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Vol. 9 No. 50…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…December 15, 2006

Intuit’s Vibe

On An Underground Railroad
By Kinny Landrum

In 1831 a slave named Tice

Escaped to Ohio 'cross a river of ice

His owner followed him all the way along

But when they got to the bank, ol' Tice was gone

He looked around for him far and wide

But then he rowed on back to the Kentucky side

He said, "That boy sure can swim

I never seen hide or hair of him"

But he musta gone off on an Underground Railroad

Musta gone off on an Underground Railroad

Don't know where he's bound

But he's going underground

The spark of freedom was so strong

It spread like a fire before too long

Uncle Tom's Cabin fanned the flames

But those who helped went by many names

There was Harriet Tubman. They called her Moses

'Cause she led so many out of Egypt to roses

And Levi Coffin they called President

'Cause his was the house where three lines went

Henry Brown mailed himself in a box

To Philly, he musta been crazy like a fox

John Brown's body lies a-moldering in the grave

'Cause there's so many that he tried to save

They all musta gone off on an Underground Railroad

Musta gone off on an Underground Railroad

Don't know where they're bound

But they're going underground

It wasn't no subway and it wasn't no train

But still they used the same kinds of names

Like conductors and passengers, stations and tracks

And you knew it was safe

when you saw a quilt out back

With a smoking chimney on top

This was a place where you could stop for the night

Until the morning came

And you had to get back on board the train

Goin' on off on the Underground Railroad

Don't know where you're bound

But you're going underground

In 1856 the Supreme Court said

A slave is a slave until he's dead

Dred Scott was chattel and not a man

He wasn't a citizen of any land

The Fugitive Slave Law gave 'em the right

To pick up a man off the streets at night

And ship him in chains back down South

He had no defense, he couldn't open his mouth

Anyone who helped could be thrown in jail

And fined a grand without any bail

No wonder so many felt the time was now

They had to do something somehow

They got together and put a movement in place

To help their brothers in this human race

All went off on an Underground Railroad

Don't know where they're bound

But they're going underground

(Hear the music and lyrics to this song at http://www.ushistory.com/rrlyric.htm

Bit of History

Last Stop Canada

Kidnapped from Africa, slaves sought freedom since their arrival in North America (1619). A slave owner and US President, George Washington complained that one of his runaways was helped by a "society of Quakers" (1786). Before statehood, the Ohio territory became the destination for runaways. They lived among friendly Native American tribes, like the Wyandots in Upper Sandusky. Fearing Native Americans, whites did not pursue runaways on Indian land.

Slaves saw the North, Ohio in particular, as the land of freedom. After escaping bondage and arriving there, they found blacks lived in a state of semi-freedom. A byproduct of slavery, northern racism was part and parcel of the USA's social fabric, shaping its concepts of "black" and "white."

During Andrew Jackson's (1829-37) "Age of the Common Man," working class white men gained power through the right to vote. Even European immigrants, who faced discrimination and hardship in their native countries, were a part of a privileged "white" class in America. No matter how poor or degraded they were, simply by virtue of being white, there was a class of people below them. Being white meant something-- superiority. Article I Section 2 of the US Constitution codified black slavery (1789) and the Dred Scott decision (1857) affirmed blacks were property. This gave whites absolute power over blacks. Through intimidation, changing laws and mob violence, whites increasingly denied blacks born in the USA rights routinely granted immigrants.

Segregation was rampant in the North. Black men could not serve in militias, on juries, testify in court against whites, receive assistance at the "poor house" or send their children to public schools. Philadelphia, "the city of brotherly love," excluded blacks from public accommodations, schools, churches and orphanages. Black artisans were barred from skilled professions. Such rights were granted blacks following the Revolutionary War (1773).

After slavery became illegal in northern states, many whites still supported it. Whites feared blacks gaining power and infringing upon white opportunities. They felt former slaves would move into their state and take jobs, while demanding equal socioeconomic and political rights. Some whites vehemently opposed abolition and the Underground Railroad. They agreed, runaway slaves should be returned to their owners. Far more stringent than the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793, the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 gave slave owners the right to reclaim runaway slaves, even if they were in a free state. This made Ohio central in the struggle of African slaves trying to reach freedom from bondage. By 1831, the informal system began by Quakers to help runaways grew into a vast network of people that helped over 100,000 fugitive slaves escape northward, many making it all the way to Canada. Dubbed "The Underground Railroad," most of its tracks crisis-crossed Ohio. It had its own codes and jargon. For instance, runaway hiding places were called "stations" and those guiding runaways between stations were "conductors," such as Harriet Ross Tubman (1820-1913).

Life on the Underground Railroad was rugged and uncompromisingly harsh, but it was far better than being on one's own. Traveling 10 to 20 miles between stations, hiding in woods with little or no food and dodging slave hunters all the way to Canada, if runaways were lucky, the journey could take months. For many runaways, truly escaping slavery meant going "by way of Sandusky." The first runaway slave, fleeing a life of bondage, arrived in Sandusky, Ohio sometime during the early 1800s. This escaping slave blazed a trail that made Sandusky a major hub of the Underground Railroad.

A center of commerce, located on Lake Erie and the closest point to Canada, Sandusky's docks were busy with outgoing boats. Even though large numbers of fugitives slaves reached Canada by way of Detroit, Michigan or Niagara Falls, New York, most sailed across Lake Erie to Ontario from Sandusky. Several railroad lines and the Underground Railroad made Sandusky the last stop before Canada for escaping slaves. Code name, "Hope," that period in Sandusky's history provides a model for how black, white and red people tried to make the United States live up to its claim of "freedom and justice for all." (Sources: www.ohioundergroundrailroad.org www.sanduskyohiocedarpoint.com www.ohiohistorycentral.org)

Sandusky Lost

By John Burl Smith

Symbols are objects, characters, figures or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts, and they are very important to the human psyche. For some, Sandusky, Ohio was once just such a fixture in the minds of runaway slaves. Sandusky was more than simply a place or destination, it symbolized hope. Traveling on the Underground Railroad, once there, fugitive slaves knew the next stop was Canada. Reaching Sandusky was like arriving at the gates of paradise and waiting for Gabriel to grant final passage.

Sandusky also symbolized the culmination of a desperate struggle of runaway slaves to reach freedom. Thus, the expression "by way of Sandusky" became part of the runaway slave's lexicon. This struggle for freedom began with the capture of Africans, who were transported thousands of miles to distant shores. Sometimes, generations languished in bondage before the taste for freedom spurred a descendant to make their break. Carrying a hope which extended back to the first captured soul of their lineage, those that were successful closed a circle that began with the first's dream of freedom. Those left behind gained renewed hope from each successful escape of a runaway.

Today, many blacks cling to similar symbols hoping for the freedom Sandusky represented to runaways. Standing on the precipice of a new millennium in 2006, slave descendants look back over more than four hundred years of United States (US) bondage and see the same future that their ancestors, who made the trek to Sandusky saw as their past. Comparing and contrasting the relative conditions of blacks then and now, only time and technology have changed.

Following the Revolutionary War, slaves that supported the fight for independence were freed and granted all rights of citizenship. Article I Section 2 of the US Constitution, "3/5 Compromise," codified slavery and changed life for free blacks as well. The Founding Fathers made "white" the power class and "black" the powerless class. Blacks, free and slave, were locked out of the halls of power and their freedom made subject to the whims of whites.

Beginning in the early 1800s, all rights granted citizens by the US Constitution were denied black people. Using intimidation, changing laws and mob violence, whites forced blacks into second class status. The Dred Scott decision (1857) which agreed that blacks were property, affirmed whites' absolute power over blacks. Fortunately, the Civil War, ended bond slavery and again slaves that supported and/or fought with the Union were given their freedom. Promised Land (40 acres and a mule), former slaves had rights and a taste of power.

Experiencing the loss of power for the first time, white men felt impotent relative to blacks. Reviving the old arguments and tactics used after the Revolutionary War, by the turn of the century, whites had driven blacks to the back of the bus. The 1900s were a repeat of the 1800s for blacks. Jim Crow repression by federal and state governments, as well as lynchings by the Ku Klux Klan and other mob violence, disenfranchised blacks until the civil rights (1950s) and black power (1960s) movements.

Causing such an upheaval, like the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, white men lost power again and blacks gained. Presidents used executive orders to address inequalities, while Congress and State legislatures passed laws that were supposed to end segregation and racism forever in the USA. Most believed the nation would finally "live out the true meaning of it creed of freedom, justice and equality for all."

Then Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George Bush revived all the same old arguments and tactics used to make white men feel threaten by black equality. Slowly and methodically, white men, along with white women this time, began to chip away at gains made by blacks. After the stolen election of 2000, George W. Bush made good on his promise to "turn back the clock on civil rights." Using executive orders and legislation, Bush has created conditions for blacks that are relatively comparable to times following the Revolutionary War and before the Underground Railroad; only there is no Sandusky to inspire hope.

Sandusky is still a city on Lake Erie, but symbolically, the unity and cooperation between black, white and red people are lost. The hope for America Sandusky represented has been replaced by a lust for power, all consuming greed and a nation dominated by the rich. Like slaves traveling alone without assistance from the Underground Railroad, the US cannot find its way because the shining symbol of hope reflected by Sandusky's past has been lost.

DISHing It Up Hot!

Ongoing Slavery!

By Dot

In the early 1980's, I used regression analysis to determine who bears the brunt of economic welfare loss due to unemployment. At that time, national political leaders were concerned with fighting inflation; these white men seemed perfectly willing to endure more unemployment.

A working class economist, I argued just the opposite, i.e., that the nation should pursue a goal of full employment, since most folks lived in families that received most of their income from employment, which at the time represented the greatest share of national income. No one I knew enjoyed either the benefits of family wealth, earned corporate profits, or received capital gains, interest and dividends. Given these assumptions, I argued the welfare loss for families during periods of unemployment was far more detrimental than inflation.

In democratic societies, one might assume the incidences of welfare loss are randomly experienced. However, my studies show a pattern of welfare loss that is not only not random, it mimics the 3/5 Compromise of Article 1 Section 2 of the US Constitution, the first slavery clause in US law.

Annually, I update my data, just to make sure the pattern remains undisturbed. The latest year for which data is available (2004) shows median family incomes (in current year dollars) of $35,158 and $56,700 for blacks and whites, respectively, for a ratio of 62%, down from 63.5% in 2000.

Historically, as blacks neared the constitutionally established limit on the value of black human capital relative to whites (60%), presidential candidates, such as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, run with racist messages to energize their "white base." In code words like states' rights and strict construction of the Constitution, they pledged to support ongoing slavery and to turn back the clock on black advancement to "honor the Constitution," which legalized black socioeconomic and political slavery.

Thus, there is not simply a deep-seated bias against blacks in the USA held by individuals, institutionalized racism relegates blacks to the bottom rung of US society. Slavery never ended; it, like the black and white signs of Jim Crow segregation, just went underground.

Disgruntled says: The first US war of the new millennium is the first war fought on credit. In previous conflicts, US citizens were asked to make sacrifices in the form of higher taxes to fund the war effort. This war on terror is different. After giving substantial tax breaks to the nation's wealthiest citizens, George W. Bush urged everyone not on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan to go shopping to show the terrorists we will not change our way of life. According to some conservative estimates, this war has cost about one trillion dollars, which is roughly equivalent to the dollar-denominated reserves held by the central bank of China. Since the Democratic majority in the incoming 110th Congress has nixed the notion of stopping the funding to effectively end the war in Iraq, China can end the death and carnage by turning off the credit spigot.

Disgruntled feels: Impeachable! It is outrageous for members of Congress to declare prior to any investigations that they will not pursue a course of impeachment against George W. Bush. Legal scholars worldwide have identified impeachable offenses committed by Bush, including war crimes and crimes against humanity. To treat Bush as though he is above national and international law is to crown him King George, which goes against the whole notion of democracy and effectively renders the US a monarchy. Under former President Bill Clinton, the GOP and Special Prosecutor Ken Starr operated like rabid proctologists on the trail of a rare anal ailment in their feverish pursuit of evidence of Clinton wrongdoing. Former President Clinton and Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton, a potential presidential candidate, should be outraged by their party's decision not to prosecute George W. Bush, whose offenses are impeachable!

Disgruntled wants to know: According to the FBI, mortgage fraud is on the rise. Likewise, foreclosures are up, especially among vulnerable first-time home buyers that used the more exotic loan instruments to purchase their homes. In mainstream media reports, one gets the impression this resurgence in mortgage fraud is being perpetrated by bottom feeders that bleed the poor, unsuspecting and ignorant. However, given that prime lenders are not above bloodletting for profits, is mortgage fraud being committed solely by predatory lenders, or are upstream banking institutions playing a vital role in defrauding US citizens?

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