The above captioned sentence is true: Gay actors would do better in Hollywood if they hid they sexual orientation...just like black people do better in Hollywood if they are naturally pale or bleach themselves, have white features, and straighten their hair. (<--extreme sarcasm)
But Damon said more than that. To me his words appear to say he thinks they should stay in the closet if they expect to work.
Decide for yourself.
“In terms of actors, I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you period,” Damon explained.
“And sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality because that’s one of the mysteries that you should be able to play.”
~Quote From PinkNews
Um....Heterosexual people have been playing gay people for years. And I don't recall heterosexuals hiding their sexuality in order to do this more convincingly. In fact, I remember heterosexual white male actors who have played gay characters flaunting their sexuality by trotting out model after model after model.
And I'm pretty sure Damon himself played a gay character.
Wasn't "The Incredible Mr. Ripley" gay? Wasn't that based on a crazy deranged character that was over the top envious of another man to the point of sexual obsession? Wasn't "homosexual" depicted as synonymous with "deranged?" Am I remembering that right?
Any way you slice it, Damon has made his position clear this month: Only straight, white people have the right to live out loud any way they want to.
Republican presidential candidates have been making racist remarks about Latinos in the U.S., and they aren't falling on deaf ears. Those same candidates choosing to skip July's National Council of La Raza conference in Kansas City—which was attended by Democrats Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley—didn't go unnoticed. Acting as if Latinos don't matter in U.S. elections is not only bad politics, it is the height of political stupidity.Latinos listen.
Thank The Donald for helping to re-reveal their true colors. With every ethnoracist comment he makes he seems to rise in the republican polls
"The former Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back has been able to do this via his nonprofit,Warrick Dunn Charities, which successfully provided at least 144 homes to single parents.""
A BETTER FUTURE STARTS WITH HOPE. Since 1997, Warrick Dunn Charities has provided programming and services dedicated to single parents and children across the nation to improve their quality of life. Initiatives include economic empowerment, education and wellness. With community and corporate support, Warrick Dunn Charities has awarded more than $2.5 million in cash, food and other donations.
The video is too far away for me to see much of anything except for the one thing that's important here: I didn't see a gun Jeremy McDole's hand when police shot him to death.
I didn't see a gun when the cop fired the first time. The first time I saw the video, I thought things happened too fast and I missed it. But I did see that his hands were empty when they shot several times a few seconds later. There was no gun in McDole's hands. The cops had to have seen that his hands were empty. They had to. His hands were clearly visible on his knees.
I have no idea why Jeremy McDole didn't raise his hands when told --- other than he was already in pain from being shot once already. The cop told him to raise his hands and instantly shot him. From the commentary of the person holding the cell phone, maybe the first shot was a beanbag? I'm not sure.
But the officers were not in danger when multiple rounds of bullets were fired. McDole's hands are on his knees then alternately lifting himself up out of chair.
The reason police showed up in the first place was supposedly due to a report that this man had a self-inflicted gun shot wound. John Crawford died the same way if you think about it. That is, somebody called 911 and said there was a black man with a gun and the police officers arrive ready to kill someone.
But this time there wasn't even a toy gun to provoke police officers to shoot.
There's nothing that looks like a gun that I can see. If police did find a gun on the scene (as they claim) I don't see it his hands or on the ground in this video. Where was it 10 feet away in the grass? What were they so scared of that they had to shoot him?
How are they going to claim they shot him because they were "in fear for their lives" THIS TIME?
The only way the cops' excuse is going to halfway work is if the people filming say they saw the gun in Jeremy's hand at some point. The video starts when things are already in motion so maybe that happened before the video. I also want to know who called the police and if that self-inflicted gun shot wound they reported was real (<---if that happened at all. News reporters are notoriously sloppy trying to get the news out first).
And I say the cops' excuses will only "halfway work" because Jeremy McDole having had a gun at some point doesn't give cops the right to shoot him several times when his hands were in plain sight.
And reports that police are saying something like 'a gun was found at the scene' does NOT sound like they are claiming McDole had the gun on his person. The statements I've read sound very carefully worded in order to imply, 'Fine. McDole wasn't armed. But he was a thug. So it doesn't matter that he's dead.'
If one idiot cop shot and the others panicked, that's a reason for anybody that fired their weapon to lose their job instantly. Hysterical men cannot be police officers. Indictment and jury trial can come later, but removing a cowardly cop who cannot control himself should come first.
Furthermore, if a police officer is convicted under **Acts of cowardice under the authority of colors** he or she should lose their 2nd amendment rights permanently. Removing 2nd amendment rights can ensure that he or she never gets another job as a police officer. There is precedent for this. Convicts lose their right to vote. Police convicts can lose their right to shoot anything at anybody.
And do not think that one idiot shooting and a panicked response of shooting by other cops makes this shooting NOT about race. This is very, very likely about race. Not so long ago, I read a story about multiple undercover officers refusing to shoot a white suspect that was shooting at them BECAUSE the white suspect legitimately thought they were rival drug dealers. That was mighty understanding of them considering the fact that black undercover cops have reported being afraid of being shot by white police officers.
I need a few more facts. But I think #BlackLivesMatter should keep a bright light on this case for the duration.
Warning: Graphic Video In The Link http://revolution-news.com/delaware-officers-kill-jeremy-mcdole-in-his-weelchair/
There is some cheap and easy history in these fictional stories. And at least one American Comedy. Check out the clips. If you don't have HBO or HBONow keep them in mind for watching in the future.
SOMETIMES IN APRIL (Idris Elba)
The political backdrop of genocide in Rwanda as told via the story of two brothers.
FROM THE MOVIE INTRO
"For centuries, the Hutu, Tutsi and the Twa of Rwanda shared
the same culture, language and religion
In 1916, Belgium took control of Rwanda from Germany and
installed a rigid colonial system of racial classification and exploitation By
elevating the Tutsi over the Hutu they created deep resentment among the Hutu majority.
In 1959, the Belgians
handed control of Rwanda to the Hutu majority. With independence came decades of
institutionalized anti-Tutsi segregation and massacre Hundreds of thousands of
Tutsis and moderate Hutus were forced into exile.
In 1988 some of these refugees formed a rebel movement
called the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) to reclaim their homeland.
In 1990, from their base in Uganda, the RPF launched and offensive against the
Hutu regime that was stopped the French and Belgian military support. A deadly cycle of war and massacre continued until
1993 when the United Nations negotiated a power-sharing agreement between the
two sides
To protect their power, the hard-line Hutu extremists resisted the implementation of the agreements and planned one of the most terrifying genocides in history.
THE BEST MAN HOLIDAY Drama-Comedy
BELLE (Gugu Mbatha-Raw)
Based on a true story, Belle follows the story of an Dido Elizebeth Belle, the illegitimate mixed race daughter of a Royal Navy Admiral. Raised by her aristocratic great-uncle Lord Mansfield and his wife, Belle's lineage affords her certain privileges, yet the color of her skin prevents her from fully participating in the traditions of her social standing. Left to wonder if she will ever find love, Belle falls for an idealistic young vicar's son bent on change who, with her help, shapes Lord Mansfield's role as Lord Chief Justice to end slavery in England.
Cry Freedom (Denzel Washington)Black Activist Steven Biko, A story of apartheid in South Africa
Since the devastating earthquake in Haiti revealed such a fragile infrastructure, I've been interested in how it is an African run Haiti has been so poor while a France run Haiti was so rich. And I'm even more interested now since the Dominican Republic seems to be going through what looks like another, milder, period of ethnic cleansing(?).
Part of the answer lies in France, Britain, and the United States cutting off trade in revenge for the slaves freeing themselves. After that, France was able to force African run Haiti to pay France millions and millions of dollars for freeing themselves. And Haiti paying France combined with unstable government there has a lot to do with the poverty that led to Haiti having a poor infrastructure.
And this partially explains why Haiti's infrastructure was so poor prior to the earthquake that killed thousands in 2010.
Grey-Brown Haiti on the Left Side of Hispanola
Green Dominican Republic on Right Side of Hispanola
But how the natural resources on the island itself and humans came together differently on both sides of "Hispanola" is also interesting. The article below explains why the Dominican Republic and Haiti were different from the ground up, from the very beginning.
Excerpt:
The Haitian side of the island was less well endowed environmentally but developed a rich agricultural economy before the Dominican side. The explanation of this paradox is that Haiti’s burst of agricultural wealth came at the expense of its environmental capital of forests and soils...
"[However, compared] to the Dominican Republic, the area of flat land good for intensive agriculture in Haiti is much smaller, as a higher percentage of Haiti’s area is mountainous. There is more limestone terrain, and the soils are thinner and less fertile and have a lower capacity for recovery...
This lesson is, in effect, that an impressive-looking bank [when France ran the Haitian side] account may conceal a negative cash flow [results coming into effect when Africans took over] ."
"Twilight" is a play that's based on people that Anna Deavere-Smith interviewed not long after the L.A. Uprising of 1992 which occurred in response to the beating of Rodney King, the subsequent murder of LaTasha Harlins, and finally the Rodney King Verdict.
Each of the personalities captured by Deavere-Smith is based on the exact words the individuals said in their interviews. And while I haven't seen the original tapes, it looks like she must have gotten their delivery and mannerisms down pretty well too.
I cried for real people that I had no intention of crying for **EVER** despite the fact that I knew that some of these people were likely, inadvertently and unconsciously, participants in their own...downfall, for lack of a better word.
Bobby Green, Lei Yuille, Terri Barnett, Titus Murphy
Saved Reginald Denny
I also laughed in a couple of places. And I was damn proud of the two black men and two black(?)women that saw what was happening to Reginald Denny on television, and decided that their faith left them with no choice but to leave the safety of their own homes to save him and his truck, both.
I remember what happened during the L.A. Uprising. I was following the whole thing, reading constantly while it was happening.
But I'd forgotten that King's beating on March 3 1991 and Harlin's death on March 16, 1991 happened so close together. And I didn't remember that the appeal to change the sentencing of Soon Ja Du (Harlin's killer) from a slap on the wrist (community service and a $500 fine) to an actual punishment failed 8 days before the Rodney King Verdict, read on April 29 1992.
But there are other things I either didn't hear or didn't process because of the emotional devastation or despair I was feeling at that time.
For example:
This play contained the clearest video of Latasha Harlin's final encounter with the Korean woman that killed her, Soon Ja Du, that I've ever seen. I'll have to read more on why Harlins was accused in main stream newspapers of "trying to steal orange juice" in the first place because this conflict appears to have started at the check out counter. And Harlins died with the money to pay, two dollars, in her hand. The footage reminded me so much of Mike Brown and the cigarillos.
This is cheap (free) and easy history for you and your kids. I hope you make time to see it. Give it 10 minutes and see if you're not mesmerized by Deavere-Smith's performances.Here is, not a preview, but some of the footage used in the play. A link to the full length video is at the very end of this post.
PBS GREAT PERFORMANCES
ANNA DEAVERE-SMITH'S TWILIGHT
"In my mind, I see a line. And over that line, I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful white women with their arms stretched out to me over that line. But I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line."
That was Harriet Tubman* in the 1800s.
And let me tell you something:
The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity.
You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.
So, here’s to all the writers, the awesome people that are Ben Sherwood, Paul Lee, Peter Nowalk, Shonda Rhimes*. People who have redefined what it means to be beautiful, to be sexy, to be a leading woman, to be black.
And to the
Taraji P. Hensons and
Kerry Washingtons*,
the Halle Berrys,
the Nicole Beharies,
the Meagan Goodes,
to Gabrielle Union*.
Thank you for taking us over that line. Thank you for the Television Academy. Thank you.
When this little girl's parents start bickering over a fallen shoe rack, this little girl starts talk about something fairly simple but hard to articulate.
In her own way she's talking about pride, ego, love, and friendship.
"Not too low" at one point about bringing yourself down (calming down?). In that moment, she seemed to acknowledged that people get angry but you have to make an effort to reduce it down in order to go forward.
I see God in this child. I think there is an empirical reality of human nature that God puts inside all of us that can be nurtured by parents, neighbors, friend, and society for good or ill. But some children, like this one maybe(?) seem to be made of sterner stuff...possibly from birth.
Must watch!! After came back from badminton I Open the garage door try to drive my car in and heard Tiana voice yelling "stopped mama"!! my shoe rack fallen down in the garage all over 50 pairs of shoes and the rack are on the ground.I get out of the car walk into the garage And Alfred came out yelling to me that my shoes rack was suck!! Complaining I bought a cheap shoes racks good for nothing!on and on..And I told him to just move get out of the way if he doesn't want to help then go away!as I get upset so didn't make it sound nice and friendly. Tiana offered to help me put up shoes on the rack That I rebuilt after all it done I am going to move the car in but Alfred offered help to tight up some lopes to help stabilized while he do that......Tiana said in front of both of us,Why you guys don't try to be nice to each other... Like a friends helping each other don't get mad and be happy!! Lots more I was stunned by it! She is teaching me!!Woke me up!!! And then we sit down only me and Tiana And this is part of it as didn't think she could think like that!! She brought me tear and feel guilty Amazing little girl Her name is TIANA!!
Posted by Cherish Sherry on Wednesday, September 16, 2015
After came back from badminton I Open the garage door try to drive my car in and heard Tiana voice yelling "stopped mama"!!
My shoe rack fallen down in the garage all over 50 pairs of shoes and the rack are on the ground.I get out of the car walk into the garage And Alfred came out yelling to me that my shoes rack was suck!! Complaining I bought a cheap shoes racks good for nothing!on and on..And I told him to just move get out of the way if he doesn't want to help then go away!
as I get upset so didn't make it sound nice and friendly. Tiana offered to help me put up shoes on the rack That I rebuilt after all it done I am going to move the car in but Alfred offered help to tight up some lopes to help stabilized while he do that......
Tiana said in front of both of us,Why you guys don't try to be nice to each other... Like a friends helping each other don't get mad and be happy!! Lots more I was stunned by it! She is teaching me!!Woke me up!!! And then we sit down only me and Tiana And this is part of it as didn't think she could think like that!! She brought me tear and feel guilty Amazing little girl Her name is TIANA!!
Are bigoted white folks the only ones supporting Trump and Fiorina? Absolutely not. But when you consider who benefits from bullshit like Mexican-American super walls and xenophobic fear mongering, you understand that it ain't POCs.
In a predictable turn of events, the GOP has become the party of not only white folks, but white folks who feel ostracized by POC solidarity. The leading candidates of the Republican Party have fashioned themselves into the antithesis of #BlackLivesMatter, representing everything that solidarity ISN'T representing. Becoming this safe space for bigoted white folks to retreat.
ONE OF THESE TWO KIDS WAS ARRESTED AT SCHOOL BECAUSE THE TEACHERS WERE SCARED A TEENAGE BOY WAS ABOUT TO BLOW UP THE SCHOOL
THE OTHER KID WAS OFFERED HELP BY HOMELAND SECURITY AND HAS, FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS, GONE ON TO PRESENT HIS WORK AT A SERIES OF SCIENCE FAIRS
ONE QUESTION QUIZ:
CAN YOU TELL ME WHICH ONE WAS HELPED AND WHICH ONE WAS HANDCUFFED?
Yes, you answered right. It was Ahmed that was handcuffed at school and taken away at 14 years of age. There are articles and interviews on the web where Ahmed expresses how he felt like he was less than human or something. But Ahmed is getting the last laugh. He's going to the WHITE HOUSE to meet President Obama. Then he's going to change schools!
READ MORE ON THE IRVINE, TEXAS AND THE PREMEDITATED FEAR MONGERING THAT PRECEDED THE ARREST
"Irving’s fight against Islamic creep didn’t end there. Earlier this year its city council voted to back a proposed law that rejected foreign influence on the courts. Why? Because they found out a local Islamic tribunal mediated civil cases on a voluntary basis for members of the local Muslim community. Something, I’ll point out, that Jewish and Christian organizations also do. Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne has since become a conservative darling for backing the law even after the Muslim community called it out for what it was: fearmongering.
It’s no surprise, then, that [Mayor] Van Duyne’s first Facebook post after Ahmed’s arrest thanked police for keeping children safe while also touting Irving ISD’s laudable STEM programs. She later edited the post to include the concern that, if this had been her child, she would have been pretty upset. Good for her for rethinking, but it shouldn’t have come to that.
While it’s impossible to say for sure whether Ahmed would have been arrested if his last name weren’t “Mohamed,” I think we can all offer a pretty educated guess.
Before you watch the video link below, I want to tell you a story
I was on a military base jaywalking as a kid. A military officer at the guard shack called us over. He asked us why we were walking in the street. I was nervous about getting in trouble -- more like petrified. I wasn't a particularly brave kid. We told him we were walking in the street because the old snow on the sidewalk and the old snow to the SIDE was now ice. We were slipping and falling trying to walk on it. It was easier to walk in fresh snow on the street.
He took our names down anyway.
I told my parents when I got home to prevent ME getting into trouble.
Turned out my father was mad at the cop. All that cop did was talk and ask for our names...I tried to defend the cop saying he was polite. My father was still pissed. I didn't understand what a cop writing your name down might mean at the time. I might have been 14 years old.
Cop apologized the next day AND THE SIDEWALKS had been cleaned. Sidewalks stayed cleaned the entire winter.
Now I'm trying to imagine how differently that would have gone if the cop had tried to grab us. Some or all of us would have run. (And back in the 70s we'd have gotten away because they wore boots that weren't very flexible at the ankle and all that crap they had to wear --including the gun-- bouncing up and down slowed them down too.)
Cops pile on a crying black kid for Jay Walking
I'm certain a number of military police would have accosted us in various situations if they didn't KNOW for sure that somebody's father, who outranks them, wouldn't nail them to the wall if they stepped a toe out of line with the children living on post.
Off post? Civilian police appear to know that they are the KINGS of all they survey. It shouldn't be that way. They shouldn't be able to touch anybody they want to without a good reason. And jaywalking ain't it.
It is natural to lean away from someone reaching out to put their hands on you. I can't imagine I wouldn't move away from hands coming toward me for no reason. Jaywalking is a talking offense. Jaywalking is a "Can you come over here and let me talk to you, please" --JUST LIKE THAT COP spoke to me that day back when I was a kid.
Again, if hands would have come out at me at the same time? As a kid, I might run. As an adult I wouldn't run. As an adult there might be a lean or a lunge or two away from the cop before it dawned on me to be still....but this is counter intuitive. A physical attack makes you move away. As an adult I can do it - after a moment or two. But a cop with a hair trigger temper would have bashed my skull in already.
There isn't a reason to put hands on somebody for jaywalking unless you are attempting to generate a resisting arrest charge.
This video is supposedly from 9 15 15 at San Joaquin RTD Downtown Transit Center (DTC) or maybe Stockton. I don't know if the commentary is entirely true. But I'd like you to investigate.
It does appear that the person that filmed the video thought that this kid kept walking (scared) but I STILL don't like the fact that the baton came out and a half dozen or more officers showed up. This was handled BADLY And now, I'm trying to imagine how this crying kid would have been handled if the woman screaming "He's a kid!!!" in the background hadn't been there.
I am also having a hard time imagining this happening to some white kid in Bel Air.
Please investigate.
I don't know the person who originally posted this. So I'm cautious. But I a similar link to this video to Huff Post, LA Times, and Governor Jerry Brown. I want to know what happened, where it happened, when it happened FOR SURE, and if this kid has a record of resisting arrest now. This kid's behavior was not perfect according to the commentary provided by the person who filmed it. But perfection is NOT required to avoid this bullsh** when you're white. It shouldn't be required when you're black either.
"Inderjit Singh Mukker said he was viciously attacked just down the street because of his brown skin, turban and beard. His offender called him "Bin Laden," Mukker said, and told him to go back to his own country.
"This is my country," Mukker said. "This is my home. I am an American."
Inderjit Mukker
DuPage County State's Attorney Robert B. Berlin announced Tuesday
that the Willowbrook teen accused of striking a man in the face a week
ago has been charged with a hate crime, in addition to the previous
charges of felony aggravated battery."
Chicago Tribune
The decision was made after further the
discovery of additional evidence, according to the official announcement of the charges which came just hours before The Sikh Coalition went ahead with its planned rally and news conference demanding these hate
crime charges (<--- PUBLIC PRESSURE MATTERS)
Now I hope The Sikh Coalition can press to have this 17 year old's case moved to adult court. According to this article, this 17 year old punched a police officer in the face as he was arrested.
I think we have to understand CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS AMONG BLACKS coming out of Slavery to understand how the Tuskegee Experiment came to pass.
Despite this movie's heavy focus on Eunice Rivers Laurie, the character that Eunice Evers is based on, in order to make the story personal and interesting, white folks really did have plenty of black help at Tuskegee in getting the Tuskegee Experiment done.
Plenty.
A PARTIAL TIMELINE OF THE TUSKEGEE STUDY
FROM THE CENTER OF DISEASE CONTROL (CDC)
1932
Follow-up effort organized into study of 399 men with syphilis and 201 without. The men would be given periodic physical assessments and told they were being treated. Motin agrees to support study if "Tuskegee Institute gets its full share of the credit" and black professionals are involved (Dr. Dibble and Nurse Rivers are assigned to study).
1934
First papers suggest health effects of untreated syphilis.
1936
Major paper published. Study criticized because it is not known if men are being treated. Local physicians asked to assist with study and not to treat men. Decision was made to follow the men until death.
1940
Efforts made to hinder men from getting treatment ordered under the military draft effort.
1945
Penicillin accepted as treatment of choice for syphilis.
1947
USPHS establishes "Rapid Treatment Centers" to treat syphilis; men in study are not treated, but syphilis declines.
Beginning in 1947 , 127 black medical students are rotated through unit doing the study.
1968
Concern raised about ethics of study by Peter Buxtun and others.
I suppose I have to accept the idea that the Tuskegee Experiment probably could have taken place at any other of our Historical Black Colleges and University. But part of me believes that the institution of Tuskegee, at the time, was very much a product of the father that gave birth to it. Booker T Washington, called "The Wizard" in his day, was not well liked among his black peers (Frederick Douglass, Ida B Wells, W.E.B. DuBois, Monroe Trotter...) And since I think black people, generally speaking, have an unhealthy fear of dissension, I have the unpopular opinion that these high spirited debates and disagreements between various black scholars and politicians were a good thing more often than not.
Many influential black people had very differing opinions on how to move blacks from being slaves to being Americans. And many of those different approaches, including Washington's, wound up being the backbone of our current black success. Immediately after slavery, many of these black movers and shakers had to think long and hard about just how they would get white money for black projects and black advancement because, believe it or not, black slave folk didn't have much money after slavery. But Booker T Washington was a little different. He gave speeches and aligned himself with people in such a way that made it appear that he believed in white superiority AND the superiority of a select few black men, including himself, as being "a credit to their race" --which is a totally different concept from W.E.B. DuBois theory of a "talented tenth." Book T Washington In His Own Words from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition Speech (Renamed the "Atlanta Compromise" in the "Souls Of Black Folk" by W.E.B. DuBois)
To those of the white race who look to the incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South, were I permitted, I would repeat what I say to my own race.
“Cast down your bucket where you are...”
Cast it down among these people who have without strikes and labor wars tilled your fields, cleared your forests, builded your railroads and cities, and brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth and helped make possible this magnificent representation of the progress of the South.... you will find that they will buy your surplus land, make blossom the waste places in your fields,
While doing this you can be sure in the future, as you have been in the past, that you and your families will be surrounded by the most patient, faithful, law-abiding and unresentful people that the world has seen.
As we have proven our loyalty to you in the past,
in nursing your children,
watching by the sick bed of your mothers and fathers,
and often following them with tear dimmed eyes to their graves,
so in the future in our humble way,
we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner can approach,
ready to lay down our lives, if need be, in defense of yours,
interlacing our industrial, commercial, civil and religious life with yours in a way that shall make the interests of both races one. In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress
Washington would also renounce the right to vote in favor of accumulating material wealth (Note: without one you can't keep the other) Definition:
Booker T Washington was responsible for the advancement of the race, creating that Tuskegee and getting financial support from white patrons, but he was still a class conscious Uncle Tom in my opinion.
Clearly, Washington thought it was appropriate that he himself aim for the top. And Washington was at the top of a school and he planned to hire other black men that started at the top (college educated) instead of at the bottom (work in the fields, ready to lay down their lives, if need be, for white people.) He covered it up by talking about the honor of physical labor, but Washington did not think aiming high was good for most black men . Or did he think open ambition among blacks would jeopardize his own standings with white people? (This is ugly any way you slice it, IMO)
As W.E.B. DuBois appears to have pointed out, Washington saw the vast majority of black men too simple-minded to be as advanced as he had. And as color-struck as Booker T appeared to be, I wouldn't surprised if he measured his own intelligence by the percentage of white blood that he had.
And if Booker T. Washington's attitude birthed and raised Tuskegee, is it any wonder that the black people running Tuskegee after he died as well as the 127 black doctors and x black nurses working at Tuskegee looked at poor, uneducated black men in the south as worth more as guinea pigs than human beings? It is something beyond and above Uncle Tom-ing to be dedicated to advancing the IMAGE of the black race at the expense of individual black lives. And what that **something beyond Uncle-Tom-ing** is, Booker T Washington may have left it, as if in his will, to Tuskegee.
Look at the time table again.
Penicillin was available for the treatment of syphilis between 1942 and 1945. And black doctors and nurses, due to white federal instructions and authority, withheld treatment from close to 300 black men who died in agony over something close to 30 years.
Race and ethnicity are not the only things that other-izes individuals.
- Class can do it too
- So can gender
- So can skin shade
- So can religion
Watch or re-watch "Miss Ever's Boys" on HBO or Amazon and think about all the black people not on screen that had to have been partially responsible for what happened to those men.
The first thing the black people at Tuskegee should have done was stop lying. Other than the Milgram Experiment explanation, it is beyond me to understand how praying folk couldn't figure out that they should tell the men, the test subjects themselves, that they weren't actually being treated. How hard is to then follow up by telling newspapers here in the United States or abroad? Ida B Wells had started doing that much in regards to exposing southern white lynching practices in the late 1800's. This is why I will not give a pass to any single one of the black people involved, including Eunice Rivers Laurie. They could have exposed what was happening long before nearly 300 men died crippled, blind, and insane.
Surely, Tuskegee deserves to have this blot on its record.
We have to know the good and bad parts of our history in order to not repeat it. More importantly, we have to know the good and bad parts of our own history in order to empathize with the bad parts of OTHER PEOPLE'S history.
