Alas, the lovely icing for the cake of the goodwill of the United States and the white power structure that runs it-- the Voting Rights Act is up for "renewal" in 2007. Hmmm. I have often wondered what Civil Rights Activist planned to do about this.

I just finished watching an interview with Dr. James Bevel( who is a good man). Alas, one thing that I must comment upon is the glowing picture of the Civil Rights struggle and the legacy of the 60s that many such as him wish to, want to, and do paint. He stated that he was so "joyful that the Civil Rights struggle came about and ended with no bloodshed." Just because no Black person picked a brick and didn't lay out some white man( although I know that some did) doesn't mean that there was no bloodshed. How can you look past Emmett Till, Schwerner, Cheney, and Goodman, Medgar Evers--- and those are only a HANDFUL out of HUNDREDS who died JUST IN THAT DECADE. Not to mention the thousands of people lynched and beaten and tortured and harrassed and intimidated by white men in the decades between the end of slavery and 1965-1970. God help us all. Alas, yes Johnson did sign the goddamned Voting Rights Act, but HE WAS NOT YOUR FRIEND. I just dont know what goes through these people's mind as they try to sanctify--no deify people like Johnson. I am not saying he was satan-- but he was a white man and his agenda simply included pacifying your ass before all hell broke loose. If ANY from that era was even CLOSEST to being a person of integrity and who might have been sincere in his dedication to the acheivement of dignity for ALL people it was Robert Kennedy-- and they killed him. Indeed, the Civil Rights struggle did not END people simply just got tired. There are still things that need to be done. Another thought, related but not quite the same-- something to think about-- Take a look at the Women of Brewster Place --and the ending scene where they tear down that wall to at last free themselves and get rid of their oppression-- this is what needs to be done. I think that scene holds a lot of meaning and is something that should be thought about by everyone who cares anything about the struggle for human dignity and integrity.

Cornel is absolutely wonderful! I am so glad I am not the only one to take note of the fact that Japan was the first colored/non-western nation to defeat a white/western power-- in 1905. Alas, I also want to highlight some other things. Cornel states that "The ambiguous legacies of the European Age, American preeminence and decolonization continue to haunt our postmodern moment as we come to terms with both European, American, Japanese, Soviet and Third World crimes against humanity and contributions to humanity." God exactly-- the dilemna of how to acknowledge the contribution while at the same time condeming the evil. I have decided that it is worthwhile to condemn the evil. Alas, it is totally possible to destroy the infrastructure of this system/society and start anew with something much better and much more humane.

The second thing that I want to draw attention to is his statement that "The black diasporan condition of New World servitude- in which blacks were viewed as mere commodities with production value, who had no proper legal status, social standing or public worth-- can be characterized as, following Orlando Patterson, natal alienation. This state of perpetual and inheritable domination that diasporan Africans had at birth produced the modern black diasporan problematic of invisibility and namelessness. White supremacist practices.... promoted black inferiority and constituted the European background against which black diasporan struggles for identity, dignity( self-confidence, self-respect,self-esteem) and material resources took place." I am definitely going to use this in my project on the Afro-American as the bastard.

Trouble with one of the neighbors girlfriends and her children again. This time my father went over there. Uh Oh. My father is nothing nice. Straight from the city, he is nothing to play with.

The Corrie Ten Boom legacy can be found

here

When I was in my teens, I used to be much into Corrie Ten Boom. I still think she was a great lady and I have much respect for her legacy. Great people, the entire Ten Boom family.

Morgan Goodson and Mattie Roper( my great-great grandparents) had twenty children-- these are the fifteen that lived to reach adulthood, in order of birth: King Philip, Henry Oliver(Jule), Caroline, Arthur(Lant),James Doc, Betty Ezella, Bracy, Macauley Ware (Fess Goodson), Sadie, Ethel, Archie, Alfreeda, George Dewey, Willie Bell, and Emma Catherine. Among those not to live were a girl named Rosletti (whose name I have taken for some of my fiction), another named Margaret something, and a boy whose name I don't remember.

John Archie Bradson Deramuses' sisters and brothers were:
Nettie Jean, Mary Ellen, Mattie Floyd, J.A.B(himself), Asberry, Charlie Bremen, Lee Benny, Bertie Lee, and Ellie Adams.

Morgan Goodson had four siblings. Perry, George (who was sold to Oklahoma), Henry, and a sister, Rhodie.

Once when my grandmother was teaching in Monroe County, she and some other teachers had taken their classes outside. My grandmother told the children not to play around the trees because they were full or worms. She also added that she was afraid of worms. One of the teachers decided she was going to play with my grandmother so she got a branch from the tree that was full of worms and started shaking it in her face. My grandmother told her to stop but she kept taunting her with that branch and the worms. My grandmother, telling her own story, says at one point she picked up a branch from the ground and struck the woman across the face, pulling the earring out of her right ear. The woman, who was now upset said, "Thelma, you know I was just playing, now I am really going to put them on you." My grandmother replied," Woman, if you put that on me I will kill you today." That woman let that stick go and she didnt bother my grandmother ever again. Alas, the ironic thing is that she and my grandmother were also roomates. I think this incident speaks for itself. I often laugh over this story and it is one of those stories that gets told every now and then.

Cornel West points states that the Age of America lasted from 1945 to 1973 and he states that the struggle against patriarchy predates 1789. He also stresses the need for a "thick" opposition against hegemony and the White Male power structure. Alas, on my reread of this book, one of the things that has struck me most closely is his statement that we need to preserve noncapitalist, nonmarket values of love,care,concern,service to others,intimacy, and gentleness. I'll talk more later. alas, I think this last is definitely something worth paying attention to as we live more and more in a capitalist-driven society where people fashion their entire lives out of what is desired and valued within the market system.

I picked up my old copy of the Cornel West Reader. Fascinating stuff, more about it later.

What I am feeling right now

I would love to have an old fashioned picnic, akin to the Chicago fests that I remember, with blankets and barbecue grills and Earth Wind and Fire and Gladys Knight.......

I don't like Alabama's Troy King. He is too much of a white male and puts me in the mind of white men who lynched Blacks.

I am still in search of my element..... My heart beats with an urban heart, my tendrils are loose and free, I cannot exist in closed and conservative environments.