History Repeating Itself

My father said to me, "This ain't new."  He lived it at the height of Jim Crow in the South when African Americans were denied their rights.  He dealt with angry patrolmen firsthand or came face to face with injustices of all kinds.

We talked at length about what is happening in America today that bears a striking resemblance to the past on one of my visits home to a small town in South Georgia. He quickly reminded me that "this" isn't new.  He has seen it before.  He remembers the days of not being able to vote,  having to step off the sidewalk when whites approached, and as a grown man being forced to say "yes sir" to juvenile white boys.  He can also recall the cruel beatings and lynching of innocent black men, women, and children without legal recourse or a chance to fight back in court.

My father survived the economic injustice of the post-Civil Rights era.  Rents are sky-high in major cities and rural areas.  The average cost of a new home has also doubled since the housing crisis,  which puts the price of a modest three-bedroom home out of reach for many poor and middle-class Americans.  Like decades ago,  wages are again stagnant in urban areas,  with companies paying part-time wages for full-time work, as King said in Memphis.

Lastly, he endured the political upheaval of  American style Apartied.  Southern politicians campaigned proudly on segregationist platforms with little to no opposition from Northern liberals or conservative Republicans until the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement.  It left millions of blacks off the voting rolls for generations. And dashed the economic, educational, and social fortunes of African Americans.

I came into existence at the tail end of Jim Crow.  I cannot recall the harshness of the era.  My father sheltered us from its ugliness or atrocities.  But he and others of his generation remember it well.  Sadly,  they will not be with us long enough to tell the story of a shady past.  And those of us with no inkling of history will be shocked by today.

Remembering Jimmy Lee Jackson

Most battles of the Civil Rights Movement took place in rural communities across the South, where ordinary Americans put their lives on the line for peace and justice for all.

African American Army veteran  Jimmy Lee Jackson was one of those brave souls who sacrificed his life for others.

Jackson,  who attended mass meetings in support of Civil Rights in the '50s and '60s, left Zion United Methodist Church in 1965 with 500 marchers in his hometown of Marion, Alabama, for the County Jail, where a civil rights activist was being held.  On a cold February night, they had plans to sing hymns and pray before returning to their house of worship. (1) Instead,  they were confronted by a squadron of police and State Patrolmen, who beat them relentlessly with nightsticks as they retreated to their church and elsewhere for safety. Law enforcement, who shot out street lights ahead of the march,  claimed the protesters were planning a jailbreak.

Jackson and his family sought refuge in a black-owned business.  When spotted by police, the beatings continued.  They attacked his elderly grandfather first.  When Jackson's mother attempted to pull the officers off him,  she was beaten,  prompting Jackson to intervene.   He was knocked against a vending machine before being shot twice in the abdomen by State police.  He stumbled outside, where he collapsed on the ground.  

Friends transported Jackson to the segregated hospital miles away in Selma instead of the forbidden local white hospital, which may have saved his life.  Before succumbing to his wounds, Jackson recounted how he was beaten and shot before collapsing outside to the press or anyone who would listen.  Jackson's death prompted the Selma to Montgomery March and the passage of the Voting Rights Act as a fitting tribute to a man who not only attempted to vote but encouraged others to do the same.

Gettysburg Burial

The Battle of Gettysburg claimed the lives of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers as the bloodiest battle of the Civil War. 

Months later,  President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address at the dedication of the new Soldiers National Cemetary to commemorate the site.  The president told listeners,  "The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but can never forget what they did here."

Black men were used digging up remains of the Union dead from graves scattered throughout the battlefield and surrounding countryside to be reinterred at the new cemetery on Cemetary Hill, not far from where many of the bodies were first laid to rest.  Confederate loved ones who could be identified was shipped mainly to Virginia to be disseminated across the South. 

The men endured the heavy stench and possible disease of hastily buried corpses in "various stages of decomposition."  After completing the gruesome task,  they received little fanfare or compensation for their hard work, which resulted in little more than a footnote in history until now.

Their story is being re-told thanks to historians, ancestors, and black Civil War reenactors to America's youth and others who knew nothing about their contribution like me.  

Source: Michael E. Ruane of the Washington Post

Never Trumpers

It shocked me to hear a prominent Republican strategist urge Democrats on national television to pick a candidate with the best possible chance of defeating Trump in 2020 so that she and other Republicans could not only back him or her but sleep better at night knowing the country would be in safer hands.

She and other like-minded Republicans represent the millions of never-Trumpers who would never compromise their morals or risk their good name by backing him.  They see Trump as not on their level morally, spiritually, socially, or intellectually.  But most shockingly,  they think of the president as a fraud or loser who is in it for himself.  He has pissed off or disrespected so many mainstream GOP officeholders with his wild antics and crazy policy stances that they cannot stomach giving him the support he may need, like the radicals of their party for a second term.  There has not been this level of infighting within the ranks of the Republican Party since the election of 1912 when Teddy Roosevelt fought William Howard Taft tooth and nail for the party nomination.

So many top Republicans are putting their hope in the Democrats if it means dispelling a charlatan from office, getting the country back on track, and restoring the nation's standing as its best chance for 2024. They see Trump as having derailed what they built in foreign and domestic policy for generations or dismantling long-standing institutions in government and that four years of a competent Democrat can give the party a chance to regroup or save themselves.

Though they despise him,  Never-Trumper's defeat of the president in 2020 will not be easy.  A record number of poor and rural whites voted for Trump in 2016, which pushed him over the top in states like Pennsylvania,  Wisconsin, and Michigan.  A chunk of white suburban female voters also supported the president despite his vicious attacks on female lawmakers and numerous allegations of sexual misconduct toward those of the opposite sex.  Moreover,  the president's support is growing among black men, who feel pushed aside or marginalized by society and see the president as speaking their language.  If they and others back Trump the second time,  the opposition will not succeed. 

Their fight will not be with the Democrats in 2020 but with Trump and his backers.  They will risk the Supreme Court and their majority in the Senate to bring him down because they hate him just that much.

The Inspiring Lucy McBath

Who is Lucy McBath?  She is a trailblazer who beat the GOP establishment in Georgia.  She defeated incumbent Republican Karen Handle to become the first Democrat to represent the State's Sixth Congressional District since the Carter Administration.  As a black woman, she captivated voters with a heartfelt message of love and survival that transcended race and class in one of Georgia's most diverse districts.

The well-publicized death of her son propelled her into politics.  While sitting in a car with other young men at a Jacksonville, Florida, gas station in 2012,  he was shot to death by a middle-aged white man following an argument over loud music coming from her son's vehicle. He was found guilty of second-degree murder during his second trial.  Instead of burying her head in the sand,  she spoke out passionately against gun violence with other grieving mothers around the county, which included appearances at the White House on behalf of her late son and at the 2016 Democratic Convention, where she voiced support for Hilary Clinton.  Her activism culminated with her Congressional campaign in 2018.  She opposed the NRA and supported universal background checks for gun applicants.

She also spoke candidly about her battle with breast cancer as she made women's health a central part of her candidacy.  She came out in support of expanding Medicaid in Georgia to help fight chronic female illnesses.  She also backed Planned Parenthood, a woman's right to choose whether or not to have an abortion, and efforts to save rural hospitals across the State.  And like most Democrats,  she praised the Affordable Care Act, which she believes benefits all Georgians.

Finally,  McBath appealed to everyday citizens in the district she would come to represent in Congress,  who saw her as the neighbor down the street.  She fashioned herself as a routine Delta Airlines employee that many could relate to.  They also found common ground with her fight to overcome breast cancer and other personal issues that candidates shied away from.  It made her one of the people and clinched her victory in the tight race.

Whether or not she gets reelected in 2020,  she will have fulfilled her mission of love and care for others.  When her time in the national limelight does end,  she will return to her grassroots efforts of setting the record straight on the senseless violence that grips our beloved country.

Stop Voter Suppresion

While debating the outcome of the 2016 Presidential Election,  many of us overlooked the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County vs. Holder that gutted the historic 1965 Voting Rights Act.  The high court struck down a key provision of the law that required states with a history of voter suppression, such as poll taxes or literacy tests, to get Federal approval before making changes to their election laws.  As a result, state after state enacted voter ID restrictions or measures like Georgia's "exact match," which dilute voter participation among minority groups and the elderly,  who usually vote Democrat.  To prevent a similar occurrence in 2020, Democrats, or anyone who cares about democracy, must get involved.

We captivated the world in 2008 with a ground game that elected the first black president.  We went from door-to-door registering voters, staged unbelievable rallies, used the internet to our advantage, and got supporters to the polls.  Today we must take it further due to an unprecedented attack on American democracy in the post-Civil Rights era.

Democrats and moderates alike must beef up their representation at the State and local level, where decisions regarding voter rights or the opportunity to vote get decided.  The party in power decides how elections will be governed or who will be the next Supreme Court justice.  Yes, it is great to win the presidency. However, we cannot overlook governorships, secretary of state positions, and control of state legislatures cannot be overstated in the fight for voting rights since the modern Republican Party sees it as a hindrance. 

Voters should also be informed of changes to voting laws in their state no matter how trivial or ridiculous they seem, even if it means going from door-to-door again, lobbying college campuses or transit stations.  If voter IDs are required or if  "exact-match" is the new normal,  those desiring to vote should be well prepared ahead of time and not caught off guard at the last minute or misinformed.  This will make elections run smoother.

When all else fails,  Democrats and others who value a democratic society should take their message to the courts where Bush and Obama-era judges, as the president likes calling them, can render the final verdict.  Archaic measures like "exact-match" must be appealed to the Federal bench, and for those elections are not carried out fairly, the losing candidate should be allowed to seek redress or declare that the outcome be thrown out and a new race declared as was the case in a recent Congressional election in North Carolina.  This would shake up the system and prompt conservatives to think twice before engaging in dirty tricks in the future.

Republicans think they cannot win fair and square elections due to shifting demographics.  Thus, they engage in the tactics of the old Confederacy instead of reaching out to broaden their base. True Patriots must block their path in the New Jim Crow.