SEE NO EVIL (REVISITING CHARLOTTESVILLE AS METAPHOR)
The statues you’re defending are of men who erased my history. –Kevin S. Aldridge, opinion editor, Cincinnati Enquirer
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Rick Borden said of his son, Daniel Borden, who (along with others) beat up an unarmed black man, “I absolutely don’t think my son did anything wrong.” Daniel’s mother called reports of her son’s actions “fake news” (sound familiar?). The beating victim was left with a concussion, eight staples in his head, a broken wrist, and other injuries. And we wonder why the son of such a father and mother grows up with moral blinders.
That beating wasn’t the only violent act committed in Charlottesville, Virginia, during that white supremacist rally in August 2017. An avowed neo-Nazi deliberately drove his car into rally-protesters, injuring dozens and killing 32-year old protester Heather Heyer. Her offense: actively opposing the alt-right’s racism. In her last Facebook post before her death, she had said of her activism: If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention.
Last month, Heyer’s killer was sentenced to life in prison. As for Daniel Borden, he was sentenced last week. The particulars? In the words of the old idiom, “Read ’em and weep”:
https://www.c-ville.com/daniel-borden-2/
Around the time of the Charlottesville madness, the opinion editor (a black man) who was quoted at the beginning of this post, wrote an editorial titled YOUR HERITAGE BEING ERASED? WELCOME TO THE CLUB. It included these words:
“There’s been a lot of consternation among some folks about this growing movement to take down Confederate statues and monuments across the United States. Even President Trump has joined the chorus of laments that removing these monuments is an attempt to erase or rewrite history and rob certain people of their Southern culture and heritage.”
“But here’s the thing that some people don’t seem to get or want to acknowledge: These monuments pay tribute to individuals who took away and erased the history of Africans through slavery, through the killing and slaughtering of innocents, through the destruction of black families by way of rape and separation – all in the name of cruelty, white supremacy, exploitation and greed.”
“How would I like my history taken away?”
“Been there and done that, sir.”
“Most African-Americans in this country will never know the true history of our ancestors. Much of our heritage was lost when our forefathers were densely packed into slave ships and transported across the Atlantic to be sold like common goods. Many of them died and their individual histories along with them. And those who survived….had their native, ancestral names stripped from them and replaced with the ones slave masters wanted them to have.”
“Much of our African heritage has been irretrievably lost to the ravages and ruthlessness of callous individuals and traitors to this nation, such as General Lee, who fought to maintain the deplorable and murderous system of slavery. Now there are some who want to romanticize, revere and commemorate them as heroes.”
“Well, excuse me if I’m not willing to buy that brand. Forgive me if I don’t shed a tear for your loss. Sorry if it ruins some quaint childhood memory.”
“All I can say is, welcome to the club.”
Are YOU paying attention?
calmkate 6:50 am on January 13, 2019 Permalink |
powerful words and so true … we must honour those who were killed and raped, not the perps!
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mistermuse 9:28 am on January 13, 2019 Permalink |
You couldn’t be more right, Kate.
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masercot 7:18 am on January 13, 2019 Permalink |
Same thing happened to my family as they were marched from their tribal lands across the country. We lost eighty percent of our family on that march. AND, if that wasn’t bad enough, they settled us in Oklahoma…
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mistermuse 9:35 am on January 13, 2019 Permalink |
Thank you for reminding us that many European migrants to America centuries ago weren’t satisfied with what they did to African slaves — they grossly mistreated native Americans as well.
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D. Wallace Peach 4:19 pm on January 13, 2019 Permalink |
Thank you for this post. The racism espoused and encouraged by our “president” has exposed an ugly underside of American culture, and we all should be concerned. My husband is African American and records of his family only go back to 1865 (I wonder why? Hmm). We recently had our DNA ancestry done, and he discovered that he is 56% European! But he knows of no mixed marriages since the Civil War. To me, his discovery speaks to the despicable prevalence of rape and rape and rape, generations of rape. I can’t even contemplate the accompanying rape of children. Take down those statues, and while we’re at it, take down the statues of anyone who participated in the genocide of Native Americans, another travesty that white Americans have refused to acknowledge. You hit a hot button for me. Thank you.
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mistermuse 6:07 pm on January 13, 2019 Permalink |
Thanks, Diana. I wrote this yesterday (& posted it overnight) because no one else (that I knew of) said it, and I strongly felt it needed to be said. Imagine my surprise this morning when I read today’s Cincinnati Enquirer and saw a similar article about the Bordens titled HIS KID IS GUILTY, YET ‘HE DID NOTHING WRONG’ by Enquirer columnist Byron McCauley, a black man and fellow member (with Kevin Aldridge) of the editorial board.
As a white man, I am proud to associate myself with Mr. McCauley, yourself and other commenters in calling attention to this “ugly underside of American culture.”
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Rosaliene Bacchus 4:47 pm on January 13, 2019 Permalink |
I would recommend for reading, BARRACOON: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo” by Zora Neale Hurston, published in 2018.
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mistermuse 6:28 pm on January 13, 2019 Permalink |
Thanks for the recommendation, Rosaliene. This led me to check out two ‘excellent reviews’ of the book online, one of which praised everything about the book except the title. Perhaps that reviewer didn’t know the meaning of BARRACOON, which I learned from the other reviewer is “a word for the barracks built near the coast [of Africa], where the enslaved were kept until they boarded the ships.”
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Richard Cahill 1:36 pm on January 14, 2019 Permalink |
Trump–worst President since Jefferson Davis.
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mistermuse 4:56 pm on January 14, 2019 Permalink |
….or since Attila the Hun. But at least Attila didn’t use Twitter.
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Resa 4:37 pm on January 15, 2019 Permalink |
A sad commentary about rights and freedoms.
Your supreme leader is wracking havoc everywhere, even up here in Canada.
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mistermuse 10:22 am on January 16, 2019 Permalink |
….and a sad commentary about Americans voters who elected him and right-wing sycophants who empower him.
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Resa 6:03 pm on January 16, 2019 Permalink
It seems to spreading around the world. I suppose trumpo didn’t start it, but he has sure empowered the right.
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Eliza 12:37 pm on January 18, 2019 Permalink |
This post just made me sad. And reinforced why I don’t read the news. I know it’s important to know what goes on, but mostly it’s just so full of sad stuff. Stuff like this. The innocent being hurt. The good being bullied. And there is so much good out there too! But is it written about??? It’s actually why I love WATWB – posting something good from the news once a month (I wonder if it’s still happening or not)
Lotsa love and light…
Keep paying attention!
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mistermuse 2:18 pm on January 18, 2019 Permalink |
I can’t say that I blame you for not reading the news. It’s not easy for a person who has their heart and head on straight to make sense of those who don’t. I suppose the only way to deal with it is to accept that the world is full of altruists, scumbags, and a wide range of in-between….and do our best to fight off the scumbags and encourage the better angels of the in-between. The battle is never-ending and often discouraging, but must be fought. Giving up/in is unthinkable, or all is lost.
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America On Coffee 8:38 pm on May 25, 2019 Permalink |
Awful!
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