Anniversary of The March On Washington-

 AUGUST 28th 1963

On this day, 61 years ago...People of all races and religions gathered in Washington D.C. to demand the right to vote, full and fair employment , civil rights and an assortment of other things... 

My only surviving Aunt on my mother's side was at that March...(Vivian Lanier, who turned 100 in April)

 I imagine most of the people at that march are now deceased.. but I can never forget what they were marching for... They were marching for me!

 I was 5 years old at the time of that March...I hadn't even started Kintergarden yet....I probably was not even aware of such a momentous occasion....but I am now....and every time I vote...Every time I exercise my right to vote...I'm doing it for them...All of those folk who sacrificed a day in their lives for me..

Never forget their sacrifice...Take Voting seriously....because they did!

(Oh and for the record, Trump didn't have a bigger crowd than this!)

Studying History

 

Happy Indigenous People's Day

"There are so many holidays we celebrate every year that mean nothing. Like Columbus Day. Nobody celebrates Columbus Day, nobody puts three ships in their front yard.

First of all, Columbus discovered the West Indies. Second of all, the land he discovered had occupants on it. That's like discovering someone's back yard." ~ Chris Rock

Even when I was a child in elementary school...I used to ask the question...Why are we celebrating Christopher Columbus?

How did he "Discover America" when there were already people here when he got here?I would ask....

You can understand why teachers hated me...I would ask the annoying questions...

And later...I realized that he didn't even know where he was when he arrived...He thought he was in India...Which is why he arrogantly named the native people who were here when he arrived -INDIANS!  And Native Americans have unfortunately held on to that moniker ever since..

Columbus Day as it were is meaningless and historically inaccurate... I've since found out that he wasn't even the first white man to arrive in the Western Hemisphere...There is now evidence that the Vikings may have been here at least 100 years before him as well as others...

Some of us though still like to hold on to myths....

Me, I'd rather deal with the truth....

So Happy Indigenous People's Day!

Independent!

I hope everybody enjoyed Independence Day Yesterday....I hate to throw a downer on the celebration, but just remember...If You're African-American....You were not independent on July 4th 1776...Your ancestors were still slaves....Slaves of the very same people who had declared their independence from the King of England...You weren't considered human beings..You were property..

I like a good celebration like anybody else...but I am under no delusion that yesterday was MY holiday...It was a holiday just the same and I barbecued and enjoyed it...I am certainly independent now....Certainly an American citizen now...and a Human Being..unlike my poor ancestors , who were slaves..But I'm aware of the facts....

When a man is aware of the facts and his worth as a human being...Then he is truly independent!

Moved To Tears

I've just returned and I mean just as in last twenty four hours...from wonderful Family reunion in Memphis, Tennesee. Mind you..My family meets from around the country every two years somewhere...I have people in Florida, Texas and California...and of course, Philadelphia.

We had many activities planned...A trip to the Stax Museum where Otis Redding, Issac Hayes, The Staple Singers ,Sam & Dave and so many soul greats recorded their classics in the 60's and early 70's, a pilgramage to Graceland... Yes...I was in Elvis Pressley's house and of course a couple of tours to Beale Street...Our hotel was just four blocks from it....(I can't eat anymore barbecue ribs or pulled pork...it was so good and I was such a pig...More on that on another blog post)

The thing that moved me the most though was when I toured the Civil Rights museum....Which is actually...the hotel where Dr. Martin Luther King was murdered in 1968...It has been turned into a museum...Let me explain the history of this.

The first hotel on the site was the 16 room Windsor Hotel built on the northern side of the complex around 1925 which was renamed the Marquette Hotel. Walter Bailey purchased it in 1945 and renamed it for his wife Loree and the song Sweet Lorraine. During segregation it was an upscale accommodation that catered to a mostly black clientele. Bailey added a second floor and then drive up access for more rooms on the south side of the complex converting the name from Lorraine Hotel to Lorraine Motel. Its guests included musicians going to Stax Records to record hit records.. including Ray Charles, Lionel Hampton, Aretha Franklin, Ethel Waters, Otis Redding, The Staple Singers and Wilson Pickett.

Following the assassination of Dr. King, Walter Bailey left Room 306 outside of which King was assassinated and the adjoining room 307 unoccupied as a memorial to Dr.King. Bailey's wife Loree Bailey, who suffered a stroke hours after the assassination, died five days later. He converted the other motel rooms to single room occupancy.

Walter Bailey worked with Chuck Scruggs, program director of WDIA and attorney D'Army Bailey, to raise funds to "Save the Lorraine" in the newly formed Martin Luther King Memorial Foundation and bought the motel on the Shelby County Courthouse steps for $144,000 following foreclosure in December 1982.

It changed its name to Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation in 1984. The Lorraine closed as a motel on March 2, 1988 when sheriff's deputies forcibly evicted the last holdout tenant, Jacqueline Smith, in preparation for an $8.8 million overhaul.Walter Bailey died in July 1988.

Smithsonian Institution curator Benjamin Lawless created a design for saving historical aspects. The Nashville, Tennessee firm McKissack and McKissack, which claims to be the oldest minority owned architect firm in the United States, was tapped to design a modern museum on grounds of the motel that were not directly related to the assassination.[1]

The museum was dedicated on July 4, 1991 and officially opened to the public on Sept. 28, 1991.

In 1999 the Foundation acquired the Young and Morrow Building and its associated vacant lot on a hill on the west side of Mulberry. A tunnel was built under the lot connecting it with the motel. The Foundation became the custodian of the police and evidence files associated with the assassination including the rifle and fatal bullet which are on display in a 12,800 sq. foot exhibit in the building which opened Sept. 28, 2002.

The Lorraine Motel had not only guests, but residents as well. The last resident of the motel, Jacqueline Smith, had resided there since 1973 as part of her work for the motel as a housekeeper. When faced with eviction for the museum project, Smith barricaded herself in her room and had to be forcibly evicted.

The neighborhood surrounding the Lorraine Motel was a lower-income, predominantly black area. At the time, the area had run-down homes that rented for $175 a month. The homes were demolished and later replaced with more expensive apartments and condominiums, as part of the rejuvenation of the downtown area.

Smith stated that the Lorraine "should be put to better uses, such as housing, job training, free college, clinic, or other services for the poor...the area surrounding the Lorraine should be rejuvenated and made decent and kept affordable, not gentrified with expensive condominiums that price the people out of their community." She has also stated that Dr. King would not have wanted $9 million spent on a building for him, and would not have wanted Lorraine Motel residents to be evicted.

Smith has maintained a vigil across the street from the Lorraine Motel for up to 21 hours per day for over 20 years, regardless of weather. She still holds vigil outside the Lorraine, although not as consistently as she has in the past.

But all that not withstanding... What moved me to tears was going inside and seeing the photos of the civil rights movement and those who participated...Known and unknown...The photos of buses being blown up ,of Freedom riders being hosed down, having dogs sicked on them, being beat and at times killed...

For the right to vote and for public accomodation and an end to racial segregation and hell, just basic rights of citizenship that had been guarunteed to us close to 100 years before (on paper) but never actually put into motion.

It's a sad sad part of American History that I'm only skimming over here as I write this in the wee hours of the morning...I was moved to tears by all of these people who like I said are known and unknown...who are honored at this museum along with Dr. King...I am just humbled and grateful for their sacrifice...What they did makes what I do here sometimes on this blog...All the more worthwhile and meaningful.

Catching Up With The Rest Of The Civilized World

I served 22 years in the United States Air Force. I am more than certain, no, I know for a fact that some of the people I served with were homosexuals. They were in the closet of course and if it their sexual orientation were ever made known, regardless of how valiant and efficiently they had served, this was reason for them to be expelled immediately from the military with no further explanation needed.

While most guys (and women) I served with probably didn't care or maybe felt that this was proper...even then I felt as though somehow this was unfair. If someone is doing a good job and risking their life, same as I...then they ought not have to be thrown out ,just because of who they preferred sleeping with.

That to me was as silly as throwing me out if say ,I preffered women that wore red shoes and had a tooth missing...You see where I'm going with this? Apples and Oranges..One thing has nothing to do with another.


Today the U.S. is one step closer to joining the rest of the civilized world..Declaring that members of the military will no longer be asked to lie, President Barack Obama fulfilled a campaign promise Wednesday and signed a landmark law repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the armed services.
"This is a good day," a beaming President Obama said. "This is a very good day."

The new law ends the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that forced gays to hide their sexual orientation or face dismissal. Its repeal comes as the American public has become more tolerant on such issues as gay marriage and gay rights in general.

"I say to all Americans, gay or straight, who want nothing more than to defend this country in uniform, your country needs you, your country wants you, and we will be honored to welcome you into the ranks of the finest military the world has ever known," President Obama said.

Pentagon officials must first complete implementation plans before lifting the old policy — and the president, defense secretary and chairman of the joint chiefs must certify to lawmakers that it won't damage combat readiness, as critics charge. But President Obama said: "We are not going to be dragging our feet to get this done."

And we shouldn't. We've allowed Blacks and Women to serve in the Military and now we have finally stopped this foolishness about not allowing gay men and women the right to serve and risk their lives for our country. Oh I know a lot of old timers (if there are any left) are gnashing their teeth and are pissed off about this. Change effects people like that....They are longing for the old days.
I'm reminded of what Slim Charles told Bodie on the Wire..."That's the thing about the old days...they the old days."

Never Forget...

September 11, 2001

In remembering and learning the lessons from that terrible day, Let us all practice tolerance for those whose beliefs may be different from our own and let us embrace understanding and forgiveness rather than bitterness.

I think Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said... "We all didn't arrive here the same way, but we are all in the same boat now!"

Happy Birthday MLK

Shocked!!! Why???

I hate to write about stuff like this... I really like to keep it smurfy over on here but, too much is happening that is taking your favorite "Maverick Of All Bloggers" out of his usual smurfy mood. The latest is the investigation of a triple murder that occurred when I was 6 years old that should have been solved then.

Federal authorities will continue to investigate the 1964 Mississippi killings of three civil rights workers, a case that helped pass landmark legislation, despite the death of a key suspect, the Justice Department says. Billy Wayne Posey, 73 years old, died last Thursday. Federal investigators were looking into his possible involvement in the June 21, 1964 killings of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner, who had been working to register black voters. Posey's funeral was this past Saturday in Philadelphia, MI, the town at the heart of the case.

On Friday afternoon, Alejandro Miyar, a spokesman for the Justice Department, said the death does not "alter our cold-case investigation." The Clarion-Ledger reported that he said federal authorities are assisting state investigators who could bring state charges. Goodman's brother, David Goodman of New York City, said... "This is still the country of law and order, and the laws are clear. There is no statute of limitations on murder."

The slayings that shocked the nation helped spur passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 and was dramatized in the 1988 movie "Mississippi Burning." I saw the movie in 1988. Entertaining as those types of movies go, but a big load of Hollywood feel-good crap as far as the facts go. This leads me to my point... Why was the nation shocked by this in 1964? They should have been shocked by it in 1904, when it was at its peak. Black people have been kidnapped, lynched, and gone missing for years in the south (and according to my mother and two of my late aunts, even up here in liberal Northern Pennsylvania) and nobody was shocked until those three civil rights workers were lynched in 1964.

I would hate to be the general of any army, as misinformed and unaffected by things as the American people seem to be at times (as my posts from last week more than illuminated), only to be shocked years after the fact. There is an ugly rumor that when the FBI was looking for the bodies of the three civil rights workers, they dragged the Mississippi River and found the bodies of hundreds of dead African-Americans who had gone missing for years and had been lynched. They voted to keep this out of the papers for fear that a major race riot might have erupted with news of their findings. And, America is shocked! Well I'll be damned! I'm gonna ask my blogging brother Carey Carey to forget what I wrote as a comment on his last post. This makes me cussin' mad... I feel like cussin' right now!

I applaud the fact that the Justice Department wants to do right, reopen this case, and bring everyone involved to justice but, on the other hand. it's a little too late. It's 2009 and most of those Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members who took part in all that mayhem are dead and gone to hell by now. The ones who are still alive have one foot in the grave and another one on a banana peel, to quote my late grandmother. What is the point in bringing them to justice now, when you could have brought them to justice in 1964?

Everybody in Philadelphia, MI knew who was involved in the killings. Only seven guys actually served any time and that was for civil rights violations. (Yeah, they violated their civil rights... their civil right to breathe in and breathe out.) The FBI knew that the great state of Mississippi would never bring state charges of murder against any white man for killing a black man in 1964. This was the only avenue they had to get any semblance of justice.

In the summer of 1964, hundreds of FBI agents investigated the trio's disappearance, leading to the discovery of their bodies buried 15 feet beneath an earthen dam. In 1967, 18 men went on trial for conspiring to violate the civil rights of the three victims, and seven of them were convicted. One of the seven, former Neshoba County Sheriff's Deputy Cecil Price, told authorities before his 2001 death that he told Posey in 1964 that he had just jailed the three civil rights workers on a traffic charge and asked Posey to get in contact with Edgar Ray Killen, who helped to orchestrate the killings. The only murder prosecution took place in 2005 when a jury convicted Killen, a reputed KKK leader, on three counts of manslaughter. He is serving 60 years in prison.

Civil rights activists have been pushing for more murder charges. Authorities have said that at least four suspects remain alive. In a 2000 statement, Posey told investigators there were "a lot of persons involved in the murders that did not go to jail" but, he did not identify them. Now he's dead. The others may never be identified and, even if they are and they go to prison, they'll probably be dead in a few years anyway. They've had their entire lives to live while Chaney, Goodman, and Schwerner have been moldering in their graves for 45 years. Where is the justice in that?

It's too late for any real justice for them but, I want to thank them. I want to thank all of the people in the civil rights movement for their sacrifice. Because of them, I can live a life where I don't have to fear the kind of death that they suffered. And, because of them, I can put my size 12 + 1/2 foot up the crack of a Klansman's hind parts and fear no reprisals. Once again, I thank you and Carey Carey. I'm sorry... hopefully, your smurfy "Maverick of All Bloggers" will return tomorrow!

"It's Gonna Be A Better World For You"

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was ten years old when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered. He was gunned down in Memphis, TN just a few days after my tenth birthday. It was the early spring of 1968... just one year after the "long hot summer" of rioting across the nation. I don't think I was even vaguely aware of any of that at the time. My main concern was whether I was going to get the new G.I. Joe with kung-fu grip by Christmas.

I saw Dr. King on the news from time to time... usually getting arrested, leading a march, or giving a speech. It didn't occurr to me that this was being done for me or that it would effect my life in any way, shape, or form. I was after all, a child. I did notice that when Dr. King was on television being interviewed or giving a speech, the adults in my house would get very quiet, gather around the television set in the living room, and hang on to every word. My grandparents especially responded to Dr. King as if he was their pastor and they were in his church.

He was their pastor, we were his congregation... all of us. My grandfather and uncle explained to me that Dr. King was a good man and even though he was going to jail, it wasn't because he was a bad man. There was a difference between him going to jail and say, Mr. Robinson across the street... who routinely got drunk, came outside naked, and had to be hauled off to jail for the night. No, Dr. King was fighting for something called "civil rights", something that I would understand when I was much older.

When he died, I knew just by the reaction of my parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and older people on the street that something monumental had happened. I could see the universal dispair in peoples faces and the anger in a few younger folks who I recall threw a few bottles and set a few small fires that weekend. My mother explained to me that because of what Dr. King did, it was "gonna be a better world for you." She said that my brother and I would be going to college and that when we graduated, the world we would be entering would be a much better one than the one she had come of age in.

My mother also told me that when she was a little girl, my grandfather was driving her and her sisters somewhere and they saw a body hanging from a tree. They saw it before my grandfather could shield their eyes from it. It was something she never forgot and an everyday occurrence in the 1930's and 1940's. It was a warning not to "get out of line". Dr. King, Malcolm X, and the people who followed them had indeed "gotten out of line" and had changed all of that. She was certain in 1968 that wouldn't be my reality.

In a sense, she was right. I attended integrated schools most of my life, never lived in an age of segregation, and entered the work force with much more opportunity than my grandparents and parents could ever imagine. Although, I didn't enter a perfect world... the hatred and small mindedness that killed Dr. King still exists but, it's fading fast. I want to thank Dr. Martin Luther King and all of the people who lost their lives during the civil rights movemant for leaving me a better world than the one I was born into. I hope my generation can leave this world a little better for the children who are coming up now.

In another sense, my mother was wrong. This world is a much more dangerous and hateful place than it was then. The economy is worse... it's much harder for a young person to get started in the work force and the future looks about as bleak now for Americans of every hue as it ever did. Despite this bleakness, I'm left with my mother's optimism and her hope for me. I have this hope for the young people coming up now. It's gonna be a better world for you too, if you follow Dr. King's example of faith and activism and make it what you would have it be. Don't just except it as it is and lose hope. Take the cards you are dealt and play the best hand you've got!

King Of Cheese Steaks

History & Recipe for Philadelphia Cheese Steaks

A few days ago, this man (who I can't name here for legal reasons) who runs a steak and hoagie shop in West Philly that I patronize, told me that his great-grandfather was the "King of Cheese Steaks." A strange boast, but okay, if he wants to say that... It's fine with me... It's not like I haven't heard it before.

I have always come into his establishment around lunch time or on a Saturday afternoon and have ordered my personal favorite, a cheese steak hoagie. He uses that thick Italian bread, slathers mayonnaise across the top, spreads lettuce across it, drapes freshly cut tomatoes, raw onions, and pickles across it, and then adds the chopped-up steak with Cheese Whiz melted on it to the mix. If you live in this area, you'll find that this is the norm for most of these type establishments.

While I was sitting there waiting, the man's great-grandson (who is about my age) confided to me that his great-grandfather actually invented what has become a Philadelphia staple... the steak sandwich. Of course, I thought... he must be kidding. You can go to any neighborhood in North, South, or West Philadelphia, Roxborough, Manayunk, Mt Airy, or Germantown and find a neighborhood steak and hoagie shop... they will tell you the same thing useless they are Asian, Greek, or Black (because then, they know that you know they are lying).

If you venture to South Street, you'll find places like GENO's, Jim's Steaks, and Pat Oliveri's House of Steaks that will brag that they make the best cheese steaks in Philadelphia and their owner is the true"King of Cheese Steaks". This is all debatable. So, I asked this guy to tell me the story of how his great-grandfather invented the steak sandwich and this is what he said.

He told me that his great-grandfather, an Italian immigrant, had a hot dog stand down near the docks, which is now known as "Penn's Landing". Several other men had hot dog stands down there, competing for the dollars of the longshoremen, bricklayers, etc. His great-grandfather needed something to give his stand an edge over the other hot dog stands so, he brought some steaks with him one day, cut them up a little bit, and tossed them on his grill. He cooked the chopped up steak and tossed it onto a hoagie roll. The smell of the steak brought some curious customers over to his hot dog stand and voila! The steak sandwich was born! A little later, he melted some sharp cheese, added that to his steak sandwich and thus, the cheese steak was born.

Of course, this is a preposterous story and very much like the one Pat Oliveri III (of Pat's House of Steaks) told me once. Needless to say, I think I believe Pat Oliveri. I don't believe that this guy's great-grandfather invented the cheese steak but, I do believe that "somebody" probably invented the cheese steak the way the told it and the story just got passed around and embellished over time. Like the fish story about the fish that got away, the fish gets bigger each time the story is retold.

Don't get me wrong... it's a great story to hear while you're munching on a cheese steak, some french fries, and drinking a Coke. Of course, these are all of the things that you're not supposed to be eating because, unlike when you were 17 years old and reed thin, you're not reed thin now and the weight will stay on you and make you ashamed to look at yourself in the mirror sometimes. (At age 17, I was 6' 1+1/2" and 146 pounds... today, I'm about 215 pounds.)
Anyway, I asked the man who was telling me this story why his great-grandfather didn't go and get a patent? Why is the family still working in the three steak shops that they owned and, more importantly, why they all weren't swimming in dough right about now? Then, he told me another preposterous story about how his great-grandfather was basically swindled out of his "invention" by the owner of one of the steak shops I mentioned above. Not Likely.

Hmmm, this story is still suspect... but, still a great story to hear when you're eating and not thinking about health and weight issues. So, who really invented the cheese steak sandwich? Who is really the "King of Cheese Steaks"? I don't know... but, I'd love to thank him/her for a great eating idea.
(Can anyone from the Baltimore-DC area tell me about your famous Pit Beef sandwich? Believe it or not, I actually came close to having one when I attended my cousin's engagement party a few weeks ago but, the food was catered so, I didn't have the pleasure. I'd love to hear about it. Holla back!)

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Update: After completing this post, a funny thing happened when I did the image search for a cheese steak... I actually stumbled upon the true history of the cheese steak and it looks like Pat was telling the truth!

The Day After A Miracle

Wednesday, November 5, 2008: I woke up around 7:30am and the first thing I did was grab the remote on my nightstand and turn on the television. There he was... smiling with that photogenic smile and standing next to his wife, Michelle, with their two daughters in between them. He gave his speech to a throng of people from seemingly all walks of life and all different races. It wasn't a dream... it was true. He really was the President of the United States of America. I didn't just dream this... I really did witness a miracle the night before.

Barack Obama, a man who is only three years younger than I am... a guy I might have played with or might have sat in a class with. A guy of my generation and age bracket who was the new President of these United States. He is also the first African-American President of the United States. I liked the way this sounds and I savored the moment.

I went to my computer, brought up my blog, and read all of the touching replies to my last two posts. I then went around the blogosphere, commenting and reading everybody's reactions to what just happened. History. I flipped through the channels... CNN, MSNBC, The Today Show, etc. and listened to mostly glowing reviews of the new president and watched scenes of people partying and jumping for joy. These scenes were played out all over the country, of course, but also in places like Kenya, London, Ireland, and Japan... this was unbelievable and I kept hearing people say, "I never thought I'd see this day."

I never thought that I would see this day either. I thought that the first black president would come from my grandson's generation. I had even written off my 27 year old daughter's generation... still too many racists around, I reasoned. I figured that by the time my grandson grew up, most of the hardline racists would be dead and on the wane. Well guess what? That time is now. The people of this country just proved it to me. Those crowds of Whites, Latinos, Blacks, Asians, and Native Americans proved to me that a lot of those old tired racist ideals are on the wane, even now. (The rest of the crazys can go crawl back into their holes now.)

I'm only sorry that my grandparents and both of my parents are no longer living to see this day. There was no way my grandfather, who had to leave the south immediately after he commited the unforgivable sin of having an altercation with a white man in 1917, could conceive of a moment like this. His reality was one of a south where Jim Crow was king and lynching was a national past time. Where southern journalists didn't just say the "n" word... they wrote nigger in their newspapers whenever they felt like it.

My mother, father, and their siblings inherited this same intolerant and racist America... yet, lived to see the Civil Rights movement, the abolishment of segregation, and the establishment of constitutional protection of our basic human rights. My parents lived to see the election of black mayors, senators, congressmen, and governors. They didn't, however, live to see this... a man, who could easily have been one of their children, become the President of the United States.

I know that they died knowing that I would live in a better country than the one they were born into but, WOW... they couldn't have conceived this moment. I hope that wherever they are, they are two stepping on the clouds in celebration, because baby, I'm doin' a two step right now!

The 44th President of the United States of America!

Barack Hussein Obama II

YES WE DID!!!!!!!!!!!

Your Vote Does Matter!

Photo #1: Three Civil Rights Workers

Some years ago, there was a brilliant PBS Television mini-series called "Eyes On The Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1954-1965." The series has a companion book that came along with it, filled with photographs and commentary about that period in American history and those heroic black people who took to the streets, got arrested, got beaten, and in some cases got killed trying to get equal rights and, more importantly, voting rights for blacks and all racial and ethnic minorities in this country.

I wish I had a copy of this book for all of those people who feel as though their vote doesn't matter. It certainly mattered to somebody. If your vote didn't matter, nobody would have been murdered to make sure that you were too scared to vote. If your vote didn't matter, then that travesty in Florida in the year 2000 would have never been attempted. Clearly your vote does matter... it matters a lot.

Photo #2: Medgar Evers Funeral

In particular, when I read about Mississippi and how hard they resisted voting rights for African-Americans. Much to my surprise, I learned that African-Americans actually out numbered whites in many of the counties in parts of Mississippi and, if allowed to vote, they could have voted all of those redneck sheriffs and the white "Citizen's Council" members out of power. This is why the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the white "Citizen's Council" fought so hard, even resorting to murder, to run the large African-American population away from the polls. Your vote does matter... it mattered to somebody if they were willing to bomb churches, snatch three guys (Photo #1: Goodman, Chaney, and Schwerner) off the street and murder them, burn people's houses down, and assassinate two NAACP leaders (Photo #2: Medgar Evers and Photo #3: Vernon Dahmer).

Photo #3: Vernon Dahmer's Home Firebombed

As I leaf through this book and look at the photos of all those brave people... black and white, young and old... who risked their lives riding into foreign territory so that I could vote, it fills me with both pride and gratitude. I know that I wrote a post something like this before but, I can't stress enough how important it is that your voice be heard by tomorrow. I know that some people have already voted and I applaud them. I am most certainly going to vote tomorrow because I'm an American citizen, it's my right to vote, and it's the way to make my opinion heard. I can rage on and on on this blog and that's cool... but, my vote will most definitely make my opinion known and go toward exacting that change.

People are afraid of change. They are afraid of the masses of free people having some say in their government... that's why they fight so hard to crush any dissent. There is a fellow blogger now being held under virtual house arrest in Nigeria because he has dared challenge the position of that country's government. Here we are... able to assemble freely, vote, and blog... and some of us don't want to take advantage of that opportunity.

Vote tomorrow. Freedom ain't free. There are several people lying in their graves now who might still be alive and who gave their lives so that all of us could vote. If you don't do it for any other reason, do it for them. They gave so much and it's an insult to their memories not to vote.

Phillies "Parade Of Champions"

On Friday, October 31st, the fans came from near (inner city and surrounding suburbs) and far (New Jersey and Delaware) to celebrate and participate in what looked to be one of the largest parades in Philadelphia history. These photos in no way do justice to the number of people who came to Center City and lined the streets, perched on windowsills, and climbed on rooftops just to (in some cases, depending on where you were) merely catch a glimpse of our "Fightin' Phils" champions and that World Series trophy.

The parade was scheduled to begin at 12:00pm but, people were heading into Center City all morning to claim a piece of the sidewalk along the parade route as their own. It began at 20th & Market Streets with a slow cruise to City Hall, a turn onto South Broad Street, and it ended at the Citizens Bank Park, home of the Phillies. When they got to the ball park 100,000 more fans were waiting there to greet and receive them as well. It was rumored that so many people traveled into the city from the suburbs to see the parade, our regional rail system had to stop taking them inbound around 1:00pm so they could begin to prepare the trains for the outbound commute.

It wasn't a very productive day for the few diehard "workaholics" who stayed in their offices and tried to get a little work done while all the pandemonium was going on outside. Some of them eventually gave up and tried to come out onto the street to join the festivities. By that time, imagine their surprise when they discovered that there were so many people lining the sidewalks, they couldn't even get out of the door of their office building! On Thursday evening, it was declared on the news that schools would (in fact) be open on Friday, with the exception of ten schools that were located along the parade route. Of course, parents were encouraged to send their kids to school. (Yeah, right!) Scores of school-aged children, along with their parents, and teenagers were out 'n' about so, there wasn't much going on in the classrooms either... but, things were exactly as they should've been.

No, yesterday was special. It was intended to be a day set aside for a grateful city to take pause and honor the team who not only took us to the mountain but, finally climbed over it and brought home a championship. Many years have gone by since the Phillies won their last championship back in 1980, which was their first and only championship prior to this one. It was the year before our daughter was born and she is now 27 years old with a 2+1/2 year old child of her own... that's how long its been. Philadelphia is a city that was hungry for a championship (any championship), we FINALLY got one, and we celebrated big time!

So, please excuse us if we didn't show up for work or go to school yesterday... the work and lesson plans aren't going anywhere and will still be there waiting for all of us on Monday morning. But, THIS only happens when it happens and you've got to seige the moment when it does... right then, right there, or it is gone forever. This was definitely the type of event that you want to experience at least once in your lifetime and be able to tell your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren (if you're truly blessed)... "I WAS THERE!"

It was estimated that 2 million people attended the parade.

The 11th Commandment

"Thou Shalt Not Gloat."



"But, We're Number One!"

What We Owe

A decidedly right wing conservative pundit said recently that Barack Obama doesn't owe the "old guard" civil rights establishment anything and suggested that perhaps, people like Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton were jealous of his success. Of course, this was a slap at Rev. Jackson's recent remarks, a slap at Rev. Sharpton, and some of the older civil rights folks. I'm writing this post for some of the younger black bloggers who don't know about these people because they weren't born yet. Don't believe the hype and don't let anyone, especially white right wing conservatives, lead you down that road because it just isn't true. We are divided enough as a race by our own devices.

I know that Rev. Jackson has his ego problems and has recently been suffering from "puttin' his foot in his mouthitis", as well as having fathered a child out of wedlock. And, Rev. Sharpton can sometimes seem like a caricature of himself but, let us not forget that these two men, along with Andrew Young, John Lewis, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., A. Phillip Randolph, Fannie Lew Hamer, and so many others I cannot name... marched, went to jail, sat in, sat out, integrated lunch counters, and faced the lash and terror of the Ku Klux Klan and the "White Citizens Councils" all across the south so that we could sit at a computer keyboard, blog from our laptops and I-phones, or what have you in the comforts of our homes (and for some of us, in neighborhoods where we wouldn't have been allowed to live in just a generation before).

YES, Obama does owe them and I want to make this perfectly clear... HE never said that he didn't owe them... that was said by other people... white right wing conservatives and some young blacks who never knew them. If it wasn't for those civil rights pioneers, Barack Obama would not be the Democratic nominee for anything. Did you know that black delegates weren't even allowed to sit at either party's national convention at one time? I know that a lot of young people don't know it because they weren't around to know it. But, the right wingers know it... the pundits that appear on Hitler's News Channel (Fox News) know that without the strides that these people made, none of us living today would have any semblance of the life we live now.

The civil rights activists and leaders of the past stood up for us when we couldn't stand for ourselves and it is an injustice to let the ill-spoken words of a few people (once again) divide Black America by saying that they are not owed anything. We owe them EVERYTHING and certainly a lot more than we owe some Fox News pundit and people who think like them.

(I dedicate this post to the black youth of America... and to their fathers. Let us now criticize the unjust with our vote. It's time to unseat the emperor!)

The 411 On Labor Day

What it Means

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Founder of Labor Day

More than 100 years after the first Labor Day observance, there is still some doubt as to who first proposed the holiday for workers.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those "who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Peter McGuire's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Many believe that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday. Recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. What is clear is that the Central Labor Union adopted a Labor Day proposal and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and picnic.

The First Labor Day

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

Labor Day Legislation

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From them developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

A Nationwide Holiday

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take were outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

(In honor of this holiday and in keeping with the well-deserved concept of workers "taking the day off", you should know that no real work was done on this post today. In fact, the above information was "jacked" from the U.S. Department of Labor website-lol. Happy Labor Day to all, don't eat too much bar-b-q, and enjoy your day off!)

Who Is David Wilson?

David Wilson & David Wilson

I saw an extraordinary program last night on MSNBC. It was called, "Meeting David Wilson". I was channel surfing and had just seen the 100th documentary on Charles Manson. (What does the media find so fascinating about him? He's nothing more than a pimp, who used drugs to get some young, spoiled girls and a male lackey to do his bidding.) Anyway, the title caught my attention... "Meeting David Wilson". My question was, "Who is David Wilson? Should I know him?"

David Wilson is a 28 year old black journalist and TV producer who did some awesome research that led him to meet and befriend a 62 year old white man from North Carolina, also named David Wilson. The white David Wilson, is a descendant of the family that owned black David Wilson's family in North Carolina. I was now hooked! (I gave up watching the HBO Saturday night movie for this and it was well worth it.) Both families met in North Carolina and embraced each other... the descendents of slaves and the descendents of slave owners. They attended church together and had a big picnic.

Well... young, black David Wilson took his sojourn even farther. He traced his family's roots all the way back to the village in West Africa that they were kidnapped from. He made the trip to Africa himself and met his true descendents. The last scene of the documentary showed David Wilson in what looked like a predominately African-American charter school, dispelling the stereotypes of Africa that the children had learned and instead, taught them about their proud heritage. He still maintains a close friendship with 62 year old white David Wilson in North Carolina.

This was a wonderful documentary... the type of story that should have been shown on BET. If they rerun it again (and, this being cable, I'm sure they will), I would advise everyone, black and white, to watch it. You can also click on the above photo or text link under the photo to go the MSNBC website to learn more about the story. It's a must see and/or must read.

All About Father's Day

ART: "Joy Of His World" By Wak

Who came up with the idea of Father's Day?

Her name was Sonora Louise Smart Dodd and she lived in Spokane, Washington. Sonora was the oldest of six children raised by their father, William Jackson Smart, when their mother died during childbirth. Sonora honored and revered her father, and while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909, she determined there should also be a day to honor fathers.

Sonora gained local support and made her dream a reality one year later within her own city of Spokane, Washington. Sonora married John Bruce Dodd. She died March 22, 1978, several years after Father's Day became a permanent national observance.

Why June?

In 1910 Sonora chose June 19th as the day to celebrate Father's Day because that was her father's birthday. With support from the Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA, the first Father's Day was celebrated in Spokane on June 19, 1910.

When did the United States begin celebrating Father's Day?

1910 Spokane, Washington celebrates Father's Day.
1924 President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.
1926 The formation of National Father's Day Committee in New York City.
1956 Father's Day was recognized by Joint Resolution of Congress.
1966 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring that the third Sunday of June as Father's Day.
1972 President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday in June.

Do other countries celebrate Father's Day?

Father's Day is celebrated in every part of the world. In the United States, Canada and most countries in Asia, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June.

Happy Father's Day!