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

Memorial Day

Memorial Day in America is a day set aside to Honor Veterans who have passed away and especially those who were killed in battle. So I dedicate this poem and verse to my Dad Edward Gordon Palmer, (Feb. 11, 1930 – May 13th, 1995) Rest in Peace Daddy. Living Veterans including myself get their special day on November 11th which we in the United States call Veterans Day.

Who Knows My Story or My Song

America You Know Not My Story Nor My Song.

Black, African, Native American, Asian, Hispanic.

We wore OD Green, camouflage, Dress Greens.

Now I wear a different uniform.

Once you saluted and proudly hailed my years of service with snarky sweet platitudes.

Now you curse and revile me. A Woman. A Man. Those Who proudly served Our Country have become less than the grass and dirt under our feet but remember it was we who cultivated your Land. The Land to which we shall all return. The Land We call America.

When?! When America will you see that Brown face as you sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, mothers & fathers.

I Love You America though you still don’t Love me. I Love you so much that even without the strength of my youth I would gladly serve you again for my ancestral bonds run deep within your soil.

Though you try you can never eliminate me or others like me for we are the fabric of human society. Creators of multiple galaxies and universes. We shall Live Forever.

Double V for Victory

Back in World War II Black soldiers fought for Double Victory. Victory overseas and Victory over discrimination and racism at home. As you well know African Americans have proudly served our country during all its conflicts despite never getting any recognition and returning to a country that despised us.

My Dad Edward G. Palmer served during the Korean War. Fortunately he did not go to Korea otherwise I would not be here today but Dad in his own way fought for Victory back home. I still remember my parents quietly talking at night about lynchings, the KKK and the murders of Civil Rights Workers. I was supposed to be asleep but I silently left my room to find out what they were discussing.

Dad hoped that my generation would have it better. There was some change thanks to the Civil Rights movement but even today Victory at Home is an elusive concept for Black Americans.

Just the fact that a few days ago some of us had a discussion on how we have to protect our developmentally disabled sons and brothers from being shot by the police speaks to that.

Some were killed in the various wars. However some died fighting for Victory here at home. A level playing ground eludes us. Every day racism and for women sexism and ageism will and has killed more of us than any war on foreign soil. I’m in that latter group.

As my Dad used to say, “The more things change. The more they stay the same.