Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m more Christian than these people and I’m an atheist.

Be a traveling stable for those who can’t find room at the inn.

Elections aren’t won by handwringing, cowering, and/or bashing your own candidates.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Books are my comfort food!

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Nikki Haley, who can’t acknowledge ‘slavery’, is a pathetic shill.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Hot air and ill-informed banter

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Open Thread: Closing Out Black History Month…

Open Thread: Closing Out Black History Month…

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  2. 2.

    cmorenc

    A disastrously unfortunate part of black history is that one of it’s greatest heroes in the hard fight to win civil rights, Thurgood Marshall, was, when his health became too frail to remain on SCOTUS, replaced by President Bush, Sr. with a black person deliberately chosen to be an anti-hero to undermine Marshall’s legacy, Clarence Thomas.  Thomas has also proven to also be a floridly corrupt anti-image of Marshall’s uncoruptible personal integrity.

  3. 3.

    Yutsano

    “We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common Defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution of the United States of America.”

    The preamble said it best. We’ll always be a work in progress, but progress was always the very first aspiration.

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Never saw that Google ad before. Wow, that is powerful!

    They’re all good clips. Love love love to see MVP dancing.

  5. 5.

    Brachiator

    Reposted from an earlier thread.

    Infrequent Flyer observations, Black History. Some friends and I drove to Tulsa and visited the small, but impressive Tulsa Race Riot museum and memorial. You walk through the multi-media exhibit which provides a helpful historical background and provides moving portraits of the black residents who were just trying to provide a life for themselves in the new state.

    A number of sad facts related to America’s racist past really hit hard. There had been more than 25 black towns established in Oklahoma while the area was still a territory. But as soon as Oklahoma became a state in 1907, the first laws passed established Jim Crow segregation.

    The devastation of the riots has finally been acknowledged. But the historical record shows how bigoted whites saw the black people of the community as agitators who could not possibly be seen favorably, despite the plain evidence that the violence was planned and carried out by a white mob. To add to the misery inflicted on the black residents, because they were branded as agitators, survivors were denied insurance proceeds that could have been used to repair damage caused by the rioting and looting.

    Despite this, residents tried to rebuild and succeeded to some degree.

    The Greenwood Rising “Black Wall Street” exhibition is impressive and sobering. There are shops and signs throughout the neighborhood which commemorate and add to the experience.

  6. 6.

    Darkrose

    Every year since I’ve been in my current job, I’ve done book recommendations for Black History Month and Pride Month. This year I collaborated with a couple of students, and Library Communications posted video of us talking about our books to Instagram. My recs were A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story, by Elaine Brown, the only woman to chair the Black Panther Party, and Hidden Figures, which is better than the movie.

    Instagram link here.

  7. 7.

    Elizabelle

    Excellent post, Anne Laurie.

    The Corey Booker tweet is terrific.  Maya Angelou’s poem Still I Rise.

    And the poet laureate item is interesting, because Joe Biden recites from memory, and clearly, stanzas from one of his favorite Seamus Heaney poems. Will have to look that one up too.

    Do you think those are ashes from Ash Wednesday on his forehead

    ETA:  And yay Mychal, now the PBS Kids Librarian.

  8. 8.

    Elizabelle

    The Seamus Heaney work is The Cure at Troy, a poem reworking of a Sophocles work.

    This is apparently a famous chorus, and what Biden quoted:

    History says, don’t hope
    On this side of the grave. But then, once in a lifetime

    The longed-for tidal wave
    Of justice can rise up,
    And hope and history rhyme.

  9. 9.

    zhena gogolia

    @cmorenc: This is always what I point to when someone starts waxing nostalgic about GHWB. Two words: Clarence Thomas. And having him replace Thurgood Marshall was the height of cynicism.

  10. 10.

    Brachiator

    @cmorenc:

    Thurgood Marshall, was, when his health became too frail to remain on SCOTUS, replaced by President Bush, Sr. with a black person deliberately chosen to be an anti-hero to undermine Marshall’s legacy, Clarence Thomas.

    Thomas could never undermine Marshall’s legacy. There’s no comparison between the two, and Thomas is at best a mediocre jurist.

  13. 13.

    RevRick

    @Elizabelle: One thing on Facebook that I enjoy is their Reels, and my three favorite categories are Female comics, Chess, and Button Poetry. The latter is full of raw emotions and clarity, often about issues of the day.

  14. 14.

    moonbat

    My new Dark Brandon mug arrived in the mail today! So teatime tonight is going to be lit by laser red eyes staring into my soul and exhorting me to vote straight D this November!

  15. 15.

    Kayla Rudbek

    Black history is bicycle history: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-black-buffalo-soldiers-who-biked-across-the-american-west-180980246/ I probably have posted about the 25th Infantry Regiment Bicycle Corps before, but I always like posting about them again.  The accomplishment of their trips to Yellowstone and St. Louis on single speed bicycles weighing 80 pounds and gear weighing even more, on 1890s roads amazes me. And Kittie Knox who was a Black woman cyclist https://bikeleague.org/womens-bike-history-kittie-knox/

  16. 16.

    RevRick

    @Yutsano: The Preamble is not just pretty sentiments, but is actually the very mission statement of the government that the Constitution was forming. The Federalists who were prime movers at the Convention were big government conservatives who saw the need for an active government embracing big things. The Preamble was the why behind the what of Articles 1-7.

  17. 17.

    NotMax

    @Mike in NC

    Also too pardoning Iran-Contra criminals Caspar Weinberger, Elliott Abrams, Duane Clarridge, Alan Fiers, Clair George, and Robert McFarlane,

  18. 18.

    Elizabelle

    @RevRick:   way cool.

    @moonbat:  I got to vote for Joe B today.  Virginia primary early voting.  It was the shortest ballot I have ever seen in my life.

    Marianne Williamson

    Joseph Biden

    Dean Benson Phillips

  20. 20.

    eclare

    @RevRick:

    And as silly as it sounds, I still cannot read the preamble without singing along to the melody of Schoolhouse Rock.  That was such a valuable show that kids like me absorbed at a young age.

  21. 21.

    Darkrose

    @eclare: In 7th grade, Illinois required us to take a test on the state and US constitutions. For extra credit, you could write the full preamble. You knew when people got to that part because we were all softly humming the Schoolhouse Rock melody.

    I can still sing it, too.

  26. 26.

    HumboldtBlue

    The screen capture for poor Mychal the world’s best librarian make it look like he not only just snorted a gram of coke, he had enough left over to glaze his entire face as well.

    Lighting people, lighting.

  32. 32.

    cmorenc

    @Brachiator:

    Thomas could never undermine Marshall’s legacy. There’s no comparison between the two, and Thomas is at best a mediocre jurist.

    Thomas consistently uses his vote to incrementally undermine everything Thurgood Marshall stood for and accomplished as a jurist, while literally sitting in Marshall’s SCOTUS seat.  It’s the contrast- a mediocre,malevolent, corrupt ideologue replaced a true hero who was instrumental in establishing civil rights.

  33. 33.

    Chetan Murthy

    @cmorenc: I’m also reminded of the old Sam Rayburn quote: “Any jackass can kick down a barn but it takes a good carpenter to build one.”

  35. 35.

    frosty

    @Kayla Rudbek: The Buffalo Soldiers’ ride is incredible. There were no roads at the time! They had to find their way with trails, what roads there were, and as the picture showed, railroad tracks.
    What an accomplishment! First, the ride, and later, dealing with the racism at the end.​

  40. 40.

    scav

    @Jackie: You’ve got to indicate which party primary you voted in on the outside of the WA envelope.  Can’t vote in both.

     

    eta

    This type of primary is a way for voters to help political parties choose presidential nominees. For the March 12 Presidential Primary only, the major political parties require voters to mark and sign the party declaration. If you choose to participate, your choice of party will not affect how you may vote in future elections. You must mark and sign the political party declaration (box) on your envelope for your vote to count per RCW 29A.56.050.

    Each major party submitted its declaration and provided wording to the Secretary of State’s Office for ballot materials. Attempts to change the party declaration could result in your ballot not being counted.

    I declare that my party preference is the Democratic Party and I will not participate in the nomination process of any other political party for the 2024 Presidential election.

    I declare that my party preference is the Republican Party and I will not participate in the nomination process of any other political party for the 2024 Presidential election.

    In the November General Election, you will not declare a party and may vote for any Presidential candidate you wish.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    Y’all see that a faction at CPAC was pushing Tulsi Gabbard for Dolt 45’s VP?

    Cray-cray in extermis.

  45. 45.

    AlaskaReader

    “Not everything that is faced can be changed,

    but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

    — James Baldwin

  46. 46.

    John Revolta

    @NotMax: I’m not sure it’s all that crazy. In fact, Mrs. Revolta is convinced she’s gonna be his pick.  I’m not as convinced, but I think she’d be a good choice. Crossover candidate and all. Suck in some of the mushy middle morans.

  47. 47.

    AlaskaReader

     

    “We can disagree and still love each other unless your disagreement is rooted in my oppression and denial of my humanity and right to exist.”
    — James Baldwin

  48. 48.

    Anne Laurie

    @John Revolta: In fact, Mrs. Revolta is convinced she’s gonna be his pick. I’m not as convinced, but I think she’d be a good choice. Crossover candidate and all. Suck in some of the mushy middle morans.

    If Trump does choose Tulsi, it’s Putin’s way of letting us all know who’s really running the GOP.  So I don’t think it happens, unless Biden is so far ahead as to be unbeatable except by fraud beyond the Republicans’ usual.

  50. 50.

    Chetan Murthy

    @AlaskaReader: Wow, that is well-put!  I’ll have to remember that quote.  I’d amend it slightly, to include “and all other Americans”.

  51. 51.

    Basilisc

    So “Philadelphia 1985” was probably the MOVE bombing (details here: 1985 MOVE bombing – Wikipedia). Which was a horrible act of police malpractice (authorized by the city’s first black mayor) that burned down an entire neighborhood, but I’m not sure I’d classify it as a racially motivated massacre alongside some of these others. We should be sure it’s not forgotten in any case.

  52. 52.

    AlaskaReader

    @Chetan Murthy: I’m in agreement with his concept that  love and acceptance have clear bright line limits.

    All too many of those who demand co-existence,

    …deserve nothing more than to be shunned.

  53. 53.

    p.a.

    Here’s hoping you’re more fortunate than me, and you aren’t around a bunch of “when we gonna get white history month?” people.

    The response, however, is easy, “you mean every fucking month since schools were established?”

  56. 56.

    brantl

    @NotMax:  I liked extermis better. When they’re dead, they’ll pick Total Garbage. Of course, they seem to have been dead for a while, by the choices they’ve been making.

  57. 57.

    Chris Johnson

    @Anne Laurie: That would be why she’d get chosen. I’d lean that way if I had to guess.

    None of these people can go mask-on anymore. Whoever the guy ‘picks’ is going to be obviously some kind of Russia-stooge, like he is.

    The thing that blows my mind lately is that they can’t afford to pay him. I’ve been of the opinion that Trump has never had any money, it’s all been smoke this whole time and the wealth is actually from Russia, gilt and bullshit all the way down. Fake.

    But they’ve been able to fund things that are important, like winning the guy the Presidency. And all of a sudden they can’t find him enough liquidity to pay his bond, with this much at stake? That’s ominous. For him. (which is a very good thing.)

    I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he ‘picks’ Tulsi Gabbard as a running mate. Tara Reade is apparently not available.

  58. 58.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Darkrose: Hey DR, haven’t seen you around these parts in awhile (or at least commenting), glad to see you back.  Thanks for sharing the recommendations.

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