Volume 7 Issue 14…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…April 9, 2004

The Lynching

Claude McKay (1891-1948)

His spirit in smoke ascended to high heaven.

His father, by the cruelest way of pain,

Had bidden him to his bosom once again;

The awful sin remained still unforgiven.

All night a bright and solitary star

(Perchance the one that ever guided him,

Yet gave him up at last to Fate's wild whim)

Hung pitifully o'er the swinging char.

Day dawned, and soon the mixed crowds came to view

The ghastly body swaying in the sun:

The women thronged to look, but never a one

Showed sorrow in her eyes of steely blue;

And little lads, lynchers that were to be,

Danced round the dreadful thing in fiendish glee.

About Me: Harlem Renaissance poet and novelist Claude McKay came to the United States from Jamaica to study scientific farming. Primarily interested in writing, he left college after two years of study to pursue his art. In New York, he supported himself by working various menial jobs. His first volume of poetry, Songs of Jamaica (1911), was followed by Spring in New Hampshire (1920), which was published in London, where he lived at the time, and Harlem Shadows (1922). His novels include Home to Harlem (1928), Banjo (1929) Banana Bottom (1933) and his autobiography A Long Way from Home (1937). Ill and destitute, McKay died in 1948. (Sources: James Weldon Johnson, ed. (1871-1938), The Book of American Negro Poetry (1922) and Kaleidoscope: Poems by American Negro Poets, edited by Robert Hayden (1967)).

Race Riot Reparations Lawsuit Dismissed

U.S. Senior District Judge James Ellison recently dismissed Alexander v. Governor of the State of Oklahoma, et al. based on the legal technicality of a two-year statute of limitations in civil cases. Filed in 2003, the lawsuit was brought by survivors and descendants of persons that were killed and/or lost property in the 1921 Tulsa, Oklahoma riot.

The suit alleges that a white mob, deputized by Tulsa police, and National Guard troops used violence against blacks, including aerial bombardment, to put down what whites characterized as "an uprising." The riot started on May 31, 1921 outside a courthouse where a black man was being held on allegations of assaulting a white woman. Greenwood, Tulsa's black community, known as "Black Wall Street," was reduced to rubble.

A 1921 grand jury blamed blacks for the death and destruction, while exonerating whites. Plaintiffs allege the statute of limitations does not apply in this situation. Silenced by the fear of lynchings, Ku Klux Klan intimidation and a judicial system openly hostile to blacks, survivors did not seek immediate legal redress.

Moreover, information critical to the lawsuit did not become available until 2001 when a commission appointed by the state legislature published its report. The 1921 Race Riot Commission confirmed a death toll of 37, but found that as many as 300 may have perished. More than 1200 structures, including homes, schools, businesses and churches were destroyed. The report confirmed the role of Tulsa police and National Guard in the massacre. Black survivors were rounded up and detained until a white person "vouched" for them.

Charles Ogletree Jr., attorney for the elderly survivors, fifteen of whom have died since the lawsuit was filed, plans to appeal Ellison's ruling to the10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill (1918)

"The people of the United States suffer justly under the grievous charge that they continue to tolerate mob murder. It is well known that the innocent, equally with the guilty, suffer the cruel inflictions of mob violence. Mobs have even invaded court rooms and prisons to seize and murder prisoners whose punishment had already been fixed. Local and State authorities frequently offer only the feeblest objection to the actions of the mob which is permitted to do its will unchecked. Rarely are the members of a mob sought out and prosecuted even when, undisguised and in full daylight, they have participated in murder, and only in a few isolated cases has any lyncher ever been punished. Patriotic citizens throughout the country feel the shame which lynchings cast upon the Nation. . . We can no longer permit open contempt of the courts and lawful procedure. We can no longer endure the burning of human beings in public in the presence of women and children. (Rep. Leonidas Dyer )

Following the bitterly contested selection of Rutherford B. Hayes as US President (1877) and the end of post-Civil War reconstruction, white Americans justified continued racial oppression and discrimination by propagating the notion that African descendants were biologically inferior brutes. Beyond the pale of human sympathy, black men were shiftless sexual predators. Whites were taught that blacks could only make negative contributions to culture and civilization.

When blacks proved the stereotypes baseless, lynchings, which were sometimes followed by riots, were used to destroy economic progress. They helped maintain the status quo of perceived white superiority and struck terror in the breasts of blacks trying to improve their socioeconomic and political condition. Typical of the period, in 1904 a Springfield, Ohio white mob lynched a black man, then pillaged and burned down the black section of town. Incensed over a false report of rape, a white mob lynched two blacks in 1908 and pillaged the black community of Springfield, Illinois.

The Illinois race riot led to the 1909 formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which joined others in the fight against lynching. In 1919, it published Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States, 1889-1918, which showed that more than two thousand blacks were lynched between 1885 and 1910. Twenty-eight persons were publicly burned by white mobs from 1918 to 1921. From 1889 to 1922, 3,436 persons were lynched. So many lynchings and race riots occurred in 1919 James Weldon Johnson dubbed it "the Red Summer."

In April 1918, Missouri Congressman Leonidas Dyer introduced anti-lynching legislation, which would have made participation in a lynch mob a federal crime. It was intended to punish state, county, and local authorities that failed to prevent lynching and act as a deterrent to end the practice. The bill passed the House of Representatives on the 26th of January 1922 with a vote of 230-119. Unfortunately, a filibuster prevented the Senate from voting on the measure in late 1922.

The legislation's opponents successfully argued such bills contravened "the doctrine of 'states rights'--a doctrine implicit in the 1877 compromise between the North and the South that ended Reconstruction and brought Hayes to the White House. The Dyer anti-lynching legislation was reintroduced several times throughout the 1920s, but never became law. (Sources: www.womhist.binghamton.edu/, www.africana.com, and www.themarcusgarveybbs.com)

All great plays are built around themes about life. Theater depicts dilemmas in dramatic fashion to reflect the inspiration, development and resolution of life's conflicts. Guaranteed to entertain, The Dance of Fatherhood is just such a dramatization.

Starring Yohannes Sharriff, the play examines black men's responses to their essential role in perpetuating the specie. Writers/producers Mimi Williams and Lady J provide a feminine feel for familial fragmentation, which was created during slavery, and expose its manifestations as expressed in the attitudes of black men today. Their unique perspectives draw the audience into the rhythm of tragedy, ecstasy and passion that make up the music of The Dance of Fatherhood.

The Dance debuts April 21-22, 2004 at Kyle Theater inside Avondale High School, which is located at 1192 Clarendon Drive, Avondale Estates, Georgia. For more information, please call 770-808-3159.

The Dark Knight-Batman/White Ninja/Zorro is enjoying spring break. This welcomed hiatus from school literally means "no work!" When queried for comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro demanded, "Grandma, which part of "no work" do you not understand?"

Update on GRTA Takeover

By John Burl Smith

An eye-opening revelation for black legislators, the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) has made predominantly black DeKalb and Fulton the only Georgia counties that pay a public transportation tax. Last week (3-31-04) the unfairness to those citizens paying a dedicated tax for MARTA services, while other counties get service free, was revealed during discussions on funding new GRTA express bus services for the 13 predominantly white counties around Atlanta.

MARTA, taken over to serve as GRTA's regional transportation hub, has a $54 million shortfall. GRTA is robbing DeKalb and Fulton's taxpayers by using MARTA funds to pay for bus lines in Clayton and Gwinnett counties, which refused repeatedly to pay the MARTA tax. Now, MARTA is cutting back service and increasing fares to communities that pay the one-cent sales tax. Locked into GRTA's unfair system, legislators voted to extend the MARTA sales tax until 2047, forcing blacks in DeKalb and Fulton to subsidize whites that commute to all the best jobs in Atlanta.

Using GRTA, former Gov. Roy Barnes blocked a promised I-20 MARTA train for South DeKalb County. Out front on the train issue, former US Rep. Cynthia McKinney left office amid efforts to revive a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of DeKalb and Fulton County residents against the State of Georgia over GRTA illegally taking control of MARTA. GRTA's express bus funding impasse, MARTA's $54 million shortfall and the District 4 congressional campaign make the I-20 MARTA train and a lawsuit challenging GRTA's takeover of MARTA top 2004 issues.

This is a matter of fairness. Even though a South DeKalb train will bring economic development and jobs, none of the candidates in the 4th District race, except McKinney, fought for a train. Legislative delegations, the Atlanta City Council, County Executives and Commissions all conspired to take control of MARTA away from DeKalb and Fulton citizens and give it to GRTA. Faced with cutting out routes and increasing fares because of a $54 million MARTA deficit, not one is demanding the one-cent sales tax be imposed on other counties that enjoy MARTA's service, nor are they demanding payment to compensate DeKalb and Fulton Counties for years of investing in MARTA. Operating like white lynch mobs from Georgia's past, GRTA took property that belongs to predominately blacks counties but is still forcing us to pay for something we no longer own or control.

GRTA and counties that do not pay the MARTA tax now control MARTA's Board. DeKalb and Fulton no longer have power to block GRTA from using MARTA's funds to pay for things like express buses for counties that refuse to pay the MARTA one-cent sales tax. That leaves whites free to spend their taxes on improving schools, economic development, the arts and other quality of life projects. With its taxing power maxed out, Atlanta could use that penny for sewers. South DeKalb residents should use their votes to demand an I-20 MARTA train and tax fairness. For more information about how MARTA was hijacked and the lawsuit go to MARTA_Tax_Sucks.com.

MARTA Bus Barn's Wasteful Pollution

Not only are DeKalb and Fulton Counties' residents forced to foot the bill to fund public transportation, their neighborhoods bare the brunt of the noise and other environmental pollution that accompany public transportation storage facilities. An email from Geoffrey Bays, president of the North Avondale Neighborhood Association explains the situation.

Dear DISH: I have read your comments on MARTA, and its need for regional funding to survive. My neighborhood's take on MARTA is a bit different. We (North Avondale Neighborhood Association) have been campaigning intensively for more than a year to stop large amounts of wasteful, noisy bus idling at the Laredo Bus facility, large gas leaks and diesel fumes.

Despite an Atlanta Journal Constitution (AJC), a Channel 2 News report, numerous letters, MARTA board meetings and the intervention of several politicians, MARTA refuses to reduce the noise and save money.

My guess is, they figure our small, very humble neighborhood of former mill houses on the edge of Scottdale cannot give them very much trouble. But, they are wrong! For more info, visit our neighborhood web page at: http://geoffbays.com/nana.html. Any helpful suggestions would be most appreciated.

I am on the verge (gasp!) of talking to Republicans. Tonight, we all bask in the vibration of 279 MARTA buses here on Wells St.

By John Burl Smith

Following a grenade attack in Fallujah (3-31-04) that killed four US-trained mercenaries, Iraqis celebrated by hanging two charred mutilated remains from a bridge. Horrified Americans seem baffled as to how civilized human beings could act so viciously toward people who liberated them from a brutal dictator like Saddam Hussein. Describing Iraqi behavior as bestial, despicable and vile, incredulous Americans need only recall their racist attitudes toward blacks and Native people.

Mob action in Fallujah is no different from the US annihilation of Native people in atrocities committed along "the Trail of Tears" and in massacres such as the incident at "Wounded Knee." "Manifest Destiny," a government policy that secured white rule "from sea to shining sea," was US ethnic cleansing.

Unlike the dead bodies dragged through Fallujah, while George W. Bush was Governor of Texas, a live James Byrd, Jr. was dragged behind a pickup truck. This atrocity left a trail of blood, tissue and bones, but whites did not show similar outrage. A very powerful exposé by collector James Allen shows how an entire nation can act like the mob in Fallujah. Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America contains hundreds of images depicting scenes far more gruesome than those from Fallujah. The book and accompanying photo exhibit graphically illustrate a period in US history when whites lynched blacks purely for entertainment.

The poplar term "picnic" was originally southern code for picking a nigger and lynching him (pic-a-nic). During the early 1900s, lynchings drew huge crowds like rock concerts and sporting events today. Crowds, estimated as large as 100,000, gathered to watch blacks burned alive and/or hung. Body parts were collected as souvenirs. Allen's book is based on a collection of postcard photographs mailed to friends and relatives; the images depict lynchings as festive family affairs.

Picnics were publicized in newspapers days in advance of lynchings, and local authorities facilitated lynch mobs, as in Walton County, Georgia. George and May Murray Dorsey, Robert and his pregnant wife Dorothy Malcomb were riddled with bullets after the sheriff delivered them to a white mob. President Harry Truman ordered an investigation, but no one has ever been charged in the Walton County lynching. Public officials, business and community leaders' faces appear prominently in lynching photographs, but none of these individuals was ever charged with anything.

Mob action in Fallujah mimics America's violent response to 9-11. The same lynch mob mind-set seals divisions among whites in the US. Prior to 9-11, Bush's failures as a leader were obvious. But, by whipping up religious hatred, deceiving the world about an imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and making "terrorism" the new Holy Grail, Bush can claim hero status as a "wartime" president. Now, to be civilized and Christian, one must not only agree with the mob, one must participate enthusiastically in the bloodlust. "You're either with us or against us."

No matter how gruesome, black, Palestinian, Afghani and Iraqi deaths never elicit white outrage. If the killers are white, even the deaths of innocent children are justifiable homicide. Remember Amadou Diallo? Leading the mob, sounding like Israelis, Coalition Administrator Paul Bremer and Gen. Mark Kimmitt personify Gen. George Armstrong Custer. In preparing for the Little Big Horn, Custer recklessly forged ahead intent on wiping the Sioux out; he died instead.

Those not a part of the mob must remember - the US invaded Iraq under false pretenses. Under US occupation, Iraq's oil and other natural resources have been privatized, the price of liberation. International law and diplomacy now are controlled by mob rule. Such dirty deeds cannot be accomplished with clean hands!

Disgruntled wants to know: Richard Clarke's, Against All Enemies reveals that on the evening of Sept. 11, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld noted that international law allowed the use of force only to prevent future attacks and not for retribution. Bush nearly bit his head off. "No," the President yelled in the narrow conference room, "I don't care what the international lawyers say, we are going to kick some ass." Does this sound like a man of compassion that claims to be a good Christian?

Disgruntled feels: Quagmire! With fighting across Iraq, the situation, minus rice paddies and Vietnam's jungle, is real similar to the 1968 Tet Offensive. Any way you spell it, the US is mired in its war of choice.

Disgruntled says: Before 9-11, Attorney General John Ashcroft stopped using commercial airlines. The 9-11 Commission needs to ask Ashcroft to explain what led to his decision and why the public was uninformed.

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