When most people think about Memphis, they automatically think about Elvis and Graceland, Beale Street, Mudd Island, and the blues. In terms of the civil rights movement, most Americans remember the assassination of Dr. King at the Lorraine Motel on April 4, 1968. This motel has since been restored and houses the National Civil Rights Museum and if you have never been to this museum, you are missing out. We went to the museum in 2003 and it is something we will never forget. It is a provocative, engaging, inspiring, and emotional experience. While Dr. King's assassination should never be forgotten, there are other events associated with Memphis that does not receive much attention. Little is remembered or known about WHY Dr. King was in Memphis at all. King was in Memphis to support the sanitation-worker strike, which culminated from the deaths of two Memphis sanitation workers (Echol Cole and Robert Walker) who were crushed to death by a malfunctioning truck and the city's long pattern of neglect and abuse of its black workers. The book I have read concerning this strike is Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign by Michael K. Honey. Honey explains how sanitation workers were treated like the trash they dumped into the garbage trucks. For decades, these workers had to work under severe working conditions. Workers had to work with shoddy equipment--equipment the city consistently refused to repair or replace...until the deaths of two sanitation workers. The tragedy ignited a response from the black community. Granted, their wages were so low that many were on welfare, but they needed their jobs regardless. They also knew that they needed to fight for their union rights and economic justice. The book is thought-provoking. Many questions come to mind. For instance, have things really changed for the poverty-stricken since the strike? Granted, many African American families have moved up the social ladder. But does this move serve to mask the injustices which still plague the poor in America? Has the rise of the middle-class made the working poor even more invisible? Looking at the devastation Hurricane Katrina left behind in the gulf was (and still is) an embarrassing, yet necessary, reminder of how the working poor continue to be invisible or just blatantly ignored. Two issues remain unresolved, and as such, continue to haunt us in the present: racism and poverty. Enjoy the following video....
The other day, I was engaged in a conversation regarding the Holocaust and who was to blame for the atrocity, why people didn't band together against Hitler and his Nazi Regime, why others didn't do more to help the Jewish community, etc. Some resentment towards Germans (even to this day) was expressed. During the time I was taking my Third Reich/Holocaust class in college, I, too, expressed these same questions. The fact that many people did not help the Jewish community more angered me. But when you study history, you have to keep a historical perspective of the past. To be sure, Hitler was a monster. But he did not force the Germans to hate the Jews. Germany had a long history of anti-Semitism. Hitler simply channeled a hatred that was already there and used it to take over the country. Another thing we need to consider is the fact that the Jews were not only hated in Germany, but across all of Europe as well. The French, for example, surprised the Germans in the summer of 1940 by taking the lead in gathering up French Jews for deportation to the East. Anti-Semitism even existed in the United States! This hatred also existed in religion. The Jews down through history (and even today) were blamed by the Christian Church for allowing the death of Christ when the Roman Governor asked them who should go free? Christ or the thief Barabbas. How many times have we heard the exclamation: They killed Jesus!...which to me is really aggravating. Anothing fact we have to consider is that Germany in the 1920s and 30s was a real mess economically. Their depression was worse than the depression we experienced. And Hitler used this situation to use the Jews as the perfect scapegoat because the bad economy had not affected the Jewish community the way it had affected the rest of Germany. The Jews owned most of the business and they were the doctors, the lawyers, and the people with the most financially. These were desperate times for Germans and they were ready to believe anything...even Hitler's ideology. When the extermination of Jews began, there were Germans who did not agree with what the Nazi Regime was doing. For those in the military that found out and hated what was happening, they could do little to help as the Gestapo and the SS would arrest them for treason for speaking against the Jewish problem (as it was referred to). Also, the extermination of Jews was the Regime's dirty little secret. Most of the general population did not know of the extermination and many only heard rumors. Then you have the religious element. It's widely known that Pope Pius XII's actions during the Holocaust remain controversial. For much of WWII, he was indifferent and remained silent while Jews were being sent to concentration camps and being tortured. He refused pleas for help on the grounds of neutrality. Granted, he sheltered a small number of Jews and spoke to a few officials, encouraging them to help the Jews (which is why Pope Benny signed a decree declaring Pius XII as "venerable," which is the first step toward canonization), but historians point out that any support Pius XII did give the Jews came AFTER 1943, once he was informed that the allies would be victorious. So any intervention by this pontiff was based on practical advantage rather than moral inclination. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that we cannot judge a whole country by the past actions of a few. The past is there for us to learn lessons from so as not to repeat the same mistakes. It would be senseless to hate a group of people for the actions of their ancestors...just like it would be senseless if I begin to hate Anglos for the way they treated the Native Americans and other minorities or all Catholics for the way Catholic missions exploited and abused the Native Americans or all heterosexuals for the bigoted perceptions of some heterosexuals of homosexuals or all religious people for the way some religious people look down upon me simply because I do not subscribe to their basic religious beliefs, i.e. a divine being, divine intervention). The other point is this: It would be unfair of us to automatically assume that, if we had lived in Germany during the time of the Holocaust, we would have been morally inclined to help the Jews. We don't know that. We'd like to think that we would have had the courage and resolve to do that...to help even if it meant our lives or the lives of our loved ones. In studying history, I have learned that not everything is cut'n'dry. To be sure, what happened to the Jews was horrific and goes beyond comprehension. But imagine yourself in Germany, and you have given refuge to a Jewish person and is hiding in your barn or whatever, and you're caught, the Gestapo has a gun to your 3-year-old daughter's head, and they are demanding to know where you have hidden the Jew, and if you don't, your child is going to get shot in the head before your eyes. What are you going to do? The child can't comprehend the moral dilemma you're being faced with. As far as the child is concerned, you're having to choose between her and the stranger hidden in the barn. What are you going to do? You cannot state with solid conviction what you would have done in a tense situation like that...anymore than you can say that you would have had the guts enough to ride a bus in the South as a Freedom Rider and risk being beaten senseless with an iron pipe or baseball bat. For me, since I'm wanting to pursue a career dealing with the study of history, I know that to be a good historian, I cannot make moral judgments. In fact, it's not the historian's job to make moral judgments. My job is to help people or students understand a world that is different in subtle but crucial ways from our own. And if we are to study history and analyze it, we cannot allow ourselves to slide over into that role because we will impose the values of the present on a past that may quack like a duck but still is not a duck.
Enough of the soapbox talk and on with the BHM lesson-- The following video is about the civil rights battle that took place in Miami, Florida, and the Turkel family, who stood up for what was right at a time when it was unpopular to do so. Would you have done the same?
Candy...flowers...cards...gifts...every February, these things are exchanged between loved ones, all in the name of St. Valentine. I could go on and on sharing quotations of love or regaling everyone with how Valentine, while in prison, is believed to have fallen in love with a young girl--who may have been his jailor's daughter--who visited him during his confinement and how, before his death, he wrote her a letter, which he signed "From your Valentine," an expression that's still used today. But I'm not going to do that. Instead, I am going to share letters of love that were sent to me years ago by my special person...letters that completely moved me on many levels. The letter was penned for me as I was getting ready to leave town in order to give "my special someone" time to clear her head and sort things out for herself. I was taking to heart the old adage: "If you love something, let it go. If it comes back, it's yours to keep. If it doesn't, it was never yours to begin with." It was one of the most difficult things I had to do.
The first letter is dated May 8, 1998: I think that this is officially the first real letter that I have written to you. First, I want to thank you for having brought so much happiness, warmth, sense, and pride into my life. Let me elaborate: Happiness...I haven't been so happy in such a long time and you made me feel like I wasn't a failure. You made me feel so secure...like I belonged. Warmth...It came when you made me feel like I wasn't an outcast...that no matter what I did, you would always be there for me. I believe that you would never turn your back on me for a second...that's so wonderful it makes me dizzy. Sense...It comes everyday, every minute, every second I'm with you. I go crazy when I'm not with you. You have your scent around here and it fills me with such an awesome feeling. My chest tightens up, my stomach does cartwheels, and my mind replays the sweetest, most intimate details of our time together. I think of what we've shared and it makes sense. Your friendship makes sense to me. Your presence in my life makes sense to me. The way you love me makes sense to me. Life makes sense to me. My sheer existence makes sense to me. Pride...You instill it in me when I think I don't possess it, when I can't imagine being able to take anymore in, and yet, there it is, you make it grow. I could move mountains. It makes me want to be the best in whatever I choose to do at the moment. Most importantly, it makes me want to be the best person that I can possibly be and, with you around, I am a fucking martyr! You make me, you make me! Yet, I can't give you what you want and it saddens me. You're not asking for much, but I can't reciprocate your feelings--not the way you deserve. I do love you though. It may not be the way you prefer, but I do care about you. I care immensely for you and I love you more than a friend would love another. I can't figure out what my problem is and why I can't give in to more than 90%, but one day, I swear to you that I will have a better and more logical explanation to give to you than "I don't know." If you decide to leave this town, I will miss you something awful. You need to know that with your departure, you take with you a big part of me, my life. You take with you that which you have given me--love, happiness, warmth, sense, and pride. Not all of it because you gave it to me first, and I will forever cherish it all, but how can I not be at a loss when the person who showered me with these special gifts is gone? It will be somewhat devastating for me. I don't know what I'll do, but it is for your benefit, and damn it, all I want you to finally be is happy. I realize that for everyday you stay here, it is one day that you don't get to spend on fulfilling your goals. I have thought long and hard about your leaving and have come to the acknowledgement that it would be too hard for you to stay. I would only be holding you back if you stayed because even if you did stay, I would always look to you for all of those mental attributes, as well as the physical comforts and that is all wrong. I won't use you like that. I care too much. You are such a beautiful person. You have such a way of handling yourself. You are a lady--all 100% woman. You have an intellect that I admire and am in awe of. You are such a great person and I am oh so fond of you. Believe that...KNOW THAT! I am so lucky to have crossed paths with you, to have somehow been able to entertain your friendship for as long as I have and for, Lord only knows how (but I thank HIM), having been fortunate enough to worm my way into your sweet, sensitive, and special heart. It is I who was truly blessed when we met on that warm October night in 1996! Can you ever know how I really feel about you? Will you ever know what you mean to me?!?! I am such an idiot for not taking all of you and running away with you. Be patient with me, but by all means, DO NOT put your life on hold. Godspeed, my Dear Friend, the best of luck to you and always B-E-L-I-E-V-E. When you feel sad and lonely, look up into the sky and know that you and I are both sharing the same stars, moon, and thoughts. I expect to hear only good things from you. You're way too smart to not pursue a college education. I BELIEVE in you. I will miss you more than I can describe. This will be hard for me, too, you know! You get to leave as I am left behind with all of the memories. You will do well wherever you go, whatever you do. I hope one day maybe you, too, can say that I instilled as many endearing emotions in you as you did in me. I will cherish our moments together from now on. I hope you can stand me. I will dote! Love You Always!
After I left town, I received the following letter dated May 28, 1998: Just sitting around and I thought I'd get a bit of drawing done. Hope you like it. It's a copy of a magazine cover that I admired about 3 years ago. It's not an exact copy, only what I could recall from memory. Anway....! I miss you. Why aren't you here? I know-I know! It's been pretty boring here, probably due to the fact that you aren't here. This letter is getting lop-sided, isn't it? So what, that's the way my life seems to be going lately. I am so confused, please be patient w/me, please! What's new in your side of the state? Nothing new here. I am just feeling nauseous from the doctor's visit! How I wish you were here! How I wish there was some magic pill I could take to help me make a quick yet rational decision. I hate knowing that I am hurting you and prolonging the inevitable. It is you who I want, you who I desire, you who I ache for, you who I adore, you who I love...In my dreams and in my time of realization...It is YOU!!! You do complete me. You are me. I cannot breathe when I'm not with you. I am utterly, completely, and infinitely in love with you! I'll send you a longer letter as soon as possible. I miss you something awful! Take care of #1 for #1! Love always!
Next (and last) letter is dated June 10, 1998: All that I know is that I miss you terribly. My head is not in its right frame when you're not around. I guess I shouldn't depend so much on you to bring this serenity into my life because it really should be a feeling that I should be able to bring upon myself. But why is it that I find myself unable to accomplish this task on my own? Do you really want to get yourself mixed up with someone like me? I miss you. I am not whole without you. I try searching for myself, you know, the person who used to be able to cope with being by herself, but she is long gone. She has gone into an abyss that is so deep and so difficult to understand that mere mortals dare not try to venture into. You are my Angel (my special gift), and I find myself following you, no matter where you go. I have followed so fast and without fear that it is this abyss that we are both in. I am neither scared nor confused. It is you who I want to be with. I don't want to pursue a life without you in it--as my friend/lover. You have made me see that our love is so strong, so rare, so precious that it has, in turn, made us immortal. We will cease to exist as owners of human bodies, but our love will burn on--forever...infinitely. It is our love that others envy because they don't understand. But we understand it. We've been given such a precious gift, a gift of looking into a future where love never dies, passion never ends, and respect and honor never falter. That is a special gift and I am grateful for it. I never want to find myself trying to plan things with my spare time if it means that you won't be by my side. I want your presence in my life to be constant. I want to be the most selfish S.O.B. when it comes to sharing your time. I want to be very prolific in making our love last, in making it grow, and in making you fall in love with me over and over, 1440 minutes/day. I want you to not be afraid of finding yourself in that abyss because you are there with me, because you in turn adore me just as much as I do you, because you believe in me--in us--just as much as I do. I want you to be courageous in venturing into that unknown because, although you made me brave enough to follow you into it first, it is I who would be honored, who will protect you to my death, if you allow me to lead the way for the rest of our mortal lives. I love you!
NEWSFLASH!!!!!!!! Today President Clinton was admitted to the hospital after feeling discomfort in his chest. Following a visit to his cardiologist, he underwent a procedure to place two stents in one of his coronary arteries. But alas, my Bill is in good spirits, and will continue to focus on the work of his Foundation and Haiti's relief. Here's hoping you get to feeling 100% Bill!!!!! NEWSFLASH TO THOSE DIMWITS WHO THINK GLOBAL WARMING IS A FAIRY TALE!!!!!! Washington D.C.'s getting slammed by record snowfall right now, which means we have to suffer through a flurry of Al Gore jokes and Republicans snorting about how this proves global warming is all fake. And uh...no...Al Gore is not hybernating! It's worth noting the U.S. Global Change Research Program actually predicted stronger winter storms for the Northeast. So...what a bunch of ignorant hotheads. It IS happening, and every one of you fools who sticks your head in the sand should be strapped to a fence in your skivvies and forced to endure every last one of these nor'easter snowstorms back to back. The whole point is that weather phenomena, should current trends continue, will generally be more extreme--worse storms, worse droughts. The science has been there for quite a while, for those willing to get their heads out of their arses long enough to read without their thumb-sucking intellectual blinders and bigotries getting in the way. I agree with what my former professor posted in his blog...these people are nothing more than "fucking morons"!
In my last post, I failed to include the book by Elizabeth Jacoway....Turn Away Thy Son: Little Rock, the Crisis That Shocked the Nation. My reading of Jacoway's book inspired me to travel to Little Rock to tour Central High School. In her book, she argues that, although power and politics played their usual roles in the crisis, a white fear of miscegenation was the most important factor of the integration crisis. The fact that Jacoway is personally connected to some of the key players of the Little Rock crisis makes her account even more interesting. Her uncle, Virgil Blossom, was the school superindendent. Also, because Jacoway was a Little Rock student during the integration crisis, she is able to present a story from an insider's point of view. In my Civil Rights Movement graduate class, we had the unique opportunity of emailing Jacoway some of our questions. One of my former classmates asked, "Did your closeness to the events and subjects of the book pose any difficulties in the writing process?" In an age where most people family loyalty is the most important value, I was rather curious how Jacoway would answer this question. I loved her answer: "The Blossom daughters (her Uncle Virgil's daughters), my second cousins, feel that I have betrayed them and soiled their father's legacy, and of course this is disturbing to me...But after you turn sixty you begin to realize that your time is limited, and that you'd better decide what is important in life and what you have to give. I prize family above all else, but one of the key values in my family is the pursuit of truth. I believe I have held true to that value." Jacoway had tried to abandon this project years before, but the project would not let her do it. Her reason: "...because I am committed to the notion that we cannot correct the errors of the past unless we know what they are. We cannot heal unless we name the disease."
The next lesson...The Black Panther Party. Most people have negative perceptions of the Black Panthers. I have heard them dubbed as the "Klan With A Tan." 'Course, this remark came from someone who sees nothing wrong with the Confederate Flag. Before taking my Civil Rights Movement class, I didn't know what to think about the Black Panthers. To be sure, I thought they were a violent and rascist group. For my class, I read Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America by Peniel E. Joseph. Joseph places three characters at the center of the black power movement: Malcolm X, a black Muslim leader who believed that racial justice for blacks should be achieved by "any means necessary," Stokely Carmichael, who coined the term "black power" and condoned the use of violence to achieve revolution and independence, and the Black Panther Party, an organization of militant black civil rights activists founded in Oakland, California by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. The black power philosophy appealed to many African Americans who were disillusioned by the continued racism in America. Blacks still earned lower wages than whites, black neighborhoods experienced higher crime rates, and racial discrimination was business as usual. Understandably, young blacks wanted social change and they wanted it now. They felt MLK's methods were not good enough...fast enough.
In case you are interested in reading Joseph's book, below is a picture of the cover.
Today's special is the Little Rock Nine. During March 2009, Dora and I traveled to Little Rock, Arkansas for my Spring Break vacation. Besides touring the Clinton Presidential Library (and we highly recommend it), we visited Little Rock Central High School and its Visitors' Center across the street. It was surreal. As I crossed the street to the campus, I imagined the National Guard, the angry mob, and the nine brave students who faced the angry mob with courage, strength, and determination. When you think about the Little Rock crisis, ask yourself: Would you have had the same courage, strength, and determination to face such adversity? These young men and women were threatened with harsh, physical violence. Change has to start somewhere...with someone. Parents, would you have had the courage, strength, and determination to send your child to Central High? I have great admiration for people who stand by their principles and values against all odds. We owe a great deal to the Little Rock Nine and their parents and mentors who stood beside them!!!! Dr. King once said, "I am not scared of the word 'tension.'" The Little Rock Nine demonstrated the same bravery. Thank you Little Rock Nine!!!!!!
First thing's first--February birthday shout-outs go to: Ramona Talamantez Garcia (my grandmother's 85th) from Pecos, TX...Feb. 4th Michelle Hernandez (Dora's niece) from Big Spring, TX...Feb. 9th Celeste Martinez (Dora's great-niece and Michelle's daughter) from Big Spring, TX...Feb. 26th Rain Ryan Garcia (my uncle) from San Antonio, TX...Feb. 28th
February is here. As usual, everyone is making plans for that special day when "I love you's" are heard every second of the day...the candlelit dinners, the cards, the flowers, the candy, the kisses, you name it. But it's not just a time to celebrate Valentine's Day or President's day. It is also Black History month and if you don't think that has any significance to you because you may not be African American, then you are seriously mistaken. History, regardless of the type, touches EVERYONE. If you know anything about the Civil Rights Movement, you will know that the Greensboro 4 will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2010. Who are the Greensboro 4? The brave youngsters who were determined to eat at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro! Dora a great video clip of this incident on her political blog. During this month, we are also reminded of the courageous Freedom Riders. As a grad student, I had the privilege of assisting one of my former professors with his book Freedom's Main Line: The Journey of Reconciliation and the Freedom Rides. Another grad student and I developed the index, which was fun and challenging. The book is a great read and the experiences of the Freedom Riders is truly inspiring. They were bold and they were brave. These rides were intricately planned to the very last detail. And these plans were carried out with such determination on behalf of social justice, equality, and freedom; hence the name Freedom Rides.
Speaking of civil rights, I'd like to touch upon the civil rights of the LGBT community. President Obama alluded to the gay and lesbian community in his State of the Union Address when he said he would work with Congress and our military to "repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are." These means repealing the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy that has proven to be a complete failure. Personally, I have only one problem with that. Obama may have urged Congress to repeal the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, but he did not make a commitment to suspend the practice in the interim nor issued a deadline. Time is of the essence Mr. President. Without a moratorium on the witch hunts and expulsions, lip service just won't cut it. More attention and more leadership is required to win repeal. Gays and lesbians are not second-class citizens and our rights are not second-term problems. Please do remember that the gay and lesbian vote helped you win in 2008. We do have a voice and will use it to the fullest extent. Think about it Mr. Presidsent. Your relationship with us thus far has been rocky at best. It certainly didn't help when you invited evangelist Rick Warren, a supporter of California's Prop 8, to participate in your Inauguration. Bad move Barack! As for the remainder of the Address, I enjoyed it. But I've got my eye on you.
