SAYING IT-IMPRINTING IT AND A BETTER WAY

NIGGERS, FLAGS AND RACISTS

    The words are still shocking, even more so from an 11 year old.

    "They ought to kill all the niggers or send them back to the slave houses. The stupid old niggers are the problem."

     The petulant girl was the daughter of the kleagle of a particularly active and virulent cell of the ku klux klan. Her words were pivotal in a documentary demonstrating how racism is passed through generations. 

      I covered the klan and extremist groups in the mid 60's and years later wrote and produced KLAN to portray how and why racism and racial hatred is so deeply woven into the American fabric. David Brinkley, one of the national Emmy judges, along with Senator Barry Goldwater, called KLAN "One of the most important hours in television." A national Emmy is an honor but little good that program or many other fine journalistic efforts have done to sear the disease of racism from society.

       A friend and Presbyterian pastor was active in the struggle that got the confederate flag removed from atop the Dome at the Statehouse in Columbia South Carolina. That it still flies anywhere is symptomatic of the disease. 

      Despite comments about heritage, legacy, history or any honey tongued justification, the flag is all about racism, white supremacy and slavery. Ta-Nehisi Coates in this Atlantic piece presents the very words of the confederacy and their political leaders. They are convicted by their own uttering. 

     The racist front continues in the existent celebration and heritage of the confederacy in the south; streets, highways, schools bearing the name of confederate leaders along with statues, monuments and cultural icons. We can not afford to forget facts and must seek to understand the pathology of the culture, but we should not elevate the symbols and names of those who sought to keep humans enslaved, denied of their rights, liberties and dignity and made war to do so. 

    The flag belongs in an historical museum, as a nazi swastika or heraldry is kept. It is an object of study. It is a token of a shamed and hateful ideology. The flag itself will not spur a supremacist to violence but its very flying near a seat of government is a nod and wink that condones a perpetuation of the hatred. 

    Whether on license plates, belt buckles, t-shirts, bumper stickers, in media or even tattoos, anything that celebrates slavery should be seen for what it is, evil and a discredited idea banished to the ash bin of history.

    Words carry emotional history. We debated and anguished over inclusion of the girl's words. I debated with myself in telling the story in this post. Such is testament to the sensitivity and respect that is due, but "to each his own," unless it inflicts pain, as does the confederate flag.

    A post script: Hoagland Jr. High School in Ft. Wayne was a mix of Black, Hispanic and Caucasians-almost an equal split with fewer Caucasians. Our basketball team was predominately Black with a few Latinos and a couple of us white guys.  In the final moment of a city tourney game our center, Roosevelt (Rosie) Dodds made an incredible hook shot giving us a win. As we triumphantly moved to the locker room several of my team mates deliriously gave Rosie high fives, cheering "way to go Nigguh."  I lined up behind a black mate and when I got to Rosie's locker I gave him a high five and said "way to go Nigguh."  Rosie smiled, picked up his tennis shoe and whacked me on the face. Still smiling, extending his hand to pick me up he said "but you ain't no Nigguh!" Rosie taught me a lesson, vivid today as it was years ago.

     BTW we aired a 10th Anniversary reprise of KLAN.

The sassy and hateful little girl had grown up. She was still at home but had been banished to a trailer on the families property. She apologized to our viewers saying she had changed her mind and learned real history. She was working with "African Americans" and considered one a good friend. 

A FATHER OF PEACE

      The man on the left is Elias Chacour, thrice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. I recalled the week I spent with Father Chacour as I read of recent Druze violence in the middle east.

       Chacour has done what no one else has. He's brought Druze, Muslim, Orthodox, Arab, Palestinian, Jew and Christian together.

  I shot this assemblage of every middle eastern faction imaginable-Israeli government, Palestinian, Druze, Muslim, Arab, Christian, Melkite Catholic, Orthodox. Chacour had convened them to dedicate a new building at his remarkable Peace school in Ibillin in the hills of Galilee.    

  Struggling against unimaginable odds, it seems no one wanted him to succeed, Chacour created a school where Jew, Muslim, Druze, Palestinian and Christian children studied together. I was there as a journalist and was overwhelmed his achievement. I was indelibly impressed by 

by the courage and extraordinary quality of the man. We had hours of conversation driving across Israel, in his garden, at dinners and in his home. We watched him work his efforts at reconciliation. Chacour was born in Galilee and considers himself a Palestinian-Arab-Christian citizen of Israel. He is truly a peace maker, perhaps the hardest job on the planet.

      Role models are important, as are images and symbols.
To what do we owe our attention?

SOMETHING NICE IN PARTING

  With appreciation to my daughter Katherine!

   See you down the trail.

     

LIVING WITH THE PAST-FOR BETTER AND WORSE

THE JAPANESE POISON

Photo Courtesy of CBC

      As we find it difficult to get our mind around the enormity of the devastation and toll in the Philippines, another devastation continues to seep, one wave at a time.

     Scientists report that areas of Alaska are reporting radiation levels higher than anything they've seen since atomic bomb testing in the atmosphere.

      I have no confidence in Tepco, their ability to repair the  damage at Fukishima nor in anything they say about the levels of radiation at the destroyed site or what is leaking into the ocean.

      Though nothing can ease the catastrophic loss of life, time and money will help restore some health to the Philippines. There appears to be no amount of money that can "fix" Fukishima's continuing poisoning of the planet. Time will only make it worse.  Who can the planet turn to? What can be done about it? No one knows.

      It raises again an old and constantly vexing question before humanity.  "What were they thinking?"  What were they thinking when they built a nuclear plant near an ocean, or a fault line, or when they built a factory near a river, or when they permitted any factory to dump its waste into any body of water, or when they modified corn, that kills any strain but its own, or when they started injecting toxic poisons into the earth to extract gas or oil, or when they turned a part of the ocean into a huge dump, or, etc., etc., 

OCCOQUAN

     It's an Algonquian word for "end of water" and it is a charming bit of history in Prince William County Virginia.

     As they develop new housing the population of 934 will likely rise.

    The Oocoquan is a nearly 25 mile tributary of the Potomac. Bull Run enters it south of Manassas. During the Civil War skirmishes were fought and shots were fired across the river.  Today the river, which ends only a couple of hundred yards left of here, is for boaters and bank-side parks and cafes. 

   Pictured above is the historic Rockledge, the Georgian House built in 1760.  It is what is said to be a rare example of a "Tidewater Virginia Stone Dwelling." This home was the key to commercial development that followed, including the building of a mill in 1765.

     This is the old Hammil Hotel where Confederate General Wade Hampton headquartered in 1862.  Hampton was reluctant to join the issues of the Confederacy, but when South Carolina left the Union he joined the Army and because of his family connections was made a Colonel and rapidly rose to General in the cavalry.  After the war he served as a Democratic Senator from South Carolina.

     Hampton's troops raided Union encampments here, took their cattle and captured supply wagons.  Today many sightseers stroll where Civil War engagements occurred.  

     Oocoquan, in beautiful Virginia country side, is a relatively quick commute to Washington DC.

    See you down the trail