Missouri Black History

From today's New York Times today.

It’s fitting that today, the birthday of Langston Hughes — the poet and leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance — is also the start of Black History Month.

His novels, stories, plays and poems opened the eyes of many to the African-American experience. And they continue to do so.

Hughes got his break while working as a busboy at a Washington hotel. He slipped his poems next to the plate of the poet Vachel Lindsay who read them and was immediately impressed.

Introductions were made and Hughes was soon a published poet. He received a full scholarship to Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and his debut book, “The Weary Blues,” was released even before he graduated in 1929.

Hughes was born in Joplin, Mo., and his parents’ divorce forced him to move around a lot.

One of those moves was fortuitous. He was named “class poet” in grammar school in Lincoln, Ill. He later said he believed he was chosen because of a stereotype that blacks had rhythm.

“There were only two of us Negro kids in the whole class and our English teacher was always stressing the importance of rhythm in poetry,” he said.

It led Hughes to try his hand at writing, and the rest is literary history.


Additionally, the famous and widely and some would say, wildly popular Scott Joplin lived in Sedalia, Missouri and created some of his most famous and celebrated work there.

Links:  Langston Hughes | Academy of American Poets

Langston Hughes - Wikipedia

Scott Joplin - Pianist, Songwriter - Biography.com

Scott Joplin - The State Historical Society of Missouri

More Evidence of Missouri's Government Being Bought

Yet more evidence of Missouri's government either being bought or attempted to being bought. This from Southwest Missouri's Turner Report blog:

California venture capitalist donates 

$1 million to Greitens Campaign

Former Navy seal Eric Greitens received a $500,000 boost to his campaign for governor on the last day of 2015.

The half-million dollars marked the second time Greitens has received that amount from California venture capitalist Michael Goguen of Sequoia Capital. The other contribution was reported in October.

In the week following Christmas,including the Goguen contribution, the Greitens campaign received $750,505. Out of that total, $640,003 came from out of state sources.

During this past week, Greitens also received the following contributions:

-$5,001 Michael Burns, Malvern, Pennsylvania,
-$5,001 Mary Beth Reilly, Nixa
-$10,000 Blake Spahn, Self School chancellor, New York, New York
-$50,000 Bryan Magers, Springfield, developer
-$25,000 Irvine Kessler, Wayzata, Minnesota, self investment management
-$50,000 Market Street Bancshares, Mount Vernon, Illinois
-$5,001 Jeff Layman, Springfield, Morgan Stanley senior vice president
-5,001 Howard Rosenbloom, Timonium, Maryland, Cruiser Capitol Advisers
-$10,000 Donald Sanders, Town and Country, Nightline Express, Inc. CEO
-$5,500 Mark Mantovani, Ansira executive
-$5,001 Mike Swann, Springfield, dermotologist
-$25,000 Bernard Marcus, Atlanta, Georgia, retired philanthropist
-$10,000 Frank Jay Steed, Branson West, Steed Communication
-$5,001 Thomas Smith, Boca Raton, Florida, Prescott Investors
-$15,000 Mark Gerson, New York, GLG chairman
-$20,000 ELX83 LLC, St. Louis

Check that out, above. 

There are actually two stories here, with this information. The first is that this one candidate is getting so much money, of course.

The second story to take from this and perhaps the biggest one is that this candidate received, out of all this big money, over 85% of this money from out of state sources. That is just not good for Missouri and Missourians, no matter the candidate.

Every time I report on campaign contributions in our state, I have to point out that we still have no campaign contribution limits and that we are the only state in the Union for which this is true and how damaging and even dangerous this is.

It was bad enough when Rex Sinquefield gave 900 million dollars to Catherine Hanaway's campaign. (See link at bottom, below).

We must change this. At the very least, we need campaign contribution limits in Missouri. After that, we simply need to end campaign contributions entirely. The already-wealthy and corporations must not be able to buy our legislators, our legislation, our laws and so, our government. And it must come from us. It's the only way we'll get things to change for the better and for the people.

 

Links:  Steve Kraske: Eric Greitens gets big money

With big out-of-state boost, Greitens leaps to head of GOP

Missourians, you and your government are being bought

Cheapest gas in Missouri?

This, yesterday, in Southwest Missouri, along I-44.

Born this day

For Langston Hughes, born this day, 1902 in, of all places, Southwest Missouri. Joplin, to be specific, which is now so Right Wing and Republican:

Let America Be America Again

Langston Hughes, 1902 - 1967

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There’s never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this “homeland of the free.”)

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark? 
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery’s scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one’s own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I’m the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That’s made America the land it has become.
O, I’m the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I’m the one who left dark Ireland’s shore,
And Poland’s plain, and England’s grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa’s strand I came
To build a “homeland of the free.”

The free?

Who said the free?  Not me?
Surely not me?  The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we’ve dreamed
And all the songs we’ve sung
And all the hopes we’ve held
And all the flags we’ve hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that’s almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that’s mine—the poor man’s, Indian’s, Negro’s, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people’s lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!

Cheapest gas in the State?

I shot this today at exit 29 on I-44, just outside Joplin.

Joplin, Jeezus, Father's Day and guns: Surprised?

Missouri, if you don't embarrass yourselves, there are plenty of the rest of us who are:

MO Church Giving Away AR-15 Rifles to Boost Attendance

I love the introduction to the article:

What kind of gun would Jesus shoot? It’s a question that theologians have debated throughout history without being able to settle on a satisfying answer. Some subscribe to the school of thought that he would carry something small and tasteful, like a .32 caliber hand gun, because there’s little room for anything bigger in those flowing robes. Others say he’d wield an AR-15, because Jesus is a badass and anything less than maximum destruction power wouldn’t make sense for the Prince of Peace.

And then for the serious, sick part:

That’s apparently what a church in Joplin, Mo., had in mind for a Father’s Day promotion last week, in which fathers were offered raffle tickets to win one of two AR-15 rifles. For every child he brought with him, he’d get another chance at taking aim with the Lord.

“We thought instead of a lot of small things, we’d give away stuff the guys were interested in,” Heath Mooneyham, the head pastor of the appropriately named Ignite Church told The Joplin Globe.

And just in case you think this is--hopefully, right?--a lampoon by The Onion or some such, check it out:<

If you watch even the first few seconds of that, you learn "Pastor Heath" was going to give a sermon on "excellence."

He no doubt ran into it once.  Somewhere. Maybe.

Very likely the cheapest gasoline in the nation now

And you've got it, Joplin, Missouri. Shot yesterday:

Uncanny timing tonight

There was the most terrific 2 specials on tonight on the local PBS station, KCPT, about the Joplin tornado in 2011 since the anniversary was and is today.

I watched most of both.  Bawled like a baby.

The thing is, the reason I write is because, first, it was 2 years ago today but second, it's hot on the heels, of course, of the Moore, Oklahoma tornado just yesterday, the poor people.

Uncanny timing and coincidence.

Devastating.

Deadline in Disaster

A community newspaper helps its town find hope in the aftermath of the EF5-tornado that nearly destroyed Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011. The Joplin Globe rolled the presses the night of the storm and hasn’t missed a beat since: continuing long hours, enduring difficult working conditions, and uncovering stories from the disaster.

Here's the 2nd:

Heartland: Portrait of Survival – 9pm

Heartland is a heartfelt portrait of the people who survived the EF5-tornado and a tribute to the lives who were lost in Joplin, Missouri, on May 22, 2011. Amateur footage, home videos, news broadcasts, police dispatch transmissions, and interviews are woven into an inspiring narrative.

If you get a chance to see either or both, by all means do.

You've no idea what they've been through unless you know someone there or you've seen one of both of  these.

Kudos, KCPT and PBS.

And may we all help the people, now, in Moore, Oklahoma.

Link:  Remembering Joplin - KCPT

Joplin in the news at NPR this week

Joplin, Missouri, it's rebuilding and their trees are in the NPR news coverage yesterday:

Joplin's New Trees Struggle To Survive Amid Drought

Saplings — no more than 6 feet tall — dot the landscape in Joplin, Mo. They replace the large shade trees that were ripped out of the ground by a massive tornado that swept through town in May of 2011.

Nearly 7,000 new trees, donated by various organizations, have been planted. They include sturdy, mostly native, varieties, such as oak, sycamore and redbud — trees that can withstand strong winds when they're taller.

The path of a powerful tornado is seen in an aerial photo over Joplin on May 24, 2011.
With temperatures above normal for the past few months and precipitation below normal, those trees have had a hard time taking root.

Volunteers, though, are giving the 562 trees planted in Joplin's city parks a hand. Lugging heavy, 5-gallon plastic buckets from faucets to trees in the searing heat, they pour water onto the base of the trees, a little at a time, allowing it to slowly soak into the roots.

In Cunningham Park, which was rebuilt after the tornado obliterated it, 161 saplings were planted, each representing someone killed in the storm.

"It's hot and it hurts to bend over for a long time, but these trees symbolize the people who died, so it's important to me and the people who live here," says Drew Shuburte, a member of the Hayti First United Methodist Church.

Rest of the story here: http://www.npr.org/2012/08/11/158610662/joplins-new-trees-struggle-to-survive-amid-drought

The shame that is Joplin, Missouri right now

There's Joplin, Missouri, coming together and rebuilding after what was a horrible and very tragic tornado wiped out too much of the town and its hospital, sure. That's the good part--that they came together and people from the region and nation are helping them do just that.

We all get that.

It's covered well and some more today, in our Kansas City Star newspaper:

Joplin family, victim of ‘storm chasers,’ moves into rebuilt home

(Link to story at bottom of this post).

The good news is that this family is in their rebuilt home.

That's the good part, sure. Good for them and good for everyone who has helped.

Unfortunately, here's the flip side of Joplin, Missouri:

The bad news is that there are too many people, groups and companies trying to take advantage of the victims, as the article in The Star points out:

"Dozens of families trying to rebuild their homes have encountered contractors accused of doing shoddy work or worse — skipping town with their money and without doing the work."


Joplin mosque razed in fire; 2nd blaze this summer

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — A mosque in southwest Missouri burned to the ground early Monday in the second fire to hit the Islamic center in little more than a month, officials said.

The fire at the Islamic Society of Joplin was reported about 3:30 a.m. Monday, the Jasper County Sheriff's Office said. The sheriff's department said the building was a total loss.

The article goes on to mention that not only was this the second fire to hit the center in little more than a month but that it was the third fire to hit them, too: "A blaze at the same building July 4 caused minor damage and was determined arson."

You would think everyone in Joplin would understand the need for rebuilding. You would think everyone there would be at least preoccupied with the rebuilding of the town, first, but that they'd also be far more sympathetic and empathetic to anyone and everyone who suffered a loss.

And get that disgusting timing--someone apparently setting fire to someone's place of worship on our own "Independence Day." What should be a holiday turns into a disgusting, sinking feeling for people. They are Americans, after all, like it or not.

Arson would be the last thing that would come to someone's mind there, wouldn't you think, given the loss, losses and damage from their tornado?

If not would be, it at least should be the last thing on anyone's mind, no?

Nationally, with this Joplin loss for these people of the Islam faith on top of the shooting yesterday in Wisconsin of the six people who died and injuring three others in, again, their place of worhsip, it's nothing if not revolting and disgusting.

As people of Joplin and Missouri and Wisconsin and the nation and world, we should be better than this. We should be smarter than this.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like any form of true, diagnosed insanity would explain away the setting of the fires in Joplin. That seems to be our only hope--that is, that both the arsonist in Southern Missouri and the shooter in Wisconsin are truly, certifiably insane.

It seems to be our only collective hope, their insanity.

Unfortunately, only naked, stupid selfishness and greed can explain the people who have tried or would try to take advantage of the people rebuilding there.

Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/08/05/3745161/in-joplin-a-rebuilt-home-and-renewed.html


http://news.yahoo.com/joplin-mosque-razed-fire-2nd-blaze-summer-160342127.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/06/us/shooting-reported-at-temple-in-wisconsin.html?pagewanted=all

On the President's speech in Joplin last evening

Like it or not, whatever your political party, President Obama hit at least a home run with this commencement speech to the Joplin graduating class last evening.

Links: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/05/21/3621338/obama-to-joplin-graduates-you.html; http://www.kmbc.com/news/31095345/detail.html

President Obama coming to Missouri

President Obama, it has been announced, is coming to Joplin this Monday, to

Obama to visit victims of Joplin, Mo., tornado

"President Obama will visit Missouri on Sunday to meet with victims of the storm that devastated the town of Joplin, Mo., two days ago and to hear about the disaster response from emergency officials."

It's a smart move, too. This way he looks presidential and can hopefully get on the good side of "average Americans" in that whole area. In that area of the state, he might get some good feeling from Kansas and Oklahoma, which, of course, are nearby.

Note the quote: "He said that while in Missouri, he is hoping 'to pray with folks and give them whatever assurance and comfort I can that the entire country is going to be behind them.'”

That is one shrewd, likely transparent statement.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/44/post/obama-to-visit-victims-of-joplin-mo-tornado/2011/05/24/AFvG3VAH_blog.html

Jefferson City corruption via "campaign contributions"

There is a terrific read right now over at a blog I don't think a lot of people in town are familiar with--The Turner Report. It usually has a great deal of stories about Joplin and its tornado clean up---but not today. Check it out: On a clear day, you can see corruption in Jefferson City Link: http://rturner229.blogspot.com/2012/02/on-clear-day-you-can-see-corruption-in.html

SUPPORT REP KANDER'S KANDER'S ETHICS REFROM PROPOSAL

Representative Jason Kander wrote a column--posted at The Turner Report blog (link below)--about how he "recently filed sweeping ethics reform legislation for lawmakers to consider as the annual legislative session begins this week." He goes on: "This bill would ban lobbyist gifts, reinstate campaign contribution limits, and prohibit lawmakers from lobbying for two years after they serve." It's so brief and yet so important. I think most all citizens and voters would agree that we need to get the big, ugly, corrupting money of the wealthy and corporations out of our election system and government. It is, in fact, corrupting and puts our government out of balance. It ends up favoring those corporations, the wealthy and their self-decided "needs" instead of those of the entire state, let alone the average citizen. So good on Rep. Kander. Hopefully this legislation will get broad-based support, statewide. It's important you know of it, first. Now, please contact your local state representative (see 2nd link, below) and let them know you do support it and want them to pass it. We'll be a far better state for it. Link: http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5985022&postID=2135556382289548605&page=0&token=1325967272550; http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx

Nearly unbelievable legislation coming out of Jeff City right now

It shouldn't surprise me but it does. According to Missouri Legislator Jake Hummell, "bills have already been filed to strip prevailing wage from the Joplin reconstruction work and for Right to Work." As I said, nearly unbelievable. The people of Joplin need this work done, clearly, and the people doing the work need the employment, of course. More than that, all of us need a decent, living wage, a "prevailing wage." Is that so much to ask? Apparently, of the Republican leadership down in Jeff City---and, of course, in Washington, too--it is. It's so disappointing. So disgusting.

Missouri and Kansas in "Top 10 States Hit by Extreme Weather in 2011

Missouri is, indeed, number 3 on the list of the "Top 10 States Hit by Extreme Weather" this year. Kansas was number 7. In a way, really, no surprise on Missouri, is it? Joplin was so famously, horribly hit by the tornado May 22. But that's not all on Missouri and extreme weather this year: Tornadoes were just one prong of the deadly onslaught of extreme weather in Missouri, as a combination of heavy spring rains and upstream snowmelt sent the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers surging over their banks. According to NOAA, in an average year the Missouri River channels 24.8 million acre feet of water. This year, it carried 24.3 million acre feet in May and June alone. When the Army Corps of Engineers essentially blew up the levees to save the small town of Cairo, Illinois, floodwaters inundated around 130,000 acres of Missouri farmland. Then there's Kansas: The massive heat wave and drought that devastated Texas and Oklahoma didn’t hit Kansas quite as hard, but it was bad enough to help push the Jayhawk State into the top 10 this year. By midsummer, much of the southwestern part of the state was suffering under “exceptional drought” conditions — it ended up being the ninth driest year ever recorded — and by year’s end, there was still no relief in sight. Wichita had more 100-degree-plus days than any year on record, beating out even the Dust Bowl summer of 1936.

Watch How 2011 Became a 'Mind-Boggling' Year of Extreme Weather on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

The number one state for most effected by extreme weather? Texas. They fried. This past year has been described as "weather on steroids." (see last 2 links below) Here's hoping 2012 is better to the planet. Links: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/12/30/395849/top-10-states-hit-by-extreme-weather-in-2011/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29; http://www.climatecentral.org/news/top-ten-states-hit-hardest-by-2011s-extreme-weather/; http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/12/30/395914/our-weather-on-steroids-the-mind-boggling-climate-disasters-of-2011/; http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/12/29/395730/pbs-covers-link-between-2011s-mind-boggling-extreme-weather-and-global-warming-its-like-being-on-steroids/

One more insanity of our federal budget

News out yesterday: NOAA Chief: 2011 Weather Was "Harbinger of Things to Come" Pressure to reduce government spending is intensifying, whereas demand for services provided by agencies such as NOAA is at an all-time high. SAN FRANCISCO -- The United States was battered this year by at least 12 natural disasters that each caused at least $1 billion in damages, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said yesterday. The agency said it was adding a June tornado outbreak in the Midwest and Southeast and record-setting wildfires in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico to a list that also includes flooding along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, drought in the Southern Plains and southwestern United States, five previous tornado outbreaks in Southern and central states, and a blizzard. That count could still rise, because NOAA is still tallying damages from Tropical Storm Lee and a late October snowstorm in the Northeast. But this year was not an aberration, NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said during a speech here yesterday. "Budgets and politics threaten our observations, our research, our modeling and our delivery of information and other services," Lubchenco added. "The unfortunate thing is that with more and more extreme events, we are being requested with increasing frequency by emergency managers, by citizens, by the business community, by farmers ... for more information on climate-scale events, which we define as anything beyond 14 days," Lubchenco said. "We will not be able to do it as efficiently or effectively as we would like to because we were not able to reorganize." MR: We could and should take it from the defense budget. But we won't. Link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=noaa-chief-2011-was-harbi

The 2011 weather year: no surprise here, right?

Hundreds of cars are seen stranded, below, from last Feb. 2, on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago after a winter blizzard of historic proportions.

It's just come out, as I predicted earlier: 2011 Breaks Record For Most Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters In terms of weather, 2011 has made it into the record books. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that during this year, there have been 12 different weather disasters that cost more than $1 billion. The previous record was nine in 2008. A few more facts from NOAA: — "These 12 disasters alone resulted in the tragic loss of 646 lives, with the National Weather Service reporting over 1,000 deaths across all weather categories for the year." — NOAA had originally counted 10 disasters, but that estimate went up after the wildfires in Texas and New Mexico exceeded $1 billion in damage. Also, NOAA just added the "June 18-22 Midwest/Southeast tornadoes and Severe Weather event, which just recently exceeded the $1 billion threshold." And we still have 23 days to go, to the end of the year. Here's hoping we're through with these weather disasters. For this year, anyway. Link: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/12/07/143304115/2011-breaks-record-for-most-billion-dollar-weather-disasters

More national coverage on Joplin

Joplin is getting yet more national coverage, thank goodness. This time it's over at NPR on their program All Things Considered: Businesses In Joplin, Mo., Find Economic Opportunity by Missy Shelton. The story also orginated from their local station KSMU so great coverage for and from them, too. Link: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/13/140430152/businesses-in-joplin-mo-find-economic-opportunity

Stealing computers from the Joplin schools?

From The Kansas City Star today:

KC man accused of stealing computers from Joplin schools

I'm thinking an awful lot of people will think there's a "special place in hell" for this guy if he's guilty.