Selma! 50 Years Later: "Remember, Recommit, and Restore."

The first Black U.S. President of three of the most important civil rights milestones in America's tortured racial history, President Obama and his family will pay homage, again: 

• In 2013,  President Obama spoke at the 50th anniversary celebration of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
• Last year, President Obama addressed the 50th anniversary of the signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act by President Lyndon B. Johnson.
• Today, President  Obama and his family will lead a tribute at the Edmund Pettus Bridge to mark the 50th anniversary of what became known as "Bloody Sunday," when police set upon scores of people marching from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery, Alabama, to protest their inability to vote, clobbering and tear-gassing them until they were bloody.

"We should be commemorating Selma, but today the cause for celebration has been marred by Shelby," Jackson said, referring to the 2013 Supreme Court ruling that resulted in the high court calling on Congress to revise the formula used to decide which communities should require federal approval before changing voting rules. Congress has yet to do so.
Jackson said that the Shelby ruling amounted to "taking away the keys but leaving us with the car."

"We are at a critical moment," said Bernice King, CEO of the King Center and Martin Luther King Jr.'s youngest daughter. "We can keep reacting, or we can finally make some critical changes like they did in the '50s and '60s."

On March 7, 1965 nearly 500 civil rights marchers were beaten back by police officers equipped with tear gas and clubs as they tried to cross the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. On March 21, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., led a five-day march with crowds growing to 25,000 in a federally supported march for equality. The 54 mile march directly impacted the signing of Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

Countless American heroes whose names are not in the history books, that are not etched on marble somewhere — ordinary men and women from all corners of this nation, all walks of life, black and white, rich and poor, students, scholars, maids, ministers — all who marched and who sang and organized to change this country for the better. 

Today, Selma still struggles to overcome its legacy.The city's population has declined by about 40 percent to 20,000 in the last 50 years and Dallas County's unemployment rate is nearly double the state average. Public schools in Selma are nearly all black; most whites go to private schools. Blacks lead the annual "Bloody Sunday" commemoration; whites lead an annual re-enactment of the 1865 "Battle of Selma" to attract Civil War re-enactors.

From March 5th through the 9th, all eyes will once again be on Selma as The Bridge Crossing Jubilee commemorates the 50th Anniversary of Bloody Sunday with a weekend of reflection around the theme  "Remember, Recommit, and Restore."

Thousands are expected to attend the festivities including U.S.Presidents, congressional representatives, national personalities, and entertainers. 

The Color Doll Experiments...Where are we today?

The Color Doll Experiments 

The Clarks' doll experiments grew out of Mamie Clark's master's degree thesis. They published three major papers between 1939 and 1940 on children's self-perception related to race. Their studies found contrasts among Black children attending segregated schools in Washington, DC versus those in integrated schools in New York.  The doll experiment involved a child being presented with two dolls. Both of these dolls were completely identical except for the skin and hair color. One doll was white with yellow hair, while the other was brown with black hair. The child was then asked questions inquiring as to which one is the doll they would play with, which one is the nice doll, which one looks bad, which one has the nicer color, etc. The experiment showed a clear preference for the white doll among all children in the study. These findings exposed internalized racism in Black children, self-hatred that was more acute among children attending segregated schools. This research also paved the way for an increase in psychological research into areas of self-esteem and self-concept.  Have our minds been changed?

today

yesterday

Free but not Equal? Are we going back?

Now we are free. What do we want? We want education; we want protection; we want plenty of work; we want good pay for it, but not any more or less than any one else...and then you will see the down-trodden race rise up.

—John Adams, a former slave   Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot. —Frederick Douglass, 1865 We went every day about nine o’clock, with our books wrapped in paper to prevent the police or white persons from seeing them...After school we left the same way we entered, one by one, when we would go to the square about a block from school, and wait for each other. —Susie King, who attended a secret school in Savannah, Georgia Have we really actually been free?

Happy Valentine's Day--Love is In the Air!

Love Is Such a Beautiful Thing

 

How Do I Really Move On After A Breakup?

Unfortunately, there is no quick fix to a painful breakup, but there are a few things you can do to try and ease the emotional pain.

Love is such a beautiful thing, but if you find that you are physically, mentally, emotionally, financially and sexually drained, you are fighting for love with the wrong person, now you are beginning to know, feel, and think that love hurts. Reality has now set in and you now are at the fork in the road; your relationship has ended and your heart is fully broken, now you may find that it is difficult to find that happy place you once were in before, thinking, feeling, wondering, asking, what will my family, friends, and co-workers think and sometimes all of the emotional craziness begin, shame, guilt, pity party and mentally, physically, and spiritually hiding.  Let’s get started!

Get Walking…..Exercise!

Exercise is like natural pain killers and are far healthier than brewing. Exercising is one of the best ways to produce this natural pain killers. Working up a sweat is not only great for your physical health, but your emotional health, too. So get to it!

Avoid Becoming a Glutton for Punishment.

After a breakup, memory lane during a break-up phase is a dead end. Do not become a stalker via social media or through any other means of communication.  Do not try to get the latest gossip through their friends, and do not re-read old love notes and texts, delete and trash them all.  When you are trying to mend a broken heart it is best to avoid everything that has to do with him or her and anything that reminds you of him or her.

Go through the Grieving Period.

But do not stay there!  What is done is done. Sometimes when it is over, it is over, and it is what it is, over!  Then you forget why you ended it and the emotional craziness start all over again. Then you start having doubts about your decision. Then you start thinking, “I cannot live without him or her” or “What is wrong with me?” This is called the grieving period, the rough time, but keep going forward and do not look back; do not back track. Think of yourself, your worth, and who you are! Then comes the breakthrough!  Re-vamp your living space and work space. Begin to re-invent your life imagine a new you and become that new you.   

Remember who loves you.

Your love ones! Call your friends and family and tell them about the new you.  Now you are in a position to uplift their spirit and maybe even make them smile.  Or better yet, become the sounding board or great buffer for them during a hard time.  And as the old saying goes, “It is better to have loved and lost, then to have never loved at all”. Give love another chance for the first time.

The white-only clause: Charlie Sifford, first black golfer on PGA Tour, Joins the Circle of Ancestor

A personal note:  Charlie taught my niece golf lessons while he and his wonderful wife lived in Hurston, Texas.  Maybe one day she and my nephew will pick up their golf clubs again and pursue their greatness….

Charlie Sifford, who only wanted a chance to play and broke the color barrier in golf as the first PGA Tour member, died Tuesday night, the PGA of America said.Sifford, who recently had suffered a stroke, was 92.  "His love of golf, despite many barriers in his path, strengthened him as he became a beacon for diversity in our game,"  "By his courage, Dr. Sifford inspired others to follow their dreams. Golf was fortunate to have had this exceptional American in our midst." A proud man who endured racial taunts and threats, Sifford set modest goals and achieved more than he imagined.  Sifford challenged the white-only clause and the PGA rescinded it in 1961. He won the Greater Hartford Open in 1967 and the Los Angeles Open in 1969. He also won the 1975 Senior PGA Championship, five years before the Champions Tour was created.  His career was fully recognized in 2004 when he became the first Black inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Last November, President Barack Obama presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer are the only other golfers who received that honor. Charlie won tournaments, but more important, he broke a barrier,” and what Charlie Sifford brought to the game has been monumental.

The one goal that eluded him was a chance to play in the Masters, which did not invite its first Black player until Lee Elder in 1975. Sifford remained bitter, though the pain was eased when Tiger Woods won the first of his four green jackets in 1997.

The road was never easy.

Sifford was born on June 22, 1922 in Charlotte, North Carolina. He worked as a caddie and dominated the all-black United Golfers Association, winning five straight national titles. He longed to play against the best players, only to run into the same barriers that Teddy Rhodes and Bill Spiller faced — the white-only clause.  In his autobiography, "Just Let Me Play," Sifford told of meeting Jackie Robinson in California about the time Robinson was trying to break the color barrier in baseball.  "He asked me if I was a quitter," Sifford wrote. "I told him no. He said, 'If you're not a quitter, you're probably going to experience some things that will make you want to quit.'"  During the 1952 Phoenix Open, one of the few events that Blacks could play, Sifford found human feces in the cup when he got to the first green. He received death threats over the phone at the 1961 Greater Greensboro Open and heard racial slurs as he walked the fairways. He finished fourth, and didn't quit.  During his induction ceremony, Sifford told of his first meeting with Palmer. They were playing in the 1955 Canadian Open and Sifford opened with a 63 to lead Palmer by one shot. He recalled Palmer standing in front of the scoreboard saying, "Charlie Sifford? How the hell did he shoot 63?" "I'm standing right behind him," Sifford said. "I said, 'The same damn way you shot 64.' That's how we met."  Sifford was proud of the role in played in making the PGA Tour accessible to Blacks. “If I hadn't acted like a professional when they sent me out, if I did something crazy, there would never be any Blacks playing," he said. "I toughed it out. I'm proud of it. All those people were against me, and I'm looking down on them now."

"Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine"

Ernest "Ernie" Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was an American professional baseball player. He was a Major League Baseball (MLB) shortstop and first baseman for 19 seasons, 1953 through 1971. He spent his entire MLB career with the Chicago Cubs. He was a National League (NL) All-Star for 11 seasons, playing in 14 All-Star Games.^[1] Banks is regarded by some as one of the greatest players of all time.^[2][3][4]
Banks, born and raised in Dallas, entered Negro league baseball in 1950, playing for the Kansas City Monarchs. He served in the US military for two years and returned to the Monarchs before beginning his major league career in September 1953. Banks made his first MLB All-Star Game appearance in 1955. He received two consecutive National League Most Valuable Player awards in 1958 and 1959, and received his first and only Gold Glove award for shortstop in 1960.
He was transferred to the left field position during the 1961 season followed by a final change to first base that year. Cubs manager Leo Durocher became frustrated with Banks in the mid-1960s, saying that the slugger's performance was faltering, but he felt that he was unable to remove Banks from the lineup due to the star's popularity among Cubs fans. Banks was a player-coach from 1967 through 1971. In 1970, Banks hit his 500th career home run. In 1972, he joined the Cubs coaching staff after his retirement as a player.
Banks was active in the Chicago community during and after his tenure with the Cubs. He founded a charitable organization, became the first black Ford Motor Company dealer in the United States, and made an unsuccessful bid for a local political office. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977. In 1999, he was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2013, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to sports. Banks lived in the Los Angeles area.

The United States is approaching a new crisis in race relations.

The United States is approaching a new crisis in race relations.
In the decade that began with the school desegregation decision of the Supreme Court, and ended with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the demand of Negro Americans for full recognition of their civil rights was finally met.
The effort, no matter how savage and brutal, of some State and local governments to thwart the exercise of those rights is doomed. The nation will not put up with it — least of all the Negroes. The present moment will pass. In the meantime, a new period is beginning.
In this new period the expectations of the Negro Americans will go beyond civil rights. Being Americans, they will now expect that in the near future equal opportunities for them as a group will produce roughly equal results, as compared with other groups. This is not going to happen. Nor will it happen for generations to come unless a new and special effort is made.
There are two reasons. First, the racist virus in the American blood stream still afflicts us: Negroes will encounter serious personal prejudice for at least another generation. Second, three centuries of sometimes unimaginable mistreatment have taken their toll on the Negro people. The harsh fact is that as a group, at the present time, in terms of ability to win out in the competitions of American life, they are not equal to most of those groups with which they will be competing. Individually, Negro Americans reach the highest peaks of achievement. But collectively, in the spectrum of American ethnic and religious and regional groups, where some get plenty and some get none, where some send eighty percent of their children to college and others pull them out of school at the 8th grade, Negroes are among the weakest.
The most difficult fact for white Americans to understand is that in these terms the circumstances of the Negro American community in recent years has probably been getting worse, not better.
Indices of dollars of income, standards of living, and years of education deceive. The gap between the Negro and most other groups in American society is widening.
The fundamental problem, in which this is most clearly the case, is that of family structure. The evidence — not final, but powerfully persuasive — is that the Negro family in the urban ghettos is crumbling. A middle class group has managed to save itself, but for vast numbers of the unskilled, poorly educated city working class the fabric of conventional social relationships has all but disintegrated. There are indications that the situation may have been arrested in the past few years, but the general post war trend is unmistakable. So long as this situation persists, the cycle of poverty and disadvantage will continue to repeat itself.
The thesis of this blog is that these events, in combination, confront the nation with a new kind of problem. Measures that have worked in the past, or would work for most groups in the present, will not work here. A national effort is required that will give a unity of purpose to the many activities of the Federal government in this area, directed to a new kind of national goal: the establishment of a stable Negro family structure.
This would be a new departure for Federal policy. And a difficult one. But it almost certainly offers the only possibility of resolving in our time what is, after all, the nation's oldest, and most intransigent, and now its most dangerous social problem. What Gunnar Myrdal said in An American Dilemma remains true today: "America is free to chose whether the Negro shall remain her liability or become her opportunity."