Thursday, July 03, 2008

A lynching, and a profile.


On the eve of A-merry-ca's birthday I have a couple of things that I would like to get off my chest.



First, I want to talk about the lynching back in 1946 of Roger and Dorothy Malcolm, and George and Mae Murray. According to the AP, "on July 25, 1946, an angry white mob of as many of 30 people dragged the two couples from a car,tied them to trees, and fired three volleys of bullets at them, leaving their bodies slumped behind in the dirt. Dorothy Malcolm was seven months pregnant".


This happened about 45 miles east of Atlanta (the city that's now too busy to hate), and my man Hiroshima Harry Truman was so outraged that he sent the feds to investigate. Of course they got nothing, they were met with a "wall of silence" so they had to shut down their investigation. -- And people think black folks invented the "no snitch" code.--


But not to worry, justice might be served after all these years. Back in 1991 Clinton Adams came forward to say that as a ten year old boy he saw the lynchings unfold from some bushes he was hiding behind. I wonder what took him so long? Well the good Governor of Georgia reopened the case, and now, finally, the frat boy's Justice Department is following up. I say the good Governor of Georgia, because Georgia's governors apparently weren't always so good. Did I mention that the lynchings might have been sanctioned by Georgia's Governor at the time, Eugene Talmadge, to sway rural white voters during a tough election? (Don't even think about it "O" man....) Calm down Obamaholics, I kid.


So anyway, this story is important on the eve of our countries' birthday, because it does show how far we have come as a nation. And even though it was slow in coming, thanks to the tireless work of field Negroes like Bobby Howard, an effort is now on the way to bring some of the perpetrators from Ford Bridge to justice. Over sixty years late, but better late than never I guess. I bet some of those actors are still alive. One thing I learned about racist, is that they sure live a long time. I guess that's god's (if there is one) way of fucking with them. Keep em alive long enough to see black folks get away with shit that they could never have imagined.


So that story gave me some hope for A-merry-ca, even though it started out as such a horrible one.

But then I hear that the FBI and the same Justice Department I just praised, is considering investigating A-merry-cans without evidence, and it just killed my brief joy. Yep, they will be relying instead on terrorist profiles that could single out Muslims, Arabs, or other racial and ethnic groups; like coolie looking Jamaicans (My friend coolie dread from the rock is fucked). I kid you not. Do you believe this shit? "No evidence"! Think about that shit for a minute. Ahh field stop bitching, if you are a law abiding citizen and keeping your nose clean, you have nothing to worry about. I am a law abiding citizen, and I do keep my nose clean, but I happen to talk a lot of shit on my blog, and I wasn't really born here, and ..... well my wife was born in A-merry-ca does that help?


The FBI is launching what they call a "national security investigation".....and just what the fuck does that mean? Well apparently, again, according to the AP, law enforcement officials currently need specific reasons--such as evidence or allegations that a law has been violated--to investigate U.S. citizens and legal residents. Not anymore. The new policy would allow agents to open "preliminary terrorism investigations". ---Again, what the fuck does that mean?--- How do you get "preliminary" terrorism" information? Oh wait, never mind, I found out, all I had to do was read a little more. It seems that they will get this information by "mining public records and intelligence to build a profile of traits that, taken together, would be deemed suspicious." Oh, now I get it, traits. I like to drink sweetened condensed milk with my coffee --I get my cream and my sugar in--does that count as a terrorist trait? I like to go to my mail box in flip flops, is that a terrorist trait? I like...never mind, you get the picture.

Of course Department of Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse (With a name like that I bet he won't be a suspect) said that the guidelines governing when to open an investigation were part of a "harmonizing" process that will not give the FBI anymore authority than it already has. "Harmonizing"?


"Any review and change to the guidelines will reflect our traditional concerns for civil liberties and our traditional investigative emphasis on using the least intrusive means feasible". Yeah right.


Look, I will make a bet with you: How many of you want to bet that the first "suspected" terrorist is arrested before one of the folks who strung up those poor couples at Ford Bridge is ever caught? And if they are dead, even identified.

Any takers? The loser has to buy the winner a brand new lapel flag pin.

29 comments:

Kellybelle said...

The Malcolm/Murray story was truly shocking. I hope the murderers are still alive so justice can be served. I can't take you up on your bet though; they'll round up a bunch of suspected terrorists long before they catch anyone in that mob. Dag.

Hugh O'Donnell said...

Field, call me if you need to make bail. ;)

Whether I agree with you or not, I will defend your right to say your piece. (Paraphrase of something Voltaire never actually said, but reflected his attitude. Attitude being everything!) :)

I'm really hoping the O-Man can put all this paranoid totalitarian stuff to rest.

Anonymous said...

Field:

I wouldn't bet the farm on that. Yes America does have that horrible history and has many examples we have, it never occurs to anyone not to resort to that dark side with in them.

I was in the city on September 11th, and it was a very terrifying day for me. I just came from the World Trade Center by way of path train and walked to work, and 20 minutes later the first plane crashed into the building. When the second plane hit the building, I turned off my computer, picked up my coffee, and tote bag and calmly walked down 24 flights of stairs to get out of the building. A co-worker and me decided to start walking to Penn Station which is about a three mile walk. Half there at East 21st and Park Ave, I tripped and sprang my ankle, but managed to walk to Penn Station and waited for the NJ Transit to resume service which was after 3. I went to the hospital in New Jersey because I thought that the NY hospital had a more important task of caring the more critically injured from the explosion, but that wasn't the case.

I arrived UMDNJ, and a male nurse took care of me. He was Mid-Eastern and that did not bother me at all. Well it didn't bother because I was in pain after walking over 2 miles on a sprang ankle and more importantly, he wasn't responsible for happened at the WTC. He was kind to me and probably the best nurse I have encountered.

I read history and took the advice of a professor who said the problem is that history does not repeat it, we fail to learn from the past. Americans have not learned placing Japanese in camps during WWII, and we forgot about the Scottsboro Boys who were falsely accused of raping two women.

I am currently reading a chapter from the biography Ida B. Wells when went to court because she refuse to leave the ladies car on a train. She paid for a first class trip, but was placed in the colored car where men and women along with white men who smoked and drank. It also mentioned that the Civil Rights of 1875 was deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. It's a great book with a lot of background information. Unfortunately, not enough people pay attention to history because they think it's not relevant but they could not be more wrong.

CoyoteFe said...

"Any review and change to the guidelines will reflect our traditional concerns for civil liberties and our traditional investigative emphasis on using the least intrusive means feasible". Huh? I am surprised he didn't swallow his tongue or get hit by a jet when he said that. I think this is one of those rare times in history when an election will have an irreversible impact of history, and am depressed that it is so.

field negro said...

Wow thanks for sharing that hennasplace, you are even a strongerperson than I thought.

"Field, call me if you need to make bail. ;)"

hugh, I don't think that bail will be an option where they take my black ass.

kellybelle, I am guessing that at least one of the folks who gathered for that lynching party is still alive.

Curious said...

I had heard on a BBC News promo on PBS about a new law giving the government information on each video each user looked at on Youtube this evening, but I didn't stick around for the broadcast. Is this what you are referring to?

Bob said...

First we give em a fair trial then we hang em. I miss William Kunstler. He defended some nasty people in his time, but he did it because he saw too much lynch mob justice in courtrooms. I recommend his old book "The Minister and the Choirgirl," about an unsolved double murder in New Brunswick NJ in the 1920's. He theorized that local authorities were looking everywhere but at the KKK, which had a lot of political pull at the time.

Whitney B. said...

Wooo.........that GA lynching was some shit, eh? I have to agree though, it will take forever, if at all to get that group of thugs.

Field,

I thought for sure you would bring up this topic on the FBI. It's all rather weasel worded, isn't it? The whole thing smells like McCarthy has risen from the dead ): It just won't be people of color who are going to get busted under this ruling.

What a coinkydink that it is occuring now. So, come August and November, we're gonna have some pretty interesting stories popping up. Not to mention that our economy is going to hell and no one seems to care about Iraq anymore.

Happy Hotdog Day everyone (we have no more Independence). Make sure your weiners are size proportional.

Mahndisa S. Rigmaiden said...

07 04 08

Happy Fourth of July FN:
That story about the murders of those folks is fucked up beyond belief. I believe that the KKK was the first documented TERRORIST organization in the country and that racially motivated crimes are tantamount to terrorist acts committed on our soil and those who commit those acts must be punished to the FULLEST extent of the law. The code of silence following those murders shows how easy it is to sway humans towards straight up evil. It is like what happened in Nazi Germany. How could a whole country rally behind a psycopathic madman?!!!

Your post brings out a lot of deep seated emotions for me because one of my uncles was lynched in DeQuincy Louisiana in the early thirties or so. To this day, my Grandfather doesn't know exactly why because the family was so traumatized that only adults were allowed to speak of it.

We have come a long way as a country but if only between fifty and seventy years ago such crimes were sanctioned by local law enforcement, as Public Enemy said: "We can't truss it..." And to relate this story to the previous story, recall that Hyrum Revels, the first black Senator was an AVID gun rights proponent precisely because Blacks needed to protect ourselves against such attacks.

As soon as the government tries to take away the rights of folk to own guns, people are more vulnerable to these types of crimes. And that bothers me.

Have a good day of bbqing and fellowship.
:)

Whitney B. said...

And, another thing, because of my semi-subversive past, I worry every time I travel internationally that they're going to take my passport away. That's just one of many reasons why I want to emigrate to Canada.

During the McCarthy era, my mother's parents were on the suspect list because they had a (gay) friend who was a "commie". These very same grandparents were awarded a medal of some sort, by Truman, for raising the most money (as individuals) for war bonds.

Christopher said...

The Malcolm/Murray story just makes me shutter with anger and I want to scream. This was 1946 -- not 1846 and near a major American city. The fact that Dorothy Malcolm was 7 months pregnant -- I have no words.

As far as the "suspected" terrorist definition, under Bush's so-called USA Patriot Act I and USA Patriot Act II (yeah, Hillary voted for both) if a "suspect" begins to recite any portion of the Constitution in the course of questioning, law enforcement can use this as evidence the "suspect" is a terrorist.

That's right. Know the governing document of your country and the rights it provides makes you a terrorist suspect.

They nearly got away with taking habeas away save for a single vote on the SCOTUS. The Executive branch failed us, the legislative branch failed us, and one, lone vote on the SCOTUS upheld habeas. That's how close we came.

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

Yes we have come a long way but like the earlier comments said this lynching was not the long ago.

Call me crazy but I expect more from the country that wrote the Declaration of Independence (of course several of the Founding Fathers owned slaves but you know what I mean) and likes to think of itself as the "greatest country" in the world.

As the 4th approached and due to some comments left on my blog about expat life, I started to think about why I left America. So far I have no regrets.

I read your post about what the FBI is "considering" and wonder where is the outrage. Why aren't my fellow Americans taking to the streets or something regarding what is going on in our country? Are we too busy watching Midget Mac on VH1? (to be honest I'm a little bummed I won't be able to see that train wreck).

I'm relieved that Bush is almost out but there are some serious issues facing our country and I don't think one man can fix all of them.

Sorry I'm so negative on the 4th.

field negro said...

"I read your post about what the FBI is "considering" and wonder where is the outrage. Why aren't my fellow Americans taking to the streets or something regarding what is going on in our country?"

Because we are soooo "happy". This is, after all, A-merry-ca:)

Yes Christopher, they got away with it, but htey will keep trying.

Mahndisa, I am so sorry to hear about your uncle. Mrs. Field also had a relative who was lynched in Louisiana way back in the day for having a "relationship" with a white woman. And just like your family, her family hates to talk about it as well.

bob, I will check out that book.

curious, I didn't hear about that one. (although I am not suprised). Nothing these folks do surprises me anymore.

Hathor said...

When we were colored, black folks had guns, enough to kill other black folk. (You think they used sling shots to kill their food) The slave psychology of fear prevented any from killing a white man. I get so tired of hearing about what if, in the past, only if black folk had had guns.

We Philadelphians forget that MOVE thought they had a right to form a militia to protect their way of life from government intrusion, they were destroyed along with a whole neighborhood. They had a whole arsenal.

Anonymous said...

Well, Field, I would hope that you are wrong, but I fear that you are dead on as usual.

I'll have to read up on this new pre-counterterrorism thing. To me it sounds like they're using this as a ruse to back to J Edgar Hoover's FBI. Because the boogieman is not communism any more it's terrorism. Just say the word and all your rights just disappear.

Anonymous said...

"to go back to"....jeez.

field negro said...

wine dog, I am afraid you are right. I have a link from the Philadelphia Daily News who did a pretty good story on it.

Oh, and new rules: Please folks do NOT correct yourselves when you f**k up spelling or grammer or any other crap like that. As long as everyone understands what you are saying it's cool. Who cares if your spelling or your grammar is f****d up? Have you read some of my shit lately?:) I can't spell, and I damn sure can't write in a grammatically correct way. (If that's what you want Mrs. Field will have to host the site) We are just a bunch of folks communicating with each other, so it's all good.

Some folks will be turned off (like Mrs. Field, who is a damn grammar police officer) but screw them. :)

Anonymous said...

Not to make you any more paranoid than you already are on this July 4th, but take a moment to read this article in Slate http://www.slate.com/id/2176185/ on National Security Presidential Directive 51 (especially the top secret annexes).

There is some very scary shit going down in this country in the name of fighting terrorists.

Happy Independence Day.

Christopher said...

What a glorious day!

The uber racist, vehemently homophobic former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms has died.

May he rot in hell or wherever the likes of his ilk goes for eternity.

field negro said...

Christopher I am at a que (if given the weather you can call it that)I decide to check on my blog, and to my delight,I see this good bit of news from You. I will go back to tell the rest of the guests now. I am sure that most of them will share my feelings about the newly departed Mr.Helms.

Woozie said...

I always knew white men named Eugene were bad news. This guy, Eugene "Bull" Connor, Eugene the klutz from Hey Arnold!: all bad news.

Anonymous said...

"I read your post about what the FBI is "considering" and wonder where is the outrage. Why aren't my fellow Americans taking to the streets or something regarding what is going on in our country? Are we too busy watching Midget Mac on VH1? (to be honest I'm a little bummed I won't be able to see that train wreck)."

You remember that contract that Kellog Brown got a few years ago to build detention centers (for the immigrants of course ;-)) I suspect they have another use in mind for those facilities, which apparently have been built.

NSangoma said...

~
christopher, christopher, christopher, give olde Jesse a break:

What did Bono tell him?

"Christ only speaks about judgment once and it's not about sex but about how we deal with the poor, and I quoted Matthew, 'I was naked and you clothed me, I was hungry and you fed me.' Jesse got very emotional, and the next day he brought in the reporters and publicly repented about Aids. I explained to him that AIDS was like the leprosy of the New Testament."

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/undergod/2008/07/judgment_and_jesse_helms.html
`

NSangoma said...

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/
onfaith/undergod/2008/07/
judgment_and_jesse_helms.html

`

Anonymous said...

gwpriester said: "Why aren't my fellow Americans taking to the streets or something regarding what is going on in our country? Are we too busy watching Midget Mac on VH1? (to be honest I'm a little bummed I won't be able to see that train wreck)."

Because as one of our brothas here expressed, Bro. Obama is gonna put an end to this "paranoid totaliterian stuff"...NOT! I hate to bust ya'll bubble but Obama aint gonna be no different than Mr. Morton. He's reveal quite openly that he's a conventional politician. And to that end, he's not going to do what he says...but what he's told to do by his puppet masters. Hey, let's be real about this shit, we should have some real...REAL SERIOUS concerns about whats going down in A-merry-kkka. This aint no conspiratorial shit...these mo-fo's are for real and their agenda is set. Think about it for a minute...unaffordable gas and food...mo-fo's losing their homes,...the Dow droppin like a crack whore's draws, and WHEN the Saudi sheiks decide to start selling oil in euros...that's gonna be a complete train-wreck for our already limping economy.

And how you think the gubmint gonna deal with all those hungry (vanishing) middle-class mo-fo's use to shoppin for cheap, made-in-china merchandise and eating high-fat fast food?

Can you kids say "police state"?

Look up H.R. 1955...The Military Commission's Act...H.R. 6304 (i.e., FISA Amend.). George Orwell's 1984 is more like Mother Goose compared to the shit our ELECTED government officials are planning for our dumbasses.

FN, yeah boy...we've come a long way...HA!, I think ya know betta.

Walk in peace, but protect ya neck.

field negro said...

"the Dow droppin like a crack whore's draws,..."

Now that's a classic line! :)

Anon 9:10PM, I feel ya, and the worse off times get, the more totalitarian our govt. is going to become.

Shishi said...

i wish id known the whole Murray story

blksista said...

Ms Diva and all:

First, read the book:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1174520

Second, News Feed articles here:

http://newsfeedresearcher.com/data/articles_n27/idn2008.07.03.00.18.26.html

Christopher, there was a suggestion that the baby one of the women was carrying was actually fathered by one of the lynchers or by the white man who was driving them from jail; some thought that the women had taken part in the murder of a white man.

When I was in Atlanta in 2002, I went to an exhibition (if you can call it that) on lynching coming out of Philip Dray's book At the Hands of Persons Unknown. There was a documentary shown, too. It was at the Carter Center, no joke.

There were pictures of people from around the country during the lynching era; mostly black men, but also including women and whites, who had been lynched. They had been photographed in their rigor mortis. Some of the photos had come from private citizens' attics and closets and files, from kept postcards, and from newspapers.

Understand that people also took 'souvenirs' off people's bodies. Meaning that for years, people have come across in the belongings of loved ones, the shrunken and desiccated remains of penises, ears, noses, lips and even breasts of people who had been lynched. In the aftermath of one particularly grisly lynching, that of Sam Hose, his knees and legs were exhibited in a white butcher's shop store window.

I'm so glad I saw this in the day time, like when I first saw Platoon. You can't convince me to live in the South any more, even though I come from there.

Anonymous said...

I guess i would be invisible in a hard-copy knowledge quest (in a library), but what can happen to me if I'm looking up stuff on the web?
What about that weird virus I got that opened an endless cascade of popups every time I opened my browser? Am I responsible for all that?
No question about the synchronicity of this new investigatory technique/policy and freedom from civil action given to internet providers.
I suppose eventually there will be algorithms written to search for each category of crime. We could start locking people up based on their statistical probability of committing a future crime.