Category: Culture

Trash Day

 

 

The strong, nearly intoxicating

Smell of burning trash

Comes to me past a state park,

an ancient river that gave this
place its name,

3 creeks,

a gorgeous pond,

and half a medium-sized city.

 

 

At least

That’s what my imagination tells
me.

I want to believe that if the
trash burners truly exist

They live in spheres separate from
mine

There can be no points of mutual
reference

No chance that I’ll take the
parking spot they covet

Or that they could snag the last
copy of the Gazette where I stop

For my coffeedonutpaper

No.

Not those folks.

People who are my bogeymen

These fearsome apparitions.

 

 

I know all about the east side of
this not so large town.

The pond I’ve heard about,

Those several creeks that may be
only a windy one,

The valley where a river ran dry,

And the state park I’m afraid to
visit.

 

 

© Gayle Force Press 2002

 

 

February 21 Malcolm X

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Malcolm X

 

 

"I don't favor violence. If we could bring about recognition and respect of our people by peaceful means, well and good. Everybody would like to reach his objectives peacefully. But I'm also a realist. The only people in this country who are asked to be nonviolent are black people."

 

– Malcolm X 

 

 

Malcolm X is a critically underappreciated and tragically
misunderstood figure in American history. Often, he’s still tarred with the
kind of labels J. Edgar Hoover used to describe him. What many people fail to
recognize is that Malcolm X worked relentlessly to improve life for Black
people in America. That was his focus.

 

 

Malcolm used his role as a minister in the Nation of Islam
to preach a message of Black love and self-reliance that was truly radical in
the early 1960s. While many Blacks viewed their relationships to Whites as being
permanently imbalanced, Malcolm began convincing us that no one else held the
key to our destiny as a people. Publicly decrying America as inherently,
institutionally racist was a revolutionary step. The Black Power movement,
Black Liberation Theology and Afrocentric theory owe Malcolm the deepest of
debts.

 

 

Many are now convinced that Malcolm X was an advocate of
violence because of the dichotomous relationship presumed between he and Martin
Luther King Jr. The two men had many important differences but their
similarities were much deeper and more profound.* While he rejected King’s
stance on passive resistance, Malcolm never suggested that violence was a
solution to turmoil, only that every person has the right to self-defense. The
image of a Black man encouraging his followers to stand against violence was
terrifying to a population accustomed to seeing Blacks as willing victims of
violence.

 

 

Sadly, none of us were able to see the ultimate evolution of
Malcolm X. He was assassinated soon after his hajj to Mecca during which he
discovered that Whites of good will existed in large numbers and could be
important allies in his fight against American racism. The shift from Malcolm X
to El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz was on the verge of changing the world once again.

 

 

Malcolm rejected much of the delusional race theory of the
Nation of Islam and preached about the possibilities of Black people. He
refused to focus on being a victim and demanded his adherents decide to live
their lives fully and well.

 

Today, on the anniversary of his assassination, I am particularly grateful for Malcolm X. You should be too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

*- Hopefully I’ll be encouraged to write more on the
subject. 

 

February 16 Zora Neale Hurston

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for  Zora Neale Hurston

 

 

Sometimes, I feel discriminated against, but it does not
make me angry. It merely astonishes me. How can any deny themselves the
pleasure of my company? It’s beyond me.”

 

-Zora Neale Hurston

 

 

Hurston was the kind of multitalented thinker who helped
validate the name of the Harlem Renaissance. At various points in her life,
Hurston was best known for being a prominent anthropologist, highly acclaimed author
and a dedicated folklorist.

 

 

With her fictionalized books being rooted in specific
real-life experience, Hurston paved the way for contemporary writers like Alice
Walker, Jodi Picoult and Toni Morrison. Hurston’s ability to translate spoken
diction into written language helped introduce an authentic Southern Black
vernacular into traditional literary forms. The richness of Hurston’s language
seemed to move her beyond the dialect poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar and
Langston Hughes who also attempted to represent the spoken voices of the south.

 

 

Despite having once been out of print, Hurston is now
considered an artistic foremother for feminist and womanist writers, thanks to
Walker’s efforts at reclaiming Hurston’s legacy. In the past forty years,
Hurston has moved from being virtually forgotten to holding a prominent place
in the American literary canon.

 

 

Hurston’s novels are among the earliest
examples of Black women existing in the center of their own stories. Her female
characters may be buffeted by the harsh winds of racism, poverty and sexism by
their dignity remains intact.

 

 

Today, I am grateful for Zora Neale Hurston. You should be
too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

February 15 Muhammad Ali

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Muhammad Ali

 

 

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will
accomplish nothing in life.”

 

-Muhammad Ali  

 

 

I want to spend today’s blog post reflecting on a man who
transcended virtually all the expectations of his life. While a young boxing
champion, the man born Cassius Clay made the first high profile conversion to
Islam. After being brought into the Nation of Islam by Malcolm X*, the newly
christened Muhammad Ali was immediately condemned as an un-American radical. Most
in the mainstream media refused to use his chosen name for years.

 

 

When drafted
to enter the Vietnam War, Ali became the most celebrated American to refuse
induction. Ali famously declared that he had no quarrel with the Vietcong.
Although Ali was offered the possibility of spending his military service as a
traveling entertainer, he continued to refuse to participate and risked jail
time for his stance. Although he was not imprisoned, he was stripped of his
championship and not allowed to work as a boxer.

 

 

For many years, Ali’s name was associated with Jane Fonda’s
as Vietnam era traitors. It took much longer for Ali’s stance to be recognized
for the act of willing sacrifice that it truly was. Ali eventually was allowed
to return to boxing where he became the first three time heavyweight champion.
More importantly, Ali used his fame and celebrity to support a wide variety of
social causes. As the most famous Muslim in the world, Ali had an extraordinary
following and level of credibility globally. Ali has been honored with the
Presidential Medal of Freedom and in the 1996 Summer Olympics, his lighting of
the Olympic Torch became one of the iconic images of the decade.

 

 

Ali’s work as an advocate for peace was generally
understated but recently, ESPN produced a documentary
detailing Ali’s role in freeing American hostages held in Iraq before the
Persian Gulf War. At this stage in his life, Ali’s physical impairments had
already manifested and he risked his health in a profound way on this trip. As
one of the most famous people in the world, Muhammad Ali could have chosen to
bask in luxury and adulation. Instead, he’s continually worked to promote peace
and justice.  He’s become an icon worthy
of the label.

 

 

Today I am grateful for Muhammad Ali. You should be too.

 

FDO

 

*- check back Thursday

 

Here's a poem I wrote for Ali:

 

 

The Greatest

 

King of all the world

From sinner to savior to saint

And shrill to sagacious to silent

Always beautifully, willfully,
painfully

Real.

 

 

© Gayle Force
Press 2003

 

 

February 14 Coretta Scott King

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Coretta Scott King


 

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by
the compassionate actions of its members… a heart of grace and a soul generated
by love.”

 

-Coretta Scott King

 

 

Somehow, many of us have managed to forget the critical role
Coretta Scott King played in the Civil Rights Movement.  As the wife of Martin Luther King, Coretta
would automatically hold some level of importance but her accomplishments
during and after his lifetime have been incredible and valuable. Most accounts
of Mrs. King focus on her status as a loving wife and homemaker but she was
much more a partner to Rev. King than was typical (or publicly acceptable)
during the 1950s. It is clear that she made remarkable efforts at maintaining
domestic tranquility in the midst of incredibly trying circumstances.

 

 

While her status as a symbol of love was incredibly valuable
to the Movement, Coretta Scott King went far beyond the prescribed models of
femininity. She was such a competent leader that she presided over the first
meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Council. Mrs. King was also a
talented enough singer that she performed ‘freedom concerts’ to raise money for
civil rights initiatives.

 

 

For more than a decade, the Kings were constantly under the threat
of death and indeed had their home bombed multiple times. As the mother of four
children, Mrs. King could have easily asked her husband to take a less public
profile yet she publicly (and privately!) insisted that her resolve was only
strengthened by the violence perpetrated against her family. After her husband’s
assassination in 1968, Mrs. King failed to be cowed and raised her own public
profile by founding the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social
Change.

 

 

Eventually, Coretta Scott King became an outspoken opponent
of South Africa’s apartheid regime, a dedicated peace activist and one of the
first prominent Blacks to advocate for same sex marriage rights. Mrs. King also
led the way for the creation of the King federal holiday.* Mrs. King continued
to grow and change as she aged, eventually embracing veganism and her role as
the First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement.

 

 

For nearly forty years after Martin Luther King’s murder,
Coretta Scott King served as a living symbol of the highest ideals of the Movement.
She focused continuing attention on the issues of racism, poverty, violence and
inequality that so deeply informed her work and life. It is particularly
appropriate that she be celebrated on Valentine’s Day as she continues to serve
as a tremendous symbol of love.

 

 

Today I am grateful for Coretta Scott King. You should be
too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

*- Alongside Stevie
Wonder

 

 

February 13 Nat Turner

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for   Nat Turner

 

 

"I heard a loud noise in
the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and said the Serpent was
loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had borne for the sins of men,
and that I should take it on and fight against the Serpent, for the time was
fast approaching when the first should be last and the last should be first…
And by signs in the heavens that it would make known to me when I should
commence the great work, and until the first sign appeared I should conceal it
from the knowledge of men; and on the appearance of the sign… I should arise
and prepare myself and slay my enemies with their own weapons."

 

-Nat Turner

 

 

Nat Turner was one of the scariest men in American history. He
was perceived in his time as an unparalleled threat to American slavery and
White supremacy. Turner’s attempt at creating a slave rebellion forced the
South into an unprecedented series of responses and helped pave the way for the
Civil War.

 

 

Nat Turner was a slave preacher who was convinced that he
was chosen to be a Moses for his people. His desire to free Blacks from slavery
erupted into the most violent American slave rebellion of the 19th
century.  Turner’s followers killed
around sixty Whites and it took military action to subdue then execute Turner.
This short burst of violence had dramatic long term consequences for this
country.

 

 

For decades, slave holders had manufactured the image of the
“happy darky”, proclaiming that Blacks were happy as slaves because servitude
suited their temperament. The increase of Black Christianity during the Second
Great Awakening reinforced the notion that slave owners were involved in a
process of civilizing their slaves, to the good of all. Turner’s use of the
Biblical story of Exodus to proclaim liberty for his people was a rude
awakening for the country and, for many, began disabusing the happy darky image
for good. Of course, the value of Christianizing slaves was also questioned.

 

 

In the backlash to Turner’s insurrection, southern Whites
imposed incredibly harsh restrictions on both slaves and free Blacks. In this
climate, many Blacks lost their rights to have independent church services, own
guns and work for hire. For Blacks, reading, learning to read and teaching
others to read became criminal offenses. This wasn’t the only possible outcome
though. In Virginia, the governor talked about abolishing slavery in the state.
The state legislature even voted on a bill that would have set that process in
motion. It is clear that only the fear of additional rebellions prompted such
public consideration of abolition.

 

 

When Virginia failed to end slavery, the abolitionist
movement across the country became increasingly convinced that the South would
never end slavery voluntarily. It is this fact that began radicalizing
anti-slavery forces some twenty years before Uncle Tom’s Cabin put a
sympathetic face on slaves. The prospect of violence as the necessary solution
to slavery began with David Walker’s Appeal but became a thought provoking
reality because of Nat Turner. His insurrection helped prompt Bloody Kansas,
John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry and ultimately, the Civil War itself.

 

 

Today I am grateful for Nat Turner. You should be too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

 

February 12 Benjamin Banneker

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Benjamin Banneker

 

 

“The color of the skin is in no way connected with strength of
the mind or intellectual powers.”

 

-Benjamin Banneker

 

 

America’s first widely acknowledged Black genius, Benjamin
Banneker was a gifted inventor, author and astronomer. In modern parlance,
Banneker would likely be described as an engineer.  In fact, as a young man, he built an hourly
striking clock that worked for more than fifty years.

 

 

Today, Banneker is probably best remembered for helping
create the initial boundaries for Washington, DC. Banneker’s astronomical
observations were key to that project. Those observations also helped him
develop his highly regarded almanacs.

 

 

One of Banneker’s long term legacies is the critical role he
played in convincing Thomas Jefferson that Blacks could be the intellectual
equal of Whites. Banneker began a correspondence with Jefferson by providing
him with a copy of his almanac. Jefferson was so impressed that he forwarded
the almanac to friends. Banneker used his interactions with Jefferson to
convince the future President that American notions of equality were inauthentic
if they did not include Blacks. The most generous statements Jefferson ever
made about the potential of Black equality stemmed from his interactions with
Banneker.

 

Benjamin Banneker continues to serve as an example of the
range of Black thinkers. He maximized his possibilities in ways few thought
possible during his time.

 

Today I am grateful for Benjamin Banneker. You should be
too.

 

FDO

 

 

 

February 11 Barack Obama

 

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Barack Obama

 

 

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or
some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that
we seek.”

 

-Barack Obama

 

 

 

When Jesse
Jackson ran for President in 1984 and 1988, his campaigns were considered
quixotic. No one really thought Jackson would be President. However, a
generation later, Obama accomplished what many believed impossible; a Black
President. Nor was this an accident of history. Consolidating his 2008 win with
a sizable re-election margin in 2012 made Obama only the fourth Democrat to win
consecutive terms as President since Andrew Jackson.*   

 

Soon after succeeding George W. Bush in the White House,
Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. While the award was largely a repudiation of
Bush, Obama has ended America’s war in Iraq and the end of the conflict in
Afghanistan is imminent. With ObamaCare, the President has initiated the most
substantial change in health care since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society created
Medicaid and Medicare.

 

Obama has also broadened the national conversation on
civil rights issues by publicly supporting gay marriage rights and ending
discriminatory policies in the military. Obama is among the several most
important people in this 21st century and already belongs near the
top of the list for all of American history.

 

Beyond his policies, Obama has become a global symbol for
possibility. The vision of what America is and can be has been irrevocably
changed now that Obama and his family are the visual representatives of this
country. While Obama’s Presidency is not the realization of Martin Luther
King’s Dream, America has certainly come closer to fulfilling it. Clearly, America’s
first Black President holds a special, soon to be permanent place in the annals
of national and world history.

 

 

Today I am grateful for Barack Obama. You should be too.

 

 

FDO

 

*- Before him were Bill Clinton, Franklin Roosevelt and
Woodrow Wilson. Grover Cleveland won the popular vote three times in a row but
lost the Electoral College race in between his terms in office. 

 

 

 

February 9 Hiram Revels

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Hiram Revels

 

 

“The colored race can be built up and assisted … in acquiring
property, in becoming intelligent, valuable, useful citizens, without one hair
upon the head of any white man being harmed.”


– Hiram Revels

 

 

Hiram Revels is relatively unknown even to students of Black
American history. His name is usually evoked only when something unusual
happens: a Black person becoming a United States Senator.

 

In the 150 years
since the Emancipation Proclamation, fewer than ten Blacks have been Senators
and Hiram Revels was the first. Revels served Mississippi for a little more
than a year and had a relatively uneventful experience after controversy
surrounding his seating in the Senate abated.

 

The political universe of Reconstruction was vastly different
than our own but Revels established an important precedent. His dignified
service to his state and our country demonstrated that White fears of
incompetent Black leadership were absurd.

 

After his time in the Senate concluded, Revels continued to
have a valuable career, serving as the first president of Alcorn State, as a
professor and as a minister. We can only hope that our current Black Senators
give as generously to the world as Revels did.

 

Today I am grateful for Hiram Revels. You should be too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

 

February 8 Paul Robeson

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for   Paul Robeson


 

“As an artist I come to sing, but as a citizen, I will
always speak for peace, and no can silence me in this.”


-Paul Robeson

 

 

When Paul Robeson is referenced today, it’s usually as a
victim of politics. Robeson was viciously scapegoated by the US government during the Red
Scare of the 1950s. His political interests were used to destroy his
career and turn him into a social pariah. Robeson deserves to be remembered as a
pioneer and one of the great Renaissance men of the 20th
century. 

 

There was virtually nothing Paul Robeson could not do well. Taken
individually, his academic, athletic and artistic exploits are enough to make
Robeson important. Combined in a single person, Robeson’s life seems superhuman.
By the time he was 25, Robeson had graduated Rutgers as valedictorian, been
named a football All-American, completed law school and played in the NFL.

 

Robeson then embarked on one of the critical artistic
careers in Black American history. He combined unparalleled vocal talent with breathtaking
acting chops to perform in a dizzying array of styles and contexts. Robeson’s
performances as Othello, Emperor Jones and in Show Boat opened doors for Blacks
to entertain audiences without playing demeaning or stereotypical characters. Stars
like Sidney Poitier and Henry Belafonte were able to be viewed as strong, dignified
Black men because Robeson had already created that template.

 

Robeson used his wealth and status to advocate for a slew of
political causes. He supported trade unionists, civil rights groups, progressive
politicians, anti-Fascist and anti-lynching groups among many others. Robeson’s
fight for the end of colonialism eventually led him to embrace communism and spend
time in the USSR after which he became one of the most prominent Americans to
be blacklisted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. Robeson had
numerous opportunities to salvage his reputation, rescue his career and
continue enriching himself monetarily. Instead, he willingly sacrificed himself
and his fortune, to stay devoted to his friends, comrades and beliefs. It can
be argued that few individuals suffered more from America’s anti-communist
excesses than Paul Robeson.

 

While his controversial politics discolors our collective memory
of him, Paul Robeson should be remembered as a fierce advocate for the freedom,
dignity and equality of all people. He broke the mold of what a Black person
could be and forced the world to acknowledge his gifts.

 

Today I am grateful for Paul Robeson. You should be too.

 

FDO