May 27, 1960
Florida A & M University
The question I ask is this, since we haven't as a people reached "full-citizenship" yet do we now have 491 years of disability? Can we, by 2042 reach that world foretold by Dr. Benjamin Mays that he had excepted our people would’ve reached by 1985?
To those of us in our African American communities that truly believe that the deck of life cards are stacked fair and even now in this nation. This blog is directed at those who say it's even now. Even with the unmerciful law enforcement killings, African Americans have much of a chance as whites in climbing the economic and judicial ladder. Well, if black lives really mattered and if America was really the most righteous country on the planet, why did it take 102 years from initial introduction of the Dwyer Anti-Lynching Legislation in April 1918 to the final congressional passage of the Emmitt Till Anti-Lynching Act in 2020, for this nation to actually pass a bill that criminalized lynching an African American? I mean America was burning African Americans at the stake in the 20th century, mobs of white KKK were out on search and murder, and bury missions of African Americans in the 20th century, and governments, federal, state, and local authorized the illegal murderous activities of the KKK into the 1960s’. So, when white Americans question the legitimacy of a movement that highlight the value of black lives over all lives it just means that these individuals don't have a comprehensive understanding of America’s illicit past. I mean really? For over a century, not one bill passed that outlawed the heinous crime of the lynching of a human being in this nation. Today, I spend just a few moments remembering the multiple thousands of innocent African American lives murdered by mobs of white Americans simply because of the color of their skin and their quest for human rights and dignity. Today's history moment is dedicated to the very first of our innocent African American ancestors bludgeoned by the lynchers rope to the very last African American yet to be identified whose murder by hate hasn't happened yet.
Today I start on another journey on The Blackman Read Aloud Hour Project on Facebook and Facebook Live. I have selected The Color of Law, The Forgotten History Of How Our Government Segregated America. This is another example of the injustices African Americans have faced in America historically. Join me this evening and don't forget when you are out in public wear a face covering.
Why is that bridge leading out of Selma still named the Edmund Pettus Bridge? Edmund Pettus was no racial adjudicator for justice for African Americans. He bridged no gap between the races. Nor did he promote any level of racial equality. Edmund Pettus was an embodiment of pure racial hatred and bigotry. He made his wealth on the backs, blood, and sacrifice of African American enslaved people. Pettus was the ultimate enslaver. He helped to lead the Alabama into the Civil War to protect the institution of slavery. So why is that bridge still carrying his name. Listen to my reading about this bigot and demand that the National Park Service, the City of Selma and the State of Alabama change the damn name.i recommend the Jimmy Lee Jackson-Viola Liuzzo-John Lewis Memorial Bridge but anything other than the damn Edmund Pettus Bridge would suit me fine.
Today's Focus In African American History
Edmund Pettis Bridge
John Lewis’s Final Trip
Who is Edmund Pettis
That damn bridge evolved into that bridge of compassion and understanding. On Sunday, July 24, 2020, when John Lewis’s remains were drawn by a horse and wagon across that bridge. This final trip erased much of the stain of hate that occurred on that bridge 55 years ago on what became known as Bloody Sunday. John Lewis’s final trip should be now known as Redemptive Sunday. That's why today I want to spend just a moment, talking about why we should change the name because there was nothing in the world redemptive about Edmund Winston Pettis. He was the worse of the worse in his hatred of our African American ancestors. View my blog as I read from a Smithsonian Magazine article about this vindictive hateful, man who had no compassion nor understanding. Change the name of that bridge now because, on July 24, 2020, John Lewis sealed that decision.
Chapter 13/The Beach
Red Summer The Summer of 1919 And The Awakening Of Black America
Cameron McWhither
The actual race riot started on a beach leading into Lake Michigan when a young black swimmer was targeted by a rock-throwing white. The young black teenager, Eugene Williams was struck by a rock thrown by George Stauber and drowned. All hell was about to break loose in the city of Chicago over the course of the next 3 days.
Today, as The Blackman Who Reads Aloud ventures back to that hot Chicago July day to relive the events that occurred during this race war. Because that is what it was it was indeed a race war between whites and an embattled black community forced to defend itself against enormous odds.