Memorial Day 2018

 

On Monday Americans will celebrate Memorial Day. Most think of it as the opening of the summer season but this holiday has a more serious meaning. It is a day to honor the memories of those who lost their lives in battle.  We honor the soldiers and sailors who died defending the United States.

Being a U.S. Army Veteran I am very sensitive to the issue of African American Sports players taking a knee for democracy.  Those many especially white Americans see this as unpatriotic I on the other hand see it as the height of Democracy.  The right to peacefully protest.  The American Flag is a symbol of what Democracy is supposed to be however most African Americans do not share the same rights, opportunities and access to uplift ourselves that our white counterparts take for granted.

Please refer to a post that I wrote last year about what or who does the American Flag represent.

https://dancingpalmtrees.com/2017/09/27/whose-flag/

Double V for Victory

Also another thing that most Americans don’t know is that in almost every American War Black soldiers have for Double V ~~ Victory overseas and Victory at home against racism which is ingrained in America like a festering wound.   For white Americans when they hear of the many Black men and women murdered by the police or some insane white man with an assault rifle (The nine Black parishioners who were killed during a Bible Study) well for white people it’s just entertainment. For us it’s our very lives. Our precious family members. Our Loved ones.  Sadly given my age I will never live to see Dr. Martin Luther King’s Dream come true.  White Americans have the luxury of avoiding conversations on race but for me it is an every day affair navigating a white world where I am despised and hated based only on my skin color.

 

Double V for Victory Campaign.

https://www.economist.com/node/664448

http://kmuw.org/post/double-v-wwii-victory-african-americans-armed-forces

Let me give you a story that my Father Edward G. Palmer who served during the Korean War told me.

While my Dad was in Washington, DC he was hungry and went to a local vendor/restaurant to get a hot dog.  My Dad was in his Air-force uniform when he tried to order his hot dog.  The man behind the counter told him, “We don’t serve Niggers.”

Fast forward to 2018 and the two Black men who asked politely to use the bathroom in Starbucks and were denied while white people were allowed to used the restroom.  These gentlemen decided to sit and wait on a friend.  A white female employee who in her own deviant mind felt threatened by two Black men quietly sitting at the table awaiting a friend decided to call they police and make up a story to get them arrested.

Check the below links for the rest of the story.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/apr/16/arrest-of-two-black-men-at-starbucks-for-trespassing-sparks-protests

https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/15/us/starbucks-statement-philadelphia-arrest/index.html

Keep the truth in mind.  Black Americans can bleed and die for this country but we are not permitted to even sit down in a popular well-known coffee shop where it is normal for folks to gather and sit.

So nothing has changed for Black people in America from the 1950s when my Dad was denied the right to eat up until 2018 when Black people are still being denied the right to eat or just plain live our lives.

 

I know that I will probably get some white backlash for bringing up these issues however I really don’t care about white folks opinions.  Any one who reads this blog knows that I’m mostly writing for a Black audience.  As a U.S. Army Veteran I 100% support the Black Sports men and women who take a knee for Democracy.  Double V ~~ Victory in war.  Victory at home!

Also I’m unashamedly and unapologeticly Black first and foremost!

 

 

 

Madison Square Park and the Surrounding Neighborhood

 

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