Our Fighting Men!

The following is a true story about a young Amherst girl who faced enslavement. It was written by nationally-renowned Amherst storyteller Eshu Bumpus and his brother Djata (this book's author). It shows evidence of the operation of the Underground Railroad in the Amherst, Massachusetts area. Of course, the Underground Railroad is the “romantic”c term that is used in US history school books for an alleged system of escape for African American captives. However, there was no actual “system” as such. Rather, there were many ways that folks left the South. For example, some hid in wagons, while others earned or were given money and simply hopped on trains.

It was a seemingly ordinary Spring day, in the month of May, 152 years or three grandmothers ago. Angeline Palmer was an 11 years-old orphan. She was so poor that, in Amherst, where she had been born and raised, the townspeople decided to find a family that would care for her. She had an older brother named Lewis B. Frazier (her late mother's son from a previous marriage) who lived in Amherst. But he was only twenty years-old and could not afford to take care of her by himself.

Mason and Susan Shaw, a European American couple from nearby Belchertown, offered to take Angeline to live with them. They seemed like a nice couple, so Amherst town officials were satisfied to have found a home for Angeline.

But things were not as pleasant as they seemed. The Shaws had a secret reason for taking Angeline. They had been planning to visit one of the Southern states where many African Americans were still being held in slavery. Mr. and Mrs. Shaw decided to take Angeline with them in order to sell her to a slave trader, because captive workers could be sold for lots of money. To complete their scheme, when the Shaws returned to Massachusetts, they would tell people that Angeline ran away.

Luckily, a woman overheard Mason Shaw telling some of his friends about the scheme. She did not like what the Shaws were planning. So she made sure that Angeline's brother, Lewis, found out about it.

Lewis Frazier was a brave young man. He was not going to let anything happen to his sister. Lewis got two of his friends, Henry Jackson and William Jennings, to help him. The three young African American men broke into the Shaw's house and rescued Angeline. They brought Angeline to Spencer and Sarah Church's farm in North Amherst. The Church family was European American. Although she had eight children of her own, Mrs. Church agreed to care for Angeline and hide her when necessary.

Of course, Lewis knew that his sister could not stay in Amherst. He and his two friends sought the advice of an African American woman named Huldah Kiles who also lived in North Amherst. She brought Lewis and Angeline to her brother, Charles Green, who lived in Colrain, a small town next to the Vermont border. At last, Angeline had found a real home. > Because of how and from where they rescued Angeline, the three men were wanted by the legal authorities. So, about two weeks after bringing her to safety, Jennings, Jackson and Frazier turned themselves in and were put in jail. Fortunately, because they all had jobs, the men were immediately able to obtain bail bonds and, therefore, freed from jail, until their case was brought before a judge. When the trial came up, several months later, the judge offered to dismiss all charges if the trio would reveal Angeline's whereabouts. But the young men knew that they were right and would not say a word. So, they were sentenced to three months in the Hampshire County Jail of neighboring Northampton.

Knowing their story, however, Mr. Clapp - the Jail Keeper, did not take their sentence seriously. He let them leave the jail during the day as long as they promised to return at night, which they did. They were also allowed plenty of visitors who brought them food and clothes. When finally the three returned home to Amherst, they were received as heroes by both African Americans and European Americans alike.

Although Lewis Frazier died about ten years later from a hip complaint. Henry Jackson, who lived out his life in Amherst for over 60 years after the abovementioned incident, went on to become one of the town's most distinguished citizens. William Jennings also remained in Amherst and - a little more than 20 years later - became a hero of the North American Civil War. Jennings served first in the all-African American 54th Regiment, then later he re-enlisted in the 5th Massachusetts cavalry. Both of these fighting units were depicted in the Hollywood production called Glory. The very brave Angeline Palmer continued to live a secure and happy childhood in Colrain, before reappearing in Amherst, eleven years after her escape/rescue, as a married woman with children. Read full post

Archie Shepp on Obama's "Race" speech of 2008

"Mr. Obama- Barack- is attempting to confront-and resolve -a dichotomy between his political oratory and the simple reality of being a Black man..."
(originally posted 6/8/08)




Dear friends,

Soon after I sent him the text from Senator Obama's now famous speech on "race" that the candidate made, in Philadelphia (2008), the following letter was e-mailed to me, by an old and dear friend (who is also my chief music mentor). He is more commonly known as a legendary leader in the musical idiom known as "jazz". In any case, with the generous permission of this elder, I am sharing the aforementioned letter with you. It appears below.
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Re: Obama's defining speech on "race" in America

Thank you Bro' Bumpus . Perhaps the question is "What Is an American"? Notwithstanding the fact that America is a continent not a country; moreover, that places like Arizona, California, and Texas used to be Mexico and now "Americans" wish to build a wall to keep out the former occupants.

Mr. Obama- Barack- is attempting to confront-and resolve -a dichotomy between his political oratory and the simple reality of being a Black man. He has even fessed up to enjoying a fiery lecture on a Sunday morning, (one worthy of - Jesse- I might add - or the lesser known"Pork Chop" Davis), and why not? The latter are telling our story and they "run it down".

Is it so difficult to be Black and still to admit that fact with all its implications? What would the American cultural landscape look like without the children of the Sorrow Songs, Armstrong, Bird, 'Trane, and "Duke", Mahalia, Nina , Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson? No other people did it-make music the way we do -dance the way we do. We don't have to apologize for being who we are, nor subtly- one might say -subserviently merge our identities with others- ashamed to acknowledge a rich and incomparably diverse history.

As you have yourself rightfully pointed out, we Black folks are proud because we have fought long and hard for freedom going all the way back to the time we were enslaved. Our experience has formed the basis for ensuing struggles- including the fight for women's rights. We don't have to become Americans. We were ready for full citizenship when we arrived in the 17th century. It was they who called themselves, 'Virginians', or Carolinians', who murdered their Black fellow citizens during the 19th century riots in New York. They were not ready for a united people of America.

When Ray Charles sings "God Bless America" I become an "American". It takes a Black man to sing that song, to understand its words. Black folks are as American as the soil along the Misssissippi delta. We built the cities of New Orleans, Charleston and Atlanta. We constructed the East Coast railroads and picked the cotton, which were responsible for the bourgeoning industry in the North.

We sing original folk songs like "John Henry" even 'til today, to commemorate our toil. Richard Wright, the great African American novelist who wrote the book "Black Boy" (very controversial for its time, but went on to become a literary success) indicates 10 subjects - that are taboo when a Black man speaks to a "white" man. The three that stick out in my mind are white women, politics, and race. White people can and should solve the problems that only they themselves can resolve -peacefully - we pray - for it is after all they who have created the chaos in which the world is mired.

Best Wishes,
Bro' A Shepp

Editor's Note: Relating to what Brother Shepp has mentioned above, long ago, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois wrote: "The discovery of personal whiteness among the world's peoples is a very modern thing...The ancient world would have laughed at such a distinction...by emphasis and omission to make children believe that every great thought the world ever knew was a white man's thought, every great deed the world ever did was a white man’s deed..."darkies" are born beasts of burden...Such degrading of men by men is as old as man and the invention of no one race or people...It has been left, however, to Europe and to modern days to discover the eternal worldwide mark of meanness - color!". - "The Souls of White Folks" Read full post

War - To Proselytize, Murder, and Rape

Dear friends,

 Many ordinary people, especially those who have never served in any kind of military capacity, are unaware of the acts of rape and murder combined as being "traditional" behavior in human warfare. Of course, it is well-documented that around 2500 years ago, Hebrew/Jewish armies murdered and raped people, and burned the books of the villages that they attacked, then forcibly converted their victims to Judaism.

The "believers" of Christianity - a religion that grew out of Judaism - which itself influenced the birth of Islam, always acted in the same way that their Hebrew predecessors did. Therefore, raping and proselytizing those who survived the heinous assaults is the rule, rather than being the exception.

Even worse, such victims/new converts, sometimes, became the next group of conquerors themselves. As a matter of fact, during wars, considering the amount of rape victims who are not killed and become pregnant, the lunacy of Adolph Hitler with his fantasy about there being an "Aryan race" is totally exposed. After all, if one simply goes to the literature, s/he will find that the dark-skinned Mongolian Huns, who were originally led by a man named Attila, raided much of the area now known as Europe, for centuries, murdering the male inhabitants and raping women and little girls, in the process, making "mixed" children. 

Of course, Amer-Asian children from the Vietnam war era are proof of the continued savagery of some American soldiers and others who keep the incredibly despicable murder/rape tradition intact, now followed by troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet, while it is not always rape, per se, unfortunately, we see the results of this same type of inhuman and vicious sexual impropriety here-to-mentioned, from politicians, actors, athletes, musicians, and other "celebrities" who have both broken the hearts of and abandoned women and their children, spread around our country - and the world. 

 Finally, rape happens right here in the states to women in the armed forces, perpetrated by their own male "comrades" - all of the time. Not just when they are in a war. Again, please go to the literature. I challenge you. If you are unaware of that simple fact, then you may have a different view of how this country has been run,, since its inception. To be sure, this says a great deal about the overall direction that we need to be heading. President Obama's signing, and subsequent re-authorization of, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is an important start.

 One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
Read full post

In Honor of Women's History Month

"ONLY A FOOL WALKS OUT OF HIS HOUSE WITH HALF OF HIS BRAIN" (pun intended)

Dear friends,

For the remainder of the month of March, this blog will feature female authors, in most of the pieces. Many of the articles and columns have appeared at an earlier time here. Moreover, at least to me, it is interesting that what men see as equality for themselves is actually not equality at all, when it comes to what they view as equality for women. Unfortunately, sexism's other half, i.e., female self-hatred, has many women seeing their equality as whatever men see fit for it to be. This must end! Period.

Finally, sexism or Male Supremacy is a bigger problem in our society and all others throughout the world than racism, for example. The reason is: It affects more people than, say, racism. Additionally, it is not simply a matter of "equal pay or equal work". To be sure, many men suffer that injustice too, for example union versus non-union workers. What makes sexism so unjust and, in fact, inhuman, is that, just as racism, it does not allow the insulted ones to be fully human. Instead, they must always lower their output of integrity, in order to satisfy the whims of men. 

It is time for all men to wake up and stop defending this atrocity. It is senseless! After all, since women make up half of the human population, then that means that they also own half of both our total intellectual and physical powers. Therefore, it seems to me that it would benefit humanity - all around, if men stop hiding behind their insecurities and inafequacies that make sexism proliferate. Besides, if you think about it: Only a fool walks out of his house with half of his brain (pun intended).

Peace,
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

A brief glimpse of Dr. King, a true Black leaderi

"Yes, I'm Black..I'm proud of it!...I'm Black and beautiful!..." - Dr. Martin Luther King










Dear friends,

During the two minutes-long video on the link below, Dr. Martin Luther King shows his development as a leader of Our people. At such an important time in history and the burgeoning Black Consciousness Movement that was replacing the impotent Civil Rights Movement, the rulers had to get rid  of him.

Say it loud!!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suw_CQ3zfTY

Read full post

Meeting Dr. King, as a "militant" youngster (originally sent, as is, to the Boston Herald in Jan. 2008)

"If only we could learn to love - ourselves, based upon our love for other people like our spouses, our families - and things - like our work, our communities, our ability to create and produce (instead of worrying about how much we possess)..."

Dear friends,

About what was Martin Luther King really? Love.

Unfortunately, far too often, the emphasis, by the media and others, of Dr.King's vision rests more upon his call for non-violence as a passive response to injustice, than it (i.e., non-violence) does when it is used as a pro-active measure that citizens employ to share in community growth, democratically. After all, the quintessence of democracy is non-violent conflict resolution. Therefore, it is not only a contradiction in terms, but an enormous lie, for one sovereign nation to invade another such self-governing land, under the pretense that it is introducing "democracy" to the latter.

At any rate, back in 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. returned to Boston for the first time since he'd graduated from BU (Boston University) almost ten years earlier. His main purpose for doing so was because the legendary singer and activist Harry Belafonte was giving Dr. King, who had already received the Nobel Peace Prize, a benefit concert at the historically-famous, Boston Gardens, in order to raise some funds for "the Movement", as it were.

As my Mom, Rhoda Vivian Olufemi Bumpus was one of many pioneers of the modern-day Civil Rights Movement, in Boston - and around the nation, she was given two tickets to the aformentioned program, not knowing that she would be seated with Dr. King. As fate would have it, and although I was next to the youngest of her six sons (no daughters), she took me along with her that night.

I was an incredibly precocious (very young but extremely vocal) , up-and-coming Black militant. Consequently, in spite of his constant attempts to strike up a conversation with me that night, over the next few hours, Dr. King was only able to recognize the anger and disgust of so many Black youth at the time. Yet, he had seen it before (the scoffs and scowls), as he revealed in his manifesto, the classic essay called "Letter from a Birmingham Jail".

If only we could learn to love - ourselves, based upon our love for other people like our spouses, our families - and things - like our work, our communities, our ability to create and produce (instead of worrying about how much we possess), we may realize what Dr. King talked about, but was unable to fully articulate at his point in history. For, ultimately, that was his message, as I now - some 43 (now 48) years after meeting him - understand.

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Remembering an Aging Warrior, Nelson Mandela (originally posted 111/11/09)

"Yet even as Mr. Mandela fades from view, he retains a vital place in the public consciousness here...He is the founding father whose values continue to shape the nation."

Dear friends,

On the link below is quite a warm piece, that as originally published in the New York Times back in 1999, that reminds us of one of the world's real heroes, Nelson Mandela. Enjoy!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/world/africa/09mandela.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp Read full post

New Health Care Initiative? How about Racism and Medicine?

(originally published 2/24/09) "By 1938, the situation had grown so dire that Dr. Louis T. Wright of Harlem Hospital declared, “The A.M.A. has demonstrated as much interest in the health of the Negro as Hitler has in the health of the Jew.”




Dear friends,

The piece on the link below came out last year (2008). However, I deliberately waited to post the link to it on this blog until President Obama was in office. Our health care system suffers from far more than simply how the businesses that run the aforementioned system get paid. Moreover, aside from the fact that mental health is not covered in the same context as its physical counterpart, when, at least, as much of both our personal and social maladies emanate from our mentally unhealthy society, the persistence of racism in the way that many are cared for - and by whom, should be addressed. Is that a problem for an African American president? If so, why?

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/health/views/29essa.html?ex=1218254400&en=86180c2260b5574c&ei=5070&emc=eta1 Read full post

Happy 80th, Ben Swan!!!

Dear friends,

Last night (10/31/13), I went to an incredible 80th birthday celebration that was held in honor of my long time dear friend and mentor State Rep. Ben Swan (D- MA) of Springfield, MA.

Ben is a lifelong freedom fighter in the grandest sense! It was great to see him in that venue, being acknowledged by so many distinguished people who themselves have spent their lives making both our communities and this country a better place. Cheers, Ben!

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Long Live Stephen Biko!!!...Happy Birthday!!!

"As the great Mandela moves towards immortality, we must also remember Steve Biko...the link below shows why the super-racist apartheid regime of South Africa, along with the "blessings" of their equally evil cohorts, the U.S. and Israel regimes, murdered him...Long Live BIKO!!!."















http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNmAcgdO2Ck
' Read full post

Dr. Martin Luther King's manifesto - Letter from a Birmingham Jail

"Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic. Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world."

Dear friends,

While there have been many Black leaders, both male and female, who are deserving of a memorial statue, at least, one of those many is now finally being recognized. Moreover, while Dr. King's real views have been trivialized by a government- and corporate-controlled mainstream media and other North American cultural institutions as "A dream", the real work that was done by centuries of activism - and still goes on - has brought African Americans and many others to this point, and is captured in a letter that is, to me, Martin Luther King's manifesto. It appears on the link below. Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/resources/article/annotated_letter_from_birmingham Read full post

10 Steps 4 Self-defense 4 Women

"1.) You are equal to all others! That, Male Supremacy, euphemistically called “sexism”, opposes."

Dear friends,

As I, along with a number of other men, have been making an extra effort to join all females in ending Male Supremacy (euphemistically called “sexism”), below, I have listed what I know to be the necessary character traits that all women must possess in order to combat the world’s number one problem – violence against women and girls.

In everyday social interactions, racism, the cute term for White Supremacy, is much bandied about; however, the government- and corporate-controlled media stay away from talking about Male Supremacy. Yet, the latter system of oppression exists in every country, city, town, and village. Racism does not! That means that whether you are in oil-rich Nigeria or our own nation, the USA, the oppression and exploitation of females remains our biggest social problem, not our economy or “global warming”, for that matter. As a result, women and girls are not safe in any particular situation. Moreover, what good is having a thriving economy, if females cannot feel safe to be alone?

Finally, I ask any of the readers of this blog, regardless of your gender, to direct all females who you know to read the info below. The main point being made here is: It does not matter what fighting techniques that one knows, if she has not developed her inner powers so that she can both make and keep a promise to herself to not allow herself to be assaulted in any way; otherwise, she will not use the aforementioned techniques.

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
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10 Steps 4 Self-defense 4 Women
by G. Djata Bumpus

1.) You are equal to all others! That, Male Supremacy, euphemistically, called “sexism”, opposes.

2.) No one has a right to put his or her hands on you, unless you want that person to. Period! (battered wife)

3.) There are no tough guys out here. Perps are punks. (Tough looks mean nothing)

4.) You have nothing to prove to anyone, so don’t get into squabbles with people where you’re exchanging threats with each other.

5.) Whether you hit back or not, your opponent will attack you. Screaming “Get off of me” will get you nowhere.

6.) In a fight, you are confronting your own insecurities, not those of your opponent(s).

7.) You must have a “sense of self”. That means that you know what it’s like to be alone and accomplish goals on your own. In other words, if you only know how to get what you want with another person, you will not know what it’s like to go through life’s changes by yourself. So you really won’t know yourself. Furthermore, without knowing yourself, you won’t know how you’ll respond in any particular situation to whatever problem or circumstance that arises.

Please remember that any response messes the perp up, since he only wants you to “freeze” from not knowing what to do; that will allow him to walk you right through the victimization process. As well, that also means that you will not know what it’s like to keep a promise, not even to yourself. Therefore, you will not know what it is like to be able to depend on yourself to resist an attacker, much less being able to help those who need your protection like your growing children.

Additionally, you won’t truly appreciate other people, because you won’t really know what they went through just trying to survive in life by themselves. Besides, regarding having a “sense of self”, it allows one to possess the personal and divine power called “courage”. And, as the great Maya Angelou insists, “Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.”

8.) When you know how to fight, you know when to fight. Therefore, you will use tactics ranging from non-violent to extremely violent, according to the situation. For example, if someone is robbing you at gunpoint, let him or her have the money. You are not less for that. S/he is. On the other hand, you must not allow anyone to either rape you or make you go somewhere with them (usually to a place where they can kill you without being noticed). You have a great chance of surviving a gun assault (85%) and you will feel good about yourself, knowing that no one can take your soul.

9.) Always remember, you have both a duty and a responsibility to yourself and all of those who you love and who love you to maintain your well-being and existence.

10.) There are people who claim to be pacifists. However, those people are dishonest and cowardly (lacking courage). After all, people may very well claim to be civilized and obey the first of the Ten Commandments; yet, that’s obviously a lie, whether speaking of an individual or a government. Both the past and present behavior of humans reveals that simple truism. Therefore, if the so-called pacifists lived in a place where they could not depend upon either the violence or the threat of it by the police or military, they would be corpses – not pacifists.

Moreover, if someone was bringing murder or its equivalent (that is, rape) to one of your loved ones, while you stood there with a gun, and they refused your command to stop, would you shoot that person? No one’s a pacifist. That’s a lie! And I certainly don’t mean to sound like Senator Wilson of South Carolina. You must maintain! Ultimately, you may decide to run away from your attacker; however, you won’t even do that without a “sense of self”, as mentioned earlier, and the divine inner power called “courage” that you will discover within yourself as a result of having that “sense of self”. Instead, you’ll just cower and/or beg as you are being victimized. Don’t be a victim! Read full post

Dr. Barbara Love on Frederick Douglass' famous July 4th speech, 1852

"Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) was the best known and most influential African American leader of the 1800s..."
(originally posted July 4th, 2008)


Frederick Douglass (1817-1895) was the best known and most influential African American leader of the 1800s. He was born a slave in Maryland but managed to escape to the North in 1838. He traveled to Massachusetts and settled in New Bedford, working as a laborer to support himself. In 1841, he attended a convention of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society and quickly came to the attention of its members, eventually becoming a leading figure in the New England antislavery movement...

In 1845, Douglass published his autobiography, "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: an American Slave." With the revelation that he was an escaped slave, Douglass became fearful of possible re-enslavement and fled to Great Britain and stayed there for two years, giving lectures in support of the antislavery movement in America. With the assistance of English Quakers, Douglass raised enough money to buy his own his freedom and in 1847 he returned to America as a free man.

He settled in Rochester, New York, where he published The North Star, an abolitionist newspaper. He directed the local underground railroad which smuggled escaped slaves into Canada and also worked to end racial segregation in Rochester's public schools.

In 1852, the leading citizens of Rochester asked Douglass to give a speech as part of their Fourth of July celebrations. Douglass accepted their invitation.

In his speech, however, Douglass delivered a scathing attack on the hypocrisy of a nation celebrating freedom and independence with speeches, parades and platitudes, while, within its borders, nearly four million humans were being kept as slaves.

Liberation,
Dr. Barbara J. Love

Social Justice Education (now retired)
SOE, UMASS, Amherst
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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 of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation (Babylon) whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin.

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!"

To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.

My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July.

Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged, in the name of liberty, which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery -- the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate - I will not excuse." I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother Abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment.

What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men -- digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave -- we are called upon to prove that we are men?

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What! Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No - I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may - I cannot. The time for such argument is past.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.

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 boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

Frederick Douglass - July 4, 1852 Read full post

Videos of Malcolm, Martin, and James

"Considering the recent cartoon that was deliberately posted during Black History Month by the New York Post (in 2009), the series of videos here seem quite timely..."

Dear friends,

Considering the fact that America is still wrought with economic and social problems, regardless of the president's skin color, is Black Nationalism still an answer to the woes of Black people? Below is a link with videos of and about Malcolm X, including interviews with Dr. Martin Luther King and James Baldwin.

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
Videos of and about Malcolm X, including interviews with Dr. Martin Luther King and James Baldwin Read full post

Meeting George Bush when I was a Black Panther (originally posted 10/19/08)

When I originally sent the piece below, it was the next morning after a debate between then Senator Obama and John McCain...I had saved the info, not even using it when Hillary Clinton brought up Obama's relation with a former Weatherman during the Democratic primary, for when I felt that it really would count...A dear friend of mine from the New York Daily News sent it to his Washington bureau...but heard nothing back..I sent a copy to all of the major newspapers in all of the big US cities...I heard nothing back...However, the biggest thing was: After I distributed this letter, to this day, no one has ever mentioned Obama's relationship with that Weatherman guy...Cheers!

*******************************************
Dear Friends,

Sarah Palin has begun making more silly remarks. The latest one involves Senator Obama's alleged "association" with a "terrorist". To be sure, the idea that one is responsible for what another person either does or has done, because s/he has interacted with that person at some point, moves Sarah Palin up a notch, that is even higher than her current, well-earned position as "Ms. Universal Dunce".

In the late summer of 1970, about two weeks after the founder of the Black Panther Party, Huey P. Newton, was released from 33 months in jail for something that he did not do, a number of Panthers were sent to New Haven, Connecticut, from around the country, in order to help reorganize our chapter there, after most of the members there were jailed on charges of having murdered a man named Alex Rackley. Because of his role as the chief officer of the Party, at the time of the alleged crime, Bobby Seale, along with the head of the Connecticut state chapter, Ericka Huggins, was charged with Rackley's murder as well, since prosecutors asserted that the aforementioned duo had "ordered" the murder.

At any rate, literally, upon entering the door of the New Haven chapter, when I first arrived from Boston, I was immediately assigned to set up what we called a "community education program". We had them all over the country, in each branch and chapter. They consisted of weekly meetings, that were actually classes, where folks from the community would come and, in this case, I would both preside over and lead the class, discussing a variety of topics that dealt with social issues that were pertinent to African Americans at the time.

Sometimes, we would talk about stories from the nationally-distributed Black Panther Party newspaper. Other times, I would bring mimeographed copies (there was no such thing as a Xerox machine yet) of published articles from various authors, or ones that I had written myself. For the nine or so months that I was stationed in New Haven, I continued those classes, which were always well-attended, with, usually, about a dozen people each class (which I always held on Wednesday nights at 6pm). Initially, I held classes in the Panther office (which was actually an entire house) on Sylvan Avenue. Later, I moved the class to a building where we would soon open up our People's Free Health Center, on Dixwell Avenue.

Also, during that Fall of 1970, now once again led by Huey P. Newton, the Black Panther Party convened the Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention. The plenary session was held in Philadelphia (around September, as I remember). The actual convention itself was held around two months later, in Washington, DC. Apart from my other duties, I was now assigned as the food coordinator for the entire East Coast, for that convention. While some people traveled there from the West and Midwest, most of the folks were Panthers and other progressives from the East Coast. Consequently, I was more like the "national" food coordinator. In any case, when the time came, with the help of, particularly "sisters” in the Party, I sent a Mack truck full of food to DC.

By the way, during the time that I was soliciting grocery stores, vegetable wholesalers, and even Dunkin' Donuts, receiving large donations for a "day care" center (which was a new concept at the time), the aforementioned donors had no idea that they were feeding the 2, 000-plus people who would be attending the Black Panther Party's upcoming convention. Most of all, community generosity, both business and personal, was abound.

Nonetheless, one Friday night, after having spent the day collecting food for the Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention, before going back to Panther headquarters, as I sometimes did, I decided to stop by the "Black House" on Yale campus. (The Black House at Yale was the name that brothers at Yale chose for their ”separate” dormitory.) After hanging out with the brothers for what was, probably a couple of hours, I imagine, I headed back to the office. As I was walking off of Yale campus, I was passing by a building, when suddenly a couple of European American or "white" guys yelled out from a second or third floor window, inviting me up for a drink.

Now, I must add that, for some reason, I keep remembering that there may have been somebody else with me, that is a "community worker" (which was the name that was given to people who were not actually "Panthers", per se, but who helped in doing a lot of duties like selling our newspapers and serving at our nationwide Free Breakfast Programs for children, and so forth). Nevertheless, I accepted the offer of the, seemingly, slightly intoxicated guys and went into the building, up the stairs, and into a room that was filled with about 25 college students who were all dressed formally. I introduced myself and all of them took turns shaking hands with me. Soon, we began what would become a roughly two hours or more journey of debating political issues, while, simultaneously, one of the main hosts, a guy named George, constantly kept my glass full of wine.

Early on, by the way, I identified myself as a Black Panther, although my outfit made it unnecessary for me to do so (black leather jacket with "Off the pig!" and other type buttons on the lapel, a black cap, black pants, and black combat boots). Nevertheless, they told me that they were a campus group called "The Party of the Right". Initially, I thought it interesting that they would want me to stay and "party" with them, considering the name of their group and the reputation of mine. You must recall that that was 1970, the same year that, only abou a year earlier, the legendary F.B.I. chief, J. Edgar Hoover, proclaimed that "The Black Panther Party is the number one threat to internal security in America".

Initially, there seemed to be a lot of debate, with me representing the "revolutionary" side, and a couple of other guys (who were standing next to George) defending the "reactionary" aka "conservative" point of view. After about a half of an hour or so, suddenly, some blond guy who was wearing glasses, and standing next to me, started agreeing with me. Before long, others chimed in with him. I stopped my dialogue with my initial verbal combatants and said, "I thought that all of you people were conservatives?" Then the blond guy in the glasses said, "No. We are all mixed up politically. We just use this name, because the administration leaves us alone, thinking that we're different than all of the radical groups on campus. That way we get to drink on weekends with no trouble".

We all just fell into a kind of friendlier "vibe", at that point. George kept feeding me drinks. He was a very gracious host. I have always remembered him fondly. After I left them that night, on, at least, a couple of occasions, I ran into George either on or near Yale campus. We would always stop and rap for a minute or two.

It was only many years later that I realized, from research, that when I knew him, he had already graduated from Yale. Apparently, he was just hanging around campus, when I knew him. I was surprised to find that out (i.e., that he had already graduated), because he looked fairly young for his age, at the time. I tried to contact "The Party of the Right" about him, several years ago, but got no response.

Back then, I had mentioned to my Panther comrades, and over the following years, to some of my brothers and friends, about that night, because it was so humorous, but intriguing, to me. It would be many years before I ever saw George again. My memory of him became clearer, after he became president, and I began to see his face more.

At one point, for about two weeks, I kept waking up in dripping sweat, thinking about that Fall night on Yale campus - some three decades earlier - at that party in 1970. George's face was plastered into my mind. Then, like people who recall being sexually molested, decades after the incident occurred, for the first time, I understood what had happened to them. I now, tangibly, understand how a person can not be thinking about something, then remember it thirty or, in some cases, forty years later.

Finally, George Bush's hanging out with me that night and occasionally bumping into me had nothing to do with either how he or I turned out or what we did. Therefore, Palin's inane suggestion that Senator Obama is not to be trusted, because of someone he knows is worse than inane actually. McCain, I hope, would not say something so dumb. Additionally, if you recall, during her debate with Joe Biden, Palin twice made the stupid claim that John McCain knows how to "win wars". McCain would have never said something so outrageous, At least, I hope not. After all, Senator McCain's fighter plane got shot down over Vietnam and he stayed captured while the US lost the war - partially due to the "unsuccessful" McCain-types who were in the US military, along with lousy decisions by generals who were all led by an incompetent Republican commander-in-chief (sound familiar?). Moreover, what a pathetic pick for his vice presidency. Many people in Alaska did not vote for Sarah Palin to be their governor, and many of those who did are now being quite vocal about their regret over the bad choice that they made.

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

What is "African unity"? (originally published 6/27/08)

Below, is a version of a "Letter to the Editor" that I sent to the Philadelphia Inquirer the other day. Rather than print the just mentioned missive and encourage dialogue, like so many of the government- and corporate-controlled media outlets, they seem to have decided to do otherwise.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Dear Editor:

While I'm sure that Trudy Rubin's piece, "Worldview: African unity can stop tyrant", posted June 25, 2008, regarding the need for "African unity" in order to rid the continent of tyrants like Robert Mugabe, is well-intended, what she did not point out in her article is: "African unity" was the mantra that overthrew European colonial rule, two generations ago. The result gave us a succession of "liberators" like Robert Mugabe and others who meant well, but became tyrants, because, before long, after independence, petty tribalisms and so forth - like "religious" squabbles, set in, and were, in fact, instigated by agents of the former colonial rulers.

Additionally, unemployment, which was already rampant under colonialism, became even worse, because the formerly colonized "leaders" had no understanding of running industry. After all, while European rulers and others have and still do take raw materials from the African continent, they send the aforementioned materials overseas to places like Asia and Latin America where they are refined into consumable products. Besides, when they left, the vindictive colonizers took everything that they "owned" with them (in many cases, they even took the light bulbs from the administrative offices that they had been forced to abandon). That meant that farming on a rather unsophisticated scale and petty merchandising would reign. People have to eat and sustain themselves. Hence, when it came/comes to government collection and expenditures, along with other matters, corruption necessarily followed/follows.

Therefore, the call for "African Unity", as it were, must first address the fact that, before the Europeans came there, Africans had a different direction. Moreover, to speak of "African unity" outside of that context may be well-meaning, however, it is shallow and useless. In other words, we've already been there. In fact, it is the continuous exploitative behaviors of Europeans and their offshoots in the Americas, by their maintaining the underdevelopment of Africa and other lands, that lend to the creation of Mugabe and his ilk, whether on the continent of Africa or here in the Diaspora - and the rest of the world.

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Some Words of Wisdom from Dr. King about War

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. "

The Wisdom of MLK, Jr. A wonderful collection of quotes by Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: This way of settling differences is not just. This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood." Excerpt from "Beyond Vietnam", an address delivered on 4 April 1967 to the Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam at Riverside Church in New York City.

Downloaded from the MLK, Jr. Papers Project, Stanford University
http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/ Read full post

Why do "white" cops kill "Black" cops, but the opposite never happens? (originally posted 6/3/09)

"another African American police officer has been gunned down by his European American counterpart, in New York City..."

Dear friends,

In the wake of "A Black guy did it!" claims still swirling around the country, another African American police officer has been gunned down by his European American counterpart, in New York City. On the link below is a comprehensive look at both of these issues by formidable journalist Errol Louis of the New York Daily News.

G. Djata Bumpus
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-05-30/news/17923127_1_black-men-bias-undercover Read full post

Smith on Race & Politics (originally posted 9/24/08)

Dear friends,

In light of the current Trayvon Martin tragedy, and the fact that African Americans are standing together for the first time in 150 years, when we fought, along with our European American counterparts, and ended chattel slavery, during the North American Civil War, with his piece on the link below, posted on 9/23/08, my long time and very dear friend, Elmer Smith, now "formerly" of the Philadelphia Daily News, made the crucial point of reminding us that we should not let either polls or "pundits" convince us that then Senator Obama would not win the election.

As Elm reveals, quite adequately, in the piece, what will really matter, ultimately, is whether or not people act in their own best interests.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080923_Elmer_Smith__Race_alone_won_t_derail_Obama.html
Read full post

What was CNN's point? (originally posted 7/28/08)

"On it was shown an African American woman who assured us, "Most Black people aren't poor..."

Dear friends,

To whom was CNN addressing, when they aired their recent series called "Black America"? Was the show done for African Americans? If not, then why did CNN not spend both their filming and interviewing time defining who "White America" is? After all, according to the last two federal censuses (1990 and 2000), numerically, twice the amount of people who call themselves "white" live below the poverty line than all of the "people of color" combined - regardless of their ages, genders, or national origins? Considering that simple fact, perhaps, the real question may be: What's so great about being "white"? Will CNN have a show with that title? Why must CNN, Fox News, and the rest of the mainstream media outlets continue to either hide or trivialize the significance of the historical presence of Black people in this country?

On a tape that was circulated on the Internet, I remember just last year hearing that incredibly wise model of moral rectitude, Rush Limbaugh, telling African Americans and anyone else who would listen that Barack Obama is not a Black man. Imagine that. African Americans are so dumb that we do not even know how to distinguish the difference between a member of our own group from an "outsider". Now comes CNN. "We poe Black folks" need CNN to hip us to the state in which we are. Wow! I saw a trailer of what was, at the time, the upcoming special report by Soledad O'Brien. On it was shown an African American woman who assured us, "Most Black people aren't poor!" Okay. Who told CNN that she can speak for African Americans? Was it Reverend Al Sharlaton?

Written a generation ago, in a brilliant work titled "How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America", author Dr. Manning Marable points out the deliberate process involved in making the lives of African American people so precarious that almost thirty years after being placed on the Supreme Court, and shortly before his passing, during a television interview, the late Thurgood Marshall emphatically offered, "I still can't hail a cab in Washington DC!"

Nevertheless, on the link below is an article that just came out in the Sunday edition of the LA Times (July 27, 2008), I believe that its contents deserve a CNN special, if that news outlet truly wants to inform and inspire its viewers. Or do they mean to do something else?

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-covenant27-2008jul27,0,1445256.story
Read full post