| Author | Message | ||
     Thumper Veteran Poster Username: Thumper Post Number: 839 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hello All, I Wasn't able to attend the BEA this year(family emergency) so I've been dealing with my little side garden and my mother's rock garden, it's a long story but to make it short, she unwittingly had a piece of her yard tilled up that use to be an alley. So, after seeing some of the gravel, I went ahead and planted the seeds before it rained. After 2 and a half days of rain ALL OF THE GRAVEL CAMETO THE SURFACE!! But God is good because the plants came up. I've been dealing with seedlings for two weeks. I can't wait for fresh vegetables, just like Michelle O told us to do! *LOL* Anyway, in the mean time, I started reading Cloudsplitter by Russell Banks. It's a thick book. The novel is about John Brown. Why isn't John BroWn celebrated? | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 7979 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
Why isn't John Brown celebrated? (John Brown ain't celebrated because he thought the only way that Black people could be free was through violence, violence primarily against other white people, and he said the sins of this nation could be washed away only by blood, and he was proved right in 1861-65, and he killed pro slavery men and their boys in cold blood, and he tried to seize a federal arsenal and raise a violent revolt among the slaves, something most white people, even if anti slavery, would have been horrified by, when they offered to cut him a deal that would save his life and renounce all that he told them to bring it. Many white people thought that way then and approved and supported him That ain't the message today. You might make some waves by making the study of John Brown a cause celebre... | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 7980 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
John Brown's Body by Stephen Vincent Benet http://www.gdg.org/Research/Authored%20Items/benet.htm | ||
| Carey AALBC .com Platinum Poster Username: Carey Post Number: 1931 Registered: 05-2004 Rating: |
Good point Chris, Along those lines I can think of a few more "why don'ts". At the top: Why don't we have a Malcolm X holiday? Why don't we hear about Fred Hampton as often as we hear about Waco Texas? Why don't we have a Black Panthers day? Why don't we ban the flying of the confederate flag? Why don't we Celebrate Huey and Angela Davis? Why don't we have streets named H Rap Brown & Stokley Carmicheal? Why don't people stop closing their eyes to the truth? | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13776 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
The truth is that setting aside special days to recognize black activists would open the door for white militant right wingers to demand equal time for their leaders. This country has to discourage divisivenes in order to survive. The pen is mightier than the sword and writing about the injustices of the past provides a viable alternative. | ||
| Cynique "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Cynique Post Number: 13779 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
BTW, Chicago did name one of its city colleges after Malcolm X. And my home town which is also the home town of black panter Fred Hampton named its public swimming pool after him. | ||
| Thumper Veteran Poster Username: Thumper Post Number: 840 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
Hello All, But, did it not take violence to free the slaves (according to some, I say it had to do more with state succession)? I don't know about you all, but I would call The Civil War violent. | ||
| Soul_sister Regular Poster Username: Soul_sister Post Number: 98 Registered: 01-2004 Rating: N/A |
My people, you know I have to chime in. I LOVE all the earlier posts and they are justified observations on the man. Why is John Brown not celebrated because he was an embarrasment to white people of his time and afterward. PBS had a good documentary on him John Brown's Holy War - the show was the American Experience - on the PBS website they states: "Martyr, madman, murderer, hero: John Brown remains one of history's most controversial and misunderstood figures. In the 1850s, he and his ragtag guerrilla group embarked on a righteous crusade against slavery that was based on religious faith -- yet carried out with shocking violence. His execution set off a chain of events that led to the Civil War." Brown was a religious zealot and harmed his own family when they did not "obey" the spiritual laws that he asserted were right. Moreover, there were people such as Frances Harper and Frederick Douglass who implored him to think about the repercussions his actions would have on his family and others "associated" with his mission. I have no problem with one willing to sacrifice for a cause - however, when you conscript others - his own children in the mix that is a bit selfish. His widow was a destitue outcast after his martyrdom. Ultimately, his legacy is drenched in blood and black on black betryal. For many of us white and black his personal quirks are numerous and often to large to overlook and become an acceptable "historical hero" Peace Soul Sister ps - Carey, Im feeling you on the Fred Hampton thing -- that brother paid the ultimate price. Along with many others, known and yet-to-be known | ||
| Chrishayden "Cyniquian" Level Poster Username: Chrishayden Post Number: 7982 Registered: 03-2004 Rating: N/A |
Along those lines I can think of a few more "why don'ts". At the top: Why don't we have a Malcolm X holiday? ETC--) *****White folks are never going to go along with that--but we don't need them to have this and other days. Do Jews drop everything because only they celebrate Rosh Hashonah? Nope. We can have all those things ourselves. Just designate a day and do some things.**** |
