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The_REAL_Ecumenist

(753 posts)
Tue Jan 30, 2024, 06:31 AM Jan 2024

I have been dealing with something that I learned from a second cousin about something HORRIFIC

Last edited Wed Jan 31, 2024, 07:07 AM - Edit history (3)

that happened to my father's grandfather. My father's paternal side of the family are from North Carolina & although I had heard about an uncle who had to leave Mississippi in the middle of the night to escape the klan murdering him, my mother's family having to wait in the oaks with rifles loaded with rock salt because my Maternal Greatgrandfather, (he was Irish married to a ethereally beautiful & VERY dark black woman), had inherited rice mills & 10's of thousands of acres of land in Navarro county, Texas, along with thousands of heads of longhorns from his Ulster Scot father, I also knew that I'd had several ancestors who'd been lynched.
Well, the thing I laughingly referred to as my father died from his own stupidity in February 2021 and I met some of his cousins. It was then that I learned what I'm about to tell all of you here on DU. My cousin's name is Betty and we chatted getting to know one another. She's a decade & change older than me. She was telling me about Paternal grandfather's family, my full blood Cherokee GreatGreat Grandmother, etc. and I was fascinated but NOTHING could have prepared me for what she told me me next...
You see, it turns out that my Greatgrandfather was LYNCHED in the late 20's/early 30's by a white man who wanted the land that my Greatgrandfather had worked so hard for along with his parents who were former slaves. He wanted my GGrandfather to sell him the land for pennies on the dollar. "Besides, n*****rs weren't fit to have nice things." I don't think that I have to be explicit about what old dude actually said or meant.
My GGrandfather had promised his parents that he would always keep the land and work it to hand down to his children. He refused time and time again the white dude's demand & I guess that this creep decided if greatpa wouldn't sell, he'd "take" the land come hail or high water. SO....a few days later, greatpa had worked hard on his land, cultivating his crops, caring for his livestock, etc, as he did everyday except Sundays. At the end of the day, he was on his way back to the house, walking down the road. His youngest child, 9 year old boy, ran to meet his daddy as he did everyday following work. Unfortunately, neither Greatpa nor his little boy knew that the creep had been waiting along the road, hidden in some shrubs but he wasn't on foot. He was in an old truck. He waited until my greatpa and his boy were several hundred yards past him, chatting about the day-the 9 year old telling his daddy about how he'd done at school and greatpa laughing and teasing his child.
This pre-Magat started his truck and laid his foot heavy onto the gas pedal. Apparently, Greatpa heard the truck and understanding what was happening, he pushed my 9 year old great uncle out of the way just before being purposely run over by this demon. This son of a blue bitch backed up and ran over him twice more. You can imagine how my great uncle was horrified & traumatised to see his daddy murdered in front of him, literally turned into gore. To make things even worse, the monster then jumped at the child, who was frozen to the spot, laughing, He then grabbed the little boy, got in his face and told him this:" You little n****r, if you tell ANYBODY what I did, I'm coming back to kill you, that black n****r b*tch, your mammy and your whole family! Did you understand me boy?" My great uncle, already frozen to the spot and crying, simply nodded his head as that inbred idiot monster drove off laughing. He's not sure how long it was but it must have been at least an hour. His mom sent an older sibling to the farm to find out what was holding up their dad & their little brother. It was then that the sibling came upon the little boy and what was he surmised was the remains of his father. He tenderly took the little boy into his arms and carried him home. EVERYONE was devastated and my Greatma was inconsolable. There was no use in reporting what had happened to my Ggrandfather to the sheriff because he was not white and worse, he was half N.A. That little boy never told anyone who had murdered his daddy and why until he was in his 20's. He was traumatised for the rest of his life, although he was VERY protective of his children, unsurprisingly. He passed about 12 years ago. Today, I turned 60 years old, (Oh Lawd, no! lol) but I felt that this is something that this is what we, as a country looking into the abyss of the returning. Abominations like this are becoming more & more common & if you believe that this won't be a thing, that what trump and his knuckledragging, mouth breathing magats are just talking shit re: murdering and re-enslaving people like me, think again. ALL of us have to work to make sure that dump, all of his syncophants, etc NEVER get any closer to government than a coloring book full of drawings of the whitehouse, the capital buildings, the senate, etc. Also remember that P.O.C. weren't the only ones that lynched...those who worked to helped folks get justice and civil rights, ESPECIALLY immigrants , (hell Irish weren't even considered white and there were banned by the same signs that barred black folks, Jews, N.A., DOGS!!!, Latinos, Asians) from stores, diners, etc. So, if this type of wholesale slaughter of POC begins, just as in nazi occupied Europe, it won't be long until others who look just like my European Brothers and Sisters are treated the same way. Remember, MANY Germans who didn't agree with Nazism died in those camps too.
Let's work so hard to make sure that this country doesn't devolve into what it was 90 years ago, hell, 50 years ago.
I have a few more horrific stories of my family and their mistreatment because they were N.A., A.A., IRISH, Mixed..horrific and terrible but I hope that they're proud of the fact that their descendants not only survived but we've thrived. For those that died, I refuse to lay down and allow their spilled blood to have been shed in vain....Thank you for allowing me to tell my story here.

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I have been dealing with something that I learned from a second cousin about something HORRIFIC (Original Post) The_REAL_Ecumenist Jan 2024 OP
You have me in tears malaise Jan 2024 #1
Thank you for speaking truth and sharing with us. Evolve Dammit Jan 2024 #2
this was not that long ago. mopinko Jan 2024 #3
This is unspeakable! BlueMTexpat Jan 2024 #4
I can't find the right words ... Jarqui Jan 2024 #5
When i hear a presidential candidate say, "This has never been a racist country", 70sEraVet Jan 2024 #6
I'm very sorry for the horror you and your family have endured dlk Jan 2024 #7
What a history! 2naSalit Jan 2024 #8
We still have people like that. Scruffy1 Jan 2024 #9
Write a book about this. Chalco Jan 2024 #10
Hand me the box of Kimberly/Clark tissues please,.... magicarpet Jan 2024 #11
So much black history is "lost" -- at least you know this much as revolting as it may be. live love laugh Jan 2024 #12
Sadly, this happened all over the US ecstatic Jan 2024 #13

mopinko

(71,079 posts)
3. this was not that long ago.
Tue Jan 30, 2024, 08:45 AM
Jan 2024

i agree, we cd end up w this bullshit again, easily.
and your story shows how far such things can ripple. through generations.
how the fuck do we prevent this happening again?

Jarqui

(10,185 posts)
5. I can't find the right words ...
Tue Jan 30, 2024, 09:33 AM
Jan 2024

Brutal ..
I'm so sorry ...

Those words seem so hollow

I've been fighting this since I was a boy in the 60s.
I don't think it has ever gone away.
It seems like it went dormant - not as out in the open.
But the hate always seems to have been there lurking - waiting for a time to come out.

This is not a Trump problem.
He has a whole bunch of people enabling him.
A whole bunch of them looked the other way as an unanimous jury determined he raped E Jean Carroll
They looked away when his company was convicted of 17 felonies.
They'll look away when he's handed a $370+ mil tab from his fraudulent and tax evading behavior.
They'll look the other way when he's convicted of some of the 91 felonies.

Social media is misinforming.
Turning Americans against each other.
Probably stoked by Russian or Chinese trolls.

It is cliché but this is the election of your lifetime.

70sEraVet

(3,757 posts)
6. When i hear a presidential candidate say, "This has never been a racist country",
Tue Jan 30, 2024, 09:34 AM
Jan 2024

I know that that candidate is dangerous. They would silence stories like yours.
Oh, and Happy Birthday!

dlk

(11,888 posts)
7. I'm very sorry for the horror you and your family have endured
Tue Jan 30, 2024, 09:35 AM
Jan 2024

Sadly, the MAGA movement didn’t begin with Trump. It is baked into our country’s legacy of slavery and continues to be a festering wound that will never heal until it is truly, and fully addressed.

Scruffy1

(3,339 posts)
9. We still have people like that.
Tue Jan 30, 2024, 10:41 AM
Jan 2024

They just hide it a little with labels like "pro life" and "conservative". Just south of El Paso about 2 years ago two brothers shot and killed an unarmed "mexican" alongside the road because they could. The Porviner Masacer was about a century before the Ciello Vista Mall shooting. Texas Rangers kidnapped and assassnated 16 men from the small Rio Grand town. The head of the Rangers was righteously angry when the Governor fired them for merely killing POC. What people like Trump and Abbott haave learned is you can incite this shit and never ever be blamed for it by a complicit media. Near as I can figure being a racist oligarch who doesn't make decisions based on facts makes one "conservative" not bat shit crazy or just in it for the money or to stay out of prison.
Racism and violence are as American as apple pie (Stokely Carmichael, when I was young). It's a powerful tool for the rich and powerful who are mainly in the criminal class and "professing" Christians, Like the billionair Dunn who bought the Texas Senate for a 3 million dollar "loan". In my dreams some of these low life would be brought to justice, but it will never happen in my lifetime. All they need is complicit media.

magicarpet

(15,053 posts)
11. Hand me the box of Kimberly/Clark tissues please,....
Tue Jan 30, 2024, 07:13 PM
Jan 2024

...

poignant,
Poignant,
POIGNANT.

Weep and read as our tainted history returns to haunt us once again - Thank You Adolph Orange Menace.

Hurry up and drop dead.

live love laugh

(13,795 posts)
12. So much black history is "lost" -- at least you know this much as revolting as it may be.
Wed Jan 31, 2024, 04:26 AM
Jan 2024

I have read many stories stories of Jim Crow land grabs. Some fled in fear of losing their lives others actually died. The economic impact and emotional trauma are still present today.

From Google:

“Black landowners acquired millions of acres of farmland. But today approximately 90% of that land is no longer theirs — going from roughly 19 million acres to about 3 million in less than a century.” —Jun 15, 2023

ecstatic

(33,504 posts)
13. Sadly, this happened all over the US
Wed Jan 31, 2024, 11:00 AM
Jan 2024

Land illegally taken and the rightful (black) owners either killed or imprisoned for decades. It's a really disgusting history that has not been addressed or accounted for. Many of those thefts were facilitated by the government. Every family that was a victim to this should be made whole, but I won't hold my breath waiting.

Last night I heard a very disturbing conversation that included a bunch of black republicans who intend to vote for trump. I guess it just baffles me that they don't seem to have any understanding of history or what a dictatorship would mean for us: A return to unchecked evil and a complete lack of accountability. A time when racial minorities and women had no rights. That is what trump wants to return to. It's the "great" period of American history that trump refers to in "make America great again."

But like you said, it's not just people of color who will be on the chopping block. Anyone who speaks up about anything will be in the same boat.

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