Today is the federal holiday honoring Juneteenth, the celebration of the announcement in Texas on June 19th, 1865, that enslaved Americans were free. That announcement came as late as it did because, while General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to General Ulysses S. Grant of the U.S. Army on April 9, 1865, it was not until June 2 that General Edmund Kirby Smith surrendered the Trans-Mississippi Department, the last major army of the Confederacy, to the United States, in Galveston, Texas. Smith then fled to Mexico.
In other words, in 1776, one group declared themselves free of a government, while in 1865, another group was declared free by a government.. In both cases the underlying idea was that all men are considered equal, and should be granted the same rights and privileges by their government. About seventy years later, women were legally granted all of those rights and privileges also.
But now we are again seeing a major flaw in our nature. It is very difficult to convince a large percentage of any society that they are equal to, but no better than, everyone else. What people have a great deal of difficulty realizing is that we are all united by our insignificance. We will all disappear, and the world will go on without us, no matter how important we think we are.
I love this. A friend once told me, “Put your hand in a bucket of water, and then pull it out. Watch how quickly it fills in behind you. That’s how important you are.” It made good sense to me and has helped me put things in perspective. We can do our best to change and love the world, and should, but insignificance shouldn’t frighten, but free us.
We are important to ourselves and in many ways, to one another. Self-importance alone can become evil, but self-interest is Ok, I think, embedded in enough perspective. Our human societies, our collected human observations, arts, and values, are important to us, so why %#$& it all up? For what?
At every level of existence, from the cells that serve my body/me, to me ) serving my family, ) community, country, ) all life... we live in nested worlds. When we do not serve larger worlds they lose their ability to nurture us. If I don't nurture/feed my body it dies. This is call reciprocal maintenance. Every situation calls up our map of how we draw the nested worlds. President Biden sees himself serving individuals ) town ) country ) his God all as one thought. Others politicians see themselves as central and exclusive.
Love, "Our human societies, our collected human observations, arts, and values, are important to us, so why %#$& it all up?" by not serving the culture so it is nurturing.
And a planet that for all of it's risks and terrors offers astonishing beauty, nurture and adventure, gifted, along with our sentient lives, to we humans.
We study Biology in both Reductionist and Emergentism modes to explain life. Reducing more complex systems to more general concepts like cells and tissues of the vascular system emerge to carry nutrients through the entire body, and chemical bonds emerge to form macro molecules to form living cells. One day we might discover the entire earth biosphere emerges to fill yet higher emergent properties.
I think the thing many have lost is that the corollary of rights are responsibilities.
The responsibility to treat others with respect, to accept that one has no rights the other does not, unless they have transgressed against the laws, which must be proven snd the laws rationally and fairly constructed and enforced.
And that where we get to the problems of Christian nationalists and fearful racists. We need to explain their fears are groundless. Someday we'll be able to explain to them their god is a fantasy too, and can move on to a rational future.
Enjoy the scorching heat courtesy of the deniers of fact, the petroleum industry.
Sadly, our ability to destroy is not insignificant. We have learned to put a significant leak in the bucket, but it is we who will suffer. The universe will spin on without us…likely with a cockroach or two
I fall back on the world of interconnection the James Cameron dreamed in Avatar. Man's quest for Unobtanium, destroying the worlds in his search. And the natives on the blue planet who knew better.
Yes, it is more than sci-fi, but also based on Native American culture.
Excerpts from my review of Avatar (2009)
When Na'vi approach another they greet with "I See You." Of course they see you with those big cat eyes, but the expression is more like "Namasté" a Sanskrit word that means the god in me recognizes the god in you.
Blended with this East Indian concept of one in spirit is the North American Native concept that: "All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth." (Chief Seattle, Suqwamish and Duwamish)
There is a scene where Jake, on learning the Na'vi ways is hunting and kills a Pandoran equivalent of a deer. As he dispatches the dying animal with his knife he says, "I see you brother. Thank You. Your soul will go to Eywa and your body will stay to be part of the people."
That reminded me of Native American culture:
“The Indian loved to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with his brothers of the animal kingdom, whose inarticulate souls had for him something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent child. He had faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious wisdom given from above; and while he humbly accepted the supposedly voluntary sacrifice of their bodies to preserve his own, he paid homage to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings.” From The Soul of an Indian: An Interpretation by Charles Eastman, (Ohiyesa) 1858-1939
I've watched it twice. There used to be an animated movie/series years ago that I remember watching with my kids or grandkids - something like the premise in Avatar.
I told my grandson I had good news, bad news, and good news for him. The good news is he's the most important person in the world bar none. The bad news is he's tied for first place with roughly eight billion other human beings. And the good news is he's tied for first place.
True enough. I've heard the image used in discussions of managers dealing with subordinates threatening to leave. Not a flattering comparison in either direction. However, it should be noted that if 30 people all stick their hands in a bucket of water at once and the water rises to a level that it spills over, when they withdraw their hands, the bucket's water level drops. Also, a good reminder that working together on a cause can make a difference.
As an ESL teacher, one of my main jobs was not to teach content material or even fluency in speaking, reading, or writing English but to help students from many different countries with different religions and customs understand that one group or another was not better than or worse than the others. "Different from" was the operational thought pattern that we all worked on establishing. It's a principle that we still have to learn here: we all have equal value, regardless of who we are or where we came from or any of the other aspects of our background that make us different from each other, but neither better nor worse..
Rule #1 of the 10 commandments: “you shall have no gods before me” is a negation of all Religions that do not subscribe to the same God as mentioned in the Ten Commandments including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shinto, Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Scientology, Bahá'í Faith, Rastafarianism, Wicca, indigenous and folk religions, African traditional religions, Aboriginal Australian religions, Polynesian religions, and Siberian shamanism, New Age spirituality, Secular Humanism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Taoism and Confucianism.
So too with “honor the sabbath.” It’s a rule that teaches to exclude the other, the non-believer. Not cool for school.
Prohibition of taking the lord’s in vain is a violation of the first amendment.
Forbidding coveting (anti-envy) is an invitation to police thoughts.
If you want to post a code of ethics, great. No lying, stealing or murder. The end.
The other seven commandments are problematic and cause more harm than good. Much like 70% of religion.
The current crop of Christian’s are self-righteous cretins to a great extent. One bro thinks my other bro is not Christian enough and won’t talk to him. It’s more complicated than that, but the religious nonsense is just too much to take
Jeri, Its the same with every single possible issue there is - nonsense is exactly what it is. There is one religious phrase that seems to be completely forgotten - Do unto others etc??? Or how about Walk a mile in my shoes - another good one. Or maybe just treat people the way you would want to be treated. Honestly, its complete BS.
I am proudly wearing my Celtics hat. It represents teamwork at the highest level. When a group of talented individuals put their personal interests aside and prioritize the interests of all, everyone benefits.
Gary, I was denied an Assistant Scoutmaster position in a Baltimore Area Council troop in 1966 because I did not have a religion. Reverent meant a belief in a god.
Shawn: Actually, honoring the sabbath means that for 1/7 of our lives we should rest. It means taking ourselves away from needing to be "productive" in favor of just being. Coveting isn't just envying; it's actively taking something from someone. Being commanded not to covet means your property is yours, and I should leave you alone to enjoy it. This is positive not negative and certainly not about police. You agree about not lying, stealing, or killing, all of which protect each individual and the society as do the other commandments.
BUT the biblical commandments should not be required to be posted in secular places like schools. That's fascism and contrary to our nation's Constitution.
Melinda, I appreciate the perspective. Thanks. And your interpretations are lovely. Your motives are to bring solace where you sense my frustration. You are driven by kindness.
If the Ten Commandments and the lessons of the Bible were interpreted universally through good will like yours, we would live in the kind of world I see in my daughter’s picture books where we learn lessons about respecting others and embracing differences. In Hollywood movies, the good guys are GOOD.
In situations like Louisiana, the motives are not to bring calm and community, but to create conflict and pain. Indeed, the governor signed the law saying “I can’t wait to get sued.” How can you adhere to God’s laws and also be motivated to pick fights?
Hi Shawn, Thanks for your response. Your observation that Gov. Landry has a deep-seated problem is evidenced by essentially using that playground taunt: "So there! I dare ya! Sue me!" That posture is contrary to the life you characterize as respectfully embracing differences. The fighting stance betrays an insecurity. People who want to shove their views on others need, for some reason, to denigrate and dismiss optional views so that theirs alone is on the table.
Another way to approach the religious convictions of people unlike oneself is to ask questions and notice what is different and what is similar and say something like, "Oh how interesting!" Each view gets more helpfully defined; neither tears the other down.
The problem I have with it is the concept of an infallible entity who cannot be questioned. If you do wickedness in the name of this thing, you can use it to claim piety.
Get rid of the justification and stand on the merits of your act. Removing it to the responsibility of god told me to do it simply changes the discussion to whether or not it’s authorized by the inscrutable and false diety
There's a book I remember reading many years ago, that had as its premise: What if we lived our lives based LITERALLY on what it says in the Bible? Some of it was very tongue-in-cheek.
I believe that might have been A.J. Jacob's book "A Year of Living Biblically"?
I LOVE that book! It should get more readers, but I think atheists would be turned off by the title, and those very devote will think it treats the bible as a farce. I found it to be humorous--he has a great way with words, and yet sincere. He tries to be respectful of the theology behind various practices and understand them.
Before I retired, I worked with many Muslims. I asked questions about their faith with honest curiosity, and they all came to respect my questions as they recognized I truly wanted to understand.
I learn much from HCR and those who comment on the forum. I must say though, I'm dismayed by the dismissive and sometimes rude posts put up to anyone who has religious faith. It's yet another reason I am upset with Trump and MAGA: just like I am now leery of flying our flag for fear of being judged as "MAGA", I am also reluctant to discuss belief in God, as in my opinion, the hypocritical evangelicals have stolen religion, too. If I find comfort in believing in a loving higher power, don't dismiss other's religion (or lack of) nor try to control/conform anyone else, my personal faith shouldn't be an issue with them.
I'm already well aware of the wars fought over religion, the horrible acts that are done in "God's name" etc, I don't need those reminders. I just find it a bit hypocritical as well, when I hear liberals (and I am liberal, btw) declare they embrace all people and yet automatically slam the door on any person who believes in God. Can't we be better than this?
Miselle - its what people take away from the Bible & other religious teachings - whether comfort in believing, or someone finding one small piece of a verse that they believe enables hypocritical actions. I really dont have that much faith anymore whether I ever did, but if believing provides comfort - what difference does it make which God someone believes in? Sometimes thats the only thing a person has.
Right now? I guess we really cant be better than this!
Yeah.. good post, Shawn Shawn. I keep asking, "who" wrote that "book"..?? Having just read an article by Lauren Windsor and listening to a recording of creepster Roger Stone at a Cathoilics for prayer get-together at Mar-a-lago. I'm beginning to think it might've been some distant relative of Roger Stone (puke!!). He and his 'toters' cause me to feel ill. Keep an eye on that POS... total slime.
My mother used to tell me when I asked why some people treated others so badly that those folks NEEDED somebody to look down on. That is still true today.
“As an ESL teacher, one of my main jobs was not to teach content material or even fluency in speaking, reading, or writing English but to help students from many different countries with different religions and customs understand that one group or another was not better than or worse than the others.”
Thanks for your post, Betsy. I was a volunteer ESL tutor for many years. Actually…it was my students who taught me…
And along with Equality we need to respect each other. Easy to write, but hard to put in action when you're dealing with people hell bent on dividing us.
We have to learn that differences are what make life possible... even at the level of the cosmos, if the sun was the same as the earth, no inner levels in our nest worlds could exist.
My niece was teaching an ESL class the last I knew. She is a retired high school teacher - cant remember if she taught English or History. I'll have to ask her.
Oh! Oldandintheway, I laughed out loud as you put everything into perspective. Isn't it great being old? Granting rights and privileges equally to others is more important than our measly little self. LOL
Well said....We have very weak and insecure white males....always trying to control women or people of color....to use or destroy anyone they consider vulnerable. This attitude has not changed since the Civil War...or "from the beginning".
Most are dangerous empty vessels.....of course with guns.....to fill their insecurities with a sense of power.
Thank God for the few, for the brave who actually are willing to give their lives to this country...to all of its people...to work throughout the world to build relationships...to work for peace, NOT war....to work for the economic good for all....to care for people of all skin colors...to care for our children...the hope of the world....to care for those who are living in poverty...to give a hand up NOT a boot in the face.
Those supporting Trump are blind and pathetic. This man stole government documents saying they were his! No they are not yours! Those documents belong to the government to the people of the USA. Presidents are elected to serve and to protect this nation and all of its people. ( Pence and Biden immediately returned those documents found in their homes.)
What is really gross and disgusting to me are the women who worship at his feet!!!! This man is a rapist.....this man talks about women as objects .....and treats his wife with disrespect by being with other women. He has been married three times and Christians think he is wonderful when he holds a Bible that he never reads!!!!
Oldandintheway, Yes," We will all disappear, and the world will go on without us, no matter how important we think we are" BUT, I have beloved children and grandchildren who will be here. They are very good and giving people, as far as humans can be. I DO care for their future and for those who continue to be born in this world. I also believe in making some positive contribution to the wellbeing of this world...does not need to be grand ...but something. I also pray that they will not be caught up in the lies of dictators or "want-a-be" Presidents.
You are spot on as usual. We are all united in our insignificance, but also in our individual, varied beyond imagination significance. All of us need to realize that the Sun will rise in the East tomorrow without us, while yearning to make this sun splashed orb better while we are here.
Thanks for your commentary, and before I forget, how about that Jayson Tatum!
Congratulations to the Celtics. May they enjoy their well earned title, and their 18th championship before the Lakers tie them next year!
Thank you for your comment. It has a great deal of meaning to me, another "oldandintheway" "senior". Maybe finding out that you are not better than anyone else and that we are all united by our insignificance is something you do not learn until you are "oldandintheway". It makes me appreciate that I am privileged to have reached this age.
In addition to agreeing with literally everything Oldandintheway is saying, I would like to share the following idea.
We are also united by a species-specific social instinct that is telling all of us to treat one another with respect, even though there are so many who have learned how to ignore that message. But the vast majority of us believe in something, whether that something is a religion, science, democracy, capitalism, etc. The good news is they're all a context-specific manifestation of our social instinct. There's only one way avoid that conclusion, and that is to avoid looking at the evidence.
I'll assume everyone agrees that every legitimate religion is based on the Golden Rule. So is science. Me thinking my hypothesis is right doesn't make it right or wrong, nor does it give me the right to impose it on others. Instead, it must be subjected to rigorous skepticism. So is capitalism, as I've pointed out in previous comments, because it is based on Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and not on Milton Freidman's "theory of immoral sentiments" aka Capitalism and Freedom (1961).
In other words, we're all speaking different languages that are all misunderstood by both the speakers and the listeners despite the fact that they (the languages) are all built up from the same "mutual respect" foundation.
Draw a vertical line down the center of a piece of paper. On the left side, list all the names of people you know who are appalled and frightened by possibility of a Trump victory in November. Add my name to the list. On the right side, list all the names of people you know who think the way to guarantee a Biden victory is simple enough that a child in elementary school would understand it. Add my name to the list. Now circle the name of every person you think is suffering from a delusion. If you circled my name, please explain. I'm all ears.
Justice Alito is right about one thing. There are things that cannot be compromised. Specifically, there is the one thing he feels he has the right to compromise with impunity, and that is the idea that, in every context, we must treat one another the way we would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot. That doesn't mean treating an immature individual like a grownup, especially when that immature individual is a supreme court justice.
Very well put; I like the comparison of 1776 when some said they were free to 1865 when the government confirmed, without a doubt, that all men were and are free!
That's for sure! Please read Andy Borowitz column today on what happened in Louisiana. He asks for other amendments that DT broke and they are very funny. Thou shall not covet your daughter!
Since Catholics and Protestants number the Commandments differently we may be able to separate the Catholics from acceptance of the Protestant and Jewish versions like the 19th century movement towards church schools.
And speaking of history, why is it that I learned about Juneteenth from watching a TV show. And why was I never taught about the Tulsa Massacre or that new freeways were purposely built to cut black neighborhoods in two so that their community would be disrupted? Why has it taken this long to have these things discussed? Shame on US for not teaching all of our history. Little mention was made about how Washingtin DC was built by slaves. And now, just when we are starting to level that bar out jumps white supremacy banning books, banning black history.
It's just like how they treat climate change. They think if they ignore climate change, or black history that means it doesn't exist right?!
Exactly, my history book at least taught about slavery, Now it’s state power v. Federal power. Our children are more ignorant than we are. Not a good trend.
I lived in Texas and never heard of Juneteenth until I was 18, and it was under tragic circumstances. Two young men were arrested on Juneteenth in Mexia (Me-HAY-a) in East Texas in 1981, and sheriff’s deputies were taking them in a boat across Lake Mexia to book them at the sheriff’s office. Unfortunately, the weather was turning bad, a storm came in after the deputies and the men took off in the boat. The boat capsized in the storm and the sheriff’s deputies survived, but the men they arrested drowned.
Sadly, the GOP and Magats are determined to overturn and obliterate our freedoms despite their validation through Juneteenth and other legal historical amendments/declarations. “In a celebration of Juneteenth on June 10, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris noted: ‘Across our nation, we witness a full-on attack on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights, including the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body; the freedom to be who you are and love who you love openly and with pride; the freedom from fear of bigotry and hate; the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and full history; and the freedom that unlocks all others: the freedom to vote.’”
I’m hoping that Congress through its good start last week through hearings on campus antisemitism is able to prevent the violence occurring against Jews and Israelis on our university campuses and cities. The Freedom of Religion is at stake b
159 years later, the MAGA GOP backed by the compromised SCOTUS is intent on taking us back to the time when Black people weren’t their equal in the eyes of the law.
If nothing else, the times in which we now live prove the truth in the statement “You cannot legislate morality.” How will we ever transform the angry, scared, hateful hearts of MAGA America? That is the greatest question we face. And we must learn passing laws is treating a symptom. Eliminating the root cause requires a spiritual evolution / transformation of American society! We must counter the ChristoFascist movement with one based on love and compassion!
Steve, not just black people. They would like to return us to a time when women couldn't vote, gayness was a crime, Native Americans were in boarding schools, and no other religion but Christianity has status, etc. This election is so important and all of us must do what we can to see Ds prevail.
My Iranian hairdresser, Mina, told me yesterday that she loves living in the multicultural society that is Canada. Prior to immigrating, she had no contact with other cultures at all.
I love living in a multicultural society too. I can remember growing up in the 50s when everything seemed grand. The underside of things were basically under the table. I did not see a black person in school until I was in high school. I learned nothing about local Native Americans (well, knew about Tecumseh) and thought the west was all cowboys and Indians. We had a gay man for English and social studies in the 7th grade and loved him even though he never hid the fact that he had a male housemate. So my upbringing was both monocultural and naive. Our neighborhood here in Salem used to be lily white and now is quite diverse which at least one person indicted to me was not good...good "Christian" that he is. I let him know in a subtle way that I was happy about that. He is a good friend of my in-laws and we were at their house, so I couldn't tell him bluntly what I thought. Also I spent three and half years in Sierra Leone in another culture and I came back never being able to see this one in quite the same way.
Always loved the idea of melting pot, all in it together. But money gives power, power gives rule, and rule gives greedy bastards everything. The vote is the equalizer. It’s why Repubs want to buy all the can and suppress the others.
Annie, i am currently making plans to go to Canada if the Mango Mussolini steals the election in November. No one is going to force that Christian Nationalist BS on me. I refuse to live in fear for the rest of my life.
I agree, Daniel. Here in NW Georgia, i have tried and tried to get these dumbasses registered, but these ignorant, gullible, stupid assholes are so far up Donald TUMP's ass they have lost their minds. Even my relatives, (outside of my immediate family) are infatuated with the orange piece of excrement.
I wake up everyday hoping i will hear the news that the despicable SOB has died. I have never ever hated any human being any worse than i do Donald TUMP. I can't stand the site of that psychopathic, lying, life-long criminal.
I was born and raised here in GA and i am more than ready to get out of here, i can make a sizable profit on my house if i decide to sell it. If i can't get into Canada within a reasonable time period, i will move to the New England area into a blue state.
Of course, you are correct. I wrote my comment having Juneteenth on my mind. But MAGA's goal is a world where the only people who matter are white Christian men. I would say "white Christian heterosexual men," but I do not believe men who want to have sex with little girls fit the definition of the word "heterosexual". They are deviants.
I understand and I have thought about Juneteenth all day. All classical in Portland has been playing music by black composers and artists today. The news featured an event held in Gresham. (east of Portland OR). My husband has Lakota ancestry, so I think about Native Americans too. We had our hair cuts today and our hairdresser is gay as is my garden help who comes for a few hours every week. I am female, so am well aware of where woman have been and how they had virtually no rights for most of our history. My career was in public education and I was always careful to keep my personal religion and politics to myself. I am furious about using my tax dollars for private education and I don't know what I would do if I had to have the 10 Commandments on the wall. I am old enough to understand how many of these rights were hard won and how easily they can slip away. The Rs have made plain what they intend to do as well. Another problem is those on the left who do not understand that protest votes help the other side. Anyone wanting to have sex with children is a pedophile and their sexuality is just that.
I had an argument with a woman in my building today about immigration and she said I need to watch FOX news. She has a 17 year old daughter. She said I need to have an open mind. Next time I see her I will apologize to her as I yelled at her in the lobby as I was shocked she watched FOX. I will try to calmly tell her to google a summary of "Project2025!"
Thanks for sharing what happened … and what you’ll do next time you see her. I work very hard to avoid arguing with people these days. I don’t have many conversations in which an argument could break out, but being tolerant of others (as long as they’re not physically coming after me) has become something I think about daily… because I know I can’t change what people believe (unless they pay me to teach them in a workshop).
You are too kind, Lisa. Tell her that every time she watches the Murdochian Ministry of Mendacity, her synapses melt ever so incrementally into premature senility.
She says you need to keep an open mind???? I almost fell off my couch laughing. Good luck talking to her. One thing Fox does best is slam that mind shut.
Do you think people are either born gullible and susceptible to the con or cynical and question everything? Or do you think these traits stem from our life experience?
Just me, but my experiences have taught me to be cautious and somewhat cynical. However, I was very trusting when young. Gullible did intrude on a couple of occasions that left a marks that were lessons learned. One learns or one will be flattened in short order. And then, there are the Fox watchers. Cults sort of defy all normal rules..
I agree, but MAGA would give cover to religious pedophiles like the recently resigned Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church, who admitted to sexually abusing a then 12 year old girl who attended the Oklahoma church where Morris was then learning the pastor’s job. The church leadership rallied round Morris and protected him from the criminal consequences for his behavior, claiming they cleansed him of his “sin.” The problem is that Morris’s behavior was not just sinful, but also criminal, and he never experienced the criminal consequences of his behavior. In addition, Mrs. Morris accused the girl her husband sexually abused of being “flirtatious.” Excuse me, but Morris was the adult here, and he knew better. He groomed that child, and forfeited his trust.
I would not be terribly surprised to learn that Morris abused other girls either.
Eliminating the root cause of racism, sexism, homophobia, antisemitism, and the other-isms starts with education. Expose children to the many wonders of this world along with brutal histories, lessons learned, and critical thinking skills to make sense of it all, and most importantly, to develop empathy toward others, especially with differences.
Impressionable children are exactly the target of the dangerous laws in Texas and Louisiana, as well as the privatization of public school systems through vouchers for private schools and the disregard for separation of church and state.
The Nazis understood control of the education system as the vehicle for capturing the hearts and minds of the upcoming generation. Teachers had to join the Nazi party and teach the Nazi curriculum, which undermined parental authority in favor of pledging loyalty and one’s life to the Führer. Students were required to report any dissonance, even turning in their own parents to the SS for interrogation. Ten years in, the Nazis had successfully grown a military of zealots fighting to the death on the battlefields, and a cadre of complicit civilians supporting the successive waves of antisemitic laws, persecution, and concentration camps.
It would only take the Christo-fascists 10 years of state control to turn our children and grandchildren against us—and their own best interests.
All hands on deck to support Democrats up and down the ballot!
You’ve identified the solution! We teach our children what we want them to learn and don’t teach them what we don’t want them to learn. And MAGA does NOT want our children to learn tolerance, compassion, empathy, history, and the critical thinking skills that make rejecting hate and fear possible. MAGA also does NOT want to teach that a better future is possible through cooperation.
Steve, children are taught by their parents. Its only when one of those children if hateful parents can break away from that indoctrination cycle, determined to create a better perspective for their own progeny, does society evolve
It’s no surprise the wingnuts want to censor the teaching of history and to omit the terrible cruelties inflicted on African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans Asian Americans and others. They have a pathological need to believe that what we did as Americans was right, just and moral, and they’re wrong. They also want to teach to standardized testing, abandon public education, and to discourage critical thinking.
Compromised is too kind a word for this SCOTUS. Completely and thoroughly corrupt.
I heard an explanation of what the Republicans have done that makes complete sense. Since their ideas are repugnant and they can't pass laws to enforce them since even with gerrymandering they can't win enough seats, they set out strategically to take the law-making unelected courts.
And they have corrupted this country's ideals.
Threats everywhere, the orange turd just a poster boy the foolish can adore like they do the plastic Jesus on the dashboard.
Since history doesn't take priority for many people on the right or those pushing to eliminate the separation of church & state I guess they wouldn't like that historians posit that the Code of Hammurabi predates the 10 Commandments & I'm sure the 'Christians' in that group wouldn't believe that Judaism is either contemporary with or even predated by the monotheism of the worship of Aten in Egypt. But that's just history so it doesn't mean anything to these folks when they have the 'word of god' on their side.
Speaking of god, I have an eye-opener for those folks. God didn't make man, man invented gods to explain the unexplainable & to give them some type of belief that if they prayed hard enough, fought hard enough, converted others that god would bestow his 'grace' on them. I won't go on but you catch my drift.
So leave your god out of our government lest you have a Christian version of Sharia Law!!
They think no matter how sinful they are, they can get forgiven and heaven awaits. That’s the gullible, the leaders know better but the rewards of the grift are so tantalizing
A famous and wise Natve American Chief (I can't remember his name) said, "The greatest gift you can give a man is dignity." This is what the stripping of rights or the denial of rights does to people. It strips us of our dignity.
The one i like that a wise chief said was when a white minister told him about heaven; he said “ is that where all you white people will go?” The minister replied in the affirmative.. the chief then said “ then i dont want to go there”
Jeri Chilcutt, yup through the generations. Thankfully, more and more people are becoming aware of their trauma, trying to understand and accept it, and transform it. This movement is a good sign for our world.
“ The federal government had declared that a state legislature—no matter who elected it or what voters called for—could not discriminate against any of its citizens or arbitrarily take away any of a citizen’s rights.” Now the MAGA start out saying that the states should decide their abortion laws until they get a national abortion law passed. Then they’ll go after IUD’s, followed by hormonal contraceptives.
Interestingly, when I ask conservatives if the federal or state legislators should pass a law requiring a father to donate a kidney, lung, stem cells or part of a liver to their offspring to save their life, no one wants that legislation. When I ask the same question of a mother, the same people have wanted that law. So it appears that saving a baby is only the duty of a mother, regardless of the harm to her health or potential loss of life.
Catherine, the answers echo what a priest said to me in the 1960’s: “A mother sacrifices her everything for her children, including her life if needed; a father sacrifices to hold down a job to support his family.” (in the age of a one-income family) The idea that a mother’s life is subservient to her both born and unborn children was a tenant of the Catholic Church at that time.
I’m Catholic, and it’s one tenet I don’t agree with. Wingnuts want us to forget real wages started falling in 1973, when Nixon was president, and have never recovered. They also don’t want us to understand that the GQP’s favoritism toward the wealthy and tax cuts makes it essential for both spouses to work in order afford the basics.
Kathy, it doesn’t matter that we don’t agree with it. Check your local Catholic hospital (many towns’ only hospital is Catholic) to see if they allow tubal ligation (tubes tied after a C-section). The last time I checked here in Houston, they do not. Women are often finding this out as they give birth.
"…“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
Granger’s order was not based on the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished enslavement except as punishment for a crime. Although Congress had passed that amendment on January 31, 1865, and Lincoln had signed it on February 1, the states were still in the process of ratifying it. …"
To this history lesson should added that “A notice from Granger published days after Juneteenth in The Galveston Daily News informed the public that “no persons formerly slaves will be permitted to travel on the public thoroughfares without passes or permits from their employers.” In other words, white people would still dictate where Black people could be.
The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,” an exception Southern states and businesses exploited, making routine the practice of leasing convicts — usually Black convicts — out as unpaid labor, generating tremendous profits in the process.
And this labor was often brutal. Whereas enslavers had perverse financial incentives to keep the enslaved alive and relatively healthy — to them, the enslaved were assets to be sold, passed down and borrowed against — those who exploited convicts for their labor had no such incentives.”
I like Heather's noting how our era's "discriminatory policies are not just racial."
Hatred of others, stereotyping them, consigning them to packages, allows many forms, and Heather mentions several. MAGA people will embrace them all, as our witless, historically uninformed, and otherwise dehumanized float not only in the current Republican cult, but our billionaire classes pay for it. They know their cult leader will keep cutting billionaire taxes, and will curtail federal regulations for health, safety, and environmental protections -- also cushioning our most scurvied billionaires.
Sad, pathetic. Which will continue until real leaders start demanding highest level education locally and nationwide -- history and humanities centering it, with none of it measured by the numbers and units of standardized testers. That has created our currently abysmal situation which rots, like dead fish, from the head down.
Not just real leaders as in the government but as in our families and our towns and our schoolboards and our businesses, until We The People take up the reins of government by us and for us and of us with the guidance of the philosophies grounding the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
In the spirit of your gregariousness for democracy, Roxanna, here's some Rebecca Solnit.
In an essay of hers from seven years ago she cites Hannah Arendt, and how "what she called ‘the banality of evil’ was the inability to hear another voice, the inability to have a dialogue either with oneself or the imagination to have a dialogue with the world, the moral world.”
from Rebecca Solnit, "The Loneliness of Donald Trump: On the Corrosive Privilege of the Most Mocked Man in the World"
Ukrainians have had constitutional government for hundreds of years. We are accustomed to seeking knowledge and information and, also, to dealing with varied cultures. Democracy is a natural goal, each of us equal and able to achieve our best possible selves and enjoy living in peace with each other and nature.
But that era's discriminatory policies were not just racial, too.
(I assume native Americans are included in racial categories.) Women had organized to obtain the vote for all women and Black men, but it wouldn't be won for any women federally until 1920. Religious discrimination was legal, same with national origin. LGBT was more complicated and varied. Physically disabled and mentally ill people, if they lived long, were shut away at home, and in institutions.
It's not that the discriminatory policies are newer, it's that none were as egregious as slavery, and that we have made more progress, people in disadvantaged groups are more visible and organized now. As a result, it may seem like these are newer issues, but they are not.
It saddens me to recognize that despite our great technological progress in meeting so many challenges, we’ve not begun to harness the evil within the hearts of so many. We’ve created the most wealth for the most individuals in history and yet the shallowness of fear, greed, and tribalism seem to be ever more difficult to overcome. As a great grandfather of soon to be three, I fear we’ve failed to advance the sense of empathy which should be a hallmark of our society.
Gary Anderson, don't despair. I think we have advanced empathy. Otherwise no one would have gained rights. What we haven't overcome is the backlash by those who have an obsessive need to feel superior to one or more groups and want to control, harm, and exploit them. As some people become more awake to empathy and inclusion; others go more asleep to empathy.
I agree with you. Powerful tools in the wrong hands can produce powerfully negative results. It is why I am concerned about the ability to contain the power of AI.
I’m very grateful for your columns. They help us fight the propaganda and coercion coming from our government, corporate leaders, and billionaire PACS by shining a light on their lies and manipulation in all aspects of our lives. Opening the eyes of citizens is the only way to defeat financial and institutional power.
Great history. For those of us supporting equality on many levels, Juneteenth is a great reminder of the dark history of our country. Why try to ignore and erase it? Why not acknowledge it and move forward? Boggles the mind. The racism and sexism and misogyny and homophobia today is mind boggling. Sad to an awful degree. I won’t support any platform that promotes any of this going backwards.
Excellent look back at this complex but vital part of our history. Reading it I couldn't help but wonder what it was like for former slaves to slow learn that newly granted freedom came with so many asterisks.
Juneteenth vs. the 4th of July
In other words, in 1776, one group declared themselves free of a government, while in 1865, another group was declared free by a government.. In both cases the underlying idea was that all men are considered equal, and should be granted the same rights and privileges by their government. About seventy years later, women were legally granted all of those rights and privileges also.
But now we are again seeing a major flaw in our nature. It is very difficult to convince a large percentage of any society that they are equal to, but no better than, everyone else. What people have a great deal of difficulty realizing is that we are all united by our insignificance. We will all disappear, and the world will go on without us, no matter how important we think we are.
I love this. A friend once told me, “Put your hand in a bucket of water, and then pull it out. Watch how quickly it fills in behind you. That’s how important you are.” It made good sense to me and has helped me put things in perspective. We can do our best to change and love the world, and should, but insignificance shouldn’t frighten, but free us.
We are important to ourselves and in many ways, to one another. Self-importance alone can become evil, but self-interest is Ok, I think, embedded in enough perspective. Our human societies, our collected human observations, arts, and values, are important to us, so why %#$& it all up? For what?
At every level of existence, from the cells that serve my body/me, to me ) serving my family, ) community, country, ) all life... we live in nested worlds. When we do not serve larger worlds they lose their ability to nurture us. If I don't nurture/feed my body it dies. This is call reciprocal maintenance. Every situation calls up our map of how we draw the nested worlds. President Biden sees himself serving individuals ) town ) country ) his God all as one thought. Others politicians see themselves as central and exclusive.
Love, "Our human societies, our collected human observations, arts, and values, are important to us, so why %#$& it all up?" by not serving the culture so it is nurturing.
And a planet that for all of it's risks and terrors offers astonishing beauty, nurture and adventure, gifted, along with our sentient lives, to we humans.
To all the creatures. Not just humans, but we're the creatures too dumb to control our numbers and to protect it.
And yet - some are convinced humans are the dominant species - dominant but dumb!
We study Biology in both Reductionist and Emergentism modes to explain life. Reducing more complex systems to more general concepts like cells and tissues of the vascular system emerge to carry nutrients through the entire body, and chemical bonds emerge to form macro molecules to form living cells. One day we might discover the entire earth biosphere emerges to fill yet higher emergent properties.
I think the thing many have lost is that the corollary of rights are responsibilities.
The responsibility to treat others with respect, to accept that one has no rights the other does not, unless they have transgressed against the laws, which must be proven snd the laws rationally and fairly constructed and enforced.
And that where we get to the problems of Christian nationalists and fearful racists. We need to explain their fears are groundless. Someday we'll be able to explain to them their god is a fantasy too, and can move on to a rational future.
Enjoy the scorching heat courtesy of the deniers of fact, the petroleum industry.
For the best example of the worst of us. How insane are we, self-importance alone is evil.
Sadly, our ability to destroy is not insignificant. We have learned to put a significant leak in the bucket, but it is we who will suffer. The universe will spin on without us…likely with a cockroach or two
I fall back on the world of interconnection the James Cameron dreamed in Avatar. Man's quest for Unobtanium, destroying the worlds in his search. And the natives on the blue planet who knew better.
You have shocked me. I dismissed Avatar as sci-fi bs. Maybe I should take a look
Yes, it is more than sci-fi, but also based on Native American culture.
Excerpts from my review of Avatar (2009)
When Na'vi approach another they greet with "I See You." Of course they see you with those big cat eyes, but the expression is more like "Namasté" a Sanskrit word that means the god in me recognizes the god in you.
Blended with this East Indian concept of one in spirit is the North American Native concept that: "All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth." (Chief Seattle, Suqwamish and Duwamish)
There is a scene where Jake, on learning the Na'vi ways is hunting and kills a Pandoran equivalent of a deer. As he dispatches the dying animal with his knife he says, "I see you brother. Thank You. Your soul will go to Eywa and your body will stay to be part of the people."
That reminded me of Native American culture:
“The Indian loved to come into sympathy and spiritual communion with his brothers of the animal kingdom, whose inarticulate souls had for him something of the sinless purity that we attribute to the innocent child. He had faith in their instincts, as in a mysterious wisdom given from above; and while he humbly accepted the supposedly voluntary sacrifice of their bodies to preserve his own, he paid homage to their spirits in prescribed prayers and offerings.” From The Soul of an Indian: An Interpretation by Charles Eastman, (Ohiyesa) 1858-1939
I have read about how those who used the animals revered their sacrifice. Quite different from our slaughterhouses. We are the heathens…
James Cameron didn't do sci-fi. It's a warning. And a dream.
Be nice if we heeded the warning
I've watched it twice. There used to be an animated movie/series years ago that I remember watching with my kids or grandkids - something like the premise in Avatar.
Thanks for educating me on this
And I had to look Avatar up to understand what you are talking about!
I've had to Google so much on here, a real education sometimes. Unless it comes from Rupert or clones
Jeri, and Keith Richards
Lordy
I told my grandson I had good news, bad news, and good news for him. The good news is he's the most important person in the world bar none. The bad news is he's tied for first place with roughly eight billion other human beings. And the good news is he's tied for first place.
True enough. I've heard the image used in discussions of managers dealing with subordinates threatening to leave. Not a flattering comparison in either direction. However, it should be noted that if 30 people all stick their hands in a bucket of water at once and the water rises to a level that it spills over, when they withdraw their hands, the bucket's water level drops. Also, a good reminder that working together on a cause can make a difference.
I'm positive that tfg has never heard that one! Seems to me it would be enlightening for him.
Well said! Thank you!
As an ESL teacher, one of my main jobs was not to teach content material or even fluency in speaking, reading, or writing English but to help students from many different countries with different religions and customs understand that one group or another was not better than or worse than the others. "Different from" was the operational thought pattern that we all worked on establishing. It's a principle that we still have to learn here: we all have equal value, regardless of who we are or where we came from or any of the other aspects of our background that make us different from each other, but neither better nor worse..
Great perspective, Betsy.
Rule #1 of the 10 commandments: “you shall have no gods before me” is a negation of all Religions that do not subscribe to the same God as mentioned in the Ten Commandments including Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Shinto, Taoism, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Scientology, Bahá'í Faith, Rastafarianism, Wicca, indigenous and folk religions, African traditional religions, Aboriginal Australian religions, Polynesian religions, and Siberian shamanism, New Age spirituality, Secular Humanism, Atheism, Agnosticism, Taoism and Confucianism.
So too with “honor the sabbath.” It’s a rule that teaches to exclude the other, the non-believer. Not cool for school.
Prohibition of taking the lord’s in vain is a violation of the first amendment.
Forbidding coveting (anti-envy) is an invitation to police thoughts.
If you want to post a code of ethics, great. No lying, stealing or murder. The end.
The other seven commandments are problematic and cause more harm than good. Much like 70% of religion.
I subscribe to Twain. “The easy confidence with which I know that another man’s religion is folly teaches me to suspect that mine is also.”
Absolutely! So many of his "Twainisms" just make clear how small and petty our beliefs & "feelings" really are.
And then I think of our Congress - need I say more?
The current crop of Christian’s are self-righteous cretins to a great extent. One bro thinks my other bro is not Christian enough and won’t talk to him. It’s more complicated than that, but the religious nonsense is just too much to take
Jeri, Its the same with every single possible issue there is - nonsense is exactly what it is. There is one religious phrase that seems to be completely forgotten - Do unto others etc??? Or how about Walk a mile in my shoes - another good one. Or maybe just treat people the way you would want to be treated. Honestly, its complete BS.
Can we add "practice kindness" to your code of ethics?
My new hat says MAKA. Make America Kind Again.
My hat says Make Americans Think Again.
Mine says Make America Intelligent Again
I am proudly wearing my Celtics hat. It represents teamwork at the highest level. When a group of talented individuals put their personal interests aside and prioritize the interests of all, everyone benefits.
The Boy Scout laws seem to have the bases covered.
Trustworthy
Loyal
Helpful
Friendly
Courteous
Kind
Obedient
Cheerful
Thrifty
Brave
Clean
Reverant (defined in my world as "respectful"
I believe the Boy Scouts had to change their name due to the untrustworthiness of their club.
I think it might not have been the "club" but the individuals drawn there for their own wants?
Ouch!
Gary, I was denied an Assistant Scoutmaster position in a Baltimore Area Council troop in 1966 because I did not have a religion. Reverent meant a belief in a god.
No! That's been hi-jacked. Maintain law and order. Be civil, teach respect. Kindness will follow, One can only hope. We have no country we can run to.
Shawn: Actually, honoring the sabbath means that for 1/7 of our lives we should rest. It means taking ourselves away from needing to be "productive" in favor of just being. Coveting isn't just envying; it's actively taking something from someone. Being commanded not to covet means your property is yours, and I should leave you alone to enjoy it. This is positive not negative and certainly not about police. You agree about not lying, stealing, or killing, all of which protect each individual and the society as do the other commandments.
BUT the biblical commandments should not be required to be posted in secular places like schools. That's fascism and contrary to our nation's Constitution.
Melinda, I appreciate the perspective. Thanks. And your interpretations are lovely. Your motives are to bring solace where you sense my frustration. You are driven by kindness.
If the Ten Commandments and the lessons of the Bible were interpreted universally through good will like yours, we would live in the kind of world I see in my daughter’s picture books where we learn lessons about respecting others and embracing differences. In Hollywood movies, the good guys are GOOD.
In situations like Louisiana, the motives are not to bring calm and community, but to create conflict and pain. Indeed, the governor signed the law saying “I can’t wait to get sued.” How can you adhere to God’s laws and also be motivated to pick fights?
Hi Shawn, Thanks for your response. Your observation that Gov. Landry has a deep-seated problem is evidenced by essentially using that playground taunt: "So there! I dare ya! Sue me!" That posture is contrary to the life you characterize as respectfully embracing differences. The fighting stance betrays an insecurity. People who want to shove their views on others need, for some reason, to denigrate and dismiss optional views so that theirs alone is on the table.
Another way to approach the religious convictions of people unlike oneself is to ask questions and notice what is different and what is similar and say something like, "Oh how interesting!" Each view gets more helpfully defined; neither tears the other down.
The Bible is the most evil thing on the planet. Next to all the other religious nonsense.
Religion is just like all other man-made institutions. It can used for evil or for good.
The problem I have with it is the concept of an infallible entity who cannot be questioned. If you do wickedness in the name of this thing, you can use it to claim piety.
Get rid of the justification and stand on the merits of your act. Removing it to the responsibility of god told me to do it simply changes the discussion to whether or not it’s authorized by the inscrutable and false diety
There's a book I remember reading many years ago, that had as its premise: What if we lived our lives based LITERALLY on what it says in the Bible? Some of it was very tongue-in-cheek.
I believe that might have been A.J. Jacob's book "A Year of Living Biblically"?
I LOVE that book! It should get more readers, but I think atheists would be turned off by the title, and those very devote will think it treats the bible as a farce. I found it to be humorous--he has a great way with words, and yet sincere. He tries to be respectful of the theology behind various practices and understand them.
Before I retired, I worked with many Muslims. I asked questions about their faith with honest curiosity, and they all came to respect my questions as they recognized I truly wanted to understand.
I learn much from HCR and those who comment on the forum. I must say though, I'm dismayed by the dismissive and sometimes rude posts put up to anyone who has religious faith. It's yet another reason I am upset with Trump and MAGA: just like I am now leery of flying our flag for fear of being judged as "MAGA", I am also reluctant to discuss belief in God, as in my opinion, the hypocritical evangelicals have stolen religion, too. If I find comfort in believing in a loving higher power, don't dismiss other's religion (or lack of) nor try to control/conform anyone else, my personal faith shouldn't be an issue with them.
I'm already well aware of the wars fought over religion, the horrible acts that are done in "God's name" etc, I don't need those reminders. I just find it a bit hypocritical as well, when I hear liberals (and I am liberal, btw) declare they embrace all people and yet automatically slam the door on any person who believes in God. Can't we be better than this?
Miselle - its what people take away from the Bible & other religious teachings - whether comfort in believing, or someone finding one small piece of a verse that they believe enables hypocritical actions. I really dont have that much faith anymore whether I ever did, but if believing provides comfort - what difference does it make which God someone believes in? Sometimes thats the only thing a person has.
Right now? I guess we really cant be better than this!
Yes! Thanks for remembering the name of the book and its author. My sister had recommended it to me, and I loved it.
Miselle, we are kindred spirits. Thank you.
We're all atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do.
Phrase of the day.
Yeah.. good post, Shawn Shawn. I keep asking, "who" wrote that "book"..?? Having just read an article by Lauren Windsor and listening to a recording of creepster Roger Stone at a Cathoilics for prayer get-together at Mar-a-lago. I'm beginning to think it might've been some distant relative of Roger Stone (puke!!). He and his 'toters' cause me to feel ill. Keep an eye on that POS... total slime.
God dang it.
You might want to take a look at The Humanists Ten Commitments. They make a great deal more sense to me.
I like to put music to your perfect post, Betsy. Everyday People, compliments of Sly and the Family Stone:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JvkaUvB-ec
The connection of music to societal issues is deeply imbedded in our cultures
https://youtu.be/t2h4yoCVX4U?si=cdp6uO5Wn2HCjGLv
Ooh, nice; thanks, Dave!
Thanks at 4am
I'd be back in bed
I did, after feeding cats and reading HCR
Nice!!
My mother used to tell me when I asked why some people treated others so badly that those folks NEEDED somebody to look down on. That is still true today.
Yes, very true, Jenn. And that need is based on fear of losing power. The underbelly of human nature.
Too bad people did not realize there is enough for everyone. We just have to get up and work our arses off for our share.
Your mother nailed it.
“As an ESL teacher, one of my main jobs was not to teach content material or even fluency in speaking, reading, or writing English but to help students from many different countries with different religions and customs understand that one group or another was not better than or worse than the others.”
Thanks for your post, Betsy. I was a volunteer ESL tutor for many years. Actually…it was my students who taught me…
And along with Equality we need to respect each other. Easy to write, but hard to put in action when you're dealing with people hell bent on dividing us.
Why I always hated the song on Sesame Street, this one thing is not like the other, this one thing does not belong…
We have to learn that differences are what make life possible... even at the level of the cosmos, if the sun was the same as the earth, no inner levels in our nest worlds could exist.
My niece was teaching an ESL class the last I knew. She is a retired high school teacher - cant remember if she taught English or History. I'll have to ask her.
Oh! Oldandintheway, I laughed out loud as you put everything into perspective. Isn't it great being old? Granting rights and privileges equally to others is more important than our measly little self. LOL
Dag… It’s so inexpensive now as a senior riding the metro north to NY and riding the subways.
Bill, you are a poet.
I wish some would disappear sooner than others.
Oldandintheway,
Well said....We have very weak and insecure white males....always trying to control women or people of color....to use or destroy anyone they consider vulnerable. This attitude has not changed since the Civil War...or "from the beginning".
Most are dangerous empty vessels.....of course with guns.....to fill their insecurities with a sense of power.
Thank God for the few, for the brave who actually are willing to give their lives to this country...to all of its people...to work throughout the world to build relationships...to work for peace, NOT war....to work for the economic good for all....to care for people of all skin colors...to care for our children...the hope of the world....to care for those who are living in poverty...to give a hand up NOT a boot in the face.
Those supporting Trump are blind and pathetic. This man stole government documents saying they were his! No they are not yours! Those documents belong to the government to the people of the USA. Presidents are elected to serve and to protect this nation and all of its people. ( Pence and Biden immediately returned those documents found in their homes.)
What is really gross and disgusting to me are the women who worship at his feet!!!! This man is a rapist.....this man talks about women as objects .....and treats his wife with disrespect by being with other women. He has been married three times and Christians think he is wonderful when he holds a Bible that he never reads!!!!
Oldandintheway, Yes," We will all disappear, and the world will go on without us, no matter how important we think we are" BUT, I have beloved children and grandchildren who will be here. They are very good and giving people, as far as humans can be. I DO care for their future and for those who continue to be born in this world. I also believe in making some positive contribution to the wellbeing of this world...does not need to be grand ...but something. I also pray that they will not be caught up in the lies of dictators or "want-a-be" Presidents.
Good Evening, Oldandintheway!
You are spot on as usual. We are all united in our insignificance, but also in our individual, varied beyond imagination significance. All of us need to realize that the Sun will rise in the East tomorrow without us, while yearning to make this sun splashed orb better while we are here.
Thanks for your commentary, and before I forget, how about that Jayson Tatum!
Congratulations to the Celtics. May they enjoy their well earned title, and their 18th championship before the Lakers tie them next year!
From what I can tell, humility is the gateway to wisdom.
My husband was extremely ecstatic! He loves Tatum and Brown.
well said. we are specks in the universe - most of us try to do our best to lead a good life with goals of kindness, inclusion and intelligence
Thank you for your comment. It has a great deal of meaning to me, another "oldandintheway" "senior". Maybe finding out that you are not better than anyone else and that we are all united by our insignificance is something you do not learn until you are "oldandintheway". It makes me appreciate that I am privileged to have reached this age.
Tidy thought. Thank you😉🎶
Thank Old Man, you are exactly correct.
In addition to agreeing with literally everything Oldandintheway is saying, I would like to share the following idea.
We are also united by a species-specific social instinct that is telling all of us to treat one another with respect, even though there are so many who have learned how to ignore that message. But the vast majority of us believe in something, whether that something is a religion, science, democracy, capitalism, etc. The good news is they're all a context-specific manifestation of our social instinct. There's only one way avoid that conclusion, and that is to avoid looking at the evidence.
I'll assume everyone agrees that every legitimate religion is based on the Golden Rule. So is science. Me thinking my hypothesis is right doesn't make it right or wrong, nor does it give me the right to impose it on others. Instead, it must be subjected to rigorous skepticism. So is capitalism, as I've pointed out in previous comments, because it is based on Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), and not on Milton Freidman's "theory of immoral sentiments" aka Capitalism and Freedom (1961).
In other words, we're all speaking different languages that are all misunderstood by both the speakers and the listeners despite the fact that they (the languages) are all built up from the same "mutual respect" foundation.
Draw a vertical line down the center of a piece of paper. On the left side, list all the names of people you know who are appalled and frightened by possibility of a Trump victory in November. Add my name to the list. On the right side, list all the names of people you know who think the way to guarantee a Biden victory is simple enough that a child in elementary school would understand it. Add my name to the list. Now circle the name of every person you think is suffering from a delusion. If you circled my name, please explain. I'm all ears.
Justice Alito is right about one thing. There are things that cannot be compromised. Specifically, there is the one thing he feels he has the right to compromise with impunity, and that is the idea that, in every context, we must treat one another the way we would want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot. That doesn't mean treating an immature individual like a grownup, especially when that immature individual is a supreme court justice.
Very well put; I like the comparison of 1776 when some said they were free to 1865 when the government confirmed, without a doubt, that all men were and are free!
I you put that beautifully 🙏
May we be able to freely celebrate Juneteenth in 2025! Thank you, Professor
I certainly hope so! Vote Blue all the way!
It is an American Celebration, not only a “Black” holiday.
Yes! It’s an American holiday!
Thank you, Heather.
Long may the 14th Amendment live!
Unfortunately, the 14th Amendment is in danger by the corrupt SCOTUS.
And be faithfully honored.
Seems more than a little ironic that Louisiana is going to post the list that includes most of Trump’s transgressions in every school.
That's for sure! Please read Andy Borowitz column today on what happened in Louisiana. He asks for other amendments that DT broke and they are very funny. Thou shall not covet your daughter!
Ha!!!!!
Humble brag, I wrote that!
✅️
Since Catholics and Protestants number the Commandments differently we may be able to separate the Catholics from acceptance of the Protestant and Jewish versions like the 19th century movement towards church schools.
The numbering does not alter the substance.
No but it divides the audience.
Seems like they should be written in Hebrew.
Where is that truth posted. Should be a NYT banner headline
And speaking of history, why is it that I learned about Juneteenth from watching a TV show. And why was I never taught about the Tulsa Massacre or that new freeways were purposely built to cut black neighborhoods in two so that their community would be disrupted? Why has it taken this long to have these things discussed? Shame on US for not teaching all of our history. Little mention was made about how Washingtin DC was built by slaves. And now, just when we are starting to level that bar out jumps white supremacy banning books, banning black history.
It's just like how they treat climate change. They think if they ignore climate change, or black history that means it doesn't exist right?!
Exactly, my history book at least taught about slavery, Now it’s state power v. Federal power. Our children are more ignorant than we are. Not a good trend.
I lived in Texas and never heard of Juneteenth until I was 18, and it was under tragic circumstances. Two young men were arrested on Juneteenth in Mexia (Me-HAY-a) in East Texas in 1981, and sheriff’s deputies were taking them in a boat across Lake Mexia to book them at the sheriff’s office. Unfortunately, the weather was turning bad, a storm came in after the deputies and the men took off in the boat. The boat capsized in the storm and the sheriff’s deputies survived, but the men they arrested drowned.
Texas justice
Typical Texas injustice. There were protests against the deputies, but it essentially went nowhere.
Goes back to the bone
You are not alone. Oh how my eyes have been opened after so many years
Sadly, the GOP and Magats are determined to overturn and obliterate our freedoms despite their validation through Juneteenth and other legal historical amendments/declarations. “In a celebration of Juneteenth on June 10, 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris noted: ‘Across our nation, we witness a full-on attack on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights, including the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body; the freedom to be who you are and love who you love openly and with pride; the freedom from fear of bigotry and hate; the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and full history; and the freedom that unlocks all others: the freedom to vote.’”
I’m hoping that Congress through its good start last week through hearings on campus antisemitism is able to prevent the violence occurring against Jews and Israelis on our university campuses and cities. The Freedom of Religion is at stake b
159 years later, the MAGA GOP backed by the compromised SCOTUS is intent on taking us back to the time when Black people weren’t their equal in the eyes of the law.
If nothing else, the times in which we now live prove the truth in the statement “You cannot legislate morality.” How will we ever transform the angry, scared, hateful hearts of MAGA America? That is the greatest question we face. And we must learn passing laws is treating a symptom. Eliminating the root cause requires a spiritual evolution / transformation of American society! We must counter the ChristoFascist movement with one based on love and compassion!
Steve, not just black people. They would like to return us to a time when women couldn't vote, gayness was a crime, Native Americans were in boarding schools, and no other religion but Christianity has status, etc. This election is so important and all of us must do what we can to see Ds prevail.
Something like living in Iran’s theocracy.
My Iranian hairdresser, Mina, told me yesterday that she loves living in the multicultural society that is Canada. Prior to immigrating, she had no contact with other cultures at all.
I love living in a multicultural society too. I can remember growing up in the 50s when everything seemed grand. The underside of things were basically under the table. I did not see a black person in school until I was in high school. I learned nothing about local Native Americans (well, knew about Tecumseh) and thought the west was all cowboys and Indians. We had a gay man for English and social studies in the 7th grade and loved him even though he never hid the fact that he had a male housemate. So my upbringing was both monocultural and naive. Our neighborhood here in Salem used to be lily white and now is quite diverse which at least one person indicted to me was not good...good "Christian" that he is. I let him know in a subtle way that I was happy about that. He is a good friend of my in-laws and we were at their house, so I couldn't tell him bluntly what I thought. Also I spent three and half years in Sierra Leone in another culture and I came back never being able to see this one in quite the same way.
Viva la difference!
Always loved the idea of melting pot, all in it together. But money gives power, power gives rule, and rule gives greedy bastards everything. The vote is the equalizer. It’s why Repubs want to buy all the can and suppress the others.
Annie, i am currently making plans to go to Canada if the Mango Mussolini steals the election in November. No one is going to force that Christian Nationalist BS on me. I refuse to live in fear for the rest of my life.
Stand your ground! To win, register more Democrats.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
I agree, Daniel. Here in NW Georgia, i have tried and tried to get these dumbasses registered, but these ignorant, gullible, stupid assholes are so far up Donald TUMP's ass they have lost their minds. Even my relatives, (outside of my immediate family) are infatuated with the orange piece of excrement.
I wake up everyday hoping i will hear the news that the despicable SOB has died. I have never ever hated any human being any worse than i do Donald TUMP. I can't stand the site of that psychopathic, lying, life-long criminal.
I was born and raised here in GA and i am more than ready to get out of here, i can make a sizable profit on my house if i decide to sell it. If i can't get into Canada within a reasonable time period, i will move to the New England area into a blue state.
I like it too. I wasn’t happy living in Northern Michigan for four months because everyone seemed the same.
Of course, you are correct. I wrote my comment having Juneteenth on my mind. But MAGA's goal is a world where the only people who matter are white Christian men. I would say "white Christian heterosexual men," but I do not believe men who want to have sex with little girls fit the definition of the word "heterosexual". They are deviants.
I understand and I have thought about Juneteenth all day. All classical in Portland has been playing music by black composers and artists today. The news featured an event held in Gresham. (east of Portland OR). My husband has Lakota ancestry, so I think about Native Americans too. We had our hair cuts today and our hairdresser is gay as is my garden help who comes for a few hours every week. I am female, so am well aware of where woman have been and how they had virtually no rights for most of our history. My career was in public education and I was always careful to keep my personal religion and politics to myself. I am furious about using my tax dollars for private education and I don't know what I would do if I had to have the 10 Commandments on the wall. I am old enough to understand how many of these rights were hard won and how easily they can slip away. The Rs have made plain what they intend to do as well. Another problem is those on the left who do not understand that protest votes help the other side. Anyone wanting to have sex with children is a pedophile and their sexuality is just that.
Hi Steve,
I had an argument with a woman in my building today about immigration and she said I need to watch FOX news. She has a 17 year old daughter. She said I need to have an open mind. Next time I see her I will apologize to her as I yelled at her in the lobby as I was shocked she watched FOX. I will try to calmly tell her to google a summary of "Project2025!"
Thanks for sharing what happened … and what you’ll do next time you see her. I work very hard to avoid arguing with people these days. I don’t have many conversations in which an argument could break out, but being tolerant of others (as long as they’re not physically coming after me) has become something I think about daily… because I know I can’t change what people believe (unless they pay me to teach them in a workshop).
You live in a different place than I do. I was really quite shocked!
You are too kind, Lisa. Tell her that every time she watches the Murdochian Ministry of Mendacity, her synapses melt ever so incrementally into premature senility.
This woman has a 17 year old daughter! If you know who gets elected, she will not have appropriate health care as a woman!
Sadly possible, Lisa. Let us put in the work to make sure the Seditionist Sociopath never sees the White House again.
Better said
She says you need to keep an open mind???? I almost fell off my couch laughing. Good luck talking to her. One thing Fox does best is slam that mind shut.
Do you think people are either born gullible and susceptible to the con or cynical and question everything? Or do you think these traits stem from our life experience?
Just me, but my experiences have taught me to be cautious and somewhat cynical. However, I was very trusting when young. Gullible did intrude on a couple of occasions that left a marks that were lessons learned. One learns or one will be flattened in short order. And then, there are the Fox watchers. Cults sort of defy all normal rules..
Agreed!
My thoughts exactly, Jeri!
I agree, but MAGA would give cover to religious pedophiles like the recently resigned Pastor Robert Morris of Gateway Church, who admitted to sexually abusing a then 12 year old girl who attended the Oklahoma church where Morris was then learning the pastor’s job. The church leadership rallied round Morris and protected him from the criminal consequences for his behavior, claiming they cleansed him of his “sin.” The problem is that Morris’s behavior was not just sinful, but also criminal, and he never experienced the criminal consequences of his behavior. In addition, Mrs. Morris accused the girl her husband sexually abused of being “flirtatious.” Excuse me, but Morris was the adult here, and he knew better. He groomed that child, and forfeited his trust.
I would not be terribly surprised to learn that Morris abused other girls either.
Smacks of the priesthood
and coaches and bosses and rulers/politicians/authorities and doctors and teachers and...
Some more than others, but human flaws abound
Hey you are talking Southern Baptist here, and that fits to a tee
Eliminating the root cause of racism, sexism, homophobia, antisemitism, and the other-isms starts with education. Expose children to the many wonders of this world along with brutal histories, lessons learned, and critical thinking skills to make sense of it all, and most importantly, to develop empathy toward others, especially with differences.
Impressionable children are exactly the target of the dangerous laws in Texas and Louisiana, as well as the privatization of public school systems through vouchers for private schools and the disregard for separation of church and state.
The Nazis understood control of the education system as the vehicle for capturing the hearts and minds of the upcoming generation. Teachers had to join the Nazi party and teach the Nazi curriculum, which undermined parental authority in favor of pledging loyalty and one’s life to the Führer. Students were required to report any dissonance, even turning in their own parents to the SS for interrogation. Ten years in, the Nazis had successfully grown a military of zealots fighting to the death on the battlefields, and a cadre of complicit civilians supporting the successive waves of antisemitic laws, persecution, and concentration camps.
It would only take the Christo-fascists 10 years of state control to turn our children and grandchildren against us—and their own best interests.
All hands on deck to support Democrats up and down the ballot!
💙🇺🇸💙
“The real border crisis we’re having in America is the one between church and state.”
~ John Pavlovitz
https://www.threads.net/@johnpavlovitz/post/C8arArUuw5B/?xmt=AQGzwNbKnaqvKIeXlXk1a7eltftRqvPeI5OMIfyG3xEyPg
Thanks for the link!
You’ve identified the solution! We teach our children what we want them to learn and don’t teach them what we don’t want them to learn. And MAGA does NOT want our children to learn tolerance, compassion, empathy, history, and the critical thinking skills that make rejecting hate and fear possible. MAGA also does NOT want to teach that a better future is possible through cooperation.
Steve, children are taught by their parents. Its only when one of those children if hateful parents can break away from that indoctrination cycle, determined to create a better perspective for their own progeny, does society evolve
Graham Nash said it succinctly
https://youtu.be/EkaKwXddT_I?si=fQVG8EHv8AlQmr1e
It’s no surprise the wingnuts want to censor the teaching of history and to omit the terrible cruelties inflicted on African Americans, Native Americans, Latino Americans Asian Americans and others. They have a pathological need to believe that what we did as Americans was right, just and moral, and they’re wrong. They also want to teach to standardized testing, abandon public education, and to discourage critical thinking.
I tried to say this on FB and T three years ago, got banned
That’s terrible!
Gives me time for couple of substacks
Spot on!
Sadly, love manifests slower than hate, which has a hair trigger..,
Compromised is too kind a word for this SCOTUS. Completely and thoroughly corrupt.
I heard an explanation of what the Republicans have done that makes complete sense. Since their ideas are repugnant and they can't pass laws to enforce them since even with gerrymandering they can't win enough seats, they set out strategically to take the law-making unelected courts.
And they have corrupted this country's ideals.
Threats everywhere, the orange turd just a poster boy the foolish can adore like they do the plastic Jesus on the dashboard.
We have to start by teaching Magamites about climate change.
Since history doesn't take priority for many people on the right or those pushing to eliminate the separation of church & state I guess they wouldn't like that historians posit that the Code of Hammurabi predates the 10 Commandments & I'm sure the 'Christians' in that group wouldn't believe that Judaism is either contemporary with or even predated by the monotheism of the worship of Aten in Egypt. But that's just history so it doesn't mean anything to these folks when they have the 'word of god' on their side.
Speaking of god, I have an eye-opener for those folks. God didn't make man, man invented gods to explain the unexplainable & to give them some type of belief that if they prayed hard enough, fought hard enough, converted others that god would bestow his 'grace' on them. I won't go on but you catch my drift.
So leave your god out of our government lest you have a Christian version of Sharia Law!!
We are a Secular Republic, and we thank God for that!
God is the problem
They think no matter how sinful they are, they can get forgiven and heaven awaits. That’s the gullible, the leaders know better but the rewards of the grift are so tantalizing
... tantalizing and fruitful.
Sustenance for greedy bastards
Return to normalcy, you’ve read Michener, right?
What IS normalcy? Is it like ‘beauty’, in the eye of the beholder?
Louis, actually I was responding to the contributor “return to normalcy” above regarding his comments on the construct of a deity
A famous and wise Natve American Chief (I can't remember his name) said, "The greatest gift you can give a man is dignity." This is what the stripping of rights or the denial of rights does to people. It strips us of our dignity.
The one i like that a wise chief said was when a white minister told him about heaven; he said “ is that where all you white people will go?” The minister replied in the affirmative.. the chief then said “ then i dont want to go there”
Wise chief.
😑
And the loss of dignity goes to the core and changes one’s perception of self
Jeri Chilcutt, I agree, it certainly does. It traumatizes us.
And it can traumatize for generations, all the while the “superiors” moan and groan about the “lessers” getting uppity as they try to overcome
Jeri Chilcutt, yup through the generations. Thankfully, more and more people are becoming aware of their trauma, trying to understand and accept it, and transform it. This movement is a good sign for our world.
Still plenty of work for those so engaged.
“ The federal government had declared that a state legislature—no matter who elected it or what voters called for—could not discriminate against any of its citizens or arbitrarily take away any of a citizen’s rights.” Now the MAGA start out saying that the states should decide their abortion laws until they get a national abortion law passed. Then they’ll go after IUD’s, followed by hormonal contraceptives.
Interestingly, when I ask conservatives if the federal or state legislators should pass a law requiring a father to donate a kidney, lung, stem cells or part of a liver to their offspring to save their life, no one wants that legislation. When I ask the same question of a mother, the same people have wanted that law. So it appears that saving a baby is only the duty of a mother, regardless of the harm to her health or potential loss of life.
Interesting questions you pose.
Even more interesting answers.
Catherine, the answers echo what a priest said to me in the 1960’s: “A mother sacrifices her everything for her children, including her life if needed; a father sacrifices to hold down a job to support his family.” (in the age of a one-income family) The idea that a mother’s life is subservient to her both born and unborn children was a tenant of the Catholic Church at that time.
Mary Hardt, I think it still is, in some churches.
I saw two fathers forced to raise children by themselves when their wives died in childbirth.
Did a lot of genealogy research once and noticed that widowed fathers often remarried soon after a wife’s death if they had children.
Been single lately? Men still rush to find another mama whether there are children or not, when one dies or divorces them.
Mary Hardt, very sad.
I’m Catholic, and it’s one tenet I don’t agree with. Wingnuts want us to forget real wages started falling in 1973, when Nixon was president, and have never recovered. They also don’t want us to understand that the GQP’s favoritism toward the wealthy and tax cuts makes it essential for both spouses to work in order afford the basics.
Kathy, it doesn’t matter that we don’t agree with it. Check your local Catholic hospital (many towns’ only hospital is Catholic) to see if they allow tubal ligation (tubes tied after a C-section). The last time I checked here in Houston, they do not. Women are often finding this out as they give birth.
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.npr.org/2022/08/29/1119882446/getting-contraception-gets-complicated-for-patients-at-catholic-hospitals%23:~:text%3DCatholic%2520health%2520care%2520serves%2520people,perform%2520tubal%2520ligation%2520or%2520vasectomies.&sa=U&sqi=2&ved=2ahUKEwj897DCuuqGAxWp_8kDHfcMChAQFnoECBQQBQ&usg=AOvVaw2Iz2dCYHkyMRyNFtEorp5l
No surprise
What a great history lesson. Thank you so much.
No mention of Abraham Lincoln, without whom there would have been no Emancipation
"…“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor.”
Granger’s order was not based on the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished enslavement except as punishment for a crime. Although Congress had passed that amendment on January 31, 1865, and Lincoln had signed it on February 1, the states were still in the process of ratifying it. …"
To this history lesson should added that “A notice from Granger published days after Juneteenth in The Galveston Daily News informed the public that “no persons formerly slaves will be permitted to travel on the public thoroughfares without passes or permits from their employers.” In other words, white people would still dictate where Black people could be.
The 13th Amendment, ratified in 1865, outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude, “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,” an exception Southern states and businesses exploited, making routine the practice of leasing convicts — usually Black convicts — out as unpaid labor, generating tremendous profits in the process.
And this labor was often brutal. Whereas enslavers had perverse financial incentives to keep the enslaved alive and relatively healthy — to them, the enslaved were assets to be sold, passed down and borrowed against — those who exploited convicts for their labor had no such incentives.”
from Charles Blow
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/18/opinion/juneteenth-texas.html?unlocked_article_code=1.1E0.rfhc.-cm6I2e4x8WJ&smid=url-share
I like Heather's noting how our era's "discriminatory policies are not just racial."
Hatred of others, stereotyping them, consigning them to packages, allows many forms, and Heather mentions several. MAGA people will embrace them all, as our witless, historically uninformed, and otherwise dehumanized float not only in the current Republican cult, but our billionaire classes pay for it. They know their cult leader will keep cutting billionaire taxes, and will curtail federal regulations for health, safety, and environmental protections -- also cushioning our most scurvied billionaires.
Sad, pathetic. Which will continue until real leaders start demanding highest level education locally and nationwide -- history and humanities centering it, with none of it measured by the numbers and units of standardized testers. That has created our currently abysmal situation which rots, like dead fish, from the head down.
Not just real leaders as in the government but as in our families and our towns and our schoolboards and our businesses, until We The People take up the reins of government by us and for us and of us with the guidance of the philosophies grounding the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution.
In the spirit of your gregariousness for democracy, Roxanna, here's some Rebecca Solnit.
In an essay of hers from seven years ago she cites Hannah Arendt, and how "what she called ‘the banality of evil’ was the inability to hear another voice, the inability to have a dialogue either with oneself or the imagination to have a dialogue with the world, the moral world.”
from Rebecca Solnit, "The Loneliness of Donald Trump: On the Corrosive Privilege of the Most Mocked Man in the World"
https://lithub.com/rebecca-solnit-the-loneliness-of-donald-trump/
Ukrainians have had constitutional government for hundreds of years. We are accustomed to seeking knowledge and information and, also, to dealing with varied cultures. Democracy is a natural goal, each of us equal and able to achieve our best possible selves and enjoy living in peace with each other and nature.
But that era's discriminatory policies were not just racial, too.
(I assume native Americans are included in racial categories.) Women had organized to obtain the vote for all women and Black men, but it wouldn't be won for any women federally until 1920. Religious discrimination was legal, same with national origin. LGBT was more complicated and varied. Physically disabled and mentally ill people, if they lived long, were shut away at home, and in institutions.
It's not that the discriminatory policies are newer, it's that none were as egregious as slavery, and that we have made more progress, people in disadvantaged groups are more visible and organized now. As a result, it may seem like these are newer issues, but they are not.
Nice, A Robbart.
Your words here sound like an introduction to a number of novels, films, songs, memoirs, and other arts that comprise the history you suggest.
It's a real history. Thank you for briefly at least testifying to it.
It saddens me to recognize that despite our great technological progress in meeting so many challenges, we’ve not begun to harness the evil within the hearts of so many. We’ve created the most wealth for the most individuals in history and yet the shallowness of fear, greed, and tribalism seem to be ever more difficult to overcome. As a great grandfather of soon to be three, I fear we’ve failed to advance the sense of empathy which should be a hallmark of our society.
Gary Anderson, don't despair. I think we have advanced empathy. Otherwise no one would have gained rights. What we haven't overcome is the backlash by those who have an obsessive need to feel superior to one or more groups and want to control, harm, and exploit them. As some people become more awake to empathy and inclusion; others go more asleep to empathy.
I'm afraid that the "great technological progress" has created ways in which less informed minds can be brought into loyalty to fascists.
I agree with you. Powerful tools in the wrong hands can produce powerfully negative results. It is why I am concerned about the ability to contain the power of AI.
True, racism, homophobia, xenophobia and misogyny trump empathy.
I’m very grateful for your columns. They help us fight the propaganda and coercion coming from our government, corporate leaders, and billionaire PACS by shining a light on their lies and manipulation in all aspects of our lives. Opening the eyes of citizens is the only way to defeat financial and institutional power.
Great history. For those of us supporting equality on many levels, Juneteenth is a great reminder of the dark history of our country. Why try to ignore and erase it? Why not acknowledge it and move forward? Boggles the mind. The racism and sexism and misogyny and homophobia today is mind boggling. Sad to an awful degree. I won’t support any platform that promotes any of this going backwards.
Amen to that, Bob. Most well stated
Excellent look back at this complex but vital part of our history. Reading it I couldn't help but wonder what it was like for former slaves to slow learn that newly granted freedom came with so many asterisks.
It took an enormous amount of courage not to lose their knowledge of self-worth.