Six Things..
Jun. 22nd, 2020 09:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. New York's first attempt at state wide, and city wide vote by mail is not quite working out the way that the Governor intended. It's massive fail, on multiple levels. So much so, that I'm afraid of what will happen in November.
I got my ballot on Saturday. I got the application the first week of June, and sent it in shortly thereafter. The ballot only had the Presidential Primary, it did not have any of the local or Congressional District Primaries. (Sorry Lindsey Boylan, I'd have voted for you if I had the chance. Instead I got to vote for Elizabeth Warren - which was kind of irrelevant. If it were up to me - the Presidential Primary would have been cancelled and we'd have gotten ballots for the local races.)
Other people weren't so lucky - they didn't get their ballots at all, and will have to brave the polls tomorrow. "Brave" being the operative word here.
Boylan's campaign team texted me tonight and I responded that I'd already mailed in my ballot, but their names nor their race was on it. Just the Presidential Primary.
Keep in mind - that voting in NYC often results in crowded polling sites and long lines. Also very packed indoor spaces. Not everyone is wearing masks.
I'm hoping they fix this problem prior to the General Election in November.
2. I found this on Facebook, My Aunt posted it, and did not know this was the story behind the Beatles Song, Blackbird.
Paul McCartney Meets Women Who Inspired Beatles Blackbird
The post on Facebook, stated this:
"Are you familiar with the song “Blackbird” by The Beatles? Most of us are. I had no idea the meaning behind it. Did you? I will never listen to it the same way again 💔
“Paul McCartney was visiting America. It is said that he was sitting, resting, when he heard a woman screaming. He looked up to see a black woman being surrounded by the police. The police had her handcuffed, and were beating her. He thought the woman had committed a terrible crime. He found out "the crime" she committed was to sit in a section reserved for whites.
Paul was shocked. There was no segregation in England. But, here in America, the land of freedom, this is how blacks were being treated. McCartney and the Beatles went back home to England, but he would remember what he saw, how he felt, the unfairness of it all.
He also remembered watching television and following the news in America, the race riots and what was happening in Little Rock, Arkansas, what was going on in the Civil Rights movement. He saw the picture of 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford attempt to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School as an angry mob followed her, yelling, "Drag her over this tree! Let's take care of that n**ger!'" and “Lynch her! Lynch her!” “No n**ger b*tch is going to get in our school!”
McCartney couldn't believe this was happening in America. He thought of these women being mistreated, simply because of the color of her skin. He sat down and started writing.
Last year at a concert, he would meet two of the women who inspired him to write one of his most memorable songs, Thelma Mothershed Wair and Elizabeth Eckford, members of the Little Rock Nine (pictured here).
McCartney would tell the audience he was inspired by the courage of these women: "Way back in the Sixties, there was a lot of trouble going on over civil rights, particularly in Little Rock. We would notice this on the news back in England, so it's a really important place for us, because to me, this is where civil rights started. We would see what was going on and sympathize with the people going through those troubles, and it made me want to write a song that, if it ever got back to the people going through those troubles, it might just help them a little bit, and that's this next one."
He explained that when he started writing the song, he had in mind a black woman, but in England, "girls" were referred to as "birds." And, so the song started:
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting
for this moment to arise."
McCartney added that he and the Beatles cared passionately about the Civil Rights movement, "so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: ‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.’ "
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting
for this moment to be free."
3. Conversations on Race
Today, I listened to a meditation this morning, that was conversation between a White Australian Tibetan Monk, residing in England, and a black man who was a friend of his and a colleague, from the Southside of Chicago. During the Conversation, the black man stated that he felt the reason this was happening now, and there was hope for positive change arising from it - is that there was nothing distracting us from it.
This is true. We've been inundated with civil rights issues the last few years, from Immigration to Gender Equality (which are still present), but race has often fallen by the wayside.
It's there. It's present. But there were distractions. There aren't now.
Also COVID-19 kind of brought it into focus, since the majority of people dying from COVID-19 are people of color. That's partly why George Floyd's death resonated, he was being suffocated - like COVID had suffocated so many. Metaphors have an emotional weight, particularly literal ones.
For myself, I reached out today, and do daily, for advice and guidance in my job from my boss, a black man, who is the head of my department, and Lando, a colleague, who is also black. I don't think of them as black. I think of them as people. I work with a lot of black people on a daily basis, I have for the last twenty-three years, in every job that I've had. Many are my friends. I've had conversations with quite a few of them about race. In depth and not always comfortable ones.
And my father toured the 1960s South with a black man - they weren't freedom riders, just friends touring the South. My father was a social historian, who wrote his Master's Thesis on the Philadelphia Race Riots in the early part of the 20th Century. And almost took a job as a Teaching Assistant at Howard College - an all black college in the South. He taught me to look at people as people. His father was a bigot. His mother was a bigot.
My mother told me a story about a discussion she'd had with her friends in South Carolina, and how they'd all chosen to be better than their parents had been in regards to looking at race. One woman told a story about how her mother had forbidden her to hold a cheerleading party if any blacks were in attendance. The woman changed the local from her home to the school in response. The mother forbid the woman, her daughter, from attending. She told her mother that her black friends were the co-leaders of the squad, and co-hosting the party with her - she was going to attend, and there was nothing her mother could do to stop her.
We all make a conscious choice not to repeat the mistakes of those who came before us. It's the only way to move forward.
I've spoken to two black co-workers about what is happening now, both shrugged it off. One is concerned about the virus and work, she lives out on Patchoque. The other, is from Alabama, and has mixed feelings about it.
Race, I've learned over the decades makes everyone uncomfortable. It's a painful topic. I've had some hard, really hard conversations about it. I think it is important to have these conversations - they change you.
In social group therapy about two years ago, I had a hard, really hard, conversation about race with a black man and black woman, both activists, both angry. We all did, in the group. And they helped me to understand my boss, and various co-workers. To see another perspective, other than my own.
I don't see myself as privileged. And yet, I am. For no other reason than the color of my skin. I remember MD telling me when we went to the beach in Martha's Vineyard, that she kept her ID on her at all times - because she lived in fear of a cop or someone coming up to her and questioning whether she belonged. While I left my ID at the house or in the car, for fear of losing it.
Living in New York City these past twenty-three years...I've learned what it is like to feel in a minority. Traveling to and from Jamaica, I was often the only white person on the train or the only white woman. And walking the streets of Jamaica, I often felt I stuck out. I've been in sections of this City in which I was the only white person. It's an odd feeling. You feel exposed, as if everyone is staring at you. I asked some of my friends what it felt like to be the only black person. Particularly those who seemed to live in primarily white offices and spaces. They told me that it is difficult. You do get used to it. But they are always aware.
They say race doesn't affect the privileged. That we benefit from racism. I've never felt that way. If anything I've felt its arrows. I hate it. If I could snap my fingers and erase racism, I would. I have so many stories that I've been told over the years...that I can share with you about how racism hurts people in oh so many ways.
My Uncle (not blood related - he was married to my beloved Aunt, both are long dead), was a redneck from West Virginia. My father used to call him, partly in jest, Lonesome Dove or Gus (because he reminded my father of Gus in Larry McMurty's Western Opus Lonesome Dove), it wasn't exactly a compliment. He was kind to me. But he racist. He used to call Basketball - "N" Ball. And my father would make an excuse to leave the room. And as it turns out, he'd disowned his daughter after she married a black man. Hadn't spoken or seen her since. God. How painful. He died with that on his conscience. And she, his daughter, had to deal with it. Neither benefited from his racism.
When we hurt another living being to benefit ourselves, it's like chipping away a part of our soul. Or tearing at it. Little paper cuts that add up over time. They take a toll.
I agree with the comedian Wanda Sykes and the Beatles, they are right, racism will destroy us...we don't find a way to end it. And we can only do it together.
Oh so many stories...I can tell you. Too many stories. Each painful. And I expect you also have many stories to tell me. I collect stories in my head. Stories are what we're made of. Stories keep me going. Stories pave the way ahead, and stories tell us what to leave behind. So many stories - can we learn from them?
There's this phrase I can't seem to get out of my head..I think it is from a song? "Peace, love and understanding.." I hear the tune. But cannot place it.
4. From my walk around the Graveyard yesterday...the History of the Freedom Lots.
In the nineteenth century, Cemetery officials referred to these seven burial lots as the “Colored Lots.” It was a term that conformed to the conventions of the time but underscored then prevalent discrimination and racial segregation. The interns working to restore these lots proposed that this section now be known as “The Freedom Lots.” This name restores respect to people who might have been enslaved, descendants of enslaved people, or free people of color whose freedom was restricted because racial oppression and discrimination persisted after slavery ended. It also reminds us that the pursuit of freedom for people of color and others is ongoing—even today.
The Seven Lots
Over time, these seven lots were unfortunately neglected. The monuments were built without foundations, causing them to sink into the ground over their 160-year history. In some cases, monuments were completely buried beneath the earth and not visible. There are no records regarding previous restoration work in these lots, and it is assumed that over time, the lack of care for the monuments caused them to end up in poor condition.
The interns were challenged with the tasks of documenting, restoring, and proposing interpretations for Lots 88, 3412, 3413, 3414, 7472, 9464, and 9932. These lots, previously known as the “Colored Lots,” were specifically designated for “Colored Children” or “Colored Adults” according to Green-Wood’s records. Public Lot 3412 was purchased in 1849 by the Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans. (The name changed in 1875 to the New York Colored Mission).
History of the Freedom Lots at Greenwood Cemetery
Below are pictures taken of the restored lots by the interns. And their respective grave markers, dating back to the mid-1800s.
5. This made me laugh. K-Pop Fans Tanked Trump Rally Via TikTok and Zoom
Many users deleted their posts after 24 to 48 hours in order to conceal their plan and keep it from spreading into the mainstream internet. “The majority of people who made them deleted them after the first day because we didn’t want the Trump campaign to catch wind,” Mr. Daniel said. “These kids are smart and they thought of everything.”
Twitter users on Saturday night were quick to declare the social media campaign’s victory. “Actually you just got ROCKED by teens on TikTok,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted in response to Mr. Parscale, who had tweeted that “radical protestors” had “interfered” with attendance.
Steve Schmidt, a longtime Republican strategist, added, “The teens of America have struck a savage blow againstrealdonaldtrump.”
“Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don’t know what they’re talking about or how our rallies work,” Mr. Parscale said in a statement on Sunday. “Registering for a rally means you’ve RSVPed with a cellphone number and we constantly weed out bogus numbers, as we did with tens of thousands at the Tulsa rally, in calculating our possible attendee pool.”
Mary Jo Laupp, a 51-year-old from Fort Dodge, Iowa, said she had been watching black TikTok users express their frustration about Mr. Trump’s hosting his rally on Juneteenth, the holiday on June 19. (The rally was later moved to June 20.) She “vented” her own anger in a late-night TikTok video on June 11 — and provided a call to action.
“I recommend all of those of us that want to see this 19,000-seat auditorium barely filled or completely empty go reserve tickets now, and leave him standing there alone on the stage,” Ms. Laupp said in the video.
When she checked her phone the next morning, Ms. Laupp said, the video was starting to go viral. It has more than 700,000 likes, she added, and more than two million views.
6. And...from a street in my neighborhood...that I walked down on Sunday afternoon.
I got my ballot on Saturday. I got the application the first week of June, and sent it in shortly thereafter. The ballot only had the Presidential Primary, it did not have any of the local or Congressional District Primaries. (Sorry Lindsey Boylan, I'd have voted for you if I had the chance. Instead I got to vote for Elizabeth Warren - which was kind of irrelevant. If it were up to me - the Presidential Primary would have been cancelled and we'd have gotten ballots for the local races.)
Other people weren't so lucky - they didn't get their ballots at all, and will have to brave the polls tomorrow. "Brave" being the operative word here.
Boylan's campaign team texted me tonight and I responded that I'd already mailed in my ballot, but their names nor their race was on it. Just the Presidential Primary.
Keep in mind - that voting in NYC often results in crowded polling sites and long lines. Also very packed indoor spaces. Not everyone is wearing masks.
I'm hoping they fix this problem prior to the General Election in November.
2. I found this on Facebook, My Aunt posted it, and did not know this was the story behind the Beatles Song, Blackbird.
Paul McCartney Meets Women Who Inspired Beatles Blackbird
The post on Facebook, stated this:
"Are you familiar with the song “Blackbird” by The Beatles? Most of us are. I had no idea the meaning behind it. Did you? I will never listen to it the same way again 💔
“Paul McCartney was visiting America. It is said that he was sitting, resting, when he heard a woman screaming. He looked up to see a black woman being surrounded by the police. The police had her handcuffed, and were beating her. He thought the woman had committed a terrible crime. He found out "the crime" she committed was to sit in a section reserved for whites.
Paul was shocked. There was no segregation in England. But, here in America, the land of freedom, this is how blacks were being treated. McCartney and the Beatles went back home to England, but he would remember what he saw, how he felt, the unfairness of it all.
He also remembered watching television and following the news in America, the race riots and what was happening in Little Rock, Arkansas, what was going on in the Civil Rights movement. He saw the picture of 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford attempt to attend classes at Little Rock Central High School as an angry mob followed her, yelling, "Drag her over this tree! Let's take care of that n**ger!'" and “Lynch her! Lynch her!” “No n**ger b*tch is going to get in our school!”
McCartney couldn't believe this was happening in America. He thought of these women being mistreated, simply because of the color of her skin. He sat down and started writing.
Last year at a concert, he would meet two of the women who inspired him to write one of his most memorable songs, Thelma Mothershed Wair and Elizabeth Eckford, members of the Little Rock Nine (pictured here).
McCartney would tell the audience he was inspired by the courage of these women: "Way back in the Sixties, there was a lot of trouble going on over civil rights, particularly in Little Rock. We would notice this on the news back in England, so it's a really important place for us, because to me, this is where civil rights started. We would see what was going on and sympathize with the people going through those troubles, and it made me want to write a song that, if it ever got back to the people going through those troubles, it might just help them a little bit, and that's this next one."
He explained that when he started writing the song, he had in mind a black woman, but in England, "girls" were referred to as "birds." And, so the song started:
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting
for this moment to arise."
McCartney added that he and the Beatles cared passionately about the Civil Rights movement, "so this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: ‘Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.’ "
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting
for this moment to be free."
3. Conversations on Race
Today, I listened to a meditation this morning, that was conversation between a White Australian Tibetan Monk, residing in England, and a black man who was a friend of his and a colleague, from the Southside of Chicago. During the Conversation, the black man stated that he felt the reason this was happening now, and there was hope for positive change arising from it - is that there was nothing distracting us from it.
This is true. We've been inundated with civil rights issues the last few years, from Immigration to Gender Equality (which are still present), but race has often fallen by the wayside.
It's there. It's present. But there were distractions. There aren't now.
Also COVID-19 kind of brought it into focus, since the majority of people dying from COVID-19 are people of color. That's partly why George Floyd's death resonated, he was being suffocated - like COVID had suffocated so many. Metaphors have an emotional weight, particularly literal ones.
For myself, I reached out today, and do daily, for advice and guidance in my job from my boss, a black man, who is the head of my department, and Lando, a colleague, who is also black. I don't think of them as black. I think of them as people. I work with a lot of black people on a daily basis, I have for the last twenty-three years, in every job that I've had. Many are my friends. I've had conversations with quite a few of them about race. In depth and not always comfortable ones.
And my father toured the 1960s South with a black man - they weren't freedom riders, just friends touring the South. My father was a social historian, who wrote his Master's Thesis on the Philadelphia Race Riots in the early part of the 20th Century. And almost took a job as a Teaching Assistant at Howard College - an all black college in the South. He taught me to look at people as people. His father was a bigot. His mother was a bigot.
My mother told me a story about a discussion she'd had with her friends in South Carolina, and how they'd all chosen to be better than their parents had been in regards to looking at race. One woman told a story about how her mother had forbidden her to hold a cheerleading party if any blacks were in attendance. The woman changed the local from her home to the school in response. The mother forbid the woman, her daughter, from attending. She told her mother that her black friends were the co-leaders of the squad, and co-hosting the party with her - she was going to attend, and there was nothing her mother could do to stop her.
We all make a conscious choice not to repeat the mistakes of those who came before us. It's the only way to move forward.
I've spoken to two black co-workers about what is happening now, both shrugged it off. One is concerned about the virus and work, she lives out on Patchoque. The other, is from Alabama, and has mixed feelings about it.
Race, I've learned over the decades makes everyone uncomfortable. It's a painful topic. I've had some hard, really hard conversations about it. I think it is important to have these conversations - they change you.
In social group therapy about two years ago, I had a hard, really hard, conversation about race with a black man and black woman, both activists, both angry. We all did, in the group. And they helped me to understand my boss, and various co-workers. To see another perspective, other than my own.
I don't see myself as privileged. And yet, I am. For no other reason than the color of my skin. I remember MD telling me when we went to the beach in Martha's Vineyard, that she kept her ID on her at all times - because she lived in fear of a cop or someone coming up to her and questioning whether she belonged. While I left my ID at the house or in the car, for fear of losing it.
Living in New York City these past twenty-three years...I've learned what it is like to feel in a minority. Traveling to and from Jamaica, I was often the only white person on the train or the only white woman. And walking the streets of Jamaica, I often felt I stuck out. I've been in sections of this City in which I was the only white person. It's an odd feeling. You feel exposed, as if everyone is staring at you. I asked some of my friends what it felt like to be the only black person. Particularly those who seemed to live in primarily white offices and spaces. They told me that it is difficult. You do get used to it. But they are always aware.
They say race doesn't affect the privileged. That we benefit from racism. I've never felt that way. If anything I've felt its arrows. I hate it. If I could snap my fingers and erase racism, I would. I have so many stories that I've been told over the years...that I can share with you about how racism hurts people in oh so many ways.
My Uncle (not blood related - he was married to my beloved Aunt, both are long dead), was a redneck from West Virginia. My father used to call him, partly in jest, Lonesome Dove or Gus (because he reminded my father of Gus in Larry McMurty's Western Opus Lonesome Dove), it wasn't exactly a compliment. He was kind to me. But he racist. He used to call Basketball - "N" Ball. And my father would make an excuse to leave the room. And as it turns out, he'd disowned his daughter after she married a black man. Hadn't spoken or seen her since. God. How painful. He died with that on his conscience. And she, his daughter, had to deal with it. Neither benefited from his racism.
When we hurt another living being to benefit ourselves, it's like chipping away a part of our soul. Or tearing at it. Little paper cuts that add up over time. They take a toll.
I agree with the comedian Wanda Sykes and the Beatles, they are right, racism will destroy us...we don't find a way to end it. And we can only do it together.
Oh so many stories...I can tell you. Too many stories. Each painful. And I expect you also have many stories to tell me. I collect stories in my head. Stories are what we're made of. Stories keep me going. Stories pave the way ahead, and stories tell us what to leave behind. So many stories - can we learn from them?
There's this phrase I can't seem to get out of my head..I think it is from a song? "Peace, love and understanding.." I hear the tune. But cannot place it.
4. From my walk around the Graveyard yesterday...the History of the Freedom Lots.
In the nineteenth century, Cemetery officials referred to these seven burial lots as the “Colored Lots.” It was a term that conformed to the conventions of the time but underscored then prevalent discrimination and racial segregation. The interns working to restore these lots proposed that this section now be known as “The Freedom Lots.” This name restores respect to people who might have been enslaved, descendants of enslaved people, or free people of color whose freedom was restricted because racial oppression and discrimination persisted after slavery ended. It also reminds us that the pursuit of freedom for people of color and others is ongoing—even today.
The Seven Lots
Over time, these seven lots were unfortunately neglected. The monuments were built without foundations, causing them to sink into the ground over their 160-year history. In some cases, monuments were completely buried beneath the earth and not visible. There are no records regarding previous restoration work in these lots, and it is assumed that over time, the lack of care for the monuments caused them to end up in poor condition.
The interns were challenged with the tasks of documenting, restoring, and proposing interpretations for Lots 88, 3412, 3413, 3414, 7472, 9464, and 9932. These lots, previously known as the “Colored Lots,” were specifically designated for “Colored Children” or “Colored Adults” according to Green-Wood’s records. Public Lot 3412 was purchased in 1849 by the Association for the Benefit of Colored Orphans. (The name changed in 1875 to the New York Colored Mission).
History of the Freedom Lots at Greenwood Cemetery
Below are pictures taken of the restored lots by the interns. And their respective grave markers, dating back to the mid-1800s.
5. This made me laugh. K-Pop Fans Tanked Trump Rally Via TikTok and Zoom
Many users deleted their posts after 24 to 48 hours in order to conceal their plan and keep it from spreading into the mainstream internet. “The majority of people who made them deleted them after the first day because we didn’t want the Trump campaign to catch wind,” Mr. Daniel said. “These kids are smart and they thought of everything.”
Twitter users on Saturday night were quick to declare the social media campaign’s victory. “Actually you just got ROCKED by teens on TikTok,” Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York tweeted in response to Mr. Parscale, who had tweeted that “radical protestors” had “interfered” with attendance.
Steve Schmidt, a longtime Republican strategist, added, “The teens of America have struck a savage blow against
realdonaldtrump.”“Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don’t know what they’re talking about or how our rallies work,” Mr. Parscale said in a statement on Sunday. “Registering for a rally means you’ve RSVPed with a cellphone number and we constantly weed out bogus numbers, as we did with tens of thousands at the Tulsa rally, in calculating our possible attendee pool.”
Mary Jo Laupp, a 51-year-old from Fort Dodge, Iowa, said she had been watching black TikTok users express their frustration about Mr. Trump’s hosting his rally on Juneteenth, the holiday on June 19. (The rally was later moved to June 20.) She “vented” her own anger in a late-night TikTok video on June 11 — and provided a call to action.
“I recommend all of those of us that want to see this 19,000-seat auditorium barely filled or completely empty go reserve tickets now, and leave him standing there alone on the stage,” Ms. Laupp said in the video.
When she checked her phone the next morning, Ms. Laupp said, the video was starting to go viral. It has more than 700,000 likes, she added, and more than two million views.
6. And...from a street in my neighborhood...that I walked down on Sunday afternoon.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-23 06:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-23 01:15 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-23 06:46 am (UTC)I'd heard the title but never actually listened to the song before, so, thank you for that. :)
no subject
Date: 2020-06-23 01:15 pm (UTC)And you are welcome. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2020-06-23 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-06-24 12:58 am (UTC)