Quote of the Day -- On Fair, Living Wages

A Reality Game Show Host and White America's Identity Crisis

Follow and listen to Matthew Cooke, y'all. You'll learn a great deal.

Have a great day and week, y'all.

Why We Need a White History Month

Amber Ruffin spells it out.

The things people, Americans, don't know.

And the things people don't know they don't know.

So Very Few Americans Know Our Own National History

This man, Matthew Cooke, says it so well and so right.  Go here and watch this video.  And know it's true. Know he has his facts andour American history straight and correct. It's a very brief but very helpful to the point of important video, I feel strongly.

Trump-Republicans are the Modern Confederates: Let us not repeat 150-year old mistakes

I've said time and again, so very few Americans know our full, true national history and what that has meant for----and done to--- African-Americans and Blacks in our nation, even right up to today. 

We have to learn.

And then we have to react. We have to correct.

Fortunately, some, a few, are now seeing the insurrection and attack on our nation's Capitol last month for the treason it was.

McConnell: Trump Tricked Me Into Backing His Coup

They're also seeing Ms. Greene for what and who she is.

McConnell calls Rep. Greene's 'loony lies' a 'cancer' on GOP

No situation any better proves the old adage that if you don't know your own history, you are bound to repeat it any better than now, especially with that insurrection and treason of the traitors last month with the attack on our nation's Capitol.

The American History So Few Americans Know

 

“In Louisiana, black women were put in cells with male prisoners and some became pregnant. In 1848, legislators passed a new law declaring that all children born in the penitentiary of African American parents serving life sentences would be property of the state. The women would raise the kids until the age of ten, at which point the penitentiary would place an ad in the newspaper. Thirty days later, the children would be auctioned off on the courthouse steps 'cash on delivery.' The proceeds were used to fund schools for white children. . . many of [the black children] were purchased by prison officials.”

Source: American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer

No reparations, America?

Really?

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Republican Party

 Yes, Mr. and Mrs. America, here is your Republican Party and Right Wingers and conservatives, down through American history.

So proud, no doubt.

And now they have Donald J Trump.

God help us all.

Quote of the Day -- Presidential Edition

 

But then, to be led by all 5 in one person?

Insane.

Thanks, Republicans.

86 45

BYEDON

Tom Cotton is Arkansas' Gift to Missourians

I can hardly believe what I see, so frequently.  Here's another.

Sen. Tom Cotton Calls Slavery Nation's 

'Necessary Evil'

Yes, Missourians, I think Arkansas' Senator Tom Cotton is their gift to us to appreciate more our own Senator Josh Hawley. This way, we don't feel so bad.

Thanks, Republicans.

Star Op/ed Piece Says Andrew Jackson Sculpture Should Stay

The Kansas City Star had an op/ed piece in the paper Sunday by a woman who is "...of Olathe ..." and "...works in art conservation with a professional background in analytical chemistry, studio art and art history", wrote that we should keep the statue of Andrew Jackson downtown at the courthouse.

 

Don’t ditch artistic Andrew Jackson 

courthouse statue

Which would be fine, sure, if our only emphasis or guide on this issue were art, sure. If it were only about sculpture, it would be great. Leave the statue there.

But it's not, no way, only about that. This is not about art.

It's also very much about history. It's about history and justice and fairness and racial equality and it's about not honoring, no longer honoring someone who was directly responsible for torturing and killing, yes killing, our own American citizens.  And that is Andrew Jackson.

Andrew Jackson was a slaver, 

ethnic cleanser, and tyrant

Andrew Jackson: 

America’s Most Violent President

The Slave-Owning, 

Indian-Killing History Of The Man

These statues famously, famously went up in the early 1900s because African-Americans had been freed, had been no longer slaves in our nation. Our white citizens, we now know, wanted to "honor" these men of the South. They wanted to make sure they kept these African-American citizens "down" and "in their place." We know this. It's extremely well known. This, this is why these statues were made and installed.

How the US Got So Many Confederate Monuments

Confederate Statues Were Built To Further A 'White Supremacist Future'

Most Confederate Monuments Weren't Built Until the Rise of Jim Crow

Worse, Andrew Jackson not only owned fellow Americans, not only did he own slaves and support slavery of African-American in our nation, but he was also responsible for the torture and killing of an entirely additional race of Americans and that would be Native Americans, of course.

Andrew Jackson, Indian Removal, 

and the Trail of Tears

The author of this opinion piece clearly hasn't studied our national history. They clearly need to study Reconstruction after the Civil War, the Black Code laws, Jim Crow laws and even segregation from its inception to today.  This author seems to have clearly never seen but needs to see this piece from PBS.

Reconstruction: America After the Civil War

So sure, let's enjoy art. Let's enjoy artworks. Let's go to the Nelson and the Bloch Center for Contemporary Art and all the other places. Heck, the Country Club Plaza, wherever.

But let's make it clear.

This Andrew Jackson sculpture, which was put there to honor him, should come down.

Let there be no doubt.

And then, when we're done there, let's rename the county.

Truman County sounds good.

On This Day, -- July 5, 1852

"In 1852, the Maryland-born abolitionist Frederick Douglass was invited to address the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Association’s 4th of July celebration in Rochester, N.Y. President Millard Fillmore, national political leaders and abolitionists from across the country were among those in the audience.

The speech, which was become known as “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” was in fact delivered on July 5. In many ways, it seems every bit as relevant today as it did 168 years ago."

A Marylander's Words That Still Resonate 

168 Years Later

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy — a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

If you can, at least once, read the entire piece. 

Catholics Hit a New Low

We've known Catholic leaders, mostly Priests, have abused children and students and not for just years, which would be horrible enough, not just decades--even more frightening--but for hundreds of years. Centuries. Catholic leaders have been abusing, sexually abusing children of the Church and for centuries.

It's a fact.

Stunning and unforgivable as all that is, it's a documented fact.

And it's across not just a nation.

Not just nations.

Not just a continent.

But across continents.

Across the world.

And again, for centuries.

It should be unbelievable.

Sadly, very, very sadly, it's not unbelievable.

Far from it.

Now, the impossible has happened.

It's gotten worse.

Much worse.

They've outdone themselves. There's another new discovery, this week.

Pope admits clerical abuse of nuns including sexual slavery

It is stunning the continuing revelations that seem to take place within this Church. 

You wouldn't think you could outdo abusing children. But they've done it.

Here's hoping there are no further revelations out there from these people (no pun intended).

Hopefully this is the last, worst thing they'll have to also admit to.

At what point, Catholics, are you going to say "Enough!"

At what point are you people going to rein these people in?

The--Very--Racist History of Banking In Our United States

What so, so many Americans don't know. Or ignore. And/or disavow.



Also ignoring the segregation that got us here and the poorer schools and far less opportunities for jobs and so, better pay.

Sure.

Let's ignore or deny all that.

On This "Columbus Day"

See links for source at bottom:

I recommend reading James Loewen’s eye-opening book about how textbooks distort history, Lies My Teacher Told Me (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995). Among the very interesting myths Loewen exposes are the ones surrounding Christopher Columbus.

You may in fact know the following:

• Columbus–and virtually everyone else at the end of the fifteenth century–was fully aware that the earth was round.
• Columbus indeed recognized that he’d discovered a new continent, even adding a section to his coat of arms reflecting it. He never confused it with India.
• The voyage to the “New Land” took about a month. It was smooth sailing the entire way. There was never any threat of mutiny.
• The Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria were well-equipped vessels.
• Columbus’ accomplishment was immediately appreciated by Spain, which outfitted him for a large second voyage–17 ships, 1200 men, and weapons.
• Columbus may not even have been Italian; he certainly never wrote in Italian.

What you may not know is that Columbus epitomized greed, racism, and sadism. He searched for new lands for one reason only: gold. Where he found natives, he captured, enslaved, or murdered them. Here’s an excerpt from Ferdinand Columbus’s biography of his father:

“The soldiers mowed down dozens with point-blank volleys, loosed the dogs to rip open limbs and bellies, chased fleeing Indians into the bush to skewer them on sword and pike, and with God’s aid soon gained a complete victory, killing many Indians and capturing others who were also killed” (from Kirkpatrick Sale, The Conquest of Paradise [New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1990]).

Columbus’s “discoveries” unleashed a world of slavery and persecution that has ramifications to this day.

Taken from this blog.

Political Essays and Op-Eds - Neal Starkman

At this link:

http://blog.seattlepi.com/nealstarkman/2009/10/12/columbuss-day/

Besides, 500 years before Columbus, there was Lief Erikson.

Leif Erikson Day 2017: 

5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Happy Leif Erikson Day.

Yes, it really is.

Links: 

How Columbus Sailed Into U.S. History, Thanks To Italians

Rethinking History Class on Columbus Day

Lies My Teacher Told Me

Replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples Day 

Quote of the Day -- On Taking Down Confederate Statues

"The Confederacy was on the wrong side of history and humanity. It sought to tear apart our nation and subjugate our fellow Americans to slavery. This is the history we should never forget and one that we should never again put on a pedestal to be revered." 

--New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu

Links:

New Orleans begins to take down Confederate statues

New Orleans takes down Confederate monument

One More To Go: New Orleans Takes Down 

Civil War General's Statue

New Orleans Takes Down Statue Of Gen. Robert E. Lee

The case for taking down Confederate monuments

Final Confederate statue coming down in New Orleans

In New Orleans, Confederate monuments are gone _ Lee last 

Landrieu speech: The Confederacy lost 

New Orleans mayor made a speech on race 

and history we all need to hear

The 12 best lines from Mitch Landrieu's remarkable speech on race

Mitch Landrieu's Confederate monuments speech earning praise

Confederate monument removal in New Orleans inspires St. Louis

St. Louis, History, and Confederate Monuments

US Immigration Over 100 Years

"We cannot afford to continue to use hundreds of thousands of immigrants merely as industrial assets while they remain social outcasts and menaces any more than fifty years ago we could afford to keep the black man merely as an industrial asset and not as a human being."

- Theodore Roosevelt, in speech to the Knights of Columbus, Carnegie Hall, New York, 12 October 1915.

Link:  Tomgram: Aviva Chomsky, The Criminalization of Immigrants From Clinton to Trump

To Kick Off Black History Month

This would be fifty-three minutes and four seconds of time very well spent, I believe.



Know your history.

Know your American history.

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

Think about it.  Then let's maybe do some things about it. All of it.

Really, Think About Those Ten Commandments

Should Be Required Reading

A friend on Facebook (yes, Facebook), posted the following article yesterday. I found it more than a bit incredible and a surprising good, even important read.

Will Racism Ever End, Will I Ever 

Stop Being a Nigger?

For me, it was incredibly quotable. I'll just stick with this one, however:

"...the greatest trick of a racist is getting folks to believe that racism doesn’t exist in the first place or that the people with no power and no privilege are the real racists, the real oppressors."

It reminded me how little, how precious little we Americans know of our own history, our own national history. It also reminded me how we need much more of it in our schools. Besides the above, I think people should have to read the following.

This book:

Slavery by Another Name

And if not reading that last book, then at least seeing the PBS special on it:

Slavery by Another Name

And finally, this article from 2 years ago:

The Case for Reparations 

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

It's fairly outrageous what we don't know or, worse, deny.

Little-Known Kansas City History

Early Kansas City home, possibly belonging to Bernoist Troost. Slave cabin in rear.

To dispel any notion that Kansas City was anything but a Confederate city, one has only to take a look at the town settlers. The first company, formed in 1839, consisted of 14 men and was spearheaded by John C. McCoy, William Gilliss, and a fur trapper from Kentucky named William Sublette. Town founder McCoy, according to the 1850 census, owned five slaves at his home on Pearl Hill. Gilliss, born in Maryland, was a slaveowner. The 1850 census shows he owned three male slaves, ages 18 -36. Although banished by Ewing in 1863, Gillis was allowed to stay, perhaps due to his age, wealth, position in the community, and by showing evidence that he had freed his last slave in 1862.

Fry P. McGee was a son of early settler James Hyatt McGee of Kentucky, reputed to have brought the first slaves to Kansas City in the late 1830’s. The 1860 slave census shows that Fry McGee, his brothers and his mother owned slaves. Jacob Ragan of Kentucky arrived in Jackson County in 1837. He was a known Confederate and was included on at least one of the Provost Marshal’s lists of “bad men.” William Miles Chick was born near Lynchburg, Virginia. He came to Kansas City in 1836. Chick, too, was a known Confederate and was one of the Provost Marshal’s “bad men.” Chick’s warehouse was located next to Jesse’s on the levee. Both were burned by Union soldiers in 1862. Col. Chick was was John C. McCoy’s father-in-law.

Five men of the 1839 company were farmers and slaveholders residing in Blue Township, Jackson County, just east of Kansas City:

Oliver Caldwell arrived in Jackson County in 1833. He farmed at Blue Valley and organized the Christian Church in Independence. The 1840 census shows that he owned 9 slaves; the 1850 census shows Oliver 58, wife Ann 54, 3 children 17-24, and 11 slaves.

George Washington Tate arrived in Westport in 1838. He became a Missouri state legislator in 1842. The 1850 census for Blue Township identifies Tate as a 53 year-old merchant, residing with his wife Lovey 46, and 3 children 14-27 and 1 male slave, age 15.

William Collins was a Kentucky native who lived in Liberty. The 1860 census for Liberty Township shows him with 4 slaves. James Smart of Virginia was a farmer who came to Jackson County 1834 with his brother Thomas and became Jackson County judge in 1846. He was a founder of the Christian Church in Independence and was Oliver Caldwell’s brother-in-law. The 1850 census for Blue Township shows Thomas 53, Nancy 48, and 3 children aged12-20. The 1860 slave census show that he owned 15 slaves.

Russell Hicks of Massachusetts came to Jackson County around 1827. He was a teacher, lawyer and judge who was called “one of the most eccentric members of the Kansas Town Company.” After the war he practised law in Sedalia and was counsel to Senator Thomas Hart Benton. The 1850 census places Hicks, 65, in Blue Township with two female slaves, ages 4 and 23.

The vast majority of the personal wealth in Jackson County prior to the war was contained among men who had been born in Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. These men and their families supported the Confederacy and its institutions. The children of the original town members were coming of age during the years leading up to the Civil War, as were the children of the thousands of southern settlers who came to Jackson County in the 1840’s.

--Text by John Dawson