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AN HONOR FOR ME TO JOIN THE DAYTONA BEACH-VOLUSIA COUNTY NAACP AS THE KEYNOTE SPEAKER FOR THEIR INAUGURAL EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION DAY COMMEMORATION. Thank you again, NAACP President Cynthia Slater. FROM THE DAYTONA TIMES... Civil rights activist Rodney Hurst fired up the crowd with his speech on history and racism. The Daytona Beach-Volusia County NAACP hosted “An Emancipation Day in Florida 2022 Celebration” at the Museum of Arts & Sciences on May 21. The event honored eight individuals and organizations as frontline heroes for their work in the local community during the pandemic. They were presented by Daisy Grimes, executive board member of the Daytona Beach-Volusia County NAACP. “We thought it was important to recognize these heroes who were on the frontline and worked tirelessly from the offset of the pandemic. This is just a few,” said NAACP President Cynthia Slater. Honorees included Halifax Health, Volusia County Health Department, Islamic Center of Daytona Beach, Kim-Brown Crawford, City of Daytona Beach, County of Volusia, Rev. Victor Miles and The Mind of Christ Ministries, and the Daytona Beach Black Clergy Alliance. “I am honored to be here on behalf of Halifax Health. We have here employees from all over Halifax Health. Through the pandemic, our doors never closed. We were always there. The hospital stayed open. We were there in the trenches. We still had to serve patients,” said Sharon James, an RN for Halifax Health. Islamic Center of Daytona Beach President Mohammad Mounir Khabazeh stated, “This is a great honor. Truth is, it was the work of everyone in the community, a collective effort. We want to thank everyone involved in fighting the pandemic .” “The challenges didn’t stop with the pandemic. The biggest challenge was financial challenges that people in the community faced. We were able to help with vaccines, food drives, etc.,’’ he added. Author, historian and civil rights activist Rodney Hurst was the keynote speaker. Hurst gave a brief but blunt and fiery speech on history, Black history and racism. “Talking about racism is uncomfortable. Racism represents a cultural clash in this country. American history is incomplete, dishonest and racist. American history is romanticized. We regurgitate that history every generation,” expressed Hurst. “White people don’t like to be told how they have taken advantage of Black folk for social, political and economic gain since the founding of this country. Black folk don’t like to talk about how they were taken advantage of by those means.” Hurst also addressed laws being made to prohibit race and history in education and other parts of society as well as critical race theory (CRT) itself. “White folks don’t want to talk about how their ancestors held our ancestors in slavery to make their ancestors extremely wealthy. We don’t want our feelings hurt. We don’t want to be uncomfortable learning the truth about slavery. Now we pass laws that say don’t tell the truth. It’s racist,” Hurst said. “What white elected officials call critical race theory is nothing but the truth. Most of them don’t know what critical race theory is. They don’t know how it was used in the legal profession.” Hurst also says the contributions of Black folks to America can’t be ignored. He stated, “Africans didn’t just pick cotton and tobacco. Many who came to this country were artisans and craftsman. They built homes, buildings, bridges, roads, irrigation systems, inventions, entire cities and more.” Civil rights activists say the fight continues. Slater emphasized, “The NAACP is the only organization that tries to put ourselves out of business. We fight to stop racism, bigotry and racial injustice. We want equality and justice. Until that happens, we will continue to fight.” Historic event Emancipation Day in Florida was May 20. It commemorates May 20, 1865 when slaves in Florida learned of their freedom after hearing the reading of the Emancipation Proclamation at the Knox building in Tallahassee. Emancipation Day and Juneteenth are celebrated as the end of slavery across the nation. “Some people say that we are celebrating the Emancipation Proclamation. We can’t talk about emancipation without talking about how we got to it. We are not celebrating you releasing us from slavery. We are commemorating it as an historic event,” said Hurst. Sponsors included the City of Daytona Beach, Halifax Health, Brown & Brown Insurance, Volusia County, Medallion Health Care, Daytona Beach Police Department and Volusia County Sheriff ’s Office and others.  
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       A GREAT AND MEANINGFUL FRIDAY WAS EXTENDED INTO A GREAT AND MEANINGFUL WEEKEND.
After spending Friday at the groundbreaking of the New Rutledge Pearson Elementary School with a veritable Who’s Who of political and community guests and the Pearson Family, and the Emancipation Proclamation in Lonnie Miller Park sponsored by a host of matchless Community-Based Organizations, I was off to Daytona Beach on Saturday to speak Saturday night at the Emancipation Day program sponsored by the Daytona Beach Volusia County NAACP at the invitation of their inimitable and incomparable President, Cynthia Slater. This morning, Sunday, May 22, 2022, I spoke to the Youth Day Service at Allen Chapel AME Church, President Slater's church, and pastored by the Rev. Dr. Nathan Mugala. It is always an honor for me to speak to young people and take the time to tell those things that they will not ordinarily hear, even though they should hear. Once again, Unless WE Tell Them...They Won't Get Told! Incredible warmth and reception by Allen Chapel with a true Family Spirit. Thank you, Allen Chapel AME and Pastor Mugala. Thank you, President Slater, for the fantastic job last night and my introduction this morning. Thank you, Daisy Grimes and Judge Grimes. Thank you to the wealth of persons I met last night and this morning in Daytona Beach. Thank you, President Gillis. Thank you, Alex. Thank you, Gary. Thank you, L. J. Holloway. Thank you, Elnora. Thank you, Sandra. Thank you to everybody associated with the groundbreaking at Lonnie Miller Park. Thank you, School Board Superintendent Diana Greene. Thank you, Rutledge Henry Pearson Principal and Florida Principal of 2022, Carolyn Davis. Thank you talented Rutledge H. Pearson Elementary School students. Thank you, School Board members Jones, Willie, and Coker. Thank you, City Council members Jackson (my niece) and Dennis. Thank you, State Representatives Davis, Nixon, and State Senator Gibson. Thank you to Mr. Lloyd Pearson and the Revered Pearson Family, especially Mr. Rutledge Pearson's offspring, Pat, "Bud," and Roderick. Thanks to everyone involved with this outstanding "groundbreaking." I was Surrounded by Black and Brilliant young people and Black and Brilliant not-so-young people on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. THANK YOU, GOD. IT WAS A GREAT BLACK AND BRILLIANT WEEKEND.      JUST A REMINDER FROM A YEAR AGO AND PROUD MOMENTS FOR ME AND Dr. RUDY F. JAMISON STARTING WITH THIS BOOK REVIEW BY READER VIEWS, AND THEN THE AWARDS FOR "NEVER FORGET WHO YOU ARE"-HONORED AND PROUD!
READER VIEWS BOOK REVIEW- "Never Forget Who You Are: Conversations About Racism and Identity Development,” written by Authors Rodney L. Hurst and Rudy F. Jamison Jr. ED.D-prepare to embark on an unusual journey. Both are Black men, but one journey is through the eyes of a 50-year-old person and the other a 75-year-old. An unusual vision, as one has essentially viewed the Black diaspora starting before the advent of the civil rights movement and the other one after the movement. Both authors emphatically state that their journeys began in different places and times but with the same results, outlook, views, and moments! Being Black at any age is being Black! Well, I’ll start this review by stating one thing right out the gate; this “work” blew my mind from the first page! Out of the hundreds of books I’ve read or reviewed, this book is the only book I actually used a yellow highlighter to assist me with. When I state “works,” that’s exactly how I would describe “Never Forget Who You Are” by Rodney L. Hurst and Dr. Rudy F. Jamison Jr. For me, most books are books, but this material and its contents, observations, proven clauses, and elegantly presented material is a work of ART! I’m not able to present to the potential reader all that this book is, only that everyone, including All races, should get this book. The syntax of the work is brilliantly written in a way that anyone would appreciate. The cadence just flows from one chapter to the next with none of what I called “hard breaks” (stays on track). The brilliancy of the work is you have two individuals from different decades of life presenting their unique total experiences. The “facts” presented are indisputable. The work isn’t “accusatory” in a bad way putting no one race down, but it isn’t afraid to call a spade a spade! And please note…this material isn’t a rant! The various presentation of facts about how America not only exists but currently operates will clearly open your eyes. This is precisely why I encourage White readers to examine the book. If you’re Black you’ll understand not only the “fight” in being Black, but the authors present various ways to “never deny self.” People of other races reading this will also have a better understanding of the complexities of racism as well. Lastly, This “work” should be required reading for all young people, Black or White in high school or higher education. A work of ART…..Five stars easily." IF Blacks advocated for gun ownership, open carry, walking down the street with your gun visible, and the wholesale ownership of automatic weapons by Blacks, Republicant governors would call state legislatures into special session to pass Gun Control Legislation tomorrow unless they could get them in special session today.
    LET'S FACE IT--- Clarence Thomas, Tim Scott, Ben Carson, and Herschel Walker- there are more-but these 4 are the Charter Members of two different "Black Only" fraternities. One fraternity deals with Black puppets and White puppeteers. The Second fraternity? TBBN - trump's Bent Back Negro Society. Selling to the highest bidder. You have to pay Slaves today; not much, but they costs money Despicably Sad, but not making a move without asking permission from America's preeminent racist president, while losing whatever integrity they might have had in the process, and abdicating their Black manhood, is obviously what they bargained for. Of course, they do not have anything to distinguish them as the male of the species, so there is no need for them to look for their "stones." trump and other White Racists took them long ago. I don't know if they have children, but if they do, how do you explain you, to them? Pathetically Sad also.   FROM THE WEBSITE, TheRoot.com WITH A FEW OF MY EDITORIAL COMMENTS--- CALL IT WHAT YOU WILL, BUT IF YOU SAW THE PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF TEXAS PUBLIC SAFETY AND THE ERSTWHILE GOVERNOR OF TEXAS, YOU REALIZE THE COMEDY OF DEADLY ERRORS IN UVALDE WHICH RESULTED IN THE UNNECESSARY LOSS OF LIFE OF MANY 9, 10, 11 AND 12-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN. NOTICE THE INCESSANT AND CONVENIENT USAGE OF THE WORDS, "MENTAL HEALTH." ...AND THEN THERE WAS THE GUN COMPANY THAT MADE THE WEAPON USED IN THE MASSACRE WHO TWEETED THE INSIDIOUS WORDS IN THE PICTURE AND TRIED TO REMOVE IT AS A COWARD WOULD DO...AND THEN THERE WERE THE REPUBLICANT ELECTED OFFICIALS, WHO ARE BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE NRA, LIKE TED CRUZ, WHO HAD THE TEMERITY TO OPEN HIS ARROGANT LIPS TO CASCADE HIS IGNORANCE. THE UVALDE MASSACRE SEPARATES TRUE HEROES FROM COWARDS-FAKE TOUGH GUYS RUNNING FOR COVER IN A MOMENT OF CRISIS. Tough times, they say, make tough people. They also apparently make a good time for fake tough guys to expose themselves as cowards. Examples are emerging as more details come to light about the massacre at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Tex., and the responses of politicians, companies, and cops in its wake. To be clear–and for purposes of the requisite disclaimer to pre-empt the Blue Lives crowd that’ll jump in my DMs after reading this–there were heroes in Uvalde. The teachers who shepherded hundreds of children into locked classrooms and eventually out of the building while the killer wiped out their pupils and peers deserve every reward society can offer. The children who saved themselves and others by disguising themselves as cadavers using their expired classmates’ blood are avatars of bravery. The parents who stood up to feckless cops, including one mother who was reportedly handcuffed and uncuffed, only to scale a fence and rescue her own kids, have special places in heaven awaiting them. Likewise for the Border Patrol agents who eventually cut down the killer–assuming that the latest law enforcement version of events is actually true. But their heroics also expose the cowards who, until this week, were loud and proud about their stances on making money from guns, taking money from gun lobbyists, and on the ever-fading myth of the valiant, hero cop. Sen. Ted Cruz, the Canadian weakling who took more money from the gun lobby than anyone else in Congress, ditched his Yosemite Sam act and ran for the hills after a reporter from Sky News didn’t accept his attempt to skirt a direct question about why only American kids get mowed down in their classrooms with AR-15s. But we already knew Cruz was no stranger TO RUNNING in a time of crisis. Daniel Defense, the Georgia company which manufactured the guns that were bought legally and then used by the 18-year-old assassin in Uvalde, earlier this month proudly posted a grotesque image to its Twitter account of a little boy holding–you guessed it, an assault rifle. The caption? A Bible verse, Proverbs 22:6 specifically: “Train up a child in their way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” But after their product was used to extinguish 19 children’s opportunity to be trained up in any way possible, Daniel Defense lost its moxy and locked its Twitter account. They’ve also decided to pull out of participating in the NRA’s annual convention, which is unconscionably being held in Texas as we speak. No more scripture for them, although Revelations 21:8 comes to mind: “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers…and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” This brings us back to the cops. It’d be wrong to paint every Uvalde officer with a broad brush, but the city’s police department has lots of explaining to do and so far, they’re failing that assignment. Videos have emerged of cops cuffing, tackling, and otherwise restraining frantic parents while the shooter was still inside the school, alive. The local police’s initial story that the shooter was initially “engaged” before making his way inside now appears to be a fabrication. It’s possible those changing stories could be the result of evolving information during a crisis of the magnitude that a small-town department like Uvalde’s wasn’t capable of handling. But we also live in a time where die-hard police supporters continue to prop up the myth of superhero cops who always deserve the benefit of the doubt. With 19 dead kids and grieving parents demanding answers about the police’s behavior in their final moments, that’s not a benefit we should be willing to extend here.      LET’S EDUCATE THE CRT CROWD, AND TALK A BIT ABOUT AMERICA'S NATIONAL ANTHEM, THE “STAR-SPANGLED BANNER” AND FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.
TRUTHFUL AND HONEST EDUCATION THE CRT CROWD DOES NOT WANT IN AMERICAN HISTORY HISTORY TEXTBOOKS, SUCH AS THEY ARE, AND TAUGHT IN CLASSROOMS. 1) Men who escaped their bonds of slavery were welcome to join the British as the Corps of Colonial Marines in the War of 1812 in exchange for freedom and land after their service. As many as 4,000 people, mostly from Virginia and Maryland, escaped. The British promised refuge to any enslaved Black person who escaped their enslavers, raising fears among White Americans of a large-scale revolt. 2) As a lieutenant in the United States Army during the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key and the American forces he was leading took a good shellacking in a battle from the Colonial Marines. The British kept their word to Colonial Marines after the war now numbering 6000, refusing the United States’ demand that they are returned and providing them land in Trinidad, Tobago, and Nova Scotia to resettle with their families whose descendants still live there today. Their descendants in Central America are called “Merikins." 3) LET'S SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT-Francis Scott Key was not a captive on a British ship, as stated by Incomplete, Dishonest, and Racist History textbooks when he wrote the Star-Spangled Banner. He had gone to the British, on a British ship, to ask them to release one of his friends, Dr. William Beanes, who was captured by the British. While he was on the ship, the British fired on Fort McHenry. 4) There are 4 stanzas in the "Star-Spangled Banner," which was originally called “The Defense of Fort McHenry.” The 3rd verse is one of the most racist you will find. The "Star-Spangled Banner" had everything to do with war and not patriotism. And even if these lyrics aren’t meant to be explicitly racist, Key clearly was. He descended from a wealthy plantation family and enslaved people. Yes, he was a slaveholder. He spoke of Black people as “a distinct and inferior race” and supported emancipating the enslaved only if they were immediately shipped to Africa. 5) During the Andrew Jackson administration, Key served as the district attorney for Washington, D.C., where he spent much of his time shoring up enslavers’ power. He strictly enforced slave laws and prosecuted abolitionists who passed out pamphlets mocking his jurisdiction as the “land of the free, home of the oppressed.” BTW-He also influenced Jackson to appoint his brother-in-law, as chief justice of the United States. You may have heard of him; Roger B. Taney, who is infamous for writing the Dred Scott decision that decreed Black people “had no rights which the White man was bound to respect. 6) Although “The Star-Spangled Banner” and its verses were famous over time, Key’s overt racism, and the infamous 3rd verse prevented it from becoming the national anthem while he was alive. There was no official anthem, and many people chose to sing other songs, like “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” TO SUMMARIZE- To understand the full “Star-Spangled Banner” story, you have to understand the author. Francis Scott Key was an aristocrat and city prosecutor in Washington, D.C. He thought that since Blacks were mentally inferior, masters should treat them with more Christian kindness. He supported sending free Blacks (not slaves) back to Africa and, with a few exceptions, was about as pro-slavery, anti-black, and anti-abolitionist as you could get at the time. Of particular note was Key’s opposition to the idea of the Colonial Marines. The Marines were a battalion of runaway slaves who joined the British Royal Army in exchange for their freedom. The Marines were not only a terrifying example of what slaves would do if given the chance, but also a repudiation of the white superiority that men like Key were so invested in. All of these ideas and concepts came together around Aug. 24, 1815, at the Battle of Bladensburg, where Key, who was serving as a lieutenant at the time, ran into a battalion of Colonial Marines. His troops were taken to the woodshed by the very black folks he disdained, and he fled back to his home in Georgetown to lick his wounds. The British troops, emboldened by their victory in Bladensburg, then marched into Washington, D.C., burning the Library of Congress, the Capitol Building, and the White House. You can imagine that Key was very much racist in his feelings about seeing Black soldiers trampling on the city he "so desperately love(d)"-(Key's words). Use this context when discussing the 3rd stanza of America's Racist National Anthem. Key’s anthem gained popularity over time, particularly among post-Reconstruction White Southerners and the military. In the early 20th Century, all but the first verse were cut — not for their racism, but for their anti-British bent. The United Kingdom was by then an ally. After World War I, the lyrics were again controversial for their violence. But racist groups like the United Daughters of the Confederacy fought back, pushing their racism and for the song to be made the official national anthem. In 1931, President Herbert Hoover made it so, some 117 years after it was written. The elevation of the banner from a so-so song to the official national anthem was a neo-Confederate political victory, and it was celebrated as such. AmeriKKKa, then. WHEN SUPPORTERS THREW A VICTORY PARADE IN BALTIMORE IN JUNE 1931, THE MARCH WAS LED BY A COLOR GUARD HOISTING THE CONFEDERATE FLAG.” Francis Scott Key wrote America’s national anthem during this era of White supremacy, racism, and the racist Christian White American-inspired Holocaust called slavery. So, "Land of the Free, and the home of the Brave" were words intended then, and are words intended now, ONLY for White Americans. Francis Scott Key joins the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Jackson, John Hancock, and many so-called founding fathers who were simply Racists ...nothing else, just slave-owning racists. Truth which is obviously omitted from Incomplete, Dishonest, and Racist American History textbooks that White American Racists want to make sure are used, and the insidiously racist American History racists want continually taught in our school classrooms and on college/university campuses. Note in one of the pictures, how Racist White textbook authors and historians ALSO "romanticize" American history. Also note, in another picture, the 3rd stanza lyrics of the Star-Spangled Banner are a clear reference to the Colonial Marines. They are meant to scorn and threaten the African Americans who took the British up on their offer. Key also showed how happy he was with the deaths of Colonial Marines during this battle in Baltimore Harbor. BOTTOM LINE, FRANCIS SCOTT KEY WAS NO HERO. HE WAS A SLAVE-OWNING RACIST, AND THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER IS NO TRIBUTE TO PATRIOTISM. AND NOW YOU KNOW, CRT'ERS AND THOSE CLUELESS DO-GOODERS. I SPENT ALL OF MY PRETEEN-AGE AND TEEN-AGE years, walking around these "As Yet" United States of America, while living in Florida, and serving in the United States Air Force, being insulted, marginalized, stigmatized, and disrespected by Christian White American Racism, and signs which read "Negroes only"
and "Colored" and "White." Segregated bus stations-city, Trailways, and Greyhound, segregated train stations, segregated government offices, segregated schools, you name it, and segregation and Christian White American Racism was attached to it. I was fighting back, but I was still insulted, marginalized, stigmatized, and disrespected. And today, Ron DeSantis, and his Racist yokels do not want Blacks, who were victimized by Christian White American Racism all of their lives, to talk about, and discuss their VICTIMIZATION? They claim that MY talking about how I was treated by Christian White American Racists could hurt White folks feelings? MEMO TO WHITE AMERICA : I will NEVER stop talking about the vulgarity and the evil insidiousness of your Christian White American Racism and your core racist attitudes. I know THEM BOTH Quite Well. Picture montage: Top left-Elaine Brown, former chair of the Black Panther Party, Charlie Cobb (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee-SNCC), and me; top middle- Dr. Eddie Glaude, and me; top right-Roy Wilkins and me ( at age 16 in 1960); bottom left-my picture by Ingrid Damiani as a part of the "Lift" Exhibit, based on the immortal "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" hymn, by Jacksonville native son, James Weldon Johnson, at the Cummer Museum; bottom middle-Dr. Robert Hayling, Charlie Cobb, and me; bottom right-me speaking at the Black Community's and the City of Jacksonville’s jointly sponsored, THEN, Dr. Martin Luther King breakfast. God is Good.  LET ME SEE IF I CAN UNDERSTAND THIS, Ron Desantis does not want me to talk about how his White ancestors enslaved my Black ancestors so that my Black ancestors could make his White ancestors obscenely wealthy, as his White ancestors used violence, the threat of death, and chains to keep my Black ancestors enslaved because Ron Desantis feels the truth about Slavery would somehow make him and his family uncomfortable and hurt their feelings?
Does that capture Ron Desantis's insidious and hypocritical opposition to telling the truth about his Christian White American supremacy and his Christian White American racism? |
AuthorRodney. L. Hurst, Sr.
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RODNEY L. HURST, SR. - THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
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