History

"All the Ladies Like Whiskers" : how an 11 year old helped Lincoln become president

"Having recently seen a picture of Abraham Lincoln and the man who would become his vice-president, Hannibal Hamlin, eleven-year-old Grace Bedell decided in the autumn of 1860 to write to the Republican candidate and future U.S. president with a a single suggestion that would surely win him the affections of the voting public. To her amazement, she met him in person a few months later, as he traveled victoriously to Washington, DC by train - and he had taken her advice."

The letter reads:

For those hard of seeing, here's some help:

Hon A B Lincoln
Dear Sir
My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you won't think me very bold to write to such  great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is to thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to but I will try and get every one to vote for you that I can I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be. When you direct your letter direct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chautauqua County New York.
I must not write any more answer this letter right off Good bye.
Grace Bedell

 

Grace met President Lincoln soon after. "He climbed down and sat down with me on the edge of the station platform," Grace later recalled. 'Gracie,' he said, 'look at my whiskers. I have been growing them for you.' Then he kissed me. I never saw him again." (via).

"With great power comes great responsibility." I wonder if one of the many responsibilities of those in power is kindness, and not taking oneself to seriously.

 

 

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These numbers actually mean something . . . kind of.

One of my math professors at University once told my class he could tell us where we were all born, just by hearing their first three digits of their SSN. And then he did. It was pretty cool.

He then told us a story about how he had done the same thing years earlier and when he told one young lady she was from Florida, she argued. "No," she said, "I'm from New York."

"No," my professor argued back, "You're from Florida," and she argued back, insisting she was born and raised in New York.

Turns out she was from Florida because she was adopted and her parent's never told her.

Whether this story is true or not I don't know, but here's what I know is true: those seemingly random numbers mean something.

In 1935, following Social Security Act, the US government had to "devise a method for uniquely identifying the earnings records for the millions of persons covered by the new law." Because "Social Security and the benefit amount were to be determined from a person’s earnings over many years, a method was needed for maintaining permanent and accurate earnings records for each person."

The Social Security number (SSN) consists of nine digits divided into three parts, with each part usually separated by a hyphen:

xxx - xx - xxxx
Area number - Group number - Serial number

Until 1972, the urea number indicated the location (State, territory, or possession) of the Social Security office that issued the number. When the Social Security numbering system was developed, one or more area numbers were allocated to each State based on the anticipated number of issuances in the State. Because an individual could apply for an SSN at any Social Security office, the area code did not necessarily indicate where the person lived or worked. . . The area code now indicates the person’s State of residence as shown on the SSN application.

Area Number:

There are several exceptions to these rules. Before 1964, area numbers 700-728 were assigned by the Rail- road Retirement Board to workers covered by the Rail- road Retirement Act.’ Area number 586 is divided among American Samoa, Guam, the Philippines, and Americans employed abroad by American employers and, from 1975 to 1979, it was also used for Indochinese refugees. Area number 580 is assigned to persons applying in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Virtually all railroad workers had been assigned SSN’s by 1964; therefore there no longer was a need to have a separate numbering system. 

 

Group Number:

The group number has no special geographic or data significance. It is used to break the numbers into blocks of convenient size for SSA’s processing operations and for controlling the assignments to the States.

 

Serial Number:

The last four digits, the serial number, represent a numerical series from 0001 to 9999 within each group. The order in which the SSN’s are issued is as follows: For each area number, the group number follows an odd and even sequence starting with odd numbers 01 to 09, even numbers 10 to 98, even numbers 02 to 08, and finally odd numbers 11 to 99. The serial number begins with 0001 and continues in sequence,2 except every fifth
For all practical purposes, the serial numbers are random. The use of numbers from the 2000 and 7000 series for every fifth issuance per- mits scientific sampling of workers and beneficiaries, For example, see Warren Buckler and Creston Smith, “The Continuous Work History Sample: Description and Contents,” Economic and Demographic Statistics: Selected Papers Given at the 1980 Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association in Houston, Texas, November 1980.
SSN is given a serial number from the series 2001-2999 and 7001-7999. The last three serial numbers issued are 9998, 9999, and 7999. Serial number 0000 is never used. Each State goes through all of its area numbers with group number 01 and serial numbers 0001-9999 and 7999 before using group number 03. Thus, 989,901 SSN’s can be issued for each area number.
The g-digit number provides the capacity for assigning nearly 1 billion SSN’s. To date, approximately 277 million numbers have been issued, leaving about 75 percent still available. Only Florida has used up its original allotment. Several other States (Arizona, California, and Mississippi), and Puerto Rico are expected to exhaust their original allotment within the next 2 decades. Additional area numbers have been designated for these locations. About 5-7 million new numbers are issued each year, but even at this rate there will be sufficient numbers available for several generations to come (via).

 

I hope none of you just found out you were adopted. If so, blame my math professor. He started it.

 

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Russia's history is more complex than we know

In the past two days I've listened to two podcasts, somewhat unconsciously. That is, I unconsciously chose them, not unconsciously listened to them, because that would be reckless. 

Both podcasts, one from Stuff You Missed in History Class and the other from This American Life told stories with Russia as their focus. One podcast entitled, "The Other Mr. President" fit my ideas and understandings of Russia perfectly, and also injected a whole lot of steroids into my stereotypes of a scary, harsh country - Vladimir Putin's rise to power is a CRAZY STORY!!! 

The other injected life into their bigger picture. Entitled "Three Nuclear Close Calls" this podcast told of three different stories where Russian generals, single handedly, prevented all out war against the US and saved thousands of lives. And they did so in almost direct opposition to their superiors. These are even CRAZIER stories!!! 

There's a couple films about on one of the men, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov. 

Here's the latest one.

We've sent some pretty cool shtuff into space

The Golden Record

The Golden Record

Back in 1986, Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan (his wife and co-creator of Cosmos) sent Chuck Berry the above birthday card.

In the letter, Sagan and Druyan reflect on the fact that a phonograph record of Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' had been placed aboard the Voyager spacecraft when it launched in 1977, as part of the Voyager Golden Records project.  (via).

"Voyager 1 and 2-a kind of time capsule,"  intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record-a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth" (via).

The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University, et. al. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Carter and U.N. Secretary General Waldheim. Each record is encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with a cartridge and a needle.
Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the origin of the spacecraft and indicate how the record is to be played. The 115 images are encoded in analog form. The remainder of the record is in audio, designed to be played at 16-2/3 revolutions per minute. It contains the spoken greetings, beginning with Akkadian, which was spoken in Sumer about six thousand years ago, and ending with Wu, a modern Chinese dialect.
Following the section on the sounds of Earth, there is an eclectic 90-minute selection of music, including both Eastern and Western classics and a variety of ethnic music. Once the Voyager spacecraft leave the solar system (by 1990, both will be beyond the orbit of Pluto), they will find themselves in empty space. It will be forty thousand years before they make a close approach to any other planetary system.
As Carl Sagan has noted, "The spacecraft will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about life on this planet" (via).

It isn't likely that the Voyager will find life anytime soon, but if or when it does, the Golden Record will be more of a time capsule of a time where Earth lived without iPhones, Beyonce, or many of us. 

But whoever or whatever finds it will then have Mozart, and Johny B. Goode'. And I think they'll be impressed. Even if they have something cooler than iPhones.

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The Evolution of Recorded Music

The Recording Academy has debuted "Evolution Of Recorded Music," a new three-part video series exploring generations of music formats. The virtual tour takes viewers on a guided journey of how the process of playing back recorded music has evolved, from Edison's phonograph, Berliner's gramophone and vinyl records to reel-to-reel tape, cassettes, the 8-track, compact discs, and MP3 files (via).

 

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President : humble, meager, pathetic.

"I want to take you back to the United States of America just after they'd achieved independence." This, from writer Mark Forsyth, when he shared his findings on the origin and radical change of the post powerful title in the world: President.  

{Early American leaders} had to face the question of what to call George Washington, their leader. They didn't know. What do you call the leader of a Republican country? Some people wanted him to be called Chief Magistrate Washington, and other people, His Highness George Washington, and other people, Protector of the Liberties of the People of the United States of America Washington. Not that catchy. And everybody got insanely bored, actually, 'cause this debate went on for three weeks . . . And the reason for the delay and the boredom was that the House of Representatives were against the Senate. The House of Representatives didn't want Washington to get drunk on power. They didn't want to call him King in case that gave him ideas, or his successor ideas. So, they wanted to give him the humblest, meagerest(ph), most pathetic title that they could think of. And that title was president. President. They didn't invent the title. I mean, it existed before, but it just meant somebody who presides over a meeting. It was like the foreman of the jury. And it didn't have much more grandeur than the term foreman or overseer. There were occasional presidents of little colonial councils and bits of government, but it was really a nothing title. And that's why the Senate objected to it. They said, that's ridiculous, you can't call him president. This guy has to go and sign treaties and meet foreign dignitaries. And who's going to take him seriously if he's got a silly little title like President of the United States of America? (via)

The House of Representatives wanted their president to be humble and meager, they wanted his title to be a constant reminder that his (or future her) position didn't demand power, but the responsibility to serve. 

The fact that the word President now carries with it so much power and respect points to the integrity of these men who allowed the course of their actions to be guided by something greater than themselves: the people. In doing so, they brought power to the position, not the other way around. 

The House of Representatives didn't want Washington to get drunk on power and the Senate thought it ridiculous to call the leader of the free world President. Because who would take him seriously?

Over time, everyone.

Around the world, there are now a hundred and forty-seven nations whose leaders carry the title of president. 

(Click to enlarge)

Trey Gowdy seems to have a similar viewpoint. Now, if you are a staunch, please look past the smug look and hear his words - they're brilliant. And if you're a critical thinker, please look beyond the source of this interview - Fox News - and listen to Gowdy's thoughts on public service - they're brilliant! (ps. You can stop watching at 4:37 . . . I'm not responsible for anything after that)

 

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Serbia's Burning Platform : Not to punish, but to help

On New Year's Eve in 2000, Popovic and his friends organized a celebration in Republic Square. They lined up the hottest Serbian rock bands and spread the word that midnight would feature a live concert by the Red Hot Chili Peppers - an international sensation and a huge hit in Serbia. Thousands of people packed the square in Belgrade, dancing to the local bands and buzzing with anticipation about the main event. One minute before midnight, the square went dark and people began counting down. But when the clock struck twelve, no famous rock band appeared.

The only audible sound was depressing music. As the audience listened in shock, a psychologist named Boris Tadic delivered a clear message from behind the stage. "We have nothing to celebrate," he said, asking them to go home and think about what action they would take. "This year has been a year of war and oppression. But it doesn't have to be that way. Let's make the coming year count. Because 2000 is the year."

 . . . When Harvard professor John Kotter studied more than one hundred companies trying to institute major change, he found that the first error they made was failing to establish a sense of urgency . . . "Without a sense of urgency, people . . . won't make needed sacrifices. Instead they cling to status quo and resist." . . . when {Otpor!} announced, "This is the year!" it was clear to the Serbians that there was a pressing need to act immediately.

. . . To counter apathy, most change agents focus on presenting an inspiring vision of the future. This is an important message to convey, but it's no the type of communication that should come first. If you want people to take risks, you need first to show what's wrong with the present. To drive people out of their comfort zones, you have to cultivate dissatisfaction, frustration, and anger at the current state of affairs, making it a guaranteed loss. "The greatest communicators of all time," says communication expert Nancy Duarte, start by establishing "what is" here's the status quo." Then, they "compare that to what could be," making "that gap as big as possible.

. . . Once commitment is fortified, instead of glancing in the rearview mirror, it's better to look forward by highlighting the work left to be done. When we're determined  to reach an objective, it's the gab between where we are and where we aspire to be that lights a fire under us. In Serbia, as the Otpor! movement drew a loyal following that was no longer frozen in fear, it was time to show them how much distance they had yet to travel.

That's why Popovic and his friends halted the concert and sent the citizens of Belgrade home on New Year's Eve. In the span of less than two years, Otpor! had accumulated more than 70,000 members in 130 different branches. But to actually overthrow Milosevic, they would need millions of votes. A few years earlier, Milosevic had agreed to a relatively democratic election - and won. His minions controlled the ballot boxes. Even if Serbians could vote him out of office, would he concede? Popovic and his allies understood that they needed intense emotions to propel action across the country. It was time to destabilize the status quo and turn on the go system by reminding them that there was nothing to celebrate because the present was intolerable. "Instead of courage," Tom Peters recommends fostering, "a level of fury with the status quo that one cannot not act."

 . . . {However,} venting doesn't extinguish the flame of anger; it feeds it. When we vent our anger, we put a lead foot on the gas pedal of the go system . . . venting doesn't work even if you think it does - even if it makes you feel good. The better you feel after venting, the more aggressive you get: not only toward your critic, but also toward innocent bystanders.

. . . {because} one of the fundamental problems with venting is that it focuses attention on the perpetrator of injustice. The more you think about the person who wronged you, the more violently you want to lash out in retaliation. "Anger is a powerful mobilizing tool," Srdja Popovic explains, "but if you make people angry, they might start breaking things." On New Year's Eve at midnight in 2000, when Otpor! shut down the concert, turned off the lights, and played sad music, only one sight was visible: a gigantic screen, on which a slide show of pictures was being played, none of which featured the despised Milosevic.

The images instead were of Serbian soldiers and police officers who had been killed under Milosevic's rule.

To channel anger productively, instead of venting about the harm that a perpetrator has done, we need to reflect on the victims who have suffered from it. . . activat{ing} what psychologists call empathetic anger - the desire to right wrongs done unto another. It turns on the go system, but it makes us thoughtful about how to best respect the victim's dignity. Research demonstrates that when we're angry at others, we aim for retaliation or revenge. But when we're angry for others, we seek out justice and a better system. We don't want to punish; we want to help.

When Otpor! displayed the images of dead soldiers, Serbians were pumped with empathetic adrenaline and broke out into a chant: "Let's make this coming year count." They weren't going to get excited about actually taking down the dictator, but they could feel enough righteous indignation that hey were determined to do so. In Popovic's words, "There was an energy in the air that no rock band could ever re-create. Everybody felt that they had something important to do.

That autumn, Otpor! mobilized one of the largest voter turnouts in Serbia's history, defeating Milosevic and shepherding in a new era of democracy. Boris Tadic, the psychologist who had sent everyone home because there was nothing to celebrate, was elected president of Serbia for years later.

Quotes from Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World (pages 231-242)

 

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History :  Humanity  :  On Living

 

Revised History of the Black Panther Party

For me, the Black Panther Party meant leather car coats, black turtlenecks and black berets. It meant violence and guns. It inspired fear. But like the many black men and women who joined the Black Panther Party with ideas of power and revenge, I was fully disillusioned. Because for many years my understanding of the Black Panther Party, their history and their purpose, was shaped by media and movies. And I believed that what I saw and knew was fully true. 

But the Black Panther party was not, as J. Edger Hoover argued (and I loosely believed), “the single greatest threat to the United States.” They were not, as I have unfairly thought, a racist terrorist group that wanted to spread fear by violence in hopes of bringing down the system. Rather, they were smart and educated and extremely giving. And they were inclusive to all color. Something I never knew. 

I recently listened to a podcast appropriately entitled, The Black Panther Party, hosted by Stuff You Should Know. The following is a brief summary of their 67 minute overview of the incredibly misunderstood Black Panther Party.

From Crow:

To grasp the why of the Black Panthers, historical context is important. They were created at the tail end of the Jim Crow Era, which, when simply put, means that life for a black American was very hostile. They were generally poor, were constantly harassed, and often beaten by police. The racial tension was intense, and it was everywhere.

And Black communities were tired of waiting for things to get better.

To Arms:

Photo by Stephen Shames

Photo by Stephen Shames

Robert Williams an American Civil Rights leader codified the idea of needing to defend self against an oppressive society. He might also be responsible for the (unfair) images we have today of the Black Panther Party - of black men with ammunition around their necks - because he was an early advocate for fighting back against the oppression and mistreatment of the white government. In 1962, he wrote Negroes with Guns (1962) which details “his experience with violent racism and his disagreement with the non-violent wing of the Civil Rights Movement and the text was widely influential; Black Panther Party founder Huey Newton cited it as a major inspiration (via).

However, The Black Panther Party, armed and ready for violence, was not aggressive or offensive and in search of a fight. Instead, they were passive. Violence would only be used as a last resort. Just like a black panther.

Black Panthers (the animal):

Bobby Seale co-founded the Black Panther Party (originally called The Black Panther Party of Self Defense) and chose the black panther because “the nature of a panther is, if you push it into a corner, that panther is going to try and move left or right, to get you to get out of the way. But if you keep pushing {the black panther} back into that corner, sooner or later, that panther is going to come out of that corner and try and wipe out who keeps oppressing it into that corner” (via).

Black Panthers (the party):

The initial purpose of arms for the Black Panther Party was to defend themselves until a black man or woman could walk the streets without harassment, until equal opportunity. 

But carrying guns and intimidating law enforcement was not all they did. In fact, especially in the early stages, the Black Panther Party spent most of their time and energy serving and educating.

Members of the Black Panther Party were avowed Marxists and wanted to get rid of Capitalists; they were socialists, and they were willing to join hands (often literally) with anyone who shared the same sentiments or struggles. No matter the race.

Legal Arms:

Huey Newton, the other co-founder of the Black Panther Party, found in the California Law Book that citizens were allowed to carry a gun in public as long they were not concealed. (Ronald Reagan would soon sign a gun control act that stopped the open carrying of guns . . . and then in the late 70’s, he would team up with NRA and fight for the right to bear arms, but only after the Black Panther Party had lost its prominence).

Huey Newton, Bobby Seal, and other members of the Black Panther Party then legally patrolled the city of Oakland, looking for black men and women who were pulled over, and they would stand at a reasonable distance and protect the black citizen. Because they wanted to make sure their brothers and sisters where not mistreated or abused, as they so often were. And it worked! The cops responded as the Black Panther Party wanted, with much more care in how they treated the black citizen, and the black citizen responded as the Black Panther Party wanted - without violence. 

Arming the Party:

Photo by Stephen Shames

Photo by Stephen Shames

This show of strength, along with the leather car coats, black turtlenecks and black berets, create an image that attracted many new converts. But the men who quickly joined the party with ideas of guns and power and revenge in mind were fully disillusioned and quickly educated. Literally.

Kathleen Cleaver a then Black Panther Party leader and now professor at Emory University School of Law, told a story on CNN, of a young black man who joined the party to get a gun and join the patrol. When they gave him a stack of books he said, “I thought you were going to arm me."

"We just did," the Party responded.

For the Black Panther Party, violence was not the answer or solution.  Education and serving the community was.

Black Panther Service:

Photo by Stephen Shames (Like the men toting guns, these men and women are also members of the Black Panther Party. The contrast is striking. I love it).

Photo by Stephen Shames (Like the men toting guns, these men and women are also members of the Black Panther Party. The contrast is striking. I love it).

Huey Newton recognized that they could make a greater difference in the community if the underprivileged boys and girls ate breakfast before their long day of schooling. So they did. Five days a week, the Black Panther Party served over 20,000 free breakfasts around the country. For free. They also offered free medical clinics where people could get vaccines, be tested for diseases, and treated for basic illnesses. And under the direction and inspiration of Elaine Brown, the Black Panther Party opened the Oakland Community School, which was free, and where students could learn poetry, foreign languages, current events, yoga, and black history. They also open and operated 65 survival programs and ran “The Black Panther” newspaper which was read by men and women of all color, not just black community and had a circulation of over 250,000. Emory Douglas designed and published much of his artwork in “The Black Panther” and became a potent symbol of the movement. 

Take Away:

Photo by Stephen Shames

Photo by Stephen Shames

My understanding of the Black Panther Party was, and still is, largely incomplete, and it probably will forever be because people and cultures and humanity are not easily explained or defined. 

And I love that and think it appropriate because the unknown leads to wonder and begs for curiosity. Look at the faces above, especially the woman at left-center holding the poster, and Humanity is there. Pain, sorrow, fear, and pride. A longing for a better life and a hope that it can come. But in these faces, there is also doubt.  Doubt in the system and doubt in mankind.  

They lived in a world that allowed the incomplete and simple to be the whole story, and in doing so, failed to understand and to humanize.

They believed in a single story. Much like today.

Ten-Point Program:

Photo by Stephen Shames

Photo by Stephen Shames

In every publication of "The Black Panther" ran the party's Ten-Point Program, which really, is not all that different than the letter sent across the sea by our nation's founding fathers.

It's only appropriate that it's posted here.

 

1.   
We Want Freedom. We Want Power To Determine
The Destiny Of Our Black Community.

We believe that Black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny.

 

2.   

We Want Full Employment For Our People.

We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every man employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the White American businessmen will not give full employment, then the means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.

 

3.   

We Want An End To The Robbery
By The Capitalists Of Our Black Community.

We believe that this racist government has robbed us, and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The Germans are now aiding the Jews in Israel for the genocide of the Jewish people. The Germans murdered six million Jews. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over fifty million Black people; therefore, we feel that this is a modest demand that we make.

 

4.   

We Want Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter Of Human Beings.

We believe that if the White Landlords will not give decent housing to our Black community, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that our community, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for its people.

 

5.   

We Want Education For Our People That Exposes
The True Nature Of This Decadent American Society.
We Want Education That Teaches Us Our True History
And Our Role In The Present-Day Society.

We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If a man does not have knowledge of himself and his position in society and the world, then he has little chance to relate to anything else.

 

6.   

We Want All Black Men To Be Exempt From Military Service.

We believe that Black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America. We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist police and the racist military, by whatever means necessary.

 

7.   

We Want An Immediate End To
Police Brutality And Murder Of Black People.

We believe we can end police brutality in our Black community by organizing Black self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our Black community from racist police oppression and brutality. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States gives a right to bear arms. We therefore believe that all Black people should arm themselves for self- defense.

 

8.   

We Want Freedom For All Black Men
Held In Federal, State, County And City Prisons And Jails.

We believe that all Black people should be released from the many jails and prisons because they have not received a fair and impartial trial.

 

9.   

We Want All Black People When Brought To Trial To Be Tried In
Court By A Jury Of Their Peer Group Or People From Their Black
Communities, As Defined By The Constitution Of The United States.

We believe that the courts should follow the United States Constitution so that Black people will receive fair trials. The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives a man a right to be tried by his peer group. A peer is a person from a similar economic, social, religious, geographical, environmental, historical and racial background. To do this the court will be forced to select a jury from the Black community from which the Black defendant came. We have been, and are being, tried by all-White juries that have no understanding of the "average reasoning man" of the Black community.

 

10.

We Want Land, Bread, Housing, Education,
Clothing, Justice And Peace.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect of the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

 

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Stephen Thames photograph

The revolutionary art of Emory Douglas

The Black Panther's Vanguard of the Revolution film and page

Photos of NYC in the early 1970s

In the early 1970s, Camilo José Vergara trained his camera on scenes of everyday street life in New York City. His photographs captured kids playing on the street, subway cars before graffiti, sections of the Bronx that look bombed out, and the construction of the World Trade Center in progress.

See also his Tracking Time project, specific locations around the US photographed repeatedly over periods of up to 40 years. Vergara was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant in 2002 for this work (via). 

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Photography  :  Humanity  :  -N- Stuff

Hong Kong in the 1950s

These stunning photographs of Hong Kong in the 1950s are captured beautifully by a teenager. Ho Fan who arrived from Shanghai in 1949. The streets, filled with vendors, coolies and rickshaw drivers, fascinated Ho. Taking pictures in a studio was the norm then, but the Ho was more interested in random, candid shots of strangers. His targets, however, did not always smile into the lens of his Rolleiflex. But it is great street photography that gives a peek into daily life in Hong Kong at that time. The photography is part of his book “A Hong Kong Memoir

The Dream of Dr. King, with the help of a Queen

https://www.ncronline.org/news/people/tell-em-about-dream-martin
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 was unusual among great American speeches in that its most famous words — “I have a dream” — were improvised. - Drew Henson, NY Times

Without question, Dr. King's "I Have A Dream Speech" is not only one of the most famous speeches of American history, it is one of the most iconic moments. And it almost didn't happen.

Several historians and friends of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have shared that at the most critical and crucial moment of Dr. King's Speech, he went off script, stumbled for just a moment, then, with the encouragement of Mahalia Jackson, shared his beloved dream.

"King read from his prepared text for most of his speech," Henson writes, relying heavily on "the Bible, the constitution and the Declaration of Independence - just as President John F. Kennedy had a few months earlier."

But according to Economist Tim Hartford, Dr. King never seemed satisfied with what he had. In addition to staying up late the night before, editing and re-editing, he also scratched and marked his speech in the back seat of the car on the way to the Washington Memorial and even on stage while waiting his turn. But even then, Dr. King knew something was missing. So about six minutes into his speech, Dr. King looked down at the script, his well crafted but "a little bit lifeless" script and realized it wasn't working.

So he improvised.

The line Dr. King was supposed to say was "Go back to our communities as members of the international association for the advancement of creative dissatisfaction." 

Instead, he says:

Then, Dr King paused.  The people behind him knew he no longer was on script, and it was then that history was made. 

Mahalia Jackson, the Queen of Gospel, had long been a supporter of Dr. King and the "no-famous bus boycott that lunged the modern Civil Rights Movement," and she had heard him, on more than one occasion, tell his dream of "seeing little Negro boys and girls walking to school with little white boys and girls, playing in the parks together and swimming together"(History.com). And she knew the people needed to hear it.

When Dr. King begin to speak from the heart and not the script, when she sensed a brief pause of thought, she yelled out, "Tell 'em about the dream Martin."

So he did.

You can read his scripted/unscripted script here.

"When we allow freedom to ring-when we let it ring from every city and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all (If God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last, Free at last, Great God a-mighty, We are free at last."
http://www.irishtimes.com/50-years-after-king-s-i-have-a-dream-1.1508315

 

 

Remembering The Dream

I asked my students the other day, “What is the greatest influencer in our world today? What dictates how we live?” The students spent some time writing thoughts, then sharing with their partners, then we wrote on the board. The first few answers weren’t shocking: Internet, social media, electronics, and money. No surprises. I added coffee because, well, because it’s true.

Then a student said, “judgment,” and agreement sounded through the class. I asked if anyone who wrote something prior wanted to change his or her answer. Many of them did. Of the fifteen students, two hold a US passport. None of them are African American.

. . . When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds . . .

Pointing to the word “judgment” on the board I asked the class, “What does this mean? How are you influenced by judgment?”

“We live in constant fear” the student said, “that no matter what we do or what we say, we’ll be judged.” Again, muffled talking of understanding sounded through the classroom. Everyone could relate.

“You know what’s interesting about this list?” I asked, pointing once more to the board. The chatting slowly dies off. “What do you notice is NOT here?” Their eyes squint as they study the list. “If this is supposed to be a list of what influences our minds the most, what should be up here?” More eyes squint. A couple mouths agape, looking for what they don’t see. Then one speaks up, “school.”

“YES!” What else?

“Politics.”

“Yep. And . . .” I stand wide; arms open and legs beyond my shoulders – my get-ready-because-some-great-Truth-is-about-to-come stance. Almost in unison a few students guess, “religion?”

“How are these three NOT on the board?” I ask, genuinely surprised.

“Because they really don’t,” was one kids simple answer.

The rest agreed.

. . . In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force . . .

“We’re going to annotate a song today,” The students pass along the papers, “but before
we do, lets look at this quote.” The PowerPoint flips to a picture of Andrew Hozier-Byrne, an Irish musician known most commonly by his middle name, Hozier. The song is “Take Me to Church.” Many of the kids know and like it, but few, if any, understand it.

Intended as a swipe at the Catholic indoctrination so intrinsic to Irish culture, Byrne uses song to speak against any construct (especially religion) that condemns sexuality, which he believes, "undermines humanity at its most natural.” The students begin to shift a little in their seats. “In this same interview,” I click to the next slide, “he says this, ‘There is no greater celebration of life, and nothing more human than a sexual act.’” The kids squirm a little more. I press a little harder, “What, according to Hozier, is the greatest most natural act a person can engage in?” It takes a few seconds, but eventually, a few students speak up, “Sex.”

“With whom?” I ask.

They’re not sure so the reread the quote on the board, but that doesn’t help. “With anyone?” one students asks.

“Well, lets see.” And we dive in.

. . . The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back . . .

            “How many of you agree with Hozier?” How many of you agree that, ‘[your] church offers no absolutes’ and that ‘She tells [you], "Worship in the bedroom’”? Nobody raises their hands, but I suspect at least one might want to. I keep moving. “How many of you agree that ‘Every Sunday's getting more bleak’ and that there’s a ‘fresh poison each week’”? A few students raise their hands, but no one is surprised at whom.

“Okay,” I say, “Where does, ‘I was born sick’ come from? Where have you heard that before?”

“The Bible – we were born with a sinful nature.”

“Good, but how does Hozier respond to it? What does his next line say?”

“That he loves it, in a way” he ponders for a bit, “He doesn’t really agree with it, so he’s kinda making fun of it.”

Perfect. 

“Yes!” The energy is growing, and its contagious, “What do the next two lines mean then, ‘Command me to be well. Aaay. Amen. Amen. Amen.’?”

“It’s sarcastic, he’s using the words of the church to mock them, kinda like he did with ‘but I love it.’”

“AGH!! YES!” (I start hopping around when I get excited) “and why does he feel the freedom to mock the church?”

There’s silence for a bit, but then, “Because he worships in the bedroom.”

The class is completely silent. All eyes are on me, waiting, but all I do is nod. I don’t want to stop their brains are travelling, wherever that might be.

After a bit, we dive back in, “Take me to church. I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies, I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife.” We read and I ask, “What does this mean, why is he sharpening a knife?”

“The Catholic church requires confession.”

“Not just the Catholic church, but go on.”

“Right, anyway, he’s saying that while the people are confessing, the priests are sharpening their knives.”

“For what?” I ask.

“To kill them.”

“Why? Why would Hozier paint the church in this way? As men sharpening their knives?”

Again silence. I tell them to discuss in groups and that we’ll need an answer in the next few minutes.

When we reconvene, they’ve got the answer, and it comes through the voice of shy and pastor’s-kid sort of girl, “He’s saying that even though the church says you need to come and confess your sins, once you do, they judge you. They kill you.”

Silence.

I look around the room at the several faces. In the fifteen students, four countries are represented. Some of the students are missionary kids, some are atheists, many are undecided. I put my hands in my pockets, “How many of you would agree?” I look around the room, “Not necessarily that worship happens in the bedroom,” a few nervous laughs break out, “but that you feel judged by the church, that when you “confess your sins,” you are destroyed for it?”

Several hands instantly shoot up, then a few more. Then everyone’s hand is raised, including mine.

. . . Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal . . .

We’ve finished the song and I’ve just assigned them the same process with a song of his or her choosing – do next class. While the students are copying down the assignment I ask, “What’s purpose in doing this, you think?”

“Because it’s fun,” one student blurts out.

“Nope, but I’m glad you think so.”

“Because it’s media, and we said media is one of the greatest influencers on our world.”

“Exactly. And how many of you listen to your music on the way to school?”

They all raise their hands.

“While you are out with friends?”

Hands stay up.

“At home in your room.”

Still up.

“And how many of you read the lyrics with your parents?”

All hands go down.

“In your church?”

Hands stay down.

“And before today, in school?”

Still down.

“If this is one of the greatest influencers in the world today, why are we no studying it!” I look back at the list, “I STILL CAN’T BELIEVE NO ONE SAID EDUCATION!!!” A few students laugh, I laugh, but it’s not funny. It’s just true.

I flip to the next slide on the PowerPoint, “Don’t just annotate the song and tell me what you think it’s trying say, I want you to find something in the song that you AGREE with, and tell me why.” The students write down the expectations, shove their books and computers into their book bags then wait silently for the bell. Then, like Pavlov’s dog, when it rings, they react.

Find something they agree with. That’s the point of the whole lesson, even more so than evaluating the songs they listen to. More than anything, I want them to identify with someone unknown and different, and not to critique, and not to pick apart. I want them to put together.

“Critique” derives from Ancient Greek κριτική (kritikē), meaning "the faculty of judgment", that is, discerning the value of persons or things. Often, it seems, value is placed upon persons or things we agree with, we understand. And if we can’t understand it, we break it down to something that we can.

. . . I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2

This is our hope, and this is the faith . . .

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day . . .

Steve Turner said it best, “Positively, the world is all that God made and Christ came to redeem. This includes culture because humans have never lived in isolation from each other, and when they get together they automatically create culture. It would be impossible to think of loving humans and yet hating human culture, of loving individuals and yet hating their music, songs, stories, paintings, games, rituals, decorations, clothes, language and hairstyles. God made us cultural beings” (Imagine, 44).

It’s easy to find differences, to identify beliefs and lifestyles that run contrary to our own, and it’s easy to fixate on them, to emphasis the dissimilarities. It’s easy to break someone down to a simple stereotype, but the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, it’s that they are incomplete, and that they focus on how we are different. Not how we are similar. Because it’s hard to empathize, to sympathize, and to allow for something we don’t understand.

But isn’t that what makes things beautiful? When we don’t understand it? If we can, it becomes simple. It becomes boring. It becomes a deathless death.

. . . And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of

the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!