 I am Thankful on this Thanksgiving Day ...and even though White American History books and White historians LIE about THE FIRST Thanksgiving et al, I am still Thankful. I am Thankful for Family and Friends and Relationships and Experiences and Life. I am Thankful for THE Great Legacy of those who looked like me and who came before me "Blazing" the paths to let me know Who I Am. I am not Thankful for the Insidious Racism that permeates this country based on the color of one’s skin. I am not Thankful that as a Black person I must fight Racism from sun-up to sundown every day I live and breathe. I am not Thankful for Whites in this country who disingenuously deny Racism exists when this country was founded on Racism. I am not Thankful for those who lost their lives because they were Breathing While Black. I am not Thankful for the Core Racist Attitudes of Racist White Americans who elected a White Racist president and who are determined to re-elect a White Racist president. I am not Thankful for those in White America who expect me to hold the United States Constitution Sacred, when they do not hold the United States Constitution Sacred themselves. I am not Thankful for the daily Disrespect shown by White America to me and those who look like me because the hue of our skin is Black. I am not Thankful that America is determined to Make America Great Again by Making America White Again. I am Thankful for those of us who Fight America's Insidious Racism which permeates this country, based on the color of My Black skin. I am Thankful that contrary to popular belief, White America did not give Black America anything... that we earned our citizenship, developing goods and services...inventing material "things" that benefited this country...and working for...fighting for...and dying for this country...in World Wars abroad...and the Racist Wars at home. I am Thankful that even with the Hypocrisy of Racist White America, they cannot, and they will not Break the Spirit of those Blacks who are determined that America “make good” on the “IOU” promised Black America since Slavery. I am Thankful some of us...not all of us...but some of us still have the Strength and the Will to Fight the Pathology of White America Racism. The Struggle Continues!
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 I call this generation the Integration Generation. Many Blacks woke up one morning and things were as they are. Young Blacks today have not internalized the status of Blacks after slavery was negatively defined with visual iconic signs and symbols and violent examples of racism and segregation they have never seen the taking away of Freedoms.
After Blacks were freed from the bondage of slavery with the end of the Civil War, they were given nothing to assure their subsistence. This came after Blacks during slavery had established America’s capitalism by the sweat of their brow, the painful welts on their backs, the loss of limbs and body parts as they sought to escape from slavery, and even with their very lives. This Christian Institution of Slavery made America a very wealthy nation, and even after White America, including the Anti-slavery forces of the North officially removed the chains of slavery, these same forces felt NO obligation to afford these same Blacks Reparations to support themselves and their families. Today, White America, consider conversations about Reparations, as a big joke. White folks are not smitten with Anxiety, just Racism. "When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. This note was a promise that all men, yes, Black men as well as White men, would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. White America always take, or try and take, perhaps the greatest component of Freedom and a Democracy from Black America, and that is Voting! We have seen that play out today in Florida and Georgia, and in virtually every state in this country. Voter Suppression they call it now but it is just another form of White American Racism. And none of that is by accident. A “Vote less” people is a Voiceless people. When I hear young Blacks especially say they are not voting, it angers me and frustrates me and makes me understand how much more work we have to do. Some also think Racism is NOT an issue. Civil Rights Icon Fannie Lou Hamer famously said, “ “You can pray until you faint. But if you don’t get up and start to do something, God is not gonna put it in your lap. And there’s no need of runnin’ an’ no need of sayin’ ‘Honey I’m not gonna get in the mess.’ Because if you are born in America with a Black face, you are born in the mess.” When you think that you have it made, that there is no longer a mission, that the challenge is minor, that the struggle is over, that racism has somehow magically disappeared, that voting does not make a difference, that knowing the great legacy of your people is not inspiring, that knowing who you are is not motivation enough, then look in the mirror every day and make sure you really know the complexion of the face looking back at you. The Struggle Continues!  MEMO TO THE WHITE MEDIA...Colin Kaepernick is not controversial. Colin Kaepernick “stood up to” and knelt in opposition to American Racism and police brutality. Blacks, worth their salt, do the same thing. White America, like you are doing, always call Blacks “controversial” when they call out White American Racism. When Whites do something ...anything...instead of calling them controversial, you call them Passionate and Enthusiastic. You are simply advancing your well-worn White Media mantra that Blacks should somehow adjust to your norm of how they should act...even in the face of Core Racist Attitudes. Ordinarily, this would be a teachable moment for you in the White press, but you simply refuse to learn and talk about your Racism...and you have had ample time. MEMO TO THE WHITE PLANTATION APTLY CALLED THE NFL...Even though you are coordinating this “work-out” for Colin Kaepernick, you do realize how ridiculous this sounds? Kaepernick is a quarterback who took his team to the Super Bowl. His protesting White American Racism and police brutality took nothing away from his athletic skills, except in the eyes of your White Racist fraternity of NFL owners. You are, NFL, and your stable of Racist team owners, as Racist as they come, and you are Wimps too. Let me also add your defense for him not playing was so weak, you had to settle his lawsuit against you out of court for big bucks. You blocked his opportunity to make a living and YOU had to pay. Of course, given your check writers, it was a small price to pay to maintain your Racist facade of power. Yet, the settlement has nothing to do with your continually restricting his ability to make a living in your professional football monopoly. Question...Why are you conducting a workout of Kaepernick? Some NFL teams have called in quarterbacks who were “bagging groceries” with considerably lesser skills and put them on their rosters as back-ups, but, of course, they were White. Why are you conducting an interview of Kaepernick? Is this your opportunity to try and make him say, “I am sorry”? Many NFL teams need a quarterback with Kaepernick’s skills NOW. And considering the charade you, the NFL, have engaged in over the last 2 years+ to whiteball Kaepernick, forgive me if I don’t believe THIS effort is legitimate. Prove me wrong! The Struggle Continues! What can I say about Everly Ann Dorrell, My First Great Grand that I have not already said...Beautiful and Pretty and Cute and Sweet and Photogenic and Great Grand Dad's Great, Great-Grand. Of course, Great Grand Daddies are like that.  I POSTED, "YOU CANNOT USE JACKSONVILLE AND PROGRESSIVE IN THE SAME SENTENCE", earlier on Facebook. Nothing is truer, for me. And as expected, I received “pro and con” comments from my Facebook Friends. From “I know many Progressives in Jacksonville” to “Jacksonville is not as bad as some other places I know” to “I could not disagree with you more.”
So, Lets unpack: 1) I did not post MY comments asking for your support or your blessings or your agreement. I could give let’s than a Tinker’s Damn if you agree with me that Jacksonville is NOT Progressive. 2) I do not work for the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, so it is not my responsibility to be a Jacksonville Cheerleader. 3) Jacksonville is still very much Racist and even with a Pro Football team. I see very few changes in that. 4) Jacksonville’s religious community both Black and White are as passive and non-threatening as other White folks and Black folks in the Jacksonville community, and they act as if they just found out Jesus Christ was crucified. I don’t know if some of them who believe in the Bible, internalized that Jesus also arose from the dead. But that is how "un-engaged" they are with what is happening in Jacksonville. Speaking out against Racism and For Civil Rights and Against Police Brutality and For Equality...Not From My Pulpit! But let someone give out "pennies" as offerings to FIGHT CRIME and they are the first ones in line with their hands out, as if they are law enforcement officers. 5) Many Blacks in Jacksonville who should know better, have taken a Go-Along-to-Get-Along posture as if speaking out against Injustice and Police Brutality and Racism will sour their “good” relationships with their White Friends. Not only is being quiet a sign of complicity, but saying nothing will not make Racism disappear. 6) Jacksonville still refuses to have real conversations about Racism because those conversations make Whites in Jacksonville and Blacks in Jacksonville, Uncomfortable. Whites in Jacksonville ALWAYS want to tell me what THEY think is best for me. I call it “The White Expert on Black Folks Syndrome.” And they get their feelings hurt when I tell them to “Throw that stupid sh*t out of the window.” Then Black folks go along with the “White Experts” as if that is a way to make peace. White Experts, like White Privilege and White Racism is a White Arrogant Lifestyle which has permeated Jacksonville since time Immemorial. Fairness...Equality...and Civil Rights...are not even footnotes in Jacksonville’s history and its conversations...and you have Blacks in Jacksonville who would dare say, “I know a lot of White Progressives in Jacksonville." Well Whoop-De-Doo. You must keep them hidden. WE can join hands and sing... have prayer vigils... rally around art... go to luncheons and dinners ... have your study circles about Racism...and visit each other's churches all you want...all a “contribution to Progressiveness," but if you think that is ALL that is necessary to call yourself a Progressive, you are only fooling Yourselves and Blacks who do not know any better. Jacksonville is still Jacksonville...with its feet in 2019...and its head in the 1950’s and the 1960’s ... and IS STILL not Progressive. Jacksonville is the home of my birth and my late wife’s birth and my children's birth and my grandchildren's birth and my great grandchild's birth and many of my friends' place of birth. I went to school in Jacksonville...I attend church in Jacksonville and I fight Racism (and fought Racism) in Jacksonville. I reserve the right to Criticize Jacksonville Whenever I want and Wherever I want, until Jacksonville does better...and that is With or Without your help. And I certainly do not need your approval or blessings. The Struggle Continues. donald trump DID NOT ATTEND THE FUNERAL OF ELIJAH CUMMINGS and quite frankly I am glad, and I am not alone. The press called it a snub. It is not a snub when no one wanted you there. The Repugnant Racist One also failed to attend Congressman Cummings Lying-in-state ceremony at the Capitol on Thursday.
No one misses a Racist, and especially when the Racist is the president of the United States. On this occasion of the Celebration of the Life of a Black Warrior and an Esteemed Statesman and a Noble member of Congress, no one needs to hear from America's Insecure Inadequate Racist president, or see him sitting in the company of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. Elected officials are referred to as honorable. In his remarks, President Obama said, "Elijah Cummings was honorable before he became an elected official." "He was a man of Noble and Good Heart." When you get right down to it, WE will never refer to donald trump as noble or as having a good heart and certainly he does not deserve the word honorable. Dishonorable is more like it. donald trump IS Reprehensibly "absent" when it comes to the courtesies of Life, and is "absent" as a leader, and a person, and a man. He IS "present " as a Despicable, Disgraceful, Detestable Loathsome piece of nothing. The Struggle Continues. Interesting how Whites quickly and proudly say their relative(s) served "their country" by Fighting for the South during the Civil War, when the only "country" their relative(s) served was the Confederacy, an Enemy government, created to overthrow the United States of America and "preserve Slavery."
What their relative(s) did was commit Criminal Treason. They would have been tried and convicted had South Sympathizer and Slavery Supporter, President Andrew Johnson not given all of the Confederacy "Racist actors" Executive Amnesty. The Struggle Continues. |
AuthorRodney. L. Hurst, Sr.
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