May 11th, 2008
It’s one thing to know that after the Civil War that black slaves were freed, and that following Reconstruction that Jim Crow laws sought to halt the social progress of the newly freed slaves. However, even though Jim Crow laws during the post-Reconstruction period are mentioned in our high school text books, apparently they don’t go far enough towards telling the story of neo-slavery in America after our nation’s Civil War.
Last week I heard an interview with Douglas Blackmon, on Here & Now, on this subject:
Slavery did not end with the end of the Civil War. In fact it went on in a different form until World War II. Free blacks were arrested on trumped up charges all across the south and were leased to landowners and industries. They were often forced to work in coal mines or lumber mills under horrific conditions. Douglas Blackmon uncovers this history in his new book “Slavery By Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II.”
Again, it’s one thing to “know” about what conditions were like for African-Americans after the Civil War, it is quite another to so vividly hear about the systemic suppression of human beings after their so-called emancipation.
May 10th, 2008
I had never heard of the B.A.T., but I am now a fan. The lines of the car are elegant and beautiful. Here’s more on the B.A.T. from the NY Times:
Bertone, one of Italy’s great coachbuilders, built three visionary concept cars in the 1950s, the B.A.T. cars, Nos. 5, 7, and 9. B.A.T. stands for Berlinetta Aerodinamica Tecnica; berlinetta is an industry term for a sporty coupe.
May 5th, 2008
I had no idea of their story, but I’m glad that she and her husband stood up for themselves:
RICHMOND, Va. — Mildred Loving, a black woman whose challenge to Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling striking down such laws nationwide, has died, her daughter said Monday.
[…]
Loving and her white husband, Richard, changed history in 1967 when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their right to marry. The ruling struck down laws banning racially mixed marriages in at least 17 states.
“There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause,” the court ruled in a unanimous decision.
Her husband died in 1975. Shy and soft-spoken, Loving shunned publicity and in a rare interview with The Associated Press last June, insisted she never wanted to be a hero — just a bride.
[…]
Mildred told the AP she didn’t realize it was illegal.
“I think my husband knew,” Mildred said. “I think he thought (if) we were married, they couldn’t bother us.”
But they were arrested a few weeks after they returned to Central Point, their hometown in rural Caroline County north of Richmond. They pleaded guilty to charges of “cohabiting as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth,” according to their indictments.
They avoided jail time by agreeing to leave Virginia _ the only home they’d known — for 25 years.
[…]
Richard Loving died in a car accident that also injured his wife. “They said I had to leave the state once, and I left with my wife,” he told the Star in 1965. “If necessary, I will leave Virginia again with my wife, but I am not going to divorce her.”
May 4th, 2008
It’s hard to pin down Thomas Friedman, if one is not paying attention. Yes, Mr. Friedman is a cheerleader of techno-prediterminism and an unapologetic free market fundamentalist; that, nonetheless, I read because his opinions seem blessed with Good Housekeeping’s seal of approval for “conventional wisdom,” that is often held by those in the top echelons of industry, government and similar elite circles. However, even though Mr. Friedman is often just a purveyor of conventional wisdom (i.e., the Iraq invasion was a good idea), now and then he writes a thing or two that surprises:
Traveling the country these past five months while writing a book, I’ve had my own opportunity to take the pulse, far from the campaign crowds. My own totally unscientific polling has left me feeling that if there is one overwhelming hunger in our country today it’s this: People want to do nation-building. They really do. But they want to do nation-building in America.
If Mr. Friedman is putting this in his column it can only mean that, in between cocktail parties at his “11,400-square-foot house,” he’s heard a similar line from one of his elite associates. And if this is the case, it means that there’s a new conventional wisdom bubbling up in these elite circles about nation building at home.
From his previous writings, and in between the lines of his latest column, it’s clear that Mr. Friedman expects free market fundamentalism to shape any domestic nation building programs; however, just the fact that this possibility is emerging as a domestic policy, it can only mean that Mr. Friedman and his elite colleagues are contemplating an expanded role for our federal government.
If after traveling through our country this is the conclusion that Mr. Friedman arrived at, that Americans are ready for nation building at home; then I suggest that Mr. Friedman should spend more time at home, observing Americans, just as he so famously spends time observing and chatting with taxi drivers abroad.
April 29th, 2008
Have you ever seen watermelons like these before? No, never! Me neither! They are beautiful, and I can only imagine that they taste as sweet as they look. These are moon and stars watermelons, according to the NY Times.
The image is incredible, because I have never seen anything like it. And that’s just the problem:
[Gary Paul Nabhan] has spent most of the past four years compiling a list of endangered plants and animals that were once fairly commonplace in American kitchens but are now threatened, endangered or essentially extinct in the marketplace. He has set out to save them, which often involves urging people to eat them.
Mr. Nabhan’s list, 1,080 items and growing, forms the basis of his new book, an engaging journey through the nooks and crannies of American culinary history titled “Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent’s Most Endangered Foods” (Chelsea Green Publishing, $35).
The book tells the stories of 93 ingredients both obscure (Ny’pa, a type of salt grass) and beloved (the Black Sphinx date), along with recipes that range from the accessible (Centennial pecan pie) to the challenging (whole pit-roasted Plains pronghorn antelope).
I don’t know about eating a pronghorn antelope, but I would at least like to taste some moon and stars watermelons.
