James Baldwin believed "it is not at all farfetched to suspect that what she saw contributed to the strain which killed her, for the effort to which Lorraine was dedicated is more than enough to kill a man."Her writings were adapted into a play with the title "To Be Young, Gifted and Black." I was researching that phrase today because there is an organization here in Madison now that calls itself the Young, Gifted and Black Coalition. Last Friday, they sent a letter to the Madison Police Chief Michael Koval, demanding, among other things, "the immediate release of 350 Black people from the Dane County Jail, with the ongoing demand to keep this number out of the jail." They say:
Hansberry's funeral was held in Harlem on January 15, 1965. Paul Robeson and SNCC organizer James Forman gave eulogies. The presiding minister, Eugene Callender, recited messages from Baldwin and the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. which read: "Her creative ability and her profound grasp of the deep social issues confronting the world today will remain an inspiration to generations yet unborn."
Although Madison's model of community policing and attempt to build trust between the community and police, even acting as “social workers,” may be a step above certain other communities, our arrest rates and incarceration disparities still top the nation. The relationship that we desire to have with the police is simple: no interaction. Our ultimate goal is to be able to hold our own communities accountable and to expel what we consider an occupying force in our neighborhoods. Our people need opportunities for self-determination, not policing.I assume the group chose its name to honor Hansberry, but wonder if many who see the name will recognize the source. David Blaska riffs on the name in the title of his new column: "Who will call out the Young, Foolish and Racist of Madison?"
Here's Nina Simone:
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The traditional response when you see your own government as an occupying force is revolution, but I guess for this generation, a sternly worded letter suffices.
Paul Robeson and SNCC organizer James Forman gave eulogies
And, even back then, the black leadership was far too indulgent of the evil in its midst.
Robeson was a communist toady, who, even as many on the Left around him broke faith with the Soviet Union, never did.
Forman was a seminal player in the SNCC leadership that took SNCC from being a multi-racial civil rights group to being a black-only "black power" group by purging out the white activists, many of whom had suffered jail time for the cause along with their black comrades.
These two were morally deficient human beings, yet they held places of honor at the funeral. Much like Al Sharpton today.
A Dream Deferred
by Langston Hughes
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Gawd that was idiotic. Even for Blaska.
"The relationship that we desire to have with the police is simple: no interaction. Our ultimate goal is to be able to hold our own communities accountable and to expel what we consider an occupying force in our neighborhoods."
Isn't that the deal the French have in those Islamic areas around Paris?
This will not end well.
Love the Madison police chief's response to the letter. Not sure how long he can survive in the loony bin of a lefty college town.
What JAORE said.
Back in the 60's we had a no go zone in a public housing project. It was occupied by A. Elderly widows living on relief. (What we used to call welfare) and B. Thugs. The relief checks came on Tuesday, the elderly widows were allowed by the thugs to cash their checks and lay in enough food to last the week. As soon as it got dark the thugs cut the phone lines and knocked on the widows doors. Then they took the remaining money. Sound beatings followed if there wasn't money. And nobody in the whole city could get phones installed or serviced on Wednesday because the repairmen were all busy fixing phones in "the projects"
Pity the Madison police chief is a grown-up. If he were childish he could just pull all his troopers out of the black areas of the city. When the residents complain about the crime skyrocketing through the roof, he could direct the residents to go talk to the "Young, Gifted, and Black" agitators.
But he is a grown-up and he'll continue to provide service to the residents. And young black men will continue to respond with violence to perceived "disses" and continue to prey upon the working poor for drug money, but not to the degree they would if the "Young, Gifted, and Black" kiddies had their way.
Madison needs more Dave Blaskas and fewer Garage Mahals.
THE YG%B people are lobbying for No Go Zones, n'est-ce pas?
I don't think they are going to let you join their little club, Bitchtits.
You can always start a chapter of Fat, Retarded, and Pale though.
No truth at all to the rumor that the first suggested (but rejected) name for the group was: Hen's Teeth.
What? Black people have formed a group, and have expressed opinions?? Why, naturally as conservatives we are opposed!!!
That's how easy it is living in chickelit's world.
No, Garage. We are opposed to stupid opinions being "demanded".
Words have meanings.
Speaking of easy worlds to live in....
We cannot permit Paris-style banlieus to develop in the US. I am all in favor of "holding our own communities accountable," but the only civilized response to this group's demands is: pound sand.
Coleman Young's big achievement was putting an end to police brutality. The downside was that crime soared. Young kept getting re-elected so he must have had the approval of the electorate. But a lot of the people of Detroit, including the black middle class, moved out of town so there must have been some disenchantment with his policies......People, including black people, find criminals more bothersome than cops. They just can't say it out loud or, for that matter, even think it if they're black radicals.
" Black people have formed a group, and have expressed opinions?""
I don't think the problem is the opinions, garage.
The crime, garage, the crime.
Two names conspicuously absent in this thread. One is "Lorraine" and the other is "Hansberry."
MisterBuddwing said...
Two names conspicuously absent in this thread. One is "Lorraine" and the other is "Hansberry."
I'd never heard of her, so to Wikipedia, which says:
"Lorraine was taught: ‘‘Above all, there were two things which were never to be betrayed: the family and the race.’’"
That sounds rather primitive, especially considering that her father was white.
"In a jail of 800, without structural racism and a demographic of 5% Black population there should be closer to 40 Black people, rather than the 400 Black people currently incarcerated."
In a jail of 800, without structural sexism and a demographic of (slightly less than) 50% male population there should be closer to 400 men and 400 women, rather than the 695 men and 133 women people currently incarcerated. (actually a "projection" for 2013 made in 2014...gummint!)
Dane County has about the same number of Asians as blacks (5.3% to 5.4%), so according to the logic of the black racists there should also be about 40 Asians in jail.
How many are there? Nobody knows because nobody cares?
I'm betting there are one or two, occasionally...cuzza structural racism, doncha know.
"juveniles referred for intake in 2013":
"Table 21 [page 16]
(Male Female Total)
African American (368 176 544)
Asian (3 0 3)"
Social Justice demands that Asians (juveniles) should be arrested, er, "referred for intake", 181 times more often than they actually are.
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