Across the African Diaspora

The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron

2011-10-03T11:51:00.000-07:00

The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Bryant

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is a walk through a time in America that was not a pretty one for a black person growing up in much of the country. For Henry Aaron, it is also a story about a man trying to escape the repression and American style apartheid that he grew up with, even as he became an American icon for his exploits on the baseball field. Henry's life journey through Jim Crow laws and stifling oppression in America, to his landing as an American hero for breaking the legendary Babe Ruth's home run record, is a journey every American who wishes to understand American racism should take. Even as Henry broke a record that was considered unbreakable, the racism prevalent in American culture was moving to change Ruth's record as the single biggest baseball accomplishment in the sport's history to Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak as the record that all records should be measured by.

Equally telling in this tome is Aaron's relationship with his peers and with younger players as he became the aging icon that many of the new players looked to for leadership and guidance. From Aaron's worship of Jackie Robinson to his disdain for Barry Bonds to his enduring racial put-downs by legendary teammates such as Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette, Henry Aaron had quite a journey through some of baseball's most tumultuous years.

It is a triumph for Aaron that he emerged as a successful businessman who, unlike many present day athletes who end up bankrupt almost immediately after their playing days end, succeeded in the business world and is now able to enjoy his retirement without concern for financial woes.

This book should be a must read for anyone who enjoys baseball, baseball legends, and a journey through an America that is gone, but still with us.

Black seaman's 1861 heroics recalled in new film

2011-07-08T14:55:00.001-07:00

The Story of William Tillman

Line engraving published in Harper's Weekly, 1861, depicting the recapture of the schooner S.J. Waring by William Tillman.
William Tillman faced a brutal choice: slavery or death.

He was steward and cook onboard the merchant schooner S.J. Waring, about 300 tons, bound for Montevideo, Uruguay with an assorted cargo. Three days out from port, July 7, 1861, and one hundred fifty miles out from Sandy Hook, New Jersey, at lat. 38°, long. 69°.

Tillman's vessel was boarded by men from the rebel privateer Jeff Davis. They declared the schooner property of the Confederate States of America. The Civil War was less than four months old.

The rebels ransacked the vessel and ordered Captain Smith, the ship's master, to haul down the Stars and Stripes. He was then taken to the privateer. Tillman was told that he, like the ship, was southern property and that he would be sold into bondage when the ship reached its new destination.

The confederates put a five man prize crew on Tillman's ship and turned her south, toward Charleston. Now, each day at sea beat down on Tillman like a hammer. An overwhelming sense of dread, however, was gradually replaced by iron-willed resolve. Tillman, in concert, with a handful of passengers hatched a bold plan.

Tillman's duties gave him the run of most of the vessel. The rebels were used to seeing him moving about. Moreover, while cautious around the handful of white crewmen and passengers, the prize crew did not consider Tillman capable of either bravery or treachery; it was to be their undoing. Tillman was key to the recapture of the S.J. Waring. And he struck in the middle of the night.

William Wells Brown, an African-American writer and historian described Tillman's heroism and subsequent actions in a book written in 1867:

Armed with a heavy club, he proceeds to the captain's room. He strikes the fatal blow: he feels the pulse, and all is still. He next goes to the adjoining room: another blow is struck, and the black man is master of the cabin. Cautiously he ascends to the deck, strikes the mate: the officer is wounded but not killed. He draws his revolver, and calls for help. The crew are aroused: they are hastening to aid their commander. The negro repeats his blows with the heavy club: the rebel falls dead at Tillman's feet. The African seizes the revolver, drives the crew below deck, orders the release of the Yankee, puts the enemy in irons, and proclaims himself master of the vessel.

The Waring's head is turned towards New York, with the stars and stripes flying, a fair wind, and she rapidly retraces her steps. A storm comes up: more men are needed to work the ship. Tillman orders the rebels to be unchained, and brought on deck. The command is obeyed; and they are put to work, but informed, that, if they show any disobedience, they will be shot down. Five days more, and "The S.J. Waring" arrives in the port of New York, under command of William Tillman, the negro patriot.

Harper's Weekly, August 3, 1861 reported that Tillman was held briefly in the House of Detention as a witness and "that he had been before the Chamber of Commerce, and it is in contemplation to present him with a substantial reward."

Brown records that Tillman received $6,000 in prize money and he also wrote:

The New-York Tribune said of this event, - To this colored man was the nation indebted for the first vindication of its honor on the sea. Another public journal spoke of that achievement alone as an offset to the defeat of the Federal arms at Bull Run. Unstinted praise from all parties, even those who are usually awkward in any other vernacular than derision of the colored man, has been awarded to this colored man. At Barnum's Museum he was the center of attractive gaze to daily increasing thousands. All loyal journals joined in praise of the heroic act; and, even when the news reached England, the negro's bravery was applauded.

A few weeks later, there was another attempt by the Jeff Davis to seize a northern vessel. This time the capture of the Enchantress, was foiled by a black steward named Jacob Garrick when he alerted a nearby union gunboat.

The long tradition of black seamenship and courage of men like Tillman and Garrick may have paid off in another more unexpected way. Perhaps these exploits also helped persuade Navy Secretary Gideon Welles to open enlistment in the Union Navy to African-Americans in September 1861, long before the Army permitted such enlistment.

Story taken from the US Maritime Administration website

Battle of Gettysburg destroys Abraham Bryan's Farm

2011-06-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

In July, 1863, the American civil war was entering its third bloody summer. While winning most of the battles, Confederate general Robert E. Lee knew he was in a war of attrition with the north and the union Army of the Potomac. With the south’s limited manpower and industrial capacity facing the seemingly unlimited manpower and industrial capacity of the north, Lee knew no matter how many battles he won, he could not win a war pitting material and human resources of the southern states against those of the northern states.

After defeating the Army of the Potomac at the battle of Chancellorsville in late April and early May, 1863, a battle that cost Lee the life of the brilliant General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Lee decided that an attack into northern territory north of Washington, DC, would put the entire war on a different footing. Lee also knew a letter had been prepared to deliver to President Abraham Lincoln, calling for a cessation of the war and recognition of the confederacy by Lincoln, after Lee had destroyed the Army of the Potomac.

With that in mind, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia headed north, with the goal to attack and sack Harrisburg and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, thus pressuring Washington into abandoning the war.

On July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, General Lee’s army of Northern Virginia was locked in deadly combat with Union General George Meade’s Army of the Potomac in the small farming village of Gettysburg, Pa. Gettysburg was approximately 3 hours from Harrisburg, Pa and Washington, DC, and Washington was already in a mild panic over Lee’s invasion so close to the nation’s capital.

Lee probed and attacked both the left and right flanks of the Union lines, then decided on July 4th to attack the Union center. Led by General George Pickett, the attack, preceded by an intense artillery barrage, came over an open field and reached the union positions before faltering and being repulsed. Those union positions included the farm of Abraham Bryan.

Bryan was one of 170 free black Americans who were living in Gettysburg at the time of Lee’s invasion. After learning of the approach of the confederate army, Bryan and the other black Americans left Gettysburg, fearing the Confederates would capture them and send them south into slavery.

The modest home pictured here was the home of Abraham Bryan, and his fences were destroyed and his crops trampled as first, Union soldiers used the area for defensive purposes, and then Confederate soldiers attacked through them trying to overwhelm Union lines. Mr. Bryan’s home was riddled with bullets and shell fragments. His home nearly destroyed, Mr. Bryan petitioned the government for $1,028 in restitution after the battle, and received $15. Undeterred, Mr. Bryan rebuilt his home and his farm and prospered until his death in 1879.

A plaque on the battlefield notes that he and James Warfield, who lived near the southern end of Seminary Ridge, were a part of a "small, unique group of farmers" who were free black men who also owned property.

John Rock-Doctor, Dentist, Abolitionist, and Attorney

2011-05-24T14:22:00.000-07:00

The first black lawyer approved to practice before the US Supreme CourtJohn Rock (October 13, 1825–December 3, 1866; also John Sweat or John Swett Rock) was an American teacher, doctor, dentist, lawyer and abolitionist who originated the notion of "black is beautiful." [1] Rock was one of the first African American men to earn a medical degree.[2] In addition, he was the first black person to be admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.[2] With a keen passion for knowledge and an incessant fight for the equality of blacks, John Rock was destined to become one of the most distinguished and educated men of his time.

Early life and education

John Sweat Rock was born to free African-American parents on October 13, 1825 in Salem, New Jersey. In Rock's formative years, it was relatively uncommon for white children to complete grammar school, and significantly rarer for blacks. Rock’s parents, however, encouraged their diligent son in his studies and, despite having little in terms of financial resources, provided for him to follow through with formal schooling. By the age of 19, Rock had received the necessary amount of education to take up a position as a teacher. He started out in 1844 in a one-room school in Salem, where he would continue to work for the next four years, garnering the attention and approval of veteran schoolteachers. Rock had an impressive work ethic, cconsistently holding class for six hours, conducting private tutoring sessions for two hours, and studying medicine under two white physicians, Dr. Shaw and Dr. Gibson, [3] who allowed him to study their textbooks and use their personal book collections for eight hours daily.[2] Medical students at the time commonly undertook apprenticeships with practicing doctors, as Rock did, as a means of gaining medical training. In 1848, Rock applied to medical school, but faced rejection on the basis of his race. [4]

Rock then decided to transfer into the field of dentistry and, after an 1849 apprenticeship with Dr. Harbert, a white dentist, opened a dental practice in Philadelphia in January, 1850. Just one year later, he was rewarded with a silver medal for his expert work on a set of silver dentures that he crafted and later displayed. [2] After finally gaining admittance to medical school, Rock graduated from American Medical College in Philadelphia in 1852, becoming one of the first African Americans to attain a degree in medicine.[2] At the age of 27, he had established himself as a talented and well-respected teacher, dentist, and physician.

In 1853, Rock decided to change locations to Boston, which many at the time considered to be the most liberal city in the United States for African Americans. There he set up his own practice in dentistry and medicine. Many of his patients turned out to be ill fugitive slaves making their way through Boston on the Underground Railroad, fleeing towards Canada. He also provided care to members of an integrated abolitionist organization called the Boston Vigilance Committee, which aimed to aid and protect fugitive slaves targeted by the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850. [2] Rock was the second black to gain acceptance to the Massachusetts Medical Society, sometime after the induction of Dr. John De Grasse in 1854. [5]

Abolitionist

Rock, a passionate abolitionist and civil rights leader, held a strong belief in the dignity and rights of all Americans. Like other abolitionists in the movement, such as George T. Downing and Robert Purvis, John Rock became a renowned public speaker and campaigned for equal rights. Initially, Rock’s speeches were public notice; however, they soon began to receive positive public reviews, which led him to travel throughout New England and, occasionally, westward. In 1855, Rock took part in the campaign responsible for the legal desegregation of Boston public schools.[6] Although he and other abolitionists were determined to see that equality for black Americans was achieved, there were several significant setbacks in the push for civil rights. The infamous Dred Scott Decision was just one example of the rejection of this movement. Dred Scott, a slave, wanted to sue for his freedom, but on March 6, 1857 it was decided that the Missouri Compromise of 1820 was unconstitutional, and that African Americans were not intended to be citizens under the law. This established that Scott would not, in fact, receive his freedom. It was the verdict of this important court case that spurred John Rock to continue in his pursuit as an abolitionist and later ignited his determination to start a new career. Rock is credited with coining the phrase "black is beautiful" during a speech he gave in Faneuil Hall in March of 1858 as a refutation of the western idea that the physical features of African Americans were unattractive. However, research on Dr. Rock's speeches in the Black Abolitionist Digital Archive have shown that he in fact did not say the exact words "black is beautiful", but did in essence about the beauty of the black people.[1] John Rock’s polished speeches were printed in William L. Garrison’s "The Liberator" as well as in general newspapers,[7] promoting these central ideas.

Lawyer

Troubled by health-related problems, Rock went to Paris to seek the medical treatment of two leading French surgeons, Auguste Nelaton and Alfred Armand Velpeau.[2] He returned to Boston in February of 1859, and in 1860, under his doctors' stipulations to cut back on his workload, he gave up his medical and dental practices and began to study law. On September 14, 1861, T. K. Lothrop, a white lawyer, made the motion before Judge Russell to have Rock examined.[2] Rock passed and gained admittance to the Massachusetts Bar. He then opened a private law office, through which he advocated even more diligently for the rights of African Americans. In 1862, he spoke at the Anti-Slavery Society in Boston, where he voiced his opposition to Lincoln’s plan for the so-called "negro colonization" in Haiti and sided with Frederick Douglass on several issues.[2] Rock achieved much success as a lawyer, but did not feel that he had truly gained "success" given the lack of freedom that blacks continued to experience. Rock also stated sadly that an educated negro feels the oppression much more than does an uneducated one.[2] It was thoughts similar to this one, in addition to the lack of executive action for African Americans, that led him to strive to attain the next level of achievements.

On February 1, 1865, the same day Congress approved the Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery, Charles Sumner introduced a motion that made Rock the first black attorney to be admitted to argue in the Supreme Court of the United States. Rock became the first black to be received on the floor of the United States House of Representatives.[3] There was much celebration the day he appeared there.

Death

On April 9, 1866 the Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed which enforced the 13th Amendment. Rock enjoyed this honor for less than a year. He became ill with the common cold that weakened his already failing health, and limited his ability to commute efficiently. On December 3, 1866, John S. Rock died in mother's home of tuberculosis at the age of 41. He was laid to rest in Woodlawn Cemetery, and was buried with full Masonic honors.[2][3] His admittance into the Supreme Court is recorded on tombstone[2]; however, he needs to be remembered more. Rock emphasized that the next level of success can always be achieved with hard work and the obsession for knowledge. Hard work always pays off and he wanted African Americans to constantly improve themselves so they would be able, like he and other abolitionists, to help make the law an equal one. John S. Rock strongly believed that “Whenever the colored man is elevated, it will be by his own exertions.”[3]

Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/john-rock-abolitionist#ixzz1NJ8colnu

Mexico's lost African culture

2011-01-18T15:51:00.000-08:00

Mexico's lost culture
With little knowledge of the history of slavery in the region, Afro-Mexican culture slips away.

By Myles Estey — Special to GlobalPost
Published: August 10, 2010 05:48 ET in The Americas

Ernesto Noyola Macia and wife Hacintha Habila Norga in El Azufre.
CUAJINICUILAPA, Mexico — The common story goes that somewhere off Mexico's southwest coast, a Spanish slave ship crashed in the 1600s. Its human cargo fled to shore, adapting to a new life of freedom.

Hundreds of years later, descendants of these ships are the reason for the distinctly African features of villagers living throughout what today is known as the Costa Chica.

While the concentration of Mexico’s ethnic blacks along this friendly stretch of pristine coast lends credence to this theory, there are two major flaws: why was a slave ship on that coast in that era, and how did the slaves manage to free themselves from the shackles to get to shore?

“It’s a myth,” said Eduardo Anorve Zapata, a local historian, journalist and author. “Oral [historical] culture comes with its fantasies. Historically, there is no way it's possible, it's not logical.”

Anorve Zapata’s beliefs fall more in line with another theory: the location of Spanish haciendas on the coast.

Though Oaxaca is highly arable and rich in resources, the heat, insects and disease made it an undesirable place to live for Spanish conquistadores. Thus, as early as 1519, they moved slaves from Veracruz — Mexico’s primary port on the Caribbean coast — to labor on the haciendas and plantations on the lush lands slightly inland from the coast. Meanwhile owners opted to live in more hospitable regions.

American anthropology professor Bobby Vaughn, who runs the website Afro Mexico, says research shows that Afro-Mexicans outnumbered those of European descent up until 1810 and by a factor of roughly 2:1 until the 1700s.

As Spanish rule in the region weakened and eventually fell with Mexico’s War of Independence (1810-1821), the former slaves slowly established their own settlements near their former estates, some of which remain today.

Despite lack of formal support, traces of African culture remain in pockets along the coast. Ties to food and language seem to have largely disappeared. But the presence of musical instruments such as the bote and cultural events such as the Baile de Diablo trace back to traditions brought from Africa.

Yet, overall, residents know little about the unique heritage of their region. Many rural areas offer little to no education about black history in Mexico, despite its visible presence.

“I’ve never thought that much about it,” said David Perez, a student near San Jose del Progreso. “It's true, a lot of us are blacks near here, but we don’t know why. It's not something that we talk about.”

Lessons on the history or culture of the region’s African heritage have been absent at home and at school, he said.

This has been the case for generations, said Ernesto Noyola Macial. He and his wife Hacintha Habila Norga have lived an hour up a potholed, dirt road from the region’s main highway in the coastal village of El Azufre since roughly 1960.

Like many in the predominantly black village, they say they moved to the coast from inland Oaxaca because they were poor and fishing offered a constant food source. At two generations older than Perez, they are among the oldest in the village, but say they have no knowledge of their ethnic roots to pass along.

“No one has the mentality that they are black here,” said Norga, “they don’t celebrate it … There is no one on this coast who knows anything about the history of it.”

This break in the chain of passing along traditions causes some to question whether connections to this culture will slip away altogether. Outside of the Costa Chica region, Afro-Mexicans are rarely seen, and knowledge on the topic is generally nonexistent around Mexico, despite the major role slavery played in the early colonial years.

A small, though professional museum in Cuajinicuilapa, a few academic publications and a handful of local leaders define the current reach of the topic. Yet, Anorve Zapata sees no reason for worry that this culture will disappear. In fact, he sees momentum swinging the other way, to bolster the few existing cultural practices and to help make this history accessible to the Mexican public.

Now, an unofficial group from the region is appealing to Mexican senators for a new law to recognize Afro-Mexicans and improve official historical recognition of the topic.

If this succeeds, it will be an important first step toward developing a more robust relationship between residents and their ethnic history.

“The knowledge exists,” said Anorve Zapata, “but it exists in the halls of academia. It has to come down to the people.”

Apartheid and a bottle of beer

2010-10-25T07:02:00.000-07:00

At the end of a hot, sweaty day or chore, often times nothing is more relaxing than an easy chair and an ice cold beer. The chair relaxes the muscles, soothes the aches, and the beer adds more than a little spice to the end of the day. It is a ritual that has been enjoyed all over the world, unless you happened to have lived in South Africa during the apartheid era. Whites, shown entering Duma Falling Leaves tavern, were not permitted to enter a tavern or drink with blacks during the apartheid regime.

Apartheid was the method used by the white minority in South Africa to deny black and mixed raced South Africans their rights. It started off placing the the black African majority, which was 80% of the population, on 7.3% of the land. It later delineated three racial classifications, white, colored, and African, and required passbook identification to move about in the country. The white majority then decided the black areas were not part of South Africa and required passports for blacks to even enter South Africa.

Like American segregation, apartheid allowed no intermingling of racial groups. Inter racial marriages were outlawed. Blacks could only take the most menial and dangerous of jobs while being denied education and other political rights.

Perhaps one of the more ludicrous of the apartheid laws were those affecting the drinking of beer. Castle beer was enjoyed by many South Africans but under the apartheid laws, blacks could not buy nor drink Castle. In other words, not only can you not go into an establishment with whites, nor sit down with whites, you cannot even drink what whites drink.

This of course led to blacks drinking Castle beer by devious methods. One of these was to place black out curtains on the windows of the home, and under low light drink the forbidden beverage in spite of the laws.

A world wide boycott of South Africa hastened the collapse of apartheid and with it, the law forbidding the consumption of Castle beer by non-whites.

Striving for Freedom (performed at the Jay Heritage Center, December 4, 2009)

2009-12-06T04:30:00.001-08:00

Striving for Freedom (performed at the Jay Heritage Center, December 4, 2009)
Originally uploaded by Jay Heritage Center

The Jay Heritage Center is known for its educational programs including "Striving for Freedom" where students participate in an interactive theater presentation performed by a professional cast followed by a discussion period. Set in 1813, the play examines the lives of two sisters, Clarinda and Mary, who were enslaved and owned by the Jay family and later freed. The program includes tours of the site-orientation exhibit, the 1838 Peter Augustus Jay House, and grounds. Teachers receive pre- and post-visit materials and students examine primary source documents.

Pictured here are the two performers recreating the reunion of sisters sold into different families. Behind them hangs a reproduction of "The Locusts" the farmhouse in Rye where John Jay grew up as a boy. It is on this site that slaves were also emancipated. Archives show that Caesar Valentine, a slave for John Jay's brother and sister-in-law was freed in 1824 but continued in service for the Jays in Rye. So close was his relationship with the family that he was given a lifetime stipend in Peter Augustus Jay's will in 1843.

John Jay was the first President of the NY Manumission Society advancing emancipation as early as 1785. His son Peter Augustus Jay also served as President of the NY Manumission Society.

"A respectable number of Citizens having formed themselves into a Society for promoting the Manumission of Slaves, and protecting such of them as have been or may be liberated, the following Extracts from their Proceedings, are published for the information of the Public."

"The benevolent Creator and Father of men, having given to them all an equal right to life, liberty, and property, no Sovereign power on earth can justly deprive them of either; but in conformity to impartial government and laws to which they have expressly or tacitly consented."

"It is our duty, therefore, both as free Citizens and Christians, not only to regard with compassion, the injustice done to those among us who are held as slaves; but to endeavor, by lawful ways and means, to enable them to share equally with us in that civil and religious Liberty, with which an indulgent providence has blessed these states, and to which these our brethren are, by nature, as much entitled to as ourselves." (From the American Mercury, 1785, reporting on an article in the Hudson Gazette, JHC Archives

WWII Paris Liberation made 'Whites Only'

2009-11-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Paris liberation made 'whites only'

By Mike Thomson
Presenter, Document, BBC Radio 4

Many of the "French" division which led the liberation of Paris were Spanish
Papers unearthed by the BBC reveal that British and American commanders ensured that the liberation of Paris on 25 August 1944 was seen as a "whites only" victory.
Many who fought Nazi Germany during World War II did so to defeat the vicious racism that left millions of Jews dead.
Yet the BBC's Document programme has seen evidence that black colonial soldiers - who made up around two-thirds of Free French forces - were deliberately removed from the unit that led the Allied advance into the French capital.
By the time France fell in June 1940, 17,000 of its black, mainly West African colonial troops, known as the Tirailleurs Senegalais, lay dead.
Many of them were simply shot where they stood soon after surrendering to German troops who often regarded them as sub-human savages.
Their chance for revenge came in August 1944 as Allied troops prepared to retake Paris. But despite their overwhelming numbers, they were not to get it.
'More desirable'
The leader of the Free French forces, Charles de Gaulle, made it clear that he wanted his Frenchmen to lead the liberation of Paris.

I have told Colonel de Chevene that his chances of getting what he wants will be vastly improved if he can produce a white infantry division
General Frederick Morgan
Allied High Command agreed, but only on one condition: De Gaulle's division must not contain any black soldiers.
In January 1944 Eisenhower's Chief of Staff, Major General Walter Bedell Smith, was to write in a memo stamped, "confidential": "It is more desirable that the division mentioned above consist of white personnel.
"This would indicate the Second Armoured Division, which with only one fourth native personnel, is the only French division operationally available that could be made one hundred percent white."
At the time America segregated its own troops along racial lines and did not allow black GIs to fight alongside their white comrades until the late stages of the war.
Morocco division
Given the fact that Britain did not segregate its forces and had a large and valued Indian army, one might have expected London to object to such a racist policy.
Yet this does not appear to have been the case.

Charles de Gaulle wanted Frenchmen to lead the liberation of Paris
A document written by the British General, Frederick Morgan, to Allied Supreme Command stated: "It is unfortunate that the only French formation that is 100% white is an armoured division in Morocco.
"Every other French division is only about 40% white. I have told Colonel de Chevene that his chances of getting what he wants will be vastly improved if he can produce a white infantry division."
Finding an all-white division that was available proved to be impossible due to the enormous contribution made to the French Army by West African conscripts.
So, Allied Command insisted that all black soldiers be taken out and replaced by white ones from other units.
When it became clear that there were not enough white soldiers to fill the gaps, soldiers from parts of North Africa and the Middle East were used instead.
Pensions cut
In the end, nearly everyone was happy. De Gaulle got his wish to have a French division lead the liberation of Paris, even though the shortage of white troops meant that many of his men were actually Spanish.

We were colonised by the French. We were forced to go to war... France has not been grateful. Not at all.
Issa Cisse
Former French colonial soldier
The British and Americans got their "Whites Only" Liberation even though many of the troops involved were North African or Syrian.
For France's West African Tirailleurs Senegalais, however, there was little to celebrate.
Despite forming 65% of Free French Forces and dying in large numbers for France, they were to have no heroes' welcome in Paris.
After the liberation of the French capital many were simply stripped of their uniforms and sent home. To make matters even worse, in 1959 their pensions were frozen.
Former French colonial soldier, Issa Cisse from Senegal, who is now 87 years-old, looks back on it all with sadness and evident resentment.
"We, the Senegalese, were commanded by the white French chiefs," he said.
"We were colonised by the French. We were forced to go to war. Forced to follow the orders that said, do this, do that, and we did. France has not been grateful. Not at all."

NBA star Luol Deng assists South Sudan

2009-08-26T09:29:00.001-07:00

Luol Deng
Originally uploaded by UNHCR

Q&A: Basketball star takes the bull by the horns to help refugees.

NEW YORK, United States, May 23 (UNHCR) – Chicago Bulls basketball player Luol Deng is the latest high-profile supporter of UNHCR's ninemillion.org campaign, which raises funds to provide education and sports activities for millions of young refugees around the world. The lanky star learned about the campaign by chance and immediately sought out UNHCR to sign up. It is a cause very close to his heart. The 23-year-old fled his native South Sudan as a child and ended up as a refugee in England. He went to the United States to study in his teens and joined the Chicago Bulls in 2004 as a forward. Deng, who also plays for England, made headlines earlier this season with his pledge to donate US$50 to ninemillion.org for every basket he scored. He recently spoke to UNHCR's Senior Regional Public Sector Fund-Raising Officer Greg Millar. Excerpts from the interview:

Where does your desire to help others come from?

I grew up in a family that has always given back. My dad has always given back ... and my mother also, so I just grew up right into it. It was just something that I grew up with and was born to do.

Tell us a bit about your family and yourself?

I am a Dinka from South Sudan. I am one of nine kids and I was born in the Sudan. When I was five, my family fled the Sudan because of the civil war. My family and I moved to Egypt, where we lived for four years. When I was nine, my family was granted asylum by the United Kingdom and we moved to England as refugees. My family still lives in England, but I moved over here to go to high school at the age of 14 and to play basketball. At 18, I went to Duke University [in North Carolina] for a year and was then drafted by the Chicago Bulls.

Have your experiences brought you closer to your family?

I think the number one thing for me has always been family. When I tell people that I was a refugee, they might think I went through a lot. But I never think of it like that, because I had a strong family.... Being in the same boat with my family made things easier.

As a former refugee, how important do think the work of UNHCR is?

UNHCR has been unbelievable; giving refugees around the world an opportunity to pursue a better life and a better education. Just to have an opportunity in life. It's never easy leaving your homeland, having to adapt to a different culture and trying to make it, but with the help that UNHCR gives, it makes life a lot easier.

How do you feel about the repatriation of people to South Sudan?

It is unbelievable.... We can help more. It's just unbelievable that people are getting the opportunity to go back to their homeland; it is tough not being home.

How did you become involved in UNHCR's ninemillion.org campaign?

I was in England and I went to an Arsenal [football team] game. An advertisement kept flashing up in the stadium, and it said ninemillion. My jersey number is nine, so I like it when I see the number. I was sitting next to my manager and we kept on seeing ninemillion flashing up, so I asked him, "What is nine million?" He didn't know and so we asked other people. They started explaining its meaning to us and the rest is history.

We really wanted to get involved and do whatever we could ... to help them [the world's refugee children] with education, sports and a better life in general. That's what I've always wanted to do. It just made sense and that's how I started.

Tell us about the influence of sport in your life.

When I moved from Sudan to Egypt, I was very young and I didn't play much sport. When we moved from Egypt to England, I didn't speak a single word of English. Many refugees would make their children learn English before sending them to school, but my parents didn't think it would be a good idea for me to stay at home every day in a new country. So I went to school without understanding English.

It was hard for me to communicate with people and it was hard for me to reach out – a different culture, a different language – it was just really hard to make friends. But one thing I noticed was that whenever we played football, people wanted to pick me to be on their team. And I noticed that I was closer to the guys when we were playing. It didn't matter if I spoke the language or not, they wanted to win and so they would pick me. And when we won, we would celebrate together. That's really what sports did for me; it helped me make friends.

That story shows how important sports is for young people?

Yes, definitely. Sports can also free your mind.... When you play sport, you're thinking about how good you can be. Whether you are scoring a goal or making a lay-up or a jump shot in basketball, you free your mind of other stuff and that's really good for you.

What do you think when you see images of refugee children?

When I see the things that UNHCR and ninemillion are doing, I'm just happy to see those kids getting the help that they're getting. One thing I would tell those kids is to enjoy life, take advantage of what you have and just really be excited and always believe in yourself.

What you and UNHCR are doing to ease reintegration means a lot.

Definitely. There is a lot going on in southern Sudan right now. If people join in what we're doing here to help, then it could definitely help change so many lives, so many families in South Sudan. I was really lucky to be able to flee my country and I am really very lucky to be sitting here today – just telling people about this and doing what I am doing, and asking people to join me.

By helping those people, you never know. In the future, another kid will be sitting in my spot doing the same thing, from whatever country. It's just unbelievable, you never really know what you can do, you never really know how much you can change someone's life. Doing something [to help], I guarantee you, is the best feeling.

Can members of the public support what you are doing?

Definitely, like ninemillion, there are so many ways to help. I think a lot of people sometimes think you have to be rich to help.... I think the best way to help is learning more about the issue. This means really taking your time to learn about the issue, because sometimes you will learn something you didn't know. I think that you'll even learn that one dollar can feed a family in certain countries for a week

Do you think many people in America – including professional basketball players – understand what it really means to be a refugee child?

I think, generally, people have a good idea that a refugee is someone who fled home, someone who is not in their homeland. I don't know if everyone thinks about it the same way. Because I have been through it, I know how tough it can be to be away from home. I think for most people, the first thing about a refugee that springs to mind is that it means not being able to be in your own homeland.

You are planning to visit South Sudan soon. How do you feel about that?

I really don't know what to expect. I left at such a young age, all I really remember are stories, but I am definitely really excited. Just to be able to step in my homeland; I am looking forward to it.... I lived in England, I grew up in England. I live here now and play basketball, but you look at me – you can tell right away I am from South Sudan, and that is home.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k1ykfaMviU&feature=channel_page

Learn more about the ninemillion.org campaign by visiting their website:

www.ninemillion.org/

Frederick Douglass's Courageous Independence Day Speech

2009-07-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

African Americans and white Americans have long had a different view of the celebration of America’s Independence day, July 4th. That disconnect has existed since the Declaration of Independence was written and presented to King George of Great Britain.

A document whose authors proclaimed “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”, men who kept other men in a life of slavery that deprived them of these same rights they themselves called “unalienable”, created a void between whites and blacks that lasts until the present day.

In 1852 while slavery in America was at its zenith, while a Fugitive Slave Law had been enacted that required all American citizens to help apprehend runaway slaves for their masters, the good citizens of Rochester, New York, requested one of their neighbors to deliver an address on the Fourth of July. That neighbor was Frederick Douglass.

The intellectual turmoil of such an invitation had to have worked on Douglass. An escaped slave himself, Douglass had dedicated his life to working for the abolition of slavery. In speeches, in a newspaper he published named The North Star, Frederick Douglass was a tireless worker for African American freedom.

So on July 4, 1852, Frederick Douglass strode to the podium and delivered the following words:

Fellow Citizens: pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. But such is not the state of the case.

What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing empty and heartless; your sermons and thanksgivings a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.

Douglass was a man of immense courage. This was not a long speech nor was it delivered in an auditorium full of former slaves. I wonder how many of us today would have the same intestinal fortitude as Frederick Douglass did on July 4, 1852.

One of the Greatest

2009-03-27T08:14:00.001-07:00

One of the Greatest
Originally uploaded by DeHoll

"This is a textbook you will read this semester from cover to cover."

I was sitting in a classroom when a young teacher named Dennis Dowdell began passing back thick blue copies of a new textbooks with an embossed title.

The book was From Slavery to Freedom. It was written by a brilliant, but humble scholar.

John Hope Franklin was a teacher, author, orator and researcher who not only documented history but made it.

The groundbreaking text was the first widely distributed Black History text used in America's public schools. It has exposed millions to indisputable facts about U.S. history.

This was a man who saw a black settlement in Oklahoma eradicated in days and nights of ethnic cleansing after World War I.

He knew Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Mary McLoud Bethune, Martin Luther King, Elijah Muhammed, Malcolm X and others on a first name basis.

He rubbed shoulders with Paul Robeson and led the research on the Brown versus the Board of Education case that allowed a young lawyer to win a 1954 court victory that eventually equalized public spending in the nation's public
schools.

I heard him lecture at an Ohio university in the 1970's and heard him speak at a church in Texas in the 1980's.

In the 1990's, I interviewed him after he was appointed to head a commission on race in America. I also smiled when this humble man who raised orchids in his spare time was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

John Hope Franklin use to joke with his mother about a "Negro" becoming president of the United States.

As a distinguished endowed professor at Duke University, he spoke in the past few months of the irony of seeing that happen.

John Hope Franklin met his maker at the age of 94. I like to think he has been able to look him in the eye and smile, adding that he knew and spoke with President Obama and died believing in the true possibilities of America.

Obtaining fresh water a challenge in a lot of the world

2009-03-21T15:21:00.001-07:00

Photograph originally uploaded by bdinphoenix

In the U.S., we often take clean water for granted. Turn on the tap and - ta-da! - drinkable H2O. But across huge swaths of the planet, it's not that simple.

According to the United Nations, 2.6 billion people - that's 41% of the global population - lack access to clean water.

That's why the U.N. has set aside March 22 as World Water Day, which calls on governments and individuals to recognize how crucial water is to our health, economy, and environment.

While the numbers can be staggering - 6,000 children die each day from diseases that could have been prevented by having access to clean water and sanitation - the solutions are surprisingly simple.

A mere one-dollar investment in providing access to clean water will return seven dollars in economic productivity, because people don't get sick, don't miss work and school, and live longer.

This past Sunday marked the first day of the Tap Project, a weeklong fundraiser initiated by UNICEF to offer clean and accessible drinking water to children all over the world. More than 100 restaurants in the Washington area are asking customers to donate $1—or as much as they’d like to give—to drink tap water, normally free of charge.

You can also support The Tap project

The project was launched last year in New York City. At more than 300 restaurants, the city raised $100,000 and provided 4 million children with clean water. This year, UNICEF expanded the idea to include 13 cities around the country. More than 100 restaurants are participating in the Washington area through March 22nd.

On March 22, you can participate in live or virtual water marches sponsored by Starbucks. In Washington, D.C., New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas, and other cities, people will walk miles to draw attention to water issues. These marches are inspired by the 3-6-mile journey women and children in many countries make every day just to get water.

Article by DeHoll on flickr.com

Caribbean unrest has roots in slavery and colonialism past

2009-02-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

By JONATHAN M. KATZ and DANICA COTO

POINTE-A-PITRE, Guadeloupe (AP) — Protests that have nearly shut down the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique are not just about demands for lower prices and higher wages: For demonstrators they are no less than a battle against the vestiges of slavery.

Afro-Caribbean islanders — most of whose forbears toiled in the sugarcane fields under the yoke of slavery more than 160 years ago — not only resent France's handling of the global economic crisis, they have long resented that slaveholders' descendants control the economy on both islands.

They also suspect that businesses earn too high a profit on goods, most of which are imported.

This resentment against slaveholder descendants, known as bekes (bay-KAY) has lent an especially sharp edge to weeks of demonstrations that at times have erupted in gunfire, arson, looting, and the death of one activist in Guadeloupe.

"They've got the money, they've got the power, they've got Guadeloupe," snapped protester Lollia Naily. "This is not a race thing. It is a money thing and it is a power thing."

Protesters in Martinique also have rejected the bekes, with frequent chants of "Martinique is ours, not theirs!" Bekes own most industries in Martinique — but represent only about 1 percent of the island's 401,000 residents.

Deep economic and social disparities divide France from its overseas possessions: Unemployment in Guadeloupe is about 23 percent, compared with 8 percent on mainland France, and 12 percent of islanders live in poverty, compared with 6 percent of mainlanders, according to the most recent statistics.

The conflict extends beyond the Caribbean: Islanders living in mainland France are relegated to low-level jobs and are absent from senior positions in business, the military and government, revealing a "color fracture in French society," said Patrick Lozes, head of the Representative Council of Black Associations.

Islanders demand that France treat them as equals — wherever they are living — and question why food is more expensive here than on the mainland.

"My ID says I'm French," said 28-year-old Philippe Delag. "Guadeloupe is part of France."

The island certainly looks the part: French flags fly from government buildings, and tiny Citroens and Peugeots whiz along well-maintained highways. Residents switch easily from Creole to French in conversations.

On one concrete median divider in Guadeloupe is the spray-painted message, "We want 200 euros," reflecting protesters' demands for a 200-euro ($250) monthly raise for low-paid workers, who now make roughly euro900 ($1,130) a month.

The French government, which has insisted that any salary increases must come from the private sector, announced it could provide extra government benefits totaling nearly euro200 ($250) extra a month for low-income workers.

And both sides in Martinique have reached an agreement that would lower prices on 100 products by 20 percent. Protest leaders and government officials are still negotiating to lower the costs of housing, gasoline, water and electricity.

But the problems extend beyond economics, protesters say.

Serge Romana, president of an association that commemorates the abolition of slavery in the French territories, said French President Nicolas Sarkozy "must absolutely abolish all traces of neocolonialism and vestiges of slavery in the overseas regions."

Sarkozy himself — who raised islanders' hackles when as interior minister in 2005 he endorsed a bill requiring textbooks to recognize the "positive role" of colonialism — acknowledged last week that old wounds still fester.

"I know the feeling of injustice that you have, given the inequalities and the discrimination," the president said in a television appearance on Thursday aimed at quelling the unrest. "How can we justify monopolies, overly high profits ... and, why not say it, forms of exploitation that should not have any place in the 21st century?"

In Paris, thousands of people took to the streets on Saturday to show their support for striking workers and to pay homage to Jacques Bino, the labor-union activist killed in Guadeloupe last week.

Despite such signs of solidarity, most of France doesn't understand the islanders' demands, Lozes said.

"They don't see it as a demand for justice, but rather as a demand for charity," he said.

Jean-Luc de Laguarigue, a beke, said tensions have festered over generations because France and its islands have not explored the painful past. He said he knows of no slavery museum in France. The subject is generally taboo in schools.

But Laguarigue insisted that bekes no longer represent power and colonial force, and suggested that the islands — not Paris — should decide what is best for them.

The protests are "not a call for war, but for dignity," he said.

On Sunday, mourners dressed in white packed a gymnasium in the cane-growing town of Petit-Canal to hear poems about struggle and rousing songs in homage to Bino, the dead labor-union activist, whose body has been displayed in an open casket on the island for two days.

"We want respect," said Adele Goram, 50, an islander from a nearby town who attended. "We live in France and there should be no difference between France and Guadeloupe."

Several islanders blame the arrival of 450 French riot police for the violence that has erupted during protests — and say it shows how France treats the islands like colonies.

Martinican painter and intellectual Victor Permal described Paris' proposals as "general and blurry" and criticized the decision to send force, saying France has often overreacted when problems arise on the islands.

"The people are starting to gain a clear notion of what belongs to them," Permal said. "So they become conscious that it is not France who should define their path and needs."

John Legend responds to NY Post cartoon

2009-02-21T07:43:00.000-08:00

R&B singer John Legend has blasted a New York Post cartoon as racist in an angry letter to the editor.

In the Feb. 19 New York Post, an editorial cartoon compared the author of the federal stimulus bill to the crazed chimpanzee shot and killed by police a few days earlier after attacking a woman in Stamford, Conn.

The singer responded to the cartoon with the following open letter to the Post:

Dear Editor:

I'm trying to understand what possible motivation you may have had for publishing that vile cartoon depicting the shooting of the chimpanzee that went crazy. I guess you thought it would be funny to suggest that whomever was responsible for writing the Economic Recovery legislation must have the intelligence and judgment of a deranged, violent chimpanzee, and should be shot to protect the larger community. Really? Did it occur to you that this suggestion would imply a connection between President Barack Obama and the deranged chimpanzee? Did it occur to you that our president has been receiving death threats since early in his candidacy? Did it occur to you that blacks have historically been compared to various apes as a way of racist insult and mockery? Did you intend to invoke these painful themes when you printed the cartoon?

If that's not what you intended, then it was stupid and willfully ignorant of you not to connect these easily connectable dots. If it is what you intended, then you obviously wanted to be grossly provocative, racist and offensive to the sensibilities of most reasonable Americans. Either way, you should not have printed this cartoon, and the fact that you did is truly reprehensible. I can't imagine what possible justification you have for this. I've read your lame statement in response to the outrage you provoked. Shame on you for dodging the real issue and then using the letter as an opportunity to attack Rev. Sharpton. This is not about Rev. Sharpton. It's about the cartoon being blatantly racist and offensive.

I believe in freedom of speech, and you have every right to print what you want. But freedom of speech still comes with responsibilities and consequences. You are responsible for printing this cartoon, and I hope you experience some real consequences for it. I'm personally boycotting your paper and won't do any interviews with any of your reporters, and I encourage all of my colleagues in the entertainment business to do so as well. I implore your advertisers to seriously reconsider their business relationships with you as well.

You should print an apology in your paper acknowledging that this cartoon was ignorant, offensive and racist and should not have been printed.

I'm well aware of our country's history of racism and violence, but I truly believe we are better than this filth. As we attempt to rise above our difficult past and look toward a better future, we don't need the New York Post to resurrect the images of Jim Crow to deride the new administration and put black folks in our place. Please feel free to criticize and honestly evaluate our new president, but do so without the incendiary images and rhetoric.

Sincerely,

John Legend

New York Post Editorial Cartoon Insults Obama and African Americans

2009-02-19T04:49:00.000-08:00

Reverend Al Sharpton had the following to say about the New York Post's editorial cartoon: Statement by Reverend Al Sharpton, President of National Action Network

New York, NY (February 18, 2009) --The cartoon in today’s New York Post is troubling at best, given the racist attacks throughout history that have made African-Americans synonymous with monkeys. One has to question whether the cartoonist is making a less than casual inference to this form of racism when, in the cartoon, the police say after shooting a chimpanzee, “now they will have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill.”

Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama (the first African American president) and has become synonymous with him it is not a reach to wonder whether the Post cartoonist was inferring that a monkey wrote it? Given that the New York Post cartoonist has come under heavy fire in the past for racially tinged cartoons including the infamous cartoons depicting 2001 mayoral candidate Freddy Ferrer and me in very unflattering ways (that ultimately was used as a campaign tactic to inflame racial prejudices), one cannot ignore that history when looking at this morning’s cartoon.

The Post should at least clarify what point they were trying to make in this cartoon, and reprimand their cartoonist for making inferences that are offensive and divisive at a time the nation struggles to come together to stabilize the economy if, in fact, this was yet another racially charged cartoon.

What do YOU have to say about this?

Frederick Douglas House at Cedar Hill

2009-02-05T07:09:00.001-08:00

Frederick Douglas House at Cedar Hill
Originally uploaded by bdinphoenix

Frederick Douglas was arguably the most influential African American of the 19th century. A statesman, newspaper publisher, abolitionist, husband, father, orator and women's suffrage advocate, Douglas was a man of strong convictions. Born in slavery, Douglas escaped from his master after refusing to take a beating from an overseer on a Maryland plantation. He became a leading spokesman for the abolitionist movement. He turned down an invitation from John Brown to join the Harper's Ferry raid because he believed lawlessness did not help the anti-slavery cause. In 1865 he gave a speech at Hosanna Meeting House in Oxford, Pennsylvania that prompted my great-great grandfather, two of his brothers, and many of his friends to join the union army during the civil war. He was named ambassador to Haiti in 1889. Douglas and his wife Anna purchased this home in 1877, breaking a whites' only covenant. On February 20, 1895, shortly after attending a women's rights rally, Douglas died in the hallway of this home. He may have been the greatest African American leader in American history.

Sankore Mosque

2008-10-20T17:22:00.001-07:00

Sankore Mosque
Originally uploaded by bdinphoenix

One of the two historic mosques of Timbuktu (the other being the Jingereber), the Sankore mosque was built during the declining years of the Empire of Mali, in the early 15th century A.D. Architecturally, it is remarkable for its large pyramidal mihrab. But this is not its real claim to fame -- indeed, it is smaller and less intricate than earlier Malian mosques including the 13th century mosque of Djenne. Instead, it is famous for being the center of the great Islamic scholarly community at Timbuktu during the 16th century A.D. The medieval "University of Timbuktu," often referred to as the "University of Sankore" was very different in organization to the universities of medieval Europe. It had no central administration, student registers, or prescribed courses of study; rather, it was composed of several entirely independent schools or colleges, each run by a single master or imam. Students associated themselves with a single teacher, and courses took place in the open courtyards of mosque complexes or private residences. The primary focus of these schools was the teaching of the Koran, although broader instruction in fields such as logic, astronomy, and history also took place. As anyone who wished could establish one of these colleges, standards amongst them are said to have been very uneven. However the imams of the Sankore mosque are known to have been the most respected. The university was adversely affected by the Moroccan invasion of the 1590s and the deportation of its best scholars. It never again regained its 16th century eminence.

by K.C. McDonald

Kidnapped in Ghana, brought to Maryland/Virginia

2008-09-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

James K. Anquandah is a full Professor of Archeology at the University of Ghana. He has also learned his family's history and knows that one of his ancestors was kidnapped at Elmina in Ghana by Dutch slavers, unwilling to buy slaves but more than willing to kidnap them.

Anquandah's ancestor was placed on a slave ship and taken to the Maryland/Virginia area of North America in the 1600s. The United States of America did not yet exist and control of the North American continent was being contested by the British, French, Spanish, and Dutch, all of whom wanted to take the land from the native Americans who lived there. They also had a desire for Africans to do the manual labor that needed to be done to build a nation.

View award winning filmographer Professor Pat Ward Williams's video interview with Professor James K. Anquandah and learn more about the history of African slavery and survival on the North American continent.

Video by Pat Ward Williams
Text by Barry Williams

The slave fortress at Cape Coast, Ghana

2008-09-06T13:37:00.001-07:00

Cape Coast Castle
Originally uploaded by bdinphoenix

Cape Coast Castle’s strategic location near Elmina Castle and its sheltered beach made it a desirable location for European nations bent on exploiting the wealth of Africa. For almost 100 years there was a heated competition between the Portuguese, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, and English for control of Cape Coast.

The first trading lodge in the area was built by the Portuguese in 1555 and was named “Cabo Corso”, which means short cape, later corrupted to Cape Coast. Sweden built the first permanent fort in 1653 and named it Carolusburg after King Charles X of Sweden. During the next eleven years, the Swedes, Danes, and the local Fetu chief each captured and controlled Carolusburg.

The English fleet finally captured Carolusburg and it remained in English possession until the late 19th century. It served as the headquarters of the British governor. It was the British who transformed the fort into a castle.

It is estimated that by 1700, the British were shipping 70,000 slaves per year from Cape Coast to the Americas as part of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In 1766 the British undertook a major rehabilitation of the castle, giving it its present look.

After the slave trade was abolished the castle became an important post for legitimate trade. The British also used it as a training facility for Jamaican soldiers during their wars with the Asante in Ghana. It has also been used as a school for Ghanian children and as the regional headquarters of the Museums and Monuments Board.

Source: Castles & Forts of Ghana by Kwesi J. Anquandah

Who Murdered Army Private LaVena Johnson

2008-07-28T13:52:00.000-07:00

This could have been your sister, daughter, neice or friend.

This has to be one of the biggest stories in the Country that is not getting National Coverage.

Young Pvt. Lavena Johnson, a St. Louis Missouri area soldier, was killed in Iraq on July 19th, 2005. Evidence in the case points to assault and murder. However, the Army has been covering up the murder, calling the soldiers death a suicide instead.
This story is also being covered by blogger Shakespears Sister.

Immediately after her murder, The Army told her family that her death was not a suicide. But a short time later, the Army changed its story and called it a suicide by way of a self inflicted gunshot. The case was never properly investigated. The FBI should have taken over this case, once it appeared that foul play was involved.

The family put up an initial fight, but then the case faded.

Right after her death, I attempting to get more light shined on the issue. I wrote newspapers, and TV stations, without success. I guess they felt that it was more important to spend all of their time talking about Strippers like Anna Nicole Smith. I even attempted to get "Black Reporters" Tavis Smiley and Ed Gordon to cover this story, but neither of their programs ever responded to my e-mails via their websites.

I immediately saw red flags with this case, because the circumstances were so suspicious. First and foremost:

1. Lavena Johnson was not a candidate for suicide, based on all of the accounts that described her personality, demeanor, her spirit, etc. None of that pointed to suicide. Also, she was nearing the time when she would be coming home and had been making plans with her family.

2. Secondly, from a physical/scientific standpoint it would have been nearly impossible for her to shoot herself in the side of the head with an M-16 with her weak hand. The bullet wound was on the left side of her head, but Lavena was right handed. Typically this is not how a suicide would be done with an M-16 rifle. In addition, weapons residue & forensics tests showed that she did not even fire the weapon.

3. Her face and upper body showed signs that she had been beaten. She had a broken nose, a busted lip, and her front teeth had been knocked loose. The funeral service workers had to repair her face before her funeral. Other parts of her body also showed signs of trauma.

I did not want to push too hard at the time, because the family did not seem interested in dealing with the issue. They wanted to grieve instead.

But there are now new developments in the case, and the family is once again fighting for a new investigation. Local St. Louis TV Station KMOV Channel 4 covered the case this week, and even more evidence has surfaced in the case that was not previously reported. See video here. The new evidence supports the case that Lavena was brutally murdered in her tent.

This case should be brought to national prominence, because a disgusting injustice has been committed here. The killer or killers are out there walking free.

My theory on what may have happened to this young soldier? She was likely a victim of a rape or sexual assault of some kind, likely by superior officers or enlisted soldiers. In an effort to cover up their crime and keep her from telling anyone, they decided to kill her. The evidence in the case shows that the suspect (s) attempted to destroy evidence at the crime scene, including an attempt to try to set the crime scene on fire. The new information also shows that there was a blood trail leading outside from Lavena's tent. If she shot herself in the head with an M-16, then she would not have been able to get up and walk outside of her tent to create the blood trail. Another person would have had to do that.

OR an alternate scenario could be that Lavena was a witness to or knew of serious criminal activity involving officers or senior enlisted folks over there. She must have saw something or heard something, and her superiors knew that she could be a witness against them. In an effort to guarantee that she would not tell what she knew, someone decided to have her killed.

Either way, this case deserves National attention, and the FBI should get involved. From seeing other cases in Iraq involving Iraqi civilians, we know that these kinds of events have taken place. The problem with these kinds of cases involving soldiers overseas is that evidence is lost and potential witnesses and suspects are reassigned to other bases over a certain period of time. But this is exactly why this needs to be an FBI case, because any new case would involve several jurisdictions.

The Army’s Criminal Investigation Division (or CID), which is typically responsible for investigating crimes on Army installations, has proved that #1. It may not have the resources and/or the manpower to investigate such a complex case, and #2. It has shown that it is not trustworthy in terms of being an impartial entity in this case. This is especially important if the offender or offenders were Army officers…and if the Army itself is involved in this cover-up.

Let's bring national attention to this issue so that justice can be served...for Lavena, her family, and for the other young women in the military who may have found themselves in similar situations (or will in the future), and may not have known how to seek help if help was even available at all. Women deployed overseas in the field are often isolated among men and often do not have the same support networks when they are deployed to warzones that they have when deployed Stateside.

This kind of vile injustice (far worse than what happened to Pat Tillman) should not be allowed to stand.

--from the blog Mirror on America

Racism still alive in Lima, Peru

2008-06-21T18:29:00.000-07:00

I've been telling Peruvians that theirs is just about the most racist country I ever visited. They still don't believe.

This morning I went to a cultural event at an institution whose name I will not mention at this time, in order to protect the guilty.

After about 5 or 6 performances, this group lined up on the stage. It struck me that the figure on the right, from the perspective of the audience, stood motionless, was a white man wearing "black face," and while the other stood proud, he lowered his head, playing the shameful, shameless Uncle Tom.

And, as the crowded hall laughed and cheered, as he shuffled in his dance, head still held downward, I left in disgust.

Because I voiced the view that I was insulted, several students engaged me in conversation at the gate, but it was impossible to explain why it was insulting.

I've read and heard about racism in the USA since I was a boy, but this is the very first time I ever saw Al Jolson reincarnated.

--Photographs and article produced by Patrick B. Barr (Barrybar on flickr)

The Many Faces of Hosanna Meeting House

2008-06-17T21:11:00.001-07:00

Hosanna AMUP
Originally uploaded by bdinphoenix

In 1843, life in the United States of America was a precarious one for African Americans. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, was a federal law that required the return of runaway slaves to their masters. In actuality it was rarely enforced but it led to a tenuous hold on freedom for African Americans who were not slaves.

In the 18th and 19th centuries the hold African Americans had on freedom was even more slippery. Slavery from birth until death was the fate that awaited most Africans in America and the few freedmen were always under the threat of having their rights and freedoms taken away.

Religion and the church was one of the few places an African could escape to in order to get any peace of mind. Barred from the religions of their ancestors by American society in general, and slave owners in particular, Africans adopted the Christian religion of their oppressors in great numbers.

In rural Chester County, Pennsylvania, Hosanna Meeting House served as the center of religious and spiritual life for the African Americans in the all black community of Hinsonville. Built in 1843 by the residents of Hinsonville, Hosanna was not only a house of worship but a political meeting place, an education center, and a stop on the Underground Railroad. During its 165 year existence Hosanna has been affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), the African United Methodist Protestant (AUMP) church, and the African Methodist Episcopal Zion (AMEZ) church.
Many of the founders of Hosanna Meeting House and the village of Hinsonville are buried in the cemetery on the grounds of the church. The headstones read like a Who’s Who of 18th and 19th century African American Chester County. There are generation of families such as the Amos family, the Drapers, Walls, and Coles. Two of Hosanna’s members, Wesley and William Jay, served with the 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry in the War Between the States and are buried in the cemetery at Hosanna. In 1864 Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass came to Hosanna Meeting House and gave speeches in support of the Union. Something said in those speeches inspired my great-great grandfather, William Henry Black, and his brothers Joseph, Israel, and Ellis to join the Union army in time to participate in the siege of Petersburg and Richmond.
Hinsonville is long gone, relegated to the pages of history. It was replaced by Lincoln University, reportedly the oldest African American college in the United States. Hosanna Meeting House however, is still standing tall. It has been honored by the state of Pennsylvania as a historic site.

Click on the photograph and please enjoy your online visit to Hosanna Meeting House.

Timbuktu is really not far away

2008-05-25T13:10:00.001-07:00

Djingarey Berreredux
Originally uploaded by bdinphoenix

We have all long heard the saying that something we desired is “as far away as Timbuktu”. In many western cultures the ancient city of Timbuktu is used as a metaphor to signify the distance one was trying to overcome to attain some goal or objective. Many people do not even believe Timbuktu is a real city but rather, like Shangri-La, some mythical place, as far removed from our existence as the moon or Mars.

However, as I recently discovered, Timbuktu is not that far away. By air it is only 45 minutes from Mopti, the same time necessary to fly from Chicago, Illinois to Dayton, Ohio. By motor vehicle Timbuktu is a scant four hours from Mopti, less than the time it would take one to drive from Phoenix, Arizona to San Diego, California.

Located on the edge of the Sahara desert in Mali, West Africa, Timbuktu has been a cultural, educational, religious, and trade center for approximately two thousand years. A Tuareg herdswoman named Buktu discovered an oasis in the Sahara almost two thousand years ago that she used as a camp during the dry season for her herds and flocks. Soon she set up a permanent camp and dug a well, hence the name Timbuktu, or, Buktu’s well.
Timbuktu soon became a stop on the trans-Sahara trade route for travelers, nomads, and caravans. Merchants setting up markets and building fixed dwellings instead of the usual tents really established Timbuktu as a meeting and trade location.

The kingdom of Ghana, the first great empire of the region, organized and controlled the trade of gold, salt, slaves, and other commodities in the area. Large caravans of camels laden with salt came to Timbuktu, where merchants shipped the goods along the Niger river to other African towns in exchange for other goods., most notably gold. It was this gold that Arab merchants told European traders about that later led to the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
Eventually Timbuktu came under the control of the Mali empire, the second great empire in West Africa and the first great Muslim kingdom in the region. These same trade routes, over which gold, salt, slaves and koala nuts were transported, also brought scholars and settlers who introduced Islam to the region.

The Malian king Mansa Mousa built magnificent mosques throughout his empire to spread the influence of Islam. Mousa transformed Timbuktu not only into one of the major cultural centers of Africa but the Islamic world. Timbuktu grew in wealth and power and became a meeting place for poets, scholars, and artists from Africa and the Middle East. In 1324 Mousa took a pilgrimage to Mecca and brought Timbuktu to the attention of the rest of the world.
The Djingarey Berre Mosque was built under Mousa’s leadership. Its mud and brick construction started a 600 year tradition that remains today. Djingarey Berre dominates Timbuktu to this day and has space for 2000 worshippers. Mali lost control over Timbuktu and its environs in the 15th century but Timbuktu was still the major Islamic center of sub-Saharan Africa.

In 1468 Timbuktu came under the control of the Songhay Empire. The city went through a golden age with doctors, scholars, judges, and clerics contributing to a culture where books became one of the leading commodities in the city. Theology, rhetoric, Islamic law and literature were taught at the Sankore University, which was housed in the Sankore mosque.

In 1590, Morocco, desiring the gold flowing from the Songhay, conquered Songhay and destroyed the empire. This development, along with the growing Atlantic Ocean trade routes, led to a serious decline of Timbuktu. Moroccans ruled Timbuktu until approximately 1780. Various bands, including Tuaregs and the Bambara kingdom in Segou, took over Timbuktu until the 19th century, when the French took control of the city.

Due to Timbuktu’s reputation as an unreachable city, vast and inhospitable but covered with gold, the French offered a substantial amount of money to any European explorer to reach the city. A young Frenchman named Rene Caillie took up the challenge and, disguised as an Arab, reached Timbuktu in 1828. What Caillie found was a barren, desolate town with no trace of the wealth the French had long heard about. The gold trade had moved to the West African coast and was largely replaced by a more lucrative trade in slaves.

Modern day Timbuktu gives an appearance of being as desolate as the town Caillie reached in 1828. It is fighting encroachment from the Sahara Desert and its water and vegetation has been stripped away by desertification. However, its mosques and libraries, both public and private, still exist. Its citizens depend largely on tourism and it has three hotels for travelers to rest in. Timbuktu’s teenagers look like teenagers from any other western town in dress and clothing styles. The four wheel drive Toyotas and Nissans that travel its sandy streets have to make space for the occasional burro and cart traveling those same roadways. Its people are friendly and its hotels comfortable, if not spartan. An internet café exists in Timbuktu and if you have the right cell phone provider you can telephone anywhere in the world.

Click on the photograph to see more photographs from Timbuktu

Goree Island

2008-05-05T16:53:00.001-07:00

Goree
Originally uploaded by bdinphoenix

Goree Island is a 45 acre island located one kilometer at sea from the harbor at Dakar, Senegal. Due to a lack of drinking water, the island was not settled until the Portuguese arrived in 1444. Goree was an essential place in the triangular slave trade between Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

Owned at different times in its history by the Portuguese, the United Netherlands, the Portuguese again, the Dutch , and finally the French in 1677, Goree was named after the Dutch island of Goeree. From 1677 until Senegal was granted its independence from the French in 1960, Goree was owned mainly by France, with brief intervals of ownership by Great Britain between 1677 and 1815.

The Portuguese built the first slave trading post on Goree in 1536. After the French took possession in 1677, Goree became a lucrative trading post for slaves for the French until Napoleon abolished slavery in 1807. The French however, did not vigorously enforce their anti-slavery laws so a covert slave trade existed until 1815. Most of the slaves who passed through Goree went to the Caribbean, Brazil, and the French owned portions of North America.

While Goree is a place of history and beauty now, it must never be forgotten that unspeakable crimes against humanity and the peoples of Africa took place here. Major European powers at the time, Portugal, Netherlands, England, and France stole African’s major resource, its people, and used them to build incredible wealth for themselves.

Please enjoy your photographic visit. Clicking on the photograph will take you to a gallery of photographs from Goree Island.

information source: Wikipedia