Seeing the exhibits and watching the videos nearly brought me to tears. Also knowing inside that not very much has changed in this country for Black Americans yet we persevere.
Tarabu Betserai Kirkland at home in Los Angeles with his mother, Mamie Lang Kirkland, 109, who fled Mississippi at age seven. 2017. (Photo: Kris Graves for the Equal Justice Initiative)
My Grandfather William Junius Palmer with some of his children at Mt. Morris Park aka Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. Photo taken in the 1920s. My Grandfather left Virginia as a young man. He was part of what is known as The Great Migration. Lynchings were the major catalyst to caused Black Americans to be refugees in their own country. My Dad told me that my Grandfather never discussed his youth or his past.
My Grandfather’s Silence speaks volumes to me over the years.
What sort of music was played in your house when you were growing up? What effect, (if any) did it have on your musical tastes?
Will There be Lindy Hopping in Heaven?
Silently. Quietly. Watching the records drop down, spin and play on the Victrola my mother Mable Palmer pondered many things. Things she kept close to her in a broken and torn heart. Blame. Hurt. Guilt.
Toni Braxton’s Lessons In Autism: “I Thought It Was Something I Had Done”
Big Bands blasting out hits from times gone by. Long past. Sometimes happy and carefree. Sometimes the reality of Jim Crow, lynchings, separate but equal……
Sam Cooke. The Temptations. The Four Tops.
Sam Cooke — Change Gon’ Come
Civil Rights Movement. Malcolm X. Dr. Martin Luther King. Two Kennedys shot down.
Suddenly a Savior. Tall lanky Black Man from New York. Husband material. First met. Wilberforce AFB. The Bells rang at Carillon Park. Dayton Woman. Harlem man. Suave. Sophisticate. New Life. Bright Lights. Big City. The Bronx. Baseball Yankees. Baby Girl. Two years pass. Baby boy joy. Need more space. Queens move. Something’s wrong. Something’s not right with our Prince. Two years old and still no voice. Doctors. No answers. Whispers. Not so secret. What did she do wrong? Was it the tea she drank during her pregnancy? What did she do to make him “that way.”
Untold suffering. Lord I Love my child. Why is he this way? Why does he scream nonstop? Why does everyone blame me? Sorrow. Pain. Agony. Doing my best.
Years pass. Mother ~~ A broken sparrow fallen to the ground. But my son. He shines. My daughter a Redeemer arisen. My children. My joy. Now go I to my eternal rest. My Angels shall live on after me. For now there is Lindy Hopping in Heaven.
Mable Elizabeth Palmer
May 2, 1930 to August 2, 1998
See you one day once again Mommy. We Love You!!
Sam Cooke & Soul Stirrers – The Last Mile Of The Way
Astonished, Bewildered, Disgusted and with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach were they emotions that unsettled me when I first heard the Not Guilty verdict in the Trayvon Martin case. I could not believe that the Jury had found George Zimmerman Not Guilty. Did these 6 women some of whom must have children, grandchildren or nieces and nephews not see the tears and hear the wails of Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin. Were they all deaf, dumb and blind?
Surely it was a mistake. I had reserved comment and judgment on the case because I truly believed with all the evidence against him George Zimmerman would be on his way to prison. Not so. Once again in our Criminal Injustice System the dead victim was on trial and he lost. Racial profiling, racial stereotypes, bias, bigotry, prejudice and racism win again and another family is left in sorrow and grief.
Two Lynchings nearly 60 years apart but same outcome. Two innocent young men lost their lives over bias, prejudice, stereotypes, perception, bigotry racism. Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi on August 24, 1955 when he reportedly flirted with a white cashier at a grocery store. Four days later, two white men kidnapped Till, beat him, and shot him in the head. The men were tried for murder, but an all-white, male jury acquitted them. Till’s murder and open casket funeral galvanized the emerging civil rights movement.
When will the insanity end?
Bastille Day. Frances Independence Day when the poor and disenfranchised rose up against the elites and the monarchy. How sad that today also signals no justice for Trayvon Martin or his family. My Heart and Prayers go out to his parents and siblings. The ugly face of Jim Crow once thought vanquished has returned to rear it’s ugly head and laugh in our modern liberal faces.
Some ask what of the Kenneth Chamberlain case as well as Eleanor Bumpers, Amadou Diallo, and Sean Bell. As in the case of Emmett Till there were maybe Black men lynched who names are now lost to history. Maybe the Trayvon Martin case like the case of Emmett was more highlighted because Trayvon and Emmett were children. They never got to live their lives. They never had the opportunity to attend college, get hat first job, get married or have children of their own. Maybe as the Emmett Till case was a lightening rod for the nascent Civil Rights Movement so will the Trayvon Martin case be a reminder not just to Black people but all Americans that someone with no authority or even the right can decide in a moments notice whether you or your loved ones should live or die.
I do not put myself in the position to say one murder is more important or more significant than another. All were human beings. All deserved to live, however this case is a watershed to bring all Americans with good sense together to fight back. The bias and bigotry is so thick and ingrained that the jury could acquit this murderer even with all the evidence against him. This rent-a-cop who was told to stop following the boy. He disobeyed and created an incident that resulted in this boy’s death.
For one moment put yourself in his parents shoes. How do you think they feel. As soon as Zimmerman continued to follow this boy that in and of itself was premeditated murder. Certain people cite the Stand your Ground laws as a precedent. Well Nazi Germany had laws too. Hitler made all types of laws, rules and regulations that resulted in the deaths of 12 million people, Jews, developmentally disabled, physically disabled, gays, etc… President Andrew Jackson made a law that not only displaced thousands of Native Americans on the Trail of Tears but many Native Americans died on their long march. Laws, rules, regulations, statutes made by made by evil men cannot be allowed to stand the test of time or as an excuse to allow murderers like Zimmerman to go free inciting other racist nuts to follow in his wicked footsteps.
Genesis 4 The Mark of Cain After Cain slew his brother Abel, YEHOVAH God set a “mark” on him, and sent him to the land of wandering.
Zimmerman bears the Mark of Cain. He will find no peace or rest on this world or in the next. Trayvon Martin’s innocent blood cries out for Justice. Cain’s mark protected him from vengeance. Zimmerman’s mark dooms him to wander trying to escape the Justice he so richly deserves. If he is not convicted in a Civil Rights case he will be forced into hiding. There is a price on his head. He will never be able to find a job anywhere, he will always have to watch his back & even Edward Snowden has a better chance of amnesty or asylum than George Zimmerman. Yes he may smile and grin now but the life he has created for himself through his evil is not a life anybody would want to live. Soon the Devil will come to collect his soul. Zimmerman is damned for now and eternity. We won’t let Trayvon Martin’s death be in vain.
A Murderer has escaped Justice. Help Get Justice for Trayvon Martin
Tarabu Betserai Kirkland at home in Los Angeles with his mother, Mamie Lang Kirkland, 109, who fled Mississippi at age seven. 2017. (Photo: Kris Graves for the Equal Justice Initiative)
Dindga McCannon (American, born 1947). Revolutionary Sister, 1971. Mixed media construction on wood
Espiritu en Fuego/A Fiery Spirit 