The White Guy Laments parts of his past

[Waterguy]

Last edited Sun Jun 25, 2023, 06:45 AM - Edit history (4)

I'm afraid to use the word Right anymore today,
because when I think I'm Right it sounds Right-wing to me.

I have to correct myself,

Is Right a verb?

Yes, the word Right means to correct one's course, or recover ones balance.

Is left a verb?
Yes, the word Left means, to depart, or setout, we leave for a better outcome
tomorrow.

When I was kid and my older sister was learning how to drive
she would only make right turns, because she was too scared about making left turns
out into the open traffic.

In my teens I had nightmares because my older brother was in Vietnam.

I grew up just outside Detroit City, Motown where all the best music was being

made.

In 1967, my single mom filled the bath tube because they said we were in danger of losing

our water supply.

In 1968, I was playing baseball in a field by my grade school when my mom came by to pick me up
in the family car after she got off work and told me.

It was a big thing back then, even for someone who didn't know, like me.

I grew up in Michigan, the car capital,

And Michigan used to be the place where all the wood came from,
until I learned we lost a good part of it's forest due to mismanagement.

And Michigan used to be the number one place to mine Iron ore,

open pit mining on the Carp river in Marquette, the same place where
the natives mined copper once

But then it became nothing but a waste landfill all used up

This was before computers, if you wanted to learn something you had
to go to the library, you had to question things on your own.

But it wasn't too hard to get a feeling a lot of things were not so right.

And you know, it seems like in some ways we never did get the courage
to make that left hand turn.

And that's hard to fess up to. Maybe we didn't know the full story back then,
but we sure should have, we should think, if we have half a conscience, when we do know the full story later on.

And so now, I can go back and see an old video of the great writer James Baldwin debating William F. Buckley
regarding, "The Great American Dream is at the expense of the American Negro" and it becomes more than quite clear, even
then, back before in 1965.

So much so you wonder about such a gifted writer, how they know so much, and define history so well.
And from there you learn, you should never stop there, and for all the right reasons you begin to know - as if you are awoke, is not any ideology you can hide behind, being right is knowing more about the truth that separated men and women from their sons and daughters, and for too long separated a people from leaving the truth always left to learn from the past and change someday.

What is it we leave, where is it we hope to go? Just ask yourself what do you think James Baldwin knew in 1965 about all people.
It's no curse being born of any color of skin, or any type of identity you are born as just as you are, in this world, and it's too easy to be fooled, unless someone lends you their hand and speaks the truth to you, in a way you can understand.
Peace!

[markie]

1. ...

(also, another as I am a product of Michigan and the times)

we knew

[Goonch]

2. 👇👇👇👁️👁️

[jaxexpat]

3. We get "woke", awakened, enlightened and illuminated eventually or just die dumb.

James Baldwin is one of my heroes.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. "I can go back and see an old video of the great writer James Baldwin debating William F. Buckley"

In a just over a week from now, this will be posted about somewhere - Frederick Douglass' July 5th 1852 speech given during the period before the start of the Civil War, and over a century before that debate between Baldwin and Buckley.

The below was a reading of parts of that speech by James Earl Jones at an event now 20 years ago, that was re-aired on DemocracyNow! back in 2021 -

There are a myriad of places that have the text of it including here - https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/speeches-african-american-history/1852-frederick-douglass-what-slave-fourth-july/

Of course Baldwin often wrote/commented about the predecessor generations that included Douglass, and took the baton to keep it moving.

[Backseat Driver]

5. Context and word choice matters...

So what did it say about a Russian dinner party table on the 4th of July filled with white right-leaning slave politicians from America? GAME ON?

So, maybe, Independence Day, is the pre-lude to Juneteenth? Like the dates of American Christmas and Orthodox "Russian" Christmas? Christian RWNJs? Something for everyone - Noisy RED,WHITE,BOOM celebration or quite day of remembrance holiday?

LOL, I read this as bolded this: https://abcnews.go.com/US/government-refusal-protect-wolverines-sparks-lawsuit-conservation-groups/story?id=74736638

Government refusal to protect wolverines sparks lawsuit from conservative groups

That's OK - I'm from OH-IO "We don't give a da*! about the whole State of MI" and always still get the "Blue and Maize" Wolverines confused with the Spartans whose color, of course, is "green" like "conservationists" on Earth Day, but certainly not conservatives wearing Red who hate science and want to continue to DRILL, BABY, DRILL? Seems perfectly fine to me that there's only 300 Wolverines left in America, LOL! Perhaps they do deserve legal protection, hahaha! Go Bucks, short for Buckeyes, a nut, who wears "scarlet (redish ) and gray?" Sports rivalry, though, right, not real divisive MAGA hats across the nation, LOL! What colors and words do you parse?

[BumRushDaShow]

6. Well the irony about the mention of "Russian"

is that a number of notable blacks who became "firsts" and struggled with this country's oppression, fled, even if briefly, to the U.S.S.R., like Paul Robeson.

I think the "context" is that there is much that has not been taught and when it did sort of get tentatively "taught", it was relegated during what one historian Carter G. Woodson established - "Negro History Week" (which later became "Black History Month" ), and has evolved from there.

If one wants to look at James Baldwin (who wanted to be a foil to Richard Wright), one needs some of that other background behind it. Of course Baldwin was also a gay man, so that added a whole other level to his discourse.

But to bring it to the "Michigan" connection, Frederick Douglass did actually go to the Detroit area and met up with the famous John Brown and other abolitionists - https://www.michiganradio.org/social-justice/2022-02-10/frederick-douglass-john-brown-and-a-key-moment-in-detroits-abolitionist-history

Just like where Douglass had briefly settled - around Rochester, NY right across from Canada, Detroit was obviously also right across from Canada, and a means to get the hell out of the U.S. and its slavery.



(as a sidenote, one of my BILs is multi-generational Ohioan - from Dayton - and still has a brother and sister there )

[Waterguy]

7. Great post about Frederic Douglas - Incredible human being

The US has a long way to go still.
We need economic policies that put all people first.
We need civics taught in all schools, as well as true history.
We need better gun laws, do away with automatic weapons, universal background checks,
and a gun registry for starters.
We need a progressive congress - in both houses.
Yes - that's imperative.
There was segregation in Michigan when I was a kid in the sixties.
Black folks came to Michigan from the South to fill factory jobs and then
found out they couldn't live wherever they wished.
It was fact was not hidden; the blatant racism was systemic.
The town where I lived was all white, 2 miles away it was mostly black.

Most my life it's been small steps forwards and then always a backlash.

Everybody does better when everybody does better, it must not be anything less.
Frederic Douglas was a great man!
Peace!