Continuing on this exhausting journey of 100 years of non-oppression..........
1960s:
COINTELPRO and the movements for Black lives.
While COINTELPRO included surveillance of the KKK, it's interesting that of the groups spied upon, ONLY the KKK survives today. Some might be inclined to suggest that COINTELPRO was an arm of an oppressive government, but this is America so that couldn't possibly be true....
1967: Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted into the armed services to fight in Vietnam. He famously claims, "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong.” He is convicted of draft evasion, sentenced to time in prison (five years), fined ($10,000) and probably most significantly, banned from boxing for three years. At the height of his career, his progress is stopped cold. Did the same happen to Mitt Romney? To Donald Trump? Hm. Ali got no approval for his conscientious objection to the war, but Mittens and Cheetolini got deferments. Romney may even have demonstrated in favor of the draft and then avoided serving. Funny how Black men can't get a deferment but rich White men do and are able to go on to become presidential contenders and presidents huh? But ain't no oppression here!
Thurgood Marshall is nominated to and elevated to the Supreme Court of the United States. Woo hoo! He's the first to make it but do we really think he's the first qualified? Unlikely. But let's celebrate his firstness and ignore the dozens of others who were probably just as capable but didn't get anywhere near the steps of the court house.
Also in 1968, MLK Jr is assassinated.
Maybe we should just pause here a moment and consider what that meant, to whom it meant the most, and what it signified that a White supremacist would shoot dead a man agitating for equality under the law. A man known to be a man of peace, dead by violence.
Think too on the fact that the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover sought to encourage King to commit suicide and yet every MLK Day, they do this. But shhhhh! Don't let's talk about oppression. That's so gauche!
Take a moment to think on these things. Think too on how well these truths support (or refute) the notion that no one has been oppressed in this country for 100 years...............
Think about how some people now bandy King's name about as if, had they been there, they would have stood with him instead of angrily against him. It would be funny if it weren't so damn pathetic and dangerous. Those same people are here now, in the middle of today's critical civil rights issue of police violence, angrily burning Kaepernick jerseys and calling kneeling players n*ggers. Oh the irony!
I could stop here but the 100 years ain't done yet. These stories are exhausting. This history is heavy and yet, Mikey says there's no there there. Is he reading the same resources I am? Clearly not. Onward.
1960s:
COINTELPRO and the movements for Black lives.
From the FBI's own page, "The FBI began COINTELPRO—short for Counterintelligence Program—in 1956 to disrupt the activities of the Communist Party of the United States. In the 1960s, it was expanded to include a number of other domestic groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Black Panther Party. All COINTELPRO operations were ended in 1971. Although limited in scope (about two-tenths of one percent of the FBI’s workload over a 15-year period), COINTELPRO was later rightfully criticized by Congress and the American people for abridging first amendment rights and for other reasons."
While COINTELPRO included surveillance of the KKK, it's interesting that of the groups spied upon, ONLY the KKK survives today. Some might be inclined to suggest that COINTELPRO was an arm of an oppressive government, but this is America so that couldn't possibly be true....
1967: Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted into the armed services to fight in Vietnam. He famously claims, "I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong.” He is convicted of draft evasion, sentenced to time in prison (five years), fined ($10,000) and probably most significantly, banned from boxing for three years. At the height of his career, his progress is stopped cold. Did the same happen to Mitt Romney? To Donald Trump? Hm. Ali got no approval for his conscientious objection to the war, but Mittens and Cheetolini got deferments. Romney may even have demonstrated in favor of the draft and then avoided serving. Funny how Black men can't get a deferment but rich White men do and are able to go on to become presidential contenders and presidents huh? But ain't no oppression here!
Thurgood Marshall is nominated to and elevated to the Supreme Court of the United States. Woo hoo! He's the first to make it but do we really think he's the first qualified? Unlikely. But let's celebrate his firstness and ignore the dozens of others who were probably just as capable but didn't get anywhere near the steps of the court house.
1968:
Eartha Kitt speaks truth to power at the Johnson White House and pays for it with her livelihood. Shades of Colin Kaepernick?Also in 1968, MLK Jr is assassinated.
Maybe we should just pause here a moment and consider what that meant, to whom it meant the most, and what it signified that a White supremacist would shoot dead a man agitating for equality under the law. A man known to be a man of peace, dead by violence.
Think too on the fact that the FBI under J. Edgar Hoover sought to encourage King to commit suicide and yet every MLK Day, they do this. But shhhhh! Don't let's talk about oppression. That's so gauche!
Take a moment to think on these things. Think too on how well these truths support (or refute) the notion that no one has been oppressed in this country for 100 years...............
Think about how some people now bandy King's name about as if, had they been there, they would have stood with him instead of angrily against him. It would be funny if it weren't so damn pathetic and dangerous. Those same people are here now, in the middle of today's critical civil rights issue of police violence, angrily burning Kaepernick jerseys and calling kneeling players n*ggers. Oh the irony!
I could stop here but the 100 years ain't done yet. These stories are exhausting. This history is heavy and yet, Mikey says there's no there there. Is he reading the same resources I am? Clearly not. Onward.
1978:
Supreme Court once again upholds the constitutionality of Affirmative Action but the ruling also seeks to ensure that "greater opportunities for the minority didn't come at the expense of the rights of the majority" cuz yunno, opportunities are pie. One slice for me means one less slice for you. And ytfolk must not be denied their pie.
1985:
The MOVE bombing in Philadelphia takes place. Eleven are left dead, including five children. This massacre predates the Branch Davidian and Ruby Ridge events.
1991:
Rodney King is beaten bloody by five White police officers. The beating is caught on video.
1992:
The officers who brutalized Rodney King are acquitted of all charges. Shades of Jordan Davis murder trial (first trial outcome). Shades of Trayvon Martin murder trial outcome. Shades of Tamir Rice attempted indictment. Past is prologue they say. King was prologue to Davis, Martin and Rice. Bland, Castile, Scott and far too many others to name.
2003:
SCOTUS once again upholds Affirmative Action, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the sharks are circling. Becky with the bad grades is still to come (2016).
2008:
Barack Hussein Obama becomes the president of these United States and cases of Obama Derangement Syndrome are being diagnosed far and wide across the land.
2011:
Dolt 45, the current resident in the House of White (Supremacy), made an entire career of birtherism and challenging the bona fides of a sitting president. This was entirely acceptable because Black people don't actually belong in America, they are not actually citizens of America and they certainly shouldn't be the president of America. Oppression? Nope. Facts.
2012:
Trayvon Martin is followed on his way home from a run to the store for Skittles and a drink. He is eventually shot dead by an armed 'neighborhood watch' guy who later is found not guilty of all crimes.
In the course of defending the killer - whose name I will not type - the defense team makes Martin the cause of his own death. Martin is accused of having been armed with the sidewalk because in the fight for his life, he attempted to bash his attacker's head into the pavement. I shit you not. But he wasn't oppressed. Nah. Being accused of culpability in your own death is entirely reasonable (for a Black person in America). But oppression? That's a bit of a reach don't you think?
2014:
Michael Brown, an unarmed* Black man, is shot dead in Ferguson, MO under circumstances that remain unclear. Officer Darren Wilson claims inter alia "“When I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan,” Wilson, who is 6' 4" and 210 lbs., said of Brown, who was 6' 4" and 292 lbs. at the time of his death." More here.
Tamir Rice, a 12 year old boy, is shot dead by former police officer TL. TL is not indicted. When the city settles with Rice's family nearly two years later, the head of the police union suggests that it is Samaria Rice's responsibility to use that money to teach other Black kids how to avoid being shot dead by incompetent police officers. Here. You can't make this shit up. Mike D., you still with me?
2015:
Sandra Bland is pulled over on a pretext stop, arrested, and dies in police custody three days later. The fact that she was incarcerated for three days for failing to use a turn signal isn't oppressive of course. That's perfectly normal. In America. The land of the free.
Also in 2015, Texas tries to change history and suggest that the enslavement of Africans was just some new-fangled migrant worker arrangement. But again, this isn't oppressive at all. I'm not even sure why I've mentioned it......
2016:
The movie Hidden Figures takes us by surprise. Who knew that in 1962 these four fabulous brilliant women had performed critical calculations to get John Glen safely into (and out of) space? But their omission from our history books ain't oppression. Nah! That's just an oversight.
2017:
The Republican Party's president gins up a toxic stew of racist with Sieg Heiling and Nazi-flag flying such as we've never seen before. A counter-protester is killed by a Nazi-sympathizer and the president says that there are "good people on both sides".
Oppression? In America? Surely you jest!
*'unarmed' save for his Blackness which, as we all know, is the greatest armament known to mankind
Supreme Court once again upholds the constitutionality of Affirmative Action but the ruling also seeks to ensure that "greater opportunities for the minority didn't come at the expense of the rights of the majority" cuz yunno, opportunities are pie. One slice for me means one less slice for you. And ytfolk must not be denied their pie.
1985:
The MOVE bombing in Philadelphia takes place. Eleven are left dead, including five children. This massacre predates the Branch Davidian and Ruby Ridge events.
1991:
Rodney King is beaten bloody by five White police officers. The beating is caught on video.
1992:
The officers who brutalized Rodney King are acquitted of all charges. Shades of Jordan Davis murder trial (first trial outcome). Shades of Trayvon Martin murder trial outcome. Shades of Tamir Rice attempted indictment. Past is prologue they say. King was prologue to Davis, Martin and Rice. Bland, Castile, Scott and far too many others to name.
2003:
SCOTUS once again upholds Affirmative Action, but it is becoming increasingly clear that the sharks are circling. Becky with the bad grades is still to come (2016).
2008:
Barack Hussein Obama becomes the president of these United States and cases of Obama Derangement Syndrome are being diagnosed far and wide across the land.
2011:
Dolt 45, the current resident in the House of White (Supremacy), made an entire career of birtherism and challenging the bona fides of a sitting president. This was entirely acceptable because Black people don't actually belong in America, they are not actually citizens of America and they certainly shouldn't be the president of America. Oppression? Nope. Facts.
2012:
Trayvon Martin is followed on his way home from a run to the store for Skittles and a drink. He is eventually shot dead by an armed 'neighborhood watch' guy who later is found not guilty of all crimes.
In the course of defending the killer - whose name I will not type - the defense team makes Martin the cause of his own death. Martin is accused of having been armed with the sidewalk because in the fight for his life, he attempted to bash his attacker's head into the pavement. I shit you not. But he wasn't oppressed. Nah. Being accused of culpability in your own death is entirely reasonable (for a Black person in America). But oppression? That's a bit of a reach don't you think?
2014:
Michael Brown, an unarmed* Black man, is shot dead in Ferguson, MO under circumstances that remain unclear. Officer Darren Wilson claims inter alia "“When I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is I felt like a five-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan,” Wilson, who is 6' 4" and 210 lbs., said of Brown, who was 6' 4" and 292 lbs. at the time of his death." More here.
Tamir Rice, a 12 year old boy, is shot dead by former police officer TL. TL is not indicted. When the city settles with Rice's family nearly two years later, the head of the police union suggests that it is Samaria Rice's responsibility to use that money to teach other Black kids how to avoid being shot dead by incompetent police officers. Here. You can't make this shit up. Mike D., you still with me?
2015:
Sandra Bland is pulled over on a pretext stop, arrested, and dies in police custody three days later. The fact that she was incarcerated for three days for failing to use a turn signal isn't oppressive of course. That's perfectly normal. In America. The land of the free.
Also in 2015, Texas tries to change history and suggest that the enslavement of Africans was just some new-fangled migrant worker arrangement. But again, this isn't oppressive at all. I'm not even sure why I've mentioned it......
2016:
The movie Hidden Figures takes us by surprise. Who knew that in 1962 these four fabulous brilliant women had performed critical calculations to get John Glen safely into (and out of) space? But their omission from our history books ain't oppression. Nah! That's just an oversight.
2017:
The Republican Party's president gins up a toxic stew of racist with Sieg Heiling and Nazi-flag flying such as we've never seen before. A counter-protester is killed by a Nazi-sympathizer and the president says that there are "good people on both sides".
Oppression? In America? Surely you jest!
*'unarmed' save for his Blackness which, as we all know, is the greatest armament known to mankind
No comments:
Post a Comment