Why we should remember 1619
Amanda Brickell Bellows, August 18, 2019, The Washington Post
Four hundred years ago, the first Africans set foot on mainland
English America. Held as captives first on a Portuguese slave ship and
then an English privateer, they had endured a grueling journey across
the Atlantic Ocean during the summer of 1619. They traveled
from present-day Angola to Point Comfort, Va., where they were sold to
the colonists of Jamestown. The arrival of enslaved Africans in colonial
Virginia would shape not only the future of Jamestown, but also the
subsequent development of the United States.
On this anniversary, we should acknowledge slavery’s deep roots
and recognize the significant role that captive and free African
Americans have played in building the United States of today. During the
nation’s earliest days, economics and racism intersected
to launch the insidious institution that would bring fortune and
privilege to some and inequality, violence and death to others. As
enslaved laborers, African Americans’ backbreaking work supported
colonial economic growth and enriched slave traders, merchants
and their owners. Striving for freedom, African Americans fought for
emancipation and the abolition of slavery. During Reconstruction and the
civil rights movement, they secured significant constitutional and
legislative changes that expanded rights for all
Americans, a struggle that continues today.
continue
Think so?
absolute power depends on absolute control over knowledge, which in turn necessitates absolute corruption
Think about this
“Politicians, Priests, and psychiatrists often face the same problem: how to find the most rapid and permanent means of changing a man’s belief…The problem of the doctor and his nervously ill patient, and that of the religious leader who sets out to gain and hold new converts, has now become the problem of whole groups of nations, who wish not only to confirm certain political beliefs within their boundaries, but to proselytize the outside world.”
– William Sargant “Battle of the Mind”
Popular posts from this blog
The truth about Jackson’s savagery was just as disturbing as the fake news. After a particularly bloody battle in 1814, Andrew Jackson’s men counted the dead Indians by cutting off their noses. They collected 557 noses. and... (this comment) Jackson ran an ad in the Nashville Gazette, in October, 1804, for the capture of a runaway slave, which stated that in addition to the reward, he would pay an extra $10 per 100 lashes (up to 300), to anyone who willing to inflict them upon his miscreant property. He was known to hold a vengeful lifetime grudge against anyone whom he felt had slighted him, regardless of how minor the supposed offense. His betrayal the Choctow tribe, whom he persuaded to become American allies over the British during the war of 1812, culminated in the “Indian Removal Act” (Trail of Tears), of which he took personal responsiblity to see implemented, resulted in the death of thousands of men, women and children. It’s no surprise that the current occupant of the Wh
Press "Sam Pollard’s sobering and essential documentary recounts the government’s efforts to blackmail, discredit, and otherwise disempower Martin Luther King, Jr. during the height of the Civil Rights movement..." —INDIEWIRE "This film seems like one of the most urgent titles on the festival beat this year." —VANITY FAIR "Sam Pollard is back with a new documentary, and it may be the best of this year’s very impressive slate." —ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY "Pollard's 'MLK/FBI' is more than an eye-opening look at an icon...it’s a critical chapter that should be imprinted inside every white American’s heart." —THE PLAYLIST "Director Sam Pollard's illuminating and infuriating documentary focuses on how dirty tricks were used to undermine the work and influence of civil-rights leader Martin Luther King Jr." —USA TODAY
In the two years leading up to the riot, bombs were thrown at two dozen homes of black Chicagoans. The police solved none of these crimes. A 6-year-old girl named Garnetta Ellis died in one explosion. And early in the summer of 1919, several attacks on blacks by white mobs were reported on the South Side. “It looks very much like Chicago is trying to rival the South in its race hatred against the Negro,” the renowned black journalist Ida B. Wells wrote in a letter published by the Tribune on July 7, 1919. “Will no action be taken to prevent these lawbreakers until further disaster has occurred?” Twenty days later, her words would prove prophetic. Source: In Their Own Words: The 1919 Race Riot
Comments