Mitt, I thank you in advance.
Anyway, I remember my parents telling me stories about when they were young college students in these divided states of America. They would often have to drive down South and the accommodations for people of color was not exactly what it is today.
Recently I stumbled on an article from The Root about a book that was written back in the day to help the "Negro motorist" navigate Jim Crow America while driving. My parents didn't have the "The Negro Motorist Green Book", but somehow they managed.
"In 1936 a Harlem postal worker and activist named Victor H. Green decided to develop a guide that would help African Americans travel throughout the country in a safe and comfortable manner. The Negro Motorist Green Book (also called The Negro Travelers' Green Book), often simply known as The Green Book, identified places that welcomed black people during an era when Jim Crow laws and de facto segregation made it difficult for them to travel domestically without fear of racial backlash.
The Green Book listed businesses and places of interest such as nightclubs, beauty salons, barbershops, gas stations and garages that catered to black road-trippers. For almost three decades, travelers could request (for just 10 cents' postage) and receive a guide from Green. Eventually the guide expanded to encompass information about Canada and Mexico.
Like users of today's popular recommendation sites such as TripAdvisor, travelers collected information during their journeys, which they shared with Green and his team of editors. The data were then incorporated into future editions. "Historically, The Green Book falls in line with the underreported activism of black postal workers and the heightened awareness of driving while black in certain regions of the country," says Robert Smith, associate professor of African-American and civil rights history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. "Although many think of this book in historical terms, the challenges facing black travelers then resonate with black travelers now, particularly as it relates to racial profiling and stop-and-frisk laws."
If there are any of you Negroes out there reading this with an entrepreneurial spirit, you might want to consider developing a similar book for the modern day Negro traveler. Jim Crow is now illegal so the challenge is to teach Negroes their legal rights as it relates to things such as racial profiling on our highways. Also, you might want to include a chapter on just how to behave when stopped in order to keep your ass out of a Rodney King type situation.
The following is from a person calling themselves Willski who left a comment under the original post:
"We need to be real in this day and time. Several years ago my niece her two sons and her mom were traveling cross country. My niece was traveling from California to North Carolina to start her new job. They stopped in Texas to purchase some food at a local eatery. When a Godly white couple approached them and informed them to fill their car up with gas at this stop, and do not stop in certain portions of Texas in that they not friendly toward African Americans. My niece was grateful to the couple. I myself traveled from California to Michigan to see family. I took the I-80 route from Reno Nevada on. Every thing wen well until I got to Iowa. I stopped a gas station road side to purchase some sodas and water. When I went in the establishment I was meet with a tumultuous greeting as to "What Do you Want." I said it not worth it - to come down to level of these individuals. I simply left the place never to return again. Just recently I was traveling to the Monterey bay area from the greater Sacramento/Stockton area when I came up a little town on the way to purchase from a subway sandwich shop and I was meet with that same old garbage what are you doing here. This time it was more unspoken of than spoken. I am 62 years old and I have seen racist garbage from the elite to the lower social economic class. I still hurts. I have a thick skin but I hate to see my love ones exposed to it. African Americans still need to cautious. America can still be a dangerous place for blacks traveling it. I still stock up on food, water, sodas, and gas. Take Care My brother & Sisters......"
Well Willski, I am not as cautious as you-----or I am sure my parents were back in the day, but I always make sure that the hotel room door is locked, and I never go more than 15 miles over the speed limit on the highway.
31 comments:
As a young man, I once traveled from Detroit to Chicago with a young, mixed race married couple. This was a relatively short trip, but we stopped in a small town in Michigan for lunch. When we walked into a cafe all heads turned. The young woman, who was white, like myself, took my arm and whispered, "Just play along until we can get out of here". She proceeded to sit next to me, hold my arm and ignore her husband until our food came. He was humiliated and angry but he agreed that she had done the best thing for our safety. That was in about 1978. Not all that long ago.
Back in 1983 when I, a white man, was dating a black woman, we walked into a bar in one of Bridgeport's black neighborhoods.
Heads turned, and I realized I was the only white in the room. We sat at a table, but the waitress never bothered coming over, so I went to the bar and ordered a couple of drinks.
We were looked at. Heads kept turning, but the music was okay and despite the simmering hostility, we stayed around for a couple of drinks, and then went back to my place for some strenuous sex.
Everyone who writes about these situations fills in the scenes with their own fears. Bartenders, waitresses and clerks with sour attitudes mean almost nothing.
Times have changed. Now people can't avoid the darker side of towns so easily, in that case get the avoid the ghetto application for your Iphone it's great. It just lists areas of high crime to avoid. Funny enough they all have MLK boulevard in them, go figure.
Hey Field,
I think I can get you Mitt's tax returns, just let me know what you are going to do with them?
Do you understand tax code? If I can get them will you break it down for us?
My Godfather, a black Trinidadi immigrant, and his wife, a white Englishwoman, had the devil of a time traveling by car in Ameriklan in the 50s and 60s. They were routinely refused gasoline, food service, sleeping accommodations, etc, North, South, East & West.
Field, it's depressing to be Black in America. Everywhere you go, the chances of not being welcome are 60% or greater, depending on 'where' you stop.
As a depressed Negro, let me advise Negroes NOT to stop in small Southern towns, esp in Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, or Georgia. You could end up on a pea farm, or worse even dead.
At the very least, you and your love ones will be humiliated. That's what makes us so depressed and filled with PSTD. Our dignity and value as a human being gets pissed on by sick minded hate filled Whites, and in 'some' cases, even Blacks.
America has an unhealthy environment for Blacks. We must always stay on hyper-alert lest we could lose not only our own lives but the lives of our children.
It's a sad state of racial affairs for AAs in America. And Obama has not said a word about it. He is, IMO, the weakest and most uncaring President in American history toward Blacks.
I for one will not vote for him. His Administration has been totally non-responsive toward Blacks. As far as I am concerned the WH has been "GUTLESS AND APATHETIC" toward the entire black race....And he has a 31/2 year track record to prove it!
At least Romney talks to us and is "willing" to try. Hell, Obama still has yet to show up to talk to us. I hope a lot of our peeps won't vote for him. Obama is not to be trusted, and he has proven it.
Whitey's Conspiracy said...
My Godfather, a black Trinidadi immigrant, and his wife, a white Englishwoman, had the devil of a time traveling by car in Ameriklan in the 50s and 60s. They were routinely refused gasoline, food service, sleeping accommodations, etc, North, South, East & West.
Ah the good ole days, before miscegenation dumbed down so many.
Seriously those democratic Klan Members were sure brutal. I hope Robert Byrd is frying right now.
Seriously those democratic Klan Members were sure brutal. I hope Robert Byrd is frying right now.
12:33 AM
>>>>>>>>>>>
Why select Robert Byrd when there are far worst racists? Byrd apologized again and again for his racism, which he acknowledged was wrong. How many racists do you know admit their racism, then try to make amends for it? Let me answer that for you: NONE!
I admire a man like Byrd because he did. I don't admire others who don't. We live in a country where racism impacts nearly everyone of us. However, VERY FEW acknowledge it whether Black or White.
@ Anon 1:10 AM
Well said.
M. Garvey
"Do you understand tax code? If I can get them will you break it down for us?"
No, but I have a very good accountant who will. ;)
"Everyone who writes about these situations fills in the scenes with their own fears. Bartenders, waitresses and clerks with sour attitudes mean almost nothing."
Let me guess, you are a member of the majority population.
"I admire a man like Byrd because he did. I don't admire others who don't. We live in a country where racism impacts nearly everyone of us. However, VERY FEW acknowledge it whether Black or White."
Co-sign with M. Garvey.
Anonymous said...
Seriously those democratic Klan Members were sure brutal. I hope Robert Byrd is frying right now.
12:33 AM
>>>>>>>>>>>
Why select Robert Byrd when there are far worst racists? Byrd apologized again and again for his racism, which he acknowledged was wrong. How many racists do you know admit their racism, then try to make amends for it? Let me answer that for you: NONE!
I admire a man like Byrd because he did. I don't admire others who don't. We live in a country where racism impacts nearly everyone of us. However, VERY FEW acknowledge it whether Black or White.
You must be a liberal, eternally defending the indefensible. Of course you admire a racist like Byrd, it shows. Of course he apologized and being a Liberal you are convinced that "Democrat good - even a racist Democrat - "he said sorry" But Conservatives are racist. So he turned good by apologizing and being a Democrat:
I guess he apologized for being an Exhalted Cyclops of the Klan and saying
"Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds"
Or
Writes a letter that the Klan is needed “like never before” and declares that he is “anxious to see its rebirth.”
Was he sorry 1964 when he tried to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as many liberals did? Did he say he was against civil rights because of property rights issues or did he Cite a racist study claiming that black people’s brains are statistically smaller than white people’s?
Was he sorry in 1968 for telling the FBI that it’s time that Martin Luther King, Jr., “met his Waterloo.”?
And was he sorry in 2001 when he refers to what he called “white niggers” on national television.
I am sure you do admire him, for being able to convince you he was a "good" democrat. I also have a hunch you are the type who hears "dog whistles" when hunting for imagined slights or racism - interesting.
Pity, maybe he had a point about some people having small brains.
If I offend you with the truth - Sorry...it's all good now.
They have hotels with doors that don't automatically lack when closed? Do they charge by the hour?
85% of all hate crimes are committed by negroes.most of the murders are committed by negroes.negroes attack whites every day.the only time a white person kills a negro is to defend their life from negro criminals like trayvon martin.so who is the real racist in america?if you don't like america you can leave and go to any negro run counter of your choice but you can't take your well fare check with you.lazy,stupid,violent your name is field negro.
"Also, you might want to include a chapter on just how to behave when stopped in order to keep your ass out of a Rodney King type situation."
If you have to tell folk it's a bad idea to get drunk, do a shitload of PCP, lead police on an hour long high speed chase, then resist arrest, there is no hope for them.
field negro said...
"Do you understand tax code? If I can get them will you break it down for us?"
No, but I have a very good accountant who will. ;)
OK Field, I'll get started on getting you those tax returns although we all know the only reason why is to try and paint a story that a successful man is evil, after all he made money and your broke so he must have been evil right?
Oh, one thing though, before I persue that all the way, I fully agree with you that every American should "pay their fair share" could you do me a favor and check into Obama and 36 of his staffers who aren't paying anything at all. 36 of them owe a Combined $833K In Back Taxes…
I know this is embarrassing for Obama , whose major speech theme so far this campaign season has been that every single American, no matter how rich, should pay their “fair share” of taxes.
Because how unfair — indeed, un-American — it is for an office worker like, say, Warren Buffet’s secretary to dutifully pay her taxes, while some well-to-do people with better educations and higher incomes end up paying a much smaller tax rate.
Or, worse, skipping their taxes altogether.
It would be obviously horrible for those well paid people working for Mr Fair share in the executive office to owe the country $833,970 in back taxes and haven’t paid any share, let alone their fair share.
Please keep me up to speed on your progress and once they have paid their fair share then we can leverage Mitt's returns for Democratic victimization purposes.
In fact while you are at it you might want to look at all the government workers who "owe" back taxes, it's a small number in view of Obamas spending deficits 3.4 billion.
Funny they can't be fired for not paying their fair share or don't have wages garnished or assets seized like us normal folk who actually PAY their salary.
The tax offenders include employees of the U.S. Senate who help write the laws imposed on everyone else. They owe $2.1 million. Workers in the House of Representatives owe $8.5 million, Department of Education employees owe $4.3 million and over at Homeland Security, 4,697 workers owe about $37 million. Active duty military members owe more than $100 million.
The Treasury Department, where Obama nominee Tim Geithner had to pay up $42,000 in his own back taxes before being confirmed as secretary, has 1,181 other employees with delinquent taxes totaling $9.3 million.
As usual, the Postal Service, with more than 600,000 workers, has the most offenders (25,640), who also owe the most -- almost $270 million. Veterans Affairs has 11,659 workers owing the IRS $151 million while the Energy Department that was so quick to dish out more than $500 million to the Solyndra folks has 322 employees owing $5 million.
The country's chief law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice, has 2,069 employees who are nearly $17 million behind in taxes. Like Operation Fast and Furious, Attorney General Eric Holder has apparently missed them too.
Please update me as you see fit on your progress in collecting from these government tax cheats.
http://news.investors.com/article/599002/201201260818/obama-white-house-staff-back-taxes.htm?tw_p=twt
I would like to start this post by asking Mitt Romney to release all of his tax returns. It's important for our election process and democracy here in America
Funny that you never exhibited any curiousity about Obama's financial dealings with Tony Rezko, or how he could afford that mansion he bought in Chicago, or how he financed his Ivy-League education, or what his grades were like, or if he really wrote his autobiography himself, or how he got all of his political opponents in Illinois disqualified, or why Michelle got a 200% raise after he was elected Senator, or what citizenship he listed on his application to Occidental College, or where all those foreign campaign contributions came from, or how much stimulus money he steered toward his biggest bundlers, or why he has more than one social security number, or what passport did he use to go to Pakistan in the early 80's, or even why can't we see a photocopy of his actual paper birth certificate?
Why would you demand to know everything about Romney, when you have no problem with the fact that we have a sitting President about whom we know next to nothing?
If, instead of passing along the latest Media Matters agitprop, you actually thought for yourself and cared about the truth, wouldn't your blog be infinitely more valuable?
As a lapdog to the democrat party, you are the ultimate House Negro.
@9:22 A.M. Liberals arguing against the civil rights legislation is kind of an oxyMORON (insert your name next to moron) wouldn't you think? The trouble with you ignorant bigots is that you have no ability to reason or think logically. As long as the info fits your agenda you buy it, no matter how ridiculous. You obviously have no clue about the history of either party or the Southern Strategy or the Dixiecrats.
@11:05. You are the epitome of idiocy. If you have an ounce of logic in your pea brain, please ask yourself ...if the Rezko lie (promoted by Fox News) were true why was it necessary to use a 3rd party (Rev Wright) or an irrelevant, inate object (birth certificate) to attack Obama. It's amazing how many gullible idiots lack critical thinking skills. If it weren't for you and others like you, your racist party would have folded long ago.
Right on Anon@12:56.
These people make up their own history.
Anonymous said...
@11:05. You are the epitome of idiocy. If you have an ounce of logic in your pea brain, please ask yourself ...if the Rezko lie (promoted by Fox News) were true why was it necessary to use a 3rd party (Rev Wright) or an irrelevant, inate object (birth certificate) to attack Obama. It's amazing how many gullible idiots lack critical thinking skills. If it weren't for you and others like you, your racist party would have folded long ago.
You have to be a liberal. Wright wasn't used to attack Obama. McCain Backed off but in either case they are both true, in your world if someone is arrested for murder if they kill again are they not guilty of anything? Can you think?
Rezko is true, rezko is a fact, rezko happened there is evidence. MSM doesn't investigate anything involving Obama. If they reported the truth...
Field, I can remember as a young adolescent in the early 60's traveling with my family from upstate NY to the south and the limitations we encountered.
The packed lunches were wonderful and the ice chest with sodas got us through, however, I do remember those roadside stops and the men disappearing in the woods. There were also a few black churches and homes that were open to us as well. I called a great aunt and inquired about this and she said that it was "a grapevine kind of thing". Word travels and when you were planning a trip south or west; you were told where and what to avoid and those places that you could feel comfortable patronizing.
In this day and age, we as a family will only frequent well known chains for our gas, food, lodging and pit stops. There are many communities in this land of the free and brave that are still surviving in a time warp.
Anonymous said...
@9:22 A.M. Liberals arguing against the civil rights legislation is kind of an oxyMORON (insert your name next to moron) wouldn't you think? The trouble with you ignorant bigots is that you have no ability to reason or think logically. As long as the info fits your agenda you buy it, no matter how ridiculous. You obviously have no clue about the history of either party or the Southern Strategy or the Dixiecrats.
Jesus, no wonder why the economy has tanked under the majority of liberal rule since 2004.
No a true Oxymoron would be something like liberal intelligence - two words together that dont make sense.
Do you understand what the words mean that you use?
Ignorant? - Lacking of knowledge, believes myths and typically superstitious.
Bigot - Is convinced that he and only he knows it all is right and has the right point of view (typically a mentally deficient individual)
You like that dixiecrat story? So do your liberal masters who control and keep the Black race, poor, dumb uniformed and suicidal, why else would you continue to sacrifice for a party that gave you nothing but crumbs and literally enslaved you. What was it a famous liberal once said?
“I’ll have those niggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years.”
- Lyndon B. Johnson
And you are, despite living proof of what these policies do to the black community. Why is it with Obama and liberals in charge black unemployment is the higest in this country ever? You can't get a job if you are black teen, but don't worry you fool, there are a lot of latinos now who are and will continue to displace the angry, self indulgent entitled democrat like you. Obama made sure of that by issuing work permits...keep cheering on your oppressors. But don't expect the people you have openly hated to open their palms to you again once it all falls down.
Why were blacks not welcome in white establishments? Did it have anything to do with the fact they were known for being violent and dishonest?
I think our present day experience with black crime and violence against whites is a strong indicator why Jim Crow was established. I used to think it was just plain awful how black folks were treated, and of course it was, but in retrospect much of it can be justified by the behavior of blacks.
Freedom has failed.
The point is that it is the height of hypocrosy to demand Romney bare all the details of his life while Obama has never had the merest bit of scrutiny directed at his life story.
The only 'source' ever cited about Obama's past was his own autobiography, which of course was highly fictionalized.
If Obama's actions received half the attention of any Republican candidate, he'd be run out of town on a rail.
The Obama administration has missed another annual budget deadline, failing to send Congress a mid-session budget review before July 16.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) confirmed Monday that the deadline for the review, due every year on that date, was not met this year.
“There will be a mid-session review and timing is still being determined,” spokeswoman Moira Mack said.
This in conjunction with the democratic senate not having passed a budget since Obama took office.
What a lousy president, so we are falling into the abyss, so our credit rating has been downgraded, so we borrow, borrow, borrow, and invite the world to come live here off of taxpayers. He will not stop spending or budget or even be somewhat modest, he will just raise taxes.
And he will blame others...
Field said,:
"and I never go more than 15 miles over the speed limit on the highway."
Where I come from, you go 15 miles over the speed limit, you might as well put a flashing sign on your car saying, "Hey! I DARE you dumb cops to pull me over!" They'll cut you some slack 5 miles over the limit, but that's it.
Once they do, you can whine all you want that it was "racial profiling" that got you pulled over.
Well Field, just as I mentioned before, the whites here just "love" US black folk, because they sure do hang around Field's Place. Anywho....I haven't found a utopian state in America yet, where it's safe to drive off the beaten path, and I'm a Texan. From D.C. to L.A., I've encountered some crazy stuff. Don't get me wrong, I don't apologize for Redneck Texans, or any other southerner, but I sure do get tired of Up South Northern Blacks defending their territories. Let's be honest...racism is Alive and Well in your home state. Let's ALL write a Guide for Safe Travelling. ;)
Well Field, just as I mentioned before, the whites here just "love" US black folk,
because they sure do hang around Field's Place."
*laughing at that*
As for the Northern racist, yes we have a lot of them above the Mason- -Dixie Line.
"What a lousy president, so we are falling into the abyss, so our credit rating has been downgraded, so we borrow, borrow, borrow, and invite the world to come live here off of taxpayers. He will not stop spending or budget or even be somewhat modest, he will just raise taxes."
Blah blah blah. Just pay your taxes and stop whining, and tell your boy to show his returns.
"Freedom has failed."
You better hope not.
New to this blog. Very informative.
Reading the comments section can be a beating, however. What's with the "Anonymous" character?
I'm a Black female who travels frequently throughout the Southwest, South, and Midwest. I had many pleasant experiences. I also experienced locals in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Illinois warning me to not stop in certain towns because their neighbors were crazy. I was told to drive through two towns over until I reached the next big town to stop. Some of the were quite frantic about it. I gathered that some of the concern was meth lab related, and also racial fear for me, and fear for me being a single female traveling alone. I heeded the advice each time. I whispered words of prayer along the way. With the help of the angels of all colors who assisted me, I made it to my final destination safely.
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