstorms? Ok, it's miserable, but I am still glad I donated my air conditioner to the old farmer (who is actually younger than me, but still reminded me of my grandfather when I was growing up). Guess I should really post this over on Joyce Vance's page!
Thank you for that lengthy explanation 😂🐓. Sometimes other things take precedence, especially in this heat!
Donated, Ira, thanks for the reminder. I’d been meaning to do it for a while now.
Thank you; very meaningful use of our money!
KR: will we win in beating the sneaky 60% constitutional proposal? How’s it going?
I’m unfortunately still immunocompromised from chemotherapy two years ago, and I don’t do much outside my home for Covid reasons. But I do go to a dog park full of young people, and I’m sure I drive some of them crazy with my - hey, do you have a plan to vote in August? questions. But I’ve explained lots, and maybe it’ll make a small difference. Otherwise, I feel like my postcard writing and donations are all I can do, and it feels feeble given what’s at stake.
I wish you well and I greatly admire your participation! Overall, the battle in November 24 and all these preliminary, but significant pre-events such as the No vote in Ohio, is the battle for our democracy writ large! We need everyone on board so please go to www.turnup.us today and particpate? Chances are we're going to see random violence when the indictments issue--this existential crisis will put it all on the line but the election will set us on a path to begin again to restore our democracy but only with the help of all of us on this thread!
Thank you, Ira, and I admire what you’re doing as well.
Omg Ira. Former congressman and now head of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce is my neighbor. He is fully backing the 60% proposal along with the weight of the Chamber and along with some seriously sketchy citing of statistics. We have a full line of “vote no” signs in the side of the street facing his house, and we all wish he would just move! We are thrilled with the number of signatures we got for the amendment, almost double the number required and from all 88 counties. Red Wine and Blue is doing a bang up job and I’m cautiously hopeful. Next up after this: protecting Sherrod Brown’s senate seat.
Did you mean “the Turnabout Project.” Isn’t the Turnup the group that is trying to take votes from Democrats to get TFG re-elected?
Virginia, I mean www.turnup.us which is the most successful nonpartisan youth voter registration and turnout group according to Forbes. I’ve been working closely with this brilliant and effective group of Harvard students for about a year and they are terrific! I’ve merged my own voter registration foundation “Inspire2Vote” into TurnUp as they are much more effective and operate at a different level. My organization “Inspire” has registered 104,000 high school students in 9 states in 5 years sending full time staff to different high schools but TurnUp can beat that in 3 weekends on social media and has done so! Please contribute? Thanks
Ira, maybe I shouldn’t admit it, but the combination of Harvard (Ted Cruz, DeSantis) and Forbes (corporate and hedge fund fortunes) terrifies me. Co-opted by the third party threat they could put Trump back in the White House. I am delighted to see students get involved, but these auspices do not seem auspicious to me.
We need to learn from the painful history of this date that Heather just identified. Lincoln’s party freed the slaves and the Dems of those days were the bad guys….we need to be very very clear about the constitutional principles that were developed initially at our founding and profoundly challenged on this day 160 years ago, over slavery misadventures….
Since then and with considerable effort in the last 140-150 years we have managed to keep those principles intact…
But currently our democracy’s fundamental promises need to be reinforced ..those constitutional foundations totally understood and reaffirmed. For we are at another crucial point where we could lose the founding constitutional base…it was Franklin, when asked what our Founders had created…” A Republic, if you can keep it”…
And that’s ‘our challenge’ right now’….
The roles of liberator and predator seems to shift over time and place, and seems to emerge and fade as enduring scripts with an ever-changing cast. That said, many argue that humanity in general has become more empathic overall over the centuries. The question is whether that general trend can continue as technology amplifies both the best and the worst it occurs to us to do?
God willing…the ‘best’ in us succeeds!
I keep harping back to the mail in vote deals in states like Oregon where the possibility of fraud is minimal to non existent and the vote appears to be sensible…(and essentially dem) or in CA, where we are now up to 87% choosing this more simple system….some folks even driving their ballot to the voting site..
In CA, mail-in ballots, postage paid, are now sent to each registered voter. The only choices now are whether to use it, vote in person or not vote at all. No need to request a mail ballot.
Voting in person has become more tricky, though, due to reductions in polling sites due to difficulties in recruiting enough poll workers. It's an onerous job requiring training classes and horrendously long days at the site on election day.
Judith…I’m very grateful that I live in a state that makes it very easy for me to vote, whenever I receive my ballot…at home, with a walk to the mailbox, at 85.
Not a state that tries to prevent my voting with every possible nasty ruling that requires me to jump through difficult hoops to even register to vote, and then I’m made to go to a poling place, on an approved and possibly very inconvenient day and time, stand in long lines, quite possibly for many hours in all sorts of weather. And apparently in some states with no possibility of being offered water or assistance!
J L, I think you make an interesting observation that bears some truth. I do have something for your consideration, though. It's normal for people to assume that somehow their culture represents "humanity" (at least ours does). But our culture is, if not broken, pretty dysfunctional in one way or another almost all the time.
It does not represent "humanity": there are, in spite of the efforts of our culture to characterize and subsume all humans in terms of our assumptions, many people's whose cultures have a strong base in empathy (other terms sometimes used to express this). Though often marginalized, many of those cultures retain that primary foundation in spite of the values our culture has tried to impose on them.
Sometimes that foundation is expressed in terms of "seven generations" as an expression of our responsibilities to each other and to all we depend on as human beings. There is a reason for that. At points in our lives we are connected to seven generations.
I've used this to teach the concept: I ask people to hold hands, and then think of themselves as holding the middle position in the seven generations. The person on either side is a child or a parent generation. The person on either side of them is a grandparent or grandchild. These represent direct connections (even for people whose parent or grandparent generation is represented by someone not related to them by blood, but by community). On the other side of those are people who represent the great-grandparent and great-grandchild generations. Often we don't know them directly but their knowledge and wisdom and history are available to us through our direct connections with the parent and grandparent generations.
What we do, think, believe, act on, experience, good or bad, is passed through those generations. I encourage people to try this in their imaginations, but there is something powerful in standing linked with others and allowing oneself to *feel* those connections, and carry them with you into the world.
Each of us occupies the different positions in the generations during our lifetimes, and have a role in passing what we learn from the elders to the children and from the past to the present. It's what we do with what we learn in the present that we pass on, and it is where things can be broken or healed.
I am well into the elder end of that generational lineup. I am in the position of needing to recognize and teach what broke and needs healing (including my own mistakes), and to pass on the memory of the teachings of my own elders. I don't yet have great-grandchildren, but I see my grandchildren (this includes the many young adults now joining the recreation of a functional society) doing the best they can to live within the values I'd hoped they would. All of us make mistakes, but by paying attention to that foundation of compassion, respect, and community passed through the seven generations, we can heal.
I think it's difficult to separate culture from fundamental characteristics of humanity and objectively define what human rights might be, but I think we can tease some of it out, knowing that we will harbor inevitable cultural biases as we do so, but at least being alert for them. I think your exercise is an interesting, tactile (even imagined to be so, what to look at the legacy of knowledge and values we pas between generation's A great, great, many generation brought us to this point, and it seems to me that we get to try to apply, appreciate, reinterpret, and update the legacy that go in to making us who we are, as well as passed along skills we can apply to negotiating our hour upon the stage.
Thank you, Professor for more history and context about the Republicans, Civil War and New York. I echo Betsy Smith’s statement above about what we teach and don’t teach our children determines their perspective and understanding of history, past and present.
History is our record of how things came to be and how things tend to work. You can't step in the same river twice, but you can pick up useful clues about when and if the river may freeze, flood, and bear fish.
"Now the Lord can make you tumble
And the Lord can make you turn
And the Lord can make you overflow
But the Lord can't make you burn
Burn on, big river, burn on
Burn on, big river, burn on"
- Randy Newman on the Cuyahoga RIver
Ha!!!!
Cleveland, City of Light, City of Magic;
Cleveland, City of Light, you're calling me
"Cleveland, even now I can remember
'Cause the Cuyahoga River
Goes smokin' through my dreams"
I was born there.
Please know that the Cuyahoga River I no longer polluted. In fact, it was just voted one of the best rivers for recreational boating in the country.
Though born in Cleveland (where my parents grew up) I lived my 6 mo. to nearly age 5 years in a very rural area where some of the farmers still pitched haystacks and, had I stayed, I would have attended a classic one -room school. I lived in Cleveland and then Akron and vicinity after that. I recall clouds of soap suds on the Ohio Canal. Fibrous scum at least 2 inches thick on one of the slower parts of the Little Cuyahoga, a tributary. Inviting beaches on Lake Erie closed to swimming.
That said, the State of Ohio overruled local money resistance to cleanup. I saw the scummy part of the Little Cuyahoga (that we as kids threw rocks in to make "moon craters) in 2005 and it was a lovely little park, with no visible pollution. That said, at least that part of Ohio did not feel nearly as right wing as the vibe I get today, even though (it seems to me) Reaganomics screwed them over.
Glad you got to see the Little Cuyahoga without pollution. It's hard living in Ohio these days. And to think we had a Democratic governor (Strickland) just 16 years ago. People keep electing these yahoos to the General Assembly and all they talk about is abortion, guns and, lately, trans-sexuals.
My parents met and married there... before moving to MIchigan.
I grew up there. Thank you for the memories.
JL, as a former Clevelander, thanks for the memory. I was 17 when the Cuyahoga River caught fire. It was one of many reasons (including Kent State) why I picked an out-of-state college and have been in my blue Minnesota ever since!
J L- The words you wrote in the intro to Randy Newman's song is a beautiful and succinct description of what history really is. With your permission, I would like to use as a trailer for my email. If it is ok with you, please let me know how you would like them attributed.
PS: I am a big Randy Newman fan, from way back before he hit the charts. I think this song brought awareness to a lot of people who hadn't realized how bad the pollution was, and started them taking a look at the rivers in their own places. I am a river person, and just beginning my journey from advocate based on identity to professional based on passion. I still retain that passion. (Another of my Newman faves was "Short People". Some of my friends were baffled by that. Me, I loved the irony, part of Randy's appeal for me.
I think that humor can be a very powerful mode of communication that can fly under the RADAR to deliver a payload, and song in general can do that. The same can be said of other arts, "The play's the thing...". "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is widely credited with raising awareness of the evils of slavery and reinforcing the Abolitionist movement, even though a melodramatic work of fiction. I recall in a school history book images by Thomas Nast and "Herblock". Randy served his humor dry, as in the sardonic song "Political Science".
Use what you like. I post this stuff to share some thoughts. The source could be credited as "a blog" or by my "handle", J L Graham. Thanks for asking. I repeat some specific phases here I read elsewhere, often after forgetting the specific source, but I at least try to acknowledge what what is specifically borrowed. That said, so much of what we think we know is drawn from the commons.
Above all, IMHO, we should educate rather than teach. Develop citizens that are armed with critical thinking skills— that are able to see what is happening and think for themselves.
To add to Dr. Richardson’s excellent written account, please check out the film, “Glory.”, which came out in 1989. Very powerful film of the forming of the MA 54th Regiment, starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher, Do not confuse it with the series, “The Glory” which often pops up when you search for the 1989 film. Not an easy film to watch, but one of the best. ❤️🐼
"Glory" was magnificent, and introduced the world to Denzel Washington broadly, or at least those who didn't see the even better film "A Soldier's Story", prior thereto.
Also, the Martin Scorsese film "Gangs of New York" depicted the NYC draft/race riots with eerie accuracy.
I found Glory on Prime. 1990
So glad you found “Glory.” It really is well done. Others have recommended “The Gangs of New York,” and “A Soldier’s Story.”
ABSOLUTLY ! Well Done ! Your HEART , Will Be Drawn, into the STRUGGLE !
It's so disheartening to fight the same battles over and over again. Women must fight to have control over their own bodies. LGBTQ people must fight to maintain hard-fought gains. Minority students must fight to gain admission to many colleges.
Right now we maintain or lose our rights at the whim of the Supreme Court and state legislators. Right now it looks to me like we are not winning the battle.
Well, as this history shows, things can turn very quickly, and I'm hoping they will. The Senate will probably cancel the worst of the Republican House's anti-woke provisions, and revelations about Clarence Thomas's latest contributions via Venmo may just push the needle over on the Supreme Court's lack of accountability. That's why it's important to focus on what's happening in real time and not the worst that could happen.
Why disheartening? Do you think our opponents just go away? Do you think all of them see the error of their ways? Or, do a small, significant number brood, let their anger fester and wait for an opportunity to strike back?
As much as I wish they’d all see the error of their ways, I’ve come to the latter conclusion. When I was a kid in the fifties, the South was still refighting the War of Northern Aggression.
Mina, Right Now, is ONLY, for This " SEASON !" Stand STRONG ! With FAITH ! IT ! Shall BE DONE !
A very moving account. What those soldiers went through in that bloody war.
I suspect Stonewall Jackson's death at Chancellorsville was a lucky break for the Union. Otherwise, Gettysburg might have ended differently. Some southern military men apparently thought that Jackson was a better general than Lee, and they considered Jackson Lee's "right hand man."
There was also an odd respect and even fondness among some Northern soldiers for Stonewall. Phoebe Sheldon, whose great great grandfather enlisted in 1862 at age 17, turned his copious letters home into a narrative--a soldier's eye view of the war. (Rufus: A Boy's Extraordinary Adventures in the Civil War.) Rufus Harnden fought at Chancellorsville, and recounted that his commanding officer had told his soldiers to flee QUIETLY as the southern army was routing the Union soldiers on the evening of the second day of fighting. In his flight, Harnden came out of the forest onto a road, and cut loose with his musket, out of pure fright.
Months later, Harnden, who had been let off from fighting due to injuries, was now a "pill boy" at an army hospital near Chattanooga (he later became a doctor). There were some southerners at the hospital, including doctors who treated their men. There was some eavesdropping when the docs were at dinner. One of the Southern docs said he had known Stonewall's personal physician, and they were talking about Stonewall's injuries and death.
Then, one of them says, "they say some fool yank boys come poppin' up out of a thicket. Just stumbles outa the bushes alongside the road, lost behind our lines. One of them damn fools up and fires a shot at the General's party."
Harnden: "His words froze the very air inside my chest into shards of ice... For I knew in an instant the identity of the man feel he was talking about! I was that very same man. It had to have been me. The shot, my one lonesome shot fired that night in my over wrought state, against General Knipe's strict orders."
Harnden feared that he had either killed Stonewall, or catalyzed the friendly fire that had killed him. He was mortified, for although he believed strongly in the Union's cause, that the slaves should be free, he wrote that "Stonewall was the noblest of Christian men... to have caused such a man to die was a thought too horrible and confusing for my youthful mind to absorb."
That’s an amazing story! What a quirk of fate!
It blew me away when I first read it!
Another history lesson that shines as much of a light on the present as the past.
Thank you, again, Professor Richardson, for the history lesson, and for stirring up a personal memory of my own.
In 1969 I was a high school senior and an anti-draft, anti-Vietnam War, aspiring long-haired, guitar-playin', protest-song-singin', commie-pinko hippie. I chose the New York City draft riots as the topic for my senior term paper, assuming they were probably similarly inspired as the anti-war, anti-draft demonstrations I had attended in New York and Washington DC.
As HCR has described, that was not the case at all.
Doing research for my term paper, I spent time in the main NY Public Library, the one on 5th Ave. with the lions out front, looking at microfilmed editions of the NY Times from the dates of the riots and the days following. It was my first "came to believe" moment that virulent racism in America was not at all limited to "The South". There have been many such moments since.
Much has changed since those halcyon days. And much hasn't changed at all.
It appears that the history of America is that we are always at war with ourselves because one group with a skin color or a righteous motive ( so they say) is out to force others not of their persuasion to capitulate or die. As Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and they is us."
I echo Mimi,Penney, and Bill: this is a superbly pointed history lesson that even some of the more obfusc members of MAGA would have a hard time denying.
Oh, to make them read it.
Ha!!! Don’t ever give the benefit of doubt.