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You can decide not to speak out against the vulgar racist legislation out of Tallahassee and the insidiousness of "not telling the truth about American History" because some of you and your children might feel uncomfortable and the truth might hurt your feelings but rest assured racist censorship will not change the truth.
In effect, racist White elected officials have passed, and are passing legislation to try and stop me and those who look like me from discussing how your and their enslaver and oppressor ancestors treated my enslaved and oppressed ancestors. Africans did not enslave and put themselves in chains. Your ancestors did. My enslaved ancestors did not work themselves "for free" under threat of death to create American capitalism and to make themselves obscenely wealthy, your enslaver ancestors "orchestrated" all of that. Blacks did not pass Jim Crow, segregation, Black code, and racist laws to keep themselves "in their place," your ancestors did. This is the truth about Your History and My History in this country. You can try and rewrite and LIE about your history over and over again as it suits you, BUT YOU cannot Rewrite my History and the Truth, no matter how many racist laws you pass. BTW, Silence is not Golden.
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JOKE FOR THE DAY: Ron DeSantis political ad, "Ron DeSantis is making Florida the Education state."
And then the narrator says, "Ron DeSantis is putting students first." The ad left out one key word- WHITE. "If Florida truly believes we live in a post-racial society, then let it make its case," Judge Mark Walker wrote. "But it cannot win the argument by muzzling its opponents." In his 44-page opinion "striking down" the racist Ron DeSantis bill that restricts race-based conversation and analysis in business and education, federal Judge Mark Walker said the DeSantis Bill IS Unconstitutional.
 "UNLESS WE TELL IT" WINS FIRST PLACE IN THE JACKSONVILLE LOL (LOVING OUR LOCALS) FILM FESTIVAL.
I am Honored and Proud. First, a bit of background-I was angry when I first wrote my first book, "It was never about a hot dog and a Coke!" fourteen years ago about the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP 1960 Sit-ins and Ax Handle Saturday, based on the relentless lies many told about the 1960 sit-ins and that infamously violent day. I wanted to set the record straight in my book as the President of the Youth Council NAACP, and I did. My second book is entitled "Unless WE Tell It...It Never Gets Told!" The title of the mini documentary is "Unless We Tell It." Kyle selected the title and did a masterful job with visuals and my words. "Unless We Tell It" was a collaboration: between me; my grandson-in-law (in-love as many now say), Kyle Dorrell; my granddaughter, Marquiette D Dorrell (Mar-Kita); and their company, "Weighed Sailor." (For the record, my third book is "Never Forget Who You Are: Conversations About Racism and Identity Development" with Dr. Rudy F. Jamison as the co-author.) I worked with Kyle on other Black History projects and was impressed with his video and film artistry. This "mini-documentary" about the Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP 1960 Sit-ins and Ax Handle Saturday is the first video I have been a part of with my editorial control. Kyle is quite an artistic videographer. Of course, the fact he and my granddaughter are Everly Ann's parents doesn't hurt either. They get to work with Everly Ann's great-grandfather. We must tell the story. As the President of the 1960 Jacksonville Youth Council NAACP and a leader of the sit-ins resulting in that infamous day called "Ax Handle Saturday," I am telling it. Again, I am Honored and Proud of the recognition of this great Civil Rights story about young Black leadership in Jacksonville and the recognition of the excellent quality of Kyle's videography. Look for the video to have its first public viewing, after the Festival, during the Inaugural Jacksonville Civil Rights Conference, August 25-27, 2022. Are plans in the offing to expand it to a full documentary? Possible. THE RACISM OF WHITE AMERICAN EDUCATORS WHO WOULD PREFER TEACHING AN INCOMPLETE, DISHONEST AND RACIST AMERICAN HISTORY.
A Pensacola, Florida elementary school teacher reportedly quit the day before school started after a district employee allegedly took down pictures of Black heroes he had on the wall of his classroom. According to the Pensacola News Journal, Michael James, formerly a teacher at O.J. Semmes Elementary School, sent a letter to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Escambia County Superintendent Tim Smith Monday calling the incident “racist behavior” by the district employee, who allegedly said the posters were “age inappropriate.” He resigned Tuesday morning as an exceptional student education teacher, just one day before the 2022-23 school stated. Pictures of Martin Luther King Jr., Colin Powell, Harriett Tubman and George Washington Carver were reportedly some of those removed from the classroom. James said he put up those posters because a majority of the students were Black, and he wanted to motivate them with inspirational people they could “look up to and see themselves.” The district’s superintendent responded to the incident, telling the news outlet that teachers are allowed to decorate their classrooms with educational materials and was unaware of a policy that would have stopped him from putting up pictures of “inspirational American heroes.” The district gave a statement that said they’re going to investigate the incident. The employee, James reportedly identified as a board-certified behavior analyst for the district, allegedly came into James’ classroom on Monday to help him set up his classroom for the upcoming school year. At one point James turned around and saw the employee taking the pictures down. James said the employee also took a picture of Barack Obama off his desk. James resigned shortly after the incident, saying he couldn’t work for a district that would “condone such behavior,” a report said. He quit, as many schools in Florida, and the nation are experiencing teacher shortages. I just passed my idea of a real loser: A pick-up truck in need of an inspection and new truck parts, with no apparent air conditioning; with a “trump 2024” sign in his rear window, with a “Let’s Go Brandon” sign also in the rear window, with a “Don’t Tread On Me” sign also in the back window, while the driver (White of course) is smoking a cigarette, flicking his ashes out of the window.
Watched a portion of the series, "Blood and Glory: The Civil War" on the History Channel.
White Historians, White History teachers---high school and college, White Authors, White Genealogists, White Historical Societies, and your Garden Variety Racists have this ongoing Incestuous Love Affair with the Civil War. First of all, NO WAR is honorable and the Civil War was certainly far from "Glorious." It is really a damn shame that more than 157 years after this racist war, we still talk about the Civil War and teach about it like the Terrorist Confederacy Government and its Confederacy Army were somehow honorable. They were treasonous traitors and scoundrels given an amnesty by racist President Andrew Johnson who was a slavery supporter, and a Confederacy sympathizer. These same Civil War lovers and apologists always exclude the fact that the real reason this dastardly racist war was fought was SLAVERY! Racism in America started with America's original sin, White supremacy and slavery, aided and abetted by the White Christian church, then and now. The American Institution of Racism is a product of Slavery. Racism in America is also aided and abetted by these same historians etc who claim the Southern Heritage Lie because their White Privilege allow them to say it and get away with it. Racism is as American as Apple Pie. Some of America's illegal racist violence has been replaced with legal racist violence, which is used by militarized police departments, and justified in the courts and in the Racist "Injustice" System. This all started with Slavery. Overt racism is still around, and it is just as ugly today as it was many many decades ago. America is a perpetually Racist country and because it is, I reserve the right to "criticize America perpetually." Thank you for those words, James Baldwin.  LOSING A GOOD FRIEND is like losing a close family member. In fact, a good friend is a close family member. Deborah Norman was a good friend. Deborah's husband, Ervin is a good friend. Deborah's passing yesterday touched many heartstrings. It shows how fragile life is and that tomorrow is not promised.
I often ask, "If the Lord calls you Home in the next instance, is this world a better place because you were here?" Deborah left her indelible heartprint on many lives: the many students she taught; the classmates whose company she enjoyed in the Rev. Matthew William Gilbert class of 1962; the young people she touched in the "I'm a Star" program working its founder, Betty Burney; the counseling, advise, and direction she gave to the many students who attended Raines while she was there; the love for the members and her church, the First Baptist Church of Oakland; ALL, are much better because their paths intersected with the Deborah Norman Highway. I do not handle death well at all. I certainly do not handle the death of a good friend, who was married to a good friend. In fact, Ervin was a pallbearer at my wife, Ann's Celebration of Life Homegoing. The tragedy of losing a friend so suddenly is bad enough for me, until you internalize the grief and the heartbreak of Ervin, and their daughter Nicole, and the grief and the heartbreak of Deborah's entire family. Yet, in the midst of heartfelt pain, I thank God for letting Deborah be a part of my life. This world, as evil and as racist as it is, became a better place because Deborah Norman Was Here. Sleep well my friend, you have earned your Heavenly Rest. If you want to know if America is a racist country, and if Florida is a racist state, watch a campaign ad by a Republicant, ANY Republicant.
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AuthorRodney. L. Hurst, Sr.
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RODNEY L. HURST, SR. - THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!
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