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Jul. 14, 2019

Looking Back, No Justice No Peace In This Nation July 13, 2013

This what I wrote about the outlandish, prejudice-laden, jury verdict that was rendered on July 13, 2013. I thought it would be necessary to repost this on my blog today. The 6th anniversary of that terrible miscarriage of justice.

Oh well, maybe this is the "black folks" come to Jesus moment. When reality strikes us dead in the face when it becomes crystal that no matter what our economic or social station in life. Black folks will always be considered second class citizens by some misinformed white folks in this nation in which we have contributed our blood, our sweat, and our tears. In 1968 America, the theme was love it or leave it. It was the call of the silent majority that lead to the election of Richard Nixon.

Yes, I cannot say that we haven't made strides in this nation. However for every stride forward we take, we have a Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, or a George Zimmerman, or a blind to justice state of Florida jury, or another black youth taking down another black youth for control of a fool's gold urban corner, or a young black man rapping the joys of thuggery and malice on their community while being posterized on Black Entertainment Television. BET, a station owned and operated by a black man who earns enormous profits while the message he promotes is destructively tearing down our black communities,

I'm almost 60-years-old. I have been subjected personally to the racism that is ever present in this nation. Now, this morning, July 14, 2013, many black folks are up in arms with this reality that their lives are less valuable in this nation to dead dogs. In the state of Virginia, Mike Vick, a black professional athlete was recently sentenced to 3 years in that state penitentiary for grooming dogs to fight until the death. However, in a courtroom in the state of Florida yesterday, George Zimmerman, an out of control white man on a mission to kill Trayvon Martin because he was young, black and seemingly out of place was proclaimed innocent of all charges. George Zimmerman was allowed to exit that Florida courtroom free and clear for taking a human life. Why? We sometimes ask for simpler times when life was more valued. However, for blacks in this nation, those simpler times never ever existed.

#equalityandjusticeforall

Jul. 13, 2019

Why Reparations? July 13-17, 1863 The New York City Draft Riots

On this date,​ July 13, 1863, 156 years ago today the infamous racially charged New York City Draft Riots began. The riot, which supposedly was motivated by mobs of whites men, women, and children who were opposed to the conscription of white men into the Union army by means of a military draft lottery. Though if you read the history of the event that occurred over these 5 days. It seems that white hatred of blacks was, in reality, the motivating factor.

Today, as I continue my series on why reparations? I will read aloud an excerpt from the book, In The Shadow Of Slavery, African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863, by Leslie Harris. This excerpt written by Leslie Harris details the events that lead up to and transpired before, during and after the assault of white mobs on innocent black residents in New York City. It will also detail examples of white mob violence on those white New York City residents who were deemed as supporters of black emancipation.

Although, the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted in January of 1863. It wasn't accepted by all residents of northern residents, especially the Irish who deemed blacks as enemies of the state. So join me today as I travel back in history to the horrendous race riot that occurred in 1863. The Blackman Who Reads Aloud uncovers the true history of America worts and all.​

Jul. 12, 2019

July 12, 1865 Salute To George Washington Carver

July 12, 1865, Celebrating the 154th Birthday Of George Washington Carver. Some historians have verified Geroge Washington Carver's birthday as January 10, 1865. While other historians have predated his birthdate as July 12, 1865. Due to the absence of valid records historically because George Washington Carver was born into slavery there is no true verifiable date of birth for America's greatness mind. So today, The Black Blogger will support the date of July 12, 1865, as the date of George Washington Carver's date of birth. George Washington Carver was indeed a remarkable man. His platitudes, his achievements are some of the most significant of all-time. The work that George Washington Carver performed in the laboratories at Tuskegee Institute defined his scientific greatness. His work related to agricultural science made his one on the most sought after scientist in modern times. The Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford modeled the mass production of the Model T Ford after an idea that was proposed by George Washington Carver. The very peanut butter sandwich you may have enjoyed today came from the mind of George Washington Carver. The survival of farming productive land strategies was designed in the mind of George Washington Carver.

In this salutation of George Washington Carver, I will voice many of his most famous quotes like:

Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these.

Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
When I was young, I said to God, 'God, tell me the mystery of the universe.' But God answered, 'That knowledge is for me alone.' So I said, 'God, tell me the mystery of the peanut.' Then God said, 'Well George, that's more nearly your size.' And he told me.

There are so many more quotes that defined his greatness. Listen to The Blackman Who Reads Aloud pay tribute to this remarkable man who along with Booker T. Washington put the great Tuskegee Institute on the educational map as one of the most powerful colleges in this nation's history.​


We do know that he passed away on January 5, 1943. Today I salute the magnificence of Dr. Carver's brilliance by voicing some of his famous quotes.

Jul. 11, 2019

July 12, 1899 Edgar Daniel "E.D." Nixon Was Born Lowndes County, Alabama The Orginator

“I once told a tale about a young man who had a basket full of puppies. He was going down the street trying to sell them and he stopped at a lady’s house and asked her, ‘Madam, would you like to have a puppy?’ She asked, ‘How much are they?’ ‘Twenty-five cents.’ She looked at them and said, ‘They beautiful, but no. I reckon not.’
“So he went home and the next morning the woman called and said, ‘Son, have you got any more of those puppies?’ ‘Yes, mmm.’ She said, ‘How much did you say they are?’ ‘Fifty cents.’ She said, ‘Why are they 50 cents today when yesterday you said they were a quarter?’ He said, ‘Their eyes are open.’
“So the gist of the story is the Negro in the South will not be sold for a quarter anymore. His eyes are open.”

E.D. Nixon was the originator​ of the ​Montgomery Alabama 1955-1956 Bus Boycott. He was the founding force behind the organization The Montgomery Improvement Association. While others may have received the plateaus​. It was the vision of E.D. Nixon who served the citizens up with the plan of boycotting the municipal buses of Montgomery, Alabama. It was E.D. Nixon who made the decision to cho​se Rosa Parks as the person to stand behind as once she refused to relinquish her seat on the bus on December 1, 1955. It was E.D. Nixon who​ called the ministers to get their support for the mass meeting that was held on December 5, 1955. One thing that I wish Dr. Martin Luther King Jr had done was to allow E.D. Nixon to travel with him to Oslo, Norway when he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

In history, the name E.D. Nixon isn't well known but in reality, our civil rights history would've been quite different had not E.D. Nixon not been in Montgomery, Alabama fighting for the rights of black people. When the 10th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott was celebrated in 1965 the city leaders, the civil rights leaders didn't invite E.D. Nixon to participate. That was an enormous mistake, one that never should have occurred. However, today The Black Blogger celebrates the life accomplishments of Edgar Daniel Nixon on the 120th anniversary of his birth.

Jul. 11, 2019

Crimes Against Humanity: Why Reparations

"Without history, there is no memory; without memory, there is no future; if you cannot learn from the past, we repeat the same mistakes over and over again"


Reparations owed to descendants of our African Americans in this country have nothing to do with whether or not living white Americans weren't around during the period 1619-1965 of white oppression. The crimes committed against our black ancestors fall under the category of "crimes against humanity". There is no statute of limitations for crimes of this nature. According to the trials held in Nuremberg, Germany after World War II, the crime committed against the Jewish people by the German Nazis were seen as crimes against human humanity due to the Jewish Holocaust. The crimes were committed by the German people yet they were authorized by the German government. In addition, the German government officials closed their eyes to the atrocious acts performed by German citizens on the Jewish peoples. The Jewish people were thus eligible for reparations due to not only the actions of German citizens but also acts of government neglect, acts of government promotion, and acts of legalized murder authorized by the German government. Hence, even today some 75 years after the end of World War II individuals can still be prosecuted and the German government can still be held liable for the Jewish Holocaust.

The same principles that are applied toward the guilt of the German Government, as it relates to the Jewish Holocaust, can be applied as well to the United States government related to the nearly 350 years of institutional government supported oppression of African Americans during the period of slavery as well as government supported oppression after the decade of Black Reconstruction. The laws that were included in the constitution, the 3/5 clause, and the continuation of the international approved slave trade are examples of laws against humanity. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is another example of an example of laws against humanity. The Supreme Court rulings of 1858, Dred Scott which judged blacks as subhuman is another example of federal judicial action against humanity. The Supreme Court ruling in Plessey v Ferguson was another example of a federal judicial act against humanity. The very fact that the United States legislative or executive branches of government didn't intercede in the murderous mob killings or lynching of black American citizens was a symbolic sense of federal approval of those actions. These murders which numbered in the thousands, many of which are still unrecorded are indeed prime examples of crimes against humanity. The fact that slavery existed for more than 2 centuries in the United States unabated is the most heinous example of this nation's crimes against humanity.

The fact that our ancestors were forced to work in horrid conditions without pay. Work in slave labor conditions is another example of crimes against humanity. The fact that even after the passage of the Civil War Amendments, the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, our ancestors continued to be forced to work in conditions resembling slavery are crimes against humanity. The convict leasing state and the federal government approved programs are crimes against humanity. The peonage system that was ignored by federal officials are crimes against humanity. The lack of judicial representation of an entire race of people in state and federal courtrooms are crimes against humanity. The inability of citizens to play an active role in the democratic process of voting for nearly 350 years is a crime against humanity. The inability of black parents to have their children receive an equal opportunity to educate their children because of state and federal legislation is a crime against humanity. The inability to earn an income equal to the income of whites, or being denied the opportunity to even earn an income is a crime against humanity. Especially considering federal and state legislation was created to support these economic inequalities.

So, no white person can make the argument that we had nothing to do with the crimes performed by the state and federal governments related to crimes against humanity related to owed black reparations. You see the legal standard has been set by the international courts that crimes against humanity have no statute of limitations. You can look over the dark past of American history to see many thousands upon thousands of cases of crimes performed by both state and federal sanctioned officials in these United States that fall under the category crimes against humanity. In 1947, the NAACP attempted to appeal to the United Nations for a sanctioned ruling that would force the United States to own up to the crimes that were suffered by black Americans. Only to be stiffed by the United States in gaining any traction. Malcolm X intended to go before the United Nations for reparations due to black Americans only to be murdered before he could state his case internationally. Martin Luther King wanted to go before the federal government in 1968 for some form of wealth redistribution only to be murdered weeks before his plan was implemented. We have some of our own black people 35% who disagree with blacks receiving any form of economic reparations. Yet the reality is that reparations are indeed a sacred honored right that must be acknowledged and paid. Because there is no. absolutely no statute of limitations on crimes committed that can be deemed as crimes against humanity. What was the treatment of black Americans in the United States from 1619-1945 if it wasn't a crime against the humanity of man?

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