The Resistance

I have often wondered what those who stayed behind in the South or fought for Civil Rights went through, despite the books I have read, the films I have seen, or the private conversations I have had with those who lived through the struggle.

Could I have endured the beatings, lynchings, harassment, false imprisonment, and the likelihood of being ostracized by friends or those too fearful to fight?  I think about my father, who walked a fine line,  and the unsung heroes who lost their lives in inhumane ways. I think about the young World War Two African American soldier who returned home only to be denied the full benefits of the G.I. Bill and even assaulted at rest stops.  

Even whites sympathetic to the plight of blacks received backlash. Jimmy Carter's eldest son was beaten by students at his high school in a small town in Southwest Georgia because his family supported integrated schools and refused to toe the line on segregation. The abuse did not break his will, his mother's will, or that of his father,  the future governor and president,  who would one day declare an end to racial discrimination in the South.

Could I have also survived the segregated public school system that Carter and others fought against?  Many of my relatives, neighbors, and fellow Georgians had no choice.  Although the teachers were knowledgeable and in many instances better educated than their white counterpart, the system crippled us educationally and helped perpetuate an inferiority complex. There were dilapidated buildings,  shortages of books, lack of playgrounds, and buses to transport black kids to and from school safely, typical of black education well into the '60s in the South.  On the other hand, white students attended well-equipped schools and had access to shiny buses that dropped them off for class.  It challenged the doctrine of separate but equal!

The biased school system impacted black boys particularly hard.  Many African American boys lived on farms and spent the Fall semester harvesting crops or were required to sit out during planting season instead of in the classroom.  As a result,  the number of black males graduating from high school or attending historically black colleges lagged far behind that of black females.  Only years later did it narrow, but it widened again for other reasons.  

Aside from receiving a substandard education, many African Americans who were determined to stick it out in the South or fight for their rights did not get the best medical care.  Before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which revolutionized healthcare for blacks across the Southern U.S,  black Americans received medical care primarily in colored hospitals,  segregated wards in white-run facilities,  or were denied service altogether,  which does not take into account the abuse of the black female reproductive system or other acts of medical malpractice heaped on people of color for generations.

This is not to say that black doctors and their clinics did not play a vital role in delivering babies,  fighting high blood pressure, or simply saving the lives of everyday black citizens. However, access to the nation's overall healthcare system is a fundamental right that should not be denied to anyone based on color,  gender,  sexual orientation,  or ability to pay. It has led to health disparities, such as infant mortality, that exist today.  

Another devastating consequence of living in the apartheid South that weighed heavily on the "souls of black folks" was poverty.  In some areas, it resembled life in so-called Third World countries, though not all blacks in the South or other parts of the country lived below the poverty line.  It was driven by low wages paid to black workers, especially in agriculture, which led to substandard housing and hunger.  For instance,  when Senator Robert Kennedy visited the Mississippi Delta in the mid-1960s, he encountered  African Americans living in homes unfit for human habitation on former plantations, with children suffering from malnutrition and too weak to stand.  The Delta and Appalachia regions became the basis for the Great Society and War on Poverty initiated by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Blighted communities also existed in urban areas like Atlanta's Buttermilk Bottom. Like many neglected black neighborhoods of that time, it suffered from poor infrastructure, with dilapidated homes on unpaved streets, outhouses in the back, and in some instances, a lack of electricity. (1)  By the 1970s, the homes were demolished to make way for a new civic center and other developments.  Today,  a city marker bears its name in remembrance of the hardworking African Americans who called it home.  

Surviving Jim Crow not only involved finding ways to deal with a one-sided healthcare system or systematic poverty, but also crooked law enforcement.  The slave catcher gave rise to the Southern sheriff,  an imposing figure who stood in the way of voting,  arrested black protesters without due process,  and caused the death of hundreds of black men,  women, and children from Virginia to Texas that remains unsolved.  It interfered with the free travel of blacks, who had to be off the roads by sundown in isolated communities.  

Local police,  like their counterpart in the Sheriff's Office,  preyed on blacks,  especially black men,  resulting in their arrest or long-term incarceration on trumped-up charges.  As a result,  county jails,  prisons,  and work camps, like the Atlanta Brick Company, exploded with the bodies of the wrongfully convicted,  many of whom never saw justice.  It was the beginning of mass incarceration that continues today. 

Along with the horrors of law enforcement in the segregated South existed immense efforts to keep blacks from voting, notably in rural areas.  Poll taxes,  purging of voting rolls,  literacy tests, intimidation, routine violence, and other unreasonable requirements were employed to steer blacks away from the voting booth.  Attempts to fight for the right to vote by showing up to register,  holding voter registration projects, or marching in the streets could have meant the difference between life and death.  The Voting Rights Act of 1965, which has since been gutted, ended voter suppression by eliminating barriers to the ballot box.  It led to the election of the nation's first black president.  

Above all,  the worst atrocity inflicted on freed blacks in the deep South following Reconstruction included a rigid social order that lasted well into the Twentieth Century. When the Civil War ended, Union soldiers were stationed in the South to protect the former slaves. When they were pulled out due to the Compromise of 1876,  Southern States introduced the Black Codes, similar to the slave codes, that remained on the books for generations.  They were intended to control the lives of the former slaves, such as voting, where they could attend school, or whom they could love, for instance.  Local communities also enacted statutes of conduct to further intimidate blacks. 

A version of the black codes also existed in the North. Banks, for instance, instituted redlining to prevent blacks from moving into white neighborhoods. This created segregated communities and schools, known as de facto segregation. It was based on customs and attitudes and not written into law. It made life highly difficult for African Americans.

The black codes established an unequal society in the South and Midwest. For instance, it forbade mixing in schools,  parks,  restaurants,  housing, and other areas.  Other statutes were enacted to "enforce racial segregation at the level of marriage and intimate relationships by criminalizing interracial marriage and sometimes sex between members of different races" to make blacks feel less human.

The rules of racial separation dehumanized blacks in other ways, too.  My father,  who spent his life in rural Southwest Georgia,  revealed how as a young black man in the '40s and '50s,  he had to say "yes sir" and "no sir" to juvenile white males, and along with other black men and women,  were required to step off the sidewalk when whites approached as an act of further humiliation. Blacks also entered through the back door of well-to-do white homes and were confined to separate seating in clinics,  hospitals, streetcars, and city buses.  They also received second-class service in restaurants and stores and were denied accommodation in all hotels.  A high school teacher once commented that he stood in line in the rear of a white-owned establishment to get a hot meal in the 1950s in my small hometown in Georgia.

When blacks dared to buck the caste system,  the outcome was brutal.  Black men were lynched, severely beaten, or run off their land for asserting their manhood or "stepping out of line," as it was customarily called.  It robbed them of their ability to protect their women,  children, or community from a chaotic way of life that hurt them deeply.  

Black women also endured acts of terror.  They were fired from teaching jobs,  intimidated, physically harmed,  murdered, and banished from their communities, like Fannie Lou Hamer, a human rights figure in the 1960s, for desiring to be treated with respect.  Despite it all,  black women,  like black men,  rose above the hate to live successful lives.

African Americans who decided to stay in the South or forgo life elsewhere forged a path in education, economics, and Civil Rights that allows us to live lives we can be proud of in a land of opportunity called America.  They made it happen despite incredible odds.  They farmed their land,  taught in newly built segregated schools that became the center of the community,  made strides in healthcare that saved lives, and fought battles to uphold the Constitution. Although life in the North for blacks was not always ideal, and the South was downright cruel, Dixie has become a home to millions of black people, including those who longed to return, and a new generation of people of color who have discovered its great potential.

 

Re-elect Lucy McBath

 I do not live in Lucy McBath's congressional district, but I would like to see her reelected because of her compassion and determination to help others.

She entered Congress in 2019 to address gun violence, expand healthcare, and improve the economy.

The shooting death of her son in 2012  made her a "mom on a mission."  She co-sponsored the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act of 2019 and the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019. Both have passed the House and have strong bipartisan support in the Senate. In addition, she backed the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act as a freshman Congressperson, which made it through the House of Representatives but has stalled on a technicality in the upper chamber. Lastly, she coauthored workplace violence legislation during the 116th Congress and continues to speak out on violence of any kind across the country.

Aside from promoting safety, McBath has fought for veterans, families, and students seeking higher education.  She introduced a bill on the House floor signed into law by the president, "which protects military disability benefits from going to creditors in a bankruptcy proceeding." (1)  Moreover,  she voted for the Pay Check Protection Program and Healthcare Enhancement Act that received the president's signature back in April, which lowers drug costs and helps struggling families and businesses combat the novel Corona Virus. In addition,  she and a colleague penned The Childcare is Essential Act, which awaits Senate approval. She also cast a ballot to extend eligibility to students seeking financial aid whose schools have closed or been caught up in wrongdoing. (2) Above all,  McBath and other Democrats blocked attempts to kill the Affordable Care Act and passed legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour that,  like many other Democratic initiatives,  sits in the Senate.

McBath has backed or been a part of other landmark legislation, such as the Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys Act,  which passed the Senate in 2020, middle-class tax cuts, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which became law in 2020 as well,  and disaster relief for Puerto Rico.  

With a record to stand on, Congresswoman McBath enjoys widespread support in her district as she continues her journey of love,  respect,  and justice for every American citizen.

1. Congressional Voting Record

2. Congressional Voting Record

 

Let's Vote

Voting is a fundamental right that all Americans are entitled to, one that may hang in the balance in a year marked by historic change.

Whether under assault or denied to any group in our society,  the right to vote must be protected by every American willing to fight with all they have to keep it around for future generations.

Several factors have emerged in recent years that hinder our ability to vote, and we cannot let them stand in the way. They include a shortage of voting locations, voter ID laws, and Georgia's Exact Match rule.  Minorities and the elderly find it difficult to comply with these unnecessary requirements due to barriers to transportation, financial hardship, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The current attacks on voting are related to the gutting of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.  In  Holder v. Shelby (2013), the Supreme Court removed a key provision that required states with a history of voter suppression to obtain approval from the U.S. Department of Justice before making any changes to "their voting laws or practices." In the wake of Obama's two decisive victories and shifting demographics,  Conservatives rushed to get their argument before the high court that such protections were no longer needed, with startling consequences. The states seeking the change fell under Federal guidelines.   A bill to restore the historic measure to its original glory,  which has passed the House,  currently sits on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's desk.

Gerrymandering is an older form of voter suppression, which has been practiced by Democrats and Republicans. Every ten years, Congressional districts are required to be redrawn to reflect  population changes. However, the ruling party may skew the Congressional map to increase its representation in Congress rather than taking into account all racial and ethnic groups to ensure a balance of power. For instance, the state of Georgia has used redistricting to add to the number of African American lawmakers on the Federal level.

In addition to Gerrymandering,  many Southern States introduced the Runoff Primary system in the 1960s to curtail black and Republican voting.  It mandates that if no candidate receives a majority of the votes or 50.1 percent,  a second election will be held between the two top vote-getters.   The theory was that if blacks or Republicans were to vote in a bloc,  giving their candidate the most votes in a crowded field,  it could give Democrats and Segregationists,  who made up a majority of the electorate,  a chance to mobilize against the minority opponent.

A new form of voter suppression may be in the works involving the U.S. Postal Service. Due to COVID-19,  Democrats and Republicans may have to rely on their local post office to cast their ballots in the general election. The country's mail system, however, is facing financial setbacks.  The president has tied any attempt to fully fund the agency to the money to help fight the Coronavirus outbreak, which will fall far short of what it needs to function.  The president has even threatened to withhold funding altogether if he does not get what he wants as a way to punish the Democratic Party.  Lastly, the postmaster general, who donated handsomely to the Trump campaign in 2016,  has reportedly eliminated much-needed employee overtime, dismantled sorting machines,  and removed drop boxes.  If Democrats lose this election and it is proven that mail delays or White House corruption played a role,  there will be a civil war in this country.  

We cannot wait to prepare the U.S. Postal Service for an onslaught of mail-in ballots or closely monitor any efforts by the president to disrupt the process. The post office can process millions of Christmas cards in any year, but now we have a president who stands in the way of progress.  Thus,  we cannot use or rely on the mail system as a primary source of voting and must, as former First Lady Michelle Obama said,  vote early,  wear a mask,  pack a lunch,  and be willing to stand in long lines well into the night if necessary and make sure everyone has the documents to vote and fix any voting irregularities.  

America needs bold leadership. We must overcome partisan differences in favor of the right to vote, whether it's for Democrats or Republicans.  

H. Rap Brown & Stokely Carmichael in Oakland (1968) | KQED Archives

Sojourner Truth: A Journey of Love

Sojourner Truth campaigned for justice and equal rights during a turbulent time in the country's history. 

She escaped slavery and became a renowned orator for freedom, who preached the word of God, comforted the poor, and helped those free from bondage live lives they could be proud of.  

Truth, who challenged the American system, was born into slavery in 1797 in the rural community of Swarteville,  New York. Her parents,  James Baumfree and Elizabeth Baumfree, named her Isabella, which she would famously change later in life. As one of ten siblings, she endured several masters, which involved beatings and forced labor. She was also denied the right to an education and sexually assaulted like many other slaves. Baumfree was sold to her last owner,  John Dumont,  in 1810,  where she would remain until her bold escape. 

 Life on Dumont's farm did not go well for Baumfree. For instance, his romantic overtures caused tension between her and his wife.  She was later raped by him, resulting in an infant daughter, and prevented from having a productive relationship with her first love,  an enslaved gentleman on a nearby farm, which left her brokenhearted.  His master not only forbade it but beat him severely for fear any offspring would be the property of Dumont.  Baumfree eventually married an older male slave on Dumont's land around 1820 and is believed to have borne four offspring. 

Dumont promised Baumfree her freedom if she would be a "dutiful" slave. However, he withdrew the offer when the mother of his child suffered a serious hand injury. (4)  Understandably upset, Baumfree escaped or "walked away," as she put it in 1826,  with her newborn daughter in her arms. She was forced to leave the rest of her children behind, only months before New York State, in 1827, would officially free all its slaves.

Baumfree settled in New Platz, New York, where she befriended Issac and Maria Van Wagenen, well-known Quakers, who paid Dumont for the balance of her servitude. He accepted the measly sum of twenty dollars until the State Emancipation Order took effect. (6) They hired Baumfree as a housekeeper and offered her a place to live as she sought additional work around town.

A year later, she learned Dumont had sold her only son,  then five,  to a slave owner in Alabama after New York officially abolished slavery.  With the help of the Van Wagenens, she filed suit in Federal Court in 1828 and gained her son's freedom to become the first African American woman to win a judgment against a white man in the United States. (7) 

During her stay with the Van Wagenens, Baumfree converted to Christianity in 1829, setting the stage for the rest of her life (8). She left for New York City, where she worked with key religious figures such as Elijah Pierson and Robert Mathews and did charity work for the poor.

Years later, in 1843,  Baumfree joined the Methodist Church and changed her name to Sojourner Truth,  believing God had anointed her to travel the land and preach the truth about slavery and stand up for the downtrodden and disenfranchised. (9)  She toured the Connecticut River Valley, "preaching about the abolition of slavery" to anyone who would listen, and visited Massachusetts,  where she attended camp meetings held by the Millerite Adventists, who prophesied the return of Jesus by 1844. (10) Her singing and preaching drew large crowds. (12)  However,  Truth and others left when the Second Coming did not materialize.  

Shortly after that,  Truth united with the North Hampton Association of Education and Industry in Massachusetts, which was started by Abolitionists.  It billed itself as a community of like-minded individuals who advocated for women's rights and an end to slavery. (14)  Truth and about 240 members lived on 470 acres, operating a grist mill,  sawmill, and silk factory. They also raised livestock to demonstrate how to be self-sufficient.

Baumfree is believed to have supervised men and women on the property before the group disbanded.  While there,  she was encouraged to deliver antislavery speeches to a larger audience and met Abolitionists Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison,  who greatly influenced her work. 

Truth joined other organizations,  attended meetings,  and delivered countless speeches in the years ahead to further the cause of freedom and women's suffrage.  In her most famous speech,  "Ain't I a Woman,"  delivered at the Ohio Women's Convention in 1851,  she "demanded human rights for all women and for all blacks,"  which was a risky proposition even in the North. She declared she was equal to a white woman in needs,  desires,  aspirations, and hopes as a virtue of her womanhood.

In addition to her human rights campaign, Truth,  like many black leaders of her time, went out of her way to support the Union cause during the outbreak of the Civil War, hoping that it would one day result in the freedom of her people.  For instance,  she recruited black soldiers for the Northern Army and witnessed the enlistment of her grandson in the legendary 54th Massachusetts.  She worked for the National Freedman's Relief Association in Washington,  D.C.,  "Where she diligently sought to improve conditions for blacks." (18)  Near the end of the war,  she found work at the Freedman's Hospital in Washington,  D.C., where she "rode in the streetcars to help force their desegregation."(19)  She was even invited to the White House by President Lincoln,  who came to admire her determination for change.  

After the Civil War,  Truth furthered her involvement in helping humanity. She attempted to secure land grants for the Freedmen to smooth their transition from slavery to freedom and engaged in other projects in the coming years. Only a handful of African Americans received free land as promised, while others purchased it and passed it down through generations. In 1871,  she addressed the Eighth Anniversary of Negro Freedom,  where she crucified the institution of slavery for what it had done to her and other ex-slaves, such as destroying families.  Months later,  she delivered remarks to a receptive audience at the Second Annual Convention of the American Women Suffrage Association.  She declared women must have the same rights as men.  She also fought for prison reform to help stem the tide of black men being forced into work camps and lobbied against capital punishment at the Michigan State House. (20)

During this time in 1872,  Truth campaigned for the reelection of President Ulysses S. Grant as one of her last battles for uplifting America.  She attempted to vote but was turned away at the polls. (21)  She backed a man many African Americans viewed as a savior for winning the Civil War and supporting the Freedman's Bureau, which helped former slaves build schools,  start businesses, and own land.  She was fortunate to meet the president as well.

Sojourner Truth died on November 26,  1883, after an eventful life.  She found freedom and Christ and waged war on slavery. She also campaigned for equal rights and counseled presidents on what was best for African Americans.  It was the end of the road for someone who cared deeply for others.  

After she was buried in her adopted hometown of Battlecreek,  Michigan, attended by local and national dignitaries,  efforts began to celebrate her legacy that continues today. The Episcopal Church commissioned a bronze statue in her likeness in Battle Creek,  Michigan.  There is a statue of Truth also at the University of California, San Diego. (22)  Numerous other commendations, such as books on her life,  murals,  paintings,  buildings, and roads named in her honor, TV specials about her, and the recognition she receives during Black History Month, pay tribute to a woman who fought hard to change America.

Source: Wikipedia

Convenience Stores

What is the historical significance of the relationship between black men and convenience stores?  My father virtually banned me from them and monitored me closely as I went inside.  He would yell,  "Take your hands out of your pockets!"  They have been the site of beatings,  brutal armed robberies, and a refuge for homeless men looking for a handout or a second chance at life.

What has caused the strain between black men and the corner store?  Jim Crow undoubtedly played a role.   African Americans,  particularly black men,  received poor service, if at all,  which built resentment and a sense of caution about what to expect over the years.  A black man could have been killed or seriously injured for questioning the clerk or stepping out of line.

The unfair treatment continues today, with the best black male patrons treated like second-class citizens.  They are made the butt of jokes or chronically overcharged, known as "pulling prices out of the sky." A confrontation usually develops, with the consumer being misjudged or hauled off to jail by biased law enforcement.  In the end,  no one wins.

Do black men contribute to the problem?  Yes!  Some linger, sell drugs on store property, or harass store employees.  Others fight fire with fire instead of filing a report,  shopping elsewhere, or starting a business.

Nevertheless,  it may seem difficult for some to grasp that one group of Americans cannot shop without being harassed,  marginalized, or made to feel less than a citizen of the United States.  It happens frequently. I remember having a cash register slammed shut in my face by an angry white female store clerk after I questioned my purchase.  I lived to tell about it.  

The ugly history between black men and local store clerks has been years in the making, and that peaceful dialogue,  respect, and economic expansion can heal.

Harriet

Harriet Tubman is considered one of the bravest Americans to fight against slavery or rescue others from bondage. She escaped from slavery and returned to save others from cruelty in the South. 

Born into slavery in 1829 on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Tubman endured hardships, such as beatings, and a severe head injury when she was struck by a twenty-pound weight hurled at a runaway slave that affected her for life.  She also witnessed loved ones being sold downriver and dealt with the indignity of forced labor.

Tubman also could not determine one's lot in life.  She could not own land,  start a business, or vote. She was also forbidden to receive an education or simply enjoy family life,  which impacted Tubman and other slaves immensely.  After a showdown with her master over broken promises to free her,  she fled to the nearby free state of Pennsylvania, leaving behind her husband,  John Tubman,  and other family members whom she would return to get later.

While in the North,  she embarked on a mission to help other slaves.  She not only delivered anti-slavery speeches but also joined forces with noted Abolitionists Frederick Douglass and William Garrison.  She confided in them a plan to return and deliver others from the misery of involuntary servitude. One of her first missions involved rescuing family members who would reside with her in upstate New York.  

By the start of the Civil War,  the woman Moses had made as many as nineteen trips into slave territory,  escorting at least 300 slaves to safety in the Northeast and Canada as a conductor on the Underground Railroad,  which consisted of a system of back roads, waterways,  safe houses, and trusted allies that helped enslaved persons make it to freedom.

During this time,  Tubman aided the Union Army, which she hoped would one day free her people.  She served as a Union spy due to her hands-on knowledge of the South.  She led a raid on a Southern stronghold that brought about the freedom of nearly 700 slaves.  She became the first woman in American History to lead U.S. forces into Battle.

Tubman's humanitarian efforts continued after the war.  She bought land in Auburn,  New York, where she built a two-story home for family and friends.  In addition,  she established an infirmary and cabins for the destitute with money from her massive garden, and a small army pension to keep the mission afloat.  Later in life,  Tubman fought for women's Suffrage with contemporaries like Susan B. Anthony.

Tubman passed away in 1913 at the dawn of a new century.  A crowd of friends, neighbors, loved ones, and dignitaries turned out to pay tribute to an American hero who was laid to rest with full military honors.  Her story has been passed down from generation to generation and received top billing during the establishment of Black History Month in the 1970s.  Eventually,  her New York estate and birthplace in Maryland would become national parks.