African American
Related: About this forumAfrican American Group - it's 1952
The Second Civil Rights Era Credentials of modern day politicians was brought up again in this Group.
Outside of the DU - the conversations about what matter to black Americans are radically different than what many liberals want them to be. Emphasis on the "want".
While the Democratic Primary went on - we watched the rise of a candidate who brought to light that there are Americans who thought freeing slaves was a bad idea.
http://time.com/4236640/donald-trump-racist-supporters/
The Times found that nearly 20% of Trump supporters did not approve of freeing the slaves, according to a January YouGov/Economist poll that asked respondents if they supported or disapproved of the executive order that freed all slaves in the states that were in rebellion against the federal governmentAbraham Lincolns Emancipation Proclamation.
More on the Trump supporter:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/25/upshot/measuring-donald-trumps-supporters-for-intolerance.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1
Just the tip of the iceberg.
Then starting back in 2013 - some children and a few adults took a few hits. Those were deeply felt in the black community. I began to see holding the line wasn't good enough. For me - it culminated in the lack of punishment for Tamir Rice's killer. That $6 million dollars isn't going to bring him back. It won't bring back Jordan Davis - whose killer had to be retried.
If you are dead - do you care about the kitchen table?
Does the Civil Rights movement matter if you can only see that you can drink from a water fountain? Especially if you know that God forbid - if you put your head down . . . Zimmerman can walk up and shoot you? Then auction off the weapon on the internet for a big payday? Holtzclaw got away with it - until he attacked a woman like me.
It's sad when after these incidents you sit down to dinner and the conversation is, "It almost has to be people like us." That's a wink and a nod to Lawrence Otis Graham. He wrote a book "Our Kind Of People". It's just as relevant as it was in the 1990's as it gives a glimpse into the money people behind the Civil Rights Movement.
After watching the Obamas being denigrated due to the color of their skin, the numerous number of black people convicted in the public sphere for their own murders, and the continued targeting of black Americans while "those people" have expanded their scope to include Muslims, Latinos, and the GLBT community - while at the same time seeing continued cries for a new New Deal . . . I have to go back to the old playbook.
My grandfather's playbook was from circa 1952 which predates all of the marches and protests of the second Civil Rights movement.
1952 is when he was one of the highest tax payers in Alabama and took money from his own pocket to modernize his children's school, provide school buses, central heating, one building instead of rickety wood shanties. It should have come from community tax dollars but shame on America - while they were prospering with his money they forced him to put his neck on the line to show them how equal things were going to be.
It's not 1963 - it's 1952. We are fighting for our lives. Our ability to own our existing homes (not returning to red lining), a fair shot in health care, in public education, and banking (interest rates and terms on bar with the dominant culture's).
Sometimes you have to hold the line because only one thread remains. Hold the line - cast it later.
BumRushDaShow
(140,913 posts)On topic, I heard blips on the news yesterday about the closing of the "Mississippi Burning" case on the 52nd anniversary of the massacre of 3 men whose only goal was to help register folks to vote in places where voting was forbidden to black people.
In this election season, whether out in the real world or right here on DU, one has to continue to fight for the right to express one's thoughts.
JustAnotherGen
(33,286 posts)3 Men who wanted to help Americans be Americans - and . . .
BumRushDaShow
(140,913 posts)for investigating "cold cases" and that was coming up for this one by the end of FY17 (which would be September 30, 2017), so a decision was made to end it now (although the linked-article indicates reauthorizations bills in both the House and Senate, so perhaps something will change).
They say that 9 people were convicted of participating in this atrocity after the multiple investigations and they don't anticipate finding any others who may have been involved.
Number23
(24,544 posts)I have a question in AtA right now because I had two posts hidden this week. One post said "Trump's campaign is the scourge of the earth and you're whining about Clinton?" and that was hidden. That was the entirety of the post.
The second was even better. I wrote "she whipped him and the whole world knows it." The "she" was Clinton and the "he" was Sanders. That was literally my entire post and it was hidden.
If people are so angry and hysterical that simply mentioning Hillary's decisive and definitive win causes them to become enraged, then why would anyone bother talking to them about anything?? Black folks, we need each other more than ever right now. The lunatics on the right appear to be coalescing around a mouth breathing sexist, racist imbecile who is actually PAYING himself to run for president and there are alot of folks on the left who appear to be angry and resentful as hell. If nothing else, all of this has made me realize how much we need our black institutions and leaders right now and we really need to support them however we can.
JustAnotherGen
(33,286 posts)A response to YoungDem - who had a post removed as I was composing it. I had to 're-write' it to make sense as an OP.
Sentiment remains the same though - and it's something I've talked to death with my husband.
This election - we didn't go back far enough. Obama it was off the table - he wasn't even born when the movement started. We wouldn't be back in 1952 if there had not been a simmering resentment and rage by a part of America towards Obama . . . for the unforgiveable sin of winning while black. As a result it's been taking it out on 'us'.
We had a win on Affirmative Action today.
A loss for our New Americans.
A tremendous loss of life for the GLBT community last week.
This is a time to hold the line.
Shit is getting real.
Number23
(24,544 posts)That has been clear as crystal for an extremely long time now. These people, even almost eight years later, still cannot ABIDE that man's black existence in that White House and they are damn near incoherent in their rage. And to make it so bad, the usual bullying tactics that worked before to "remind" the rest of us of our place don't work anymore.
Black folks have flexed some EXTRAORDINARY muscle in this election and some see it as the first stage of the apocalypse. Hillary Clinton owes minorities for her decisive win and I hope she doesn't ever forget that. I am so proud of the CBC for releasing that statement condemning in no uncertain terms Sanders' incredibly idiotic demand that Dem primaries be open to fucking independents and Republicans! What is that man thinking??!
We had a win on Affirmative Action today.
A loss for our New Americans.
A tremendous loss of life for the GLBT community last week.
The folks that have always been at the top of the food chain are sputtering watching their unearned influence diminish more by the year. One week it's Hispanics that are the targets. The next week it's Muslims. Then it's gays. Then black folks and then women. And then the whole thing starts all over again.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)brer cat
(26,048 posts)Sums up so much about this season in politics, and where we are as a nation.
I don't remember reading about your grandfather before...I am glad you shared that here because it shows exactly where we were in that era. I had an uncle who was a county School Superintendent in rural Georgia. When your grandfather was building that school in Alabama, my uncle ramrodded the building and furnishing of a new modern school to replace the run-down disgrace of a black school. He was damned near run out of town for "wasting" all that money. My romantic self would like to believe that in that era of "separate but equal" he forced the "equal." Some of my older relatives think he foresaw Brown v Department of Education and built a place the black students would not want to leave. He died from a brain tumor shortly thereafter and I didn't know him as an adult to question him about his motives. I do often wonder.
ismnotwasm
(42,427 posts)And one hell of a legacy.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)Made a fortune as an early CEO of Sears, devoted much of his fortune to charity, including educating black children. Julius created the matching grant concept, and with the advice of Booker T. Washington, built 5,700 schools around the country for black children during the 20s and 30s. A few have been preserved and still remain.
Number23
(24,544 posts)Supreme Court Upholds Affirmative Action in University Admissions
In 4-3 ruling, court advises schools to continuously review race-based policies
http://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-upholds-affirmative-action-in-university-admissions-1466691615
And of course Black Twitter has already responded. #ByeAbby and #BeckyWithTheBadGrades