BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//InvisionCommunity Events 5.0.18//EN METHOD:PUBLISH CALSCALE:GREGORIAN REFRESH-INTERVAL:PT15M X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT15M X-WR-CALNAME:RMCommunityCalendar NAME:RMCommunityCalendar BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:https://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20260329T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20261025T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:https://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20250330T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20251026T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:https://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20240331T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20241027T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London TZURL:https://tzurl.org/zoneinfo/Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST DTSTART:20210328T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=3;BYDAY=-1SU END:DAYLIGHT BEGIN:STANDARD TZOFFSETFROM:+0100 TZOFFSETTO:+0000 TZNAME:GMT DTSTART:20211031T020000Z RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;BYMONTH=10;BYDAY=-1SU END:STANDARD END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Art Comments 05142026 DTSTAMP:20260515T033216Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:734-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:PRIOR ENTRYhttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/723-art-comment s-04272026/NEXT ENTRY ?COMMENT URLhttps://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1 322949419/5284206221@leothefox be careful with your posture\, do you stret ch every morning? if you don't consider that to help@scheinbar Danke für die Reflexion. Was befindet sich auf der anderen Straßenseite? thank you for the reflection\, what is on the other side of street?@intao i never he ard of a hipstamatic camera before? what was the focal length+ aperture of the camera at the time of the photo \"Morning Eye\"?@KABANOMORI what kind of digital image is ghost? you said references had the deers leg backward s\, I don't comprehend. It looks lovely.@MozaGrin it looks like from the o cuulus on a door\, nice\, whose is looking at the pair? don't tlel me\, a cat? haha@darkroots77 I feel great swamp thing vibes with this@300ChickenN uggets what video game is leonard in?<\;div class=\"scroll-container\" s tyle=\"background-color: #333\;overflow: auto\;white-space: nowrap\;paddin g: 10px\;\">\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\"https:/ /www.deviantart.com/leothefox/art/Dread-Deadline-62SixtyTwo-01-1304549113\ " target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8 87773594c2.wixmp.com/f/2e2f9a87-d578-4aa6-870c-f0577343f003/dlkp0jd-66b707 42-7b25-4ece-99f5-abfcdcde15f6.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_760\,q_70\,strp/dread_d eadline_62sixtytwo_01_by_leothefox_dlkp0jd-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1Qi LCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxN WVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZ lMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NzYwIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mLzJlMmY5YTg3LWQ1NzgtN GFhNi04NzBjLWYwNTc3MzQzZjAwMy9kbGtwMGpkLTY2YjcwNzQyLTdiMjUtNGVjZS05OWY1LWF iZmNkY2RlMTVmNi5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZ TppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.H-K3kNc6OXayuIznDuNJQW5IRamCnrxXaPaC07LZdsQ\" height=\"178\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\ "https://www.deviantart.com/scheinbar/art/hinter-Gittern-eine-Welt-1304240 184\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c 4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/f63bb963-920c-4b0d-8dd7-10e8dd91b5ee/dlkie60-0d e51f02-92ee-4e56-b8e2-765242b3883a.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_800\,q_70\,strp/hin ter_gittern_eine_welt_by_scheinbar_dlkie60-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1Qi LCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxN WVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZ lMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9ODAwIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mL2Y2M2JiOTYzLTkyMGMtN GIwZC04ZGQ3LTEwZThkZDkxYjVlZS9kbGtpZTYwLTBkZTUxZjAyLTkyZWUtNGU1Ni1iOGUyLTc 2NTI0MmIzODgzYS5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9ODAwIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlO mltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.Mp13YPF5p4Wo8YejvEkkiTCu3hjNWcAYLRznUaFaqZ0\" h eight=\"300\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\" https://www.deviantart.com/intao/art/Morning-Eye-1267892030\" target=\"_bl ank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wix mp.com/f/12724aed-ffca-4617-ba0b-00fb2052a3bc/dkyvbr2-f58fd88c-1de8-40d8-b 056-421e771332b0.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/morning_eye_by_intao_ dkyvbr2-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm 46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3 ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MT QyOCIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi8xMjcyNGFlZC1mZmNhLTQ2MTctYmEwYi0wMGZiMjA1MmEzYmMvZGt5 dmJyMi1mNThmZDg4Yy0xZGU4LTQwZDgtYjA1Ni00MjFlNzcxMzMyYjAuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOi I8PTExNDkifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.xfpyR F4P1K4oEHLhY_KmY56hGF9fTcMO6Yj_S9plIEk\" height=\"373\" width=\"300\">\; <\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/kaban omori/art/Ghost-1314667608\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https:// images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/9eb3c97a-0145-432a-b7d1- 8a6c99765506/dlqpw0o-208417e8-8c04-45cd-a684-321cb62035a1.png/v1/fit/w_300 \,h_900\,q_70\,strp/ghost_by_kabanomori_dlqpw0o-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJ KV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYw ZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYT BkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTAwMCIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi85ZWIzYzk3YS0w MTQ1LTQzMmEtYjdkMS04YTZjOTk3NjU1MDYvZGxxcHcwby0yMDg0MTdlOC04YzA0LTQ1Y2QtYT Y4NC0zMjFjYjYyMDM1YTEucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTc1MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2Vy dmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.7fM-JfFvDKEPXjxsD2n_aR56xftcG7TU4uxSqPXTJ as\" height=\"400\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a h ref=\"https://www.deviantart.com/mozagrin/art/Dogs-1314657192\" target=\"_ blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.w ixmp.com/f/bcc36fbc-c242-41d0-af2a-c58379190dfe/dlqpnzc-64d71624-9042-460d -b2dc-c4878f4d8284.png/v1/fit/w_300\,h_611\,q_70\,strp/dogs_by_mozagrin_dl qpnzc-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46 YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZT BkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NjEx IiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mL2JjYzM2ZmJjLWMyNDItNDFkMC1hZjJhLWM1ODM3OTE5MGRmZS9kbHFwbn pjLTY0ZDcxNjI0LTkwNDItNDYwZC1iMmRjLWM0ODc4ZjRkODI4NC5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9 MTEwMCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.VNPMFD53w bAD0_tfCQg2MLWrUF9W-gkSUrUq9H4xxzE\" height=\"167\" width=\"300\">\;<\ ;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/darkroots 77/art/Freaks-and-Fools-Series-7-21-Leftovers-1314113334\" target=\"_blank \">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp. com/f/628e1485-f94f-4d19-afd8-a36f6ad1224f/dlqe0c6-a3c622af-0610-48f0-b438 -717fe148dd33.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/freaks_and_fools_series_ 7__21__leftovers_by_darkroots77_dlqe0c6-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJ hbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVh MGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMC IsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTI4MCIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi82MjhlMTQ4NS1mOTRmLTRk MTktYWZkOC1hMzZmNmFkMTIyNGYvZGxxZTBjNi1hM2M2MjJhZi0wNjEwLTQ4ZjAtYjQzOC03MT dmZTE0OGRkMzMuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6 aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.uLlXZP_sCm0WVTmXBBpZl2jOuoH2jzB4Lqo6roUhWwI\" h eight=\"300\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\" https://www.deviantart.com/300chickennuggets/art/Leonard-1315468430\" targ et=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8877735 94c2.wixmp.com/f/920ec899-8f34-453f-b528-01230124a25c/dlr71xq-36b29bf6-85d 3-4110-a8fa-19f380de4085.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/leonard_by_30 0chickennuggets_dlr71xq-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ 9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNz IjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7Im hlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTY1NiIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi85MjBlYzg5OS04ZjM0LTQ1M2YtYjUyOC0wMTIz MDEyNGEyNWMvZGxyNzF4cS0zNmIyOWJmNi04NWQzLTQxMTAtYThmYS0xOWYzODBkZTQwODUuan BnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0 aW9ucyJdfQ.dOC_oFHQxXUjoVqwvxOiMaZoCDT4Axw0ZBphe6kqTjA\" height=\"388\" wi dth=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;/div>\;COMMENT URLhttps ://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1325830821/5284239033thank you @KABANOMOR IHave you ever created a \"problematic\" piece of art? What was your motiv ation? What response were you met with? Please let us know in the comments below!When I first read this I thought\, there are no problems in art. Th inking on my own work\, have i made anythingi think a problem? In my own m ind the answer is no. I think I have made work that prompted questions tha t various readers or viewers wouldn't like to read or see or deal with \, for various reasons. I reread your prose and thought to myself. What you m ean by \"problematic' is about reactions. It isn't the artwork that is eve r problematic or generates problems\, but it is the audience that dictates the polarity of problems.I think of the statues from the roman empire \, fully naked that centuries later in the very land they were made were cast rated by christian clerics.I think about the original screenplay of legend from horsberg\, film made by ridley scott. In the original screenplay Lil ly was raped\, after rewrites that was turned into the dance scene. But wh en read by the producers\, one of the producers \, a female\, told scott + horsberg\, and I quote \"you can't rape the princess\". Which is interest ing to me on many levels. When Jim Brown did a film 1968's the split\, wit h diahann carroll\, written by westlake who is white\, jim brown playing t he main character parker\, who was written white\, diahann carroll 's char acter\, playing a petty\, working\, pure woman was raped and kiled by a wh ite character. I wonder if lilly was not white would hollywood have minded . But I know ridley Scott saw falsehood in it\, cause years later when he made the Last Duel in 2021 based on a book by Eric JAge with a design simi lar to Rashomon of Kurosawa\, the entire plot revolves around a raped whit e woman in 14th century france who upholds she was raped in public which l eads to the duel through the legal system of france at the time. A great s cene in the movie from an older white female character played by harriet w alker proves this moreso. So ridley scott through his won work responded t o the audiences problems of perception so to speak that limited what his f inanciers would allow from his artistic vision in the past. I just have to add\, in the original screenplay a young unicorn suckles from lilly's unp regnant breast.I think of an early draft of the Last Unicorn from Peter s Beagle\, and in that the unicorn originally was going to be in modern time s\, along the highway\, unseen by humans as the smoke and filth of the mor tal world goes by her\, herself lost and confused\, not knowing if she is the last unicorn and a daze\, as she goes by potentially other magical cre atures \, like dragons\, also the last.I think of the original title of \" the girl with the dragon tattoo\" which was the more appropriate \"why men hate women\" which the book publishers tld stiegg larsson to change or ch anged for him. I don't know the truth but know somehow it was changed.So b etween ancient male statues penisis\, raped white european princesses of f able land\, living unicorns in modernity frustrated and the last of their kind\, or corret titles of books \, it proves problems come from audiences plus financiers wanting to placate audiences fears/favors/desires.While I rabbled on I thought about my own work. Has my work ever garnered comment ary suggesting my work is problematic?The first truth\, which is a little sad to emit\, is I am not popular enough to garner decent backlash. That m ay sound soft but you nead more readers to get a chance of more responses from people who have problems to your work.But I have a few instances i wi ll share the three most clear in memory\, and I can even temporally rank t hem. And to be blunt\, my reason fro writing is always thati love to write \, i have been writing since a child and i will never stop.but...Earliest\ , a work i made\, not on deviantart\, is about a literal visualization\, n o lesson in the story but it is meant to be be a world described and for t hose that like it\, produce a smile. Most liked the world but wanted more plot. But one in particular\, a female\, a black female\, i am a black mal e\, had issue wwith what i call sensual descriptions of the \"magical\" br othel. Made me giggle actually. I made the work cause I was raised with a full compliment of fiction/fantasy. What do i mean by full compliment. Whe n one is a Black Descended of enslaved person in the usa\, as I am\, the l arger media in the usa \, which has never been owned or controlled in any way by black people\, places little black fantasy or fiction . Which makes sense. Disney did not make the black panther films cause blacks and white s love each other. disney made the black panther films cause non blacks in modernity\, the last twenty years\, are comfortable buying tickets to a m ovie with few non black primary characters [in Sinners no white primary ch aracters were heroes so.. time does move] and in modernity\, black people have the ability to make great returns on movie tickets as well and buy st uff. so... black panther is greenlit. So I don't have an issue with the wh ite power in media of the past \, even if it has a financial or communal s ource of action against blacks or non white europeans. But\, the past crea ted an environment where many black people in the usa or elsewhere rarely see themselves in media unless they have\, as i did\, two black parents fo rtunate enough to provide it growing up. So\, I grew up with high john the conqueror/buck and the preacher/august wilson plays/donald goines books/b lack poetry /brer rabbit/oscar micheaux before he became more popular or k nown - while I also heard peter and the wolf at Lincoln Center\, saw gaugi n works\, and tapestries from muslim caliphates\, and devo videos. My poin t being I made the work wanting to add to black DOS literary canon\, a com mon theme for me\, I am not limited to that\, but I like it. I grew up wit h my own people in fantasy worlds not just biographies or white interpreta tions of black people.Somewhere in the middle\, a work of mine was reviewe d on deviantart [I am not telling you the name\, but I will do a scavenge r hunt... you have to search using the word \"PLAY\" in my gallery [[ http s://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/gallery?q=play ]] and it is a literature work. Only four pages so if interested find it ] but in the review \, the reviewer admitted the truth\, that the premise I had broke the norm for au diences. It is an even artistic judgement/critique that your work challeng es the quality of art work assessed through audience reaction or financial return. It isn't a judgement of creativity but a judgement of commerciali ty which has validity. I made this cause I like dialog works. I don't mind works of mostly action but I don't feel bothered by people simply communi cating in a story. Anyone know the before film series from linklater knows how i feel. I also saw a fictional setting plot element between the chara cters that is uncommon but made and still makes sense to me. hahaha search Most Recent\, I had a story for a writing contest with the theme of super heroes and one of my readers said\, and i quote \"superheroes don't do thi s\" . You can imagine what you like\, I will give a hype badge to whomever guesses right use those imaginations if interested. It isn't in my devia ntart so... But I made it cause I thought what should be done if one is a superhero and it occurred to me\, the actions i portrayed made the most se nse. I think as writers sometimes we think to little on characters actions to make the reader/viewer/audience confirm their pseudoprescience . I hav e never felt the need to do that. I don't support auto counterpose in work s cause good defeating evil isn't unreal or impossible.But great questions @pijanymajk I can see on a closeup of the image frustration in your brush work but i love the chiaroscuro ... play with me and you play with fire... where does that come from?@HelviRiitta very nice\, love the colors\, poor forest\, who started the fire?@MissPopoki Un trabajo de grafito encantado r. ¿Qué papel y qué lápiz utilizaste? ¿Es Pesadilla en Elm Street la película de «monstruos slasher» más popular en los medios de comunic ación de habla hispana a nivel mundial?lovely graphite work. what paper a nd pencil did you use? is nightmare on elm street the most popular \"monst er slasher\" film in spanish speaking media worldwide?@HonkyTonkk if in co lor what color will the rose be? nice collaborative of struggle\, between humans in the worst scenarios and a rose@piruniia haha what stoogie is blo wn by a peace of mind? haha smells great i bet. You say mixed media\, whic h mixed media?@Apelure wow! mother's maw\, like grendel's mother@Ptero-Pte rodactylus beautiful toes\, your right\, high heels always make the leg se xier\, it is the muscularity it enforces in womens legs. did your wife mod el for the image?<\;div class=\"scroll-container\" style=\"background-co lor: #333\;overflow: auto\;white-space: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\">\;\n&l t\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/ pijanymajk/art/Fire-1321751673\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"http s://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/7442e4c0-93fd-4d1f-8 341-0f7e4eef60cf/dluxq49-0d27bcc2-e298-4596-a1bd-f2447da417eb.jpg/v1/fit/w _300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/fire_by_pijanymajk_dluxq49-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAi OiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhN WYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTV lYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTkxNyIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi83NDQyZTRjM C05M2ZkLTRkMWYtODM0MS0wZjdlNGVlZjYwY2YvZGx1eHE0OS0wZDI3YmNjMi1lMjk4LTQ1OTY tYTFiZC1mMjQ0N2RhNDE3ZWIuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuO nNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.jNnTFdcIQsZsrQduE5ndd7S0HGpzXbrKZpvY Guwd1a8\" height=\"449\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n< \;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/helviriitta/art/Flaming-Forest-II-86 7476356\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a8 6b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/5daa227c-182c-4f17-a3cf-d5d8b66fbb34/dech11 g-54200586-0a63-4057-b285-1137cb33868e.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp /flaming_forest_ii_by_helviriitta_dech11g-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiL CJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNW VhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZl MCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTQ2NCIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi81ZGFhMjI3Yy0xODJjLT RmMTctYTNjZi1kNWQ4YjY2ZmJiMzQvZGVjaDExZy01NDIwMDU4Ni0wYTYzLTQwNTctYjI4NS0x MTM3Y2IzMzg2OGUuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEwMjQifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2 U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.BNaFpAZyzdQQQV5LPcRsdT9FIoTjcV7-mX8ZqUrb_Hg\" height=\"429\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href= \"https://www.deviantart.com/misspopoki/art/Pesadilla-en-Elm-Street-I-1306 366301\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86 b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/24565b21-00f3-47d6-bc6b-41dc27dae6a2/dllryot -5c484fca-2917-4ecd-aa2a-943913336b88.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/ pesadilla_en_elm_street_i__by_misspopoki_dllryot-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOi JKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWY wZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlY TBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTg0MCIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi8yNDU2NWIyMS0 wMGYzLTQ3ZDYtYmM2Yi00MWRjMjdkYWU2YTIvZGxscnlvdC01YzQ4NGZjYS0yOTE3LTRlY2QtY WEyYS05NDM5MTMzMzZiODguanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnN lcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ._Y76q8iATuEdGC8kRE9kCdhSZBLXfbvnHMM2ZN a1F7I\" height=\"431\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\; a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/honkytonkk/art/Perseverance-1236387534 \" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca 887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/41daca3a-ccc6-4a5f-a9f5-e3ec1a84b244/dkg42q6-e88f3 ffe-d70f-49fe-9eab-bd46ff16c77a.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/persev erance_by_honkytonkk_dkg42q6-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUz I1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiw iaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W 1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTcwNyIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi80MWRhY2EzYS1jY2M2LTRhNWYtYTlmNS1 lM2VjMWE4NGIyNDQvZGtnNDJxNi1lODhmM2ZmZS1kNzBmLTQ5ZmUtOWVhYi1iZDQ2ZmYxNmM3N 2EuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3B lcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.Wr9F5fUbmf4CJbQ_6nyOXSUau5EROiabYeCW5z98MFQ\" height=\"400 \" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www .deviantart.com/piruniia/art/Peace-of-mind-1317946391\" target=\"_blank\"& gt\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com /f/8c7d0283-e3f2-4c10-9c05-e1f1b0838d3f/dlso5xz-0f589d19-6c8d-40f5-bf4d-04 0ea6faffb0.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/peace_of_mind__by_piruniia_ dlso5xz-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm 46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3 ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9Mj EwOSIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi84YzdkMDI4My1lM2YyLTRjMTAtOWMwNS1lMWYxYjA4MzhkM2YvZGxz bzV4ei0wZjU4OWQxOS02YzhkLTQwZjUtYmY0ZC0wNDBlYTZmYWZmYjAuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOi I8PTE2MDAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.vsGFu acN5kuE0u79j1MspNb6xnS8MknNhmoTB5dlOGU\" height=\"395\" width=\"300\">\; <\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/apelu re/art/As-Mothering-Maw-1316829832\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\" https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/c1632719-bc2a-45 3b-b782-0c25d23f9c43/dls08eg-5f37160e-6ff0-4b45-8ec9-0a3fef749373.jpg/v1/f it/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/as_mothering_maw_by_apelure_dls08eg-300w.jpg?t oken=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5 ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0Mz czYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MjcyMCIsInBhdGgiOiIv Zi9jMTYzMjcxOS1iYzJhLTQ1M2ItYjc4Mi0wYzI1ZDIzZjljNDMvZGxzMDhlZy01ZjM3MTYwZS 02ZmYwLTRiNDUtOGVjOS0wYTNmZWY3NDkzNzMuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTE5MjAifV1dLCJh dWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.sz_Mnoz2gJGGAhBjHqtyoVC YFCXQtn_lzYYAJD-Dqqs\" height=\"425\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\ ;/a>\;\n\n <\;/div>\;IN AMENDMENTURLhttps://www.deviantart.com/comme nts/1/1325830821/5284439554my pleasure\, i like to writeyes i am a fan of the boys. And the reception to it is refreshing. I do think the boys\, bri ghtburn\, invincible in some ways are the children of the watchmen in the sense that the watchmen was originally meant to be a justice league story that dc snubbed because they didn't like the negativity. But the success o f watchmen opened the doors to the boys and company.People do love the abi lity to escape to the world where good or evil is simple\, as your prose i n the original post suggest correctly. I argue the response to brightburn from a majority of superman fans as well as to superman returns with super man as an absentee father\, by superman fans proves many are fans of super man for the escape from reality and it shows in dollars.And I want to say for the record that while many suggest brightburn is a \"hell\" i argue br ightburn has a possbility for peace because at the end\, even if all the j ustice league members are \"bad guys\" killers even\, they will fight each other and in that fight lies the possibility of peace .But while many fan s love to escape to the good vs evil worlds\, It is nice that the market f or those who can enjoy entertainment with ideas that challenge simpler sto ry structures is present and seemingly growing.I wish I could had been in the preproduction for princess and the frog. Peter jackson spent four to s even years preproducing lord of the rings and I think Princess and the fro g needed more time. One thing I would had changed is made it where tiana's father succeeded in making the restaurant and it being sucessful and the only black owned business on land in mythic new orleans of the early 1900s . I don't think it hurts Tiana by having her quest to maintain the restaur ant\, not initialize it. But while I have issues with the main antagonist\ , the caricature black voodoo man\, the character i think is most artfully poor is tiana's \"best frined' the white princess whose father seem to be the richest man in town who seems to be impotent while she is ridiculousl y flirtatious. I will love for someone to cut princess and the frog and ta ke out those two characters and see what kind of movie it is. In paralell\ , I think black panther in kilmonger had the one of the rarest sights in m oviedom\, a black character that is openly antagonistic to whites. many mo vies in the 1970s\, black characters said many things but phsyically weren 't assaulting to whites. kilmonger\, a black character\, assaults whites. He is the drop of pure realism that strikes through a simple good vs evil story or set of characters. Coogler and company did well there.Exactly goo d writing matters\, and the ability to turn the screenplay into a video me ssenger is also needed and not all do well. If you watch sinners without s ound\, you will comprehend what is going on\, regardless of your heritage or cultural standing\, you see what is going on and it flows. Black panthe r similarly\, not as sharply as sinners but similarly. But princess and th e frog\, no. the antagonist in black panther or sinners is clearly defined in their opening scene. Kilmonger is a black man with a fashion dissimila r to white european fashion from his hair to his clothes standing in a mus eum colored all white showcasing black african artifacts with white people as curators. He speaks to the gentle white curator with unfiltered contem pt and dislike. Remmick is running in the daylight seemingly on fire\, to the closest house he can\, the strangers open the door without his provoca tion\, and he sees the kkk outfit and and adjusts his lie to get in the ho use from the sunlight.The black voodoo man in princess and the frog has no connection to tiana or naveen\, or tiana'as father or anyone or thing\, h e is a pantomime villain who could have any appearance but was chosen to b e a black voodoo man. I stand corrected\, he has some connection to the bl ack voodoo woman who is blind but it is undisclosed. poor writing.Exactly\ , many people as children are simply not exposed to the width of the arts\ , and even with the modern internet and global media it is still highly la cking.Well\, I think it is great that modern audiences \, all ages\, shape s\, sizes\, phenotypes\, with the power of \"google-san\" can investigate and explore and expose various elements in storytelling and expose inauthe ntic or lying but they have to learn to embrace what arts are. I think cam eron's avatar movies have a terrible story. But the point of the films isn 't visual storytelling but visual brilliance and they are visually brillia nt. Like DW Griffith's birth of a nation \, you have to judge it for what it is\, not what you want it to be.I love communicating\, you didn't rambl e\, you conveyed thoughts and expressions. Part of that experience you and I and not enough others share is \, reading something above average lengt h isn't a pain or a frustration.and thank you I will continue. If you want another clue to the scavenger hunt I will give it to youIN AMENDMENTURLht tps://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1325830821/5284441209My pleasureI wish I had thought of masturbation\, that is good. And I concur\, they think t hemselves above critique but in truth are shameful for they think it less than to exhibit lust. I don't see why nonviolent exhibition of lust is sin ful.IN AMENDMENTURLhttps://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1325830821/528457 0927Thank you for making me think on this... I didn't think about one othe r flaw in Dr Facilier\, [thank you for remembering the name] he is an unb ound bad guy who doesn't act unbound. Just like his rival\, the blind old woman. She is supposed to be a neutral protector and the only one sh seems to protect and barely is tiana\, while facilier is supposed to be the vio lator and he doesn't violate the city or tiana's best friend or tiana's be st friends father. The best example of a better written simple bad guy is the alien in the ridley scott series. The alien doesn't hate ripley\, isn' t out to get ripley\, the alien is out to get all. It wants dallas ... i t got dallas it got hudson it got hellboy [ for those who don't know ron p earlman if you are simply a crude \"evil \" creature then be unbound in w ho you attack. Facilier doesn't do that either. thank you. Good line \"Mon key paw logic\" And yes\, the screenplay needed more polishig. I like your idea of a redeemed character whose relationship to mama odie\, thanks for remembering the name\, kicks in. Screenplay needed more polishing hope th ey hire you next timeah yes\, the moon princess\, I think japanese media h as done well by her in various interpretations\, from naruto to ghibli to kubo I have ever seen a usa interpretation. Have you? You said your paren ts are european\, do you recall a European media interpretation\, maybe so mething from bande dessinee? I have only seen japanese interpretations to her story. Exactly\, why is a great question for any viewer/reader/listene r to have answered when they ask\, and if the work can't answer why ....To Camern's avatar\, exactly\, and i think ever younger audiences \, who are reared in the ever more vitriol or numbing fields of the faster than ligh t internet\, have to avoid rejection or exclamation of rejection absent ta king the time to comprehend a work. they are judging with a better quality but they are also becoming to quick to finalize judgement. The learning n ever stops while you are alive\, thanks againP.S. ahah\, ok good funCOMME NT URLhttps://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1332141331/5284241755@leothefo x congrats to nearing the completion of \"the devil's footprints\"@CapnDee k373 how many steps in total@allusernamestaken666 is that a photograph of van gogh's image or your version?@Redsterfish nice clay head\, but what wi ll be the body?@zeroequalsq nice graphite\, the pose selection is brillian t\, graphite always looks vibrant when poses have high contrast the black and white distance is always the strongest for contrast.<\;div class=\"s croll-container\" style=\"background-color: #333\;overflow: auto\;white-sp ace: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\">\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n&l t\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/leothefox/art/Dread-Deadline-63Sixt yThree-1330562573\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wi xmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/2e2f9a87-d578-4aa6-870c-f0577343f 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BUT\, said synergy has two proble ms.First the true relationship of the usa side china isn't financial but m ilitaristic.Second\, the generator of the stated financial synergy is not the usa.Nuclear Powered Countries and moneyThe reason the Nuclear powers: USA/Russia/China/ England/France made the Non proliferation treaty wasn't for peace but control. Non proliferation isn't about saving humanity\, it is about allowing a set of countries\, the exclusive nuclear powers set to be in a class beyond themselves. This is why\, Russia or China who contin uously are deemed similar to Iran/North Korea/Cuba/Libya under Quadaffi or others are never treated like them. The reason is\, the iran's of the wor ld don't have nuclear weapons.Notice the USA has never invaded Russia. why ? Russia has a huge nuclear weapons arsenal. For all the rhetoric about Pu tin or Russian crimes the USA and France through the European Union will n ever advocate a confrontation into russia because no one can guarantee the nuclear weapons will not fly and the damage from a nuclear war will derai l all fiscal activity.But having said that the nuclear powers have never b een allies. They are at war all the time.The only time the usa will not se e China as a threat is when China doesn't have nuclear weapons while the o nly time China will not see the usa as a threat is when the usa doesn't ha ve nuclear weapons.Nuclear war is superior to money/global trade system. M ost countries can't do it and the usa is trying hard to limit the numbers who come in.But USA/Russia/China/England/ France/ISrael/Pakistan/ India ar e all enemies\, they simply have an arrangement because they are in the ra rest class of modern governments\, nuclear powers \, thus must be treated unlike the cuba's \, kosovo's\, others who absent nuclear power\, simply d on't have the weapons to truly threaten the world.Who is the WE in the USA ?The post from PRofd has an initial statement. \"China has been the blue-c ollar labor force for the United States of America (USA) for several decad es now.\"The USA is reaching 250 years soon. I have never denied I don't c are for the usa\, even as a boy. But\, the one thing I have never seen in the usa is honesty\, truth.The usa \, not merely its wealthy or powerful o r its government levels\, but the common farmers\, homeless urban dwellers \, and most others have one disease that sickens me. It is the disease of unstraight lies.The very declaration of independence sto the united states of america starts with an unstraight lie. \"We hold these truths to be se lf evident\, that all men are created equal\"The following is an unstraigh t lie \"We hold these truths to be self evident\, that all men are created equal\"The person who wrote that is a white european enslaving incestual rapist\, but beyond his identity\, the unstraight lies are ever present.\" We\"who was we? who is we? When the writer f the line was composing his wo rds\, was he speaking about native americans\, being massacred? he was spe aking about black people of african descent who are enslaved or their desc endants? Do all humans know all humans are human? yes. But does that sugge st all humans can be spoken for? the answer is never. You can never speak for all humans and thus the unstraight lie.\"All men are created equal\"th e tragedy in this is\, the writer was being honest\, he was speaking of me n\, not women\, but he is unstraight\, he wasn't speaking of all men he wa s speaking of white european men. But moreover\, when anyone suggest that all men created eqaul suggest all humans are created equal \, that is anot her unstraight lie. The two phrases don't connect. All men created equal m eans just that\, not women . All humans are created equal means just that. BUt are all humans created equal? no. Anyone who has seen a child with ce rebral palsy struggle knows\, all humans are not created equal. Are all hu mans human? yes\, but they are not all created equal.Like the one who wrot e the phrase \"We hold these truths to be self evident\, that all men are created equal\" \, Profd in true Statian/ of the USA tradition or heritage \, has created an unstraight lie. The USA has a legal structure which sugg est all in the usa are united in responsibility to the actions of the usa\ , The suggestion has never been true. Again\, who is we? did black towns i n the south want chinese blue collar labor\, started\, in the 1970s when t hey were fighting to get labor from the same white owned businesses that f led to china and its cheaper labor? no. Did Native American reservations w ant chinese blue collar labor \, started\, in the 1970s when they were fig hting to get the legal right to start businesses on reservation land which many still don't have? no. Did fiscal poor white towns in the appalachias want chinese blue collar labor\, started in the 1970s\, when they were fi ghting to get keep their land from state governments who were using all so rts of techniques to take their land for natural resources or other projec ts? no.So who wanted chinese blue collar labor to have the position it doe s int he usa? fiscally wealthy whites. They started in the 1960s to deire this fiscal change to get cheaper labor supported by many\, not all or mos t\, whites who didn't want black people to have any happiness. What a majo rity of whites wanted in the 1960s was for business to maintain investment in white towns/communities in the usa and blockade the non white in the u sa. What a majority of blacks wanted in the 1960s was for business to expa nd their opportunities to blacks while keeping activities completely in th e usa. What a majority of native americans wanted in the 1960s was the rig ht to start business and have native american controlled financial zones i n the reservations that could do business with the business in the usa bey ond the reservations. Instead white owned fiscal corporations moved 99% of blue collar jobs outside the usa altogether\, deleting the desires or pla ns of most native americans most blacks plus most fiscally poor whites. Bu t in parallel said white fiscal corporations created the modern labored an d blue collar populaces around the world outside the usa. The government l iked it\, because it was like a payment for adhering to the governmental o rder of the usa. But the price is today.Everyone in the usa knows what i s aid is true\, but too many in the usa want to suggest unstraight lies.The smallest populace in the usa\, the mega rich chose to manipulate the labor environment in the usa to cut all the blue collar jobs out and place them overseas. but the 99% didn't want that and even after decades\, the 99% s till want those jobs back or have become so resentful that they simply dis like the foreigner. \nProfd argument to the future is instead of complaini ng about what happened in the past against your favor or want\, focus on t rying to make the system \, that you didn't design and is designed against you\, work better for you\, however you can. The idea is adjustment while bitter over resentment. while hateful. The element that dictates the pola rity is patience. The 1% in the usa can wait for change or ride out change s\, whether they want them or not\, \, they have the money or resources. T he 99% don't have the resources to ride out or wait for changes. Which mea ns for the 99% to wait for change they have to embrace a truth\, the chang e may never come no matter what they do\, even working for it every day. T his is a test of patience and I argue\, after two hundred and fifty\, 250\ , years many\, and arguably a majority \,definitely a majority of Black de scended of enslaved \, have no patience to adjust in cycles till finding c omfort.IN AMENDMENTHow can patience be increased in any person or group... by being earned. If a person goes outside their home one day and a person hits them in the face\, they may have patience and come out again the nex t day. But if a person keeps getting punched in the face every day they co me out for three hundred and sixty five days no matter how hard they try t o dunk or punch or talk or fight back or any strategy\, sooner or later\, they will simply stay in the house. Their patience is dried up. In two hun dred and fifty years the usa has never had one place in it\, not one city or town where native americans were powerful\, adored\, loved\, strong\, a ble to protect themselves no matter what\, in control. not one city or tow n where Blacks were powerful\, adored\, loved\, strong\, able to protect t hemselves no matter what\, in control.... yes\, some people native america ns/blacks/whites/females/ males or other have shown the ability to be pati ent throughout their life with the usa. But\, most will never be able to d o that\, we are not created equally\, we humans are not all the same. POS T URLI will post in the commentary to profd's posthttps://aalbc.com/tc/top ic/12748-made-in-china-why-is-it-considered-usa-adversary/#findComment-815 50PRIOR EDITIONhttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/682-economic-corner-39-03 242026/NEXT EDITION? COMMENTARY05162026https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12748-m ade-in-china-why-is-it-considered-usa-adversary/#findComment-81550It seems to me what your suggesting needs to happen in the future is for people \, more people\, the ninety nine percent 99%\, the majority in the united sta tes of america u.s.a.\, to embrace adjusting more positively to the fiscal environment or governmental bureaucracies of the u.s.a. led by the u.s.a. 's one percent fiscal wealthy\, even if they didn't want them\, were unabl e to stop them being implemented\, are suffering under them\, or some nega tive. I can say many people\, various phenotypes/genders/religions/ages/ i n various geographies in the usa have stated similar to you. There is a m ovement of people in the usa who stand with you. Is it a majority? I don' t know\, and I gamble no. In the two hundred and fifty year history of the united states of america\, i argue a majority in the populace across all racial types [phenotype/gender /religion or others] have been impatient o r unsatisfied with the system. But\, the minority in this country has alwa ys found a way with its resources to stop the impatient majority from jump ing to violence to anarchy/a system absent any ruler whether be the law or an individual. Said minority which today includes women plus blacks plus latinos has gotten the majority to embrace stillness\, do nothing which is n't patience it is a calm before a storm\, in which every time the calm is extended the storm gets bigger. Two hundred and fifty year is a long exte nsion. I end with positive... some say strong people lead themselves. I ar gue a peoples goals dictate their actions. Complacency isn't equivalent to weakness\, complacency can occur when one is actually happy with the way things are\, not merely being coerced into activity by others. The proble m with the populaces that make up the majority in the usa is they need to be convinced that engagement will lead to results each populace wants\, so mething that has never happened in the usa. To restate the usa has never had a time in its history where native americans/blacks/whites/ latinos/wo men men/old/young/immigrants/orphans/prisoners/ or others got what they wa nted. Either few win or all lose is what happens in the usa. So the only w ay for that to be undone is an era of leadership . The usa had a great era of multiracial leadership in the 1960s that was assassinated/poisoned/imp risoned/similar injury by a combination of fiscal plus governmental agent s who had something to lose if all groups won. But if a a great era of mul tiracial leadership can happen once\, it can happen again. But\, one must have patience. https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/735-economic-corner-40-05 162026/ DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260516 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 39 03/24/2026 DTSTAMP:20260325T002458Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:682-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:THIS IS MY INITIAL REACTION TO A MULTILOG @Pioneer1First to delete false claims. Television + Univision are not latin american owned\ , in the same BET which is owned by Skydance is not Black american owned. I could ask why a black person in modern times\, seeks to create a false i mpotency in speaking on the black populace in the usa compared to other no n white european populaces. but i will not. The USA is white european owne d circa ninety percent.  In February 2020\, Searchlight Capital Partne rs and ForgeLight acquired a 64% majority stake in Univision\, with Telev isa keeping their 36% minority stake.Searchlight was founded by Eric Zinte rhofer \, Oliver Haarmann \, Erol Uzumeri Forgelight I don't know who t hey are\, but they do not sound latin american.NBCUniversal owns Telemundo completely\, NBCUniversal is not latino. So your decision to knock down the black populace using another non white european populace is false. @P rofD OWN \, the oprah winfrey network is not black owned. Warner Bros. D iscovery Global Linear Networks (95%)\nHarpo Productions (5%)Skydance ow ns Warner Bros. \, Skydance is not black. Oprah WInfrey owns five percent of the OWN Network. Bounce TV is owned by the Scripps Network\, Scripps i s white. Jonathan KAtz founded Bounce\, he is white.  I knew Magic Johns on didn't own magic johnson theaters anymore\, why didn't you profd? Whil e the chain still bears Johnson's name\, he is no longer actively involved in the management committee\, strategic planning\, operations\, or public relations.It is part of the Lows cineplex entertainment company.  Now T VOne is black owned\, from a black woman in the washington DC area I think .Originally launched as a joint venture with Comcast\, Urban One would ac quire the former's stake in 2015. So it started as a joint venture like OW N but is completely black owned now.  SO\, of the media enterprises ment ioned in this post only one is black owned. only one is not white european owned. Now\, can TV One do better?  all firms can\, from a raw accounti ng perspective. But\, TV One is doing great in my view. Considering the en tertainment industry in the USA is very conglomerated now. The existence o f TV One is really against the grain. That is why magic johnson \, oprah a nd others all sold their shares to big firms gobbling. As I said\, Netfli x was given a favor by Skydance\, who now owns paramount + warner bros + d iscovery and whatever else those firms gobbled before. NEtflix wanted glo bally known intellectual properties\, but I argue adding all that debt wou ld had been a mistake and skydance will have a lot of internal manipulatio n with all they own now.  @admin so many people are tired of commercial s\, but here is the big problem\, subscription is a terrible business mode l for publicly traded entertainment firms. the problem with subscription a s nassr al khaleefi\, ceo of beinsports said\, I paraphrase\, the only way to make continual monetary growth  is to add on subscribers but the glob al economy has a limit on how much growth can exist in that way\, while a free app with commercials\, the same like network television but with apps \, can grow continually because with quality content you can raise the adv ertising fees overtime. But trying to do both is going to lose out over ti me\, no one wants to pay for a service with commercials.  REFERRALhttps: //aalbc.com/tc/topic/12614-netflix-the-new-segregation-in-entertainment/#f indComment-80870 POST URL PRIOR EDITIONhttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event /676-economic-corner-38-03102026/ NEXT EDITIONhttps://aalbc.com/tc/events /event/735-economic-corner-40-05162026/ COMMENTARY@Pioneer1 I comprehend your frustration\, like james Forten 250 years ago\, you have embraced th e usa and both of you show a desire to compete side the other people in th e usa financially\, while in the legal confines. Thus your desire to sugge st impotency \, not to stymie but to inspire through negative critique. I get it. but be easy. patience is a virtue.  03242026 https://aalbc.com/ tc/topic/12614-netflix-the-new-segregation-in-entertainment/#findComment-8 0874osted just now@ProfD I have never underestimated\, you said and I qu ote   On 3/23/2026 at 6:02 AM\, ProfD said:if Magic Johnson is still in that business. you used the word IF right\, that means you don't know or are unsure... that isn't me underestimating and I think anyone would ev enly ask\, why didn't you know.    1 hour ago\, ProfD said:The point I was making is that Black folks do have outlets &\;/or some level of influence over them. I didn't refute that point\, which also was pioneer' s point\, but I cleared up the falsities that either one of you alluded.    1 hour ago\, ProfD said:There's nothing to prevent Black folks fro m investing in more platforms if there is a real desire to do so. There's nothing\, that isn't true. Most black people in the usa are still near th e financial level their enslaved forebears were\, which is by design by wh ites\, not an accident by white planning and an honest financial position not an excuse. White people didn't get rich absent criminal activities\, s o it is a financial insult to suggest black people can blossom in majority with less opportunity and yes\, taking land and enslaving other and cheat ing others are financial opportunities that matter. Fiscal poverty is pow erful. What does desire have to do with anything? I go back to James Fort en\, again\, black man\, living at the time of george washington\, busines s owner. Yes\, Profd\, business owner\, white people certified. But\, the larger black populace\, has always been a different financia reality than the blacks with money. And as this community has already made established \, blacks with money couldn't even push to make sure they only sent people to historical black colleges so... are blacks with money not investing i n the black populace to their utmost? yes. But\, the gap between the blac k 1% and the black 99% has always been the widest fiscal gap of any popula ce in the usa. to restate\, the gap between the nonblack 1%(whether femal e/latino/christian / other) and the non black 99% is smaller than the gap between the black 1% and the black 99%.   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:TV One is but one an example. Tyler Perry owns a whole movie production set-u p in Georgia.yes and he sold his prior studio to a white latino.    1 hour ago\, ProfD said:I'm never going to be defeated into believing Blac k folks cannot afford to establish anything of benefit &\;/or importanc e to us. I am glad\, in my own mind\, I am not trying to bring down any b lack person's hope BUT when it comes to money \, when it comes to the USA \, the reality is\, we blacks have a lying problem. this very post started with a false financial evaluation pioneer\, which you didn't even point o ut. Are black people in the usa today\, circa 2026\, financially  better than anytime in the past\, on average or the whole? the answer is yes. B ut\, black people have always been limited to legal civil financial growth by the non blacks. Again NYC\, irish/italians/white jews/chinese/white la tinos all to this day each not only commit more financial crimes  than bl ack people but have protection from law enforcement for said crimes.  Bla ck people are the penultimate\, nearest above the least\,  criminal plus least illegal actors in the usa\, the first is the native american whose f inancial position is the worst of any group in the usa. White jews and it alians burned down the entire bronx\, to get insurance money and yet\, to this day\, you still have black people talking about how\, black people ca n't  Where was the cops while the bronx was burning? oh right\, the cops are the cousins to the italian and white jewish landowners. the biggest f inancial crime black people had was the numbers and we had to give the ita lian mob a cut of that. the italian mob which financed the golden gate br idge\, through the bank of america\, formerly the bank of italy\, was able to earn financial fortunes over crimes covering the entire shipping indus try/construction industry/gambling industry...  the irish/ the white jews /the white latino/ the white asian  ala chinese all did and do likewise.  I never see the NYPD who always seem interested in hording around congre gations of unarmed black children find their way to stopping any crimes fr om the non black so... that is how nonblack populaces financially grow. T hey don't admit it. But it is the truth\, it is the truth to how the usa w orks. Black people will never get law enforcement in the usa which is not black and moreover has tons of self hating blacks in it in modernity \, t o cover for any financial crimes. That cover is how others have afforded t he ability to truly grow financially.   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:Black development in any industry is a  matter of desire &\; will. The reso urces exist.no profd\, in the usa \, white development in any industry has always been a matter of financial growth through criminal means. White pe ople didnt just desire and will\, they were allowed to act criminally\, wh ich is a big deal in a country that purports to be against illegal activit y.  Black people can't will or desire through phenotypical bias. That is the point of phenotypical bias.  03252026https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/126 14-netflix-the-new-segregation-in-entertainment/#findComment-80884osted j ust now@ProfD   16 hours ago\, ProfD said:FBA/AfroAmericans have come a long way between slavery &\; the present. Especially compared to Bla ck folks who have lived in their own countries over the same period of tim e.That is a large suggestion... I don't know... 100% your correct that the condition of 99% of black people in the usa 1865 who were completely ensl aved\, which means financially whites made sure said black percentage had\ , no money\, no bank account\, no inheritance\, no knowledge of fiscal con cerns like a contract or ledger \; educationally means [not through lazine ss but white power]\, no ability to read\, no ability to write\, no knowle dge of their forebears\, no knowledge of their populaces intricacies[ensla ved black people were born enslaved\, they didn't know about haiti a land made by DOSers\, abyssinia the only part of africa not a european colony\, the larger DOS populaces in south america\, knowledge of monrovia or free town\, in modernity yes\, a black person can say what we know but 1865 mos t black people in the usa didn't have any knowledge of black people outsid e of their slave quarter\, they didn't know of the gens de colour of new o rleans unless they were actually from new orleans which wasn't most black people by a large distance in the usa] \; Culturally\, what we grow or are growing to\,  means [ through white power again]: no direction[and this is huge\, again in modernity black people talk about american alot\, but i n 1865 our forebears weren't american. they wanted to be free yes\, but th ey didn't associate freedom with the usa. this is something we tend to mis s today. Our forebears in 1865 didn't want to be president\, didn't want f ight with whites\, didn't want to live with whites\, so the fact that a ma jority of us in the usa do now\, means black people made choices BUT they made choices absent all the things in this paragraph i wrote\, which are i nfluential. Hell\, I argue\, most black people at the end of the war betwe en the states\, when the usa's modern midwestern/western states were all s till territories should had moved en mass to canada. And I know that Frede rick Douglass opposed Harriet Tubman because tubman wanted black people to go all the way up north to canada but frederick douglass\, very statian\, was looking to his individual benefit and knew that whites in the usa hav e always disliked the idea of Black DOSers leaving this country with hatef ul hearts in mass for obvious reasons. But Tubman was correct\, the better culture for black people circa 1865 was in canada rather than the usa\, c anada 1865 isn't the canada of today. Canada in 1865 is very much a countr y place\, hard to live but a place black dosers from the usa could had mad e a home\, yes nothing is easy\, but it was the better choice and absent a ll the things mentioned we were able to be manipulated by black individual s or the white populist to make foolish/dysfunctional choices] So\, yes\, the Black DOS populace today has definitely grown from the conditions of 1865\, look at this very forum. Modern Black people are like Common's char acter in the movie Alice and Alice in the film Alice is like black people of 1865. They would be shocked at us on alot of levels based on their life experiences. BUT\, the way or style of growth of DOSers has a lot of neg ative aspects that don't come from DOSers but the environment. I argue\, that black DOSers lost more than we ever gained from 1865 to today. Rosewo od the black financial capitol of florida\, white people commited crimes\, no one white to jail or a court room\, black people in florida have never recovered. Greenwood\, the black financial capitol of oklahoma\, white pe ople committed crimes\, no one white to jail or a court room\, black peopl e in oklahoma never recovered. Faubourg treme\, an educational capitol of black people in the usa \, was assaulted by whites cut up\, burned down\, never recovered. Madame CJ Walker yes\, fiscally wealthy but NYC did every thing in its power to diminish black financial growth \, including burning harlem\, driving black people into prison with made up charges... I think black people today love to look on the bright side but the honest side is the better place. This goes back to frederick douglass side harriet tubma n. Douglass felt that going through all these hurdles was a positive and T ubman was correct\, lets get away from this place\, so we can live in peac e. from 1865 to 2026 we as a people have daily\, not yearly or monthly but daily had to deal with white abuse\, what is so valuable about that? Tha t white abuse... the white men who killed malcolm's father never went to j ail\, no one knows who they are... going through these white hurdles from 1865 in the usa makes Black DOSers fools.  So... yes Black DOSers have c ome a long way\, but was it a wise way\, was it an honest way\, was it a b lack way... or was it a liars way\, was it a fool's way\, was it the white mans chosen way for us?And is the path the white man laid for us better i n comparison to a path we laid for ourselves. Many black people will argu e that the immigration to the usa is a sign of usa greatness\, but I alway s counter with a simple truth\, the usa makes the rest of the world poor.  The usa had stolen/kidnapped/murdered many leaders of haiti from toussai nt louverture to a recent president\, acts that the usa would call an act of war but somehow when the usa does it\, it isn't an act of war... stole haiti's gold which again\, the usa would call an act of war but... the hit list of countries the usa has done similar too: killed/stole/destroyed is very long Mexico/Nicaragua/China/Japan/Vietnam/Korea/Afghanistan/Libya/I raq/Iran/Congo/Germany/Argentina/Brasil/Chile/Phillipines/Cuba/The palesti nean protectorate of the british empire/Uganda/Ghana/Canada Building from the ground up is easy when you have land you can steal like First peoples of the american continet\, when you have enslaved other human beings\, li ke Black DOSer forebears... when you have the country who destroyed yours completely\, provide the rich people who led the wars against said country so that you and the rest of the poor don't oppose said country\, like Ger many/Japan/France/Italy.....I can't think of any government in modern huma n history that actually built from the ground up and became a world leader or fiscally potent. USA had stolen land and enslaved labor\, the best of everything to grow. China got the entire global manufacturing industry a s a gift by the usa to separate them from russia in the cold warRussia as the Union of Soviet Socialist republics used the end of the second europea n imperial war to grow their influence and control\, the usa had aided the m at he begining of said war cause the usa couldn't beat germany+ japan al one. And the USSR was trying to reclaim the lands of the russian empire wh ich were larger. Japan made to rubble by the usa was given a legendary we lfare check by the usa so they wouldn't join the ussr. Germany\,made to r ubble by the usa completely\,  in its west side\, was given a legendary w elfare check by the usa so they wouldn't join the ussr. France made to ru bble by war\, all sides\, was given a legendary welfare check by the usa s o they wouldn't join the ussr. India was given money by the usa + ussr to picka side \, in the end\, india didn't pick either and still hasn't\, an d still does business with both. thus india didn't get what china got from the usa for distancing from russia but still gets some with russia+ china as neighbors and the usa afraid of having three public opponents of the u sa representing half of humanities populace together as neighbors. Brasil like the usa had stolen land + enslaved labor\, the best of everything to grow and did all the immigration patterns of the usa as well. England... do I have to say this was the country that once boasted the sun never set on its empire\, extracting all sorts of wealth from everywhere. ISrael\, stole the land from england lived in by the palestinean\, the palestinean protectore\, but were financed militarilly and governmentally by the usa in perpetuity. Not one government mentioned above built from the ground u p on their own\, with no massive criminal activity.  So\, yeah \, Nigeri a/Haiti/Jamaica/Guyana/Ghana/Ethiopia/ Sri lanka/ Madagascar many countrie s full of black people immigrate to the usa but the usa has committed succ essful acts of war against those countries... What would the usa be if its leaders were constantly removed/killed\, it resources constantly ripped\, if other countries were vulturing.  So Black DOSers whose forebears wer e literally enslaved to the whites of the european colonies and then the u sa made from them\,  are living in the country as allies to the whites wh o have literally undermined every single black country in humanity...  S o... I don't know. I think hundreds of years from now\, someone will be ab le to look back and truly compare black populaces around the world and see who has grown more or less. But currently\, Brasil/USA/South Africa/India /Nigeria all have black one percents\, very wealthy\, all have a majority fiscally poor black 99%. All have been enslaved in one form or another to whites in said country. The only variance I can think of is that in the US A's/Brasil's/India's of the world \, unlike the Nigeria's/HAiti's/South Af rica's the black populaces have hurt themselves to settle non blacks in us a/brasil/india are all the same\, have been terrible to black people but b lacks in each country has made a choice to coexist to whites who to be blu nt\, have never stopped terrorizing them... who is the fool\, the terroris t or the one who keeps living next to the terrorist?   16 hours ago\,  ProfD said:The fact that Tyler Perry  who wasn't born wealthy has been a ble to amass a fortune significant enough to buy studios is an accomplishm ent. I concur\, it is a financial accomplishment\, For the record I never said he didn't accomplish\, i stated to whom he sold his prior stuido    16 hours ago\, ProfD said:I'm glad so many FBA/AfroAmericans who wer e not born wealthy have been able to make a lot of money here in the USA.y eah me too\, could had been way better... what would greenville in tulsa b e\, rosewood in florida be\, and so many other places if white people didn 't burn whole black communities down to the ground and kill black people w ho had committed no crime whatsoever. Black people are always free to let the revenge go... BUT financially\, the past can not be let go because fi nancially\, the past matters. When whites like the nypd round up black pe ople inequally per the law\, that is a financial attack on the black popul ace. Let's be blunt\, a show once existed about a white woman selling mar ijuana in some town outside a city\, commonly called a suburb \, more corr ectly an exourb. it is n't under but outside.. Anyway\, while in nyc the n ypd is rounding up marijuana dealers while never seeming able to find coca ine dealers\, the nypd finds cocaine but no cocaine dealers.  These are f inancial attacks. Black people talk about money so much but don't calculat e the financial loss/hit/negative black people go through with white inter actions. When white states in the south placed trash bin areas next to bl ack towns making black people sick with its fumes\, that is a financial co st. Not just healthcost. I am happy for black folk who financially get th rough white terror\, but white terror is still here and it has a huge fina ncial cost that we blacks need to start admitting.03/26/2026https://aalbc. com/tc/topic/12614-netflix-the-new-segregation-in-entertainment/#findComme nt-80907osted just now@ProfD   23 hours ago\, ProfD said:FBA/ADO/Afr oAmericans do not have an ancestral homeland to which we can return.  FB A/ADO/AfroAmericans were born here in the USA.  Over 400 years\, FBA/A DO/AfroAmericans have made the *best of* a bad situation\, America's ori ginal sin *slavery* . In the present\, when FBA/ADO/AfroAmericans look back over the past couple hundred years\, we have made progress in our homeland\, the country that enslaved our forebearers.Expand  what determi nes an ancestral homeland? I am not saying your wrong\, or I am not sayin g a black person whose forebears were enslaved from africa by whites can't say a locale whites shipped them to can't be considered a homeland if the y choose\, but the choices are still openI give three examples1) all black peoples enslaved from africa whether they went to the american continent or the asian continent or the european continent have one thing in common\ , their african ancestry is continental. I have said in this forum before\ , if anywhere in africa is my hmeland it is the literal continent itself b ecause my forebears who were enslaved come from all over. Often when peopl e immigrate freely\, they may call themselves\, european/asian/african/sou th american\, but in truth they mean a specific local in a continent. righ t? but fr DOSers we have to mean\, by way of how enslavement worked\, the continent of africa itself and considering descended of enslaved people we re sent everywhere outside africa\, not merely the american continent\, a continental ancestry suits all of us whatever countries our forebears were enslaved in.  Black People like you or me exist in brasil in india \, wh at shared history heritage/what we carry do we have? that our forebears we re all enslaved from africa by whites/ various whites. so I think a contin ental ancestry \, not a local in a continent is historically unquestionabl e\, even if it is also unique among human groups. But\, that is fate for y ou2)I do think the seas itself is a valid homeland in its own way. the one thing that unites all descneded of enslaved people from africa is that mo st of our forebears died on the ships to wherever\, again not just the usa but all the places\, so the sea is where most of our forebears... or at l east where most of mine are buried. You have said in the past that because those who died on the boat didn't have issue they are not but I oppose th at view. because many black dos lineages have died through the centuries b ecause of white terror anywhere\, it is uneven to not include all the peop le enslaved on the boat \, some of whom were definitely genetically relate d to those who survived. Again\, not an common place but the DOS experienc e is not common . Yes\, slavery is throughout all human history\, but the mechanics of pan white enslavement to pan blacks in the period of the cont inental slave trades had unique forms. that were never seen before or sinc e. 3) this is two queries to your position.I)I want clarification to wher e you stand to places outside the usa that have black dosers. Brasil has t o be first on the list as no place in the american continent has more blac k DOSers than brasil. Brasil had dosers before the usa\, so what you are s aying is black dosers in brasil's homeland is brasil? what about black dos ers in india\, india had DOSers before Brasil did by white muslims\, so wh at you are saying is black dosers in india's homeland is india? II) conce rning the time\, you mention the centuries black dosers have been in a cou ntry\, in this case usa\,  as  warranting its labeling as a homeland\, b ut is your position that it applies to all DOSers in a particular country whether they view it or not  or is it optional? For me\, and many other d osers\, i want to be the first in my bloodline to choose a homeland\, i th ink that had value. I don't care how long my bloodline has been in the usa \, this for me is not my choice or the choice of my forebears. I think hav ing the choice of making a homeland for yourself is one of the gifts DOS f orebears gave all DOSers \, we don't have to have any allegiance to any of these countries: usa/brasil/india because our forebears never did. It is the freedom to choose. As long as me or any in my bloodline is in the usa\ , it is a continuation of white peoples desires\, not the desires of my ow n people. I can't call my homeland on what whites desired. And no\, I don' t think the fiscal reality or impotency of my forebears in not being able to go wherever they want should be held against them.  So I conclude wit h I think your position is true but as an optional. not a definitive. and that is key.   23 hours ago\, ProfD said:Still\, that should not prev ent people from staying in their home countries &\; rebuilding it.  Gi ving up &\; running to the colonizers house doesn't make sense either.   based on that logic didn't white europeans themselves do that ? it was n't like ireland was rich\, or itlay when the italian hordes came in was r ich. And the english who came were from the poor parts of england\, they w eren't the relatives of the queen fand kings of england. so... outside the native american\, who was murdered by immigrants\, all other peoples in t he usa are immigrants\, but only DOSers are immigrants who were forced her e\, all other immigrants ran from poverty \, did they not? You say giving up and running to the colonizers house but lets be more pure\, giving up a nd running away in general \, does that make sense? cause the original wh ite european immigrants ran away from their poverty in europe and didn't c hoose to make any european country better...The whole usa outside two peop les is built on people who were fiscally poor and ran away from it.   2 3 hours ago\, ProfD said:Where else can or should FBA/ADO/AfroAmericans go to live if the USA is their birthplace? I have said it before\, DOSers anywhere are free to choose. that is the gift\, we are not bound\, until we choose to be and present that truth to the next generation\, each has t o make their choice a heritage\,  And I feel most black DOSers have never done that\, and it isn't up to black dosers to apply our desires to each other\, i argue\, we should honor each other by leaving it open. But\, to DOSers born in the USA\, specifically\, the only place I can think of tha t we all should consider based on heritage\, our history\, is Monrovia\, n ot liberia\, but monrovia.  yes\, black DOSers born in the usa settled in many places outside the usa\, black dosers leave the usa every year\, for many other lands\, to become their homelands\,  even though we don't see m to know that as a people. But\, I think we have a responsibility to Monr ovia \, as it was started by Black DOSers specifically from the USA. Now c an all black dosers born in the usa move to monrovia:) no\, but i do think we owe it to ourselves to do better there in some fashion.   23 hours ago\, ProfD said:IMO\, it does not take that long.  We can see the prog ress or lack thereof around the planet.  We know the reasons for it too .  Those who are willing to go to war\; kill &\; destroy ultimately e njoy the rewards of it.even enough\, for me it isn't about wealth or wars\ , but the condition of freedom. Black groups in every country in humanity have a fiscally wealthy person\, but that isn't enough for me to rank or r elate the various black groups\, the condition of freedom is what i am loo king for and i see little variance in that in any country. I can't think o f any black populace in a country that isn't a wealthy black 1% aside a fi scally poor black 99%\, usa/brasil/india/south africa/jamaica\, what diffe rs the black populaces in any of the countries. in terms of collective fre edom. I say nothing.  but in the future\, will be seen.  23 hours ago\ , ProfD said:There's a difference between bringing a terrorist into one' s country &\; becoming a subject versus being born in the same countr y with the terrorist. I am a little confused by the part\, bringing a te rrorist into one's country \, we are talking about DOSers\, and in india/b rasil/usa and many other countries\, like a jamaica DOSers have been born side the terrorist whites.    23 hours ago\, ProfD said:oney comes & amp\; goes.  Even the most honest\, astute\, savvy\, intelligent investo rs have amassed &\; lost &\; regained fortunes.  Most successful p eople fail a lot before they strike it big. The way one chooses to rebo und from loss or failure makes a difference. Sitting on the bench crying\ , grumbling &\; complaining won't lead to success.Expand  I only have one question\, are black people in general allowed to admit we have been f inancially abused? If I have a house and white terror has taken the house \, in your opinion\, am I allowed to mention it or is mentioning that fina ncial truth crying? If I have a parent sent to jail falsely or unevenly b y whites\, in your opinion\, am I allowed to mention it or is mentioning t hat financial truth grumbling? I do believe in creating\, in nationalism\ , I like doing\, but I like telling the truth and unfortunately\, truths f or black DOSers tend to be negative\, I will apologize for fate\, but that is the truth. Our personal histories tend to face financial obstacles\, w hich I feel need to be said \, I argue we DOSers have spent far too long b eing quiet. Again\, Pioneer talks about the law alot\, but lets call it l ike it is\, the quantity of financial crimes against black people that has gne to court int he usa is less than one percent per year\, that is a lot money taken from us. Maybe you will call that complaining but.. I rather it said than not.   23 hours ago\, ProfD said:Many Black folks have f igured out how to navigate white terror in order to win.  Easy...no.  Do able...absolutely.You are 100% correct\, but the absolute truth requires a n addition \, winning is based on how they define winning and black DOSers don't define winning the same way. I shouldn't have to go into history fo r you to know this.  @admin  7 hours ago\, admin said:You can also r aise the subscription price. you know already that raising the price of a good already diminishes those who can afford it\, and like the ferrari br and or apple brand shows in the automotive or electronics industries\, the higher priced items do have markets but they always lose volume. and reac h a volume wall\,which is a point of stagnation which the publicly traded environment hates. cause speculation/things to look at that don't have a c onstant increaseable factor lose their market viability.   7 hours ago \, admin said:Period\, 'nuff said. So you and profd believe a homeless black man can get a house based on will and desire... hmmmm ok\,   0327 2026https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12614-netflix-the-new-segregation-in-entert ainment/#findComment-80931osted just now@ProfD  5 hours ago\, ProfD s aid:'m sure you understand the context.   But\, I'll indulge... By ever y means necessary\, the colonizers left Europe and *built* countries lik e the USA &\; Australia.  That's very different from leaving an *und er-developed* home country  to struggle in another country.  Especiall y running to a predominantly *white* country that is keeping a boot on the neck of one's *homeland*Expand  well... I see\, When you speak about l eaving an under developed home country to struggle in another country\, i think of the conquistador i think of the white european imperial era throu gh france/spain/portugal/netherlands Of the european powers\, the only on e that built countries as you said were the english\, it wasn't really the common way. all the others only wanted to extract resources and leave a s et of mixed breeds to manage things to funnel money into whatever european center country. Spain and france and portugal famously had to pay white w omen to go while the english... was able to et whole communities to go. I n the end of the day\, the english didn't do it for the building of countr ies. The english pushed their colonies to be pan white\, multiwhite\, indi vidualist\, not to become the usa or canada or austrailia one day\, but to be a haven to make money. Remember the english colonies were not profitab le in the international market compared to any of the others. the money in the english colonies was actually in the english colonies spending money.  BEcause the english colonies actually invited hordes of white europeans they were given a financial status\, that the non white european majority populaces in the non english colonies couldn't get\, so the first industry of the usa was as a market place\, not because it was special but because it became the first true white european country outsdie europe. Essentail ly english goods had a controlled marketplace for tea/furniture and other english content. That was the financial purpose of the usa. its external t raffic was not its main finanial agenda. for england.   5 hours ago\,  ProfD said:What is preventing Black folks from either building up their h ome countries &\;/or taking over other lands?well first\, for DOSers if you don't view a country as your home country then their is nothing to bu ild up. Again some blacks liek james forten\, start business fight and die \, having chose the usa as ther home but then they ask questions like you to other black people who havent decided the usa is their home. You use the word prevention but you have to first view the usa as your home\, bras il as you rhome\, india as your home... before you can act like it is . B lack pople are descended of enslaved folk\, i argue in our heart\, we aren 't interested in being black versions of white europeans.  yes\, cases ex ist but on average\, we have a vengeanful desire but not a enslavement des ire.  5 hours ago\, ProfD said:Jamaica was Black before white folks sh owed up &\; colonized it. yes the caribs are black native americans\, like the negrito black asians.  5 hours ago\, ProfD said:What are Blac k folks willing to do these things other than cry\, grumble &\; complai n? As a very young person\, I was taught that as a male being weak (cr y\, grumble\, complain\, lack of self-defense\, etc.) doesn't solve anythi ng.  Being able to take action &\; handle bizness is everything.  I t works.Non verbal action always speaks louder than words. But I get the l ogic\, if you focus on building no matter how many times another burns you r house down\, you may never realize that you need to stop building where you are cause the place you are is crap.   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:N o need to go into a history lesson.  We know what produces winners &\; losers.  The question is what is one willing to do in order to *win* . no the first question s what is the definition of winning because the d efinition of winning dictates what is needed to win\, and not all definiti ons of winning are the same\, especially for DOSer.  One black person can say they have won and mean nothing to another black person cause they don t share the same meaning of winning.   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:This Black man was a drug addict &\; homeless at one point in his life.  He 's rich now.  Anything is possible.I didn't question possibility\, i said the pwoer of will and desire\, this one instance doesnt prove will and de sire\, it proves circumstance\, @Pioneer1  18 minutes ago\, Pioneer1  said:Do you suggest that we compete with others\, illegally?I suggest we\, meaning black people anywhere on earth\, each discover or learn who we ar e as individuals and who we want to be as part of black groups and then re late that to wherever we live. Yes\, it isn't as simple as all others in h umanity\, but it gives us a freedom of identity.  Black DOSers who embra ce the usa as their home. need to accept the truth of fiscal capitalism wh en it comes to legal or illegal financial activity. The great fort nes in fiscal capitalism come in majority through criminal activity.whether that criminal activity is legally noted or not.   Second to comprehend the f inancial limits of being in a multiracial scoiety where all races are free to grow\, it means financial control over others is always going to be li mited long term 03272026https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12614-netflix-the-new- segregation-in-entertainment/#findComment-80941osted just now@ProfD    27 minutes ago\, ProfD said:I'm sure you can see the difference between leaving one's home country &\; squatting in another country\; to produc e nothing &\; make zero contribution to it.  What is the accomplishmen t?I remember listening to an immigrant to the usa\, who is homeless\, a me xican or mesitzo from somewhere in latin america. He flat out said\, his g oal was to get in the usa... so for many immigrants\, not all\, but many t hey win by merely being in the usa\, as the accomplishment\, even if they are only squatting. And that is their choice but there you have it\, to an swer the question of accomplishment. This is why comparing wins is hard\, because one person's win is not another person's win.   27 minutes ag o\, ProfD said:Right. Those individuals need to find a country that will accept them &\; to which they can relocate to produce &\; contribut e to building &\; making it better. Yes... with the addition that agai n\, some people leave with no need to make the destination country better\ , as muc has the destination country has what they are looking for. When y ou look at israel\, many jews go to israel to simply be among jews\, it is not to be rich or produce as you say or \"make it better\" as much as the environment is satisfactory for them\, the win is the move \, but moving takes time\, it isn't magic. And you can't force it through hard work. my forebears worked very hard and often got nothing of what they wanted becau se hard work still requires opportunity and if you don't opportunity\, you don't. and without violence\, peace blockades some forms of opportunity.    27 minutes ago\, ProfD said:There's no shortage of successful Blac k people who have overcome seemingly insurmountable hurdles in order to * win*. yes with the addition that the quantity of black people getting wha t they want\, I will call that successful\, is far less based on non black potency because blacks are abused at no fault of their own by whites. Whe n competition isn't even\, when it has criminal actions that is highly man ipulative\, especially in the financial realm. I know you see the USA as a place that allows any individual to succeed but I don't think that is fi nancially true. To rephrase\, negative unmerited blockades or abuses are a pplied to people in the usa which means individuals don't have the ability to succeed. Athletes are the best examples. A black baseball played \, pl aying today admitted in the players journal\, if it wasn't for my communit y in some area of florida\, placing themselves in debt he wouldn't had mad e it as a baseball player. That is not an environment for all to succeed\, that is called an environment of failure.   27 minutes ago\, ProfD s aid:Not sure what that has to do with putting in the effort to *win*.  I t has been done several times over already past to present.and this is the key variance\, in your mind\, effort overcomes environment. The numbers s how\, effort never overcomes environment. A negative financial environment   defined as an environment designed to hinder financial positive movemen t\, succeeds in majority in the usa historically\, all phenotypes. IT isn' t that effort overcame environment as much as environment\, which in the f inancial sense is a human construct can not be designed perfectly/a comple te work\, and the environment ALLOWS a percentage of those in it to succee d which happens. You and others think it is effort overcoming the negativi ties of the environment when in truth it is the system merely allowing suc cess for a minority. Which is the USA way.  0327/2026https://aalbc.com/t c/topic/12614-netflix-the-new-segregation-in-entertainment/#findComment-80 943osted just now@ProfD  44 minutes ago\, ProfD said:Those types of i mmigrants are making it worse for others as these white folks are trying t o kick them out of the USA. but the issue we are discussing is what peopl e deem as wins\, what is accomplishment? is accomplishment what you say it \, what i say it is? I argue the definition to wins or accomplishments ch anges twixt individuals or groups and so it is challenging to apply standa rds of wins/accomplishment between individuals or groups. and to the poin t you raised\, not all white folks are trying to kick them out... this goe s back to Monrovia ... many whites did support blacks leaving but most sup ported blacks staying in the usa in perpetuity as enslaved\, so much so ma king the happy slave myth to make themselves feel better  44 minutes ago \, ProfD said:Seems selfish to go somewhere else &\; offer nothing.   In the same way that you do not like liars\, I'm not fond of *take rs* i.e. people who do not add &\;/or offer nothing to the situation & amp\;/or environment.even point. I comprehend your viewpoint 100% the prob lem for the usa is it was founded by takers\, if you consider the native a merican heritages and cultures\, the usa was founded by takers\, who addin g nothing positive to what was in existence.. so the usa has a heritage of willing immigrants mostly adding nothing except negativities\, with only a minority adding positives to the current situation. Chaos starters    44 minutes ago\, ProfD said:I doubt those people merely show up to drain the resources &\; live off the sweat equity of others. if you look at the settlers in palestinean lands\, that is all they do... they don't gro w anything\, they definitely don't add to peace so... When israel first s tarted it had a huge zionist movement\, but I argue\, that the majority of white jews or even jews in humanity where anti zionist from a personal le vel\, meaning they support the existence of israel but never want to live there. I shared in this forum somewhere the reform jewish numbers. most je ws are not orthodox are not looking to go to israel. but many give money/ support to keep it afloat. so... the people who tend to go there ... are a rarer type. Israel has many issues but again\, it was started chaoticall y\, so I don't see why it having  a chaotic life isn't expected.   44 minutes ago\, ProfD said:Anything can be accomplished through desire &am p\; will &\; effort. nature says nothing is ever totally true  44 mi nutes ago\, ProfD said:Clearly\, we live in different parts of the USA.  true and to that end\, that is also the problem \, the usa isn't a small town\, it is a country of three hundred and fifty million people who are in dissimilar environments. A solid thirty percent of black people in the usa and I argue fifty percent of Black DOSers live in small black towns w here their financial life is very challenging from non black influences. I don't live in that exact environment and yet their are the financially af fluent black regions of Los Angeles or NYC or Atlanta where everyone black is millionaire or better. so... yes\, the us has different places \, diff erent financial environments \, always has\, and they don't relate. So wh en the usa is spoken of in one way\, because a person lives in one particu lar place is that reflective of the usa? no\, it is reflective of a partic ular place in the usa. That is not the same.  44 minutes ago\, ProfD s aid:Many of us taught to accept the fact that life is not fair.  However \, despite the negative obstacles that life will put in your way\, do not allow it to impede the effort of pressing towards the mark of the high c alling.  Again\, I do not see anything positive coming out of those who cry/grumble/complain about how life is not fair in one way or several.   These conditions existed before we were born. Especially for those of you who believe in procreation regardless of the circumstances.  So\, here w e are born into an unfair existence &\; left to figure this sh8t out du ring our time on the planet.  Some people find a way to *win* while ot hers wallow in pond of misery or despair or hopelessness.Expand  Ahh yes and that is a very statian turn of phrase. you see\, life is even\, life is beautiful. nature is even\, nature is beautiful. And\, life isn't fair /white nor is it schartz/black\, nature as well isn't fair or schwartz. H uman beings manipulate life into uneveness. manipulate life into being fai r or schwartz. IT isn't life that brings negative or positive obstacles i n humans lives\, it is other humans. Those who confuse human actions as l ife is the great dysfunction\, this goes back to NAt Turner\, Jean JAcques Dessalines\, the IRA\, what they are saying is Blacks folks problems aren 't life but whites or Irish peoples problems aren't life but English. Kil l the whites\, kill the english and life becomes its natural neutral state . The problem is humans are not fools inside\, they can tell themselves t hat life isn't even\, but they know the truth is life is even\, it is othe r humans making their lives uneven that they need to change and the best w ay to do that isn't to play games with the humans that are making their li ves uneven but to kill those humans making their lives uneven \, and in fa ce with that truth\, many humans lament\, the lie they were raised with.  I have seen this \, as a tutor\, I have seen black parents say such things with my own eyes and I have refuted them to black children in their prese nce. It isn't life that is hard\, your not broke/you don't have opportuni ties or resources because nature/earth/life used ocean water and made a hu ge tide and grabbed our forebears off the land and carried our forebears i n a bubble to other lands. Your challenges are white made\, not life made.  Existence is always even\, always beautiful and never white/fair nor bla ck/schwartz So admit the humans that are truly behind your woes which you r parents know is true\, but are lying to you because they themselves have never faced the true source of their own woes\, which is whites.And I wil l defend the pond of helplessness. It is no accident that the IRA was only three hundred people \, it is no accident that Black DOSers in what becam e Haiti alone made a country for DOSers in the American continent. The he lpness comes because of another truth\, all humans know humans are the one s that make life imabalnced\, it is never life itself\, life is always try ing to reach balance. Life is never trying to be white or black or uneven in any way. So that means some humans have to be taken out but most don't have the courage for that. And this is what Zen meant. People think Zen me ans the person who does nothing amidst the chaos but misses that isn't Zen \, what Zen says is that any action is acceptible in nature. What this mea ns isn't that one must exist within chaos\, what it means is any action\, no matter how violent isn't a sin\, isn't a negative\, isn't anything to b e afraid of. And that wisdom is what most parents\,\,\, sadfully\, don't convey to their children or are too afraid to face themselves.  03272026 https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12614-netflix-the-new-segregation-in-entertainm ent/#findComment-80945osted just now@ProfD  4 hours ago\, ProfD said: Do you believe the takers improved the country or merely lived off that which was already developed?  The USA has undergone a major transformati on over these past several hundred years &\; counting.based on the firs t peoples heritage\, lifestyle \, the answer is no. but white europeans pu blicly admitted they came to destroy the native american no to improve any thing concerning the native american so... life is balance\,  a country s tarted by takers is itself took. White immigration is older than the usa\ , like so many things about the usa \, the usa's birth didn't start any oo f it. that immigration heritage didn't start in 1776 but started in 1492. The blood feud between whites and blacks didn't start in 1776 but started in 1492. Yes the usa has technology had many eras from 1776 to 2026. But\ , in terms of the people\, the heritage\, the culture\, the usa is in my m ind\, only a little different than the white european colonies. Again JAme s Forten was a black man who owned a business in the english colonies and afterward with the creation of the usa but the black 1% has always existed . So... the meat and potatoes of the usa are older than the usa.  4 hour s ago\, ProfD said:All types of buildings &\; businesses will spring up once the investors get a foothold. a foothold\, what stopped them thes e past fifty odd years\, what defines a foothold? and who are these inves tors exactly?   4 hours ago\, ProfD said:what are you going to about it? How are you going to deal with the humans responsible for the unfair conditions?well\, did one white man enslave black people or did white peo ple enslave black people. From my reading of history this was group activ ities not singular individuals so... The question is what are blacks going to do and if very few blacks are willing to come together and do then the ir resides the reason for the \, pool or negativity. Not all problems are individual based. One person can't handle the humans responsible. And for the record\, just to make sure in case any read this\, i never said my pl ans to the future include mass genocide. My point is that many black peopl e want that\, but they don't have the courage for that. And I will not cri minalize them because many people don't have the stomach for killing. And soldiers will tell you\, with all the training and sergeants yelling and s peeches\, many soldiers are cowards. In movie land\, every soldier is look ing to fight but anyone who knows anything about war knows all armies are full of cowards\, masquerading behind a gun. So\, I will not chagrin unarm ed black people from not having the courage to be violent\, again the ira was only 300 people in an island with millions of irish\, i am not expecti ng a mass violent uprising from black dosers in the usa\, nor do I plan fo r that\, but I am also honest enogh to admit many black people quietly\, h ate whites and this country \, and it is a strong heritage\, which leads t o a desire to not involve in this country or with its whites. And sadly\, it also leads to a potent place of despair.   4 hours ago\, ProfD sai d:Exactly.  What is the alternative if one is too cowardly to take out th e enemy?many alternatives or other paths\, as DOSers are the proof1) Not a ll DOSers view whites of the usa as the enemy\, again James forten. So you r question misses the blacks who don't view whites as the enemy in the fir st place\, and infinite paths come from this. 2) To those too cowardly\, for whatever reason [and many reasons exists for not killing\, not merely fear of killing] infinite paths exist\, the following are some. I) live p eacefully with the enemy. and this takes many forms\, as DOSers show. II) find a land absent the enemy\, and this can take you anywhere\, as DOSers show.   4 hours ago\, ProfD said:As humans\, parents do whatever it take to shield/protect their children from the realities of this existence while also encouraging them to overcome it. Humans have been dancing thi s tango for thousands of years.  Nothing new under the sun.Well \, some p arents care for their children wisely\, not all. and some parents don't ca re for their children wisely. As an artists\, someone in an art community one said that Disney is needed for kids to have something positive. We wer e discussing the lack of complex relations in disney stories. and\, thinki ng on a thought i had communicating with you about the USA having only two aspects of itself 1) splitting from the english empire 2) the perception of usa eternity. I realize thinking on parents in the usa\, I was incorrec t. 2 ) is media weapons. The USA has a level of media unlike any country. The declaration of independence is an advertisement to a fake product. But when I extend beyond that I see\, the firms or peoples of the USA are als o heavy media folk. The daughters of the american revolution worked to ge t a fals emedia narrative as truth\, to this day\, many people of all phen otypes still adhere to the pfaux history that the daughters of the america n revolution created. But it extends to many. Immigrant parents. How many immigrant parents have i heard say\, they love the usa. A lie. They don't love the usa\, they were desperate for financial betterment and went to t he best place to get it with the least effort. Black DOSers\, if I hear o ne more black doser talk about forebears wanting to be Statian of the usa\ , i will eat my own gizzard. Another lie. And the funny thing is \, any re search into black art 1865 proves black people were very anti usa + white . but headed by the damn black church\, this myth of desired americanism c ame about so much so that most black people in the usa today\, act in conc ert to that lie. And thus to Disney\, Disney comprehended the majority of people in the usa\, the customers\,  like to lie and lie to others and b e lied to\, and the internet proves this. the internet as it is today is a usa creation and it proves the character of the majority in the usa gardl ess of phenotype/gender or any racial category. The fables that disney to ok came from germany\, a country that has its many biases but tends to act ually be more honest. From martin luther who couldn't stand the commercial ization of the medici popes\, the nazis who never said they were intereste d in world peace or making peace\, the nazis for all of their violence or criminal behavior never lied about their intentions to others. they lied t o themselves about their own infallicy\, and it is interesting how the whi tes of the usa was the nazis primary mimick of style\, learn lies from the biggest liar\, but the nazi's still retained a level of german honesty.  So yeah\, thank you profd\, the usa has two elements from itself1) breakin g away from england 2) media weaponry culturebut the individualism/fiscal capitalism/multiracialism/immigration/regional infighting heritages or cu ltures were actually started by the english in the colonial era\, not of t he usa. and I argue haven't changed much since then. Technology changing is a human thing\, that has nothing to do with any country\, that is human .  03/29/2026https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12614-netflix-the-new-segregatio n-in-entertainment/#findComment-81010osted just now@ProfD   On 3/27/20 26 at 8:03 PM\, ProfD said:As it relates to Palestine &\; more specif ically the Gaza Strip\, I believe it will look like Dubai in the future.   The architects have already drawn up the blueprints.  Investors are l ining up to get a piece of the action.  The USA &\; Israel are workin g out the deals.Well... in the future if you go far ahead enough all place s have another golden time plus a feces time\, that is why of life. If yo u mean within fifty years \, I don't think so. But I am glad you have thi s insider information that seems to be unknown to many people black or non black\, so use it to gain fiscal wealth.   On 3/27/2026 at 8:03 PM\,  ProfD said:i just don't see too much energy poured into mission either in action or rhetoric.  There have been a few instances where groups of Bl ack folks have attacked white folks but historically\, past to present\, f ar more Black folks have been killed by white folks than vice versa.well y es\, especially in the last five hundred years\, again\, humanity has been around a while\, so I resist speaking on all of human history\, i prefer some temporal domains on any issue  On 3/27/2026 at 8:03 PM\, ProfD sa id:White people do.  They are human killing machines directly &\; indi rectly.  History proves it. Right now\, the USA &\; Israel are droppi ng bombs on Iran.  What is the death toll?in my read of history most whit es don't either. most humans simply do not\,at least in my read of human h istory. I don't know the number of iranians murdered by usa +israel  in the last two years\, i know it is high\, and i know that the seeds of grea t negativity are being born of it that will become something one day  On 3/27/2026 at 8:03 PM\, ProfD said:Black people can buy weapons &\; l earn how to use them if they have the desire &\; will to do so.i repeat many soldiers on battlefields\, with the most deadly weapons\, trained ev ery day\, being shot at\, are unable to use weapons\, the presence of a we apon in your hands plus daily training plus your personal life threatened still doesn't equal automatic will to use weapons.  On 3/27/2026 at 8:03 PM\, ProfD said:Similar to the person in an abusive relationship.  The y *h8te* being mistreated but won't fight back or kill the abuser.  They stick around for 1) any benefits &\; 2) hoping &\; praying the abuse will stop.the biggest problem in your allusion is the dysfunctional relat ionship between individuals and groups. The individual in an abusive rela tionship side another individual has a great difference between a group in an abusive relationship side another group. When George Stinney was unev enly incarcerated by white law enforcers\, chaoticly and violently mobbed by white citizens\, George Stinney's parents couldn't simply raise an army from the black populace. The black populace as a group isn't getting ben efits\, nor is the black populace as a group hoping and praying the abuse will stop\, the black populace as a group doesn't have a group mechanism.  A woman running from a man is not the same as a group of people running from another. Remember\, in any two groups interaction you have individual interactions in all ways. During the time of George Stinney some black ki lled whites. It is about the mechanics of the group. And to that end\, th e black populace of the usa has had various internal mechanics\, but at th e moment\, the black populace of the usa has arguably the weakest internal mechanics\, but based on black individuals who have chosen to influence t he larger group that way.And the non black\, specifically old white popula ce has the same problem today. The reality is\, in the 1900s the white pop ulace in the usa became internally multiracial\, like the black. So the 20 26 white populace has a more complex internal mechanics than in 1960s\, or mid nineteen hundreds or earlier and many whites in the usa\, especially the old whites\, are having problems comprehending the change in internal mechanics of the white populace\, cause it was never like this before.    On 3/27/2026 at 8:03 PM\, ProfD said:Over the past 200 years  count ing\, the USA has produced the most innovation &\; technological change s that have been replicated around the planet. the usa produced the most innovation \, I don't know about that.  the first satellite was russian/ sovietthe first system to have a human being in space was russian sovietth e first integrated computer was englishthe fastest submarine is russian/so viet \, using liquid metal heated by the enginethe fastest torpedo is sovi et using supercavitationthe only domestic use of nuclear power engines is russian/soviet- these are ships that break ice circa north polethe first r ockets or jet fighters are germanthe earliest airships or dirigibles are f rench/germanthe best dam building is from russia/sovietsthe mapping of the genome was an international effort\, it wasn't one countryfirst printed c ircuit boards  were germanfirst electronic watch was swissthe first elect ronic watch with peizoelectric was nippon/japanwe all know about benz from germany and the single stroke engine\, his poor wife. Everyone knows the usa never produced better weapons than germany during the second white eu ropean imperial war\, but the usa \, like china  which is interesting hi storically\, are both big copiers and mass producers.  Innovation\, new things\, the usa isn't a big new things country.Other countries tend to do that more during the usa's two hundred and fifty years.  Most technologi es their source isn't the usa.  The usa did make the television. But th e one innovation the usa did make that truly warrants note\, through ford\ , was the assembly line.  And it is interesting cause the concept of the assembly line is about the goal of mass production. An assembly line can h ave a bunch of human beings with torches\, but the key to technological ch anges\, polishings\, is the assembly line pushes mass production which is truly usa and something that china has grabbed onto as a concept in light of the usa. Crafting from ancient times was never a mass produced idea\, t he idea is to make something efficient\, long lasting\, but the assembly l ine idea busted through that concept.   In parallel\, when I look at sov iet russia\, arguably the problem with soviet russia is that it truly adop ted the german technological heritage from the weimar district of efficien t innovation\, the ancient human heritage of quality craft. The usa create d the modern culture of hype schools\, the ivy leagues. In the usa you say you go to a school or work for a firm and the hype of that is superior to the quality of a place. In germany \, demerit is real\, failure leads to demerit. but in the usa\, one can exist above demerit. You see this with S chrumpft\, he epitomizes that statian heritage in government. Wheras in ge rmany in weimar\, the idea was effectiveness. As I said to you before\, th e usa's greatest two aspects is : one break away from the british and two\ , the culture of advertisement from the declaration of independence throug h the radio\, the usa didn't create radio\, through television\, through t he internet [the usa did create the protocols used by most today\, but not the internet itself\, the internet is really a web of webs of various pro tocols made by various groups or organizations\, the usa through its adver tising skill got most to fall in line to it]  the usa is a master of sell ing ideas\, not the truth\, but selling ideas\, getting people to buy into them\, prosyletization [ which I can't stand but there you have it] .    If you look deep alot of technologies were not from the usa but the us a mass manufactured\, that fiscal capitalistic power made sure the usa pro fited financially from it\, but that ins't innovation. Just because someon e makes money off a thing doesn't mean they thought of it. And to black f olks\, people will say george washington carver was american but Percy Jul ian proves black engineers in days past didn't see themselves as american\ , not honestly. You say things in public\, but do you really believe. As j ames baldwin said\, very honestly\, which is rare for most in the public e ye\, I paraphrase\, his father never hurt whites one bit\, but his father hated whites to the pit of his soul. We talk about black parenting and wh y it was so harsh but black parents weren't happy. I think we as descenden ts of black parents of mid to late eighteen hundreds to mid nineteen hundr eds \, as per the usa's influence\, have created an advertisement campaign to ourselves\, lying about our forebears to make our choices seem better.   @Pioneer1  On 3/28/2026 at 11:19 AM\, Pioneer1 said:Hmmmm.......\n Interesting exchange between you two.\n\nSometimes it's pleasant to just s it back and READ the points of view of others.glad you are enjoying yourse lf @Mel Hopkins  On 3/28/2026 at 11:44 AM\, Mel Hopkins said:We  hav e black owned radio stations  and cathy hughes' urbanone network. Better for the imagine. Bump the boob tube!   On 3/23/2026 at 4:56 AM\, Pion eer1 said:It's getting to the point that every time I see an article abou t a new Black television show\, I start skimming over the words until I se e \"Netflix\" in the article because I know that's where I'll have to go i f I want to see it.Also you can stream TubiTV.  A lot of our creative wor k\, films\, tv series\,  documentaries are airlng on Tubi and the creator s also get paid. (I don't know how much though) you don't need to sign in either all you need is a browser and internet connection. BUT Tubi is owne d by Rupert Murdoch.  Expand  have you seen this? I am going to apply\, working on my screenplay  will you take part?if not at least share  h ttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/668-tubi-x-blacklist-horror-initiative-20 26-challenge-final-day/ @Pioneer1  On 3/28/2026 at 12:11 PM\, Pioneer 1 said:My greater point is......... We can EXPAND our options without CA NCELLING some of them out.\nWe should be on the internet and social media. ..no doubt.\nBut we should STILL keep and have our news papers\, radio sho ws\, and broadcast television stations to reach that older or less tech sa vy audience.yeah \, good financial pint\, but financially\, you have to em brace the truth that no poor peoples ever did anything in the usa. here i s the problem\, from 1865 to 1980 the Jim crow era\, you had a change in t he culture of the wealthy\, the gilded age was late 1800s \, and i argue f or blacks the gilded age was early 1900s with madame cj walker\, what do m ost fiscally wealthy people have in common from late 1800s to 1920s... by the time of the first white european imperial war the body of wealthy peop le in the usa went through a huge change.  alot of the fiscally poor peop le\, black or non black or other \, in the late 1800s actually grew up fis cally poor\, so when they chose to help they were serious because they wer e actually poor at one time in their life\, but their children and grandch ildren weren't them. and after what carnegie did\, many of the children of the gilded\, engineered wealth and money making to be a very inherited th ings. If you look at most wealthy people today in the black populace for e xample\, it is like whites\, mostly inheritors. In the 1960s black people with money were mostly people born financially poor who made it rich but n ow\, inheritors is ninety percent like with all demographics or peoples in the usa\, What is my point? The people with money in a community are al ways the financial leaders and in absence it is tough. I can take nyc\, t he financial center of white jews/irish/italians and all three have their mobs to thank for everything. what are mobs ? financially wealthy organiza tions involved in illegal activities\, run by people mostly grew up poor. When the italians/white jews/irish folk wanted to go legal they still used illegal money to make it happen. So\, you need the big money folk. To th at end\, everyday I see black millionaires and billionaires investing in w hite enterprises. they are not blind\, they know the black populace has ne eds\, so if they are unwilling to use their money to support he black popu lace\, then they simply are. Again\, how many black people from the 1960s to today paid for a black person to go to a non historical black college?  that is arguably billions of dollars mostly given to non black colleges? black colleges are arguably the oldest non religious /secular black organ izations in the united states of america\, so... no excuse for lack of her itage. I comprehend your greater point but you need to really eye the bla ck fiscal wealthy for that lacking. And if for no other reason\, fiscal ho nesty. that jewish art gallery\, where you get your money from\, the loan s\, the local bank? feces\,you had some rich white jew help you\, through the synagoge. that italian construction company\, where you get the commi ssions? on merit\, feces\, you had connections with your cousin in the mob . I don't think any shame exist getting help\, but for some reason\, mayb e @ProfD can answer\, people in the usa have a huge problem being honest when it comes to who helped them out financially. They seem ashamed to sa y it is a mob or a financial friend in some form? why be ashamed? the usa has never been place where the public way leads to anything. Women in the usa who have big houses and sent all their kids to school talk about how they worked hard... you got a financial stipend from a man who abused you worth millions of dollars. You married a billionaire forty years your seni or. I am not criminalizing\, but too many in the usa who have wealth are v ery ashamed of their history of financial transactions. How many black pe ople started businesses with fbi/cia money? when they gave them cash to se ll out black people and they used that to start businesses\, support their kids? why can't they say? what are they ashamed of? whites in the usa wh o got money from their great uncle who runs a private prison which has bee n in operation since the late 1800s\, a family treasure. not paying encarc erated people while they took all the money and skimmed for road building.  If more people in the usa would admit the truth of their financial trans actions especially in financing\, that would push people to embrace fiscal ly wealthy people being responsible for not investing in things. Stop tell ing fiscally poor people about their pennies.  @Mel Hopkins   On 3/28 /2026 at 12:15 PM\, Mel Hopkins said:We can too! That is still our mediu m. But I get your point\, we don't have the other media.  Heck we barely have newspapers!every group barely has newspapers\, should black people be that financially other? again\, in NYC\, i see lot of newspaper gravesite s.  is it up to blacks to go against financial trends in a country where we are not the majority populace? @Pioneer1  On 3/28/2026 at 12:20 PM\ , Pioneer1 said:Which is crazy because back in the 50s and 60s not only did every Black community have it's own paper but nearly every Black highs chool had it's own Black newspaper. You didn't need a Scripts Howard back then.\n Black students were learning journalism (among other skills and trades) BEFORE they graduated from Highschool.\n Expand  It isn't crazy\ , why do you say it is crazy? every fiscal firm has numerical realities. paper cost money\, reporters cost money [cost of living/extra wage/competi tive wage influence]\, shipping newspapers cost money. Can you get adverti sing for your newspaper? the village voice is gone\, that was a public new spaper\, the reason was simple\, it was unaffordable\, even with adveritis ng the adult /erotic/similar stuff\, they couldn't afford their cost of op eration. Your saying its crazy black people don't have newspapers like cl early if I started a newspaper right now in debt\, the debt would be cover ed in a month. I think newspapers are a negative business. First\,the tw o methods of getting money are thin now: subscriptions + advertisements.  Subscriptions are tough cause across the demographic board in the usa\, so not just black people\, people don't read long form. or paper based commu nication. many newspapers have tried online but again\, a website isn't fr ee to host\, a website cost money to maintain and overtime only increase.  Advertising is tough cause advertisers have metrics\, in the past or tod ay\, they know what people aren't viewing/being influenced by\, so why sho uld a firm advertise. Look at the amsterdam news in NYC. it is fortunate. It has a black wealthy populace in NYC\, specifically manhattan that is o ld\, has a heritage of support for the amsterdam news. Most black newspape rs don't have a fiscally wealthy black minority in the black populace of t he city they are in like the Amsterdam News. And I know you well enough t hat you always want to fall on the fiscally poor only using black newspape rs to keep them alive but... I can't tell what would reading the amsterdam news really give back to the fiscal black poor of nyc if they were to eac h invest per month or two weeks into the amsterdam news.   DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260324 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Art Comments 04272026 DTSTAMP:20260427T203857Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:723-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:PRIOR ENTRYhttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/718-art-comment s-04172026/NEXT ENTRYhttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/734-art-comments-05 142026/ COMMENT URLhttps://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1326315438/52806 61096Beautiful edition\, thank you @leothefox for editing and thank all ot hers for sharing/participating their work.@FlyingFryingPans is that an out house?@Redsterfish you put the tag critical\, a judgement\, was your poem judging life itself? Brutalism\, a thing of crudeness.@CapnDeek373 brave o nyc + bob...what is the best + worst aspect of a basement dwelling?@Chaosf ive-55 where is the eight year old ufo sighting note?I need to reread the stagefrought vampire again:)@zeroequalsq yes we do\, but are we satisfied? https://youtu.be/E-HmbGgFmBU?si=D16CkynzXP0emp7s<\;iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/E-HmbGgFmBU?si=-CgEwHCb fCGuFHpJ\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accele rometer\; autoplay\; clipboard-write\; encrypted-media\; gyroscope\; pictu re-in-picture\; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-orig in\" allowfullscreen>\;<\;/iframe>\;<\;div class=\"scroll-containe r\" style=\"background-color: #333\;overflow: auto\;white-space: nowrap\;p adding: 10px\;\">\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\"ht tps://www.deviantart.com/flyingfryingpans/art/Quick-sketch-296-1311296583\ " target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8 87773594c2.wixmp.com/f/ac9f1ff5-9268-48b2-8dca-424b44c48e85/dlopmx3-28d455 9e-6eff-4447-ad9c-a8f50c7cccca.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_891\,q_70\,strp/quick_s ketch_296_by_flyingfryingpans_dlopmx3-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhb GciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMG QyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIs Im9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9ODkxIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mL2FjOWYxZmY1LTkyNjgtNDhiMi 04ZGNhLTQyNGI0NGM0OGU4NS9kbG9wbXgzLTI4ZDQ1NTllLTZlZmYtNDQ0Ny1hZDljLWE4ZjUw YzdjY2NjYS5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbW FnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.4yuLLpSrRDeqg2N7sFBbVsAnxw4Guk5ymxi-t2hG8ZU\" heigh t=\"209\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"http s://www.deviantart.com/redsterfish/art/Brutalism-1313351374\" target=\"_bl ank\">\;<\;img src=\"\" height=\"209\" width=\"300\">\;BRUTALISM fro m REDSTERFISH<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviant art.com/capndeek373/art/stare-down-1314496916\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\ ;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/9d16c 03f-a8ba-4988-a746-5b5504d92683/dlqm8b8-576742cd-0c8f-4f99-aa56-47cf3cc72c 00.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_792\,q_70\,strp/stare_down_by_capndeek373_dlqm8b8-3 00w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjd lMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4O TgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NzkyIiwicGF 0aCI6Ii9mLzlkMTZjMDNmLWE4YmEtNDk4OC1hNzQ2LTViNTUwNGQ5MjY4My9kbHFtOGI4LTU3N jc0MmNkLTBjOGYtNGY5OS1hYTU2LTQ3Y2YzY2M3MmMwMC5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTAyNCJ 9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.XfSB0Ga8Y4cdxRay thGyi_wbIL4j8B_b41NDdzXQMSY\" height=\"232\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img&g t\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/chaosfive-55/art /My-UFO-Sighting-729918808\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https:// images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/f3480b38-b9ec-4af4-a959- c48d9e740352/dc2koyg-2c38f472-8801-4f30-8028-67f65879d576.jpg/v1/fit/w_300 \,h_900\,q_70\,strp/my_ufo_sighting_by_chaosfive_55_dc2koyg-300w.jpg?token =eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIy NjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYT VmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9Mzg2NCIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi9m MzQ4MGIzOC1iOWVjLTRhZjQtYTk1OS1jNDhkOWU3NDAzNTIvZGMya295Zy0yYzM4ZjQ3Mi04OD AxLTRmMzAtODAyOC02N2Y2NTg3OWQ1NzYuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTUxNTIifV1dLCJhdWQi OlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.eOsCCWaXeWcs6BukhFfFD64y6cI 1Oc_11z_yuMi8a4s\" height=\"225\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a& gt\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/chaosfive-55/art/The-Case-o f-the-Stagestruck-Vampire-1318540445\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src= \"\" height=\"209\" width=\"300\">\;THE CASE PF THE STAGESTRUCK VAMPIRE from CHAOSFIVE55<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.devi antart.com/zeroequalsq/art/We-Know-How-This-Ends-1324641346\" target=\"_bl ank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wix mp.com/f/319562ce-b446-405f-8ce4-53f1b29dfbfb/dlwnnsy-34e2710b-fd9c-456f-b f0d-9adcfd5ddf56.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_748\,q_70\,strp/we_know_how_this_ends __by_zeroequalsq_dlwnnsy-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1Ni J9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXN zIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7I mhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NzQ4IiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mLzMxOTU2MmNlLWI0NDYtNDA1Zi04Y2U0LTUzZjF iMjlkZmJmYi9kbHdubnN5LTM0ZTI3MTBiLWZkOWMtNDU2Zi1iZjBkLTlhZGNmZDVkZGY1Ni5qc GciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTAyNCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXR pb25zIl19.3ODkJ3i1gGs8mB8fOrxxMzN44QUCJd-W8163vbyD2D8\" height=\"219\" wid th=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;/div>\;\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260426 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Art Comments 04172026 DTSTAMP:20260418T035908Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:718-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:PRIOR ENTRYhttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/671-art-comment s-03072026/NEXT ENTRY https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/723-art-comments- 04272026/COMMENT URLhttps://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1309095818/52787 91837@Anton-Constantin it reminds me of european impressionism\, like the film Metropolis@pirebo metallic foil\, a rare canvas medium\, thank you@My Granny4 beautiful fog\, reminds me of a scene from a hammer film@KizukiTam ura with deviantart doing languages\, will you support a french language d eviantart? Have you considered your literary work in some sort of paper ba sed way? so it can be had by folk after your time\, I ask cause like me yo u have a lot of poetry.<\;div class=\"scroll-container\" style=\"backgro und-color: #333\;overflow: auto\;white-space: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\"> \;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantar t.com/leothefox/art/Dread-Deadline-62SixtyTwo-01-1304549113\" target=\"_bl ank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wix mp.com/f/2e2f9a87-d578-4aa6-870c-f0577343f003/dlkp0jd-66b70742-7b25-4ece-9 9f5-abfcdcde15f6.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_760\,q_70\,strp/dread_deadline_62sixt ytwo_01_by_leothefox_dlkp0jd-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUz I1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiw iaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W 1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NzYwIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mLzJlMmY5YTg3LWQ1NzgtNGFhNi04NzBjLWY 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href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/kizukitamura/art/often-a-bi rd-1303514371\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp- ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/fbb666d9-81ce-452e-944d-7fb069a91c2c/ dlk2u4j-a9722bc8-0430-472d-ac2a-d59b553151cd.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70 \,strp/often_a_bird_by_kizukitamura_dlk2u4j-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1Q iLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQx NWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMj ZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTA2NyIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi9mYmI2NjZkOS04MWNl LTQ1MmUtOTQ0ZC03ZmIwNjlhOTFjMmMvZGxrMnU0ai1hOTcyMmJjOC0wNDMwLTQ3MmQtYWMyYS 1kNTliNTUzMTUxY2QuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTgwMCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2Vydmlj ZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.ZGCVAzDzF1lH81jpADjUC08AYwQqaM_-cGVmFV4d64s\" height=\"400\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href= \"https://www.deviantart.com/leothefox/art/The-Gods-of-Mars-807370737\" ta rget=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca88777 3594c2.wixmp.com/f/2e2f9a87-d578-4aa6-870c-f0577343f003/ddcor8x-2b574f7c-d 3ee-49a4-ae89-bd214e718461.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_854\,q_70\,strp/the_gods_of _mars_by_leothefox_ddcor8x-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1 NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwia XNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t 7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9ODU0IiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mLzJlMmY5YTg3LWQ1NzgtNGFhNi04NzBjLWYwN Tc3MzQzZjAwMy9kZGNvcjh4LTJiNTc0ZjdjLWQzZWUtNDlhNC1hZTg5LWJkMjE0ZTcxODQ2MS5 qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyY XRpb25zIl19.3QGGEG8FieKKkm-yE9jzQkX2pxvLQ4xzIPlEqIR7T6g\" height=\"200\" w idth=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;/div>\;COMMENT URLhttp s://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1311348371/5278794065@leothefox I have c hecked out some chapters of misery of multitudes a true epic@BlaWhi remind s me of raggedy ann \, the swiss army knife hand is cool@meanpersonaart ic onic work \, warrants a shirt or poster@BognaWoskowicz-art nice use of ref lections \, reminds me of the I love you more by George duke \, cover illu strationhttps://youtu.be/3_i9tO-89J8?si=tlb3_IaOO3n7T8Av@ABeardedArtist is this a harbinger?@ElDeeWooo beauitful photo manipulation\, i thought when i first saw this\, a wooden angle\, love that you manipulated a trunk int o this\, one question\, what tools did you use to photomanipulate?<\;div class=\"scroll-container\" style=\"background-color: #333\;overflow: auto \;white-space: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\">\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in- ->\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/leothefox/art/Dread-Deadl ine-62SixtyTwo-01-1304549113\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https: //images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/2e2f9a87-d578-4aa6-870 c-f0577343f003/dlkp0jd-66b70742-7b25-4ece-99f5-abfcdcde15f6.jpg/v1/fit/w_3 00\,h_760\,q_70\,strp/dread_deadline_62sixtytwo_01_by_leothefox_dlkp0jd-30 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height=\"400\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img& gt\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;/div>\;COMMENT URLhttps://www.deviantart.com/comm ents/1/1313593729/5278797635@leothefox what is the thing you liked to blen d the most? fruit juices?@geehigh a truly magical image you constructed\, surreal and yet\, alludes to reality\, objects in the sky\, winds\, roads\ , all evident and yet\, unpresent.. nice work@Onirio i can say i saw the p resence of mew\, bubblegum type\, in post dealing with surrealism/penny dr eadful tales... magic@DomesticVamp I thought captain harlock but yes\, the belmost clan\, what edition of castlevania is your favorite?@mannartgalle ry reminds me of a vision of cacti in the desert@Drax242 the shapes are ve ry art nouveau\, natural shapes\, curves\, no sharp lines. interesting col oring choice\, and no grandiose use of details\, for some reason I am thin king of les miserables theatrical play poster@ABeardedArtist a long neck b anjo? the instrument looks like it. is it meant to be?@scheinbar where did you find this facade? It is clear originally the wall side was meant to b e multicolored\, but it became more economical to place a layer of concret e over it or probably a layer of cement. I didn't notice a location\, wher e was this?<\;div class=\"scroll-container\" style=\"background-color: # 333\;overflow: auto\;white-space: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\">\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/geehig h/art/Second-Location-1304216305\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"ht tps://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/80502989-d6f6-4b1f -89d6-1adb67ce327e/dlkhvqp-78ea6214-f46f-47c6-93ac-941d6cb625fa.jpg/v1/fit /w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/second_location_by_geehigh_dlkhvqp-300w.jpg?toke n=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODI yNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczY TVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTc0OCIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi8 4MDUwMjk4OS1kNmY2LTRiMWYtODlkNi0xYWRiNjdjZTMyN2UvZGxraHZxcC03OGVhNjIxNC1mN DZmLTQ3YzYtOTNhYy05NDFkNmNiNjI1ZmEuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQ iOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.ss0vT5TD-LMqtSe3pgGcFaZwMk 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href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/onirio/art/MEW-130 3995839\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a8 6b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/6535c0e1-4317-47fe-8289-5127b582f099/dlkd5m n-83220246-57dd-4456-b6ae-0235f8ce2f97.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp /mew__by_onirio_dlkd5mn-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ 9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNz IjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7Im hlaWdodCI6Ijw9MjM2MiIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi82NTM1YzBlMS00MzE3LTQ3ZmUtODI4OS01MTI3 YjU4MmYwOTkvZGxrZDVtbi04MzIyMDI0Ni01N2RkLTQ0NTYtYjZhZS0wMjM1ZjhjZTJmOTcuan BnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTU1NTEifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0 aW9ucyJdfQ.f_K9c0cfiNx-ul8S9plmjzIJdwPkxW32W4glzSYbOoM\" height=\"128\" wi dth=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.devi antart.com/domesticvamp/art/Lords-of-Shadow-Belmonts-Castlevania-130352512 2\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4c a887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/b68c382a-2e52-4f72-ae72-c530f849d129/dlk32f6-2dbe 1822-14f4-4a84-ad0d-a64657390662.png/v1/fit/w_300\,h_799\,q_70\,strp/lords _of_shadow_belmonts___castlevania__by_domesticvamp_dlk32f6-300w.jpg?token= eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyN jQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTV mMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9Nzk5IiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mL2I2O GMzODJhLTJlNTItNGY3Mi1hZTcyLWM1MzBmODQ5ZDEyOS9kbGszMmY2LTJkYmUxODIyLTE0ZjQ tNGE4NC1hZDBkLWE2NDY1NzM5MDY2Mi5wbmciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTQyMCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6W yJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.3S1V1nNsrOcsrXMVna1xBe1kO2N2wK hwNVxYS-KvMOI\" height=\"169\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\ ;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/mannartgallery/art/Arizona-130 4458630\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a8 6b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/4bca0c6b-141a-4c33-bd8c-f4757de0786f/dlkn2p 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frog?@ElDeeWooo ancient queen of the woods\, love your photomanipulations@Onirio a purple racing giraffe so cool\, love this fantasy<\;div class=\"scroll-container\" style=\"backg round-color: #333\;overflow: auto\;white-space: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\"& gt\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviant art.com/intothefire12/art/Neseltahar-1306188209\" target=\"_blank\">\;&l t\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/67d 727b2-9ccd-4260-a661-11179d561c9b/dllo59t-564915a9-e761-453a-9b21-dfb8a6f2 0d24.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/neseltahar_by_intothefire12_dllo5 9t-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXB wOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkM Tg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTY3MiI sInBhdGgiOiIvZi82N2Q3MjdiMi05Y2NkLTQyNjAtYTY2MS0xMTE3OWQ1NjFjOWIvZGxsbzU5d C01NjQ5MTVhOS1lNzYxLTQ1M2EtOWIyMS1kZmI4YTZmMjBkMjQuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTE 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width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\; a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/leothefox/art/Dread-Deadline-62SixtyTw o-01-1304549113\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixm p-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/2e2f9a87-d578-4aa6-870c-f0577343f00 3/dlkp0jd-66b70742-7b25-4ece-99f5-abfcdcde15f6.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_760\,q_ 70\,strp/dread_deadline_62sixtytwo_01_by_leothefox_dlkp0jd-300w.jpg?token= eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyN jQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTV mMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NzYwIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mLzJlM mY5YTg3LWQ1NzgtNGFhNi04NzBjLWYwNTc3MzQzZjAwMy9kbGtwMGpkLTY2YjcwNzQyLTdiMjU tNGVjZS05OWY1LWFiZmNkY2RlMTVmNi5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6W yJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.H-K3kNc6OXayuIznDuNJQW5IRamCnr xXaPaC07LZdsQ\" height=\"178\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\ ;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/vanyaproductions/art/My-doodle 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src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2 .wixmp.com/f/84fc424c-b80b-4f91-9e59-6a64f32310b3/dlm63mb-a667afb0-3868-42 1c-b77b-b885bc33819a.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/lucile_with_her_f riend_celebrating_women_s_day_by_katyakashka_dlm63mb-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eX AiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzN hNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0M TVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9OTA2IiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mLzg0ZmM0MjR jLWI4MGItNGY5MS05ZTU5LTZhNjRmMzIzMTBiMy9kbG02M21iLWE2NjdhZmIwLTM4NjgtNDIxY y1iNzdiLWI4ODViYzMzODE5YS5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm4 6c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRpb25zIl19.OLLZNnDagrpVjYG01qWElgQDsWBGrVsEgqKA MVXef7c\" height=\"212\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n< \;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/eldeewooo/art/BarkbarkFourteen-13085 70204\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b 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Interesting how toho produced the movie tbe cause the less eccentric films weren't doing well.@offermoord why has lady of chaos done this? did we anger the gods\, I don't recall any queen saying her daughter was more beautiful than her?@MudWud beautiful calligr aphy@Yesterdays-Paper what is the best truffles store?@Joshua-Mozes beauti ful portraiture... did you send it to chaos or did you keep it?@DarkSaxeBl eu did you draw the cute dizzie illustration?<\;div class=\"scroll-conta iner\" style=\"background-color: #333\;overflow: auto\;white-space: nowrap \;padding: 10px\;\">\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\ "https://www.deviantart.com/leothefox/art/Chaos-in-the-House-950010672\" t arget=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8877 73594c2.wixmp.com/f/2e2f9a87-d578-4aa6-870c-f0577343f003/dfpm0xc-807aadb3- b1f8-47ca-acab-fb940060671b.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/chaos_in_t he_house_by_leothefox_dfpm0xc-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIU 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Auroroboros congrats\, well earned fellow senior@Neio t \, love demon slayer\, which is your favorite arc? the swordmaking villa ge?@jim373 \, food for the soul is like a flower\, uf chain pong remind me of a kimono in the wind@PjlinaTheSilense such a cute your character here\ , i hope it got many commissions@auroroboros-brian the space ship from clo se encounters of the third kind.@MischievousRaven is akane amaterasu?<\; div class=\"scroll-container\" style=\"background-color: #333\;overflow: a uto\;white-space: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\">\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/neiot/art/Zohakuten-Fi ght-Stance-1312591567\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://image s-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/466b4adc-b4f1-46bd-969f-03d1c 4cac9f8/dlphe4v-d676b399-2c5d-4824-b694-482021fa06f1.png/v1/fit/w_300\,h_9 00/zohakuten_fight_stance_by_neiot_dlphe4v-300w.png?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1Qi 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By now i imagine you earned many comm issions and have a new partner. Library 27 is very cute.What have you crea ted this week?The following is my challenge in @CRArtisanCrafts easy to cr eateIf you could teach a class about something\, what would you pick?A cla ss well.... printing. From stamps made out of erasers. to prints made from wood\, type made on scrabble pieces\, lithograph on stone\, A class where something can be learned at any phase of the class.@AlexanderPaupoff cong ratulations to the winners of palette photo hunt@iandam i see the toe comi ng out the beach nice@PlanetM710 who are the characters in \"the one and o nly\"@annsquare congrats on the commission@AdeleLorienne congrats on the c ommission@CvetokSO did you have a kitty model for at vibe?@dandyliondreame r is buneary your favorite pokemon?@pixeljeff how long did silent chill ta ke to make.<\;div class=\"scroll-container\" style=\"background-color: # 333\;overflow: auto\;white-space: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\">\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/writin gdd2r/art/Library-27-Isaac-contest-winner-979655734\" target=\"_blank\"> \;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f 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oBYubWusQFYo1SW7lIgAvve3qRjIlox9N53nXR0QNM\" height=\"179\" width=\"300\"& gt\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;/div>\;\n\n<\;a href=\"https://ww w.deviantart.com/alexanderpaupoff/journal/WINNERS-Palette-Photo-Hunt-Chall enge-1314467365\" target=\"_blank\">\;https://www.deviantart.com/alexand erpaupoff/journal/WINNERS-Palette-Photo-Hunt-Challenge-1314467365<\;/a&g t\;COMMENT URLhttps://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1317809950/5278829536@ leothefox has the water stopped leaking?@KizukiTamura a reflective curved building next to a stone-esque flat building. nice@yesa1971 like this styl e. abstract and yet in parts reminds me of typographs from early 1900s@Pan creasSupervisor love bubo\, the owl\, interesting headstone\, so murderous language/tongues/speech has died there? hmmm@dmorehead aww I thought a do ve at first\, so cute. love the feathers on mama plus chicks\, nice touch. what is the song the lark can sing?@Onirio the central dancer is holding the staff ? + \"invitation to enter\" almost seems to have a sunset in a b uilding\, nice@Blackbirdmotel any island in particular. If so i bet in the caribbean@KanchanMahon what are the flowers in the collage? I know mary m other of jesus has some flowers attested to represent her in some christia n circles@IntoTheFire12 i see neseltehar\, what is it doing?!<\;div clas s=\"scroll-container\" style=\"background-color: #333\;overflow: auto\;whi te-space: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\">\;\n<\;!-- put image tags in-->\ ;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/leothefox/art/Dread-Deadline-6 2SixtyTwo-01-1304549113\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://ima ges-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/2e2f9a87-d578-4aa6-870c-f05 77343f003/dlkp0jd-66b70742-7b25-4ece-99f5-abfcdcde15f6.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h _760\,q_70\,strp/dread_deadline_62sixtytwo_01_by_leothefox_dlkp0jd-300w.jp g?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxO Dg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY 0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NzYwIiwicGF0aCI6I i9mLzJlMmY5YTg3LWQ1NzgtNGFhNi04NzBjLWYwNTc3MzQzZjAwMy9kbGtwMGpkLTY2YjcwNzQ 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width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https:/ /www.deviantart.com/pancreassupervisor/art/Chemical-Rapture-1310197051\" t arget=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8877 73594c2.wixmp.com/f/58715ea9-a7a4-418d-8654-5752e7946228/dlo22ij-92bcb9e4- cdbf-4aa4-be75-4e66455835e0.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/chemical_r apture_by_pancreassupervisor_dlo22ij-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbG ciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQ yNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsI m9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTA1OSIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi81ODcxNWVhOS1hN2E0LTQxOGQ tODY1NC01NzUyZTc5NDYyMjgvZGxvMjJpai05MmJjYjllNC1jZGJmLTRhYTQtYmU3NS00ZTY2N DU1ODM1ZTAuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1 hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.EirOsqAUqOESN_7uDR9uVMCpNc53yRcV90OILy8mE_E\" heig ht=\"248\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"htt ps://www.deviantart.com/dmorehead/art/Birds-of-Field-and-Forest-1310474857 \" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca 887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/0e15c453-2267-4916-a68b-700d26406d67/dlo80vd-dcbc3 d2a-df8b-477a-9eae-c2afa48c3607.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/birds_ of_field_and_forest_by_dmorehead_dlo80vd-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLC JhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWV hMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlM CIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTc4MCIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi8wZTE1YzQ1My0yMjY3LTQ 5MTYtYTY4Yi03MDBkMjY0MDZkNjcvZGxvODB2ZC1kY2JjM2QyYS1kZjhiLTQ3N2EtOWVhZS1jM mFmYTQ4YzM2MDcuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U 6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.Dc1g1wVKz_VQ0ExJwXaoxC3F1wVkkIceRqIRb9LcrBQ\" height=\"417\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\ "https://www.deviantart.com/onirio/art/Dance-for-us-Cernunnos-howled-the-d anes-1311152636\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixm p-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/6535c0e1-4317-47fe-8289-5127b582f09 9/dlomjuk-974cd8d1-8dbc-46a9-b0df-4424794d0e70.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_ 70\,strp/dance_for_us_cernunnos__howled_the_danes_by_onirio_dlomjuk-300w.j pg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQx ODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMj Y0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MjM2MiIsInBhdGgi OiIvZi82NTM1YzBlMS00MzE3LTQ3ZmUtODI4OS01MTI3YjU4MmYwOTkvZGxvbWp1ay05NzRjZD hkMS04ZGJjLTQ2YTktYjBkZi00NDI0Nzk0ZDBlNzAuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTU1NTEifV1d LCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.9pVbmNwKJv80jhBfsyq gmh67XIfdOo1d_j8aovce4UU\" height=\"128\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\; <\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/onirio/art/Invitati on-to-enter-1311834234\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://imag 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/uplifting__by_kanchanmahon_dllrmjb-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGc iOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQy NmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm 9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTgzMyIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi9jYzFlNzEwZS02MzFhLTQ4NmEt YTVhZS0yZjYzMWM0Mjc1NTcvZGxscm1qYi02MDI5N2FiYi1hYjM1LTQ4MGQtYTQwMy03MzRhYT BjYjU2NzIuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1h Z2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.Cc47pj72CVRvJIbqbkEAvh6RN_LxNxCI9S4k_5Hh3jA\" heigh t=\"430\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"http s://www.deviantart.com/intothefire12/art/The-Piercing-of-Bavad-1312032570\ " target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca8 87773594c2.wixmp.com/f/67d727b2-9ccd-4260-a661-11179d561c9b/dlp5et6-d2f379 96-d736-45a1-9511-ac5fec96cd11.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_900\,q_70\,strp/the_pie rcing_of_bavad_by_intothefire12_dlp5et6-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJ 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with the bright colors and flower sh apes\, counterpose<\;div class=\"scroll-container\" style=\"background-c olor: #333\;overflow: auto\;white-space: nowrap\;padding: 10px\;\">\;\n& lt\;!-- put image tags in-->\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com /leothefox/art/Dread-Deadline-62SixtyTwo-01-1304549113\" target=\"_blank\" >\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.co m/f/2e2f9a87-d578-4aa6-870c-f0577343f003/dlkp0jd-66b70742-7b25-4ece-99f5-a bfcdcde15f6.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_760\,q_70\,strp/dread_deadline_62sixtytwo_ 01_by_leothefox_dlkp0jd-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ 9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNz IjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7Im hlaWdodCI6Ijw9NzYwIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mLzJlMmY5YTg3LWQ1NzgtNGFhNi04NzBjLWYwNTc3 MzQzZjAwMy9kbGtwMGpkLTY2YjcwNzQyLTdiMjUtNGVjZS05OWY1LWFiZmNkY2RlMTVmNi5qcG ciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9MTI4MCJ9XV0sImF1ZCI6WyJ1cm46c2VydmljZTppbWFnZS5vcGVyYXRp 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href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/k0hhh/art/Mar ch-12-2026-1310902680\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://image s-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/1391c6f5-c48a-4c05-9625-11f0a 7bfe407/dloh6zc-90841c0c-8a54-4fe7-8022-7e6233bd20f9.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_9 00\,q_70\,strp/march_12__2026_by_k0hhh_dloh6zc-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJK V1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZ DQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTB kMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MTcwNyIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi8xMzkxYzZmNS1jN DhhLTRjMDUtOTYyNS0xMWYwYTdiZmU0MDcvZGxvaDZ6Yy05MDg0MWMwYy04YTU0LTRmZTctODA yMi03ZTYyMzNiZDIwZjkuanBnIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlc nZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.rSUbYTbPYoirWsTbuqy_nwQYtdzCroTmBeQkB-Pj 1-g\" height=\"400\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"https://www.deviantart.com/schwarzwieebenholz/art/Bobble-Hat-130452 3883\" target=\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8 c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/4c08b5f2-2400-4063-b334-33170c48d44e/dlkoh2j-7 ab7b224-680d-406a-8259-b91dd6dd7fa1.jpg/v1/fit/w_300\,h_665\,q_70\,strp/bo bble_hat_by_schwarzwieebenholz_dlkoh2j-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJh bGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhM GQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCI sIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9NjY1IiwicGF0aCI6Ii9mLzRjMDhiNWYyLTI0MDAtNDA2M y1iMzM0LTMzMTcwYzQ4ZDQ0ZS9kbGtvaDJqLTdhYjdiMjI0LTY4MGQtNDA2YS04MjU5LWI5MWR kNmRkN2ZhMS5qcGciLCJ3aWR0aCI6Ijw9OTY1In1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmltY WdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.N6rGSBImF6qsenic1sifyOwa2AYau0koszTR7UqY238\" heigh t=\"207\" width=\"300\">\;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;a href=\"http s://www.deviantart.com/mattiasa/art/Tackle-and-rigging-1313029150\" target =\"_blank\">\;<\;img src=\"https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594 c2.wixmp.com/f/1c368456-d7be-4449-82b5-c4eb68abc31a/dlpqrry-daa81f40-338d- 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i_dlprzgo-300w.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1 cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcD o3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9 MTcwNyIsInBhdGgiOiIvZi8xOTJkNDNjYy1iNGRmLTQwYmMtYjAzNi0xNWZhZGI0MjVhYjUvZG xwcnpnby0wMTkxMGRjMC02NWNhLTQ0ZTEtYWE1NS1iN2M0NzdiYWM1YTUuanBnIiwid2lkdGgi OiI8PTEyODAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.z0z rtWzw0MG-9YsOQ-OLEd0bg2yYTLIHCFHo0cuDhSI\" height=\"400\" width=\"300\"> \;<\;/img>\;<\;/a>\;\n<\;/div>\; DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260417 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:A Trajectory of U.S. Immigration at the Intersection of Immi gration Policy and Rule of Law\, hosted by Joyce Williams of Armooh Wlliam s PLC DTSTAMP:20260415T212844Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:717-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:A Trajectory of U.S. Immigration at the Intersection of Immi gration Policy and Rule of Law\, hosted by Joyce Williams of Armooh Wlliam s PLCIn this episode of Brief Encounters\, host Joyce Williams is joined b y former Appellate Immigration Judge Andrea Sáenz and former Immigration Judge Anam Rahman Petit for a timely conversation on U.S. immigration law at the intersection of policy and the rule of law. Together\, they unpack judicial independence\, detention and adjudication\, and the shifting boun daries of asylum—offering an insider’s view of how these legal framewo rks shape due process\, access to protection\, and the future of the immig ration system.IN AMENDMENTTwo immigration judges were recently fired after dismissing deportation cases involving pro-Palestinian student advocates( https://lnkd.in/esQRdniJ) —part of a broader pattern raising questions a bout judicial independence in immigration courts.\n🎙️ In Brief Encoun ters\, Joyce Williams speaks with former judges Andrea Sáenz and Anam Rah man Petit about asylum\, detention\, and due process—and how policy pres sures shape outcomes.\n🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.(https:/ /lnkd.in/exBPN2G4) \nAndrea Sáenz + Anam Rahman Petit \n#ImmigrationLaw # RuleOfLaw #PublicPolicy\n\nAUDIO\nhttps://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile /dcbar/episodes/A-Trajectory-of-U-S--Immigration-at-the-Intersection-of-Im migration-Policy-and-Rule-of-Law-e3hljof/a-acj4jor\n\nLinked Referral\nhtt ps://www.linkedin.com/posts/joyce-williams071381_immigrationlaw-ruleoflaw- publicpolicy-activity-7450175380742811648-zckk?utm_source=share&\;utm_m edium=member_desktop&\;rcm=ACoAAC9jwHcBhMdyfurNH2JmdlAPjJgXHivmWR8EMBED <\;iframe src=\"https://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/dcbar/embed/epi sodes/A-Trajectory-of-U-S--Immigration-at-the-Intersection-of-Immigration- Policy-and-Rule-of-Law-e3hljof/a-acj4jor\" height=\"102px\" width=\"400px\ " frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\;<\;/iframe>\; DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260415 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:UNTIL TOMORROW - BLKTouch Spotify Playlist DTSTAMP:20260418T190047Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:721-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION: https://open.spotify.com/album/0vAtWGCEd8BrO79THzeuZl?si=fH QKrwZMTwiUXDST_yzVLA OLDER MAKE ME PAYhttps://open.spotify.com/album/0OBwi Un4401k8sj7bRfzis?si=qmVfozFNSHujZk3FVgqG2Q DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260415 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Art Comments 03072026 DTSTAMP:20260307T224036Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:671-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:PRIOR ENTRYhttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/669-art-comment s-03042026/NEXT ENTRY https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/718-art-comments- 04172026/COMMENT URLhttps://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1306786656/52703 19074hope you feel better @leothefox @lockssteps they have a tutorial cha llenge\, maybe you can do a tutorial for making digital art https://www.de viantart.com/beckykidus/journal/Tips-Tricks-and-Tutorials-the-Contest-1302 807947@artjwb what is upcycled art? name or link a song that reflects the sound of the band in creatures of the night three@HaiaShouster love the vi olence in the seascape\, winter 506\, acrylic right?@BERLINsART the haint of boogler hollow\, nice title\, for some reason I am thinking of Rat in f antastic mr fox@clover-teapot nice lineart\, do you know about the followi ng challenge? https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/journal/Wishing-Wells-1 286745083@j-o-h-a-n-l-a-n-d love passpartout acrobat\, chef all around fri end    DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260307 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Immigration laws of the future DTSTAMP:20260406T043350Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:699-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n URL Source\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12623-immig ration-laws-of-the-future/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 04/06/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n richardmurray\n\n\n\n Boycott am*zon\n\n\n\n  4.5k\n\n\n\n Posted Marc h 24\n\n\n\n Let's imagine you are the president of the USA in the future and the congress has made a law concerning immigration\, that you want to sign immediately after you see it. \n\n\n\n What will that law be? \n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n ProfD\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  7.3k\n\n\n\n LocationWashington DC area\n\n\n\n Posted March 26\n\n\n\n The law I sign would allow anyone to immigrate into the country providing they can produ ce (work) &\;/or contribute (money) to it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n No welfar e or charity immigrants. They can stay in their *home* countries &\; run that program.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In fact\, I might even propose that f or every 1 immigrant allowed into this country\, I'd like to send 10 dead- weight citizens to any country that will take them.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  13.2k\n\n\n\n Loc ationMichigan\n\n\n\n Posted March 26\n\n\n\n \n\n That Ideal law?\n\n \n \n 1. Except for very special cases (limiting the number to under 1000 per year) ALL immigration would stop for 10 years\, giving the immigrants cur rently in America a chance to properly assimilate\n\n \n\n 2. The 14th Ame ndment is modified to NOT include the children of people in the nation ill egally.\n\n \n\n 3. Most immigrants who are in the country illegally as we ll as their progeny will have their status reviewed case by case and there will be a decision as to whether or not they will be allowed to stay or s ent back to either THEIR home countries or the countries their parents wer e born in.\n\n \n\n 4. As an immigrant\, all of the money you make IN Ame rica STAYS in America.  No more wiring money you made in America all over the world to bolster the economy of nations.\n\n \n\n 5. 10 years later w hen we start letting more immigrants back in the nation in mass numbers\, there will be a  more RACIALLY BALANCED policy that allows a proper and f air balance of Black immigrants compared to White\, Asian\, and Central Am erican immigrants.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Armageddon BEEN in effect....go get a late pass!   -Professor Griff\n\n\n\n richardmurray\n\n\n\n Boycott am*zon\n\n\n\n  4. 5k\n\n\n\n Author\n\n\n\n Posted March 27\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n thank you \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n thank you\n\n\n\n any potential laws @frankster @aka Contrarian @admin?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n \n Unread replies\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  13.2k\n\n\n\n LocationMichigan\n\n\n\n Posted March 28\n\n\n\n richardmurray\n\n \n\n Well......\n\n That was an uncharacteristically short response...lol.\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Armageddon BEEN in effect....go get a late pass!  -Professor G riff\n\n\n\n frankster\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  1.4k\n\n\n\n Posted Mond ay at 10:17 PM\n\n\n\n Abolish the need for Visas to cross International B orders.....Advocate for the Right To freely Travel the Globe as a Basic an d Foundamental Human Right.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Travel is Education\n\n\n\n ProfD and aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n  2\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Aid is Imperialism.\n\n\n\n All that is necessary for evil to t riumph\, is for good to do nothing.\n\n\n\n Legalize weed\n\n\n\n The trut h is incontrovertible\, malice may attack it\, ignorance may deride it\, b ut in the end\; there it is.\n\n\n\n The 3 stages of Truth\, 1st\, it is r idiculed. 2nd it is violently opposed. 3rd\, it is accepted as being self- evident.\n\n\n\n \"Religion is regarded by the common people as true\, by the wise as false\, and by rulers as useful\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Membe rs\n\n\n\n  13.2k\n\n\n\n LocationMichigan\n\n\n\n Posted Tuesday at 05: 12 PM\n\n\n\n   On 3/30/2026 at 10:17 PM\, frankster said:\n\n\n\n Abo lish the need for Visas to cross International Borders.....Advocate for th e Right To freely Travel the Globe as a Basic and Foundamental Human Right .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n What?????\n\n \n\n See\, that's why YOU don't ha ve your own country...lol.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Armageddon BEEN in effect....go get a late pa ss!  -Professor Griff\n\n\n\n ProfD\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  7.3k\n\n\n \n LocationWashington DC area\n\n\n\n Posted Tuesday at 06:34 PM\n\n\n\n   On 3/31/2026 at 5:12 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n What?????\n\n \n\n See\, that's why YOU don't have your own country...lol.\n\n\n\n No visa f reedom of travel means you would not have to fill out a bunch of paperwork to kick it with beautiful Black women in other places.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  13.2k\n\n\n\n LocationMi chigan\n\n\n\n Posted Tuesday at 07:18 PM\n\n\n\n   On 3/31/2026 at 6:3 4 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n No visa freedom of travel means you would not have to fill out a bunch of paperwork to kick it with beautiful Black wom en in other places.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Neither would the White and Arab me n who seek them for human trafficking.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Armageddon BEEN in effect....go g et a late pass!  -Professor Griff\n\n\n\n aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n Members \n\n\n\n  1.1k\n\n\n\n Posted yesterday at 10:45 AM\n\n\n\n I've never g iven the immigration issue a whole lot of thought probably because it has never directly impacted on my life.\n\n\n\n But I do agree that criminal i llegal  immigrants should be deported back to where they came from. And - that anyone born in this country is automatically an American citizen.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I'm not a particularly patriotic person\, and I'm alway s amused at how black people can chronically complain about racism\, and e xpress so little regard for their white countrymen yet so resolutely decla re their love for this country.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n As somebody famous\, Wi nston Churchill(?)\, once said: \"America is the worst\, most flawed count ry in the world... except for all the others.\"\n\n\n\n  That sentiment k inda resonated with me.\n\n\n\n You\n\n\n\n  1\n\n\n\n ×\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n Quote\n\n\n\n ProfD\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  7.3k\n\n\n\n LocationWas hington DC area\n\n\n\n Posted yesterday at 12:08 PM\n\n\n\n   On 4/3/2 026 at 10:45 AM\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n But I do agree that crimi nal illegal  immigrants should be deported back to where they came from. And - that anyone born in this country is automatically an American citi zen.\n\n\n\n Same here.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 4/3/2026 at 10:45 AM\,  aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n I'm not a particularly patriotic person\, an d I'm always amused at how black people can chronically complain about rac ism\, and express so little regard for their white countrymen yet so resol utely declare their love for this country.\n\n\n\n I'm not patriotic in th e sense of wearing flags &\;/or putting them on my property.\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n However\, in the same way that I didn't get to choose my parents\ , I didn't have a choice of where I was born. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The USA with all of its warts is my birthplace.  It is my *home* country.\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n I do not believe there is another country on this planet t hat is as diverse &\; with more opportunities than the USA.\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n For that reason\, I feel that gives me even more *right* to call out racism white supremacy &\; every other form of BS from the USA &am p\; its citizens. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Reaching that stage in life of bein g able to call balls &\; strikes without giving a d8mn is a perk too.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n  1\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  13.2k\n\n\n\n LocationMichigan\n\n\n\n Posted yesterday at 06:15 PM\n\n\n\n I believe millions of immigrants BOT H legal and illegal should be deported AND there should be an immediate HO LD on all immigration for a period of time until the millions of immigrant s already in the nation are properly assimilated and to be sure we have EN OUGH RESOURCES to bring more in without being a burden on the system.\n\n  \n\n\n\n How are you going to adopt MORE children when you aren't even t aking care of your own little rug-rats who are running around the neighbor hood eating out of garbage cans???\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n Cynique\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I'm not a particularly patriotic person\, and I'm always amused at how black people can chronically complain about raci sm\, and express so little regard for their white countrymen yet so resolu tely declare their love for this country.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Because it's OUR country.\n\n Just because you have racists and no good people IN the c ountry\, doesn't mean the country itself is terrible.\n\n\n\n If you have roaches or termites in your house\, do you condemn the house and leave it and let the roaches and termites take over?\n\n Or do you treat the proble m as best you can and continue to dwell in the house you built or paid for ?\n\n\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ProfD\n\n  \n\ n\n\n   On 4/3/2026 at 12:08 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The USA with all of its warts is my birthplace.  It is my *home* country.\n\n\n\n I do not believe there is another country on this planet that is as diverse &a mp\; with more opportunities than the USA.\n\n\n\n \n\n That's RIGHT.\n\n You tell her!\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Armageddon BEEN in effect....go get a late pas s!  -Professor Griff\n\n\n\n ProfD\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  7.3k\n\n\n\ n LocationWashington DC area\n\n\n\n Posted yesterday at 06:28 PM\n\n\n\n   On 4/3/2026 at 6:15 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n ProfD\n\n  \n\n\ n\n   On 4/3/2026 at 12:08 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The USA with all o f its warts is my birthplace.  It is my *home* country.\n\n\n\n I do n ot believe there is another country on this planet that is as diverse & \; with more opportunities than the USA.\n\n\n\n \n\n That's RIGHT.\n\n Yo u tell her!\n\n\n\n Nah bro...my post was not directed at our beloved @ak a Contrarian. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Actually\, her post provided a jump-off to address the type of sentiment brotha  @richardmurray might express in one of his corners about martians\, er\, statians.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  13.2k\n\n\n\n LocationMichigan\n\n\n\n Posted yesterday at 06:52 PM\n\n\n\n   On 4/3/ 2026 at 6:28 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Nah bro...my post was not directed at our beloved @aka Contrarian. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Actually\, her post provided a jump-off to address the type of sentiment brotha  @richardmu rray might express in one of his corners about martians\, er\, statians.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n Well the TRUTH is the TRUTH\, regardless as to who it is directed towards.\n\n Unless it's ABOUT them personally\, the truth itself doesn't cease to be or change depending on who is being told it... .lol.\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Armageddon BEEN in effect....go get a late pass !  -Professor Griff\n\n\n\n aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  1.1 k\n\n\n\n Posted yesterday at 07:51 PM\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1stfu. You're the one\, blubbering about acquiring your own private island off the coast of Africa. You'd be right at home there in your natural habitat\, a jungle fu ll of snakes and hyenas and insects. \n\n\n\n America would never miss yo u.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  13. 2k\n\n\n\n LocationMichigan\n\n\n\n Posted yesterday at 08:02 PM\n\n\n\n ProfD\n\n \n\n Somebody needs to tell YOUR beloved Cynique....that if she doesn't like America....nobody is making her stay here.\n\n \n\n Somebody needs to tell her that if this nation is so terrible\, she can sign her s ocial security checks over to AALBC Inc.\, pack her bags\, and search for the promise land....lol.\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Armageddon BEEN in effect... .go get a late pass!  -Professor Griff\n\n\n\n aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n Me mbers\n\n\n\n  1.1k\n\n\n\n Posted yesterday at 08:31 PM\n\n\n\n A lot o f BS coming from Pioneer who\, I repeat\, recently expressed a desire to g o settle in a promised land on his own private Island off the coast of Afr ica\, (where he would undoubtedly be in his natural element among the snak es and hyenas and pesky insects.)\n\n\n\n And\, of course\, in full blown strawman mode\, he presents an inaccurate  impression of my sentiments si nce I\, myself\, never said I thought America was\"so terrible\".\n\n\n\n When it comes to America\, I am actually indifferent\, preferring to take its imperfections in my stride\, unlike him who would be mute if he didnt have this country to constantly criticize\, while yearning to replace whi te supremacy with his tiresome claims of black supremacy. \n\n\n\n I don' t know why any intelligent person would take a phony windbag like him seri ously.\n\n\n\n Somebody needs to tell him to stfu.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quot e\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  13.2k\n\n\n\n LocationMichiga n\n\n\n\n Posted 14 hours ago\n\n\n\n   On 4/3/2026 at 8:31 PM\, aka C ontrarian said:\n\n\n\n  Pioneer who\, I repeat\, recently expressed a d esire to go settle in a promised land on his own private Island off the co ast of Africa\, (where he would undoubtedly be in his natural element amon g the snakes and hyenas and pesky insects.)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n What a n ignorant and racist opinion and depiction of Africa.\n\n \n\n You've pro bably never set food on the continent\, but want to call it a land of snak es and insects.\n\n An image you've undoubtedly gotten from your slave mas ters...lol.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n \n\n \n\n Armageddon BEEN in effect....go get a late pass!  -Profess or Griff\n\n\n\n aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  1.1k\n\n\n\n Pos ted 11 hours ago\n\n\n\n No telling what's on a deserted island off the coast of Africa. \n\n\n\n \"Ignorant\" and \"racist\" are actually terms more befitting someone like you who constantly disparages anyone who's not in his tribe.\n\n\n\n Just for good measure I'll add the word \"obnoxious \" to characterize you.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  13.2k\n\n\n\n LocationMichigan\n\n\n\n Posted 10 hours ago\n\n\n\n   11 hours ago\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n No telling w hat's on a deserted island off the coast of Africa. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n If there's no telling....then why are YOU telling it?\n\n \n\n Leave the guess work and speculation alone.\n\n You should focus only on what yo u actually KNOW.\n\n \n\n But then again....lol...we'd probably only hear from you once a week.\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Armageddon BEEN in effect....go get a late pass!  -Professor Griff\n\n\n\n aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  1.1k\n\n\n\n Posted 10 hours ago\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, Pioneer1  said:\n\n\n\n \n\n If there's no telling....then why are YOU telling it? \n\n \n\n Leave the guess work and speculation alone.\n\n You should focus only on what you actually KNOW.\n\n \n\n But then again....lol...we'd pro bably only hear from you once a week.\n\n  \n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n Tak e your advice and shove it. If I ever followed anything you suggested. I'd be as deluded and irrelevant as you are. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n Pioneer1\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  13.2k\n\n\n\n LocationMic higan\n\n\n\n Posted 10 hours ago\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, aka Contra rian said:\n\n\n\n Take your advice and shove it. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n \n ......if I did\, would you like to know exactly WHERE I'd shove it?\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n A rmageddon BEEN in effect....go get a late pass!  -Professor Griff\n\n\n\ n aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  1.1k\n\n\n\n Posted 10 hours a go\n\n\n\n I'm not interested in hearing what a great contortionist you ar e when it comes to being full of yourself.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\ n richardmurray\n\n\n\n Boycott am*zon\n\n\n\n  4.5k\n\n\n\n Author\n\n\n \n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @frankster\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 3/30/2026 at 10:17 PM\, frankster said:\n\n\n\n Abolish the need for Visas to cro ss International Borders.....Advocate for the Right To freely Travel the G lobe as a Basic and Foundamental Human Right.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Travel is Education\n\n\n\n thank you... That is very radical for modernity. I admi t I wasn't expecting a reply like this... The kind of travel you refer to was how it was in ancient times. In ancient times\, only fortified places had walls\, people could travel right outside walled areas and towns witho ut walls would exist aside of major roads. Bandits and raiders existed but the level of traffic\, fiscal traffic in the past\, shows most people tra veled wise enough to not be bothered by bandits or raiders. Now some peopl e travel riskily and well...  The fear of the stranger\, the other\, is h igh in humanity \, and not for nothing\, for an honest reason. White europ eans in their global conquests taught most of humanity to fear the strange r \, fear the other\, fear variances because if you don't fear and you tru st\, you end up like the rest of humanity not white european that at one t ime not to  long ago was completely enslaved to white europeans in some f orm or fashion.  So\, the question is\, how do you get a majority in huma nity to trust in strange humans or have faith in a general goodness in hum anity? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n   On 4/3/ 2026 at 10:45 AM\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n I've never given the imm igration issue a whole lot of thought probably because it has never direct ly impacted on my life.\n\n\n\n But I do agree that criminal illegal  imm igrants should be deported back to where they came from. And - that anyone  born in this country is automatically an American citizen.\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n I'm not a particularly patriotic person\, and I'm always amused at how black people can chronically complain about racism\, and express so li ttle regard for their white countrymen yet so resolutely declare their lov e for this country.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n As somebody famous\, Winston Church ill(?)\, once said: \"America is the worst\, most flawed country in the wo rld... except for all the others.\"\n\n\n\n  That sentiment kinda resonat ed with me.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n thank you. The usa is the only gover nment in humanity that allows citizenship just because you are born in it. May I ask what is your reasoning for that immigration legal position? doe s it have legal precedent or is it a heritage aspect\, or a culture you fe el warranted? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Your second point is arguably the great challenge of Black Descended of Enslaved people in any country in the ame rican continent\, barring haiti. You know like me \, and anybody else comm enting in this post that our forebears were enslaved in every country in t he american continent\, and forms of enslavement existed like jim crow in each country in the american continent\, and msot of our forebears had a w ell earned dislike... hatred or whites or these lands for the misery of th e black collective in any of them...but\, as humans are human\, over time black DOSers in the american continent want like all humans a home. Most h ad no money or resources to leave wherever they were in the american conti nent\, so that grew the uncommon but honest\, hateful citizenship you ment ion. \n\n\n\n Black DOSers will never be able to honestly say as a group \, barring haiti\, any country in the american continent has  ever been a place where most black people in it were happy. To reword for Black DOSer s unhappiness side citizenship are hand in hand in most governments in the usa\, a warranted reality. \n\n\n\n I get your amusement\, how can a per son say they love a place that they clearly don't love\, but fate has put Black DOSers in that position to be able to say that.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n frankster\n\n\n\ n Members\n\n\n\n  1.4k\n\n\n\n Posted 1 hour ago\n\n\n\n   2 hours a go\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n @frankster\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n thank you ... That is very radical for modernity. I admit I wasn't expecting a reply like this... The kind of travel you refer to was how it was in ancient ti mes. In ancient times\, only fortified places had walls\, people could tra vel right outside walled areas and towns without walls would exist aside o f major roads. Bandits and raiders existed but the level of traffic\, fisc al traffic in the past\, shows most people traveled wise enough to not be bothered by bandits or raiders. Now some people travel riskily and well... \n\n\n\n There is nothing more educational than travel....You see the comm onalities and ordinariness of Human Beings as they secure a living from th eir environment.\n\n\n\n We all are seeking basically the same thing.....h ow we achieve that thing is often where our differences show - from those differences we can learn and grow.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, r ichardmurray said:\n\n\n\n The fear of the stranger\, the other\, is high in humanity \, and not for nothing\, for an honest reason. White european s in their global conquests taught most of humanity to fear the stranger \ , fear the other\, fear variances because if you don't fear and you trust\ , you end up like the rest of humanity not white european that at one time not to  long ago was completely enslaved to white europeans in some form or fashion.\n\n\n\n A socalled Civilization based on War Culture - is not a civilization but a Barbarization...in which all manner of Plunder Cruel ty Pain and Suffering is seen as normal.\n\n\n\n The European has used and taught that War is Civilization...\n\n\n\n In a War Culture .....The bett er you are at War is the more intelligent and civilize you are - as you ar e able to take the best from all and claim it as your own.\n\n\n\n War is like fast food it is quick looks smell and taste good....but it also makes your life one of  sickness pain bloated discomfort and you die younger.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n So\, th e question is\, how do you get a majority in humanity to trust in strange humans or have faith in a general goodness in humanity? \n\n\n\n To do so One will have to become Vulnerable....\n\n\n\n Trust is based on Mutual R espect Honest Open Communication and most of all Integrity.\n\n\n\n This T rust was almost Universal among Humans....and to some extent still is - it is the basis of nearly all Spirituality.\n\n\n\n Remove Politics from rel igion...whats left is Spirituality and Science.\n\n\n\n Spirituality and S cience are very Uniting Natural Force Within every Human Being\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Those in Control of European Global Hegemony use and have used the se qualities to usurp and undermine the sovereignty of many peoples over t hemself and their property.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Ai d is Imperialism.\n\n\n\n All that is necessary for evil to triumph\, is f or good to do nothing.\n\n\n\n Legalize weed\n\n\n\n The truth is incontro vertible\, malice may attack it\, ignorance may deride it\, but in the end \; there it is.\n\n\n\n The 3 stages of Truth\, 1st\, it is ridiculed. 2nd it is violently opposed. 3rd\, it is accepted as being self-evident.\n\n\ n\n \"Religion is regarded by the common people as true\, by the wise as f alse\, and by rulers as useful\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 04062026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  1.1k\n\n\n\n Posted 1 hour a go\n\n\n\n @richardmurrayin answer to your question asking  why I think a nyone born in America is automatically a citizen\, I tend to think in the abstract when it comes to land ownership\, maps\, boundaries\,territories\ ,etc.\n\n\n\n The Earth is ground under our feet and doesn't belong to any body!  All claims to it\, like treaties and deeds are man made agreements \; just pieces of paper.\n\n\n\n So\, technically\, wherever you were born \, is your birthplace and that qualifies you to claim citizenship in the p lace where you came to life. It's that simple to me. All the rest is super ficial. \n\n\n\n I neither love nor hate my birthplace. It is what it is. and I take that in my stride.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n\n\n richardmur ray\n\n\n\n Boycott am*zon\n\n\n\n  4.5k\n\n\n\n Author\n\n\n\n Posted j ust now\n\n\n\n @frankster thank you\n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian thank you\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quote\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260406 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:International Mens Day DTSTAMP:20260331T212625Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:688-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Note to self: share favorite art of sexy women on this da y:)\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260225 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:AN IDEA FOR BLACK PARTY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN MEMBERS DTSTAMP:20260330T161124Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:687-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n MY COMMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\ n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n   On 3/28/2026 at 12:26 PM\, Pioneer1 said :\n\n\n\n We need more Black people....especially AfroAmericans....in lead ership positions in the military.\n\n \n\n If this is OUR country....and i t is @richardmurray.....then we need to be in leadership positions in all relevant branches of it.\n\n \n\n Unlike many Black nationalists and Pan- Africanists\, I ENCOURAGE Black people to not only join law enforcement b ut the military also.\n\n Every branch.\n\n Rise as high as you can rise.\ n\n The more power and rank we have in it\, the more influence we have.\n\ n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n I will start with the honey and then the pot....\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Honey\n\n\n\n Well done\, well done\, I like when bl ack people anywhere in humanity\, think of new things\, that is a form of nationalism. NAtionalism means a system of creation\, making new. Pan -Afr icanism\, which is about geography\, not phenotype\, which means it includ es non black africans in that all encompassing view\, for example mandela embraccing quadaffi as a fellow african liberator. quadaffi is not black\, he is mulatto. but quadaffi is african. So\,\n\n\n\n I haven't read anyoo ne else suggest that in this forum\, and neither did I. I think becoming t he majority leadership in the usa military all branches is a decent goal f or Black DOSers in the USA. Why? Black DOSers in the usa have a financial problem\, they will never have the fiscal background to compete with non b lacks\, especially whites\, in the usa. Enslavement matters\, financially\ , inheritance is not the primary way of gaining fiscal wealth for nothing. Our forebears who were enslaved and then handed freedom by whites\, didn' t have any fiscal inheritance to give nor had any uneven financial opportu nities\, as MLK jr said\, so... this means\, Black DOSers are simply finan cially slower than all others\,because all others\, even Black Immigrants have an external financial source\, in the country they came from which is a huge advantage. you see this with any number\, puerto ricans/jamaicans/ nigerians/japanese/brasilians/// it doesn't matter\, having a country outs ide the usa allows all other groups in the usa except the first peoples/na tive american to have a way to financially support themselves or manipulat e their wealth safely frm the usa. the irish did with with ireland\, the i talians did it so famously with italy\, it is a movie trope. Black DOSers don't have an external country. Most white americans are german americans\ , germany is a rich country which has a lot of financial possibilities to help them. Russia for russian americans. china for chinese americans... So \, the government becomes very important for Black DOSers as a tool\, hist ory proves this. If it wasn't for the federal government\, black people wo uld be in the same fiscal situation we were in before the 1960s which was mostly enslaved to whites\, through sharecropping with terrible contracts or imprisonment on multiple charges of light crimes. So...  I even argue where are the Black members of the Party of Abraham Lincoln? This should b e there platform? But\, good idea. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Pot\n\n\n\n fi rst\,while an idea with a goal not done is a new thing\, a nationalism\, t he us military is not something black nationalist can say is born from bla cks\, and is clearly not pan african. So you need to separate the goal fro m those two philosophies. I consider your idea integratory. It isn't natio nalistic or pan african but that of an integrationist\, which makes sense cause the usa has always been integrationist. Why? the usa has always been about some abusing others\, to abuse another they have to be integrated t o you.  BUT to help another also requires integration.  \n\n\n\n The go od news is that outside your rhetoric around this issue\, which needs poli shing\, the idea itself is a sound goal. The question is getting to that g oal. Just on a leisure glance\, one step to that process can be converting a historical black college into a military school. I can't recall any his torical black college that is a military school. Why do you need military schools. Military schools serve an important function in making officers. Enlisted men take too long. HAving someone start off at the bottom of the officer core is essential in making their path higher easier.  So\, more will be needed\, nothing is impossible\, go for it. My strategic contribut ions are\n\n\n\n 1) get the Black Elephants/Party of Abraham Lincolm behin d this. I think it fits them better than the Black Donkeys/PArty of Andrew Jackson. \n\n\n\n 2) convert a historical black college into a military school for officers \, that is mandatory to grow an officer class that can achieve filling the top ranks of all branches of the usa military. You ca n not achieve your goal absent military schools\, enlisted men no matter h ow many can not manifest the goal. The officers corp of most militaries wi ll always be a club\, it isn't a place you can run by earning your way in\ , you need to be a member from day one. \n\n\n\n In aMendment\n\n\n\n thi s will take time for your tribe in the village \, but I Think your idea ha s legs. It will take time\, but it is doable\, and most importantly\, has high functionality with the reality of black dosers. And... being even min ded\, even if the movement fails\, it will create a stronger tribe of blac k people who fit your viewpoints : not entertainers\, all have taken a pub lic oath to the usa\, though the military school enforces booker t washing ton's functional skills focus not scholarly focus of others\, which is mor e hands on. \n\n\n\n DO IT!\n\n\n\n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc /topic/12630-fired-former-pentagon-joint-chiefs-of-staff-new-job/#findComm ent-81018\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260330 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Nationalism of Christ and Colorism between Colors 03/25/2026 DTSTAMP:20260325T210510Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:684-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n NATIONALISM OF CHRIST\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n\n\n Posted  just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   On 3/22/2026 at 9:20 PM\, ProfD sa id:\n\n\n\n I doubt liberal white folks will allow the Chrsitian Nationali sts to take over the country &\; force everyone to adopt it.\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n Well\, the issue isn't allowing the issue is who can stop this fr om going to war. The USA has a long history of internal military conflicts . The secession from the english empire was mostly fought between peoples who were of the english colonies and other european colonies. it wasn't co lonists vs the english\, it was colonist vs colonist.  one side of coloni st had aid from the french military and spanis military\, the other side o f colonist had aid from the english military. In the war of 1812\, it was the same\, many people in the usa fought with the english to reclaim the u sa. new england/virginia/carolinas/kansas all had regional wars between wh ites. and then came the war between the states. The creation of the federa l bureau of investigation was first for the original klu klux klan whose m ission it was to become the largest subcommunity in the white populace and thus take over the usa\, the fbi\, through all sorts of means undid the o riginal klu klux klan\, which i argue prevented armed conflict from a larg er scale occuring in the white populace in the usa. Then the fbi and other agencies did similar into all organizations in the usa to make sure none ... led to anything\, so to speak. \n\n\n\n The nation of islam\, the son s of odin\, the tong\, every organization in the usa i hear has a three le tter agent and their sole role has to be quelling any organizations abilit y to start a massive armed conflict in the usa\, which will lead to larger ones as in the past. \n\n\n\n This the 1950s 1960s 1970s where many peop le in the usa were... taken out of commission in various ways. \n\n\n\n N ow in modernity\, I argue\, the military + three letter organizations are the ones keeping this piece\, not so called liberal whites or so called co nservative whites.  it is the military industrial complex keeping the pea ce. I don't have proof. But their goal isnt preventing any from taking ove r the country as you say\, their goal in my mind\, is keeping a peace\, be cause the usa is demographically very weak. You can't get ten people in th e usa in any city to explain what unites people in the usa outside of lies /commercial statements/ or honest I don't knows. All ten will not say the simple truth\, individual greed. The problem with that truth is\, individu al greed doesn't lend to working with others\, by default.  If you can't get people in the usa to comprehend why they should be aligned casually\, if they start thinking the walls will get higher. \n\n\n\n The question i s one of arms. Schrumpft is president now. The states are already showing at least two camps on alot of issues\, but they haven't armed themselves. The good news for the military is the post lincoln federalism has successf ully defanged all states in the union. None of them can survive a month wi thout the federal welfare check. Circa 1865 most states in the union had t otally internal economies\, they battled each other for trade let alone pl aces outside the usa. so\, the key is the states\,will the schrumpf era le ad to states developing themselves to be self sufficient as in the past? i f so \, that will lead to war eventually \n\n\n\n Another potential is a fissure in the military which would quicken the pace\, but it seems the mi litary hasn't fissured but it has happened in the past and will happen aga in eventually.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n   22 hours ag o\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n Why? Because they promote a lot of issu es that Blacks go along with: They are against abortion\, believing that l ife begins at conception\, they are homophobic and anti LGBQT\, they advoc ate prayer in public schools\, and are not sympathetic about Hispanicl imm igrants.\n\n\n\n The views Blacks have in common with these hypocritical\, racist\, super patriotic fascistic\, fanatical conspiracy theorists make them and Evangelical Nationals strange bedfellows...\n\n\n\n And to be blu nt\, the challenge is on our particular tribe. Black DOSers are in a moder nity where the usa it is fifty years\, a half century\,  since the sixtie s and black dosers as individuals have achieved a lot\, more than any othe r group arguably\, but as a populace\, are even farther from being a poten t community. and so i think many DOSers are in the resent phase when plans don't go as some preached or some prayed for or some guaranteed. How many black parents told black children what to do and it turned out hogwash? d on't break the law\, go to ivy league\, be a proud american\, embrace the other as a human being\, hasn't led to much of anything for a lot of black people\, and definitely hasnt led to the black populace being a black com munity. so\, blame game for many\, lets blame the immigrant\, lets blame m uslims. even black immigrants or black muslims are under attack. \n\n\n\n Not strange bedfellows. many white german jewish organizations were in fu ll support of the nazis with the nazi's yelling death to all jews. it isn' t strange. \n\n\n\n all populaces of people are broken up into tribes in truth because how people see the world\, themselves\, their future\, is ra rely the same. \n\n\n\n These blacks are frightened of white power\, are making a gambit that allegiance with them will save them from violence\, f rom harm\, they don't care for the multiracial USA that was probably promi sed by their parents and elders growing up as a positive when that was an over simplification. The black church... whom I have so much to say on\, m isguided the black populace in all earnest\, in times past and has been fo rever regretful that it fucked up\, blaming all but itself for its modern condition. \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12612-christian-nationalis m-on-the-rise-in-usa/#findComment-80887\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COLORISM BETWEE N COLORS\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n \n\n\n what do you want exactly? I am a little confused. \n\n\n\n   11 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Also\, it subconsciously promotes the idea that the \"Black children\" that result from such hook-ups would be the \"ideal\" or \"designer\" children in our community.\n\n \n\n Infact\, the light skinned children of Kanye West and Jay Z and how they're being promoted are yet another example of how light skinned individuals are bein g promoted as the ideal representatives of our community.\n\n \n\n At the rate things are going with lighter and lighter skinned people being promot ed as \"Black\"....who's to say that a couple of generations from now ACTU AL WHITE people will not only be accepted as but even promoted as the idea l \"Black\" people?\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n You know that Black owned me dia exists and black owned media emphasizes black love between black peopl e who are not yella/light skin/ideal mulatto/ or similar. \n\n\n\n you kn ow black people have access to black owned media in the usa. \n\n\n\n So when I see your complaint\, it seems to me\, what you really want is for n on black owned media to present black people a certain way. Am I right? \ n\n\n\n My problem with your desire is\, how can that happen in the USA? i s not the usa a multiracial country? \n\n\n\n Many people talk about whit e jews but many websites in the usa\, many groups in the usa are publicly anti jewish\, no matter a jews phenotype. \n\n\n\n All the American civil liberties unions and Defamation Leagues don't stop said anti jewish organ izations from posting whole movies online stating the jewish populace\, an y phenotype\, has to be... removed.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So what do you want exactly? \n\n\n\n so yeah.\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12624-exam ples-of-colorism-in-the-media-the-need-to-reverse-the-hypnois/#findComment -80886\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTS\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03262026\n\n\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12612-christian-nationalism-on-the-rise-in-usa/#fi ndComment-80910\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n \n   23 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The great experiment that is t he United States of America (USA) even in its relative youth as a 250-year old nation has studied the history of empires...their rise &\; fall.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The *smartest* thing the USA did was allowing people from all of the planet to come &\; live in this country. \n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Though its institutions\, the USA has tapped into the best &\;   brightest minds from around the world. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Through its power of money &\; influence &\; military strength\, the USA has be come the leading super power in the world. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n There is n o other country on the planet to which more people immigrate.\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n I don't believe the USA will implode or self-destruct under the wei ght of its own largesse. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Nor will disputes &\; bic kering among disparate groups of people (tribes) derail the USA either.   \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I believe it will take an act of of the universe i.e . series of natural disasters to dismantle &\;/or destroy the USA. \n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n There's always the remote possibility that white people w ill get fed up with each other &\; start firing off those nuclear bombs . \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Of course\, going nuclear means game over for human ity as we know.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n Well one big correction\, the he ritage of pan immigration wasn't statian\, or of the usa that was actually the english empires doing. The english  empire was the one who started t he pan immigration starting with pan white europeans\, the english didn't have to but the english saw a chance to make money.\n\n\n\n You suggest th e best and the brightest... I don't know about that\, but the truth is the usa unlike other countries is willing to grab individuals from the larges t labor pool\, gardless of their quality. \n\n\n\n Add enslavement + Geno cide to the list of factors on the path of super powedom\, it is interesti ng people mention money and military strength\, but never genocide\, never enslavement\, why? why can't they be mentioned along side the others\, th ey are equal or more important in the path to the super powerdom. \n\n\n\ n Very true\, but again when the usa was english colonies that was the beg inning of the immigration heritage of the usa. The problem with the usa is that the white power/white terror/pan immigration/multiracial peace/indiv idualism that the usa touts as elements of itself were not started in 1776 but before\, the only thing the usa did was take what the english colonie s was doing and separate it from england. But all the factors you speak of were english colonial factos \, started then by england\, not the colonis t. \n\n\n\n Your adding alot of commercial statements to your prose here . \n\n\n\n I As for the future\, I don't know. You are certain\, which i think is foolish\, to me nothing is more foolish than those who know the f uture. \n\n\n\n And I am in error\, the usa actually created two things\ , \n\n\n\n 1) the seperation from england\,\n\n\n\n 2) the invincibility heritage\, I do realize the usa when it was founded had doubts to its life \, from its very white european  founders\, but over the years i do reali ze a usa eternalism was born and it seems to have adherents in all races. Thank you for helping me take time to think on that. You are not the first to say the usa will be in perpetuity in my earshot offline or online. But \, thinking on it\, somewhere in the history of the usa\, the doubt the fo unders had was replaced by an eternal certainty that by my ears extends to all races. I wonder when it started. \n\n\n\n but\, the individualism/im migration/multiracial peace/pan white power/pan white terror all stemmed f rom the english empire's administration of the colonies that would become the usa. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\,  aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n Many think that the ultimate goal of Proje ct 2025 which is the manifesto of the ultra conservative American Heritage Foundation\, is to turn this country into a fascistic theocracy. \n\n\n \n if you look at the history of the usa\, it is a country used to interna l wars. \n\n\n\n I will list them. \n\n\n\n war of secession from the br itish empire was mostly fought by people who lived in what would become th e usa. \n\n\n\n war of 1812 was the same\, fought mostly by those who liv ed in what would become the usa\n\n\n\n Seminole wars\, between first peop les side blacks against whites\n\n\n\n war between the states\, fought bet ween whites with various non white european allies\n\n\n\n In between the wars above or just before the first one mentioned are the new england wars \, the kansas wars\, the carolina wars\, virginia wars. \n\n\n\n The usa has a vibrant heritage of internal violence. \n\n\n\n Even white people a dmit more black people died after the war between the states then before\, now no one calls it the black white war rather jim crow or the nadir of a merican race relations but in my view it was in the era of jim crow\, 1865 to 1980\, the black white war which ended in 1965 with white victory but a law by whites to reduce white violence. \n\n\n\n What is my point? The usa will split is the most probably outcome\, in some form or fashion\, ba sed on how people in the usa act and its historical commonalities. \n\n\n \n The usa has never had a we in itself\, it uses that word a lot but the usa has never been a we and with such a multiracial populace\, not being a we lends to fractures. \n\n\n\n in that environment\, the key is where y ou live when it fractures\, don't be on the fracture line and hopefully be in the section that you are accepted in. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1  \n\n\n\n   45 minutes ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n I don't know if it was the \"smartest\".\n\n Actually giving us Reparations would be MUCH sma rter....lol.\n\n But I understand your point and believe that it's VERY sm art for America to bring in people...especially skilled and educated peopl e...from around the globe to come and help build up the nation's economy.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n It's called \"brain drain\" and the West has been doing it for decades.\n\n\n\n The funny thing is white peoples statistics show\ , the majority of the people who come in aren't skilled or educated. It is a simple truth. Yes\, a minority and large when you consider the populati on growth of the usa\, but the ovrwhelming majority of immigrants to the u sa in every year has always been unskilled or uneducated people. I don't k now where people get this\, idea that usa gets the most skilled people. I don't know where that comes from \, cause whites admit it isn't true\, so it must be some wild myth.\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260325 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Immigrant Laws of the Future - a query DTSTAMP:20260325T003547Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:683-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n CONTENT\n\n\n\n Let's imagine you are the president of th e USA in the future and the congress has made a law concerning immigration \, that you want to sign immediately after you see it. \n\n\n\n What will that law be? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n\n COMMENTS\n\n\n\n  \ n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260324 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 38 03/10/2026 DTSTAMP:20260311T034432Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:676-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n Community Service Labor - a friend of mine sta ted the following idea:  Mayor Mamdani can use community service to get p eople to shovel the snow instead of hiring people for twenty eight dollars an hour. I [them not richard murray] argue it can be used for many things \, to bring forth community. \n\n In Amendment- I searched to see what ca n be used for community service in NYC\, how many acquire community servic e in NYC and realized it is many. It is an idea that can work. The problem is that\, this cuts against the revenue earning philosophy of labor. To b e blunt\, the problem is\, the USA has a heritage of individuals abusing l abor from other individuals to make fiscal fortunes while it has a heritag e of laborers upholding a fantasy of merited labor as the basis of labor i n the usa. Said two heritages have mutated to become an inability of peopl e in the usa to accept that their labor doesn't warrant financial return n o matter what it is\, while the wealthy want to use tools to make a perman ent fiscal underclass which temporally will never occur. Wisdom which is s omething only experience or natural inclination can generate in humans pro ve that all things end and all things include the use of any tool or the e xistence of any government. When? who knows outside nature\, but it will h appen.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n INFORMATION I FOUND\n\n\n\n New York City commun ity service\n\n ->\;\n\n HOW DO I KNOW IF I CAN DO COMMUNITY SERVICE FOR MY VIOLATION?:\n\n You will be allowed to do community service\, instead of paying a fine\, only if your summons is on this list [ LOOK BELOW] and if:\n\n You admit to the charge that is listed on the summons on or before the hearing date that is printed on your summons\; or\n\n After your OATH hearing\, you receive a decision where the Hearing Officer says that you have the option to perform community service.\n\n COMMUNITY SERVICE OPTION S:\n\n If any one of the above items is true and you would like to do comm unity service\, then you can choose one of the following options to satisf y your summons' community service requirement:\n\n If this list shows that you can do either one or two hours of community service\, then you can ei ther:\n\n complete an online educational course\; or\n\n complete the comm unity service over the phone.\n\n If this list shows that you can do three hours of community service\, then you can complete the community service by webcam\; or\n\n You can complete the community service in person\, in o ur Help Center office.\n\n website\n\n https://www.nyc.gov/site/oath/help- center/oath-community-service.page\n\n\n\n List of New York City penalties you can get community service for. \n\n https://www.nyc.gov/assets/oath/ downloads/pdf/CJRA-Penalty-Chart-effective.pdf\n\n\n\n New York State comm unity service standard\n\n https://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/opca/communi tyservicestandards.htm\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n Do you believe in first come first serve in hiring?\n\n\n\n Would you implement community service to expand the labor force?\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/125 84-do-you-believe-in-first-come-first-serve-in-hiring/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITI ON\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/675-economic-corner-37-031020 26/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/682-eco nomic-corner-39-03242026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03 152026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12584-do-you-believe-in-first-co me-first-serve-in-hiring/#findComment-80714\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\ n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n I have relatives who were alive during that time\, m ost of those jobs went to whites though blacks did get some and considerin g black hiring in the private sector which was corretly 99% white didn't h ire blacks\, that action from FDR was huge for black people in the arena o f labor.\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   8 hours ago\, ProfD sai d:\n\n\n\n Sure\, i believe in 1st come 1st served in hiring as long as fo lks are *qualified* to do the *work*.\n\n\n\n hmmm\, qualification stan dards in labor in the united states of america has two historic problems\, which are still relevant in modernity.\n\n\n\n 1) qualifications being me t rarely equate to the quality of performance by one in a job. for example \, many lawyers or engineers exists in the usa \, to fit in any demographi c category\, and yet\, the judgable performance of lawyers/elected officia ls who are mostly lawyers/corporate executive officiers who are mostly law yers/engineers/the ceos who are engineers  through private practices\, la ws made in government\, publicly traded firms products or operations are v ery poor in the united states of america. The proof that qualifications be ing met don't relate to quality in the job is throughout the usa in many e xamples. \n\n\n\n 2)qualifications rarely matter to the acquisition of a job. I don't need to remind anybody not white or male that only from 1980 onward has a majority of jobs in the usa been remotely possible for someon e not white male christian to acquire. I can tell you from my own parents how many jobs they were denied for being black. They fit all of those stat ed qualifications and it didn't mean a damn thing cause the person in char ge of hiring\, whether they admitted it or not\, was looking for someone w hite\, and probably a friend or relative\, in opposition to caring about s tated qualifications for whatever labor they offer. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n S o I comprehend your desire to have first come first serve attached to some qualification\, assuming the qualification can be made even which... is d oubtful. But\, qualifications to be blunt\, is another form of gatekeeping on job opportunities\, which straightly impedes the goal of getting jobs moving. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Now maybe you are arguing that the qualificat ions set for most jobs in the usa are erroneous or negative or imbalanced to the jobs in question. But that goes back to the lack of quality to whom ever is in charge or the labor opportunities. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Meeting halfway\, I think a better thing isn't to have qualifications \, but to h ave more well defined probationary periods\, not one period but periods. M Eaning most jobs have an unwritten probationary period or a probationary p eriod that is unchallenging. I argue\, all jobs expose what you know or do n't know\, what skills you have or don't have \,  to perform the task any job need. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n For example\, a brain surgeon\,  instead of a degree or doctor of philosophy from the massachuestts institute of te chnology\, what if a first probationary period determing whether you are a decent doctor is key? do you know how to fill out forms\, handle cuts bru ises\, handle emergency situations with many injured\, speak to the ill pl us their loving ones. if you show you do then you go to the next tier. in the next tier\, can you stitch a stomach wound\, scan perform an invasive procedure in the arm. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03162026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc. com/tc/topic/12584-do-you-believe-in-first-come-first-serve-in-hiring/#fin dComment-80731\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   18 hou rs ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I would prefer that a brain surgeon be *qua lified* to perform that work.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Nobody wants their head c ut open &\; brain exposed by someone who watched a few Youtube videos & amp\; think they got it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I would prefer too\, all would and will prefer\, but the question is what determines qualification? the key is the question of how is qualifications determined?\n\n\n\n When rela tives of mine have been malpracticed on by doctors\, what was the penalty to said doctors\, who are supposedly qualified because of pieces of paper from columbia and MIT and Johns Hopkins? the answer is nothing. So\,  you r correct\, all people want the best healthcare BUT what determines the pe rson who is the best? pieces of paper. \n\n\n\n Again\, the united states of america is a case study on the lack of quality. \n\n\n\n The Newspape rs reporters or owners are clearly lacking in quality because\n\n\n\n Hosp itals have daily malpractice suits\, from supposed qualified folk \, suppo sedly trained to be the best doctors \n\n\n\n Law Enforcement agencies ha ve mounds of domestic violence or domestic abuse claims unattended from su pposedly qualified folk\, supposedly trained to be the best law enforcers. \n\n\n\n Billion Dollar firms in the usa continually are bankrupt and need saving administered by supposedly qualified folk\, supposedly trained to be the best business operators or lawyers.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Newspape rs will put on page one when a black child steals an apple or a black adul t holds a knife.\n\n\n\n But medical malpractice in the united states of a merica has always been rampant\, and always protected from negative public opinion by media. And medical malpractice occurs from those supposedly qu alified so... where is their demerit? how are they then unqualified? Don't tell me a doctor that has medical malpractice is still qualified. And for anyone who feels doctors have earned the right of mistake\, well I want y ou to lose someone you love right now and then tell me how you feel. \n\n \n\n Law Enforcement costs the usa billions in civil court because of law enforcers committing crimes. PEople talk about city budget but the NYPD ha s cost NYC since the 1970s billions of dollars in civil court. And\, lets not go into the fact that the NYPD alone has a much longer history of crim inal activity that it was completely protected from. So \, do their badges burn when their fail in quality? How do they remain qualified ? \n\n\n\n When the entire banking industry went bankrupt in the united states of am erica filled with massachusetts of institute of technology graduates\, doe sn't that mean MIT's teaching qualifications or Goldman Sach's and simila firms accounting qualifications are proven false? Don't tell me it was the ir plan to go bankrupt and beg for money worse than any black woman on wel fare ever did\, or as well as white women on welfare have. \n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Yes\, people learning online may be no better as doctors or law enfo rcers or corporate executive officers but if they are learning from what i s given in a short time\, how is that worse than people supposedly trained to be the best whom have already shown a lack of quality and lost any adm ission of qualification if honest? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I don't sense pena lty in the usa for those who are supposedly qualified to do anything\, whe ther it is failing elected officials\, failing corporate executive officer s\, failing doctors \, failing law enforcers all of whom are plenty in mod ern day \, 2026 \, usa. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So maybe first come first ser ve as a penalty for proving oneself unqualified is the answer.\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n 03172026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12584-do-you-believe-i n-first-come-first-serve-in-hiring/#findComment-80737\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Qual ifications are determined &\; taught by subject matter experts in a giv en field.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n who or what determines who is a subject matte r expert?  better questions... who does profd rely on to determine who is a subject matter expect? how does profd determine who is a subject matter expert?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I will speak for myself and say\, pieces of pa per mean nothing to me in determining if someone is an expert\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n   19 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Reads like your relatives didn't hire the *right* lawyers.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n let's jump beyond my r elatives\, all the black people in the usa who deal with tons of abuses\, sometimes leading to death\, daily\, from law enforcers\, from banks\, fro m hospitals. I assume you feel the answer to these abusers is in the court room? So these abusers outside of being penalized after someone takes the m to court or just free to continue?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\ , ProfD said:\n\n\n\n any people &\;/or their families have won medic al malpractice lawsuits.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Doctors with a track record of failure lose their medical licenses. \n\n\n\n not most people win medica l malpractice lawsuits let alone as you asserted earlier\, most people pro vide a lawsuit from this little unimportant thing to you called fiscal pov erty.\n\n\n\n why does a track record have to occur? how many errors on a record warrant demeriting? Funny\, when a black child steals an apple\, bl ack people have no mercy in claiming that child did a wrong above wrongs b ut a white man with a piece of paper\, needs how many strikes before he is outcase as a doctor? what number is it exactly? Or is it a random number?  \n\n\n\n Gardless\, most doctors with a track record of failure don't lo se their license\, and more importantly \, in the usa at least\, most doct ors are allowed at least one failure which goes to my point. qualification s mean nothing when no penalty exist.\n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\, ProfD s aid:\n\n\n\n ll jurisdictions put a certain amount aside for civil litigat ion. \n\n\n\n Are you suggesting the city of new york has a surplus of ca sh left from its reservoir of losing lawsuit money. You do realize what yo ur saying? I hope you do. \n\n\n\n Your telling me NYC had 1.5 billion do llars prepared for 2024 for civil litigation\, who gave them this money? t he federal government has never done anything like that. NYC gets money fr om new york state which it has to beg for every year\, without new york st ate money new york city is collapsed with no question. Your telling me NY state gave ny city 1.5 billion dollars in preparation:) come on! but ok\, if that is your position\, just give me a yes or no and be gone\n\n\n\n ht tps://comptroller.nyc.gov/newsroom/city-paid-1-45b-in-settlements-last-fis cal-year-nyc-comptroller-finds-in-fy-2023-claims-report/\n\n\n\n   19 ho urs ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Some law enforcement officers have been st ripped of their badges or fired or imprisoned for committing crimes. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n not most\, this goes back to the jim crow era\, the black populace in the usa from 1865 to 1980 had millions of cases that never wen t to court based on white terrorism. Millions of cases. I am 100% certain less than one percent of the law enforcers who abused black people at any given year from 1865 to 2026\, any year\, not one percent of the combined years\, less than one percent of any given year.  And I extend that to al l fiedls. to restate\, less than one percent of the incidents of law enfor cers who serve white no matter their phenotype\, doctors who serve white n o matter their phenotype\, white owned firms  abusing/terrorizing/harming black people were taken to court in any given year from 1865 to 2026. So then from the less than one percent of court cases that even were started by black people against their white abusers in whatever form\,  then you have the rate of success of court cases which means ten percent of cases h ad success. Cause white law enforcement/ white medical services /white fis cal firms usually win ninety percent of the time. So\, ten percent of less than one percent which is VALUE: \n\n\n\n if WhiteTerror ~ to millions o f incidents of terror by white to blacks per year\n\n\n\n VLAUE= (WhiteTer ror/.99/10)\n\n\n\n Your correct\, it is some\, the question then is\, to any black person\, is that some something you respect or view positively o r not. I view it as feces\, you view it as something to be noted. ok\, eve n enough\n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Failure of banki ng systems is a function of greed fueled by risky &\; bad investments.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The qualified people know exactly what they're doing ev en if it means running a business into the ground. \n\n\n\n A logic peopl e like you keep saying makes no sense to people like me\, you keep touting greed as a negative element in fiscal capitalsim\, when by default greed is inherent. \n\n\n\n Greed has nothing to do with it. The fiscally succe ssful business is greedy. The fiscally ruinous business is greedy. It is q uality and the point is\, a failing business is not a sign of positive qua lity. \n\n\n\n By your words\, a firm failing or succeeding is not a meas ure of quality. Because someone you deem qualified no matter what results you can't delete your deeming\, cause you consider the results of their ac tions  never warranting declassficiation or dequalification. \n\n\n\n Th at is dysfunctional to me\, but ok. \n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\, ProfD s aid:\n\n\n\n Experience &\; track record among other factors separates the amateurs &\; pros.\n\n\n\n Are you saying that those you label amat eur are not qualified and those you label pros are qualified? the issue he re is qualification . You have now added two terms that in my mind have no thing to do with qualification. \n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\, ProfD said: \n\n\n\n There are penalties for failure.  We don't always hear about it. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Qualifications do not equal perfection. Humans are fla wed. They will make mistakes too.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n However\, I believe l egitimate doctors save more lives than they lose.\n\n\n\n I don't know eve rything that happens in humanity\, your right. I can only guess everything that happens in humanity. But I can tell you from all that I have heard\, less than one percent of those deemed qualified gets penalty for harming black people in the usa. \n\n\n\n I promised the following beforehand \, I hope everyone in your family get sick in hospitals\, hurt by law enforce ment and cheated by firms and then tell me about mistakes. \n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n That is third term you have added\, to me\,  legitimate/amateur/pro s are unrelated terms to qualified or qualification. Legitimate means of t he law. The law can't qualify anything outside the law. Quality is a measu re of oneself. A law's quality is in the law itself\, its results. A docto rs quality is in the doctors results. a law enforcers quality is in how th ey enforce the law. a fiscal firms quality is in their ability to make mon ey/fiscus. Amateur/lover + professional/pros/one who does a thing are misu sed words in modernity that have nothing to do with their literal intent\, it is another linguistic statianism. But one deemed an amateur in moderni ty is differenced by one deemed a professional in modernity by revenue to labor or scale to profit. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But as for the gathering of doctors in the usa\, do I think they heal[not just save lives] more than they harm[not just murder]? that is a great question you pose. sadfully\, I don't know.  I can't give a weight to either side. I know doctors in th e usa have harmed and are harming\, while also healed and are healing.  B elief in this case will require me to give benefit of doubt to the usa or its people and i never have and never will\, the majority of people in the usa will always be scum for me. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03172026\n\n\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12584-do-you-believe-in-first-come-first-serve-in- hiring/#findComment-80740\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\ n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Herein lies your issue.  It is w ith the system of racism white supremacy.  Please share your idea(s) of h ow to dismantle it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Well\, I treat each government in h umanity individually. China isn't the usa\, the usa isn't nigeria\,  nige ria isn't bolivia. governments have alliances or agreements but those ties can be changed or manipulated... I don't have an issue with any system in the usa because in my view\, the usa is what it always was starting from european colonies and always will be\, a country composed of various peopl es who are dysfunctional as groups with nothing in common in an integrated chaos led by individuals continually funneled in by immigration from vari ous peoples outside the usa who keep it afloat with their individuality in various arenas from government to finance. To rephase\, a potent shithole of individuals. Benjamin Franklin who published join or die begged englan d to bend a little to keep the colonies in the english empire. Thomas Jeff erson alone wrote the declaration while he and all of his peers in private showed total disbelief to everything he wrote. George Wahsington went aga inst nearly all his peers and stepped down voluntarily. James Forten \, a black man\, was a business owner literally fighting aside white men who fe lt the 95% of black people enslaved to whites had to stay in that conditio n. All these show the actions of individuals. If Franklin acted as the gro up he was apart of he wouldn't had made the newspaper snake\, if jefferson acted as the group he was apart of he would never had written the declara tion as is\, if washington acted as the group he was apart of he would had been kind\, if forten acted as the group he was apart of he would have fo ught against the creation of the usa 100%. But\, all of them are individua ls. That is the usa system. Faux Community. And you see this consistently all the time in the usa. Individuals using groups \, screwing over groups\ , lying about their intent being best for groups. \n\n\n\n I only have on e issue with the usa or its people and it is in the very declaration of in dependence\, it is lies. I don't like liars \, I never have\, and I never try to lie. but the usa's individualism loves to lie\, breeds liars all ov er\, and that does get to me\, admittedly. \n\n\n\n Outside of that\, i a m merely speaking the truth to the usa. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Not sure of why you would hope that everyone in my family suffers misfortune. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n However\, I can assure you that being keenly aware of the ups &\; downs of life & amp\; ultimately human mortality\, I've never been adversely affected emot ionally by it including my own family members\, friends &\; associates.   Such is a part of life.\n\n\n\n To answer why I said the following prio r\, I despise quoting myself\, but ...  \n\n\n\n   22 hours ago\, ric hardmurray said:\n\n\n\n And for anyone who feels doctors have earned the right of mistake\, well I want you to lose someone you love right now and then tell me how you feel. \n\n\n\n in the following comment\n\n\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12584-do-you-believe-in-first-come-first-serve-in- hiring/#findComment-80731\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\,  ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I'm not surprised.  it comes through in your posts.\ n\n\n\n yes\, even as a kid\, and while I can tell personal events in my l ife or sad history before my life\, if I am blunt\, I just don't care for the USA. In my mind I think\, it makes sense that some black descneded of enslaved will not like the usa in their blood. Absent proof\, even spiritu al proof\, it makes sense a little bit. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260310 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:National Black Bookstore Day DTSTAMP:20260324T021050Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:681-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n DIRECTORY OF BOOKSTORES\n\n\n\n https://www.nab2.org/dire ctory\n\n\n\n ADD YOUR LOCAL BLACK BOOKSTORE\n\n\n\n https://nab2.app.neon crm.com/forms/bookstore-directory\n\n\n\n BEST BOOKSELLERS\n\n\n\n https:/ /aalbc.com/blackbestsellers/ADULT_FICTION_(Hardcover)_2026-02\n\n\n\n UPCO MING RELEASES\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/books/comingsoon.php\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n April 7th is National Black Bookstore Day - Culture\, Race &\; Ec onomy - African American Literature Book Club\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260407 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Nat King Cole born 1919 DTSTAMP:20250416T184432Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:249-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n These are all the songs in the Nat King Cole Trio recordi ngs that were composed by black writers. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Easy Listening Blues\n\n composed by Nadine Robinson [ nat king cole's first wife\; they met on tour with the play \"Shuffle Along\"  [[ https://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Shuffle_Along ]] ]\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws1igAr1pY4\n \n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This way out \n\n composed by Nat King Cole [ the first song he recorded that he composed]\n\n https://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=S_l3oDI3e7E\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Honeysuckle Rose\n \n written + composed by Fats Waller + Andy Razaf (Andriamanantena Paul Ra zafinkarefo) [for the off broadway play [[\"Load of Coal\"]] at Connie's I nn]\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6Xcyvd5hpU\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\ n\n\n Lyrics\n\n\n\n Every honey bee fills with jealousy\,<\;br>\;\n when they see you out with me.<\;br>\;\n Goodness knows<\;br>\;\n You're my Honeysuckle Rose<\;br>\;\n When you're passin' by flowers dr oop and sigh\,<\;br>\;\n and I know the reason why.<\;br>\;\n Good ness knows<\;br>\;\n You're my Honeysuckle Rose<\;br>\;\n Don't bu y sugar\,<\;br>\;\n You just have to touch my cup.<\;br>\;\n You'r e my sugar.<\;br>\;\n It's sweeter when you stir it up.<\;br>\;\n When I'm taking sips from your tasty lips<\;br>\;\n seems the honey fa irly drips.<\;br>\;\n Goodness knows<\;br>\;\n You're my Honeysuck le Rose<\;br>\;\n Guitar solo<\;br>\;\n Goodness knows<\;br>\; \n You're my Honeysuckle Rose<\;br>\;\n Don't buy sugar\,<\;br>\;\ n You just have to touch my cup.<\;br>\;\n You're my sugar.<\;br>\ ;\n It's sweeter when you stir it up.<\;br>\;\n When I'm taking sips f rom your tasty lips<\;br>\;\n seems the honey fairly drips.<\;br>\ ;\n Goodness knows<\;br>\;\n You're my Honeysuckle Rose\n\n\n\n\n Wall er + Razaff also did \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Aint Misbehavin lyrics + compositi on from Razaf + waller\n\n for a musical revue \"Hot Chocolates\" ... fina nced by dutch schultz\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ8fWP6a3Q4\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n <\;p>\;\n AINT MISBEHAVIN<\;br>\;\n No one to talk with<\;br>\;\n All by myself<\;br>\;\n No one to walk wit h<\;br>\;\n But I'm happy<\;br>\;\n On the shelf<\;br>\;\n Ain 't misbehavin'<\;br>\;\n I'm savin' my love for you\n<\;/p>\;\n\n& lt\;p>\;\n I know for certain<\;br>\;\n The one I love<\;br>\;\n I'm through with flirtin'<\;br>\;\n It's you that I'm thinkin' of<\ ;br>\;\n Ain't misbehavin'<\;br>\;\n I'm savin' my love for you\n< \;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n Like Jack Horner<\;br>\;\n In the corner< \;br>\;\n Don't go nowhere<\;br>\;\n What do I care?<\;br>\;\n Y our kisses<\;br>\;\n Are worth waitin' for<\;br>\;\n Believe me\n& lt\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n I don't stay out late<\;br>\;\n Don't car e to go<\;br>\;\n I'm home about eight<\;br>\;\n Just me and my ra dio<\;br>\;\n Ain't misbehavin'<\;br>\;\n I'm savin' my love for y ou<\;br>\;\n Ain't misbehavin'<\;br>\;\n I'm savin' my love for yo u\n<\;/p>\;\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Razaf wrote this classic\, originally for the musical revue \"Hot chocolates\" with music by fats wa ller\n\n \"(What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue\"\n\n https://www.youtu be.com/watch?v=WHCPM7K0evc\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LYRICS\n\n\n\n Col d empty bed\, springs hurt my head<\;br>\;\n Feels like ole ned\, wish ed I was dead<\;br>\;\n What did I do to be so black and blue<\;br&g t\;\n Even the mouse ran from my house<\;br>\;\n They laugh at you and all that you do<\;br>\;\n What did I do to be so black and blue<\;b r>\;\n I'm white inside but\, that don't help my case<\;br>\;\n ThIs life can't hide what is in my face<\;br>\;\n How would it end ain't g ot a friend<\;br>\;\n My only sin is in my skin<\;br>\;\n What did I do to be so black and blue<\;br>\;\n How would it end I ain't got a friend<\;br>\;\n My only sin is in my skin<\;br>\;\n What did I d o to be so black and blue\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NOTES to black and blue\n\n He demanded a comedy song for a lady who says how tough it is to be black ...He literally put a gun to Andy's head and told him that if he didn't wr ite it he would never write again. The opening-night response to the song was silence -people were stunned. Then they went crazy. Andy hadn't writte n the comedy song Schultz wanted\, but because it was a hit\, Schultz left him alone.\n\n — Barry Singer\, author of \"Black and Blue: The Life and Lyrics of Andy Razaf \n\n [Holden\, Stephen (8 February 1989). \"A Lo t of Hit Songs from an Unsung Lyricist\". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 May 2024. \; https://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/08/arts/a-lot-of-hit-songs-f rom-an-unsung-lyricist.html ]\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And Edgar Sampson wrote Stompin at the Savoy \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Straighten up and fly right\n\n written by Nat King Cole + Irving Mills\n\n Composed by Nat King Cole \n\ n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-4VTlQlros\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LYRICS\n\n\n\n A buzzard took a monkey for a ride in the air<\;br>\;\ n The monkey thought that everything was on the square<\;br>\;\n The b uzzard tried to throw the monkey off his back<\;br>\;\n But the monkey grabbed his neck and said\, \"Now listen\, Jack\"<\;br>\;\n Straighte n up and fly right<\;br>\;\n Straighten up and stay right<\;br>\;\ n Straighten up and fly right<\;br>\;\n Cool down\, papa\, don't you b low your top<\;br>\;\n Ain't no use in divin'<\;br>\;\n What's the use in jivin'?<\;br>\;\n Straighten up and fly right<\;br>\;\n Co ol down\, papa\, don't you blow your top<\;br>\;\n The buzzard told th e monkey<\;br>\;\n You are chokin' me<\;br>\;\n Release your hold and I'll set you free<\;br>\;\n The monkey looked the buzzard right< \;br>\;\n Dead in the eye and said<\;br>\;\n \"Your story's so touch ing\, but it sounds<\;br>\;\n Just like a lie\"<\;br>\;\n Straight en up and fly right<\;br>\;\n Straighten up and stay right<\;br>\; \n Straighten up and fly right<\;br>\;\n Cool down\, papa\, don't you blow your top<\;br>\;\n Straighten up and fly right<\;br>\;\n Stra ighten up and stay right<\;br>\;\n Straighten up and fly right<\;br& gt\;\n Cool down\, papa\, don't you blow your top<\;br>\;\n Fly right\ n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I Love You ( For sentimental reasons )\n\n written by Ivory \"Deek\" Watson of the Ink Spots  + William \"Pat\" Best of the Fo ur Tunes\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUnguqPxzNU\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LYRICS\n\n\n\n I love you<\;br>\;\n For sentimental reason s<\;br>\;\n I hope you do believe me<\;br>\;\n I'll give you my he art<\;br>\;\n I love you<\;br>\;\n And you alone were meant for me <\;br>\;\n Please give your loving heart to me<\;br>\;\n And say w e'll never part<\;br>\;\n I think of you every morning<\;br>\;\n D ream of you every night<\;br>\;\n Darling I'm never lonely<\;br>\; \n Whenever you are in sight<\;br>\;\n I love you for sentimental reas ons<\;br>\;\n I hope you do believe me<\;br>\;\n I've given you my heart<\;br>\;\n I love you for sentimental reasons<\;br>\;\n I ho pe you do believe me<\;br>\;\n I've given you my heart\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\ n\n YOu know the Ink Spots\n\n\n\n \"Memories of You\" written by Razaf an d Eubie blake [ The song was introduced by singer Minto Cato in the Broadw ay show Lew Leslie's Blackbirds of 1930. ]\n\n https://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=pg5Dv_QYwJI\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Memories of You from Andy Ra zaf<\;br>\;\n VERSE 1\n<\;br>\;<\;br>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n Why c an't I forget like I should?<\;br>\;\n Heaven knows I would if I could <\;br>\;\n But I just can't keep you off my mind.<\;br>\;\n Though you're gone and love was in vain\,<\;br>\;\n All around me you still remain.<\;br>\;\n Wonder why fate should be so unkind.\n<\;/p>\;\n \n<\;p>\;\n REFRAIN\n<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n Waking skies<\;br >\;\n At sunrise\,<\;br>\;\n Ev'ry sunset\, too\,<\;br>\;\n Seem s to be<\;br>\;\n Bringing me<\;br>\;\n Memories of you.<\;br> \;\n Here and there\,<\;br>\;\n Ev'rywhere\,<\;br>\;\n Scenes that we once knew\,<\;br>\;\n And they all<\;br>\;\n Just recall<\;b r>\;\n Memories of you.<\;br>\;\n How I wish I could forget those< \;br>\;\n Happy yesteryears<\;br>\;\n That have left a rosary of tea rs.<\;br>\;\n Your face beams<\;br>\;\n In my dreams\,<\;br>\; \n 'Spite of all I do\,<\;br>\;\n Ev'rything<\;br>\;\n Seems to br ing<\;br>\;\n Memories of you.\n<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n VERSE 2\ n<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n Though for years we've been apart\,<\;br& gt\;\n Time heals ev'rything but my heart<\;br>\;\n That still aches f or you the same old way.<\;br>\;\n Seems I can't escape from the past\ ,<\;br>\;\n And your spell keeps holding me fast\,<\;br>\;\n Each tomorrow is like yesterday.\n<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n REPEAT REFRAIN\ n<\;/p>\;\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Memories of YOu  from Thelonius Monk\n \n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhxIIhA_JVk\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n From Eubie Blake\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw9KzKJJjPs\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n You know the Four Tunes\n\n \"I Understand (J ust How You Feel)\" written by Pat Best\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=achpJtgdDNk\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LYRICS\n\n\n\n I understand jus t how you feel<\;br>\;\n Your love for me\, why not be mine?<\;br> \;\n It's over now but it was grand<\;br>\;\n I understand\, I underst and<\;br>\;\n If you ever change your mind<\;br>\;\n Come back to me and you will find<\;br>\;\n Me waiting there\, at your command<\; br>\;\n I understand\, I understand<\;br>\;\n I miss you so\, please believe me when I tell you<\;br>\;\n I just can't stand to see you go <\;br>\;\n You know<\;br>\;\n If you ever change your mind<\;br& gt\;\n Come back to me and you will find<\;br>\;\n Me waiting there at your command<\;br>\;\n I understand\, I understand<\;br>\;\n Plea se understand just how I feel<\;br>\;\n Your love for me why not revea l<\;br>\;\n And we will know this time it's real<\;br>\;\n We'll u nderstand\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n You Are My Love (1955 song) written by Jimm ie Nabbie\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTqBYz5Rouo\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LYRICS\n\n <\;p>\;\n You are my love\, (you are my love)&l t\;br>\;\n My one and only!<\;br>\;\n When you're not near\, (when y ou're not near)<\;br>\;\n I'm oh\, so lonely!\n<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p& gt\;\n You are my love\, (you are my love)<\;br>\;\n And please believ e me\,<\;br>\;\n There's not another\,<\;br>\;\n There'll be no ot her one for me!#\n<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n I sigh and cry<\;br>\; \n And long for you\, (and long for you)<\;br>\;\n Oh my darling\, my dear one\,<\;br>\;\n Oooh-ooh-ooh-ooh!\n<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n You are my love\, (you are my love)<\;br>\;\n And please believe me\,& lt\;br>\;\n There's not another\,<\;br>\;\n There'll be no other one for me!\n<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n I sigh and cry<\;br>\;\n And l ong for you\,<\;br>\;\n Oh my darling\, my dear one\,<\;br>\;\n Oo oh-ooh-ooh-ooh!\n<\;/p>\;\n\n<\;p>\;\n You are my love\, (you are my love)<\;br>\;\n And please believe me\,<\;br>\;\n There's not a nother\,<\;br>\;\n There'll be no other one for me!<\;br>\;\n (you are my love) are my love!\n<\;/p>\;\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Those who kn ow me know I love Nat King Cole \, and I can place all the music he made\, remember\, the song is a collaborative project\, you can write a song\, b ut can you sing it? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Portrait of Jenny\n\n lyrics J. Russel Robinson\, Gordon Burdge\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLT PhJMddxc\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LYRICS so  lovely i can't resist< \;br>\;\n A Portrait of Jennie<\;br>\;\n More precious to me<\;br& gt\;\n Than a masterpiece<\;br>\;\n How ever famous it be<\;br>\;\ n The portrait of Jennie<\;br>\;\n Is etched on my heart<\;br>\;\n Where her features have been<\;br>\;\n Sketched from the start<\;br >\;\n Ah\, the color and beauty of life<\;br>\;\n And the glow of he r spirit divine<\;br>\;\n All cast in heaven's own design<\;br>\;\ n With a portrait of Jennie<\;br>\;\n I never will part<\;br>\;\n For there isn't any portrait of Jennie<\;br>\;\n Except in my heart< \;br>\;\n For there isn't any portrait of Jennie<\;br>\;\n Except in my heart\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Fly Me To The Moon ( In Other Words ) \n\n lyrics+composition from George Shearing\, Nat King Cole\n\n https://www.y outube.com/watch?v=rABO0_pvims\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LYRICS<\;br& gt\;\n Poets often use many words to say a simple thing<\;br>\;\n It t akes thought and time and rhyme<\;br>\;\n To make a poem sing<\;br&g t\;\n With music and words I've been playing<\;br>\;\n For you\, I hav e written a song<\;br>\;\n To be sure that you'll know what I'm saying <\;br>\;\n I'll translate as I go along<\;br>\;\n Fly me to the mo on<\;br>\;\n And let me play among the stars<\;br>\;\n Let me see what spring is like<\;br>\;\n On Jupiter and Mars<\;br>\;\n In oth er words\, hold my hand<\;br>\;\n In other words\, darling kiss me<\ ;br>\;\n Fill my heart with song<\;br>\;\n And let me sing forever m ore<\;br>\;\n You are all I long for<\;br>\;\n All I worship and a dore<\;br>\;\n In other words\, please be true<\;br>\;\n In other words\, I love you<\;br>\;\n Fill my heart with song<\;br>\;\n And let me sing forever more<\;br>\;\n You are all I long for<\;br>\; \n All I worship and adore<\;br>\;\n In other words\, please be true&l t\;br>\;\n In other words\, I love you\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COM MENTARIES\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03192026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/1 2600-happy-birthday-nat-king-cole/#findComment-80772\n\n\n\n osted just n ow\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   On 3/18/2026 at 2:19 PM\, ProfD said:\n\ n\n\n The late\, great Nat King Cole was a real troubadour &\; excellen t musician.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Colorism goes way back.  They did this to Nat King Cole for a TV appearance:\n\n\n\n I know\, but I look at it a nother way. Black people like Nat King Cole\, like Frederick Douglass\, ML K jr\, James Forten\, Michelle side Barrack Obama have always existed in t he usa or the white european colonies/dominions that proceded it. \n\n\n\ n Black people like Nat King Cole say to non blacks\, non black dosers\, t hat I will treat you with respect\, with civility \, even if you don't tre at me the same. And not because I want to be humiliated or insulted or bec ause I am weak\, but because I treasure peace even amongst you... especial ly amongst you. I don't want to live my life fighting whites every day. Th at to me is what Nat King Cole\, Billy Eckstine (that whites treated sinfu lly) Nichelle Nichols (who suffered a lot of crow for the idea of Uhura wh o lives among the non black humans in the future:) far far future in peace \, sorry non humans still a way to go for that) and other entertainers are saying. They fully know the Nat turners\, the Jean Jacques Dessalines\, t he Quilombos are in the community\, black people who don't trust the non b lack\, don't want to live civilly among the nonblack\, are willing to be a rmed and violent to uphold the way of life they want to have. But\, Nat Ki ng Cole and other blacks like him\, are willing to trust\, live civilly wi th\, willing to be unprotected around the non black\, not naively or stupi dly but with hope. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n That is the real point. Frederick Douglass's composite nation speech isn't suggesting the enslaver becomes t he friend easily or overnight or simply. The enslaver becomes the abuser\, the abuser becomes the trickster\, the trickster becomes the dour\, the d our may one day become the kin\, the kin becomes the ally\, the ally becom es the friend\, the friend becomes the lover.  Cause all awhile from ensl aver to lover\, the other was always the neighbor\, no segregation ever ex isted\, it was always integrated \,in various forms. So\, if the black is to embrace civility living aside the non black in various forms\, it is a process\, part of that process is being told to where white face paint and giving in sometimes and not giving in other times.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 0322026 \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12600-happy-birthday-nat-kin g-cole/#findComment-80826\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian  \n\n\n\n is unforgettable your favrite nat king cole rendition?\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n a certain level of respect and admiration\, interesting w ords you chose to describe levels that didn't include respect or admiratio n to nat king cole in his life from his enemies. \n\n\n\n again\, the iss ue isn't about black enemies\, it is about black people gardless of their personal talents who are willing to live peacefully to the non black \, it is that simple. \n\n\n\n St patrick's day passed and I do like the film michael collins . Him and a few others in irish leadership really led to t he movement that made a part of ireland free from england after 700 years\ , but the key moment was when he realized that the freedom the irish wante d the happiness the irish wanted as a people\, not individuals\,  wasn't going to come through business ownership\, marching\, peitions\, governmen t engagement\, they did all of that for centuries and it led to nothing. T he only way ireland was going to be free\, which is why irish in most of i reland today are truly free\, is by killing english....\n\n\n\n Agan\, Jam es Forten to NAt King Cole to various black folk today\, live their lives to happiness in spite of the communities oppression. That to me is what wa rrants respect or admiration that is what nonblacks don't respect or admir e. being entertaining doesn't grant you respect or admiration from the bul ly. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 0322026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12600- happy-birthday-nat-king-cole/#findComment-80834\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\ n\n\n @aka Contrarian Well from my assessment of history Douglass never l eft his black wife for his white mistress\, whom if I am correct\, killed herself...I checked\, frederick douglass first wife died before he married his second wife. as for nat king cole\, I knew he had cheated on his wife \,but I have never seen whom or any photos or anything. His wife I recall in some interview said he cheated and she went on tour in europe and came back and they continued their lives\, he didn't have cancer when she came back but it started soon enough after. So in both cases\, i wouldn't say as a male\, they left their wives. Both men were always married to their b lack wives while having a white mistress.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD \ n\n\n\n yes\, your correct\, financial revenue\, financial value for most \, 99% \, black folk in any industry in the usa historically is based on w hite dollars in the usa\, always has been \, i argue always will be based on the demographic reality. but financial revenue isn't respect or admirat ion. it is earned value labor something whites historically never want to give black people\, and for the financial record\, Nat King Cole was cheat ed money by whites. so earning money clearly doesn't yield respect or admi ration\, but if it is evenly done\, it does pay the bills\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250317 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Huria search engine DTSTAMP:20260316T034423Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:680-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n search engine tool\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/huria-search /#gsc.tab=0\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n referral page\n\n\n\n Your Obligation To AA LBC - Culture\, Race &\; Economy - African American Literature Book Clu b\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n for example\, i searched cars and found the following website\n\n\n\n African American Golfer's Digest\n\n\n\n https://africana mericangolfersdigest.com/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n and has alist of black golf c lubs\n\n\n\n https://africanamericangolfersdigest.com/african-american-gol f-clubs/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARIES\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n 03162026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12590-your-obligation-to -aalbc/#findComment-80732\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Troy \n\n\n\ n   9 hours ago\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n I literarily brought it back yest erday.  It was down for several years\, but as I'm revamping the site I'm bringing back features that I abandoned -- even if a few people will use and benefit from it.  It took me all of 5 minutes to bring it back.  AI made this possible.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n When you say AI made this possible\ , what do you mean? \n\n\n\n Didn't you have the code? why was AI needed? I imagine all you needed to do was load the frontal code into an aalbc pa ge post and return the backcode onto the server\, godaddy. \n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n AI is reminiscent of the early days of t he web.  This time around fewer people will take advantage of it and the benefit to individuals will not be very long.\n\n\n\n well\, we will see w hat happens. You offer the question. What advantages does modern computing power you plus others label artificial intelligence offer? Are any fiscal ? \n\n\n\n NYC just finally admitted a quarter of its populace is hungry\ , circa two million and five hundred thousand people are hungry. Don't tel l me they all are lazy. The internet whom you say more took advantage of\, at the end of the day has three primary industries: sex/retail shopping/i nfluencers \, not all people can offer sex or have anything to sell or wis h to evangelize themselves enough to be sponsored. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ht tps://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2024/11/1-8-nyc-public-school-kids-was -homeless-last-school-year/401093/\n\n\n\n November 18\, 2024\n\n\n\n The number of students who experienced homelessness in New York City last scho ol year could fill Yankee Stadium nearly three times over. That’s accord ing to a new report [ https://advocatesforchildren.org/policy-resource/s tudent-homelessness-data-2024/ ] released Monday from Advocates for Child ren of New York\, which found over 146\,000 public school children – or 1 in every 8 – didn’t have a permanent place to call home during the 2 022-2023 school year.\n\n\n\n Of the over 146\,000 students impacted last year\, 41% spent time living in city shelters\, 54% were doubled up with o ther families\, and 5% were unsheltered or living in cars or hotels\, acco rding to the nonprofit’s annual report on New York State Education Depar tment records. That’s a 23% increase from the 2022-2023 school year\, spurred in large part by an uptick of students living in shelters.\n\n\n\n https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/special-reports/in-the-dark-new-yor ks-child-welfare-deaths\n\n\n\n 26% \n\n\n\n https://nypost.com/2026/03/1 6/us-news/nyc-spent-roughly-81k-per-person-on-homeless-services-last-year- comptroller/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03172026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topi c/12590-your-obligation-to-aalbc/#findComment-80739\n\n\n\n osted just no w\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   20 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Again\ , I'll restate some people need to stop procreating.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Th ey're not too lazy to stop f8cking but cannot afford their offspring. Make s zero sense. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   20 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\ n It is selfish for people to bring children into the world &\; not be able to provide shelter\, food &\; clothing for them.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n Broke men &\; women should get themselves fixed. That way\, they can f8ck from sun up to sun down &\; not have to worry about bringing someo ne else into poverty &\; homelessness.\n\n\n\n Yeah\, black people been mostly\, over 95%\, fiscally poor their entire history in the usa or the european colonies that preceded\, based on the logic you just used\, ninet y five percent of black people in 1865 should had never had a child. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n Time is relevant\, fiscal poverty doesn't have a time limi t in being true so...\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n you agree you shouldn't had been born\, because if you are a black descended of enslaved\, then your forebe ars fit the exact category of people whom you say should get themselves fi xed.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @admin\n\n\n\n   17 hours ago\, admin said:\n\ n\n\n 146\,000\, i’m surprised it’s not more. I would be willing to be t that it is. New York is Hard and unforgiving if you don’t have any mon ey.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I don’t know why people have children they can’ t afford. it’s probably the programmed primal instinct to procreate. \n \n\n\n i am 100% sure the real numbers are worse. ahhh NYC isn't hard and unforgiving\, why do people in usa keep trying to soften the ineptitude of the country. NYC isn't hard and unforgiving\, it simply is mismanaged in government while infested with charlatan cheater fiscal operators for hund reds of years\, longer than the usa was in existence. \n\n\n\n   17 hou rs ago\, admin said:\n\n\n\n Well\, Richard is not that simple. If it wa s\, I would’ve done it already.The calculus completely changed in an AI world. I’m now doing things that I would not have considered doing becau se it required effort\, time\, intellect and money that I did not have.\n\ n\n\n please help me to comprehend.\n\n\n\n If the code is already present and placing the code in your server was easily doable\, then you must hav e needed to add something to the code and placing it in the server is most convenient with modern computing power.\n\n\n\n If the code was not alrea dy present or the code being placed in wasn't easily doable\, then modern computing power allowed you to generate the code needed or place it in the server satisfactory to whatever conventions. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 0317202 6\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12590-your-obligation-to-aalbc/#findC omment-80742\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   9 minute s ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Would like be any worse if they chose not to procreate?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n did you mean to ask the following: \n\n\n\ n Would life be any worse if they chose not to procreate?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n   9 minutes ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Fiscal poverty has always exi sted.  Many people have found a way out of it too.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I a pologize\, I realized late\, I meant to type\, time is irrelevant. But\, t he question isn't the existence of the fiscal poor\, the question is\, bas ed on your publicly stated position\, that fiscal poor should not procreat e. so if true\, then no one fiscal poor throughout human history should pr ocreate\, which means you are definitely not born?\n\n\n\n   9 minutes a go\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n If my forebearers had chosen not to procreate t hat would have been perfectly fine with me. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ahh  I like my personal life. Always been loved\, always been supported. and all by my own kin. I don't mind coming from the enslaved/fiscal poor/bereft of hope... I rather honor a set /a selection of my forebears. ... just to ex plain\, like all DOSers i have some white european forebears\, so I can't look to honor all my forebears. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03172026\n\n\n\n http s://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12590-your-obligation-to-aalbc/#findComment-80747\n \n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   10 minutes ago\, ProfD  said:\n\n\n\n Would life be any worse if they chose not to procreate?\n\ n\n\n My parents always said that having children is a joy unlike any othe r... they both helped many children\, not their own by blood... I can't an swer your question. I think for some no\, for some yes.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03182026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12590-your-obligation-to-aalb c/#findComment-80758\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   16 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I would hope that all parents feel simi larly &\; they would do whatever it took to keep their offspring from b eing hungry &\;/or homeless.\n\n\n\n all parents don't cause all parent s are human\, humanity means various positions not just one \, and my pare nts never said they would do whatever it took\, they spoke the truth\, the y tried their best. My parents never suggested parental success is some ma ndatory\, the key is to try\, but failure is an option\, a failing parent doesn't mean a malintentioned one. again\, my enslaved forebears who were born and died enslaved to some white person weren't malintentioned because they had children. Their descendents first not legally enslaved while in jim crow were not malintentioned by having children absent any financial o pportunity.\n\n\n\n The one thing I don't know is where do black folk like you get the \"don't warrant having children\" philosophy from? I have rea d many things of black people in the 1800s\, I don't recall any thing like that. The only people saying black people shouldn't have kids in the usa in the 1800s is whites who didn't want black people to have kids cause the y dislike /hate/some negative black people. \n\n\n\n Who was the earliest black leader to push the narrative you and quite a few other blacks I hav e heard offline or online say?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03192026\n\n\n\n https:/ /aalbc.com/tc/topic/12590-your-obligation-to-aalbc/#findComment-80771\n\n\ n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said: \n\n\n\n Irresponsible is the more appropriate word for people bringing ch ildren into the world &\; unable to provide for &\; protect them. \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n well fiscally poor people are not irresponsible for bri nging children in this world\, the simple truth is some fiscally poor peop le never have the ability to raise their children\, no matter how hard the y try. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n There is no \"don't warrant having children\" philosophy or movement. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Maybe there isn't but I have doubts\, too many black people I have heard offline speak of fiscally poor people\, especially black people ... being irresponsible having children... One day when I get time I will research and find the source in the usa \, cause most of the black people I can think of in the past who said the point in question\,  were black church folk or old black money in the usa\, black people who were rich fro m the 1800s \, and the rest is trickling from either source.\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n 03192026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12590-your-obligation-to -aalbc/#findComment-80775\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n contraception comes in many forms and the only free contraception i know of is abstinence\, which has always existed\, but again\, if humanity abid ed by your stated action then humanity wouldn't exist today. A species mur dering themselves is the most unnatural thing for any species to do. To re phrase\, all children of earth procreate\, trees make babies in trashheaps \, fish make babies in dirty streams\, birds make babies under toxic air. humans like all other children of earth make babies under all sorts of cir cumstances and are not irresponsible for failing as a parent. PArt of matu rity of any living being is comprehending this anceint truth and to think opposite is foolish.\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260315 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Bobby McFerrin born 1950 DTSTAMP:20250331T014439Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:227-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Bobby McFerrin born 1950\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The Voice\n\n e lement BlackBirds from The Beatles\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n Listing\n\n https://w ww.youtube.com/watch?v=7v8uzMFb74M&\;list=PLEoabs3UwVngSd0VH63dpetZKmsW 1u6lc\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Opening Credits to Season 4 of the Cosby show\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Spontaneous Inventions\n\n element thinkin g about your body\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n full show\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n THINKING AB OUT YOUR BODY\n\n\n\n Oh baby I'm thinkin' about your body\n\n Oh baby I'm thinkin' about your face\n\n Oh baby I'm thinkin' about your body\n\n thi nkin' about your face\n\n\n\n Oh baby I'm thinkin' about your body\n\n Oh baby I'm thinkin' about your face\n\n Oh baby I'm thinkin' about your body \n\n thinkin' about your face\n\n\n\n Songwriters: Robert Mcferrin Jr..\n\ n\n\n List\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywmiopWzdH4&\;list=OLAK5 uy_lM8Gs1m8fp6goa8AcJqVJvBNGCx11dwJE&\;index=2\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Simple Pleasures album\n\n element Don't Worry Be Happy\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n Listing just in case\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFDOSq6Wxa0&\;list=PL tFFA8euM8uxTMn0_8GhVLIz1txCvJfjc\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n DONT WORRY BE HAPY\n\n \n\n Here's a little song I wrote\n\n You might want to sing it note for n ote\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n In every life we have some trouble\n\n Bu t when you worry you make it double\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n Don't wor ry be happy now\n\n\n\n Ooh-ooh-hoo-hoo-ooh hoo-hoo-ooh-ooh ooh\n\n Don't worry\n\n Woo ooh-woo-ooh-woo-ooh-ooh\n\n Be happy\n\n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh \n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n Ooh-ooh hoo-hoo-ooh hoo-hoo-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh\ n\n Don't worry\n\n Woo ooh-woo-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Be happy\n\n Woo-ooh-w oo-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n\n\n Ain't got no place to lay your head somebody came and took your bed\n\n\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n The landlord say your rent is late he may have to litigate\n\n Don't worry\n\ n Ha-ha ha-ha ha-ha\n\n Be happy\n\n Look at me I'm happy\n\n\n\n Ooh-ooh- hoo-hoo-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry\n\n Ooh-ooh-ooh-oo h-ooh-ooh-ooh...\n\n Be happy\n\n Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Here I'll give y ou my phone number\n\n When you're worried call me I'll make you happy\n\n \n\n Ooh-ooh-hoo-hoo-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry\n\n W oo ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Be happy\n\n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n\n\n Ai n't got no cash ain't got no style\n\n Ain't got no gal to make you smile\ n\n But don't worry be happy\n\n 'Cause when you're worried your face will frown\n\n And that will bring everybody down\n\n So don't worry be happy\ n\n Don't worry be happy now\n\n\n\n Ooh-ooh-hoo-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh o oh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry\n\n Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Be happy\n\ n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n\n\n Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry\n\n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo-ooh-o oh\n\n Be happy\n\n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n\n\n N ow there is this song I wrote\n\n I hope you learned it note for note like good little children\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n Listen to a what I say in your life expect some trouble\n\n When you worry you make it double\n\n Don't worry be happy be happy now\n\n\n\n Ooh-ooh-hoo-hoo-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh -ooh ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry\n\n Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Be ha ppy\n\n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n\n\n Ooh-ooh-ooh-o oh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry\n\n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo -ooh-ooh\n\n Be happy\n\n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n \n\n Ooh-ooh-hoo-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry (Don' t worry\, don't do it)\n\n Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Be happy\n\n Wo o ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n (Put a smile on your face\, don't bring everybody do wn like this)\n\n\n\n Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry\n\n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-hoo-ooh-ooh\n\n It will soon pass\, whatev er it is\n\n Woo ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n Don't worry be happy\n\n\n\n Ooh-ooh- ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh ooh-ooh-ooh\n\n I'm not worried\n\n\n\n Songwr iters: Robert Mcferrin Jr.. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Medic ine Man\n\n Medicine Man element\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Listing\n\n https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch?v=rz2f2yy9fHw&\;list=PLn8WMQrzp79hN8iGifZLkacJs6 NEPKlvn\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MEDICINE MAN\n\n\n\n I am a medicine man\, I do a medicine dance\n\n I am a medicine man\, I sing a medicine chant\n\n I am a medicine man\, I have a medicine tale\n\n I am a medicine man\, I wal k a medicine trail\n\n I got potions thatll heal your wounds\n\n And the r hythms that I drum will soothe\,\n\n I got harmonies to give you hope\n\n Im a medicine man\n\n Healins my plan\n\n I am a medicine man.(chorus)\n\n \n\n I got melodies to take you home\n\n And my dance will help your blood to flow\n\n I got words to make the devil go\n\n Im a medicine man\, heal ins my plan\n\n Solo\n\n Whatever could be ailin you\n\n I got music to di spel your blue\n\n There is nothing that I cannot do\n\n Im a medicine man \n\n Healins my plan\n\n\n\n Songwriters: Robert Jr. Mcferrin\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n Vocabularies Album\n\n entry Say LAdeo \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n Listing\n\n https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLn-8OHKkU1mc_hsx_Yvob qLjQlZNqF64W\n\n SAY LADEO lyrics\n\n\n\n Hey\, hey\, say Ladeo\n\n Time f or taking words away\n\n The melody will tell the story\n\n As we go along \n\n Riding a wave of a thousand stories\n\n Starlit journeys of morning g lories\n\n Where your long lost dreams are suddenly awake\n\n Summoning a prayer\, didn't even know was there\n\n Say Ladeo\n\n A song becomes a tho usand songs\n\n Hey\, hey\, say Ladeo\n\n Time we took the words away\n\n We're getting to somewhere closer\n\n That's hidden inside\n\n Words only take you so far and leave you\n\n Wondering just what it was you meant to\ n\n Say what you would say if your heart led the way\n\n Take away the wor ds\, letting all the sounds just play\n\n Say Ladeo\n\n A song becomes a t housand songs\n\n And each and every heart\n\n Brings life and times and r hymes along\n\n All the dreams you never knew were there\n\n Sound and fee ling\, melody and prayer\n\n Say Ladeo\n\n Words only take you so far and leave you\n\n Wondering what it was you meant to\n\n Say what you would\, say what you would\n\n Say if you could let your heart just lead the way\n \n Say Ladeo\n\n A song becomes a thousand songs\n\n A prayer becomes a so ng\n\n So sing out loud or whisper low\n\n Songwriters: Donald B. Rosler\, Roger Cary Treece\, Robert Jr. Mcferrin\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n For his vocal style McFerrin was inspired by Keith Jarrett [ a white European descended man]\n\n The Köln Concert \n\n It is a totally improvised concert.\n\n M cferrin wanted to do something similar vocally.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARY\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03152026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc. com/tc/topic/12585-what-are-your-thoughts-to-the-music-of-bobby-mcferrin/# findComment-80717\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Chevdove\n\n\n\n he has spent his five minutes of fame money well. He is in the education circuit . from dont' worry be happy to now. Not disppeared at all\, i have seen hi m in various scholastic settings. when one is in the entertainment world b ut doesn't act to be clicked... the newspaper and media outlets show their poor quality. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n yeah\, everybody loves his style:)\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250311 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:\"Within Our Gates 1920\" review + Thoughts to Oscar Micheau x from Movies That Move We DTSTAMP:20260311T022118Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:674-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n OSCAR MICHEAUX THEATER\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/event s/event/677-oscar-devereaux-micheaux-books-plus-films/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \"Within Our Gates\" from OScar Micheaux\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Still from Within Our Gates\, portraying the ly nching of Jasper Landry (William Stark) and his wife (Mattie Edwards)\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Still from the 1920 Oscar Micheaux film Within Our Gates featuring Grant Gorman and Evelyn Preer\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Tit le\nWithin our gates\nSummary\nSylvia Landry\, a young black woman\, is vi siting her cousin\, Alma Prichard\, in the North. After Alma uses her wick ed step-brother Larry to break Sylvia's engagement\, Sylvia returns to the South. She meets Rev. Jacobs\, a minister who runs a school for black chi ldren\, which is facing closure. Sylvia volunteers to go to Boston to atte mpt to raise funds. Upon arriving\, her purse is stolen\, but a local man\ , Dr. Vivian\, manages to get it back for her. Dr. Vivian falls in love wi th Sylvia\, and gradually learns of her tragic past: her adoptive mother a nd father were both the victims of lynching and she was the victim of atte mpted rape\, after a meeting between her adoptive father\, sharecropper Ja sper Landry\, and the plantation owner\, Philip Girdlestone\, ends with Gi rdlestone dead. Meanwhile\, despite setbacks\, Sylvia has managed to raise $50\,000 for the school from a generous philanthropist. After a second di fficult encounter with Larry\, Sylvia and Dr. Vivian are happily reunited. \nNames\nMicheaux\, Oscar\, 1884-1951\, film director\, film producer\, sc reenwriter\, actor\nPreer\, Evelyn\, actor\nClements\, Flo\, actor\nLucas\ , Charles D.\, actor\nRuffin\, James D.\, actor\nChenault\, Jack\, actor\n Jacks\, S. T. (Samuel True)\, 1887-1955\, actor\nStarks\, William\, 1879-1 937\, actor\nEdwards\, Mattie\, 1866-1944\, actor\nMicheaux Film Corporati on\, production company\nCreated / Published\n1993.\nHeadings\n- African American educators\n- African American schools\n- African American physi cians\n- Hoodlums--United States\n- Educational benefactors--United Stat es\n- Race relations\n- Racism--United States\n- Lynching--United State s\nGenre\nRace films\nSocial problem films\nSilent films\nFeature films\nF iction films\nNotes\n- Originally released in the U.S. in 1920 by the Mic heaux Book and Film Co. and Quality Amusement Corporation\, both under the states rights system.\n- At approximately 46 minutes into the film\, Osc ar Micheaux appears in a cameo as a criminal doing business with the gambl er\, Larry Prichard\, who is Alma's step-brother.\n- LC also holds the Sp anish language version\, entitled La Negra in the AFI/Filmoteca Española Collection and a 1/2 in. viewing copy entitled The African American cinema I : Oscar Micheaux's Within our gates in the LC Collection.\n- Sources u sed: Eagan\, D. America's film legacy\, p. 64-68\; AFI catalog online\, vi ewed March 22\, 2024\; Internet movie database\, March 22\, 2024\; San Fra ncisco Silent Flm Festival WWW site viewed March 22\, 2024 (Within our gat es essay).\n- Evelyn Preer\, Flo Clements\, Charles D. Lucas\, James D. R uffin\, Jack Chenault\, S.T. Jacks\, Mrs. Evelyn\, William Stark\, Mattie Edwards\, Ralph Johnson\, Grant Gorman\, E.G. Tatum\, Grant Edwards\, Jimm ie Cook\, William Smith\, Bernice Ladd\, Oscar Micheaux.\n- Reconstructed in 1993 from a nitrate print of La Negra\, a version with Spanish languag e intertitles. The new English language intertitles are a translation from the Spanish back into English\, with English diction\, slang\, and syntax drawn whenever possible from Oscar Micheaux's novels or from his 1925 fil m\, Body and soul.\n- This film was selected for the National Film Regist ry.\nMedium\n1 video file (digital) (78 min.) : si.\, b&\;w.\nSource Co llection\nAFI/Filmoteca Española Collection (Library of Congress)\nDigita l Id\nhttps://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mbrsmi/ntscrm.00046435\nLibrary of Congress Control Number\n2024600507\nOnline Format\nimage\nvideo\nLCCN Permalink\nh ttps://lccn.loc.gov/2024600507\nAdditional Metadata Formats\nMARCXML Recor d\nMODS Record\nDublin Core Record\n\nCITATION\n\nChicago citation style:\ nMicheaux\, Oscar\, Film Director\, Film Producer\, Screenwriter\, Actor\, Evelyn Preer\, Flo Clements\, Charles D Lucas\, James D Ruffin\, Jack Che nault\, S. T Jacks\, William Starks\, and Mattie Edwards. Within Our Gates . produceds by Micheaux Film Corporationuction Company 1993. Video. https: //www.loc.gov/item/2024600507/.\n\nAPA citation style:\nMicheaux\, O.\, Pr eer\, E.\, Clements\, F.\, Lucas\, C. D.\, Ruffin\, J. D.\, Chenault\, J. [...] Edwards\, M. (1993) Within Our Gates. Micheaux Film Corporationuctio n Company\, prod [Video] Retrieved from the Library of Congress\, https:// www.loc.gov/item/2024600507/.\n\nMLA citation style:\nMicheaux\, Oscar\, F ilm Director\, Film Producer\, Screenwriter\, Actor\, et al. Within Our Ga tes. prod by Micheaux Film Corporationuction Company 1993. Video. Retrieve d from the Library of Congress\, <\;www.loc.gov/item/2024600507/>\;.\n \nFormat\nFilm\, Video\nContributor\nChenault\, Jack\nClements\, Flo\nEdwa rds\, Mattie\nJacks\, S. T. (Samuel True)\nLucas\, Charles D.\nMicheaux Fi lm Corporation\nMicheaux\, Oscar\nPreer\, Evelyn\nRuffin\, James D.\nStark s\, William\nDates\n1993\nLocation\nUnited States\nLanguage\nNo Linguistic Content\nNot Applicable\nSubject\nAfrican American Educators\nAfrican Ame rican Physicians\nAfrican American Schools\nEducational Benefactors\nFeatu re Films\nFiction Films\nHoodlums\nLynching\nRace Films\nRace Relations\nR acism\nSilent Films\nSocial Problem Films\nUnited States\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n \"Within Our Gates 1920\" review from Movies That Move We\n\n Video li nk\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pDDAem6CS8\n\n Embed video\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 0:1717 secondsHey\,\n0:3333 secondsWhat does it mean to tell you r own story when the world has decided it doesn't want to hear it?\n0:4141 secondsWhat does it cost personally\,\n0:4444 secondsfinancially\, spirit ually to force truth onto a screen that which\n0:5151 secondsthe entire in dustry was built to suppress? That question is at the center of what we'll be discussing today. And I\n0:5858 secondsthink the question makes Oscar Marco one of the most important figures in American film history\, not jus t black\n1:061 minute\, 6 secondsfilm history\, American history. Welcome back to Movies That Move We. I'm Nay and\n1:121 minute\, 12 secondstoday w e're going to deep dive into one silent film from 1920 that was nearly los t forever. abandon multiple cities\n1:221 minute\, 22 secondsand directly challenge the most successful films of the area the era.\n1:271 minute\, 2 7 secondsToday we're talking about within our gates by Oscar Mo.\n1:321 mi nute\, 32 secondsNow if you watched the episode last month we covered Marc o Marco's background in depth. So we're not going\n1:401 minute\, 40 secon dsto repeat that today. But there are two things that you need to keep on the sticky side of your brain before we can\n1:471 minute\, 47 secondstalk about this film. first Lincoln Motion Picture Company. They wanted to\n1: 541 minute\, 54 secondsadapt Mo's novel\, The Homesteader\, but they told him he couldn't direct it himself. So\, he started his own company.\n2:032 minutes\, 3 secondsJust like that\, he started the MO film and Book Compa ny in 1918.\n2:092 minutes\, 9 secondsHe raised the money by selling share s directly to black farmers and community members. That independence is ev erything and that's why this film exists at all.\n2:222 minutes\, 22 secon dsSecond\, and this is important\, you cannot understand within our gates without understanding what it was\n2:292 minutes\, 29 secondsresponding to . Birth of a nation by WD Griffith\, which came out in 2000\, I'm sorry\, 1915.\n2:382 minutes\, 38 secondsI'll make it plain. technically innovativ e\, cinematically influential\,\n2:442 minutes\, 44 secondsand deeply deva statingly racist. It glorifies the KKK as heroes and portrays black men as animalistic and predatory.\n2:542 minutes\, 54 secondsPresident Woodro Wi lson screened this at the White House. The NAACP tried to have\n3:013 minu tes\, 1 secondit banned and failed. It became the highest grossing film of its era and was used as a clan recruitment tool.\n3:113 minutes\, 11 seco ndsHistorians have linked it directly to the resurgence of clan membership in the years that followed.\n3:183 minutes\, 18 secondsThis is what Oscar Mako was working against.\n3:233 minutes\, 23 secondsNot just the images on a screen\, but real world violence that those images enabled.\n3:313 mi nutes\, 31 secondsThen comes 1919\,\n3:343 minutes\, 34 secondsthe Red Sum mer. Race massacres across the country. White mobs attacking black neighbo rhoods. Hundreds of Africanameans\n3:433 minutes\, 43 secondskilled. The c ountry was burning. Within our gates is released January 1920.\n3:513 minu tes\, 51 secondsIt is a direct answer and it doesn't flinch.\n3:573 minute s\, 57 secondsThe version that we have today is incomplete.\n4:034 minutes \, 3 secondsThe film was believed to be entirely lost until 1993 when a pr int was discovered in a Spanish\n4:114 minutes\, 11 secondsarchive in Madr id. It was cataloged under its Spanish title\, Lanra.\n4:184 minutes\, 18 secondsWhat we have runs about 79 minutes\, more than likely shorter than the original.\n4:264 minutes\, 26 secondsand some of the intertitles have been reconstructed from the Spanish translation.\n4:324 minutes\, 32 secon dsSo\, we're working with an important but still extraordinary artifact.\n 4:384 minutes\, 38 secondsThe central character in this film is Sylvia Lan dry\, played by Evelyn Prayer.\n4:454 minutes\, 45 secondsIf you don't kno w that name\, we need to take a moment because she's one of the most impor tant figures in this entire era of black film cinema.\n4:564 minutes\, 56 secondsSome film historians credit her as the first black movie star in th e modern sense. Someone with\n5:055 minutes\, 5 secondsgenuine screen pres ence\, a recognizable name\, and an audience that specifically\n5:125 minu tes\, 12 secondswanted to see her. She Marco had one of the great professi onal partnerships of American film history. She was his\n5:215 minutes\, 2 1 secondsleading lady across multiple films. She was his instrument for sh owing the world what black women on screen could look\n5:305 minutes\, 30 secondslike when somebody actually cared about their interiority.\n5:355 m inutes\, 35 secondsTragically\, she died in 1932 at just 36 years old due to complications following childbirth. Her daughter Eva survived\,\n5:475 minutes\, 47 secondsbut black cinema lost one of its brightest lights far too soon. When you watch this film\, know that you're\n5:545 minutes\, 54 secondswatching someone at the height of her powers. Give her the attentio n she deserved.\n6:026 minutes\, 2 secondsNow\, back to the character that she played\, Sylvia. She's educated\,\n6:086 minutes\, 8 secondsdignified \, she's complex. She's exactly the kind of black protagonist that Hollywo od simply was not putting on the\n6:166 minutes\, 16 secondsscreen. The st ory opens up with Sylvia in the north caught in a messy romantic situation with a man named Conrad.\n6:276 minutes\, 27 secondsHe's engaged to someo ne else. A jealous woman\, specifically her cousin named Elma\,\n6:346 min utes\, 34 secondsemploys a petty criminal to interfere in Sylvia's life.\n 6:406 minutes\, 40 secondsSylvia travels back to the south to raise money for a school\, the Pineywood School\, which was serving black and poor\n6: 496 minutes\, 49 secondschildren in the rural South. The school is actuall y based on a real institution\,\n6:546 minutes\, 54 secondsthe Pineywoods Country Life School in Mississippi.\n7:007 minutesShe believes deeply in e ducation as uplift.\n7:057 minutes\, 5 secondsShe secures a donation for t he school from a white northern philanthropist named Alina Warick.\n7:137 minutes\, 13 secondsBut the film's most devastating sequence comes through flashback. Sylvia's adoptive father\, Jasper Land Lands\n7:227 minutes\, 22 secondsLandry\, I'mma get this out. Is a sharecropper falsely accused o f murdering his white land owner\,\n7:317 minutes\, 31 secondsGriddlestone . In reality\, in reality\,\n7:347 minutes\, 34 secondsGriddle Stone was k illed by his white neighbor.\n7:397 minutes\, 39 secondsBut in this Americ a\, a black man accused is a black man hunted. What follows is a lynching sequence.\n7:497 minutes\, 49 secondsJasper and his wife are killed by a w hite mob. And in the flashback\, a young Sylvia is attacked by Griddleston e\n7:567 minutes\, 56 secondshimself. It's clearly framed as an attempted sexual assault. And then in a\n8:038 minutes\, 3 secondsgeniusly stunning narrative turn\, he stops because he recognizes by a scar on\n8:108 minute s\, 10 secondsher chest that she's his biological daughter.\n8:158 minutes \, 15 secondsThe woman he sees as less than human is his own child. The fi lm ends with Sylvia\n8:248 minutes\, 24 secondsback in the north. She's be en shot. She recovers. And a doctor named Viven who\n8:328 minutes\, 32 se condsloves her is at her side. And they're united.\n8:378 minutes\, 37 sec ondsIt's more than a hopeful ending. More It's a more hopeful ending than the film's brutality might suggest\,\n8:468 minutes\, 46 secondsthough. Th at hope feels hard. One earned through an unflinching look at what black l ife in America actually look like.\n8:578 minutes\, 57 secondsMy co was wo rking with real formal craft. This is not a rough or primitive\n9:049 minu tes\, 4 secondsfilm even by 1920s standards. He uses close-ups\, especiall y on Preer's face to\n9:139 minutes\, 13 secondscapture that emotion for a character that Hollywood typically keeps flat. The\n9:219 minutes\, 21 se condsparallel ending during the lynching sequence mirrors a technique Grif fith used in Birth of a Nation. Cutting between locations to build tension .\n9:339 minutes\, 33 secondsThat segment is in fact very intense.\n9:389 minutes\, 38 secondsBut my co completely flips the moral framework where G riffith was using that\n9:449 minutes\, 44 secondstechnique to frame white women as needing protection and rescue from black men. My co uses it to i ndict white\n9:559 minutes\, 55 secondsviolence against black people. He's using the master's tools deliberately.\n10:0410 minutes\, 4 secondsThere are a number of themes to look at here. The first would be the counter nar narrative as a political act. My co-\n10:1410 minutes\, 14 secondsunderst ood something that we now take for granted in media criticism.\n10:2010 mi nutes\, 20 secondsRepresentation is never neutral.\n10:2410 minutes\, 24 s econdsImages teach people who is human and who's not considered\n10:3110 m inutes\, 31 secondshuman. They shape how communities see themselves and ho w they're seen by others. Birth of a Nation was actively\n10:4010 minutes\ , 40 secondsharming black Americans\, not just offending them. The images in that that film gave psychological permission for violence.\n10:5110 min utes\, 51 secondsThey confirmed a worldview that said black people were da ngerous and subhuman.\n10:5810 minutes\, 58 secondsMy co on the other hand responds by creating images that insist on black humanity in all of its c omplexity.\n11:0711 minutes\, 7 secondsSylvia is not a saint. She's naviga ting a messy romantic situation at the film's\n11:1311 minutes\, 13 second sopening. She's made compromises. She's fully human and that full humanity is a\n11:2111 minutes\, 21 secondspolitical statement. The second theme i s the in intracial\n11:2811 minutes\, 28 secondsdebate. Here's something t o miss on a casual watch. My co is\n11:3611 minutes\, 36 secondsalso engag ing with a major intracial debate happening in real time.\n11:4311 minutes \, 43 secondsThis is the era of doce versus Booker T.\n11:4711 minutes\, 4 7 secondsWashington. Do is arguing for full civil rights and higher educat ion.\n11:5311 minutes\, 53 secondsWashington\, on the other hand\, is argu ing for industrial education and accommodation within white power\n12:0012 minutesstructures. The film has characters who represent different positi ons. There's a\n12:0612 minutes\, 6 secondspreacher named Old Ned who is s ickant towards white patrons. He\n12:1312 minutes\, 13 secondsperforms the version of himself they want to see. And my co treats that attitude with real contempt.\n12:2212 minutes\, 22 secondsThen there's Sylvia. She's com mitted to education and uplift\,\n12:2812 minutes\, 28 secondsbut she has to navigate white patronage to do it. When she secures a donation\n12:3412 minutes\, 34 secondsfrom Elena Warwick\, the film doesn't present it simp ly. Where does the money come from? Who does it ultimately serve?\n12:4412 minutes\, 44 secondsWhat are the unspoken terms? My code doesn't give you easy answers.\n12:5112 minutes\, 51 secondsThis film is an active convers ation with black intellectual tradition.\n12:5912 minutes\, 59 secondsThe third theme\, womanhood and sexual violence. Let's make it plain.\n13:0613 minutes\, 6 secondsOne of the things within our gates does that is genuin ely radical for 1920\n13:1213 minutes\, 12 secondsor frankly for any era i s to put the sexual violence against black women on\n13:1913 minutes\, 19 secondsthe screen as historical and present reality.\n13:2513 minutes\, 25 secondsThe griddlestone assault on Sylvia is not ambiguous. It's the real ization that\n13:3113 minutes\, 31 secondshe is her biological father. a p roduct of an earlier assault on her black\n13:3813 minutes\, 38 secondsmot her. It collapses the central mythology white southerners used to justify lynching.\n13:4713 minutes\, 47 secondsThe narrative was always we're prot ecting white women from black men.\n13:5413 minutes\, 54 secondsMy co on t he other hand says look at what's actually happening. Look at who's actual ly assaulting whom. Look at the\n14:0314 minutes\, 3 secondschildren that violence is producing because how much more evidence do you need?\n14:1014 minutes\, 10 secondsIda B. Wells has been documenting this or had been do cumenting this in her journalism for decades.\n14:1814 minutes\, 18 second sMy co put the argument on film and notably Sylvia survives.\n14:2414 minu tes\, 24 secondsShe endures. She carries this history in her body and she continues. and how much\n14:3114 minutes\, 31 secondsof that is just what black women do even now.\n14:3814 minutes\, 38 secondsThere is something d eeply important in that refusal to let her be defined only by what was don e to her.\n14:4814 minutes\, 48 secondsThe fourth theme is censorship.\n14 :5214 minutes\, 52 secondsChicago sensors initially refused to allow the f ilm\, citing concerns that the\n15:0015 minuteslynching sequence would pro voke racial unrest. Think about that for just a\n15:0515 minutes\, 5 secon dsmoment. A film depicting racial violence was rejected because it might u pset\n15:1415 minutes\, 14 secondspeople who saw the depictions of racial violence.\n15:1915 minutes\, 19 secondsThe concern wasn't for black audien ces processing their trauma on the screen.\n15:2615 minutes\, 26 secondsTh e concern was for white comfort.\n15:3015 minutes\, 30 secondsMy co fought back. The man was tenacious. He negotiated.\n15:3615 minutes\, 36 seconds He may have made some cuts. We don't know exactly what changed because we don't have the original print of the\n15:4315 minutes\, 43 secondsfilm. Bu t the film got shown. It played to black audiences across the country.\n15 :5015 minutes\, 50 secondsThe Chicago Defender\, the Pittsburgh Cur Courie r\, they covered this film seriously.\n15:5815 minutes\, 58 secondsSo\, th is is a film that we nearly lost.\n16:0416 minutes\, 4 secondsOf the rough ly 44 films that Michael made\, we have 12. And I don't think I\n16:1216 m inutes\, 12 secondshave my Yes\, I do. We have 12. The rest are lost becau se the films deteriorated.\n16:2116 minutes\, 21 secondsNo one with instit utional power. And this is the entire collection here. No one with institu tional power saw fit to\n16:2916 minutes\, 29 secondspreserve them. Nitrat e film which was used at the time is fragile and race\n16:3616 minutes\, 3 6 secondsfilms were not prioritized. They weren't considered worthy of arc hiving.\n16:4216 minutes\, 42 secondswithin our gates survived because a S panish archive preserved a print under a different name.\n16:5216 minutes\ , 52 secondsHad someone not cataloged it correctly\,\n16:5516 minutes\, 55 secondswe may have never known that this film existed.\n16:5916 minutes\, 59 secondsThe film preservation was not a neutral act. What gets saves te lls you what a\n17:0617 minutes\, 6 secondsculture values and what it's wi lling to let disappear. It's it goes back to that\n17:1417 minutes\, 14 se condsthing we've repeatedly said here\, that thing that Walter Mosley says about\n17:2017 minutes\, 20 secondsbooks\, which is if you're not in the the story\, you're not in the culture. And\n17:2917 minutes\, 29 secondsth e fact that we were able to find this film\, find 12 of the 44 films\, it puts\n17:3817 minutes\, 38 secondsus back into the silent film movie era e ra and it solidifies us within the\n17:4617 minutes\, 46 secondsAmerican c ulture of that time as something other than slaves and in servitude to any body else.\n17:5617 minutes\, 56 secondsThe Library of Congress added with in our gates to the National Film Registry in 1993.\n18:0418 minutes\, 4 s econdsIt's now recognized as one of the most significant American films ev er made.\n18:1118 minutes\, 11 secondsThink about my co's lineage. What di d he get started here?\n18:1818 minutes\, 18 secondsYou have my co to the LA Rebellion filmmakers to Spike Lee to Julie Dash to Ryan Cougler to Ava Duivere.\n18:3118 minutes\, 31 secondsIt's a whole line. The insistence on determination\,\n18:3618 minutes\, 36 secondsthe refusal to wait for Holl ywood to tell your story accurately\, the willingness to go directly to yo ur audience and say this is for us.\n18:4818 minutes\, 48 secondsMy co was doing what black filmmakers are still doing today\, fighting for the righ t to depict black life in its full complexity. We're not a monolith.\n19:0 219 minutes\, 2 secondsHe just had to do it with far fewer resources in a far more hostile environment. Remember we talked about this last month. Yo u had\, you know\,\n19:1419 minutes\, 14 secondsWarner Brothers\, Fox\, Pa ramount. They were fighting each other to get started.\n19:2019 minutes\, 20 secondsBut at a certain point\, they fought so that they could get the resources\, the films\, the cameras\, everything\, and\n19:2719 minutes\, 27 secondsfocus on building their empires. And at a certain point their in fighting became\n19:3419 minutes\, 34 secondshealthy competition. But even in that even when they were at war with each other and fighting for posit ion to be\n19:4319 minutes\, 43 secondsthe Hollywood studio collectively t hey were not including black people.\n19:5319 minutes\, 53 secondsWhat doe s this film demand of us now? When you watch Within Our Gates today\,\n20: 0120 minutes\, 1 secondyou can and you can um it's in the public domain. T his is more than a hundred This film is more than a hundred years old.\n20 :1020 minutes\, 10 secondsUm and I'll make sure that I post the links for you. It demands something from you. The lynching sequence is hard to\n20:1 920 minutes\, 19 secondswatch and you know it it's not filmed like it woul d be today where you know\n20:2820 minutes\, 28 secondsyou get visuals and closeups of of what's happening. But the pace of the\n20:3620 minutes\, 3 6 secondsfilm at that point makes it hard to watch and you find yourself t ensing up.\n20:4220 minutes\, 42 secondsI know I did. Even though I could see in the filming that maybe they had someone standing on a stool at a ce rtain point\,\n20:5220 minutes\, 52 secondsit was no less impactful.\n20:5 420 minutes\, 54 secondsHe wasn't making art for comfort. He was making ar t as testimony.\n21:0121 minutes\, 1 secondBut what I found most powerful is not the horror.\n21:0621 minutes\, 6 secondsIt's Evelyn Prair's face. t he moments where his camera simply rests on her\,\n21:1521 minutes\, 15 se condslets her think\, lets her feel. Even though there are no audible word s in\n21:2221 minutes\, 22 secondsthis film\, the actors emoted wonderfull y.\n21:2721 minutes\, 27 secondsThose moments are as radical as anything e lse in the film. He's saying her inner\n21:3421 minutes\, 34 secondslife m atters. her character is worth your attention in 1920\n21:4121 minutes\, 4 1 secondson screen. And when you really think about it\, that in itself is a revolutionary act.\n21:4921 minutes\, 49 secondsAnd knowing what we kno w now\, knowing that she would be gone just 12 years later at 36 years old \, there's something\n21:5721 minutes\, 57 secondsvery precious about ever y single film that she's in. Watch her closely.\n22:0522 minutes\, 5 secon dsSo\, that's all I have for you today. Um\, the film was banned\, nearly erased\,\n22:1422 minutes\, 14 secondsrediscovered in a foreign archive\, and is now exactly where it belongs\, at the\n22:2122 minutes\, 21 seconds center of conversation about what American cinema is to be and what it ref used to be. Oscar Mako didn't ask\n22:2922 minutes\, 29 secondspermission. He raised money from his community. He built his own infrastructure and h e made the films he believed needed to exist.\n22:4222 minutes\, 42 second sI think I said this in the last episode. He was ahead of his time. And be cause he was and because he did\,\n22:5122 minutes\, 51 secondswe have a 7 9 minute survival. This piece of testimony that is still speaking a 100 pl us years later.\n23:0223 minutes\, 2 secondsIf you watch one film after th is\, make sure it's within our gates. It's on YouTube. It's in the Library of Congress. It's on MGM.\n23:1423 minutes\, 14 secondsYou can get it fro m your local library.\n23:1623 minutes\, 16 secondsYou can find this film for free. Give Evelyn Prayer your full attention.\n23:2423 minutes\, 24 se condsGive M give Oscar my co the engagement that he was fighting for. real ly study his study his film\, study him.\n23:3723 minutes\, 37 secondsYou know\, as I watched the film\, I thought about what he had to do to be a f ilmmaker.\n23:4423 minutes\, 44 secondsHe was a key figure in building the black film industry. Not the only\, but the well-known figure.\n23:5623 m inutes\, 56 secondsI wondered what would he think of the black film indust ry today.\n24:0324 minutes\, 3 secondsAll right. Well\, that's it. Thanks for spending your time with me. Like and follow our Facebook and YouTube p age\,\n24:1224 minutes\, 12 secondsMovies That Move Wee\, and share this i f it meant something to you. If you got anything out of it\, go ahead and share\n24:2024 minutes\, 20 secondsit with someone you know. Until next ti me. Bye.\n\n\n\n\n \n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n What does it mean to tell your own story when others with more power decide they don't want to see it?\n\n W hat does it mean to tell stories that the larger industry was designed to oppress?\n\n 1919 The red summer\, was the USA burning or was the black po pulace in the usa being burned?\n\n 4:22 the Spanish title is La Negra\, t he black... Within Our Gates Spanish title is \, the black. \n\n 5:41 I d idn't know Evelyn Preer died in child birth\n\n The funny thing is Micheau x's stories had more complex characters than white financed films for deca des after.\n\n 6:50 Piney Woods Country Life School https://en.wikipedia.o rg/wiki/Piney_Woods_Country_Life_School\n\n The largest boarding school fo r black descended of enslaved\, one of four Black DOS boarding schools. \ n\n https://www.pineywoods.org/\n\n 9:59 well said\, Michaeux reverses the roles from \"birth of a nation\"\n\n 10:30 good point\, representation is never neutral. \n\n 11:05 Also\, shows the power of white violence\, but also treats whites with a humanity\, that his white peers do not do for b lacks.\n\n 11:59 hmmmm well WEB Dubois/ Booker T Washington/ Marcus Garvey / Frederick Douglass are all at the same time. \n\n They all advocate for the rights of Black individuals or groups. They all advocate for learning \, greater learning among black individuals or groups. \n\n I think their variance is in the response to white violence and sequent actions or goal s to black people. \n\n Dubois heading the white jewish financed National association for the advancement of colored people don't take even one per cent of the crimes against black people by whites to court\, while he supp orts a phenotypically integrated workplace.  I argue\, Dubois wants civil rights but can only demand it as a public request to whites\, alongside a request to allow blacks in white owned labor environments based on merit. But paid labor is rarely based on merit. \n\n Washington wants Black peo ple who at that time for ninety percent in the former confederacy states\, to remain in the south and uphold a less intertwined form of integration. Washington doesn't want segregation but he wants to comfort whites by sta ying out of their towns/schools/business areas and getting black people to focus on building their own. \n\n The variance between Dubois side Washi ngton is in their end goals. Dubois end goal is to have communities/workpl aces/schools where whites side blacks are one people. With that kind of go al\, you can't have historic black colleges side historic white colleges. You can't have blacks towns side white towns. Government for Dubois is a t ool to force total/holistic integration. This suited the white jew financi ers for Dubois whose strategy was to guide blacks to have a holistic integ ration to get whites who are not jewish to embrace the white phenotypical populace with no boundaries in gender/religion/language/geographic ancestr y. Looking at the future the White jews got what they wanted as the modern white populace at the time of this writing doesn't have any of the intern al blockades to whites who are not male/Christian/European descent as in t he eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds.  Washington's end goal i s to have black communities/black schools/black businesses that only relat e to whites financially\, and stay out of government. The whites who finan ced Washington didn't have any allegiance to poor whites in the south and saw the black populace of the south as a potential offset to the poor whit e populace of the south. The Jim crow laws in many ways were pushed by fin ancially poor whites who realized the black southern populace if not kept in an extremely negative financial state using the governments of the sout hern states\, would be a rival and upend their position in bargaining with rich whites. Looking at today and the southern states\, and how the white southern populace is the base for the anti immigrant position\, it shows truth. The white southern populace didn't mind immigrants as long as they were hindering black financial growth by being cheaper labor or blockaded from bettering poor whites by their illegal status or extended jim crow la ws. \n\n Marcus Garvey though supported black rights plus education. The problem is Garvey didn't believe anywhere in the American continent was pl ausible for black rights to be upheld or for black education to lead to op portunity. And it is truthful\, if you look at Mexico\, brazil\, the usa\, even Haiti after henri Christophe died\, the entire American continent\, canada to argentina\, before jean Jacques Dessalines or after henri Christ ophe in Haiti\, was an anti black place. yes\, examples throughout the Ame rican continent existed for black individual examples\, going through many white walls. But\, what is the point of life? is the point of life to str uggle? I argue no. I argue the point of life is to have it good\, have it easy\, have it fun and ninety nine percent of black people in the entire A merican continent \, canada to argentina\, late eighteen hundreds or early nineteen hundreds\, didn't have anything good or easy or fun. So leave th e American continent. The tragedy is the same whites from Canada to Argent ina who preached dislike of blacks hated the idea of black people leaving. Why? because white unity was only based on the presence of black people \ , in the entire American continent. The native American\, indios had alrea dy been decimated in populace in such a way\, they will never have the num bers to threaten\, thus whites can't unify around an empty threat. \n\n A s for Frederick Douglass\, he was older but his point wasn't to support du bois/washington/garvey but to state his belief\, that the usa warrants sur viving. Douglass point is the usa can become something no other government can and if black people leave en masse or don't seek complete integration \, the usa can never become what he dreamed it become\, a country of human s.\n\n On one side note\, Booker T Washington's wife was a white Asian and it is interesting that when you look at white Asians as a populace in the usa\, they act the way booker t Washington wanted black descended of ensl aved to act. Don't get involved in government\, focus on your own everythi ng. Not criminalizing integration but make everything a financial position first or foremost. In cheap retrospect\, the one thing Washington didn't comprehend\, and this connects to Haiti. Black DOSers relationship to the usa isn't fiscal\, it isn't fiscal capitalistic. Black DOSers are not in t he united states of America to make money. Black DOSers are in the usa bec ause whites wanted it. Black DOSers can not find any reason to support the usa based on enslaved forebears. Ala\, the often said while very erroneou s\, our forebears helped build the usa line. It is the great Black DOSer s in saying that line. My forebears were enslaved\, but for anyone to sugges t they cared one bit about anything in the usa\, is an ugly lie. And this is the fundamental problem with said four leaders\, each was bound to fail . WEB Dubois was being used to make unify white groups. Booker T Washingto n couldn't protect black people from fiscally poor whites violence. Garvey didn't believe in the usa or the American continent as a good place for b lacks and whites in majority wanted blacks to change their minds\, to anyt hing but anti America. Frederick Douglass felt the Black DOS populace shou ld fight through anything to remain in the usa for a greater human achieve ment that wouldn't benefit blacks in any of the ways they wanted but would support humanity in a way he felt it needed.\n\n 13:07 very true\, i can' t think of any other film showing white violence to black women that stron gly\, made in the usa. \n\n 14:19 i wonder your thought to passing?\n\n 1 5:18 good point\, white comfort\, this goes back to gone with the wind\, a song of the south\, birth of a nation\, even king kong\, make white peopl e feel good about themselves\, by not showing white people in any negative light. \n\n 16:37 yes\, what gets saved isn't neutral and is also expens ive. You have to say\, what were black wealthy people doing? they could ha d saved.\n\n 17:21 good quote from mosely\, if you are not in the story\, you are not in the culture. \n\n 18:29 thank you for mentioning Julie Das h\n\n 20:00 What does watching the film demand today?\n\n 21:27 yes\, love ly emotion from the thespians.\n\n 22:13 great show\n\n\n\n Oscar Micheaux biography from Movies That Move We\n\n https://youtu.be/1C5hxGrohps?si=hn AH78ulXh4-pyMg\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n What are your thoughts to the film p assing?\n\n Thanks for mentioning Julie Dash.\n\n Great review... Oscar Mi cheaux in many ways incorporated WEB Dubois's philosophies aside Booker T Washington's philosophies in the production of this film.\n\n I even wonde r how many non blacks saw his films and were inspired by his work.\n\n Gre at question\, what would he think of the black film industry today? What w ould he think of the Black film industry in or out of the USA? Black ident ity today is global but is of many parts. Each part has its own environmen t. What would he think of Nollywood? What would he think of the Black film industry in the USA which monetarily is based on a handful of black produ cers: blacks with money or who can access money to make films? \n\n That is such an engaging question you ask at the end. I wish he was alive to an swer.  I wish he had a journal. I wish I had all his screenplays. I know he wrote books alongside the films but it seems many are lost. \n\n\n\n P rofile of OScar Micheaux\n\n video link\n\n https://youtu.be/1C5hxGrohps?s i=LKAo5vDY1-rQksl9\n\n\n\n Embed video\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 0:2929 secondsHey\,\n0:3131 secondsHey everyone\, welcome back to another edition of Movies That Move We.\n0:3737 secondsThis is the place where fil m isn't just entertainment. It's history\, it's culture\, it's memory.\n0: 4545 secondsSome episodes that we do are about the movies\, you know\, com mentary\, ratings\,\n0:5252 secondsall of that stuff. But but today\, this is just about one man. This month we're\n0:5959 secondsfocusing on black film history and today we're going to be profiling Oscar Mako.\n1:081 minu te\, 8 secondsWhy is this episode different?\n1:111 minute\, 11 secondsThi s is different like I said because there's no reviews\, no ranking. We're doing a profile of someone who is very important in black film history.\n1 :211 minute\, 21 secondsWe're talking about how film history gets made and who gets left out of it.\n1:291 minute\, 29 secondsYou know\, while Holly wood was being built\, Oscar MO was already working.\n1:371 minute\, 37 se condsExcuse me. He was a writer\, director\, producer\, distributor\,\n1:4 61 minute\, 46 secondspromoter. He was independent before independence was ever really a category.\n1:551 minute\, 55 secondsNow\, one of the movies that I mentioned um that we should watch and it brings context to this co nversation is Titans:\n2:062 minutes\, 6 secondsThe Rise of Hollywood\, wh ich you can find on Netflix.\n2:112 minutes\, 11 secondsSo\, let's talk ab out it. You know\, the start of the American film industry was early 1900s .\n2:192 minutes\, 19 secondsUm that was the period of the short film.\n2: 252 minutes\, 25 secondsUm the industry itself was very tight and what I m ean by that is there were a few men controlling the whole industry.\n2:382 minutes\, 38 secondsIt started in New York. It was in cities like New Yor k and Chicago. And in these\n2:452 minutes\, 45 secondscities there were a group of people who you had to go to for everything for the\n2:522 minute s\, 52 secondsfilm for camera set for everything. You could only use certa in actors and you couldn't use anybody else's actor or producer.\n3:043 mi nutes\, 4 secondsIt was giving very what some might call moblike.\n3:103 m inutes\, 10 secondsThis group that ran everything was called the trust.\n3 :173 minutes\, 17 secondsAnd this particular group consider included excus e me included Thomas Edison.\n3:283 minutes\, 28 secondsMhm. That one that Thomas Edison he controlled production and distribution.\n3:363 minutes\, 36 secondsum at the time he in America he was the one who was making came ras. That was the only person that you could go to.\n3:443 minutes\, 44 se condsSo it made it very difficult for people to be filmmakers. But they di d it.\n3:543 minutes\, 54 secondsAnd at the point that we have three early titans come up\, the film industry is shifting from novelty to industry.\ n4:054 minutes\, 5 secondsPower consolidated very quickly.\n4:094 minutes\ , 9 secondsSo again\, the early Titans\, Thomas Edison\, he controlled the patents. He controlled who could legally make a\n4:164 minutes\, 16 secon dsfilm. And then you have these three players who enter who their their wo rk still stands today.\n4:264 minutes\, 26 secondsThese companies still ex ist. You have Adolf Zukor.\n4:324 minutes\, 32 secondsHe created Paramount . Um he was the first one to go with feature length films\, meaning\n4:404 minutes\, 40 secondsearly films were only a few minutes long and they wer e silent.\n4:464 minutes\, 46 secondsAll you had to read was body language and dramatic gestures. That's what early films were. Um he created the fe ature\n4:554 minutes\, 55 secondslen length film which was 30 minutes an h our long. He created the star system.\n5:015 minutes\, 1 secondSo all of a sudden we have people who are marketed and promoted as this is who\n5:085 minutes\, 8 secondsyou want to be. Is very New York centered early on. Mo re about him later.\n5:165 minutes\, 16 secondsUm Car Carl Lamel he opened a theater making movies accessible to the general public. Um\n5:255 minut es\, 25 secondsagain films at this time were a luxury item novelty. You go t dressed up. It was like going to the theater you know and\n5:345 minutes \, 34 secondsonly certain people could afford that luxury.\n5:395 minutes\ , 39 secondsBut he brought it to the people and he was one who fought Edis on and one of the\n5:475 minutes\, 47 secondspeople in the industry who wa s the first to move to California and build Universal City that was around 1915.\n5:595 minutes\, 59 secondsWilliam Fox that Fox brought vertical in tegration\,\n6:056 minutes\, 5 secondsmeaning he brought the production\, the distribution\, and the theaters to the\n6:116 minutes\, 11 secondssyst em. For him that was ideal because he did it all\, including creating a pl ace to show his films exclusively\,\n6:226 minutes\, 22 secondswhereas eve rybody else was shopping around to see who would be willing to present the ir films.\n6:316 minutes\, 31 secondsLewis B. mayor\, one-third of the MGM uh film company. He brought brought to\n6:406 minutes\, 40 secondsthe uh the industry the prestige\, the glamour. Again\, going off of uh what\n6:4 76 minutes\, 47 secondsLamel also brought to it all the glitz and the bran ding power and the razledazzle\n6:546 minutes\, 54 secondsthat um comes wi th Hollywood that we know of uh in Hollywood.\n7:027 minutes\, 2 secondsan other person that um she isn't mentioned as one of the big three but\n7:08 7 minutes\, 8 secondsshe was still influential and that's Mary Pigford. Sh e was an actress\n7:157 minutes\, 15 secondsum and she brought her writing skills as well as her acting talents to the industry.\n7:247 minutes\, 24 secondsSo important clarification that I want to make here is that it was n't one man that moved Hollywood west.\n7:357 minutes\, 35 secondsZukor wa sn't the one who led the move to the west coast. He followed\n7:427 minute s\, 42 secondsLamel and Fox were the first two to move to California.\n7:4 97 minutes\, 49 secondsWhy California?\n7:517 minutes\, 51 secondsIt was i deal because it offered an escape from Thomas Edison.\n7:577 minutes\, 57 secondsThe weather was ideal. They could film outdoors. They had plenty of of landscape to choose from. They had the\n8:058 minutes\, 5 secondsspace . And most importantly\, they had control. They didn't have to answer to\n 8:138 minutes\, 13 secondsthe trust. they could do their own thing\, set t heir own rules\, and they did.\n8:218 minutes\, 21 secondsHollywood was bu ilt with capital\, land\, and legal protection.\n8:298 minutes\, 29 second sOkay? In short\, infrastructure equals power. And in the film industry\,\ n8:378 minutes\, 37 secondsthey became the power.\n8:408 minutes\, 40 seco ndsJust consider for a moment how quickly the industry grew. In just 20 ye ars\, it\n8:488 minutes\, 48 secondswent from those short five minute sile nt reels to featurelength productions with\n8:558 minutes\, 55 secondsdial ogue and razledazzle and music and fanfare. Um\,\n9:039 minutes\, 3 second sit it moved very quickly.\n9:079 minutes\, 7 secondsOne important truth\, something to keep in mind is Hollywood wasn't neutral. It was white\,\n9: 169 minutes\, 16 secondsit was male\, and it was capital backed.\n9:239 mi nutes\, 23 secondsBlack presence in the industry was visible\,\n9:289 minu tes\, 28 secondsbut it was limited. So you saw um the servant\, the butler or on the other end\n9:389 minutes\, 38 secondsof the spectrum people who were involved in crime and immorality\, the stereotypes.\n9:459 minutes\, 45 secondsUm black people weren't missing necessarily\, but they were loc ked out of\n9:539 minutes\, 53 secondsthe system. We'll talk a little bit more about that later. In contrast\, you have Oscar Mako.\n10:0210 minutes \, 2 secondsHe had no studio lot. He had no patents.\n10:0710 minutes\, 7 secondsHe had no theater chains. And he didn't have any legal protection. Let me tell you a little bit about him.\n10:1510 minutes\, 15 secondsHe wa s born in 1884. His parents were former slaves. They moved as a part of\n1 0:2110 minutes\, 21 secondsthe great migration from Kentucky to the Chicag o area\, Illinois. Um his mom was a\n10:3310 minutes\, 33 secondsbig fan o f um Booker T. Washington\, you know\, and she w she was in full agreement with what he\n10:4210 minutes\, 42 secondssaid about being educated. And of course\, this is what she taught her son Oscar about. And so you'll see that in\n10:5110 minutes\, 51 secondshis films where you have the the edu cated\, you have the class differences. You'll see all of that\n10:5910 mi nutes\, 59 secondsstuff in his films. Again\, more about that later. Um he was one of the early\n11:0711 minutes\, 7 secondshomesteaders when the go vernment was giving away land out left out west. He went ahead and he put in his bid and he got himself a plot of land in Oklahoma.\n11:1911 minutes \, 19 secondsand he worked the land and he proved to his neighbors because this was a community. Homesteading was a community\,\n11:2711 minutes\, 2 7 secondsnot just something you did independently. He proved to his white neighbors around him that he could do this. He did it well. Now\, during o ne hard winter where he couldn't harvest\,\n11:4011 minutes\, 40 secondsco uldn't bring in crops or anything like that\, and again\, that's something everyone in that area was going through at the time\, not just him. He sa t down\n11:4811 minutes\, 48 secondsand he wrote his first novel called Ho mesteader. It's not an autobiography\,\n11:5511 minutes\, 55 secondsbut it is based on his experience. Um\,\n12:0012 minutesand he he went ahead and he self-published that\, you know\, he went door todo with it. Um\, same thing\n12:0912 minutes\, 9 secondsapplied with his films. He wrote his scr ipts and he self- financed those films. Okay.\n12:1712 minutes\, 17 second sUm\, Lamel escaped Edison. Mo escaped Hollywood.\n12:2612 minutes\, 26 se condsHe didn't have to avoid it. He didn't have to engage with it either.\ n12:3112 minutes\, 31 secondsWhat did he put on screen? He talked about\, as I was mentioning earlier\,\n12:3812 minutes\, 38 secondsall of the topi cs that were important to the black community at the time\, um\, like colo rism\,\n12:4712 minutes\, 47 secondspassing\, tension between the classes\ , sexual violence\, religious hypocrisy\,\n12:5612 minutes\, 56 secondsum\ , migration\, ambition\, and moral compromise.\n13:0213 minutes\, 2 second sSomething important to note\, his work was not uplift only. It wasn't\n13 :0813 minutes\, 8 secondsconsidered safe or sanitized. He was telling comp lex stories and censoring\n13:1513 minutes\, 15 secondsAfrican-American pe ople in these stories. He wasn't trying to comfort uh\n13:2213 minutes\, 2 2 secondswhite people or um play what do you call it? Respectability polit ics with black\n13:2913 minutes\, 29 secondspeople. He was telling plain t ruth. This is what life looked like from the black perspective.\n13:3913 m inutes\, 39 secondsHe wasn't alone in this pocket of independent uh film i ndustry.\n13:4713 minutes\, 47 secondsThe system for black filmmakers was fragile.\n13:5113 minutes\, 51 secondsAnd so you had people out there who were trying to show films\, who were making films. Their work\, unfortunat ely\, was not preserved.\n14:0314 minutes\, 3 secondsNot all of Oscar MO's work was preserved\, but we have more of his films available than we do s ome of the other players in the industry.\n14:1314 minutes\, 13 secondsSom e of those folks were William D. Foster.\n14:1714 minutes\, 17 secondsHe w as a black film producer\, um\, owner of Lincoln Mo Motion Picture Company .\n14:2414 minutes\, 24 secondsUh\, Sherman H. Dudley is another. He start ed the black theater circuit and\n14:3114 minutes\, 31 secondsthe black va udeville circuit which later became the theater owners booking association \n14:3914 minutes\, 39 secondsalso known as Toba. Um he was key in distrib ution and getting these things\n14:4714 minutes\, 47 secondsinto uh certai n spaces in black spaces. Um\,\n14:5414 minutes\, 54 secondsOscar Mako's f ilms were they were played in black theaters\,\n15:0015 minutesblackowned theaters. There weren't a lot of them\, but they were played in blackowned theaters. They were played in segregated theaters. He had the support of churches\,\n15:1115 minutes\, 11 secondslodges\, community halls\, and and road showings\, um\, screenings\, excuse me.\n15:1915 minutes\, 19 second sUm\, another way that his films made it into the community were uh Midnig ht\n15:2615 minutes\, 26 secondsRambles\, which were usually white owned t heaters that would show black films after midnight so that the\n15:3615 mi nutes\, 36 secondsblack and white patrons would never meet and they didn't have to worry about hearing complaints from white patrons\n15:4415 minute s\, 44 secondsabout\, oh my gosh\, what why are these people even in this building. So those\n15:5015 minutes\, 50 secondsthings were were how his f ilms made it to to the masses. Um key cities\,\n15:5915 minutes\, 59 secon dsyou hear people talk a lot about uh the Chitlin Circuit. Well\,\n16:0716 minutes\, 7 secondsthey focused on\, and when I say they\,\n16:0916 minut es\, 9 secondsI'm talking about um oh gosh\, I just lost the name. um Fost er and Dudley and\n16:1816 minutes\, 18 secondsOscar Mako and other filmma kers of the time\, you know\, they focused on\n16:2516 minutes\, 25 second sdistributing their films in places like Chicago\, Harlem\, New York City\ , Philadelphia\, Baltimore\, Kansas City\,\n16:3416 minutes\, 34 secondsth e great migration cities because that's where we were coming from. That's where we were going to when we were\n16:4216 minutes\, 42 secondsmoving fr om the south. There were some spaces where they did show films\, these bla ck films in the south\, but of course they had to be very careful about th at.\n16:5516 minutes\, 55 secondsHollywood asks\, \"How do we control the market?\" Oscar Mo asks\, \"Who already has\n17:0117 minutes\, 1 seconda s creen actors and impact?\"\n17:0917 minutes\, 9 secondsyou know\, he start ed a lot of careers and I wish I wrote down the names of uh\n17:1617 minut es\, 16 secondssome of them\, but one of the most notable\, most recognize d is Paul Robson.\n17:2317 minutes\, 23 secondsUm Paul Robson\, he was a f ootball player\, of course\, if you've ever heard of him\, he had a magnif icent singing\n17:3117 minutes\, 31 secondsvoice. He acted in Oscar Mico's film Body and Soul 1925.\n17:4017 minutes\, 40 secondsIt was a dual role. So he played both a preacher and a con man in this film about moral compl exity.\n17:5117 minutes\, 51 secondsDoes that sound familiar? Sinners. Any body? Yeah. He did it first before Michael B.\n17:5917 minutes\, 59 second sJordan. Why does this matter? Again\, this story challenged stereotypes.\ n18:0718 minutes\, 7 secondsIt addressed themes of race\, morality\,\n18:1 118 minutes\, 11 secondsstruggles of the black community\, and of course\, it did it from the black perspective\,\n18:1918 minutes\, 19 secondsblack audience. What What did he make possible with this? Why did this film mat ter so much? because his films and he\n18:2818 minutes\, 28 secondsdid ove r 40 in his career trained the expectations of the black\n18:3518 minutes\ , 35 secondscommunity. What they should expect from black stardom. It norm alized seeing black people on film. And again\,\n18:4518 minutes\, 45 seco ndsnot being the stereotype\, but being professionals\,\n18:5118 minutes\, 51 secondsnot living in a shack somewhere\, but living in the big city an d having careers and things like that. Um\, think\n19:0019 minutesabout ac tors and actresses like Lena Horn\,\n19:0519 minutes\, 5 secondsDorothy Da ndridge\, and Harab Bella Fonte. They were some of the the the\n19:1219 mi nutes\, 12 secondsfolks that took on complex roles laid complex roles late r on in in black film history. He didn't launch their careers\,\n19:2319 m inutes\, 23 secondsbut he did make them possible by laying the groundwork. \n19:3119 minutes\, 31 secondsHow many films are left? A lot of his films are lost. Um\, like I mentioned\, he\n19:3919 minutes\, 39 secondsI think he did 44 films in his career.\n19:4619 minutes\, 46 secondsAnd this right here is what's left of his film collection. I believe this is 15\n19:5519 minutes\, 55 secondsof his films. Um\, Within Our Gates is one. I did wat ch that one. It's actually\n20:0220 minutes\, 2 secondsvery good. Um\, thi s was done in 1920 and it's 73 minutes long\, but that one again covers th ose themes of migration. Um\,\n20:1520 minutes\, 15 secondsand actually on e of the things that he focused on in that film was a woman's ability to c hoose and move freely. Um\,\n20:2520 minutes\, 25 secondsso if you haven't get this collection\, check that film out. But again\,\n20:3320 minutes\, 33 secondshis films really spoke to the community. Okay? And\n20:4020 min utes\, 40 secondswhen you think about how come so many of his films were l ost\, how come we don't have any of Dudley or Fosters's work\,\n20:4820 mi nutes\, 48 secondsit's not because they didn't matter.\n20:5220 minutes\, 52 secondsIt's because preservation follows power.\n20:5820 minutes\, 58 s econdsThink of it this way. How many how many films can you think of that are when\n21:0421 minutes\, 4 secondstheir their titles are called it's li ke oh yes this is pinnacle great film th\n21:1221 minutes\, 12 secondsthis goes down in film history this is a must-see film this is you know\n21:18 21 minutes\, 18 secondsdefinitely something that framed or shaped culture um those films are\n21:2721 minutes\, 27 secondsprotected and I'm pretty s ure if you start running them back in your mind.\n21:3121 minutes\, 31 sec ondsWhen I when I hear it\, I think of um like the Woody Allen films\, Mar tin Scorsesei films. People will hold those\n21:3821 minutes\, 38 secondsi n high standards. Those films by those uh writer\, directors\, producers w ill be\n21:4621 minutes\, 46 secondsupheld and preserved. We'll have them forever.\n21:5121 minutes\, 51 secondsUm they're protected\,\n21:5521 minu tes\, 55 secondsthey're preserved\, and they're celebrated. Film history i sn't neutral\,\n22:0222 minutes\, 2 secondsit's curated.\n22:0522 minutes\ , 5 secondsJust kind of let that sit with you for a minute.\n22:1122 minut es\, 11 secondsEven though Oscar Mako doesn't get mentioned at as much in film conversations\,\n22:1822 minutes\, 18 secondsthere are many beneficia ries of the road that he built. Um\, again\, think about Ava Duivere\,\n22 :2722 minutes\, 27 secondsIssa Ray\, Jordan Peele. Um\, they all have owne rship archives of their own\n22:3522 minutes\, 35 secondswork. Um they've done things like they build on smaller platforms first and\n22:4222 minute s\, 42 secondsthen present like it's you know she started with um Awkward Black Girl and\n22:5022 minutes\, 50 secondsrolled that into a television series eventually. And you have Jordan Peele um\n22:5622 minutes\, 56 seco ndswho he has narrative control over his work. he can decide these themes and even if people don't get it\, he's not\n23:0523 minutes\, 5 secondsloc ked in again to being a stereotypical um filmmaker where he can only focus on the hardships\n23:1423 minutes\, 14 secondsof black life. No\, he gets into some real cerebral stuff. Okay. Um and and\n23:2323 minutes\, 23 sec ondsthis isn't important. He he didn't choose he didn't chase Hollywood. H e he was well aware that\n23:3123 minutes\, 31 secondsthey're not going to let me into those gates.\n23:3523 minutes\, 35 secondsI have to create my own path. He built endurance.\n23:4223 minutes\, 42 secondsSo with that i n mind\, and you can share your thoughts on this down in the comments\,\n2 3:4923 minutes\, 49 secondswhat does it mean to create when the system isn 't built for you? I'd love to hear your thoughts on that. What\n23:5823 mi nutes\, 58 secondsdoes it mean to create when the system isn't built for y ou?\n24:0324 minutes\, 3 secondsOscar Mako in film history is not a footno te. He is the foundation\n24:1024 minutes\, 10 secondsfor what we know as the black film industry now.\n24:1624 minutes\, 16 secondsSo tell me again \, share your thoughts on this one. If Oscar Mah were alive today\,\n24:24 24 minutes\, 24 secondswould he join Hollywood or do you think he would st ill continue to build something of his own? Let me know what you think.\n2 4:3424 minutes\, 34 secondsOkay.\n24:3624 minutes\, 36 secondsOne of the t hings that I keep coming back to with Oscar Mako is that he didn't want to be validated.\n24:4224 minutes\, 42 secondsHe wasn't worried about being on um the Paramount Star system. He wasn't\n24:5024 minutes\, 50 secondslo oking for the the the awards. He wanted to talk to his people and he did t hat. He didn't wait for permission. He\n24:5824 minutes\, 58 secondsdidn't wait for the resources. He didn't wait for history to catch up. He just c reated.\n25:0725 minutes\, 7 secondsAnd that's what we do here at Movies T hat Move We. That's what we're really about. The stories that move us beca use they remind us of what is possible.\n25:2025 minutes\, 20 secondsSo\, thank you for joining me and spending time with me today. Um\, if this epi sode moved you\, share it with someone who loves film history. And\, you k now\,\n25:3225 minutes\, 32 secondsdon't forget to share\, follow\, subscr ibe to our pages on YouTube and Facebook.\n25:3825 minutes\, 38 secondsYou can find us at Movies That Move Wee.\n25:4325 minutes\, 43 secondsI'm Nay . This has been Movies That Move Wee\, and we'll see you next time. Bye.\n \n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n 2:44 thank you for saying it started in New York city\, many don't know that. \n\n 5:23 I wonder what zukor will think to paramount today\n\n 5:58 Lamel made\, Universal city\, so in the end\, the movie industry moved west to get as far from Edison or New York City as p ossible.\n\n 6:37 Fox created the proper business model\, you need to own theaters to make money.\n\n 6:55 Mayer supported the star system.\n\n 7:07 Mary Pickford was connected. \n\n 8:37  good point on infrastructure.  \n\n 10:46 thanks for informing about his mom who was a philosophical adhe rent of booker t Washington\, thus he supported black strength in his film s\, but it wasn't anti white as much as anti \"negative behavior\"\n\n 12: 27 I knew Micheaux self published\, in Japan called Doujinshi\, but I love hearing it. \n\n 13:17 good point\, like booker t Washington\, he wasn't trying to comfort whites or blacks\, but telling the truth while supporti ng black empowerment.\n\n 14:17 William d foster [ https://en.wikipedia.or g/wiki/William_D._Foster ] \, Sherman h Dudley\, theater owners booking as sociation toba [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherman_H._Dudley ] \n\n 1 7:23 thank you for mentioning PAul Robeson started with an OScar Micheaux film. \n\n 18:49 and also integrated. The key is not merely showing Black positive lives\, but showing black positive lives while in the environmen t of the USA. \n\n\n\n my comment\n\n thank you for mentioning PAul Robes on started with an OScar Micheaux film. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo dy_and_Soul_(1925_film) ] \n\n hahaha Sinners! well done. \n\n and spenc er williams [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blood_of_Jesus ] \n\n Thi nking on Nollywood\, I wonder. As a Booker T Washington philosophical adhe rent\, he would be pro USA. But\, when you look at Nollywood\, to be blunt \, it is the biggest Black film industry in humanity. Bigger than the blac k film industry in south america/north america/southern asia.\n\n Posse/Da ughters of the Dust/Within Our Gates/ Emitai/ Ceddo are the first films th at come to my mind with your question of films that need to be preserved.  Now I want to say I am lucky\, I remember seeing Within Our Gates when i t was first refurbished. A black film organization exist in harlem that sh ared it. and I will tell you that most of the people in that showing were black. They existed in the Adam Clayton Powell state office building.\n\n What does it mean to create when the system/environment is opposed to you as a creator or anything you create?\n\n hmmmm\,I always say the following \, growing up as a kid\, I recall so many books about black fantasy\, not just history. Many black people... descended of enslaved or not\,  can re call biographies. And nothing is wrong with biographies. But I recall as a very little boy\, thick books on black dos mythology\, Haitian mythology\ , African myths\, fables. I didn't just grow up learning about Madame CJ W alker side Malcolm side KWame Nkrumah side Ida B Wells...I learned about H igh John\, The Devils Daughter\, John Henry\, Brer Rabbit. My point being\ , creating is a way to continue your heritage\, what you carry side who yo u are. And if you don't create\, you risk your heritage dying and future c ultures\, what people grow\, being absent. \n\n Creating is everything wh en it comes to artistic expression of self. \n\n When you create in an en vironment opposed to you creating\, it is more than just an artistic chall enge. Creating in an environment supporting you creating is a blissful thi ng. Underrated often in how valuable it is\, how emboldening it is. When y ou look at white film makers you see this. Whites could present their fals e narratives of the south \, as supported creators. But when you are not s upported in the environment you live in\, you are making a specific statem ent. Said specific statement is\, even though you are against me.. you hav e more power than me...  I exist and I will not cower or delete my identi ty because I have impotencies. \n\n It is interesting\, because someone l ike Marcus Garvey will say it is better to find a supportive environment t han create in an unsupportive one. and I concur to garvey\, he is correct. It is unwise to create ... exist\, in an environment opposed to you. \n\ n But what Micheaux displays\, what all black filmmakers in the USA displa y\, is what W.E.B. Dubois/ Booker T Washington/ Frederick Douglass all emb odied or worked for. That even though a passion/suffering will happen when one creates in an environment opposed to one self\, it is more valuable t o create in an environment opposed to you creating to define not only your self but to make a call\, legally or militaristically impotent as it may b e\, to demand change to the environment that opposes.  And that call has a power/value that can reach to a future with greater impotency than milit aries or laws. \n\n If Oscar Micheaux were alive today would he join Holl ywood or would he do his own?\n\n Micheaux would be independent. He would be an independent creator. I think he would also embrace internationalism in all earnest. I think he would learn languages to be into the film indus tries that don't speak English. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARIES\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12582-have-you-seen-within-our-gates-from-oscar -micheaux/#findComment-80617\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @aka Contrari an Micheaux never did mammy figures or tragic mulattoes or righteous reve rend figures\, in any of his films i saw. he did evil tricksters\, but the y were rarely pantomime and he did romantic leads\, but they were human me n. \n\n\n\n Check out within our gates in the main post\, it is free to v iew \, you will see\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12582-ha ve-you-seen-within-our-gates-from-oscar-micheaux/#findComment-80622\n\n\n\ n osted just now\n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian \n\n\n\n well you know that mos t of Marcheaux's films \, over ninety percent \, have never been seen by a nyone alive.  So unfortunately\, we only have a small section of films to view\, and of the ones that are around today don't show those characteriz ations. I am not even certain all of Marcheaux's films are known. MAny hav e cited a list but ... unfortunately\, absent a time machine\, marcheaux's work like black descended of enslaved history from the early nineteen hun dreds to fourteen ninety two is eternally incomplete. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Yes\, all the black pantomime characters come from white theater. Jim Cro w itself is a pantomime character. Before movies\, theater plays plus reco rded music was the prime media tools and were very commercial. Race music was huge\, al jolsten was a white jew but the larger industry of race musi c/race theater\, which had black writers like joplin\, was huge in the uni ted states of america. Such that when films come about they took the panto mime black characters from stage and music of the late eighteen hundreds\, and put them on screen.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The interesting historical pro cess for me is the analogous existence of Black fictional slave works\, li ke clotel linked below\, alongside the black pantomime. \n\n\n\n The blac k late 1800s fiction is of fictional slave narratives. High John was still popular as a fable\, and high john's nemesis is literally Massa\, a white man with bone white skin with bone white clothes. Clotel to me is a ficti onal account but a pure indictment on the white populace of the usa. To re state\, black late eighteen hundreds fiction arguably makes pantomime whit e villains/criminals/baddies. Oscar Micheaux emitted the vibe of the black written fictional slave narratives.\n\n\n\n The white late 1800s fiction is of fictional slaver narratives. The films birth of a nation\, gone with the wind\, song of the south all reflect late eighteen hundreds white fic tional slaver fiction literally made as a reply to black late 1800s fictio nal slave narratives. \n\n\n\n And yes\, in modernity\, both late 1800s g enres are no longer highly read or known or ... majority popular.\n\n\n\n Both fictions were highly popular among the phenotypical groups they were made for with some crossover fans but blacks seemed to dislike the black f ictional slave narratives as a genre. Whites slowly lost taste with the wh ite fictional slaver narrative. \n\n\n\n The question is why did Blacks d islike the black fictional slave narrative genre. Arguably the first fisca lly successful genre in the usa.\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/ 496-clotel-or-the-presidents-daughter-a-narrative-of-slave-life-in-the-uni ted-states-by-william-well-brown/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/ blogs/entry/495-le-mulâtre-from-victor-séjour-two-versions-split-by-an-e ssay/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12582-have- you-seen-within-our-gates-from-oscar-micheaux/#findComment-80636\n\n\n\n o sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\ n\n\n Films depicting slavery aren't going to be very popular.  Mainly be cause it des not make people feel better about themselves. \n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Entertainment is a form of escapism not intended to cause depression .\n\n\n\n You sound like a very good friend of mine\, a director\, he alwa ys says\, entertainment is to escape and I always tell him hogwash. I have never felt that way with entertainment\, especially growing up. I have ne ver wanted to be anyone but me\, I like myself. II have never wanted to li ve anywhere than the harlem of yore that is now long gone.  Now I admit\, maybe having a loving home with both my parents in a small section of har lem that was happy/peaceful/black empowered meant I didn't feel bad about my home or the local area I live in the world. and thus no need to escape. As a brother of mine said\, to a parent\, maybe he is happy at home. \n\ n\n\n It took me years to comprehend how fortunate I was. If anything the fact that so many people in the usa\, a country whose majority populace in modernity is descended on uninvited or unwanted people from the first peo ples who came to this country to be happy as they were unhappy wherever th ey were from\, find escapism through entertainment says alot about the abi lity of immigrants to find happiness in the usa. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n When I first saw within our gates I wasn't depressed\, I was interested. When I read poetry or stories in my contest/ challenges I am not looking to esc ape or be made to smile\, I want to comprehend what the artists is saying. When I look at music\, I never forget\, mahalia jackson saying she would rather sing gospel than the blues cause she would rather be uplifted than sad and ... I call feces on that. I love black music\, all of it\, from va rious corners of the world and all the genres born in the land that is tod ay the united states of america. Not all blues is sad. And mahalia should had known that. But\, to your point Profd\, mahalia jackson was making the same case \, saying blues music is the same as fictional slave narratives \, too sad\, too negative\, thus the need to escape\, the truth\, escape t he things people don't want to hear or read or see because they remind the m of reality that they don't want to deal with. Better to sing gospel\, an d not see the truth of the usa or your peoples place in it. Better to see the huxtable clan whom have none of the problems ninety percent of black p eople have than to see sanford and son. Even though as red fox said correc tly\, all black shows are dishonest\, including sanford. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n But then\, we have in the same black populace\, black people saying ho w black people need to want to be president and ceo and all of this stuff. I think the entertainment black people like over the years is telling to our mental states as a collective. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Thank you for your answer\, I think \, your 100% correct. I didn't want to face the answer i s as simple as dismissal of certain aspects in the arts... maybe my varian ce is i look at things as the arts not exactly entertainment\, if somethin g I find funny happens I will laugh but I don't need to laugh de facto ... anyway\, I think its interesting. \n\n\n\n PRofd\, isn't it a thoughtful dichotomy. Black people in majority have never been happy in the usa or t he european colonies that preceded it \, at any time including modernity\, and yet\, blacks went from enjoying fictional slave narratives as the mos t popular black fiction\, to now in modernity not wanting any mention of e nslavement in any fiction. The same black people who will say love the usa and their forebears died for them to be president\, will then dismiss see ing enslaved to whites\, black children tortured by whites in media. To me \, that says they are lying to themselves. I start with myself\, if I didn 't know any black history as a child\, my parents for whatever reason didn 't tell me the truth\, provide me books with the truth \, and I was just p resented escapisms\, I imagine my whole stance toward the usa would be dif ferent today than what it is. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n As a tutor I always tol d the children the truth\, about everything. And this post has made me thi nk about some of the other adults one time. I didn't think on it then but now I see why they looked at me a certain way... Thank you again. .. I rea lize now how many black people don't get black truth in their fiction\, in their learning. It seems like many black adults want black children to be adults\, circa twenty\, before black truth is given... and this isn't som ething derived from whites\, this is a black heritage. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n I must admit \, this topic has aided me in something\, hmm thank you\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Well\, the archaeo logists had to dig up Within Our Gates from a Spanish copy of the film.   They had to edit to clean up/fix &\; translate it back to English.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Do you know the spanish subtitle for Within our gates is La Negra\, the black woman. It is so basic\, and a little crude and yet telling. Though I must admit the real story is how a copy of the film fou nd its way to somewhere in spain. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n @richardm urray: this same TV channel that I mentioned watching (back in the 1960's) showed old black movies from the past that did feature the stereo-typical black characters I mentioned. That's how l became aware of them. And they were \"talkie\" movies\, not pantomimed\,  filmed during the late 1920s and early 1930s by black movie producers\, lesser known than Oscar Marchea ux.\n\n\n\n Incidentally\, the acting was very amateurish and stilted\, th e sound and camera work of poor quality. Even so\, they were treasures whi ch I hope are stored away in vaults somewhere. \n\n\n\n well yes I know w hat you speak. That is why i mentioned scott joplin\, i love his rag works \, but he did race music and it was very financially profitable for him. M y point being... The hsitory of black comedians of the usa warrants a whol e history section in the history of entertainment.  You have whites who h istorically are most entertained by blacks or whites mocking blacks... imm itation/bufoonery/jestering... the cakewalk started on plantations with bl ack people mocking whites for a piece of cake. So whites historically love to be entertained\, ala\, made to laugh by blacks in the usa. Then you ha ve especailly in the jim crow era\, 1865 to 1980\, blacks who increasingly want to escape as Profd said correctly. This leads to black entertainers developing to serve both audiences an interesting style. magical bufoonery . But yes\, Michaeux was an outlier\, but he also owned his own more than most black entertainers/filmmakers. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @admin \n\n\n\n please share what you think after you view it\, I want to know.\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n URL- only an excerpt\n\n\n\n 'Within Our Gates': The only copy of the oldest African-American film was hidden in Spain as 'La negra' | Cult ure | EL PAÍS\n\n\n\n https://elpais.com/cultura/2021-11-09/la-unica-copi a-de-la-pelicula-afroamericana-mas-antigua-se-encontraba-en-espana-escondi da-como-la-negra.html\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Wayback machine full version\n\n\ n\n https://web.archive.org/web/20211109050628/https://elpais.com/cultura/ 2021-11-09/la-unica-copia-de-la-pelicula-afroamericana-mas-antigua-se-enco ntraba-en-espana-escondida-como-la-negra.html\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The only copy of the oldest African-American film was hidden in Spain as 'La negra' \n\n\n\n 'Within Our Gates'\, the original title of Oscar Micheaux's film released in 1920\, was kept at the Filmoteca\, where it will be screened t omorrow\, Wednesday\, and was returned to the United States in the ninetie s\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n A moment from the film 'La negra'\, directed by Oscar M icheaux and released in 1920.\n\n\n\n Elsa Fernández-Santos\n\n\n\n Madri d - 08 Nov 2021 - 03:53 CET\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In a letter dated July 23\, 1979\, one of the highest authorities on African-American cinema\, T homas Cripps\, expressed his enthusiasm to one of the heads of the Spanish Film Archive\, Catherine Gautier\, for what seemed to be the discovery of a lost relic of the history of cinema. Gautier\, a legendary programmer f or more than four decades\, had shown him the copy weeks earlier in Madrid and Cripps had come to the conclusion that the material could correspond to Within Our Gates\, by the pioneering black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux. The film had been born as a response to the racism of D. W. Griffith's T he Birth of a Nation\, but neither whites nor blacks liked it. After its premiere in Chicago\, it began to be censored or ignored until its only fo ur copies were lost. One of them\, however\, travelled to Spain in the fif ties where it was preserved under the title La negra or La negressa.\n\ n\n\n After traveling to Madrid and seeing the material in a moviola\, Cri pps informed Gautier that it could be three different titles by Micheaux i n which actors\, \"a black informant\" and the obsession with the culture of lynching\, something recurrent in his films since he himself had witnes sed a famous case as a child\, that of Leo Frank\, a young Jew who was the victim of a human pack that accused him of the murder of a minor whom he never killed.\n\n\n\n The three films were The Gunsaulus Mystery\, from 1921\, Lem Hawkins' Confession\, from 1935 or\, the one that finally was \, the oldest of all\, Within Our Gates\, released on January 12\, 1920. Considered a National Asset\, the film rescued in Spain is available on the internet\, and can be seen tomorrow Wednesday as part of a cycle organ ized by the Filmoteca and the Reina Sofía entitled\, Black Films Matter . After a long process\, La negra passed into the hands of the American Film Institute. In 1993\, it was restored by the Library of Congress\, re turning the intertitles from Spanish to English and\, with the help of som e of Micheaux's books\, reinterpreting the dialogues in slang. \"We did an exchange for Sierra de Teruel [by André Malraux\, with a screenplay by Max Aub]\,\" recalls Catherine Gautier. \"I was in charge of relations wi th the other film libraries\, where we looked for materials that we didn't have by Buñuel. We sent the first positive test to the United States in 1988. The internegative\, a year later. They were excited\, the film becam e a success.\"\n\n\n\n Micheaux was attracted to interracial conflicts and used to reverse roles in his films. In Within Our Gates\, it is a gossip y servant who causes the misunderstanding that ends with an older and inno cent marriage on the gallows. They are the adoptive parents of the protago nist of the film\, a mulatto\, the black woman of the title\, played by Ev elyn Peers. The young woman has had the privilege of studying and in the f irst shot of the film\, she appears dressed in white and reading in a flir tatious living room in a city in the north of the United States. She is a black woman with privileges\, who defends the right to education and the v ote of her own but who hides a traumatic past. The entire final part of th e film is a long and dramatic flashback in the Mississippi Delta. There\ , on the plantation where their adoptive parents lived\, the protagonist h elps them add and subtract their savings so that they can collect from the boss without being deceived.\n\n\n\n From the beginning of the footage\, Micheaux refers to lynchings\, from which he does not even save the abolit ionist North. The owner of the plantation is presented as a tyrant\, hated by whites and blacks\, to whom his slanderous and drunken servant goes wi th stories of the other blacks who aspire to have an education. In the fil m they try to lynch four people\, the only one who escapes death is a chil d\, the protagonist's younger brother\, who manages to flee. The noose aro und the neck is only explicitly seen in a dream of the gossipy servant\, w ho also ends up beaten by the mob. The terrible sequence of the old couple executed closes with an ellipsis in which we only see how the rope on whi ch they have been hanged is cut. To top off the horror\, there is also an attempted rape\, of such realism that actress Evelyn Peers remembered the sequence years later as the best and most brutal of her career. It is in t his attempted rape that the origins of the character will be clarified\, w ho her real father was and why she\, unlike others\, had agreed to an educ ation.\n\n\n\n Churches and film clubs\n\n\n\n Within Our Gates was relea sed in Chicago and Detroit in 1920\, but the screenings began to be increa singly conflicting and the film stopped circulating in the main market to move only in churches and film clubs. Micheaux's style\, who went on to sh oot 40 more films always on the margins of the industry\, is intense and a t the same time sloppy\, a disjointed editing that for some analysts respo nds to the style of improvised jazz. In any case\, the film we know today is incomplete. The nitrate copy that arrived in Spain in 1956 was sold to the Filmoteca in a lot that includes titles such as La cabrita tira al mo nte\, Pilar Guerra or a short film by Félix el Gato. Its price was 4\,00 0 pesetas. \"The Filmoteca bought the nitrate copy from Manuel Rabanal Tay lor\, who was national head of the SEU film clubs\,\" explains Laura Carri llo Caminal\, head of the Documentation and Cataloguing Service. \"Subsequ ently\, in 1961\, the Arroyo laboratories were commissioned to produce a n egative duplicate and a new 35 mm copy on acetate support\, which was a no n-flammable support and therefore safer. These commissions to the laborato ry were\, and are\, common in the Filmoteca as part of its conservation po licy. The original copy is not preserved\, it would probably be lost becau se it is in poor condition.\"\n\n\n\n Writer\, director\, producer and dis tributor\, the figure of Micheaux has not ceased to gain relevance in rece nt times. The recently opened Academy Museum in Hollywood\, in Los Angele s\, has made questionable museological decisions by minimizing the figure of the great patriarch of cinema\, D. W. Griffith\, for the Southern exalt ation of The Birth of a Nation. While tiptoeing around the man who accord ing to Eisenstein taught everything \"to everyone\"\, author of Broken Li lies or Intolerance\, the focus is on Micheaux's work and his cinema th rough extensive documentation that situates the context in which Within O ur Gates was shot and released and why it is considered a response to rac ism in The Birth of a Nation\, whose premiere in 1915 provoked protests from the African-American community.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \"Micheau x's importance as the first great African-American filmmaker cannot be und erestimated\,\" explains Zoran Sinobad\, curator and head of film at the L ibrary of Congress. \"Not only was he the first African-American to direct feature films\, but he was also the first whose films were screened in wh ite theaters. This is especially important in the context of his work's co mmitment to racial injustice\, a theme that was virtually non-existent on American screens in the 1920s. Micheaux was a groundbreaking filmmaker who se films challenged the stereotypical representations of black men and wom en that were prevalent in Hollywood at the time and provided a uniquely bl ack perspective on race and life in the United States.\"\n\n\n\n The Blac k Films Matter cycle that La Filmoteca and the Museo Reina Sofía presen t this month and which will last through December and January\, aims to \" give voice and space\" to a series of filmmakers whose works have hardly b een seen in Spain or Europe. [ https://www.museoreinasofia.es/actividad/b lack-films-matter  ] The films of \"pioneers such as Micheaux and Zora Ne ale Hurston\; champions of race films such as Spencer Williams\; revolut ionaries such as Melvin van Peebles\, Charles Burnett or Cheryl Dunye\". A ll of them\, fundamental names in the construction of an identity whose st ruggle to break with stereotypes was born in a film that chance brought to Spain.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Museo reina sofia of spain Black Films MAtter\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n BLACK FILMS MATTER (1920-2020)\nDate and time\nHeld on 1 0 Nov 2021\nYes\, black film matters. From the oldest surviving feature fi lm directed by a black filmmaker\, Within Our Gates (1920) by Oscar Michea ux\, to the frenetic contemporary proposals of Arthur Jafa in the Trump er a\, this cycle proposes a journey through the American independent black f ilm and does so in an anthological retrospective organized by the Reina So fía Museum and the Spanish Film Archive that\, For the first time\, it br ings together a century of films directed solely by African-American filmm akers.\n\nWith this essential condition\, the cycle seeks to avoid the rac ial stereotypes in representation that characterized\, in the past\, the w ork of legendary black actors and actresses. Some thirty sessions – duri ng two months of programming – claim and tell another great story of thi s medium in the United States\, which places at the center the subaltern a nd resistant gaze of the black minority. A story that obeys one of the mos t urgent and necessary desires throughout an entire century: that of the s truggle for life. As filmmaker Arthur Jafa and philosopher Fred Moten remi nd us\, it is possible to make film noir with the same power\, beauty and alienation of black music. Both have a common aspect: not obeying rules bu t undoing them and recombining them in an improvisatory logic that animate s blues\, jazz\, hip-hop or house\, but also the images and sounds of blac k film. \n\nThe route cannot\, therefore\, be traced chronologically and linearly\, but in a spiral and with leaps back and forth\, in a syncopated composition that governs the dialogues between the projections of both ve nues. The programming\, far from the canon or the emblem\, proposes a stor y based on film manifestations that do not deal externally or observationa lly with the black population\, but are made by this same community that s hows their way of life and unique experience. BLACK FILMS MATTER (1920-202 0) is\, therefore\, a cycle of singular films with resonances and confluen ces between them\, rather than a theoretical program. It consists of vario us sessions that\, as units of meaning\, give underlying shape to this bea t of films. In this way\, archaeology is made of the pioneers of cinema\, including the films of the first African-American directors in history\, O scar Michaux and Zora Neale Hurston. These are the so-called race films of the early twentieth century\, an alternative industry that developed in t he silent period and that still remains unknown due to its enormous potent ial for destabilization. In this way\, Oscar Micheaux's Within Our Gates i s an anti-racist response to the aberrant xenophobic monumentality of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915)\, a milestone in the orthodox his tories of cinema.\n\nAfter this period\, we connect with the emergence of black consciousness and the civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s\ , characterized by the insurgency of the Black Power movement and the LA R ebellion\, collectives where film giants such as Charles Burnett\, Melvin van Peebles or Billy Woodberry stand out. In turn\, the politics of differ ence unite feminism\, blackness\, and queer identities in the work of Juli e Dash\, Cheryl Dunye\, and Cauleen Smith.\n\nThere is also room for a pop ular street cinema in the cycle\, which addresses the neighborhood as terr itory and battlefield\, as is the case with the films of Spike Lee\, Gordo n Parks\, Michael Schulz or John Singleton\, aimed at a new specifically b lack mass audience\, a \"counter-audience\" that transforms American enter tainment cinema.\n\nThe sessions by contemporary artists\, which feature K evin Jerome Everson\, Arthur Jafa and Kara Walker\, function as counterpoi nts – regardless of a chronology – that return to foundational moments of black film\, such as the origins of the pioneers or the revolts of the 1960s and 1970s.\n\nThe program seeks to reintegrate these historical gen ealogies into a contemporary Black consciousness that incorporates the pas t while being able to manifest today\, in unison with one of the great soc ial movements and hopes of our time\, Black Lives Matter\, that Black live s (and the cinema that inhabits them) matter.\n\nProgram\nWednesday\, Nove mber 10\, 2021 - 9:00 p.m. / Second pass: session 30. Screening and closin g concert with The Silent Entertainers Band. Thursday\, January 20 and Sat urday\, January 22\, 2022 / Filmoteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSession 1. Pioneers I\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThursday\, November 11\, 2021 - 5:00 p.m. / Sec ond screening: Wednesday\, December 29\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Spanish Film A rchive\, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini B uilding\, Auditorium\n\nSession 2. Pioneers II\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFrid ay\, November 12\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Second screening: Saturday\, Decembe r 18\, 2021 - check schedule on the Filmoteca Española website / Museo Re ina Sofía\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium / Second screening: Filmoteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSession 3. Kara Walker\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSaturday \, November 13\, 2021 - 9:00 p.m. / Second screening: Friday\, December 17 \, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema / Second screeni ng: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium\n\nSession 4. Mel vin Van Peebles\n\n\n\n\nSunday\, November 14\, 2021 - 5:00 p.m. / Second screening: Wednesday\, December 15\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Spanish Film Archi ve\, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Build ing\, Auditorium\n\nSession 5. L.A. Rebellion I. Don Amis and Charles Burn ett\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nMonday\, November 15\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Second screen ing: Sunday\, December 5\, 2021 - check schedule on the Filmoteca Español a website / Museo Reina Sofía\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium / Second s creening: Filmoteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSession 6. Julie Dash\n\n\n\ n\nTuesday\, November 16\, 2021 - 9:00 p.m. / Second screening: Monday\, D ecember 27\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema / Seco nd screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium\n\nSess ion 7. Pioneers III\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWednesday\, November 17\, 2021 - 6:00 p .m. / Second screening: Friday\, December 3\, 2021 - check schedule on the Filmoteca Española website / Museo Reina Sofía\, Sabatini Building\, Au ditorium / Second screening: Filmoteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSession 8 . Kevin Jerome Everson\n\n\n\n\n\nThursday\, November 18\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m . / Second screening: Tuesday\, December 7\, 2021 - check schedule on the Filmoteca Española website / Museo Reina Sofía\, Sabatini Building\, Aud itorium / Second screening: Filmoteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSession 9. Pioneers IV\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFriday\, November 19\, 2021 - 5:00 p.m. / Second screening: Thursday\, December 23\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archive \, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Buildin g\, Auditorium\n\nSession 10. Pioneers V\n\n\n\n\nSaturday\, November 20\, 2021 - 9:00 p.m. / Second screening: Friday\, December 10\, 2021 - 6:00 p .m. Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía M useum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium\n\nSession 11. Gordon Parks\n\n\n\n \nSunday\, November 21\, 2021 - 5:00 p.m. / Second screening: Sunday\, Nov ember 28\, 2021 - 12:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium\n\nSession 12. Michael Schultz\n\n\n\n\nMonday\, November 22\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Se cond screening: Thursday\, December 9\, 2021 - check schedule on the Filmo teca Española website Museo Reina Sofía\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium / Second screening: Filmoteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSession 13. Pione ers VI\n\n\n\n\nTuesday\, November 23\, 2021 - 9:00 p.m. / Second screenin g: Sunday\, December 5\, 2021 - 12:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Ci nema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditor ium\n\nSession 14. Pioneers VII\n\n\n\n\nWednesday\, November 24\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Second screening: Saturday\, December 4\, 2021 - check schedul e on the Filmoteca Española website Museo Reina Sofía\, Sabatini Buildin g\, Auditorium / Second screening: Filmoteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSes sion 15. Bill Gunn\n\n\n\n\nThursday\, November 25\, 2021 - 7:30 p.m. / Se cond screening: Monday\, December 13\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archi ve\, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Build ing\, Auditorium\n\nSession 16. Ivan Dixon\n\n\n\n\nSaturday\, November 27 \, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Second screening: Thursday\, December 23\, 2021 - ch eck schedule on the website of the Spanish Film Archive Reina Sofía Museu m\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium / Second screening: Spanish Film Archiv e\, Doré Cinema\n\nSession 17. Larry Bullard and Carolyn Y. Johnson\n\n\n \n\nSaturday\, November 27\, 2021 - 9:00 p.m. / Second screening: Wednesda y\, December 22\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema / S econd screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium\n\nS ession 18. Spike Lee\n\n\n\n\nSunday\, November 28\, 2021 - 5:00 p.m. / Se cond screening: Sunday\, December 19\, 2021 - 12:00 p.m. Spanish Film Arch ive\, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Buil ding\, Auditorium\n\nSession 19. John Singleton\n\n\n\n\nMonday\, November 29\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Second screening: Saturday\, December 11\, 2021 - check schedule on the Filmoteca Española website Museo Reina Sofía\, Sa batini Building\, Auditorium / Second screening: Filmoteca Española\, Cin e Doré\n\nSession 20. Stephen Winter\n\n\n\n\nTuesday\, November 30\, 202 1 - 9:00 p.m. / Second screening: Wednesday\, December 8\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m . Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Mus eum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium\n\nSession 21. Cheryl Dunye\n\n\n\n\n \n\nThursday\, December 2\, 2021 – 6:00 p.m. / Second screening: Sunday\ , December 26\, 2021 - check schedule on the Filmoteca Española website M useo Reina Sofía\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium / Second screening: Fil moteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSession 22. L.A. Rebellion II. Haile Geri ma\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFriday\, December 3\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. / Second screen ing: Tuesday\, December 28\, 2021 - check schedule on the website of the S panish Film Archive Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium / Second screening: Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema\n\nSession 23. L.A. Rebellion III. Larry Clark\n\n\n\n\n\nMonday\, December 6\, 2021 - 6:00 p .m. / Second screening: Friday\, December 10\, 2021 - check schedule on th e website of Filmoteca Española Museo Reina Sofía\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium / Second screening: Filmoteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSession 24. Cauleen Smith\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTuesday\, December 21\, 2021 - check sched ule on the Spanish Film Archive website / Second screening: Friday\, Janua ry 14\, 2022 - 6:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema / Second scre ening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium\n\nSession 25. Feminist Short Films\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nWednesday\, December 1\, 20 21 - check schedule on the Filmoteca Española website / Second screening: Saturday\, December 11\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archive\, Cine Dor é / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditoriu m\n\nSession 26. Arthur Jafa\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nTuesday\, December 14\, 2021 - check schedule on the Spanish Film Archive website / Second screening: Sa turday\, January 15\, 2022 - 6:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium\ n\nSession 27. Kathleen Collins\n\n\n\n\nSunday\, December 12\, 2021 - 12: 00 / Second screening: Wednesday\, December 22\, 2021 - check schedule on the Filmoteca Española website Museo Reina Sofía\, Sabatini Building\, A uditorium / Second screening: Filmoteca Española\, Cine Doré\n\nSession 28. L.A. Rebellion IV. Billy Woodberry\n\n\n\n\n\nSunday\, December 19\, 2 021 - check schedule on the Spanish Film Archive website / Second screenin g: Monday\, December 20\, 2021 - 6:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Ci nema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditor ium\n\nSession 29. Gordon Parks\n\n\n\n\nThursday\, January 20\, 2022 - ch eck schedule on the Spanish Film Archive website / Second screening: Satur day\, January 22\, 2022 - 6:00 p.m. Spanish Film Archive\, Doré Cinema / Second screening: Reina Sofía Museum\, Sabatini Building\, Auditorium\n\n Session 30. Screening and closing concert with The Silent Entertainers Ban d\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://vimeo.com/640315746?fl=pl&\;fe=sh\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03142026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc /topic/12582-have-you-seen-within-our-gates-from-oscar-micheaux/#findComme nt-80649\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian \n\n\n\n   14 hours ago\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n @richardmurrayI watched  \"Wit hin Our Gates\" and fully  appreciated it for what it was. In fact\, it i nspired me to do some research on Oscar Micheaux because I was both curio us and confused about him\, even misspelling his name. I was\, however\, v aguely familiar with him which was why I was of the opinion that it must'v e been his movies that I was seeing quite a while back on a local TV chann el that did not run them in prime time but instead put them on during the early afternoon\, almost as if to fill in empty air space like the wrestli ng matches and The Liberace Show did back during the early days of TV.\n\n \n\n This would mean that my seeing  these old films must've been back in the 1950s.\n\n\n\n Anyway\, I learned\, to my surprise\, that Oscar Miche aux was born in 1884 in Metropolis\, Illinois\, a town I know of because I had friends from there\, and that he died in 1951\, so he was alive duri ng my life time.\n\n\n\n I watched a couple of short YouTube videos about him and have concluded that at least some of those sound movies I was watc hing back then were ones \n\n\n\n produced by him later in his career.\n\ n\n\n Finally\, imo\, some of the stereotypes I previously mentioned did a ppear in Micheaux's \"Beyond the Gates\". Certainly Sylvia Landry\, the lo velorn heroine of  \"Within Our Gates\, was a \"tragic mulatto\" whose re al father was white and whose black adoptive parents were lynched\, her ad optive and nurturing mother\, Mattie\, being a \"Mammy\" figure\, and the wicked Larry\, brother-in-law of Sylvia's cousin\, being a villainous \"Tr ickster\"\, while the tattle tale Ephraim\, was the \"Coon\" figure.  The minister Jacobs\, who ran a school for black children\, represented  the \"Righteous Reverend\"and Dr. Vivian\, who falls in love with Sylvia\, re presented the \"romantic hero\". \n\n\n\n These personifications\, rather than being pantomimed degrading figures\, were transformed in \"Within Ou r Gates\"\, and I suspect the improved versions\, like the film itself\, w ere used to counteract the negative caricatures that \"The Birth of a Nati on\" depicted.\n\n\n\n My introduction to Micheaux was probably about 70 y ears ago and I'm curious if those films I remember seeing were lost and no longer exist since the claim is being made that this movie is the last of its kind in existence. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Btw\, I also beg to disagree with your classifying the Cakewalk as a form of buffoon mockery. It was ac tually an elegant\, joyful\, high-stepping  dance where couples competed against each other\, with the winner being awarded the prize of a cake!\n\ n\n\n Nor were minstrel shows totally without merit. They show cased sly h umor\, buck dancing and banjo artistry among other things.\n\n\n\n I menti on this because there was a time when black Masons would stage their own m instrel shows and\, having seen one put on by my father's lodge when I was a young girl in the 1940s\, I remember being rather proud that my dad\, w as a member of a barbershop quartet that performed in a show his Masonic l odge staged.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Just some thoughts...\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Lovely thoughts\, thank you for sharing them:)\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n Well use of the word personifications\, in that true persons chan ge are not pantomime. \n\n\n\n Sylvia a true mulatto\, definitely goes th rough trials or tribulations but she isn't tragic cause she wins in the en d. She isn't clotel. \n\n\n\n Mattie is motherly\, in the same way Mammy' s are\, but Mattie is a black woman married to a black man raising a black child... when a black maid is motherly to a white child that is the mammy figure\, it isn't a black woman being motherly to a black child\, that is expected? right? The landrys are both hanged and burned alive for a crime they didn't commit. \n\n\n\n hahaha LArry is the trickster\, I admit he doesn't change. If anything he is the one true caricature. and Micheaux be ing like Pioneer:) one of these law abiding blacks\, criminalizes black st reet people. All of larry's crimes are financial\, none are violent. but y eah\, larry is the pantomime black trickster\, but knowing what I know of micheaux that makes sense. I as a writer don't view black hustlers negativ ely so... \n\n\n\n Efram wasn't the coon for one reason\, in the film\, h e recants his actions in a confession to the audience so to speak. yes\, h e is the prototypical coon figure gestures\, talk and all\, BUT unlike mos t coon figures\, he gets killed by whites\, which is a very rare touch. ev en among black writers\, they rarely give \"black traitors\" aka coons the death that micheax gave efram. \n\n\n\n People remember samuel l jackson 's characters death in django\, but he is murdered by a black man\, django \, Oscar micheaux murders his coon\, efram through the true subjects white s\, displaying the simple truth that whites are the enemy of blacks folks\ , whether the honorable\, loving\, law abiding Landry's or the lying\, sel f hating scheming eframs. But the key is that efram confesses he hates him self\, confesses he is wrong which is very rare in film\, even black writt en films. \n\n\n\n And your correct\, the Rev is the \"righteous reverend \" and Dr..\"good hero\" But at least with the rev. he is actually challen ged. when sylvia rebukes his offer of marriage\, that is a real test that again\, so few righteous reverends have in many stories. to be challenged is key to testing the identity.  but the doctor is an evergood hero:) whi ch ok:)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I wish I could see a complete version of symbol fo the unconquered. The partial I placed below. I think it is a response to birth of a nation\, not within our gates. Why do I say this? In a gener al sense\, because all of Micheaux's work involve the south plus black peo ple and they are not like in griffith's film\, they are all partially a re sponse to birth of a nation\, on a mere stylistic point. But in terms of a grarian fantasies\, i argue\, symbol of the unconquered is more of an agra rian fantasy which is what birth of a nation is\, than within our gates.  \n\n\n\n Birth of the nation is dismissive of the usa outside of the south \, in birth of a nation the usa outside of the south\, doesn't functionall y exist. In that way\, within our gates isn't a reply. Within our gates is very much holistic. It is showing black unity between blacks outside the south and to the south. Sylvia makes it where the black school in the sout h will thrive/survive/live but she lives in the north\, has found love in the north\, fled the south because of white terror\, but doesn't ask other black people to leave the south. Within our gates i argue is more holisti c to the usa. that complete nature is absent in birth of a nation. \n\n\n \n But symbol of the unconquered is all about black homesteaders. It is fo cused on a specific area in the usa like birth of a nation. And like birth of a nation has straight messages about certain persons or groups. Wherea s the KKK is heroic supporting the traditions of the south in birth of a n ation\, the kkk is a terrorist illegal operating organization in symbol of the unconquered. whereas \"birth's\" female lead is so negatively biased she can jump off of a cliff to her death rather than be violated. the fema le lead in \"symbol\"fights through wind and rain and storms\, to get her land. can be frightened but will never go to her death from fear. \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n yeah\, well \, even though I don't pref er comedy usually\, i think comedy is the art form most in need in the usa at all times\, this countries history doesn't yield to seriousness well.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n lovely thought\, thank you for sharing them\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03152026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12582-have-you-see n-within-our-gates-from-oscar-micheaux/#findComment-80716\n\n\n\n osted j ust now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 my pleasure\, check out more films and content\ n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/677-oscar-devereaux-micheaux-boo ks-plus-films/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Troy ah cool:) \n\n\n\n some of the e lements of within our gates are still rare to see. a black character who i s publicly antiblack and confesses to it with shame before being killed by nonblacks\, very rare to see //read/hear today in anything with a budget and getting paid to be made\, even among black produced/financed work.\n\n \n\n the relationship between north and south black regions in the usa\, t he lead female character does not like the south for multiple reasons  an d yet still helps the black populace in the south \, I recall I  mentione d in the past how many fiscally wealthy blacks who live outside the former confederacy have never paid for one person to go to one historical black college or universtiy (HBCU) even demanded all the people they have paid c ollege for get money only if they go to a hbcu. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260310 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Jesse Jackson Junior's Eulogy to Jesse Jackson DTSTAMP:20260309T051005Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:673-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Introduction to Jesse JAckson Juniors Eulogy\n\n\n\n Yest erday I listened for several hours of three United States presidents who d o not know Jesse Jackson\,... He maintained a tense relationship with the political order\, not because the presidents were White or Black\, but the demands of our message\, the demands of speaking for the least of these — those who are disinherited\, the damned\, the dispossessed\, the disr espected — demanded not Democratic or Republican solutions\, but demande d a consistent\, prophetic voice that at no point in time sold us out as a people.”\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n\n\n Who is Jesse Jackson ?\ n\n\n\n In cheap hindsight\, Jesse Jackson is one of the Black Leaders\, a nother is Shirley Chisholm \,  whose rise was in the last decade of the J im Crow era\, 1865 to 1980[eighteen sixty five to nineteen eighty \, the p eriod after the enslavement era from 1492 fourteen ninety two to 1865 eigh teen sixty five]\, in the 1970s\, nineteen seventies. \n\n\n\n What happe ned in the the 1970s? \n\n\n\n China + Japan \, two white asian countries \, each began a fiscal push\, that in twenty twenty six have become pillar s of modern fiscal activity\, deleting the edge in engineering the usa had from the end of commonly called world war two. \n\n\n\n the USA installe d the lickspittle puppet\, the Shah of Iran in the nineteen fifties becaus e the elected prime minister of iran\, Mohammad Mosaddegh\, wasn't a licks pittle and was stopping the uneven oil business. I restate\, Mosaddegh wan ted to sell Iranian oil to iran's favor at market value\, both things\, an d that is what led to United States of America plus the United Kingdom of England plus Israel overthrowing the government of iran and installing the shah as a monarchy. yes\, the usa plus uk plus israel installed a monarch y to get what they each wanted financially. But that action led to the Mu slim Revolution of Iran overthrowing the shah in the 1970s and publicly st ating two countries who had a hand in overthrowing the elected government of Mosaddegh\, \, USA+Israel are correctly enemies of Iran. \n\n\n\n The inevitable failure of the civil rights laws in the private financial secto r showed their reality. As Black populaces in white cities had a growing c lass of workers for city governments\, aided with publicly funded schools\ , but the white flight was about to allow white cities to undercut staffin g and undercut funding which ultimately derailed many black populaces in c ities. \n\n\n\n What was Jesse Jackson's plan?\n\n\n\n Jesse Jackson real ized the heritage of unpaid unelected advocacy in the Black descended of e nslaved populace\, whose members were continually murdered through the who le jim crow period needed to survive in the future\; said heritage was abo ut advocacy\, working for something\, that returns nothing to oneself. MEd gar evers/Fanni lou hamer/James Baldwin/Malcolm/ MLK jr/ Billie Holiday/ M ary Lou Williams all died through murder or poor condition of life\, finan cially broke. None of them had money. They all had funerals paid for by ot hers\, had their childrens opportunities financed by others. Jesse Jackson 's idea was\, lets place Fannie Lou Hamer + Malcolm in the elected officia l class. Why? I argue Jesse Jackson saw with Jim Crow ending\, the USA is going into a phase where individuals from many communities in the usa will be able to financially achieve great heights\, unbounded\, but they will be communally abvocates. Not advocates\, those who work toward\, but abvoc ates\, those who work against. So\, while financially a Black one percent will grow and those not of white european descent in a rainbow coalition\, which came from Fred Hampton in chicago\, will achieve financial wealth\, the black fiscal poor as part of the greater fiscal poor of the united st ates of america will need an elected class who are not just filled with vi ctors who own spoils abvocating to the districts that elected them\, but c ommunal advocates who have the same energy plus vibe that Jesse Jackson sa w in the jim crow era before it was murdered by non blacks aside their bla ck agents. \n\n\n\n Did Jesse Jackson succeed? \n\n\n\n No\, To the vict or goes the spoils is the oldest heritage for elected officials in the uni ted states of america. It is a strong heritage because in a land where gov ernment post tend to not be inherited\, the only fiscal profit in governme nt is in extracting what you can in the short term. Supporting the short t erm fiscal value of elected positions in government is the rarity of advoc ates of highest quality that surrounded Jesse Jackson in the nineteen sixt ies. Being an abvocate \, working against\, to the people is easy \, natur al in the united states of america. Being an advocate to the people \, and better yet one who is making no fiscal revenue\, is a rare way of life in the usa. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Jesse Jackson tried to create a culture of advocacy for all people within the elected class of government officials i n the united states of america\, who could make money and take money while being effective legislators or executives who forced profit to be made on mountains of unprofitable caring to prevent crimes in the future or the p otency of crimes in any past. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n \n\n 0:00\nYesterday\n0:07\nI listened\n0:10\nfor several hours of three\n 0:14\n[clears throat]\n0:15\nUnited States presidents\n0:18\nwho do not kn ow Jesse Jackson.\n0:26\nHe maintained a tense relationship\n0:30\nwith th e political order. Not because\n0:34\nthe presidents were white or black\, \n0:38\nbut the demands of our message.\n0:40\nYes.\n0:41\nThe demands of speaking for the least of\n0:43\nthese\, those who were disinherited\, the \n0:45\ndamned\, the dispossessed\, the\n0:48\ndisrespected.\n0:50\nYes\, sir.\n0:51\ndemanded not Democratic or Republican\n0:54\nsolutions\, but d emanded\n0:57\na consistent\n1:00\nprophetic\n1:02\nvoice\n1:03\nthat at n o point in time ever sold us\n1:06\nout as a people.\n1:10\nAnd it speaks volumes about who the\n1:13\nReverend Jesse Jackson\n1:16\nwas. Our messag e has already been\n1:20\ndelivered today. I can see it all over\n1:23\nmy mother's face.\n1:26\nRise\, Jesse\, rise. Give Jonathan Jackson\n1:30\na nother great round of applause for\n1:33\ndelivering our family message to the\n1:37\nworld.\n1:42\nLet's hear it for the congressman.\n1:50\n[appla use]\n1:52\nThere'll be no different message that\n1:55\nleaves this servi ce than the one that\n1:56\nJonathan Jackson has blessed us with.\n2:02\nI want to thank my sister Ashley and on\n2:05\nbehalf of all of our sibling s\,\n2:08\nthere is something about the blood of\n2:11\nservice that Jesse Jackson has given to\n2:15\nall of us.\n2:17\nAshley is an extraordinary individual\, a\n2:21\nvery\, very talented young lady\, and I am\n2:24\nso grateful. We're all so grateful to\n2:27\ncall her our sister. Thank you\ , Ashley.\n2:32\n[applause]\n2:37\n[applause]\n2:41\na gift to us from our father.\n2:48\nAmen.\n2:50\nto my sister Santita\n2:53\nwhose talents are so extraordinary that\n2:57\nI've always wondered why they're so\n2:59\nc ontained.\n3:02\nWe're so grateful for her scholarship\,\n3:06\nher input\ , her thinking\,\n3:09\nher being our oldest\n3:11\nsibling.\n3:14\nShe do esn't like oldest. She likes\n3:16\neldest sibling.\n3:20\nWe want to than k Cintita in a very\n3:21\nspecial way for her leadership. Give\n3:24\nCen ta a great round of applause.\n3:25\n[applause]\n3:27\nLet's hear it for C enta.\n3:33\n[applause]\n3:38\nAnd if we can listen once again to four\n3: 40\npresidents yesterday\, three of whom\n3:43\nhappened to be US presiden ts\n3:46\nwho did not know my father\, we can\n3:48\ncertainly listen to J qualine Jackson.\n3:52\nWe can listen to Jqualine Jackson who\n3:54\ncared for my father. Give her the round\n3:57\nof applause that she deserves.\n 4:03\n[applause]\n4:13\nAnd last but not least\,\n4:18\nfor 64 years befor e we heard of\n4:22\nprogressive nuclear pausy or Parkinson's\n4:25\ndisea se\,\n4:28\nmy father at North Carolina ENTT said\n4:30\nthat he was stand ing\n4:32\nat the cafeteria when he saw a young\n4:34\nfresh woman\n4:37\n walking across\n4:39\nthe campus.\n4:41\nThat's right.\n4:44\nAnd mommy\, at least as the story was\n4:46\nconveyed to me\, he said something to the \n4:48\neffect that you're going to be my wife\n4:51\none day.\n4:54\nAnd mama said to him\, \"You going to have\n4:56\nto work hard to make that th e case\, my\n4:58\nbrother.\n5:04\nfor 64 years with a particular emphasis \n5:07\nsince Reverend's diagnosis\n5:10\nof initially Parkinson's disease but a\n5:13\nfurther diagnosis that revealed\n5:16\npseudonuclear Pauly\n 5:19\nwhether the weather was rain or whether\n5:21\nthe weather was cold\ n5:23\nwhether things were going well or things\n5:25\nwere not going well .\n5:28\nthe mountain tops that marriages reach\n5:30\nas well as the vall ey that they reach.\n5:32\nJqualine Jackson has been the enduring\n5:35\nf orce in the ministry of the Reverend\n5:38\nJesse Jackson and she lent him to the\n5:43\nworld. Give Mrs. Jackson the honor that\n5:47\nshe deserves .\n5:51\n[applause]\n5:55\n[applause]\n6:00\nI want to remind everybody\n6 :03\nYes.\n6:07\nthat we are burying our father today.\n6:17\nI was so gra teful that he gave me his\n6:18\nname.\n6:22\nWhen he first gave it to me\ , it was a\n6:23\ngood name\,\n6:26\nJesse Jackson.\n6:28\nBorn March 11th \, just a few short days\n6:31\nfrom now.\n6:34\nHe had traveled from Chic ago Theological\n6:36\nSeminary to Selma\, Alabama.\n6:41\nHe sent my moth er to Greenville\, South\n6:43\nCarolina.\n6:49\nbecause he wanted his fir stborn son to\n6:51\nbe born where he was born.\n6:56\nWhen I was born\, t he Selma to Montgomery\n6:58\nMarch was entering a new phase. And mama\n7: 02\ncalled Selma to find out what\n7:06\nor to share with my father that h is\n7:07\nfirstborn son had been born. And\n7:11\nhe was so overwhelmed by the moment that\n7:13\nhe almost named me Selma.\n7:21\nBut thank God for mama's better\n7:23\njudgment.\n7:29\nAnd my father had a lot of jokes.\n 7:32\nYes\, sir.\n7:33\nMy father was a funny man.\n7:36\nThose of you who knew my father knew\n7:38\nthat he was an enjoyable man. Whatever\n7:42\n the media has to say about him\, it has\n7:45\nnothing to do with what eac h and every\n7:48\none of us knows about who Jesse Jackson\n7:52\nwas and is in our thinking.\n8:06\nbeing Jesse is not easy.\n8:09\nAnd so\, Dad an d I had worked out some\n8:12\nunderstanding of why he would do this\n8:14 \nand why I would do that. And a symbiosis\n8:17\noccurred in our personal ity because what\n8:20\nhe did affected me one way and what I\n8:23\ndid a ffected him the other way. But such\n8:26\nwas the name Jesse Jackson.\n8: 30\nAnd I remember when I was in prison.\n8:40\n[applause]\n8:43\nAnd I wo uld think about the man\n8:46\nwho brought Robert Goodman home.\n8:48\nYes \, sir.\n8:50\nYes\, sir.\n8:51\nWho called the Ayatollah in Iran and\n8:5 5\nasked him to release the Americans. And\n8:58\nwhen he wouldn't\, he sa id\, \"At least\n9:00\nrelease the black ones because America\,\n9:03\ndon 't use them as a human shield.\n9:05\nAmerica don't care.\"\n9:09\nAnd Aya tollah heard Reverend Jackson's\n9:12\nvoice and released the black prison ers.\n9:20\n[applause]\n9:21\nJonathan and I were in Cuba when dad\n9:23\n brought\, I believe\, the Mario prisoners\n9:26\nhome.\n9:28\nI think Yous ef and Jonathan were in Iraq\n9:32\nwhen they met with Saddam Hussein\n9:3 5\n[snorts] and brought a 747\n9:38\nof filled with human shields home.\n9 :44\n[applause]\n9:49\nAnd I remember mama when daddy would\n9:51\ncome vi sit me in prison\n9:53\nand I would think about\n9:56\nall of the people m y daddy could save.\n10:07\nHe came to visit me one day and I said\,\n10:0 8\n\"Daddy\,\n10:11\ndo you think you can get me out of\n10:12\nhere?\"\n1 0:18\n[applause]\n10:23\n[applause]\n10:25\nHe said\, \"I'm trying\, son\, \n10:28\nbut don't give up.\" Yes\, sir.\n10:31\nHold your head high.\n10: 33\nStick your chest out.\n10:35\nYou can make it.\n10:38\nAnd so\, yester day\, I began a little\n10:41\nstatement\, and this ain't going to last\n1 0:43\nbut about four more minutes cuz I\n10:46\nhaven't had a chance to de velop it.\n10:48\n[snorts]\n10:50\nHoward Thurman\n10:54\nbecause the mess age has already been\n10:57\ndelivered. Rise\, Jesse\, rise. I'm\n11:00\ns pecifically hanging around Howard\n11:03\nThurman yesterday because I don' t want\n11:06\nthe media to step on rise\, Jesse\, rise\n11:10\nin tomorro w's story.\n11:14\nIt's a calculation.\n11:16\nYes\, sir. We Jackson have to think about\n11:19\nwhat we say so we don't have too many\n11:22\nmessa ges emanating from the same\n11:25\nhousehold. We think about it.\n11:32\n Howard Thurman his family grew up as a\n11:34\nsharecropping family and he had\n11:36\nexperienced some of the horrific\n11:38\ntreatment of African -Americans in the\n11:40\nSouth\, not unlike my father. and his\n11:43\nfa mily decided they didn't want young\n11:45\nHoward to be a sharecropper. S o\, they\n11:47\nput together all of their pennies and\n11:50\nquarters an d nickels\, and they came up\n11:53\nwith just enough money to make sure\n 11:55\nHoward Thurman could afford a ticket to\n11:58\ngo to college.\n12: 03\nAnd in the book\, which Bill Clinton\n12:05\nreferenced yesterday with Head and\n12:07\nHeart\, he dedicates the book\n12:11\nto this story.\n12 :14\nWhen he went to get his ticket\, the\n12:17\nbroken pieces of his lif e were in a\n12:20\ntrunk that his family had given to him\n12:23\nwith no handles. And he had tied the\n12:25\ntrunk up with ropes.\n12:28\nYes\, s ir.\n12:29\nYes\, sir. And the conductor said\, \"You\n12:32\ncan get on t he train\, but your baggage\n12:33\ncan't.\"\n12:35\nHe said\, \"In that t runk was all of the\n12:37\nbroken pieces of his life\, his pictures\,\n12 :40\nhis his clothes\, all of his memories\,\n12:43\nand\n12:46\nhe wasn't leaving his broken pieces\n12:49\nbehind.\"\n12:52\nSo he went over in th e corner of the\n12:54\ntrain station and he began crying\n12:58\nbecause his dreams and his hopes had\n13:01\nbeen thwarted about whether or not he \n13:04\ncould go to college.\n13:07\nAnd crying and tears and mucus all l ay\n13:11\nin a pile when he wiped his eyes and he\n13:12\nlooked up mama and he saw a pair of old\n13:16\nrustic boots.\n13:20\nHe continued to loo k up and he saw a man\n13:23\nin some overalls and he saw an old black\n13 :26\nman wearing a straw hat and he said\,\n13:28\n\"Boy\,\n13:30\nwhat yo u crying for?\" And Howard said\,\n13:33\n\"Because I can't take my luggag e with me\n13:38\non the train. I've decided not to go to\n13:41\ncollege. \" And the old man reached in his\n13:44\npocket and he grabbed a little l eather\n13:45\nsack and pulled out a few coins and\n13:48\nbought a ticket for Howard Thurman's\n13:51\nluggage.\n13:54\nAnd Howard Thurman says he never got the\n13:57\nman's name.\n14:00\nYes\, sir. Yes\, sir. And all he remembers\n14:04\nwas his train was going in one direction\n14:07\nand he saw the old man walking down the\n14:10\ntrain tracks until he faded away .\n14:14\nHe dedicates his autobiography\n14:18\nto the stranger\n14:23\nw ho restored his hope.\n14:26\nYes\, sir.\n14:27\nAnd sent him to college. Thank you\,\n14:30\nJesus.\n14:31\nI just want two more minutes to tell yo u\n14:34\nabout who my daddy was.\n14:38\n[applause]\n14:39\nYou see\, whe n I was in prison\,\n14:41\nYes\, sir.\n14:42\nI had to ask my daddy if he was\n14:44\ndisappointed in me.\n14:45\nYes\, sir. Come on. Come on.\n14: 48\n[snorts]\n14:49\nI announced this little old campaign for\n14:51\nCong ress on his birthday\, October 8th\,\n14:56\n2025\, because I wanted to re member his\n14:59\nbirthday as long as I live.\n15:02\nYes\, sir.\n15:05\n Help.\n15:06\nYou see\, when I was in the hole\n15:10\nand I looked up and saw the ceiling\,\n15:14\nI thought about the stranger.\n15:19\nAnd I sai d to myself\, \"My dad is the\n15:23\nstranger.\"\n15:26\nYou see\, he's t he man who can save\n15:28\npeople from prison and save people and\n15:31\ nbring them from foreign leadership. He's\n15:33\nthe man who can go aroun d the world and\n15:36\nchange it for everybody.\n15:39\nHe's the man who spoke in the high\n15:41\nschools and told young people to stop\n15:44\nco mplaining about what they don't have\,\n15:46\nto use what they got.\n15:4 8\nYes\, sir. Yes\, sir.\n15:51\nHe's the one who told them down with\n15: 53\ndope and and up with hope.\n15:56\nHe's the one who preached your fune rals\n15:59\nfor your families and married your loved\n16:02\nones and hel ped bring them forward in\n16:05\nhappily married matrimony.\n16:08\nHe's the one we turn to at our lowest\n16:12\nhours.\n16:13\nAnd so\, [gasps] n ot only in the life of\n16:17\nhis family was he hope\,\n16:20\nbut he was a stranger Yes\, sir. for\n16:24\nmillions of people who knew not his\n16 :27\nname.\n16:28\nYou see\, [cheering]\n16:31\nimminent Howard Thurman th eologian said\n16:34\nthat to Howard Thurman\, the stranger was\n16:38\nth e embodiment of God.\n16:42\nSo when the stranger shows up in our\n16:45\n space\,\n16:46\nI don't care if it's your daddy. I don't\n16:49\ncare if i t's your mama. I don't care if\n16:51\nit's someone that you don't get alo ng\n16:53\nwith. God is trying to tell you\n16:55\nsomething\, judge.\n16: 57\nYes\, sir. [applause]\n17:00\nYes\, sir.\n17:01\nI'm done.\n17:03\n[ap plause]\n17:04\nGod help you.\n17:05\nWhen Jonathan delivered that message \n17:06\ntoday\,\n17:08\nyou\n17:09\non behalf of this family and on behal f\n17:11\nof a people\,\n17:12\nYes\, sir.\n17:14\nHe covered every aspect that I know of\n17:19\nmy father's life.\n17:20\nYes\, sir.\n17:21\nI am so grateful to each of the\n17:23\niterations of Jesse Jackson that are\n1 7:26\nrepresented here today\n17:28\nbecause we've seen and you you you an d\n17:31\nyou have lifted this family and allowed\n17:34\nus the great pri vilege\n17:37\nYes\, sir.\n17:39\n[cheering]\n17:39\nof representing you\n 17:42\nin some mighty amazing places. And so\,\n17:46\nSantita\, to God be the glory. [cheering]\n17:50\nFor all of the wonderful things that he\n17 :54\nhas done.\n17:56\nI am grateful to all of you on behalf of\n17:59\nou r family. Rise\, Jesse. Rise.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARIE S \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12576-president-obamas-eulogy-of-re v-jesse-jackson/#findComment-80620\n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @aka Con trarian well\,I think what jesse jackson jr said was truth\, clinton/obam a/biden were each considered good guys\, the southern white sax player\, t he mulatto with a black wife\, the kindly old white guy\, but each weren't the kind of elected advocate that Jesse Jackson  senior hoped to brew as a common occurrence in the usa. I still feel \,with no proof\, that what Jesse Jackson wanted\, his purpose\, was to get people with the quality of leadership of advocates\, unpaid or unelected while totally committed\, l ike fannie lou hamer or malcolm x to be elected officials\, to improve the quality of elected officials\, in the usa. Instead\, the overall industry of government led to a bunch of pantomime black or non black elected offi cials who are all salespeople\, who do nothing for blacks or non blacks wh ile claiming their are acting in all humanities betterment.  This is why Shirley Chisholm left government. She was an advocate who became an electe d official\, but she was surrounded by black plus non black salespeople. A nd three of said salespeople spoke during jesse jackson's funeral with the same quality inherent in insult that brooke shileds plus magic johnson sp oke at michael jackson's funeral.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03142026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12576-president-obamas-eulogy-of-rev-jesse-jack son/#findComment-80668\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian \n \n\n\n   On 3/11/2026 at 6:04 PM\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n Well\, if you dont want the 3 Presidents to talk politics at the funeral of a po litical figure\, then don't invite them\, just to show how important the d eceased was. And Al Sharpton certainly didn't mince any words about what's happening in the country in his remarks. \n\n\n\n If you want a dignifie d funeral\, don't invite a bunch of dignitaries to speak\, and hold the se rvices at a huge hall to accommodate  all the public mourners you opened the doors to.\n\n\n\n You're just asking for confusion and resentment and that's what the Jackson family got.\n\n\n\n You can't have it both ways.\n \n\n\n I am with you 100% Do I think jesse jackson spoke false ? no BUT I concur to your point that if you want no commercialization then make the f uneral private and if you want a more public aspect\, for jesse jackson wa s famous\, known\, then you need to have greater control over what happens plus over how what happens in the schedule. I concur to you. If you open the possibility for behavior you don't want at an event you control\, then when the behavior you don't want happens you are partially and arguably m ostly to blame. If Jesse jackson junior would had began mentioning where t he jackson clan\, or whomever was in control went wrong\, that would had m ade his speech not only truthful but even.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \ n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n This shit has got to sto p.\n\n \n\n Perhaps there should be a Black Law: If you're already light skinned\, you shouldn't be allowed to dye your hair blonde.\n\n \n\n Maybe we should have a limit to how many \"white\" features a Black person is a llowed to have before they are no longer considered Black....lol.\n\n\n\n  i have to ask a simple question. who will enforce the black laws? you?:) you talk of law enforcement with white laws so i assume someone will enfo rce the black laws:)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03142026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com /tc/topic/12576-president-obamas-eulogy-of-rev-jesse-jackson/#findComment- 80674\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\,  Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n I guess if we could figure out who or what is in fluencing so many Black women to dye their hair blonde\, we can figure out who or what can get them to stop.\n\n\n\n what if the influencer is the f reedom of a woman to do whatever she wants with out having to worry about any penalty ? who is going to deny them their freedom to do what they want ? what can deny them the freedom to do what they want?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03152026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12576-president-obamas-eulogy- of-rev-jesse-jackson/#findComment-80709\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @P ioneer1 \n\n\n\n   7 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n If the \"free dom of a woman to do whatever she wants\" was the influencer....where are the AfroAmerican women with naturally light hair dying it black or dark br own?\n\n \n\n When was the last time you saw a Black entertainer with natu rally lighter hair dying it black?\n\n \n\n It's not about freedom\, it's about them being conditioned to believe that blonde hair\, light skin\, an d light eyes somehow makes them look better.\n\n \n\n I don't think they s hould be physically or even legally prevented from doing so\, but I do thi nk that we as AfroAmericans who ARE proud to be Black...should have a cons istent campaign of self-love and promotion of African features like dark s kin and dark hair and promote this especially to our children to COUNTER t he effects from centuries of racist anti-Black brainwashing that our commu nity has endured.\n\n \n\n Use the movies\, television shows\, and adverti sements to promote dark skin and dark hair....especially to our children.\ n\n Make them desire THOSE features\, instead of the opposite.\n\n\n\n Exp and  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In my experience most Black women don't have nat urally light hair. so they would never need to dye it a dark color. In con trast i find many white women tend to have natural light hair and they dye it dark colors. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I can't recall a Black Entertainer w ith naturally lighter hair. Black to dark Brown is the usual colors for Bl ack entertainers. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n You are not wrong that conditioning exist\, this is undeniably true.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n BUT\, you hint at a g reater challenge. I live in NYC \, has more black women than any other cit y in the united states of america. If someone asks me what hairstyle do mo st black women have. I argue\, a majority of black women in NYC today of y ounger generations have natural styles. And black women in nYC of older ge nerations have a fifty /fifty natural to unnatural. Now\, You mention a co nsistent campaign but when does this end? are you speaking of an eternal c ampaign? why do I ask? don't forget you live in the usa. There isn't a pop ulace/peoples/group in the usa today that doesn't have many individuals in it who don't adhere to some code of appearance or conduct. Many people wh ose parents: don't speak english \, don't speak spanish\; dance the rumba\ ; don't dance forms from latin america\; are of asian descent\, have been adopted by white europeans and barely know any asians. ... my point. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n If you are looking for 100% like another member of aalbc\, or maybe yourself when it comes to black crime\, then you can forget it i n the united states of america. In my experience most black people desire being of some black tribe\, in appearance\, heritage\, culture. But\, not 100% and in my view\, what your complaining about is the lack of 100% whic h I oppose. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Pioneer you will always see black people who are white-philes in the usa\, ALWAYS. But Black people have always bee n majority in love with being Black. I think black people like you love to cry emergency with the mere existence of black people who act as you feel they should not\, even though said black folk have always been a minority in the black populace. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260308 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:OSCAR DEVEREAUX MICHEAUX BOOKS PLUS FILMS DTSTAMP:20260314T045437Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:677-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n BOOKS\n\n\n\n The Conquest: The Story of a Negro Pioneer. Lincoln\, Nebraska: Woodruff Press. 1913. ISBN 978-0803282094. OCLC 2 54051406.\n\n\n\n https://books.google.com/books?id=A9CJ_dPnd18C\n\n\n\n T he Forged Note. Lincoln\, Nebraska: Western Book Supply Company. 1915. OC LC 2058028.\n\n\n\n https://archive.org/details/forgednoteromanc00michric h\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Homesteader: A Novel. Sioux City\, Iowa: Western Book Supply Company. 1917. OCLC 10616358.\n\n\n\n https://archi ve.org/details/homesteadernovel00michrich\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Wind from Nowhere. New York: Book Supply Company. 1941. OCLC 682477.\n\n \n\n https://books.google.com/books?id=XVcGuV3s7s8C\n\n\n\n The Case of Mr s. Wingate. New York: Book Supply Company. 1944. OCLC 5541463.\n\n\n\n h ttps://books.google.com/books?id=qMyGFdhojFYC\n\n\n\n The Story of Dorothy Stanfield. New York: Book Supply Company. 1946. OCLC 300792169.\n\n\n\n https://books.google.com/books?id=38lxUGc58twC\n\n\n\n Masquerade\, a His torical Novel. New York: Book Supply Company. 1947. OCLC 300739700.\n\n\ n\n https://books.google.com/books?id=3yDWLrSc7KEC\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n FILM S\n\n\n\n The Homesteader (1919) [Lost]\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Within Our Gate s (1920) [Survives]\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Brute (1920 ) [Lost]\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The Symbol of the Unconquered (1920)[Survives ( incomplete)]\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The Gunsaulus Mystery ( 1921) [Lost]\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The Dungeon (1922) [Lost]\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The Hypocrite (1922) [Lost] shown in the film deceit as a film within a f ilm\n\n\n\n Uncle Jasper's Will (1922) [Lost] supposed sequel to within o ur gates\, involving the last will and testament by a sharecropper after f alsely accused of murder and lynched by whites\n\n\n\n The Virgin of the S eminole (1922) [Lost]- a black man becomes a canadian mountie and rescues a black female with fist people plus black enslaved descendency \n\n\n\n Deceit (1923) [Unknown] about a decieitful preacher has the film the hyp ocrite in it\n\n\n\n Birthright (1924) [Lost]- first film version of the story by Thomas Sigismund Stribling a harvard graduate goes back to his b lack southern town to start a school and faces extreme hardships\n\n\n\n A Son of Satan (1924) [Lost]- first film involving \"horror' man sleeps in a haunted house\, shot in the bronx\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Body and Soul (1925 )[Survives]\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Marcus Garland (1925) [L ost] a historical fiction of the life of marcus garvey in the usa.. Michea ux in his earliest works showed he loved the usa \, embraced it at least\, and heavily opposed black people who wanted to leave it\, even if raped/a friad or other negative\n\n\n\n https://books.google.com/books?id=1B4ui7Eo ylwC&\;dq=%22marcus+garland%22+silent+era&\;pg=PA50#v=onepage&\;q &\;f=false\n\n\n\n https://books.google.com/books?id=w1zFLK2geOAC&\; dq=%22marcus+garland%22+micheaux+straight+lick&\;pg=PA247#v=onepage& \;q=%22marcus%20garland%22%20micheaux%20straight%20lick&\;f=false\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n The Conjure Woman (1926)\, adapted from novel by Charles W. Chesnutt [Lost] \n\n\n\n The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Conjure Woma n\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and m ost other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions wh atsoever. You may copy it\, give it away or re-use it under the terms of t he Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gut enberg.org. If you are not located in the United States\, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBo ok.\nTitle: The Conjure Woman\n\nAuthor: Charles W. Chesnutt\n\n\nRelease date: March 1\, 2004 [eBook #11666]\nMost recently updated: October 28\, 2 024\n\nLanguage: English\n\nOther information and formats: www.gutenberg.o rg/ebooks/11666\n\nCredits: Produced by Suzanne Shell\, Sjaani and PG Dist ributed Proofreaders\n\n*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONJU RE WOMAN ***\nTHE CONJURE WOMAN\nBY\nCHARLES W. CHESNUTT\nFirst published in 1899 by Houghton\, Mifflin &\; Co.\n\nCONTENTS\nTHE GOOPHERED GRAPEV INE\nPO' SANDY\nMARS JEEMS'S NIGHTMARE\nTHE CONJURER'S REVENGE\nSIS' BECKY 'S PICKANINNY\nTHE GRAY WOLF'S HA'NT\nHOT-FOOT HANNIBAL\n\n\"The Conjurer' s Revenge\" is reprinted from The Overland Monthly by permission of the pu blishers.\n\nAPPENDIX\nUncollected Uncle Julius Stories\nDave's Neckliss ( 1889)\nA Deep Sleeper (1893)\nLonesome Ben (1900)\n\nEssay\nSuperstitions and Folk-Lore of the South (1901)\n\n\n\nTHE CONJURE WOMAN\nTHE GOOPHERED GRAPEVINE\nSome years ago my wife was in poor health\, and our family doct or\, in whose skill and honesty I had implicit confidence\, advised a chan ge of climate. I shared\, from an unprofessional standpoint\, his opinion that the raw winds\, the chill rains\, and the violent changes of temperat ure that characterized the winters in the region of the Great Lakes tended to aggravate my wife's difficulty\, and would undoubtedly shorten her lif e if she remained exposed to them. The doctor's advice was that we seek\, not a temporary place of sojourn\, but a permanent residence\, in a warmer and more equable climate. I was engaged at the time in grape-culture in n orthern Ohio\, and\, as I liked the business and had given it much study\, I decided to look for some other locality suitable for carrying it on. I thought of sunny France\, of sleepy Spain\, of Southern California\, but t here were objections to them all. It occurred to me that I might find what I wanted in some one of our own Southern States. It was a sufficient time after the war for conditions in the South to have become somewhat settled \; and I was enough of a pioneer to start a new industry\, if I could not find a place where grape-culture had been tried. I wrote to a cousin who h ad gone into the turpentine business in central North Carolina. He assured me\, in response to my inquiries\, that no better place could be found in the South than the State and neighborhood where he lived\; the climate wa s perfect for health\, and\, in conjunction with the soil\, ideal for grap e-culture\; labor was cheap\, and land could be bought for a mere song. He gave us a cordial invitation to come and visit him while we looked into t he matter. We accepted the invitation\, and after several days of leisurel y travel\, the last hundred miles of which were up a river on a sidewheel steamer\, we reached our destination\, a quaint old town\, which I shall c all Patesville\, because\, for one reason\, that is not its name. There wa s a red brick market-house in the public square\, with a tall tower\, whic h held a four-faced clock that struck the hours\, and from which there pea led out a curfew at nine o'clock. There were two or three hotels\, a court -house\, a jail\, stores\, offices\, and all the appurtenances of a county seat and a commercial emporium\; for while Patesville numbered only four or five thousand inhabitants\, of all shades of complexion\, it was one of the principal towns in North Carolina\, and had a considerable trade in c otton and naval stores. This business activity was not immediately apparen t to my unaccustomed eyes. Indeed\, when I first saw the town\, there broo ded over it a calm that seemed almost sabbatic in its restfulness\, though I learned later on that underneath its somnolent exterior the deeper curr ents of life—love and hatred\, joy and despair\, ambition and avarice\, faith and friendship—flowed not less steadily than in livelier latitudes .\n\nWe found the weather delightful at that season\, the end of summer\, and were hospitably entertained. Our host was a man of means and evidently regarded our visit as a pleasure\, and we were therefore correspondingly at our ease\, and in a position to act with the coolness of judgment desir able in making so radical a change in our lives. My cousin placed a horse and buggy at our disposal\, and himself acted as our guide until I became somewhat familiar with the country.\n\nI found that grape-culture\, while it had never been carried on to any great extent\, was not entirely unknow n in the neighborhood. Several planters thereabouts had attempted it on a commercial scale\, in former years\, with greater or less success\; but li ke most Southern industries\, it had felt the blight of war and had fallen into desuetude.\n\nI went several times to look at a place that I thought might suit me. It was a plantation of considerable extent\, that had form erly belonged to a wealthy man by the name of McAdoo. The estate had been for years involved in litigation between disputing heirs\, during which pe riod shiftless cultivation had well-nigh exhausted the soil. There had bee n a vineyard of some extent on the place\, but it had not been attended to since the war\, and had lapsed into utter neglect. The vines—here partl y supported by decayed and broken-down trellises\, there twining themselve s among the branches of the slender saplings which had sprung up among the m—grew in wild and unpruned luxuriance\, and the few scattered grapes th ey bore were the undisputed prey of the first comer. The site was admirabl y adapted to grape-raising\; the soil\, with a little attention\, could no t have been better\; and with the native grape\, the luscious scuppernong\ , as my main reliance in the beginning\, I felt sure that I could introduc e and cultivate successfully a number of other varieties.\n\nOne day I wen t over with my wife to show her the place. We drove out of the town over a long wooden bridge that spanned a spreading mill-pond\, passed the long w hitewashed fence surrounding the county fair-ground\, and struck into a ro ad so sandy that the horse's feet sank to the fetlocks. Our route lay part ly up hill and partly down\, for we were in the sand-hill county\; we drov e past cultivated farms\, and then by abandoned fields grown up in scrub-o ak and short-leaved pine\, and once or twice through the solemn aisles of the virgin forest\, where the tall pines\, well-nigh meeting over the narr ow road\, shut out the sun\, and wrapped us in cloistral solitude. Once\, at a cross-roads\, I was in doubt as to the turn to take\, and we sat ther e waiting ten minutes—we had already caught some of the native infection of restfulness—for some human being to come along\, who could direct us on our way. At length a little negro girl appeared\, walking straight as an arrow\, with a piggin full of water on her head. After a little patient investigation\, necessary to overcome the child's shyness\, we learned wh at we wished to know\, and at the end of about five miles from the town re ached our destination.\n\nWe drove between a pair of decayed gateposts—t he gate itself had long since disappeared—and up a straight sandy lane\, between two lines of rotting rail fence\, partly concealed by jimson-weed s and briers\, to the open space where a dwelling-house had once stood\, e vidently a spacious mansion\, if we might judge from the ruined chimneys t hat were still standing\, and the brick pillars on which the sills rested. The house itself\, we had been informed\, had fallen a victim to the fort unes of war.\n\nWe alighted from the buggy\, walked about the yard for a w hile\, and then wandered off into the adjoining vineyard. Upon Annie's com plaining of weariness I led the way back to the yard\, where a pine log\, lying under a spreading elm\, afforded a shady though somewhat hard seat. One end of the log was already occupied by a venerable-looking colored man . He held on his knees a hat full of grapes\, over which he was smacking h is lips with great gusto\, and a pile of grapeskins near him indicated tha t the performance was no new thing. We approached him at an angle from the rear\, and were close to him before he perceived us. He respectfully rose as we drew near\, and was moving away\, when I begged him to keep his sea t.\n\n\"Don't let us disturb you\,\" I said. \"There is plenty of room for us all.\"\n\nHe resumed his seat with somewhat of embarrassment. While he had been standing\, I had observed that he was a tall man\, and\, though slightly bowed by the weight of years\, apparently quite vigorous. He was not entirely black\, and this fact\, together with the quality of his hair \, which was about six inches long and very bushy\, except on the top of h is head\, where he was quite bald\, suggested a slight strain of other tha n negro blood. There was a shrewdness in his eyes\, too\, which was not al together African\, and which\, as we afterwards learned from experience\, was indicative of a corresponding shrewdness in his character. He went on eating the grapes\, but did not seem to enjoy himself quite so well as he had apparently done before he became aware of our presence.\n\n\"Do you li ve around here?\" I asked\, anxious to put him at his ease.\n\n\"Yas\, suh . I lives des ober yander\, behine de nex' san'-hill\, on de Lumberton pla nk-road.\"\n\n\"Do you know anything about the time when this vineyard was cultivated?\"\n\n\n\"Lawd bless you\, suh\, I knows all about it. Dey ain ' na'er a man in dis settlement w'at won' tell you ole Julius McAdoo 'uz b awn en raise' on dis yer same plantation. Is you de Norv'n gemman w'at's g wine ter buy de ole vimya'd?\"\n\n\"I am looking at it\,\" I replied\; \"b ut I don't know that I shall care to buy unless I can be reasonably sure o f making something out of it.\"\n\n\"Well\, suh\, you is a stranger ter me \, en I is a stranger ter you\, en we is bofe strangers ter one anudder\, but 'f I 'uz in yo' place\, I wouldn' buy dis vimya'd.\"\n\n\"Why not?\" I asked.\n\n\"Well\, I dunno whe'r you b'lieves in cunj'in' er not\,—some er de w'ite folks don't\, er says dey don't\,—but de truf er de matter is dat dis yer ole vimya'd is goophered.\"\n\n\"Is what?\" I asked\, not g rasping the meaning of this unfamiliar word.\n\n\"Is goophered\,—cunju'd \, bewitch'.\"\n\nHe imparted this information with such solemn earnestnes s\, and with such an air of confidential mystery\, that I felt somewhat in terested\, while Annie was evidently much impressed\, and drew closer to m e.\n\n\"How do you know it is bewitched?\" I asked.\n\n\"I wouldn' spec' f er you ter b'lieve me 'less you know all 'bout de fac's. But ef you en you ng miss dere doan' min' lis'nin' ter a ole nigger run on a minute er two w 'ile you er restin'\, I kin 'splain to you how it all happen'.\"\n\nWe ass ured him that we would be glad to hear how it all happened\, and he began to tell us. At first the current of his memory—or imagination—seemed s omewhat sluggish\; but as his embarrassment wore off\, his language flowed more freely\, and the story acquired perspective and coherence. As he bec ame more and more absorbed in the narrative\, his eyes assumed a dreamy ex pression\, and he seemed to lose sight of his auditors\, and to be living over again in monologue his life on the old plantation.\n\n\"Ole Mars Duga l' McAdoo\,\" he began\, \"bought dis place long many years befo' de wah\, en I'member well w'en he sot out all dis yer part er de plantation in scu ppernon's. De vimes growed monst'us fas'\, en Mars Dugal' made a thousan' gallon er scuppernon' wine eve'y year.\n\n\"Now\, ef dey's an'thing a nigg er lub\, nex' ter 'possum\, en chick'n\, en watermillyums\, it's scupperno n's. Dey ain' nuffin dat kin stan' up side'n de scuppernon' fer sweetness\ ; sugar ain't a suckumstance ter scuppernon'. W'en de season is nigh 'bout ober\, en de grapes begin ter swivel up des a little wid de wrinkles er o le age\,—w'en de skin git sof' en brown\,—den de scuppernon' make you smack yo' lip en roll yo' eye en wush fer mo'\; so I reckon it ain' very ' stonishin' dat niggers lub scuppernon'.\n\n\"Dey wuz a sight er niggers in de naberhood er de vimya'd. Dere wuz ole Mars Henry Brayboy's niggers\, e n ole Mars Jeems McLean's niggers\, en Mars Dugal's own niggers\; den dey wuz a settlement er free niggers en po' buckrahs down by de Wim'l'ton Road \, en Mars Dugal' had de only vimya'd in de naberhood. I reckon it ain' so much so nowadays\, but befo' de wah\, in slab'ry times\, a nigger did n' mine goin' fi' er ten mile in a night\, w'en dey wuz sump'n good ter eat a t de yuther een'.\n\n\"So atter a w'ile Mars Dugal' begin ter miss his scu ppernon's. Co'se he 'cuse' de niggers er it\, but dey all 'nied it ter de las'. Mars Dugal' sot spring guns en steel traps\, en he en de oberseah so t up nights once't er twice't\, tel one night Mars Dugal'—he 'uz a monst 'us keerless man—got his leg shot full er cow-peas. But somehow er nudde r dey could n' nebber ketch none er de niggers. I dunner how it happen\, b ut it happen des like I tell you\, en de grapes kep' on a-goin' des de sam e.\n\n\"But bimeby ole Mars Dugal' fix' up a plan ter stop it. Dey wuz a c unjuh 'oman livin' down 'mongs' de free niggers on de Wim'l'ton Road\, en all de darkies fum Rockfish ter Beaver Crick wuz feared er her. She could wuk de mos' powerfulles' kin' er goopher\,—could make people hab fits\, er rheumatiz\, er make 'em des dwinel away en die\; en dey say she went ou t ridin' de niggers at night\, fer she wuz a witch 'sides bein' a cunjuh ' oman. Mars Dugal' hearn 'bout Aun' Peggy's doin's\, en begun ter 'flect wh e'r er no he could n' git her ter he'p him keep de niggers off'n de grapev imes. One day in de spring er de year\, ole miss pack' up a basket er chic k'n en poun'-cake\, en a bottle er scuppernon' wine\, en Mars Dugal' tuk i t in his buggy en driv ober ter Aun' Peggy's cabin. He tuk de basket in\, en had a long talk wid Aun' Peggy.\n\n\"De nex' day Aun' Peggy come up ter de vimya'd. De niggers seed her slippin' 'roun'\, en dey soon foun' out w hat she 'uz doin' dere. Mars Dugal' had hi'ed her ter goopher de grapevime s. She sa'ntered 'roun' 'mongs' de vimes\, en tuk a leaf fum dis one\, en a grape-hull fum dat one\, en a grape-seed fum anudder one\; en den a litt le twig fum here\, en a little pinch er dirt fum dere\,—en put it all in a big black bottle\, wid a snake's toof en a speckle' hen's gall en some ha'rs fum a black cat's tail\, en den fill' de bottle wid scuppernon' wine . Wen she got de goopher all ready en fix'\, she tuk 'n went out in de woo ds en buried it under de root uv a red oak tree\, en den come back en tole one er de niggers she done goopher de grapevimes\, en a'er a nigger w'at eat dem grapes 'ud be sho ter die inside'n twel' mont's.\n\n\"Atter dat de niggers let de scuppernon's 'lone\, en Mars Dugal' did n' hab no 'casion ter fine no mo' fault\; en de season wuz mos' gone\, w'en a strange gemman stop at de plantation one night ter see Mars Dugal' on some business\; en his coachman\, seein' de scuppernon's growin' so nice en sweet\, slip 'ro un' behine de smoke-house\, en et all de scuppernon's he could hole. Nobod y did n' notice it at de time\, but dat night\, on de way home\, de gemman 's hoss runned away en kill' de coachman. W'en we hearn de noos\, Aun' Luc y\, de cook\, she up 'n say she seed de strange nigger eat'n' er de scuppe rnon's behine de smoke-house\; en den we knowed de goopher had b'en er wuk kin'. Den one er de nigger chilluns runned away fum de quarters one day\, en got in de scuppernon's\, en died de nex' week. W'ite folks say he die' er de fevuh\, but de niggers knowed it wuz de goopher. So you k'n be sho d e darkies did n' hab much ter do wid dem scuppernon' vimes.\n\n\"W'en de s cuppernon' season 'uz ober fer dat year\, Mars Dugal' foun' he had made fi fteen hund'ed gallon er wine\; en one er de niggers hearn him laffin' wid de oberseah fit ter kill\, en sayin' dem fifteen hund'ed gallon er wine wu z monst'us good intrus' on de ten dollars he laid out on de vimya'd. So I 'low ez he paid Aun' Peggy ten dollars fer to goopher de grapevimes.\n\n\" De goopher did n' wuk no mo' tel de nex' summer\, w'en 'long to'ds de midd le er de season one er de fiel' han's died\; en ez dat lef' Mars Dugal' sh o't er han's\, he went off ter town fer ter buy anudder. He fotch de noo n igger home wid 'im. He wuz er ole nigger\, er de color er a gingy-cake\, e n ball ez a hoss-apple on de top er his head. He wuz a peart ole nigger\, do'\, en could do a big day's wuk.\n\n\"Now it happen dat one er de nigger s on de nex' plantation\, one er ole Mars Henry Brayboy's niggers\, had ru nned away de day befo'\, en tuk ter de swamp\, en ole Mars Dugal' en some er de yuther nabor w'ite folks had gone out wid dere guns en dere dogs fer ter he'p 'em hunt fer de nigger\; en de han's on our own plantation wuz a ll so flusterated dat we fuhgot ter tell de noo han' 'bout de goopher on d e scuppernon' vimes. Co'se he smell de grapes en see de vimes\, an atter d ahk de fus' thing he done wuz ter slip off ter de grapevimes 'dout sayin' nuffin ter nobody. Nex' mawnin' he tole some er de niggers 'bout de fine b ait er scuppernon' he et de night befo'.\n\n\"Wen dey tole 'im 'bout de go opher on de grapevimes\, he 'uz dat tarrified dat he turn pale\, en look d es like he gwine ter die right in his tracks. De oberseah come up en axed w'at 'uz de matter\; en w'en dey tole 'im Henry be'n eatin' er de scuppern on's\, en got de goopher on 'im\, he gin Henry a big drink er w'iskey\, en 'low dat de nex' rainy day he take 'im ober ter Aun' Peggy's\, en see ef she would n' take de goopher off'n him\, seein' ez he did n' know nuffin e rbout it tel he done et de grapes.\n\n\"Sho nuff\, it rain de nex' day\, e n de oberseah went ober ter Aun' Peggy's wid Henry. En Aun' Peggy say dat bein' ez Henry did n' know 'bout de goopher\, en et de grapes in ign'ance er de conseq'ences\, she reckon she mought be able fer ter take de goopher off'n him. So she fotch out er bottle wid some cunjuh medicine in it\, en po'd some out in a go'd fer Henry ter drink. He manage ter git it down\; he say it tas'e like whiskey wid sump'n bitter in it. She 'lowed dat 'ud k eep de goopher off'n him tel de spring\; but w'en de sap begin ter rise in de grapevimes he ha' ter come en see her ag'in\, en she tell him w'at e's ter do.\n\n\"Nex' spring\, w'en de sap commence' ter rise in de scupperno n' vime\, Henry tuk a ham one night. Whar'd he git de ham? I doan know\; d ey wa'n't no hams on de plantation 'cep'n' w'at 'uz in de smoke-house\, bu t I never see Henry 'bout de smoke-house. But ez I wuz a-sayin'\, he tuk d e ham ober ter Aun' Peggy's\; en Aun' Peggy tole 'im dat w'en Mars Dugal' begin ter prune de grapevimes\, he mus' go en take 'n scrape off de sap wh ar it ooze out'n de cut een's er de vimes\, en 'n'int his ball head wid it \; en ef he do dat once't a year de goopher would n' wuk agin 'im long ez he done it. En bein' ez he fotch her de ham\, she fix' it so he kin eat al l de scuppernon' he want.\n\n\"So Henry 'n'int his head wid de sap out'n d e big grapevime des ha'f way 'twix' de quarters en de big house\, en de go opher nebber wuk agin him dat summer. But de beatenes' thing you eber see happen ter Henry. Up ter dat time he wuz ez ball ez a sweeten' 'tater\, bu t des ez soon ez de young leaves begun ter come out on de grapevimes\, de ha'r begun ter grow out on Henry's head\, en by de middle er de summer he had de bigges' head er ha'r on de plantation. Befo' dat\, Henry had tol'ab le good ha'r 'roun' de aidges\, but soon ez de young grapes begun ter come \, Henry's ha'r begun to quirl all up in little balls\, des like dis yer r eg'lar grapy ha'r\, en by de time de grapes got ripe his head look des lik e a bunch er grapes. Combin' it did n' do no good\; he wuk at it ha'f de n ight wid er Jim Crow[1]\, en think he git it straighten' out\, but in de m awnin' de grapes 'ud be dere des de same. So he gin it up\, en tried ter k eep de grapes down by havin' his ha'r cut sho't.\n\n[1]\nA small card\, re sembling a currycomb in construction\, and used by negroes in the rural di stricts instead of a comb.\n\n\"But dat wa'n't de quares' thing 'bout de g oopher. When Henry come ter de plantation\, he wuz gittin' a little ole an stiff in de j'ints. But dat summer he got des ez spry en libely ez any yo ung nigger on de plantation\; fac'\, he got so biggity dat Mars Jackson\, de oberseah\, ha' ter th'eaten ter whip 'im\, ef he did n' stop cuttin' up his didos en behave hisse'f. But de mos' cur'ouses' thing happen' in de f all\, when de sap begin ter go down in de grapevimes. Fus'\, when de grape s 'uz gethered\, de knots begun ter straighten out'n Henry's ha'r\; en w'e n de leaves begin ter fall\, Henry's ha'r 'mence' ter drap out\; en when d e vimes 'uz bar'\, Henry's head wuz baller 'n it wuz in de spring\, en he begin ter git ole en stiff in de j'ints ag'in\, en paid no mo' 'tention te r de gals dyoin' er de whole winter. En nex' spring\, w'en he rub de sap o n ag'in\, he got young ag'in\, en so soopl en libely dat none er de young niggers on de plantation could n' jump\, ner dance\, ner hoe ez much cotto n ez Henry. But in de fall er de year his grapes 'mence' ter straighten ou t\, en his j'ints ter git stiff\, en his ha'r drap off\, en de rheumatiz b egin ter wrastle wid 'im.\n\n\"Now\, ef you 'd 'a' knowed ole Mars Dugal' McAdoo\, you 'd 'a' knowed dat it ha' ter be a mighty rainy day when he co uld n' fine sump'n fer his niggers ter do\, en it ha' ter be a mighty litt le hole he could n' crawl thoo\, en ha' ter be a monst'us cloudy night whe n a dollar git by him in de dahkness\; en w'en he see how Henry git young in de spring en ole in de fall\, he 'lowed ter hisse'f ez how he could mak e mo' money out'n Henry dan by wukkin' him in de cotton-fiel'. 'Long de ne x' spring\, atter de sap 'mence' ter rise\, en Henry 'n'int 'is head en st a'ted fer ter git young en soopl\, Mars Dugal' up 'n tuk Henry ter town\, en sole 'im fer fifteen hunder' dollars. Co'se de man w'at bought Henry di d n' know nuffin 'bout de goopher\, en Mars Dugal' did n' see no 'casion f er ter tell 'im. Long to'ds de fall\, w'en de sap went down\, Henry begin ter git ole ag'in same ez yuzhal\, en his noo marster begin ter git skeere d les'n he gwine ter lose his fifteen-hunder'-dollar nigger. He sent fer a mighty fine doctor\, but de med'cine did n' 'pear ter do no good\; de goo pher had a good holt. Henry tole de doctor 'bout de goopher\, but de docto r des laff at 'im.\n\n\"One day in de winter Mars Dugal' went ter town\, e n wuz santerin' 'long de Main Street\, when who should he meet but Henry's noo marster. Dey said 'Hoddy\,' en Mars Dugal' ax 'im ter hab a seegyar\; en atter dey run on awhile 'bout de craps en de weather\, Mars Dugal' ax 'im\, sorter keerless\, like ez ef he des thought of it\,—\n\n\"'How you like de nigger I sole you las' spring?'\n\n\"Henry's marster shuck his he ad en knock de ashes off'n his seegyar.\n\n\"'Spec' I made a bad bahgin wh en I bought dat nigger. Henry done good wuk all de summer\, but sence de f all set in he 'pears ter be sorter pinin' away. Dey ain' nuffin pertickler de matter wid 'im—leastways de doctor say so—'cep'n' a tech er de rhe umatiz\; but his ha'r is all fell out\, en ef he don't pick up his strenk mighty soon\, I spec' I'm gwine ter lose 'im.'\n\n\"Dey smoked on awhile\, en bimeby ole mars say\, 'Well\, a bahgin 's a bahgin\, but you en me is good fren's\, en I doan wan' ter see you lose all de money you paid fer da t nigger\; en ef w'at you say is so\, en I ain't 'sputin' it\, he ain't wu f much now. I 'spec's you wukked him too ha'd dis summer\, er e'se de swam ps down here don't agree wid de san'-hill nigger. So you des lemme know\, en ef he gits any wusser I'll be willin' ter gib yer five hund'ed dollars fer 'im\, en take my chances on his livin'.'\n\n\"Sho 'nuff\, when Henry b egun ter draw up wid de rheumatiz en it look like he gwine ter die fer sho \, his noo marster sen' fer Mars Dugal'\, en Mars Dugal' gin him what he p romus\, en brung Henry home ag'in. He tuk good keer uv 'im dyoin' er de wi nter\,—give 'im w'iskey ter rub his rheumatiz\, en terbacker ter smoke\, en all he want ter eat\,—'caze a nigger w'at he could make a thousan' d ollars a year off'n did n' grow on eve'y huckleberry bush.\n\n\"Nex' sprin g\, w'en de sap ris en Henry's ha'r commence' ter sprout\, Mars Dugal' sol e 'im ag'in\, down in Robeson County dis time\; en he kep' dat sellin' bus iness up fer five year er mo'. Henry nebber say nuffin 'bout de goopher te r his noo marsters\, 'caze he know he gwine ter be tuk good keer uv de nex ' winter\, w'en Mars Dugal' buy him back. En Mars Dugal' made 'nuff money off'n Henry ter buy anudder plantation ober on Beaver Crick.\n\n\"But 'lon g 'bout de een' er dat five year dey come a stranger ter stop at de planta tion. De fus' day he 'uz dere he went out wid Mars Dugal' en spent all de mawnin' lookin' ober de vimya'd\, en atter dinner dey spent all de evenin' playin' kya'ds. De niggers soon 'skiver' dat he wuz a Yankee\, en dat he come down ter Norf C'lina fer ter l'arn de w'ite folks how to raise grapes en make wine. He promus Mars Dugal' he c'd make de grapevimes b'ar twice' t ez many grapes\, en dat de noo winepress he wuz a-sellin' would make mo' d'n twice't ez many gallons er wine. En ole Mars Dugal' des drunk it all in\, des 'peared ter be bewitch' wid dat Yankee. Wen de darkies see dat Ya nkee runnin' 'roun' de vimya'd en diggin' under de grapevimes\, dey shuk d ere heads\, en 'lowed dat dey feared Mars Dugal' losin' his min'. Mars Dug al' had all de dirt dug away fum under de roots er all de scuppernon' vime s\, an' let 'em stan' dat away fer a week er mo'. Den dat Yankee made de n iggers fix up a mixtry er lime en ashes en manyo\, en po' it 'roun' de roo ts er de grapevimes. Den he 'vise Mars Dugal' fer ter trim de vimes close' t\, en Mars Dugal' tuck 'n done eve'ything de Yankee tole him ter do. Dyoi n' all er dis time\, mind yer\, dis yer Yankee wuz libbin' off'n de fat er de lan'\, at de big house\, en playin' kya'ds wid Mars Dugal' eve'y night \; en dey say Mars Dugal' los' mo'n a thousan' dollars dyoin' er de week d at Yankee wuz a-ruinin' de grapevimes.\n\n\"Wen de sap ris nex' spring\, o le Henry 'n'inted his head ez yuzhal\, en his ha'r 'mence' ter grow des de same ez it done eve'y year. De scuppernon' vimes growed monst's fas'\, en de leaves wuz greener en thicker dan dey eber be'n dyoin' my rememb'ance\ ; en Henry's ha'r growed out thicker dan eber\, en he 'peared ter git youn ger 'n younger\, en soopler 'n soopler\; en seein' ez he wuz sho't er ban' s dat spring\, havin' tuk in consid'able noo groun'\, Mars Dugal' 'eluded he would n' sell Henry 'tel he git de crap in en de cotton chop'. So he ke p' Henry on de plantation.\n\n\"But 'long 'bout time fer de grapes ter com e on de scuppernon' vimes\, dey 'peared ter come a change ober 'em\; de le aves withered en swivel' up\, en de young grapes turn' yaller\, en bimeby eve'ybody on de plantation could see dat de whole vimya'd wuz dyin'. Mars Dugal' tuk'n water de vimes en done all he could\, but 't wa'n' no use: da t Yankee had done bus' de watermillyum. One time de vimes picked up a bit\ , en Mars Dugal' 'lowed dey wuz gwine ter come out ag'in\; but dat Yankee done dug too close under de roots\, en prune de branches too close ter de vime\, en all dat lime en ashes done burn' de life out'n de vimes\, en dey des kep' a-with'in' en a-swivelin'.\n\n\"All dis time de goopher wuz a-wu kkin'. When de vimes sta'ted ter wither\, Henry 'mence' ter complain er hi s rheumatiz\; en when de leaves begin ter dry up\, his ha'r 'mence' ter dr ap out. When de vimes fresh' up a bit\, Henry 'd git peart ag'in\, en when de vimes wither' ag'in\, Henry 'd git ole ag'in\, en des kep' gittin' mo' en mo' fitten fer nuffin\; he des pined away\, en pined away\, en fine'ly tuk ter his cabin\; en when de big vime whar he got de sap ter 'n'int his head withered en turned yaller en died\, Henry died too\,—des went out sorter like a cannel. Dey didn't 'pear ter be nuffin de matter wid 'im\, ' cep'n' de rheumatiz\, but his strenk des dwinel' away 'tel he did n' hab e rnuff lef ter draw his bref. De goopher had got de under holt\, en th'owed Henry dat time fer good en all.\n\n\"Mars Dugal' tuk on might'ly 'bout lo sin' his vimes en his nigger in de same year\; en he swo' dat ef he could git holt er dat Yankee he 'd wear 'im ter a frazzle\, en den chaw up de fr azzle\; en he'd done it\, too\, for Mars Dugal' 'uz a monst'us brash man w 'en he once git started. He sot de vimya'd out ober ag'in\, but it wuz th' ee er fo' year befo' de vimes got ter b'arin' any scuppernon's.\n\n\"W'en de wah broke out\, Mars Dugal' raise' a comp'ny\, en went off ter fight de Yankees. He say he wuz mighty glad dat wah come\, en he des want ter kill a Yankee fer eve'y dollar he los' 'long er dat grape-raisin' Yankee. En I 'spec' he would 'a' done it\, too\, ef de Yankees had n' s'picioned sump' n\, en killed him fus'. Atter de s'render ole miss move' ter town\, de nig gers all scattered 'way fum de plantation\, en de vimya'd ain' be'n culter vated sence.\"\n\n\"Is that story true?\" asked Annie doubtfully\, but ser iously\, as the old man concluded his narrative.\n\n\"It's des ez true ez I'm a-settin' here\, miss. Dey's a easy way ter prove it: I kin lead de wa y right ter Henry's grave ober yander in de plantation buryin'-groun'. En I tell yer w'at\, marster\, I would n' 'vise you to buy dis yer ole vimya' d\, 'caze de goopher 's on it yit\, en dey ain' no tellin' w'en it's gwine ter crap out.\"\n\n\"But I thought you said all the old vines died.\"\n\n \"Dey did 'pear ter die\, but a few un 'em come out ag'in\, en is mixed in 'mongs' de yuthers. I ain' skeered ter eat de grapes\, 'caze I knows de o ld vimes fum de noo ones\; but wid strangers dey ain' no tellin' w'at moug ht happen. I would n' 'vise yer ter buy dis vimya'd.\"\n\nI bought the vin eyard\, nevertheless\, and it has been for a long time in a thriving condi tion\, and is often referred to by the local press as a striking illustrat ion of the opportunities open to Northern capital in the development of So uthern industries. The luscious scuppernong holds first rank among our gra pes\, though we cultivate a great many other varieties\, and our income fr om grapes packed and shipped to the Northern markets is quite considerable . I have not noticed any developments of the goopher in the vineyard\, alt hough I have a mild suspicion that our colored assistants do not suffer fr om want of grapes during the season.\n\nI found\, when I bought the vineya rd\, that Uncle Julius had occupied a cabin on the place for many years\, and derived a respectable revenue from the product of the neglected grapev ines. This\, doubtless\, accounted for his advice to me not to buy the vin eyard\, though whether it inspired the goopher story I am unable to state. I believe\, however\, that the wages I paid him for his services as coach man\, for I gave him employment in that capacity\, were more than an equiv alent for anything he lost by the sale of the vineyard.\n\nPO' SANDY\nOn t he northeast corner of my vineyard in central North Carolina\, and frontin g on the Lumberton plank-road\, there stood a small frame house\, of the s implest construction. It was built of pine lumber\, and contained but one room\, to which one window gave light and one door admission. Its weatherb eaten sides revealed a virgin innocence of paint. Against one end of the h ouse\, and occupying half its width\, there stood a huge brick chimney: th e crumbling mortar had left large cracks between the bricks\; the bricks t hemselves had begun to scale off in large flakes\, leaving the chimney spr inkled with unsightly blotches. These evidences of decay were but partiall y concealed by a creeping vine\, which extended its slender branches hithe r and thither in an ambitious but futile attempt to cover the whole chimne y. The wooden shutter\, which had once protected the unglazed window\, had fallen from its hinges\, and lay rotting in the rank grass and jimson-wee ds beneath. This building\, I learned when I bought the place\, had been u sed as a schoolhouse for several years prior to the breaking out of the wa r\, since which time it had remained unoccupied\, save when some stray cow or vagrant hog had sought shelter within its walls from the chill rains a nd nipping winds of winter.\n\nOne day my wife requested me to build her a new kitchen. The house erected by us\, when we first came to live upon th e vineyard\, contained a very conveniently arranged kitchen\; but for some occult reason my wife wanted a kitchen in the back yard\, apart from the dwelling-house\, after the usual Southern fashion. Of course I had to buil d it.\n\nTo save expense\, I decided to tear down the old schoolhouse\, an d use the lumber\, which was in a good state of preservation\, in the cons truction of the new kitchen. Before demolishing the old house\, however\, I made an estimate of the amount of material contained in it\, and found t hat I would have to buy several hundred feet of lumber additional\, in ord er to build the new kitchen according to my wife's plan.\n\nOne morning ol d Julius McAdoo\, our colored coachman\, harnessed the gray mare to the ro ckaway\, and drove my wife and me over to the sawmill from which I meant t o order the new lumber. We drove down the long lane which led from our hou se to the plank-road\; following the plank-road for about a mile\, we turn ed into a road running through the forest and across the swamp to the sawm ill beyond. Our carriage jolted over the half-rotted corduroy road which t raversed the swamp\, and then climbed the long hill leading to the sawmill . When we reached the mill\, the foreman had gone over to a neighboring fa rmhouse\, probably to smoke or gossip\, and we were compelled to await his return before we could transact our business. We remained seated in the c arriage\, a few rods from the mill\, and watched the leisurely movements o f the mill-hands. We had not waited long before a huge pine log was placed in position\, the machinery of the mill was set in motion\, and the circu lar saw began to eat its way through the log\, with a loud whir which reso unded throughout the vicinity of the mill. The sound rose and fell in a so rt of rhythmic cadence\, which\, heard from where we sat\, was not unpleas ing\, and not loud enough to prevent conversation. When the saw started on its second journey through the log\, Julius observed\, in a lugubrious to ne\, and with a perceptible shudder:—\n\n\"Ugh! but dat des do cuddle my blood!\"\n\n\"What's the matter\, Uncle Julius?\" inquired my wife\, who is of a very sympathetic turn of mind. \"Does the noise affect your nerves ?\"\n\n\"No\, Mis' Annie\,\" replied the old man\, with emotion\, \"I ain' narvous\; but dat saw\, a-cuttin' en grindin' thoo dat stick er timber\, en moanin'\, en groanin\,' en sweekin'\, kyars my 'memb'ance back ter ole times\, en 'min's me er po' Sandy.\" The pathetic intonation with which he lengthened out the \"po' Sandy\" touched a responsive chord in our own he arts.\n\n\"And who was poor Sandy?\" asked my wife\, who takes a deep inte rest in the stories of plantation life which she hears from the lips of th e older colored people. Some of these stories are quaintly humorous\; othe rs wildly extravagant\, revealing the Oriental cast of the negro's imagina tion\; while others\, poured freely into the sympathetic ear of a Northern -bred woman\, disclose many a tragic incident of the darker side of slaver y.\n\n\"Sandy\,\" said Julius\, in reply to my wife's question\, \"was a n igger w'at useter b'long ter ole Mars Marrabo McSwayne. Mars Marrabo's pla ce wuz on de yuther side'n de swamp\, right nex' ter yo' place. Sandy wuz a monst'us good nigger\, en could do so many things erbout a plantation\, en alluz 'ten' ter his wuk so well\, dat w'en Mars Marrabo's chilluns grow ed up en married off\, dey all un 'em wanted dey daddy fer ter gin 'em San dy fer a weddin' present. But Mars Marrabo knowed de res' would n' be sati sfied ef he gin Sandy ter a'er one un 'em\; so w'en dey wuz all done marri ed\, he fix it by 'lowin' one er his chilluns ter take Sandy fer a mont' e r so\, en den ernudder for a mont' er so\, en so on dat erway tel dey had all had 'im de same lenk er time\; en den dey would all take him roun' ag' in\, 'cep'n' oncet in a w'ile w'en Mars Marrabo would len' 'im ter some er his yuther kinfolks 'roun' de country\, w'en dey wuz short er han's\; tel bimeby it got so Sandy did n' hardly knowed whar he wuz gwine ter stay fu m one week's een' ter de yuther.\n\n\"One time w'en Sandy wuz lent out ez yushal\, a spekilater come erlong wid a lot er niggers\, en Mars Marrabo s wap' Sandy's wife off fer a noo 'oman. W'en Sandy come back\, Mars Marrabo gin 'im a dollar\, en 'lowed he wuz monst'us sorry fer ter break up de fa mbly\, but de spekilater had gin 'im big boot\, en times wuz hard en money skase\, en so he wuz bleedst ter make de trade. Sandy tuk on some 'bout l osin' his wife\, but he soon seed dey want no use cryin' ober spilt merlas ses\; en bein' ez he lacked de looks er de noo 'oman\, he tuk up wid her a tter she'd be'n on de plantation a mont' er so.\n\n\"Sandy en his noo wife got on mighty well tergedder\, en de niggers all 'mence' ter talk about h ow lovin' dey wuz. Wen Tenie wuz tuk sick oncet\, Sandy useter set up all night wid 'er\, en den go ter wuk in de mawnin' des lack he had his reg'la r sleep\; en Tenie would 'a' done anythin' in de worl' for her Sandy.\n\n\ "Sandy en Tenie had n' be'n libbin' tergedder fer mo' d'n two mont's befo' Mars Marrabo's old uncle\, w'at libbed down in Robeson County\, sent up t er fin' out ef Mars Marrabo could n' len' 'im er hire 'im a good ban' fer a mont' er so. Sandy's marster wuz one er dese yer easy-gwine folks w'at w anter please eve'ybody\, en he says yas\, he could len' 'im Sandy. En Mars Marrabo tol' Sandy fer ter git ready ter go down ter Robeson nex' day\, f er ter stay a mont' er so.\n\n\"It wuz monst'us hard on Sandy fer ter take 'im 'way fum Tenie. It wuz so fur down ter Robeson dat he did n' hab no c hance er comin' back ter see her tel de time wuz up\; he would n' 'a' mine comin' ten er fifteen mile at night ter see Tenie\, but Mars Marrabo's un cle's plantation wuz mo' d'n forty mile off. Sandy wuz mighty sad en cas' down atter w'at Mars Marrabo tol' 'im\, en he says ter Tenie\, sezee:—\n \n\"'I'm gittin' monst'us ti'ed er dish yer gwine roun' so much. Here I is lent ter Mars Jeems dis mont'\, en I got ter do so-en-so\; en ter Mars Ar chie de nex' mont'\, en I got ter do so-en-so\; den I got ter go ter Miss Jinnie's: en hit's Sandy dis en Sandy dat\, en Sandy yer en Sandy dere\, t el it 'pears ter me I ain' got no home\, ner no marster\, ner no mistiss\, ner no nuffin. I can't eben keep a wife: my yuther ole 'oman wuz sol' awa y widout my gittin' a chance fer ter tell her good-by\; en now I got ter g o off en leab you\, Tenie\, en I dunno whe'r I'm eber gwine ter see you ag 'in er no. I wisht I wuz a tree\, er a stump\, er a rock\, er sump'n w'at could stay on de plantation fer a w'ile.'\n\n\"Atter Sandy got thoo talkin '\, Tenie didn' say naer word\, but des sot dere by de fier\, studyin' en studyin'. Bimeby she up 'n' says:—\n\n\"'Sandy\, is I eber tol' you I wu z a cunjuh 'oman?'\n\n\"Co'se Sandy had n' nebber dremp' er nuffin lack da t\, en he made a great 'miration w'en he hear w'at Tenie say. Bimeby Tenie went on:—\n\n\"'I ain' goophered nobody\, ner done no cunjuh wuk\, fer fifteen year er mo'\; en w'en I got religion I made up my mine I would n' wuk no mo' goopher. But dey is some things I doan b'lieve it's no sin fer ter do\; en ef you doan wanter be sent roun' fum pillar ter pos'\, en ef y ou doan wanter go down ter Robeson\, I kin fix things so you won't haf ter . Ef you'll des say de word\, I kin turn you ter w'ateber you wanter be\, en you kin stay right whar you wanter\, ez long ez you mineter.'\n\n\"Sand y say he doan keer\; he's will-in' fer ter do anythin' fer ter stay close ter Tenie. Den Tenie ax 'im ef he doan wanter be turnt inter a rabbit.\n\n \"Sandy say\, 'No\, de dogs mought git atter me.'\n\n\"'Shill I turn you t er a wolf?' sez Tenie.\n\n\"'No\, eve'ybody 's skeered er a wolf\, en I do an want nobody ter be skeered er me.'\n\n\"'Shill I turn you ter a mawkin' -bird?'\n\n\"'No\, a hawk mought ketch me. I wanter be turnt inter sump'n w'at'll stay in one place.'\n\n\"'I kin turn you ter a tree\,' sez Tenie. 'You won't hab no mouf ner years\, but I kin turn you back oncet in a w'il e\, so you kin git sump'n ter eat\, en hear w'at 's gwine on.'\n\n\"Well\, Sandy say dat'll do. En so Tenie tuk 'im down by de aidge er de swamp\, n ot fur fum de quarters\, en turnt 'im inter a big pine-tree\, en sot 'im o ut 'mongs' some yuther trees. En de nex' mawnin'\, ez some er de fiel' han 's wuz gwine long dere\, dey seed a tree w'at dey did n' 'member er habbin ' seed befo'\; it wuz monst'us quare\, en dey wuz bleedst ter 'low dat dey had n' 'membered right\, er e'se one er de saplin's had be'n growin' mons t'us fas'.\n\n\"W'en Mars Marrabo 'skiver' dat Sandy wuz gone\, he 'lowed Sandy had runned away. He got de dogs out\, but de las' place dey could tr ack Sandy ter wuz de foot er dat pine-tree. En dere de dogs stood en barke d\, en bayed\, en pawed at de tree\, en tried ter climb up on it\; en w'en dey wuz tuk roun' thoo de swamp ter look fer de scent\, dey broke loose e n made fer dat tree ag'in. It wuz de beatenis' thing de w'ite folks eber h earn of\, en Mars Marrabo 'lowed dat Sandy must 'a' clim' up on de tree en jump' off on a mule er sump'n\, en rid fur ernuff fer ter spile de scent. Mars Marrabo wanted ter 'cuse some er de yuther niggers er heppin' Sandy off\, but dey all 'nied it ter de las'\; en eve'ybody knowed Tenie sot too much sto' by Sandy fer ter he'p 'im run away whar she could n' nebber see 'im no mo'.\n\n\"W'en Sandy had be'n gone long ernuff fer folks ter think he done got clean away\, Tenie useter go down ter de woods at night en tu rn 'im back\, en den dey 'd slip up ter de cabin en set by de fire en talk . But dey ha' ter be monst'us keerful\, er e'se somebody would 'a' seed 'e m\, en dat would 'a' spile' de whole thing\; so Tenie alluz turnt Sandy ba ck in de mawnin' early\, befo' anybody wuz a-stirrin'.\n\n\"But Sandy did n' git erlong widout his trials en tribberlations. One day a woodpecker co me erlong en 'mence' ter peck at de tree\; en de nex' time Sandy wuz turnt back he had a little roun' hole in his arm\, des lack a sharp stick be'n stuck in it. Atter dat Tenie sot a sparrer-hawk fer ter watch de tree\; en w'en de woodpecker come erlong nex' mawnin' fer ter finish his nes'\, he got gobble' up mos' 'fo' he stuck his bill in de bark.\n\n\"Nudder time\, Mars Marrabo sent a nigger out in de woods fer ter chop tuppentime boxes. De man chop a box in dish yer tree\, en hack' de bark up two er th'ee feet \, fer ter let de tuppentime run. De nex' time Sandy wuz turnt back he had a big skyar on his lef' leg\, des lack it be'n skunt\; en it tuk Tenie ni gh 'bout all night fer ter fix a mixtry ter kyo it up. Atter dat\, Tenie s ot a hawnet fer ter watch de tree\; en w'en de nigger come back ag'in fer ter cut ernudder box on de yuther side'n de tree\, de hawnet stung 'im so hard dat de ax slip en cut his foot nigh 'bout off.\n\n\"W'en Tenie see so many things happenin' ter de tree\, she 'eluded she 'd ha' ter turn Sandy ter sump'n e'se\; en atter studyin' de matter ober\, en talkin' wid Sandy one ebenin'\, she made up her mine fer ter fix up a goopher mixtry w'at w ould turn herse'f en Sandy ter foxes\, er sump'n\, so dey could run away e n go some'rs whar dey could be free en lib lack w'ite folks.\n\n\"But dey ain' no tellin' w'at's gwine ter happen in dis worl'. Tenie had got de nig ht sot fer her en Sandy ter run away\, w'en dat ve'y day one er Mars Marra bo's sons rid up ter de big house in his buggy\, en say his wife wuz monst 'us sick\, en he want his mammy ter len' 'im a 'oman fer ter nuss his wife . Tenie's mistiss say sen' Tenie\; she wuz a good nuss. Young mars wuz in a tarrible hurry fer ter git back home. Tenie wuz washin' at de big house dat day\, en her mistiss say she should go right 'long wid her young marst er. Tenie tried ter make some 'scuse fer ter git away en hide 'tel night\, w'en she would have eve'ything fix' up fer her en Sandy\; she say she wan ter go ter her cabin fer ter git her bonnet. Her mistiss say it doan matte r 'bout de bonnet\; her head-hank-cher wuz good ernuff. Den Tenie say she wanter git her bes' frock\; her mistiss say no\, she doan need no mo' froc k\, en w'en dat one got dirty she could git a clean one whar she wuz gwine . So Tenie had ter git in de buggy en go 'long wid young Mars Dunkin ter h is plantation\, w'ich wuz mo' d'n twenty mile away\; en dey wa'n't no chan ce er her seein' Sandy no mo' 'tel she come back home. De po' gal felt mon st'us bad 'bout de way things wuz gwine on\, en she knowed Sandy mus' be a wond'rin' why she didn' come en turn 'im back no mo'.\n\n\"Wiles Tenie wu z away nussin' young Mars Dunkin's wife\, Mars Marrabo tuk a notion fer te r buil' 'im a noo kitchen\; en bein' ez he had lots er timber on his place \, he begun ter look 'roun' fer a tree ter hab de lumber sawed out'n. En I dunno how it come to be so\, but he happen fer ter hit on de ve'y tree w' at Sandy wuz turnt inter. Tenie wuz gone\, en dey wa'n't nobody ner nuffin fer ter watch de tree.\n\n\"De two men w'at cut de tree down say dey nebb er had sech a time wid a tree befo': dey axes would glansh off\, en did n' 'pear ter make no progress thoo de wood\; en of all de creakin'\, en shak in'\, en wobblin' you eber see\, dat tree done it w'en it commence' ter fa ll. It wuz de beatenis' thing!\n\n\"W'en dey got de tree all trim' up\, de y chain it up ter a timber waggin\, en start fer de sawmill. But dey had a hard time gittin' de log dere: fus' dey got stuck in de mud w'en dey wuz gwine crosst de swamp\, en it wuz two er th'ee hours befo' dey could git o ut. W'en dey start' on ag'in\, de chain kep' a-comin' loose\, en dey had t er keep a-stoppin' en a-stoppin' fer ter hitch de log up ag'in. W'en dey c ommence' ter climb de hill ter de sawmill\, de log broke loose\, en roll d own de hill en in 'mongs' de trees\, en hit tuk nigh 'bout half a day mo' ter git it haul' up ter de sawmill.\n\n\"De nex' mawnin' atter de day de t ree wuz haul' ter de sawmill\, Tenie come home. W'en she got back ter her cabin\, de fus' thing she done wuz ter run down ter de woods en see how Sa ndy wuz gittin' on. Wen she seed de stump standin' dere\, wid de sap runni n' out'n it\, en de limbs layin' scattered roun'\, she nigh 'bout went out 'n her min'. She run ter her cabin\, en got her goopher mixtry\, en den fo llered de track er de timber waggin ter de sawmill. She knowed Sandy could n' lib mo' d'n a minute er so ef she turnt him back\, fer he wuz all chop ' up so he 'd 'a' be'n bleedst ter die. But she wanted ter turn 'im back l ong ernuff fer ter 'splain ter 'im dat she had n' went off a-purpose\, en lef 'im ter be chop' down en sawed up. She did n' want Sandy ter die wid n o hard feelin's to'ds her.\n\n\"De han's at de sawmill had des got de big log on de kerridge\, en wuz start-in' up de saw\, w'en dey seed a 'oman ru nnin' up de hill\, all out er bref\, cryin' en gwine on des lack she wuz p lumb 'stracted. It wuz Tenie\; she come right inter de mill\, en th'owed h erse'f on de log\, right in front er de saw\, a-hollerin' en cryin' ter he r Sandy ter fergib her\, en not ter think hard er her\, fer it wa'n't no f ault er hern. Den Tenie 'membered de tree did n' hab no years\, en she wuz gittin' ready fer ter wuk her goopher mixtry so ez ter turn Sandy back\, w'en de mill-hands kotch holt er her en tied her arms wid a rope\, en fast en' her to one er de posts in de sawmill\; en den dey started de saw up ag 'in\, en cut de log up inter bo'ds en scantlin's right befo' her eyes. But it wuz mighty hard wuk\; fer of all de sweekin'\, en moanin'\, en groanin '\, dat log done it w'iles de saw wuz a-cuttin' thoo it. De saw wuz one er dese yer ole-timey\, up-en-down saws\, en hit tuk longer dem days ter saw a log 'en it do now. Dey greased de saw\, but dat did n' stop de fuss\; h it kep' right on\, tel fin'ly dey got de log all sawed up.\n\n\"W'en de ob erseah w'at run de sawmill come fum breakfas'\, de han's up en tell him 'b out de crazy 'oman—ez dey s'posed she wuz—w'at had come runnin' in de sawmill\, a-hollerin' en gwine on\, en tried ter th'ow herse'f befo' de sa w. En de oberseah sent two er th'ee er de han's fer ter take Tenie back te r her marster's plantation.\n\n\"Tenie 'peared ter be out'n her min' fer a long time\, en her marster ha' ter lock her up in de smoke-'ouse 'tel she got ober her spells. Mars Marrabo wuz monst'us mad\, en hit would 'a' mad e yo' flesh crawl fer ter hear him cuss\, 'caze he say de spekilater w'at he got Tenie fum had fooled 'im by wukkin' a crazy 'oman off on him. Wiles Tenie wuz lock up in de smoke-'ouse\, Mars Marrabo tuk 'n' haul de lumber fum de sawmill\, en put up his noo kitchen.\n\n\"Wen Tenie got quiet' dow n\, so she could be 'lowed ter go 'roun' de plantation\, she up'n' tole he r marster all erbout Sandy en de pine-tree\; en w'en Mars Marrabo hearn it \, he 'lowed she wuz de wuss 'stracted nigger he eber hearn of. He did n' know w'at ter do wid Tenie: fus' he thought he 'd put her in de po'house\; but fin'ly\, seein' ez she did n' do no harm ter nobody ner nuffin\, but des went 'roun' moanin'\, en groanin'\, en shakin' her head\, he 'cluded t er let her stay on de plantation en nuss de little nigger chilluns w'en de y mammies wuz ter wuk in de cotton-fiel'.\n\n\"De noo kitchen Mars Marrabo buil' wuz n' much use\, fer it had n' be'n put up long befo' de niggers ' mence' ter notice quare things erbout it. Dey could hear sump'n moanin' en groanin' 'bout de kitchen in de night-time\, en w'en de win' would blow d ey could hear sump'n a-hollerin' en sweekin' lack it wuz in great pain en sufferin'. En it got so atter a w'ile dat it wuz all Mars Marrabo's wife c ould do ter git a 'oman ter stay in de kitchen in de daytime long ernuff t er do de cookin'\; en dey wa'n't naer nigger on de plantation w'at would n ' rudder take forty dan ter go 'bout dat kitchen atter dark\,—dat is\, ' cep'n' Tenie\; she did n' 'pear ter min' de ha'nts. She useter slip 'roun' at night\, en set on de kitchen steps\, en lean up agin de do'-jamb\, en run on ter herse'f wid some kine er foolishness w'at nobody could n' make out\; fer Mars Marrabo had th'eaten' ter sen' her off'n de plantation ef s he say anything ter any er de yuther niggers 'bout de pine-tree. But someh ow er 'nudder de niggers foun' out all erbout it\, en dey all knowed de ki tchen wuz ha'nted by Sandy's sperrit. En bimeby hit got so Mars Marrabo's wife herse'f wuz skeered ter go out in de yard atter dark.\n\n\"Wen it com e ter dat\, Mars Marrabo tuk en to' de kitchen down\, en use' de lumber fe r ter buil' dat ole school'ouse w'at you er talkin' 'bout pullin' down. De school'ouse wuz n' use' 'cep'n' in de daytime\, en on dark nights folks g wine 'long de road would hear quare soun's en see quare things. Po' ole Te nie useter go down dere at night\, en wander 'roun' de school'ouse\; en de niggers all 'lowed she went fer ter talk wid Sandy's sperrit. En one wint er mawnin'\, w'en one er de boys went ter school early fer ter start de fi re\, w'at should he fin' but po' ole Tenie\, layin' on de flo'\, stiff\, e n col'\, en dead. Dere did n' 'pear ter be nuffin pertickler de matter wid her\,—she had des grieve' herse'f ter def fer her Sandy. Mars Marrabo d idn' shed no tears. He thought Tenie wuz crazy\, en dey wa'n't no tellin' w'at she mought do nex'\; en dey ain' much room in dis worl' fer crazy w'i te folks\, let 'lone a crazy nigger.\n\n\"Hit wa'n't long atter dat befo' Mars Marrabo sol' a piece er his track er lan' ter Mars Dugal' McAdoo\,— my ole marster\,—en dat 's how de ole school'ouse happen to be on yo' pl ace. Wen de wah broke out\, de school stop'\, en de ole school'ouse be'n s tannin' empty ever sence\,—dat is\, 'cep'n' fer de ha'nts. En folks sez dat de ole school'ouse\, er any yuther house w'at got any er dat lumber in it w'at wuz sawed out'n de tree w'at Sandy wuz turnt inter\, is gwine ter be ha'nted tel de las' piece er plank is rotted en crumble' inter dus'.\" \n\nAnnie had listened to this gruesome narrative with strained attention. \n\n\"What a system it was\,\" she exclaimed\, when Julius had finished\, \"under which such things were possible!\"\n\n\"What things?\" I asked\, i n amazement. \"Are you seriously considering the possibility of a man's be ing turned into a tree?\"\n\n\"Oh\, no\,\" she replied quickly\, \"not tha t\;\" and then she murmured absently\, and with a dim look in her fine eye s\, \"Poor Tenie!\"\n\nWe ordered the lumber\, and returned home. That nig ht\, after we had gone to bed\, and my wife had to all appearances been so und asleep for half an hour\, she startled me out of an incipient doze by exclaiming suddenly\,—\n\n\"John\, I don't believe I want my new kitchen built out of the lumber in that old schoolhouse.\"\n\n\"You wouldn't for a moment allow yourself\,\" I replied\, with some asperity\, \"to be influ enced by that absurdly impossible yarn which Julius was spinning to-day?\" \n\n\"I know the story is absurd\,\" she replied dreamily\, \"and I am not so silly as to believe it. But I don't think I should ever be able to tak e any pleasure in that kitchen if it were built out of that lumber. Beside s\, I think the kitchen would look better and last longer if the lumber we re all new.\"\n\nOf course she had her way. I bought the new lumber\, thou gh not without grumbling. A week or two later I was called away from home on business. On my return\, after an absence of several days\, my wife rem arked to me\,—\n\n\"John\, there has been a split in the Sandy Run Color ed Baptist Church\, on the temperance question. About half the members hav e come out from the main body\, and set up for themselves. Uncle Julius is one of the seceders\, and he came to me yesterday and asked if they might not hold their meetings in the old schoolhouse for the present.\"\n\n\"I hope you didn't let the old rascal have it\,\" I returned\, with some warm th. I had just received a bill for the new lumber I had bought.\n\n\"Well\ ,\" she replied\, \"I couldn't refuse him the use of the house for so good a purpose.\"\n\n\"And I'll venture to say\,\" I continued\, \"that you su bscribed something toward the support of the new church?\"\n\nShe did not attempt to deny it.\n\n\"What are they going to do about the ghost?\" I as ked\, somewhat curious to know how Julius would get around this obstacle.\ n\n\"Oh\,\" replied Annie\, \"Uncle Julius says that ghosts never disturb religious worship\, but that if Sandy's spirit should happen to stray into meeting by mistake\, no doubt the preaching would do it good.\"\n\nMARS J EEMS'S NIGHTMARE\n\nWe found old Julius very useful when we moved to our n ew residence. He had a thorough knowledge of the neighborhood\, was famili ar with the roads and the watercourses\, knew the qualities of the various soils and what they would produce\, and where the best hunting and fishin g were to be had. He was a marvelous hand in the management of horses and dogs\, with whose mental processes he manifested a greater familiarity tha n mere use would seem to account for\, though it was doubtless due to the simplicity of a life that had kept him close to nature. Toward my tract of land and the things that were on it—the creeks\, the swamps\, the hills \, the meadows\, the stones\, the trees—he maintained a peculiar persona l attitude\, that might be called predial rather than proprietary. He had been accustomed\, until long after middle life\, to look upon himself as t he property of another. When this relation was no longer possible\, owing to the war\, and to his master's death and the dispersion of the family\, he had been unable to break off entirely the mental habits of a lifetime\, but had attached himself to the old plantation\, of which he seemed to co nsider himself an appurtenance. We found him useful in many ways and enter taining in others\, and my wife and I took quite a fancy to him.\n\nShortl y after we became established in our home on the sand-hills\, Julius broug ht up to the house one day a colored boy of about seventeen\, whom he intr oduced as his grandson\, and for whom he solicited employment. I was not f avorably impressed by the youth's appearance\,—quite the contrary\, in f act\; but mainly to please the old man I hired Tom—his name was Tom—to help about the stables\, weed the garden\, cut wood and bring water\, and in general to make himself useful about the outdoor work of the household .\n\nMy first impression of Tom proved to be correct. He turned out to be very trifling\, and I was much annoyed by his laziness\, his carelessness\ , and his apparent lack of any sense of responsibility. I kept him longer than I should\, on Julius's account\, hoping that he might improve\; but h e seemed to grow worse instead of better\, and when I finally reached the limit of my patience\, I discharged him.\n\n\"I am sorry\, Julius\,\" I sa id to the old man\; \"I should have liked to oblige you by keeping him\; b ut I can't stand Tom any longer. He is absolutely untrustworthy.\"\n\n\"Ya s\, suh\,\" replied Julius\, with a deep sigh and a long shake of the head \, \"I knows he ain' much account\, en dey ain' much 'pen'ence ter be put on 'im. But I wuz hopin' dat you mought make some 'lowance fuh a' ign'ant young nigger\, suh\, en gib 'im one mo' chance.\"\n\nBut I had hardened my heart. I had always been too easily imposed upon\, and had suffered too m uch from this weakness. I determined to be firm as a rock in this instance .\n\n\"No\, Julius\,\" I rejoined decidedly\, \"it is impossible. I gave h im more than a fair trial\, and he simply won't do.\"\n\nWhen my wife and I set out for our drive in the cool of the evening\,—afternoon is \"even ing\" in Southern parlance\,—one of the servants put into the rock-away two large earthenware jugs. Our drive was to be down through the swamp to the mineral spring at the foot of the sand-hills beyond. The water of this spring was strongly impregnated with sulphur and iron\, and\, while not p articularly agreeable of smell or taste\, was used by us\, in moderation\, for sanitary reasons.\n\nWhen we reached the spring\, we found a man enga ged in cleaning it out. In answer to an inquiry he said that if we would w ait five or ten minutes\, his task would be finished and the spring in suc h condition that we could fill our jugs. We might have driven on\, and com e back by way of the spring\, but there was a bad stretch of road beyond\, and we concluded to remain where we were until the spring should be ready . We were in a cool and shady place. It was often necessary to wait awhile in North Carolina\; and our Northern energy had not been entirely proof a gainst the influences of climate and local custom.\n\nWhile we sat there\, a man came suddenly around a turn of the road ahead of us. I recognized i n him a neighbor with whom I had exchanged formal calls. He was driving a horse\, apparently a high-spirited creature\, possessing\, so far as I cou ld see at a glance\, the marks of good temper and good breeding\; the gent leman\, I had heard it suggested\, was slightly deficient in both. The hor se was rearing and plunging\, and the man was beating him furiously with a buggy-whip. When he saw us\, he flushed a fiery red\, and\, as he passed\ , held the reins with one hand\, at some risk to his safety\, lifted his h at\, and bowed somewhat constrainedly as the horse darted by us\, still pa nting and snorting with fear.\n\n\"He looks as though he were ashamed of h imself\,\" I observed.\n\n\"I'm sure he ought to be\,\" exclaimed my wife indignantly. \"I think there is no worse sin and no more disgraceful thing than cruelty.\"\n\n\"I quite agree with you\,\" I assented.\n\n\"A man w' at 'buses his hoss is gwine ter be ha'd on de folks w'at wuks fer 'im\,\" remarked Julius. \"Ef young Mistah McLean doan min'\, he'll hab a bad drea m one er dese days\, des lack 'is grandaddy had way back yander\, long yea hs befo' de wah.\"\n\n\"What was it about Mr. McLean's dream\, Julius?\" I asked. The man had not yet finished cleaning the spring\, and we might as well put in time listening to Julius as in any other way. We had found so me of his plantation tales quite interesting.\n\n\"Mars Jeems McLean\,\" s aid Julius\, \"wuz de grandaddy er dis yer gent'eman w'at is des gone by u s beatin' his hoss. He had a big plantation en a heap er niggers. Mars Jee ms wuz a ha'd man\, en monst'us stric' wid his han's. Eber sence he growed up he nebber 'peared ter hab no feelin' fer nobody. W'en his daddy\, ole Mars John McLean\, died\, de plantation en all de niggers fell ter young M ars Jeems. He had be'n bad 'nuff befo'\, but it wa'n't long atterwa'ds 'te l he got so dey wuz no use in libbin' at all ef you ha' ter lib roun' Mars Jeems. His niggers wuz bleedzd ter slabe fum daylight ter da'k\, w'iles y uther folks's did n' hafter wuk 'cep'n' fum sun ter sun\; en dey did n' gi t no mo' ter eat dan dey oughter\, en dat de coa'ses' kin'. Dey wa'n't 'lo wed ter sing\, ner dance\, ner play de banjo w'en Mars Jeems wuz roun' de place\; fer Mars Jeems say he would n' hab no sech gwines-on\,—said he b ought his han's ter wuk\, en not ter play\, en w'en night come dey mus' sl eep en res'\, so dey 'd be ready ter git up soon in de mawnin' en go ter d ey wuk fresh en strong.\n\n\"Mars Jeems did n' 'low no co'tin' er juneseyi n' roun' his plantation\,—said he wanted his niggers ter put dey min's o n dey wuk\, en not be wastin' dey time wid no sech foolis'ness. En he woul d n' let his han's git married\,—said he wuz n' raisin' niggers\, but wu z raisin' cotton. En w'eneber any er de boys en gals 'ud 'mence ter git sw eet on one ernudder\, he 'd sell one er de yuther un 'em\, er sen' 'em way down in Robeson County ter his yuther plantation\, whar dey could n' nebb er see one ernudder.\n\n\"Ef any er de niggers eber complained\, dey got f o'ty\; so co'se dey did n' many un 'em complain. But dey did n' lack it\, des de same\, en nobody could n' blame 'em\, fer dey had a ha'd time. Mars Jeems did n' make no 'lowance fer nachul bawn laz'ness\, ner sickness\, n er trouble in de min'\, ner nuffin\; he wuz des gwine ter git so much wuk outer eve'y han'\, er know de reason w'y.\n\n\"Dey wuz one time de niggers 'lowed\, fer a spell\, dat Mars Jeems mought git bettah. He tuk a lackin' ter Mars Marrabo McSwayne's oldes' gal\, Miss Libbie\, en useter go ober dere eve'y day er eve'y ebenin'\, en folks said dey wuz gwine ter git marr ied sho'. But it 'pears dat Miss Libbie heared 'bout de gwineson on Mars J eems's plantation\, en she des 'lowed she could n' trus' herse'f wid no se ch a man\; dat he mought git so useter 'busin' his niggers dat he 'd 'menc e ter 'buse his wife atter he got useter habbin' her roun' de house. So sh e 'clared she wuz n' gwine ter hab nuffin mo' ter do wid young Mars Jeems. \n\n\"De niggers wuz all monst'us sorry w'en de match wuz bust' up\, fer n ow Mars Jeems got wusser 'n he wuz befo' he sta'ted sweethea'tin'. De time he useter spen' co'tin' Miss Libbie he put in findin' fault wid de nigger s\, en all his bad feelin's 'ca'se Miss Libbie th'owed 'im ober he 'peared ter try ter wuk off on de po' niggers.\n\n\"W'iles Mars Jeems wuz co'tin' Miss Libbie\, two er de han's on de plantation had got ter settin' a heap er sto' by one ernudder. One un 'em wuz name' Solomon\, en de yuther wuz a 'oman w'at wukked in de fiel' 'long er 'im—I fe'git dat 'oman's name\, but it doan 'mount ter much in de tale nohow. Now\, whuther 'ca'se Mars J eems wuz so tuk up wid his own junesey[2] dat he did n' paid no 'tention f er a w'ile ter w'at wuz gwine on 'twix' Solomon en his junesey\, er whuthe r his own co'tin' made 'im kin' er easy on de co'tin' in de qua'ters\, dey ain' no tellin'. But dey's one thing sho'\, dat w'en Miss Libbie th'owed 'im ober\, he foun' out 'bout Solomon en de gal monst'us quick\, en gun So lomon fo'ty\, en sont de gal down ter de Robeson County plantation\, en to l' all de niggers ef he ketch 'em at any mo' sech foolishness\, he wuz gwi ne ter skin 'em alibe en tan dey hides befo' dey ve'y eyes. Co'se he would n' 'a' done it\, but he mought 'a' made things wusser 'n dey wuz. So you kin 'magine dey wa'n't much lub-makin' in de qua'ters fer a long time.\n\n [2]\nSweetheart.\n\n\"Mars Jeems useter go down ter de yuther plantation s ometimes fer a week er mo'\, en so he had ter hab a oberseah ter look atte r his wuk w'iles he 'uz gone. Mars Jeems's oberseah wuz a po' w'ite man na me' Nick Johnson\,—de niggers called 'im Mars Johnson ter his face\, but behin' his back dey useter call 'im Ole Nick\, en de name suited 'im ter a T. He wuz wusser 'n Mars Jeems ever da'ed ter be. Co'se de darkies did n ' lack de way Mars Jeems used 'em\, but he wuz de marster\, en had a right ter do ez he please'\; but dis yer Ole Nick wa'n't nuffin but a po' buckr ah\, en all de niggers 'spised 'im ez much ez dey hated 'im\, fer he did n ' own nobody\, en wa'n't no bettah 'n a nigger\, fer in dem days any 'spec table pusson would ruther be a nigger dan a po' w'ite man.\n\n\"Now\, atte r Solomon's gal had be'n sont away\, he kep' feelin' mo' en mo' bad erbout it\, 'tel fin'lly he 'lowed he wuz gwine ter see ef dey could n' be sump' n done fer ter git 'er back\, en ter make Mars Jeems treat de darkies bett ah. So he tuk a peck er co'n out'n de ba'n one night\, en went ober ter se e ole Aun' Peggy\, de free-nigger cunjuh 'oman down by de Wim'l'ton Road.\ n\n\"Aun' Peggy listen' ter 'is tale\, en ax' him some queshtuns\, en den tol' 'im she 'd wuk her roots\, en see w'at dey 'd say 'bout it\, en ter-m orrer night he sh'd come back ag'in en fetch ernudder peck er co'n\, en de n she 'd hab sump'n fer ter tell 'im.\n\n\"So Solomon went back de nex' ni ght\, en sho' 'nuff\, Aun' Peggy tol' 'im w'at ter do. She gun 'im some st uff w'at look' lack it be'n made by poundin' up some roots en yarbs wid a pestle in a mo'tar.\n\n\"'Dis yer stuff\,' sez she\, 'is monst'us pow'ful kin' er goopher. You take dis home\, en gin it ter de cook\, ef you kin tr us' her\, en tell her fer ter put it in yo' marster's soup de fus' cloudy day he hab okra soup fer dinnah. Min' you follers de d'rections.'\n\n\"'It ain' gwineter p'isen 'im\, is it?' ax' Solomon\, gittin' kin' er skeered\ ; fer Solomon wuz a good man\, en did n' want ter do nobody no rale ha'm.\ n\n\"'Oh\, no\,' sez ole Aun' Peggy\, 'it's gwine ter do 'im good\, but he 'll hab a monst'us bad dream fus'. A mont' fum now you come down heah en l emme know how de goopher is wukkin'. Fer I ain' done much er dis kin' er c unj'in' er late yeahs\, en I has ter kinder keep track un it ter see dat i t doan 'complish no mo' d'n I 'lows fer it ter do. En I has ter be kinder keerful 'bout cunj'in' w'ite folks\; so be sho' en lemme know\, w'ateber y ou do\, des w'at is gwine on roun' de plantation.'\n\n\"So Solomon say all right\, en tuk de goopher mixtry up ter de big house en gun it ter de coo k\, en tol' her fer ter put it in Mars Jeems's soup de fus' cloudy day she hab okra soup fer dinnah. It happen' dat de ve'y nex' day wuz a cloudy da y\, en so de cook made okra soup fer Mars Jeems's dinnah\, en put de powde r Solomon gun her inter de soup\, en made de soup rale good\, so Mars Jeem s eat a whole lot of it en 'peared ter enjoy it.\n\n\"De nex' mawnin' Mars Jeems tol' de oberseah he wuz gwine 'way on some bizness\, en den he wuz gwine ter his yuther plantation\, down in Robeson County\, en he did n' 's pec' he 'd be back fer a mont' er so.\n\n\"But\,' sezee\, 'I wants you ter run dis yer plantation fer all it's wuth. Dese yer niggers is gittin' mon st'us triflin' en lazy en keerless\, en dey ain' no 'pen'ence ter be put i n 'em. I wants dat stop'\, en w'iles I 'm gone erway I wants de 'spenses c ut 'way down en a heap mo' wuk done. Fac'\, I wants dis yer plantation ter make a reco'd dat'll show w'at kinder oberseah you is.'\n\n\"Ole Nick did n' said nuffin but 'Yas\, suh\,' but de way he kinder grin' ter hisse'f e n show' his big yaller teef\, en snap' de rawhide he useter kyar roun' wid 'im\, made col' chills run up and down de backbone er dem niggers w'at he ared Mars Jeems a-talkin'. En dat night dey wuz mo'nin' en groanin' down i n de qua'ters\, fer de niggers all knowed w'at wuz comin'.\n\n\"So\, sho' 'nuff\, Mars Jeems went erway nex' mawnin'\, en de trouble begun. Mars Joh nson sta'ted off de ve'y fus' day fer ter see w'at he could hab ter show M ars Jeems w'en he come back. He made de tasks bigger en de rashuns littler \, en w'en de niggers had wukked all day\, he 'd fin' sump'n fer 'em ter d o roun' de ba'n er som'ers atter da'k\, fer ter keep 'em busy a' hour er s o befo' dey went ter sleep.\n\n\"About th'ee er fo' days atter Mars Jeems went erway\, young Mars Dunkin McSwayne rode up ter de big house one day w id a nigger settin' behin' 'im in de buggy\, tied ter de seat\, en ax' ef Mars Jeems wuz home. Mars Johnson wuz at de house\, and he say no.\n\n\"'W ell\,' sez Mars Dunkin\, sezee\, 'I fotch dis nigger ober ter Mistah McLea n fer ter pay a bet I made wid 'im las' week w'en we wuz playin' kya'ds te 'gedder. I bet 'im a nigger man\, en heah 's one I reckon'll fill de bill. He wuz tuk up de yuther day fer a stray nigger\, en he could n' gib no 'c ount er hisse'f\, en so he wuz sol' at oction\, en I bought 'im. He's kind er brash\, but I knows yo' powers\, Mistah Johnson\, en I reckon ef anybod y kin make 'im toe de ma'k\, you is de man.'\n\n\"Mars Johnson grin' one e r dem grins w'at show' all his snaggle teef\, en make de niggers 'low he l ook lack de ole debbil\, en sezee ter Mars Dunkin:—\n\n\"'I reckon you k in trus' me\, Mistah Dunkin\, fer ter tame any nigger wuz eber bawn. De ni gger doan lib w'at I can't take down in 'bout fo' days.'\n\n\"Well\, Ole N ick had 'is han's full long er dat noo nigger\; en w'iles de res' er de da rkies wuz sorry fer de po' man\, dey 'lowed he kep' Mars Johnson so busy d at dey got along better 'n dey 'd 'a' done ef de noo nigger had nebber com e.\n\n\"De fus' thing dat happen'\, Mars Johnson sez ter dis yer noo man :—\n\n\"'W'at 's yo' name\, Sambo?'\n\n\"'My name ain' Sambo\,' 'spon' d e noo nigger.\n\n\"'Did I ax you w'at yo' name wa'n't?' sez Mars Johnson. 'You wants ter be pa'tic'lar how you talks ter me. Now\, w'at is yo' name\ , en whar did you come fum?'\n\n\"'I dunno my name\,' sez de nigger\, 'en I doan 'member whar I come fum. My head is all kin' er mix' up.'\n\n\"'Yas \,' sez Mars Johnson\, 'I reckon I'll ha' ter gib you sump'n fer ter cl'ar yo' head. At de same time\, it'll l'arn you some manners\, en atter dis m ebbe you'll say \"suh\" w'en you speaks ter me.'\n\n\"Well\, Mars Johnson haul' off wid his rawhide en hit de noo nigger once. De noo man look' at M ars Johnson fer a minute ez ef he did n' know w'at ter make er dis yer kin ' er l'arnin'. But w'en de oberseah raise' his w'ip ter hit him ag'in\, de noo nigger des haul' off en made fer Mars Johnson\, en ef some er de yuth er niggers had n' stop' 'im\, it 'peared ez ef he mought 'a' made it wa'm fer Ole Nick dere fer a w'ile. But de oberseah made de yuther niggers he'p tie de noo nigger up\, en den gun 'im fo'ty\, wid a dozen er so th'owed i n fer good measure\, fer Ole Nick wuz nebber stingy wid dem kin' er rashun s. De nigger went on at a tarrable rate\, des lack a wil' man\, but co'se he wuz bleedzd ter take his med'cine\, fer he wuz tied up en could n' he'p his-se'f.\n\n\"Mars Johnson lock' de noo nigger up in de ba'n\, en did n' gib 'im nuffin ter eat fer a day er so\, 'tel he got 'im kin'er quiet' do wn\, en den he tu'nt 'im loose en put 'im ter wuk. De nigger 'lowed he wa' n't useter wukkin'\, en would n' wuk\, en Mars Johnson gun 'im anudder fo' ty fer laziness en impidence\, en let 'im fas' a day er so mo'\, en den pu t 'im ter wuk ag'in. De nigger went ter wuk\, but did n' 'pear ter know ho w ter han'le a hoe. It tuk des 'bout half de oberseah's time lookin' atter 'im\, en dat po' nigger got mo' lashin's en cussin's en cuffin's dan any fo' yuthers on de plantation. He did n' mix' wid ner talk much ter de res' er de niggers\, en could n' 'pear ter git it th'oo his min' dat he wuz a slabe en had ter wuk en min' de w'ite folks\, spite er de fac' dat Ole Nic k gun 'im a lesson eve'y day. En fin'lly Mars Johnson 'lowed dat he could n' do nuffin wid 'im\; dat ef he wuz his nigger\, he 'd break his sperrit er break 'is neck\, one er de yuther. But co'se he wuz only sont ober on t rial\, en ez he did n' gib sat'sfaction\, en he had n' heared fum Mars Jee ms 'bout w'en he wuz comin' back\; en ez he wuz feared he 'd git mad some time er 'nuther en kill de nigger befo' he knowed it\, he 'lowed he 'd bet ter sen' 'im back whar he come fum. So he tied 'im up en sont 'im back ter Mars Dunkin.\n\n\"Now\, Mars Dunkin McSwayne wuz one er dese yer easy-gwi ne gent'emen w'at did n' lack ter hab no trouble wid niggers er nobody e's e\, en he knowed ef Mars Ole Nick could n' git 'long wid dis nigger\, nobo dy could. So he tuk de nigger ter town dat same day\, en sol' 'im ter a tr ader w'at wuz gittin' up a gang er lackly niggers fer ter ship off on de s teamboat ter go down de ribber ter Wim'l'ton en fum dere ter Noo Orleens.\ n\n\"De nex' day atter de noo man had be'n sont away\, Solomon wuz wukkin' in de cotton-fiel'\, en w'en he got ter de fence nex' ter de woods\, at d e een' er de row\, who sh'd he see on de yuther side but ole Aun' Peggy. S he beckon' ter 'im\,—de oberseah wuz down on de yuther side er de fiel '\,—en sez she:—\n\n\"'W'y ain' you done come en 'po'ted ter me lack I tol' you?'\n\n\"'W'y\, law! Aun' Peggy\,' sez Solomon\, 'dey ain' nuffin ter 'po't. Mars Jeems went away de day atter we gun 'im de goopher mixtry\ , en we ain' seed hide ner hair un 'im sence\, en co'se we doan know nuffi n 'bout w'at 'fec' it had on 'im.'\n\n\"'I doan keer nuffin 'bout yo' Mars Jeems now\; w'at I wants ter know is w'at is be'n gwine on 'mongs' de nig gers. Has you be'n gittin' 'long any better on de plantation?'\n\n\"'No\, Aun' Peggy\, we be'n gittin' 'long wusser. Mars Johnson is stric'er 'n he eber wuz befo'\, en de po' niggers doan ha'dly git time ter draw dey bref\ , en dey 'lows dey mought des ez well be dead ez alibe.'\n\n\"' Uh huh!' s ez Aun' Peggy\, sez she\, 'I tol' you dat 'uz monst'us pow'ful goopher\, e n its wuk doan 'pear all at once.'\n\n\"'Long ez we had dat noo nigger hea h\,' Solomon went on\, 'he kep' Mars Johnson busy pa't er de time\; but no w he 's gone erway\, I s'pose de res' un us'll ketch it wusser 'n eber.'\n \n\"'W'at's gone wid de noo nigger?' sez Aun' Peggy\, rale quick\, battin' her eyes en straight'nin' up.\n\n\"'Ole Nick done sont 'im back ter Mars Dunkin\, who had fotch 'im heah fer ter pay a gamblin' debt ter Mars Jeems \,' sez Solomon\, 'en I heahs Mars Dunkin has sol' 'im ter a nigger-trader up in Patesville\, w'at 's gwine ter ship 'im off wid a gang ter-morrer.' \n\n\"Ole Aun' Peggy 'peared ter git rale stirred up w'en Solomon tol' 'er dat\, en sez she\, shakin' her stick at 'im:—\n\n\"'W'y did n' you come en tell me 'bout dis noo nigger bein' sol' erway? Did n' you promus me\, ef I 'd gib you dat goopher\, you 'd come en 'po't ter me 'bout all w'at w uz gwine on on dis plantation Co'se I could 'a' foun' out fer myse'f\, but I 'pended on yo' tellin' me\, en now by not doin' it I's feared you gwine spile my cunj'in'. You come down ter my house ter-night en do w'at I tell s you\, er I'll put a spell on you dat 'll make yo' ha'r fall out so you'l l be bal'\, en yo' eyes drap out so you can't see\, en yo teef fall out so you can't eat\, en yo' years grow up so you can't heah. Wen you is foolin ' wid a cunjuh 'oman lack me\, you got ter min' yo' P's en Q's er dey'll b e trouble sho' 'nuff.'\n\n\"So co'se Solomon went down ter Aun' Peggy's da t night\, en she gun 'im a roasted sweet'n' 'tater.\n\n\"'You take dis yer sweet'n' 'tater\,' sez she\,—'I done goophered it 'speshly fer dat noo nigger\, so you better not eat it yo'se'f er you'll wush you had n'\,—en slip off ter town\, en fin' dat strange man\, en gib 'im dis yer sweet'n' 'tater. He mus' eat it befo' mawnin'\, sho'\, ef he doan wanter be sol' e rway ter Noo Orleens.'\n\n\"'But s'posen de patteroles ketch me\, Aun' Peg gy\, w'at I gwine ter do?' sez Solomon.\n\n\"'De patteroles ain' gwine tec h you\, but ef you doan fin' dat nigger\, I 'm gwine git you\, en you'll f in' me wusser 'n de patteroles. Des hol' on a minute\, en I'll sprinkle yo u wid some er dis mixtry out'n dis yer bottle\, so de patteroles can't see you\, en you kin rub yo' feet wid some er dis yer grease out'n dis go'd\, so you kin run fas'\, en rub some un it on yo' eyes so you kin see in de da'k\; en den you mus' fin' dat noo nigger en gib 'im dis yer 'tater\, er you gwine ter hab mo' trouble on yo' ban's 'n you eber had befo' in yo' li fe er eber will hab sence.'\n\n\"So Solomon tuk de sweet'n' 'tater en sta' ted up de road fas' ez he could go\, en befo' long he retch' town. He went right 'long by de patteroles\, en dey did n' 'pear ter notice 'im\, en bi meby he foun' whar de strange nigger was kep'\, en he walked right pas' de gyard at de do' en foun' 'im. De nigger could n' see 'im\, ob co'se\, en he could n' 'a' seed de nigger in de da'k\, ef it had n' be'n fer de stuff Aun' Peggy gun 'im ter rub on 'is eyes. De nigger wuz layin' in a co'nder \, 'sleep\, en Solomon des slip' up ter 'im\, en hilt dat sweet'n' 'tater 'fo' de nigger's nose\, en he des nach'ly retch' up wid his han'\, en tuk de 'tater en eat it in his sleep\, widout knowin' it. Wen Solomon seed he 'd done eat de 'tater\, he went back en tol' Aun' Peggy\, en den went home ter his cabin ter sleep\, 'way 'long 'bout two o'clock in de mawnin'.\n\n \"De nex' day wuz Sunday\, en so de niggers had a little time ter deyse've s. Solomon wuz kinder 'sturb' in his min' thinkin' 'bout his junesey w'at 'uz gone away\, en wond'rin' w'at Aun' Peggy had ter do wid dat noo nigger \; en he had sa'ntered up in de woods so 's ter be by hisse'f a little\, e n at de same time ter look atter a rabbit-trap he'd sot down in de aidge e r de swamp\, w'en who sh'd he see stan'in' unner a tree but a w'ite man.\n \n\"Solomon did n' knowed de w'ite man at fus'\, 'tel de w'ite man spoke u p ter 'im.\n\n\"'Is dat you\, Solomon?' sezee.\n\n\"Den Solomon reco'nized de voice.\n\n\"'Fer de Lawd's sake\, Mars Jeems! is dat you?'\n\n\"'Yas\, Solomon\,' sez his marster\, 'dis is me\, er w'at's lef er me.'\n\n\"It w a'n't no wonder Solomon had n' knowed Mars Jeems at fus'\, fer he wuz dres s' lack a po' w'ite man\, en wuz barefooted\, en look' monst'us pale en pe aked\, ez ef he'd des come th'oo a ha'd spell er sickness.\n\n\"'You er lo okin' kinder po'ly\, Mars Jeems\,' sez Solomon. 'Is you be'n sick\, suh?'\ n\n\"'No\, Solomon\,' sez Mars Jeems\, shakin' his head\, en speakin' sort er slow en sad\, 'I ain' be'n sick\, but I's had a monst'us bad dream\,— fac'\, a reg'lar\, nach'ul nightmare. But tell me how things has be'n gwin e on up ter de plantation sence I be'n gone\, Solomon.'\n\n\"So Solomon up en tol' 'im 'bout de craps\, en 'bout de hosses en de mules\, en 'bout de cows en de hawgs. En w'en he 'mence' ter tell 'bout de noo nigger\, Mars Jeems prick' up 'is yeahs en listen'\, en eve'y now en den he 'd say\, 'Uh huh! uh huh!' en nod 'is head. En bimeby\, w'en he'd ax' Solomon some mo' queshtuns\, he sez\, sezee:—\n\n\"'Now\, Solomon\, I doan want you ter say a wo'd ter nobody 'bout meetin' me heah\, but I wants you ter slip up ter de house\, en fetch me some clo's en some shoes\,—I fergot ter tell you dat a man rob' me back yander on de road en swap' clo's wid me widout axin' me whuther er no\,—but you neenter say nuffin 'bout dat\, nuther. You go en fetch me some clo's heah\, so nobody won't see you\, en keep yo' mouf shet\, en I 'll gib you a dollah.'\n\n\"Solomon wuz so 'stonish' he lack ter fell ober in his tracks\, w'en Mars Jeems promus' ter gib 'im a d ollah. Dey su't'nly wuz a change come ober Mars Jeems\, w'en he offer' one er his niggers dat much money. Solomon 'mence' ter 'spec' dat Aun' Peggy' s cunj'ation had be'n wukkin' monst'us strong.\n\n\"Solomon fotch Mars Jee ms some clo's en shoes\, en dat same eb'nin' Mars Jeems 'peared at de hous e\, en let on lack he des dat minute got home fum Robeson County. Mars Joh nson was all ready ter talk ter 'im\, but Mars Jeems sont 'im wo'd he wa'n 't feelin' ve'y well dat night\, en he'd see 'im ter-morrer.\n\n\"So nex' mawnin' atter breakfus' Mars Jeems sont fer de oberseah\, en ax' 'im fer t er gib 'count er his styoa'dship. Ole Nick tol' Mars Jeems how much wuk be 'n done\, en got de books en showed 'im how much money be'n save'. Den Mar s Jeems ax' 'im how de darkies be'n behabin'\, en Mars Johnson say dey be' n behabin' good\, most un 'em\, en dem w'at did n' behabe good at fus' cha nge dey conduc' atter he got holt un 'em a time er two.\n\n\"'All\,' sezee \, ''cep'n' de noo nigger Mistah Dunkin fotch ober heah en lef on trial\, w'iles you wuz gone.'\n\n\"'Oh\, yas\,' 'lows Mars Jeems\, 'tell me all 'b out dat noo nigger. I heared a little 'bout dat quare noo nigger las' nigh t\, en it wuz des too rediklus. Tell me all 'bout dat noo nigger.'\n\n\"So seein' Mars Jeems so good-na-chu'd 'bout it\, Mars Johnson up en tol' 'im how he tied up de noo ban' de fus' day en gun 'im fo'ty 'ca'se he would n ' tell 'im 'is name.\n\n\"'Ha\, ha\, ha!' sez Mars Jeems\, laffin' fit ter kill\, 'but dat is too funny fer any use. Tell me some mo' 'bout dat noo nigger.'\n\n\"So Mars Johnson went on en tol' 'im how he had ter starbe de noo nigger 'fo' he could make 'im take holt er a hoe.\n\n\"'Dat wuz de be atinis' notion fer a nigger\,' sez Mars Jeems\, 'puttin' on airs\, des lac k he wuz a w'ite man! En I reckon you did n' do nuffin ter 'im?'\n\n\"'Oh\ , no\, suh\,' sez de oberseah\, grinnin' lack a chessy-cat\, 'I did n' do nuffin but take de hide off'n 'im.'\n\n\"Mars Jeems lafft en lafft\, 'tel it 'peared lack he wuz des gwine ter bu'st. 'Tell me some mo' 'bout dat no o nigger\, oh\, tell me some mo'. Dat noo nigger int'rusts me\, he do\, en dat is a fac'.'\n\n\"Mars Johnson did n' quite un'erstan' w'y Mars Jeems sh'd make sich a great 'miration 'bout de noo nigger\, but co'se he want' ter please de gent'eman w'at hi'ed 'im\, en so he 'splain' all 'bout how m any times he had ter cowhide de noo nigger\, en how he made 'im do tasks t wicet ez big ez some er de yuther han's\, en how he 'd chain 'im up in de ba'n at night en feed 'im on co'n-bread en water.\n\n\"'Oh! but you is a m onst'us good oberseah\; you is de bes' oberseah in dis county\, Mistah Joh nson\,' sez Mars Jeems\, w'en de oberseah got th'oo wid his tale\; 'en dey ain' nebber be'n no nigger-breaker lack you roun' heah befo'. En you desa rbes great credit fer sendin' dat nigger 'way befo' you sp'ilt 'im fer de market. Fac'\, you is sech a monst'us good oberseah\, en you is got dis ye r plantation in sech fine shape\, dat I reckon I doan need you no mo'. You is got dese yer darkies so well train' dat I 'spec' I kin run 'em myse'f fum dis time on. But I does wush you had 'a' hilt on ter dat noo nigger 't el I got home\, fer I 'd 'a' lack ter 'a' seed 'im\, I su't'nly should.'\n \n\"De oberseah wuz so 'stonish' he did n' ha'dly know w'at ter say\, but fin'lly he ax' Mars Jeems ef he would n' gib'im a riccommen' fer ter git e rnudder place.\n\n\"'No\, suh\,' sez Mars Jeems\, 'somehow er 'nuther I do an lack yo' looks sence I come back dis time\, en I'd much ruther you woul d n' stay roun' heah. Fac'\, I's feared ef I 'd meet you alone in de woods some time\, I mought wanter ha'm you. But layin' dat aside\, I be'n looki n' ober dese yer books er yo'n w'at you kep' w'iles I wuz 'way\, en fer a yeah er so back\, en dere's some figgers w'at ain' des cl'ar ter me. I ain ' got no time fer ter talk 'bout 'em now\, but I 'spec' befo' I settles wi d you fer dis las' mont'\, you better come up heah ter-morrer\, atter I's look' de books en 'counts ober some mo'\, en den we'll straighten ou' busi ness all up.'\n\n\"Mars Jeems 'lowed atterwa'ds dat he wuz des shootin' in de da'k w'en he said dat 'bout de books\, but howsomeber\, Mars Nick John son lef dat naberhood 'twix' de nex' two suns\, en nobody roun' dere nebbe r seed hide ner hair un 'im sence. En all de darkies t'ank de Lawd\, en 'l owed it wuz a good riddance er bad rubbage.\n\n\"But all dem things I done tol' you ain' nuffin 'side'n de change w'at come ober Mars Jeems fum dat time on. Aun' Peggy's goopher had made a noo man un 'im enti'ely. De nex' day atter he come back\, he tol' de han's dey neenter wuk on'y fum sun ter sun\, en he cut dey tasks down so dey did n' nobody hab ter stan' ober 'e m wid a rawhide er a hick'ry. En he 'lowed ef de niggers want ter hab a da nce in de big ba'n any Sad'day night\, dey mought hab it. En bimeby\, w'en Solomon seed how good Mars Jeems wuz\, he ax' 'im ef he would n' please s en' down ter de yuther plantation fer his junesey. Mars Jeems say su't'nly \, en gun Solomon a pass en a note ter de oberseah on de yuther plantation \, en sont Solomon down ter Robeson County wid a hoss en buggy fer ter fet ch his junesey back. Wen de niggers see how fine Mars Jeems gwine treat 'e m\, dey all tuk ter sweethea'tin' en juneseyin' en singin' en dancin'\, en eight er ten couples got married\, en bimeby eve'ybody 'mence' ter say Ma rs Jeems McLean got a finer plantation\, en slicker-lookin' niggers\, en d at he 'uz makin' mo' cotton en co'n\, dan any yuther gent'eman in de count y. En Mars Jeems's own junesey\, Miss Libbie\, heared 'bout de noo gwines- on on Mars Jeems's plantation\, en she change' her min' 'bout Mars Jeems e n tuk 'im back ag'in\, en 'fo' long dey had a fine weddin'\, en all de dar kies had a big feas'\, en dey wuz fiddlin' en dancin' en funnin' en frolic 'in' fum sundown 'tel mawnin'.\"\n\n\"And they all lived happy ever after\ ,\" I said\, as the old man reached a full stop.\n\n\"Yas\, suh\,\" he sai d\, interpreting my remarks as a question\, \"dey did. Solomon useter say\ ,\" he added\, \"dat Aun' Peggy's goopher had turnt Mars Jeems ter a nigge r\, en dat dat noo ban' wuz Mars Jeems hisse'f. But co'se Solomon did n' d as' ter let on 'bout w'at he 'spicioned\, en ole Aun' Peggy would 'a' 'nie d it ef she had be'n ax'\, fer she 'd 'a' got in trouble sho'\, ef it 'uz knowed she 'd be'n cunj'in' de w'ite folks.\n\n\"Dis yer tale goes ter sho w\,\" concluded Julius sententiously\, as the man came up and announced th at the spring was ready for us to get water\, \"dat w'ite folks w'at is so ha'd en stric'\, en doan make no 'lowance fer po' ign'ant niggers w'at ai n' had no chanst ter l'arn\, is li'ble ter hab bad dreams\, ter say de lea s'\, en dat dem w'at is kin' en good ter po' people is sho' ter prosper en git 'long in de worl'.\"\n\n\"That is a very strange story\, Uncle Julius \,\" observed my wife\, smiling\, \"and Solomon's explanation is quite imp robable.\"\n\n\"Yes\, Julius\,\" said I\, \"that was powerful goopher. I a m glad\, too\, that you told us the moral of the story\; it might have esc aped us otherwise. By the way\, did you make that up all by yourself?\"\n\ nThe old man's face assumed an injured look\, expressive more of sorrow th an of anger\, and shaking his head he replied:—\n\n\"No\, suh\, I heared dat tale befo' you er Mis' Annie dere wuz bawn\, suh. My mammy tol' me da t tale w'en I wa'n't mo' d'n knee-high ter a hopper-grass.\"\n\nI drove to town next morning\, on some business\, and did not return until noon\; an d after dinner I had to visit a neighbor\, and did not get back until supp er-time. I was smoking a cigar on the back piazza in the early evening\, w hen I saw a familiar figure carrying a bucket of water to the barn. I call ed my wife.\n\n\"My dear\,\" I said severely\, \"what is that rascal doing here? I thought I discharged him yesterday for good and all.\"\n\n\"Oh\, yes\,\" she answered\, \"I forgot to tell you. He was hanging round the pl ace all the morning\, and looking so down in the mouth\, that I told him t hat if he would try to do better\, we would give him one more chance. He s eems so grateful\, and so really in earnest in his promises of amendment\, that I'm sure you'll not regret taking him back.\"\n\nI was seriously eno ugh annoyed to let my cigar go out. I did not share my wife's rose-colored hopes in regard to Tom\; but as I did not wish the servants to think ther e was any conflict of authority in the household\, I let the boy stay.\n\n THE CONJURER'S REVENGE\n\nSunday was sometimes a rather dull day at our pl ace. In the morning\, when the weather was pleasant\, my wife and I would drive to town\, a distance of about five miles\, to attend the church of o ur choice. The afternoons we spent at home\, for the most part\, occupying ourselves with the newspapers and magazines\, and the contents of a fairl y good library. We had a piano in the house\, on which my wife played with skill and feeling. I possessed a passable baritone voice\, and could acco mpany myself indifferently well when my wife was not by to assist me. When these resources failed us\, we were apt to find it a little dull.\n\nOne Sunday afternoon in early spring\,—the balmy spring of North Carolina\, when the air is in that ideal balance between heat and cold where one wish es it could always remain\,—my wife and I were seated on the front piazz a\, she wearily but conscientiously ploughing through a missionary report\ , while I followed the impossible career of the blonde heroine of a rudime ntary novel. I had thrown the book aside in disgust\, when I saw Julius co ming through the yard\, under the spreading elms\, which were already in f ull leaf. He wore his Sunday clothes\, and advanced with a dignity of move ment quite different from his week-day slouch.\n\n\"Have a seat\, Julius\, \" I said\, pointing to an empty rocking-chair.\n\n\"No\, thanky\, boss\, I'll des set here on de top step.\"\n\n\"Oh\, no\, Uncle Julius\,\" exclai med Annie\, \"take this chair. You will find it much more comfortable.\"\n \nThe old man grinned in appreciation of her solicitude\, and seated himse lf somewhat awkwardly.\n\n\"Julius\,\" I remarked\, \"I am thinking of set ting out scuppernong vines on that sand-hill where the three persimmon-tre es are\; and while I'm working there\, I think I'll plant watermelons betw een the vines\, and get a little something to pay for my first year's work . The new railroad will be finished by the middle of summer\, and I can sh ip the melons North\, and get a good price for them.\"\n\n\"Ef you er gwin e ter hab any mo' ploughin' ter do\,\" replied Julius\, \"I 'spec' you'll ha' ter buy ernudder creetur\, 'ca'se hit's much ez dem hosses kin do ter 'ten' ter de wuk dey got now.\"\n\n\"Yes\, I had thought of that. I think I'll get a mule\; a mule can do more work\, and doesn't require as much at tention as a horse.\"\n\n\"I would n' 'vise you ter buy no mule\,\" remark ed Julius\, with a shake of his head.\n\n\"Why not?\"\n\n\"Well\, you may 'low hit's all foolis'ness\, but ef I wuz in yo' place\, I would n' buy no mule.\"\n\n\"But that isn't a reason\; what objection have you to a mule? \"\n\n\"Fac' is\,\" continued the old man\, in a serious tone\, \"I doan l ack ter dribe a mule. I 's alluz afeared I mought be imposin' on some huma n creetur\; eve'y time I cuts a mule wid a hick'ry\, 'pears ter me mos' la ckly I's cuttin' some er my own relations\, er somebody e'se w'at can't he 'p deyse'ves.\"\n\n\"What put such an absurd idea into your head?\" I aske d.\n\nMy question was followed by a short silence\, during which Julius se emed engaged in a mental struggle.\n\n\"I dunno ez hit's wuf w'ile ter tel l you dis\,\" he said\, at length. \"I doan ha'dly 'spec' fer you ter b'li eve it. Does you 'member dat club-footed man w'at hilt de hoss fer you de yuther day w'en you was gittin' out'n de rockaway down ter Mars Archie McM illan's sto'?\"\n\n\"Yes\, I believe I do remember seeing a club-footed ma n there.\"\n\n\"Did you eber see a club-footed nigger befo' er sence?\"\n\ n\"No\, I can't remember that I ever saw a club-footed colored man\,\" I r eplied\, after a moment's reflection.\n\n\"You en Mis' Annie would n' want er b'lieve me\, ef I wuz ter 'low dat dat man was oncet a mule?\"\n\n\"No\ ,\" I replied\, \"I don't think it very likely that you could make us beli eve it.\"\n\n\"Why\, Uncle Julius!\" said Annie severely\, \"what ridiculo us nonsense!\"\n\nThis reception of the old man's statement reduced him to silence\, and it required some diplomacy on my part to induce him to vouc hsafe an explanation. The prospect of a long\, dull afternoon was not allu ring\, and I was glad to have the monotony of Sabbath quiet relieved by a plantation legend.\n\n\"W'en I wuz a young man\,\" began Julius\, when I h ad finally prevailed upon him to tell us the story\, \"dat club-footed nig ger—his name is Primus—use' ter b'long ter ole Mars Jim McGee ober on de Lumbe'ton plank-road. I use' ter go ober dere ter see a 'oman w'at libb ed on de plantation\; dat 's how I come ter know all erbout it. Dis yer Pr imus wuz de livelies' han' on de place\, alluz a-dancin'\, en drinkin'\, e n runnin' roun'\, en singin'\, en pickin' de banjo\; 'cep'n' once in a w'i le\, w'en he 'd 'low he wa'n't treated right 'bout sump'n ernudder\, he'd git so sulky en stubborn dat de w'ite folks could n' ha'dly do nuffin wid 'im.\n\n\"It wuz 'gin' de rules fer any er de han's ter go 'way fum de pla ntation at night\; but Primus did n' min' de rules\, en went w'en he felt lack it\; en de w'ite folks purten' lack dey did n' know it\, fer Primus w as dange'ous w'en he got in dem stubborn spells\, en dey 'd ruther not foo l wid 'im.\n\n\"One night in de spring er de year\, Primus slip' off fum d e plantation\, en went down on de Wim'l'ton Road ter a dance gun by some e r de free niggers down dere. Dey wuz a fiddle\, en a banjo\, en a jug gwin e roun' on de outside\, en Primus sung en dance' 'tel 'long 'bout two o'cl ock in de mawnin'\, w'en he start' fer home. Ez he come erlong back\, he t uk a nigh-cut 'cross de cottonfiel's en 'long by de aidge er de Min'al Spr ing Swamp\, so ez ter git shet er de patteroles w'at rid up en down de big road fer ter keep de darkies fum runnin' roun' nights. Primus was sa'nt'r in' 'long\, studyin' 'bout de good time he 'd had wid de gals\, w'en\, ez he wuz gwine by a fence co'nder\, w'at sh'd he heah but sump'n grunt. He s topped a minute ter listen\, en he heared sump'n grunt ag'in. Den he went ober ter de fence whar he heard de fuss\, en dere\, layin' in de fence co' nder\, on a pile er pine straw\, he seed a fine\, fat shote.\n\n\"Primus l ook' ha'd at de shote\, en den sta'ted home. But somehow er 'nudder he cou ld n' git away fum dat shote\; w'en he tuk one step for'ards wid one foot\ , de yuther foot 'peared ter take two steps back'ards\, en so he kep' nach ly gittin' closeter en closeter ter de shote. It was de beatin'es' thing! De shote des 'peared ter cha'm Primus\, en fus' thing you know Primus foun ' hisse'f 'way up de road wid de shote on his back.\n\n\"Ef Primus had 'a' knowed whose shote dat wuz\, he 'd 'a' manage' ter git pas' it somehow er 'nudder. Ez it happen'\, de shote b'long ter a cunjuh man w'at libbed dow n in de free-nigger sett'ement. Co'se de cunjuh man did n' hab ter wuk his roots but a little w'ile 'fo' he foun' out who tuk his shote\, en den de trouble begun. One mawnin'\, a day er so later\, en befo' he got de shote eat up\, Primus did n' go ter wuk w'en de hawn blow\, en w'en de oberseah wen' ter look fer him\, dey wa' no trace er Primus ter be 'skivered nowhar . W'en he did n' come back in a day er so mo'\, eve'ybody on de plantation 'lowed he had runned erway. His marster a'vertise' him in de papers\, en offered a big reward fer 'im. De nigger-ketchers fotch out dey dogs\, en t rack' 'im down ter de aidge er de swamp\, en den de scent gun out\; en dat was de las' anybody seed er Primus fer a long\, long time.\n\n\"Two er th 'ee weeks atter Primus disappear'\, his marster went ter town one Sad'day. Mars Jim was stan'in' in front er Sandy Campbell's bar-room\, up by de ol e wagon-ya'd\, w'en a po' w'ite man fum down on de Wim'l'ton Road come up ter 'im en ax' 'im\, kinder keerless lack\, ef he did n' wanter buy a mule .\n\n\"'I dunno\,' says Mars Jim\; 'it 'pen's on de mule\, en on de price. Whar is de mule?'\n\n\"'Des 'roun' heah back er ole Tom McAllister's sto' \,' says de po' w'ite man.\n\n\"'I reckon I'll hab a look at de mule\,' sa ys Mars Jim\, 'en ef he suit me\, I dunno but w'at I mought buy 'im.'\n\n\ "So de po' w'ite man tuk Mars Jim 'roun' back er de sto'\, en dere stood a monst'us fine mule. W'en de mule see Mars Jim\, he gun a whinny\, des lac k he knowed him befo'. Mars Jim look' at de mule\, en de mule 'peared ter be soun' en strong. Mars Jim 'lowed dey 'peared ter be sump'n fermilyus 'b out de mule's face\, 'spesh'ly his eyes\; but he had n' los' naer mule\, e n did n' hab no recommemb'ance er habin' seed de mule befo'. He ax' de po' buckrah whar he got de mule\, en de po' buckrah say his brer raise' de mu le down on Rockfish Creek. Mars Jim was a little s'picious er seein' a po' w'ite man wid sech a fine creetur\, but he fin'lly 'greed ter gib de man fifty dollars fer de mule\,—'bout ha'f w'at a good mule was wuf dem days .\n\n\"He tied de mule behin' de buggy w'en he went home\, en put 'im ter ploughin' cotton de nex' day. De mule done mighty well fer th'ee er fo' da ys\, en den de niggers 'mence' ter notice some quare things erbout him. De y wuz a medder on de plantation whar dey use' ter put de hosses en mules t er pastur'. Hit was fence' off fum de cornfiel' on one side\, but on de yu ther side'n de pastur' was a terbacker-patch w'at wa'n't fence' off\, 'ca' se de beastisses doan none un 'em eat terbacker. Dey doan know w'at 's goo d! Terbacker is lack religion\, de good Lawd made it fer people\, en dey a in' no yuther creetur w'at kin 'preciate it. De darkies notice' dat de fus ' thing de new mule done\, w'en he was turnt inter de pastur'\, wuz ter ma ke fer de terbacker-patch. Co'se dey didn' think nuffin un it\, but nex' m awnin'\, w'en dey went ter ketch 'im\, dey 'skivered dat he had eat up two whole rows er terbacker plants. Atter dat dey had ter put a halter on 'im \, en tie 'im ter a stake\, er e'se dey would n' 'a' been naer leaf er ter backer lef' in de patch.\n\n\"Ernudder day one er de han's\, name' 'Dolphu s\, hitch' de mule up\, en dribe up here ter dis yer vimya'd\,—dat wuz w 'en ole Mars Dugal' own' dis place. Mars Dugal' had kilt a yearlin'\, en d e naber w'ite folks all sont ober fer ter git some fraish beef\, en Mars J im had sont 'Dolphus fer some too. Dey wuz a winepress in de ya'd whar 'Do lphus lef' de mule a-stan'in'\, en right in front er de press dey wuz a tu b er grape-juice\, des pressed out\, en a little ter one side a bairl erbo ut half full er wine w'at had be'n stan'in' two er th'ee days\, en had beg un ter git sorter sha'p ter de tas'e. Dey wuz a couple er bo'ds on top er dis yer bairl\, wid a rock laid on 'em ter hol' 'em down. Ez I wuz a-sayin '\, 'Dolphus lef' de mule stan'in' in de ya'd\, en went inter de smoke-hou se fer ter git de beef. Bimeby\, w'en he come out\, he seed de mule a-stag g'rin' 'bout de ya'd\; en 'fo' 'Dolphus could git dere ter fin' out w'at w uz de matter\, de mule fell right ober on his side\, en laid dere des' lac k he was dead.\n\n\"All de niggers 'bout de house run out dere fer ter see w'at wuz de matter. Some say de mule had de colic\; some say one thing en some ernudder\; 'tel bimeby one er de han's seed de top wuz off'n de bair l\, en run en looked in.\n\n\"'Fo' de Lawd!' he say\, 'dat mule drunk! he be'n drinkin' de wine.' En sho' 'nuff\, de mule had pas' right by de tub e r fraish grape-juice en push' de kiver off'n de bairl\, en drunk two er th 'ee gallon er de wine w'at had been stan'in' long ernough fer ter begin te r git sha'p.\n\n\"De darkies all made a great 'miration 'bout de mule gitt in' drunk. Dey never had n' seed nuffin lack it in dey bawn days. Dey po'd water ober de mule\, en tried ter sober 'im up\; but it wa'n't no use\, e n 'Dolphus had ter take de beef home on his back\, en leabe de mule dere\, 'tel he slep' off 'is spree.\n\n\"I doan 'member whe'r I tol' you er no\, but w'en Primus disappear' fum de plantation\, he lef' a wife behin' 'im\ ,—a monst'us good-lookin' yaller gal\, name' Sally. W'en Primus had be'n gone a mont' er so\, Sally 'mence' fer ter git lonesome\, en tuk up wid e rnudder young man name' Dan\, w'at b'long' on de same plantation. One day dis yer Dan tuk de noo mule out in de cotton-fiel' fer ter plough\, en w'e n dey wuz gwine 'long de tu'n-row\, who sh'd he meet but dis yer Sally. Da n look' 'roun' en he did n' see de oberseah nowhar\, so he stop' a minute fer ter run on wid Sally.\n\n\"'Hoddy\, honey\,' sezee. 'How you feelin' d is mawnin'?'\n\n\"'Fus' rate\,' 'spon' Sally.\n\n\"Dey wuz lookin' at one ernudder\, en dey did n' naer one un 'em pay no 'tention ter de mule\, who had turnt 'is head 'roun' en wuz lookin' at Sally ez ha'd ez he could\, e n stretchin' 'is neck en raisin' 'is years\, en whinnyin' kinder sof' ter hisse'f.\n\n\"'Yas\, honey\,' 'lows Dan\, 'en you gwine ter feel fus' rate long ez you sticks ter me. Fer I's a better man dan dat low-down runaway nigger Primus dat you be'n wastin' yo' time wid.'\n\n\"Dan had let go de p lough-handle\, en had put his arm 'roun' Sally\, en wuz des gwine ter kiss her\, w'en sump'n ketch' 'im by de scruff er de neck en flung 'im 'way ob er in de cotton-patch. W'en he pick' 'isse'f up\, Sally had gone kitin' do wn de tu'n-row\, en de mule wuz stan'in' dere lookin' ez ca'm en peaceful ez a Sunday mawnin'.\n\n\"Fus' Dan had 'lowed it wuz de oberseah w'at had cotch' 'im wastin' 'is time. But dey wa'n't no oberseah in sight\, so he ' cluded it must 'a' be'n de mule. So he pitch' inter de mule en lammed 'im ez ha'd ez he could. De mule tuk it all\, en 'peared ter be ez 'umble ez a mule could be\; but w'en dey wuz makin' de turn at de een' er de row\, on e er de plough-lines got under de mule's hin' leg. Dan retch' down ter git de line out\, sorter keerless like\, w'en de mule haul' off en kick him c lean ober de fence inter a brier-patch on de yuther side.\n\n\"Dan wuz mig hty so' fum 'is woun's en scratches\, en wuz laid up fer two er th'ee days . One night de noo mule got out'n de pastur'\, en went down to de quarters . Dan wuz layin' dere on his pallet\, w'en he heard sump'n bangin' erway a t de side er his cabin. He raise' up on one shoulder en look' roun'\, w'en w'at should he see but de noo mule's head stickin' in de winder\, wid his lips drawed back over his toofs\, grinnin' en snappin' at Dan des' lack h e wanter eat 'im up. Den de mule went roun' ter de do'\, en kick' erway la ck he wanter break de do' down\, 'tel bimeby somebody come 'long en driv h im back ter de pastur'. W'en Sally come in a little later fum de big house \, whar she 'd be'n waitin' on de w'ite folks\, she foun' po' Dan nigh 'bo ut dead\, he wuz so skeered. She 'lowed Dan had had de nightmare\; but w'e n dey look' at de do'\, dey seed de marks er de mule's huffs\, so dey coul d n' be no mistake 'bout w'at had happen'.\n\n\"Co'se de niggers tol' dey marster 'bout de mule's gwines-on. Fust he did n' pay no 'tention ter it\, but atter a w'ile he tol' 'em ef dey did n' stop dey foolis'ness\, he gwi ne tie some un 'em up. So atter dat dey did n' say nuffin mo' ter dey mars ter\, but dey kep' on noticin' de mule's quare ways des de same.\n\n\"'Lon g 'bout de middle er de summer dey wuz a big camp-meetin' broke out down o n de Wim'l'ton Road\, en nigh 'bout all de po' w'ite folks en free niggers in de settlement got 'ligion\, en lo en behol'! 'mongs' 'em wuz de cunjuh man w'at own' de shote w'at cha'med Primus.\n\n\"Dis cunjuh man wuz a Gui nea nigger\, en befo' he wuz sot free had use' ter b'long ter a gent'eman down in Sampson County. De cunjuh man say his daddy wuz a king\, er a guv' ner\, er some sorter w'at-you-may-call-'em 'way ober yander in Affiky whar de niggers come fum\, befo' he was stoled erway en sol' ter de spekilater s. De cunjuh man had he'ped his marster out'n some trouble ernudder wid hi s goopher\, en his marster had sot him free\, en bought him a trac' er lan d down on de Wim'l'ton Road. He purten' ter be a cow-doctor\, but eve'ybod y knowed w'at he r'al'y wuz.\n\n\"De cunjuh man had n' mo' d'n come th'oo good\, befo' he wuz tuk sick wid a col' w'at he kotch kneelin' on de groun ' so long at de mou'ners' bench. He kep' gittin' wusser en wusser\, en bim eby de rheumatiz tuk holt er 'im\, en drawed him all up\, 'tel one day he sont word up ter Mars Jim McGee's plantation\, en ax' Pete\, de nigger w'a t tuk keer er de mules\, fer ter come down dere dat night en fetch dat mul e w'at his marster had bought fum de po' w'ite man dyoin' er de summer.\n\ n\"Pete did n' know w'at de cunjuh man wuz dribin' at\, but he did n' dast er stay way\; en so dat night\, w'en he 'd done eat his bacon en his hoe-c ake\, en drunk his 'lasses-en-water\, he put a bridle on de mule\, en rid 'im down ter de cunjuh man's cabin. W'en he got ter de do'\, he lit en hit ch' de mule\, en den knock' at de do'. He felt mighty jubous 'bout gwine i n\, but he was bleedst ter do it\; he knowed he could n' he'p 'isse'f.\n\n \"'Pull de string\,' sez a weak voice\, en w'en Pete lif de latch en went in\, de cunjuh man was layin' on de bed\, lookin' pale en weak\, lack he d id n' hab much longer fer ter lib.\n\n\"'Is you fotch' de mule?' sezee.\n\ n\"Pete say yas\, en de cunjuh man kep' on.\n\n\"'Brer Pete\,' sezee\, 'I' s be'n a monst'us sinner man\, en I's done a power er wickedness endyoin' er my days\; but de good Lawd is wash' my sins erway\, en I feels now dat I's boun' fer de kingdom. En I feels\, too\, dat I ain' gwine ter git up f um dis bed no mo' in dis worl'\, en I wants ter ondo some er de harm I don e. En dat's de reason\, Brer Pete\, I sont fer you ter fetch dat mule down here. You 'member dat shote I was up ter yo' plantation inquirin' 'bout l as' June?'\n\n\"'Yas\,' says Brer Pete\, 'I'member yo' axin' 'bout a shote you had los'.'\n\n\"'I dunno whe'r you eber l'arnt it er no\,' says de cu njuh man\, 'but I done knowed yo' marster's Primus had tuk de shote\, en I wuz boun' ter git eben wid 'im. So one night I cotch' 'im down by de swam p on his way ter a candy-pullin'\, en I th'owed a goopher mixtry on 'im\, en turnt 'im ter a mule\, en got a po' w'ite man ter sell de mule\, en we 'vided de money. But I doan want ter die 'tel I turn Brer Primus back ag'i n.'\n\n\"Den de cunjuh man ax' Pete ter take down one er two go'ds off'n a she'f in de corner\, en one er two bottles wid some kin' er mixtry in 'em \, en set 'em on a stool by de bed\; en den he ax' 'im ter fetch de mule i n.\n\n\"W'en de mule come in de do'\, he gin a snort\, en started fer de b ed\, des lack he was gwine ter jump on it.\n\n\"'Hol' on dere\, Brer Primu s!' de cunjuh man hollered. 'I's monst'us weak\, en ef you 'mence on me\, you won't nebber hab no chance fer ter git turn' back no mo'.'\n\n\"De mul e seed de sense er dat\, en stood still. Den de cunjuh man tuk de go'ds en bottles\, en 'mence' ter wuk de roots en yarbs\, en de mule 'mence' ter t urn back ter a man\,—fust his years\, den de res' er his head\, den his shoulders en arms. All de time de cunjuh man kep' on wukkin' his roots\; e n Pete en Primus could see he wuz gittin' weaker en weaker all de time.\n\ n\"'Brer Pete\,' sezee\, bimeby\, 'gimme a drink er dem bitters out'n dat green bottle on de she'f yander. I's gwine fas'\, en it'll gimme strenk fe r ter finish dis wuk.'\n\n\"Brer Pete look' up on de mantelpiece\, en he s eed a bottle in de corner. It was so da'k in de cabin he could n' tell whe 'r it wuz a green bottle er no. But he hilt de bottle ter de cunjuh man's mouf\, en he tuk a big mouff'l. He had n' mo' d'n swallowed it befo' he 'm ence' ter holler.\n\n\"'You gimme de wrong bottle\, Brer Pete\; dis yer bo ttle 's got pizen in it\, en I's done fer dis time\, sho'. Hol' me up\, fe r de Lawd's sake! 'tel I git th'oo turnin' Brer Primus back.'\n\n\"So Pete hilt him up\, en he kep' on wukkin' de roots\, 'tel he got de goopher all tuk off'n Brer Primus 'cep'n' one foot. He had n' got dis foot mo' d'n ha lf turnt back befo' his strenk gun out enti'ely\, en he drap' de roots en fell back on de bed.\n\n\"'I can't do no mo' fer you\, Brer Primus\,' seze e\, 'but I hopes you will fergib me fer w'at harm I done you. I knows de g ood Lawd done fergib me\, en I hope ter meet you bofe in glory. I sees de good angels waitin' fer me up yander\, wid a long w'ite robe en a starry c rown\, en I'm on my way ter jine 'em.' En so de cunjuh man died\, en Pete en Primus went back ter de plantation.\n\n\"De darkies all made a great 'm iration w'en Primus come back. Mars Jim let on lack he did n' b'lieve de t ale de two niggers tol'\; he sez Primus had runned erway\, en stay' 'tel h e got ti'ed er de swamps\, en den come back on him ter be fed. He tried te r 'count fer de shape er Primus' foot by sayin' Primus got his foot smash' \, er snake-bit\, er sump'n\, w'iles he wuz erway\, en den stayed out in d e woods whar he could n' git it kyoed up straight\, 'stidder comin' long h ome whar a doctor could 'a' 'tended ter it. But de niggers all notice' dey marster did n' tie Primus up\, ner take on much 'ca'se de mule wuz gone. So dey 'lowed dey marster must 'a' had his s'picions 'bout dat cunjuh man. \"\n\nMy wife had listened to Julius's recital with only a mild interest. When the old man had finished it she remarked:—\n\n\"That story does not appeal to me\, Uncle Julius\, and is not up to your usual mark. It isn't pathetic\, it has no moral that I can discover\, and I can't see why you s hould tell it. In fact\, it seems to me like nonsense.\"\n\nThe old man lo oked puzzled as well as pained. He had not pleased the lady\, and he did n ot seem to understand why.\n\n\"I'm sorry\, ma'm\,\" he said reproachfully \, \"ef you doan lack dat tale. I can't make out w'at you means by some er dem wo'ds you uses\, but I'm tellin' nuffin but de truf. Co'se I did n' s ee de cunjuh man tu'n 'im back\, fer I wuz n' dere\; but I be'n hearin' de tale fer twenty-five yeahs\, en I ain' got no 'casion fer ter 'spute it. Dey 's so many things a body knows is lies\, dat dey ain' no use gwine rou n' findin' fault wid tales dat mought des ez well be so ez not. F' instanc e\, dey's a young nigger gwine ter school in town\, en he come out heah de yuther day en 'lowed dat de sun stood still en de yeath turnt roun' eve'y day on a kinder axletree. I tol' dat young nigger ef he didn' take hisse' f 'way wid dem lies\, I 'd take a buggy-trace ter 'im\; fer I sees de yeat h stan'in' still all de time\, en I sees de sun gwine roun' it\, en ef a m an can't b'lieve w'at 'e sees\, I can't see no use in libbin'—mought's w ell die en be whar we can't see nuffin. En ernudder thing w'at proves de t ale 'bout dis ole Primus is de way he goes on ef anybody ax' him how he co me by dat club-foot. I axed 'im one day\, mighty perlite en civil\, en he call' me a' ole fool\, en got so mad he ain' spoke ter me sence. Hit's mon st'us quare. But dis is a quare worl'\, anyway yer kin fix it\,\" conclude d the old man\, with a weary sigh.\n\n\"Ef you makes up yo' min' not ter b uy dat mule\, suh\,\" he added\, as he rose to go\, \"I knows a man w'at ' s got a good hoss he wants ter sell\,—leas'ways dat's w'at I heared. I'm gwine ter pra'rmeetin' ter-night\, en I'm gwine right by de man's house\, en ef you 'd lack ter look at de hoss\, I'll ax 'im ter fetch him roun'.\ "\n\n\"Oh\, yes\,\" I said\, \"you can ask him to stop in\, if he is passi ng. There will be no harm in looking at the horse\, though I rather think I shall buy a mule.\"\n\nEarly next morning the man brought the horse up t o the vineyard. At that time I was not a very good judge of horseflesh. Th e horse appeared sound and gentle\, and\, as the owner assured me\, had no bad habits. The man wanted a large price for the horse\, but finally agre ed to accept a much smaller sum\, upon payment of which I became possessed of a very fine-looking animal. But alas for the deceitfulness of appearan ces! I soon ascertained that the horse was blind in one eye\, and that the sight of the other was very defective\; and not a month elapsed before my purchase developed most of the diseases that horse-flesh is heir to\, and a more worthless\, broken-winded\, spavined quadruped never disgraced the noble name of horse. After worrying through two or three months of life\, he expired one night in a fit of the colic. I replaced him with a mule\, and Julius henceforth had to take his chances of driving some metamorphose d unfortunate.\n\nCircumstances that afterwards came to my knowledge creat ed in my mind a strong suspicion that Julius may have played a more than u nconscious part in this transaction. Among other significant facts was his appearance\, the Sunday following the purchase of the horse\, in a new su it of store clothes\, which I had seen displayed in the window of Mr. Solo mon Cohen's store on my last visit to town\, and had remarked on account o f their striking originality of cut and pattern. As I had not recently pai d Julius any money\, and as he had no property to mortgage\, I was driven to conjecture to account for his possession of the means to buy the clothe s. Of course I would not charge him with duplicity unless I could prove it \, at least to a moral certainty\, but for a long time afterwards I took h is advice only in small doses and with great discrimination.\n\nSIS' BECKY 'S PICKANINNY\n\nWe had not lived in North Carolina very long before I was able to note a marked improvement in my wife's health. The ozone-laden ai r of the surrounding piney woods\, the mild and equable climate\, the peac eful leisure of country life\, had brought about in hopeful measure the cu re we had anticipated. Toward the end of our second year\, however\, her a ilment took an unexpected turn for the worse. She became the victim of a s ettled melancholy\, attended with vague forebodings of impending misfortun e.\n\n\"You must keep up her spirits\,\" said our physician\, the best in the neighboring town. \"This melancholy lowers her tone too much\, tends t o lessen her strength\, and\, if it continue too long\, may be fraught wit h grave consequences.\"\n\nI tried various expedients to cheer her up. I r ead novels to her. I had the hands on the place come up in the evening and serenade her with plantation songs. Friends came in sometimes and talked\ , and frequent letters from the North kept her in touch with her former ho me. But nothing seemed to rouse her from the depression into which she had fallen.\n\nOne pleasant afternoon in spring\, I placed an armchair in a s haded portion of the front piazza\, and filling it with pillows led my wif e out of the house and seated her where she would have the pleasantest vie w of a somewhat monotonous scenery. She was scarcely placed when old Juliu s came through the yard\, and\, taking off his tattered straw hat\, inquir ed\, somewhat anxiously:—\n\n\"How is you feelin' dis atternoon\, ma'm?\ "\n\n\"She is not very cheerful\, Julius\,\" I said. My wife was apparentl y without energy enough to speak for herself.\n\nThe old man did not seem inclined to go away\, so I asked him to sit down. I had noticed\, as he ca me up\, that he held some small object in his hand. When he had taken his seat on the top step\, he kept fingering this object\,—what it was I cou ld not quite make out.\n\n\"What is that you have there\, Julius?\" I aske d\, with mild curiosity.\n\n\"Dis is my rabbit foot\, suh.\"\n\nThis was a t a time before this curious superstition had attained its present jocular popularity among white people\, and while I had heard of it before\, it h ad not yet outgrown the charm of novelty.\n\n\"What do you do with it?\"\n \n\"I kyars it wid me fer luck\, suh.\"\n\n\"Julius\,\" I observed\, half to him and half to my wife\, \"your people will never rise in the world un til they throw off these childish superstitions and learn to live by the l ight of reason and common sense. How absurd to imagine that the fore-foot of a poor dead rabbit\, with which he timorously felt his way along throug h a life surrounded by snares and pitfalls\, beset by enemies on every han d\, can promote happiness or success\, or ward off failure or misfortune!\ "\n\n\"It is ridiculous\,\" assented my wife\, with faint interest.\n\n\"D at 's w'at I tells dese niggers roun' heah\,\" said Julius. \"De fo'-foot ain' got no power. It has ter be de hin'-foot\, suh\,—de lef hin'-foot e r a grabe-ya'd rabbit\, killt by a cross-eyed nigger on a da'k night in de full er de moon.\"\n\n\"They must be very rare and valuable\,\" I said.\n \n\"Dey is kinder ska'ce\, suh\, en dey ain' no 'mount er money could buy mine\, suh. I mought len' it ter anybody I sot sto' by\, but I would n' se ll it\, no indeed\, suh\, I would n'.\"\n\n\"How do you know it brings goo d luck?\" I asked.\n\n\"'Ca'se I ain' had no bad luck sence I had it\, suh \, en I's had dis rabbit foot fer fo'ty yeahs. I had a good marster befo' de wah\, en I wa'n't sol' erway\, en I wuz sot free\; en dat 'uz all good luck.\"\n\n\"But that doesn't prove anything\,\" I rejoined. \"Many other people have gone through a similar experience\, and probably more than one of them had no rabbit's foot.\"\n\n\"Law\, suh! you doan hafter prove 'bo ut de rabbit foot! Eve'ybody knows dat\; leas'ways eve'ybody roun' heah kn ows it. But ef it has ter be prove' ter folks w'at wa'n't bawn en raise' i n dis naberhood\, dey is a' easy way ter prove it. Is I eber tol' you de t ale er Sis' Becky en her pickaninny?\"\n\n\"No\,\" I said\, \"let us hear it.\" I thought perhaps the story might interest my wife as much or more t han the novel I had meant to read from.\n\n\"Dis yer Becky\,\" Julius bega n\, \"useter b'long ter ole Kunnel Pen'leton\, who owned a plantation down on de Wim'l'ton Road\, 'bout ten miles fum heah\, des befo' you gits ter Black Swamp. Dis yer Becky wuz a fiel'-han'\, en a monst'us good 'un. She had a husban' oncet\, a nigger w'at b'longed on de nex' plantation\, but d e man w'at owned her husban' died\, en his lan' en his niggers had ter be sol' fer ter pay his debts. Kunnel Pen'leton 'lowed he'd 'a' bought dis ni gger\, but he had be'n bettin' on hoss races\, en did n' hab no money\, en so Becky's husban' wuz sol' erway ter Fuhginny.\n\n\"Co'se Becky went on some 'bout losin' her man\, but she could n' he'p herse'f\; en 'sides dat\ , she had her pickaninny fer ter comfo't her. Dis yer little Mose wuz de c utes'\, blackes'\, shiny-eyedes' little nigger you eber laid eyes on\, en he wuz ez fon' er his mammy ez his mammy wuz er him. Co'se Becky had ter w uk en did n' hab much time ter was'e wid her baby. Ole Aun' Nancy\, de pla ntation nuss down at de qua'ters\, useter take keer er little Mose in de d aytime\, en atter de niggers come in fum de cotton-fiel' Becky 'ud git her chile en kiss 'im en nuss 'im\, en keep 'im 'tel mawnin'\; en on Sundays she 'd hab 'im in her cabin wid her all day long.\n\n\"Sis' Becky had got sorter useter gittin' 'long widout her husban'\, w'en one day Kunnel Pen'l eton went ter de races. Co'se w'en he went ter de races\, he tuk his hosse s\, en co'se he bet on 'is own hosses\, en co'se he los' his money\; fer K unnel Pen'leton did n' nebber hab no luck wid his hosses\, ef he did keep hisse'f po' projeckin' wid 'em. But dis time dey wuz a hoss name' Lightnin ' Bug\, w'at b'longed ter ernudder man\, en dis hoss won de sweep-stakes\; en Kunnel Pen'leton tuk a lackin' ter dat hoss\, en ax' his owner w'at he wuz willin' ter take fer 'im.\n\n\"'I'll take a thousan' dollahs fer dat hoss\,' sez dis yer man\, who had a big plantation down to'ds Wim'l'ton\, whar he raise' hosses fer ter race en ter sell.\n\n\"Well\, Kunnel Pen'let on scratch' 'is head\, en wonder whar he wuz gwine ter raise a thousan' do llahs\; en he did n' see des how he could do it\, fer he owed ez much ez h e could borry a'ready on de skyo'ity he could gib. But he wuz des boun' te r hab dat hoss\, so sezee:—\n\n\"'I'll gib you my note fer' 'leven hund' ed dollahs fer dat hoss.'\n\n\"De yuther man shuck 'is head\, en sezee:— \n\n\"'Yo' note\, suh\, is better 'n gol'\, I doan doubt\; but I is made i t a rule in my bizness not ter take no notes fum nobody. Howsomeber\, suh\ , ef you is kinder sho't er fun's\, mos' lackly we kin make some kin' er b ahg'in. En w'iles we is talkin'\, I mought 's well say dat I needs ernudde r good nigger down on my place. Ef you is got a good one ter spar'\, I mou ght trade wid you.'\n\n\"Now\, Kunnel Pen'leton did n' r'ally hab no nigge rs fer ter spar'\, but he 'lowed ter hisse'f he wuz des bleedzd ter hab da t hoss\, en so he sez\, sezee:—\n\n\"'Well\, I doan lack ter\, but I rec kon I'll haf ter. You come out ter my plantation ter-morrer en look ober m y niggers\, en pick out de one you wants.'\n\n\"So sho' 'nuff nex' day dis yer man come out ter Kunnel Pen'leton's place en rid roun' de plantation en glanshed at de niggers\, en who sh'd he pick out fum 'em all but Sis' B ecky.\n\n\"'I needs a noo nigger 'oman down ter my place\,' sezee\, 'fer t er cook en wash\, en so on\; en dat young 'oman'll des fill de bill. You g imme her\, en you kin hab Lightnin' Bug.'\"\n\n\"Now\, Kunnel Pen'leton di d n' lack ter trade Sis' Becky\, 'ca'se she wuz nigh 'bout de bes' fiel'-h an' he had\; en 'sides\, Mars Kunnel did n' keer ter take de mammies 'way fum dey chillun w'iles de chillun wuz little. But dis man say he want Beck y\, er e'se Kunnel Pen'leton could n' hab de race hoss.\n\n\"'Well\,' sez de kunnel\, 'you kin hab de 'oman. But I doan lack ter sen' her 'way fum h er baby. W'at'll you gimme fer dat nigger baby?'\n\n\"'I doan want de baby \,' sez de yuther man. 'I ain' got no use fer de baby.'\n\n\"'I tell yer w 'at I'll do\,' 'lows Kunnel Pen'leton\, 'I'll th'ow dat pickaninny in fer good measure.'\n\n\"But de yuther man shuck his head. 'No\,' sezee\, 'I's much erbleedzd\, but I doan raise niggers\; I raises hosses\, en I doan wa nter be both'rin' wid no nigger babies. Nemmine de baby. I'll keep dat 'om an so busy she 'll fergit de baby\; fer niggers is made ter wuk\, en dey a in' got no time fer no sich foolis'ness ez babies.'\n\n\"Kunnel Pen'leton did n' wanter hu't Becky's feelin's\,—fer Kunnel Pen'leton wuz a kin'-he a'ted man\, en nebber lack' ter make no trouble fer nobody\,—en so he to l' Becky he wuz gwine sen' her down ter Robeson County fer a day er so\, t er he'p out his son-in-law in his wuk\; en bein' ez dis yuther man wuz gwi ne dat way\, he had ax' 'im ter take her 'long in his buggy.\n\n\"'Kin I k yar little Mose wid me\, marster?' ax' Sis' Becky.\n\n\"'N-o\,' sez de kun nel\, ez ef he wuz studyin' whuther ter let her take 'im er no\;' I reckon you better let Aun' Nancy look atter yo' baby fer de day er two you'll be gone\, en she'll see dat he gits ernuff ter eat 'tel you gits back.'\n\n\ "So Sis' Becky hug' en kiss' little Mose\, en tol' 'im ter be a good littl e pickaninny\, en take keer er hisse'f\, en not fergit his mammy w'iles sh e wuz gone. En little Mose put his arms roun' his mammy en lafft en crowed des lack it wuz monst'us fine fun fer his mammy ter go 'way en leabe 'im. \n\n\"Well\, dis yer hoss trader sta'ted out wid Becky\, en bimeby\, atter dey 'd gone down de Lumbe'ton Road fer a few miles er so\, dis man tu'nt roun' in a diffe'nt d'rection\, en kep' goin' dat erway\, 'tel bimeby Sis' Becky up 'n ax' 'im ef he wuz gwine' ter Robeson County by a noo road.\n\ n\"'No\, nigger\,' sezee\, 'I ain' gwine ter Robeson County at all. I's gw ine ter Bladen County\, whar my plantation is\, en whar I raises all my ho sses.'\n\n\"'But how is I gwine ter git ter Mis' Laura's plantation down i n Robeson County?' sez Becky\, wid her hea't in her mouf\, fer she 'mence' ter git skeered all er a sudden.\n\n\"'You ain' gwine ter git dere at all \,' sez de man. 'You b'longs ter me now\, fer I done traded my bes' race h oss fer you\, wid yo' ole marster. Ef you is a good gal\, I'll treat you r ight\, en ef you doan behabe yo'se'f\,—w'y\, w'at e'se happens'll be yo' own fault.'\n\n\"Co'se Sis' Becky cried en went on 'bout her pickaninny\, but co'se it did n' do no good\, en bimeby dey got down ter dis yer man's place\, en he put Sis' Becky ter wuk\, en fergot all 'bout her habin' a p ickaninny.\n\n\"Meanw'iles\, w'en ebenin' come\, de day Sis' Becky wuz tuk 'way\, little Mose mence' ter git res'less\, en bimeby\, w'en his mammy d id n' come\, he sta'ted ter cry fer 'er. Aun' Nancy fed 'im en rocked 'im en rocked 'im\, en fin'lly he des cried en cried 'tel he cried hisse'f ter sleep.\n\n\"De nex' day he did n' 'pear ter be as peart ez yushal\, en w' en night come he fretted en went on wuss 'n he did de night befo'. De nex' day his little eyes 'mence' ter lose dey shine\, en he would n' eat nuffi n\, en he 'mence' ter look so peaked dat Aun' Nancy tuk 'n kyared 'im up t er de big house\, en showed 'im ter her ole missis\, en her ole missis gun her some med'cine fer 'im\, en 'lowed ef he did n' git no better she sh'd fetch 'im up ter de big house ag'in\, en dey 'd hab a doctor\, en nuss li ttle Mose up dere. Fer Aun' Nancy's ole missis 'lowed he wuz a lackly litt le nigger en wu'th raisin'.\n\n\"But Aun' Nancy had l'arn' ter lack little Mose\, en she did n' wanter hab 'im tuk up ter de big house. En so w'en h e did n' git no better\, she gethered a mess er green peas\, and tuk de pe as en de baby\, en went ter see ole Aun' Peggy\, de cunjuh 'oman down by d e Wim'l'ton Road. She gun Aun' Peggy de mess er peas\, en tol' her all 'bo ut Sis' Becky en little Mose.\n\n\"'Dat is a monst'us small mess er peas y ou is fotch' me\,' sez Aun' Peggy\, sez she.\n\n\"'Yas\, I knows\,' 'lowed Aun' Nancy\, 'but dis yere is a monst'us small pickaninny.'\n\n\n\"'You'l l hafter fetch me sump'n mo'\,' sez Aun' Peggy\, 'fer you can't 'spec' me ter was'e my time diggin' roots en wukkin' cunj'ation fer nuffin.'\n\n\"'A ll right\,' sez Aun' Nancy\, 'I'll fetch you sump'n mo' nex' time.'\n\n\"' You bettah\,' sez Aun' Peggy\, 'er e'se dey'll be trouble. Wat dis yer lit tle pickaninny needs is ter see his mammy. You leabe 'im heah 'tel ebenin' en I'll show 'im his mammy.'\n\n\"So w'en Aun' Nancy had gone 'way\, Aun' Peggy tuk 'n wukked her roots\, en tu'nt little Mose ter a hummin'-bird\, en sont 'im off fer ter fin' his mammy.\n\n\"So little Mose flewed\, en f lewed\, en flewed away\, 'tel bimeby he got ter de place whar Sis' Becky b 'longed. He seed his mammy wukkin' roun' de ya'd\, en he could tell fum lo okin' at her dat she wuz trouble' in her min' 'bout sump'n\, en feelin' ki n' er po'ly. Sis' Becky heared sump'n hummin' roun' en roun' her\, sweet e n low. Fus' she 'lowed it wuz a hummin'-bird\; den she thought it sounded lack her little Mose croonin' on her breas' way back yander on de ole plan tation. En she des 'magine' it wuz her little Mose\, en it made her feel b ettah\, en she went on 'bout her wuk pearter 'n she'd done sence she 'd be 'n down dere. Little Mose stayed roun' 'tel late in de ebenin'\, en den fl ewed back ez hard ez he could ter Aun' Peggy. Ez fer Sis' Becky\, she drem p all dat night dat she wuz holdin' her pickaninny in her arms\, en kissin ' him\, en nussin' him\, des lack she useter do back on de ole plantation whar he wuz bawn. En fer th'ee er fo' days Sis' Becky went 'bout her wuk w id mo' sperrit dan she 'd showed sence she 'd be'n down dere ter dis man's plantation.\n\n\"De nex' day atter he come back\, little Mose wuz mo' pea rter en better 'n he had be'n fer a long time. But to'ds de een' er de wee k he 'mence' ter git res'less ag'in\, en stop' eatin'\, en Aun' Nancy kyar ed 'im down ter Aun' Peggy once mo'\, en she tu'nt 'im ter a mawkin'-bird dis time\, en sont 'im off ter see his mammy ag'in.\n\n\"It didn' take him long fer ter git dere\, en w'en he did\, he seed his mammy standin' in de kitchen\, lookin' back in de d'rection little Mose wuz comin' fum. En dey wuz tears in her eyes\, en she look' mo' po'ly en peaked 'n she had w'en he wuz down dere befo'. So little Mose sot on a tree in de ya'd en sung\, en sung\, en sung\, des fittin' ter split his th'oat. Fus' Sis' Becky did n' notice 'im much\, but dis mawkin'-bird kep' stayin' roun' de house all day\, en bimeby Sis' Becky des 'magine' dat mawkin'-bird wuz her little Mo se crowin' en crowin'\, des lack he useter do w'en his mammy would come ho me at night fum de cotton-fiel'. De mawkin'-bird stayed roun' dere 'mos' a ll day\, en w'en Sis' Becky went out in de ya'd one time\, dis yer mawkin' -bird lit on her shoulder en peck' at de piece er bread she wuz eatin'\, e n fluttered his wings so dey rub' up agin de side er her head. En w'en he flewed away 'long late in de ebenin'\, des 'fo' sundown\, Sis' Becky felt mo' better 'n she had sence she had heared dat hummin'-bird a week er so p as'. En dat night she dremp 'bout ole times ag'in\, des lack she did befo' .\n\n\"But dis yer totin' little Mose down ter ole Aun' Peggy\, en dis yer gittin' things fer ter pay de cunjuh 'oman\, use' up a lot er Aun' Nancy' s time\, en she begun ter git kinder ti'ed. 'Sides dat\, w'en Sis' Becky h ad be'n on de plantation\, she had useter he'p Aun' Nancy wid de young uns ebenin's en Sundays\; en Aun' Nancy 'mence' ter miss 'er monst'us\, 'spes hly sence she got a tech er de rheumatiz herse'f\, en so she 'lows ter ole Aun' Peggy one day:—\n\n\"'Aun' Peggy\, ain' dey no way you kin fetch S is' Becky back home?'\n\n\"'Huh!' sez Aun' Peggy\, 'I dunno 'bout dat. I'l l hafter wuk my roots en fin' out whuther I kin er no. But it'll take a mo nst'us heap er wuk\, en I can't was'e my time fer nuffin. Ef you'll fetch me sump'n ter pay me fer my trouble\, I reckon we kin fix it.'\n\n\"So nex ' day Aun' Nancy went down ter see Aun' Peggy ag'in.\n\n\"'Aun' Peggy\,' s ez she\, 'I is fotch' you my bes' Sunday head-hankercher. Will dat do?'\n\ n\"Aun' Peggy look' at de head-hankercher\, en run her han' ober it\, en s ez she:—\n\n\"'Yas\, dat'll do fus'-rate. I's be'n wukkin' my roots senc e you be'n gone\, en I 'lows mos' lackly I kin git Sis' Becky back\, but i t 's gwine take fig'rin' en studyin' ez well ez cunj'in'. De fus' thing te r do'll be ter stop fetchin' dat pickaninny down heah\, en not sen' 'im te r see his mammy no mo'. Ef he gits too po'ly\, you lemme know\, en I'll gi b you some kin' er mixtry fer ter make 'im fergit Sis' Becky fer a week er so. So 'less'n you comes fer dat\, you neenter come back ter see me no mo ' 'tel I sen's fer you.'\n\n\"So Aun' Peggy sont Aun' Nancy erway\, en de fus' thing she done wuz ter call a hawnet fum a nes' unner her eaves.\n\n\ "You go up ter Kunnel Pen'leton's stable\, hawnet\,' sez she\, 'en sting d e knees er de race hoss name' Lightnin' Bug. Be sho' en git de right one.' \n\n\"So de hawnet flewed up ter Kunnel Pen'leton's stable en stung Lightn in' Bug roun' de laigs\, en de nex' mawnin' Lightnin' Bug's knees wuz all swoll' up\, twice't ez big ez dey oughter be. W'en Kunnel Pen'leton went o ut ter de stable en see de hoss's laigs\, hit would 'a' des made you trimb le lack a leaf fer ter heah him cuss dat hoss trader. Howsomeber\, he cool ' off bimeby en tol' de stable boy fer ter rub Lightnin' Bug's laigs wid s ome linimum. De boy done ez his marster tol' 'im\, en by de nex' day de sw ellin' had gone down consid'able. Aun' Peggy had sont a sparrer\, w'at had a nes' in one er de trees close ter her cabin\, fer ter watch w'at wuz gw ine on 'roun' de big house\, en w'en dis yer sparrer tol' 'er de hoss wuz gittin' ober de swellin'\, she sont de hawnet back fer ter sting 'is knees some mo'\, en de nex' mawnin' Lightnin' Bug's laigs wuz swoll' up wuss 'n befo'.\n\n\"Well\, dis time Kunnel Pen'leton wuz mad th'oo en th'oo\, en all de way 'roun'\, en he cusst dat hoss trader up en down\, fum A ter Izz ard. He cusst so ha'd dat de stable boy got mos' skeered ter def\, en went off en hid hisse'f in de hay.\n\n\"Ez fer Kunnel Pen'leton\, he went righ t up ter de house en got out his pen en ink\, en tuk off his coat en roll' up his sleeves\, en writ a letter ter dis yer hoss trader\, en sezee:—\ n\n\"'You is sol' me a hoss w'at is got a ringbone er a spavin er sump'n\, en w'at I paid you fer wuz a soun' hoss. I wants you ter sen' my nigger ' oman back en take yo' ole hoss\, er e'se I'll sue you\, sho 's you bawn.'\ n\n\"But dis yer man wa'n't skeered a bit\, en he writ back ter Kunnel Pen 'leton dat a bahg'in wuz a bahg'in\; dat Lightnin' Bug wuz soun' w'en he s ol' 'im\, en ef Kunnel Pen'leton did n' knowed ernuff 'bout hosses ter tak e keer er a fine racer\, dat wuz his own fune'al. En he say Kunnel Pen'let on kin sue en be cusst fer all he keer\, but he ain' gwine ter gib up de n igger he bought en paid fer.\n\n\"W'en Kunnel Pen'leton got dis letter he wuz madder 'n he wuz befo'\, 'speshly 'ca'se dis man 'lowed he did n' know how ter take keer er fine hosses. But he could n' do nuffin but fetch a l awsuit\, en he knowed\, by his own 'spe'ience\, dat lawsuits wuz slow ez d e seben-yeah eetch and cos' mo' d'n dey come ter\, en he 'lowed he better go slow en wait awhile.\n\n\"Aun' Peggy knowed w'at wuz gwine on all dis t ime\, en she fix' up a little bag wid some roots en one thing en ernudder in it\, en gun it ter dis sparrer er her'n\, en tol' 'im ter take it 'way down yander whar Sis' Becky wuz\, en drap it right befo' de do' er her cab in\, so she 'd be sho' en fin' it de fus' time she come out'n de do'.\n\n\ "One night Sis' Becky dremp' her pickaninny wuz dead\, en de nex' day she wuz mo'nin' en groanin' all day. She dremp' de same dream th'ee nights run nin'\, en den\, de nex' mawnin' atter de las' night\, she foun' dis yer li ttle bag de sparrer had drap' in front her do'\; en she 'lowed she'd be'n cunju'd\, en wuz gwine ter die\, en ez long ez her pickaninny wuz dead dey wa'n't no use tryin' ter do nuffin nohow. En so she tuk 'n went ter bed\, en tol' her marster she 'd be'n cunju'd en wuz gwine ter die.\n\n\"Her ma rster lafft at her\, en argyed wid her\, en tried ter 'suade her out'n dis yer fool notion\, ez he called it\,—fer he wuz one er dese yer w'ite fo lks w'at purten' dey doan b'liebe in cunj'in'\,—but hit wa'n't no use. S is' Becky kep' gittin' wusser en wusser\, 'tel fin'lly dis yer man 'lowed Sis' Becky wuz gwine ter die\, sho' 'nuff. En ez he knowed dey had n' be'n nuffin de matter wid Lightnin' Bug w'en he traded 'im\, he 'lowed mebbe h e could kyo' 'im en fetch 'im roun' all right\, leas'ways good 'nuff ter s ell ag'in. En anyhow\, a lame hoss wuz better 'n a dead nigger. So he sot down en writ Kunnel Pen'leton a letter.\n\n\"'My conscience\,' sezee\, 'ha s be'n troublin' me 'bout dat ringbone' hoss I sol' you. Some folks 'lows a hoss trader ain' got no conscience\, but dey doan know me\, fer dat is m y weak spot\, en de reason I ain' made no mo' money hoss tradin'. Fac' is\ ,' sezee\, 'I is got so I can't sleep nights fum studyin' 'bout dat spavin ' hoss\; en I is made up my min' dat\, w'iles a bahg'in is a bahg'in\, en you seed Lightnin' Bug befo' you traded fer 'im\, principle is wuth mo' d' n money er hosses er niggers. So ef you'll sen' Lightnin' Bug down heah\, I'll sen' yo' nigger 'oman back\, en we'll call de trade off\, en be ez go od frien's ez we eber wuz\, en no ha'd feelin's.'\n\n\"So sho' 'nuff\, Kun nel Pen'leton sont de hoss back. En w'en de man w'at come ter bring Lightn in' Bug tol' Sis' Becky her pickaninny wa'n't dead\, Sis' Becky wuz so gla d dat she 'lowed she wuz gwine ter try ter lib 'tel she got back whar she could see little Mose once mo'. En w'en she retch' de ole plantation en se ed her baby kickin' en crowin' en holdin' out his little arms to'ds her\, she wush' she wuz n' cunju'd en did n' hafter die. En w'en Aun' Nancy tol' 'er all 'bout Aun' Peggy\, Sis' Becky went down ter see de cunjuh 'oman\, en Aun' Peggy tol' her she had cunju'd her. En den Aun' Peggy tuk de goop her off'n her\, en she got well\, en stayed on de plantation\, en raise' h er pickaninny. En w'en little Mose growed up\, he could sing en whistle de s lack a mawkin'-bird\, so dat de w'ite folks useter hab 'im come up ter d e big house at night\, en whistle en sing fer 'em\, en dey useter gib 'im money en vittles en one thing er ernudder\, w'ich he alluz tuk home ter hi s mammy\; fer he knowed all 'bout w'at she had gone th'oo. He tu'nt out te r be a sma't man\, en l'arnt de blacksmif trade\; en Kunnel Pen'leton let 'im hire his time. En bimeby he bought his mammy en sot her free\, en den he bought hisse'f\, en tuk keer er Sis' Becky ez long ez dey bofe libbed.\ "\n\nMy wife had listened to this story with greater interest than she had manifested in any subject for several days. I had watched her furtively f rom time to time during the recital\, and had observed the play of her cou ntenance. It had expressed in turn sympathy\, indignation\, pity\, and at the end lively satisfaction.\n\n\"That is a very ingenious fairy tale\, Ju lius\,\" I said\, \"and we are much obliged to you.\"\n\n\"Why\, John!\" s aid my wife severely\, \"the story bears the stamp of truth\, if ever a st ory did.\"\n\n\"Yes\,\" I replied\, \"especially the humming-bird episode\ , and the mocking-bird digression\, to say nothing of the doings of the ho rnet and the sparrow.\"\n\n\"Oh\, well\, I don't care\,\" she rejoined\, w ith delightful animation\; \"those are mere ornamental details and not at all essential. The story is true to nature\, and might have happened half a hundred times\, and no doubt did happen\, in those horrid days before th e war.\"\n\n\"By the way\, Julius\,\" I remarked\, \"your story doesn't es tablish what you started out to prove\,—that a rabbit's foot brings good luck.\"\n\n\"Hit's plain 'nuff ter me\, suh\,\" replied Julius. \"I bet y oung missis dere kin 'splain it herse'f.\"\n\n\"I rather suspect\,\" repli ed my wife promptly\, \"that Sis' Becky had no rabbit's foot.\"\n\n\"You i s hit de bull's-eye de fus' fire\, ma'm\,\" assented Julius. \"Ef Sis' Bec ky had had a rabbit foot\, she nebber would 'a' went th'oo all dis trouble .\"\n\nI went into the house for some purpose\, and left Julius talking to my wife. When I came back a moment later\, he was gone.\n\nMy wife's cond ition took a turn for the better from this very day\, and she was soon on the way to ultimate recovery. Several weeks later\, after she had resumed her afternoon drives\, which had been interrupted by her illness\, Julius brought the rockaway round to the front door one day\, and I assisted my w ife into the carriage.\n\n\"John\,\" she said\, before I had taken my seat \, \"I wish you would look in my room\, and bring me my handkerchief. You will find it in the pocket of my blue dress.\"\n\nI went to execute the co mmission. When I pulled the handkerchief out of her pocket\, something els e came with it and fell on the floor. I picked up the object and looked at it. It was Julius's rabbit's foot.\n\nTHE GRAY WOLFS HA'NT\n\nIt was a ra iny day at the vineyard. The morning had dawned bright and clear. But the sky had soon clouded\, and by nine o'clock there was a light shower\, foll owed by others at brief intervals. By noon the rain had settled into a dul l\, steady downpour. The clouds hung low\, and seemed to grow denser inste ad of lighter as they discharged their watery burden\, and there was now a nd then a muttering of distant thunder. Outdoor work was suspended\, and I spent most of the day at the house\, looking over my accounts and bringin g up some arrears of correspondence.\n\nTowards four o'clock I went out on the piazza\, which was broad and dry\, and less gloomy than the interior of the house\, and composed myself for a quiet smoke. I had lit my cigar a nd opened the volume I was reading at that time\, when my wife\, whom I ha d left dozing on a lounge\, came out and took a rocking-chair near me.\n\n \"I wish you would talk to me\, or read to me—or something\,\" she excla imed petulantly. \"It's awfully dull here today.\"\n\n\n\"I'll read to you with pleasure\,\" I replied\, and began at the point where I had found my bookmark:—\n\n\"'The difficulty of dealing with transformations so many -sided as those which all existences have undergone\, or are undergoing\, is such as to make a complete and deductive interpretation almost hopeless . So to grasp the total process of redistribution of matter and motion as to see simultaneously its several necessary results in their actual interd ependence is scarcely possible. There is\, however\, a mode of rendering t he process as a whole tolerably comprehensible. Though the genesis of the rearrangement of every evolving aggregate is in itself one\, it presents t o our intelligence'\"—\n\n\"John\,\" interrupted my wife\, \"I wish you would stop reading that nonsense and see who that is coming up the lane.\" \n\nI closed my book with a sigh. I had never been able to interest my wif e in the study of philosophy\, even when presented in the simplest and mos t lucid form.\n\nSome one was coming up the lane\; at least\, a huge faded cotton umbrella was making progress toward the house\, and beneath it a p air of nether extremities in trousers was discernible. Any doubt in my min d as to whose they were was soon resolved when Julius reached the steps an d\, putting the umbrella down\, got a good dash of the rain as he stepped up on the porch.\n\n\"Why in the world\, Julius\,\" I asked\, \"didn't you keep the umbrella up until you got under cover?\"\n\n\"It's bad luck\, su h\, ter raise a' umbrella in de house\, en w'iles I dunno whuther it's bad luck ter kyar one inter de piazzer er no\, I 'lows it's alluz bes' ter be on de safe side. I did n' s'pose you en young missis 'u'd be gwine on yo' dribe ter-day\, but bein' ez it's my pa't ter take you ef you does\, I 'l owed I 'd repo't fer dooty\, en let you say whuther er no you wants ter go .\"\n\n\"I'm glad you came\, Julius\,\" I responded. \"We don't want to go driving\, of course\, in the rain\, but I should like to consult you abou t another matter. I'm thinking of taking in a piece of new ground. What do you imagine it would cost to have that neck of woods down by the swamp cl eared up?\"\n\nThe old man's countenance assumed an expression of unwonted seriousness\, and he shook his head doubtfully.\n\n\"I dunno 'bout dat\, suh. It mought cos' mo'\, en it mought cos' less\, ez fuh ez money is cons arned. I ain' denyin' you could cl'ar up dat trac' er Ian' fer a hund'ed e r a couple er hund'ed dollahs\,—ef you wants ter cl'ar it up. But ef dat 'uz my trac' er Ian'\, I would n' 'sturb it\, no\, suh\, I would n'\; sho 's you bawn\, I would n'.\"\n\n\"But why not?\" I asked.\n\n\"It ain' fit tin' fer grapes\, fer noo groun' nebber is.\"\n\n\"I know it\, but\"—\n\ n\"It ain' no yeathly good fer cotton\, 'ca'se it's top low.\"\n\n\"Perhap s so\; but it will raise splendid corn.\"\n\n\"I dunno\,\" rejoined Julius deprecatorily. \"It's so nigh de swamp dat de 'coons'll eat up all de caw n.\"\n\n\"I think I'll risk it\,\" I answered.\n\n\"Well\, suh\,\" said Ju lius\, \"I wushes you much joy er yo' job. Ef you has bad luck er sickness er trouble er any kin'\, doan blame me. You can't say ole Julius did n' w a'n you.\"\n\n\"Warn him of what\, Uncle Julius?\" asked my wife.\n\n\"Er de bad luck w'at follers folks w'at 'sturbs dat trac' er Ian'. Dey is snak es en sco'pions in dem woods. En ef you manages ter 'scape de p'isen anima ls\, you is des boun' ter hab a ha'nt ter settle wid\,—ef you doan hab t wo.\"\n\n\"Whose haunt?\" my wife demanded\, with growing interest.\n\n\"D e gray wolf's ha'nt\, some folks calls it\,—but I knows better.\"\n\n\"T ell us about it\, Uncle Julius\,\" said my wife. \"A story will be a godse nd to-day.\"\n\nIt was not difficult to induce the old man to tell a story \, if he were in a reminiscent mood. Of tales of the old slavery days he s eemed indeed to possess an exhaustless store\,—some weirdly grotesque\, some broadly humorous\; some bearing the stamp of truth\, faint\, perhaps\ , but still discernible\; others palpable inventions\, whether his own or not we never knew\, though his fancy doubtless embellished them. But even the wildest was not without an element of pathos\,—the tragedy\, it migh t be\, of the story itself\; the shadow\, never absent\, of slavery and of ignorance\; the sadness\, always\, of life as seen by the fading light of an old man's memory.\n\n\"Way back yander befo' de wah\,\" began Julius\, \"ole Mars Dugal' McAdoo useter own a nigger name' Dan. Dan wuz big en st rong en hearty en peaceable en good-nachu'd most er de time\, but dange'ou s ter aggervate. He alluz done his task\, en nebber had no trouble wid de w'ite folks\, but woe be unter de nigger w'at 'lowed he c'd fool wid Dan\, fer he wuz mos' sho' ter git a good lammin'. Soon ez eve'ybody foun' Dan out\, dey did n' many un 'em 'temp' ter 'sturb 'im. De one dat did would ' a' wush' he had n'\, ef he could 'a' libbed long ernuff ter do any wushin' .\n\n\"It all happen' dis erway. Dey wuz a cunjuh man w'at libbed ober t' other side er de Lumbe'ton Road. He had be'n de only cunjuh doctor in de n aberhood fer lo! dese many yeahs\, 'tel ole Aun' Peggy sot up in de biznes s down by de Wim'l'ton Road. Dis cunjuh man had a son w'at libbed wid 'im\ , en it wuz dis yer son w'at got mix' up wid Dan\,—en all 'bout a 'oman. \n\n\"Dey wuz a gal on de plantation name' Mahaly. She wuz a monst'us lack ly gal\,—tall en soopl'\, wid big eyes\, en a small foot\, en a lively t ongue\, en w'en Dan tuk ter gwine wid 'er eve'ybody 'lowed dey wuz well ma tch'\, en none er de yuther nigger men on de plantation das' ter go nigh h er\, fer dey wuz all feared er Dan.\n\n\"Now\, it happen' dat dis yer cunj uh man's son wuz gwine 'long de road one day\, w'en who sh'd come pas' but Mahaly. En de minute dis man sot eyes on Mahaly\, he 'lowed he wuz gwine ter hab her fer hisse'f. He come up side er her en 'mence' ter talk ter he r\; but she didn' paid no 'tention ter 'im\, fer she wuz studyin' 'bout Da n\, en she did n' lack dis nigger's looks nohow. So w'en she got ter whar she wuz gwine\, dis yer man wa'n't no fu'ther 'long dan he wuz w'en he sta 'ted.\n\n\"Co'se\, atter he had made up his min' fer ter git Mahaly\, he ' mence' ter 'quire 'roun'\, en soon foun' out all 'bout Dan\, en w'at a dan ge'ous nigger he wuz. But dis man 'lowed his daddy wuz a cunjuh man\, en s o he 'd come out all right in de een'\; en he kep' right on atter Mahaly. Meanw'iles Dan's marster had said dey could git married ef dey wanter\, en so Dan en Mahaly had tuk up wid one ernudder\, en wuz libbin' in a cabin by deyse'ves\, en wuz des wrop' up in one ernudder.\n\n\n\"But dis yer cun juh man's son did n' 'pear ter min' Dan's takin' up wid Mahaly\, en he kep ' on hangin' 'roun' des de same\, 'tel fin'lly one day Mahaly sez ter Dan\ , sez she:—\n\n\"'I wush you 'd do sump'n ter stop dat free nigger man f um follerin' me 'roun'. I doan lack him nohow\, en I ain' got no time fer ter was'e wid no man but you.'\n\n\"Co'se Dan got mad w'en he heared 'bout dis man pest'rin' Mahaly\, en de nex' night\, w'en he seed dis nigger com in' 'long de road\, he up en ax' 'im w'at he mean by hangin' 'roun' his 'o man. De man did n' 'spon' ter suit Dan\, en one wo'd led ter ernudder\, 't el bimeby dis cunjuh man's son pull' out a knife en sta'ted ter stick it i n Dan\; but befo' he could git it drawed good\, Dan haul' off en hit 'im i n de head so ha'd dat he nebber got up. Dan 'lowed he 'd come to atter a w 'ile en go 'long 'bout his bizness\, so he went off en lef 'im layin' dere on de groun'.\n\n\"De nex' mawnin' de man wuz foun' dead. Dey wuz a great 'miration made 'bout it\, but Dan did n' say nuffin\, en none er de yuthe r niggers had n' seed de fight\, so dey wa'n't no way ter tell who done de killin'. En bein' ez it wuz a free nigger\, en dey wa'n't no w'ite folks 'speshly int'rusted\, dey wa'n't nuffin done 'bout it\, en de cunjuh man c ome en tuk his son en kyared 'im 'way en buried 'im.\n\n\"Now\, Dan had n' meant ter kill dis nigger\, en w'iles he knowed de man had n'' got no mo' d'n he desarved\, Dan 'mence' ter worry mo' er less. Fer he knowed dis ma n's daddy would wuk his roots en prob'ly fin' out who had killt 'is son\, en make all de trouble fer 'im he could. En Dan kep' on studyin' 'bout dis 'tel he got so he did n' ha'dly das' ter eat er drink fer fear dis cunjuh man had p'isen' de vittles er de water. Fin'lly he 'lowed he 'd go ter se e Aun' Peggy\, de noo cunjuh 'oman w'at had moved down by de Wim'l'ton Roa d\, en ax her fer ter do sump'n ter pertec' 'im fum dis cunjuh man. So he tuk a peck er 'taters en went down ter her cabin one night.\n\n\"Aun' Pegg y heared his tale\, en den sez she:—\n\n\"'Dat cunjuh man is mo' d'n twi ce't ez ole ez I is\, en he kin make monst'us powe'ful goopher. W'at you n eeds is a life-cha'm\, en I'll make you one ter-morrer\; it's de on'y thin g w'at'll do you any good. You leabe me a couple er ha'rs fum yo' head\, e n fetch me a pig ter-morrer night fer ter roas'\, en w'en you come I'll ha b de cha'm all ready fer you.'\n\n\"So Dan went down ter Aun' Peggy de nex ' night\,—wid a young shote\,—en Aun' Peggy gun 'im de cha'm. She had tuk de ha'rs Dan had lef wid 'er\, en a piece er red flannin\, en some roo ts en yarbs\, en had put 'em in a little bag made out'n 'coon-skin.\n\n\"' You take dis cha'm\,' sez she\, 'en put it in a bottle er a tin box\, en b ury it deep unner de root er a live-oak tree\, en ez long ez it stays dere safe en soun'\, dey ain' no p'isen kin p'isen you\, dey ain' no rattlesna ke kin bite you\, dey ain' no sco'pion kin sting you. Dis yere cunjuh man mought do one thing er 'nudder ter you\, but he can't kill you. So you nee nter be at all skeered\, but go 'long 'bout yo' bizness en doan bother yo' min'.'\n\n\"So Dan went down by de ribber\, en 'way up on de bank he buri ed de cha'm deep unner de root er a live-oak tree\, en kivered it up en st omp' de dirt down en scattered leaves ober de spot\, en den went home wid his min' easy.\n\n\"Sho' 'nuff\, dis yer cunjuh man wukked his roots\, des ez Dan had 'spected he would\, en soon l'arn' who killt his son. En co'se he made up his min' fer ter git eben wid Dan. So he sont a rattlesnake fe r ter sting 'im\, but de rattlesnake say de nigger's heel wuz so ha'd he c ould n' git his sting in. Den he sont his jay-bird fer ter put p'isen in D an's vittles\, but de p'isen did n' wuk. Den de cunjuh man 'low' he'd doub le Dan all up wid de rheumatiz\, so he could n' git 'is ban' ter his mouf ter eat\, en would hafter sta've ter def\; but Dan went ter Aun' Peggy\, e n she gun 'im a' 'intment ter kyo de rheumatiz. Den de cunjuh man 'lowed h e 'd bu'n Dan up wid a fever\, but Aun' Peggy tol' 'im how ter make some y arb tea fer dat. Nuffin dis man tried would kill Dan\, so fin'lly de cunju h man 'lowed Dan mus' hab a life-cha'm.\n\n\"Now\, dis yer jay-bird de cun juh man had wuz a monst'us sma't creeter\,—fac'\, de niggers 'lowed he w uz de ole Debbil hisse'f\, des settin' roun' waitin' ter kyar dis ole man erway w'en he 'd retch' de een' er his rope. De cunjuh man sont dis jay-bi rd fer ter watch Dan en fin' out whar he kep' his cha'm. De jay-bird hung roun' Dan fer a week er so\, en one day he seed Dan go down by de ribber e n look at a live-oak tree\; en den de jay-bird went back ter his marster\, en tol' 'im he 'spec' de nigger kep' his life-cha'm under dat tree.\n\n\" De cunjuh man lafft en lafft\, en he put on his bigges' pot\, en fill' it wid his stronges' roots\, en b'iled it en b'iled it\, 'tel bimeby de win' blowed en blowed\, 'tel it blowed down de live-oak tree. Den he stirred so me more roots in de pot\, en it rained en rained 'tel de water run down de ribber bank en wash' Dan's life-cha'm inter de ribber\, en de bottle went bobbin' down de current des ez onconsarned ez ef it wa'n't takin' po' Dan 's chances all 'long wid it. En den de cunjuh man lafft some mo'\, en 'low ed ter hisse'f dat he wuz gwine ter fix Dan now\, sho' 'nuff\; he wa'n't g wine ter kill 'im des yet\, fer he could do sump'n ter 'im w'at would hu't wusser 'n killin'.\n\n\"So dis cunjuh man 'mence' by gwine up ter Dan's c abin eve'y night\, en takin' Dan out in his sleep en ridin' 'im roun' de r oads en fiel's ober de rough groun'. In de mawnin' Dan would be ez ti'ed e z ef he had n' be'n ter sleep. Dis kin' er thing kep' up fer a week er so\ , en Dan had des 'bout made up his min' fer ter go en see Aun' Peggy ag'in \, w'en who sh'd he come across\, gwine 'long de road one day\, to'ds sund own\, but dis yer cunjuh man. Dan felt kinder skeered at fus'\; but den he 'membered 'bout his life-cha'm\, w'ich he had n' be'n ter see fer a week er so\, en 'lowed wuz safe en soun' unner de live-oak tree\, en so he hilt up 'is head en walk' 'long\, des lack he did n' keer nuffin 'bout dis man no mo' d'n any yuther nigger. Wen he got close ter de cunjuh man\, dis cu njuh man sez\, sezee:—\n\n\"'Hoddy\, Brer Dan? I hopes you er well?'\n\n \"Wen Dan seed de cunjuh man wuz in a good humor en did n' 'pear ter bear no malice\, Dan 'lowed mebbe de cunjuh man had n' foun' out who killt his son\, en so he 'termine' fer ter let on lack he did n' know nuffin\, en so sezee:—\n\n\"'Hoddy\, Unk' Jube?'—dis ole cunjuh man's name wuz Jube. 'I 's p'utty well\, I thank you. How is you feelin' dis mawnin'?'\n\n\"'I 's feelin' ez well ez a' ole nigger could feel w'at had los' his only son\ , en his main 'pen'ence in 'is ole age.\n\n\"'But den my son wuz a bad boy \,' sezee\, 'en I could n' 'spec' nuffin e'se. I tried ter l'arn him de ar rer er his ways en make him go ter chu'ch en pra'r-meetin'\; but it wa'n't no use. I dunno who killt 'im\, en I doan wanter know\, fer I 'd be mos' sho' ter fin' out dat my boy had sta'ted de fuss. Ef I 'd 'a' had a son la ck you\, Brer Dan\, I 'd 'a' be'n a proud nigger\; oh\, yas\, I would\, sh o's you bawn. But you ain' lookin' ez well ez you oughter\, Brer Dan. Dey' s sump'n de matter wid you\, en w'at 's mo'\, I 'spec' you dunno w'at it i s.'\n\n\"Now\, dis yer kin' er talk nach'ly th'owed Dan off'n his gya'd\, en fus' thing he knowed he wuz talkin' ter dis ole cunjuh man des lack he wuz one er his bes' frien's. He tol' 'im all 'bout not feelin' well in de mawnin'\, en ax' 'im ef he could tell w'at wuz de matter wid 'im.\n\n\"'Ya s\,' sez de cunjuh man. 'Dey is a witch be'n ridin' you right 'long. I kin see de marks er de bridle on yo' mouf. En I'll des bet yo' back is raw wh ar she 's be'n beatin' you.'\n\n\"'Yas\,' 'spon' Dan\, 'so it is.' He had n' notice it befo'\, but now he felt des lack de hide had be'n tuk off'n ' im.\n\n\"'En yo' thighs is des raw whar de spurrers has be'n driv' in you\ ,' sez de cunjuh man. 'You can't see de raw spots\, but you kin feel 'em.' \n\n\"'Oh\, yas\,' 'lows Dan\, 'dey does hu't pow'ful bad.'\n\n\"'En w'at' s mo'\,' sez de cunjuh man\, comin' up close ter Dan en whusp'in' in his y eah\, 'I knows who it is be'n ridin' you.'\n\n\"'Who is it?' ax' Dan. 'Tel l me who it is.'\n\n\"'It's a' ole nigger 'oman down by Rockfish Crick. Sh e had a pet rabbit\, en you cotch' 'im one day\, en she's been squarin' up wid you eber sence. But you better stop her\, er e'se you'll be rid ter d ef in a mont' er so.'\n\n\"'No\,' sez Dan\, 'she can't kill me\, sho'.'\n\ n\"'I dunno how dat is\,' said de cunjuh man\, 'but she kin make yo' life mighty mis'able. Ef I wuz in yo' place\, I 'd stop her right off.'\n\n\"'B ut how is I gwine ter stop her?' ax' Dan. 'I dunno nuffin 'bout stoppin' w itches.'\n\n\"'Look a heah\, Dan\,'sez de yuther\; 'you is a goad young ma n. I lacks you monst'us well. Fac'\, I feels lack some er dese days I moug ht buy you fum yo' marster\, ef I could eber make money ernuff at my bizne ss dese hard times\, en 'dop' you fer my son. I lacks you so well dat I'm gwine ter he'p you git rid er dis yer witch fer good en all\; fer des ez l ong ez she libs\, you is sho' ter hab trouble\, en trouble\, en mo' troubl e.'\n\n\"'You is de bes' frien' I got\, Unk' Jube\,' sez Dan\, 'en I'll 'm ember yo' kin'ness ter my dyin' day. Tell me how I kin git rid er dis yer ole witch w'at 's be'n ridin' me so ha'd.'\n\n\"'In de fus' place\,' sez d e cunjuh man\, 'dis ole witch nebber comes in her own shape\, but eve'y ni ght\, at ten o'clock\, she tu'ns herse'f inter a black cat\, en runs down ter yo' cabin en bridles you\, en mounts you\, en dribes you out th'oo de chimbly\, en rides you ober de roughes' places she kin fin'. All you got t er do is ter set fer her in de bushes 'side er yo' cabin\, en hit her in d e head wid a rock er a lighterd-knot w'en she goes pas'.'\n\n\"'But\,' sez Dan\, 'how kin I see her in de da'k? En s'posen I hits at her en misses h er? Er s'posen I des woun's her\, en she gits erway\,—w'at she gwine do ter me den?'\n\n\"'I is done studied 'bout all dem things\,' sez de cunjuh man\, 'en it 'pears ter me de bes' plan fer you ter foller is ter lemme t u'n you ter some creetur w'at kin see in de da'k\, en w'at kin run des ez fas' ez a cat\, en w'at kin bite\, en bite fer ter kill\; en den you won't hafter hab no trouble atter de job is done. I dunno whuther you 'd lack d at er no\, but dat is de sho'es' way.'\n\n\"'I doan keer\,' 'spon' Dan. 'I 'd des ez lief be anything fer a' hour er so\, ef I kin kill dat ole witch . You kin do des w'at you er mineter.'\n\n\"'All right\, den\,' sez de cun juh man\, 'you come down ter my cabin at half-past nine o'clock ter-night\ , en I'll fix you up.'\n\n\"Now\, dis cunjuh man\, w'en he had got th'oo t alkin' wid Dan\, kep' on down de road 'long de side er de plantation\, 'te l he met Mahaly comin' home fum wuk des atter sundown.\n\n\"'Hoddy do\, ma 'm\,' sezee\; 'is yo' name Sis' Mahaly\, w'at b'longs ter Mars Dugal' McAd oo?'\n\n\"'Yas\,' 'spon' Mahaly\, 'dat's my name\, en I b'longs ter Mars D ugal'.'\n\n\"'Well\,' sezee\, 'yo' husban' Dan wuz down by my cabin dis eb enin'\, en he got bit by a spider er sump'n\, en his foot is swoll' up so he can't walk. En he ax' me fer ter fin' you en fetch you down dere ter he 'p 'im home.'\n\n\"Co'se Mahaly wanter see w'at had happen' ter Dan\, en s o she sta'ted down de road wid de cunjuh man. Ez soon ez he got her inter his cabin\, he shet de do'\, en sprinkle' some goopher mixtry on her\, en tu'nt her ter a black cat. Den he tuk 'n put her in a bairl\, en put a bo' d on de bairl\, en a rock on de bo'd\, en lef her dere 'tel he got good en ready fer ter use her.\n\n\"'Long 'bout half-pas' nine o'clock Dan come d own ter de cunjuh man's cabin. It wuz a wa'm night\, en de do' wuz stan'in ' open. De cunjuh man 'vited Dan ter come in\, en pass' de time er day wid 'im. Ez soon ez Dan 'mence' talkin'\, he heared a cat miauin' en scratchi n' en gwine on at a tarrable rate.\n\n\"'Wat's all dat fuss 'bout?' ax' Da n.\n\n\"'Oh\, dat ain' nuffin but my ole gray tomcat\,' sez de cunjuh man. 'I has ter shet 'im up sometimes fer ter keep 'im in nights\, en co'se he doan lack it.\n\n\"'Now\,' 'lows de cunjuh man\, 'lemme tell you des w'at you is got ter do. Wen you ketches dis witch\, you mus' take her right by de th'oat en bite her right th'oo de neck. Be sho' yo' teef goes th'oo at de fus' bite\, en den you won't nebber be bothe'd no mo' by dat witch. En w'en you git done\, come back heah en I'll tu'n you ter yo'se'f ag'in\, s o you kin go home en git yo' night's res'.'\n\n\"Den de cunjuh man gun Dan sump'n nice en sweet ter drink out'n a new go'd\, en in 'bout a minute Da n foun' hisse'f tu'nt ter a gray wolf\; en soon ez he felt all fo' er his noo feet on de groun'\, he sta'ted off fas' ez he could fer his own cabin\ , so he could be sho' en be dere time ernuff ter ketch de witch\, en put a ' een' ter her kyarin's-on.\n\n\"Ez soon ez Dan wuz gone good\, de cunjuh man tuk de rock off'n de bo'd\, en de bo'd off'n de bairl\, en out le'p' M ahaly en sta'ted fer ter go home\, des lack a cat er a 'oman er anybody e' se would w'at wuz in trouble\; en it wa'n't many minutes befo' she wuz gwi ne up de path ter her own do'.\n\n\"Meanw'iles\, w'en Dan had retch' de ca bin\, he had hid hisse'f in a bunch er jimson weeds in de ya'd. He had n' wait' long befo' he seed a black cat run up de path to'ds de do'. Des ez s oon ez she got close ter 'im\, he le'p' out en ketch' her by de th'oat\, e n got a grip on her\, des lack de cunjuh man had tol' 'im ter do. En lo en behol'! no sooner had de blood 'mence' ter flow dan de black cat tu'nt ba ck ter Mahaly\, en Dan seed dat he had killt his own wife. En w'iles her b ref wuz gwine she call' out:\n\n\"'O Dan! O my husban'! come en he'p me! c ome en sabe me fum dis wolf w'at 's killin' me!'\n\n\"Wen po' Dan sta'ted to'ds her\, ez any man nach'ly would\, it des made her holler wuss en wuss \; fer she did n' knowed dis yer wolf wuz her Dan. En Dan des had ter hide in de weeds\, en grit his teef en hoi' hisse'f in\, 'tel she passed out'n her mis'ry\, callin' fer Dan ter de las'\, en wond'rin' w'y he did n' com e en he'p her. En Dan 'lowed ter hisse'f he 'd ruther 'a' be'n killt a doz en times 'n ter 'a' done w'at he had ter Mahaly.\n\n\"Dan wuz mighty nigh 'stracted\, but w'en Mahaly wuz dead en he got his min' straighten' out a little\, it did n' take 'im mo' d'n a minute er so fer ter see th'oo all d e cunjuh man's lies\, en how de cunjuh man had fooled 'im en made 'im kill Mahaly\, fer ter git eben wid 'im fer killin' er his son. He kep' gittin' madder en madder\, en Mahaly had n' much mo' d'n drawed her' las bref bef o' he sta'ted back ter de cunjuh man's cabin ha'd ez he could run.\n\n\"We n he got dere\, de do' wuz stan'in' open\; a lighterd-knot wuz flick'rin' on de h'a'th\, en de ole cunjuh man wuz settin' dere noddin' in de corner. Dan le'p' in de do' en jump' fer dis man's th'oat\, en got de same grip o n 'im w'at de cunjuh man had tol' 'im 'bout half a' hour befo'. It wuz ha' d wuk dis time\, fer de ole man's neck wuz monst'us tough en stringy\, but Dan hilt on long ernuff ter be sho' his job wuz done right. En eben den h e did n' hol' on long ernuff\; fer w'en he tu'nt de cunjuh man loose en he fell ober on de flo'\, de cunjuh man rollt his eyes at Dan\, en sezee:— \n\n\"'I's eben wid you\, Brer Dan\, en you er eben wid me\; you killt my son en I killt yo' 'oman. En ez I doan want no mo' d'n w'at 's fair 'bout dis thing\, ef you'll retch up wid yo' paw en take down dat go'd hangin' o n dat peg ober de chimbly\, en take a sip er dat mixtry\, it'll tu'n you b ack ter a nigger ag'in\, en I kin die mo' sad'sfied 'n ef I lef you lack y ou is.'\n\n\"Dan nebber 'lowed fer a minute dat a man would lie wid his la s' bref\, en co'se he seed de sense er gittin' tu'nt back befo' de cunjuh man died\; so he dumb on a chair en retch' fer de go'd\, en tuk a sip er d e mixtry. En ez soon ez he 'd done dat de cunjuh man lafft his las' laf\, en gapsed out wid 'is las' gaps:—\n\n\"'Uh huh! I reckon I's square wid you now fer killin' me\, too\; fer dat goopher on you is done fix' en sot now fer good\, en all de cunj'in' in de worl' won't nebber take it off.\n\ n'Wolf you is en wolf you stays\, All de rest er yo' bawn days.'\n\n\"Co's e Brer Dan could n' do nuffin. He knowed it wa'n't no use\, but he dumb up on de chimbly en got down de go'ds en bottles en yuther cunjuh fixin's\, en tried 'em all on hisse'f\, but dey didn' do no good. Den he run down te r ole Aun' Peggy\, but she did n' know de wolf langwidge\, en couldn't 'a' tuk off dis yuther goopher nohow\, eben ef she 'd 'a' unnerstood w'at Dan wuz sayin'. So po' Dan wuz bleedgd ter be a wolf all de rest er his bawn days.\n\n\"Dey foun' Mahaly down by her own cabin nex' mawnin'\, en eve'yb ody made a great 'miration 'bout how she 'd be'n killt. De niggers 'lowed a wolf had bit her. De w'ite folks say no\, dey ain' be'n no wolves 'roun' dere fer ten yeahs er mo'\; en dey did n' know w'at ter make out'n it. En w'en dey could n' fin' Dan nowhar\, dey 'lowed he'd quo'lled wid Mahaly e n killt her\, en run erway\; en dey did n' know w'at ter make er dat\, fer Dan en Mahaly wuz de mos' lovin' couple on de plantation. Dey put de dawg s on Dan's scent\, en track' 'im down ter ole Unk' Jube's cabin\, en foun' de ole man dead\, en dey did n' know w'at ter make er dat\; en den Dan's scent gun out\, en dey didn' know w'at ter make er dat. Mars Dugal' tuk on a heap 'bout losin' two er his bes' han's in one day\, en ole missis 'low ed it wuz a jedgment on 'im fer sump'n he 'd done. But dat fall de craps w uz monst'us big\, so Mars Dugal' say de Lawd had temper' de win' ter de sh o'n ram\, en make up ter 'im fer w'at he had los'.\n\n\"Dey buried Mahaly down in dat piece er low groun' you er talkin' 'bout cl'arin' up. Ez fer p o' Dan\, he did n' hab nowhar e'se ter go\, so he des stayed 'roun' Mahaly 's grabe\, w'en he wa'n't out in de yuther woods gittin' sump'n ter eat. E n sometimes\, w'en night would come\, de niggers useter heah him howlin' e n howlin' down dere\, des fittin' ter break his hea't. En den some mo' un 'em said dey seed Mahaly's ha'nt dere 'bun'ance er times\, colloguin' wid dis gray wolf. En eben now\, fifty yeahs sence\, long atter ole Dan has di ed en dried up in de woods\, his ha'nt en Mahaly's hangs 'roun' dat piece er low groun'\, en eve'body w'at goes 'bout dere has some bad luck er 'nut her\; fer ha'nts doan lack ter be 'sturb' on dey own stompin'-groun'.\"\n\ nThe air had darkened while the old man related this harrowing tale. The r ising wind whistled around the eaves\, slammed the loose window-shutters\, and\, still increasing\, drove the rain in fiercer gusts into the piazza. As Julius finished his story and we rose to seek shelter within doors\, t he blast caught the angle of some chimney or gable in the rear of the hous e\, and bore to our ears a long\, wailing note\, an epitome\, as it were\, of remorse and hopelessness.\n\n\"Dat 's des lack po' ole Dan useter howl \,\" observed Julius\, as he reached for his umbrella\, \"en w'at I be'n t ellin' you is de reason I doan lack ter see dat neck er woods cl'ared up. Co'se it b'longs ter you\, en a man kin do ez he choose' wid 'is own. But ef you gits rheumatiz er fever en agur\, er ef you er snake-bit er p'isen' wid some yarb er 'nuther\, er ef a tree falls on you\, er a ha'nt runs yo u en makes you git 'stracted in yo' min'\, lack some folks I knows w'at we nt foolin' 'roun' dat piece er lan'\, you can't say I neber wa'ned you\, s uh\, en tol' you w'at you mought look fer en be sho' ter fin'.\"\n\nWhen I cleared up the land in question\, which was not until the following year\ , I recalled the story Julius had told us\, and looked in vain for a sunke n grave or perhaps a few weather-bleached bones of some denizen of the for est. I cannot say\, of course\, that some one had not been buried there\; but if so\, the hand of time had long since removed any evidence of the fa ct. If some lone wolf\, the last of his pack\, had once made his den there \, his bones had long since crumbled into dust and gone to fertilize the r ank vegetation that formed the undergrowth of this wild spot. I did find\, however\, a bee-tree in the woods\, with an ample cavity in its trunk\, a nd an opening through which convenient access could be had to the stores o f honey within. I have reason to believe that ever since I had bought the place\, and for many years before\, Julius had been getting honey from thi s tree. The gray wolf's haunt had doubtless proved useful in keeping off t oo inquisitive people\, who might have interfered with his monopoly.\n\nHO T-FOOT HANNIBAL\n\n\"I hate you and despise you! I wish never to see you o r speak to you again!\"\n\n\"Very well\; I will take care that henceforth you have no opportunity to do either.\"\n\nThese words—the first in the passionately vibrant tones of my sister-in-law\, and the latter in the dee per and more restrained accents of an angry man—startled me from my nap. I had been dozing in my hammock on the front piazza\, behind the honeysuc kle vine. I had been faintly aware of a buzz of conversation in the parlor \, but had not at all awakened to its import until these sentences fell\, or\, I might rather say\, were hurled upon my ear. I presume the young peo ple had either not seen me lying there\,—the Venetian blinds opening fro m the parlor windows upon the piazza were partly closed on account of the heat\,—or else in their excitement they had forgotten my proximity.\n\nI felt somewhat concerned. The young man\, I had remarked\, was proud\, fir m\, jealous of the point of honor\, and\, from my observation of him\, qui te likely to resent to the bitter end what he deemed a slight or an injust ice. The girl\, I knew\, was quite as high-spirited as young Murchison. I feared she was not so just\, and hoped she would prove more yielding. I kn ew that her affections were strong and enduring\, but that her temperament was capricious\, and her sunniest moods easily overcast by some small clo ud of jealousy or pique. I had never imagined\, however\, that she was cap able of such intensity as was revealed by these few words of hers. As I sa y\, I felt concerned. I had learned to like Malcolm Murchison\, and had he artily consented to his marriage with my ward\; for it was in that capacit y that I had stood for a year or two to my wife's younger sister\, Mabel. The match thus rudely broken off had promised to be another link binding m e to the kindly Southern people among whom I had not long before taken up my residence.\n\nYoung Murchison came out of the door\, cleared the piazza in two strides without seeming aware of my presence\, and went off down t he lane at a furious pace. A few moments later Mabel began playing the pia no loudly\, with a touch that indicated anger and pride and independence a nd a dash of exultation\, as though she were really glad that she had driv en away forever the young man whom the day before she had loved with all t he ardor of a first passion.\n\nI hoped that time might heal the breach an d bring the two young people together again. I told my wife what I had ove rheard. In return she gave me Mabel's version of the affair.\n\n\"I do not see how it can ever be settled\,\" my wife said. \"It is something more t han a mere lovers' quarrel. It began\, it is true\, because she found faul t with him for going to church with that hateful Branson girl. But before it ended there were things said that no woman of any spirit could stand. I am afraid it is all over between them.\"\n\nI was sorry to hear this. In spite of the very firm attitude taken by my wife and her sister\, I still hoped that the quarrel would be made up within a day or two. Nevertheless\ , when a week had passed with no word from young Murchison\, and with no s ign of relenting on Mabel's part\, I began to think myself mistaken.\n\nOn e pleasant afternoon\, about ten days after the rupture\, old Julius drove the rockaway up to the piazza\, and my wife\, Mabel\, and I took our seat s for a drive to a neighbor's vineyard\, over on the Lumberton plank-road. \n\n\"Which way shall we go\,\" I asked\,—\"the short road or the long o ne?\"\n\n\"I guess we had better take the short road\,\" answered my wife. \"We will get there sooner.\"\n\n\"It's a mighty fine dribe roun' by de b ig road\, Mis' Annie\,\" observed Julius\, \"en it doan take much longer t o git dere.\"\n\n\"No\,\" said my wife\, \"I think we will go by the short road. There is a bay-tree in blossom near the mineral spring\, and I wish to get some of the flowers.\"\n\n\"I 'spec's you 'd fin' some bay-trees ' long de big road\, ma'm\,\" suggested Julius.\n\n\"But I know about the fl owers on the short road\, and they are the ones I want.\"\n\nWe drove down the lane to the highway\, and soon struck into the short road leading pas t the mineral spring. Our route lay partly through a swamp\, and on each s ide the dark\, umbrageous foliage\, unbroken by any clearing\, lent to the road solemnity\, and to the air a refreshing coolness. About half a mile from the house\, and about half-way to the mineral spring\, we stopped at the tree of which my wife had spoken\, and reaching up to the low-hanging boughs\, I gathered a dozen of the fragrant white flowers. When I resumed my seat in the rockaway\, Julius started the mare. She went on for a few r ods\, until we had reached the edge of a branch crossing the road\, when s he stopped short.\n\n\"Why did you stop\, Julius?\" I asked.\n\n\"I did n' \, suh\,\" he replied. \"'T wuz de mare stop'. G' 'long dere\, Lucy! Wat y ou mean by dis foolis'ness?\"\n\nJulius jerked the reins and applied the w hip lightly\, but the mare did not stir.\n\n\"Perhaps you had better get d own and lead her\,\" I suggested. \"If you get her started\, you can cross on the log and keep your feet dry.\"\n\nJulius alighted\, took hold of th e bridle\, and vainly essayed to make the mare move. She planted her feet with even more evident obstinacy.\n\n\"I don't know what to make of this\, \" I said. \"I have never known her to balk before. Have you\, Julius?\"\n \n\"No\, suh\,\" replied the old man\, \"I neber has. It's a cu'ous thing ter me\, suh.\"\n\n\"What's the best way to make her go?\"\n\n\"I 'spec's\ , suh\, dat ef I'd tu'n her 'roun'\, she'd go de udder way.\"\n\n\"But we want her to go this way.\"\n\n\"Well\, suh\, I 'low ef we des set heah fo' er fibe minutes\, she'll sta't up by herse'f.\"\n\n\"All right\,\" I rejo ined\; \"it is cooler here than any place I have struck today. We'll let h er stand for a while\, and see what she does.\"\n\nWe had sat in silence f or a few minutes\, when Julius suddenly ejaculated\, \"Uh huh! I knows w'y dis mare doan go. It des flash' 'cross my recommemb'ance.\"\n\n\n\"Why is it\, Julius?\" I inquired.\n\n\"'Ca'se she sees Chloe.\"\n\n\"Where is Ch loe?\" I demanded.\n\n\"Chloe's done be'n dead dese fo'ty years er mo'\,\" the old man returned. \"Her ha'nt is settin' ober yander on de udder side er de branch\, unner dat wilier-tree\, dis blessed minute.\"\n\n\"Why\, J ulius!\" said my wife\, \"do you see the haunt?\"\n\n\"No'm\,\" he answere d\, shaking his head\, \"I doan see 'er\, but de mare sees 'er.\"\n\n\"How do you know?\" I inquired.\n\n\"Well\, suh\, dis yer is a gray hoss\, en dis yer is a Friday\; en a gray hoss kin alluz see a ha'nt w'at walks on F riday.\"\n\n\"Who was Chloe?\" said Mabel.\n\n\"And why does Chloe's haunt walk?\" asked my wife.\n\n\"It's all in de tale\, ma'm\,\" Julius replied \, with a deep sigh. \"It's all in de tale.\"\n\n\"Tell us the tale\,\" I said. \"Perhaps\, by the time you get through\, the haunt will go away and the mare will cross.\"\n\nI was willing to humor the old man's fancy. He had not told us a story for some time\; and the dark and solemn swamp arou nd us\; the amber-colored stream flowing silently and sluggishly at our fe et\, like the waters of Lethe\; the heavy\, aromatic scent of the bays\, f aintly suggestive of funeral wreaths\, all made the place an ideal one for a ghost story.\n\n\"Chloe\,\" Julius began in a subdued tone\, \"use' ter b'long ter ole Mars' Dugal' McAdoo\,—my ole marster. She wuz a lackly g al en a smart gal\, en ole mis' tuk her up ter de big house\, en l'arnt he r ter wait on de w'ite folks\, 'tel bimeby she come ter be mis's own maid\ , en 'peared ter 'low she run de house herse'f\, ter heah her talk erbout it. I wuz a young boy den\, en use' ter wuk 'bout de stables\, so I knowed eve'ythin' dat wuz gwine on 'roun' de plantation.\n\n\"Well\, one time Ma rs' Dugal' wanted a house boy\, en sont down ter de qua'ters fer ter hab J eff en Hannibal come up ter de big house nex' mawnin'. Ole marster en ole mis' look' de two boys ober\, en 'sco'sed wid deyse'ves fer a little w'ile \, en den Mars' Dugal' sez\, sezee:—\n\n\"'We lacks Hannibal de bes'\, e n we gwine ter keep him. Heah\, Hannibal\, you'll wuk at de house fum now on. En ef you er a good nigger en min's yo' bizness\, I'll gib you Chloe f er a wife nex' spring. You other nigger\, you Jeff\, you kin go back ter d e qua'ters. We ain' gwine ter need you.'\n\n\"Now Chloe had be'n stan'in' dere behin' ole mis' dyoin' all er dis yer talk\, en Chloe made up her min ' fum de ve'y fus' minute she sot eyes on dem two dat she did n' lack dat nigger Hannibal\, en wa'n't neber gwine keer fer 'im\, en she wuz des ez s ho' dat she lack' Jeff\, en wuz gwine ter set sto' by 'im\, whuther Mars' Dugal' tuk 'im in de big house er no\; en so co'se Chloe wuz monst'us sorr y w'en ole Mars' Dugal' tuk Hannibal en sont Jeff back. So she slip' roun' de house en waylaid Jeff on de way back ter de qua'ters\, en tol' 'im not ter be down-hea'ted\, fer she wuz gwine ter see ef she could n' fin' some way er 'nuther ter git rid er dat nigger Hannibal\, en git Jeff up ter de house in his place.\n\n\"De noo house boy kotch' on monst'us fas'\, en it wa'n't no time ha'dly befo' Mars' Dugal' en ole mis' bofe 'mence' ter 'lo w Hannibal wuz de bes' house boy dey eber had. He wuz peart en soopl'\, qu ick ez lightnin'\, en sha'p ez a razor. But Chloe did n' lack his ways. He wuz so sho' he wuz gwine ter git 'er in de spring\, dat he did n' 'pear t er 'low he had ter do any co'tin'\, en w'en he 'd run 'cross Chloe 'bout d e house\, he 'd swell roun' 'er in a biggity way en say:—\n\n\"'Come hea h en kiss me\, honey. You gwine ter be mine in de spring. You doan 'pear t er be ez fon' er me ez you oughter be.'\n\n\"Chloe did n' keer nuffin fer Hannibal\, en had n' keered nuffin fer 'im\, en she sot des ez much sto' b y Jeff ez she did de day she fus' laid eyes on 'im. En de mo' fermilyus di s yer Hannibal got\, de mo' Chloe let her min' run on Jeff\, en one ebenin ' she went down ter de qua'ters en watch'\, 'tel she got a chance fer ter talk wid 'im by hisse'f. En she tol' Jeff fer ter go down en see ole Aun' Peggy\, de cunjuh 'oman down by de Wim'l'ton Road\, en ax her ter gib 'im sump'n ter he'p git Hannibal out'n de big house\, so de w'ite folks u'd se n' fer Jeff ag'in. En bein' ez Jeff did n' hab nuffin ter gib Aun' Peggy\, Chloe gun 'im a silber dollah en a silk han'kercher fer ter pay her wid\, fer Aun' Peggy neber lack ter wuk fer nobody fer nuffin.\n\n\"So Jeff sli p' off down ter Aun' Peggy's one night\, en gun 'er de present he brung\, en tol' 'er all 'bout 'im en Chloe en Hannibal\, en ax' 'er ter he'p 'im o ut. Aun' Peggy tol' 'im she 'd wuk 'er roots\, en fer 'im ter come back de nex' night\, en she 'd tell 'im w'at she c'd do fer 'im.\n\n\"So de nex' night Jeff went back\, en Aun' Peggy gun 'im a baby doll\, wid a body made out'n a piece er co'n-stalk\, en wid splinters fer a'ms en laigs\, en a h ead made out'n elderberry peth\, en two little red peppers fer feet.\n\n\" 'Dis yer baby doll\,' sez she\, 'is Hannibal. Dis yer peth head is Hanniba l's head\, en dese yer pepper feet is Hannibal's feet. You take dis en hid e it unner de house\, on de sill unner de do'\, whar Hannibal 'll hafter w alk ober it eve'y day. En ez long ez Hannibal comes anywhar nigh dis baby doll\, he'll be des lack it is\,—light-headed en hot-footed\; en ef dem two things doan git 'im inter trouble mighty soon\, den I'm no cunjuh 'oma n. But w'en you git Hannibal out'n de house\, en git all th'oo wid dis bab y doll\, you mus' fetch it back ter me\, fer it's monst'us powerful goophe r\, en is liable ter make mo' trouble ef you leabe it layin' roun'.'\n\n\" Well\, Jeff tuk de baby doll\, en slip' up ter de big house\, en whistle' ter Chloe\, en w'en she come out he tol' 'er w'at ole Aun' Peggy had said. En Chloe showed 'im how ter git unner de house\, en w'en he had put de cu njuh doll on de sill\, he went 'long back ter de qua'ters—en des waited. \n\n\"Nex' day\, sho' 'nuff\, de goopher 'mence' ter wuk. Hannibal sta'ted in de house soon in de mawnin' wid a armful er wood ter make a fire\, en he had n' mo' d'n got 'cross de do'-sill befo' his feet begun ter bu'n so dat he drap' de armful er wood on de flo' en woke ole mis' up a' hour soon er 'n yushal\, en co'se ole mis' did n' lack dat\, en spoke sha'p erbout i t.\n\n\"W'en dinner-time come\, en Hannibal wuz help'n' de cook kyar de di nner f'm de kitchen inter de big house\, en wuz gittin' close ter de do' w har he had ter go in\, his feet sta'ted ter bu'n en his head begun ter swi m\, en he let de big dish er chicken en dumplin's fall right down in de di rt\, in de middle er de ya'd\, en de w'ite folks had ter make dey dinner d at day off'n col' ham en sweet'n' 'taters.\n\n\"De nex' mawnin' he oversle p' hisse'f\, en got inter mo' trouble. Atter breakfus'\, Mars' Dugal' sont 'im ober ter Mars' Marrabo Utley's fer ter borry a monkey wrench. He ough ter be'n back in ha'f a' hour\, but he come pokin' home 'bout dinner-time wid a screw-driver stidder a monkey wrench. Mars' Dugal' sont ernudder nig ger back wid de screw-driver\, en Hannibal did n' git no dinner. 'Long in de atternoon\, ole mis' sot Hannibal ter weedin' de flowers in de front gy a'den\, en Hannibal dug up all de bulbs ole mis' had sont erway fer\, en p aid a lot er money fer\, en tuk 'em down ter de hawg-pen by de ba'nya'd\, en fed 'em ter de hawgs. Wen ole mis' come out in de cool er de ebenin'\, en seed w'at Hannibal had done\, she wuz mos' crazy\, en she wrote a note en sont Hannibal down ter de oberseah wid it.\n\n\"But w'at Hannibal got f um de oberseah did n' 'pear ter do no good. Eve'y now en den 'is feet 'd ' mence ter torment 'im\, en 'is min' 'u'd git all mix' up\, en his conduc' kep' gittin' wusser en wusser\, 'tel fin'lly de w'ite folks could n' stan' it no longer\, en Mars' Dugal' tuk Hannibal back down ter de qua'ters.\n\ n\"'Mr. Smif\,' sez Mars' Dugal' ter de oberseah\, 'dis yer nigger has don e got so triflin' yer lately dat we can't keep 'im at de house no mo'\, en I 's fotch' 'im ter you ter be straighten' up. You 's had 'casion ter dea l wid 'im once\, so he knows w'at ter expec'. You des take 'im in han'\, e n lemme know how he tu'ns out. En w'en de han's comes in fum de fiel' dis ebenin' you kin sen' dat yaller nigger Jeff up ter de house. I 'll try 'im \, en see ef he's any better 'n Hannibal.'\n\n\"So Jeff went up ter de big house\, en pleas' Mars' Dugal' en ole mis' en de res' er de fambly so wel l dat dey all got ter lackin' 'im fus'rate\; en dey 'd 'a' fergot all 'bou t Hannibal\, ef it had n' be'n fer de bad repo'ts w'at come up fum de qua' ters 'bout 'im fer a mont' er so. Fac' is\, dat Chloe en Jeff wuz so int'r usted in one ernudder sence Jeff be'n up ter de house\, dat dey fergot all 'bout takin' de baby doll back ter Aun' Peggy\, en it kep' wukkin' fer a w'ile\, en makin' Hannibal's feet bu'n mo' er less\, 'tel all de folks on de plantation got ter callin' 'im Hot-Foot Hannibal. He kep' gittin' mo' e n mo' triflin'\, 'tel he got de name er bein' de mos' no 'countes' nigger on de plantation\, en Mars' Dugal' had ter th'eaten ter sell 'im in de spr ing\, w'en bimeby de goopher quit wukkin'\, en Hannibal 'mence' ter pick u p some en make folks set a little mo' sto' by 'im.\n\n\"Now\, dis yer Hann ibal was a monst'us sma't nigger\, en w'en he got rid er dem so' feet\, hi s min' kep' runnin' on 'is udder troubles. Heah th'ee er fo' weeks befo' h e 'd had a' easy job\, waitin' on de w'ite folks\, libbin' off'n de fat er de lan'\, en promus' de fines' gal on de plantation fer a wife in de spri ng\, en now heah he wuz back in de co'n-fiel\, wid de oberseah a-cussin' e n a-r'arin' ef he did n' get a ha'd tas' done\; wid nuffin but co'n bread en bacon en merlasses ter eat\; en all de fiel'-han's makin' rema'ks\, en pokin' fun at 'im 'ca'se he'd be'n sont back fum de big house ter de fiel' . En de mo' Hannibal studied 'bout it de mo' madder he got\, 'tel he fin'l ly swo' he wuz gwine ter git eben wid Jeff en Chloe\, ef it wuz de las' ac '.\n\n\"So Hannibal slipped 'way fum de qua'ters one Sunday en hid in de c o'n up close ter de big house\, 'tel he see Chloe gwine down de road. He w aylaid her\, en sezee:—\n\n\"'Hoddy\, Chloe?'\n\n\"'I ain' got no time f er ter fool wid fiel'-han's\,' sez Chloe\, tossin' her head\; 'w'at you wa nt wid me\, Hot-Foot?'\n\n\"'I wants ter know how you en Jeff is gittin' ' long.'\n\n\"'I 'lows dat's none er yo' bizness\, nigger. I doan see w'at ' casion any common fiel'-han' has got ter mix in wid de 'fairs er folks w'a t libs in de big house. But ef it'll do you any good ter know\, I mought s ay dat me en Jeff is gittin' 'long mighty well\, en we gwine ter git marri ed in de spring\, en you ain' gwine ter be 'vited ter de weddin' nuther.'\ n\n\"'No\, no!' sezee\, 'I would n' 'spec' ter be 'vited ter de weddin'\ ,—a common\, low-down fiel'-han' lack I is. But I's glad ter heah you en Jeff is gittin' 'long so well. I did n' knowed but w'at he had 'mence' te r be a little ti'ed.'\n\n\"'Ti'ed er me? Dat's rediklus!' sez Chloe. 'W'y\ , dat nigger lubs me so I b'liebe he 'd go th'oo fire en water fer me. Dat nigger is des wrop' up in me.'\n\n\"'Uh huh\,' sez Hannibal\, 'den I reck on it mus' be some udder nigger w'at meets a 'oman down by de crick in de swamp eve'y Sunday ebenin'\, ter say nuffin 'bout two er th'ee times a wee k.'\n\n\"'Yas\, hit is ernudder nigger\, en you is a liah w'en you say it wuz Jeff.'\n\n\"'Mebbe I is a liah\, en mebbe I ain' got good eyes. But 'l ess'n I is a liah\, en 'less'n I ain' got good eyes\, Jeff is gwine ter me et dat 'oman dis ebenin' 'long 'bout eight o'clock right down dere by de c rick in de swamp 'bout half-way betwix' dis plantation en Mars' Marrabo Ut ley's.'\n\n\"Well\, Chloe tol' Hannibal she did n' b'liebe a wo'd he said\ , en call' 'im a low-down nigger\, who wuz tryin' ter slander Jeff 'ca'se he wuz mo' luckier 'n he wuz. But all de same\, she could n' keep her min' fum runnin' on w'at Hannibal had said. She 'membered she 'd heared one er de niggers say dey wuz a gal ober at Mars' Marrabo Utley's plantation w'a t Jeff use' ter go wid some befo' he got 'quainted wid Chloe. Den she 'men ce' ter figger back\, en sho' 'nuff\, dey wuz two er th'ee times in de las ' week w'en she 'd be'n he'pin' de ladies wid dey dressin' en udder fixin' s in de ebenin'\, en Jeff mought 'a' gone down ter de swamp widout her kno win' 'bout it at all. En den she 'mence' ter 'member little things w'at sh e had n' tuk no notice of befo'\, en w'at 'u'd make it 'pear lack Jeff had sump'n on his min'.\n\n\"Chloe set a monst'us heap er sto' by Jeff\, en w ould 'a' done mos' anythin' fer 'im\, so long ez he stuck ter her. But Chl oe wuz a mighty jealous 'oman\, en w'iles she didn' b'liebe w'at Hannibal said\, she seed how it could 'a' be'n so\, en she 'termine' fer ter fin' o ut fer herse'f whuther it wuz so er no.\n\n\"Now\, Chloe had n' seed Jeff all day\, fer Mars' Dugal' had sont Jeff ober ter his daughter's house\, y oung Mis' Ma'g'ret's\, w'at libbed 'bout fo' miles fum Mars' Dugal's\, en Jeff wuz n' 'spected home 'tel ebenin'. But des atter supper wuz ober\, en w'iles de ladies wuz settin' out on de piazzer\, Chloe slip' off fum de h ouse en run down de road\,—dis yer same road we come\; en w'en she got m os' ter de crick—dis yer same crick right befo' us—she kin' er kep' in de bushes at de side er de road\, 'tel fin'lly she seed Jeff settin' on d e bank on de udder side er de crick\,—right unner dat ole wilier-tree dr oopin' ober de water yander. En eve'y now en den he 'd git up en look up d e road to'ds Mars' Marrabo's on de udder side er de swamp.\n\n\"Fus' Chloe felt lack she 'd go right ober de crick en gib Jeff a piece er her min'. Den she 'lowed she better be sho' befo' she done anythin'. So she helt her se'f in de bes' she could\, gittin' madder en madder eve'y minute\, 'tel b imeby she seed a 'oman comin' down de road on de udder side fum to'ds Mars ' Marrabo Utley's plantation. En w'en she seed Jeff jump up en run to'ds d at 'oman\, en th'ow his a'ms roun' her neck\, po' Chloe did n' stop ter se e no mo'\, but des tu'nt roun' en run up ter de house\, en rush' up on de piazzer\, en up en tol' Mars' Dugal' en ole mis' all 'bout de baby doll\, en all 'bout Jeff gittin' de goopher fum Aun' Peggy\, en 'bout w'at de goo pher had done ter Hannibal.\n\n\"Mars' Dugal' wuz monst'us mad. He did n' let on at fus' lack he b'liebed Chloe\, but w'en she tuk en showed 'im wha r ter fin' de baby doll\, Mars' Dugal' tu'nt w'ite ez chalk.\n\n\"'Wat deb il's wuk is dis?' sezee. 'No wonder de po' nigger's feet eetched. Sump'n g ot ter be done ter l'arn dat ole witch ter keep her han's off'n my niggers . En ez fer dis yer Jeff\, I'm gwine ter do des w'at I promus'\, so de dar kies on dis plantation'll know I means w'at I sez.'\n\n\"Fer Mars' Dugal' had warned de han's befo' 'bout foolin' wid cunju'ation\; fac'\, he had lo s' one er two niggers his-se'f fum dey bein' goophered\, en he would 'a' h ad ole Aun' Peggy whip' long ago\, on'y Aun' Peggy wuz a free 'oman\, en h e wuz 'feard she 'd cunjuh him. En w'iles Mars' Dugal' say he did n' b'lie be in cunj'in' en sich\, he 'peared ter 'low it wuz bes' ter be on de safe side\, en let Aun' Peggy alone.\n\n\"So Mars' Dugal' done des ez he say. Ef ole mis' had ple'd fer Jeff\, he mought 'a' kep' 'im. But ole mis' had n' got ober losin' dem bulbs yit\, en she neber said a wo'd. Mars' Dugal' tuk Jeff ter town nex' day en' sol' 'im ter a spekilater\, who sta'ted dow n de ribber wid 'im nex' mawnin' on a steamboat\, fer ter take 'im ter Ala bama.\n\n\"Now\, w'en Chloe tol' ole Mars' Dugal' 'bout dis yer baby doll en dis udder goopher\, she had n' ha'dly 'lowed Mars' Dugal' would sell Je ff down Souf. Howsomeber\, she wuz so mad wid Jeff dat she 'suaded herse'f she did n' keer\; en so she hilt her head up en went roun' lookin' lack s he wuz rale glad 'bout it. But one day she wuz walkin' down de road\, w'en who sh'd come 'long but dis yer Hannibal.\n\n\"W'en Hannibal seed 'er\, h e bus' out laffin' fittin' fer ter kill: 'Yah\, yah\, yah! ho\, ho\, ho! h a\, ha\, ha! Oh\, hol' me\, honey\, hol' me\, er I'll laf myse'f ter def. I ain' nebber laf' so much sence I be'n bawn.'\n\n\"'Wat you laffin' at\, Hot-Foot?'\n\n\"'Yah\, yah\, yah! Wat I laffin' at? W'y\, I's laffin' at m yse'f\, tooby sho'\,—laffin' ter think w'at a fine 'oman I made.'\n\n\"C hloe tu'nt pale\, en her hea't come up in her mouf.\n\n\"'Wat you mean\, n igger?' sez she\, ketchin' holt er a bush by de road fer ter stiddy herse' f. 'Wat you mean by de kin' er 'oman you made?'\n\n\"'Wat do I mean? I mea ns dat I got squared up wid you fer treatin' me de way you done\, en I got eben wid dat yaller nigger Jeff fer cuttin' me out. Now\, he's gwine ter know w'at it is ter eat co'n bread en merlasses once mo'\, en wuk fum dayl ight ter da'k\, en ter hab a oberseah dribin' 'im fum one day's een' ter d e udder. I means dat I sont wo'd ter Jeff dat Sunday dat you wuz gwine ter be ober ter Mars' Marrabo's visitin' dat ebenin'\, en you want 'im ter me et you down by de crick on de way home en go de rest er de road wid you. E n den I put on a frock en a sunbonnet\, en fix' myse'f up ter look lack a 'oman\; en w'en Jeff seed me comin'\, he run ter meet me\, en you seed 'im \,—fer I 'd be'n watchin' in de bushes befo' en 'skivered you comin' dow n de road. En now I reckon you en Jeff bofe knows w'at it means ter mess w id a nigger lack me.'\n\n\"Po' Chloe had n' heared mo' d'n half er de las' part er w'at Hannibal said\, but she had heared 'nuff to l'arn dat dis ni gger had fooled her en Jeff\, en dat po' Jeff had n' done nuffin\, en dat fer lovin' her too much en goin' ter meet her she had cause' 'im ter be so l' erway whar she 'd neber\, neber see 'im no mo'. De sun mought shine by day\, de moon by night\, de flowers mought bloom\, en de mawkin'-birds mou ght sing\, but po' Jeff wuz done los' ter her fereber en fereber.\n\n\"Han nibal had n' mo' d'n finish' w'at he had ter say\, w'en Chloe's knees gun 'way unner her\, en she fell down in de road\, en lay dere half a' hour er so befo' she come to. W'en she did\, she crep' up ter de house des ez pal e ez a ghos'. En fer a mont' er so she crawled roun' de house\, en 'peared ter be so po'ly dat Mars' Dugal' sont fer a doctor\; en de doctor kep' on axin' her questions 'tel he foun' she wuz des pinin' erway fer Jeff.\n\n\ "Wen he tol' Mars' Dugal'\, Mars' Dugal' lafft\, en said he 'd fix dat. Sh e could hab de noo house boy fer a husban'. But ole mis' say\, no\, Chloe ain' dat kin'er gal\, en dat Mars' Dugal' sh'd buy Jeff back.\n\n\"So Mars ' Dugal' writ a letter ter dis yer spekilater down ter Wim'l'ton\, en tol' ef he ain' done sol' dat nigger Souf w'at he bought fum 'im\, he'd lack t er buy 'im back ag'in. Chloe 'mence' ter pick up a little w'en ole mis' to l' her 'bout dis letter. Howsomeber\, bimeby Mars' Dugal' got a' answer fu m de spekilater\, who said he wuz monst'us sorry\, but Jeff had fell ove'b oa'd er jumped off'n de steamboat on de way ter Wim'l'ton\, en got drownde d\, en co'se he could n' sell 'im back\, much ez he'd lack ter 'bleedge Ma rs' Dugal'.\n\n\"Well\, atter Chloe heared dis\, she wa'n't much mo' use t er nobody. She pu'tended ter do her wuk\, en ole mis' put up wid her\, en had de doctor gib her medicine\, en let 'er go ter de circus\, en all so't s er things fer ter take her min' off'n her troubles. But dey did n' none un 'em do no good. Chloe got ter slippin' down here in de ebenin' des lack she 'uz comin' ter meet Jeff\, en she 'd set dere unner dat wilier-tree o n de udder side\, en wait fer 'im\, night atter night. Bimeby she got so b ad de w'ite folks sont her ober ter young Mis' Ma'g'ret's fer ter gib her a change\; but she runned erway de fus' night\, en w'en dey looked fer 'er nex' mawnin'\, dey foun' her co'pse layin' in de branch yander\, right 'c ross fum whar we 're settin' now.\n\n\"Eber sence den\,\" said Julius in c onclusion\, \"Chloe's ha'nt comes eve'y ebenin' en sets down unner dat wil ler-tree en waits fer Jeff\, er e'se walks up en down de road yander\, loo kin' en lookin'\, en waitin' en waitin'\, fer her sweethea't w'at ain' neb er\, neber come back ter her no mo'.\"\n\nThere was silence when the old m an had finished\, and I am sure I saw a tear in my wife's eye\, and more t han one in Mabel's.\n\n\"I think\, Julius\,\" said my wife\, after a momen t\, \"that you may turn the mare around and go by the long road.\"\n\nThe old man obeyed with alacrity\, and I noticed no reluctance on the mare's p art.\n\n\"You are not afraid of Chloe's haunt\, are you?\" I asked jocular ly.\n\nMy mood was not responded to\, and neither of the ladies smiled.\n\ n\"Oh\, no\,\" said Annie\, \"but I've changed my mind. I prefer the other route.\"\n\nWhen we had reached the main road and had proceeded along it for a short distance\, we met a cart driven by a young negro\, and on the cart were a trunk and a valise. We recognized the man as Malcolm Murchison 's servant\, and drew up a moment to speak to him.\n\n\"Who's going away\, Marshall?\" I inquired.\n\n\"Young Mistah Ma'colm gwine 'way on de boat t er Noo Yo'k dis ebenin'\, suh\, en I'm takin' his things down ter de wharf \, suh.\"\n\nThis was news to me\, and I heard it with regret. My wife loo ked sorry\, too\, and I could see that Mabel was trying hard to hide her c oncern.\n\n\"He's comin' 'long behin'\, suh\, en I 'spec's you'll meet 'im up de road a piece. He 's gwine ter walk down ez fur ez Mistah Jim Willia ms's\, en take de buggy fum dere ter town. He 'spec's ter be gone a long t ime\, suh\, en say prob'ly he ain' neber comin' back.\"\n\nThe man drove o n. There were a few words exchanged in an undertone between my wife and Ma bel\, which I did not catch. Then Annie said: \"Julius\, you may stop the rockaway a moment. There are some trumpet-flowers by the road there that I want. Will you get them for me\, John?\"\n\nI sprang into the underbrush\ , and soon returned with a great bunch of scarlet blossoms.\n\n\"Where is Mabel?\" I asked\, noting her absence.\n\n\"She has walked on ahead. We sh all overtake her in a few minutes.\"\n\nThe carriage had gone only a short distance when my wife discovered that she had dropped her fan.\n\n\"I had it where we were stopping. Julius\, will you go back and get it for me?\" \n\nJulius got down and went back for the fan. He was an unconscionably lo ng time finding it. After we got started again we had gone only a little w ay\, when we saw Mabel and young Murchison coming toward us. They were wal king arm in arm\, and their faces were aglow with the light of love.\n\nI do not know whether or not Julius had a previous understanding with Malcol m Murchison by which he was to drive us round by the long road that day\, nor do I know exactly what motive influenced the old man's exertions in th e matter. He was fond of Mabel\, but I was old enough\, and knew Julius we ll enough\, to be skeptical of his motives. It is certain that a most exce llent understanding existed between him and Murchison after the reconcilia tion\, and that when the young people set up housekeeping over at the old Murchison place\, Julius had an opportunity to enter their service. For so me reason or other\, however\, he preferred to remain with us. The mare\, I might add\, was never known to balk again.\n\nAPPENDIX\nUncollected Uncl e Julius Stories\nDave's Neckliss (1889)\nA Deep Sleeper (1893)\nLonesome Ben (1900)\n\n\nEssay\nSuperstitions and Folk-Lore of the South (1901)\n\n Dave's Neckliss\n\n\"Have some dinner\, Uncle Julius?\" said my wife. It w as a Sunday afternoon in early autumn. Our two women-servants had gone to a camp-meeting some miles away\, and would not return until evening. My wi fe had served the dinner\, and we were just rising from the table\, when J ulius came up the lane\, and\, taking off his hat\, seated himself on the piazza.\n\nThe old man glanced through the open door at the dinner-table\, and his eyes rested lovingly upon a large sugar-cured ham\, from which se veral slices had been cut\, exposing a rich pink expanse that would have a ppealed strongly to the appetite of any hungry Christian.\n\n\"Thanky\, Mi ss Annie\,\" he said\, after a momentary hesitation\, \"I dunno ez I keers ef I does tas'e a piece er dat ham\, ef yer'll cut me off a slice un it.\ "\n\n\"No\,\" said Annie\, \"I won't. Just sit down to the table and help yourself\; eat all you want\, and don't be bashful.\"\n\nJulius drew a cha ir up to the table\, while my wife and I went out on the piazza. Julius wa s in my employment\; he took his meals with his own family\, but when he h appened to be about our house at meal-times\, my wife never let him go awa y hungry.\n\nI threw myself into a hammock\, from which I could see Julius through an open window. He ate with evident relish\, devoting his attenti on chiefly to the ham\, slice after slice of which disappeared in the spac ious cavity of his mouth. At first the old man ate rapidly\, but after the edge of his appetite had been taken off he proceeded in a more leisurely manner. When he had cut the sixth slice of ham (I kept count of them from a lazy curiosity to see how much he could eat) I saw him lay it on his pla te\; as he adjusted the knife and fork to cut it into smaller pieces\, he paused\, as if struck by a sudden thought\, and a tear rolled down his rug ged cheek and fell upon the slice of ham before him. But the emotion\, wha tever the thought that caused it\, was transitory\, and in a moment he con tinued his dinner. When he was through eating\, he came out on the porch\, and resumed his seat with the satisfied expression of countenance that us ually follows a good dinner.\n\n\"Julius\,\" I said\, \"you seemed to be a ffected by something\, a moment ago. Was the mustard so strong that it mov ed you to tears?\"\n\n\"No\, suh\, it wa'n't de mustard\; I wuz studyin' ' bout Dave.\"\n\n\"Who was Dave\, and what about him?\" I asked.\n\nThe con ditions were all favorable to story-telling. There was an autumnal languor in the air\, and a dreamy haze softened the dark green of the distant pin es and the deep blue of the Southern sky. The generous meal he had made ha d put the old man in a very good humor. He was not always so\, for his cur iously undeveloped nature was subject to moods which were almost childish in their variableness. It was only now and then that we were able to study \, through the medium of his recollection\, the simple but intensely human inner life of slavery. His way of looking at the past seemed very strange to us\; his view of certain sides of life was essentially different from ours. He never indulged in any regrets for the Arcadian joyousness and irr esponsibility which was a somewhat popular conception of slavery\; his had not been the lot of the petted house-servant\, but that of the toiling fi eld-hand. While he mentioned with a warm appreciation the acts of kindness which those in authority had shown to him and his people\, he would speak of a cruel deed\, not with the indignation of one accustomed to quick fee ling and spontaneous expression\, but with a furtive disapproval which sug gested to us a doubt in his own mind as to whether he had a right to think or to feel\, and presented to us the curious psychological spectacle of a mind enslaved long after the shackles had been struck off from the limbs of its possessor. Whether the sacred name of liberty ever set his soul agl ow with a generous fire\; whether he had more than the most elementary ide as of love\, friendship\, patriotism\, religion\,—things which are half\ , and the better half\, of life to us\; whether he even realized\, except in a vague\, uncertain way\, his own degradation\, I do not know. I fear n ot\; and if not\, then centuries of repression had borne their legitimate fruit. But in the simple human feeling\, and still more in the undertone o f sadness\, which pervaded his stories\, I thought I could see a spark whi ch\, fanned by favoring breezes and fed by the memories of the past\, migh t become in his children's children a glowing flame of sensibility\, alive to every thrill of human happiness or human woe.\n\n\"Dave use' ter b'lon g ter my ole marster\,\" said Julius\; \"he wuz raise' on dis yer plantati on\, en I kin 'member all erbout 'im\, fer I wuz ole 'nuff ter chop cotton w'en it all happen'. Dave wuz a tall man\, en monst'us strong: he could d o mo' wuk in a day dan any yuther two niggers on de plantation. He wuz one er dese yer solemn kine er men\, en nebber run on wid much foolishness\, like de yuther darkies. He use' ter go out in de woods en pray\; en w'en h e hear de han's on de plantation cussin' en gwine on wid dere dancin' en f oolishness\, he use' ter tell 'em 'bout religion en jedgmen'-day\, w'en de y would haf ter gin account fer eve'y idle word en all dey yuther sinful k yarin's-on.\n\n\"Dave had l'arn' how ter read de Bible. Dey wuz a free nig ger boy in de settlement w'at wuz monst'us smart\, en could write en ciphe r\, en wuz alluz readin' books er papers. En Dave had hi'ed dis free boy f er ter l'arn 'im how ter read. Hit wuz 'g'in' de law\, but co'se none er d e niggers did n' say nuffin ter de w'ite folks 'bout it. Howsomedever\, on e day Mars Walker—he wuz de oberseah—foun' out Dave could read. Mars W alker wa'n't nuffin but a po' bockrah\, en folks said he could n' read ner write hisse'f\, en co'se he didn' lack ter see a nigger w'at knowed mo' d 'n he did\; so he went en tole Mars Dugal'. Mars Dugal' sont fer Dave\, en ax' 'im 'bout it.\n\n\"Dave didn't hardly knowed w'at ter do\; but he cou ld n' tell no lie\, so he 'fessed he could read de Bible a little by spell in' out de words. Mars Dugal' look' mighty solemn.\n\n\"'Dis yer is a se'i ous matter\,' sezee\; 'it's 'g'in' de law ter l'arn niggers how ter read\, er 'low 'em ter hab books. But w'at yer l'arn out'n dat Bible\, Dave?'\n\ n\"Dave wa'n't no fool\, ef he wuz a nigger\, en sezee:—\n\n\"'Marster\, I l'arns dat it's a sin fer ter steal\, er ter lie\, er fer ter want w'at doan b'long ter yer\; en I l'arns fer ter love de Lawd en ter 'bey my mar ster.'\n\n\"Mars Dugal' sorter smile' en laf ter hisse'f\, like he 'uz mig ht'ly tickle' 'bout sump'n\, en sezee:—\n\n\"'Doan 'pear ter me lack rea din' de Bible done yer much harm\, Dave. Dat 's w'at I wants all my nigger s fer ter know. Yer keep right on readin'\, en tell de yuther han's w'at y er be'n tellin' me. How would yer lack fer ter preach ter de niggers on Su nday?'\n\n\"Dave say he 'd be glad fer ter do w'at he could. So Mars Dugal ' tole de oberseah fer ter let Dave preach ter de niggers\, en tell 'em w' at wuz in de Bible\, en it would he'p ter keep 'em fum stealin' er runnin' erway.\n\n\"So Dave 'mence' ter preach\, en done de han's on de plantatio n a heap er good\, en most un 'em lef' off dey wicked ways\, en 'mence' te r love ter hear 'bout God\, en religion\, en de Bible\; en dey done dey wu k better\, en didn' gib de oberseah but mighty little trouble fer ter mana ge 'em.\n\n\"Dave wuz one er dese yer men w'at did n' keer much fer de gal s\,—leastways he did n' 'tel Dilsey come ter de plantation. Dilsey wuz a monst'us peart\, good-lookin'\, gingybread-colored gal\,—one er dese ye r high-steppin' gals w'at hol's dey heads up\, en won' stan' no foolishnes s fum no man. She had b'long' ter a gemman over on Rockfish\, w'at died\, en whose 'state ha' ter be sol' fer ter pay his debts. En Mars Dugal' had be'n ter de oction\, en w'en he seed dis gal a-cryin' en gwine on 'bout be in' sol' erway fum her ole mammy\, Aun' Mahaly\, Mars Dugal' bid 'em bofe in\, en fotch 'em ober ter our plantation.\n\n\"De young nigger men on de plantation wuz des wil' atter Dilsey\, but it did n' do no good\, en none un 'em could n' git Dilsey fer dey junesey\,[3] 'tel Dave 'mence' fer ter go roun' Aun' Mahaly's cabin. Dey wuz a fine-lookin' couple\, Dave en Dils ey wuz\, bofe tall\, en well-shape'\, en soopl'. En dey sot a heap by one ernudder. Mars Dugal' seed 'em tergedder one Sunday\, en de nex' time he s eed Dave atter dat\, sezee:—\n\n\"'Dave\, w'en yer en Dilsey gits ready fer ter git married\, I ain' got no rejections. Dey's a poun' er so er cha win'-terbacker up at de house\, en I reckon yo' mist'iss kin fine a frock en a ribbin er two fer Dilsey. Youer bofe good niggers\, en yer neenter be feared er bein' sol' 'way fum one ernudder long ez I owns dis plantation\ ; en I 'spec's ter own it fer a long time yit.'\n\n[3]\nSweetheart.\n\n\"B ut dere wuz one man on de plantation w'at did n' lack ter see Dave en Dils ey tergedder ez much ez ole marster did. W'en Mars Dugal' went ter de sale whar he got Dilsey en Mahaly\, he bought ernudder ban'\, by de name er Wi ley. Wiley wuz one er dese yer shiny-eyed\, double-headed little niggers\, sha'p ez a steel trap\, en sly ez de fox w'at keep out'n it. Dis yer Wile y had be'n pesterin' Dilsey 'fo' she come ter our plantation\, en had nigh 'bout worried de life out'n her. She did n' keer nuffin fer 'im\, but he pestered her so she ha' ter th'eaten ter tell her marster fer ter make Wil ey let her 'lone. W'en he come ober to our place it wuz des ez bad\, 'tel bimeby Wiley seed dat Dilsey had got ter thinkin' a heap 'bout Dave\, en d en he sorter hilt off aw'ile\, en purten' lack he gin Dilsey up. But he wu z one er dese yer 'ceitful niggers\, en w'ile he wuz laffin' en jokin' wid de yuther ban's 'bout Dave en Dilsey\, he wuz settin' a trap fer ter ketc h Dave en git Dilsey back fer hisse'f.\n\n\"Dave en Dilsey made up dere mi n's fer ter git married long 'bout Christmas time\, w'en dey 'd hab mo' ti me fer a weddin'. But 'long 'bout two weeks befo' dat time ole mars 'mence ' ter lose a heap er bacon. Eve'y night er so somebody 'ud steal a side er bacon\, er a ham\, er a shoulder\, er sump'n\, fum one er de smoke-'ouses . De smoke-'ouses wuz lock'\, but somebody had a key\, en manage' ter git in some way er 'nudder. Dey 's mo' ways 'n one ter skin a cat\, en dey's m o' d'n one way ter git in a smoke-'ouse\,—leastways dat's w'at I hearn s ay. Folks w'at had bacon fer ter sell did n' hab no trouble 'bout gittin' rid un it. Hit wuz 'g'in' de law fer ter buy things fum slabes\; but Lawd! dat law did n' 'mount ter a hill er peas. Eve'y week er so one er dese ye r big covered waggins would come 'long de road\, peddlin' terbacker en w'i skey. Dey wuz a sight er room in one er dem big waggins\, en it wuz monst' us easy fer ter swop off bacon fer sump'n ter chaw er ter wa'm yer up in d e wintertime. I s'pose de peddlers did n' knowed dey wuz breakin' de law\, caze de niggers alluz went at night\, en stayed on de dark side er de wag gin\; en it wuz mighty hard fer ter tell w'at kine er folks dey wuz.\n\n\" Atter two er th'ee hund'ed er meat had be'n stole'\, Mars Walker call all de niggers up one ebenin'\, en tol' 'em dat de fus' nigger he cot stealin' bacon on dat plantation would git sump'n fer ter 'member it by long ez he lib'. En he say he 'd gin fi' dollars ter de nigger w'at 'skiver' de rogu e. Mars Walker say he s'picion' one er two er de niggers\, but he could n' tell fer sho\, en co'se dey all 'nied it w'en he 'cuse em un it.\n\n\"Dey wa'n't no bacon stole' fer a week er so\, 'tel one dark night w'en somebo dy tuk a ham fum one er de smoke-'ouses. Mars Walker des cusst awful w'en he foun' out de ham wuz gone\, en say he gwine ter sarch all de niggers' c abins\; w'en dis yer Wiley I wuz tellin' yer 'bout up'n say he s'picion' w ho tuk de ham\, fer he seed Dave comin' 'cross de plantation fum to'ds de smoke-'ouse de night befo'. W'en Mars Walker hearn dis fum Wiley\, he went en sarch' Dave's cabin\, en foun' de ham hid under de flo'.\n\n\"Eve'ybod y wuz 'stonish'\; but dere wuz de ham. Co'se Dave 'nied it ter de las'\, b ut dere wuz de ham. Mars Walker say it wuz des ez he 'spected: he did n' b 'lieve in dese yer readin' en prayin' niggers\; it wuz all 'pocrisy\, en s arve' Mars Dugal' right fer 'lowin' Dave ter be readin' books w'en it wuz 'g'in' de law.\n\n\"W'en Mars Dugal hearn 'bout de ham\, he say he wuz mig ht'ly 'ceived en disapp'inted in Dave. He say he wouldn' nebber hab no mo' conferdence in no nigger\, en Mars Walker could do des ez he wuz a minete r wid Dave er any er de res' er de niggers. So Mars Walker tuk'n tied Dave up en gin 'im forty\; en den he got some er dis yer wire clof w'at dey us es fer ter make sifters out'n\, en tuk'n wrap' it roun' de ham en fasten i t tergedder at de little een'. Den he tuk Dave down ter de blacksmif-shop\ , en had Unker Silas\, de plantation blacksmif\, fasten a chain ter de ham \, en den fasten de yuther een' er de chain roun' Dave's neck. En den he s ays ter Dave\, sezee:—\n\n\"'Now\, suh\, yer'll wear dat neckliss fer de nex' six mont's\; en I 'spec's yer ner none er de yuther niggers on dis p lantation won' steal no mo' bacon dyoin' er dat time.'\n\n\"Well\, it des 'peared ez if fum dat time Dave did n' hab nuffin but trouble. De niggers all turnt ag'in' 'im\, caze he be'n de 'casion er Mars Dugal' turnin' 'em all ober ter Mars Walker. Mars Dugal' wa'n't a bad marster hisse'f\, but M ars Walker wuz hard ez a rock. Dave kep' on sayin' he did n' take de ham\, but none un 'em did n' b'lieve 'im.\n\n\"Dilsey wa'n't on de plantation w 'en Dave wuz 'cused er stealin' de bacon. Ole mist'iss had sont her ter to wn fer a week er so fer ter wait on one er her darters w'at had a young ba by\, en she didn' fine out nuffin 'bout Dave's trouble 'tel she got back t er de plantation. Dave had patien'ly endyoed de finger er scawn\, en all d e hard words w'at de niggers pile' on 'im\, caze he wuz sho' Dilsey would stan' by 'im\, en would n' b'lieve he wuz a rogue\, ner none er de yuther tales de darkies wuz tellin' 'bout 'im.\n\n\"W'en Dilsey come back fum tow n\, en got down fum behine de buggy whar she b'en ridin' wid ole mars\, de fus' nigger 'ooman she met says ter her\,—\n\n\"'Is yer seed Dave\, Dil sey?'\n\n\"'No\, I ain' seed Dave\,' says Dilsey.\n\n\"'Yer des oughter lo ok at dat nigger\; reckon yer would n' want 'im fer yo' junesey no mo'. Ma rs Walker cotch 'im stealin' bacon\, en gone en fasten' a ham roun' his ne ck\, so he can't git it off'n hisse'f. He sut'nly do look quare.' En den d e 'ooman bus' out laffin' fit ter kill herse'f. W'en she got thoo laffin' she up'n tole Dilsey all 'bout de ham\, en all de yuther lies w'at de nigg ers be'n tellin' on Dave.\n\n\"W'en Dilsey started down ter de quarters\, who should she meet but Dave\, comin' in fum de cotton-fiel'. She turnt he r head ter one side\, en purten' lack she did n' seed Dave.\n\n\"'Dilsey!' sezee.\n\n\"Dilsey walk' right on\, en did n' notice 'im.\n\n\"'Oh\, Dils ey!'\n\n\"Dilsey did n' paid no 'tention ter 'im\, en den Dave knowed some er de niggers be'n tellin' her 'bout de ham. He felt monst'us bad\, but h e 'lowed ef he could des git Dilsey fer ter listen ter 'im fer a minute er so\, he could make her b'lieve he did n' stole de bacon. It wuz a week er two befo' he could git a chance ter speak ter her ag'in\; but fine'ly he cotch her down by de spring one day\, en sezee:—\n\n\"'Dilsey\, w'at fer yer won' speak ter me\, en purten' lack yer doan see me? Dilsey\, yer kno ws me too well fer ter b'lieve I 'd steal\, er do dis yuther wick'ness de niggers is all layin' ter me\,—yer knows I would n' do dat\, Dilsey. Yer ain' gwine back on yo' Dave\, is yer?'\n\n\"But w'at Dave say didn' hab n o 'fec' on Dilsey. Dem lies folks b'en tellin' her had p'isen' her min' 'g 'in' Dave.\n\n\"'I doan wanter talk ter no nigger\,' says she\, 'w'at be'n whip' fer stealin'\, en w'at gwine roun' wid sich a lookin' thing ez dat hung roun' his neck. I's a 'spectable gal\, I is. W'at yer call dat\, Dave ? Is dat a cha'm fer ter keep off witches\, er is it a noo kine er necklis s yer got?'\n\n\"Po' Dave did n' knowed w'at ter do. De las' one he had pe nded on fer ter stan' by 'im had gone back on 'im\, en dey did n' 'pear te r be nuffin mo' wuf libbin' fer. He could n' hol' no mo' pra'r-meetin's\, fer Mars Walker would n' 'low 'im ter preach\, en de darkies would n' 'a' listen' ter 'im ef he had preach'. He didn' eben hab his Bible fer ter com fort hisse'f wid\, fer Mars Walker had tuk it erway fum 'im en burnt it up \, en say ef he ketch any mo' niggers wid Bibles on de plantation he 'd do 'em wuss'n he done Dave.\n\n\"En ter make it still harder fer Dave\, Dils ey tuk up wid Wiley. Dave could see him gwine up ter Aun' Mahaly's cabin\, en settin' out on de bench in de moonlight wid Dilsey\, en singin' sinful songs en playin' de banjer. Dave use' ter scrouch down behine de bushes\, en wonder w'at de Lawd sen' 'im all dem tribberlations fer.\n\n\"But all er Dave's yuther troubles wa'n't nuffin side er dat ham. He had wrap' de c hain roun' wid a rag\, so it did n' hurt his neck\; but w'eneber he went t er wuk\, dat ham would be in his way\; he had ter do his task\, howsomedev er\, des de same ez ef he did n' hab de ham. W'eneber he went ter lay down \, dat ham would be in de way. Ef he turn ober in his sleep\, dat ham woul d be tuggin' at his neck. It wuz de las' thing he seed at night\, en de fu s' thing he seed in de mawnin'. W'eneber he met a stranger\, de ham would be de fus' thing de stranger would see. Most un 'em would 'mence' ter laf\ , en whareber Dave went he could see folks p'intin' at him\, en year 'em s ayin':—\n\n\"'W'at kine er collar dat nigger got roun' his neck?' er\, e f dey knowed 'im\, 'Is yer stole any mo' hams lately?' er 'W'at yer take f er yo' neckliss\, Dave?' er some joke er 'nuther 'bout dat ham.\n\n\"Fus' Dave did n' mine it so much\, caze he knowed he had n' done nuffin. But bi meby he got so he could n' stan' it no longer\, en he 'd hide hisse'f in d e bushes w'eneber he seed anybody comin'\, en alluz kep' hisse'f shet up i n his cabin atter he come in fum wuk.\n\n\"It wuz monst'us hard on Dave\, en bimeby\, w'at wid dat ham eberlastin' en etarnally draggin' roun' his n eck\, he 'mence' fer ter do en say quare things\, en make de niggers wonde r ef he wa'n't gittin' out'n his mine. He got ter gwine roun' talkin' ter hisse'f\, en singin' corn-shuckin' songs\, en laffin' fit ter kill 'bout n uffin. En one day he tole one er de niggers he had 'skivered a noo way fer ter raise hams\,—gwine ter pick 'em off'n trees\, en save de expense er smoke-'ouses by kyoin' 'em in de sun. En one day he up'n tole Mars Walker he got sump'n pertickler fer ter say ter 'im\; en he tuk Mars Walker off ter one side\, en tole 'im he wuz gwine ter show 'im a place in de swamp w har dey wuz a whole trac' er Ian' covered wid ham-trees.\n\n\"Wen Mars Wal ker hearn Dave talkin' dis kine er fool-talk\, en w'en he seed how Dave wu z 'mencin' ter git behine in his wuk\, en w'en he ax' de niggers en dey to le 'im how Dave be'n gwine on\, he 'lowed he reckon' he 'd punish' Dave er nuff\, en it mou't do mo' harm dan good fer ter keep de ham on his neck an y longer. So he sont Dave down ter de blacksmif-shop en had de ham tuk off . Dey wa'n't much er de ham lef' by dat time\, fer de sun had melt all de fat\, en de lean had all swivel' up\, so dey wa'n't but th'ee er fo' poun' s lef'.\n\n\"W'en de ham had be'n tuk off'n Dave\, folks kinder stopped ta lkin' 'bout 'im so much. But de ham had be'n on his neck so long dat Dave had sorter got use' ter it. He look des lack he 'd los' sump'n fer a day e r so atter de ham wuz tuk off\, en didn' 'pear ter know w'at ter do wid hi sse'f\; en fine'ly he up'n tuk'n tied a lighterd-knot ter a string\, en hi d it under de flo' er his cabin\, en w'en nobody wuz n' lookin' he 'd take it out en hang it roun' his neck\, en go off in de woods en holler en sin g\; en he allus tied it roun' his neck w'en he went ter sleep. Fac'\, it ' peared lack Dave done gone clean out'n his mine. En atter a w'ile he got o ne er de quarest notions you eber hearn tell un. It wuz 'bout dat time dat I come back ter de plantation fer ter wuk\,—I had be'n out ter Mars Dug al's yuther place on Beaver Crick for a mont' er so. I had hearn 'bout Dav e en de bacon\, en 'bout w'at wuz gwine on on de plantation\; but I did n' b'lieve w'at dey all say 'bout Dave\, fer I knowed Dave wa'n't dat kine e r man. One day atter I come back\, me'n Dave wuz choppin' cotton tergedder \, w'en Dave lean' on his hoe\, en motion' fer me ter come ober close ter 'im\; en den he retch' ober en w'ispered ter me.\n\n\"'Julius'\, sezee\, ' did yer knowed yer wuz wukkin' long yer wid a ham?'\n\n\"I could n' 'magin e w'at he meant. 'G'way fum yer\, Dave\,' says I. 'Yer ain' wearin' no ham no mo'\; try en fergit 'bout dat\; 't ain' gwine ter do yer no good fer t er 'member it.'\n\n\"'Look a-yer\, Julius\,' sezee\, 'kin yer keep a secre t?'\n\n\"'Co'se I kin\, Dave\,' says I. 'I doan go roun' tellin' people w' at yuther folks says ter me.'\n\n\"'Kin I trus' yer\, Julius? Will yer cro ss yo' heart?'\n\n\"I cross' my heart. 'Wush I may die ef I tells a soul\, ' says I.\n\n\"Dave look' at me des lack he wuz lookin' thoo me en 'way on de yuther side er me\, en sezee:—\n\n\"'Did yer knowed I wuz turnin' te r a ham\, Julius?'\n\n\"I tried ter 'suade Dave dat dat wuz all foolishnes s\, en dat he oughtn't ter be talkin' dat-a-way\,—hit wa'n't right. En I tole 'im ef he 'd des be patien'\, de time would sho'ly come w'en eve'yth ing would be straighten' out\, en folks would fine out who de rale rogue w uz w'at stole de bacon. Dave 'peared ter listen ter w'at I say\, en promis e' ter do better\, en stop gwine on dat-a-way\; en it seem lack he pick' u p a bit w'en he seed dey wuz one pusson did n' b'lieve dem tales 'bout 'im .\n\n\"Hit wa'n't long atter dat befo' Mars Archie McIntyre\, ober on de W imbleton road\, 'mence' ter complain 'bout somebody stealin' chickens fum his hen-'ouse. De chickens kep' on gwine\, en at las' Mars Archie tole de ban's on his plantation dat he gwine ter shoot de fus' man he ketch in his hen-'ouse. In less'n a week atter he gin dis warnin'\, he cotch a nigger in de hen-'ouse\, en fill' 'im full er squir'l-shot. W'en he got a light\, he 'skivered it wuz a strange nigger\; en w'en he call' one er his own sa rven's\, de nigger tole 'im it wuz our Wiley. W'en Mars Archie foun' dat o ut\, he sont ober ter our plantation fer ter tell Mars Dugal' he had shot one er his niggers\, en dat he could sen' ober dere en git w'at wuz lef un 'im.\n\n\"Mars Dugal' wuz mad at fus'\; but w'en he got ober dere en hear n how it all happen'\, he did n' hab much ter say. Wiley wuz shot so bad h e wuz sho' he wuz gwine ter die\, so he up'n says ter ole marster:—\n\n\ "'Mars Dugal'\,' sezee\, 'I knows I's be'n a monst'us bad nigger\, but bef o' I go I wanter git sump'n off'n my mine. Dave didn' steal dat bacon w'at wuz tuk out'n de smoke-'ouse. I stole it all\, en I hid de ham under Dave 's cabin fer ter th'ow de blame on him—en may de good Lawd fergib me fer it.'\n\n\"Mars Dugal' had Wiley tuk back ter de plantation\, en sont fer a doctor fer ter pick de shot out'n 'im. En de ve'y nex' mawnin' Mars Duga l' sont fer Dave ter come up ter de big house\; he felt kinder sorry fer d e way Dave had be'n treated. Co'se it wa'n't no fault er Mars Dugal's\, bu t he wuz gwine ter do w'at he could fer ter make up fer it. So he sont wor d down ter de quarters fer Dave en all de yuther han's ter 'semble up in d e yard befo' de big house at sun-up nex' mawnin'.\n\n\"Yearly in de mawnin ' de niggers all swarm' up in de yard. Mars Dugal' wuz feelin' so kine dat he had brung up a bairl er cider\, en tole de niggers all fer ter he'p de yselves.\n\n\"All de han's on de plantation come but Dave\; en bimeby\, w' en it seem lack he wa'n't comin'\, Mars Dugal' sont a nigger down ter de q uarters ter look fer 'im. De sun wuz gittin' up\, en dey wuz a heap er wuk ter be done\, en Mars Dugal' sorter got ti'ed waitin'\; so he up'n says :—\n\n\"'Well\, boys en gals\, I sont fer yer all up yer fer ter tell ye r dat all dat 'bout Dave's stealin' er de bacon wuz a mistake\, ez I s'pos e yer all done hearn befo' now\, en I 's mighty sorry it happen'. I wants ter treat all my niggers right\, en I wants yer all ter know dat I sets a heap by all er my han's w'at is hones' en smart. En I want yer all ter tre at Dave des lack yer did befo' dis thing happen'\, en mine w'at he preach ter yer\; fer Dave is a good nigger\, en has had a hard row ter hoe. En de fus' one I ketch sayin' anythin' 'g'in' Dave\, I'll tell Mister Walker te r gin 'im forty. Now take ernudder drink er cider all roun'\, en den git a t dat cotton\, fer I wanter git dat Persimmon Hill trac' all pick' ober te r-day.'\n\n\"W'en de niggers wuz gwine 'way\, Mars Dugal' tole me fer ter go en hunt up Dave\, en bring 'im up ter de house. I went down ter Dave's cabin\, but could n' fine 'im dere. Den I look' roun' de plantation\, en i n de aidge er de woods\, en 'long de road\; but I could n' fine no sign er Dave. I wuz 'bout ter gin up de sarch\, w'en I happen' fer ter run 'cross a foot-track w'at look' lack Dave's. I had wukked 'long wid Dave so much dat I knowed his tracks: he had a monst'us long foot\, wid a holler instep \, w'ich wuz sump'n skase 'mongs' black folks. So I follered dat track 'cr oss de fiel' fum de quarters 'tel I got ter de smoke-'ouse. De fus' thing I notice' wuz smoke comin' out'n de cracks\; it wuz cu'ous\, caze dey had n' be'n no hogs kill' on de plantation fer six mont' er so\, en all de bac on in de smoke-'ouse wuz done kyoed. I could n' 'magine fer ter sabe my li fe w'at Dave wuz doin' in dat smoke-'ouse. I went up ter de do' en hollere d:—\n\n\"'Dave!'\n\n\"Dey didn' nobody answer. I didn' wanter open de do '\, fer w'ite folks is monst'us pertickler 'bout dey smoke-'ouses\; en ef de oberseah had a-come up en cotch me in dere\, he mou't not wanter b'liev e I wuz des lookin' fer Dave. So I sorter knock at de do' en call' out ag' in:—\n\n\"'O Dave\, hit's me—Julius! Doan be skeered. Mars Dugal' want s yer ter come up ter de big house\,—he done 'skivered who stole de ham. '\n\n\"But Dave didn' answer. En w'en I look' roun' ag'in en didn' seed no ne er his tracks gwine way fum de smoke-'ouse\, I knowed he wuz in dere yi t\, en I wuz 'termine' fer ter fetch 'im out\; so I push de do' open en lo ok in.\n\n\"Dey wuz a pile er bark burnin' in de middle er de flo'\, en ri ght ober de fier\, hangin' fum one er de rafters\, wuz Dave\; dey wuz a ro pe roun' his neck\, en I didn' haf ter look at his face mo' d'n once fer t er see he wuz dead.\n\n\"Den I knowed how it all happen'. Dave had kep' on gittin' wusser en wusser in his mine\, 'tel he des got ter b'lievin' he w uz all done turnt ter a ham\; en den he had gone en built a fier\, en tied a rope roun' his neck\, des lack de hams wuz tied\, en had hung hisse'f u p in de smoke-'ouse fer ter kyo.\n\n\"Dave wuz buried down by de swamp\, i n de plantation buryin' groun'. Wiley didn' died fum de woun' he got in Ma rs McIntyre's hen 'ouse\; he got well atter a w'ile\, but Dilsey wouldn' h ab nuffin mo' ter do wid 'im\, en 't wa'n't long 'fo' Mars Dugal' sol' 'im ter a spekilater on his way souf\,—he say he didn' want no sich a nigge r on de plantation\, ner in de county\, ef he could he'p it. En w'en de ee n' er de year come\, Mars Dugal'' turnt Mars Walker off\, en run de planta tion hisse'f atter dat.\n\n\"Eber sence den\,\" said Julius in conclusion\ , \"w'eneber I eats ham\, it min's me er Dave. I lacks ham\, but I nebber kin eat mo' d'n two er th'ee poun's befo' I gits ter studyin' 'bout Dave\, en den I has ter stop en leab de res' fer ernudder time.\"\n\nThere was a short silence after the old man had finished his story\, and then my wife began to talk to him about the weather\, on which subject he was an autho rity. I went into the house. When I came out\, half an hour later\, I saw Julius disappearing down the lane\, with a basket on his arm.\n\nAt breakf ast\, next morning\, it occurred to me that I should like a slice of ham. I said as much to my wife.\n\n\"Oh\, no\, John\,\" she responded\, \"you s houldn't eat anything so heavy for breakfast.\"\n\nI insisted.\n\n\"The fa ct is\,\" she said\, pensively\, \"I couldn't have eaten any more of that ham\, and so I gave it to Julius.\"\n\nA Deep Sleeper\n\nIt was four o'clo ck on Sunday afternoon\, in the month of July. The air had been hot and su ltry\, but a light\, cool breeze had sprung up\, and occasional cirrus clo uds overspread the sun\, and for a while subdued his fierceness. We were a ll out on the piazza—as the coolest place we could find—my wife\, my s ister-in-law and I. The only sounds that broke the Sabbath stillness were the hum of an occasional vagrant bumble-bee\, or the fragmentary song of a mocking-bird in a neighboring elm\, who lazily trolled a stave of melody\ , now and then\, as a sample of what he could do in the cool of the mornin g\, or after a light shower\, when the conditions would be favorable to ex ertion.\n\n\"Annie\,\" said I\, \"suppose\, to relieve the deadly dulness of the afternoon\, that we go out and pull the big watermelon\, and send f or Colonel Pemberton's folks to come over and help us eat it.\"\n\n\"Is it ripe\, yet?\" she inquired sleepily\, brushing away a troublesome fly tha t had impudently settled on her hair.\n\n\"Yes\, I think so. I was out yes terday with Julius\, and we thumped it\, and concluded it would be fully r ipe by tomorrow or next day. But I think it is perfectly safe to pull it t o-day.\"\n\n\"Well\, if you are sure\, dear\, we'll go. But how can we get it up to the house? It's too big to tote.\"\n\n\"I'll step round to Juliu s's cabin and ask him to go down with the wheelbarrow and bring it up\,\" I replied.\n\nJulius was an elderly colored man who worked on the plantati on and lived in a small house on the place\, a few rods from my own reside nce. His daughter was our cook\, and other members of his family served us in different capacities.\n\nAs I turned the corner of the house I saw Jul ius coming up the lane. He had on his Sunday clothes\, and was probably re turning from the afternoon meeting at the Sandy Run Baptist Church\, of wh ich he was a leading member and deacon.\n\n\"Julius\,\" I said\, \"we are going out to pull the big watermelon\, and we want you to take the wheelba rrow and go with us\, and bring it up to the house.\"\n\n\"Does yer reckon dat watermillun's ripe yit\, sah?\" said Julius. \"Didn' 'pear ter me it went quite plunk enuff yistiddy fer ter be pull' befo' termorrer.\"\n\n\"I think it is ripe enough\, Julius.\"\n\n\"Mawnin' 'ud be a better time fer ter pull it\, sah\, w'en de night air an' de jew's done cool' it off nice .\"\n\n\"Probably that's true enough\, but we'll put it on ice\, and that will cool it\; and I'm afraid if we leave it too long\, some one will stea l it.\"\n\n\"I 'spec's dat so\,\" said the old man\, with a confirmatory s hake of the head. \"Yer takes chances w'en yer pulls it\, en' yer takes ch ances w'en yer don't. Dey's a lot er po' w'ite trash roun' heah w'at ain' none too good fer ter steal it. I seed some un' 'em loafin' long de big ro ad on mer way home fum chu'ch jes' now. I has ter watch mer own chicken-co op ter keep chick'ns 'nuff fer Sunday eatin'. I'll go en' git de w'eelborr ow.\"\n\nJulius had a profound contempt for poor whites\, and never let sl ip an opportunity for expressing it. He assumed that we shared this sentim ent\, while in fact our feeling toward this listless race was something en tirely different. They were\, like Julius himself\, the product of a syste m which they had not created and which they did not know enough to resist. \n\nAs the old man turned to go away he began to limp\, and put his hand t o his knee with an exclamation of pain.\n\n\"What's the matter\, Julius?\" asked my wife.\n\n\"Yes\, Uncle Julius\, what ails you?\" echoed her swee t young sister. \"Did you stump your toe?\"\n\n\"No\, miss\, it's dat mis' able rheumatiz. It ketches me now an' den in de lef' knee\, so I can't har dly draw my bref. O Lawdy!\" he added between his clenched teeth\, \"but d at do hurt. Ouch! It's a little better now\,\" he said\, after a moment\, \"but I doan' b'lieve I kin roll dat w'eelborrow out ter de watermillun-pa tch en' back. Ef it's all de same ter yo'\, sah\, I'll go roun' ter my hou se en' sen' Tom ter take my place\, w'iles I rubs some linimum on my laig. \"\n\n\"That'll be all right\, Julius\,\" I said\, and the old man\, hobbl ing\, disappeared round the corner of the house. Tom was a lubberly\, slee py-looking negro boy of about fifteen\, related to Julius's wife in some d egree\, and living with them.\n\nThe old man came back in about five minut es. He walked slowly\, and seemed very careful about bearing his weight on the afflicted member.\n\n\"I sont 'Liza Jane fer ter wake Tom up\,\" he s aid. \"He's down in de orchard asleep under a tree somewhar. 'Liza Jane kn ows whar he is. It takes a minute er so fer ter wake 'im up. 'Liza Jane kn ows how ter do it. She tickles 'im in de nose er de yeah wid a broomstraw\ ; hollerin' doan' do no good. Dat boy is one er de Seben Sleepers. He's wu ss'n his gran'daddy used ter be.\"\n\n\"Was his grandfather a deep sleeper \, Uncle Julius?\" asked my wife's sister.\n\n\"Oh\, yas\, Miss Mabel\,\" said Julius\, gravely. \"He wuz a monst'us pow'ful sleeper. He slep' fer a mont' once.\"\n\n\"Dear me\, Uncle Julius\, you must be joking\,\" said m y sister-in-law incredulously. I thought she put it mildly.\n\n\"Oh\, no\, ma'm\, I ain't jokin'. I never jokes on ser'ous subjec's. I wuz dere w'en it all happen'. Hit wuz a monst'us quare thing.\"\n\n\"Sit down\, Uncle J ulius\, and tell us about it\,\" said Mabel\; for she dearly loved a story \, and spent much of her time \"drawing out\" the colored people in the ne ighborhood.\n\nThe old man took off his hat and seated himself on the top step of the piazza. His movements were somewhat stiff and he was very care ful to get his left leg in a comfortable position.\n\n\"Tom's gran'daddy w uz name' Skundus\,\" he began. \"He had a brudder name' Tushus en' ernudde r name' Cottus en' ernudder name' Squinchus.\" The old man paused a moment and gave his leg another hitch.\n\nMy sister-in-law was shaking with laug hter. \"What remarkable names!\" she exclaimed. \"Where in the world did t hey get them?\"\n\n\"Dem names wuz gun ter 'em by ole Marse Dugal' McAdoo\ , wat I use' ter b'long ter\, en' dey use' ter b'long ter. Marse Dugal' na med all de babies w'at wuz bawn on de plantation. Dese young un's mammy wa nted ter call 'em sump'n plain en' simple\, like 'Rastus' er 'Cæsar' er ' George Wash'n'ton\;' but ole Marse say no\, he want all de niggers on his place ter hab diffe'nt names\, so he kin tell 'em apart. He'd done use' up all de common names\, so he had ter take sump'n else. Dem names he gun Sk undus en' his brudders is Hebrew names en' wuz tuk out'n de Bible.\"\n\n\" Can you give me chapter and verse?\" asked Mabel.\n\n\"No\, Miss Mabel\, I doan know 'em. Hit ain' my fault dat I ain't able ter read de Bible. But ez I wuz a-sayin'\, dis yer Skundus growed up ter be a peart\, lively kind er boy\, en' wuz very well liked on de plantation. He never quo'lled wid de res' er de ban's en' alluz behaved 'isse'f en' tended ter his wuk. De o nly fault he had wuz his sleep'ness. He'd haf ter be woke up ev'y mawnin' ter go ter his wuk\, en' w'enever he got a chance he'd fall ersleep. He wu z might'ly nigh gittin' inter trouble mod'n once fer gwine ter sleep in de fiel'. I never seed his beat fer sleepin'. He could sleep in de sun er sl eep in de shade. He could lean upon his hoe en' sleep. He went ter sleep w alk'n' 'long de road oncet\, en' mighty nigh bus't his head open 'gin' a t ree he run inter. I did heah he oncet went ter sleep while he wuz in swimm in'. He wuz floatin' at de time\, en' come mighty nigh gittin' drownded be fo' he woke up. Ole Marse heared 'bout it en' ferbid his gwine in swimmin' enny mo'\, fer he said he couldn't 'ford ter lose 'im.\n\n\"When Skundus wuz growed up he got ter lookin' roun' at de gals\, en' one er de likelies t un 'em tuk his eye. It was a gal name' Cindy\, w'at libbed wid 'er mammy in a cabin by deyse'ves. Cindy tuk ter Skundus ez much ez Skundus tuk ter Cindy\, en' bimeby Skundus axed his marster ef he could marry Cindy. Mars e Dugal' b'long' ter de P'isbytay'n Chu'ch en' never 'lowed his niggers te r jump de broomstick\, but alluz had a preacher fer ter marry 'em. So he t ole Skundus ef him en' Cindy would 'ten' ter dey wuk good dat summer till de crap was laid by\, he'd let 'em git married en' hab a weddin' down ter de quarters.\n\n\"So Skundus en' Cindy wukked hahd as dey could till 'bout a mont' er so befo' layin' by\, w'en Marse Dugal's brudder\, Kunnel Wash' n'ton McAdoo\, w'at libbed down in Sampson County\, 'bout a hunderd mile e rway\, come fer ter visit Marse Dugal'. Dey wuz five er six folks in de vi sitin' party\, en' our w'ite folks needed a new gal fer ter he'p wait on ' em. Dey picked out de likeliest gal dey could fine 'mongs' de fiel-han's\, en' 'cose dat wuz Cindy. Cindy wuz might'ly tickled fer ter be tuk in de house-sarvice\, fer it meant better vittles en' better clo's en' easy wuk. She didn' seed Skundus quite as much\, but she seed 'im w'eneber she coul d. Prospe'ity didn' spile Cindy\; she didn' git stuck up en' 'bove 'sociat in' wid fiel'han's\, lack some gals in her place 'ud a done.\n\n\"Cindy wu z sech a handy gal 'roun' de house\, en' her marster's relations lacked he r so much\, dat w'en dey visit wuz ober\, dey wanted ter take Cindy 'way w id 'em. Cindy didn' want ter go en' said so. Her marster wuz a good-nature d kind er man\, en' would 'a' kep' her on de plantation. But his wife say no\, it 'ud nebber do ter be lett'n' de sarvants hab dey own way\, er dey soon wouldn' be no doin' nuthin' wid 'em. Ole marster tole 'er he done pro mus ter let Cindy marry Skundus.\n\n\"'O\, well\,' sez ole Miss\, 'dat doa n' cut no figger. Dey's too much er dis foolishness 'bout husban's en' wib es 'mongs' de niggers now-a-days. One nigger man is de same as ernudder\, en' dey'll be plenty un 'em down ter Wash'n'ton's plantation.' Ole Miss wu z a mighty smart woman\, but she didn' know ev'ything.\n\n\"'Well\,' says ole Marse\, 'de craps'll be laid by in a mont' now\, 'en den dey won't be much ter do fer ernudder mont' er six weeks. So we'll let her go down dere an' stay till cotton-pickin' time\; I'll jes' len' 'er ter 'em till den. Ef dey wants ter keep 'er en' we finds we doan need 'er\, den we'll talk f urder 'bout sellin' 'er. We'll tell her dat we jes' gwine let her go down dere wid de chil'en a week er so en' den come back\, en' den we won't hab no fuss 'bout it.'\n\n\"So dey fixed it dat erway\, en' Cindy went off wid 'em\, she 'spectin' ter be back in a week er so\, en' de w'ite folks not hahdly 'lowin' she'd come back at all. Skundus didn' lack ter hab Cindy go \, but he couldn' do nuthin'. He wuz wukkin' off in ernudder part er de pl antation w'en she went erway\, en' had ter tell her good-by de night befo' .\n\n\"Bimeby\, w'en Cindy didn' come back in two or th'ee weeks\, Skundus 'mence ter git res'less. En' Skundus wuz diff'ent f'um udder folks. Mos' folks w'en dey gits res'less can't sleep good\, but de mo' res'lesser Skun dus got\, de mo! sleepier he 'peared ter git. W'eneber he wuz'n wukkin' ef eatin'\, he'd be sleepin'. Wen de yuther niggers 'ud be sky-larkin' 'roun ' nights en' Sundays\, Skundus 'ud be soun' asleep in his cabin. Things ke p' on dis way fer 'bout a mont' atter Cindy went away\, w'en one mawnin' S kundus didn't come ter wuk. Dey look' fer 'im 'roun' de plantation\, but d ey couldn' fin' 'im\, en' befo' de day wuz gone\, ev'ybody wuz sho' dat Sk undus had runned erway.\n\n\"Cose dey wuz a great howdydo 'bout it. Nobody hadn' nebber runned erway fum Marse Dugal' befo'\, an' dey hadn' b'en a r unaway nigger in de neighbo'hood fer th'ee er fo' years. De w'ite folks wu z all wukked up\, en' dey wuz mo' ridin' er hosses en' mo' hitchin up er b uggies d'n a little. Ole Marse Dugal' had a lot er papers printed en' stuc k up on trees 'long de roads\, en' dey wuz sump'n put in de noospapers—a free nigger fum down on de Wim'l'ton Road read de paper ter some er our b an's—tellin' all 'bout how high Skundus wuz\, en' w'at kine er teef he h ad\, en' 'bout a skyah he had on his lef cheek\, en' how sleepy he wuz\, e n' off'rin' a reward er one hunder' dollars fer whoeber 'ud ketch 'im. But none of 'em eber cotch 'im.\n\n\"W'en Cindy fus' went away she wuz kinder down in de mouf fer a day er so. But she went to a fine new house\, de fo lks treated her well en' dere wuz sich good comp'ny 'mongs' her own people \, dat she made up 'er min' she might's well hab a good time fer de week e r two she wuz gwine ter stay down dere. But w'en de time roll' on en' she didn' heared nothin' 'bout gwine back\, she 'mence' ter git kinder skeered she wuz'n nebber gwine ter see her mammy ner Skundus no mo'. She wuz mons t'us cut up 'bout it\, an' los' 'er appetite en' got so po' en' skinny\, h er mist'ess sont 'er down ter de swamp fer ter git some roots fer ter make some tea fer 'er health. Her mist'ess sont her 'way 'bout th'ee o'clock e n' Cindy didn' come back till atter sundown\; en' she say she b'en lookin' fer de roots\, dat dey didn' 'pear ter be none er dem kin' er roots fer a mile er so 'long de aidge er de swamp.\n\n\"Cindy 'mence' ter git better jes' ez soon as she begun ter drink de root-tea. It wuz a monst'us good me d'cine\, leas'ways in her case. It done Cindy so much good dat her mist'es s 'eluded she'd take it herse'f en' gib it ter de chil'en. De fus' day Cin dy went atter de roots dey wuz some lef' ober\, en' her mist'ess tol' 'er fer ter use dat fer de nex' day. Cindy done so\, but she tol' 'er mist'ess hit didn' hab no strenk en' didn' do 'er no good. So ev'y day atter dat M arse Wash'n'ton's wife 'ud sen' Cindy down by de aidge er de swamp fer ter git fresh roots.\n\n\"'Cindy\,' said one er de fiel'-han's one day\, 'yer better keep 'way fum dat swamp. Dey's a ha'nt walkin' down dere.'\n\n\"'G o way fum yere wid yo' foolishness\,' said Cindy. 'Dey ain' no ha'nts. W'i te folks doan' b'lieve in sich things\, fer I heared 'em say so\; but yer can't 'spec' nothin' better fum fiel'-han's.'\n\n\"Dey wuz one man on de p lantation\, one er dese yer dandy niggers w'at 'uz alluz runnin' atter de wimmen folks\, dat got ter pest'rin' Cindy. Cindy didn' paid no 'tention t er 'im\, but he kep' on tryin' fer ter co't her w'en he could git a chance . Fin'ly Cindy tole 'im fer ter let her 'lone\, er e'se sump'n' might happ en ter 'im. But he didn' min' Cindy\, en' one ebenin' he followed her down ter de swamp. He los' track un er\, en' ez he wuz a-startin' back out'n d e swamp\, a great big black ha'nt 'bout ten feet high\, en' wid a fence-ra il in its ban's jump out'n de bushes en' chase 'im cl'ar up in de co'n fie l'. Leas'ways he said it did\; en' atter dat none er de niggers wouldn't g o nigh de swamp\, 'cep'n Cindy\, who said it wuz all foolishness—it wuz dis nigger's guilty conscience dat skeered 'im—she hadn' seed no ha'nt e n' wuz'n skeered er nuffin' she didn't see.\n\n\"Bimeby\, w'en Cindy had b e'n gone fum home 'bout two mont's\, harves'-time come on\, en' Marse Duga l' foun' hisse'f short er ban's. One er de men wuz down wid de rheumatiz\, Skundus wuz gone\, en' Cindy wuz gone\, en' Marse Dugal tole ole Miss dey wuz no use talkin'\, he couldn' 'ford ter buy no new ban's\, en' he'd ha' ter sen' fer Cindy\, 'en put her in de fiel'\; fer de cotton-crap wuz a m onst'us big 'un dat year\, en' Cindy wuz one er de bes' cotton-pickers on de plantation. So dey wrote a letter to Marse Wash'n'ton dat day fer Cindy \, en' wanted Cindy by de 'een er de mont'\, en' Marse Wash'n'ton sont her home. Cindy didn't 'pear ter wanter come much. She said she'd got kinder use' ter her noo home\; but she didn' hab no mo' ter say 'bout comin' dan she did 'bout goin'. Howsomedever\, she went down ter de swamp fer ter git roots fer her mist'ess up ter de las' day she wuz dere.\n\n\"Wen Cindy go t back home\, she wuz might'ly put out 'ca'se Skundus wuz gone\, en' hit d idn' 'pear ez ef anythin' anybody said ter 'er 'ud comfort 'er. But one ma wnin' she said she'd dreamp' dat night dat Skundus wuz gwine ter come back \; en' sho' 'nuff\, de ve'y nex' mawnin' who sh'd come walkin' out in de f iel' wid his hoe on his shoulder but Skundus\, rubbin' his eyes ez ef he h adn' got waked up good yit.\n\n\"Dey wuz a great 'miration mongs' de nigge rs\, en' somebody run off ter de big house fer ter tell Marse Dugal'. Bime by here come Marse Dugal' hisse'f\, mad as a hawnit\, acussin' en' gwine o n like he gwine ter hurt somebody\; but anybody w'at look close could' 'a' seed he wuz 'mos' tickled ter def fer ter git Skundus back ergin.\n\n\"'W har yer be'n run erway ter\, yer good-fer-nuthin'\, lazy\, black nigger?' sez 'e. 'I'm gwine ter gib yer fo' hunderd lashes. I'm gwine ter hang yer up by yer thumbs en' take ev'y bit er yer black hide off'n yer\, en' den I 'm gwine ter sell yer ter de fus' specilater w'at comes' long buyin' nigge rs fer ter take down ter Alabam'. W'at yer mean by runnin' er way fum yer good\, kin' marster\, yer good-fer-nuthin'\, wool-headed\, black scound'el ?'\n\n\"Skundus looked at 'im ez ef he didn' understan'. 'Lawd\, Marse Dug al'\,' sez 'e\, 'I doan' know w'at youer talkin' 'bout. I ain' runned erwa y\; I ain' be'n nowhar.'\n\n\"'Whar yer be'n fer de las' mon'?' said Marse Dugal'. 'Tell me de truf\, er I'll hab yer tongue pulled out by de roots. I'll tar yer all ober yer en' set yer on fiah. I'll—I'll'—Marse Dugal ' went on at a tarrable rate\, but eve'ybody knowed Marse Dugal' bark uz w uss'n his bite.\n\n\"Skundus look lack 'e wuz skeered mos' ter def fer ter heah Marse Dugal' gwine on dat erway\, en' he couldn' 'pear to un'erstan' w'at Marse Dugal' was talkin' erbout.\n\n\"'I didn' mean no harm by sleep 'n in de barn las' night\, Marse Dugal'\,' sez 'e\, 'en' ef yer'll let me off dis time\, I won' nebber do so no mo'.'\n\n\"Well\, ter make a long st ory sho't\, Skundus said he had gone ter de barn dat Sunday atternoon befo ' de Monday w'en he could't be foun'\, fer ter hunt aigs\, en' wiles he wu z up dere de hay had 'peared so sof en' nice dat he had laid down fer take a little nap\; dat it wuz mawnin' w'en he woke en' foun' hisse'f all cove red up whar de hay had fell over on 'im. A hen had built a nes' right on t op un 'im\, en' it had half-a-dozen aigs in it. He said he hadn't stop fer ter git no brekfus'\, but had jes' suck' one or two er de aigs en' hurrie d right straight out in de fiel'\, fer he seed it wuz late en' all de res' er de ban's wuz gone ter wuk.\n\n\"'Youer a liar\,' said Marse Dugal'\, ' en' de truf ain't in yer. Yer b'en run erway en' hid in de swamp somewhar ernudder.' But Skundus swo' up en' down dat he hadn' b'en out'n dat barn\, en' fin'lly Marse Dugal' went up ter de house en' Skundus went on wid his wuk.\n\n\"Well\, yer mought know dey wuz a great 'miration in de neighbo' hood. Marse Dugal' sont fer Skundus ter cum up ter de big house nex' day\, en' Skundus went up 'spect'n' fer ter ketch forty. But w'en he got dere\, Marse Dugal' had fetched up ole Doctor Leach fum down on Rockfish\, 'en a nother young doctor fum town\, en' dey looked at Skundus's eyes en' felt o f his wris' en' pulled out his tongue\, en' hit 'im in de chis'\, en' put dey yeahs ter his side fer ter heah 'is heart beat\; en' den dey up'n made Skundus tell how he felt w'en 'e went ter sleep en' how he felt w'en 'e w oke up. Dey stayed ter dinner\, en' w'en dey got thoo' talkin' en' eatin' en' drinkin'\, dey tole Marse Dugal' Skundus had had a catacornered fit\, en' had be'n in a trance fer fo' weeks. En' w'en dey l'arned about Cindy\, en' how dis yer fit had come on gradg'ly atter Cindy went away\, dey 'low ed Marse Dugal' 'd better let Skundus en' Cindy git married\, er he'd be l iable ter hab some mo' er dem fits. Fer Marse Dugal' didn' want no fittifi ed niggers ef 'e could he'p it.\n\n\"Atter dat\, Marse Dugal' had Skundus up ter de house lots er times fer ter show 'im off ter folks w'at come ter visit. En' bein' as Cindy wuz back home\, en' she en' Skundus wukked hahd \, en' he couldn' 'ford fer ter take no chances on dem long trances\, he ' lowed em ter got married soon ez cotton-pickin' wuz ober\, en' gib 'em a c abin er dey own ter lib in down in de quarters. En' sho' 'nuff\, dey didn' had no trouble keep'n' Skundus wak f'm dat time fo'th\, fer Cindy turned out ter hab a temper of her own\, en' made Skundus walk a chalk-line.\n\n\ "Dis yer boy\, Tom\,\" said the old man\, straightening out his leg carefu lly\, preparatory to getting up\, \"is jes' like his gran'daddy. I b'lieve ef somebody didn' wake 'im up he'd sleep till jedgmen' day. Heah 'e comes now. Come on heah wid dat w'eelborrow\, yer lazy\, good-fer-nuthin' rasca l.\"\n\nTom came slowly round the house with the wheelbarrow\, and stood b linking and rolling his eyes as if he had just emerged from a sound sleep and was not yet half awake.\n\nWe took our way around the house\, the ladi es and I in front\, Julius next and Tom bringing up the rear with the whee lbarrow. We went by the well-kept grape-vines\, heavy with the promise of an abundant harvest\, through a narrow field of yellowing corn\, and then picked our way through the watermelon-vines to the spot where the monarch of the patch had lain the day before\, in all the glory of its coat of var iegated green. There was a shallow concavity in the sand where it had rest ed\, but the melon itself was gone.\n\nLonesome Ben\n\nThere had been some talk among local capitalists about building a cotton mill on Beaver Creek \, a few miles from my place on the sand hills in North Carolina\, and I h ad been approached as likely to take an interest in such an enterprise. Wh ile I had the matter under advisement it was suggested\, as an inducement to my co-operation\, that I might have the brick for the mill made on my p lace—there being clay there suitable for the purpose—and thus reduce t he amount of my actual cash investment. Most of my land was sandy\, though I had observed several outcroppings of clay along the little creek or bra nch forming one of my boundaries.\n\nOne afternoon in summer\, when the su n was low and the heat less oppressive than it had been earlier in the day \, I ordered Julius\, our old colored coachman\, to harness the mare to th e rockaway and drive me to look at the clay-banks. When we were ready\, my wife\, who wished to go with me for the sake of the drive\, came out and took her seat by my side.\n\nWe reached our first point of destination by a road running across the plantation\, between a field of dark-green maize on the one hand and a broad expanse of scuppernong vines on the other. Th e road led us past a cabin occupied by one of my farm-hands. As the carria ge went by at a walk\, the woman of the house came to the door and curtsie d. My wife made some inquiry about her health\, and she replied that it wa s poor. I noticed that her complexion\, which naturally was of a ruddy bro wn\, was of a rather sickly hue. Indeed\, I had observed a greater sallown ess among both the colored people and the poor whites thereabouts than the hygienic conditions of the neighborhood seemed to justify.\n\nAfter leavi ng this house our road lay through a cotton field for a short distance\, a nd then we entered a strip of woods\, through which ran the little stream beside which I had observed the clay. We stopped at the creek\, the road b y which we had come crossing it and continuing over the land of my neighbo r\, Colonel Pemberton. By the roadside\, on my own land\, a bank of clay r ose in almost a sheer perpendicular for about ten feet\, evidently extendi ng back some distance into the low\, pine-clad hill behind it\, and having also frontage upon the creek. There were marks of bare feet on the ground along the base of the bank\, and the face of it seemed freshly disturbed and scored with finger marks\, as though children had been playing there.\ n\n\"Do you think that clay would make good brick\, Julius?\" I asked the old man\, who had been unusually quiet during the drive. He generally play ed with the whip\, making little feints at the mare\, or slapping her ligh tly with the reins\, or admonishing her in a familiar way\; but on this oc casion the heat or some other cause had rendered him less demonstrative th an usual.\n\n\"Yas\, suh\, I knows it would\,\" he answered.\n\n\"How do y ou know? Has it ever been used for that purpose?\"\n\n\"No\, suh\; but I g ot my reasons fer sayin' so. Ole Mars Dugal useter hab a brickya'd fu'ther up de branch—I dunno as yer noticed it\, fer it's all growed ober wid w eeds an' grass. Mars Dugal said dis yer clay wouldn' make good brick\, but I knowed better.\"\n\nI judged from the appearance of the clay that it wa s probably deficient in iron. It was of a yellowish-white tint and had a s ort of greasy look.\n\n\"Well\,\" I said\, \"we'll drive up to the other p lace and get a sample of that clay\, and then we'll come back this way.\"\ n\n\"Hold on a minute\, dear\,\" said my wife\, looking at her watch\, \"M abel has been over to Colonel Pemberton's all the afternoon. She said she' d be back at five. If we wait here a little while she'll be along and we c an take her with us.\"\n\n\"All right\,\" I said\, \"we'll wait for her. D rive up a little farther\, Julius\, by that jessamine vine.\"\n\nWhile we were waiting\, a white woman wearing a homespun dress and slat-bonnet\, ca me down the road from the other side of the creek\, and lifting her skirts slightly\, waded with bare feet across the shallow stream. Reaching the c lay-bank she stooped and gathered from it\, with the aid of a convenient s tick\, a quantity of the clay which she pressed together in the form of a ball. She had not seen us at first\, the bushes partially screening us\; b ut when\, having secured the clay\, she turned her face in our direction a nd caught sight of us watching her\, she hid the lump of clay in her pocke t with a shamefaced look\, and hurried away by the road she had come.\n\n\ "What is she going to do with that\, Uncle Julius?\" asked my wife. We wer e Northern settlers\, and still new to some of the customs of the locality \, concerning which we often looked to Julius for information. He had live d on the place many years and knew the neighborhood thoroughly.\n\n\"She's gwineter eat it\, Miss Annie\,\" he replied\, \"w'en she gits outer sight .\"\n\n\"Ugh!\" said my wife with a grimace\, \"you don't mean she's going to eat that great lump of clay?\"\n\n\"Yas'm I does\; dat's jes' w'at I m eans—gwineter eat eve'y bit un it\, an' den come back bimeby fer mo'.\"\ n\n\"I should think it would make them sick\,\" she said.\n\n\"Dey gits us e' ter it\,\" said Julius. \"Howsomeber\, ef dey eats too much it does mak e 'em sick\; an' I knows w'at I'm ertalkin' erbout. I doan min' w'at dem k inder folks does\,\" he added\, looking contemptuously after the retreatin g figure of the poor-white woman\, \"but w'eneber I sees black folks eat'n ' clay of'n dat partic'lar clay-bank\, it alluz sets me ter studyin' 'bout po' lonesome Ben.\"\n\n\"What was the matter with Ben?\" asked my wife. \ "You can tell us while we're waiting for Mabel.\"\n\nOld Julius often begu iled our leisure with stories of plantation life\, some of them folk-lore stories\, which we found to be in general circulation among the colored pe ople\; some of them tales of real life as Julius had seen it in the old sl ave days\; but the most striking were\, we suspected\, purely imaginary\, or so colored by old Julius's fancy as to make us speculate at times upon how many original minds\, which might have added to the world's wealth of literature and art\, had been buried in the ocean of slavery.\n\n\"W'en ol e Mars Marrabo McSwayne owned dat place ober de branch dere\, w'at Kunnel Pembe'ton owns now\,\" the old man began\, \"he useter hab a nigger man na me' Ben. Ben wuz one er dese yer big black niggers—he was mo'd'n six foo t high an' black ez coal. He wuz a fiel'-han' an' a good wukker\, but he h ad one little failin'—he would take a drap er so oncet in a w'ile. Co'se eve'ybody laks a drap now an' den\, but it 'peared ter 'fec' Ben mo'd'n i t did yuther folks. He didn' hab much chance dat-a-way\, but eve'y now an' den he'd git holt er sump'n' somewahr\, an' sho's he did\, he'd git out'n de narrer road. Mars Marrabo kep' on wa'nin' 'm 'bout it\, an' fin'lly he tol' 'im ef he eber ketch 'im in dat shape ag'in he 'uz gwineter gib 'im fo'ty. Ben knowed ole Mars Marrabo had a good 'memb'ance an' alluz done w' at he said\, so he wuz monst'us keerful not ter gib 'm no 'casion fer ter use his 'memb'ance on him. An' so fer mos' a whole yeah Ben 'nied hisse'f an' nebber teched a drap er nuffin'.\n\n\"But it's h'ad wuk ter larn a ole dog new tricks\, er ter make him fergit de ole uns\, an' po' Ben's time c ome bimeby\, jes' lak ev'ybody e'se's does. Mars Marrabo sent 'im ober ter dis yer plantation one day wid a bundle er cotton-sacks fer Mars Dugal\,' an' wiles he wuz ober yere\, de ole Debbil sent a' 'oman w'at had cas' he r eyes on 'im an' knowed his weakness\, fer ter temp' po' Ben wid some lic ker. Mars Whiskey wuz right dere an' Mars Marrabo wuz a mile erway\, an' s o Ben minded Mars Whiskey an' fergot 'bout Mars Marrabo. W'en he got back home he couldn' skasely tell Mars Marrabo de message w'at Mars Dugal' had sent back ter 'im.\n\n\"Mars Marrabo listen' at 'im 'temp' ter tell it\; a nd den he says\, kinder col' and cuttin'-like—he didn' 'pear ter get mad ner nuffin':\n\n\"'Youer drunk\, Ben.'\n\n\"De way his marster spoke sort er sobered Ben\, an' he 'nied it of co'se.\n\n\"'Who? Me\, Mars Marrabo? I ain' drunk\; no\, marster\, Iain' drunk. I ain' teched a drap er nuffin' s ence las' Chris'mas\, suh'.\n\n\"'Youer drunk\, Ben\, an' don't you dare t er 'spute my wo'd\, er I'll kill you in yo' tracks! I'll talk ter you Sad' day night\, suh\, w'en you'll be sober\, an' w'en you'll hab Sunday ter 'f leet over ou' conve'sation\, an' 'nuss yo' woun's.'\n\n\"W'en Mars Marrabo got th'oo talkin' Ben wuz mo' sober dan he wuz befo' he got drunk. It wuz Wednesday w'en Ben's marster tol 'im dis\, an' 'twix' den and Friday nigh t Ben done a heap er studyin'. An' de mo' he studied de mo' he didn' lak d e way Mars Marrabo talked. He hadn' much trouble wid Mars Marrabo befo\,' but he knowed his ways\, an' he knowed dat de longer Mars Marrabo waited t o do a thing de\; wusser he got 'stid er gittin' better lak mos' folks.' A n' Ben fin'lly made up his min' he wa'n't gwineter take dat cow-hidin.' He 'lowed dat ef he wuz little\, like some er de dahkies on de plantation\, he wouldn' min' it so much\; but he wuz so big dey'd be mo' groun' fer Mar s Marrabo ter cover\, an' it would hurt dat much mo.' So Ben 'cided ter ru n erway.\n\n\"He had a wife an' two chil'en\, an' dey had a little cabin t er deyse'ves down in de quahters. His wife Dasdy wuz a good-lookin\,' good -natu'd 'oman\, an' 'peared ter set a heap er sto' by Ben. De little boy w uz name' Pete\; he wuz 'bout eight er nine years ole\, an' had already 'me nced ter go out in de fiel' an' he'p his mammy pick cotton\, fer Mars Marr abo wuz one er dese yer folks w'at wants ter make eve'y aidge cut. Dis yer little Pete wuz a mighty soople dancer\, an' w'en his daddy would set out in de yahd an' pick de banjo fer 'im\, Pete could teach de ole folks noo steps—dancin' jes seemed to come nachul ter 'im. Dey wuz a little gal to o\; Ben didn' pay much 'tention ter de gal\, but he wuz monst'us fond er D asdy an' de boy. He wuz sorry ter leab 'em\, an' he didn' tell 'em nuffin' 'bout it fer fear dey'd make a fuss. But on Friday night Ben tuk all de b read an' meat dey wuz in de cabin an' made fer de woods.\n\n\"W'en Sad'day come an' Ben didn' 'pear\, an' nobody didn' know nuffin' 'bout 'im\, Mars Marrabo 'lowed of co'se dat Ben had runned erway. He got up a pahty an' t uk de dawgs out an' follered de scen' down ter de crick an' los' it. Fer B en had tuk a go'd-full er tar 'long wid' 'im\, an' w'en he got ter de cric k he had 'n'inted his feet wid tar\, an' dat th'owed de houns' off'n de sc ent. Dey sarched de woods an' follered de roads an' kep' watchin' fer a we ek\, but dey couldn' fin' no sign er Ben. An' den Mars Marrabo got mo' str ic'\, an' wuked his niggers hahder'n eber\, ez ef he wanted ter try ter ma ke up fer his loss.\n\n\"W'en Ben stahted out he wanted ter go ter de No't h. He didn' know how fur it wuz\, bet he 'lowed he retch dar in fo' er fiv e days. He knowed de No'th Stah\, an' de fus night he kep' gwine right str aight to'ds it. But de nex' night it was rainin\,' an' fer two er th'ee ni ghts it stayed cloudy\, an' Ben couldn' see de No'th Stah. Howsomeber\, he knowed he had got stahted right' an' he kep' gwine right straight on de s ame way fer a week er mo' 'spectin' ter git ter de No'th eve'y day\, w'en one mawin' early\, atter he had b'en walkin' all night\, he come right sma ck out on de crick jes whar he had stahted f'om.\n\n\"Co'se Ben wuz monst' us disapp'inted. He had been wond'rin' w'y he hadn' got ter de No'th befo\ ,' an' behol\,' heah he wuz back on de ole plantation. He couldn' un'ersta n' it at fus\,' but he wuz so hongry he didn' hab time ter study 'bout nuf fin' fer a little w'ile but jes' ter git sump'n' ter eat\; fer he had done eat up de bread an' meat he tuk away wid 'im\, an' had been libbin' on ro as'n-ears an' sweet'n taters he'd slip out'n de woods an' fin' in co'n fie l's 'an 'tater-patches. He look 'cross de crick\, an' seed dis yer clay-ba nk\, an' he waded ober an' got all he could eat\, an' den tuk a lump wid ' im\, an' hid in de woods ag'in 'til he could study de matter ober some.\n\ n\"Fus' he 'lowed dat he better gib hiss'ef up an' take his lammin.' But j es' den he 'membered de way Mars Marrabo looked at 'im an' w'at he said 'b out Sad'day night\; an' den he 'lowed dat ef Mars Marrabo ketch 'im now\, he'd wear 'im ter a frazzle an' chaw up de frazzle\, so de wouldn' be nuff in' lef' un 'im at all\, an' dat Mars Marrabo would make a' example an' a warnin' of 'im fer all de niggers in de naberhood. Fac' is Mars Marrabo pr ob'ly wouldn' a' done much ter 'im fer it 'ud be monst'us po' 'couragement fer runaway niggers ter come back\, ef dey gwineter git killed w'en dey c ome. An' so Ben waited 'til night\, an' den he went back an' got some mo' clay an' eat it an' hid hisse'f in de woods ag'in.\n\n\"Well\, hit wuz qua re 'bout Ben\, but he stayed roun' heah fer a mont\,' hidin' in de woods i n de daytime\, an' slippin' out nights an' gittin' clay ter eat an' water f'om de crick yanker ter drink. De water in dat crick wuz cl'ar in dem day s\, stidder bein' yallar lak it is now.\"\n\nWe had observed that the wate r\, like that of most streams that take their rise in swamps\, had an ambe r tint to which the sand and clay background of the bed of the stream impa rted an even yellower hue.\n\n\"What did he do then\, Julius?\" asked my w ife\, who liked to hear the end of a story.\n\n\"Well\, Miss\, he made up his min' den dat he wuz gwineter staht fer de No'th ag'in. But wiles he b' en layin' roun' in de woods he had 'mence ter feel monst'us lonesome\, an' it 'peared ter him dat he jes' couldn' go widout seein' Dasdy an' little Pete. Fus' he 'lowed he'd go up ter de cabin\, but he thought 'bout de dog s 'roun' de yahd\, an' dat de yuther dahkies mought see 'im\, and so he 'c ided he'd better watch fer 'em 'til dey come long de road—it wuz dis yer same road—w'en he could come out'n de woods an' talk ter 'em. An' he eb en 'lowed he mought 'suade 'em ter run erway wid 'im an' dey could all get ter de No'th\, fer de nights wuz cl'ar now\, an' he couldn' lose de No'th Stah.\n\n\"So he waited two er th'ee days\, an' sho' nuff long come Dasdy one mornin\,' comin' over to Mars Dugal's fer ter fetch some things fer h er missis. She wuz lookin' kinder down in de mouf\, fer she thought a heap er Ben\, an' wuz monst'us sorry ter lose 'im\, w'iles at de same time she wuz glad he wuz free\, fer she 'lowed he'd done got ter de Norf long befo .' An' she wuz studyin' 'bout Ben\, w'at a fine-lookin' man he wuz\, an' w ond'rin' ef she'd eber see 'im any mo.'\n\n\"W'en Ben seed her comin' he w aited 'til she got close by\, an' den he stepped out 'n de woods an' come face ter face wid her. She didn' 'pear to know who he wuz\, an' seem kinde r skeered.\n\n\"'Hoddy\, Dasdy honey\,' he said.\n\n\"'Huh!' she said\, '' pears ter me you'er mighty fermilyer on sho't acquaintance.'\n\n\"'Sho't a cquaintance.' Why\, doan' yer know me\, Dasdy?'\n\n\"'No. I doan know yer f'om a skeercrow. I never seed yer befo' in my life\, an' nebber wants ter see yer ag'in. Whar did yer com f'om anyhow? Whose nigger is yer? Er is y er some low-down free nigger dat doan b'long ter nobody an' doan own nobod y?'\n\n\"'W'at fer you talk ter me like dat\, honey? I's Ben\, yo' Ben. Wh y doan you know yo' own man?'\n\n\"He put out his ahms fer ter draw her te r 'im\, but she jes' gib one yell\, an' stahted ter run. Ben wuz so 'stoni sh' he didn' know w'at ter do\, an' he stood dere in de road 'til he heare d somebody e'se comin'\, w'en he dahted in de woods ag'in.\n\n\"Po' Ben wu z so 'sturbed in his min' dat he couldn' hahdly eat any clay dat day. He c ouldn' make out w'at wuz de matter wid Dasdy but he 'lowed maybe she'd hea red he wuz dead er sump'n\,' an' thought he wuz a ha'nt\, an' dat wuz w'y she had run away. So he watch' by de side er de road\, an' nex' mornin' wh o should come erlong but little Pete\, wid a reed over his shoulder\, an' a go'd-full er bait\, gwine fishin' in de crick.\n\n\"Ben called 'im\; 'Pe te\, O Pete! Little Pete.'\n\n\"Little Pete cocked up his ears an' listene d. 'Peared lak he'd heared dat voice befo.' He stahted fer de woods fer te r see who it wuz callin' 'im\, but befo' he got dere Ben stepped out an' r etched fer im.\n\n\"'Come heah\, honey\, an' see yo' daddy\, who ain' seen yer fer so long.'\n\n\"But little Pete tuk one look at 'im\, an' den 'menc eter holler an squeal an' kick an' bite an' scratch. Ben wuz so 'stonish' dat he couldn' hoi' de boy\, who slipped out'n his ban's an run to'ds de h ouse ez fas' ez his legs would tote 'im.\n\n\"Po' Ben kep' gittin' wus an' wus mixed up. He couldn' make out fer de life er 'im w'at could be de mat ter. Nobody didn' 'pear ter wanter own 'im. He felt so cas' down dat he di dn' notice a nigger man comin' long de road 'til he got right close up on 'im\, an' didn' heah dis man w'en he said 'Hoddy' ter 'im.\n\n\"'Wat's de matter wid yer?' said de yuther man w'en Ben didn' 'spon'. 'Wat jedge er m ember er de legislater er hotel-keeper does you b'long ter dat you can't s peak ter a man w'en he says hoddy ter yer?'\n\n\"Ben kinder come ter hisse 'f an' seed it wuz Primus\, who b'long ter his marster an' knowed 'im as w ell as anybody. But befo' he could git de words out'n his mouf Primus went on talkin.'\n\n\"'Youer de mos' mis'able lookin' merlatter I eber seed. D em rags look lak dey be'n run th'oo a sawmill. My marster doan 'low no str ange niggers roun' dis yer plantation\, an' yo' better take yo' yaller hid e 'way f'um yer as fas' as yo' kin.'\n\n\"Jes den somebody hollered on de yuther side er de crick\, an' Primus stahted off on a run\, so Ben didn' h ab no chance ter say no mo' ter 'im.\n\n\"Ben almos' 'lowed he wuz gwine o ut'n' his min'\, he wuz so 'stonished an' mazed at none er dese yer folks reco'nizin' 'im. He went back in de woods ag'in an' stayed dere all day\, wond'rin' w'at he wuz gwineter do. Oncet er twicet he seed folks comin' 'l ong de road\, an' stahted out ter speak ter 'em\, but changed his min' an' slip' back ag'in.\n\n\"Co'se ef Mars Marrabo had been huntin' Ben he woul d 'a' foun' 'im. But he had long sence los' all hope er seein' im ag'in\, an' so nobody didn' 'sturb Ben in de woods. He stayed hid a day er two mo' an' den he got so lonesome an' homesick fer Dasdy an' little Pete an' de yuther dahkies\,—somebody ter talk ter—dat he jes' made up his min' te r go right up ter de house an' gib hisse'f up an' take his med'cine. Mars Marrabo couldn' do nuffin' mo' d'n kill 'im an' he mought's well be dead a s hidin' in de woods wid nobody ter talk ter er look at ner nuffin'. He ha d jes' come out 'n de woods an' stahted up dis ve'y road\, w'en who sh'd c ome 'long in a hoss 'n buggy but ole Mars Marrabo\, drivin' ober ter dat y uther brickyahd youer gwinter see now. Ben run out 'n de woods\, and fell down on his knees in de road right in front er Mars Marrabo. Mars Marrabo had to pull on de lines an' hoi' de hoss up ter keep 'im f'um runnin' ober Ben.\n\n\"'Git out'n de road\, you fool nigger\,' says Mars Marrabo\, 'do es yer wanter git run ober? Whose nigger is you\, anyhow?'\n\n\"I's yo' ni gger\, Mars Marrabo\; doan yer know Ben\, w'at runned erway?'\n\n\"'Yas\, I knows my Ben w'at runned erway. Does you know whar he is?'\n\n\"'Why\, I 's yo' Ben\, Mars Marrabo. Doan yer know me\, marster?'\n\n\"'No\, I doan know yer\, yer yaller rascal! W'at de debbil yer mean by tellin' me sich a lie? Ben wuz black ez a coal an' straight ez an' arrer. Youer yaller ez d at clay-bank\, an' crooked ez a bair'l-hoop. I reckon youer some 'stracted nigger\, tun't out by some marster w'at doan wanter take keer er yer. You git off'n my plantation\, an' doan show yo' clay-cullud hide aroun' yer n o more\, er I'll hab yer sent ter jail an' whip.'\n\n\"Mars Marrabo drove erway an' lef' po' Ben mo' dead 'n alive. He crep' back in de bushes an' l aid down an' wep' lak a baby. He didn' hab no wife\, no chile\, no frien's \, no marster—he'd be'n willin' ernuff to git 'long widout a marster\, w 'en he had one\, but it 'peared lak a sin fer his own marster ter 'ny 'im an' cas' 'im off dat-a-way. It 'peared ter 'im he mought jes' ez well be d ead ez livin'\, fer he wuz all alone in de worl'\, wid nowhar ter go\, an' nobody didn' hab nuffin' ter say ter 'im but ter 'buse 'im an' drive 'im erway.\n\n\"Atter he got ober his grievin' spell he 'mence ter wonder w'at Mars Marrabo meant by callin' 'im yaller\, an' ez long ez nobody didn' se em ter keer whuther dey seed 'im er not\, he went down by de crick in broa d daylight\, an' kneel down by de water an' looked at his face. Fus' he di dn' reco'nize hisse'f an' glanshed back ter see ef dey wa'n't somebody loo kin' ober his shoulder—but dey wa'n't. An' w'en he looked back in de wat er he seed de same thing—he wa'n't black no mo'\, but had turnt ter a li ght yaller.\n\n\"Ben didn' knowed w'at ter make er it fer a minute er so. Fus' he 'lowed he must hab de yaller fever\, er de yaller janders\, er sum p'n lak dat'! But he had knowed rale dark folks ter hab janders befo'\, an d it hadn't nebber 'fected 'em dat-a-way. But bimeby he got up o'ff'n 'is han's an' knees an' wuz stan'in' lookin' ober de crick at de clay-bank\, a n' wond'rin ef de clay he'd b'en eat'n' hadn' turnt 'im yaller w'en he hea red sump'n say jes' ez plain ez wo'ds.\n\n\"'Turnt ter clay! turnt ter cla y! turnt ter clay!'\n\n\"He looked all roun'\, but he couldn' see nobody b ut a big bullfrog settin' on a log on de yuther side er de crick. An' w'en he turnt roun' an' sta'ted back in de woods\, he heared de same thing beh in' 'im.\n\n\"'Turnt ter clay! turnt ter clay! turnt ter clay!'\n\n\"Dem w o'ds kep' ringin' in 'is yeahs 'til he fin'lly 'lowed dey wuz boun' ter be so\, er e'se dey wouldn' a b'en tol ter 'im\, an' dat he had libbed on cl ay so long an' had eat so much\, dat he must 'a' jes nach'ly turnt ter cla y!\"\n\n\"Imperious Caesar\, turned to clay\, Might stop a hole to keep th e wind away\,\"\n\nI murmured parenthentically.\n\n\"Yas\, suh\,\" said th e old man\, \"turnt ter clay. But you's mistook in de name\, suh\; hit wuz Ben\, you 'member\, not Caesar. Ole Mars Marrabo did hab a nigger name' C aesar\, but dat wuz anudder one.\"\n\n\"Don't interrupt him\, John\,\" sai d my wife impatiently. \"What happened then\, Julius?\"\n\n\"Well\, po' Be n didn' know w'at ter do. He had be'n lonesome ernuff befo'\, but now he d idn' eben hab his own se'f ter 'so'ciate wid\, fer he felt mo' lak a stran ger 'n he did lak Ben. In a day er so mo' he 'mence ter wonder whuther he wuz libbin' er not. He had hearn 'bout folks turnin' ter clay w'en dey wuz dead\, an' he 'lowed maybe he wuz dead an' didn' knowed it\, an' dat wuz de reason w'y eve'body run erway f'm 'im an' wouldn' hab nuffin' ter do wi d 'im. An' ennyhow\, he 'lowed ef he wa'n't dead\, he mought's well be. He wande'ed roun' a day er so mo'\, an' fin'lly de lonesomeness\, an' de sle epin' out in de woods\, 'mongs' de snakes an' sco'pions\, an' not habbin' nuffin' fit ter eat\, 'mence ter tell on him\, mo' an' mo'\, an' he kep' g ittin' weakah an' weakah 'til one day\, w'en he went down by de crick fer ter git a drink er water\, he foun' his limbs gittin' so stiff hit 'uz all he could do ter crawl up on de bank an' lay down in de sun. He laid dere 'til he died\, an' de sun beat down on 'im\, an' beat down on 'im\, an' be at down on 'im\, fer th'ee er fo' days\, 'til it baked 'im as ha'd as a br ick. An' den a big win' come erlong an' blowed a tree down\, an' it fell o n 'im an' smashed 'im all ter pieces\, an' groun' 'im ter powder. An' den a big rain come erlong\, an' washed 'im in de crick\, 'an eber sence den d e water in dat crick's b'en jes' as yer sees it now. An dat wuz de een' er po' lonesome Ben\, an' dat's de reason w'y I knows dat clay'll make brick an' w'y I doan nebber lak ter see no black folks eat'n it.\"\n\nMy wife c ame of a family of reformers\, who could never contemplate an evil without seeking an immediate remedy. When I decided that the bank of edible clay was not fit for brickmaking\, she asked me if I would not have it carted a way\, suggesting at the same time that it could be used to fill a low plac e in another part of the plantation.\n\n\"It would be too expensive\,\" I said.\n\n\"Oh\, no\,\" she replied\, \"I don't think so. I have been talki ng with Uncle Julius about it\, and he says he has a nephew who is out of employment\, and who will take the contract for ten dollars\, if you will furnish the mule and cart\, and board him while the job lasts.\"\n\nAs I h ad no desire to add another permanent member to my household\, I told her it would be useless\; that if the people did not get clay there they would find it elsewhere\, and perhaps an inferior quality which might do greate r harm\, and that the best way to stop them from eating it was to teach th em self-respect\, when she had opportunity\, and those habits of industry and thrift whereby they could get their living from the soil in a manner l ess direct but more commendable.\n\nSuperstitions and Folk-Lore of the Sou th\n\nDuring a recent visit to North Carolina\, after a long absence\, I t ook occasion to inquire into the latter-day prevalence of the old-time bel ief in what was known as \"conjuration\" or \"goopher\,\" my childish reco llection of which I have elsewhere embodied into a number of stories. The derivation of the word \"goopher\" I do not know\, nor whether any other w riter than myself has recognized its existence\, though it is in frequent use in certain parts of the South. The origin of this curious superstition itself is perhaps more easily traceable. It probably grew\, in the first place\, out of African fetichism which was brought over from the dark cont inent along with the dark people. Certain features\, too\, suggest a dista nt affinity with Voodooism\, or snake worship\, a cult which seems to have been indigenous to tropical America. These beliefs\, which in the place o f their origin had all the sanctions of religion and social custom\, becam e\, in the shadow of the white man's civilization\, a pale reflection of t heir former selves. In time\, too\, they were mingled and confused with th e witchcraft and ghost lore of the white man\, and the tricks and delusion s of the Indian conjurer. In the old plantation days they flourished vigor ously\, though discouraged by the \"great house\,\" and their potency was well established among the blacks and the poorer whites. Education\, howev er\, has thrown the ban of disrepute upon witchcraft and conjuration. The stern frown of the preacher\, who looks upon superstition as the ally of t he Evil One\; the scornful sneer of the teacher\, who sees in it a part of the livery of bondage\, have driven this quaint combination of ancestral traditions to the remote chimney corners of old black aunties\, from which it is difficult for the stranger to unearth them. Mr. Harris\, in his Unc le Remus stories\, has\, with fine literary discrimination\, collected and put into pleasing and enduring form\, the plantation stories which dealt with animal lore\, but so little attention has been paid to those dealing with so-called conjuration\, that they seem in a fair way to disappear\, w ithout leaving a trace behind. The loss may not be very great\, but these vanishing traditions might furnish valuable data for the sociologist\, in the future study of racial development. In writing\, a few years ago\, the volume entitled The Conjure Woman\, I suspect that I was more influenced by the literary value of the material than by its sociological bearing\, a nd therefore took\, or thought I did\, considerable liberty with my subjec t. Imagination\, however\, can only act upon data—one must have somewher e in his consciousness the ideas which he puts together to form a connecte d whole. Creative talent\, of whatever grade\, is\, in the last analysis\, only the power of rearrangement—there is nothing new under the sun. I w as the more firmly impressed with this thought after I had interviewed hal f a dozen old women\, and a genuine \"conjure doctor\;\" for I discovered that the brilliant touches\, due\, I had thought\, to my own imagination\, were after all but dormant ideas\, lodged in my childish mind by old Aunt This and old Uncle That\, and awaiting only the spur of imagination to br ing them again to the surface. For instance\, in the story\, \"Hot-foot Ha nnibal\,\" there figures a conjure doll with pepper feet. Those pepper fee t I regarded as peculiarly my own\, a purely original creation. I heard\, only the other day\, in North Carolina\, of the consternation struck to th e heart of a certain dark individual\, upon finding upon his doorstep a ra bbit's foot—a good omen in itself perhaps—to which a malign influence had been imparted by tying to one end of it\, in the form of a cross\, two small pods of red pepper!\n\nMost of the delusions connected with this be lief in conjuration grow out of mere lack of enlightenment. As primeval me n saw a personality behind every natural phenomenon\, and found a god or a devil in wind\, rain\, and hail\, in lightning\, and in storm\, so the un taught man or woman who is assailed by an unusual ache or pain\, some stre nuous symptom of serious physical disorder\, is prompt to accept the sugge stion\, which tradition approves\, that some evil influence is behind his discomfort\; and what more natural than to conclude that some rival in bus iness or in love has set this force in motion?\n\nRelics of ancestral barb arism are found among all peoples\, but advanced civilization has at least shaken off the more obvious absurdities of superstition. We no longer att ribute insanity to demoniac possession\, nor suppose that a king's touch c an cure scrofula. To many old people in the South\, however\, any unusual ache or pain is quite as likely to have been caused by some external evil influence as by natural causes. Tumors\, sudden swellings due to inflammat ory rheumatism or the bites of insects\, are especially open to suspicion. Paralysis is proof positive of conjuration. If there is any doubt\, the \ "conjure doctor\" invariably removes it. The credulity of ignorance is his chief stock in trade—there is no question\, when he is summoned\, but t hat the patient has been tricked.\n\nThe means of conjuration are as simpl e as the indications. It is a condition of all witch stories that there mu st in some way be contact\, either with the person\, or with some object o r image intended to represent the person to be affected\; or\, if not actu al contact\, at least close proximity. The charm is placed under the door- sill\, or buried under the hearth\, or hidden in the mattress of the perso n to be conjured. It may be a crude attempt to imitate the body of the vic tim\, or it may consist merely of a bottle\, or a gourd\, or a little bag\ , containing a few rusty nails\, crooked pins\, or horsehairs. It may be a mysterious mixture thrown surreptitiously upon the person to be injured\, or merely a line drawn across a road or path\, which line it is fatal for a certain man or woman to cross. I heard of a case of a laboring man who went two miles out of his way\, every morning and evening\, while going to and from his work\, to avoid such a line drawn for him by a certain power ful enemy.\n\nSome of the more gruesome phases of the belief in conjuratio n suggest possible poisoning\, a knowledge of which baleful art was once s upposed to be widespread among the imported Negroes of the olden time. The blood or venom of snakes\, spiders\, and lizards is supposed to be employ ed for this purpose. The results of its administration are so peculiar\, h owever\, and so entirely improbable\, that one is supposed to doubt even t he initial use of poison\, and figure it in as part of the same general de lusion. For instance\, a certain man \"swelled up all over\" and became \" pieded\,\" that is\, pied or spotted. A white physician who was summoned t hought that the man thus singularly afflicted was poisoned\, but did not r ecognize the poison nor know the antidote. A conjure doctor\, subsequently called in\, was more prompt in his diagnosis. The man\, he said\, was poi soned with a lizard\, which at that very moment was lodged somewhere in th e patient's anatomy. The lizards and snakes in these stories\, by the way\ , are not confined to the usual ducts and cavities of the human body\, but seem to have freedom of movement throughout the whole structure. This liz ard\, according to the \"doctor\,\" would start from the man's shoulder\, descend to his hand\, return to the shoulder\, and pass down the side of t he body to the leg. When it reached the calf of the leg the lizard's head would appear right under the skin. After it had been perceptible for three days the lizard was to be cut out with a razor\, or the man would die. Su re enough\, the lizard manifested its presence in the appointed place at t he appointed time\; but the patient would not permit the surgery\, and at the end of three days paid with death the penalty of his obstinacy. Old Au nt Harriet told me\, with solemn earnestness\, that she herself had taken a snake from her own arm\, in sections\, after a similar experience. Old H arriet may have been lying\, but was\, I imagine\, merely self-deluded. Wi tches\, prior to being burned\, have often confessed their commerce with t he Evil One. Why should Harriet hesitate to relate a simple personal exper ience which involved her in no blame whatever?\n\nOld Uncle Jim\, a shrewd \, hard old sinner\, and a palpable fraud\, who did not\, I imagine\, beli eve in himself to any great extent\, gave me some private points as to the manner in which these reptiles were thus transferred to the human system. If a snake or a lizard be killed\, and a few drops of its blood be dried upon a plate or in a gourd\, the person next eating or drinking from the c ontaminated vessel will soon become the unwilling landlord of a reptilian tenant. There are other avenues\, too\, by which the reptile may gain admi ttance\; but when expelled by the conjure doctor's arts or medicines\, it always leaves at the point where it entered. This belief may have original ly derived its existence from the fact that certain tropical insects somet imes lay their eggs beneath the skins of animals\, or even of men\, from w hich it is difficult to expel them until the larvae are hatched. The chico or \"jigger\" of the West Indies and the Spanish Main is the most obvious example.\n\nOld Aunt Harriet—last name uncertain\, since she had borne those of her master\, her mother\, her putative father\, and half a dozen husbands in succession\, no one of which seemed to take undisputed precede nce—related some very remarkable experiences. She at first manifested so me reluctance to speak of conjuration\, in the lore of which she was said to be well versed\; but by listening patiently to her religious experience s—she was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions—I was able now and then to draw a little upon her reserves of superstition\, if indeed her r eligion itself was much more than superstition.\n\n\"Wen I wuz a gal 'bout eighteen or nineteen\,\" she confided\, \"de w'ite folks use' ter sen' me ter town ter fetch vegetables. One day I met a' ole conjuh man name' Jerr y Macdonal\, an' he said some rough\, ugly things ter me. I says\, says I\ , 'You mus' be a fool.' He didn' say nothin'\, but jes' looked at me wid ' is evil eye. Wen I come 'long back\, dat ole man wuz stan'in' in de road i n front er his house\, an' w'en he seed me he stoop' down an' tech' de gro un'\, jes' lack he wuz pickin' up somethin'\, an' den went 'long back in ' is ya'd. De ve'y minute I step' on de spot he tech'\, I felt a sha'p pain shoot thoo my right foot\, it tu'n't under me\, an' I fell down in de road . I pick' myself up an' by de time I got home\, my foot wuz swoll' up twic e its nachul size. I cried an' cried an' went on\, fer I knowed I'd be'n t rick' by dat ole man. Dat night in my sleep a voice spoke ter me an' says: 'Go an' git a plug er terbacker. Steep it in a skillet er wa'm water. Str ip it lengthways\, an' bin' it ter de bottom er yo' foot'.' I never didn' use terbacker\, an' I laid dere\, an' says ter myse'f\, 'My Lawd\, wa't is dat\, wa't is dat!' Soon ez my foot got kind er easy\, dat voice up an' s peaks ag'in: 'Go an' git a plug er terbacker. Steep it in a skillet er wa' m water\, an' bin' it ter de bottom er yo' foot.' I scramble' ter my feet\ , got de money out er my pocket\, woke up de two little boys sleepin' on d e flo'\, an' tol' 'em ter go ter de sto' an' git me a plug er terbacker. D ey didn' want ter go\, said de sto' wuz shet\, an' de sto' keeper gone ter bed. But I chased 'em fo'th\, an' dey found' de sto' keeper an' fetch' de terbacker—dey sho' did. I soaked it in de skillet\, an' stripped it 'lo ng by degrees\, till I got ter de en'\, w'en I boun' it under my foot an' roun' my ankle. Den I kneel' down an' prayed\, an' next mawnin de swellin' wuz all gone! Dat voice wus de Spirit er de Lawd talkin' ter me\, it sho' wuz! De Lawd have mussy upon us\, praise his Holy Name!\"\n\nVery obvious ly Harriet had sprained her ankle while looking at the old man instead of watching the path\, and the hot fomentation had reduced the swelling. She is not the first person to hear spirit voices in his or her own vagrant im aginings.\n\nOn another occasion\, Aunt Harriet's finger swelled up \"as b ig as a corn cob.\" She at first supposed the swelling to be due to a felo n. She went to old Uncle Julius Lutterloh\, who told her that some one had tricked her. \"My Lawd!\" she exclaimed\, \"how did they fix my finger?\" He explained that it was done while in the act of shaking hands. \"Doctor \" Julius opened the finger with a sharp knife and showed Harriet two seed s at the bottom of the incision. He instructed her to put a poultice of re d onions on the wound over night\, and in the morning the seeds would come out. She was then to put the two seeds in a skillet\, on the right hand s ide of the fire-place\, in a pint of water\, and let them simmer nine morn ings\, and on the ninth morning she was to let all the water simmer out\, and when the last drop should have gone\, the one that put the seeds in he r hand was to go out of this world! Harriet\, however\, did not pursue the treatment to the bitter end. The seeds\, once extracted\, she put into a small phial\, which she corked up tightly and put carefully away in her bu reau drawer. One morning she went to look at them\, and one of them was go ne. Shortly afterwards the other disappeared. Aunt Harriet has a theory th at she had been tricked by a woman of whom her husband of that time was un duly fond\, and that the faithless husband had returned the seeds to their original owner. A part of the scheme of conjuration is that the conjure d octor can remove the spell and put it back upon the one who laid it. I was unable to learn\, however\, of any instance where this extreme penalty ha d been insisted upon.\n\nIt is seldom that any of these old Negroes will a dmit that he or she possesses the power to conjure\, though those who can remove spells are very willing to make their accomplishment known\, and to exercise it for a consideration. The only professional conjure doctor who m I met was old Uncle Jim Davis\, with whom I arranged a personal intervie w. He came to see me one evening\, but almost immediately upon his arrival a minister called. The powers of light prevailed over those of darkness\, and Jim was dismissed until a later time\, with a commission to prepare f or me a conjure \"hand\" or good luck charm\, of which\, he informed some of the children about the house\, who were much interested in the proceedi ngs. I was very much in need. I subsequently secured the charm\, for which \, considering its potency\, the small sum of silver it cost me was no ext ravagant outlay. It is a very small bag of roots and herbs\, and\, if used according to directions\, is guaranteed to insure me good luck and \"keep me from losing my job.\" The directions require it to be wet with spirits nine mornings in succession\, to be carried on the person\, in a pocket o n the right hand side\, care being taken that it does not come in contact with any tobacco. When I add that I procured\, from an equally trustworthy source\, a genuine graveyard rabbit's foot\, I would seem to be reasonabl y well protected against casual misfortune. I shall not\, however\, presum e upon this immunity\, and shall omit no reasonable precaution which the c ondition of my health or my affairs may render prudent.\n\nAn interesting conjure story\, which I heard\, involves the fate of a lost voice. A certa in woman's lover was enticed away by another woman\, who sang very sweetly \, and who\, the jilted one suspected\, had told lies about her. Having de cided upon the method of punishment for this wickedness\, the injured woma n watched the other closely\, in order to find a suitable opportunity for carrying out her purpose\; but in vain\, for the fortunate one\, knowing o f her enmity\, would never speak to her or remain near her. One day the ji lted woman plucked a red rose from her garden\, and hid herself in the bus hes near her rival's cabin. Very soon an old woman came by\, who was accos ted by the woman in hiding\, and requested to hand the red rose to the wom an of the house. The old woman\, suspecting no evil\, took the rose and ap proached the house\, the other woman following her closely\, but keeping h erself always out of sight. When the old woman\, having reached the door a nd called out the mistress of the house\, delivered the rose as requested\ , the recipient thanked the giver in a loud voice\, knowing the old woman to be somewhat deaf. At the moment she spoke\, the woman in hiding reached up and caught her rival's voice\, and clasping it tightly in her right ha nd\, escaped unseen\, to her own cabin. At the same instant the afflicted woman missed her voice\, and felt a sharp pain shoot through her left arm\ , just below the elbow. She at first suspected the old woman of having tri cked her through the medium of the red rose\, but was subsequently informe d by a conjure doctor that her voice had been stolen\, and that the old wo man was innocent. For the pain he gave her a bottle of medicine\, of which nine drops were to be applied three times a day\, and rubbed in with the first two fingers of the right hand\, care being taken not to let any othe r part of the hand touch the arm\, as this would render the medicine usele ss. By the aid of a mirror\, in which he called up her image\, the conjure doctor ascertained who was the guilty person. He sought her out and charg ed her with the crime which she promptly denied. Being pressed\, however\, she admitted her guilt. The doctor insisted upon immediate restitution. S he expressed her willingness\, and at the same time her inability to compl y—she had taken the voice\, but did not possess the power to restore it. The conjure doctor was obdurate and at once placed a spell upon her which is to remain until the lost voice is restored. The case is still pending\ , I understand\; I shall sometime take steps to find out how it terminates .\n\nHow far a story like this is original\, and how far a mere reflection of familiar wonder stories\, is purely a matter of speculation. When the old mammies would tell the tales of Br'er Rabbit and Br'er Fox to the mast er's children\, these in turn would no doubt repeat the fairy tales which they had read in books or heard from their parents' lips. The magic mirror is as old as literature. The inability to restore the stolen voice is for eshadowed in the Arabian Nights\, when the \"Open Sesame\" is forgotten. T he act of catching the voice has a simplicity which stamps it as original\ , the only analogy of which I can at present think being the story of late r date\, of the words which were frozen silent during the extreme cold of an Arctic winter\, and became audible again the following summer when they had thawed out.\n\nModern Culture\, May 1901\n\nCHARLES W. CHESNUTT\n\nST ORIES\, NOVELS\, &\; ESSAYS\n\nThe Conjure Woman\n\nThe Wife of His You th and Other Stories of the Color Line\n\nThe House Behind the Cedars\n\nT he Marrow of Tradition\n\nUncollected Stories\n\nSelected Essays\n\nTHE LI BRARY OF AMERICA\n\nTHE CONJURE WOMAN\n\nThe Goophered Grapevine\nPo' Sand y\nMars Jeems's Nightmare\nThe Conjurer's Revenge\nSis' Becky's Pickaninny \nThe Gray Wolf's Ha'nt\nHot-Foot Hannibal\n\nTHE WIFE OF HIS YOUTH AND OT HER STORIES OF THE COLOR LINE\n\nThe Wife of His Youth\nHer Virginia Mammy \nThe Sheriff's Children\nA Matter of Principle\nCicely's Dream\nThe Passi ng of Grandison\nUncle Wellington's Wives\nThe Bouquet\nThe Web of Circums tance\n\nThe House Behind the Cedars\n\nThe Marrow of Tradition\n\nUncolle cted Stories\n\nDave's Neckliss\nA Deep Sleeper\nLonesome Ben\nThe Dumb Wi tness\nThe March of Progress\nBaxter's Procrustes\nThe Doll\nWhite Weeds\n The Kiss\n\nSELECTED ESSAYS\n\nWhat Is a White Man?\nThe Future\nAmerican Superstitions and Folk-Lore of the South\nCharles W. Chesnutt's Own View o f His New Story\, The Marrow of Tradition\nThe Disfranchisement of the Neg ro\nThe Courts and the Negro\nPost-Bellum—Pre-Harlem\n\nChronology\n\nNo te on the Texts\n\nNotes\n\n*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CON JURE WOMAN ***\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one—the old e ditions will be renamed.\nCreating the works from print editions not prote cted by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyrigh t in these works\, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright roya lties. Special rules\, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license\, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electroni c works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. 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To SEND DONATIONS or det ermine the status of compliance for any particular state visit www.gutenbe rg.org/donate.\nWhile we cannot and do not solicit contributions from stat es where we have not met the solicitation requirements\, we know of no pro hibition against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such state s who approach us with offers to donate.\nInternational donations are grat efully accepted\, but we cannot make any statements concerning tax treatme nt of donations received from outside the United States. U.S. laws alone s wamp our small staff.\nPlease check the Project Gutenberg web pages for cu rrent donation methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number o f other ways including checks\, online payments and credit card donations. To donate\, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate.\nSection 5. General I nformation About Project Gutenberg electronic works\nProfessor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg concept of a library of e lectronic works that could be freely shared with anyone. For forty years\, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg eBooks with only a loose ne twork of volunteer support.\nProject Gutenberg eBooks are often created fr om several printed editions\, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus\, we do not necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edi tion.\nMost people start at our website which has the main PG search facil ity: www.gutenberg.org.\nThis website includes information about Project G utenberg\, including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Litera ry Archive Foundation\, how to help produce our new eBooks\, and how to su bscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n The Devil's Disciple (1926) [Unknown]- about the environment of ille gal activity especially sexual exploitation of mulattoes in nyc\, ala suga r hill in harlem\n\n\n\n https://archive.org/details/reelblacktalksou00moo n/page/250/mode/2up\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Spider's Web (1926)[Lost]- a u s department of justice man\, a black cop\, puts a white man in jail for a ttempting rape to a black women he weds at the end and gets off his wife's aunt from a false murder charge\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n https://www.criterioncha nnel.com/the-girl-from-chicago\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n https://books.google.com/b ooks?id=l8zfCCBZGGoC&\;dq=%22henrietta+loveless%22&\;pg=RA1-PA140#v= onepage&\;q=%22henrietta%20loveless%22&\;f=false\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n The Millionaire (1927)[Lost]\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The Broken Violin  (1928)[Lost] from unpublished story\, about a young black female violini st and her challenges\n\n\n\n The House Behind the Cedars (1927)\, adapte d from novel by Charles W. Chesnutt [Lost] remade into veiled aristocrats\ , a mulatto woman who can pass\, is courted by a black man but falls for a white man but after having problems denying or omitting her black heritag e goes to the black man but publicly admits to him\, she is unhappy\n\n\n\ n https://librivox.org/the-house-behind-the-cedars-by-charles-waddell-ches nutt/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Thirty Years Later (1928) [Lost] based on book b y Henry Francis Downing' titled The Racial Tangle\n\n\n\n When Men Betray  (1929) [Lost] a woman is left on her wedding day by a dishonest man\n\n\ n\n The Wages of Sin (1929) [Lost]\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Easy Street (1930) [ Lost] may be the last silent film from micheaux\, a bunch of con men try t o get fortune of an old man\, I am thinking of the song by charlie in old dogs go to heaven 2\n\n\n\n A Daughter of the Congo (1930) [Lost] labeled as the last silent film by micheaux based on story \, The American Cavalr yman (1917)\, by African-American novelist and playwright Henry Francis Downing \, mulatto congolese girl is raised by tribe in africa and then ca ptured into slavery by arabs and then freed by a us military man\n\n\n\n \ n\n\n\n Darktown Revue (1931)[Survives] an entertainment revue\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Exile (1931)[Survives] a man exodusts and gains wea lth but falls in love with a woman he think is white and goes to the city to a woman's club\, whom he knew before and he falls into drink and a murd er scenario\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Veiled Aristocrats (1932 ) [fragments\; Survives (incomplete)] made prior as house behind the ceda rs 1927\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Ten Minutes to Live (1932)[Survives] a man gets a note that he will die in ten minutes at a bar while a woman at the same bar accepts a role from a film producer who really wants to have sex. I will never forget patricia neal when she met a film studio head who came back stage \, she told him\, i will not sleep with you. uses a deaf character to get around cumbersome audio equipment so lines can be dubbed later\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n https://web.archive.org/web/202412240939 34/https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/561476/ten-minutes-to-live#overview\n\n \n\n https://www.moma.org/collection/works/316102\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Black Magic (1932)[Survives]\n\n\n\n If you have information please share\n\n\n \n The Girl from Chicago (1932)[Survives] a federal  agent falls with so meone on assignment in mississippi and follows her to harlem where she get s involved in the death of a cuban illegal financial agent. \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n Phantom of Kenwood (1933)[Survives]\n\n\n\n if you have any information please share\n\n\n\n Murder in Harlem (1935)[Survives] remak e of gunsaulus mystery \, uses the case of leo frank as a legal basis\n\n\ n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Harlem After Midnight (1934) [Lost] a wo man is with her bosses son after her husband goes to jail for being snitch ed by said son which leads to a web of revenge or naiviety\, ending unreso lved. Dorothy Van Engle is in the cast.\n\n\n\n Temptation (1935)[Surviv es] a crime story\, details unknown\, first fiilm for ethel moses\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Underworld (1937)[Survives] oscar polk who appeared in gone with the wind later is in it\; a man leaves a black college in the south for c higago and gets set up in an intrigue where he is framed for murdering a m an and the woman who did it survives but gets caught in a bender driving a nd gets killed. the most film noir of the films for me. It don't mean a th ing from duke ellington is part of the film score.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n God's Step Children (1938)[Survives]- naomi a mulatto\, lef t at ms saunders by her black mother\, is unhappy being black and after a rough childhood is sent to a convent. yeas later she tries to get with a b oy that she was raised with now man but he is in love with another. She is set up to marry a black man\,and gets pregnant by him but like her mother before\, leaves her baby with ms saunders\, who raised her. later she see s the happy family of the guy she wanted to be with and jumps off a bridge \; The film's script is based on a short treatment titled \"Naomi Negres s!\" written by Alice B. Russell\, the wife of director Oscar Micheaux  who plays Mrs. Saunders.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Swing! (193 8)[Survives] a story about a black woman from the south who becomes a star alongside others from her towns trials and tribulations going south to no rth or living it up foolishly \; Actress Dorothy Van Engle\, who had a su pporting role as an assistant producer\, is credited for inventing a key s cene in Swing!\, where her character and Mandy are sewing together. Van E ngle\, who was also a seamstress\, created her own clothing for the film.  Elvera Sanchez Davis\, the mother of entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.\, had a small role in Swing! as a tap dancer.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Lying Lips (1939)[Survives] a black woman popular at a nightclub but unwilling to be a prostittue for clients isset up by the white owner whic h leads to her aunts death and her falsely accused.\, but because of kindn ess she survives\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Birthright (1939)[S urvives] second film version of the story by micheaux \; a harvard gradua te goes back to his black southern town to start a school and faces extrem e hardships\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The Notorious Elinor Lee  (1940)[Survives]- boxing story\, a female moll sets up a boxer  to take a fall where they will bet against him. the fighter survives the betrayal and wins in a rematch later where the people who plotted bet against him. Hubert Julian\, the black aviator\, co produced the film\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\ n trailer- see the full film at the internet archive film list embed at th e end of this post\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Betrayal (1948) [Lost] - micheaux's last film\, but the script is known\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The scre enplay is in the new york state film archives\n\n\n\n https://www.archives .nysed.gov/research/motion-picture-division-index\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n For Mor e Information:\n\n\n\n Email Researcher Services at archref@nysed.gov\n\n \n\n To get a photocopy of a script use the form below\n\n\n\n https://www .archives.nysed.gov/sites/archives/files/res_topics_film_form.pdf\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ALL FILMS IN INTERNET ARCHIVE\n\n\n\n https://archive.org/detai ls/oscar-micheaux-filmography\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1 1 Director Oscar Micheaux On-Set01:172 2 Within Our Gates (1920) Oldest Kno wn Feature Film By A Black Director01:19:093 3 The Symbol of the Unconque red (1920)58:144 4 Body &\; Soul (1925) Oscar Micheaux's Last Survivin g Silent Film01:19:015 5 The Darktown Revue (1931) Oscar Micheaux's First Sound Film19:076 6 The Exile (1931) First Black Feature Talkie01:15:137  7 Veiled Aristocrats (1932)43:538 8 Ten Minutes To Live (1932) With Los t Footage59:039 9 The Girl From Chicago (1932)01:10:1010 [10] Murder In Harlem (1935)01:34:4311 [11] Underworld (1937) Uncensored Version01:16:12 12 [12] God's Stepchildren (1938)01:10:2513 [13] Swing! (1938)01:08:051 4 [14] Birthright (1939) Incomplete01:13:1015 [15] Lying Lips (1939)01:1 2:2416 [16] The Notorious Elinor Lee (1940) Micheaux's Last Surviving Fil m. Sound Missing After 20 Minutes01:12:06\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Oscar Deverea ux Micheaux was an American film director and independent producer of more than 44 films. Micheaux is regarded as the first major African-American f eature filmmaker\, a prominent producer of race films\, and has been descr ibed as \"the most successful African-American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century.\"\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Here are his surviving films\, some are incomplete.\n\n\n\n Segments\n\n\n\n ON-SET FOOTAGE from a behind the scenes Hollywood newsreel called \"Screen Snapshots\" and it is the o nly known footage of groundbreaking director Oscar Micheaux working on the set of one of his films. The movie is most likely The Brute (1920) which sadly is lost.\n\n \n\n WITHIN OUR GATES (1920) is the oldest known featur e length film that was directed by an African-American.\n\n \n\n THE SYMBO L OF THE UNCONQUERED (also known as The Wilderness Trail) is a 1920 silent race film. It is Micheaux's fourth feature-length film and is among his e arly surviving works although a portion of the scenes are lost.\n\n \n\n B ODY AND SOUL (1925) is a race film that stars Paul Robeson in his motion p icture debut. It is Micheaux's last surviving silent film.\n\n \n\n THE DA RKTOWN REVUE (1931) is an 18-minute short film. It is Micheaux's first ven ture into sound film. The film of a traditional minstrel show - a variety stage show of broad comedy and choral interludes - with an all black cast. Included is a choral singing several songs and a vaudeville act of a rout ine about a haunted house. It also levels criticism at a certain social cl ass of the African-American community by using some racial stereotypes.\n\ n \n\n THE EXILE (1931) is a race film that was Micheaux's first feature-l ength sound film and the first feature length African-American sound film. It was based on Micheaux’s 1913 autobiographical novel\, The Conquest.\ n\n \n\n VEILED ARISTOCRATS (1932) is an American race film that deals wit h the theme of passing by mixed-race African Americans to avoid racial dis crimination.\n\n \n\n TEN MINUTES TO LIVE (1932) is a film that has one of the characters is deaf and much of the second half of the movie is silent (so that Micheaux could save money.) Somewhat confusingly\, the film is b ased on a collection of three short stories called \"Harlem After Midnight \" (author and publication date unknown)\, but it shows only two stories. The lost footage is more footage of one of the dance numbers\, it's obviou s when it comes up because of the color change.\n\n \n\n THE GIRL FROM CHI CAGO (1932) is an American race film that is a remake of Micheaux's now-lo st 1926 silent film The Spider's Web. It features a largely non-profession al cast and as it is common in Micheaux's films.\n\n \n\n MURDER IN HARLEM (also released under titles Lem Hawkins Confession and Brand of Cain) is a 1935 American race film written\, produced\, and directed by Oscar Miche aux\, who also makes an appearance in the film. It's a remake his 1921 sil ent film The Gunsaulus Mystery\, which is believed to be lost. Both movies are loosely based on the events around the 1913 murder of 13-year-old gir l Mary Phagan.\n\n \n\n UNDERWORLD (1937) is a black gangster film. The fi lm was adapted from the short story \"Chicago After Midnight\" by Edna Mae Baker. Records from the Production Code Administration show that numerous deletions were requested in order for the film to be shown in various sta tes.\n\n \n\n GOD'S STEP CHILDREN (1938) is an American race film that is based on a short treatment titled \"Naomi Negress!\" written by Alice B. R ussell\, the wife of director Oscar Micheaux who plays Mrs. Saunders. The American Film Institute's catalog reports that some original material was removed from the film after censors raised objections. Some of the removed footage may still be seen in the film's opening preview trailer.\n\n \n\n SWING! (1938) is an American race film. Actress Dorothy Van Engle\, who h ad a supporting role as an assistant producer\, is credited for inventing a key scene in the movie\, where her character and Mandy are sewing togeth er. Van Engle\, who was also a seamstress\, created her own clothing for t he film. Elvera Sanchez Davis\, the mother of entertainer Sammy Davis\, Jr .\, had a small role as a tap dancer.\n\n \n\n BIRTHRIGHT (1939) is an Ame rican drama race film starring Carman Newsome. It is a talkie remake of Mi cheaux's 1924 silent film of the same name\, which is now considered lost\ ; both were adapted from white author T. S. Stribling's eponymous 1922 nov el. The restoration of Birthright was derived from the only known survivin g 35mm print\, which is missing the first two of its nine reels – about 20 minutes. A description of the missing scenes has been compiled from a d ialogue script submitted to the New York Censor Board.\n\n \n\n LYING LIPS (1939) is a melodrama race film written and directed by Oscar Micheaux. I t stars Edna Mae Harris and Robert Earl Jones (the father of James Earl Jo nes). The film was shot at the Biograph Studios in New York City.\n\n \n\n THE NOTORIOUS ELINOR LEE (1940) is a race film directed\, written\, and p roduced by Oscar Micheaux. It's his last surviving film\, although here th e audio is missing for most of the film. It was shot at Biograph Studios i n The Bronx\, New York.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n FORUM POST\n\n\n\n https://aalb c.com/tc/blogs/entry/505-oscar-micheauz-screenplay-the-betrayal/\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260313 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 36 02/28/2026 DTSTAMP:20260301T041214Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:664-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Of computers\, fiscal quality and nonfinancial revenues.. ..\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Computers\n\n\n\n I saw the following from Ann Miche lle Thurmond\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘂 𝘀𝗲 | 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 \n\nLast week’s Legal Tech post explored how acceleration exposes struct ural gaps that were easier to ignore at slower speeds.\n\nThis week\, I wa nt to stay with that thread\; because in many organizations\, the first vi sible symptom isn’t failure.\n\nIt’s workaround behavior.\n\nIn my exp erience working across projects where timelines were tight and expectation s didn’t slow down\, teams didn’t resist governance. They improvised a round it.\n\nNot out of defiance. Out of necessity .\n\n𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝗜 is often framed as a compliance i ssue. \nMore often\, it’s a design signal.\n\nWhen people discover tools that help them deliver faster\, and the sanctioned path can’t keep pace \, work flows toward the path of least friction.\n\nDeadlines don’t wait for policy updates.\n\nOver time\, this creates invisible decision-making layers:\n\n• Outputs that look consistent \n• Processes that aren ’t \n• Assumptions that aren’t shared \n• Risk that isn’t visibl e \n\nTwo teams may appear aligned while relying on entirely different inp uts or methods.\n\nThat erodes comparability\, traceability\, and trust -- quietly at first.\n\nSimply lifting restrictions doesn’t solve it.\n\nW ithout standards\, sanctioned tools can produce the same fragmentation at scale.\n\nThe deeper question isn’t:\n\n“How do we stop people from us ing AI?”\n\nIt’s:\n\n“What capability gap are they trying to close t hat we haven’t designed for yet?”\n\nGovernance that creates safe\, us able pathways tends to reduce shadow behavior far more effectively than pr ohibition.\n\n𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝘁:\n\nIf shadow AI disappeared tomorrow\, would that mean the problem w as solved? \n\nOr that innovation pressure had nowhere to go?\n\nComment b elow with your thoughts. Let’s talk about it.\n\n AI After the Applause \nDecision Velocity\, Engineered.\n\nhashtag#AIStrategy hashtag#OperatingM odel hashtag#Governance hashtag#ShadowAI\n\n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https: //www.linkedin.com/posts/amthurmond_aistrategy-operatingmodel-governance-a ctivity-7431680492623638528-Z9je?utm_source=share&\;utm_medium=member_d esktop&\;rcm=ACoAAC9jwHcBhMdyfurNH2JmdlAPjJgXHivmWR8\n\n\n\n My Reply\n \n\n\n yeah\, exactly\, computers are here\, no matter the power level\, a nd definitely at the level called AI. So the issue is how to use them. And in the usa i argue\, the same model is being used as in the gold/oil rush es. most are spending money on tech they can't afford or will cost them ev entually\, like land deeds or spikes. The profiteers are the ones providin g services and buying and reselling or leasing products. but they are also learning the better practices. it is a hands on approach. \nhttps://www.l inkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7431680492623638528?commentUrn=urn %3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7431680492623638528%2C7431858195385659392% 29&\;dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287431858195385659392%2Cu rn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7431680492623638528%29\n\nRichard\, the “rush” an alogy really lands. There’s definitely a lot of spending happening befor e the long-term costs and tradeoffs are clear.\nWhat feels different this time is that AI isn’t just a resource\; it’s reshaping how the work it self happens. The winners will be the ones experimenting hands-on and stay ing disciplined about value and sustainability.\nAppreciate you adding thi s perspective.\nhttps://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:74316 80492623638528?commentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28activity%3A7431680492623 638528%2C7431858195385659392%29&\;replyUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28acti vity%3A7431680492623638528%2C7431864362157379584%29&\;dashCommentUrn=ur n%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287431858195385659392%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7431 680492623638528%29&\;dashReplyUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%28743186436 2157379584%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7431680492623638528%29\n\nexactly\, we all can see AI formation while a counter AI formation:) occurring simultan eously because the tools are changing the methodologies in the labor indus try which was imbalanced before the modern tools so is growing abstractly https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7431680492623638528?c ommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(activity%3A7431680492623638528%2C743185819 5385659392)&\;replyUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A(activity%3A743168049262363 8528%2C7432139535507136512)&\;dashCommentUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A( 7431858195385659392%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7431680492623638528)&\;dash ReplyUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A(7432139535507136512%2Curn%3Ali%3Aactivi ty%3A7431680492623638528)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Fiscal Quality\n\n \n\n Recently\, Netflix dropped the bid for Warner bros and I think Netfli x will be the better for it. Focus on original content. Yes\, stockholders love the idea of owning intellectual properties that come with fans. But\ , Warner Bros still has a lot of debt. Remember\, AOL owned Warner Bros\, then AT&\;T owned Warner Bros\, then AT&\;T sold warner bros under s peculative[ which means by appearance not strict value of assers] market r ate with the caveat that Discovery channel absorb all the debt. AT&\;T got debt off its books and whipped it hands clean of a very large + not pr ofitable firm. Discovery channel for me was always looking to sell. How co uldn't selling be the main focus with so much debt. netflix wanted to by a part of Warner BRos/Discovery\, not the whole thing\, which I imagine wou ld had erased or deleted the amount of debt absorbed. Skydance which is a holding firm will basically put the debt into the global\, and in my view inevitably catastrophic\, debt market.  And this is absent even knowing i f skydance will be approved. I think Netflix plus Disney are the big winne rs. Disney for having a late comer to its strategy that is spending wildly only growing disney's specualtive value by leaps and bounds. Disney is al ready ahead of processing itself\, Skydance will have a lot to do. Netflix can focus on original content and I argue\, make smart deals with creator s in Europe or Asia for properties very popular in Europe or Asia. Yes\, t he too big too fail business model will maintain till the inevitable colla pse of the entire market revolving around failing large firms. But it isn' t wise to invest in it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Article\n\n\n\n Netflix drops $ 83 billion bid for Warner Bros. Discovery\, paving way for Paramount Skyda nce deal\nBy Megan Cerullo\nUpdated on: February 27\, 2026 / 6:04 PM EST / MoneyWatch\nNetflix said on Thursday that it will not match Paramount Sky dance's latest bid for Warner Bros. Discovery\, clearing the way for a mas sive merger that could shake up the entertainment and media industry. \n\n Netflix agreed in December to buy part of Warner Bros. Discovery for $27.7 5 a share\, or $82.7 billion. But Paramount Skydance had made a $30 a shar e all-cash offer to buy all of the company\, and on Tuesday raised its off er for Warner Bros. Discovery to $31 a share\, valuing the deal at roughly $110 billion (Paramount Skydance owns CBS News).\n\nEarlier on Thursday\, Warner Bros. Discovery's board of directors notified Netflix that Paramou nt's $31 per share offer constituted a \"superior proposal\" for the compa ny.\n\n\"The transaction we negotiated would have created shareholder valu e with a clear path to regulatory approval\,\" Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarando s and Greg Peters said in a statement Thursday. \"However\, we've always b een disciplined\, and at the price required to match Paramount Skydance's latest offer\, the deal is no longer financially attractive\, so we are de clining to match the Paramount Skydance bid.\"\n\nDavid Ellison\, chairman and CEO of Paramount Skydance\, said in a statement that joining forces w ith Warner Bros. Discovery will benefit viewers\, investors and other stak eholders. \n\n\"By bringing together these world-class studios\, our compl ementary streaming platforms and the extraordinary talent behind them\, we will create even greater value for audiences\, partners and shareholders — and we couldn't be more excited for what's ahead\,\" he said.\n\nDavid Zaslav\, president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery\, said in a statemen t that the company pushed to \"secure a transaction that maximizes the val ue of our iconic assets and our century-old studio while delivering as muc h certainty as possible for our investors.\"\n\nSarandos meeting with Trum p admin officials\nSarandos spoke with several Trump administration offici als — but not with President Trump — on Thursday.\n\nThe Netflix execu tive had a meeting at the White House with Mr. Trump's chief of staff\, Su sie Wiles and\, earlier in the day\, he met at the Justice Department with Attorney General Pam Bondi\, the antitrust division's acting chief\, Omee d Assefi\, and other senior Justice Department staff\, according to source s familiar with the conversations.\n\nJustice Department officials told Sa randos they expected to conduct a very comprehensive antitrust investigati on into the Netflix-Warner Bros. Discovery deal\, sources told CBS News. \ n\nWarner Bros. Discovery owns streaming and film studios\, along with cab le channels including CNN\, Food Network\, HBO\, HGTV\, TBS\, TNT and Turn er Classic Movies.\n\nThe merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Di scovery will require approval from federal antitrust enforcers.\n\nParamou nt Skydance executives have said that combining the companies would benefi t consumers and help boost the entertainment industry\, which has struggle d to recover from the pandemic. \n\nSome entertainment industry groups and lawmakers have raised concerns that uniting two major Hollywood studios c ould undermine competition. \n\nFor its part\, Paramount Skydance executiv es argued that a union between Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery\, which owns the streaming platform HBO Max\, was likely to raise antitrust object ions.\n\nIn enhancing its offer this week\, Paramount Skydance said it wou ld pay a $7 billion termination fee if its acquisition of Warner Bros. Dis covery collapsed over regulatory concerns. \n\nEdited by Alain Sherter\n\n Jennifer Jacobs and The Associated Press contributed to this report.\n\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://www.cbsnews.com/news/n etflix-warner-paramount-skydance-deal/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Nonfinancial Rev enues\n\n\n\n The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran has been murdered by t he USA + Israel governments. In my lifetime I have noticed the USA murder and bully more and more leaders of governments publicly\, not the nineteen hundreds secret operation style\, more straight. Saddam Hussein\, whose s ons were murdered before him\, cursed the USA before he was hanged. Khadda fi whose daughter was murdered by the USA before him\, was dragged by segm ents of the Libyan people  \, fully armed + financed by the United States of America using intermediaries or Statian satraps like Israel if need be . The last Assad survived raising the stakes and is in exile in Russia. No w\, the current Ayatollah has been murdered. \n\n\n\n One thing people fo rget is most human beings have loving ones. Vendetta or revenge is a very dangerous thing\, the human imagination is very creative\, the seeds plant ed by the united states of america post jim crow 1980 to today\, are very interesting. The one thing most dangerous about said seeds is that they ar e not financial in nature\, which means they will not be able to be bought or paid \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n Which is the best use of co mputers in your life?\n\n\n\n If someone would offer you one hundred milli on dollars but only if you could invest in the global debt market would yo u?\n\n\n\n Do you think revenge can be sated by fiscal capitalism? not mer ely in groups but also all individuals?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.c om/tc/topic/12563-the-crossroads-of-computers-failing-firms-or-revenge/\n\ n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n Economic Corner 35 02/23/2026 - RMCommunityCal endar - African American Literature Book Club\n\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n \n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/675-economic-corner-37-03102026/\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n #economiccorner #ai #computer #netflix #dc #warn erbros #wb #skydance #paramount #cbs #speculation #truth #Ayatollah #Ali # Khamenei #iran #israel #usa #rmaalbc #aalbc #richardmurray #kobo #kwl #hdd eviant #deviantart #richardmurrayhumblr #tumblr #blackartistoftumblr \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260228 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 37 03/10/2026 DTSTAMP:20260311T032423Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:675-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n ECONOMIC CORNER\n\n\n\n Two Types of learning with modern computing\, none or it all\n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n\n\n The problem is the issue isn't learning\, the issue is fiscal capitalism. \n\n First no one can learn everything\, the fact that someone suggest one person can learn everything is a terrible lie. On the reverse side\, people using modern c omputing as a crutch to get through their labors without working is true t oo. It isn't that they are learning nothing. The problem isn't how people are using the tools but how the tools are used in context with fiscal capi talism. \n\n For example\, a child in an indios/native American  village with a connection to the internet is not going to become financially weal thy through the use of modern computing. It isn't an accident that inherit ance is still the majority delivery of wealth between generations. All the models of fiscal wealth building and you still have people selling some t echnology can break that mold. In modernity\, the tools to learning are mo re expansive\, more interwoven than arguably any time before in human hist ory. But\, work ethic or learning has never been connected to fiscal wealt h. Again\, if work ethic or learning led to fiscal wealth\, every single e nslaved populace in the history of humanity would had ended up fiscally we althy. History proves most if not all enslaved populaces do not end up fis cally wealthy and if anything end up being branches of the slaving populac e. Why? because wealth is about destructive power\, and knowledge isn't in herently destructive power\, nor is education destructive power\, nor is w ork ethic destructive power. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Bill Duke [ https://x.co m/RealBillDuke ] reposted\n\n Mark Cuban just described the sharpest divid e in the modern economy. And most people are already on the wrong side of it.\n\n Cuban: “There’s two types of approaches to AI. Some people who use it so they don’t have to learn anything\, and some people who use i t so they have the opportunity to learn everything.”\n\n Two sentences. The entire future of human capital compressed into a single binary.\n\n Th e first group sees the most powerful knowledge infrastructure ever built a nd uses it to avoid thinking. They offload reasoning\, skip the friction\, and call it efficiency.\n\n What they’re actually doing is hollowing ou t the one thing that can’t be replicated.\n\n Their own cognition.\n\n C uban: “AI is a tool\, it’s a way to learn\, it’s a democratization o f knowledge.”\n\n For centuries\, elite knowledge was locked behind inst itutions\, geography\, and capital. The right university. The right city. The right network.\n\n Entire generations of potential buried because the information was never accessible.\n\n That wall just came down permanently .\n\n The second group understands what that actually means.\n\n Same tool . Compressing decades of learning into months. Entire disciplines on deman d. \n\n Mental models that once required years of expensive education now available to anyone willing to ask the right questions.\n\n The knowledge is democratized. The ambition is not.\n\n That’s the divide Cuban is ac tually describing. Not technical literacy. Not access.\n\n Pure cognitive initiative.\n\n The first group is outsourcing their mind. The second is e xpanding it.\n\n Atrophy doesn’t announce itself. It just arrives.\n\n h ttps://x.com/r0ck3t23/status/2031003976619962406\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n 𝗔𝗜 𝗔𝗳𝘁𝗲 𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 | 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻\n\n from Ann - Michelle Thurmond \n\n URL\n\n https://www.linkedin.com/posts/amthurmond_aistrategy-operatin gmodel-governance-activity-7431680492623638528-Z9je?utm_source=share&\; utm_medium=member_desktop&\;rcm=ACoAAC9jwHcBhMdyfurNH2JmdlAPjJgXHivmWR8 \n\n EMBED\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY REPLY\n\n yeah\, exactly\, compu ters are here\, no matter the power level\, and definitely at the level ca lled AI. So the issue is how to use them. And in the usa i argue\, the sam e model is being used as in the gold/oil rushes.  most are spending money on tech they can't afford or will cost them eventually\, like land deeds or spikes. The profiteers are the ones providing services and buying and r eselling or leasing products. but they are also learning the better practi ces. it is a hands on approach. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n LEar ning USing Modern Computing\n\n\n\n If you were teaching a person in your home today\, any age\, how would you use or not use the computer programmi ng commonly called artificially intelligent?\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/ topic/12583-learning-using-modern-computing/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PRIOR EDIT ION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/664-economic-corner-36-02282 026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/e vent/676-economic-corner-38-03102026/\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260310 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Art Comments 03042026 DTSTAMP:20260305T044603Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:669-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n This series is merely to help me record my replies to the lovely art galleries I see about.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/671-art-comments-03072026/\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n Comment URL\n\n\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/130590549 6/5269724043\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Thanks @Chaosfive-55 hope side your loving ones find yourselves this march happy plus healthy. Thanks for sharing my work\n\n\n\n @Elizabethexpresses the composition is lovely\, the mountain range the arch of the female model\, yourself and then the inverted arch of the rocky path under you. very nice. For above so below was the photo t aken from a drone or helicopter. I gamble unfiscally\, a drone. am I right ?\n\n\n\n for those who may want to know the photogher websites are [ http s://www.sensualight.com/ + https://nimblephotons.com/ ] I couldn't find th em in deviantart. Elizabeth\, maybe you can convince sensualight +nimbleph otons them to join deviantart for a commercial page. deviantart has fiscal tools now.\n\n\n\n @3J-ART enjoyed the messaging \, the movement the line ar identity of the figures\, the offsetting of the one who is different\, facing toward the viewer\, no red shadow\, at an offangle to the line of t he same in all three axis\n\n\n\n @Devilpig what inspired\, sputchik? and nice title by the way\, quite heavy ducts\n\n\n\n your plastic man is a pe rv is genius comedy\, that is worth a mens magazine\n\n\n\n @Sparrow-Scrat ch17 ahh i didn't even know wizard of oz\, dorothy and her crew are all in the public domain. hmm thank you. and very adorable\, love the lion gestu re\, the hobo look of scrarecrow and very rusty tin man\, nice\n\n\n\n @or ganicvision ahh the french alps\, lovely\, thank you... happy no paraglide rs messing up the shot\n\n\n\n @Ragcat392 for purple passion\, what were y our fractal settings? like scaling factor or fractal dimension?\n\n\n\n @y om94 I can be wrong but is that a paper cut out of an image on a wooden fr ame? for monkeybird paris\n\n\n\n @WonderErika well vampiress\, after imag ining I hope you don't pounce and decide to go home from the ceiling Quest ion\, are you a fan of vampirella? I know you love diana of paradise islan d. but who is your favorite female vampire in fiction? who is your favorit e illustrator of female vampires?\n\n\n\n @assincr0n0 have you ever seen t he film flow?\n\n\n\n @AnickinColor is william scheff on deviantart? we ha ve a group called color me club which accepts inks that can be colored? an d lovely coloring by the way. What inspired him to make the accordian head ?\n\n\n\n @blackforeststeve that dog looked spoiled rotten all they want t o do is shake water on people and get away with it\n\n\n\n @TheBarrelMan t hank you\, i never saw this art before. thanks for the history. What inspi red the shape? what is it about phillipine heritage in the past or culture to that future that led to this? and just for the record\, no one can put their head in their ass.\n\n\n\n @LaurainBurbank love the blue tones and shades. Did you manipulate the image with tones or shades separately or al l in one go? what tool did you use?\n\n\n\n @Ustranga what is the differen ce between psychedelic art compared to surreal art? I will give it a gande r and say based on your work \, psychedelic and surreal work I know of. in psychedelic the colors\, the unevenness uncommon unexpected colorings is the key but the shapes shouldn't be too far from cognizant. wheile in surr eal\, the colors may be bland or even natural\, while the shapes are meant to be uneven\, uncommon\, unexpected. What say you ?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Comment URL\n\n\n\n https://www.devianta rt.com/comments/1/1301876991/5269737735\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @leothefox will take a look here before I get to the best magazine on deviantart\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @300ChickenNuggets lovely ink\, did you use a reference\n\n\n\n @dmorehead how long did the grimm fairy tale cost where do you put all th ese lovely sculptures?\n\n\n\n @BlaWhi well done\, shadow is lovely\n\n\n\ n @GiggleAddict if the land ever get mad\n\n\n\n @CapnDeek373 does bob's m om know grendel's mother? what is the thing Onyx is next to?\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Comment URL\n\n\n\n https://www.deviantart. com/comments/1/1304442539/5268959804\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Fafnir313 the war for the pallid throne chapter 1 intro is brilliant\, sets a tone\, gives an idea of the world\, and appealing chapter title\n\n\n\n haha three hots and a cot\, poor felix\, nice structure\, in one chapter\, we know the mo st traumatic element in felix's life\, we know the world he is in has reli gious fanatics\, we know he lives in this world as an abused street thief who is about to join on organization who knows about him and his past \, f or survival\, nice\n\n\n\n @Ustranga the lighthouse is in trouble\n\n\n\n @leothefox I read chapter eleven of the ways of sin.or the ways of baron p otzroy on a scale of 0 myhtological saint to 10 more corrupt that dorian g rey after a painting was made\, what grade will you give baron potzroy?\n\ n\n\n @ZaubererbruderASP the face of the resident of hell almost seems ple asant. to answer your question\, they will have nothing to eat\n\n\n\n and thanks for introducing me to Lizdarkcroft her prose about photoshop role to commonly called AI is true.\n\n\n\n @TigerEgern the third stanza is my favorite fellow poet\, in share these pages\n\n\n\n @LizDarkcroft \, what will come out the egg?\n\n\n\n @Perzaart I asked someone somewhere else\, what is the variance between psychedelic imagery compared to surreal image ry? I answered\, in short form\, psychedelic focuses on colors being the r adical elements while surreal focuses on shapes being the radical elements . What is your answer?\n\n\n\n @zeroequalsq nice title\, all expenses paid \n\n\n\n @Chaosfive-55\n\n\n\n Will jack of the hearts tell the taste of t he queen's tarts?\n\n\n\n Did he or the sheriff learn of Arwen's true dart s?\n\n\n\n Nice use of their rivalry focus to start change\n\n\n\n her foc us was so blinding she missed her fate's range\n\n\n\n @Peka98 in 20260130 203836 interesting storytelling as the knife has no blood on it\n\n\n\n @ theyellowroom27 beautiful shadow don't go forward\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Dread ful Tales no. 61 A Saint's Appetite The Baron Returns in Strength Share these pages Ye Mad Minstrel Strikes Again \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260304 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Tubi x Blacklist horror initiative 2026 challenge final day DTSTAMP:20260304T005327Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:668-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Submissions are now open for our new horror initiative w ith Tubi! [ https://blcklst.com/programs/tubi-black-list-horror-initiativ e?mc_cid=2d68c3555c&\;mc_eid=e0b642193c ] \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Emerging and established writers with a feature script in the horror genre are e ncouraged to submit their project for further consideration in the Tubi x Black List Horror Initiative. Submissions will remain open until June 30\ , 2026 – write that deadline down now and get to work\, writers!\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n Tubi intends to produce and distribute the selected script. T he Black List will executive produce the project and will be collaborating closely with Tubi throughout the entirety of the program. Writers are wel come to upload new projects for consideration in this program.\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Fee waivers are also available for submitting writers! 100 fee wa ivers will be distributed at the discretion of Tubi and The Black List thr oughout the submission window. Learn more about how to apply for a program -specific or general fee waiver at blcklst.com/help. [  https://help.blc klst.com/kb/en/?mc_cid=2d68c3555c&\;mc_eid=e0b642193c ] \n\n\n\n \n\n We are so excited to expand our collaboration with Tubi with this incredi ble new initiative! If you have a horror script we strongly encourage you to learn more here.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n If any are interested in my style check out my screenplay free to read online  [ https://www.kobo.com/eboo k/the-nyotenda ] and if you are interested and want to brainstorm I can ma ke a place in my discord or we can chat in aalbc or tumblr or deviantart:)  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n If you are interested in other tales of mine consid er  [ https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/THE-PROMOTION-125533902 8  ] which is part of my gallery of literature  [ https://www.devianta rt.com/hddeviant/gallery/81311721/my-tales-or-poetry  ] \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n FORUM POSTS\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12571-calling-all-black -writers/\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12572-what-is-a-horror-storye lement-you-will-like-to-see-that-you-havent-seen-before/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n NOTICE TEXT\n\n\n\n Calling all Black Writers!\n\n I have a screenplay I am working on already. I was planning for it to have another path but wit h this. the timing is perfect. Any black writers interested\, join me on a albc or wherever and lets discuss:) I will make a roundtable on my discord if need be. \n\n If you are interested in my style links to various pert inent works are in the page below. \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event /668-tubi-x-blacklist-horror-initiative-2026-challenge-final-day/\n\n #rma albc #aalbc #tubi #blacklist #horror #screenplay #richardmurray #kobo #kwl #hddeviant #deviantart #richardmurrayhumblr #tumblr #black337\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n #rmaalbc #aalbc #tubi #blacklist #horror #scre enplay #richardmurray #kobo #kwl #hddeviant #deviantart #richardmurrayhumb lr #tumblr \n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260630 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Opening for the Boone theatre from the Black Movie HAll of F ame  DTSTAMP:20250811T023215Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:452-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Opening for the Boone theatre from the Black Movie HAll o f Fame \n\n\n\n 100 black films list from the Black Movie Hall of Fame\n\ n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/451-the-problem-with-list-black-100-fi lms-from-the-black-movie-hall-of-fame/\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Boone T heater\n\n\n\n https://www.boonetheaterkc.com/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMEND MENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03032026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What is your favorite Black theater growing up?\n\n\n\n Name names:) if none \, say none\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n url\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12561-what-is-your-favo rite-black-theater-growing-up/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian reply\n \n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12561-what-is-your-favorite-black-theate r-growing-up/#findComment-80460\n\n\n\n @Chevdove reply\n\n\n\n https://a albc.com/tc/topic/12561-what-is-your-favorite-black-theater-growing-up/#fi ndComment-80467\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 reply\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topi c/12561-what-is-your-favorite-black-theater-growing-up/#findComment-80475\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03032026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/topic/12561-what-is-your-favorite-black-theater-growing-up/#fin dComment-80499\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n Common ground ac hieved\, arguably my most positively responsed post. I am very happy:) \n \n\n\n thank you again @aka Contrarian @Chevdove @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n beautiful memories from you all:) thank you for sharing. \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260228 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Black History Month 2026 end DTSTAMP:20260301T023059Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:663-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n WHO ARE THE BLACK TRIBES?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Pioneer has a post\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12557-my-tribe-vs-yo-tribe/\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n MY COMMENT\n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n @P ioneer1\n\n\n\n  Ending black history month with thoughtfulness:) hope #b lack327 is very eventful \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I have confused you. \n\n\n \n Black Americans is the root\, these are all black peoples in the usa\, gardless of ancestry\, language\, religion\, this is all about the skin.  \n\n\n\n Black Americans in the USA today is composed of two main groups\, populaces not tribes. \n\n\n\n Black DOSers- descended of enslaved black folk which also includes those who willingly immigrated into the usa befo re the 1960s\,  like MArcus Garvey for example\n\n\n\n + \n\n\n\n Black modern immigrants - black people who willingly immigrated to the usa when Blacks achieved in the USA complete legal federal recognition which was wi th the Civil Rights Act of  immigration act of 1964 and who came after th e immigration act of 1965.  Yes\, black people did freely immigrate into the USA before 1964 or 1965 but before then the federal legal rights of Bl ack people in the usa were simply not in any way even to whites. Now state s laws would take time to change but by the end of the jim crow era\, 1980 \, they did. \n\n\n\n Black Modern immigrants tribes are based on the cou ntries they come from: jamaican/panamanian/south african/nigerian/indian/b rasilian either their country is majority black and so they come from a tr ibe in their country of their country has a name for the black minority.  \n\n\n\n Black DOSers have three tribes from the creation of the USA  and none are based on geography \, all are based on a philosophy toward the u sa or the whites in it. \n\n\n\n Black Statians are black people who embr ace the USA as their home\, gardless of whites activity\, gardless of the historic reality\, gardless of most black peoples views towards the usa or the whites in it. . James Forten for example. WAs a businessman\, fought for the USA\, was a prisoner of war\, and all of this is while over 90% of black people in the colonies were completely enslaved\, and most who got freedom fought against the USA\, yet he held firm. Black Statians are not about being in the majority\, it is about the usa as their home \, gardles s of anything else. \n\n\n\n Black Militants - I want to say a caveat\, m ilitancy is really about wanting to go to war. But Black Militants are rea lly about trust. Black Militants don't trust/will never trust the usa or w hites of the usa and want the earned revenge. Now the earliest black milit ants fought for the english\, whites\, not because they trust whites\, but because they distrust white statians the most\, and want revenge. \n\n\n \n Black Freefolk- I use this term because\, what many people don't seem t o comprehend is when the USA was founded\, over ninety percent of black pe ople were enslaved to whites. What does that mean? That means when the USA was founded over ninety percent of blacks\, had no allegiance or caring f or the USA or for whites\, so they weren't statians\, even though many of them them or most their lineage would only know the usa as a home\, it had no connection to them. But they weren't militants. Yes\, they hated white s but they didn't want revenge\, they only wanted away from whites. All th ey wanted was to be as far away from the colonies or the later USA or whit e people as possible. In them you find the back to africa movement\, which at is heart to trying to get black people as far away from whites or the usa. Their influence is what made in combination side black statians the e xoduster movement\, which at its heart is an agreement between black stati ans + black freefolk. Essentially\, one group says they embrace the usa\, the other group says\, they want as far away from the usa or the whites in it. So the middle ground is places as far away from whites in the usa. Th e problem is\, white people historically\, don't like black people to be u ndisturbed by whites wherever we live. whether an urban black region or a black town\, whites have a heritage of negative meddling with blacks. Anot her subtribe for the the black freefolk are those Leaving the USA [which for the record always goes on among black DOSers every year\, yes it has n ever bee n a majority act but people forget whites historically hated blac k people who spoke of leaving the usa. From most whites perspectives\, his toorically\, they wanted black people to embrace being enslaved as a posit ive\, for white financial betterment... ]. Another subtribe are black indi vidualism. It makes sense to me. how Black people descended from enslaved people who had nothing to do with the creation of the usa and were descend ed from people who wanted nothing to do with the usa or the white people i n it would see themselves as individuals. Embracing a hard truth that\, th e usa is nothing to them \, but since fate has placed them here\, they jus t live\, not because they are comfortable or love whites\, but simply beca use like the ninety percent of our forebears enslaved in the usa when it w as founded \, they have no where to go or nothing to be apart communally. The slave quarter isn't a communal zone\, it is pig pen for humans\, so if the usa is merely  a huge pig pen in a black person's mind\, they why sh ould they think communally. \n\n\n\n \n\n For me\, I don't know either of you well enough to be sure of anything . But based on communications in t his forum\, I think\, cynique like yourself are Black Statians\, the tribe in the populace of Black DOSers.   Both of you embrace the USA. \n\n\n \n You pioneer seem to have an exoduster mentality. You embrace the usa\, part of you loves it. But what you want for its future is black solidarity + safety in the usa\, not as indiivduals in a hyper mixed brew but in spe cific locals. It isn't impossible\, to reach what you want. Nothing is eas y. \n\n\n\n Cynique it seems\, has a James Forten philosophy. She embrace s not only the usa but the idea its white enslaving founders suggested \, a country of humans\, individuals who embrace the idea that each individua l should be treated equally. Frederick Douglass/MLK jr/Barrack Obama all l ive their lives with this idea\, started from James Forten's or similars e xample. Arguably\, Black Statians like Cynique are closest to achieving th eir goal. because Black Statians like her were by default most willing to work with whites\, they benefited them in the usa\, where whites only star ted allowing the majority of the black populace equal status\, 1980. to be blunt\, if you aren't willing to work with whites pre 1980\, while you li ve in the usa\, you essentially have nothing. As black DOSers forebears we re enslaved so they could provide no fiscal inheritance and as all know\, over ninety percent of wealth in the usa is inheritance.  Very few whites are willing to work with blacks who want away. Yes\, Back to Africa movem ents occurred in the usa \, but their white financiers were never represen ting a majority of whites. \n\n\n\n So\, For me\, both of you are Black S tatians. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The key for you to comprehend is Black DOSer s relationship to the usa is historically not financial\, it is pure philo sophy\, or vendetta based. This is why Black Modern Immigrants fit in so w ell with the USA\, because their relationship is like all non blacks who a ren't indigenous. It is\, a financial desire to make money\, to be better off. But\, Black DOSers didn't originally have that desire\, and even in 1 865\, when the enslavement era ends and jim crow begins. Black DOSers didn 't come into the Jim Crow era thinking I want to be apart of the USA. Blac k Freefolk historically had to be convinced of the merit of the USA which many Black Statians have always had problems with .\, ala the similarity o f Frederick Douglass/MLK jr/ Barrack Obama who arguably all spent the latt er years of their most potent time disliked by most Black DOSErs. Which ma kes sense\, because Black Statians by default\, embrace the usa no matter what. So faced with Black people with the same experiences who don't accep t it at all\, or who need convincing when whites make that nearly impossib le\, outside of faith based\, it becomes a natural divide no bridge can cr oss. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/1255 7-my-tribe-vs-yo-tribe/#findComment-80451\n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n 03022026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/ topic/12557-my-tribe-vs-yo-tribe/#findComment-80496\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ost ed just now\n\n\n\n @frankster \n\n\n\n what you speak is what James For ten/ Frederick Douglass/ MLK jr/Barrck Obama said in more words or more el oquently or in how they lived their life. \n\n\n\n But their lives prove that other humans are not always in concurrence to that standing. and that is my point. I don't speak of tribes because it is the most positive plus effective end\, the most effective end for humans is to treat all life on earth with the same love or consideration each human will want to themsel ves\, but that isn't how humanity operates. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @aka Cont rarian\n\n\n\n yes\, i think that in the population of the usa is already brewing a people who will functionalize your way [or at least try to] \, t he way many other black people in the usa today adhere to\, what the rapin g slaver thomas jefferson wrote\, what black people like james forten/fred erick douglass/mlk jr lived their entire lives fighting for even when most black people opposed them. what barrack obama tried to uphold even though the needs of the usa in the immediate term warranted another way. \n\n\n \n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260228 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:KWL Live Q&A: Music\, Love and Storytelling with Xio Axelrod 02/27/2025 DTSTAMP:20250227T220123Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:208-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n KWL Live Q&\;A: Music\, Love and Storytelling with Xio Axelrod\n\n description\n\n The Kobo Writing Life team invites you to joi n us on February 27th from 12:00 PM-1:00 PM EST for a new Live Q&\;A.  KWL director Tara and KWL author engagement manager Laura will chat to b estselling author Xio Axelrod.\n\n uniform resource locator\n\n https://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=ziAHLKI6wzU\n\n\n\n video\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Xio Axelrod\n\n https://xioaxelrod.com/\n\n\n\n MY TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n 00:02:00 \nTara: how did music industry help you in the publishing?\nXio: Her dad i s a successful songwriter. She loves rock\, her father is in rhythm and bl ues. Brought guerilla marketing tactics from indie music publishing into l iterary publishing industry.\n00:04:00\nTara: What specifically did you br ing from the music industry?\nXio: She felt literary publishing was ahead of music space. In the music industry indie artist didn't have as much suc cess at the time.  She feels things like Boom going into indie writers ba cklist\, and feels that may occur in the music industry. Both have many si milarities.\n00:06:00 \nLaura: What has been different in the industries? \nXio: In music industry \, not alot of peer support. You usually don't se e musicians saying i like that album too but you see it in literature\n00: 07:00 \nTara: what was challenges when you started?\nXio: A huge learning curve to getting book out there. I needed cover art. She did her own cove rs/editing\, what you tell new authors not to do. She was building her web site and merch. Hardest part was reaching out to other people. She spent a bout a year\, she thought it would be a side gig\, watching other indie au thors do what they did\, cross promotion marketing.\n00:09:00 \nTara: Wha t did you think of with pen names and website\nXio: She had her pen name a nd website before she started. She interviewed authors on her blog and pro moting her work. And she had authors saying you shouldn't do that. \n00:1 0:00 \nTara from Mauritzio\nDo you have any advice for an author who has published his first book\, especially for promotion?\nXio: Promoting other s will get you known\, and then when it is your turn \, they will help.   She told another author Bluesky is where it is at. Cross promotion matters . Good luck out there.\nLaura: I think cross promotion with authors who do the same genre as you \n00:12:00\nLaura: can you explain what a hybrid a uthor is?\nXio: She made eight books as an author before she signed a cont ract. she wanted to expand out\, she spent her money on events\, not adver tisements. Source books approached her. She knew when you signed a traditi onal contract you have to give up some things. She thinks she is just find ing it now. From the pandemic doing event after event\, it is busier with success while still writing. She hasn't released a full indie in a few yea rs. For her it is taking the time to write the book.\n00:15:00\nTara: Did she think she will have influence once signed?\nXio: Growing up\, she knew \, that  a record label deal was not wise\, from various people in the in dustry. But when she hit the wall\, you can't get into bookshelves\, or th is or that store\, you need to sign a contract. IF she can get someone whe re she can do what she wants while also signed . She is fortunate.\n00:17: 00 \nTara: Readers don't follow the books\nXio: She tells readers the mor e recent books are not her first. She has to get some old books back to pr int. \n00:18:00 \nTara: Can you walk us through your writing process? \ nXio: She does a lot of daydreaming. Xiovision. All of her characters live with her all the time. The scene will play over and over in her head and then she will write. She knows authors who get up is four in the morning a nd then they write to six. She does it day to day. Some days marketing\, o ther days writing. She always consumes content. If she is on deadline\, sh e turns off the phone on certain days. Surrounds herself with the art that helps her. Everyone has their own process. Her's is haphazard\, no day is like the day before.\n00:20:00\nTara: YOu do alot of events\, do you writ e on the road?\nXio: No \, at an event she goes to an event mode. She thin ks how many stickers she has for the table. Until the pandemic\, she didn' t know what process she needs. Her husband took over her office. The girl with stars in her eyes\, was the hardest book. She knows now\, if she want s to write\, no package\, no deliveries\, so she can sink into her story.\ n00:22:00 \nLaura: What is your favorite film score to write to?\nXio: JA ne Eyre. She likes the soundtrack from the Piano. Any music with lyrics sh e can't use. But if love scene or fighting scene\, she has five hundred so unds on her playlist. She writes playlist for every book she writes. \n00 :24:00\nLaura: What are your thoughts to audiobooks\, does she have any?\n Xio: She does. 2015 she thinks she should do this audio thing. She looked at catalog but not alot of romance. And she put up the money and it earned out. She encourages people to do audio\, if you can get someone else to p ay for it better\, but she listens to audio exclusively now. \nLaura: her standards in audio are higher for background in music?\nXio: She finds au thors through the narrators. She asked who can she afford\, in the beginni ng. And then she started writing characters for various voices. \nGirls w ith Bad Reputations\, the characters were written with those voice authors in mind. A bad audio performance can ruin a book for her. \n00:27:00 \n Laura: how do you approach genre blending?\nXio: Write the book you want t o read? She was reading anne rice\, she didn't read romance into she actua lly wrote one. In \"girl's with bad reputations\" she wrote a scene that w as a little wild\, the editor questioned\, but she said\, it is alright. B ut throwing all the tropes and things she love in the blender\, she can do it. it took nine months and two hundred chapters on my blog and it happen ed\n00:29:00\nLAura: what are your favorite tropes?\nXio: Rivals to lovers . She doesn't approach books with tropes in mind? She had a book with many . Microtropes is having a big moment. Microtropes is the lifesblood of fa n fiction\n00:30:00\nTara: Your favorite microtrope?\nXio: hue falls\, she was a fanfic panel. Someone on the panel said she knows Xio writes fanfic tion cause she manages the buffy fanfic lbrary.\n00:32:00\nTara: Did you b uild this with your publisher?\nXio: Initially the Lilly was one book in h er head. When they approached about writing a series she can write a book for each girl. She was into this show called SKAN. It was very addictive\, they had clips \, like messages between characters. I can't do that with a book\, but she can make similar. They have their own websites\, book\, e social sites\, the Lilyverse. \n00:34:00\nTara: Do you write the esocial of the various characters?\nXio: Yes\, she does\, she doesn't sleep. If sh e let someone else control\, they would have more content. But it helps to write them to get inside their head.\n00:35:00 \nTara: would you let oth ers try to work in the universe?\nXio: We will see what source says. It ha s huge potential but we will see\, and she owns her earlier work that some one did something from. We will see. \n00:36:00\nTara: Would you need to compile a Lillyverse wiki\nXio: She was thinking about having a series bib le. A series bible will help but she will need to sit down.\n00:37:00\nTar a: Do you worry about easter eggs with having the various characters socia l?\nXio: I don't think she has posted anything that isn't outside the stor y. \n00:38:00\nTara: Any merchandise you have or most memorable?\nXio: Fo r the lilly series I have stickers. But she knew she would have alot of me rch for the lilies with shirts for the concerts\, album covers. She will s ell shirts at Philadlephia convention. She gets giddy when fans love the l ilies. She gets bracelets with the characters names and she gets magnets. She tells authors to find another point of contact with readers. Find a wa y to connect to another level\n00:40:00\nTara: Do you take advice from rea ders on how to write?\nXio: No\, she likes feedback from the fanfic times but don't like all the people telling you what to do. Fans killed her pass ion for a story with their demands or desires on where it should go. She w ants the lilies to be from where she wants. The training ground of fanfict ion teaches you to stray away from fans desires to the future. \n00:42:00 \nLaura: Any advice to indies for marketing their books\nXio: She knows ma ny indie authors do good work with advertisements but she likes events esp ecially reader events. Everything is so tied to social media\, and you nev er know what channel will work best. Figure out what is going on behind th e scene and in romance authors are not averse to share information. She be longs to the authors guild as well. Marketing is tough\, algorithm suppres s what isn't paid for. \n00:44:00\nTara: Do you focus on newsletters\nXio : It is a chore for her to do a newsletter. Whenever she sits down to do a newsletter it sounds like corporate speak. She turned the newsletter over to her publishers. Get started early with newsletter. She tries to make t he Lillies to independent. They have their own page on facebook. A fan sai d they would go to a place\, that wasn't real. The temptation is to make i t real. Sheet music exists on the back of the books. She can't wait to see people make covers\, of the lilies work. \n00:47:00\nTara: you mentioned the tenth anniversary of her book the callum\nXio: She has always struggl ed with imposter syndrome. You can feel a failure when others are celebrat ing huge deals. She wished she learned early on to celebrate the wins of p ublishing a book and having others read her work. Work with your emotions and then get back to work. Be healthy emotionally. She wished she had lear ned early. It is great to have authors around you\, have author friends. T hey will celebrate you and if they don't they are not your friends. People had said you did this or that and she had forgotten. And she remembered f or her tenth anniversary\n00:51:00\nTara: What was fans reaction to the se ries?\nXio: Fans were happy. Her neighbor was one of her first readers. Sh e got all teary with new stuff. She hopes fans of the lilly series\, and s he hopes they entertain her revisited book.\n00:52:00 \nLaura: any upcomi ng projects\nXio: Double deadline \, writing tiff's story\, the base playe r. Follow up to love on the Byeline\, comes out later this year. It isn't quite as heavy. It will be interesting to continue this story of two frien ds. \n00:53:00\nTara: any events in the future\nXio: A polycon in April\, doing romancecon this year\, She will be quite a few places. She will be traveling not as much as last year. She is doing London and Vancouver. In book three the Lillies will be doing their first world tour so she will do research.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n UNANSWERED QUESTIONS FROM ME\n\ n SI she pusblished internationally\, has any of her books been translated ?\n\n Have you considered a character dying in the books and how would yo u handle their esocial?\n\n\n\n Xio Axelrod website [ https://xioaxelrod.c om/ ]\n\n Xio Axelrod on Kobo [ https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/search?query=xi o+axelrod&\;fclanguages=en ]\n\n Xio Axelrod merch [ https://xioverse-m erch.creator-spring.com/ ] \n\n Xio Axelrod book [ https://xioaxelrod.com /books ] \n\n Xio Axelrod appearances [ https://xioaxelrod.com/appearance s ] \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 03012026\n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.c om/tc/topic/12559-is-music-fading-as-a-storytelling-avenue-among-black-peo ple/#findComment-80484\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n Thank you all:) \n \n\n\n @ProfD @aka Contrarian @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n your all correct that the commercial aspect of the music industry has pushed music to be leisure ly heard or commonly known that fits the high frequency rate of modern com munication plus the boring \, as in grinded in not dull\, nature of modern communication\n\n\n\n While @Delano you are also correct and they concu r that while one may have to be more an aficianado or put more work into t he quality in which they listen\, storytelling will never be completely de ad in music and modern artists are still making storytelling songs with th e same intention of those musicians in the past who told stories that open ed imaginations with a tempo. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250227 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Electronic Numerical Integrator and Compiler (ENIAC) is the first computer + first machine to make a weather model to predict the weat her\, here is how 03/05/1950 DTSTAMP:20250301T221534Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:210-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Electronic Numerical Integrator and Compiler (ENIAC) is t he first computer + first machine to make a weather model to predict the w eather\, here is how 03/05/1950\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/482-e lectronic-numerical-integrator-and-compiler-eniac-is-the-first-computer-fi rst-machine-to-make-a-weather-model-to-predict-the-weather-here-is-how/\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IF YOU DONT WANT TO USE THE LINK ABOV E\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n  \n \n\n \n How?\n \n\n \ n The first successful numerical prediction was performed using the E NIAC digital computer in 1950 by a team led by American meteorologist Ju le Charney. The team include Philip Thompson\, Larry Gates\, and Norwegian meteorologist Ragnar Fjørtoft\, applied mathematician John von Neumann \, and computer programmer Klara Dan von Neumann\, M. H. Frankel\, Jerom e Namias\, John C. Freeman Jr.\, Francis Reichelderfer\, George Platzman \, and Joseph Smagorinsky.[THE ENIAC FORECASTS A Re-creation ][The Unher alded Contributions of Klara Dan von Neumann][A Vast Machine] They used a simplified form of atmospheric dynamics based on solving the barotropi c vorticity equation over a single layer of the atmosphere\, by computing the geopotential height of the atmosphere's 500 millibars (15 inHg) pr essure surface.[Numerical Integration of the Barotropic Vorticity Equation ] This simplification greatly reduced demands on computer time and memory \, so the computations could be performed on the relatively primitive comp uters of the day.[https://archive.org/details/stormwatcherstur00cox_df1/pa ge/208/mode/2up] When news of the first weather forecast by ENIAC was rec eived by Richardson in 1950\, he remarked that the results were an \"enorm ous scientific advance.\"[The origins of computer weather prediction and   climate modeling] The first calculations for a 24‑hour forecast took ENIAC nearly 24 hours to produce\,[The origins of computer weather predi ction and  climate modeling] but Charney's group noted that most of tha t time was spent in \"manual operations\"\, and expressed hope that foreca sts of the weather before it occurs would soon be realized.[Numerical Inte gration of the Barotropic Vorticity Equation]\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n ARTICLES\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n THE ENI AC FORECASTS A Re-creation \n \n\n \n https://maths.ucd.ie/~ply nch/Publications/ENIAC-BAMS-08.pdf\n \n\n \n            \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n The Unheralded Contributions of Klara Dan von Neumann\n\n https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-n ature/meet-computer-scientist-you-should-thank-your-phone-weather-app-1809 63716/\n \n\n \n Despite having no formal mathematical training\ , she was a key figure in creating the computer that would later launch mo dern weather prediction\n \n\n \n Sarah Witman\n \n\n \n June 16\, 2017\n\n  \n \n\n \n Editor's note\, May 20\, 2021: We’ve updated this piece to more accurately reflect Klara Dan von Neumann’s contributions to the experiment that resulted in the first nu merical weather predictions in 1950. The piece originally misstated that K lara was in charge of hand-punching and managing the 100\,000 punchcards t hat served as the ENIAC’s read/write memory\, when in fact she wasn’t present for this part of the experiment. The story has been re-edited to r eflect this information.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n A wea ther app is a nifty tool that predicts your meteorological future\, levera ging the strength of satellites\, supercomputers\, and other modern device s to tell you when to pack an umbrella. Today\, computerized weather predi ction—like moving pictures or seatbelts in cars—is so commonplace that most smartphone users don’t give it a second thought. But in the early 20th century\, the idea that you might be able to forecast the weather day s or even weeks ahead was a tantalizing prospect.\n\n One of the most impo rtant breakthroughs in weather forecasting took place in the spring of 195 0\, during an experiment at the Aberdeen Proving Ground\, a U.S. Army fac ility in Maryland. For 33 days and nights\, a team of scientists and compu ter technicians worked tirelessly to achieve something that meteorologists had been working toward for decades: predict the weather mathematically.\ n\n This was well before the age of pocket-sized\, or even desktop\, compu ters. The team—led by scientists Jule Charney\, Ragnar Fjørtoft\, John Freeman\, George Platzman\, and Joseph Smagorinsky—was using one of the world’s first computers: a finicky\, 150-foot machine called ENIAC that had been developed during the recent World War. Platzman would later desc ribe a complicated\, 16-step process they repeated over and over: six ste ps for the ENIAC to run their calculations\, and 10 steps to input instruc tions and record output on punch-cards. Minor errors forced them to redo h ours—sometimes days—of work. In one tense moment\, a computer operat or’s thumb got caught in the machinery\, temporarily halting operations. \n\n But at the end of the month\, the team had produced six groundbreakin g weather forecasts (well\, technically\, \"hindcasts\,\" since they used data from past storms to demonstrate the method). An article in the New York Times hailed the project as a way to “lift the veil from previousl y undisclosed mysteries connected with the science of weather forecasting. ” The benefits to agriculture\, shipping\, air travel and other industri es “were obvious\,” weather experts told the Times\, offering the pote ntial to save crops\, money\, and lives.\n\n An internal Weather Bureau m emo commended “these men” for proving that computer-based forecasting \, the cornerstone of modern weather prediction\, was possible. This was m ostly true—except\, it wasn’t just men. Numerous women played critical scientific roles in the experiment\, for which they earned little to no c redit at the time.\n\n \n\n \n \n \n\n \n Two computer operators\, Ruth Lichterman (left) and Marlyn Wescoff (right)\, wire the right side of the ENIAC with a new program in the pre-von Neumann era. US Army\, via Historic Computers Images of the ARL Technical Library\n \n \n \n Like the ENIAC’s first programmers—Jean Bartik\, Betty Holberton\, Kathleen Antonelli\, Marlyn Meltzer\, Ruth Teitelbaum\, and Fr ances Spence—the computer operators for the 1950 weather experiment were all women. While this highly skilled work would surely have earned them a co-authorship today\, their names—Norma Gilbarg\, Ellen-Kristine Eliass en\, and Margaret Smagorinsky\, who was the first female statistician hi red by the Weather Bureau and the wife of meteorologist Joseph Smagorinsky —are absent from the journal article detailing the experiment’s resul ts. Before most of the scientists arrived at Aberdeen\, these women spent hundreds of hours calculating the equations that the ENIAC would need to c ompute in the full experiment. “The system that they were going to use o n the big computer\, we were doing manually\,” Margaret recalled in an  interview with science historian George Dyson before she died in 2011. “It was a very tedious job. The three of us worked in a very small room\ , and we worked hard.”\n\n But perhaps the biggest single contribution\, aside from the scientists leading the experiment\, came from a woman name d Klara Dan von Neumann.\n\n Klara\, known affectionately as Klari\, was  born into a wealthy Jewish family in Budapest in 1911. After World War I\ , in which Hungary allied with Austria to become one of the great Europe an powers of the war\, Klara attended an English boarding school and becam e a national figure skating champion. When she was a teenager\, during Bud apest’s roaring '20s\, her father and grandfather threw parties and invi ted the top artists and thinkers of the day—including women.\n\n Klara  married young\, divorced and remarried before the age of 25. In 1937\, a Hungarian mathematician\, John von Neumann\, began to court her. Von Neum ann was also married at the time\, but his divorce was in progress (his fi rst wife\, Mariette\, had fallen in love with the acclaimed physicist J.B. Horner Kuper\, both of whom would become two of the first employees of Long Island’s Brookhaven National Laboratory). Within a year\, John and Klara were married.\n\n John had a professorship at Princeton University\, and\, as the Nazis gained strength in Europe\, Klara followed him to the U.S. Despite only having a high school education in algebra and trigonome try\, she shared her new husband’s interest in numbers\, and was able to secure a wartime job with Princeton’s Office of Population Research inv estigating population trends.\n\n By this time\, John had become one of th e most famous scientists in the world as a member of the Manhattan Projec t\, the now-notorious U.S. government research project dedicated to buildi ng the first atomic bomb. With his strong Hungarian accent and array of ec centricities—he once played a joke on Albert Einstein by offering him a ride to the train station and then intentionally sending him off on the wrong train—he would later become the inspiration for Stanley Kubric k’s Dr. Strangelove. While Klara stayed behind\, working full-time at Princeton\, John moved out to Los Alamos\, New Mexico\, running the thousa nds of calculations needed to build the first of these weapons of mass des truction. His work came to fatal fruition in 1945\, when the U.S. dropped two atomic bombs on Japan\, killing as many as 250\,000 people.\n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n \n A chart of the series of operations requ ired to create the first weather forecasts\, chronicled later by scientist George Platzman. AMS Bulletin\, ©American Meteorological Society. Used with permission.\n \n\n \n After the war\, John decided to tu rn his mathematical brilliance toward more peaceful applications. He thoug ht he might be able to use the ENIAC—a powerful new computer that cut it s teeth running calculations for an early hydrogen bomb prototype—coul d be applied to help improve weather forecasting.\n\n As John began to pu rsue this idea\, getting in touch with top meteorologists in the U.S. and Norway\, Klara came to visit him in Los Alamos. Living apart during the Ma nhattan Project had been hard on their marriage\, and Klara had suffered a miscarriage back in New Jersey\, but the trip rekindled sparks between th em. By this time\, Klara had become quite mathematically adept through her work at Princeton\, and she and John began to collaborate on the ENIAC.\n \n “I became Johnny’s experimental rabbit\,” she told Dyson years afterward. “I learned how to translate algebraic equations into numerica l forms\, which in turn then have to be put into machine language in the o rder in which the machine has to calculate it\, either in sequence or goin g round and round\, until it has finished with one part of the problem\, a nd then go on some definite which-a-way\, whatever seems to be right for i t to do next.”<\;br>\;\n <\;br>\;\n The work was challenging\, e specially compared to modern computer programming with its luxuries like b uilt-in memory and operating systems. Yet\, Klara described to Dyson\, sh e found coding to be a “very amusing and rather intricate jigsaw puzzl e.”\n\n \n\n \n \n \n\n \n Women computer scientists holding different parts of an early computer. From left to right: Patsy S immers\, holding ENIAC board\; Gail Taylor\, holding EDVAC board\; Milly B eck\, holding ORDVAC board\; Norma Stec\, holding BRLESC-I board. US Army Photo\, via Historic Computers Images of the ARL Technical Library\n \ n\n \n In the acknowledgements of the 1950 paper detailing the f irst numerical weather predictions\, the authors thank Klara for her “in struction in the technique of coding for the ENIAC and for checking the fi nal code.” But what is undoubtedly her most impactful contribution to th e experiment took place several years prior: helping to transform the ENIA C from a rigidly hard-wired machine into one of the first stored-program  computers\, more akin to today’s personal computers. Both Klara and Jo hn felt this was a necessary improvement for future applications like the weather experiment\, as it would allow them to store a vast repertoire of commands in the computer’s memory.\n\n In 1947\, Klara and Nick Metropol is—a Greek-American mathematician and computer scientist\, and leader of the Los Alamos computing group—collaborated on a plan to implement thi s new mode on the ENIAC\, and in 1948 they traveled to Aberdeen to reconfi gure the machine. After training five other people to program and run the ENIAC (two married couples and a bachelor: Foster and Cerda Evans\, Harris and Rosalie Mayer\, and Marshall Rosenbluth)\, they worked for 32 days st raight to install the new control system\, check it\, and get the modified machine up and running. By the end of the trip\, Klara had reportedly los t 15 pounds\, and it took her several weeks and numerous doctor’s visits to recover from the experience. But she still managed to write a full re port on the conversion and use of the ENIAC as a stored-program computer. “The method is clearly a 100% success\,” John wrote at the time.\n\n By the time Charney and his team of scientists arrived at Aberdeen in earl y 1950\, Platzman would recall years later\, the “ENIAC had been operat ing in the new stored-program mode for over a year\, a fact that greatly s implified our work.” In a letter to his wife written during this first w eek\, Platzman gushed: “The machine is a miracle.” The ENIAC was still rudimentary: It could only produce 400 multiplications per second\, so s low that it produced rhythmic chugging noises. But after working around th e clock for over a month\, the team had six precious gems to show for thei r efforts: two 12-hour and four 24-hour retrospective forecasts.\n\n Not l ong after the weather experiment concluded\, tragedy befell the von Neuman n family. John von Neumann was confined to a wheelchair in 1956\, and succ umbed to cancer a year later\, (likely due\, at least in part\, to his pro ximity to radiation during the Manhattan Project). Klara wrote the preface to his posthumous book\, The Computer and the Brain\, which she presente d to Yale College in 1957. In it\, she briefly described her late husb and’s contributions to the field of meteorology\, writing that his “nu merical calculations seemed to be helpful in opening entirely new vistas\, ” but gave no mention of her own role.\n\n Klara’s work with computers seems to have tapered off even before John’s death. Whatever her reason ing may have been for this\, it was in line with the prevailing trend at t he time. Janet Abbate recounts in her 2012 book Recoding Gender how\, as the public perception of computers and their value to society evolved thr oughout the 1950s and ’60s\, the number of women hired for those roles s hrank rapidly. Abbate writes that\, while the women who made up most of th e workforce in the early days of coding “would have scoffed at the notio n that programming would ever be considered a masculine occupation\,” th at’s exactly what happened within a matter of years. Today\, less than 8 percent of software developers worldwide identify as women\, nonbinary\ , or gender nonconforming.\n\n While female representation in the fields o f science\, technology\, engineering\, and math has increased as a whole s ince the 1970s\, according to the U.S. Census Bureau\, the number of wome n working in computing roles has actually declined over the past few decad es. But without their early contributions to the field\, we might have mis sed out on the breakthrough that led to modern weather prediction\, or any number of scientific advancements. So the next time you scroll through yo ur weather app before deciding whether to don a raincoat\, think of Klara and the other women who helped make it possible.\n\n \n\n \n  \ n \n\n \n A Vast Machine\n\n https://web.archive.org/web/201 20127215929/http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&\; tid=12080\n \n\n \n Computer Models\, Climate Data\, and the Pol itics of Global Warming\n\n Paul N. Edwards\n \n\n \n  Tabl e of Contents and Sample Chapters\n \n\n \n Computer Models\, Cl imate Data\, and the Politics of Global Warming\n\n Paul N. Edwards\n \n\n \n Acknowledgments\n\n Download Chapter as PDF Sample C hapter - Download PDF (71 KB)    ix\n\n Introduction\n\n Downlo ad Chapter as PDF Sample Chapter - Download PDF (121 KB)    xiii\n\n 1    Thinking Globally\n\n Download Chapter as PDF Sample Chapter - Download PDF (1.82 MB)    1\n\n 2    Global Space\, Universal Time\n\n Seeing the Planetary Atmosphere    27\n\n 3    Sta ndards and Networks\n\n International Meteorology and the Réseau Mond ial    49\n\n 4    Climatology and Climate Change before World War II    61\n\n 5    Friction    83\n\n 6    Numerica l Weather Prediction    111\n\n 7    The Infinite Forecast    139\n\n 8    Making Global Data    187\n\n 9    The First WWW    229\n\n 10    Making Data Global    251\n\n 11    Data Wars    287\n\n 12    Reanalysis\n\n The Do-Over    323\n\n 13    Parametrics and the Limits of Knowl edge    337\n\n 14    Simulation Models and Atmospheric Politics \, 1960–1992    357\n\n 15    Signal and Noise\n\n Consens us\, Controversy\, and Climate Change    397\n\n Conclusion    4 31\n\n Notes    441\n\n Index\n\n Download Chapter as PDF S ample Chapter - Download PDF (106 KB)    509\n\n  \n \n\n \n Global warming skeptics often fall back on the argument that the scie ntific case for global warming is all model predictions\, nothing but simu lation\; they warn us that we need to wait for real data\, \"sound science .\" In A Vast Machine Paul Edwards has news for these skeptics: without mo dels\, there are no data. Today\, no collection of signals or observations —even from satellites\, which can \"see\" the whole planet with a single instrument—becomes global in time and space without passing through a s eries of data models. Everything we know about the world's climate we know through models. Edwards offers an engaging and innovative history of how scientists learned to understand the atmosphere—to measure it\, trace it s past\, and model its future.\n \n\n \n Edwards argues that all our knowledge about climate change comes from three kinds of computer mod els: simulation models of weather and climate\; reanalysis models\, which recreate climate history from historical weather data\; and data models\, used to combine and adjust measurements from many different sources. Meteo rology creates knowledge through an infrastructure (weather stations and o ther data platforms) that covers the whole world\, making global data. Thi s infrastructure generates information so vast in quantity and so diverse in quality and form that it can be understood only by computer analysis— making data global. Edwards describes the science behind the scientific co nsensus on climate change\, arguing that over the years data and models ha ve converged to create a stable\, reliable\, and trustworthy basis for est ablishing the reality of global warming.\n \n\n \n About the Aut hor\n \n\n \n Paul N. Edwards is Professor in the School of Info rmation and the Department of History at the University of Michigan. He is the author of The Closed World: Computers and the Politics of Discourse i n Cold War America (1996) and a coeditor (with Clark Miller) of Changing t he Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance (2001)\, both published by the MIT Press.\n\n  \n \n\n \n Numerical Inte gration of the Barotropic Vorticity Equation\n\n https://a.tellusjourn als.se/articles/10.3402/tellusa.v2i4.8607\n \n\n \n Original Res earch Papers\n\n Authors\n\n J. G. Charney\n\n R. Fjörtoft\n\ n J. von Neumann\n \n\n \n Abstract\n\n A method is give n for the numerical solution of the barotropic vorticity equation over a l imited area of the earth’s surface. The lack of a natural boundary calls for an investigation of the appropriate boundary conditions. These are de termined by a heuristic argument and are shown to be sufficient in a speci al case. Approximate conditions necessary to insure the mathematical stabi lity of the difference equation are derived. The results of a series of fo ur 24-hour forecasts computed from actual data at the 500 mb level are pre sented\, together with an interpretation and analysis. An attempt is made to determine the causes of the forecast errors. These are ascribed partly to the use of too large a space increment and partly to the effects of bar oclinicity. The rôle of the latter is investigated in some detail by mean s of a simple baroclinic model.\n \n\n \n                   \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n The or igins of computer weather prediction and  climate modeling\n\n https ://web.archive.org/web/20100708191309/http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/personal/ miskandarani/Courses/MPO662/Lynch\,Peter/OriginsCompWF.JCP227.pdf\n\n from \n\n  Peter Lynch\n \n\n \n               \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n IN AMENDMENT\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n Reading the Manual for ENIAC\, the World’s F irst Electronic Computer\n\n https://thenewstack.io/reading-the-manual -for-eniac-the-worlds-first-electronic-computer/\n \n\n \n ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Compiler) was the world's very first fully electronic general-purpose computer. Smithsonian magazine once call ed it \"the room-size government computer that began the digital era.\" An d last week the I Programmer site shared a link to an original operating m anual for ENIAC\, originally published 75 years ago this month.\n\n Ju n 16th\, 2019 6:00am by David Cassel\n \n\n \n I don't know my l ove\, I know a business exist. Michael jackson was a huge client\, but he wasn't alone\, many black people in the entertainment industry have skin l ightened \, and the newspapers don't tend to go into it. \n \n\n \n \n \n\n \n Feature image: US Army photo of the ENIAC.\n\n Sometimes you have to take a long look back to realize just how much th ings have changed. And if you looked around our modern-day\, cloud-enhance d web this month\, you’d find several sites sharing memories about the l aunch of the ENIAC computer in 1946 — and of all those unstoppable mid-c entury engineers who tirelessly made it work.\n \n\n \n ENIAC (E lectronic Numerical Integrator and Compiler) was the world’s very first fully electronic general-purpose computer. Smithsonian magazine once calle d it “the room-size government computer that began the digital era.” A nd last week the I Programmer site shared a link to an original operating manual for ENIAC\, originally published 75 years ago this month.\n\n \ n \n\n \n It’s dated June 1st\, 1946 — it was published by t he school of engineering at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia — and the manual’s page at Archive.org show it’s been viewed just 2 \,309 times. (“There are no reviews yet\,” reads the boilerplate on th e site. “Be the first one to write a review.”)\n \n\n \n  \ n \n\n \n \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n The archi ve identifies it as part of “the bitsavers.org collection” — a proje ct started by a software curator at the Computer History Museum\, with ove r 98\,500 files and more than 4.7 million text pages.\n\n So what can we g lean about the ENIAC’s moment in history from the manual which documents its operation?\n\n It seems like the machine was temperamental. For examp le\, it warns that the DC power should never be turned on without first tu rning the operation switch to “continuous.”\n\n “Failure to follow t his rule causes certain DC fuses to blow\, -240 and -415 in particular.” \n\n But the consequences are even worse if you opened the DC fuse cabinet when the D.C. power was turned on. “This not only exposes a person to v oltage differences of around 1\,500 volts but the person may be burned by flying pieces of molten fuse wire” (if one of the fuse cases suddenly bl ew). In fact\, the ENIAC was actually designed with a door switch shunt th at prevented it from operating if one of its panel doors was open\, “sin ce removing the doors exposes dangerous voltage.” But this feature could be bypassed by holding the door switch shunt in its closed position.\n\n In a video shared by the Computer History Archives Project\, chief enginee r J. Presper Eckert Jr remembers that it was rare to go more than a day or two without at least one tube blowing out.\n\n And in addition to potenti al shocks\, dust was another potential hazard. “Dust particles may cause transient relay failures\,” the manual warns\, “so avoid stirring up dust in the ENIAC room.”\n\n “Also\, if any relay case is removed\, al ways replace in exactly the same position in order not to disturb dust ins ide the case.”\n\n The ENIAC used an IBM card reader\, but that had its own issues too. At one point the manual actually recommends against having the same number in every column of a punchcard\, since “this weakens a card increasing the probability of ‘jamming’ in the feeding mechanism of the IBM machines.”\n\n Essential Instructions<\;br>\;\n Despite t hese limitations\, ENIAC was a remarkable piece of technology. The manual includes intricate drawings and detailed diagrams of its racks\, trays\, c ables\, and wiring. But most important are the front panel drawings\, whic h “show in some detail the switches\, sockets\, etc. for each panel of e ach unit.”\n\n \n\n \n “They contain the essential instructi ons for setting up a problem on the ENIAC.”\n\n \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n ENIAC’s panels were equ ipped with neon lights corresponding to things like the “denominator fli p-flop” and the “divide flip-flop.” The manual includes footnotes th at carefully explain under what circumstances each light will be lit.\n\n “The square root of zero is perhaps the easiest test to repeat on the di vider-square rooter…”\n\n It’s not until page 28 that it explains th at turning on the start switch “starts the initiating sequences for the ENIAC\, turning on the DC power supplies\, the heaters of the various pane ls\, and the fans…” And it also turns on a little amber light.\n\n “ When this sequence has been completed\, showing that the ENIAC is ready to operate\, the green light goes on…”\n\n There were gates for a “con stant transmitter” (which transmits to an “accumulator”)\, and its c ircuitry included “program pulse input terminals” — for add pulses a nd subtract pulses. And the machine also included two “significant figur es switches.”\n\n “When 10 or more significant figures are desired\, t he left-hand switch is set to 10 and the right-hand switch set so that the sum of the two switch readings equals the number of significant figures d esired.”\n\n There are tantalizing glimpses of how it all works together . The manual recommends a complicated test to make sure all the hardware i s working properly. It involves a card with the value P 11111 11111\, whic h gets input into the machine’s “accumulator” 18 times. The mathemat ical result — 19\,999\,999\,998 — apparently exceeds the range of the accumulator\, so the expected result is actually M 99999 99998. Then a car d with the value P 00000 00001 is transmitted to the accumulators exactly twice — which instead of twenty billion (20\,000\,000\,000) should give the value P 00000 00000.\n\n “Note that this test assumes that the signi ficant figure switch is set to ’10’…”\n\n In Smithsonian magazine\ , technology writer Steven Levy remembers living in Philadelphia in the 19 70s and renting an apartment from a man named J. Presper Eckert Jr. “It was only when I became a technology writer some years later that I realize d that my landlord had invented the computer.”\n\n \n\n \n vi deo not available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8R6li54R20\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n In the early 1940s\, Eckert had been a gr aduate student in the school of engineering who became the ENIAC’s chief engineer. A professor had proposed electronic calculations for munitions trajectories to help the American military during World War II.\n\n Levy c alls it “a breathtaking enterprise. The original cost estimate of $150\, 000 would rise to $400\,000. Weighing in at 30 tons\, the U-shaped constru ct filled a 1\,500-square-foot room. Its 40 cabinets\, each of them nine f eet high\, were packed with 18\,000 vacuum tubes\, 10\,000 capacitors\, 6\ ,000 switches and 1\,500 relays… Two 20-horsepower blowers exhaled cool air so that ENIAC wouldn’t melt down.”\n\n By the time they’d finish ed building it — World War II was over.\n\n But there was still work to do. The Atomic Heritage Foundation site reports that ENIAC was used to he lp perform the engineering calculations for the world’s first hydrogen bomb (along with two other more-recently developed computers). “It took sixty straight days of processing\, all through the summer of 1951.”\n\n Levy cites an Army press release describing ENIAC as a “mathematical ro bot” that “frees scientific thought from the drudgery of lengthy calcu lating work.”\n\n A recent documentary called The Computers reminds mo dern-day viewers that the ENIAC’s original programmers were all women — Kay McNulty\, Betty Jennings\, Betty Snyder\, Marlyn Wescoff\, F ran Bilas and Ruth Lichterman.\n\n \n\n \n \n \n\n \n There’s now also a site called the ENIAC Programmers Project that sha res a brief overview of the documentary with more information. During Worl d War II\, the U.S. military had put together a team of nearly 100 women\, trained in mathematics\, who were calculating complex ballistic-trajector y equations. Six of them were selected to program the ENIAC.\n\n Back in 1 996\, the IEEE Annals of the History of Computing ran a profile of “The Women of ENIAC\,” interviewing 10 of the women who’d worked with the computer during its 10-year run.\n\n The poster for the documentary descr ibes them as “six women lost from history who created technologies that changed our world.”\n\n The ENIAC was eventually left behind by ever-fas ter and ever-cheaper computers. “By the time it was decommissioned in 19 55 it had been used for research on the design of wind tunnels\, random nu mber generators\, and weather prediction\,” remembers an ENIAC web page at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.\n\n And even though ENIAC was decommissi oned in 1955\, 50 years later it was reassembled for a humble ceremony in Philadelphia\, Levy remembers.\n\n “Vice President Al Gore threw a switc h and the remaining pieces clattered out the answer to an addition problem .”\n\n According to Levy\, the ENIAC’s chief engineer later groused “How would you like to have most of your life’s work end up on a squar e centimeter of silicon?” But Levy sees another way to look at it. “[T ]he question could easily have been put another way: How would you like to have invented the machine that changed the course of civilization?”\n\n Yet legacies aside\, it also seems like it was a real thrill just to have been a part of the work itself.\n\n “I’ve never seen been in as excit ing an environment\,” remembers Jean Jennings Bartik in the film. “We knew we were pushing back frontiers.”\n\n And more than 60 years later\, she also still remembered that the ENIAC computer “was a son-of-a-bitch to program.”\n\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n The Women of ENIAC\n \n\n \n https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052225/http: //www.eg.bucknell.edu/~csci203/2012-fall/hw/hw06/assets/womenOfENIAC.pdf\n \n\n \n                \n \n \n \n \n\n \ n \n \n  \n \n \n\n \n \n  \n \n \n \n\n\n\n \n  \n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250305 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 35 02/23/2026 DTSTAMP:20260223T205058Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:658-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n I remember when the slap happened and I told people. If I was in will smith's shoes I wouldn't had gone to the oscars and will not go to any awards shows after the slap. If I was in chris rock's shoes \, w ho was paid to come\, I wouldn't had made the insult/joke on jada pinkett smith and will not go to any awards shows after the slap. \n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n Michael B Jordan +Delroy Lindo + the black populace witnessing or on record somewhere had to suffer this modern insult from a white person. The white person with Tourette wants to be treated as if they are no differen t than anyone else\, but they are\, because if they didn't have tourette t hey would be considered unquestioningly rude. But because they have touret te's\, their rude actions are deemed allowable. rudeness is allowable with Tourettes ? if that is the standard for award shows then the wisest thing anyone can do going forward is not go or not watch if they don't want to be insulted. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The reality is if the structure of awards shows continues as is\, their will always be slaps and insults in the fut ure. \n\n\n\n So what is the solution. Let's end the media function of aw ard shows. \n\n\n\n Why do award shows exist? they don't exist to give aw ards\, awards can be given privately from organizations to individuals. Aw ards shows exist to make money by having celebrities dress up for fashion designers and get sponsorship dollars for organizations while receiving aw ards\, which lead to clicks/views/ or similar. \n\n\n\n So\, going forwar d\, stop these award shows and just send people their awards privately. Wi th the internet winners can make videos and anyone can like comment or oth er\, and all manner of communication is allowed online. \n\n\n\n or embra ce the fact that the structure of award shows invites inappropriate behavi or inevitably. The idea that anyone can design a perfect show is foolish. I know some will be angry for some are addicted to media\, they need every thing to be a show. But\, I argue the polities is kept safer by getting ri d of the show\, keeping the awards\, and having people make videos for the ir win.\n\n\n\n Your Colleagues Don't Have To Clap \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n FR OM STEVEN BARNES of LIFEWRITING\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n BAFTAs\n\n\n\n ###\n\n\ n\n I've been asked about what happened at the BAFTAs. A man with Tourette 's yelled a word that cuts to the bone of Black experience in this country .\n\n\n\n Let me start here: I don't know what's in his heart. Neither do you. His condition means his brain grabbed a charged word and couldn't sto p it. That is real. That matters.\n\n\n\n But here's what I know for sure: That word landed in Black bodies. It landed in mine. And it landed in a m oment when Black people are under attack—politically\, legally\, socia lly—in ways that feel increasingly relentless.\n\n\n\n When the immediat e response becomes 'but he has a condition\,' what I hear is another reque st for Black people to set aside their pain so someone else's explanation can be centered. I am not interested in making that trade.\n\n\n\n I can h old two things at once:\n\n\n\n • The clinical reality of Tourette's.\n\ n\n\n • The historical and personal reality of that word's weight.\n\n\n \n I can extend compassion to a man whose body betrayed him\, without aski ng Black people to absorb yet another wound in silence.\n\n\n\n And I can refuse the false choice between 'he's a victim of his condition' and 'Blac k pain matters.' Both are true. Both deserve to be held.\n\n\n\n If you're hurting today\, I see you. I'm hurting too. And I will not ask you to per form forgiveness for anyone's comfort—including mine.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My Reply\n\n\n\n Maybe it is time for award shows to stop and just give p eople their awards\, in that way\, no incidents at award shows is possible . \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n Award shows make money by promoting fashions or selling advertising/sponsorship space\, the giving of awards is only the teaser to the profit\, giving awards don't make money on their own. Money making can not coincide with everything else. To restate\, if you want an civil thoughtful courteousnes/place of a court\, that can not occur alongside fiscal capitalistic profiteering. Sooner or later\, or ine vitably\, fiscal capitalistic profiteering will lead to a lack of civlity or a lack of thoughtfulness\, from some human actors. \n\n\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/topic/12488-do-you-vote-for-awards-shows-to-go-away/\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n Economic Corner 34 02/20/2026 - RMCommunity Calendar - African American Literature Book Club\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/664-economic-corner-36-0228 2026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n #economiccorner #awardsshows #respect #awards #theslap #thenword #nigger #rmaalbc #aalbc #richardmurray #kobo #k wl #hddeviant #deviantart #richardmurrayhumblr #tumblr #blackartistoftumbl r \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02232026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said: \n\n\n\n The reason modern TVs are so cheap nowadays is due to the amount of money advertisers expect to make based on viewing habits.\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n ... the modern fabrication capabilities\, which are the industrial b ackbone of the potent governemnts today have been built on\,\,.. i will no t go into it\, but financially\, people forget how important time is on gr owing systems of industry\, even if they are not seen. \n\n\n\n   1 hou r ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n That is why laws &\; police exist...to pr ovide order &\; protect &\; serve the interests of capitalists.\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n I never knew any of that... i argue all of that is countera ble\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n A whole lot of cash money flows through Las Vegas. There is a reason the place has nev er been hijacked &\; taken over by armed guerillas. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n when you the place? las vegas is a big city \, no big city in modern hum anity has been hijacked:) where do you live? and no big city in modernity has been taken over by armed guerillas\, where are you from?\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The same thing applies to the USA in gen eral.  Despite crime statistics &\; other ills in society\, the USA ha s never had reason to fear being 1) overthrown or 2) invaded.  \n\n\n\n \n\n well the war of 1812\, that was an invasion by the english empire and it had a chance to overthrow... where are you from? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Fiscal capitalism benefits so man y people directly &\; indirectly that folks from all corners will rise up to protect &\; defend it.\n\n\n\n this is a lie based on statistics at any time in history. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian so:) I guess you like the drama of award shows\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02272026\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12488-do-you-vote-for- awards-shows-to-go-away/#findComment-80414\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   13 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The craziest pa rt is the BAFTA is pre-recorded prior to broadcast. They edited out anythi ng political or &\; profane.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   13 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Yet\, they did not edit out the supposed Tour ette's Syndrome outburst. The guy yells out n8gger when the show is dead s ilent &\; at the moment 2 Black actors are onstage.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n well\, the bafta's are live in england and with modern technology people w ill share the live edits\, I have only seen snippets\, which i imagine wer e recorded by people watching the live english telecast. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n The financial question going forward is with modern technology\, which allows anyone to record live performances and share them even before they are officially published elsewhere\, does editing video material matter a nymore? \n\n\n\n Any artist that makes a mistake on stage? any mishap in an award show? any recording session in a studio thought by someone privat e? can all be recorded by an individual and submitted to the internet and then it is out there. \n\n\n\n IS editing worth it? I comprehend lawsuits but... what can one really do to prevent exposure. BAFTA can't block the recordings online. No one can. Governments can't. The internet is too big a media space for that. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   13 hours ago\, ProfD sa id:\n\n\n\n Neither the guy nor BAFTA offered a real apology for the outbu rst. Black folks haven't demanded it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n when you say blac k folks haven't demanded\, do you mean no black individuals? or a black or ganized body? I know many black individuals who want an apology\, but i do n't consider that a demand. But I also know some black folks who aren't co ncerned by it... so again\, a group can't demand when a group isn't of the same mind\n\n\n\n   13 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Just another r eminder that we still have a long way to go when it comes to racism. Hope it is not being normalized &\; accepted.\n\n\n\n racism is eternal\, un less humans beings stop using first and last names\, racism will be foreve r. And as for bias\, negative or positive\, well they are eternal as well\ , unless some human beings stop favoring their children or stop disliking those who harmed them. \n\n\n\n I argue that the better line of thinking isn't in annihilating\, racism or bias\, but in cognizing how to utilize r acism/categorization/ranking more functionally\, more honestly\,  plus le arning how to handle biases\, negative or positive\, as they will occur in the future. \n\n\n\n Cause racism + bias\, negative or positive\, have a lways been and always will be common or normalized\, as humans are humans and while biases dictate what is accepted or not\, their weights change in time\, invariably. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02272026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citat ion\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12488-do-you-vote-for-awards-shows- to-go-away/#findComment-80419\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n \n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I believe editing is still wor thwhile despite any type of recording spillage.  The official recordings should be on point.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n hmm interesting\, I want to know mo re of your thinking on this issue. What does the editing do\, that I don't see? the unedited shows the truth\, what does the editing provide?\n\n\n\ n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Black folks need the same mechani sms Jews have when they accuse people of being antisemitic.\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n hmm well\, from what I comprehend of the white jewish populace\, if a similarity organizationally is to be made\, then I argue the weakness is in one of three groups: Black Elephants/Republicans OR Nation of Islam OR the Black One percent. \n\n\n\n Why do I say this? \n\n\n\n The white je wish populace isn't one people really. They have three main tribes Reforme rs/Orthodox/Conservative... the Reformers literally have a statement sayin g\, none of the defining patterns of orthodoxy\, which means those who thi nk they are right\, as in the eastern orthodox christian church\, are nece ssary to be a reformer. Reform jews don't have to wear the cap\, don't hav e to speak yiddish\, don't have to do many things that people associate wi th judaism. But they do have a huge synogaogue downtown manhattan with man y rich white people what is my point. Reform judaism in my view\, is a tri be designed in the USA for the specific purpose of maintaining a jewish tr ibal culture\, absent demanding on individuals in it\, unlike orthodox or conservatives\, the rules of judaism. \n\n\n\n The orthodox\, the ones wh o wear the cap all the time\, women have the nun look and et cetera follow the religious code\, like the other religious extreme folk of christianit y or islam. They are hyper into israel\, whereas the reformers are neutral . The reformers love the usa\, have many female jews in their body\, unmar ried or et cetera\, which doesn't fit in orthodox jew circles\, which is d ominated by male jews. \n\n\n\n Then the conservative jews\, they are the old white european jewish families who who came to the usa throughout the years. They are the most embedded in white european anti jewish financial circles of money and power\, they tend to be the binder between the refor mers and orthodoxy who for obvious reasons don't get along all the time.  \n\n\n\n You say mechanicsms\, but the tribes is the variance. \n\n\n\n A ll three of the white jewish tribes in the usa have financial potency\, no t the same\, the reformers are the weatlhiest \, the conservatives have th e oldest money\, deepest connections\, the orthodox are the poorest but th rough the zionist movement have israel as a focal point and cradle for ort hodoxy to maintain. I argue\, if not for israel i think orthodox judaism w ould be in serious trouble\, population wise. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Whereas the Black DOSers \, first and foremost are not white so unlike white jews didn't spend the last two hundred and fifty years in business as a majori ty\, only since 1980 has a majority of black people been allowed to be par t of the marketplace in the usa. \n\n\n\n Second\, the tribes of DOSers a re many\, more populated and not the same. \n\n\n\n Black Christians- com monly called the Black church but again\, modernity has made it more compl icated. You have jehovahs witness\, where in the past\, the Black christia ns could be called the black church today... it is more complicated. \n\n \n\n Black Muslims- which because of the immigration act plus islams herit age is muddy.The nation of islam will never dominate black muslim life in the usa \, they had one chance and they failed. \n\n\n\n  My point being white jews have: fanatic religion/orthodox - religion in name only/reform - religion in secret- conservative. \n\n\n\n Black DOSers have many reli gious groups now\, so that simplicity is gone\, which hurts organizations.  \n\n\n\n Then of course you have the groups unique to Black DOSers and t heir experiences.\n\n\n\n Black Militants have always existed in the usa\, again\, every slave revolt is an action of black militants\, lived at the same time as James Forten. but militants don't want peace\, that is the p oint\, they want to destory the enemy of the blacks in the usa who without no doubt in history are the whites in the usa\, individuals be damned.\n\ n\n\n Black Individualist- primarily concerned financially\, they don't be lieve\, which is well earned again\, that black collective action will com e of anything. I can't say I concur to them\, but I can't deny they make a truthful point. Black collective action always gets underminded by whites in the usa\, to suggest some magic or learning strength needs to occur is an insult to truth. after five hundred years living side whites\, the pro of is in the history book. BElieve it or not. \n\n\n\n Black Integrationi sts\, whether they know it or not\, want the usa to be a place of interrac ial even peace\, going back to James Forten again. I get it. It is one of the most peaceful human stories. if you know anything about Zen \, the bla ck integrationist make sense. Zen says that all is nature and thus\, even the most negative actions are not unnatural and thus if  a black person w ants to live in a usa of legal equality with the non black \, even with kn owing the history that is fine. \n\n\n\n But the militant/individualist/i ntegrationist have no bridge between them. This isn't like the white jewis h trio\, they have serious differences of opinion. \n\n\n\n The white jew ish trio are not based on experiences in the usa. they differ on how they interpret judaism\, or the kind of lifestyles they lead\, but they don't d iffer in terms of how to relate to others. the Black tribes have more comp licated differences\, which means it is harder to get cohesive organizatio ns. \n\n\n\n I didn't even mention the Black Nationalist\, my little trib e. Not all black nationalist want to find a homeland\, like me. NAtionalis m isn't about demographic orders/rankings or militarism or finding a homel and. The NAzis for example were nationalist+militants+socialists three sep arate things that when together is interesting. \n\n\n\n I didn't mention the Black Elephants/Republicans or Black Donkeys/Democrats. Two big group s relatively\, who again\, they can't even organize with each other\, so h ow can they organize with other tribes? \n\n\n\n But the point being\, me chanisms require the tribes to be what they are not. Or for one tribe to p ut in serious work to make it so. \n\n\n\n I argue the best suited black tribes in the usa for such mechanisms are nation of islam/Black elephants{ or a section fo them}/Black one percent. \n\n\n\n The conservative white jewish tribe is the oldest money in the white jewish populace. The Black O ne percent \, again James Forten\, has always existed. Now\, many of them have intentionally whited their bloodlines\, ala getting poor whites to li terally mate with their children to start a process. Many of them don't ca re for each other. so they lack the cohesiveness\, but Profd\, you always talk about money\, and knowing so many grand strategies\, become rich and change the black one percent in the USA. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   1 hour a go\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Racism as a system does not have to be eternal .  It can be dismantled.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n well... that all depends on w hat a system is\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Sure.  Hum an beings will have their biases.  It should never be used to oppress\, m align or mistreat others.\n\n\n\n biases by default are positive or negati ve\, both are eternal and by default a negative bias oppress/malign/mistre at/abuse another. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Thinking on @Pioneer1 query of cr itical race theory\, in my view\, the solution to bell's thesis is what pi oneer always talks about\, the law. Said law is how negative bias can be l etigated. It will always exist and always abuse\, by default\, the law can t' stop that .  but if laws can be worded very carefully and enforced wit h a true neutrality\, which humans can't do\, negative bias can be letigat ed against. \n\n\n\n As I said\, when you look at the usa historically\, the biggest problem in the jim crow era is the law\, but it isn't black pe ople breaking the law as some blacks erroneously\, say it is white people breaking the law. \n\n\n\n In that smithsonian branch\, they have an artw ork depecting the number of hangings\, but how does anyone know if that is true? \n\n\n\n If you start from the thefts of our forebears: every sing le white person in the usa\, or wherever black people were sent to in the american continent or asia or europe was aiding or abetting\, a crime of r ape/torture/enslavement/assault . Now\, some can argue\, all of that was l egal\, albeit criminal but once the 13th amendment was implemented. Every single black person hanged/burned alive/raped/attacked on the road by whit es\, every black person's home that was vandalized by whites/ every black person harassed while voting by whites\, every black person attacked in a school by whites/ every black person abused by white law enforcers[miranda rights]\, every black person abused by white jailors[not given food\, not given clothes] were all illegalities. But what percentage of white terror against innocent law abiding black people went to court? I bet less than one percent. So\, the law is the only tool in the usa to make those who co mmit  negative bias pay for the act\, not stop the acts\, cause humans ar e human\, but pay for the acts. But\, again\, Trayvon martin  kills that path. Emmit till killed it\, but people can consider that the pass... \n\ n\n\n The usa doesn't have the legal framework to enforce law enough to ma ke negative biasers pay\, evenly. \n\n\n\n Now maybe wealthy black dosers can pay for legal fees but how many crimes against black people still don 't go to court today? that is a huge financial expense and Black One PErce nt are very addicted to revenue return\, the idea of investing in court ca ses that return no money is not appealing to them\, but Profd there is it\ , get rich and change them .  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02282026\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12488-do-you-vote-for-aw ards-shows-to-go-away/#findComment-80443\n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @P rofD \n\n\n\n you said\n\n\n\n   On 2/27/2026 at 12:58 PM\, richardmu rray said:\n\n\n\n Black folks need the same mechanisms Jews have when th ey accuse people of being antisemitic.\n\n\n\n I provided in the following comment an answer on how blacks in the usa need to change to can get the type of mechanisms you give as example organizations : B'nai B'rith &\ ; Anti-Defamation League &\; Jewish Defense League. \n\n\n\n https://a albc.com/tc/topic/12488-do-you-vote-for-awards-shows-to-go-away/#findComme nt-80419\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n then you state\n\n\n\n   On 2/27/2026 at 2:3 1 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Regardless of how Jews are subdivided\n\n\n\n You reply to my comment with a discarding of my comments point\, solution s/answers... things don't get better or worse by magic\, they have process es\, the future is made in the past\, inevitabilities in the future stem f rom choices in the past. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260223 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 19 - 02/23/2025 DTSTAMP:20250223T163846Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:202-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Economic Corner - the boundaries of spending side the dem ands of inheritance\n\n The NAACP a white financed organization historical ly makes two points:\n\n Black Dollars power in the united states of Ameri ca\n\n The Diversity Equity Inclusion goals.\n\n\n\n To Black Dollars...  \n\n Is spending a nonviolent form of power in fiscal capitalism? yes\n\n Can Black people in the U.S.A. spend in such a way to avoid financing whit es? no.\n\n I have already mentioned the black farmer [ https://aalbc.com /tc/topic/11483-economiccorner014/ ] in the united states of America. \n \n Black Farms in the united states of America do not have the means to fe ed the black populace in the u.s.a. So\, Black people in the usa can not f eed themselves absent mandatory involvement with white farms which means t he most important thing all humans do\, eat\, is something black people in the usa can not do absent supporting white business. \n\n I live in New York City\, the city with the most black people in it in the united states of America. \n\n Black people in NYC can not grow enough food for oursel ves\, no one can. Urban life has its advantages but it also has its weakne sses. Urban populaces have to buy some things. You don't have land to grow vegetables. You don't have land to raise sheep. You don't have land to ge t natural resources from the earth. \n\n I am not saying spending is impo tent\, it is not. But spending has limits as a tool. It is a myth to sugge st this. \n\n And I will use the internet. \n\n The NAACP says one of th e firms need to be banned from black buying dollars is Meta. That is a lau ghable call. Black people in the usa\, who don't go to black owned website s because they don't have the widest userbases\, will flock to them now an d leave Facebook+ Instagram+ WhatsApp... I can't tell you how many black p eople have said\, you not on facebook\, you not on Instagram.. how many bl ack people especially from the Caribbean or Africa or asia\, all black\, a sk\, you on WhatsApp. All three: facebook/Instagram/WhatsApp are so connec ted to black individuals in the usa\, you can forget it being banned by al l or most blacks in the usa. \n\n And spending time on a website is your spending dollars online. The websites you spend time on profit because of the time you spend on them\, your time is the spending dollars online. And the online environment is the one environment where black owned business/ websites I think have the means to support the black populace albeit onlin e populace. I wonder what @troy thinks to the following: if all the black people online went and operated on black owned websites\, do enough black owned websites exist or have the collective memory/bandwidth/speed to supp ort the entire black populace online? \n\n\n\n To Diversity\, Equity\, In clusion(D.E.I. or DEI )...\n\n I will begin the same way I began to an off line friend...\n\n D.E.I. is needed\, is warranted. But ... two problems e xist. One is about the heritage of inherited fiscal capitalism in the unit ed states of America\, the other is about the heritage made of the legal r elationship to failed business in the usa.\n\n\n\n To the heritage of inhe rited fiscal capitalism\, \n\n White people in the usa came from Europe i n the same way all willing immigrants[not First People or Black Descended of Enslaved] came after\, with a goal for financial betterment for themsel ves and to leave to their children as much as they can. This desire leads to nepotism. \n\n Firms changing the lowest wage jobs demographic is doab le\, but firms changing the tribes or clans in the ranks of owner or admin istrator goes against the heritage of fiscal capitalism all willing immigr ants have. The same latin americans who complain about DEI will hand their business over to their son miguel even if miguel is a fool.  I myself ha ve never thought \, if I own a billion dollar firm\, to hand it to anyone but loving ones on my death. And trust funds is a form of slavery\, which i don't support. The lawyers in a trust fund will never publicly say they own anything\, but they can deny your descendants in the role of protector you gave them. And why are trust funds really made.. failure. To protect firms from failure. \n\n\n\n To heritage of governments relationship to f ailed business in the usa\, \n\n When I think on it now\, from the ninete en hundreds to today\, the federal government of the united states of amer ica \, has given welfare checks of immeasurable value to completely failed industries in the usa: the banking industry multiple times\, the automoti ve industry\, the airline industry multiple times\,  the internet industr y multiple times\, the farming industry multiple times\, the mineral resou rce industries[ oil/coal] multiple times. \n\n Not just subsidies\, the m ost common\, or the rarest\, to big to fails\, welfare includes the tariff s to protect them\, the readmittance to citizenship of the white enslavers in the confederacy\, the ... when I think on it\, the federal government has repeatedly saved the owners plus high ranking administrators of firms through all industries from their own failures\, multiple times. Who are s aid owners? the whites the DEI initiatives are supposed to make in lesser quantity. But the heritage is not ownership by merit\, it is ownership by phenotype. What is my point? \n\n A law making no business to big to fail needs to happen. \n\n In all earnest when I look at the financial histor y of the United States of America\, the reason why the owners plus top ran king managers are mostly white in the usa's industries isn't merit\, it is protection by the federal government. \n\n When the next push by black p eople into an industry occurs will it be like:\n\n  the black farmers\, w ho whose white counterparts were given 100% better subsidies or opportunit ies\n\n the black music labels\, whose white counterparts were denied no m arkets while they were blockaded or relegated constantly\n\n the black sma ll business\, who unlike their white counterparts have a history of 100% r ejection by banks or other fiscal operators including the governments tier s for loans in most geographic regions in the usa\n\n My point is not that DEI isn't needed or warranted. Programs to push non white male christian hetero persons into the ownership or top management positions of firms in all industries is needed cause merit doesn't get non white male christian hetero persons into said positions. Programs to push non white male christ ian hetero persons into the ownership or top management positions of firms in all industries is warranted because examples of non white male christi an hetero persons merting in said positions is on the historical record.  \n\n My point is that DEI's biggest aid will be allowing white male christ ian hetero persons in ownership or top management positions of firms in al l industries to fail\, to stop getting welfare\, stop getting subsidies\, stop getting loans\, stop getting protections. \n\n Failure isn't evil\, failure isn't bad\, failure is as human as success. But failure does somet hing success rarely does. Failure opens up doors of change far wider.\n\n\ n\n URL\n\n https://naacp.org/campaigns/black-consumer-advisory\n\n\n\n ht tps://naacp.org/sites/default/files/documents/Black%20Consumer%20Advisory% 202025.pdf\n\n\n\n Specifics from the URL\n\n ...\n\n The Power of Black D ollars\n\n Many corporations continue to profit from Black dollars while s imultaneously undermining commitments of diversity\, equity\, and inclusio n. These rollbacks not only harm Black communities\, professionals\, and e ntrepreneurs but also erode the progress made toward creating equitable ec onomic and social systems.\n\n $1.7 Trillion\n\n Black consumers possess i mmense economic power\, with a purchasing power exceeding $1.7 trillion an nually.\n\n ...\n\n The Cost of Abandoning DEI\n\n Walking away from diver sity\, equity\, and inclusion programs threatens economic opportunities\, workplace diversity\, and community investments\, directly impacting Black communities nationwide by:\n\n Eliminating roles in diversity\, equity\, and inclusion\n\n Reducing supplier diversity\n\n Declining community inve stments\n\n Shifting away from equitable hiring practices\n\n These rollba cks reinforce  historical barriers to progress under the guise of protect ing \"meritocracy\,\" a concept often used to justify exclusion.\n\n\n\n I N AMENDMENT\n\n Preach Brother Martin\, preach [ The Kerner Commission :  https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11488-economiccorner015/ ] \n\n https://www.t umblr.com/arinzechukwuture/775786027242635264/rev-dr-martin-luther-king-jr -speaks?source=share\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MLK on Fiscal Accountabil ity\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2532&\; type=status\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Prior Edition: https://aalbc.com/tc/t opic/11502-economiccorner018/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n Boundaries of Spendi ng power side demands of inheritance\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.co m/tc/topic/11503-economiccorner019/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https:// aalbc.com/tc/events/event/201-economic-corner-18-02232025/\n\n\n\n NEXT ED ITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/206-economic-corner-20-022 62025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02242026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\ n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12496-is-dei-still-needed/#findComment- 80318\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:19 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n IMO\, DEI was never a threat to those who have benefitted the most from privilege\, advantages &\; allowances... white men.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n White men have a monopoly on power &\; mo ney that will only be overthrown by external forces &\;/or their own im plosion.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n DEI like anything else was used as an illusion of providing access to opportunities.\n\n\n\n Right\, even in DEI's heigh t\, most opportunities/advantages still went to white men. So\, I ask the following after a preface. \n\n\n\n MY PREFACE\n\n\n\n most white men tod ay are complaining that they don't have the 99% level of opportunities/adv antages that they had till the 1960s hit.  Their argument is that non whi tes/non males/ non christians or other groups opportunities /advantages ar e uneven. But that means their not merely arguing about having the majorit y\, whether they admit it or not \, they are arguing about not having it a ll.  And DEI to be blunt\, does diminish their percentage of advantage or opportunity\, it doesn't delete them having the majority\, but their prob lem isn't in having the majority their problem is in others having anythin g at all. \n\n\n\n MY QUESTION\n\n\n\n Doesn't DEI lessen the opportuniti es to white male hetero christians\, even if it doesn't or can't lead to a diminishing of said white male opportunity/advantages into a minority pla ce? \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n You mention DEI being an illusion. I ca n't concur to that because I saw black people or non white male christian ~ who benefited from it. Was DEI through fiscal management or fiscal strat egies? no. If by illusion you mean it wasn't something that was determined through the fiscal marketplace\, I concur 100% to you. DEI was engined th rough media/social pressure/a set of elected officials trying to sate a vo ting base. DEI wasn't through the market place\, so the moment\, elected o fficials changes or social pressure lessened or the media made poisonous\, DEI was in trouble of being maintained\, and all three of said things hap pened. But it doesn't mean it is illusory. It isn't through the marketplac e. But I must say what should be common knowledge\, the problem in the usa with those who are not white male christians ~ is that all of their popul aces have a heritage of financial absence based on the militaristic power of said white male chrsitians~ . To restate\, I once spoke to a group of w omen\, all business owners\,  having a conference on womens business. I w as invited by a female friend\, who yes owns a business\,  and I was offe red the chance to speak. So I told the women the truth as a man. Male weal th doesn't come from education or hard work or any of the things they ment ioned they needed to do.. It comes from cheating\, it comes from abusing\, it comes from legal crimes\, enslaving people legally. So women trying to improve the financial condition of women will need that same reality. And I mentioned rockefeller center. The elder rockefeller wasn't a genius\, d idn't have some grand schooling. Didn't have a rich uncle to help him. But the elder rockefeller knew how to cheat\, was in an environment where he could cheat\, white male law enforcement has always allowed white males va rious criminal fiscal activity legal or not. Women don't have that. But if women are willing to cheat or scheme they will find the same financial le vels as men. But if women think they can follow the law and have some comp lex financial plan. I told them \, I know of many black business owners\, all very nice people\, none of the them broke the law\, all of them have s truggled and worked hard every day and none of them ever got to the great halls of money. \n\n\n\n The point in that retelling is\, black fiscal we alth\, female fiscal wealth\, muslim fiscal wealth\, indigenous fiscal wea lth\, any group in the usa not white male christian heterosexual ~  in th e usa is temporally behind said white male ~ wealth\, none of them can rec over lost time through the rules or what schemes somebody suggested will w ork. Now some will always mention the white jew. But as I have said in thi s very forum\, I was unwilling to search for the post for I am pressed for time\, the white jewish populace is very small. And financially you can't relate the jewish populace in the usa which is maximum seven million peop le with white german american/circa forty million\, black americans[dos +m odern immigrant]/fifty two million\, female americans/one hundred and sixt y seven million. The global jewish population is fifteen million people:) Why do so many people speak of the jewish population as an example of anyt hing? unless they plan on killing most of their people to be so small in p opulace? And no\, the white jewish model can't work for larger populaces. The poor white trash who are mostly german americans are in a populace tha t has a six hundred percent larger need of resources. The black american p opulace so many including other blacks call lazy or in need of better thin king or some negative has a seven hundred percent larger need of resources . And I don't have to explain how much black wealth has been undermined by whites in the usa i hope. People talk about Tulsa but how much generation al wealth has literally been destroyed by white terror in the usa. Is thei r a financial way to calculate that lose? i don't really know.  By the fo llowing website. \n\n\n\n https://dqydj.com/income-by-race/\n\n\n\n a thi rd of a million black people make sixty thousand or more in the usa today. So that isn't bad. Remember\, we are still an abused peoples by whites\, even today. yes\, their are more opportunities today but when you consider \, all the black towns in the former confederate are in financially restri ctive places\, and said black people in towns have no where to go. Their a re issues financially\, that must be considered with black people in the u sa\, that whites\, even if jewish don't have in 2026. \n\n\n\n Based on w hitey as well\n\n\n\n https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/econ omics-and-well-being-among-u-s-jews/\n\n\n\n circa twenty six percent of w hite jews\, who are simply white people of the jewish faith\,  have fifty to one hundred thousand\, dollars  Twenty five percent of seven million is\, one million\, and seven hundred and fifty thousand and this is from a white jewish populace that has never been denied business ownership\, not merely in the usa but in the european countries that made the usa\, has a lways been in the halls of money through banking\, which offers them alot of connections that white abused minorities like the romani of europe/the gypsies never had. So I argue\, in fifty years  with hard work and accept ing white abuse with a smile\, the black wealthy in the usa will be as lar ge in populace as the white jew in total\, but that doesn't mean that the entire black populace in the usa can be wealthy absent access to slavery/g enocide/or similar negative acts as tools of financial betterment. \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic /12496-is-dei-still-needed/#findComment-80334\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n DEI prevents white men from having it all but it doesn't put a dent in their privilege\, advantages &a mp\; allowances.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n dei prevents having it all\, but it do esn't prevent them in having it all? do you realize your sentence here?\n\ n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Fifteen million Jews is 2X t he population of NYC. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n no nyc has ten million people i n it. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Beyond money\, Jews have a level of protection that isn't extended to other group s of people.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n this is not true\, white jews are white\, that is the protection. that is the problem with how people view them\, wh ite jews are white \, yes white jews are a group in the white populace\, b ut they are white and that is the protection\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, Pr ofD said:\n\n\n\n That's part of the reason Jews are mentioned. They have benefited exponentially since their holocaust.\n\n\n\n they were heavy be nefitters before then\, the terror by german christians onto german jews w as bloody but white jews in europe since constantine \, emperor of rome in nova roma\, had financial growth of a high level per their small populace . In moorish spain they had it. I argue they had more globally in pre nazi europe than after nazi europe\, before nazi europe the white jew owned ma ny things in europe and outside of it. The key variance today is israel .   White jews financial reality is bloated. The numbers on the site I pres ented to you show the truth\, the key to white jews isn't huge amounts of wealth but that a small populace again\, fifteen million white jews compar ed to fifty two million black people in the usa is a huge difference. Whit e jews owned black people. WHite jews killed native americans and stole th eir land. The most fiscally proftiable gang in prohibition was the white j ewish purple gang. so... again\, the people mentioning them aren't stating the parameters of their success. The people mentioning white jews are loo king at white jews revenue but not the condition of their populace. \n\n\ n\n mainland CHina has four to five million millionaires. Globally i think it is like twelve million. So the number of chinese \, white asian\, mill ionaires is bgger than the entire populace of white jews. \n\n\n\n https: //www.statista.com/statistics/702759/china-number-of-millionaires/\n\n\n\n BUT\, the chinese populace isn't just millionaires\, it is near two billi on people\, most of whom are dirt poor. Now\, you and others idolizing the financial aspects of the white jewish populace \, what do you suggest to diminish the quantity of fiscally poor chinese? should the chinese million aires + billionaires kills the rest of the chinese? \n\n\n\n The chinese have more millionaires than the entire damn white jewish populace. So\, no w what? Again\, large populaces can not be fiscally related to the white j ew and anyone who tries it can't back up their stance by anything but stup idity. \n\n\n\n A community of ten people compared to a community of a th ousand is not the same. The real reason people mention the white ew is cau se many people are stupid and don't know to assess their own populace even ly to others. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https ://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12496-is-dei-still-needed/#findComment-80338\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n Usa gives billions of dollars to egypt to\, israel isn't alone in the money giving\, many countr ies get usa money. andby 2026 this has been going on for decades. \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n 02272026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.co m/tc/topic/12496-is-dei-still-needed/#findComment-80417\n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n   18 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n \n Is it still needed?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I don't know what good it did in the FIRST place.\n\n\n\n Who are all of these Black folks who are being h ooked up and given good paying jobs through Affirmative Action and DEI?\n\ n Where they at?\n\n I wanna talk to them....lol.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Infac t\, I hadn't even HEARD of \"DEI\" until a few years ago on the news when White Conservatives were railing against it.\n\n Same with Critical Race T heory.\n\n  \n\n\n\n I guess whether you benefit from it or know about it or not depends on the circles you run in\, lol.\n\n \n\n Affirmative Acti on....DEI...that's just shit you see and hear on television\, but I don't see them even being USED let alone effective in real life.\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n Working in the 80s\, 90s\, and beyond....the Black people I worked ar ound were getting hired and fired like other races.\n\n Infact\, Black fol ks were getting fired more than Whites were.\n\n Where was this \"affirmat ive action\"???\n\n\n\n I had to apply to certain jobs and got hired or ov erlooked.\n\n I'm not sure how \"affirmative action\" or \"dei\" helped me .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Don't point to a hand full of niggaz sitting at a des k somewhere in New York or Washington and say \"Black folks\" are benefiti ng from Affirmative Action or call them \"DEI hires\".\n\n That's only a h andful out of MILLIONS of Black folks in the work force who have to apply and are subject to getting let go or demoted like others.\n\n Millions who are either unemployed or under employed.....where is DEI or Affirmative A ction for them???\n\n \n\n I'm beginning to believe that many of these pro grams exist ONLY to piss off White folks and justify their angry and hatre d.\n\n\n\n \n\n Affirmative Action\n\n DEI\n\n Reparations Studies\n\n Cri tical Race Theory\n\n \n\n They don't really help Black folks or provide b enefits to us.\n\n They don't even COME from us!  They come from White fo lks who invent this shit.\n\n \n\n White folks made them up like straw men or targets......totally useless EXCEPT as something White racists can poi nt to as examples of \"reverse discrimination\".\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n well... \n\n\n\n Each is distinct from the other. \n\n\n\n A ffirmative Action is really\, a federal level legal action designed to mak e it where . Remember the KErner Commission [ https://aalbc.com/tc/profil e/6477-richardmurray/?status=2685&\;type=status  ]  . Affirmative ac tion says\, institutions dealing with the federal government and by top do wn state and counties and city governments have to open up their hiring pr actice. The problem is affirmative action doesn't handle private business affairs. When colleges take federal money\, when city governments hire peo ple\, affirmative action is the tool to open up uneven hiring practices.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n DEI diversity equity and inclusion isn't about the gov ernment\, it is about private enterprise\, which evaded changing its pract ices with affirmative action in the past. The problem is\, the USA has a f ree market capitalistic heritage\, which means ownership has value. Owners hip gives you power\, this is the legacy of the enslavers. Even though ove r ninety percent of fiscal wealth is inherited\, and over ninety percent o f inherited wealth can trace its roots to whites using genocide to the fir st peoples plus enslavement to the black dosers \, the modern legal code i n the usa doesn't have a way of taking wealth and redistributing it for pa st crimes\, ala no reparations as well. But what that means is\, the only way to change private enterprise is through small measures with the hope t hat it will allow those known to be abused to take advantage and change th e market environment. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Reparations isn't about money\, reparations is about repairing\, but here is the problem. How do you repa ir a relationship that was never positive in the first place. The problem with reparations is that those who study it\, are trying to find a way to make peace between two people who never had any in  the first place. \n\ n\n\n The history of black people is far older than almina. BUT\, the star t of BLACK DOSers from Canada to USA to Argentina to India to China is ens lavement\, it isn't even betrayal. And thus how do you repair losing every thing? it can't be done. Money can't buy the past. Money can't buy the los t heritages. ... Money has limits. this is part of why blacks in usa and t he other mentioned places have just embraced the places. Because all DOSer s know\, the past can not be reclaimed. The damage was too extensive\, unl ess someone has a time machine\, it can't be done. That heritage is what n eeds to be repaired\, that can't be repaired. that was the whole point of the fiscal enterprise in all the oceanic enslavements\, trans atlantic\, t rans indian\, out of africa. to delete the heritage of black people to bin d them to wherever they landed by truths that even if unshackled\, learned \, monied they couldn't undo. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Critical Race Theory st arted by Bell has one agenda\, to try and create a new culture that can fi t all peoples in it. It is a Black STatian\, you and @ProfD 's tribe fun ctional desire since James Forten\, who again\, was a black fiscally succe ssful business owner who fought for the usa to be born. The problem is\, t he desire by Forten was always very complex in a country like the usa wher e so many in it \, are in it\, not to be mixed or work together \, but for various negativities. lets call it like it\, the usa has only three group s of people from why they are here perspective. \n\n\n\n First Peoples wh o are original inhabitants and have suffered at the hands of unwanted immi grants\, whether legal or not\,  or those descended from unwanted immigra nts constantly\n\n\n\n Black DOSers who never wanted to be here and were b red and enslaved till this hell hole is all they know\n\n\n\n Immigrants w ho are the fiscal poor/unwanted/dregs from various parts of the world \, s tarting with europe who never would had left the country they came from if rich/powerful/safe.\n\n\n\n So no one is in the usa cause they want to be part of an interracial body. No one. thus why\, bell and others desires a lways fall flat. The truth is a powerful things. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But\ , you have four different things.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n A legal tool to even out the demographics of the federal government\, which I argue have worked . \n\n\n\n A soft tool that couldn't lead to permanancy in changing the p rivate sector\n\n\n\n A bunch of people trying to figure out how to repair the unrepairable\n\n\n\n A bunch of people trying to figure out how to de sign a culture that no one is present/purposed for be embraced by all. \n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n These are four unique things. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02282 026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12496-i s-dei-still-needed/#findComment-80457\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Pio neer1 \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n I haven't had a government job.\n\n Maybe that's why I didn't see the effect of it.\n\n\n \n I applied for many government jobs and am qualified to get them\, but s till didn't get hired despite putting down my race...lol.\n\n Not sure wha t was going on.\n\n\n\n exactly\, most black people didn't. The private se ctor used human resource departments to avoid the lawsuits by saying they have jobs open to all\, even though as a number of recent cases have prove n\, this was to cover them keeping the same nepotistic or phenotypically b iased hiring practices. \n\n\n\n And since most black people still live i n the confederate states\, well I don't have to explain how louisiana/miss issippi/georgia/south carolina/virginia/alabama/florida/arkansas/tennessee white governments would not hire black people \, and with the structure o f the federal government\, states hiring is hard to make a federal issues without blunt evidence. \n\n\n\n So between black people living in white states that don't hire black people in government jobs outside black elect ed officials having the power to \n\n\n\n +\n\n\n\n white private sector firms using human resources to dodge civil rights act lawsuits while maint aining their pro white hiring practices through nepotism or anti black hir iing practice \n\n\n\n meant \n\n\n\n most blacks didn't financially ben efit. And those who did became the token blacks working at every white fir m in the usa that couldn't afford or wanted to evade the lawsuit. \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Ok\, thank you for clarifying that.\n\n\n\n I was getting ready to send your ass to Haiti\, but I change my mind now....lol.\n\n\n\n hilarious:) \n\n\n\n You didn't realize that? \n\n\n\n I ponder how you couldn't realize that? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250223 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 34 02/20/2026 DTSTAMP:20260221T020912Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:657-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n PREFACE\n\n\n\n I had the content under the label ORIGINA L CONTENT before the supreme court decision 02/20/20206 .\n\n\n\n  You ca n read the entire text in the pdf or transcript\, but\, after an incomplet e reading\, the case is summed up as the following. Schrumpt used executiv e orders and threats to the usa to employ tariffs. Learning resources and others business model is based on products from overseas. They argued the usa wasn't under a national security threat that warranted the tariffs plu s that tax policy is the sole privy of the congress\, nor will I.E.E.P.A. law allow that. The supreme court based on precedence said they were corre ct. But the supreme court didn't limit the power of executive orders or em ergency status. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The following are truths.\n\n\n\n The USA at two hundred and fifty years old has the most protected individual liberty of any time in its history. To rephrase\, America\, the continent from canada to argentina\, or the united states of america was never a gre ater place for equality or individual liberty for all humans than it is to day. The USA at two hundred and fifty years old has:  the most multiracia l populace in its history or more multiracial populace than any other gove rnment in modern humanity.   The USA has never been more advantageous fo r one group of people in it than when said group\, those of white european descent\, had the power to take advantage of all others\, and no system o f multiracial equality in the united states of ameria will ever provide th e opportunities/possibilities/advantges for those of white european descen t in the united states of america of all financial ransk than the system o f white oppressions : jim crow \, o rearlier enslavement\, or earlier euro pean imperialism. All non white european descent populaces in the united s tates of america exist with many individuals who injure the cllective good in their populace. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What are the problems? \n\n\n\n Immigration needs to be handled. But many people outside the united states of america live in countries lacking opportunity or organization \, thus they want to immigrate away. The United States of America has never had a multiracial unity at the grassroots\, because the various races have alway s had uneven relationships with one having criminal advantage over another . The United States of America has a large populace\, mostly of white euro pean descent\,  that wants to undo the financial or intergovernmental glo bal order that the united states of america is at the center of. The Unite d States of America has a large populace \, highly multiracial\,  that wa nts said global order to be maintained even when it fails miserably.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n What is the future of the United States of America at 250?  \n\n\n\n From the birth of the USA a multiracial group has always supporte d the idea of a country of individuals united only in their humanity. But\ , that belief isn't enough to unify agendas of all the peoples in the usa. Unified agendas to all peoples in the usa will requires a new culture. An d the USA doesn't have the leaders or willing populaces to make a new cult ure possible. The financial reality of modernity in humanity is the world of the rich is unbounded to any government\, but the world of the poor sti ll requires governments\, and technology is owned by fiscal capitalistic a gents who will never allow their profitability to be dismissed. So\, the g lobal economy is bound to greater failures in the future and the only insu lation will be the countries least reliant on it. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But there were dissents\, I place the openings of the two dissenters. \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n JUSTICE THOMAS\, dissenting. I join JUSTICE KAVANAUGH’s pr incipal dissent in full. As he explains\, the Court’s decision today can not be justified as a matter of statutory interpretation. Congress author ized the President to “regulate . . . importation.” 50 U. S. C. §1702 (a)(1)(B). Throughout American history\, the author ity to “regulate imp ortation” has been understood to include the authority to impose duties on imports. Post\, at 9–13\, 22–29 (KAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting). The meaning of that phrase was beyond doubt by the time that Congress enacted this statute\, shortly after President Nixon’s highly publi cized duties on imports were upheld based on identical lan guage. Post\, at 14–22. T he statute that the President relied on therefore authorized him to impose the duties on imports at issue in these cases. JUSTICE KAVANAUGH makes c lear that the Court errs in concluding otherwise. I write separately to ex plain why the statute at issue here is consistent with the separation of p owers as an original matter. The Constitution’s separation of powers for bids Congress from delegating core legislative power to the Pres ident. Th is principle\, known as the nondelegation doctrine\, is rooted in the Cons titution’s Legislative Vesting Clause and Due Process Clause. Art. I\, §1\; Amdt. 5. Both Clauses forbid Congress from delegating core legislati ve power\, which is the power to make substantive rules setting the condit ions for deprivations of life\, liberty\, or property. Nei ther Clause pro hibits Congress from delegating other kinds of power. Because the Constitu tion assigns Congress many powers that do not implicate the nondelegation doctrine\, Congress may delegate the exercise of many powers to the Presid ent. Congress has done so repeatedly since the founding\, with this Cour t’s blessing. The power to impose duties on imports can be delegated.1 At the founding\, that power was regarded as one of many powers over fore ign commerce that could be delegated to the President. Power over foreign commerce was not within the core legislative power\, and engaging in forei gn com merce was regarded as a privilege rather than a right. Early Congre sses often delegated to the President power to regulate foreign commerce\, including through duties on im ports. As I suggested over a decade ago\, the nondelegation doctrine does not apply to “a delegation of power to m ake rules governing private conduct in the area of foreign trade\,” incl uding rules imposing duties on imports. Depart ment of Transportation v. A ssociation of American Rail roads\, 575 U. S. 43\, 80–81\, n. 5 (2015) ( opinion concurring in judgment). Therefore\, to the extent that the Court relies on “‘separation of powers principles’” to rule against the President\, ante\, at 8 (opinion of ROBERTS\, C. J.)\, it is mis taken.\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n JUSTICE KAVANAUGH\, with whom JUSTICE THOMAS and JUSTICE ALITO join\, dissenting. Acting pursuant to his statutory authority to “ regulate . . . importation” under the 1977 International Emergency Econo mic Powers Act\, or IEEPA\, the President has imposed tariffs on imports o f foreign goods from various countries. The tariffs have generated vigorou s policy debates. Those policy debates are not for the Federal Judiciary t o resolve. Rather\, the Judiciary’s more limited role is to neutrally in terpret and apply the law. The sole legal question here is whether\, under IEEPA\, tariffs are a means to “regulate . . . importation.” Statutor y text\, history\, and precedent demonstrate that the answer is clearly ye s: Like quotas and embargoes\, tariffs are a traditional and common tool t o regulate importation. Since early in U. S. history\, Congress has regul arly authorized the President to impose tariffs on imports of foreign good s. Presidents have often used that authority to obtain leverage with forei gn nations\, help American manufacturers and workers compete on a more lev el playing field\, and generate revenue for the United States. Numerous la ws such as the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and the Trade Act of 1974 conti nue to authorize the President to place tariffs on foreign imports in a va riety of circumstances\, and Presidents have often done so. In recent year s\, Presidents George W. Bush\, Obama\, and Biden have all imposed tariffs on foreign imports under those statutory authorities. President Trump has similarly imposed tariffs\, and has done so here under IEEPA. During decl ared national emergencies\, IEEPA broadly authorizes the President to regu late international economic transactions. Most relevant for this case\, du ring those national emergencies\, IEEPA grants the President the power to “regulate . . . importation” of foreign goods.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02/2 0/2026 decision\n\n\n\n https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-128 7_4gcj.pdf\n\n\n\n TEXT TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n (Slip Opinion) \nOCTOBER TERM\, 2025 \nSyllabus \nNOTE: Where it is feasible\, a syllabus (headnote) will be released\, as is \nbeing done in connection with this case\, at the ti me the opinion is issued. \nThe syllabus constitutes no part of the opinio n of the Court but has been \nprepared by the Reporter of Decisions for th e convenience of the reader. \nSee United States v. Detroit Timber &\; Lumber Co.\, 200 U. S. 321\, 337. \n1 \nSUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES \nSyllabus \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC.\, ET AL. v. TRUMP\, \nPRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES\, ET AL. \nCERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT TO THE UNITED STA TES \nCOURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT \nNo. 24–128 7. Argued November 5\, 2025—Decided February 20\, 2026* \nThe question p resented is whether the International Emergency Eco\nnomic Powers Act (IEE PA) authorizes the President to impose tariffs.\nSee 91 Stat. 1626. Short ly after taking office\, President Trump sought\nto address two foreign th reats: the influx of illegal drugs from Canada\, \nMexico\, and China\, Pr esidential Proclamation No. 10886\, 90 Fed. Reg.\n8327\; Exec. Order No. 1 4193\, 90 Fed. Reg. 9113\; Exec. Order No. \n14194\, 90 Fed. Reg. 9117\; E xec. Order No. 14195\, 90 Fed. Reg. 9121\, \nand “large and persistent ” trade deficits\, Exec. Order No. 14257\, 90 \nFed. Reg. 15041. The Pr esident determined that the drug influx had \n“created a public health c risis\,” 90 Fed. Reg. 9113\, and that the trade \ndeficits had “led to the hollowing out” of the American manufacturing\nbase and “undermine d critical supply chains\,” id.\, at 15041. The Pres\nident declared a national emergency as to both threats\, deeming them \n“unusual and extr aordinary\,” and invoked his authority under IEEPA \nto respond.\nHe imp osed tariffs to deal with each threat. As to the drug traffick\ning tarif fs\, the President imposed a 25% duty on most Canadian and \nMexican impor ts and a 10% duty on most Chinese imports. Id.\, at \n9114\, 9118\, 9122 –9123. As to the trade deficit (“reciprocal”) tariffs\, the\nPresid ent imposed a duty “on all imports from all trading partne rs” of \n—————— \n*Together with No. 25–250\, Trump\, Pres ident of the United States\, et \nal. v. V.O.S. Selections\, Inc.\, et al. \, on certiorari to the United States \nCourt of Appeals for the Federal C ircuit. \n2 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nSyllabus \nat least 10% \, with dozens of nations facing higher rates. Id.\, at 15045\, \n15049. Since imposing each set of tariffs\, the President has issued sev\neral in creases\, reductions\, and other modifications.\n Petitioners in Learning Resources and respondents in V.O.S. Selec\ntions filed suit\, alleging th at IEEPA does not authorize the reciprocal \nor drug trafficking tariffs. The Learning Resources plaintiffs—two \nsmall businesses—sued in the U nited States District Court for the Dis\ntrict of Columbia. That court de nied the Government’s motion to \ntransfer the case to the United States Court of International Trade \n(CIT) and granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction\, \nconcluding that IEEPA did not grant the President the power to im\npose tariffs. The V.O.S. Selections plaintiff s—five small businesses \nand 12 States—sued in the CIT. That court g ranted summary judg\nment for the plaintiffs. And the Federal Circuit\, s itting en banc\, af\nfirmed in relevant part\, concluding that IEEPA’s g rant of authority to\n“regulate . . . importation” did not authorize t he challenged tariffs\, \nwhich “are unbounded in scope\, amount\, and d uration.” 149 F. 4th \n1312\, 1338. The Government filed a petition fo r certiorari in V.O.S. \nSelections\, and the Learning Resources plaintiff s filed a petition for \ncertiorari before judgment. The Court granted the petitions and con\nsolidated the cases. \nHeld: IEEPA does not authorize the President to impose tariffs. The \njudgment in No. 24–1287 is vacat ed\, and the case is remanded with \ninstructions to dismiss for lack of j urisdiction\; the judgment in No. 25\n250 is affirmed. \nNo. 24–1287\, 7 84 F. Supp. 3d 209\, vacated and remanded\; No. 25–250\, \n149 F. 4th 13 12\, affirmed. \nTHE CHIEF JUSTICE delivered the opinion of the Court wit h respect \nto Parts I and II–A–1: \nArticle I\, Section 8\, of the Co nstitution specifies that “The Congress \nshall have Power To lay and co llect Taxes\, Duties\, Imposts and Ex\ncises.” The Framers recognized th e unique importance of this taxing \npower—a power which “very clear [ly]” includes the power to impose \ntariffs. Gibbons v. Ogden\, 9 Wheat . 1\, 201. And they gave Congress \n“alone . . . access to the pockets of the people.” The Federalist No. 48\, \np. 310 (J. Madison). The Fra mers did not vest any part of the taxing\npower in the Executive Branch. See Nicol v. Ames\, 173 U. S. 509\, 515. \nThe Government thus concedes th at the President enjoys no inher\nent authority to impose tariffs during p eacetime. It instead relies ex\nclusively on IEEPA to defend the challeng ed tariffs. It reads the words \n“regulate” and “importation” to effect a sweeping delegation of Con\ngress’s power to set tariff polic y—authorizing the President to impose\ntariffs of unlimited amount and d uration\, on any product from any \nCite as: 607 U. S. ___ (2026) \nSyllab us \ncountry. 50 U. S. C. §1702(a)(1)(B). Pp. 5–7.\n3 \nTHE CHIEF JUS TICE\, joined by JUSTICE GORSUCH and JUSTICE \nBARRETT\, concluded in Part II–A–2: \nThe Court has long expressed “reluctan[ce] to read into ambiguous\nstatutory text” extraordinary delegations of Congress’s po wers. West \nVirginia v. EPA\, 597 U. S. 697\, 723 (quoting Utility Air Re gulatory \nGroup v. EPA\, 573 U. S. 302\, 324). In several cases describe d as in\nvolving “major questions\,” the Court has reasoned that “bo th separa\ntion of powers principles and a practical understanding of legi slative \nintent” suggest Congress would not have delegated “highly co nsequen\ntial power” through ambiguous language. Id.\, at 723–724. Th ese con\nsiderations apply with particular force where\, as here\, the pur ported \ndelegation involves the core congressional power of the purse. Co n\ngressional practice confirms as much. When Congress has delegated \nit s tariff powers\, it has done so in explicit terms and subject to strict \ nlimits. \nAgainst that backdrop of clear and limited delegations\, the Go vern\nment reads IEEPA to give the President power to unilaterally impose\ nunbounded tariffs and change them at will. That view would represent\na transformative expansion of the President’s authority over tariff pol\ni cy. It is also telling that in IEEPA’s half century of existence\, no Pr es\nident has invoked the statute to impose any tariffs\, let alone tariff s of \nthis magnitude and scope. That “ ‘lack of historical precede nt\,’ coupled \nwith the breadth of authority” that the President now claims\, suggests \nthat the tariffs extend beyond the President’s “le gitimate reach.” Na\ntional Federation of Independent Business v. OSHA\ , 595 U. S. 109\, 119 \n(quoting Free Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Ac counting Over\nsight Bd.\, 561 U. S. 477\, 505). The “ ‘economic and political signifi\ncance’ ” of the authority the President has asserte d likewise “provide[s] \na ‘reason to hesitate before concluding that Congress’ meant to confer\nsuch authority.” West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\ , at 721 (quoting FDA v. \nBrown &\; Williamson Tobacco Corp.\, 529 U. S. 120\, 159–160). The \nstakes here dwarf those of other major questio ns cases. And as in those \ncases\, “a reasonable interpreter would [no t] expect” Congress to \n“pawn[]” such a “big-time policy call[] . . . off to another branch.” Biden \nv. Nebraska\, 600 U. S. 477\, 515 ( BARRETT\, J.\, concurring).\nThere is no exception to the major questions doctrine for emergency \nstatutes. Nor does the fact that tariffs implicat e foreign affairs render\nthe doctrine inapplicable. The Framers gave “ Congress alone” the\npower to impose tariffs during peacetime. Merritt v. Welsh\, 104 U. S. \n694\, 700. And the foreign affairs implications of tariffs do not make it\nany more likely that Congress would relinquish its tariff power\nthrough vague language\, or without careful limits. Accord ingly\, the\nPresident must “point to clear congressional authorizatio n” to justify \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n4 LEARNING R ESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nSyllabus \nhis extraordinary assertion of that power. Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 506 \n(internal quotation marks omitted). He cannot. Pp. 7–13.\nTHE CHIEF JUSTICE delivered the opinion of the Court with respect\nto Part II–B\, concluding: \n(a) IEEPA authorizes t he President to “investigate\, block during the \npendency of an investi gation\, regulate\, direct and compel\, nullify\, void\, \nprevent or proh ibit . . . importation or exportation.” §1702(a)(1)(B). \nAbsent from this lengthy list of specific powers is any mention of tariffs\nor duties. Had Congress intended to convey the distinct and extraor\ndinary power t o impose tariffs\, it would have done so expressly\, as it\nconsistently h as in other tariff statutes.\nThe power to “regulate . . . importation ” does not fill that void. The \nterm “regulate\,” as ordinarily us ed\, means to “fix\, establish\, or control\; \nto adjust by rule\, meth od\, or established mode\; to direct by rule or re\nstriction\; to subject to governing principles or laws.” Black’s Law Dic\ntionary 1156. Th e facial breadth of this definition places in stark relief \nwhat ”regul ate” is not usually thought to include: taxation. Many stat\nutes grant the Executive the power to “regulate.” Yet the Government \ncannot i dentify any statute in which the power to regulate includes the \npower to tax. The Court is therefore skeptical that in IEEPA—and\nIEEPA alone— Congress hid a delegation of its birth-right power to tax\nwithin the quot idian power to “regulate.” \nWhile taxes may accomplish regulatory end s\, it does not follow that \nthe power to regulate includes the power to tax as a means of regula\ntion. Indeed\, when Congress addresses both the power to regulate and\nthe power to tax\, it does so separately and expres sly. That it did not \ndo so here is strong evidence that “regulate” in IEEPA does not include\ntaxation. \nA contrary reading would render IEE PA partly unconstitutional. \nIEEPA authorizes the President to “regulat e . . . importation or expor\ntation.” §1702(a)(1)(B). But taxing expo rts is expressly forbidden by \nthe Constitution. Art. I\, §9\, cl. 5. \nThe “neighboring words” with which “regulate” “is associated ” also\nsuggest that Congress did not intend for “regulate” to inclu de the rev\nenue-raising power. United States v. Williams\, 553 U. S. 285\ , 294. \nEach of the nine verbs in §1702(a)(1)(B) authorizes a distinct a ction a\nPresident might take in sanctioning foreign actors or controlling do\nmestic actors engaged in foreign commerce\, as Presidential practice \nconfirms. And none of the listed authorities includes the distinct and \nextraordinary power to raise revenue—a power which no President has \n ever found in IEEPA. Pp. 14–16.\n(b) Several arguments marshaled in res ponse are unpersuasive.\nFirst\, the contention that IEEPA confers the pow er to impose tariffs \nbecause early commentators and the Court’s cases discuss tariffs in \nCite as: 607 U. S. ___ (2026) \nSyllabus \n5 \nthe co ntext of the Commerce Clause answers the wrong question. The \nquestion i s not whether tariffs can ever be a means of regulating com\nmerce. It is instead whether Congress\, when conferring the power to \n“regulate . . . importation\,” gave the President the power to impose tar\niffs at hi s sole discretion. And Congress’s pattern of usage is plain: \nWhen Con gress grants the power to impose tariffs\, it does so clearly \nand with c areful constraints. It did neither in IEEPA. \nSecond\, the argument that “regulate” naturally includes tariffs be\ncause the term lies between two poles in IEEPA—“compel” on the af\nfirmative end and “prohi bit” on the negative end—is unavailing. Alt\nhough tariffs may be les s extreme than an outright compulsion or\nprohibition\, it does not follow that tariffs lie on the spectrum between \nthose poles\; they are differe nt in kind\, not degree\, from the other au\nthorities in IEEPA. Tariffs o perate directly on domestic importers to \nraise revenue for the Treasury and are “very clear[ly] . . . a branch of \nthe taxing power.” Gibbon s\, 9 Wheat.\, at 201. Thus\, they fall outside \nthe spectrum entirely. \nThird\, the argument based on IEEPA’s predecessor\, the Trading \nwit h the Enemy Act (TWEA)\, and the Court of Customs and Patent \nAppeals’ decision in United States v. Yoshida Int’l\, Inc.\, 526 F. 2d 560\, \nca nnot bear the weight placed on it. A single\, expressly limited opinion\nf rom a specialized intermediate appellate court does not establish a \nwell -settled meaning that the Court can assume Congress incorpo\nrated into IE EPA. \nFourth\, the historical argument based on the Court’s wartime pr ec\nedents fails. Those precedents are facially inapposite\, as all agree the\nPresident lacks inherent peacetime authority to impose tariffs. And \nthe attenuated chain of inferences from wartime precedents through\nmult iple iterations of TWEA to IEEPA cannot support—much less\nclearly suppo rt—a reading of IEEPA that includes the distinct power \nto impose tarif fs. \nFinally\, arguments relying on this Court’s precedents lack merit. \nFederal Energy Administration v. Algonquin SNG\, Inc.\, 426 U. S. 548\, \nbears little on the meaning of IEEPA. Section 232(b) of the Trade Ex\n pansion Act of 1962 contains sweeping\, discretion-conferring language\nth at IEEPA does not contain\, and the explicit reference to duties in\nSecti on 232(a) renders it natural for Section 232(b) itself to authorize \nduti es. Nor does Dames &\; Moore v. Regan\, 453 U. S. 654\, offer support \ nbecause that case was exceedingly narrow\, did not address the Presi\nden t’s power to “regulate\,” and did not involve tariffs at all. Pp. 1 6\n20. \nJUSTICE KAGAN\, joined by JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR and JUSTICE \nJACKSON \, agreed that IEEPA does not authorize the President to im\npose tariffs\ , but concluded that the Court need not invoke the major \n6 \nLEARNING RE SOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nSyllabus \nquestions doctrine because the ordina ry tools of statutory interpreta\ntion amply support that result. Pp. 1 –7.\nJUSTICE JACKSON would also consult legislative history—in particu \nlar\, the House and Senate Reports that accompanied IEEPA and its\nprede cessor statute\, TWEA—to determine that Congress did not in\ntend for IE EPA to authorize the Executive to impose tariffs. Pp. 1–5. \nROBERTS\, C. J.\, announced the judgment of the Court and delivered the \nopinion of the Court with respect to Parts I\, II–A–1\, and II–B\, in which \n SOTOMAYOR\, KAGAN\, GORSUCH\, BARRETT\, and JACKSON\, JJ.\, joined\, and \ nan opinion with respect to Parts II–A–2 and III\, in which GORSUCH an d \nBARRETT\, JJ.\, joined. GORSUCH\, J.\, and BARRETT\, J.\, filed concur ring \nopinions. KAGAN\, J.\, filed an opinion concurring in part and conc urring\nin the judgment\, in which SOTOMAYOR and JACKSON\, JJ.\, joined.\n JACKSON\, J.\, filed an opinion concurring in part and concurring in the \ njudgment. THOMAS\, J.\, filed a dissenting opinion. KAVANAUGH\, J.\, fi led \na dissenting opinion\, in which THOMAS and ALITO\, JJ.\, joined. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of the Court \nNOTICE: This opini on is subject to formal revision before publication in the \nUnited States Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of \nDecisions\, Su preme Court of the United States\, Washington\, D. C. 20543\, \npio@suprem ecourt.gov\, of any typographical or other formal errors. \n1 \nSUPREME CO URT OF THE UNITED STATES \n_________________ \nNos. 24–1287 and 25–250 \n_________________ \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC.\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n 24–1287 \nv. \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET A L. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT TO THE UNITED \nSTATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA \nCIRCUIT \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESID ENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n25–250 \nv. \nV.O.S. SELECTIONS\, INC.\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES C OURT OF \nAPPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT \n[February 20\, 2026]\n CHIEF J USTICE ROBERTS announced the judgment of the\nCourt and delivered the opin ion of the Court\, except as to\nParts II–A–2 and III.* \nWe decide wh ether the International Emergency Eco\nnomic Powers Act (IEEPA) authorizes the President to im\npose tariffs. \n—————— \n*JUSTICE SOTOMA YOR\, JUSTICE KAGAN\, and JUSTICE JACKSON join only \nParts I\, II–A–1 \, and II–B of this opinion. \n2 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \n Opinion of the Court \nI \nA \nShortly after taking office\, President Tru mp sought to ad\ndress two foreign threats. The first was the influx of il legal\ndrugs from Canada\, Mexico\, and China. Presidential Proc\nlamation No. 10886\, 90 Fed. Reg. 8327 (2025)\; Exec. Order\nNo. 14193\, 90 Fed. R eg. 9113 (2025)\; Exec. Order No. 14194\,\n90 Fed. Reg. 9117 (2025)\; Exec . Order No. 14195\, 90 Fed.\nReg. 9121 (2025). The second was “large an d persistent” \ntrade deficits. Exec. Order No. 14257\, 90 Fed. Reg. 15 041 \n(2025). The President determined that the first threat had \n“crea ted a public health crisis\,” 90 Fed. Reg. 9113\, and that \nthe second had “led to the hollowing out” of the American \nmanufacturing base and “undermined critical supply\nchains\,” id.\, at 15041. He invoked his authority under\nIEEPA to respond. \nEnacted in 1977\, IEEPA gives the President economic\ntools to address significant foreign threats. 91 Sta t. 1626. \nWhen acting under IEEPA\, the President must identify an\n“un usual and extraordinary threat” to American national\nsecurity\, foreign policy\, or the economy\, originating primar\nily “outside the United S tates.” 50 U. S. C. §1701(a). And \nhe must “declare[] a national em ergency” under the Na\ntional Emergencies Act. Ibid.\; see 90 Stat. 1255 . He may \nthen\, “by means of instructions\, licenses\, or otherwise \,”\ntake the following actions to “deal with” the threat: “inves\ ntigate\, block during the pendency of an investigation\, regu\nlate\, dir ect and compel\, nullify\, void\, prevent or prohibit\, \nany acquisition\ , holding\, withholding\, use\, transfer\, with\ndrawal\, transportation\, importation or exportation of\, or\ndealing in\, or exercising any right\ , power\, or privilege with \nrespect to\, or transactions involving\, any property in which\nany foreign country or a national thereof has any inte rest.”\n§§1701(a)\, 1702(a)(1)(B). \nPresident Trump declared a nation al emergency as to\nboth the drug trafficking and the trade deficits\, whi ch he \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of the Court \n3 \ndeeme d “unusual and extraordinary” threats. He then im\nposed tariffs to de al with each threat. As to the drug traf\nficking tariffs\, the President imposed a 25% duty on most\nCanadian and Mexican imports and a 10% duty o n most\nChinese imports. 90 Fed. Reg. 9114\, 9118\, 9122–9123. As \nto the trade deficit (or “reciprocal”) tariffs\, the President im\nposed a duty “on all imports from all trading partners” of at \nleast 10%. Id.\, at 15045. Dozens of nations faced higher \nrates. Id.\, at 15049. A nd these tariffs applied notwith\nstanding any extant trade agreements. I d.\, at 15045. \nSince imposing each set of tariffs\, the President has is \nsued several increases\, reductions\, and other modifications. \nOne mon th after imposing the 10% drug trafficking tariffs\non Chinese goods\, he increased the rate to 20%. See Exec. \nOrder No. 14228\, 90 Fed. Reg. 114 63 (2025). One month \nlater\, he removed a statutory exemption for Chine se goods \nunder $800. Exec. Order No. 14256\, 90 Fed. Reg. 14899 \n(2025) . Less than a week after imposing the reciprocal tar\niffs\, the President increased the rate on Chinese goods from\n34% to 84%. Exec. Order No. 142 59\, 90 Fed. Reg. 15509 \n(2025). The very next day\, he increased the rat e further\nstill\, to 125%. Exec. Order No. 14266\, 90 Fed. Reg. 15625\, \ n15626 (2025). This brought the total effective tariff rate on\nmost Chin ese goods to 145%. The President has also shifted \nsets of goods into and out of the reciprocal tariff framework.\nSee\, e.g.\, Exec. Order No. 143 60\, 90 Fed. Reg. 54091 (2025) \n(exempting from reciprocal tariffs beef\, fruits\, coffee\, tea\,\nspices\, and some fertilizers)\; Exec. Order No. 14346\, 90 Fed.\nReg. 43737 (2025). And he has issued a variety of other ad\njustments. See\, e.g.\, Exec. Order No. 14358\, 90 Fed. Reg.\n50729\, 50730 (2025) (extending “the suspension of height\nened reciprocal tari ffs” on Chinese imports). \nB \nPetitioners in Learning Resources and re spondents in \nV.O.S. Selections filed suit\, alleging that IEEPA does not \n4 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of the Court \nauthori ze the reciprocal or drug trafficking tariffs. The \nLearning Resources p laintiffs—two small businesses—sued \nin the United States District Co urt for the District of Co\nlumbia. The V.O.S. Selections plaintiffs—fiv e small busi\nnesses and 12 States—sued in the United States Court of \n International Trade (CIT).\nThe Government moved to transfer the Learning Re\nsources case to the CIT. It argued that the District Court\nlacked ju risdiction under 28 U. S. C. §1581(i)(1)\, which\ngives the CIT “exclus ive jurisdiction of any civil action com\nmenced against” the Governme nt “that arises out of any \nlaw of the United States providing for . . . tariffs” or their \n“administration and enforcement.” The Distric t Court de\nnied that motion and granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a \n preliminary injunction\, concluding that IEEPA did not\ngrant the Presiden t the power to impose tariffs. 784 \nF. Supp. 3d 209 (DC 2025). \n In the V.O.S. Selections case\, the CIT granted the plain\ntiffs’ motion for s ummary judgment. 772 F. Supp. 3d 1350 \n(2025). The Federal Circuit\, sit ting en banc\, affirmed in\nrelevant part. 149 F. 4th 1312 (2025). It fir st concluded \nthat the CIT had exclusive jurisdiction because the plain\n tiffs’ claims arose out of modifications to the Harmonized \nTariff Sche dule of the United States (HTSUS). Id.\, at 1329. \nOn the merits\, it ag reed with the CIT that IEEPA’s grant \nof authority to “regulate . . . importation” did not authorize \nthe challenged tariffs\, which “are unbounded in scope\,\namount\, and duration.” Id.\, at 1338. Judge Cun ningham\nconcurred (for four judges)\, reasoning that IEEPA did not \nauth orize the President to impose any tariffs. Id.\, at 1340. \nJudge Taranto dissented (for four judges)\, concluding that\nIEEPA authorized the challe nged tariffs. Id.\, at 1348. \nThe Government filed a motion to expedite a nd a petition\nfor certiorari in V.O.S. Selections\, and the Learning Re\n sources plaintiffs filed a petition for certiorari before \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of the Court \n5 \njudgment. We granted the mo tion and petitions and con\nsolidated the cases. 606 U. S. 1050 (2025).1 \ nII \nBased on two words separated by 16 others in Section\n1702(a)(1)(B) of IEEPA—“regulate” and “importation”—the \nPresident asserts the independent power to impose tariffs \non imports from any country\, of any product\, at any rate\,\nfor any amount of time. Those words cannot b ear such \nweight. \nA \n1 \nArticle I\, Section 8\, of the Constitution s ets forth the pow\ners of the Legislative Branch. The first Clause of tha t pro\nvision specifies that “The Congress shall have Power To lay\nand collect Taxes\, Duties\, Imposts and Excises.” It is no \naccident that this power appears first. The power to tax\nwas\, Alexander Hamilton expla ined\, “the most important of\nthe authorities proposed to be conferred upon the Union.” \nThe Federalist No. 33\, pp. 202–203 (C. Rossiter ed . 1961).\nIt is both a “power to destroy\,” McCulloch v. Maryland\, 4 \nWheat. 316\, 431 (1819)\, and a power “necessary to the ex\nistence an d prosperity of a nation”—“the one great power \nupon which the whol e national fabric is based.” Nicol v. \nAmes\, 173 U. S. 509\, 515 (189 9). \n—————— \n1We agree with the Federal Circuit that the V.O .S. Selections case falls \nwithin the exclusive jurisdiction of the CIT. The plaintiffs’ challenges\n“arise[] out of ” modifications to the HTSUS. 28 U. S. C. §1581(i)(1).\nWhere\, as here\, such modifications are made under an “Act[] affecting \nimport treatment\,” 19 U. S. C. §24 83\, they are “considered to be statu\ntory provisions of law for all pu rposes\,” §3004(c)(1)(C). Thus\, the plain\ntiffs’ challenges “ari se[] out of [a] law of the United States providing for \n. . . tariffs.” 28 U. S. C. §1581(i)(1). For the same reasons\, the United \nStates Dis trict Court for the District of Columbia lacked jurisdiction in \nthe Lear ning Resources case. \n6 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of the Court \nThe power to impose tariffs is “very clear[ly] . . . a bran ch \nof the taxing power.” Gibbons v. Ogden\, 9 Wheat. 1\, 201 \n(1824 ). “A tariff\,” after all\, “is a tax levied on imported \ngoods and services.” \nCongressional Research Service \n(CRS)\, C. Casey\, U. S. Tariff Policy: Overview 1 (2025). And \ntariffs “raise[] revenue\,” We st Lynn Creamery\, Inc. v. Healy\, \n512 U. S. 186\, 193 (1994)—the defi ning feature of a tax\, \nUnited States v. Kahriger\, 345 U. S. 22\, 28\, and n. 4 (1953)\; \nSonzinsky v. United States\, 300 U. S. 506\, 514 (1937 ). In\ndeed\, the Framers expected that the Government would for\n“a lo ng time depend . . . chiefly on” tariffs for revenue. The \nFederalist No. 12\, at 93 (A. Hamilton). Little wonder\, then\, \nthat the First Con gress’s first exercise of its taxing power\n(and its second enacted law\ , right after the one providing\nfor the new officials to take an oath) wa s a tariff law. See \nAct of July 4\, 1789\, ch. 2\, 1 Stat. 24. \nRecogni zing the taxing power’s unique importance\, and \nhaving just fought a r evolution motivated in large part by\n“taxation without representation \,” the Framers gave Con\ngress “alone . . . access to the pockets of the people.” The \nFederalist No. 48\, at 310 (J. Madison)\; see also De claration \nof Independence ¶19. They required “All Bills for raising\n Revenue [to] originate in the House of Representatives.” \nU. S. Const.\ , Art. I\, §7\, cl. 1. And in doing so\, they ensured \nthat only the Ho use could “propose the supplies requisite\nfor the support of government \,” thereby reducing “all the \novergrown prerogatives of the other br anches.” The Feder\nalist No. 58\, at 359 (J. Madison). They did not v est any part\nof the taxing power in the Executive Branch. See Nicol\, 173 \nU. S.\, at 515 (“[T]he whole power of taxation rests with Con\ngres s”).\nThe Government thus concedes\, as it must\, that the Pres\nident e njoys no inherent authority to impose tariffs during\npeacetime. Tr. of Or al Arg. 70–71. And it does not defend \nthe challenged tariffs as an ex ercise of the President’s \nwarmaking powers. The United States\, after all\, is not at \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of ROBERTS\, C. J. \n7 \nwar with every nation in the world. The Government in\nstead relies exclusively on IEEPA. It reads the words “reg\nulate” and “i mportation” to effect a sweeping delegation of\nCongress’s power to se t tariff policy—authorizing the Pres\nident to impose tariffs of unlimit ed amount and duration\, \non any product from any country. \n50 U. S. C. \n§1702(a)(1)(B). \n2 \nWe have long expressed “reluctan[ce] to read in to ambig\nuous statutory text” extraordinary delegations of Con\ngress ’s powers. West Virginia v. EPA\, 597 U. S. 697\, 723 \n(2022) (quoting Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA\, 573 \nU. S. 302\, 324 (2014)). In Bi den v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S. 477 \n(2023)\, for example\, we declined to re ad authorization to \n“waive or modify” statutory or regulatory provis ions appli\ncable to financial assistance programs as a delegation of\npow er to cancel $430 billion in student loan debt. Id.\, at \n494 (quoting 2 0 U. S. C. §1098bb(a)(1)). In West Virginia v. \nEPA\, we declined to re ad authorization to determine the \n“best system of emission reduction ” as a delegation of power \nto force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal. \n597 U. S.\, at 732 (quoting 42 U. S. C. §7411(a)(1)). And in \nNational Federation of Independent Business v. OSHA\, 595 \nU. S . 109 (2022) (per curiam)\, we declined to read authori\nzation to ensure “safe and healthful working conditions” as\na delegation of power to i mpose a vaccine mandate on 84\nmillion Americans. Id.\, at 114\, 117 (quo ting 29 U. S. C. \n§651(b))\; see also\, e.g.\, Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Depart\nment of Health and Human Servs.\, 594 U. S. 758\, 764–765 \n (2021) (per curiam)\; King v. Burwell\, 576 U. S. 473\, 485– \n486 (2015 )\; Utility Air\, 573 U. S.\, at 324. \nWe have described several of these cases as “major ques\ntions” cases. Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 505\; W est Virginia\, \n597 U. S.\, at 732\; see also FDA v. Brown &\; William son To\nbacco Corp.\, 529 U. S. 120\, 159 (2000) (citing S. Breyer\, \n8 \ nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of ROBERTS\, C. J. \nJudicia l Review of Questions of Law and Policy\, 38 Admin.\nL. Rev. 363\, 370 (19 86)). In each\, the Government claimed \nbroad\, expansive power on an un certain statutory basis.\nAnd in each\, the statutory text might “[a]s a matter of defi\nnitional possibilities” have been read to delegate the as\nserted power. West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 732 (internal \nquotation marks omitted). But “context” counseled “skepti\ncism.” Id.\, at 721\, 732. That context included not just other\nlanguage within the statu te\, but “constitutional structure” \nand “common sense.” Nebraska \, 600 U. S.\, at 512\, 515 \n(BARRETT\, J.\, concurring). “[B]oth sepa ration of powers\nprinciples and a practical understanding of legislative in\ntent” suggested Congress would not have delegated “highly \nconseq uential power” through ambiguous language. West \nVirginia\, 597 U. S.\ , at 723–724. \nThese considerations apply with particular force where\, \nas here\, the purported delegation involves the core congres\nsional pow er of the purse. “Congress would likely . . . in\ntend[] for itself ” the “basic and consequential tradeoffs\,” \nid.\, at 730\, inherent i n uses of this “most complete and ef\nfectual weapon\,” The Federalist No. 58\, at 359. And if Con\ngress were to relinquish that weapon to anot her branch\, a \n“reasonable interpreter” would expect it to do so “‘clearly.’” \nNebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 514–515 (BARRETT\, J. \, concurring) \n(quoting Utility Air\, 573 U. S.\, at 324). \nWhat common sense suggests\, congressional practice con\nfirms. When Congress has del egated its tariff powers\, it \nhas done so in explicit terms\, and subjec t to strict limits.\nCongress has consistently used words like “duty” in stat\nutes delegating authority to impose tariffs. (A customs\n“du ty” is simply “the federal tax levied on goods shipped\ninto the Unite d States.” Black’s Law Dictionary 638 (12th \ned. 2024).) See\, e.g.\, 19 U. S. C. §1338(d) (“rates of duty”)\;\n§2132(a) (“temporary im port surcharge . . . in the form of \nduties”)\; §2253(a)(3)(A) (“dut y on the imported article”)\;\n§2411(c)(1)(B) (“duties or other impor t restrictions”). It has \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of ROBERTS\, C. J. \n9 \ncapped the amount and duration of tariffs. See\, e. g.\, \n§1338(d) (50% cap)\; §2132(a) (15% cap\, 150-day time limit)\;\n §2253(e) (50% cap\, phasedown requirement after one year).\nAnd it has co nditioned exercise of the tariff power on de\nmanding procedural prerequis ites. See\, e.g.\, §2252 (inves\ntigation by the United States Internatio nal Trade Commis\nsion\, public hearings\, report of findings and \nrecomm endation)\; §§2411–2414 (investigation by the \nUnited States Trade Re presentative\, consultation with rel\nevant country and interested parties \, publication of find\nings).2 \nAgainst this backdrop of clear and limit ed delegations\, \nthe Government reads IEEPA to give the President power\ nto unilaterally impose unbounded tariffs. On this reading\,\nmoreover\, the President is unconstrained by the significant \nprocedural limitations in other tariff statutes and free to \nissue a dizzying array of modifica tions at will. See supra\, \nat 3. All it takes to unlock that extraordin ary power is a \nPresidential declaration of emergency\, which the Govern\ nment asserts is unreviewable. Brief for Federal Parties 42. \nAnd the onl y way of restraining the exercise of that power\nis a veto-proof majority in Congress. See 50 U. S. C. \n§1622(a)(1) (requiring a “joint resolut ion” “enacted into law” \nto terminate a national emergency). That view\, if credited\, \nwould “represent[] a ‘transformative expans ion’” of the \nPresident’s authority over tariff policy\, West Virgi nia\, 597 \n—————— \n2The same is true of Section 232 of the T rade Expansion Act of 1962\, \n76 Stat. 877\, which we have held authorize s sector-specific import “li\ncense fee[s].” Federal Energy Administra tion v. Algonquin SNG\, Inc.\, \n426 U. S. 548\, 571 (1976). Section 232( a) expressly references “duties.” \n19 U. S. C. §1862(a)\; see infra\ , at 19. And Section 232(c) authorizes the\nPresident to “adjust the imp orts” of an “article\,” §1862(c)\, but only after\nthe Secretary of Commerce\, in consultation with the Secretary of De\nfense\, conducts an investigation and prepares a report finding that the\n“article is being imported into the United States in such quantities or \nunder such circums tances as to threaten to impair the national security\,”\n§1862(b). \n1 0 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of ROBERTS\, C. J. \nU. S .\, at 724 (quoting Utility Air\, 573 U. S.\, at 324)\, and in\ndeed—as demonstrated by the exercise of that authority in\nthis case—over the br oader economy as well. See Congres\nsional Budget Office\, CBO’s Curren t View of the Economy \nFrom 2025 to 2028\, p. 5 (Sept. 2025)\; Brief for Federal Par\nties 2–3. It would replace the longstanding executive-legis \nlative collaboration over trade policy with unchecked Pres\nidential pol icymaking. \nSee CRS\, Trade Promotion \nAuthority (TPA) and the Role of C ongress in Trade Policy \n(2015). Congress seldom effects such sea changes through \n“vague language.” West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 724. \nIt is also telling that in IEEPA’s “half century of exist\nence\,” no P resident has invoked the statute to impose any\ntariffs—let alone tariff s of this magnitude and scope. Na\ntional Federation of Independent Busin ess\, 595 U. S.\, at \n119.3 Presidents have\, by contrast\, regularly in voked \nIEEPA for other purposes. CRS\, C. Casey\, J. Elsea\, &\; L. \ nRosen\, The International Emergency Economic Powers Act:\nOrigins\, Evolu tion\, and Use 18–21 (2025). At the same \ntime\, they have invoked oth er statutes—but never \nIEEPA—to impose tariffs\, on products ranging from car \ntires to washing machines. See\, e.g.\, Presidential Procla\nm ation No. 8414\, 3 CFR 115 (2009 Comp.)\; Presidential \n————— — \n3Indeed\, even before IEEPA was enacted\, only one President relied on \nits predecessor\, the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA)\, ch. 106\, 4 0\nStat. 411\, to impose tariffs—and then only as a post hoc defense to a legal \nchallenge. See Presidential Proclamation No. 4074\, 36 Fed. Reg . 15724 \n(1971) (initially invoking the Tariff Act of 1930 and Trade Expa nsion Act\nof 1962)\; United States v. Yoshida Int’l\, Inc.\, 526 F. 2d 560\, 572 (CCPA \n1975). Those tariffs were also of limited amount\, dura tion\, and scope. \nSee id.\, at 568–569\, 577–578 (noting that the 10 -percent surcharge was\ndescribed by President Nixon as “ ‘a temporary measure\,’ ” was in effect \nless than five months\, applied only t o “articles which had been the sub\nject of prior tariff concessions\, ” and was capped at congressionally au\nthorized rates)\; Economic Repor t of the President 70 (1972) (“When all \nexceptions to the 10-percent r ule were taken into account\, the effective \nrate of surcharge came down to 4.8 percent”). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of ROBERTS \, C. J. \n11 \nProclamation No. 9694\, 83 Fed. Reg. 3553 (2018). And \nt hose tariffs did not “even beg[in] to approach the size or\nscope” of the IEEPA tariffs at issue here. Nebraska\, 600 \nU. S.\, at 502 (quoting Alabama Assn.\, 594 U. S.\, at 765).\nThe “‘lack of historical pre cedent’” for the IEEPA tariffs\,\n“coupled with the breadth of aut hority” that the President\nnow claims\, “is a ‘telling indicati on’” that the tariffs extend\nbeyond the President’s “legitimate reach.” National Feder\nation of Independent Business\, 595 U. S.\, at 119 (quoting \nFree Enterprise Fund v. Public Company Accounting Over\nsi ght Bd.\, 561 U. S. 477\, 505 (2010)).\nThe “‘economic and political s ignificance’” of the author\nity the President has asserted likewise “provide[s] a ‘reason \nto hesitate before concluding that Congress ’ meant to confer \nsuch authority.” West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 72 1 (quoting \nBrown &\; Williamson\, 529 U. S.\, at 159–160). The Pre si\ndent’s assertion here of broad “statutory power over the na\ntiona l economy” is “extravagant” by any measure. Utility \nAir\, 573 U. S.\, at 324. And as the Government admits— \nindeed\, boasts—the econ omic and political consequences of \nthe IEEPA tariffs are astonishing. Th e Government points\nto projections that the tariffs will reduce the natio nal deficit \nby $4 trillion\, and that international agreements reached i n \nreliance on the tariffs could be worth $15 trillion. Brief for \nFeder al Parties 3\, 11. In the President’s view\, whether “we \nare a rich nation” or a “poor” one hangs in the balance. Id.\, \nat 2. These s takes dwarf those of other major questions \ncases. See\, e.g.\, Nebraska\ , 600 U. S.\, at 483 ($430 billion)\; \nAlabama Assn.\, 594 U. S.\, at 764 (nearly $50 billion)\; West \nVirginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 714 (“billions of dollars in compliance \ncosts”). As in those cases\, “a reasonable interpreter would \n[not] expect” Congress to “pawn[]” such a “big -time policy \ncall[] . . . off to another branch.” Nebraska\, 600 U. S .\, at \n515 (BARRETT\, J.\, concurring). \n12 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of ROBERTS\, C. J. \nThe Government and the principal dissent attempt to \navoid application of the major questions doctrine on several \ngrounds. None is convincing.\nThe Government argues first that t he doctrine should not \napply to emergency statutes. Brief for Federal P arties 35– \n36. But this argument is nearly identical to one it already \nadvanced in Nebraska. There\, the Government contended \nthat a differe nt emergency statute should be interpreted \nbroadly because its “whole point” was to provide “substan\ntial discretion to . . . respond to un foreseen emergencies.”\n600 U. S.\, at 500 (internal quotation marks omi tted). We \nrejected that argument in Nebraska\, and we reject it here\na s well. “Emergency powers\,” after all\, “tend to kindle \nemergen cies.” Youngstown Sheet &\; Tube Co. v. Sawyer\, 343 \nU. S. 579\, 65 0 (1952) (Jackson\, J.\, concurring). Dozens of \nIEEPA emergencies remai n ongoing today\, including the\nfirst—declared over four decades ago in response to the Ira\nnian hostage crisis. CRS\, Casey\, International Eme rgency\nEconomic Powers Act\, at 20. And as the Framers under\nstood\, em ergencies can “afford a ready pretext for usurpa\ntion” of congression al power. Youngstown\, 343 U. S.\, at 650 \n(Jackson\, J.\, concurring). Where Congress has reason to be\nworried about its powers “slipping thro ugh its fingers\,” id.\, \nat 654\, we in turn have every reason to expe ct Congress to\nuse clear language to effectuate unbounded delegations—\ nparticularly of its “one great power\,” Nicol\, 173 U. S.\, at \n515. \nThe Government’s and the principal dissent’s proposed \nforeign aff airs exception fares no better. Brief for Federal \nParties 34–35\; pos t\, at 45–57 (opinion of KAVANAUGH\, J.).\nAs a general matter\, the Pre sident of course enjoys some \n“independent constitutional power[s]” o ver foreign affairs \n“even without congressional authorization.” FCC v. Con\nsumers’ Research\, 606 U. S. 656\, 707 (2025) (KAVANAUGH\, \nJ. \, concurring). And Congress certainly may intend to “give\nthe Presiden t substantial authority and flexibility” in many \n Cite as: 607 U. S. _ ___ (2026) \nOpinion of ROBERTS\, C. J. \n13 \nforeign affairs or national security contexts. Post\, at 48 \n(opinion of KAVANAUGH\, J.) (quoting Co nsumers’ Research\, \n606 U. S.\, at 706 (KAVANAUGH\, J.\, concurring)). But \n“flip[ping]” the “presumption” under the major questions \n doctrine\, Brief for Federal Parties 34\, makes little sense \nwhen it com es to tariffs. As the Government admits\, the \nPresident and Congress do not “enjoy concurrent constitu\ntional authority” to impose tariffs du ring peacetime. Ibid.\; \nTr. of Oral Arg. 70–71. The Framers gave that power to\n“Congress alone”—notwithstanding the obvious foreign af\n fairs implications of tariffs. Merritt v. Welsh\, 104 U. S. 694\, \n700 ( 1882). And whatever may be said of other powers that \nimplicate foreign affairs\, we would not expect Congress to\nrelinquish its tariff power thr ough vague language\, or with\nout careful limits. \nThe central thrust of the Government’s and the principal\ndissent’s proposed exceptions app ears to be that ambiguous \ndelegations in statutes addressing “the most major of major \nquestions” should necessarily be construed broadly. B rief \nfor Federal Parties 35. But it simply does not follow from\nthe fac t that a statute deals with major problems that it \nshould be read to del egate all major powers for which there \nmay be a “colorable textual bas is.” West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, \nat 722. It is in precisely such case s that we should be alert \nto claims that sweeping delegations—particul arly delega\ntions of core congressional powers—“lurk[]” in “ambig uous \nstatutory text.” Id.\, at 723 (internal quotation marks omit\nted ). There is no major questions exception to the major \nquestions doctrin e.\nAccordingly\, the President must “point to clear congres\nsional aut horization” to justify his extraordinary assertion\nof the power to impo se tariffs. Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 506 \n(internal quotation marks omi tted). He cannot. \n14 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of t he Court \nB \nTo begin\, IEEPA authorizes the President to “investigate \,\nblock during the pendency of an investigation\, regulate\, di\nrect an d compel\, nullify\, void\, prevent or prohibit . . . impor\ntation or exp ortation.” 50 U. S. C. §1702(a)(1)(B). Absent \nfrom this lengthy lis t of powers is any mention of tariffs or \nduties. That omission is notabl e in light of the significant \nbut specific powers Congress did go to the trouble of nam\ning. It stands to reason that had Congress intended to co n\nvey the distinct and extraordinary power to impose tariffs\, \nit would have done so expressly—as it consistently has in\nother tariff statutes . See supra\, at 8\; accord\, post\, at 11\, 26– \n27 (opinion of KAVAN AUGH\, J.).\nThe power to “regulate . . . importation” does not fill t hat\nvoid. “Regulate\,” as that term is ordinarily used\, means to\n “fix\, establish\, or control\; to adjust by rule\, method\, or es\ntabl ished mode\; to direct by rule or restriction\; to subject to\ngoverning p rinciples or laws.” Black’s Law Dictionary 1156 \n(5th ed. 1979)\; se e also Ysleta del Sur Pueblo v. Texas\, 596 \nU. S. 685\, 697 (2022). Thi s definition captures much of \nwhat a government does on a day-to-day bas is. Indeed\, if \n“regulate” is as broad as the principal dissent sug gests\, \npost\, at 10–11\, then the other eight verbs in §1702(a)(1)(B )\nare simply wasted ink. But the facial breadth of “regulate”\nplace s in stark relief what the term is not usually thought \nto include: taxat ion. The U. S. Code is replete with statutes\ngranting the Executive the a uthority to “regulate” someone \nor something. Yet the Government cann ot identify any \nstatute in which the power to regulate includes the powe r \nto tax. The Government concedes\, for example\, that the Se\ncurities and Exchange Commission cannot tax the trading \nof securities\, even thou gh it is expressly authorized to “reg\nulate the trading of . . . securi ties.” 15 U. S. C. §78i(h)(1)\; \nsee Brief for Federal Parties 31–32 . We are therefore skep\ntical that in IEEPA—and IEEPA alone—Congress hid a \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of the Court \n15 \ndel egation of its birth-right power to tax within the quotid\nian power to “regulate.”\nTaxes\, to be sure\, may accomplish regulatory ends. See \nSonzinsky\, 300 U. S.\, at 513\; Gibbons\, 9 Wheat.\, at 201– \n202. But it does not follow that the power to regulate some\nthing includes the power to tax it as a means of regulation. \nCongressional practice sugge sts as much. When Congress \naddresses both the power to regulate and the power to tax\,\nit does so separately and expressly. See\, e.g.\, 16 U. S. C. \n§460bbb–9(a) (distinguishing between the power to “tax \nperson s\, franchise\, or private property” on lands and the \npower “to regu late the private lands”)\; 2 U. S. C. \n§622(8)(B)(i) (“government-sp onsored enterprise” does not \nhave the “power to tax or to regulate i nterstate commerce”).\nThat is unsurprising\, as the “power to regulat e commerce”\nis “entirely distinct from the right to levy taxes.” G ibbons\, \n9 Wheat.\, at 201. That Congress did not grant those au\nthorit ies separately here is strong evidence that “regulate”\nin IEEPA does not include taxation. \nA contrary reading would render IEEPA partly uncon sti\ntutional. IEEPA authorizes the President to “regulate . . . \nimpor tation or exportation.” 50 U. S. C. §1702(a)(1)(B) (em\nphasis added). Taxing exports\, however\, is expressly for\nbidden by the Constitution. Art. I\, §9\, cl. 5.\nThe “neighboring words” with which “regul ate” “is asso\nciated” also suggest that Congress did not intend f or “regu\nlate” to include the revenue-raising power. United States v. \nWilliams\, 553 U. S. 285\, 294 (2008). “Regulate” is one of\nnine verbs listed in §1702(a)(1)(B). Each authorizes a dis\ntinct action a Pr esident might take in sanctioning foreign\nactors or controlling domestic actors engaged in foreign \ncommerce—blocking imports\, for example\, or prohibiting \ntransactions. Presidential practice under IEEPA demon\nstr ates as much. See CRS\, Casey\, International Emergency\nEconomic Powers A ct\, at 79–106 (Table A–3)\; see\, e.g.\, Exec. \nOrder No. 13194\, 3 CFR 741 (2001 Comp.) (blocking \n16 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \ nOpinion of the Court \nimportation of diamonds from insurgent regime in S ierra \nLeone)\; Exec. Order No. 12947\, 3 CFR 319 (1995 Comp.) \n(prohibi ting transactions with those “who threaten to dis\nrupt the Middle East peace process”). None of IEEPA’s au\nthorities includes the distinct and extraordinary power to\nraise revenue. And the fact that no President has ever \nfound such power in IEEPA is strong evidence that it does\nnot exist. See supra\, at 10\; FTC v. Bunte Brothers\, Inc.\, 312 \nU. S. 349\ , 351–352 (1941).\nWe do not attempt to set forth the metes and bounds o f\nthe President’s authority to “regulate . . . importation” un\nder IEEPA. That “interpretive question” is “not at issue” in\nthis ca se\, and any answer would be “plain dicta.” West Vir\nginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 734–735\, and n. 5. Our task today is to\ndecide only whether t he power to “regulate . . . importa\ntion\,” as granted to the Preside nt in IEEPA\, embraces the \npower to impose tariffs. It does not.4 \nThe Government\, echoed point-for-point by the principal\ndissent\, marshals s everal arguments in response. First\, it \ncontends that IEEPA confers th e power to impose tariffs be\ncause early commentators and this Court’s cases discuss \ntariffs in the context of the Constitution’s Commerce \n Clause. See Brief for Federal Parties 24–25\; post\, at 12–13 \n(opini on of KAVANAUGH\, J.). But that answers the wrong \nquestion. The question is not\, as the Government would \nhave it\, whether tariffs can ever be a means of regulating \ncommerce. It is instead whether Congress\, when co nferring \nthe power to “regulate . . . importation\,” gave the Presid ent \nthe power to impose tariffs at his sole discretion. And \n—————— \n4The principal dissent surmises that the President could impose “most\nif not all” of the tariffs at issue under statutes other than IEEPA. Post\, \nat 62 (opinion of KAVANAUGH\, J.). The cited s tatutes contain various com\nbinations of procedural prerequisites\, requi red agency determinations\,\nand limits on the duration\, amount\, and sco pe of the tariffs they author\nize. See supra\, at 8–9\; post\, at 62– 63. We do not speculate on hypothet\nical cases not before us. \n Cite as : 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of the Court \n17 \nCongress’s pattern of usage is most relevant to answering \nthat question. That pattern is p lain: When Congress grants\nthe power to impose tariffs\, it does so clear ly and with care\nful constraints. It did neither here. \nThe Government r aises another contextual argument.\nBecause “regulate” “lies betwe en” two “poles” in IEEPA—\n“compel” on the affirmative end and “prohibit” on the nega\ntive end—the term naturally includes the “less extreme\, \nmore flexible” tool of tariffs. Reply Brief 9 (i nternal quota\ntion marks omitted)\; see post\, at 29–30 (opinion of \nK AVANAUGH\, J.) (making a greater-includes-the-lesser ar\ngument). But tari ffs\, as discussed above\, are different in \nkind\, not degree\, from the other authorities in IEEPA. Un\nlike those authorities\, tariffs operate directly on domestic\nimporters to raise revenue for the Treasury. See 1 9 U. S. C. \n§1505(a)\; 19 CFR §141.1(b) (2025). Even though a tariff i s\,\nin some sense\, “less extreme” than an outright compulsion\nor pr ohibition\, it does not follow that tariffs lie on the spec\ntrum between those poles. They are instead “very clear[ly] \n. . . a branch of the t axing power\,” Gibbons\, 9 Wheat.\, at \n201\, and fall outside the spec trum entirely.\nFinding no support in the statute the President invoked\, \nthe Government turns to one he did not: IEEPA’s predeces\nsor\, TWEA. Ch. 106\, 40 Stat. 411. In 1975\, the Court of \nCustoms and Patent Appea ls held that the authority to \n“regulate . . . importation” in TWEA a uthorized President\nNixon to impose limited tariffs. United States v. Yo shida \nInt’l\, Inc.\, 526 F. 2d 560\, 572\, 577–578. When Congress e n\nacted IEEPA two years later\, the Government contends\, it \nconveyed t hat same authority (except without the limits). \nSee also post\, at 14– 17 (opinion of KAVANAUGH\, J.).\n This argument cannot bear the weight the Government\nplaces on it. While this Court sometimes assumes that Con\ng ress incorporates judicial definitions into legislation\, we do\nso “onl y when [the] term’s meaning was ‘well-settled’” be\nfore the adopt ion. Kemp v. United States\, 596 U. S. 528\, \n18 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, I NC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of the Court \n539 (2022) (quoting Neder v. United States\, 527 U. S. 1\, 22 \n(1999))\; see also United States v. Kwai Fun W ong\, 575 U. S. \n402\, 412–415 (2015). A single\, expressly limited opi nion \nfrom a specialized intermediate appellate court does not\nclear tha t hurdle.5 See BP p.l.c. v. Mayor and City Council \nof Baltimore\, 593 U. S. 230\, 244 (2021). The tariff authority\nasserted by President Nixon\, moreover\, was “far removed”\nfrom TWEA’s “original purposes” o f sanctioning foreign bel\nligerents. Cohen\, Fundamentals of U. S. Foreig n Trade Pol\nicy\, at 178–179. We are therefore skeptical that Congress \nenacted IEEPA with an eye toward granting that novel \npower.\nThe Gover nment has another historical argument based \non this Court’s wartime pr ecedents. See generally Brief for\nProfessor Aditya Bamzai as Amicus Curi ae\; Reply Brief 9– \n11\, 18. According to the Government\, those prece dents \nacknowledge an inherent Presidential power to impose tar\niffs dur ing armed conflict. And\, the argument goes\, Con\ngress in TWEA\, and the n in IEEPA\, codified those prece\ndents. But this argument fails at both steps. Insofar as the \nGovernment relies on our wartime cases themselves \, they\nare facially inapposite. Regardless of what they might\nmean for the President’s inherent wartime authority\, all \n—————— \n 5The Government\, citing the IEEPA House Committee Report\, con\ntends tha t Congress “indisputably knew of ” Yoshida’s interpretation of \nTWE A. Brief for Federal Parties 26\; see also post\, at 15–16\, and n. 11 \ n(opinion of KAVANAUGH\, J.). But even taking the Report at face value\, i t \nhardly helps the Government. The Report explains that “[s]uccessive \nPresidents have seized upon the open-endedness of [TWEA] section 5(b)\n to turn that section\, through usage\, into something quite different from \nwhat was envisioned in 1917.” H. R. Rep. No. 95–459\, pp. 8–9 (1 977)\; \naccord\, S. Cohen\, R. Blecker\, &\; P. Whitney\, Fundamentals of U. S. For\neign Trade Policy 178–179 (2d ed. 2003). That is not exa ctly a stamp of \napproval on the action Yoshida guardedly endorsed. And in any event\, \nthe Government’s “knew of ” standard falls well sho rt of the “broad and \nunquestioned” “judicial consensus” we have required to conclude that\nCongress incorporated a judicial definition int o a statutory term. Jama \nv. Immigration and Customs Enforcement\, 543 U . S. 335\, 349 (2005). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of the Court \n19 \nagree that the President has no inherent peacetime author\nit y to impose tariffs.\nNor are we persuaded that the dots connect from our war\ntime precedents\, through multiple iterations of TWEA\, to\nIEEPA\, s uch that IEEPA should be interpreted to grant the\nPresident an expansive peacetime tariff power. This argu\nment relies extensively on a series of inferences drawn from\nscant legislative history. Such an attenuated chain cannot \nsupport—much less “clearly” support—a reading of IEEPA \ nthat includes the distinct power to impose tariffs. Alabama \nAssn.\, 59 4 U. S.\, at 764. \nTurning to this Court’s precedents\, the Government first\nrelies on Federal Energy Administration v. Algonquin SNG\, \nInc.\, 426 U. S. 548 (1976). There\, we held that Section \n232(b) of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962\, which allows the\nPresident to “adjust the impo rts” of particular goods to pro\ntect national security\, includes the p ower to impose “license\nfees.” Id.\, at 561. But that holding bears l ittle on the mean\ning of IEEPA. As a textual matter\, Section 232(b) auth or\nizes the President not only to “adjust . . . imports\,” but (as \n the Government emphasized in Algonquin) to “take such ac\ntion . . . as he deems necessary” to adjust the imports of a \ngood. Brief for Petitio ners 26 (emphasis in original) and Tr.\nof Oral Arg. 6–7\, in Federal En ergy Administration v. Al\ngonquin SNG\, Inc.\, O. T. 1975\, No. 75–382. IEEPA does not \ncontain such sweeping\, discretion-conferring language. As \nfor context\, Section 232(a) states that “[n]o action shall be\nt aken” to “decrease or eliminate” an existing “duty or other \nimpo rt restriction” if doing so would threaten national se\ncurity. 19 U. S . C. §1862(a) (1970 ed.). This explicit refer\nence to duties preceding Section 232(b) renders it natural\nfor Section 232(b) itself to authorize duties. Thus\, we de\ncline to extend Algonquin’s expressly “limite d” holding any \nfurther. 426 U. S.\, at 571. \nFinally\, the Government invokes Dames &\; Moore v. Re\ngan\, 453 U. S. 654 (1981)\, but that c ase offers no support. \n20 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of ROBERTS\, C. J. \nDames &\; Moore was exceedingly narrow\,6 did not address \nthe President’s power to “regulate\,” and did not involve tar\niffs at all. If anything\, that case highlights the importance\nof c lose attention to IEEPA’s text. “The terms of . . . \nIEEPA\,” we h eld\, “do not authorize” the suspension of \nclaims. Id.\, at 675. So too here\; the terms of IEEPA do not \nauthorize tariffs. \nIII \nThe Pre sident asserts the extraordinary power to unilat\nerally impose tariffs of unlimited amount\, duration\, and \nscope. In light of the breadth\, hist ory\, and constitutional \ncontext of that asserted authority\, he must id entify clear\ncongressional authorization to exercise it.\nIEEPA’s grant of authority to “regulate . . . importation”\nfalls short. IEEPA cont ains no reference to tariffs or duties. \nThe Government points to no stat ute in which Congress\nused the word “regulate” to authorize taxation. And until \nnow no President has read IEEPA to confer such power.\nWe cl aim no special competence in matters of economics \nor foreign affairs. We claim only\, as we must\, the limited\nrole assigned to us by Article III of the Constitution. Ful\nfilling that role\, we hold that IEEPA does no t authorize the \nPresident to impose tariffs. \n—————— \n6See \, e.g.\, 453 U. S.\, at 660 (“We are confined to a resolution of the \n dispute presented to us”)\; ibid. (We are “acutely aware of the necess ity\nto rest decision on the narrowest possible ground capable of deciding the \ncase”)\; id.\, at 661 (“We attempt to lay down no general ‘gu idelines’ cover\ning other situations not involved here\, and attempt to confine the opinion \nonly to the very questions necessary to decision of the case”)\; ibid. (“[T]he\ndecisions of the Court in this area have been rare\, episodic\, and afford\nlittle precedential value for subsequen t cases”)\; id.\, at 688 (“[W]e re-em\nphasize the narrowness of our d ecision”). This is not quite “no\, no\, a \nthousand times no\,” bu t should have sufficed to dissuade the principal \ndissent from invoking t he case\, see post\, at 55–56\, with respect to the \nquite distinct leg al and factual issues present here. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOp inion of the Court \n21 \nThe judgment of the United States Court of Appea ls for \nthe Federal Circuit in case No. 25–250 is affirmed. The \njudg ment of the United States District Court for the Dis\ntrict of Columbia in case No. 24–1287 is vacated\, and the \ncase is remanded with instructi ons to dismiss for lack of ju\nrisdiction. \nIt is so ordered. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n1 \nSUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES \n_________________ \nNos. 24–1287 and 25–250 \n____ _____________ \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC.\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n24–12 87 \nv. \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT TO THE UNITED \nSTATES COURT OF APPEAL S FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA \nCIRCUIT \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n25–250 \nv. \nV.O.S. SELECT IONS\, INC.\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF \nAPPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT \n[February 20\, 2026]\n JUSTICE GORSUC H\, concurring. \nThe President claims that Congress delegated to him an\n extraordinary power in the International Emergency Eco\nnomic Powers Act ( IEEPA)—the power to impose tariffs on\npractically any products he wants \, from any countries he\nchooses\, in any amounts he selects. Applying t he major \nquestions doctrine\, the principal opinion rejects that argu\nm ent. I join in full. The Constitution lodges the Nation’s \nlawmaking p owers in Congress alone\, and the major ques\ntions doctrine safeguards th at assignment against execu\ntive encroachment. Under the doctrine’s ter ms\, the Presi\ndent must identify clear statutory authority for the \next raordinary delegated power he claims. And\, as the prin\ncipal opinion ex plains\, that is a standard he cannot meet. \n2 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC . v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nWhatever else might be said about Congress’s work in\nIEEPA\, it did not clearly surrender to the Preside nt the \nsweeping tariff power he seeks to wield. \nNot everyone sees it t his way. Past critics of the major\nquestions doctrine do not object to it s application in this\ncase\, and they even join much of today’s princip al opinion.\nBut\, they insist\, they can reach the same result by employ\ ning only routine tools of statutory interpretation. Post\, at 1 \n(KAGAN \, J.\, joined by SOTOMAYOR and JACKSON\, JJ.\, con\ncurring in part and c oncurring in judgment). Meanwhile\, \none colleague who joins the principa l opinion in full sug\ngests the major questions doctrine is nothing more than\nroutine statutory interpretation. Post\, at 1 (BARRETT\, J.\, \nconc urring). Still others who have joined major questions\ndecisions in the pa st dissent from today’s application of the \ndoctrine. Post\, at 1 (KAVA NAUGH\, J.\, joined by THOMAS and \nALITO\, JJ.\, dissenting). Finally\, seeking to sidestep the ma\njor questions doctrine altogether\, one collea gue submits \nthat Congress may hand over to the President most of its \np owers\, including the tariff power\, without limit. Post\, at \n1–2 (TH OMAS\, J.\, dissenting). It is an interesting turn of \nevents. Each camp warrants a visit. \nI \nStart with the critics. In the past\, they have cr iticized\nthe major questions doctrine for two main reasons. The doc\ntrin e\, they have suggested\, is a novelty without basis in \nlaw. West Virgin ia v. EPA\, 597 U. S. 697\, 779 (2022)\n(KAGAN\, J.\, joined by\, inter al ios\, SOTOMAYOR\, J.\, dissent\ning) (calling the doctrine a “special ca no[n]” that has “mag\nically appear[ed]”). And\, they have argued\, the doctrine is \nrooted in an “anti-administrative-state stance” tha t pre\nvents Congress from employing executive agency officials to \n“d[ o] important work.” Id.\, at 780. Today\, the critics pro\nceed differe ntly. They join a section of the principal opinion \nthat applies the majo r questions doctrine. Ante\, at 14–20. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n3 \nAnd rather than critique the doctrine\, they say only that it \nis “unnecessary” in this case “because ordi nary principles of \nstatutory interpretation lead to the same result.” Post\, at \n2–3 (opinion of KAGAN\, J.). \nA \nUnpack that last claim fi rst. My concurring colleagues \ncontend that\, as a matter of “straight -up statutory construc\ntion\,” IEEPA does not grant the President the p ower to im\npose tariffs. Post\, at 7. In doing so\, they make thoughtful \npoints about the statute’s text and context. But their ap\nproach to day is difficult to square with how they have in\nterpreted other statutes . Dissenting in past major ques\ntions cases\, they have argued that broa d statutory language \ngranting powers to executive officials should be re ad for all\nit is worth. Yet\, now\, when it comes to IEEPA’s similarly\ nbroad language granting powers to the President\, they take\na more const rained approach. \nConsider some examples of how they have proceeded in \n the past. Dissenting in National Federation of Independent \nBusiness v. O SHA\, 595 U. S. 109 (2022) (per curiam)\n(NFIB)\, two of my concurring col leagues confronted a stat\nute charging the Occupational Safety and Health Admin\nistration with promoting “safe and healthful working con\ndition s.” \nId.\, at 127\, 132 (joint opinion of Breyer\,\nSOTOMAYOR\, and KAG AN\, JJ.) (internal quotation marks\nomitted). They read that language as authorizing the\nagency to impose a vaccine mandate on 84 million Ameri\nc ans. Id.\, at 132\; id.\, at 120 (per curiam). In support of\ntheir readin g\, my colleagues stressed the statute’s “expan\nsive language\,” an other provision authorizing the agency to \nissue temporary “emergency s tandards\,” and “the scope of \nthe crisis” the agency was trying to address. Id.\, at 132\, 135 \n(joint dissent) (internal quotation marks omitted). \n Dissenting in Alabama Assn. of Realtors v. Department of \nHe alth and Human Servs.\, 594 U. S. 758 (2021) \n4 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, IN C. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n(per curiam)\, my colleagues add ressed a statute permitting\nthe Centers for Disease Control and Preventio n to issue reg\nulations “necessary to prevent the . . . transmission . . . of \ncommunicable diseases.” Id.\, at 768 (opinion of Breyer\, J.\, \njoined by SOTOMAYOR and KAGAN\, JJ.) (internal quotation\nmarks omitted ). As they saw it\, those terms granted the\nagency the power to regulate landlord-tenant relations na\ntionwide during COVID–19. Ibid. In reachi ng this conclu\nsion\, my colleagues again highlighted the statute’s “ broad”\nlanguage and suggested that it permitted the agency to im\npose even “greater restrictions” than the ones at issue in the \ncase. Id.\ , at 769. \n Dissenting in West Virginia\, my colleagues faced a stat\nute allowing the Environmental Protection Agency to en\nsure power plants emp loy the “best system of emission re\nduction.” 597 U. S.\, at 758 (opi nion of KAGAN\, J.) (internal \nquotation marks omitted). They read that provision as au\nthorizing the agency to effectively close many power plan ts \nand transform the electricity industry from coast to coast.\nSee id.\ , at 754–755. In support\, they once more argued that\nthe statutory la nguage was “broad” and “expansive\,” with\n“no ifs\, ands\, or buts.” Id.\, at 756–758. They stressed\, too\, \nthat the relevant st atutory terms appeared in “major legis\nlation” intended to address “big problems\,” and that the \nstatute authorized actions in the ag ency’s “traditional lane”\nor “wheelhouse.” Id.\, at 756–757\, 765. \nFinally\, dissenting in Biden v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S. 477 \n(2023) \, my colleagues took up a statute permitting the Sec\nretary of Education to “waive or modify any statutory or \nregulatory provision applying to [a federal] student-loan \nprogram” during a national emergency. Id.\, at 533 (opinion\nof KAGAN\, J.\, joined by SOTOMAYOR and JACKSON\, JJ.) ( in\nternal quotation marks omitted). They said that language\nallowed the Secretary to cancel $430 billion in federal stu\ndent-loan debt because of COVID–19. See ibid.\; id.\, at 501 \n(majority opinion). Once again\, t hey argued that the \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, con curring \n5 \nstatutory terms were “broad\,” “expansive\,” “ca pacious\,” and\ndesigned to afford the Secretary a “poten[t]” power to re\nspond to “national emergencies” that were “major in scope.” \nId.\, at 533–542 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting). \nNow compare all that to how my colleagues proceed here.\nThis case\, they say\, is “nearly the opposite.” Post\, at 3. \nWhile straight-up statutory interpretation gr anted execu\ntive officials all the power they sought in all those other \ ncases\, my colleagues insist this one is different because \nIEEPA simply does not “give the President the power he\nwants.” Ibid. \nThat’s a striking turn given the statutory terms before \nus. When the President d eclares a national emergency “to\ndeal with any unusual and extraordinar y threat . . . to the \nnational security\, foreign policy\, or economy of the United\nStates\,” 50 U. S. C. §1701(a)\, IEEPA permits him to “r egu\nlate . . . importation . . . of . . . any property in which any \nfor eign country or a national thereof has any interest\,” \n§1702(a)(1)(B) . \nSurely\, the authority granted here is \n“broad” and “expansiv e.” See West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at \n758–759 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissen ting). It has “no ifs\, ands\, or \nbuts” either. Id.\, at 756. As a matter of ordinary meaning\,\nthe term “regulate” means to “fix\, es tablish or control\,” “ad\njust by rule\, method\, or established mo de\,” “direct by rule\nor restriction\,” or “subject to governing principles or laws.” \nBlack’s Law Dictionary 1156 (5th ed. 1979)\; se e also post\, at \n4. And tariffs do just that—they fix rules that cont rol\, ad\njust\, or govern imports of “property in which any foreign \nc ountry or a national thereof has any interest.” \n§1702(a)(1)(B).\nWith out question IEEPA is also “major legislation” de\nsigned to address “big problems” and “crises\,” West Vir\nginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 754\, 756–758 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting)\n(internal quotation marks omitt ed)\, along with “emergen\ncies” that are “major in scope\,” Nebra ska\, 600 U. S.\, at 542 \n(KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting). By its terms\, the s tatute applies \n6 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, c oncurring \nonly during declared national emergencies involving\n“threat [s]” to the “national security\, foreign policy\, or econ\nomy of the United States.” §1701(a). And it tasks the Pres\nident personally with responding to those emergencies\, a \nresponsibility surely more in his “lane” or “wheelhouse” \nthan that of any other executive officia l. See West Virginia\, \n597 U. S.\, at 765 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting). No tably\, too\,\nIEEPA grants the President the power to impose even\n“gre ater restrictions” than tariffs\, Alabama Assn. of Real\ntors\, 594 U. S .\, at 769 (Breyer\, J.\, dissenting)\, because the \nstatute also permits him to “nullify\,” “prevent\,” and “void” \nimports\, §1702( a)(1)(B)\; see also Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 539 \n(KAGAN\, J.\, dissenti ng). \nWhy do my concurring colleagues read IEEPA so much\nmore narrowly t han they have other broad statutory terms\nfound in other major legislatio n addressing other emergen\ncies? They say contextual clues justify a narr owing con\nstruction here. See post\, at 3–7. But what the concurrence \ ncalls “context” looks remarkably like the major questions\ndoctrine ’s rule that\, when executive branch officials claim \nCongress has gran ted them an extraordinary power\, they\nmust identify clear statutory auth ority for it. See ante\, at \n13 (reciting the rule).\nTake some examples . The concurrence points to the “un\nparalleled authority” the Presid ent asserts “to impose a tar\niff of any amount\, for any time\, on only his own say-so.” \nPost\, at 6. In other words\, the President claims a n \n“[e]xtraordinary” power. West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 723 \n(maj ority opinion). The concurrence observes that no “Pres\nident until now understood IEEPA to authorize imposing\ntariffs.” Post\, at 6. In other words\, the power is an “unher\nalded” one. West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\ , at 722 (internal quo\ntation marks omitted). Along the way\, the concurr ence also \nadds “a modicum of common sense about how Congress typ\nical ly delegates” and “consideration of whether Congress \never has before \, or likely would\, delegate the power the \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (20 26) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n7 \nExecutive asserts.” Post\, at 2 (i nternal quotation marks \nomitted). In other words\, the statutory text mu st be read\nin light of “separation of powers principles.” West Virgi nia\, \n597 U. S.\, at 723. \nHaving borrowed all those concepts from the major ques\ntions doctrine\, the concurrence then turns to the key statu\n tory terms before us—“regulate . . . importation”—and ob\nserves t hat they “sa[y] nothing” (at least not expressly)\n“about imposing t ariffs.” Post\, at 3. And why is that fatal \nto the President’s case ? Because the President is attempt\ning to exercise the “‘core congre ssional power’” over taxes \nand tariffs\, a power Article I of the Co nstitution vests in\nCongress alone. Post\, at 5 (quoting ante\, at 8)\; s ee also West \nVirginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 737 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring) ( ex\nplaining that the major questions doctrine “protect[s] the \nConstit ution’s separation of powers\,” and particularly Arti\ncle I\, which v ests “all federal legislative . . . [p]owers in . . . \nCongress” (int ernal quotation marks and alteration omit\nted)).\nIf my colleagues all bu t apply the major questions doc\ntrine today\, maybe they are simply recog nizing what they\nhave in other separation of powers cases involving the d el\negation of legislative power: that “[t]he guidance needed is\ngrea ter” when the executive branch seeks to take “action[s]\n[that] will a ffect the entire national economy.” FCC v. Con\nsumers’ Research\, 60 6 U. S. 656\, 673 (2025) (opinion for the \nCourt by KAGAN\, J.) (internal quotation marks omitted). Or \nmaybe my colleagues believe the power the President as\nserts here outstrips even those powers executive officials\n asserted in our past major questions cases. But whatever \nthe case\, my c oncurring colleagues’ course today suggests\nthat skeptics owe the major questions doctrine a second \nlook. \nAll of which leads me to take up th e challenges they have\nposed to it in the past. Is the doctrine really so me “special \ncano[n]” that has only recently “magically appear[ed ]”? \n8 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nWest Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 779 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting). \nAnd is it really grounded in an “anti-administrative-state \nstance” that pre vents Congress from using executive \nbranch officials to perform “impor tant work”? Id.\, at 780. \nB \nThe major questions doctrine teaches th at\, to sustain a\nclaim that Congress has granted them an extraordinary\n power\, executive officials must identify clear authority for\nthat power. Far from a novelty\, much the same principle\nhas long applied to those w ho claim extraordinary dele\ngated authority\, whether in private or publi c law. \n1 \nExamples stretch across many fields. Consider first the \nco mmon law of corporations. In early modern England\, cor\nporations could be formed only with “an explicit\, ex ante\nand direct authorization.” R. Harris\, Industrializing Eng\nlish Law: Entrepreneurship and Business Organization\,\n1720–1844\, p. 17 (2000). That authorization could be gi ven \nby the Crown\, an Act of Parliament\, or a combination of the \ntwo. Ibid.\; see also id.\, at 19. Some of these corporations \nexercised regu latory functions not unlike those performed\nby modern administrative agen cies. M. Bilder\, The Corpo\nrate Origins of Judicial Review\, 116 Yale L . J. 502\, 516\n517\, 519–520 (2006). Indeed\, the “[i]nitial settleme nts in\nVirginia and Massachusetts Bay\, among others\, were struc\ntured as corporations.” Id.\, at 535. \nEnglish law treated these corporation s as having author\nity to issue bylaws. But that authority was subject to re\nstrictions\, one of which was that corporations could not reg\nulate on major subjects without express authorization. \nTake Kirk v. Nowill\, 1 T. R. 118\, 99 Eng. Rep. 1006 (K. B. \n1786). That case involved the Comp any of Cutlers\, a corpo\nration for makers of knives and other cutlery. See id.\, at \n118–119\, 99 Eng. Rep.\, at 1006. An Act of Parliament g ave \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n9 \nth e company broad authority to regulate its members. Id.\, \nat 118–121\, 99 Eng. Rep.\, at 1006–1007. The company used\nthat authority to adopt a bylaw allowing its officials to enter \nits members’ “workshops and w arehouses” and search for \n“deceitful and unworkmanly” cutlery. Id .\, at 121–122\, 99 \nEng. Rep.\, at 1007. After the company seized sup posedly\nunworkmanly forks\, the aggrieved owner challenged the \ncompan y’s actions in court\, arguing that the bylaw under \nwhich it acted w as “bad in point of law” because the power \nto incur a forfeiture was not “expressly given to [the com\npany] by Act of Parliament.” Id.\, at 118\, 122–123\, 99 Eng. \nRep.\, at 1008. Applying a clear-statemen t rule\, the King’s \nBench declared the bylaw\, and therefore the seizu re\, un\nlawful. Lord Mansfield explained that the “power of mak\ning by e-laws to incur a forfeiture” was an “extraordinary\npower” over and above the default powers of corporations\n“created by charter.” Id.\, at 124\, 99 Eng. Rep.\, at 1009. For \nthis reason\, the power needed to be “expressly given” by the\ncompany’s progenitor\, Parliament. Ibi d. Since no such \npower had been clearly conferred\, the seizure was unla wful. \nSee ibid. \nThe same principle applied in American law. In In re \nElection of Directors of Long Island R. Co.\, 19 Wend. 37\, 40 \n(N. Y. Sup. Ct. 1837)\, a New York court addressed a case\ninvolving 2\,700 share s of stock in the Long Island Railroad \nCompany that the company had decl ared forfeited. Ibid. \nAll agreed that the company had broad power to re gulate \nits shares. See id.\, at 41–42. Still\, the court called the f or\nfeiture an “extraordinary penalty\,” and held that no such \npower had been “expressly conferred” on the corporation by\nits charter. Ib id. In fact\, the court borrowed the clear\nstatement rule from Nowill: I f “extraordinary authority . . . \nis intended to be given\, it must be by express words to that \neffect.” Id.\, at 43 (describing Nowill in de tail).\nThe court in Ex parte Burnett\, 30 Ala. 461 (1857)\, pro\nceeded s imilarly. That case involved the incorporated town \n10 \nLEARNING RESOURC ES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nof Cahaba\, Alabama. See id.\, at 464. The town set the price\nof a liquor license at $1\,000\, fin ed James Burnett for failing \nto obtain one\, and eventually imprisoned h im for not paying \nthe fine. See ibid. Burnett sought a writ of habeas c orpus\nand argued that Cahaba had acted beyond the scope of its\ncorporate authority. Ibid. \nWithout a clear-statement rule\, Burnett’s argument \nwould have stood little chance. That’s because the town’s \ncharter granted it the authority “to make and establish all \nsuch rules\, by-la ws\, and ordinances\, respecting the streets\, \nmarkets\, buildings\, . . . and police of said town\, that shall\nappear to them requisite and nece ssary for the security\,\nwelfare\, and convenience of said town\, or for preserving\nhealth\, peace\, order\, and good government within the \nsame .” Id.\, at 467 (internal quotation marks omitted). The \ncharter even s pecifically gave the town the “privileg[e] of \ngranting licenses for re tailing of spirituous and other liq\nuors.” Ibid. (internal quotation ma rks omitted). Semanti\ncally\, the town’s power was broad indeed and en compassed\nliquor licensing. But the court sided with Burnett anyway. \nRe asoning that the town’s exorbitant licensing fee effec\ntively banned th e sale of liquor\, the court held that Cahaba \ndid not enjoy such extraor dinary “prohibitory” power be\ncause it was “not authorized by any e xpress grant of power” \nin the town’s charter. Id.\, at 469\; see als o id.\, at 466. \nThese cases are not outliers. Treatises confirm that th e \nextraordinary power principle was fundamental to munici\npal corporati ons. A statute could “not by implication invest\n[a] body with any extr aordinary authority.” J. Willcock\, \nThe Law of Municipal Corporation s ¶226\, p. 99 (1827). Ex\ntraordinary powers required “express words to that effect.” \nIbid. And “[a]ny fair\, reasonable doubt concernin g the ex\nistence of power [was] resolved by the courts against the \ncorp oration\, and the power [was] denied.” 1 J. Dillon\, Com\nmentaries on t he Law of Municipal Corporations 145 (4th \ned. 1890). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n11 \nThe takeaway is simple e nough. Early corporations often\nfunctioned much like today’s executive branch\, exercising\ndelegated regulatory authority. And\, when interpret ing the \nscope of that authority\, the common law had a clear-state\nment rule that looked strikingly like the major questions\ndoctrine. \nHistori cally\, a similar precept applied in agency law. As \nthe leading early A merican treatise put it\, instruments con\nferring powers of attorney were “ordinarily subjected to a\nstrict interpretation.” J. Story\, Comme ntaries on the Law \nof Agency 80–81 (2d ed. 1844). So\, for example\, in Attwood \nv. Munnings\, 7 Barn. &\; Cress. 278\, 108 Eng. Rep. 727 ( K.\nB. 1827)\, a principal had delegated broad power to an agent \nto act “generally for him and in his name\,” including in all \nthings “as should be requisite\, expedient\, and advisable to\nbe done in . . . his a ffairs and concerns\, and as he might or \ncould do if personally acting t herein.” Id.\, at 279–280\, 108 \nEng. Rep.\, at 728 (internal quotat ion marks omitted). The \nagent then accepted certain debts on behalf of the principal. \nId.\, at 280\, 108 Eng. Rep.\, at 728. The question for the court \nwas whether this action was within the scope of the agent’s \nauthority. Id.\, at 281\, 108 Eng. Rep.\, at 728. The court said \nno. Powers of attorney are “instruments to be construed\nstrictly.” Id.\, at 283\, 108 Eng. Rep.\, at 729. And the power\nof attorney contained “no express power” to accept debts\, so \nno such power had been given . Ibid. \nOther examples abound. A power to sell casks of whiskey \ndid n ot include the “unusual and extraordinary” power to\noffer a warranty against future seizures of the casks\, unless \ngranted by “express auth ority.” Palmer v. Hatch\, 46 Mo. \n585\, 587 (1870). Under a power of a ttorney\, authority to \nenter contracts for a principal was subject to “strict inter\npretation” and generally did not authorize “contracts of an\nextraordinary character” outside those “connected with [the \n principal’s] ordinary business.” Reynolds v. Rowley\, 4 La. \nAnn. 396 \, 398–399 (1849). And a power to manage a mine \n12 \nLEARNING RESOURC ES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \ndid not authorize an agen t to borrow money for the mine’s\noperations on the principal’s credit because there was no\n“express authority” for such a departure from the “usual \nmanner” of running a mine. Hawtayne v. Bourne\, 7 M. &a mp\; \nW. 595\, 599\, 151 Eng. Rep. 905\, 906 (Ex. 1841). This was \ntrue even “in cases of necessity\,” id.\, at 599\, 151 Eng. Rep.\, \nat 90 7\, where the manager borrowed funds to address an \n“emergency suddenly arising\,” id.\, at 600\, 151 Eng. Rep.\, at \n907. \nMuch the same pri nciple applied to executive officials.\nOften\, “[t]he legality of an ex ecutive action depended on the \nrelationship between the size of the asse rted power and the \nclarity of the underlying legal authority.” T. Arv ind &\; C. \nBurset\, Partisan Legal Traditions in the Age of Camden \n and Mansfield\, 44 Oxford J. Legal Studies 376\, 388 (2024). \nEntick v. C arrington\, 19 How. St. Tr. 1029 (C. P. 1765)\, of\nfers an illustration. There\, as part of an investigation for \nseditious libel\, the English S ecretary of State claimed au\nthority to issue a warrant for the seizure o f an author’s pa\npers. Lord Camden declared the seizure unlawful\, reas on\ning that power asserted by the executive “ought to be as\nclear as i t is extensive.” T. Arvind &\; C. Burset\, A New Re\nport of Entick v. Carrington (1765)\, 110 Ky. L. J. 265\, 324 \n(2022) (Arvind &\; Bur set). Or\, as another reporter described \nCamden’s decision\, “one s hould naturally expect that the \nlaw to warrant [the exercise of power] s hould be clear in \nproportion as the power is exorbitant.” 19 How. St. Tr.\, at \n1065–1066. The seizure represented an extraordinary ex\nercis e of power\, Lord Camden found\, and no legal authority \nclearly authoriz ed it. See Arvind &\; Burset 324. Accord\ningly\, the warrant was unlaw ful and the seizure could not \nstand. Id.\, at 332. \n2 \nPerhaps unsurpr isingly given this history\, American\ncourts applied the extraordinary po wer principle when \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, conc urring \n13 \nCongress and the States started delegating new regulatory\np owers to executive agencies in the late 19th century. Take \nrailroad com missions. After the Civil War\, governments\nworried about the increasing power of railroad companies\nresponded by creating new agencies and imbuin g them with \nbroad regulatory authority. These bodies were among the\nfi rst modern administrative agencies. See West Virginia\, \n597 U. S.\, at 7 40 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring). And when they \nclaimed some extraordinar y delegated power\, both state \nand federal courts enforced a clear-state ment rule. See\, \ne.g.\, Siler v. Louisville &\; Nashville R. Co.\, 21 3 U. S. 175\, \n193–194 (1909) (declaring\, in the course of interpretin g a \nstate statute\, that an “enormous power” “must be conferred \n in plain language” “free from doubt”)\; Board of R. Comm’rs \nof O re. v. Oregon R. &\; Navigation Co.\, 17 Ore. 65\, 77\, 19 P. \n702\, 7 07–708 (1888) (When an agency exercises “powers\ndelegated to [it] by the legislature” to carry out “important \nfunctions\,” the text m ust “define and specify the authority \ngiven it so clearly that no doub t can reasonably arise”)\; ICC \nv. Cincinnati\, N. O. &\; T. P. R. C o.\, 167 U. S. 479\, 505 (1897)\n(holding a delegation of legislative powe r of “supreme deli\ncacy and importance” must be “clear and direct ”)\; Gulf &\; \nShip Island R. Co. v. Railroad Comm’n\, 94 Miss. 12 4\, 134– \n135\, 49 So. 118 (1908) (“It is universally held that a rai lroad \ncommission . . . must be able to point to its grant of power \n. . . in clear and express terms\, and nothing will be had by \ninference”) .\nThe railroad commissions may have been the first\, but \nthey were not the last. Whether executive officials claimed \nthe power to criminally pu nish noncompliance with regula\ntions\, force employers to retain employee s regardless of \ntheir unlawful conduct\, or regulate intrastate candy sa les\,\nthis Court held them to much the same standard. Because \ntheir cl aimed powers were so substantial\, executive officials \nhad to identify a “distinc[t]” authority for them\, United \nStates v. Eaton\, 144 U. S . 677\, 688 (1892)\, a “clear \n14 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nlegislative basis\,” United States v. Geor ge\, 228 U. S. 14\, 22 \n(1913)\, a “definite and unmistakable expressio n\,” NLRB v. \nFansteel Metallurgical Corp.\, 306 U. S. 240\, 255 (1939) \, or \na “clea[r] mandate\,” FTC v. Bunte Brothers\, Inc.\, 312 U. S. \n349\, 351\, 355 (1941). Cf. Industrial Union Dept.\, AFL–CIO \nv. Ame rican Petroleum Institute\, 448 U. S. 607\, 645 (1980) \n(plurality opinio n) (“In the absence of a clear mandate . . . \nit is unreasonable to ass ume that Congress intended to give \nthe Secretary [of Labor] the unpreced ented power over\nAmerican industry” he claimed). \nIt is no mystery why the Court proceeded this way when\ninterpreting legislative directions to the executive branch.\nArticle I of the Constitution vests all federal le gislative\npower in Congress\, and Article II charges the executive\nbranc h with seeing that Congress’s laws are faithfully exe\ncuted. In a very real sense\, then\, when it comes to legisla\ntive power\, Congress is the principal and executive officials \nare the agents. See generally G. Law son &\; G. Seidman\, “A \nGreat Power of Attorney”: Understanding t he Fiduciary \nConstitution (2017).\nSo what is the basis for the charge t hat the major ques\ntions doctrine represents some “magica[l]” innovat ion? See \nWest Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 779 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting). \nPart of the answer may have to do with the fact that\, in the\nlatter ha lf of the 20th century\, this Court began experi\nmenting with a very diff erent approach. The Court pushed \naside its long-held skepticism of clai ms to extraordinary \ndelegated powers and began affirmatively encouraging \nthem. Chevron deference is just one example of this phe\nnomenon\, tho ugh a stark one. See Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. \nNatural Resources Defense Council\, Inc.\, 467 U. S. 837 \n(1984). That case established a presumpti on that was \nnearly the opposite of the major questions doctrine: When \ nCongress failed to speak clearly\, courts put a thumb on the\nscale in fa vor of delegated power. Id.\, at 843–844. Given \nthat development\, th e longstanding principles animating \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGO RSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n15 \nthe major questions doctrine may have reced ed from view\nfor a time. After all\, the two doctrines often applied in t he \nsame places and counseled opposite results. But with Chev\nron gone\, so is the conflict. This Court’s application of the \nmajor questions doctrine is not invention so much as return\nto form. \nC \nNow turn to my concurring colleagues’ other charge: that \nthe major questions doctrin e is premised on an “anti-admin\nistrative-state stance.” West Virgin ia\, 597 U. S.\, at 780 \n(KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting). It is important\, th ey argue\, to al\nlow Congress to delegate expansive powers. Members of \n Congress unfortunately “often don’t know enough—and\nknow they don ’t know enough—to regulate sensibly on an \nissue.” Id.\, at 781. No r can Congress easily “anticipate\nchanging circumstances.” Ibid. For these reasons\, Mem\nbers of Congress must rely on more adept and less con \nstrained “people . . . found in agencies.” Ibid. Indeed\, my\ncoll eagues say\, “administrative delegations . . . have helped\nto build a m odern Nation.” Id.\, at 782. And the major ques\ntions doctrine\, they w orry\, could jeopardize all that “aston\nish[ing] . . . progress.” Ib id. \nThis policy complaint\, of course\, is no reason to disregard \nour precedents or longstanding legal principles. But\, even \ntaken on its ow n terms\, it is a bit perplexing. The major\nquestions doctrine is not “anti-administrative state.” It is \npro-Congress. Common-law courts understood that few \nwritten instruments can anticipate every eventuality \, and \nthat principals sometimes draft broad delegation language \nto ac count for this. At the same time\, courts appreciated\nthe corresponding risk that delegees could easily exploit\nloose language in their commissio ns for their own benefit \nand to the detriment of those they purported to serve. So \ncommon-law courts often strictly construed delegated \n16 \n LEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \npowers\, not because they were anti-delegee\, but because\nthey were pro-principal. \nThe major questions doctrine performs a similar function.\nArticle I ves ts all federal legislative power in Congress. But \nlike any written inst rument\, federal legislation cannot an\nticipate every eventuality\, a poi nt my concurring colleagues \nhave observed in the past. Id.\, at 781–78 2. And highly re\nsourceful members of the executive branch have strong in \ncentives to exploit any doubt in Congress’s past work to as\nsume new power for themselves. The major questions\ndoctrine helps prevent that ki nd of exploitation. Our found\ners understood that men are not angels\, a nd we disregard \nthat insight at our peril when we allow the few (or the one)\nto aggrandize their power based on loose or uncertain au\nthority. W e delude ourselves\, too\, if we think that power \nwill accumulate safely and only in the hands of dispassion\nate “people . . . found in agencie s.” Id.\, at 781. Even if un\nelected agency officials were uniquely imm une to the desire\nfor more power (an unserious assumption)\, they report to\nelected Presidents who can claim no such modesty. See My\ners v. Unit ed States\, 272 U. S. 52 (1926). \nAnother feature of our separation of po wers makes the\nmajor questions doctrine especially salient. When a priva te\nagent oversteps\, a principal may fix that problem prospec\ntively by withdrawing the agent’s authority. Under our \nConstitution\, the remed y is not so simple. Once this Court \nreads a doubtful statute as grantin g the executive branch a\ngiven power\, that power may prove almost imposs ible for \nCongress to retrieve. Any President keen on his own au\nthority (and\, again\, what President isn’t?) will have a \nstrong incentive to veto legislation aimed at returning the \npower to Congress. Perhaps Con gress can use other tools\, \nincluding its appropriation authority\, to i nfluence how the\nPresident exercises his new power. Maybe Congress can\ns ometimes even leverage those tools to induce the President \nto withhold a veto. But retrieving a lost power is no easy \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n17 \nbusiness in our constitutional o rder. And without doctrines \nlike major questions\, our system of separa ted powers and\nchecks-and-balances threatens to give way to the continual \nand permanent accretion of power in the hands of one man.\nThat is no re cipe for a republic.\nThis case offers an example of the problem. Article I \ngrants Congress\, not the President\, the power to impose \ntariffs. S till\, the President claims\, Congress passed that\npower on to him in IEE PA\, permitting him to impose tariffs \non nearly any goods he wishes\, in any amount he wishes\, \nbased on emergencies he himself has declared. H e insists\, \nas well\, that his emergency declarations are unreviewable. \nA ruling for him here\, the President acknowledges\, would\nafford futur e Presidents the same latitude he asserts for \nhimself. See Tr. of Oral A rg. 69. So another President \nmight impose tariffs on gas-powered automo biles to re\nspond to climate change. Ibid. Or\, really\, on virtually any \nimports for any emergency any President might perceive. \nAnd all of th ese emergency declarations would be unreview\nable. Just ask yourself: Wh at President would willingly \ngive up that kind of power?\nI recognize th e concerns about the major questions doc\ntrine. But it is not so novel as some have supposed. And it \nserves Article I values we all share. My c oncurring col\nleagues all but endorse it today. I hope past skeptics wil l\ngive it another look. \nII \nTurn now to the second camp. If some have criticized the \nmajor questions doctrine\, others have responded by seek ing\nto soften its blow. Though joining today’s principal opinion \nhol ding that “clear” statutory authority is required to sus\ntain the exe rcise of an “extraordinary” power\, ante\, at 13\, \n20\, JUSTICE BARR ETT has suggested that the major ques\ntions doctrine might be reconceived . On her view\, the doc\ntrine need not be understood as a “substantive canon \n18 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurri ng \ndesigned to enforce Article I’s Vesting Clause”—a “valu[e] \n external to a statute.” Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 508\, 510 \n(concurri ng opinion). \n Instead\, the doctrine might be\nthought of as a “common sense principl[e] of communica\ntion” that counsels “skepticism” whe n executive officials \nclaim extraordinary powers derived from Congress. Id.\, at \n514\, 516\; see also post\, at 1–4 (concurring opinion). \nI t is a thoughtful effort\, but I harbor doubts. For one \nthing\, there is no need to reconceive our doctrine\; past crit\nics all but apply the doc trine today and their previous criti\ncisms fall flat. See Part I\, supra . For another\, this gloss on\nour major questions doctrine presents probl ems. Com\nmonsense principles of communication do not explain many \nof ou r major questions cases—this one included. And if \ncommon sense really does go so far as to embrace a rule \ncounseling “skepticism” of claim s by executive officials that \nCongress has granted them extraordinary po wers\, that is\ncommon sense in name only. The reason for such skepti\nci sm must be Article I\, a “substantive” source “external” to \nany statute. \nA \nIntroducing her view that “commonsense principles of \nco mmunication” can sometimes help resolve disputes over \nthe meaning of s tatutory terms\, JUSTICE BARRETT points to \nan old chestnut. Nebraska\, 6 00 U. S.\, at 512\, 514 (concur\nring opinion). Suppose a legislature used the phrase “who\never drew blood in the streets” in a criminal statut e impos\ning punishment. As a matter of “common sense\,” JUSTICE \nBAR RETT says\, it would “‘g[o] without saying’” that the law \ndoes n’t apply to a surgeon accessing a patient’s vein to save \nhis life. Ibid. That is because the phrase “drew blood” is \nsusceptible to two conventional idiomatic meanings: one \n“applicable to violent encounter s with man or beast” and \nthe other “to medical procedures\,” A. Sc alia &\; B. Garner\, \nReading Law 357 (2012) (Scalia &\; Garner). A nd any \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n19 \nordinary person faced with that phrase in a penal law would \nfind it ob vious which meaning applies. Ibid.\; see also Ne\nbraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 512 (BARRETT\, J.\, concurring).\nThe difficulty is\, our major questions cases are different. \nOften\, little about them “‘goes without s aying.’” Ibid. Take \nFDA v. Brown &\; Williamson Tobacco Corp.\, 529 U. S. 120 \n(2000). There\, the question was whether the FDA could \n regulate tobacco products. Id.\, at 125. Looking only to com\nmon sense\ , the answer would have been yes. Congress au\nthorized the FDA to regula te “drugs\,” which Congress de\nfined expressly and broadly as “‘a rticles (other than food) \nintended to affect the structure or any functi on of the \nbody.’” Id.\, at 126. As a matter of common sense\, nicot ine \nqualifies as a “drug” based on this statutory definition\, as it \nmight even as a matter of everyday speech. West Virginia\, \n597 U. S.\ , at 721–722 (noting the “colorable textual basis” \nfor the executi ve branch’s interpretation in Brown &\; Wil\nliamson). Still\, we hel d the FDA could not regulate tobacco \nproducts. Brown &\; Williamson\, 529 U. S.\, at 159–160. \nOther cases follow suit. We have ruled that the term “air \npollutant” does not include greenhouse gases\, even th ough\ngreenhouse gases pollute the air. Utility Air Regulatory \nGroup v. EPA\, 573 U. S. 302\, 316\, 323–324 (2014). We have \nheld that the phr ase “‘[r]egulations . . . necessary to pre\nvent the . . . spread of c ommunicable diseases’” does not in\nclude eviction moratoriums\, even without questioning that\neviction moratoriums were necessary to prevent t he spread\nof COVID–19\, a communicable disease. Alabama Assn. of \nReal tors\, 594 U. S.\, at 761\, 764. And we have said that clos\ning coal pow er plants is not the “‘best system of emission \nreduction\,’” eve n while acknowledging that closing them \nwould reduce emissions. West Vi rginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 721\, \n732–735. \nNone of these cases can be re adily explained by “com\nmonsense principles of communication.” Nebras ka\, 600 \nU. S.\, at 514 (BARRETT\, J.\, concurring). None involved a \n2 0 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nphras e like “drew blood” susceptible to two conventional id\niomatic meanin gs\, one of which any English speaker faced \nwith the law at issue might quickly rule out. Quite the op\nposite\; in each case the agency had a st rong argument that\nthe statutory language\, commonsensically read\, grant ed \nthe power it claimed. Meanwhile\, all our major questions\ncases can be easily explained by reference to a rule requir\ning the executive branc h to identify clear statutory author\nity when it claims Congress has gran ted it an extraordinary \npower. And that is a “dice-loading” rule\, p lain and simple\,\none designed to protect Article I\, a “[s]ubstantive . . . valu[e]\nexternal” to the statutory terms at hand. Id.\, at 508. \nCommon sense not only fails to explain many of our major \nquestions cas es. It doesn’t explain even some of the cases \nJUSTICE BARRETT has hel d up as examples of commonsense \ncases. In Bond v. United States\, 572 U. S. 844 (2014)\, for \nexample\, the Court confronted a statute that defin ed\n“chemical weapon” to include “‘any chemical which through\nits chemical action on life processes can cause death\, tem\nporary incapacit ation or permanent harm to humans or an\nimals.’” Id.\, at 851\; see a lso Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 512– \n513 (BARRETT\, J.\, concurring) (di scussing Bond). Despite\nthat broad definition\, the Court held that “an arsenic-based \ncompound” didn’t fit the bill. Bond\, 572 U. S.\, at 852\, 866. \nTo reach that result\, we did not use common sense alone. \n How could we have? It hardly goes without saying that ar\nsenic doesn’t qualify as a “chemical” which can cause “‘per\nmanent harm to hum ans or animals.’” Id.\, at 851\; see also \nid.\, at 867 (Scalia\, J. \, concurring in judgment) (calling it \n“beyond doubt” that the ordin ary meaning of the relevant \nstatutory terms embraced the chemicals at is sue). Instead\, \nwe relied on a clear-statement rule grounded in the sub \nstance of the Constitution—namely\, the federalism canon. \nId.\, at 8 60 (majority opinion) (“[W]e can insist on a clear \nindication that Con gress meant to reach purely local\ncrimes\, before interpreting the statut e’s expansive \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurr ing \n21 \nlanguage in a way that intrudes on the police power of the\nSta tes”). So Bond may well be like our major questions\ncases\, but that is only because it applied a clear-statement \nrule grounded in another subs tantive feature of the Consti\ntution. \nConsider as well the babysitter h ypothetical JUSTICE \nBARRETT has posed. Imagine a parent of young childr en \nwho hands a babysitter a credit card and says\, “‘[m]ake \nsure t he kids have fun.’” Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 513 (con\ncurring opinio n). Now suppose the babysitter takes the\nkids on a road trip to an amuse ment park\, “where they\nspend two days on rollercoasters and one night in a hotel.” \nIbid. “Was the babysitter’s trip consistent with the parent’s\ninstruction?” Ibid. JUSTICE BARRETT believes the answer \nis likely “no” as a matter of common sense. See id.\, at 513– \n514. \ nReally\, though\, unless one is to believe children do not \n“have fu n” on rollercoasters and at hotels\, the babysitter \nhypothetical can b e explained only with reference to some \n“external” and “substant ive” norm. Id.\, at 508\, 513. And\, \nin fact\, just such a norm is b aked into the babysitter hypo\nthetical—one we encountered in Part I–B \, supra. The \nbabysitter is exercising authority the parents have dele\n gated to her. She is acting as their agent. As a result\, one \nmight expe ct a clear statement from the parents before the \nbabysitter may do somet hing extraordinary\, like take the\nkids on a road trip.\nThis substantive norm about delegated powers not only\nlurks beneath the surface of the ba bysitter hypothetical\, it\n“‘loads the dice’” against her. Nebras ka\, 600 U. S.\, at 510 \n(BARRETT\, J.\, concurring). Doubtless\, she wou ld see it that \nway. The babysitter would argue that a trip to an amuse\n ment park is “fun.” And she would be right under a com\nmonsense under standing of the word. But because the \nbabysitter is exercising delegated authority\, she cannot \n22 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUC H\, J.\, concurring \nexercise such an extraordinary power without clear a uthor\nization for it. \nNotice\, too\, the same outcome is no longer guar anteed\nwhen we remove the delegated power feature. If one parent\nleaves the children with the other parent\, the trip to the \namusement park mig ht well be fine. No other contextual \nclues are needed. See id.\, at 51 6 (agreeing with this). So if \nthe answer to the babysitter hypothetical seems a matter of \ncommon sense to many Americans\, that is only because the \nsubstantive norms associated with parental delegations to \nbabysit ter agents are so deeply rooted in our society. Say \nthe same instructio n were given to a babysitter in a com\nmunity where children are raised co llectively\, like a kib\nbutz. Same answer? Hardly obvious.1 \nB \nTo be s ure\, in places JUSTICE BARRETT concedes that her \ngloss on the major que stions doctrine requires resort to \nsomething more than “common sense ” instincts about what \nwould “‘g[o] without saying’” to an ord inary English \nspeaker. Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 512 (concurring opinion )\; \nsee also post\, at 2. Sometimes\, she suggests\, common sense \ndoe sn’t just help illuminate the “most natural” meaning of\nan idiomati c term like “drew blood” based on its presence in \na penal law. 600 U . S.\, at 508. Sometimes\, she says\, “com\nmonsense principles of comm unication” go much further. \nId.\, at 514. So much so that they wind up dictating a rule \n—————— \n1Today\, JUSTICE BARRETT protests that the foregoing discussion “takes \ndown a straw man.” Post\, at 1 (concurring opinion). But it was JUSTICE \nBARRETT who previously wrote that the major questions doctrine “grows \nout of . . . commonsense pri nciples of communication.” Biden v. Ne\nbraska\, 600 U. S. 477\, 514 (2 023) (same). And it was JUSTICE BARRETT \nwho used the various illustrati ons recounted above to suggest that our \nmajor questions decisions can be explained by reference to the kind of \n“common sense . . . that ‘goe s without saying.’ ” Id.\, at 512. If JUSTICE \nBARRETT now means to put all that to the flame\, the major questions doc\ntrine is better for i t. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n23 \nco unseling “skepticism” of executive claims to extraordi\nnary delegated powers. Id.\, at 516. Why? Because\, \nJUSTICE BARRETT says\, a “reas onable observer” consults\n“our constitutional structure.” Id.\, at 515\, 520. But if that’s \ntrue\, this version of common sense does re quire us to ac\ncount for “values” entirely “external to a statute \,” including \nspecifically the “substan[ce]” of Article I. Id.\, at 508. And \nin so doing\, this expanded version of common sense just be\ ncomes the substantive major questions doctrine by another \nname. \nToday ’s decision illustrates the point. The principal opin\nion gestures a t “common sense.” Ante\, at 8. But through\nout\, this “common sen se” is linked to “‘constitutional struc\nture’” and “‘separa tion of powers principles.’” Ibid. The \nprincipal opinion begins wi th the Constitution\, observing\nthat Article I vests the tariff power in Congress\, not the ex\necutive branch. Ante\, at 5–6. The principal opin ion re\ncounts the President’s claim that Congress has “delegated” \nan “extraordinary” amount of its tariff power to him in\nIEEPA. Ant e\, at 8–9. And from there\, the principal opinion\nproceeds to apply a clear-statement rule. It acknowledges \nthat the ordinary meaning of the key statutory term in\nIEEPA—the word “regulate”—is capacious\, so much so that \nit could be understood to “captur[e] much of what a gove rn\nment does.” Ante\, at 14. Still\, the principal opinion rea\nsons\, that is not enough to sustain the President’s claim be\ncause the statut e does not “clear[ly]” grant him the \n“extraordinary” delegated p ower he seeks. Ante\, at 13\, 20. \nWhen it comes down to it\, common sens e serves as little \nmore than a segue to Article I’s Vesting Clause.\nT hat is as it must be. The statutory terms contain no\nambiguity we could u se (or need) “commonsense principles \nof communication” to resolve. N ebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 514 \n(BARRETT\, J.\, concurring). This case is n othing like the \n“‘drew blood’” illustration\, where it might “‘g[o] without \nsaying’” that any ordinary person would immediat ely \n24 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nunderstand which of two idiomatic meanings a penal stat\nute employed. I d.\, at 512. Indeed\, today’s principal opinion\ndoes not even “attemp t to set forth the metes and bounds” \nof IEEPA’s key phrase “‘reg ulate . . . importation\,’” ante\, at \n16\, much less find the “b est” or “most natural” meaning of \nthose words\, Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 508\, 521 (BARRETT\, J.\, \nconcurring)\; post\, at 1. Instead\, w e need go no further than\nto recognize that IEEPA fails to “clear[ly] ” authorize tariffs. \nAnte\, at 13\, 20. And the only reason we can sto p there is \nbecause Article I—a “[s]ubstantive . . . valu[e] external to a\nstatute\,” 600 U. S.\, at 508 (BARRETT\, J.\, concurring)—im\np oses a clear-statement rule when executive officials claim\nCongress has a fforded them an extraordinary authority.\nThere’s another problem too. T he equivocation on \nwhether “commonsense principles of communication” in\nclude only those things that might “go without saying\,” or\nalso include “external” and “substantive” Article I “values\,” \nl eads to a further equivocation on how much “skepticism”\ncommon sense might dictate when assessing an executive\nofficial’s claim to an extrao rdinary delegated power. Com\nmon sense\, we are told\, does not impose a “‘clarity tax\,’” but \nit does add an “expectation of clarit y.” Id.\, at 508\, 514. \nCommon sense does not “‘loa[d] the dic e\,’” but it does coun\nsel “skepticism.” Id.\, at 510–511\, 516 . Common sense \nmeans never “forgo[ing] the most natural reading of a s tat\nute\,” post\, at 3\, but it always means “expect[ing that] Con\ng ress [will] make the big-time policy calls\,” post\, at 2 (inter\nnal qu otation marks omitted). I am uncertain what to make \nof this\, except th at it seems to toggle between a clear-state\nment rule and nothing at all. 2 \n—————— \n2To the extent JUSTICE BARRETT suggests any ske pticism “com\nmonsense principles of communication” might (or might no t) advise de\nrives from a “ ‘practical understanding of legislative i ntent\,’ ” rather than\n“external” and “substantive” Artic le I “values\,” that poses still further \n(and familiar) problems. N ebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 508\, 515 (concurring \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n25 \nI am certain of one thing: Our c ases hold a clear state\nment is required to support a claim to an extraor dinary del\negated power. We required Congress to “speak clearly” in \ nUtility Air\, 573 U. S.\, at 324. We demanded “clear congres\nsional a uthorization” in NFIB\, 595 U. S.\, at 118. We did the \nsame in Nebras ka\, 600 U. S.\, at 506\, and in West Virginia\, \n597 U. S.\, at 732\, an d we do so again today\, ante\, at 13. Nor \ndo I see cause for being quit e so reluctant about acknowl\nedging this. The common law recognized many clear-state\nment rules. See\, e.g.\, Part I–B\, supra. Our own cases h ave \napplied a host of Constitution-enforcing clear-statement\nrules as w ell. We just encountered the federalism clear\nstatement rule in Bond. Add to the list clear-statement \nrules against laws that might apply retroac tively\, waive or\nabrogate sovereign immunity\, or create enforceable rig hts\nunder the Taxing Clause—to name just a few. See\, e.g.\, \nLandgra f v. USI Film Products\, 511 U. S. 244\, 265–268 \n(1994)\; Financial Ov ersight and Management Bd. for P. R. \nv. Centro De Periodismo Investigati vo\, Inc.\, 598 U. S. 339\, \n346–347 (2023)\; Medina v. Planned Parenth ood South At\nlantic\, 606 U. S. 357\, 383–384\, n. 8 (2025). Maybe all these \nrules could be recast as “common sense”—at least if com\nmo n sense means taking account of the “external” and \n————— — \nopinion) (quoting West Virginia v. EPA\, 597 U. S. 697\, 723 (2022)) . Down \nthat road lies all the pitfalls associated with reliance on legi slative his\ntory and those associated with conflating unenacted legislati ve intent \nwith the law. Scalia &\; Garner 397\; post\, p. 1 (JACKSON\ , J.\, concurring in \npart and concurring in judgment). Similar problems attend the notion \nthat the appropriate degree of skepticism due a deleg ation might turn on \nwhat people “expect.” Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 514\, 520 (BARRETT\, J.\, con\ncurring)\; see also post\, at 2 (same). JU STICE BARRETT has offered no evi\ndence about what people “expect” whe n confronted with different con\ngressional delegations. \nAnd to the exte nt she believes their \n“expectations” would reflect an appropriate co nsideration of the whole \n“‘corpus juris\,’ including the Constit ution\,” post\, at 2\, n. 1\, that just cir\ncles us right back to the “external” and “substantive” Article I “values” \nshe strives so hard to sideline\, see Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 508 (BARRETT\, \nJ.\, concurring). \n26 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, c oncurring \n“substantive” “values” found in “our constitutional struc\nture.” Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 508\, 515 (BARRETT\, J.\, con\nc urring). But whatever the label\, it hardly requires some \n“judicial fl ex\,” post\, at 4\, to recognize that the “external” \nconstitutio nal “values” at stake in our major questions \ncases are no less weigh ty than those at play in other set\ntings where we routinely apply a clear -statement rule.3 \nIII \nThat brings us to the third camp. My dissenting col\nleagues have defended the major questions doctrine in the \npast\, a nd they do so again today. Post\, at 31–33 (opinion of \nKAVANAUGH\, J.) . They agree that the doctrine is grounded\nin the Constitution. Post\, at 32. They agree that the doc\ntrine requires us to deviate from “‘ro utine’” statutory inter\npretation principles and instead place a “t humb on the\nscale\,” one requiring executive officials to identify “‘clear’” \ncongressional authorization when they seek to exercise \nsome “major” power. Post\, at 33. But\, my colleagues say\,\nIEEPA provides the clear statement needed to sustain the\nPresident’s tariffs. Post\, at 38–45. Alternatively\, they sub\nmit\, we shouldn’t apply the major questions doctrine to any\nstatute\, like IEEPA\, that implicate s “foreign affairs.” Post\, \nat 45–49. And this exception\, they ad d\, is particularly war\nranted here because Congress has historically gra nted the \n—————— \n3Notably\, past critics of the major quest ions doctrine have not hesi\ntated to apply many of these clear-statement rules. See Financial Over\nsight and Management Bd. for P. R. v. Centro D e Periodismo Investiga\ntivo\, Inc.\, 598 U. S. 339\, 346–347 (2023) (op inion for the Court by KAGAN\, \nJ.)\; Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimond o\, 603 U. S. 369\, 455–456\, n. 1 \n(2024) (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting) (c ollecting examples)\; West Virginia\, 597 \nU. S.\, at 751\, n. 7 (GORSUCH \, J.\, concurring) (same). Nor have they hesi\ntated to adopt and apply other clear-statement rules with far less \ngrounding in the Constitution than the major questions doctrine. See\, \ne.g.\, Bowe v. United States\, 607 U. S. ___\, ___–___ (2026) (slip op.\, at 9– \n10)\; id.\, at __ _–___ (GORSUCH\, J.\, dissenting) (slip op.\, at 12–15)\; Boechler \nv . Commissioner\, 596 U. S. 199\, 208 (2022). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2 026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n27 \nPresident large discretion in sett ing tariffs. Post\, at 49–53. \nOnce again\, the points are thoughtful a nd merit careful con\nsideration. \nA \nMy dissenting colleagues begin by taking the major ques\ntions doctrine as they find it. They accept that t he Presi\ndent’s challenged actions are “of major economic and politi\ ncal significance.” Post\, at 33. They accept as well that he\nmust iden tify “clear” congressional authorization to sustain \nthose actions. I bid. Still\, the dissent maintains\, IEEPA \nclearly grants the President the tariff power he asserts. \nTo arrive at that conclusion\, the dissent consults four \nclues we have sometimes employed in our major questions \n cases to help assess whether a statute clearly authorizes an \nasserted po wer. See West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 746 \n(GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring). The dissent formulates these \nclues largely as I would. See post\, at 3 5–38. But\, to my\neyes\, the dissent engages in a little grade inflatio n when \napplying them. \nFirst\, is the President seeking to exercise an “unher\nalded” or “newfound” power based on a “long-extant” st at\nute? Post\, at 39 (internal quotation marks omitted). The \ndissent in sists that is not the case here because President \nNixon imposed a 10 per cent tariff on most imports in 1971\,\nand then defended that action in lo wer courts under a pre\ndecessor to IEEPA\, the Trading with the Enemy Act \n(TWEA). Ibid. But the words “regulate . . . importation”\nwere add ed to TWEA in 1941. §301(1)(B)\, 55 Stat. 839.\nCongress used the same la nguage in IEEPA in 1977. \n§203(a)(1)(B)\, 91 Stat. 1626. And in the 85 y ears of TWEA’s \nexistence with that language (and the 49 years of IEE PA’s)\, \nthat is the only time either statute has been invoked to im\np ose tariffs. Ante\, at 10–11\, 17–18. A single time\, and one \nnever tested in this Court. Nor are these statutes seldom \nused. \n“Each ye ar since 1990\, Presidents have issued \n28 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nroughly 4.5 executive orders . . . an d declared 1.5 new na\ntional emergencies citing IEEPA.” Congressional R esearch\nService\, The International Emergency Economics Powers \nAct: Ori gins\, Evolution\, and Use 20 (Sept. 1\, 2025). That is \npretty strong e vidence the President here seeks to “deploy \nan old statute” in a nov el way. West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at \n747 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring).\ nSecond\, how has the executive branch interpreted IEEPA \nin the past? P ost\, at 40–41. The dissent says Presidents\nhave long understood IEEPA to permit them to impose tar\niffs. Ibid. But for support\, the dissent a gain relies on iso\nlated evidence about other statutes. It points to the mone\ntary exactions President Ford ordered under the Trade\nExpansion Ac t of 1962. Post\, at 17\, 40. And\, once more\, it \npoints to President Nixon’s invocation of TWEA to support\nhis 1971 tariffs during lower co urt proceedings (though the\ndissent brushes aside the fact that President Nixon initially\nrejected the idea of relying on TWEA\, see Brief for Car la\nHills et al. as Amici Curiae 12–14). Whatever one makes of \nthis h istory\, it hardly reveals the kind of contemporaneous \nand consistent ex ecutive interpretation that might advance\nthe dissent’s cause. See West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 747 \n(GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring). To the cont rary\, the fact that no\nPresident until now has invoked IEEPA to impose a duty—\neven one percent on one product from one country—is tell\ning. Id.\, at 748. \nThird\, is there a “mismatch” between the action the exec\nutive official seeks to take and his expertise? Post\, at 41. \nOn this one\, I agree with the dissent. If tariffs fall in any\nexecutive off icial’s “wheelhouse” (and not Congress’s)\, it’s \nthe Preside nt’s. Ibid.\; see also supra\, at 6. \nFourth\, is the President “rely ing on oblique\, elliptical\, or \ncryptic language”? Post\, at 41–42. The dissent says no be\ncause “[t]his case does not involve elephants i n mouse\nholes.” Post\, at 41 (internal quotation marks omitted). Put \ nanother way\, the dissent insists\, the provisions of IEEPA \n Cite as: 6 07 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n29 \nbefore us are not “ancillary” ones\, but are designed to con\nvey significant powers. Po st\, at 43 (internal quotation \nmarks omitted). It’s a fair enough poin t as far as it goes.\nBut our cases ask not just whether a provision is a “mouse\nhole” or “ancillary.” They also caution against reading ex \ntraordinary powers into “broad or general” statutory lan\nguage. Wes t Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 746 (GORSUCH\, J.\, \nconcurring) (internal qu otation marks omitted)\; see also \nSossamon v. Texas\, 563 U. S. 277\, 29 1 (2011) (“[C]lear \nstatement rules ensure Congress does not\, by broad or gen\neral language\, legislate on a sensitive topic inadvertently or\n without due deliberation” (internal quotation marks omit\nted)). Indeed\ , and as we have seen\, many of our major ques\ntions cases have found bro ad or general terms in significant \nstatutes insufficient to support a cl aim to an extraordinary\nor unusual power. See Part I–A\, supra. And her e\, the word \n“regulate” is broad as can be. So broad that it could be read \nto “captur[e] much of what a government does.” Ante\, at 14 . \nAs I see it\, then\, three of the four clues the dissent relies \non c ut against it. It is important to add\, as well\, that as\nhelpful as the se clues can be in helping courts spot when a\nclaimed power is not suppor ted by clear statutory authority\,\nthey do not represent some exhaustive checklist\, nor does \nsatisfying one guarantee a claim will succeed. So\, for ex\nample\, even if an asserted power is in the agency’s “wheel\n house\,” we might rule (and have ruled) against the agency \nif the powe r is “unheralded” because the statute has stood\nfor decades without b eing interpreted to convey the power\nclaimed. See\, e.g.\, Brown &\; W illiamson\, 529 U. S.\, at 144\, \n159–160. \nUltimately\, the central q uestion in any major questions\ncase remains whether the executive branc h’s claim to an \nextraordinary power is supported by clear statutory au thor\nity. And\, as the principal opinion explains at length\, many \naddi tional clues beyond those the dissent addresses confirm\nthat the Presiden t cannot meet that standard in this case. \n30 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nThese additional clues include the way the key statutory \nterm “regulate” is used elsewhere in the U. S . Code\, how \nCongress has delegated tariff authority in the past\, and\n other neighboring language in IEEPA itself. Ante\, at 14– \n15. \nContra ry to the dissent’s charge\, too\, the principal opin\nion’s applicati on of the major questions doctrine today in no \nway amounts to a “magic -words test.” Post\, at 44. Of \ncourse\, if IEEPA included terms like “tariff ” or “duty\,” that\nwould have sufficed. But\, to borrow a phrase from the dis\nsent\, “monetary exactions on foreign imports” would have\nworked just as well. Post\, at 17. Same goes for “tax on i m\nported goods.” Or any similarly clear term or phrase. But \nIEEPA i ncludes no such language\, just a broad term that\ncould cover almost anyt hing a government does. And re\nquiring specific rather than general lang uage is just how\nclear-statement rules work. See\, e.g.\, Sossamon\, 563 U. S.\, \nat 291. \nB \nIf the President’s claim fails under our usual m ajor ques\ntions test\, the dissent says we should respond by carving \nou t an exception to it for cases (like this one) touching on\n“foreign aff airs.” Post\, at 45. \nOn this score\, I share a limited point of agreem ent with \nthe dissent. Like the nondelegation doctrine\, the major\nquest ions doctrine protects Article I’s Vesting Clause and\, \nfor that reaso n\, the doctrine does not apply where the Pres\nident is exercising only h is own inherent Article II powers.\nLike the nondelegation doctrine\, too\ , the major questions\ndoctrine may speak with less force where the Presid ent and\nCongress enjoy “overlap[ping] . . . authority.” See Gundy v. \nUnited States\, 588 U. S. 128\, 159 (2019) (GORSUCH\, J.\, dis\nsenting) \; see also C. Bradley &\; J. Goldsmith\, Foreign Af\nfairs\, Nondelega tion\, and the Major Questions Doctrine\,\n172 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1743\, 1747 (2004) (Bradley &\; Goldsmith) \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORS UCH\, J.\, concurring \n31 \n(explaining the “supposed foreign affairs e xception” to the\nnondelegation doctrine “is better understood as a qu alifica\ntion that concerns situations in which a statutory authori\nzatio n relates to an independent presidential power”).\nDoubtless\, cases imp licating overlapping powers can \narise in the field of foreign affairs. T he Constitution\, for \nexample\, vests in Congress the power to raise and regulate\narmies\, but it also vests in the President the commander\nin-c hief power. Compare Art. I\, §8\, cls. 12–14\, with Art. II\, \n§2\, c l. 1. Similarly\, Congress enjoys the power to regulate\nforeign commerce \, but the President has power to negotiate \ntreaties and nominate ambass adors. Compare Art. I\, §8\, \ncl. 3\, with Art. II\, §2\, cl. 2. The P resident may even enjoy \nsome “residual” powers pertaining to foreign affairs under \nArticle II’s Vesting Clause endowing him with the “ex ecu\ntive Power.” See S. Prakash &\; M. Ramsey\, The Executive \nPowe r Over Foreign Affairs\, 111 Yale L. J. 231\, 234 (2001) \n(Prakash &\; Ramsey)\; but see C. Bradley &\; M. Flaherty\, Ex\necutive Power Essen tialism and Foreign Affairs\, 102 Mich. \nL. Rev. 545\, 551–552 (2004). Given all this\, it is easy\nenough to imagine statutes and disputes unde r them that \nimplicate both congressional and presidential powers \nwhere we might have reason to question whether the major\nquestions doctrine ap plies with its usual force.\nThe problem for the dissent is that none of t his is relevant\nhere. Before us\, the President concedes that he does not \nenjoy independent Article II authority to impose tariffs in \npeacetime . Ante\, at 18–19. Nor does the President claim \n“‘concurrent’ ” constitutional authority to issue his tariffs. \nAnte\, at 13 (citing Tr. of Oral Arg. 70–71). Instead\, and to \nhis credit\, the President admits the power to authorize tar\niffs in peacetime is constitutionally v ested in “Congress \nalone.” Ante\, at 13 (internal quotation marks om itted). \nTherefore\, the President relies entirely on power derived \nfro m Congress\, and that means the major questions doc\ntrine applies in the normal way. See Bradley &\; Goldsmith \n32 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n1796 (“IEEPA [is] not [an] autho rizatio[n] that obviously \nconnect[s] to independent presidential power i n ways that\nwould warrant the independent powers qualification”). \nBec ause of this problem\, the dissent must argue for a \nmuch broader “fore ign affairs” qualification to the major\nquestions doctrine. Rather tha n ask whether an independ\nent\, constitutionally vested presidential powe r is impli\ncated\, the dissent would have us ask instead whether the \nPr esident seeks to use the statute in question for a foreign \naffairs purpo se—for example\, as a “too[l]” to “incentivize a \nchange in behav ior by allies . . . or enemies.” Post\, at 50. \nWhen he does\, the diss ent submits\, the major questions doc\ntrine should not apply. And that ’s true\, the dissent contin\nues\, even if the power the President asse rts has “significant\ndomestic ramifications.” Post\, at 51. \nThis n ew exception to the major questions doctrine would\nhave (enormous) conseq uences hard to reconcile with the\nConstitution. Article I\, §8\, vests i n Congress many powers\nthat touch on “foreign affairs.” Some of thos e powers were\nexpected to be (and are) the “principal objects of federa l leg\nislation.” The Federalist No. 53\, p. 333 (C. Rossiter ed. \n1961 ) (J. Madison). They include not only the power to im\npose tariffs\, cl. 1\, but also the power to establish uniform \nrules of naturalization\, cl . 4\, appropriate money for armies\, \ncl. 12\, and define and punish offe nses against the law of na\ntions\, cl. 10. Under the dissent’s view\, a ll these legislative\npowers and more could be passed wholesale to the exe cutive\nbranch in a few loose statutory terms\, no matter what do\nmestic ramifications might follow. And\, as we have seen\, \nCongress would ofte n find these powers nearly impossible \nto retrieve. See Part I–C\, supr a. \nConsider an example. Imagine Congress adopted a law \nthat arguably c ould be read to let the President borrow and\nspend money during peacetime as he sees fit. A law like \nthat would represent an extraordinary deleg ation of Con\ngress’s power both to borrow “on the credit of the Unite d \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n33 \nSta tes\,” Art. I\, §8\, cl. 2\, and to spend money in support of \nthe “ general Welfare\,” §8\, cl. 1\, and would carry with it “sig\nnifican t domestic ramifications\,” post\, at 51. But if an en\nterprising execu tive could also use the law as a “tool” for \naffecting the behavior of “allies . . . or enemies\,” the dissent \nseemingly would have us exempt it from scrutiny under the \nmajor questions doctrine.\nThe dissent ’s exception is so broad it’s hard not to wonder \nhow it fits with so me of our existing major questions prece\ndents. In West Virginia\, the Co urt applied the major ques\ntions doctrine over a dissent expressing conce rn that doing \nso would deny the EPA (and therefore the President) the \n power to respond to “the most pressing environmental chal\nlenge of our time”—“[c]limate chang[e].” 597 U. S.\, at 753 \n(KAGAN\, J.\, di ssenting) (internal quotation marks omitted).\nA challenge\, the dissent c ontinued\, that threatened conse\nquences global in scope\, including “m ass migration events[\,] \npolitical crises\, civil unrest\, and even stat e failure.” Id.\, at \n754 (internal quotation marks omitted). Was Wes t Virginia \na “foreign affairs” case? How about our major questions\n cases addressing efforts to combat the global pandemic that \nwas COVID– 19? See\, e.g.\, NFIB\, 595 U. S.\, at 114.4 \n—————— \n4The d issent suggests that trying to identify when an independent Ar\nticle II a uthority is in play would prove “jurisprudentially chaotic.” Post\, \ nat 53\, n. 23. But as the foregoing discussion illustrates\, the dissent ’s al\nternative “foreign affairs” test poses its own challenges. A nd it seems to \nme only one is firmly rooted in the text of the Constitut ion. See Bradley\n&\; Goldsmith 1747\; see also Prakash &\; Ramsey 2 33 (“[O]ne would think\nthat the Constitution’s text ought to play the preeminent role in discern\ning the Constitution’s allocation of foreig n affairs powers”). In this case\, \ntoo\, only one test promises any m anner of “chao[s]” because all parties\nbefore us readily agree that t he Constitution affords the President no \nindependent power to impose pea cetime tariffs. See H. Powell\, The Pres\nident’s Authority Over Foreig n Affairs: An Executive Branch Perspec\ntive\, 67 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 527\, 549 (1999) (“The President has no inde\npendent power directly to regul ate [or] tax . . . foreign commerce”). \n34 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nSeeking support for its sweeping ne w exception\, the dis\nsent points to three main precedents. Post\, at 46 –48\, 53– \n57. I do not see how any of them might sustain its view. \ nThe first\, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld\, 542 U. S. 507 (2004)\, con\ncerned the 20 01 Authorization for Use of Military Force\n(AUMF)\, legislation which aut horized the President to use \n“all necessary and appropriate force agai nst those nations\,\norganizations\, or persons” responsible for the Sep tember \n11\, 2001\, attacks. Id.\, at 510 (internal quotation marks\nomit ted). The dissent highlights the principal opinion’s\nconclusion that th e AUMF allowed the President to detain \nenemy combatants even though the law did not mention \nthat power expressly. Id.\, at 510\, 516–517 (opin ion of \nO’Connor\, J.). And from this\, the dissent draws the infer\ne nce that any statute addressing foreign affairs should be\nexempt from scr utiny under the major questions doctrine. \nPost\, at 54–55. But the di ssent overlooks the fact that the \nprincipal opinion reached the conclusi on it did only because\nit found detention of enemy combatants to be a tra ditional\n“incident to war.” 542 U. S.\, at 518. And once Congress\nd eclares war (or\, likewise\, authorizes the use of military\nforce abroad) \, that implicates the President’s commander\nin-chief powers. Put simpl y\, Hamdi was a case of overlap\nping powers. Ours is not. \nSecond\, the dissent invokes Dames &\; Moore v. Regan\, 453 \nU. S. 654 (1981). Se e post\, at 55–56. At its heart\, that case \ninvolved an executive orde r by President Reagan suspend\ning certain claims by U. S. citizens agains t Iran as part of a\nsettlement involving the release of American hostages held\nthere. 453 U. S.\, at 675. Just as we do today\, Dames &\; \nMo ore held that the “terms of the IEEPA . . . d[id] not au\nthorize” the President’s actions. Ibid. Even so\, the Court \nproceeded to uphold t hose actions anyway\, and did so based \nin part on its view (right or wro ng) that the President en\njoyed some “‘independent’” power to “ enter into executive\nagreements” suspending certain claims. Id.\, at 6 78\, 682– \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n35 \n683. So unlike our case\, Dames &\; Moore again involved\noverla pping powers. Along the way\, too\, the Court empha\nsized (repeatedly) th e “narrowness” of its decision and that\nit should not be taken to “ lay down” any “general ‘guide\nlines’ covering other situations no t involved here.” Id.\, at \n661\; see also id.\, at 660\, 688. To der ive from Dames &\; \nMoore a new general guideline exempting “foreign affairs” \ncases from the major questions doctrine’s reach would thus \nrequire us to disregard its own cautionary direction.\nThird\, the disse nt cites United States v. Curtiss-Wright \nExport Corp.\, 299 U. S. 304 (1 936). See post\, at 46–48. \nThere\, the Court did suggest that nondele gation rules in the\nfield of “domestic or internal affairs” should di ffer from \nthose in the realm of “foreign or external affairs.” Curt iss\nWright\, 299 U. S.\, at 315. But what should we make of that \nlangu age? If it means that the nondelegation doctrine (and\nperhaps\, by extens ion\, the major questions doctrine) must\naccount for the President’s in dependent Article II powers\, I \nagree.\nBut I would hesitate to read mor e into the decision than \nthat. Consider what was really at issue there. A statute \npermitted the President to ban the transfer of one class of \ ngoods (armaments). Id.\, at 312. It did so with respect to\ntwo countries then engaged in a war (Bolivia and Para\nguay). Ibid. The President’s authority was conditioned on \na finding that a ban “‘may contribute t o the reestablish\nment of peace between those countries.’” Ibid. Bef ore mak\ning that finding\, too\, Congress directed him to consult \n“ ‘with the governments of other American Republics.’” \nIbid. All to ld\, then\, the statute set forth the policy for the \nPresident to pursue . It bounded his authority by limiting \nhis options with respect to a lim ited class of goods and coun\ntries. The statute further conditioned his e xercise of those \noptions on a factual finding reached after consultation with \nother nations. So whatever else might be said about \nCurtiss-Wrig ht\, one thing is apparent: In upholding the \n36 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, I NC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nPresident’s actions under the law in question\, the Court \nhardly allowed Congress to hand off all of its enumerated \npowers touching on foreign affairs to the President\, the tar\niff power included.5 \nC \nIf its effort to secure a broad foreign a ffairs exception to\nthe major questions doctrine won’t work\, the disse nt hints \nat a more limited one specific to tariffs. Such an exception \ nmakes sense\, the dissent says\, because “Presidents have \nlong been g ranted substantial discretion over tariffs.” Post\, \nat 52 (internal q uotation marks omitted). Indeed\, the dis\nsent contends\, this tradition traces “back to near the Found\ning.” Post\, at 59. If the dissent w ere right about that\, one \nmight hesitate before accepting the President ’s concession\nthat this case does not implicate any inherent Article II au\nthority. But\, at least as I read it\, history offers the dissent \nl ittle to work with. \nAmericans fought the Revolution in no small part be\ ncause they believed that only their elected representatives \n(not the Ki ng\, not even Parliament) possessed authority to \ntax them. Declaration o f Independence ¶19. And\, they be\nlieved\, that held true not just for d irect taxes like those in \nthe Stamp Act\, but also for many duties on im ports\, like \nthose found in the Sugar Act. E. Morgan &\; H. Morgan\, The\nStamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution 72–74 (1995 ed.)\;\nsee 1 E. Stanwood\, American Tariff Controversies in the \nNineteenth Century 6 0 (1903) (Stanwood)\; C. Van Tyne\, \n—————— \n5In places\, th e dissent also argues that the President’s inherent Article \nII authori ty includes a wartime tariff power. See post\, at 22–24\; see also \nBri ef for Professor Aditya Bamzai as Amicus Curiae 3. But this only \nhighlig hts the dissent’s bind. Whatever the full scope of the President’s \n Article II war powers may be (and the briefs before us reveal a healthy \n debate whether they include the power to impose tariffs)\, those powers\na re not implicated here. IEEPA is not a wartime statute\, nor does the \nP resident claim we are at war with the countries whose goods are subject \n to the tariffs. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurr ing \n37 \nThe Causes of the War of Independence 126–136 (1922)\; J.\nOt is\, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and \nProved (1764)\, in The Collected Political Writings of James\nOtis 119\, 161–162 (2015)\; s ee also id.\, at xii (Introduction). \nAmericans later codified these beli efs in the Constitution. \nUnder the Articles of Confederation\, the natio nal govern\nment was laden with debt and enjoyed few ways to repay it. \nT o address that problem\, the framers afforded the federal \ngovernment new taxing powers in the Constitution. Art. I\, \n§8\, cl. 1. Many thought these powers among “the most im\nportant” features of the new federal charter. See\, e.g.\, The \nFederalist No. 33\, at 202–203 (A. Hamilton) . But\, con\nsistent with their view that only the people’s elected rep re\nsentatives could constitutionally tax them\, the framers \ngave Congre ss alone “access to the pockets of the people.” \nId.\, No. 48\, at 31 0 (J. Madison). And to cement that role\, \nthe Constitution required tha t “All Bills for raising Reve\nnue shall originate in the House of Repre sentatives\,” the\nbody most responsive to the people. Art. I\, §7\, c l. 1.\nFor much of the Nation’s history\, this taxing power was\nessenti ally a tariff power. The framers even considered \n(and eventually reject ed) the possibility of giving the fed\neral government the power to tax on ly through tariffs. The \nFederalist No. 35\, at 211 (A. Hamilton). No s urprise\, then\,\nthat Congress’s first exercise of its taxing power was a tariff \nlaw. P. Ashley\, Modern Tariff History 170–171 (2d ed. \n191 0). And until the 20th century\, tariffs “accounted for\nbetween 50 and 90 percent” of the federal government’s rev\nenue. J. Dobson\, Two Cen turies of Tariffs: The Background\nand Emergence of the United States Inte rnational Trade\nCommission 1 (1976).\nHow did Congress exercise its all-i mportant tariff power?\nIt debated every detail of the first tariff Act. S tanwood 39– \n71. Ultimately\, Congress said\, imported malt would incur \na charge of 10 cents a bushel. Brown sugar one cent. Loaf \nsugar thr ee cents. And so on. Id.\, at 59. The first tariff Act \n38 \nLEARNING RES OURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nwas set to last for s even years. Id.\, at 72. It lasted barely \none. Ibid. Soon\, Congress w as at it again\, laying out an\nother exacting schedule of duties. Id.\, a t 75–76. Through\nout much of the 19th century\, Congress proceeded sim i\nlarly\, enacting highly detailed tariff schedules one after \nanother. See F. Taussig\, The Tariff History of the United \nStates 68–170 (8th e d. 1931).\nAn early debate over executive involvement in setting \ntariffs demonstrates just how strongly Congress felt that \ntariffs were a legisl ative business. In December 1791\, Pres\nident Washington told Congress t hat General St. Clair had\nbeen defeated in the Northwest Indian War\, and the coun\ntry would have to increase the size of the army. Stanwood \n10 4. That meant the government needed more money. In \nresponse\, a resolut ion was offered in the House of Repre\nsentatives to solicit advice from t he Secretary of the Treas\nury\, Alexander Hamilton\, on the best way to r aise the addi\ntional revenue—including through new tariffs. 3 Annals o f \nCongress 437 (1792)\; Stanwood 105–106. Ultimately\, Ham\nilton’s advice was sought\, but only after a debate over the\nconstitutionality of even asking a member of the executive\nbranch for advice on raising reven ue. Ibid.\; 3 Annals of \nCongress 447.\nTo be sure\, on later occasions C ongress turned to the ex\necutive branch for more help still. But it usual ly did so to\naddress changing trade practices in foreign countries. And \nin doing so\, Congress set the important policies\, with the \nexecutive branch responsible for finding facts—like what \nother countries’ tra de policies were at any given moment—\nor filling in the details. So\, f or example\, Congress passed a\nstatute in 1815 to repeal any “discrimin ating duty of ton\nnage . . . whenever the President” was “satisfied ” that other \ncountries’ “discriminating or countervailing duti es” had\n“been abolished.” Act of Mar. 3\, 1815\, ch. 77\, 3 Stat. 2 24\; \nsee also\, e.g.\, Act of Jan. 7\, 1824\, 4 Stat. 2–3. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n39 \nGiven this histo ry\, it’s no surprise that the dissent relies \nmostly on statutes and c ases after 1890. Post\, at 59. But \neven they do little to support its cl aim. J. W. Hampton\, Jr.\, \n&\; Co. v. United States\, 276 U. S. 394 (1928)\, for example\, \ninvolved a law instructing the President to “in vestigat[e]” \nthe costs of production for American firms and their fore ign \ncounterparts and issue tariffs to “equalize” those costs. Id.\, \nat 401\, 409 (internal quotation marks omitted). The statute \nthe Cour t faced in Marshall Field &\; Co. v. Clark\, 143 U. S. \n649\, 681 (189 2)\, spoke similarly. Even when Federal En\nergy Administration v. Algonqu in SNG\, Inc.\, 426 U. S. 548\, \ncame along in 1976\, the Court upheld Pr esident Ford’s im\nposition of monetary exactions on a single class of p roducts \nunder a statute that provided at least some guidance about\nhow he should implement the law. Id.\, at 559. And whether \ncorrectly decide d or not\, that case lies a far step from this \none. \nBefore us\, the Pr esident insists he may use IEEPA to\nequalize foreign and domestic dutie s—or not. He may use \nit to negotiate with foreign countries—or not. He may set \ntariffs at 1 percent or 1\,000\,000 percent. He may target one \nnation and one product or every nation and nearly every \nproduct. And he may change his mind at any time for\nnearly any reason. At least as I see it\, history dating “back \nto near the Founding\,” post\, at 59\, does not support the no\ntion that Presidents have traditionally enj oyed so much \npower. More nearly\, history refutes it.6 \n——— ——— \n6Beyond the major questions hurdle\, the dissent faces another \, related \none: the nondelegation doctrine. There the problems are just as acute. \nIn recent decades\, this Court has employed a relatively lax “intelligible\nprinciple” test to police delegations. See FCC v. Cons umers’ Research\, \n606 U. S. 656\, 673 (2025)\; cf. Gundy v. United Sta tes\, 588 U. S. 128\, 157– \n159 (2019) (GORSUCH\, J.\, dissenting) (arg uing for a more traditional test).\nBut recognizing that even the intellig ible principle test poses challenges \nfor it\, the dissent contends for a n even laxer test yet in cases involving \n“foreign affairs” and tarif fs. Post\, at 57–61. It’s an effort that fails for \n40 \nLEARNING RE SOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nIV \nThat leaves one final camp to consider. JUSTICE THOMAS \nsuggests that Congress may hand over most of its constitu\ntionally vested powers to the President comple tely and for\never. Post\, at 2–3 (dissenting opinion). On his view\, th e \nonly powers Congress may not delegate are those that in\nvolve “rule s setting the conditions for deprivations of life\, \nliberty\, or propert y.” Ibid. From this rule\, it follows that \nCongress may give all its tariff powers to the President be\ncause “[i]mporting is a matter of pri vilege.” Post\, at 10–11. \nAnd\, as a result\, this case does not im plicate any “‘“separa\ntion of powers”’” concerns at all. Post \, at 3 (quoting ante\, \nat 8).\nIt’s a sweeping theory. One that would require us to\nreimagine much of our case law addressing Article I’s Ve st\ning Clause. And one that presents difficulties of its own. \nFirst\, I do not see how JUSTICE THOMAS’s theory resolves\nall “‘“separatio n of powers”’” concerns in this case. Post\, at \n3 (quoting ante\, at 8). Suppose for argument’s sake that\nCongress can delegate its tarif f powers to the President as \ncompletely as JUSTICE THOMAS suggests. Eve n then\, the \nquestion remains whether Congress has given the Presi\ndent the tariff authority he claims in this case—or whether \nthe President is seeking to exploit questionable statutory\nlanguage to aggrandize his o wn power. See Part I–C\, su\npra. Put another way\, JUSTICE THOMAS’s nondelegation so\nlution does not automatically solve the major questions \nproblem. As we have seen\, when an executive official \nclaims Congress has delegated to him some extraordinary\npower\, the major questions doctr ine requires him to identify\nclear statutory authority for its exercise —a standard he \n—————— \nreasons we have just seen. Even if the nondelegation doctrine should \napply differently when congressional legislation and executive actions \nimplicate inherent Article II powers\, Gundy\, 588 U. S.\, at 159\, none of \nthat means it should do so where ( as here) the President derives what\never authority he has only from Congr ess. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n41 \n must satisfy even if Congress is free to pass to him the \npower he seeks. Post\, at 2–3. In fact\, this Court has previ\nously applied\, with ou r colleague’s assent\, the major ques\ntions doctrine in a case that app ears\, under his present\nview\, to involve a power that Congress could de legate \nwholesale to the President. See Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at \n486 –488 (involving the power to cancel federal student loan \ndebts\, which on JUSTICE THOMAS’s account presumably\nqualifies as a benefit or privi lege\, not a right to life\, liberty\, \nor property). And\, just as the major questions doctrine pre\ncluded the executive branch’s assertion of power in that \ncase\, it does so here. \nSecond\, even when it comes to the nondelegation doc\ntrine\, JUSTICE THOMAS’s theory raises many quest ions. I \nappreciate that the doctrine may apply with less force in \ncer tain areas\, such as when Congress legislates in a way\nthat implicates on e of the President’s inherent powers. See \nPart III–B\, supra\; Gund y\, 588 U. S.\, at 159 (GORSUCH\, J.\, \ndissenting). But JUSTICE THOMAS w ould go much further.\nOn his telling\, the doctrine applies only to Congr ess’s true \nlegislative powers\, which he says include only those power s \naddressing the deprivation of life\, liberty\, or property. As \nit t urns out\, only a small subset of Congress’s enumerated \npowers in Arti cle I\, §8\, fit that bill. See post\, at 5–6 (listing\nthe powers to punish counterfeiters\, tax “internal[ly]\,” and \nregulate interstate commerce). Only those few powers are\nexclusively vested in Congress and subject to review of any \nkind under the nondelegation doctrine. All “o ther kinds of \npower[s]” enumerated in Article I\, §8—including the pow\ners to borrow and spend money\, declare war\, and regulate \nforeign trade—are not truly legislative and may be dele\ngated at will. Post\, a t 2. So Congress may hand them off to\nthe President completely and he ha s no need to worry about \nlegal challenges under even this Court’s (rel atively lax)\nnondelegation doctrine. No matter\, too\, that Congress \n42 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \nmight find itself permanently unable to retrieve these pow\ners. See Part I–C\ , supra. \nBut if all that’s true\, what do we make of the Constitu\nt ion’s text? Section 1 of Article I vests “[a]ll legislative Pow\ners h erein granted” in Congress and no one else. Section 8 \nproceeds to lis t those powers in detail and without differen\ntiation. Neither provision speaks of some divide between\ntrue legislative powers touching on “life \, liberty\, or prop\nerty” that are permanently vested in Congress alon e and \n“other kinds of power[s]” that may be given away and pos\nsibl y lost forever to the President. Post\, at 2. \nWhat do we make\, too\, of what the founders said about \nArticle I both before and after the Consti tution’s ratifica\ntion? They regularly referred to powers in Article I\ , §8—\neven those that do not touch on life\, liberty\, or property—\ nas legislative in nature. At the Constitutional Convention\, \nearly draf ts described the powers to regulate “foreign” com\nmerce\, “raise ar mies\,” “equip Fleets\,” “coi[n] . . . money\,”\nand “establis h post-offices” as “legislative powers.” 2 The \nRecords of the Fed eral Convention of 1787\, pp. 142–144 (M. \nFarrand ed. 1966) (Farrand). James Madison wrote to Con\ngress in 1817 that “[t]he legislative powe rs vested in Con\ngress are specified and enumerated in the eighth section of\nthe first article of the Constitution.” 8 The Writings of\nJames M adison 386 (G. Hunt ed. 1908)\; see also 1 id.\, at \n112\, 133\, 381 (not ing\, before the Constitutional Convention\, \nthe “legislative power ov er captures\,” and arguing borrow\ning money is an “exclusive power of Legislation”). \nAlexander Hamilton spoke similarly. 3 The Works of Al \nexander Hamilton 479 (H. Lodge ed. 1904) (Lodge) (discuss\ning “[t]he legislative power of borrowing money”)\; 6 id.\, at \n182 (describing “the legislative power of regulating trade\nwith foreign nations”)\; 2 id.\, at 197\, 198 (calling of “the leg\nislative kind” and “of a l egislative nature” the powers to \nraise money and troops\, “establish rules in all cases of cap\nture by sea or land\,” “regulate the alloy and value of coin\,” \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n43 \nand “make all laws for the government of the army and \nnavy”). So did James Wilson. 1 Collected Works of James \nWilson 26 8 (K. Hall &\; D. Hall eds. 2007) (describing all the \nSenate’s powe rs as “legislative powers\,” with the exception\nof the powers to try impeachments\, concur in treaties\, and\nconsent to the appointment of off icers\, matters addressed\noutside Art. I\, §8).\nWhat do we make as well of early congressional debates? \nIn the Second Congress\, for example\, the House of Repre\nsentatives rejected on nondelegation grounds a proposa l to\ngive the President a largely unfettered power to establish \npostal routes\, even though doing so hardly would have\ntouched on life\, liberty \, or property. 3 Annals of Congress \n229–242. In the Fifth Congress\, four Representatives like\nwise objected on nondelegation grounds to a bil l that au\nthorized the President to raise an army of up to 10\,000 men.\n 8 id.\, at 1525–1527\, 1532\, 1535 (remarks of Reps. Nicholas\,\nGallati n\, Baldwin\, and McDowell). Though the bill ulti\nmately passed\, see Ac t of May 28\, 1798\, 1 Stat. 558\, it did \nso apparently because it was d eemed not to violate Article \nI’s nondelegation principle—no Member o f Congress re\nsponded that the principle was wholly inapplicable because \nthe delegated power was not one that involved setting con\nditions for d eprivations of life\, liberty\, or property. See 8 \nAnnals of Congress 1 525–1542.\nWhat are we to do\, too\, with this Court’s nondelegation\n precedents\, which have never turned on JUSTICE THOMAS’s \nview of life\ , liberty\, or property? See J. W. Hampton\, Jr.\, &\; \nCo.\, 276 U. S.\, at 403\, 409 (scrutinizing a delegation to ex\necutive officials to s et customs duties)\; Panama Refining \nCo. v. Ryan\, 293 U. S. 388\, 405 –406\, 422\, 433 (1935) (hold\ning unconstitutional a delegation to exec utive officials to\nprohibit the transportation of petroleum products in i nter\nstate and foreign commerce)\; National Broadcasting Co. v. \nUnited States\, 319 U. S. 190\, 196\, 214–215\, 225–226 (1943) \n(scrutinizin g the delegation of authority to regulate the \n44 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \ngranting of broadcasting licen ses)\; see also Sessions v. Di\nmaya\, 584 U. S. 148\, 217 (2018) (THOMAS\ , J.\, dissenting) \n(“[I]mpermissible delegations of legislative power violate\n[the nondelegation] principle\, not just delegations that de\npri ve individuals of ‘life\, liberty\, or property’”).\nThird\, even if a distinction between true legislative pow\ners and “other kinds of pow er[s]” were proper\, post\, at 2\, I \ndo not see why the tariff power w ould fall in the latter cat\negory and thus be something Congress could de legate away \nwholesale\, without scrutiny\, and forever. JUSTICE THOMAS \nsuggests all that is possible because\, at the founding\, the \ntariff p ower was considered a “‘prerogative right’” of the \nBritish King. Post\, at 11 (quoting N. Gras\, Early English \nCustoms System 21 (1918)) .\nThat seems doubtful. Tariffs may have been among the\nKing’s prerogat ive powers during the reign of Edward I.\nSee id.\, at 20–21\; see also post\, at 11\, n. 3 (citing P. Einzig\,\nThe Control of the Purse: Progres s and Decline of Parlia\nment’s Financial Control 65 (1959) (discussing the practices \n“during the Middle Ages”)). But even before the year 1400\,\nParliament had achieved some “victory over the King in the\nmatt er of imposing import duties.” Id.\, at 108–109. And \nafter the Glor ious Revolution of 1688\, as this Court has put \nit\, Parliament “secur ed supremacy in fiscal matters.” Con\nsumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Finan\ncial Services Assn. of America\, Ltd.\, 601 U. S. 416 \, 428 \n(2024) (citing 1 W. Blackstone\, Commentaries on the Laws\nof Eng land 306\, 333 (1771)). “By the time of the American\nRevolution\, trade regulation was thus a prime topic of leg\nislative concern” in Britain. M. McConnell\, The President \nWho Would Not Be King 217 (2020) (emphasi s added)\; see\nalso J. Chitty\, Law of the Prerogatives of the Crown 163 \n(1820) (“[T]he King does not possess any general common\nlaw prerogati ve with respect to foreign commerce”).\nMore importantly still\, whateve r the views in Britain \nmay have been\, American revolutionaries hardly s hared \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nGORSUCH\, J.\, concurring \n45 \ nsome universal conviction that all manner of tariffs were a \nmatter of t he King’s prerogative\, or even something Parlia\nment\, lacking colonia l representatives\, could freely impose\non them. Though in the mid-1760s some colonists distin\nguished between “‘internal’” and “‘ex ternal’ taxation” and \n“conceded [Parliament’s] right to raise re venue through du\nties on trade\,” “the inadequacy of [that] much over strained \ndistinction” soon “became obvious.” B. Bailyn\, The Ideo log\nical Origins of the American Revolution 212–213\, 215 \n(1967). Ill ustrative of the point\, John Dickinson came to \n“repudiat[e]” the di stinction “flatly and formally” in his Let\nters from a Farmer in Penn sylvania\, id.\, at 215\, contending \ninstead that laws aimed at raising revenue\, but enacted \nwithout representation\, were objectionable withou t “dis\ntinction . . . between internal and external taxes\,” Letters \nFrom a Farmer in Pennsylvania 39 (1774). See also supra\, \nat 36–37 ( recounting colonial objections to the Sugar Act)\;\nH. Unger\, American Te mpest 101 (2011) (observing that the \n“import duties” in the Townshen d Acts helped “incite Amer\nicans to rebel”). And\, of course\, it wa s duties on foreign tea\nthat triggered the Boston Tea Party. J. Ellis\, T he Cause \n17–18 (2021). Are we really to believe that the patriots that \nnight in Boston Harbor considered the whole of the tariff \npower some k ingly prerogative?\nAs we have already seen\, too\, the growing American c on\nviction that the peacetime tariff power is legislative and be\nlongs o nly to the people’s elected representatives was later\nreflected in both the Constitution and early congressional\npractice. See Part III–C\, su pra. To that discussion\, I would \nadd just this. The Articles of Confed eration granted the \nConfederation Congress authority to make commercial \ntreaties\, but no authority to restrain “the legislative power\nof the respective states” to impose “imposts and duties on \nforeigners.” Art. IX (emphasis added). At the Constitu\ntional Convention that follow ed\, where the tariff power was \ntransferred to the federal government\, delegates likewise \n46 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nGORSUCH\, J .\, concurring \nreferred to it as a “legislative power.” See\, e.g.\, 3 Farrand \n615\; 2 id.\, at 142–143. And\, during debates over the Jay \nTreaty\, Hamilton explained that he held no doubt that reg\nulating for eign trade and raising money from it was a “leg\nislative power\,” if one that could be constrained by treaty.\n6 Lodge 182\, 189–190\, 196. Reflecting the same sentiment\nthat helped fuel the Revolution\, he asked: “[W]hat legisla\ntive power can be more sacred?” Id.\, at 196. \n* \nFor those who think it important for the Nation to impose\nmore tariffs\ , I understand that today’s decision will be dis\nappointing. All I can offer them is that most major deci\nsions affecting the rights and respons ibilities of the Ameri\ncan people (including the duty to pay taxes and ta riffs) are\nfunneled through the legislative process for a reason. Yes\, \nlegislating can be hard and take time. And\, yes\, it can be\ntempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem \narises. But the deliberati ve nature of the legislative process \nwas the whole point of its design. Through that process\, the \nNation can tap the combined wisdom of the pe ople’s elected \nrepresentatives\, not just that of one faction or man. There\, \ndeliberation tempers impulse\, and compromise hammers\ndisagree ments into workable solutions. And because laws \nmust earn such broad su pport to survive the legislative pro\ncess\, they tend to endure\, allowin g ordinary people to plan\ntheir lives in ways they cannot when the rules shift from\nday to day. In all\, the legislative process helps ensure each \nof us has a stake in the laws that govern us and in the Na\ntion’s fu ture. For some today\, the weight of those virtues is \napparent. For oth ers\, it may not seem so obvious. But if \nhistory is any guide\, the tab les will turn and the day will\ncome when those disappointed by today’s result will appre\nciate the legislative process for the bulwark of libert y it is. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nBARRETT\, J.\, concurring \n1 \nSUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES \n_________________ \nNos. 24–1287 and 25–250 \n_________________ \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC.\, ET AL.\, P ETITIONERS \n24–1287 \nv. \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \n STATES\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT TO THE UNITED \nST ATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA \nCIRCUIT \nDONALD J. T RUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n25–250 \nv. \nV.O.S. SELECTIONS\, INC.\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UN ITED STATES COURT OF \nAPPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT \n[February 20\, 20 26]\n JUSTICE BARRETT\, concurring. \nAs the principal opinion demonstrate s\, the most natural\nreading of the International Emergency Economic Powe rs\nAct does not encompass the power to impose tariffs. I write \nonly to address JUSTICE GORSUCH’s concurrence regarding \nthe major questions d octrine.\nTo the extent that JUSTICE GORSUCH attacks the view \nthat “co mmon sense” alone can explain all our major ques\ntions decisions\, ante \, at 18–22\, he takes down a straw man. \nI have never espoused that vi ew. Rather\, as I explained in\nmy concurrence in Biden v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S. 477\, 507 \n(2023)\, the major questions doctrine “situates text in con\ntext” and is therefore best understood as an ordinary appli\ncat ion of textualism. Id.\, at 511. Textualists—like all those \n2 \nLEARN ING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nBARRETT\, J.\, concurring \nwho use langua ge to communicate—do not interpret words\nin a vacuum. Instead\, we use context\, including “[b]ack\nground legal conventions\,” “common s ense\,” and “constitu\ntional structure\,” to ascertain a text’s “most natural mean\ning.” Id.\, at 511–512\, 515\, 509. \nPart of t his context\, as I have explained\, is Article I of the\nConstitution\, wh ich vests Congress with “‘[a]ll legislative \nPowers.’” Id.\, at 515 (quoting Art. I\, §1). Obviously\, the\nConstitution bears on the mea ning of a statute enacted pur\nsuant to it. Because Article I grants all l egislative powers \nto Congress\, the reasonable interpreter would expect Con\ngress “to make the big-time policy calls itself\, rather than\npawn ing them off to another branch.” Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, \nat 515 (BARRE TT\, J.\, concurring).1 \nTo the extent that JUSTICE GORSUCH also thinks t hat \nbackground legal conventions and constitutional structure\ninform th e most natural reading of a statute\, then we may \nnot be very far apart. See ante\, at 8–12\, 14 (concurring \nopinion). Our only disagreement m ay be over the level of \nclarity required before a particular interpretat ion can be \ndeemed the most natural one. I understand JUSTICE \nGORSUCH t o require Congress always to speak precisely to \nany major power that it intends to give away. See ante\, at \n12–14\, 25–26 (concurring opini on). As I have said before\, I \nthink that other\, “less obvious” clu es can do the trick. See \nNebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 514 (BARRETT\, J.\, concurring). I do \nnot see any such clues here\; in fact\, as the Court explains\,\nthe clues we have point in the opposite direction. See\, e.g. \, \nante\, at 8–9 (opinion of ROBERTS\, C. J.) (detailing h ow \n—————— \n1Contrary to JUSTICE GORSUCH’s suggestion\, th is approach to the ma\njor questions doctrine does not risk “conflating unenacted legislative in\ntent with the law.” Ante\, at 24\, n.2 (concu rring opinion). Rather\, like \ntextualism more generally\, it looks for “a sort of ‘objectified’ intent—the\nintent that a reasonable pers on would gather from the text of the law\, \nplaced alongside the remainde r of the corpus juris\,” including the Con\nstitution. A. Scalia\, A Ma tter of Interpretation 17 (1997). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nBARR ETT\, J.\, concurring \n3 \nCongress has elsewhere delegated the power to impose tar\niffs)\; ante\, at 14–15 (majority opinion) (stressing that t he \nGovernment “cannot identify any statute in which the \npower to reg ulate includes the power to tax”).\nAt times\, though\, JUSTICE GORSUCH suggests that the\npurpose of the major questions doctrine is something ot her\nthan to ascertain the most natural reading of a statute. For \nexamp le\, he writes that the doctrine serves to prevent\n“highly resourceful members of the executive branch” from\n“assum[ing] new power for thems elves” because “men are\nnot angels.” Ante\, at 16 (concurring opini on)\; see West Vir\nginia v. EPA\, 597 U. S. 697\, 735 (2022) (GORSUCH\, J .\, con\ncurring) (describing doctrine as a “clear-statement rul[e]”\n that “operates to protect foundational constitutional guar\nantees”)\; National Federation of Independent Business v. \nOSHA\, 595 U. S. 109\, 1 24–126 (2022) (GORSUCH\, J.\, con\ncurring) (similar). But if the Const itution permits Congress \nto give the Executive a particular power\, who are we to get\nin the way? Does the Judiciary really protect the Constitu\ ntion by impeding the constitutional action of another\nbranch? If JUSTICE GORSUCH thinks that we should forgo\nthe most natural reading of a statut e because it is prefera\nble for Congress\, rather than the President\, to make big de\ncisions\, that way lies “a lot of trouble” for the textu alist. A. \nScalia\, A Matter of Interpretation 28 (1997) (Scalia).\nStro ng-form substantive canons—canons instructing a \njudge to adopt “an i nferior-but-tenable reading”—veer be\nyond interpretation and into pol icymaking. Nebraska\, 600 \nU. S.\, at 509 (BARRETT\, J.\, concurring). A nd while the pol\nicy may be desirable or even constitutionally inspired\, \njudges should hesitate to impose disciplining rules on Con\ngress. See ibid.\, n. 2 (explaining that such “prophylactic \nconstraints” are “in tension with the Constitution’s struc\nture”). As Justice Scalia lamented\, “whether these dice\nloading rules are bad or good\, there i s also the question of \nwhere the courts get the authority to impose them . Can we \n4 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nBARRETT\, J.\, concur ring \nreally just decree that we will interpret the laws that Con\ngress passes to mean less or more than what they fairly\nsay?” Scalia 28–29. \nGranted\, strong-form canons exist elsewhere in the law.\nSee Nebraska\ , 600 U. S.\, at 508–509 (BARRETT\, J.\, concur\nring). I do not propose to abandon these canons\, nor have I\ntaken the position that adopting th em necessarily exceeds \nthe judicial power. Id.\, at 509\, n. 2. But I a m skeptical\nabout adding new ones to the mix. Ibid. And while the \nmajor questions doctrine has an impressive pedigree as an \ninterpretive princi ple\, this Court has not (yet\, anyway) em\nbraced it as a strong-form rul e that imposes a “‘clarity tax’” \non Congress. Id.\, at 508. \nJU STICE GORSUCH seems to disagree\, pointing to a few \nlate 19th- and early 20th-century cases.2 See ante\, at 12– \n14 (concurring opinion). But t hese cases\, like our modern \nones\, are consistent with my context-based approach: They\nfocus on ascertaining\, not shaping\, what the statute in dis\npute communicates. See\, e.g.\, ICC v. Cincinnati\, N. O. &\; T. \nP. R. Co.\, 167 U. S. 479\, 511 (1897) (concluding that Con\ngress “di d not intend” to give interstate commission power\nto set railroad rates )\; Siler v. Louisville &\; Nashville R. Co.\, \n213 U. S. 175\, 196 (1 909) (reasoning that “the legislature \nnever intended to and did not in fact” give a state commis\nsion power to set maximum railroad rates). I would not \ntreat this evidence as precedent for a judicial flex. JUSTIC E \nGORSUCH proposes to do something new. The innovation is \nin signific ant tension with textualism\, so I do not support \nthe projec t. \n—————— \n2He also points to state cases and longstanding corporate law princi\nples. Ante\, at 8–13 (concurring opinion). While t hose sources support\nthe existence of a background legal convention that informs a statute’s\nmost natural meaning\, they are not evidence that t his Court—which is\nbound by the constraints of Article III—has adopte d a true clear-state\nment rule. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpini on of KAGAN\, J. \n1 \nSUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES \n______________ ___ \nNos. 24–1287 and 25–250 \n_________________ \nLEARNING RESOURCES \, INC.\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n24–1287 \nv. \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESID ENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF \nAPPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n25–25 0 \nv. \nV.O.S. SELECTIONS\, INC.\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF \nAPPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT \n[February 20\, 2026]\n JUSTICE KAGAN\, with whom JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR and \nJUSTICE JACKSON join\, concurring in part and concurring in \nthe judgment. \nThe Court ho lds today that the International Emergency \nEconomic Powers Act (IEEPA) d oes not authorize the Pres\nident to impose tariffs. I agree with that con clusion\, as I do \nwith the bulk of the principal opinion’s reasoning. But be\ncause I think the ordinary tools of statutory interpretation\namp ly support today’s result\, I do not join the part of that\nopinion invo king the so-called major-questions doctrine. \nThe question that part asks \, similar to the one posed in \nother “‘major questions’ cases\,” is whether the President \ncan identify “clear congressional authorizat ion” for his ac\ntion—here\, to impose tariffs under IEEPA. Ante\, at 7\, 13\, \n20. The demand is for a clear statement—something more \n2 \ nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of KAGAN\, J. \nexplicit or specific than the statutory basis that would ordi\nnarily suffice to suppo rt executive action. See\, e.g.\, West \nVirginia v. EPA\, 597 U. S. 697\ , 721–724\, 732 (2022)\; Biden \nv. Nebraska\, 600 U. S. 477\, 505–506 (2023). The reason for \nthat requirement\, according to today’s opini on\, is that the \nExecutive has claimed an “extraordinary” power—on e \nnever asserted before and having large-scale “economic and\npolitica l significance.” Ante\, at 7\, 11\; see ante\, at 7–11. \nI objected\, in the principal cases cited\, to the demand for\na special brand of legi slative clarity. See West Virginia\, 597 \nU. S.\, at 764–784 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting)\; Nebraska\, 600 \nU. S.\, at 542–550 (KAGAN\, J.\, dis senting). In my view\, the\nCourt used its clear-authorization rule in th ose cases to ne\ngate expansive delegations Congress had approved. I ex\np lained there that the proper way to interpret a delegation\nprovision is t hrough the standard rules of statutory con\nstruction. See West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 765–766 (KAGAN\, \nJ.\, dissenting). That means\, most c oncisely stated\, reading \ntext in context. More expansively put\, it me ans examining\na delegation provision’s language\, assessing that provi\ nsion’s place in the broader statutory scheme\, and applying \na “modi cum of common sense” about how Congress typically \ndelegates. Id.\, at 764 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting)\; see FDA v. \nBrown &\; Williamson Tobac co Corp.\, 529 U. S. 120\, 133 \n(2000). The last of those inquiries inclu des consideration of \nwhether Congress ever has before\, or likely would\ , delegate\nthe power the Executive asserts—a matter also of import in\n applying the major-questions doctrine. See ante\, at 8–10\; \nNebraska\ , 600 U. S.\, at 512–514\, 517–519 (BARRETT\, J.\, \nconcurring)\; id. \, at 546\, n. 3 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting). In the \npast\, though\, I ha ve thought that the Court used that doc\ntrine to override—rather than h elp discover—the best read\ning of delegation statutes. See West Virgin ia\, 597 U. S.\, at \n756 (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting)\; Nebraska\, 600 U. S. \, at 543 \n(KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \ nOpinion of KAGAN\, J. \n3 \nThis case presents more nearly the opposite s ituation:\nThe use of a clear-statement rule here is unnecessary be\ncause ordinary principles of statutory interpretation lead to\nthe same result. 1 It is not just that the Government’s argu\nments fail to satisfy an e specially strict test\; it is that they\nfail to satisfy the normal one. E ven without a clear-state\nment rule in the picture\, the conclusion follo ws: IEEPA does \nnot authorize the President to impose tariffs. And indee d\, \nthe principal opinion’s reasoning well explains why. The \nrest o f this opinion draws on that analysis (I hope without \ntoo much rehashing ) to demonstrate what I view as the fun\ndamental point: Usual text-in-con text interpretation dooms\nthe tariffs the President has imposed. The cruc ial provision\nof IEEPA\, when viewed in light of the broader statutory \n scheme and with a practical awareness of how Congress\ndelegates tariff au thority\, does not give the President the\npower he wants.\nMost important \, IEEPA’s key phrase—the one the Gov\nernment relies on—says nothin g about imposing tariffs or \n—————— \n1 JUSTICE GORSUCH claim s not to understand this statement\, insisting\nthat I now must be applyin g the major-questions doctrine\, and his own \nversion of it to boot. See ante\, at 17 (concurring opinion) (“My concurring\ncolleagues all but e ndorse it today”)\; ante\, at 2\, 7\, 18 (similar). Given \nhow strong his apparent desire for converts\, see ante\, at 2–26\, I almost \nregre t to inform him that I am not one. But that is the fact of the matter. \n I proceed in this case just as I did in West Virginia and Nebraska: I con\ nsider a delegation provision’s language\, broaden the scope to take in the \nstatutory setting\, and apply some common sense about how Congress\n normally delegates. See West Virginia v. EPA\, 597 U. S. 697\, 756–766 \ n(2022) (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting)\; Biden v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S. 477\, 53 4– \n542 (2023) (KAGAN\, J.\, dissenting). Contrary to JUSTICE GORSUC H’s sug\ngestion\, see ante\, at 3–7\, that conventional method of int erpretation will \nnot always favor (or always disfavor) executive officia ls\, given the variety\nof delegation schemes Congress adopts. I’ll let JUSTICE GORSUCH reliti\ngate on his own our old debates about other statu tes\, unrelated to the \none before us. What matters here is only that IE EPA’s delegation refutes \nthe Executive’s assertion of authority to l evy tariffs\, without any help \nfrom the major-questions doctrine. \n4 \n LEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of KAGAN\, J. \ntaxes. That t ext authorizes the President\, upon finding a \nforeign threat and declari ng an emergency\, to “regulate” \nthe “importation” of foreign goo ds. \n50 U. S. C. \n§1702(a)(1)(B). And the meaning of “regulate\,” b oth in com\nmon parlance and as Congress uses the word\, does not en\ncomp ass taxing. See ante\, at 14–15. To “regulate\,” accord\ning to th e Government’s preferred definition\, means to “fix\,\nestablish or co ntrol\; to adjust by rule\, method\, or estab\nlished mode\; to direct by rule or restriction\; to subject to\ngoverning principles or laws.” Bri ef for Federal Parties 24 \n(quoting Black’s Law Dictionary 1156 (5th ed . 1979)). Noth\ning in that definition naturally refers to levying taxes. Nor \ndoes Congress ever use the word “regulate” in that way.\nHundr eds of provisions in the U. S. Code give agencies the \nauthority to “re gulate” one thing or another. Yet the Gov\nernment cannot identify a si ngle one that is understood to \ngrant taxing power. See Tr. of Oral Arg. 30. When Con\ngress wants to delegate that power\, it uses a whole differ ent \nvocabulary—terms like “duty\,” “tariff\,” or “surcharg e\,”\nwhich do not appear in IEEPA. See ante\, at 8 (citing repre\nsent ative statutes)\; see also ante\, at 19 (discussing\, in par\nticular\, 19 U. S. C. §1862 (1970 ed.)). And likewise\, when \nCongress means to cove r both regulatory and taxing pow\ners\, it refers to each separately. See ante\, at 15 (also citing\nstatutes). Of course\, Congress knows that tax es can be used \nfor regulatory ends: They can be a means of controlling o r \nadjusting behavior. But Congress still follows the path this\nCourt lo ng ago marked out\, and the one most consonant \nwith ordinary meaning\, o f treating the power to “regulate”\ntrade as “entirely distinct” f rom the power to “levy taxes.” \nGibbons v. Ogden\, 9 Wheat. 1\, 201 –202 (1824)\; see ante\, at \n15. So in granting only the former\, IEEPA excludes the lat\nter: The President has the ability to regulate\, but no t to im\npose taxes on\, imports.\nThe surrounding statutory language conf irms the point.\nAs the principal opinion explains\, “regulate” is one of 9 \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of KAGAN\, J. \n5 \nverb s listed in IEEPA’s delegation provision. See ante\, at \n15. (The othe rs are “investigate\,” “block\,” “direct\,” “compel\ ,” \n“nullify\,” “void\,” “prevent\,” and “prohibit.” §1702(a)(1)(B).)\nThose verbs are followed by 11 objects\, each describin g a\ndistinct sort of transaction involving foreign property—not\njust “importation\,” but also “acquisition\,” “use\,” “transfe r\,”\nand so forth. Ibid. Combine the verbs and objects in all\npossibl e ways\, and the statute authorizes 99 actions a Pres\nident can take to a ddress a foreign threat. And exactly none \nof the other 98 involves rais ing revenues. Rather\, each en\nables the President to impose penalties\, restrictions\, or con\ntrols on foreign commerce. See ante\, at 15. So wh en the \nphrase “regulate . . . importation” is invoked to impose\nqua ntity or quality limits on bringing foreign goods into the \ncountry—for example\, by setting quotas or requiring quar\nantines—the phrase fits well with its 98 neighbors. Just \nlike the rest\, it provides a way to co nstrain or alter various\nforeign transactions. But when that phrase is i nvoked to \nimpose tariffs? Then it becomes the odd man out—the only\non e of 99 permission slips to involve “the core congressional\npower of th e purse.” Ante\, at 8\; see ante\, at 5–6. So even if \n(contra both c onventional and congressional usage) the\nword “regulate” might refer to taxation in some other (hith\nerto undiscovered) statutory context\, it would not do so in\nIEEPA.2\n Likewise\, Congress’s consistent practice in delegating \ntariff power refutes the Government’s position. As the \n—————— \n2The legislative history of IEEPA offers yet more proof that Congress\ndid not authorize taxation. The Senate Report\, in i ts description of the\nstatute\, reduces the 99 authorized actions to the following: the power “to\ncontrol or freeze property transactions where a foreign interest is in\nvolved.” S. Rep. No. 95–466\, p. 5 (1977). The House Report similarly\ndescribes the delegation provision as “auth oriz[ing] the President” to\n“regulate or freeze any property in which any foreign country or a na\ntional thereof has any interest.” H. R. R ep. No. 95–459\, p. 15 (1977). \nNeither of those descriptions at all su ggests that Congress intended to\ncede its taxing power. \n6 \nLEARNING RE SOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of KAGAN\, J. \nprincipal opinion detail s\, Title 19 of the U. S. Code includes \nmultiple provisions granting the President authority to levy \ntariffs. See ante\, at 8–9. But in each and every instance\,\nCongress has not only used specific language (e.g.\, “duty” or \n“surcharge”)\, see supra\, at 4\, but also imposed ti ght re\nstraints on the power given. It has capped the tariff ’s rate \ n(e.g.\, 15%)\; or limited the tariff ’s duration (e.g.\, 150 days)\;\no r established strict procedural conditions before the tariff\ncan take eff ect (e.g.\, investigations\, public hearings\, and re\nports)\; or all of the above. See ante\, at 8–9. What Congress\nhas never done in a tarif f provision is what the Government \nclaims it did here—conferred power on the President to im\npose a tariff of any amount\, for any time\, on on ly his own \nsay-so. And construing IEEPA to give that unparalleled au\nth ority would effectively erase all the carefully confined tar\niff provisio ns in Title 19. For any President could then es\ncape the rigors of those laws—could put in place\, say\, a non\ntime-limited 100% tariff on all f oreign products—by the\nsimple expedient of identifying a foreign threat . That gut\nting of Title 19’s tariff scheme is not what Congress\, whe n\ndelegating power to “regulate” imports\, could have meant \nto acco mplish.\nNor has any President until now understood IEEPA to\nauthorize im posing tariffs. Between 1977 (when IEEPA \nwas enacted) and 2024\, eight P residents had the chance to \nmake use of IEEPA’s delegation of power. And all chose the \nsame course. They invoked the statute’s “regulate importa\ntion” provision for a variety of non-tariff purposes. See ante\ , \nat 10. But they looked elsewhere—to Title 19’s provisions—\nfor tariff authority. See ante\, at 10–11. In other words\, \neach Presiden t read the statutes as Congress wrote them\,\nwith IEEPA enabling him to r egulate imports and Title 19 \nenabling him—in confined situations—to tax those foreign \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of KAGAN\, J . \n7 \ngoods. None\, as far as anyone has suggested\, even consid\nered d oing otherwise.3 \nFor all those reasons\, straight-up statutory construct ion \nresolves this case for me\; I need no major-questions thumb \non the interpretive scales. IEEPA gives the President sig\nnificant authority o ver transactions involving foreign prop\nerty\, including the importation of goods. But in that gener\nous delegation\, one power is conspicuously missing.\nNothing in IEEPA’s text\, nor anything in its context\, ena\nb les the President to unilaterally impose tariffs. And need\nless to say\, without statutory authority\, the President’s tar\niffs cannot stand. Se e ante\, at 5–6. \n—————— \n3Presidents followed the same pr actice\, with one quasi-exception\, un\nder IEEPA’s predecessor statute\ , the Trading with the Enemy Act \n(TWEA). Beginning in 1941\, TWEA author ized the President\, as IEEPA\ndoes now\, to “regulate . . . importati on.” 12 U. S. C. §95a(1)(B) (1940 ed.\, \nSupp. I). During the next t hree decades\, six Presidents used that dele\ngation for only non-tariff e nds\, while relying on Title 19 to levy tariffs. \nIn 1971\, when Presiden t Nixon imposed tariffs in response to a balance\nof-payments deficit\, he continued in that tradition by invoking two stat\nutes (the Tariff Act of 1930 and Trade Expansion Act of 1962) found in \nTitle 19. See Presidenti al Proclamation No. 4074\, 3 CFR 60 (1971–1975 \nComp.). But in defendi ng his act against a legal challenge\, the Depart\nment of Justice argued that even if the two cited statutes did not author\nize the tariffs\, TWEA would do so. That after-the-fact claim of authority \nwas upheld in the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals. See United \nStates v. Yoshida Int ’l\, Inc.\, 526 F. 2d 560\, 572\, 577–578 (CCPA 1975)\; \nante\, at 17 . The principal opinion well explains why that single lower \ncourt decisi on about TWEA has no bearing on IEEPA’s meaning. See \nante\, at 17–1 8\, and n. 5. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of JACKSON\, J. \n1 \nSUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES \n_________________ \nNos. 24–1 287 and 25–250 \n_________________ \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC.\, ET AL.\ , PETITIONERS \n24–1287 \nv. \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI BEFORE JUDGMENT TO THE UNITED \ nSTATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA \nCIRCUIT \nDONALD J . TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n25–2 50 \nv. \nV.O.S. SELECTIONS\, INC.\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF \nAPPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT \n[February 20\, 2026]\n JUSTICE JACKSON\, concurring in part and concurring in \nthe judg ment. \nI agree with the Court’s conclusion that the International\nEmer gency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not provide\nthe President with the power to tariff. Three of my col\nleagues have reached this result via t he major questions\ndoctrine\, see ante\, at 7–13 (opinion of ROBERTS\, C. J.)—a \nframing that asks\, in essence\, whether Congress “would \n likely have intended” to delegate the authority to tariff to\nthe Presid ent through IEEPA. West Virginia v. EPA\, 597 \nU. S. 697\, 730 (2022) (em phasis added)\; see also id.\, at 722– \n723. While probing Congress’s intent is the right inquiry\,\nmy colleagues speculate needlessly. In my view\, the Court \n2 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of JAC KSON\, J. \ncan\, and should\, consult a statute’s legislative history t o de\ntermine what Congress actually intended the statute to do.\nAs Congr ess undertakes the legislative process\, congres\nsional committees in the Senate and House often generate \nofficial reports that describe Congress ’s aims for the legis\nlation. See R. Katzmann\, Judging Statutes 19–2 0 (2014)\n(Katzmann). Indeed\, there is evidence that lawmakers \nthemselv es pay more attention to these reports than a stat\nute’s text to unders tand the statute’s purpose and meaning. \nA. Gluck &\; L. Bressman\, Statutory Interpretation From the \nInside—An Empirical Study of Congres sional Drafting\,\nDelegation\, and the Canons: Part I\, 65 Stan. L. Rev. 901\, \n965–966\, 968–969 (2013)\; see also Katzmann 37–38. Thus\, \nin contrast to the principal dissent’s rejection of Committee\nReports as a means of ascertaining a statute’s meaning\, \npost\, at 16\, n. 11 (opinion of KAVANAUGH\, J.)\, I think these \nSenate and House Reports ar e among the best evidence of \nwhat Congress sought to accomplish with its enactments. \nSee Gluck\, 65 Stan. L. Rev.\, at 965\, 977–978\, 989. \n In the cases now before us\, that evidence shows that Con\ngress did not i ntend for IEEPA to authorize the Executive\nto impose tariffs. Accord\, a nte\, at 5\, n. 2 (KAGAN\, J.\, con\ncurring in part and concurring in jud gment). Instead\, Con\ngress intended to delegate to the President the pow er to \nfreeze and control foreign property transactions. \nFour pieces of the relevant legislative record support this\nconclusion. The first two a re the House and Senate Reports\nthat accompanied the 1941 amendment to IE EPA’s prede\ncessor statute\, the Trading with the Enemy Act (TWEA).\nFi rst enacted in 1917\, TWEA authorized the President to \ncontrol foreign p roperty during wartime. But some of \nTWEA’s sections delegating this au thority had lapsed\, and \n“there [was] doubt as to the effectiveness of other sections.”\nH. R. Rep. No. 1507\, 77th Cong.\, 1st Sess.\, 2 (194 1). Accord\ningly\, Congress amended TWEA in 1941\, adding the sub\nsecti on that includes the “regulate . . . importation” \n Cite as: 607 U. S . ____ (2026) \nOpinion of JACKSON\, J. \n3 \nlanguage on which the Presid ent relies today. First War \nPowers Act\, 55 Stat. 839–840. The Repor ts explained Con\ngress’s primary purpose for the 1941 amendment: shorin g \nup the President’s ability to control foreign-owned property \nby ma intaining and strengthening the “existing system of \nforeign property c ontrol (commonly known as freezing con\ntrol).” H. R. Rep. No. 1507\, at 2–3\; see also S. Rep. No. 911\,\n77th Cong.\, 1st Sess.\, 2 (1941).1 \ nWhen Congress enacted IEEPA in 1977\, limiting the cir\ncumstances under which the President could exercise his \nemergency authorities\, it kept t he “regulate . . . importa\ntion” language from TWEA. §203(a)(1)(B)\, 91 Stat. 1626.\nThe other two relevant pieces of legislative history—th e\nSenate and House Reports that accompanied IEEPA—\ndemonstrate that Co ngress’s intent regarding the scope of\nthis statutory language remained the same. As the Senate \nReport explained\, Congress’s sole objective for the “regulate \n. . . importation” subsection was to grant the Pr esident the \nemergency authority “to control or freeze property transac \ntions where a foreign interest is involved.” S. Rep. No. 95– \n466\, p. 5 (1977). The House Report likewise described \nIEEPA as empowering t he President to “regulate or freeze \nany property in which any foreign country or a national \nthereof has any interest.” H. R. Rep. No. 95– 459\, p. 15 \n(1977).\nWith this evidence of Congress’s objective\, inte rpreting\nthe text of IEEPA becomes an easy task. Each of the listed \nve rbs—“investigate\, block during the pendency of an inves\ntigation\, r egulate\, direct and compel\, nullify\, void\, prevent \n————— — \n1In addition to maintaining the President’s “freezing control” author\nity\, Congress also sought to authorize the President to seize fo reign prop\nerty and use it to serve the interests of the United States. H. R. Rep. \nNo. 1507\, at 3. To this end\, the 1941 amendment provided t hat foreign\nowned property “shall vest . . . in such agency or person a s may be desig\nnated . . . by the President.” 55 Stat. 840. Congress did not include this \nvesting language in IEEPA. \n4 \nLEARNING RESOURCES \, INC. v. TRUMP \nOpinion of JACKSON\, J. \nor prohibit\,” 50 U. S. C. §1702(a)(1)(B)—provides a means\nby which the President can freeze or control foreign prop\nerty transactions. See ante\, at 4–5\, and n. 2 ( opinion of \nKAGAN\, J.). Tariffs are different in kind. They are a tax o n\nimports\; a means of generating revenue from transactions\nbetween priv ate parties. See ante\, at 6 (majority opinion).\nBecause tariffs are not a means by which the President can \nfreeze or control foreign assets\, in terpreting IEEPA to au\nthorize tariffs would require the Court to overrid e Con\ngress’s expressed purpose for including the “regulate . . . \ni mportation” language in the statute. \n*\n*\n* \n Like THE CHIEF JUSTI CE’s opinion\, the principal dissent\ndeclines the help of legislative h istory. See post\, at 16\, n. 11 \n(opinion of KAVANAUGH\, J.). The disse nt concludes that \nIEEPA and TWEA are “best understood” as authorizin g tar\niffs\, and that any other interpretation would “not make\nmuch se nse.” Post\, at 24–25\, 29.2 But why would it matter \nwhich interpre tation we think is “best” when Congress has \nalready told us? The leg islative history here plainly estab\nlishes that Congress understood and i ntended IEEPA and \nTWEA to authorize a wholly different type of power: th e \npower to freeze foreign-owned property. And the proper\nrole of the C ourt is to give effect to Congress’s intent\, not\nour own instincts. Se e United States v. American Trucking \nAssns.\, Inc.\, 310 U. S. 534\, 542 (1940). \nIn short\, in these cases\, the legislative history provides \n helpful evidence of “what Congress was trying to do” in\nIEEPA. Katzma nn 38. Given that evidence\, we need not \nspeculate or\, worse\, step in to Congress’s shoes and \n—————— \n2This reasoning appears t o follow the Court’s relatively recent practice\nof picking what it deem s the best reading of a statute without consider\nation of Congress’s in tent. See\, e.g.\, Stanley v. City of Sanford\, 606 U. S. \n46\, 51–54 (2025)\; accord\, id.\, at 96–97\, and n. 12 (JACKSON\, J.\, dissent\nin g). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nOpinion of JACKSON\, J. \n5 \nform ulate our own views about what powers would be best \nto delegate to the P resident for use during an emergency.\nSee ibid.\; J. Hurst\, Dealing With Statutes 33 (1982). When \nCongress tells us why it has included certain language in a\nstatute\, the limited role of the courts in our democratic sys\ntem of government—as interpreters\, not lawmakers—de\nmands that we give effect to the will of the people. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (202 6) \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \n1 \nSUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES \n_ ________________ \nNos. 24–1287 and 25–250 \n_________________ \nLEARN ING RESOURCES\, INC.\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n24–1287 \nv. \nDONALD J. T RUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI T O THE UNITED STATES COURT OF \nAPPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUI T \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL.\, PETITION ERS \n25–250 \nv. \nV.O.S. SELECTIONS\, INC.\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTI ORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF \nAPPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT \n[F ebruary 20\, 2026]\n JUSTICE THOMAS\, dissenting. \nI join JUSTICE KAVANAU GH’s principal dissent in full. As \nhe explains\, the Court’s decisio n today cannot be justified \nas a matter of statutory interpretation. Co ngress author\nized the President to “regulate . . . importation.” 50 U. S. C. \n§1702(a)(1)(B). Throughout American history\, the author\nity to “regulate importation” has been understood to include \nthe authori ty to impose duties on imports. Post\, at 9–13\, \n22–29 (KAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting). The meaning of that\nphrase was beyond doubt by the ti me that Congress enacted \nthis statute\, shortly after President Nixon’ s highly publi\ncized duties on imports were upheld based on identical lan \nguage. Post\, at 14–22. The statute that the President relied \non th erefore authorized him to impose the duties on imports \n2 \nLEARNING RESO URCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \nat issue in these cases . JUSTICE KAVANAUGH makes clear \nthat the Court errs in concluding otherw ise. \nI write separately to explain why the statute at issue here\nis con sistent with the separation of powers as an original \nmatter. The Constit ution’s separation of powers forbids \nCongress from delegating core leg islative power to the Pres\nident. This principle\, known as the nondelega tion doctrine\,\nis rooted in the Constitution’s Legislative Vesting Cla use \nand Due Process Clause. Art. I\, §1\; Amdt. 5. Both Clauses \nforb id Congress from delegating core legislative power\,\nwhich is the power t o make substantive rules setting the \nconditions for deprivations of life \, liberty\, or property. Nei\nther Clause prohibits Congress from delega ting other kinds\nof power. Because the Constitution assigns Congress many \npowers that do not implicate the nondelegation doctrine\,\nCongress may delegate the exercise of many powers to the\nPresident. Congress has done so repeatedly since the\nfounding\, with this Court’s blessing.\nThe pow er to impose duties on imports can be delegated.1 \nAt the founding\, that power was regarded as one of many \n—————— \n1I refer to char ges on imported goods as “duties\,” not “tariffs” or\n“taxes.” When the government charged money for importing goods\, that\ncharge was historically called a custom or impost\, each of which was a \nkind of “duty.” See N. Webster\, A Compendious Dictionary of the English\nLang uage 75\, 152 (1806)\; Art. I\, §10\, cl. 2. The word “tariff ” prim arily\nreferred to the schedule or table listing such duties\, not the dut ies them\nselves. Webster\, Compendious Dictionary\, at 305. The word “ tax\,” alt\nhough sometimes used loosely to refer to all kinds of moneta ry charges\, \nmore often “exclude[d]” duties on imports. R. Natelson \, What the Con\nstitution Means by “Duties\, Imposts\, and Excise s”—and “Taxes” (Direct \nor Otherwise)\, 66 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 2 97\, 306 (2015). \nIn fact\, although Colonial Americans “staunchly cont ested efforts by \nParliament to ‘tax’ them\,” they often “concede d the authority of the Brit\nish government to regulate commerce through f inancial exactions\,” in\ncluding “prohibitory tariffs.” Ibid. In th e most “widely read” and “uni\nversally approved” response to the Stamp Act\, E. Morgan &\; H. Morgan\, \nThe Stamp Act Crisis 71 (1953)\ , Daniel Dulany wrote: “A Right to impose\nan internal Tax on the Coloni es\, without their Consent for the single \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026 ) \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \n3 \npowers over foreign commerce that could be delegated to\nthe President. Power over foreign commerce was not withi n \nthe core legislative power\, and engaging in foreign com\nmerce was re garded as a privilege rather than a right.\nEarly Congresses often delegat ed to the President power to\nregulate foreign commerce\, including throug h duties on im\nports. As I suggested over a decade ago\, the nondelegatio n \ndoctrine does not apply to “a delegation of power to make\nrules gov erning private conduct in the area of foreign\ntrade\,” including rules imposing duties on imports. Depart\nment of Transportation v. Association of American Rail\nroads\, 575 U. S. 43\, 80–81\, n. 5 (2015) (opinion c oncurring \nin judgment). Therefore\, to the extent that the Court relies \non “‘separation of powers principles’” to rule against the\nPres ident\, ante\, at 8 (opinion of ROBERTS\, C. J.)\, it is mis\ntaken. \nI \ nThe nondelegation doctrine is rooted in both the Legisla\ntive Vesting Cl ause and the Due Process Clause. The doc\ntrine ensures that “[t]he Legi slative [Branch] cannot trans\nfer the Power of Making Laws to any other h ands.” J. \nLocke\, Two Treatises of Government §141\, p. 380 (P. Lasl ett \ned. 1964) (Locke) (emphasis deleted). \nImportantly\, \n —————— \nPurpose of Revenue\, is denied\; a Right to regulate their Trade without \ntheir Consent is admitted. The Imposition of a Duty \, may\, in some In\nstances\, be the proper Regulation.” Consideration s on the Propriety of\nImposing Taxes in the British Colonies 34 (2d ed. 1 765) (emphasis de\nleted). Likewise\, Benjamin Franklin famously conceded Britain’s “right \n‘of laying duties to regulate commerce\,’ ” b ut rejected its power to “ ‘lay \ninternal taxes.’ ” B. Bailyn\, The Ideological Origins of the American Rev\nolution 214 (1967)\; see also id.\, at 212 (explaining that colonists denied\nBritain “all right to t ax the colonies\,” but “conceded to it the right to raise\nrevenue thr ough duties on trade”)\; E. Nelson\, The Royalist Revolution\n32 (2014)\ ; C. Becker\, The Declaration of Independence: A Study in the \nHistory of Political Ideas 90 (1922). \n4 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nTHO MAS\, J.\, dissenting \nhowever\, the nondelegation doctrine applies only to Con\ngress’s core legislative power\, not to all of its powers. \nA \ nThe Legislative Vesting Clause grants Congress alone \nthe federal legisl ative power. It requires that “[a]ll legisla\ntive Powers” granted to the Federal Government “shall be \nvested in a Congress of the United St ates.” Art. I\, §1. It \nfollows that those federal legislative powers cannot be exer\ncised by anyone else\, including the President. See Associ a\ntion of American Railroads\, 575 U. S.\, at 74 (opinion of \nTHOMAS\, J .). \n“Legislative power” for purposes of the Vesting Clause\nmeans th e power to make substantive rules setting the con\nditions for deprivation s of life\, liberty\, or property. I have \ndescribed this power as the “core legislative power” to dis\ntinguish it from other powers that t he Constitution grants \nCongress. Id.\, at 80. Core legislative power inc ludes only \nthe power to make “law” in the “Blackstonian sense of g en\nerally applicable rules of private conduct\,” the violation of\nwhic h results in the deprivation of “core private rights.” Id.\, \nat 73\ , 76. These core private rights are the natural rights\nto life\, liberty\ , and property. See 1 W. Blackstone\, Com\nmentaries on the Laws of Engla nd 123–136 (1765) (Black\nstone)\; C. Nelson\, Adjudication in the Polit ical Branches\, \n107 Colum. L. Rev. 559\, 566–567 (2007). \nThe nondele gation doctrine is also rooted in the Due Pro\ncess Clause. That Clause pr ohibits the Federal Govern\nment from depriving any person of “life\, li berty\, or property\,\nwithout due process of law.” Amdt. 5. The Founde rs mod\neled it on chapter 39 of the Magna Carta\, which prohibited \nthe deprivation of a free man’s private rights “except by the \nlawful jud gment of his peers and by the law of the land.” A. \nHoward\, Magna Car ta: Text and Commentary 45 (rev. ed. \n1998)\; see Obergefell v. Hodges\, 576 U. S. 644\, 723 (2015) \n(THOMAS\, J.\, dissenting). By the founding\ , the Magna \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \ n5 \nCarta was understood to mean that “no subject would be \ndeprived o f a private right—that is\, a right of life\, liberty\, \nor property— except in accordance with ‘the law of the land\,’ \nwhich consisted on ly of statutory and common law.” Asso\nciation of American Railroads\, 575 U. S.\, at 72 (opinion of \nTHOMAS\, J.) (citing N. Chapman &\; M. McConnell\, Due Pro\ncess as Separation of Powers\, 121 Yale L. J. 1672\, 1688 \n(2012)).\nA rule made by someone other than the legislature\, such\ nas the King\, was not “‘the law of the land.’” Association of \n American Railroads\, 575 U. S.\, at 72 (opinion of THOMAS\, \nJ.). Chief J ustice Coke famously held invalid the King’s\nproclamation prohibiting n ew buildings in London because \nthe King could not “create any offe nce” “without Parlia\nment.” Case of Proclamations\, 12 Co. Rep. 7 4\, 74–75\, 77\nEng. Rep. 1352\, 1353 (K. B. 1611)\; see Association of Amer\nican Railroads\, 575 U. S.\, at 72 (opinion of THOMAS\, J.) (ex\npla ining that this principle was associated with chapter 39\nof the Magna Car ta). When the Founders transplanted the\nsame principle into the Due Proce ss Clause\, they ensured \nthat when the government wanted to deprive peop le of the\nfamiliar core private rights of “life\, liberty\, and propert y\,” it\ncould not do so “on the basis of a rule (or a will) not enact ed \nby the legislature.” Id.\, at 75–76. \nB \nNeither the Legislativ e Vesting Clause nor the Due Pro\ncess Clause forbids Congress from delega ting its other pow\ners. As this Court put it two centuries ago\, although Con\ngress cannot delegate powers that are “strictly and\nexclusively l egislative\,” it can “certainly delegate” others. \nWayman v. Southa rd\, 10 Wheat. 1\, 42–43 (1825) (opinion\nfor the Court by Marshall\, C. J.). \nMany of Congress’s powers fall within the core legislative\npowe r subject to the nondelegation doctrine. For example\, \nthe Constitution gives Congress the power to regulate \n6 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. T RUMP \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \ncommerce among the States. Art. I\, §8\ , cl. 3. Congress can\nthus make substantive rules for interstate trade —such as \nby restricting drug shipments across state lines—punisha\nb le with fines or imprisonment. Cf. Gonzales v. Raich\, 545 \nU. S. 1\, 58 (2005) (THOMAS\, J.\, dissenting). Likewise\, the \nConstitution gives Co ngress many other powers that impli\ncate life\, liberty\, and property\, including the power to pro\nvide for the punishment of counterfeiting\, Ar t. I\, §8\, cl. 6\; \nthe power to provide for the punishment of treason\ , Art. III\, \n§3\, cl. 2\; and the power to impose internal taxes\, Art. I\, §8\, \ncl. 1\; Amdt. 16. These powers cannot be delegated\, as I hav e \nrepeatedly explained. See\, e.g.\, Association of American \nRailroads \, 575 U. S.\, at 77 (opinion of THOMAS\, J.)\; Whit\nman v. American Truc king Assns.\, Inc.\, 531 U. S. 457\, 487 \n(2001) (THOMAS\, J.\, concurrin g). They cannot be delegated\neven if Congress delegates them unambiguous ly. Cf. ante\, \nat 8 (opinion of ROBERTS\, C. J.).\nCongress also has man y powers that are not subject to\nthe nondelegation doctrine. “We now t hink of the powers \nlisted in Article I\, Section 8 as quintessentially l egislative \npowers\, but many of them were actual\, former\, or asserted \npowers of the Crown\, which the drafters decided to allocate\nto the leg islative branch.” M. McConnell\, The President \nWho Would Not Be King 2 74 (2020) (McConnell)\; accord\, \nZivotofsky v. Kerry\, 576 U. S. 1\, 36 (2015) (THOMAS\, J.\, con\ncurring in judgment in part and dissenting in p art). These \ninclude the powers to raise and support armies\, to fix the \nstandards of weights and measures\, to grant copyrights\, to \ndispose of federal property\, and\, as discussed below\, to reg\nulate foreign com merce. Art. I\, §8\; Art. IV\, §3. None of \nthese powers involves set ting the rules for the deprivation\nof core private rights. Blackstone cal led them “prerogative” \npowers\, and sometimes “executive.” See 1 Blackstone 242\, \n245\, 255–262\, 264–265\, 276\, 279\; 2 id.\, at 407\, 410 (1766)\;\n1 W. Crosskey\, Politics and the Constitution in the H istory \nof the United States 416\, 421–425 (1953)\; McConnell 274– \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \n7 \n275. By o ne count\, 13 of the 29 powers given to Congress in \nArticle I were power s that “Blackstone described as ‘execu\ntive’ powers.” 1 Crosskey \, Politics and the Constitution\, at \n428. \nFor most of American histor y\, the nondelegation doctrine\nwas understood not to apply to these power s. Contra\, ante\, \nat 42–46 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring). “The earl y congresses\nfelt free to delegate certain powers to President Washington \nin broad terms.” McConnell 333. Thus\, the Constitution \ngives Congr ess the power to support armies\, Art. I\, §8\, cl.\n12\, but Congress in 1789 delegated to the President the \npower to establish regulations for benefits to veterans\nwounded in the Revolutionary War. See Act of Sept. 29\,\n1789\, ch. 24\, 1 Stat. 95. The Constitution gives Congress\nthe po wer to grant patents\, Art. I\, §8\, cl. 8\, but Congress in\n1790 delega ted to executive officials the power to grant pa\ntents in their discretio n. See Act of Apr. 10\, 1790\, ch. 7\, §1\, \n1 Stat. 109–110. The Co nstitution gives Congress the \npower to borrow money\, Art. I\, §8\, cl. 2\, but Congress in \n1790 delegated to the President the power to borrow up to \n$12 million on behalf of the United States in his discretion. \nS ee Act of Aug. 4\, 1790\, §2\, 1 Stat. 139. The Constitution \ngives Cong ress the power to raise armies\, Art. I\, §8\, cl. 12\, \nbut Congress in 1791 delegated to the President the power \nto raise an army of 2\,000 tr oops in his discretion. See Act \nof Mar. 3\, 1791\, §8\, 1 Stat. 223. An d\, as I explain further \nbelow\, see infra\, at 13–15\, the Constituti on gives Congress \nthe power to regulate foreign commerce\, Art. I\, §8\ , cl. 3\, but \nearly Congresses often delegated to the President the powe r \nto regulate foreign commerce. See\, e.g.\, Act of July 22\, 1790\,\nch . 33\, 1 Stat. 137\; Act of June 4\, 1794\, ch. 41\, 1 Stat. 372. \nThese early delegations had one thing in common: They\ndid not implicate the Leg islative Vesting Clause or the Due \nProcess Clause. “None of these stat utes disturbed natural \nrights or intruded into the core of the legislati ve power.” \nMcConnell 333\; cf. A. Bamzai\, Comment\, Delegation and \n 8 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \nInterp retive Discretion: Gundy\, Kisor\, and the Formation \nand Future of Admin istrative Law\, 133 Harv. L. Rev. 164\, \n178 (2019). They therefore did n ot violate the nondelega\ntion doctrine. \nThe Constitutional Convention s eemed to agree with this \nunderstanding of delegation. \nContra\, ante\, at 42 \n(GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring). James Madison proposed an\namendment clarifying that the President had the power “‘to \nexecute such other powers’” as were “‘delegated by the na\ntional Legislature\,’ ” so long as the delegated powers were \n“‘“not Legislative nor Ju diciary in their nature.”’” 1 Rec\nords of the Federal Convention of 1787\, p. 67 (M. Farrand\ned. 1966). Thus\, in Madison’s view\, some of Congress’s pow\ners were “not Legislative” and could be “delega ted” to the\nPresident. Ibid. Madison’s proposal was rejected after ot h\ners argued that it was unnecessary. Ibid. Madison agreed \nthat the pu rpose of the proposed amendment was only to\n“prevent doubts and miscons tructions.” Ibid. Nobody dis\nputed that Madison stated the correct sc ope of the nondele\ngation doctrine. Ibid.\; see also McConnell 332 (“[ W]e can \ninfer [from Madison’s motion] that the framers understood \nth at Congress would be able to delegate its royal preroga\ntive powers back to the President”).2 \n—————— \n2Thus\, although many used the word “legislative” in the broader sense \nto describe powers that should initially belong to the legislature\, ante\, at \n42–43 (GORSUCH \, J.\, concurring)\, the Founders likely understood the \nLegislative Ves ting Clause to refer more narrowly to “core legislative \npower\,” Dep artment of Transportation v. Association of American Rail\nroads\, 575 U. S. 43\, 80 (2015) (THOMAS\, J.\, concurring in judgment). That \nundersta nding accorded with the views of separation-of-powers theorists \nof the t ime\, who distinguished the three core functions of government \nfrom the institutions that would exercise them in any given polity. S. \nPrakash & amp\; M. Ramsey\, Foreign Affairs and the Jeffersonian Executive\, \n89 Mi nn. L. Rev 1591\, 1612–1617 (2005)\; see 1 B. de Montesquieu\, The \nSpi rit of Laws 151–153 (T. Nugent transl.\, rev. ed. 1899). For nondele\ng ation purposes\, therefore\, “[t]he key is to distinguish between strict ly \nlegislative authority—the power to make rules binding on persons or \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \nII \n9 \nA s a matter of original understanding\, historical practice\,\nand judicial precedent\, the power to impose duties on im\nports is not within the cor e legislative power. Congress can \ntherefore delegate the exercise of th is power to the Presi\ndent. \nA \nNeither of the two constitutional found ations for the non\ndelegation doctrine forbids Congress from delegating t o the \nPresident the power to impose duties on imports. \n1 \nThe Legisla tive Vesting Clause provides no basis for ap\nplying the nondelegation doc trine to the power to impose\nduties on imports.\n“The ‘power over ext ernal affairs [is] in origin and essen\ntial character different from that over internal affairs.’” \nHaaland v. Brackeen\, 599 U. S. 255\, 356 (2023) (THOMAS\, \nJ.\, dissenting) (quoting United States v. Curtiss-Wri ght Ex\nport Corp.\, 299 U. S. 304\, 319 (1936)). Although internal\naffa irs are governed by the domestic law of one sovereign\, \nexternal affairs implicate the relationship between sover\neigns\, which is subject to the law of nations. See Locke \n§§145–148\, at 383–384\; 1 Blackstone 2 64\; 4 id.\, at 66–68 \n(1769)\; E. de Vattel\, The Law of Nations 161 –163\, 281–289\n(J. Chitty ed. 1852) (Vattel). External affairs\, the n\, are not \nsusceptible to being “directed by antecedent\, standing\, pos\nitive Laws” made by one nation. Locke §147\, at 384. When \na pe rson goes abroad\, he must resort to the political \nbranches (and ultimat ely the military)—rather than the ju\ndiciary—for protection\, can ind ebt the executive to foreign \nnations for his personal misconduct\, and c an trigger a for\neign conflict. See Vattel 161–163\, 281–289\; 2 F. Wharton\, \n—————— \nproperty within the nation—and other po wers assigned to Congress.” \nMcConnell 327. \n10 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \nDigest of International Law § 222\, pp. 575–576 (2d ed.\n1887)\; see also id.\, §§189\, 213–221\, at 432–445\, 539–575. \nThe power to regulate external affairs was acc ordingly\nnot viewed as within the core legislative power at the found\nin g. See Zivotofsky\, 576 U. S.\, at 35–37 (opinion of THOMAS\, \nJ.). Bla ckstone described powers over “intercourse with for\neign nations” a s “prerogative” powers naturally belonging \nto the King. 1 Blackstone 245\; see id.\, at 232. Locke agreed\nthat this power “must be lodged ” with the “executive.” Zi\nvotofsky\, 576 U. S.\, at 35 (opinion o f THOMAS\, J.) (citing\nLocke §148). Baron de Montesquieu classified all powers\n“in respect to things dependent on the law of nations” as\npar t of “the executive power.” 1 The Spirit of Laws 151 (T. \nNugent tra nsl.\, rev. ed. 1899). The “legislative” power\, by\ncontrast\, “ap plied only within the realm.” McConnell 214. \nThe power to regulate ex ternal affairs included power\nover foreign commerce. At the founding\, th e “external ex\necutive power” included “‘the transactions of the state with \nany other independent state.’” Zivotofsky\, 576 U. S.\, at 36 \n(opinion of THOMAS\, J.). In Great Britain\, the King had no\nuni lateral legislative power\, McConnell 107\, but he had \nmuch unilateral p ower over foreign commerce. His power\nover foreign commerce included the power to “govern for\neign trade\,” id.\, at 216\, and to “prohibit any of his subjects\nfrom leaving the realm\,” 1 Blackstone 261\; accord \, East In\ndia Co. v. Sandys\, Skin. 223\, 223–224\, 90 Eng. Rep. 103 \ n(K. B. 1684) (describing the “inherent prerogative in the \nCrown\, tha t none should trade with foreigners without the \nKing’s licence”). Th omas Rutherforth’s Institutes of Natu\nral Law—“a treatise routinely cited by the Founders\,” Zivo\ntofsky\, 576 U. S.\, at 36 (opinion of T HOMAS\, J.)—explained \nthat the “external executive power” includ ed “the power of\nadjusting the rights of a nation in respect of . . . t rade.” 2 \nInstitutes of Natural Law 55–56 (1756)\; accord\, Locke §1 46\,\nat 383. The power to impose duties on imports was a con\nventional m ethod for governing foreign trade. It originated \n Cite as: 607 U. S. __ __ (2026) \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \n11 \nas a “prerogative right” o f the King\, N. Gras\, Early English\nCustoms System 21 (1918).3 \n2 \nThe Due Process Clause likewise provides no basis for ap\nplying the nondeleg ation doctrine to the power to impose\nduties on imports. The Due Process Clause protects \n“rights\,” not “privileges.” Gutierrez v. Saenz \, 606 U. S. 305\, \n331 (2025) (THOMAS\, J.\, dissenting). Importing is a matter \nof privilege.\nThe government can charge money for privileges w ithout\ndepriving a person of property for due-process purposes. \nThe gov ernment charges people money every day for a wide \nrange of activities\, such as to enter a government park\, mail\nan envelope\, apply for a copyr ight\, or file a lawsuit. Be\ncause a person has no core private right to engage in these\nactivities\, the government is not subject to due-proces s re\nstraints in setting such charges. The due-process question \nis not whether a government action “‘raise[s] revenue\,’” \nante\, at 6 (majority opinion)\, but whether it implicates core\nprivate rights. Supr a\, at 3–4. Thus\, when Congress dele\ngates power to make “regulati ons” on federal land\, the Sec\nretary of Agriculture can set a “cha rge” for the “privilege of \ngrazing sheep” on that land without t hereby “exercis[ing]\nthe legislative power.” United States v. Grimaud \, 220 U. S. \n506\, 522–523 (1911)\; see also Bamzai\, 133 Harv. L. Rev .\, at\n180–182\; contra\, ante\, at 8 (opinion of ROBERTS\, C. J.). Co n\ngress has\, consistent with due process\, delegated the power \nto set charges for a wide range of privileges. See 16 U. S. C. \n§6802 (delegati ng the power to set fees for entrance to and \n—————— \n3See a lso P. Einzig\, The Control of the Purse: Progress and Decline of\nParliam ent’s Financial Control 65 (1959) (“[T]he origin of the term ‘cus\ ntoms’ is that it had been the ancient customary practice of the Crown t o\nlevy charges on imports and exports on its own authority”). Parliame nt \ntook some of that prerogative power away\, but delegated it back in b road\nterms to the King\, see id.\, at 65–70\, who was still agreed to h ave no leg\nislative power\, McConnell 107–110. \n12 \nLEARNING RESOURCE S\, INC. v. TRUMP \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \nuse of federal recreation a reas)\; 17 U. S. C. §1316 (delegat\ning the power to “by regulation set reasonable fees” for ap\nplications)\; 39 U. S. C. §3622 (delegating t he power to set \npostal rates)\; 28 U. S. C. §1911 (“The Supreme Court may \nfix the fees to be charged by its clerk”). \nA person had no core private right to import goods at the \nfounding. On the Founders’ under standing\, statutes allow\ning “importation of goods from abroad were th ought to cre\nate mere privileges rather than core private rights.” Nel \nson\, 107 Colum. L. Rev.\, at 580. Foreign commerce was\ngoverned by the law of nations\, which is a law of “sover\neigns\,” not of “private individuals.” Vattel 285. “[A]ny at\ntempt to introduce foreign g oods” without the “expressed al\nlowances” of the sovereign was “a violation of its \nsovereignty.” Cross v. Harrison\, 16 How. 164\, 196 (1854).\n“Every state” had “a right to prohibit the entrance of for eign \nmerchandises\,” including through the imposition of duties \non i mports. Vattel §§90\, 99\, at 38\, 43. Because “no one had \na veste d right to import” any “goods from abroad\,” the im\nposition of “tariffs” as a condition for importing those goods\ndid not implicate the Due Process Clause any more than \nwhen the government charges money for other privileges. \nNelson\, 107 Colum. L. Rev.\, at 580. \n*\n*\n* \n The power to impose duties on imports thus does not im\nplicate either of the constitutional foundations for the non\ndelegation doctrine. Hence\, e ven the strongest critics of del\negation\, myself included\, have recogni zed that regulations\nof foreign commerce might not be subject to ordinary non\ndelegation limitations. See FCC v. Consumers’ Research\, \n606 U. S. 656\, 742\, n. 19 (2025) (GORSUCH\, J.\, dissenting) \n(“[I]t may be . . . that tariffs and domestic taxes present dif\nferent contexts when it comes to the problem of delega\ntion”)\; accord\, Association of Americ an Railroads\, 575 U. S.\, \nat 80\, and n. 5 (opinion of THOMAS\, J.). S o long as Congress \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nTHOMAS\, J.\, disse nting \n13 \ncomplies with other constitutional limitations\, it can dele\ ngate this power. \nB \nHistorical practice and precedent confirm that Con gress \ncan delegate the power to impose duties on imports. \n1 \nSince th e 1790s\, Congress has consistently delegated to\nthe President power over foreign commerce\, including the \npower to impose duties on imports. “‘Practically every vol\nume of the United States Statutes’” con tains broad delega\ntions to the President in the area of foreign commerce . Id.\, \nat 80\, n. 5 (quoting Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.\, 299 U. S.\, \nat 324).\nThe First Congress gave the President the power to “pre\nsc ribe” “rules and regulations” that would “gover[n]” any \nperson licensed to trade with Indians. 1 Stat. 137. Trade \nwith Indians was r egarded as “a matter of external rela\ntions.” McConnell 333. In dele gating this power\, Congress \ndid not specify or limit what kinds of regu lations the Presi\ndent could impose. Act of July 22\, 1790\, 1 Stat. 137 –138. \nPursuant to that broad delegation\, the President restricted \nt rading “[d]istilled [s]pirits\,” required each trader to “give\ninte lligence” to the Government\, and subdelegated to his \nsuperintendents the power to “assign the limits within \nwhich each trader shall trade .” 61 Timothy Pickering Pa\npers\, Massachusetts Historical Society 4 (A ug. 28\, 1790)\;\nsee also Letter from G. Washington to H. Knox (Aug. 13\, \n1790)\, in 6 Papers of George Washington 244–245 (D.\nTwohig ed. 1996) . Any person who violated the President’s\nregulations would owe $1\,00 0 “payable to the President.” 1 \nStat. 137.\n Succeeding early Congre sses delegated many more pow\ners over foreign commerce to the President. In 1794\, Con\ngress delegated to the President the power to “lay an \n1 4 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \nembarg o on all ships and vessels in the ports of the United\nStates\,” includi ng ships belonging to Americans\, unless \nCongress was in session. Act o f June 4\, 1794\, 1 Stat. 372. \nIt authorized the President to make “su ch regulations as\nthe circumstances of the case may require” in exercis ing\nthat delegated power. Ibid. Congress allowed the Presi\ndent to impos e the embargo as “in his opinion\, the public \nsafety shall so requir e.” Ibid. In 1795\, Congress delegated \nto the President the power to “permit the exportation of\narms\, cannon and military stores\, the law prohibiting the \nexportation of the same to the contrary notwithstanding .”\nAct of Mar. 3\, 1795\, ch. 53\, 1 Stat. 444. In 1798\, Congress\nde legated to the President the power to discontinue “prohi\nbitions and re straints” on commerce with France. Act of \nJune 13\, 1798\, 1 Stat. 565–566\; see also\, e.g.\, Act of Mar. 3\, \n1817\, ch. 39\, 3 Stat. 361–362 (delegating to the President \nthe power to discontinue a ban on importation of plaster of \nParis). In 1799\, Congress delegated to the P resident the \nauthority to discontinue and to reimpose “restraints and\ nprohibitions” on commerce with France when he “deem[ed] \nit expedien t and consistent with the interest of the United\nStates.” Act of Feb. 9\, 1799\, 1 Stat. 615. And\, in 1800\, Con\ngress delegated to the Presi dent the power to remove a ban \non trade with France\, and to “re-estab lish” certain “re\nstraints and prohibitions” when he “deem[ed] it expedient.” \nAct of Feb. 27\, 1800\, 2 Stat. 9–10.4 \nCongress likew ise delegated to the President the power \nto set duties on imports. In 18 15\, Congress delegated to the \nPresident the power to lower reciprocal d uties when he was \n“satisfied” that other nations’ trade practices no longer op\nerated “to the disadvantage of the United States.” Act of \nMar. 3\, 1815\, ch. 77\, 3 Stat. 224. In 1824\, Congress \n—————— \n4 JUSTICE GORSUCH’s interpretation of two “ear ly congressional de\nbates\,” ante\, at 43 (concurring opinion)\, is thu s difficult to reconcile with\nwhat early Congresses actually did. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \n15 \ndelegated to the President the power to lower and to reim\npose duties in response to f oreign nations’ trade practices.\nSee Act of Jan. 7\, 1824\, 4 Stat. 2 –3. Throughout the early \ndecades of the Republic\, Congress continued to delegate to\nthe President similar powers over duties on imports on a \nregular basis. See\, e.g.\, Act of May 24\, 1828\, ch. 111\, 4 Stat.\n30 8\; Act of May 31\, 1830\, ch. 219\, 4 Stat. 425\; Act of July \n13\, 1832 \, ch. 207\, 4 Stat. 578–579. Presidents frequently\nchanged the rates of duties on imports as to various foreign\nnations pursuant to these dele gations.5 \n2 \nThis Court has consistently upheld Congress’s delegation \nof power over foreign commerce\, including the power to im\npose duties on imports. \nThe Court has long conveyed to Congress that it may “in\n vest the President with large discretion in matters arising\nout of the ex ecution of statutes relating to trade and com\nmerce with other nations. ” Marshall Field &\; Co. v. Clark\, \n143 U. S. 649\, 691 (1892). Si nce shortly after the founding\, \nthe Court has rejected challenges to de legations of power \nover foreign commerce. See Cargo of Brig Aurora v. Un ited \n—————— \n5See\, e.g.\, July 24\, 1818\, Proclamation of President J. Monroe\, in 2 \nMessages and Papers of the Presidents 606– 607 (J. Richardson ed. 1897)\n(eliminating duties on “goods\, wares\, an d merchandise imported into the\nUnited States” as to the Free Hanseatic city of Bremen)\; see also\, e.g.\, \nAug. 1\, 1818\, Proclamation of Pre sident J. Monroe\, in 2 id.\, at 607\; May \n4\, 1820\, Proclamation of Pr esident J. Monroe\, in 2 id.\, at 642\; Aug. 20\, \n1821\, Proclamation of President J. Monroe\, in 2 id.\, at 665–666\; Nov. 22\, \n1821\, Procla mation of President J. Monroe\, in 2 id.\, at 666–667\; June 7\, \n1827\ , Proclamation of President J. Quincy Adams\, in 2 id.\, at 942–943\; \n July 1\, 1828\, Proclamation of President J. Quincy Adams\, in 2 id.\, at \n970–971\; May 11\, 1829\, Proclamation of President A. Jackson\, in 3 id.\, \nat 1003\; June 3\, 1829\, Proclamation of President A. Jackson\, i n 3 id.\, at \n1004–1005\; Apr. 28\, 1835\, Proclamation of President A. Jackson\, in 3 id.\, \nat 1365–1366\; Sept. 1\, 1836\, Proclamation of President A. Jackson\, in 3 \nid.\, at 1452–1453\; June 14\, 1837\, Proc lamation of President M. Van Bu\nren\, in 4 id.\, at 1539. \n16 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \nStates\, 7 Cranch 382\, 386\, 387–389 (1813). Even when a \n“challenged delegation\, if it were confined to internal af\nfairs\, would be invalid\,” the Court h as upheld the delega\ntion. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.\, 299 U. S.\, at 3 15\, 322. \nThere is a “fundamental” difference\, the Court has ex\npl ained\, between “foreign or external affairs” and “domestic\nor inte rnal affairs.” Id.\, at 315. Thus\, “Congress may of \ncourse delegate very large grants of its power over foreign \ncommerce to the President\, ” Chicago &\; Southern Air Lines\, \nInc. v. Waterman S. S. Corp.\, 3 33 U. S. 103\, 109 (1948)\, in\ncluding when it comes to imposing “dut ies” on imports\, \nCurtiss-Wright Export Corp.\, 299 U. S.\, at 325\, n . 2. \nWhen Congress has delegated to the President the power\nto impose d uties on imports\, this Court has upheld those \ndelegations. In Clark\, 1 43 U. S. 649\, the Court upheld Con\ngress’s delegation to the President of the power to impose \nduties on nations whose importation policies “ he may deem\nto be reciprocally unequal and unreasonable.” Id.\, at 680 . \nIt explained that Congress had “frequently\, from the organ\nization of the government to the present time\,” conferred\npowers over “trad e and commerce” to “the President.” Id.\, \nat 683. In J. W. Hampto n\, Jr.\, &\; Co. v. United States\, 276 \nU. S. 394 (1928)\, the Court upheld a delegation to the Pres\nident to impose duties as necessary up t o statutorily limited \nrates to make them reciprocal. Id.\, at 401\, 409. And\, in \nFederal Energy Administration v. Algonquin SNG\, Inc.\, 426 \n U. S. 548 (1976)\, the Court upheld a delegation of the power \nto impose a universal duty on imported oil. Id.\, at 555\, 558– \n560 .6 \n—————— \n6The Court has even suggested that the President has inherent peace\ntime authority to impose duties on imports. After th e Mexican-American \nWar ended\, executive officials imposed duties on imp orts at a California\nport within the United States before Congress had “passed an act to ex\ntend the collection of tonnage and import duties t o the ports of Califor\nnia.” Cross v. Harrison\, 16 How. 164\, 190 (18 54)\; see also id.\, at 192\, \n194–196. The executive officials unilat erally extended Congress’s earlier \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nT HOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \n17 \nAlthough these cases involved duties on imp orts\, the\nCourt nowhere suggested that a different nondelegation\nrule a pplied because the duty was a “tax” or “raise[d] reve\nnue.” Ante\ , at 6 (majority opinion) (internal quotation \nmarks omitted).7 \nIII \nC ongress’s delegation here was constitutional. The stat\nute at issue in these cases\, the International Emergency \nEconomic Powers Act\, delegat es to the President a wide\nrange of powers over foreign commerce. IEEPA gives the \nPresident\, on conditions satisfied here\, the power to “reg u\nlate” foreign commerce\, including “importation” of foreign \npro perty. 50 U. S. C. §1702(a)(1)(B). \nIEEPA’s delegation of power to imp ose duties on imports\ncomplies with the nondelegation doctrine. Congress dele\ngated to the President a version of the same power that it\nhas del egated to him in many statutes since the early days\nof the Republic. See supra\, at 13–17. Congress limited that \ndelegation to foreign commerc e. See §1702(a)(1)(B)\; see\nalso §1701. In delegating the power to imp ose duties on \nimports\, it gave the President no core legislative power to \nmake substantive rules setting the conditions for depriva\ntions of l ife\, liberty\, or property. Its delegation therefore\ncomplied with the c onstitutional separation of powers and \nis consistent with centuries of p ractice and precedent. It \ndid not need to exercise that power itself an d did not need \nto delegate it “unambiguously”—even though\, as JUS TICE \n—————— \nauthorized duties to new ports. Id.\, at 193. Although the Court’s rea\nsoning was somewhat opaque\, the Court uphel d the executive officials’ \nunilateral peacetime duties in part because nobody has a right to “intro\nduce foreign goods” except with the sov ereign’s “expressed allowances.” \nId.\, at 196–197. \n7In fact\, less than a year ago\, the Court explicitly rejected “a special\nnondele gation rule for revenue-raising legislation.” FCC v. Consumers’ \nRes earch\, 606 U. S. 656\, 674 (2025). \n18 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TR UMP \nTHOMAS\, J.\, dissenting \nKAVANAUGH explains\, it did. See post\, a t 38–45 (dissenting \nopinion).\nThe principal opinion bases its decisio n on the major\nquestions doctrine. Ante\, at 7–13 (opinion of ROBERTS\, \nC. J.). In some cases\, the Court has used the major ques\ntions doctri ne as a canon of statutory interpretation be\ncause delegations of major p owers are unlikely to be subtle.\nSee\, e.g.\, Whitman\, 531 U. S.\, at 46 8\; see ante\, at 8 (opinion\nof ROBERTS\, C. J.)\; see also Biden v. Nebr aska\, 600 U. S. \n477\, 501–503 (2023). In other cases\, the Court has used it \nto avoid what would have been originally understood as an\nunco nstitutional delegation of legislative power. See\, e.g.\, \nWest Virgini a v. EPA\, 597 U. S. 697\, 723 (2022)\; ante\, at 8 \n(opinion of ROBERTS\ , C. J.). In today’s cases\, neither the\nstatutory text nor the Consti tution provide a basis for rul\ning against the President. I respectfully dissent. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \ n1 \nSUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES \n_________________ \nNos. 24–12 87 and 25–250 \n_________________ \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC.\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n24–1287 \nv. \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF \n APPEALS FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT \nDONALD J. TRUMP\, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED \nSTATES\, ET AL.\, PETITIONERS \n25–250 \nv. \nV.O.S. SE LECTIONS\, INC.\, ET AL. \nON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COUR T OF \nAPPEALS FOR THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT \n[February 20\, 2026]\n JUSTICE KA VANAUGH\, with whom JUSTICE THOMAS and \nJUSTICE ALITO join\, dissenting. \nActing pursuant to his statutory authority to “regulate \n. . . import ation” under the 1977 International Emergency \nEconomic Powers Act\, or IEEPA\, the President has imposed \ntariffs on imports of foreign goods f rom various countries.\nThe tariffs have generated vigorous policy debates . Those \npolicy debates are not for the Federal Judiciary to resolve.\nR ather\, the Judiciary’s more limited role is to neutrally\ninterpret and apply the law. The sole legal question here is \nwhether\, under IEEPA\, tariffs are a means to “regulate . . . \nimportation.” \nStatutory te xt\, history\, and precedent\ndemonstrate that the answer is clearly yes: Like quotas\nand embargoes\, tariffs are a traditional and common tool to \nregulate importation. \n2 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAU GH\, J.\, dissenting \nSince early in U. S. history\, Congress has regular ly \nauthorized the President to impose tariffs on imports of\nforeign goo ds. Presidents have often used that authority to\nobtain leverage with for eign nations\, help American \nmanufacturers and workers compete on a more level \nplaying field\, and generate revenue for the United States.\nNume rous laws such as the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 \nand the Trade Act of 1 974 continue to authorize the \nPresident to place tariffs on foreign impo rts in a variety of\ncircumstances\, and Presidents have often done so. In \nrecent years\, Presidents George W. Bush\, Obama\, and \nBiden have all imposed tariffs on foreign imports under\nthose statutory authorities.\nP resident Trump has similarly imposed tariffs\, and has \ndone so here unde r IEEPA. During declared national\nemergencies\, IEEPA broadly authorizes the President to \nregulate international economic transactions. \nMost \n relevant for this case\, during those national emergencies\, \nIEEPA grant s the President the power to “regulate . . . \nimportation” of foreign goods.\nIn early 2025\, President Trump declared two national \nemergenci es pursuant to the National Emergencies Act.\nSee 50 U. S. C. §1621(a). One emergency concerned drug \ntrafficking into the United States. The ot her emergency\ninvolved trade imbalances with foreign nations that have \n harmed American manufacturers and workers. \nTo help address those emergen cies\, the President drew \nupon his authority in IEEPA to “regulate . . . importation\,”\nand he imposed tariffs on imports from various countr ies.\nThe plaintiffs argue and the Court concludes that the\nPresident lac ks authority under IEEPA to impose tariffs. I \ndisagree. In accord with Judge Taranto’s careful and \npersuasive opinion in the Federal Circuit\ , I would conclude\nthat the President’s power under IEEPA to “regulat e . . . \nimportation” encompasses tariffs. As a matter of ordinary\nmea ning\, including dictionary definitions and historical \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n3 \nusage\, the broad power to “regulate . . . importation”\nincludes the traditional and common means to do so—in \nparticular\, quotas\, embargoes\, and tariffs. \nHis tory and precedent confirm that conclusion. In 1971\, \nPresident Nixon i mposed 10 percent tariffs on almost all \nforeign imports. He levied the t ariffs under IEEPA’s \npredecessor statute\, the Trading with the Enemy Act\,\nwhich similarly authorized the President to “regulate\n. . . impo rtation.” The Nixon tariffs were upheld in court. \nMoreover\, in 1976\, a year before IEEPA was enacted\, this\nCourt unanimously ruled that a si milarly worded statute\nauthorizing the President to “adjust the impor ts” permitted\nPresident Ford to impose monetary exactions on foreign oi l \nimports. See Federal Energy Administration v. Algonquin \nSNG\, Inc.\, 426 U. S. 548 (1976) (Algonquin).\nFor both the Nixon tariffs and the For d tariffs upheld by\nthis Court in Algonquin\, the relevant statutory prov isions\ndid not specifically refer to “tariffs” or “duties\,” but instead\nmore broadly authorized the President to “regulate . . . \nimpo rtation” or to “adjust the imports.” Therefore\, when \nIEEPA was e nacted in 1977 in the wake of the Nixon and \nFord tariffs and the Algonqu in decision\, Congress and the\npublic plainly would have understood that the power to\n“regulate . . . importation” included tariffs. If Congr ess\nwanted to exclude tariffs from IEEPA\, it surely would not \nhave ena cted the same broad “regulate . . . importation”\nlanguage that had ju st been used to justify major American\ntariffs on foreign imports.\nImpor tantly\, IEEPA’s authorization for the President to \nimpose tariffs did not grant the President any new \nsubstantive power. Since the Founding\, numerous statutes\nhave authorized—and still do authorize—the Preside nt to \nimpose tariffs and other foreign import restrictions. IEEPA \nmer ely allows the President to impose tariffs somewhat\nmore efficiently to d eal with foreign threats during national \nemergencies. \n4 \nLEARNING RES OURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nContext and common sense buttress that interpretation\nof IEEPA. The plaintiffs and the Court acknowledge that \nIEEPA authorizes the President to impose quotas or\nem bargoes on foreign imports—meaning that a President \ncould completely b lock some or all imports. But they say\nthat IEEPA does not authorize the President to employ the \nlesser power of tariffs\, which simply conditio n imports on a \npayment. As they interpret the statute\, the President \n could\, for example\, block all imports from China but cannot \norder even a $1 tariff on goods imported from China.\nThat approach does not make mu ch sense. Properly read\,\nIEEPA does not draw such an odd distinction be tween \nquotas and embargoes on the one hand and tariffs on the \nother. \ nRather\, it empowers the President to regulate\nimports during national e mergencies with the tools \nPresidents have traditionally and commonly use d\, \nincluding quotas\, embargoes\, and tariffs. \nThe Court today noneth eless concludes otherwise and\nholds that IEEPA does not authorize the Pre sident to \nimpose tariffs to deal with the declared drug trafficking and\ ntrade deficit emergencies. But the Court’s decision is \nsplintered. I n today’s six-Justice majority\, three Justices \n(JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR\, J USTICE KAGAN\, and JUSTICE \nJACKSON) interpret IEEPA not to authorize tar iffs as a \nmatter of ordinary statutory interpretation. I disagree for\n the reasons noted above and elaborated on at length in this \nopinion.\nTh ree other Justices (THE CHIEF JUSTICE\, JUSTICE \nGORSUCH\, and JUSTICE BA RRETT) lean on the major\nquestions canon of statutory interpretation to r esolve this \ncase. That important canon requires “clear congressional\n authorization” for an executive action of major economic\nand political significance\, particularly when the Executive \nexercises an “unheral ded” power. West Virginia v. EPA\, \n597 U. S. 697\, 722–723 (2022) (q uotation marks omitted). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J .\, dissenting \n5 \nIn my view\, as I will explain\, the major questions canon\ndoes not control here for two alternative and independent \nreasons . \nFirst\, the statutory text\, history\, and precedent\nconstitute “cl ear congressional authorization” for the \nPresident to impose tariffs u nder IEEPA. In particular\,\nthroughout American history\, Presidents hav e commonly \nimposed tariffs as a means to “regulate . . . importation .” So \ntariffs were not an “unheralded” power when Congress\nenacte d IEEPA in 1977 and authorized the President to \n“regulate . . . import ation” of foreign goods. Therefore\, the \nmajor questions doctrine is satisfied here. Cf. Biden v. \nMissouri\, 595 U. S. 87 (2022) (per curiam) .\nSecond\, in any event\, the Court has never before applied\nthe major q uestions doctrine in the foreign affairs context\,\nincluding foreign trad e. Rather\, as Justice Robert Jackson \nsummarized and remains true\, thi s Court has always\nrecognized the “‘unwisdom of requiring Congress in this\nfield of governmental power to lay down narrowly definite \nstandar ds by which the President is to be governed.’” \nYoungstown Sheet &am p\; Tube Co. v. Sawyer\, 343 U. S. 579\, 636\, \nn. 2 (1952) (concurring o pinion) (quoting United States v. \nCurtiss-Wright Export Corp.\, 299 U. S . 304\, 321–322 \n(1936)). In foreign affairs cases\, courts read the st atute as\nwritten and do not employ the major questions doctrine as \na th umb on the scale against the President.\nAlthough I firmly disagree with t he Court’s holding\ntoday\, the decision might not substantially constra in a\nPresident’s ability to order tariffs going forward. That is \nbec ause numerous other federal statutes authorize the \nPresident to impose t ariffs and might justify most (if not \nall) of the tariffs at issue in th is case—albeit perhaps with \na few additional procedural steps that IEE PA\, as an\nemergency statute\, does not require. Those statutes \ninclud e\, for example\, the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 \n(Section 232)\; the Tr ade Act of 1974 (Sections 122\, 201\, and \n6 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n301)\; and the Tariff Act of 1930 (Section 338). In essence\, \nthe Court today concludes that the Presiden t checked the \nwrong statutory box by relying on IEEPA rather than \nanot her statute to impose these tariffs.\nIn the meantime\, however\, the inte rim effects of the \nCourt’s decision could be substantial. The United States \nmay be required to refund billions of dollars to importers\nwho p aid the IEEPA tariffs\, even though some importers\nmay have already passe d on costs to consumers or others.\nAs was acknowledged at oral argument\, the refund process\nis likely to be a “mess.” Tr. of Oral Arg. 153 –155. In \naddition\, according to the Government\, the IEEPA tariffs \n have helped facilitate trade deals worth trillions of \ndollars—includin g with foreign nations from China to the \nUnited Kingdom to Japan\, and m ore. The Court’s decision \ncould generate uncertainty regarding those trade \narrangements.\nIn any event\, the only issue before the Court toda y is one \nof law. In light of the statutory text\, longstanding historic al\npractice\, and relevant Supreme Court precedents\, I would\nconclude t hat IEEPA authorizes the President to “regulate \n. . . importation” b y imposing tariffs on foreign imports \nduring declared national emergenci es. \nI therefore \nrespectfully dissent.1 \nI \nBefore turning to the spe cifics of IEEPA’s text\, history\,\nand precedent\, I briefly review sev eral fundamental\nconstitutional principles about the roles of the three\n branches of the U. S. Government with respect to this case. \nFirst\, the plaintiffs and their amici\, echoed by the Court\, \nrhetorically emphasiz e that Article I\, Section 8\, of the \nConstitution assigns Congress\, no t the President\, authority \n—————— \n1In this dissent\, when I refer to “THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion\,” I am \nreferring to the parts of THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion that speak for only\nthree Justic es—namely\, Parts II–A–2 and III. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n7 \nover tariffs. Ante\, at 5. That rheto ric is a red herring in \nthis case because no one disputes the point. Eve ryone\,\nincluding the President\, agrees that Congress possesses\nconstit utional authority over tariffs.\nThe important principle here\, as everyon e also \nacknowledges\, is that Congress may in turn authorize the\nPresid ent to impose tariffs. \nCf. FCC v. Consumers’ \nResearch\, 606 U. S. 65 6\, 673–675 (2025)\; J. W. Hampton\, \nJr.\, &\; Co. v. United States \, 276 U. S. 394\, 409–410 (1928). \nIndeed\, since the beginning of the Republic\, Congress has\nregularly empowered the President to order tarif fs and \nother foreign import restrictions under various \ncircumstances. As noted above\, many current federal laws \ncontinue to grant the Presid ent expansive tariff authority\,\nincluding the Trade Expansion Act of 196 2 (Section 232)\;\nthe Trade Act of 1974 (Sections 122\, 201\, and 301)\; and the \nTariff Act of 1930 (Section 338). Neither the plaintiffs nor\nt he Court has suggested that the numerous laws granting \ntariff power to t he President violate the Constitution’s \nseparation of powers. \nSecond \, and relatedly\, the President does not claim\nunilateral authority to i mpose IEEPA tariffs without \ncongressional authorization or over a congre ssional\nprohibition. On the contrary\, the President’s argument\nrecogn izes that\, in exercising his statutory tariff power \nunder IEEPA\, he mu st act within the scope of Congress’s \nauthorizations and abide by Cong ress’s limitations. And \nthe Executive has further acknowledged that t he Judiciary \nmaintains the final word in justiciable cases on whether \n Congress has authorized the President to impose those\ntariffs under IEEPA . See Trump v. CASA\, Inc.\, 606 U. S. \n831\, 859–860\, n. 18 (2025)\; cf. Marbury v. Madison\, 1 \nCranch 137\, 177–178 (1803). \nThe Preside nt here contends only that Congress\, by\nenacting IEEPA in 1977\, authori zed the President to \nimpose tariffs on foreign imports in declared natio nal \n8 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nemergencies. To use the familiar vernacular of Justice \nRobert Jackson in Youngstown\, the President argues that \nthis case falls into category one\, where the President is\nacting “pursuant to an express or implied authorization of \nCongress.” Youngstown Sheet &\; Tube Co. v. Sawye r\, 343 \nU. S. 579\, 635 (1952) (concurring opinion). The President \nhas not here asserted authority to impose IEEPA tariffs in\na peacetime emerg ency in a Youngstown category two or \nthree scenario. Id.\, at 637–638. 2 \nThird\, Congress possesses a variety of tools to limit the\nPresiden t’s tariffs—directly via new legislation or\, perhaps\nmore readily\, by not approving annual appropriations \nnecessary for the Executive Branc h to continue to \nimplement the tariffs. See Biden v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S . \n477\, 505 (2023) (“Among Congress’s most important\nauthorities is its control of the purse”).\nImportantly\, the House\, the Senate\, and the President \nannually approve most appropriations. As a result\, each \nHouse of Congress and the President independently \npossesses \nde fact o veto power over particular \nappropriations.3 \nOf course\, many differe nt appropriations items are\nusually considered and packaged together\, so the \nnegotiations can be complex. But the point stands:\nCongress is not a helpless bystander when it comes to the\nPresident’s exercise of tari ff authority under IEEPA. Cf. \nIke Skelton National Defense Authorizatio n Act for Fiscal \nYear 2011\, 124 Stat. 4351–4352 (barring Executive fr om \n—————— \n2Category two applies when “the President acts in absence of either a \ncongressional grant or denial of authority.” Youngstown\, 343 U. S.\, at \n637 (Jackson\, J.\, concurring). Category t hree occurs when “the President\ntakes measures incompatible with the ex pressed or implied will of \nCongress.” Ibid. \n3Two technical points f or clarity: Given current Senate filibuster \nrules\, a determined minorit y of the Senate could block an appropriation. \nAlso\, even over a Preside ntial veto\, two-thirds of both Houses could \ntogether approve certain ap propriations. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissent ing \n9 \nusing funds to transfer detainees from Guantanamo into\nUnited S tates)\; Boland Amendment\, 98 Stat. 1935–1936 \n(1984) (barring certain Executive Branch agencies from\nproviding aid to Contras in Nicaragua). \ nIn Congress\, moreover\, everything is related to \neverything else\, as the saying goes. \nMembers and \nCommittees of Congress possess substantia l tools of \nleverage over the Executive Branch. Cf. The Federalist No. \n 51\, p. 322 (C. Rossiter ed. 1961) (J. Madison). Congress\ncould\, for ex ample\, wield its authority over oversight\, \nlegislation\, confirmations \, or appropriations to pressure the \nPresident to reduce or eliminate so me or all of the IEEPA \ntariffs. \nIn light of Congress’s appropriation s authority and its\nother robust powers\, it is not correct to suggest— as THE \nCHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion today elliptically does\, ante\, at 9 — \nthat two-thirds majorities of both Houses of Congress would\nneed to pass new legislation over a Presidential veto in \norder to limit these I EEPA tariffs or\, more generally\, to\nrestrict the President’s use of I EEPA to impose tariffs. \nII \nThis case presents one straightforward ques tion of \nstatutory interpretation: Does Congress’s explicit grant of \ nauthority in IEEPA for the President to “regulate . . . \nimportation ” of foreign goods in declared national \nemergencies authorize the Pres ident to impose tariffs? The \nanswer is a clear yes.4 \n————— — \n4The relevant statutory provision provides in full: \n“At the time s and to the extent specified in section 1701 of this title\, \nthe Presid ent may\, under such regulations as he may prescribe\, by means\nof instru ctions\, licenses\, or otherwise— \n.\n.\n.\n.\n. \n“(B) investigate\, block during the pendency of an investigation\, \nregulate\, direct and c ompel\, nullify\, void\, prevent or prohibit\, any \n10 \nLEARNING RESOURC ES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nA \nI begin as always w ith the statutory text.\nIn 1941\, a few days after Pearl Harbor\, Congres s first \nenacted the relevant language\, “regulate . . . importation\ ,”\nin an amendment to the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act\,\nknown as T WEA. 55 Stat. 839\; 40 Stat. 411. After that \n1941 amendment\, TWEA aut horized the President to \n“regulate . . . importation” both during wa rtime and during\npeacetime national emergencies.\nThen\, in 1977\, Congre ss split TWEA into two separate \nstatutes. As relevant here\, Congress am ended TWEA to \nauthorize the President to “regulate . . . importation ”\nduring wartime only. 91 Stat. 1625. And Congress enacted\na separat e statute\, IEEPA\, that granted the President the \npower to “regulate . . . importation” during peacetime\nnational emergencies. Id.\, at 162 6. \nThe relevant IEEPA text authorized the President to \n“regulate . . . importation” “by means of instructions\, \nlicenses\, or otherwis e.” \nIbid.\; 50 U. S. C. §1702(a)(1)\n(emphasis added). As the term “otherwise” indicates\, the \nbroadly worded statute did not exclude tariffs or dictate any \nspecific means of regulating importation.5 \nAt t he time of TWEA’s amendment in 1941 and IEEPA’s \nenactment in 1977\, the ordinary dictionary meaning of\n“regulate” was to “control\, ” to “adjust by rule\,” or to “subject \n—————— \nacqu isition\, holding\, withholding\, use\, transfer\, withdrawal\, \ntranspor tation\, importation or exportation of\, or dealing in\, or exercising\nan y right\, power\, or privilege with respect to\, or transactions involving \, \nany property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has a ny \ninterest by any person\, or with respect to any property\, subject to the \njurisdiction of the United States.” 50 U. S. C. §1702(a)(1) (em phasis \nadded). \n5Congress no doubt appreciated that quotas\, embargoes\ , tariffs\, and \nthe like can be powerful tools for regulating foreign co mmerce. Congress\ncalibrated the statute by exempting various categories of goods\, meaning \nthat those categories of goods are not subject to tar iffs under IEEPA. \n§1702(b). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAU GH\, J.\, dissenting \n11 \nto governing principles or laws.” Black’s Law Dictionary \n1156 (5th ed. 1979)\; see also Black’s Law Dictionary 1519 \n(3d ed. 1933) (same)\; Webster’s Third New International\nDiction ary 1913 (1976) (defining “regulate” as “to govern or\ndirect accord ing to rule” and “to bring under the control of \nlaw or constituted a uthority”)\; American Heritage\nDictionary 1096 (1969) (“[t]o control or direct according to a\nrule”\; “[t]o adjust in conformity to a spec ification or \nrequirement”).\nImposing tariffs on imports is clearly a way of controlling \nimports (Black’s)\; governing or directing imports according \nto rule (Webster’s\, American Heritage)\; adjusting imports \nby rule\, method\, or established mode (Black’s\, American \nHeritage) \; or more generally subjecting imports to \ngoverning principles or laws (Black’s). So the dictionary\ndefinitions amply demonstrate that tariff s are a means to\n“regulate . . . importation” of foreign imports.6 \n Consistent with those dictionary definitions and \nstatutory references\, tariffs historically have been—and\nstill are—a common means for the U nited States to \nregulate importation of foreign goods. See\, e.g.\, Sect ion 338 \nof the Tariff Act of 1930\, 46 Stat. 704–706 (19 U. S. C. \n§ 1338)\; Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962\, 76 \nStat. 877 (1 9 U. S. C. §1862)\; Title II of the Trade Act of \n1974\, 88 Stat. 2011 ( 19 U. S. C. §2251 et seq.)\; Title III of \nthe Trade Act of 1974\, 88 St at. 2041 (19 U. S. C. §2411 \net seq.).7 \n—————— \n6As other statutory authorities textually confirm\, moreover\, Congress \nhas long understood tariffs to be a tool for regulating imports. For \nexample\, Se ction 350 of the Tariff Act of 1930 refers to “duties and other \nimport restrictions.” 19 U. S. C. §§1351(a)(1)(B)\, (c). And Section 122 o f \nthe Trade Act of 1974 uses the phrase “restrict imports” to cover duties. \n§2132(a). Both statutes take it as a given\, therefore\, that tariffs are a \nmeans of regulating imports.\n7As the parties and the Cour t use the terms\, “tariffs” and “duties” are \nsynonymous. \n12 \n LEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nIn dete rmining the ordinary meaning of “regulate \n. . . importation\,” the m eaning of the related phrase\n“regulate commerce” is also instructive. That phrase has\nlong been interpreted to encompass tariffs. Since the \nFounding\, the Constitution’s assignment to Congress of the \nbroad po wer to “regulate” foreign commerce has been\nunderstood to include tar iffs on foreign imports. See Art. I\, \n§8. \nAs Chief Justice Marshall e xplained\, the “right to \nregulate commerce\, even by the imposition of duties\, was not \ncontroverted.” Gibbons v. Ogden\, 9 Wheat. 1\, 202 (1824) \n(emphasis added). So too Justice Story: The “power to \nregulat e commerce includes the power of laying duties to \ncountervail the regula tions and restrictions of foreign\nnations.” 2 J. Story\, Commentaries o n the Constitution of\nthe United States 530 (1833) (emphasis added). And still \nmore Story: To “lay duties” is a “common means of \nexecutin g the power” to “regulate commerce.” Id.\, at 531 \n(emphasis added) . James Madison likewise stated that it \ncannot “be inferred” that the “power to regulate trade does \nnot involve a power to tax it.” Letter from J. Madison to J. \nCabell\, Sept. 18\, 1828\, in 9 Writings of James Madison 326 \n(G. Hunt ed. 1910) (emphasis added). \nMarshall\, Sto ry\, and Madison make for a formidable trio.\nAnd this Court has long echo ed the Marshall-Story\nMadison understanding that tariffs “regulate” f oreign \ncommerce. The “laying of a duty on imports\, although an \nexer cise of the taxing power\, is also an exercise of the power \nto regulate foreign commerce.” McGoldrick v. Gulf Oil \nCorp.\, 309 U. S. 414\, 428 (1940) (emphasis added). And \nagain: Even though “the taxing power is a distinct power \nand embraces the power to lay duties\, it does not foll ow that\nduties may not be imposed in the exercise of the power to \nregul ate commerce. The contrary is well established.” \n Cite as: 607 U. S. _ ___ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n13 \nBoard of Trustees of Univ. of Ill. v. United States\, 289 U. S. \n48\, 58 (1933) (emphasis added).8 \nThe plaintiffs and the Court today seize on the word \n“regulate” in isolation\, and say that it does not encompass \nthe power to tariff. Ant e\, at 14–16. But the relevant \nstatutory phrase is “regulate . . . importation.” And we \nmust look to the meaning of the phrase as a whole \, as our \nprecedents dictate. See FCC v. AT&\;T Inc.\, 562 U. S. 397 \, \n406 (2011) (“[T]wo words together may assume a more\nparticular mea ning than those words in isolation”). As I \nhave explained\, since the Founding\, tariffs on foreign\nimports have been a common means of regula ting foreign\ncommerce\, including imports. Notably\, under the Court’s \nreading of the word “regulate\,” Marshall\, Story\, and\nMadison all erred by concluding that the power to \n“regulate” foreign commerce i ncludes the power to impose \ntariffs on foreign imports. That seems dubio us. \nIf the Federal Government’s constitutional power to\n“regulate ” foreign commerce includes tariffs (as this Court \nhas repeatedly said )\, and if the power to “regulate . . . \nimportation” is the power to regulate foreign commerce\nwith respect to imports (as it plainly is)\, t hen IEEPA’s\nauthorization for the President to “regulate . . . \nimpo rtation” clearly encompasses tariffs. Historical usage \nand that textua l syllogism further buttress the dictionary\ndefinitions and help establis h that tariffs are a means to \nregulate importation.9 \n————— — \n8Importantly\, those historical sources also fully demonstrate that the \nForeign Commerce Clause\, not just the Taxing Clause\, authorizes ta riffs\non foreign imports. See Board of Trustees of Univ. of Ill.\, 289 U . S.\, at \n58. \n9The plaintiffs and the Court offer a double-bankshot ar gument that \n“regulate . . . importation” cannot include monetary exa ctions because \nIEEPA also authorizes the President to “regulate . . . exportation\,” and\nimposing duties on exports would violate the Constit ution. Ante\, at 15. \nBut as the Government thoroughly explains\, when a statute contains a \n14 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\ , J.\, dissenting \nB \nPerhaps even more significantly\, when IEEPA was\n enacted in 1977\, Congress and the public clearly would \nhave understood that the phrase “regulate . . . importation” \nencompassed tariffs. We know as much not only because of \nthe dictionary definitions and the tra ditional \nunderstanding of tariffs as a tool to regulate foreign \nimport s. We also know as much because of tariffs imposed\nby two Presidents and approved by federal courts\, including \nthe Supreme Court\, in the years shortly before IEEPA’s\n1977 enactment. \nFirst\, in 1971\, President Ni xon imposed 10 percent tariffs\nacross the board on virtually all imports from every country\nin the world. Presidential Proclamation No. 4074\, 3 C FR \n60–61 (1971–1975 Comp.). Those tariffs were justified \nunder I EEPA’s predecessor statute\, the Trading with the \nEnemy Act\, or TWEA. 10 Like IEEPA now\, TWEA at that \ntime authorized the President to “re gulate . . . importation”\nduring national emergencies\, as well as wart ime. And like \nIEEPA now\, TWEA did not specifically use the words\n“t ariff ” or “duty.” \n—————— \nlong string of verbs and n ouns\, each term should be understood in \ncontext. The relevant section of IEEPA contains 9 verbs and 11 objects\,\nfor a total of 99 combinations . We do not need to construe each word of \nthe statute to ensure that it is perfectly aligned in all 99 pairings. See \nReply Brief 17\; Robers v . United States\, 572 U. S. 639\, 643–644 (2014)\; \nDepartment of Agric ulture Rural Development Rural Housing Service v. \nKirtz\, 601 U. S. 42\, 61 (2024) (We may not “disregard the statute’s clear\nterms” simply because there may be “a valid constitutional defense” to\nsome applic ations). \n10President Nixon did not explicitly cite the “regulate . . . importation”\nlanguage of TWEA when imposing those worldwide tariffs. But that \nmerely reflected a diplomatic nicety given the title of the “ Trading with \nthe Enemy Act” and the desire to avoid publicly suggestin g that allies\nwere enemies. Once in court\, the President openly invoked the “regulate \n. . . importation” language of TWEA as justification f or the tariffs. See \nUnited States v. Yoshida Int’l\, Inc.\, 526 F. 2d 560\, 569–571 (CCPA 1975). \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUG H\, J.\, dissenting \n15 \nThe Nixon tariffs did not fly below the radar. On the \ncontrary\, President Nixon announced the worldwide 10\npercent t ariffs in a primetime address to the Nation on\nAugust 15\, 1971. He impo sed the tariffs as a tool “to make \ncertain that American products will not be at a \ndisadvantage” and that “the product of American labor w ill\nbe more competitive.” Public Papers of the Presidents\, \nRichard Nixon\, Aug. 15\, 1971\, p. 889. President Nixon \nsought to remove “th e unfair edge that some of our foreign\ncompetition has\,” and he declar ed that when “the unfair \ntreatment is ended\, the import tax will en d.” Ibid. \nThe Nixon tariffs applied to almost all imports of foreign\ ngoods into the United States. And the tariffs had no time \nlimit. To be sure\, they did not end up lasting forever. But \nPresident Nixon termina ted them only because the tariffs \n(as intended) induced major American t rading partners to \nnegotiate new agreements. Presidential Proclamation No. \n4098\, 3 CFR 94 (1971–1975 Comp.).\nThe Nixon tariffs garnered sub stantial national and\ninternational attention\, and were generally popula r in \nCongress. \nPredictably\, however\, the tariffs sparked\nlitigation challenges. In 1975\, the Court of Customs and \nPatent Appeals\, the pre decessor to the Federal Circuit\, \nupheld the Nixon tariffs as a lawful e xercise of the \nPresident’s authority to “regulate . . . importatio n” under\nTWEA. United States v. Yoshida Int’l\, Inc.\, 526 F. 2d 560\ , \n576\, 583–584. The losing plaintiffs did not seek further \nreview i n this Court. \nTwo years later in 1977\, when Congress divided TWEA \nint o two\, Congress retained that same “regulate . . . \nimportation” lan guage in both laws—in TWEA for wartime\nand in IEEPA for peacetime natio nal emergencies. In doing\nso\, Members of Congress were plainly aware—a fter all\, how \ncould they not be—that the “regulate . . . importat ion”\nlanguage had recently been invoked by the President and\ninterpret ed by the courts to encompass tariffs. Indeed\, the \n16 \nLEARNING RESOU RCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nHouse Committee Repor t noted that the relevant “regulate \n. . . importation” provision in TWEA “came into play when\, \non August 15\, 1971\, President Nixon decl ared a national \nemergency with respect to the balance-of-payments crisis \nand under that emergency imposed a surcharge on \nimports.” H. R. Rep. No. 95–459\, p. 5 (1977). The Report\nfurther referenced the appeals c ourt’s holding in Yoshida \nthat TWEA “authorized imposition of duti es” because of \n“the existence of the national emergency.” H. R. R ep. No. \n95–459\, at 5.11 \nThe Nixon tariffs persuasively demonstrate that \nMembers of Congress and the public would have \nunderstood the phra se “regulate . . . importation” to include \ntariffs when IEEPA was en acted in 1977. If Congress\nwanted to exclude tariffs from IEEPA’s scop e\, why would it\nenact the exact statutory language from TWEA that had \n just been invoked by the President and interpreted by the\ncourts to cover tariffs? Neither the plaintiffs nor the Court \ntoday offers a good answ er to that question.\nUnderstandably so\, because there is no good answer. \nThe Court tries to dodge the force of the Nixon tariffs by\nobserving t hat one appeals court’s interpretation of \n“regulate . . . importat ion” to uphold President Nixon’s \ntariffs does not suffice to describ e that interpretation as \n“well-settled” when IEEPA was enacted in 19 77. Ante\, at \n17–18. Fair enough. But that is not the right question . The \nquestion is what Members of Congress and the public would \nhave understood “regulate . . . importation” to mean when\nCongress enacted IEEPA in 1977. See New Prime Inc. v. \nOliveira\, 586 U. S. 105\, 113 (20 19). Given the significant\nand well-known Nixon tariffs\, it is entirely implausible to \n—————— \n11I cite the Committee Report not fo r determining the meaning of \nIEEPA\, but rather to help show as an histo rical and factual matter that\nMembers of Congress were aware of both the Nixon tariffs and the \nappeals court decision upholding those tariffs as a tool to “regulate . . . \nimportation.” \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ ( 2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n17 \nthink that Congress’s 1977 re -enactment of the phrase \n“regulate . . . importation” in IEEPA was s omehow meant \nor understood to exclude tariffs.12 \nSecond\, if one holds any lingering doubts about \nCongress’s and the public’s understandin g of the power to\n“regulate . . . importation” as of 1977\, a second episode \nshortly before IEEPA’s enactment should answer them. \nIn 1975 \, President Ford imposed significant monetary \nexactions on foreign impo rts of oil.\n Presidential \nProclamation No. 4341\, 3 CFR 433 (1971–197 5 Comp.). He \nacted under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. \nLike TWEA and IEEPA\, the relevant provision of Section\n232 did not use the word “tariff ” or “duty.” Rather\, Section \n232 broadly aut horized the President to “adjust the \nimports” of a product\, 19 U. S . C. §1862(b) (1970 ed.)—\nlanguage akin to the “regulate . . . impor tation” language in \nIEEPA and TWEA. \nIn contrast to the Nixon tariffs \, the Ford tariffs on oil \nimports generated some pushback in Congress. And a \ngroup of utility companies and States quickly sued\, arguing \nth at the relevant statutory phrase “adjust the imports” did \nnot author ize monetary exactions such as tariffs.\nOver a dissent\, the D. C. Circui t agreed with the\nplaintiffs challenging the Ford tariffs. Much like the \nCourt’s decision today\, the D. C. Circuit in the Ford matter\nconclud ed that Congress must explicitly authorize \nmonetary exactions and that t he applicable statutory\nphrase\, “adjust the imports\,” did not do so . Algonquin SNG\, \n—————— \n12 THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion also tries to dismiss President Nixon’s\ntariffs as being of “limited amount\, duration\, and scope.” Ante\, at 10\, n. \n3. That claim appe ars incorrect on all three points\, as Judge Taranto \ncarefully explained in his Federal Circuit opinion. 149 F. 4th 1312\, \n1367–1369 (2025) (d issenting opinion). President Nixon imposed 10\npercent tariffs on virtual ly all imports from every country in the world \nfor an unspecified durati on. See Presidential Proclamation No. 4074\, 3 \nCFR 60–61 (1971–1975 Comp.). \n18 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, diss enting \nInc. v. Federal Energy Admin.\, 518 F. 2d 1051\, 1055 (CADC \n197 5).\nIn 1976\, the Ford tariffs case came to the Supreme Court.\nIn this C ourt\, the plaintiffs pressed nearly identical \narguments (and rhetorical flourishes) as those advanced by\nthe plaintiffs and repeated by the Cour t in today’s case.\nThe plaintiffs argued that the Ford-imposed monetary \nexactions involved “the broadest exercise of the tariff power \nin th e history of the American Republic\,” reminiscent of \n“George III’s stamp tax.” Tr. of Oral Arg. in Federal Energy \nAdministration v. Algo nquin SNG\, Inc.\, O. T. 1975\, No. 75– \n382\, p. 26. They contended th at the statute’s authorization \nfor the President to “adjust the im ports” did not allow for\nsuch monetary exactions because the statute di d “not \nmention the tariff on its face.” Ibid. They asserted that th is\nCourt had “never implied a tax\, never in the history of this\nCourt from language which does not explicitly provide for \ntax\, and here ther e is no such language\, there is no \nlanguage that mentions a measure of tax nor a method of \ncalculation of tax. There is no such thing.” Id. \, at 33. They\nechoed the D. C. Circuit’s holding that reading the phr ase\n“adjust the imports” to encompass tariffs would be “an \nanomal ous departure” from “the consistently explicit\, well\ndefined manner in which Congress has delegated control\nover foreign trade and tariffs. ” Algonquin\, 518 F. 2d\, at \n1055. And they claimed that interpreting the statute to\ninclude fees “undermines the whole tariff structure of the \nUnited States.” Tr. of Oral Arg. in Algonquin\, at 26. \n Importan tly\, the Algonquin plaintiffs acknowledged (as\ndo the plaintiffs and the Court in today’s case) that the \nstatutory language “adjust the im ports” would allow the \nPresident to impose quotas and embargoes on for eign\nimports. See Brief for Respondents in Algonquin\, No. 75– \n382\, pp. 26–27\, and n. 30. So a President could completely \nblock all impo rts or limit their quantity. But according to\nthe plaintiffs\, Congres s’s “adjust the imports” language \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n19 \nprecluded the President from exercisi ng the lesser power of \nimposing monetary exactions such as tariffs.\nThe Supreme Court decided the Ford tariffs case in 1976.\nThe Court unanimous ly reversed the D. C. Circuit and \nflatly rejected the plaintiffs’ argu ments. The Court held \nthat the statutory phrase “adjust the impor ts”—even\nthough it did not include terms such as “tariff\,” “tax\,”\n“duty\,” or “fee”—granted President Ford the autho rity to\nimpose not only quotas and embargoes\, but also monetary \nexacti ons on foreign imports. \nFederal Energy \nAdministration v. Algonquin SNG \, Inc.\, 426 U. S. 548\, 561 \n(1976).\nThe Court analyzed the statutory text and found “no\nsupport in the language of the statute” for the pl aintiffs’ \nargument that “adjust the imports” should “be read to \nencompass only quantitative methods—i.e.\, quotas—as\nopposed to mon etary methods—i.e.\, license fees—of \neffecting such adjustments.” Ibid. The Court further \nexplained: “Unless one assumes\, and we do no t\, that quotas\nwill always be a feasible method of dealing directly with \nnational security threats posed by the circumstances under \nwhich impo rts are entering the country\, limiting the\nPresident to the use of quota s would effectively and\nartificially prohibit him from directly dealing w ith some of \nthe very problems against which §232(b) is directed.” Id. \, \nat 561–562 (quotation marks omitted).\nIn short\, according to the unanimous Algonquin Court\, \nthe statutory text\, structure\, and logic o f Section 232 \ndefinitively established that the President’s authority to\n“adjust the imports” encompassed not only quotas and\nembargoes\, but also monetary exactions such as tariffs and \nfees. \nToday’s case s hould follow a fortiori from Algonquin. No \nmeaningful daylight exists be tween the statutory phrase \n“adjust the imports” in Section 232 at is sue in Algonquin\nand the phrase “regulate . . . importation” in IEEPA at \n20 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissentin g \nissue here. The plaintiffs and the Court in this case do not \neven tr y to distinguish “adjust the imports” from “regulate \n. . . impor tation.” Nor could they. Recall that the dictionary\ndefinition of “r egulate” includes “adjust by rule.” Black’s \nLaw Dictionary\, at 1156 (5th ed. 1979) (emphasis added). \nTo adjust imports is to regulate imports. Indeed\, if \nanything\, the phrase “regulate . . . importati on” is broader\nin scope than the phrase “adjust the imports.” \nSo if Section 232’s “adjust the imports” includes tariffs—\nas this C ourt unanimously concluded in Algonquin in 1976 \njust a year before IEEPA —how can IEEPA’s “regulate . . . \nimportation” not include tariff s? \nAlgonquin’s importance for today’s case rests not merely \non its status as a unanimous on-point Supreme Court\nstatutory precedent—altho ugh it is surely significant for \nthat reason as well. The case is espec ially consequential for \npresent purposes because it helps show the ordin ary public \nand congressional understanding of “regulate . . . \nimport ation” in 1977 when Congress enacted IEEPA.\nTo be clear\, the question here is not what individual \nMembers of Congress might have subjectively intended in \n1977. \nThe question is the ordinary meaning and \nunderstan ding of the words that Congress used. Given that \nthe phrase “adjust t he imports”—again\, in a statutory \nprovision that did not use specif ic words such as “tariff ” or \n“duty”—was unanimously held by t his Court in 1976 to \ninclude tariffs\, and given that President Nixon ha d\nsimilarly relied on his statutory authority to “regulate . . . \nimpo rtation” to impose 10 percent tariffs on virtually all \nimports from al l countries\, could a rational citizen or\nMember of Congress in 1977 have understood “regulate . . . \nimportation” in IEEPA not to encompass t ariffs? I think \nnot. Any citizens or Members of Congress in 1977 who \n somehow thought that the “regulate . . . importation”\nlanguage in IEE PA excluded tariffs would have had their\nheads in the sand. \n Cite as: 6 07 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n21 \nThe Court today tries its best to distinguish Algonquin on \nthe ground that Section 232 i ncluded “sweeping” language \nauthorizing the President to take “suc h action” that “he\ndeems necessary\,” whereas IEEPA does not. Ante \, at 19. \nBut the Algonquin Court did not rely on that language and \nin stead focused on whether the phrase “adjust the imports”\nincluded mon etary exactions. See 426 U. S.\, at 561. \nMoreover\, IEEPA itself broadl y authorizes the President to \n“regulate . . . importation” “by mea ns of instructions\, \nlicenses\, or otherwise” in order to “deal wi th” an “unusual \nand extraordinary” foreign “threat” to the “ national \nsecurity\, foreign policy\, or economy of the United States.” \n50 U. S. C. §§1701(a)\, 1702(a)(1)(B) (emphasis added). That \nlangu age is similarly expansive\, authorizing the President\nto employ various tools to “regulate . . . importation.” In \nshort\, just as the phra se “adjust the imports” includes \ntariffs\, as Algonquin held\, so to o the phrase “regulate . . . \nimportation” includes tariffs.13 \nThe Court also attempts to brush aside Algonquin by\nciting an entirely differ ent provision of the Trade \nExpansion Act—one that was not at issue in Algonquin— \nthat expressly refers to a “duty.” Ante\, at 19. But th e \nAlgonquin Court did not rely on—or even mention—that\nprovision wh en concluding that the statutory phrase\n“adjust the imports” includes tariffs. For good reason. That \nprovision\, which states that “[n]o action shall be taken” to\n“decrease or eliminate” an existing “du ty or other import\nrestriction\,” 19 U. S. C. §1862(a) (1970 ed.)\, co ncerns only \nthe power to reduce existing tariffs and plainly does not \n bear on a President’s power to impose tariffs under Section \n 232. \n—————— \n13In addition\, IEEPA expressly authorizes the President to require\nlicenses. And to obtain a license\, a business may need to pay license fees\nthat can be equivalent to tariffs. See §1702(a )(1). \n22 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissent ing \nTo sum up on the Nixon and Ford tariffs: When enacting\nIEEPA in 19 77\, Congress employed the exact language\nrecently invoked by President N ixon to justify 10 percent\nworldwide tariffs. And IEEPA came fast on the heels of this \nCourt’s unanimous 1976 decision in Algonquin\, which he ld \nthat substantially similar “adjust the imports” language\nauthori zed President Ford’s tariffs on oil imports.\nImportantly\, moreover\, t he statutory provisions \nauthorizing the Nixon and Ford tariffs did not u se specific \nwords such as “tariff ” or “duty.”\nThe Nixon and Fo rd tariffs\, this Court’s decision in \nAlgonquin\, and the ordinary and historical understanding \nof tariffs as a means of regulating imports to gether render\nit all but impossible to conclude that Congress in 1977 \ni mplicitly excluded tariffs when retaining TWEA’s \n“regulate . . . imp ortation” language in IEEPA. If Congress\nin 1977 wanted to exclude tari ffs from the President’s \nIEEPA toolkit\, either it would have not reta ined the phrase\n“regulate . . . importation\,” or it would otherwise have made\nclear in IEEPA that the power to impose tariffs was\nexcluded. Congress did neither. \nC \nTwo additional historical points strongly rein force that\nanalysis of text and precedent and further demonstrate \nthat “regulate . . . importation” in IEEPA encompasses\ntariffs. \nFirst\, U. S. history from the 1800s through IEEPA’s 1977\nenactment illustrates how the statute came to incorporate\nthe President’s long-recognized au thority to impose tariffs\nduring wartime and then also during peacetime n ational\nemergencies.\nLong before the initial 1917 enactment of the Tradi ng \nwith the Enemy Act\, which was IEEPA’s predecessor\, the \nPresiden t possessed inherent wartime authority to prohibit\ncommercial relations w ith enemy nations. That inherent \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVA NAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n23 \nauthority included the power to impose tari ffs on foreign \nimports.\nFor example\, during the Mexican-American War i n the\n1840s\, President Polk permitted only limited trade with \nMexico\, subject to tariffs. Some Members of Congress\npublicly questioned whether the President possessed that \ntariff authority. In response\, President Polk justified the \ntariffs on the ground that “the military right to e xclude\ncommerce altogether from the ports of the enemy in our\nmilitary o ccupation included the minor right of admitting it\nunder prescribed condi tions.” J. Polk\, To the House of \nRepresentatives of the United States (Jan. 2\, 1849)\, in 6 \nCompilation of the Messages and Papers of the Pr esidents\n2522\, 2523 (J. Richardson ed. 1897). \nIn 1854\, the Supreme Co urt agreed with President Polk’s \nview\, stating: “No one can doubt ” that the President\, as \n“commander-in-chief of our naval force\, ” possessed the\nauthority to “regulate import duties.” Cross v. Ha rrison\, 16 \nHow. 164\, 189–190. \nIn 1862\, President Lincoln partiall y lifted an existing \nblockade against the Confederate States during the Civil \nWar. Like President Polk\, he then permitted limited trade\, \nsub ject to a monetary fee. A group of cotton sellers later\nsued\, arguing th at the fee “was essentially a tax and not \nauthorized by any act of Con gress\, which alone had the\npower to impose taxes.” Hamilton v. Dillin \, 21 Wall. 73\, 81 \n(1875). \nThe Supreme Court rejected that argument\, \nholding that there was “no question” that requiring a \nmonetary fee to trade with the Confederate States was part\nof “the war power of the United States government.” Id.\, at \n86–87. The existence of war me ant “a suspension of \ncommercial intercourse between the opposing secti ons of\nthe country\,” so if “such a course of dealing were to be\nper mitted at all\, it would necessarily be upon such\nconditions as the gover nment chose to prescribe.” Id.\, at 87. \n24 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC . v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nAnd in 1898\, during the Spanis h-American War\, \nPresident McKinley imposed duties “upon the occupatio n of\nany forts and places in the Philippine Islands.” Lincoln v. \nUni ted States\, 197 U. S. 419\, 428 (1905) (quotation marks \nomitted). \nThi s Court subsequently recognized those \nMcKinley duties as a lawful wartim e measure. Id.\, at 427– \n428. \nWhy does that wartime history matter? Because when \nCongress first enacted the Trading with the Enemy Act in\n 1917 during World War I\, it statutorily codified some of the \nPresiden t’s longstanding inherent wartime powers over\nforeign trade\, which inc luded the power to tariff. See \nTrading with the Enemy Act\, ch. 106\, 4 0 Stat. 411\; see also \nBrief for Professor Aditya Bamzai as Amicus Curia e 16–19\, \n26–27. For the duration of World War I\, TWEA authorized \ nthe President\, when he found “the public safety so\nrequires\,” to m ake it unlawful “to import into the United \nStates” from any “nam ed” country certain goods “except at \nsuch time or times\, and under such regulations or orders\,\nand subject to such limitations and exceptio ns as the\nPresident shall prescribe.” §11\, 40 Stat. 422–423. \nIn 1 933\, during the Great Depression and five days after \nPresident Franklin Roosevelt took office\, Congress\nexpanded TWEA to apply not only in wart ime\, but also\nduring a “national emergency” declared by the Presiden t.\n48 Stat. 1. \nEight years later\, in 1941\, a few days after Pearl Har bor\,\nCongress again amended TWEA’s language by more\nsuccinctly provid ing that the President may “regulate”\ncertain transactions\, includ ing “importation\,” under TWEA\nduring war or “any other period of n ational emergency\ndeclared by the President.” 55 Stat. 839. \nSo as of 1941—and from then to 1977—TWEA expressly \nauthorized the Presiden t to “regulate . . . importation” both\nduring \nwartime and during pe acetime national \nemergencies. \nHistorically\, Presidents had regulated \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n25 \nimp ortation by imposing tariffs\, as the Polk\, Lincoln\, and \nMcKinley tari ffs illustrated. So TWEA from 1941 to 1977 \nwas best understood to autho rize tariffs. See Brief for \nProfessor Aditya Bamzai as Amicus Curiae 2 7–28. \nDuring that period\, as I have discussed at length above\,\nPres ident Nixon in 1971 imposed 10 percent tariffs on\nalmost all imports of f oreign goods and relied on TWEA’s\n“regulate . . . importation” lang uage to justify them. Those \ntariffs were upheld in court. \nThen\, in 19 77\, Congress amended TWEA and divided it \ninto two statutes. TWEA retai ned the President’s power to \n“regulate . . . importation\,” but on ly during wartime. The \nnewly enacted second law\, IEEPA\, also retained the power\nto “regulate . . . importation\,” and it would apply during \nperiods of declared national emergencies. As this Court has \npreviously recognized\, IEEPA was “directly drawn” from \nTWEA\, and the relevan t authorities are essentially the \nsame. Dames &\; Moore v. Regan\, 45 3 U. S. 654\, 671\, 672– \n673 (1981).\nTherefore\, IEEPA’s specific l anguage—“regulate . . . \nimportation”—was not new statutory text when Congress\nenacted IEEPA in 1977. Far from it. Beginning in 1941\, \n TWEA had already authorized the President to “regulate \n. . . importati on” of foreign goods in wartime and national \nemergencies. And the earl ier Polk\, Lincoln\, and McKinley \nexamples\, as well as the later Nixon example\, \ndemonstrated that the power to “regulate . . . importation ”\nhistorically encompassed tariffs as well as quotas and\nembargoes.\nT he plaintiffs and the Court today assert that wartime\nprecedents do not g overn peacetime. But Congress modeled \nIEEPA on TWEA precisely so that t he President could\ncontinue to exercise certain wartime authorities such as \nquotas\, embargoes\, and tariffs during peacetime national\nemergenci es as well. Congress first explicitly extended that\nwartime power to nati onal emergencies in 1933\, during the \n26 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nFranklin Roosevelt Administration. C f. New State Ice Co. \nv. Liebmann\, 285 U. S. 262\, 306 (1932) (Brandeis\ , J.\,\ndissenting) (The Great Depression was “an emergency more\nseriou s than war”). And Congress has continued to\nauthorize the President to exercise that power in both\nwartime and peacetime emergencies.\nIn short\ , Congress in 1977 enacted the same “regulate . . . \nimportation” lan guage that had long been understood to\nencompass tariffs. \nSecond\, cont rary to the tenor of the plaintiffs’ and the\nCourt’s arguments here\, it would not have been at all \nunusual or surprising for Congress\, when enacting IEEPA\nin 1977\, to authorize the President to impose tariffs. Since \nthe early days of the Republic\, Congress has regularly\ngranted t he President the power to regulate foreign trade\,\nincluding via tariffs. \nA few examples: In 1810\, Congress authorized the\nPresident to prohibit imports from Great Britain or France\nif either nation violated the neutr al commerce of the United \nStates. Cargo of Brig Aurora v. United States\ , 7 Cranch \n382\, 382–384\, 388 (1813)\; 2 Stat. 606. \nIn 1890\, Congr ess granted the President the power to\nimpose import duties in response t o duties imposed by other \ncountries on American exports. Marshall Field &\; Co. v. \nClark\, 143 U. S. 649\, 680–681 (1892)\; 26 Stat. 612. \ nIn 1922\, Congress empowered the President to levy \nimport duties under certain conditions. J. W. Hampton\, Jr.\, \n&\; Co. v. United States\, 276 U. S. 394\, 400–402 (1928)\; 42 \nStat. 941. \nIn 1930\, Congress en acted Section 338 of the Tariff Act\,\nwhich authorizes the President to i mpose tariffs when he \nfinds that “any foreign country places any burde n or\ndisadvantage upon the commerce of the United States.” 19 \nU. S. C. §1338(d)\; 46 Stat. 705.\nIn 1962\, Congress authorized the President in Section\n232 of the Trade Expansion Act to “adjust the imports” of a \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n27 \nf oreign good that threatens to impair national security.\n§1862(c)(1)(A)\; 76 Stat. 877. \nIn 1974\, under Section 201 of the Trade Act\, Congress \ ngranted the President the power to “take all appropriate\nand feasible action within his power\,” including imposing a\n“duty” on imports t hat\, according to the U. S. International\nTrade Commission\, have caused or threatened “serious \ninjury” to a domestic industry. §§2251(a) \, 2253(a)(1)(A)\, \n(3)(A)\; 88 Stat. 2014–2015.\nSo too\, Section 301 authorizes the President to direct the \nU. S. Trade Representative to “ impose duties” on countries\nengaging in unfair trade practices. §§241 1(a)\, (c)(1)(B)\; 88 \nStat. 2041–2042. \nAnd Section 122 of the Act gr ants the President the power \nto impose a “temporary import surcharge ” to “deal with \nlarge and serious United States balance-of-payment\n deficits.” §2132(a)(1)(A)\; 88 Stat. 1987–1988. \nThose many statutes definitively establish that Congress\,\nsince near the Founding\, has del egated to the President \nbroad power to impose tariffs on foreign imports . See also \nante\, at 13–15 (THOMAS\, J.\, dissenting). So it would h ardly\nhave been unusual or surprising for Congress to have\ngranted tarif f power to the President during wartime and\npeacetime national emergencie s\, as it did in TWEA and \nIEEPA. \nTo be sure\, given those other statut es that authorize the \nPresident to impose tariffs on foreign imports\, o ne might\nreasonably ask: Why did the President need distinct tariff \nau thority under IEEPA during peacetime emergencies—or\, \nfor that matter\ , under TWEA during wartime? \nThe basic answer is that IEEPA is an emerge ncy statute \nthat allows the President to impose tariffs somewhat more\nq uickly\, as would be expected in a declared national \nemergency. Similarl y\, in wartime\, TWEA allows the \nPresident to impose tariffs more rapidl y. \n28 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nBut critically\, TWEA and IEEPA do not authorize the \nPresident to exe rcise some new substantive power. Rather\, \nthey authorize the President to exercise a commonly\ngranted power—tariffs—more efficiently than u nder the \nmany ordinary tariff statutes.\nThe plaintiffs and the Court as sert that interpreting\nIEEPA to authorize tariffs would in effect evade s pecific\nlimits on tariffs in certain other tariff statutes. But as \nJud ge Taranto explained in the Federal Circuit\, Congress\nin IEEPA understan dably afforded the President more\nflexibility to act during declared emer gencies\, just as\nCongress had done in TWEA for wartime since 1917. See \n149 F. 4th 1312\, 1363–1366 (2025) (dissenting opinion).\nMoreover\, I EEPA is not a blank check. IEEPA contains \nits own limits\, including the requirement that the tariffs\ndeal with an unusual and extraordinary fore ign threat\, 50\nU. S. C. §1701(b)\; a default 1-year limit on emergencie s\,\n§1622(d)\; an enumerated list of exceptions\, §1702(b)\; and \ncomp rehensive congressional reporting requirements\, \n§1703. And as noted ab ove\, each House of Congress \npossesses a variety of tools to revoke\, li mit\, or influence a \nPresident’s IEEPA or TWEA tariffs. \nRelatedly\, it is also not surprising that the many ordinary \ntariff statutes express ly refer to “tariffs\,” “duties\,” and the\nlike\, while IEEPA and TWEA do not. As Judge Taranto\nastutely explained\, “Congress in those statutes was \noverwhelmingly focused on tariff issues\,” whereas \n“C ongress in IEEPA (as in TWEA) was focused on the \nsubject of emergencies and giving plainly broad emergency \nauthority regarding foreign property. ” 149 F. 4th\, at 1364 \n(dissenting opinion).\nIn sum\, in authorizing the President to “regulate . . . \nimportation\,” IEEPA embodies an “eyes-open congressional \ngrant of broad emergency authority in this f oreign-affairs \nrealm\, which unsurprisingly extends beyond authorities \ navailable under non-emergency laws\, and Congress \n Cite as: 607 U. S. _ ___ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n29 \nconfirmed the understood b readth by tying IEEPA’s\nauthority\n to particularly\n demanding procedu ral \nrequirements for keeping Congress informed.” Id.\, at 1348. \nD \ nFinally\, all of that text\, history\, and precedent is further\nreinforc ed by two compelling pieces of context. \nFirst\, interpreting IEEPA to ex clude tariffs creates\nnonsensical textual and practical anomalies. The p laintiffs\nand the Court do not dispute that the President can act in\ndec lared emergencies under IEEPA to impose quotas or \neven total embargoes o n all imports from a given country. \nBut the President supposedly cannot take the far more\nmodest step of conditioning those imports on payment of a \ntariff or duty. \nTextually\, however\, if quotas and embargoes are a means\nto regulate importation\, how are tariffs not a means to \nregulat e importation? Nothing in the text supports such an \nillogical distinctio n. \nAnd it does not make much sense to think that IEEPA \nallows the Pres ident in a declared national emergency to\,\nfor example\, shut off all or most imports from China\, but \nnot to impose even a $1 tariff on imports from China. As \nJudge Taranto forcefully pointed out in the Federal Circ uit\, \ntariffs are “just a less extreme\, more flexible tool for \npurs uing the same objective of controlling the amount or \nprice of imports th at\, after all\, could be barred altogether.”\n149 F. 4th\, at 1363 (dis senting opinion). All of that explains \nwhy this Court in Algonquin defi nitively rejected such a\nstrange slice-and-dice approach to the President ’s statutory \npower to “adjust” imports. If quotas and embargoes a re\nauthorized\, so are tariffs. \nIn short\, whether through prohibiting imports via\nembargoes or regulating the quantity of imports through \nquo tas or regulating the price of imports with tariffs\,\nCongress granted th e President flexibility in declared \n30 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TR UMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nnational emergencies to take various a ctions affecting\nimports of foreign goods. The plaintiffs and the Court h ave \nno coherent textual or commonsensical explanation for why \na ration al Congress would\, in such a momentous and \ncarefully considered statute as IEEPA\, grant the President \nthe power to impose quotas and embargoes \, but not tariffs\, \non foreign imports during emergencies. \nSecond\, I EEPA was not debated and passed in a vacuum\nin 1977—it was enacted arou nd the same time that \nCongress significantly constrained executive power in\nmultiple ways in the wake of Watergate and Vietnam. The \nlist of ma jor new statutory restrictions on Presidential \npower enacted in the 1970 s is long and extraordinary\, with\nlasting effects to the present day.14 \nAnd Congress\, during that comprehensive examination\nand recalibration of government power\, did not overlook \nTWEA and the President’s emerge ncy authorities. Led by \nSenators Church and Mathias\, Congress carefully studied\nthe President’s emergency authorities\, including TWEA.\nThen\ , in 1976 and 1977\, Congress enacted a variety of \nlegislation to tighte n up the President’s emergency powers\,\nincluding by passing a new Nati onal Emergencies Act that\ncabined the President’s authority to declare emergencies by \nsetting forth various procedural requirements. \nYet when enacting IEEPA in 1977\, Congress continued to\ngrant the President the p ower to “regulate . . . importation” \n—————— \n14See\, e. g.\, Ethics in Government Act of 1978\, 92 Stat. 1824\, reenacted \nat 5 U . S. C. §13101 et seq.\; Inspector General Act of 1978\, 92 Stat. 1101\, \nreenacted at 5 U. S. C. §401 et seq.\; Presidential Records Act of 1978 \, 92 \nStat. 2523\, as amended\, 44 U. S. C. §2201 et seq.\; Federal Adv isory \nCommittee Act\, 86 Stat. 770\, as amended\, 5 U. S. C. §1001 et s eq.\; \nForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978\, 92 Stat. 1783\, as amended\,\n50 U. S. C. §1801 et seq.\; Congressional Budget and Impoundm ent \nControl Act of 1974\, 88 Stat. 297\, as amended\, 2 U. S. C. §621 e t seq.\; \n1974 Amendments to the Freedom of Information Act\, 88 Stat. 15 61\, as \namended\, 5 U. S. C. §552\; War Powers Resolution\, 87 Stat. 55 5\, 50 \nU. S. C. §1541 et seq. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVAN AUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n31 \nin declared national emergencies—a power t hat the \nPresident had possessed since 1941 under TWEA and that \nhad rec ently been invoked by President Nixon to justify his\n1971 tariffs. In IEE PA (and TWEA) in 1977\, Congress\nconsciously balanced concerns about expa nsive exercises of\nemergency powers against the necessity of equipping th e\nPresident with tools to address exigencies that are difficult \nif not impossible to foresee. That broader congressional\ncontext—general skept icism and scaling back of executive\npower combined with re-enactment of t he familiar “regulate \n. . . importation” language in IEEPA—strongl y indicates \nthat Congress said what it meant and meant what it said \nwh en it enacted IEEPA and continued to authorize the \nPresident to “regul ate . . . importation” during national \nemergencies. \nIII \nIn an ordi nary statutory interpretation case\, I am\nconfident that a majority of th is Court would flatly reject\nthe plaintiffs’ exceedingly weak statutory arguments and \nwould hold that IEEPA’s authorization for the President to \n“regulate . . . importation” during national emergencies\ninclud es the power to impose tariffs.\nNotably\, the Court today does not claim that the phrase\n“regulate . . . importation” on its own excludes tari ffs as a \nmatter of ordinary statutory meaning. Only three Members \nof t he Court\, JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR\, JUSTICE KAGAN\, and \nJUSTICE JACKSON\, do so. \nTHE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion in Part II–A–2\, which is \njoined only by JUSTICE GORSUCH and JUSTICE BARRETT\, \ninstead relies on the maj or questions doctrine. The major\nquestions doctrine is an important canon of statutory\ninterpretation that the Court has applied in a number of \n significant cases over the last 45 years. See Industrial \nUnion Dept.\, A FL–CIO v. American Petroleum Institute\, \n448 U. S. 607\, 645 (1980) (p lurality opinion). \n32 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nJustice Scalia articulated the canonical statement of t he \nmajor questions doctrine: “We expect Congress to speak \nclearly if it wishes to assign to an agency decisions of vast \n‘economic and poli tical significance.’” \nUtility Air \nRegulatory Group v. EPA\, 573 U . S. 302\, 324 (2014) \n(quoting FDA v. Brown &\; Williamson Tobacco Co rp.\, 529 \nU. S. 120\, 160 (2000))\; see also Alabama Assn. of Realtors \ nv. Department of Health and Human Servs.\, 594 U. S. 758\, \n764 (2021) ( per curiam)\; National Federation of \nIndependent Business v. OSHA\, 595 U. S. 109\, 117 (2022) \n(per curiam)\; Biden v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S. 477\ , 507 (2023)\; \ncf. West Virginia v. EPA\, 597 U. S. 697\, 723 (2022). \n Stated otherwise\, in cases where the Executive Branch \ntakes an action o f major economic and political significance\,\nit must “point to ‘clea r congressional authorization’ for the \npower it claims.” Ibid. (quo ting Utility Air\, 573 U. S.\, at \n324).\nThe requirement of “clear con gressional authorization” \nfor executive actions of major economic and political\nsignificance is “grounded in two overlapping and \nreinforcin g presumptions: (i) a separation of powers-based\npresumption against the delegation of major lawmaking \nauthority from Congress to the Executive B ranch\, and (ii) a\npresumption that Congress intends to make major policy \ndecisions itself\, not leave those decisions to agencies.” \nUnited S tates Telecom Assn. v. FCC\, 855 F. 3d 381\, 419 \n(CADC 2017) (Kavanaugh\ , J.\, dissenting from denial of \nrehearing en banc) (citation omitted). As this Court later \nrecounted in West Virginia\, “both separation of p owers\nprinciples and a practical understanding of legislative\nintent mak e us reluctant to read into ambiguous statutory \ntext the delegation clai med to be lurking there.” 597 U. S.\, \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n33 \nat 723 (quotation marks omitted).15 The doctrine guards\n“against unintentional\, oblique\, or otherwise unl ikely\ndelegations of the legislative power.” NFIB\, 595 U. S.\, at \n1 25 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring).16 \nI agree that this case involves an exe cutive action of\nmajor economic and political significance—which is \nt ypically the trigger for requiring “clear congressional\nauthorization .” But in my respectful view\, THE CHIEF \nJUSTICE’s opinion’s appli cation of the major questions\ndoctrine in this case is incorrect for two alternative and \nindependent reasons. First\, the statutory text\, histo ry\, and\nprecedent constitute “clear congressional authorization” for \nthe President to impose tariffs as a means to “regulate . . . \nimpor tation.” Second\, and in the alternative\, the major\nquestions doctrine does not apply in the foreign affairs \ncontext. In the foreign affairs r ealm\, courts recognize that\nCongress often deliberately grants flexibili ty and discretion \nto the President to pursue America’s interests. In that \ncontext\, courts therefore engage in “routine” textualist \nsta tutory interpretation—reading the text as written—and\ndo not employ t he major questions doctrine as a thumb on\nthe scale against the President . West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, \nat 724. \n—————— \n15The majo r questions doctrine has also been analogized to\, among \nother things\, the mischief rule\, the absurdity doctrine\, common sense\, \nand context. See\, e.g.\, S. Bray\, The Mischief Rule\, 109 Geo. L. J. 967\,\n1011 (20 21) (doctrine “has an essential similarity with the mischief \nrule”)\ ; Biden v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S. 477\, 511 (2023) (BARRETT\, J.\, \nconcurr ing) (context\, common sense). \n16I have long been\, and fully remain\, a strong proponent of the major \nquestions doctrine. See United States Tel ecom\, 855 F. 3d\, at 418–426 \n(opinion of Kavanaugh\, J.)\; Loving v. IRS\, 742 F. 3d 1013\, 1021 (CADC \n2014)\; Coalition for Responsible Regu lation\, Inc. v. EPA\, No. 9–1322 \n(CADC\, Dec. 20\, 2012)\, pp. 9–10 (Kavanaugh\, J.\, dissenting from denial \nof rehearing en banc). \n34 \n LEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nA \n1 \ nBecause the major questions doctrine demands “clear\ncongressional auth orization\,” this Court has repeatedly\nrecognized that the doctrine i s “distinct” from “routine \nstatutory interpretation.” West Virg inia\, 597 U. S.\, at 724 \n(quotation marks omitted). Importantly\, ther efore\, the\ndoctrine applies—and makes a meaningful difference—only\n in cases where the Executive’s “reading of a statute” \n“would\, u nder more ordinary circumstances\, be upheld.” \nIbid. (quotation marks omitted)\; see also id.\, at 740\, 742\, \nn. 3 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring )\; M. Sohoni\, The Major\nQuestions Quartet\, 136 Harv. L. Rev. 262\, 272 –276 (2022). \nTo properly set up the inquiry: A major questions issue \narises when: (i) the Executive relies on the text of a \ngenerally worde d statute to exercise a specific power of\nmajor economic and political si gnificance\; (ii) the generally \nworded statute does not explicitly menti on the specific\nmajor power\, but (iii) the asserted major power falls wi thin\nthe generally worded text of the statute such that the \nExecutive ’s assertion of that power “would\, under more\nordinary circumstances \, be upheld\,” West Virginia\, 597 \nU. S.\, at 724 (majority opinion) (quotation marks omitted).17 \nThe question then is whether the generally worded \nstatute supplies “clear congressional authorization” for the \nExecutive to exercise that specific—but not explicitly\nmentioned—ma jor power. Here\, for example\, does the \ngenerally worded statutory aut horization for the President \nto “regulate . . . importation” clearly authorize the \nPresident to impose tariffs? \n—————— \n17Of course\, if the major power does not fall within the generally \nworded te xt as a matter of ordinary statutory interpretation\, the major\nquestions doctrine is not implicated or necessary to apply because the \nGovernment ’s statutory argument fails to begin with. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2 026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n35 \nThe requirement of “clear cong ressional authorization” is \neasy enough to state. But how do we apply it? How do we \ndecide in a particular case whether a generally worded \n statute actually constitutes “clear congressional \nauthorization” for a major power that otherwise falls within \nthe general terms?\nFor start ers\, and critically\, the Court has repeatedly\nemphasized that the major questions doctrine is not a\nmagic words requirement. In other words\, t he doctrine does \nnot require an explicit reference to the specific major power\nitself. As the Court’s cases amply demonstrate\, the major\nques tions doctrine does not “forc[e] Congress to delegate in\nhighly specifi c terms.” Biden v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 516 \n(BARRETT\, J.\, concu rring) (quotation marks omitted). \nRather than require magic words (such as the words \n“tariff ” or “duty” here)\, the Court’s cases hav e focused on \nfour somewhat overlapping factors or considerations in\nord er to assess whether a generally worded statute\nconstitutes “clear cong ressional authorization” for the\nspecific major power.18 \nFirst\, the major questions doctrine’s most prominent\nwork has been to ensure that the Executive cannot \nsuddenly seize on an old and generally worded statu te to \nexercise a power of great economic and political significance\nwhe n that power would not reasonably have been \nunderstood at the time of en actment to fall within that \ngenerally worded statute. See West Virginia\ , 597 U. S.\, at \n720–735\; Brown &\; Williamson\, 529 U. S.\, at 159–161. As \nthe Court has said: “When an agency claims to discover in\na long-extant statute an unheralded power to regulate a \n —————— \n18Both JUSTICE GORSUCH and JUSTICE BARRETT have likew ise read the \nCourt’s precedents to identify those same four factors\, as they explained \nin their incisive separate opinions in West Virginia v . EPA and Biden v. \nNebraska\, respectively. See 597 U. S. 697\, 746–7 49 (2022) (GORSUCH\, J.\, \nconcurring) (referring to the four “telling clues”)\; 600 U. S.\, at 517–520\n(BARRETT\, J.\, concurring)\; see al so ante\, at 27 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring). \n36 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, I NC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nsignificant portion of the Am erican economy\, we typically\ngreet its announcement with a measure of sk epticism.” \nUtility Air\, 573 U. S.\, at 324 (citation and quotation ma rks \nomitted)\; West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 748 (GORSUCH\, J.\, \nconc urring).\nThe doctrine thus precludes an agency’s attempt to\neffectua te “a fundamental revision of the statute.” MCI \nTelecommunications C orp. v. American Telephone &\; \nTelegraph Co.\, 512 U. S. 218\, 231 (1 994). Stated otherwise\, \nan “agency’s attempt to deploy an old stat ute focused on one \nproblem to solve a new and different problem” may b e “a \nwarning sign that it is acting without clear congressional \nauth ority.” West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 747 (GORSUCH\, J.\, \nconcurring) . The Court’s skepticism about major executive \naction in those scenar ios has been heightened when\nCongress has “conspicuously and repeatedly declined to\nenact” legislation that would have authorized the executiv e \naction in question. Id.\, at 724 (majority opinion). \nA prototypical example occurred when OSHA\, in order to \njustify a nationwide COVID–19 vaccine mandate for \nworkers\, relied “on a statutory provision that w as adopted \n40 years before the pandemic and that focused on\nconditions specific to the workplace.” Id.\, at 747 (GORSUCH\, \nJ.\, concurring). Another example arose when EPA invoked \n“newfound authority to regula te” emissions from “millions\nof small sources—including retail stor es\, offices\, apartment\nbuildings\, shopping centers\, schools\, and chu rches.” Utility \nAir\, 573 U. S.\, at 328. Yet another happened when the CDC \ntried to impose an eviction moratorium for rental housing \nthro ugh an “unprecedented” assertion of its authority to\nregulate public health. Alabama Assn. of Realtors\, 594 \nU. S.\, at 765. \nSecond\, \ncou rts examine the “agency’s past \ninterpretations of the relevant sta tute.” West Virginia\, 597 \nU. S.\, at 747 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring) . The Executive’s \n“track record can be particularly probative” in the major \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n37 \nquestions context. Biden v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 519 \n(BARR ETT\, J.\, concurring). \nA “contemporaneous and long-held Executive Bra nch\ninterpretation of a statute is entitled to some weight.” West \nVi rginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 747 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring) \n(quotation marks omitted). Just “as established practice\nmay shed light on the extent o f power conveyed by general \nstatutory language\, so the want of assertio n of power by \nthose who presumably would be alert to exercise it\, is\ne qually significant in determining whether such power was\nactually conferr ed.” \nId.\, at 725 (majority opinion) \n(quotation marks omitted).\nThe NFIB Court therefore found it critical that “OSHA\, \nin its half centu ry of existence\, has never before adopted a\nbroad public health regulati on of this kind” under the \nstatute that the agency sought to invoke as authority for \nthe vaccine mandate. 595 U. S.\, at 119. Likewise\, in Brown \n&\; Williamson\, the FDA had “repeatedly and consistently\nas sert[ed] that it lacks jurisdiction under the FDCA to\nregulate tobacco pr oducts.” 529 U. S.\, at 156. And in West \nVirginia\, EPA had not “pr eviously interpreted the relevant \nprovision to confer on it such vast au thority” to transform \nAmerican industry. 597 U. S.\, at 749 (GORSUCH\, J.\, \nconcurring). \nThird\, courts assess whether “there is a mismatc h \nbetween an agency’s challenged action and its \ncongressionally assi gned mission and expertise\,” id.\, at 748 \n(GORSUCH\, J.\, concurrin g)—in other words\, whether an\nagency is trying to regulate “outside its wheelhouse\,” Biden \nv. Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 518 (BARRETT\, J. \, concurring).\n In the NFIB case\, OSHA\, which is empowered to “set \ nworkplace safety standards\, not broad public health\nmeasures\,” manda ted COVID–19 vaccines. 595 U. S.\, at \n117. In Alabama Assn. of Realto rs\, the CDC—a public \nhealth agency—attempted to regulate housing. 594 U. S.\, \nat 763–765. In Gonzales v. Oregon\, the Attorney General \ n38 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \ns ought to assert authority over the drugs used in physician\nassisted suici de. 546 U. S. 243\, 267–268 (2006).\nAll of those cases involved serious mismatches between \nthe agency’s usual regulatory activities and its a sserted\nmajor power. \nFourth\, the Court looks at whether the relevant s tatutory \nlanguage used to justify the Executive’s exercise of a major\ npower is “oblique\,” “elliptical\,” or “cryptic.” West Virgi nia\, \n597 U. S.\, at 746–747 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring) \n(alteration s and quotation marks omitted). As the Court \nhas often said\, Congress does not “hide elephants” in\nstatutory “mouseholes.” Whitman v. American Trucking \nAssns.\, Inc.\, 531 U. S. 457\, 468 (2001). \nIn MCI T elecommunications Corp.\, for example\, the\nCourt refused to allow the FC C to eliminate rate regulation\nand fundamentally overhaul the telecommuni cations \nindustry based on a “subtle” provision that merely\npermitte d the FCC to “modify” rate-filing requirements. \n512 U. S.\, at 231 ( quotation marks omitted). In Brown &\; \nWilliamson\, the Court reject ed the FDA’s attempt to\nregulate the tobacco industry based on a “cry ptic” statutory\nprovision that referred to “safety.” 529 U. S.\, at 160 \n(quotation marks omitted). In Gonzales\, the Court said that \nCon gress would not have granted the Attorney General the \npower to regulate physician-assisted suicide through \n“oblique” statutory language. 54 6 U. S.\, at 267. And in \nWest Virginia\, the Court found it unlikely th at Congress \nwould have granted major power to reshape the energy \nindus try in a “previously little-used backwater” of the \nstatute. 597 U. S .\, at 730. \n2 \nSo in this case we must apply those four factors in orde r\nto determine whether Congress\, when it afforded the \nPresident the po wer to “regulate . . . importation\,” clearly\nauthorized the Presiden t to impose tariffs. As I see it\, those \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026 ) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n39 \nfactors show that Congress clearly authorized tariffs in \nIEEPA when it empowered the President to “regula te . . . \nimportation.” \nFirst\, unlike the OSHA vaccine mandate in NF IB or the \ngreenhouse gas regulation in Utility Air\, for example\, the\n President here is not exercising an “unheralded” or\n“newfound aut hority” based on a “long-extant” statute— \nthat is\, exercising a power that was unanticipated or\nunforeseen when Congress enacted IEEPA ’s “regulate . . . \nimportation” language in 1977.\nOn the contrary \, as was fully explained above\, the tariff\nauthority exercised here is not remotely “unheralded.” To \nrecap: Any citizen or Member of Congr ess who paid the \nleast bit of attention in 1977 would have readily under stood \nthat the President’s authority to “regulate . . . importatio n”\nencompassed the power to tariff. There are the dictionary \ndefinit ions and the historical usage and practice. And \namong other things\, jus t a few years before IEEPA\, that\n“regulate . . . importation” langua ge was invoked by\nPresident Nixon and judicially approved to sustain his 10 \npercent worldwide tariffs. \nPresident Ford then \nimplemented signif icant tariffs using substantially similar \n“adjust the imports” statu tory language\, and this Court \nunanimously upheld President Ford’s tar iffs in Algonquin. \nSo IEEPA’s grant of authority to the President to i mpose \ntariffs in order to regulate importation is not “unheralded” \ nor “newfound.” That authority was plain as day in 1977.19 \n—————— \n19The Court downplays the significance of the prom inent Nixon and \nFord tariffs. Ante\, at 17–19 (majority opinion)\; ant e\, at 27–28\, 39 \n(GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring). But the Nixon and Ford examples\, as well as \nAlgonquin\, are critical for a proper and full un derstanding of the \nmeaning of “regulate . . . importation” when Cong ress enacted IEEPA in\n1977. We cannot ignore or diminish that history. T HE CHIEF JUSTICE’s \nopinion and JUSTICE GORSUCH’s concurrence also sa y that no President \nsince 1977 has invoked IEEPA to impose tariffs. Ant e\, at 10 (opinion of \nROBERTS\, C. J.)\; ante\, at 27–28 (GORSUCH\, J. \, concurring). But since \n40 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAV ANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nSecond\, the President is not interpreting the “regulate . . . \nimportation” language in IEEPA differently from how past\nPresidents have interpreted it. At least as far as the \nbriefing an d arguments in this case have disclosed\, no \nPresidential Administration since the enactment of the \n“regulate . . . importation” language in TWEA in 1941 or \nsince its re-enactment in IEEPA in 1977 has interpreted \nthe statute to exclude the power to impose tariffs.\nMoreover\, before IEEPA’s enactment\, President Nixon \nimposed tariffs based on the sam e “regulate . . . \nimportation” language. And in 1975\, President For d \ninvoked authority to “adjust the imports” in order to \nsimilarly impose monetary exactions. In addition—if more \nis needed—Marshall\, Story\, Madison\, and this Court have\nall long recognized that the power to regulate foreign \ncommerce includes tariffs. \nThe current Presiden t’s reading of IEEPA follows from\nand is entirely consistent with those past interpretations—\nmaking his position nothing like\, for example\, FDA’s when \nit changed its longstanding position that it lacked the \n authority to regulate cigarettes\, Brown &\; Williamson\, 529 \nU. S.\, at 159–160\, or OSHA’s when it implemented a\nvaccine requirement eve n though it had “never before\nadopted a broad public health regulation of this kind\,” \nNFIB\, 595 U. S.\, at 119. \nWhen\, as here\, “estab lished practice\,” West Virginia\, 597 \nU. S.\, at 725 (quotation marks omitted)\, and the Executive’s\n“track record\,” Biden v. Nebraska\ , 600 U. S.\, at 519 \n—————— \n1977\, Presidents have imposed numerous tariffs under non-emergency\ntariff statutes—including Section 232\, which like IEEPA also does not\nexplicitly reference tariffs or tax es. The fact that recent Presidents have \nnot often had occasion under th e National Emergencies Act to declare\nnational emergencies in which tarif fs would help “deal with” the specific\nemergency at issue does not me an that Presidents have now lost the\nauthority exercised by President Nix on to impose tariffs. IEEPA was not \ndesigned as a use-it-or-lose-it sou rce of emergency authority. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\ , J.\, dissenting \n41 \n(BARRETT\, J.\, concurring)\, convincingly show t hat the \ngeneral statutory language has long been understood to \ncover t he specific power asserted by the Executive\, that \nrecord should all but resolve the matter for major questions \npurposes. \nThird\, there is no mismatch: The power to tariff falls \nsquarely within the President’s w heelhouse. From the \nFounding\, as THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion today\na cknowledges\, numerous other statutes have afforded—\nand still do aff ord—the President broad power to impose\ntariffs. \nAnte\, at 8–9. Th is case is entirely different\,\ntherefore\, from our prior major question s cases\, where\, for \nexample\, the CDC attempted to impose an eviction \nmoratorium\, Alabama Assn. of Realtors\, 594 U. S.\, at 763– \n765\; O SHA sought to implement a nationwide vaccine \nmandate\, NFIB\, 595 U. S.\ , at 117–120\; the FDA tried to \nregulate cigarettes\, Brown &\; Wil liamson\, 529 U. S.\, at 159– \n161\; and the Attorney General attempted to regulate \nphysician-assisted suicide\, Gonzales\, 546 U. S.\, at 26 7–268. \nPresidents imposing tariffs—whether pursuant to \ninherent wa rtime authority\, pursuant to TWEA and \nIEEPA’s “regulate . . . impor tation” language\, pursuant to \nSection 232’s “adjust the imports ” text\, or pursuant to the\nmany other tariff statutory authorities—i s hardly an\nunusual occurrence in our Nation’s history or in recent \nt imes. For example\, Presidents George W. Bush\, Obama\,\nand Biden all imp osed tariffs pursuant to congressional \nauthorization. There is no mismat ch between the tariff \npower and the President’s “mission and exper tise.” West \nVirginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 748 (GORSUCH\, J.\, concurring) . \nFourth\, the President is not relying on oblique\, elliptical\, \nor c ryptic language. This case does not involve “elephants\nin mouseholes .” Whitman\, 531 U. S.\, at 468. This case \ninstead involves an eleph ant (tariffs) in a statutory\nelephant hole (the power to “regulate . . . importation” to\ndeal with foreign threats in national emergencies). IEEPA \n42 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissent ing \nwas a major and thoroughly studied statute carefully\ncrafted to gra nt the President a suite of powerful tools\,\nincluding to “regulate . . . importation\,” and thereby allow \nhim to respond swiftly to national emergencies and to help \nAmerica respond to crises. Since its enactment\ , Presidents \nhave invoked IEEPA more than 70 times to deal with \nemerge ncies and threats from the September 11\, 2001\, al \nQaeda attacks to Ira n to North Korea\, and many others.\nSee Congressional Research Service\, The International\nEmergency Economic Powers Act: Origins\, Evolution\, an d \nUse 18–32 (2025).\nBy 1977\, moreover\, it was well-known that tarif fs on \nforeign imports—along with even more powerful tools such\nas quo tas and embargoes—were a common way to “regulate \n. . . importation .” IEEPA thus bears zero resemblance to \nthe paradigmatic “previously little-used backwater” \nstatutory provision that cannot support signif icant\nexecutive actions. West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 730. \nAll of tha t makes this case dramatically different from—\nreally\, the opposite of—the major questions cases where the\nCourt has ruled against the Gove rnment. The text\, the \nhistory\, the context\, and the precedent all poi nt strongly to\nthe conclusion that as of 1977\, tariffs were a well\nreco gnized means of regulating importation\, like quotas\nand embargoes.\nAs J udge Taranto persuasively summarized\, this case\nbears none of the hallma rks of past major questions cases \nwhere the Court found a lack of clear congressional\nauthorization for the Government’s asserted major power.\ nIEEPA’s “facial breadth in an emergency context makes the\nstraightfo rward application of the statute’s words hardly \nunheralded\, and if a more specific herald is needed\, it is \npresent in the [Nixon] 1971 procl amation\, Yoshida CCPA\, \nand subsequent congressional adoption of the re levant \nlanguage in 1977.” 149 F. 4th 1312\, 1376 (CA Fed. 2025) \n(dis senting opinion) (citations omitted). IEEPA seeks “to \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n43 \nprovide flexibility i n the tools available to the President to\naddress the unusual and extraor dinary threats specified in \na declared national emergency. This is not a n ‘ancillary\,’\n‘little used backwater’ provision\, or a delegati on outside the \nrecipient’s wheelhouse.” Ibid. (citation omitted).\nT his Court’s recent decision in Biden v. Missouri\, 595 \nU. S. 87 (2022) (per curiam)\, strongly supports the \nPresident’s position here. That case involved a challenge to \nPresident Biden’s COVID–19 vaccine req uirement for \nmillions of healthcare workers. The executive action there \, \ntoo\, was undoubtedly major. But the Court upheld the \nGovernment’ s vaccine mandate based on a general \nstatutory authorization for HHS to impose safety \nrequirements for healthcare facilities—notwithstanding \ nthe lack of explicit statutory reference to vaccines. Id.\, at \n90–96 . In doing so\, the Court emphasized that state\nvaccination requirements were common for healthcare\nworkers and that the Federal Government regula rly\nrequired healthcare workers to take various safety\nprecautions. Id.\ , at 94–95. Notably\, the Court upheld the \nvaccine mandate even though (as the dissenters pointed \nout) the Federal Government had not traditio nally imposed \nsuch vaccine requirements on healthcare workers. See id.\ , \nat 104 (THOMAS\, J.\, dissenting). \nThe clarity of the congressional authorization in today’s\ncase is far stronger than in Biden v. Missouri . The Nixon \nand Ford tariffs\, the Algonquin decision\, and the \nPresid ent’s longstanding authority to regulate trade and\nimpose tariffs estab lish—much more comprehensively and\nclearly than in Biden v. Missouri— that the President is not \nclaiming some “unheralded power” that repr esents a \n“transformative expansion” of his authority. Utility Air\, \n573 U. S.\, at 324. \nBecause the Court upheld the Executive’s exerci se of a \nmajor power in Biden v. Missouri\, it follows that the Court \n4 4 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \ntod ay should likewise uphold the President’s assertion of a\nmajor power he re. Like cases should be treated alike. \nIn response to all of that\, THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion\nclings to its primary argument in this case— that a statute \nmust use the word “tariff ” or “duty” or “tax ” or the like to \nauthorize tariffs on foreign imports. But this Court has \nrepeatedly emphasized that the major questions doctrine is \nnot a magic words requirement. THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s \nopinion identifies no ca se that has demanded such \nspecificity. And in Algonquin\, this Court una nimously and \nsquarely rejected the same argument that the statutory\npro vision must specifically mention “tariffs” or “duties” or \n“t axes” for the President to impose tariffs on foreign \nimports. Under TH E CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion\, the Nixon\nand Ford tariffs would also have been unlawful. So too \nmight other tariffs imposed under the longstandin g Section \n232 tariff statute\, which broadly authorizes the President \n to “adjust the imports” of a foreign good without mentioning\n“tar iffs” or “taxes.” \nAnd so would tariffs imposed in\nwartime under TWEA’s authority to “regulate . . . \nimportation.”20\n THE CHIEF J USTICE’s opinion’s approach to the major\nquestions doctrine is a magi c-words test under another\nname—in contravention of our precedents that make clear \nthat Congress need not use magic words or “highly specif ic” \n—————— \n20Under the Court’s decision today\, the President’s authority to impose \ntariffs under TWEA during wartime is p resumably now gone given that\nTWEA has the same “regulate . . . importa tion” language\, 50 U. S. C.\n§4305(b)(1)(B)—unless the Court thinks that the statutory text somehow \nmeans one thing in TWEA and another in I EEPA\, which would be \nhistorically inaccurate and textually unsupportabl e. One might think \nthat the Court’s opinion would also mean that tari ffs cannot be imposed \nunder Section 232\, which authorizes the President to “adjust the \nimports.” After all\, that statutory provision like wise does not refer to\n“tariffs\,” duties\,” “taxes\,” “fee s\,” or the like. But in Algonquin\, the Court \nread Section 232 to au thorize tariffs. I assume that the Court today does \nnot intend to overr ule Algonquin. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissen ting \n45 \nterms. Biden v. Nebraska\, 600 U. S.\, at 516 (BARRETT\, J.\, \nconcurring) (quotation marks omitted).21 \nIn previous cases\, the Court has looked at the four factors \nto determine whether there is “clear c ongressional\nauthorization” precisely because the major questions canon \nhas no magic words requirement. If magic words or the\nequivalent were necessary\, that would be the only factor. \nAnd the Court would not need the four factors that the \nCourt has consistently applied.22 \nIn sum\, under the major questions doctrine as the Court\nhas applied it\, this sho uld be a straightforward case.\nCongress supplied clear authorization for the President to\nimpose tariffs under IEEPA. \nB \n1 \nSecond\, there is an alternative and independent reason\nwhy the major questions doctrine do es not apply here: This \nis a foreign affairs case. \nA plethora of st atutes in the U. S. Code grant the\nExecutive the power to act in foreign affairs. And most of \nthe important actions that “presidents take toda y\,\nincluding in foreign affairs\, rest at least in part on statutory \ n—————— \n21Taken at face value\, moreover\, the Court’s maj or questions analysis\nwould presumably also preclude Presidents from impo sing quotas under\nIEEPA. Quotas are justified under the same “regulate . . . importation” \nlanguage. How could the Court distinguish quotas f rom tariffs for major \nquestions purposes? After all\, quotas can be of e ven greater economic \nand political significance than tariffs. \n22In his concurrence\, JUSTICE GORSUCH opines that the phrase\n“monetary exactio ns on foreign imports” would constitute clear \ncongressional authorizat ion\, but that the phrase “regulate . . . \nimportation” does not. An te\, at 30. But if the phrase “regulate . . . \nimportation” has histo rically and commonly encompassed “monetary \nexactions on foreign impo rts”—as it has—and if the four major questions \nfactors taken toget her support the Executive—as they do—then I cannot \nagree with the li ne that JUSTICE GORSUCH is drawing between those two \nformulations. \n46 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nautho rization.” C. Bradley &\; J. Goldsmith\, Foreign Affairs\,\nNondelega tion\, and the Major Questions Doctrine\, 172 U. \nPa. L. Rev. 1743\, 1745 (2024). \nYet this Court has never before applied the major\nquestions do ctrine—or anything resembling it—to a foreign \naffairs statute. I wou ld not make this case the first. \nRather\, in the foreign affairs context \, this Court has\ninterpreted statutes as written\, with respect for the \nprimacy of Congress’s and the President’s roles in foreign \naffairs and without using the major questions doctrine as a\nthumb on the scale a gainst the President. See\, e.g.\, \nDepartment of Navy v. Egan\, 484 U. S . 518\, 529–530 (1988).\nThat deeply rooted textualist approach to inter preting\nforeign affairs statutes is nothing new. What is new and \nrather extraordinary is the approach embodied in THE \nCHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion for three Justices\, which would\nextend the major questions doctrine int o the foreign affairs \nrealm for the first time. \nRecall that the major questions doctrine is based on two\noverlapping foundations: “separation of powers principles \nand a practical understanding of legislative inten t.” West \nVirginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 723. \nWith respect to separation of powers\, the major questions\ndoctrine serves to reinforce the nondeleg ation doctrine. But \nin the foreign affairs realm\, the Court has recogn ized that\nCongress often broadly delegates authority to the \nExecutive. From the Founding\, numerous foreign affairs\nstatutes “authorizing act ion by the President in respect of \nsubjects affecting foreign relation s” either “leave the\nexercise of the power to his unrestricted judgme nt\, or\nprovide a standard far more general than that which has\nalways b een considered requisite with regard to domestic\naffairs.” United State s v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.\, 299 \nU. S. 304\, 324 (1936)\; Departme nt of Transportation v. \nAssociation of American Railroads\, 575 U. S. 43 \, 80\, n. 5 \n(2015) (THOMAS\, J.\, concurring in judgment). The reason \ n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n47 \nfor those broad delegations is simple and obvious: If \n“success” for Ame rica’s foreign affairs “aims” is to be\n“achieved\, congressional legislation . . . must often accord to\nthe President a degree of discreti on and freedom from\nstatutory restriction which would not be admissible w ere \ndomestic affairs alone involved.” Curtiss-Wright\, 299 U. S.\, \n at 320. \nStated otherwise\, “Congress—in giving the \nExecutive autho rity over matters of foreign affairs—must \nof necessity paint with a br ush broader than that it \ncustomarily wields in domestic areas.” Zemel v. Rusk\, 381 \nU. S. 1\, 17 (1965).\nAs Justice Robert Jackson summarize d\, the Court’s \nnondelegation cases—consistent with the “unbroken \nlegislative practice which has prevailed almost from the\ninception of t he national government\,” Curtiss-Wright\, 299 \nU. S.\, at 322—have “recognized internal and external \naffairs as being in separate catego ries\, and held that the \nstrict limitation upon congressional delegation s of power to\nthe President over internal affairs does not apply with \nr espect to delegations of power in external affairs.” \nYoungstown Sheet &\; Tube Co. v. Sawyer\, 343 U. S. 579\, 636\, \nn. 2 (1952) (concurrin g opinion)\; see Curtiss-Wright\, 299 \nU. S.\, at 319–322\; Panama Refi ning Co. v. Ryan\, 293 U. S. \n388\, 422 (1935).\nAs Justice Jackson furth er noted\, the Court’s precedents\nrecognize the “‘unwisdom of requi ring Congress in this field \nof governmental power to lay down narrowly d efinite\nstandards by which the President is to be governed.’” \nYoun gstown\, 343 U. S.\, at 636\, n. 2 (concurring opinion) \n(quoting Curtiss -Wright\, 299 U. S.\, at 321–322).\nIf the major questions doctrine is d esigned in part to \nprotect nondelegation principles\, but the nondelegat ion \ndoctrine does not play a substantial role in foreign affairs \ncases (as the Court has held)\, then it follows that courts \nshould not employ the major questions doctrine to put a \nthumb on the scale against the Pr esident when interpreting \n48 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVA NAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nforeign affairs statutes. Rather\, as Justice Ro bert Jackson \nstated\, courts should interpret those statutes as written. \nRelatedly\, to the extent that the major questions doctrine\nis designed to reflect a “practical understanding of \nlegislative intent\,” West Virginia\, 597 U. S.\, at 723\, the \ndoctrine appropriately plays no rol e in “national security or\nforeign policy contexts\, because the canon does not reflect \nordinary congressional intent in those areas.” FCC v . \nConsumers’ Research\, 606 U. S. 656\, 706 (2025)\n(KAVANAUGH\, J.\, concurring). In the foreign affairs realm\, \nCongress “has good reason to—and intends to—authorize\nmany executive branch actions related to foreign affairs in\nbroad or general terms.” Bradley &\; Goldsmith\, 172 U. Pa. \nL. Rev.\, at 1793. \nCongress ordinarily seeks “to give the President \nsubstantial authority and flexibility to protect America and \nthe American people.” Consumers’ Research\, 606 U. S.\, at \n706–7 07 (KAVANAUGH\, J.\, concurring). After all\, the \nPresident exercises t he “vast share of responsibility for the\nconduct of our foreign relatio ns.” American Ins. Assn. v. \nGaramendi\, 539 U. S. 396\, 414 (2003) (q uotation marks \nomitted). So Congress “often” gives the President “ a degree\nof discretion.” Curtiss-Wright\, 299 U. S.\, at 320. That \n “unbroken legislative practice” from the Founding means \nthat courts interpreting statutes in the foreign affairs field\nshould assume that Con gress meant what it said. Id.\, at \n322. \nStated otherwise\, “if the major questions doctrine turns \non a contextual inquiry into likely congr essional intent\, it \nis likely for a variety of reasons to have less pur chase in the \nforeign affairs area.” Bradley &\; Goldsmith\, 172 U. Pa. L. \nRev.\, at 1790. \nTo be clear\, Congress of course maintains the ultimate \npower over how broadly or narrowly to write statutes in the \nf oreign policy and national security contexts. For example\,\nCongress can write foreign affairs statutes narrowly. \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026 ) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n49 \nIndeed\, even for wartime powers\, Congress rarely gives the \nPresident a “blank check.” Hamdi v. Rumsfe ld\, 542 U. S. \n507\, 536 (2004) (plurality opinion). And when Congress\ nwrites a narrow foreign affairs statute\, this Court has \nenforced those statutory limits as written. Cf. Hamdan v. \nRumsfeld\, 548 U. S. 557\, 593–595 (2006)\; id.\, at 638–639 \n(Kennedy\, J.\, concurring in part ).\nMoreover\, when it does legislate more broadly\, Congress \nsometimes claws back the statutory authorization by \nrescinding or amending overbro ad statutes\, or by\nrestricting previously granted Presidential power thr ough\nthe leverage it possesses over appropriations\, new \nlegislation\, or confirmations. See\, e.g.\, Foreign Intelligence \nSurveillance Act of 1978\, 92 Stat. 1783\; Military\nCommissions Act of 2006\, 120 Stat. 2600 \, as amended\, 10 \nU. S. C. §948a et seq.\; Case-Church Amendment\, Pub . L. \n93–50\, §307\, 87 Stat. 129. Either House of Congress alone\,\n through the appropriations process\, can insist on certain \nlimits as a c ondition of approving funding. At the end of the \nday\, given the approp riations power\, Congress holds the\ncards. \nIn short\, in the foreign af fairs context\, this Court has \nnever before super-imposed the major ques tions doctrine (or \nany similar canon or principle) onto ordinary statuto ry\ninterpretation to place a thumb on the scale against the \nPresident. \nRather\, the Court interprets the relevant\nstatutes according to their text\, with respect for Congress’s \nand the President’s central roles in the foreign policy and\nnational security fields. \n2 \nThis tariffs c ase plainly falls into the foreign affairs \ncategory. IEEPA “directly a nd expressly relate[s] to foreign \naffairs.” Bradley &\; Goldsmith\, 172 U. Pa. L. Rev.\, at 1796. \nAnd like quotas and embargoes\, tariffs r egulate the goods \n50 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nthat are imported into the country from foreign nations. \nThe tariffs do not apply to goods produced in America.\nMoreover\, tarif fs on foreign imports are significant tools \nof foreign policy and nation al security\, whether imposed \nunder IEEPA\, TWEA\, Section 232\, Section 122\, Section \n201\, Section 301\, or Section 338. They are often used t o\n“advance foreign policy goals\, or as negotiating leverage in \ntrade negotiations.” Congressional Research Service\, U. S.\nTariff Policy: O verview 1 (2025). Like other economic tools\, \ntariffs can “serve as a ‘bargaining chip’ to be used by the\nPresident when dealing with a h ostile country\,” Dames &\; \nMoore v. Regan\, 453 U. S. 654\, 673 (1 981)—or to incentivize\na change in behavior by allies\, partners\, or e nemies. Cf. \nAssociation of American Railroads\, 575 U. S.\, at 80 (opin ion \nof THOMAS\, J.) (embargo statute “involved the external \nrelation s of the United States”)\; Gundy v. United States\, \n588 U. S. 128\, 170–171 (2019) (GORSUCH\, J.\, dissenting). \nWith respect to foreign tr ade specifically\, Congress often\n“invest[s] the President with large d iscretion in matters \narising out of the execution of statutes relating t o trade and\ncommerce with other nations.” Marshall Field &\; Co. v. \nClark\, 143 U. S. 649\, 691 (1892). Since the Founding\, that \nlongsta nding practice has included tariff statutes: \nCongress has granted the Pr esident expansive power over\ntariffs and foreign trade. Ante\, at 13–17 (THOMAS\, J.\, \ndissenting). \nAnd this Court has uniformly rejected \nc hallenges to tariffs imposed by Presidents under those \nstatutory authori ties. E.g.\, Federal Energy Administration \nv. Algonquin SNG\, Inc.\, 42 6 U. S. 548\, 558–560 (1976)\; J. \nW. Hampton\, Jr.\, &\; Co. v. Uni ted States\, 276 U. S. 394\, 409 \n(1928)\; Marshall Field\, 143 U. S.\, a t 690–694\; Cargo of Brig \nAurora v. United States\, 7 Cranch 382\, 3 86–388 (1813). \nAs Professors Bradley and Goldsmith well summarized\, \ nthere is a “settled practice of about a century of the \nexecutive bran ch exercising emergency powers in many \nimportant contexts pursuant to th e broadly worded IEEPA \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\ , dissenting \n51 \nand its predecessor\, the Trading with the Enemy Act. And \nthere is an even longer practice\, dating to the Founding\, of \npr esidents exercising trade-related sanctions authority\npursuant to broadly worded statutes. Notably\, the Court\nhas already suggested in both of th ese contexts that one\nshould expect Congress to\, in effect\, paint with a broad \nbrush.” 172 U. Pa. L. Rev.\, at 1796–1797. \nAs with tariffs on foreign imports historically\, the IEEPA\ntariffs on foreign imports a t issue in this case implicate \nforeign affairs. According to the Governm ent\, the President \nhas leveraged the IEEPA tariffs into trade deals wit h major\ntrading partners including China\, the United Kingdom\, and \nJap an\, among other countries. The Government says that\nthe tariffs have hel ped make certain foreign markets more\naccessible to American businesses a nd have contributed to \ntrade deals with foreign nations worth trillions of dollars.\nMoreover\, consistent with history and the traditional \nuses of tariffs\, the President “is exercising his IEEPA \nauthority in conn ection with highly sensitive negotiations\nhe is conducting to end the con flict between the Russian\nFederation and Ukraine.” Decl. of M. Rubio in No. 25–1812 \n(CA Fed.\, Aug. 29\, 2025)\, p. 3. To that end\, on Augus t 6\,\n2025\, the President imposed tariffs on India for “directly or \n indirectly importing Russian Federation oil.” Exec. Order \nNo. 14329\, 90 Fed. Reg. 38701 (2025). And on February 6\,\n2026\, the President redu ced the tariffs on India because\, \naccording to the Government\, India h ad “committed to stop \ndirectly or indirectly importing Russian Federat ion oil.” \nExec. Order No. 14384\, 91 Fed. Reg. 6501 (2026).\nTo be sur e\, most foreign affairs and national security \nactions—whether war\, i nternational agreements\, trade \ndeals\, or tariffs—lead to significant domestic ramifications \nwithin the United States. And this case is no ex ception.\nNonetheless\, in the foreign affairs field\, courts interpret\ns tatutes as written\, with appropriate respect to Congress\nand the Preside nt and without a major questions doctrine \n52 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nweight on the scale against the President. See Youngstown\, \n343 U. S.\, at 636\, n. 2 (Jackson\, J.\, c oncurring). \nLest there be any remaining doubt that the major\nquestions doctrine does not apply to tariffs on foreign\nimports\, recall again this Court’s decision in Algonquin. \nThat case involved significant tariffs imposed by President \nFord on oil imports. The relevant statute granted the\nPresident the authority to “adjust the imports.” 19 U. S. C. \n§ 1862(b) (1970 ed.). The Court upheld the tariffs by \ninterpreting the sta tute as written. Neither the major\nquestions doctrine—nor anything res embling that \ndoctrine—played a role in that case. \nIn short\, “Pres idential actions pursuant to broad \ncongressional authorizations related to foreign affairs often \nhave long historical pedigrees that can in vari ous ways \ninform congressional intent to approve the actions in \nquestio n. \nTo the extent that this is so in particular \ninstances\, the major q uestions doctrine’s clear authorization \nrequirement does not apply.” Bradley &\; Goldsmith\, 172 U.\nPa. L. Rev.\, at 1794 (emphasis added) . \nSo it is here: Presidents “have long been granted \nsubstantial dis cretion over tariffs.” Id.\, at 1759\, n. 90. This \nCourt has never be fore applied the major questions doctrine \nto a statute authorizing the P resident to take action with\nrespect to foreign affairs in general or tar iffs in particular.\nAnd it should not do so today. \nTHE CHIEF JUSTICE ’s opinion’s reliance on the major\nquestions doctrine in this foreign affairs case is a first—a \nnovel and unprecedented use of the major qu estions\ndoctrine to invalidate Presidential action taken pursuant to\ncon gressional authorization in the foreign affairs area. I \nfirmly disagree with that use of the major questions\ndoctrine here. In the foreign affair s context\, including \ntariffs\, the longstanding rule is simple: Interpr et the \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n5 3 \nstatute as written\, not with a thumb on the scale against \nthe Presi dent.23 \n3 \nRelated precedent further demonstrates that the major\nquest ions doctrine has not traditionally applied in the \nnational security or foreign policy contexts. Consider \ntwo \nprominent examples. \nFirst\, i n Hamdi v. Rumsfeld\, 542 U. S. 507\, this Court \nconsidered the 2001 Aut horization for Use of Military \nForce\, which Congress passed and Preside nt George W.\nBush signed on September 18\, 2001\, in the wake of the al \ nQaeda attacks on the United States. The law broadly \n—————— \n23In his thoughtful concurrence\, JUSTICE GORSUCH agrees that the \nmajo r questions doctrine often does not apply to foreign affairs statutes\,\nb ut in his view it does not apply only when the President also has \ninhere nt or independent Article II power. Ante\, at 30–31. THE CHIEF \nJUST ICE’s opinion for three Justices also gestures at that position. See \n ante\, at 12–13. I see some analytical and practical problems with that \napproach.\nFirst\, as JUSTICE GORSUCH elsewhere notes\, the major quest ions\ndoctrine serves in part to reinforce nondelegation principles. Yet as I \nhave explained\, the Court’s nondelegation cases from the Foundin g to \nthe present—including numerous cases involving tariffs—have \ n“recognized internal and external affairs as being in separate categori es\,\nand held that the strict limitation upon congressional delegations o f\npower to the President over internal affairs does not apply with respec t \nto delegations of power in external affairs.” Youngstown Sheet & \; Tube \nCo. v. Sawyer\, 343 U. S. 579\, 636\, n. 2 (1952) (Jackson\, J.\ , concurring)\; \nsee also United States v. Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.\, 299 U. S. 304\, \n319–322 (1936)\; Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan\, 293 U. S. 388\, 422 (1935).\nIn those cases\, the Court has not further subdivide d the foreign affairs\npower in the manner that JUSTICE GORSUCH now sugges ts. \nSecond\, terms such as “inherent” or “independent” in this c ontext \ncontinue to be “used\, often interchangeably and without fixed or \nascertainable meanings.” Youngstown\, 343 U. S.\, at 647 (Jackson\ , J.\, \nconcurring)\; see also id.\, at 637. So it would be both novel an d \njurisprudentially chaotic to try to now create a new approach tying th e \napplicability of the major questions canon in the foreign affairs cont ext \nto such uncertain triggers. \n54 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUM P \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \nempowered the President to use “all ne cessary and\nappropriate force against those nations\, organizations\, or \npersons he determines planned\, authorized\, committed\, or \naided the terrorist attacks” that occurred on September 11\,\n2001. Authorization for Use of Military Force\, 115 Stat. 224 \n(Sept. 18\, 2001).\nIn Hamdi\, the Government militarily detained in the\nUnited States an American citi zen who had taken up arms\nwith the Taliban. 542 U. S.\, at 510–511. The plaintiff\nHamdi argued\, among other things\, that the AUMF\ngenerally a uthorized the use of force but did not specifically \nauthorize military d etention\, at least detention of \nAmerican-citizen enemy combatants in th e United States. \nSee id.\, at 515–517. He contended that his military\ ndetention was therefore illegal.\nIn the principal opinion by Justice O ’Connor\, the Court\nrejected Hamdi’s statutory argument\, explaining that it\nwas “of no moment that the AUMF does not use specific\nlanguage of detention.” Id.\, at 519. Rather\, because \n“detention to preve nt a combatant’s return to the battlefield \nis a fundamental incident o f waging war\, in permitting the \nuse of ‘necessary and appropriate for ce\,’ Congress has\nclearly and unmistakably authorized detention in the \nnarrow circumstances considered here.” Ibid. \nConsider the similariti es between Hamdi and this case. \nBoth involve major questions of foreign affairs. Hamdi \ninvolved U. S. military detention of an American citizen in \nAmerica\, pursuant to a generally worded authorization for\nuse of m ilitary force. This case involves tariffs on foreign \ngoods imported int o America pursuant to a generally\nworded authorization to regulate import ation. Detention is \na traditional incident of the President’s delegat ed power to \nwage war. See id.\, at 518. Tariffs are a traditional incid ent \nof the President’s delegated power to regulate imports and \nforei gn commerce. In Hamdi\, the Court said that as a \nmatter of history\, pra ctice\, and precedent\, the AUMF’s \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nK AVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n55 \ngeneral authorization for the use of mil itary force clearly \nencompassed detention of enemy combatants. Id.\, at 518– \n522. Here\, as a matter of history\, practice\, and precedent\,\ nIEEPA’s general authorization for regulation of \nimportation likewise clearly encompasses tariffs on foreign\nimports. \nSecond\, in 1981 in Dam es &\; Moore\, 453 U. S. 654\, the \nCourt did not apply the major ques tions doctrine\, even\nthough the Court had recently applied that principl e in a \nsignificant domestic policy case. Cf. Industrial Union Dept.\, \n AFL–CIO v. American Petroleum Institute\, 448 U. S. 607 \n(1980) (plural ity opinion).\nThe Dames &\; Moore case arose in the wake of the Iran \ nhostage crisis where Iran held more than 50 American\nhostages at the U. S. Embassy in Iran for more than 14 \nmonths. As one part of the ultimate settlement of the \nhostage crisis with Iran\, President Reagan suspended\ nclaims by U. S. nationals against Iran that were pending in\nAmerican cou rts. Dames &\; Moore\, 453 U. S.\, at 666. The \nPresident did so unde r IEEPA and the Hostage Act. Id.\, at \n675. \nThere can be little doubt that the question of suspending \nAmerican citizens’ claims against Iran was one of major \neconomic and political significance. And the Court fu rther \nrecognized that the case touched “fundamentally upon the \nmanne r in which our Republic is to be governed.” Id.\, at \n659. Yet the Cou rt did not require “clear congressional\nauthorization” for the Pres ident’s exercise of that authority\nto suspend the Americans’ claims a gainst Iran.\nOn the contrary\, the Court openly acknowledged that the\nre levant statutes—IEEPA and the Hostage Act—did not \nprovide clear or “specific authorization” for the President to\nsuspend those claims. Id.\, at 677. The Court nonetheless \nconcluded that the “general tenor of Congress’ legislation in\nthis area”—combined with Congress’s l ongstanding\nacquiescence to the President’s practice of settling clai ms— \n56 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissent ing \nsupported the President’s suspension of those claims. Id.\, \nat 678. Congress’s “general tenor” and acquiescence are of\ncourse far less than the “clear congressional authorization”\nthat THE CHIEF JU STICE’s opinion today newly demands for \nthe President’s tariffs. \nA gain\, consider the similarities between Dames &\; Moore \nand this cas e. Dames &\; Moore involved complicated\nquestions of foreign policy an d national security. The \nstatutes in Dames &\; Moore were generally w orded and did\nnot specifically authorize suspension of claims. \nBut \nPr esidents had historically exercised a similar power. See \nid.\, at 677 –682. Here\, we likewise have a generally worded\nstatutory authorizatio n to “regulate . . . importation.” And \nPresidents have historically imposed tariffs.\nIf IEEPA permitted the President to lawfully suspend\ncl aims in Dames &\; Moore—despite the Court’s transparent \nacknowled gment that the actual statutory text did not\nclearly authorize the Presid ent’s actions—then surely \nIEEPA’s authorization to “regulate . . . importation” easily\njustifies these tariffs.\nTHE CHIEF JUSTICE’s opinion would chart a new course\nfor the major questions doctrine\, exten ding it for the first \ntime deep into the foreign affairs sphere. If the Court had \napplied the major questions doctrine in Hamdi and Dames \n& \; Moore\, those two landmark cases almost certainly would\nhave been deci ded differently. So today’s opinion marks a \nsignificant change. \nWill the Court apply the major\nquestions doctrine in the foreign affairs cont ext again in the \nfuture? Or is this a ticket good for one day and one tr ain \nonly? Time will tell. But in the meantime\, the decision \ncould eng ender significant uncertainty over the Executive’s \nexercise of statuto ry authority in the foreign affairs realm. \nAs the Hamdi and Dames &\; Moore examples\ndemonstrate\, applying the major questions doctrine in th e \nforeign policy and national security contexts in the past\nwould have seriously hindered the President’s ability to \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n57 \nexercise power granted by Con gress to achieve important \nforeign policy and national security objectiv es for America. \nAnd if applied in the foreign affairs context in the fut ure\, it \ncould impair Presidents’ vital statutory authorities with \nr espect to foreign policy and national security.24 \n*\n*\n* \nHaving said all of that on foreign affairs\, I reiterate that\nthe major questions doc trine—even if it applies in this \nforeign affairs context—does not de feat major executive \nactions that are clearly authorized by Congress. Se e \nBradley &\; Goldsmith\, 172 U. Pa. L. Rev.\, at 1790–1791. \nAnd as explained in Part III–A above\, in IEEPA Congress \nclearly authorize d the President to impose tariffs to \n“regulate . . . importation” in national emergencies. In \nother words\, even if the major questions doc trine applies in \nthe foreign affairs context exactly as it does in domes tic \naffairs\, the President should still prevail in this case. \nIV \nFi nally\, no Member of the Court today relies on the \nnondelegation doctrin e. But the plaintiffs briefly raise such \nan argument\, and I will theref ore briefly address it. The \n—————— \n24What is the status go ing forward of the major questions doctrine in \nforeign affairs cases? O nly three Justices (at most) today suggest that\nthe major questions doctr ine should apply in the foreign affairs context—\nTHE CHIEF JUSTICE\, JU STICE GORSUCH\, and JUSTICE BARRETT. I doubt \nthat the major questions do ctrine analysis in THE CHIEF JUSTICE’s \nopinion for those three Justice s is controlling for future cases as a matter \nof precedent under the Mar ks rule. See Marks v. United States\, 430 U. S. \n188\, 193 (1977). That is because three Justices (JUSTICE SOTOMAYOR\, \nJUSTICE KAGAN\, and JUSTI CE JACKSON) do not recognize the major \nquestions doctrine at all. Ante\, at 1–2 (KAGAN\, J.\, concurring in part and \nconcurring in judgment). And this dissent would not apply it in the \nforeign affairs context. So it appears that six Justices would not apply it \nin the foreign affairs context. In my view\, the question of whether or how \nthe major question s doctrine applies in foreign affairs cases remains at \nleast an open que stion. \n58 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissen ting \nargument is unavailing for many of the reasons already \nnoted in t he major questions analysis above. This Court \nhas repeatedly rejected co nstitutional challenges to \ncongressional delegations to the President in the foreign \naffairs area\, including delegations of tariff authority. \ nFor matters of foreign affairs and national security\, the\nCourt has tra ditionally recognized that Congress “must of\nnecessity paint with a bru sh broader than that it \ncustomarily wields in domestic areas.” Zemel v. Rusk\, 381 \nU. S. 1\, 17 (1965). And to reiterate\, numerous statutes \n“‘authorizing action by the President in respect of subjects \naffe cting foreign relations’” “‘either leave the exercise of the\npowe r to his unrestricted judgment\, or provide a standard \nfar more general than that which has always been\nconsidered requisite with regard to domes tic affairs.’” \nDepartment of Transportation v. Association of Americ an \nRailroads\, 575 U. S. 43\, 80\, n. 5 (2015) (THOMAS\, J.\, \nconcurri ng in judgment) (quoting United States v. Curtiss\nWright Export Corp.\, 2 99 U. S. 304\, 324 (1936)). Therefore\, \nas JUSTICE THOMAS has explained \, the Court’s precedents \nestablish that “the Constitution grants th e President a \ngreater measure of discretion in the realm of foreign\nrel ations.” Association of American Railroads\, 575 U. S.\, at \n80\, n. 5\ ; see Curtiss-Wright Export Corp.\, 299 U. S.\, at 319– \n322\; Panama R efining Co. v. Ryan\, 293 U. S. 388\, 422 \n(1935).\nJustice Robert Jackso n likewise noted the “‘unwisdom of \nrequiring Congress in this field of governmental power to\nlay down narrowly definite standards by which th e \nPresident is to be governed.’” Youngstown Sheet &\; Tube \nCo. v. Sawyer\, 343 U. S. 579\, 636\, n. 2 (1952) (concurring\nopinion) (quoti ng Curtiss-Wright\, 299 U. S.\, at 321–322). \nAs such\, the “strict l imitation upon congressional\ndelegations of power to the President over i nternal affairs \ndoes not apply with respect to delegations of power in \ n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n59 \nexte rnal affairs.” Youngstown\, 343 U. S.\, at 636\, n. 2 \n(concurring opin ion).\nBecause statutes that “involv[e] the external relations of \nthe United States” do not trigger the same kind of\ndelegation concerns as p urely domestic ones\, Association of \nAmerican Railroads\, 575 U. S.\, at 80 (opinion of THOMAS\, \nJ.)\, the Court has regularly upheld delegation s of power to \nthe President in the national security and foreign policy \nrealms. See\, e.g.\, Curtiss-Wright\, 299 U. S.\, at 319–322\; \nLovin g v. United States\, 517 U. S. 748\, 771–774 (1996).\nIndeed\, if a stri ct nondelegation doctrine applied in those\nareas\, numerous statutes—in cluding many authorizations \nfor use of military force in the Nation’s history—would have\nbeen unconstitutional delegations of authority to th e\nPresident. See Authorization for Use of Military Force\, 115\nStat. 224 (Sept. 18\, 2001) (“[T]he President is authorized to \nuse all necessar y and appropriate force against those \nnations\, organizations\, or perso ns he determines planned\,\nauthorized\, committed\, or aided the terroris t attacks that \noccurred on September 11\, 2001”). \nAs to tariffs in p articular: Broad delegations of tariff\nauthority to the President have be en in the heartland of \npermissible delegations upheld by this Court. Co ngress\nmay\, without running afoul of the Constitution\, “invest the \n President with large discretion in matters arising out of the\nexecution o f statutes relating to trade and commerce with\nother nations.” Marshall Field &\; Co. v. Clark\, 143 U. S. \n649\, 691 (1892). Congressional d elegations of tariffs and \nother foreign trade authorities to the Preside nt date back\nto near the Founding. And this Court has uniformly\nrejected nondelegation challenges to statutes delegating\nthat authority to the Pr esident. E.g.\, Federal Energy \nAdministration v. Algonquin SNG\, Inc.\, 426 U. S. 548\, 558– \n560 (1976)\; J. W. Hampton\, Jr.\, &\; Co. v. United States\, 276 \nU. S. 394\, 409 (1928)\; Marshall Field\, 143 U. S.\ , at 690–694\; \n60 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. TRUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J .\, dissenting \nCargo of Brig Aurora v. United States\, 7 Cranch 382\, 38 6– \n388 (1813).\nThis Court’s decision in Algonquin is again instruct ive.\nThere\, the Court held that Section 232 did not constitute an \nunco nstitutional delegation. 426 U. S.\, at 558–560. The \nCourt found it s ufficient that the President could act “only”\nto the extent “he dee ms necessary to adjust the imports” of\nan article such that it “will not threaten to impair the\nnational security.” Id.\, at 559 (quotation marks omitted).\nTo be clear\, I am not suggesting that there is no\nnond elegation doctrine in the foreign affairs realm. But the \nCourt has consi stently recognized that the doctrine affords \nmore flexibility to Congres s and the President in that area\nto deal with the complex foreign relatio ns issues and\nnational security threats facing America. See Association \nof American Railroads\, 575 U. S.\, at 80\, n. 5 (opinion of \nTHOMAS\, J.)\; Youngstown\, 343 U. S.\, at 636\, n. 2 (Jackson\, \nJ.\, concurring) \; Curtiss-Wright\, 299 U. S.\, at 319–322\; \nPanama Refining\, 293 U. S.\, at 422. \nIn all events\, for purposes of this Court’s nondelegatio n \nprecedents\, IEEPA sufficiently constrains the President’s\nauthorit y to declare an emergency and impose tariffs. See \nJ. W. Hampton\, 276 U . S.\, at 409\; FCC v. Consumers’ \nResearch\, 606 U. S. 656\, 673–675 \, 681–691 (2025). The \nPresident may exercise the authorities in IEEP A “only” “to\ndeal with an unusual and extraordinary threat” tha t “has \nits source in whole or substantial part outside the United \nSt ates” and “with respect to which a national emergency \nhas been decla red.” 50 U. S. C. §1701. Congress placed\nnumerous limits on IEEPA\, i ncluding a default 1-year time\nlimit\, an enumerated list of exceptions\, and comprehensive \ncongressional reporting requirements. See §§1622(d )\,\n1702(b)\, 1703.\nIt is also useful to underscore the extraordinary na ture of\nthe plaintiffs’ nondelegation argument here. The plaintiffs’ \nsubmission would mean that these tariffs would be \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n61 \nunlawful even if IEEPA e xplicitly authorized tariffs. Unlike \ntheir statutory and major questions doctrine arguments\, \ntheir nondelegation argument is not based on a lac k of an \nexplicit reference to “tariffs” or “duties” or the like. Their \nnondelegation argument instead goes much further and\nwould requ ire very specific congressional directions to the \nPresident on when and under what circumstances he could \nimpose tariffs and how high those tari ffs could be. The \nplaintiffs’ theory would have dramatic consequences and \nlikely wipe out many of the existing tariff statutes that have\nlon g been upheld by this Court\, as well as TWEA. And if \nthe tariff author ity here is unlawful\, so too are most if not\nall IEEPA authorities such as asset freezes\, embargoes\, and \nquotas. And it would not stop there. The plaintiffs’ \nnondelegation theory would threaten various other \nna tional security and foreign affairs statutes that similarly \ngrant substa ntial discretion to the President. The Court \ntoday thankfully does not g o down that road.25 \nV \nThe overarching theme of the Court’s opinion i s that\ntariffs are not a clear means to “regulate . . . importation”\ nand that Congress was therefore required to use the word \n“tariff\ ,” “duty\,” or the like in IEEPA in 1977 if it wanted to \nauthorize tariffs on foreign imports. But that conclusion \n—————— \n2 5Some last points for completeness: The plaintiffs also raise two other \ narguments that the Court today does not address or rely on. First\, they \nargue that Section 122\, a non-emergency tariff statute that addresses \ntrade deficits\, implicitly displaces IEEPA’s tariff authority. Secon d\, they \nargue that the tariffs here do not deal with an “unusual and \nextraordinary threat” as to which a national emergency has been \ndecl ared. In my view\, those arguments are insubstantial\, as Judge\nTaranto p ersuasively explained in the Federal Circuit. See 149 F. 4th \n1312\, 135 9–1361\, 1371–1375 (2025) (dissenting opinion). Because the \nCourt t oday does not address or rely on them\, I will not discuss them \nfurther here. Finally\, I agree with footnote 1 of the Court’s opinion\nregardin g jurisdiction. Ante\, at 5\, n. 1. \n62 \nLEARNING RESOURCES\, INC. v. T RUMP \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \ncontravenes text\, history\, and prec edent. To summarize: \nAlgonquin in 1976 unanimously held the opposite. T he \nNixon and Ford tariffs were based on statutory provisions \nthat did not use the word “tariff ” or “duty.” There is a long \ntradition of Presidents imposing tariffs as a means of \nregulating importation and commerce. The predecessor\nTrading with the Enemy Act has long been unde rstood to \nauthorize tariffs during wartime as a means to “regulate . . . \nimportation\,” even though it does not use the word “tariff ” \nor “duty.” The history of the Polk\, Lincoln\, and McKinley \ntarif fs shows that tariffs are a means of regulating\nimportation. Marshall\, S tory\, and Madison stated that \ntariffs are a means of regulating foreign commerce. The \ndictionary definitions and ordinary usage establish that \ntariffs are a means of regulating importation. \nAll of that and much mo re\, in my view\, overwhelmingly \nestablish that IEEPA clearly authorizes the President to \nimpose tariffs.\nThat said\, with respect to tariffs i n particular\, the Court’s\ndecision might not prevent Presidents from i mposing most \nif not all of these same sorts of tariffs under other statu tory \nauthorities. For example\, Section 122 of the Trade Act of \n1974 p ermits the President to impose a “temporary import\nsurcharge” to “d eal with large and serious United States\nbalance-of-payments deficits.” \n19 U. S. C. §2132(a).\nSection 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 provides t hat\, if the \nInternational Trade Commission determines an article is \nb eing imported in such quantities that it is “a substantial \ncause of se rious injury\, or the threat thereof\, to the \ndomestic industry producin g an article like or directly \ncompetitive with the imported article\,” the President may\ntake “appropriate and feasible action\,” including imposing\na “duty.” §§2251(a)\, 2253(a)(3)(A). Section 301 of the Trade \nAct of 1974 authorizes the President through a subordinate\noffice r to “impose duties” if he determines that “an act\,\npolicy\, or pr actice of a foreign country” is “unjustifiable and \n Cite as: 607 U. S. ____ (2026) \nKAVANAUGH\, J.\, dissenting \n63 \nburdens or restricts U nited States commerce.” §§2411(a)\n(c). \nSection 338 of the Tariff A ct of 1930 permits the\nPresident to impose tariffs when he finds that “ any foreign \ncountry places any burden or disadvantage upon the\ncommerce of the United States.” §1338(d). And Section 232 \nof the Trade Expans ion Act of 1962 authorizes the \nPresident to\, after receiving a report f rom the Secretary of\nCommerce\, “adjust the imports of [an] article and its \nderivatives so that such imports will not threaten to impair\nthe n ational security.” §1862(c)(1)(a).\nSo the Court’s decision is not li kely to greatly restrict\nPresidential tariff authority going forward. Bu t the Court’s \ndecision is likely to generate other serious practical \ nconsequences in the near term. One issue will be refunds. \nRefunds of b illions of dollars would have significant\nconsequences for the U. S. Trea sury. The Court says \nnothing today about whether\, and if so how\, the \nGovernment should go about returning the billions of \ndollars that it h as collected from importers. But that \nprocess is likely to be a “mess \,” as was acknowledged at oral \nargument. Tr. of Oral Arg. 153–155. A second issue is the \ndecision’s effect on the current trade deals. B ecause IEEPA \ntariffs have helped facilitate trade deals worth trillions of \ndollars—including with foreign nations from China to the \nUnited K ingdom to Japan\, the Court’s decision could \ngenerate uncertainty rega rding various trade agreements. \nThat process\, too\, could be difficult. \n*\n*\n* \nThe tariffs at issue here may or may not be wise policy.\nBut as a matter of text\, history\, and precedent\, they are \nclearly lawful . I respectfully dissent. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ORIGINAL CONTE NT\n\n From the wiki I learned\n\n [Learning Resources v. Trump\, and Trum p v. V.O.S. Selections\, Inc. is a consolidated case]\n\n\n\n So who are t he plaintiffs\, the complainers in both cases.\n\n\n\n Wiki said the compl ainers in the learning resources case are\n\n [On April 22\, 2025\, Learni ng Resources and hand2mind\, two family-owned educational toy manufacturer s\, sued Trump in the United States District Court for the District of Col umbia ]\n\n ScoutsBlog stated their argument\n\n [The challengers\, Learni ng Resources and hand2mind\, are small family-owned businesses that make a nd sell “hands-on educational toys and products for children.” They “outsource most manufacturing to factories in other countries\,” inclu ding in Asia. The companies say that paying the tariffs in 2025 will cost them $100 million\, “compared with just $2.3 million in 2024—a 44-fold increase.”]\n\n\n\n Justia page said the complainers in the second case are \n\n [V.O.S. SELECTIONS\, INC.\, PLASTIC SERVICES AND PRODUCTS\, LLC \, DBA GENOVA PIPE\, MICROKITS\, LLC\, FISHUSA INC.\, TERRY PRECISION CYCL ING LLC]\n\n\n\n Based on the websites\, linked below\, I can see how lear ning resources + hand2mind + VOS selections+ Genova pipe+ microkits+Fishus a+terry precision would acquire a lot of content from China. They are the types of firms that Schrumpft is functionally trying to kill. People talk about usa made and american made but a lot of firms like the ones stated\, get a lot of content from overseas when they should had been blockaded by the government from doing so. The reality is\, China's manufacturing expl osion\, didn't occur because China had better workers\, that is feces. Chi na's manufacturing explosion happened because the government of the USA al lowed firms in the USA to reach a low wage market outside the usa with wor kers doing the same things the higher wage market laborers in the usa were doing\, and the rest of the governments realized the financial advantage to the usa firms would put them out of business or diminish them to low a market share to be relevant so they followed suit. But I recall being a ch ild\, the advertised reason was greater intelligence of the Chinese indivi dual and a better schools system in the north east Asian countries. Feces^ INF. And it even relates to the 1960s. The push to exit the high wage labo r market in the USA started when the Jim Crow era from 1965 to 1980 had re ached the 1960s and Black people\, nonviolently\, had petitioned to get mo re work. White laborers were willing to accept no unions or less labor opp ortunities in the area to blockade black people from opportunity. \n\n\n\ n Adding the Italian noodle companies that have made a killing selling noo dles in the usa for decades\, SCrumpft is stoping the usa being the engine for foreign industries that it doesn't need to be. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n N OTES\n\n\n\n Wiki\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_Resources_v._ Trump\n\n Justia page\n\n https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-c ourts/cafc/25-1812/25-1812-2025-08-29.html\n\n Scotusblog\n\n https://www. scotusblog.com/2025/06/businesses-challenge-trumps-tariffs-before-supreme- court/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n WEBSITES\n\n learning resources\n\n https://www. learningresources.com/\n\n hand2mind\n\n https://www.hand2mind.com/home\n\ n VOS selections - touted as importer of the year\n\n https://vosselection s.com/\n\n Genova Pipe\n\n https://www.genovapipe.com/\n\n Microkits\n\n h ttps://microkits.net/\n\n Fishusa\n\n https://www.fishusa.com/\n\n Terry P Recision Cycling\n\n https://terrycycling.com/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n POST URL\n\n\n\n Circa half of the populace in the usa wants to dominat e the world using military might gardless of the violence. Circa half of t he populace in the usa wants the usa to be the center of a dysfunctional g lobal order that every human is shackled to gardless the fiscal poverty fo r most humans. Circa nearest one hundred percent of the populace in the us a wants the usa live along time after its two hundred and fiftieth birthda y but nearest zero percent of the populace in the usa want to lead it in u ncomfortable ways to live along time. \n\n\n\n Is the USA in the way of a better humanity? Absent the USA would the militaristic impotency of all o ther governments or racial balance of all other populaces lead to the grea test peace in humanity? \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12484-is-the- usa-in-the-way-of-a-better-humanity/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\ n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/637-economic-corner-33-01292026/\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/ event/658-economic-corner-34-02202026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n #econ omiccorner #schrumpft #supremecourt #ieepa #learningresources #executiveor der #tariff #trump #usa250 #tobeornottobe #rmaalbc #aalbc #richardmurray # kobo #kwl #hddeviant #deviantart #richardmurrayhumblr #tumblr \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n 02212026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ABOUT THE INTERNET\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n From @AntonRMisharin\n\n Jews are not a people. Laura Loomer looks like a n Middle Eastern person\, and Goldie Hawn looks like a Scandinavian skier. One must be retarded if not seeing the obvious.\n\n https://x.com/AntonRM isharin/status/2025076657128722661\n\n\n\n My reply\n\n jews are a people in the same way christians or muslims or buddhist are peoples . Not all ch ristians are blond haired or blue eyed. Not all muslims are brown skinned or speak arabic. Not all buddhist have occidental eyes or come from asia. Religious peoples are not(1/3) phenotypical peoples [black or  white or c olored or brown ] or gender peoples [male or female or hermaphrodite] or g eographic peoples[ american/european/african/asian] what makes a person a jew or christian or muslim(2/3) or buddhist or any religion is adherence t o that religion or faith\, your confusing labels of appearance with labels of faith. what makes someone white/black is how they look\, american/afri can where they were raised(3/3)\n\n\n\n From @ThisInvent\n\n found the naz i\n\n https://x.com/ThisInvent/status/2025303755130855637\n\n\n\n My reply \n\n why mention anton as a nazi? why not an american. anti jewish sentime nt isn't foreign to the usa. anti jewish sentiment in the usa is older tha n the nazi's. the nazi's themselves \, i believe hitler in mein kampf admi tted he was inspired by white european(1/2)  descent terrorism of blacks  or native americans in white christian germans approach to white jewish germans . Don't try to make negative biases or violent biases foreign to the usa\, they are native (2/2)\n\n\n\n \n\n 02212026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n C itation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of- a-better-humanity/#findComment-80234\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n \n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   13 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n No.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IMO\, human greed is the biggest impediment to greater peace in humanity. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The general population of the world has to decide if/when they no longer want to enable a handful of greedy people to empower &\; enrich themselves.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n People have to be willing to give up the  comfortability they have taken up in a less peace ful human existence in order to achieve a greater level of peace.\n\n\n\n even enough\, only one question I have\, when you say\n\n\n\n \"The genera l population of the world has to decide if/when\" the financially common section of humanity isn't one peoples\, to first make a collective choice a group of peoples must be an organized collective\, in some fashion. So f irst the masses in humanity have to find a way to be a group that can make a collective decision right?\n\n\n\n Cause as I comprehend your words\, i t seems like said masses can make this decision today or tomorrow as they are\, and I don't see that as true.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n In answer to the question in t he title: No\n\n \n\n Infact\, I truly believe that America is and will c ontinue to IMPROVE and PROGRESS humanity.\n\n \n\n I'm not trying to be fu nny or facetious either\, I sincerely mean that.\n\n \n\n The United Stat es is the main reason racism and sexism and even slavery itself is no long er OPENLY tolerated in most societies.\n\n \n\n Before the existence of th e United States.....racism\, sexism\, and slavery was not only rampant aro und the planet but brazen and openly practiced as a normal way of life for many if not most.\n\n\n\n well... two things\, 1) humanity progresses its elf to whatever end. 2) all governments \, no matter what movies say\, hav e positive or negative results. all governments. and that includes the usa \, but that also includes the peoples republic of china or russia or south africa or haiti or other. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n you said \" United States is the main reason racism and sexism and even slavery itself is no longer OPENLY tolerated in most societies.\" I don't think that is the truth. in my travels I find many negative biases or openly expressed. I argue many n egative biases are accepted or embraced\, you suggest negative biases are tolerated\, which suggest people don't want them. that isn't what I have f ound. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I think what the usa has done positively isn't in the common communities in humanity. I argue\, modern humanity is rife w ith various biases based on a persons gender/phenotype or appearance / fis cal class leading to enslavements. I think many of these negative biases a re openly practiced. Last year was when the usa finally disallowed underag e marriage at the federal level. I did a post about it\, but I couldn't fi nd it to link. \n\n\n\n What the usa has done positively is in government s themselves. In modernity most governments legal codes suggest most negat ive biases\, as you correctly stated\, are illegal. Most governments legal codes don't permit the negative biases the peoples under those codes do e veryday. But the enforcement to such codes is absent. In this way\, the us a breaks even. This goes back to Jim crow usa [ 1846 to 1980] the reality is \, with black tulsa or rosewood as the most known highlighted examples\ , the usa legal code made all the terrible actions by whites to blacks ill egal\, but the usa leading by example shows that legal codes\, don't give the law power. Again\, for all the court cases black people did in 1865 to 1980 based on white terror. What percentage of white terrorist actions to blacks went to court? I argue\, less than 1%.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n the rule of law makes the law the king\, but the law is the most impotent king. Th e law can't stop any illegal act. the law can't recover damages from illeg al acts. the law can't change the heritages or cultures of any peoples tha t have illegal aspects. The USA has led a governmental legal code modulati on movement where south africa has the most unbiased legal system in human ity\, even though white south africans are as abusive as ever. China thoug h people keep calling it a dictatorship\, which is totally false\, has act ually modified and adjusted their constitution more than any other governm ent of a powerful country\, power defined as nuclear militaristic capabili ty of a global reach. But this doesn't mean the ugyars are safe. The usa s till has black towns throughout the former confederate states\, lviing nea r toxic wastes the states put next to them\, denied water the white towns next to them horde so... the law is nothing\, the law is weak\, the law do esn't make anything better. \n\n\n\n BUT\, the law does allow the abused who have the rare resources/levels of money to utilize legal systems to ch allenge the criminal actions from abusers which are illegal. And that is p ositive. \n\n\n\n Negative biases are still mostly embraced by humans\, w hether legal or not\, and no government has enforced their legal code to d elete or diminish or cause to delay actions reflecting a negative bias or abuse or criminal act that said laws deem illegal. \n\n\n\n BUT\, most le gal codes today\, do have \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02212026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-o f-a-better-humanity/#findComment-80249\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @Pioneer1\n\n\ n\n \n On 2/21/2026 at 4:54 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n Laws can' t stop an illegal act directly\, but it can INDIRECTLY by:\n \n\n \n 1 . Establishing law enforcement officers who CAN directly stop illegal acti vity\n\n 2. Discourage illegal activity through deterrence\n\n 3. Chan ge the prevailing attitudes of the current and especially succeeding gener ations by equating that which is illegal to being ethically and eventually morally \"bad\"\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n One of the reasons many of the laws around the world don't change things is because they aren't ENFO RCED.\n \n\n \n Ofcourse slavery will continue in a culture where it's illegal only on paper but not ENFORCED.\n\n Ofcourse human trafficking will continue in a culture where it's illegal only on paper but not ENFORC ED\n\n \n\n Laws can definitely change the prevailing attitude and eve n morals and norms of a society when adequately ENFORCED.\n \n \n\n\n\n Y our wrong \, but what is important is that many black people have thought like you from the founding of the usa and many black people have thought l ike me in opposition to you and yours\, since the usa was founded. I don't see how these viewpoints have a bridge and i argue this is the most impor tant issue in the black populace in the usa\, because more than anything e lse\, the black experience in the usa is one of being terorrized abused\, whether legally or illegally by whites. So\, how black people in the usa\, view the law is essential to how we see the usa\, non blacks\, or ourselv es. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT - my original comment\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n Pioneer\, this is the true schism among the descended of enslaved bla ck people. all over the world. \n\n\n\n If I had a nickel for every black person older than me\, my age\, or younger than me in my life that talked like you... I would have quite a bit of cash. \n\n\n\n But the reality i s\, many black people talk like me as well and me and mine think the talk of you and yours is hogwash bullshit \, always has been\, always will be.  \n\n\n\n history proves the following\n\n\n\n Law enforcers problem isn' t their ability to stop illegal activity\, it is their ability to skirt th e law and as long as law enforcers are human they will. \n\n\n\n As long as fiscal capitalism exists\, which is the heart of the usa\, not justice or equality\, fiscal poor people will exist and the only avenue for making money when one doesn't have is always illegal. \n\n\n\n The people who h ave the most money in the entire history of your country the usa is based on morals/cosde of conduct that are the most terrible or cruel in nature\, so how can peoples viewpoints change in the fact of the reality unless th eir simply fools. \n\n\n\n No the reason laws don't change things is caus e laws are impotent. They always have been and always will be\, and all th e law enforcer advocating black people like you \, who speak of law enforc ement like the old black preachers in the past while black people are bein g legally or illegally terrorized by non blacks sickens me. \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n But thank you for your honesty. As I said you are not the only blac k person who thinks like that. I just wish black people like you would com prehend\, that your views towards this particular issue is \, arguably\, t he most important issue in the black descended of enslaved populace. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n 02222026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc .com/tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of-a-better-humanity/#findCommen t-80250\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n On 2/21/2026 at 10:47 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Correct. Tribes must decide what's most peace ful for them &\; build strategic alliances with other like-minded group s. \n \n\n \n  \n \n \n\n\n\n what if their aren't so many like min ded groups? \n\n\n\n \n On 2/21/2026 at 10:47 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Mainly because people are comfortable as individuals &\; tribes. 😎\n \n \n\n\n\n you think its comfort...  i know a number of blacks w ho have said that... I don't think its comfort. \n\n\n\n I think it is ho nesty. I always tell the children I tutor\, words are the least proving ac tions. In black history month so many black people we refer to have beauti ful speeches\, but little in the way of non verbal actions to prove anythi ng. I think black people and I will argue\, most people\, at some point ge t tired of being told to try again for trying for agains sake. Some will a rgue people should act with a faith but I have always thought that is sill y. faith isn't enough. results profd\, you got to show results to the peop le. People who want to do things have to show results to themselves. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n 02222026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc .com/tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of-a-better-humanity/#findCommen t-80268\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\,  ProfD said:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n For example\, the smartest among poor peop le could organize to fight for more opportunities &\; resources.\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n Yet\, poor people keep voting against their own interests &am p\; consuming just enough to survive. They enable the rich &\; powerful . They're comfortable in their station.\n\n\n\n ahh the smartest are among the poor are the ones who get results\, not organize. Organization has no value without results. Results isn't fighting for a thing\, it getting a thing. \n\n\n\n And this goes back to the many black elected\, the many b lack owned business\, many of them will talk about fighting but when black people see their results they see\, little or worse no results\, and blac k people realize the scam. No one wants to spend their whole life a sucker \, voting and carrying on and getting nothing. as James Baldwin near his d eath said\, I paraphrase\,  when will it happen? when I am fifty or a hun dred? will it happen for me or my children or my grandchildren. \n\n\n\n Baldwin's point to me is excellent. His point is that government is result s based\, not faith based\, and when results never come through all the me thodologies present in government people wisely pull out of activity. \n\ n\n\n It isn't that people vote against their interest\, they pull out of the bureaucratic system. To rephrase\, if you look at voting patterns in t he usa\, across all demographic lines\, the biggest winner is none of the above. None of the above isn't against the peoples interest\, none of the above is an indictment on the entire governmental system or its agents ele cted or not. Poor people not voting proves the system's functionality is n egative or dead. It is up to people in the system to prove otherwise and i f they can't... it's over. \n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n \n What other reason(s) keep people from taking action to improve rheir po sition in the grand scheme of life?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I answered honesty\ n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Correct. Actions speak lou der than words.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Exactly\, but not just the voters actio ns speak louder.  the elected people or the appointed peoples actions spe ak louder than their words and in terms of results\, the elected /appointe d peoples actions are more important in getting results.  that is the gre at flaw in the white enslavers called the founding fathers schema that is the us constitution. The rule of law government isn't just the people and the law\, the rule of the law government is the people+ the law+ the gover nment officials. In the usa the government officials who are born from the people have succesfully made the people vote against the government itsel f \, which is what a majority no vote means.  Now people like yourself fi nd that unacceptable\, but that is where your dysfunctional or where said white enslavers made a great error. In the preamble to the constitution\, the incestual rapist\, jefferson\, correctly admitted that if the governme nt of the usa is dysfunctional the people have the right to destroy it. He admitted\, correctly\, that a government can be too dysfunctional to warr ant any thing but destruction\, i argue the usa government is there in the eyes of most people in the usa. The voters are speaking loudly\, they are finished with the usa. that is why they are mostly not voting. Government isn't faith it is results.\n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\ n The speeches &\; marches organized &\; conducted by FBA/AfroAmeric an leaders were effective in getting Civil Rights legislation passed.\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n By extension\, those actions by FBA/AfroAmericans made it e ven more possible for Black immigrants to get a foothold into the USA.\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n White folks use other Black &\; non-white groups of peo ple in their maintenance of the system of white supremacy. \n\n\n\n Well. ..if a black child asked me\, which some have\, about the black movements in the jim crow era\, 1865 to 1980\, and what they were effective in doing . I have said they failed. Because the goal of most black people wasn't c ivil rights legislation. Again\, knowing history really knocks the bullshi t off of many sayings. Civil rights legislation was an agreement  between a minority of black dosers aside a minority of whites. It was the NAACP v ictory. And I will say it again\, the NAACP was always represented a minor ity within the black dos. the majority movements in black dos populace was not NAACP. The civil rights act was a compromise unwanted by a majority b lack dosers or a majority of non blacks that after the civil rights act wa s used by said minority of black dosers to suggest an improvement to the m ajority of black dosers \, when it wasn't.  Again\, the proof is the jim crow era. alice was enslaved 1963\, so 1965 civil rights act doesn't addre ss her situation. And as the Kern Commission \, sanctioned by lyndon b joh nson\, all members of it white except for one or two people. flat out stat ed\, the usa needed a complete overhaul. Lyndon B Johnson was angry at the kerner commission\, but \, and I must admit it is hilarious that nearly e veryone in the kerner commission was white and they didn't come up with \" gone with the wind\" or \"birth of a nation\" they came up with the usa ne eds a complete overhaul. The kerner commission made in the 1960s literally refutes the position you and many other people\, black or white\, give cl aim to the civil rights acts.  and I think most people\, though tthey don 't know or have heard of the kerner commisison\, concur to the kerner comm ission completely\, and think the position by you and those like you to th e civil rights movement or your assessment of the time after is hogwash.  \n\n\n\n Kerner commission\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richa rdmurray/?status=2685&\;type=status \;\; or https://aalbc.com/tc/event s/event/197-economic-corner-15-02172025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   6 hours ag o\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The aforementioned FBA/AfroAmericans put in work over a half-century ago that made it possible for other Black folks &\ ; non-whites to have better opportunities &\; access to resources under the system of racism white supremacy. \n\n\n\n No\, not over a half cent ury ago\, near two hundred and fifty years ago. It was the blacks who foug ht for the usa at its infancy\, who were again\, a minority in the black d os populace. which you never say. But I get it. you are one of those minor ity blacks. Your not thinking of the majority of the black people in the s ame way\, the black people like you and James Forten[  https://aalbc.com /tc/events/event/592-the-american-revolution-pbs-documentary-episode-6/  ]  have always seen the usa in a way unreal to the majority of black peop le and then accuse the majority of black people of various negativies rath er than admit your view doesn't serve the majority of black people.\n\n\n\ n Your correct\, a group of black and whites worked together for this mode rnity but neither were a majority of blacks or whites and when you see the complete canvas of the usa you can see that both of said minorities did w ell for themselves and used their associative majorities to do it... which has led to a lack of results from the government of the usa to most\, and no amount of faith can change that.\n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, ProfD sai d:\n\n\n\n As I've mentioned above\, the groundwork has already been laid for Black folks to have more access to opportunities &\; resources.\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n Unfortunately\, for a half-century &\; counting\, many Black folks have chosen to rest on their laurels under the system of racis m white supremacy.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Actions do speak louder than words. Taking up a seat of comfort under the system of racism white supremacy is the action many Black folks have chosen. Same goes for poor people under t he status quo.\n\n\n\n I comprehend your position. I do. Your like James F orten who was a black person\, a DOSer \, who fought alongside a group of whites who to improve white lives while maintaining black peoples lives\, in majority as enslaved. I get it. Forten became a wealthy businessman aft er the secession from the english empire. When I think of you and Pioneer I see James Forten. a black person who doesn't represent the situation of most black in the usa \, as most black people in the usa were enslaved. Wh o doesn't represent most black peoples relationship to whites in the usa o r the usa itself. Forten wished to engage to this usa even when it was onl y a declaration\, but most black people wanted to be as far away from whit es wherever they are\, or kill whites a vendetta whites earned a hundred t imes over. I get your position. But it was never a majority position in th e black dos populace. NEVER. So when James Forten\, Frederick Douglass\, w eb dubois when younger\, mlk jr \, barrack Obama \, yourself\, all talk\, I realize\, this is a heritage of your tribe. You know fully well the trut h for a majority of black people but you don't care. you have made a choic e and can only speak of support for that choice by condemning blacks who d idn't choose that. I get it. \n\n\n\n And it explains why the tribe you a re in\, a minority of blacks DOSers who have always been engaged in the us a\, has such alliance with Immigration aCt of 1965 blacks. Cause said blac ks come to the usa with a similar mind. Thank you\, I get it. \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n\n I think yall may be taking this \"tribes\" business a little too fa r....lol.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I argue black people have never been allowed to by white influence or minority black tribes agendas taken our tribes se rious enough and it has cost majority of black peoples. \n\n\n\n You and Pioneer must see the history clearly. When the usa was founded ninety perc ent of black DOSers forebears were enslaved . Seven percent fought for aga inst the creation of the usa or white people of usa or any of the usa incl uding black people like James Forten. three percent of black folk fought f or the creation of the usa. \n\n\n\n What does that mean ?\n\n\n\n Today in modernity\, 2026\, decades after the jim crow era [ 1865 to 1980] over a century and a half since the end of the enslavement era [ 1492-1865] mos t black people in the usa\, with a huge influx of modern black immigrants post 1965 immigration act. are like the three percent of black folk who fo ught for the creation of the usa. but what does this mean for the history of the tribes. \n\n\n\n This means said three percent which you/profd/jam es horten/frederick douglass/webdubois when younger/mlk jr/barrack obama + michelle obama represent a heritage in the Black populace as old as the U SA itself\, BUT also a tribe that worked against the majority of black peo ple with the aid of whites till it became the majority. \n\n\n\n Now my t ribe\, led by people like Titus Cornelius\, who lived at the same time of James Forten\, was a minority as well\, but the larger minority. My tribe would be the majority minority in the black dos populace till circa 1845. You and profd's  tribe became the largest minority starting in the jim cr ow era. My tribe was and is the most disliked by whites for obvious reason s\, variants of my tribe made the successful quilombos/haiti. The best exa mples of black empowerment have always been made by my tribe. Your tribe h as from the beginning only offered an integrated solution which has limits for black growth. \n\n\n\n But the biggest tribe was the black enslaved\ , circa ninety percent who had only one desire\, ESCAPE. They didn't want to kill whites\, like my tribe. But they didn't want to be in any union wi th whites like yours. My tribe always comprehended the largest tribes trut h\, your tribe has always denied their truth or at the least\, in rhetoric opposed it dysfunctionally\, as you and Profd's prose shows. The majority DOS tribe has an interest\, a self interest\, and that is away from the u sa \, away from whites. That has always been their truth. They don't want to be president\, they dont' want to be governor\, they dont' want to a ce o of a fortune 500 company\, they don't want to be a law enforcer\, they d on't want any part of the usa or the whites of the usa. \n\n\n\n Don't yo u see Pioneer. How weakly Black people overall have treated this important issue\, and to be blunt your tribe helped this problem the most. Because your tribe\, has always \, instead of comprehending what most blacks wants always has tried to do prosyletize/preach the black majority out of their truth. And this explains the immigration act. You know\, the civil rights and voting right act serve the function of making federal law make racial [ any type of race: phenotypical/gender/religious] negative biases illagel \, make negatively biased to any groups voting laws illegal. But what is t he immigration act really? the immigration didn't serve the majority of wh ites or blacks in the usa. While it didn't serve the black majority tribe who wanted nothing to do with the usa or my tribe that wants war\, or serv e the majority of whites who want comfort they don't need to work for\, it did serve you and profd's tribe of blacks and the minority white tribes o f wealthy whites\, For the wealthy whites it allowed for cheap labor for t heir profit. but for black integrationists \, james forten to you and prof d\, it flooded the black populace with black immigrants who shared a simil ar philosophy to your tribe. I get it\, well done. \n\n\n\n Your tribe wh ich started at circa three percent has the majority in the Black populace: Black DOS tribes + Black Immigrant tribes in the usa today. The Black DOS majority tribe still doesn't believe in the usa and I argue never will ca use they have never too but without the majority populace they will have a different path. I can see positive plus negative elements in their future . As for my tribe\, we live on\, we have always existed and always will. V endetta is powerful. Blood feuds are powerful. My tribe is small but patie nt. My tribe will get our chance again\, and I can only hope someone like me is at the helm\, cause if someone like me is at the helm\, our successe s will be thorough. \n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n W ell\, that's because there's also been Black people who were NOT so......w ell....never mind....lol.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n very funny\n\n\n\n   4 hour s ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Have YOU been personally?\n\n Are you bei ng\, now?\n\n\n\n to your first question\, yes and most black people have throughout all humanity. \n\n\n\n to your second question\, I answer with a situation that brings its issues to bare. If a white man rapes my wife and that is the only moment of white terror I have\, I am not obliged to t reat that moment as a one of. I am free to\, yes\, your correct. A black p erson is free to treat a life absent or with less white terror than the av erage in the past as a betterment or at the least as unwarranting an unmen dable bridge with whites. that the point in your question. But you miss th e important point\,which your tribe always has\, which is very selfish\, i s that no black person is forced or has to come to that conclusion. \n\n\ n\n So to answer your second question\, in my assessment of white terror\, all levels from verbal harassment from white strangers to white people mu rdering my loving ones\, the answer is yes. I think from your tribes asses sment the answer is no. \n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n \n Because I see myself and other AfroAmericans as valuable CITIZENS of th is nation with power....limited ofcourse...to change the conditions IN thi s nation for our betterment and empowerment.\n\n\n\n It takes unity\, inte lligence\, and a DESIRE to do so\; however it can definitely be done.\n\n  \n\n\n\n That would be more effective and beneficial to us than sitting packed together somewhere in a hot ass room cussing and crying about how h opeless and helpless you are and how you \"don't belong\" in the country y ou were born and raised in\, lol.\n\n\n\n yes\, you and your tribe in the usa from james horton to now have always viewed the majority of black peop le in the usa through your tribe's perspective\, not any other tribes pers pective\, which is your tribes forever dishonor in my view. While my tribe is a minority tribe as well\, at least my tribe is honest. Your tribe has always been wicked tongued.  For all tribes know why the majority DOS tr ibe has never wanted anything to do with the usa or the white people in it . But your tribe would rather criminalize what white terror honestly creat ed. \n\n\n\n The good news for your tribe is in 2026\, you now have a bun ch of black immigrants from outside the usa who have come freely to the us a for the purpose of being citizens\, for the purpose of their betterment\ , and they don't even demand too much empowerment outside of individual ri ghts. So\, your tribe for the first time in two hundred and fifty years tr uly has the numerical advantage in the complete black populace. Your still a minority tribe among DOSers alone\, but you now have the advantage with Black peoples altogether in the usa. Use it\, focus on it. My advice is t o forget about the other two tribes of DOSers you continually complain abo ut. Cause one tribe of DOSers wants revenge on whites which can't work wit h any plan from your tribe of DOSers\,  and the other tribe of DOSers wil l never trust whites enough to be involved in any plan from your tribe. \ n\n\n\n So what are you and Profd going to do to now? forget other DOSers \, like myself for example. We will never join you and you know why\, even if you cant' accept it.  It is the truth. What you are willing to forgiv e\, who you are willing to work with is not what Black DOSers from other t ribes want to do or will do. But the good news is that\, the black one per cent/the black fiscally wealthy in the usa are 99% your tribe\, which make s perfect sense as the usa is a white country and black people making mone y have to be involved with whites\, which is what your tribe has always be en willing to do\, since James Forten.  And with the Black immigrants pos t immigration act 1965\, your tribe have all the pieces to make a level of integration your tribe has always wanted in the usa. In the end I imagine the usa will be split into parts\, which actually make historical sense a s well. The logic/reason/thinking coming from a simple truth. Fiscal wealt h can be very beautiful\, harmonizing even\, but some things a human can w ant can not be bought with money\, or acquired through money\, or can not come from a peaceful life\, or be satisfied with a peaceful life. Thus the usa your tribe has always worked for of fiscal wealth in a peaceful land under the rule of law\, can not satisfy what some humans may want. \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n post script\, there is no us. Black DOSers are not an us. Th e larger Black Americans\, canada to argentina\, are not an us. You and bl ack people like you need to stop prosyletizing\, it doesn't help. Most Bla ck Americans\,  share a heritage of being enslaved by whites in the ameri can continent from canada to argentina. But we don't all share the same pe rspectives on who we are or what we want\, and you and yours need to accep t that finally. Stop your damn preaching/prosyletizing. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n Colonel Tye\n\n\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_Tye\n\n\n\n S tephen Blucke\n\n\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Blucke\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02222026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com /tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of-a-better-humanity/#findComment-80 271\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\,  Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Looks to me like YOUR TRIBE needs YOU R OWN land.\n\n\n\n Any plans to get it?\n\n\n\n always has\, the garveyit es/the quilombos/haiti/the black loyalist\, all achieved getting a land\, achieved not merely attempted. Even the exodusters did achieve... we know what happened to malcolm x's father so... Now holding a land well\, some h ave achieved. I know who has kept the land they earned\, even with white t error/power ever present\,  and who has not\, and why. \n\n\n\n So the q uestion is not plans to get\, plans to be apart of\, plans to improve\, or other. Haitii exists right now\, as their constitution under the emperor states\, they are called the blacks technically\, not haitians. That is a nod to all black peoples around the world. Haiti is a geographic distincti on. But in a constitution that black people of haiti had true involvement with\, free from whites or blacks who want to be whites\, or blacks who wa nt to align with whites\, earned through the blood of war. Haiti is the la nd for all Black Peoples. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So when you sa y get it? it seems you don't comprehend the land is already earned. which. .. goes back to the problem with your tribe. the way you see the black pop ulace is very usa centric and ... Haiti has existed my entire life. Now if you want to ask why I haven't gone. Well\, the cheapest answer is haiti h asn't invited. Which is what haiti did in the time of the emperor or king\ , but your man \, like you\, Frederick Douglass\, couldn't even stomach be ing the ambassador to haiti. I mean\, your tribe\, love hindering all othe rs\, and then get angry when all others don't do what you say... anyway\, modernity demands I make my way in. And I am working on it. I am human. My bloodlines don't have a history of massive wealth to provide for vibrant inheritances for most of the last five hundred years. It will take more ti me. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02222026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n \n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of-a-better- humanity/#findComment-80273\n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n -Is this not a co ntradiction?\n\n\n\n no because of the following\n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\ , richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n Frederick Douglass\, couldn't even stomach being the ambassador to haiti.\n\n\n\n what I meant by invite was a robus t invitation by the government.  I didn't suggest I couldn't go\, to be b lunt\, I was offered\, but I have my reasons for doing all things. and my primary reasons for not choosing haiti is many things that I am not intere sted in discussing\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n If H aiti is the land for ALL Black people and being the land for \"the blacks\ " it has given the nod to ALL Black people from around the world....that s ounds to me like the invitation has been issued.\n\n\n\n it was\, to be bl unt\, if you search liberia or sierra leone there are still those in both of those countries who open doors for black folk from the american contine nt to africa for DOSers if they wish. \n\n\n\n The point I was making to you\, which you have missed is that lands already exist in various places for my tribe. It is not a matter of needing a new place. You suggested a l and was needed and that is not the truth\, their are quite a few places on this earth\, for my tribe but\, my relation to them is not what I discuss ed. You do seem to be interested in me \n\n\n\n and thus your following\, very dry joke. As you well know I have never blamed other Black tribes fo r anything concerning my own black tribe. \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pio neer1 said:\n\n\n\n Don't blame \"my tribe\" or Frederick Douglass becaus e the street lights are on and you still don't want to go home...lol.\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In my own mind when I think of detroit\, the sol e black northern [meaning exo southern\, west or north of the confederate states] city of a certain size\, I wonder what it needs. I know wayne coun ty + michigan are enemies to Detroit\, as a black city's growth\, this is well documented. But\, when I look at cities around the world\, the ones t hat financially thrive have an industry and Detroit doesn't have an indust ry. The car companies accountants and administrators are there\, but not t he manufacturing. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02232026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citatio n\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of-a-bett er-humanity/#findComment-80287\n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \ n\n\n\n It's funny\, me and a dear friend of mine\, by dear friend I mean a person I know offline who is a friend\, talk about this sometimes. And.. . your assertion to me is incorrect but your assertion to me if applied to the larger populace in the usa is correct. many peoples I have heard say they want to leave the usa\, in various scenarios\, but don't because they enjoy the amenities/friendly things of the usa. But that is not my reason . I have been fortunate to spend enough time outside the usa to comprehend already what I need and don't need to be happy. What is needed or not nee ded to survive or live or thrive for myself. And I am lucky enough to know those who have left the usa successfully\, in my lifetime\, from Harlem\, not merely history books. And they add the last bit of information about the process. So your wrong about me\, not about most people who say they w ill leave the usa \, but it isn't that way for me. I will not give my logi c/thinking\, I am not interested in preaching or guiding.  But I have sai d before in this very forum\, that I love history and history teaches too. .. united states of america/liberia/sierra leone/israel/australia  are ca utionary tales about immigration\, for me anyway. It isn't enough to have resources. I need more than that. I honor my forebears sir and for me what that means is I am not an enslaver nor am I butcher/abuser and the usa/li beira/sierra leone/israel/australia are not born from justice or equality or anything positive usa/liberia/sierra leone/israel/australia are all bor n from two things alone\, an immigrant butchering/abusing  people already there and an immigrant enslaving people already there. I am not intereste d in that. And sadly for me\, modern humanity which has been molded by the usa is ripe most places for immigrants to butcher/abuse or to enslave the people already there. You and your fellow statians only believe in helpin g yourselves individually\, you love to talk of the law but love to abuse others legally\, and then blame those you've abused legally for being them selves. I am a thoughtful person. True honor\, civility\, purpose\, matter to me. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02232026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of-a-better-humanit y/#findComment-80294\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\ n\n   19 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Please provide examples of th eir accomplishments in terms of Black empowerment. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ha iti. the only country started by Black Americans whose forebears were ensl aved to whites.  What is more powerful for any people than starting their own country?  What is hilarious is a black person in modernity asks this \, is ignorant to haiti's value as the greatest symbol of black empowermen t and yet\, the whole reason zionists\, white jews\, made israel was to do what black americans whose forebears were enslaved to whites did in haiti . and profd and other blacks need an example of my tribes accomplishments in black empowerment. And I will add on the cake\, while the white jews of israel use their white status to scheme and plot \, using advantages\, ha iti did this while being attacked in open warfare by france/england/spain/ U.S.A. all recorded as being defeated by haiti. Was it easy? no\, many bla ck people died. it was the hardest of things. but it was done and even tho ugh haiti has suffered surrounded by the two biggest slave states in moder n human history: USA + Brazil or  surrounded by anti black or black integ rationists countries: mexico/jamaica/venezuela/trinidad/puerto rico/cuba/p anama/costa rica Haiti had golden times. \n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\, Pr ofD said:\n\n\n\n Were they able to sustain &\; make it wealthy?\n\n\n \n Yes\, the citadel la ferriere is the biggest fort in the american conti nent and still stands. Built by Blacks of Haiti. \n\n\n\n Did the golden age last forever... no countries golden age last forever. And I will not c hagrin Haiti's golden age not lasting forever when no one chagrin's Rome's golden age not lasting forever\, or England's or China's or the USA's... all  government have golden times\, and not so golden\, and miserable tim es. I don't know what you mean by sustain. \n\n\n\n During HAiti's golden time\, Haiti was littered with beatiful homes\, and the usa circa spanish american war\, stole a lot of gold from haiti\, which is of course breaki ng the law\, your fellow black integrationist  @Pioneer1 of course has little to say when white people or white countries\, like the usa\,  brea k laws\, but.. ok. So They did make it wealthy. I will apologize for Haiti and say\, its not easy being the only country in an entire continent [ fr om canada to argentina ] where black people are free and in charge\, but I have always comprehended you and your tribes love of the usa and unforgiv eness for any other tribes ways. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\,  ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Is this the same Haiti that owes a debt to France int o perpetuity?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Haiti might be *free* from white folks bu t it will always be poor because white folks have seized their wealth. \n \n\n\n The USA seized the wealth. The debt to france is not physical. I wi ll explain. One of the governments of haiti\, after the golden time decide d to accept a reparation debt to france\, which is hilarious at some level \, and that is what france suggest is owed to it. And for the record\, Alg eria says France owes them\, but... anyway. Governments of countries have these sorts of arrangements. by france's own record the USA owes france so ... countries say they owe things...I don't know why you made that stateme nt as if you don't comprehend how these things are. The USA owes France\, the USA has tons of money\, can print tons\, has never once thought to pay France so... It seems to me you love to mention anti black . Maybe I am r eading to much into your position\, but very anti black for me. you mentio n a situation that happens. If every coutry/government in the world was ba sed on whether another country said they owed\, the entire college of gove rnments would be in financial destitution. Why does Haiti have a double st andard? why does haiti's supposed debts warrant mention but other countrie s don't? outside of the fact that some blacks\, who love the usa\, who don 't care for other tribes\, like to make uneven arguments. \n\n\n\n The Bl acks of haiti are freer even today than any other black americans includin g in the usa. Not as financially wealthier based on white owned banks and white currencies but... ok. \n\n\n\n As for the eternity of poverty your wrong\, first or foremost because some haitians who live in haiti are weal thy that means a brighter day is always possible. I can't tell you when. I have no foresight\, but it will happen. Again \, Ireland was taken by eng land in 1541\, most of ireland was free from england in 1921 so circa thre e hundred and eighty years and in some parts of ireland from 1100s england was king\, so things take time. I don't know where your from where someho w\, things are supposed to be forever\, nothing is forever. Just so you kn ow\, the usa will fall one day\, through rupture in itself for some reason \, or maybe decay in itself for some reason \, thrugh some opposing gover nment somewhere rising as it falls. It will happen. I think maybe you thin k it will not. \n\n\n\n Haiti had a golden age\, it will have one again.  \n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Both Freetown in Sierr a Leone &\; Liberia had huge issues with the Black folks that emigrated from the USA.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Black folks outside the USA ar e not wel coming to FBA/AfroAmericans with open arms either. They are looking for us to bring a bag of money.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I'm a huge proponent of Black folks being empowered &\; self-sufficient &\; autonomous throughout the planet. I would love to see all Black folks winning. \n\n\n\n I rath er reword what you said here. the indigenous black peoples of what would b ecome sierra leone and liberia were treated like the palestiniean while th e black americans who founded freetown or monrovia were like the set white jews commonly called zionists.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I wanted to reword only because the issues you mention are best described in a proper way. In the beginning sierra leone or liberia didn't exist. These were lands of b lack tribes of africa. I forget their names\, but so many exist in Africa.  \n\n\n\n The next step was when black americans financed by whites made monrovia or freetown\, freetown was first actually\, monrovia was second i n time. \n\n\n\n And third step was the creation of sierra leone about fr eetown or liberia about monrovia. I did research on this. The problem  or issues is  between step 2 and 3. \n\n\n\n The black americans who immig rated back\, not all\, it was messy ok\, but many black americans who immi grated back \, like so many immigrants in the USA age\, the last white eur opean imperial era\, think only of themselves and little of the people the y have to interact with. The tragedy for me is the black americans like me who lived with the indigenous blacks weren't strong enough to stop the bl ack americans like you and pioneer who only look to themselves\, which is not a crime it is a choice\,  and were willing to abuse their fellow blac k\, for financial profit\, which came true. the descendents of the black a mericans who were greedy and cruel \, as i guess par the course in all hum anity\, are the wealthiest in sierra leone and liberia today. \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n Your right\, most\, not all but\, most blacks outside the usa are n't welcoming to black amerians as strangers although\, we black americans earned that reputation in liberia or sierra leones. \n\n\n\n For me what is sad is\, in freetown or monrovia they could had simply focused on. tho se cities  were enough. they didn't need to take the land about those cit ies. Yes what I am about to say is cheap hindsight\, worth nothing now\, b ut the lesson is\, you have the city\,  make a deal with the remainder pe oples to extend the city's [freetown or monrovia] land for immediate growt h and then make an ironclad law giving the land about freetown or monrovia to the indigenous black folk with the condition that the laws allow for o wnership and sales to allow for black americans to buy land for even rate\ , but also modify the fiscal habits of the indigenous. Allow women to own land\, inheritance to pass to male or female\, block land from being owned by the nonblack. The legal code. But in defense\, most of those black ame ricans who founded monrovia or freetown\, which in my mind are the true in heritances\, not the country of liberia or sierra leone. is that they were country folk. country folk\, don't have experience with cities and more i mportantly\, how cities work. I imagine most of them couldn't comprehend h ow different a city is. when you look at monaco/singapore\, monrovia or fr eetown should had been like them\, but unlike those two \, city states who had a century or more of being a city state province monrovia or freetown were ust made by mostly farmers who were thinking freetown or monrovia ne ed to be like pre civil war atlanta\, not pre civil war nyc.  But they we re wrong\, or at least the black americans who won the war between black a mericans over what to do\, were wrong.  But\, there are still those in si erra leone or liberia who believe in that old purpose\, yes not everyone \ , but still some exist. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Your right\, you a nd pioneer and me all want black happiness. I admit that i react negativel y sometimes to the wording of you and pioneer\, either you don't know thin gs you should know or you are rattling the saber which I don't find funny\ , or take lightly. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02242026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citati on\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of-a-bet ter-humanity/#findComment-80315\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n \n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:03 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n A very good frien d of mine is Haitian. He &\; his wife &\; other family members who i mmigrated to the USA have given me the whole run down on their beloved hom e country. They also told me why they're in no rush to go back there to li ve.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Certain parts of Haiti are beautiful to visit. Yet\ , there's a lot of infrastructure work that needs to be done in the countr y. The biggest impediment...greed &\; corruption.\n\n\n\n I don't know what relevancy your prose has. You asked me the following. \n\n\n\n   O n 2/23/2026 at 6:41 PM\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n Please provide exam ples of their accomplishments in terms of Black empowerment. \n\n\n\n I g ave haiti as an answer\, with full temporal comprehension. Then you replie d with the above\, which has nothing to do with the question you posed. bu t ok. You did not ask me about the condition of modern haiti\, you asked w hat my tribe accomplished\, i gave the truth. I don't know what your highl ighted prose above has to do with the question you posed. \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:03 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Don't know why you keep insi sting I'm an integrationist. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What else can anyone who embraces the USA be? You said the USA is your country. I have no problem with that. But\, the USA from its very beginnings was integrated. I didn't say the integration was positive\, it wasn't\, but it was integrated. And it still is today and will always be unless one populace becomes an overw helming majority which is not going to happen any time soon. And the war b etween the states is the proof that whites internally have never seen them selves as unified as some nonwhites suggest. \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:03 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I do not love the USA. It just happens to be my home country. I'm not fortunate enough to have another country to w hich I can return.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Even enough. But the usa will always be your home country because \, unfortunately\, for Black DOSers none of us have a country to return too. Our black forebears\, which is what Henry Louis gates rjr shows dismisses so poorly\, didn't come from one place in africa\, they came from various places. As I have said in this very forum . Most of Black DOSers forebears were buried in the ocean\, not any land\, as 90% of the people in the boats died on the journey. Those are all Blac k DOSers initial forebears. And our initial forebears came from all over t he continent of africa\, not any one particular country\, so unless the Af rican Union is handing out citizenship. \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:03 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Haiti doesn't have a double standard.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n It is a fact that France has been collecting money from Haiti for a couple hundred years now.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Part of the reason is H aitian greed &\; corruption starting with the lighter-skinned folks run ning around down there.\n\n\n\n The double standard I referred to wasn't c oncerning haiti paying money\, but the following.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   O n 2/23/2026 at 6:41 PM\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n Is this the same Ha iti that owes a debt to France into perpetuity?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Haiti m ight be *free* from white folks but it will always be poor because white f olks have seized their wealth. \n\n\n\n why Haiti being considered owing something is special or warrants note when I gave multiple examples of man y countries\, whites ones\, that are still stated as owing even if they do n't pay. so countries have relationships. And the reason isn't greed or co rruption\, it is simpler than that\, it is haiti' uniqueness. I don't know why I have to say it cause you know or should know\, that haiti was surro unded by slavers. Haiti's nearest neighbor is modern jamaica which at that time was merely a territory of the british empire and the country garvey wanted to escape which led him to be antiwhite\, that is jamaica. so... Th e reason is when you are surrounded by enemies\, it matters.  Intelligenc e and strategy aren't godly things\, they have limits\, they can't make ev erything happen. A kid surrounded by thirty bullies will never kick all th ose other kids ask or smooth talk his way by them if they want to hurt him . \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:03 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The intent was not an uneven argument. But\, I can see where your sensitivity &\; affection for Haiti might make it seem that way.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Haiit i is special for those in my tribe. But my irritation is not from adoratio n to haiti but miscomprehension. You and pioneer love to veer in your pros e. you have a question\, i give a response\, but then you respond to my re sponse with something totally unrelated to my response. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:03 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n That has not stoppe d Haitians from immigrating to the USA.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Just think...Wy clef could've started The Fugees down there if his family hadn't posted up in New Jersey.\n\n\n\n hell\, go farther back\, remember\, black people o f haiti literally left former saint dominique with their white owners to n ew orleans\, so the heritage of haitians to the usa is arguably older than any other black populace anywhere outside the usa. \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/ 2026 at 9:03 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n A very small minority of Haitians are wealthy. More than likely\, they're among the greedy &\; corrupt. T hat's why Bar-B-Que was running amok.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n yes that is why I call all the rich around the world the global one percent. every country today has wealthy people\, including the somalias/kashmir/east timors of t he world. A very small minority of people under any government are the mos t wealthy in their respective lands.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 a t 9:03 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n You don't have to reword what I have wri tten in order to give your lecture/sermon.\n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 6:4 1 PM\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n hahah I am not trying to give a sermo n\, i have no pulpit in my home\n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:03 PM\, Pr ofD said:\n\n\n\n There you go again casting unwarranted aspersions again st us.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I was uneven to you and pioneer. \n\n\n\n   O n 2/23/2026 at 9:03 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Most people who have a bias one way or another tend to lack balance in perspective. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n Regardless of what I type in calling balls &\; strikes\, I always w anted Black folks all over the planet to win.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I believe in tough love. What I think &\; type about my people...Black folks.... might be abrasive sometimes.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Our people...Black folks a re just as guilty of being greedy &\; corrupt  &\; full of sh8t &am p\; excuses for why they can't do better. I'll never accept it.\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n The system of racism white supremacy is a big enough enemy.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n Black folks don't need to be enemies among themselves. Solve s nothing. In fact\, it helps white folks maintain power &\; control.\n \n\n\n Well... onto the future. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the -way-of-a-better-humanity/#findComment-80320\n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\ n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Fair enough. Hai ti did successfully revolt against France. That was a major accomplishment . \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Free itself from France\, but also stay free from t he likes of England/Spain/USA who all tried to replace france as its owner \, and failed. Not just a major accomplishment to defeat four of the stron gest navies in humanity at that time\, legendary. Very bloody\, many lives lost. I think of a man from north vietnam who once said\, I paraphrase\, he was the only one to return to his building\, all the other homes in his building lost their youngest generations to the vietnam war. \n\n\n\n Le gendary\, extremely costly. \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n \n Those who died &\; were buried in the ocean didn't bear fruit on for eign soil.\n\n\n\n well\, but you forget the first problem is\, the roundi ng up of black people was collective. the papers of the hausa caliphate li terally state that their border towns dealt with raiders constantly taking families\, whole towns. It was a serious problem.  So... the point being \, the relatives of the black people who bore fruit on foreign soil are th ose people who didn't make it across the big water.  That female or male who became part of the ten percent who survived the trip\, lost their moth er over the water\, their brothers\, sisters\, uncles\, cousins. The town was gone. I never forget the film CEdou by ousmane sembene\, I think from senegal and remember\, saint lous was a big slave port. Individuals would be taken\, as in the film\, but the majority would be... groups of those n ot in power\, undesiretable/poor... like the untouchable caste in india. S o your correct in that those who died on the water\, the ninety percent \,   didn't bear fruit in the american continent\, but they were family\, or at least clan to the ten percent who became our strict biological forebea rs and so for me\, ... For me\, the people who died over the ocean are mor e my forebears than their living relatives and descendents on the continen t.\n\n\n\n Another great philosophical variance in the tribes of black ame ricans  amazing\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\ n Rhetorically\, I wonder why Marcus Garvey didn't start his movement in J amaica. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  Based on Garvey's words I think it is clear \, garvey didn't see the american continent as a home for Black DOSer. He comprehended that black dosers from canada to argentina\, existed and were born or raised in said lands. But\, from his point of view all of the ame rican continent was anti black. And even in haiti I get his point. If anyt hing haiti proves garvey's point about leaving the american continent. HAi ti's problem sis the american continent. Canada/UA/Mexico/BRasil/Venezuela most of the lands in the american continet are run by those who are anti black. and during his time\, Jamaica was a crown colony\, where you had eu rophile blacks in positive positions. I argue Garvey saw jamaica even with its majority black population as white and that makes sense\, cause if yo u consider how much trouble the rastafarians have in jamaica today while j amaica leeches off of the memory of bob marley\, I think it is all clear. The blacks in jamaica... are very europhile\, even back then. Now one can argue\, maybe garvey should had given the english empire more thought. Sie rra leone existed\, maybe he could had worked to that. But Garvey clearly didn't care/trust/want to work with a majority of the  whites on the land he was raised on. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n \n\n Most of the wealthy people in a country are responsible for greed &am p\; corruption.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Until people are willing to fight &\ ; seize power in order to redistribute wealth or a sky fairy comes along.. .the status quo will remain unchanged.\n\n\n\n well said:) \n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n 02252026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/to pic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of-a-better-humanity/#findComment-80332\n\ n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, ProfD sa id:\n\n\n\n Garvey was correct in prophecy that a king would ne crowned so mewhere in Africa.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n oh yeah\, who was the king crowned?\ n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Yet\, inspired by that kin g\, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Salassie\, the Rastafarians started their move ment in Jamaica &\; spread it beyond the island nation.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n Rastafarians have their own tribe\, culture &\; music.\n\n\n\n yes\ , the rastafarians is a minority tribe in the village\, but the point abou t jamaica is how negatively they exist in jamaica amongst other blacks\, w hom they never have hurt\, they simply don't concur on what the future loo ks like\, which isn't a small thing.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02272026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n \n On 2/26 /2026 at 5:10 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n  \n \n\n \n I truly believe that.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n You THOUGHT about leaving... ...🤔\n\n But then you THOUGHT about how nice EATING is\, and how nice it is to walk on paved streets to the nearest bodega for a snack or two i n between arguing with folks on AALBC.......🤔......and changed your min d\, lol.\n \n \n\n\n\n the proof will be in the future\, which I do not k now\, but if you are alive and wonder one day where is Richard in the aalb c forum\, then if i am alive\, you will know the answer and the proof is m et\n\n\n\n \n On 2/26/2026 at 5:10 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n I won't argue with you over who is actually \"in charge\" in Haiti\, but do you really think most of the people of Haiti are \"free\"?\n \n \n\n\n\n well to be blunt \, like many ideas\, freedom is defined by individuals di fferently\, for me\, the freedom the Black DOSers in haiti have is that th ey are in a country that is actually black in the american continent. \n\ n\n\n Financially\, no one \, even haitians\, can argue that haiti is near the fiscal bottom of countries in the american continent [ canada to arge ntina] and as I have heard many DOSers in the usa say\, or imply as yourse lf\, the amenities is part of life. HAiti at the moment\, is one of the we akest places for amenities in the american continent. \n\n\n\n But freedo m isn't merely access to amenities or even legal codes\, freedom is also t he connection to a place. In that sense\, Haitians will always be freer th an other DOSers. \n\n\n\n Again\, the USA/Brasil/Mexico/Columbia/Jamaica /Trinidad/Puerto Rico/Dominican Republic former Spanish Haiti all have bla ck people in them but all of those countries\, are anti black. The black p eople in each of the countries I just mentioned spend most of their lives battling non black people\, and for the most part losing\,  for an even s hare of things in said countries. I don't consider that freedom. SLavery i sn't merely shackles\, nor are the strongest cages always made of steel. A nd sometimes the strongest cage is the illusion you are not in one.\n\n\n\ n The USA is exhibit A. I don't know how many black people in the usa cons ider themselves free\, because of pieces of paper\, because they have a jo b or are living a happy life or have accumulated a certain level of money. To be even\, if they measure freedom that way\, then they simply do. But for me\, I can't see myself free in a land where my larger people are alwa ys abused. And that to me is the measure. \n\n\n\n Haiti is fiscally poor \, but Haiti's problem is its neighbors\, the neighbors of haiti always ha ve been. None of these countries was pro black\, including the jamaica's o f the world. Haiti no one can deny is a Black DOS country\, that is a rari ty to say. That offers a kind of freedom to haiti that the usa/brasil/mexi co will never have.\n\n\n\n And I will be even to the usa and say\, being a country for all humanity is easy to write down\, easy to put on paper\, it is another thing to manifest. The usa's biggest problem is that it is c lear a majority of people in the usa want its original words written by wh ite european enslavers to have value but words on paper\, the law\, doesn' t have value\, it takes heritages or cultures to make these things. The he ritage path is dead\, the heritage of the usa is totally against any peace ful multiracial coexistence. but\, cultures have to be grown\, they don' s prout from nothing. And cultures require people together \, personal accou ntability can't get you a culture of a people. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 022820 26\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/top ic/12484-is-the-usa-in-the-way-of-a-better-humanity/#findComment-80444\n\n \n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   23 hours ago\, ProfD s aid:\n\n\n\n FBA/AfroAmericans in predominantly Black cities &\; commun ities scattered throughout the USA feel a similar sense of freedom. \n\n\ n\n similar\, yes in very near modernity\,  i concur with many adjectives because in the 1800s the usa had many black towns and they were all under huge duress. What black people were able to feel in haiti throughout ever y corner of haiti in 1800\, no large percent of the black populace felt in the usa till 1990 so... yes\, I concur\, but it isn't the same\, and that matters in the details of things. again\, how to get from here to there i s important. and in the context of this posts original point about the rol e of the usa as an aider in humanity\, I argue\, the lateness of modernity is a discredit. Changing isn't unimportant\, BUT\, I find many in the usa tend to look at scenarios in humanity through the lens of change and chan ging doesn't undo what you were. The USA in the 1900s started or continued every calamity that exist in the humanity today. No matter how much multi racial peace exists in the usa today\, 2026\, that doesn't undo the damage . To be blunt\, in most current events\, the USA made iran\, the USA made israel. I argue all the children killed of and between the geography of th ose two governments is all the USA's fault. ISIS is the USA's fault. The T aliban is the USA's fault. I don't know all the details but I know enough of the history to know the usa[it's government plus people or residents {r esidents include me} plus fiscal firms] are to blame for that entire regio ns calamities. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260220 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:MALCOLM X - inaugural Organization Of Afro American Unity sp eech DTSTAMP:20250724T024446Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:419-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n While in Ghana in May 1964\, Malcolm decided to form the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Malcolm returned to New York t he following month to create the OAAU and on June 28 gave his first public address on behalf of the new organization at the Audubon Ballroom in Harl em. \n\n\n\n TEXT\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/359-malcolm-x- inaugural-organization-of-afro-american-unity-speech/\n\n\n\n OR\n\n\n\n S alaam Alaikum\, Mr. Moderator\, our distinguished guests\, brothers and si sters\, our friends and our enemies\, everybody who’s here.\n\nAs many o f you know\, last March when it was announced that I was no longer in the Black Muslim movement\, it was pointed out that it was my intention to wor k among the 22 million non-Muslim Afro-Americans and to try and form some type of organization\, or create a situation where the young people – ou r young people\, the students and others – could study the problems of o ur people for a period of time and then come up with a new analysis and gi ve us some new ideas and some new suggestions as to how to approach a prob lem that too many other people have been playing around with for too long. And that we would have some kind of meeting and determine at a later date whether to form a black nationalist party or a black nationalist army.\n\ nThere have been many of our people across the country from all walks of l ife who have taken it upon themselves to try and pool their ideas and to c ome up with some kind of solution to the problem that confronts all of our people. And tonight we are here to try and get an understanding of what i t is they’ve come up with.\n\nAlso\, recently when I was blessed to make a religious pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca where I met many people from all over the world\, plus spent many weeks in Africa trying to broade n my own scope and get more of an open mind to look at the problem as it a ctually is\, one of the things that I realized\, and I realized this even before going over there\, was that our African brothers have gained their independence faster than you and I here in America have. They’ve also ga ined recognition and respect as human beings much faster than you and I.\n Just ten years ago on the African continent\, our people were colonized. T hey were suffering all forms of colonization\, oppression\, exploitation\, degradation\, humiliation\, discrimination\, and every other kind of -ati on. And in a short time\, they have gained more independence\, more recogn ition\, more respect as human beings than you and I have. And you and I li ve in a country which is supposed to be the citadel of education\, freedom \, justice\, democracy\, and all of those other pretty-sounding words.\n\n So it was our intention to try and find out what it was our African brothe rs were doing to get results\, so that you and I could study what they had done and perhaps gain from that study or benefit from their experiences. And my traveling over there was designed to help to find out how.\n\nOne o f the first things that the independent African nations did was to form an organization called the Organization of African Unity. This organization consists of all independent African states who have reached the agreement to submerge all differences and combine their efforts toward eliminating f rom the continent of Africa colonialism and all vestiges of oppression and exploitation being suffered by African people. Those who formed the organ ization of African states have differences. They represent probably every segment\, every type of thinking. You have some leaders that are considere d Uncle Toms\, some leaders who are considered very militant. But even the militant African leaders were able to sit down at the same table with Afr ican leaders whom they considered to be Toms\, or Tshombes\, or that type of character. They forgot their differences for the sole purpose of bringi ng benefits to the whole. And whenever you find people who can’t forget their differences\, then they’re more interested in their personal aims and objectives than they are in the conditions of the whole. Well\, the Af rican leaders showed their maturity by doing what the American white man s aid couldn’t be done. Because if you recall when it was mentioned that t hese African states were going to meet in Addis Ababa\, all of the Western press began to spread the propaganda that they didn’t have enough in co mmon to come together and to sit down together. Why\, they had Nkrumah the re\, one of the most militant of the African leaders\, and they had Adoula from the Congo. They had Nyerere there\, they had Ben Bella there\, they had Nasser there\, they had Sekou Toure\, they had Obote\; they had Kenyat ta I guess Kenyatta was there\, I can’t remember whether Kenya was inde pendent at that time\, but I think he was there. Everyone was there and de spite their differences\, they were able to sit down and form what was kno wn as the Organization of African Unity\, which has formed a coalition and is working in conjunction with each other to fight a common enemy. Once w e saw what they were able to do\, we determined to try and do the same thi ng here in America among Afro Americans who have been divided by our enemi es. So we have formed an organization known as the Organization of Afro Am erican Unity which has the same aim and objective – to fight whoever get s in our way\, to bring about the complete independence of people of Afric an descent here in the Western Hemisphere\, and first here in the United S tates\, and bring about the freedom of these people by any means necessary .\n\nThat’s our motto. We want freedom by any means necessary. We want j ustice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary. We don’t feel that in 1964\, living in a country that is supposedly based upon freedom\, and supposedly the leader of the free world\, we don’t th ink that we should have to sit around and wait for some segregationist con gressmen and senators and a President from Texas in Washington\, D. C.\, t o make up their minds that our people are due now some degree of civil rig hts. No\, we want it now or we don’t think anybody should have it.\n\nTh e purpose of our organization is to start right here in Harlem\, which has the largest concentration of people of African descent that exists anywhe re on this earth. There are more Africans in Harlem than exist in any city on the African continent. Because that’s what you and I are Africans. Y ou catch any white man off guard in here right now\, you catch him off gua rd and ask him what he is\, he doesn’t say he’s an American. He either tells you he’s Irish\, or he’s Italian\, or he’s German\, if you ca tch him off guard and he doesn’t know what you’re up to. And even thou gh he was born here\, he’ll tell you he’s Italian. Well\, if he’s It alian\, you and I are African even though we were born here.\nSo we start in New York City first. We start in Harlem– and by Harlem we mean Bedfor d – Stuyvesant\, any place in this area where you and I live\, that’s Harlem with the intention of spreading throughout the state\, and from the state throughout the country\, and from the country throughout the Wester n Hemisphere. Because when we say Afro American\, we include everyone in t he Western Hemisphere of African descent. South America is America. Centra l America is America. South America has many people in it of African desce nt. And everyone in South America of African descent is an Afro-American. Everyone in the Caribbean\, whether it’s the West Indies or Cuba or Mexi co\, if they have African blood\, they are Afro Americans. If they’re in Canada and they have African blood\, they’re Afro Americans. If they’ re in Alaska\, though they might call themselves Eskimos\, if they have Af rican blood\, they’re Afro Americans.\n\nSo the purpose of the Organizat ion of Afro American Unity is to unite everyone in the Western Hemisphere of African descent into one united force. And then\, once we are united am ong ourselves in the Western Hemisphere\, we will unite with our brothers on the motherland\, on the continent of Africa. So to get right with it\, I would like to read you the “Basic Aims and Objectives of the Organizat ion of Afro American Unity\;” started here in New York\, June\, 1964.\ n\n“The Organization of Afro American Unity\, organized and structured b y a cross section of the Afro American people living in the United States of America\, has been patterned after the letter and spirit of the Organiz ation of African Unity which was established at Addis Ababa\, Ethiopia\, i n May of 1963.\n\n“We\, the members of the Organization of Afro American Unity\, gathered together in Harlem\, New York:\n\n“Convinced that it i s the inalienable right of all our people to control our own destiny\;\n\n “Conscious of the fact that freedom\, equality\, justice and dignity are central objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of t he people of African descent here in the Western Hemisphere\, we will ende avor to build a bridge of understanding and create the basis for Afro Amer ican unity\;\n\n“Conscious of our responsibility to harness the natural and human resources of our people for their total advancement in all spher es of human endeavor\;\n\n“Inspired by our common determination to promo te understanding among our people and cooperation in all matters pertainin g to their survival and advancement\, we will support the aspirations of o ur people for brotherhood and solidarity in a larger unity transcending al l organizational differences\;\n\n“Convinced that\, in order to translat e this determination into a dynamic force in the cause of human progress c onditions of peace and security must be established and maintained\;” – And by “conditions of peace and security\,” [we mean] we have to e liminate the barking of the police dogs\, we have to eliminate the police clubs\, we have to eliminate the water hoses\, we have to eliminate all of these things that have become so characteristic of the American so called dream. These have to be eliminated. Then we will be living in a condition of peace and security. We can never have peace and security as long as on e black man in this country is being bitten by a police dog. No one in the country has peace and security. “Dedicated to the unification of all p eople of African descent in this hemisphere and to the utilization of that unity to bring into being the organizational structure that will project the black people’s contributions to the world\;\n\n“Persuaded that the Charter of the United Nations\, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights \, the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights are the pr inciples in which we believe and that these documents if put into practice represent the essence of mankind’s hopes and good intentions\;\n\n“De sirous that all Afro American people and organi¬zations should henceforth unite so that the welfare and well being of our people will be assured\;\ n\n“We are resolved to reinforce the common bond of purpose between our people by submerging all of our differences and establishing a nonsectaria n\, constructive program for human rights\;\n\n“We hereby present this c harter.\n\n“I–Establishment.\n\n“The Organization of Afro American U nity shall include all people of African descent in the Western Hemisphere \, as well as our brothers and sisters on the African continent.” Which means anyone of African descent\, with African blood\, can become a member of the Organization of Afro American Unity\, and also any one of our brot hers and sisters from the African continent. Because not only it is an org anization of Afro American unity meaning that we are trying to unite our p eople in the West\, but it’s an organization of Afro American unity in t he sense that we want to unite all of our people who are in North America\ , South America\, and Central America with our people on the African conti nent. We must unite together in order to go forward together. Africa will not go forward any faster than we will and we will not go forward any fast er than Africa will. We have one destiny and we’ve had one past.\n\nIn e ssence\, what it is saying is instead of you and me running around here se eking allies in our struggle for freedom in the Irish neighborhood or the Jewish neighborhood or the Italian neighborhood\, we need to seek some all ies among people who look something like we do. It’s time now for you an d me to stop running away from the wolf right into the arms of the fox\, l ooking for some kind of help. That’s a drag.\n\n“II–Self Defense.\ n\n“Since self preservation is the first law of nature\, we assert the A fro American’s right to self defense.\n\n“The Constitution of the Unit ed States of America clearly affirms the right of every American citizen t o bear arms. And as Americans\, we will not give up a single right guarant eed under the Constitution. The history of unpunished violence against our people clearly indicates that we must be prepared to defend ourselves or we will continue to be a defenseless people at the mercy of a ruthless and violent racist mob.\n\n“We assert that in those areas where the governm ent is either unable or unwilling to protect the lives and property of our people\, that our people are within our rights to protect themselves by w hatever means necessary.”I repeat\, because to me this is the most impor tant thing you need to know. I already know it. “We assert that in those areas where the government is either unable or unwilling to protect the l ives and property of our people\, that our people are within our rights to protect themselves by whatever means necessary.”\n\nThis is the thing y ou need to spread the word about among our people wherever you go. Never l et them be brainwashed into thinking that whenever they take steps to see that they’re in a position to defend themselves that they’re being unl awful. The only time you’re being unlawful is when you break the law. It’s lawful to have something to defend yourself. Why\, I heard Presiden t Johnson either today or yesterday\, I guess it was today\, talking about how quick this country would go to war to defend itself. Why\, what kind of a fool do you look like\, living in a country that will go to war at th e drop of a hat to defend itself\, and here you’ve got to stand up in th e face of vicious police dogs and blue eyed crackers waiting for somebody to tell you what to do to defend yourself!\n\nThose days are over\, they ’re gone\, that’s yesterday. The time for you and me to allow ourselve s to be brutalized nonviolently is passé. Be nonviolent only with those w ho are nonviolent to you. And when you can bring me a nonviolent racist\, bring me a nonviolent segregationist\, then I’ll get nonviolent. But d on’t teach me to be nonviolent until you teach some of those crackers to be nonviolent. You’ve never seen a nonviolent cracker. It’s hard for a racist to be nonviolent. It’s hard for anyone intelligent to be nonvio lent. Everything in the universe does something when you start playing wit h his life\, except the American Negro. He lays down and says\, ” Beat m e\, daddy.” So it says here: “A man with a rifle or a club can only be stopped by a person who defends himself with a rifle or a club.” That ’s equality. If you have a dog\, I must have a dog. If you have a rifle\ , I must have a rifle. If you have a club\, I must have a club. This is eq uality. If the United States government doesn’t want you and me to get r ifles\, then take the rifles away from those racists. If they don’t want you and me to use clubs\, take the clubs away from the racists. If they d on’t want you and me to get violent\, then stop the racists from being v iolent. Don’t teach us nonviolence while those crackers are violent. Tho se days are over.\n\n“Tactics based solely on morality can only succeed when you are dealing with people who are moral or a system that is moral. A man or system which oppresses a man because of his color is not moral. I t is the duty of every Afro-American person and every Afro-American commun ity throughout this country to protect its people against mass murderers\, against bombers\, against lynchers\, against floggers\, against brutalize rs and against exploiters.\n\n“I might say right here that instead of th e various black groups declaring war on each other\, showing how militant they can be cracking each other’s heads\, let them go down South and cra ck some of those crackers’ heads. Any group of people in this country th at has a record of having been attacked by racists – and there’s no re cord where they have ever given the signal to take the heads of some of th ose racists – why\, they are insane giving the signal to take the heads of some of their ex-brothers. Or brother X’s\, I don’t know how you pu t that.\n\nIII– Education\n\n“Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and our p eople rediscover their identity and thereby increase their self respect. E ducation is our passport to the future\, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today.”\n\nAnd I must point out right there\, when I was in Africa I met no African who wasn’t standing with open arms to embrace any Afro-American who returned to the African continent. But o ne of the things that all of them have said is that every one of our peopl e in this country should take advantage of every type of educational oppor tunity available before you even think about talking about the future. If you’re surrounded by schools\, go to that school.\n\n“Our children are being criminally shortchanged in the public school system of America. The Afro-American schools are the poorest run schools in the city of New York . Principals and teachers fail to understand the nature of the problems wi th which they work and as a result they cannot do the job of teaching our children.” They don’t understand us\, nor do they understand our probl ems\; they don’t. “The textbooks tell our children nothing about the g reat contributions of Afro-Americans to the growth and development of this country.”\n\nAnd they don’t. When we send our children to school in t his country they learn nothing about us other than that we used to be cott on pickers. Every little child going to school thinks his grandfather was a cotton picker. Why\, your grandfather was Nat Turner\; your grandfather was Toussaint L’Ouverture\; your grandfather was Hannibal. Your grandfat her was some of the greatest black people who walked on this earth. It was your grandfather’s hands who forged civilization and it was your grandm other’s hands who rocked the cradle of civilization. But the textbooks t ell our children nothing about the great contributions of Afro Americans t o the growth and development of this country.\n\n“The Board of Educati on’s integration plan is expensive and unworkable\; and the organization of principals and supervisors in New York City’s school system has refu sed to support the Board’s plan to integrate the schools\, thus dooming it to failure before it even starts.”The Board of Education of this city has said that even with its plan there are 10 percent of the schools in H arlem and the Bedford Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn that they cannot im prove.” So what are we to do? “This means that the Organization of Afr o American Unity must make the Afro American community a more potent force for educational self improvement.\n\n“A first step in the program to en d the existing system of racist education is to demand that the 10 percent of the schools the Board of Education will not include in its plan be tur ned over to and run by the Afro-American community itself.” Since they s ay that they can’t improve these schools\, why should you and I who live in the community\, let these fools continue to run and produce this low s tandard of education? No\, let them turn those schools over to us. Since t hey say they can’t handle them\, nor can they correct them\, let us take a whack at it.\nWhat do we want? “We want Afro-American principals to h ead these schools. We want Afro-American teachers in these schools.” Mea ning we want black principals and black teachers with some textbooks about black people. ” We want textbooks written by Afro-Americans that are ac ceptable to our people before they can be used in these schools.\n\n“The Organization of Afro-American Unity will select and recommend people to s erve on local school boards where school policy is made and passed on to t he Board of Education.” And this is very important.\n\n“Through these steps we will make the 10 percent of the schools that we take over educati onal showplaces that will attract the attention of people from ail over th e nation.” Instead of them being schools turning out pupils whose academ ic diet is not complete\, we can turn them into examples of what we can do ourselves once given an opportunity.\n\n“If these proposals are not met \, we will ask Afro-American parents to keep their children out of the pre sent inferior schools they attend. And when these schools in our neighborh ood are controlled by Afro Americans\, we will then return our children to them.\n\n“The Organization of Afro American Unity recognizes the tremen dous importance of the complete involvement of Afro-American parents in ev ery phase of school life. The Afro American parent must be willing and abl e to go into the schools and see that the job of educating our children is done properly.” This whole thing about putting all of the blame on the teacher is out the window. The parent at home has just as much responsibil ity to see that what’s going on in that school is up to par as the teach er in their schools. So it is our intention not only to devise an educatio n program for the children\, but one also for the parents to make them awa re of their responsibility where education is concerned in regard to their children.\n\n“We call on all Afro-Americans around the nation to be awa re that the conditions that exist in the New York City public school syste m are as deplorable in their does as they are here. We must unite our effo rts and spread our program of self improvement through education to every Afro American community in America.\n\n“We must establish all over the c ountry schools of our own to train our own children to become scientists\, to become mathematicians. We must realize the need for adult education an d for job retraining programs that will emphasize a changing society in wh ich automation plays the key role. We intend to use the tools of education to help raise our people to an unprecedented level of excellence and self respect through their own efforts.\n\n“IV – Politics and Economics. ”\n\nAnd the two are almost inseparable\, because the politician is depe nding on some money\; yes\, that’s what he’s depending on.\n\n“Basic ally\, there are two kinds of power that count in America: economic power and political power\, with social power being derived from those two. In o rder for the Afro-Americans to control their destiny\, they must be able t o control and affect the decisions which control their destiny: economic\, political\, and social. This can only be done through organization.\n\n “The Organization of Afro-American Unity will organize the Afro American community block by block to make the community aware of its power and its potential\; we will start immediately a voter registration drive to make every unregistered voter in the Afro-American community an independent vot er.”\n\nWe won’t organize any black man to be a Democrat or a Republic an because both of them have sold us out. Both of them have sold us out\; both parties have sold us out. Both parties are racist\, and the Democrati c Party is more racist than the Republican Party. I can prove it. All yo u’ve got to do is name everybody who’s running the government in Washi ngton\, D. C.\, right now. He’s a Democrat and he’s from either Georgi a\, Alabama\, Texas\, Mississippi\, Florida\, South Carolina\, North Carol ina\, from one of those cracker states. And they’ve got more power than any white man in the North has. In fact\, the President is from a cracker state. What’s he talking about? Texas is a cracker state\, in fact\, t hey’ll hang you quicker in Texas than they will in Mississippi. Don’t you ever think that just because a cracker becomes president he ceases bei ng a cracker. He was a cracker before he became president and he’s a cra cker while he’s president. I’m going to tell it like it is. I hope you can take it like it is.\n\n“We propose to support and organize politica l clubs\, to run independent candidates for office\, and to support any Af ro-American already in office who answers to and is responsible to the Afr o-American community.” We don’t support any black man who is controlle d by the white power structure. We will start not only a voter registratio n drive\, but a voter education drive to let our people have an understand ing of the science of politics so they will be able to see what part the p olitician plays in the scheme of things\; so they will be able to understa nd when the politician is doing his job and when he is not doing his job. And any time the politician is not doing his job\, we remove him whether h e’s white\, black\, green\, blue\, yellow or whatever other color they m ight invent.\n\n“The economic exploitation in the Afro-American communit y is the most vicious form practiced on any people in America.” In fact\ , it is the most vicious practiced on any people on this earth. No one is exploited economically as thoroughly as you and I\, because in most countr ies where people are exploited they know it. You and I are in this country being exploited and sometimes we don’t know it. “Twice as much rent i s paid for rat-infested\, roach crawling\, rotting tenements.”\n\nThis i s true. It costs us more to live in Harlem than it costs them to live on P ark Avenue. Do you know that the rent is higher on Park Avenue in Harlem t han it is on Park Avenue downtown? And in Harlem you have everything else in that apartment with you roaches\, rats\, cats\, dogs\, and some other o utsiders disguised as landlords. “The Afro-American pays more for food\, pays more for clothing\, pays more for insurance than anybody else.” An d we do. It costs you and me more for insurance than it does the white man in the Bronx or somewhere else. It costs you and me more for food than it does them. It costs you and me more to live in America than it does anybo dy else and yet we make the greatest contribution.\n\nYou tell me what kin d of country this is. Why should we do the dirtiest jobs for the lowest pa y? Why should we do the hardest work for the lowest pay? Why should we pay the most money for the worst kind of food and the most money for the wors t kind of place to live in? I’m telling you we do it because we live in one of the rottenest countries that has ever existed on this earth. It’s the system that is rotten\; we have a rotten system. It’s a system of e xploitation\, a political and economic system of exploitation\, of outrigh t humiliation\, degradation\, discrimination – all of the negative thing s that you can run into\, you have run into under this system that disguis es itself as a democracy\, disguises itself as a democracy. And the things that they practice against you and me are worse than some of the things t hat they practiced in Germany against the Jews. Worse than some of the thi ngs that the Jews ran into. And you run around here getting ready to get d rafted and go someplace and defend it. Someone needs to crack you up ‘si de your head.\n\n“The Organization of Afro American Unity will wage an u nrelenting struggle against these evils in our community. There shall be o rganizers to work with our people to solve these problems\, and start a ho using self-improvement program.” Instead of waiting for the white man to come and straighten out our neighborhood\, we’ll straighten it out ours elves. This is where you make your mistake. An outsider can’t clean up y our house as well as you can. An outsider can’t take care of your childr en as well as you can. An outsider can’t look after your needs as well a s you can. And an outsider can’t under¬stand your problems as well as y ou can. Yet you’re looking for an outsider to do it. We will do it or it will never get done.\n\n“We propose to support rent strikes.” Yes\, n ot little\, small rent strikes in one block. We’ll make Harlem a rent st rike. We’ll get every black man in this city\; the Organization of Afro- American Unity won’t stop until there’s not a black man in the city no t on strike. Nobody will pay any rent. The whole city will come to a halt. And they can’t put all of us in jail because they’ve already got the jails full of us.\n\nConcerning our social needs I hope I’m not frighte ning anyone. I should stop right here and tell you if you’re the type of person who frights\, who gets scared\, you should never come around us. B ecause we’ll scare you to death. And. you don’t have far to go because you’re half dead already. Economically you’re dead- dead broke. Just got paid yesterday and dead broke right now.\n\n“V Social.\n\n“This o rganization is responsible only to the Afro-American people and the Afro-A merican community.” This organization is not responsible to anybody but us. We don’t have to ask the man downtown can we demonstrate. We don’t have to ask the man downtown what tactics we can use to demonstrate our r esentment against his criminal abuse. We don’t have to ask his consent\; we don’t have to ask his endorsement\; we don’t have to ask his permi ssion. Anytime we know that an unjust condition exists and it is illegal a nd unjust\, we will strike at it by any means necessary. And strike also a t whatever and whoever gets in the way.\n\n“This organization is respons ible only to the Afro-American people and community and will function only with their support\, both financially and numerically. We believe that ou r communities must be the sources of their own strength politically\, econ omically\, intellectually\, and culturally in the struggle for human right s and human dignity.\n\n“The community must reinforce its moral responsi bility to rid itself of the effects of years of exploitation\, neglect\, a nd apathy\, and wage an unrelenting struggle against police brutality.” Yes. There are some good policemen and some bad policemen. Usually we get the bad ones. With all the police in Harlem\, there is too much crime\, to o much drug addiction\, too much alcoholism\, too much prostitution\, too much gambling.\nSo it makes us suspicious about the motives of Commissione r Murphy when he sends all these policemen up here. We begin to think that they are just his errand boys\, whose job it is to pick up the graft and take it back downtown to Murphy. Anytime there’s a police commissioner w ho finds it necessary to increase the strength numerically of the policeme n in Harlem and\, at the same time\, we don’t see any sign of a decrease in crime\, why\, I think we’re justified in suspecting his mo¬tives. H e can’t be sending them up here to fight crime\, because crime is on the increase. The more cops we have\, the more crime we have. We begin to thi nk that they bring some of the crime with them.\n\nSo our purpose is to or ganize the community so that we ourselves since the police can’t elimina te the drug traffic\, we have to eliminate it. Since the police can’t el iminate organized gambling\, we have to eliminate it. Since the police can ’t eliminate organized prostitution and all of these evils that are dest roying the moral fiber of our community\, it is up to you and me to elimin ate these evils ourselves. But in many instances\, when you unite in this country or in this city to fight organized crime\, you’ll find yourselve s fighting the police department itself because they are involved in the o rganized crime. Wherever you have organized crime\, that type of crime can not exist other than with the consent of the police\, the knowledge of the police and the cooperation of the police.\n\nYou’ll agree that you ca n’t run a number in your neighborhood without the police knowing it. A p rostitute can’t turn a trick on the block without the police knowing it. A man can’t push drugs anywhere along the avenue without the police kno wing it. And they pay the police off so that they will not get arrested. I know what I’m talking about I used to be out there. And I know you c an’t hustle out there without police setting you up. You have to pay the m off.\n\nThe police are all right. I say there’s some good ones and som e bad ones. But they usually send the bad ones to Harlem. Since these bad police have come to Harlem and have not decreased the high rate of crime\, I tell you brothers and sisters it is time for you and me to organize and eliminate these evils ourselves\, or we’ll be out of the world backward s before we even know where the world was.\n\nDrug addiction turns your li ttle sister into a prostitute before she gets into her teens\; makes a cri minal out of your little brother before he gets in his teens drug addictio n and alcoholism. And if you and I aren’t men enough to get at the root of these things\, then we don’t even have the right to walk around here complaining about it in any form whatsoever. The police will not eliminate it. “Our community must reinforce its moral responsibility to rid itsel f of the effects of years of exploitation\, neglect\, and apathy\, and wag e an unrelenting struggle against police brutality.”\n\nWhere this polic e brutality also comes in the new law that they just passed\, the no knock law\, the stop and-frisk law\, that’s an anti Negro law. That’s a law that was passed and signed by Rockefeller. Rockefeller with his old smile \, always he has a greasy smile on his face and he’s shaking hands with Negroes\, like he’s the Negro’s pappy or granddaddy or great uncle. Ye t when it comes to passing a law that is worse than any law that they had in Nazi Germany\, why\, Rockefeller couldn’t wait till he got his signat ure on it. And the only thing this law is designed to do is make legal wha t they’ve been doing all the time.\n\nThey’ve passed a law that gives them the right to knock down your door without even knocking on it. Knock it down and come on in and bust your head and frame you up under the disgu ise that they suspect you of something. Why\, brothers\, they didn’t hav e laws that bad in Nazi Germany. And it was passed for you and me\, it’s an anti Negro law\, because you’ve got an anti-Negro governor sitting u p there in Albany – I started to say Albany\, Georgia – in Albany\, Ne w York. Not too much difference. Not too much difference between Albany\, New York\, and Albany\, Georgia. And there’s not too much difference bet ween the government that’s in Albany\, New York\, and the government in Albany\, Georgia.\n\n“The Afro-American community must accept the respon sibility for regaining our people who have lost their place in society. We must declare an all out war on organized crime in our community\; a vice that is controlled by policemen who accept bribes and graft must be expose d. We must establish a clinic\, whereby one can get aid and cure for drug addiction.”\n\nThis is absolutely necessary. When a person is a drug add ict\, he’s not the criminal\; he’s a victim of the criminal. The crimi nal is the man downtown who brings drug into the country. Negroes can’t bring drugs into this country. You don’t have any boats. You don’t hav e any airplanes. You don’t have any diplomatic immunity. It is not you w ho is responsible for bringing in drugs. You’re just a little tool that is used by the man downtown. The man that controls the drug traffic sits i n city hall or he sits in the state house. Big shots who are respected\, w ho function in high circles those are the ones who control these things. A nd you and I will never strike at the root of it until we strike at the ma n downtown.\n\n“We must create meaningful\, creative\, useful activities for those who were led astray down the avenues of vice.”The people of t he Afro- American community must be prepared to help each other in all way s possible\; we must establish a place where unwed mothers can get help an d advice.” This is a problem\, this is one of the worst problems in our. . . [A short passage is lost here as the tape is turned.]\n\n“We must s et up a guardian system that will help our youth who get into trouble.” Too many of our children get into trouble accidentally. And once they get into trouble\, because they have no one to look out for them\, they’re p ut in some of these homes where others who are experienced at getting in t rouble are. And immediately it’s a bad influence on them and they never have a chance to straighten out their lives. Too many of our children have their entire lives destroyed in this manner. It is up to you and me right now to form the type of organizations wherein we can look out for the nee ds of all of these young people who get into trouble\, especially those wh o get into trouble for the first time\, so that we can do something to ste er them back on the right path before they go too far astray.\n\n“And we must provide constructive activities for our own children. We must set a good example for our children and must teach them to always be ready to ac cept the responsibilities that are necessary for building good communities and nations. We must teach them that their greatest responsibilities are to themselves\, to their families and to their communities.\n\n“The Orga nization of Afro-American Unity believes that the Afro American community must endeavor to do the major part of all charity work from within the com munity. Charity\, however\, does not mean that to which we are legally ent itled in the form of government benefits. The Afro-American veteran must b e made aware of all the benefits due to him and the procedure for obtainin g them.”\n\nMany of our people have sacrificed their lives on the battle front for this country. There are many government benefits that our people don’t even know about. Many of them are qualified to receive aid in all forms\, but they don’t even know it. But we know this\, so it is our du ty\, those of us who know it\, to set up a system where¬ in our people wh o are not informed of what is coming to them\, we inform them\, we let the m know how they can lay claim to everything that they’ve got coming to t hem from this government. And I mean you’ve got much coming to you. “T he veterans must be encouraged to go into business together\, using GI loa ns\,” and all other items that we have access to or have available to us .\n\n“Afro Americans must unite and work together. We must take pride in the Afro American community\, for it is our home and it is our power\,” the base of our power.\n\n“What we do here in regaining our self respec t\, our manhood\, our dignity and freedom helps all people everywhere who are also fighting against oppression.” Lastly\, concerning culture and t he cultural aspect of the Organization of Afro American Unity.\n\n” ‘A race of people is like an individual man\; until it uses its own talent\, takes pride in its own history\, expresses its own culture\, affirms its own selfhood\, it can never fulfill itself.’ ”\n\n“Our history and o ur culture were completely destroyed when we were forcibly brought to Amer ica in chains. And now it is important for us to know that our history did not begin with slavery. We came from Africa\, a great continent\, wherein live a proud and varied people\, a land which is the new world and was th e cradle of civilization. Our culture and our history are as old as man hi mself and yet we know almost nothing about it.”\n\nThis is no accident. It is no accident that such a high state of culture existed in Africa and you and I know nothing about it. Why\, the man knew that as long as you an d I thought we were somebody\, he could never treat us like we were nobody . So he had to invent a system that would strip us of everything about us that we could use to prove we were somebody. And once he had stripped us o f all human chacteristics stripped us of our language\, stripped us of our history\, stripped us of all cultural knowledge\, and brought us down to the level of an animal – he then began to treat us like an animal\, sell ing us from one plantation to another\, selling us from one owner to anoth er\, breeding us like you breed cattle.\n\nWhy\, brothers and sisters\, wh en you wake up and find out what this man here has done to you and me\, yo u won’t even wait for somebody to give the word. I’m not saying all of them are bad. There might be some good ones. But we don’t have time to look for them. Not nowadays.\n“We must recapture our heritage and our id entity if we are ever to liberate ourselves from the bonds of white suprem acy. We must launch a cultural revolution to unbrainwash an entire people. ” A cultural revolution. Why\, brothers\, that’s a crazy revolution. W hen you tell this black man in America who he is\, where he came from\, wh at he had when he was there\, he’ll look around and ask himself\, “Wel l\, what happened to it\, who took it away from us and how did they do it? ” Why\, brothers\, you’ll have some action just like that. When you le t the black man in America know where he once was and what he once had\, w hy\, he only needs to look at himself now to realize something criminal wa s done to him to bring him down to the low condition that he’s in today. \n\nOnce he realizes what was done\, how it was done\, where it was done\, when it was done\, and who did it\, that knowledge in itself will usher i n your action program. And it will be by any means necessary. A man does n’t know how to act until he realizes what he’s acting against. And yo u don’t realize what you’re acting against until you realize what they did to you. Too many of you don’t know what they did to you\, and this is what makes you so quick to want to forget and forgive. No\, brothers\, when you see what has happened to you\, you will never forget and you’ll never forgive. And\, as I say\, all of them might not be guilty. But most of them are. Most of them are.\n\n“Our cultural revolution must be the means of bringing us closer to our African brothers and sisters. It must b egin in the community and be based on community participation. Afro-Americ ans will be free to create only when they can depend on the Afro-American community for support\, and Afro-American artists must realize that they d epend on the Afro-American community for inspiration.”\n\nOur artists we have artists who are geniuses\; they don’t have to act the Stepin Fetch it role. But as long as they’re looking for white support instead of bla ck support\, they’ve got to act like the old white supporter wants them to. When you and I begin to support the black artists\, then the black art ists can play that black role. As long as the black artist has to sing and dance to please the white man\, he’ll be a clown\, he’ll be clowning\ , just another clown. But when he can sing and dance to please black men\, he sings a different song and he dances a different step. When we get tog ether\, we’ve got a step all our own. We have a step that nobody can do but us\, because we have a reason for doing it that nobody can understand but us.\n\n“We must work toward the establishment of a cultural center i n Harlem\, which will include people of all ages and will conduct workshop s in all of the arts\, such as film\, creative writing\, painting\, theate r\, music\, and the entire spectrum of Afro American history.\n\n“This c ultural revolution will be the journey to our rediscovery of ourselves. Hi story is a people’s memory\, and without a memory man is demoted to the level of the lower animals.” When you have no knowledge of your history\ , you’re just another animal\; in fact\, you’re a Negro\; something that’s nothing. The only black man on earth who is called a Negro is one who has no knowl¬edge of his history. The only black man on earth who is called a Negro is one who doesn’t know where he came from. That’s the one in America. They don’t call Africans Negroes.\nWhy\, I had a white man tell me the other day\, “He’s not a Negro.” Here the man was bla ck as night\, and the white man told me\, “He’s not a Negro\, he’s a n African.” I said\, “Well\, listen to him.” I knew he wasn’t\, bu t I wanted to pull old whitey out\, you know. But it shows you that they k now this. You are Negro because you don’t know who you are\, you don’t know what you are\, you don’t know where you are\, and you don’t know how you got here. But as soon as you wake up and find out the positive an swer to all these things\, you cease being a Negro. You become somebody.\n \n“Armed with the knowledge of our past\, we can with confidence charter a course for our future. Culture is an indispensable weapon in the freedo m struggle. We must take hold of it and forge the future with the past.” And to quote a passage from Then We Heard the Thunder by John Killens\, i t says: “He was a dedicated patriot: Dignity was his country\, Manhood w as his gov¬ernment\, and Freedom was his land.'” Old John Killens.\n\nT his is our aim. It’s rough\, we have to smooth it up some. But we’re n ot trying to put something together that’s smooth. We don’t care how r ough it is. We don’t care how tough it is. We don’t care how backward it may sound. In essence it only means we want one thing. We declare our r ight on this earth to be a man\, to be a human being\, to be respected as a human being\, to be given the rights of a human being in this society\, on this earth\, in this day\, which we intend to bring into existence by a ny means necessary.\n\nI’m sorry I took so long. But before we go farthe r to tell you how you can join this organization\, what your duties and re sponsibilities are\, I want to turn you back into the hands of our master of ceremonies\, Brother Les Edmonds.\n\n[A collection is taken. Malcolm re sumes.]\n\nOne of the first steps we are going to become involved in as an Organization of Afro-American Unity will be to work with every leader and other organization in this country interested in a program designed to br ing your and my problem before the United Nations. This is our first point of business. We feel that the problem of the black man in this country is beyond the ability of Uncle Sam to solve it. It’s beyond the ability of the United States government to solve it. The government itself isn’t c apable of even hearing our problem\, much less solving it. It’s not mora lly equipped to solve it.\n\nSo we must take it out of the hands of the Un ited States government. And the only way we can do this is by internationa lizing it and taking advantage of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights\, the United Nations Charter on Human Rights\, and on that ground b ring it into the UN before a world body where¬ in we can indict Uncle Sam for the continued criminal injustices that our people experience in this government.\n\nTo do this\, we will have to work with many organizations a nd many people. We’ve already gotten promises of support from many diffe rent organizations in this country and from many different leaders in this country and from many different independent nations in Africa\, Asia\, an d Latin America. So this is our first objective and all we need is your su pport. Can we get your support for this project?\n\nFor the past four week s since my return from Africa\, several persons from all walks of life in the Afro-American community have been meeting together\, pooling knowledge and ideas and suggestions\, forming a sort of a brain trust\, for the pur pose of getting a cross section of thinking\, hopes\, aspirations\, likes and dislikes\, to see what kind of organization we could put together that would in some way or other get the grass roots support\, and what type of support it would need in order to be independent enough to take the type of action necessary to get results.\nNo organization that is financed by w hite support can ever be independent enough to fight the power structure w ith the type of tactics necessary to get real results. The only way we can fight the power structure\, and it’s the power structure that we’re f ighting we’re not even fighting the Southern segregationists\, we’re f ighting a system that is run in Washington\, D. C. That’s the seat of th e system that we’re fighting. And in order to fight it\, we have to be i ndependent of it. And the only way we can be independent of it is to be in dependent of all support from the white community. It’s a battle that we have to wage ourselves.\n\nNow\, if white people want to help\, they can help. But they can’t join. They can help in the white community\, but th ey can’t join. We accept their help. They can form the White Friends of the Organization of Afro-American Unity and work in the white community on white people and change their attitude toward us. They don’t ever need to come among us and change our attitude. We’ve had enough of them worki ng around us trying to change our attitude. That’s what got us all messe d up. So we don’t question their sincerity\, we don’t question their m otives\, we don’t question their integrity. We just encourage them to us e it somewhere else in the white community. If they can use all of this si ncerity in the white community to make the white community act better towa rd us\, then we’ll say\, “Those are good white folks.” But they do n’t have to come around us\, smiling at us and showing us all their teet h like white Uncle Toms\, to try and make themselves acceptable to us. The White Friends of the Organization of Afro American Unity\, let them work in the white community.\n\nThe only way that this organization can be inde pendent is if it is financed by you. It must be financed by you. Last week I told you that it would cost a dollar to join it. We sat down and though t about it all week long and said that charging you a dollar to join it wo uld not make it an organization. We have set a membership joining fee\, if that’s the way you express it\, at $2.00. It costs more than that\, I t hink\, to join the NAACP.\n\nBy the way\, you know I attended the NAACP co nvention Friday in Washington\, D. C.\, which was very enlightening. And I found the people very friendly. They’ve got the same kind of ideas you have. They act a little different\, but they’ve got the same kind of ide as\, because they’re catching the same hell we’re catching. I didn’t find any hostility at that convention at all. In fact\, I sat and listene d to them go through their business and learned a lot from it. And one of the things I learned is they only charge\, I think\, $2.50 a year for memb ership\, and that’s it. Well\, this is one of the reasons that they have problems. Because any time you have an organization that costs $2.50 a ye ar to belong to\, it means that that organization has to turn in another d irection for funds. And this is what castrates it. Because as soon as the white liberals begin to support it\, they tell it what to do and what not to do.\n\nThis is why Garvey was able to be more militant. Garvey didn’t ask them for help. He asked our people for help. And this is what we’re going to do. We’re going to try and follow his books.\n\nSo we’re goi ng to have a $2.00 joining fee and ask every member to contribute a dollar a week. Now\, the NAACP gets $2.50 a year\, that’s it. And it can’t e ver go anywhere like that because it’s always got to be putting on some kind of drive for help and will always get its help from the wrong source. And then when they get that help\, they’ll have to end up condemning al l the enemies of their enemy in order to get some more help. No\, we conde mn our enemies\, not the enemies of our enemies. We condemn our enemies.\n \nSo what we are going to ask you to do is\, if you want to become a membe r of the Organization of Afro-American Unity\, it will cost you $2.00. We are going to ask you to pay a dues of a dollar a week. We will have an acc ountant\, a bookkeeping system\, which will keep the members up to date as to what has come in\, what has been spent\, and for what. Because the sec ret to success in any kind of business venture – and anything that you d o that you mean business\, you’d better do in a businesslike way – the secret to your success is keeping good records\, good organized records.\ n\nSince today will be the first time that we are opening the books for me mbership\, our next meeting will be next Sunday here. And we will then hav e a membership. And we’ll be able to announce at that time the officers of the Organization of Afro-American Unity. I’ll tell you the top office r is the chairman\, and that’s the office I’m holding. I’m taking th e responsibility of the chairman\, which means I’m responsible for any m istakes that take place\; anything that goes wrong\, any failures\, you ca n rest them right upon my shoulders. So next week the officers will be ann ounced.\n\nAnd this week I wanted to tell you the departments in this orga nization that\, when you take out your membership\, you can apply to work in. We have the department of education. The department of political actio n. For all of you who are interested in political action\, we will have a department set up by brothers and sisters who are students of political sc ience\, whose function it will be to give us a breakdown of the community of New York City. First\, how many assemblymen there are and how many of t hose assemblymen are black\, how many congressmen there are and how many o f those congressmen are black. In fact\, let me just read something real q uick and I’ll show you why it’s so necessary. Just to give you an exam ple.\n\nThere are 270\,000 eligible voters in the twenty first senatorial district. The twenty first senatorial district is broken down into the ele venth\, seventh\, and thirteenth assembly districts. Each assembly distric t contains 90\,000 eligible voters. In the eleventh assembly district\, on ly 29\,000 out of 90\,000 eligible voters exercise their voting rights. In the seventh assembly district\, only 36\,000 out of the 90\,000 eligible voters vote. Now\, in a white assembly district with 90\,000 eligible vote rs\, 65\,000 exercise their voting rights\, showing you that in the white assembly districts more whites vote than blacks vote in the black assembly districts. There’s a reason for this. It is because our people aren’t politically aware of what we can get by becoming politically active.\n\nS o what we have to have is a program of political education to show them wh at they can get if they take political action that’s intelligently direc ted. Less than 25 percent of the eligible voters in Harlem vote in the pri mary election. Therefore\, they have not the right to place the candidate of their choice in office\, as only those who were in the primary can run in the general election. The following number of signatures are required t o place a candidate to vote in the primaries: for assemblyman it must be 3 50 signatures\; state senator\, 750\; countywide judgeship\, 1\,000\; boro ugh president\, 2\,250\; mayor\, 7\,500. People registered with the Republ ican or Democratic parties do not have to vote with their party.\n\nThere are fifty eight senators in the New York state legislature. Four are from Manhattan\; one is black. In the New York state assembly\, there are 150 a ssemblymen. I think three are black\; maybe more than that. According to c alculation\, if the Negro were proportionately represented in the state se nate and state assembly\, we would have several representatives in the sta te senate and several in the state assembly. There are 435 members in the United States House of Representatives. According to the census\, there ar e 22 million Afro Americans in the United States. If they were represented proportionately in this body\, there would be 30 to 40 members of our rac e sitting in that body. How many are there? Five. There are 100 senators i n the United States Senate. Hawaii\, with a population of only 600 thousan d\, has two senators representing it. The black man\, with a population of in excess of 20 million\, is not represented in the Senate at all. Worse than this\, many of the congressmen and representatives in the Congress of the United States come from states where black people are killed if they attempt to exercise the right to vote.\n\nWhat you and I want to do in thi s political department is have our brothers and sisters who are experts in the science of politics acquaint our people in our community with what we should have\, and who should be doing it\, and how we can go about gettin g what we should have. This will be their job and we want you to play this role so we can get some action without having to wait on Lyndon B. Johnso n\, Lyndon B. Texas Johnson.\n\nAlso\, our economics department. We have a n economics department. For any of you who are interested in business or a program that will bring about a situation where the black man in Harlem c an gain control over his own economy and develop business expansion for ou r people in this community so we can create some employment opportunities for our people in this community\, we will have this department.\n\nWe wil l also have a speakers bureau because many of our people want to speak\, w ant to be speakers\, they want to preach\, they want to tell somebody what they know\, they want to let off some steam. We will have a department th at will train young men and young women how to go forth with our philosoph y and our program and project it throughout the country\; not only through out this city but throughout the country.\nWe will have a youth group. The youth group will be designed to work with youth. Not only will it consist of youth\, but it will also consist of adults. But it will be designed to work out a program for the youth in this country\, one in which the youth can play an active part.\n\nWe also are going to have our own newspaper. You need a newspaper. We believe in the power of the press. A newspaper is not a difficult thing to run. A newspaper is very simple if you have the right motives. In fact\, anything is simple if you have the right motives. The Muhammad Speaks newspaper\, I and another person started it myself in my basement. And I’ve never gone past the eighth grade. Those of you wh o have gone to all these colleges and studied all kinds of journalism\, ye llow and black journalism\, all you have to do is contribute some of your journalistic talent to our newspaper department along with our research de partment\, and we can turn out a newspaper that will feed our people with so much information that we can bring about a real live revolution right h ere before you know it.\n\nWe will also have a cultural department. The ta sk or duty of the cultural department will be to do research into the cult ure\, into the ancient and current culture of our people\, the cultural co ntributions and achievements of our people. And also all of the entertainm ent groups that exist on the African continent that can come here and ours who are here that can go there. Set up some kind of cultural program that will really emphasize the dormant talent of black people.\n\nWhen I was i n Ghana I was speaking with\, I think his name is Nana Nketsia\, I think h e’s the minister of culture or he’s head of the culture institute. I w ent to his house\, he had a – he had a nice\, beautiful place\; I starte d to say he had a sharp pad. He had a fine place in Accra. He had gone to Oxford\, and one of the things that he said impressed me no end. He said t hat as an African his concept of freedom is a situation or a condition in which he\, as an African\, feels completely free to give vent to his own l ikes and dislikes and thereby develop his own African personality. Not a c ondition in which he is copying some European cultural pattern or some Eur opean cultural standard\, but an atmosphere of complete freedom where he h as the right\, the leeway\, to bring out of himself all of that dormant\, hidden talent that has been there for so long.\n\nAnd in that atmosphere\, brothers and sisters\, you’d be surprised what will come out of the bos om of this black man. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve seen black musicians w hen they’d be jamming at a jam session with white musicians – a whole lot of difference. The white musician can jam if he’s got some sheet mus ic in front of him. He can jam on something that he’s heard jammed befor e. If he’s heard it\, then he can duplicate it or he can imitate it or h e can read it But that black musician\, he picks up his horn and starts bl owing some sounds that he never thought of before. He improvises\, he crea tes\, it comes from within. It’s his soul\, it’s that soul music. It ’s the only area on the American scene\nwhere the black man has been fre e to create. And he his mastered it. He has shown that he can come up with something that nobody ever thought of on his horn.\n\nWell\, likewise he can do the same thing if given intellectual independence. He can come up w ith a new philosophy. He can come up with a philosophy that nobody has hea rd of yet. He can invent a society\, a social system\, an economic system\ , a political system\, that is different from anything that exists or has ever existed anywhere on this earth. He will improvise\; he’ll bring it from within himself. And this is what you and I want.\n\nYou and I want to create an organization that will give us so much power we can sit down an d do as we please. Once we can sit down and think as we please\, speak as we please\, and do as we please\, we will show people what pleases us. And what pleases us won’t always please them. So you’ve got to get some p ower before you can be yourself. Do you understand that? You’ve got to g et some power before you can be yourself. Once you get power and you be yo urself\, why\, you’re gone\, you’ve got it and gone. You create a new society and make some heaven right here on this earth.\n\nAnd we’re goin g to start right here tonight when we open up our membership books into th e Organization of Afro-American Unity. I’m going to buy the first member ships myself – one for me\, my wife\, Attillah\, Qubilah\, these are my daughters\, Ilyasah\, and something else I expect to get either this week or next week. As I told you before\, if it’s a boy I’m going to name h im Lumumba\, the greatest black man who ever walked the African continent. \n\nHe didn’t fear anybody. He had those people so scared they had to ki ll him. They couldn’t buy him\, they couldn’t frighten him\, they co uldn’t reach him. Why\, he told the king of Belgium\, “Man\, you may l et us free\, you may have given us our independence\, but we can never for get these scars.” The greatest speech – you should take that speech an d tack it up over your door. This is what Lumumba said: “You aren’t gi ving us anything. Why\, can you take back these scars that you put on our bodies? Can you give us back the limbs that you cut off while you were her e?” No\, you should never forget what that man did to you. And you bear the scars of the same kind of colonization and oppression not on your body \, but in your brain\, in your heart\, in your soul\, right now.\nSo\, if it’s a boy\, Lumumba. If it’s a girl\, Lumumbah.\n\n[Malcolm introduce s several people from the platform and from the audience\, then continues: ]\n\nIf I passed over some of the rest of you\, it’s because my eyes a ren’t too good\, my glasses aren’t too good. But everybody here are pe ople who are from the street who want some kind of action. We hope that we will be able to give you all the action you need. And more than likely we ’ll be able to give you more than you want. We just hope that you stay w ith us. Our meeting will be next Sunday night right here. We want you to b ring all of your friends and we’ll be able to go forward. Up until now\, these meetings have been sponsored by the Muslim Mosque\, Inc. They’ve been sponsored and paid for by the Muslim Mosque\, Inc. Beginning next Sun day\, they will be sponsored and paid for by the Organization of Afro Amer ican Unity.\n\nI don’t know if I’m right in saying this\, but for a pe riod of time\, let’s you and me not be too hard on other Afro-American l eaders. Because you would be surprised how many of them. have expressed sy mpathy and support in our efforts to bring this situation confronting our people before the United Nations. You’d be surprised how many of them\, some of the last ones you would expect\, they’re coming around. So let ’s give them a little time to straighten up. If they straighten up\, goo d. They’re our brothers and we’re responsible for our brothers. But if they don’t straighten up\, then that’s another point.\n\nAnd one thin g that we are going to do\, we’re going to dispatch a wire\, a telegram that is\, in the name of the Organization of Afro-American Unity to Martin Luther King in St. Augustine\, Florida\, and to Jim Forman in Mississippi \, worded in essence to tell them that if the federal government doesn’t come to their aid\, call on us. And we will take the responsibility of sl ipping some brothers into that area who know what to do by any means neces sary.\n\nI can tell you right now that my purpose is not to become involve d in a fight with Black Muslims\, who are my brothers still. I do everythi ng I can to avoid that because there’s no benefit in it. It actually mak es our enemy happy. But I do believe that the time has come for you and me to take the responsibility of forming whatever nucleus or defense group i s necessary in places like Mississippi. Why\, they shouldn’t have to cal l on the federal government – that’s a drag. No\, when you and I know that our people are the victims of brutality\, and all times the police in those states are the ones who are responsible\, then it is incumbent upon you and me\, if we are men\, if we are to be respected and recognized\, i t is our duty. . . [A passage is lost here through a defect in the tape.]\ n\nJohnson knew that when he sent [Allen] Dulles down there. Johnson has f ound this out. You don’t disappear. How are you going to disappear? Why\ , this man can find a missing person in China. They send the CIA all the w ay to China and find somebody. They send the FBI anywhere and find somebod y. But they can’t find them whenever the criminal is white and the victi m is black\, then they can’t find them.\n\nLet’s don’t wait on any m ore FBI to look for criminals who are shooting and brutalizing our people. Let’s you and me find them. And I say that it’s easy to do it. One of the best organized groups of black people in America was the Black Muslim s. They’ve got all the machinery\, don’t think they haven’t\; and th e experience where they know how to ease out in broad daylight or in dark and do whatever is necessary by any means necessary. They know how to do t hat. Well\, I don’t blame anybody for being taught how to do that. You ’re living in a society where you’re the constant victim of brutality. You must know how to strike back.\n\nSo instead of them and us wasting ou r shots\, I should say our time and energy\, on each other\, what we need to do is band together and go to Mississippi. That’s my closing message to Elijah Muhammad: If he is the leader of the Muslims and the leader of o ur people\, then lead us against our enemies\, don’t lead us against eac h other.\n\nI thank you for your patience here tonight\, and we want each and every one of you to put your name on the roll of the Organization of A fro- American Unity. The reason we have to rely upon you to let the public know where we are is because the press doesn’t help us\; they never ann ounce in advance that we’re going to have a meeting. So you have to spre ad the word over the grapevine. Thank you. Salaam Alaikum.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/sp eeches-african-american-history/1964-malcolm-x-s-speech-founding-rally-org anization-afro-american-unity/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Basic Unity Program\n\n\ n\n \n Restoration: \"In order to release ourselves from the oppression o f our enslavers then\, it is absolutely necessary for the Afro-American to restore communication with Africa.\"\n \n \n Reorientation: \"We can lea rn much about Africa by reading informative books and by listening to the experiences of those who have traveled there.\"\n \n \n Education: \"The Organization of Afro-American Unity will devise original educational metho ds and procedures which will liberate the minds of our children. We will . .. encourage qualified Afro-Americans to write and publish the textbooks n eeded to liberate our minds ... educating them [our children] at home.\"\n \n \n Economic Security: \"After the Emancipation Proclamation ... it wa s realized that the Afro-American constituted the largest homogeneous ethn ic group with a common origin and common group experience in the United St ates and\, if allowed to exercise economic or political freedom\, would in a short period of time own this country. We must establish a technician b ank. We must do this so that the newly independent nations of Africa can t urn to us who are their brothers for the technicians they will need now an d in the future.\"\n \n \n Self Defense: \"In order to enslave a people a nd keep them subjugated\, their right to self defense must be denied. We e ncourage the Afro-Americans to defend themselves against the wanton attack s of the racist aggressors whose sole aim is to deny us the guarantee of t he United Nations Charter of Human Rights and of the Constitution of the U nited States.\"\n \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n ht tps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12490-malcolm-x-inaugural-organization-of-afro-am erican-unity-speech/#findComment-80321\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Pr ofD \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Yes. It would give B lack folks a platform. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n well ok\, but what will be the goal? Malcolm cited the points. And from them\, he states a number of goa ls. \n\n\n\n 1) communication channel with africa\, which makes sense cau se chinese/dominicans/puerto ricans/jews with israel/indians/russians/ghan aians/agnlo saxon protestant whites.... all but one  immigrant group in t he usa willingly came from another land they constantly communicated with. The problem is our forebears were enslaved\, the link was cut. And as sai d non Black DOS  groups prove\, the link is very grassroots\, it isn't a grandiose. You leave china\, your cousin and mom are still there. It isn't fancy.\n\n\n\n 2) becoming more learned about Africa\, I argue this has b een done. Can it be more? yes\, but the goal can't be one hundred percent with over fifty million people. But libraries\, private libraries still ex ist in the usa\, they exist in NYC. \n\n\n\n 3) Textbooks written by blac k folk\, it is hilarious to me\, I asked in this very forum\, for us all t o work together on a history book project and... I will not name names\, b ut the interest wasn't present. if a set of black people online who all to ut black empowerment can't... \n\n\n\n 4) a bank\, the freedmans bank exi sted but it failed\, carver bank is still in existence but boutique. \n\n \n\n 5)A self defense organization or culture needs to be made. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Of the five goals\, only one can make money on its own. The ot her four are all expenses.\n\n\n\n 1) Communication channels require money /resources. The usa has spent alot of money on underwater physical lines . Satellites are in themselves cheap but placing them and their upkeep is e xpensive. \n\n\n\n 2) libraries are expensive. Through the self reliance this library will have to be private\, which is not unheard of today but w ill be expensive. Location matters to. \n\n\n\n 3)Textbooks are expensive . Ebooks people can is less expensive\, but they forget the devices to rea d them are not inexpensive\, and more likely to weaken/wither  over time than a book. \n\n\n\n 5) weapons cost money\, especially if you are to fa bricate yourself.  yes mass market weapons are cheap cause the market is flooded\, but to truly make a gun from scratch in bulk will be expensive.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So of the plans he mentioned\, 4 is the one\, that c an actually make money on its own and isn't a natural expense. \n\n\n\n T he problem today is most of the banks in the usa of largest size all had c orrupt origins. Chase is the rockefellers\, who used it for various things . black people dont have a rockkefeller family to finance a bank. Bank of america was originally financed by the italian american mob. Black people don't have an illegal fiscal operating industry like that. Hang Seng banki ng corporation comes from hong kong which at one time was the opium capito l of the world\, and had primary fiscal trafficking in and out of china. B ig banks have very dirty histories. Small banks\, rarely have the scale to do much. The only bank that went to jail/court  for the banking crisis w as a small bank from new york city\, a chinese american bank \,\, whose ma in clients were the street vendors in chinatown. and by my recollection th ey never traded in the shadow crypto banks like goldman sachs and company who begged for a welfare check\, far worse than any fiscally poor black wo man ever did\,  while not being demanded to change their operating proced ures\, or welfare to work. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What do you think the goal should be?  And yes\, a goal must be. \n\n\n\n I Argue\, the goal shoul d be one thing only. A black party of governance in the usa. My reason bei ng is the reason I have supported this idea alone in the usa for black peo ple for a while. When I look at the history of Black DOSers everything has been tried financially. Any financial goal is merely a repeat of somethin g already tried and after two hundred and fifty years\, I argue trying is being hard headed\, not wise. But\, doing something you never did before i s even in failure a new experience\, that will teach something you have no experience in. \n\n\n\n I say a black party of governance is the best go al for such an OAAU if existed.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, Pro fD said:\n\n\n\n A whole lot of those young Black people to whom he was s peaking back in the early 1960s grew up to 1) sell out\, 2) live in fear & amp\; 3) take comfort under the system of racism white supremacy.\n\n\n\n hmmmm\n\n\n\n your answer here generates many questions. I will take it in parts.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1) define selling out explicitly? I think selli ng out needs specific definition because non blacks live in the usa\, they are not going away. What does selling out mean\, exactly? buying from a n on black store? going into business partnership with non blacks? marrying a non black? I think we blacks leave the definition of such things open\, going back to that textbook malcolm talked about and it will lead to probl ems down the road. cause what happens when the head of human resources for the OAAU wants to marry a white woman? Sellig out being described explict ly today \, makes the scenarios tomorrow easier to handle. \n\n\n\n 2) wh en you say fear what do you mean? I  have never been afraid among my own people. I have seen some blacks talk about the neighborhood in fear but in my mind\, that isn't fear\, that is dislike. It is complicated when you d islike your own people but you can't move away from them\, it is easier th en to tout dislike. \n\n\n\n 3) well .. what defines comfort? It seems to me what you mean by comfort is black people who have reached a certain fi nancial level who aren't engaging in the greater village. I have seen fisc ally poor people in or out of the united sates of america and I have found no fiscal poor person anywhere to be comfortable. Living on the street is not comfortable. Living day to day is not comfortable. Now maybe I simply don't comprehend what you mean by comfort or what group you are talking a bout explicitly\, but I will like to be enlightened. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But based on your three points. \n\n\n\n The questions are\, how does an OAAU\, prevent members or exmembers or non members in the black populace i n the usa from[ however you define the following] : selling out\, living i n fear\, taking comfort while oppressed? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12490-malcolm- x-inaugural-organization-of-afro-american-unity-speech/#findComment-80330\ n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD s aid:\n\n\n\n Black empowerment &\; reparations for the original sin of slavery.\n\n\n\n When  the OAAU finishes its job\, what does black empowe rment look like and what doesn't it look like? Or are you suggesting OAAU need be in perpetuity which is dysfunctional. \n\n\n\n When will you be s atisfied reparations is given? A goal has to have a moment where it is rea lized and that means what is as well as what isn't. What isn't reparations in your view?\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Technology changes the way information is stored &\; accessed.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Black folks are walking around with devices that provide immediate access to information &\; knowledge.\n\n\n\n BAsed on malcolms points I argue those devices aren't what malcolm was talking about. Did black people make those devices? did black people make the ground lines and satellite netwo rks to carry signals to and fro those devices? do black people own the dat a storage locations to create the apperance of seamless instant connection . Did black people design the protocol/rules system for the data? The blac k empowerment you mentioned first\, where does that exist with black peopl e using devices designed/created/manufactured by nonblacks?\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I've always been a huge proponent of Bla ck-owned banks.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Do you use one? Which is the best black bank in the usa in your opinion?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, P rofD said:\n\n\n\n Another very important institution of which I'm a huge proponent.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I also believe Black folks should be profic ient in self-defense &\; weapons training.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Black fol ks don't seem to have a problem buying technology or weapons by any means necessary. \n\n\n\n well... would weapons/training saved\, abner louima? would weapons/training saved emitt till or trayvon martin? would weapons/t raining saved eric garner or randy evers or sandra bland or breonna taylor or sonya massey? Even the white militants don't fare well against law enf orcement\, so how can black people attacked by white law enforcers be bett er off with weapons or training? \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said: \n\n\n\n Black folks do not have to be corrupt in order to generate wealth .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n We can use our natural gifts\, talents\, knowledge\, skills &\; abilities to harvest wealth.\n\n\n\n Certain levels of wealt h can't be obtained absent cheating/ corruption/illegality/crime/ or whate ver you want to call it. Again\, the financial history of the usa is the p roof. No one of a certain level of wealth in the usa didn't get there with out a legal\, I repeat legal crime./injuries to others. And the law can't protect from fiscal legal crimes\, which can attack in the upper levels of finance. \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Black empowerm ent\, self-sufficiency &\; autonomy. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Self sufficie ncy defined as what? All the land in the usa is owned\, and mostly owned b y whites or owned by state governments who are dominated by whites. So\, t hat means any idea of self sufficiency for circa fifty three million peopl e will have a huge overhead cost that will undercut fiscal growth. It is g oing backwards to go forwards. Very expensive and taking into account rand om situations will be a very long term program which doesn't help. Autonom y? please define this. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said :\n\n\n\n Undermining Black empowerment &\; promoting white supremacy.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  what actions can a black person do that do not underm ine black empowerment? What actions can black people do that don't promote white supremacy? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n \n\n Fear of dismantling the system of white supremacy.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Does this fear apply to black people who don't feel afriad while don't fe el the need to act in a way that your OAAU would deem fearful?\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n if a black man is married to a white woman and both own their own business\, if she wants to invest in his business is he promoting white su premacy? If a black woman does a hostiel takeover over a black owned firme d\, financed by whites\, is she undermining black empowerment? If a black man owns a business and doesn't invest in any of the initiatives of the OA AU but enjoys his life\, is he afraid of dismantling oppressive systems to blacks in the usa? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n\n An unwillingness to fight the system of white supremacy. \n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n So if a black elected off icial is the mayor of a city and doesn't change the police department with a record of abuse towards blacks\, said official is unwilling to fight wh ite terror ?\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n An organizati on becomes like a fist. It is more powerful than individual fingers. The s trength in numbers makes people stronger.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Collectively sharing gifts\, talents\, knowledge\, skills &\; abilities &\; a wi llingness to fight leads to power.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Therein lies the re ason a great deal of effort goes into discouraging Black unity. The enemy already knows the outcome.\n\n\n\n yeah ok\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12490-malcolm- x-inaugural-organization-of-afro-american-unity-speech/#findComment-80335\ n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours ag o\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n IMO\, there's no such thing as a best bank consi dering the purposes it serves.\n\n\n\n IS there such a thing as a worst ba nk? which black bank is the worst\, or that doesn't exist either? \n\n\n\ n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n People are less inclined to atta ck those they believe are armed. Black folks should be allowed open &\; carry permits too.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n you used the word people all my exa mples were of black peope murdered by law enforcement and i have seen law enforcement against the armed\, law enforcement is not less inclined to at tack when they think someone is armed. I don't know where you get that fro m. \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Jay-Z &\; Beyonce have a combined net worth of billions of dollars.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n beyon ces mother used her other girls to support her daughter and didn't give th em an even cut. that is a fiscal crime. Jay Z by his own admission hustled illegally in his earliest years which is a crime that most can't do . aga in\, everyone with levels of money has done negativities to get there. it is the reality of fiscal capitalism. The myth is that you can make large l evels of money without a cheat in somewhere. It is a simple truth of fisca l capitalism\, the higher the monetary scale the more crimes whether legal or not. \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n   5 hours ag o\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n if a black man is married to a white wom an and both own their own business\, if she wants to invest in his busines s is he promoting white supremacy?\n\n\n\n No. That isn't promoting white supremacy. \n\n\n\n If a black man is married to a white woman and both o wn their own businesses and he invest in her business  as a minority shar eholder\, is he promoting white supremacy?\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pro fD said:\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n If a bla ck woman does a hostiel takeover over a black owned firmed\, financed by w hites\, is she undermining black empowerment?\n\n\n\n No. She's redistribu ting wealth if the firm truly becomes Black-owned.\n\n\n\n so in your view blacks are free to fight amongst themselves financially\, cause that is w hat any hostile takeover is. It is a legal financial fight. You can't have your cake and eat it too. You said Black empowerment ....\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n It looks like unity across the Black disaposa.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Hostile takeovers of black owned firms by blacks doesn't bring unity but is allowed in your view. \n\n\n\n    3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, richardmurray said :\n\n\n\n If a black man owns a business and doesn't invest in any of the initiatives of the OAAU but enjoys his life\, is he afraid of dismantling oppressive systems to blacks in the usa? \n\n\n\n No. He's comfortable un der the system of racism white supremacy.\n\n\n\n What is a black man owns a business in his home country\, the usa\, and doesn't view the usa as a system of white supremacy but of individuals\, fighting each other for teh top of the fiscal capitalistic pile. Your saying as he enjoys his life\, that he is comfortable under the system of white terror\, but the black ma n in question and others like him will never be unified philosophically to black people who view the usa as a country of white terror not individual cannibalism. So your unity across the black diaspora goal for black empow erment is dysfunctional or can't apply\, unless you plan on using a mind c ontrol machine/drugs/manipulation devices on said black man but then of co urse\, that is slavery which I will never condone and definitely a crime\, whether legal or not.\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n    5 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n So if a black elected offici al is the mayor of a city and doesn't change the police department with a record of abuse towards blacks\, said official is unwilling to fight white terror ?\n\n\n\n Correct. Black elected officials have an obligation to s erve &\; protect Black folks by any means necessary.\n\n\n\n This is no t legally true\, every elected officials in the usa has an obligation to a ll the people under their jurisdiction and not limited to the people who a re representative of their phenotypical race. that is the whole point of t he constitutional assertion\, that is the whole point of  James Forten/fr ederick douglass/MLK jr/ Barrack Obama none of these black men viewed gove rnment officials of the usa having an obligation to serve any one particul ar group or anyone else in some cases. Again\, in the usa\, before the 190 0s most people \, including whites\, thought being an elected officials wa s for the elected person's benefit. The way you view black empowerment wit h black elected officials goes counter to their reality in the usa or thei r legal parameters. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250221 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 17 - 02/22/2025 DTSTAMP:20250223T000255Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:200-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n China plan to build the biggest solar array in space. \n \n why solar power in space?\n\n the light from the sun \, or any star\, i s manipulated \, usually lessened when a planet's atmosphere is involved. The earth's atmosphere is why light from the sun doesn't arrive as potentl y as it is outside the earth's atmosphere\, but this blockage maintains li fe on earth. Water or air would get too hot \, the temperature cycle of ea rth would die without that atmosphere. \n\n But in space\, the unfiltered solar energy makes it the standard source for most or all human craft sin ce the beginning of the human craft traveling outside earth with sputnik i n the 1900s.\n\n the Japanese will do a test of the concept\, like nuclear powered aircraft\, studies are done and based on their feasibility things will be continued. My opening question is\, how can a high energy beam no t negatively influence earth's atmosphere with the heat. \n\n Basically\, solar panels will charge a battery and the battery will emit microwaves t o earth \, because of the speed of the satellite + the lack of a more effi cient pointing apparatus on the satellite\, a set of arrays over 25 miles will be used to collect the energy. It will take several days for the batt ery to recharge. \n\n They already tested the concept on earth with a pla ne using the same solar panel + battery\, smaller in scale. Check the link s below.\n\n The first thing I notice is the lack of a focus beam. I think to make the atmosphere not manipulated they are emitting with less focus thus it needs a wide array \, geographically\, to transmit the energy. I t hink it is sensible for the earth which can't afford the atmosphere to get hotter by electromagnetic emissions. This is being sold as a green energy but I disagree. I think this will be how the moon bases or mars operation s are powered because even though electromagnetic radiation that contact t he surface of the moon or mars is less refracted or reflected than on eart h\, the electromagnetic radiation that travels across the stars is a highe r energy an undistilled variant that will always generate more energy.\n\n Contact for more information\n\n yanagawa-hiroki@jspacesystems.or.jp\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATIONS\n\n URL\n\n https://www.livescience.com/space/spa ce-exploration/china-plans-to-build-enormous-solar-array-in-space-and-it-c ould-collect-more-energy-in-a-year-than-all-the-oil-on-earth\n\n TEXT\n\n\ n\n China plans to build enormous solar array in space — and it could co llect more energy in a year than 'all the oil on Earth'\n\n\n\n News\n\n\n \n By Ben Turner\n\n\n\n  published January 14\, 2025\n\n\n\n China has announced plans to build a giant solar power space station\, which will b e lifted into orbit piece by piece using the nation's brand-new heavy lift rockets.\n\n\n\n Chinese scientists have announced a plan to build an eno rmous\, 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) wide solar power station in space that will beam continuous energy back to Earth via microwaves.\n\n\n\n The project\ , which will see its components lofted to a geostationary orbit above Ear th using super-heavy rockets\, has been dubbed \"another Three Gorges Dam project above the Earth.\"\n\n\n\n The Three Gorges Dam\, located in the middle of the Yangtze river in central China\, is the world's largest hyd ropower project and generates 100 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity ea ch year. According to one NASA scientist\, the dam is so large that\, if completely filled\, the mass of the water contained within would lengthe n Earth's days by 0.06 microseconds.\n\n\n\n The new project\, according t o lead scientist Long Lehao\, the chief designer of China’s Long March rockets\, would be \"as significant as moving the Three Gorges Dam to a ge ostationary orbit 36\,000km (22\,370 miles) above the Earth.\"\n\n\n\n \"T his is an incredible project to look forward to\,\" Long added during a le cture in October hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)\, as repo rted by the South China Morning Post. \"The energy collected in one year would be equivalent to the total amount of oil that can be extracted from the Earth.\"\n\n\n\n Despite recent advances in the cheapness and efficien cy of solar power\, the technology still faces some fundamental limitation s — such as intermittent cloud cover and most of the atmosphere absorbin g solar radiation before it hits the ground.\n\n\n\n Scientists have prop osed a number of Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) technologies which would c ontinuously collect and transmit energy from sunlight in space\, where it is 10 times more intense than at Earth's surface.\n\n\n\n But building an appropriately giant array would take many launches\, meaning that most pro posals failed to get off the ground.\n\n\n\n To overcome this challenge\, Long and his team are working on the development of the Long March-9 (CZ-9 ) reusable heavy-lift rocket\, which will have a lift capacity of at leas t 150 tons (136 metric tons).\n\n\n\n Besides being used for satellites\, the rocket will also be key to China's plans to reach the moon — where it wants to build an international lunar research base by 2035.\n\n\n\n China isn't the only nation eyeing plans for solar satellite arrays. The U .S. companies Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman\, the European Space A gency\, and Japan's JAXA space agency have also been investigating the tec hnology\, with the latter scheduling the launch of a small\, proof-of-con cept satellite this year to assess its feasibility.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n UR L\n\n https://www.space.com/japan-space-based-solar-power-demonstration-20 25\n\n\n\n TEXT\n\n\n\n Japanese satellite will beam solar power to Earth in 2025\n\n\n\n News\n\n\n\n By Tereza Pultarova\n\n\n\n  published Apr il 19\, 2024\n\n\n\n Japan's upcoming space-based solar power demonstratio n will beam power to Earth next year.\n\n\n\n LONDON — Japan is on track to beam solar power from space to Earth next year\, two years after a s imilar feat was achieved by U.S. engineers. The development marks an impor tant step toward a possible space-based solar power station that could hel p wean the world off fossil fuels amid the intensifying battle against cl imate change. \n\n\n\n Speaking at the International Conference on Energy from Space\, held here this week\, Koichi Ijichi\, an adviser at the Japa nese research institute Japan Space Systems\, outlined Japan's road map to ward an orbital demonstration of a miniature space-based solar power plant that will wirelessly transmit energy from low Earth orbit to Earth.\n\n \n\n \"It will be a small satellite\, about 180 kilograms [400 pounds]\, t hat will transmit about 1 kilowatt of power from the altitude of 400 kilom eters [250 miles]\,\" Ijichi said at the conference. \n\n\n\n One kilowat t is about the amount of power needed to run a household appliance\, such as a small dishwasher\, for about an hour\, depending on its size. Therefo re\, the demonstration is nowhere near the scale required for commercial u se.\n\n\n\n The spacecraft will use a 22-square-foot (2 square meters) onb oard photovoltaic panel to charge a battery. The accumulated energy will t hen be transformed into microwaves and beamed toward a receiving antenna o n Earth. Because the spacecraft travels very fast — around 17\,400 mph (28\,000 km/h) — antenna elements will have to be spread over a distance of about 25 miles (40 km)\, spaced 3 miles (5 km) apart\, to allow enough energy to be transmitted.\n\n\n\n \"The transmission will take only a few minutes\,\" Ijichi said. \"But once the battery is empty\, it will take s everal days to recharge.\"\n\n\n\n The mission\, part of a project called OHISAMA (Japanese for \"sun\")\, is on track for launch in 2025. The resea rchers have already demonstrated wireless transmission of solar power on t he ground from a stationary source\, and they plan to conduct a transmissi on from an aircraft in December. The aircraft will be fitted with an ident ical photovoltaic panel as will be flown on the spacecraft and will beam d own power over a distance of 3 to 4 miles (5 to 7 km)\, according to Ijich i.\n\n\n\n From concept to reality \n\n\n\n Space-based solar power gener ation\, first described in 1968 by former Apollo engineer [ https://www. space.com/26175-peter-glaser-solar-power-satellite-obituary.html ]\n\n\n\ n Peter Glaser\, has been considered science fiction. Although theoretical ly feasible\, the technology has been seen as impractical and too costly\, as it requires enormous structures to be assembled in orbit to produce th e required power output. \n\n\n\n But according to the experts speaking a t the conference\, that situation has changed as a result of recent techno logical advances and the urgency to decarbonize the world's power supply t o thwart climate change.\n\n\n\n Unlike most renewable power generation te chnologies used on Earth\, including solar power and wind energy\, space-b ased solar power could be available constantly\, as it would not depend on weather and the time of the day. Currently\, nuclear power plants or ga s- and coal-fired power stations are used to cover demand when the wind st ops blowing or after sunset. Improvements in technology could help partial ly solve the problem in the future. But some pieces of the puzzle are stil l missing to secure a seamless carbon-neutral power supply by the middle o f this century as stipulated in international climate change agreements.\n \n\n\n Developments in robotic technologies\, improvements in the efficien cy of wireless power transmission and\, most importantly\, the arrival of SpaceX's giant rocket Starship could allow space-based solar power to be come a reality\, the experts said at the conference. \n\n\n\n Last year\, a satellite built by Caltech engineers as part of the Space Solar Power Demonstrator mission beamed solar power from space for the first time. T he mission\, which concluded in January\, was celebrated as a major milest one. \n\n\n\n Many more space-based solar power demonstration projects ar e in the pipeline. The technology is studied by space and research agencie s all over the world\, including the European Space Agency\, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Air Force. Commercial compa nies and startups are also developing concepts\, harnessing the availabili ty of Starship and the emergence of advanced space robotics.\n\n\n\n How ever\, not everyone is enthusiastic about the potential of space-based sol ar power. In January\, NASA released a report questioning the feasibili ty of the technology. The difficulty and amount of energy required to buil d\, launch and assemble orbital power stations mean the energy they produc e would be too expensive — 61 cents per kilowatt-hour\, compared with as little as 5 cents per kilowatt-hour for Earth-based solar or wind energy.  \n\n\n\n In addition\, the overall carbon footprint of the power product ion and the amount of greenhouse gas emissions generated by rockets taking those assemblies into orbit make space-based solar power much less climat e-friendly than technologies used on Earth. For example\, a gigawatt-scale spaceborne solar power station\, such as the CASSIOPeiA concept plant pro posed by the U.K. firm Space Solar\, would need 68 Starships to get to spa ce. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://www.jspacesystems.or.jp/en/news/4 968.html\n\n\n\n TEXT\n\n\n\n Can not copy and past. But check the URL imm ediately below\, and if it doesn't work i have the pdf in my public folder linked immediately after that\n\n\n\n \n\n URL\n\n https://www.jspacesyst ems.or.jp/jss/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1stTestReport_2024.12.24en-1.pdf\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL\n\n\n\n PDF Demonstration information in my public storage\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n URL\n\n\n\n Video 1\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Video 2\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n PAID ARTICLE URL- I couldn't see but may have better i nformation\n\n https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3294091/chi na-plans-build-three-gorges-dam-space-harness-solar-power\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n This is just for me to giggle:) but don't say nobody warned you\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Prior edition: https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11497-economiccorner0 16/\n\n\n\n \n\n solar powered earth\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.co m/tc/topic/11498-economiccorner017/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https:// aalbc.com/tc/events/event/199-economic-corner-16-02222025/\n\n\n\n NEXT ED ITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/201-economic-corner-18-022 32025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12494-would-you-invest-in-solar-power-in-space/#fi ndComment-80323\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\ n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:31 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Space will be domain of the wealthy. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Non-wealthy people have no reason to be concerned with outer space. They won't be able to afford any aspect of it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Those who can barely afford a place to live on thi s planet need not think about hopping up off the ground &\; going to sp ace.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n At best\, less than wealthy folks might be able to solar power similar to using public Wi-Fi.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n we w ill see\, but the history of the many oil rushes and many godl rushes and silver rushes in the usa prove that once the ability to get natural resour ces occurs\, even with machines\, wealthy people will want humans sent out there. part of the problem in outer space is energy/control systems. Firs t\, it takes time to send an electromagnetic signal. The earth has a diame ter of circa eight thousand miles. Mars is nearest earth when the earth is circa thirty six million miles away. That means four point five thousand earths are between the earth and mars in a straight line when mars is cloe st in its elliptical orbit.  that distance means a time delay on signals. The mission around the moon is complex. the moon is two hundred and thirt y nine thousand miles from the earth at times in its orbit about the earth which means thirty earths can be lined up between the earth and the moon. These distances are massive\, and since star trek or star wars technology does not exist\, current human technology has inherent weaknesses with th e distances. if a machine breaks down on the moon\, whose going to fix it? even if you have another machine\, if it has any malfunction or inability to fix the other machine\, it will not be easy to adjust it. And because of weight\, and the influence that has on gravity\, it is not easy to put a supercomputer or some modern chemical manufacturing plant in space. thes e things are very heavy. My point is \, engineering wise\, human beings wi ll be needed. The international space station will be closing in a few dec ades\, while the chinese already have their space station up there. But th ese space stations while top of the line in terms of modern tech are not f ull of amenities. the rich don't want to be in space. \n\n\n\n But i can see rich people offer chances for poor people to leave\, how was the usa b orn but the english government seeing a chance to get rid of its poor peop le. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250222 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 18 - 02/23/2025 DTSTAMP:20250223T162044Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:201-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Economic Corner - profitability of an artist\n\n My Thoug hts\n\n From 70\,000 to 80\,000 was what jane austen made. Happy belated b irthday to her. When I think of artist in general who have made more after death than alive the list is long and that includes many Black artist. I think Basquiat is the example that stings the most cause Jean Michel's art form\, streetart by many blacks to this day is deemed inappropriate \, evi l\, low quality\, and yet \, on the pieces of wood or metal \, if you have a Basquiat original\, you can earn millions in a sale. But the lesson fro m Jane Austen is clear\, the financial value of an artist work is not dete rminable. It is completely relative to a time or place \, so it can't be j udged on even value or in comparison \, only in the moment.\n\n\n\n NOTE\n \n\n\n As a poet I enjoy phyllis Wheatley\, though some of her messages or her style I don't care for as much.\n\n\n\n late 1700s early 1800s black authors\n\n https://blog.genealogybank.com/10-notable-african-americans-in -17th-18th-century-history.html\n\n\n\n +\n\n https://www.nysoclib.org/blo g/more-black-writers-1700s\n\n\n\n U.R.L.\n\n https://www.pbs.org/newshour /show/jane-austen-fans-honor-british-novelists-legacy-250-years-after-her- birthVIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n  \n\n\n\n Geoff Bennett:\ nOn this Valentine's Day\, if you're looking for love\, may we suggest you go dancing? After all\, as the British romantic novelist Jane Austen wrot e in her most popular work\, \"Pride and Prejudice\,\" to be fond of danci ng is a — quote — \"certain step towards falling in love.\"\nThis year \, Jane Austen fans are celebrating 250 years since her birth\, and in her homeland of England\, they're expecting a tourist boom\, as special corre spondent Malcolm Brabant reports for our arts and culture series\, Canvas. \n*\nActor:\nMr. Darcy\, allow me to present this young lady to you.\n*\nA ctor:\nShe is the most beautiful creature I have ever beheld.\n*\nActor:\n She's not handsome enough to tend to me.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nIn this jub ilee year\, expect a resurgence of \"Pride and Prejudice\,\" widely consid ered to be Jane Austen's finest creation.\n*\nKathryn Sutherland\, Univers ity of Oxford: She's probably standing shoulder to shoulder with Shakespea re.\n*\nActress:\nThe more I know of the world\, the more I am convinced t hat I shall never see a man who might I can truly love.\n*\nKathryn Suther land:\nThey are works packed with emotional intelligence of the kind we ge t from Shakespeare\, in fact.\n*\nActress:\nYou are the loveliest girls I ever set eyes on. Can you not get them married Mrs. Dashwood?\n*\nKathryn Sutherland:\nShe also was a pioneer of the novel. She developed the psycho logical novel.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nKathryn Sutherland is professor of bi bliography and textual criticism at Oxford University and a leading author ity on Jane Austen.\n*\nKathryn Sutherland:\nShe brought women into the no vel in a probable and realistic way. Her achievements were huge.\n*\nMalco lm Brabant:\nBut Austen's genius wasn't properly recognized until long aft er her death. Jane Austen's six novels only earned her the grand total of between $70\,000 to $80\,000 in today's money.\n*\nActress:\nLook at them\ , five of them without dowry. What's to become of them?\n*\nActor:\nPerhap s we shall drown some of them birth.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nHer characters were consumed with the need to achieve financial security. And yet Jane Au sten herself died in relative poverty. How ironic that she spawned an indu stry worth hundreds of millions of dollars.\nVisitors are expected to floc k to this house\, where Austen succumbed to illness at the age of 41. Rich ard Foster from Winchester College is preparing a commemorative exhibition .\n*\nRichard Foster\, Winchester College:\nThree days before her death\, she dictated a poem to her sister\, Cassandra . So even then she was well enough to carry on writing. And it's a very funny poem.\n*\nMalcolm Braban t:\nDespite being impoverished and relatively obscure\, Austen was buried in one of Europe's grandest cathedrals.\n*\nCanon Roly Riem\, vice-dean\, Winchester Cathedral: It's remarkable that Jane is buried in this cathedra l because you wouldn't expect that to happen. But she is here and she's a focus of an amazing worldwide devotion to her and her writings and all tha t she's left us.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nCanon Roly Riem is vice-dean of Win chester Cathedral.\n*\nCanon Roly Riem:\nWhen we have had a book to rememb er her\, the last big anniversary we have had\, they wrote sometimes pages in it just saying how much Jane had changed their lives\, the difference it made to their outlook or even their career.\n*\nLizzie Dunford\, Direct or\, Jane Austen’s House:\nThis house\, Jane Austen's house\, is hugely significant.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nThirty miles from Winchester is the vil lage of Chawton that was a haven for the young writer.\nLizzie Dunford run s this 19th century time capsule.\n*\nLizzie Dunford:\nSo it's a huge peri od of intense creativity that is made possible and enabled by the creative sanctuary\, the security that this house gives. So it has that intense li terary significance.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nAnd it's in the dining room tha t Austen's disciples gaze upon the wellspring of her creativity\, the writ ing table.\n*\nLizzie Dunford:\nAusten described her novels as her darling children\, as her children. They come from this\, from their nursery and their cradle\, out into that wider world\, and they're now read in every c orner of the world.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nAnother stop on the Austen trail is Bath\, where Actress Lauren Falconer portrays the heroine of \"Pride a nd Prejudice.\"\n*\nLauren Falconer\, Actress:\nJane Austen is an incredib le female writer and she was so ahead of her time in what she was writing. I play Elizabeth Bennet\, who is an obstinate\, headstrong girl\, but I a lso think Jane was very subtle in the ways that she was trying to make cha nges for women in her time period.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nEach summer\, tho usands of aficionados flock to Bath for the annual Jane Austen Festival.\n Tourist chief Catherine Davies says this year's event will be spectacular. \n*\nKathryn Davis\, Managing Director\, Visit West:\nI think it's an oppo rtunity for people to dress up\, to feel that they're part of history mayb e\, and with a backdrop like this that looks like a film set\, what better place to do it in?\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nActor Martin Williamson understa nds why\, in these turbulent times\, Austen devotees seek to escape into h er world.\n*\nMartin Williamson\, Actor:\nIt seems gentler then\, a much g entler time\, not as complicated as it is living today. But\, of course\, it was a very strict social structure\, so if you were born at the bottom of the pile\, there was no way you could really ascend like today. Especia lly in places like the United States\, you can make it. You're encouraged. \n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nFor vlogger and podcast host Izzy Meakin\, the jubi lee festival will be the highlight of the year.\n*\nIzzy Meakin\, Podcast Host\, \"What the Austen?\": You read her books and you can recognize peop le in your own life\, so it doesn't matter that these were written 200-plu s years ago.\nYou can still see people that you know. You're like\, wow\, I know someone like that all or I can see myself in those characters. I th ink that's the real — a real testament to her writing and how incredible she was.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nThat enthusiasm is shared in Oxford Univer sity's august Bodleian Library\, where Kathryn Sutherland examines Austen' s only surviving manuscript of the novel she never finished.\n*\nKathryn S utherland:\nShe seems to work very frugally. As you will see\, she writes onto small pieces of paper and she writes to the very limits of that paper \, so she leaves very little space. So her assumption is that this is a dr aft that's going to work first time.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nThe manuscript was bought at auction in 2011 for over a million dollars to preserve for t he nation.\n*\nKathryn Sutherland:\nOh\, it's magical. It's absolutely mag ical just to think that Jane Austen touched this\, that Jane Austen worked on this. It's a very intimate experience. A manuscript is like a writer's fingerprint\, or it's like getting inside the laboratory and finding out how they create.\n*\nActress:\nIs he handsome?\n*\nActress:\nHe's single.\ n*\nActress:\nOh\, my goodness. Everybody behave naturally.\n*\nActor:\nMr . Collins at your service.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nGiven she was ahead of he r time\, how would Jane Austen have navigated the 21st century's complex r omantic minefields with all their permutations?\n*\nIzzy Meakin:\nI think sometimes it can seem like it's much more complicated now.\nZack Pinsent\, Costume Designer:\nHere's to you. And here's to me. May we never disagree . But if we do\, to hell with you. And here's to me.\n*\nIzzy Meakin:\nBut I think something that Jane Austen would really celebrate is the choices we have now\, the freedom when it comes to love. We can love how we want t o and we can love who we want to.\n*\nMalcolm Brabant:\nAfter all\, the le sson that Austen imparts is that the path to true love requires overcoming pride and prejudice.\nFor the \"PBS News Hour\,\" I'm Malcolm Brabant in Chawton\, Hampshire.\n\n\n\n\n Prior Edition: https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/ 11498-economiccorner017/\n\n\n\n \n\n post mortem money\n\n\n\n POST URL\n \n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11502-economiccorner018/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITI ON\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/200-economic-corner-17-022220 25/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/202-eco nomic-corner-19-02232025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02252026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n C itation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12495-what-is-the-future-of-wri ting-as-a-profitable-activity/#findComment-80322\n\n\n\n osted just now\n \n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:24 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\ n Most people consume the cheapest bottled water than can find on sale.\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n However\, there's still higher end bottled water on store shelves too.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n There will always be a few writers who ca n make money with their skill &\; creativity.\n\n\n\n true and if yu lo ok at the industry of writing\, writers with huge fanbases are constantly popular\, putting out content\, so ... it is interesting\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n @aka Contrarian \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 10:26 PM\, aka Contraria n said:\n\n\n\n As much as some are trying to  perpetuate the skill of c ursive penmanship\, it is slowly sinking below the horizon of modern day c ommunication and will soon become a lost art\,  I fear.\n\n\n\n Story tel ling might inherit a better fate and keep the fiction writer a float in th e sea of imagination. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I have no regrets about not bei ng around to experience the brave new AI world of the future.\n\n\n\n how do you know you will not be here? the AI future may start tomorrow\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250223 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:2026 Winter Death Toll in NYC DTSTAMP:20260205T045839Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:644-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n How many have died from the cold in the city you live in\ , in the USA?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n by 02042026 in NYC\n\n\n\n 17 died \n\n 13 hypothermia - \n\n 3 drug overdose\n\n 1 unknown\n\n\n\n citation\n\n https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2026/01/31/mayor-zohran-mamdani- snow-storm-homeless-death\n\n\n\n 13 from hypothermia which means they are out in the cold and had no where to go\, but what is more important is ho w many people became sick. PEople don't seem to comprehend that one person murdered by law enforcement is hundreds of people assaulted by law enforc ement. One person dying of hypothermia is hundreds of people sick from the cold. \n\n\n\n And the three people who drug overdosed thought that coul d heat them up. But\, how many people are trying to drink themselves warm?  \n\n\n\n New York City has problems across the board\, these deaths are the proof. But what is most telling is in a city where if a black person c ommit an illegality\, whether criminal or not\, many chime in regardless o f how uncommon the act but when the city is the culprit of a legal crime\, no words no judgements no condemnations.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n in amendment\ n\n so lietenant governor is what adrienne adams got to come in too late t o win the mayoral race but block certain strategies by Eric Adams or Andre w Cuomo\, good for her. I think she is actually a good legislator. \n\n h ttps://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/evening-briefing/2026/02/04/evening-briefi ng--feb--4--2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02142026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATION\n \n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12438-if-you-live-in-the-usa-how-many-ha ve-died-from-the-cold-in-the-city-where-you-live-in/#findComment-80116\n\n \n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   7 hours ago\, Pioneer 1 said:\n\n\n\n There seems to be 2 Black Americas:\n\n \n\n -One affecte d by crime\, poverty\, familial dysfunction\, and illegal immigration\n\n -The other....wealthy\, healthy\, well educated\, good jobs\, plenty of le isure time to enjoy themselves\, and not bothered or threatened by immigra tion at all and confused at what the argument is even over\n\n \n\n I've S EEN wealthy and well to do Black communities in the Detroit\, Atlanta\, D. C. and Atlanta area but I'm not exactly sure what they're doing to maintai n this oasis of peace and prosperity.\n\n \n\n Maybe to go school and get a good education and stay out of trouble.\n\n But millions of AfroAmerican s have TRIED that.....it doesn't always work.\n\n Yet there are millions o f AfroAmericans who have that \"magic touch\" where they bath in peace and prosperity regardless as to the economic conditions around the nation.\n\ n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n There has always been at least 2 tribes of Black p eople in the usa. When the usa was founded in the white european colonial phase of the usa\, even though ninety to ninety five percent of black peop le were enslaved completely whites\, ten to five percent of black people w ere free\, owned businesses\, was an employed laborer. \n\n\n\n You know this already. \n\n\n\n A black business owner fought alongside washington and company\, was imprisoned by england for fighting for the usa to be\, and survived and went back to his successful business.Some Black whalers i n the new england states owned their own boats. The whites of marth's vine yard were some of the earliest abolitionist and the black populace in mart ha's vineyard grew as a result. Zora Neale Hurston grew in northern florid a not far from Rosewood yet her black town was idyllic for her albeit\, su rrounded by white criminals. Armstrong Williams who grew up in South Carol ina and whose relative was murdered by whites said he never dealt with whi te bias growing up on their tobacco farm. I myself admitted a happy childh ood. My life wasn't affected by crime or fiscal poverty or dysfunctions in the home or immigrants whether legal or illegal but the biggest criminals where i lived was the local nypd precinct which was known\, by everyone [ black non black\, paraplegic\, athetist\, christian\, man \, woman ] in th is part of nyc for being dirty to the core. Drug dealers/extorionist/pimps all nypd officers and any nypd officer in that precinct who didn't aid th em or help was an illegal actor through abetting\, cause every nypd agent in there had to know.  as for poverty\, well\, in my experience\, most bl ack people in this extended part of harlem \, worked for a living\, tried to find jobs\, in a city that is not black\, is not controlled. and I nor my particular place of rearing never had a problem with black immigrants s o... \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And don't forget in your list of well to do blac k regions\, two of the biggest is in los angeles and new york city. You at lanta/dc/ detroit. The black one percent region in los angles or New york city is very wealthy\, financially. more than any other. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n And your wrong\, you and everyone black know why a minority of black p eople have maintained financial success? The same reason modern fiscally b lack wealthy regions exists is the same as in the past\, luck + white peop le allow it.\n\n\n\n The luck part is the truth of fiscal capitalism\, whi ch you know. 90% of all business\, in all demographics fail. This is a sim ple truth. 90% of nonblack business fail. 90% of black business fail. 90% of mens business fail. 90% of womens business fail. Maybe you have the fol lowing belief\, but education is not power\, education does not mean you w ill succeed in a business. Education does not mean you will not be enslave d. The elder Rockefeller whose clan has a whole business complex named aft er them downtown new york city was a failed business man. He had one oil f ield that was not producing\, living in a little shack. how did his clan g et that prominance? education? no \, power? no... Andrew Carnegie \, the s teel baron\, who was uneducated as a child\, and rowed people over the wat er between the buroughs as a child\, which is illegal today\, wanted to sa ve money on shipping his steel and so he sought to consolidate the oil ind ustry\, which at that time\, was extremely fragmented and had no internal ability to manage itself for more efficiency. Carnegie who owed no one\, w as not controlled\, invited various oil men and chose carnegie\, who from a fiscal perspective was the weakest. Carnegie chose Rockefeller because R ockefeller was the poorest\, least qualified. Carnegie knew whomever he su pported would dominate the oil industry\, but carnegie wanted to dominate the steel even more and so Carnegie got what he wanted and Rockefeller got lucky\, and with the path of luck\, the rest is history.  But it was luc k. Rockefeller has no bargaining power\, he had nothing. Everything was in carnegie's favor\, carnegie simply gave blessing. Like Oprah winfrey's bo ok club and similar actions by michelle obama or others. They say an artis t has value and a millions dollars in twenty four hours occurs. Starbucks didn't have the money to start up\, Bill gates and others gave money to th em\, through connections. again\, no one was forced. What role did educati on have in Rockefeller's relationship with Carnegie? Oprah Winfrey's relat ionship with various writers in her book club? Gates relationship with Sta rbucks? \n\n\n\n White people allow it\, is the other part\, which you al ready know? again\, what crimes or illegalities did Black Tulsa or Rosewoo d do? Unless you mean the unwritten crime of being black and having white neighbors who want to kill any happiness you have\, which is most of black people in the usa historically. what fiscal poverty did Black Tulsa or Ro sewood have? arguably they were fiscally wealthier than their white neighb ors who terrorized them out of existence. From the surviving accounts most black people in Black Tulsa or Rosewood were happy in their homes\, but t hat didn't prevent their destruction.  and lastly\, immigrants as defined by those coming to the usa from outside weren't the ones who annihilated black tulsa/rosewood/ black bronx [that was white jewish/italian/irish lan downers in the bronx] /black new orleans/ and the millions of black towns or regions of white cities annihilated by whites into a complete reboot ab sent any provocation by blacks. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The mystery to how ce rtain Blacks live in a  positive black pool in the united states of ameri ca\, isn't a mystery\, each is founded on fiscal luck + white allowance. T he sad part is blacks like you keep thinking fiscal luck + white allowance is something that can be engineered or planned in some machiavellan way. For me what is sad is what I comprehend. So many black people in the unite d states of america or the european colonies it was born from\, are so wil ling to see the usa in a positive light\, that they only way they can rati onalize black success is to keep trying to find a magical way a black pers on can make it happen\, and treat it like a strategy insteead of admitting what historically continually shows. You mention fiscally wealthy black d etroit or black atlanta or black district of columbia. When the all white counties around Detroit city\, block black people or when said places resi dents harm black people\, fiscally wealthy black detroit is willing to liv e with it. When the murdering white counties around atlanta\, that graves filled with black people are still being found in\, harm black people fisc ally wealthy black atlanta is willing to live with that. I know too many b lack people from D.C. \, the white populace of D.C. in my view is notoriou sly anti black. But wealthy black D.C. in prince george county and elsewhe re is willing to live with that. \n\n\n\n But not everybody black want to have white terror as a neighbor. What is comprehending that some unknown magic ? You have made it clear\, the usa is your home\, and the history of black people fighting for the usa is true from the usa's very founding... but you have to comprehend\, black people fought for the usa not to exist s at its very founding\, as well. So maybe if you expand your comprehensio n of the black populace in the usa you will realize how complex black peop les relationship with the usa or the non blacks in it is\, and thus nothin g is incomprehensible\, from black presidents to black people living off g rid. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said: \n\n\n\n Right. For Black men especially it takes some combination of inte lligence\, talent\, preparation\, discipline\, grit\, determination\,  ad aptability &\; survivability to be successful.\n\n\n\n Well... I have t o break up types of success when i speak of success. Financial success for black people\, male or female or young or old in the usa\, is all that yo u say. You need intelligence because fiscal capitalism breeds tricksters\, you need talent especially as most blacks don't have money or access to m oney historically when they attempt things\, preparation is good but level s of preparation are blockaded only the wealthiest can truly be prepared c ompletely in fiscal capitalsim\, discipline or grit or determination or su rvivability all are elements of purpose \, a black person's purpose must b e strong in the usa historically\, 1492 to 1865 age of enslavement had bla ck business owners who had to survive white people trying to entrap them l egally\, since black enslavement was legal\, so free blacks were legally a ble to be enslaved. so your correct:) you need all the elements of purpose in that environment. 1865 to 1980 was jim crow which was literally about restricting/diminishing/stopping all black positive activity in every city or county or state since\, the federal level deemed black people citizens now so white power could only operate through the state level and below. So yes\, black people needed elements of purpose to survive an environment where they are citizens but every city/county/state they are in has an en vironment totally designed to make their life miserable\, like being put i n jail for walking on the left side of the street on sunday. And a black p erson need adaptibility in said enslavement or jim crow eras because both eras whole point is a black persons enslavement or destruction or goading into prison. Financial success needs the factors you mention\, especially for blacks in the usa. Though I admit\, in the post jim crow\,1980 to toda y\, as white people have finally stopped the stifling anti back behavior\, black growth has blossomed\, inevitably\,  at a faster rate than ever be fore. But black growth in the usa started in 1980\, but 1492 or 1776 or 18 65 \n\n\n\n But the success of the home\, a positive home life\, doesn't require all of those things for black people in the usa. It requires first love\, which is not common  in human homes in general\, it requires pati ence. And is easier today in the post jim crow era. Unlike enslavement\, w here black homes didn't exist [ the slave quarter is not a home\, a home c an't exist for a person who can be sold at any moment n the leisure of ano ther ]\, or jim crow\, where black homes were under constant attack [betwe en white states or white cities that used eminnent domain on entire black regions or cities or black towns \, white businesses supported by white ci ty or state governments abusing black customers or clients \, white indivi duals or groups supported by white city or state governments committing ac ts of terror/assault from murder to harassment on black individuals or gro ups] on all aspects of life\, the modern era\, i will call post jim crow\, 1980 to today\, is the first time black homes don't have to deal with whi te overwhelming terror. So even though a negative heritage froom 1492 to 1 980 has to be slowly ebbed out\, black people's homes I argue are doing we ll\, for such a negative legacy that they was imposed on them by the non b lack. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But I think success financially is not the succ ess of the home. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\,  Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Some Black folks seem to be \"immune\" to racism and the other social problems that affect other Black people.\n\n\n\n it isn't \, if you read my original segment to you in this post\, then you re alize the word is uncaring. History has as fat that some\, a small minorit y of black people\, were willing to fight alongside whites who publicly ad mitted they felt every black person should be enslaved. so is it so hard t o see that that same minority\, scale up for population growth over time\, is willing to live alongside whites as positively\, with whites in modern ity on average being far less terrible to black people than their forebear s.  But\, like in the past\, did most blacks have the willingness to live alongside whites? NO! did most free blacks? no... rememebr \, in the seco nd white european global imperial war\, commonly called erroneously world war two\, black newspapers in majority wanted to tell black people to stay out of any positive engagement to that war... but white powers\, had a me eting and the V's were up. Most black people in the usa before 1980 at the least\, have always been anti USA or anti white but that never meant all black people. \n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n That's what racists do....they fuck up your program.\n\n\n\n sometimes they murde r you too... death does stop alot of programs. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Sometimes I wonder if some of these \ "magical negroes\" are just illusions or phantoms designed to confuse you and make you wonder \"why them\"????\n\n\n\n well... I have asked the foll owing in the past and I realize it will never happen\, for as a black woma n replied then\, you want the world to fall. But\, I think what can help y our query is revealing how many black people were agents of the three lett er folk from 1940s to today. I am 100% certain if the names of every black agent to the cia/fbi/or other similar was revealed it would expose connec tions to alot of black people with money today\, if not them\, black benef actors to them. I have proof of nothing\, but I know of four things\, two for a fact and two through an unconfirmed source. \n\n\n\n The two facts\ n\n\n\n - a bodyguard to malcolm x was an agent\n\n\n\n - an associate to fred hampton was an agent\n\n\n\n The two unconfirmed\, I wish I could pro ve\, but I believe\n\n\n\n - the three letter people infiltrated every sin gle organization in the usa\, every single organization\n\n\n\n -the three letter people killed more people since 1980 than any government army\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n These four things if the unconfirmed two are true\, lead to an inevitable reality. That all populaces in the usa have a corrupt one p ercent \, a minority of wealthy \, whose crimes against their own have nev er been admitted or revealed but has protected them from white power cause they are agents of white power. \n\n\n\n Again\, I can't prove anything so as per the USA and its law room culture\, absent proof\, the ignorant/h opeful can be allowed to believe in better. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In Amendm ent\n\n\n\n I think of the Vietnam war documentary from ken burns in PBS. Vietnam war ended circa 1974  so that is fifty two years ago\, over half a century\, over two generations or twenty years\, and yet\, redactions/cr ossouts were still needed on content? why? agents in vietnam? working for the usa? or maybe people whose wealth in vietnam came from agents working for the usa? I wonder what some people in vietnam would do if others in vi etnam were revealed to be agents to the usa? I wonder. .... \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n 02182026 \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/ tc/topic/12438-if-you-live-in-the-usa-how-many-have-died-from-the-cold-in- the-city-where-you-live-in/#findComment-80180\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted ju st now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n   On 2/16/2026 at 8:15 PM\, Pioneer 1 said:\n\n\n\n Thanks for reminding me.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n pleasure\n\n\ n\n   On 2/16/2026 at 8:15 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n I know New York harbors a large wealthy Black population\, but outside of entertainers li ke athletes and actors....where is the large Black wealth in Los Angeles?\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Perhaps it was the circles I was in but the few times I went to Los Angeles\, the majority of Black folks I saw there were living the street life.  Either homeless or criminals.\n\n There were a few wea lthy Black lawyers and doctors but the overwhelming majority of wealthy Bl ack folks I saw in LA were in the entertainment industry and despite what you see on television\, they make up only a tiny part of Los Angeles' popu lation.\n\n Most of the Black folks there were on or in the streets.\n\n O r locked up.\n\n\n\n \n\n Detroit\, Atlanta\, and D.C. each have more Blac k people with good jobs and moderate wealth than Los Angeles has.\n\n Alth ough the Black wealthy in Los Angeles probably have a much higher per capi ta income because they tend to be entertainers instead of corporate and go vernment workers.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n Los angeles is the city of ent ertainment? hollywood right? beverly hills right? The entertainment indust ry in los angeles whites say makes 500\,000 jobs. I am 100% certain the te ch sector in los angeles\, the real estate industry in los angeles\, the a erospace and defense don't hire that many. So... I am  alittle confused t o how you view entertainment as a business. You can't discount the enterta iners in los angeles. Does anyone discount the number of white entertainer s in los angeles? why are black entertainers: musicians/athletes/thespians / similar discountable for black wealth? \n\n\n\n ... the majority of all people in any big city are poor. You think most whites in nyc own a busin ess? most white asians in NYC don't own a business or are employed legally .  most white latinos in nyc don't own a business and are not employed in NYC. again\, i sense uneven approaches. \n\n\n\n I imagine the majority of most wealthy people in los angeles are in the entertainment business ca use the city has a huge entertainment industry. What financial logic do yo u use? Are you suggesting black people in los angeles should be farmers?  \n\n\n\n Well\, I don't know where your from or where you live but in NYC\ , Los angeles has never been viewed as majority black. Sections of los ang eles are majority black\, but los angeles has always been described in nyc media as majority white\, white anglos + white latinos. \n\n\n\n \"good jobs\" oh Pioneer... i must remember you have an extreme negative bias tow ards black entertainers. \n\n\n\n What is the fiscal range in your opinio n of what you call moderate wealth?  Absent that lets look at the cities in question. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The black populace in detroit is circa 7 6% of the total in the city\, circa 490\,000\n\n\n\n the black populace in atlanta is circa 46% of the total in the city \, circa 235\,000\n\n\n\n t he black populace in district of columbia is circa 43% of the total in the district\, circa 291\,000\n\n\n\n the black populace in los angeles is ci rca 8.5% of the total in the city circa 329\,000\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Well.. . The black populace of Los Angeles is \, taking out detroit which is an o dd city\, bigger than the black populace of any of those places you mentio ned. So los angeles based on quantity has a higher chance of having more p eople in all fiscal levels than atlanta or d.c. To detroit... detroit is a n oddity in the united states of america. Detroit at the height of the aut omotive industry was overhwelmingly white\, but when the auto industry cha nged is industrial behavior + white flight\, detroit became majority black in a big way. Wayne county around Detroit is as white as detroit city is black. so...Detroit is arguably the only city north of mason dixie that ha d or has one million people in it in the history of the usa that is majori ty black. Philadelphia had the biggest black populace of any city but phil adelphia was never majority black. NYC has the largest black populace of a ny city but was never majority black. A number of southern cities have bee n majority black\, but detroit is the only northern city I can think of so ... Detroit is an oddity\, demographically. I can imagine detroit as a maj ority black city \, in the north\, has a larger percentage of varied black wealth\, not just your hated black entertainers.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   O n 2/16/2026 at 8:15 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n What other LOGICAL and V IABLE choice do these Black enclaves have BUT to live with it?\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Ahhh PEr this forum we all tend to find ourselves in our discourse back where our forebears were when the usa was being founded. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n logic/meaning reason/ meaning thinking is a dangerous word. The problem with logic as a word is logic doesn't mean conclusion\, logic mea ns thinking. \n\n\n\n So you ask what other thinking choice do black encl aves have but to live with it? \n\n\n\n The answer is the eternal one\, t hey have infinite choices\, as all human beings do. The question is not th e choices\, the question is what are they willing to live with. the positi ve or negative actions after\, more commonly called consequences plus pros equences. \n\n\n\n When people jumped off the enslaved boats to their dea th\, over the atlantic ocean \, the resting home of 90% of our enslaved fo rebears\, they were logical. They were thinking\, they were not illogical\ , but they didn't come up with the reasoning the logic that others who cou ld had jumped and didn't came up with. \n\n\n\n The question is right or wrong? and the answer is no right or wrong exists. Humans are free to choo se. I repeat\, when the irish republican army \, only 500 people\, for the record\, a very small minority of irish\, blew up everything and everyone \, including other irish people to get england to give up ireland as a dom inion\, they were logical. they were reasoning\, they were thinking. I arg ue\, 99% of irish didn't come up or like their thinking\, but not liking a nothers thinking doesn't make it illogical. It is all logic. \n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Now viability\, a thing via\, from the latin vita which means life . What choice is best to live? well\, first the history of white terror in the usa proves no choice black people make guarantees safety from white v iolence in the usa. The parents of george stinney did the viable thing whe n their son was executed absent any level of legal evenness.  His parents didn't burn or attack anything and continued to live in south carolina\, never even leaving the state so.... making a viable choice does not preclu de a positive choice. One can argue that stinney's relative being the firs t black attorney general of south carolina is some sort of balance\, but I find that an ugly viewing. black PEople in the present/future of the usa don't balance the past suffering by black people in the usa by getting job s. Nothing brings back a dead body. Nothing will repair Black Tulsa. Nothi ng will rebuild Rosewood. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So\, based on history in th e usa \, the most viable thing black enclaves in the usa can do in the usa is accept/tolerate [they are not the same words but the severity of the s ituation means either word is used based on how a black person sees this s cenario] white terror or white power \, whether terrible or irritating or any in between. \n\n\n\n But\, viability doesn't mean positivity. And via bility doesn't have to be considered for logic or thought.  \n\n\n\n    On 2/16/2026 at 8:15 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Since....unlike Black America....they are a relatively sovereign nation\, they can do with them as they please.\n\n\n\n not relatively\, china is a powerful country\, vi etnam like many countries about china in modernity are militaristically tr ying to figure out how to serve china + the usa\, taiwans biggest trading partner is still china so even taiwan is trying to serve both countries. N ot easy for little countries to be about powerful ones\, ask Cuba. \n\n\n \n Black america is for black americans which is the black DOS + black ind igenous [not all indigenous people are black] populaces from modern day ca nada to argentina. \n\n\n\n Black USA is not soveriegn but the usa is a m ajority white country so \, black USA will never have the populace to not have such agents in them. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   On 2/16/ 2026 at 8:31 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n As a result of the Vietnam war\, t here's a whole lot of Vietnamese Americans in the USA. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n War is big business. A lot of wealth is generated &\; transferred as a result of it.\n\n\n\n wait a minute\, don't blame the vietnam war for im migration of vietnamese. The culprit for all immigration in the usa has be en fiscally wealthy whites. In Vietnamese case in Louisiana and Arabs case in Michigan\, whites hated the demographic makeup of big city oddities: n ew orleans + detroit city and saw an opportunity to change the demographic s of these black regions of these white states and also get immigrant popu laces who spend alot of money and as modernity proves are in a more legall y convenient situation for white power than DOSers. It was not the vietnam war. For the world is full of war zones. Afghans were not invited en mass e when the usa was supporting afghans opposing russia as the soviet union.  \n\n\n\n And yes war is big business\, so is peace though. The differenc e between war and peace is not that either isn't big business\, but that w ar which is negative in nature\, destructive in nature\, allows for positi ve opportunities very hard to come by in peace\, in parallel\, peace which is positive in nature\, constructive in nature\, allows for negative oppo rtunities very hard to come by in war. Both are fiscal prudent\, just have different natures. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n   On 2/17/2 026 at 4:06 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n I remember going down there year s ago and seeing them down there by the thousands and wondering how they g ot down there and why?\n\n They were war refugees and their descendants.\n \n\n\n you already knew why\, they were there for the same reason a repres entative of the louisiana state legislature said after katrina devastated New Orleans that god did what we couldn't. Whites in louisiana have always tried to destroy new orleans. Like new york city's relationship to the re st of new york state\, new orleans relationship to the rest of louisiana i s misaligned. the reason being both cities\, new york city or new orleans weren't started by the english heritage. New York city doesn't get its mul tiracial heritage from the english but from the dutch. the dutch like all white europeans had a very imperial nature\, but the dutch were used to mu ltiracial life in europe to succeed financially\, which the english were n ot. the english were made up of many peoples but have a heritage of cultur al destruction of peoples in england to make one. while holland is used to cultural complexitiy in itself to survive the french/english/german bulli es that rubbed off in NYC\, which is the most culturally complex city inte rnally of all cities in humanity. New Orleans has a similar problem\, when the whites from haiti arrived in new orleans \, after the haitian freeing \, they embraced slavery but had embraced a simple idea that blacks are no t bound to enslavement forever. So in new orleans pathways to freedom exis ted that when the usa buys the louisiana purchase \, the whites coming fro m the states were philosophically opposed to new orleans multiracial way. which has never left the rest of louisiana. \n\n\n\n The states in the us a are to often viewed to crudely. Some are small or simple. A delaware\, a conneticutt\, a wisconsin dont have the largest populaces\, are monoracia l in majority but some states are messy\, complex\, california/new york/ m ichigan/florida/texas ... they have regions which are in conflict with eac h other. Because of the federalism from lincoln onward\, states don't have the internal battles they used to so it seems foreign to many who don't k now usa history or dismiss usa history for modern perceptions. \n\n\n\n I argue Nagin should had called for new orleans to be its own state in the union after the actions of louisiana\, but he didn't have the courage or w isdom or strategic skill for that \, which would be required as many in th e usa\, don't like ideas in government that demand true thoughtfulness. Th at Pax\, peace of the usa is built on not rocking the boat. \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n 02182026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/t opic/12438-if-you-live-in-the-usa-how-many-have-died-from-the-cold-in-the- city-where-you-live-in/#findComment-80186\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD \n\ n\n\n \n On 2/18/2026 at 8:41 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n The larges t number of Vietnamese refugees came to the USA after the fall of Saigon b etween 1975-1980.😎\n \n \n\n\n\n right but rich whites are why the imm igration was allowed. if rich whites didn't want vietnamese in\, for whate ver reason... it doesn't have to be financial or it can be demographic\, v ietnamese wouldn't be in. . The vietnamese did not get in cause they wante d it\, they were allowed in. that is the point. it isn't wars or the fall of saigon or anything else. When the usa left vietnam with vietnamese hang ing on to the helicopters\, that proves my point. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 022 02026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/124 38-if-you-live-in-the-usa-how-many-have-died-from-the-cold-in-the-city-whe re-you-live-in/#findComment-80217\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n \n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n   14 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n You com pare Los Angeles with Detroit by highlighting the Black populations of bot h cities without factoring in the NON-BLACK populations and how that affec ts the success (or lack there of) of each city.\n\n\n\n A high Black popul ation with a low non-Black population....such as places like Detroit\, Atl anta\, and D.C....ensures more Black success because there is less competi tion WITH that Black population.\n\n As opposed to Los Angeles with millio ns of Whites and Latinos conspiring together to keep Black success to a mi nimum.\n\n\n\n Not compare I quote myself \n\n\n\n   14 hours ago\, Pi oneer1 said:\n\n\n\n The black populace of Los Angeles is \, taking out d etroit which is an odd city\,\n\n\n\n I said that for a reason. I was taki ng Detroit out of comparison with los angeles because it is such a unique example. Detroit is an oddity. First most cities/towns that are majority b lack are in former confederate states\, where said states have a instituti onalized anti black ness. New Orleans or Baton Rouge lousiiana/Jackson Mis sissippi /montgomery alabama  or similar are majority black cities but th e states they are in have a huge heritage of anti black. Michigan isn't pr o black but Michigan is northern\, it isn't as anti black as louisiana. Se cond\, detroit's percentage of the whole who are black is in the rare rang e. Most cities in the usa that have a certain total quantity\, don't have anywhere near the percentage of black as detroit. So... I wasn't dismissin g detroit\, I just think detroit is uncomparable to any other city in the usa when it comes to the scene the black populace has in it. For me atlant a or district of columbia can't be put aside detroit because the larger en vironment is too anti black in atlanta or D.C. Those white counties about atlanta or D.C. make me think of Black Tulsa or Rosewood all the time. Way ne county that detroit sits in is anti black\, but they tend to be more ha nds off with detroit overall. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And remember your origi nal point was that los angeles had questionable levels of success \, and I refuted that. White man says the wealthiest black region /community is in los angeles\, not prince george county for d.c. \, not the rich black sub urb about atlanta. I never suggested los angeles is an ideal place or blac k people should model our activities from the black people in los angeles\ , but you asserted an financial impotency in black los angeles that I don' t think is true. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I concur that black activity should go to where black percentages are more advantaged. It helps with votes for government\, it helps with overall communal energy. But Black Los angeles finance based on entertainment isn't a knock down or lesser than because black los angeles will never have the role or access to government than bl ack atlanta or moreover\, in Detroit. I think black l.a. has its positives . \n\n\n\n   14 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Choose what?\n\n C omplacency over annihilation?\n\n  \n\n\n\n Outside of Divine Help.....wh ich is Real but we don't control it.....what other \"choices\" do subjugat ed people have?\n\n\n\n I repost what I said \n\n\n\n   On 2/18/2026 at 7:08 PM\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n I repeat\, when the irish republi can army \, only 500 people\, for the record\, a very small minority of ir ish\, blew up everything and everyone\, including other irish people to ge t england to give up ireland as a dominion\, they were logical. they were reasoning\, they were thinking. I argue\, 99% of irish didn't come up or l ike their thinking\, but not liking anothers thinking doesn't make it illo gical. It is all logic. \n\n\n\n Many peoples in humanity 2026 are subjug ated\, some fight\, albeit disadvantaged\, some try to assimilate to their bully  [black dos for the most part]\, some try to flee to a new shore [ that is white zionist]. And more options exist. Their are options. Nothin g is easy. Nothing is simple. But options exist.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   14 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Are you serious or joking?\n\n\n\n W ell\, I didn't make a suggestion absent explaining why did it happen. That is a complete thought. Making an assertion to the past absent explaining why it did or did not happen is incomplete. I don't know what is joking or serious about my suggestion. The usa has a history of states being made o ut of former ones. And the reason why those states were made fits new orle ans \, new yorks\, arguably\, detroits problem as well. The part of a stat e needs are being undercut by another part of the state.  Small states ex ist. Conneticut or delaware aren't huge in size. D.C. isn't a state but is very tiny and an administrative region. I think new orleans \, new york\, detroit\, as states in the union would help them. it would hurt louisiana /new york state/michigan but ....I argue louisiana has shown itself to be an enemy of New Orleans from Katrina onward. A city \, especially one majo rity one race can not thrive in a state majority another race. Survive yes \, do decent yes\, but not thrive or strive. And at least\, no black city in the usa from rosewood onward has been able to survive  white oppressio n/terror in various forms. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02232026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12438-if-you-live-in-the-usa -how-many-have-died-from-the-cold-in-the-city-where-you-live-in/#findComme nt-80286\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   On 2/21/202 6 at 1:49 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Also unlike New York and even Chic ago\, Detroit has a lot of single family houses with front and back yards that Black people from down South are used to.\n\n They like the spacious living that you don't find in New York or Philly.\n\n\n\n I didn't know th is about detroit\, i love architecture so thank you. \n\n\n\n   On 2/21 /2026 at 1:49 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n I wouldn't want to live in a p lace were any nigga walking down the street can just reach in and GRAB my lady's ass if the window is open....lol.\n\n\n\n Why don't you write for 5 0 cent\, you can definitely write the stories that work in his fiction\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/21/2026 at 1:49 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n App arently you don't know as much about the Detroit area as you THINK you do. ...lol.\n\n\n\n Detroit is not only Black but even many of it's SUBURBS ar e Black too\, including those in Wayne and Oakland counties.\n\n\n\n Wayne county has over a half dozen other Black cities in it like Inkster\, Rive r Rouge\, and Highland Park.\n\n Wayne county also has an AfroAmerican She riff and Prosecutor\n\n\n\n No I don't. I know some other suburbs in wayne county were black but i was unaware to the sheriff prosecutor or other. T hat is a good sign. \n\n\n\n   On 2/21/2026 at 1:49 PM\, Pioneer1 sai d:\n\n\n\n \n\n Not only is that highly unlikely but it's highly unadvisab le.\n\n It's not big enough and doesn't have enough resources for statehoo d.\n\n\n\n wait a minute\, rhode island is small. it is said to have circa 1545 square miles. in land only is circa 1\,034 square miles. the metropo litan new orleans area is circa 3\,755. Now the city proper is circa 350 s quare miles. So in terms of land\, if the city goes with its metropolitan area\, it passes the minimum. But as for resources\, even just New Orleans proper doesn't have any more or less resources than rhode island. \n\n\n \n I said before\, it wasn't likely\, that wasn't my point. My point was t he solution for new orleans and new york city is statehood. And the reason being is simply the disconnect between either city and the states they ar e apart of. \n\n\n\n You know\, when KAtrina hit\, what did whites towns in the remainder of louisiana do? did they help the black residents of new orleans? no\, they stood on the road with guns to prevent black people fl eeing a natural disaster from coming in their white towns. that is louisia na. I can't believe you don't see the truth in that. the governor of Lousi ana was fully in support of ripping black people from new orleans taking t hem to all sorts of places in the usa\, many or most to never return. Why couldn't the white governor of louisiana ask for the more affordable optio n of housing the blacks of new orleans among the white towns of louisiana? why cause ... he doesn't like blacks. \n\n\n\n How can't you see that si mple truth? and as i know you love the law\, the law wasn't broken by whit e people standing on their property with guns\, but it was definitely a me ssage. \n\n\n\n Again\, my point isn't that it will happen\, but it is cl early the only solution for new orleans as a black city to thrive. white L ouisiana limits black new orleans\, this is a proven fact in near history so separation is the only solution for long term large betterment of black new orleans. There is no shame admitting what needs to happen can't happe n. But no shame also exist in admitting nothng else but what needs to happ en will work. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02232026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation \ n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12438-if-you-live-in-the-usa-how-many-h ave-died-from-the-cold-in-the-city-where-you-live-in/#findComment-80296\n\ n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n But Profd\, your not mentionin g the sequence in the dialog between me and pioneer. you quote me but don' t refer to the issue i am referring. No one questioned the financial influ encers\, me nor pioneer.\n\n\n\n the steps were as follows. \n\n\n\n 1)  I said new orleans need to be its own state\, I didn't say it will happen\ , but I said it was needed based on near history \, at the least. ... new orleans is the state where white people threw dynamite at fellow whites in the mississippi river and blew them up for being northerners... so whites of louisiana ... anyway\n\n\n\n 2) pionner then says\, it will never happ en and then added it isn't big enough or have the resources. \n\n\n\n 3) i replied that it is big enough as a metropolitan space and has no more or less resources than rhode island\, deleting the claim of it being geograp hically or resource wise invalid. and I repeated I didn't say it would hap pen but it is needed. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n No one questioned the financial vultures on the pain of Black New Orleans. But the reality is\, gardless of the money\, black new orleans need to be its own state. Any action thro ugh the government will not work\, why ?the constitution gives all powers not mentioned to the federal government to the states\, not the counties\, not the cities. so state level power is mandatory for certain levels of t hings. You can't get around that legally\, unless you are going to change the federal law to extend state powers to counties and cities which i am 1 00% will have a lot of opposition and not just from the money but the poor who comprehend the complexity of that. and the usa is never been good at complexity. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Now if your arguing\, find a way for the financial sector to make new orleans become a state. You need to say that first and foremost\, that should not be implied by \" follow the money\" B ut\, the problems with that is nature of most fiscal concerns in the usa t oday are publicly traded\, which means they are global in citizenship view \, which means they are against the adding of governmental layers of burea ucracy. If anything all... most of the business concerns want is an end to louisiana and just a federal government. That will make it more profitabl e. so\, I don't see any financially feasible path for monied concerns to l ead the way in new orleans becoming its own state. The fact that new orlea ns would be a city state also means they don't have the land to offer busi ness concerns. I can see maybe the crypto currency people if new orleans h ad lots of land to give\, but it doesn't\, no city state does have lots of land to give\, historically. that is why they are called city states.  a nd Most city states\, today\, Monaco/SIngapore/macau/hong kong/really smal l islands in the caribbean  are city states because of circumstances. hon g Kong and Macau was made because china was impotent and the english and p rotuguese wanted trading cities in strategic locations. China would never have made that deal if strong. Many details. Monaco sits between france an d italy  and in a way spain\, an area at one time  of countless wars so monaco wasin a war zone. kind of like the cities in Kashmir. and out of th at to modernity came monaco . \n\n\n\n New Orleans doesn't have a situati on to aid it\, it can only literally use the legal system in the usa which allows for states to be made.\n\n\n\n the constitution says\n\n\n\n https ://legalclarity.org/how-does-a-new-state-become-a-state/\n\n\n\n https://c onstitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-4/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n New St ates may be admitted by the Congress into this Union\; but no new State sh all be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State\; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States\, or Parts of St ates\, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n so what does this mean? \n\n\ n\n Detroit + New Orleans as parts of states\, with the consent of the lou siiana + michigan state legislatures + the congress can become a new state . \n\n\n\n Now legally\, I argue\, both cities as black cities can make a n argument that the state legislatures of michigan + louisiana based on th eir makeup \, as mostly white\, and the history of their legsilation which is mostly anti black\, have a bias that would never consent to the creati on of the new state\, thus demands legal interpretation of article 4\, whi ch when it was made didn't consider the needs of black municipalities in t he usa in white states. I think it is an even argument. And not all states are physically contiguous so that isn't a problem. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 0 2252026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/124 38-if-you-live-in-the-usa-how-many-have-died-from-the-cold-in-the-city-whe re-you-live-in/#findComment-80319\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD  \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:47 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I didn't thin k about the rules to posting in your threads.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   very funny\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/23/2026 at 9:47 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n \n Black cities cannot become states because they do not have enough Black -owned private industry to sustain them.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n If the white b usinesses/employers oull up stakes &\; leave where would the black folk s work?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The state would have to produce enough tax reve nue to sustain itself &\; qualify for federal funds too. \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n Small states i.e. Delaware\, Rhode Island\, Vermont\, Connecticut\, Wyoming\, Utah\, etc.\, have on thing in common. \n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\ n\n Well\, in the usa in 2026\, all states in the usa get a welfare check every year from the federal government\, without that federal check even C alifornia\, which is touted \, correctly\, as the wealthiest state in the union\, would have to go into receivership. So a black state would get by law\, the same welfare check from the federal government. \n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n Every major city or city with the populace of New Orleans or more \, biggest employer is the city itself. Detroit's biggest employer is detroit city\, nyc biggest employer is nyc\, los angeles biggest employer is los angeles city. No major city in the usa today has a bigger employer than it self. And every city gets money from the state\, but if New Orleans is a c ity-state then instead of what new orleans get because of louisiana\, whic h is white\, the federal government would give new orleans\, and if the le gal system is still running then new orleans as a state can go to court if being treated unevenly to other states\, and even the constitutionalists would have to vote in favor of new orleans. going back to article 4 of the constitution. \n\n\n\n Now as for private business in new orleans\, well ... pipeline\, goes through new orleans\, but the city gets a tax from tha t. And the pipeline isn't going anywhere. The pipeline will be against it cause it is another tax but if New Orleans gets through the stated legal s ituation to be a state the pipeline can't go anywhere. Next is the french quarter... moving a building is not cheap. Let alone finding a place for i t. If they leave the buildings they can go but that will leave all the fre nch quarter buildings for the city. The city can make laws in contingency for this. Let alone that many buildings in the french quarter are under hi storic preservation licenses so the city can use that to manage the buildi ngs new owners of if city owned new use.  The new orleans saints can move \, though i think the nfl demands the other owners vote to allow these thi ngs which is expensive\, and if the new state can provide a better scenari o than louisiana\,  the owner of will stay. The whites of cajun country w ill not want to leave\, they are tied to cajun country and if anything\, a number of them will probably want to join new orleans the state if new or leans the state can make in its state law something cajuns have always wan ted from english speaking louisiana and that is stronger protections for c ajuns who are generally fiscally poor  on their historic land.  So... fi rst the city is the biggest employer\, but as for white businesses\, all b ut pipelines can leave as you suggest but each is expensive. You seem to s uggest money will just be made\, I don't think so. it is 2026. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Lastly\, yes\, small states tend to be ninety percent and above white\, but the point of this stream wasn't to suggest new orleans \, a b lack city\, or detroit\, a black city\, will become a state. The point was to state the truth\, that is  detroit/new orleans/ and even white new yo rk city\, financially needs is a separation from the states they are in be cause each one of them is demographically too other from the rest of the s tate they are in.  Each one of them is stymied\, financially\, by that tr uth\, that only statehood can free them from. Again\, the first projects i n the usa were in NYC\, NYC's plan\, all white government\, was to place t he projects upstate new york\, the diea was to keep the city white but off er places for the poor\, the poor being mostly white themselves though peo ple in the usa still don't comprehend most poor people are actually white in the usa\, upstate. The proof is that the first projects in nyc to this day have never had anybody black in them and the white people in them are fiscally poor. But the white towns upstate new york have always hated/disl iked/distrusted the \, and I quote\, the rotters of NYC. the law abiding w hite towns of upstate new york didn't want poor people of any kind and as NYC's population blew up with fiscally poor nonwhites\, from here there or everywhere\, NYC made more projects in NYC. But NYC was always at upstate ny states mercy because the governor of New York's main voting base isn't NYC\, it is all the law abiding white towns above new york city that got or get away with killing/harming/injuring black people in the past to this day. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So I end with my point\, no financial argument to new orleans not becoming a state for its betterment holds any water. \ n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260204 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 33 01/29/2026 DTSTAMP:20260129T161751Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:637-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n MY PROSE BEFORE THE ARTICLE IN QUESTION\n\n\n\n When I th ink about what I read from @Troy the owner of AALBC and then from Wannaby the CEO of Deviantart. I realize the assessment of websites has an intere sting history. First\, what is speculation. Speculation is a thing that lo oks. In finance this doesn't mean even financial assessment\, it means tho se with the power to rate or rank different items in the market place deci de on their own agendas what has value or not. The Website formerly called Twitter(TWFCT - pronounced twofist)\, has the largest expanse of small te xt blocks\, of any website. but does it really make any money? Deviantart is speculated at less value than TWFCT but is it really? I am on TWFCT as well as Deviantart and if I am blunt\, TWFCT has no value. 99.99% of the c ontent of TWFCT is trash\, daily ramblings that are usually repeats. While Deviantart is mostly art: photographs of sewing-crotchet-sculpture-cospla y -and many other physical craft /screenplays/poems/photographic arts[blac k and white or color]/fractal art. Deviantart for me is one of the few web sites i actually enjoy for itself. Twitter's strength is the volume of use rs\,like tiktok\, like facebook and other members of the meta clan of webs ites. But very little quality in their posts. But the speculators for webs ites don't bother with post quality\, they bother with volume of users. \ n\n\n\n If my experience getting others to create has an result\, it is ho w hard it is to get people to create. People can complain/bitch/argue/yell through the internet easily. That is done a lot and treated as natural or positive in most places online. But getting people to actually create\, u se their imagination. Build something with more than just their pulpit pas sions is very challenging\, in my experience. So... I end my prose saying to all to assess the quality of where you are online. Yes\, the fiscal env ironment allows for fiscal assessment of websites to be dysfunctional or i mbalanced because it has no rules. Like with the evaluation of stocks and many other things\, the speculators are not presenting a balanced fiscal t ruth but an agenda driven scenario to keep wealth or value in certain spac es or ways. It is that simple. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation \n\n\n\n htt ps://www.deviantart.com/wannabby/journal/Transformation-complete-NEW-growt h-level-unlocked-1291193085\n\n\n\n THOUGHTS FROM THE CEO OF DEVIANTART\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n DeviantArt turned 25 this past year and celebrated over 1 00 million registered users. To be precise we’re approaching 110 million users!\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n That is no small feat for an online art communi ty founded in 2000\, born on the early web\, predating Facebook\, Reddit\, and other social networks\, and stubbornly remaining the devious nexus of the internet for artists and art lovers from all walks of life and places .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n It hasn’t always been a smooth ride\, and we’ve f aced our fair share of challenges along the way. But as we celebrate our q uarter century and step into the next phase of our journey\, I can proudly say that DeviantArt is more alive and vibrant than ever before.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I joined the company nine years ago following the Wix acquisiti on - first as COO\, and for the last four years as CEO. I want to share a bit about where we started and how we’re doing today\, especially for th ose who might’ve seen commentary about DeviantArt from people reacting f rom a distance\, rather than from experience.\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n “But\, someone on the internet said that DeviantArt is… dying.”\n\n\n\n \n It’s a convenient web troll narrative. It’s also dead wrong.\n \n\n \n\n Let’s address this ridiculous nonsense once and for all. There has been no “downfall of DeviantArt\,” nor any mass exodus. Quite the oppo site\; today\, the community is larger than ever. \n\n\n\n Around the tim e of the Wix acquisition\, we had roughly 36 million registered users. Now \, we’re approaching 110 million - more than 3X growth in our user base. Let that sink in.\n\n\n\n As we wrap up our 25th year\, let me be abundan tly clear:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n DeviantArt hasn’t just survived. Devia ntArt is growing faster and more deliberately than we have in a long\, lon g time. \n \n\n\n\n After years of rebuilding\, we have officially complet ed a full transformation: of network\, product\, and business.\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n As you may have figured out by now\, I’m not going to sugarcoat anything in this post. I’m planting a freaking huge flag at the top of t he peak we’ve climbed.\n\n \n\n And the best part? The story is just sta rting.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n First\, the hard truth: The network DID declin e… for too many years\n\n\n\n For a long stretch in the 2010s\, DeviantA rt wasn’t growing the way it should have.\n\n The decline wasn’t a sin gle “exodus” moment where everyone left overnight. It was more like a slow bleed: daily network signals gradually trending down\, year after yea r\, after year. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Here’s what that looked like in our core network signals from 2013 to 2019:\n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n\n (Network decline: Daily Unique Watcher s and Favers\, Jan 2013–Jun 2019)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Alongside the decli ning network\, our business model wasn’t anything to brag about either. Most of the business revenue came from third-party ads\, essentially “re nting out” creators’ art to earn pennies on ad clicks that ultimately just sent users off the platform and worsened the bleed.  \n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n That period matters because it sets the context for what comes next: \n\n We weren’t dealing with a community that disappeared. We were deali ng with a platform that needed rebuilding - technically\, product-wise\, a nd strategically - so that the community could thrive again.\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n 2017-2025: Nine years of rebuilding\, in three phases\n\n\n\n Phase 1: Stop the bleeding (2017-2019)\n\n\n\n With the Wix acquisition of Devia ntArt\, a new era began. The priority was blunt and urgent: stabilize\, mo dernize\, and reverse the decline. That’s what drove Eclipse: a new core experience\, stronger foundations\, and a push to make DeviantArt feel re levant and usable again. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And yes\, some people still miss the old “dA.” But nostalgia isn’t a strategy\, and it definitel y doesn’t scale. The platform was outdated\, suffering from a lack of in novation and investment that held the network back.\n\n\n\n \n Like it or not\, DeviantArt Eclipse is what kicked off the network turnaround and re growth. \n \n\n\n\n Of course\, no platform is perfect. We're realistic t hat Eclipse had its issues\, and we've spent the years since relentlessly correcting mistakes and iterating based on community feedback.\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Phase 2: Rebuild the network (2019-2023)\n\n\n\n After Eclipse lau nched\, we iterated relentlessly. Product and UX improvements\, alongside continued significant engineering and ML infra investment\, helped pull en gagement back up. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n A new generation of creators and ar t lovers found their home on DeviantArt. Starting in 2019\, daily active u sers on DeviantArt began climbing steadily\, and core network signals (inc luding submissions\, watches\, comments\, and faves) shifted into consiste nt\, sustained growth. And finally\, in 2023\, we completely removed third -party ads from the platform. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Remember those same cor e signals that declined for years? After all our blood\, sweat\, and tears \, they turned - and by the end of 2025\, fundamental engagement actions l ike “Watch” (following a creator) and “Fave” activity aren’t onl y back\; they’re trending up with sustained momentum.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This is the part that matters for anyone who thinks “DA is dying”:\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n A dying platform doesn’t steadily climb in the fundamen tals of a creator network. A dying platform doesn’t rebuild trust with l ong-time members while becoming appealing to a whole new generation.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n That’s exactly what we did with DeviantArt.\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n \n From June 2019 to December 2025\, DeviantArt saw a 4X increase in Daily Unique Watchers\, and a 2.5X increase in Daily Unique Favers.\n \n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And here’s the full arc: down (2013-2019)\, then back u p\, and now building unstoppable momentum.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n\n (DeviantArt Network Growt h: Daily Unique Watchers and Favers\, Jan 2013–Dec 2025)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n Phase 3: Monetization becomes an engine (2023-2025)\n\n\n\n Over the l ast two and half years\, we did something that has changed the trajectory of the platform.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n We stopped treating creators' monetiza tion as a side-set of isolated features and started treating it as a core part of DeviantArt’s value proposition: building a real creator economy powered by a true creative network. That shift went hand-in-hand with the decision we made back in 2023 to remove ads completely. Instead of promoti ng advertisers\, we decided to promote our monetizing creators.\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n Seems obvious now\, but when you generate billions of page views monthly and need to pay expensive AWS bills\, quick ad money isn’t easil y let go.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Make no mistake. It has been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made: tying our success as a company to the success of our users.\n\n\n\n \n Today\, DeviantArt makes money when our artists make money. \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n While the IGs and TikToks of the worl d are still chasing ad clicks and selling your data\, we're betting on our artists\, the way a true creative network should.\n\n There’s not a sin gle day I look at the platform and don’t think\, “Good riddance to f*c king ads!”\n\n  \n\n\n\n Helping creators succeed is a much better focu s and mission\, and one that we are very proud of as a company.\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n Monetization: We didn’t just experiment\, we proved the model.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This 25-year anniversary is a symbolic moment\, but the transformation is measurable.\n\n\n\n We proved that creator monetization works\, not as a side feature\, but as an engine. We moved from “this s hould work someday” to “this works now\,” with real\, sustained grow th behind it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n In 2025\, creators sold over $23 mill ion on DeviantArt\, 11X more than in 2022.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n In fac t\, in 2025\, creators sold more on DeviantArt than they did in the previo us FIVE years combined! \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And the most important par t is what it signifies: DeviantArt is no longer rebuilding just to become sustainable. We’re scaling from a foundation that works\, a foundation t hat’s rock solid.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n \n \n \n \n\n\n\n (DeviantArt Creator Sales\, 2020–2025)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The final ele phant in the room: Let’s talk AI art\n\n\n\n DeviantArt was founded as a home for digital creators\, deviants of traditional art\, back when digit al tools were still controversial and digital art was not considered “re al art.” Since then\, we’ve always been a home to all creators and all types of art\, and we’re not about to change that now.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n Over the last few years\, AI technology became available worldwide. In 2022\, we were one of the first major platforms to embrace AI-generated ar t.\n\n\n\n \n This was a deliberate choice\, made with the conviction tha t it would expand access to creativity\, welcome new types of creators\, a nd become a vital tool for the next generation of artists. \n \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n But we didn't stop there. We were proactive in establishing neces sary standards. We introduced clear directives and community guidelines\, starting with tagging of AI art for transparency\, empowering our users to control what they consume and to curate their experience. These early act ions set a benchmark\, and many other platforms have followed.\n\n\n\n Boy \, we got A LOT of heat. But\, we were also 100% right. Since then\, we ha ve been seeing waves of new creators leveraging this tech and co-existing with traditional digital artists\, and the lines between them are starting to blur.  \n\n\n\n \n\n We have no plans to stop and will continue to c hampion all our creators\, whatever tools or tech they use in their creati ve process (obviously as long as they abide by our policy and the law).\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n It’s in our name. We are home to all deviants and all a rt: every style\, genre\, and creator\n\n  \n\n\n\n DeviantArt has long b een one of the world’s largest creative communities\, and we’ve always been proud of the range of art our creators make here. You’ll find the classic pillars of digital creativity - photography\, illustration\, pain ting\, design\, fan art\, comics\, and concept art - as well as the more d evious corners of the art world: manga\, cosplay\, kinky\, and mature artw ork.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n There’s a saying: “We’re not everyone’s cu p of tea\, we’re the champagne.” But the truth about DeviantArt is dif ferent: we’re the tea and the champagne - and yes\, the milkshake\, matc ha\, and tequila too. You get it\, right? Name your drink\, DeviantArt has got it. A full-spectrum home for creators across every style\, genre\, an d vibe. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What do I mean by full spectrum?\n\n\n\n \n In 2025 alone\, creators submitted close to 100 million deviations across approximately 150 genres and major categories. \n \n\n\n\n These pieces we re tagged with over 3.8 million different tags\, a testament to the incred ible breadth of creativity on the platform.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n We don’t hide that spectrum. We celebrate it. Because creativity isn’t one aesthe tic\, one culture\, or one comfort zone. And for anyone trying to reduce D eviantArt to a single label: that says more about their lens than about th e platform. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n Running a massive UGC platform at sca le comes with its challenges. \n \n\n\n\n We’re also realistic about wha t it means to operate a massive UGC network at global scale. When you host millions of creators and billions of interactions\, you inherit the same challenges every major platform faces: content moderation edge cases\, bad actors\, spam\, scams\, and occasional fraud. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In a w ay\, it’s an unfortunate byproduct of success: growth attracts more crea tivity\, but it also attracts more bad actors attempting to exploit the sy stem.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n We don’t pretend those issues don’t exist. We see them\, we measure them\, and we’re relentless about eliminating the m - improving detection\, tightening enforcement\, and investing in the sy stems and teams that keep DeviantArt safe\, fair\, and creator-first.\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n So deviants\, if you’ve been away\, consider this your in vitation back home. \n\n\n\n DeviantArt has always been more than a galle ry. It’s a living network\, a place where creation\, discovery\, and bel onging collide.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So whether you joined last week or in 2 003: submit a piece\, watch an artist you admire\, leave a thoughtful comm ent\, or add something you love to a collection. And if you’re one of th ose people who occasionally thinks\, “I should log in to my DA profile a gain sometime” - do it. Make it this week!\n\n\n\n \n The network i sn’t “coming back.” It already has. \n\n BIG time!\n \n\n\n\n Afte r 25 years\, the party is on\, and you’re welcome to join.\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n 2026: We’re not slowing down\, we’re scaling\n\n\n\n After years of foundational work\, and after proving both the network momentum and th e creator economy\, we’re entering a new phase with no constraints.\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n We’ve leveled up and are ready for this stage. Now it’s about scaling on all fronts.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n You’ll see us keep push ing the network forward\, growing the creator economy\, and compounding th e value of what’s already working.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And yes\, we have a few surprises coming in 2026.\n\n Not vague “someday” promises\, but tangible actions that will truly expand the canvas for our community\, br eaking down language barriers and enabling new ways for creators to connec t and earn through physical expressions.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n More community . More creation. More ways to grow. More ways to earn.\n\n\n\n Your turn ( I genuinely want your comments on this one)\n\n\n\n \n \n When did you first join DeviantArt?\n \n \n \n \n If you left at some point - what would make you stick this time?\n \n \n \n \n What’s one thing you w ant us to protect at all costs as we grow?\n \n \n\n\n\n \n\n Be devious. Onward and upward.\n\n - Moti\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Cover art by @BisBiswas\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/1237 7-a-quality-of-websites/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https:// aalbc.com/tc/events/event/635-economic-corner-32-01282026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/657-econ omic-corner-34-02202026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260129 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 14 - 02/15/2025 DTSTAMP:20250215T211820Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:195-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Economic Corner 14 - the black farmer of the usa\n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n In 1920 \, white records have 925\,708 Black Farmers\, thi s doesn't include Black people still share cropping or farming through pri son labor. Remember Alice [ https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurr ay/?status=1830&\;type=status \; https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-ri chardmurray/?status=1925&\;type=status ] How many Black people were ac tually farming in 1920 that did not own their own land\, but were entrappe d in legal while criminal situations?\n\n By 2017 the recorded number of B lack Farmers in the USA is 48\,697. That is 5.260514114602013%\n\n Ten per cent of 925\,708 is 92\,570.8 so it is clear the numbers are not false. As the brother in the video said\, when the war between the states ended the biggest problem is black people in the usa had no where to go[no lands wh ites havent been to]\, no revenue or products to get there[no wealthy blac ks that could invest in some long journey like white jews later]\, and had no government willing to ship them[ala the English government that shippe d tons of undesirables to the place they called the new world]\n\n So\, Bl ack people in the usa at the end of the war between the states had to live side their slavers... former slavers\, now just abusers. It is illegal to enslave\, but it isn't illegal to hinder or harm or stall or restrict as long as no shackles are involved or no evidence of physical harm can be fo und or will be found by the legal authorities who just happen to be nonbla ck. \n\n But\,the Black Farmers need two things primarily. They need more but I will speak to immediacy. 1) they need financial support 2)They need a venue they have access to alone. \n\n\n\n The numbers are clear\, whit e power\, white violence\, attacked the black farming industry\, from the end of the war between the states to today and the local/county/state gove rnments of the south where DOS farms are\, were and are completely complic it in the attacks\, whether legal or not. \n\n\n\n I could had argued Bla ck Farmers need protection but here is the problem for the Black Farmer\, specifically the Black DOS farmer. The federal government is the only aspe ct of government in the usa that is willing to help and that is only becau se of federal rules\, the states/county/local governments are all against them. And you can't move a farm. \n\n\n\n so even though I say money+an e xcusive market is needed\, neither will keep Black Farms from being attack ed. \n\n\n\n Going aside other Economic Corners\, Black Farmers could be given exclusive rights to producing the foods for the eateries in a black owned sports league or set of teams. but first the teams will have to be o wned and they will have to be privately owned. I am 100% certain a publicl y traded firm or a firm that earns government funds will be sued if it use s food exclusively from Black Farmers\, simply because the history of whit e farmers is to lawsuit any gain by black farmers. \n\n\n\n I saw the vid eo below and a black farmer said he needed $20\,000... where are the black one percent ? $20\,000 is not some mountain of money for 2025 Black One P ercent. Beyonce/Lebron/Oprah earn far more than $20\,000 a day right? \n\ n So\, the Black Farmers have been crying out for help since 1865\, where are the Black One Percent to help them? \n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n ARTICLE\n\n Black farmers fight to keep their land\, cultivate next genera tion\n\n “It’s about fairness\,” John Boyd Jr.\, a farmer and fierce advocate\, said.\n\n ByMonica DelaRosa\, Alison Lynn\, and Anthony Rivas\ n\n June 18\, 2021\, 10:47 AM\n\n John Boyd Jr.\, a fourth-generation farm er\, grew up close to his 1\,000-acre farm in southern Virginia where he n ow grows soybeans\, wheat and livestock.\n\n Boyd\, of Baskerville\, Virgi nia\, is also the founder of the non-profit National Black Farmers Associa tion\, which educates and advocates for Black farmers’ civil rights\, la nd retention and access to public and private loans\, among other initiati ves.\n\n Boyd and his father farmed together for 30 years and his grandpar ents were sharecroppers after the abolition of slavery in 1865.\n\n “I k now there were slaves and sharecroppers that helped build these barns here \,” Boyd told ABC News. “You can see the logs were hand-carved by wood en axes. … Just looking at that reminds me of history\, where I came fro m and where we have to go in this country.”\n\n As part of his efforts w ith the NBFA\, Boyd has worked to attract more Black people who are intere sted in farming\, as well as to protect their rights and their land\, even riding a mule-drawn wagon and driving a tractor to Washington\, D.C.\, to lobby Congress.\n\n “The most powerful tool you can possess\, only seco ndary to Jesus Christ\, is land ownership\,” he said.\n\n To be a farmer in the U.S. is to be part of an aging but crucial industry. Black farmers \, especially\, have seen their numbers plummet from nearly 1 million at t he turn of the 20th century to only about 50\,000 today\, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. While the reasons are complex\, they ulti mately come down to economics\, migration -- mainly to northern urban area s -- and discrimination and racism\, according to the Duke Sanford World F ood Policy Center.\n\n In 2017\, Black farmers were older than the overall population of U.S. farmers\, according to the 2017 agricultural census\, which said that their farms were smaller and the value of their agricultur al sales were less than 1% of the U.S. total. Due to more complete data co llection\, the census found that the number of Black producers was 5% high er than in 2012\, but the number of Black-operated farms dropped by 3%. In all\, 57% of Black-operated farms had sales and government payments of le ss than $5\,000 per year\, according to the census\, while 7% percent had sales and payments of $50\,000 or more when compared with 25% of all farms .\n\n A rich history of farming\n\n Black people have a rich history in fa rming predating slavery. Leah Penniman\, co-director of Soul Fire Farm in Petersburg\, New York\, said that the Mende and Wolof people of West Afric a were expert rice farmers kidnapped from their homes and taken to the Car olinas.\n\n “Our ancestral grandmothers had the courageous audacity to b raid seeds into their hair\,” Penniman told ABC News\, adding that they were transported in slave ships with okra\, cowpea\, egusi melon\, sorghum \, millet and eggplant seeds.\n\n Hundreds of years later\, when enslaved people were given freedom\, they were also promised no more than 40 acres of Confederate land along the Atlantic coast\, a plan from the federal gov ernment that came to be known widely by the phrase “40 acres and a mul e.”\n\n The government’s promise was broken soon after President Abrah am Lincoln was assassinated\, when his successor\, Andrew Johnson\, overtu rned the order and the land was given back to its original owners.\n\n “ If ‘40 acres and a mule’ had been a promise kept\, that [land] would b e worth almost $7 trillion today\,” Penniman said.\n\n Many of the forme r slaves became sharecroppers\, often renting land from their former owner s.\n\n “It didn’t just stop when we were freed\,” said Boyd. “Wher e were we free to go? We didn’t have any money. We didn’t have any res ources. So\, many Blacks stayed on these farms like my forefathers. … Th at’s how Blacks got land in the first place.”\n\n Boyd said the challe nge for Black farmers has been holding onto the land and believes the fede ral government has failed to adequately support farmers of color.\n\n “T he last plantation\,” as he calls the USDA\, is “the very agency tha t’s supposed to be lending me a hand up\, [and it is] the very agency pu tting Black farmers out of business.”\n\n Boyd said that even up until t he 1980s\, he would see the word “negro” on USDA applications and that at his area’s USDA office\, the only day they would see Black farmers w as on Wednesdays.\n\n “We named it Black Wednesday\,” he said.\n\n The USDA said in a statement to ABC News that it did include the word \"negro \" on the application Boyd referenced until at least 1988 and that it used the terms \"Black\" or \"African American\" since then. It also said the \"scenario\" Boyd recalled with regard to Wednesdays \"is a reprehensible one\, but we have no information to support the claim.\"\n\n \"It is clear that for much of the history of the USDA\, Black\, Hispanic\, Native Amer ican\, Asian American and other minority farmers have faced discrimination -- sometimes overt and sometimes through deeply embedded rules and polici es -- that have prevented them from achieving as much as their counterpart s who do not face these documented acts of discrimination\,\" the USDA sai d in its statement. \"We are committed to building a different USDA\, one that is committed to equality and justice\, celebrates diversity and is in clusive of all customers.\"\n\n Boyd said that since 1995\, “a half-tril lion dollars -- with a ‘T’ -- have been paid out to large-scale farmer s in this country in the form of just subsidies” by the USDA.\n\n \"That doesn’t include farm ownership loans\, farm equipment loans\, any of th ose things\, and little to none has went to Black farmers\,\" he said.\n\n In 1999\, the USDA settled the class action lawsuit Pigford v. Glickman\, and eventually paid more than $1 billion to Black farmers\, who claimed t hey were unfairly denied loans and other government assistance.\n\n “I t’s about fairness\,” Boyd said. “It’s about dignity and respect .”\n\n For Black farmers\, the tide is showing signs of turning. In Marc h\, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act\, a nearly $2 trillion law that directed $5 billion to farmers of color. Georgia Sen. Ra phael Warnock\, a Democrat\, co-sponsored the bill\, which is meant to pro vide additional relief to Americans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\n “The COVID-19 pandemic both illuminated and exacerbated long-standing h ealth disparities and economic disparities\,” Warnock told ABC News.\n\n Lestor Bonner\, a Vietnam War veteran and fifth-generation farm owner\, s aid that in 1893\, his great-grandfather bought the farm that he now works on. He said there’s only 136 acres left and that he needs $20\,000 to s ave it from foreclosure. The relief money\, he said\, could help jumpstart his business after a difficult year living through the COVID-19 pandemic. \n\n Bonner said he thought he would have the money by now “so I could g et a crop in the ground this year\,” he told ABC News.\n\n As part of th e American Rescue Plan Act\, the USDA had set up a loan forgiveness progra m that would have helped Bonner pay off his outstanding loans\, as well as pay for supplies and equipment to help him continue farming. But this mon th\, a federal judge in Wisconsin ordered the government agency to stop fo rgiving loans\, saying the program unconstitutionally uses race as a facto r in determining who is eligible.\n\n Penniman says her organization’s m ission is to help Black farmers hold onto their land\, as well as to intro duce young Black potential farmers to the occupation (the average age of B lack farmers is over 60).\n\n “We have between one and 2\,000 folks who come through for these courses every single year at the farm to learn ever ything from taking care of the soil to planting a seed\,” she said.\n\n Penniman said that many important agricultural techniques\, including many of the practices in organic farming\, like raised beds\, composting and c over-cropping “come out of an Afro-indigenous tradition.”\n\n Boyd\, f or his part\, said he’s “proud and excited to see young people” taki ng an interest in land ownership and farming.\n\n “There’s a new gener ation of Black farmers. I love that win\,” he said. “So\, I welcome th em to the fight and welcome them as farmers and stewards of the land and c ontributors to agriculture and the fruit base in this country. That’s wh at my fight is all about.”\n\n https://abcnews.go.com/US/black-farmers-f ight-land-cultivate-generation/story?id=78338282\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n http s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWpUNrv6_P0\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n TRANSCRIPT \n\n\n\n 0:00\n\nthe systematic exclusion of the black\n\n0:02\n\nfarmer h as been an ongoing fight since\n\n0:04\n\nthe days of lincoln\n\n0:05\n\na nd no one knows that fight better than\n\n0:08\n\nthe one man who's been i n the trenches\n\n0:09\n\nfor the last 30 years fighting the\n\n0:12\n\nun ited states government for the rights\n\n0:14\n\nof black farmers look at these yes you\n\n0:17\n\nguys do a big crop this is an ocean this\n\n0:20\ n\nis a beautiful crop i don't think i've\n\n0:21\n\nhad a crop like this probably in 20\n\n0:23\n\nyears\n\n0:24\n\nmeet john boyd jr a fourth gene ration\n\n0:27\n\nfarmer and founder of the national black\n\n0:30\n\nfarm ers association\n\n0:31\n\nhis 1993 lawsuit against the united\n\n0:34\n\n states department of agriculture led to\n\n0:36\n\ntheir first ever settle ment with an\n\n0:38\n\nindividual\n\n0:39\n\nand the subsequent class-act ion lawsuit\n\n0:41\n\nresulted in the largest ever settlement\n\n0:43\n\n from the federal government\n\n0:45\n\nbut only a fraction of those repres ented\n\n0:47\n\nfarmers have been paid out so i'm here\n\n0:50\n\non his soybean farm in boyton virginia\n\n0:52\n\nto hear how the fight's going\n \n0:55\n\nthey look brown well these are beautiful\n\n0:57\n\ni'm gonna ge t you to open one too okay\n\n0:58\n\nhere i come what's your method you b reak\n\n1:00\n\nit right down the middle you hold it\n\n1:01\n\nlike that okay\n\n1:03\n\nand you press it right down the middle\n\n1:05\n\nit's lik e a little pee you can actually\n\n1:07\n\nchew them\n\n1:08\n\noh\n\n1:09 \n\nyou see our taste it's sort of nutty too\n\n1:11\n\nand it really is d ense it's like almost\n\n1:13\n\nit's like it it like sticks in your\n\n1: 14\n\nteeth in a good way\n\n1:16\n\nlike fudge almost it's meaty\n\n1:19\ n\nit is it's meaty and it's soy burgers\n\n1:22\n\nyeah yeah mixed soybea ns up in\n\n1:24\n\neverything\n\n1:25\n\nif we're going to talk about soy beans\n\n1:27\n\ngotta talk about george washington\n\n1:29\n\ncarfur beca use in the 19th century after\n\n1:31\n\nyears of cotton and tobacco crop\ n\n1:33\n\ncultivation the soil was completely\n\n1:35\n\ndepleted so the hyper-intelligent george\n\n1:38\n\nwashington carver taught farmers about \n\n1:40\n\nthe importance of crop rotation and\n\n1:42\n\nshowed them tha t planting peanut crops\n\n1:44\n\nwill help replenish much needed nitroge n\n\n1:47\n\nin the soil\n\n1:48\n\nbut then the southern farms were left\ n\n1:50\n\nwith a surplus of peanuts so george\n\n1:53\n\nwashington carve r had to come to the\n\n1:54\n\nrescue once again\n\n1:56\n\ndr carver wen t into his lab and didn't\n\n1:58\n\ncome out until he published a paper\n \n2:00\n\nentitled how to grow the peanut and 105\n\n2:03\n\nways of prepa ring it for human\n\n2:04\n\nconsumption\n\n2:06\n\nthe peanut was the new cash crop and\n\n2:08\n\nboth he and the little legume were\n\n2:10\n\ncr edited as having saved the southern\n\n2:11\n\nfarm economy\n\n2:13\n\nbot h white and black farms alike\n\n2:17\n\nso if black farmers like george\n \n2:18\n\nwashington carver were innovative\n\n2:20\n\npreservationists wh y don't we see more\n\n2:22\n\nblack farmers in america today\n\n2:25\n\nt he decline in the black farmer\n\n2:28\n\nhad a few facets to it one was t he great\n\n2:31\n\nmigration and then you had horrific laws\n\n2:34\n\nof jim crow\n\n2:35\n\nwhere blacks weren't able to uh\n\n2:38\n\nobtain cre dit oh\n\n2:40\n\nyeah uh under the dakar administration\n\n2:43\n\nthey c ame up with the farmer's home\n\n2:44\n\nadministration that was supposed to help\n\n2:46\n\nblacks get loans and it did it did the\n\n2:49\n\noppos ite we're getting farm ownership\n\n2:51\n\nloans you work in farm operati ng loans\n\n2:54\n\ni take a step into the united states\n\n2:56\n\ndepart ment of agriculture and i stepped\n\n2:58\n\nback in time\n\n2:59\n\n387 d ays to process\n\n3:02\n\na black farm loan request in less than\n\n3:05\n \n30 days to process a white farmer's loan\n\n3:08\n\nrequest\n\n3:09\n\ni n the top 10 percent getters and u.s\n\n3:12\n\nfarm subsidies get over 1 million\n\n3:14\n\ndollars per farmer\n\n3:16\n\nand the average subsidy t o a black farm\n\n3:18\n\nis 222 dollars\n\n3:22\n\nno comparison we're no t even in the same\n\n3:25\n\nuh league and we haven't even made it to\n\n 3:27\n\nthat book\n\n3:28\n\nand as that process became more more\n\n3:30\ n\ndifficult more blacks left left farming\n\n3:33\n\nyou see both federal and local\n\n3:35\n\ngovernments have worked very\n\n3:37\n\nspecifically to deprive obstruct and\n\n3:39\n\nprevent land ownership by black people \n\n3:42\n\nlocal banks can deny loans local\n\n3:44\n\ngovernments can wr ite legislation that\n\n3:46\n\nbolsters those banks racist practices\n\n3 :49\n\nand the same thing happens on a federal\n\n3:51\n\nlevel too which has resulted in\n\n3:53\n\ncatastrophic losses within the black\n\n3:55\n\ nfarming community\n\n3:58\n\nso we experienced that from the\n\n3:59\n\ng overnment and and banks\n\n4:02\n\nbut we also faced that at local markets \n\n4:05\n\nthere was a time period where tobacco\n\n4:08\n\nbrought a hig her price when i sold it\n\n4:10\n\nthrough my white neighbor than it did\ n\n4:12\n\nwhen i sold it on my own\n\n4:14\n\noh\n\n4:15\n\nare you serio us yeah what year\n\n4:18\n\nah this is in the 90s\n\n4:20\n\nyeah\n\n4:21 \n\nand the i think you mad it makes me so\n\n4:24\n\nmad well it makes me it makes me mad\n\n4:29\n\nit gave me the drive and the motivation\n\n4:3 1\n\nto want to fix it yes\n\n4:34\n\nand\n\n4:35\n\nthat's what i sought out to do and\n\n4:36\n\nthat's what i've been doing for the past\n\n4:38\ n\n30 years\n\n4:39\n\nwhen black farmers sued the usda for\n\n4:41\n\nrac ial discrimination in 1993 and won\n\n4:44\n\nthey proved in court that th e federal\n\n4:46\n\ngovernment was systematically denying\n\n4:49\n\nloan s and financial support to black\n\n4:51\n\nfarmers\n\n4:52\n\nthat led to the largest civil rights\n\n4:54\n\nsettlement in u.s history but that\n\ n4:56\n\nsettlement money has only made it to\n\n4:58\n\nroughly 20 000 fa rmers of the 100 000\n\n5:01\n\nplus\n\n5:02\n\nthat were represented in t his suit\n\n5:04\n\nwhy\n\n5:05\n\nbecause bureaucratic red tape has cause d\n\n5:07\n\nthe proverbial can to just keep getting\n\n5:10\n\nkicked and rebundled under new bailout\n\n5:12\n\npackages\n\n5:18\n\n[Music]\n\n5:3 2\n\nyou\n\nEnglish (auto-generated)\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO2kWD1EjuM\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n TRANSCRIPT\n \n\n\n 0:02\n\nwe're back with more of the exploitation\n\n0:05\n\nof blac k farmers in America now several\n\n0:08\n\nof them have sued and recently received\n\n0:10\n\nback pay after it was discovered by the\n\n0:13\n\nU. S labor department that immigrant\n\n0:15\n\nworkers white immigrant worke rs were\n\n0:17\n\nbeing given more money than the black\n\n0:19\n\nfarmer s and the black farmers were doing\n\n0:21\n\nthe exact same job it's a di sturbing\n\n0:23\n\nreality for many black American farmers\n\n0:26\n\nwho se numbers are dwindling by the day\n\n0:28\n\nstill with us is John Boyd Jr he's the\n\n0:31\n\nfounder and president of the national\n\n0:32\n\nbl ack Farmers Association now John when\n\n0:36\n\nyou were here uh we wante d to address\n\n0:38\n\nsome of the concerns we've had this\n\n0:40\n\ncon versation but we want to go deeper\n\n0:41\n\nrecently we saw that a feder al judge\n\n0:44\n\ndismissed your lawsuit about the four\n\n0:46\n\nbilli on dollar debt relief program for\n\n0:49\n\nblack Farmers essentially tha t was\n\n0:50\n\nPresident Biden including a specific uh\n\n0:54\n\nelemen t of that package that was\n\n0:55\n\nsupposed to provide relief to Black\ n\n0:57\n\nFarmers he reneged on that promise you\n\n1:00\n\nuh and attorn ey cromp and others file\n\n1:02\n\nsuit and now it's been dismissed where \n\n1:04\n\ndo you go next in this case\n\n1:07\n\nwell we have filed an a ppeal uh to\n\n1:11\n\nappeal that decision and and federal\n\n1:13\n\ncou rt and I'm hopeful that the courts\n\n1:15\n\nwill take a deeper look at I 'm going to\n\n1:17\n\nuse your words a deeper look into what\n\n1:18\n\nr eally happened uh to Black Farmers you\n\n1:21\n\nknow every time uh that we're promised\n\n1:23\n\nsomething in this country uh as black\n\n1:26\n\ npeople and in this case black Farmers\n\n1:28\n\nthey find a way not to g et us through\n\n1:31\n\nthe resources that are promised to us we\n\n1:33\ n\nwere promised a hundred and twenty\n\n1:35\n\npercent debt relief for t hat's for every\n\n1:36\n\nuh black farmer who is eligible and\n\n1:39\n\n other farmers of color uh that means 100\n\n1:41\n\ndebt relief 20 uh to p ay the taxes and\n\n1:46\n\nCongress repealed it under the\n\n1:49\n\nlead ership of uh President Biden and and\n\n1:52\n\nrecently he just we lost a big decision\n\n1:55\n\nand affirmative action people black\n\n1:57\n\npe ople going backwards we need to wake\n\n1:59\n\nup here we lost a big deci sion and on\n\n2:01\n\naffirmative action and the President\n\n2:03\n\nsay s he's going to dig deeper uh to come\n\n2:06\n\nup with something from on the stroke of\n\n2:08\n\nrepent from from his desk to help get\n\n2:11\n\ naround a possible on the actual debt\n\n2:14\n\nrelief measure for for co llege tuition\n\n2:17\n\nand all of these things we need him to\n\n2:19\n\ nuse this stroke of the pen to help get\n\n2:21\n\naround the issues that facing America's\n\n2:23\n\nblack farmers and uh you know why I\n\n2:26\n\ nwasn't at the same outrage when this\n\n2:28\n\nAdministration went back on its word to\n\n2:30\n\ndo that we're always overlooked and the\n\n2:34\ n\nfixed problem in this country and we\n\n2:36\n\nwere the nation's uh fi rst first black\n\n2:39\n\noccupation here in the country for black\n\n2:4 1\n\npeople so I turned to I turned my fight\n\n2:43\n\nto the federal cou rts hoping that we can\n\n2:46\n\nget some uh resolve there if not I'm\n\n 2:49\n\ngoing to take my fight to the upcoming\n\n2:51\n\npresidential ele ction\n\n2:53\n\nand to let Americans know that we've\n\n2:56\n\nbeen left out and uh for people on the\n\n2:59\n\nhill telling me Boyd you got to t ake\n\n3:01\n\nthis one on the chin uh you don't have a\n\n3:03\n\nway out on this uh I'm gonna take my\n\n3:06\n\nfight right out here to the Ameri can\n\n3:07\n\npeople and let the American people make\n\n3:09\n\nthe deci sion on how we were treated as\n\n3:12\n\nas voters in this country becaus e we\n\n3:15\n\nvoted probably 99 for our president uh\n\n3:18\n\nbidener hasn't been a sit-down meeting\n\n3:20\n\nwith the president\n\n3:21\n\nan d there hasn't been a seat a sit down\n\n3:24\n\nmeeting with his act secr etary I mean\n\n3:26\n\ncome on people that's a given for a body\n\n3:28\n \nof people who voted in a block uh to\n\n3:31\n\nsupport this Administrat ion well and\n\n3:33\n\nalso John Boyd an Administration and a\n\n3:36\n\n president that said during his\n\n3:37\n\ninauguration speech that he did owe\n\n3:39\n\nBlack America to your point of his debt\n\n3:42\n\nuh that he owes the black electorate uh\n\n3:44\n\nas to the result of him even be ing the\n\n3:47\n\n46th president of the United States\n\n3:49\n\nsomethin g else I want to bring up is\n\n3:51\n\nsomething you said in our previous \n\n3:52\n\nconversation before the break here you\n\n3:54\n\nsaid that Bl ack America needs to realize\n\n3:56\n\nthat we've got more work to do tal k\n\n3:59\n\nabout how important it is that black\n\n4:01\n\nAmerica kind of connects the dots what's\n\n4:03\n\nhappening and the distributment of black\n\n4:05\n\nFarmers what's happening with the\n\n4:06\n\ngutting of a ffirmative action what's\n\n4:08\n\nhappening with black people\n\n4:09\n\ ndisproportionately caring more student\n\n4:11\n\nloan debt that they wil l not get relief\n\n4:13\n\nfrom in your\n\n4:15\n\nexperience because you are a man of\n\n4:17\n\nsignificant lived American Experience do\n\n4:19\ n\nyou believe that what's happening right\n\n4:21\n\nnow John Boyd is a b acklash of what some\n\n4:25\n\nAmericans some white Americans uh some\n\n 4:28\n\nfederal government leaders feel has been\n\n4:30\n\ntoo much quote progress of Black Folk in\n\n4:32\n\nthis country\n\n4:34\n\nI believe it 's a continuation a slow uh\n\n4:40\n\ndrag now or takedown uh might I des cribe\n\n4:43\n\nit as what's happened to us as uh black\n\n4:46\n\nFarmer s didn't just start with uh\n\n4:49\n\nPresident Biden where uh openly\n\n 4:52\n\nsupported him and got on early early on\n\n4:54\n\nit took a chanc e with this uh president\n\n4:56\n\nearly on when there were many candidat es\n\n4:58\n\nin the race I supported this president\n\n5:00\n\nfrom the a dministration to\n\n5:02\n\nAdministration from Congress to Congress\n\n5: 04\n\nwe failed to fix the problem at the\n\n5:07\n\nUnited States Departm ent of Agriculture\n\n5:09\n\nand his farm lending programs around the\n\n 5:12\n\ncountry and and AG lending and the top\n\n5:15\n\n10 agriculture c ompanies these are all\n\n5:18\n\nissues that we're facing every day we\n\ n5:20\n\nare those big names that were that\n\n5:23\n\nhaven't down you kn ow my number to talk\n\n5:25\n\nabout this get educated on it and to see\n \n5:28\n\nhow they can lend their voice now\n\n5:31\n\nsometimes people is not your checkbook\n\n5:32\n\nsometimes it's your voice saying that I\n\n 5:36\n\nsupport the the black Farmers Movement\n\n5:38\n\nwe support uh th e lawsuit we support\n\n5:40\n\nthese black Farmers getting Justice well\n \n5:42\n\nlisten John boy Junior what we know is\n\n5:43\n\nyou are not go ing to take anything on\n\n5:45\n\nthe chin you're not going to take\n\n5: 46\n\nanything lying down nor should you and\n\n5:48\n\nhere at the grill we look forward to\n\n5:49\n\nhelping you amplify\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n In July of 2024\, the National Black Farmers Association\, h elmed by President John Boyd\, Jr.\, secured a $2.2 billion payout for dis crimination in farm lending by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This victory is historic: it marks official acknowledgement and r estitution for Black farmers\, who for generations\, have faced unrelentin g discrimination in the farming industry.  \n\n https://www.brookings.edu /events/denied-no-more-a-conversation-with-john-boyd-president-of-the-nati onal-black-farmers-association/\n\n\n\n Prior Economic corner : https://a albc.com/tc/topic/11479-economiccorner013\n\n\n\n \n\n The Black Farmer in the USA\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11483-economiccor ner014/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/19 4-economic-corner-13-02152025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc. com/tc/events/event/197-economic-corner-15-02172025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02 162026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/1247 1-economic-corner-14 /#findComment-80139\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD \n\ n\n\n \n On 2/16/2026 at 12:37 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n In the me antime\, Black owned restaurants &\; grocery stores &\; schools\, et c.\, should be sourcing their products from Black farmers.😎\n \n \n\n\ n\n I wonder has Black Enterprise\, the black owned fiscal magazine\,  ev er made a study on black owned groceries/eateries sources. I think that wo uld answer what is truly going on between black farmers and black grocers/ eateries or HBCUs. Remember public schools are not black\, a public school is a government enterprise\, even if all the teachers+ students+ administ rators are black\, the logistics tend to be controlled by a school board\, which is white. For example in NYC\, public schools buy food as a collect ive bulk\, a huge contract\, but the scale allows for the price to be chea per\, if each school in nyc bought food on its own that would raise the co st of food extremely high. To your point\, I ponder about black farms and hbcus. Just from a regional perspective\, black farms are 90% former confe derate states. so\, if you have a black grocer in new york city or los ang eles\, it wouldn't be financially feasible to get beef from a black farm i n the carolinas over beef from pennsylvania or southern california or the midwest \, relatively. the greater distance alone raises the price. But I do think from texas to virginia\, every single black grocer/restaurant/his torical black college or university/black private high school  or element ary school should get food content from black farmers in the same south.  Maybe they already do? it is possible. I know of black grocers /restauran ts in new york city who get content from black farms from the south or car ibbean even though they arguably can get a cheaper product with the same q uality by proximity from a white farmer in the midatlantic states. \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n 02182026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.c om/tc/topic/12471-economic-corner-14 /#findComment-80181\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   On 2/16/2026 at 6:04 PM\,  ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I believe Black farmers are surviving by selling th eir produce in the same market as white farmers.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n It tak es all hands on deck to feed a country with 340 million people running aro und in it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Obesity is a very real problem here. Folks a re eating...a LOT.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I can see it\, i still would love to know the details\, share it in the corner. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n yeah\, it is interesting obesity isn't a problem in new york city as percentage of the cities populace\, while obesity in some towns/counties \, rural places \, has a high obesity. White man says obesity in nyc is 28% while the bigg est states with obesity is the rural\, the deep south...west virginia/miss isippi/louisiana/alabama... \n\n\n\n It is an interesting balance. Hunger is a deeper problem in the NYC's of the usa while obesity is the bigger p roblem in the rural states. the distribution of farming goods\, clearly ne eds to change. It isn't that the usa doesn't make enough food\, but he way in which that food is distributed clearly is inefficient\, and the market is manipulated by whomever not to serve the needs of said 340 million wis ely. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n nyc\n\n\n\n https://a816-dohbesp.nyc.gov/Indicat orPublic/data-explorer/overweight/?id=2063#display=summary\n\n\n\n states\ n\n\n\n https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/slideshows/the-most-obese- states-in-america\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250215 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Question in HEavy Metal : Is the loch narr lovecraftian? DTSTAMP:20260214T223749Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:652-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Is the loch narr lovecraftian?\n\n\n\n My answer\n\n\n\n challenging question\, the problem in modernity with lovecraft is his name has become synonomous with any literature or illustration that depicts\, a potent or omnipotent god that may act negatively but more importantly ha s mystery to them. ala Cthulu. If you consider Zorastrianism\, where the m ost potent divine is deemed a double natured god\, then loveraft merely mi rrored zorastrianism's god\, which is from the distant antiquity. If you l ook at the hindu religion. It has more branches than christianity while ne ver had a schism. What is my point? in hinduism\, the divine\, the brahman \,  is left to interpretation. A hindu can be a monotheist and another hi ndu a polytheist and both ways are not deemed correct or incorrect\, but i t is up to each individual to follow those ways. The responsibility is the adherent. The Brahman  is functionally\, from a christian historical len s\, the interpretation of christ by the gnostics\, whose main argument is that god/brahmin/similar names for divine nature can not be known\, only i nterpreted. What does this have to do with Lovecraft? Lovecraft's gods or worldbuilding\, shows entities that aren't confusing if your used to a hin du or gnostic christian approach to spirituality or religion. So\, Loch Na rr is arguably\, hindu or gnostic as well as zoarastrian in reference\,   and all three of those heritages are older than lovecraft. I imagine he kn ew of all three.  So challenging question. The simple answer is yes\, bec ause the Loch Narr has elements of characterizations in Lovecraft literatu re. The more even answer is\, it comes from a longer tradition of complex divine beings \n\n\n\n citation\n\n\n\n https://discord.com/channels/1238 281346833715283/1247320763661418587/1472358161594978388\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02142026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n exactly\, bei ng commonly known has value. Lovecraft achieved that in his time. Look at Robert E Howard or Phillip k dick\, the quaity in their writing was qualit y before comic books/films but it was wehn frazetta inked a comic book tha t conan grew in the common knowledge and then a little brilliant film by m ilius was made\, and  conan has made money howard could only dream of. Di ck's works were always brilliants\, but it took a little movie from ridley scott to expose the trasure trove and the rest is history. Dick's stories have made post mortem a ton of money. So\, being commonly known as an art ist has value. the envious artist calling it selling out\, the honest arti st call it luck. .... to ponzi your correct \, the label ponzi scheme has become the wish of many people who invested poorly and want some way to re claim. ... yeah personal accountability is a way to look at it\, though\, if i owned a media outlet\, i would want what is communicated through my o utlet to be honest\, precise in wording. part of lovecratian and ponzi sch eme is how often media uses terms uncaringly\, not just poorly\, but uncar ingly\, which demands the viewers be accountable to what media says\, to r ewrite\, many media outlets don't act like they care they are trusted or w ant to be trusted but many viewers place levels of trust. so media can arg ue viewers need to be personally accountable\, which is the truth but firm s have to also be labeled low quality. I didn't say firms have to be accou ntable but firms \, especially media ones need to be labeled + accept bein g labeled as low quality when they simply are. Twitter/ CNBC/FOx NEws/ You tube are all low quality media outlets while the most viewed. I know freed om of the press or speech means they can't be blocked and it is up to citi zens/viewers to reject them or accept them\, but I think a label of low qu ality is warranted. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02162026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n D& \;D didn't ruin what people think of as a barbarian. It offered another pe rspective which simply became more well known\, back to lovecraft being we ll known over other writers of his time. D&\;D is popular. Gauntlet is popular. The conan movie is popular. I have nothing against howard\, but w hile conan is his\, it wasn't his exact writing that led to conan or barba rians in general  becoming well known.  That isn't an artistic knock but a financial truth. ....I don't think anything is hard to bring to the scr een. Making a film isn't the issue. Will a film be fiscally profitable is the issue? John Carter bombed financially\, but it was inevitable. Ben Aff leck said it best\, a twenty five million dollar movie needs twenty five m illion in advertisement\, and then you get fifty percent back in ticket sa les from theaters so that means a twenty five million dollar movie needs o ne hundred million to break even. John carter cost 306 million dollars\, l ets assume that is money to make the film an advertising. that is 153 doll ars. so to break even with fifty percent from the revenue of theaters\, a 306 million dollar film needs to make 612 million dollars. John Carter mad e 284 million dollars. The first lord of the rings movie for example cost ninety three million dollars and made eight hundred and ninety seven milli on. so\, lets say with adds the first lord of the rings movie cost one hun dred and eighty six million . The revenue would have to be at least three hundred and seventy two . Lord of the rings first film made double of what was needed to break even. But how was lord of the rings developed that wa s different than john carter? that is the fiscal question. Lord of the rin gs had years of preproduction/ meaning before anything was shot\, it had y ears of script revision/storyboards/set design / location . John carter su ffered from massive reshoots.  Many films studios have to demand a fiscal ly better process of making films. (1/2)\n\n https://discord.com/channels/ 1238281346833715283/1247320763661418587/1472805194956800041\n\n Stop makin g films like Justice league \,where entire films are reshot and then expec ted to make a profit. Stop making films where the script has not been prop erly molded. A better process of making films will lessen the cost of maki ng films which by default enhances the chance of returning a profit. John Carter from a production perspective was poorly done. Too many scenes thou ght up while shooting. Too many special effects desires not fully conceptu alized. This creates a production mess which increases the cost of a film\ , regardless of artistic quality. Dick Tracy cost forty six million and ma de one hundred and sixty two million. If we double forty six million that is ninety two.  Which means the film needs to make one hundred and eighty four to break even. It is simple arithmetic. Now\,  looking at Dick Trac y I have some issues... how much did the cast cost? Now  I don't know the truth but WIki says Beatty wanted five million and then disney said they accepted him directing/starring/producer of the film if he kept the budget in twenty five million so beatty failed. so beatty is a poor director. hi s process is poor\, making films cost go sky high. when not needed. I look at dick tracy and I argue\, it could had been done for the 25 million dis ney 's accountants foresaw as the point to get back money.  as for the ot her characters\, again\, the project is key. they need to be in the 25 mil lion dollar range like sinners. to think about getting a profit  (2/2)\n\ n https://discord.com/channels/1238281346833715283/1247320763661418587/147 2808008592396562\n\n you know\, better than think\, more know lord of the rings than john carter. And the familiarity plays a role in fiscal recepti on. ... based on what you said\, the directors are the problem. Here are t he films\, not the detective or boyscout o rinvolving them  in a group in the DC Extended Universe: suicide squad/wonder woman/aquaman/shazam/birds of prey/wonder woman 1984/the suicide squad/black adam/shazam fury of the gods/the flash /blue beetle/aquaman lost kingdom... suicide squad+wonder +aquaman made a profit\, and aquaman was a gem. but the rest got worse and worse  financially. so based on what you said\, the producers were willi ng to not manage these films better but were willing to pay for thier inef ficiency. I argue the overhaul shouldn't involve blockading individuals\, but implementing a process that must be adhered to. \n\n https://discord. com/channels/1238281346833715283/1247320763661418587/1472832049797926952\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02162026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n For me\, MArvel's success in films is a set of factors 1) Di sney administration made sure Feige had an artistic process that was finan cially efficient for the set of films 2)  Marvel has more popular non whi te characters than DC which helps in a modernity \, where the ticket buyer s to films \, buyers of comics\, are not just white people\, it is a globa l audience that wants to see itself. 3 )DC has simply been a poor shepard of many of its characters \, relying on Superman + BAtman as the two bigge st comics in the industry\, which is hurting it in the film business. DC h ad Nubia but most black people know of Storm first and Misty Knight second \, Nubia is not well known. Whose to blame for that? Black panther is far and away ahead of Black ligtning and if anything\, black lightning is almo st a joke in the black audience. Linda Carter was the same age as christop her reeves when he did his first superman movie and she had a very success ful tv show\, why didn't they make a wonder woman movie? and instead made a supergirl film. Whose antagonist is \, really atrocious writing\, poor f aye dunaway.  So\, for me\, MArvel's success in modernity is stemming fro m a number of things. Not just Feige's management but a number of things. ...  The test for DC is coming up. Superman + Batman always rake in\, but MArvel's true success is in the field. Yes Spider man makes money\, but w ho was MArvel's first film success? Blade. DC never had a blade\, a charac ter never before in visual media who had a film and made a killing. Where is DC's deadpool? advantage marvel. Where is DC's guardians of the galaxy? supergilr/clayface/the authority  they will have their chance but I don' t see it. That supergirl films trailer shows a very expensive film\, that doesn't have superman's name on it. Women want a wonder woman film. I saw a car with wonder woman decals recently. ... we will see. \n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n 02162026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n even point\, but that is why I always say Disney Marvel... I should say more often WB D C or in this case Discovery DC or shall i say with the coming sale it will be Netflix DC or Skydance DC I don't know which:) .... IT isn't the prese nce of characters that is the issue \, it is the sheparding of them. DC   + Marvel have tons of black characters but DC pre 1980 I argue didn't shep ard their black characters as good as marvel and I think it was because of fiscal appreciation of their fanbase. which isn't evil. People say they c omprehend fiscal capitalism but don't want firms to relate to who their bu yers are. And new buyers are a risk. It is a fiscal myth that firms should take great risk in courting new buyers\, as if the old buyers will be unc hanging. ..... From my view\, the green lantern movies problem is its over all structure. The green lantern core needs to be the movie\, not one gree n lantern.... yes\, Disney did well\, damn rat:) .... haha!:) yes\, pre bl ade the process was poor. I really believe in the process of making a film \, the fiscal process which intertwines with the artistic.  I do have a q uestion to you in terms of pre blade marvel films. I have seen that Fantas itic four film/captain america I didn't see the doctor strange. I think th e captain america wasn't horrible. Was it elegant or fineley made or one o f the best films for me? no. But it was  a decent low budget romp. I thin k films have the right to be low budget romps\, like the first swamp thing film. ... all film studios better have bad movies or they are not film s tudios and are mind control users. Historically\, all film studios mostly make fiscal losers. No film studio in the history of film studios mostly m akes hits. I don't know if either has slipped up as film studios. I think both DC + Marvel as film studios have made hits\, mostly duds and that is par the course. do you like Netflix or Skydance for shepard of DC? \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n 02182026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n that wasn't the magicians with bill bixby ? cause i think that was also suppos ed to be dr strange... hahah the dark hole of rights ownership. films can be low budget and meant to be fun. ...  I like the dolph lundgren punish er\, only one to get it right for me. yeah\, they were all based on the co mics\, but the interpretations were simply good\, at the end of the day\, a film is not a comic book nor a comic book a film. I argue a good comic b ook film doesn't try to satisfy comic book readers\, but simply makes a go od film using the story of the comic book as a base but not a bible...  a hh I see:) to john stewart....well DC was already tanked before\, AT&\; T sold DC to discovery on the cheap from market value if discovery took at &\;T's debt from WB so DC was already tanked\, like many firms in the u sa\, instead of being sent to bankruptcy they were allowed to live on as a failed firm through acquisitions. Yeah I Am a fan of DC animated movies a s well. the problem with animated films is the usa film going market has b een trained to treat animation as for children or \"weird\"adults so many adults will never go see an animated movie in a theater thus their financi al cieling is low and I think that helps the DC animated financially. Caus e they have big brand name characters\, but in animated world\, they don't have to make movies to get the person who has never read or doesn't know  a DC  character in the global audienc\,e which is many^INF \, they just have to sate the comic book readers who watch animation. The comic book t o screen will not work in live action to get a global audience with DC's c haracters. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02/18/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Who are the A list Marvel characters? I can name DC's easily\, even before the film er a. Superman/batman/ wonder woman/flash/green lantern that justice league i s the gathering of the top heroes.  Take out spider man \, who are the a list marvel heroes? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n W ho are the A list Marvel characters? I can name DC's easily\, even before the film era. Superman/batman/ wonder woman/flash/green lantern that justi ce league is the gathering of the top heroes. I argue DC only allowed the likes of aquaman in the justice league to try and compete when marvel had great success late 60s early 70s. but dc's style of heroes is simply diffe rent\, and I admit as someone raised in new york city\, NYC unlike any cit y in the world teaches a person to learn to live near civilly near strange rs/foreigners/others. No you don't always love or like your neighbor in NY C\, but overall\, you are civil and the xmen/fantastic four/avengers all h ave that similar vibe of NYC. and I think immigrant peoples around the wor ld can appreciate the nyc vibe in marvel stemming from stan lee's writing\ , that don't exist in DC's heroes or their worlds. The Xmen are literally upstate new york/the avengers or fantastic four are based in NYC right. bu t gotham isn't NYC. Gotham is a fantastic crime ridden film noir variant o f NYC. Metropolis isn't NYC . Metropolis is how NYC was imagined in the fu ture in the new york city world's fair. Themyscira is truly unlike anywher e but none of shows or movies have ever made themyscira as complex as it o riginally was or been courageous enough\, writing wise\, to make diana not banned from returning. But DC's style of heroes are different cause they are older than marvels on average. Captain america is the oldest marvel ma in hero and he shares a similar style to superman/batman and the like of D C. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n to marvel\, unlike dc who was all in one studio ma rvel had their parts all over the place\, spider man has done well \, i th ink sony was a good shepard to spider man\, while a poor\, very poor shepa rd to the spiderverse. 20th century fox was a terrible shepard to Xmen for me. IT became the wolverine series\, wolverine\, logan wolverine and was a sign of why that firm was destined for receivership. New line did blade \, and the first mortal kombat movie\, but new line is terrible at series which ended it. Disney bought marvel but couldn't use the xmen/spiderman w ho were owned by others ... Taking out Spiderman \, who are marvel's A lev el characters? Marvel was never a more popular comic book company than DC.  One is that DC simply had the first icons: superman/batman/wonder woman and https://bleedingcool.com/comics/how-marvel-comics-first-overtook-dc-c omics-in-1972/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ARticle transcript\n\n\n\n How Marvel Co mics First Overtook DC Comics In 1972\nPublished Fri\, 07 Jan 2022 10:57:1 4 -0600 by Rich Johnston|Last updated Thu\, 22 Sep 2022 08:16:07 -0500 |Co mments\nToday\, the best-selling publisher of comic books in America is Sc holastic. The second is Random House. But in the last half of 1972\, that was suddenly Marvel Comics for the first time. One of the earliest comic b ook retailers and comic historian Bob Beerbohm (author of Comic Book Store Wars) set up the Californian comic book store and the first comic book ch ain. He has many tales to tell\, including showing off the flyer printed t o mark the occasion\, from his friend Brian Kane. Bob Beerbohm writes on F acebook\, with permission to republish\;\n\nLast Half of 1972 Marvel annou nces their firm has finally overtaken DC comics to become #1 publisher of comic books in America. Marvel claims on this flyer \"…in the world…\" but that is hyperbole on their part. Reason How this was accomplished? No t from story quality\, etc\, but from an under-handed tactic of initially agreeing with DC for a cover price hike to 25 cents with DC Then doing tha t price hike to 25 cents for just one month of comic books\, BUT\, then se cretly dropping back down to 20 cents the following month. Catching and bl ind-siding DC in that process\nMarvel beginning to outsell DC was and is p redicated on customers seeing 5 Marvels for a buck VS just 4 DC for a buck . I saw the customer purchasing cross over from DC to Marvel for that very reason\, firsthand\, up close and personal. We had just opened our first of many Comics &\; Comix stores in the Bay Area.\n\nMarvel Comics would remain the dominant comic bookseller in the US newsstand and comic book s tore\, until Image Comics and a Death Of Superman hyped DC Comics would pu sh them out briefly. However\, DC Comics always performed better at the bo okstore than Marvel – and still do. Though Scholastic\, Penguin Random H ouse\, Viz Media and Kodansha have pushed them both down the list in recen t years.\n\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260214 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Estimations of Change  02/15/2025 DTSTAMP:20250215T214453Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:196-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Estimations of Change  02/15/2025\n\n How some wait to g et a change back.\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?sta tus=2843&\;type=status\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Estimations\n The Pr iest of Kemet after Akhenaten died\n Some people in Scotland including Rob ert Burns after he wrote \"Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation\"\n The Dau ghters of the American Revolution raised on the tales of the glory in the former confederate states \n The Isolationist who opposed Woodrow Wilson\ n The non black business and communities at the advent of the civil rights act of 1963\n *\n All have one thing in common\, they disliked a change a nd worked all their lives to undo the change. \n One of the problems in h umanity in the Statian imperial phase of the white European global imperia l era is the  idea of change being holistically beneficial. No change is ever beneficial to all\, no change. In the same way no permanence is ever beneficial to all. \n *\n The Tariffs are coming from decades of complain ts by a group\, mostly non black while not exclusively non black\, made up of a collection of groups in the usa: pro deletion of any legal statement to black rights /pro isolation/ pro intracommunal finance between states. The Tariffs from the usa to others + the Diversity Equity Inclusivity D.E .I. deletion or reductions show this clearly. \n Ever since the end of th e war between the states\,a group of non blacks in the united states of Am erica have worked to delete the presence/notion/idea of black empowerment/ rights/equality to non blacks.\n Ever since Woodrow Wilson\, a group of hy per allegiants in the usa have worked to disconnect the U.S.A. from allian ces to any other country. They have opposed the United Nations\, the World Bank\, North Atlantic Treaty Organization\, North American Free Trade All iance and all other alliances that force the usa to act in tandem to anoth er government. \n *\n Most humans at some point in their life go through a change they don't want in their community or the larger environment wher e they live. It isn't right to live with the change or wrong to fight agai nst the change\, or vice versa. Humans are free to choose\, but when a cha nge occurs that surprises you\, it can be a train derailment unlike any ot her\, buckle up.\n *\n IN AMENDMENT\n some people in the usa waited decade s for this day to happen or are witnessing their parents or grandparents d ream come true in the current presidency\, Isolation has not been supporte d as strongly in the usa since before woodrow wilson\, that is over one hu ndred years ago... the daughters of the american revolution are cheering i n their graves that the community of those willing to oppose betterment fo r blacks is still going strong. ... The second term of shaking is upon us all\, I ponder the future\n ...\n well underestimation of others is balanc ed by overestimation of oneself. It is unwise to do either. I think many\, in the democratic party at the least\, didn't or don't realize how many i n the usa \, for various reasons\, don't like the global system the usa ce nters or the racial changes the democratic party has championed. I remembe r the election\, the current president's supporters cheered loudest when h e talked of the things he is doing now. They didn't just cheer they voted. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02162026 \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https:/ /aalbc.com/tc/topic/12472-estimations-of-change /#findComment-80140\n\n\n \n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   12 hours ago\, ProfD sai d:\n\n\n\n Change is inevitable over the course of a lifetime. Humans adap t to changes accordingly.\n\n\n\n yes\, change is possible from day to day let alone the course of a lifetime. And human beings do react/act in resp onse to changes. But said reactions are not always accordingly while said reactions are never right or wrong. Negative or positive? yes\, but not ri ght or wrong and in the context of the usa\, this is a huge topic. the usa has the most internally multiracial gathering of humans beings under any government in humanity. Which means by default changes in the usa\, as whi tes in the usa have been learning [ slower than all others but more and mo re ]since 1492 \, tend to be against all groups/communities/gatherings ben efit. The examples are plenty in the usa. White individuals who are less a ligned to the white populace while more aligned to their individual desire s have less problems with the largess of mexicans/chinese/indians in the u sa. White individuals who are more aligned to white communal life by defau lt have more problems with the largess of the non white europeans whose li ves by default weaken the positive potential of the white community to do for its own. Modern day Harlem is majority non black\, black individuals i n harlem whose personal life could handle the changes brought on by the no n black in harlem have survived or thrived. Black individuals in harlem wh ose personal life was attached and needed the environment when harlem was majority black have been pushed out or have succumbed to a misery in harle m. Immigrant individuals  post immigration act of 1965 who can survive be ing the only person like them in some place within the usa have done bette r. Immigrant individuals post immigration act of 1965 who needed a simulat ion of their monoracial environment from whence they came are going throug h ever increasing problems \, culminating in immigration and customs enfor cement parking themselves in immigrant communities in cities knowing most in the community are adherents to some illegality. NAtive American individ uals from the european colonial age have always done better when able to l ive alone or as a small group among the hordes of second peoples. Native A merican individuals tied to the first peoples way of life  \, as one of m y heroes Tecumseh\, have lived a life of terror from 1492 to 2026 and coun ting. \n\n\n\n But no matter how any of the peoples mentioned react to ch ange\, no reaction is right or wrong\, nor according. By default\, change is the most unaccording thing. IT is interesting\, you chose the incomplet e phrase\, humans adapt to changes accordingly. Adapt means to fit. Accord means to be in line. Thus whenever I have heard that phrase \" humans ada pt to changes accordingly\" or read it most recently\, it is interesting\, philosophically\, how incomplete the phrase is. Human reaction to change includes adaptation + lack of adaption. to speak only of human adaptation is to partially ignore the fact that a human does not have to adapt /fit t he changes. and changes being according/liking or even or harmonius is onl y for those that choose to fit/adapt. The heritage of Black descended of e nslaved speaking as such comes from black enslaved parents from 1492 who l ike 99% of thier descendents in the european colonial phase of the usa or the usa itself till 1980\, had nothing to give black children\, sometimes not even time\, so provided lessons\, sharp\, inflexible\, which served su rvival functions for the black child as an individual. ala to a black chil d\, \"you must adapt to changes accordingly\" That language is a very old Black DOS heritage\, brewed through centuries of being terrorized by white s\, unable to collectively do anything\, forced to survive as individuals with constant negative changes imposed by others\, beyond any black indivi dual to control or deter\, no matter said black individuals happiness.\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n 02162026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc .com/tc/topic/12472-estimations-of-change /#findComment-80149\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD  said:\n\n\n\n Despite the multiracial make-up of the USA...white folks s till run it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n For the record I never said white people d idn't control the usa. It makes perfect sense that white people control th e usa since they started it. again\, most native americans or black descen ded of enslaved people at the time of the creation of the usa were fightin g to stop it from being created and even in the war of 1812\, decades afte r the usa was founded\,  most native americans or black descended of ensl aved were opposed to the usa and fought for it to be deleted and made part of the english empire again. so... it makes perfect sense today that whit e people run a government they wanted. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours a go\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The poorest white folks still have more privile ge &\; access to safety nets than non-whites. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Whit es who have a problem with immigrants really need to take their issues up with the white folks who use them for cheap labor &\; maximized profits . Rich getting richer. \n\n\n\n white priviledge makes perfect sense. The greater question is what black fool thinks it shouldn't be that way in th e usa today? I can't think of any reason why whites in the usa shouldn't h ave more power/advantage/positivity in the usa than the non white\, regard less of its makeup.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n the heritage of fiscally poor white s in the usa of attacking the nonwhite to gain is very strong. the fiscall y poor whites don't want to risk breaking white unityby attacking the fisc ally wealthy whites\, though they don't comprehend the white unity of the past has already been broken\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD  said:\n\n\n\n Humans have been adapting to changes accordingly throughout their existence on the planet.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Whether it is relocation \, climate\, environment\, natural disasters\, etc.\, humans have to adapt in order to survive. \n\n\n\n my point is that is a half truth\, history proves humans can block changes \, or delete changes\, it is a lie to onl y look at those who adapted\, those who didn't adapt but stopped change al so occurred as equally. That is my point to the Black DOS heritage. Black DOSers in the USA were and are forced to adapt to what changes the non bla ck want\, historically\, but that is not de facto for all peoples\, includ ing black peoples in human history. \n\n\n\n I think it is false to glori fy adaption to change. Adapting to change is not evil\, but nor is it a go od. IT is an option humans have. \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250215 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 13 - 02/15/2025 DTSTAMP:20250215T071756Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:194-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Economic Corner - what is the truth of investment in the sport industry in the usa?\n\n Key points \n\n One hundred and fifty mill ion is the most recent value of starting a WNBA franchise \, fifty million initially and then one hundred million through promised infrastructure pl ans.\n\n The WNBA franchise in Chicago was started for five million dollar s\, in Oprah Winfrey's beloved town\, by a white man who had less money th an Oprah\, and was absent any promises of future investment.  \n\n No maj or league\, major league defined as a team determined the primary athletic tier\,  from the NFL to the National Women's Hockey League has a black o wner. For example\, baseball has a black owner in the minor leagues of bas eball. \n\n Opportunities to invest in the sporting world in the usa and become the owner to a franchise exist that are affordable. The Black popul ace in the usa through individuals or group of individuals have the annual revenue or saved wealth to make the investments.\n\n Now some restriction s\, most sport organizations in the usa\, demand owners be single individu als. There are cases of ownership groups but they are not common. Sometime s investment firms or corporations are allowed to own a team\, like RedBul l  owns RedBull NY but the process of a large set of individuals to becom e a corporation and then to own a team is a longer process time wise\, and in that time will challenge the devotion of the members. \n\n So based o n womens sport leagues financial growth\, black individuals of the highest financial caste have already missed out on financial growth of circa nine ty six percent. That is financial failure. \n\n *\n\n Why aren't the Blac k wealthy\, the black one percent\, investing in sport to become owners of franchises in the usa? \n\n What is the truth of investment in the sport industry in the usa? \n\n *\n\n If an opportunity to invest to become an owner exist\, if you have the money to make the investment safely\, then the question is why don't you ? \n\n Only five answers exist\, and I will list them first. \n\n They aren't investing because:\n\n 1.they don't kn ow the opportunity exist\n\n 2.they know the opportunity exist and want to but can't do it alone\n\n 3.they know the opportunity exist and want to b ut can't get a group\n\n 4.they know the opportunity exist and don't want to because they are interested in investing in other fields\n\n 5.they kno w the opportunity exist and don't want to because they are interested in i nvesting in the sporting field but want a safer investment\n\n *\n\n All a re possible. \n\n 1.I know of blacks who don't like sports for various re asons so I can believe some don't know \, they have such a dislike of spor t that the thought is away from them. \n\n 2.Five million is a lot of mon ey and the average Black millionaire in the usa can't risk five million do llars. so I can see many can't do it alone. And adding the modern heritage \, a lack of communalism in the black populace in the usa\, reaching out t o a financially wealthy black stranger does not seem common. \n\n 4. I kn ow of a black former nba player who owns a tech firm another who owns a ca r dealership network. So\, just because a black person is involved in spor t doesn't mean they want to invest in sport and that is fine. Again\, it i s called free market capitalism for a reason. It isn't slave market capita lism. You are free to invest how or where you want\, that is the point. \ n\n 5. I don't have private financial data to the black wealthy\, one mill ion or more saved or earned\,  in the usa. But\, from white owned media\, most black sports investment is as shareholders\, not majority owners. So based on advertising\, most black wealthy seem convinced in safer bets in the sporting world. I will rephrase\, black wealthy like hedging their be ts where white wealthy can cover for them. The positive angle is Lebron Ja mes for example. He invested in one percent of Liverpool football club. No w\, the investment group from boston that owns the red sox and bought Live rpool is looking to sell. Upon the sale\, Lebron can cash in and earn more than he put in or keep it in and ride the growth for longer. I can think of many shareholder investments in sport by the Black wealthy. Looking to sell is a common tactic in modern sport\, buy and wait for a few years and then sell where you cash in or keep your money in and have it grow. After a sale to some buyer somewhere for more money who has a similar plan\, to sell after a set of years\,  or isn't looking to sell and has a non fina ncial agenda. I have seen this with some WNBA teams with ownership groups who never want to sell the club \, just want it is a long term investment to leave to the next generation it seems.  The negative angle is the prea ching from black millionaires or better to the black financial poor or com mon in the usa concerning becoming investors  when black millionaires or better are not willing to invest? If Black financial speakers don't compla in about black wealthy evading ownership and becoming shareholders\, then said black financial speakers need to not speak on black poor or non wealt hy not willing to risk their pennies. The bigger issue is\, if you don't o wn \, you don't control. Minority investment\, minority shareholding \, is a great way to make money off of others risk but a terrible way to contro l things\, cause you can't control any firm unless you are a majority shar eholder or owner. \n\n 3. you may have noticed I put this last. The one t hing I rarely hear\, i did hear about Tony Parker with a set of other athl etes investing as a group into Olympique Lyonnais\, is group investments i n sport. \n\n I remember when Isiah Thomas owned the remade CBA\, and I w ondered who else invested with him. I never found out but I do wonder abou t many black wealthy people and their collaborative abilities with other b lacks. I can believe Oprah Winfrey can't make a group to easily cause it i s public knowledge she has many who don't like her in the black one percen t. But it is clear the Black one percent need more internal interlinking.  \n\n URL\n\n https://www.thestar.com/business/edward-rogers-argued-again st-a-toronto-wnba-franchise-but-tanenbaum-went-ahead-and-got-one/article_d de69db8-1dea-11ef-8828-3fa01376cfbd.html\n\n\n\n Edward Rogers argued agai nst a Toronto WNBA franchise — but Tanenbaum went ahead and got one. Who was right?\n\n Fifteen years after being denied a Toronto women’s team by the NBA\, economic experts say Kilmer Sports Ventures’ $50 million pu rchase of a WNBA franchise will likely be a slam dunk. \n\n Updated Dec. 12\, 2024 at 1:47 p.m.\n\n May 31\, 2024\n\n By Josh RubinBusiness Reporte r\n\n What did Larry Tanenbaum see in a WNBA franchise that Edward Rogers didn’t? \n\n\n\n Plenty\, say sports business experts and women’s spo rts advocates\, who argue the franchise granted to the Toronto businessman and sports industry investor will be a big success — at least off the c ourt.\n\n\n\n “I think it’s going to be a success. I think the franchi se is going to be worth $100 million\, $150 million in the next few years\ , pick a number\,” said long-time sports industry executive Richard Pedd ie.\n\n\n\n Tanenbaum\, through his firm Kilmer Sports Ventures\, was rece ntly awarded an expansion franchise in the premier women’s pro basketbal l league in exchange for a franchise fee of $50 million (U.S.). As part of the deal with the league\, Kilmer also agreed to other financial commitme nts — including renovations and building a practice facility — which a league source says brings the total value of the deal to $150 million (U. S.).\n\n\n\n More than fifteen years ago\, when he was CEO of Maple Leaf S ports &\; Entertainment\, Peddie was a big proponent of the organizatio n’s push to get a WNBA franchise. He and Tanenbaum — who still owns a chunk of MLSE — were shot down by then-NBA commissioner David Stern.\n\n \n\n Tanenbaum\, said Peddie\, never really gave up his hope of a team. Th at vision clearly wasn’t shared by Edward Rogers and Tony Staffieri\, th e chair and CEO\, respectively of Rogers Communications\, one of MLSE’s parent companies\, along with BCE Inc. and Kilmer.\n\n\n\n As reported by the Star\, Rogers and Staffieri argued against MLSE bidding for a WNBA tea m\, despite an internal MLSE business case which projected the team would eventually become profitable.\n\n\n\n Expansion franchises in any league c an have a shaky few years when they start. But there’s already ample pre cedent in Toronto for a new team proving to be a good investment\, said Pe ddie.\n\n\n\n “You think about Toronto FC. There were people who thought us buying Toronto FC for $10 million was crazy\, was the stupidest idea g oing. Now\, some people would say it’s worth $700 million. That’s wher e Larry’s coming from\,” said Peddie. “When we bought Toronto FC\, w e weren’t projecting it to make any money right off the bat. But we were amazingly profitable in the first couple of years.” \n\n\n\n Victor Ma theson\, a professor of economics at College of the Holy Cross in Massachu setts who specializes in the economic impact of the sports industry\, says there are plenty of reasons to expect Toronto’s WNBA team will be a fin ancial success\, including the precedent set by the NBA’s Raptors.\n\n\n \n “Toronto certainly has a chance to be a good market for the WNBA. The reason we know this is that obviously it’s been a great market for the NBA — a lot of success with the Raptors\,” said Matheson\, who added t hat Toronto also has a track record of supporting high-level women’s spo rts. “The Canadian women’s soccer team has done fantastically. And the re was just a spectacular inaugural season in the PWHL.”\n\n\n\n So why wouldn’t those factors be obvious to other potential investors in additi on to Tanenbaum? A failure of imagination\, said Matheson.\n\n\n\n “I th ink what a lot of owners and broadcasters have lacked is the imagination t o realize what a hit women’s sports can be\,” said Matheson. “They say ‘well\, why should we even try to ask for a lot of money for TV rig hts\, or why should even think about paying a bunch of money for TV rights . I can’t imagine anyone going and watching these games\,’ so they d on’t even try.”\n\n\n\n Having the star power of rookie Indiana Fever point guard Caitlin Clark in the WNBA is helping everyone from sponsors\, teams and the league itself get that spark of imagination\, Matheson said. The season-opening game of the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun against Clark’s Fever was a sellout\, with more than 9\,000 fans\, the team’s highest a ttendance in 20 years.\n\n\n\n “They weren’t just paying the $10-$15 W NBA price\, but scalping tickets for $50 or $100 apiece. As soon as people see things like that\, they can start to imagine that ‘hey\, this is so mething that really could work\,’” said Matheson.\n\n\n\n The fact tha t big-time sports investment has traditionally been male-dominated has als o played a role in the failure of imagination\, says Allison Sandmeyer- Gr aves\, CEO of Canadian Women and Sport\, an advocacy organization.\n\n\n\n “It’s a safe bet that was a factor\,” said Sandmeyer-Graves. “Whe n you start from a place of not respecting women’s sports\, it’s reall y hard to see the value in it.”\n\n\n\n Recent surveys done for CWS\, sa id Sandmeyer-Graves\, give plenty of cause for optimism that Toronto’s a s-yet unnamed team will be a financial success. Sandmeyer-Graves pointed t o results which found that 17 million Canadians called themselves fans of women’s sports. And the gender breakdown wasn’t what some people might have assumed.\n\n\n\n “What was really cool in the research we just rel eased was to see actually\, fans of women’s sports are almost 50-50 men and women\, and it’s even a little bit higher for men\,” said Sandmeye r-Graves.\n\n\n\n And\, she added\, the surveys were done before the inaug ural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League\, which has a fran chise in Toronto.\n\n\n\n “So it’s not just the novelty of the first s eason of this new league\, said Sandmeyer-Graves. “There’s latent dema nd in Canada for women’s sports that hasn’t been fully met.” \n\n\n \n Still\, there will inevitably be bumps in the road\, just like there ar e with any start-up franchise. Detractors\, she argued\, won’t be playin g fair if they use those bumps to try and shoot down the team’s long-ter m prospects.\n\n\n\n “I think we need to give this team the same grace a nd patience that we have given to other teams in the past. So often\, when it’s not a success straight out of the gate\, it’s seen as just more evidence that women’s sports just aren’t successful\,” said Sandmeye r-Graves\, adding that Tanenbaum seems like a patient investor who’s in it for the long haul.\n\n\n\n “I’m not saying MLSE wouldn’t have bee n the right fit\, but clearly\, they didn’t feel like they were the righ t fit. … Where it goes in five years\, we’ll see. But it seems like they’re starting off on the right foot.”\n\n\n\n Josh Rubin is a Toron to-based business reporter. Follow him on Twitter: @starbeer.\n\n\n\n Prio r Economic Corner: https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11475-economiccorner012/\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n What is annual average cost [players /stadium/staff/utilities] of the least costly to operate professional\, me aning paid athlete\, sport team in the city you live in?\n\n\n\n The follo wing is content in normal weight font unverified . I did a general search\ , \"average yearly cost of LEAGUE NAME team\"\n\n\n\n New York City has al l the major leagues and many minor. \n\n\n\n The cheapest team is a Premi er Women's Hockey Alliance or Roller Derby\, the womens football alliance team in nyc folded. Now\, white people say Washington DC/Atlanta/Charlotte are the three cities with the most black millionaires. Jackson Missisippi is the only city in the usa with over eighty percent black population. Bu t NYC has a larger population of black people than any city in the usa by a distance. So the question is are any of the sports franchises with the l owest annual cost cheap enough for a black multimillionaire in new york ci ty to risk? i argue yes\, but to each their own.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n WNBA\n \n\n\n The average yearly cost of an WNBA team is estimated to be aroun d $13.2 million1. The average team is worth an estimated $96 million\n\ n\n\n Premiere Lacross Leauge\n\n\n\n The average yearly cost of a Premie r Lacrosse League team is estimated to be around $10 million1. The reve nue per employee for Premier Lacrosse League is $203.2K2. The company op erates in the Spectator Sports industry3.\n\n\n\n Premier Womens Hockey Le ague\n\n\n\n The average yearly cost of a PWHL team is around $56\,500 USD2. The league requires each team to average between $45\,900 and $60\ ,500 per contract in lieu of a salary cap1. The minimum salary for PWHL players is currently $35\,000\n\n\n\n USL League 2 team \n\n\n\n The av erage yearly cost of owning and running a USL League 2 team ranges from $ 600K to $1M2. The initial franchise fee to buy into a USL 2 franchise is $75\,000\, which can be split into payments of ~$25K each year for three y ears3. Expansion fees in the USL Championship are $12 million in 20205.\n \n\n\n Womens Football Alliance- the gridiron\n\n\n\n The average yearly cost of a Women's Football Alliance (WFA) team is estimated to be around  $20\,0001. This budget covers expenses such as field rental\, equipment \, uniforms\, videography\, web hosting\, and some travel. If teams partic ipate in the playoffs\, the cost can be higher2.\n\n\n\n Frontier league b aseball team\n\n\n\n The average yearly cost of a Frontier League basebal l team is around $75\,000\, with a salary cap of $72\,000 per team125.  Most players earn between $1\,000 and $2\,000 a month during the summe r2. The highest paid players can earn up to $4\,000 a month2.\n\n\n\n Ma jor  league cricket\n\n\n\n The average yearly cost of a Major League Cr icket (MLC) team is estimated to be slightly above $1.1 million2. The s alary cap per team is $1\,150\,000\, of which $320\,000 is spent on Americ an players\n\n\n\n Overwatch league\n\n\n\n The average yearly cost of an Overwatch League team is approximately $1 million14. Team owners bough t into the Overwatch League for $20 million per slot ahead of its launch i n 20183. The average annual pay for an Overwatch League player in the Uni ted States is $121\,7652.\n\n\n\n Roller Derby\n\n\n\n Travel costs: Gotha m Girls Roller Derby $58\,260 Gotham paid out 23\,051 in 2011. Not sure wh ere you got the other number from.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Websites that state cities with the large numbers of black millionaires\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n htt ps://propertyclub.nyc/article/richest-black-neighborhoods-in-america#:~:te xt=Washington D.C. has the most Black millionaires in\,of government and m ilitary jobs in the area.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://blackelites.com/top-c ities-in-the-u-s-with-the-highest-number-of-black-millionaires/\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n Why Black Millionaires aren't investing in sport\n\n\n\n POST URL \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11479-economiccorner013/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDI TION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/193-economic-corner-12-0212 2025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/195-e conomic-corner-14-02152025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02152026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n New Sports Leagues started in 2025\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Article\n\n\n\n 10 Of The Top Emerging Sports Leagues To Keep An Eye On In 2025\n\nThe conver gence of sports\, media\, and technology has created a lot of opportunitie s.\n\nAs a result\, several new leagues are popping up across the world.\n \nIn the past 10 years\, there have been over 20 leagues started in over 1 5 sports.\n\nWhile this is great for underrepresented fans and sports\, th e unfortunate truth is that most of them won’t survive long-term.\n\nHer e are 10 leagues we believe have a good chance and why:\n\nUnrivaled Baske tball\nCo-founded by WNBA stars Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart\, Unr ivaled Basketball is a new 3v3 women’s professional basketball league th at is set to launch in January 2025.\n\nWith the recent boom in women’s basketball\, the league has already generated a ton of social impressions and engagement plus they’ve already surpassed projected financial target s.\n\nWith a strong leadership team and a superstar lineup of players\, th is league has the foundation to last a long time.\n\nTMRW Sports\nGolf has been booming since the pandemic and the anticipation for TMRW Sports is a s high as it’s ever been.\n\nFounded by Mike McCarley\, Tiger Woods\, an d Rory McIlroy\, TMRW Sports aims to create new ways to connect sports fan s with technology and culture.\n\nThe league is already valued at $500M an d has a strong cap table.\n\nThis plus their unique approach to a sport gr owing in popularity is a recipe for success.\n\nPro League Network\nIf the re is one thing fans like doing\, it’s betting and Pro League Network is building out the perfect ecosystem for it.\n\nPro League Network owns\, p roduces\, monetizes\, and distributes several super-niche sports including :\n\nSlapFIGHT\nCarJitsu\nTyre Wrestling\nSTR33T\nIf they can continue to generate unique\, entertaining ideas and content\, they’ll be around for a while.\n\nLeague One Volleyball\nLeague One Volleyball (LOVB) was found ed in 2020 by Katlyn Gao\, Peter Hirschmann\, and Olympian Kevin Wong as a network of youth volleyball clubs across the US.\n\nIn September 2022\, t hey raised $16.75M in a Series A funding round\, headlined by Billie Jean King and Kevin Durant. \n\nA year later\, the company raised $35M in a Ser ies B round led by Lindsey Vonn\, Jayson Tatum\, and Candace Parker.\n\nPr o volleyball has never seen a league like this before yet the sport is gro wing in popularity amongst young women and has a ton of athlete star power backing it.\n\nMajor League Pickleball\nPickleball is all the rave these days.\n\nOne of the fastest-growing sports in the US is headlined by a wel l-put-together league in Major League Pickleball (MLP) that has only been in existence since 2021.\n\nThe league has 24 co-ed teams that are backed by some of the best athletes\, entertainers\, and businesspeople in the wo rld.\n\nGiven that pickleball appeals to the masses\, has an easy learning curve\, and is not too taxing on the body\, we’re willing to bet that t he MLP will be growing like crazy over the next couple of years.\n\nUnited Soccer League\nSoccer is the most popular sport in the world\, but has ye t to take off in the US.\n\nThe United Soccer League (USL) is one of the l eagues that will help change that for both men and women.\n\nFounded in 19 86\, the United Soccer League is the largest and fastest-growing pre-profe ssional and professional soccer organization in the country. \n\nIt has se ven divisions with over 150 teams and is growing YoY.\n\nWith the World Cu p coming in 2026\, the USL is one league that is without a doubt going to boom.\n\nDrone Racing League\nI know what you’re thinking. Drone racing? \n\nBut get this…\n\nThere is a reason that Infinite Reality bought the Drone Racing League for $250M.\n\nFounded in 2015\, DRL claims to reach mo re than one billion annual digital video views and a global broadcast foot print of 320 million households through top sports networks and streaming distribution agreements.\n\nThe league also previously received investment s from notable sports\, media\, and technology entities\, including:\n\nRS E Ventures\nLiberty Media\nExor\nISOS Capital\nWWE\nT-Mobile Ventures\nCAA Ventures\nLux Capital\nLerer Hippeau\nCourtside Ventures\nSky\nHearst Ven tures\nImmersive experiences are just getting started and DRL is well posi tioned to be a leader in this category.\n\nThe Professional Women’s Hock ey League\nThe Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) was only founde d a little over a year ago but already has hundreds of thousands of follow ers across Twitter\, Instagram\, TikTok\, and YouTube.\n\nRight after the league’s inaugural year ended\, there was talk of adding 2 expansion tea ms for the 2025-26 season.\n\nThe league already has great traction in Can ada\, where hockey is most popular\, but we wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see that success trickle down to North America as well.\n\nKings League\nIn just a year since its inception\, the Kings League recorded hig her viewership than La Liga and the Premier League on TikTok\, making it t he most-watched football league on the platform.\n\nThe league\, which is a seven-a-side soccer league\, was founded by legendary soccer star Gerard Pique who had a vision of leveraging content creators and their audience to create a unique fan experience for soccer.\n\nContent creator-led leagu es are interesting because there is already a built-in audience and distri bution which is half the battle.\n\nIf you can get and sustain attention i n sports\, you’re well on your way to building a successful league.\n\nG rand Slam Track\nMichael Johnson is one of the greatest track stars of all time.\n\nBut his legacy will likely be tied to his next venture Grand Sla m Track.\n\nThe brand new league will host four annual Slams in 2025 and h as a total of $12.6M prize money across the events.\n\nOlympic track athle tes are widely known for not making a ton of money despite their popularit y and appeal.\n\nThis model flips track and field on its head by bringing together the world’s fastest athletes for a chance to win big bucks.\n\n Given that sprinting is one of the oldest\, most beloved sports globally\, Grand Slam Track could be onto something.\n\n\n\n\n U.R.L. \n\n\n\n http s://blog.vettedsports.com/10-of-the-top-emerging-sports-leagues-to-keep-an -eye-on-in-2025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.unrivaled.basketball/\n\n\ n\n https://www.tmrwsportsgroup.com/\n\n\n\n https://www.thepwhl.com/en/\n \n\n\n https://kingsleague.pro/en/americas\n\n\n\n https://www.grandslamtr ack.com/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250215 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Two question of movies 02142026 DTSTAMP:20260214T231752Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:653-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n\n\n It is interesting\, the question says\, overrate d movie that everyone loves... that part invalidates most films. I can't t hink of a film everyone loves and no work of art is truly overrated becaus e all art has those who love it. Gone with the wind or Birth of a nation o r king kong or ... star wars or lord of the rings were not loved by everyo ne and are evenly rated by those who love it\, as well as evenly rated by those who do not. I argue the question is dysfunctional. Yes\, millions di dn't get lord of the rings\, and millions didn't get gone with the wind\, and millions didn't get birth of a nation. Now if the question was\, movie that everyone I know loves\, but I just don't get... now you have an even question. A small enough everyone\, and no false sense of rating\, so tha t it doesn't have an automatic millions of people not getting it regardles s of the movie you choose\, or an uneven assessment of ratings when people rate all art as they feel about it. And my answer to the adjusted questio n is I don't know:) I can see why any film\, ANY FILM is loved I can see w hy any art is loved. If anything I argue the artists who can't see why a w ork of art is loved is hurting themselves as an artist. You have to have a n open mind to comprehend the eternity that is art. ... I will make anothe r adjustment\, movie that everyone I know loves\, that I wish didn't and w hy? To that end I can answer. I get the lion king 100% \, I don't think it is falsely rated. But I wish people I know didn't love it. It is a beauti ful animation\, simple\, a little crude\, but an uplifting story\, has fun . I just wish it had humanoid characters instead of the nonhumans. I have aesthetic desires. Call them biased\, negatively or positively\, but they are true for me. If I was in control of disney\, which I am not\, the lion king has humanoid characters. the princess and the frog has a human princ ess the whole movie and the male lead is a frog. And comprehend I 100% get the lion king or the princess and the frog. I think they both have lovely elements. Both have for me\, lame elements. but that is art \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n Wanna know one of the changes when Murphy was hired? The love interes t went out the window.\n\n\n\n Just thought you should know.\n\n\n\n +\n\n \n\n On this date in 1984\, \"Beverly Hills Cop\" premiered in Los Angeles .\n\n\n\n In 1977\, Paramount executive Don Simpson came up with a movie i dea about a cop from East L.A. who transferred to Beverly Hills. Screenwri ter Danilo Bach was called in to write the screenplay. Bach pitched his id ea to Simpson and Paramount in 1981 under the name \"Beverly Drive\"\, abo ut a cop from Pittsburgh named Elly Axel. However\, his script was a strai ght action film and Bach was forced to make changes to the script\, but af ter a few attempts the project went stale. With the success of \"Flashdanc e\" (1983)\, Simpson saw the Beverly Hills film as his next big project. D aniel Petrie\, Jr. was brought in to rewrite the script and Paramount love d Petrie's humorous approach to the project\, with the lead character now called Axel Elly\, from Detroit. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer claimed that t he role of Axel Foley was first offered to Mickey Rourke\, who signed a $4 00\,000 holding contract to do the film. When revisions and other preparat ions took longer than expected\, Rourke left the project to do another fil m.\n\n\n\n Sylvester Stallone was originally considered for the part of Fo ley. Stallone gave the script a dramatic rewrite and made it into a straig ht action film. In one of the previous drafts written for Stallone\, the c haracter of Billy Rosewood was called \"Siddons\" and was killed off half- way through the script during one of the action scenes. Stallone had renam ed the lead character to Axel Cobretti\, with the character of Michael Tan dino being his brother and Jenny Summers playing his love interest. Stallo ne has said that his script for \"Beverly Hills Cop\" would have \"looked like the opening scene from 'Saving Private Ryan' (1998) on the beaches of Normandy. Believe it or not\, the finale was me in a stolen Lamborghini p laying chicken with an oncoming freight train being driven by the ultra-sl imy bad guy.\" However\, Stallone's ideas were deemed \"too expensive\" fo r Paramount to produce and Stallone ultimately pulled out two weeks before filming was to start. Two days later\, the film's producers\, Simpson and Bruckheimer\, convinced Eddie Murphy to replace Stallone in the film\, pr ompting more rewrites. Besides Stallone and Rourke\, other actors who were considered for the role of Axel Foley included Richard Pryor\, Al Pacino\ , and James Caan.\n\n\n\n Murphy\, John Ashton\, and Judge Reinhold improv ised most of their comic lines. Literally hundreds of takes were ruined by cast members\, actors or the director laughing during shooting. During th e \"super-cops\" monologue\, Ashton is pinching his face hard and looking down in apparent frustration. He is actually laughing. Reinhold put his ha nd in his pocket and pinched his thigh really hard\, trying to prevent him self from laughing.\n\n\n\n my thoughts\n\n\n\n hahaha I knew you would me ntion that:) In defense \, look at the amount of rewrites this project too k on. I don't deny that the white writers took out the love interest when eddie came in\, ala eddie murphy's desire for love interest in boomerang a nd coming to america\, but you read what stallone wanted to do... part of me can imagine stallone's. bless karl urban for his judge dredd. The reali ty that it took all of these rewrites and development drama for murphy to get the job is telling in itself.\n\n\n\n +\n\n\n\n  well concerning the issue of black heterosexual activity in films \, the issue is not about on e film right 🙂 it is about patterns or lack thereof . In the case of fi lms financed by whites in the usa\, a pattern displaying an absence of bla ck heterosexual activity in films financed or written or directed by white s is clear to see. And can only be denied by the dishonest. You know my th oughts\, the question is always how to fix problems. In my view only black produced films will provide the width of black characterizations that is absent in white produced films. I don't think white produced films will ev er expand black characterizations in any robust way. In one film here or t here? yes\, but not enough to ever make a pattern. \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260214 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 12 - 02/12/2025 DTSTAMP:20250213T030137Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:193-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n This economic corner is a manipulation of a dialog betwee n me side @ProfD side @Troy I felt it is warranted because the post it was started in is about Black Owned Websites and while the overall dialog with Troy maintained a focus on black websites\, the dialog between me si de profd did not. So I placed my replies to their post within the multilog \, with no demand to a reply. \n\n\n\n A majority of blacks in the usa ar e individualist and that isn't  a negative thing. It is something born fr om being in majority terrorized by whites from the early 1500s to circa 19 80. Black people have done everything possible in the usa to nonviolently grow. Everything possible. The failure was in who black people existed non violently next to\, non blacks. Now in 2025 in the usa I think it is clear from the black 1% or the black financially wealthy\, black elected offici als\, black places of worship\, that the black people with the most financ ial wealth or access to power or resources are individualist. Actions spea k louder than words. So\, when it comes to group actions across 50 states\ , I argue all those are foolish endeavors in modernity. The old black popu lace in the usa is dead and is never coming back. And that is fine. \n\n\ n\n Black communalism in the usa isn't dead but it is local\, tribal. So t o a black website in the usa or any communal activity in the usa \, they a re all best as tribal acts. The faith in nonviolent communalism is silly\, unwarranted. \n\n\n\n I don't know if anyone notices but for a while I d on't use the term \"black community in the usa\" cause for me that is a li e. The black populace in the usa exist. but the black populace is not a co mmunity. And I repeat\, that isn't a bad thing. It is warranted. The Black populace spent a solid one hundred years in the usa \, being communal lik e no other people on earth at the same time \, or very few in human histor y\, and white power crushed it all. yes\, some will argue\, try again\, bu t that is silly or stupid. Black people in the usa repeated anything someo ne black says needs to happen multiple in the past as a community\, white power crushed it all. No need for the black populace in the usa to try aga in all the things that failed in the usa by way of white power. \n\n\n\n If you are black in the usa\, embrace your small tribe\, or embrace indivi dualism but stop all the unwarranted talk about the larger populace doing communal action. Look positive to the future in a new road\, a wise road\, a financially more honest road. \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n Troy sugge sted the specific issue of black websites but it is a general affair so I placed it here alongside anything I have to say as it isn't specific to th e black websites issue. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n THE DIALOG BETWEEN ME SIDE PR OFD SIDE TROY\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black -twitter-still-a-thing/#findComment-71601\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\ n   On 2/6/2025 at 11:02 AM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n  find it mind-boggl ing that Black brain-power and wealth are not working together to create o ur own platforms. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I find it disturbing that Black fol ks are perfectly fine with enriching white folks at every level.  Social media platforms is one example.\n\n\n\n If individualism is the majority p osition among Black people with the revenue or resources to invest in owni ng a website fit for modern esocial activity\, then it does make sense. I don't think an individualist sees it as enriching a community\, they see i t as an individual investment. If you are individualist\, you don't see yo ur actions as part of any populace in humanity\, only the larger humanity itself. \n\n\n\n @Troy\n\n\n\n   On 2/6/2025 at 5:30 PM\, Troy said:\ n\n\n\n It takes a ton of money to run a robust social media platform capa ble of supporting even tens of thousands of users -- let alone hundreds of millions of users globally. So\, any site we use will need serious fundin g and only comes from investors who believe there will be serious returns on their investment.\n\n\n\n thank you\, too often black folk seem to thin k investment in things just needs pennies from the black poor. Something r equire grand investment\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n To @ProfD + @Troy\n\n\n\n   On 2/6/2025 at 6:16 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Black folks invest a wh ole lot of money in churches though.  Maybe we need to call the Black pla tform Hallelujah\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/8/2025 at 11:25 AM\, Troy  said:\n\n\n\n That is actually a Great idea man a Christian social media s ite\, surely one most already exist.\n\n\n\n I found on first page search only the following \n\n\n\n http://www.blackandchristian.com/\n\n\n\n Its funny facebook was started through colleges\, Historical black colleges t hrough the fraternities or sororities can idealistically do similar. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twitter-still-a- thing/#findComment-71607\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/9/2025 at 9:56 PM\,  richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n I found on first page search only the followi ng \n\n\n\n http://www.blackandchristian.com/\n\n\n\n \n\n That website i s defaulted. It has not been maintained for years and the length to the fo rms is broken. The fact that it ranks well in search seems to indicate the re is no active website in the space. I wonder if there’s even a desire for one. I suspect most church communities have their own websites and onl ine social platforms.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/8/2025 at 12:00 PM\, P rofD said:\n\n\n\n Regardless of religious affiliation\, I was thinking t hat could be the name of a Black-owned platform equivalent of Tw8tter (X)\ n\n\n\n \n\n Well\, from the example that Richard provided the idea of a B lack Christian website didn’t seem to work. As far as a black on website \, the equivalent of what’s already out there we already know that won ’t work at least not originating in the US.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/ 9/2025 at 9:56 PM\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n I don't think an individ ualist sees it as enriching a community\, they see it as an individual inv estment.\n\n\n\n \n\n Of course anyone buying in stock in Meta or Alphabet are doing so to make money for themselves. Now\, while  Facebook makes i tself out itself as bringing in the world closer together people don’t i nvest in them for that they invest solely to make money.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n There are other businesses types that are mission\, driven B corps and n ot for profits. people invest in them to improve society\, but those are n’t the organizations that make all that make money for investors or cre ate wealth. \n\n  \n\n\n\n It has been suggested buy some\, that AALBC s hould become a not for profit.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/top ic/11462-is-black-twitter-still-a-thing/#findComment-71608\n\n\n\n @Troy\n \n\n\n   On 2/10/2025 at 10:30 AM\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n The fact that i t ranks well in search seems to indicate there is no active website in the space. I wonder if there’s even a desire for one. I suspect most church communities have their own websites and online social platforms.\n\n\n\n Local Churches historically tend to be competitive to each other\, they ma y share a similar faith but they rarely like to share prominence.\n\n\n\n Well\, youtube tried short videos before tiktok was created and it didn't catch fire. so\, what that one scenario proves is\, the packaging/algorith m/style of such a website is key. People like websites when it offers a si mple straight forward interface while provides an aspect to communication online that they didn't have before\, not necessarily as a tool \, but in the style of the tool. \n\n\n\n I think \"HAlleluyah\" can work\, but ima gination will be needed in how it operates.\n\n\n\n I argue AALBC should s tay for profit but it will be wise if you have a contingency plan for non profit upon your death or some bad situation\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twitter-still-a-thing/#findComment-71609\n \n\n\n   On 2/10/2025 at 10:30 AM\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n As far as a bla ck on website\, the equivalent of what’s already out there we already kn ow that won’t work at least not originating in the US.\n\n\n\n Again\, I was not advocating for a Black Christian website or platform. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n That's not my thing as the resident agnostic around here.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n Half-Jokingly\, I only used the name Hallelujah because ma ny Black folks would check it out due to upbringing.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/9/2025 at 9:56 PM\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n thank you\, too often black folk seem to think investment in things just needs pennies fr om the black poor. Something require grand investment\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n M any poor people still give church offerings\, smoke cigarettes\, drink alc ohol and do drugs and shop.  So\, they can contribute along with other in vestors.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twit ter-still-a-thing/#findComment-71610\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n    On 2/10/2025 at 12:14 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n So\, they can contribut e along with other investors.\n\n\n\n Can they? \n\n\n\n I don't smoke ci garettes\, but I know cigarettes cost money\, so if a human being\, likes smoking cigerattes and they are a financially poor person\, they probably don't have money to invest in a website\, even if what they can invest is not even a miniscule fraction of a percent of the funds needed .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twitter-still-a-thing /#findComment-71611\n\n\n\n   On 2/10/2025 at 5:55 PM\, richardmurray  said:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Can they? \n\n\n\n Yes they can.\n\n\n\n   On 2/10/2025 at 5:55 PM\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n ...so if a human bein g\, likes smoking cigerattes and they are a financially poor person\, they probably don't have money to invest in a website\, even if what they can invest is not even a miniscule fraction of a percent of the funds needed . \n\n\n\n Reads like you're making excuses.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Where I come from\, I know for a fact that poor people know how find money.\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n Obviously\, not enough money to become rich or wealthy in most ca ses. But\, it's enough to maintain habits.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Many campaig ns are funded by small money donors. Some churches operate the same way. It adds up.\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twitter-sti ll-a-thing/#findComment-71614\n\n\n\n @ProfDnot an excuse\, being happy is n't an excuse to anything.\n\n\n\n if any human being does something that makes them happy\, they want to do that more right. At least for me\, i wi ll rather be happy than sad and i think any other human will rather be hap py than sad. So fi your happiness is an expense \, you still need it and s ome investment into something that will not lead to you being happy will n ot be maintained for long. \n\n\n\n yes example of consistent small donor s to certain financial endeavors exist\, but to be even\, cause the dialog is swaying away from the theme of the topic... my original quotes were in concert with Troy's concerning black twitter\, more specifically websites \, online websites\, it wasn't a generalization. and in an endeavor like a website big donors are mandatory \, needed. Not one heavily followed webs ite had small donors. throughout its history. That isn't laziness or an ac cident or something small donors can undo\, it is the reality\, big donors are needed for any website to grow a certain size. And to the current env ironment \, many websites even after massive financial investment are fail ures. Look at china really. The blunt truth is that western european count ries/japan/india/russia all have websites to their local markets but none were like china\, willing to invest enough to get websites that are global brands. And it took money for that\, not small donors of the chinese peop le. Rich chinese so I repeat my point to troy: too often black folk seem to think investment in things just needs pennies from the black poor.  an d I amend\, that is not true. \n\n\n\n Black pennies from the black poor is good for local\, local defined as city region or town level investments . A house/ a community center/a retail shop/small scale operations. that a re bounded to the region of a city or a town. But if you want industry lea ding firms across the usa\, with over three hundred and fifty million peop le or moreover humanity\, the black rich not the black pennies from the bl ack poor have to be the primary investors. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twitter-still-a-thing/#findComment-71618\n \n\n\n   21 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n @ProfDnot an excus e\, being happy isn't an excuse to anything.\n\n\n\n if any human being do es something that makes them happy\, they want to do that more right. At l east for me\, i will rather be happy than sad and i think any other human will rather be happy than sad. So fi your happiness is an expense \, you s till need it and some investment into something that will not lead to you being happy will not be maintained for long. \n\n\n\n Right.\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n Reminds me of people who claim they want to lose weight but refuse to diet and exercise because eating makes them happy.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I nstead of a gym membership\, the overweight person who claims they want to lose weight would rather spend that money on more food and snacks. \n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n A pack of cigarettes in NYC costs $13 dollars. That's almos t 1 hour of minimum wage work.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n If we're serious about i t\, 4 million Black people investing $25 dollars (2 packs of cigarettes in NYC or a large pizza) in a business venture adds up to $100 million dolla rs.\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twitter-still-a-thin g/#findComment-71621\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   21 hours ago\, ProfD sai d:\n\n\n\n A pack of cigarettes in NYC costs $13 dollars. That's almost 1 hour of minimum wage work.\n\n\n\n it's funny\, i haven't heard of a perso n buying a pack of cigarettes in a very long time in nyc. I see people buy ing singles at stores or asking for singles from their fellows or stranger s. A pack? no one has money for a pack Profd. that fact that you suggested that ... you haven't been in a place like nyc in a long time have you? I don't get snap but many are complaining about snap benefits ending.\n\n\n\ n ...I repeat\, because it is important\, black pennies will not do it. Do you know across the demographic board of NYC\, if the school food program goes under\, half of the children in nyc's schools\, not just black\, the non black as well whom you like to suggest so financially astute\, will g o hungry\, across the board 50% \, fifty percent of the children in public school.\n\n\n\n   21 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n If we 're serious about it\, 4 million Black people investing $25 dollars (2 pac ks of cigarettes in NYC or a large pizza) in a business venture adds up to $100 million dollars.\n\n\n\n  I will love to know who has bought two pa cks of cigarettes in a month in nyc ? only people with money in the first place are doing that.  but you get to the nitty gritty. \n\n\n\n Who is going to be in control fo that hundred million dollars? Profd? It will not be me. who? obama? sharpton? mrs obama? clarence thomas? who? historical black colleges?\n\n\n\n I can't name one black individual or group in the usa who has the desire+ imagination+trust to do anything with 100 million. if it was gathered.\n\n\n\n This goes back to our million man march dialo g. Assuming someone had the trust or could gain the trust\, trust must be earned\, of five hundred thousand black men  who attended the march \, wi th your $25 dollar assumption\, that twelve million and five hundred dolla rs? but who canthose 5000\,00 trust? you? me ?  iargue none class.\n\n\n\ n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twitter-still-a-thing/#findCom ment-71627\n\n\n\n  19 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n \n\n\n it's funny\, i haven't heard of a person buying a pack of cigarette s in a very long time in nyc. I see people buying singles at stores or ask ing for singles from their fellows or strangers. A pack? no one has money for a pack Profd. that fact that you suggested that ... you haven't been i n a place like nyc in a long time have you?\n\n\n\n You're missing the poi nt but it's OK. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I was just in NYC last year. Saw Blac k folks spending money too.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\, richard murray said:\n\n\n\n n in nyc's schools\, not just black\, the non black as well whom you like to suggest so financially astute\, will go hungry\, across the board 50% \, fifty percent of the children in public school.\n\ n\n\n NYC is the same place spending millions of dollars housing illegal i mmigrants. They could easily feed the children if ut was a priority.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n   19 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n  Who is go ing to be in control fo that hundred million dollars? Profd?\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n I can't name one black individual or group in the usa who has the de sire+ imagination+trust to do anything with 100 million.\n\n\n\n Right. Th erein lies the biggest obstacle.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n On one hand\, you don' t 1) believe Black folks can raise $100 million dollars through grassroot efforts and 2) can't trust any steward of the $100 million dollars collect ed.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But\, you'll suggest folks like Oprah Winfrey and o thers put up $100 million dollars of their money.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My po int is that Black folks can do both. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   19 hours ag o\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n This goes back to our million man march dialog. Assuming someone had the trust or could gain the trust\, trust mus t be earned\, of five hundred thousand black men  who attended the march \, with your $25 dollar assumption\, that twelve million and five hundred dollars? but who canthose 5000\,00 trust? you? me ?  iargue none class.\n \n\n\n It starts with having a solid plan/agenda\, goals and milestones.\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n That requires a herculean effort of oorganization among Black folks especially in a climate of individualism and tribalism.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n MY CONTINUATION \n\n\n\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n   On 2/12/2 025 at 8:05 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n You're missing the point bu t it's OK. \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n I was just in NYC last year. S aw Black folks spending money too.\n \n \n\n\n\n I comprehend your point\ , it is that the financial poor in a populace can lead a populace\, in fis cal capitalism\, always. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n   On 2/12/2025 at 8:05 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n NYC is the same place spending million s of dollars housing illegal immigrants. They could easily feed the childr en if ut was a priority.\n \n \n\n\n\n well I don't know about ease\, I n ever say anything is easy. Nothing is easy. \n\n\n\n Technically\, NYC is spending federal money on housing illegal immigrants\, thus appropriated money\, thus money that must be used for specific reasons. I doubt the rep resentatives of many states in the union will desire federal money for imm igrants into nyc \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n   On 2/12/2025 at 8:05 AM\,  ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Right. Therein lies the biggest obstacle.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n On one hand\, you don't 1) believe Black folks can raise $100 million dollars through grassroot efforts and 2) can't tru st any steward of the $100 million dollars collected.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n But\, you'll suggest folks like Oprah Winfrey and others put up $100 million dollars of their money.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n My po int is that Black folks can do both. \n \n \n Expand  \n\n\n\n Well\, I must first say\, I call any populace in humanity foolish if they put up l arge funds without trust. You first have to have the trust before the mone y. It is rare but sometimes the number 2 comes before number 1 this is one of those times. You have 1 but 2 is a key element to why 1 exist with me.  \n\n\n\n Yes\, Profd\, here is a simple example. If I am a billionaire\, no a multibillionaire\, lets say I have ten billion. so ten percent is on e billion. one percent is one hundred million. \n\n\n\n So\, now someone\ , like myself says\, why don't Rich spend one hundred million\, which is o ne percent of rich rich's wealth in this example right? \n\n\n\n Now\, th at 100 million is Rich Rich's money right?  Rich Rich can do what he want with his money right? So\, if Rich Rich don't invest in the community  t hat is perfectly acceptable because Rich Rich is free to not invest or inv est with Rich Rich's. While\, if rich rich is honest\, if he is me he is\, Rich Rich will publicly say he isn't helping the black populace in the us a and is responsible for not helping as one of the wealthiest black people in the usa. Cause that is the truth. If someone like Profd says in some f orum\, you guys want Rich Rich to invest his money \, but can't trust a st eward . and someone will say\, Rich Rich said\, as a fiscally wealthy blac k person in fiscal capitalsim that I have to invest first\, before any fis cally poor black person\, and if I don't invest\, I am free to but anyone can tell me to shut the fuck up if I chime in on the village. Yes\, if I w as a billionaire and freely chose to not invest in the community but like to chime in on this show or that\, any black person has the right to tell me to shut the fuck up. \n\n\n\n To the obstacle of trust.... \n\n\n\n Y Es in the past the black churches in the usa had the ability to garner gra ssroots\, but the stewardship of the black populace in the usa by the blac k churches in the usa failed. From circa 1865 to 1990 the black churches i n the usa had their time and it ended with the majority of the black popul ace in the usa correctly rejecting their stewardship from the black church es. \n\n\n\n The black churches in the usa had three tenets: nonviolence/ grassroots activity/be of the church.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Be of the Church is very interesting historically. \n\n\n\n The black populace in the usa at one time was 99% christian. Comprehend the percentage of jews in the wh ite european populace/buddhist in the white asian populace was larger than non christian blacks in the black populace. So\, the entire advantage to black churches existed \, in terms of maintaining a strong role in the bla ck populace\, and sequentially membership.  But I think the 1950s\, was t he beginning of the end for the black churches in that be of the church ma ntra. Atheism/Islam/Buddhism/Belief systems or faiths older than christian ity or islam or judaism while indigenous to africa grew in influence. The Black churches in all earnest\, were never flexible enough when it came to the potential internal variance of cultures in the black populace in the usa. And their relationship to: Historic black colleges or universities\, the NAACP\, the garveyites\, the black soldiers from the first two phases of the white european imperial wars W.E.I.W.\, black newspapers\, the pant hers\, the nation of islam and many others all should had been integrated with black churches more but none were. The colleges or universities were initially 99% financed by white churches \, black people had no money when the 13th amendment was signed because our populace was mostly enslaved no t to long before. So I comprehend that white churches wanted the colleges to get black members to their churches. But black churches needed to merge with those colleges\, comprehending that at their core they are places of learning not religion. The garveyites\, again\, malcolm's father was a pa stor. But\, not all churches supported garveyism. and that was foolish to me. The NAACP financed by white jews and has a black 1% workforce  in it\ , but link to them. and they didn't. Black Soldiers\, so many black soldie rs in the first phase of the W.E.I.W. came back to the usa invigorated \, but alot of times they organized away from the black churches\, not throug h it. I comprehend that many soldiers don't share the position on violence many church folk will want but embrace these people. Newsppapers/Panthers / Nation of Islam  the black churches simply didn't make an effort to bin d with black organizations or groups over the years. It isn't about people coming to them but they needed to lead and go to others\, and they didn't and the results are easy to see.  The modern internal multiracial realit y in the black populace in the usa has left the black churches behind\, bu t they never embraced it\, even among themselves. What always knocks me ou t is how little black churches helped each other. Very individualistic bla ck churches are.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Grassroots activity is huge\, initiall y the most positive. Black churches were able to manage black money/time/m uscle into building schools\, being active in government affairs. Again th e 1950s\, was a time of change. Circa 1865 most black people in the usa we re correctly\, financially worthless\, as they came out of enslavement. Bu t by 1955\, and moreso in 1965\, you see the rise of what i call the black one percent. Nonviolently\, evading or surviving or overcoming all sorts of white violence/attacks/bullying/terrorism some black people \, with the help of the village cause no one does it alone no matter what they tell y ou\, achieved financial wealth.  Not white wealth levels\, again\, white people killed first people to take their land and enslaved black folk to t ill that land\, so having access to land + labor that you are not paying a t market rate or in various tax system or rulesets helps catapult financia l revenue streams\, which black people wierdly seem to think can be better legally. But the black wealthy circa 1950s had developed a culture starte d from 1865 that influenced black churches badly. The black wealthy all we nt to black churches and started manipulating how they operated \, whereas circa 1865 black churches sought to help the black populace\, circa 1955 black churches are telling black people to help themselves. Black business owners flipped the bill for alot of activities in the 1960s but the black churches should had by that time been more involved. But the death of gra ssroots activities from black churches to the larger black populace in the ir regions started to change how black people related to the churches. Kwa me Ture\, some know as Stokely Carmicheal\, said it best himself\, about M artin Luther King jr\, can you imagine a black baptist preacher doesn't ac cept a cadillac. The Black Preachers by the 1960s in majority were not abo ut the flock but themselves\, that is why they never voted for MLK jr to b e head of the southern black christian leadership conference. And in paral lel\, the wealthy black churches have survived well to this day each in th eir individual glamour while the fiscally poor churches said rich churches didn't even think warranted a grassroots activity to save died and with t hem a huge disassociation from the larger black populace in the usa. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n Nonviolence:) I saved this last\, cause i argue this was t he biggest injury black churches had to their leadership position in the b lack populace in the usa. \n\n\n\n So many black people were beaten \, th e tragedy of the usa\, is alot of times\, black people ourselves\, focus o n the hangings\, the burnings\, the action from whites that lead to death\ , but i think the violent actions from whites that are not lethal are more interesting. \n\n\n\n How many black women were raped? I know in one tow n all the black women were raped by whites\, a common knowledge around bla ck people in that town. \n\n\n\n How many black men were beaten by whites \, unsheeted circa 1865 to anytime now sheeted circa 1875 to circa 1965 un iformed circa 1865 to anytime now. \n\n\n\n The Black Churches circa 1865 had a vote where they decided a collective stance\, an agreement between black churches on the stance towards violence [I am trying to find out all i can about this and add it to the DOS EARLY LITERATURE GROUP\, it will b e one of my best finds if I can] \, to support nonviolence. \n\n\n\n And I don't mind that\, but here is the problem\, when you promote nonviolence aside a communalism circa 1865 black individuals don't feel alone\, but f rom circa 1950s to modernity the nonviolence is aside individualism. In th e 1970s white people still enslaved black people straightly\, albeit illeg ally\, while black churches in the same 1970s are talking about bootstraps . Said enslaved black people:  can't chew through metal\,  block a bulle t to their arm or deal with a ax hit across their foot\, can't attack an a rmed person with the power of faith. Black people needed armed protection\ , they needed guidance away from white violence. But all the black churche s ever provided from circa 1865 to modernity\, 2025\, going from undoubted leaders to castaway organizations\, is no guidance away from violence or no protection and black people\, like any people with some sense\, saw the nonviolent plea ended up with the black churches leaving each of its memb ers alone\, as black individuals against white communal violence and why g o to church for that. I will never forget Sean Bell's father\, he said he wanted the men who killed his son dead. Al sharpton\, the pastor\, and oth ers made sure he wasn't heard much after in the media sphere\, and that en capsulates the problem with non violence from the black church. It is a sp it in the eye. The same Black Churches that shut up Sean Bell's father who said nothing wrong in my mind\, will then turn to people with similar fee ling to sean bell's father\, all earned by white violence\, and tell them about investing in some business\, voting for some official\, all of thing s that will not satisfy their warranted anger. Cause the black churches do n't care. it is a philosophical desire that leaves black people alone in t he affairs that matter most while demanding some unwarranted communal acti on by the same individuals.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And this goes to my poi nt about Black leadership concerning the Black 1% in the usa\, said 1% was brewed in Black Churches in the usa. The Black Churches developed an indi vidualist culture that didn't even allow them to help fellow black churche s\, and made them private clubs whose members ingratiate themselves and ha ve a heirarchy of wealth\, dismissive of anybody outside. So when I sugges t the black 1% put up their money\, I don't do that hopefully. It is merel y strategic assessment within a fiscal capitalistic environment where all major actions come through the fiscal aristocracy \, no matter how they go t their wealth\, and uplifting the black populace in the usa is a major ac tion. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PRofd you suggest in a climate of individualism that garnering the trust needed is a continent bridging act of organizati on. I concur. Possibility is not probability. Possibility ask can a thing happen or not. Probability ask what is the gamble\, as a numerical value\, a thing can happen. \n\n\n\n It is possible\, all things are possible ac tually. But the probability is very low in this case. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twitter-still-a-thi ng/#findComment-71630  (FROM TROY  IN AMENDMENT- this came in after I ha d set up this post so I just placed it in )\n\n\n\n   21 hours ago\, r ichardmurray said:\n\n\n\n I will love to know who has bought two packs o f cigarettes in a month in nyc ?\n\n\n\n \n\n There are plenty of people. I was asked to buy a carton of cigarettes here in Florida for someone up i n New York City who smokes two packs a day. My mother easily smokes a pack a day and has been doing that for the better part of 3/4 of a century.\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n certainly\, we as a people can do a much better job and i nvesting in our own businesses.\n\n  \n\n\n\n We do have experience with this already. There are mega churches all over the country that are suppor ted by relatively small contributions by large numbers of people. Some of those churches have schools and provide a wide variety of services for the community in addition to ensuring contributors get into heaven. But churc hes have all types of tax advantages that regular businesses don’t.\n\n \n\n The real issue\, I think\, is creating wealth for the investors rathe r than lighting the pockets of some charismatic preacher. It is not just a matter of organizing the investors it’s coming up with the viable busin ess.\n\n  \n\n\n\n Alternatively\, people can be content in simply contri buting to a business without expecting to be rewarded financially. People contribute to my business simply because they want to support what I’m d oing\, which is beautiful because it actually does help. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n MY REPLY \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @Troy \n\n\n\n \n   On 2/12/2025 a t 8:04 PM\, Troy said:\n \n\n \n \n There are plenty of people. I was asked to buy a carton of cigarettes here in Florida for someone up in New York City who smokes two packs a day. My mother easily smokes a pack a da y and has been doing that for the better part of 3/4 of a century.\n \n \ n\n\n\n Buy a carton in florida\, not in NYC and Profd's point was about N YC\, not buying in another state because of the cost in nyc... \n\n\n\n \ n   On 2/12/2025 at 8:04 PM\, Troy said:\n \n\n \n \n certainly\, we as a people can do a much better job and investing in our own businesse s.\n \n \n\n\n\n whose we? The black populace in the usa\, not the world\ , not another country\, the usa has no we. Yes\, small tribes do this or t hat. But overall no we exist in the black populace of the usa. So I argue\ , the black populace in the usa is doing as it has been guided from intern ally as well as externally. And that is fine. Individualism has served bla ck people in the usa well for those that want to integrate\, to merge\, to miscegenate\, to become one with the non black in the usa.\n\n\n\n \n   On 2/12/2025 at 8:04 PM\, Troy said:\n \n\n \n \n We do have expe rience with this already. There are mega churches all over the country tha t are supported by relatively small contributions by large numbers of peop le. Some of those churches have schools and provide a wide variety of serv ices for the community in addition to ensuring contributors get into heave n. But churches have all types of tax advantages that regular businesses d on’t.\n \n \n\n\n\n yeah\, I mentioned black churches in my reply to Pr ofd\, yeah ok. but black churches are about themselves\, again\, they don' t help each other\, so...\n\n\n\n \n   On 2/12/2025 at 8:04 PM\, Troy  said:\n \n\n \n \n The real issue\, I think\, is creating wealth for the investors rather than lighting the pockets of some charismatic preache r. It is not just a matter of organizing the investors it’s coming up wi th the viable business.\n \n \n\n\n\n the time has passed on that. The cu lture of ingratiating the preacher is fully embedded\, the time to unravel that was in the 1900s not 2025 and after\n\n\n\n \n   On 2/12/2025 at 8:04 PM\, Troy said:\n \n\n \n \n Alternatively\, people can be conte nt in simply contributing to a business without expecting to be rewarded f inancially. People contribute to my business simply because they want to s upport what I’m doing\, which is beautiful because it actually does hel p. \n \n \n\n\n\n your right. I never said there are not black people wi th money who give with no desire for financial returns.  But the black fi scal poor can't lead a website to the kind of growth to become a \"electro nic freedom's journal\".. not in my opinion. Can they be part of the journ ey yes\, but not lead. That is asking the most from the poorest.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11462-is-black-twitter-still-a-thing /#findComment-71635\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prior Economic Corner\n\n\n\n https ://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11447-economiccorner011/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n It is ti me for black people in the usa to realize that the past has created a heri tage of individualism that is warranted and needs to be championed. You wa nt the best chances\, probability\, of communalism among black people thro ughout an entire country\, leave the usa. Communalism in the usa is only v iable in small tribal sections\, not from sea to shining sea.  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11475-economiccorner012/\n\n\n\n P RIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/167-economic-corner -11-what-should-you-see-after-a-deepseek-01282025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\ n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/194-economic-corner-13-02152025/\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02142026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATION\n\n\n\n https://aal bc.com/tc/topic/12464-economic-corner-12-02122025-offline-internets-and-in tranets /#findComment-80117\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\ n\n   On 2/13/2026 at 1:31 AM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Time flies. That d ialog is 1 year old already. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n exactly\, what has chang ed\, what has evolved. \n\n\n\n   On 2/13/2026 at 1:31 AM\, ProfD sai d:\n\n\n\n Nothing much has changed. There is not mega-Black-owned website .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Apparently\, there's no real incentive to create such a website when Black folks are comfortable using the white-owned sites i. e.  F*c*b**k\, X\, Inst*gr*m\, T*kT*k\, G**gle\, etc.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I still think the Black church tribe is large enough to warrant creating  their own internet platform.\n\n\n\n And your words provide what has chan ged or not\, what has evolved or not. The issue then is still here. \n\n\ n\n To your point\, of the black church \, one issue. \n\n\n\n The black christian churches in the usa as a collective are large enough but the bla ck christian churches don't act as a cohesive collective. They are a tribe \, but they are very individual. the black christian churches of New york city is a microcosm. harlem is full of black christian churches\, abysinni an is historically the most potent\, in terms of revenue \, money\, but ab yssinnian has never tried to create a unity among black churches in new yo rk city... to my knowledge\, and if they did in the past\, they clearly fa iled. \n\n\n\n So from a population perspective I concur 100% to you. But strategically\, something new is needed that doesn't exist now. \n\n\n\n I can tell you\, black christian churches[baptist/methodist/jehovah's wti ness/et cetera]/black muslim mosque/black jewish temples all exist in harl em today. You can argue\, if black religious groups in NYC alone came toge ther to make such a platform online they would have the numbers. But\, whe n you look at the most organized set of churches in nyc\, which is the cat holic[ black\, non black\, or other] you see one question has to be answer ed? who will be the pope? who will be the archdiocese? \n\n\n\n The south ern black christian leadership conference has a council but also a  presi dent. so... they have the populace to warrant but they don't have the orga nizational flexibility to warrant. \n\n\n\n thinking on this and I thank you\, Al sharpton has national action network\, which has associations to various religious groups but they all do it willingly on their own. They h aven't made a creed so to speak\, to legally join them.  I argue he proba bly has the best media face to start such an endeavor and definitely has t he ear of the pastors/priest/episcopals to most in the black religious pop ulace in new york city. But\, he is older and his idea of integration's pa th in the usa as well as indiividual allowance in the usa probably makes t he idea of such a website \, negative . \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250212 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Bill Russell born 1934 DTSTAMP:20250806T220229Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:449-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The most trophied black player \, ten rings all together and added one of the few who also won as a player + coach. He left coachin g because he was asked by white owned media if he felt he was worthy to be a coach\, after just winning the NBA championship as a coach\, so he comp rehended that no matter what he did\, media would act like he still hasn't earned or still hasn't warranted\, so he left.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Bill Russ ell's spirit flew as well\, the most honest Black basketball in media ever \n\n\n\n on coaching LINK\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n on Black Youth LIN K\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I PAraphrase Bill russell\, use the link above to ver ify or read the whole below \"You have guys who have been pampered for 10- 15 years. So you can't say this is an example. Or this is an average guy. Most athletes\, my self included\, are self centered. Maybe psychologicall y that is why we plays sports\, but it is not normal. ... If i  am going to go into Harlem\, and go to a play ground and say to kids\, if you work hard you can do the same thing I did\, that would be a lie. That would be unfair to myself and unfair to the kids. I can say to the kids\, do your b est and fight it everyday. But to say I am an example of the greatness of the country\, that is not true. If I am going to be honest to myself\, I a m an exception and have treated as an exception for years and years. The p roblem is I am only treated as an exception in certain areas. \"\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n FULL TRANSCRIPT \, UNCHECKED\, for Black Youth link below\n\n\n \n [BEEP] [SILENCE] [MUSIC] [MUSIC] pound the subways of New York City for an investigation into the Transit Authority Workers Union. Bill? historia n dr charles hamilton makes projections of what after americans can expect from the seventies five of the country's various athletes bill russell ar thur ashe johnny sample jackie robinson and harry edwards meet with bill t o discuss the role of the black athlete in the black community before he w as ten\nWhen he was thirteen\, he was singing the blues on the street corn ers of Memphis. Today\, John Lee Hooker is one of the most famous and best loved blues musicians. He feels his music deeply. It's part of him\, and he's part of it. Listen\, John Lee Hooker. [MUSIC] Lyrics -- Serves me rig ht to suffer Lyrics -- Serves me right to be alone\, be alone Lyrics -- Se rves me right to suffer\; Serves me right to be\nLyrics -- be alone\, to b e alone\; Because the life that I'm livin'\, I'm livin' Lyrics -- the days are memories gone by\; Serve me right Lyrics -- to suffer\; It serves me right to be alone Lyrics -- It serves me right to suffer the way I do\; It serves me Lyrics -- me right to be alone\; Lyrics -- Because the life I'm livin'\; Livin' in the days of memories gone by\nNow watch this now\; Dig it. Lyrics -- Every time Lyrics -- time I see another woman\; I just Lyri cs -- can't keep from tryin'\; I look into another woman's face\; I just c an't keep from tryin' Lyrics -- The woman that I had Lyrics -- hurt me so bad\; almost drove me insane Lyrics -- That's the reason I'm tryin' to liv e my life\; Livin' in the days of memories gone by [music] Lyrics -- oh ye ah\; Nothin' but the best and later for the rest\; My doctor put me on. Ly rics -- yeah\, what he did\; milk\, cream and alcohol\nLyrics -- my doctor placed Lyrics -- me on\; he wrote me a description for milk\, cream and a lcohol\; I knew it was so bad Lyrics -- shook up and shop\; I could Lyrics -- I couldn't sleep\; I couldn't rest at all that night\; He said\, that' s why I'm placing you on milk\, Lyrics -- milk\, cream and alcohol call to try and legalize the day and the memory absolutely right all over the cou ntry black workers are coming\ntogether to challenge racism which has prev ented us from getting our fair share of job opportunities in america the r ecord is clear a star was cracked unions have excluded blacks the federal government has enforced anti discrimination laws state and local doctor sa ys often condone discrimination the struggle goes on across the country in the private as well as the public sector concentrating in the constructio n automobiles stealing calling industries and in all public employment con struction has been hardest hit by black protest statistics show black work ers will only two percent of the eight hundred thousand high paying skille d jobs in this industry blacks already and many major unions have former b lack caucus as to demand that these unions relate to the needs and aspirat ions of black workers they want a real voice in union policy making or bla ck workers are in the majority they're insisting on control of the unions for instance the new york citi bikes and puerto ricans make up the majorit y of workers in the rapid transit system for the\nareas controlled by whit es a group called the rank and file committee for democratic union is dete rmined to change that they're struggling to overthrow part why controlled te wu and set up their own union which were fairly represent black and pue rto rican workers he's with these were a tuna i mean while committees obje ctive is to establish electorate and they need to do this they must first obtained signatures from thirty percent of transit workers and call for a state supervised election for twenty eight thousand transit workers but dz hokhar the president the right to file committee explains why his\ngroup's exchange disney thank you it is i'm sorry they're appealing to both black and white workers for the signature is\nmaintaining that an undemocratic union betrays the objectives of all we're just amazed that almost seventy percent of transit workers are black and puerto rican leadership are still seventy five percent white union leaders they say are elected by mail bal lots were actually colored by union officials ever have a real chance beca use the mental illness a mail ballot well after negotiations are concluded and activist the result of any potential strike threat this sort of the u nion doesn't really live in a region where church and that some supervisor s discriminate but they face a difficult fight it is hard for them to reac h large numbers of workers because at this time the organization is small they have the outsiders like the resources at vanguard and they are challe nging a rich and powerful union\nthat's a nice day i found out that they w ere so vulnerable on this question because of the fact that they didn't ha ve an integral couple says they only had about two offices to executive bo ard offices out of about thirty two quote fallout for vice president of th e union that these people don't represent the blog where does that industr y is the people that do exactly what they're going to with roosevelt once executive vice president of the transport workers union and has one of the common the dissident this land has tried to run for office in his unit\nl ast word is about ten years ago he ran for such an officer with hal conduc tors <\;unk>\; level and there he was recruited he was defeated day ou t of about three thousand volts i'm thinking a hundred and fifty it was th e last night i can file charges that is controlled and says joel carnegie has no support among the westerns two years later he was successful enough to get the required amount of signatures and he ran for the president of local one hundred and how about nineteen thousand ballots cast got about t wo thousand that's right it is we tried to run an opposition\nslaves withi n the union vote against the top offices and once they do that they just d on't have a chance because they counted from the workers' wages it's it us es the undemocratic bilbao is also used in ratifying contracts about other s on rather than there's no conference and so what happens is that they ha ve made that when the union in advance of montana's that shoved down our t hroat so yes so that's one of the reasons why we thought that it was neces sary to go through the necessary steps getting a thirty percent of aig can 't or representational action to decide who will be to solve our\ntransit workers delaney simmons they're forbidden by chance of a forty regulations to solicit signatures on to a property and were previously arrested at th is location they assert that they have no real access to great numbers of workers unless they reach them on the job why are you\nare you it's been n ice being nice sneakers the rest of us\nproperty what the lender while the group was constantly faced with an apparent double standard in the slow p ace at the league doesn't organize on to a property and they demand the sa me rights and then in a transit authority assignment room supposedly off l imits for union organization works it wu literature as plainly and evidenc e it's been\ncarnegie's group no absolute freedom of all the truth about a property there's only one is that record and that was with a transit poli ceman in that would address what they do yeah i'm seventy disciplinary pro cedures call your record mr\ndr william roman chairman metropolitan transi t authority a transit authority workers other refused to appear for an int erview to discuss the rank and file charges are your members these other t op aid officers or transport workers local one hundred and one point and f ile contends that mr watts was appointed as a direct result of their earli er efforts for more like representations to members of the joint executive authority wu the policymaking and yolk it addresses a regular monday nigh t organizers me\nevery month and they are passing you know what this means is that signature is that we can get a representation of much of the unio n representation election to decide who are the vessel at ws thank\nyou it is yeah the country\nwhat workers are clearly saying unions must institut e democratic reform or face stiff challenges from an increasingly militant white labor movement you did thank you\nnice you are\njenny the a good ca mp the nigerian civil war is over like americans look to niger to fulfill its great promise as a major african nation of a law that sought to be tor n into by prejudice and subversion from within and hostile foreign pressur es from abroad should be a stern lesson to black people everywhere perhaps novel white americans were leftover naked starting the\nafricans on afric a's their concern was suffering people in their own country and lamont dem ocratic controlled southern part of africa has for us perhaps as we observ e the new unity among your laws the houses and he goes and the hundreds of other ethnic groups of nigerian afro americans will push to settle the re maining differences among us so we may have greater unity on our post game of nightmares over niger as african nation can resume the important after revealing so what will the seventies the whole clubb afro americans what have the past year meant to our struggle for freedom what effect will even ts of the sixties have on the present decade not charles hamilton professo r of political science at columbia university conference the year nineteen sixty nine was a reflection of the decade of the nineteen sixties in term s of action in the white community one might view events of the past year and project in the nineteen seventies in terms of three major categories t hursday black struggle as broadening its base of\nbut as a patient and beg inning to add new targets to its protests examples of this would include t hat the increased activity all welfare rights groups and blackstone organi zations like rise we saw the demand by blacks that the white churches bega n to put their money where some of their individual ears of that all the t ime on the line in the form of demands reparations to blacks for years of those churches but as a patient and then benefit from a ration system it w asn't fact is that the black male in america has worked from sixteen ninet een eighteen sixty five without due compensation for his labor the calcula tion and what in fact is the real figure for reparations as something amor e tundra comes may well and to take second the year witnessed a continued moon to consolidate local political economic power the demands for communi ty controlled schools community control of police and land continue\nevide nce a growing electoral power was shown in various elections around the co untry this year in fayette mississippi greene county alabama and in severa l northern cities this electoral organization kampala will continue and di rectly into the nineteen seventies with more blacks being elected office w here the numbers and the organizational skills come together and these wil l be black elected officials more responsive to their black constituencies where they too will feel a punishment of rejection and later elections be cause it's a it's quite unlikely that the intense struggle for political p ower will be ways to simply to be turned over to traditional a new forces and the shame a question only nineteen sixty nine was a very harsh reminde r of the repressive nature of the system in the form of continued killings of members of the black panthers no one should be naive to believe that w hen a group begins to move that the system will not retaliate in some form or another\nto counter this black struggle is constantly reminded that or ganization unity and scales very basic are absolutely essential nineteen s ixty nine was a year of continued little struggle for black survival and d evelopment it was a year that set the agenda in the nineteen seventies the increased involvement of more groups and lodging that goes to include muc h more concern for the acquisition of political and economic power in addi tion to a legal and constitutional rights and finally greater demands for a re allocation of national economic resources i\nthink the one area in th is country where we have demonstrated are excellent as the athletic freedo m however we check it out with greater than america knows that the black a thlete has also been the victim of volatility would like to apply brothers you know those were really thinking about the man who broke the color lin e in the country he went on a nineteen fifty two that the baseball hall of fame with a jackie robinson the voting affinities of how things like econ omic and political football in this country will russell the man who led t he boston celtics to attend world championships over the last twelve years in nineteen sixty eight he became the first black coach in the national b asketball association after winning the championship\nbill russell retired a member of the team would successfully defended the davis cup this past fall for the past four years he has been the only black player in the lily white world of big league pennants it had window that has on the country we would even be considered for membership offer called the movie and i th ought the invitation from the nineteen thirty one davis cup competition is left one about the defensive captain of the nineties sixty eight world ch ampion new york jets he led the team that year in and that it had boosted of the entire nineteen fifty nine feet and with a serious back injury a ve teran of ten years and will continue to be one of the more hopeful than li ke minimal i am with organized over the vatican out the stark black voters about the nineteen fifty eight geology i think the black athlete has had a very\nlarge role to play in the soul of the spirit of the black communit y because it was a television out of sports as part of a bird those messag es the mass media in this is it there's a lot of criticism from people who are great deal criticism these days the luckiest the mass media the news reporting etcetera but i think that the sports industry in and of itself h as agreed to a responsibility the degree to which sports in fact has not b rought people together in this is that it's because they haven't told the truth that would tend to under manned some of the established\ninstitution alized racism discrimination the prejudice that exist between people in a society they've tended to do the business that in fact what you see on the field is a hug ma actress topic yeah all portrait of reality in the masse s that in that there's this is to the system consideration this is because apart from the time they were semi is no liberal as electric cars and the y are getting a rueful there nobody really cares what they think in florid a none of that civil defense and so you can say that this is\nan example o r this is beverage that causes that causes most deadly summer in lots of l iquid social reason may be psychosomatic me with a sport maybe i will comf ort so it doesn't driving force to make it a sport that is not know i woul d have not been to but the people that have these are your restaurant a su ccessful landing in any field i think that i worked as hard and have him a s much larger monthly at the rich where did as citizens are motivated and that is a hub for me was ever going to say that we're going to hunt angle and going to one of the kids in this review of it was i learned and if you 're like me and only unfair to my stomach as a kid but my city kids do\nth is and find every day were to say that madame example of the reasons of th e country that's not true because i have a feeling i'm an exception the pr oblem that we have is that certain areas and what about that there hasn't been any significant advancement of developments that i think that we have to understand about the so progress on call that we've made is that must decide then the weekend cuban gates bill russell in basketball that nothin g gets that bill russell and wilt when the courts are the same things happ ened in\nany case you know would be acceptable but we still have to be use d to have opposed the knob down the little barefoot tokenism it just all p ractical purposes we do not have any blacklisted and professional athletic s all practical purposes not have anything that we're like you can go on t o professional athletics and then do a good job and say well i can afford to be a manager our coach with cummings is that i get this question on ser ving back in contention in air that they say no tears remember do you mean and i'd like a comparison team sports was an effect in the small corporat ions they're still run for\nstockholders want to make money not make money some items so enfranchise someone who thinks he can make money that exten t the universal baseball to ready for hillary clinton is just like another small quarters president and vice presidents hierarchy of administrative work it is no different than a regime where that they may have some of the same religious attitudes about hiring lots of this alert level and as har ris in tokenism may be construed as progress business in fact my biggest s ingle reason that has it and the super bowl last year which isn't only bec ause of advertising for one minute was about a hundred and eighty thousand dollars but some of that is ever been paid for what does the big athletic says\nleave the nineteen twenty four years nineteen sixty nine as it is n ow a blog emilie most of this year the three star wars not an obama suppor ter roy the plentiful beardsley joins us and we was you know what does dra w on as you go up the ladder no you have to work and strive to work that y ou have to salute the work where you have the courtyard and continued inst ructions allegedly negative official of this level football baseball does or whatever it may be you see things happening around the white athletes g et sort of a it's really one of the contracting it's white dough manager a t thirty and once there is a white marble animal bible belt loads more the y also may be the place it used to happen in the spotlight at this isn't a zone of the white mountains and it's a job making fifteen twenty thousand miles and all season when the black ballplayers among the job than a hund red dollars a week these are the things that this one in which the\nlack o f legal they had been a professional football which i'm connecting with us what managers and coaches roaming the headquarters and of these things ov er the urban activist susan minister of britain and to know where on the j ob one of the assistant coaches for five years beginning to alex way that was consistent with the two years as you've been explaining their counselo r about football that will allow these things are going to kill you now i mean is it is there anything that the black athletes can do about this or that the plans can too bothersome into changes to some of them demonstrato rs in nineteen sixty seven we get more movement in athletics away from the status quo than at any other time or a lot of the car that beat against t he bad people in amateur athletics in particular\nthe whole movement aroun d to litigate dhabi black athletes instead of that when i want to go to li tigate because we did not feel that this country is getting off a just gre at as human beings that we have the last word of the skills we have to dem onstrate that they are not the taliban well a pick atlanta little to stop an average of the people of all that i am and actually this is what i know this is my work i use this as a tool without and you have a tool to make a living and i can say they used their the two in order to lead and it jus t about my humanity not to demonstrate my humanity i don't think about it and now we can really where we reached a point where because there's no ac tually preceded us and i think that if the kids today don't worry it's not a matter of probability\nit causes like it's now know i think his answers are where the investors who at this emerging was the word of the world we ll it's natural quite proud of the fact that the guys are standing up and being counted i don't i wish we had done the very same thing and we were i 'm playing ball glitz that up i got scarcely at the onset they have a kind of troubles that they're having a day i think it is this present generati on doesn't stand up and even more that once their kids are growing up play ing out the same kind of promise all it builds these kids to stand up and hillary can they possibly can but there's one thing that concerns me and i wonder what the feeling is here ah honey feel about the situation where t he south africans come here and the late gary player like i think it is sa fe to me to think that there'll be a song connelly says we were we've atte mpted to to contact a member of some of the summer golfers have had\ndiffi culty getting in touch with him in the land that we have got in touch with you know where's your identity cooperation very much effort led them at a landfill in boston atlanta ga ga players themselves ayatollah once if ass ad can expect the golfers to join in and i think we need sportswriters dou g o'neill of the games business and such organization of the formalities t hat in the whole thing at this critical part of the simple fact that the f ilms what the protests live eventually leads back to me in one way or anot her scene to haul the whole thing that we are developing a vision to open up on the ground that at around that this was coming for an athletic feder ation\nthat i think will take up a lot of slack that the number of us have been trying to hold down since as for the state wichita which is so what does he have that goes back to some point where you have to take the state you have to believe in something you have to have a principal and you hav e to stand up for it no matter what happens on the water pages damages the m but one thing i think people watching the meantime the oven and look for a future is that that growing militancy among athletes is not gonna stop what it is is that is gaining momentum take a stand instead of getting bet ter things are gonna get worse then as i said before a professional and th ings are themselves corporations they are products of the american ideal t hat\nidea of sometimes twice that wasn't i was too has a half homeowners i t is it is full of all the good and the bad as is it shows and instead of getting better it's going to get worse in years to more demonstrations tha t we see more oil manifest those one where another and to see more athlete s even a ritual there were guys in their professional chess is saying whoa whoa that thing where the skiing on this this cause because of sorts thou gh and i just said that and it's not that way headlines like the news conf erences in the days when the case started moving his face in one place or another it became the best reason that and for five years the demonstratio ns are so commonplace there on page fifty and they had lines in english we must hurt a new tactic to gain the attention of the\npublic say i think i don't think there's any question that the decade the seventies in particu lar are going to be about the turbulent six instances were turbulent and t urbulent without any particular program they were turbulent and as a drama to dramatizing affect your turban dramatic sense i think of the seventies a lot of the turbulent in a diabolical sons of people are going to sit do wn and what a match up of the management operational levels programs and w hat has happened i've attended these allies that they're not going to have time to really portion for them develop a program for middle class that t he progress is allowed to sit down and look at the society and i want to b egin to take a pot of those links of injustice and an impression but then there are those kinds of the last twenty years ago those things that one b y one\ni think that athletics is that there's going to be as much carbon i s as if they were going to have some blind man's of the committee said tha t that was not the architect of a baseball game or a basketball that was j ust coming at the person huckabee and finance and this is the republicans and i think this is a parcel of the way we are the robert shelton says thi s country who come out of prison because of a refusal to make estimates th at complex plan and then they go and testify that they're going to drive t o suppress the negro in this country now we don't hear anything coming fro m the attorney general's office about this candidate it but to let the har ry edwards a word an organizer was like the banana scene country comes up to me and not a word of this except a small thing in the newspaper about r obert shelton sets if you'd like to make a bomb on a concern about robert so how i really\nfound that the robert shelton you can spot a mile of his cancelled toyota designers is the one i think that what we have to really be concerned about look i think that often has alluded to the constitution al relationships that have been perpetuated his conjugal the last fifty or sixty years since the seminal this week that have become entrenched along that landscape the middle out and respectable as going to church on sunda y let me ask you this well i want to find out and on this track set up in life nothing i have never been so proud of individuals of tommy smith and john carlos olympic games i think this to me was the greatest demonstratio n of a personal conviction and private eye that i've really seen it and th en the tissue has guy standing up there sander well as i saw it i'm proud i can't live like this has kind of a sudden you see a guy running around t he ring wave of the flag and you get sick inside\nwas awful a wave of laug hter but what concerns me now is the what i see is a very concerted effort to trial against these guys and i thought that brought a great deal digni ty and self respect to the black community are you really here casale abou t what's happened tom has suddenly and what these guys who have really mad e black people tremendously proud not only overcome if what happened harry can that's how us live now is for ball for cincinnati bengals i asked lee evans isn't school and in those tunnels a john carlson school themselves a more severe mark whitaker the arctic has been an athletic simple vessel amateur there's no question that had thomas lipton's on cars that the amer ican flag a man ran around here with that you know they have a vivid that they committed right on to\nheart this is not the case that either been ce rtain rules about communities in and around cincinnati to do everything fr om to with ten times about your contract is get the hell out of us has no authority to us led of the intimidation against his wife and families don' t think i have the same thing is happening with earlier the house and all these athletes have come out of the problem i think that we have a respons ible people such as jackie robinson thousands who has listened to have eco nomic ties as political task but some point that people who are in positio ns to give these people some insulation should begin to get them set up in business together and tied into our positions where they can be assured o f a lab right now the spot where they can be visible we could set these pe ople out there are people like thomas within our citizens individuals say look like he backed the back is that the smugglers the\nfifth beatle and t hat will cause porn again of the establishment in this country status quo as you know showed the neighbors that you know confront the white man woul d've done politically socially them away and the windup and if you think o f the osprey have a lot of all of the number ones that can help them and e nsure that they're in this position at apple the people in the press\nbox fb i know i know you know i do\ngreat job there is now what is it\njust be cause transition no joke\nsystems these people it's the music that\nrelate s directly to them like you know the music raging sale next month one day siege at all today kish\nbut did it end and\nThis is NET -- the Public Tel evision Network.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250212 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:School Daze 07/07/2025 DTSTAMP:20250707T205009Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:391-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n School Daze came out. It started the whole Black College Campus film genre. The interesting thing storywise is I argue no Black Col lege film post School Daze deals with Colorism in the Black Populace in th e USA so sharply or unapologetically. One quick note\, the songs were writ ten by a black man. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The Link Just in case th e above doesn't work  \n\n\n\n https://www.tiktok.com/@africanheritagecit y/video/7518457184104009015?is_from_webapp=1&\;sender_device=pc\n\n\n\n The four women are: Tisha Campbell[Jane Toussaint]\, Jasmine Guy[GammaRay Dina]\, Paula Brown [GammaRay Miriam]\n\n\n\n \, Angela Ali [GammaRay Velda ] \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Kyme played Rachel Meadows\, the head of the o ther group of black women. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n From Jazmine Guy\n\n\n\n h ttps://www.youtube.com/shorts/deSjIHnYT44\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250212 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition Speech 1895 DTSTAMP:20260213T012250Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:651-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Exposition Speech\n\n\n\n ADDRESS BY BOOKER T. WASHINGTON\, PRINCIPAL TUSKEGEE NORMAL AND INDUSTRIAL INSTITUTE\, TUSKEGEE\, ALABAMA\, AT OPENING OF ATLANTA EXPOSITION\, Sept. 18th\, 1895.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Board of Directors and Citizens:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n One third of the population of the South is of the Negro race. No enterprise seeking the material\, ci vil\, or moral welfare of this section can disregard this element of our p opulation and reach the highest success. I but convey to you\, Mr. Preside nt and Directors\, the sentiment of the masses of my race when I say that in no way have the value and manhood of the American Negro been more fitti ngly and generously recognized than by the managers of this magnificent Ex position at every stage of its progress. It is a recognition that will do more to cement the friendship of the two races than any occurrence since t he dawn of our freedom.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Not only this\, but the opportu nity here afforded will awaken among us a new era of industrial progress. Ignorant and inexperienced\, it is not strange that in the first years of our new life we began at the top instead of at the bottom\; that a seat in Congress or the State Legislature was more sought than real estate or ind ustrial skill\; that the political convention or stump speaking had more a ttractions than starting a dairy farm or truck garden.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the unfortunate vessel was seen a signal: \"Water\, water\; we die of thirst!\" The answer from the friendly vessel at once came back: \ "Cast down your bucket where you are.\" A second time the signal\, \"Water \, water\; send us water!\" ran up from the distressed vessel\, and was an swered: \"Cast down your bucket where you are.\" And a third and fourth si gnal for water was answered: \"Cast down your bucket where you are.\" The captain of the distressed vessel\, at last heeding the injunction\, cast d own his bucket\, and it came up full of fresh\, sparkling water from the m outh of the am*zon River. To those of my race who depend on bettering thei r condition in a foreign land\, or who underestimate the importance of cul tivating friendly relations with the Southern white man\, who is their nex t door neighbor\, I would say: \"Cast down your bucket where you are\" — cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all ra ces by whom we are surrounded. Cast it down in agriculture\, mechanics\, i n commerce\, in domestic service\, and in the professions. And in this con nection it is well to bear in mind that whatever other sins the South may be called to bear\, when it comes to business\, pure and simple\, it is in the South that the Negro is given a man's chance in the commercial world\ , and in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent than in emphasizing this chance.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Our greatest danger is\, that in the great lea p from slavery to freedom we may overlook the fact that the masses of us a re to live by the productions of our hands\, and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common labor and put brains and skill into the common occupations of life\; shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the line between the superficia l and the substantial\, the ornamental gewgaws of life and the useful. No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem. It is at the bottom of life we must begin\, a nd not at the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to overshadow our o pportunities.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n To those of the white race who look to th e incoming of those of foreign birth and strange tongue and habits for the prosperity of the South\, were I permitted I would repeat what I say to m y own race\, \"Cast down your bucket where you are.\" Cast it down among t he 8\,000\,000 Negroes whose habits you know\, whose fidelity and love you have tested in days when to have proved treacherous meant the ruin of you r firesides. Cast down your bucket among these people who have\, without s trikes and labor wars\, tilled your fields\, cleared your forests\, built your railroads and cities\, and brought forth treasures from the bowels of the earth\, and helped make possible this magnificent representation of t he progress of the South. Casting down your bucket among my people\, helpi ng and encouraging them as you are doing on these grounds\, and to educati on of head\, hand\, and heart\, you will find that they will buy your surp lus land\, make blossom the waste places in your fields\, and run your fac tories. While doing this\, you can be sure in the future\, as in the past\ , that you and your families will be surrounded by the most patient\, fait hful\, law-abiding\, and unresentful people that the world has seen.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n As we have proved our loyalty to you in the past\, in nursin g your children\, watching by the sick bed of your mothers and fathers\, a nd often following them with tear-dimmed eyes to their graves\, so in the future\, in our humble way\, we shall stand by you with a devotion that no foreigner can approach\, ready to lay down our lives\, if need be\, in de fense of yours\, interlacing our industrial\, commercial\, civil\, and rel igious life with yours in a way that shall make the interests of both race s one. In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the f ingers\, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress.\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n There is no defense or security for any of us except in the highest intelligence and development of all. If anywhere there are eff orts tending to curtail the fullest growth of the Negro\, let these effort s be turned into stimulating\, encouraging\, and making him the most usefu l and intelligent citizen. Effort or means so invested will pay a thousand percent interest. These efforts will be twice blessed--\"blessing him tha t gives and him that takes.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \"There is no escape throug h law of man or God from the inevitable: “The laws of changeless justice bind Oppressor with oppressed\; And close as sin and suffering joined We march to fate abreast.”\n\n\n\n Nearly sixteen millions of hands will ai d you in pulling the load upwards\, or they will pull you against the load downwards. We shall constitute one third and more of the ignorance and cr ime of the South\, or one third its intelligence and progress\; we shall c ontribute one third to the business and industrial prosperity of the South \, or we shall prove a veritable body of death\, stagnating\, depressing\, retarding every effort to advance the body politic.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Ge ntlemen of the Exposition\, as we present to you our humble effort at an e xhibition of our progress\, you must not expect overmuch. Starting thirty years ago with ownership here and there in a few quilts and pumpkins and c hickens (gathered from miscellaneous sources)\, remember the path that has led from these to the inventions and production of agricultural implement s\, buggies\, steam engines\, newspapers\, book\, statuary\, carving\, pai ntings\, the management of drug stores and banks has not been trodden with out contact with thorns and thistles. While we take pride in what we exhib it as a result of our independent efforts\, we do not for a moment forget that our part in this exhibition would fall far short of your expectations but for the constant help that has come to our educational life\, not onl y from the Southern States\, but especially from Northern philanthropists\ , who have made their gifts a constant stream of blessing and encouragemen t.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The wisest among my race understand that the agitati on of questions of social equality is the extremist folly\, and that progr ess in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be th e result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing . No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is l ong in any degree ostracized. It is important and right that all privilege s of the law be ours\, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercises of these privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar i n a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spen d a dollar in an opera house.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In conclusion\, may I rep eat that nothing in thirty years has given us more hope and encouragement\ , and drawn us so near to you of the white race\, as this opportunity offe red by the Exposition\; and here bending\, as it were\, over the altar tha t represents the results of the struggles of your race and mine\, both sta rting practically empty-handed three decades ago\, I pledge that in your e ffort to work out the great and intricate problem which God has laid at th e doors of the South you shall have at all times the patient\, sympathetic help of my race\; only let this be constantly in mind that\, while from r epresentations in these buildings of the product of field\, of forest\, of mine\, of factory\, letters\, and art\, much good will come\, yet far abo ve and beyond material benefit\, will be that higher good\, that let us pr ay God will come\, in a blotting out of sectional differences and racial a nimosities and suspicions\, in a determination to administer absolute just ice\, in a willing obedience among all classes to the mandates of law. Thi s\, this\, coupled with our material prosperity\, will bring into our belo ved South a new heaven and a new earth.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL Source\n\n\ n\n https://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/washington-atlanta-exposition-addres s-speech-text/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS- paragraph by paragraph\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Book T washington like Frederick Douglass had a personal re lationship with non black women that explained their personal affinity for the united states of america. Booker t washington's wife was a white asia n while frederick douglass had a white mistress a generation or more young er than him. He is wrong to speak for the majority of black people whose s entiment he falsely defines. But I comprehend like Douglass like W.E.B. Du bois when younger\, they knew most Black people in the usa circa 1865 were anti white plus anti usa in all earnest. So all three knew to get the whi te financing they got: Douglass /white abolitionist[abolition of enslaveme nt not black uplifting]\, W.E.B. Dubois/white jew[utilizing blacks to prof it from while change the white populace t a judeo christian]\, Washington/ white southern christians[ white fiscal libertarians of the south\, lookin g to rebuild the south while oppose the coming era of the welfare state th at is dominant today but had signs back then] they each suggested they spo ke for the majority in the black populace when in truth none of them did. Garvey spoke for the majority in the black populace more than any of them\ , douglass/dubois/washington.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Washington's point here h as truth. The integration of W.E.B. Dubois when younger is the one that pr evailed from this time. It is of black individuals succeeding in the white community.\, while the black community simply doesn't exist. a black popu lace exist but not a community. Washington would be 100% correct if not fo r one key problem\, that he doesn't mention. White people. White people fr om his time onward\, throughout the Jim crow era\, 1865 to 1980 had never ending campaigns of terror toward black people in the united states of ame rica\, especially whenever black people showed signs of ownership\, craft. Was it black people's fault Rosewood\, a black town or city\, or that the black region of tulsa\, a city of parts\, were annihilated by whites? Did the black people  of rosewood or black tulsa commit a crime? no. White people committed crimes assaulting/murdering/arsoning black people and the ir homes and their land\, and said whites were never approached by the rul e of law for their actions.  So white people killed Booker t washington's strategy but murdering a majority of black rural life in the usa\, until 1980 when the black populace of the usa has become in majority urbanized a nd developed a well earned heritage against rural life.  How many black p eople's dairy farms or truck gardens were destroyed or stolen by whites fr om 1865 to 1980? moreover\, asking black people\, or any people\,  to be eternally determined while being eternally terrorized is an insult\, to an y people. Remember a black baby born in 1865 who lived to 1965\, a hundred years later lived their entire life in jim crow. Case closed. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Unfortunately\, whites of the south proved Booker T Washington simply wrong. Again\, Rosewood/Black Tulsa\, and does anyone know how many black towns/black regions of cities were destroyed/harmed/assaulted by wh ite terorrist\, whom Booker T washington called white neighbors? You can't argue against what people live. Booker T Washington is asking for Black p eople to have a faith in the south of all places... when I think of my for ebears in the south who sharecropped\, who fled white terror\, who had the ir land taken by white power... Booker T Washington asks too much from bla ck people in the u.s.a. \,  a people who were given no aid when finally l egally made free by the white vote\, who were 90% in the former confederac y\, and lived through over one hundred years of pure white terror. How can any black person have faith in the states that made the former confederac y: texas to maryland plus borderland of neighboring states\, when black ch ildren are being hanged while white people smile or mock\, pregnant black women burned alive... Washington asks more than any majority can allow. ye s\, a minority of black people from 1865 to today truly love the south\, a nd believe in befriending the white southerner but the white southerner ma de sure the majority of blacks \, will never trust them or the south by th eir own hands.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Washington is correct\, it is never wise to dwell on the past. But\, while one can not dwell on their mother being violated\, are they to dismiss their wife? and if they do are they also t hen to dismiss their daughter?  when does the modernity of grievances to the white terrorizer have more value than the financial opportunities give n by the white terrorizer? And in the jim crow era\, 1865 to 1980\,  the white community in majority in the united states of america was a daily te rrorist through aiding or abetting the minority of whites who committed cr imes to blacks. Washington feared that the emphasis on paperwork from coll eges or universities over skills learned in use\, would lead to a falsenes s of quality\, and it happened. Whereas Black people in 1865 could barely read or write because whites made black people learning to read or write i llegal\, Blacks in 1865 had a mastery of multitudes of crafts no other peo ple  before or after had\, or has\,  in the united states of america. Bu t again\, white terror did a thorough job. Booker t washington couldn't of fer protection\, he could only offer the concept of determination while a black person's town burns. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Washington's advice to whi tes was wise\, but whites didn't heed it. The whites of the south didn't t reat their black neighbors with evenness or love but with terror with trea chery with abuse of power.. and as white terror never abated\, black patie nce to the south or whites of the south died\, black faith in the south or in the possibilities of the south died\, black resentment was emboldened and strengthened to the south beyond the max\, and the majority of black a ctivity that black people felt dignity in was only through illegal acts in the south .  Washington wasn't wrong but whites didn't heed him. in the end\, the fiscally wealthy whites who supported his cause\, didn't have co ntrol over the majority of fiscally common white folks in the south\, who were born and raised\, before and after the war between the states\, to de lete any sign of black happiness or to generate black woe no matter the co ndition of black people. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Washington was wrong\, what he calls loyalty was fear. The enslaved black person was not loyal to the white slaver\, they were afraid. I comprehend why Booker T said that\, whi tes regardless of their fiscal condition\, like the idea of reimagining th e confederacy and the states of it before the war between the states as ha ving a loving black populace. A lie\, but one whites have never let go\, i n a true sign of shame on ones guilt. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The integration ist in booker t washington comprehended that the united states of america will always be multiracial in its human makeup. yes\, the usa is a white c ountry\, but it has never been only of a white people. So \, the imbalance s between the peoples in the usa will only lead to inevitable splinters. W hen? who knows exactly. and many white leaders in the confederacy states b efore the confederacy or after\, from thomas jefferson to andrew jackson t o Jefferson Davis to Robert e lee to strom thurman all chose to hinder the black populace in said lands and kick the need for all\, not just the whi te \, to prosper in the south\, which leads to 2026 \, where many of said states have white majority populaces\, with some non white euroopean allie s\, who are trying to excommunicate the non white european in masse as a s olution after their leaders chose to hinder the non white for over one hun dred years .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Booker T was prophetic. The bottom five st ates by the value of revenue per person are all former confederate states. Case closed. \n\n\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_ and_territories_by_GDP#50_states_and_Washington\,_D.C.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Unfortunately\, patience has never been a strong element of white financia l life in the usa. White financial life in the european colonies that prec eded the united states of america was never about patience\, but speed. Ki ll native americans for land\, not pay native americans for land\, or pay to lease land from the native american. Enslave black people to get wage b elow market value\, not pay market value which will diminish revenue earne d to whites. Whites in the usa have never used patience with fiscal capita lism. Booker T washington pleading for whites of the usa to have patience financially\, is asking for a miracle. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Washington's p oint here is hard to positively regale a populace of black people who were enslaved to whites and are being terrorized by whites . Booker T is basic ally saying abuse is human nature\, and that said abuse whether in the for m of a white man whipping the skin off a black child or a white law enforc er betraying the law to abuse a civil black person or a white fiscal opera tor producing a terrorizing contract on black people who can't read or any abuse from whites to blacks is a possibility in human life. He adds that the abused black person  by white terror in the usa has to focus on ways to not being abused again while having great value in the global marketpla ce while keeping to a life of civil plus legal activity even if in a confi ne through white terror. Clarke suggest it is self reliance but it is far more than that. It is self reliance in spite of the truth. Booker T Washin gton is saying the black people of Rosewood\, Florida : business owners\, landowners\, financially successful have to individually or collectively\, after whites murdered and burned rosewood away\, to figure out a way :to not be surrounded and annihilated by whites absent most of their possessi on being destroyed or stolen by whites \, finding a greater value to the g lobal market place even though they have just had their financial balance or growth annihilated\, stay as examples of the most legal of actors. It i s more involved than self reliance. It is a zeal/unhealthy high mindedness about self reliance\, that forgets to cognize human beings don't have to choose that path. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Booker T Washington in his words wa s a statian \, but more specifically a black southerner. He liked the sout h over the north. Zora Neale Hurston from Florida\, always said her little town was happy and pleasant even while whites did all sorts of things . H is call to be more of the land\, more of craft is his strongest wisdom and least implemented by black people today\, through the efforts of whites w ho madeblack people distrust the safety of black ownership in the usa. As a character said in the movie Posse from MArio van Peebels\"I bought mysel f out of slavery\, twice\, this is it\" The christian god didn't give whit es the ability to get their foot off the neck of blacks in the south and a ll the warnings booker t washington posited came to be. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n CITATION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/504-booker-t-washingt ons-atlanta-exposition-speech-1895/\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260212 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:13th Amendment proposed JUNETEENTH DTSTAMP:20250205T140112Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:185-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Two days later\, spurred partly in reaction to Sumner’s more radical proposal\, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported to the fu ll Senate an abolition amendment combining the drafts by Ashley\, Wilson\, and Henderson. \n\n\n\n TEXT FROM \n\n\n\n Harper's Weekly 02/27/1864\n \n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CONGRESS.\n\nSenate.—February 10. Mr. Trumbull \, from the Judi-\nciary Committee\, reported adversely to the joint resol u-\ntion for amending the Constitution just proposed by Mr.\nSumner\, whic h reads\, “Every where within the limits of\nthe United States and each State and Territory thereof all\npersons are equal before the law\, so tha t no person can\nhold another as a slave.” Some time before Mr. Hender-\ nson\, of Missouri\, had offered a joint resolution to a similar\npurport. In lieu of this the Committee presented the fol-\nlowing joint resolution for amending the Constitution:\n“Article 13\, Section 1. Neither slave ry nor involuntary\nservitude\, except as a punishment for crime\, whereof the\nparty shall have been duly convicted\, shall exist within\nthe Unite d States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.\nSection 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this arti-\ncle by appropriate legislation.” This article\, if two-thirds\nof both Houses of Congress concur\, is to b e proposed to the\nLegislatures of the several States\, and when ratified by\nthree-fourths of these\, to be valid as a part of the Constitu-\ntion. —Mr. Clark offered a resolution ratifying the Presi-\ndent's Emancipatio n Proclamation of January 1\, 1863\, and\ngiving it the force of a statute : referred.—Mr. Brown of-\nfered amendments to the Enlistment bill\, con firming the\nEmancipation Proclamation\, abolishing slavery\, and sub-\nje cting colored persons to enrollment under the same ap-\nportionment as oth er citizens.—The Military Committee\nreported adversely to Mr. Grimes's bill reducing the sal-\naries of military officers not in the field or wit hout com-\nmand.—Mr. Sumner brought up the case of a colored sur-\ngeon of the army who had been ejected from a railroad car\nin the District\, an d offered a resolution directing the Com-\nmittee on the District to inqui re into the expediency of a\nlaw securing to colored persons equal privile ges with whites\nin the cars within the District. He said that this office r\,\nwho held a rank equal to that of Major\, had been ejected\nfrom a str eet car because he was black. We had better\nbreak up all these railroads if we could not have them\nwithout such outrages\, which did more to injur e our cause\nabroad and at home than the loss of a battle. Mr. Hen-\ndrick s thought the outrage was on the other side\; there\nwere cars for colored people\, and this person declined to\nride with people of his own color\, and wished to force him-\nself upon white people\; referring to remarks o f Senators\nthat it was no disgrace to ride with colored men\, and\nthat t he outrage was as great as though a Senator of the\nUnited States had been ejected\, he said that there seemed\nto be a determination to force socia l as well as political\nequality with the blacks upon the white race. The peo-\nple of his State would never adopt that sentiment. Mr.\nWilson rejoi ned that he had no wish to force negro equal-\nity upon the Senator from I ndiana\; he wished only to let\nevery man assume the station which God int ended him to\nattain: resolution passed\, 30 to 10.—The bill prohibiting \nMembers of Congress and Heads of Departments from re-\nceiving any compe nsation for acting as counsel\, etc.\, in\nany case in which the United St ates are concerned\, under\npenalty of fine\, imprisonment\, and disqualif ication for of-\nfice\, came up and was debated: the clause relating to\nM embers of Congress was stricken out\, 26 to 14: laid over.\n—The bill eq ualizing the pay of all soldiers was brought\nup\; debate arising upon the section giving colored soldiers\nequal pay with whites prior to the passa ge of the bill\, its\nconsideration was postponed.—February 11. Some bu si-\nness of minor importance was transacted.—The Post-office\nCommittee reported a bill removing disqualifications on\naccount of color in carryi ng the mail\, and also declaring\nthat no witness shall\, in the United St ates Courts\, be dis-\nqualified on account of color.—The Lieutenant-Gen eral bill\nfrom the House was brought up and discussed\, the point\nbeing the amendment against making that officer Com-\nmander-in-chief\, and stri king out the name of General\nGrant. Senators opposed to this amendment sa id that to\nbestow the title without the command would be but an\nempty ho nor conferred upon one who now had the homage\nof the people: postponed. —February 12. The Senate\nwas occupied with various business of no very general im-\nportance\, except that the House bill making appropria-\ntio n to meet deficiencies is amended by authorizing the\nappointment for a li mited period of one thousand addition-\nal clerks\, who may be females\, a t a salary not exceeding\n$600 a year.—February 13. The Secretary of Wa r sent\nin a communication relative to military officers' commu-\ntations for quarters and fuel\; there were 387 officers draw-\ning such commutatio ns\, of whom 27 were generals\, 52 col-\nonels and lieutenant-colonels\, t he remainder being of low-\ner ranks\, 79 being paymasters.—A memorial f rom the Mil-\nwaukee Chamber of Commerce was presented and referred\,\nask ing for a wagon-road through Central Minnesota to\nIdaho\; it stated that within a few months $25\,000\,000\nhad been mined\, which was now waiting egress through\nsuch a road with proper military protection.—The bill fo r\nregulating the pay of colored soldiers was brought up and\ndiscussed\, the principal objection to it being its retrospect-\nive feature\; upon mo tion of Mr. Wilson it was amended\nso as to give them the same pay as othe rs from January\n1\, 1864\, instead of for the whole time they have been i n\nservice\; Mr. Cowan then moved\, as a substitute for the\nbill\, that f rom the date of the passage of this Act all sol-\ndiers of the United Stat es of the same arm of the service\nshould receive like compensation\; he s aid that the negro\nhad a legal status under the Constitution which protec ted\nhim\, and that\, as he received the protection of the laws\,\nhe must be regarded as a citizen under the Constitution.\nMr. Saulsbury said that if this was the basis of Mr. Cow-\nan's substitute he should oppose it\; the old-fashioned term\nwas “negro\,” now these people were “colored citizens.”\nPending action on Mr. Cowan's substitute the Senate ad-\njo urned to Monday\, February 15.—February 15. Mr.\nFoster introduced a bi ll defining the position and duties\nof chaplains in the army\; it gives t hem the rank of major\nof infantry\, allows them to hold pastoral charges\ , requires\nthem to preach twice a week\, hold religious meetings twice\na week\, and keep the libraries for the use of the soldiers.—\nThe Enroll ment bill\, as amended by the House\, was taken\nup and considered\; the S enate refused to recede from its\nprovisions.—The Deficiency bill from t he House was pass-\ned\, with an amendment increasing the salaries of the As-\nsistant Secretaries of the Departments and Post-office to\n$3500 afte r the present fiscal year.—February 16. Bills\ngranting lands for certa in military roads in Oregon were\npassed.—Bill extending the statute of limitations in cases\nwhere the execution of the laws has been interrupted in\nconsequence of the rebellion was introduced.—Mr. Doolit-\ntle intro duced a bill regulating trade with Indian tribes\;\nit prohibits\, under p enalty of fine\, imprisonment\, and for-\nfeiture\, the sale of spirits to Indians.—Mr. Lane\, of Kan-\nsas\, spoke at length in favor of the bill setting apart a por-\ntion of Texas for the use of persons of African des cent.—\nMr. Cowan's amendment to the Enlistment bill came up\,\ngiving e qual pay\, etc.\, to all soldiers. Mr. Davis pro-\nposed an amendment to t he effect that colored troops\nshould be disbanded\, and colored men be em ployed in the\narmy only as laborers and teamsters\; that for slaves so\ne mployed loyal masters should be compensated\; and if he\ndied in service t he master should receive the full value\nfor him. Mr. Davis spoke at lengt h in support of his\namendment.—A message was received from the House\na nnouncing its adherence to its amendments of the En-\nrollment bill\, and asking a Committee of Conference.\nThe Senate resolved to adhere to its am endments\, and\nauthorized the Chair to appoint a Committee of Confer-\nen ce.\n\nHouse.—February 10. Mr. Eliot\, from the Select Com-\nmittee\, r eported a bill to establish a Bureau of Freedman's\nAffairs\, to determine all questions relating to persons of\nAfrican descent\, and make regulati ons for their employ-\nment and proper treatment on abandoned plantations. \nMr. Clay\, of Kentucky\, wished to know whether his State\nwas to be inc luded in the operations of the bill\, and\nwhether plantations there were to be considered as aban-\ndoned: he himself owned a plantation which had been aban-\ndoned because Government did not protect it. Mr. Eliot\nreplie d that the bill did not propose to establish colonies\nin Kentucky\; that in the case of plantations there\, wheth-\ner they were to be considered a s abandoned would depend\nupon whether the owners were loyal or disloyal\; that in\nthe case of Mr. Clay\, a well-known loyal man\, his planta-\ntio n certainly would not be considered abandoned.—The\nSenate amendments to the Internal Revenue bill were re-\nferred to the Committee on Ways and M eans.—The En-\nrollment bill was taken up\, and sundry amendments were\n proposed and rejected. Mr. Stevens offered an amend-\nment enrolling all p ersons of African descent of military\nage\; and when a slave is drafted $ 300 shall be paid to his\nowner\, and the slave be freed. Debate ensued\, mainly\nbetween members from the Border States: the main points\nbeing\, o n the one side\, that slaves were property\, and\ncould not be taken for p ublic purposes without compensa-\ntion\; and\, upon the other\, that they were persons\, and so\nowed military service: postponed.—February 11. A fter\nsome routine business a Select Committee was voted\, to in-\nquire i nto the expediency of increasing the facilities for the\ntransportation of troops between New York and Washing-\nton.—The Enrollment bill then cam e up. Mr. Stevens\, at\nthe request of Mr. Davis\, withdrew the $300 featu re from\nhis amendment offered yesterday\, and Mr. Davis offered\nanother amendment\, appointing a commission to pay to\nloyal masters a sum not exc eeding $300 for slaves volun-\nteering in the army. Mr. Webster offered an amendment\nproviding that the bounty of $100 now paid to drafted men\nsha ll be paid to any person to whom the person drafted\nmay owe service or la bor at the time of his muster into\nservice\, upon his freeing the person. These amendments\nwere agreed to\, after a long and somewhat desultory de -\nbate. In the course of this Mr. Davis said that he moved\nhis amendment \, not because he believed that compensa-\ntion was due to the master\, bu t on account of the measures\nwhich Government had already taken. He belie ved that\nGovernment ought to take slaves for military purposes\,\nbecause they owed military service. Mr. Anderson\, of\nKentucky\, thought the ame ndment did not go far enough.\nIn his own district a large majority of the young men had\nentered the rebel service\, and at the next draft the dist rict\nwould owe 7000 men\; unless the slaves of disloyal men\nwere taken\, those who had induced enlistments in the reb-\nel service would enjoy the ir property in peace\, and the\nloyal white population must make up the de ficiency\; he\nwould put the slaves of disloyal men in the army\, but\nwou ld not appropriate the slaves of loyal men. Mr. Web-\nster\, of Maryland\, said that slaves were both persons and\nproperty. We needed colored men t o aid in putting down\nthe rebellion\; any black man\, having been a soldi er\, must\nbe free\; he would give freedom to the slave\, and com-\npensat ion to the master. Mr. Harris\, of Maryland\, denied\nthe right of Governm ent to enlist or enroll a slave\; if\ntaken\, it could only be as property \, and compensation must\nbe made\; he was opposed to employing negro troo ps\; it\nwould be a degradation to intrust our flag to negro hands.\nMr. K asson rejoined that the employment of negro soldiers\nwas no new thing\; t he pension-rolls showed the names of\nblack men by the side of whites\; th e statutes of the State\nof Virginia provided for the emancipation of slav es who\nfought in the War of the Revolution. Mr. Kelley said\nthat we did not give compensation to the Northern father\nfor his son\, the wife for h er husband\, the children for the\nfather taken from them by the conscript ion\; the relation\nbetween slaveholder and slave was not more sacred than \nthese. Slaves were persons\, and as such owed military\nservice to the c ountry\; they were never referred to as\nproperty in the Constitution\; he was\, however\, ready to\nappropriate money to pay for slaves of loyal ma sters\, who\nshould consent to their volunteering. Other members\nspoke\, on both sides\, in the same general strain. Toward\nthe close of the debat e Mr. Fernando Wood said that while\nwe were here proposing measures oppre ssive and destruc-\ntive\, and clearly in violation of the Constitution\, the Con-\nfederates were proposing to discuss measures of peace\, re-\nuni on\, and reconciliation. Quoting from the Richmond\nExaminer\, he said tha t resolutions were before the Con-\nfederate Congress proposing that the C onfederate States\nask the United States to appoint delegates\, to conside r (1.)\nWhether they can not agree to the recognition of the Con-\nfederac y\; (2.) Whether\, in this event\, they can not agree\nupon a new Governme nt\; (3.) If this can not be done\,\nwhether they can not agree upon treat ies offensive\, defens-\nive\, and commercial\; if these resolutions passe d\, the\nPresident of the Confederacy was to be requested to com-\nmunicat e them to the Government at Washington\, and\,\nif the proposition was acc epted\, to issue a proclamation for\nthe election of delegates to meet tho se appointed by the\nUnited States. Mr. Cox said that the proposition befo re\nthe Congress at Richmond looked to peace on the basis of\nthe old Unio n. He proposed that commissioners should\nbe sent to Richmond\; if Mr. Woo d was sent\, and if he did\nnot come back within sixty days with a negotia tion of\npeace\, based on the old Union\, with equality and sover-\neignty of the States\, he would pledge that gentleman and\nhis friends as earnes t supporters of the prosecution of the\nwar. After various other propositi ons had been disposed\nof\, Mr. Schenck offered a substitute for the bill\ , embracing\nthe whole as it had been finally agreed upon.—Febru-\nary  12. The Enrollment bill came up\, and debate having\nbeen shut off by call ing the previous question\, and sundry\npropositions for adjournment and d elay having been re-\njected\, it was pressed to a vote. The main amendmen t\,\nproviding for the enrollment of all persons of African de-\nscent of military age\, paying the $100 bounty to the loy-\nal person to whom any d rafted person may owe service or\nlabor\, upon his freeing the drafted per son\, and appointing\na commission to award a compensation not exceeding $ 300\nto any loyal person to whom a colored volunteer may owe\nservice\, wa s agreed to by 84 to 67. Mr. Schenck's substi-\ntute\, embracing the entir e bill as finally amended\, was\nthen taken up and voted upon: it passed b y 93 to 60.\nThe bill which thus passed the House embraces a great\nnumber of provisions\, of which the following are the most\nessential: (§ 1.) T he President may call out such number\nof men as the public exigencies may require: (§ 2.) The\nquota of each district to be as nearly as possible in propor-\ntion to the number of persons in it subject to draft\, taking\ ninto account the number already furnished to the naval\nand military serv ice\; (§ 3.) If the quota of any State is not\nduly filled\, drafts for a ny deficient district shall be order-\ned until the deficiency shall be su pplied\; (§ 4.) Any en-\nrolled person may furnish a substitute\; and if this substi-\ntute is not liable to draft or in the service\, the principa l\nwill be exempt during the time for which the substitute\nwould be exemp t\, but no one in military or naval service\nshall be accepted as a substi tute\; (§ 5.) All persons liable\nto draft shall be enrolled\; this compr ises in effect all able-\nbodied males below the age of 45\, including ali ens who\nhave declared their intentions of becoming citizens\, and\nall wh o\, without having been in service two years during\nthe present war\, sha ll have been discharged\; (§ 6.) Any\nperson drafted may furnish a substi tute at any time before\nthe time fixed for his appearance at rendezvous\; if the\nsubstitute is not liable to draft\, the principal is exempt\nduri ng the time of such non-liability\, not exceeding the\ntime for which the draft was made\; if the substitute is li-\nable to draft\, the principal i s liable to future drafts\; any\nperson paying money for commutation is ex empted only\nfrom the special quota\; and in no case shall such exemp-\nti on extend beyond one year\, at the end of which his name\nmust be placed i n enrollment\; (§ 7.) Members of religious\ndenominations whose rules pro hibit the bearing of arms\nshall\, when drafted\, be considered non-combat ants\, and\nbe assigned to duty in hospitals\, or to the care of freed-\nm en\, or shall pay $300\, the money to be applied to the\nbenefit of sick o r wounded soldiers\; but no person shall be\nentitled to the benefit of th is provision unless he shows\nthat his conduct has been uniformly consiste nt with his\nprofessed principles\; (§ 8.) No person of foreign birth who \nhas voted or held office is exempt from draft on the ground\nof alienage \; (§ 9.) Mariners or able seamen who may be\ndrafted may\, upon enlistin g in the navy\, be exempt from\ndraft\, under conditions which are prescri bed\; but the\nnumber of these transfer enlistments shall not exceed ten\n thousand\; (§ 10\, 11\, 12.) Make provisions for carrying out\nthe preced ing section\, the principal of which is that such\ntransfer drafts shall b e credited to the quota of the district\,\nas though the person had been a ctually placed in the army\;\nand that no pilot\, engineer\, master-at-arm s\, master\, en-\nsign\, or master's mate\, having an appointment and duly \nacting as such in the naval service\, shall be liable to draft\nwhile ho lding such appointment\; (§ 13.) Declares the only\nexemptions to be thos e who are physically\, mentally\, or\nmorally unfit for service\; those wh o at the time of draft\nshall actually be in military or naval service\; a nd those\nwho\, having been for two years in service\, shall have been\nho norably discharged\; (§ 14.) Repeals the clause in the\nexisting Enrollme nt bill making two classes\, the first con-\nsisting of unmarried persons and those married below the\nage of 35\, the second class embracing all ot hers\; all per-\nsons liable to draft are thus consolidated into one class \,\nand are equally liable to military duty\; (§ 15-25.) Provide\nfor the execution of the law\, and impose heavy penalties\nfor all fraudulent att empts at their violation or evasion on\nthe part of persons liable to enro llment\, or of any officers\ncharged with carrying them into effect\; (§ 26) Enacts that\nall able-bodied male persons of African descent\, between \nthe ages of 20 and 45\, resident in the United States\, wheth-\ner citiz ens or not\, shall be enrolled\; that when the slave\nof a loyal master is drafted and mustered into service\, the\nmaster shall have a certificate thereof\, and the bounty of\n$100 shall be paid to any person to whom the recruit\, at\nthe time of his being mustered into service\, owes service\n or labor\, on his freeing the recruit\; that the Secretary of\nWar shall a ppoint a commission in each Slave State rep-\nresented in Congress\, who s hall award to any loyal person\nto whom the colored volunteer owes service a sum not ex-\nceeding $300\, payable out of commutation money\, upon\nth e master freeing the slave\; and that in all cases where\nslaves have been enlisted the provision as to bounty and\ncompensation shall be the same a s in the case of those to\nbe enlisted\; (§ 27.) Repeals all sections of the existing En-\nrollment act which are inconsistent with this.—The Hou se\nthen adjourned to Monday\, February 15.—February\n15. Several bills were introduced and reported from Com-\nmittees. The principal of these ar e to the following pur-\nport: Extending the time for withdrawing goods fr om pub-\nlic stores and warehouses\; Granting lands to the Pacific\nRailro ad and Telegraph Company\; For a uniform system\nof bankruptcy\; Establish ing a branch mint in Idaho Ter-\nritory\; For constructing a ship canal ar ound Niagara\nFalls.—Mr. Windom offered a joint resolution proposing\nto amend the Constitution so as to prohibit slavery in the\nUnited States an d Territories: referred.—The Judiciary\nCommittee were directed to inqui re into the expediency\nof establishing an Executive Department\, to be ca lled that\nof the Revenue\, to have charge of the Customs\, Internal\nReve nue\, and Currency.—Mr. Arnold offered a resolution\ndeclaring that “T he Constitution of the United States\nshould be so amended as to abolish s lavery in the United\nStates wherever it now exists\, and to prohibit its extension\nin every part thereof forever.” A motion to lay on the\ntable was rejected\, 79 to 58\, and the resolution passed\, 78\nto 62.—Mr. St evens\, from the Committee on Ways and\nMeans\, reported back the Senate's amendments to the In-\nternal Revenue bill. The bill of the Senate\, he s aid\, was\npreferable to what had been agreed to in the House as to\nthe t ax on spirits\, and the date of its going into effect.\nThe Committee were of opinion that all taxes should be\nprospective\; manufacturers had rece ived a virtual pledge\nto this effect. As a revenue measure also the Senat e bill\nwas preferable. The amount of spirits on hand which the\nHouse pro posed to tax did not amount to more than\n10\,000\,000 gallons\, upon whic h the tax would be $4\,000\,000\;\nbut practically not more than half of t his would be taxed.\nThe Senate bill would after the 1st of January yield\ n$14\,000\,000 or $15\,000\,000. Mr. Fernando Wood said that\nthe tax on s pirits on hand would yield $10\,000\,000. He\nhimself knew three men who h ad on hand nearly 5\,000\,000\ngallons.—Mr. Davis\, from Select Committe e on Insurrec-\ntionary States\, reported a bill giving to certain States\ nwhose Governments have been usurped or overthrown a\nrepublican form of g overnment.—February 16. After\nroutine business the question of recepti on and reference of\nthe credentials of Mr. Johnson\, who appeared as Repr esent-\native from Arkansas\, was taken up. A discussion ensued\,\nwhich e licited the fact that there was a wide difference\nin the views of Republi can members upon the question\nwhether there was really any State of Arkan sas now ex-\nisting and entitled to be represented in Congress. Finally\nt he whole subject was referred to the Committee on Elec-\ntions.—The Reve nue bill was brought up with the amend-\nments of the Senate. That imposin g a duty of 70 cents\nupon all distilled or removed from July 1 to January 1\,\nand 80 cents thereafter was disagreed with\, 105 to 41\;\nthat strik ing out tax on all spirits now on hand was agreed\nwith\, 77 to 73\; and t hat striking out the additional tax\nof 20 cents on adulterated spirits\, sold as rum\, brandy\, etc.\,\nwas agreed to.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n Juneteenth Occurred [ 13th Amendment Certified JUNETEENTH - RMCommuni tyCalendar - African American Literature Book Club ]\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Before the proposal by Henderson was legislated\, Sumner of massachusett's tried to propose the following\n\n\n\n All persons are equal before the l aw\, so that no person can hold another as a slave\; and the Congress shal l have power to make all laws necessary and proper to carry this declarati on into effect everywhere in the United States.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n from \ n\n\n\n Although opposition to slavery was associated with the Republican Party\, a faction of War Democrats not only supported wartime emancipation policies but also became favorable to a constitutional amendment abolishi ng the institution.  On January 11\, 1864\, Senator John Henderson of Mis souri\, a War Democrat\, submitted a joint resolution for a constitution al amendment abolishing slavery.  The Senate Judiciary Committee\, headed by Illinois Republican Lyman Trumbull\, began considering the various ver sions of the abolition amendment.  On February 8\, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts\, a leading Radical Republican\, submitted a constitutio nal amendment to not only abolish slavery but also guarantee equality unde r the law.  Two days later\, spurred partly in reaction to Sumner’s mor e radical proposal\, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported to the full S enate an abolition amendment combining the drafts by Ashley\, Wilson\, a nd Henderson. \n\n\n\n https://13thamendment.harpweek.com/hubpages/Commen taryPage.asp?Commentary=05ProposalPassage\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Continue on site\n\n\n\n https://books.g oogle.com/books?id=Yx0zAQAAIAAJ&\;pg=PA582#v=onepage&\;q&\;f=fals e\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250210 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Frederick Douglass : Our Composite Nation DTSTAMP:20250724T023605Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:418-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Frederick Douglass : Our Composite Nation 1867 Parker Fra ternity Course\, Boston\n\n\n\n TEXT\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/en try/357-frederick-douglass-our-composite-nation/\n\n\n\n OR\n\n\n\n As nat ions are among the largest and the most complete divisions into which soci ety is formed\, the grandest aggregations of organized human power\; as th ey raise to observation and distinction the world’s greatest men\, and c all into requisition the highest order of talent and ability for their gui dance\, preservation and success\, they are ever among the most attractive \, instructive and useful subjects of thought\, to those just entering upo n the duties and activities of life.\n\nThe simple organization of a peopl e into a National body\, composite or otherwise\, is of itself and impress ive fact. As an original proceeding\, it marks the point of departure of a people\, from the darkness and chaos of unbridled barbarism\, to the whol esome restraints of public law and society. It implies a willing surrender and subjection of individual aims and ends\, often narrow and selfish\, t o the broader and better ones that arise out of society as a whole. It is both a sign and a result of civilization.\n\nA knowledge of the character\ , resources and proceedings of other nations\, affords us the means of com parison and criticism\, without which progress would be feeble\, tardy\, a nd perhaps\, impossible. It is by comparing one nation with another\, and one learning from another\, each competing with all\, and all competing wi th each\, that hurtful errors are exposed\, great social truths discovered \, and the wheels of civilization whirled onward.\n\nI am especially to sp eak to you of the character and mission of the United States\, with specia l reference to the question whether we are the better or the worse for bei ng composed of different races of men. I propose to consider first\, what we are\, second\, what we are likely to be\, and\, thirdly\, what we ought to be.\n\nWithout undue vanity or unjust depreciation of others\, we may claim to be\, in many respects\, the most fortunate of nations. We stand i n relation to all others\, as youth to age. Other nations have had their d ay of greatness and glory\; we are yet to have our day\, and that day is c oming. The dawn is already upon us. It is bright and full of promise. Othe r nations have reached their culminating point. We are at the beginning of our ascent. They have apparently exhausted the conditions essential to th eir further growth and extension\, while we are abundant in all the materi al essential to further national growth and greatness.\n\nThe resources of European statesmanship are now sorely taxed to maintain their nationaliti es at their ancient height of greatness and power.\n\nAmerican statesmansh ip\, worthy of the name\, is now taxing its energies to frame measures to meet the demands of constantly increasing expansion of power\, responsibil ity and duty.\n\nWithout fault or merit on either side\, theirs or ours\, the balance is largely in our favor. Like the grand old forests\, renewed and enriched from decaying trunks once full of life and beauty\, but now m oss-covered\, oozy and crumbling\, we are destined to grow and flourish wh ile they decline and fade.\n\nThis is one view of American position and de stiny. It is proper to notice that it is not the only view. Different opin ions and conflicting judgments meet us here\, as elsewhere.\n\nIt is thoug ht by many\, and said by some\, that this Republic has already seen its be st days\; that the historian may now write the story of its decline and fa ll.\n\nTwo classes of men are just now especially afflicted with such fore bodings. The first are those who are croakers by nature—the men who have a taste for funerals\, and especially National funerals. They never see t he bright side of anything and probably never will. Like the raven in the lines of Edgar A. Poe they have learned two words\, and these are “never more.” They usually begin by telling us what we never shall see. Their little speeches are about as follows: You will never see such Statesmen in the councils of the nation as Clay\, Calhoun and Webster. You will never see the South morally reconstructed and our once happy people again united . You will never see the Government harmonious and successful while in the hands of different races. You will never make the negro work without a ma ster\, or make him an intelligent voter\, or a good and useful citizen. Th e last never is generally the parent of all the other little nevers that f ollow.\n\nDuring the late contest for the Union\, the air was full of neve rs\, every one of which was contradicted and put to shame by the result\, and I doubt not that most of those we now hear in our troubled air\, will meet the same fate.\n\nIt is probably well for us that some of our gloomy prophets are limited in their powers\, to prediction. Could they command t he destructive bolt\, as readily as they command the destructive world\, i t is hard to say what might happen to the country. They might fulfill thei r own gloomy prophesies. Of course it is easy to see why certain other cla sses on men speak hopelessly concerning us.\n\nA Government founded upon j ustice\, and recognizing the equal rights of all men\; claiming higher aut hority for existence\, or sanction for its laws\, that nature\, reason\, a nd the regularly ascertained will of the people\; steadily refusing to put its sword and purse in the service of any religious creed or family is a standing offense to most of the Governments of the world\, and to some nar row and bigoted people among ourselves.\n\nTo those who doubt and deny the preponderance of good over evil in human nature\; who think the few are m ade to rule\, and many to serve\; who put rank above brotherhood\, and rac e above humanity\; who attach more importance to ancient forms than to the living realities of the present\; who worship power in whatever hands it may be lodged and by whatever means it may have been obtained\; our Govern ment is a mountain of sin\, and\, what is worse\, its [sic] seems confirme d in its transgressions.\n\nOne of the latest and most potent European pro phets\, one who has felt himself called upon for a special deliverance con cerning us and our destiny as a nation\, was the late Thomas Carlyle. He d escribed us as rushing to ruin\, not only with determined purpose\, but wi th desperate velocity.\n\nHow long we have been on this high road to ruin\ , and when we may expect to reach the terrible end our gloomy prophet\, en veloped in the fogs of London\, has not been pleased to tell us.\n\nWarnin gs and advice are not to be despised\, from any quarter\, and especially n ot from one so eminent as Mr. Carlyle\; and yet Americans will find it har d to heed even men like him\, if there be any in the world like him\, whil e the animus is so apparent\, bitter and perverse.\n\nA man to whom despot ism is Savior and Liberty the destroyer of society\,—who\, during the la st twenty years of his life\, in every contest between liberty and oppress ion\, uniformly and promptly took sides with the oppressor\; who regarded every extension of the right of suffrage\, even to white men in his own co untry\, as shooting Niagara\; who gloats over deeds of cruelty\, and talke d of applying to the backs of men the beneficent whip\, to the great delig ht of many\, the slave drivers of America in particular\, could have littl e sympathy with our Emancipated and progressive Republic\, or with the tri umphs of liberty anywhere.\n\nBut the American people can easily stand the utterances of such a man. They however have a right to be impatient and i ndignant at those among ourselves who turn the most hopeful portents into omens of disaster\, and make themselves the ministers of despair when they should be those of hope\, and help cheer on the country in the new and gr and career of justice upon which it has now so nobly and bravely entered. Of errors and defects we certainly have not less than our full share\, eno ugh to keep the reformer awake\, the statesman busy\, and the country in a pretty lively state of agitation for some time to come. Perfection is an object to be aimed at by all\, but it is not an attribute of any form of G overnment. Neutrality is the law for all. Something different\, something better\, or something worse may come\, but so far as respects our present system and form of Government\, and the altitude we occupy\, we need not s hrink from comparison with any nation of our times. We are today the best fed\, the best clothed\, the best sheltered and the best instructed people in t he world.\n\nThere was a time when even brave men might look fearful ly at the destiny of the Republic. When our country was involved in a tang led network of contradictions\; when vast and irreconcilable social forces fiercely disputed for ascendancy and control\; when a heavy curse rested upon our very soil\, defying alike the wisdom and the virtue of the people to remove it\; when our professions were loudly mocked by our practice an d our name was a reproach and a by word to a mocking earth\; when our good ship of state\, freighted with the best hopes of the oppressed of all nat ions\, was furiously hurled against the hard and flinty rocks of derision\ , and every cord\, bolt\, beam and bend in her body quivered beneath the s hock\, there was some apology for doubt and despair. But that day has happ ily passed away. The storm has been weathered\, and portents are nearly al l in our favor.\n\nThere are clouds\, wind\, smoke and dust and noise\, ov er head and around\, and there always will be\; but no genuine thunder\, w ith destructive bolt\, menaces from any quarter of the sky.\n\nThe real tr ouble with us was never our system or form of Government\, or the principl es underlying it\; but the peculiar composition of our people\, the relati ons existing between them and the compromising spirit which controlled the ruling power of the country.\n\nWe have for along time hesitated to adopt and may yet refuse to adopt\, and carry out\, the only principle which ca n solve that difficulty and give peace\, strength and security to the Repu blic\, and that is the principle of absolute equality.\n\nWe are a country of all extremes—\, ends and opposites\; the most conspicuous example of composite nationality in the world. Our people defy all the ethnological and logical classifications. In races we range all the way from black to w hite\, with intermediate shades which\, as in the apocalyptic vision\, no man can name a number.\n\nIn regard to creeds and faiths\, the condition i s no better\, and no worse. Differences both as to race and to religion ar e evidently more likely to increase than to diminish.\n\nWe stand between the populous shores of two great oceans. Our land is capable of supporting one fifth of all the globe. Here\, labor is abundant and here labor is be tter remunerated than any where else. All moral\, social and geographical causes\, conspire to bring to us the peoples of all other over populated c ountries.\n\nEurope and Africa are already here\, and the Indian was here before either. He stands today between the two extremes of black and white \, too proud to claim fraternity with either\, and yet too weak to withsta nd the power of either. Heretofore the policy of our government has been g overned by race pride\, rather than by wisdom. Until recently\, neither th e Indian nor the negro has been treated as a part of the body politic. No attempt has been made to inspire either with a sentiment of patriotism\, b ut the hearts of both races have been diligently sown with the dangerous s eeds of discontent and hatred.\n\nThe policy of keeping the Indians to the mselves\, has kept the tomahawk and scalping knife busy upon our borders\, and has cost us largely in blood and treasure. Our treatment of the negro has slacked humanity\, and filled the country with agitation and ill-feel ing and brought the nation to the verge of ruin.\n\nBefore the relations o f these two races are satisfactorily settled\, and in spite of all opposit ion\, a new race is making its appearance within our borders\, and claimin g attention. It is estimated that not less than one hundred thousand China men\, are now within the limits of the United States. Several years ago ev ery vessel\, large or small\, of steam or sail\, bound to our Pacific coas t and hailing from the Flowery kingdom\, added to the number and strength of this new element of our population.\n\nMen differ widely as to the magn itude of this potential Chinese immigration. The fact that by the late tre aty with China\, we bind ourselves to receive immigrants from that country only as the subjects of the Emperor\, and by the construction\, at least\ , are bound not to [naturalize] them\, and the further fact that Chinamen themselves have a superstitious devotion to their country and an aversion to permanent location in any other\, contracting even to have their bones carried back\, should they die abroad\, and from the fact that many have r eturned to China\, and the still more stubborn [fact] that resistance to t heir coming has increased rather than diminished\, it is inferred that we shall never have a large Chinese population in America. This however is no t my opinion.\n\nIt may be admitted that these reasons\, and others\, may check and moderate the tide of immigration\; but it is absurd to think tha t they will do more than this. Counting their number now\, by the thousand s\, the time is not remote when they will count them by the millions. The Emperor’s hold upon the Chinamen may be strong\, but the Chinaman’s ho ld upon himself is stronger.\n\nTreaties against naturalization\, like all other treaties\, are limited by circumstances. As to the superstitious at tachment of the Chinese to China\, that\, like all other superstitions\, w ill dissolve in the light and heat of truth and experience. The Chinaman m ay be a bigot\, but it does not follow that he will continue to be one\, t omorrow. He is a man\, and will be very likely to act like a man. He will not be long in finding out that a country which is good enough to live in\ , is good enough to die in\; and that a soil that was good enough to hold his body while alive\, will be good enough to hold his bones when he is de ad.\n\nThose who doubt a large immigration\, should remember that the past furnishes no criterion as a basis of calculation. We live under new and i mproved conditions of migration\, and these conditions are constantly impr oving. America is no longer an obscure and inaccessible country. Our ships are in every sea\, our commerce in every port\, our language is heard all around the globe\, steam and lightning have revolutionized the whole doma in of human thought. Changed all geographical relations\, make a day of th e present seem equal to a thousand years of the past\, and the continent t hat Columbus only conjectured four centuries ago is now the centre of the world.\n\nI believe that Chinese immigration on a large scale will yet be our irrepressible fact. The spirit of race pride will not always prevail. The reasons for this opinion are obvious\; China is a vastly overcrowded c ountry. Her people press against each other like cattle in a rail car. Man y live upon the water\, and have laid out streets upon the waves. Men\, li ke bees\, want elbow room. When the hive is overcrowded\, the bees will sw arm\, and will be likely to take up their abode where they find the best p rospect for honey. In matters of this sort\, men are very much like bees. Hunger will not be quietly endured\, even in the celestial empire\, when i t is once generally known that there is bread enough and to spare in Ameri ca. What Satan said of Job is true of the Chinaman\, as well as of other m en\, “All that a man hath will he give for his life.” They will come h ere to live where they know the means of living are in abundance.\n\nThe s ame mighty forces which have swept our shores the overflowing populations of Europe\; which have reduced the people of Ireland three millions below its normal standard\; will operate in a similar manner upon the hungry pop ulation of China and other parts of Asia. Home has its charms\, and native land has its charms\, but hunger\, oppression\, and destitution\, will de solve these charms and send men in search of new countries and new homes.\ n\nNot only is there a Chinese motive behind this probable immigration\, b ut there is also an American motive which will play its part\, one which w ill be all the more active and energetic because there is in it an element of pride\, of bitterness\, and revenge.\n\nSouthern gentlemen who led in the late rebellion\, have not parted with their convictions at this point\ , any more than at others. They want to be independent of the negro. They believed in slavery and they believe in it still. They believed in an aris tocratic class and they believe in it still\, and though they have lost sl avery\, one element essential to such a class\, they still have two import ant conditions to the reconstruction of that class. They have intelligence and they have land. Of these\, the land is the more important. They cling to it with all the tenacity of a cherished superstition. They will neithe r sell to the negro\, nor let the carpet baggers have it in peace\, but ar e determined to hold it for themselves and their children forever. They ha ve not yet learned that when a principle is gone\, the incident must go al so\; that what was wise and proper under slavery\, is foolish and mischiev ous in a state of general liberty\; that the old bottles are worthless whe n the new wine has come\; but they have found that land is a doubtful bene fit where there are no hands to it.\n\nHence these gentlemen have turned t heir attention to the Celestial Empire. They would rather have laborers wh o will work for nothing\; but as they cannot get the negroes on these term s\, they want Chinamen who\, they hope\, will work for next to nothing.\n\ nCompanies and associations may be formed to promote this Mongolian invasi on. The loss of the negro is to gain them\, the Chinese\; and if the thing works well\, abolition\, in their opinion\, will have proved itself to be another blessing in disguise. To the statesman it will mean Southern inde pendence. To the pulpit it will be the hand of Providence\, and bring abou t the time of the universal dominion of the Christian religion. To all but the Chinaman and the negro\, it will mean wealth\, ease and luxury.\n\nBu t alas\, for all the selfish inventions and dreams of men! The Chinaman wi ll not long be willing to wear the cast off shoes of the negro\, and if he refuses\, there will be trouble again. The negro worked and took his pay in religion and the lash. The Chinaman is a different article and will wan t the cash. He may\, like the negro\, accept Christianity\, but unlike the negro he will not care to pay for it in labor under the lash. He had the golden rule in substance\, five hundred years before the coming of Christ\ , and has notions of justice that are not to be confused or bewildered by any of our “Cursed be Canaan” religion.\n\nNevertheless\, the experime nt will be tried. So far as getting the Chinese into our country is concer ned\, it will yet be a success. This elephant will be drawn by our Souther n brethren\, though they will hardly know in the end what to do with him.\ n\nAppreciation of the value of Chinamen as laborers will\, I apprehend\, become general in this country. The North was never indifferent to Souther n influence and example\, and it will not be so in this instance.\n\nThe C hinese in themselves have first rate recommendations. They are industrious \, docile\, cleanly\, frugal\; they are dexterious of hand\, patient of to il\, marvelously gifted in the power of imitation\, and have but few wants . Those who have carefully observed their habits in California\, say they can subsist upon what would be almost starvation to others.\n\nThe conclus ion of the whole will be that they will want to come to us\, and as we bec ome more liberal\, we shall want them to come\, and what we want will norm ally be done.\n\nThey will no longer halt upon the shores of California. T hey will borrow no longer in her exhausted and deserted gold mines where t hey have gathered wealth from bareness\, taking what others left. They wil l turn their backs not only upon the Celestial Empire\, but upon the golde n shores of the Pacific\, and the wide waste of waters whose majestic wave s spoke to them of home and country. They will withdraw their eyes from th e glowing west and fix them upon the rising sun. They will cross the mount ains\, cross the plains\, descend our rivers\, penetrate to the heart of t he country and fix their homes with us forever.\n\nAssuming then that this immigration already has a foothold and will continue for many years to co me\, we have a new element in our national composition which is likely to exercise a large influence upon the thought and the action of the whole na tion.\n\nThe old question as to what shall be done with [the] negro will h ave to give place to the greater question\, “what shall be done with the Mongolian” and perhaps we shall see raised one even still greater quest ion\, namely\, what will the Mongolian do with both the negro and the whit es?\n\nAlready has the matter taken this shape in California and on the Pa cific Coast generally. Already has California assumed a bitterly unfriendl y attitude toward the Chinamen. Already has she driven them from her altar s of justice. Already has she stamped them as outcasts and handed them ove r to popular contempt and vulgar jest. Already are they the constant victi ms of cruel harshness and brutal violence. Already have our Celtic brother s\, never slow to execute the behests of popular prejudice against the wea k and defenseless\, recognized in the heads of these people\, fit targets for their shilalahs. Already\, too\, are their associations formed in avow ed hostility to the Chinese.\n\nIn all this there is\, of course\, nothing strange. Repugnance to the presence and influence of foreigners is an anc ient feeling among men. It is peculiar to no particularly race or nation. It is met with not only in the conduct of one nation toward another\, but in the conduct of the inhabitants of different parts of the same country\, some times of the same city\, and even of the same village. “Lands inte rsected by a narrow frith\, abhor each other. Mountains interposed\, make enemies of nations.” To the Hindoo\, every man not twice born\, is Mleek a. To the Greek\, every man not speaking Greek\, is a barbarian. To the Je w\, every one not circumcised\, is a gentile. To the Mahometan\, every man not believing in the prophet\, is a kaffe. I need not repeat here the mul titude of reproachful epithets expressive of the same sentiment among ours elves. All who are not to the manor born\, have been made to feel the lash and sting of these reproachful names.\n\nFor this feeling there are many apologies\, for there was never yet an error\, however flagrant and hurtfu l\, for which some plausible defense could not be framed. Chattel slavery\ , king craft\, priest craft\, pious frauds\, intolerance\, persecution\, s uicide\, assassination\, repudiation\, and a thousand other errors and cri mes\, have all had their defenses and apologies.\n\nPrejudice of race and color has been equally upheld. The two best arguments in its defense are\, first\, the worthlessness of the class against which it was directed\; an d\, second\; that he feeling itself is entirely natural.\n\nThe way to ove rcome the first argument is\, to work for the elevation of those deemed wo rthless\, and thus make them worthy of regard and they will soon become wo rthy and not worthless. As to the natural argument it may be said\, that n ature has many sides. Many things are in a certain sense natural\, which a re neither wise nor best. It is natural to walk\, but shall men therefore refuse to ride? It is natural to ride on horseback\, shall men therefore r efuse steam and rail? Civilization is itself a constant war upon some forc es in nature\; shall we therefore abandon civilization and go back to sava ge life?\n\nNature has two voices\, the one is high\, the other low\; one is in sweet accord with reason and justice\, and the other apparently at w ar with both. The more men really know of the essential nature of things\, and on of the true relation of mankind\, the freer they are from prejudic es of every kind. The child is afraid of the giant form of his own shadow. This is natural\, but he will part with his fears when he is older and wi ser. So ignorance is full of prejudice\, but it will disappear with enligh tenment. But I pass on.\n\nI have said that the Chinese will come\, and ha ve given some reasons why we may expect them in very large numbers in no v ery distant future. Do you ask\, if I favor such immigration\, I answer I would. Would you have them naturalized\, and have them invested with all t he rights of American citizenship? I would. Would you allow them to vote? I would. Would you allow them to hold office? I would.\n\nBut are there no t reasons against all this? Is there not such a law or principle as that o f self-preservation? Does not every race owe something to itself? Should i t not attend to the dictates of common sense? Should not a superior race p rotect itself from contact with inferior ones? Are not the white people th e owners of this continent? Have they not the right to say\, what kind of people shall be allowed to come here and settle? Is there not such a thing as being more generous than wise? In the effort to promote civilization m ay we not corrupt and destroy what we have? Is it best to take on board mo re passengers than the ship will carry?\n\nTo all of this and more I have one among many answers\, together satisfactory to me\, though I cannot pro mise that it will be so to you.\n\nI submit that this question of Chinese immigration should be settled upon higher principles than those of a cold and selfish expediency.\n\nThere are such things in the world as human rig hts. They rest upon no conventional foundation\, but are external\, univer sal\, and indestructible. Among these\, is the right of locomotion\; the r ight of migration\; the right which belongs to no particular race\, but be longs alike to all and to all alike. It is the right you assert by staying here\, and your fathers asserted by coming here. It is this great right t hat I assert for the Chinese and Japanese\, and for all other varieties of men equally with yourselves\, now and forever. I know of no rights of rac e superior to the rights of humanity\, and when there is a supposed confli ct between human and national rights\, it is safe to go to the side of hum anity. I have great respect for the blue eyed and light haired races of Am erica. They are a mighty people. In any struggle for the good things of th is world they need have no fear. They have no need to doubt that they will get their full share.\n\nBut I reject the arrogant and scornful theory by which they would limit migratory rights\, or any other essential human ri ghts to themselves\, and which would make them the owners of this great co ntinent to the exclusion of all other races of men.\n\nI want a home here not only for the negro\, the mulatto and the Latin races\; but I want the Asiatic to find a home here in the United States\, and feel at home here\, both for his sake and for ours. Right wrongs no man. If respect is had to majorities\, the fact that only one fifth of the population of the globe is white\, the other four fifths are colored\, ought to have some weight a nd influence in disposing of this and similar questions. It would be a sad reflection upon the laws of nature and upon the idea of justice\, to say nothing of a common Creator\, if four fifths of mankind were deprived of t he rights of migration to make room for the one fifth. If the white race m ay exclude all other races from this continent\, it may rightfully do the same in respect to all other lands\, islands\, capes and continents\, and thus have all the world to itself. Thus what would seem to belong to the w hole\, would become the property only of a part. So much for what is right \, now let us see what is wise.\n\nAnd here I hold that a liberal and brot herly welcome to all who are likely to come to the United states\, is the only wise policy which this nation can adopt.\n\nIt has been thoughtfully observed\, that every nation\, owing to its peculiar character and composi tion\, has a definite mission in the world. What that mission is\, and wha t policy is best adapted to assist in its fulfillment\, is the business of its people and its statesmen to know\, and knowing\, to make a noble use of said knowledge.\n\nI need to stop here to name or describe the missions of other and more ancient nationalities. Ours seems plain and unmistakabl e. Our geographical position\, our relation to the outside world\, our fun damental principles of Government\, world embracing in their scope and cha racter\, our vast resources\, requiring all manner of labor to develop the m\, and our already existing composite population\, all conspire to one gr and end\, and that is to make us the make perfect national illustration of the unit and dignity of the human family\, that the world has ever seen.\ n\nIn whatever else other nations may have been great and grand\, our grea tness and grandeur will be found in the faithful application of the princi ple of perfect civil equality to the people of all races and of all creeds \, and to men of no creeds. We are not only bound to this position by our organic structure and by our revolutionary antecedents\, but by the genius of our people. Gathered here\, from all quarters of the globe by a common aspiration for rational liberty as against caste\, divine right Governmen ts and privileged classes\, it would be unwise to be found fighting agains t ourselves and among ourselves\; it would be madness to set up any one ra ce above another\, or one religion above another\, or proscribe any on acc ount of race color or creed.\n\nThe apprehension that we shall be swamped or swallowed up by Mongolian civilization\; that the Caucasian race may no t be able to hold their own against that vast incoming population\, does n ot seem entitled to much respect. Though they come as the waves come\, we shall be stronger if we receive them as friends and give them a reason for loving our country and our institutions. They will find here a deeply roo ted\, indigenous\, growing civilization\, augmented by an ever increasing stream of immigration from Europe\; and possession is nine points of the l aw in this case\, as well as in others. They will come as strangers\, we a re at home. They will come to us\, not we to them. They will come in their weakness\, we shall meet them in our strength. They will come as individu als\, we will meet them in multitudes\, and with all the advantages of org anization. Chinese children are in American schools in San Francisco\, non e of our children are in Chinese schools\, and probably never will be\, th ough in some things they might well teach us valuable lessons. Contact wit h these yellow children of The Celestial Empire would convince us that the points of human difference\, great as they\, upon first sight\, seem\, ar e as nothing compared with the points of human agreement. Such contact wou ld remove mountains of prejudice.\n\nIt is said that it is not good for ma n to be alone. This is true not only in the sense in which our woman’s r ights friends so zealously and wisely teach\, but it is true as to nations .\n\nThe voice of civilization speaks an unmistakable language against the isolation of families\, nations and races\, and pleads for composite nati onality as essential to her triumphs.\n\nThose races of men which have mai ntained the most separate and distinct existence for the longest periods o f time\; which have had the least intercourse with other races of men\, ar e a standing confirmation of the folly of isolation. The very soil of the national mind becomes\, in such cases\, barren\, and can only be resuscita ted by assistance from without.\n\nLook at England\, whose mighty power is now felt\, and for centuries has been felt\, all around the world. It is worthy of special remark\, that precisely those parts of that proud Island which have received the largest and most diverse populations\, are today\ , the parts most distinguished for industry\, enterprise\, invention and g eneral enlightenment. In Wales\, and in the Highlands of Scotland\, the bo ast is made of their pure blood and that they were never conquered\, but n o man can contemplate them without wishing they had been conquered.\n\nThe y are far in the rear of every other part of the English realm in all the comforts and conveniences of life\, as well as in mental and physical deve lopment. Neither law nor learning descends to us from the mountains of Wal es or from the Highlands of Scotland. The ancient Briton whom Julius Caesa r would not have a slave\, is not to be compared with the round\, burly\, a[m]plitudinous Englishman in many of the qualities of desirable manhood.\ n\nThe theory that each race of men has come special faculty\, some peculi ar gift or quality of mind or heart\, needed to the perfection and happine ss of the whole is a broad and beneficent theory\, and besides its benefic ence\, has in its support\, the voice of experience. Nobody doubts this th eory when applied to animals and plants\, and no one can show that it is n ot equally true when applied to races.\n\nAll great qualities are never fo und in any one man or in any one race. The whole of humanity\, like the wh ole of everything else\, is ever greater than a part. Men only know themse lves by knowing others\, and contact is essential to this knowledge. In on e race we perceive the predominance of imagination\; in another\, like Chi nese\, we remark its total absence. In one people\, we have the reasoning faculty\, in another\, for music\; in another\, exists courage\; in anothe r\, great physical vigor\; and so on through the whole list of human quali ties. All are needed to temper\, modify\, round and complete.\n\nNot the l east among the arguments whose consideration should dispose to welcome amo ng us the peoples of all countries\, nationalities and color\, is the fact that all races and varieties of men are improvable. This is the grand dis tinguishing attribute of humanity and separates man from all other animals . If it could be shown that any particular race of men are literally incap able of improvement\, we might hesitate to welcome them here. But no such men are anywhere to be found\, and if there were\, it is not likely that t hey would ever trouble us with their presence.\n\nThe fact that the Chines e and other nations desire to come and do come\, is a proof of their capac ity for improvement and of their fitness to come.\n\nWe should take counci l of both nature and art in the consideration of this question. When the a rchitect intends a grand structure\, he makes the foundation broad and str ong. We should imitate this prudence in laying the foundation of the futur e Republic. There is a law of harmony in departments of nature. The oak is in the acorn. The career and destiny of individual men are enfolded in th e elements of which they are composed. The same is true of a nation. It wi ll be something or it will be nothing. It will be great\, or it will be sm all\, according to its own essential qualities. As these are rich and vari ed\, or poor and simple\, slender and feeble\, broad and strong\, so will be the life and destiny of the nation itself.\n\nThe stream cannot rise hi gher than its source. The ship cannot sail faster than the wind. The fligh t of the arrow depends upon the strength and elasticity of the bow\; and a s with these\, so with a nation.\n\nIf we would reach a degree of civiliza tion higher and grander than any yet attained\, we should welcome to our a mple continent all nations\, kindreds [sic] tongues and peoples\; and as f ast as they learn our language and comprehend the duties of citizenship\, we should incorporate them into the American body politic. The outspread w ings of the American eagle are broad enough to shelter all who are likely to come.\n\nAs a matter of selfish policy\, leaving right and humanity out of the question\, we cannot wisely pursue any other course. Other Governm ents mainly depend for security upon the sword\; our depends mainly upon t he friendship of its people. In all matters\,—in time of peace\, in time of war\, and at all times\,—it makes its appeal to all the people\, and to all classes of the people. Its strength lies in their friendship and c heerful support in every time of need\, and that policy is a mad one which would reduce the number of its friends by excluding those who would come\ , or by alienating those who are already here.\n\nOur Republic is itself a strong argument in favor of composite nationality. It is no disparagement to Americans of English descent\, to affirm that much of the wealth\, lei sure\, culture\, refinement and civilization of the country are due to the arm of the negro and the muscle of the Irishman. Without these and the we alth created by their sturdy toil\, English civilization had still lingere d this side of the Alleghanies [sic]\, and the wolf still be howling on th eir summits.\n\nTo no class of our population are we more indebted to valu able qualities of head\, heart and hand than the German. Say what we will of their lager\, their smoke and their metaphysics they have brought to us a fresh\, vigorous and child-like nature\; a boundless facility in the ac quisition of knowledge\; a subtle and far reaching intellect\, and a fearl ess love of truth. Though remarkable for patient and laborious thought the true German is a joyous child of freedom\, fond of manly sports\, a lover of music\, and a happy man generally. Though he never forgets that he is a German\, he never fails to remember that he is an American.\n\nA Frenchm an comes here to make money\, and that is about all that need be said of h im. He is only a Frenchman. He neither learns our language nor loves our c ountry. His hand is on our pocket and his eye on Paris. He gets what he wa nts and like a sensible Frenchman\, returns to France to spend it.\n\nNow let me answer briefly some objections to the general scope of my arguments . I am told that science is against me\; that races are not all of one ori gin\, and that the unity theory of human origin has been exploded. I admit that this is a question that has two sides. It is impossible to trace the threads of human history sufficiently near their starting point to know m uch about the origin of races.\n\nIn disposing of this question whether we shall welcome or repel immigration from China\, Japan\, or elsewhere\, we may leave the differences among the theological doctors to be settled by themselves.\n\nWhether man originated at one time and one or another place \; whether there was one Adam or five\, or five hundred\, does not affect the question.\n\nThe grand right of migration and the great wisdom of inco rporating foreign elements into our body politic\, are founded not upon an y genealogical or archeological theory\, however learned\, but upon the br oad fact of a common human nature.\n\nMan is man\, the world over. This fa ct is affirmed and admitted in any effort to deny it. The sentiments we ex hibit\, whether love or hate\, confidence or fear\, respect or contempt\, will always imply a like humanity.\n\nA smile or a tear has not nationalit y\; joy and sorrow speak alike to all nations\, and they\, above all the c onfusion of tongues\, proclaim the brotherhood of man.\n\nIt is objected t o the Chinaman that he is secretive and treacherous\, and will not tell th e truth when he thinks it for his interest to tell a lie.\n\nThere may be truth in all this\; it sounds very much like the account of man’s heart given in the creeds. If he will not tell the truth except when it is for h is interest to do so\, let us make it for this interest to tell the truth We can do it by applying to him the same principle of justice that we appl y ourselves.\n\nBut I doubt if the Chinese are more untruthful than other people. At this point I have one certain test\,—mankind are not held tog ether by lies. Trust is the foundation of society. Where there is no truth \, there can be no trust\, and where there is no trust there can be no soc iety. Where there is society\, there is trust\, and where there is trust\, there is something upon which it is supported. Now a people who have conf ided in each other for five thousand years\; who have extended their empir e in all direction till it embraces on e fifth of the population of the gl ove\; who hold important commercial relations with all nations\; who are n ow entering into treaty stipulations with ourselves\, and with all the gre at European powers\, cannot be a nation of cheats and liars\, but must hav e some respect for veracity. The very existence of China for so long a per iod\, and her progress in civilization\, are proofs of her truthfulness. B ut it is said that the Chinese is a heathen\, and that he will introduce h is heathen rights and superstitions here. This is the last objection which should come from those who profess the all conquering power of the Christ ian religion. If that religion cannot stand contact with the Chinese\, rel igion or no religion\, so much the worse for those who have adopted it. It is the Chinaman\, not the Christian\, who should be alarmed for his faith . He exposes that faith to great dangers by exposing it to the freer air o f America. But shall we send missionaries to the heathen and yet deny the heathen the right to come to us? I think that a few honest believers in th e teachings of Confucius would be well employed in expounding his doctrine s among us.\n\nThe next objection to the Chinese is that he cannot be indu ced to swear by the Bible. This is to me one of his best recommendations. The American people will swear by anything in the heavens above or in the earth beneath. We are a nation of swearers. We swear by a book whose most authoritative command is to swear not at all.\n\nIt is not of so much impo rtance what a man swears by\, as what he swears to\, and if the Chinaman i s so true to his convictions that he cannot be tempted or even coerced int o so popular a custom as swearing by the Bible\, he gives good evidence of his integrity and his veracity.\n\nLet the Chinaman come\; he will help t o augment the national wealth. He will help to develop our boundless resou rces\; he will help to pay off our national debt. He will help to lighten the burden of national taxation. He will give us the benefit of his skill as a manufacturer and tiller of the soil\, in which he is unsurpassed.\n\n Even the matter of religious liberty\, which has cost the world more tears \, more blood and more agony\, than any other interest\, will be helped by his presence. I know of no church\, however tolerant\; of no priesthood\, however enlightened\, which could be safely trusted with the tremendous p ower which universal conformity would confer. We should welcome all men of every shade of religious opinion\, as among the best means of checking th e arrogance and intolerance which are the almost inevitable concomitants o f general conformity. Religious liberty always flourishes best amid the cl ash and competition of rival religious creeds.\n\nTo the minds of superfic ial men\, the fusion of different races has already brought disaster and r uin upon the country. The poor negro has been charged with all our woes. I n the haste of these men they forgot that our trouble was not ethnographic al\, but moral\; that it was not a difference of complexion\, but a differ ence of conviction. It was not the Ethiopian as a man\, but the Ethiopian as a slave and a covetted [sic] article of merchandise\, that gave us trou ble.\n\nI close these remarks as I began. If our action shall be in accord ance with the principles of justice\, liberty\, and perfect human equality \, no eloquence can adequately portray the greatness and grandeur of the f uture of the Republic.\n\nWe shall spread the network of our science and c ivilization over all who seek their shelter whether from Asia\, Africa\, o r the Isles of the sea. We shall mold them all\, each after his kind\, int o Americans\; Indian and Celt\; negro and Saxon\; Latin and Teuton\; Mongo lian and Caucasian\; Jew and Gentile\; all shall here bow to the same law\ , speak the same language\, support the same Government\, enjoy the same l iberty\, vibrate with the same national enthusiasm\, and seek the same nat ional ends.\n\n\n\n Referral\n\n\n\n https://www.blackpast.org/african-ame rican-history/1867-frederick-douglass-describes-composite-nation/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PDF images of original speech\n\n\n\n https://nyhs-prod.cdn.pri smic.io/nyhs-prod/071a94b5-388a-4546-b798-7439b35e2061_Composite+Nation_Co mposite+Nation+Speech.docx.pdf\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARY\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02112026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalb c.com/tc/topic/12457-frederick-douglass-our-composite-nation-take-a-read  /#findComment-80088\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   18 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n IMO\, as a melting pot\, the USA warts & amp\; all is the composite nation Frederick Douglass envisioned.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I concur 100% I will only add he envisioned plus worked very ha rd for.  I call frederick douglass a black integrationist but to be more honest\, he was a zealous integrationist. \n\n\n\n You said warts and all \, but that is part of what makes Frederick Douglass in my opinion\, the m ost important black integrationist\, over W.E.B. Dubois when younger who w as alive with Douglass but most blacks cite as more important even though Dubois was financed by white jews  and douglass was not [douglass was fin anced by white abolitionists\, whites who wanted to end black enslavement to whites but not white jews who wanted to use blacks for various fiscal o r government reasons\, which is why W.E.B>\; dubois when older was a sta unch rematriate/back to africa ]\, MLK jr \, douglas's spiritual son who h as a federal holiday\, or barack obama \, douglass spiritual grandson who became the first\, and currently only\, black president. \n\n\n\n W.E.B. Dubois when younger+ MLK jr + Obama for me have one great failing in prose compared to Douglass \, they don't honestly submit in their prose the ugl iness of integration. Whereas Frederick Douglass in his composite nation s peech essentially\, admits integration in the future will be terrible or b etter f-ed up. He was alive\, like WE.B. Dubois\,  to see Jim Crow grow e arly in tremendous black bloodshed\, but in composite nation he predicted Jim Crow would be a long thing\, which it was 1865 to 1980 but he also adm itted the far flung future will be bad\, ala the post jim crow \, 1980 to today. \n\n\n\n Whereas W.E.B. dubois when younger and MLK jr. and Obama or many\, i argue most absent a count\,  black integrationist mention opp ortunities and capabilities\, Douglass  admitted the future will not be f ull of opportunity but only challenges. The black blame for black conditio n many black integrationist speak of Douglass doesn't go into. \n\n\n\n S o I concur to you 100%. And largely because Douglass saw the white warts a s much larger or more powerful or more entrapping than his consophies/ tho se who think alike or with him\, during his lifetime or after.  \n\n\n\n The neverending multicolored spaghetti in a pot\, [the usa really isn't a melting pot\, the integrationist goal is the melting pot\, the condition from 1492 to today is a neverending flow of multicolored spaghetti in a po t to small ] is desired by Douglass not because it will be great for black people\, but because it will be great for human individuals. That is also another key element in Douglass's prose that I find absent in W.E.B. DUbo is when younger and MLK jr. and Barrack Obama. Douglass was booed by black people speaking the composite nation speech because he didn't lie about i ntegrations reality. Black communal betterment against the non black isn't served by integration. Black segregationist [ Booker t washington or exod usters]  Black Nationalist [ Jean Jacques Dessalines or Nkrumah] Black re matriast [ Marcus Garvey ] strategies are all better suited for black comm unal betterment over black integration. Douglass didn't suggest the lie th at W.E.B. Dubois when young\, MLK jr\, Obama suggest . The lie being integ ration is better for the black community\, it isn't. IT is better for blac k individuals. But\, Douglass's point was that far down the road\, if all individuals can be in that positive composite environment\, then the human community will be better. It is a delicate philosophical position. It isn 't that Douglass is anti black\, as much as Douglass sees all sub populace s in humanity needing to be harmed/lessened/weakened to get to where the U SA can be good for any human being. I think he foresaw that one day\, whit es will have to face a big lose\, white jews will have to face a big lose\ , men will have to face a big lose\, because those populaces communal stre ngth has to give way to a human communal strength. \n\n\n\n I don't favor implementing Douglass's philosophy\, but I argue\, while he is pro statia n\, very pro statin\, he applies an honesty to the integration in the usa \, that I don't really see in well known black people\, but even among the fiscally common black integrationists. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02112026\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12457-frederick -douglass-our-composite-nation-take-a-read /#findComment-80090\n\n\n\n Po sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\ n\n\n  I believe Douglass would be pleasantly surprised by the opportunit ies Black folks have been able to take advantage of despite the challenges under the system of racism white supremacy.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n i am certa in he would be happy\, he was happy at black individual financial success during his life. But would he be surprised at black financial individual s uccess today? I don't think so at all. Again\, the usa has always had circ a 1492 to 2026 financially successful black individuals\, meaning blacs wh o own businesses in a white dominated community\, ala integration or why t he usa has always been integrated. But in the colonial period the usa was born from or the usa itself\, neither ever had a black populace that contr olled or governed itself. Now in defense\, Douglass and black integrationi sts goal isn't a black populace that is a community or governs itself\, bl ack integrationist goal by default is to have black individuals have oppor tunity in an integrated environment\, which is what has been going on sinc e 1865 in the usa. \n\n\n\n So I argue\, douglass wouldn't be surprised c ause nothing has elementally changed. Between 1865 and today no difference exist in terms of presence. Black elected officials\, black business owne rs\, white enemies of black people existed in 1865 and exist now in the un ited states of america. Now you can argue percentages\, but Frederick Doug lass whole point is that was inevitable. \n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, Pro fD said:\n\n\n\n In the absence of a revolution to overthrow it\, the big gest challenge especially for Black statesmen remains navigating the water s of racism white supremacy.\n\n\n\n The subtlety that douglass had in com prehending the  integration he supported so few black integrationist afte r him  seem to comprehend. \n\n\n\n What you call a system of white supr emacy douglass called the USA.  From douglass own language the challenge isn't dealing with white supremacy but dealing with whites. In that way\, Douglass/ MLK jr/ Obama are like minded. I think W.E.B. Dubois when younge r saw a system of white supremacy as you do\, and when he was older \, it showed how dysfunctional an black integrationist who then speaks of living in a system of white supremacy is. \n\n\n\n if you are black and embrace the usa today\, then you are an integrationist.\n\n\n\n I argue positive/ engaged Black segregation for the majority of black people in the usa or j ust the majority of descended of enslaved\, which is what the exodusters+ booker t washington wanted... is close to impossible today in the usa. The financial situation of the black populace/ the heritage in the usa in 202 6 /the bureaucracy of the usa government/ the internal demographics [espec ially geographic displacement]of the black populace in the usa today\, mak e positive black segregation like said folks wanted... very^INF  challeng ing. In very small groups you see examples of positive black segregation i n the usa today\, but none of that can be applied to the larger populace.  \n\n\n\n Black nationalism is more challenging than Black segregation in the usa\, for the majority\, but black people/individuals or very small g roups have always left the usa and made small examples outside the usa. \ n\n\n\n Black rematriation/ black to africa is more challenging than black nationalism in the usa for the majority. But\, black people/individuals o r very small groups have always left the usa to africa and succeeded. \n\ n\n\n So I said that to say\, the majority black populace in the usa today is integrationist\, and outside some radical event in the future\, it wil l remain on that path\, set by Douglass. \n\n\n\n But\, what is black int egration in the usa ? Black integration in the usa is black people living positively aside the non black. So Douglass correctly asserted the challen ge for black integrationist  isn't navigating white supremacy\, cause bla ck integrationists have to oppose black supremacy\, which is what douglass did\,  the challenge for the black integrationist is navigating white pe ople under the legal system of the usa\, with all of its dysfunctions or w hite warts built over time\, that will require and can be changed legally. .. in time. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250209 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Sport Betting Problems in the USA 02/07/2025 DTSTAMP:20250208T013359Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:188-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Sport Betting Problems in the USA 02/07/2025\n\n\n\n http s://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2839&\;type=status\ n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n GAMBLING\n\n\n\n Amazing how marijuana is hype r criminalized but gambling is allowed to fly free... \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Uniform Resource Locator\n\n\n\n https://www.pbs.org/newshour/sh ow/study-reveals-financial-impact-of-the-sports-betting-boom\n\n\n\n Trans cript\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Transcript\nThis Sunday in New Orleans\, the Phil adelphia Eagles will try to block the Kansas City Chiefs from taking home a historic third consecutive Super Bowl title. But there will also be a hi storic $1.4 billion riding on the game. Paul Solman reports on the snowbal ling and potentially perilous sports betting craze.\n\n \n\nRead the Full Transcript\n\nNotice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and ligh tly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.\n\nAmna Nawaz:\n\nThis S unday in New Orleans\, the Philadelphia Eagles will try to block the Kansa s City Chiefs from taking home an historic third consecutive Super Bowl ti tle.\n\nThere will also be an historic amount of money riding on the game. The American Gaming Association estimates that nearly $1.4 billion will b e legally wagered\, as Paul Solman reports\, proof of a snowballing and po tentially perilous sports betting craze.\n\nEli Manning\, Former NFL Playe r:\n\nI'm doing the FanDuel Kick of Destiny 3 live Super Bowl Sunday.\n\nP aul Solman:\n\nSuper Bowl Sunday\, our eyes and ears blitzed by calls to g et in on the action.\n\nKevin Hart\, Actor:\n\nNow\, I know it's the Super Bowl and all\, but everyone gets a free bet?\n\nPaul Solman:\n\nNearly se ven years after the Supreme Court struck down the ban on commercial sports betting\, 39 states and the District of Colombia have legalized it.\n\nLa st year\, more than one in three Americans said they'd put money on a game at some point in their life\, up from the year before\, while the America n Gaming Association estimates that commercial sports betting revenue reac hed more than $14 billion\, up 28 percent from 2023.\n\nRob Minnick\, Form er Gambler:\n\nAnd it's gotten to a point where\, if you're not betting on sports\, people are starting to question why you're watching the game.\n\ nPaul Solman:\n\nFor 25-year-old Philadelphia resident Rob Minnick\, the g ambling gateway was fantasy sports played as a teenager. The switch to spo rts betting\, which he began on illegal and offshore sites before turning the legal age of 21\, was all too easy.\n\nRob Minnick:\n\nIf I was going to hang out with my friends or a family event was going to be happening\, the center focal point was a professional sport of some kind. And so this idea that we could do what we were already doing\, but now make money doin g it\, it was like way too good to be true. And it was.\n\nPaul Solman:\n\ nToo good because fun with friends became six to eight hours a day of comp ulsive gambling.\n\nRob Minnick:\n\nGambling was my way of expressing myse lf to prove I was smart\, to prove I could win\, to prove that I was worth y. And the money kind of reflected the scoreboard.\n\nPaul Solman:\n\nAfte r six years of betting\, he joined Gamblers Anonymous\, eventually kicking his habit two years ago\, and now hosting a podcast \"One Day At a Time: Gambling Awareness\,\" talking to people like himself about their struggle s.\n\nMan:\n\nI started sports gambling\, which was really what was my big gest vice\, when I was 19.\n\nRob Minnick:\n\nI'm going to call this an ep idemic of addiction that's heading towards the United States\, if not alre ady hitting the United States. It's not because the doors opened up and yo u got access. It's because the doors opened up and people started pulling you through those doors.\n\nMan:\n\nAll right\, boys\, who are we betting on?\n\nPaul Solman:\n\nWith the ads and come-ons that now buffet us all. O f course\, gambling addiction is nothing new\, but understanding how big t he problem is difficult\, as there's no comprehensive national data.\n\nTh e National Council on Problem Gambling estimates about 2.5 million America ns meet the criteria for severe gambling problem\, while another 2 percent to 3 percent have a mild or moderate problem. And recent studies found th at legal sports betting decreased household savings and investments\, led to more bankruptcies and loan delinquencies\, even contributed to a rise i n domestic violence.\n\nHarry Levant\, Northeastern University:\n\nI made my last bet on April 27\, 2014\, and on that same night\, nearly took my o wn life.\n\nPaul Solman:\n\nFormer lawyer Harry Levant\, disbarred for ste aling some $2 million from client funds to fuel his gambling addiction. No w a licensed counselor and advocate for reform\, Levant testified before t he Senate Judiciary Committee in December.\n\nHarry Levant:\n\nWe have kno wn for more than 12 years that gambling is an addictive product and gambli ng disorder is an addiction similar to heroin\, opioids\, tobacco\, alcoho l and cocaine.\n\nPaul Solman:\n\nLevant's own struggles began well before the advent of widespread legal sports betting\, and he acknowledges that states now receive a cut of gambling revenues to build roads\, schools and even fund treatment\, like the 1-800 gambler help lines tagging those ads you see everywhere.\n\nAnd so:\n\nHarry Levant:\n\nI'm sympathetic to the need of our elected officials to balance budgets\, but what has happened here is\, they have no recognition or very little recognition of the produ ct the gambling industry and its sports and media partners have rolled out .\n\nNarrator:\n\nThis is you\, and this is your powerful hunch.\n\nPaul S olman:\n\nHe's pointing to the boom in offerings since the ban was lifted. \n\nNarrator:\n\nWith FanDuel\, it's easier than ever to…\n\nPaul Solman :\n\nProposition bets\, wagers on the first player to score a touchdown at the Super Bowl\,the length of the national anthem there\, whether Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce get engaged.\n\nJamie Foxx\, Actor:\n\nBetMGM has g ot all the sports betting in one place and it's live\, baby.\n\nPaul Solma n:\n\nThere's live betting\, which turns every moment of every game into a betting opportunity\, and with A.I. constantly adjusting the odds.\n\nNar rator:\n\nYou have got the power to create your perfect parlay any way you want.\n\nPaul Solman:\n\nAnd there are parlays\, which string together mu ltiple bets\, giving winners potentially sky-high payouts\, but stacking t he deck hugely in favor of the house\, a fact that is not advertised.\n\nM an:\n\nAnd we will take an 18 again.\n\nMan:\n\nYes\, yes.\n\nMan:\n\nWe w ill get our money back.\n\nPaul Solman:\n\nFinally\, livestreaming on both legal and offshore sites\, and featuring influencers like mega-rapper Dra ke…\n\nMan:\n\nYou want $20\,000. Congratulations\, man.\n\nPaul Solman: \n\n… who is paid to play and lure in new players.\n\nAll the while\, th e sports books harvest data from users\, gaining insight into how to keep customers coming back.\n\nHarry Levant:\n\nI'd like to say it this way. Wh en the first cave person invented the first wheel\, there was some schmuck three caves down laying 3-1 the wheel wouldn't work. Gambling has been ar ound a very long time. It's not going anywhere.\n\nBut this is a fundament ally new\, different\, defective and dangerous online product.\n\nPaul Sol man:\n\nLast year\, Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representative Andrea S alinas\, both Democrats\, introduced the Gambling Recovery Investment and Treatment Act to fund treatment and also research.\n\nFive states with som e form of legal gambling currently offer no funding at all for the treatme nt\, and in September Blumenthal joined Democratic representative Paul Ton ko of New York to propose the SAFE Bet Act to limit TV ads\, restrict the number and the type of bets\, ban A.I. use to track players habits and cre ate micro-bets\, among other things.\n\nHarry Levant:\n\nEvery other addic tive product\, government regulates the advertising\, promotion\, distribu tion\, and consumption.\n\nPaul Solman:\n\nSitting just behind Harry Levan t at that Senate hearing in December was the American Gaming Association's Joe Maloney. The AGA says federal regulation not only isn't necessary\; i t will actually make things.\n\nJoe Maloney\, American Gaming Association: \n\nThe advancements in technology are just going to continue to take plac e. They're just not going to take place in the legal regulated market.\n\n Paul Solman:\n\nThis is the key to the legal industry's argument\, that it 's taking the action away from illegal gambling\, with its loan sharks\, k neecappers\, and unregulated offshore markets that teenagers like Rob Minn ick use.\n\nSo\, for example\, in 2022\, in Texas and California\, which h aven't legalized sports betting\, the AGA says players spent more than $60 0 million in the illegal markets.\n\nJoe Maloney:\n\nWhere they're prey to deceptive consumer practices\, where there's no promotion of responsibili ty whatsoever\, and there's zero taxes being remitted back into the state for the purposes of providing accessible clinical support for those demons trating problematic activity or any other priority that they might deem th ose monies to go to.\n\nPaul Solman:\n\nThe SAFE Bet act is expected to be reintroduced in this Congress\, although both Rob Minnick and Harry Levan t agree\, the legal gambling genie is out of the bottle.\n\nHarry Levant:\ n\nI encourage people to become more aware of what is happening and unders tand there are serious risks involved and become part of the conversation to bring public health reform\, not to prevent people from enjoying gambli ng\, but to prevent an industry and its partners from preying on the publi c.\n\nAnd\, with that\, I wish people who are gambling on a Super Bowl for recreational reasons\, I wish them well with their bets. Enjoy the game. I'm in Philadelphia right now. I need to say\, go\, birds.\n\nPaul Solman: \n\nFor the uninitiated\, those birds would be the Eagles.\n\nAnd for you all and the \"PBS News Hour\,\" Paul Solman in Boston. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n WHERE IS THE SNAKE MAN FOR LEGAL GAMBLI NG + ALCOHOL DRINKING + SMOKING CIGARETTES ? I have never seen him\, why?\ n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02082026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATION\n\n\n\n h ttps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12447-sport-betting-problems-in-the-usa/#findCom ment-80044\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD \n\n\n\n \n On 2/7/2026 at 8:20 P M\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n  \n \n\n \n Gambling has been huge fo r almost 100 years now.😎\n \n \n\n\n\n Gambling has been huge since hu manity existed. Gambling was huge at the time of the pharoahs. But gamblin g\, like all potentially addictive actions [cocaine/chocolate/fornication] can become a self induced crime. But during the time of the pharoahs no p otentially addictive actions\, that can lead to self induced crime\,  wer e illegalized.\n\n\n\n So to get to modernity\, where are the black electe d officials legislations to legalize addictive actions that will aid black profiteering? I can't find any bills even put to the legislatures? why?  \n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 10:21 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n So far\ , about $1.7 billion dollars has been bet on Super Bowl LX.😎\n \n \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n and how much of that is through gambling addiction? \n\n\ n\n Comprehend I am not knocking profiteering\, but in my eyes\, gambling addiction is being deemed an acceptable\, not merely legal\, but acceptabl e\, why can't the others be acceptable? no one can give any valid reason.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 7:15 AM\, Pio neer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n This is supposedly a \"free\" country so if pe ople want to waste their money away gambling or MAKE a fortune gambling... it should be their decision.\n \n \n\n\n\n Are you in support of legalizi ng all drugs/prostitution/ and other illegal acts\, since you share this l ibertarian position?\n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 7:15 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n It's really a \"problem\" only because so much money is bei ng circulated around without taxes being taken out.\n \n \n\n\n\n Really? gambling is global\, taxing across borders is a complex mess. Can you pro vide a source to your assertion?\n\n\n\n I argue gambling addiction has a greater financial negative but because it is dominated by whites\, who hav e the money to gamble\, it isn't criminalized in media or the legal system \, what say you?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 7:15 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n The numbers game was a \"problem\" too....until the states started running and regulating it and get THEIR cut of the money... ..now it's promoted.\n \n \n\n\n\n Wait a minute the first lotto was in N YC and to be even \, white owned nyc media never said the numbers game in harlem was a problem. You know who actually said the numbers was a problem \, black media\, the black church. The NYPD and the mob\, which at that ti me in nyc was very powerful\,  made good money off of the numbers. White media never called the numbers a problem\, it was black people\, specifica lly the black churches and its self righteous acolytes  and black individ uals who... I will rest my thoughts. \n\n\n\n One thing\, the lotto is no t a continuation of the numbers\, from a statistical perspective\, the num bers have better odds than the lotto. The lotto did supplant the numbers i n the black populace\, and again\, led by black churches and their members who.. anyway\, the lotto did supplant but it is a lie to say it is a cont inuation of the numbers. Like legal sports gambling\, if you look at the s tatistical details\, it is far worse odds than illegal gambling\, whether the numbers or other. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02082026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CIT ATION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12447-sport-betting-problems-in-t he-usa/#findComment-80054\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n \n On 2/ 8/2026 at 11:39 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n Absolutely.\n\n Lega lized and regulated.\n \n \n\n\n\n I didn't comprehend how much a support er you are of regulation till the following\n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 11: 39 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n Go to any bar\, factory\, and many street corners and you'll find people gambling freely and not paying taxes on their winnings.\n \n\n \n  \n \n \n\n\n\n i see so a private car d game has to be taxed\, not easy to implement that\, unless invasion of p rivacy becomes legally acceptable. The federal government has tools to do it\, but those tools don't allow the kind of flagrant use needed to tax ca rd games and craps. \n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 11:39 AM\, Pioneer1 said: \n \n\n \n \n As far as the racial component.....people of all races te nd to gamble so I'm not sure what to say about that.\n \n\n \n  \n \ n \n\n\n\n you miss the financial reality of scale. Black people have alwa ys gambled as whites but the scales are far different and that matters\, n umerically\, financially\, it is not the same scale and thus can't have th e same penalty of scale if numerically proportional. Cause if not\, then s upport every single business being to big to fail. the rational behind too big too fail is that the major banks in the banking industry can't fail b ecause of their scale\, so scale is accepted by whites in the usa\, so bla cks\, even statian blacks like yourself\, should be able to comprehend sca le in penalization.and thus white gambling is a higher scale than black ga mbling in the usa. \n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 11:39 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\ n \n\n \n \n The same Black church who was GIVING OUT numbers for peopl e to play?\n \n\n \n  \n \n \n\n\n\n the black church was not the ma in numbers agents ever in nyc\, maybe outside nyc\, even enough\, but in n yc the black churches/black church was never the main agent. Many black pe ople who went to church played numbers cause many black people did\, it wa s a chance to make a dollar. But black churches were not the main agents i n nyc. \n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 11:39 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \ n How do you know this?\n \n \n\n\n\n In nyc you can see the odds for e ach game on a lotto ticket. They are worse odds than the numbers. A littl e arithmetic three digits each have ten possibilities\, zero to nine three times\,  so the odds is ten to the third power\, ten times ten time ten\ ,  that is one out of a thousand\, that is far better than any legal lott o system. Come on.. if you want to hate the village just say so. But here\ , don't take my word for it. \n\n\n\n https://www.lotteryusa.com/news/his tory-of-new-york-illegal-lottery\n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 11:39 AM\, Pio neer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n Never heard of the state breaking anybody's le g or arm for a gambling debt.\n\n Never heard of the state shooting and killing anybody for trying to pass off a phony winning ticket.\n\n \n\n \n\n How do you know so much about illegal gambling vs legal gambling? \n \n \n\n\n\n awwwww\n\n\n\n The numbers are different... you just love knocking the village\, or maybe you love upsetting me. \n\n\n\n The gambl ing debt your talking about isn't numbers\, or playing cards or dice becau se you can't play any of them without money upfront. you can't have a gamb ling debt with cards/dice/numbers... the slot machine\, playing the horses \, cause you need money to play upfront. \n\n\n\n The only way you can ha ve a gambling debt playing numbers is if you went to a loan shark to get m oney to play numbers\, but you talk about libertarianism\, who told you to go to a loan shark? You just championed libertarianism but then when it e xtends to actions you don't think people should be free to do \, you cite crime ahhhh\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Know so much? In my own mind I don't know a nything. But field hand\, you haven't figured out anything.  Pioneer por gy\,  how was church this morning field hand?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 12:09 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Black folks do not how that much power here in the USA.\n \n\n \n \n On 2/8/2026 at 11:09 AM\, richardmurray said:\n \n \n \n\n\n\n yes\ , but I amended my point by saying the following \n\n\n\n \n On 2/8/2026 at 11:09 AM\, richardmurray said:\n \n\n \n \n So to get to modernity\ , where are the black elected officials legislations to legalize addictive actions that will aid black profiteering? I can't find any bills even put to the legislatures? why? \n \n\n \n \n On 2/8/2026 at 10:21 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n \n \n\n\n\n I don't mind bills not getting passed\, b ut bills aren't even sent to the floor? why? why not? black elected offici als are not busy. They do not work for a living based on the legislature t hey get passed or put forward so... regardless of not having enough black elected representatives to be a voting black in legislatures\, in modernit y\, each can propose laws. By law\, of the country you hold so dear\, ever y single elected officials can put bills to the floor. The reparations bil l has not been passed\, or turned into a law. but a black elected official \, a black woman\, [pardon me for forgetting her name] person put it forwa rd. No excuse existed in the past. I didn't suggest laws had to be made. A nd each black member of congress... any member of congress has the power t o put a bill to the floor. No one is stopping any of them. From women memb ers of congress putting equal pay bills to the floor. from paraplegic memb ers of congress putting equal worker protections bills to the floor. \n\n \n\n If they don't want to work\, ok\, but power has nothing to do with it . Many bills die on the floor. why not more? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02/09/20 26\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CItation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12447-sp ort-betting-problems-in-the-usa/#findComment-80063\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n oste d just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n   21 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said :\n\n\n\n Wonderful!\n\n The preacher reminded me a lot of YOU...lol.\n\n\ n\n hahaha:) i am laughing while insulted:) \n\n\n\n please dont tell me his hair was soul glo-ed?\n\n\n\n   21 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\ n\n For 4 or 5 hours he demanded everybody remain silent while he read th e WHOLE Bible.\n\n He then asked the people did they have any questions.\ n\n When a few dared to raise their hands....he SCOLDED them for not payin g attention...lol.\n\n\n\n you made this up:) no way this is true\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n these or ganizations exist to protect American freedoms and interests.\n\n\n\n is t hat snide?\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n As with everyth ing else in the USA\, there is an organization\, American Gaming Associati on (AGA)\, that advocates for gambling.\n\n\n\n yes\, lobbying is legal in the usa and all monied parties in or out of the usa have lobbies in the u sa. But\, the presence of lobbies is open\, anti gambling and anti guns ha ve lobbies too. Why is it many can talk about the power of lobbies for ant i abortion/pro guns/pro gambling but then act like lobbies don't exist for pro abortion/anti gambling/anti guns . Everyside on any issue has a lobby today. So\, lobbies aren't an excuse for anything. Elected officials choo se the lobbies whose financial support they accept. But again\, it is a ch oice. In terms of black affairs the tobacco lobbies would support a law th at will lower their taxation or industrial limits while doing things for b lack smoking industries like marijuana. Lobbies for womens rights will sup port laws to legalize prostitution\, if said laws offer more impowerment t o women \n\n\n\n No profd\, every side on all positions has lobbies today . \n\n\n\n Now\, if black elected officials have secrets or can be extort ed/twisted by lobbies for things they have done or people they have associ ations with \, well that isn't the power of lobbies that is the weakness o f elected officials. \n\n\n\n I will never forget when a black elected of ficial was taking money in the new york state assembly and he had his pay money in tupperware. I wasn't angry he got caught\, the price of illegal b ehavior is always the threat of being caught. But\, he had dirty money in tupperware in his fridgerator? what kind of \"american gangster\" put your money behind a bunch of dogs\, feces is this. And he has no excuse histor ically \, black people have made accounts in swiss banks. Black people hav e taken dirty money and not been caught. So if elected officials are fools well ok\, but that isn't about the lobbies. \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\,  ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Politicians dare not bite the hands that are feeding them.\n\n\n\n Modern District of Columbia is full of titties from all over the world and in all industries and sectors\, full of titties. Change the titty you suckling from. Whatever you want to do\, if you have imaginatio n\, if you have will\, the titty is out there\, waiting for your mouth. If you don't want to change the titty you suckling from\, your free cause ot her money is out there\, shame on you. If the titty you suckling from has some shackle on you\, shame on you. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02112026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12447-sport-bettin g-problems-in-the-usa/#findComment-80087\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ ProfD\n\n\n\n   On 2/9/2026 at 9:26 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Years ago \, we had a politician who told his wife to stuff money in her underwear w hen federal agents raided their home.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n you made that up: ) a woman with fat titties and a fat kitty. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/ 9/2026 at 9:26 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Therein lies the problem. Too ma ny politicians are sucking on one titty or several.\n\n\n\n it isn't a pro blem\, you and pioneer always talk about intelligence\, well\, black elect ed officials are smart enough to get all they need to suckle and still do the for black populace? aren't they? That is the point of a law maker\, ma ke laws to satisfy the titties you suckle from WHILE do for the populace i n your voting area. the key is imagination. If they don't have it\, shame on them. If they are extorted shame on them. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250207 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:motherhood in middle earth from jess of the shire DTSTAMP:20260210T003739Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:648-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztsLeuMLMXI\n\n\n\n \n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n 0:00It has long since been noted that Tolken's works are ve ry maledominated.\n0:055 secondsThere is a minuscule number of female char acters in these stories and there is an even more minuscule number of\n0:1 313 secondsmothers. The maternal mortality rates in Middle Earth are sky h igh. Out of the nine members of the fellowship\, three of\n0:2121 secondst heir mothers are dead. One of them doesn't even technically have a mother\ ,\n0:2525 secondsand the rest of their mothers are never mentioned or brou ght up in the story.\n0:3030 secondsAnd this absence seems even more obvio us because there are a lot of fatherly relationships in Middle Earth\, be that\n0:3737 secondsfrom birth fathers or foster father figures. But mothe rs\, who\, you know\, I think we would all agree\, tend to have a\n0:4444 secondspretty serious impact on us\, are conspicuously missing. There are some characters who are mothers when you dig a bit deeper into the lore\, but they all\n0:5353 secondshave a very similar and frankly very limited i mpact on these stories that they're a part of. So why is it that\n1:011 mi nute\, 1 secondTolken\, who explored so many different forms and shapes of relationship with such depth and passion\, why did he skirt\n1:101 minute \, 10 secondsaround motherhood? Who are the mothers that we meet in Middle Earth? What patterns do these characters tend to\n1:171 minute\, 17 secon dsfollow? And why is it so important that we recognize and possibly change these patterns? If we're to start with\n1:251 minute\, 25 secondsTolken's most popular works\, things are not looking great in terms of maternal re presentation. The Hobbit explores\n1:331 minute\, 33 secondsplenty of diff erent kinds of familial relationships\, uncles\, brothers\,\n1:371 minute\ , 37 secondsnephews\, even fathers\, but there are no mothers\, much less any female characters at all. The Lord of the Rings does\n1:451 minute\, 4 5 secondsslightly better. There are about half a dozen important female ch aracters in this story and some of them are even\n1:531 minute\, 53 second stechnically mothers and this includes Galadriel. Depending on what lore y ou're looking at\, Galadriel either had one or\n2:012 minutes\, 1 secondtw o children with her husband and her daughter Kellbrien would marry Eland a nd give birth to Arwin before she was\n2:092 minutes\, 9 secondsessentiall y killed. So\, Galadriel is by all accounts a mother\, but I wouldn't say that it is her role in the story to\n2:172 minutes\, 17 secondsbe a very m otherly character. The only reason that we find out about Kellbrien's exis tence at all is not because she's present in the story\n2:252 minutes\, 25 secondsbecause she's long dead\, but because Galadriel steps into a sort of grandmotherly role\, giving Aragorn a gift that should have been from h er own\n2:342 minutes\, 34 secondsdaughter\, who would have been Aragorn's mother-in-law through Arwin. Galadriel gave birth to Kellbrien some like 6\,000\n2:412 minutes\, 41 secondsyears ago. And while no one ever stops b eing a mother\, no matter how old they or their child are\, the role that she's\n2:492 minutes\, 49 secondsplaying in the story is not of the maiden or the mother if we're to look at this in terms of the feminine triad. An d while Galadriel isn't a crone character\,\n2:592 minutes\, 59 secondsshe 's kind of gone even a step beyond that. She has become this spiritual gui de. She is an angel more than a\n3:073 minutes\, 7 secondsmother. At the v ery least\, she is not a manifestation of what people consider to be mothe rly traits. What somebody\n3:143 minutes\, 14 secondsconsiders to be mothe rly qualities is going to change a lot from person to person. And it is ve ry difficult to\n3:213 minutes\, 21 secondsfigure out exactly what Tolken thought to be motherly qualities because of just how few mothers there are in his\n3:283 minutes\, 28 secondsstories. But I do think we can kind of reverse engineer these ideas by looking at what Tolken deemed to be bad\n3 :383 minutes\, 38 secondsmotherhood in the form of the giant spider Sheilo b. Sheilob is fascinating to me because in the relatively sterile\n3:463 m inutes\, 46 secondsworld of Middle Earth\, she is one of the only characte rs that is depicted in terms of her reproductive qualities. Not\n3:543 min utes\, 54 secondsonly does she have her own children\, her little broods o f spider babies\, but she is also contextualized in her being a\n4:034 min utes\, 3 secondsdaughter to an even more prolific mother\, Unolant\, the g iant spider monster depicted in the Sylmerelion.\n4:114 minutes\, 11 secon dsSheilob and Unolant are both depicted as these primal forms of evil. The re is nothing left in them except for the\n4:194 minutes\, 19 secondsbasis t instincts of hunger and reproduction. Tolken describes Sheilob.\n4:264 m inutes\, 26 secondsShe served none but herself\, drinking the blood of elv es and men\, bloated and grown fat with endless brooding on her\n4:354 min utes\, 35 secondsfeasts\, weaving webs of shadow. For all living things we re her food and her vomit darkness. Far and wide her lesser broods\, basta rds of the miserable mates\,\n4:474 minutes\, 47 secondsher own offspring that she slew\, spread from Glenn to Glenn\, from Ethel Duath to the easte rn hills to Dol Guldur and the\n4:574 minutes\, 57 secondsvastness of Murk wood. But none could rival her. Sheilob the Great\, the last child of Unol ant to trouble the unhappy\n5:065 minutes\, 6 secondsworld. The language t hat Tolken uses to describe Sheilob is very specifically chosen. She is co ntextualized as the\n5:145 minutes\, 14 secondschild to a mother\, a matri nal line in which no male intervention is needed.\n5:215 minutes\, 21 seco ndsHer broods spread her evil across all of Middle Earth\, sinking and fes tering into\n5:295 minutes\, 29 secondsthe cracks left behind where goodne ss fades away. And the terms used to describe her physically\, bloated and \n5:375 minutes\, 37 secondsswaying and fat and swelling\, are some of the most explicitly corpulent and\n5:445 minutes\, 44 secondsbodily terms tha t Tolken uses in all of his writing. Women in Tolken's works on the whole are described with very particular terms. Fair\, graceful\,\n5:555 minutes \, 55 secondsbeautiful. These ethereal terms that don't linger in the phys icality of these women. It is only Sheilob who is\n6:036 minutes\, 3 secon dsdepicted in such real and tangible terms. Her swaying and sagging figure a cruel perversion of the feminine form.\n6:136 minutes\, 13 secondsSheil ob is only a mother in the most clinical of terms. And it is through her p erversion of motherhood that we can\n6:206 minutes\, 20 secondsstart to ge t closer to what Tolken thought of as good motherhood. In contrast to Shei lob's undying hunger\, a\n6:286 minutes\, 28 secondsmother ought to be sel fless and generous\, giving more than she takes. Rather than acting as a b rood mare\,\n6:376 minutes\, 37 secondsthoughtlessly spilling out her offs pring across the world\, a mother ought to be involved in her child's affa irs. She\n6:456 minutes\, 45 secondsought to raise them\, to shape them\, and to help guide them throughout their lives. And although this idea woul dn't exactly be accepted by the modern\n6:536 minutes\, 53 secondsperspect ive\, I do think that Tolken thought of perfection as a kind of\n7:007 min utesdeified holy pure remoteness. I think he thought of that as one of the traits that a mother must have. The visceral\,\n7:097 minutes\, 9 seconds ugly\, and real qualities of an aberant mother like Sheilob imply that the \n7:167 minutes\, 16 secondsinverse\, this kind of remote idealistic perfe ction\, is Tolken's ideal of good\n7:237 minutes\, 23 secondsmotherhood. B y Tolken's parameters\, then I think that Galadriel would classify as a pr etty good mother. She is fairly\n7:317 minutes\, 31 secondsselfless. She p rovided a guiding hand for her child and she is as distant and serene as t hey come. But the problem\n7:397 minutes\, 39 secondswith acting like she is great maternal representation in the story is that there's no child aro und for her to focus\n7:467 minutes\, 46 secondsthese energies on. She pro vides a guiding hand to the fellowship\, but I wouldn't say it's a particu larly maternal one. There are other female\n7:557 minutes\, 55 secondschar acters like Aayowayen and Arwin who become mothers later on in the story\, \n7:597 minutes\, 59 secondsbut that's long after the events of the story have played out and it takes place mostly in the appendices. And in the ac tual text of the Lord of the Rings\,\n8:078 minutes\, 7 secondsthese are n ot described as particularly maternal characters. Arwin is depicted as mor e a piece of art than a realized\n8:158 minutes\, 15 secondshuman. She is the embodiment of all things holy and queenly\, but not motherly. Aayoin\, meanwhile\, if we're to put her in the lens of the maiden\,\n8:258 minute s\, 25 secondsmother and crone triad\, she is much more the maiden\, and s he is too far absorbed in her maidenly affairs to be any kind\n8:338 minut es\, 33 secondsof a motherly character. Just listen to the tone with which Tolken describes her. Grave and thoughtful was her glance\n8:418 minutes\ , 41 secondsas she looked on the king with cool pity in her eyes. Very fai r was her face\, and her long hair was like a river of gold.\n8:508 minute s\, 50 secondsSlender and tall she was in her white robe girth with silver \, but strong she seemed and stern as steel\, a daughter of\n8:588 minutes \, 58 secondskings. Thus Aragorn for the first time in the full light of d ay beheld Aayowin\,\n9:059 minutes\, 5 secondslady of Rohan\, and thought her fair\,\n9:089 minutes\, 8 secondsfair and cold\, like a morning of pal e spring that has not yet come to womanhood. She is described as a\n9:169 minutes\, 16 secondsdaughter of kings\, not a mother to a future generatio n. She is cold\, cool\, stern\, not yet come to womanhood.\n9:259 minutes\ , 25 secondsAlthough she's not an aberrant anti-mother figure such as Shei lob\, Awen quite obviously is meant to fill a different role in the story than being a\n9:349 minutes\, 34 secondsmotherly character\, at least duri ng the events of the Lord of the Rings. Rosie Cotton\, the future wife of Sam Wise Gamji\, is certainly not a maiden. not by\n9:439 minutes\, 43 sec ondsthe end of the story at least. But she's also just not a very relevant character.\n9:499 minutes\, 49 secondsAnd I know I'm going to catch some flak for that because Rosie is one of the examples often paraded around of good female representation in Tolken's works.\n9:579 minutes\, 57 seconds And while I do like her character a lot\,\n10:0010 minutesshe really just is not present enough in the bulk of the story for me to think of her as r eally good representation. To\n10:0810 minutes\, 8 secondsthe best of my e stimation\, her name appears about 16 times in the Lord of the Rings\, whi ch for context is the same\n10:1510 minutes\, 15 secondsnumber of times th at the name of appears. You know\, the random old healing woman in Gondor. So\, while I\n10:2310 minutes\, 23 secondslove Rosie Cotton\, I do think it's a bit of an exaggeration to call her representative of good motherhoo d in Middle Earth. She's just not in the\n10:3010 minutes\, 30 secondsstor y enough for that. Besides\, once she has Sam's children\, Sam's role as a father is spoken about much more than\n10:3810 minutes\, 38 secondsher ro le as a mother. We see all of this through the lens of Sam's character. An d this is fair. Sam is a much more main\n10:4610 minutes\, 46 secondschara cter in the story\, but it means that although she is a mother\, Rosie doe sn't really get to have any impact on\n10:5310 minutes\, 53 secondsthe sto ry as a mother. I will say that Tom Bombadil's wife\, Goldberry\, does dem onstrate some classically maternal\n11:0111 minutes\, 1 secondtraits. She' s very warm and welcoming and domestic. She cares for them in the way that a mother might. However\, she\n11:0911 minutes\, 9 secondsand Tom did not have any children\, so I don't think that she really counts as an example of a mother character. There are\n11:1611 minutes\, 16 secondsa number of deceased mothers in this story that come up. One of my favorites is Gil R ayan\, who is Aragorn's mother\,\n11:2411 minutes\, 24 secondswho sacrific ed an awful lot to get her son to the place that he needed to be in\, but her story is relegated to the appendices and doesn't have a serious\n11:33 11 minutes\, 33 secondsimpact outside of propelling Aragorn onto his path. The loss of Phamir and Boramir's mother has an intense impact\n11:4111 mi nutes\, 41 secondson their relationships with each other and their relatio nship with their father. And the death of Frodo's mother is what puts him in the care of Bilbo\n11:5011 minutes\, 50 secondsand thus what makes him cross paths with the ring. And I do appreciate that these mothers play suc h a significant role in the way that they affected the people\n11:5911 min utes\, 59 secondsaround them. But I do find it kind of a shame that we don 't get to see any of them living to actually impact the story\n12:0712 min utes\, 7 secondsthemselves. And this wouldn't stand out so much if it were n't for how many examples there are in the Lord of the Rings of strong fat herly characters. The\n12:1712 minutes\, 17 secondsrelationship of Denitho r Phamir and Boramir is one of the most poignant stories in the book. Fost er fathers like\n12:2512 minutes\, 25 secondsTheodin and Eland have an int ense effect on their charges. There are so many different examples and dif ferent kinds\n12:3412 minutes\, 34 secondsof fatherly guidance and strengt h in this story\, but there's just not really much for the mothers. Now\, this is not\n12:4312 minutes\, 43 secondsthe case for the Sylmerelion\, wh ere there are just overall far more characters\, but specifically far more \n12:5012 minutes\, 50 secondsfemale characters. But I will say that the p roportion of dead mothers to living mothers is roughly the same as it is i n\n12:5812 minutes\, 58 secondsthe Lord of the Rings. It is bad news if yo u are a mother in Middle Earth that wants to um live a full and happy life .\n13:0613 minutes\, 6 secondsAlmost all of the Sylmerelion's greatest her oes have mothers that are no longer with them. Baron of Baron and Lucian\n 13:1413 minutes\, 14 secondsfame was raised by his father after the destru ction of his family's house. Tuor\,\n13:1913 minutes\, 19 secondsthe hero of the fall of Gondolind\, lost both of his parents and was adopted by a m an. And Feyenor's mother was long gone\n13:2713 minutes\, 27 secondsby the time he started getting up to trouble. And for Tu and Baron\, this makes a certain sort of sense. They are both human and thus mortal\, as were\n13 :3613 minutes\, 36 secondstheir mothers. But in the case of Feyenor\, his mother Muriel should have been immortal. She was an elf. And that makes he r loss all the more agonizing.\n13:4813 minutes\, 48 secondsAs the story d escribes\, in the bearing of her son\, Mielle was consumed in spirit and b ody. And after his birth\,\n13:5713 minutes\, 57 secondsshe yearned for th e release from the labor of living. And when she had named him\, she said to Finway\, \"Never again\n14:0514 minutes\, 5 secondsshall I bear child\, for strength that would have nourished the life of many has gone forth in to Feyenor.\" Muriel didn't just die. She burned herself out\,\n14:1814 mi nutes\, 18 secondspouring her entire spirit into her son so that he might live even as she dies.\n14:2514 minutes\, 25 secondsAnd in this degree of radical self-sacrifice\,\n14:2914 minutes\, 29 secondsMuriel has thrown of f the balance of motherhood completely. Yes\, she fulfilled the first of t he parameters\,\n14:3514 minutes\, 35 secondsselflessness\, but the second parameter is that she remain around to guide and to help her son. And wit hout her guiding\n14:4414 minutes\, 44 secondspresence in his life\, Feyen or goes off the deep end. He remembers her as perfect and pure and deified . But\n14:5314 minutes\, 53 secondswithout his mother actually around to g uide him\, Feyenor commits some of Middle Earth's worst atrocities. Feyeno r\n15:0015 minuteshangs on to the memory of his mother and her spirit to h is detriment. And in the end\, the spirit that his mother gave him\n15:091 5 minutes\, 9 secondsflares out of control\, and he too is consumed. But e ven mothers who survive the gauntlet of birth are not safe from\n15:1715 m inutes\, 17 secondsthe judgments of good motherhood versus bad motherhood because there are a number of mothers in the Sylmerelion who are just abse nt. The main ones that come\n15:2615 minutes\, 26 secondsto mind are also actually in the story of Feyenor\, namely Nardanel\, the wife of Feyenor\, and Indis\, his stepmother\, his\n15:3515 minutes\, 35 secondsfather's se cond wife. Both of these women gave birth to powerful sons in powerful fam ilies. But after the birth\,\n15:4415 minutes\, 44 secondsthey simply fade into the background.\n15:4615 minutes\, 46 secondsThe fathers of these ch ildren are enormously influential. Finway is an elf king. The vow that Fey enor imposes upon\n15:5515 minutes\, 55 secondshis son shapes the events o f the rest of the Sylmerelion. But the mothers have almost no impact on th eir children's\n16:0316 minutes\, 3 secondslives. They have leaned fully i nto the third aspect of motherhood. This remote distance from their child' s life\, but without having done self-sacrificing\,\n16:1416 minutes\, 14 secondswithout having put their children on the rightful path\, they fade into irrelevancy. Without self-sacrifice\,\n16:2216 minutes\, 22 secondstr agedy or death to lend these women's lives profoundity\, they cease to mat ter whatsoever. But not all of Tolken's\n16:3116 minutes\, 31 secondsmothe rs fail so completely. And I think that Idril is an example of really grea t motherhood. Idril was a princess who\n16:4016 minutes\, 40 secondsmarrie d Tor during the events of the fall of Gondolind. And it was her wisdom an d her ferocity that allowed so many\n16:4816 minutes\, 48 secondslives to be saved during this tragic event. Adril implores her husband to dig a sec ret escape route\, knowing that\n16:5616 minutes\, 56 secondstrouble is co ming. And when that trouble does arise\, she takes arms to save her people and their beloved son\, Arendil.\n17:0417 minutes\, 4 secondsShe goes out onto the streets as the city sacked\, saving survivors and guiding them t o her escape tunnel. When she and her son are taken and nearly\n17:1317 mi nutes\, 13 secondsthrown off the battlements in a revenge ploy\, she fight s\, as Tolken describes\,\n17:1917 minutes\, 19 secondslike a tigress\, to oth and claw\, to preserve the life of herself and her son. Itil plays an essential role in\n17:2817 minutes\, 28 secondsguiding her family and her people to safety. Even if she must make the sacrifice of watching her fath er die to\n17:3717 minutes\, 37 secondsensure that the rest of them can ma ke it out alive. She is wise. She is fearsome.\n17:4217 minutes\, 42 secon dsShe is self-sacrificial. She is hugely influential in the life of her so n Aarendiel. But this cannot last forever.\n17:5017 minutes\, 50 secondsHe r story concludes in those days T felt old age creep upon him and ever a l onging for the deeps of the sea grew\n17:5917 minutes\, 59 secondsstronger in his heart. Therefore he built a great ship and he named it Aram which is sea wing and withil Kellindal\n18:0818 minutes\, 8 secondshe set sail i nto the sunset and the west and came no more into any tale or song.\n18:15 18 minutes\, 15 secondsIn the world that Tolken depicts no good things can last forever and this goes especially for the care of a mother and\n18:24 18 minutes\, 24 secondsthis does have a wounding effect on her child. Alth ough Aarendil goes on to be a storied and successful hero\, there is\n18:3 218 minutes\, 32 secondsalways a part of him that is searching for his mot her and father wherever they have sailed across the seas. I hesitate\n18:4 018 minutes\, 40 secondsto call Idril's choice to leave Middle Earth selfi sh because she did so much good in her life. But perhaps in the\n18:4718 m inutes\, 47 secondsnarrow parameters that Tolken has laid out for positive motherhood\, this is a kind of failing or at the very least a\n18:5518 mi nutes\, 55 secondswound. This failure is made the central focus of the sto ry of Morwin. Morwin is\n19:0219 minutes\, 2 secondsthe mother of the ours ed boy Turin left behind to defend their home after Hurin is imprisoned by Morgoth. There are Easterlings attacking them constantly.\n19:1219 minute s\, 12 secondsAnd although Morwin is repelling them by her powers of sorce ry and fear\, she sends Turin away to safety. She sends\n19:2019 minutes\, 20 secondshim off to the distant kingdom of Doryath to be raised by the e lf king Thingal. This is very technically a wise\n19:2719 minutes\, 27 sec ondschoice. It is a choice that ensures Turin's physical safety\, but it d isregards his emotional security. Time\n19:3519 minutes\, 35 secondsand ti me again\, Turin begs his mother to join him in the safety of Thingal's pa lace\, but fear holds her back. She\n19:4319 minutes\, 43 secondsgives bir th to another child\, a daughter. But once again\, fear rather than wisdom guides her ways. She refuses\n19:5219 minutes\, 52 secondsto leave their home until the last possible moment. And by the time she leaves to chase a fter Turin\, it is too late. He's already gone to face his\n20:0120 minute s\, 1 seconddestiny. And although it would be wrong to say that this is Mo rowyn's fault in any serious way\, Turin was cursed by\n20:0820 minutes\, 8 secondsbasically the devil himself\, undoubtedly her fear-based actions put Turin on the\n20:1620 minutes\, 16 secondspath towards tragedy. Morowa n spends the rest of the story trying to make up for this sin\, but fate h as made its mind up.\n20:2520 minutes\, 25 secondsBoth of her children spi ral deeper and deeper into despair. They end up taking their own lives\, a nd Morowan is left to\n20:3320 minutes\, 33 secondsdie\, ignorant of their final fate. But I think that one of the most poignantly tragic stories of motherhood in Middle\n20:4220 minutes\, 42 secondsEarth comes from the ch aracter of Adidel. Adidel was the sister of Turugon\, the lord of Gondolin d\, and she\n20:5120 minutes\, 51 secondslived a charmed\, safe\, and comf ortable life in the city. But this comfort eventually began to chafe. She wearied of the guarded city of Gondolan\,\n21:0221 minutes\, 2 secondsdesi ring ever the longer\, the more to ride again in the wide lands\, and to w alk in the forests\, as had been her\n21:1021 minutes\, 10 secondswant in Valinor. And when 200 years had passed since Gondolin was full wrought\,\n 21:1621 minutes\, 16 secondsshe spoke to Toggon and asked leave to depart. Toggon was loathed to grant this and long denied her\, but at last he yie lded\, saying\, \"Go then\, if you will\,\n21:2821 minutes\, 28 secondstho ugh it is against my wisdom\, and I forbodeed that ill will come of it\, b oth to you and to me.\" Despite her brother's\n21:3621 minutes\, 36 second smisgivings\, Adele departs Gondolind. And at first\, she revels in the fr eedom that she finds. She finds friends to stay\n21:4521 minutes\, 45 seco ndswith. She lives whatever life she wants to live. But still\, this is no t enough. She rides out alone day after day\,\n21:5321 minutes\, 53 second sfurther and further beyond the bounds of safety until she is found by the dark elf Aol who lusts after her\, imprisons\n22:0322 minutes\, 3 seconds her and forces her to marry him. Aol and Adel have a son together and once he's old enough\, Adidel begins to plot with this son to escape A's impri sonment.\n22:1522 minutes\, 15 secondsThey make a break for Gondor\, but A is hot on their heels. Ail decides that he would prefer his son be dead t han be\n22:2322 minutes\, 23 secondswithout him. And so he throws a spear at his son. But Audel jumps in front of the point in time. It wounds her. It poisons\n22:3222 minutes\, 32 secondsher. And she dies. Her son is deep ly traumatized by her sacrifice and goes on\n22:3922 minutes\, 39 secondst o do wicked deeds. He is the Judas that orchestrates Gondolin's fall. I do n't think that it's fair to say that\n22:4622 minutes\, 46 secondsAdidel's sin was selfishness. Nor would I say that she didn't provide any guidance to her son except that she was taken away from him prematurely. Rather\,\ n22:5522 minutes\, 55 secondsI think that Adele's failing was that she was just too real. She was a flighty person\, someone who made rash decisions \n23:0323 minutes\, 3 secondsand didn't want to live with the consequences . She was a caged bird who didn't recognize the safety that the cage aroun d her provided. Her choice to\n23:1223 minutes\, 12 secondsleave Gondolind was not wrong. Perhaps misguided\, but misguided in a way that a lot of u s are. This isn't a simple black\n23:2123 minutes\, 21 secondsand white\, right or wrong sort of situation. She's just somebody that made a mistake that got in over her head. She\n23:2923 minutes\, 29 secondswas self-sacri ficial. She guided her son as best she could. But because of these very hu man failings\, perhaps her son was\n23:3723 minutes\, 37 secondsnot able t o put her on the kind of pedestal that he would have needed to in order fo r him to achieve greatness\, or at least to avoid the call of evil.\n23:46 23 minutes\, 46 secondsAdele and her missteps are often thought of as the inciting incident of Gondolan's terrible fall. And it is a\n23:5423 minute s\, 54 secondstruly frightening thing that all of this grief could stem fr om the simple sin of being human. Fortunately\, not all of\n24:0324 minute s\, 3 secondsMiddleear's mothers are human\, and that means that some of t hem are able to get a little bit closer to perfection. And I think that th e best example of this is\n24:1224 minutes\, 12 secondsMeon. Meon is a may ar spirit just one power step below the almighty valor\n24:1924 minutes\, 19 secondsspirits and she came down to Middle Earth and fell in love with the elf king Thingal. Together they ruled the kingdom\n24:2624 minutes\, 2 6 secondsof Doryath and they gave birth to their beloved daughter Lucian. Meon is by all\n24:3324 minutes\, 33 secondsmeasures a good mother. Lucenn e is a welladjusted child. Meon uses her divine powers to cradle their lan ds in safety.\n24:4224 minutes\, 42 secondsAnd her divine foresight allows her and Thingal to keep their people safe for centuries. When Lucian brin gs home her\n24:5024 minutes\, 50 secondsnew human boyfriend\, Bon\, Thing al is quick to react like a classic dad would.\n24:5624 minutes\, 56 secon dsAn overprotective dad\, trying to get Baron to go away. But it is Meon w ho pulls him back from that ledge and urges\n25:0425 minutes\, 4 secondshi m to take his daughter's feelings into account. Meon helps Lucian discover what has become of Baron when he leaves on\n25:1125 minutes\, 11 secondsh is dangerous quest. And although she sits by and watches as Thingal impris ons Luthian in a tower to keep her from\n25:1825 minutes\, 18 secondschasi ng after Baron\, she generally acts as a positive guiding force in the sto ry. In other people's tales\, Meon\n25:2725 minutes\, 27 secondsdemonstrat es how these motherly qualities aren't just reserved for her own child. Sh e sends Lemba's bread off to Turin to help him in his troubles\,\n25:3725 minutes\, 37 secondsand she heals Hurin of his grief induced madness. Even tually\, Meon does depart Middle Earth\, but I would say that by\n25:4525 minutes\, 45 secondsall accounts\, she fulfills Tolken's criteria of a pos itive motherly figure.\n25:5025 minutes\, 50 secondsShe gives more than sh e takes. She is warm and engaged in her child's affairs and by nature of b eing essentially an\n25:5925 minutes\, 59 secondsangel. She holds up very well to the process of deification. One might extrapolate from this that t he only way\n26:0626 minutes\, 6 secondsto be a perfect Tolkenian mother i s to be in some way fundamentally angelic to\n26:1426 minutes\, 14 seconds be inhuman. So that means that we have one all-around solid mom amongst a huge sample size of mothers that are either\n26:2226 minutes\, 22 secondsa bsent\, failed\, or dead. And when a pattern like this is this prevalent i n a story\, and when that story has gone on to influence so much of today' s fiction\,\n26:3426 minutes\, 34 secondsit's worth examining why that pat tern may have been created in the first place. In his writing\, Tolken dre w heavy inspiration from historical literature.\n26:4326 minutes\, 43 seco ndsAnd within historical literature\, dead or absent mothers were certainl y quite common. And this was for a couple of\n26:5026 minutes\, 50 seconds reasons. First off\, maternal mortality used to be a much more likely outc ome of childbirth. In the 17th and into the\n26:5926 minutes\, 59 seconds1 8th century\, maternal mortality rates were around 1.7%.\n27:0527 minutes\ , 5 secondsThese days\, that number is just around 03. And that's consider ably lower. So that means that when many of today's\n27:1227 minutes\, 12 secondsclassics were being penned\, it was just much more likely that the person writing or reading the story would not have a\n27:2027 minutes\, 20 secondsmother figure and thus would put this into the story or would want to see it represented in a story. Sexism is also\n27:2727 minutes\, 27 se condsdefinitely a part of the absence of mothers in fiction because for a very long time\, women on the whole did not\n27:3427 minutes\, 34 secondsh ave a particularly large role in the world of storytelling\, especially th e kind of storytelling that Tolken was fond of. A mother might be mentione d for\n27:4327 minutes\, 43 secondsthe context of one's birth\, but once h earth and home were left behind in these quests\, battles\, and adventures \,\n27:5027 minutes\, 50 secondswomen and especially mothers had no place. Sure\, there might be a lovely maiden waiting for the night at home\,\n27 :5827 minutes\, 58 secondsbut the stories tend to fade to happily ever aft er long before that woman undergoes the process of going from being maiden to mother and thus being\n28:0728 minutes\, 7 secondsrendered undesirable by the eyes of the story. And beyond just societal norms\,\n28:1228 minut es\, 12 secondsit was a very useful trope for a character to not have a mo ther. Mothers\,\n28:1828 minutes\, 18 secondstraditionally speaking\, were meant to be kind of nagging. They would want the hero to stay home\, to k eep themselves\n28:2528 minutes\, 25 secondsfrom harm's way. A father woul d have the wherewithal to know that a son must go off and do this dangerou s thing in order\n28:3228 minutes\, 32 secondsto make his name. But a moth er will only hold the hero back. A living and active mother complicates th ings unnecessarily.\n28:4228 minutes\, 42 secondsShe's just going to get i n the way of true pure heroism. But a dead mother\, a dead mother could be a potent tool because a dead mother could be perfect.\n28:5328 minutes\, 53 secondsAnd for a very long time\, especially from the 18th century enli ghtenment and onwards\, perfection was expected from\n29:0129 minutes\, 1 secondmothers\, living or dead. A mother should be wise\, serene. She shou ldn't have problems of her own and she should be\n29:1029 minutes\, 10 sec ondsabsolutely completely stable so that her peace could counterweight the chaotic lives of her sons and husbands. As\n29:1829 minutes\, 18 secondsJ uliet Bger explains in her essay on dead mothers in fiction\, a mother's p ower was through her influence on the\n29:2629 minutes\, 26 secondsmen aro und her who in turn would take her influence with them into the public sph ere. But this stability of character\,\n29:3329 minutes\, 33 secondssomeon e who never grapples with her own trials and tribulations and is in every regard flawless\, is simply impossible. A mother is human just like anyone else\,\n29:4429 minutes\, 44 secondsand she cannot be this unchanging for ce who acts only for the sake of others.\n29:4929 minutes\, 49 secondsOnly in death can she be eternal and thus romanticized. She becomes a symbol w ithout her own wants and needs that\n29:5829 minutes\, 58 secondsmight con flict with the people she is supposed to support. Therefore\, by killing o ff a mother\, an author provides a moral compass to guide the characters\, \n30:0830 minutes\, 8 secondsyet one who cannot interfere and thus complic ate the narrative. For a very long time\, the standards for mothers was\n3 0:1730 minutes\, 17 secondsexcruciating perfection\, and it was seen as a disappointment when the real human could not live up to those standards.\n 30:2530 minutes\, 25 secondsBut through the romanticization of fiction\, w e had a chance for the perfect mother. All we had to do was take this real human character and mummify them\,\n30:3730 minutes\, 37 secondspurify th em down to their simplest essence\, remove all of those complicated\, roug h edges\, and you end up\n30:4430 minutes\, 44 secondswith this character that isn't human anymore\, but acts as a very good propellant for the comp lex human and\n30:5430 minutes\, 54 secondstypically male protagonist. And while I do think that Tolken was in a lot of ways deriving from this trop e and this kind of problematic deification process\n31:0331 minutes\, 3 se condsfor his writing\, it is a bit more complicated than that. Because in many of the cases of Tolken's characters\, the\n31:1031 minutes\, 10 secon dsdeath of the character's mother does not drive them forward into success \, but rather predicates their fall. Feyenor is\n31:1831 minutes\, 18 seco ndsnot so much inspired by his mother's loss as devastated. Adidel's son f alls down a terribly dark path after\n31:2731 minutes\, 27 secondswitnessi ng her traumatic sacrifice. And Morwin's intentional choice to remove hers elf from her son's life doesn't\n31:3431 minutes\, 34 secondsresult in her being deified\, but it does result in her son being lost forever.\n31:403 1 minutes\, 40 secondsThere's enough complication added to these situation s to make me think that Tolken wasn't just blindly trotting out these trop es\, however much they may have\n31:4831 minutes\, 48 secondsshaped his pe rception and the way that he wrote. And yet\, I can't deny that Tolken's m otherly characters are\n31:5531 minutes\, 55 secondsfrustrating to me as a woman and as someone who knows a lot of mothers and cares about them deep ly because these\n32:0332 minutes\, 3 secondscharacters never have the sam e kind of agency or presence that their male counterparts do. However\, I do think\n32:1132 minutes\, 11 secondsthat we can find a probable cause fo r this isolation and alienation of mother characters in Tolken's personal life.\n32:2032 minutes\, 20 secondsTolken's father died when he was very y oung. And so his primary parent growing up was his mother\, Mabel. Mabel T olken\n32:2832 minutes\, 28 secondswas his very first confidant\, his very first teacher. She was the one that gave him books to read\, that taught him to\n32:3632 minutes\, 36 secondsread\, and that began to teach him lan guages. They were as well off as could be expected. But this would all\n32 :4332 minutes\, 43 secondschange when Mabel converted to Catholicism\, som ething that her Unitarian family strongly disagreed\n32:5032 minutes\, 50 secondswith. They cut her off financially and emotionally and personally. But in all of this turmoil\, as their family was cut\n32:5832 minutes\, 58 secondsa drift\, Tolken only came to admire his mother more and more. Mab el's workload increased\, her health declined\, but she\n33:0833 minutes\, 8 secondsalways did her best to stay true to her faith and to do what she could for her children. And in the eyes of 11 or\n33:1533 minutes\, 15 se conds12year-old Tolken\, she began to take on a near saintly glow. Mabel T olken died on the 14th of November 1904\, and Tolken\n33:2533 minutes\, 25 secondsfirmly believed that she had done so as a martyr\, that she had di ed for her faith. Tolken and his brother were taken\n33:3333 minutes\, 33 secondsin by a family friend\, a priest named Father Francis. And Tolken t ook shelter in the church. He came to see his\n33:4033 minutes\, 40 second sCatholic faith as the final and most profound gift that his mother had ev er given him. And he clung to his faith with all of a lonely child's longi ng.\n33:5133 minutes\, 51 secondsBut a faith awakening would not be the on ly result of Mabel's death. As Tolken's biographer Humphrey Carpenter\n33: 5833 minutes\, 58 secondsdescribes\, his mother's death made him into two people. He was by nature a cheerful\, almost irrepressible person\n34:0634 minutes\, 6 secondswith a great zeal for life. He loved good talk and phy sical activity. He had a deep sense of humor and a great\n34:1334 minutes\ , 13 secondscapacity for making friends. But from now onwards there was to be a second side\, more private\, but predominant in\n34:2134 minutes\, 2 1 secondshis diaries and letters. This side of him was capable of bouts of profound despair. More precisely\, and more closely related to his mother 's death\,\n34:3134 minutes\, 31 secondswhen he was in this mood\, he had a deep sense of impending loss. Nothing was safe. Nothing would last. No b attle\n34:4034 minutes\, 40 secondswould be won forever. Her death made hi m a pessimist. Or rather\, it made him capable of violent shifts of emotio n.\n34:4834 minutes\, 48 secondsOnce he had lost her\, there was no securi ty\, and his natural optimism was balanced by deep uncertainty. In the\n34 :5634 minutes\, 56 secondswake of his mother's death\, Tolken portrayed al l the hallmark signs of a traumatized child. Modern psychology\n35:0335 mi nutes\, 3 secondsrecognizes that children who have been traumatized\, espe cially by the loss of a loved one\, tend to exhibit traits such\n35:0935 m inutes\, 9 secondsas depression\, a change of behavior or attitude\, and a loss of hope or confidence in the future. And even\n35:1835 minutes\, 18 secondsthough Humphrey Carpenter was writing before these criteria had bee n laid out\,\n35:2235 minutes\, 22 secondsit seems like he outlines these exact traits in Tolken. This sudden tilt into\n35:2835 minutes\, 28 second spessimism\, this unbreakable lack of confidence in what will become of hi m and the world that he loved. Children\n35:3735 minutes\, 37 secondswho h ave been traumatized by loss also tend to find themselves falling into par anormal or supernatural thinking.\n35:4435 minutes\, 44 secondsThey see si gns and omens everywhere.\n35:4835 minutes\, 48 secondsThey see another la yer to the world. And through Tolken\, this may have manifested in both hi s sudden leaning towards\n35:5635 minutes\, 56 secondsCatholic faith\, but also in the very spiritual lens through which he saw the entire world. Fo r Tolken\, there was\n36:0436 minutes\, 4 secondsmeaning to everything\, t o words\, to trees. Well into his adult life\, he was known to speak to tr ees. But either way\,\n36:1136 minutes\, 11 secondswith all of these sympt oms looked at together\, I think it's fair to say that Tolken was profound ly traumatized by his\n36:1836 minutes\, 18 secondsmother's loss in some w ays that probably he didn't even understand. And undoubtedly\, these feeli ngs continued to\n36:2636 minutes\, 26 secondsimpact him forever. When spe aking about his relationship with his wife\, who was also a young orphan\, Tolken recalls\,\n36:3436 minutes\, 34 seconds\"The dreadful sufferings o f our childhoods from which we rescued one another\, but could not wholly heal the\n36:4136 minutes\, 41 secondswounds that later often proved disab ling. Now\, I am well aware of the fact that the Lord of the Rings is not\ n36:4836 minutes\, 48 secondsallegorical. We should not look at the Lord o f the Rings as if it is an autobiography of Tolken's personal life\,\n36:5 636 minutes\, 56 secondsbut his experiences had a profound and undeniable impact on every part of this\n37:0337 minutes\, 3 secondsstory. Yes\, he i s describing and depicting these experiences that are ancient and universa l and shared by us\n37:1137 minutes\, 11 secondsall. But these experiences were in their conception first bounced off of the mirror of Tolken's mind . And I think\n37:1937 minutes\, 19 secondsthis fact becomes vividly clear when it comes to his rather strange portrayal of mothers. Tolken's mother shaped what he\n37:2737 minutes\, 27 secondssaw as good maternity. She wa s selfless right up until the very end\, always putting her sons before he rself. She was\n37:3437 minutes\, 34 secondsa massively influential and gu iding force in Tolken's life\, putting his feet on the path that would tak e him to so much success and joy and fulfillment.\n37:4437 minutes\, 44 se condsAnd she was gone and thus rendered untouchably perfect. Any and all f laws\n37:5237 minutes\, 52 secondsbuffed away by the abrasion of nostalgia . It kind of leaves me wondering if Tolken was just at a loss on how to de scribe a good living mother.\n38:0338 minutes\, 3 secondsHis mother was pe rfect and she was dead.\n38:0638 minutes\, 6 secondsTherefore\, if any mot her was to be perfect\, death was an inevitability.\n38:1238 minutes\, 12 secondsThere is something heartbreakingly beautiful in the fact that mothe rhood was the one topic that Tolken seemed\n38:2038 minutes\, 20 secondsun willing to fully broach. There are so many deeply personal and deeply trau matizing things that Tolken explores\n38:2738 minutes\, 27 secondsin his w orks with so much depth and passion and curiosity. He fully explores the l oss of home and self that comes\n38:3638 minutes\, 36 secondsabout with th e passage of time and the overtaking of industry. He doesn't shy away from the challenges and sorrows\n38:4338 minutes\, 43 secondsthat can be found with young love. Even the atrocities of war are faced headon\,\n38:5038 m inutes\, 50 secondsnot shying away from the things that Tolken found truly troubling. And yet\,\n38:5438 minutes\, 54 secondsmotherhood in all of it s reality and depth and fear and complexity is left out. Now\, I want to b e crystal clear\n39:0239 minutes\, 2 secondshere that I am not pointing ou t the shallowess of Tolken's mother characters as a kind of condemnation o r cancellation. I think it is evidently\n39:1139 minutes\, 11 secondsclear that Tolken just had a lot of stuff going on when it came to his experien ce and his perspectives on\n39:1939 minutes\, 19 secondsmothers. He was hu man and thus beautifully imperfect. And in the same way that it would be u nfair to demand\n39:2739 minutes\, 27 secondsabsolute flawlessness from a mother\, so it is wrong for us to look back at Tolken and expect him to be anything\n39:3539 minutes\, 35 secondsother than complicated and messy an d human. We shouldn't be putting him up on this pedestal and deifying him and\n39:4439 minutes\, 44 secondstrying to crystallize his works as the pe rfect paragon of fiction writing because that does a disservice to the\n39 :5239 minutes\, 52 secondsreal person that he was. Instead\, we can read h is works. We can appreciate them for all of the good things that they\n39: 5939 minutes\, 59 secondscontain. And we can examine the ways in which his personal experiences may have colored his writings in ways that aren't\n4 0:0740 minutes\, 7 secondsnecessarily constructive in the modern day. And we can try and do better. They say that you should write what you know.\n4 0:1440 minutes\, 14 secondsAnd I think that Tolken did that. He writes abo ut mothers with a near godly reverence\, almost a fear and an\n40:2340 min utes\, 23 secondsunstoppable instinct to keep them at arms length. But I t hink that for all of us going forward\, we also have the\n40:3040 minutes\ , 30 secondsresponsibility to write and to tell stories based on what we k now. And I think that most of us would say that we\n40:3740 minutes\, 37 s econdshave a very different experience of what motherhood is and what it c an be than Tolken did. On her deathbed\, Aragorn's\n40:4540 minutes\, 45 s econdssaintly mother says\, \"I gave hope to the Dunadine. I have kept no hope for myself.\" Although this is a poignant\n40:5440 minutes\, 54 secon dssentiment and one that undoubtedly would have meant a lot to Tolken hims elf\, I hope that most of us can see the fact that in order to give other people hope\,\n41:0341 minutes\, 3 secondsyou don't need to leave yourself scoured out and empty. You don't need to blow out your own candle in orde r to light\n41:1141 minutes\, 11 secondssomeone else's. The sacrifice of a mother is a beautiful thing. But my hope\n41:1741 minutes\, 17 secondsis that the life of a mother\, the real messy\, complicated human life of a\n 41:2541 minutes\, 25 secondsmother\, has even more potential. In the comme nts\, let me know who your favorite Middle Earth mother is. I admittedly\n 41:3341 minutes\, 33 secondshave a huge soft spot for Idril\, just because she's one of the most active and badass. And although she does eventually \n41:4041 minutes\, 40 secondsleave\, she waits until her son is fully gro wn\, which I feel like is kind of the best option out of all of the ones t hat I've been presented today. You see\, I\n41:4941 minutes\, 49 secondswa s going to tell you to send this video to your mom\, but um I do talk abou t dead mothers a lot in this one. So\, maybe that's not the best bet\, but you should\n41:5841 minutes\, 58 secondsgo and find a mom somewhere\, pre ferably one that you know\, and tell them that you're glad they're alive a nd that you love them because they could probably\n42:0642 minutes\, 6 sec ondsuse that. Give this video a like if you enjoyed it\, and do consider s ubscribing if you want to tune in every other week to hear me talk about T he Lord of the\n42:1442 minutes\, 14 secondsRings\, the art of storytellin g\, and the other stuff that I like to talk about.\n\nTimeless\nLauren Dus ki • Perfect Universe\n42:1742 minutes\, 17 secondsThank you so much for joining me this week and every week. And I hope that you have a very happ y hobby day.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my comment\n\n great point on rosie cott on for representation. good argument of why the absence of motherly charac ters is highlighted by so many fatherly characters. Great point on Miriel\ , and Feanor does go off. It is interesting that Tolkien never finished th e Silmarillion. I wonder the edition tolkien would had made\, and I wonder if Christopher as editor\, influenced the presence of women more. 26:41 h mm good point\, the male writers used the idea of the perfect dead mother. This explains the heritage of audience discomfort when a mother is living or a warrior or more. .. I never knew about Tolkiens personal background. good video. Your argument that motherhood was too big a thing to tackle ev en in his fiction. and yes\, i dont think tolkien will accept the idoltry many give him today.\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260209 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:MLK jr : FREE AT LAST SPEECH DTSTAMP:20250724T023308Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:417-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n TEXT\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/356-mlk-jr- free-at-last-speech/\n\n\n\n OR\n\n\n\n Five score years ago\, a great Ame rican\, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today\, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope t o millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their cap tivity.\n\nBut 100 years later\, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later\, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacle s of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later \, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast oc ean of material prosperity. One hundred years later the Negro is still lan guished in the corners of American society and finds himself in exile in h is own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful conditio n. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check.\n\n \n\n When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Con stitution and the Declaration of Independence\, they were signing a promis sory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promis e that all men — yes\, Black men as well as white men — would be guara nteed the unalienable rights of life\, liberty and the pursuit of happines s.\n\nIt is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory no te insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring thi s sacred obligation\, America has given the Negro people a bad check\, a c heck which has come back marked insufficient funds.\n\nBut we refuse to be lieve that the bank of justice is bankrupt.\n\nWe refuse to believe that t here are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nat ion. And so we've come to cash this check\, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.\n\nWe have also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tra nquilizing drug of gradualism.\n\n \n\nNow is the time to make real the pr omises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate va lley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid r ock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of G od's children.\n\nIt would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate disconten t will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equal ity. 1963 is not an end\, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro n eeded to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.\n\nThere will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rig hts. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of ou r nation until the bright day of justice emerges.\n\nBut there is somethin g that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place\ , we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.\n\n \n\nWe must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into phys ical violence. Again and again\, we must rise to the majestic heights of m eeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which h as engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all whit e people\, for many of our white brothers\, as evidenced by their presence here today\, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny.\n\nAnd they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricab ly bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk\, we must ma ke the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back.\n\nTh ere are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights\, when will you be satisfied? We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies\, heavy with the fatigue of travel\, cannot gain lo dging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.\n\nWe ca nnot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs statin g: for whites only.\n\nWe cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Missis sippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for whic h to vote.\n\nNo\, no\, we are not satisfied\, and we will not be satisfie d until justice rolls down like waters\, and righteousness like a mighty s tream.\n\n \n\nI am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of g reat trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of p olice brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continu e to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi\, go back to Alabama\, go back to South Carolina\, go back to Georgia\, go back to Louisiana\, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities\, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be chan ged.\n\nLet us not wallow in the valley of despair\, I say to you today\, my friends.\n\nSo even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorr ow\, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dre am. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident\, that all men are created equal.\n\n \n\nI have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia\, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.\n\nI have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi\, a state swelter ing with the heat of injustice\, sweltering with the heat of oppression wi ll be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.\n\nI have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their char acter. I have a dream today.\n\nI have a dream that one day down in Alabam a with its vicious racists\, with its governor having his lips dripping wi th the words of interposition and nullification\, one day right down in Al abama little Black boys and Black girls will be able to join hands with li ttle white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream to day.\n\nI have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted\, every hill and mountain shall be made low\, the rough places will be made plain\ , and the crooked places will be made straight\, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed\, and all flesh shall see it together.\n\n \n\nThis is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this fa ith\, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hop e. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of o ur nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we wil l be able to work together\, to pray together\, to struggle together\, to go to jail together\, to stand up for freedom together\, knowing that we w ill be free one day.\n\nThis will be the day when all of God's children wi ll be able to sing with new meaning: My country\, 'tis of thee\, sweet lan d of liberty\, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died\, land of the pi lgrims' pride\, from every mountainside\, let freedom ring.\n\nAnd if Amer ica is to be a great nation\, this must become true. And so let freedom ri ng from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from th e mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alle ghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of C olorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But no t only that\, let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside\, let freedom ring.\ n\nAnd when this happens\, and when we allow freedom ring\, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet\, from every state and every cit y\, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children\, Blac k men and white men\, Jews and Gentiles\, Protestants and Catholics\, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: F ree at last. Free at last. Thank God almighty\, we are free at last.\n\n\n \n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n https://www.npr.org/2010/01/18/122701268/i-have-a-drea m-speech-in-its-entirety\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Civil righ ts leader Martin Luther King Jr. addresses the crowd at the Lincoln Memori al in Washington\, D.C.\, where he gave his \"I Have a Dream\" speech on A ug. 28\, 1963\, as part of the March on Washington.\n\n\n\n AFP via Getty Images\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250209 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Padiamenope- the crafter of Taharqa 02/08/2025 DTSTAMP:20250208T165002Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:190-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Padiamenope- the crafter of Taharqa 02/08/2025\n\n\n\n ht tps://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2840&\;type=statu s\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Padiamenope\n\n My Thoughts\n\n\n\n Padiamen ope\, the servant of Taharqa\, a nubian pharoah\, all pharoahs before the ptolomies are black. Padiamenope made an extensive grave for himself. Of course it was the Nubians. The people of Kemet + Nubians are cousin people s. I consider Egyptians the hybrid people of Kemet side the whites of euro pe or asia from the hellenistic period.  Lovely explanation of the proces s of comprehending Kemet from greek through coptic and comparison. \n\n\n \n VIDEO - preview- transcript is complete\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n UNIFORM R ESOURCE LOCATOR\n\n https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/decoding-hieroglyphic s-preview-7jqfn5/6330/\n\n\n\n TRANSCRIPT- the complete show\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Egypt\, land of countless ancient treasures fo und inside its pyramids and temples.\n\nThe walls of these monuments are c overed with mysterious inscriptions left by ancient Egyptians -- hieroglyp hics.\n\n-Hieroglyphs are perhaps a writing that has been used for the lon gest time in the history of the world.\n\nBecause they were used for well over 3\,000 years.\n\n-200 years ago\, French scholar Jean-François Champ ollion deciphered the inscriptions\, giving meaning to the signs that had been unreadable for more than a millennium.\n\nAnd with his work\, an enti re civilization buried in the desert sand was brought back to life.\n\nTod ay\, new research is focused on the people who wrote these hieroglyphs -- a literate elite employed by the pharaohs.\n\nThey were priests\, scribes\ , painters\, engravers\, and builders of tombs.\n\nIn the south of Egypt\, scientists are studying a palace filled with hieroglyphics\, the only tom b built for a non-royal in the necropolis and the largest in all of Egypt. \n\n-How was this man able to build this incredible monument?\n\n-Egyptolo gists have battled the stifling heat to reach the darkest depths of the to mb and unlock the secrets of the ancient inscriptions.\n\n♪♪ ♪ ♪ ♪♪ -Along the Nile\, 400 miles from the ancient political capital of Memphis -- Cairo\, today -- lies Thebes\, modern-day Luxor.\n\nHere\, o n the west bank\, pharaohs constructed sumptuous tombs.\n\nThe vast necrop olis includes at least a dozen ancient funerary temples and burial sites b elonging to royalty\, including Queen Hatshepsut.\n\nSurprisingly\, Egypto logists have found that the largest tomb at the site -- and in the country -- wasn't built for a pharaoh\, despite its immense size.\n\nArcheologist s have named it \"TT33\,\" for \"Theban tomb 33\,\" and they hope to make new discoveries by translating the monument's hieroglyphics.\n\n♪♪ Pro fessor Claude Traunecker has been studying TT33 for the past 17 years\, un der the aegis of the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo.\n\ nHe is joined by Silvia Einaudi and Isabelle Régen\, two Egyptologists an d renowned epigraphists\, whose job it is to copy\, translate\, and interp ret the texts.\n\nOn this trip\, they have only four weeks to exhume the l atest treasures and safeguard the thousands of texts carved into the walls ... [ Conversing in native language ] ♪♪ ...of a tomb well-known to th e adventurers who risked their lives exploring it.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -Lots of people visited it as the region's great curiosity\, with its leg end of being a cursed and dangerous tomb.\n\nThere were very large colonie s of bats here.\n\nAnd when people came in\, the bats would fly out\, caus ing accidents.\n\nPeople only had candlelight\, so a number of them fell d own the shaft of Room XII when the wind from the bats' wings blew out thei r candles.\n\n-But who did this imposing and mysterious tomb belong to?\n\ n-Pa-di-imen-ipet.\n\nPadiamenope.\n\n-Padiamenope.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -In the first two passageways\, there's always an image of Padiamenope\, looking towards the entrance to the tomb as if he were greeting visitors. \n\n-His name and image appear all over the walls.\n\nThere can be no doub t -- this is his final resting place.\n\nFor almost a century\, exploratio n of the tomb stopped at Room III because archaeologists built a wall at t he entrance to Room IV to shut in the bats.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -There 's a nice little article by Maspero that says\, \"We walled in Padiamenope 's tomb because of the bats.\n\nI hope that when it's reopened\, we'll fin ally find out who Padiamenope was.\"\n\nAnd I made use of this text to hav e the tomb opened again.\n\n-In December 2005\, after Traunecker obtained authorization to break down the wall and access the rest of the tomb\, he entered a space that had been closed for a century.\n\nThe decomposed bodi es of millions of bats had saturated the air with ammonia\, making it unbr eathable.\n\nThe floor and walls were badly degraded\, but when the profes sor looked more closely\, he realized he'd discovered a priceless treasure .\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -It was a revelation!\n\nEspecially this word of greeting that I discovered.\n\nI remember\, when I saw it\, I had tears i n my eyes.\n\nAn appeal to the living.\n\n\"O\, you who are on earth\, tho se who are born...\" This marks the future -- \"Er-mes-tu.\"\n\n\"...and t hose who will be born.\"\n\nIt's quite incredible!\n\nAnd it interestingly goes on to address \"Those who come to stroll.\"\n\nComing to the necropo lis for a stroll -- not bad!\n\n\"Those who come to have fun looking at an cient tombs.\"\n\nThis dates from the 7th century BCE\, so there had alrea dy been 2\,000 years of tombs before then!\n\n\"Or those who come looking for spells.\"\n\nThat's us.\n\nThat's us.\n\nWhen I read that\, I must adm it\, I was moved to tears.\n\n\"Those looking for spells.\"\n\nAnd he goes on.\n\n\"May they observe what is in this tomb.\"\n\nAnd then there's a b lessing -- \"They will receive the blessing of the god Amun if they respec t this tomb.\"\n\nAnd finally\, he asks us to \"repair whatever is damaged .\"\n\nIt's a very daring\, direct message.\n\n♪♪ -The carvings on the walls of Padiamenope's tomb ask future visitors to keep it in good condit ion.\n\nEinaudi and Régen have spent 10 years investigating the tomb\, st udying the walls\, and wandering the maze of corridors that leads to the b urial chamber.\n\nUltimately\, their goal is to find answers to the many q uestions that still surround the figure of Padiamenope and create a cleare r picture of who this scribe and priest was.\n\nThey have already establis hed that the architectural style of the tomb places its construction at ar ound 700 BCE.\n\nTo learn more\, they must capture 3-D images of the entir e site\, 360 degrees around.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -We're about to start the photogrammetry phase\, where we'll align the images and a cloud of do ts.\n\nThe images will be aligned by the photogrammetry software.\n\nIt in volves the recognition of counterpart pixels between each image.\n\nThen w e go on to the second phase\, which is meshing.\n\nHere\, the software pic ks up the millions of dots and joins them all together with little triangl es.\n\nAnd that gives the volume to the model.\n\n♪♪ So we're really m oving from 2-D to 3-D. Once we've composed the model\, we go on to the las t step -- compositing.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -We'll decide on the camera movement and then the lighting and lighting moods... ...and finally the r endering of the tomb itself.\n\nHere\, the camera is on the outside\, and it allows us to see the exterior volumes of the tomb\, with all its archit ecture and depth.\n\nIn the other scenario\, we're on a virtual visit\, wi th the camera inside the tomb.\n\nHere we're in Room I\, as it is today\, in a degraded state.\n\nThese two camera features are quite complementary because they'll allow us to work out how we're going to work in the tomb.\ n\n♪♪ -For the first time\, the vast maze within TT33 is visible -- 22 rooms\, countless corridors\, and linked galleries... ...all spread acros s three levels buried more than 65 feet beneath the desert sands.\n\n28\,0 00 square feet of decorated walls\, every single one of them covered in hi eroglyphs.\n\nThe archaeologists face an immense challenge -- decoding the carvings that have been ravaged by time\, earthquakes\, looters\, and the environment.\n\nBut translating the inscriptions on the walls will shed n ew light on the tomb's enigmatic owner.\n\nWith a resting place larger and grander than that of the pharaohs\, Padiamenope was clearly an important member of Egyptian society.\n\nWhat kind of power did he wield?\n\n-[ Spea king French ] -Here we see his main title -- \"Rehrireb\" and \"Rehritep\, \" which mean \"lector-priest\" and \"chief\, or \"lector-priest\" and \"m aster of ceremonies\".\n\nPadiamenope must have been someone who knew anci ent Egypt's religious history very well\, along with the religious texts.\ n\n-[ Speaking French ] -He was the intermediary between\, let's say\, tho se who worked in the library\, who devised the rites\, who thought\, who c atalogued the papyri\, before going out before the crowd to conduct religi ous ceremonies.\n\nYou could say he was the link between religious theory and religious practice.\n\nAnd with what aim?\n\nTo appease the Egyptian p eople.\n\nBecause the Egyptians were so fearful.\n\nYou didn't build thing s like this without having a fear of death!\n\n-A statue of Padiamenope in the Cairo Museum portrays him as a scribe\, someone who belonged to the l iterate elite that held significant power over the rest of the population\ , which couldn't read or write.\n\nThe Louvre Museum in Paris is home to t he \"Seated Scribe\,\" a statue of a seated man holding a papyrus scroll a s a guardian of sacred knowledge\, like all scribes.\n\n-Egypt was governe d by a literate elite\, which we call \"scribes\,\" because they knew how to write.\n\nThis ability to write distinguished them from others.\n\nThe scribe's main job was to keep the accounts and write letters\, basically a dministrative tasks.\n\nThe more cultured among them wrote literature -- b ecause there was an Egyptian literature in the modern sense of the term -- while others ran libraries.\n\n♪♪ Basically\, hieroglyphs read from r ight to left.\n\nTo understand which way to read them\, you simply take a pictorial hieroglyph -- for example\, a quail chick.\n\nIt's looking to th e left\, which means you read from left to right and downwards in a column .\n\nIn another inscription\, it could be the opposite.\n\nFor example\, a round a door or a niche\, there might be\, on the left-hand side of the do or\, signs that show right to left\, or vice versa.\n\nIt's monumental wri ting which goes very well with architecture.\n\n-It is a complex and sophi sticated writing system.\n\nThe oldest examples of hieroglyphics date to a round 3200 BCE\, and\, based on archaeological evidence\, the pictorial ca rvings were used for nearly 3\,500 years.\n\nUse of these symbols slowly f aded as the Roman Empire took control of ancient Egypt.\n\nWhen the Romans officially adopted Christianity at the end of the 4th century\, the use o f hieroglyphics died out.\n\nIn the year 380\, the emperor Theodosius issu ed a decree effectively prohibiting all pagan worship.\n\nHieroglyphics we re central to the Egyptians' religion\, and once the religion was banned\, the need for a literate elite quickly ended\, leaving the 3\,000-year-old writing system to be buried in the sand for the next 1\,400 years.\n\nBut in 1798\, General Napoleon Bonaparte landed in Egypt.\n\nHe and his troop s were there to protect French trade interests\, but they were accompanied by a contingent of scientists and scholars sent to study the history and geography of the country.\n\nAnd in 1799\, in the small northern town of R osetta\, a soldier made a crucial discovery that would unlock the mysterio us inscriptions found on ancient walls and objects.\n\nLieutenant Pierre F rançois Xavier Bouchard found a stele dating from the 2nd century BCE\, c arved with a decree from King Ptolemy V. The text was written in three dif ferent scripts\, hieroglyphic\, Egyptian demotic -- a simplified cursive v ersion of hieroglyphs -- and ancient Greek.\n\n-Before we could read hiero glyphs\, looking at these monuments was a mystery\, and that's why there's so much esoterica that this has generated\, with people thinking that the se are all symbols\, that they don't have sound values\, so you could look at these monuments and not really understand things\, until Champollion c ame and unlocked this key\, this mystery.\n\nYou can see this cartouche\, which is this oval thing\, which held the name of the king\, and here you can see \"Pe-to-we-le-miis\,\" Ptolemy.\n\nSo this is the name of Ptolemy\ , and\, of course\, this is one of the crucial names that we have in Egypt ology not because of his importance\, but because his name was on the Rose tta stone and this was the first name to be deciphered.\n\n♪♪ -Two dec ades later\, linguist Jean-François Champollion began a new project -- de ciphering hieroglyphics.\n\n♪♪ As a scholar of ancient Greek\, he was able to read the name Ptolemy -- \"Ptolmaios\" in Greek -- on the Rosetta stone.\n\nHe then identified the corresponding cartouche with the name wri tten in hieroglyphics.\n\nThat allowed him to write the seven letters -- P -T-O-L-M-Y-S -- opposite the seven hieroglyphs.\n\nHe was able to read the cartouche of Queen Cleopatra by isolating the three symbols for L-O-P\, a lready identified in the Ptolemy cartouche.\n\nAnd then he matched the mis sing letters with the six unidentified hieroglyphs by comparing them to an obelisk inscribed with the queen's name in both hieroglyphics and ancient Greek.\n\n♪♪ The cartouches contained the phonetic transcriptions of Greek names\, but what could he do with the names of the pharaohs that rul ed before Greek colonization?\n\nAnd that's where Champollion's genius cam e into play.\n\n♪♪ The young scholar was a language enthusiast.\n\nAt just 13\, he studied Hebrew\, Arabic\, Syriac\, and Aramaic.\n\nAs an adul t\, he began to wonder if learning Coptic -- a late form of ancient Egypti an -- would help him understand the hieroglyphics.\n\n♪♪ -[ Speaking F rench ] -At the beginning of our era\, the Egyptians abandoned the hierogl yphic system and transcribed their language using the Greek alphabet.\n\nT hat's what we call Coptic.\n\nCoptic language and writing would then endur e in the liturgical texts of Coptic Orthodox Christians.\n\nIn the 19th ce ntury\, Champollion could read and write Coptic\, and he relied on this co ntinuity between the language transcribed by hieroglyphs and Coptic texts to unlock the secret of hieroglyphs.\n\n-With his understanding of Coptic\ , Champollion was able to translate a new cartouche\, in which he could id entify the letter \"S.\" And the first hieroglyph of the name seemed to be a sun\, which in Coptic is pronounced \"Ra.\"\n\nHe was just missing the hieroglyph in the middle.\n\nHe thought the name might be Rameses\, one of the greatest pharaohs\, whose memory lived on despite the disappearance o f hieroglyphics.\n\nChampollion immediately turned to another cartouche\, which began with an image of an ibis\, symbolizing the god Thoth.\n\nIf hi s theory about Rameses was correct\, the second symbol was perhaps an \"M. \" And the last sign he knew -- the \"S.\" So \"Thot-m-s\"?\n\nThutmose\, another famous pharaoh mentioned in Greek texts.\n\nChampollion had done i t.\n\nHe had cracked the hieroglyphic code.\n\nAnd he understood that the writing was both figurative and phonetic.\n\nIt would now be possible to s tudy ancient Egyptian society at a much deeper level.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ [ I ndistinct conversations ] 200 years later\, the heirs of Champollion's dis coveries continue his work.\n\n-And just before\, you have the two points. \n\n-The extensive inscriptions on the walls of Padiamenope's tomb are now considered primary funerary texts\, collections of incantations to help t he deceased in the afterlife.\n\nPadiamenope left behind much more than a tomb.\n\nHe created a library of hieroglyphic texts\, unique in Egypt.\n\n The texts reveal the civilization myths of ancient Egypt\, describing how the society viewed the world.\n\nThey believed Ra\, the sun god\, fought o ff evil creatures who wanted to keep him a prisoner of the night.\n\nDurin g this expedition\, Isabelle Régen is determined to decipher the rest of the sacred text.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -Here is the first hour of the Bo ok of Amduat.\n\nThe sun has just set.\n\nIt's gone into the depths of the earth.\n\nIn his night-boat\, with Iuf -- the nocturnal form of the sun w ith his ram's head.\n\nAnd before him\, kneeling in adoration\, is Padiame nope\, whose title and name are indicated here.\n\nThe sun god's night-boa t has an entire crew to help him safely reach the hour when he'll rise at the end of the night.\n\n-It seems that\, on the walls of his tomb\, Padia menope inserted himself into the story of Ra\, placing himself in the deit y's boat.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -As the hours go by\, there are various events.\n\nPadiamenope is actively involved\, hauling the sun god's boat\, harpooning Apophis\, the serpent that tries to stop the boat from progres sing.\n\nHe's very actively involved in the journey and even performs a ri tual dance for the sun god.\n\n-According to the text\, if during the nigh t Padiamenope is unable to bring the sun god's boat home safely\, the sun will not rise\, and the world will end.\n\nAnd so\, every morning\, when t he sun reappears\, all living beings bow down before the sun god to celebr ate his victory\, that of life over death.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -Padiam enope's version is very original.\n\nInto the sacred text\, he inserts his own name and title.\n\nSo there's the presence of the man of letters but also the desire to promote himself.\n\n-According to a tradition dating ba ck to the Old Kingdom\, it's the pharaoh who is typically seen in the boat \, kneeling before Ra.\n\nSo why has Padiamenope taken the pharaoh's place ?\n\nPride?\n\nOr devotion?\n\nIsabelle Régen's work provides the answer. \n\nHe replaces the pharaoh as defender of Ra to ensure that\, after his d eath\, he will rise every day with the sun -- a way of guaranteeing eterna l life in the Land of the Dead.\n\nBut having the protection of the sun go d wasn't enough.\n\nHe also wanted to earn the favor of Osiris\, the god o f the dead.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -We're in Room IX of the tomb\, which has two walls dedicated to the famous \"Weighing of the Heart.\"\n\n-Here\ , too\, Padiamenope plays a key role in one of the most important parts of the Egyptian Book of the Dead.\n\nAnubis\, who guides dead souls in the a fterlife\, puts a feather on one side of a scale and then places the decea sed's heart on the other.\n\nFor the deceased to continue on into the afte rlife\, their heart must be as light as the feather -- proof that they hav e committed no evil deeds.\n\nThoth\, the god of wisdom and writing\, note s the result of the weighing on his tablet.\n\nIf the scale does not balan ce\, indicating the soul is impure\, Ammit\, the devourer of the dead\, li es in wait to eat the heart.\n\nAnd when that happened\, the deceased coul d not continue living in the afterlife.\n\nThe whole scene takes place bef ore Osiris\, who oversees this divine tribunal.\n\nHe will decide whether the deceased is pure or if he dies forever.\n\nWhy does Padiamenope show s uch devotion to Osiris?\n\nWas he trying to win the god's favor?\n \n♪♪ ♪♪ Egyptologists have a theory about why Padiamenope's name a ppears on the walls of his tomb dozens of times.\n\nAncient Egyptians beli eved hieroglyphics possessed an important property.\n\nThey helped ensure eternal life.\n\nAs long as visitors to the tomb read his name\, Padiameno pe would be assured of his place in the afterlife.\n\n-For the ancient Egy ptians\, the word was incredibly powerful.\n\nWords are magical.\n\nIf you write something down\, it has power\, and once you say it\, it gives it e ven more power.\n\nIt ritualizes the whole thing\, and so it's the same wa y than in any magic\, even today\, no matter where you are.\n\nIf you give someone a name\, they have power over you.\n\nSo words have power\, and o ne of the creation myths of the ancient Egyptians was the god would think and then he would speak and it would come into being.\n\n-For Egyptians\, the act of preservation\, be it in writing a text or embalming a body\, wa s a critical practice to ensure their place in the afterlife.\n\n♪♪ -[ Speaking French ] -To dig and decorate a tomb of such a size must have ta ken a good 20 years\, if not more.\n\nAnd\, certainly\, in terrible condit ions.\n\nWe know there were several crews working on the tombs at the same time.\n\nWhen the excavators were working in the deepest sections\, scrib es and craftsmen had already begun decorating the first rooms\, which were finished.\n\n-Who were these builders and craftsmen who dug and decorated the tombs?\n\nThe knowledge and training that made Padiamenope's tomb so dazzling can be traced back eight centuries to a unique archaeological sit e not far from TT33.\n\n♪♪ It's a village where the men who worked on royal tombs lived and learned how to create the intricate\, inscribed text s.\n\n-Here we are at Deir el-Medina\, which is one of the most important places in Egypt.\n\nIt's the workmen's village\, and these are the people who decorated the tombs of the kings and the Valley of the Queens\, and he re\, this is in the west bank of Thebes\, where the Valley of the Queens\, which they also decorated\, is there.\n\nThe Valley of the Kings is just over there\, and also the nobles' tombs and the temples are very close by. \n\nYou can see different degrees of specialization\, and that's\, of cour se\, because people were always learning the craft.\n\nSo the fathers woul d be teaching their children but probably also the priest would help in te rms of the reading and the writing\, but you can see with the ostracon whe re people are clumsily writing out their hieroglyphs like their baby ABCs\ , and then they get very confident.\n\n-The village was built at the time of Thutmose I\, more than 3\,500 years ago.\n\nThe workmen would leave the village at the beginning of each week to dig\, construct\, and decorate t he tombs of the pharaohs.\n\nAt the end of the New Kingdom\, the site was abandoned and became buried in the sand\, and the objects left behind by t he inhabitants were discovered on digs in the early 20th century.\n\n♪ ♪ -As part of a mission led by the Institute\, Cédric Larcher oversees and coordinates researchers from around the world who gather at the site f or two months every year.\n\nTheir aim is to study the remains found in th e village to better understand the work of these unsung craftsmen.\n\n-[ S peaking French ] -This is our place of work\, our laboratory where the mis sion's researchers work on objects found directly on the ground.\n\nGersan de is analyzing the different types of wood found on the site.\n\nZachary and Ahmed are scanning our database to find out what this object was used for\, what's written on it\, and to establish the context of where it was found on the site.\n\n♪♪ This is an ostracon.\n\nThese ostraca have be en found in large quantities at Deir el-Medina.\n\nThey're fragments of li mestone or potsherds\, which were used as writing tablets by the inhabitan ts there.\n\nThe ostraca give us a lot of information about everyday local life\, as they mention events or consist of lists of workers and their fa milies.\n\nBut some of them were used to practice writing\, which shows th at people undertook apprenticeships in writing here at Deir el-Medina.\n\n They copied out classic texts again and again until not only did they know them by heart\, but they could also write all the signs.\n\nWe imagine th at the apprentice had models and he had to keep carving the same sign unti l he could reproduce the volume expected by the teacher.\n\n-For the lette rs to each other\, you would use hieratic\, which is basically hieroglyphs but a more relaxed form\, so it is the same way that hieroglyphs are like capital letters\, very formal\, and hieratic is joined-up cursive writing .\n\n-99% of ancient Egypt's population was illiterate\, but that was not the case for the community of craftsmen living at Deir el-Medina.\n\nAnd t he men were organized so that the work was spread evenly across the tombs. \n\n-[ Speaking French ] -Among the important ostraca found on the site is one now kept at the British Museum\, which contains information about the organization of work at the royal tombs.\n\nHere\, written in hieratic\, are the names of the workers\, with a list of the days they were present o r absent.\n\nScribes kept daily registers.\n\nThey'd take a roll call to s ee who was there and who wasn't.\n\nWe have some of the excuses presented by the absent -- \"So-and-so absent for a family funeral\" and so on.\n\nA nd along with the lists of workers are the names of the chief builders who oversaw their work at the tombs.\n\n-The workflow in the tomb included a variety of tasks\, following a meticulously planned schedule.\n\nFirst\, t he excavators dug into a limestone vein in the mountain\, which had been c arefully located beforehand.\n\nIt was grueling work.\n\nThe men only had wooden mallets and bronze chisels to excavate the rock.\n\nSteel tools did n't exist in the ancient Egypt of 3\,500 years ago.\n\nOthers then removed the rubble from inside the tomb.\n\nNext came the polishers\, who smoothe d the floors and walls.\n\nDraftsmen would then trace grids on the walls.\ n\nThese served as the framework for the outline scribes\, who used red in k to sketch figurative scenes and texts\, which would be inscribed later.\ n\n♪♪ Next came the engravers\, who carved the stone with wooden malle ts and fine copper chisels\, following the previously sketched guide.\n\nA nd the final step -- painters colored the carved scenes and hieroglyphs.\n \n♪♪ -[ Speaking French ] -We've found a large number of paintbrushes of varying shapes and sizes\, depending on their use.\n\nSome brushes were used for applying stucco or painting the first layer on the walls to be d ecorated.\n\nFiner brushes were used to paint the figures or hieroglyphs.\ n\n-Elizabeth Bettles wants to find the name of each artist whose work app ears in another tomb in the Theban necropolis.\n\nWith tireless determinat ion\, this British paleography expert works to identify the painter of a t omb from the 20th dynasty.\n\n♪♪ -Everybody's handwriting is different .\n\nEverybody's handwriting is unique.\n\nToday as it is known that that is the case\, and it would have been exactly the same over 3\,000 years ag o\, as this was.\n\nAll of this learning about the man who created these h ieroglyphs\, who painted them\, I've got to get to know him.\n\nSo I've go t to try and find his handwriting style through the shape\, through -- of the sign\, through how he created the sign\, how he spelled things.\n\nAnd at the moment\, I am concentrating on doing individual hieroglyphs to fin d out what their shape is.\n\nMy long-term goal is to create a kind of an interactive database to be able to show people who we can name\, who we kn ow who they married\, what their children's names were.\n\nSo we can learn so much about the people who were literate\, who could write.\n\n-You can recognize now the hands of the painters because they each has a special t echnique\, which is marvelous\, because\, again\, you start to connect the finished work of art with the individual.\n\n♪♪ -Although the last ar tists left Deir el-Medina 800 years before Padiamenope's tomb was built\, their skills and traditions began there\, to be handed down from generatio n to generation.\n\n♪♪ The mission goes on.\n\nThe Egyptologists have decided to reconstruct\, like a vast jigsaw puzzle\, the magnificent decor ation of the tomb's walls\, which time has broken into thousands of pieces .\n\n♪♪ For help\, they have called on archaeologist Simone Nannucci.\ n\nThis morning\, while digging in the tomb's first rooms\, he discovered more information about Padiamenope.\n\n♪♪ -[ Speaking native language ] -While digging\, we found thousands of fragments from the walls\, pillar s\, and ceiling.\n\nThe aim of our research is to place them in their orig inal position.\n\n-This part probably came from this\, the southern wall o f the room\, where we can see Padiamenope's mummy before his tomb\, and he re\, part of his title\, \"Rehrireb\" or \"Rehritep\" -- lector-priest.\n\ n-Look at the detail in the ears and nostrils!\n\n-The stele.\n\n-I hadn't noticed that.\n\nSo it's a representation of the tomb we're in right now! \n\n-Right.\n\nIn its ideal state.\n\n-Padiamenope must be very happy in t he afterlife!\n\nWe never stop mentioning his name!\n\nThis is so moving.\ n\n-The carved walls of temples and tombs aren't the only sources availabl e to archeologists documenting the history of this civilization.\n\n5\,000 years ago\, ancient Egyptians also created a material akin to paper from the stalk of a plant that grows along the banks of the Nile -- papyrus.\n\ nIn the 19th century\, ancient Egyptian papyri became collectors' items.\n \nBernardino Drovetti\, France's consul in Cairo at the time\, made a busi ness of selling texts that were several millennia old.\n\nThe king of Pied mont paid him a fortune to put together a collection.\n\nThe king was able to open the Museo Egizio in 1824 that included statues\, objects\, and pa pyri.\n\nWhat did the man who made it possible think about the new museum in Italy?\n\n-When the Drovetti collection was acquired\, they hope to bri ng the man who had found the key to ancient Egypt to Turin.\n\nSo Champoll ion accepts their invitation.\n\nHe is not at all happy about the fact tha t France has not acquired the collection\, but Turin has.\n\nAnd so he's c redited with that famous saying that\, \"The road to Memphis and Thebes go es through Turin.\"\n\n-But once he arrived in Turin\, Champollion had a c hange of heart.\n\nHe spent the next eight months at the museum studying p apyri that he described as being \"beyond words.\"\n\nHe made extraordinar y discoveries while restoring the papyri fragments brought back from Egypt by Drovetti.\n\nToday\, the scientists at the Museo Egizio are busy resto ring and piecing together papyri\, continuing Champollion's work.\n\nWhile at the museum\, he used its collection to create a foundational work in E gyptology -- the Turin King List\, as it's sometimes called -- which helpe d establish the chronology of Pharaonic dynasties.\n\n-Chronology is one o f the primary concerns of Champollion when he arrives in Turin.\n\nChampol lion is confronted with a rich collection such as he has never seen before .\n\nAmong the fragmentary papyrus that Champollion was confronted with wa s one that was a list of royal names -- the Turin Canon or the Papyrus of Kings\, a list of kings starting from the time of the gods and all the way into historical times and until\, presumably\, the time of Ramses II\, un der whom this list was compiled.\n\nIt is one of the fundamental historica l documents of Egyptology.\n\n-Champollion threw himself into his work wit h the Turin papyri.\n\nBut he hoped to return to Egypt\, sail up the Nile deep into Nubia\, and continue studying hieroglyphics carved directly on m onuments.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ It took him two years\, but he was able to orga nize an expedition of 14 scholars and scientists who would travel for 18 m onths\, analyzing the main sites of antiquity that were seen during the Bo naparte mission.\n\nIt was an immense task.\n\n♪♪ -[ Speaking French ] -Champollion is the father of Egyptology not just because he deciphered h ieroglyphs\, but also because of his contribution to every field that cons titutes the science -- his work on Egyptian religion\, his work on the Tur in Royal Canon and the lists of the pharaohs\, and so on.\n\n-Champollion' s chronology of pharaohs stopped at Rameses II\, from the 19th dynasty.\n\ nBut the empire lasted another 700 years.\n\nLater scholars would complete the timeline through the Roman period.\n\nClaude Traunecker used the Turi n King List to date TT33 to roughly the 7th century BCE.\n\nBut in order t o understand Padiamenope better\, he must now determine which pharaoh the scribe served.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -How come a man of such importance never speaks of his king in his tomb?\n\nFrom time to time\, he says\, \"I was an important man.\n\nThe king of my day counted a lot on me\,\" but h e never names him.\n\n-Which pharaoh relied on Padiamenope so heavily?\n\n The tomb next to his\, that of Mentuemhat\, governor of Upper Egypt and ma yor of Thebes in the 7th century BCE\, provides Traunecker with the answer .\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -Genuine power was held for about 10 years by Me ntuemhat\, the man who built the great pylon\, which you can see behind me .\n\nHow does Padiamenope fit in here?\n\nI think they were just about con temporaries\, or there's perhaps 10 years between them\, because there are the same features found in Mentuemhat's tomb as that of Padiamenope.\n\nS o I believe that Padiamenope was the religious adviser to King Taharqa.\n\ n-Taharqa.\n\nThe Louvre contains several depictions of the most famous ki ng of the 25th dynasty -- black pharaohs from the Kingdom of Kush.\n\n ♪♪ -The Nubian dynasty was already impregnated with Egyptian culture w hen it was established because they came from Sudan\, Upper Nubia\, which had been colonized by Egypt and had gone through a long acculturation proc ess.\n\nSo the Nubian elite was well-adapted to the customs and religion o f the Egyptians.\n\nThey were more royalist than the king\, so to speak\, because they advocated a return to original purity.\n\n♪♪ Padiamenope participated in this antiquity revival movement\, which was very fashionab le at the time.\n\nHe illustrated inside his tomb\, with texts on the pyra mids and on sarcophagi\, which hadn't been in use for almost 2\,000 years\ , to show how erudite he was to visitors\, because part of his tomb was me ant to attract intellectual tourists.\n\nAnd Padiamenope was a secretary t o the king -- at a certain time\, at least.\n\n-As a secretary\, Padiameno pe would have led sacred ceremonies in the pharaoh's absence.\n\nThis stra nge ramp descending to the Nile is proof.\n\nIt was constructed during Tah arqa's reign\, under the supervision of Padiamenope.\n\nA text in Padiamen ope's tomb helped Traunecker make the connection.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -\"I constructed a mooring space\,\" which means a quayside.\n\nThis tells us he was in charge of construction work in Karnak\, but as lector-priest \, he was also in charge of the ceremonies in Karnak.\n\nHe calls himself \"he who conducted celebrations and ceremonies in the Temple of Karnak.\"\ n\nSo he was a very\, very important figure in terms of local worship.\n\n -As part of what they called the Beautiful Festival of the Valley\, the pe ople of Thebes gathered together every year for a huge processional.\n\nAs a remembrance of the dead\, priests would launch a statue or portrait of Amun-Ra into the Nile on a ceremonial boat known as a barque.\n\nThe barqu e would then tour the necropolises at the site.\n\nPadiamenope chose to bu ild his own tomb in a place where the procession would stop each year.\n\n To get a sense of what the festival was like\, this wall at the Temple of Luxor commemorates a similar event.\n\n-Padiamenope was very key to this w hole connection and this control system that the Nubian pharaohs had.\n\nS o Taharqa depended on Padiamenope to\, in fact\, guide him\, almost\, thro ugh the idea of Egypt's religion and the texts.\n\n♪♪ -As Egyptologist s have noted\, many of the chapels inside the Karnak complex are dedicated to the god Osiris and date from the period of the Nubian pharaohs.\n\nIt is difficult to know whether Padiamenope had any influence on the revival of Osiris worship.\n\nBut for Salima Ikram\, it's undeniable that the arch itecture of the chapels was a source of inspiration for Padiamenope.\n\nLi fe in ancient Egypt revolved around ensuring a place in the afterlife.\n\n Perhaps Padiamenope hoped that dedicating his tomb to Osiris would help hi m after death.\n\nA closer look at the architecture of his tomb offers som e insight into his thinking.\n\nIt was structured as several distinct sect ions.\n\nThe first was undoubtedly open to all visitors.\n\nBut the second section was reserved solely for pilgrims worshiping Osiris.\n\n-[ Speakin g French ] -Imagine that we are not regular tomb tourists\, but pilgrims c ome to worship at the altar of Osiris.\n\nWe turn right.\n\nTo access here \, you need a special key.\n\nI even wonder whether there was an entrance fee.\n\n-It's possible Padiamenope built a tomb that would generate revenu e to help pay for its upkeep.\n\n-Once through this door\, we reach the ce notaph room.\n\nWhat's a cenotaph?\n\nA pretend tomb.\n\nIt looks like a t omb\, with all the decoration of the time\, but there's no body inside.\n\ nSo what did the pilgrims do once they were here?\n\nThey walked around\, singing canticles.\n\nI think they would sing the texts inscribed at the t ops of the walls.\n\n-The cenotaph served as a pilgrimage destination for worshipers of Osiris.\n\nAnd Traunecker is still studying the tomb's third section\, which he describes as being private.\n\nTo access the third sec tion\, one must descend the infamous shaft in Room XII that terrified visi tors and earned the tomb the legend of being cursed.\n\nFrom there\, it's down a passageway to Room XIX.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -Here's the famous scene \"Awakening Osiris\,\" which must have covered the entire wall.\n\nT he central part features the god Osiris.\n\nBefore him is his son Horus\, who is holding the symbol of life under his father's nose.\n\nThe hierogly phs say\, \"Waking up.\"\n\n-A second shaft descends even further into a s trange room which resembles a sarcophagus from the Old Kingdom.\n\nTechnic ally\, it's the last room in the tomb.\n\nAny pillagers entering here coul d go no further.\n\nIt appears there was nowhere else to go.\n\nBut Padiam enope has created a secret burial chamber above the room.\n\nThe ceiling h ad to be smashed before Padiamenope's real burial chamber could be entered .\n\nAnd it is a revelation.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ The decoration on the walls and ceiling of the chamber rival those of the Sistine Chapel.\n\nAn d Egyptologists have worked to restore them nearly to their original state .\n\n♪♪ -[ Speaking French ] -Padiamenope clearly wanted to conceal th e entrance to this last room\, where he was probably buried.\n\nBut as we found no remains of a sarcophagus\, the latest hypothesis to be put forwar d is that his mummy was inside a wooden coffin placed on a funerary bed\, possibly in the central part of the room.\n\nThis hypothesis is based on t he fact that on the east and west walls of this chamber\, between the nich es which must have held statuettes... ...there are images of guardian geni es\, deities\, who were supposed to protect Padiamenope's body.\n\nThe sam e guardian genies that featured to the left and right of \"Awakening Osiri s.\"\n\nSo the hypothesis is that Padiamenope wanted to reproduce a kind o f three-dimensional \"Awakening Osiris\" in which Padiamenope\, on his fun erary bed and surrounded by guardian genies\, takes the place of Osiris.\n \n-The portrait of the mysterious Padiamenope has become clearer.\n\nAssoc iating himself with the Judge of the Dead and receiving his blessing and g ood grace was undoubtedly the best guarantee of living eternally in the af terlife.\n\nExploration of his tomb has revealed an extraordinary figure - - a priest\, a scribe\, and a scholar who played a crucial role at the pha raoh's court.\n\nDespite the 2\,500 years that separate them\, Padiamenope and Champollion shared the same fascination with hieroglyphics.\n\nIn hin dsight\, one seems to have placed himself in the footsteps of the other.\n \n-[ Speaking French ] -Both of them wanted to pass on something they poss essed.\n\nPadiamenope wanted to pass on his knowledge of history\, a much older history of his civilization.\n\nAnd Champollion wanted to discover a nd then pass on to his contemporaries all of those wonderful things he had discovered.\n\n-Shortly after returning from his voyage to Egypt\, Champo llion fell ill.\n\nHe died in Paris on March 4\, 1832\, at age 41.\n\nDesp ite his early passing\, he left behind a vast body of work.\n\n-[ Speaking French ] -By cracking the code of hieroglyphs\, Champollion opened the gr eat door to what would become Egyptology\, which is still developing today and destined to know even greater developments.\n\n-Today's Egyptologists continue the work Champollion started with his discoveries.\n\nThe priori ty on their next trip will be to conserve the tomb and restore its treasur e in order to reveal more of Padiamenope's secrets\, deepening our underst anding of this ancient civilization and its hieroglyphics.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\ n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250208 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Wildheart - the 500 year old scottish tree 02/08/2025 DTSTAMP:20250208T164853Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:189-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Wildheart - the 500 year old scottish tree 02/08/2025\n\n \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2841&\;typ e=status\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n WIldHeart on nature\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n My Thoughts\n\n\n\n Dippers are the only aquatic songbird in the world\, they live about Scotland and its oldest tree\, humans name Wildheart. enj oy\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Uniform Resource L ocator\n\n\n\n https://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/about-wildheart/28213/\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ♪♪ [ Suspenseful music pl ays\, birds chirping ] ♪♪ -Imagine a tree could tell a tale.\n\nImagin e you could peel back the layers of time... ...to see the amazing events t hat have played out around these ancient branches.\n\n♪♪ This is the s tory of a special Scots pine.\n\n[ Squeak ] [ Tender tune plays ] For 500 years\, it's stood firm here in Scotland's Wildheart... ...growing steadil y alongside generations of animals and people.\n\nThis is the story of Wil dheart.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Ancient\, weather-worn\, an d gnarled\, our Scots pine grows here\, near the heart of the Highlands.\n \nFor a tree of this species to live for five centuries is rare\, but Wild heart has stood guard here on the edge of the forest for all those years.\ n\n♪♪ Few living things spend longer on Earth than a tree and Wildhear t has stood steady here as many generations of animals and people have com e and gone.\n\n♪♪ Living through drought and deluge\, a testament of t he ages is written beneath the scales of its bark.\n\nAnd what a tale it h as to tell.\n\nOf the battles that nature has fought against the rising ti de of humanity and how the wild world has hung on in the face of so much p ressure.\n\n[ Cheeps ] ♪♪ [ Thunder rumbles ] ♪♪ Scots pines start ed spreading across these mountains at the end of the great Ice Age\, when vast herds of reindeer roamed the high tops and wolves still stalked the glens.\n\n[ Birds chirping ] But Wildheart's story begins on a cool misty morning in the middle of the 16th century.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ With seven bil lion fewer people walking the Earth\, nature still rules the planet in the se far-off days.\n\n♪♪ The great wood that the Romans named the Caledo nian Forest still covers vast tracts of the Highlands.\n\nIt's full of mys terious creatures.\n\n[ Suspenseful music plays ] [ Popping ] ♪♪ [ Ras ping ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Capercaillie.\n\nA bird that has an intimate relation ship with the Scots pine.\n\nThey live here\, breed here\, and even feed o n the tree's needles\, when other fruits and berries wither away.\n\n♪ ♪ Common and widespread in Scotland\, their stronghold is here\, in the vast pine forest.\n\n[ Rasping ] The male bird's bizarre popping call is s ummoning the females to the lek.\n\n[ Popping ] [ Popping ] [ Popping ] He re\, in a forest clearing\, they'll compete for the right to mate exclusiv ely with all the hen capercaillies.\n\n[ Pop ] [ Pop ] Weighing in at nine pounds\, this young bird is in superb condition.\n\n[ Popping ] [ Rasping ] [ Popping ] But an older male is up for the fight\, too.\n\n[ Pop ] [ P op ] [ Popping ] [ Rasping ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Rasping ] [ Popping ] [ Popping ] It's time to do battle.\n\n[ Rasping ] ♪♪ ♪♪ They're e venly matched.\n\nIt's simply a question of who gives way first.\n\n♪♪ The younger male is on the run\, handing victory to the dominant older bi rd.\n\n♪♪ Monarch of the glen\, he's retained mastery of the lek.\n\nA ll the females are his.\n\n[ Capercaillie calling ] As the sun rises\, oth er voices ring out across the clearing.\n\nThis is Mary\, Queen of Scotlan d.\n\n[ Mary giggling ] Crowned at just nine months old\, she's at the hea rt of a dynastic dispute as ferocious as the one between the capercaillies .\n\nA pawn in a diplomatic game\, the child is promised as a wife to the son of King Henry VIII of England.\n\n[ Mary giggles ] But the Scots have grown cold on the treaty\, and the child has been hidden away here in the care of her maid.\n\n♪♪ Innocent and happy games are a stark contrast to the turmoil that lies ahead for Mary.\n\n♪♪ In her play\, a cone is cast away.\n\n[ Mary giggles ] It's landed in the perfect spot\, clear of the other trees at the forest's edge.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ Two years on\, and the seed from Mary's cone has become a tiny tree.\n\n♪♪ The capercail lie lek has a new master now.\n\n♪♪ And the young queen has been sent away to France as the child consort of the king's son.\n\n♪♪ Mary's tr ee looks like a survivor.\n\nIts name is Wildheart\, a brave pioneer seemi ngly marching forward across the moor.\n\n♪♪ The open space has given it a head start\, and it's already avoided being devoured by hungry red de er\, mortal foes to Scots pine saplings.\n\nWildheart's animal neighbors a re getting busy.\n\nThe spring of 1549 looks like a fine one.\n\nAnd it's time to search for homes and mates.\n\nThe red squirrel is one of the Cale donian Forest's most dashing residents.\n\nThe aerial world here is full o f spaces to find food\, seek out mates\, and get the next generation on it s way.\n\nRed squirrels spend nearly 90% of their lives in the treetops\, and they're superbly adapted to climb and leap.\n\nWith double-jointed ank les and small\, sharp claws\, they can get up and down trees fast.\n\n[ Bi rd calling ] Early spring is a special time for red squirrels.\n\nAlready pregnant with kittens\, this female is looking for a comfortable nest site \, away from predators.\n\nBut this one is already taken.\n\nShe'll need t o keep searching.\n\nThree months on\, and Wildheart is still holding fast .\n\nA good inch has been added to each springy branch.\n\nThe next few ye ars will be make-or-break for the tree.\n\nA Scots pine can add a foot in height every year.\n\n♪♪ But it's not safe from the hungry deer quite yet.\n\n♪♪ The squirrel has been successful\, too.\n\nThere are kits i n the nest.\n\nNear Wildheart's slim trunk is a bank of spongy moss -- an ideal liner for the squirrel's drey.\n\n♪♪ It's just rather a challeng e to hold onto it all while you transport it to the very top of a pine tre e.\n\n♪♪ A fastidiously clean animal\, the red squirrel mother goes th rough this routine every couple of days.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ And she'l l be stuck with it for a while.\n\nIt'll be another couple of weeks before the kittens can emerge from the drey.\n\n♪♪ [ Thunder rumbles ] As th e 17th century begins\, the crowns of England and Scotland have united.\n\ nMary's son James now rules both kingdoms\, but the relationship remains u npredictable.\n\n♪♪ At 50 years old and 20 feet high\, Wildheart has n ow survived many seasons of the fickle Highland climate\, and the tree is now surrounded by a crowd of neighbors.\n\n♪♪ In the Highlands\, tempe ratures may drop below freezing even in late spring.\n\n♪♪ And snow ca n fall in any month of the year.\n\n♪♪ As the years roll by\, each gen eration of Wildheart's neighbors take their chances against this backgroun d of ever-changing weather.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ Crested tits may be small\, b ut they're the toughest of all the birds living in Wildheart's neighborhoo d.\n\n[ Bird calling ] ♪♪ ♪♪ A true specialist\, crested tits only live in this forest.\n\n♪♪ Even in the 17th century\, they're not fou nd anywhere else in the British Isles.\n\nThe harshest of winters can't de ter crested tits.\n\n♪♪ Like the red squirrel\, they're able to seek o ut caches of food beneath the soft snow\, seeds shed from Wildheart's cone s that will never grow and thrive.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ Wildheart continues to flourish.\n\nA Scots pine can thrive no matter how fickle the climate\, c hanging shape and angle as the years pass.\n\nAs 1650 draws to a close\, o ur tree is more than 100 years old... and 80 feet high.\n\n♪♪ Maturity brings a wider trunk\, and the bark is thickening\, branches spread\, and the pine needles are safely out of reach of the grazing deer.\n\n♪♪ T his tree produces both male and female flowers\, which means it can pollin ate itself\, creating the seed-rich cones which will keep the forest alive .\n\n♪♪ As long they don't fall victim to yet another generation of hu ngry red squirrels.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Thunder rumbling ] The end o f the 17th century brings political turbulence.\n\nCivil war racks the Bri tish Isles\, and English lords have replaced Mary's great-grandson James I I with Dutch-born William of Orange.\n\nBut in the Highlands\, there are s ome who still fight to restore a Scots king.\n\n♪♪ The Jacobites.\ n\n♪♪ These two\, Donald MacGregor and his son Rob Roy\, know the Cale donian Forest intimately.\n\n♪♪ Using guerrilla tactics\, it's easy fo r Highlanders to outwit the English Redcoats.\n\nEspecially when the enemy soldier is lost and alone.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ [ Donald grunts ] [ Soldier g runts ] A quick victory.\n\nBut Rob's future won't be so easy.\n\nForced i nto the life of an outlaw\, he'll live on the edges of society till the en d of his days.\n\nBut the Caledonian Forest will always be his home.\n\nHi s knowledge of this living place and its bubbling waterways will keep him safe.\n\nThe Dee is one of Scotland's longest arterial rivers\, an importa nt thoroughfare for Highlanders both human and animal alike.\n\nThe river is an important partner for the forest.\n\nEach keeps the other healthy.\n \nWater replenishes and nourishes the trees\, but the forest feeds the riv er with nutrients from fallen leaves and branches.\n\nOn a tributary downs tream\, a special pair of Highland birds are busy servicing their nest ben eath a waterfall.\n\nThey're dippers -- true specialists here.\n\nThe only aquatic songbird in the world\, they're able to dive beneath the surface to harvest insect larvae and tiny fish for their well-grown young.\n\nBut like the Highlanders\, they live a precarious life.\n\n[ Thunder rumbling ] The brood of chicks is ready to fledge\, but an unseasonal downpour is t ransforming the benign river into a raging torrent.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ The p arents need to coax the chicks out of the nest as quickly as possible.\n\n ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Delaying their fledging even by a few minutes could see the youngsters swept away by the torrent.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ The c hicks need to leave the nest now\, but they've never flown before and have to navigate the slippery rocks while avoiding the raging river.\n\n♪♪ The parents offer tasty morsels to draw them out of the nest.\n\n ♪♪ ♪♪ The winds whip through Wildheart's forest.\n\n♪♪ Lives a re at risk across the Highlands.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ The river still rises.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ But the dipper chicks are all out an d safe.\n\n[ Birds calling ] The unseasonal storm has swept across the who le forest\, and several of Wildheart's neighbors have been felled by the w ind.\n\nSuddenly there is space around Wildheart once more.\n\nFallen tree s and branches are also a valuable home for some.\n\nMeet the timberman.\n \nScotland's longest beetle.\n\n♪♪ He's just emerged into the spring s unlight after spending four years in his larval stage beneath the surface of Wildheart's scaly bark.\n\n♪♪ The spectacular antennae will help hi m locate a mate.\n\nAnd he needs to do it quickly.\n\nHis adult lifespan w ill be only a third of the time he spent beneath the bark as a grub.\n \n♪♪ Four feet beneath him\, the forest floor is dominated by a fortre ss.\n\nA fortress built by ants.\n\nThese mounds grow across generations\, and this one was already established when Mary cast her cone away and Wil dheart's journey began.\n\nWood ants are a keystone species here\, traveli ng through all three dimensions of the forest to capture insects which are moved back to the mound to nurture the colony.\n\nWood ants also farm aph ids high in the pines' branches.\n\nA gentle stroke from a farmer ant prod uces sticky and nourishing honeydew.\n\nAnd in return for the sugary milk\ , the aphids buy protection from their wood ant guards.\n\nAs the fallen t rees decay and collapse\, they provide dens for Wildheart's predator neigh bors.\n\nPine martens are one of the forest's most efficient predators.\n\ nNow at the beginning of the 18th century\, their population is thousands strong.\n\nWherever there are Scots pines\, there are pine martens.\n\nRed squirrels are an important prey animal\, but it will be quite a while bef ore these three young kits are up to catching one.\n\nFor now\, their live s are about scratching behind bark to find bugs and beetles.\n\n[ Marten s creeches ] ♪♪ ♪♪ The world around Wildheart is complex and diverse .\n\nHome to 172 insect species... 200 fungi species... and a rich array o f birds and mammals\, each part complements the other.\n\n♪♪ But this world is about to come under attack.\n\n♪♪ As the Jacobite revolts of the 18th century are suppressed\, the people of the Highlands face a catac lysmic change.\n\n♪♪ Farming and land use is going through a revolutio n of its own.\n\nLandlords are changing the ways farms are run\, creating larger and larger open spaces.\n\n♪♪ The rights of clan members to far m their own small crofts are removed\, and whole communities are being for ced out\, to work on the coast or even encouraged to emigrate to new lives in North America or Australia.\n\n♪♪ The great Caledonian Forest stan ds in the way of these new systems of farming.\n\n♪♪ And by the early 19th century\, Wildheart's forest has been reduced by 85%.\n\n♪♪ ♪ ♪ It's a still\, cool morning in April\, and the forest stands shrouded in mist.\n\n♪♪ Wildheart is now one of the largest trees in the forest .\n\nIt has the strongest and thickest trunk here.\n\nThe cold snap hasn't been enough to deter the black grouse from lekking at the forest's edge.\ n\n[ Grouse calling ] [ Grouse screeches ] Like their larger relatives the capercaillies\, male black grouse display and skirmish in a series of imp ressive dawn battles.\n\n[ Grouse screeching ] It's all about holding onto the best patch\, and the females will choose the male with the most impre ssive dueling skills.\n\n[ Grouse screeching ] As spring turns to summer\, Wildheart gains new tenants.\n\n♪♪ [ Eagle calling ] ♪♪ By July\, a pair of young golden eagles are sitting on a platform of branches and t wigs.\n\nIt's a tribute to the resilience and strength of Wildheart that t he eagles have chosen to build here.\n\n♪♪ It's more usual for golden eagles to choose craggy mountaintops for their homes\, but they feel secur e and confident in the branches.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ And once built\, an eagl e nest can last for many years.\n\n♪♪ The chicks are 8 weeks old and g rowing fast.\n\nBoth parents hunt\, seeking out hares on the bare mountain sides that are just a couple of wingbeats from Wildheart'S ever-shrinking forest.\n\nThey're still a month away from fledging.\n\nBut other youngste rs face change even more imminently.\n\n♪♪ This 10-year-old boy has a date with destiny.\n\nHe's come here to bid farewell to the lochs\, forest s\, and mountains he's known all his life before emigrating with his famil y to America.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ His name is John Muir\, and since he could walk\, nature has been his inspiration.\n\n♪♪ Recording all his though ts and feelings through words and pictures\, his ideas will shape the way that humanity views not just the forest but the wildlife of the entire wor ld\, eventually giving rise to the idea of protecting nature through Natio nal Parks.\n\n♪♪ A month later\, and the two golden eagle chicks are c lose to fledging.\n\nOne is considerably larger than the other\, and the n est is now littered with bones and debris.\n\n[ Flies buzzing ] Soon they will follow their parents into the Highland skies and leave Wildheart's fo rest behind.\n\n♪♪ Young John Muir has also departed.\n\nHe's now a th ousand miles away\, on a schooner bound for a new life in America.\n\n ♪♪ In his new home\, he'll exchange the Scots pines of the Highlands f or the giant redwoods of California.\n\nBut he hasn't forgotten the Caledo nian Forest... and he never will.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ As the 19 century draws to a close\, Wildheart is now a grand old survivor.\n\nMore than 350 year s old\, the tree is one of the oldest in the forest.\n\nBut it's very much on the front line.\n\nThe pine forest's resources are being used for indu stry and war.\n\nIts frontiers have been pushed back by sheep farms and sh ooting estates.\n\n♪♪ The great Caledonian Forest is now a tiny fracti on of what it once was.\n\n♪♪ Less than 5% of what once stood here is left... and the forest is now spilt into 35 fragments\, islands of diversi ty among the bleak\, bare mountains.\n\n♪♪ The beaver\, wolf\, lynx\, and osprey are gone.\n\n♪♪ But some creatures still return here every year... ...animals who have the Highlands at the very heart of their life cycle -- Atlantic salmon.\n\n♪♪ If the natural world has a symbol for surviving in the face of impossible odds\, that totemic animal would surel y be the salmon.\n\n♪♪ Highland salmon travel into the rivers from the ir ocean home after one to four years of feeding in the cold saltwaters of f Greenland and the Faroes.\n\n[ Sea birds calling ] Dolphins wait to ambu sh them in Highland estuaries as they enter river systems... ...tossing an d turning the unfortunate fish into the ideal swallowing position.\n\n ♪♪ The surviving fish power onwards towards distant spawning grounds a mong the forest fragments.\n\n♪♪ But more barriers lie in their wa y.\n\n♪♪ The fish are resolute in their desire to move on.\n\nTheir bo dies are equipped with powerful muscles that spring them across the most c hallenging waterfalls.\n\n♪♪ They will never give up.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ Finally\, back in the streams where they themselves hatched\, the salmon spawn before their lives end.\n\n♪♪ But their bodies are carried back to nurture the living forest.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ As Wildheart lives through the first half of the 20th century\, the forest is at its lowest point.\n\ n♪♪ But things are changing.\n\n♪♪ Across the far Atlantic\, young John Muir has grown to inspire a new vision of the natural world.\n\nHis ideas have inspired a network of American National Parks\, places where th e natural world nurtures\, revitalizes\, and complements humanity.\n\n ♪♪ Places where rare species can recover.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ It's a mild sunny day in March.\n\nWildheart still stands at the edge of her forest.. . ...new saplings fighting to earn their place around the base of her gnar led trunk.\n\nSomething special is about to happen -- the return of a trav eler who hasn't been seen here in many decades.\n\n[ Bird calling ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ It's an osprey\, a specialist hunter that has come to reclaim this patch of forest and river.\n\n♪♪ Although ospreys have been missing from Wildheart's forest since the turn of the century\, cond itions are still good for them here.\n\n♪♪ Lochs and rivers still have a healthy population of trout\, an osprey's favorite quarry.\ n\n♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ This expert fisherman has a superb technique.\ n\n♪♪ But not every dive produces a catch.\n\nThree out of four strike s is unsuccessful.\n\n♪♪ Despite the osprey's superior eyesight and a dive speed of 80 miles an hour\, a trout can easily evade the hunter's tal ons.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ A successful strike.\n\nBut the fish isn't beate n yet.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ The hunter's inward-curving claws and adhesive sca les on the inside of its feet grip the fish tightly.\n\n♪♪ But it's tr ying to swim down\, pulling the osprey with it.\n\nPredator and prey are c lose in weight.\n\nLifting off from the water will need a titanic effort.\ n\n♪♪ ♪♪ Summoning every last drop of resolve\, the osprey uses th e power of its long and broad wings to lift the trout from the surface.\n\ n♪♪ A perfect prize for a mate.\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ Not far away is the o sprey's nest\, the first to be built in Wildheart's forest in half a centu ry.\n\n♪♪ But this nesting attempt will not succeed.\n\n♪♪ Illegal egg collecting is still a popular activity in Great Britain.\n\n♪♪ Os preys will need help to colonize Wildheart's forest.\n\n♪♪ [ Footsteps approach ] By the late 1950s\, a new breed of wildlife warrior has emerge d.\n\nThis is Roy Dennis... a young English ornithologist with a passion f or Scottish ospreys.\n\nHe has a job as the warden protecting the only bre eding pair of ospreys in the British Isles.\n\nEndlessly vigilant\, he's d etermined to give the ospreys the best possible chance of success.\n\nThat means trimming low branches from trees that could give egg collectors acc ess to the canopy and organizing volunteer patrols.\n\nBut\, above all\, w atching and waiting day and night... ...until finally\, in the summer\, th e ospreys succeed.\n\n[ Ospreys calling ] ♪♪ ♪♪ And the first chic ks fledged in Scotland in the 20th century take to the skies.\ n\n♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ But what of Wildheart and her kin?\n\nCan the Scot tish forest also return from the edge?\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ The tree st ands alone and in the open now.\n\nAt 480 years of age\, Wildheart is near ly as old as a Scots pine can be.\n\nIts life will be over soon.\n\nAnd wh at times it has born witness to.\n\nTimes in which humanity has pushed the planet into a dangerous place.\n\nTimes in which so many species have van ished from the forest.\n\nBut things are changing.\n\n♪♪ And now in th e 21st century\, there's a new sense of awareness that people can and must do something.\n\n♪♪ In the last 20 years\, organizations like the Joh n Muir Trust have planted more than a million successors to Wildheart.\n\n ♪♪ Although the ancient tree itself may be closer to the end\, the chi ldren of the 21st century are not prepared to let her kind die.\n\n♪♪ For the sake of Scotland and to safeguard the future for us all\, Wildhear t's descendants are marching forward across the hill.\n\n♪♪ The Caledo nian Forest will rise again.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250208 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:New York prohibits Slavery JUNETEENTH DAY DTSTAMP:20250205T132425Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:183-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Black New Yorkers \, your state prohibited slavery on thi s day The 13th Amendment\, which prohibits slavery\, was proposed on Janua ry 31\, 1865. New York is the 5th state to pass the law on Feb 3\, 1865.\n \n\n\n Juneteenth occured in December 18th [ 13th Amendment Certified JUN ETEENTH - RMCommunityCalendar - African American Literature Book Club ] \ n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02072026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATION\n\n\n\n https:// aalbc.com/tc/topic/12436-new-york-prohibits-slavery-juneteenth-day/#findCo mment-80012\n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n does anyone ho nor that moment in the state you lived in? in truth\, that was when the la w was adopted in the state you live in. \n\n\n\n I imagine not of any of the six states on that date\, because it makes sense with black history.  \n\n\n\n Black DOSers gained a federalist heritage in the jim crow eras \, because the shift between enslavement era[1492 to 1865] to jim crow era [ 1865 to 1980] meant the federal government through the amendment process\, which is the most powerful plus the least used plus the most required in governing skill governing tool in the usa \, had made it where black DOSer s could no longer be deemed not citizens\, so for the white majorities in each state\, the only way to maintain financial domination was to use stat e government\, which under the constitution is free to be different than t he federal government as long as an elected affair \, to create an anti bl ack holistic bureaucracy in each state in the usa commonly called Jim Crow . \n\n\n\n I argue the whites of the confederate states: texas to virgini a\, gained a states rights heritage in the same jim crow era. \n\n\n\n Bu t gardless to the historical guides\, do you think said date should be hon ored more by Black DOSers\, even with its variance in each state in the un ion?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 2/6/2026 at 1:23 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n 13th amendment was ratified on 3 Feb 1865 in the state where I live.\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n 02072026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc. com/tc/topic/12436-new-york-prohibits-slavery-juneteenth-day/#findComment- 80029\n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, P rofD said:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I'm fine with Juneteenth being the celebrat ion date among FBA/AfroAmericans.\n\n\n\n I apologize\, I did not meant to suggest the 13th amendment dates as a replacement for juneteenth\, rather an addition.\n\n\n\n Juneteenth in my mind is a federal \, encompassing a ll the states\, event. It isn't about when any one state made slavery ille gal outside prisons\, but celebrating the illegality of enslavement at the federal level above the states. \n\n\n\n I restate my old question\n\n\n \n do you think the amendment adoption date for each state should be honor ed in each state alongside the federal level juneteenth? \n\n\n\n I assum e based on your reply no\, but then the question is why? \n\n\n\n Simply want the juneteenth to be as it is unchanges? \n\n\n\n Don't like the ide a of a state based celebration?\n\n\n\n or other?\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250203 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:King Arthur Truth from Secrets Of The Dead 02/07/2025 DTSTAMP:20250207T161009Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:187-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n King Arthur Truth from Secrets Of The Dead 02/07/2025\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2838&\;type=st atus\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n King Arthur's Lost Kingdom from Secrets o f the Dead\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n So the angles+ saxons were scandanavian far mers who intermated with the peoples of the british isles  focusing on tr ade to denmark to germany\, focused to the east[modern day southern/easter n central england]\, then in the west[modern day wales\, western england] the people of the british isles traded with the mediterranean\, the sea la nes from the eastern meditteranean through the Jabal Tariq.north around th e coast to tintagel. Which i realize now is like AL hambra in Spain\, the last viestiges of a militaristically+financially powerful region that exis t foreignly to its neighbors/\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Uniform Reso urce Locator\n\n https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/king-arthurs-lost-kingdo m-king-arthurs-lost-kingdom-about-the-film/4069/\n\n\n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n -In the rich recorded history of Great Britain\, one period i s shrouded in mystery and clouded by myth.\n\n \n\nAfter an occupation las ting nearly 400 years\, in 410 AD\, the Roman army abandoned the island.\n \n \n\nHistory holds that Britain then plunged into two centuries of turmo il and violence... known as the Dark Ages.\n\n \n\nLegends tell of a great leader who unites the lawless land to fight off an invading horde -- King Arthur.\n\n \n\nBut how much truth is there to the story?\n\n \n\n♪♪ Now\, new archaeological discoveries are rewriting this chapter in Britain 's history.\n\n \n\n-It's really clear!\n\n \n\n-With exclusive access to unprecedented new finds... -When you look at their bones\, you find a very \, very low incidence of weapon injury\, sword cuts.\n\n \n\n-...and using groundbreaking science... -It was one of those total wow moments.\n\n \n\ n-...Professor Alice Roberts pieces together the real story... -It's just absolutely phenomenal.\n\n \n\nWe've got continuous occupation all along t his strip which is immense.\n\n \n\n-...to reveal how 5th and 6th century Britain was anything but dark.\n\n \n\n-We're not looking at an abandoned landscape of desperate poverty.\n\n \n\n-It's not necessarily the truth.\n \n \n\n-It's about as far removed from history as you can get.\n\n \n\n-Mo dern archaeology could finally uncover the true story of King Arthur's Los t Kingdom.\n\n \n\n♪♪ ♪♪ -In 410 AD\, Britain suffered a political catastrophe.\n\n \n\nThe Roman Empire that covered most of Western Europe had become over-stretched\, weakened by infighting and external attacks.\ n\n \n\nAfter 400 years of prosperity\, the Roman aristocracy\, troops and bureaucrats left the island.\n\n \n\n♪♪ -Dies tenebrosa sicut nox.\n\ n \n\nIt's a brilliant\, evocative way of saying \"Welcome to the Dark Age s.\"\n\n \n\n-The common belief is that the Roman departure had a devastat ing impact across Britain.\n\n \n\nWithout Roman authority\, society colla pses.\n\n \n\nThe roads and towns fall into ruin.\n\n \n\nCivilization cru mbles.\n\n \n\nThe era after Roman rule became known as the Dark Ages.\n\n \n\nBut the truth is\, almost nothing is known about what life was really like.\n\n \n\n-For the period 400 to 600 -- that's 200 years\, that's 8\, 10 generations -- we know the names of... you can kind of count them on t wo hands.\n\n \n\nFor the whole of the period 400 to 600\, in the British Isles we have 2 or 3 people whose writing we have fragments of.\n\n \n\n-I n the absence of recorded history\, stories about one powerful leader beca me popular -- The great King Arthur.\n\n \n\nBut what truth\, if any\, lie s behind the legend?\n\n \n\nWhat was 5th-century Britain really like?\n\n \n\nProfessor Alice Roberts\, an expert in archaeology and human remains\ , wants to separate fact from fiction using scientific discoveries- and fi nd out what really happened at this pivotal moment in history.\n\n \n\ n♪♪ Her journey to uncover the truth about King Arthur's Britain begin s at the British Library in London.\n\n \n\nShe's meeting Julian Harrison\ , the Curator of Medieval Manuscripts.\n\n \n\n-So this is Geoffrey.\n\n \ n\n-Here we have one of the earliest copies of Geoffrey of Monmouth's \"Hi story of the Kings of Britain.\"\n\n \n\n-It's a copy of a 12th-century be stseller.\n\n \n\nThe writing on the animal-skin parchment is still crysta l clear.\n\n \n\n-The script is so beautiful.\n\n \n\nIt's so regular.\n\n \n\nThat's fantastic.\n\n \n\n-900 years ago\, a Welsh monk\, Geoffrey of Monmouth\, wrote his own account of the history of Britain.\n\n \n\nHis c hronicle told of a King Arthur who ruled 600 years before Geoffrey's time. \n\n \n\n-Here we are.\n\n \n\nHere's the page I want to show you.\n\n \n\ n-Geoffrey's manuscript is in Latin\, the written language of medieval Bri tain.\n\n \n\n-I can recognize the odd word here.\n\n \n\nI can see concep t and then \"eadem nocte.\"\n\n \n\n-\" Eadem nocte.\"\n\n \n\nSo\, this t ells you that on this night\, \"eadem nocte\,\" was conceived\, celebrated \, King Arthur\, \"Arturus\,\" \"Arturum.\"\n\n \n\n-According to Geoffrey \, the mythical king has a rather bizarre conception.\n\n \n\nArthur's fat her asked the wizard Merlin to cast a spell to disguise him as the Duke of Cornwall\, so he could seduce the Duke's wife.\n\n \n\n-He's in the appea rance of her husband and he satisfies himself\, and as a result on that pa rticular night\, on that particular occasion Arthur was conceived.\n\n \n\ n-That moment as those words appear on the page\, that's the beginning of King Arthur as we know him.\n\n \n\n♪♪ -A remote rocky outcrop called Tintagel in the far west of Britain is where Arthur's story begins.\n\n \n \n-It's in the top line there.\n\n \n\n-That looks like \"dece\" to me.\n\ n \n\n-It says \"dei\" and then there's a new word.\n\n \n\n-Tin-ta-gol.\n \n \n\n-\"Tintagol.\"\n\n \n\nExactly.\n\n \n\n-Is this the first associat ion of Tintagel as a place with Arthur?\n\n \n\n-It is indeed.\n\n \n\n-Pa cked with sex and violence\, Geoffrey's account unfolds like a modern-day action movie.\n\n \n\n-It's full of excitement\, it's full of horror\, it' s full of lots of things that an audience would love.\n\n \n\n-And eager t o please his Christian audience\, Geoffrey came up with the perfect bad gu ys.\n\n \n\nWith the Romans gone\, the ancient Britons are vulnerable to a ttack.\n\n \n\nIn Geoffrey's retelling\, pagan tribes known as the Angles and the Saxons swarm in from modern-day Holland\, Germany and Denmark.\n\n \nTheir armies invade the east coast of Great Britain\, destroying everyt hing in their path.\n \n-I suppose he gives us this idea today that the Ro mans abandoned Britain to its fate and when the Romans go it is just chaos .\n \nThere's plagues\, there's civil war\, there's the Saxons just slaugh tering everybody.\n \nSo it's real blood and thunder stuff.\n \n-But accor ding to Geoffrey\, Arthur comes out of the West\, unites the Britons\, and leads the counter attack.\n \nThe result is a split country.\n \nEmbattle d Britons in the west and in the east\, new Angle and Saxon hordes\, that later historians combine into a single entity -- the Anglo-Saxons.\n \nThi s is King Arthur's Britain.\n \n-In his account to simplify it\, yes\, you get\, you get this sense of the Britons are the ones who are defending ev erything that is right and good.\n \nYou get this sort of frontier line be tween these two constantly warring factions.\n \nIt is \"us against them.\ "\n \nIt is Britons against the Anglo-Saxons.\n \nThe Anglo-Saxons are the forces of evil that need to be destroyed.\n \nBritons and Saxons are kill ing one another\, and that's Arthur's world\, that is where he existed.\n \n-Here it talks about his sword\, \"g ladio optimo.\"\n \n-The best sword .\n \n-And that was called Caliburno.\n \n-Caliburn-- Is that Excalibur?\n \n-This is Excalibur.\n \n-Yes!\n \n-But in the original it was called Ca liburn.\n \n-Arthur's sword is a weapon of mass destruction.\n \n-It tells you that with Caliburn alone\, Arthur killed some 470 men single-handedly .\n \nHe went berserk\, essentially.\n \n-470 victims in a single rush.\n \nI mean that is -- it's too extraordinary to believe\, obviously.\n \nI m ean\, he's being portrayed here as... -He's a superhero essentially.\n \n- Yeah\, yeah.\n \n-Geoffrey's book is the first reference to a King Arthur that we have.\n \nEarlier accounts written closer to the Dark Ages don't m ention a king named Arthur\, but they do describe a violent invasion.\n \n The earliest description was written by a monk named Gildas.\n \nA few fra gments of his text are still legible.\n \n-He's writing in the 6th century .\n \nAnd he isn't writing so much a work of history.\n \nIt's more a pole mical text\, criticizing the Britons and blaming their evil ways\, their b ad ways of living with that's why they were conquered by the Saxons.\n \nT his is one of the few passages we can still read now but he talks about th e -- like ravishing wolves.\n \nThe Saxons are loopy.\n \n-Loopy yeah.\n \ n-They are obviously destroying.\n \nIn Gildas' terminology\, they are des troying everything in their wake.\n \n-So\, again this is a\, this is an i nvading force.\n \nThis is the arrival of the enemy essentially.\n \n-Prec isely.\n \n-And the difficulty with these kind of accounts I think is that \, is that you're almost getting a single view of how this happened.\n \n- Both Geoffrey and Gildas's histories are highly subjective\, making it dif ficult to take them at face value.\n \nThey can't be trusted as fact\, but they have given Professor Roberts something specific to investigate.\n \n They both describe a massive invasion from the east and the native Britons resisting in the west.\n \nAnd the archaeological evidence supports this idea -- Anglo-Saxon artifacts have primarily been found in eastern Britain .\n \nIf great wars were fought\, evidence of mass slaughter and conflict should lie along this frontier line of their supposed occupation.\n \nArch aeologist Dominic Powlesland has been flying\, digging and mapping a vast area on the eastern side of this imagined border\, near the village of Wes t Heslerton in Yorkshire.\n \n-Clear prop.\n \nOkay\, ready Dominic?\n \n- Yeah\, I'm ready.\n \n-Right\, hold on tight here we go.\n \nGolf-Romeo-Ro meo rolling.\n \n-Will Dominic's research confirm the written accounts of a full-scale foreign invasion?\n \n-These fields underneath us are entirel y filled with archaeology.\n \nThere's archaeology in every single one.\n \n-Dominic uses modern technology to map every single artifact relating to the Anglo-Saxons found over 25 square miles of what is today farmland.\n \nIt's taken an army of volunteers 40 years to complete their survey.\n \n -We've surveyed all these fields.\n \n-Roberts is here to find out what th e hard work reveals about life on the alleged frontier of King Arthur's Br itain.\n \nKey to the process is geophysical surveying -- a technique that uses ground-penetrating radar to map traces of ancient structures.\n \n-S o\, every single spot here is a feature?\n \n-Yeah.\n \nSo\, all those dot s are individual features.\n \nYou can zoom in to this area here.\n \n-Cli ck on that we get all the finds information.\n \n-Oh\, wow!\n \n-That's th e plan\, this is the distribution of finds within it.\n \n-It just goes on and on!\n \nYou've got thousands of finds coming out of every single one of these features\, and hundreds of these features.\n \nI mean\, that's a phenomenal amount of data.\n \n-Yeah.\n \nAbout a million finds altogether .\n \n-What Dominic has found is extraordinary.\n \nBut even more amazing is what he hasn't found.\n \nThere are no mass graves of defeated warriors .\n \nNo signs of battle or conquest... anywhere.\n \nThere is no evidence here for mass slaughter of local Britons by violent Angle and Saxon tribe s.\n \n-I have never seen any evidence of an invasion.\n \n♪♪ -And the Anglo-Saxon skeletons show few signs of violence.\n \n-Once you start kil ling people in large numbers they leave themselves lying around\, you can' t avoid them.\n \nSo\, we don't see lots of Anglo-Saxons with massive inju ries.\n \n-When you look at their bones you find a very\, very low inciden ce of weapon injuries\, sword cuts.\n \nThis is a society that is playing with the idea of a military world\, but doesn't actually seem to be engagi ng with physical conflict to a huge degree.\n \n-And the findings here are backed up elsewhere.\n \n-Here's a very\, very good piece of science -- o f all the dead bodies dug up that may belong to the period 400 to 600 -- a nd we have thousands of them -- men and women\, children\, old people\, yo ung people.\n \nBut of all those thousands of bodies\, if you ask the numb er of those bodies that have sharp-edge weapon injuries\, it's less than t wo percent.\n \nWhere do battles fit into that?\n \n-The archaeology makes it very clear -- there was no large-scale conflict.\n \nIt's a stark depa rture from Geoffrey and Gildas's written accounts -- the idea of native Br itons fighting the invading Angles and Saxons doesn't reflect what's being found on the ground.\n \nInstead\, the archaeology reveals exactly what t he Angles and Saxons who came to Britain were doing.\n \nDominic has pulle d together all the data in what he calls The Wallpaper.\n \n-It's just phe nomenal because all of that work comes together to give you a picture of a landscape which is so densely settled.\n \n-Yeah.\n \n-The Anglo-Saxons w eren't blood-thirsty warriors.\n \nThey were farmers.\n \n-We've got settl ements here.\n \nThere's one here.\n \nThere's one here.\n \nThere\, of co urse there's this large one at West Heslerton.\n \nWe've identified 14\, p robably now 15 settlements.\n \n-Anglo-Saxon buildings dominated the lands cape.\n \nThe settlers imported their traditional\, northern European buil ding style.\n \nStructures were built in wood with thatch roofs -- a style known as Grubenhauser.\n \n-So\, these blobs here are the Grubenhauser.\n \n-All of these little blobs?\n \n-You see big houses there\, big houses here\, and lots of these Grubenhauser.\n \nYou will also see this hamlet h ere\, a hamlet there\, a load of buildings there\, a load here.\n \nYou se e -- it's all joined up.\n \nThere's stuff everywhere.\n \n-In the Anglo-S axon period\, this area was densely settled -- hundreds of buildings in mo re than a dozen separate communities.\n \n♪♪ -Roger Lima.\n \nStandby to land.\n \n-I think that might be Alice down there.\n \n-Dominic's metic ulous research tells a very different story from the common understanding of a violent invasion.\n \n♪♪ -Bit of a bumpy landing there.\n \n-That 's okay.\n \n-Are you all right?\n \n-Yeah\, I'm fine.\n \n-The picture th at's emerging in the east is of a peaceful society\, not a violent one.\n \nBut what about in the west?\n \nWill archaeologists find any evidence of either violent conflict or a legendary king on this side of Britons' Dark Age Divide?\n \nProfessor Roberts has access to a new excavation on the f ar west coast of Britain.\n \n♪♪ -And it's at Tintagel\, the very site where\, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth\, Arthur is supposed to have be en conceived.\n \n♪♪ ♪♪ A major archaeological dig is underway her e\, on a part of the island that has never been excavated before.\n \n ♪♪ Archaeologist Win Scutt is the site's curator.\n \n-So\, Win\, intr oduce me to Tintagel from the air then.\n \nWhat are we looking at?\n \n-W ell\, it's fantastic\, you can already see one of the rectangular building s that dates to the 5th\, 6th Century.\n \n-So\, this is the period you're specifically interested in here.\n \n-Absolutely\, yes.\n \n-In contrast to the wood and thatch buildings in the east\, there were more than 100 st one buildings here.\n \n-Is that more?\n \n-Some more over there\, absolut ely.\n \nIt's a settlement of hundreds of people.\n \n-These simple dwelli ngs were first excavated more than 80 years ago.\n \nBut in the summer of 2017\, a much grander complex was discovered.\n \n-We're excavating behind these cliffs on -- these are the Southern cliffs and there we are\, it's coming into view.\n \n-Oh\, there are the trenches.\n \n-There are the tre nches.\n \nFantastic\, yes.\n \n-And they're at work.\n \nWe can spy on th em.\n \nThat's brilliant.\n \n-Really exciting.\n \n-With only five weeks to dig\, the archaeologists rush to gather all the evidence needed to crea te a detailed portrait of life in the 5th century.\n \nAlice joins site di rector Jacky Novakowski to understand the significance of the new excavati on.\n \n-Once we started taking off the turf\, the stone walls started to appear quite quickly.\n \nSo\, it's been buried over 1\,400 years ago and now we are uncovering it for the first time.\n \n-They look very different to me\, to the remains of the buildings that I have seen on the eastern s ide\, which again are fifth\, sixth century but much smaller stones and mu ch thinner walls.\n \n-They're completely different in terms of build char acter and the amount of sheer investment that has gone into their build.\n \nI mean\, they are substantial.\n \n-Well-built walls\, aren't they?\n \ n-Yeah\, they're extraordinary.\n \nThey are over a meter wide\, and you c an see that they are made of large blocks of slate.\n \nVery blocky materi al and you've got them laid horizontally forming a really nice coursed wal l.\n \n-These buildings were built to impress\, I think.\n \nAnd they're p art of this larger complex of other buildings that go off in that directio n\, and in that direction\, so you can see we've got our work cut out.\n \ n-The team's findings will be used to create a 3D model of this apparent 5 th-century citadel... bringing Tintagel out of the Dark Ages and back to l ife.\n \nThe buildings occupy a natural terrace with a stunning vista.\n \ nTheir prominent position\, substantial size and thick walls indicate a gr eat deal of time and effort was taken in their construction.\n \nThere are strong hints that whoever lived here was someone important.\n \nThese peo ple weren't farmers like in the east of Britain.\n \n-They do look like th ey're high status.\n \nThis isn't people eking out an existence up here on top of Tintagel.\n \nThis is people living well.\n \n-This is people livi ng very well\, I think.\n \nA lot more care has gone into the construction of these buildings.\n \nWe're working on the idea that these buildings ar e probably residences\, high-status residences.\n \nIt's all got the feel of an extraordinary large settlement.\n \nWhich is maybe the place where t he most powerful person who is living in this area was resident at the tim e.\n \n-A powerful Dark Ages leader perhaps\, but it's still a huge leap t o say that it could be King Arthur.\n \nIn fact\, no one has ever found an y proof of the legendary leader's existence\, let alone whether he lived a t Tintagel.\n \nJust like in the east\, the team is unearthing evidence of a peaceful lifestyle.\n \nBut it's a much\, much more extravagant one.\n \n-That's a good piece.\n \n-Ah\, nice.\n \nThat is a nice high-quality pi ece of tableware I'd guess.\n \nThere's a rim on the bottom.\n \nThat's sa t on the table.\n \nBeautiful.\n \n-We've been finding a lot of the fine t ablewares.\n \nAnd even some of the dinner plates\, and the storage vessel s containing the wine and olive oil are being broken and just discarded ar ound here.\n \n-Whoever lived here was rich.\n \nThis is the biggest hoard of this type of high-value pottery dating from the Dark Ages that's ever been found in Britain.\n \n-That is really beautiful.\n \n-And there are e ven pieces of fine glassware for drinking wine.\n \n♪♪ The artifacts b eing unearthed at Tintagel are completely different from the Anglo-Saxon o nes found all over the eastern side of the country.\n \nIn this sense at l east\, the archaeological evidence and historical accounts are matching up .\n \n5th-century Britain does seem to be a very divided country.\n \nBut divided by culture\, not violence.\n \nBut what happened to the Britons in the eastern half of the country if the Saxons and Angles did not invade o r conquer?\n \nIn the last decade\, more than 100 skeletons have been unea rthed in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in the eastern half of Britain.\n \nAnd w ith them\, some important new clues.\n \n♪♪ The remains of one of the female skeletons give Professor Roberts a better understanding of everyday 5th-century life.\n \n-My first impressions looking at this skeleton is t hat this is somebody who was quite gracile\, quite slightly built.\n \nI'm looking at these teeth really carefully.\n \nIf I look at the molars\, sh e's quite clearly a young woman.\n \nThe third molar\, the wisdom tooth\, comes through 18 to 21 years\, and there's just a little bit of wear on th at\, But then if you look at the front teeth it's completely different.\n \nThe enamel has been completely worn away and they're flat on the surface .\n \nSo that suggests she's doing something with her front teeth\, which isn't just about food processing.\n \nSo perhaps using her teeth as a tool \, maybe leather working.\n \nDefinite use of the teeth just there.\n \n-A fascinating glimpse of life and work in the Dark Ages.\n \nBut it's the o bjects found with her and other skeletons that provide fresh insight.\n \n Alice meets lead investigator Duncan Sayer.\n \n-So\, we've got an adult i n the middle with two brooches on her shoulder and a load of amber beads.\ n \nAnd next to her is an adolescent.\n \nAnd we have a child.\n \n-Yes\, a small child.\n \n-Small child\, yeah.\n \n-It makes you wonder happened\ , how they ended up in the same grave.\n \n-Well\, it does doesn't it?\n \ nWe've got round brooches and we've got long brooches\, we've got crucifor m brooches.\n \nWe've got all the works really.\n \n-All what you'd expect from an Anglo-Saxon cemetery.\n \nNo surprises there.\n \n-No surprises.\ n \nAbsolutely typical in every way.\n \n-The grave goods suggest these pe ople were part of the newly arrived Anglo-Saxon group.\n \nBut archaeologi cal evidence\, just like written history\, is open to misinterpretation.\n \nSo Duncan is using high-energy physics to examine one of the brooches i n greater detail.\n \n♪♪ Here at the UK's national facility for synchr otron radiation\, a beam of electrons is accelerated almost to the speed o f light as it travels around a 600-yard loop.\n \n♪♪ As the electrons move\, they throw off intensely-focused X-ray beams that allow for composi tional data gathering.\n \nThe X-rays let Duncan probe the chemical make-u p of a tiny part of the brooch.\n \n♪♪ ♪♪ The results are unexpect ed.\n \n-Okay.\n \nSo\, do the blue areas and green areas represent differ ent elements?\n \n-Exactly.\n \nThe green bits highlight iron\, and the bl ue bits highlight lead.\n \nThe lead tells us that this is glass.\n \n-It' s a style of glass work that's been seen before... typical of Britons\, no t the Angles or Saxons.\n \nThe brooch was made locally\, not imported.\n \n-What you're doing is you're taking out a glass\, grinding it up\, and g rinding into it the scrapings from the inside of a crucible.\n \nAnd then you bake it into the holes into the object and it makes enamel.\n \n-Ename l like this was a specifically British production technique.\n \nSo althou gh the style of the brooch is typical of continental Angle and Saxon tribe s\, it's either been made by British hands or by someone who learned from a local.\n \n-So\, this is fascinating\, because it means that this is not an import from the continent.\n \nIt's an imported idea\, it's an importe d style\, but it's a locally made object.\n \n-Exactly.\n \n-What appears to be jewelry imported from Europe was more likely made in Britain.\n \nTh e results suggest assumptions that these are all Anglo-Saxon skeletons mig ht be wrong.\n \nSomething more complicated is going on.\n \nThe team need s a way to identify the skeletons scientifically\, so they turn to another modern technology -- DNA analysis.\n \nSkeleton 82's DNA is a close match to the DNA found in today's Dutch citizens... She's genetically Anglo-Sax on.\n \nBut Skeleton 1 is genetically indigenous -- a match with ancient B ritons.\n \nSkeleton 96 is an even bigger surprise -- a hybrid of British and Anglo-Saxon ancestry.\n \nIt's a very small sample\, but it suggests t he Angles and Saxons who arrived from northern Europe didn't suddenly repl ace the Britons in the east -- they mixed with them.\n \n-People would pro bably not have thought of themselves as Britons or Anglo-Saxons.\n \nThey would probably have thought of themselves in a much more local way than th at.\n \n-This is not a period when people would have known that they were members of a particular nation state.\n \nNation states didn't exist\, peo ple didn't have passports\, they weren't citizens of one country or anothe r.\n \n-The story of Arthur defending the ancient Britons against an invad ing army is likely a myth.\n \nDespite Geoffrey and Gildas's accounts\, th e archaeology shows the Anglo Saxons didn't arrive overnight en masse.\n \ nInstead\, it was a slow and gradual process\, probably over a very long p eriod of time\, not murdering the locals\, but merging with them.\n \n-The re are people coming across the North Sea.\n \nBut they're not entirely re placing the group that are here.\n \nThey're bringing new styles\, new ide as\, new ways of talking\, new religions which are adding to the mix that' s already here.\n \n-It's not a full-scale\, you know\, replacement of one culture by another.\n \n-Over time\, people are trading\, intermarrying\, even swapping fashions.\n \n-We're seeing Britons adopting Saxon-style br ooches.\n \nWe're seeing Saxons adopting Roman-style brooches.\n \n-These things wouldn't have been in these very clear-cut identities that we ascri be to today.\n \nIt would have been much\, much more complex than that.\n \n-Eastern Britain is trading with the Germanic world\, with the Saxon wor ld\, with Scandinavia.\n \nThat's where their fashions\, that's where thei r trade is being connected to.\n \n-Given their geographical proximity\, i t makes sense that Northern Europeans would have formed connections with B ritons in the east rather than the west.\n \nThis is a radical new underst anding of life after the Romans left Britain.\n \nFar from being conquered \, the native Britons in the eastern half of the country seem to have abso rbed the incoming Northern Europeans.\n \nIt was a time of trade and integ ration.\n \nBut in terms of daily life\, little changed.\n \n-I suppose if you think of a sense like if you take America as an example you've got Af rican-Americans\, Italian-Americans.\n \nPeople are adding things to the v arious pot that is America.\n \nThat's what happening in\, in Britain in t he 5th and 6th century.\n \n-And proof of the true story of the Dark Ages can be found today in modern Britain's DNA.\n \nResearchers at the Univers ity of Oxford have collected thousands of DNA samples from people across B ritain whose families have lived in the same area for generations.\n \n-We tried to focus on individuals\, all of whose grandparents were born in th e same area.\n \nSo in that sense their DNA had been there at least for tw o generations and probably quite a long time before that.\n \n-Peter Donne lly's work maps regional variations in British people's genetics in greate r detail than ever before.\n \nAlice wants to understand what modern genet ics can reveal about Britain's past.\n \n-So\, what do we see on this map then?\n \nWhat do the different colors and different shapes represent?\n \ n-So each circle or square or or triangle represents one of the 2\,000 ind ividuals we sampled.\n \nAnd then the combination of color and shape repre sents a genetic group.\n \nThere's a group represented here in pink square s that's one of the genetic groups we saw.\n \nThere's another group in bl ue circles.\n \nThere's a large group across much of central and southern England\, groups in\, in South Wales and North Wales and so on as\, as we look through the country.\n \n-And what I find utterly extraordinary about it is you've got all of these different colored clusters\, which do seem to be quite localized\, and I would just have expected the whole thing to be much more homogeneous.\n \n-It was one of those total wow moments that we don't have too often in our career\, but it was really exciting.\n \n-A t first\, it looks like the genetic map supports the historical accounts o f Anglo-Saxons decimating the local population.\n \n-Do you think this pat tern of red squares is explained by a massive Anglo-Saxon invasion\, repla cing everything that was there before?\n \n-That's absolutely not the case .\n \nWhat's interesting is if you take a typical person in Central and So uthern England\, that accounts for about 10% of their DNA.\n \nSo\, we do see evidence of the Anglo-Saxon migration\, I think clear evidence of that .\n \nBut it certainly wasn't the case that they replaced existing populat ions.\n \nThey contributed to the DNA of modern English people but in the minority of the DNA that's there now.\n \n-The surprise is that Anglo-Saxo n DNA has contributed only around 10 percent of the genetic variation.\n \ n-What's very clear is that most of the DNA that's carried by someone in C entral and Southern England now is DNA that was there before the Saxons ar rived.\n \nNot only did they not replace the existing populations\, they m ixed with them\, but they're a relatively small proportion of the ancestry of the people now have.\n \n-Even though the archaeological record now su ggests differently\, the Anglo-Saxon invasion story still fills the histor y books\, and Anglo-Saxon ideas shaped British culture\, not least by insp iring the English language that's spoken all over the world today.\n \nBut despite popular belief\, the genetics indicate Anglo-Saxon immigrants pro bably never outnumbered the native Britons.\n \n-Historians and archaeolog ists have argued for decades if not centuries over whether the appearance of a new culture really means that a whole load of new people came in.\n \ nAnd we've actually never been able to resolve that question and now we're starting to be able to do that.\n \n-What's interesting about genetics is it\, by definition it's reflecting what happened to the masses.\n \nWhere as often some of those other sources are colored by the successful elites who impose languages or impose political systems.\n \n-In the east\, the n ative British and Anglo-Saxon people merged on a large scale.\n \n♪♪ B ut what about the west?\n \nWhy does Tintagel seem so wealthy in compariso n?\n \nAnd why is King Arthur so strongly connected to the site?\n \nThis is Fort Cumberland\, the home of Historic England's Archaeology labs.\n \n Many of the finds from Tintagel are analyzed here.\n \n♪♪ The fort is a scientific production line\, turning excavation into information.\n \n♪♪ From the new site at Tintagel\, 130 gallons of soil filter throug h the flotation tanks.\n \nThe experts can finally separate the Arthur leg end from archaeological fact.\n \nAlice has come to meet pottery specialis t Maria Duggan.\n \nShe is one of the experts examining the unprecedented haul of pottery shards unearthed at Tintagel... and looking for clues abou t the lives and identity of the people who lived there.\n \n-So\, this is our really characteristic fine-ware form for that late 5th Century\, early 6th Century.\n \nAnd we've got about 14 vessels of the same form.\n \nAll slightly different.\n \n-So\, that's a bowl is it?\n \n-Yeah\, it's a big dish.\n \nSo it's actually quite big\, it's probably about 30 centimeters .\n \n-The distinctive shape indicates the bowl was not made locally.\n \n -So that's coming from Turkey?\n \n-Sort of Western Turkey.\n \n-Yes\, yea h.\n \n-It's come a long way.\n \n-This fragment of pottery connects Tinta gel to what would then have been Byzantium in the Eastern Roman Empire.\n \nThere are hundreds of pieces to examine.\n \n-The vast majority of the f inds are amphorae\, so they're storage vessels for transport of wine or ol ive oil\, things like that.\n \nAlso other fine wares.\n \nSo we've got so me North African material.\n \nAnd also\, from southwest France so from th e Bordeaux region.\n \n-Right.\n \nSo\, it's coming in from all over the p lace.\n \n-Yeah.\n \n-When you find a blooming great sherd of Roman amphor ae\, and not just one sherd of amphorae\, but buckets of the stuff\, that tells you that there's trade and diplomacy and interaction and people are moving across the European landscape and seascape.\n \n-These artifacts de monstrate that the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coasts were incredibly w ell connected to Tintagel.\n \n-Tintagel is producing evidence that's show ing us how active those trade routes were in the -- the 5th and 6th centur ies\, that you do have this material that's coming up from the Mediterrane an up the Atlantic Coast and is clearly being valued and perhaps traded up that Atlantic seaboard.\n \n-While eastern Britain interacted with northe rn Europe\, western Britain traded with Byzantium in the Mediterranean.\n \nTintagel was clearly an important international port of call.\n \nSo\, w hat would it have looked like in its heyday?\n \n-Yeah.\n \n-Co-director o f the site\, James Gossip\, has made a detailed architectural survey of th e dig.\n \n-Okay.\n \nCan we have a spot height on the hearth\, Martin?\n \n-Combining measurements with thousands of photographs creates a perfect virtual record of the new site.\n \n-So\, this is towards the sea\, isn't it?\n \n-Yup.\n \nYou can really see how the buildings are part of a plann ed design\, with shared spaces.\n \n-The complex is laid out over upper an d lower terraces.\n \nThe upper building has a 32-foot room with a 16-foot side-room.\n \nThere's a smaller building next door and a large open cour tyard -- all connected by a central path.\n \n-What you can see is a serie s of steps leading up into this opening in our upper building\, connecting the building with the trackway that runs between the two terraces.\n \n-A n area of carefully-laid stone floor strongly suggests some rooms may have had a special function.\n \n-It's a really nicely laid surface of fairly thin slates.\n \nWhat's noticeable about that is how fragile and delicate it was.\n \nWhen we walked on it\, we noticed that\, you know\, some of th e slates might break pretty easily.\n \n-You do wear big boots though\, to be fair.\n \n-True\, but I tried it out in bare feet as well.\n \n-Unlike the well-worn floors in the rest of the settlement\, this section is much more delicate and in pristine condition.\n \n-That suggests that perhaps it's\, it's a really quite special floor.\n \nPerhaps it was a space that wasn't really designed to be walked on very often.\n \nWhat that means abo ut the function of the building we don't really know.\n \n-But I suppose i t suggests that it's not an ordinary domestic dwelling.\n \n♪♪ -This n ew data helps generate the first 3D model of the entire Tintagel site.\n \ nThe complex may not look opulent to modern eyes\, but to Dark Age visitor s\, it would have felt palatial.\n \nIt's among the most substantial post- Roman buildings found in southwest Britain... ...and a complete departure from how we thought people were living at the time.\n \n♪♪ But people weren't just sailing to Tintagel to sell exotic goods.\n \nTintagel must h ave had something worth buying.\n \n-For the people who are coming up the Atlantic seaboard they would see Tintagel in the distance\, that is the pl ace that they are aiming for\, that is their destination.\n \nIt's an impo rtant harbor that will give them the resources that they want.\n \n-Whoeve r ruled Tintagel\, had access to a rare commodity in high demand across Eu rope.\n \nThe secret to Tintagel's Dark Age wealth and power lies at the e nd of a quiet country track.\n \nThis is a vast tin mine -- just 15 miles away.\n \nExploited by the Romans\, it was still in business at the beginn ing of the 20th century.\n \nWhat looks like a natural gorge was once a ma ssive mine -- 120 feet deep\, 130 feet wide\, and 900 feet long.\n \n♪ ♪ Tintagel lies on the larger peninsula of Cornwall.\n \nThe rocks in th is area are one of only three sources of tin in Western Europe.\n \nThe me tal was one of the reasons the Romans came to Britain in the first place.\ n \n-Whoever's been mining that stuff for hundreds of years is going to ge t rich because the Mediterranean needs those resources.\n \nThey will come to you to get them.\n \n-Tin\, when mixed with copper\, makes bronze -- v ital metal for Roman weapons.\n \nEven after the Romans left Britain\, Eur ope continued to buy Cornish tin.\n \n-Whoever controls Tintagel is at the head of a large financial empire.\n \nWe mustn't think of them as being o n the margins of anything.\n \nThey are at the center of a very sort of do minant\, successful political world.\n \n-In dramatic contrast to the trad itional view of the Dark Ages\, trade in the west does not collapse after the Romans leave.\n \nThe connections to the continent remain\, and they c ontinue to influence every aspect of life.\n \nEvidence for this influence is found on the very last day of the Tintagel dig.\n \nJacky Novakowski's team makes the most exciting discovery of all.\n \nIt's a stone\, used to make a windowsill in Building 94.\n \nAnd someone's been writing on it.\n \n-There's at least three lines.\n \nIt's either an \"A\,\" with a hat on .\n \n♪♪ -I think it's okay actually.\n \n♪♪ I'll wrap it up first .\n \nIt's very heavy\, yeah.\n \n-The stone is transported to the labs at Fort Cumberland for closer study.\n \nJames Gossip gives Alice access to this rare find.\n \n-So\, this is it?\n \n-This is it.\n \n-It's really cl ear.\n \nThat's amazing.\n \n-The letters were scratched with a sharp tool \, roughly\, as if for practice.\n \n-It's not in its original position.\n \nProbably only ever a trial piece anyway.\n \nJust somebody practicing t heir inscription.\n \nSo presumably\, once this was created as a trial pie ce it wasn't that important anymore and it was incorporated into this wall where we found it.\n \n-It's one of only a handful of inscriptions from t his period ever found.\n \nThe Dark Age etching gives precious insight int o the lives of the people living at Tintagel.\n \nFirst\, there's a distin ct flavor of Roman Latin.\n \n-So\, the top line is here\, possibly \"Tito \,\" which could refer to Titus.\n \n-So that's a Roman name.\n \n-That's a Roman name\, yep\, popular in the Roman and post-Roman world.\n \nHere w e've got a word which could be \"Viridius.\"\n \nAnother name\, another La tin name.\n \nOr \"Viri duo.\"\n \n-I think I can make out the letters her e.\n \nI mean that looks like \"Fili.\"\n \n-Yup.\n \nThat's right.\n \n-B ut there's also local dialect.\n \n-What does this say here?\n \n-We think this is perhaps \"Budic\" -- B-U-D-I-C.\n \nThere's a word that's common in Welsh\, Breton and Cornish contexts.\n \n-Ah\, so this\, so this isn't Latin?\n \n-That is not Latin\, no.\n \nThat's Bretonic or... -Yeah.\n \n- It's the Cornish word form basically.\n \n-The people here seem to be flue nt in more than just one language.\n \n-And then a \"T\" here?\n \n-Yeah.\ n \nPerhaps\, um\, T-U-D.\n \n\"Tud.\"\n \n-A possible translation is... \ "From Titus\, to Viridius\, the son of Budic Tuda.\"\n \nThe text's layout and few legible words indicate the inscription was for a monument.\n \nIt was discarded at the time\, but centuries later\, it's exciting proof of a sophisticated culture.\n \n-This is a lovely \"A.\"\n \nThat's a really nice style.\n \n-This is the style of lettering that they're using in manu script at the time.\n \nIt might even have been designed to be a deliberat e Biblical connotation.\n \n-It takes time and skill to inscribe stone\, a nd money to pay for it.\n \nThe writer was part of a complex and wealthy s ociety that valued both faith and craftsmanship.\n \n-And this coming out of the Dark Ages when we used to think people were living in hovels\, scra tching around\, illiterate.\n \n-Yeah.\n \nBut actually created by a liter ate Christian elite at Tintagel.\n \n-I wonder who did it?\n \nI want to k now.\n \n-Perhaps Titus.\n \n-So we're seeing these sort of debased forms of Latin inscription surviving in Cornwall.\n \nBut it does tell us that w hat we've got there is a literate society.\n \nThey're not at the margins of anything.\n \n-Civilization didn't collapse when the Romans left Britai n.\n \nTintagel in the west stayed connected\, thriving and interacting wi th Europe as it had probably done for centuries.\n \nThe archaeology has r evealed so much about Tintagel in the Dark Ages.\n \nThe prominence and st ature of the buildings being unearthed here\, along with the high-value po ttery indicating the apparent wealth of their residents\, may help explain another mystery -- the connection to Geoffrey of Monmouth's King Arthur.\ n \n-The dig at Tintagel is showing us that this rocky promontory sticking out into the Atlantic was not only a trading hub\, but also a remarkably high-status site.\n \nSo perhaps there was someone\, someone powerful\, wh o much later would inspire that myth of King Arthur.\n \n-King Arthur was a construct\, created from fragments of the written historical past.\n \nB ut Geoffrey chose Tintagel for his birthplace because it really was a seat of power in the Dark Ages.\n \n-And that in a way is what we're talking a bout when we're discussing Arthur.\n \nHe is the literary creation based o n that kind of primary evidence.\n \nWhether or not he was real I think is irrelevant.\n \nIt's the period itself that -- that is essential.\n \nTha t's what draws archaeologists and historians to it.\n \nIt's so important for understanding what made Britain today.\n \n-The biggest revolution in Dark Age archaeology has been this recognition that Britain is fully conne cted to the continent all the way through.\n \n♪♪ -The maritime connec tions are absolutely crucial here.\n \nTintagel is connected down to Franc e and Spain and up to Wales\, Scotland and Ireland.\n \nIt's right at the center of this Atlantic trading network.\n \n-But in the east of the count ry\, the connections were to Northern Europe -- the Angles and Saxons\, wi th their very different beliefs and culture.\n \n♪♪ All the archaeolog ical evidence points to two societies not facing each other across a battl efield\, but living very different lives.\n \n-It's an economic divide bet ween two halves of Britain\, two distinct trade outlooks.\n \nIt's not a p icture of conflict.\n \n-The two halves of Britain are looking in differen t directions\, going outwards rather than clashing in the middle.\n \n-I t hink if you look at the sea instead of the land\, and the rivers instead o f the land\, I think you have a much better chance of understanding where people are coming from.\n \n♪♪ -At Tintagel\, the excavations are comp lete.\n \nThe new discoveries have revealed that rather than being filled with violent conflict and turmoil\, the Dark Ages were a time of trade and continuity.\n \nSomewhere between the archaeology\, written history and m yth\, a new truth has emerged.\n \n-There are elements in there that all f eed into one another and all help -- help us to understand the past\, and you've got to try and master all these things to really get a clear unders tanding of what's going on\, especially something like the 5th or 6th cent ury.\n \n-But the myth of King Arthur endures.\n \n♪♪ -It's a myth.\n \nBut it's such a wonderful myth.\n \n-He's a literary invention -- a roma ntic hero who embodies the ideal of kingship\, and not a real historical f igure.\n \n-It's still something that resonates today because we all sort of need an heroic character to defend what we think is right and good\, an d it's Arthur who sort of fills that void. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250207 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Congrats to Black contestants in Miss America - January 14th 2025 DTSTAMP:20250118T180808Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:137-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Congrats to Black contestants in Miss America - January 1 4th 2025\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11420-the-miss-usa-pageant-the-sur prising-number-of-black-contestants-2024/#findComment-71146\n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n THE ORIGINAL POST STARTED BY CHEVDOVE @Chevdove\n\n\n\n http s://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11420-the-miss-usa-pageant-the-surprising-number-of -black-contestants-2024/#findComment-71123\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I F YOU DONT WANT TO CLICK THE COMMENT ABOVE OR GO TO THE ORIGINAL POST ...\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n the following is the most well known black o nly female pageant in the usa \n\n\n\n https://www.missblackamerica.com/\ n\n\n\n the wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Black_America\n\n\n\n what it needs is more money. This event has been going on for 55 years in a row. You can't complain about regular black folks making it happen\, it was regular black folks who did. It wasn't black thespians or singers. It started in 1968 and not by diana ross or aretha franklin or cicely tyson.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Year Miss Black America Hometown and/or home state\n\n\n\n 1968 Saundra Williams Pennsylvania\n\n\n\n 1969 Gloria O. Smith New York\n\n\n\n 1970 Stephanie Clark DC\n\n\n\n 1971 Joy ce Warner Florida\n\n\n\n 1972 Linda Barney New Jersey\n\n\n\n 1973 Arniec e Russell New York\n\n\n\n 1974 Von Gretchen Shepard Los Angeles\, Califo rnia\n\n\n\n 1975 Donzeila Johnson Pennsylvania\n\n\n\n 1976 Twanna Kilgor e Washington\, D.C.\n\n\n\n 1977 Claire Ford Memphis\, Tennessee\n\n\n\n 1 978 Lydia Jackson Willingboro\, New Jersey\n\n\n\n 1979 Varetta Shankle M ississippi\n\n\n\n 1980 Sharon Wright Chicago\, Illinois\n\n\n\n 1981 Pam ela Jenks Boston\, Massachusetts\n\n\n\n 1982 Susan Wells Milwaukee\, Wi sconsin\n\n\n\n 1983 Sonya Robinson Milwaukee\, Wisconsin\n\n\n\n 1984 Lyd ia S.Garrett Columbia\, South Carolina\n\n\n\n 1985 Amina Fakir Detroit\,  Michigan\n\n\n\n 1986 Rachel Oliver Burlington\, North Carolina\n\n\n\n 1987 Leila McBride Denver\, Colorado\n\n\n\n 1988 Regina Wallace Florida\ n\n\n\n 1989 Paula Gwynn Washington DC\n\n\n\n 1990 Rosie Jones Bridgeport \, Connecticut\n\n\n\n 1991 Sharmell Sullivan Gary\, Indiana\n\n\n\n 1992 Marilyn DeShields Virginia\, Richmond\n\n\n\n 1994 Pilar Fort Detroit\, Mi chigan\n\n\n\n 1995 Karen D. Wallace Oklahoma City\, Oklahoma\n\n\n\n 1996 Basheerah Ahmad Choctaw\, Oklahoma\n\n\n\n 2010 Ashley Anglin-Teen DC Met ropolitan\n\n\n\n 2010 Kamilla Collier-Mullin\, Adult DC Metropolitan\n\n\ n\n 2010 Natasha Ashby - Teen Philadelphia\, Pennsylvania\n\n\n\n 2010 Don ielle Turner\, Adult Philadelphia\, Pennsylvania\n\n\n\n 2014 Alexandra Mo rton\, Adult Baltimore\, Maryland\n\n\n\n 2015 Jelisa Barringer\, Adult Oh io\n\n\n\n 2016 Nicole Lynette Hibbert\, Adult Delaware\n\n\n\n 2017 Britt any Lewis\, Adult District of Columbia\n\n\n\n 2018 Ryann Richardson\, Adu lt Brooklyn\, New York\n\n\n\n 2022 Gabrielle Wilson\, Adult Los Angeles\, California\n\n\n\n 2023 Ashley Myatt\, Adult Detroit\, Michigan\n\n\n\n 2 023 Elizabeth Dicker\, Senior Newark\, New Jersey\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/15 /2026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss -black-america /#findComment-79347\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n For more informatio n please view and read the following\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.missbl ackamerica.com/\n\n\n\n from 1968\, here are some recent winners\n\n\n\n \ n\n\n\n If you know any black women\, please share this with them\, please \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n if you have questions you can contact them?\n\n\n\n ht tps://www.missblackamerica.com/contact\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n if you want to h elp\n\n\n\n https://www.missblackamerica.com/donations\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Troy they have an author's expos\,  I don't have the money but I imagine you do. \n\n\n\n https://www.missblackamerica.com/author-s-expo-page\n\n\ n\n pdf info\n\n\n\n https://a60cd4c2-9ac1-4f86-909b-8059577f3c6a.filesusr .com/ugd/5fe1f0_8f6b3a2fa6bd47dfb5359bf756393475.pdf\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Sp onsorship form\n\n\n\n https://www.missblackamerica.com/sop-delegate-spons orship\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Are you the next Miss Black America?\n\n\n\n Reg istration Now Open- Click The Following https://www.missblackamerica.com/ pageant-registry\n\n\n\n Little Miss Black America (7-12)\n\n Miss Black A merica Teen (13-16)\n\n Miss Black America (17-29)\n\n Ms. Black America ( 29-54)\n\n Senior Miss Black America (55 and Over).\n\n All Age Groups\, A ll Ages\,\n\n Register Today\n\n Queens from seven (7) years old and over. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n REGISTRATION DETAILS- no excuse for black dos women to enter\n\n\n\n \n\n Pageant Registration\n\n\n\n All Across the World We A re Beautiful!\n\n You can be a Contestant in the next MBA Pageant TV Speci al! \n\n\n\n Are you between the age of 17-29?\n\n\n\n Or\, are you a Mis s Black America Teen between the ages of 13 -16?\n\n\n\n A Little Miss Bla ck America between the ages of 7-12?  \n\n\n\n Or a Senior Miss Black Ame rica who is 55+?\n\n\n\n Complete the form at the link below\n\n\n\n https ://www.missblackamerica.com/pageant-registry\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n *Adults 17 -29 Must be a High School Graduate or its Equivalent at the time of the Na tional Pageant\, MBA Teens must be Middle or High School students*\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Miss Black America Pageant Positivity Cruise - February 14th\, through February 22nd\, 2026\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/15/2026\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ev er-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79364\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n com ment\n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\,  Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Not to take this thread in another direction but.. ..........\n\n\n\n From the photos i have seen every winner of the Miss Bl ack America pageant has been a black woman of medium to dark brown skin. N ow I haven't seen photos of every winner. I haven't seen photos of every c ontestant. \n\n\n\n But the direction you have taken this post about upli fting a black owned beauty pageant has many questions\, you didn't provide answers for when you shifted directions.\n\n\n\n 1.  How do you define a ctual Black ? You mentioned \"actual Black\" but don't give a clear defini tion of how can be determined actual Black. Moreover why should the operat ors of Miss Black America adhere to such a definition? \n\n\n\n For examp le\, if a woman with with two parents from india born in NYC with skin asi ans will call very dark\, which is equivalent to what people in the USA ca ll black\, which is common among many Indian people\, wants to run for Mis s Black America\, does she fit what you mean by Black?  From a phenotypic al perspective\, said example woman is Black. \n\n\n\n Here are three ima ges of kalo or black \, indian females\, older woman\, young woman\, child . All three are black. I don't know if habshi\, which is the equivalent to Descended of Enslaved. Cause some ancestral indian people are black. Like some ancestral statian people\, native americans\, are black. Native Amer icans from southern tribes\, the caribbean\, are phenotypically black and not african.  So I know you know your thoughts and definitions but you ha ve to display them. If for no other reason it makes the multilog easier\, unless you want to argue. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 2. How do you define not-blac k or mixed?  You mentioned \" non-Black and mixed people\" but don't giv e a clear definition to either term. Is mixed by phenotype\, skin color ? is mixed by phenotype of ancestors? If mixed is by phenotype of ancestors\ , is it a one drop rule or is it a just immediate parents? \n\n\n\n For e xample\, this is Fredi Washington. Who played the Peola character in the e arliest film version of \"immitation of life\". She called herself black. She rejected hollywoods desire to have her lie about her background and cl aim she is white. And lived most of her life as a maid/nurse in Harlem. Sh e definitely looked mixed. I call people like her yella. She is definitely more yella than Beyonce or Hally Berry or Dorothy Dandridge. And arguably even more yella than Hailee Steinfeld which says a lot.  But she is blac k to me. From your definition she is mixed\, so she couldn't apply for Mis s Black America\, correct? \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 3. Are you suggesting each c andidate must be a citizen of the USA? I didn't read the rules of entry so I don't know how citizenship fits in Miss Black America. But a Black woma n from Africa is Black so if she lives in the USA\, why can't she run? May be she needs to be a USA citizen. I argue that is an even requirement\, bu t is it mandatory?\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Too o ften you have non-Black and mixed people who \"back door\" their way into these events and end up being hoisted over and on top of the actual Black participants.\n\n This is nothing but a product of self-hatred.\n\n Lookin g at a woman who is obviously not Black or looks like she's almost White.. .and calling HER \"the most beautiful\" woman in the community.\n\n \n\n O ne of my biggest problems with Beyonce wasn't Beyonce herself...but how sh e was often glorified as a symbol of \"Black\" female beauty.\n\n Whenever the subject of comparing female celebrities by race\, Whites and Latinos would promote the women they thought were the most beautiful but when it c ame to Black people.....a lot of bruthaz would promote women like Beyonce or Halle Berry back in the day.\n\n Women who obviously weren't Black.\n\n \n\n A lot of pro-FBA podcasters are promoting lightskinned women as \"id eal\" models for who an FBA is or what an FBA looks like.\n\n\n\n They're pushing Beyonce and Angel Reese.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n You didn't ment ion Hailee Steinfield. But\, the issues you mention here are not about the participants but the organizers of events. The organizers of events aren' t being self haters\, the organizers of events are doing what you did in y our reply\, not be concise or specific in definitions. Expecting everyone else to somehow know what they are thinking or how they define. That isn't functional. If you wanted to block out certain black women... or any wome n\, all you have to do is make the rules clear.  But if the rules don't b lock out certain women from running then why shouldn't they run. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And as for the host of events or people whether black or non b lack\, no matter their language or background\, who have a positive bias t owards the phenotype called white and a negative phenotype called blacks \ , black people who produce/pay for events need to know who they are hostin g or if non blacks are producing\, what can you expect from the host of a non black show but adulation to non black beauty even if the show is label ed for black beauty cause the owners are not black. \n\n\n\n When you org anize an event it is up to you to be clear\, concise on definitions\, not the people entering. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/16/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ht tps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america  /#findComment-79388\n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n   12 hours ago\, ak a Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n If Halle Berry and Beyonce self identify as \, \"black\" because one of their parents is black\, then that's good enough for me and millions of other people who accept their decision. \n\n\n\n T hey are women of color and the  source of the color contained in their ge nes and DNA is a male negroid parent. ( just like Obama\, our first black president. )\n\n\n\n Nobody in America has been appointed as the arbitrato r when it comes to declaring what constitutes blackness. Because there is no collective  consciousness among negroid slave-descended Americans\, th ere is no consensus on this issue and no individual can declare otherwise. \n\n\n\n well said. \n\n\n\n and all I can add is\, this post was started with the purpose to uplift Miss Black America and by extension other Blac k Pagents\, like Miss Black USA\, thank you @Chevdove\n\n\n\n The purpose of this post was never to create or debate an absolute definition of who is a black woman in the usa. \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 chose to segway from tal king about miss black america\, for which he had nothing to add\, into tal king about people in media\, black or non black\, whose job it is to get v iews/likes/attention and how they succeed by maintaining a consistency in narrative that suggest the most beautiful black women in the world happen to be black women with a certain phenotype\, as close to a white european womans' as can be. \n\n\n\n the problem being\, the black pagents seem to have found a way through their rules to elevate black women who do not fi t the identity of women championed in the media pioneer is so concerned wi th. \n\n\n\n While the people in the media pioneer is so concerned with a re working in a white owned space\, the opposite of the black owned of the black beauty pageants. \n\n\n\n So... your correct\, Contrarian\, but th e issue of this post is uplifting the black beauty pageant and it is unfor tunate how little uplifting was achieved. It says something about black di scourse online\, we are too concerned with arguments online.\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n 01/18/2026 \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/t c/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-794 51\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said :\n\n\n\n Your response actually did that....lol.\n\n\n\n nice try\, you c hanged the course\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n my o pinion organizations and contests like this should be used to UPLIFT Black women and improve their self esteem and especially the self esteem of Bla ck girls growing up in this society.\n\n How can this be done if an organi zation/contest routinely uplifts and promotes females who don't look like them as role models they should aspire to?\n\n\n\n organizations and conte st liek this do\, the people you referred to are media people\, none of th em run pageants or anything similar\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, Pioneer1  said:\n\n\n\n Race is phenotypical...but is more than JUST skin color.\n\n \n\n race is any factor\, phenotypical is just one\n\n\n\n   10 hours ag o\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n I'd call her Caucasian/White...lol.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n even enough but fredi washington didn't\, and more importantly\ , to the idea of beauty \, we black dosers have to embrace our reality. We are a people who were once completely enslaved\, that comes with a histor y of sexual abuse that leads to mixed babies\, and the heritage of DOSers in the usa is for the mixed to be part of the black group. That is the her itage. rightly or wrongly. \n\n\n\n Now to the future\, it seems the lati n american pardo/casta heritage is settling in the usa\, and will finally be the factor to undo what the one drop rule set in. but until then\, the yella woman is black.\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n How can someone who is NOT an American even enter let alone \"win\" a cont est designed FOR Americans?????\n\n\n\n what determines a black american i sn't universallly defined by blacks. the issue pioneer is you keep missing the lack of consensus\, means every black in the usa doesn't see anything in one way.\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n So how ca n a person not FROM here properly represent the beauty of those native her e?\n\n\n\n natives? you mean choctaw or seminole?\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago \, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n If we're having a contest for the best tasting Chinese food.....would you bring tasty TACOS to the contest?\n\n\n\n sinc e chinese food in the usa is not actually chinese cusiine from asia\, and has more in common with tacos why not?\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, Pionee r1 said:\n\n\n\n It's like having an athletic event for women without fir st defining WHO a woman actually is.\n\n\n\n yeah but that happens in the usa\, because this country is the king f lawsuits which kill events. and t hat is because the usa protects individualism and individualism by default means no one's definition is ever correct. a trasngender woman can sue to be in a contest for humans born with a vagina. You say short sighted\, bu t I argue\, an inevitable reality of the usa. you see this in the white po pulace\, it is a pan statian reality\n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, Pioneer1  said:\n\n\n\n ine WHO is Black\, then soon you'll have White contestants being presented as \"Black\" and winning them to promote the idea that Wh ite skin\, light hair\, and light eyes are the most beautiful traits to be found among \"Black\" people.\n\n \n\n I call it the \"Beyonce Effect\"\n \n Where people who aren't Black are promoted as the \"ideal Black\".\n\n\ n\n I disagree 100% \, again miss black america or miss black usa prove yo u wrong. In media things that black people/dosers actually own or control in the usa I find the advertised image of black women is usually not uphel d through the lens of the yella women but through the cocoa women.  but b oth are still black. \n\n\n\n And as for all the black or non blacks in w hite owned media who emphasize the yella women over the cocoa women in the black populace\, well\, that is white owned media. \n\n\n\n   10 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Perhaps you are confusing healthy DISCOURS E with DISCORD.\n\n\n\n even enough\, though I rather posit I am being too demanding to the tone or function of discourse. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n   7 hours ago\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n Seems to me\, the closest thing to a typical black Miss America candidate who w ould not offend anyone would be a poised female of smooth medium brown com plexion with a full well- coiffed head of dark hair whose facial features are arranged in compliance with the universal  golden triangle standard\, and whose body is well-proportioned. \n\n\n\n miss america is run by whi tes...\n\n\n\n miss black america + miss black usa are run by blacks and i don't think any of their winners or contestants are offensive. I know I a m not alone in said thinking.\n\n\n\n   7 hours ago\, aka Contrarian s aid:\n\n\n\n Actually\, however\, I think role models are overrated. Why d o little girls have to look to public figures to emulate. And do we know i f this is as widespread a sentiment as celebrities clutching awards would have us believe?  Ideally\, a girl's mother or other female relative shou ld be her role model.\n\n\n\n And I'm further inclined to think that her p eer group is who most young girls want to impress because that was the cas e with me and my friends.\n\n\n\n I never fixated on celebrities as somebo dy I passionately wanted to look like. My friends and I just wanted to be the best versions of ourselves. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So says the cynical c ontrarian\n\n\n\n unfortunately the media of the usa has become such a mar ketplace + battleground+ tool that it has grown in influence. \n\n\n\n An d some little girls are orphans\, some little girls are abused by their bl ood kin\, some little girls don't find enough of themselves in those at ho me. the reason a little girl can find inspiration worth emulating are many . \n\n\n\n Ideally a little girl should be raised by her parents or the g reater village to be herself\, and figure out her role\, not model off of anyone. \n\n\n\n Interesting\, I never wanted to impress anybody as a chi ld.I only had one poster of a human figure on my wall. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n 1/18/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic /12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79474\n\n\ n\n  @aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n \n On 1/18/2026 at 10:36 AM\, aka Contraria n said:\n \n\n \n \n If we lived in a perfect world\, none if these bum ps in the road would hamper one's life's journey. \n \n\n \n  \n \n \n\n\n\n I oppose that thinking \, the word is perfect\, a complete work\ , ompletion doesn't occur when all is good\, that is imbalance. negativity must be part of anything for it to be truly perfect. \n\n\n\n \n On 1/1 8/2026 at 10:36 AM\, aka Contrarian said:\n \n\n \n \n  \n \n\n \n Folks need to be reminded on a regular basis that \"nobody  promised you a rose garden\".\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n At some point little girl s and boys have to mature into adults who deal with reality. Life is not f air.\n \n \n\n\n\n life is even\, it is human beings who are not even. It is human beings that make living uneven plus inequal. it isn't nature or other lifeforms.\n\n\n\n Nature promises balance. Humans beings imbalance.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/19/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATION\n\n\n\n  htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america / #findComment-79483\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @aka Contrar ian\n\n\n\n   13 hours ago\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n n o\, right or wrong is not knowable in this issue\, but maybe functionality is. Functionality defined as the quality of results. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Does thinking a perfect world mean all is good get more positive results than thinking a perfect world includes all things?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Does thinking a perfect world is an unattainable environment which humans have to embrace get more positive results than defining the perfect world as t he world that is absent human involvement\, which imperfects the world? \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/19/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\ n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-ameri ca /#findComment-79487\n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian\n \n\n\n   1 hour ago\, aka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n In a perfect world\ , as the adjective \"perfect\" suggests\, there are no problems. Life is i deal.\n\n\n\n You are free to challenge that definition\, but you can't pr ove otherwise.\n\n\n\n So\, we have to agree to disagree.\n\n\n\n perfect comes from the latin\n\n\n\n per- meaning totally\, ala perview is when so mething is viewed totally absent any part not viewed\n\n\n\n fect - means work. \n\n\n\n A total work has all in it. Perfect never suggest an absen ce.  Problems are part of what makes the world whole\, are part of the to tal world\, absent problems the world can't be perfect\, a total work. \n \n\n\n What you call ideal\, a thing of an idea\, in not perfect. It is th e idea of a world without problems\, that is not a perfect world\, that is an ideal world\, an imbalanced world. \n\n\n\n I have etymologically pro ven my position. \n\n\n\n I have always opposed the USA heritage derived from the english of using words figuratively. It weakens all words. \n\n\ n\n We do like each other\, as much as near total strangers can. We do not concur on definition. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, aka Contrar ian said:\n\n\n\n I am in the throes of  disappointment over the CHICAGO BEARS\, my favorite football team\, losing a game they could've won\, but for the coach calling questionable plays and the receivers either missing their assignments or dropping the passes from my \"adopted\" baby boy\, Q uarterback Caleb Williams\, so I don't feel like plowing through a maze of verbiage to further debate the implications of a perfect world.\n\n\n\n I 'm mentally exhausted.\n\n\n\n if you have a video collage of sweetness ru nning about\, give it a view and lift your spirits\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/19 /2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/122 90-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79492\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, aka Cont rarian said:\n\n\n\n @richardmurrayI prefer the dictionary definition of the word \"perfect\" which you might want to check out.\n\n\n\n I know of it\, I have always felt the heritage webster started in the anglophone and unstraightly all humanity was an error. His implementation of a book of s peaking based on figurative definitions was the beginning of a literal hor ror show in linguistics\, cause now throughout humanity\, most\, an overhw helming most\, preference to the idea f figurative definition which only h arms the positive quality in communication. \n\n\n\n I wish someone black with money with my thinking had been around circa 1865 in the usa cause b lack people in the usa had a unique opportunity to have a much wiser sense of diction but.. it wasn't meant to be.\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, aka Con trarian said:\n\n\n\n And I assure you that watching old reels of Walter Payton in action will not lift my spirits about yesterday's loss.\n\n\n\n Unfortunate\, I hope you feel better sooner rather than later\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n 1/19/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/ topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79494 \n\n\n\n d just now\n\n\n\n @aka Contrarian \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, a ka Contrarian said:\n\n\n\n I am not so  inclined to dismiss popular usa ge. Language is fluid. Nothing illustrates this more than black slang and Ebonics.  \n\n\n\n If you had your way\, what word would you replace \"p erfect\" with? Or are you of the opinion that any such state as perfection exists? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Your sentiments in regard to Webster would e xplain your tendency to make up words. \n\n\n\n It is rare i do the follo wing but I will paraphrase the white enslavers commonly called the foundin g fathers\, concerning the peoples use of things: the people are stupid.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Yeah black slang and ebonics while black people let th e gullah dialect become endangered\, the patios of new orleans be the same . Black people emphasize slangs we made\,  which are very figurative over \, literally more potent forms like the gullah dialect or the patois of n ew orleans or florida. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n It is a taste thing\, admitted ly. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Well\, what word would I replace perfect with in the following phrase you wrote \"In a perfect world\, as the adjective \" perfect\" suggests\, there are no problems. Life is ideal.\"\n\n\n\n I wou ld replace two words: a and perfect and make adjustments to the following \"In my ideal world\, no problems exist\"\n\n\n\n In a world I have an ide a to no problems exist. Perfect meant a total work. As the zen say\, it is the sunny side of the hill side the shady side of the hill. Problems must be in the world for it to be total. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Yes\, oonmoptop ia  I spelled it wrong. It's funny when webster was a boy\, in england\, people couldn't comprehend each other in various regions of england becau se their diction was so various. This was the same in france or germany.  Meaning when webster was a boy there wasn't popular usage of words in eng land. every single region spoke differently in england\, often incomprehen sibel to each other.  He comes up with this idea of a \"standard\" book o f rules of words and speech for the english language. a dictionary for eng lish. Dictionaries are as old as the royal bloodline of the nile\, but nev er before were they advertised as a standard. And then with the advent of public school which wasn't common either in humanity. School historically was something paid for by individuals\, it wasn't for the public \, it was n't for all. but with the idea of the public school plus dictionaries came what you call\, very correctly\, the popular majority usage of certain wo rds certain ways as de facto official. Webster himself\, made up words:) b ut post webster\, now we have popular usage. So\, yes I don't feel obliged to adhere to webster. But I want to defend my individualism\, I am not lo oking for a flock. I  simply admit myself. The popular usage will remain\ , will be adhered\, but I don't care if I am alone with 999\,999 other peo ple I will be my way. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/19/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Ci tation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-mis s-black-america /#findComment-79500\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD sai d:\n\n\n\n Noah Webster did something i.e. fufilled a need. He codified the meaning of words.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Black folks are free to do the sa me thing if they want to preserve gullah\, patois\, ebonics or any other l anguage &\; words.\n\n\n\n Of the quote from Profd \, I want it publicl y said\, I concur Webster did something. The rest of what Profd said I str uck through as a lie or false praise or a misrepresentation of communal ac tion. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n THE FOLLOWING IS MY EXPANDED VERSION \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD \n\n\n\n \n On 1/19/2026 at 5:42 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Noah Webster did something i.e. fufilled a need. He codified the meaning of words\n \n \n\n\n\n Well...doing something does not mean a need is fulfilled. It means a want is fulfilled. Humans beings have been codifying words since the time of the earliest leaders of the ni le. I don't comprehend how Webster doing something thousands or millions d id between the ancients about the Nile and Webster warrants mention. Dicti onaries as I said to aka contrarian which you didn't quote sadfully\, pred ate webster by thousands of years. Webster is key because in england the i dea of schooling for the public had taken root\, the first public schools were thousands of years before england\, but with the advent of the englis h empire\, the public school of england and the dictionary it used from we bster was pushed on a global populace\, adding the influence of the usa \, the child of the english empire\,  english is the lingua franca today in humanity. this is a quote of what i said that you freely chose not to quo te to make a half truth to webster. \n\n\n\n \n On 1/19/2026 at 4:01 PM\ , richardmurray said:\n \n\n \n \n Meaning when webster was a boy there wasn't popular usage of words in england. every single region spoke diffe rently in england\, often incomprehensibel to each other.  He comes up wi th this idea of a \"standard\" book of rules of words and speech for the e nglish language. a dictionary for english. Dictionaries are as old as the royal bloodline of the nile\, but never before were they advertised as a s tandard.\n \n \n\n\n\n For my point which you disgard is that dictionarie s shouldn't be used as standards. That is the truth. The reason why the an cients didn't was a thing called wisdom. Forcing a language to others is c alled slavery\, and slavery doesn't work on rivals \, so you can't relate to rivals forcing a tongue. ala why people in the usa say things\, like\, it is japanese. \n\n\n\n \n On 1/19/2026 at 5:42 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Black folks are free to do the same thing if they want to preser ve gullah\, patois\, ebonics or any other language &\; words.😁\n \n \n\n\n\n I don't know if you know because your words I just quoted sugges t you don't. Languages die throughout humanity all the time\, including la nguages of those humans considered in power. It isn't about freedom. It is about a complex collage of things. Language use is a collective thing\, i t is not up to an individual\, it is up to a group and it requires many pe ople working together\, which doesn't happen with a snap of a finger. Lang uage preservation is centered on communal organization\, not freedom. The negro spirituals are proof of this. Most black people couldn't read + were completely enslaved but knew the negro spirituals . This is why appalachi an languages are dying among white people in the usa\, gardless of white p ower. anyone looking at your words will think that preserving a language i s like riding a bicycle\, which i find insulting. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/2 2/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/1229 0-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79536\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   21 hours ago\,  Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Now\, how can I change the course of YOUR thread?? ?\n\n\n\n   this forum is a place of discourse\, each topic is started b y one but the path need not stay on the topic started. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n   21 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Just because mixed people ar e THROWN into the \"Black\" category by racists\, that doesn't make it a s cientific fact.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n you use the word thrown\, do you know a ll the people in your bloodline? you shouldn't if you are a DOSer\, and if you are a DOSer then are you suggesting the people with a phenotype \, yo u call mixed in 2026 who were completely enslave pre 1865 are what then?\n \n\n\n   21 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Truth and facts aren't based on \"consensus\".\n\n\n\n true \, that is true\, BUT not all things can be defined explicitly. phenotypical labeling can not be reduced into a numerical form. Carbon is called element six but carbon is merely a name. it isn't a false name\, but if I call carbon fingerplus\, that isn't inva lidated because it has no consensus. \n\n\n\n   21 hours ago\, Pionee r1 said:\n\n\n\n Is fire not hot unless enough people believe it and acce pt it to be?\n\n\n\n but labeling someone black isn't explicit. Fire\, all types of fire\, come from chemical or physical reactions that generate a chemical reaction commonly called fire. But the name fire isn't explicit. In the same way\, naming someone black isn't explicit. Fire like race is a lways real\, but the labeling is not rigid\, and you have prescribed the l abel black a specific way which is not bound by anyone else. Nor is my def inition for black bound to anyone else. But both are real. And going beyon d the two of us\, it matters how the black group defines black. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   21 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n It's changed recen tly.\n\n I remember when the only media that gave dark skinned women their propers WERE the White media.\n\n\n\n Well.. When you say recently\, Miss Black America started 1968. Again \, Alice was enslaved 1963.. Malcolm wa s murdered 1965\, mlk jr was murdered 1968... You say recently? when exact ly? My reason for asking what time period because for me\, Jim Crow was 18 65 to 1980. Financially I don't see black ownership in that time period in the usa. YES\, MAdame CJ walker was in the 1930s. But black people owned businesses in the lands that made up the USA before the USA was founded. L ook at the American Revolution transcripts\, I can't remember which off th e top of my head. \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/7-rmcommunitycalen dar/week/2025-11-22/\n\n\n\n Black owned media that could reach wide swath s of black people in the usa for me truly started from 1980 onwards. Every black town or city\, or black neighborhood in a white city had local blac k owned media but none were strong enough to stretch across. Black Newspap ers are black newspapers\, newspapers don't usually do fashion\, that is m agazines. I know\, I checked to makebsure\,  Ebony was started in 1945 an d Jet was started in 1951 but most black people didn't have the money to b uy jet or ebony. Jet or Ebony original audience was the black 1%  so... w hen you say black media between 1865 and 1980\, what do you mean? and as f or white media? well how was white media treating any black woman properly ? when you say propers\, you mean dark skin women as maids?  that is prop er? \n\n\n\n Yes\, I am little confused by your statement. \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   21 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n For a long t ime Black media was pushing light skin and White featured as ideal with th e occasional honey brown sista if she was pretty enough.  The only time a real dark skinned sista could get on is if a White man though she was \"e xotic\" looking enough.\n\n And usually the dark skinned Black women they put on were from Africa or the West Indies...not the United States.\n\n\n\ n I clearly don't comprehend Black Media as you are using it. I need your help. What is Black Media to you? I ask because when you say black media\, I don't think you see black media like I do. When I think black media I t hink black owned media\, meaning the money or the producer is black. Black panther is not black media. it is white media with black people in it. BE T is white owned\, that is white media with black people in it. Black owne d media is rare in the usa. BET was sold by a black man to whites\, who th en sold it to other whites\, paramount to skydance. TVOne is black owned\, by a black woman. I can't recall a black owned film production firm compa rable to the likes of disney/paramount/warner bros et cetera. Like Obama b eing the black president of a white country. Black presence doesn't mean w hites don't own or control. Black presence doesn't mean black people are e nslaved to whites but it doesn't mean black people own or control. \n\n\n \n You have made me think about this\, if someone ask me \, what is black media in the usa\, throughout my life. I have very little to say. \n\n\n\ n I will brainstorm the following\n\n\n\n BET for a very short time\, so n ot BET. \n\n\n\n Black Enterprise magazine\, going strong. \n\n\n\n I di dn't know about miss black america or miss black usa to a mature adult\, b ut going strong. \n\n\n\n TVOne going strong. \n\n\n\n The OWN network\, though I don't know if Oprah actually owns the OWN network\, so no OWN ca use I am not certain. \n\n\n\n Forty acres and a mule\, spike lees produc tion firm\, though alot of his movies he doesn't majority finance\,so I sa y no. I know Malcolm post production was financed by a collection of black people but the majority of production pre+filming was white. so \, no for ty acres and a mule\n\n\n\n Milestone comics\, but how much money did dway ne mcduffie and company actually provide. at the end of the day DC finance d those comics so.. no milestone\, and I love\, Blood Syndicate. It is my favorite comic from the usa. \n\n\n\n Amsterdam News\, my local black new spaper\, still going strng.\n\n\n\n Harlem Week in NYC\, still going stron g but that is local\n\n\n\n Jazzmobile\, was once really great\, but when billy taylor's spirit flew\, that really reduced the vitality of jazzmobil e\, but it is still going on\, albeit less potently.\n\n\n\n a show like l ike it is was local but financed by ABC. \n\n\n\n Killens Review is from MEdgar evers college\, but again\, Medgar evers gets alot of money as part of CUNY So white owned for me. it isn't a private college. and NYC\, or N YS state's government is white\, at least to me. \n\n\n\n The Olmec compa ny which made Sun man\, but they closed down. \n\n\n\n Ebony magazine or Jet MAgazine  I admittedly\, never saw my parents with an ebony or jet ma gazine. Some relatives would have them but it wasn't grandiose. and their firm went under and assets are owned by whites now to my knowledge\, thoug h I am not sure. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n if I look at my life and what is bla ck owned media in the usa\, which is what I think of is Black Media\,  th at I was aware of and still around. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Black Enterprise\ n\n\n\n Miss Black America+ Miss Black USA\n\n\n\n TVOne\n\n\n\n Amsterdam News\n\n\n\n Harlem Week\n\n\n\n Jazzmobile\n\n\n\n independent local med ia efforts by blacks who had money at the time\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So half of those things are local to me. all but two are regional\, north east. Bl ack enterprise or miss black america. \n\n\n\n So\, what region of the US A were you born in? Cause\, the midwest and deep south have nothing in my view\, even locally when it comes to black media. So.. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n I think dark skin black women locally in NYC have been very visible in l ocal media. I remember many posters as a kid\, local things\, festivals fa irs. That wouldn't reach far. Sun man was a toy but the audience was mostl y NYC. So... What is black media to you ? Because once I comprehend how yo u view black media I can comprehend your statements better. In my life\, w hite media is the dominant avenue for black presence in media\, and I don' t see any black presence in white media as indicative of anything black. C osby show. Fresh prince of bel air. A number of those black romantic films . Yes\, Black presence but we don't own those things. The truth is black p eople own very little in the usa\, but again\, that shouldn't be a financi al shock if black people are honest about our financial history in the usa . Slavery + Jim Crow were very real. 1980 to 2026 is only forty six years and not even of financial opportunity but financial allowance.  from 1492 to 1865\, enslavement\,  and then 1865 to 1980\, jim crow\, the black po pulace was intentionally stopped or stymied by white power\, by any means necessary\, and the black populace had no violent means to stop it. \n\n\ n\n Now\, I do argue black people needed to have a legal pro bono movement to somehow match all of the white crimes or illegalities against us by wh ites but that didn't happen. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/23/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-hear d-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79566\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Posted ju st now\n\n\n\n @Troy\n\n\n\n   On 1/22/2026 at 9:40 PM\, Troy said:\n\ n\n\n TLDR: but \"beauty\" pageants are a thing whose time has come and go ne... and they really need to get rid of the ones featuring little girl s. \n\n\n\n Too long didn't read ... the multilog\, ok:)\n\n\n\n Well\, I emailed the following to find out\n\n\n\n https://www.pageantplanet.com/\ n\n\n\n But based on unverified statistics your wrong. Pageants have not c ome and gone. And I can see how. With the advent of robotic labor\, a page ant is a thing a human must do that is competitive. Like human sports\, hu man contest of physical beauty must involve\, humans. Come and gone\, i do n't think so. \n\n\n\n And with that role\, the many pageants with little girls will remain. \n\n\n\n The industry of pageants makes a lot of mone y\, it will not go away because certain populaces distaste for them or the legal ramifications of the abuse in various instances. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n @aka Contrarian thank you for your comment\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/24/202 6\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-hav e-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79578\n\n\n\n @Troy\ n\n\n\n I was directed to the following location\n\n\n\n https://www.pagea ntplanet.com/directory/category/pageant\n\n\n\n I don't think pageants are even remotely dead or a thing whose time has \"come and gone\" . It is cl ear their time is now\, even with all who oppose them. I argue that pagean ts need some sort of legal management. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/24/2026\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you- ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /#findComment-79632\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Troy \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n I think they should disappear  but we clearly disagree on this.  What do you t hink about the idea of a beauty pageant for men.  We'd get to prance arou nd on a stage in our speedos being judged by a bunch of women.\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Well\, I don't oppose beauty pageants or support beauty pageants. My only desire is if beauty pageants exist\, black owned ones exist. And b lack owned beauty pageants do exist so I am content. I have no concern to beauty pageants as a warranted or unwarranted thing. I am only concerned w ith black people owning beauty pageants if they are present\, or a black p erson being able to own a beauty pageant if none other are present. \n\n\ n\n If the question is what do I think about someone black wanting to own a beauty pageant for men ? That is their business. I support them and I ho pe they gain whatever they want. \n\n\n\n If you are asking me\, if I wil l invest in a beauty pageant\, female or male or other\,  if I had money to invest? the answer is no. and I have never wanted to be a model. I had neighbors once\, a black couple\, both strip models. They made great money and had huge fandoms\, relatively. But none of that is for me.\n\n\n\n If you want to know off the top of my head what I rather be doing.\n\n\n\n I rather work on designing a boat and showing that off sailing it. \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   18 minutes ago\, ProfD said:\ n\n\n\n Off the top of my head...we could come up  the Alcoholic Olympic s. An event where people get drunk &\; try to do various things in comp etition to win prizes &\; money. \n\n\n\n isn't that reality tv shows? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/26/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https:// aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /page/ 2/#findComment-79743\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n sted 3 minutes ago\n\n\n\n @aka C ontrarian \n\n\n\n good point\, mister universe is a beauty pageant\, it isn't considered a beauty pageant for the connotative definition of beauty in the usa\, which suggest beauty is homosexuality or femininity\, not ma sculinity. But beauty is agender\, And a pageant is merely an artful produ ction\, a page as in page of a book. \n\n\n\n So literally\, by literal d efinition\,  mister universe is as much a beauty pageant as miss america. It is only the poor use of language in the usa that suggests otherwise.\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD + @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n Good dialog between you t wo.\n\n\n\n You both make excellent points. \n\n\n\n Profd I think Pionee r point has value in that it alludes to black people with money\, the blac k one percent\, have financially assessed the market and didn't arrive wit h a positive result. I have witnessed offline first hand various black one percenters say they wouldn't do a certain fiscal enterprise because they didn't see it as financially feasible. Do I think with two black female be auty pageants in the usa \, both at least over three decades old\, a black male pageant in the usa can't work? no.  But I do think it needs to be s old a certain way. And of course\, the prizes matter. As a white person sa id on a documentary about miss america i recall from years back\, I paraph rase\, many people in the womens movement hated miss america but miss amer ica sent many women to college. Maybe instead of college an investment opp ortunity. I know the percentage of black owned investment firms has risen sharply in recent years so this can be a  way of helping both. \n\n\n\n Pioneer\, I think Profd point has value in that it alludes to black people with money \, the black one percent\, not wanting to take financial risks at  certain level. I think many black people with money like investing w here whites invest first with the idea that the whites safety net they can climb onto as well. Lebron James owns a part of liverpool that has return ed a lot of money\, this is because of Liverpool\, the futebol club's fisc al scenario \, it earns a lot of money as part of the collective bargainin g with other teams in its league\, it is in europe so the financial legal system is straight forward and not muddled like in the usa\, thanks to Fra nklin deleanor roosevelt. But\, Lebron has the money to own a wnba team or similar and isn't doing that because to be a majority owner means to risk your money. Many whites who own big sports teams\, actually have debt lin es they use. Most blacks with money don't have the same debt lines so it i s a more potent risk. McCourt bought LA dodgers with debt money but sold i t to an investment firm for a huge sum so he can pay back debt and have do uble or triple what he paid. But you need to be blunt\, friends in the ban king sector for that plan. Most black people with money don't have that.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n in modern media entertainment  m ost buyers are looking to sell. Sports teams/golf courses/ beauty pageants the idea is\, you buy it now and it gains in media popularity and then yo u sell it later. with sports teams this works very well. The glazers bough t Manchester United football club for circa a billion dollars usa in two t housand and five\, now that club is speculated/viewed as worth on the mark et [honestly or dishonestly\, rightly or wrongly] six billion and six hund red million dollars. so that is a six hundred percent increase in value in a twenty year period\, a generation. WHich means thirty percent increase in value per year. Can a black male beauty pageant with no media legacy or heritage in an environment with gender definition problems get a thirty p ercent increase in speculative value per year? yes\, is the simple answer\ , because all things are possible. But the honest answer is\, who knows. H ow will men accept this contest? how will women? what if a cultural moveme nt comes along that stymies the idea? Alot of questions exist that hinder financially safe investors touching it. \n\n\n\n Thinking on this I argue \, it might be financially wiser to add a boyfriend of miss black america or miss black usa element to those pageants\, where the boyfriends of cont estants have a small contest. The female contestants wouldn't have to have a bofriend to enter miss black america or miss black usa as they never ne eded it before\, but for those that do\, a miniature contest can happen. t he winner of the boyfriend of miss black america or miss black usa earns w ith their partner a business investment opportunity with a black owned fin ancial investment firm\, where they are given money and the investment fir m puts up equal value.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n from 02052026\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12290-have-you-ever-heard -of-miss-black-america /page/2/#findComment-79983\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Che vdove \n\n\n\n any photos of you in the bikini contest?:) haha\n\n\n\n Th anks for sharing some of your experiences with the topic. \n\n\n\n Vaness a Williams is also a harlemite of new york city\, her father was a dentist if I am correct. \n\n\n\n and yes\, anything that exist\, if black peopl e want to control have to own their own. HAving something black own doesn' t mean black people are forced to use it\, but it means black people have an option that is black owned and has different rules. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n I see:) i am dictatorial in my style\, I stifle imag ination with the structure of my posts ok\n\n\n\n I your commentary did no t attack or offend the post. Talking about who contest beauty pageants is within the topic of beauty pageants. \n\n\n\n My point is that these two black owned beauty pageants have emphasized women who can not be deemed ye lla/white/mulatto while not excluding the range of all black women which a re all shades of brown.  And since they both exists in the usa\, which is a white european country\, I think they are fine examples of black owners hip that is honest to the larger situation of black people. \n\n\n\n My o ffense to your point\, is that your talking about black media pundits\, n ot the black owned beauty pageants. Said pundits are mostly male\, who are on white owned media outlets usually\, with their most beautiful black wo man is the yellaist black woman narrative... I don't connect black male pu ndits in white owned media  to black owned beauty pageants. It isn't that your wrong in assessing media pundits\, but said pundits don't have any c onnection  to the activities of the black beauty pageants. What matters i s that the black owned beauty pageants in the usa exist which emphasize th e value of the phenotypical aesthetic most black women in the usa have. Th e black pundits in white media may be more well known or heard than black owned beauty pageants but that means nothing. If I can find the black owne d beauty pageants anybody black can and in them you have the most positive qualities. Black ownership/ unmixed black aesthetic/embrace of the statia n black experience/ positive financial quality as both are decades old now .  What more can you ask for in the usa? in my mind nothing.\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n 02072026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/t opic/12290-have-you-ever-heard-of-miss-black-america /page/2/#findComment -80011\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n    5 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n my focus was that we need to make s ure the Black women were BLACK women.\n\n\n\n \n\n Not identity thieves.\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n They are brai nwashed too.\n\n See my point.\n\n\n\n I do gather that maybe you comment to my post just to get me to comment back\, but you speak of we and then i dentity theft and then brainwashing... \n\n\n\n In my mind I have many qu estions\, who is we ? who can determine if an identity is stolen or an ide ntity is open? who can determine if someone is brainwashed or simply of an opposing position? \n\n\n\n I realize that my discourse may seem overwhe lming or lacking space for oppositional discourse\, but\n\n\n\n when I thi nk of the black populace in the usa or beyond i dont think of a we. it is a set of many groups united only in skin or appearance\, some larger in po pulace\, some smaller in populace\, but not a we\, that can act as one who le unit.\n\n\n\n when I think of the black populace in the usa or beyond\,   I see many identities\, and not all are isolated\, some are congruent t o each other\, and I don't know of any authority in the black populace to give a label to one of the indentities to any black person\n\n\n\n when I think fo the black populace in the usa or beyond\, who can determine is br ainwashed. In my personal experience it isn't brianwashing but simply free choice that black people make that has led to frictions amongst black peo ple. When the black DOS christian churches in majority supported the war o n drugs\, which was a governmental program to cover the government creatin g and supporting multiple illegal drug industries in the black populace fo r the jim crowian purpose of harming the black populace\, it wasn't becaus e of brainwashing\, the black churches made a choice. The reason wasn't co mplicated. Black churches are not the oldest christian heritage in the bla ck populace of the usa. the oldest christian heritage in the black populac e of the usa is the negro spirituals of enslavement\, a heritage which has no bible\, cause black people weren't allowed to read\, nor a physical ch urch because black people weren't allowed to own land or have a home. \n\ n\n\n The black church heritage is the second oldest christian heritage in Black DOS history and is based on an integration with whites who wanted t o grow their religious communities with black members\, by building church es + schools for blacks. So\, the black church heritage was born of blacks willing to make deals with whites and place the responsibility of the bla ck populace in the usa on the black populace gardless of any white actions \, like burning a black town to the ground or making towns of black people sick or imprisoning town of black people\, all which happened more times than any court cases for it from 1865 to 1980. \n\n\n\n I am not a brainw ashing believer. I think humans make choices with full comprehension\, I t hink too many humans want to force mass action\, collective action and get frustrated when collective mass action is harder to achieve than they thi nk it should and call it brainwashing. \n\n\n\n I keep saying to you and profd\, alot of other black people don't think the way you do\, they are n ot wrong\, they are not right\, they are not brainwashed\, you two like my self\, must focus on finding and acting with likeminded black folk. \n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n so I say all of that to say\, I have nothing of value to ad d after your comment\, but I rather focus on positives and what can happen . Black people who are not interested in building something with other bla ck people solely\, are who they are. I can accept them. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250114 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Top Cow Talent Hunt DTSTAMP:20260206T025633Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:646-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n looking for folk\n\n\n\n https://www.facebook.com/groups/ 723403334749559\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260205 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Thomas More by Ian McKellen from Shakespeare DTSTAMP:20260205T231420Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:645-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n PREFACE\n\n\n\n Enjoy this speech on tolerance to the Str anger\, commonly called the immigrant today\,  with the argument that one who does not tolerate or treat positively the stranger if a stranger them selves would cry inhumanity at being treated as said one treats the strang er.   \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IAN MCKELLAN AS THOMAS MORE\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Video transcript\n\n\n\n 20:51\n\nUm\n\n20:53\n\nShakespeare uh wrote many plays\, 37 of\n\n20:56\n\nthem by himself\, but he also contri buted\n\n20:58\n\nto other people's shows. uh and uh one\n\n21:02\n\nof th e speeches he wrote for a play\n\n21:04\n\ncalled Thomas Moore\n\n21:06\n\ nuh has been preserved and it's the only\n\n21:10\n\nsample of his actual handwriting of some\n\n21:13\n\nof the words of a play by him and it's\n\n 21:16\n\nnot in the Fulier Library. It's in the\n\n21:18\n\nBritish Librar y. You can see it. It's on\n\n21:21\n\ndisplay there in London. And it hap pened\n\n21:23\n\nthat the play was never performed during\n\n21:25\n\nSha kespeare's lifetime because it was\n\n21:26\n\nthought to be a bit sedicio us.\n\n21:29\n\nIt had its actual premiere on stage in\n\n21:34\n\n1964 wa s the 400th anniversary of\n\n21:36\n\nShakespeare's birth and I played Th omas\n\n21:39\n\nMoore. So you are looking at a man\n\n21:43\n\n[applause] \n\n21:45\n\nwho uh who created a part by William\n\n21:48\n\nShakespeare. \n\n21:48\n\nSo this is handwritten. They know this\n\n21:50\n\nis his han dwriting of this monologue\n\n21:52\n\nthat you did\n\n21:53\n\nof a of a speech you probably don't know\n\n21:56\n\nbut you ought to because it's a \n\n21:57\n\nwonderful\n\n21:58\n\nI don't know that. Would you mind? Woul d\n\n22:00\n\nyou mind doing it for us?\n\n22:03\n\n[cheering]\n\n22:05\n\ n[applause]\n\n22:05\n\nNo\, I wouldn't. I I wouldn't mind\n\n22:07\n\nbec ause you'll enjoy it.\n\n22:11\n\nAll right. Live theater.\n\n22:13\n\nYes .\n\n22:14\n\nWhat's it [cheering] what's what's\n\n22:14\n\nwhat's the se tting? What's it take place\n\n22:16\n\nin the play?\n\n22:17\n\nUh it it this it's all happening 400\n\n22:20\n\nyears ago. Uh and in London\, ther e's a\n\n22:22\n\nthere's a riot happening. There's a mob\n\n22:24\n\nout in the streets and they're\n\n22:26\n\ncomplaining about the the presence of\n\n22:29\n\nstrangers in London\, by which they mean\n\n22:32\n\nthe re cent uh immigrants who've arrived\n\n22:36\n\nthere. And they're shouting the odds and\n\n22:39\n\ncomplaining and saying that the\n\n22:41\n\nimmig rants should be sent back home\n\n22:43\n\nwherever they came from. And uh the\n\n22:47\n\nauthorities send out this young lawyer\,\n\n22:49\n\nThom as Moore\, to put down the riot\,\n\n22:50\n\nwhich he does in two ways. o ne by saying\n\n22:54\n\nthat you can't riot like this. It's\n\n22:56\n\na gainst the law. So\, shut up\, be quiet.\n\n22:59\n\nUh and also being by Shakespeare with an\n\n23:01\n\nappeal uh to their humanity.\n\n23:05\n\nS o\, in order to set it up\, we really\n\n23:07\n\nneed somebody to shout t hat the\n\n23:08\n\nstrangers should be removed. Could\n\n23:11\n\nsomeone do that?\n\n23:14\n\nGrant them removed.\n\n23:19\n\nAnd grant that this your noise hath chid\n\n23:22\n\ndown all the majesty of England. Imagine\ n\n23:24\n\nthat you see the wretched strangers\,\n\n23:26\n\ntheir babies at their backs\, with their\n\n23:29\n\npoor luggage\, plotting to the po rts and\n\n23:31\n\ncoasts for transportation\,\n\n23:34\n\nand that you s it as kings in your\n\n23:36\n\ndesires\, authority quite silenced by\n\n2 3:38\n\nyour brawl\, and you in rough of your\n\n23:41\n\nopinions clothed . What had you got?\n\n23:46\n\nI'll tell you\,\n\n23:48\n\nyou had taught how insulence and strong\n\n23:50\n\nhands should prevail\, how order sho uld\n\n23:52\n\nbe quelled.\n\n23:54\n\nAnd by this pattern\, not one of y ou\n\n23:55\n\nshould live an aged man. For other\n\n23:57\n\nruffians\, a s their fancies wrought with\n\n23:59\n\nself-same hands\, self-reason\, a nd\n\n24:02\n\nself-right\,\n\n24:04\n\nwould shark on you\, and men like\ n\n24:06\n\nravenous fishes feed on one another.\n\n24:10\n\nYou'll put do wn strangers\, kill them.\n\n24:16\n\nCut their throats\,\n\n24:19\n\nposs ess their houses.\n\n24:22\n\nOh\, desperate as you are\, wash your foul\n \n24:24\n\nminds with tears.\n\n24:26\n\nAnd those same hands that you\, l ike\n\n24:28\n\nrebels\, lift against the peace\, lift up\n\n24:30\n\nfor peace. And your unreverent knees\,\n\n24:32\n\nmake them your feet to knee l to be\n\n24:34\n\nforgiven.\n\n24:37\n\nAnd say now the king\,\n\n24:40\ n\nas he is clement\, if the offender mourn\,\n\n24:42\n\nshould so much c ome too short of your\n\n24:44\n\ngreat trespasses but to banish you\n\n24 :48\n\nwith thee would you go?\n\n24:52\n\nWhat country by the nature of y our error\n\n24:54\n\nshould give you harbor? Go you to France\n\n24:57\n\ nor Fllanders\, to any German province\,\n\n25:00\n\nSpain or Portugal\, a nywhere that not\n\n25:02\n\nadheres to England. Why?\n\n25:07\n\nYou must needs be strangers.\n\n25:11\n\nWould you be pleased\n\n25:14\n\nto find a nation of such barbarous\n\n25:16\n\ntemper that breaking out in hideous \n\n25:18\n\nviolence would not afford you an abroad\n\n25:21\n\non earth? \n\n25:23\n\nQuet their detested knives against your\n\n25:25\n\nthroats.\ n\n25:27\n\nspurn you like dogs\, and like as if that\n\n25:30\n\nGod owne d not\, nor made not you\, nor\n\n25:33\n\nthat the elements were not all\ n\n25:35\n\nappropriate to your comforts\, but\n\n25:38\n\nchartered unto them.\n\n25:42\n\nWhat would you think\n\n25:44\n\nto be thus used?\n\n25: 49\n\nThis\n\n25:50\n\nis the strangest case and this your\n\n25:56\n\nmou ntedness\n\n25:57\n\nin humanity.\n\n26:02\n\nWilliam Shakespeare 400 year s ago.\n\n26:05\n\n[cheering]\n\n26:10\n\n[cheering and applause]\n\n26:12 \n\nThank you.\n\n26:15\n\nTickets [cheering] to an art are\n\n26:16\n\nav ailable now in the town. Everybody\,\n\n26:19\n\nwe'll be right back with a performance\n\n26:21\n\nby Earth.\n\n26:25\n\n[music]\n\n26:34\n\n[music ]\n\n26:37\n\n[cheering]\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Monolog official\n\n\n\n \"G rant them removed\, and grant that this your noise\nHath chid down all the majesty of England\;\nImagine that you see the wretched strangers\,\nThei r babies at their backs with their poor luggage\,\nPlodding to the ports a nd coasts for transportation\,\nAnd that you sit as kings in your desires\ ,\nAuthority quite silenced by your brawl\,\nAnd you in rough of your opin ions clothed\;\n\nWhat had you got? I'll tell you: you had taught\nHow ins olence and strong hand should prevail\,\nHow order should be quelled\; and by this pattern\nNot one of you should live an aged man\,\nFor other ruff ians\, as their fancies wrought\,\nWith self same hand\, self reasons\, an d self right\,\nWould shark on you\, and men like ravenous fishes\nWould f eed on one another.\n\nO\, desperate as you are\,\nWash your foul minds wi th tears\, and those same hands\,\nThat you like rebels lift against the p eace\,\nLift up for peace\, and your unreverent knees\,\nMake them your fe et to kneel to be forgiven!\n\nYou'll put down strangers\,\nKill them\, cu t their throats\, possess their houses\,\nAnd lead the majesty of law in l iom\,\nTo slip him like a hound. Say now the king\n(As he is clement\, if th' offender mourn)\nShould so much come to short of your great trespass\n As but to banish you\, whether would you go?\n\nWhat country\, by the natu re of your error\,\nShould give you harbor? go you to France or Flanders\, \nTo any German province\, to Spain or Portugal\,\nNay\, any where that no t adheres to England\,—\n\nWhy\, you must needs be strangers: Would you be pleased\nTo find a nation of such barbarous temper\,\nThat\, breaking o ut in hideous violence\,\nWould not afford you an abode on earth\,\nWhet t heir detested knives against your throats\,\nSpurn you like dogs\, and lik e as if that God\n\nOwed not nor made not you\, nor that the claimants\nWe re not all appropriate to your comforts\,\nBut chartered unto them\, what would you think\nTo be thus used? this is the strangers case\;\nAnd this y our mountainish inhumanity.\"\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n referral\n\n\n\n https: //www.out.com/gay-tv-shows/sir-ian-mckellen-shakespeare-stephen-colbert#re belltitem3\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n BACKGROUND\n\n\n\n Thomas More wasn't record ed as being staged during shakespeares life. The earliest recordings of it being staged are as follows.\n\n\n\n \n 1922 a three-night student prod uction by the Birkbeck College\, University of London\, in December\n \n \n 1938  40 students at the King's School\, Canterbury\, 4–6 Novembe r \, with P. D. V. Strallen in the title role. \n \n \n 1954 22–29 Ju ne at the London Theatre Centre for the Advance Players Association. It wa s first performed in Elizabethan costumes and then in modern dress\, with Michael Beint as More\n \n \n 1964 McKellen also played the role at the  Nottingham Playhouse 10 June–4 July \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Shakespea re's only surviving playscript now online\nThe Booke of Sir Thomas Moore d oes not immediately spring to mind as among Shakespeare's masterpieces. So what do we know about it?\n\n8 July 2020\nBlog series Medieval manuscript s blog\n\nAuthor Julian Harrison\, British Library\n\nThe Booke of Sir Tho mas Moore does not immediately spring to mind as among Shakespeare's maste rpieces. This late 16th or early 17th-century play is not always included among the Shakespearean canon\, and it was not until the 1800s that it was even associated with the Bard of Avon. So what is the connection with Wil liam Shakespeare\, the author of the more distinguished Hamlet\, Macbeth a nd Romeo and Juliet?\n\nA page of The Booke of Sir Thomas Moore\, arguably in Shakespeare's handwriting\nIn 1871\, William Shakespeare's handwriting was identified on this page of The Booke of Sir Thomas Moore: Harley MS 7 368\, f. 9r.\n\nA clue is presented by the handwriting of the surviving ma nuscript (Harley MS 7368). There are 22 leaves in question\, 13 of which a re original\, 7 are inserted leaves\, and 2 are pasted slips. What is imme diately apparent is that Thomas Moore was the work of several dramatists. The primary hand is that of Anthony Munday (d. 1633)\, and he was possibly assisted by the printer\, Henry Chettle (d. 1603–07)\, with further con tributions by Thomas Dekker (d. 1632)\, and perhaps by Thomas Heywood (d. 1641). The handwriting of yet another scribe in the manuscript\, known by scholars as the unspectacularly named 'Hand D'\, is possibly none other th an Shakespeare himself. Finally\, the manuscript is known to have been cen sored in turn by Edmund Tilney (d. 1610)\, Master of the Revels.\n\nThe di vision of the handwriting can be set out as follows. 'Hand D' (probably Sh akespeare) contributed an addition on ff. 8r–9v\, supplying lines 1–16 5 of Scene 6.\n\n‘Hand S’: Anthony Munday\n‘Hand A’: probably Henr y Chettle\n‘Hand B’: probably Thomas Heywood\n‘Hand C’: an unident ified professional scribe\n‘Hand D’: probably William Shakespeare\n‘ Hand E’: probably Thomas Dekker\nIt was not at all unusual for early mod ern dramatists to collaborate in this way. William Shakespeare is known to have written in partnership with John Fletcher (d. 1625) and others\, and it would have been logical for Munday to have turned to his fellow playwr ights to advise and assist him when revising his play about Sir Thomas Mor e (1478–1535)\, the early Tudor Lord Chancellor\, humanist and martyr. W hat is exceptional here\, of course\, is that Harley MS 7368 is the only i dentifiable example of Shakespeare's contribution to a playscript survivin g in manuscript. None of his other plays have been transmitted to us in th is way. What is more\, in these pages we can perhaps see the master playwr ight at work\, musing\, composing and correcting his text: a window into S hakespeare's dramatic art\, as it were. \n\nText on brown paper. Harley MS 7368\, f. 8v.jpg\nAnother page from Shakespeare's probable contribution t o The Booke of Sir Thomas Moore: Harley MS 7368\, f. 8v. Harley MS 7368\, f. 8v.jpg\n\nThere is a remarkable sub-text to William Shakespeare's contr ibution to Thomas Moore. Andrew Dickson\, in an article ('Wretched Strange rs') for the British Library's Discovering Literature site\, has noted how William Shakespeare was presumably called upon by Munday to write the mos t emotional passage in the play\, known as the 'insurrection scene'. Drawi ng upon events in 1517\, when rioting Londoners demanded that immigrants b e expelled from England\, Shakespeare portrayed Sir Thomas More\, as mayor of London\, pleading with the crowd to accept the asylum seekers.\n\nImag ine that you see the wretched strangers\,\n\nTheir babies at their backs\, with their poor luggage\,\n\nPlodding to th’ ports and coasts for trans portation\,\n\nAnd that you sit as kings in your desires\,\n\nAuthority qu ite silenced by your brawl ...\n\nThis was all the more remarkable when on e realises that similar xenophobic riots had occurred in London in the 159 0s and 1600s. Was Shakespeare making a case in The Book of Thomas Moore fo r racial tolerance? By putting words into Thomas More's mouth\, was he mak ing a barbed attack upon the prejudice of his own day?\n\nThe Book of Thom as Moore was probably never performed in the time of its authors. The Eliz abethan censor\, Edmund Tilney\, took serious dislike to the playscript\, and it seems to have been banned from public performance. The manuscript i nstead passed into the Harley library and was then sold to the British nat ion in 1753\; it might have remained in oblivion were it not that Shakespe are's style\, and hence his own handwriting\, was first recognised in the 'insurrection scene' in 1871.\n\n\n\n\n referral\n\n\n\n https://www.bl.uk /stories/blogs/posts/shakespeares-only-surviving-playscript\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n Photos of shaekspeare's script\, aka don't give your child guff about their handwriting again\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n M ORE ABOUT THE PLAY\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Referral\n\n\n\n https://en.wikipedi a.org/wiki/Sir_Thomas_More_(play)\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260205 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Don't Call Me Crazy! I'm Just in Love Paperback from Swiyyah Nadirah Woodard DTSTAMP:20250826T015241Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:478-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Don't Call Me Crazy! I'm Just in Love Paperback – Febru ary 4\, 2014\n\n by Swiyyah Nadirah Woodard @Swiyyah\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n OF FICIAL SITE LINK\n\n\n\n https://swiyyah.com/products/dont-call-me-crazy-i m-just-in-love?variant=47024628924635\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n more books from t he author\n\n\n\n https://swiyyah.com/collections/all\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n S he believes she’s found the man of her dreams. But what if her mind is p laying tricks?\n\n \n\n Anika Muhammad struggles to trust men. But after m eeting a handsome playa in her business course\, she unexpectedly falls he ad over heels. Yet she can’t forgive his once-wandering ways and is para lyzed by paranoia that he must be cheating.\n\n \n\n Seeking something bet ter\, Anika gravitates toward an attractive artist whose religious beliefs open her up to a new spiritual world. But some part of her still wants to marry her smooth-talking ladies’ man\, and her desperate choices are dr iving her to the edge of sanity.\n\n \n\n Can Anika conquer her inner demo ns before she loses the guy who truly holds her heart?\n\n\n\n \n\n https: //aalbc.com/tc/topic/11790-urban-fiction-women-fiction-readers/\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250204 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Finding Sisqo\, a writers quest DTSTAMP:20260205T010237Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:643-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Deep Space Nine is my favorite Star Trek show\, even abov e the original series and my second favorite is Discovery. So my biases ar e on the table. \n\n Now\, if someone said to me\, Rich\, we want a show to find Captain Sisqó. \n\n My first thoughts will be what do I know abo ut Captain Sisqó's departure. I know who: sisqo\, when: stardate given\, where:the prophet temple \, what: fought gul ducat and negative entities\, how: joined prophets \, why: prophecy\, it was foretold. Last but not lea st\, Sisqó himself said he would return to be with his family: Jake + Cas sidy. \n\n Second\, what don't I know? \n\n Any clues or definition of w hen Sisqó would return. Which means I need to figure four things: \n\n 1 ) when sisqo returned to Jake+ Cassidy\, who was pregnant when he left\, a nd what did they do.\n\n 2) why did Sisqó have to leave again after retur ning to Jake+ Cassidy\n\n 3) what role does the prophets or the Q have wit h that eden like place found in star trek discovery.\n\n 4) when will sisq o be found in the context of Star  Trek Starfleet Academy\n\n Third\, whe re should anyone in Star Trek Starfleet Academy begin to search for Sisqó ? \n\n The answer in my mind is obvious with all the players of Deep Spac e Nine.\n\n Jake- he will see his father as an older man[ rest in peace To ny Todd] \, but that will not be the Prophet Sisqó so to speak\, and that Jake while surprised didn't seem like he was waiting for Sisqo then. so\, writers have work to do\, but have one clue which keeps star trek's timel ine together. Michael Burnham's husband can find Jake's writings. If they can find a VHS tape of Fae Valentine's old self\, anything is possible. Ye s\, non star trek but\, data storage of writings should be findable.\n\n C assidy- she was pregnant\, she had to live to when Sisqó would see her ag ain. But that doesn't mean after that moment when he went missing again\, she was the same. \n\n For Jake+ Cassidy Star Trek offers some convenient tools. They can leap through time in cryogenic tubes\, khan noonian singh does it all the time. Scotty survived in a transfer buffer for decades. S o tools exist to leap frog Cassidy or Jake\, especially through the fall o f the federation\, which keeps Discovery's continuity. \n\n Dax - is a tr ill and Dax can still be alive\, even though the trills have gone through challenges\, so maybe Dax is dead or maybe Dax is so old the old identitie s are silent. Dax needs to be spoken to.\n\n Dr Bashir-  he was genetic m odified so I am not certain he has to be dead. And he wasn't in hiding whe n the show ended and had relations with other genetic modified doing vario us calculations or activities.  All his work or notes over the years need to be researched or found. \n\n Major Kira- what is the status of Bajor? based on discovery\, it is unknown to the audience cause the federation d iminished in size and was near death as an organization. so\, Bajor is cha nged. But where does that put Bajorans? Got to go to Bajor and see if any priests or priestess have anything\, the ki's right?\n\n The prophets - th ey need to be talked to\, if any will know they will. If their gateway is still the wormhole outside Bajor well. got to talk to them.\n\n Odo- He wa s changling\, changling do die and get old \, but changlings can survive a long time and last we saw him he was in the collective to heal them. With the Jim hadar\,/Klingon guy\, maybe he may be able to ask someone. Odo ne eds to be found and it connects to Kira\, whom I can't imagine didn't see Odo again before she died. \n\n Worf- His sone Alexander is going to beco me \, through Voyager\, a Klingon scientist who discovers how to time trav el. How did he do that? That can be useful. Even considering the fall of t he federation\, where did Alexander go?\n\n Chief Obrian- He is one of the few crew members who I can't see a connection to getting a clue for Sisq ó. He left back for earth. The one thing I will suggest is\, he was a tra nsporter operator in next generation before becoming a chief so maybe he h ad an event in the annals of the federation. \n\n Quark- A ferengi\, Quar k was one of the characters always on the lookout for the others. The fere ngi may be greedy but the ferengi travel\, gossip\, hear whispers\, the gr eat river\, his nephew Nog\, rest that actors soul\, and his brother was a genius. So\, Maybe Quark made a record of something\, heard something and placed it in the financial records. I imagine ferengi's keep their taxes for a long time and with the fall of the federation and growth of the Orio n's I can see Ferengi's doing generally well. \n\n Vic- the 1950s bar pro gram on deep space nine. Like the Doctor of Voyager who seems to be a char acter in Academy\, the bar program is long lived \, as long as it has enou gh memory and where it is stored  isn't damaged by nanites or violence. V ic as a resident of deep space nine and a popular bar will have privy to a long list of gossips or information. It is worth a search.\n\n NOTE: To b ad the section 31 guy in Deep Space Nine passed away because based on Mich elle Yeoh's time with them\, I bet they know something. \n\n\n\n So... Th e idea of finding Sisqó is fine on the surface. Deep Space Nine \, if the y will respect it\, gave the general outline. \n\n 1)Sisqó left at the e nd of Deep space nine.\n\n 2) Stuff happened.\n\n 3) sisqo returned to Jak e + Cassidy + the new child older\n\n 4) Sisqó left again for some reason \n\n 5) stuff happened\n\n 6) Sisqó is found somewhere\, whether it be fo retold or prophecy or because of a negative agent. \n\n\n\n 2 or 5 is whe re you can fill the blanks with a lot. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n FORUM POST\n\n \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12434-writer-a-producer-for-skydance-said- they-want-to-find-sisqo-in-the-new-show-star-trek-starfleet-academy-what-s ay-you/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENTS\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 02042026\n\n\n \n From a story perspective I have a lot to say\, but I will take one angl e I didn't mention elsewhere on this topic.... legends don't happen becaus e of the past\, England has many mythological old kings\, why does arthur matter more than many others? Arthur unlike the others had a court which m yth made multiracial \, french/scottish/welsh/english/irish/german knights all sat at the table in myth\, this appealed to the future better than ot hers. What is my point ? they happen because people in the future deem it relevant to their own passions. . Based on star trek discovery\, what rele vance did Sisqo and the prophets have to the survival of the federation? H ow did that survival relate to the survival or jake or cassidy and sisqo's second child or their bloodline? As a writer do I wish I was the one to m ake this happen? yes. Has paramount or skydance paramount shown they can p ositively manage adding to the literature of the the star trek global fran chise ? no. I don't think star trek starfleet academy is bad. Nor do I hat e the chris pine films. But\, they all could had been better. My argument is they all lack the ambition of Roddenberry. As shatner's documentary pro ved\, many people in paramount seem to think roddenberry was crazy and it shows in star trek after his death. Many have said academy is daring or of the times\, but I oppose that sentiment. I think academy is written in an opportunistic way. It is not challenging the audience's perceptions but c atering to what some in the audience want to see while also catering to wh at some in the audience don't want to see. IT isn't challenging the writer s to really build an honest lens to something that hasn't been shown in a world that has multiple shows plus movies as part of its literary life.\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260204 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Nicki Minaj is Omarosa 2026 DTSTAMP:20260129T052026Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:636-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n just place the face\n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n   https://pho tos.app.goo.gl/G9RxaEaqCzGNepML9\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n citations\n\n \n\n nicki minaj has her gold card\n\n\n\n https://www.msn.com/en-us/music /celebrity/nicki-minaj-shows-off-trump-gold-card-after-publicly-defending- president-says-she-is-finalizing-citizenship-paperwork-as-we-speak/ar-AA1V cU6w?ocid=BingNewsSerp\n\n\n\n old status post\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/t c/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=1459&\;type=status\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n NICKI MINAJ\n\n\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nicki_Minaj_on_ her_support_for_President_Donald_Trump_-_January_28\,_2026.wav\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Nicki\n\n\n\n sung by Donald Trump in a cheerleader outfit\n\n\n\n written by Richard Murray / HDDeviant / RichardMurrayHumblr\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n REFRAIN 1 BEGIN\n\n\n\n Oh Nicki\, satisfy\n\n\n\n satisfy\, you lif t my hype\n\n\n\n hey Nicki\, hey Nicki\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 1 END\n\n\n\n REFR AIN 1\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 1\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 1\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 1\n\n\n\n You've been blinging too long my student for this night \n\n They think you've got it wrong but I know you've got it right\n\n You'll never say goodbye  \n\n But you can't take me home\, Nicki\n\n\n\n 'Cause when I say you will \, it never means you won't\n\n You're aidin me my wills \, negress\, plea se never don't\n\n Every day you still tweet my name with yours\, Nicki\n\ n\n\n REFRAIN 2 BEGIN\n\n\n\n Oh Nicki\, what a pity\, they don't understa nd\n\n I take you in my heart when you take me by the hand\n\n Oh Nicki\, you're so wity\, can't they understand?\n\n It's gals like you\, Nicki\n\n Ooh what you sell Nicki\, sell Nicki\n\n Here's some Trump dough \, Nicki \n\n\n\n REFRAIN 2 END\n\n\n\n Hey Nicki\n\n\n\n Now when you grab me by t he card\, who's ever gonna know\n\n Every time you move\, A little more pl astic grow\n\n There's some clicks you can use\, so don't say no\, Nicki\n \n\n\n So come on and let me give it anyway I can\n\n Anyway I want to do it\, you'll take it like a ham\n\n Oh please negress\, please color up my maggots Nicki\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 2\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 1\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 1\n\n\n\ n REFRAIN 1\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 1\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 2\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 2\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 2\n\n\n\n REFRAIN 2\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Inspired by Mickey performe d by Toni Basil originally written as Kitty by Mike Chapman and Nicky C hinn\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NOTE: \n\n\n\n wity - original definition use\, c omes from wile which means tricking deceitful\n\n\n\n pity -original use\, meaning a duty\, a loyalty\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260129 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 32 01/28/2026 DTSTAMP:20260129T043604Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:635-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The Trumpaccounts + Trumpcard have begun. \n\n\n\n https ://trumpaccounts.gov/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://trumpcard.gov/\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n Trump Accounts\n\n\n\n thinking on it reminds me of the bonds gra ndparents would get their grandkids in the usa in years past. The website says all a parent has to do is put in one thousand dollars for a child and it will grow for said child\, even if said parent doesn't put any more mo ney. But\, five thousand dollars can be placed in as a maximum per year.  \n\n\n\n I see an interesting gap. The website says the money will be inve sted in firms in the usa and parents/guardians can see the valuation of th e investment. They say\, at eighteen a child can extract for a home or col lege.\n\n\n\n The financial questions I have are the following\, what firm s in the usa can guarantee a positive return on investment every year\, no matter what? And\, can the money when the child is eighteen be extracted as raw cash? the website doesn't give important specifics\, but I did noti ce the following.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The small text says\, estima tes are for illustration only and are based on an account opening at birth with $1\,000 opening deposit and are derived from historical S&\;P [ s tandard and Poor's] 500 averages. Actual results may differ and are not gu aranteed. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So\, while the webpage suggest guarantees\, the disclaimer for lawsuit suggest it isn't guaranteed. Essentially\, thi s whole program is the federal government as a broker. A broker can't guar antee you money but a broker may provide a nice set of profits. But it all assumes\, the broker will do well. I wonder what will choose the firms to invest in. I bet anything a large language model will be used to choose w here the money is invested in... historically\, the usa had a culture that mirrored this modern drive. It was the culture of stock market investment before the crashes before commonly called world war one. What many may no t know is the usa before said war\, had a huge culture of stock investment brewing. The crashes plus the war ended that culture\, and led to the eve ntual Securities and Exchange Commission. \n\n\n\n Well it is a risk\, bu t I gather the larger idea. Many don't know but the United States of Ameri ca demands a citizen pay $2\,350  to revoke their citizenship. \n\n\n\n https://www.usa.gov/renounce-lose-citizenship\n\n\n\n https://travel.state .gov/content/travel/en/legal/travel-legal-considerations/us-citizenship/Re linquishing-US-Nationality-Abroad.html\n\n\n\n I argue this serves the rev erse function. Tying people and children to the usa through investment. \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NOTES\n\n\n\n What will the money be invested in?\n\n\n \n Funds will be invested in a diversified portfolio of low-cost index fun ds designed to maximize long-term growth while minimizing risk.\n\n\n\n Wh en can funds be used?\n\n\n\n Funds can be accessed without penalty when t he child turns 18 for qualified expenses like education\, a first home pur chase\, or starting a business. Withdrawals may be subject to restrictions and would be taxed at ordinary income rates.\n\n\n\n Can I contribute to my own account?\n\n\n\n Once you start earning income\, you can make contr ibutions to your own account. This is a great way to develop good savings habits early in life.\n\n\n\n How can corporations participate?\n\n\n\n Em ployers may choose to contribute to the Trump Accounts for their workers o r their workers’ children\, supporting early savings and financial readi ness. Employers may choose to offer employees a salary reduction program u nder a “cafeteria plan” so that employees can make pre-tax contributio ns to Trump Accounts.\n\n\n\n Are corporate contributions tax-deductible?\ n\n\n\n Yes\, corporations can contribute up to $2\,500 to Trump Accounts on behalf of their employees' children. All contributions are tax-deductib le.\n\n\n\n Can philanthropists make donations?\n\n\n\n Yes. Nonprofit org anizations and local governments can contribute to Trump accounts of all c hildren in a state or qualified geographic area.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Trump Card\n\n\n\n for individuals\n\n\n\n gold card version- fifteen thousand p rocessing fee plus one million dollars for US residency\n\n\n\n platinum- for foreign nationals\,  fifteen thousand processing fee plus five millio n dollar contribution for the ability to spend up to 270 days in the Unite d States without being subject to U.S. taxes on non-U.S. income.\n\n\n\n f or business\n\n\n\n For a $2 million contribution\, receive U.S. residency in record time with the Trump Corporate Gold Card for your employees. Aft er a $15\,000 DHS processing fee* and background approval\, onboard your p referred candidate. Your Trump Corporate Gold Card allows your business to transfer access from one employee and grant it to another with a small\, 5% transfer fee\, which includes the cost of a DHS background check. A 1% annual maintenance fee will also apply.\n\n\n\n *Additional small fees to the U.S. Department of State may apply depending on the applicant.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NOTES\n\n\n\n Can family members apply?\n\n\n\n Yes. If an ind ividual applicant or corporate sponsor wishes for a spouse or unmarried ch ildren (under 21 years old) to join the cardholder in the United States\, then each such family member should be included as part of the initial app lication. This will ensure that these family members receive all of the pr ivileges conferred by the Gold Card Program\, including expedited processi ng. Each family member is subject to an additional $15\,000 DHS processing fee and $1 million gift.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n How do applicants pay?\n\n\n\n $15\,000 nonrefundable processing fee: Credit Card (U.S. and international)\; ACH debit (U.S. bank accounts only).\n\n\n\n $1 million or $2 million gift payment (depending on type of applicant): Upon receivin g an email after vetting is complete\, applicants or their corporate spons ors should instruct their banks to use an ACH debit or Swift Wire Transfer (U.S. and international bank accounts) according to the instructions prov ided at that time.\n\n\n\n Visa-related fees: The applicant will receive i nformation directly from the U.S. Department of State on how to submit the visa application fee and payments for the required medical examination.\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Both are basically inves tment channels into the usa. the accounts goal is scale\, if they get enou gh accounts they will influence the market\, the same way\, retirement fun ds\, which are collections of individual investments have huge value. the cards goal is for the worlds rich\, they can afford them easily but allows an ease through bureaucracy.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n On an aside both websites say they are official websites of the united states government.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n and something from warren buffett 1999 nebraska forum\n\n\n\n 0 :03\ntesting one million two million three million that's working okay\n0: 08\ni i'd like to uh talk to you about your financial future and i hope th ose figures become applicable to all of you\n0:15\nas we go along at uh uh and i'd like to start\n0:20\nuh by posing a problem for you and instead i 'm just gonna talk for a couple minutes and we'll do q a because\n0:26\nwh at we want to do is talk about what's on your mind but i'd like you to thi nk about this for just a second\n0:31\nif as we walked out of here today i said i would like to buy\n0:38\nten percent of your financial future i wa s going to write you a check today\n0:44\nand from this day forth you were going to give me 10 percent of everything you\n0:50\nearned how much woul d you want to charge me for that i'm going to buy one tenth of you\n0:57\n and i may take the low bid incidentally so be careful what you uh right no w well i think if you thought\n1:03\nabout that a little while i should yo u can contemplate that for a few minutes you know you're gonna get a check for me today\n1:10\nand you can do anything you want with the money but f rom this day forth you have to give me\n1:15\n10 of what you earn i think it would be very foolish of you any of you if you asked for less\n1:24\nth an say thousand dollars now it's gonna be a few years before you're out ea rning money and so i've got a few years of dead\n1:29\nmoney there but the n i would start getting this royalty on you as you went along so i really think that if you thought about\n1:35\nit you'd most of you would want a f air amount more than that i think you'd be right\n1:41\nfortunately i didn 't make this deal with anybody when i started out so nobody's got a 10 roy alty on me but i\n1:47\nthink that 50 000 would sort of be the absolute mi nimum and if you think about that that means\n1:55\nthat right today you a re worth five hundred thousand because of ten percent of you is worth\n2:0 1\nfifty thousand in cash today your potential\n2:06\nis worth a minimum o n 100 basis of 500 000 that is the big financial\n2:12\nasset you've got i t's way more important what you do with that 500\n2:17\n000 asset that you own today than whether you decide to buy stocks or\n2:24\nbonds or whethe r you put your money in a mutual fund or pick your own stocks or anything of that sort\n2:29\nthe biggest financial asset that you have going for yo u by miles\n2:35\nis the value of your own earning power over the years so that's really what you should focus on if you're focusing on your financi al\n2:42\nfuture that means you should finance focus on you because whethe r you're 10 percent is\n2:48\nworth 50 thousand or a hundred thousand or t hree hundred thousand which would be five hundred thousand or\n2:53\na mil lion or three million for all of you whether it turns out to be one or the \n2:59\nother is really dependent uh in a very large part on what you do i n the next few years\n3:05\nall of you in this room have the brains to do extremely well in life you've all\n3:11\ngot the energy to do extremely we ll in life and then the question is how do you apply it if you've got a 20 0 horsepower\n3:17\nmotor you get 200 horsepower out of it you get your fu ll potential or do you get 100 horsepower\n3:23\nor 50 horsepower now ther e's two things that can hold you back\n3:29\nin getting the full horsepowe r out of your your engine whatever it may be all of you have big enough en gines\n3:35\nand one of those is a lack of education but that probably isn 't going to happen to very many people in this room\n3:40\nif you did have a lack of education if you didn't have a chance to get a decent education in life it wouldn't make any difference what\n3:46\nthat potential was be cause you'd never unlock it but the second most important thing and\n3:52\ nequally as important is in terms of the habits that you develop in terms of what you do with yourself\n3:58\nwhen we hire people we look for three qualities we look for integrity we look for\n4:05\nintelligence and we loo k for energy but if they don't have the first one integrity the other two will kill you because if\n4:12\nyou're hiring somebody without integrity y ou really want to be dumb and lazy don't you i mean you know the last thin g in the world you want forms to be smart energetic so\n4:19\nsmart and en ergetic only goes with integrity but the nice thing about\nIntegrity\n4:26 \nyou know you make your own decision on that you can't change your iq or how far you control football\n4:31\nor how high you can jump or the color of your hair very easily but you can\n4:37\nelect to have integrity that m atches anybody else's and if you match that\n4:42\nwith intelligence which you have and energy which you have uh you will get an extraordinary resul t\n4:48\nand you'd be very foolish to sell me ten percent of yourself for fifty thousand on the other hand if you don't match it with that your\n4:5 3\npotential will in a significant part go unused and i'll give you a litt le\n4:59\nsimple test to apply in terms of thinking about the kind of habi ts you want to develop because you can have any habits you want to be you can be\n5:06\nyou can be lazy you can be prompt you can be you can be late you can be honest you can cut\n5:11\ncorners i mean you have all these ch oices and those are choices for you to make nobody else is going to make t hem\n5:16\nfor you and i would suggest that you play this little game with me too uh think about the person you would most\n5:24\nlike to be in life so maybe it's one of your contemporaries maybe somebody a little older bu t pick\n5:29\nout the person you admire the most the person that you'd cha nge places with it if you could and then\n5:34\nwrite down why you admire them just put it on a piece of paper and then figure out the person that y ou would\n5:40\nleast like to change places with you who really turns you off who do you find repulsive and list the\n5:47\nreasons why that person turns you off so much and put those down on the other side of the\n5:52\np aper and then look at that list and you'll find that everything on the lef t hand side\n5:58\nwhat you admire in other people the qualities they brin g to life cheerfulness you know generosity all\n6:05\nkinds of things you' ll find those are things you can do yourself it's very simple you gotta ap ply yourself but the habits\n6:11\nyou form and doing that early on will c arry you through life and on the other hand you'll find that\n6:17\nthe th ings that make people repulsive selfishness obnoxiousness all these things egotism\n6:22\nare things that no one has to have if you find those in yo urself you can get rid of them as long as you get rid of\n6:28\nthem early so all i suggest is that you write you write down a list of what what you admire what you find uh\n6:35\ncontemptible and decide that you know the ones on the on the\n6:40\nat admired side are ones you're going to acquire for yourself and if you do that when you're young it'll carry you through the rest of your life this\n6:46\ndoesn't work if you do it when you're 5 0 or 60. by then the habits are too well formed\n6:54\nbut if you do it ea rly behavior becomes becomes a habit so if you do that two or three years from\n7:01\nnow if you go through the same exercise you'll find out the pe rson you admire the most is yourself that can be a\n7:07\nlittle dangerous under some circumstances but it uh but it's not it's not a bad thing i me an you want to be somebody you like\n7:14\nand you don't want to be somebo dy that you're that you dislike and and uh form those habits early\n7:21\n you basically can't miss now i'll give you one other small piece of advice that's just a corollary on this\n7:26\nand then we'll get to your questio ns and and that is as a general matters of one piece of\n7:32\nspecific fi nance financial advice i would say you know\n7:37\navoid credit cards just forget about them we're in various businesses that issue credit cards the american public loves\n7:43\ncredit cards but if you start revolving debt on credit cards you're going to be paying 18 or 20 percent and you can't make\n7:52\nprogress in your financial life going around borrowing money a t 18 or 20 percent\n7:58\nyou can make a lot of money by lending it out at 18 or 20 over time you know if you can find anybody that's good that\n8:0 4\nwill borrow from you but you don't want to be on the side of the equati on that's always behind in life\n8:11\nyou know i was lucky i'd saved abou t ten thousand dollars by the time i got out of school that ten thousand d ollars was\n8:18\nreally worth millions i might have earned later on becau se after you get a family and everything the expenses roll in but but thos e were my\n8:24\ntools to work with but it was only because i was ahead of the game if you're behind the game by ten thousand dollars at some point and\n8:30\npaying 18 or 20 interest on it you will never you know you'll n ever get out of it so\n8:36\nthe trick i've got a partner that says all i want to know is where i'm going to die so i'll never go there you know\n8: 42\nand uh and that's true in financial matters as well you want to figure out where you don't want to be\n8:48\nuh ahead of time and avoid that and i get about a dozen letters a day from people who are having terrible\n8: 54\nproblems and there are two reasons why they have terrible problems one is a number of them have had health\n9:00\nproblems of some sort i mean t hey have really been hit by some or somebody in their family has been hit by some kind of catastrophic\n9:07\nillness and that is a you know it's a terrible thing to happen to any family and they get in they run up bills t hey\n9:13\ncan't pay and and really only society can solve that one uh uh in terms of protecting people against\n9:20\nthat that's just plain bad lu ck but the other one is from people who run up credit card debt\n9:26\nand uh they're facing bankruptcy or they've been through bankruptcy once befo re and they owe a whole bunch of money and\n9:31\nthey can't they can't ev en pay the interest let alone pay any principal and half of my letters com e from people\n9:36\nlike that and that that that problem is avoidable cat astrophic illness is not but but uh\n9:42\ncredit card debt is something y ou bring on yourself and it's way better it's way easier to stay\n9:48\nou t of trouble than to get out of trouble financially and and i will guarant ee you if you run\n9:53\na big credit card that you will be in trouble uh probably the rest of your life in terms of uh your financial situation\n10 :01\non the other hand if you get ahead of the game uh even it's on a very modest scale so that\n10:07\nmoney is coming in from investing and you're you're people owe you money or equities owe you\n10:14\nownership you'll be way ahead of the game compared to paying it being always being paying y our creditors\n10:20\nevery month so my advice to you is uh if you can't p ay for it don't buy it and get yourself in a\n10:28\nposition where you ca n pay for anything and then we'll be glad to see at borsheims or the nebra ska furniture market\n10:34\nnow let's uh let's have some questions do we have a mic out there that people\n10:39\ncan either go to or that travels around and i can't necessarily see too well\n10:45\nfrom um we're gonna ha ve one mic on each side so just raise your hand and wait for us to come to you\n10:51\nokay we have somebody up front like a mic [Music]\n10:57\nany thing that's on your mind ask about don't don't don't be bashful\nFinancia l Advice\n11:04\nyeah how would you advise people who aren't necessarily g oing into a career field in which you would make a\n11:10\nlarge base sala ry such as like medicine or something like that maybe\n11:16\nperforming a rts or music how would you advise us to keep up financially with the rest of the\n11:23\nworld well it is true that a market system\n11:29\nuh does not pay as well in some in some activities as as\n11:36\nmight seem approp riate for the importance of those activities the society just take teachin g for example i mean\n11:43\nteaching does not pay well and what could be more important i mean you know you've got to be as\n11:48\nas interested i n who you're the teachers of your children are as who your accountant is o r you know\n11:54\nwhatever or who's winning the heavyweight title of the world or that sort of thing but but it doesn't it doesn't pay well and\n12 :00\nand it's a fundamental choice uh whether you're going to go into some thing\n12:06\nthat for many people it'd be a fundamental choice whether yo u're going to go into something you love or something to\n12:12\nto try an d make a lot of money i think that generally it pays to go with what you l ove\n12:18\ni think that it's very hard to find people when they get to be my age who\n12:24\nsay they're on that they've loved what they've done al l their life and feel was very worthwhile uh but they're terribly sad they made\n12:31\nthat choice because they didn't make a lot of money i i don' t think anybody's ever ever said that to me that they wish they'd gone\n12 :36\ninto something else where they were uncomfortable doing it or didn't enjoy it didn't feel very productive but\n12:41\nmade a lot of money so i don't think you'll find that so i would i would i would go to work\n12:47\ ni would go to work in whatever turns you on it may turn out that it'll it 'll be more\n12:52\nprofitable than than you can think but almost everybod y here will make enough money unless they get some terrible\n12:59\nhabits along the way to do reasonably well and and doing reasonably well in this country\n13:04\nreally is is uh is pretty darn good i mean it is it's not necessary to have\n13:12\nuh huge amounts of money in order to enjoy your self i enjoyed myself when i was at my ten thousand dollars and i live in\ n13:18\nthe same house that i lived in when i was making when i had about that i bought it 41 years ago i like the house then i like the house\n13:2 5\nnow i mean if you think about it if you have a reasonable job\n13:31\ny ou'll be eating at mcdonald's and i'll be eating mcdonald's so we're we're to push on on on food i mean you know in fact i\n13:37\nhope it's dairy q ueen actually and maybe and if you come to dairy queen you'll see me and y ou can order anything on the\n13:43\nmenu i can order we both can afford i t uh you know you'll you'll wear the same\n13:48\nclothes i wear i'll pay more for my suits but as soon as i put them on they look cheap on me so we 'll look about the same and um\n13:55\nwe'll both live in the same kind of houses i live in that house from 41 years ago and it's it's it's warm in winter and it's cool in summer and it's\n14:02\ncomfortable and you'll liv e in a house that's that's similar and then and what difference does it ma ke is if you\n14:07\nhave 50 more rooms or you know guest houses or all th at you know it'll probably just bring you problems i mean you have to worr y about\n14:13\nthe about the greenskeeper or something when you get throu gh so i i i have been in the houses of people uh\n14:20\nwhere the houses are worth um oh probably 200 times what my house is\n14:26\nworth and i wo uld not be any happier in those houses at all in fact i'd be less happy i just have one more thing to\n14:32\nto worry about and you know the dozens of people around the place and people quitting and people stealing from\n 14:38\nyou and all kinds of things to hell with it yeah we drive we'll dri ve the same kind of\n14:44\ncar in fact you'll probably drive a better car i drive a car's about eight years old i don't know what it's worth now bu t it gets me around fine i mean i i'm\n14:50\nperfectly happy we'll watch we'll watch the same television you know we'll work on the same computer p retty\n14:56\nmuch the only difference will be how we travel long distance s you know i will fly in a plane that's\n15:04\nmore comfortable than than flying southwest airlines or something which i've got nothing against but \n15:10\nthat's the one real big difference and other than that i do what i like every day i hope you you'll do what you like\n15:15\nevery day to d o and i work with nice people i hope you work with nice people uh and that 's there's 24 hours in the day\n15:22\nand those are where the hours go so great wealth uh\n15:28\nis the tiniest bit different in a real sense than having just a\n15:34\ndecent a decent income and and to trade\n15:39\na d ecent income and something you love doing and something where you feel wor thwhile doing it\n15:45\nfor huge wealth where you trade off a lot of your principles would\n15:51\nbe a terrible mistake\nSuccess\n15:58\nwould you not acknowledge your success more on yourself or from the help and teachi ngs of others\n16:03\nwell i had i had i was very lucky in life uh if you tell me who your heroes are i\n16:10\ni will make a pretty good prediction about how what you're going to do and i i i had the right heroes i was ve ry\n16:17\nlucky in life and my heroes never let me down and started with my dad and then i had others in business and so\n16:24\ni have had great t eachers some formal teachers some that were just\n16:31\ninformal teachers teachers by instinct or example and if i hadn't had those\n16:37\nuh you know my life i'm sure would have been very different if i'd been born anyp lace else when i was i was born in\n16:43\n1930 uh and at the time\n16:48\ none out of 50 births in the world were in the united states so i came in against 50 to 1 odds against being born\n16:54\nin the united states i wou ld have i would have been a disaster you know if i'd been born in afghanis tan or\n17:00\nor peru or some place i mean i was i won i won the lottery the day i was born you know by being born in this country so\n17:06\nhave you uh i mean you you the odds were\n17:11\nprobably 40 to 1 against you b eing born in this country and that were five times more likely to have\n17 :16\nbeen born in in china six times and four or five times more likely yo u've been born in\n17:21\nin in india or some other place where it would n ot have been as easy to exploit the full potential of your\n17:28\ntalents so we've all won the lottery in that respect and and that's just plain lu ck i mean it uh\n17:34\nand i was lucky to be born at this time i mean cap ital allocation is something that pays off extremely\n17:40\nwell in the s ociety now but it doesn't pay off in other societies and it didn't pay off you know many years ago my\n17:46\nmy friend bill gates says that if i wa s been born a few thousand years ago i'd have been some animals lunch\n17: 51\nyou know i i can't run very fast and i can't climb trees and you know i just happen those are talents\n17:58\nnobody asked me to climb trees now but uh there was a time when it might have been important and\n18:03\ninc identally bill would have been some animals breakfast i mean he can't run so fast either but uh in any event uh\n18:10\nyou know we are lucky i mean just imagine being born a couple hundred years ago with exactly the same talents\n18:16\nand how far they would have taken you then you know the av erage person today lives so much better than\n18:21\nthe richest person li ved 100 or 150 years ago so uh i'm lucky in that respect lucky to be\n18:2 9\nborn of terrific parents i was lucky to be raised in omaha in a in a gr eat public\n18:35\nschool system i got a start here in the first eight gra des they gave me a foundation\n18:40\nthat later when i went off the track a few times uh carried me through because i had a terrific grade school e ducation\n18:47\nin right here in omaha rose hill and one of the reasons i had it incidentally is kind of\n18:52\nunfortunate but i had that great e ducation in part because women were being\n18:59\nenormously discriminated against and so a woman at that time could be a teacher she could be a\n19 :04\nsecretary she could be a nurse you know and that was about it so he h ad a half the talent pool in the united\n19:10\nstates limited to just a f ew jobs so you had an abundance of talent\n19:16\nuh in those activities l ike nursing or teaching because uh that talent with males was spread\n19:2 2\nacross every act every form of work activity there was but with women i t was concentrated in a few areas and that\n19:29\nthat benefited me it's kind of sad because it didn't benefit those teachers but but i was very lu cky and i've really\n19:35\nbeen that way all my life and what i do is wha t i do\n19:40\nis important as you know what a good teacher does or a good nurse does or something of the sort you know i think that's quite\n19:46\ nquestionable it pays off enormously well in a market economy like the uni ted states and\n19:51\nbut that's an accident didn't have anything to do w ith any innate ability of mine\nTechnology\n20:00\nmy name is marinatsed a nd i attend omaha central high school good for you fine institution now mr \n20:07\nbuffett technology has been a great factor in um stimulating the world economy\n20:12\nwhat are your predictions for the future of the tech nology industry and what what is its future role in\n20:19\nworld economy and the united states economy yeah well it's there's no question it's turn ing the world upside down it's\n20:25\nit's done done it somewhat already but it will you know it's just beginning but it's\n20:30\nmoving very fast i met gates on july 15 1991 i was out\n20:36\nthere for a fourth of july uh celebration with a friend and\n20:41\nuh who subsequently died in green field with the washington post and she took us down to visit the gates fam ily\n20:47\nand he tried to educate me about high tech and he had better l uck with chimpanzees\n20:53\ni mean i i was i was really a disaster but bu t he's a good teacher but one thing he he told me was that\n21:00\nat the time he said you know you've got this model in your head of the world and your model has\n21:08\ntime and distance as very limiting factors and he s aid they aren't limiting factors anymore he said you know\n21:14\nthe cost of talking to somebody around the world or getting your message in front of\n21:19\nsomebody or publishing is it's going to be zero and they're so close to zero it doesn't make any difference and\n21:25\nyou know that was revolutionary but it's happening already in a in a very very big way and it's just uh what eight\n21:32\nyears later and and it's it's exploding so \n21:38\nhigh-tech information technology whatever you want to call it is changing the world and it's going to\n21:45\nchange it in a very very big way it'll change i mean that's one of the things i think about in business es we buy\n21:50\nuh we announced the purchase uh yesterday of a uh furnit ure retailer in in in\n21:56\nboston in the boston area and you know i thi nk to myself what effect does this new world have in terms\n22:02\nof the internet on furniture retailing i mean you have to think about questions l ike that the changes will be huge i will i played\n22:08\nbridge yesterday uh with people uh all over the country but i played it with people all ov er the\n22:14\nworld i just sit down on my computer and i've got some popc orn there and i'm in khakis and a sweater and i i can have a bridge game i n 30 seconds\n22:20\nwith people all over the world and uh no cost to it b asically you know that's a lot different\n22:26\nthan trying to arrange a game with four people in omaha you know on a day when one guy wants to pla y golf another wants to watch baseball and i\n22:32\nmean it's it it just it changes things in huge way uh we are very fortunate i mean it's\n22:40\ nin the degree to which the united states leads the world in this area i m ean we have a lead it's\n22:46\nhard to think of who's in second place and 15 or so years ago this country had an inferiority complex it'd be hard f or\n22:53\nyou to remember because you weren't old enough to be around the m but in the in the early 80s we were wondering\n22:58\nwhether the german s and the japanese were going to own everything and that they were going t o make all the steel and they were going to make all\n23:03\nthe cars and everything else and the television sets and we were going to flip hamburge rs that was the standard line\n23:10\nand just imagine in a short period l ike 15 years how that's changed around in an important way that's changed\ n23:16\nbecause of this information uh a revolution uh\n23:22\nwhere we li ke i said i don't know who i don't know who you would name as being in sec ond place in the world but here's\n23:27\nthe most important industry in t he world and the united states has this incredible position and we're movi ng all\n23:33\nthe time with that position so i think that argues for a ve ry\n23:39\ni think it argues for a terrific future for the world over time and i think it argues even more for a terrific future for this company a\ n23:45\ncountry what are the best ways for youth to get started now in sec uring their financial\nFinancial Future\n23:52\nfuture for for what to sec ure their financial future\n23:57\nfor you youth oh well it's not it's not very complicated uh it goes back to getting full use out of\n24:06\nyour own talents first i mean the difference between whether you're going to be earning x or 2x or 3x\n24:11\na year uh 20 years from now uh is going to be a function of how well\n24:19\nnot how much talent you have but how how well you use the talents you already have and\n24:24\nuh so that is the y our best financial future is your own ability and and\n24:31\nand your uh a capacity to to use those abilities to their\n24:38\npotential and they c an't take that can't be taken away from you can't they can't even tax\n24: 43\nit i mean you know most things if if you wanna you know a piece of rea l estate if they\n24:49\ndouble the taxes they double the taxes and that c hanges your ownership in the property because now in effect the taxing aut horities own\n24:55\nmore of it because they've got a greater command on t he revenue stream uh the same thing about\n25:00\nalmost any asset you hav e but they they don't tax what's in your head\n25:06\nand they don't tax y our ability to start performing when you when you get to work in the morni ng\n25:12\nand finish in the evening to to your potential one of the thing s that amazes me is how\n25:18\npeople who really do perform well just sor t of jump out at you once you're running a business when i got out of scho ol\n25:24\ni thought you know everybody would behave that way but they don 't most people sort of go go through life in a sleep\n25:31\nwalk and and it if you don't you will stand out so the big the\n25:37\nbiggest thing fo r your financial future is yourself now beyond that it is always being ahe ad of the game rather than getting behind\n25:43\nthe game it's saving a l ittle no matter how you do it i mean i delivered papers i worked at pennie s i sold golf balls i had a pinball machine\n25:49\nround i did a lot of t hings that enabled me to accumulate about ten thousand dollars by the time i got out\n25:55\nof school uh ten thousand doesn't go as far now as it d id then but it\n26:00\nhaving anything so that you're ahead of the game an d not getting behind the game is enormously important i mean just you\n26: 07\nknow if you're gonna run a hundred hundred yard dash against a bunch o f people in life\n26:12\nif you can figure it out so that when the gun goe s off you're 10 or 15 yards ahead instead of 10 or 15 yards behind it's\n2 6:18\ngoing to make an enormous difference in how that race comes out so h aving having\n26:24\nsome net resources doesn't make much difference wheth er they're in stocks or bonds in my view but uh\n26:30\nand not having deb t when that gun goes off when you get out of school is a huge plus over be ing behind the\n26:37\ngame and uh you know it may come from delivering a paper out in the morning it may come\n26:43\nfrom part-time work someplace but but put aside a few dollars for yourself but uh\n26:49\nso that when the time comes and you enter you enter the workforce uh you're ahead\n26:5 4\nof the game and not behind and then once you get there don't get behind by buying a whole lot of things that you figure you're going to pay for s ome\n27:00\nday while you're paying 20 interest in between students if you could please say your\nEducation\n27:06\nname and school when you ask a q uestion hard for me to see anymore the microphone is but i can\n27:15\nmy name is patrick doherty and i'm from papillion la vista high school i was wondering with the increasing\n27:21\ncosts of education today what can st udents do to deal with their debts once they're out of college\n27:28\nwel l that's a tough one i mean i guess i'd pay it off as fast as i could and i would incur as little debt as\n27:34\nas possible in in before that time came and i would say\n27:40\nthis [Music] in my experience in business\n2 7:49\nthere is very little difference if any between a very high priced bu siness\n27:55\neducation and what's available a lot for a lot less money s o i i\n28:01\ni went to the university of nebraska at lincoln my last year in college i went to wharton for a couple years before\n28:07\nthat uh i learned just as much at the university of nebraska as i did at wharton at uh\n28:13\nand there's nothing against wharton i mean it's just me we had a very good school here i had some terrific professors at lincoln and so i i would not assume\n28:22\nthat if i was paying a few thousand dollars fo r an education uh here in the state for example versus\n28:28\npaying huge amounts elsewhere that it was going to make a lot of difference uh uh mos t of a lot of the education\n28:37\nuh and you need to be prodded in the r ight direction but an awful lot of it is is itself is self-taught uh\n28:4 4\ni mean andrew carnegie did a wonderful thing in this country in terms o f libraries and i used to spend a lot of time\n28:50\nat libraries i think i got locked in at the university of omaha one what was then the universi ty of omaha and they had i couldn't get out for hours and one\n28:56\nnigh t i got so entranced with what i was reading but it there's there's all ki nds of information available now with the\n29:03\ninternet it's so much yo u know easier than it was then so uh it's out there to be taken\n29:09\nan d it isn't necessary to pay 30 or 35 000 a year to go to some big name sch ool\n29:17\nto get the education at all i mean if you're going to learn ac counting if you're going which is probably the most important\n29:22\ncour se you'd take in business if you're going to learn account you can learn a ccounting absolutely as well in my view going to you and always going\n29: 29\nto to harvard i mean i see i i would i'd bet on that and\n29:35\nso i wouldn't run up huge bills in terms of getting a\n29:42\nbusiness educatio n now you know if you're going to get a medical education i mean there's c ertain professions where\n29:47\nthere may not be any way around spending a fair amount of money and getting in debt to some degree\n29:52\nyou've g ot to make that decision yourself but i'd certainly try to minimize it and uh and i would sort of i would have\n29:59\nit figured out how i would ha ndle that debt in say a five year period after i got out of\n30:05\nschool or i would think twice about incurring it there's a question up here if w e can bring a microphone\nYouth Advisory Council\n30:13\nuh my name is kyl e clark i'm here representing the omaha youth advisory council um what adv ice would you have for a\n30:19\nforming non-profit organization for formi ng a non-profit organization well i've always tried to avoid forming\n30:2 5\nnon-profit organizations but uh well that would that would depend\n30:3 1\nentirely on what i wanted to accomplish i mean it you know it'd be one day it was a hospital it could be another thing\n30:36\nuh you know there' s a there's so many types of it so i you know you've got to get people tha t\n30:42\nare that are experienced and involved uh in an entity like that and uh\n30:50\nbut it depends so much on the on the objective uh you're wo rking at uh\n30:58\nyeah i promised this young lady here microphone for a long time\nCivic Involvement\n31:05\nhi my name is kara harbert and i atte nd millard west high school and i understand that you're very civically in volved and i was wondering\n31:11\nhow important of a quality you think th at is for an individual in life and why yeah well i wouldn't say that i am that\n31:17\ni mean i i do certain civic things i think i think your your model as a citizen for example in omaha would be walter scott i mean he\n 31:24\nis far more civically involved than i am and uh incidentally his pr edecessor peter\n31:29\nkiewit was too but walters carried it to new heigh ts so i uh i don't want to take uh on any mantle\n31:36\nfor that myself i do some things uh one of the problems i have is i love\n31:42\nwhat i do so much that that it sort of takes over i mean i'm like a guy that likes t o play a lot of\n31:48\ngolf or something except i like i like the busines s i'm in but uh i've got a family that\n31:53\nparticipates very actively uh some of my children work on almost\n31:59\nanything that comes along in the civic area and you know it's you do in the end people\n32:05\ndo what they want to do to quite a degree and and uh i think\n32:10\ni've never t alked to anybody that that enjoyed working in civic activities that\n32:16 \ndidn't feel was very worthwhile after they've done it i mean they built something and participating in building something is\n32:21\nalways a lot of fun and and actually you have a good time we have this golf tournament for example in\n32:26\nseptember and we raise some money for something but everybody has a good time so nobody's paying any price\n32:31\nby doing i t i'm having a good time the people who come are having a good time and uh we get to show em all off to\n32:37\npeople but you should be enjoying th ings that go along and you will if you work in\n32:42\ncivic activities th at that that interest you and you can do the same thing in politics i mean that\n32:48\nuh you know if you if you get if you find political ideas\n3 2:56\nor politicians who particularly uh you identify when turning on you can get\n33:01\na lot of self satisfaction out of out of working and you'r e doing something worthwhile so i\n33:06\njust just follow your instincts on that that'd be my recommendation\n33:17\n[Music] hi my name is jeremy g raham from millard south high school\nEconomic Problems\n33:24\nwe're prob ably the i guess the elite youth of today and i've questioned\n33:29\nwhat do you see as the problem the biggest economic problem facing the youth o f today going into the future\n33:37\nyeah i i don't think you that you're going to have enormous economic\n33:42\nproblems i think you will live in a society where the average person lives better\n33:50\nby a significant margin than the average one of a generation earlier or two generations ear lier that's been the\n33:56\nhistory of this country it's a marvelous coun try that way i mean it when you think of it we have four and a half percen t of the world's\n34:01\npopulation you know and and what's been accomplis hed here is incredible 53\n34:07\npercent of the of the value of corporati ons that are publicly traded in the world exist in\n34:13\nthe united stat es with four and a half percent of the population this country always has done well uh\n34:19\nthey say in stocks that you should buy stock in a bus iness that's so good that even an idiot can run it\n34:25\nbecause sooner or later one will and and that's not terrible advice well that seems to ha ve been sort of the\n34:30\nhistory of this country from time to time i me an we've had all these problems that have come\n34:35\nalong if you look b ack in the last hundred years and list all the problems those countries ru n into you know you make a very long list and a\n34:41\nlot of people who focused on those problems at the time have missed the bigger picture and t he bigger picture is that every generation\n34:48\nlives better than the o ne before and that's because of uh that's because of\n34:53\nsavings becau se savings enable people to create new tools to do better things as they g o\n34:58\nalong and it's also due to an environment that lets people reali ze their potential to a greater\n35:05\ndegree than most other environment s in the world it's far from perfect i mean it's it's sad how far it is fr om perfect\n35:12\nbut it is better than anything else around i mean in th is country uh you've got you don't\n35:18\nhave some commissar or somethin g running a you know a big business in this country you've got a guy like jack welch\n35:24\nand a fellow like jack welch makes a difference of nigh t and day in terms of the productivity of that\n35:31\nbusiness over a per iod of decades and productivity is what a is what causes the standard of l iving to rise so\n35:37\nanything that a system that throws up the jack we lch's of the world to run businesses is going to have an enormous advantag e\n35:44\nover a society that does it by heredity or that does it by gover nment edict and\n35:49\nwe've got we're closer to that society that i've d escribed than than anything than any other country and\n35:56\nit's it's l ed due to great things and it will continue to lead to great things so i t hink i think you've got the best future uh\n36:03\nyou know you don't face you don't face a war and you've gotta you you've got a a great\n36:09\nuh you've got a better uh future in terms of uh\n36:16\nachieving material r ewards than any generation in history so i wish i could trade you places i might\n36:24\nget taken up on that by a few of you though\n36:37\n[Music] hi i'm ryan wilkins from millard west high school and um i was wondering if you or if you\nY2K\n36:45\ncould uh speak for mr gates were afraid of t he impact of y2k on the economy or\n36:51\nspecifically the stock market y eah well i'm i'm i'm glad you gave me a chance to bring in other people be cause i\n36:56\ni'm the last guy in the world understanding about y2ki you know i don't know why this microphone's working i don't know you\n37:01\n know why likes go on or i i flip on the switch of my television set and pr ay i mean it's all it's all beyond me but i would\n37:09\nsay this the sma rtest people i know in that area uh in large part\n37:14\nthink it's going to be a non-event at uh uh in this country i don't i can't speak\n37:20\n for the rest of the world but uh so i think uh i think you'll wake up on\n 37:26\njanuary first and find the world hasn't changed from december 31st now i would say this you might you might\n37:32\nget a whole bunch of frie nds to write your checks for a billion dollars on december 31st and deposi t them and you know who knows what'll happen can't\n37:38\nlose anything i mean i like to just bounce and if the system gets followed up you know yo u you might find a lot of money in\n37:44\nyour account but i wouldn't cou nt on it there wait we have a we own a company called executive jet\n37:50 \nwe have about 14 or 1500 uh customers who own pieces of airplanes with u s and we so we've got a hundred and\n37:57\nwell we got 160 of their plane s and some of our own flying around it'll be very interesting to me to see \n38:02\nwhat the advance people let us know ahead of time when they want to use it it'll be very interesting to see how many sign up\n38:09\nfor ja nuary 1st at 1201 but it'll uh i it wouldn't bother\n38:14\nme to fly him in the least on january 1st or do anything else on january 1st\n38:21\nide ally i hope the getting prepared to watch the huskers play in the big game \nGood Economics\n38:29\ni'm jamie solis from twin valley and i was wonder ing how do you decide what you'd invest your time and money in\n38:36\nyea h well i i i like to find businesses that have good economics now\n38:42\n what what are good economics well good economics are a business that has s ome kind of a moat around it that\n38:49\nmakes its product or its service or its location or something a little more desirable than to the\n38:55\n customer than any other sort of comparable product uh you know the number one candy bar in\n39:01\nthe last 30 or 40 years has been snickers people don't fool around with different candy bars they fool around with\n39:07\n different length dresses they fool around you know with all kinds of thing s but they don't fool around with candy bars\n39:13\nbecause they figure y ou know they're going to go in and lay out 50 cents or whatever it is and put it in their mouth and they're not going to for 50 cents\n39:19\nand pu tting in your mouth i mean you're not going to say i'll i'll put in i'll l ay out 45 cents and put something else in my mouth so\n39:25\nyou find tha t very stable and we like businesses that we think we can figure out where \n39:31\nthey're going to be in 10 or 15 years i don't know where the info rmation technology businesses are going to be in 10 or 15 years i know whe re snickers\n39:37\nbars are going to be in 10 or 15 years they're going t o be selling just about you know the way they do now i know where wrigley' s gum is going to be in 10\n39:42\nor 15 years p there's not going to be a lot of innovation in in in chewing gum\n39:48\nuh the and people the inte rnet's not going to cause people to quit chewing gum either i mean at leas t i mean gates may think so but i don't\n39:53\nthink so but uh it's it's predictability\n40:00\nregarding the sustainability of a competitive advan tage some something special about a product so we look for those kind of p roducts\n40:07\nand then we look for people that are running the business that are honest and able\n40:12\nand you know that's it's easier to find p eople that are honest and able than it is to find\n40:19\nbusinesses that are going to stay wonderful for a long period of time they're a lot of bus iness that looked\n40:24\nlike they were going to stay wonderful but reall y evaporated over time but that's what we're looking for and\n40:30\nthe n ice thing about is we don't have to find very many if we find one a year t hat's terrific\n40:35\nyou know because you don't you don't need a hundred or a thousand great investment ideas to do well\n40:41\nyou need a couple and uh if we the discipline is the most important\n40:47\nthing we don't need brain power we need discipline that uh you don't need 150 iq to do wh at i do\n40:53\nthank god you know you don't need 140 you know 835 you may need 115 or\n40:59\nsomething like that and and but you do need disciplin e you have to wait\n41:04\nuntil you see the fat pitch to swing at because investing is a no-call strike game you\n41:10\nknow if i were a baseball player and i only like pitches two inches above my navel\n41:15\nyou know some guy could learn that and he could pitch me you know three or four inc hes below that i get called out on strikes because i\n41:21\nnever find a pitch i like you can get call out on strikes in baseball you have to you h ave to swing at pitches\n41:27\nthat you you don't even necessarily like p articularly after the count gets to two strikes in business\n41:34\nyou do n't have to swing at anything you can sit there and the paper says general motors at 68 or it says general electric\n41:39\non 115 or says general d ynamics at 63. and if you don't like those prices you\n41:44\ndon't have t o swing you can wait there day after day after day after day and there are no called strikes now\n41:50\nwhen you swing when you decide to buy somet hing then you know if you swing and miss it's a strike but\n41:56\nit's a marvelous game to be in because there are no called strikes and you can si mply wait for that one time in a month or six\n42:04\nmonths or a year or two or three years when you really know what you're doing where you like t he price or you like the people running the\n42:10\nbusiness and then you swing and you only need a few swings in your lifetime so that's the way we try to pick\n42:15\nbusinesses we try to stay with things we understand i mean there can be all kinds of\n42:20\nwonderful investment opportunities out there that i don't understand i don't know what cocoa beans are going to do next\n42:26\nyear you know maybe you know but i don't know i i don' t know what i don't know what uh crude oil is going to solve for\n42:31\nb ut i don't have to know i just have to know the things i have to know what i know i\n42:37\nhave to know where the limits of my understanding are wh at i call what my circle of confidence is and if\n42:45\ni'm only able to evaluate five percent of the businesses in the world no problem i just sta y within that five percent and\n42:51\ntry and find something uh and that' s most people get in trouble because in investments because they uh well t hey\nDiscipline\n42:59\nget itchy you know they can't discipline themselve s and they hear about other people making money nothing upsets people so m uch as\n43:04\nto hear about their friends making money i mean it's that t hat's very destructive to discipline because they think\n43:09\ni'm smarte r than that guy next door and he just just bought that new car with the mo ney made trading stocks on the internet so why can't i\n43:15\nwell the an swer is you can't over time you will lose money if you trade stocks active ly and uh it's it's hard to exercise the\n43:23\ndiscipline but anytime yo u buy something you should be able to take out a\n43:28\none-page sheet of paper and say i'm buying general motors it's 65 i'm buying general electr ic 150\n43:35\nbecause and you should write down the reasons if you can't if you can't fill out the sheet\n43:41\nif it's because somebody told me a bout it at a cocktail party last night that's not good enough if it's beca use my broker told me about\n43:46\nit that's not good enough you know it' s uh you've got to have a reason\n43:51\nfor thinking that it makes an int elligent investment you do the same thing if you're buying a farm or an ap artment house if you're buying a farm\n43:57\nyou'd say i'm buying this fa rm with a thousand dollars an acre because i think i can earn sixty dollar s an acre on it\n44:02\nif corn sells it such and such and soybean cells a nd such and such and yield as such and such and you'd\n44:07\nfigure it ou t that's the same reason you buy businesses and when you buy stocks you're buying a little piece of a\n44:13\nbusiness and that's probably the most important thing to remember in in investing is that when you're buying a s tock you're buying\n44:19\na little piece of the business and if you are b uying it at an attractive price for the business for the whole business\n4 4:25\nyou're gonna make money and if you aren't you know over time you won 't make money\nMoral Standards\n44:34\nhi my name is cliff mcavoy from elk horn mount michael um reverend jackson jesse jackson talked to us earlier\ n44:40\nhe seemed to believe that the moral standards of today's society w ill eventually affect us in business\n44:45\nhow do you feel this will aff ect us as youth growing up in the united states he said the moral standard s will affect us how like moral decay\n44:53\nin society today will affect us in business by how we feel and how we interact with other people\n44:5 8\nwell i think very difficult to quantify moral standards over time i\n45 :05\nmean that you know you could you could pick out huge weaknesses at an y given time in\n45:11\nterms of how people or the country is behaving and and and huge strengths so i think it's\n45:17\nenormously difficult to qu antify i think by and large we have made progress in\n45:23\nwhat i would call institutionalized moral standards in this country i mean the the the uh you know in terms\n45:31\nof slavery in terms of the uh in terms of i m ean the women women couldn't vote you know a century ago\n45:38\nuh they w ere half the country were second class citizens in that respect in a barri er\n45:43\nand they had much lesser rights in terms of inheritance and all kinds of things\n45:49\nthe income tax didn't exist a hundred years ago s o the\n45:55\nidea of taxing people according to to how much that they ben efited from\n46:00\nsociety and their income uh didn't exist so i think in terms of institutionalized\n46:06\nmoral standards the country has made r eally quite significant progress uh in\n46:13\nthe in the last hundred yea rs i think you know there's an enormous distance to go i think we're going in the right direction\n46:18\nmaybe by fits and starts but i think we're going in the right direction and i think that uh\n46:24\nuh you know it w ill be a it will be a significant plus to\n46:29\neverybody in this room i f they live in a more moral society 40 years from now than a less moral bu t i think the odds\n46:35\nare that they will i think the country moves in that direction very difficult to do it all kinds of interests that work a gainst\n46:41\nit but in the end i think the american people want it and\n 46:47\nyou saw it in civil rights i mean it took television to dramatize w hat was going on and people that weren't near it\n46:53\npreferred not to think about it but it got through to the conscience of the american people \n46:59\nand a lot of progress has been made there and there's a lot left to be made but there it's better than it was and the pace may\n47:07\nseem very slow to those people involved and i can understand that uh the pace you know for\n47:13\nwomen's suffrage i mean that went for decades and dec ades and decades a woman couldn't be on a jury i was\n47:19\nreading the t rial of clarence darrell which took place in california about 19 i don't k now 10 or 11\n47:26\nyou know there were no women on the jury the woman wa sn't allowed to be on a jury they weren't citizens in that sense so\n47:32 \nit's the moral behavior of the country has in my view\n47:38\nimproved b ut it uh you know and it'll continue to improve and i hope you all in this room do your part to\n47:44\nhelp it improve\n47:52\nhi i'm nick george f rom uh central high and uh i was wondering how uh since the stock\n47:59\n market's so high right now if it'd be smart for us to get to get involved now or to wait till\n48:05\nuntil it goes down a little or what yeah i can 't tell you whether or not to buy stocks now generally\n48:11\ni think it' s important that you save money you know and whether whether you put in th e stock market\n48:18\ni don't think is terribly important i think if you' re interested in stocks you should you should buy it you know\n48:24\nand you've got a little capital you should buy a few i mean i don't think ther e's any way of learning about them better than experiencing doing it on\n4 8:30\npaper isn't the same i can guarantee you if you lose money on paper or lose real money it's a different experience and uh uh\n48:38\nand so i i think there i think you'll learn more about yourself uh if you do it tha t way i bought my\n48:45\nfirst stock when i was 11. i was actually i was at rose hill at the time and i bought three shares of city service preferr ed\n48:52\nat uh 38 and it went down to 27 which is something i still reme mber even though i\n48:58\nwas 11 at the time uh and then it went up to 40 and i sold it i made five bucks on my three shares after commissions and\ n49:04\nthen it went to 200 and something so uh you know i i probably reme mber that a little better than if i'd been doing it\n49:10\non paper you k now and i fooled around doing a lot of things between about age 11\n49:16\ nand 19 in the stock market i did charts i did all kinds of technical anal ysis i read every book i\n49:21\ncould get on the subject and i didn't do that well i didn't do terrible but but i did i was really just\n49:28\nflo undering around but by that meant by the age of 19 when i read\n49:33\nben graham's book i was at the university of nebraska in lincoln i went and b ought this book called the intelligent investor just come out\n49:39\nand it had an enormous impact on me now if i hadn't done in the previous eight years if i hadn't\n49:45\nbeen all over the lot i'm not so sure that that book would have had the same impact on me i mean i was by that time i was prepared\n49:51\nto read ben graham's book which changed my life financia lly in an incredible way i mean uh\n49:59\ni wouldn't be up here today if i had read that book but yeah part of life is getting prepared\n50:05\nso that when something does happen that's significant you can grasp the signi ficance of it and\n50:12\nknow what to do with it and i would say that fir st eight years of fooling around even though it produced nothing\n50:17\nf inancially to speak of uh produced a lot in terms of getting my mind prepa red\n50:23\nfor when i really did read something that made sense so i was ready to accept it and i actually went back and went to\n50:29\ncolumbia t o study under the under graham and because of of reading that book and all \n50:36\nkinds of things flowed out of it so i would encourage you if you' re interested in the field\n50:42\nuh to to do a few things i still try an d make\n50:47\nit as intelligent as possible i would try to stick with thi ngs businesses i thought i understood i'd still get out that sheet of pape r\n50:54\nand i'd write i'm doing this because and just test my reasoning then i go back and read it a year later and\n51:00\nand see whether what y ou thought would be true turned out to be true so i would always check mys elf i believe\n51:05\nin grading myself on everything you know doctors hav e post mortems and they they do it because they learn\n51:11\nfrom postmor tems and business people don't like to do postmortems when i'm i'm i can b e on the board of a company\n51:17\nand they get about owners building pla nts or buying companies and they never wanted two years later to\n51:23\nr un a check on how that decision turned out because it it can be unpleasant uh but you learn\n51:29\nfrom postmortems and you don't want to learn it' s way better learn from other people's mistakes than your own but you got to\n51:35\nlearn from a few of your own too and the time to do it is when you're young\n51:41\nwe can do maybe one more and then we wrap this up at one dewey or maybe maybe two more\n51:48\nmy name is pete walsh i'm from c reighton prep and my question is to what extent do you\n51:54\nfeel that t he government with the the current policies of welfare and social security \n51:59\nis it financially competent and fiscally prepared for the future well\n52:06\ni i think that the country as a whole is quite quite well pre pared for the\n52:12\nfuture that doesn't mean that adopt would adopt ever y policy they have but but\n52:18\nuh i think a we have an enormously rich society enormously rich society and it'll get\n52:24\nricher everyone isn 't going to participate in that some will won't participate because\n52:29 \nof physical disabilities others because of mental disabilities other bec ause of shortcomings in the education they\n52:35\nreceived when they were growing up all kinds of reasons we have a prosperous enough society to\n5 2:41\nbe able to take care of of those people and we should take care of t hem and how we do it\n52:46\nso that they feel most useful in life and how we do it so that we continue to encourage people to be more productive th emselves and all that\n52:52\ni mean those are not easy questions but but that shouldn't take our eye off the ball of\n52:58\nfeeling we should do s omething about it that um i often i i pose this problem\n53:03\nsometimes to people i say let's assume that it's 24 hours before you're born and all of you can take this test 24\n53:09\nhours before you're born and a genie comes to you and the genie\n53:15\nsays what was your name again out ther e whatever\n53:20\nwe'll call you joe and the genie says joe says you look pretty promising to me i\n53:26\nthink you've got kind of a sense of fair play and and a good mind and so i'm going to let you have an\n53:32\nextr aordinary opportunity i'm going to let you design the world\n53:37\ninto w hich you're going to be born in 24 hours it's yours you pick out the polit ical\n53:43\nrules you pick out the economic rules you pick out the social rules you design the world and when you're\n53:50\nborn in 24 hours you'r e going to be born into that world and that's the world that's going to\n5 3:55\nexist for your lifetime for your children's lifetime for your grandc hildren's lifetime\n54:01\nand you having heard of some of these genie jok es in the past would say what's the catch the genie says well\n54:07\nit's a very slight catch i said when when you're born in 24 hours\n54:12\nyou' re going to emerge in this world you designed but what you don't know is w hether\n54:18\nyou're going to be born black or white male or female\n54:2 3\nrich or poor brighter able-bodied or infirm in the united\n54:29\nstate s or afghanistan all you know is that you're going to reach into this\n54: 36\nbarrel which now has six billion balls as we know representing one per son every person in the world and you're\n54:42\ngoing to participate in w hat i call the ovarian lottery you're going to take one ball out of that b arrel and you're never going to\n54:47\nget another ball that's you you're going to get one ball and now you're going to emerge now what kind of\n54 :52\nrules do you want to have for that society not knowing which ball you 're going to get\n54:59\nnow that i put to you is the way i think people s hould think about social policy and if you're born if\n55:05\nyou're lucky enough to be born in this country you've won the lottery already but we s hould have a system in my view\n55:12\nthat encourages the jack welch's an d the bill gates and all of that to work far beyond the time when it has a ny\n55:18\neconomic significance to them we want people commanding those r esources who are extremely able to command them that's\n55:24\nhow that's how the standard of living moves forward so we should want you know we sho uld want tom osborne\n55:30\ncoaching in nebraska we should want we should want bill gates designing software and we don't want to mix up those two\ n55:36\nwe don't want to we don't we don't want to get bill coaching in ne braska uh so you want you want people you want\n55:42\na system that direc ts gets people to their potential and and puts them\n55:47\nin the positio n where they can do the most good for society but you also want a system f or the people get the wrong ball i mean\n55:53\nsomebody's going to get th e ball you know that says 80 iq somebody's going to get the ball\n55:58\nt hat says this disease or that disease early in life that cripples them and we've got a rich enough society\n56:05\nthat we can we can take care of t hose people and i think that to get back to your question i think\n56:10\n that this society will move more and more in that direction it has the cap ability of moving more and more in\n56:15\nthat direction as our resources and our output increases and i think that\n56:21\nit has the will to do t hat in a general way although like i say there have always been lots of hi ts and starts so there is no shortage in the united\n56:29\nstates of reso urces there's no shortage of output you have to have a system that\n56:35\ nencourages people to behave to the limit of their abilities and puts them in the right\n56:41\nplace but then you have to make sure that everybody gets taken care of too now we can do one more and then we will\n56:47\nbre ak thing i'll let the fellow with the microphone and woman here make the d ecision\n56:56\nhi my name is ben gold i go to bruno talbot and i wanted t o know how do you think the media affects the world economically today\n57 :04\nwell it's a small question [Music] well what it obviously does simply \n57:10\nbecause it's it's moved so far technologically as it's brought it together in a big way i\n57:16\nmean i was over in china a few years ago and i was right after the time of the women's conference in in in beijing and i was reading\n57:24\nthe chinese coverage uh of that conference and o f course it it\n57:30\nhad nothing to do with what was taking place but th e internet was coming in and and you know you can you can access\n57:38\nt he washington post or the new york times or i get the washington post at 9 30 here at night\n57:43\nin effect i never could get it the next day on o n through through uh physical delivery\n57:48\nbut i buy electronic delive ry i can read it uh you know probably earlier than most of people in washi ngton are reading it\n57:54\nso the ability to communicate and the degree to which the world can\n58:00\nhave awareness of what's going on every pla ce in the world it's just you know it's been a quantum leap\n58:07\nyou kn ow that will have there are a lot of things that come out of that and uh n et they're a plus over time but\n58:14\nthe they i mean they the the abili ty of information to be available to everyone worldwide almost\n58:21\nins tant instantaneously it's it's it's a can be huge advances in things like medicine\n58:26\nfor example just to pick one uh so it it's a net plus it has a it has a big\n58:34\neffect and the definition of media has now been expanded\n58:40\nenormously i mean there were three television networks i n in the 19 and you know in the early\n58:45\n1960s and that was it there were three highways information traveled electronically and if the three p ieces\n58:52\nof information where i love lucy you know something else and something else those were the three choices of information or\n58:57\nent ertainment that you had for tens and tens of millions of people sitting th ere looking at a tube\n59:02\nnow it's unlimited and that's only what thre e or so decades so it's just exploded and it'll continue to\n59:08\nexplod e and net i think it's a plus and i think it's one o'clock i want to thank you all i i wish you\n59:14\nwell you're gonna do terrific thanks [Applau se]\n59:29\nthank you\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/ tc/topic/12375-do-you-think-black-parents-black-one-percent-need-to-invest -in-schrumpts/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/ tc/events/event/632-economic-corner-31-01222026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NEXT E DITION\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/637-economic-corner-33-012920 26/\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260128 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 31 01/22/2026 DTSTAMP:20260123T004208Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:632-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n To Bankrupt or not to Bankrupt?\n\n The focus in the post is the following...Why couldn't Ford be the lone major USA automaker? \n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Before I speak on that specifically  I must set the bac kground.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Me side Pioneer in a dialog came up with two d ifferent positions to bankruptcy. The detail of friction\, which relates t o this post\,  is the ability of services to be sustained during and afte r bankruptcy.\n\n\n\n \n\n Pioneer's position is firms of a certain financ ial volume can not be allowed to go bankrupt because the services they pro vide\, even if they have insurmountable debt or have an unblackable ledger \, will not be maintained during and after bankruptcy. And said services m aintain a way of life in the usa\, which is one of the biggest \"weapons\" in the usa. \n\n\n\n \n\n My position is\, bankruptcy must always be imp lemented for every failed firm regardless of financial volume because bank ruptcy alone provides proper fiscal\, I even add nonviolent\, punishment t o fiscal management that is inappropriate in the marketplace. And I add\, bankruptcy can be implemented with legal speed or control of buyers to the failed firms parts or adjustment of technologies on sale by the firm\, se quentially services are maintained.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This post is not about whose right or wrong\, we are both right or wrong. These are financ ial strategic positions. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n referral- Dialog between me and Pioneer\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/141-economic-corner-5-ja nuary-4th-2025 /\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Now I end the background a nd to the main topic? Why couldn't Ford be the lone major USA automaker?\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What is known? \n\n During the 2008–2010 automotive i ndustry crisis\, Ford struggled but did not have to be rescued like Genera l Motors[ larger than Ford] or Chrysler[ smaller than Ford]\, the other tw o large us automakers. But the USA had and still has minor automakers. \n \n\n\n Thus\, I argue based on my view to bankruptcy\, General Motors + Ch rysler should had gone through bankruptcy with all their assets+ technolog ies being sold to a closed market with Ford + minor usa automakers as the long buyers. No service would had been undone. Ford was still present and minor automakers in the usa with the bankruptcy market of General Motors + Chrysler would have the chance to grow.  I add the bankruptcy can force the minor firms to be majority [ over 80%] usa owned for a space of twenty years or more to get access to the bankruptcy sale.  \n\n\n\n Pioneer's argument was enacted in reality by the government saving GM + Chrysler. Bu t both firms became worse. In 2024\, GM was negative in equity or net inco me\, but very positive in assets. So from 2010 to 2024 GM hasn't improved at all\, and still needs go through bankruptcy and have all of its assets sold. From 2010 to 2026 GM nor Chrysler have shown improved quality\, whil e they were given a welfare check beyond anything to stay in business. And arguably\, Ford was not given the financial advantage as the lone major d omestic car maker it earned\, evenly. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So why was Ford not able to be the lone major automaker in the usa? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Proof of autofailure position\n\n URL\n\n https://www.politico.com/story/2 008/12/bush-announces-174-billion-auto-bailout-016740\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n B ush announces $17.4 billion auto bailout\nBy Mike Allen and David Rogers\n 12/19/2008 08:22 AM EST\nUpdated: 12/19/2008 01:31 PM EST\n\n\nPresident G eorge W. Bush stepped in Friday to keep America’s auto industry afloat\, announcing a $17.4 billion bailout for GM and Chrysler\, with the terms o f the loans requiring that the firms radically restructure and show they c an become profitable soon.\n\n“If we were to allow the free market to ta ke its course now\, it would almost certainly lead to disorderly bankruptc y\,” Bush said at the White House\, in remarks carried live by the natio nal broadcast networks. “In the midst of a financial crisis and a recess ion\, allowing the U.S. auto industry to collapse is not a responsible cou rse of action. The question is how we can best give it a chance to succeed .”\n\nBush said that “bankruptcy now would lead to a disorderly liquid ation of American auto companies.”\n\n“My economic advisers believe th at such a collapse would deal an unacceptably painful blow to hardworking Americans far beyond the auto industry. It would worsen a weak job market and exacerbate the financial crisis\,” he said. “It could send our suf fering economy into a deeper and longer recession.”\n\nThe money will co me from the Wall Street bailout passed by Congress\, a reversal for the Wh ite House. President-elect Barack Obama and Democrats had long advocated t hat course\, and Bush had resisted it.\n\nOf the total\, $13.4 billion wil l be paid out in December and January\, administration officials told repo rters in a briefing. The last $4 billion is contingent on release of the s econd installment of the Wall Street bailout funds by Congress.\nAs it hap pens — in a source for some potential confusion — this breakdown also corresponds with how the money will be divided between GM and Chrysler\, t he two major recipients.\n\nTreasury estimates GM will require about $13.4 billion in loans\; Chrysler $4 billion. Both companies will share in the first $13.4 billion paid out in December and January. GM will need the las t $4 billion as well.\n\nThe government gets a stake in each company\, and can call in the loans on March 31 if the firms cannot prove “viabilit y” by then. The manufacturers do not have to be profitable immediately b ut have to be “profitable soon\,” a senior administration official sai d.\n\nThe structure largely follows the pattern of legislation that failed in Congress last week in the Senate because of Republican opposition. Bus h made no mention of this fight\, but in stepping in as he is\, the presid ent risks angering conservatives in his party but the administration felt it had no choice given the fragile state of the economy.\n\nIn doing so\, Treasury decided not to be tied to the initial bill in Congress that provi ded only $14 billion in loans. That was always viewed as inadequate to get to March 31\, and the administration opted to go with more realistic numb ers.\n\nIn doing so\, however\, it sets up a ticklish situation for Democr ats in the new Congress. With the auto bailout\, Treasury will have tapped out all of the first $350 billion from the financial markets rescue fund by late January. That means Democrats must deal with releasing the second $350 billion even as Obama will be trying to rally support for a large eco nomic stimulus bill.\n\nOn the Republican side\, the real dividing point b etween the administration and bailout critics in Congress has had more to do with the conditions imposed on the loans — not the aid itself.\n\nThe se differences came to a head in the Senate over the question of how to tr eat the United Auto Workers\, and what pressure should be put on the union to bring down wage levels to match those paid to non-UAW workers at US pl ants operated by Honda or Toyota for example.\n\nSenate Republican conserv atives insisted that the UAW agree to specific wage adjustments by a date certain in 2009. When the union rejected this demand as political\, Republ icans killed the bill.\n\nThe White House agreed that wage concessions wou ld be needed but thought the better test should be the viability of the co mpanies — not some fixed formula imposed on management and the union. Th ere was real discomfort in the administration with what many saw as a regi onal\, anti-union slant as Republicans from the South — where non-UAW\, foreign owned plants are more common — demanded concessions that jeopard ized aid to an industry so vital to much of the Midwest.\n\nThus the loan agreements drafted by Treasury take a more flexible approach. There are “Restructuring Targets” to be met in the companies’ recovery plans\, including moving to a more competitive wage structure by the end of 2009. But there is also some leeway if alternative savings can be found. The re structuring report due March 31 “shall identify any deviations from the Restructuring Targets and explain the rationale for these deviations\, inc luding an explanation of why such deviations do not jeopardize the Borrowe r’s long-term viability.”\n\nIn explaining his decision Friday\, Bush said holding back “would leave the next president to confront the demise of a major American industry in his first days of office.\n\n“The more responsible option is to give the auto companies an incentive to restructu re outside of bankruptcy and a brief window in which to do it\,” Bush sa id. “And that is why my administration worked with Congress on a bill to provide automakers with loans to stave off bankruptcy while they develop plans for viability.”\n\nThe announcement immediately affects GM and Chr ysler\, not Ford\, administration officials said. Ford\, which took a line of credit just before financing dried up\, has said it does not need imme diate federal assistant to stay in business.\n\nChrysler issued a statemen t thanking the administration but saying the terms will require “conside ration.”\n\nHere are the details of the White House plan:\n\nFact Sheet: Financing Assistance to Facilitate the Restructuring of Automobile Manufa cturers to Attain Financial Viability\n\nPurpose: The terms and conditions of the financing provided by the Treasury Department will facilitate rest ructuring of our domestic auto industry\, prevent disorderly bankruptcies during a time of economic difficulty\, and protect the taxpayer by ensurin g that only financially viable firms receive financing.\n\nAmount: Auto ma nufacturers will be provided with $13.4 B in short-term financing from the TARP\, with an additional $4 B available in February\, contingent upon dr awing down the second tranche of TARP funds.\n\nViability Requirement: The firms must use these funds to become financially viable. Taxpayers will n ot be asked to provide financing for firms that do not become viable. If t he firms have not attained viability by March 31\, 2009\, the loan will be called and all funds returned to the Treasury.\n\nDefinition of Viability : A firm will only be deemed viable if it has a positive net present value \, taking into account all current and future costs\, and can fully repay the government loan.\n\nBinding Terms and Conditions: The binding terms an d conditions established by the Treasury will mirror those that were voted favorably by a majority of both Houses of Congress\, including:\n— Firm s must provide warrants for non-voting stock.\n— Firms must accept limit s on executive compensation and eliminate perks such as corporate jets.\ n— Debt owed to the government would be senior to other debts\, to the e xtent permitted by law.\n— Firms must allow the government to examine th eir books and records.\n— Firms must report and the government has the p ower to block any large transactions (>\; $100 M).\n— Firms must compl y with applicable Federal fuel efficiency and emissions requirements.\n— Firms must not issue new dividends while they owe government debt.\n\nTar gets: The terms and conditions established by Treasury will include additi onal targets that were the subject of Congressional negotiations but did n ot come to a vote\, including:\n\n— Reduce debts by 2/3 via a debt for e quity exchange.\n— Make one-half of VEBA payments in the form of stock .\n— Eliminate the jobs bank.\n— Work rules that are competitive with transplant auto manufacturers by 12/31/09.\n— Wages that are competitive with those of transplant auto manufacturers by 12/31/09.\n\nThese terms a nd conditions would be non-binding in the sense that negotiations can devi ate from the quantitative targets above\, providing that the firm reports the reasons for these deviations and makes the business case to achieve lo ng-term viability in spite of the deviations.\n\nIn addition\, the firm wi ll be required to conclude new agreements with its other major stakeholder s\, including dealers and suppliers\, by March 31\, 2009.\n\n\nFiled Under : \n2010Politics\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/to pic/12348-could-ford-have-been-the-lone-major-us-automaker/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/628-economic-corner-30-01202 026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event /635-economic-corner-32-01282026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/24/2026\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12348-could-ford-have- been-the-lone-major-us-automaker/#findComment-79568\n\n\n\n osted just no w\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   On 1/22/2026 at 10:04 PM\, ProfD said:\n\ n\n\n IMO\, Ford could never have been the lone US automaker.\n\n\n\n just for clarification\, did you mean the lone major us automaker\, as i asked \,  or the lone us automaker\, which i didn't ask?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n onc e I comprehend that I can look at the rest of your reply in total. \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n   On 1/22/2026 at 10:04 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Then\, capitalists would have swooped in and picked the bones and built new auto makers.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n bankruptcy historically isn't designed to delet e the assets of firms\, but to allow for penalty to the owners or investor s of firms while selling assets back into the market. Did you comprehend t he original point of contention between me and @Pioneer1?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n @Troy\n\n\n\n   22 hours ago\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n As you mentioned bail out undermine capitalism and artificially bolster companies as well as tax incentives\, tariffs against foreign competition not to forget laws that stifle competition suppress worker rights\, etc.\n\n\n\n Bailouts do n't undermine fiscal capitalism de facto\, it is implementation. the probl em with the usa is the government has bailed out every single industry in the usa absent managing for it to improve. White people love touting welfa re to work for black laborers but then for the industries in the usa owned by whites in whole or majority:  real estate/farming/aviation/automotive /banks/dot com/crypto/green energy \, they want blank welfare checks absen t demanding better management by the whites who are being saved from the p oor house where their financial actions led them. \n\n\n\n It is the same with tariffs. If you want to block out foreign firms that is fine\, it is common in history for all governments\, but you must manage the industry internal industry\, the usa doesn't manage the internal. And that goes to laws that stifle competition or better\, don't penalize failure enough. \ n\n\n\n Look at the film studios industry in the usa. \n\n\n\n AT&\;T sold warner bros to discovery because AT&\;T wanted to get rid of the d ebt on a loser. AT&\;T spent alot of money and got no return and added debt. Discovery bought Warner Bros on the cheap on the condition of taking all the debt off of AT&\;Ts books. \n\n\n\n Even though AT&\;T wer e and are making very positive profits on telecommunications\, they didn't want the losing film studio on the books to manipulate their stock value or influence speculation to their stock negatively. But\, AT&\; T neede d to be penalized properly\, by having that sale blocked and Warner Bros c losed and its assets auctioned off. AT&\; T should never have bought Wa rner Bros in the first place. Again\, film studios like all media properti es are financial losers historically. yes they have times of positive resu lts but usually they are failures for obvious reasons. \n\n\n\n Music lab els/film studios/theaters/sports teams/sports leagues/similar  are all as collective industries financial losers. Dallas Cowboys? yeah but look at the canadian football league or the defunct euro league. yeah New York kni cks \, who have a fortunate stadim\, but what about the d league\, the chi nese league? no and no. Look at the yankees. ok\, but what of double or tr iple a? terrible. Music labels are historically only profitable for the se lloff at the end of their lives. \n\n\n\n So penalty is what is truly lac king? and I comprehend why ? not having financial penalty has a long tradi tion. the entire white wealthy of the confederacy were too big to fail \, or had  a huge bailout at the end of the war between the states. which li ke all bailouts after led to a consistency of behavior\, in that case\, ki lling black people. And even in bailing out the government can penalize. A nd that penalization can be very positive for the industry in cleaning up bad financial practices. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   22 hours ago\, Troy sa id:\n\n\n\n All we really have is tesla and while China has superior vehic les that cost less our EV charging infrastructure is paltry compared to th e rest of the world.\n\n\n\n i don't have any validatable information on c hina\, but some say their ev industry is bottoming out\, the problem is\, even though they have the greatest deposits of rare earth minerals for the batteries accessible  the EV cars use and china has an infrastructure to produce them or use them\, the chinese automotive industry is built to ex port\, not sell in china\, and with usa+ europe not fully suitable for EV use completely\, let alone the majority of humanity\, absent any infrastru cture for EV cars\, the market for EV's is not a global one. The fuel of g as based cars serves a very good function in terms of international trade. Oil just needs to be sold. BUT EV's need electricity at volumes above rem ote gain. Electricity to handle a large volume of EV cars requires a syste m of infrastructure. this is the financial flaw that always existed. this is why the oil producers were not worried with the EV car movement the usa led because they knew\, while USA+ China + Western Europe + japan will ev entually change their energy infrastructures\, most governments in the wor ld don't have any energy infrastructure at all. so any vehicle that requir es one is financially negative from the begining. So... its complex. This is why the hydrogen developers are still active in the labs. The negative of hydrogen is they haven't found a way to make its infrastructure cheap\, you still need hydrogen lines and production+ Hydrogen is very dangerous to handle\, very explosive. and it smanufacture also is part of the compre hension of hydrogen bombs so... the nuclear element is about it and the us a/russai/china/india/israel/select western european don' want the developm ent of nuclear weapons to be common knowledge outside of the current nucle ar powers.  The positive\, is hydrogen is like gas\, in that you don't ne ed an electric grid as much as hydrogen tanks and hydrogen based cars just put hydrogen in.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/24/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12348-could-ford-have-been- the-lone-major-us-automaker/#findComment-79619\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n \n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Lone major  US automaker as you asked.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I had to ask that because you may not realize but minor us automakers are us automakers. The usa has six minor automakers off the top of my head\, and I know it is more. The USA has never had one automaker\, so your language confused me \, to be ho nest. I was specific in my words and your reply. confused me. \n\n\n\n No w\, I will repost your quote and then give my reply comprehending you mean t lone major us automaker\n\n\n\n   On 1/22/2026 at 10:04 PM\, ProfD s aid:\n\n\n\n IMO\, Ford could never have been the lone US automaker.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n Even if the federal government had not bailed out the auto i ndustry\, venture capitalists would have allowed those companies to go int o bankruptcy or become insolvent.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Then\, capitalists w ould have swooped in and picked the bones and built new automakers.\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n Lee Iaccoca resurrected Chrysler back in the 1980s. Daimler-M ercedes gave Chrysler a life in the late 1990s. Fiat and Stellantis have k ept Chrysler afloat.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  Capitalism and the free market u ltimately decide if/when companies are allowed to go belly up totally.\n\n \n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n I have another question. Sorry but your wording war rants me to ask another question.\n\n\n\n Are you saying that Ford couldn' t be the lone usa automaker because after a shares buyout or bankruptcy\, General Motors + chrysler would remain at least in branding while more imp ortantly in function as major automakers OR even if broken up parts would come together to form a major automaker? \n\n\n\n I had to ask because th e post original topic which you may not have read was about bankruptcy's r ole and me and pioneer's differing position on the function or role of ban kruptcy. Me nor Pioneer were questioning the function of bailouts or bankr uptcy in revitalizing assets of failing firms. I don't quite comprehend wh y you mentioned that. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Agnelli family made stellan tis as a holding firm for all of their assets\, which include chrysler. Cr hysler from my view isn't a car company any more. Chrysler is like Lexus i s to Toyota. Lexus isn't a car company\, Toyota is a car company\, lexus i s a brand in a car company. Stellantis is the company\, Chrysler is a bran d . In the same way Oldmobile was a brand in General Motors. Brands are no t car companies. They are divisions in car companies that can be deleted. Oldmobile was originally the top engineering division of General Motors. B ut it died a generic brand. Chrysler will go the same way more than likely . To say Chrsyler is being kept afloat by Stellantis is financially incorr ect. Stellantis\, bought Chrysler for its name brand\, some assets\, and c onnections in the us auto industry. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n please tell me who are you making this question to? \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Why would people allow just ONE automaker? \n\n\n\n If it is to me\, I don't comprehend why cause I never said the us a would have one automaker \, I said explicityly\, one major usa automaker . \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Anything that involves generating a lot of money will produce multiple manufacture rs....usually in competition with eachother.\n\n\n\n well\, yes intiially\ , when a technology is young the financial gateway to entry is less and yo u get many entrepreneurs. BUT\, oover time the gateway to entry becomes mo re expensive and the competition dies. this is financial fact proven throu gh history. No industry in humanity that is over one hundred years old has competition outside of government protection or other scenarios that main tain firms for various reasons\, usually dealing with governments desire t o be self reliant. Post offices for example. The easiest way to prove my p oint is video game manufacturers. the competition is very few firms. The m ultiple era is already over\, but the gateway to entry is high. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I'm thi nking if brotha @richardmurray had his own country\, the government woul d be responsible for everything from production and manufacturing to healt hcare. Maybe entertainment would be free market.\n\n\n\n You don't know me clearly\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, Pionee r1 said:\n\n\n\n The government is making everything so there is no incen tive to improve and do better.\n\n\n\n Where is the basis for this positio n? Many people in the usa utter it\, but I find no basis in truth. College s and universities\, completely funded by the federal government of the us a are constantly\, competing to make breakthroughs in the same technology. And that is the usa alone. Do I have to speak on china? all the innovatio ns in china happen through the chinese government. Is not china the leader in many technologies. What basis does the thinking I quoted from you have in truth?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/25/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\ n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12348-could-ford-have-been-the-lone-major-us- automaker/#findComment-79697\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @P ioneer1\n\n\n\n   16 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n That's not the government.\n\n Those are PRIVATE (or semi-private state) institutions co mpeting with eachother and coming up with inventions and technology and us ing government as well as private money to do so.\n\n\n\n I have done rese arch in colleges\, know others who have done research in colleges\, the go vernment in the usa is the funder for colleges and universities hands down . The private sectors level of investment in college research is no where near the governments. \n\n\n\n And again\, most of the colleges are not p rivate. Most of the colleges the usa government funds through research are not private institutions\, they are public colleges which is the governme nt. \n\n\n\n   16 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n The modern Chine se\, Japanese\, and Korean societies have invented NOTHING.\n\n All they'v e done is copy or make slight improvements on Western products and technol ogy.\n\n \n\n They don't  invent a car\, they just make one a little diff erent or a little better or cheaper.\n\n They don't invent a computer or s ocial media\, they take it and tweak it a little to make it different or b etter.\n\n\n\n \n\n The Chinese Communist Party is nothing more than a lar ge TEMP-SERVICE with millions of loyal workers that Western corporations c an go to for a relatively cheap educated labor source.\n\n\n\n What is you r personal problem with china? or chinese? first I can tell you \, you are incorrect about chinese invention. But more\, importantly\, is second\, w here does this negativity toward china come from? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   16 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n One way or another\, even if Ford have been bought out or allowed to go b ankrupt\, another major automaker would have grown or been established.\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Well Ford never needed to be bailed out\,that was general motors and chrysler\, but... I do notice one thing very prevalent in alot of black online discussions concerning finance\, many black people seem t o have access to a crystal ball of knowledge which gives them certainty on what will happen \, which only a few black folk like me\, don't have acce ss to. \n\n\n\n I never mentioned what would happen in the future\, i sim ply stated that bakruptcy is a needed tool. Pioneer stated bankruptcy is a tool that can't be allowed for firms of a certain size. You have stated t he usa will always have more than one major automaker \, which has no rela tionship to me or pioneer point but is a grand assumption. You don't give any financial reasoning for your position nor do you seem to consider huma nity en large\, which has value financially. Russia+ China are real\, they have their own desires or plans\, the usa can't tell them what to do\, th is is why even though russia lost the cold war\, the usa has actually neve r stepped foot into russia\, while the usa has belitted countries absent n uclear power... that is the whole point of the nonproliferation law. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/25/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalb c.com/tc/topic/12348-could-ford-have-been-the-lone-major-us-automaker/#fin dComment-79705\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   2 hour s ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n First\, I realize you want your threads re sponded to in a certain way. It's not gonna happen.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n you r epiphany is false but ok\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The subject of discussion is mostly hypothetical.\n\n\n\n the subject me and pioneer was debating which i opened to the floor is about truth. Guess ing what will happen is hypothetical but stating what can happen is merely the truth. I am not interested in prescience to the future. I don't know the future\, nor will I assume it\, but I do know possibilities and when p ossibilities are falsely suggested as impossible\, that to me are lies. \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n isn't allowed i n certain situations.\n\n\n\n that is alie. lehmann was allowed to go bank rupt. In the past thirty years all sorts of firms of various financial sca le have gone bankrupt. your mischaracterizing situations as allowances.  They are not the same thing.\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n \n already how &\; why the USA is the pre-eminent super power.\n\n\n\n yes\, we meaning the regular posters of this forum have displayed we each have various views on why or how the usa is powerful. let alone the defini tion of power. yes I concur if what your saying is what I just said. \n\n \n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Neither Russia nor China is t he threat talking heads would have folks believe. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n of course\, the truth is\, no government ever has been as big a threat as any country as advertised\, that is human history. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n the number of Chinese people living in the US.\n\n\n\n ok what is it with you and @Pioneer1 and the chinese? di d white man give a job you had to chinese or something? the white man of t he usa let chinese in so I find the idea of chinese power silly in that se nse\, the chinese didn't force anything\, the white man of the usa did thi s. You accept white power\, well white power did it\, that wasn't white as ian but white european power. \n\n\n\n You and pioneer\, with the chinese . I saw the pew maps\, the mexicans and the chinese and the indians are th e three groups coming in most. You and pioneer never speak of mexicans so i guess you two are unthreatened by them. you never mentions indians\, I h ave no idea why but you two are on a chinese rant thing.\n\n\n\n   2 hou rs ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Russia has been involved in conflicts over there since Vlady Putin has been running  sh8t. The US issues fake warnim gs but they're not going to do anything to him. It's not just because of n uclear weapons.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n earlier than that\, the first czar unde r the golden horde was the beginning of russias long history with chaos in ternally. It isn't just because\, but mostly because. ask iran about the v alue of nuclear weapons.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said :\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The  Chess *game* is more important than anything .  These super powers cooperate in how they choose to run the planet.\n\n \n\n oh machiavelli so many blacks love to speak of the chess game\, and c hess is really a poor strategy game but anyway. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/25/ 2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/t opic/12348-could-ford-have-been-the-lone-major-us-automaker/#findComment-7 9733\n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @Delano \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, D elano said:\n\n\n\n It was becoming unpaid work.\n\n\n\n that was funny\, well done\, rarely do i find anything funny in here\, well done. and I ap ologize:) \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours a go\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n So it appears that there more private colleg es and universities than public ones.\n\n\n\n And even the public institut ions aren't actually ran by \"the government\".\n\n They are ran by indivi duals who are hired and fired  the institution itself similar to those th at are private.\n\n \n\n Now most academic institutions both public and pr ivate are either funded by or TAKE funding from the Federal government.\n\ n But that's not the issue.\n\n\n\n The point is that the colleges and uni versities\, even if they are public....don't OPERATE like a branch of the government like law enforcement or traffic control.\n\n They're ran or ope rate like private institutions\, supposedly hiring and firing people based on qualifications and self interests and are motivated by profit seeking and revenue increase.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n Even enough\, most of the educational organizations you suggest are operated like private instituti ons motivated by profit seeking and revenue increase have never increased profit or revenue and live off welfare by the government for over thirty y ears. so ok. but I do have three questions\n\n\n\n 1) did you ask the lar ge language model to delete college scams? Private universities include a ll of those scam colleges like trump university and everything. You are a crude fiscal capitalistic so I am prepared to read you think those scams w arrant labeling as colleges of learning. \n\n\n\n 2) Based on your posit ion\, if New York City opens up marijuana dispensaries they can be conside red private institutions\, even if they never earn a profit and have an ev er increasing expense which warrants debt growth by the government? Cause the federal government grows debt to maintain funding the colleges and un iversities like the airlines\, like the farms like the banks like the film industries\, like the real estate industry. And even though everything i just mentioned financially collapsed\, completely failed financially\, you consider all those things\, private institutions no matter how unable the y are to actually make money\, no matter how much debt the government incu rs to keep them afloat.  \n\n\n\n 3) In the future \, if a president re stricts federal funds to a college or university and it folds\, that isn't the fault of said president ?  Because these colleges are private insti tutions\, which are not the governments responsibility to fund. Private in stitutions are the responsibility of the financiers\, so if the failing  financiers are no longer given welfare at the behest of a president for wh atever reason\, which Schrumpt is opening any future president of the usa to have the power to do\, that president isn't going against fiscal capita lism. they are treating that college like the bank would a bad debtor or l ike white people like to treat black people on welfare. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n My only issue with them is t hey CLAIM to be Communist but in actuality practice ultra Capitalism.\n\n \n\n Their current economic practices are in direct contradiction and conf lict with what their modern founder Mao Zedong and his fellow revolutionar ies fought and died for.\n\n Which was an end to Western imperialism over China.\n\n\n\n but the country you call your home\, claim's to be about fr eedom is the biggest slaver...\n\n\n\n many governments claim many things\ , why does china have to be the most honest government in the world when t he usa/england/france are still active. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n That is not t rue\, imperialism isnt about fiscal capitalism\, imperialism is about powe r. Did you know the term emperor originally meant what many will call toda y a warlord. imperialsm isn't about finance\, imperialism is about whether your country is subject to another or not. \n\n\n\n China is the only no n white european government in humanity free to do as it wants in itself. China is free from anyone's imperialism\, including japan's. \n\n\n\n And china to its credit has no desire in being the global police force\, like the usa. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260122 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:MLK jr day 2026 video commentary + online reactions in AALBC DTSTAMP:20260129T005909Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:634-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n \n \n\n\n\n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/356-mlk-jr-day-good-news-calendar/\n\ n\n\n COMMENTARY\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Onderonable\n\n\n\n 2 days ago\n\n\n\ n The strangest thing I learned growing up was that blacks do not respect Martin Luther King Jr. or his message of non-violence. He is not held up a s a hero by them.\n\n\n\n 1\n\n\n\n Reply\n\n\n\n @richardmurrayaalbcassis t7279\n\n\n\n 0 seconds ago\n\n\n\n well in my experience most blacks\, an d all the black people I know of in my life including myself\, respect Mar tin Luther King junior\, the issue is\, they don't concur that the strateg y of nonviolence he lived by was best for black people to grow positively in the usa \, or elsewhere. He is held up as a hero by most black people i n the usa\, but he isn't always deemed correct by most black people in the usa\n\n\n\n Reply\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ONLINE REACTION TO MLK JR DAY 2026\n\n\n\n thank you @Troy\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CONTENT\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n I'm revisiting the 7+ year old post because it is ranking high in se arch the past couple of weeks (at least) and has attracted more than 31K v isitors (@richardmurray this would be mostly real people\, not bots).\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n If folks with influence in the media cared about sites lik e AALBC viral posts\, of which we have many\, this would be newsworthy.\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n It seems MLK's sexual predilections are of interest to a lot of people. I guess because of his recent birthday.  I just ran a sea rch on the phrase was MLK gay and this post came up #6. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n Reading some of the earlier posts on the conversation\, I must have be en in a mood (sorry @Delano I was bit critical over you use of the word illegitimate when referencing children.  I still don't like the word used in that context\, but thanks fore starting this conversation 🙂\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n Maybe I should return Google ads to the site.  I the crappy Ads Google likes to server here\, but AI told me how to step up the qualit y... we will see.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The site as a who le \n\n\n\n URL REFERRAL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/5546-martin-l uther-kings-sex-life-and-his-legacy/page/2/#comment-79758\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n MY COMMENT\n\n\n\n citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/5546-mar tin-luther-kings-sex-life-and-his-legacy/page/2/#findComment-79773\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ted just now\n\n\n\n thank you @Troy \n\n\n\n this is very interesting to me. I used the link and yes\, it did come up sixth. I have never once searched such a thing. hmm\, very informative to the human cond ition online. I wish you could access demographic information on who is se arching. \n\n\n\n So many today\, search for complaint\, search for negat ivity.. hmm \, thank you for addressing me in your comment. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260128 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Miss Evers Boys from Movies That Move We -01/2/2025 DTSTAMP:20250128T060817Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:164-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Miss Evers Boys from Movies That Move We -01/2/2025\n\n\n \n my thoughts and trasncript + video\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/647 7-richardmurray/?status=2835&\;type=status\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my thoughts\n\n 1932 to 1972 the Tuskegee experiment went on.\ n\n I learned of Tuskegee in the home and community centers at elementary age and in high school in the educational system.\n\n ...\n\n I remember a scene in the film Giant 1956 when the character played by rock Hudson say s to the character played by Elizabeth taylor that the white doctor of the family is not for public use or use for other people\, other people in th is case were Mexican immigrants in Texas. That scene encapsulates the over all problem. The healthcare industry in the usa has always been a business that is used by whites to display biases toward the non white. The movie Alice 2022 shows this in multiple ways. And the problem with healthcare as an industry is it is historically expensive. Healthcare is not cheap. Con sider that car company workers/steel company workers/government workers\, the cost of their healthcare overtime is the biggest bill. \n\n in amendm ent or commented\n\n Healthcare has always been historically for the have' s not all\, and you see that throughout humanity even today\, even in coun tries in western europe deemed universal in care. I can't wait for your fi rst show in black history month:) \n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ rcIlzfQhc\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n TRANSCRIPT\n0:13\n[Music]\n0:25\n [Music]\n0:30\nhey everyone welcome back to another\n0:32\nedition of movi es that move we today we\n0:37\nwill be talking about Miss ever's boys\n0: 41\num now I hope you not not like me if you\n0:43\nhadn't heard about thi s film before and\n0:45\nthought it was about medar Evers and his\n0:48\nm om and them it's not it's not this is\n0:52\num it's a fictionalized telli ng of the\n0:58\nTuskegee uh project\n1:00\nand if you don't know what tha t is let\n1:03\nme tell you a little bit about it um\n1:05\nTuskegee Alaba ma there was\n1:08\na pretty decent population of black men\n1:12\nwho had \n1:14\nsyphilis and um you know the government\n1:17\nsaw it and said hey perfect opportunity\n1:20\nfor us to explore how this the progress\n1:25\ nof this\n1:27\ndisease and so they\n1:30\nsetup shop in\n1:32\nTuskegee t old these men hey we're going\n1:35\nto treat you for the condition they\n 1:38\ndidn't tell them that they were research\n1:40\nsubjects they didn't tell them they\n1:42\nweren't getting\n1:43\ntreatment and these men did not give\n1:47\nconsent to basically be used as guinea\n1:51\npigs this pr oject ran from was it\n1:57\n1932 to\n2:00\n19 no 1932 to\n2:05\n1972 okay so they were allowing men with\n2:08\nsyphilis black men with syphilis to just\n2:13\nride the disease out um and it's not a\n2:16\ncomfortable dis ease you you can get it\n2:19\nit can go\n2:21\ndormant it can come back u p there's like\n2:24\nfive stages to the condition you'll end\n2:27\nup wi th skin lesions there are some\n2:29\npeople who who survived it the bigge st\n2:32\nproblem here beyond the fact that they\n2:35\nwere experimenting on black bodies was\n2:38\nthat when it was found out that\n2:41\npenicil lin was The Cure none of these\n2:44\nmen were given the option never told \n2:47\nthat some of them would die if they like\n2:49\ntook it well no in reality no yeah but\n2:53\nI'm just saying in the movie like that's\n2:55 \nwhat they were they were telling them\n2:56\nthat if if you take it you you could die\n3:00\nwhich wasn't true but talking about the\n3:04\nmovie this is it's not based on a\n3:07\nspecific story but it is inspired by a\ n3:12\nnurse who did work with some some\n3:15\npatients during that time so we have in\n3:19\nthe role of nurse Evers um Alfrey\n3:25\nWoodard Cale b humph is her love interest\n3:29\nwho is is played by Lawrence Fishburn\ n3:31\nand I believe he's one of the producers\n3:33\nof the film um Dr Do uglas is played by\n3:37\nCraig Sheffer and he is the white Doctor\n3:40\n Who is leading the um experiment um we\n3:46\nhave Dr Sam brus who's playe d by uh Joe\n3:50\nMorton AKA Papa Pope those of you who\n3:53\nknow no um he is the black doctor that\n3:58\nis leading it because of you have\n4:0 0\nsomething like this going on you got to\n4:01\nget black people to talk to black people\n4:04\num Willie Johnson is played by Oba Baba\n4:09\ntun d hodman Bryan is played by Van\n4:13\ncouter Ben Washington is played by Tom\n4:16\ngosam Jr so\n4:20\nCaleb uh Willie hodman and Ben they're\n4:25 \nreferred to as Miss ever's boys and all\n4:29\nof them them were\n4:31\n participants in the study in this film\n4:36\num and then the late great a ie Davis\n4:39\nplayed um Alfrey woodard's father Mr\n4:43\nEvans so this is going back like I said\n4:48\n1930s\n4:50\nTuskegee black people were s till working\n4:52\nin the fields there were still\n4:54\nsharecroppers um and it was a big deal\n4:57\nthat\n4:58\nshe uh Unice Evers was a nurse y ou know\n5:03\nshe's working in the hospital she's\n5:05\nworking with doc tors she wasn't a\n5:07\nservant or anything like that she\n5:10\nrecogniz ed it her father recognized it\n5:12\nit was the type of career that could \n5:14\nhave taken her\n5:15\nanywhere um when this came up she was\n5:19\ nthe head nurse\n5:22\nunder Dr broadis so Joe Morton she was\n5:27\nworki ng with him and he said hey\n5:30\nI'm taking you with me we're going to t o\n5:33\nTuskegee there's something happening\n5:35\ndown there that they want us to be a\n5:37\npart of that happened to be the area\n5:40\nwhere s he grew up so Caleb she was\n5:43\nalready familiar with because he used t o\n5:46\npull her Pigtails in\n5:48\nclass so there was some relationship\ n5:52\nthere and her relation built with the\n5:55\nother three men to the point that you\n5:57\nknow they were performers in the\n5:59\ncommunity C omm they name their band\n6:01\nafter her um the whole thing gets\n6:05\ns ticky because at a certain point she\n6:09\nrealizes that wait a\n6:11\nmi nute we're we're not treating them\n6:14\nwe're just doing research and sh e was\n6:17\nexcited at first because the\n6:20\ngovernment's paying for i t they're\n6:21\ngiving these guys they're they're going\n6:23\nto help th e black people and there were\n6:25\na handful of people who were wey but\ n6:27\nwhen they heard what I get a free meal I\n6:31\ncan get free rides and all this other\n6:34\nyou know the government is catering to\n6:35\nme they were like all right sign me up\n6:38\nso I'll let you take it from h ere what\n6:40\nwhat were your thoughts about well first\n6:43\nof all I'm going to ask the question I\n6:45\nusually ask is this something you\n6:4 7\nlearned about in school no not at all\n6:50\nand what was crazy was whe n I when\n6:53\nI because I was actually the one that\n6:55\nchose the\n6: 57\nmovie when I saw it\n7:00\nI never even really heard about it but\n7:0 4\nwhen I saw it I was like oh you know\n7:05\nwhat based off the descript ion I was\n7:07\nlike this might be a good watch it seems\n7:09\nlike\n7:1 0\nsomething that um might be educational\n7:13\nbecause this is something again we\n7:15\nweren't taught about in school so to\n7:18\nwatch it and then like even down to the\n7:22\nway things were kind of broken down to\n 7:25\nthese men when they're coming into their\n7:27\ncommunity and tellin g them what they're\n7:29\ngoing to do and how the government is\n7:31\nfu nding this and everything like that it\n7:34\nwas\n7:35\nso it was kind of surreal for me to\n7:38\nwatch cuz it's just like they really\n7:40\nkind of felt like they had to not only\n7:43\nbring Miss Evers and the doctor in the\n7:46\nblack doctor in\n7:48\nto kind of facilitate or help facilit ate\n7:52\nthese conversations with these men but\n7:55\nit was almost\n7: 56\nlike oh we have to kind of dumb it down\n7:59\nfor them too because wh ereas the white\n8:02\ndoctor that came in was kind of like hey\n8:05\nyou know I want to get technical with\n8:07\nthese guys and let them know the exact\n8:09\ndiagnosis Miss Evers and the other\n8:11\ndoctor involved we re like no we should\n8:15\nprobably kind of tell them something\n8:18\ndi fferent I don't think they were\n8:21\ndumbing it down I\n8:24\nthink okay let me not say that yes they\n8:26\nwere but by saying blood like oh well \n8:29\nit's something in your blood like I'm\n8:32\nand she explained tha t what she said to\n8:34\nto the doctor\n8:36\nwas you have to talk to the m in their in\n8:41\ntheir language if you tell them that\n8:45\nthey have a virus they're going to panic\n8:48\nand we won't have anyone to complet e the\n8:50\nstudy with so they understand illness is\n8:54\nsomething in the blood so that's what\n8:57\nwe're going to tell them that there's\n9:0 0\nsomething in the blood we're gonna give\n9:02\nthem some treatments to to help heal\n9:06\nthem and they'll be more willing to go\n9:09\nalong wi th it if we phrase it in terms\n9:11\nthat they comprehend okay okay that' s\n9:15\nlike a lawyer trying to speak to you in\n9:18\nlegal vernacular a nd you're going my\n9:19\nrights or what and there was a scene in\n9:21\nt he part or there was a scene in the\n9:22\nmovie\n9:23\nwhere the the whit e doctor is like\n9:26\ntelling them what he's about to do and\n9:28\nwhat testing they're about to kind of go\n9:31\nthrough and everything and why they're\n9:32\nbeing tested for this and they're just\n9:34\nall sitting there looking at him like\n9:37\nyou going to do what and Miss Evers kind\ n9:40\nof had to step in but I just felt like\n9:42\nthroughout the whole\ n9:43\nfilm there were so many things that and\n9:47\nwhat was crazy was t here was kind of\n9:48\nlike that little bit of a contrast\n9:49\nbecause here it is you know they're kind\n9:51\nof talking like that to the rest o f them\n9:53\nthey're not giving them full information\n9:56\nas to what's going on and Lawrence fish\n9:59\nBurn's character um Caleb Caleb\n10:04\ nhe he actually was kind of already\n10:07\neducating himself you know he let Miss\n10:09\nEvers know look like you don't think I\n10:12\ncan read I 'm going to the library and\n10:14\nI'm looking this stuff up myself yeah\ n10:17\nand he asked for a book cuz he was like\n10:19\nI want to know mor e about this exactly\n10:22\nso he kind of even though he was also\n10:24\ nnot giv a lot of\n10:26\ninformation Miss Evers did kind of offer\n10:28\ nup a little little bit of information to\n10:30\nhim in the beginning\n10 :31\nbut he kind of already knew in the back\n10:34\nof his mind certain t hings and something\n10:36\nwasn't right yeah so he was kind of\n10:38\nal ready hip to what was going on but\n10:42\nunfortunately these other guys that were\n10:44\ninvolved in this process they just\n10:46\ndidn't know a nd they kind of like leaned\n10:49\non Miss Evers a little bit to kind of\ n10:51\ntake them through this process yeah um\n10:55\nand it's unfortunat e because if they\n10:58\nwere a little bit more\n11:00\nhonest and even a little bit more\n11:03\ninstead of using them as guinea pigs\n11:05\nactu ally got them the help that they\n11:08\nneeded they would have been fine you\n11:11\nknow they would have lived normal lives\n11:12\nyou know um oh my gosh I keep drawing a\n11:16\nblank with his name Caleb when he went\n 11:18\nto the military he said look I got that\n11:21\npenicillin shot bec ause one this was my\n11:24\nonly way to get into the military\n11:27\npro perly but two like I'm not messing\n11:29\naround my health like I'm doing whatever\n11:31\nI have to do and he was kind of trying\n11:34\nto encour age the other men to do the\n11:36\nsame\n11:37\nbut the the the role of t he medical team\n11:42\nin this\n11:44\nsituation was to just monitor the\ n11:47\nprogress of the disease and keep them\n11:51\nfrom getting treatme nt elsewhere yeah\n11:54\nand there's a scene in the film where\n11:56\non e of the guys um he's like I can't\n11:59\ntake it anymore Caleb takes him to a\n12:03\nhospital to get the penicillin and the\n12:05\nnurse turns a round looks at the\n12:07\nclipboard and says no you can't have it\n12:10\ nand they were like why can't he get it\n12:14\nand she said because you'r e on the list\n12:16\nI can't give it to you cuz he was a part\n12:18\nof this experiment so all of the\n12:20\nhospitals in the area had the names of\n12:23\nall of the the the men who were being\n12:27\nresearched and th ey refused them care\n12:31\nwhen they came to it and in this\n12:33\nsitu ation it\n12:35\nwas uh Willie Willie was the dancer in\n12:39\nthe group you know he was hopping up and\n12:41\ndown you know dancing like they do at\n12:43\nthe Cotton Club and he had dreams of\n12:44\ngetting there and it started to affect\n12:47\nhis Mobility so he was like I can't I\n12:49\ ncan't live like this I need to to have\n12:53\nit fixed Caleb didn't tell him exactly\n12:57\nwhat was going on even though though he\n13:00\nhad a n\n13:01\nankling and he did try to talk to Unice\n13:05\nabout it and say okay what aren't you\n13:07\ntelling me and she was like I can't I\n13:10 \ncan't and I think part of the reason why\n13:13\nshe said she can't a um she was told\n13:17\nthat she can't she shouldn't and then\n13:19\nthe ot her part was she was ashamed\n13:21\nbecause once she\n13:24\nrealized wha t this really was MH she was\n13:30\nlike I I can't tell anybody that I'm\ n13:33\nknowingly a part of this and she was\n13:38\noffered an opportunit y she was about to\n13:41\ntake the opportunity to go back up north\n13:45 \nfor for\n13:47\nwork and she changed her mind because\n13:50\nshe was li ke these guys need me I can't\n13:54\nleave them in other words I help put \n13:56\nthem in this predicament I can't aband\n13:59\nshe went through a tremendous like\n14:01\ninternal struggle to the point where it\n14:04\ne ven affected the relationship she had\n14:05\nwith Caleb because it was li ke here it\n14:08\nis they were in love they kind of wanted\n14:10\nto go away together and all that but she\n14:13\nhad the guilt of kind of how th is whole\n14:16\nprocess started and then the guilt of\n14:18\nlike kind o f what happened after that\n14:21\nhow these men were affected and then\n1 4:24\nhere it is you know Caleb comes back\n14:25\nfrom the war and everyt hing and he's\n14:27\nlike look like you know it the deed has\n14:30\nbeen done this is already happening like\n14:32\nwe need to just go start our lives and\n14:34\nshe's like I can't leave these guys\n14:37\nbehind like I just can't do it and it it\n14:40\nit unfortunately affected their perso nal\n14:44\nlives because it's kind of\n14:46\nlike had this experiment no t even\n14:49\nhappened none of them would be in this\n14:51\npredicament at all so right and so um\n14:57\nback to reality\n14:59\num a lot of thin gs came out of this time\n15:05\nperiod rules were put in place um once\n1 5:09\nthis was re was revealed and you know\n15:13\nthe public expressed o utrage over it new\n15:16\npolicies were put into place to make\n15:19\nsu re that you know people were aware of\n15:24\nwhen they were a part of med ical\n15:26\nresearch so now you are in invited to\n15:30\nclinical studie s you don't just become a\n15:33\nguinea pig because someone says you know \n15:35\nwhat I want to see how long this person\n15:37\nsurvives if they have XYZ disease you\n15:42\nhave to be offered you have to be\n15:44\ncom pensated you have to be treated like\n15:47\na human being and not a lab r at that's\n15:50\nrequired by law um there are\n15:55\ninstitutional revie w boards so one set\n15:58\nof do s can't come up with this\n16:00\nexperi ment run it privately and then do\n16:04\nwhat they want with the informat ion if\n16:05\nyou're going to have a clinical trial\n16:08\nthen there's a review board to make sure\n16:10\nthat you are following all processes a nd\n16:13\nprotocols that are laid out to make sure\n16:15\nthat the patie nt is cared for um and you\n16:20\nknow this this movie kind of speaks to\ n16:23\nand you being a Med medical professional\n16:25\nyou're aware of s ome of this um it kind\n16:29\nof speaks to what impacts uh mortality\n16: 33\nrate amongst\n16:35\nAfrican-Americans and while it has\n16:39\nimprov ed there's still room for\n16:43\nimprovement plenty of room for\n16:45\ni mprovement because the mortality rate\n16:48\nbirth rate between black wom en and white\n16:51\nwomen there's still a gap there same\n16:54\nthing fo r breast\n16:57\ncancer there's still a gap there and\n17:00\neven and I c an speak from my own\n17:02\nexperience when trying to get um\n17:06\nassi stance with health\n17:08\nissues you probably going to have to go\n17:10\ nthrough as a a black woman you're\n17:12\nprobably going to have to go th rough a\n17:14\nfew doctors before you can get yeah what\n17:18\nyou need I had a talk with my doctor the\n17:20\nother day and she was like oh I\n1 7:22\nrecommend this doctor and I was like\n17:25\nuhuh went to them and I didn't even get\n17:28\ninto it with her about why how racist\n17:32\nthi s doctor was towards me I just said\n17:36\nno and I think that's where I related to\n17:40\nCaleb because he was like I'm advocating\n17:44\nfor my self for myself I'm here but I\n17:47\nhave a lot of questions that I need and\n17:49\nI love you know I love that about his\n17:50\ncharacter becau se I feel like and I try\n17:52\nto kind of impress this upon the\n17:54\n patients I work with in general because\n17:57\nas a human being like you have to be you\n18:01\nhave to be researching you have to be\n18:04\nthoug htful and thorough with your own\n18:06\nhealth care like you have to be\n 18:08\nquestioning these doctors you know and\n18:10\nasking them about th is stuff because\n18:13\nthey don't know it all they don't know\n18:15\nat all there are some doctors that go by\n18:17\nthe book or they are just t rying to sell\n18:20\nthe these you know medications to to get\n18:25\nper ks and things like that it's kind of\n18:27\nlike you have to be your own Advocate\n18:30\nyou have to research yourself because\n18:32\nhere it is in this scenario it's like if\n18:35\nhe didn't do that research on his ow n\n18:37\nand like kind of take that extra step\n18:40\nand try to figure things out on his own\n18:42\nhe would have been just like some of\n18:43\ nthose men that that ended up dead\n18:46\nbecause it's like you know you got to\n18:48\nkind of ask more questions and care more\n18:50\nabout your health and not just listen to\n18:53\nwhat a health care provider or what ever\n18:55\nis telling you all the time yeah there\n18:58\nwas one guy an d I I didn't write his\n19:00\nname down in the notes did all the\n19:02\n research looked him up his name was\n19:06\nCharlie I can't remember his l ast name\n19:09\nnow I'll try and put up a picture of him\n19:12\nbut he w as one of the um last survivors\n19:16\nof the Tuskegee\n19:19\nexperiment and the reason why I\n19:22\nremembered him is because they they did\n19: 24\na a report about him and he\n19:29\nwore a hat at all times because ag ain\n19:32\nwhen you get syphus you if it's not\n19:34\ntreated or treated quickly you start to\n19:37\nget lesions and they they kind of\n19:38\nre presented that in the um in the movie\n19:42\nwhere these guys had like ma rks on their\n19:45\nface he had marks on his\n19:50\nscalp and so he used to wear a hat to\n19:53\nhide\n19:54\nit but he was and which president w as it\n19:58\nI don't remember if it was no no no no\n20:01\nno no cuz thi s was in like the '90s\n20:03\nshortly before he passed but he was\n20:07\ ngiven some kind of medal okay by the\n20:10\npresident\n20:11\nfor um his his involvement and survival\n20:16\nbecause black people are rewarded fo r\n20:18\nsurviving um he was given a reward for\n20:22\nthat but that man suffered through all\n20:26\nof that and you know I think he died in\n20: 30\nI want to say he passed away in\n20:33\n2009 darn I wish I had notes o n it but\n20:35\nI'll try and put that up at the\n20:37\nend all in all as far as historical\n20:42\ncontent I feel like this was pretty\n20:45\nacc urate even though it's a\n20:46\nfictionalized movie I think it was\n20:49 \npretty accurate if you're not aware of\n20:52\nthe Tuskegee experiment I definitely say\n20:56\nwatch it go down the rabbit hole get\n20:59\nonlin e do the research um and once again\n21:04\nsit your kids down to watch it you know\n21:08\nI think the news just broke today that\n21:10\napparentl y at the federal level Black\n21:12\nHistory Month is being cancelled\n21: 15\nso look don't let it be canceled in your\n21:18\nhouse celebrate educa te make sure you\n21:22\nknow about stuff like this because as we\n21:24\n can see history is starting to repeat\n21:26\nitself in a very backwards w ay so that\n21:30\nbeing said hope you enjoyed this review\n21:33\ndon't f orget to like share follow\n21:35\nsubscribe to our YouTube page also our\ n21:39\nFacebook page even though I'm trying to\n21:41\nmove us off of met a completely because\n21:45\nreasons um our group on Facebook is\n21:48\nc alled movies that move we you can also\n21:51\nfind me on the spill app do wnload it\n21:56\nit's aiv it's nice and quiet over there\n21:58\nunder my page which is Nay wres n i ke\n22:03\nwri I Tes and also on fan base same name\n22:08\nnay\n22:10\nwrites and YouTube where movies that\n22:13\nmov ie is the name of the playlist we\n22:15\nhave more than two years of uh m ovie\n22:19\ndiscussions that you can check out and\n22:21\nhey we like co mments on the old stuff so\n22:23\nfeel free but definitely let us know\n2 2:26\nwhat you thought of this movie and and\n22:29\num what are we doing I don't think we've\n22:30\ndecided on the next movie we haven't\n22:32\nd ecided on the next movie but there are\n22:35\nsome Runner UPS I know the next two that\n22:39\nwe're looking at is um the piano lesson\n22:43\nand fences those are like the top two\n22:46\noptions for the next Go Round ri ght and\n22:49\nso we'll keep you posted on that there\n22:52\nwill be no show next week but the first\n22:55\nweek of\n22:56\nFebruary we're going all in we're\n22:58\ncelebrating black history mon over here\n23:00\nwe ar e we don't care who don't like\n23:03\nwe're celebrating\n23:05\nourselves anyway thank you so much for\n23:07\njoining us and until next week we'll see\n23:10\nyou later bye bye\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250128 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:AI Palooza Webinar (NABJ) National Association of Black Jour nalists video 01/28/2026 with Benét Wilson DTSTAMP:20260129T005445Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:633-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n AI Palooza Webinar (NABJ) National Association of Black J ournalists video 01/28/2026 with Benét Wilson\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Somethin g to learn\n\n\n\n Associated Press has been using AI for ten years\n\n\n\ n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LINK\n\n\n\n https://www.facebook.com/share /v/1JUMBFoZ5f/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n EMBEDED VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260128 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 5 - January 4th 2025  DTSTAMP:20250118T183912Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:141-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Universal Basic Income is coming\, fiscal capitalism with modern technological capabilities deletes the need for physical toiling h uman labor\, in regions in humanity that have the militaristic power + nat ural resources to maintainthe technological capability.\n\n\n\n But what a re some general problems? \n\n\n\n \n Giving money allows for those\, li ke telemarketers\, like similar scammers to acquire large profits. How can they be stopped absent a level of legal criminalization to such activitie s that is absent in the financially wealthiest governments. \n \n \n No modern multiracial populaces has a consistent legal or administrative hist ory of providing any service equally to individuals regardless of their ra ce: gender/phenotype/age/language/edutation level/health/financial value. So how can universal basic income?\n \n \n The ability of the usa to rais e its own debt or generate more debt for itself absent a fear of debt coll ection by its military power allows for a severe abuse in its general popu lace\n \n\n\n\n  The prime problem i see in the Black populace in the usa \, the phenotypical race made up of Black: DOSers/Caribbeana/Africana/Asia na/First Peoples\, is the belief from many Black people in the usa that bl ack people\, not non blacks \, are inadequate or irresponsible or somethin g similar to have Universal Basic Income.\n\n\n\n For Black DOSers this co mes from the legacy of enslavement and the minority of Blacks circa 1865 w ho were able to overcome white terror who suggested all black people could overcome said white terror but lacked something to do it. \n\n\n\n \n\n Finland’s universal basic income trial made people happier—but not emp loyed\n\n By Charlotte Jee \n\n February 11\, 2019\n\n\n\n A trial where unemployed people in Finland were given a basic income for two years did n ot get them into work—but it make them healthier and happier\, according to initial results. [ https://julkaisut.valtioneuvosto.fi/bitstream/hand le/10024/161361/Report_The Basic Income Experiment 20172018 in Finland.pdf ?sequence=1&\;isAllowed=y OR https://1drv.ms/b/c/ea9004809c2729bb/ETk UV74BKBlJrvXrruWIjFcBkmRyuTzQGqIF8iPqGMceOQ?e=O5jIJI ]  \n\n\n\n The ex periment: From January 2017 to December 2018\, 2\,000 unemployed people in Finland received an unconditional monthly payment of €560 ($634) instea d of their usual unemployment benefit (a similar sum). The goal was to see if this would help them get back to work. The pilot found that basic inco me recipients were no more likely to find work than a control group who di d not receive the payments. However\, they reported significantly better o verall well-being. A final report on the trial will be released in 2020.\n \n\n\n Universal basic income:  The idea [ https://www.technologyreview. com/2018/06/20/141704/basic-income-could-work-if-you-do-it-canada-style/  ]  is to give everyone the same monthly income\, regardless of means. I t’s a concept that’s grown in popularity in recent years\, as part of thinking around how to combat job losses and insecurity caused by automati on. It has also been tested in Canada\, Namibia\, India\, and other countr ies. [ https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/12/27/103611/universal-basic -income-had-a-rough-2018/ ]  \n\n\n\n Is that it?: Inevitably\, the res ults from Finland raise questions about whether UBI works. However\, it’ s worth pointing out that the data only covers 2017\, the first year of th e trial\, and it’s questionable whether focusing solely on people who ar e unemployed can really qualify as a “universal” basic income. We’ve got extra data to work with\, but the debate is far from settled.\n\n\n\n by Charlotte Jee\n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/02 /11/66119/finlands-universal-basic-income-trial-made-people-happier-but-no t-employed/ \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LINKED IN THE ARTICLE ABOVE\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Basic income could work—if you do it Canada-style\n\n A Canadian p rovince is giving people money with no strings attached—revealing both t he appeal and the limitations of the idea.\n\n By Brian Bergsteinarchive p age\n\n June 20\, 2018\n\n\n\n Dana Bowman\, 56\, expresses gratitude for fresh produce at least 10 times in the hour and a half we’re having coff ee on a frigid spring day in Lindsay\, Ontario. Over the many years she sc raped by on government disability payments\, she tended to stick to frozen vegetables. She’d also save by visiting a food bank or buying marked-do wn items near or past their sell-by date.\n\n\n\n But since December\, Bow man has felt secure enough to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. She’s free r\, she says\, to “do what nanas do” for her grandchildren\, like havi ng all four of them over for turkey on Easter. Now that she can afford the transportation\, she might start taking classes in social work in a nearb y city. She feels happier and healthier—and\, she says\, so do many othe r people in her subsidized apartment building and around town. “I’m se eing people smiling and seeing people friendlier\, saying hi more\,” she says.\n\n\n\n Jim Garbutt sees moods brightening\, too\, at A Buy &\; Sell Shop\, a store he and his wife run on Lindsay’s main street. Sales are brisker for most of what they sell: used furniture\, kitchen items\, n ovelties. A Buy &\; Sell Shop is the kind of place where people come in just to chat—“we’re like Cheers\, without the alcohol\,” Garbut t says—and more and more people seem hopeful. “Spirits are up\,” he says.\n\n\n\n What changed? Lindsay\, a compact rectangle amid the lakes n ortheast of Toronto\, is at the heart of one of the world’s biggest test s of a guaranteed basic income. In a three-year pilot funded by the provin cial government\, about 4\,000 people in Ontario are getting monthly stipe nds to boost them to at least 75 percent of the poverty line. That transla tes to a minimum annual income of $17\,000 in Canadian dollars (about $13\ ,000 US) for single people\, $24\,000 for married couples. Lindsay has abo ut half the people in the pilot—some 10 percent of the town’s populati on.\n\n\n\n The trial is expected to cost $50 million a year in Canadian d ollars\; expanding it to all of Canada would cost an estimated $43 billion annually. But Hugh Segal\, the conservative former senator who designed t he test\, thinks it could save the government money in the long run. He ex pects it to streamline the benefits system\, remove rules that discourage people from working\, and reduce crime\, bad health\, and other costly pro blems that stem from poverty. Such improvements occurred during a basic-in come test in Manitoba in the 1970s.\n\n\n\n People far beyond Canada will be watching closely\, too\, because a basic income has become Silicon Vall ey’s favorite answer to the question of how society should deal with the massive automation of jobs. Tech investors such as Facebook cofounder Chr is Hughes and Sam Altman\, president of the startup incubator Y Combinator \, are funding pilot projects to examine what people do when they get mone y with no strings attached. Hughes’s Economic Security Project will pay for 100 people in Stockton\, California\, to get $500 a month for 18 month s. Y Combinator ran a small-scale test in Oakland\, California\, last year \; beginning in 2019 it will give $1\,000 a month to 1\,000 people over th ree to five years\, in locations still to be determined.\n\n\n\n This mome ntum figures to keep building as AI and robotics make even more inroads. L egislators in Hawaii are beginning to study the prospects for a basic inco me. The lawmaker who has led the effort\, Democrat Chris Lee\, worries tha t self-driving cars and automated retail checkout could be the beginning o f the end for a lot of human labor in Hawaii’s service-based economy. If machines can handle tasks in tourism and hospitality\, Lee says\, “ther e is no fallback industry for jobs to be created in.”\n\n\n\n But ther e’s an important difference between that vision for a basic income and t he experiment in Ontario. The Canadians are testing it as an efficient ant ipoverty mechanism\, a way to give a relatively small segment of the popul ation more flexibility to find work and to strengthen other strands of the safety net. That’s not what Silicon Valley seems to imagine\, which is a universal basic income that placates broad swaths of the population. The most obvious problem with that idea? Math. Many economists concluded long ago that it would be too expensive\, especially when compared with the co st of programs to create new jobs and train people for them. That’s why the idea didn’t take off after tests in the 1960s and ’70s. It’s lar gely why Finland decided not to extend a small basic income trial.\n\n\n\n If any place can illuminate both the advantages of basic income and the p roblems it can’t solve\, it will be Lindsay. The town is prosperous by s ome measures\, with a median household income of $55\,000 and a historic d owntown district where new condos and a craft brewery are on the way. But that masks how tough it is for a lot of people to get by. Manufacturing in the surrounding area\, known as the Kawartha Lakes\, has declined since t he 1980s. Many people juggle multiple jobs\, including seasonal work tied to tourism in the summer and fall. Technology is part of the story too: ro bots milk cows now.\n\n\n\n Basic income as a social equalizer\n\n The Old e Gaol Museum is indeed an old jail\, but it’s also a showcase for thing s that reveal the texture of Lindsay’s history—uniforms that nurses fr om town wore in France during World War I\; tools and maps used by railway workers when this was a hub for eight railroad lines\; 19th-century paint ings by a local artist who depicted the timeless regional pastimes of cano eing and fishing. When curatorial assistant Ian McKechnie gives me a tour\ , he stops and plays a lovely tune on a foot-pumped organ called a harmoni um that was made in Ontario more than a hundred years ago.\n\n\n\n McKechn ie\, 27\, has worked at the museum for seven years and is devoted to it. U nlike his previous job\, when he was briefly a laborer at a goat cheese fa ctory\, it offers a chance to be creative and connect with many people in the community. He doesn’t just give tours: he researches and organizes e xhibits and writes supporting materials. But on the day we meet\, the muse um is not paying him to be at work\, and therein lies a story about why he and the Olde Gaol’s operations supervisor\, Lisa Hart\, both signed up for the basic income.\n\n\n\n The museum gets almost all its revenue from grants\, and one just expired. The manager of the museum recently left\, a nd so it falls largely to McKechnie and Hart to keep things going until an other grant comes in. Even when it does\, these won’t be lucrative job s—perhaps $20\,000 a year for McKechnie’s. They could find positions i n the area that pay more\, but both would much rather continue their labor of love at the museum. Leaving now might undercut its momentum toward a m ore sustainable future\, which could include a new cultural center that wo uld connect the museum with a local art gallery.\n\n\n\n Thanks to the bas ic-income trial\, both can afford to stay on with the museum. And in the m eantime\, Hart says\, she will no longer put off buying new eyeglasses. Th e basic income “allows you to spend time on something that’s valuabl e\,” she says. “It’s very sad to walk away from something where yo u’re valued and doing something meaningful for the community because it just can’t pay you a lot.”\n\n\n\n This highlights an intriguing aspec t of basic income: it functions in different ways for different people. Th e way Hart describes it\, it’s fuel for cultural development. For Dana B owman\, who might now take classes in social work and regularly volunteers at a community garden\, it’s a food subsidy\, an educational grant\, an d a neighborhood improvement fund all in one. For a married couple who own a health-food restaurant that barely covers its costs\, it’s a small-bu siness booster. A man who hurt his back working in a warehouse told me he hoped it could augment his employer’s disability payments. A student who was about to graduate from a technical college and had a job lined up sai d he planned to use the extra income to pay down school loans and start sa ving for a house.\n\n\n\n For McKechnie\, the basic income is something br oader: a social equalizer\, a recognition that people who make little or n o money are often doing things that are socially valuable. “It gives one the assurance that the work you’re doing is not in vain\, even though y ou’re not working in a bank or doing other things that are considered pa rt of a career\,” he says.\n\n\n\n Even if a basic income turns out to b e a flexible and efficient government program\, it’s not clear that it w ould be a great way to respond to technological unemployment. Over and ove r again\, people in Lindsay told me it won’t reduce people’s demand fo r jobs.\n\n\n\n As a practical matter\, the Ontario trial doesn’t pay en ough to eliminate most people’s need to work or to rely on family for su pport. But even if a richer payout were feasible\, that wouldn’t change the philosophy of the program. Basic-income supporters want to improve the odds that people will take better care of themselves and their families. They want a humane and dignifying way of helping people who simply can’t work. But they also argue that most people generally want and expect to w ork. “It’s not supposed to be welfare for people displaced by technolo gy\,” says one of the basic-income advocates\, Mike Perry\, who runs a m edical practice in Kawartha Lakes.\n\n\n\n Moreover\, while giving poor pe ople money helps them\, it still leaves urgent and difficult questions una nswered about the impacts of automation and globalization. What will it ta ke to ensure that entire regions aren’t left far behind economically? Wh at can be done to boost the supply of good\, steady jobs? Basic income “ is only the beginning\,” says Roderick Benns\, former vice chair of the Ontario Basic Income Network. “It’s not just ‘cut a check and get on with building the corporatocracy.’ We have to ask what else we are doin g as a society to get people to reimagine what they can do with their live s.”\n\n\n\n Benns\, the author of several books\, grew up in Lindsay. Un til recently\, he and his wife\, Joli Scheidler-Benns\, lived three hours away\, but the pilot is so important to them that they moved back so he ca n chronicle it in a new publication called the Lindsay Advocate and she ca n do research for her PhD on the subject at York University. After Benns d escribes how basic income should augment job training and other social pro grams\, Scheidler-Benns\, who is originally from Michigan\, nods and then adds: “I don’t see how it could work in the US.”\n\n\n\n After all\, she says\, Canada does many other things to strengthen its safety net and reduce inequality. For one\, it has universal health care. School funding in Ontario is primarily allocated at the province level rather than being heavily dependent on local property taxes\, as it is in the US. Canada al so traditionally spends about 1 percent of its GDP on workforce-developmen t programs\, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and De velopment. That’s about half of the proportion in other advanced countri es\, but it still dwarfs the US figure\, which is about 0.3 percent.\n\n\n \n Funding a different mind-set\n\n\n\n Tony Tilly is the outgoing preside nt of Fleming College\, which specializes in preparing people in Kawartha Lakes for careers in both white-collar work and trades. About half the stu dents don’t come right from high school\; they’ve already been in the workforce and hope to learn a new skill.\n\n\n\n He supports a basic incom e because he thinks it could help people break out of poverty that has bes et their families for generations. But even if the program continues past the three-year trial period\, Fleming’s essential challenge would remain : how to prepare students for a world in which more and more tasks are bei ng automated.\n\n\n\n Fleming is still priming its graduates to work in tr aditional strongholds of the regional economy: jobs tied to the environmen t and natural resources\, infrastructure development\, mining\, constructi on\, and government. But the school is trying to instill a different mind- set from the one students had when Tilly became its president 14 years ago . They now get more emphasis on so-called soft skills: teamwork\, problem- solving\, personal interaction. Above all\, he says\, they need to know “not only how to do some particular job but how to contribute overall to the success of an organization\, whether it’s a manufacturer or a provi der of social services.”\n\n\n\n If the basic-income plan works as expec ted\, Fleming might get even more students than it otherwise would. Dana B owman could be one of them.\n\n\n\n It’s been years since she last had a paying job\, as a receptionist. She has been on disability for a variety of ailments\, including skin cancer and arthritis. But she feels she is up to doing some part-time work. In 2015\, two years before the basic-income trial\, Bowman asked a case worker if she could get help paying for trans portation to a Fleming campus that offers classes in social work. The offi cial said that would lead to cuts in other benefits Bowman relied on. The message Bowman says she got was: “You’re unemployable. You’re not wo rth investing in.”\n\n\n\n In contrast\, the basic-income plan ensures a minimum for her without micromanaging how she spends it. For every dollar that recipients earn above the minimum\, their payout from the province w ill be cut by 50 cents\, but no one is made worse off by working.\n\n\n\n Even being able to consider that prospect\, Bowman says\, has been good fo r her. “I don’t feel ‘less than.’ I feel ‘equal to.’ Not feeli ng guilty walking down the street\, thinking\, ‘I didn’t do enough tod ay\,’” she says. “People want to do something. People aren’t incli ned to do nothing.”\n\n\n\n by Brian Bergstein\n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://w ww.technologyreview.com/2018/06/20/141704/basic-income-could-work-if-you-d o-it-canada-style/ \n\n  \n\n\n\n Last Edition \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.c om/tc/topic/11377-economiccorner004/\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Tool Deviantart Drea mup\n\n\n\n prompt: diamond italian renaissance door constructed by Lorenz o Ghiberti explaining Universal Basic Income \n\n artstyle dreamup\n\n as pect ratio 3:4\n\n prompt strength 20\n\n negative prompt : dull\, poor li ghting\, multiple images\,uneven\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://a albc.com/tc/topic/11402-economiccorner005/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n h ttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/598-economic-corner-4-december-17th-2024/ \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/142-econom ic-corner-6-january-6th-2025 /\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/09/2026\n \n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12270-has-universal-income-gotten-closer -to-being-needed/#comment-79118\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @umbrarchist \n\n\n\ n \n On 1/7/2026 at 4:43 AM\, umbrarchist said:\n \n\n \n \n Coming fr om where?\n \n \n\n\n\n I don't know where. I have guesses but universal basic income if implemented is going to be such a large volume of money\, the upper echelons of finance and power will have to have a say in it.\n\n \n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n \n On 1/7/2026 at 2:23 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n it won't happen until unemployment hits about 15% of the populatio n.😎\n \n \n\n\n\n hmm 350 million is approximately the population in t he usa. ten percent is 35 million. One percent is three point five million . so circa fifty two point five million need to be umemployed. Isn't that number already unemployed in the usa? \n\n\n\n white people say \n\n\n\n https://theworlddata.com/welfare-statistics-in-us/\n\n\n\n The welfare sy stem in America 2025 continues to serve as a critical safety net for milli ons of individuals and families facing economic hardship across the nation . These comprehensive programs provide essential support through food assi stance\, cash benefits\, healthcare coverage\, housing aid\, and tax credi ts designed to help low-income households meet their basic needs. The Unit ed States welfare programs include major initiatives such as the Supplemen tal Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)\, Medicaid\, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)\, Housing Choice Vouchers\, and the Earned Incom e Tax Credit (EITC)\, all administered by various federal agencies in part nership with state and local governments.\n\n As of 2025\, the total gover nment spending on welfare across federal\, state\, and local levels reache d approximately $1.5 trillion\, with Medicaid accounting for $742 billion and other welfare programs totaling $757 billion. These programs collectiv ely assist more than 72.5 million Americans during an average month\, repr esenting a substantial portion of the population that relies on government assistance to address food insecurity\, healthcare access\, housing stabi lity\, and income support. The welfare landscape reflects ongoing economic challenges\, demographic shifts\, and policy adjustments aimed at balanci ng assistance needs with fiscal responsibility while maintaining program i ntegrity and effectiveness.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n the CPS says that only 4.4%  of the population is unemployed but that makes no sense \, because most children don't work.\n\n if the usa has three hundred and fifty million p eople and one percent of three hundred and fifty million people is three m illion and five hundred thousand people\, then five percent is seventeen m illion and five hundred thousand. So the metropolitan populace of NYC is t wenty three million. \n\n If we round and measure loosely\, then the popu lation of NYC metropolitan is unemployed and the rest of the usa populatio n is working\, man woman and child. that is a lie. And with at least 72 mi llion americans receiving assistance\,  I argue why is that number less r elevant than unemployed? Why is it the horde of mcdonalds/wendy's workers who allow for unemployment percentage to be low more important than most o f them have public assistance?\n\n\n\n figures from here\n\n https://www.b ls.gov/cps/latest-numbers.htm\n\n\n\n The way the department of labor and others calculates labor is statistically manufactured.\n\n https://www.dol .gov/agencies/wb/data/Employment-Unemployment\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In summar y\, since this is the economic corner\, the idea of universal basic income being needed with unemployment at 15% is dysfunctional for me. the unempl oyment percentage must first be recalculated with the intention of honest first and if it can't be then it is time to use the percentage of financia lly assisted people\, cause if you need financial assistance\, you are poo r. And said people needing financial assistance is already over the fiftee n percent threshold you state.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n good questions\, financially valid question/issues you raise. all of them are in the debates now\, you know. those in power will dictate the details. I can only add what I think on the three questions. What will exactly happen ? I don't know. UBI is a big thing financially. it is a game changer so wh atever happens\, and even if it doesn't happen\, will have repercussions. Before I speak on the questions/issues and state my cases. If UBI don't ha ppen. then violence will grow and i guess the police state industry will g row. but I don't see how industries in the usa can continually raise price s and the violence from the masses not reach a potency unable to be contai ned or controlled by the police state. But\, maybe SCrumpt is beginning th at era. I Don't see how it can survive for two hundred and fifty years wit h the source of the violence being industries in the usa making cost of li ving too high. You can have drones and machine cops and electronic distinc t security systems and tagging people to quell violence  but I don't see how that can last over a hundred years with the violence inevitably having to grow with the way the industries raise the cost of living. And I want to end my introduction saying again\, Pioneer\, you and many black people I have heard or read in my lifetime talk about the rule of law. and it has a heritage for black people in the usa. We were enslaved to whites. befor e the usa was founded. The law\, not black violence towards whites\, not b lack fiscal activity when whites allowed\, has been how black people have personally or financially grown in these lands from european colonial circ a 1492 to 2026. So breaking the law is big\, cause the black populace in t he usa never had the ability to\n\n\n\n grant welfare checks to failed bla ck businesses\, like the white populace did for whites who completely fail ed their businesses\n\n\n\n offer free land to penniless blacks\, like the white populace did for penniless whites\n\n\n\n offer unevenly paid labor to penniless blacks\, like the white populace did for penniless whites\n\ n\n\n So I get it.Black people have always been in an uneven financial /le gal environment in the usa\, negatively biased or negatively favored to us . But 2026 and the coming future\, we have to change how we talk about our selves when it comes to the law. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n well onto my thought s to your questions and remember\, I Don't know what will happen. yes I ha ve opinions but\, we will all see \, what happens. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 1/7/2026 at 6:55 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n Will this be a C onstitutional Right\, or just a privilege?\n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n O n 1/7/2026 at 6:55 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n say something the g overnment doesn't like\, or break a law\, or commit an infraction....the g overnment reserves the right to lessen the amount or cut it off all togeth er.\n \n \n\n\n\n it makes sense that breaking the law will reduce the in come you get. The usa has a long heritage of legal precedence like that es pecially concerning black people\, with one caveat that only in the late 1 900s did black people have enough elected officials to even remotely look out for black interest. \n\n\n\n \n On 1/7/2026 at 6:55 PM\, Pioneer1 sa id:\n \n\n \n \n If everybody has a BASIC income\, then that means nobo dy will be broke or claim not to have enough money.\n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n \n On 1/7/2026 at 6:55 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n \n\n Whi ch means people who monitor your income and wages to sell you insurance or a car or a house can take advantage of the fact that they KNOW you have s o much money coming in and will charge you so much based on that.\n\n \n \n You can't claim you don't have any money or can't afford \"this\" or \"that\" because EVERYBODY is getting it so they KNOW you got it.\n\n \n \n You can't even tell a criminal or mugger that you're broke\, because they KNOW you'll have some money coming in at some point and time.\n \n \ n\n\n\n Your forgetting cost of living? even if UBI was given right now\, if it doesn't come with manipulations to cost of living industries\, espec ially the real estate industry\, then it doesn't offer a change in the cur rent situation even if implemented and I argue this is why it is going thr ough this long process. Because three industries will need to be overhaule d completely: health/home/food. the health industry keeps going up and up in cost\, that has to stop. rents or real estate evaluations keep going up and up\, that has to stop. Food costs keep going up and up\, that has to stop. IF those three things don't stop going up and up unendingly then UBI will be dysfunctional if not instantly \, eventually\,  once implemented .\n\n\n\n Arguably  all the financial industries including fiscal scams n eed the door closed on said industries. thus a process. And that goes back to the heritage of financial scams. Again\, how much money would black pe ople have if not for white burnings of our towns\, white thefts of propert y and money. how much if not for enslavement to whites. how much if not sh arecropping to whites. sharecropping is no different than the financial sc ams of today. The strongest financial heritage of the usa is financial sca ms in fiscal capitalism and blaming the people abused not the scammer\, wh ether the scammer be an enslaver committing a legal criminal act or sherif f using their badge/status to evade prosecution of their illegalities or c rimes or whomever... including specific types of other black people. Said specific types aren't thieves and drug dealers. Said specific types are bl ack churches who scam and cheat money for the community\, black home owner s who scam and cheat black renters. black elected officials who scame and cheat money through legislation. \n\n\n\n \n On 1/7/2026 at 6:55 PM\, Pi oneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n   It could possibly trigger massive inflatio n.\n\n \n\n Again\, if everybody is getting $2000 a month.....\n\n \ n\n The rent WAS $500 a month.\n\n But since we know everybody gets at least $2000 a month....let's raise it to $1000 a month!\n\n \n\n Infac t\, since most people are shacking up now a days anyway make the rent $200 0 a month and let them find a roommate and share a check between themselve s!\n \n \n\n\n\n inflation is headed to an untenable place\, before UBI.  \n\n\n\n The reality UBI's philosophical opponent is the uneven bootstra ps personal accountability model which was always disingenuous.\n\n\n\n Th at is how the fiat business model in the 1970s got to this point. The idea of printing your own money backed by your military isn't new\, but the us a's white populace in control \, in cheap hindsight\, made a huge error. I t was so worried about diminishing white wealth at the top that it allowed administrative inefficiencies to fester and thrive in at the fiscal top o f the ownership/shareholder class  till now the entire business community in the usa is filled with welfare recipients\, who are completely safe fr om the bootstrap personal accountability narrative\, ala too big too fail.  \n\n\n\n If I look at the usa from the 1970s\, the airline industry comp letely failed at least three times. The oil industry failed once. The auto motive industry completely or 90% failed two times. The banking industry c ompletely failed two times. The film industry completely failed three time s. The crypto industry completely failed two times. The real estate indust ry completely failed three times. The electronics industry completely fail ed once. Many other industries like hospitals or fast food chains have sla shed their inefficient buildups like star bucks or some hospital chains.  \n\n\n\n What is my point? \n\n\n\n The biggest inflationary generator is the welfare state for all the failed firms. The following firms based on their financial history had at least one year where they were  completely bankrupt\, bankrupt defined as unable to pay their bills after four quart ers\, and didn't go into bankruptcy that year but were allowed to retain e xistence through legal but financially uneven means\n\n\n\n welfare check from the government which the government paid by printing money\n\n\n\n so me sale to another firm who grew its debt to buy the carcass\n\n\n\n debts paid through the stock market which has in itself unregulated or financia lly uneven actors who added debt to themselves to buy shares\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Apple\n\n\n\n NEtflix\n\n\n\n Google\n\n\n\n General Motors\n\n\n\n Warner Bros\n\n\n\n Chrysler\n\n\n\n Facebook\n\n\n\n OpenAI\n\n\n\n twitt er\n\n\n\n all the airlines\n\n\n\n a number of theater chains\n\n\n\n mal l chains\n\n\n\n starbucks and many other fast food chains\n\n\n\n am*zon\ n\n\n\n exxon\n\n\n\n goldman sachs\n\n\n\n jp morgan\n\n\n\n General elec tric\n\n\n\n universal studios\n\n\n\n most bitcoins or datamined currenci es\n\n\n\n most ai systems\n\n\n\n most hospital chains\n\n\n\n most real estate\n\n\n\n sony\, not even in the usa but i read that it is actually m ostly owned\, through shares\,  by people in the usa.\n\n\n\n many retire ment plans\, not all but many\n\n\n\n I can't think of one firm or financi al institution touted heavily in media in the usa that hasn't gone bankrup t as I see it in the past fifty years and should not exist today then if o ne treats all firms or financial institutions the same way\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n So\, saving all those firms above is the cause of inflation Pioneer in the past fifty years. Cause whether it is\n\n\n\n the government printing money adding debt to the federal government\n\n\n\n other firms adding de bt to pay for their carcasses\n\n\n\n new/old  shareholders adding debt t o pay for the shares of their carcasses\n\n\n\n I don't see any financiall y even reason why any of those firms mentioned above and most of their pee rs in the usa should exist today. They are all failed firms\, and for the investment banks/automotive companies/crypto/real estate industries I was aware for them\, I was present of mind to see each of them have a complete financial collapse. So no one can give me any financially valid reason th ose four sectors should exist with the actors they do today.\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Goldman should completely liquidated. To this day I still hear black people\, goldman got those MIT graduates. Well\, clearly MIT doesn't help a financial firm with billions of dollars of transactions per year\, argu ably the most of any financial firm in the world save itself from receiver ship. The Goldman with all their MIT graduates went to Washington DC and b egged for a welfare check and got it. so...  I don't want to hear about s ome black person somewhere with their few hundred grand mismanaging money and not warranting aid this way or that way.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Crypto \, again with all the asians \, especially chinese\, and supposedly smart fol k \, completely collapsed. Where was china's genious work force to save cr ypto? Instead a bunch of rich people with the help of Goldman and company\ , already saved by welfare check\, bought up all the crypto assets with de bt. again.. I don't want to hear about some black person on a nine to five job mishandling funds not warranting aid this way or that way.\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n The automotive companies who at one time in human history had a o ver ninety percent market share of the global automotive industry\, was gi ven a welfare check by the government. I read ford didn't want the check a nd was going to refinance\, which means add debt to cover the expenses of the firm\,  but the federal government didn't allow that for some reason\ , one day I will research and hopefully see why the federal government did n't allow it. So don't tell me about some black athlete who wasted million s not  warranting aid this way or that way.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The real e state industry has collapsed multiple times and yet\, somehow is allowed t o be continually refinanced through debt. The real estate industry was eve n allowed to continue operation in NYC when small businesses were forced t o close. why? If the construction workers can keep building buildings whil e the virus is about why are small businesses forced to shut down for the virus? The real estate industry was so indebted that it was allowed to ski p the shutdown that many other industries were forced to do\, which hurt a nd hindered many other industries. So\, again\, don't speak to me about a black homeless person not getting their act together and not warranting ai d this way or that. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And my talk of warranting aid thi s way or that way completes the circle on universal basic income. The USA as it did after\n\n\n\n the war between the states\, letting completely im poverished formerly rich white southerners retain their property and finan cial accounts\, not treating them like benedict arnolds\, and allowing the m to continue financially uneven hiring practices through jim crow era.\n\ n\n\n the second white european imperial war\, commonly called war world 2 \, letting completely impoverished formerly rich white europeans in wester n europe or white asians in japan recover their real estate\, bank account s plus giving them welfare checks worth their entire industrial or financi al footing today.\n\n\n\n has saved countless completely impoverished form erly rich whites\, and some non whites in the usa retain their wealth thro ugh an unbounded debt allowances. \n\n\n\n So adding inflation for giving the fiscal poor money in my eyes is at the most financially warranted or at the least financially allowable based on recent past precedence.\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/10/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD \n\n\n\n \ n On 1/9/2026 at 1:14 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Obviously\, there are millions of people who cannot work for one reason or another.🙄😎  \n \n \n\n\n\n yes\, but the millions who are unable to work\, not cann ot work\, for one external reason or another\, is the issue.  \n\n\n\n B ased on the definitions below\, when we talk about the black populace in t he usa the statistics for employment\, don't consider\n\n\n\n black people in the armed forces which for many black people in small black towns is t heir only upward mobility\n\n\n\n black people in prison cause the black p opulace doesn't have the ability to generate or access labor pools with jo bs that provide adequate revenue for par standard of living.\n\n\n\n black people in old folks homes which has only grown over time. \n\n\n\n then you take the black populace outside the three above who are considered in the employment statistic and the following are not considered employed\n\n \n\n black people who volunteer without pay\, which is alot of black peopl e since the 1800s. When black people were teaching ourselves how to read t he black people who did it for free and only got room and board wouldn't b e considered cause food and board isn't money. Alot of the black panthers would not be considered with the school food program. \n\n\n\n Black peop le in unpaid internships or training programs\, which is many black people \n\n\n\n Black housewives is not considered even though many black women i n recent immigrant communities are housewives. \n\n\n\n So the 4.4% isn't related to 100% of the populace . it is a percentage of a percentage\, th at mostly blocks out people who are working. Just not getting money. Black soldiers[who are working cause being a soldier is work]+black imprisoned [note: who actually do work alot still and rarely get their proper wage sc ale ala 13th amendment slavey status]+black people in home care or old fol ks[many of whom make other... younger\, black peoples lives possible with their retirement benefits]+ black poor people getting food and board doing volunteer work[which is usually off books sporadic and thus not in the po lling time]+ black students getting unpaid internships or training[which i s very often but is work\, internships are work\, i remember internships a s a student\, unpaid\, that is work]+ black housewives who actually have t o clean the house and similar chores are all not included in the percentag e of people considered for unemployment[that is definitely work]. so...the issue isn't unable to work\, it is a statistic not including many who do work\, because it will show that the black populace at least is not lazy\, is full of people working\, BUT they are not:) getting a good wage. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n white man says \n\n\n\n https://www.bls.gov/cps/definitio ns.htm\n\n\n\n Employment-population ratio\n\n\n\n The employment-populati on ratio represents the number of employed people as a percentage of th e civilian noninstitutional population. In other words\, it is the percen tage of the population that is currently working.\n\n\n\n The employment-p opulation ratio is calculated as: (Employed ÷ Civilian Noninstitutional P opulation) x 100.\n\n\n\n https://www.bls.gov/cps/definitions.htm#employed \n\n\n\n Employed\n\n\n\n In the Current Population Survey (CPS)\, people are classified as employed if\, during the survey reference week\, they m eet any of the following criteria:\n\n\n\n worked at least 1 hour as a p aid employee (see wage and salary workers)\n\n\n\n worked at least 1 hour in their own business\, profession\, trade\, or farm (see self-employed) \n\n\n\n were temporarily absent from their job\, business\, or farm\, whe ther or not they were paid for the time off (see with a job\, not at work )\n\n\n\n worked without pay for a minimum of 15 hours in a business or fa rm owned by a member of their family (see unpaid family workers)\n\n\n\n For criteria 1 and 2\, the work must be for pay or profit\; that is\, the individual receives a wage or salary\, profits or fees\, or payment in kin d (such as housing\, meals\, or supplies received in place of cash wages). For the self-employed\, this includes those who intended to earn a profit but whose business or farm produced a loss. See the definition of self-e mployed for further details.\n\n\n\n Each employed person is counted only once in aggregate employment statistics from the CPS\, even if they hold more than one job.\n\n\n\n The following are not considered employment i n the CPS.\n\n\n\n volunteer work\n\n\n\n unpaid internships\n\n\n\n unpai d training programs\n\n\n\n training programs not sponsored by an employer \, even if the trainee receives a public assistance payment for attending\ n\n\n\n National Guard or Reserve duty (weekend or summer training)\n\n\n\ n ownership in a business or farm solely for investment purposes\, with no participation in its management or operation\n\n\n\n jury duty\n\n\n\n wo rk around one's home such as cleaning\, painting\, repairing\, or other ho usework or home improvement project\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.bls.gov /cps/definitions.htm#population\n\n\n\n Civilian noninstitutional populati on\n\n\n\n The civilian noninstitutional population age 16 and older is th e base population group\, or universe\, used for Current Population Survey (CPS) statistics published by BLS. (See also geographic scope and refere nce of the CPS.)\n\n\n\n The civilian noninstitutional population exclude s the following:\n\n\n\n active duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces\n\n \n\n people confined to\, or living in\, institutions or facilities such a s\n\n\n\n prisons\, jails\, and other correctional institutions and detent ion centers\n\n\n\n residential care facilities such as skilled nursing ho mes\n\n\n\n Included in the civilian noninstitutional population are citiz ens of foreign countries who reside in the United States but do not live o n the premises of an embassy.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n \n On 1/9/2026 at 2:24 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n as I've sa id some months ago\, they simply don't count everybody.\n\n \n\n If th e unemployment numbers were accurate\, it would be above 20%.\n \n \n\n\n \n as our elders said in the 1950s. The sad truth about labor statistics i n the usa is how they are often cited by many from the mid 1900s to now an d yet\, that entire time frame people\, black + non black\, have called th em hogwash\, the dirty water cleaning the pig. \n\n\n\n \n On 1/9/2026 a t 2:39 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n The government can maintain con trol easily....by turning the people AGAINST EACHOTHER.\n\n \n\n That' s how many smart governments maintain power anyway.\n \n \n\n\n\n hmm I d on't think anything \, anything is easy. Doable? yes\, positive possibilit y? yes\, positive probability in attempt? yes... Easy? never\, nothing is easy. \n\n\n\n well\, is any government smart? a government isn't one per son... no government in human history is one person\, the myth of the tyra nnical madman controlling all on a throne is just that\,an untrue myth. To say any government is smart or dumb is to suggest an average of mentality which can not be proven. \n\n\n\n Strong governments are ones in which t heir will gets applied. Weak governments are ones in which their will gets applied. \n\n\n\n Gardless of the mental quality of the people in a gove rnment\, a government can be strong or weak. The war between the states di dn't happen because the usa government was smart or dumb \, it happened be cause the usa government was strong \, even though it included the likes o f Abraham Lincoln\, considered by many to be one of the smartest president s\, who opposed the war. Most in the government of the usa at that time wa nted war\, and were powerful enough to apply to war.  The congress in the usa has a majority of elected officials who don't want to do the work nee ded to make legislation that brings advantage to all in a populace of over three hundred and fifty million people who are not all of white european descent. So they are doing nothing. Now if advocacy movements were getting elected officials in congress to push for wise legislation you can say th e congress is weak cause the members don't want to do that but are being f orced to by an external group. Be careful giving false praise or false co ndemnation.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 1/9/2026 at 2:39 PM\, Pioneer1 said: \n \n\n \n \n The reason they didn't allow those businesses to fail was simple: they were and are providing goods and services the nation actuall y NEEDS\n \n \n\n\n\n you made a statement\, this is the economic corner\ , tell me one thing they provide that is needed. I repeated the list you c an copy and paste and simply write the one needed thing each provide. \n\ n\n\n Apple- \n\n\n\n NEtflix- \n\n\n\n Google- \n\n\n\n General Motor s- \n\n\n\n Warner Bros- \n\n\n\n Chrysler- \n\n\n\n Facebook- \n\n\n\ n OpenAI- \n\n\n\n twitter- \n\n\n\n all the airlines- \n\n\n\n a numbe r of theater chains- \n\n\n\n mall chains- \n\n\n\n starbucks and many o ther fast food chains- \n\n\n\n am*zon- \n\n\n\n exxon- \n\n\n\n goldma n sachs- \n\n\n\n jp morgan- \n\n\n\n General electric- \n\n\n\n univer sal studios- \n\n\n\n most bitcoins or datamined currencies- \n\n\n\n mo st ai systems- \n\n\n\n most hospital chains- \n\n\n\n most real estate - \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I will make my argument against any of them produci ng anything needed.\n\n\n\n Apple- apple has never produced a needed good\ , every single device or software they made could be sold off in bankruptc y\, and made open source.  \n\n\n\n NEtflix- never produced a needed goo d\, streaming has always had multiple agents and their entire streaming se rvice\, including their communication hubs could be sold off in bankruptcy to the highest bigger.\n\n\n\n Google- never produced a needed good\, its assets could had been sold off in bankruptcy or given to open source. Com petitors would had bought server systems or software went to open source o r non bought server systems went to colleges or universities in a second s elling off. \n\n\n\n General Motors- never produced a needed good\, this country has always had multiple and small auto manufacturers\, if general motors assets were put up for auction in a bankruptcy\, they small automak ers or others would claim what they needed and could increase their volume . \n\n\n\n Warner Bros- never produced a needed good\n\n\n\n Chrysler- li ke General motors\, see above. \n\n\n\n Facebook- like google\, see above . \n\n\n\n OpenAI- like facebook\, see above\n\n\n\n twitter- like openai \n\n\n\n all the airlines- never produced a needed good\,  most arilines don't even make planes so all their aircraft after bankruptcy can be sold and regional competitors or private individuals can buy the content or it can be resold on the international market. \n\n\n\n a number of theater c hains- never produced a needed good\, each theater chain is mostly real es tate which can be sold and if not given to the state. the machines to show movies can be sold to auction\, private individuals will buy a few\, the rest can go to schools. \n\n\n\n mall chains- never produced a needed goo d\, each mall is real estate\, each location can be sold after bankruptcy. \n\n\n\n starbucks and many other fast food chains- never produced a neede d good\, mostly real estate\, secondarily food machines\, afer bankruptcy   the real estate can be sold and the food machines can be sold\, some pe ople will get nice food machines in their homes. \n\n\n\n am*zon- never p roduced a  needed good\, the shipping aspect is real estate and warehouse machines all sellable to auction after bankruptcy\, the financial service s are bank accounts which should be liquidated after bankruptcy\,the elect ronic devices + machines to make them+ software can all be sold after bank ruptcy or made open source.  \n\n\n\n exxon- never produced a needed goo d\, after bankruptcy\, all the oil fields can be sold [ at best each to an individual] the tankers can be sold\, their are other oil producers and i nviduals can enter. The refineries can be sold after bankruptcy. And if no t given to colleges as training areas or broken up into parts for use in o ther industries. \n\n\n\n goldman sachs- never produced a needed good\, a ll their bank accounts or financial transaction accounts should be liquida ted and the financial software sold or made open source\, the financial re ports or private information held by a private legal entity for the indivi duals it pertains too. \n\n\n\n jp morgan- like goldman sachs\, see above \n\n\n\n General electric- never produced a needed good\, all their manufa cturing plants for their various parts can be sold to auction after bankru ptcy\, anything not sold can go to colleges in an open grab. their real es tate sold after bankruptcy. their computer software or server systems can be sold or made open source. \n\n\n\n universal studios- like waner bros\ , see above\n\n\n\n most bitcoins or datamined currencies- never produced a needed good\, all the real estate can be sold after bankruptcy\, all the server systems can be sold individually to unique buyers and then seconda rily in components\, the individual servers in the chain\, and then thirdl y in elements\, the parts that make up each individual server unit. \n\n\ n\n most ai systems- like bitcoin\, see above\n\n\n\n most hospital chains - never produced a needed good\, most city or state governments have gover nment hospitals so after bankruptcy all the medical technology can be boug ht by the state to use in government run hospitals or in auction to privat e individuals or boutique hospitals\, the real estate can be sold or demol ished for spare land\, paid for by the hospital.\n\n\n\n most real estate- never produced a needed good\, after bankruptcy \, all real estate that i s not paid for can be taken by the government and resold or demolished pai d for as a tax write off based on the cost of destruction and taken off th e debt by the bankrupt realtor.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Not one firm I listed i n my eyes makes a needed good. Not one. Some will say \, what about invest ors  to all of these failures. Bankruptcy denies the possibility of inves tors to recoup any investment. And I say\, an old song by a white man exis t\, which is what those investors need to learn. Knowing or Learning how t o lose is apart of financial reality\, fighting it is a mistake\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n On a warm summer's evening\n\n On a train bou nd for nowhere\n\n I met up with a gambler\n\n We were both too tired to s leep\n\n So we took turns a-staring\n\n Out the window at the darkness\n\n 'Til boredom overtook us\n\n And he began to speak\n\n\n\n He said\, \"So n\, I've made a life\n\n Out of readin' people's faces\n\n Knowing what th e cards were\n\n By the way they held their eyes\n\n So if you don't mind my saying\n\n I can see you're out of aces\n\n For a taste of your whiskey \n\n I'll give you some advice\"\n\n\n\n So I handed him my bottle\n\n And he drank down my last swallow\n\n Then he bummed a cigarette\n\n And aske d me for a light\n\n And the night got deathly quiet\n\n And his face lost all expression\n\n Said\, \"If you're gonna play the game\, boy\n\n You g otta learn to play it right\"\n\n\n\n You got to know when to hold 'em\n\n Know when to fold 'em\n\n Know when to walk away\n\n And know when to run \n\n You never count your money\n\n When you're sittin' at the table\n\n T here'll be time enough for countin'\n\n When the dealing's done\n\n\n\n Ev ery gambler knows\n\n That the secret to surviving\n\n Is knowing what to throw away\n\n Knowing what to keep\n\n 'Cause every hand's a winner\n\n A nd every hand's a loser\n\n And the best that you can hope for\n\n Is to d ie in your sleep\n\n\n\n And when he finished speaking\n\n He turned back toward the window\n\n Crushed out his cigarette\n\n And faded off to sleep \n\n And somewhere in the darkness\n\n The gambler\, he broke even\n\n And in his final words\n\n I found an ace that I could keep\n\n\n\n You got t o know when to hold 'em\n\n Know when to fold 'em\n\n Know when to walk aw ay\n\n And know when to run\n\n You never count your money\n\n When you're sittin' at the table\n\n There'll be time enough for countin'\n\n When th e dealing's done\n\n\n\n You got to know when to hold 'em (when to hold 'e m)\n\n Know when to fold 'em (when to fold 'em)\n\n Know when to walk away \n\n And know when to run\n\n You never count your money\n\n When you're s ittin' at the table\n\n There'll be time enough for countin'\n\n When the dealing's done\n\n\n\n You got to know when to hold 'em\n\n Know when to f old 'em\n\n Know when to walk away\n\n And know when to run\n\n You never count your money\n\n When you're sittin' at the table\n\n There'll be time enough for countin'\n\n When the dealing's done\n\n\n\n Songwriters: Don Schlitz. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ProfD\n\n\n\n Members\n\n\n\n  6.8 k\n\n\n\n LocationWashington DC area\n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @ric hardmurray...maybe the white folks will read your dissertation above and b e motivated to speed up the Universal Basic Income (UBI).\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n However\, if/when UBI comes to fruition\, rest assured that Black folks will get the shortest end of it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Boycott am*zon\n\n\n\ n  4k\n\n\n\n Author\n\n\n\n Posted 1 minute ago\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n I think it is interesting how black people view our own employment as a gr oup in the usa\, we all often cite percentages white people made that when you look at it\, are dishonest about our situation as a people in the usa . I know i wrote a lote but i do think \, if the stranger reads my work\, I hope to have a balanced position. I don't want anyone to take my word fo r it. I want to support what I am saying\, thus the verbosity. I think it is functional.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n To shortest end\, let's be blunt\, the b lack populace started its journey in the usa 90% enslaved. \n\n\n\n Nothi ng is shorter than that. So\, based on Black Descended of Enslaved history which started alongside the white european enslavers. late 1400s in the l ands of the people commonly called native americans\, why should black peo ple get the longest end of anything? evenness? justice? but where does the source of justice or evenness come in the usa for black peoples\, especia lly descended of enslaved? \n\n\n\n Remember\, white wealth or power does n't come from today\, it comes from the past. A past in which white people s forebears killed First Peoples and took their land and Enslaved Black fo lk. Giving them a huge mountain of generational wealth that they made sure they kept for themselves. Wealth that had nothing to do with the USA. I k now you know the history. But\, \n\n\n\n Remember\, Black wealth or power comes from today\, not the past. First Peoples wealth or power comes from today\, not the past. In the past meaning late 1400s to mid 1900s 90% of black wealth in the european colonies that preceded the usa or the usa its elf was taken/burned/destroyed/stolen by whites. All 90% of DOSers have fr om our past is our spirit or will \, no financial inheritance. Half of all whites have an inheritance which stems from the past. \n\n\n\n So yes\, a shortest end\, but what else could it be\, if anyone is honest about the history of black people in the usa or the white european colonies that pr eceded it? \n\n\n\n Remember financially\, black people's overall conditi on didn't change at all with the revolutionary war. our condition was the same from 1492 to 1865. Then we had jim crow from 1865 to 1980. \n\n\n\n from 1980 to 2026 is 46 years. 46 years of being in a situation white peop le were in from 1492. That isn't an even situation\, financially. 600 year s of total white communal opportunity can not be equivalenced with 46 year s of majority black communal  activity?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n    3 minutes ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Of course\, because they are nosey as h8ll. \n\n\n\n well done:)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/11/2026\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   13 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Smart and dumb are relative to what the subject is being compared to.\n\n\n\n A nd that is why I shouldn't had replied. I was foolish in replying to your point about smart and dumb because if we don't see those two identities as the same way\, then outside of trying to convince each other\, which I at least have always spoken against. I hate proselytizing. Then nothing to t alk about really. I made a mistake. I hope not to make again.\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n   13 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n With the exception of b itcoin and possibility twitter and goldman sachs\, all of the other corpor ations and firms you listed are essential for maintaining the economy and/ or high standards of living we've come to know in the United States as com pared to most of the rest of the world.\n\n \n\n They aren't ABSOLUTELY ne cessary like food\, clothing\, shelter\, and healthcare....but they are ne cessary for our modern way of life.\n\n \n\n \n\n In some respects\, you s eem to be condemning the very technology and standard of living the allows you to comfortably get your point across....lol.\n\n \n\n I had a friend who was a staunch socialist and condemned corporations left and right....b ut every time I saw her she kept a tall cup of Starbucks coffee and Frappu ccino in her hand\, lol.\n\n She'd hang out in Starbucks banging away on h er Apple laptop/tablet running down the very system she enjoyed....lol.\n\ n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n I have never eaten at starbucks.. oddly enough som e generational elders in my bloodline have eaten at starbucks when I haven 't. But\, the firms aren't necessary Pioneer. The technology doesn't requi re the firms.\n\n\n\n For example\, If I make a volumetric display system\ , energy efficient\, easy to use\,and I successfully start a firm... money is coming my way\, if I adhere to the process and get lucky. Lets assume all positive. \n\n\n\n But \, lets say thirty years from now the company is bankrupt by mismanagement\, like all the companies I just listed. . In thirty years every one financially capable will use my volumetric display system in games/home entertainment/mobile devices... so the technology wil l be part of many\, not all or most humans[remember most in humanity are n ot online\, it is a myth that everyone is]\, peoples lives. BUT\, the tech nology isn't my firm. When my firm files for bankruptcy\, all of its techn ology should be sold or made open source. Others will buy it or use the te ch in their own financial activities\, absent having to pay as part of the bankruptcy. So all my firms assets will simply be bought by others. The l aws can make sure it is only domestic buyers. And as for way of life? comp etitors buying my assets or competitors using open source will eliminate t he absence of a market player.\n\n\n\n For another example\, lets say I ow n a hospital chain. Has achieved a method to recover from cerebral damage or birth defects using acute neurotrophic electrodes systems aligned to hu man nervous systems through a large language model system. My hospital wil l get tons of clients and be successful. But\, lets say I mismanage it? wh y can't all our technology be sold or made open source? the building or bu ildings we have can be sold on the market\, and the bankruptcy can make su re the new owners use for hospitals. how has way of life been hurt? \n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n How am I condemning the technology or standard or living\, by stating the firms that are in control of them at the moment who have fa iled needed to fail properly? I don't know if you read my list stating how each firm does not produce a needed good and can go bankrupt\, because fo r each firm I also added\, how all their assets can be resold /made open s ource to continue use of technology or maintain way of life. The technolog y or way of life has no connection to the firms.  A proof I should had st arted with is\, all of those firms had rivals who no longer exists and wen t bankrupt\, in which many of them bought bankrupted rivals content? why c an't they go bankrupt? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Thank you for this. For the ec onomic corner I am very happy for this discourse. Because in all earnest\, one of the biggest financial viewpoints that I think splits many today \, is how we view failed firms. No firm is to big to fail\, and every firm \ , starting with the biggest needs to fail properly\, because bankruptcy al lows two important things to happen. \n\n\n\n 1)an industry realigns corr ectly with the absence of a bad player. \n\n\n\n 2) all the poor investor s are properly penalized for their bad investment. \n\n\n\n When I look a t the firms I mentioned being kept alive I argue\, all the bad investors a nd actors in those firms weren't properly penalized which has led to the m aintenance of a way of life\, but not the standard which you suggest but t he way of life of bad financial activity. \n\n\n\n Look at all these indu stries in the usa today\, they are woefully managed\, and you think the pe ople who managed them woefully should be maintained. \n\n\n\n I don't con cur to your position on treating failed firms with a save\, I don't feel w ay of life is hindered by bankruptcy\, but I bet many feel like you do\, w hich explains a lot. Because everytime  these firms get in trouble\, in t he last fifty years it is the same thing. And I see now why? In the last t wenty years the entire private banking/financial industry in the usa faile d . In this community we talk about distribution of wealth. That is when i t should had happened. Instead they were saved. Now people like you and ma ny others\,  most likely most others in the usa\, say it had to happen. B ut in 2026\, said financial system is still full of errors and woeful mana gement and isn't helping the larger financial environment in the usa.  So if not bankrupted and all assets placed to a closed market since some act ivity is private or delicate like pension funds for example which I think should happen\, it will need another too big too fail which you must suppo rt which will require more printed money\, but lead to an inevitable finan cial fallout later because the poor actors are still in the industry. Bank ruptcy kicks out poor financial actors. Government bailouts/stock market c onglomerating don't /subsidized industrial situations don't kick out poor financial actors. And financial actors who are trading the highest bracket s of money in my view\, need to be taken out more than any other in a smal ler financial scale.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I will place my list again\, in ca se you didn't read it. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Apple- apple has never produce d a needed good\, every single device or software they made could be sold off in bankruptcy\, and made open source.  \n\n\n\n NEtflix- never produ ced a needed good\, streaming has always had multiple agents and their ent ire streaming service\, including their communication hubs could be sold o ff in bankruptcy to the highest bigger.\n\n\n\n Google- never produced a n eeded good\, its assets could had been sold off in bankruptcy or given to open source. Competitors would had bought server systems or software went to open source or non bought server systems went to colleges or universiti es in a second selling off. \n\n\n\n General Motors- never produced a nee ded good\, this country has always had multiple and small auto manufacture rs\, if general motors assets were put up for auction in a bankruptcy\, th ey small automakers or others would claim what they needed and could incre ase their volume. \n\n\n\n Warner Bros- never produced a needed good\n\n\ n\n Chrysler- like General motors\, see above. \n\n\n\n Facebook- like go ogle\, see above. \n\n\n\n OpenAI- like facebook\, see above\n\n\n\n twit ter- like openai\n\n\n\n all the airlines- never produced a needed good\,   most arilines don't even make planes so all their aircraft after bankru ptcy can be sold and regional competitors or private individuals can buy t he content or it can be resold on the international market. \n\n\n\n a nu mber of theater chains- never produced a needed good\, each theater chain is mostly real estate which can be sold and if not given to the state. the machines to show movies can be sold to auction\, private individuals will buy a few\, the rest can go to schools. \n\n\n\n mall chains- never prod uced a needed good\, each mall is real estate\, each location can be sold after bankruptcy.\n\n\n\n starbucks and many other fast food chains- never produced a needed good\, mostly real estate\, secondarily food machines\, afer bankruptcy  the real estate can be sold and the food machines can b e sold\, some people will get nice food machines in their homes. \n\n\n\n am*zon- never produced a  needed good\, the shipping aspect is real esta te and warehouse machines all sellable to auction after bankruptcy\, the f inancial services are bank accounts which should be liquidated after bankr uptcy\,the electronic devices + machines to make them+ software can all be sold after bankruptcy or made open source.  \n\n\n\n exxon- never produ ced a needed good\, after bankruptcy\, all the oil fields can be sold [ at best each to an individual] the tankers can be sold\, their are other oil producers and inviduals can enter. The refineries can be sold after bankr uptcy. And if not given to colleges as training areas or broken up into pa rts for use in other industries. \n\n\n\n goldman sachs- never produced a needed good\, all their bank accounts or financial transaction accounts s hould be liquidated and the financial software sold or made open source\, the financial reports or private information held by a private legal entit y for the individuals it pertains too. \n\n\n\n jp morgan- like goldman s achs\, see above\n\n\n\n General electric- never produced a needed good\, all their manufacturing plants for their various parts can be sold to auct ion after bankruptcy\, anything not sold can go to colleges in an open gra b. their real estate sold after bankruptcy. their computer software or ser ver systems can be sold or made open source. \n\n\n\n universal studios- like waner bros\, see above\n\n\n\n most bitcoins or datamined currencies- never produced a needed good\, all the real estate can be sold after bank ruptcy\, all the server systems can be sold individually to unique buyers and then secondarily in components\, the individual servers in the chain\, and then thirdly in elements\, the parts that make up each individual ser ver unit. \n\n\n\n most ai systems- like bitcoin\, see above\n\n\n\n most hospital chains- never produced a needed good\, most city or state govern ments have government hospitals so after bankruptcy all the medical techno logy can be bought by the state to use in government run hospitals or in a uction to private individuals or boutique hospitals\, the real estate can be sold or demolished for spare land\, paid for by the hospital.\n\n\n\n m ost real estate- never produced a needed good\, after bankruptcy \, all re al estate that is not paid for can be taken by the government and resold o r demolished paid for as a tax write off based on the cost of destruction and taken off the debt by the bankrupt realtor.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   6 h ours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Outside of China and North Korea\, mos t socialist states aren't good at generating wealth and producing goods an d services.\n\n They are good at REDISTRIBUTING them once they've taken th em from somebody who HAS produced them.\n\n \n\n We need to learn a lesson how to NOT be like most socialist systems and make sure we can build our own products and provide our own services from the ground up instead fight ing eachother over White left-overs.\n\n\n\n What is socialism is the firs t question? Pioneer I don't know how you define socialism but the followin g is mine. \n\n\n\n Socialism is a multifaceted concept which has forms f or each aspect in society designed to create classlessness\, or no tiers i n the humanity utilizing it. Unlike fiscal capitalism which is a primarily financial idea and promotes by definition financial castes. Socialism inv olves\, financial+ governmental+cultural pathways distinct from each other . Financially\, socialism is an intricate  bartering system of labor and goods absent currency\, why\, the accumulation of currency creates financi al castes thus a class based system. While bartering only labor and goods and services means each individuals merit or the merit of the land are the only factors in fiscal trading\, which can be aligned efficiently in calc ulated measure. Governmentally\, socialism is a military state where each citizen with no exception is a member of the military and thus the chain o f command  is all that is needed. Elected officials or governors are not needed. Yes each military has a ranking system but it is a false assumptio n to think rankings have to serve the model in western europe. Culturally\ , socialism is an eradication of all old ranking systems based on prior he ritages for a new heritage of one peoples\, with no bounds. \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n How many socialist countries existed in history to modernity ? I ar gue none. \n\n\n\n Russia in the soviet era/China/North Korea/Cuba/Ethiop ia in the period immediately after haille selassie /many countries in east ern europe who were militaristically aligned to the soviet union were labe led socialist but none were socialist. \n\n\n\n All of them were fiscal c apitalist first and foremost.\n\n\n\n The soviet union was never socialist . If it was it would had never had a currency or sold weapons or services for cash\, let alone their treatment of cossacks and chechyens. Communism is a form of socialism\, but it is mostly fiscal capitalistic. Communism i s fiscal capitalism with the financial system having the government as the sole domestic company\, the governmental system has no multivisive partie s of governance\, culturally allows the majority populace to dictate the c ulture. The usa called itself a democracy\, where each state in the union had to have a democratic government\, a government where the people rules\ , but the entire souths majority populace were enslaved to a minority? how is that a rule of the people when most people are not ruling themselves? so countries give themselves false labels. \n\n\n\n China has never been socialist. If it was it would never had elected officials or peoples like the ugyars or tibetans as \"outsiders\"\, let alone their financial activi ty which was fiscal capitalsit in mao's time.  It is also communist. \n\ n\n\n North Korea is a monarchy that uses communism to mask its monarchic truth. \n\n\n\n Cuba has always been an chiefdom from spain to now using fiscal capitalism. Cuba was a territory of spain. Spain was too weak to pr otect or manage cuba\, so even before the usa took the territory\, the spa nish governor was a chief. The usa took over the territory  and the leade r of the army became the chief\, ala batista. Then Fidel defeated Batista and became the chief. But cuba was always fiscal capitalistic. \n\n\n\n E thiopia was communistic\, and again\, what that meant was fiscal capitalis ts who killed the emperor and various other former regals by bloodline. Bu t they were never socialist. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Now to what black americ ans [those with enslaved forebears to the american continent[[canada to ar gentina]] over an ocean]should be doing for a better tomorrow. Well\, tryi ng to implement a truly socialist system in the usa or any country in the american continent including cuba is a large challenge. I will not say imp ossible. But\, harder than other options simply because every country in t he american continent\, canada to argentina\, is fiscal capitalistic. \n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Communism is as close to socialism as equality  is to fi scal capitalism. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pr ofD\n\n\n\n   7 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Many of us know Black history. The question remains what are we going to do to right the wrongs committed against our ancestors up to present.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n If Black people are unwilling to kill and destroy in order to reclaim wealth stole n from us\, just like Haiti\, we'll remain in this position into perpetuit y as well. \n\n\n\n Is that the right question? No human can undo the pas t\, no human. And nothing you do in the future rights the past. For exampl e\, all the money white jews have extracted for other white people or whit e jews nationalist agenda/scheme for israel led by their zionist sub group doesn't right the holocaust or what happened in spain or elsewhere in eur ope. Another example\, every single human being who laments a loving one w ho has passed for not spending enough time can't do anything to right that ? because it is the past\, someone involved is dead so nothing can be chan ged. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The haitian revolution is the most successful ac tion by Black Americans [Black Americans defined as all black people livin g in modern day canada to argentina whose forebears were forced across an ocean to the american continent]. But the haitian revolution didn't right the past. The haitian revolution made the platform for a positive future\, which happened for a while in haiti. The most beautiful time Black people had in the american continent. The fact that haiti is surrounded on all s ides [north south east west ]by white/mestizo/mullato enslavers of black p eople made the long term hard.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I argue the question is\, what do we black americans want to leave to future generations of us ? And the problem is\, black americans have never been united on that. We all have an answer to that question. But\, we rarely have a similar one\, and that isn't even uneven because unlike all others in the american conti nent\, we black americans alone were forced to immigrate to this continent [canada and argentina] and thus our forebears gave us the freedom to choos e whatever we want looking forward. Black americans are not beholden to an y place in the american continent\, if we don't want\, not black africans[ africa from morocco to egypt to south africa]\, not  black asians [asia from india\, south east asia\, australia]\, not black europeans [from turk ey to england]  or non blacks\, \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So\, this means blac k americans tend to bicker on what we want to leave the future generations . \n\n\n\n Frederick Douglass + MLK jr + Michelle Obama or similar Black Americans want to leave to future Black Americans an pan racially positive ly integrated society where black individuals can thrive amongst all other humans. \n\n\n\n The Exodusters + Black PAnthers or similar black americ ans  want to leave to future Black Americans regions/zones in majority no n black countries where black americans own and thrive\, as part of non wh ite countries.\n\n\n\n The Haitian from Jean Jacque dessalines to Henri Ch ristophe + the Black loyalist who fought to stop the usa from being born\, the quilombos orwar bands of Brasil or the greater south america or simil ar black americans want to leave to future black americans nations\, new p laces for black people to thrive\, built from war  while secure from war afterward. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Notice in each \, thriving is what all wan t. black success is what all want. But\, the way is not the same. \n\n\n\ n So\, ProfD \, what do you want to leave future generations of Black Amer icans? \n\n\n\n No answer is wrong. No answer is wrong. But any answer ma y not be what another black person wants. \n\n\n\n Whatever answer your g ive I am willing to help you think about it.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n It's definitely both...being able to bui ld\,  produce and generate wealth in addition to being able to kill in or der to protect and/or amass more wealth.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n We really don' t have to kill or destroy other non-white folks in order to be free and am ass wealth.\n\n\n\n  What your talking about is doing two things that don 't work together. White americans [whites who came freely\, whether invite d or not legally or not\,  to the american continent from anywhere on ear th] are learning this lesson now. You can't be the bully + the friend. You have to pick one. \n\n\n\n If you are the bully\, expect violence from o thers and don't try to cover yourself in false goodness. \n\n\n\n If you are the friend\, expect to lose wealth in the market place and embrace wha t a peaceful world truly is. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n As for black folk... wel ll... again\, what is freedom? what is wealth?\n\n\n\n Now I said earlier I am willing to help you in discourse. \n\n\n\n So my questions to you ar e the following  \n\n\n\n When you speak of freedom or massing wealth ar e you talking about black people throughout all humanity or just the ameri can continent\, canada to argentina or just the usa? \n\n\n\n When you sp eak of freedom\, hoow do you define freedom? is it voting? is it money? is it protection from non blacks? is it protection from blacks? Does the fre edom you speak of include integration with non black positively? \n\n\n\n When you speak of amassing wealth? how do you define that explicitly? is it bank accountS? or is it qualities in the communities black people live in? does it involve financial security for the wealth?\n\n\n\n All black p eople want empowerment or betterment\, but the key is the details\, What d o you want for the future Black Americans?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 0 1/12/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n ok\, \n\n\n\n 1)when you close your eyes for the last time you want to leave so mething for FBA/Afro Americans. That is a large group of people. Hopefully you can have a more focused group within FBA/AFro Americans in the future .\n\n\n\n 2) YYou want a financial return  of undisclosed value or undisc losed form to Afro Americans for injustices done to us in the past. Not al l afro americans desire said return or feel said return is warranted. Do y ou accept the challenge of wanting a desired thing for all Afro Americans when All Afro Americans don't want it? if you do\, then how do you see get ting said returns for those Afro Americans who venture for it? I do think it would be wise to have an exact idea of how much and in what form should the debt be paid. \n\n\n\n 3) You want a fully comprehensive communal pl an\,ala multilayered approach. The black sororities/nation of islam/garvey ites have each had the closest example of that approach\, but all are mino rity populaces within the Black DOS populace in the usa. Have you consider ed being apart of or starting a group within the Black DOS populace in the usa\, that can achieve this goal and 2? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I don't know you. But I think wherever you live in the usa\, if you do live in the usa \, a group of Black Descended of Enslaved peoples in where you live in the usa can achieve a debt return in a financial form\, while have a holistic community that is potent or secure in all aspects of government/finance w hile a completely legal and integrated part of the usa. I think with the r esources I assume you have\, effort\, energy\, you can build the basis of the community your points desire in one state in the union. Nothing is eas y of course\, but it can be done. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n All black groups ar e trying to improve. All black groups don't feel they need to reclaim what was lost through any means. Some black groups are content to the past. I am not saying they are right or wrong\, and I don't concur. But\, all blac k groups are trying to improve by all means they can muster. \n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n w\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\ n\n I AM curious as to how YOU define \"smart\" and \"dumb\" if you see th em differently than I do.\n\n\n\n It is simple\, smart or dumb can't be ap plied to groups of people. You accept the idea that a group can be labeled smart or dumb. I do not. Individually \, humans can be ignorant\, lacking knowledge\, lacking erudition\, the ability to derive knowledge\, lacking wisdom\, intrinsic perceptions of life that can only be gained through ex perience or an individuals natural ability. Groups simply succeed or fail in objectives. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\ n\n You haven't eaten there\, but have you DRANK from there?\n\n\n\n no i haven't. to be blunt\, many people haven't. NYC is full of starbucks\, but you will clearly be surprised how many don't partake of all these chain s tores. I think you have an assumption from whereever you live\, that isn't true everywhere else. The one thing you may not see is starbucks has neve r been cheap. I have never seen the local delis absent people wanting coff ee. And my family have gotten quite a few cups of coffee or tea from local delis traveling about. \n\n\n\n I actually because of a family member we nt to a place called Mochi's\, and that was following them:) \n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n We're starting to get in to technical matters when it comes to whether they're \"necessary\" or \"r equired\".\n\n What IS necessary besides food\, clothing\, shelter\, and h ealthcare????\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Those firms are an essential part of what it takes to maintain the high standards of living the most Americans have come to enjoy and expect.\n\n And there is more to come.\n\n\n\n \n\n If you remove them\, maybe people wouldn't die in mass numbers however removi ng them or letting them collapse would drastically reduce the quality of l ife for most Americans and take away the incentive to work and live in thi s society for many.\n\n\n\n \n\n They are what gives America her \"edge\" on the rest of the world.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n The usa military is wh at gives the usa the edge and the usa military is ahead of all other milit aries when it comes to weapons and weapons systems or security systems. \ n\n\n\n As for essential\, again\, the firms aren't essential\, their tech nology is\, but the technology isn't attached to them. and the market can easily find new buyers. \n\n\n\n This is the economic corner:) \n\n\n\n The question is this\, why are you sure/certain that if the firms I said g o bankrupt when warranted and have all their assets placed into market or made open source as need be would lead to the inability of the services fr om their assets or technology to maintain an interaction with the populace of the usa absent a large delay? \n\n\n\n Are you suggesting the federal government and state governments would take too long for bankruptcy? or b otch bankruptcies in some way?\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n\n Well first of all THAT type of technology that actually heals the h uman brain and corrects birth defects are so valuable and essential that t he government SHOULD have that information or technology anyway regardless as to how any private institution want to use it.\n\n Once it has been an nounced that you have technology that important and precious....it should be immediately shared with the government so that it is protected.\n\n\n\n Now......\n\n\n\n \n\n As far as the institution who came up with it-\n\n \n\n If YOU mismanage it...then YOU get disciplined up to losing your job. \n\n The hospital corrects itself\, and moves on helping and healing peopl e.\n\n That's how THAT should work.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n F irst the whole point of patents is financial\, to give the owner of a pate nt a fiscal claim on the production or use of an item they made.but patent doesn't mean the use of the technology  is open to the government with b ankruptcy. You don't lose your patent going bankrupts and you can sue the government for using it absent your permission. Corporations have done thi s. Second\, in my example I didn't say I worked at a  hospital\, I said i owned the hospital. Private hospitals exist all over NYC. Are you suggest ing private hospitals shouldn't exist? And in my example i mismanaged the funds of hospitals i own and thus went bankrupt. This happened in NYC mult iple times. It isn't unheard of.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\,  Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Because hospitals and airlines affect and save far too many lives to simply be ALLOWED to fail just to prove a point.\n\n Ma ybe the government takes them over and controls them for a while until the y get their act together\, but don't let them collapse.\n\n\n\n I find it interesting that many black people like yourself talk about black people b eing financially efficient in their activity as owners or consumers while talking about white people\, who own all the companies i mentioned\, faili ng to be financial efficient as owners or consumers and yet having no pena lty. So you suggesting a financial double standard of bad financial actors based on phenotype? you have to say yes. \n\n\n\n In the last five years \, in NYC\, I can recall at least five hospital completely closed. No gove rnment takeover\, completely closed. The city didn't fall under. PEople co mplained but it was completely warranted. The fiscal capitalsim in the fut ure of the usa \, if it is to be even to all peoples can't allow whites or males to never collapse no matter what while blacks or females or everyon e not white male has to deal with consequence. \n\n\n\n So\, finally\, yo u accept bankuptcy followed by government take over\, to maintain services . ok. \n\n\n\n I like that i have found a particular financial philosophi cal friction between us. \n\n\n\n You are a fiscal capitalist\, but you d islike the idea of services being lessened through bankruptcy. I don't sup port that\, but it is great in the economic corner. Maybe I need to make a list of financial notes from you and profd. financial particulars. \n\n\ n\n I think the market can easily by and continue needed services if warra nted. and if not warranted then the service is gone. \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n What you're describing is pretty much inco mpatible with human nature.\n\n\n\n There is no society human or animal th at functions without classes and tiers.\n\n\n\n yes complete classlessness is  impossible among humans who give themselves names. BUT\, the governm ents that call themselves socialists have never actually tried. Do you com prehend the point. the point isn't about reaching socialism\, it is about the claim of socialist countries failure. The countries you mentioned aren 't socialist. they are fiscal capitalist. Again\, communism is no way near socialism. communalism is really fiscal capitalsim with the faintest touc h of socialism. \n\n\n\n The usa government has always been a fiscal oper ator. The communist simply made all firms owned by the government.  The d ifference between communism and fiscal capitalism is the percentage of all owance of private enterprise+ the environment for parties of governance.\n \n\n\n Fiscal capitalism wants complete fiscal capitalism with unfettered private enterprise while the role of government is to act as a legal or se curity lever against malfeasance.\n\n\n\n Communism wants complete fiscal capitalsim with very restricted private enterprise so the government doesn 't have to bother cleaning up the mess of private enterprise ala bankruptc y\, and ideally though only china has come close\, generate the free marke t enterprise environment through government owned business.\n\n\n\n but so viet russia + china from mao on\, always had private ownership in places.  \n\n\n\n As for parties of governance again\, china has always had at le ast two parties from its founding and has I think four or five now. And ru ssia also always had minority parties. But again\, this has nothing to do with socialism. This is fiscal capitalism. \n\n\n\n Fiscal capitalism wan ts government to have independent actors or parties free to be born and di e\, which deletes the king from coming through government. \n\n\n\n Commu nism wants government to have one major party which through its infighting \, which happens often in china's only major party \, resists kings. \n\n \n\n The difference communism is fiscal capitalism with two changes that a re not socialistic in nature. If anything the problem with russia was they didn't comprehend how to actually have the russian government as the sole fiscal operator and when I think on the history of General electric the a nswer russia needed was in them. but they missed it. \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n This society is far too complex to operate without currency.\n\n\n\n I think a solution exists that I have never seen tried\, so it can't be proven. But\, I don't think so. \n\n\n\n   1 ho ur ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n What about the military itself?\n\n How would it operate without rank\; or would it even EXIST in your ideal Socia list society?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Why do you always make my positions claim s on my identity? I am not a socialist\, I am not a monarchist\, I am not a fiscal capitalist\, but I comprehend them all. It isn't my ideal. If you had said example\, which is the word I used\, then I wouldn't have proble ms\, but you said my ideal. why that? \n\n\n\n To answer your questions I merely quote myself. wish you had read it the first time\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n   19 hours ago\, richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n What is socialism is t he first question? Pioneer I don't know how you define socialism but the f ollowing is mine. \n\n\n\n Socialism is a multifaceted concept which has forms for each aspect in society designed to create classlessness\, or no tiers in the humanity utilizing it. Unlike fiscal capitalism which is a pr imarily financial idea and promotes by definition financial castes. Social ism involves\, financial+ governmental+cultural pathways distinct from eac h other. Financially\, socialism is an intricate  bartering system of lab or and goods absent currency\, why\, the accumulation of currency creates financial castes thus a class based system. While bartering only labor and goods and services means each individuals merit or the merit of the land are the only factors in fiscal trading\, which can be aligned efficiently in calculated measure. Governmentally\, socialism is a military state wher e each citizen with no exception is a member of the military and thus the chain of command  is all that is needed. Elected officials or governors a re not needed. Yes each military has a ranking system but it is a false as sumption to think rankings have to serve the model in western europe. Cult urally\, socialism is an eradication of all old ranking systems based on p rior heritages for a new heritage of one peoples\, with no bounds. \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n How many socialist countries existed in history to modernity ? I argue none. \n\n\n\n Russia in the soviet era/China/North Korea/Cuba /Ethiopia in the period immediately after haille selassie /many countries in eastern europe who were militaristically aligned to the soviet union we re labeled socialist but none were socialist. \n\n\n\n All of them were f iscal capitalist first and foremost.\n\n\n\n The soviet union was never so cialist. If it was it would had never had a currency or sold weapons or se rvices for cash\, let alone their treatment of cossacks and chechyens. Com munism is a form of socialism\, but it is mostly fiscal capitalistic. Comm unism is fiscal capitalism with the financial system having the government as the sole domestic company\, the governmental system has no multivisive parties of governance\, culturally allows the majority populace to dictat e the culture. The usa called itself a democracy\, where each state in the union had to have a democratic government\, a government where the people rules\, but the entire souths majority populace were enslaved to a minori ty? how is that a rule of the people when most people are not ruling thems elves? so countries give themselves false labels. \n\n\n\n China has neve r been socialist. If it was it would never had elected officials or people s like the ugyars or tibetans as \"outsiders\"\, let alone their financial activity which was fiscal capitalsit in mao's time.  It is also communis t. \n\n\n\n North Korea is a monarchy that uses communism to mask its mon archic truth. \n\n\n\n Cuba has always been an chiefdom from spain to now using fiscal capitalism. Cuba was a territory of spain. Spain was too wea k to protect or manage cuba\, so even before the usa took the territory\, the spanish governor was a chief. The usa took over the territory  and th e leader of the army became the chief\, ala batista. Then Fidel defeated B atista and became the chief. But cuba was always fiscal capitalistic. \n\ n\n\n Ethiopia was communistic\, and again\, what that meant was fiscal ca pitalists who killed the emperor and various other former regals by bloodl ine. But they were never socialist. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Now to what black americans [those with enslaved forebears to the american continent[[canad a to argentina]] over an ocean]should be doing for a better tomorrow. Well \, trying to implement a truly socialist system in the usa or any country in the american continent including cuba is a large challenge. I will not say impossible. But\, harder than other options simply because every count ry in the american continent\, canada to argentina\, is fiscal capitalisti c. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/14/2026 \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   On 1/12/2026 at 9:06 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Someone has to be part aking of Starbucks there in order for the doors to remain open. \n\n\n\n not as much as you think. Think of recent economic history.\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n Netflix  spent near ten years absent making a profit every year\, bu t how did it survive?\n\n\n\n stock market activity/debt allowance from wh omever. \n\n\n\n So\, while people are in starbucks\, how profitable was it really? how many people really?\n\n\n\n Look at the streaming model... how many streamers push commercials now? remember when it started\, you pa y for a service\, no commercials. But again\, that is a bad business model . \n\n\n\n The cost of electricity\, the cost of actors\, the cost of pay ing for content\, the cost for your administration can not be mushroomed i nto the yearly subscription fees. Old television didn't have commercials b ecause it was old fashioned\, that is the only viable financial option. \ n\n\n\n All the firms with streaming platforms have accumulated how much d ebt? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I thank you and @Pioneer1 for your thoughts in this post\, it exposes some clear financial flaws in modernity\, led by t he usa. \n\n\n\n Look at sports teams\, who raise ticket prices. \n\n\n\ n The allowance of Debt\, which the usa government itself accumulates an e ver increasing rate since the 1970s\, allows for many firms or industries that have negative financial practices to get away with it. \n\n\n\n And again\, the usa military is why the debt generation of the usa government plus the privately owned firms registered in the usa is never called in. I t isn't any fiscal capitalistic model or need or strategy. The mob boss ca n't be called in for owning anything. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And again this connects to me and Pioneers dialog in this commentary about Bankruptcy. I think it is a highly needed tool to stop the cycle of debt allowance from financial institutions + revenue from speculative stock market activity wh ich alot of times isn't based on the ledger of firms. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/18/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic /12270-has-universal-income-gotten-closer-to-being-needed/#findComment-794 52\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 \n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 sai d:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What about MENSA\, the globally recognized group for people with extremely high IQ's?\n\n What about certain special education classes for those with intellectual disabilities?\n\n\n\n globally recogn ized? not everyone views Mensa like that? humanity is quite large you know . \n\n\n\n disability does not make one dumb and to education... i argue education is rarely designed functionally\, anywhere in humanity.\n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n I don't believe there are any d umb nations.\n\n I believe some nations are SMARTER than others...\n\n\n\n so you believe in smarter and neutral\, not smarter or dumber... ok\n\n\n \n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Why is this?\n\n Why is the U.S.A. military so powerful and effective?\n\n\n\n simple things but power ful things\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n two big oceans border the country\,\n\n\n\n neighbors who have always been impotent or at least not able to strike har d\, and only two by land. \n\n\n\n a financial history\, including the wh ite european colonial\, where inequal or uneven financial system allowed f or the production of weapons at larger quantities than most\, not quality \, but quantity. For me\, nazi germany or soviet russia built better weapo ns by a mile than the usa\, but no one produces more than our friendly nei ghborhood white slaver. \n\n\n\n a media machine\, originally designed to unite whites who had competing heritages historically\, that many outcast of groups/communities/collectivies celebrate as a way to be their individ ual self in spite of a said group. this yielded and yields traitors throug hout all humanity including white populaces\, and sometimes only for infor mation\, not murder or similar. but useful. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n No weapon the usa has is exclusive to the usa\, but usa has more of them. But none of the usa military rivals had enslavement like the usa. russia was an emp ire and cossacks and checyens were abused but they weren't enslaved like b lacks to whites in the usa. The soviet union has a pro european bias in it s populace\, a heritage from the czars\, but russia has been battling all of its life it has never been far from a rival. China has never been far f rom a rival\, and its neighbors have at times been far more powerful. \n\ n\n\n so the usa has fortune on its side\, most empires do. IT isn't smart s or intelligence.\n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Howe ver public hospitals in my opinion should predominate.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n hmmm\, the heritage of the usa is private care\, ala fiscal capitalism\, i f you can pay for a doctor you have one. public hospitals heritage in the usa is from pro bono work\, not for profit.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Sometimes the GOOD or SERVICE being offere d is so necessary that who the company is ran or the fiscal responsibility of it's owners is of much less importance and making sure the company sta ys afloat is.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n but I still don't see why bankruptcy deni es the good or service being present. bankruptcy forces the ownership or p rovider of good or service to change\, which is appropriate since the prio r owner went bankrupt. ...What your saying is some goods or services can't risk even 24 hours of not existing.\n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1  said:\n\n\n\n Probably because there were so many more hospitals to cover their loss.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n no\, nyc has been underserved by hospitals for its entire history\n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n So how do you know Socialism works for a nation if you can't point to a na tion that is successfully practicing it?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n all ideas work \, from monarchy to anarchy\, it is only a matter of implementation. And y es\, those in the future have the right as imaginative beings to see a way of implementing not seen before. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\,  Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n You're this theory a \"solution\" but we haven't d etermined that having currency is actually a PROBLEM!\n\n\n\n universal in come will not delete currency\, if I said I feel it will \, I apologize\, that wasn't my intent.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/19/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Cit ation \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12270-has-universal-income-gott en-closer-to-being-needed/#findComment-79473\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Posted ju st now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\ n That factor could have been just as easily worked AGAINST our favor as I N our favor.\n\n Some would have seen this as geographical isolation from the rest of the world...especially the Eastern Hemisphere.\n\n\n\n your\, not our\, me and mine are not part of the our you speak of. \n\n\n\n Mili taristically\, the reality is present\, a weak country\, absent a decent m ilitary\, is too far away to be bullied properly\, while it has vast resou rces at its doorstep... no. \n\n\n\n whomever those some maybe\, are comp letely wrong\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n It is the same reason far east asia has th e least militaristic presence of western europe\, distance. distance is a powerful thing\, and worth alot when you can't beat a bully\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n and not us\, you or yours\n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\ n\n\n\n If they were/are impotent...why?\n\n They are nations made up of h uman beings just like the United States.\n\n So why would we be so much po werful unless it's due to intelligence?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n canada nor mexi co are not hard to explain. but the quick version is canada 's natural env ironment is much harsher than the usa for the technology of either countri es nascence. Mexico like all of latin america [ haiti/brazil/columbia/or s imilar lke french canada which would become canada and the midwest states of the usa] was not viewed by the latin european empires [ france/spain/po rtugal] as anything but natural resource extractors. But the english viewe d anglo america[ usa/jamaica] as places for  profit  + immigration\, to dump their religious fanatics/criminals/illegal actors/general fiscal poor like fidel did with csimilar cubans and the florida exodus. So the usa gr ew a populace that was legally tied to the european center\, unlike latin america where the white male warrior populace made the mulatto/mestizo / e nslaved the black to operate the system of extraction. That is why the mos t profitable regions at the time were haiti/the spanish dominion from mode rn day canada to argentina. LAtin America was really a set of prison camps \, just enough guards to maintain the money. Ship the money to europe. The usa wasn't the wealthiest zone in the americas financially. this is part of why england tried so many tax schemes and et cetera. So canada or mexic o had a different origin in key ways financially but also militaristically . \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n and not we\, you or yours\, not me or mine. \n\n\n \n   6 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n The Black population of the United States is one of the key features that make us a global power becau se it's the source of our superior entertainment that's marketed and envie d across the globe.\n\n\n\n not us\,  you and yours. \n\n\n\n I am nt an d have never been statian and said it way too many times to require repeat ing.\n\n\n\n Well\, I know that at the end of the commonly called world wa r two\, the usa couldn't continue the war for overreach and the usa + ussr wanted to continue warring on the battlefield... but they simply couldn't and neither was willing to give up their militaristic advantage to the li kes of western europe/japan who were completely annihilated \, or the domi nions of the former western european empires that  had been intentionally run dysfunctionally.\n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n P erhaps the superior intelligence OF the United States above other nations  (a fact that you insist on denying) is part of that fortune!\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n Because in the usa's case it is just luck\, fate. the usa didn't e ven know how to wage a sea war. if the french didn't get involved in the w ar against the british empire\, I am 100% certain the usa doesn't exist to day as it is. history is 100% changed. France won that war. But that wasn' t because the usa was smart\, it was because france and england were in a centuries old blood feud. I will make the historical argument said blod fe ud lasted from the time of the viking's coming down at the end of the roma n empire centered at old rome\, till the end of commonly called world war 2. that is thousands of years. But they are neighbors\, always similar in power\, so any war between them will always be a war of equals which means real bloody and that kind of blood transcends marketplaces.  They had 10 0 years war with each other\, that isn't a joke. Vendetta's are real in hu manity.  Quite a number of them exists throughout humanity. The serbs and croats were fighting before the soviet union\, during the soviet and afte r the soviet union. I bet if japan had an viable military and invaded the korean peninsula\, all koreans would unite real quick\, the only thing all koreans still know is to hate the japanese. hell\, Black people enslaved in north america have a blood feud with whites\, it predated the usa\, exi sts still now during the usa and knowing vendettas will exist after the us a\, cause\, blood feuds aren't about money. yes\, fiscally greedy people i nvolve themselves\, but the energy fueling it\, like the hatfields and mcc oys in the appalachias is old wounds that money nor time can heal. the hea ling can only come from the hearts. but both hearts have to be willing. Th e zionists and palestineans are a blood feud. the ira was only 300 people but the blood feud between the irish and english\, which still has many ad herents on either side\,\, was so strong\, those 300 used more explosives than the usa in vietnam. So I said all of this to make it clear\, don't un derestimate the power of a blood feud and how it can influence history. sa ved the usa. \n\n\n\n France and england were so used to being at war\, i t became natural. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\ n\n\n\n Corporate is what I like to call \"semi-private\".\n\n Because it' s often controlled and regulated by the government but not completely owne d by it nor does one person or family own it but usually a huge market of shareholders.....it doesn't fall squarely into the government\, public OR private slots.\n\n\n\n Well\, you have presented your fiscal position:) th ank you. this is the economic corner.I comprehend your stance though it wa rrants discourse.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\ n\n\n Is this the fault of the private hospitals\, or the fault of the gov ernment for not building hospitals of it's own to compete with the private ones insuring consistent progress and low costs\,  as well as cater to t he needs of the people?\n\n\n\n either or both depending on who you ask. R emember the usa has always had multiple financial positions. \n\n\n\n Som e black or non black have always believed in private ownership leading the way\, thus private hospitals\, the logic being people will figure out a w ay to afford a hospital or move. \n\n\n\n Some black or non black have al ways believed municipal activity\, the government enganging in services to the public\, the logic being it represents positive graces among humans\, regardless of the cost or tax burden. \n\n\n\n Some black or non black t ry to find a bridge between both\n\n\n\n Some black or non black are anarc hist who don't want either. \n\n\n\n So whose fault? I don't know. It all depends on point of view. But why should ne point of view be correct or w rong? one point of view has always been implemented from whomever is in po wer.\n\n\n\n   6 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n However how do you feel ABOUT currency and the use of currency in society?\n\n\n\n how do I feel about currency? I try to stay away from that kind of discourse in the economic corner\, feelings lead to rubbish in financial discourse for me.  \n\n\n\n But as I try to answer every question\, I will provide an answe r\, which I have said before. All ideas are effective based on implementat ion. To reword\, currency is merely an idea\, if implemented a certain way to a certain place or time  it will succeed .   If implemented other w ays it will fail. but that is with all ideas. socialism/monarchy/vendetta. .. implementation is always the key\, not right or wrong. And luck can be the key to implementation\, not any human planning. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1 /22/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12 270-has-universal-income-gotten-closer-to-being-needed/#findComment-79537\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   3 hours a go\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Oh...\n\n You're not part of the United Stat es?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Well you eat\, shit\, and pay taxes here.\n\n\n\n S o you're being cheated...lol.\n\n\n\n no\, I am a black person whose foreb ears were enslaved by whites to these lands [ canada to argentina]. I am i n the usa because white people wanted me here. It is that simple. Now if I had the means to leave I would. My forebears were enslaved\, they didn't have means to leave. My forebears who were allowed a level of freedom whil e under constant white abuse didn't have means to leave. Did some want to leave? yes. Did some of my forebears become part of the usa? yes. \n\n\n\ n But it is a choice every Black DOSer has to make\, and when adult they w ill make it. \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n It is th e same reason far east asia has the least militaristic presence of western europe\, distance. distance is a powerful thing\, and worth alot when you can't beat a bully\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n That and they weren't as technologi cally advanced when it came to weaponry.\n\n\n\n I don't comprehend your r eply\, are you saying far east asia was more technologically advanced than the rest of humanity white europeans dominated?\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\ , Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Well SOMEBODY'S military is protecting you and keeping the Asians and Arabs from flying over here and forcing you into a submissive workers....lol.\n\n They're protecting you from being a DOS-er to becoming a straight up S-er....lol.\n\n\n\n No\, if anything the usa mi litary endangers all on earth by their actions. \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago \, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n What nation do YOU belong to?\n\n And more imp ortantly\, how does THEIR military compare to ME AND MINEZ...lol???\n\n\n\ n I am stateless. Every single Black DOSer is stateless until they choose not to be. What do you think enslaved people are? My forebears were enslav ed\, that didn't make them citizens of the english empire nor citizens of the usa later. An enslaved person isn't a citizen of anywhere\, that is th e point\, they are enslaved. \n\n\n\n Are you suggesting in 1776 the 90% or more of black people in the usa that are completely enslaved are citize ns of the usa? If you are\, that is fine\, I am not trying to change your damn mind. And I know many black people concur to your thinking. BUT I opp ose that. That is not my thinking. And I know many black people concur to my thinking.\n\n\n\n Stateless people don't have a government to connect t o. \n\n\n\n Now black people who have chosen to connect to the usa have\, I have no problem with that. That is the free choice all Black DOSers hav e. \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n What country are y ou posting from when you're not in New York?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n stateless people exist all over the world. the romani are stateless. BEing stateless doesn't mean you don't abide by whatever legal code you live under. You d on't comprehend statelessness properly.\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pionee r1 said:\n\n\n\n Over 100 years of just \"luck\"???\n\n Ok.\n\n\n\n yes\, yes luck\, nature or fate are funny aren't they . Don't always try to mak e the past a machiavellan thing. I think too many blacks create in our own minds a controlled world\, just begging for the right genious to make it happen. No\, luck is a powerful force and yes\, some people\, some groups can be lucky a long time and in many ways. It happens. \n\n\n\n   3 hou rs ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Another sign of high intelligence and be ing smart enough to diversify.\n\n\n\n that is an equivalence you believe\ , I don't see it that way. Multiversification isn't a sign of intelligence . Implemention is the key to any ideas qualities\, not the idea itself. Mo noversification can be implemented better than multiversification. \n\n\n \n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Because some points of view are logical and reasonable\, and thus valid.\n\n If it's not logical or re asonable\, how could it be considered correct unless SHOWN to be so throug h example and proof?\n\n\n\n So by your own words\, faith is invalid. The USA has one of the most religious populaces in humanity\, arguably only se cond to india. Religious populaces base their actions on faith\, by your o wn words\, illogical or unreasonable. Majority in the usa are overwhelming ly religious.\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n But some ideas....as great as they may sound....CAN'T be implemented.\n\n Which mak es them wrong.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This is why I've repeatedly asked for an example of this economy or that society which implemented that particular \"idea\".\n\n If a particular idea is constantly being promoted but we do n't have any example of it being implemented in real life\, there's a good chance that this is the case because it CAN'T be implemented.\n\n Those w ho think or THOUGHT it was a good idea have repeatedly TRIED to implemente d it and failed.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n But how can you prove a way of organizing humans can't be implemented? How is it possible for the past to have every single method of implementation tried? \n\n\n\n Your suggesti ng if an example of human organizations can't be displayed in a history bo ok\, then that method of organization can't exist in the future. That is d ysfunctional\, unless you know the future? Your basis for something not be ing possible is because of the past from 2026:) \n\n\n\n You think a hell of lot more of modernity than I do. \n\n\n\n Well  again\, I argue\, th at they haven't tried. if you read my words\, I clearly say they didn't tr y. Lenin and MArx theorized\, made an idea\, but the Russian socialist\, w hich started as a fiscal capitalist group in russia whose sole path to imp lementing their idea was violence never tried to implement socialism. Russ ia itself was a fiscal capitalistic monarchy\, so it had no space for soci alism to be tried within it. \n\n\n\n And after the reds and whites fough t\, the russian socialist became communist\, and again\, communism is mere ly fiscal capitalism. I reword\, the russian socialist\, never tried marx and lenin's ideas but implemented fiscal capitalism with two principles de rived from socialism. One being the one party idea\, which is based on soc ialism's no tiers idea but isn't a direct relation. Having one party of go vernance in my view doesn't mean no class/race/rank exist.  The second is the government as the lone business\, which is based on socialism's idea of equal wealth share. But\, only having one firm doesn't mean equal wealt h share because the people in the upper administration have various types of wealth\, maybe not in strict dollars but in influence. \n\n\n\n So fo rme\, the russians never tried. You suggest they tried because of a name\, of a label. \n\n\n\n The USA people call democratic/rule of the people \ , which is also a lie. How can the people rule when you have reservations or enslavement? Don't tell me native americans want to be on reservations and abiding by the ways of non native americans. Don't tell me Black peopl e wanted to be enslaved? please don't do these things. please.\n\n\n\n The USA is a fiscal capitalistic white manoralistic country. The USA went fro m land based manoralism to stock/shares based manoralism. And  replaced t he white regals of Europe with the white populace\, while the white peasan ts/people of the land in europe were replaced with all the non white europ ean peoples of the usa. The big deletion was religion\, where religion was considered a standalone body in europe\, the usa cut religion out of the system of manoralism\, allowing all religions or faiths or none at all to exist. \n\n\n\n Countries do shift ideas over time but the intentional wh ile poor labeling\, of ideas in countries is why you get miscomprehensions today. The USA is not a democracy \, Democracy has never been tried in th e USA. The usa is a manoralistic country\, that likes to lie about itself. As england its forebear did and does. As fellow anglophone creation india does. India says its the biggest democracy in the world. Here is thing\, this is a country where the peoples are battling each other violently ever day. The rule of the people. How can a people be considered one people wh en they battle violently ever day? India is a loose confederation of fisca l capitalistic tribes. India is a lot like the Holy roman empire . Holy ro man empire wasn't really one country. It was a loose military alliance of various small states for their collective protection surrounded by large m ilitaristic empires: france west/austria-hungary south/russia east. The sc andanavian kingdoms were above them\, who shifted power between themselves . India has pakistan to the west\, a religious state\, china to the east w hom india still contends kashmir plus tibet with\, russia or some stans of former russian empire north who \, and the sea south where the usa has ve ssels. I apologize\, india also has bangeldesh to the east\, another musli m state\, pseudo caliphate. \n\n\n\n So I don't chagrin\, Russia or china from similar lying. India's lying\, USA is lying. Why can't russia or chi na lie? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said :\n\n\n\n I'll let @richardmurray answer the question for himself. \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n But\, I've known people who reside in the United States bu t did not claim citizenship here.  They considered themselves some type o f aboriginals.  They didn't want to pay taxes.  Couldn't get IDs.  Need less to type\, they did not work real jobs either. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Th at whole set-up is great for the person who 1) lives off someone else or 2 ) does not have real world responsibilities or 3) financially independent. \n\n\n\n I'm just black. I have said it before in this forum many times.  \n\n\n\n I'm just black. I have no allegiance to any country. I am not a n ative american. I have traveled to various countries in africa\, I am not a member of any of them. \n\n\n\n It is said I have to use zionists \, ca use the romani or my enslaved forebears are better\, but zionists are easi er for most to comprehend. \n\n\n\n Zionist came from all over the world\ , but what are zionists. Zionists are jews who felt the countries they are or were in are not theirs. It didn't mean zionists didn't pay taxes or wo rk. I don't know why\, connection to a country is assumed when one follows the law. Zionists worked to have their own country which is modern israel today. But not all stateless people have to take others land or kill othe rs. My forebears were enslaved\, I am not interested in slavery or killing others really. Do I like everybody ? no. Do I trust everybody? no. But I am not interestedin taking someone elses land cause I am stateless. This d oesn't mean I don't work or follow the law of the usa? I always have. I ha ve never broken the law in the usa. Not for love or allegiance or connecti on \, simply cause that is what one does anywhere on earth\, well most fol k:) \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 sa id:\n\n\n\n Most Jamaicans and Haitians are DOSers. as well.\n\n\n\n Exact ly\, all black people whose forebears were enslaved from africa to somewhe re outside africa are DOSers\, which definitely includes modern day Canada to Argentina. \n\n\n\n And to that thinking. When you look at the rastaf arians who left jamaica and live in various parts of africa today\, like z ionists\, who are jews who felt the only country they have was a jewish on e that didn't exist until they took over the palestinean protectorate.  T hat is the point. Not all jews are zionists. Not all black people in jamai ca are rastafarians. why is a black DOSer somone mandatorily of the usa? Y ou ask for examples of things. Zionist + rastafarians are examples of sect ions of two groups: jews in all humanity or black people in humanity/not a ll rastafarians come from jamaica\, who view their true home as not where they live. why did I need to explain this to you? that is my question. Or do you just like this kind of debate. \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, Pionee r1 said:\n\n\n\n Can't treat America like you treat Starbucks.\n\n \n\n W alking up in the joint and enjoying the privileges but refusing to buy any thing on principle.\n\n\n\n I argue your reading of extremely modern histo ry is incorrect. The problem isn't immigrants. I argue\, from the immigrat ion act of 1965 to 2026 90% or more of immigrants  to the usa\, all pheno types\, all religions\, all genders\, all age groups[even the kids though they have the most resistance ]\, all languages\, all geographic descenden cy\,  have been two things. \n\n\n\n 1) totally allegiant to the usa\, a s their home\, once they arrived\, betraying the homes they came from in v arious ways\n\n\n\n 2) adhering to the hierarchy of white power that exist ed before they came that exist today. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n As I said befor e about the immigration act\, the problem is\, white people in the usa\, s pecifically\, the whites before the immigration act of 1965 and their desc endents today\, never considered the immigration act would yield the horde of fiscally poor people into the usa\, it has. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I ask ed this in the 22nd edition of the economic corner\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Fu ll speech from Lyndon b johnson\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477- richardmurray/?status=2785&\;type=status\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ICE is not about immigrants but whites in the usa who have a history of burning black towns and villages with its people in it\, taking the scalps and hunting down for sport native americans. Whites are simply trying to bully immigra nts\, it is immgrants turn to join the Native American + Black DOSers as s urvivors of white violence. \n\n\n\n The problem today\, is the USA is 25 0 years old. From 1492 to 1980 are the past\, that time of enslavement and then jim crow is passed. \n\n\n\n Not all whites in the usa want to bull y the non white into a form of slavery. Not all the non whites in the usa\ , are so impotent they can only watch their people be assaulted or hounded . Time has moved on from the kind of usa where white power can completely eradicate the non white. Abuse? yes. Take advantage of? yes. Kill? yes. Ha rm? yes. But not completely kill. Not completely harm. ICE will not get th e immigrant peoples to flee the USA\, or stop immigrants from coming. Yes\ , some people will be frightened away. But not enough for what whites... s ome whites... most whites want. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n it is interesting tha t you blame this on immigrants. Did not Lyndon B Johnson\, a white man fro m texas with a nearly all white congress\, save one yella black man\, adam clayton powell jr\, and a handful of other black elected officials make t he immigration act of 1965 into law? Did not states who never had anything but white governors\, invite immigrants\, including the likes of texas? B y your words Pioneer\,  someone will think immigrants tricked somebody.  \n\n\n\n The USA didn't demand a patriot test? the usa didn't demand an en glish test? the usa didn't put great limits? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I found this website from the white pew research center. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n http s://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/07/22/how-the-origins-of-americas -immigrants-have-changed-since-1850/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1960\n\n\n\n \n\n\ n\n 1970\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 1980\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 1990\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 2000 \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 2010\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 2020\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n S o\, the people you say \, Pioneer\, who need to pick a side or be america n are really\, Mexicans\, whom militaristically have a claim to half of th e usa\, behind the native american of course. \n\n\n\n Now regionally\, I did learn something so thank you. The Dominicans\, from Dominican Republi c \, man  They really focused\, between cubans flooding  in florida and dominicans flying into new york wow! ok. Although this also proves someth ingI have said a long time\, that most whites are german americans. wow! t his is the proof. well... \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/23/2026 \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12270-has-universal-income -gotten-closer-to-being-needed/#findComment-79552\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n oste d 9 minutes ago\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\ n\n\n I claim this raggedy azz country warts and all as my home (state) be cause it is my birthplace and many generations of my ancestors too.\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n exactly\,I don't have any problems with that. Some of our anc estors claimed the usa when it was being born with arguably no reason but hope. So I don't have a problem with your reasoning at all\, but the issue is\, too many black people who claim the usa\, whether DOSer or not\,  s eem shocked or require proof of something when a black DOSer doesn't. As i f it never happened before. When it actually has been going on as long as the usa has been in existence.  \n\n\n\n It goes back to our old topic o f black people accepting our tribes in this country\, which we never seem able to truly do. \n\n\n\n I know in a land filled with some indigenous p eople and a horde of willing immigrants or their descendants DOSers are un ique in our story here. But...\n\n\n\n @Troy i must admit\, the maps surp rised me a little. The narrative has been the immigrant takeover\, but tha t isn't the truth based on these maps. the truth is\, mexicans have become the base of a multiphenotypical immigrant populace that combined has a ma jority or near majority in the usa today. And based on those same maps\, c hinese or indians are really the incoming threat to the white european bas e. But india + china have so many people. I remember when australia was up set\, when so many chinese went to australia\, but I get it. China uses it s militaristic + financial clout to give chinese somewhere to go\, cause c hina can't handle the worlds populace of chinese. \n\n\n\n Mexican+Indian +Chinese since 2010. 2030 it will be twenty years\, a generation. \n\n\n\ n   4 hours ago\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n I have not read the conversation\ , but I'd imagine the maps Richard posed would be having white nationalist s wetting their pants.  As I travel the country it does seem like there a re Mexican everywhere LOL!\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/26/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12270-has-universal-income-go tten-closer-to-being-needed/#findComment-79745\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n \n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   On 1/24/2026 at 3:48 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\ n\n Including New York.\n\n When I was in New York and Philadelphia severa l years ago I was surprised to see so many Mexicans and other Central Amer icans in those places that I thought were Puerto Rican and Dominican stron gholds.\n\n \n\n I remember coming to West Michigan 30 years ago back in t he 90s and although it didn't have a HUGE Latino population\, most of the Latinos here were Puerto Rican.\n\n When I moved BACK here the Mexican and Guatemalan population over took it and is now the majority among Latinos. \n\n \n\n This is one of the reasons you don't find too many AfroAmericans getting out there and protesting ICE.\n\n We instinctively know that it's not good for them to just \"take over\" the entire country by the million s like that....especially when they have such a strong and isolated cultur e.\n\n We instinctively know that something needs to be done and should ha ve been doing years ago.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Stronghold:) White people have the only stronghold in New York City\, now to the latin o populaces.well... based on the map\, dominicans are the base of the lati no populace in new york city/new york state. but\, your assessment to immi grants or Black DOSers is false \, at least in NYC. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n F irst\, Black DOSers in NYC are merely tired. You suggest Black DOSers are frightened for the identity of the usa being taken over by a horde. I oppo se that. At least in NYC it is simpler. Black DOSers have spent the entire jim crow era\, 1865 to 1980 supporting what the USA can become. When whit e people burned black women alive\, hung black children\, made black peopl e sick. Most Black DOSers in the Jim Crow era ate the crow\, followed the white law\, acted civil and tried to have happy lives. Led by Black women in the DOSers \, black people spent over one hundred years setting the tab le up for all peoples to be part of the usa. But black dosers are tired no w. One populace can't support the idea of the usa becoming a country for t he human individual forever. And Black DOSers suffered. All actions have p rosequence plus consequence. Meaning all actions produce negativity plus p ositivity . The majority of Black DOSers supporting the idea of what the U SA can be\, prosequence/positive after effects was a country of civility. White people in the entire jim crow era were the most uncivil\, most crimi nal people on earth\, but Black people\, Black DOSers in majority\, took a ll the abuse\, from murder to spitting to bad contracts\, and fought to be happy to live in peace\, aside the abusers\, that led to a country where people all throughout humanity were amazed at\, and made the myth that if you can come to the usa and eat the crow\, you can be happy. The consequen ce/negative after effects was the Black DOS populace never emphasized itse lf. Black DOSers in majority\, not all\,  chose\, for the sake of peacefu l integration to all humanity\, to place our own unique heritage in the us a second to the potential of a usa culture to be first. So we didn't empha size our languages\, our spirituality\, our towns and cities. The minoriti es in our populace that wanted to leave or wanted to fight\, the majority in our populace chided or stymied or contained or sidelined. Not out of ha te or competition but because what the majority wanted was to get through Jim Crow \, outlast white abuse\, to find a USA changed. Leaving the usa o r feuding with whites would destroy the potential usa to be that the major ity of black DOSErs in the jim crow era \, 1865 to 1980\, fought for. So.. .here we are. Black DOSers held up the idea of what the USA can be\, but a re tired now. A well earned rest.It is time for others to continue that ba ttle. IT is time for the immigrant populace to fight for the potential of what the usa will be. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Second\, From 1980 to 2026\, tw o generations\, white people have slowly moved away from DOSers as a main threat and now have moved to the modern immigrant\, a multiphenotypical/mu ltilingual/multireligious/multicultural populace of people with one thing in common\, they came to the USA for their financial betterment and like t he idea of being in a country where they can be about themselves. How many dominicans go to the dominican republic? if you look at the numbers\, eac h generation of immigrants has less and less connection to the land their forebears came from willingly. Many people with dominican or puerto rican or mexican lineage  in NYC don't speak spanish\, have never left the USA. This is their home in their own mind. The chinese populace in NYC is olde r than the USA. The chinese populace in NYC was from New Amsterdam. The ch inese populace in NYC isn't foreign and temporally has greater claim to th e USA than the populations of the midwest and west coast. \n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n Do some Black DOSers have an instinct against modern immigrants? yes. Some Black DOSers opposed Marcu Garvey who came from the caribbean. Some Black DOSers disliked modern black immigrant children from the continent f or being muslim or not having European or judeo-christian names. But I thi nk most Black DOSers are simply tired of being the backbone \, the engine for the USA to stay on the path to becoming a government for the human ind ividual. It is time for the immigrant populace to take a leading role. Wil l violence occur? yes. the usa was born from violence between the immigran t and the current\, starting with the First peoples\, commonly called Nati ve Americans and the first immigrants\, completely unwanted or unwelcomed who came anyway\, white europeans. \n\n\n\n But\, the existence of violen ce doesn't mean the future will be violent forever. Peace will grow when t iny\, as war always grows when tiny. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In Amendment\n\n \n\n One of my favorite white literatures is Ivanhoe from walter scott. th e character of wambaugh is brilliant to me. But beyond that and other arti stic reasons\, a historical reason exists as well. Scott wanted to make \, using history\, true history\, a historical fiction of england. The idea being\, who is english\, and Ivanhoe is about how\, the Saxons/Normans/Jew s/Picts/... romans/druids all had a role in making england. The english ar en't ancestral to the island commonly called england. The english is the n ame of the mulatto group derived from all of those peoples over a long tim e. In the same way\, the usa is facing a similar reality\, like its parent england. \n\n\n\n Beyond the fact that Lyndon B Johnson let in the popul ace some consider a horde with poor thinking or planning\n\n\n\n Immigrati on Act speech \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?statu s=2785&\;type=status\n\n Kerner Commission \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/p rofile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2685&\;type=status\n\n\n\n The realit y is\, the modern immigrant populace is here in the usa and is a majority\ , not based on phenotype or religion or geographic ancestry but on the des ire to have their best individual life in a safe environment\, in NYC they are already mating with each other in ways maybe the rest of USA doesn't see yet. But\, I have seen mexican-chinese or muslim-jews \, the kind of m ixing going on in NYC proves to me that in twenty to forty years a populat ion will exist in the usa that isn't chained to the old racial lines\, for better or for worse\, and trying to push them out \, when they have no wh ere to go\, will only exacerbate their growth. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The fu nny thing is\, I find the immigrant populace is willing to embrace the imp erialism of the usa more honestly than the old white or Black DOSers. I th ink for modern immigrants the usa should embrace its imperial truth\, whic h whites have never stopped trying to deny while Black DOSers have always prayed wouldn't happen and tried to preach away. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n    On 1/24/2026 at 7:28 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n As AfroAmericans we sho uld be asking ourselves WHY are these people being allowed to come in and given opportunities and favors that many of us weren't given?\n\n\n\n I ha ve a better question\, why didn't elected black officials make the case?  \n\n\n\n Charlie rangel was head of the ways and means\, a senior donkey\, many acts fail to become law in the congress\, no harm is trying every ye ar. How many times did black elected officials try to get legislation spec ifically for blacks passed?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Bills have failed with zero votes\, even from the legislator who sent the bill to the floor \n\n\n\n H.R. 3989 (105th): User Fee Act of 1998 https://www.govtrack.us/congress /votes/105-1998/h207\n\n\n\n H.R. 3085 (106th): Discretionary Spending Off sets Act for Fiscal Year 2000. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/106 -1999/h511\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I checked reparations to see what has happen ed and I found the following\n\n\n\n https://www.govtrack.us/search?q=repa rations\n\n\n\n https://www.congress.gov/search?q={\"congress\"%3A[\"119\" ]%2C\"source\"%3A[\"legislation\"]%2C\"search\"%3A\"reparations\"}&\;pa geSort=latestAction%3Aasc\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n then I made a better search\, \"reparations black african american\" all congresses\; from oldest\n\n\n \n https://www.congress.gov/search?q={\"source\"%3A\"all\"%2C\"congress\"% 3A\"all\"%2C\"search\"%3A\"reparation+black+african+american\"}&\;pageS ort=dateOfIntroduction%3Aasc\n\n\n\n then i removed all but legislation/la ws \n\n\n\n https://www.congress.gov/search?pageSort=dateOfIntroduction%3 Aasc&\;q={\"source\"%3A[\"legislation\"]%2C\"congress\"%3A\"all\"%2C\"s earch\"%3A\"reparation+black+african+american\"}\n\n\n\n then i searched \ "reparations black african american\" all congresses\; from oldest\n\n\n\n https://www.congress.gov/search?q={\"congress\"%3A\"all\"%2C\"source\"%3A [\"legislation\"]%2C\"search\"%3A\"reparations+black+african+american\"}&a mp\;pageSort=dateOfIntroduction%3Aasc\n\n\n\n and finally \, realizing the returns weren't applicable i tried \"jim crow reparations\" \; all congre sses\; oldest to youngest\n\n\n\n https://www.congress.gov/search?q={\"sou rce\"%3A[\"legislation\"]%2C\"congress\"%3A\"all\"%2C\"search\"%3A\"jim+cr ow+reparations\"}&\;pageSort=dateOfIntroduction%3Aasc\n\n\n\n then I ju st placed \"jim crow\" and finally a correct return of results across the history of the congress\n\n\n\n https://www.congress.gov/search?q={\"congr ess\"%3A\"all\"%2C\"source\"%3A\"all\"%2C\"search\"%3A\"\\\"jim+crow\\\"\" }&\;pageSort=dateOfIntroduction%3Aasc\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n the oldest rec ord from one thousand nine hundred and twenty two is the following from 18 84\n\n\n\n December 17\, 1884 Vol. 16\, Part 1 — Bound Edition\n\n\n\n h ttps://www.congress.gov/bound-congressional-record/1884/12/17/16/house-sec tion/article/313-324?q={\"search\"%3A\"\\\"jim+crow\\\"\"}&\;s=3&\;r =1\n\n\n\n referring to then to be president grover cleveland not abandoni ng the negro in the south to \"Jim Crow\" cars on the trains. \n\n\n\n th e earliest law was a joint resolution in 1995 for abernathy\, out of 804 i n the entire history of the congress\n\n\n\n https://www.congress.gov/bill /104th-congress/house-joint-resolution/183?q={\"search\"%3A\"\\\"jim+crow\ \\"\"}&\;s=2&\;r=1\n\n\n\n the oldest report out of 31 \n\n\n\n htt ps://www.congress.gov/search?pageSort=numberAsc&\;q={\"congress\"%3A\"a ll\"%2C\"source\"%3A[\"comreports\"]%2C\"search\"%3A\"\\\"jim+crow\\\"\"}\ n\n\n\n concerned aging\n\n\n\n https://www.congress.gov/committee-report/ 105th-congress/senate-report/36/2?q={\"search\"%3A\"\\\"jim+crow\\\"\"}&am p\;s=5&\;r=1\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n First this confirms my point that the J im crow era was from 1865 to 1980. as from the late 1980s onward\, the rai nbow era was in swing. now the whites allowed blacks\, through nonviolent action\, to have a say. \n\n\n\n But second\, Jim Crow is a cmmonly known phrase in the usa and yet\, look how late it is mentioned or impotently m entioned \, even in the discourse of the congress. so black elected offici als had to do better. Even if the bills went nowhere\, they had to push mo re of them onto the floor. this connects to our discourse concerning legal action in the jim crow era. Based on white violence\, black people needed far more legal representation. For every emmit till\, there were a hundre d or a thousand unnamed\, un newspapered\, black children harmed by whites . \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Troy\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n    On 1/24/2026 at 7:17 PM\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n Everytime a new and differe nt group comes to the country in significant numbers it is the same thing\ , the Jews\, the Irish\, the Italians were all a stain on the country unti l they weren't.  \n\n\n\n nice turn of phrase. yeah\, and the truth is\, fucking\, has a huge role in this. As I mentioned to Pioneer about englan d\,\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/145-lucy-worsley-on-william- the-conqueror-janaury-18th-2025- /\n\n\n\n modern england was born from t he bedchamber of saxon women and norman men. In the same way\, Latin Ameri ca was born from the bedchamber of Indios/firstpeoples/native american wom en or Black[african or indios women] and white european men. The immigrant groups have already started the mating process\, it will only grow. Most white people in the usa today have german ancestry but most talk about bei ng swedish/italian/french or other. so mixing happens.  and mixing is wha t really leads to one peoples. Many jews in the usa didn't marry jews. thi s is part of the whole reform jewish community\, and is why the orthodox j ewish community opposes them in part. the reform jewish community doesn't demand a jew marry a jew which is part of orthodoxy/rules in the jewish re ligion. But that mixing of white jews with other white people\, which whit e jews did a lot in europe as well\, led to a lessening of friction betwee n white peoples\, the judeo christian union in the usa. The modern immigra nt populace is creating an more wider new group with its intra and extra m inglings. It is just a matter of time now. I see it in NYC alot already\, but NYC has every flag in the world represented in it\, it will take time for the rest of the usa to catch up but it will. My two favorite examples is when a black women was getting something to eat from a black owned busi ness and she said I am from trinidad but my some is american\, it was duri ng juneteenth and we all giggled. Her son is half DOSer. And when a boy wa s getting something to eat\, a man was speaking to him in a language from the continent... africa... and the boy didn't react. The guy kept trying c ause he knows the boy but the boy only reacted when he said \"hey\". the b oy only knows english and he is one generation removed. so... the center o f the usa will be different . I don't know the exact countdown but the clo ck is ticking. I don't know the cultural designs but it is being formed.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This is why the people of Nippon have always resisted immigration. yes\, they do it historically\, as they don't like outsiders and have a very tribal nature in themselves. But it has another function. when you embrace outsiders you have to change eventually. the myth that ou tsiders can come into any place and not force change in time is a myth\, a lie really. Ramen noodles is chinese. That is the power of immigration. T he japanese know this through their own history so prefer immigration to b e as slow as possible\, because they comprehend high speed immigration alw ays speeds up high speed resetting of any country to refind a center betwe en the current and the immigrant. \n\n\n\n The whites from europe before the usa was founded\, started a cycle of immigration onto the First People s of the American Continents lands\, never ending\, constant\, but the whi te power of 1492 isn't present today. White power exists but not the same like 1492 and the rest is history. The white enslavers or their descendent s gambled their power could remain no matter how many people came in from anywhere\, they were wrong. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 1/24/2026 at 7:33 PM\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n Racists have their hands full now. huh?  Too bu sy worrying about Latinos while their medical insurance\, student loans\, jobs\, and social security is being taken away...\n\n\n\n financially rich whites who are less concerned about phenotype over money\, sold to poor w hites the idea that they could hurt blacks by bringing in lights/mullatoes /arabs//whites asians to accept wages less than black folk and it worked. alongside the ussr as a cold war rival. but when the ussr fell all of a su dden the usa had to do something with immigration and the fiscally wealthy whites didn't want to undo the global cheap labor market they created in the war against the USSR so they maintained the system and the fiscal poor whites got angry and that split between both led to Schrumpf. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250104 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:A Spoils of war government 1/26/2025 DTSTAMP:20250127T005855Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:162-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n A Spoils of war government 1/26/2025\n\n\n\n https://aalb c.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2833&\;type=status\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IF YOU DIDNT CLICK THE LINK ABOVE\n\n\n\n T he USA is based on slavery and all that entails.\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n What is most unfortunate about the united states of america u.s.a. is people li ke me and others who live in modern times\, circa 1970 to today\,  were r aised with a u.s.a. that culturally engineered itself to blockade the past . Yes\, as a child of two book reading black parents who love true history i was raised knowing about the way the usa federal government operated no t too long ago. But\, this needs to be in schools. Instead you have parent s \, preach merit or earned living to children when the usa was founded an d lived through its entire life to modernity on nepotism in one form or an other. Yes the usa is fiscal capitalistic\, but from its beginning fiscal capitalism was merely a cover story for imperialism\, where whites absent the regal lineages could claim warrant of position\, as opposed to Europe where at he time the usa was born\, wealth was still connected to regal bl oodlines more than fiscal capitalistic value. Sequentially\, the whites of the usa always find ways legal or illegal  as per their tradition to mai ntain their fiscal capitalistic wealth \, regardless of their lack of meri t or earnings. This has not changed. In parallel\, blacks through the blac k church created this tradition of merited value in the usa which only all ows for power or growth for black individuals while the black populace suf fers under the machinations of white spoils.\n\n THE ARTICLE\n\n Sunday Mo rning\n\n How a president's death helped kill Washington's \"spoils system \"\n\n sunday-morning\n\n By Mo Rocca\n\n January 26\, 2025 / 9:52 AM EST / CBS News\n\n\n\n \"To the victor belong the spoils.\" For decades in the 1800s\, that phrase was more than a slogan\; it was the official hiring p olicy of the U.S. government. \"You win the election\, you're entitled to put all your own people in there\,\" said journalist and historian Scott G reenberger.\n\n\n\n He says that under that \"spoils system\,\" the main j ob requirement for most federal employees was … loyalty.\n\n\n\n It was a system inaugurated by Democratic President Andrew Jackson. \"When he cam e in\, he was – and this will sound familiar – he was afraid that sort of entrenched bureaucrats would resist his policies. And so\, he cleaned everybody out.\"\n\n\n\n Were people aghast at this? \"I don't think they were aghast when it began\,\" Greenberger said. \"But by the time we get t o this 1870s and the 1880s\, it was the one of the top issues on the natio nal agenda.\"\n\n\n\n This was a period of abundant wealth and corruption in American politics. \"It's a fascinating period with so many parallels t o our own time\,\" said Greenberger. But a fight was underway to replace t he spoils system with the hiring of qualified government workers\, regardl ess of their political views\, whose job security did not depend on whoeve r was president. \"Civil service reform\,\" as it was known\, may not soun d sexy\, but it was one the hottest political issues of the Gilded Age\, e ven attracting the attention of America's foremost author.\n\n\n\n In 1876 \, the same year he published \"Tom Sawyer\,\" Mark Twain participated in his first political rally in Hartford\, Connecticut\, said local historian Jason Scappaticci. It was a big deal: \"He had voted\, but he had never c ampaigned for anybody\,\" he said.\n\n\n\n After marching through downtown in support of Republican presidential nominee Rutherford B. Hayes\, the l egendary humorist called for an end to the spoils system. \"We will not hi re a blacksmith who never lifted a sledge\,\" he said on September 30\, 18 76. \"We will not hire a schoolteacher who does not know the alphabet … but when you come to our civil service\, we serenely fill great numbers of our minor public offices with ignoramuses.\"\n\n\n\n The speech landed on the front page of The New York Times. \"That just goes to show how vital he is\, how big his name is\,\" said Mallory Howard\, assistant curator at the Mark Twain House &\; Museum in Hartford.\n\n\n\n She's not surpris ed that Twain would have been so horrified by the spoils system: \"I think he felt it was embarrassing putting people in office who are not prepared . I think it doesn't make sense to him.\"\n\n\n\n Hayes made it to the Whi te House\, but little progress was made on civil service reform during his single term. Hayes was succeeded by President James Garfield\, who ran on reform.\n\n\n\n But only months after being sworn in\, the spoils system exacted its most horrifying toll. Garfield was assassinated by a disgruntl ed and delusional office-seeker named Charles Guiteau.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n In 1881 Charles Guiteau sought a position in the administration of newly-ele cted President James Garfield. When his entreaties for a post were rebuffe d\, Guiteau shot the president. \n\n Three Lions/Getty Images\n\n Guiteau had campaigned for Garfield\, and believed that the president \"owed\" hi m. Worse still for reformers\, Garfield's vice president\, Chester Alan Ar thur\, suddenly elevated to the top job\, had climbed the ranks of dirty m achine politics\, enjoying the fruits of the spoils system along the way.\ n\n\n\n \"This was a nightmare scenario for the reformers\,\" said Greenbe rger. \"And then all of a sudden\, here he is\, he's President of the Unit ed States\, and he expresses support for civil service reform\, which shoc ked everybody.\"\n\n\n\n Yes\, in a surprising about-face\, in 1883\, Pres ident Chester A. Arthur – contrite\, by some accounts\, over the murder of Garfield – signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act\, the first of its kind in U.S. history. The law was strengthened over time\, laying t he groundwork for a professional bureaucracy responsible for everything fr om food safety to financial regulation.\n\n\n\n Greenberger said\, \"It re ally paved the way for a more active federal government.\"\n\n\n\n Of cour se\, the federal government of the late 1800s\, with about 50\,000 employe es\, looked like a lot different than today's workforce of more than two m illion. And critics\, including President Trump\, believe the numbers – and the protections afforded those civil service workers – have gone too far. Hence\, President Trump's executive order this past week aiming to m ake it easier to fire some federal workers. \"We're getting rid of all of the cancer\,\" he said.\n\n\n\n Scott Greenberger says maybe the time has come for another debate about the role of the civil service: \"Yes\, you s hould be able to fire people who aren't doing their jobs. And the protecti ons shouldn't be such that someone who's incompetent is allowed to stay in a job. At the same time\, if you eliminate those protections entirely\, t hen you go back to the sort of system that we had in the 19th century\, wh ere only political loyalists are serving these positions.\"\n\n\n\n A syst em undone by an unlikely hero who most people don't even remember was pres ident … one that even Mark Twain put on a pedestal. \"It's funny that we hardly remember the guy today\,\" Greenberger said. \"But when he died\, people\, including Mark Twain said\, 'Wow\, that guy was the greatest pres ident we'd ever had!'\"\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Uniform Resource Locator\n\n ht tps://www.cbsnews.com/news/president-garfields-assassination-and-the-birth -of-the-civil-service/\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250126 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:World War Meth - January 23rd 2025 DTSTAMP:20250124T040349Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:157-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n World War Meth - January 23rd 2025\n\n https://aalbc.com/ tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2832&\;type=status\n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IF YOU DIDNT CLIC THE LINK ABOVE\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n World War Speed\n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n\n\n Great information on the us e of drugs in world war two. And how The german government used it heavy a nd  excelled in the war\, the british government\, general montgomery com missioned heavy drug use. 20 milligrams per day is given to the tank briga des in the break through the german line. Funny how the drug is restricted by germans when the usa enters world war two and eisenhauer looks for mil lions. Amazing\, the story on fake german leather is excellent.and the mil itaristic culture of germany which always relied on quick attacks and tech nology.\n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR\n\n\n\n ht tps://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/preview-world-war-speed/4337/\n\n\n\n TRANS CRIPT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n [ Suspenseful music plays ] -It's long been known that German soldiers used a form of methamphetamine called Pervitin in th e Second World War.\n\n-[Speaking German] -But have tales of Nazis on spee d... [ Suspenseful chord strikes ] ...obscured the other side of the story ?\n\n[ Radio chatter ] [ Suspenseful chord strikes ] -Wow!\n\nThat's amazi ng\, isn't it?\n\n-The massive use of stimulants by British and American t roops.\n\n[ Rapid gunfire ] Did total war unleash the world's first pharma cological arms race?\n\n♪♪ And\, in the face of industrial slaughter\, what role did drugs play in combat?\n\n♪♪ Now\, one historian... -My goodness\, look.\n\nThere's the swastika.\n\n-...is on a quest to dig deep er... -You got the machine guns there.\n\nYou got the tools.\n\nSo you jus t do this\, you just go...?\n\n-Precisely.\n\n-A cannon shell is just gonn a rip through.\n\n-This soldier here that can hardly walk.\n\n-Yes.\n\n-.. .and learn the truth behind World War speed.\n\n-Stand by.\n\n-Eight\, sev en\, six... -The amount of dust was incredible!\n\n[ Explosion ] -...five\ , four... -Oh\, my goodness\, me.\n\nLook at that!\n\n-...three\, two\, -S et\, shoot.\n\nFire One.\n\n-one.\n\n[ Explosions ] -Oh\, my god!\n\n[ Sus penseful chord strikes ] ♪♪ [ Engine humming ] [ Static crackling ] -[ Speaking German ] -[ Speaking German ] -[ Speaking German ] -[ Speaking G erman ] -December 1942.\n\nA German bomber crew struggles to keep their da maged plane aloft.\n\n-[ Conversing in German ] [ Engine buzzing ] [ Omino us chord strikes ] [ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ -Seven decades after it went down\, this German Heinkel He 115 bomber is pulled from a Norwegi an fjord.\n\n[ Oxygen whooshing ] It's an amazing discovery.\n\nThe only a ircraft of its kind ever recovered\, from a time when England stood alone against fascism in Europe.\n\n[ Poignant tune plays ] The fjord's oxygen-p oor water has left the plane remarkably intact and the recovery team will soon discover artifacts inside [ Camera shutter clicking ] in near-pristin e condition\, including brandy\, caffeine-infused chocolate\, and speed.\n \n[ Suspenseful music plays ] -[Speaking local language] -We're going to s ee the remains of a Heinkel 115\, which is a float plane\, a sea plane\, t hat was used by the German Navy.\n\nAnd\, not only did they pull up this H einkel 115\, they also found lots of things on it\, [ Turn signal clicking ] including\, it turns out\, a packet a Pervitin.\n\n♪♪ For me\, ther e's a massive difference between just being an armchair historian and actu ally getting out on the ground\, rolling up your sleeves\, and doing some proper primary research.\n\n♪♪ You can't really understand a subject u nless you actually seen what you're looking at for real\, you know\, you'v e touched those pieces of paper\, looked at the sites\, talked to other pe ople who really know what they're talking about.\n\nAnd it is amazing how it actually then prompts you to ask all sorts of other questions that you might not have thought about in the first place.\n\n-James Holland has wri tten nearly 30 books about the Second World War.\n\nHe's an expert on the blitzkrieg of 1940 and the Battle of Britain\, which will prove pivotal ch apters in his quest to understand how amphetamine use evolved during the c onflict.\n\n-[Speaking local language] -Could German amphetamine packets h ave survived the crash and decades underwater?\n\nIf so\, they may provide unique insight into the role speed played during German bombing missions over England.\n\n-You know\, I've seen a few aircraft wrecks that have bee n pulled out of the water\, but this Heinkel 115 that's been pulled up out of the fjord was in incredible condition\, so good that you could still s ee the paintbrush marks on the tailplane.\n\nSo I'm looking at the bomb ba y\, here\, aren't I?\n\n-Yeah.\n\nYeah.\n\n-Okay\, but this was carrying b ombs when it was found?\n\n-Yeah.\n\nYeah.\n\n-So where would they be?\n\n -They was in the center section.\n\n-And this is a camouflage for going ov er the dark North Sea.\n\n-You know\, you wouldn't want it light\, would y ou?\n\nYou look at that sea from above\, you can see how dark it is all th e time.\n\n♪♪ -For German bomber crews\, night missions from Norway in volved a 12-hour round-trip flight over the North Sea.\n\n[ Rapid gunfire ] Raving spitfires and flak over England\, then\, surviving the long trip home.\n\n♪♪ German victories make the Luftwaffe and Wehrmacht seem inv incible.\n\n[ Explosion ] Rumors circulate of German soldiers and airmen f ueled by a super-drug that makes them fearless\, energized\, and able to p ress on without need for rest or recuperation.\n\n[ Tranquil tune plays ] Even Nazi dive-bombers stir theories about so-called Stuka-Tablets\, pills that enable fliers to withstand G-force plunges to target no human being could possibly survive.\n\n♪♪ -This is the Heinkel 115 elevator.\n\nIt was cut in two when the plane crashed\, so.\n\n-Right.\n\n-In the wing\, there was a dinghy.\n\n-Yes.\n\n-And\, within the dinghy\, there was a res cue package.\n\n-It's possible to look at it?\n\n-Yes.\n\n-Fantastic.\n\nS o\, when I walked in and saw the table full of objects from this escape ki t\, plus a few other little bits and pieces they found\, I\, you know\, I was absolutely staggered.\n\nAnd\, obviously\, we've got a brace of machin e guns here.\n\nThese are 17s?\n\n-MG 17s\, yeah.\n\n-You got the machine guns there\; you got the tools.\n\nYou got all this\, but this is the bit that's really catching my eye.\n\n-Matches.\n\n-Yeah.\n\n-Cigarettes?\n\n- Yeah\, it is.\n\n-This is obviously chocolate.\n\nThis has a high caffeine content\, doesn't it?\n\n-Yes.\n\n-And this is the brandy.\n\n-Yes\, that 's the brandy.\n\n-I can't believe you haven't tried it.\n\nOkay\, but the re's one item here that\, to me\, is missing.\n\n-Yes\, I guess we are mis sing the Pervitin.\n\n-Yes\, where's that?\n\n-Well\, when it came up and we tried to clean it\, it started to dissolve and\, when we looked back in to the box\, it was -- There's nothing left\, so\, it just vanished.\n\nWe ll\, I'm sorry\, we have only a photograph of it.\n\n-The whole reason for coming here is because Pervitin has been found on this plane when it was brought up from the fjord.\n\nIt was a little disappointing.\n\n-Despite J im's disappointment\, the Pervitin's location on the plane may be more imp ortant than seeing the package itself.\n\n-So this was in the -- this was in the wing?\n\nWhat was really interesting is it wasn't sort of in the co ckpit equivalent of the glove compartment\, you know.\n\nIt wasn't found r ight by the pilot's seat or something\, you know.\n\nIt was actually found in a pre-prepared [ Camera shutter clicking ] emergency escape pack.\n\nT hat made me kind of think that it wasn't used in a kind of sort of casual way\, but in a quite pragmatic way.\n\n-If the Pervitin pack was kept out of reach\, it suggests the drug wasn't meant to keep men awake during flig ht\, but to keep them alive\, should their plane go down.\n\n-So you've go t the brandy\, to keep the cold away.\n\nYou've got some cigarettes to kee p you going\; chocolate with caffeine in it\; and\, of course\, you've got the Pervitin.\n\nWe all know what that does.\n\nThat keeps you going for another 12 hours or so\, while you're bobbing around on the North Sea.\n\n They were flying in winter\, so it's going to be bitterly\, bitterly cold. \n\nThe most important thing is that they don't fall asleep and die of hyp othermia.\n\nSo what's gonna keep you awake?\n\nWell\, Pervitin's gonna do that.\n\n[ Suspenseful music plays ] -Jim's Norway stop has been illumina ting and frustrating\, all at the same time.\n\n[ Bell tolls ] He decides to head south\, to a museum in Germany\, where you can still see and hold Pervitin samples from World War II.\n\n-And I met with Dr. Peter Steinkamp \, who's an expert in this.\n\nYou know\, I just really wanted to pick his brains about what this stuff was\, how it came to be\, and to look at Per vitin packets for the first time.\n\nWow.\n\nThat's amazing\, isn't it?\n\ n[ Suspenseful music intensifies ] -This was methamphetamine created in th e 1930s by a German pharmacologist.\n\nHe called it Pervitin.\n\nThis is a version for injection and this is the version for piercing.\n\n-And what' s this say\, here?\n\n-\"Inject slowly\, not too fast.\"\n\n-[Laughing] Oh \, goodness\, me.\n\nImagine buying\, over the counter\, vials of stuff to inject yourself\, you know\, with a Class A drug.\n\nI mean\, it's just a bsolutely extraordinary and just so casual.\n\nIf I took one of those\, ho w long would I be completely wired for?\n\n-Well\, about two nights.\n\n-S o this came out in Germany\, what\, in the late 1930s?\n\n-Yes.\n\nIn 1938 \, it was first available in drugstores.\n\n-So I could just walk in and I could go\, \"I'll have a packet of 12 Pervitin\, please\"?\n\n-Yeah\, rea lly.\n\n-Wow!\n\nThat's amazing\, isn't it?\n\n♪♪ -By 1938\, Pervitin manufacturer Temmler Pharmaceutical of Berlin had launched a PR campaign m odeled on Coca-Cola's global marketing strategy.\n\n♪♪ And\, despite H itler's vehement anti-drug rhetoric\, many Nazis\, including the Fuehrer h imself\, were heavy drug users.\n\n[ Cheering ] Methamphetamines seemed ge ared to the modern\, tech-embracing Reich that was envisioned.\n\n-The Naz i state is all about\, \"If you work hard\, if you strive for a better Ger many\, then you'll get a better Germany.\n\nCome on\, get your backbone in to it and let's get working.\n\nLet's make Nazi Germany\, the Third Reich\ , let's make it a thousand-year Reich.\n\nLet's make it brilliant!\"\n\nYo u know\, and they embraced science and technology\, and pharmacology is al l tied in with that.\n\nThat's why it appeals.\n\nSo it's not much of a st ep\, is it\, from day-to-day domestic use to being used in the armed servi ces?\n\n-Yes\, yes\, you're right.\n\nThe officers said to the medical off icer\, \"Please\, now\, give Pervitin to our soldiers.\"\n\n♪♪ -By May 1940\, German troops under the influence of Pervitin have already conquer ed Poland.\n\nNow\, Hitler's Army masses for another attack\, against Fran ce.\n\n♪♪ The British and French armies facing them outnumber the Germ ans in men\, artillery\, and even tanks\, but the German plan is audacious : built on the use of combined arms\; using air power as moving artillery\ ; and what some will call a new method of warfare\, which really wasn't ne w at all.\n\n-The German way of war\, what has become known as blitzkrieg\ , has always been traditionally depicted as something kind of new.\n\nIt i sn't.\n\nIt's an extension of the way of war that Germans have always been practicing and\, before Germany became Germany in 1871\, the Prussians be fore them.\n\nAnd it's because they're stuck in the middle of Europe.\n\nT hey don't have those resources of bauxite and copper and iron ore and\, mo re latterly\, oil\, and food\, actually\, that you need to protract a long \, attritional war.\n\nSo what do you do?\n\nWell\, you get round that by fighting your wars with overwhelming force at the point of impact\, where you first attack\, knocking your enemy off-balance\, surrounding them and annihilating them\, and you do that incredibly quickly.\n\n-At this point in the war\, the German army is outgunned and outnumbered.\n\nTo win\, the y'll have to move swiftly\, with no time for rest.\n\nAnd\, like the Luftw affe\, the army also has a secret weapon to help defeat the military comma nders' oldest enemy: sleep.\n\n♪♪ -I mean\, how much Pervitin was used in 1940?\n\n-During the war against France in 1940\, there was a deliveri ng of 35 million pills -Ha!\n\n-of Pervitin to the Wehrmacht.\n\n-Wow.\n\n So\, literally\, just in sort of 10\, 12 weeks\, they're issuing 35 millio n tablets of Pervitin?\n\n-Yeah\, yes.\n\n-You know\, all-in\, there's onl y about 3 million troops involved in the whole thing.\n\n[ Rapid gunfire ] -In the end\, the German army pulls off what seemed impossible\, even to Hitler.\n\n[ Rapid gunfire ] Wehrmacht tanks and foot soldiers managed to fight and march for 10 days straight... ♪♪ ...trapping the entire Brit ish army on the beaches of Dunkirk.\n\n♪♪ [ Gunfire ] German troops mo ve an average of 22 miles a day\, [ Flames crackling ] under fire.\n\nIt's considered one of the greatest feats [ Flames crackling ] in military his tory.\n\n-So\, obviously\, Pervitin keeps you awake\, but what else does i t do to you?\n\n[ Rapid gunfire ] -When you're taking it and you have to d o a duty... ♪♪ ...you are focused on it.\n\nThere was no fear and you don't think about anything else in that moment.\n\n-What other side effect s are there?\n\n-I talked to some veterans who used Pervitin and they said \, after doing the duty\, they sometimes got frightened -Oh.\n\n-because \ "We were in fear that we could never\, ever\, sleep again and\, when we co uld not sleep anymore\, we must die.\"\n\n♪♪ -However the drug affects individual soldiers\, the larger outcome is clear: German troops\, fueled by methamphetamine\, crushed the combined arms of Western Europe in littl e over a week.\n\nNazi tactics and technology seem unstoppable.\n\n[ Suspe nseful chord strikes ] But did the Wehrmacht truly need a stimulant to ach ieve victory in 1940?\n\nWas marching 22 miles in a single day an amazing pace or has the blitzkrieg tale\, like the word itself\, been warped into legend over time?\n\n♪♪ Today\, Jim's gathered a group of fellow histo ry fanatics to put this question to the test.\n\n-The idea is that\, rathe r -- -They start by comparing British and German infantry gear\, to see if one was better than the other.\n\n-Much more.\n\nJust asking.\n\n-Taff Gi llingham has served as a military consultant for feature films and TV seri es.\n\n-You then don't need to take your eye off the target until you've k nocked him over.\n\n-He's an expert on Second World War paraphernalia.\n\n -Well\, Taff\, you know\, we've got this all laid out.\n\nWe've got Britis h here\, German here.\n\nPresumably\, this is an ammunition pouch?\n\n-Tha t's right.\n\nThat's the ammunition pouch.\n\nYou've got three clips in ea ch of those pouches.\n\n-I mean\, they do love leather\, don't they\, the Germans?\n\nI mean\, every bit of it is.\n\nIt's just leather\, leather\, leather.\n\n-The British had a simpler idea\, which was to carry a cotton bandolier\, and then you just pull the clips out\, ready to push into the rifle.\n\n-Hm.\n\n♪♪ -The British kitty is actually pretty quiet becau se it's all cotton\, it's canvas.\n\nIt doesn't make much noise as you mov e around.\n\nWhereas\, the veterans always had this story that you could h ear the German Army coming because they sounded like a loose cutlery drawe r with all this stuff clinking and clanking away [ Laughter ] as the Germa n -- Exactly.\n\nThe gas mask tin bouncing around.\n\n♪♪ -I'll take th is back.\n\n-Next\, they'll set out to see just how hard it would've been to cover 22 miles while carrying a 60-pound combat load\, with only coffee or tea to keep you going.\n\n-That's quite heavy.\n\n[laughs] ♪♪ -I c an't believe that they'd have walked a long way with a kit like that.\n\n- I mean\, this is the reason for doing this.\n\nIt's only when you actually start using this practically that you can understand how people would ope rate with it back in the day.\n\nSo the real point of this entire experime nt is\, after walking 20 miles around here with all this kit\, if you've g ot a drug that can keep you going\, can we understand why they're using th is in 1940?\n\n-Okay.\n\nLet's do it.\n\n-Let's do it.\n\n♪♪ -My feet are -- Oof.\n\n♪♪ -How's that?\n\n-That looks good.\n\n-Feels better.\ n\nOh\, post.\n\n♪♪ Ooh!\n\nThat's my feet.\n\nNow they hurt.\n\n♪ ♪ [ Grunts ] ♪♪ -Ah!\n\n[ Metal clinking ] [ Laughter ] We'll maybe leave that bit out.\n\n[ Laughter ] -Two hours and seven miles in\, the gr oup breaks for tea.\n\n-It's heating up pretty quick\, isn't it?\n\n-For m any Allied soldiers\, caffeine was the stimulant of choice.\n\nCoffee was so critical to American GI Joes that\, today\, cup of Joe is synonymous wi th the drink.\n\n-All right\, cheers.\n\n-I've got my foot out.\n\n-Peel y our heel off.\n\nWhere is it?\n\n-Just there.\n\n-Wiggle your foot.\n\nHow much am I getting paid for this is all I wanna know.\n\n-So\, because we' re able to take caffeine\, we're on these lovely\, delicious-looking choco late\, caffeine-enhanced chocolate.\n\nSo\, James\, this should send us ar ound the next bit of the march a bit quicker then\, eh?\n\n-Should do.\n\n -Come on\, let's go.\n\n-Yeah.\n\n♪♪ -They may not be in combat... -He llo\, Woofit.\n\n-[Barking] -...but they are carrying the same 60-pound lo ad that German and British soldiers would've humped\, back in 1940\, and i t's proving no easy task.\n\n-Where's the shortcut\, then?\n\n♪♪ -If i t's not 100 yards\, I'm gonna collapse in a pile\, there.\n\n[coughing] Oh !\n\nOh.\n\nOh\, [bleep] Ow.\n\nMy feet are broken.\n\n♪♪ My ankles ar e broke.\n\nSo\, I reckon that 20 miles is achievable\, but\, day after da y\, that's a very hard thing to ask for a platoon of soldiers.\n\n-Despite bruised ankles\, they've logged 14 miles in just under 4 hours.\n\nAt thi s pace\, they'd have easily hit the 22-mile mark of the Wehrmacht.\n\n-You know\, they're all trained up for doing this kinda stuff\, so you have to think that walking 22 miles a day\, over consecutive days\, for those guy s\, really shouldn't have been a massive problem without drugs.\n\n[ Band plays march ] I am not convinced that the Germans needed it\, at all.\n\ n♪♪ -Whether the Wehrmacht needed Pervitin or not\, the Nazi victory i n France is a stunning one.\n\n♪♪ By June 1940\, France has been broug ht to its knees.\n\n♪♪ The British army lies in tatters and\, soon\, L ondon itself is ablaze.\n\n[ Explosion ] ♪♪ [ Explosion ] [ Flames cra ckling ] The English are desperate to learn the source of Germany's succes s... ♪♪ and\, when a German plane goes down in the south of England\, they find the answer.\n\n[ Flames crackling ] Inside\, they discover a pac ket of an unknown substance that holds the key to the Nazis' boundless ene rgy.\n\nLab analysis will soon reveal the substance is methamphetamine\, G ermany's super-drug.\n\n[ Suspenseful chord strikes ] To find out more abo ut the British side of the story\, Jim's meeting pharmacology historian Dr . James Pugh.\n\n-So\, what have you got here?\n\n-So I brought some files along which I thought you might be interested in seeing.\n\n-Mm-hmm.\n\n- The first is a letter to Winston Churchill\, in fact.\n\n-Oh\, really?\n\n -And it's actually from his physician\, Sir Charles Wilson\, letting Churc hill know that the British have discovered that Germany is making use of a mphetamines in a military context.\n\n-Mm!\n\n-And suggesting to him that\ , perhaps\, this is something the British need to consider.\n\n-I mean\, t his is a really interesting line: \"In short\, it was concluded that the d rug would be useful to the majority of men if it is desired to keep them s trenuously and dangerously active for 24 hours at a stretch.\"\n\n-Germany has occupied France\, by this stage\, -Mm.\n\n-so anything that the Briti sh feel they can do to gain an advantage or to level the playing field aga in is something that they need to consider and I guess you could character ize this as maybe the beginning of a chemical arms race\, I suppose.\n\nOn e of the other ways that the drug was used is in its inhaler form.\n\n-Gos h\, look at that.\n\nGod\, it's like a Vicks inhaler.\n\nSo you just do th is\, you just go...?\n\n-Yeah\, I probably wouldn't do that\, at this poin t\, but.\n\n-[laughs] No\, but I mean\, that's the process?\n\n-Yeah.\n\n- The Allied version of Pervitin was called Benzedrine and\, like German spe ed\, it was already used by civilians before the war began.\n\nBoth drugs make users intensely alert\, flooding them with a sense of euphoria.\n\nWi th its added methyl group molecule\, Pervitin races across the blood-brain barrier a bit faster than Benzedrine.\n\nOtherwise\, the two drugs have v irtually the same impact.\n\n♪♪ During the battle of Britain\, exhaust ed Spitfire pilots were getting Benzedrine\, unofficially\, from local pha rmacies\, but Churchill seems to push things to another level.\n\n-So one of the very interesting things is that this is being sent to Churchill and what's important about that is he's a man of science.\n\nHe's very intere sted in novel developments and new technologies and stuff and so drugs kin d of fit that bill for him.\n\n-Soon\, the Royal Air Force begins testing Benzedrine under combat conditions.\n\nThey turn to a 30-year-old flight s urgeon\, named Roland Winfield\, to administer the drug to British air cre w and record the reactions.\n\n♪♪ By late 1941\, Allied bombers are hi tting back.\n\n[ Bombs whistling ] [ Explosions ] ♪♪ Long night missio ns over Nazi Germany\, with a fatality rate of more than 45%\, are a terri fying ordeal.\n\n♪♪ -You know\, that's one of those things where\, obv iously\, so if that can keep you awake and keep you alive\, then\, you kno w\, clearly\, that's a good thing.\n\n-I suppose\, on the other side of it \, too -- -Later\, Jim and James head out to explore a British Lancaster b omber\, the same type of aircraft in which Roland Winfield conducted the o nly known combat tests of amphetamines during the war.\n\n♪♪ -These bo mb bays are pretty impressive\, aren't they?\n\n-My goodness.\n\n[laughing ] That's gigantic.\n\n-They can take 6.5 tons.\n\n-6.5 tons?!\n\n-Yeah.\n\ nAnd they can be adapted to take a Grand Slam\, which is 10 tons.\n\n-10 t ons.\n\n-I mean\, it is incredible\, the lift of this.\n\n-Just absolutely overwhelmed by the size of it.\n\nThis is gonna be tight\, I reckon\, for you\, James.\n\n-I mean\, look at it.\n\n[ Knocking\, hollow ] It's a tin can\, isn't it?\n\n-So there's no armor here or anything like this.\n\n-N o.\n\nNo.\n\n-This is just thin.\n\n-And\, you know\, a cannon shell or a bullet's just gonna rip through.\n\n-Rip straight through.\n\n-On that Lan caster\, you're just thinking\, \"This is a piece of tin.\n\nI'm gonna be shot at.\n\nI'm gonna be scared.\n\nIf I need to escape quickly\,\" [laugh s] you know\, it's just next to impossible.\n\nThere are very few concessi ons to human comfort.\n\n-Yeah\, yeah.\n\n-For me\, this is designed for o ne thing\, and one thing only\, and that's dropping large amounts of bombs .\n\n-Goodness\, me\, yeah.\n\n[ Bomb whistling ] [ Explosions ] -Physical ly exhausting and terrifying.\n\nIn the air war over Europe\, aviation tec hnology pushes men beyond the limits of human endurance.\n\n♪♪ -You kn ow\, I can understand why you would take a Benzedrine pill\, you know?\n\n -I think I can as well.\n\nJust going past the navigator's desk\, here.\n\ n-Again\, I mean\, look how cramped it is.\n\n-It is.\n\nAnd\, as you emer ge into the cockpit\, there's a little bit more space here\, I suppose\, [ laughs] until you try and get in the seat.\n\nCase -- Oh\, my goodness!\n\ nThis is snug.\n\n-Yeah\, it really is\, isn't it?\n\n-[laughing] Yeah\, t his is snug.\n\n-So tell me about Winfield's tests that he was doing.\n\n- Yeah\, he actually flies with the crews.\n\nHe administers the drugs in fl ight\, you know\; he also administers placebos.\n\nAnd then\, yeah\, he re ports back on the experiences the crews have.\n\n♪♪ -In all\, Winfield observed troops who were given amphetamines on 20 RAF missions.\n\n♪♪ -[Indistinct] -I mean\, just imagine this\, James.\n\nYou know\, you're s itting here\, you're piloting this plane.\n\n-We're over the lake now.\n\n -You know\, this is unpressurized\, this cabin.\n\n-Yeah.\n\n-You know\, - 45°\, freezing cold.\n\n♪♪ You've gotta watch out for night fighters and you've got lots of flak coming up.\n\n-Yeah\, yeah.\n\n-The whole thin g is terrifying.\n\n[ Rapid gunfire ] [ Explosion ] [ Explosion ] -So\, af ter crews have dropped their bombs\, they will experience what's known as the post-adrenal crash.\n\nSo their bodies have been flooded with adrenali ne for an extended period of time.\n\nThat adrenaline starts to leave the body at that point and they become extremely fatigued.\n\nThis is one of t he things that Winfield concludes and he recommends in his reports\, is\, if you take the drug about an hour and a half before you're going to drop your bombs\, the drug will start to sort of act upon your consciousness at that point.\n\n♪♪ -Of all Winfield's findings\, perhaps the most infl uential are his reports describing how air crews high on speed show increa sed aggression under fire.\n\n-One of the things that he notes in his repo rt is an example of an attack\, which the air crews actually dive down to a very\, very low height and attack a flak [indistinct] -Really\, they sta rt shooting it up?\n\n-Yeah\, yeah.\n\nOf course\, Winfield is also simult aneously concerned by some of this\, too.\n\nUltimately\, when the RAF com e to think about this drug\, they're actually concerned about those effect s... -Are you all right?\n\nYou get any of the baddies?\n\n-...where the c rews will start to lean on the drugs\, as opposed to using them as a tool to help manage their wakefulness.\n\n♪♪ -But if the RAF sees these sid e effects as a potential problem\, the British army sees them as a benefit .\n\n♪♪ Even more than keeping troops awake\, British ground commander s want a pill that can make the men fearless.\n\n[ Explosions ] ♪♪ By 1942\, the Allies are losing massive numbers of soldiers to a byproduct of industrial warfare: shell shock\, known today as Post-Traumatic Stress Di sorder.\n\nOver the course of the conflict\, as many as one in three front line soldiers will be incapacitated by it.\n\n-Oh\, God\, listen!\n\n-Benz edrine\, it is hoped\, might offer a solution.\n\n[ Suspenseful music fade s ] [ Piano plays melancholy tune ] For this hidden side of the story\, Ji m's traveling to a small museum connected to a hospital that first treated thousands of shell shock victims during the previous World War.\n\n♪♪ -Well\, I suppose\, when we think of\, well\, the concept of war neurosis \, shell shock\, it really goes back to the first World War\, doesn't it?\ n\nAnd is that the first time that it starts to become recognized?\n\n-I t hink the stress of combat has always been recognized\, certainly from the Crimean War onwards\, but what happens in the first World War\, is that in dustry has intensified killing power\, so large numbers of soldiers\, 60%\ , are killed by shrapnel\, by artillery\, by mortars.\n\n♪♪ After the Battle of the Somme\, when there's been something like 420\,000 casualties \, a significant number of those\, maybe 50\,000 to 60\,000\, would be she ll shock.\n\nSo it's not only a medical problem\, it's also a military pro blem because this is a war of attrition and\, if you're losing large numbe rs of men to battle exhaustion\, to psychiatric breakdown\, and you're not able to treat them\, then it's eroding your fighting strength.\n\n-So\, i n the treatment of combat fatigue\, when do they start looking at drugs?\n \nWhen do they start looking at pharmacology and Benzedrine?\n\n-Well\, Be nzedrine has been introduced to the UK in 1935\, but as the war gets close r and closer\, senior doctors and commanders recognize that this could hav e a major beneficial\, you know\, use\, in all three services\, in keeping soldiers awake\, alert\, and boosting their morale in times of stress\, s o I think the British army used Benzedrine to keep people awake\, but also to lift spirits.\n\n-So Dr. Jones was very interesting about the use of B enzedrine\, not just as a wakey-wakey pill\, which is what is was sometime s referred to\, but also one that would improve morale\, that would give t hose who took it a sense of kind of well-being and greater physical courag e.\n\n[ Suspenseful music plays ] -Jim's Glenside visit has given him crit ical insight.\n\nBy using the drug as a tool to heighten aggression and li ft morale\, Britain is raising the stakes in the pharmacological fight aga inst the Nazis\, who still primarily see amphetamine as a way to offset fa tigue.\n\nBy 1942\, British troops in North Africa are in desperate need o f a morale boost.\n\nThey've retreated across 600 miles of desert\, chased by Germany's renowned Africa Corps\, and are dug in around a tiny trading post: El Alamein.\n\nBut in October\, a feisty new commander\, who is lik ely familiar with the RAF amphetamine tests\, arrives: Bernard Montgomery. \n\nHe is ready to go on the offensive.\n\n-When Montgomery took over\, mo rale in British 8th Army was at rock-bottom and it was one of the things h e realized that he had to turn around\, by the way he was talking.\n\n-I w ant to impress on everyone that the bad times are over.\n\n-And\, you know \, \"There'll be no more retreats\,\" you know\, \"You're really well-equi pped.\n\nWe're gonna smash the Germans and the Italian forces\,\" and tryi ng to give them a greater sense of self-belief.\n\n-We can't stay here ali ve.\n\nThey'll never stay here dead.\n\n-But if there's a pill that could do part of that job for you\, then it's gotta be worth taking.\n\n♪♪ - It's always been a bit of a mystery whether Monty\, himself\, brought Benz edrine to the desert and whether he truly saw it as a morale builder\, but Jim's recently discovered a document from Montgomery's medical officer\, QV Wallace\, which proves orders for Benzedrine came straight from the top .\n\n[ Suspenseful music climbs ] -I've never before seen any direct\, wri tten reference in any official capacity\, to the mass use of Benzedrine\, but Brigadier Wallace's memo absolutely knocks that into touch because the re it is\, absolutely spelled out.\n\nThe troops that were involved in the opening stages of the Battle of Alamein were given Benzedrine\, not just to keep them going\, not just to keep them awake\, but also to give them r esolve\, to give them confidence\, to bolster their morale.\n\n♪♪ -By late 1942\, the Americans still have not put any boots on the ground in th e West\, but they do provide a new tank\, which will give the British a te chnological edge in battles to come.\n\n♪♪ -The Sherman is incredibly important when it comes in.\n\nThey get 300 of them straight into Egypt an d they're kinda tested up and made battle-ready.\n\nAt the time\, it is th e best tank on the battlefield.\n\nYou know\, it's got this incredibly acc urate gun.\n\nIt's pretty well-armored.\n\nIt's very easy to maintain.\n\n This is a very good tank\, which is now entering battle on the British sid e.\n\n-Just like long-range bombers\, modern tanks\, like the Sherman\, we re now pushing men to the limits of human endurance\, so how welcome would a pill that could offset these conditions be\, to those who served?\n\nJi m visits an old friend who might be able to help him find out.\n\n♪♪ - Okay\, so Jim Clark is a restorer of wartime military vehicles and he's go t a whole host of stuff.\n\nHe's got Jeeps\; he's got trucks.\n\nBut he's also got a Sherman tank.\n\n♪♪ So Jim\, one of the things I'm trying t o find out a bit is\, I mean\, obviously you know\, when you're in a tank\ , you're gonna get shot at and that's quite traumatic\, but the other thin g I'm quite interested in is just what it's like\, sort of existing and op erating in these tanks 'cause -Yeah.\n\n-it's a confined space.\n\nYou kno w\, man's not really designed for this.\n\nAh!\n\n-All right?\n\n-We're in !\n\n-Right.\n\n[ Engine wheezing ] [ Engine starts ] [ Engine revs ] [ Wh imsical tune plays ] ♪♪ -It's not an environment that is comfortable\, in any shape or form.\n\n♪♪ The smell of the fumes was immense.\n\nVe ry quickly\, you start to kind of catch your throat.\n\nOh\, dear\, I gott a say\, the amount of dust is incredible!\n\n-The fan that cools the engin e -Yeah.\n\ndraws the air in through the crew compartment.\n\n-it gets dra wn over you\, -[Laughs] -so you get covered in it.\n\n♪♪ -If I'm feeli ng this amount of grit going into my eyes and up my nose\, just from going down a short stretch of track in the middle of winter in England\, what's it gonna be like in the desert?\n\nIt must've just been absolutely imposs ible.\n\n[ Suspenseful music plays ] -\"Tank men\,\" wrote one veteran\, \ "fought their war in an enclosed\, suffocating\, noisy metal box\, fearful of being struck and burned alive by an enemy they could not see.\"\n\n[ E xplosion ] [ Explosions ] ♪♪ -You really do get a feel of how physical ly draining it must be to just operate one of these things.\n\n♪♪ So\, you can see\, can't you\, the stress and strain -Yeah.\n\n-of doing that? \n\nYou know\, quite apart from the fact that you're\, almost on a daily b asis\, been in battle.\n\n-Yeah.\n\nThe toll of fightin' all day long and then no proper sleep\, no rest.\n\nUm -- Even if you're sleeping at night\ , there's probably shelling goin' on\, so you probably didn't have much de cent rest.\n\n[ Gunfire ] -[laughing] And this is just stuffed full of hig hly explosive material.\n\n-Yeah.\n\nIn the turret basket\, I think there' s about 15 or rounds.\n\nThere's probably 20 or 30 on each side.\n\n-Yeah\ , it's a good number.\n\n-Yeah\, a good number\, yeah.\n\nThen\, there was .50-cal rounds in the base.\n\nThen\, you got your 160 gallons of fuel.\n \nLike a mobile bomb\, basically.\n\n[ Explosion ] ♪♪ -At El Alamein\, the British 24th Armoured Tank Brigade is given the job of punching throu gh German defenses.\n\nAs the Wallace memo makes clear\, on the eve of the attack\, each man is given a huge dose of Benzedrine: 20 milligrams per d ay\, twice he amount recommended to RAF pilots.\n\n-I know that the 24th A rmoured Brigade were issued with Benzedrine because he wanted them to keep going.\n\nYou know\, what he said was the first bit of the battle was gon na be the dogfight.\n\nIt was gonna be the grinding\, attritional battle\, and\, for that grinding\, attritional battle\, he wanted his men to keep going.\n\n[ Explosions ] -Unlike modern pills\, Benzedrine tablets in '42 have no slow-release coating.\n\nThe full dose will hit all at once.\n\nFo r some soldiers\, alertness and euphoria will give way to a false sense of power.\n\n♪♪ In the coming days\, the men of the 24th will prove exce edingly aggressive\, fatally so.\n\nBecause\, for crewmen of either side\, the use of amphetamine will do more than make them more alert.\n\nIt may suppress a natural reaction in combat: fear.\n\n-Fear is about self-preser vation.\n\nYou're scared because you don't want to die.\n\nIf you take tha t away and you sort of don't care quite so much\, you're not quite so care ful.\n\nThe problem of being charged up on Benzedrine is that your ability to make rational decisions and that normal preservation instinct which ki cks in as a result of fear might be absent if you're absolutely pumped on speed.\n\n[ Suspenseful chord strikes ] ♪♪ -Even with their new Sherma ns\, hopped-up British soldiers face an array of lethal German anti-tank g uns.\n\n[ Blast ] [ Explosion ] -What the Germans have is the infamous 88- millimeter\, which is a dual-purpose antiaircraft gun.\n\nThis is somethin g that can hurl a shell 24\,000 feet\, vertically\, into the air and can a lso be used as an anti-tank gun on a horizontal position\, straight at som ething\, and this is firing at 2\,900 feet per second.\n\n♪♪ -If their judgment was impaired by high doses of Benzedrine\, what kind of fate awa ited them?\n\nJim's visiting a military explosives range for a demonstrati on.\n\n♪♪ Trevor Lawrence runs the COTEC live-fire range on Salisbury Plain\, where they test all new ordinance for the British military.\n\n-Tr evor Lawrence had been there\, seen that\, done it.\n\nI mean\, you know\, this is a guy who's been clearing mines\, clearing IEDs\, you know\, expl osives\, in Northern Ireland during the\, kind of\, height of the Troubles but he also served in\, you know\, Bosnia during the civil war there\; an d in Iraq\, so\, you know\, he knew a thing or two about explosives.\n\nSo \, Trevor\, what we're trying to replicate is the first Sherman tanks.\n\n They're arriving.\n\nThey're in action at the Battle of Alamein in Egypt i n October 1942 and they're under attack from German anti-tank guns\, eithe r the 75-millimeter Pak 40\, or the 88-millimeter.\n\nAnd what we want to do is replicate what it would be like being in that tank\, if you were hit by one of those shells.\n\n-O-kay.\n\n♪♪ I've arranged a metal framew ork.\n\n-Yep.\n\n-What we're gonna attach to that is a sheet of armored st eel and that's the sort of steel that you would've seen on a Sherman tank. \n\nNow\, rather than actually firing a hardened steel projectile into it\ , what I'm going to do is I'm going to attach an explosive charge to the p late here.\n\n-So\, for all purposes\, Trevor\, that is an 88-millimeter a nti-tank round?\n\n-Absolutely.\n\nAs the shock wave runs through the expl osive\, where it hits the plate\, it will produce the same sort of force t hat you'd get from a kinetic energy round striking the plate.\n\n-Wow.\n\n Okay.\n\nAnd can we put anything behind here\, so you can see\, actually\, the effect of falling shrapnel?\n\n♪♪ -Well\, here comes the tank cre w.\n\n-Here they are\, and little do they know the fate that awaits them.\ n\nWe can put some dummies close to it.\n\n-These are our tank crew.\n\n-C lose in the tank crew\, but also to get a better idea of what fragmentatio n we've got\, what we tend to use is a sheet of aluminium and the fragment ation that's falling will go through\, punch holes in that\, and it'll giv e us a good idea of just how much has been produced.\n\n-Wow\, that sounds amazing.\n\n[ Birds chirping ] -At Alamein\, imperceptible desert ridges often concealed German 88s.\n\nIf Benzedrine led British tank crews to aba ndon caution and charge recklessly into hidden enemy guns\, the results wo uld've been devastating.\n\n-Go ahead.\n\n-Stand by.\n\n[ Birds chirping ] -Three\, two\, one.\n\nFiring.\n\n[ Explosions ] -Whoa!\n\n♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Oh\, my goodness\, me.\n\nLook at that!\n\n-It does not loo k very well for our driver\, does it?\n\n-No\, it doesn't.\n\nOuch.\n\ n♪♪ So\, really interesting\, when we got there\, we had a look at it. \n\nYou could see that it was just this little kind of marble\, small\, li ttle kind of circle where it had actually punched all the way through\, bu t then\, you look on the reverse side.\n\nOh\, my goodness\, me.\n\nSo a h uge bit of metal has just disintegrated and it's just shattered.\n\n-There we go.\n\n-Oh\, my god!\n\n-Right in the center of the chest.\n\n-And loo k at all these.\n\n-But also\, look at\, see all this other fragmentation. \n\n-On the head.\n\n-'Cause\, although it's come off in one big scab\, it 's also sent all these other\, smaller fragments out.\n\n[ Melancholy tune plays ] -Both of them had been absolutely covered with little splinter ma rks all over\, each one of which could've been entirely lethal.\n\nThat's just the -- -That's just the blast has just smashed his chest in.\n\n-Shra pnel melted onto the aluminium\, and you can just imagine your crew member \, behind these two\, all into me\, into the shells.\n\n-Oh\, it would be impossible to survive.\n\nAbsolutely impossible.\n\n-I've interviewed so m any people that have been in this situation\, that have been in tanks\, ha ve served in tanks.\n\n♪♪ What I never fully appreciated was the press ure blast from the force of a shell like that hitting another and penetrat ing and transferring that huge force into the confined space of a tank.\n\ nIf you're in an environment like a tank\, that shrapnel that's falling wo uld've just pinged all around here and you think about all that ordinance we've just been talking about.\n\n-Yeah.\n\nYou know\, it's only got one o f those that's gotta penetrate one of the propellant charges on one of tho se shells and it's you're in big trouble\, -Yeah.\n\n-aren't you?\n\n[ Rum bling ] -Having taken huge doses of Benzedrine\, the 24th Armoured Brigade sets out for battle.\n\n♪♪ With new Sherman tanks leading the way\, t roops exhibit hyperaggressive behavior some historians attribute to the dr ug.\n\n♪♪ By battle's end\, the brigade suffers 80% casualties and cea ses to exist.\n\n♪♪ -By the end of it\, they're absolutely shattered.\ n\nWhere's the escape hatch?\n\nOh\, there.\n\n-There\, yeah.\n\n-Jesus.\n \n-But you've got seconds to do it.\n\nIf you think -Yeah.\n\n-you may be on fire and maybe your crew members are also in agony and you [indistinct] to save them or save yourself.\n\n-Yeah.\n\n♪♪ -Yeah\, you know\, it' s -- [sigh] There's protection here\, to a point\, but\, I don't really wa nna be in a tank crew.\n\n-No.\n\nIt is sad.\n\n-Yeah.\n\n♪♪ -So\, can you see if someone's -- If the medical officer of the regiment said\, \"L ook\, here you go.\n\nHere's a Benzedrine pill.\n\nThis will keep you goin g\,\" you'd be quite tempted to take that?\n\n-Yeah.\n\nI think\, if it wo rks\, I think I'd be well up for it.\n\n[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ -On November 8\, 1942\, a month after Alamein\, American GIs finally ente r ground combat in North Africa.\n\n[ Blasting ] [ Explosion ] [ Gunshot z ips ] They carry with them packets of Benzedrine.\n\n[ Blast ] After the B ritish victory at Alamein\, US General Dwight Eisenhower orders some half- million tablets for American troops.\n\n♪♪ But\, just as the Allies ar e doubling down on speed\, the Nazis are reconsidering its use.\n\nIronica lly\, Hitler's Reich health leader has concerns about the addictive nature and dangerous side effects of amphetamine and\, although German soldiers will continue to use it sporadically\, the drug is severely restricted\, e specially for civilian use.\n\nStill\, Hitler's infatuation with science a nd technology remains strong.\n\n[ Birds chirping ] [ Melancholy tune play s ] By late '44\, with his navy in tatters\, the Fuehrer looks to a bizarr e wonder weapon\, that\, with the help of amphetamines\, might turn the ti de.\n\n♪♪ In the end\, Jim returns to Germany\, to visit the site of o ne of the first Nazi concentration camps.\n\n♪♪ -In November 1944\, so me 40\,000 men are stuck in this camp.\n\n-What's it designed for?\n\n-10\ ,000?\n\n-Okay\, so four times more than there should've been.\n\n-Four ti mes more.\n\n♪♪ Germany had lost the war -Of course.\n\n-already and t he sphere of influence of the German navy was reduced to the Baltic Sea.\n \nEverything else was controlled by the British.\n\nSo these small submari nes were constructed\, mainly for espionage.\n\n[ Suspenseful music plays ] -In addition to espionage\, Hitler's minisubs were also equipped with si ngle torpedoes\, designed to sink Allied ships moving supplies and troops across the English Channel.\n\n-They were very small.\n\nOnly one or two s oldiers could sit in it and they have to sit there for 48 hours\, without sleeping\, without getting up\, without anything\, so they needed a drug t o keep them awake for that time.\n\n-God!\n\nIt's just unimaginable\, isn' t it?\n\nSo you need this drug to keep you going and to keep\, but also pr esumably to keep your spirits up as well.\n\n-Yeah.\n\nThey were testing d ifferent drugs and comparing it\, wanting to find out which drug keeps the people awake for the longest time with the smallest side effects.\n\nThis is the secret report on the experiments and this gives the four different substances: A\, B\, C\, D. The first is cocaine\, [speaking German] in di fferent doses.\n\nSecond is cocaine in chewing gum.\n\nPervitin in a chewi ng gum.\n\n-But 100 milligrams\, I mean\, that's a huge dose!\n\n-Yeah.\n\ nIt's a huge dose\, indeed.\n\nThe men must have been completely stoned.\n \n100 milligrams is really a lot.\n\n-I mean\, can you imagine it?\n\nYou know.\n\nYou're a young member of the German navy\, you've been singled ou t to man one of these submarines.\n\nYou're chewing on gum that has been l aced with cocaine and methamphetamines.\n\nI mean\, we're talking crystal meth\, here\, and you're chewing away on this thing in this tiny\, tight l ittle cockpit\, and\, you know\, you're high on speed.\n\nI mean\, it's ju st\, it's insane.\n\nI mean\, it is absolutely insane.\n\n-To test the sti mulants\, the German navy decides to force Sachsenhausen prisoners to take the drugs and then carry sacks of rocks around the camp's infamous shoe t rack.\n\n-So this is the testing track.\n\nIt was.\n\n-This one\, here?\n\ n-This\, here.\n\nIt was once around the roll call area and it was covered with different materials.\n\nSo here you would have sand\, the next one i s concrete\, small gravel.\n\nAnd the reason for setting it up was the tes ting of artificial leather.\n\n♪♪ Germany did not have leather\; they always imported leather -Right.\n\n-and\, when they started the war\, [lau ghing] nobody wanted to sell them leather\, so they ordered companies to d evelop artificial -- -Fake leather.\n\n-Artificial leather\, yeah.\n\n-God \, it's absolutely fascinating.\n\nI had no idea.\n\n-And it's quite hard to walk on here\, isn't it?\n\n-It is\, yeah.\n\n-If you have to march\, i t's not so easy.\n\n[ Melancholy tune plays ] Sachsenhausen was designed b y an architect and the architect wanted to give a message with the archite cture of the camp.\n\nWith the one tower as the highest point\, every morn ing\, the prisoners had to stand on the roll call area\, being counted\, a nd\, up here\, there was a huge machine gun.\n\nFor the prisoners down the re\, looking into the eye of this machine gun up here\, the message was\, \"You're completely in our hands.\n\nYou're completely helpless and we can do whatever we want.\"\n\n[ Buzzing ] -I mean\, it's doing exactly what i t's designed to do.\n\nI mean\, you can feel it\, even just standing up he re.\n\n-Yeah.\n\n♪♪ -What a grim place.\n\n♪♪ -After the minisubs fail and his army falters\, Hitler\, who may himself have been addicted to drugs by war's end\, takes his own life.\n\nLuftwaffe commander and heroi n addict Hermann Goering does the same.\n\n[ Rattling ] But Benzedrine and Pervitin live on.\n\n[ Suspenseful music plays ] -During the Second World War\, one of the things that it certainly does do is it familiarizes hund reds of thousands of individuals with a drug that perhaps they otherwise w ouldn't have used.\n\nSo it sort of normalizes the use of that drug and it sort of reinforces its position as a useful tool.\n\n♪♪ -By the 1950s \, amphetamines are being marketed as a diet pill and mood enhancer.\n\nBe nnie inhalers are offered on airplane menus.\n\nCelebrities\, ranging from Marilyn Monroe to Jack Kerouac\, are avid users.\n\nSoon\, millions are a busing speed\, in what is now considered America's first prescription-drug epidemic.\n\n[ Applause ] One likely user is a young combat vet from Mass achusetts\, named John F. Kennedy.\n\n-Picking this country of ours up and sending it into the '60s.\n\n[ Cheering ] -When I first embarked on this investigation\, I was a bit scandalized that so much speed was taken durin g the Second World War and how outrageous that was.\n\n-World War II milit ary leaders saw amphetamines as simply another technological tool\, like r ockets and radar\, tools that changed the world forever.\n\n-For us\, in t he 21st century\, drugs are bad\, amphetamines are bad.\n\nSpeed is a dodg y word.\n\nYou've got to see this in the light of the 1930s and the 1940s. \n\nWorld War II takes place over six years.\n\nA lot is being expected of the young men [ Gunshots ] of the major combatant nations\, and\, is it a ny wonder\, in this life-and-death struggle for the future of the world\, that people are going to be looking at drugs that can keep people awake\, that can keep morale improved?\n\nIt's absolutely no wonder at all.\n\n[ S uspenseful music climbs\, chords striking ]\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n 1/25/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic /12353-with-the-heritage-of-meth-drug-dealing-in-the-usa-from-the-1940s-wa s-its-current-potency-in-modernity-an-inevitability/#findComment-79703\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n osted just now\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n \n\n I wonder what goes through peop le's minds when they first try drugs like Meth or Crack.\n\n What are they thinking....that THEY won't be addicted?\n\n\n\n why didn't you mention c ocaine? crack is merely cheap cocaine? crack is like those dollar beers fi scally poor people drink at times\, it isn't 100 proof vodka \, far from i t but it does have alcohol in it. \n\n\n\n Cocaine is more potent than cr ack and cocaine mountains have always existed downtown manhatten in white offices and homes of the upper or lower rich and upper poor whites. What a re white people thinking? \n\n\n\n I find it interesting you singled out meth and crack but didn't mention opium which is where the opiods from fro m\, or cocaine where the crack comes from? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD \n \n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n German soldiers high as a k ite were able to brave the elements &\; sleep deprivation in order to f ight &\; felt nothing when they were killed.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n don't e xaggerate\, \"felt nothing when they were killed\" next you will say\, the y ate things that made a billy goat puke . no need for all of that\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Ovet the past 50+ years\, drugs b oth legal &\; illegal has been the most profitable war waged against hu mans.\n\n\n\n In my view the most profitable enterprise is enslavement. Th e key today post jim crow is how enslavement has been finessed into ways\, the days of crude\, shackle on the throat enslavement is rare to see in t he wealhy countries of the world\, but slavery is still king for me. \n\n \n\n Interesting you worded it\, war waged against humans... may I know wh o waged said war against humans? don't say the martians.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Look at how many people are addicted to Red Bull and those Monster drinks.\n\n Now th ey're guzzling down those 5 hour energy shot which are straight up drugs i n my opinion.\n\n ...cocaine in a bottle.\n\n\n\n lets add gambling\, let' s not limit addiction to substanced\, i argue gambling is far more potent\ , if you consider how many people play the lotto in humanity\, i am speaki ng of the lotto exists in every country with money\, think about that: ind ia/china/russia/usa/england/australia/brazil\, every country has lotto or similar forms of gambling\, that use of wealth that goes nowhere but to th e tables pockets\, alot of drugs get daily use and not just powders and el ixers.\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Fo llow the money. The economy is fueled by all types of drugs and the condit ions\, industries &\; jobs created by demand for it including law enfor cement\, judicial\, hospitals &\; prisons.\n\n\n\n well said and I may add\, this goes back to the end of the enslavement era in the usa\, 1865. and back to the issue of bankruptcy and financial failure. \n\n\n\n All w hite wealth in the usa stems from cheating in the marketplace not penalize d in contracts /illegalities not penalized in the courtroom/crimes legally allowed. This is financial fact. So it makes sense that any crime legally allowed\, like drugging people\, or illegalities not taken to courtroom l ike burning black towns and assaulting black people\, will have its versio ns in the future. OR lastly but very important in the modern\, many whites are able to benefit from the wealth gained by their bloodline in the past through various illegalities or criminalities that in modernity are inher itances\, which non blacks similarly never or rarely have.  BUT\, my thou ghts go to the black populace in the usa. \n\n\n\n The relation is simple \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What is black wealth over time in the usa?\n\n\n\n Bla ck labor[education or time]+ Black drive[ambition]+ black inheritance[pare nts or community financing\, mostly nonexistent until the 1980s]+Black net working[ connections to those black with wealth]\n\n\n\n What is white wea lth over time in the usa? \n\n\n\n white inheritance[ existent since 1492 through all means of criminal or illegal behavior]+ White education[labor or time]+White drive[ambition]+White networking[ connection to whites wit h wealth\, ala ivy league schools original purpose]\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Bla ck wealth over time in the usa by those elements can never be greater than white wealth over time unless one thing happens\, white inheritance has t o reduce tremendously. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n With that it invalidates black people who mention black wealth in the usa\, because I don't see the numb ers add up. White networking has hundreds of years of advantage over black networking which whites wouldn't allow till the very late 1900s.  White inheritance has hundreds of years of advantage over black inheritance whic h whites wouldn't allow till the very late 1900s. so... I don't see how th e numbers add up for black people in the usa who talk of financial leaping when the white neighbor has a huge advantage built by their forebears at the detriment to our own over centuries. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\ n\n\n   2 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n Now you have to go to a W hole Foods or GNC or some independent health food store to get the real st uff that actually works or that is potent.\n\n\n\n the answer is grow your own\, but again\, who stole or took black peoples land int the usa or the colonies that preceded it for hundreds of years... The sad thing about DO Sers in particular is we all know if we know anything about our bloodlines history that whites took advantage of us. took land by all sorts of  mea ns from our forebears\, to  make sure we today didn't have land to be inh erited. and then now in 2026\, after white people took land our forebears could had given us over and over again over centuries\, we are supposed ju st magically acquire land absent any inheritance what so ever. magically g ain wealth absent any inheritance. magically just financially come up with gold. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/25/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12353-with-the-heritage-of-meth-drug-dealing-in -the-usa-from-the-1940s-was-its-current-potency-in-modernity-an-inevitabil ity/#findComment-79734\n\n\n\n ted just now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n    3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n street drug\n\n\n\n yeah drug\, i will love for black people to say suburban drug\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n You must have read that post in betwe en your visits to the blood bank to make your hourly deposit....lol.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n in for a penny\, in for a pound\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, P ioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n However gambling usually doesn't pose a danger to o thers outside of those who are participating....usually.\n\n\n\n no pionee r\, deeper research\n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n You rarely hear about gambling addicts trying to rob a store or selling their children to support their habits.\n\n\n\n yeah in the same way you rarely hear about white priest crimes or white welfare recipient violence or... well\, white opiod addiction not too long ago... when white people commit crimes\, most in the usa rarely hear anything about it. but you got to hav e money to gamble\, people of color historically don't have that.\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250123 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Tiktok and Fanbase january 24th 2025 DTSTAMP:20250124T061952Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:158-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Tiktok and Fanbase january 24th 2025\n\n\n\n https://aalb c.com/tc/topic/11431-tiktok-service-restored-ban-suspended/#findComment-71 288\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IF YOU DONT WANT TO CLICK THE LINK ABOVE\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n \n   On 1/19/2025 at 5:42 PM\, Pio neer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n I didn't know it was owned by the Chinese gov ernment.\n\n \n\n Why did our government even ALLOW it's citizens to h ave access to it in the first place if they considered it such a threat?\n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n tiktok was never owned by the chinese government\ , the firm that owns it in china is bytedance. The issue with china is the chinese constitution which is not in its first iteration but fourth\, spe cifically gives\, from the first iteration\,  the chinese government cont rol over any firm for the interest of china. This stems from the china bei ng split into parts by outsiders including the usa before mao. No firm doi ng business in china or based in china is about the chinese government\, i t is their law\, from their first constitution and has survived each const itutional restructuring. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The reason is simple\, most foreign websites simply don't do well. If you look at the internet all the major english speaking websites are from the usa\, france/germany/uk/russ ia have all tried but the english market is dominated by usa websites unti l bytedance took their short video social media service\, duayin [bad angl icized spelling] and made tiktok. Then the implications hit the usa govern ment. The funny thing is\, in parallel\, the chinese government by its own law\, can never allow a firm to do business in china that doesn't have a security arrangement with the government of china. \n\n\n\n Remember the usa federal government from its very infancy was never designed to be proa ctive. Rememeber\, the articles of confederation was the first idea\, and that was merely a militaristic function and nothing more at the federal le vel. Yes\, the constitution gives the executive branch powers\, but from t he cia/fbi to executive order usa growth\, to the expansion of the federal military and the expansion of powers to the president under national secu rity or others\, the federal government has grown beyond what it was inten ded. The idea was the governments of the states would be strong and the fe deral government would be this military protector to them. The federal gov ernment of the usa was never designed to be a centralized authority\, like the chinese government from mao. Outside of military affairs the usa fede ral government is very reactionary\, meaning let problems occur in the mar ket and then fix them.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Troy\n\n\n\n \n   On 1/21/20 25 at 12:03 AM\, Troy said:\n \n\n \n \n TikTok is for children\;\n \n \n\n\n\n  Tiktok is for adults. It has the best numbers for youth amon g the big websites\, especially in the usa but tiktok is heavily used by a dults to.\n\n\n\n From my point of view\, it is what twitter is to bloggin g. The short video si what youtube never was able to implement correct. Ti ktok got it correct and the algorithm tkiktok uses is key.I know quite a f ew artists \, adult artists of various genres on there. Email newsletters is the way\n\n\n\n do you want a follow on fanbase? tell me how the migrat ion goes for you\, i have far less tiktok content\n\n\n\n  rmemeber when facebook went down for a day.. this is the modern reality\, people who hav e their money or their lives tied into the esocial services such that thei r pausal is devastating\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n   On 1/21/2025 at 12: 20 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Grown azz influencers were whining about losing income if TikTok went dark.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n I saac Hayes III created Fanbase which is a black-owned alternative to Tik Tok.\n \n \n\n\n\n whining:) the influencer industry is a multimillion do llar industry:) I wonder why you use the word whining?\n\n\n\n Ahhh the \ n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n I am late so all his talk of early is wasted \n\n\n\n ht tps://www.fanbase.app/@RMfanbase\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n UPDATES\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n Fanbase has audio rooms\n\n\n\n https://www.fanbase.app/audio/room2_a 0e97793-0be3-45ae-bb56-d51802db3eb9\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n and Tiktok now has been sold to a private set of investors in a private contract\, with Oracl e of Austin Texas\, who handle networks for CIA+FBA+NSA+others handling so me data storage systems. But the full details I don'tknow. \n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n 1/24/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/t opic/12355-black-owned-online-social-media-websites-future-what-is-their-f uture/#findComment-79623\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD  \n\n\n\n   4 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Producing a Black-owned social media website is relatively easy. Getting Black foks to use it is the bigger challenge.\n\n\n\n really? \n\n\n\n monthly rent for hosting d ata\, data transmisions\, cost more than a dollar? if the site becomes pop ular you have to support that popularity with more expensive backend.\n\n\ n\n the likes of facebook and tiktok have huge silos or network systems al l over the world to simulate instantaneous use\, that is easy? the money t o get that is easy? \n\n\n\n ok\, i don't think it is easy at all. \n\n\ n\n And\, considering how many websites have failed\n\n\n\n @Troy what pe rcent of websites have succeeded that have been made since the 1990s in th e internet? I say less than one hundreth of a percent.  I think that prov es getting anyone to use a website is a challenge. Which makes sense to me . A website has to have a function. Tiktok does short videos. youtube does long videos. twitter does bylines. facebook is where whole clans are conn ected online. instagram does photos. google is a search engine. Each major website serves a strict function. yes\, you have niche players\, like a t umblr/aalbc/deviantart that all serve specific or more detailed functions. yahoo search is still active. but I think most websites are failures so I don't see why most black websites being failures is anamolistic? \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   3 hours ago\, Pioneer1 sai d:\n\n\n\n I've said time and time again that one of the problems a lot of our people...especially a lot of women....have with this site is that the re is too much personal freedom to post and say what you like with very li ttle moderation.\n\n Troy is very light handed when it comes to being a mo derator.\n\n \n\n Conventional wisdom would say that having the freedom to post your opinions freely is a good thing that would attract people by th e thousands.\n\n A true expression of freedom of speech and thought.\n\n \ n\n However because of the angry and vindictive nature of a lot of our peo ple\, this produces the opposite effect.\n\n \n\n People like to be able t o get you in trouble.\n\n They like to get your posts deleted or even get you blocked/banned if you say something they don't like.\n\n You see it al l over social media where you come on a channel or show and you say someth ing the crowd doesn't like or agree with....instead of ignoring you or tol erating you....they alert the moderators and tell them to block or ban you .\n\n It's the culture now.\n\n A culture of intolerance.\n\n \n\n Those s ame people get mad as hell for being blocked for expressing THEIR opinion on a matter\, but they'll then turn around and insist that it's fair and d emand the same punishment for other of a differing opinion.\n\n This is th e very juvenile and extreme thinking of a lot of people.\n\n \n\n So a sit e where they can't run and tattle tale to a mod or point the finger at som ebody and make them vanish isn't very attractive to them.\n\n \n\n Some of the things you and I have said on this site....we would have been banned our first WEEK on Lipstick Alley\, lol.\n\n \n\n \n\n Plus....let's keep i t real.....\n\n \n\n A lot of our people don't like sites where Black men are in charge.\n\n Going back to our sistaz again.\n\n Some of our sistaz don't like spaces where the ultimate authority is a Black man.\n\n They'll accept it from a White man or even another Black woman\, but the idea of a Black man holding power over what goes on or who goes and who stays....t hey don't like.\n\n \n\n I've known some who didn't want to even WORK for a Black man.\n\n Nearly all of them had daddy issues.\n\n But the very ide a that a Black man signed their pay check and told them what to do and cou ld punish them\, they didn't like at all.\n\n They were so used to dissing Black men growing up and telling them to kiss their ass....for a brutha t o have that type of authority didn't sit well with them.\n\n \n\n I know w hat I'm saying may sound extra\, but it's the real deal when it comes to w hy the traffic on this and other Black ran sites are often light.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I am paraphrasing the mariner from the film w aterworld\, \"I have traveled farther than most online and I have never se en a websites failure based on anything but its effectiveness\" \n\n\n\n In my travels\, I have seen a number of chinese websites fail\, japanese w ebsites fail\, french websites fail\, brasilian websites fail. usa website s fail.  What they each have in common is not some demographic group hurt ing them\, but each failed or has failures or has become niche because the function they served another website served better or more robustly. \n\ n\n\n When I look at black owned websites online.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n First and foremost I can't recall one black owned website that had a technologi cal edge or focus. \n\n\n\n Youtube emphasized videos. Tiktok short video s. Google search. Neither was the first to do it. Other websites before yo utube did videos but they didn't emphasize the technology\, the investment was small\, it was more toy than function. Tiktok the same. youtube liter ally did a short video service three years before tiktok\, it failed and y outube shut it. Now youtube has shorts in response to tiktok\, but what is the point. Tiktok invested in short video in a scale that gave it an edge or focus. Google wasn't the first search engine but again they focused on it\, gave it an edge that others didn't. When I look at Yahoo for example \, which started as a web directory. Yahoo's great flaw  in their financi al history was that they gave up on web directories. they assumed falsely\ , that the growth of the internet would make a directory unfeasible but I think they were wrong. I argue the internet could use a great web director y. And then yahoo led in email but again\, didn't implement email's better over time. \n\n\n\n Blackplanet never had a technological edge\, its who le selling point was a place for black people but it didn't offer a techno logical edge. So most black people looking to make videos went to youtube. Wanting a search used google. Sharing photos on the phones used instagram . \n\n\n\n Chatgpt\, right? it is the llm use. Technological edge first a nd foremost leads people to anywebsite and for all the black engineers who are lauded in media for graduating from MIT or working for Goldman Sachs \, I don't see any of them with any websites ideas. \n\n\n\n And yes\, te ch cost money on the backend\, but again\, this isn't 1926\, 2000 wasn't 1 900\, some black people were billionaires so....no excuse.\n\n\n\n AALBC d oesn't have a technological tool that isn't present anywhere else\, if it did\, that would help. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Second\, when I look at the in ternet and websites that are communally driven\, most work because the cul ture of the particular peoples is out the sphere of anglo media. Meaning w hat? Overdrive was supposed to be France's answer to the social media\, bu t most people in france went to facebook/instagram/twitter? why? is it bec ause white people in france don't like themselves. No\, it is \, because t he way they communicate wasn't different enough\, their culture wasn't dif ferent enough than what was offered in anglo media.  Black owned websites offer the same reality. Black people's culture or communication fits well enough in the anglo websites to exist. But if you are japanese/chinese wh o tend to have cultural websites because they have cultures/communication that doesn't fit the anglo internet as well. India doesn't have one major website\, and how many firms in the usa have indians all through them? why . because indians are usually anglophiles\, who culturally fit well into a nglo media. Indian or French websites aren't being hindered by the women i n their community \, their online populace simply fits well enough in angl o websites and it makes all of their websites niche\, like aalbc. I have t ried to find a black populace that needs an outlet\, that would help aalbc to serve a particular black populace. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Third\, userba ses\, Cristiano ronaldo is the most followed person online\, he gets paid by websites for his presence. And why do the websites pay\, because his pr esence brings users\, and the greater the userbase\, the greater the ad re venue\, the greater the userbase\, the greater the views to posts in gener al. AALBC hosts black authors\, who are barely in the forum. If Troy paid them they would be more\, as in the big websites who pay millions to peopl e like barrack obama to be active on their websites\, which helps their us erbase. Now\, AALBC as a niche website doesn't have to do that. But that i s the reality. Tiktok/Facebook/Instagram/Youtube/twitter/even schrumpfs tr uth social  all have big users who attract casual users. That is reality. It is uneven to ask AALBC or specifically Troy to pay people to engage. A nd you see this all over the internet. It isn't something rare.  So\, the userbase of AALBC absent attractors has limits of growth.If Beyonce+ Opra h+Neymar + Paul Kagame were on AALBC\, I think this website would have a h uge increase in usage. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So\, I don't see any blame in black women for AALBC's usage or lack thereof. I commend Troy for maintain ing this large rent. As most people who own a restaurant will tell you\, I am not doing this for the money\, I am doing this cause I love it. \n\n\ n\n But if AALBC could find a technological edge. If aalbc could reach a p articular black populace whose culture was away from the anglophone\, and needed particular attention. if AALBC could afford to pay for big attracto rs. That would change the volume\, not necessarily quality\, of activity o n the website in a positive way. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Troy \n\n\n\n Inte resting\, how pervasive is lurking online? I see in discord many talk of l urkers. how many lurk online?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/25/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12355-black-owned-online-s ocial-media-websites-future-what-is-their-future/#findComment-79700\n\n\n\ n osted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   16 hours ago\, ProfD said :\n\n\n\n F*cebook was started by a teenager in a college dormitory.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n M*crosoft was started by a college dropout.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n Apple was started by a marketing wizard &\; his friend who was a wiz with electronics.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Y*hoo &\; G**gle were started by nerds in silicon valley.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Sure\, these companies have gr own into sprawling behemoths but they came from the proverbial mustard see d.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IMO\, Black folks have the aptitude to invent things . Too few lack the entrepreneurial spirit. Seems easier to trade labor for wages.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n Filo + Musk who started yahoo are the on ly ones from truly financially humble beginnings. And\, to be even\, they got lucky. Again\, less than 1% of all websites failed. So\, the entrepren eurial spirit you are talking about failed many non blacks. so.. your argu ment on the whole is unfounded but... I continue\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Zucker burgs father offered his son a mcdonald's franchise \, how many black pare nts can do that or euqivalent for their children? please don't say it is c ommon for black parents to offer the next generation wealth. \n\n\n\n Gat es parents have always been on the boards of big companies\, how many blac k parents are on the boards of large companies while their children are in high school? please don't say it is common. And don't insult black histor y\, again\, black people have been blockaded from financial wealth by whit es in the usa from1 492 to 1980 nearest holistically. \n\n\n\n Jobs fathe r is from a fiscally wealthy syrian family. wozniak's father was an engine er for lockheed. Please don't say that they are financially common. \n\n\ n\n Page and BRin for Google had well connected and well off parents. work ing as engineers for nasa or colleges in the usa. How many black engineers have not been accepted at Nasa? that had every single thing a white engin eer did. Nasa is a great job for an engineer. You are connecting with big financial channels. \n\n\n\n All of them through their relatives or commu nities\, many are white jews or have white jewish background which has a f inancial aspect to it\, some are simply nepo babies\, that have money or a ccess to money\, like Musk\, who is also from a financialy wealth white cl an. \n\n\n\n You mention entrepreneurial spirit but don't mention lack of fiscally capable parents. \n\n\n\n I know few black people have fiscally aiding black parents. I know that. \n\n\n\n it is interesting to me how so many black people in the usa accept white power or white advantage but then in assessing black people\, blame ourselves as if the white people wh o are wealthiest in the usa\, aren't assisted by white power or white adva ntage but simply have the entrepreneurial spirit. It is very imbalanced\, or uneven thinking. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n I give blood to a blood bank\, five times a day. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Troy \n\n\n\n    1 hour ago\, Troy said:\n\n\n\n 90% of social media visitors are lurke rs.  It is probably higher than that on some platforms.  How many of you actually created TicTok or YouTube video for the public but have used the platform.  The number of lurkers here is probably higher than 90% becaus e of some very popular posts generate a lot of traffic. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n I have created youtube or tiktok videos to share my art\, but I am not the biggest user of either platform. There are a few youtubers I like beca use they are informative or interesting in the arts. \n\n\n\n I like Mayo wa's world cause she is a black natural haired woman who has insightful po sitions on black identity\, accented cinema cause he makes great posts on asian cinema. I like shadversity cause they develop weapons and test them and have helped me think on weapons in my own stories. So i admit as an ar tist youtube has some great educational folk. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What ar e your thoughts on what to do about lurkers? any ideas. I comprehend that bots have always been used to augment perceived activity on websites\, fro m the early 1990s.  Thinking on it for a minute\, from bots to paid real members of websites to now the llm identities\, the children of the bots\, so much activity online is augmented... two questions come to mind.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n 1)Of the facebooks/twitter/youtubes/google searches/netflix or other\, how many of them used bots to augment their activity to appear positive? In my mind I begin to wonder\, how many websites failed cause th ey didn't invest in bots\, didn't invest in ways to augment popularity? If you augment popularity even if you aren't making money\, maybe you can ke ep the investments running\, especially in the dot com craze days\, the ea rlier eras of the internet when money flowed to these bleeding firms. \n\ n\n\n 2) what activity online has the least lurkers? I comprehend if one i s online it invites de facto lurking\, at least the possibility.  I guess email\, but I imagine you know\, if not through experience through confer ence with others. \n\n\n\n 3) should black owned websites invested in lur king more ? I remember when beyonce or jay-z had some media thing and it w as found out it had a bunch of bots\, but it seemed so late in the interne t\, like an old style bot drive that white people used ten years earlier?\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/25/2026\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Cittion\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12355-black-owned-online-social-media-websites -future-what-is-their-future/#findComment-79704\n\n\n\n osted just now\n\ n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The successf ul keep getting back up &\; trying again. \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\,  richardmurray said:\n\n\n\n And had help\, you never mention with the peo ple you call financially successful\, why do you always omit the help they got? \n\n\n\n What is that about?\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said: \n\n\n\n Black folks collectively have enough wealth to invest in business es including  social media platforms.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n really\, again\, i have done economic corners going through the labor numbers white people themselves state\, most people in the usa aren't employed to live on thei r own without subsidy\, and that is all demographics. And then you add the number of black people in prison\, in institutions\, in the military whic h isn't profitable. \n\n\n\n The numbers don't add up to the wealth you s uggest the black populace in the usa has\, let alone any populace. the whi te populace doesn't have the wealth suggested by media. it isn't there. \ n\n\n\n The government gives people money \, that isn't their wealth. If y ou need government subsidy to afford your life you don't have wealth.  \ n\n\n\n You and other blacks keep saying financial lies like this on our p opulace in the usa\, I wonder what your agenda really is. Maybe your not b lack. \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Do not continue try ing to tell me how to communicate.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My patience isn't th at long before I become the most rude &\; insulting mf'er you could eve r read.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n if you insult\, i will call you out as an insul ter. I will ask you stop insulting black history if you do it\, every sing le time. I don't give strangers\, which is what you are to me\, demands. I don't know you. I am not trying to know you. We communicate online only. Now having said that\, be the most rude now\, you don't know me. so\, it i s no harm.\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n No more excuses. Billions of dollars go through Black folks hands every year.\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n what billions? black prisoners are getting billions\, from who? bla ck people on welfare are getting billions\, from who? black solders are ge tting billions\, from who? \n\n\n\n Numbers don't add up. How many black college graduates have thousand of dollars of student debt they will never be able to pay? who has this billions you are speaking of? \n\n\n\n whit e man says black people are 50 million people in the usa. so for fifty mil lion to make one billion a month is twenty dollars a month. Now\, cut out black children who aren't making any money. White man say twnety seven per cent are children. So fifty million minus thirteen million and five hundre d thousand gets you thrity six million and five hundred. Now white man say s 37% of black people are in prison or in jail in the usa. so... that is e ighteen million and five hundred. so let's subtract eighteen million and f ife hundred from thirty six million and five hundred which is the total bl ack populace minus the kids who aren't making any money. That gets you eig hteen million black people.  Comprehend thirty seven percent + twenty sev en percent is is sixty four percent\, who are children or in jail prison\, so no money. Now white man says one million and three hundred and thirty active soldiers are in the military and seventeen percent are black. so th hat is two hundred and twenty six thousand black folk who are making no mo ney as rank and file\, black generals are making money but their exact num ber i don't know and I will ignore. So that is now seventeen million\, sev en hundred and seventy four thousand. Now white man says twelve percent of black people in the usa are the elderly so between healthcost/rent/food a nd et cetera whether they use it themselves or have singed away their free dom\, willingly or unwillingly \, to a prison called an old folks home. th at is six million so\, seventeen thousand\, seven hundred and seventy four minus six million which is eleven million\, seven hundred and seventy fou r thousand. Now\, white man says\, twenty five percent of black people are on welfare which means they can't financially support themselves without aid from the government. So\, we have from the prior calculations eleven m illion seven hundred and seventy thousand minut twelve million and five hu ndred thousand. which is negative seven hundred and twenty six thusand. \ n\n\n\n If you notice\, between 27% children + 37% in jail+ 12% elderly + 25% welfare that is 101% or one hundred and one part of a hundred\, so wha t does this mean? \n\n\n\n If we hold the same statistics true from white s that black have billions of dollars per year\, it isn't the children\, b lack children earn twenty dollars a month? it isn't the people in prison. Prison labor is real but it is far below market rate\, ala slavery. and mo st prisoners don't work.  it isn't the elders with their costs\, they are looking for constant savings for rent or food or medicine because they do n't have it.  it isn't the soldiers\, soldiers stipend is over twenty dol lars a month. ok\, but taking soldiers out doesn't get the numbers positiv e\, and it is well known many/most soldiers use financial assistance. It o bviously isn't the people on welfare getting assistance. you can't say you earn money when you need assistance to live. the assistance is allowing w hat you earn to be spent other ways\, that means you are in the red and be ing augmented\, like goldman sachs. That isn't wealth.   But then who? A s I have always said\, and who has always existed in the usa\, or the engl ish colonies that preceded it. It is the black one percent. One percent of fifty million is five hundred thousand. Which means each of the five hund red thousand would have to make two thousand a month to get to a billion. yeah\, I can see that. \n\n\n\n The NFL has seventeen hundred athletes \, seventy percent are black. five hundred and thirty seven athletes in the nba. successful musicians like beyonce or jayz\, yeah. The numbers fit now . Black people like you have been saying erroneously\, that somehow the la rger village has billions. No\, children/in jail/elderly/welfare recipient /soldiers. none of the above can say they earn twenty dollars a month. But the black one percent: entertainers[athletes/musicans/pundits/agents]+ th e one percent of black elders with with like black enterprise folk mention + the black one percent of soldiers who are generals or captains with a ni ce bit of wealth+ black one percent of elected officials like Barrack Obam a and company yeah\, they can reach five hundred thousand and each are eas ily making over two thousand a month. Yeah\, your right\, ProfD\, the Blac k one percent is making billions per year. \n\n\n\n So please talk to the m\, but stop lying on the black financially common or impoverished masses.  \n\n\n\n and as was discussed in this very form\, the black one percent are a very financially stringent group\, they don't gamble. they don't ris k their money. they tend to invest with white cause that is safer than inv esting their own. So \, you already know what the black one percent is doi ng with their money. \n\n\n\n So thus ends your points\, cause no body el se black has money. \n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n How m any engineering firms have Black folks started? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n I know percy julian had to fight to get his chemistry firm started i n the 1900s and he couldn't do it in the usa because of white power\, and had to fight constantly for his business to even existeven while in mexico \, by white powers of the usa \, so if you are asking how many black owned engineering firms were started by DOSers when white folks allowed it in t he usa\, circa 1980. I imagine many black engineering firms have been star ted. . I offhand know of a black chipmaker who is in flux\, a black owned chemical firm who went out of business. As the cost of starting a business has always risen this isn't easy.  And white restriction to black empowe rment has never faded away completely. And\, I comprehend your larger poin t\, which is terrible fiscal management. Saturation isn't a wise strategy financially. You accept the odds of business success across racial lines p lus accept white power exists and is real\, though you seem to suggest it is diminished in value today\, which is the nitty gritty\, but this means you  your strategy is over saturation of business startups\, but that is financially irresponsible. As someone who has started a business and faile d\, I don't think black people starting tons of businesses in the usa is c lose to financially warranted and far from wise. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n    1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The village collectively could invest i n its own people. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n village has no money\, black one pe rcent can. if they want to. why don't you ask them\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago \, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I don't believe you realize outside of New York t here are a high number of successful Black people. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ne w york by white mans own account and my own personal observations has more financially wealthy black people in it than any other city in the usa\, b ut that doesn't mean a majority of black people in the black populace of n yc are wealthy\, they are called the one percent. \n\n\n\n And the black one percent exists all throughout the usa\, but again\, that isn't the bla ck populace.\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Successful Bla ck people see things from a different perspective.  One of the biggest ch allenges is getting our people to believe they can do better.\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n is that perspective you speak of based on truth or a lie. Belief is n't as important as facts financially. you can't believe money into existe nce\, that is a lie. You can't believe opportunity into existence\, that i s a lie. You can believe in yourself\, but assuming makes an ass out of yo u.\n\n\n\n   1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Understand that because I'm a successful FBA/AfroAmerican man of average intelligence\, I believe other Black folks can do it too. Just a matter of putting in the work.\n\n \n\n in my opinion\, very very few black people doubt black ability\, but black people don't doubt their eyes and the truth in their lives. \n\n\n\ n MAdam CJ walker was one hundred years ago\, the garveyites were older\, black people don't doubt what they can do\, at least the black people I am connected too offline. but the black people i am connected too offline do n't lie either and I don't ask them to lie. Wherever you live\, maybe you want black people to think they can turn water into wine but I don't ask b lack people to do that. \n\n\n\n Positive thinking is one thing \, false belief or lying to the environment your in or the experiences you had is a nother. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1/25/2026\n\n\n\n Citation\n\n\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/topic/12355-black-owned-online-social-media-websites-future-wha t-is-their-future/#findComment-79728\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n sted just now\n\n \n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Enc ouraging Black people to do better does not diminish or insult our history . \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I admit that I am speaking from a life o f comfort. It is easy to say people don't need encouragement when one has always been encouraged\, helped\, supported in their personal life\, by fa mily... not sanguine but family whether blood related or not. I do value e ncouragement less than in the black populace. I think about circa 1865\, w hen african methodist episcopal pastors were preaching encouragements to b lack people to use a nonviolent methodology. And I am against the heritage that created which persists to this day. The episcopal is a pastor\, epis copalians believe in the role and function of the pastor as a guide [this is opposed to the gnostics who believe no one individual can be as knowled geable about the spiritual affairs\, including pastors or popes] anyway\, the methodists believe in a life led by a lifestyle\, the bushido from the people of nippon is a similar idea. when i look at the AME heritage it fi ts. Black person acts as a guide to the black group by preaching persisita nce to a way of life\, in DOSers case\, it is nonviolent participation in the usa\, regardless of white activity and I admit I am sick of hearing it . I think it is dysfunctional. Black people don't need encouragement\, mos t black people need to presented ideas. The black people who spoke at the million man march was the same encouragement nonsense. A bunch of episcoop als of various religions or no religion\, preaching the continuance of the nonviolent method in the usa regardless of the usa or the white people in it.. I am tired of that. \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\ n As I've mentioned before\, billions of dollars pass through Black church es every year.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n From who is my question\n\n\n\n Black ch ildren? no \, black children don't earn billions of dollars.\n\n\n\n Black prisoners? no\, how many prisons even have a chapel these days? \n\n\n\n Black welfare recipients? no\, they don't have income to dispose\, that i s why they are on welfare. They can't pay their standard bills so\, no way .\n\n\n\n Black elders? maybe some\, but how many. I can see the black eld ers who come to the old church in the city every sunday from their home in the suburbs. Quite a few of them\, all over the usa. yeah \, but they are a fraction of black elders\, a definitive minority. But the money is good .  \n\n\n\n Black soldierS? maybe\, i know many soldiers are religious. but soldiers have families\, tend to complain about cost of living. so i c an't imagine too many of them. Definitely\, the officers. but rank and fil e\, no way. \n\n\n\n Then I think about Barrack Obama sitting in that bla ck mega church\, that black guy with a mega church \"walk by faith not by sight\" I recall seeing that somewhere\, made me laugh. \n\n\n\n So\, yea h \, your right\, billions do go through the black churches\, from the bla ck one percent. And the black one percent is like the white one percent\, this isn't the whole \n\n\n\n black populace. At this moment in time\, It isn't that I challenge the presence of billions in the black populace in the usa\, but I challenge its source. It isn't the common black masses\, i t is the black one percent\, the black wealthy. and they are a very small but financially very wealthy populace so... talk to them. \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n It isn't the Black 1% pouring billions i nto churches &\; gross consumerism.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Even enough\, I have made my case. The numbers fit in my case. The black one percent isn't a large populace BUT\, they have the financial scale to make the multitud e of billions per year. It fits them: black officers in the military\, bla ck elders of weallth especially from the black churches\, black entertaine rs \, black elected officials. black business owners with many of them net worked into the other groups. John Starks has one of the biggest dealershi ps in NY metropolitan area but a millionaire black athlete networked with other millionaire black athletes. I forge tthe former detroit piston who o wns a computer programming firm. yeah\, it all fits\, but they are all bla ck one percenters. the black wealthy. And I am 100% black churchs in NYC\, are very tribal. I knwo for a fact that many of them\, network opportunit ies amongst their specific tribes within the black village. I can see the black one percent fueling money into churches. Cause again\, NYC's black c hurches that are standing strong are attached to black one percenters . ma ny black churches have gone under\, but those were where regular folk\, fi nancially went\, thus no money.\n\n\n\n I am convinced that the black one percent is the source of the billions. Now maybe the white man is lying ab out the percentages\, but based on the percentages the white man has colle cted and the financial reality of prisoners/soldiers/children/welfare reci pients/black one percent\, the black one percent is the source of the bill ions.  \n\n\n\n Black one percenters do spend on vanity like all people with money. A cotillion is expensive. High end clothes are expensive. cars are expensive. I think you fiscally underestimate the cost of homes for t he black one percent. Those homes are expensive per month. Those homes the y have are gross /large consumerism. \n\n\n\n Now to be even\, the only g roup in the black populace in the usa who could have any significant consu merism is the black people on welfare. Black Teachers or nurses are on wel fare\, starting in the 1970s\, so black people working while on welfare is n't new it is very old. But\, I will not chagrin black poor people\,upper poor people\, affording themselves something to enjoy\, as gross consumeri sm. Consumerism\, yes\, but it isn't gross. I am 100% certain with those i know on welfare that 90% of black people on welfare don't have gross cons umerism\, if gross consumerism is defined as based on the fiscal scale of what is consumed\, not the presence of consumerism. Cause I happen to know there are some blacks who like to suggest gross consumerism is consumeris m itself\, which I oppose. \n\n\n\n In NYC\, it was recently unveiled tha t over 95% of white children in the orthodox jewish schools can't pass the basic state wide exams while they have schools full of trips around the w orld and game rooms and swimming pools. So\, for any blacks who feel that black children who passed and are passing their state exams at a hell of a higher rate with schools absent any amenities or opportunities can't get a few pairs of sneakers from their parents  on welfare\, i say fuck off.  \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n But\, when AI puts a wh ole bunch of Black folks outta work\, we'll have no choice.\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n we? well humanity en large is going through a labor moveme nt reality with large language models and other similar computer programs. I don't know what will happen. I see many options\, the choices various p eople need to make haven't been made to see a clear path yet. \n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n The Black 1% definitely is not exe mpt from investing in the community. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Right\, well the y are acting exempt in majority and I repeat I don't blame them. Black wea lth in modernity comes from struggle and rarely do black people have the f ortune to get it through crimes or illegalities\, and even when we do\, it is absent the ease of whites. So black people tend to be frightened of po verty. For too many blacks poverty is a sign of self\, which is hilarious historically. we didn't enslave ourselves into boats. And 90% of the black folk in the boats died over the ocean\, they never made any shores so\, . ..\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n It is a fact that Black people can make a lot of money. No assumptions. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n that is historical fact\, sadly it is also a generalization\, whom among blacks is where the details reside and the details is where black pe ople tend to make assumptions on other black people based on hope or encou ragement\, not truth.\n\n\n\n   2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I do n't have to convince the Black people where I live that they too can be su ccessful. \n\n\n\n me neither\, common ground\, finally \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250124 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 30 01/20/2026 DTSTAMP:20260111T003828Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:628-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n A dialog of sport to finance. The thing I didn't mention is that sport is one of the last needed human jobs. A machine can't perfor m sport when humans want to see a human perform sport.  SPort is one of t he last industries in humanity. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I started with the fo llowing\n\n\n\n football fans https://www.tumblr.com/rmfantasysetpieces1/8 05374613002633216/salary-101\n\n\n\n a summary of the post linked above\n\ n\n\n Mbappe is paid 1.49 million a week\, never won the uefacl\, but won the world cup once with france\, never won the balon dor or fifa best Demb ele wants 1 million a week\, never won the world cup won\, the uefacl once with psg\, the balon dor + fifa best Viniciusjr is paid 520\,000 a week\, has never won the world cup\, won the uefacl twice with real madrid and w on fifa best\, never won the balon dor Based on Dembele + Mbappe Viniciusj r has to demand a million a week...\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n A reply was made\n\ n\n\n That's been true of lots of \"great\" players in various sports. One great player does not a winning team make.\n\n I mean look at Gretzky\, h e was with the Oilers\, went on a couple year run\, got traded and never d id it again. He is a dick if you meet him unless it's kids and hockey\, he ard more than one story that back it up However he was that good of a play er. Tom Brady was the same way\, great with the Patriots\, sucked once he left them.\n\n Odd how little I watch sports but it gets shoved in my face so much I get the knowledge by osmosis\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My reply\n\n\n\ n hahaha Brady did win with the tampa bay bucaneers:)\n\n\n\n to team work your 100% correct\, but the fiscal activity of sport is not equal to the athletic mechanics of sport\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Their reply\n\n\n\n I think that was more or less luck. Sometimes called a Puncher's Chance. They suc ked the year after and it was also the Pandemic Season as well if I rememb er it. I do agree salaries don't match output. They are all way to high\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My reply\n\n\n\n hmm well\, in my experience in sport\, l uck isn't how you get to the top in any team sport... to salaries\, that i sn't true\, the usa alone spent circa 149.6 billion dollars in sport gambl ing last year\, this doesn't factor global revenue in gambling. I know chi na is huge on gambling. so.. the wages of players if anything is too low. Cause all the leagues get a big cut of gambling money \, let alone licensi ng fees. The salaries match the revenue earned by sport per year\, the fin ancial output. Now if you are speaking about the athletic output\, well th e answer to that is actually the salary structure\, not the volume. in bra sil for example many teams use a pay scale\, so if you score twenty goals in a season \, you get a million or two. what is the problem with pay scal es? nothing but because humanity is in 2026 not the 1900s when jackie robi enson played baseball or pele played futebol\, the modern athlete has acce ss to a global employment pool. So for example\, the NBA and MLB can say\, we will do pay scales. Now\, lets' disregard the players union contract w hich makes that illegal anyway\, but lets assume the players union somehow allowed this\, the chinese basketball league or japanese baseball league can get investment from qataris plus saudis plus others and offer yearly n o contest contracts. The players will correctly leave MLB+ NBA\, what pers on working at a job accepts a lower wage between employers for their same action. So that is why pay scale never happens in the usa\, outside of pla yers unions\, led by baseball players\, which sets up a collective contrac t rule to negotiations\, the global environment of 2026 where money does n ot only exist in the usa unlike the 1900s\, means athletes are free to go where the market it best and the global sports fanbase is not allegiant to the usa\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n their reply\n\n\n\n Salaries are just ridiculo us and of course that translates to higher costs for tickets to see the ga mes\, well at least when they are are doing well. Blue Jay tickets were ra ther expensive this year when they were cheaper for the past few seasons. I even went to look for Toronto FC tickets and they were out of my snack b racket.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my reply\n\n\n\n yeah\, and you have to include the financial desires of the owners\, never forget that. In germany they have two things\, the terms in german I can't recall exactly\, but they ar e 1) the 30% rule and 2) fandom affordability\, meaning what? 1) in german y 99% of teams have to fit the multiowner model which means no owner with more than 30% \, this means owners looking to resale short term you see wi th many usa owners of sports team\, owners looking to make a glitzy club r aising prices like the dallas cowboys owner\, are blocked because those ki nds of owners will not accept a 30% cap . 2) to fandom\, in germany\, whic h is the wealthiest european country\, all matches for all teams are sold out usually. why? the ticket prices are kept low. Even though the average person in germany has more money than the average in england or spain or i taly or france\, in germany ticket prices for nearly all clubs is kept low so attendance can happen. what is the point? the owners of a lot of sport s teams \, especially in the usa\, are part of the problem. their agendas don't fit what many fans like yourself want. The owners don't have to pay great salaries\, they don't have to raise ticket prices \, but their agend a is very greedy\, far more greedy than any player. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n P OST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12274-do-people-comprehend-spor t-is-one-of-the-last-industries/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aal bc.com/tc/events/event/605-economic-corner-29-11302025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/632-economic-corne r-31-01222026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260110 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Noir City 2026 Gallery 1 curated by gary meyer DTSTAMP:20260120T072322Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:631-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n Noir City 2026 Gallery 1 curated by gary meyer\n\n main post\n\n https://www.tumblr.com/communities/filmno irpigeons/post/806208196396154880\n\n part 1\n\n https://www.tumblr.com/co mmunities/filmnoirpigeons/post/806238551962468352/noir-city-photos-and-vid eos-curated-by-gary-meyer\n\n part 2\n\n https://www.tumblr.com/communitie s/filmnoirpigeons/post/806239169165852673/noir-city-photos-and-videos-cura ted-by-gary-meyer\n\n part 3\n\n https://www.tumblr.com/communities/filmno irpigeons/post/806239670617931776/noir-city-photos-and-videos-curated-by-g ary-meyer\n\n part 4\n\n https://www.tumblr.com/communities/filmnoirpigeon s/post/806240555520720896/noir-city-photos-and-videos-curated-by-gary-meye r\n\n part 5\n\n https://www.tumblr.com/communities/filmnoirpigeons/post/8 06241150065410048/noir-city-photos-and-videos-curated-by-gary-meyer\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n A coloring page\, draw it and paste the image in the comments \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Do you know all the terms?\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260120 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:How Scifi/Afrofuturism can help us survive( the next four ye ars) from Tananarive Due + Steven Barnes - January 17th 2025 DTSTAMP:20250118T155836Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:134-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n How Scifi/Afrofuturism can help us survive( the next four years) from Tananarive Due + Steven Barnes - January 17th 2025\n\n https: //aalbc.com/tc/topic/11421-how-scifiafrofuturism-can-help-us-survive-the-n ext-four-years-from-tananarive-due-steven-barnes/\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n IF YOU DIDNT CLICK THE LINK ABOVE\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n THOUGHTS AS I VIEWED\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 0:03 Octavia Butler's grave is still stand ing\, survived the fires\n\n 0:05 introductions by Steven Barnes + Tananar ive Due\n\n image 1\n\n\n\n \n\n 0:09 Steven says Afro futurism is our\, b lack peoples\, flavor of science fiction\n\n image 2\n\n\n\n \n\n image 3\ n\n\n\n \n\n image 4\n\n\n\n \n\n 0:11 \n\n Science Fiction principles\, one of three: what if\, if only\, if this goes on\n\n 0:15 How Steven Barn es met Octavia Butler\n\n image 5\n\n\n\n \n\n 0:16 \n\n Butler said huma n beings are hierarchal\, and people put themselves higher on the levels.\ n\n 0:17 \n\n At Clark university was the first black science fiction con vention\n\n image 6\n\n\n\n \n\n 0:20 Octavia Butler was honest about the conditions and had a pessimism that she questioned into her work\n\n image 7\n\n\n\n \n\n image 8\n\n\n\n \n\n image 9\n\n\n\n \n\n 0:31 Steven says Creating art is a way of communicating things in words\n\n 0:32 Ray Bradb ury\, who didn't drive\n\n image 10\n\n\n\n \n\n image 11\n\n\n\n \n\n 0:3 4 Steven felt Ray Bradbury's work was the warmest that he read Steven and his girlfriend at the time\, took a story to Ray Bradbury . Great story on steven getting his first two letters from Ray Bradbury. \n\n 0:36 Butler was penniless till an mcarthur grant. Steven admitted he wasn't intereste d in living in poverty. he had to compromise his own voice working with a team to make a wage.\n\n 0:39 It is funny\, at times I am so serious. Many around me suggest I need to lighten up. Maybe I shall listen:) \n\n Ray Bradbury said: I don't believe in being serious about anything. I think li fe is too serious to be taken seriously. \n\n Tananarive said Butler beca me despondant at times. \n\n 0:42 Bradbury's rules for writing. \n\n ima ge 12\n\n\n\n \n\n Write short stories\, quantity creates quality.\n\n Tel l the truth first\n\n Don't think too hard\, especially in the first draft .\n\n Write what you love\n\n Study the work of the masters\, the work tha t has survived for generations\n\n Take off the safety harness\n\n Use eve ry experience that touches you\n\n Indulge in your own personal madness\n\ n Don't be afraid to write crap\, either\n\n Get comfortable with the idea of work\n\n image 13\n\n\n\n \n\n image 14\n\n\n\n \n\n image 15\n\n\n\n \n\n 0:50 Tananarive's work and Steven's work\n\n image 16\n\n\n\n \n\n My thought: both writers visual examples display themes that reflect themsel ves. \n\n 0:54 \n\n Barnes said if you see a lack\, you should write tha t lack\n\n 0:59 \n\n image 17\n\n\n\n \n\n image 18\n\n\n\n \n\n 1:02 wri ting futurism course [ www.writerwebinar.com ] \n\n image 19\n\n\n\n \n \n image 20\n\n\n\n \n\n image 21 \n\n\n\n \n\n 1:04 they will teach how to teach\n\n image 22\n\n\n\n \n\n image 23\n\n\n\n \n\n 1:07 marketing to ols from Due and Barnes\, and aids. Affordable. \n\n image 24\n\n\n\n \n\ n image 25\n\n\n\n \n\n 1:10 stress and strain\n\n image 26\n\n\n\n \n\n 1 :12  breathing\, diaphragmatic breathing\n\n image 27\n\n\n\n \n\n image 28\n\n\n\n \n\n image 29\n\n\n\n \n\n Questions and Answers\n\n 1:25 \n\n Steven Barnes: if you are just by yourself\, you have to take care of you rself. Morning ritual of movement gratitude\, motion. \n\n 1:28 They have a free zoom meeting every weekend\n\n 1:44 [ https://www.steven-barnes.c om/live-classes ] \n\n steven barnes lion blood\n\n https://a.co/d/aV8XT DJ\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n https://iloveafrofuturism.com/\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250117 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 8 - January 15th 2025 DTSTAMP:20250118T184532Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:144-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n TikTok banning on book publishing\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n 1) tiktok is the most popular website in modern humanity so replacing its alg orithm joined to its userbase will be a challenge- many websites will try but i think many will fail\, an expensive failure 2) outside a website wit h a similar userbase size [google/meta] a website with a smaller relative userbase that succeeds with a sharper marketing style will lack the exposu re or outreach of a larger userbase 3) Book readers will survive and at th e end of the day the Booktok model will survive maybe mirrored in various places that will require book lovers to know where to be online. \n\n An interesting time for the commercial structure of the literature business c oncerning the internet\n\n ARTICLE\n\n BookTok shaped a new generation of readers\, authors. What happens if TikTok is banned?\n\n Clare Mulroy\n\n USA TODAY\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n It doesn’t matter if you’re off social media or chronically online enough to know what “faerie smut” is – if you’re a reader\, you’ve probably heard of BookTok. \n\n Reader co mmunities are nothing new. But BookTok isn’t your grandma’s book club or the Facebook fan page of your mom’s generation – in fact\, it gave online book communities of days past a run for their money by boosting boo k sales and birthing an entirely new generation of readers. \n\n But on F riday\, the Supreme Court began hearing arguments to determine whether it should block a law requiring TikTok to cut ties with the Chinese governmen t or be banned Jan. 19. \n\n What happens for booklovers if it all goes a way?\n\n The 2020 pandemic lockdown days and TikTok’s growing popularity primed young adult readers for this online bibliophile's paradise. Backli st sales soared\, especially with romance and fantasy authors like Colleen Hoover and Sarah J. Maas. Hoover's romance book sales increased 693% from 2020 to 2021\, the Washington Post reported. Maas anchored a 75% year-ove r-year revenue increase in 2024\, according to Publishers Weekly. TikTok ’s algorithm also became the silver bullet for many independent and self -published authors. \n\n On a platform where anyone could go viral\, any book was fair game for discussion\, and some authors’ followings balloon ed. \n\n “Because TikTok is free\, so to speak\, it’s a very valuable \, cost-effective marketing tool that authors have used\,” says Regina B rooks\, president of the Association of American Literary Agents. “If yo u find readers who really value your work\, you as the author don’t have to do the same type of pushing because you have ambassadors who will do t hat work for you.” \n\n Bloom\, an imprint of Sourcebooks\, became a bi g name in romance publishing by taking over the distribution and marketing of some of BookTok's viral self-published authors including Ana Huang and Lucy Score. \n\n “It really democratized social media and it really pu t voices all at one level\, including those of our authors\,” says Maran da Seney\, the publisher's senior online marketing manager. “What that d id was really facilitate an openness and vulnerability and a new level of connection between authors and readers. And I do think that TikTok and Tik Tok’s algorithm were incredibly helpful in that.”\n\n Before\, authors were often encouraged to keep interactions with fans limited. Molly Waxma n\, vice president and executive director of marketing at Sourcebooks who has been in the industry for 25 years\, remembers when the fanmail-answeri ng guidance was “let the USPS be the barrier between you and your fans .”\n\n Now\, on TikTok\, authors are encouraged to hop on a livestream o r answer fan questions. Many agents and publishers look specifically to si gn authors who already have a social following. Some TikTok users have eve n secured book deals from their viral videos like Alex Aster's \"Lightlark \" and \"Charlotte Illes Is Not a Detective\" by Katie Siegel\, who both p osted concept videos and caught the attention of publishers.\n\n That emot ional connection between authors and readers has been “powerful” to wa tch\, says Dominique Raccah\, publisher and CEO of Sourcebooks. Rather tha n being on a pedestal\, authors are rewarded for their candidness and auth enticity. “It’s about being human\, you’re on this journey with some body you admire and really love their books and you’re walking every ste p with them\,” Raccah says.\n\n But if TikTok does get banned\, will tha t mentality sundown too?\n\n Rachel Whitehurst is the founder of the marke ting firm The Nerd Fam\, offering public relations support to independent authors who don’t have a marketing team. She thinks the seed has already been planted – support of self-published authors will only continue on the next “BookTok.” \n\n “It will be more important for (indie auth ors) to use that business acumen\,” she says. “It’s unfortunate\, an d I do think that adapting is going to be the most important thing\, but I ’m not worried.”\n\n Authors may have benefitted\, but really\, reader s and content creators are the ones driving the BookTok bus\; finding bubb les of niche reading tastes thanks to an effective algorithm that uses lar ge swaths of data to bring users videos tailored to their interests. \n\n Rachael Beck\, an author and owner of FanCornerCreations\, makes fandom a nd fantasy-themed trinkets like “Harry Potter” wedding ring boxes\, ea rrings and games. “We make the nerdy products no one else does\, with th e passion only a fellow fan can\,” her site reads. \n\n On BookTok\, Be ck found a loyal\, supportive community that valued her creations as much as she did. Her success on the app allowed her to quit her corporate job a nd focus on her business fulltime. Half of the traffic to her website come s from TikTok\, she says\, and it’s how she gets people to visit her boo th at Comic Cons. \n\n “It’s been very life-changing\,” she says. “I really feel like I found my voice because of TikTok.”\n\n To prepa re for a possible ban\, Beck started cross-posting on Instagram but the co mmunity aspect didn’t translate\, she says. When she posts well-performi ng\, well-received TikTok videos on Instagram\, they get fewer views and m ore derisive comments.\n\n “I’m the same human\, sometimes literally ( posting) the exact same content\,” Beck says. “I try to cater it to th e different platform I'm on\, but there’s absolutely no question that Ti kTok’s algorithm puts you in front of more people. And it’s a better a lgorithm\, so the people you’re being put in front of are much more enga ged in the content.” \n\n She’ll continue no matter what happens with TikTok\, but she worries about other small businesses\, who she says need support to feel like they can keep going.\n\n “I think there’s going to be a lot of small businesses who’ve never weathered a big storm befor e\, who just capsize\,” Beck says.\n\n Industry experts are looking to r eaders for the next steps\, confident they'll find them wherever they land if TikTok goes away.\n\n “There’s always going to be an iteration of this. It’s about community\,” says Pamela Jaffee\, senior director of publicity and brand marketing at Bloom Books and Casablanca. “Twelve yea rs ago\, it was the in-person book club that made ‘50 Shades of Grey .’” The book community got online with Facebook\, then blogging\, then Instagram\, with a dozen apps in between. \n\n “The readers took that voice back on TikTok and now that they have that voice\, they’re not goi ng to be silenced. They’re going to share that love and that passion\, a nd I think it just leads to more opportunity to reach readers widely\,” Jaffee says. \n\n Seney concurs: “At this point\, it’s technology’s job to catch up with readers and then to meet us where we are\, which is in this place of community and connection.” \n\n Brooks also sees a sil ver lining in a possible eviction from BookTok – new creative endeavors . \n\n “That platform also kind of turned books into status symbols\, a nd I think in a way that other platforms have not done. And I also think t hat if TikTok goes away\, it could spur a bit more innovation in marketing \,” she says. “I would love to see people be a little bit more creativ e about how books can reach their intended audience.\"\n\n Clare Mulroy is USA TODAY’s Books Reporter\, where she covers buzzy releases\, chats wi th authors and dives into the culture of reading. Find her on Instagram\, check out her recent articles or tell her what you’re reading at cmulroy @usatoday.com.\n\n article url\n\n https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertai nment/books/2025/01/10/tiktok-ban-supreme-court-booktok-publishing/7760163 3007/\n\n\n\n linkedin referral from Regina Brooks of Serendipity Literary Agency\n\n https://www.linkedin.com/posts/regina-brooks_following-its-ris e-in-popularity-in-2020-activity-7284612784460300290-I_pS?utm_source=share &\;utm_medium=member_desktop\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Prior Post\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/topic/11422-economiccorner007/\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aal bc.com/tc/topic/11424-economiccorner008/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/143-economic-corner-7-january-14th-2025/\n\ n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/165-economic- corner-09-media-properties-dictate-01282025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 01/15/2026 \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12295-whatever-happened-to- the-tiktok-ban/#findComment-79367\n\n\n\n  @ProfD \n\n\n\n \n 26 minute s ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n The TikTok ban was a ruse.  The curre nt administration facilitated ByteDance selling part of the company.😎\n \n \n\n\n\n I don't even recall them selling any part of the company.  Last I cognized they were in court or it had been stalled. I need to do mo re research. \n\n\n\n if it was a ruse and the objective was to sell a pa rt\, then what was in the part sold that satisfied those who attacked it? I wonder\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250115 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Avery Brooks saving Sisqo - January 15th 2025 DTSTAMP:20250118T181054Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:138-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Avery Brooks saving Sisqo - January 15th 2025\n\n https:/ /aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2828&\;type=status\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IF YOU DIDNT CLICK THE STATUS LINK ABOVE\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Legend of Sisqó played by Avery Brooks\n\n I think the en d of Deep Space Nine kept the old star trek adage the needs of the many ou tweigh the needs of the few or the one while maintaining Brooks desire to be a responsible husband+ father. ...the resulting episode\, maintained si sqo the family man while maintaining sisqo a federation officer willing to do what is necessary to help the most \n\n ARTICLE\n\n Star Trek: Why Av ery Brooks Changed Sisko's Original DS9 Ending\n\n The Star Trek: Deep Spa ce Nine finale almost had a different ending for Benjamin Sisko before act or Avery Brooks requested it changed. DS9 was the third series in the Star Trek franchise and ran from 1993 to 1999 before ending after seven season s. The show delivered its two-part final episode\, \"What You Leave Behind \"\, in June 1999\, rounding out its run with an action-packed and emotion al finale that wrapped up a multitude of storylines. One of the most impor tant storylines to get resolved\, however\, was the conclusion of the arc for DS9's main character\, the underrated Captain Benjamin Sisko.\n\n Sisk o's character arc revolved around him coming to terms with his role as the Emissary\, an important spiritual leader to the Bajoran people chosen by their gods the Prophets to save Bajor by finding the Celestial Temple. Sis ko learned he was the Emissary in episode 1\, and this fact was the basis for many of his storylines throughout DS9. In \"What You Leave Behind\"\, Sisko finally fulfilled his destiny by stopping Gul Dukat from releasing t he Pah-Wraiths\, and subsequently joined the Prophets in the Celestial Tem ple. In doing so\, Sisko left behind his life and agreed to reside with th e Prophets as one of them\, a non-corporeal being outside of time and spac e. Unfortunately\, this also meant Captain Sisko left his family behind in the corporeal world\, including his then-pregnant wife\, Kasidy Yates-Sis ko.\n\n During his final scene\, Sisko was allowed to see Kasidy one last time\, to tell her what had happened and let her know that despite everyth ing\, he would return to her one day. In the original ending\, however\, t he scene depicted Sisko telling Kasidy he would never return and would sta y with the Prophets forever\, never seeing her or his son\, Jake\, again. This would have been a much less ambiguous\, if sadder\, ending for Sisko and his family. This version made it all the way to production and was eve n shot\, but after the initial filming\, Avery Brooks contacted Deep Space Nine's executive producer Ira Steven Behr to request the scene be changed . Brooks told Behr that after giving it some thought he was uncomfortable with the implications of a black man essentially abandoning his pregnant w ife to raise their unborn child alone. Behr apparently agreed with Brooks since the scene was re-shot and changed to the ending viewers are now fami liar with.\n\n Although the change was small\, Brooks advocating for it he lped make sure Sisko was not written completely out-of-character in the fi nale. Being the first black man to be the lead in his own Star Trek show\, Sisko was a groundbreaking character for the franchise\, but over the yea rs\, fans and critics have cited that one of the most important things abo ut him was the fact he was a black male character who was a family man. At a time when the representation of black men as devoted fathers was scarce in media\, Sisko served as a positive example for many. Brooks changing S isko's ending to be consistent with his portrayal as fiercely loyal to his family made sure this reputation wasn't marred right at the end like it m ight have been if the scene had not been altered.\n\n Despite Brooks' chan ge adding a hopeful note\, Sisko's ending was still bittersweet. Additiona lly\, even with viewer interest and the Deep Space Nine creative team havi ng ideas of how to carry on\, there has not yet been a continuation of Sis ko's storyline\, meaning fans have never gotten to see his prophesied retu rn to his family. Even so\, Avery Brooks making sure Sisko eventually woul d return was a very smart move and served to make the end of Star Trek: De ep Space Nine even better.\n\n URL\n\n https://screenrant.com/star-trek-ds 9-sisko-ending-return-avery-brooks-change/\n\n\n\n FROM Steven Barnes OF L IFEWRITING\n\n Avery Brooks was a shattering revelation. The most \"male\" black man I'd ever seen on television.  I almost couldn't believe what I was watching. And according to Brooks\, Robert Urich was instrumental in demanding that Hawk be Hawk.  Bless him.  Bless them both.  Brooks even tually sacrificed his career to resist studio attempts to turn Sisko into a Magical/Sacrificial Negro...preferring to be a good father to his son.   He didn't quite succeed\, but the effort itself would have made Hawk pr oud.\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250115 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Cicely Tyson in the Blue Bird 1976 - January 14th 2025 DTSTAMP:20250118T180225Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:136-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Cicely Tyson in the Blue Bird 1976\n\n https://aalbc.com/ tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2827&\;type=status\n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n IF YOU DONT WANT TO CLICK THE STATUS LINK ABOVE\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n Have you ever seen the film? Cicely Tyson\, Elizabeth Taylor\, Ava Gardner\, Jane Fonda were in a soviet-statian co produced film about child ren on a journey which will help them find the greater meaning in hearth p lus  home than gold plus ego. \n\n The Blue Bird in 1940 starred Shirley Temple and had sondergaard who was originally cast as the wicked witch in 1939 wizard of oz \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Cicely Tyson/Elizabeth Ta ylor/Jane Fonda/Ava Gardner were in a movie together in the 1970s and it i s a fantasy children's film wow\n\n\n\n https://ok.ru/video/2135063792291\ n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n and the blue bird has made it into modernity\, a 2011 version was made I think it is interesting how these two films \, film history has diverged since they first went to battle in the 40s\n\n\n \n https://youtu.be/XXg1ArCr8b8?si=Sa5iTl2BVNCx1zZn\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\ n\n\n the baum photo gallery\n\n https://photos.app.goo.gl/R3tuukJR4BdMvkH P7\n\n the blue bird book- free to read\n\n https://standardebooks.org/ebo oks/maurice-maeterlinck_georgette-leblanc/the-blue-bird/alexander-teixeira -de-mattos\n\n https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/8606\n\n https://librivox.org/ search?title=The+Blue+Bird&\;author=MAETERLINCK&\;reader=&\;keywo rds=&\;genre_id=0&\;status=all&\;project_type=either&\;recorde d_language=&\;sort_order=catalog_date&\;search_page=1&\;search_fo rm=advanced\n\n I selected the play\n\n https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/8 606/pg8606-images.html\n\n\n\n The BLue Bird film in 1940 was made as a re sponse to the wizard of oz 1939\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/ 1144642257/5184403693\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250114 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:First USA 250 year dialog 01/06/2026 DTSTAMP:20260106T180029Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:625-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The following is the first dialog to the USA's 250 year a nniversary and it goes back to my elemental issues with alot of the discou rse. The USA is over three hundred and fifty million people. who are not f riends or allies\, not from accident\, based on the erratic or dysfunction al way the peoples of the USA were molded together in the first place. \n \n\n\n The ancestors to the modern indigenous never wanted the USA to be. This is why those of them who were able to fight in majority fought agains t the creation of the USA as well as supported a reclaiming of the USA by the english empire during the war of 1812.\, \n\n\n\n The ancestors to th e modern Descended of enslaved never wanted the USA to be. This is why tho se of them who were able to fight in majority fought against the creation of the USA as well as supported a reclaiming of the USA by the english emp ire in the war of 1812.\n\n\n\n The ancestors to the modern descendend of White european colonist were split. Half wanted to stay in the english emp ire. Most fiscally wealthy members never fought at all. The Signers of the declaration were all fiscally wealthy but most of their peers never fough t at all. \n\n\n\n The continuous waves of immigrants\, legally or illega lly\, enslaved or freely\, from anywhere on earth\, each had to deal with being rejected/abused/enslaved/harmed by those already in the usa until th e violence was quelled by whatever means and they had to be accepted as pa rt of the usa fabric by those in the usa enslaving/abusing/harming them.  \n\n\n\n So the peoples in the USA are a chaotic gumbo\, where the parts n ever melt into each other but stick out all over the place making a foul s melling stew. \n\n\n\n But people in the usa\, starting with those of whi te european descent keep speaking of their wants\, their particular subpop ulaces wants as if all the other subpopulaces in the usa are supposed to b e guided by white european desires. \n\n\n\n And so looking back at two h undred and fifty years of USA history becomes very negative by default bec ause all communities have to deal with realities that they spit on in mode rnity. \n\n\n\n The only thing potentially positive about the USA for all in it is tomorrow\, not the past\, not the present\, never the past\, nev er the present. \n\n\n\n But in honoring 250 years\, the whole point is h onoring the past or the present\, which is not positive for all. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT TO ME\n\n\n\n @richardmurrayaalbcassist7279 the menti on of how the Indians weren't consulted during the negotiations for the Tr eaty of Paris is the most telling of all. He did a very good job telling o f the Revolutionary War as the first Civil War... and actually does a grea t job setting the stage for WHY there would be a second (not slavery) but the constant deference to all things black and Indian was laughably biased and tiresome. There is a reason 99.9% of WWII material does not talk abou t North Africa or the Italy campaign\, even if it factually did happen and did end in countless lives lost.\n\n\n\n MY REPLY\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ral phalf5897  ok it is 2026\, the usa will be 250 years old\, in under a yea rs time. Many peoples will speak of the USA governments history. Many narr atives will be presented. None will be universally liked or accepted. I re peat\, NONE will be UNIVERSALLY liked or accepted. The question is what wo uld had satisfied you? I like Ken Burns 2025 what I call American Rebellio n series. Others like his commonly called 2026 American Revolution series. So\, those who liked the series are content. But for those that didn't ca re for it\, like yourself\, the question is\, what needed to happen to shu t up your complaints? Now\, was the program my ideal? no. I think the time simply isn't enough. You have to cut out from anything you want to talk a bout with only twelve hours. I wanted more about the indigenous peoples\, more about the french and germans\, more about the loyalists. I even wante d more about the signers of the declaration. But\, the time meant cuts had to be made. Even if Burns had decided to do as your comment suggest and t alk only about the white men who owned black people\, the fifty six signed of the declaration. With six days \, two hours each day\, that is twelve hours. Now fifty six delegates signed the declaration of independence so t hat leaves twelve minutes per delegate for the time in the show. This does n't consider handling the time line of events\, like before the rebelion\, during the rebellion\, after the rebellion. Again\, to your pleasure\, if only the signers are discussed \, the show will not include any non white europeans or those not of white european descent or females. So if Burns had given twelve minutes to each signers of the declaration would that had made you content? yes or no? For the record\, I would despise that format \, but I would accept it positively. History telling always has biases\, p ositive or negative. ANyone who doesn't know that is immature. The history books most like have the positive biases we want\, the history books most don't like have the negative biases we don't want. The reason why most hi story is written poorly is merely from the negative biases of the people w ho wrote it\, it is that simple.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The AMERICAN REVOLUTIO N SERIES\, TRANSCRIPTED IF YOU CANT VIEW\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/even ts/event/587-the-american-revolution-pbs-documentary-episode-1/\n\n\n\n ht tps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/588-the-american-revolution-pbs-documentar y-episode-2/\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/589-the-american-re volution-pbs-documentary-episode-3/\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/ev ent/590-the-american-revolution-pbs-documentary-episode-4/\n\n\n\n https:/ /aalbc.com/tc/events/event/591-the-american-revolution-pbs-documentary-epi sode-5/\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/592-the-american-revolut ion-pbs-documentary-episode-6/\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260106 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 29 11/30/2025 DTSTAMP:20251130T194556Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:605-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Non Profit to Profit in 2025 and vice versa\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Sociedade Anônima do Futebol is the name of former socios\, or soci al club entities. Socios are non profits\, that are not allowed to be taxe d\, but also can't accept investment control from owners.  Meaning\, soc ios can accept money but the use of said money can't be controlled by the person giving the money. And the club members have to vote on various thin gs\, from sponsorship contracts to other. \n\n\n\n Expanding on this idea I thought about the inversion. How can a football club go from paying inv estors to a Socio\, a non profit\, that is still profitable? oddly enough I think elements of my thoughts below allow for an inversion. one of the p roblems with Black countries is the years of fiscal capitalism have taught \, very negative lessons\, not wrong ones\, but negative ones. Meaning wha t? \n\n\n\n Most black governments or the populaces in them\, love fiscal capitalism. But not the rule of law. They love fiscal capitalism because it allows anyone to: make the rule of law legalize their crimes[ala whites [whether european/muslim/asian or other] with enslaving black people] \,t o skip the rule or penalty of law [ala non blacks the world over who used to have the law on their side committing the same acts illegally but evadi ng penalty] \, while also skirt the responsibility of government [that man y blacks don't want to have while wanting to be very financially wealthy] .\n\n\n\n So when I look at a Nigeria\, the populace will never accept a m odulation of For Profit football clubs in Nigeria to a Not For Profit foot ball clubs in Nigeria. \n\n\n\n Consider that the NFF\, nigerian football federation\, has never won the  African Nations Championship. \n\n\n\n Now what is the  African Nations Championship. It is a championship des igned for members of CAF\, the confederation of African Football \, to fie ld players in their domestic tournament in a flag competition. Meaning wha t? All members are entered\, but  each member can only field those who pl ay in their domestic league. \n\n\n\n Here are the winners\, with the num ber of times they won\, from first to most recent\, it started in 2009: DR Congo 2\, Tunisia 1\, Libya 1\, Morocco 3\, Senegal 1 \n\n\n\n Now look at some winners of the cup of nations  started in 1957\, based on quantit y\, most to least: Egypt 7\, Cameroon 5\, Ghana 4\, Nigeria 3\, Ivory Coas t 3\, Algeria 2\, DR Congo 2 so... the top six clubs in the cup of nations \, open to CAF players who play anywhere\, have never won a tournament bas ed on only domestic players in the same geographic zone. \n\n\n\n Thus wh y I think the NFF is a great marker of the quality of CAF football associa tions. Nigeria recently has complained about their inability to enter the world cup but Nigeria has only been the top two of the Nations championshi p once. \n\n\n\n And this goes back to fiscal capitalism. Many Black peop le love the ability of whites to pay for their services\, generational wea lth\, saving their town or villages or communities. Sadio MAne/Ngolo kante /Koulibaly/Samuel Eto'o ... a long list of CAF players with very financial ly profitable careers outside CAF have helped the strangers in their blood line. But\,in a competition absent the money focused on the quality\, many of those players countries have never placed or have an atrocious record of placement. \n\n\n\n That proves the profit to nonprofit will probably not be implementable\, because affordable\, management\, isn't where the m oney is. \n\n\n\n And that connects to how they view fiscal capitalism. T his is what happens when you don't have the \"immigrant story\" the fiscal ly poor stranger came into an unwelcomed place and was allowed to work and made a happy life for themselves. \n\n\n\n The black people in the carib bean/continent/south america/north america who have been in said places si nce eighteen hundreds have the survived enslavement story. That story isn' t about the rule of law\, it is about getting enough power to be above the rule of law or to bend the rule of law. \n\n\n\n And too often black peo ple who have come to embrace the idea of fiscal capitalism aside the rule of law as a brilliant positively inspiring power couple for individual ach ievement aside collective peace \, miss how most other black people have n o personal history or historical view to the global black village to come to such conclusions on their own \, absent a sickly delusion. \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My Thoughts After Reading S.A.F. info below and thinki ng on Santos\n\n\n\n Interesting how it was admitted dividends are rarely the goal\, meaning most of the S.A.F.'s are for resale or part of a Keiret su-like scenario. But I see the financial action. \nSocios have to vote on becoming S.A.F.'s with various rules in their voting process they are fre e to do\, thus the vote from the socio members becomes financially huge. I f the majority do not vote in favor the socio remains but if the majority vote in favor the rules voted on simultaneously heavily influence the S.A. F. born from the socio.\nAnd if the votes are in favor then the socio isn' t destroyed\, it remains and a S.A.F. takes all of the socios assets and g ets none of the socios debt.\nThe S.A.F. given a favorable tax burden for the first five years as well as the ability of members or others to buy bo nds for the debt/actions of the club.\nThe S.A.F. has to have a community investment program which is loosely described in the law.\nWhile the socio retains all the debt. The S.A.F. has to contribute to payments of the deb t.\nTwo methods to pay for the debt exist Centralized Enforcement Regime \ , Judicial reorganization.\nIn the end Vasco proves Santos was wise to wai t. While I know many clubs \, like Bahia or Botafogo jumped at the chance to S.A.F. I think Santos and any Socio that waits is wiser. New financial environments historically have mostly bad returns for most early entrants. yes\, the minority of early entrants become glorified in magazines like F orbes but the reality is\, the majority of early entrants is the truth and I can see that a wise socio look at what others are doing\, what is going on wrong\, what is going well and then go forward with the experience of neighbors to dictate. yes\, it will make these years tough with potential relegation and bigger budget teams about but it will also allow for wiser financial choices. \nBahia wants circa 23\,000 USA dollars circa 120\,000 Brasilian Real to convert a socio to an S.A.F. \nThe Carioca want 94\,000 US dollars or 500\,000 Real\nPaulista want nothing for conversion. \nThe t hree capitals of Brasil before Brasilia show a different tact. Sao Paulo i s inviting Socios to modulate. Rio is being most resistant\, not enough to stop international sharks but enough to stop little socios. Bahia is invi ting Brasilian as well as foreign investors. \nNo socio going into S.A.F. in brasil has consider an initial public offering stock options but I thin k the realm of more collective shareholder values is interesting. Textor and the 777's of the world\, are looking to own\, the king's without crown s. But\, through futures or bonds a socio can go into S.A.F. inviting inve stment but still retaining control by members.\nWhat about a socio agreein g to become an S.A.F. based on a futures exchange\, where each share of th e club\, each membership becomes a futures contract\, and then the exchang e is where the contracts can be traded. The future contracts can be based on a combination of (revenue streams in accumulated value substracted by w ages-utilities-upkeep) multiplied by athletic achievement as a percentage. \nFor example\nlets say the following are \nrevenue streams: shirt sponso r\, stadium sponsor\, tickets\, share of media payment for league\, local media payment\, transfer money income \nexpenses : wages\,stadium upkeep\, transfer fees\,youth development cost Note: S.A.F.'s start debtless\nathl etic achievement in competitions entered so if not in one of the following not related: state championship\, brasilierao\,copa do brasil\, libertado res\, intercontinental cup\, club world cup. Example : lets say a club is in the state champions\, brasilerao\, copa do brasil so it is in three c ompetitions: winning each is 100% so winning all three is 300% now the max imum result is 300% so outcome over maximum in the example case gives you 1 so the revenue minus expenses is the result of the contract. But lets sa y you get 2nd in the state\, round of 16 in copa\, 8th in brasilerao\, you will have 90% 75% 66% \, now I argue you can add weights for each tournam ent\, but keeping this simple for the example\, you will circa 250% so ove r 300% means 5/6th of the value of (revenue - expenses) for the future con tract. So athletic success influences the returns more potently than the a cquisition of sponsors or et cetera. \nThe original socio can become the spot market\, thus it doesn't gain debt and is only a place of immediate exchange\, with small transactions fees going to the socio to pay off its debt. The spot market has rules like the athletic achievement combined or in part reach 30% relates to automatic revenue deliveries so giving invest ors back a percentage of what they invested. And since S.A.F.'s start debt free. The socio when it voted to make a S.A.F. needed a debt relief bond\ , where people give money for potential debt relief to receive the money b ack in five seasons. This bond money is vital for the SAF to have capitol to spur the futures market. \nThus in this way\, while the S.A.F. doesn't have a rigid owner\, it has futures contracts \, that can be traded and a coverage by the socio for debts to allow for a level of feasible risk who also acts as the clearing house between the S.A.F. and investors. Lastly\, to grow the quantity of contracts\, each new contract for the S.A.F. exch ange demands the maker of the contract to pay for a bond in the socio spot market. Yes\, an investor is thus paying for their own risk aversion. But the point of that is to clear out wild investors but also keep debt of th e S.A.F. to zero by the financial agreements. Finally\, while the transact ions of the socio spot market each have a small fee to help to pay the soc ios debts\, the transactions of the S.A.F. futures market each have a smal l fee as revenue to the S.A.F. which can be used to automatically make mor e contracts and bonds or go into a savings account for a rainy day accumul ating over time. Which can be a bond market for the S.A.F. that can be tra ded. Now outside the yearly mentioned above\, who can not vote on the peop le in the organization\, the voting powers should be to those who hold ge nerational futures contracts[ 20 years ] can vote on various people. Thus the socios who originally voted each have one generational contract throug h their 20 year futures contract. And this is another venue for outside in vestors\, others can buy 20 year futures contracts but they have to pay fo r 20 year bonds in the spot market. Each time someone buys a 20 year futur es contract they increase the value of the futures contracts already prese nt. \nI think what I suggest while it doesn't provide the financial inject ions that being sold to billionaire does\, I think it provides \,with obv ious algorithmic tweaking or specificity\, long term longevity and profit making capability\, not merely on new investors but really the management of the club. \nSo for example if you are a textor type\, and you want to c ontrol the club \, you can buy a set of 20 years futures contracts in the S.A.F. and parallel 20 year bonds in the socio spot market\, thus giving y ou through the quantity of 20 years futures contracts more votes than anyo ne\, but this doesn't bar others from doing just like you did. Rules in th e original vote can make it where voting for ceo's and others doesn't occu r till the end of a season so no chaos in administration. but\, many can b uy investment in the yearlies which are gambles still but have a level of security in that you have to buy a bond to support the security\, so it is n't a random house. \nThe goal in my mind of S.A.F. for any socio is how t o get what the germans have in the 30% rule but even better. \nThe New Yo rk City 1980s was a time for sharks. what are sharks really? sharks are th ose who buy or sell firms. Nothing wrong with that. Buying and selling fir ms in whole or part allows for resources to be distributed\, debts to be s lowed\, financial activity to be contained. What don't sharks do? they don 't actually run businesses. \nIf I own a film studio and we had ten years of success\, 90% of our films made 300% profit or better in the first mon th of coming out\, a shark can look to buy the film studio and the buyers will buy over price\, paying me the former owner and other shareholders a lot of money and we can go on and do other things. While the new owners ca n try and maintain\, maybe they succeed and maybe they fail. \nIf I own a music label and we had ten years of falling sales and undesired output aft er thirty years of industry dominance\, a shark can come in and buy my lab el \, getting more money for the parts people may want\, like the catalog but the parts people don't want can be split/divested and sold to another or just ended. The new owners to parts of my firm and try to regain the be tter years.\nBut\, the sharks don't actually manage the running of the fir ms. The sharks only function is the financial industries\, but not the act ual running of various firms. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n S.A.F. info \n\n\n\n Sociedade Anônima do Futebol info\nWhat is SAF? Understand the f ormat that changed Brazilian football\n\nHow does it work and what are the differences between association and company? What are the advantages and disadvantages? And the obligations? Get to know this specific type of comp any created in 2021\n\nBy Rodrigo Capelo\n\n02/09/2022 16h35 Up-to-date a year ago\n\nWhat is SAF? The Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF) is a spe cific type of company\, created by Congress on August 6\, 2021\, through L aw 14.193/2021. The legislation encourages football clubs to migrate from the non-profit civil association to the business one. The SAF Law\, as it became known\, encourages the change to this club-company format\, which h as governance\, control and specific means of financing for the activity o f football.\n\nHow can the club open a SAF?\n\nClubs can be founded direct ly with this structure\, they can be converted from a civil association to a SAF or they can spin off their football department\, with the transfer of all assets related to football activity to the company.\n\nOnce the com pany is incorporated\, it is possible to sell a majority\, minority\, or a ll of its capital to a new owner. John Textor\, Ronaldo and 777 Partners w ere the first cases of great repercussion\, respectively with Botafogo\, C ruzeiro and Vasco.\n\nWhat is the main change?\n\nHistorically\, most foot ball clubs in Brazil have been structured as civil associations\, a privat e\, non-profit organization formed by the union of members. These people e lect representatives to the Deliberative and Fiscal Councils\, in addition to a president.\n\nThe association cannot be sold to investors. Unlike wh at happens in much of Europe\, where clubs are companies and can be bought and sold by third parties\, associations are managed solely by the member ship.\n\nThe SAF opened the possibility of partial or total sale of footba ll to new owners. They can be entrepreneurs\, investment funds and even th e IPO on the Stock Exchange – an option not yet tried by any Brazilian c lub\, but common in other countries.\n\nWhat is the difference between pre sident and owner?\n\nIn football\, the civil association usually has a str ucture similar to that of the government. Members elect representatives to the Deliberative Council\, a kind of Legislative\, and to the board of di rectors\, which resembles the Executive. The president is the head of the ticket.\n\nThe chairman of the board is given a term of office\, usually b etween two and four years\, with or without the right to re-election\, and is joined by statutory vice presidents. In Brazilian football\, these fig ures are not paid and are only in charge temporarily.\n\nIn the case of a STC\, the owner has decision-making power definitively. Whoever buys part or all of a club-company will only leave the business\, except on extraord inary occasions\, on the day they sell their stake in the company to anoth er person\, company or fund.\n\nHow does SAF management work?\n\nThe club- company has a professional structure hired by its owner\, usually composed of specialists in the main areas:\n\nCEO (chief executive officer)\n\nChi ef Financial Officer (CFO)\n\nCLO (chief legal officer)\n\nCMO (chief mark eting officer)\n\nDirector of football\n\nAll these professionals are hire d\, directed and fired by the owners – whether it is a single person or a composition of partners. These\, in turn\, are usually organized into a Board of Directors\, in which the main decisions are made.\n\nCivil associ ations can also organize themselves in the same way\, internally. In theor y\, the main difference is that\, as these entities frequently alternate p residents\, there is a constant complaint of instability in Brazilian foot ball\, with each change of president.\n\nCan associations resume football? \n\nIt depends on each negotiation. In the cases of Botafogo\, Cruzeiro an d Vasco\, the associations sold a majority stake in the capital of SAF to John Textor\, Ronaldo and 777 Partners. In this process\, each club establ ished contracts that dictate rights and duties for each party. If there is a violation of this agreement\, it is possible that clauses provide for e xits.\n\nCan SAF be resold?\n\nThe club-company is an asset\, just like a conventional company\, and can be bought and sold freely. An entrepreneur who owns 90% of a SAF can resell any percentage under his ownership\, incl uding everything\, according to his commercial interests.\n\nWhy buy a SAF ?\n\nThe entrepreneur can have a return on this investment through:\n\nRes ale of part or all of the club-company for an amount greater than that inv ested since his arrival\;\n\nReceiving dividends\, that is\, profits obtai ned by the operation of the club-company – a less frequent option.\n\nIn tegration of the football club into a chain of other businesses\, so that they are directly benefited\n\nWhat are the advantages of SAF?\n\n1. Tax r egime\n\nCivil associations are exempt from various taxes\, such as Corpor ate Income Tax (IRPJ) and Social Contribution on Net Income (CSLL). There was resistance from managers to opt for conventional models of companies\, as corporations and limited liability companies have a higher tax burden\ , so the STC has a special regime\, in replacement.\n\nIn the first five y ears after incorporation\, the SAF is subject to the monthly payment of a unified tax\, limited to 5% on monthly revenues\, except for athlete trans fers. From the sixth year onwards\, the rate drops to 4%\, but is levied o n all the company’s revenues\, including sales of economic rights of pla yers.\n\n2. Football debentures\n\nThe SAF can issue football debentures\, a debt security. Fans can invest money in the purchase of these bonds\, w ith remuneration not less than the savings account\, and redeem the invest ment after two years. The money contributed can be used to pay expenses\, expenses or debts of the club-company by its administrators.\n\nWhat are t he disadvantages of SAF?\n\nSociedade Anônima do Futebol is committed to the creation of an Educational and Social Development Program\, in which\, in agreement with a public educational institution\, it will promote meas ures to develop education through soccer. Girls should also be contemplate d\, with equal right of access to sport.\n\nThe STC can invest in:\n\na) r enovate or build a public school\, as well as a court or field for the pra ctice of soccer\;\n\nb) to institute a transportation system for students\ ;\n\nc) feeding students during periods of recreation and training\;\n\nd) to train former players to minister and conduct activities\;\n\ne) hire a uxiliary professionals\, such as physical trainers\, nutritionists and psy chologists\;\n\nf) acquire equipment\, materials and accessories necessary for the practice of soccer within the scope of the project.\n\nWhat happe ns to debt?\n\nDebts remain with the civil association\, that is\, they ar e not transferred to the newly created company. The STC becomes responsibl e for contributing to the payment of these obligations\, within the limits established by law.\n\nSince the association loses almost all of its oper ating revenues – as football has been transferred to the management of t he club-company – there are two options to deal with the debt:\n\n1. Cen tralized Enforcement Regime\n\nThe SAF Law created a mechanism called the Centralized Enforcement Regime\, which works as a queue for creditors of a civil and labor nature. The company assumes the responsibility of contrib uting to the payment of this queue\, with 20% of its current monthly reven ues.\n\nIn principle\, clubs that adhere to this regime have a period of s ix years to pay their debts. If at least 60% of the debt is paid off in th is period\, an extension of another four years is granted to pay off the r emainder. Therefore\, the deadline to pay is up to ten years.\n\nThe Centr alized Enforcement Regime also opens the possibility of reducing debts by at least 30%\, through discounts.\n\nTo define the order of payment of cre ditors\, priority is given to older credits and also to profiles:\n\na) el derly\;\n\nb) people with serious illnesses\;\n\nc) people with credits le ss than 60 minimum wages\;\n\nd) pregnant woman\;\n\ne) victims of work ac cidents in soccer.\n\n2. Judicial reorganization\n\nJudicial – or extraj udicial – reorganization is usually used by companies that are almost ba nkrupt\, but which have economic relevance to society. In summary\, these companies can renegotiate civil and labor debts with the mediation of the government\, so that the credits are written off by discounts and paid in a new term.\n\nThe role of the SAF Law\, in this case\, was to guarantee a ccess to this tool for clubs that become companies. The legislation also a nticipates that bilateral contracts and contracts with players can be tran sferred from the civil association to the club-company\, without being inv olved in the agreement to be negotiated during the judicial reorganization .\n\nHow is tradition protected?\n\nAs long as the civil association that gave rise to the club has at least one class A common share\, regardless o f the percentage of the interest\, this entity will have veto power over t he following items:\n\na) change of name\;\n\nb) change of symbol\, coat o f arms\, brand\, nickname\, anthem and color\;\n\nc) change of headquarter s to another municipality.\n\nWho created the SAF?\n\nThe intellectual men tors of the Sociedade Anônima do Futebol are lawyers Rodrigo Monteiro de Castro and José Francisco Manssur. They have dedicated themselves to the study of business structures in football since at least 2015\, when they p ublished the book “Football\, Market and State”\, in which they pointe d out foreign proposals and references.\n\nSubsequently\, the content of t his study was presented in the National Congress by Senator Rodrigo Pachec o (PSD-MG)\, in 2019. Bill 5\,519/2019\, which culminated in the creation of the SAF Law\, was drafted by Senator Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ). The first companies in Brazilian football\, under this unprecedented format\, appea red in a few months.\n\nArticle Referral\n\nhttps://ge.globo.com/negocios- do-esporte/noticia/2022/09/02/o-que-e-saf-entenda-o-formato-de-clube-empre sa-que-mudou-o-futebol-brasileiro.ghtml\n\nWhat is left to the original as sociation when the SAF has an owner?\n\nExperiences from other countries t each a lot about the risks to which Brazilian clubs have exposed themselve s for not having developed the necessary mechanisms for their own protecti on\n\nRio de Janeiro\n\n03/28/2024 03:06 AM Up-to-date a year ago\n\nIn h is first press conference since taking over the presidency of Vasco da Gam a\, former player Pedrinho raised several questions about the limit of the original association in the direction of Vasco SAF\, the company that man ages the club’s professional football and which is now controlled by the North American group 777 Partners.\n\n“Unfortunately I am not part of t he process. But I’m always willing to help Vasco\, above any goal (…) Sportingly\, I think I could collaborate”\, said the president of Vasco about the little space that the association has in the current SAF. “I t’s their choice\, period. There is no crying\, lamentation\,” he adde d.\n\nPedrinho’s complaint is especially due to having been invited\, be fore leaving as a candidate\, to give opinions on the club’s sports plan ning. Once at the head of the association\, the treatment changed drastica lly. As president of the club\, Pedrinho is no longer seen as an ally for the SAF.\n\n“I have no interest in taking the 777. I’m interested in g iving a new direction\, a new direction to Vasco. The SAF was created to p rofessionalize football. We expect transparency\, sports performance ( …)”\, justified Pedrinho\, still showing himself willing to deal amica bly with the employees of 777 Partners.\n\nHowever\, the Vasco idol also m ade clear his disagreement with the SAF model: “The model that was creat ed in a contract\, then yes\, is no longer very much to my liking. It is a relationship in which I am a partner and I have functions such as supervi sing and collecting. This cannot be a nuisance to anyone.”\n\n“Chargin g\, inspecting is a natural process of a [business] society. I don’t kno w if the behavior of the previous administration created a different habit \, but this is not a pattern”\, reinforced Pedrinho.\n\nThere are severa l interesting points in these speeches\, which today stand out in Vasco’ s SAF because of the low sports performance and the errors in the decision -making of the management of the SAF – which has already changed CEO\, d irector of football or coach in just over a year –\; but that should be discussed by all other SAFs where the original clubs have become a decorat ive piece.\n\nBasically\, all SAFs were structured in the same way: the as sociative club holds few seats on the Board of Directors and on the Fiscal Council\, reducing its participation to access to confidential documents\ , contracts and financial data and the sporadic moment of transmitting som e dissatisfaction at shareholders’ meetings. Which is rarely done in pub lic.\n\nIn clubs that have 30% (Vasco)\, 25% (Atlético) or 10% (Bahia\, C oritiba\, Cruzeiro and Botafogo)\, the position is always secondary\, with out enough power. The position of the association in each of them will var y\, of course\, according to what was discussed in the election of the ass ociation. It is where Pedrinho’s press conference matters most.\n\nVasco lives this distancing because it was the first club to hold elections wit hout swearing in a group fully aligned with the management that operationa lized the sale of SAF. In the other cases\, until then\, the association ’s command has remained the same or with figures close to the administra tions that sold the SAF.\n\nAs long as the friendship relationship between the association and SAF lasts\, we will hardly see situations similar to Vasco’s come to light\, even in the worst of sporting scenarios. In the case of Coritiba\, for example\, the elections scheduled for last December were postponed and have not yet been rescheduled. In the midst of this\, there was a vexatious demotion and a lot of contestation from the members to the business model\, but the association’s management never manifeste d itself frontally.\n\nThe situation of cornering of the associations is n ot surprising\, because it has always been the objective of those who prom oted the SAFs as a panacea for Brazilian football.\n\nThere are understand able reasons for so much repulsion to the original club – for being clos ed (with the exception of a few cases)\, for the history of the top hats w ho have controlled it previously\, for the state in which the institution was at the time of sale – but this whole process of demonization of the associations should be expensive.\n\nAfter all\, the association will be t he last instance of salvation for the club\, if everything goes wrong in t he SAF. There is no safe choice in extirpating association from decision-m aking\, because at some point it will be necessary.\n\nIn addition\, at th e same time that the SAFs have been structured in such a way as to prevent the participation of the association\, the business models seem tailor-ma de to empty these century-old organizations. What is the ideal scenario fo r those who buy a SAF: not having to be accountable to anyone or\, at most \, having to communicate with a dying association\, without strength and r epresentativeness.\n\nIf at first this was desired to guarantee the work a utonomy of the “qualified professionals hired by investors”\, perhaps the occasional sellers have eliminated important escape routes that will b e missed at the necessary time.\n\nToday it is too early to visualize some thing catastrophic in this sense\, but experiences from other countries sh ould begin to be better studied so that the risks that clubs run for not h aving developed the necessary mechanisms for their own protection can be p erceived.\n\nIn the current scenario\, it is not possible to speculate on the nature or scruples of the groups that took over the SAFs\, but it is n ot just a purely moral issue either. There are a number of possible situat ions that can drastically alter the pretensions of these “investors” w ith “their SAFs”\, and in the end everything is business: will profess ional football pass from hand to hand – from buyer to buyer – or will it be allowed to conceive the resumption of its control by the original as sociation? This alternative already seems eliminated from the scenario.\n\ nA bad early sporting phase for what was expected from the investments of the SAFs has already put Vasco in a situation of worrying distancing. The controllers of the SAF are not obliged to listen to the original club. The original club does not see the tools at its disposal to act positively.\n \nIn a few years\, it will not only be sports results that will be the fac tors of dissatisfaction and distance between clubs and SAFs. The history o f club-companies around the world tells controversial\, highly complex sit uations that are still little visible in the Brazilian scenario. It will b e up to the fans to keep the association alive and strong\, because it wil l be through it that things will pass at the necessary time.\n\n- Irlan Si mões (@irlansimoes) is the author of the book “The Club’s Production: power\, business and community in football” (2023) \n\nhttps://morula.c om.br/produto/clube/\n\nand organizer of the work “Clube Empresa: global critical approaches to corporations in football” (2020).\n\nARTICLE URL \n\nhttps://ge.globo.com/blogs/blog-do-irlan-simoes/post/2024/03/28/o-que- resta-a-associacao-original-quando-a-saf-tem-dono.ghtml\n\nHow much does i t cost to become SAF? Fees charged by Federations range from R$ 30 thousan d to R$ 500 thousand\; see list\n\nThe Federation of Rio de Janeiro is the one that charges the most expensive\, followed by those of Pernambuco and Minas Gerais\; Paulista\, on the other hand\, is the only one among the t op ten that still does not charge for the change\n\nBy João de Andrade Ne to — Recife\n\n01/19/2024 03:17 PM Up-to-date a year ago\n\nSince it wa s created by the National Congress in August 2021\, the Sociedade Anônima do Futebol (SAF) has become a recurring subject in Brazilian football\, w ith many clubs already adhering to the format and many others preparing to make the change from the associative model to club-company.\n\nMigration that\, to be official\, needs to be registered by the state federations\, which have been authorized by the CBF\, since 2022\, to charge the so-call ed “conversion fee”. Charge that\, depending on each state\, varies fr om R$ 30 thousand to R$ 500 thousand.\n\nThe ge verified in documents made available on the official websites of the entities and in contact with th e advisories the amounts charged by the ten best-placed federations in the CBF ranking: São Paulo\, Rio de Janeiro\, Minas Gerais\, Rio Grande do S ul\, Paraná\, Ceará\, Goiás\, Santa Catarina\, Bahia and Pernambuco.\n\ nThe federation with the most expensive rate is Rio de Janeiro. According to the values released by the entity\, a club that is in the state’s A1 Series will have to pay R$ 500 thousand to migrate to SAF. The charge is n ow R$ 300 thousand and R$ 200 thousand for clubs that compete in the A2 an d A3 Series of the State\, respectively.\n\nThese amounts started to be ch arged last year\, and are still valid\, according to Ferj’s press office . It is worth remembering that Botafogo and Vasco sold their shares in 202 2.\n\nPernambuco and Ceará on opposite paths\n\nThe second federation to charge the most is Pernambucana\, which readjusted the fee from R$ 120 tho usand to R$ 400 thousand as of this year. An increase of 233%. None of the big three in the state have become SAF so far\, but they work for it.\n\n Who has more advanced talks is Náutico\, which already has an offer from a group of investors that can reach\, between investment plan and guarante ed costs\, R$ 980 million over ten years for the purchase of 90% of the sh ares.\n\nSport\, on the other hand\, is in the process of reformulating it s statute with a view to adhering to the SAF model\, while Santa Cruz\, wh ich even had advanced talks with investors\, according to the board that l eft the club at the end of last year\, is again at square one. But the tra nsformation to the SAF is considered a priority by the current president\, Bruno Rodrigues.\n\nThe Ceará Federation\, on the other hand\, took the opposite path by reducing the value of the fee\, from R$ 400 thousand char ged until last year to R$ 120 thousand from 2024.\n\nIn the state\, Fortal eza approved in September the change to Sociedade Anônima do Futebol\, bu t without share sales for now\, a unique model in Brazilian football so fa r. In December\, the club’s then-president Marcelo Paz resigned to take over as CEO of Fortaleza EC SAF.\n\nCeará\, on the other hand\, does not treat adherence to the Corporations model as a priority.\n\nBahia\, Goiás and Minas\n\nThe Goiana and Bahia federations also charge R$ 120 thousand for the conversion into SAF.\n\nIn Goiás\, the three main clubs\, Goiás \, Atlético-GO and Vila Nova\, are in the process of moving. Bahia\, on t he other hand\, since March last year\, has 90% of football shares control led by the City Group. Vitória\, for now\, has not yet taken direction in this direction\n\nIn Minas Gerais\, where the big three have already adhe red to the SAF model\, with Cruzeiro being the first club in Brazil\, stil l in 2021\, the Minas Gerais Federation currently charges R$ 250 thousand for the change. Third saltier rate\, behind only Rio de Janeiro and Pernam buco.\n\nNo charge in São Paulo and “bargain” in the South\n\nLeader of the CBF ranking among federations\, São Paulo is the only one among th e top 10 not to charge the “conversion fee” for the SAF model\, accord ing to the resolution published in July last year. The state is the one wi th the most clubs that have already become a corporation\, with 10. One mo re than Minas Gerais\, according to the Academic League of Corporate Law o f the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.\n\nThe three federations in th e South Region of the country charge the lowest amounts\, with Catarinense being the cheapest: only R$ 30 thousand. The state has among its affiliat es four clubs that have already joined the SAF model\, including Figueiren se.\n\nIn the Paranaense and Gaucho Federations\, this amount is R$ 60 tho usand\, and in Rio Grande do Sul this fee will be charged as of this year. Paraná is the third state in the country with the most SAFS\, eight in a ll.\n\nThe amounts charged by the federations\n\nSão Paulo Federation - D oes not charge a fee\n\nRio de Janeiro Federation - 500 thousand*\n\nPerna mbuco Federation - R$ 400 thousand\n\nMinas Gerais Federation - R$ 250 tho usand\n\nCeará Federation - R$ 120 thousand\n\nGoiás Federation - R$ 120 thousand\n\nBahia Federation - R$ 120 thousand\n\nFederação Gaúcha - R $ 60 thousand**\n\nParanaense Federation - R$ 60 thousand\n\nSanta Catarin a Federation - R$ 30 thousand\n\n*Clubs that are in the A2 Series of the S tate pay R$ 300 thousand and those in the A3 Series\, R$ 200 thousand\n\n* * Charges for the first time in 2024\n\nARTICLE URL\n\nhttps://ge.globo.co m/pe/futebol/noticia/2024/01/19/quanto-custa-para-virar-saf-taxas-cobradas -por-federacoes-variam-de-r-30-mil-a-r-500-mil-veja-lista.ghtml\n\nJudicia l and extrajudicial reorganization\, bankruptcy and civil insolvency: a gu ide to understanding what can happen to indebted clubs\n\nLeaders\, politi cians and lawyers are beginning to speak publicly about mechanisms that ca n save associations mistreated by decades of mismanagement. And the fans d eserve to understand them\n\nSão Paulo\n\n06/02/2020 06h00 Up-to-date 5 years ago\n\nBy Rodrigo Capelo\n\nJudicial reorganization\, extrajudicial reorganization\, bankruptcy and civil insolvency. As soccer clubs collapse financially\, officials\, politicians and lawyers are beginning to spread these terms as possible solutions to reverse decades of mismanagement in associations.\n\nThe terms have already entered the vocabulary of the Cruz eirense. Vittorio Medioli\, a businessman who briefly participated in the provisional administration of Cruzeiro\, publicly defended that the club e nter into judicial reorganization to undo the damage caused by the Wagner Pires de Sá and Gilvan de Pinho Tavares administrations.\n\nThe subject m atters to practically every indebted club\, however. In the face of the cr itical situations in Brazilian football\, behind the scenes there are peop le interested in resorting to these mechanisms to clean up the indebtednes s of the associations. In some cases\, this would help improve the chances of migrating to a business structure.\n\nDue to the high degree of comple xity and high relevance for the future of Brazilian football\, the blog re corded a podcast to explain the mechanisms with the participation of Marce lo Sacramone\,\n\nhttps://interativos.ge.globo.com/podcasts/programa/dinhe iro-em-jogo/episodio/dinheiro-em-jogo-39-clube-de-futebol-pode-falir-enten da-as-opcoes-para-salvar-os-times-endividados/\n\n judge of the 2nd Court of Bankruptcy and Judicial Reorganization of São Paulo. This text serves as a support to understand each of the ways out for those in debt.\n\nJudi cial reorganization\n\nWhat is it for?\n\nTo recover a company that is rel evant to society\, especially for the jobs it generates\, which is going t hrough an economic crisis.\n\nWhat are the requirements?\n\nPerform busine ss activity for at least two years. In other words\, in order to enter int o a judicial reorganization process\, the legal entity must be a company – a corporation\, limited liability company or other similar corporate structure.\n\nNon-profit civil associations – like most football clubs i n Brazil – cannot enter into judicial reorganization\, unless they migra te to the business structure and wait two years or there is a change in th e legislation.\n\nWhat is the procedure?\n\nFirst\, the company submits th e request for judicial reorganization to the Court\, with justifications t o obtain the benefit of renegotiating its debts under the supervision of t he government.\n\nIf the Court allows the proceeding\, the company (debtor ) will have 60 days (two months) to present a plan for payment to the grou p of people with whom it has accumulated debts (creditors).\n\nWhen the re organization plan is presented\, the creditors will decide whether to acce pt or reject the proposal. If they accept\, creditors will receive the amo unts according to the conditions set out in this agreement. If they do not accept\, the company will be declared bankrupt.\n\nAfter the agreement\, the Court still monitors compliance with this reorganization for two years to ensure that the debtor follows the plan.\n\nWhat are the benefits?\n\n Creditors are allowed to receive the amounts that were outstanding\, albei t with discounts and in installments. In another hypothesis\, they could r eceive nothing. Judicial reorganization also requires that the agreement b e collective\, that is\, no creditor can take advantage of another with th e seizure of revenues\, for example.\n\nTo the company (debtor)\, the judi cial reorganization allows it to reduce its indebtedness and preserve its activity. Additionally\, all blockades and seizures suffered by this compa ny are suspended for 180 days (six months). This happens precisely so that no creditor gets ahead of another when it comes to obtaining the money fr om a lien.\n\n“Why will everything be suspended? To prevent a more sophi sticated\, faster lender from being able to take an asset and harm everyth ing else. The law says: during these 180 days\, everything will be suspend ed against the debtor. The problem with this is that case law has extended this period. Here in the State of São Paulo\, this period has taken two years on average. It is very different from the 180 days. It is alleged th at creditors are negotiating\, so it is better to maintain this suspension than to let someone run outside to pledge a certain asset”\, explains M arcelo Sacramone.\n\nWhat does the negotiation depend on?\n\nGenerally\, t wo factors:\n\n1.Of the assets that can be sold to raise money. This goes for everything that has some value for the company. In the case of clubs\, they would be real estate (social and administrative headquarters\, train ing centers and stadiums)\, player contracts and brand (shield)\n\n2.From the revenue forecast in the new business plan. If the company understands that its financial recovery will allow investments and make it raise more money\, part of these resources can be redirected to pay creditors\n\nTaki ng these factors into account\, the probability of a good deal for both pa rties will be determined. In the case of a company that has no assets to s ell and/or does not have the potential to increase its revenue\, creditors will have problems obtaining good values.\n\nDoes recovery involve debt f orgiveness?\n\nMost of the time. The debtor would not have the money to pa y all the debts under normal conditions. So he usually bases the recovery plan on extending the payment deadline and negotiating discounts on the am ounts due.\n\nLenders may understand that it is better to receive some mon ey than none at all. Therefore\, they agree to forgive part of the amounts due in exchange for the scheduled payment. This only happens if the absol ute majority of creditors agree with the proposed conditions.\n\n“In an average plan\, the debtor will pay in 11 years and with half of what he ow ed. This is an average plan. 30% of the plans involve selling something to make cash to satisfy that plan. Then the creditors will be called to a Ge neral Meeting in which they will meet to deliberate if that is the best pr oposal\, if the debtor could not propose something better\, make some sugg estion\, and it is up to the debtor to understand whether or not he will m aintain the original proposal”\, says Marcelo Sacramone.\n\nAre there ru les for the formulation of the plan?\n\nLabor debts (with former employees ) must be paid within a period of less than one year\, from the moment the debtor’s proposal is accepted by the creditors. The limitation of labor debts concerns the term\, but not the discount. As long as the creditors agree to forgive part of the debt\, the debtor can reduce this amount.\n\n This is a huge potential problem for football clubs. The labor debts of as sociations – with players\, coaches and employees of other departments – are usually much higher than in conventional companies. Especially in the case of the most traditional and most indebted clubs in Brazilian foo tball.\n\nOut-of-court reorganization\n\nWhat is it for?\n\nExtrajudicial reorganization has similar mechanics to judicial reorganization\, but the negotiation phase between debtor and creditors is done out of court. The a greement needs to be taken to a judge\, however\, so that he can verify th e conditions and ratify the decision.\n\nThe negotiation does not have to happen with all creditors at the same time. For example\, the company can renegotiate only debts with financial institutions (bank debts).\n\nIn out -of-court reorganization\, the negotiation also does not need the approval of an absolute majority to be confirmed. If the debtor obtains the approv al of 60% of the creditors\, the other 40% are obliged to accept the condi tions of the reorganization plan.\n\nBankruptcy\n\nWhat is it for?\n\nIt i s the consequence of a judicial reorganization that did not work out – t hat is\, in which the creditors did not accept the proposal made by the de btor and decided that the best way would be to file for bankruptcy. It is also possible to have direct bankruptcy\, but this is a rare case.\n\nIn t he event of bankruptcy\, the debtor loses all power over the assets and th e power to manage them. He is removed immediately. The court appoints a tr ustee\, and this trustee sells all assets to raise money. Real estate\, br ands\, contracts\, everything that is possible to sell on the market\, com es into play to pay creditors.\n\nWhat are the requirements?\n\nOnly compa nies can go bankrupt. Non-profit civil associations\, like most football c lubs in Brazil\, cannot go through this process without some change in leg islation.\n\nWho can file for bankruptcy of a company?\n\nDebtors or credi tors. In practice\, no one asks.\n\nThe debtor usually understands that it is better to continue activity and try to pay off debts\, while creditors avoid the risk of receiving nothing if there are not enough assets to sel l.\n\nIn football\, filing for bankruptcy of a club would have an addition al effect: social pressure on creditors or directors (responsible for the debtor) who filed for bankruptcy of a traditional club.\n\nWhat are the be nefits?\n\nIf the liquidation of all assets generates money to pay off at least 50% of the debts\, the company cannot be charged for the other 50%.\ n\n“Bankruptcy is a prize for the entrepreneur who has had a failure. If I liquidate all the assets and with that amount I manage to pay half of t he creditors\, he is free the next day to return to his activity. There is an extinction of his debts. Problems with this: bankruptcy lasts an avera ge of 12 years\, that is\, the process never ends. If the process does not end and he is unable to pay this 50%\, he will stay another five years af ter the closure still linked to these obligations”\, explains Marcelo Sa cramone.\n\nCivil Insolvency\n\nWhat is it?\n\nIt is a form of liquidation of all assets and payment of creditors. There is no possibility of collec tive bargaining. The club would need to enter into an agreement individual ly with all creditors.\n\nWhat are the requirements?\n\nCivil insolvency a pplies to non-profit civil associations. Football clubs can go through thi s procedure at any time.\n\nWho can apply for the insolvency of an associa tion?\n\nDebtors or creditors. In practice\, no one asks.\n\nThe debtor do es not ask because it would cease to exist and would not be able to preser ve its activity\, and creditors do not usually ask because they would hard ly be able to receive the amounts.\n\nIn addition\, as the negotiations ar e individual\, some creditors could outsmart others by taking advantage of the resources obtained from the sale of assets such as stadiums\, venues and players.\n\nWhat is the difference between bankruptcy and insolvency?\ n\nIn a civil insolvency process\, even if the sale of all the association ’s assets pays more than 50% of the debts\, the association will continu e to be linked to the rest of the debts until they expire. The statute of limitations can be from five to ten years\, depending on whether there has been a crime. In practically all cases\, it is not worth it.\n\n@rodrigoc apelo\n\nARTICLE URL\n\nhttps://ge.globo.com/blogs/blog-do-rodrigo-capelo/ post/2020/02/06/recuperacao-judicial-extrajudicial-falencia-e-insolvencia- civil-um-guia-para-entender-o-que-pode-acontecer-com-clubes-endividados.gh tml\n\nBill No. 5516\, of 2019\n\nSee also: VET 43/2021\n\nAuthorship: Sen ator Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM/MG)\n\nNo. in the Chamber of Deputies: PL 5516/2 019\n\nGenerated Rule: Law No. 14\,193 of 08/06/2021\n\nSubject: Economy a nd Development >\; Taxes\, Social Policy >\; Sports and Leisure\n\nSum mary: Creates the Brazilian Football System\, through the typification of the Football Corporation\, establishment of governance\, control and trans parency rules\, institution of means of financing football activity and pr ovision of a transitory tax system.\n\nExplanation of the Summary: Creates the figure of the Sociedade Anônima do Futebol\, whose main activity con sists of the practice of soccer in professional competitions\, defines its financing\, administration\, governance and control\; and establishes a s pecial regime for the calculation of federal taxes applicable to the speci es.\n\nPROPOSITIONS\n\nIdentification:\n\nPL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenat or Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM/MG)\n\nDate:\n\n10/10/2019\n\nDescription/Syllabus \n\nCreates the Brazilian Football System\, through the typification of th e Football Corporation\, establishment of governance\, control and transpa rency rules\, institution of means of financing football activity and prov ision of a transitory tax system.\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Sena te\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8023943&\;t s=1721927154468&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nInitial sing le article\n\nAuthor:\n\nFederal Senate\n\nDate:\n\n15/10/2019\n\nDescript ion/Syllabus\n\n-\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislativ e Action:\n\nForwarded for publication. To the CAE and EC\, the latter bei ng responsible for the final decision. (This processed contains twenty (20 ) numbered sheets.) | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sd leg-getter/documento?dm=8025061&\;ts=1721927154503&\;disposition=inl ine\n\nOPINIONS\n\nIdentification:\n\nLegislative Report\n\nAuthor:\n\nSen ator Carlos Portinho (PL/RJ)\n\nDate:\n\n08/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabu s\n\nSeem\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action :\n\nThe report and the attachments forwarded by the Rapporteur\, Senator Carlos Portinho\, were received. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.sen ado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8977839&\;ts=1721927154807&\;di sposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nLegislative Report\n\nAuthor:\n\nSe nator Carlos Portinho (PL/RJ)\n\nDate:\n\n10/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllab us\n\nSeem\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Actio n:\n\nReceived the Report of Senator Carlos Portinho. | See the procedure \n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978839&\;ts= 1721927155441&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nP.S 129/2021 - PLEN\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Carlos Portinho (PL/RJ)\n\nDate:\n\n10/06/2021 \n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nOpinion No. 129/2021-PLEN/SF - Presentation of Substitute - Amendment No. 32-PLEN.\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal S enate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\n(Remote Deliberative Session held on 06/10 /2021) Opinion No. 129/2021-PLEN/SF was delivered by Senator Carlos Portin ho\, concluding by the approval of the bill\, by the full acceptance of Am endments Nos. 3\, 4\, 8\, 10\, 12\, 13\, 23\, 28 and 31-… | See the pro cedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8979014&am p\;ts=1721927155406&\;disposition=inline\n\nAMENDMENTS\n\nIdentificatio n:\n\nAMENDMENT 1 - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Leila Barros (PSB/D F)\n\nDate:\n\n25/05/2020\n\nLocal:\n\nCommittee on Economic Affairs\n\nLe gislative Action:\n\nAmendment sent to the rapporteur\, Senator Marcos Rog ério\, for analysis. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/ sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8114738&\;ts=1721927154615&\;disposition=i nline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 2 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\n Senator Paulo Paim (PT/RS)\, Senator Rogério Carvalho (PT/SE)\n\nDate:\n\ n07/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment 2 to PL 5516\n\nLocal:\n\ nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendmen ts Nos. 2 and 3\, from Senator Paulo Paim. | See the procedure\n\nhttps:/ /legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8977023&\;ts=17219271551 75&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 3 PLEN - PL 551 6/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Paulo Paim (PT/RS)\n\nDate:\n\n07/06/2021\n\n Description/Syllabus\n\nPL 5516 of 2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federa l Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 2 and 3\, from Senator Paulo Paim. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/s dleg-getter/documento?dm=8977026&\;ts=1721927155205&\;disposition=in line\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 4 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nS enator Jayme Campos (DEM/MT)\n\nDate:\n\n08/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabu s\n\nAmendment to PL 5516\, of 2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Se nate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendment No. 4\, from Senator Jay me Campos. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-gette r/documento?dm=8977819&\;ts=1721927154770&\;disposition=inline\n\nId entification:\n\nAMENDMENT 5 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Ven eziano Vital do Rêgo (MDB/PB)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Sylla bus\n\nAmendment PL 5516/19\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\n Legislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. - 5\, from Senator Venezia no Vital do Rêgo\; - 6\, from Senator Weverton. | See the procedure\n\nh ttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8977963&\;ts=17219 27155530&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 6 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Weverton (PDT/MA)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/202 1\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nEMD 1 PL 5516\, of 2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. - 5\, from Senator Veneziano Vital do Rêgo\; - 6\, from Senator Weverton. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento ?dm=8977992&\;ts=1721927155813&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentificatio n:\n\nAMENDMENT 7 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Paulo Rocha (P T/PA)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment to PL 5\ ,516\, of 2019 - labor debts\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\ nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendment No. 7\, from Senator Paulo Roch a. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/docume nto?dm=8978101&\;ts=1721927155882&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentifica tion:\n\nAMENDMENT 8 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Wellington Fagundes (PL/MT)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nemenda_ Sistema of Brazilian Football\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n \nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendment No. 8\, from Senator Wellingto n Fagundes. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-gett er/documento?dm=8978120&\;ts=1721927154843&\;disposition=inline\n\nI dentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 9 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Ro se de Freitas (MDB/ES)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nA mendment to PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLeg islative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 9 and 10\, from Senator Rose de Freitas. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-gett er/documento?dm=8978169&\;ts=1721927155913&\;disposition=inline\n\nI dentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 10 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator R ose de Freitas (MDB/ES)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\n Amendment to PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLe gislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 9 and 10\, from Senator Rose de Freitas. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-get ter/documento?dm=8978175&\;ts=1721927154653&\;disposition=inline\n\n Identification:\n\nAMENDMENT 11 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Paulo Rocha (PT/PA)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nAMEN DMENT to Bill No. 5516\, of 2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senat e\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 11\, by Senator Paulo Rocha\; and - 12\, by Senator Luiz do Carmo. | See the procedure\n\nhttp s://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978190&\;ts=17219271 55244&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 12 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Luiz Carlos do Carmo (MDB/GO)\n\nDate:\n\ n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nBill No. 5516\, of 2019\n\nLocal:\n \nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendme nts Nos. 11\, by Senator Paulo Rocha\; and - 12\, by Senator Luiz do Carmo . | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documen to?dm=8978196&\;ts=1721927156144&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentificat ion:\n\nAMENDMENT 13 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Fabiano Con tarato (REDE/ES)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nensure that the PDES include students from public educational institutions\n\nLoc al:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Am endments Nos. 13 and 14\, by Senator Fabiano Contarato\; - 15 and 16\, by Senator Weverton. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdle g-getter/documento?dm=8978209&\;ts=1721927155976&\;disposition=inlin e\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 14 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSen ator Fabiano Contarato (REDE/ES)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syl labus\n\nIncrease the transparency of Football Corporations\n\nLocal:\n\nP lenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 13 and 14\, by Senator Fabiano Contarato\; - 15 and 16\, by Senator Weverton. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter /documento?dm=8978212&\;ts=1721927156006&\;disposition=inline\n\nIde ntification:\n\nAMENDMENT 15 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Wev erton (PDT/MA)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nEMD to PL 5516 of 2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Ac tion:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 13 and 14\, by Senator Fabiano Contarato \; - 15 and 16\, by Senator Weverton. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legi s.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978215&\;ts=1721927155283&am p\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 16 PLEN - PL 5516/20 19\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Weverton (PDT/MA)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescr iption/Syllabus\n\nEMD to PL 5516 of 2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Fede ral Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 13 and 14\, by Senator Fabiano Contarato\; - 15 and 16\, by Senator Weverton. | See t he procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978 218&\;ts=1721927155315&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAM ENDMENT 17 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Weverton (PDT/MA)\n\n Date:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nEMD to PL 5516 of 2019\n\nL ocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendment No. 17\, from Senator Weverton. | See the procedure\n\nhttps:// legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978241&\;ts=172192715617 9&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 18 PLEN - PL 551 6/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Izalci Lucas (PSDB/DF)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021 \n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment 02 to PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlen ary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments No s. 18 to 22\, from Senator Izalci Lucas. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://l egis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978259&\;ts=1721927154884 &\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 19 PLEN - PL 5516 /2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Izalci Lucas (PSDB/DF)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\ n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment 01 PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 1 8 to 22\, from Senator Izalci Lucas. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis .senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978262&\;ts=1721927154916& \;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 20 PLEN - PL 5516/201 9\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Izalci Lucas (PSDB/DF)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nD escription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment 05 to PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary o f the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 18 to 22\, from Senator Izalci Lucas. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis. senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978267&\;ts=1721927154950&\ ;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 21 PLEN - PL 5516/2019 \n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Izalci Lucas (PSDB/DF)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDe scription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment 04 to PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 18 to 22\, from Senator Izalci Lucas. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.s enado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978270&\;ts=1721927154981&\; disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 22 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\ n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Izalci Lucas (PSDB/DF)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDes cription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment 03 PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 18 to 2 2\, from Senator Izalci Lucas. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senad o.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978273&\;ts=1721927155012&\;disp osition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 23 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nA uthor:\n\nSenator Eduardo Braga (MDB/AM)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescrip tion/Syllabus\n\nAmendment 1 - PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Fe deral Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 23 and 24\ , by Senator Eduardo Braga. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.l eg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978279&\;ts=1721927155049&\;disposi tion=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 24 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuth or:\n\nSenator Eduardo Braga (MDB/AM)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescriptio n/Syllabus\n\nAmendment 2 - PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Feder al Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 23 and 24\, b y Senator Eduardo Braga. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg. br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978282&\;ts=1721927155079&\;dispositio n=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 25 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor: \n\nSenator Irajá (PSD/TO)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus \n\nAmendment to PL 5516/2019 - art 2\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 25 to 28 from Se nator Irajá\; and 29 to 31 from Senator Romário. | See the procedure\n\ nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978291&\;ts=172 1927155572&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 26 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Irajá (PSD/TO)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/20 21\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment to PL 5516/2019 - art 10\n\nLocal: \n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amend ments Nos. 25 to 28 from Senator Irajá\; and 29 to 31 from Senator Romár io. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/docum ento?dm=8978294&\;ts=1721927155603&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentific ation:\n\nAMENDMENT 27 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Irajá (P SD/TO)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment to PL 5 516/2019 - art 15\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislativ e Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 25 to 28 from Senator Irajá\; and 2 9 to 31 from Senator Romário. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senad o.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978297&\;ts=1721927155637&\;disp osition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 28 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nA uthor:\n\nSenator Irajá (PSD/TO)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Sy llabus\n\nAmendment to PL 5516/2019 - art 21\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the F ederal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 25 to 28 from Senator Irajá\; and 29 to 31 from Senator Romário. | See the proce dure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978300&\ ;ts=1721927155669&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 29 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Romário (PL/RJ)\n\nDate:\n\n 09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment to PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\ n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendm ents Nos. 25 to 28 from Senator Irajá\; and 29 to 31 from Senator Romári o. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/docume nto?dm=8978305&\;ts=1721927155946&\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentifica tion:\n\nAMENDMENT 30 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\nSenator Romário ( PL/RJ)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\nAmendment to PL 5 516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action: \n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 25 to 28 from Senator Irajá\; and 29 to 31 f rom Senator Romário. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/ sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978309&\;ts=1721927155779&\;disposition=i nline\n\nIdentification:\n\nAMENDMENT 31 PLEN - PL 5516/2019\n\nAuthor:\n\ nSenator Romário (PL/RJ)\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n \nAmendment to PL 5516/2019\n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\n Legislative Action:\n\nReceived Amendments Nos. 25 to 28 from Senator Iraj á\; and 29 to 31 from Senator Romário. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://l egis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978313&\;ts=1721927156035 &\;disposition=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nSeparate amendments\n\nAuth or:\n\nFederal Senate\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\n-\ n\nLocal:\n\nPlenary of the Federal Senate\n\nLegislative Action:\n\nThe d eadline for amending the matter ended at 2 pm on 06/09/2021. Amendments No s. 2 to 31 were received. | See the procedure\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg .br/sdleg-getter/documento?dm=8978336&\;ts=1721927155848&\;dispositi on=inline\n\nIdentification:\n\nSeparate amendments\n\nAuthor:\n\nFederal Senate\n\nDate:\n\n09/06/2021\n\nDescription/Syllabus\n\n-\n\nLocal:\n\nPl enary of the Federal Senate\n\nhttps://legis.senado.leg.br/sdleg-getter/do cumento?dm=8978350&\;ts=1721927154679&\;disposition=inline\n\nLEGAL DOCUMENT URL- all content within \, which is more than listed\n\nhttps://w ww25.senado.leg.br/web/atividade/materias/-/materia/139338\n\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12082-black-1-percent-ha ve-to-lead-by-example-in-uncomfortable-places-economic-corner/\n\n\n\n PRI OR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/600-economic-corner-2 8-11232025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/e vents/event/628-economic-corner-30-01202026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARI ES\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n the problem with @Pioneer1 position is in the past of the usa the black 1% supported the underground\, the bl ack 1% were keys in the many Black DOSers going back to Africa through the ir own minimal means\, the black 1% helped financed the travel and activit ies of the civil rights movement leaders like mlk jr. \n\n\n\n The black 1% has always existed\, many black loyalists and some black rebels were bl ack 1% who owned businesses. So history disproves white power as having th e potency he suggest. Don't tell me black 1% were able to help black peopl e in the 1800s when black pregnant women were being hung for sport by whit es but now in 2025\, the great mind shackle exist. The future isn't about returning to the past\, but history does have value\, and I think the mode rn black 1% who have a better environment than any time before in usa or b ritish colonial history \, have no excuse to lead by positive + better exa mple. Black business owners circa 1865 in south carolina were willing to d efy white people by having black schools when white people\, pre KKK \, we re going from black town to black town burning them down to the ground. \ n\n\n\n Fellas\, they got to do better and in all earnest \, if they don't want to help\, I say\, call them out on it. I don't have a problem with w ealthy blacks not helping black folk if said black 1% can be honest about it\, tfi the 99% of black people can be honest about it. . Lets call it li ke it is\, a minority of our forebears were willing to help the white peop le fighting the englsih\, who were enslaving us. So it isn't odd that some black people are willing to help whites over black people in the usa.. Bu t... again\, call it like it is.\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251130 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:MidnightHour 2026 year begin art Challenge NOTE: NEVER START ED DTSTAMP:20251206T172634Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:610-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n https://www.tumblr.com/communities/midni ght-hour/post/802204635398111232/midnighthour-2026-year-begin-art-challeng e?source=share\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n INFO\n\n\n\n Dear Midnight Hour members. \n\n\n\n As we have three types of members\, three challenges exist\, fina l date of submission for each is Jan 3rd 2026\, the challenge only occurs with five or more entries\, the prize for each is Tumblr Premium or a comm ission of equal monetary value:\n\n\n\n Literary- make a poem based on one BLKTouch film\, name the film\, and post entry in this community[you can post outside as well\, but to participate post in this community]\n\n\n\n Illustrative- make an illustration based on on BLKTouch film\, name the fi lm\, and post entry in this community[you can post outside as well\, but t o participate post in this community]\n\n\n\n Photographic- make a photogr aphic manipulation based on one BLKTouch film\, name the film\, and post e ntry in this community[you can post outside as well\, but to participate p ost in this community]\n\n\n\n Final Date of Submission Jan 3rd 2026\n\n\n \n EXAMPLES OF BLKTOUCH imagery and content\n\n\n\n https://www.tumblr.com /communities/midnight-hour?tab=recent&\;tagged=blktouch\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n MEMBERS\n\n\n\n @richardmurrayhumblr \; @revcleo \; @soogie220 \; @bl acknprettyincloudcity \; @voydess \; @weoutheretoo \; @truthhurtz81 \; @be troit \; @yellowflowerevythinks \; @valermorghulis \; @iridescentairess \; @by-april-march \; @sexy-gummi \; @lucidaquarian \; @pixelhotsauce \; @la sergunsandcongodrums \; @vampirepyramidscheme \; @kingkeme \; @dreyvisiona ry \; @noisilypersistentschism \; @psycheternal \; @sapphirescrolls \; @ju icyfruiit8 \; @spikes-123 \; @qtcomicsblog \; @msixelaa \; @kiratheartist \; @wednesdayxmourning \; @annasleffer \; @0ne0nlylarry \; @pangeasgarden \; @musashden \; @melaninmoney \; \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260103 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Midnight Hour PeriExchange NOTE: NEVER STARTED DTSTAMP:20251206T171514Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:609-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n At the end of 2025\, when I look at the midnighthour comm unity [ linked below] which is designed for all PReto\, Negro\, Habshi\, K alo [of india]\, Schwartz\, Noir\, Kokuchin\, Negrito [indigenous of south asia]\, Australian Aboriginal\, Blacks of Jamaica/Haiti/or anywhere in gr eater west indies\, Blacks of Ghana/Nigeria/South Africa/ or anywhere in g reater Nubia [commonly called Africa or Libya or Ethiopia]\, Black America ns\,  or other terms related to the phenotypical group commonly called a term meaning Black artist of mature/erotic/not safe work work/ or similar art I see a need for another way of existence\, as activity has lessened.  \n\n\n\n And so it occurred to me \, we have have erotic adult art excha nges\, like secret santa art exchanges. \n\n\n\n And so the Midnight Hour PeriExchange was born. As this is the first it will grow in quality over time. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Members have to provide the following\, before January 6th 2026  to participate\n\n\n\n What artstyle will you use[liter ature{poetry or prose}/illustration{pencil/digital/ink}/photography{you ar e provided a photograph and you edit it or take a photo of it and edit it }]?\n\n\n\n What character do you want to have made[please provide any ref erences- note below]? \n\n\n\n What artstyle do you want said character t o be made in[literary{poetry or prose}/illustration{ink/colored pencil}/ph otography{must provide the photograph}]?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n With 33 member s that is 16 pairs\, but with varying art styles and small number \, once two pairs are possible I will start. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LIST OF PERIEXCH ANGE NOTES [possible # of pairs=?]\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LIST OF PAIRS\n\n\n\ n MEMBERS AT THIS TIME\n\n\n\n @richardmurrayhumblr \; @revcleo \; @soogi e220 \; @blacknprettyincloudcity \; @voydess \; @weoutheretoo \; @truthhur tz81 \; @betroit \; @yellowflowerevythinks \; @valermorghulis \; @iridesce ntairess \; @by-april-march \; @sexy-gummi \; @lucidaquarian \; @pixelhots auce \; @lasergunsandcongodrums \; @vampirepyramidscheme \; @kingkeme \; @ dreyvisionary \; @noisilypersistentschism \; @psycheternal \; @sapphirescr olls \; @juicyfruiit8 \; @spikes-123 \; @qtcomicsblog \; @msixelaa \; @kir atheartist \; @wednesdayxmourning \; @annasleffer \; @0ne0nlylarry \; @pan geasgarden \; @musashden \; @melaninmoney \; \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NOTES\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MIDNIGHT HOUR\n\n\n\n https://www.tumblr.com/communities/ midnight-hour\n\n\n\n MIDNIGHT HOUR POST\n\n\n\n https://www.tumblr.com/co mmunities/midnight-hour/post/802205255136886784/midnight-hour-periexchange ?source=share\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n THE PERIHELION 2026\n\n\n\n https://aalbc .com/tc/events/event/608-perihelion-2026/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMPREHENDING PERIHELION + APHELION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/607-perih elion-aphelion-explanation/\n\n\n\n OLDEST KNOWN KEMET MAP\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turin_Papyrus_Map\n\n\n\n OLD WORLD MAP LIST\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_world_maps\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260103 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Of Japan and the USA DTSTAMP:20260101T232136Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:621-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n THE FOLLOWING IS A DIALOG STEMMED BY OTHERS\n\n\n\n CITAT ION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12226-the-strike-on-nigeria/#findCo mment-78966\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  Happy 2026 all\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD  \n\n\n\n \n 3 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Those nations wer e stable before the US &\; NATO started protecting them.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n Japan jumped into some sh8t they had no business during W WII.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n As a consolation for dropping them tha ngs (nuclear bombs)\, the US felt obligated to rebuild and make Japan an a lly.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n The relationship between the US &\ ; Japan has been fruitful for many decades now. I'm sure brotha @richardmu rray would disagree.😁\n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1 is correct that the cold war alliance the usa made with japan/western european countr ies/ or others was based on a strategy\, the usa provides financial assist ance while said countries international allegiance went to the usa's milit aristic agenda and not the soviet union's especially in the last century.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But he is wrong to suggest the USA protects these count ries\, the USA didn't and doesn't. We have the hindsight of history to see the truth. The Soviet Union was never an external actor. The soviet union never had the resources to make a grand push against the usa's seven flee ts. But the soviet union always had potential philosophical allies in vari ous countries in the world. Nippon was actually not going to be rebuilt by the usa until japanese communist not financially supported by the soviet union were gaining or had the majority of popular momentum in japan and th e usa feared if china + japan go communist then the USA wouldn't have an e arly strike position. So the usa then did what it did everywhere in humani ty at the end of the second white european imperial war SWEIW\, commonly c alled world war 2\, and that is support the various financial wealthy  ca ste in a country to keep the fiscal poor in said country down and not comm unist. you see this everywhere. The usa knew it could work cause that is w hat happened after the end of the war between the states. The truth is\, l ike the rich japanese/germans/french/italians/argentineans/chinese who bec ame the taiwanese/and others who were all financially broken after the SWE IW and were able to quell fiscally poor japanese/germans/french/italians/a rgentineans and others who had huge non fiscal capitalistic movements. the rich whites of the south after the war between the states were broken and the usa government supported southern fiscally wealthy whites to lord ove r the black southern populace\, which at that time was over 90% of the bla ck populace of the usa which also had a non fiscal capitalistic philosophy in it. \n\n\n\n As miyazaki correctly points out in \"Grave Of The Firef lies\" fiscally poor japanese who suffered in nippon during the war and ha d to deal with white statian bullying after then watched from the rubble a s the fiscally wealthy japanese who were the primary supporters of the jap anese imperial machine and were broke were funded by the usa to keep down the popular socialist movement in japan which besides being socialist was more importantly\, anti usa. And this was done everywhere\, in france/ital y/nigeria/congo- poor lumumba whose crime wasn't opposing fiscal capitalis m but wanting to actually run a country on even fiscal capitalistic princi ples which the usa could never allow/argentina/brasil/a long list. So to s uggest the usa protected other countries is an insult to history. None of what I just said is fantasy. We talk of the vietnam war but again\, what r eally happened. Ho chi minh won the election \, people forget this. Ho chi minh didn't talk about attacking the usa or france\, but he wasn't going to be an ally of the usa like a mobuto or suharto or the rest of the croni es all throughout humanity whom the usa militaristically supported by kill ing their rivals and providing them money just so the masses of people und er them can be fiscally poor and suffer\, thus aiding usa dominance. So th e usa then attacked vietnam and the very profitable vietnam war happened\, which damaged vietnam in many ways\, far beyond money. So... the usa is n ot a protector and it is a historical insult to suggest it. \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n As for greatness\, I don't think pioneer or me or you have a decent definition to what makes any government great. Western Europe and Japan w ere arguably more stable or self sufficient before the SWEIW. From a milit aristic perspective all were greater before SWEIW. As for \"ideal\" well\, Pioneer is speaking in the 250th anniversary of the usa as a member of GI Joe. Saying another country is ideal when it is enslaved to the one you l ive in is... well... I don't communicate like that. I have always hoped ev en as a child that Nippon be free of the usa. If I was from Nippon I would hate that another country has a massive military base in my country. You are not free until you can defend yourself. It is that simple. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Profd I concur to you\, I do not oppose your first position con cerning stability. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But I oppose your position about j apan's activities during the SWEIW. All governments of power would and wil l reach to conquer\, it is the way of power\, to want more. It is inevitab le. Nippon's flaw wasn't getting into SWEIW\, it was pearl harbor\, and th e greater overreach. Before pearl harbor Nippon had taken over\, Korea/nor thern China/northern pacific islands/coast of southern china\, had half of sakhalin island. JApan had tripled its size. Like Germany in Europe\, bef ore the usa got in the war\, each had achieved a massive growth in territo ry absent the bureaucracy or management to handle. Nippon's problem like a ll empires\, including the usa\,  is not knowing when to let go. When to realize you don't need to keep going. Napoleon did this. Napolean lost aga inst haiti or kemet before his european adventures. So he knew about lost\ , but after taking over all of Europe outside england and european russia and european ottoman empire  he chose to make a grand campaign to russia which was overreach and like all other empires met his inevitable doom. Ja pan didn't know when to stop\, bullies rarely do. Temujin\, Genghis Khan \ , knew when to stop\, so it can happen\, but it is rare. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n And as I said the USA didn't rebuild Nippon for the nuclear bombs\, it is historical fact the usa had no plans on rebuilding Nippon until the pe ople of Nippon went philosophically opposed to the usa and the usa needed a big military base to contain the communist world so to speak\, it was no t out of consolation. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Well... I concur and oppose the relationship between the usa and japan has been fruitful. It is both answ ers. The relationship is bearing positive fruit concerning the usa's needs . the usa in japan got a very willing financial ally\, Remember\, even tho ught white european western europe as a region has wealth\, japan as a sin gle country was wealtheir than any country in western europe including ger many. That says a lot. The japanese sinfully accepted that terrible financ ial deal of making cars in the usa to sell to the usa market\, which was g reat for the usa cause it allowed the usa labor market\, which was being f ailed by domestic firms\,  to get boost of labor that shouldn't be in the usa. \n\n\n\n And this is why I say\, it was barren\, a negative fruit\, concerning Japan's needs. Japan didn't do anything wrong being financiall y efficient. The USA has over ninety percent market lead in the automotive /electronics/agricultural  global markets at the end of the SWEIW\, commo nly called WW2. Why did the usa lose these things? Wasn't black peoples fa ult. white people control all industries in the usa. The big firms in the usa all employ graduates to all the ivy league schols\, supposedly the bes t of the best\, so why lose market share? why? cause the ivy league school s are educationally as important as social networking important. The firms in the usa have such a long history of abusing black people and taking ad vantage of native americans that in any even financial setting they fail\, and thus germany/japan/china/russia/italy/brasil all overcame huge market disadvantages with efficiency true quality.  But\, the USA made Japan pa y terribly for each success. Japan should had called in that debt they bou ght years ago. and I argue never have bought it in the first place. Japan should never have derailed their earned domestic labor growth by giving jo bs to usa autoworkers. Japan should had fought to make militaristic agreem ents with china+ korea+ russia to get the usa out of their country but did n't for various reasons. so... \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The usa /japan relatio nship has been positive for the usa and negative for japan. It isn't that it hasn't been fruitful but that fruit is a one way street. The USA has al ways meddled very negatively in Nippon to manipulate that country and thos e who run it\, the kawaakis and et cetera who lost it all after SWEIW and were made wealthy by the usa artificially \, post SWEIW have been the stoo lies for the USA they were paid to be. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260101 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:My Questions to BisBiswas of deviantart DTSTAMP:20250905T044033Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:493-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n My Questions to BisBiswas of deviantart\n\n\n\n Bisbiswas \n\n https://www.deviantart.com/bisbiswas\n\n\n\n Save the date: QA with B isBiswas\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/kovowolf/journal/Save-the-date-QA- with-BisBiswas-1236705071\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY COMMENT\n\n I looked from the back of your gallery and I noticed many of your landscapes were of nig ht\, I think sacred dragon was your first strong daylight landscape\, as w ell as the first that suggest in artistic style an east asian landscape st ructure... I can be wrong of course  I know that strong contrasts between light and dark\, chiaroscuro when done effectively\, in various ways\,   are always potent to attract viewers and to make inspiring artworks. \n\n The darkness isn't empty. \n\n\n\n Now to my questions. Which I will pro vide a partial answer to\, just to spark thoughts to whomever may read. \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1. In your experience what differences are near constan t between how viewers react or comment to landscapes with small dark figur es in the light compared to landscapes with small light figures in the dar k? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 2. What are your favorite examples of landscape ph otography in film\, animated or live action or claymation or puppetry or o ther?\n\n For mosaic\, a local black artist did something that has been in my family for many years\, i love looking at it. For animated films\, I w ill say the set of landscape scenes in entire studio ghibli films selectio n with my favorite among them Mononoke\, sorry Howl\, Triplettes of Bellev ille\, watership down.  For claymation I will say\, fantastic mr fox\, th e black wolf scene\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELqdLvz60zA\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  the underground activities scene with bogus buns an d beans stores above\, and the landscaping art from Mrs. Fox For live acti on\, I select Daughters of the Dust 1991 I still think the only film that covers the geechee lands like that\, Lawrence of Arabia 1962 the desert I have luckily been to the edge of the Sahara\, it is beautiful \, and the P eter JAckson Lord of the Rings trilogy. A commercial entry at the end but they present new zealand brilliantly. \n\n\n\n As a writer I am very inte rested in the next two answers. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 3. What is your favor ite literary description of a landscape in any prose style\, no poetry or song\, in any language ? \n\n I love a miracle of rare device from Ray Br adbury\, remember\, I wish I could see Xanadu \n\n Text for those who may not have read\n\n https://thephilosopher.net/bredberi/wp-content/uploads/ sites/429/2025/03/A-Miracle-of-Rare-Device-Ray-Bradbury.pdf\n\n\n\n if not available try this one\n\n\n\n https://1drv.ms/b/c/ea9004809c2729bb/Ef2lE mutxDRNvx0JC3PbvuMBY6S0Dti-SBtdfyMOyq3iXA?e=9q8Mqg\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n TEXT EMBEDDED\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \nA Miracle of Rare Device\, Ray Bradbury \ n\nA Miracle of Rare Device \n\nOn a day neither too mellow nor too tart\, too hot nor too cold\, the ancient tin lizzie came over the desert hill t raveling at commotion speed. The vibration of the various armored parts of the car caused road-runners to spurt up in floury bursts of dust. \n\nGi la monsters\, lazy displays of Indian jewelry\, took themselves out of the way. Like an infestation\, the Ford clamored and dinned away into the dee ps of the wilderness. \n\nIn the front seat\, squinting back\, Old Will Ba ntlin shouted\, \"Turn off!\" \n\nBob Greenhill spun-swung the lizzie off behind a billboard. Instantly both men turned. Both peered over the crump led top of their car\, praying to the dust they had wheeled up on the air. \"Lay down! Lay low! Please!\" And the dust blew slowly down. Just in tim e. \n\n\"Duck!\" \n\nA motorcycle\, looking as if it had burned through al l nine rings of hell\, thundered by. Hunched over its oily handlebars\, a hurricane figure\, a man with a creased and most unpleasant face\, goggled and sun-deviled\, leaned on the wind. Roaring bike and man flung away dow n the road. \n\nThe two old men sat up in their lizzie\, exhaling. \n\n\" So long\, Ned Hopper\,\" said Bob Greenhill. \n\n\"Why?\" said Will Bant lin. \"Why's he always tailing us?\" \n\n\"Willy-William\, talk sense\,\" said Greenhill. \"We're his luck\, his Judas goats. Why should he let us g o\, when trailing us around the land makes him rich and happy and us poor and wise?\" \n\nThe two men looked at each other\, half in\, half out thei r smiles. What the world hadn't done to them\, thinking about it had. They had enjoyed \nthirty years of nonviolence together\, in their case meanin g non-work. \"I feel a harve’s coming on\,\" Will would say\, and they'd clear out of town \nbefore the wheat ripened. Or\, \"Those apples are rea dy to fall!\" So they'd stand back about three hundred miles so as not to get hit on the head. \n\nNow Bob Greenhill slowly let the car\, in a magni ficent controlled detonation\, drift back out on the road. \n\n\"Willy\, friend\, don't be discouraged.\" \n\n\"I've been through 'discouraged\,' \ "said Will. \"I'm knee deep in 'accepting.\" \n\n\"Accepting what?\" \n\ n\"Finding a treasure chest of canned fish one day and no can opener. Find ing a thousand can openers next day and no fish.\" \n\nBob Greenhill liste ned to the motor talking to itself like an old man under the hood\, soundi ng like sleepless nights and rusty bones and well-worn dreams. \"Our bad l uck can't last forever\, Willy.\" \n\n\"No\, but it sure tries. You and me sell ties and who's across the street ten cents cheaper?\" \n\n\"Ned Hopp er.\" \n\n\"We strike gold in Tonopah and who registers the claim first?\" \n\n\"Old Ned.\" \n\n\"Haven't we done him a lifetime of favors? Aren't we overdue for something just ours\, that never winds up his?\" \n\n\"Pru ne's ripe\, Willy\,\" said Robert\, driving calmly. \"Trouble is\, you\, m e\, Ned never really decided what we wanted. We've run through all the gho st towns\, see something\, grab. Ned sees and grabs\, too. He don't want i t\, he just wants it because we want it. \n\nHe keeps it 'till we're out of sight\, then tears it up and hang-dogs after us for more litter. The da y we really know what we want is the day Ned \ngets scared of us and runs off forever. Ah\, hell.\" Bob Greenhill breathed the clear fresh-water ai r running in morning stream over the windshield. \"It's good anyway. That sky. Those hills. The desert and ... His voice faded. Will Bantlin glanced over. \"What's wrong?\" \n\n\"For some reason ...\" Bob Greenhill's eyes rolled\, his tanned hands turned the wheel slow\, \"we got to ... pull off ... the road.\" \n\nThe lizzie bumped on the dirt shoulder. They drove do wn in a dusty wash and up out and suddenly along a dry pen of land overloo king the desert. Bob Greenhill\, looking hypnotized\, put out his hand to turn the ignition key. The old man under the hood stopped complaining abou t the insomnia\, and slept. \n\n\"Now\, why did you do that?\" asked Will Bantlin. \n\nBob Greenhill gazed at the wheel in his suddenly intuitive h ands. \n\n\"Seemed as if I had to. Why?\" He blinked up. He let his bones settle and his eyes grow lazy. \"Maybe only to look at the land out there. Good. All of it been here a billion of years. \n\n\"Except for that city \,\" said Will Bantlin. \n\n\"City?\" said Bob. He turned to look and th e desert was there and the distant hills the color of lions\, and far out beyond\, suspended in a sea of warm morning sand and light\, was a kind of floating image\, a hasty sketch of a city. \"That can't be Phoenix\,\" sa id Bob Greenhill \"Phoenix is ninety miles off. No other big place around. \" \n\nWill Bantlin rumpled the map on his knees\, searching. \"No. No oth er town.\" \n\n\"It's coming clearer!\" cried Bob Greenhill\, suddenly. \n \nThey both stood absolutely straight up in the car and stared over the du sty windshield\, the wind whining softly over their craggy faces. \n\n\"Wh y\, you know what that is\, Bob? A mirage! Sure\, that's t it! Light ray s just right\, atmosphere\, sky\, temperature. City's the other side of th e horizon somewhere. Look how it jumps\, fades in and out. It's reflected against that sky up there like a mirror and comes down here where we can s ee it! A mirage\, by Gosh!\" \n\n\"That big\,-\" Bob Greenhill measured t he city as it grew taller\, clearer in a shift of wind\, a soft far whirla bout of sand. \"The granddaddy of them all! That's not Phoenix. Not Santa Fe or Alamogordo\, no. Let's see. It's not Kansas City.\" \n\n\"That's to o far off\, anyway.\" \n\n\"Yeah\, but look at those buildings. Big! Tall est in the country. Only one place like that in the world.\" \n\n\"You don 't mean-New York?\" \n\nWill Bantlin nodded slowly and they both stood in the silence looking out at the mirage. And the city was tall and shining n ow and almost perfect in the early-morning light. \n\n\"Oh\, my\,\" said B ob\, after a long while. \"That's fine.\" \n\n\"It is\,\" said Will. \n\n \"But\,\" said Will\, a moment later\, whispering\, as if afraid the city might hear\, \"what's it doing three thousand miles from home\, here in th e middle of Nowhere\, Arizona?\" \n\nBob Greenhill gazed and spoke. \"Will y\, friend\, never question nature. It just sits there and minds its knitt ing. Radio waves\, rainbows\, northern lights\, all that\, heck\, let's ju st say a great big picture got took of New York City and is being develope d here\, three thousand miles away on a mom when we need cheering\, just f or us.\" \n\n\"Not just us.\" Will peered over the side of the car. \"Look !\" There in the floury dust lay innumerable crosshatchings\, diagonals\, fascinating symbols printed out in a quiet tapestry. \"Tire marks\,\" sai d Bob Greenhill. \"Hundreds of them. Thousands. Lots of cars pulled off he re.\" \n\n\"For what\, Bob?\" Will Bantlin leaped from the car\, landed on the earth\, tromped it\, turned on it\, knelt to touch it with a swift an d suddenly trembling hand. \"For what\, for what? To see the mirage?\" \n \n\"Yes\, sir! To see the mirage!\" \n\n\"Boy\, howdy!\" Will stood up\, thrummed his voice like a motor. \n\n\"Brrrummm!\" He turned an imaginar y wheel. He ran along a tire track.\"Brrrumm! Eeeee! Brakes on! Robert\, B ob\, you know what we got here? Look east! Look west. This is the only po int in miles you can pull off the highway and sit and stare your eyes out! \" \n\n\"Sure\, it's nice people have an eye for beauty-\" \n\n\"Beauty\, my socks! Who owns this land?\" \n\n\"The state\, I reckon.\" \n\n\"You r eckon wrong! You and me! We set up camp\, register a claim\, improve the property\, and the law reads it’s ours. Right?\" \n\n\"Hold on!\" Bob G reenhill was staring out at the desert and the strange city there. \"You m ean you want to homestead a mirage?\" \n\n\"Right\, by zingo! Homestead a mirage!\" \n\nRobert Greenhill stood down and wandered around the car look ing at the tire-treaded earth. \"Can we do that?\" \"Do it? Excuse my dust !\" In an instant Will Bantlin was pounding tent pegs into the soil\, stri nging twine. \"From here to here\, and here to here\, it's a gold mine\, w e pan it\, it's a cow we milk\, it's a lakeful of money\, we swim in it!\" \n\nRummaging in the car\, he heaved out cases and brought forth a large cardboard which had once advertised cheap cravats. This\, reversed\, he p ainted over with a brush and began lettering. \n\n\"Willy\,\" said his fr iend\, \"nobody's going to pay to see any darned old-\" \n\n\"Mirage? Put up a fence\, tell folks they can't see a thing\, and that's just their it ch. There!\" He held up the sign. \n\nSECRET VIEW MIRAGE-THE MYSTERIOUS C ITY \n25 cents per car. \nMotorbikes a dime. \n\n\"Here comes a car. Watc h!\" \n\n\"William!\" \n\nBut Will\, running\, lifted the sign. \n\n\"Hey ! Look! Hey!\" The car roared past\, a buff ignoring the matador. \n\nBo b shut his eyes so as not to see Will's smile wiped away. \n\nBut then-a m arvelous sound. The squeal of brakes. The car was backing up. Will was lea ping forward\, waving\, pointing. \"Yes\, sir! Yes\, ma'am! Secret View M irage! The Mysterious City! Drive right here!\" \n\nThe treadmarks in t he simple dust became numerous\, and then\, quite suddenly\, innumerable. \n\nA great ball of heat-wafted dust hung over the dry peninsula where in a vast sound of arrivals\, with braked tires\, slammed doors\, stilled en gines\, the cars of many kinds from many places came and took their places in a line. \n\nAnd the people in the cars were as different as people ca n be who come from four directions but are drawn in a single moment by a s ingle thing\, all talking at first\, but growing still at last at what the y saw out in the desert. \n\nThe wind blew softly about their faces\, flu ttering the hair of the women\, the open shirt collars of the men. They sa t in their cars for a long time or they stood out on the rim of the earth\ , saying nothing\, and at last one by one turned to go. \n\nAs the first c ar drove back out past Bob and Will\, the woman in it nodded happily. \"Th anks! Why\, it is just like Rome!\" \"Did she say Rome or home?\" asked Will. \n\nAnother car wheeled toward the exit. \"Yes\, sir!\" The driver reached out to shake Bob's hand. \"Just looking made me feel I could speak French!\" \"French!\" cried Bob. Both stepped forward swiftly as the thi rd car made to leave. An old man sat at the wheel\, shaking his head. \"Ne ver seen the like. I mean to say\, fog and all\, Westminster Bridge\, bett er than a postcard\, and Big Ben off there in the distance. How do you do it? God bless. Much obliged.\" \n\nBoth men\, disquieted\, let the old ma n drive away\, then slowly wheeled to look out along their small thrust of land toward the growing simmer of noon. \"Big Ben?\" said Will Bantlin. \"Westminster Bridge? Fog?\" \n\nFaintly\, faintly\, they thought they he ard\, they could not be sure\, they cupped their ears\, wasn't that a vast clock striking three times off there beyond land's rim? Weren't foghorns calling after boats and boat horns calling down on some lost river? \n\ n\"Almost speak French?\" whispered Robert. \"Big Ben? Home? Rome? Is that Rome out there\, Will?\" \n\nThe wind shifted. A broiling surge of wa rm air tumbled up\, plucking changes on an invisible harp. The fog almost solidified into gray stone monuments. The sun almost built a golden statue on top of a breasted mount of fresh-cut snow marble. \n\n\"How----\" sai d William Bantlin\, \"how could it change? How could it be four\, five ci ties? Did we tell anyone what city they'd see? No. Well\, then\, Bob\, w ell!\" \n\nNow they fixed their gaze on their last customer\, who stood a lone at the rim of the dry peninsula. Gesturing his friend to silence\, Ro bert moved silently to stand to one side and behind their paying visitor. \n\nHe was a man in his late forties with a vital\, sunburned face\, good\ , warm\, clear-water eyes\, fine cheekbones\, a receptive mouth. He looked as if he had traveled a long way around in his life\, over many deserts\, in search of a particular oasis. \n\nHe resembled those architects found wandering the rubbled streets below their buildings as the iron\, steel a nd glass go soaring up to block out\, fill in an empty piece of the sky. H is face was that of such builders who suddenly see reared up before them o n the instant\, from horizon to horizon\, the perfect implementation of an old\, old dream. Now\, only half aware of William and Robert beside him\, the stranger spoke at last in a quiet\, an easy\, a wondrous voice\, sayi ng what he saw\, telling what he felt: \n\n\"In Xanadu ... \" \n\n\"What ?\" asked William. \n\nThe stranger half smiled\, kept his eyes on the mi rage and quietly\, from memory\, recited. \n\n\"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan \nA stately pleasure-dome decree \nWhere Alph\, the sacred river\, ran \ nThrough caverns measureless to man\, \nDown to a sunless sea.\" \n\nHis voice spelled the weather and the weather blew about the other two men and made them more still. \n\n\"So twice five miles of fertile ground \nWith walls and towers were girdled round \nAnd here were gardens bright with s inuous rills\, \nWhere blossomed many an incense-bearing tree. \nAnd her e were forests ancient as the hills\, \nEnfolding sunny spots of greenery .\" \n\nWilliam and Robert looked off at the mirage\, and what the strange r said was there\, in the golden dust\, some fabled Middle East or Far Eas t clustering of minarets\, domes\, frail towers risen up in a magnificent sift of pollen from the Gobi\, a spread of river stone baked bright by the fertile Euphrates\, Palmyra not yet ruins\, only just begun\, newly minte d\, then abandoned by the departing years\, now shimmered by heat\, now th reatening to blow away forever. \n\nThe stranger\, his face transformed\, beautified by his vision\, finished it out: \n\n\"It was a miracle of rar e device\, \nA sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice\" \n\nAnd the strang er grew silent. \n\nWhich made the silence in Bob and Will all the deeper. \n\nThe stranger fumbled with his wallet\, his eyes wet. \n\n\"Thank you \, thank you.\" \n\n\"You already paid us\,\" said William. \n\n\"If I had more\, you'd get it all.\" He gripped William's hand\, left a five dollar bill in it\, jumped into his car\, looked for a last time out at the mira ge\, then sat down\, started the car\, idled it with wonderful case at fac e glowing\, eyes peaceful\, drove away. \n\nRobert walked a few steps afte r the car\, stunned. Then William suddenly exploded\, flung his arms up\, whooped\, kicked his feet\, wheeled around. \n\n\"Hallelujah! Fat of the land! Full dinner plate! New squeaky shoes! Look at my fistfuls!\" \n\n But Robert said\, \"I don't think we should take it.\" \n\nWilliam stopp ed dancing. \"What?\" \n\nRobert looked steadily at the desert. \"We can 't ever really own it. It's way out there. Sure\, we can homestead the lan d\, but ... We don’t even know what that thing is.\" \n\n\"Why\, it's Ne w York and-\" \"Ever been to New York?\" \"Always wanted. Never did.\" \n\ n\"Always wanted\, never did.\" Robert nodded slowly. \"Same as them. You heard: Paris. Rome. London. And this last mate Xanadu. Willy\, Willy\, we got hold of something strange an big here. I'm scared we don't do right by it.\" \n\n\"Well\, we're not keeping anyone out\, are we?\"\, \"Who knows ? Might be a quarter's too much for some. It don't seem right\, a natural thing handled by unnatural rules. Look and tell me I'm wrong.\" \n\nWilli am looked. And the city was there like the first city he had seen as a boy when his mother took him on a train across a long meadow of heath early o ne morning and the city rose up head by head\, tower by tower to look at h im\, to watch him co near. It was that fresh\, that new\, that old\, that frightening\, that wonderful. \n\n\"I think\,\" said Robert\, \"we should take just enough to buy gas for a week\, put the rest of the money in the first poor-box we come to. That mirage is a clear river running\, and peo ple coming by thirsty. If we're wise\, we dip one cup\, drink it cool in t he heat of the day and go. If we stop\, build dams\, try to own the whole river ...\" \n\nWilliam\, peering out through the whispering dust wind\, t ried to relax\, accept. \"If you say so.\" \n\n\"I don't. The wilderness a ll around says.\" \n\n\"Well\, I say different!\" \n\nBoth men jumped and spun about. Half up the slope stood a motorcycle. Sitting it\, rainbowed with oil\, eyes goggled\, grease masking his stubbly cheeks\, was a man of familiar arrogance and free-running contempt. \n\n\"Ned Hopper!\" \n\n Ned Hopper smiled his most evilly benevolent smile\, unbraked the cycle an d glided the rest of the way down to halt by his old friends. \"You----\,' said Robert. \n\n\"Me! Me! Me!\" Ned Hopper honked his cycle horn four times\, laughing loud\, head back. \"Me!\" \n\n\"Shut up!\" cried Robert. \"Bust it like a mirror.\" \n\n\"Bust what like a mirror?\" William\, cat ching Robert's concern\, glanced apprehensively out beyond at the desert. \n\nThe mirage flurried\, trembled\, misted away\, then hung itself like a tapestry once more on the air. \n\n\"Nothing out there! What you guys up to?\" Ned peered down at the treadmarked earth. \"I was twenty miles on t oday when I realized you boys was hiding back behind. Says to myself\, tha t ain't like my buddies who led me to that goldmine in forty-seven\, lent me this cycle with a dice roll in fifty-five. All those years we help each other and now you got secrets from friend Ned. So I come back. Been up on that hill half the day\, spying.\" Ned lifted binoculars from his greasy jacket front. \"You know I can read lips. Sure!\" Saw all the cars run i n here\, the cash. Quite a show you’re running!\" \n\n\"Keep your voice down\,\" warned Robert. \"So long.\" \n\nNed smiled sweetly. \"Sorry to se e you go. But I surely do respect your getting off my property.\" \n\n\"Yo urs!\" Robert and William caught themselves and said in a trembling whispe r\, \"Yours?\" \n\nNed laughed. \"When I saw what you was up to\, I just c ycled into Phoenix. See this little bitty governmen’ paper sticking out my back pocket?\" \n\nThe paper was there\, neatly folded. \n\nWilliam put out his hand. \"Don't give him the pleasure\,\" said Robert. \n\nWilliam pulled his hand back. \"You want us to believe you filed a homestead claim ?\" \n\nNed shut up the smile inside his eyes. \"I do. I don't. Even if I was lying\, I could still make Phoenix on my bike quicker'n your jalopy.\" \n\nNed surveyed the land with his binoculars. \"So just put down all the money you earned from two this afternoon\, when I filed my claim\, from \ nwhich time on you was trespassing my land.\" \n\nRobert flung the coins i nto the dust. Ned Hopper glanced casually at the bright litter. \"The U.S. Government Mind. Hot dog\, nothing out there\, but dumb bunnies willing t o pay for it!\" \n\nRobert turned slowly to look at the desert. \"You do n't see nothing?\" \n\nNed snorted. \"Nothing\, and you know it!\" \n\n\ "But we do!\"\" cried William. \"We--\" \"William\,\" said Robert. \"But\, Bob!\" \n\n\"Nothing out there. Like he said.\" More cars were driving u p now in a great thrum of engines. \"Excuse\, gents\, got to mind the box office!\" \n\nNed strode off\, waving. \"Yes\, sir\, ma'am! This way! Cas h in advance!\" \n\n\"Why?\" William watched Ned Hopper run off yelling. \"Why are we letting him do this?\" \n\n\"Wait\,\" said Robert\, almost se renely. \"You'll see.\" \n\nThey got out of the way as a Ford\, a Buick an d an ancient Moon motored in. \n\nTwilight. On a hill about two hundred ya rds above the Mysterious City Mirage viewpoint\, William Bantlin and Rober t Greenhill fried and picked at a small supper\, hardly bacon\, mostly bea ns. From time to time\, Robert used some battered opera glasses on the sce ne below. \n\n\"Had thirty customers since we left this afternoon\,\" he observed. \"Got to shut down soon\, though. Only ten minutes of sun left.\ " \n\nWilliam stared at a single bean on the end of his fork. \"Tell me ag ain: Why? Why every time our luck is good\, Ned Hopper jumps out of the \ nearth.\" \n\nRobert sighed on the opera-glass lenses and wiped them on hi s cuff. \n\n\"Because\, friend Will\, we are the pure in heart. We shine w ith a light. And the villains of the world\, they see that light beyond th e hills and say\, \"Why\, now\, there's some innocent\, some sweet all-day sucker.\" And the villains come to warm their hands at us. I don't know what we can do about it\, except maybe put out the light.\" \n\n\"I wouldn 't want to do that.\" William brooded gently\, his palms to the fire. \"It 's just I was hoping this time was comeuppance time. A man like Ned Hopper \, living his white underbelly life\, ain't he about due for a bolt of lig htning?\" \n\n\"Due?\" Robert screwed the opera glasses tighter into his e yes. \"Why\, it just struck! Oh\, ye of little faith!\" William jumped u p beside him. They shared the glasses\, one lens each\, peering down. \"Lo ok!\" And William\, looking\, cried\, \"Peduncle Q. Mackinaw!\" \n\n\"Als o\, Gullable M. Crackers!\" \n\nFor\, far below\, Ned Hopper was stompin g around outside a car. People gesticulated at him. He handed them some mo ney. The car drove off. Faintly you could hear Ned's anguished cries. \n\n William gasped. \"He's giving money back! Now he almost hit that man ther e. The man shook his fist at him! Ned’s paid him back\, too! Look more fond farewells!\" \n\n\"Yah-hee!\" whooped Robert\, happy with his half of the glasses. Below\, all the cars were dusting away now. Old Ned did a vi olent kicking dance\, threw his goggles into the dust\, tore down the sign \, let forth a terrible oath. \n\n\"Dear me\,\" mused Robert. \"I'm glad I can't hear them words. Come on\, Willy!\" \n\nAs William Bantlin and Ro bert Greenhill drove back up to the Mysterious City turn-off\, Ned Hopper rocketed out in a screaming fury. \n\nBraying\, roaring on his cycle\, he hurled the painted cardboard through the air. The sign whistled up\, a boo merang. \n\nIt hissed\, narrowly missing Bob. Long after Ned was gone in his banging thunder\, the sign sank down and lay on the earth\, where Will iam picked \nit up and brushed it off. \n\nIt was twilight indeed now and the sun touching the far hills and the land quiet and hushed and Ned Hoppe r gone away\, and the two men alone in the abandoned territory in the thou sand-treaded dust\, looking out at the sand and the strange air. \n\n\"Oh\ , no...\" \n\n\"Yes\,\" said Robert. \n\nThe desert was empty in the pink -gold light of the set ting sun. The mirage was gone. A few dust devils wh irled and fell apart\, way out on the horizon\, but that was all. \n\nWill iam let out a huge groan of bereavement. \"He did it! Ned! Ned Hopper\, c ome back\, you! Oh\, damn it\, Ned\, you spoiled it all! Blast you to pe rdition!\" He stopped. \"Bob\, how can you stand there!\" \n\nRobert smil ed sadly. \"Right now I'm feeling sorry for Ned Hopper. He never saw what we saw. He never saw what anybody saw. He never believed for one second. A nd you know what? Disbelief is catching. It rubs off on people.\" \n\nWil liam searched the disinhabited land. \"Is that what happened?\" \n\n\"Who knows?\" Robert shook his head. \"One thing sure: when folks drove in here \, the city\, the cities\, the mirage\, whatever\, was there. But it's awf ul hard to see when people stand in your way. Without so much as moving\, Ned Hopper put his big hand across the sun. First thing you know\, theater 's closed for good.\" \n\n\"Can't we--\" William hesitated. \"Can't we ope n it up again?\" \n\n\"How? How do you bring a thing like that back?\" \n \nThey let their eyes play over the sand\, the hills\, the few long clouds \, the sky emptied of wind and very still. \"Maybe if we just look out the sides of our eyes\, not direct at it\, relax\, take it easy...\" \n\nThey both looked down at their shoes\, their hands\, the rocks at their feet\, anything. But at last William mourned\, \"Are we? Are we the pure in hea rt?\" \n\nRobert laughed just a little bit. \"Oh\, not like the kids who c ame through here today and saw anything they wanted to see\, and not like the big simple people born in the wheat fields and by God's grace wanderin g the world and will never grow up. We're neither the little children nor the big children of the world\, Willy\, but we are one thing: glad to be a live. We know the air mornings on the road\, how the stars go up and then down the sky. That villain\, he stopped being glad a long time ago. I hat e to think of him driving his cycle on the road the rest of the night\, th e rest of the year.\" \n\nAs he finished this\, Robert noticed that Willia m was sliding his eyes carefully to one side\, toward the desert. \n\nRobe rt whispered carefully\, \"See anything?\" \n\nA single car came down th e highway. The two men glanced at each other. A wild look of hope flashed in their eyes. But they could not quite bring themselves to fling up their hands and yell. They simply stood with the painted sign held in their arm s. \n\nThe car roared by. The two men followed it with their wistful eyes. \n\nThe car braked. It backed up. In it were a man\, a woman\, a boy\, a girl. \n\nThe man called out\, \"You closed for the night?\" William said\ , \"It's no use--\" Robert cut in \"He means\, no use giving us money! Las t customer of the day\, and family\, free! On the house!\" \"Thank you\, neighbor\, thank you!\" \n\nThe car roared out onto the viewpoint. William seized Robert's elbow. \n\n\"Bob\, what offs you? Disappoint those kids\ , that nice family?\" \"Hush up\,\" said Robert gently. \"Come on.\" \n\nT he kids piled out of the car. The man and his wife climbed slowly out into the sunset. The sky was gold and blue now\, and a bird sang somewhere in the fields of send and bon-pollen. \"Watch\,\" said Robert. \n\nAnd they m oved up to stand behind the family where it was lined up now to look out o ver the desert. \n\nWilliam held his breath. The man and wife squinted int o the twilight uneasily. The kids said nothing. Their eyes flexed and fill ed with a distillation of late sunlight. \n\nWilliam cleared his throat\, \"It's late. Uh--can't see too--\" The man was going to reply\, when the b oy said\, \"Oh\, we can see fine!\" \n\n\"Sure!\" The girl pointed. \"Ther e!\" The mother and father followed her gesture\, as if it might help\, an d it did. \n\n\"Lord\,\" said the woman\, \"for a moment I thought ... But now.. Yes\, there it is!\" The man read his wife's face\, saw a thing the re\, borrowed it and placed it on the land and in the air. \n\n\"Yes\,\" h e said\, at last \"Oh\, yes.\" William stared at them\, at the desert and then at Robert\, who smiled and nodded. \n\nThe faces of the father\, the mother\, the daughter\, the son were glowing now\, looking off at the des ert. \"Oh\,\" murmured the girl\, \"is it really there?\" \n\nAnd the fath er nodded\, his face bright with what he saw that was just within seeing a nd just beyond knowing. He spoke as if he stood alone in a great forest ch urch. \"Yes. And\, Lord\, it's beautiful.\" \n\nWilliam started to lift hi s head\, but Robert whispered\, \"Easy. It's coming. Don’t try. Easy\, W ill.\" And then William knew what to do. \n\n\"I..\" he said\, \"I am goi ng to go stand with the kids.\" \n\nAnd he walked slowly over and stood right behind the boy and the girl. \n\nHe stood for a long time there\, li ke a man between two warm fires on a cool evening\, and they warmed him an d he breathed easy and at last let his eyes drift up\, let his attention w ander easy out toward the twilight desert and the hoped-for city in the du sk. \n\nAnd there in the dust softly blown high from the land\, reassemble d on the wind into half-shapes of towers and spires and minarets\, was the mirage. \n\nHe felt Robert's breath on his neck\, close\, whispering\, ha lf talking to himself. \n\n\"It was a miracle of rare device\, \nA sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice \n\nAnd the city was there. And the sun se t and the first stars came out. \n\nAnd the city was very clear\, as Willi am heard himself repeat\, aloud or perhaps for only his secret pleasure\, \"It was a miracle of rare device...\" \n\nAnd they stood in the dark unti l they could not see. \n\n1962 \n\nThe end \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Video fro m the show\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkNGJiNkKJY\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\ n Kublai khan from Samuel Taylor Coleridge\n\n\n\n Kubla Khan\n\nBy Samuel Taylor Coleridge\nOr\, a vision in a dream. A Fragment.\n\nIn Xanadu did Kubla Khan\nA stately pleasure-dome decree:\nWhere Alph\, the sacred river \, ran\nThrough caverns measureless to man\n Down to a sunless sea.\nSo twice five miles of fertile ground\nWith walls and towers were girdled rou nd\;\nAnd there were gardens bright with sinuous rills\,\nWhere blossomed many an incense-bearing tree\;\nAnd here were forests ancient as the hills \,\nEnfolding sunny spots of greenery.\n\nBut oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted\nDown the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!\nA savage plac e! as holy and enchanted\nAs e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted\nBy woman wailing for her demon-lover!\nAnd from this chasm\, with ceaseless t urmoil seething\,\nAs if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing\,\n A mighty fountain momently was forced:\nAmid whose swift half-intermitted burst\nHuge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail\,\nOr chaffy grain bene ath the thresher’s flail:\nAnd mid these dancing rocks at once and ever\ nIt flung up momently the sacred river.\nFive miles meandering with a mazy motion\nThrough wood and dale the sacred river ran\,\nThen reached the ca verns measureless to man\,\nAnd sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean\;\nAnd ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far\nAncestral voices prophesying war! \n The shadow of the dome of pleasure\n Floated midway on the waves\;\ n Where was heard the mingled measure\n From the fountain and the cave s.\nIt was a miracle of rare device\,\nA sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!\n\n A damsel with a dulcimer\n In a vision once I saw:\n It wa s an Abyssinian maid\n And on her dulcimer she played\,\n Singing of M ount Abora.\n Could I revive within me\n Her symphony and song\,\n T o such a deep delight ’twould win me\,\nThat with music loud and long\,\ nI would build that dome in air\,\nThat sunny dome! those caves of ice!\nA nd all who heard should see them there\,\nAnd all should cry\, Beware! Bew are!\nHis flashing eyes\, his floating hair!\nWeave a circle round him thr ice\,\nAnd close your eyes with holy dread\nFor he on honey-dew hath fed\, \nAnd drunk the milk of Paradise.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 4. What is your fav orite literary description of a landscape in any poetic style\, songs are poetry? \n\n I admit I wish I knew better but America the beautiful from katharine lee bates is a really good one. \n\n for those who may not know \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_the_Beautiful\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n 5. A two part question\, first\, you can only pick one work of yours for the future to know about\, now pick the work\, please please link or stat e it\, Second name the person [thespian/elected official/ someone you know personally/ or other] you want to describe the work in audio recordings?  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 6. Name a landscape artists you adore\, adore define d as inspired you as a landscape artist\,  that is the least known\, can be alive or dead\, or from before the 1900s or on deviantart?\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/bisbiswas/art/Sacred-Dragon-751336918\n\ n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT REFERRAL\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/comm ents/1/1236705071/5233061725\n\n\n\n \n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250905 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:13th Amendment Certified JUNETEENTH DTSTAMP:20250205T140006Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:184-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n 13th amendment timeline. First the amendment was presente d.\n\n\n\n Two days later\, spurred partly in reaction to Sumner’s more radical proposal\, the Senate Judiciary Committee reported to the full Sen ate an abolition amendment combining the drafts by Ashley\, Wilson\, and H enderson. \n\n\n\n TEXT FROM [ https://web.archive.org/web/2006110716451 4/http://13thamendment.harpweek.com/asp/ViewArticleText.asp?url=content%3A %2F%2Fharpweek%2Ftitle[HW]%2Fvolume[1864]%2Fissue[0227]%23%2FTEI.2[1]%2Fte xt[1]%2Fbody[1]%2Fdiv1[10]%2Fdiv2[1]&\;pageIDs=|HW-1864-02-27-0130|& \;title=&\;returnUrl=http%3A%2F%2F13thamendment.harpweek.com%2FHubPages %2FCommentaryPage.asp%3FCommentary%3D05ProposalPassage&\;returnTitle=Co ngressional+Proposals+and+Senate+Passage ] \n\n\n\n Referral\n\n\n\n [ ht tps://13thamendment.harpweek.com/hubpages/CommentaryPage.asp?Commentary=05 ProposalPassage  \; archived { https://web.archive.org/web/20061107164011 /http://13thamendment.harpweek.com/hubpages/CommentaryPage.asp?Commentary= 05ProposalPassage }]\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Harper's Weekly 02/27/1864\n\n \n\ n CONGRESS.\n\n \n\n Senate.—February 10. Mr. Trumbull\, from the Judi- \n\n ciary Committee\, reported adversely to the joint resolu-\n\n tion fo r amending the Constitution just proposed by Mr.\n\n Sumner\, which reads\ , “Every where within the limits of\n\n the United States and each State and Territory thereof all\n\n persons are equal before the law\, so that no person can\n\n hold another as a slave.” Some time before Mr. Hender- \n\n son\, of Missouri\, had offered a joint resolution to a similar\n\n p urport. In lieu of this the Committee presented the fol-\n\n lowing joint resolution for amending the Constitution:\n\n “Article 13\, Section 1.  Neither slavery nor involuntary\n\n servitude\, except as a punishment for crime\, whereof the\n\n party shall have been duly convicted\, shall exis t within\n\n the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. \n\n Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this arti-\n\n cle by appropriate legislation.” This article\, if two-thirds\n\n of both Hous es of Congress concur\, is to be proposed to the\n\n Legislatures of the s everal States\, and when ratified by\n\n three-fourths of these\, to be va lid as a part of the Constitu-\n\n tion.—Mr. Clark offered a resolution ratifying the Presi-\n\n dent's Emancipation Proclamation of January 1\, 1 863\, and\n\n giving it the force of a statute: referred.—Mr. Brown of-\ n\n fered amendments to the Enlistment bill\, confirming the\n\n Emancipat ion Proclamation\, abolishing slavery\, and sub-\n\n jecting colored perso ns to enrollment under the same ap-\n\n portionment as other citizens.—T he Military Committee\n\n reported adversely to Mr. Grimes's bill reducing the sal-\n\n aries of military officers not in the field or without com-\ n\n mand.—Mr. Sumner brought up the case of a colored sur-\n\n geon of t he army who had been ejected from a railroad car\n\n in the District\, and offered a resolution directing the Com-\n\n mittee on the District to inq uire into the expediency of a\n\n law securing to colored persons equal pr ivileges with whites\n\n in the cars within the District. He said that thi s officer\,\n\n who held a rank equal to that of Major\, had been ejected\ n\n from a street car because he was black. We had better\n\n break up all these railroads if we could not have them\n\n without such outrages\, whi ch did more to injure our cause\n\n abroad and at home than the loss of a battle. Mr. Hen-\n\n dricks thought the outrage was on the other side\; th ere\n\n were cars for colored people\, and this person declined to\n\n rid e with people of his own color\, and wished to force him-\n\n self upon wh ite people\; referring to remarks of Senators\n\n that it was no disgrace to ride with colored men\, and\n\n that the outrage was as great as though a Senator of the\n\n United States had been ejected\, he said that there seemed\n\n to be a determination to force social as well as political\n\n equality with the blacks upon the white race. The peo-\n\n ple of his Stat e would never adopt that sentiment. Mr.\n\n Wilson rejoined that he had no wish to force negro equal-\n\n ity upon the Senator from Indiana\; he wis hed only to let\n\n every man assume the station which God intended him to \n\n attain: resolution passed\, 30 to 10.—The bill prohibiting\n\n Memb ers of Congress and Heads of Departments from re-\n\n ceiving any compensa tion for acting as counsel\, etc.\, in\n\n any case in which the United St ates are concerned\, under\n\n penalty of fine\, imprisonment\, and disqua lification for of-\n\n fice\, came up and was debated: the clause relating to\n\n Members of Congress was stricken out\, 26 to 14: laid over.\n\n —The bill equalizing the pay of all soldiers was brought\n\n up\; debate arising upon the section giving colored soldiers\n\n equal pay with white s prior to the passage of the bill\, its\n\n consideration was postponed .—February 11. Some busi-\n\n ness of minor importance was transacted .—The Post-office\n\n Committee reported a bill removing disqualificatio ns on\n\n account of color in carrying the mail\, and also declaring\n\n t hat no witness shall\, in the United States Courts\, be dis-\n\n qualified on account of color.—The Lieutenant-General bill\n\n from the House was brought up and discussed\, the point\n\n being the amendment against maki ng that officer Com-\n\n mander-in-chief\, and striking out the name of Ge neral\n\n Grant. Senators opposed to this amendment said that to\n\n besto w the title without the command would be but an\n\n empty honor conferred upon one who now had the homage\n\n of the people: postponed.—February  12. The Senate\n\n was occupied with various business of no very general i m-\n\n portance\, except that the House bill making appropria-\n\n tion to meet deficiencies is amended by authorizing the\n\n appointment for a lim ited period of one thousand addition-\n\n al clerks\, who may be females\, at a salary not exceeding\n\n $600 a year.—February 13. The Secretary of War sent\n\n in a communication relative to military officers' commu-\n \n tations for quarters and fuel\; there were 387 officers draw-\n\n ing s uch commutations\, of whom 27 were generals\, 52 col-\n\n onels and lieute nant-colonels\, the remainder being of low-\n\n er ranks\, 79 being paymas ters.—A memorial from the Mil-\n\n waukee Chamber of Commerce was presen ted and referred\,\n\n asking for a wagon-road through Central Minnesota t o\n\n Idaho\; it stated that within a few months $25\,000\,000\n\n had bee n mined\, which was now waiting egress through\n\n such a road with proper military protection.—The bill for\n\n regulating the pay of colored sol diers was brought up and\n\n discussed\, the principal objection to it bei ng its retrospect-\n\n ive feature\; upon motion of Mr. Wilson it was amen ded\n\n so as to give them the same pay as others from January\n\n 1\, 186 4\, instead of for the whole time they have been in\n\n service\; Mr. Cowa n then moved\, as a substitute for the\n\n bill\, that from the date of th e passage of this Act all sol-\n\n diers of the United States of the same arm of the service\n\n should receive like compensation\; he said that the negro\n\n had a legal status under the Constitution which protected\n\n h im\, and that\, as he received the protection of the laws\,\n\n he must be regarded as a citizen under the Constitution.\n\n Mr. Saulsbury said that if this was the basis of Mr. Cow-\n\n an's substitute he should oppose it \; the old-fashioned term\n\n was “negro\,” now these people were “c olored citizens.”\n\n Pending action on Mr. Cowan's substitute the Senat e ad-\n\n journed to Monday\, February 15.—February 15. Mr.\n\n Foster introduced a bill defining the position and duties\n\n of chaplains in the army\; it gives them the rank of major\n\n of infantry\, allows them to h old pastoral charges\, requires\n\n them to preach twice a week\, hold rel igious meetings twice\n\n a week\, and keep the libraries for the use of t he soldiers.—\n\n The Enrollment bill\, as amended by the House\, was ta ken\n\n up and considered\; the Senate refused to recede from its\n\n prov isions.—The Deficiency bill from the House was pass-\n\n ed\, with an am endment increasing the salaries of the As-\n\n sistant Secretaries of the Departments and Post-office to\n\n $3500 after the present fiscal year.— February 16. Bills\n\n granting lands for certain military roads in Orego n were\n\n passed.—Bill extending the statute of limitations in cases\n\ n where the execution of the laws has been interrupted in\n\n consequence of the rebellion was introduced.—Mr. Doolit-\n\n tle introduced a bill r egulating trade with Indian tribes\;\n\n it prohibits\, under penalty of f ine\, imprisonment\, and for-\n\n feiture\, the sale of spirits to Indians .—Mr. Lane\, of Kan-\n\n sas\, spoke at length in favor of the bill sett ing apart a por-\n\n tion of Texas for the use of persons of African desce nt.—\n\n Mr. Cowan's amendment to the Enlistment bill came up\,\n\n givi ng equal pay\, etc.\, to all soldiers. Mr. Davis pro-\n\n posed an amendme nt to the effect that colored troops\n\n should be disbanded\, and colored men be employed in the\n\n army only as laborers and teamsters\; that for slaves so\n\n employed loyal masters should be compensated\; and if he\n\ n died in service the master should receive the full value\n\n for him. Mr . Davis spoke at length in support of his\n\n amendment.—A message was r eceived from the House\n\n announcing its adherence to its amendments of t he En-\n\n rollment bill\, and asking a Committee of Conference.\n\n The S enate resolved to adhere to its amendments\, and\n\n authorized the Chair to appoint a Committee of Confer-\n\n ence.\n\n \n\n House.—February 10 . Mr. Eliot\, from the Select Com-\n\n mittee\, reported a bill to establi sh a Bureau of Freedman's\n\n Affairs\, to determine all questions relatin g to persons of\n\n African descent\, and make regulations for their emplo y-\n\n ment and proper treatment on abandoned plantations.\n\n Mr. Clay\, of Kentucky\, wished to know whether his State\n\n was to be included in t he operations of the bill\, and\n\n whether plantations there were to be c onsidered as aban-\n\n doned: he himself owned a plantation which had been aban-\n\n doned because Government did not protect it. Mr. Eliot\n\n repl ied that the bill did not propose to establish colonies\n\n in Kentucky\; that in the case of plantations there\, wheth-\n\n er they were to be cons idered as abandoned would depend\n\n upon whether the owners were loyal or disloyal\; that in\n\n the case of Mr. Clay\, a well-known loyal man\, hi s planta-\n\n tion certainly would not be considered abandoned.—The\n\n Senate amendments to the Internal Revenue bill were re-\n\n ferred to the Committee on Ways and Means.—The En-\n\n rollment bill was taken up\, an d sundry amendments were\n\n proposed and rejected. Mr. Stevens offered an amend-\n\n ment enrolling all persons of African descent of military\n\n age\; and when a slave is drafted $300 shall be paid to his\n\n owner\, an d the slave be freed. Debate ensued\, mainly\n\n between members from the Border States: the main points\n\n being\, on the one side\, that slaves w ere property\, and\n\n could not be taken for public purposes without comp ensa-\n\n tion\; and\, upon the other\, that they were persons\, and so\n\ n owed military service: postponed.—February 11. After\n\n some routine business a Select Committee was voted\, to in-\n\n quire into the expedie ncy of increasing the facilities for the\n\n transportation of troops betw een New York and Washing-\n\n ton.—The Enrollment bill then came up. Mr. Stevens\, at\n\n the request of Mr. Davis\, withdrew the $300 feature fro m\n\n his amendment offered yesterday\, and Mr. Davis offered\n\n another amendment\, appointing a commission to pay to\n\n loyal masters a sum not exceeding $300 for slaves volun-\n\n teering in the army. Mr. Webster offe red an amendment\n\n providing that the bounty of $100 now paid to drafted men\n\n shall be paid to any person to whom the person drafted\n\n may ow e service or labor at the time of his muster into\n\n service\, upon his f reeing the person. These amendments\n\n were agreed to\, after a long and somewhat desultory de-\n\n bate. In the course of this Mr. Davis said that he moved\n\n his amendment\, not because he believed that compensa-\n\n t ion was due to the master\, but on account of the measures\n\n which Gover nment had already taken. He believed that\n\n Government ought to take sla ves for military purposes\,\n\n because they owed military service. Mr. An derson\, of\n\n Kentucky\, thought the amendment did not go far enough.\n\ n In his own district a large majority of the young men had\n\n entered th e rebel service\, and at the next draft the district\n\n would owe 7000 me n\; unless the slaves of disloyal men\n\n were taken\, those who had induc ed enlistments in the reb-\n\n el service would enjoy their property in pe ace\, and the\n\n loyal white population must make up the deficiency\; he\ n\n would put the slaves of disloyal men in the army\, but\n\n would not a ppropriate the slaves of loyal men. Mr. Web-\n\n ster\, of Maryland\, said that slaves were both persons and\n\n property. We needed colored men to aid in putting down\n\n the rebellion\; any black man\, having been a sold ier\, must\n\n be free\; he would give freedom to the slave\, and com-\n\n pensation to the master. Mr. Harris\, of Maryland\, denied\n\n the right of Government to enlist or enroll a slave\; if\n\n taken\, it could only b e as property\, and compensation must\n\n be made\; he was opposed to empl oying negro troops\; it\n\n would be a degradation to intrust our flag to negro hands.\n\n Mr. Kasson rejoined that the employment of negro soldiers \n\n was no new thing\; the pension-rolls showed the names of\n\n black me n by the side of whites\; the statutes of the State\n\n of Virginia provid ed for the emancipation of slaves who\n\n fought in the War of the Revolut ion. Mr. Kelley said\n\n that we did not give compensation to the Northern father\n\n for his son\, the wife for her husband\, the children for the\ n\n father taken from them by the conscription\; the relation\n\n between slaveholder and slave was not more sacred than\n\n these. Slaves were pers ons\, and as such owed military\n\n service to the country\; they were nev er referred to as\n\n property in the Constitution\; he was\, however\, re ady to\n\n appropriate money to pay for slaves of loyal masters\, who\n\n should consent to their volunteering. Other members\n\n spoke\, on both si des\, in the same general strain. Toward\n\n the close of the debate Mr. F ernando Wood said that while\n\n we were here proposing measures oppressiv e and destruc-\n\n tive\, and clearly in violation of the Constitution\, t he Con-\n\n federates were proposing to discuss measures of peace\, re-\n\ n union\, and reconciliation. Quoting from the Richmond\n\n Examiner\, he said that resolutions were before the Con-\n\n federate Congress proposing that the Confederate States\n\n ask the United States to appoint delegate s\, to consider (1.)\n\n Whether they can not agree to the recognition of the Con-\n\n federacy\; (2.) Whether\, in this event\, they can not agree\ n\n upon a new Government\; (3.) If this can not be done\,\n\n whether the y can not agree upon treaties offensive\, defens-\n\n ive\, and commercial \; if these resolutions passed\, the\n\n President of the Confederacy was to be requested to com-\n\n municate them to the Government at Washington\ , and\,\n\n if the proposition was accepted\, to issue a proclamation for\ n\n the election of delegates to meet those appointed by the\n\n United St ates. Mr. Cox said that the proposition before\n\n the Congress at Richmon d looked to peace on the basis of\n\n the old Union. He proposed that comm issioners should\n\n be sent to Richmond\; if Mr. Wood was sent\, and if h e did\n\n not come back within sixty days with a negotiation of\n\n peace\ , based on the old Union\, with equality and sover-\n\n eignty of the Stat es\, he would pledge that gentleman and\n\n his friends as earnest support ers of the prosecution of the\n\n war. After various other propositions ha d been disposed\n\n of\, Mr. Schenck offered a substitute for the bill\, e mbracing\n\n the whole as it had been finally agreed upon.—Febru-\n\n a ry 12. The Enrollment bill came up\, and debate having\n\n been shut off by calling the previous question\, and sundry\n\n propositions for adjourn ment and delay having been re-\n\n jected\, it was pressed to a vote. The main amendment\,\n\n providing for the enrollment of all persons of Africa n de-\n\n scent of military age\, paying the $100 bounty to the loy-\n\n a l person to whom any drafted person may owe service or\n\n labor\, upon hi s freeing the drafted person\, and appointing\n\n a commission to award a compensation not exceeding $300\n\n to any loyal person to whom a colored volunteer may owe\n\n service\, was agreed to by 84 to 67. Mr. Schenck's s ubsti-\n\n tute\, embracing the entire bill as finally amended\, was\n\n t hen taken up and voted upon: it passed by 93 to 60.\n\n The bill which thu s passed the House embraces a great\n\n number of provisions\, of which th e following are the most\n\n essential: (§ 1.) The President may call out such number\n\n of men as the public exigencies may require: (§ 2.) The\ n\n quota of each district to be as nearly as possible in propor-\n\n tion to the number of persons in it subject to draft\, taking\n\n into account the number already furnished to the naval\n\n and military service\; (§ 3.) If the quota of any State is not\n\n duly filled\, drafts for any defi cient district shall be order-\n\n ed until the deficiency shall be suppli ed\; (§ 4.) Any en-\n\n rolled person may furnish a substitute\; and if t his substi-\n\n tute is not liable to draft or in the service\, the princi pal\n\n will be exempt during the time for which the substitute\n\n would be exempt\, but no one in military or naval service\n\n shall be accepted as a substitute\; (§ 5.) All persons liable\n\n to draft shall be enrolle d\; this comprises in effect all able-\n\n bodied males below the age of 4 5\, including aliens who\n\n have declared their intentions of becoming ci tizens\, and\n\n all who\, without having been in service two years during \n\n the present war\, shall have been discharged\; (§ 6.) Any\n\n person drafted may furnish a substitute at any time before\n\n the time fixed fo r his appearance at rendezvous\; if the\n\n substitute is not liable to dr aft\, the principal is exempt\n\n during the time of such non-liability\, not exceeding the\n\n time for which the draft was made\; if the substitut e is li-\n\n able to draft\, the principal is liable to future drafts\; an y\n\n person paying money for commutation is exempted only\n\n from the sp ecial quota\; and in no case shall such exemp-\n\n tion extend beyond one year\, at the end of which his name\n\n must be placed in enrollment\; (§ 7.) Members of religious\n\n denominations whose rules prohibit the beari ng of arms\n\n shall\, when drafted\, be considered non-combatants\, and\n \n be assigned to duty in hospitals\, or to the care of freed-\n\n men\, o r shall pay $300\, the money to be applied to the\n\n benefit of sick or w ounded soldiers\; but no person shall be\n\n entitled to the benefit of th is provision unless he shows\n\n that his conduct has been uniformly consi stent with his\n\n professed principles\; (§ 8.) No person of foreign bir th who\n\n has voted or held office is exempt from draft on the ground\n\n of alienage\; (§ 9.) Mariners or able seamen who may be\n\n drafted may\ , upon enlisting in the navy\, be exempt from\n\n draft\, under conditions which are prescribed\; but the\n\n number of these transfer enlistments s hall not exceed ten\n\n thousand\; (§ 10\, 11\, 12.) Make provisions for carrying out\n\n the preceding section\, the principal of which is that su ch\n\n transfer drafts shall be credited to the quota of the district\,\n\ n as though the person had been actually placed in the army\;\n\n and that no pilot\, engineer\, master-at-arms\, master\, en-\n\n sign\, or master' s mate\, having an appointment and duly\n\n acting as such in the naval se rvice\, shall be liable to draft\n\n while holding such appointment\; (§ 13.) Declares the only\n\n exemptions to be those who are physically\, men tally\, or\n\n morally unfit for service\; those who at the time of draft\ n\n shall actually be in military or naval service\; and those\n\n who\, h aving been for two years in service\, shall have been\n\n honorably discha rged\; (§ 14.) Repeals the clause in the\n\n existing Enrollment bill mak ing two classes\, the first con-\n\n sisting of unmarried persons and thos e married below the\n\n age of 35\, the second class embracing all others\ ; all per-\n\n sons liable to draft are thus consolidated into one class\, \n\n and are equally liable to military duty\; (§ 15-25.) Provide\n\n for the execution of the law\, and impose heavy penalties\n\n for all fraudul ent attempts at their violation or evasion on\n\n the part of persons liab le to enrollment\, or of any officers\n\n charged with carrying them into effect\; (§ 26) Enacts that\n\n all able-bodied male persons of African d escent\, between\n\n the ages of 20 and 45\, resident in the United States \, wheth-\n\n er citizens or not\, shall be enrolled\; that when the slave \n\n of a loyal master is drafted and mustered into service\, the\n\n mast er shall have a certificate thereof\, and the bounty of\n\n $100 shall be paid to any person to whom the recruit\, at\n\n the time of his being must ered into service\, owes service\n\n or labor\, on his freeing the recruit \; that the Secretary of\n\n War shall appoint a commission in each Slave State rep-\n\n resented in Congress\, who shall award to any loyal person\ n\n to whom the colored volunteer owes service a sum not ex-\n\n ceeding $ 300\, payable out of commutation money\, upon\n\n the master freeing the s lave\; and that in all cases where\n\n slaves have been enlisted the provi sion as to bounty and\n\n compensation shall be the same as in the case of those to\n\n be enlisted\; (§ 27.) Repeals all sections of the existing En-\n\n rollment act which are inconsistent with this.—The House\n\n the n adjourned to Monday\, February 15.—February\n\n 15. Several bills were introduced and reported from Com-\n\n mittees. The principal of these are to the following pur-\n\n port: Extending the time for withdrawing goods from pub-\n\n lic stores and warehouses\; Granting lands to the Pacific\n\ n Railroad and Telegraph Company\; For a uniform system\n\n of bankruptcy\ ; Establishing a branch mint in Idaho Ter-\n\n ritory\; For constructing a ship canal around Niagara\n\n Falls.—Mr. Windom offered a joint resolut ion proposing\n\n to amend the Constitution so as to prohibit slavery in t he\n\n United States and Territories: referred.—The Judiciary\n\n Commit tee were directed to inquire into the expediency\n\n of establishing an Ex ecutive Department\, to be called that\n\n of the Revenue\, to have charge of the Customs\, Internal\n\n Revenue\, and Currency.—Mr. Arnold offere d a resolution\n\n declaring that “The Constitution of the United States \n\n should be so amended as to abolish slavery in the United\n\n States w herever it now exists\, and to prohibit its extension\n\n in every part th ereof forever.” A motion to lay on the\n\n table was rejected\, 79 to 58 \, and the resolution passed\, 78\n\n to 62.—Mr. Stevens\, from the Comm ittee on Ways and\n\n Means\, reported back the Senate's amendments to the In-\n\n ternal Revenue bill. The bill of the Senate\, he said\, was\n\n p referable to what had been agreed to in the House as to\n\n the tax on spi rits\, and the date of its going into effect.\n\n The Committee were of op inion that all taxes should be\n\n prospective\; manufacturers had receive d a virtual pledge\n\n to this effect. As a revenue measure also the Senat e bill\n\n was preferable. The amount of spirits on hand which the\n\n Hou se proposed to tax did not amount to more than\n\n 10\,000\,000 gallons\, upon which the tax would be $4\,000\,000\;\n\n but practically not more th an half of this would be taxed.\n\n The Senate bill would after the 1st of January yield\n\n $14\,000\,000 or $15\,000\,000. Mr. Fernando Wood said that\n\n the tax on spirits on hand would yield $10\,000\,000. He\n\n hims elf knew three men who had on hand nearly 5\,000\,000\n\n gallons.—Mr. D avis\, from Select Committee on Insurrec-\n\n tionary States\, reported a bill giving to certain States\n\n whose Governments have been usurped or o verthrown a\n\n republican form of government.—February 16. After\n\n r outine business the question of reception and reference of\n\n the credent ials of Mr. Johnson\, who appeared as Represent-\n\n ative from Arkansas\, was taken up. A discussion ensued\,\n\n which elicited the fact that ther e was a wide difference\n\n in the views of Republican members upon the qu estion\n\n whether there was really any State of Arkansas now ex-\n\n isti ng and entitled to be represented in Congress. Finally\n\n the whole subje ct was referred to the Committee on Elec-\n\n tions.—The Revenue bill wa s brought up with the amend-\n\n ments of the Senate. That imposing a duty of 70 cents\n\n upon all distilled or removed from July 1 to January 1\,\ n\n and 80 cents thereafter was disagreed with\, 105 to 41\;\n\n that stri king out tax on all spirits now on hand was agreed\n\n with\, 77 to 73\; a nd that striking out the additional tax\n\n of 20 cents on adulterated spi rits\, sold as rum\, brandy\, etc.\,\n\n was agreed to.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n RATIFICATION TIMELINE\n\n\n\n President Lincoln in his last spee ch\, on April 11\, 1865\, called the question about whether the Southern s tates were in or out of the Union a \"pernicious abstraction\". He declare d they were not \"in their proper practical relation with the Union\"\; wh ence everyone's object should be to restore that relation. [ https://arch ive.org/details/oxfordhistoryof00mori/page/710/mode/2up ] Lincoln was assa ssinated three days later.\n\n\n\n With Congress out of session\, the new president\, Andrew Johnson\, began a period known as \"Presidential Reco nstruction\"\, in which he personally oversaw the creation of new state go vernments throughout the South. He oversaw the convening of state politica l conventions populated by delegates whom he deemed to be loyal. Three lea ding issues came before the conventions: secession itself\, the abolition of slavery\, and the Confederate war debt. Alabama\, Florida\, Georgia\, M ississippi\, North Carolina\, and South Carolina held conventions in 1865\ , while Texas' convention did not organize until March 1866. [Harrison\, \ "Lawfulness of the Reconstruction Amendments\" (2001)\, pp. 394–397.] [  Eric L. McKitrick (1960). Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction. U. Chicago Press. p. 178. ISBN 9780195057072. \; https://books.google.com/books? id=MqL8lmT74HEC&\;pg=PA178#v=onepage&\;q&\;f=false ] [ Clara Mil dred Thompson (1915). Reconstruction in Georgia: economic\, social\, poli tical\, 1865–1872. Columbia University Press. p. 156. \; https://archi ve.org/details/bub_gb_i5shAQAAIAAJ/page/155/mode/2up ] Johnson hoped to pr event deliberation over whether to re-admit the Southern states by accompl ishing full ratification before Congress reconvened in December. He believ ed he could silence those who wished to deny the Southern states their pla ce in the Union by pointing to how essential their assent had been to the successful ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.[ Vorenberg (2001)\,  Final Freedom\, pp. 227–228]\n\n\n\n Direct negotiations between state g overnments and the Johnson administration ensued. As the summer wore on\, administration officials began giving assurances of the measure's limited scope with their demands for ratification. Johnson himself suggested direc tly to the governors of Mississippi and North Carolina that they could pro actively control the allocation of rights to freedmen. Though Johnson obvi ously expected the freed people to enjoy at least some civil rights\, incl uding\, as he specified\, the right to testify in court\, he wanted state lawmakers to know that the power to confer such rights would remain with t he states.[ Vorenberg (2001)\, Final Freedom\, p. 229.] When South Carol ina provisional governor Benjamin Franklin Perry objected to the scope o f the amendment's enforcement clause\, Secretary of State Seward responded by telegraph that in fact the second clause \"is really restraining in it s effect\, instead of enlarging the powers of Congress\".[ Vorenberg (2001 )\, Final Freedom\, p. 229.] Politicians throughout the South were conce rned that Congress might cite the amendment's enforcement powers as a way to authorize black suffrage.[Du Bois (1935)\, Black Reconstruction\, p. 2 08. ]\n\n\n\n When South Carolina ratified the Amendment in November 1865\ , it issued its own interpretive declaration that \"any attempt by Congres s toward legislating upon the political status of former slaves\, or their civil relations\, would be contrary to the Constitution of the United Sta tes.\"[ McAward\, Jennifer Mason (November 2012). \"McCulloch and the T hirteenth Amendment\". { https://web.archive.org/web/20151117030315/http: //columbialawreview.org/mcculloch-and-the-thirteenth-amendment/ } Columbi a Law Review. 112 (7). Columbia Law School: 1769–1809. JSTOR 4170 8164. { https://www.jstor.org/stable/41708164 } Archived from the origi nal on November 17\, 2015. Pdf. { https://web.archive.org/web/201509232 05538/http://www.columbialawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/1769-181 0.pdf } ]: 1786–1787 [ Thorpe (1901)\, Constitutional History\, p . 210. ] Alabama and Louisiana also declared that their ratification did not imply federal power to legislate on the status of former slaves.[ McA ward\, Jennifer Mason (November 2012). \"McCulloch and the Thirteenth Am endment\". { https://web.archive.org/web/20151117030315/http://columbiala wreview.org/mcculloch-and-the-thirteenth-amendment/ } Columbia Law Review . 112 (7). Columbia Law School: 1769–1809. JSTOR 41708164. { http s://www.jstor.org/stable/41708164 } Archived from the original on Novem ber 17\, 2015. Pdf. { https://web.archive.org/web/20150923205538/http:// www.columbialawreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/1769-1810.pdf } ]:  1787 [ Tsesis (2004)\, The Thirteenth Amendment and American Freedom\, p. 48. ] During the first week of December\, North Carolina and Georgia gave the amendment the final votes needed for it to become part of the Con stitution.\n\n\n\n The first 27 states to ratify the Amendment were:[ U.S . Government Printing Office\, 112th Congress\, 2nd Session\, Senate Docum ent No. 112–9 (2013). \"The Constitution of the United States Of Americ a Analysis And Interpretation Centennial Edition Interim Edition: Analysis Of Cases Decided By The Supreme Court Of The United States To June 26\, 2 013s\" (PDF). p. 30. { https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CONAN-20 13/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2013.pdf } Archived (PDF) { https://web.archive.org/web /20140225114303/http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2013/pdf/GPO-CONAN- 2013.pdf } from the original on February 25\, 2014. Retrieved February 17 \, 2014. ]\n\n\n\n Illinois: February 1\, 1865\n\n\n\n Rhode Island: Febr uary 2\, 1865\n\n\n\n Michigan: February 3\, 1865\n\n\n\n Maryland: Februa ry 3\, 1865\n\n\n\n New York: February 3\, 1865\n\n\n\n Pennsylvania: Febr uary 3\, 1865\n\n\n\n West Virginia: February 3\, 1865\n\n\n\n Missouri: F ebruary 6\, 1865\n\n\n\n Maine: February 7\, 1865\n\n\n\n Kansas: February 7\, 1865\n\n\n\n Massachusetts: February 7\, 1865\n\n\n\n Virginia: Febru ary 9\, 1865\n\n\n\n Ohio: February 10\, 1865\n\n\n\n Indiana: February 13 \, 1865\n\n\n\n Nevada: February 16\, 1865\n\n\n\n Louisiana: February 17\ , 1865\n\n\n\n Minnesota: February 23\, 1865\n\n\n\n Wisconsin: February 2 4\, 1865\n\n\n\n Vermont: March 9\, 1865\n\n\n\n Tennessee: April 7\, 1865 \n\n\n\n Arkansas: April 14\, 1865\n\n\n\n Connecticut: May 4\, 1865\n\n\n \n New Hampshire: July 1\, 1865\n\n\n\n South Carolina: November 13\, 1865 \n\n\n\n Alabama: December 2\, 1865\n\n\n\n North Carolina: December 4\, 1 865\n\n\n\n Georgia: December 6\, 1865\n\n\n\n Having been ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states (27 of the 36 states\, includ ing those that had been in rebellion)\, Secretary of State Seward\, on Dec ember 18\, 1865\, certified that the Thirteenth Amendment had become valid \, to all intents and purposes\, as a part of the Constitution.[ Seward c ertificate Archived March 18\, 2021\, at the Wayback Machine proclaimi ng the Thirteenth Amendment to have been adopted as part of the Constituti on as of December 6\, 1865. ] Included on the enrolled list of ratifying states were the three ex-Confederate states that had given their assent\, but with strings attached. Seward accepted their affirmative votes and bru shed aside their interpretive declarations without comment\, challenge or acknowledgment.[ Vorenberg (2001)\, Final Freedom\, p. 232. ]\n\n\n\n Th e Thirteenth Amendment was subsequently ratified by the other states\, as follows:[ U.S. Government Printing Office\, 112th Congress\, 2nd Session\ , Senate Document No. 112–9 (2013). \"The Constitution of the United St ates Of America Analysis And Interpretation Centennial Edition Interim Edi tion: Analysis Of Cases Decided By The Supreme Court Of The United States To June 26\, 2013s\" (PDF). p. 30. { https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pk g/GPO-CONAN-2013/pdf/GPO-CONAN-2013.pdf } Archived (PDF) { https://web.a rchive.org/web/20140225114303/http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-CONAN-2013/ pdf/GPO-CONAN-2013.pdf } from the original on February 25\, 2014. Retrieve d February 17\, 2014. ]: 30 \n\n\n\n Oregon: December 8\, 1865\n\n\n \n California: December 19\, 1865\n\n\n\n Florida: December 28\, 1865 (rea ffirmed June 9\, 1868)\n\n\n\n Iowa: January 15\, 1866\n\n\n\n New Jersey: January 23\, 1866 (after rejection March 16\, 1865)\n\n\n\n Texas: Februa ry 18\, 1870\n\n\n\n Delaware: February 12\, 1901 (after rejection Februar y 8\, 1865)\n\n\n\n Kentucky: March 18\, 1976[ Kocher\, Greg (February 23 \, 2013). \"Kentucky supported Lincoln's efforts to abolish slavery—111 years late\". { https://archive.ph/20140220035343/http://www.kentucky.co m/2013/02/23/2528807/kentucky-supported-lincolns-efforts.html }Lexington H erald-Leader. Archived from the original on February 20\, 2014. Retriev ed February 17\, 2014. ] (after rejection February 24\, 1865)\n\n\n\n M ississippi: March 16\, 1995 (after rejection December 5\, 1865\; not certi fied until February 7\, 2013)[ Ben Waldron (February 18\, 2013). \"Missi ssippi Officially Abolishes Slavery\, Ratifies 13th Amendment\". { https: //abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/02/mississippi-officially-abolishes- slavery-ratifies-13th-amendment/ } ABC News. Archived from the original on June 27\, 2013. Retrieved April 23\, 2013. ]\n\n\n\n With the ratific ation by Mississippi in 1995\, and certification thereof in 2013\, the ame ndment was finally ratified by all states having existed at the time of it s adoption in 1865.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Amendment XIII in the N ational Archives\, bearing the signature of Abraham Lincoln\n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n PENAL LABOR\n\n\n\n The Thirteenth Amendment exempts penal labor from i ts prohibition of forced labor. This allows prisoners who have been convic ted of crimes (not those merely awaiting trial) to be required to perform labor or else face punishment while in custody.[ Howe\, Scott (2009). \" Slavery as Punishment: Original Public Meaning\, Cruel and Unusual Punishm ent\, and the Neglected Clause in the Thirteenth Amendment\". { https://a rizonalawreview.org/howe/ } Arizona Law Review. 51 (4): 983. Archived  from the original on December 29\, 2017. Retrieved December 28\, 2017. ] \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n [ Radde\, Kaitlyn (November 17\, 2022). \"Louisiana vo ters rejected an antislavery ballot measure. The reasons are complicated\" . { https://www.npr.org/2022/11/17/1137398039/louisiana-voters-rejected-a n-antislavery-ballot-measure-the-reason-is-complicate } NPR. Archived fr om the original on January 15\, 2023. Retrieved October 19\, 2023. ]\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251218 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 1 - December 3rd 2024 DTSTAMP:20251122T072054Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:595-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n So Musk bought Twitter to make it a legally private data source that is being grown real time by the public users to his own privat e modern\, circa 2025 \, computer system commonly while falsely called an Artificial Intelligence\, xai. The money he loaned to buy twitter he prese nted this to them in some way or form. Alot of data today is behind variou s paywalls\, literally as in terms of service or legally through lawsuits if accessed. So getting data that is not only of a heavy quantity while st ill being added into plus private to all other data acquirers is priceless . Even if former twitter losses social media market share its value to gro wing xai is on course to making losses with x smaller than revenue earned from xai \, potentially of a varying scale. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Question : What will the ability of offline devices software having the generative functionality of OpenAI+ChatGPT+MidJourney aside the data of the google s earch engines internal encyclopedia have on humans?\n\n\n\n At some point devices will exist that don't need to be connected to the world wide web\, which is in the internet \, for the software inside said devices to exhib it the combined functionality plus base data content of multiple services of the most potent computer programs accessible online today\, circa 2024. That moment will be a watershed in terms of online or world wide web usag e. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATIONS\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Segment C ritics said Musk 'overpaid' for Twitter. Thanks to Trump and xAI\, it coul d actually be a steal.\n\n ...\n\n Not only has X served as Musk's politic al megaphone — it has also been a lucrative source of training data for one of the billionaire's other ventures\, xAI\, a startup that has rockete d to a $50 billion valuation in 16 months. [ https://www.businessinsider. com/elon-musk-xai-startup-valuation-history-chart-2024-11 : POSTSCRIPTA- segment]\n\n That fresh valuation means xAI has surpassed Musk's purchase price for X. It came with a $5 billion funding round\, which The Wall Stre et Journal reported was backed by the Qatar Investment Authority and Sequo ia Capital. [ https://www.businessinsider.com/xai-value-twitter-funding-e lon-musk-x-2024-11 ]\n\n Musk launched xAI in July 2023 as a springboard to get in the AI race. He had cofounded and then left OpenAI over differen ces with its CEO\, Sam Altman.\n\n The startup has made up significant gro und on its rivals by using X as a source of third-party data\, one of the key avenues for training large language models. [ https://www.businessins ider.com/generative-ai-wall-scaling-laws-training-data-chatgpt-gemini-clau de-2024-11 ]\n\n In late 2023\, Musk blocked other organizations from scr aping X's data for free — but gave xAI continued access. That gave xAI a crucial boost. [ https://techcrunch.com/2023/09/08/x-updates-its-terms-t o-ban-crawling-and-scraping/ : POSTSCRIPTB- segment]\n\n ...\n\n Though t he number of X users has been falling\, Musk said in May that it had 600 m illion monthly active users.\n\n \"This is a level that neither OpenAI nor any other third party can access\, or at least not as easily\, which prov ides a huge competitive edge and therefore makes xAI a valuable company\,\ " Keenan-O'Malley added.\n\n Wired reported last year that access to 0.3% of X's data would cost about $500\,000 annually. [ https://www.wired.com/ story/twitter-data-api-prices-out-nearly-everyone/ \; title: Twitter’s $42\,000-per-Month API Prices Out Nearly Everyone \; subtitle : Tiers will start at $500\,000 a year for access to 0.3 percent of the company’s tw eets.~]\n\n \"Clearly X's or indeed any social-media platform's data is va luable\,\" Advika Jalan\, the head of research at MMC Ventures\, told BI.\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/critics-said- musk-overpaid-for-twitter-thanks-to-trump-and-xai-it-could-actually-be-a-s teal/ar-AA1v6Ojy?ocid=socialshare\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POSTSCRIPTA \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n It took OpenAI\, last valued at $157 billion in October\, about nine years to reach the $50 billion milestone\, according to PitchBook dat a.\n\n ...\n\n Elon Musk\, starting with a team of 12 people in July 2023\ , did it in less than a year and a half.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POSTSCRIPTB\n\ n The new terms\, which are effective from September 29\, ban any kind of scraping or crawling without “prior written consent.” [ https://x.com /en/tos ] \n\n\n\n NOTE: crawling or scraping the Services in any form\, for any purpose without our prior written consent is expressly prohibited .\n\n The previous version of the terms allowed crawling in accordance wit h robots.txt.\n\n “NOTE: crawling the Services is permissible if done in accordance with the provisions of the robots.txt file\, however\, scrapin g the Services without our prior consent is expressly prohibited\,” it r ead.\n\n In the last few months\, Twitter has also altered its robots.txt file — a file that gives instructions to robot crawlers about what parts of the site they are permitted to visit — to remove instructions for al l crawler bots apart from Google.\n\n In 2015\, Twitter confirmed that it had a firehose deal in place with Google to surface tweets in search resul ts. It is not clear if the nature or terms of that deal have changed under the new management.\n\n We have reached out to Google to understand if th e search giant has an agreement in place. We will update the story if we h ear back.\n\n X has also altered the robots.txt file to disallow crawlers to get information such as likes and retweets related to specific posts. I t also bars robots from looking at an account’s likes\, media and photos .\n\n Earlier this month\, X changed its privacy policy to state it might use public data to train AI models. Musk has previously noted during a Twi tter space that xAI\, a company founded in July\, would use public data su ch as tweets to train its models. X’s new privacy policy also has provis ions for the collection of biometric data of users along with education an d job history.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/to pic/11346-economiccorner001/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Next Edition\n\n\n\n https ://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/596-economic-corner-2-december-7th-2024/\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Economic Corner anniversary\n\n https://aalbc.co m/tc/search/?&\;q=\"economic corner\"&\;type=calendar_event&\;qui ck=1&\;nodes=7&\;search_and_or=or&\;search_in=titles&\;sortby= newest\n\n\n\n Most viewed edition\n\n above 210\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/ events/event/165-economic-corner-09-media-properties-dictate-01282025/\n\n \n\n above 200\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/167-economic-corner-1 1-what-should-you-see-after-a-deepseek-01282025/\n\n search\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/search/?&\;q=\"economic corner\"&\;type=calendar_event&am p\;quick=1&\;search_min_views=210&\;nodes=7&\;search_and_or=or&am p\;search_in=titles&\;sortby=newest\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\ n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241203 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:False Promises by Ric S. Sheffield DTSTAMP:20251206T191920Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:612-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n False Promises\n\n\n\n The Struggle for Black Voting Righ ts in 1800s Ohio\n\n\n\n by Ric S. Sheffield\n\n\n\n Imprint: Swallow Pr ess\n\n\n\n Referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12114-false-promis es-the-struggle-for-black-voting-rights-in-1800s-ohio/\n\n\n\n my comment\ n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12114-false-promises-the-struggle-for-b lack-voting-rights-in-1800s-ohio/#findComment-78250\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251021 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Price of Exclusion by Nicole Carr published 12/08/2025 DTSTAMP:20251206T191649Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:611-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The Price of Exclusion\n\n\n\n The Pursuit of Healthcare in a Segregated Nation\n\n\n\n By Nicole Carr\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/t c/topic/12115-the-price-of-exclusion-the-pursuit-of-healthcare-in-a-segreg ated-nation-pre-order-today\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/t c/topic/12115-the-price-of-exclusion-the-pursuit-of-healthcare-in-a-segreg ated-nation-pre-order-today/#findComment-78249\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251208 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Perihelion 2026 DTSTAMP:20251206T163424Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:608-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The perihelion of Earth occurs on January 3\, 2026\, at 1 2:15 p.m. EST (1715 GMT). This is the point in Earth's orbit where it is c losest to the Sun. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n About Perihelion + Aphelion\n\n\n\ n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/607-perihelion-aphelion-explanation/\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260103 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Perihelion + Aphelion explanation DTSTAMP:20251206T163220Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:607-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n DATES or GRAPHIC\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Note: Distances are app roximate and calculated from JPL ephemeris data.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Pluto is a dwarf planet. Its eccentricity causes it to cross Neptune’s orbit.\n\n\n\n TEXT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In astronomy\, perihelion and ap helion are the two extreme points in Earth’s elliptical orbit around th e Sun. These terms also apply to any object orbiting the Sun or another st ar. Perihelion is the point where the object is nearest to the Sun\, while aphelion is when it is farthest away. Earth’s orbit is not a perfect c ircle but a slightly flattened ellipse\, with the Sun at one of the foci of the ellipse (not the exact center)\, so the distance between Earth and the Sun varies slightly over the year.\n\n\n\n Although these points influ ence the amount of solar radiation Earth receives\, they are not responsib le for the seasons. Seasons arise from Earth’s axial tilt\, not its dis tance from the Sun. However\, the elliptical shape and the timing of perih elion and aphelion do subtly affect seasonal duration and intensity.\n\n\n \n Apsis is the general term for orbital extremes (includes perigee an d apogee for Earth-orbiting objects).\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What Are Perihe lion and Aphelion?\n\n\n\n Johannes Kepler coined the terms “perihelio n” and “aphelion” to describe the orbits of planets around the Sun.\ n\n\n\n Perihelion: The point in a planet’s orbit where it is nearest to the Sun.\n\n\n\n Aphelion: The point in the orbit where the planet is far thest from the Sun.\n\n\n\n These distances are measured from the center o f the Sun to the center of the planet. The Earth is about 147.1 million k m (91.4 million mi) from the Sun at perihelion and about 152.1 million k m (94.5 million mi) at aphelion.\n\n\n\n Etymology\n\n\n\n Perihelion co mes from the Greek peri- (near) and helios (Sun).\n\n\n\n Aphelion co mes from apo- (away from) and helios (Sun).\n\n\n\n Both terms use the suffix -helion from the Greek word for Sun and are specific to objects orbiting the Sun. The more general term\, apsis\, refers to extreme point s in any orbital system.\n\n\n\n Apsis and Earth’s Orbit\n\n\n\n Althoug h Earth’s orbit is elliptical\, the Sun is not located at the center o f the ellipse. Instead\, it occupies one of the two focal points of the orbit\, while the other focus lies in empty space. This means Earth–Sun distance changes slightly throughout the year\, giving rise to perihelion and aphelion.\n\n\n\n The line of apsides connects the perihelion and ap helion of an orbit. For Earth\, the apsides shift over time due to gravi tational interactions with the Moon and planets\, causing apsidal prece ssion.\n\n\n\n Although Earth’s orbit is almost circular\, the slight el liptical shape leads to small but measurable differences in solar distance during the year. These points of apsis don’t align with solstices or  equinoxes due to this precession.\n\n\n\n Eccentricity and Orbital Shap e\n\n\n\n Eccentricity (e) describes how much an orbit deviates from a pe rfect circle:\n\n\n\n A circle has eccentricity e = 0.\n\n\n\n Ellipses h ave 0 <\; e <\; 1.\n\n\n\n Earth’s current orbital eccentricity is about 0.0167\, meaning it’s very close to circular. In graphics\, illus trators exaggerate the ellipse to convey that the orbit is not a perfect c ircle.\n\n\n\n Over tens of thousands of years\, Earth’s eccentricity va ries due to gravitational interactions\, influencing climate cycles (Milan kovitch cycles).\n\n\n\n Do Perihelion or Aphelion Coincide With Solstices or Equinoxes?\n\n\n\n Currently\, perihelion occurs shortly after the De cember solstice\, and aphelion occurs after the June solstice. The proxim ity of perihelion to the Northern Hemisphere’s winter solstice slightl y shortens winter and lengthens summer.\n\n\n\n Due to apsidal precession \, these dates shift by about one day every 58 years. Around the year 1246 \, perihelion occurred on the December solstice. In about 10\,000 years\, it will coincide with the March equinox.\n\n\n\n Apsis and the Seasons\n\ n\n\n While it’s common to assume that Earth’s varying distance from t he Sun causes the seasons\, this is not the case. The primary driver of se asonal change is Earth’s axial tilt of about 23.5°\, not its distance from the Sun. However\, the location of the apsides (perihelion and aphel ion) does have subtle effects on seasonal length and solar intensity.\n\n \n\n At perihelion\, Earth is closest to the Sun and moves faster in it s orbit due to the increased gravitational pull. As a result\, the Northe rn Hemisphere winter is slightly shorter (about 89 days)\, while summer i s slightly longer (about 93 days). The opposite occurs in the Southern Hem isphere\, which receives more intense solar radiation during its shorter s ummer because of Earth’s proximity to the Sun at that time.\n\n\n\n The uneven distribution of land and ocean between the hemispheres enhances thi s asymmetry. The Southern Hemisphere has more ocean\, which moderates tem perature changes\, while the Northern Hemisphere has more landmass and ex periences greater seasonal variation despite receiving slightly less sunli ght at aphelion.\n\n\n\n Apsidal Precession and Milankovitch Cycles\n\n\n\ n Over thousands of years\, the orientation of Earth’s orbit gradually s hifts due to apsidal precession\, a slow rotation of the line connecting perihelion and aphelion. Currently\, Earth reaches perihelion shortly aft er the December solstice\, but this alignment drifts forward through the c alendar over time.\n\n\n\n This precession completes a full cycle approxim ately every 112\,000 to 130\,000 years. As a result\, the timing of perih elion slowly changes in relation to the equinoxes and solstices. When peri helion occurs during a Northern Hemisphere summer\, the hemispheric season al differences are minimized. When it aligns with winter\, the seasonal co ntrast is enhanced.\n\n\n\n Apsidal precession is one of the three key orb ital variations described by Milutin Milankovitch\, which influence long- term climate cycles on Earth:\n\n\n\n Eccentricity – the shape of Ear th’s orbit (100\,000-year cycle)\n\n\n\n Axial tilt (obliquity) – the angle of Earth’s axis (41\,000-year cycle)\n\n\n\n Precession – the wobble of Earth’s axis (26\,000-year cycle)\n\n\n\n Together\, these Mi lankovitch cycles affect Earth’s climate patterns and have been linked to the timing of ice ages and interglacial periods.\n\n\n\n Perigee and Ap ogee: Apsis Terms for Earth-Orbiting Bodies\n\n\n\n The -helion suffix r efers to a body orbiting the Sun\, while the -gee suffix refers to the a psis of a body orbiting Earth.\n\n\n\n Perigee: Closest point to Earth in the orbit of a satellite or the Moon.\n\n\n\n Apogee: Farthest point from Earth.\n\n\n\n These are the equivalents of perihelion and aphelion for or bits around the Earth.\n\n\n\n For example:\n\n\n\n The Moon reaches perig ee at about 363\,300 km and apogee at about 405\,500 km.\n\n\n\n These distances affect apparent size (e.g.\, supermoons at perigee) and gravitat ional effects.\n\n\n\n Comparison With Binary Star Systems or Exoplanets\n \n\n\n The concept of apsis also applies to planets orbiting other stars o r star system. For exoplanets (planets outside our Solar System)\, the t erms periastron and apastron are the general terms for orbiting stars . In binary star systems\, the terms periastron and apastron describe the closest and farthest points in the orbit of one star around another.\n\n\ n\n Understanding their orbital eccentricity and distance variation aids i n evaluating the planet’s habitability\, particularly if large differenc es in distance lead to extreme temperature swings.\n\n\n\n Some exoplanets \, known as eccentric Jupiters\, have highly elliptical orbits that cause drastic changes in their environment as they swing close to and far from their stars. In contrast\, planets with low eccentricity and stable distan ces from their stars are more likely to support Earth-like conditions.\n\n \n\n In summary\, astronomers use periapsis terminology that describes the central body:\n\n\n\n Perihelion/aphelion – around the Sun\n\n\n\n Per igee/apogee – around Earth\n\n\n\n Periastron/apastron – around anot her star\n\n\n\n Perijove/apojove – around Jupiter\n\n\n\n Kepler’s L aws in Context\n\n\n\n Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion describe the m echanics of elliptical orbits\, including the behavior of perihelion and a phelion:\n\n\n\n Law of Ellipses\n\n Each planet orbits the Sun in an ell ipse with the Sun at one focus (not the center). This explains why Earth has both a closest and farthest point in its orbit.\n\n\n\n Law of Equal A reas\n\n A line joining a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in eq ual time. This means Earth moves faster at perihelion and slower at aph elion\, altering the apparent speed of the seasons.\n\n\n\n Law of Harmoni es\n\n The square of a planet’s orbital period is proportional to the cu be of its semi-major axis:\n\n T2 ∝ a3\n\n This law relates orbital dur ation and distance\, and helps astronomers compare orbits across the Solar System.\n\n\n\n Kepler’s laws form the foundation for Newton’s laws of motion and universal gravitation\, and they remain essential for calcu lating orbits\, planning space missions\, and understanding the celestial mechanics of planets and moons.\n\n\n\n FAQs About Perihelion and Aphelion \n\n\n\n Q: Does perihelion make Earth hotter?\n\n A: No\, seasons are co ntrolled by axial tilt\, not proximity to the Sun. However\, perihelion do es slightly increase solar radiation\, particularly in the Southern Hemisp here.\n\n\n\n Q: Why isn’t Earth warmest at perihelion?\n\n A: The Nort hern Hemisphere\, which has more landmass\, tilts away from the Sun during perihelion. Land heats and cools more rapidly than oceans\, so Southern H emisphere summers are slightly milder.\n\n\n\n Q: Is Earth speeding up or slowing down at perihelion?\n\n A: Earth moves faster at perihelion an d slower at aphelion\, as predicted by Kepler’s second law (equal are as in equal time).\n\n\n\n Q: Can perihelion and solstice happen on the sa me day?\n\n A: Yes\, but it’s rare. The last near-alignment was in 1246 CE. They drift apart due to apsidal precession.\n\n\n\n Q: Is the orbit g etting more or less eccentric?\n\n A: Eccentricity varies cyclically (~10 0\,000-year cycles). Currently\, Earth’s orbit is becoming slightly le ss eccentric.\n\n\n\n Q: What is the difference between perihelion and pe rigee?\n\n A: Perihelion refers to being closest to the Sun. Perigee r efers to being closest to Earth in a satellite’s orbit.\n\n\n\n Referenc es\n\n\n\n D’Eliseo\, Maurizio M.\; Mironov\, Sergey V. (2009). “The G ravitational Ellipse”. Journal of Mathematical Physics. 50 (2): 022901. doi:10.1063/1.3078419\n\n\n\n Luo\, Siwei (2020). “The Sturm-Liouville problem of two-body system”. Journal of Physics Communications. 4 (6): 061001. doi:10.1088/2399-6528/ab9c30\n\n\n\n Michelsen\, Neil F. (1982).  The American Ephemeris for the 21st Century – 2001 to 2100 at Midnight. Astro Computing Services. ISBN 0-917086-50-3.\n\n\n\n REFERAL\n\n\n\n http s://sciencenotes.org/perihelion-and-aphelion-closest-and-farthest-points-f rom-the-sun/\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20260101 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 28 11/23/2025 DTSTAMP:20251123T184117Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:600-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The 2\,000\n\n\n\n I don't know if Schrumpfts 2\,000 doll ar check will come in BUT I do think this is a  perfect chance to talk ab out what happens if it does happen.\n\n\n\n For example\n\n\n\n New York C ity has a possible three million black folks. Let us say\, a third are chi ldren. so\, two million adults. \n\n\n\n If each adult gives one dollar o f their $2\,000 that is two million dollars. Now what does the black popul ace in NYC need?\n\n\n\n Maybe they could vote on it?\n\n\n\n Now before y ou get excited lets be honest\, few have the clout to get that many Black adults in NYC behind an initiative. the tribal issues exist and it is simp ly not easy. \n\n\n\n But\, the idea has wings in a lesser way. \n\n\n\n Any black person in any black group \, for example\n\n\n\n the black memb ers of one mosque\n\n\n\n the black members of one church\n\n\n\n the blac k members of the party of abraham lincoln in one city\n\n\n\n the black me mbers of the party of andrew jackson in one city\n\n\n\n the black alumni for any college in one city\n\n\n\n can all pool a single dollar together and do something with the collected funds. \n\n\n\n To what end\, you wil l need a voting system\, where people who placed a dollar get the chance t o place their desired collective action. \n\n\n\n And then have a boring\ , long but very even process for each pooler's collective action through a simple yeah or neah on the action from the entire poolers body\, so each idea gets to be voted on by every member\, yes or no. \n\n\n\n The idea t hat won the most yeahs gets done. If a draw a the top. Another round of vo ting where each idea gets voted on \, yes or no\, by each pooler. \n\n\n\ n If two rounds go with the same draw result\, then the poolers who made t he idea\, get to amend their idea. \n\n\n\n And vote again\, the added de tails should lead to an imbalance and if still a tie\, amend again. \n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Yes in a better scenario \, someone black with enough conne ctions calls for a million man march and millions of black men go to this place and each leave a dollar and then vote in a truly even way to use the money. But the conditions don't favor that. But\, i think every black chu rch or mosque can do it. And even if the results are small the real goal i s for black collectives to do something...\n\n\n\n KWanzaa is coming up an d a tenet is collective work and responsibility. \n\n\n\n The timing coul dn't be better.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PArtially Inspired by this dialog\n\n\n \n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12056-african-christians-african-american-ch ristians/#findComment-77851\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/topic/12059-2000-million-people-marches/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\ n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/586-economic-corner-27-11122025/ \n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/605-econom ic-corner-29-11302025/\n\n\n\n COMMENTARIES\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n \n\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/2025 at 2:20 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n 1) Needs have to be identified before a dime is spent.\n \n \n\n\n \n Well concerning my suggestion in the original post\, the needs can't be identified first cause the money is reliant on an unknown. The organizati on can come first and then if the money comes then\, the gathering of fund s\, ala trust\, and then those who have placed funds in the trust can vote \, ala what I stated in the larger post\, I don't know if you read it.\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/2025 at 2:20 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Otherwise\, handing out $2\,000 per person especially those who don't hav e it already will lead to more consumerism.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n Look no further back than those pandemic stimulus checks. \n \n \n\n\n\ n but that is the point of Universal BAsic Income\, it is just welfare\, j ust expanded. Consumerism isn't evil\, it is what the usa has always been\ , starting wiith the white murdering colonist. Remember\, the british colo nies had become a huge buyer\, consumer\, not a producer\, but a consumer. the best producing colonies were in the caribbean with over 90% black pop ulations which led to them all having a different phenotypical history to the english colonies n north america\, having a white european populace \, ever growing\, became big consumers. I recall france did stimulus checks and it was all used\, the french were wiser in that they gave guidelines f or where to spend. but the usa from a financial philosophy perspective his torically likes to allow a freer market\, that is how financial cheating a nd other things can thrive\, it is up to the individual in the usa\, again st france's communalist\, government guided economy through the fiscal cap italist free market.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/202 5 at 5:01 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n I haven't followed this $2\, 000 story much because I don't think Trump is serious about it.\n \n \n\n \n\n nyc 80s white businessmen's fiscal culture isnt about planning\, it i s about shark hunting\, short term gains. \n\n\n\n shark hunting is buyin g things\, breaking them up and selling them into the market\, crows work. that is what the socialist financial models never have. This is why too b ig to fail was huge\, cause the usa did a piss poor variant of socialism i n saving the banks. they saved the banks like in a socialist model but unl ike a socialist model didn't demand they plan\, so the banks haven't impro ved. \n\n\n\n And short terms gains isn't about seriousness\, in schrumpf ts case they are wild gambits. they shake things up which was his original premise and I don't he has ever left that position.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/ 2025 at 5:01 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n richarmurray talks about Universal Basic Income....so is he talking about giving it to people MONTH LY or is this just another one time deal kind of like the stimulus checks for Covid?\n \n \n\n\n\n I apologize for confusing you. This is a one tim e thing\, but I think as this is the economic corner. that if he succeeds this is a huge step to universal basic income becoming in some form or fas hion. Cause if he can do it once\, he can do it again and the next preside nt can as well and with the executive order culture reaching new heights\, all the precedence is present for it to become something that happens at a greater frequency.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n well... gimmick\, the usa is over three hundred and fifty million people. half of that is one hundred and se venty five million so if that is the count of adults\n\n\n\n two thousand multiplied by one hundred and seventy five million is three hundred and fi fty billion dollars. I don't see 350\,000\,000\,000 as a gimmick. \n\n\n\ n I think you and Profd have a very low view of others financially\, that I don't have. \n\n\n\n I never forget one winter past\, real cold\, and a homeless person asked for money and I gave it cause i had it to give. And a black person of you and profd's philosophical race said I shouldn't hav e did that cause that person will spend it on liquor. And I replied to the m that i didn't give the money as a test or because I judged or critiqued them in any way\, I gave the money because I could and I wanted to\, the w ay in which they use it is up to them\, and considering it is cold\, I thi nk it wise to warm your belly with liquor if you live in the cold. \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n I have always found the voice of black people like you and p rofd who chime in that helping others\, especially black folk\, shouldn't be done\, to be very ugly. If you don't want to help other black people. D on't. I have no problem with that. But chiming in that people shouldn't be helped because you feel they are unwarranted based on your critique of th em or your evaluation of what they will do... well ok. You two plus the ma ny other blacks I have heard do it are free to do it\, I have no problem w ith none of you doing it\, but it is an ugly act. That kind of talk in the village needs to be stated for what it is\, ugly. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/24/2025 at 7:46 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n And the REAL k icker is they're probably going to put up all kinds of limitations and exe mptions on it to where half if not most people wouldn't even qualify for t hat money anyway.\n \n \n\n\n\n I don't think so\, like the stimulus chec ks this is meant to go wide. I will say this\, SCrumpft wants this to go w ide\, I Think the problem is the congress... the congress in the usa is a mess in terms of what is produces legislatively.  IT rarely is well const ructed and all to often has alot of dysfunctional complexity to maintain a gendas against the purposes of the laws.\n\n\n\n I think many of the limit s and exemptions may happen but largely because of two things\n\n\n\n 1. t he multipheonotypical naysayers to UBI. For some reason many in government fear UBI. I have listened to their arguments and none hold water. The non black naysayers talk about the merit of work but the usa wasn't built on the merit of work it was built on murdering others for land and enslaving other human beings. the northern colonies were extremely poor compared to the southern. the northern colonies were the most eager to cede from the e nglish empire as they were poorest in north america+caribbean in terms of wealth making and could use to not pay taxes to england\, but virginia to the carolinas were only interested for the opportunity to avoid taxation a nd gain more money. Hard work had nothing to do with it.  The black naysa yers talk about their pseudo prescient view that people will spend the mon ey negatively which has no basis in truth. All the people in the usa who h ad home bills to pay or children to feed spent some or all of each stimulu s on bills and care. homeless and other very fiscally poor people don't ha ve homes or others to care for usually\, so they spent as they wanted. but commerce is not bad\, usa business retained all that money so it wasn't w asted it was fueled right back into the economy of the usa. which is the p oint of welfare\, the impoverished get to feed themselves \, the market ge ts fuel. \n\n\n\n 2. the donkeys\, the part of andrew jackson were the on es who stopped the stimulus checks from continually coming. They felt it w asn't feasible which is interesting cause the donkeys love government spen ding. The problem with stimulus checks is the donkeys can't use stimulus c hecks for favors of big firms. the thousands to millions of homeless peopl e getting stimulus checks going to the liquor store\, buying a sandwich \, maybe a new pair of shoes isn't influencing big business through governme nt spending. But spending money on the affordable care act\, which then go es to insurance companies\, is an example of how to influence the big firm s. So I can see the donkeys trying to stop it though with the shutdown res ult I imagine a  number of donkeys may disregard schumer and others which will make it easy to happen. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n On 11/24/2025 at 8:27 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n I read it.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n From reading your posts\, I don't get the impression you have started businesses and/or managed a lo t of money.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n As a result\,  our perspective s are vastly different when it comes to financial management.\n \n \n\n\ n\n Even point\, our experiences are different\, we are two strangers\, yo u don't know me and i don't know\, we both have levels of assumption \,but our experiences have clearly  led to varying perspectives.\n\n\n\n \n O n 11/24/2025 at 8:27 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Clearly\, you have m isread or misinterpreted what I've written around here. However\, your mis interpretation is consistent with our differing perspectives especially as it relates to money and investing. \n \n \n\n\n\n par the course\, I do nt' think so. when a person says that giving money to another person will be wasted in their opinion and they are opposed to it\, even when the mone y will not be there own\, I see my position as in even response to your wo rds which are said similar.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Troy\n\n\n\n \n On 11/24/ 2025 at 8:38 PM\, Troy said:\n \n\n \n \n don't worry about those broth ers just are projecting what they would do with the money 🙂\n \n \n\n\ n\n well the post wasn't about what individuals would do but what will a g roup do \, each a portion of their funds. Now if either had said they woul dn't put their dollar in the pot   to the stated concept then fine. I ha ve no problem with that. But that wasn't an element of their discourse. It was  \n\n\n\n from Profd  The net benefit is zero especially if folks are going to spend it on BS instead of investing it in something that act ually makes more money\n\n\n\n from Pioneer Low intelligence people are e asily \"bought off\" with cheap gifts and trinkets\, while more intelligen t people look at the LONG TERM aspect and what offers the most benefit in the long run.\n\n\n\n I think my response was even to both. What does eith er of those projections serve a group action as I suggested? \n\n\n\n And I will be blunt\, I have been blessed to be around many types of Black pe ople\, various generations\, various religious associations\, various lang uage types... being a black kid in NYC depending on where in the Black woo ds you live can be very open to how varying black people can be. And so I have always heard black people talk like profd + pioneer when it comes to the qualities of other black people or when it comes to how other black pe ople behave from their view\, when it comes to how other black people who m they view lesser than or negatively in some fashion should be treated. a nd... I have never cared for it.  I have also always heard black people n ot talk like profd + pioneer when it comes to said similar values or persp ectives or judgements. \n\n\n\n Many black people are not going to act or behave the way any one black person thinks\, but when a group action is c alled\, that isn't just about a black individuals views\, or when one sees another black person helping another black person\, that isn't about what said one would do\, it is about two others. \n\n\n\n And I have witnesse d black individuals in a group offline\, chime in just like those two\, wh en all in a group were asked to help and the projections of the philosophi cal peers to profd or pioneer offline were... didn't help.  \n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n \n On 11/24/2025 at 8:38 PM\, Troy said:\n \n\n \n \n They are motivated by the acquisition of wealth not distributing it.  They are ab out exploitation period.\n \n \n\n\n\n You think UBI will be a distributi on of wealth? I don't think so. It is welfare\, expanded but welfare. Like the stimulus checks that money will mostly go into paying bills. \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/24/2025 at 8:38 PM\, Troy said:\n \n\n \n \n If the US somehow decided to pay a UBI you can forget about reparations forev er.\n \n \n\n\n\n well\, as the discourse in my post in this forum have p roven\, even a small set of black people can't even come to a collective a ccepted position on what reparations is defined as for Black DOSers let al one how it shall be implemented. Are Black DOSers owed reparations? 100% h istorical fact\, financially. Are reparations that Black DOSers owed beyon d money? 100% true too.  But\, absent collective acceptance \, the Black DOS populace in the usa  can's decide what reparations is\, and it has to be decided on first before it can be implemented. It can't be what Profd wants or pioneer wants or Rich wants or Troy wants. It has to be what the group wants. \n\n\n\n And thank you Troy \, cause this economic corner\, outside my intentions has reinforced the truth of Reparations problems in the Black populace in the USA. \n\n\n\n If four black men :  me you Prof d Pioneer have this much collective unacceptance on financial matters\, ho w can the tens of millions of black people in the usa find a collective ac ceptance with reparations? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n \n On 1 1/24/2025 at 9:20 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n Are you prone to hal lucination or delusion?\n \n \n\n\n\n whichever answer is the worst in yo ur mind\, pick it. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  @Troy\n\n\n\n bu t in the testing program out west for the UBI \, i forget the name of the town and i think it even has a black representative\, years back at least\ , the UBI doesn't work by distributing funds\, the government prints the m oney and gives it.  The US Military allows the USA to print money and not worry about collection.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n \n On 11/25 /2025 at 6:19 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n Was I wrong?\n \n \n\n\ n\n not based on your own definitions but if another doesn't share your de finitions then yes.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/25/2025 at 6:19 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\ n \n\n \n \n Again\, maybe people like us HAVE A POINT that you should pay attention to instead of thinking YOU have all the answers.\n \n \n\n\ n\n I have never said or felt i have all the answers\, if i did why commun icate in this very forum. But\, based on how black people like me and othe rs define things\, black people like you or profd are wrong in this case. I have publicly admitted you or profd have spoken truth or generated erudi tion before.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/25/2025 at 6:19 PM\, Pioneer1 sa id:\n \n\n \n \n You know how I feel about Mamdani.\n\n So now if som ebody goes around the neighborhood demanding that all of the Black people take \"group action\" to run out and vote for him\, I'm going to have an i ssue with this because I don't feel this will properly or effectively help our community.\n \n \n\n\n\n I didn't refer to mamdani. I confused you a nd I apologize. when I spoke of group action I wasn't speaking in referenc e to him and I am not a mamdani supporter.\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251123 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The American Revolution PBS Documentary Episode 6 DTSTAMP:20251118T053638Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:592-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The American Revolution\n\n A Film By\n\n Ken Burns\, Sar ah Botstein &\; David Schmidt\n\n\n\n The Most Sacred Thing (May 1780 – Onward)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n TRANSCRI PT\n\n\n\n Announcer: Major funding for \"The American Revolution\" was pr ovided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan L avine with the Crimson Lion Foundation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation .\n\nMajor funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein\, the Robert D . and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment\, and by Be tter Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Schwarzma n\, and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditional support wa s provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations\, the Pew Charitable Tru sts\, Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling\, the Park Foundation\, and b y Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Foundation\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the Kissick Famil y Foundation\, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jennifer C aldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund\, and these additional members.\n\n\"The American Revolution\" was made pos sible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting\, and View ers Like You.\n\nThank You.\n\nAnnouncer: The American Revolution caused a n impact felt around the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenuity\, determ ination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide of history and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nB ank of America.\n\n♪ Jane Kamensky\, voice-over: I think to believe in A merica rooted in the American Revolution is to believe in possibility.\n\n That\, to me\, is the extraordinary thing about the Patriot side of the fi ght.\n\nI think everybody on every side\, including people who were denied even the ownership of themselves\, had the sense of possibility worth fig hting for.\n\n♪ The American Revolution changed the world.\n\nIt's not j ust about the birth of the United States.\n\nIt has ramifications across t he globe\, so studying the American Revolution\, understanding it\, and pu tting it in a global context\, I think\, is vitally important for us to un derstand why we are where we are now.\n\n[Gunfire and shouting] ♪ Voice: Our country was thrown into great confusion by the long continuance of th e war.\n\n[Church bell ringing] The churches in Virginia were almost entir ely shut up\, and its holy ordinances unobserved.\n\nMost of our men were engaged in the war.\n\nOur town had now become a garrison.\n\nBetsy Ambler .\n\n♪ Narrator: Betsy Ambler of Yorktown\, Virginia\, had been 10 when the war began.\n\nShe was now 15 and had lived most of the intervening yea rs away from home.\n\nBy the spring of 1780\, she was back in Yorktown wit h her family.\n\nLife there had changed.\n\nThe most populated parts of Vi rginia all lay within reach of the Royal Navy and any troops the British m ight land.\n\nGovernor Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Assembly chose to move the capital from nearby Williamsburg to Richmond\, and\, since Betsy Ambler's father had been appointed to the state government\, her family w ould have to leave Yorktown again.\n\n♪ George Washington had long known that Yorktown was particularly vulnerable.\n\nAs early as 1777\, he had w arned a Virginia militia commander against stationing troops there.\n\n♪ Voice: I can by no means think it would be prudent to have any considerab le stationary force at Yorktown.\n\nBeing upon a narrow neck of land\, it would be in danger of being cut off.\n\nThe enemy might very easily throw up a few ships and land a body of men there who would oblige them to surre nder.\n\n[Washington] ♪ ♪ Narrator: In late May of 1780\, shortly afte r the British capture of Charles Town\, South Carolina\, an elite Loyalist group of green-clad cavalry and mounted infantry called the British Legio n were in hot pursuit of Continental soldiers fleeing north.\n\nTheir comm ander was a 25-year-old English officer-- Banastre Tarleton\, handsome\, r akish\, ruthless\, and determined to make himself a celebrated soldier.\n\ n\"Tarleton\,\" wrote the British chronicler Horace Walpole\, \"boasts of having butchered more men and lain with more women than anybody\" in the a rmy.\n\nTarleton caught up with the rebels near the North Carolina border\ , a region called the Waxhaws\, and demanded they surrender.\n\nVoice: You will order every person under your command to pile his arms in one hour.\ n\nIf you are rash enough to reject these terms\, the blood be upon your h ead.\n\n[Tarleton] [Gunfire] The Patriots chose to fight.\n\nTarleton's me n quickly overwhelmed them.\n\nSome who dropped their weapons and asked fo r quarter received none.\n\n\"They refused my terms\,\" Tarleton wrote.\n\ n\"I have cut 170 officers and men to pieces.\"\n\n♪ He may have destroy ed the last Continental force in South Carolina\, but he had also helped i nspire local Patriots to oppose British occupation.\n\nWhen they went into battle over the coming months\, many would be eager to deal out what they called \"Tarleton's Quarter\" to any Loyalist unlucky enough to fall into their hands.\n\n♪ Vincent Brown: That war in South Carolina is bloody.\ n\nIt's a guerrilla conflict.\n\nIt's sometimes brother against brother in this backwoods warfare.\n\n♪ It's an ugly\, ugly\, ugly conflict\, and if one wants a national origin story that's clean and neat and tells you v ery clearly who the good guys are and who the bad guys are\, the American Revolution in South Carolina is not that story.\n\n[Brass band playing \"T he British Grenadiers\"] ♪ Christopher Brown: The British government was very good at seizing and occupying cities.\n\nNewport\, Philadelphia\, Ne w York\, Charles Town\, Savannah-- these are the kind of main ports that t hroughout the war Britain could secure\, but holding those places were not holding America.\n\nPacifying an entire countryside is an entirely differ ent task than seizing strategic positions.\n\nNarrator: General Charles Co rnwallis had been left in charge in the South with clear orders from Gener al Henry Clinton back in New York.\n\nHe was not to move on to North Carol ina and Virginia until South Carolina was completely pacified.\n\nIt was t o be the first full-scale military occupation of an entire colony in North America.\n\n♪ From Charles Town\, British troops quickly occupied posts in a great arc from Savannah and Augusta in Georgia through the village c alled Ninety Six to Camden and then to Georgetown\, 60 miles up the coast from Charles Town.\n\nWhen the British take the decision to move the war d ecisively to the South\, I think they're trying to exploit the fact that t here are smaller numbers of White colonists and larger numbers of slaves i n those territories and the colonists will be more vulnerable.\n\nVoice: T heir property\, slaves\, we need not seek.\n\nIt flies to us\, and famine follows.\n\nTheir trade we can annihilate\, and when an army cannot find s ubsistence\, on what hope shall a people resist?\n\nMajor John Andre.\n\ n♪ Voice: I determined to go to Charles Town and throw myself into the h ands of the English.\n\nThey received me readily\, and I began to feel the happiness of liberty\, of which I knew nothing before.\n\nBoston King.\n\ nVoice: I have been robbed and deserted by my slaves.\n\nI would sell some of my Negroes\, but the slaves in this country in general have behaved so infamously\, their value is so trifling that it must be absolute ruin to sell at this time.\n\nEliza Lucas Pinckney.\n\nNarrator: At his headquarte rs in New York\, General Clinton continued to believe most South Carolinia ns were Loyalists.\n\nHe had insisted that Patriots swear allegiance to th e Crown or be considered as enemies and treated accordingly.\n\nThose who did swear allegiance were swiftly disillusioned as their Loyalist neighbor s began to settle old scores.\n\nThose \"insurgents\" who refused the oath and dared to take up arms against the King\, Tarleton told General Cornwa llis\, \"don't deserve\" leniency and would get none from him or his men.\ n\nConway: The oath of allegiance was really going too far because it obli ged them to publicly identify as on the British side\, but I think the fun damental problem is that the British are reluctant to restore civil govern ment in the territories they occupy.\n\nThey maintain military government\ , and\, of course\, that reinforces the American claim that the British ar e set on imposing despotism on the colonies.\n\n[Chickens clucking] Voice: Times began to be troublesome\, and people began to divide into parties.\ n\n♪ Those that had been good friends in times past became enemies.\n\nT hey began to watch each other with jealous eyes.\n\nJames Collins.\n\nNarr ator: 16-year-old James Collins lived on his family's farm just below the North Carolina border.\n\nHis father Daniel was an Irish immigrant who loa thed the British and encouraged his son to become a collector of news\, a spy\, reporting on his Loyalist neighbors.\n\n[Horse whinnies] Christopher Brown: One of the things that happens in wartime is\, people who are real ly good politicians\, they create binaries.\n\nYou're either with us or yo u're against us.\n\nThe fact of the matter is\, in real life\, that's actu ally not true.\n\nThere's often more than two possibilities.\n\nThere were a lot of people in 13 colonies who actually didn't care that much about t he outcome.\n\nThey just wanted it over.\n\nConway: The British are heavil y reliant on recruiting Loyalists as soldiers\, and Loyalists are often ve ry embittered... ♪ and\, of course\, if you've got soldiers who are keen on revenge\, they're not the ideal instruments of pacification.\n\n♪ Na rrator: On June 22\, 1780\, James Collins' father was among the men gather ed at a tiny settlement called Brown's Crossroads\, summoned there by Capt ain Christian Huck\, a Loyalist with a well-earned reputation for cruelty. \n\nHe was there to administer the Oath of Allegiance.\n\n[Men shouting] N arrator: Captain Huck stunned the crowd by warning that \"even if the rebe ls were as thick as the trees \"and Jesus Christ would come down and lead them\, he [would still] defeat them.\"\n\nHis audience\, Presbyterians all \, considered that blasphemy.\n\nWe must fight\, James' father said as soo n as he got home\, \"or submit and be slaves.\"\n\nHe went off to join the Patriot militia the next morning.\n\nJames went\, too\, carrying an ancie nt shotgun.\n\n♪ For the next few weeks\, Christian Huck continued to bu rn homes\, menace women\, and murder rebels.\n\nIn July\, after he took a Patriot family hostage\, the Collinses' militia caught up to him and kille d him along with many of his men.\n\nNew volunteers were now swelling Patr iot ranks.\n\nBy early August\, Cornwallis had to admit that the whole cou ntry he had claimed to have pacified is in an absolute state of rebellion. \n\n[Cannon fires] Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock\, Blue Savannah and Black Mingo Creek\, Tearcoat Swamp and Halfway Swamp\, Horse Shoe and Quinby Bri dge-- the battles and skirmishes that would take place in South Carolina b etween 1780 and 1781\, 102 of them by one count\, would yield nearly 1/5 o f all the battlefield deaths suffered during the entire war... [Cannon fir es] and nearly all those American casualties would come at the hands of ot her Americans.\n\n[Cannon fires] Maya Jasanoff: Violence is radicalizing.\ n\nIt is polarizing\, and it happens in the Revolution to people on both s ides of the equation that when they are victims of violence\, they will th en become perpetrators of violence.\n\n♪ Voice: There was no one about i n the streets\, only a few sad and frightened faces in the windows.\n\nI t alked to some of the principal citizens\, informing them that this was but the vanguard of a much larger force on the way and that our King had deci ded to uphold them with all his power and strength.\n\nGeneral Rochambeau. \n\nNarrator: On July 11\, 1780\, 5 French warships and a host of transpor t vessels had emerged from the fog that blanketed the harbor at Newport\, Rhode Island\, and some 4\,600 officers and men under the Comte de Rochamb eau came ashore.\n\nRhode Islanders still remembered that the last French fleet that came had abandoned them\, and Protestant residents weren't sure if these Catholic foreigners had come to help or conquer them... ♪ but when the French commander promised that his men would pay for everything t hey needed in silver coin\, not worthless Continental paper\, a French off icer remembered\, \"their countenances brightened... at this mention of ha rd money.\"\n\nThe next day\, General Rochambeau wrote to Washington\, \"H ere we are\, sir\, at your orders.\"\n\n♪ Meanwhile\, Congress\, without consulting George Washington\, had now appointed General Horatio Gates\, the hero of Saratoga\, commander of the whole Southern Department.\n\nIn l ate July\, he and several aides rode into a camp of 1\,200 Continentals fr om Maryland and Delaware that stretched along the deep river at Cox's Mill in North Carolina.\n\nGates' objective was Camden\, South Carolina\, a Br itish outpost and supply depot in the center of the state.\n\nWhen he reac hed Rugeley's Mill\, 12 miles north of Camden\, Gates had convinced himsel f that he had 7\,000 soldiers at his disposal.\n\n♪ In fact\, he had jus t over 3\,000 men\, Continentals and militia\, and by then\, Cornwallis ha d reached Camden with reinforcements.\n\nAt 10 P.M.\n\non the night of Aug ust 15\, 1780\, Gates started south toward Camden.\n\nBy sheer coincidence \, Cornwallis chose to lead his men north on the same sandy road that even ing\, hoping to surprise Gates.\n\n[Shouting and gunfire] At about 2 A.M.\ n\non August 16\, mounted scouts from the two armies collided.\n\nThere wa s a brief exchange of fire.\n\nThey separated and prepared for battle.\n\n [Gunfire ends] At dawn\, Cornwallis followed the British custom of placing his best troops on his right.\n\nGates\, who was himself an ex-British of ficer and should have known better\, unaccountably assigned his least expe rienced men to face them-- militiamen\, many of whom had never been in com bat.\n\nAs the Patriots tried to form their lines\, a long\, red wall of c hanting British regulars began storming toward them.\n\nThe militia broke and ran.\n\n[Shouting and gunfire] Voice: I confess I was among the first that fled.\n\nThe cause of that I cannot tell except that everyone I saw w as about to do the same.\n\nI threw away my gun.\n\nPrivate Garrett Watts. \n\n[Cannon fires] Narrator: Continentals on the right did hold for a time .\n\nGates' second in command\, General Johann de Kalb\, a Bavarian-born v olunteer\, was shot\, slashed\, and bayoneted again and again but managed to order one counterattack after another until he was finally knocked to t he ground\, mortally wounded.\n\nHis men too began to run.\n\n♪ General Gates witnessed none of this.\n\nShortly after the shooting began\, he had fled the battlefield on horseback and stayed on the run until he reached Hillsborough\, North Carolina\, 180 miles away.\n\n♪ The defeat at Camde n and the story of Gates' flight ruined his reputation.\n\nWhen it came ti me to name a successor\, Congress would defer to George Washington.\n\n♪ Although South Carolina was not pacified\, General Cornwallis was impatie nt to invade North Carolina\, the next step on the road to the biggest pri ze--Virginia and what he hoped would be the total subjugation of the South ern states.\n\n[Horse whinnies] [Fife and drums playing] Iris de Rode: Was hington's reputation in France is an interesting one.\n\nIn France\, he is revered.\n\nHe is admired.\n\nPeople love George Washington in ways that sometimes seems exaggerated\, but it's true.\n\nThey admire him not just b ecause he's a general and they respect the military side\, but it's more t hat he's a symbol for a Republican leader.\n\nFor the French\, Washington became a symbol of what was possible in an egalitarian world where even a farmer could become a general\, so they admire him for that military talen t that he had\, which was not based on aristocracy\, titles\, or money.\n\ nHe was there because of his talent.\n\nNarrator: On September 21\, 1780\, Washington and 4 of his closest aides met in Hartford\, Connecticut\, wit h General Rochambeau and his entourage.\n\nThe French army remained in New port.\n\nWashington's army was arrayed around New York.\n\nFor two days\, the allied commanders discussed what steps they might take together to def eat the British.\n\n♪ Washington and Rochambeau agreed that the most imp ortant objective was still New York City\, but before an assault could tak e place\, they would need to have naval superiority and a far larger combi ned army.\n\nWashington begged Rochambeau to ask his king for more help.\n \nRochambeau said he would try.\n\n[Bird screeches] Voice: I have observed in this war we have sometimes been in the south when we should have been in the north and oftener in the north when we should have been in the sout h\, but should we ever possess the Hudson River\, we can reduce the northe rn provinces.\n\nGeneral Henry Clinton.\n\n♪ Narrator: On September 25\, Washington and his staff inspected the fortifications at West Point on th e Hudson.\n\nThey were scheduled to dine with the general whom Washington had just appointed commander of the fort\, one of his best soldiers-- Bene dict Arnold.\n\n♪ Washington had been startled by what poor condition th e fortifications were in and concerned that Arnold had not been there to g reet him.\n\nHe was not at his headquarters\, either\, when his commander arrived for dinner.\n\nVoice: No one could give me any information where h e was.\n\nThe impropriety of his conduct when he knew I was to be there st ruck me very forcibly.\n\nI had not the least idea of the real cause.\n\n[ Washington] ♪ Narrator: That evening\, when his trusted aide Alexander H amilton brought him a bundle of papers\, Washington discovered the real ca use.\n\nBenedict Arnold-- the commander of West Point\, the place Washingt on considered the most important post in America-- had deserted and fled t o the British that morning.\n\nWorse still\, he had planned to surrender t he fort and all the men stationed in it to the enemy.\n\nFew soldiers had contributed more to the Revolutionary cause than Benedict Arnold.\n\nTime and again\, he had exhibited extraordinary initiative and bravery on the b attlefield and was severely wounded twice-- at Quebec and Saratoga.\n\nNat haniel Philbrick: He had done all these miracles on the battlefield\, but he was not seeing any of the recognition he believed he deserved.\n\n\"Why am I doing this?\n\nI've lost my personal finances.\n\nI've destroyed my body.\n\nFor what?\"\n\nNarrator: Two years earlier\, Washington had made Arnold military commander in Philadelphia.\n\nIt had not gone well.\n\nHe used his position to profit from the sale of confiscated Loyalist property .\n\nHe had also settled into the same mansion the British commander had o ccupied and was accused of being far too close to wealthy merchants suspec ted of Loyalist sympathies.\n\n♪ Philbrick: While Arnold is in the midst of this terrible frustration in Philadelphia\, he falls in love with a yo ung woman named Peggy Shippen\, whose family is of Loyalist sympathies\, w ho had gotten to know the British officers during the British occupation o f Philadelphia quite well\, and one of them was a Major Andre\, who\, just as it so happened\, would become the head of the British spy network\, an d whether or not Peggy was the one who made this all happen\, soon after t he two of them are married\, Arnold begins to make overtures to the Britis h.\n\nNarrator: In the strictest secrecy\, he began to communicate through Major John Andre that he'd gone to war only to redress legitimate America n grievances\, not independence\, and had been appalled when Congress alli ed itself with Catholic France\, which he believed was the enemy of libert y and Protestantism.\n\nHe now volunteered to enlist in the King's service \, either as an officer in the British Army or by cooperating on some conc erted plan to sabotage the Revolutionary cause.\n\nFor 17 months\, coded m essages had gone back and forth before a concrete plan could be agreed upo n.\n\n♪ Arnold was to persuade Washington to give him command of West Po int and all the American outposts on the Hudson and then weaken their defe nses so that General Clinton's forces could sail up the river and take the m all.\n\nIn exchange\, Arnold was to be made a general in the British ser vice\, and paid 20\,000 British pounds plus £500 a year for the rest of h is life.\n\nClinton's forces were poised to move up the Hudson.\n\nAll tha t then remained was for Andre and Arnold to meet and work out a few final details.\n\nAndre had explicit orders.\n\nHe was not to cross into rebel t erritory\, dress as a civilian\, or carry any papers.\n\nHe disobeyed all 3\, and on his way back to the British lines\, Andre was captured by 3 New York militiamen with incriminating documents hidden in his stockings in B enedict Arnold's handwriting.\n\n♪ Philbrick: This came as a devastating blow to Washington\, and it was a blow to the American people to realize that one of their own\, one of their own that had been a great hero\, coul d make this decision to turn on all of them.\n\nHe was the last person Was hington ever thought would have betrayed him.\n\nNarrator: Because Major A ndre had been captured in civilian clothes\, he was hanged as a spy.\n\nAr nold\, who managed to escape\, got his commission and was given command of a regiment made up of Loyalists and deserters from the Continental Army c alled the American Legion.\n\n♪ Voice: Since the fall of Lucifer\, nothi ng has equaled the fall of Arnold.\n\nHe will now sink as low as he had be en high before\, and as the devil made war upon heaven after his fall\, so I expect Arnold will upon America.\n\nShould he ever fall into our hands\ , he will be a sweet sacrifice.\n\nGeneral Nathanael Greene.\n\n♪ ♪ Na rrator: General Cornwallis' planned invasion of North Carolina would be a 3-pronged assault.\n\nOn the right\, a column would seize the port of Wilm ington\, ensuring that supplies could flow smoothly inland from the coast. \n\nIn the center\, Cornwallis would himself lead the bulk of his army tow ard the tiny town of Charlotte\, then just a crossroads and a courthouse.\ n\nOn the left\, Major Patrick Ferguson and perhaps a thousand Loyalists w ere to guard his flank and try to rally more men from the backcountry.\n\n ♪ Ferguson\, a Scottish-born career soldier who directed his men in batt le with a silver whistle\, led his Loyalist force across the border into w estern North Carolina.\n\nHe released rebel prisoners and sent them over t he Blue Ridge Mountains with a message for those Patriots who called thems elves the Overmountain Men\, the settlers who had defied the 1763 proclama tion forbidding them to occupy Indian lands.\n\nA British victory was inev itable\, Ferguson told them\, and every man who laid down his arms would b e treated gently and justly... [Splashing] but the frontiersmen did not be lieve him.\n\nNews of Tarleton's cruelty and Loyalist abuses was still fre sh.\n\nInstead of surrendering\, they came swarming over the mountains aft er Ferguson\, who realized he was in trouble\, changed course\, and moved towards Charlotte.\n\nAlong the way\, he issued a proclamation meant to ra lly Loyalists.\n\nVoice: Gentlemen\, if you choose to be pissed upon forev er and ever by a set of mongrels\, say so at once and let your women turn their backs upon you and look out for real men to protect them.\n\nIf you wish or deserve to live and bear the name of man\, grasp your arms in a mo ment and run to camp.\n\nThe Backwater-men have crossed the mountains.\n\n [Ferguson] ♪ Edward Lengel: That's the wrong tone to take when you're co mmunicating with these backcountry over-the-mountain men\, these Scots-Iri sh settlers.\n\n♪ Narrator: Just inside South Carolina\, Ferguson unacco untably decided to make a stand on a hill grandly named King's Mountain.\n \nNearly a thousand Patriot militia-- half Overmountain Men and half from the Virginia and Carolina backcountry\, including James Collins-- were rig ht behind him.\n\n♪ Voice: Each leader made a short speech in his own wa y to his men\, desiring every coward to be off immediately.\n\nHere\, I co nfess\, I would have willingly been excused.\n\n[Collins] Narrator: On Oct ober 7\, 1780\, as they waited for the signal to start up the hillside\, C ollins recalled\, each man threw 4 or 5 musket balls into his mouth to sta ve off thirst and speed reloading.\n\n[Gunfire] The Patriots attacked with terrifying ferocity.\n\n[Whooping and gunfire] Voice: They appeared like so many devils from the infernal regions.\n\nThey were the most powerful-l ooking men ever beheld-- tall\, raw-boned\, and sinewy with long\, matted hair\, such men as were never before seen in the Carolinas.\n\nDrury Mathi s.\n\n[Whistle blowing] Narrator: As the Patriots closed in on the summit\ , Ferguson continued to ride from point to point\, waving his saber\, blow ing his whistle\, trying to get his Loyalists to hold on.\n\nSeveral balls slammed into him at once.\n\nHe tumbled from his saddle\, his foot caught in the stirrup\, and he was dragged back and forth along the ground until his men could grab the reins.\n\n[Horse whinnies] Ferguson had been the o nly British soldier in the battle that day.\n\nEveryone else on both sides was an American.\n\n[Shouting and gunfire] The Loyalists surrendered.\n\n ♪ Voice: The dead lay in heaps on all sides while the groans of the woun ded were heard in every direction.\n\n\"Great God\,\" said I\, \"Is this t he fate of mortals?\n\nWas it for this cause that man was brought into the world?\"\n\n♪ We proceeded to bury the dead\, but it was badly done.\n\ nThe hogs in the neighborhood gathered into the place to devour the flesh of men\, and the wolves became so plenty that it was dangerous for anyone to be out at night.\n\nPrivate James Collins.\n\nLengel: After Kings Mount ain\, Patriots murder many of their captives.\n\nIf they see somebody amon g the captives who gives them a dirty look\, they'll say\, \"Oh\, I know t hat guy.\n\n\"He burned a farm just over the next hill\, \"and he killed s omebody's family.\n\nLet's string him up\,\" and so all kinds of atrocitie s take place.\n\nMan: Fight back!\n\nNarrator: When Cornwallis learned tha t the Patriots had annihilated a thousand-man Loyalist force\, he pulled h is army out of Charlotte and headed back into South Carolina.\n\n[Horse wh innies] ♪ Voice: The women of America\, animated by the purest patriotis m\, are sensible of sorrow at this day in not offering more than barren wi shes for the success of so glorious a Revolution.\n\nIf opinion and manner s did not forbid us to march to glory by the same paths as the men\, we sh ould at least equal and sometimes surpass them in our love for the public good.\n\nEsther Reed.\n\n♪ Narrator: In Philadelphia\, a prominent woman named Esther Reed had published a pamphlet which called upon all women to forego luxuries and instead raise funds to help the soldiers.\n\n♪ They collected 300\,000 Continental dollars\, hoping to split it among the tro ops.\n\nGeorge Washington vetoed that idea.\n\nThey would just buy rum\, h e said.\n\nWhat they needed were shirts.\n\nThe women would make more than 2\,000 of them.\n\nVoice: And see the spirit catching from state to state .\n\nAmerica will not wear chains while her daughters are virtuous.\n\nAbi gail Adams.\n\n[Wind blowing] Rick Atkinson: It's quite primitive\, the co nditions their soldiers are living in.\n\nA belief in the cause keeps you putting one foot in front of the other\, but that does not keep you warm.\ n\nIt does not cool you down in the summer.\n\nIt does not feed you\, so i t's a constant struggle just day to day exclusive of battle.\n\nVoice: We never stood upon such perilous ground.\n\nOur troops are poorly clothed\, badly fed\, and worse paid.\n\nThey have not seen a paper dollar in the wa y of pay for nearly 12 months.\n\nGeneral Anthony Wayne.\n\n♪ Narrator: On New Year's Day 1781\, fueled by rum and righteous indignation\, some 1\ ,500 Pennsylvania Continentals encamped near Morristown\, New Jersey\, mut inied.\n\nThey killed two officers who tried to stop them\, seized 6 canno n\, and began marching toward Philadelphia to confront Congress with their grievances\, but before the mutineers could get there\, the Pennsylvania legislature intervened and agreed to most of their demands\, including the promise of full back pay and the choice of leaving the army or re-enlisti ng.\n\nNo one was to be punished.\n\nHalf the men left the army.\n\nThe re st re-enlisted.\n\n3 weeks later\, when 3 New Jersey regiments also mutini ed\, Washington ordered New England troops to surround them.\n\nThe men we re assembled and made to look on as a firing squad of their fellow mutinee rs was forced to execute two of the ringleaders.\n\nPhilbrick: Washington realized the only thing he could do was to take them down with terrible br utality.\n\n♪ This was Washington's moment of having to end this in a ve ry summary fashion.\n\n[Gunshot] Narrator: \"Every thing is now quiet\,\" Washington wrote afterwards\, but he feared that unless some way were foun d to pay and clothe and supply his men\, there would be still more mutinie s.\n\n[Wind blowing] Voice: Be assured that day does not follow night more certainly than it brings with it some additional proof of the impractical ity of carrying on the war without aid.\n\nWe are at the end of our tether .\n\nNow or never\, deliverance must come.\n\n[Washington] [Wind blowing] ♪ Voice: Richmond\, Virginia.\n\nWar in itself\, however distant\, is in deed terrible\, but when brought to our very doors\, the reflection is ind eed overwhelming.\n\nWhat a gloomy time do I look forward to.\n\nAlready o ur gentlemen begin to apprehend that the enemy will advance into the count ry.\n\n♪ If they do\, God knows what will become of us.\n\nBetsy Ambler. \n\nNarrator: Virginia's Patriots weren't ready to resist an invasion.\n\n Men were refusing conscription.\n\nWealthy planters had exempted themselve s\, their sons\, and overseers from serving because\, they claimed\, they needed to stay home to keep their slaves in line.\n\n\"The Rich wanted the Poor to fight for them\,\" one farmer recalled\, \"to defend their proper ty [while] they refused to fight for themselves.\"\n\nThen\, in January of 1781\, Loyalist troops\, British regulars\, and German soldiers sailed in to Chesapeake Bay and up the James River.\n\nTheir commander was Benedict Arnold\, now a brigadier general in the British Army and eager to demonstr ate his newfound devotion to the Crown.\n\n♪ He and half his men marched toward Richmond\, the new state capital.\n\nAt the sight of Arnold's men\ , Virginia militiamen\, many without arms\, melted away.\n\n♪ Many years later\, an enslaved member of Governor Jefferson's household remembered t hat \"in 10 minutes\, not a White man was to be seen in Richmond.\"\n\nVoi ce: My mother was so scared\, she didn't know whether to stay indoors or o ut.\n\nThe British formed in line and marched up with drums beating.\n\nIt was an awful sight.\n\nSeemed like the day of judgment was come.\n\nIsaac Granger.\n\n♪ Narrator: Arnold's men burned warehouses filled with salt and tobacco and seized 2\,200 small arms\, nearly 40 cannon\, and 503 hog sheads of rum.\n\nEven printing presses were\, in Arnold's words\, \"purif ied by the flames.\"\n\n♪ He and his men then moved back down the James\ , pillaging as they went\, and settled in for the rest of the winter at Po rtsmouth\, near the mouth of the Chesapeake\, where they could be supporte d by the Royal Navy.\n\nPhilbrick: To send Benedict Arnold to Virginia was sending the man Washington most despised to his home state\, and what Was hington did was send the officer that he trusted\, in many ways\, the most \, Lafayette\, to contain this treasonous dog.\n\nNarrator: \"Should [Arno ld] fall into your hands\,\" Washington told the Marquis de Lafayette when he ordered him south to protect Virginia\, \"you will execute... the puni shment due [for] his treason... in the most summary way.\"\n\n♪ Voice: S outh Carolina.\n\nWhen I left the Northern Army\, I expected to find in th is Southern Department a thousand difficulties to which I was a stranger\, but the embarrassments far exceed my utmost apprehension.\n\nI have but a shadow of an army.\n\nNathanael Greene.\n\nI think Nathanael Greene is th e unsung hero of the American Revolution.\n\nWithout Nathanael Greene in t he South grinding it out battle after battle in the war-torn South\, the R evolution could have easily been lost.\n\n♪ Narrator: After the disaster at Camden\, George Washington had sent Nathanael Greene to replace the di sgraced Horatio Gates as commander of what was left of the southern army.\ n\n\"I think I am giving you a General\,\" Washington told a South Carolin a congressman\, \"but what can a General do without men\, without arms\, w ithout clothing\, without provisions?\"\n\n♪ Greene's forces were outnum bered by more than two to one.\n\nNonetheless\, he decided to divide his s mall army.\n\n\"It makes the most of my inferior force\,\" he explained\, \"for it compels my adversary to divide his.\"\n\n♪ Greene himself and m ost of his men marched into South Carolina to a camp near Cheraw on the Pe e Dee River.\n\nMeanwhile\, Daniel Morgan led what Greene called his \"Fly ing Army\" west \"to annoy the enemy in that quarter\" and \"spirit up the people.\"\n\n♪ [Horse whinnies] In response\, Cornwallis sent Banastre Tarleton after Daniel Morgan.\n\nMorgan had hoped to get his men safely ba ck across the broad river before facing his pursuer\, but Tarleton was soo n within 5 miles.\n\n♪ Morgan chose to make a stand at the Cowpens\, a r olling meadow 500 yards long and almost as wide on which herdsmen grazed t heir cattle on the way to market.\n\nHe expected Tarleton to lead a headlo ng charge into his ranks and planned to take advantage of his rash opponen t.\n\nDaniel Morgan was a master tactician.\n\nHis planning for the Battle of Cowpens is really brilliant in the way that he draws Tarleton into a t rap.\n\nNarrator: Morgan knew that his less-reliable militia\, faced with an onrushing enemy\, would likely break and run\, so he would try to turn that weakness into a strength.\n\nFor the next day's battle\, he would arr ange his men in 3 lines 150 yards apart.\n\nMilitiamen would man the first two.\n\nMorgan ordered them to fire just two volleys each into the oncomi ng enemy and then retreat behind the third line\, manned by seasoned Conti nentals.\n\nHe hoped the enemy\, convinced the militia were running away a gain\, would charge and suddenly find themselves under deadly fire from hi s most experienced fighters hidden behind a rise.\n\n♪ Morgan spent the night before the battle building the militia's confidence.\n\nVoice: He we nt among the volunteers\, told them to keep in good spirits and the day wo uld be ours.\n\n\"Just hold up your head\, boys.\n\nTwo fires\,\" he would say\, \"and you're free\, \"and then when you return to your homes\, \"ho w the old folks will bless you and the girls kiss you for your gallant con duct.\"\n\nMajor Thomas Young.\n\n♪ Lengel: Morgan's recognition of them and their recognition of Morgan as this crusty backwoodsman who's just li ke them gives them a confidence and an ability to think clearly and to fol low orders in a way that they would not have done this for anybody else.\n \n[Rooster crows] Voice: About sunrise on the 17th of January 1781\, the e nemy came in full view.\n\nThe sight--to me\, at least-- seemed somewhat i mposing.\n\nThey halted for a short time and then advanced rapidly\, as if certain of victory.\n\nPrivate James Collins.\n\n[Shouting and gunfire] N arrator: The first line of militia managed to pick off a few regulars and then\, following orders\, fell back.\n\n♪ When the enemy came within 50 yards of the second line\, the militia fired two volleys into them\, a \"h eavy &\; galling fire\,\" Morgan remembered\, that felled 2/3 of Tarlet on's infantry officers\, but\, just as Tarleton had assumed it would\, the second line appeared to fall apart\, too.\n\nThe British stepped up their pace\, eager to catch the fleeing militia.\n\nSurely\, Tarleton thought\, the battle was nearly won.\n\nHis men raced up a slope and at its crest s uddenly found themselves face to face with the third line and under what a Continental officer remembered as a \"very destructive fire which they li ttle expected.\"\n\n[Cannon fires] This time\, it was the Patriots who cha rged with bayonets\, emitting a blood-curdling war cry they had adapted fr om Native warriors\, a yell that would reverberate on Southern battlefield s for decades.\n\n[Men whooping] Voice: Morgan rode up in front and\, wavi ng his sword\, cried out\, \"Give them one more fire\, and the day is ours .\"\n\n[Sword clangs] We then advance briskly.\n\nThey began to throw down their arms and surrender themselves.\n\nPrivate James Collins.\n\nNarrato r: Meanwhile\, American cavalry attacked the enemy's rear\, \"shouting and charging\,\" one Patriot said\, \"like madmen.\"\n\nThe British line brok e.\n\nIt was all over in 35 minutes.\n\nThe British lost 300 men killed or wounded.\n\n525 more were taken prisoners.\n\nTarleton managed to get awa y\, but Daniel Morgan was exultant.\n\n\"I have Given him\,\" he said\, \" a devil of a whipping.\"\n\n♪ News of Tarleton's defeat stunned General Cornwallis.\n\nNearly a third of his army was now lost.\n\nHe set out to c atch the rebel force.\n\nTwo months later\, at the Battle of Guilford Cour thouse in North Carolina\, Nathanael Greene tried the same tactics against Cornwallis that Morgan had used against Tarleton.\n\n[Gunfire] At first\, the strategy seemed to work.\n\nCornwallis' left began to buckle.\n\nIf G reene had had reserves\, he might have prevailed.\n\nHe had no reserves.\n \nCornwallis won the battle\, but he had lost another 500 men.\n\n[Gunshot ] When the news eventually reached Britain\, the leader of the opposition in Parliament was unimpressed.\n\n\"Another such victory\,\" he said\, \"w ould destroy the British army.\"\n\nCornwallis and his exhausted men stagg ered east to Wilmington.\n\nHe had had enough of the Carolinas.\n\nCornwal lis decided to defy his orders from General Clinton and lead his army nort h to link up with British and Loyalist forces already in Virginia.\n\nVoic e: I cannot help expressing my wishes that the Chesapeake may become the s eat of war\, even\, if necessary\, at the expense of abandoning New York.\ n\nUntil Virginia is in a manner subdued\, our hold of the Carolinas must be difficult\, if not precarious.\n\nLord Cornwallis.\n\nNarrator: On Apri l 25\, 1781\, Cornwallis began his northward march.\n\nWord of his disobed ience would not reach Clinton's headquarters in New York for more than a m onth.\n\n\"My wonder at this move... will never cease\,\" Clinton wrote wh en he heard the news\, \"but [Cornwallis] has made it.\n\nAnd we shall say no more but to make the best of it.\"\n\n♪ Voice: The seat of war is ch iefly in the southern states\, and there our enemies by victories and defe ats are wasting daily.\n\n♪ Our own American affairs wear a more pleasin g aspect.\n\nMaryland has acceded to the Confederation at the very time wh en Britain is deluding herself with the idea that we are crumbling to piec es.\n\nAbigail Adams.\n\nNarrator: In early 1781\, Maryland became the las t state to ratify the Articles of Confederation.\n\nAlmost 5 years after d eclaring their independence\, the United States finally had the kind of co nfederation they thought they wanted\, but it was just an alliance\, not a central government.\n\n♪ All laws were left to the individual states\, including those governing slavery\, which was still legal everywhere... ♪ but now there were people in all parts of America looking to abolish i t.\n\nThey would have their first successes in the North.\n\n♪ Christoph er Brown: It's in this moment that the first antislavery organizations beg in to take shape\, especially in those places where slavery is not terribl y important to the social and economic order-- Pennsylvania\, Massachusett s\, Connecticut.\n\nAnnette Gordon-Reed: It's easier in the North\, where there are fewer Black people.\n\nThe sort of traditional things to say is that the South was a slave society and the North was a society with slaves .\n\nBernard Bailyn: Before the Revolution\, slavery was never a major pub lic issue.\n\nThere were people who spoke against it and gave good reasons to what evil it was\, but it was not a major public issue.\n\nAfter the R evolution\, there never was a time when it wasn't.\n\nNarrator: In 1780\, Pennsylvania's Gradual Emancipation Act had said that anyone born into sla very in that state after the act's adoption automatically became free at 2 8\, but any man\, woman\, or child enslaved before its passage remained en slaved to the end of their lives unless they bought their freedom or had t heir owner grant it to them.\n\n♪ Voice: Any time\, any time while I was a slave\, if one minute's freedom had been offered to me and I'd been tol d I must die at the end of that minute\, I would have taken it just to sta nd one minute on God's earth a free woman.\n\nI would.\n\n[Elizabeth Freem an (Mumbet)] Narrator: When an enslaved woman in Western Massachusetts cal led Mumbet was struck by her mistress with a kitchen shovel\, she had stal ked from the house and refused to return.\n\nHer owner went to court to ge t her back.\n\nMumbet's lawyer convinced an all-White jury that since the preamble to the new Massachusetts state constitution declared all men \"fr ee and equal\" and since his client was a human being\, she should be free .\n\nThe Massachusetts Supreme Court agreed.\n\nMumbet changed her name to Elizabeth Freeman and lived nearly 50 years in Stockbridge\, serving her neighbors as a healer\, nurse\, and midwife.\n\nHer gravestone in a Stockb ridge cemetery reads\, \"She was born a slave... yet in her own sphere she had no superior nor equal.\"\n\n♪ By the time of her death in 1829\, al l the states from New Jersey north to New England had called for the aboli tion of slavery\, but it would take another generation and a still more te rrible war to end it everywhere in the United States.\n\n♪ ♪ Voice: Th ere are few generals that have run oftener than I have done\, but I have t aken care not to run too far and commonly have run as fast forward as back ward to convince our enemy that we were like a crab that could run either way.\n\nNathanael Greene.\n\nNarrator: One by one\, all across the Lower S outh\, British outposts either surrendered to Patriots or were abandoned-- Fort Watson\, Camden\, Orangeburg\, Fort Motte\, Fort Granby\, Fort Galph in\, Georgetown\, Augusta.\n\n[Cannon fires] General Greene fought 3 full- scale battles with the British-- at Hobkirk Hill\, Ninety Six\, and Eutaw Springs-- and lost them all\, but he inflicted such heavy casualties each time that the enemy was forced to withdraw closer and closer to Charles To wn.\n\n\"We fight\,\" Greene said\, \"get beat\, rise\, and fight again.\" \n\n♪ He couldn't have done it without local Patriot militias.\n\nFranci s Marion's outfit eluded British cavalry by hiding in the swamp so success fully that Banastre Tarleton said\, \"[A]s for this old fox\, the Devil hi mself could not catch him.\"\n\n♪ As Britain's grip on the region weaken ed\, the anarchy that had characterized the backcountry for months spirale d into chaos.\n\nPartisans on both sides seemed bent on being more cruel t han those on the other.\n\nThey tortured and murdered captives\, burned ho mes and flogged their owners\, raped women and hanged their husbands.\n\nG angs of bandits held up travelers and plundered farms.\n\nVoice: With us i n the North\, the difference is little more than a division of sentiment.\ n\nBut here\, they prosecute each other with little less than savage fury. \n\nYou can have no idea of the distress and misery that prevail in this q uarter.\n\nNathanael Greene.\n\n♪ Narrator: By the end of the summer of 1781\, the British would be penned up in just 3 coastal towns in the Carol inas and Georgia-- Wilmington\, Charles Town\, and Savannah.\n\nLondon's S outhern strategy was falling apart.\n\n♪ Voice: The King has decided tha t the principal objective of his arms in America during the war with the E nglish is to drive them from the Gulf of Mexico and the banks of the Missi ssippi\, which should be considered as the bulwark of the vast empire of N ew Spain.\n\n[Bernardo de Gálvez] ♪ Narrator: Bernardo de Gálvez-- the bold\, young governor of Spanish Louisiana-- saw an opportunity in the Am erican Revolution to take back West Florida for his king\, even before Spa in had entered the war in 1779.\n\nKathleen DuVal: Bernardo de Gálvez had big ambitions for Spain\, and he had big ambitions for himself.\n\nHe bel ieved that war against Britain would be his chance to push Spanish colonie s even farther into North America\, past Louisiana\, into the rest of the Gulf Coast\, the Appalachians\, perhaps most of Eastern North America.\n\n Narrator: As soon as Gálvez heard Spain had officially entered the war\, he left New Orleans and rallied an army that reflected the extraordinary d iversity of the Gulf Coast-- Spaniards\, Frenchmen\, Acadians\, Irishmen\, Black and biracial men from Africa and the Americas\, Choctaws\, Houmas\, Alabamas\, men from Mexico\, Puerto Rico\, Cuba\, Hispaniola\, and a hand ful of volunteers from the United States.\n\n♪ DuVal: Gálvez began to t ake British posts.\n\nHe took Baton Rouge\, Natchez\, and then sailed with his militia and took the post of Mobile.\n\nNarrator: By the spring of 17 81\, Gálvez's only objective left in British West Florida was its capital and stronghold--Pensacola.\n\n♪ It was defended by local Black and Whit e militiamen\; British\, German\, and Loyalist soldiers\; and hundreds of Choctaws\, Chickasaws\, and Muscogee Creeks who opposed any imperial expan sion that threatened their lands in the southeastern interior.\n\n♪ Gál vez landed his army and began a siege.\n\nFor a month and a half\, Spanish guns edged closer and closer to the heart of the British defenses.\n\n[Ca nnon fires] Finally\, on May 8\, 1781\, a shell hit the British gunpowder magazine.\n\n[Explosion] The explosion killed almost a hundred men\, mostl y Loyalist troops\, and blew a wide hole in the fort's walls.\n\nGálvez's men poured through the gap\, and within hours\, the British commander sur rendered.\n\nSpanish rule was restored in West Florida and with it Spanish control of the Gulf of Mexico.\n\n♪ DuVal: West Florida is the first no nrebelling colony that Britain loses.\n\nAfter the Spanish victory at Pens acola\, many\, many people in Britain think it's time to stop this war bef ore it gets any worse.\n\n♪ Narrator: Britain was more alone than ever\, at war with the Netherlands now as well as with France and Spain\, and it s West Indian islands and Gibraltar in the Mediterranean were under attack .\n\nTo London\, North America mattered less and less\, and General Clinto n in New York could do little more than make sure that city remained in Br itish hands.\n\nde Rode: The British stronghold is in New York.\n\nIt's wh ere they won the battle in 1776 against George Washington\, which is one o f the reasons George Washington really wants to take New York\, because he feels very humiliated by that specific battle\, so for him since that tim e\, it became almost an obsession.\n\n\"If we take New York\, we're gonna win this war.\"\n\n♪ Narrator: When word came that French warships and m ore French troops would arrive on the East Coast sometime that summer\, Wa shington and Rochambeau met again in Connecticut to discuss where the flee t might\, in fact\, do the most good-- at New York or in Virginia\, where Cornwallis was now headed.\n\nWashington still favored New York.\n\nRocham beau told him that he preferred to leave the decision to the Comte de Gras se\, the admiral now commanding the French fleet in the Caribbean\, but in private letters to de Grasse\, Rochambeau argued that blockading the Ches apeake should take precedence.\n\nIn the meantime\, Rochambeau marched his more than 4\,000 men from Newport to join Washington's army in Westcheste r County\, New York.\n\nThe French were stunned by what they saw.\n\n♪ V oice: I cannot too often repeat how astonished I have been at the American Army.\n\nIt is inconceivable that troops nearly naked\, badly paid\, and composed of old men\, Negroes\, and children should march so well.\n\n[Cro mot du Bourg] Voice: The Rhode Island Regiment includes many Negroes\, and that regiment is the most neatly dressed\, the best under arms\, and the most precise in its maneuvers.\n\n[Ludwig von Closen] ♪ Narrator: As Ame rican and French soldiers probed British defenses around New York\, Washin gton waited for Admiral de Grasse to pick his target-- New York or Virgini a.\n\n♪ On May 20\, 1781\, Lord Cornwallis arrived at Petersburg\, Virgi nia.\n\nHe commanded some 7\,000 British\, German\, and Loyalist troops.\n \nBenedict Arnold was not among them.\n\nHe had been recalled to New York and would eventually sail for England\, never to see his country again.\n\ n♪ Cornwallis first tried to hunt down the Marquis de Lafayette\, who ha d been harassing British forces in Virginia\, but Lafayette managed to sli p away.\n\nVoice: You can be entirely calm with regard to the rapid marche s of Lord Cornwallis.\n\nLet him march from St.\n\nAugustine to Boston.\n\ nWhat he wins in his front he loses in his rear.\n\nHis army will bury its elf without requiring us to fight him.\n\n[Lafayette] ♪ Narrator: Cornwa llis unleashed two raiding parties into the heart of Virginia.\n\n250 hors emen\, commanded by Banastre Tarleton\, were ordered to try to capture Tho mas Jefferson and the Virginia Assembly\, now meeting at Charlottesville\, where Tarleton managed to seize several legislators\, including Daniel Bo one from Kentucky County\, but with only moments to spare\, Jefferson esca ped his would-be captors on horseback.\n\n♪ Voice: Such terror and confu sion.\n\nWhat an alarming crisis is this.\n\nWe were off in a twinkling.\n \nThe nearer the mountains\, the greater the safety was the conclusion\, s o on we traveled through byways and brambles.\n\n[Ambler] ♪ Narrator: Be tsy Ambler's family was on the run\, too\, eventually finding temporary sa nctuary on a friend's backcountry plantation.\n\n♪ After 3 mostly fruitl ess weeks spent marching through the backcountry\, Cornwallis and his men started southeast towards Williamsburg.\n\nSome 4\,500 ex-slaves now trail ed along behind.\n\n♪ By bringing the war into Virginia\, Cornwallis had provided the largest body of Black people in North America the possibilit y of freedom.\n\nAmong those who threw in their lot with the British were 23 from Thomas Jefferson's estates and 16 from George Washington's Mount V ernon.\n\nGordon-Reed: What do you do?\n\nDo you stay\, or do you take a c hance at your freedom and leave your family?\n\nHow many people can go wit h you?\n\nSometimes whole families left together.\n\n♪ I would imagine i t being frightening but also a sense of hope because the system that they were in may be destroyed and that they may have an opportunity for freedom .\n\n♪ Voice: Has the God who made the White man and the Black left any record declaring us a different species?\n\nAre we not sustained by the sa me power\, supported by the same food\, hurt by the same wounds\, pleased with the same delights\, and propagated by the same means?\n\nAnd should w e not then enjoy the same liberty and be protected by the same laws?\n\n ♪ Some consider us as much property as a house or a ship and think how a nxious we must be to raise ourselves from this degrading state.\n\nJames F orten.\n\nNarrator: James Forten was born free in Philadelphia.\n\nAt 9\, he had been in the crowd at the Pennsylvania State House that heard the De claration of Independence read to the public for the very first time.\n\nF orten took the promise of the Declaration to heart and never questioned wh ether its self-evident truths applied to him.\n\n♪ Now\, in the summer o f 1781\, Forten was 14\, old enough to fight for his country.\n\nWith his mother's permission\, he went down to the docks\, signed on to a privateer \, and set out to sea.\n\nForten was one of 20 men and boys of color in a crew of 200.\n\nFor privateers eager to attract volunteers\, race was no b arrier.\n\n♪ His first voyage was a triumph\, but the second was a disas ter.\n\nHis ship was overtaken and captured by a British warship.\n\n♪ O nce aboard\, the captain's son befriended him\, and the captain offered to release him if he were willing to sail with the boy to England.\n\nForten refused.\n\nHe could not turn his back on his country.\n\n[Gulls squawkin g] Instead\, he joined hundreds of American prisoners huddled below decks aboard the notorious British prison ship the \"Jersey\" moored in the East River off Brooklyn-- dark\, fetid\, rife with disease.\n\n[Bell rings] ♪ Meanwhile\, starting in June 1781\, Cornwallis began to receive a seri es of contradictory communications from General Clinton back in New York C ity.\n\nFirst\, Cornwallis was to send nearly half his forces north to New York\, which Clinton still believed Washington's most likely target.\n\nT hen Clinton changed his mind.\n\nCornwallis was now to send those same tro ops to the Delaware Bay\, where they might sail north and threaten Philade lphia.\n\nFinally\, with his men aboard boats in Portsmouth and ready to s ail\, Cornwallis was to forget moving them north at all.\n\nInstead\, he w as to locate and fortify a deep-water\, year-round port in Virginia suitab le for the Royal Navy's largest warships.\n\nCornwallis' engineers recomme nded Yorktown.\n\nHe arrived there on August 2\, 1781.\n\n♪ On August 14 \, Washington learned that the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse was on its way to the Chesapeake\, not New York.\n\n♪ Voice: Matters having no w come to a crisis and a decisive plan to be determined on\, I was obliged to give up all idea of attacking New York.\n\n[Washington] de Rode: Georg e Washington is a realistic military man who knows when to not attack\, an d so with the advice of the French that had much more experience in warfar e\, he listens to them and decides to march to the South.\n\nNarrator: The n word arrived from Lafayette that Cornwallis was establishing his army at Yorktown.\n\nIf the French Navy could command the Chesapeake and keep the British fleet out\, Lafayette wrote\, \"the British Army would\, I think\ , be ours.\"\n\nBut before Washington could move his army south\, some way had to be found to pay his men.\n\nCongress was broke.\n\n[Horse whinnies ] Voice: My personal credit\, which\, thank heaven\, I have preserved thro ugh all the tempests of the war\, has been substituted for that which the country has lost.\n\nI am now striving to transfer that credit to the publ ic.\n\nRobert Morris.\n\nNarrator: Washington turned to an old friend\, th e richest man in America-- Robert Morris.\n\nMorris had again and again us ed his own money to supply the Continental Army.\n\nHe had also used publi c funds for personal speculations and made millions in government contract s.\n\nWilliam Hogeland: Robert Morris was a war profiteer and mingled publ ic and private funds with unabashed abandon\, and without him\, it's not c lear at all that the Revolution would have been won or even would have bee n fought very long because he did front his own money to keep the army in the field.\n\nPeople said he financed the American Revolution.\n\nThat's l argely true.\n\nCritics of Morris said that the Revolution financed him\, and that's true\, too.\n\n♪ Narrator: Now Morris combined his own funds with borrowed Spanish gold and silver to pay the men.\n\nVoice: Each of us received a month's pay.\n\nThis was the first that could be called money which we had received as wages since the year '76.\n\nJoseph Plumb Martin. \n\n[People cheering] Narrator: Leaving 4\,000 Continentals behind\, the F rench and American armies began to make their way south in 3 great columns on August 18.\n\n♪ The campaign was an enormous undertaking and a great gamble.\n\n♪ In order to keep Cornwallis from escaping by sea\, French naval forces from both the Caribbean and Newport\, Rhode Island\, would ha ve to elude British warships patrolling the Atlantic coast and enter the C hesapeake Bay.\n\nAt the same time\, thousands of French and American troo ps\, who could not speak one another's language\, would have to continue t o make their way together some 450 miles from Westchester County to Virgin ia in the heat of summer.\n\n[Horse nickers] de Rode: It's hot and humid\, and\, as the French write\, \"infested by mosquitoes\,\" and so this is a very complicated march.\n\nYou have to think of thousands of men marching through these little roads.\n\nThey have to create bridges.\n\nThey have to get obstacles out of the way\, and we're not talking just about men mar ching.\n\nWe have a lot of animals behind them.\n\n♪ In order to not wal k in the middle of the day\, they start in the middle of the night\, so it 's pitch dark.\n\nYou're walking on little paths\, probably quite muddy\, and you just walk\, and then for a few hours later\, you have to stop beca use you have to create your new encampment.\n\nYou get some food\, which o ften arrived way too late.\n\nNarrator: To deceive the British into thinki ng that he was planning an amphibious assault on Staten Island or Sandy Ho ok\, Washington had made sure that false documents suggesting an imminent attack fell into British hands.\n\n♪ Philbrick: Washington is able to co nvince Clinton that he is going to attack New York.\n\nIt's a brilliant se ries of deceptive maneuvers that Washington is able to pull off.\n\nBy the time Clinton realizes that Washington is not going after him but is on hi s way south\, Washington is in Philadelphia.\n\n[Gulls squawking] Narrator : At Yorktown\, Cornwallis hated the kind of defensive war he was being as ked to oversee and considered the port and Gloucester across the river \"d angerous posts\,\" since neither commanded the surrounding countryside.\n\ nHe'd started by fortifying Gloucester.\n\nThe work had gone slowly.\n\nHe and his men expected a British fleet to arrive in the York River any day\ , but they now heard upsetting rumors that a French fleet \"had left the W est Indies and was approaching the coast of North America.\"\n\nBy late su mmer\, work had begun on the fortifications at Yorktown itself.\n\nMeanwhi le\, at Portsmouth\, where some of Cornwallis' men remained\, smallpox was ravaging the former slaves who had followed the British army there.\n\nWh at should be done\, the commander at Portsmouth\, wrote Cornwallis\, \"wit h the hundreds...that are dying by scores every day?\"\n\nVoice: It is sho cking to think of the state of the Negroes\, but we cannot bring a number of sick and useless ones to this place.\n\n♪ I leave it to your humanity to do the best you can for them\, but on your arrival here\, we must adop t some plan to prevent an evil which will certainly produce some fatal dis temper in the army.\n\nLord Cornwallis.\n\n♪ Narrator: Portsmouth was ev acuated\, and the troops joined Cornwallis' army at Yorktown.\n\n♪ It wa s from there\, on the morning of August 30\, that Captain Johann Ewald loo ked out toward the Chesapeake Bay.\n\nVoice: I could detect 3 heavy vessel s in the distance.\n\nWe soon had news that the 3 vessels which lay before our noses were French.\n\n[Ewald] Narrator: Admiral de Grasse was now lyi ng at anchor just inside the narrow entrance to the Chesapeake Bay between Cape Charles and Cape Henry.\n\nPhilbrick: The Chesapeake is a huge bay\, but its point of access is the two capes.\n\nIt's very narrow\, and anyon e who can control that controls this huge body of water.\n\n[Horse whinnie s] Narrator: On the morning of September 5\, a dispatch rider caught up wi th George Washington near Head of Elk\, Maryland\, with the good news that the French fleet had arrived.\n\n♪ That same day\, though\, sailors abo ard de Grasse's flagship spotted sails approaching from the north.\n\nThey were 19 British ships sent from New York with orders to find and destroy the French fleet.\n\nde Grasse might have stayed where he was\, blocking e ntrance to the bay\, but if he had done so\, the 8 French ships\, loaded w ith heavy siege guns that were on their way from Newport\, would have been kept out of the Chesapeake.\n\nde Grasse moved out into the open sea to c onfront his enemy.\n\n♪ The two fleets maneuvered for 6 hours.\n\nComman ders scattered sand across their decks to absorb the sailors' blood they k new was about to be shed.\n\n♪ At 4:00 in the afternoon\, they opened fi re.\n\n[Cannon fire continues] The broadsides continued until dark.\n\n[Ma n shouts] Narrator: The result was a standoff\, but the British vessels go t the worst of it and were forced to limp back to New York.\n\n♪ Meanwhi le\, the French squadron from Newport carrying the heavy siege guns had sl ipped unnoticed into the bay\, and\, avoiding Cornwallis' defenses at York town\, sailed up the James River\, and Washington and Rochambeau's armies were arriving at Williamsburg.\n\nCornwallis was trapped.\n\nLengel: From the very beginning\, Washington recognized that this war was going to end when the stars aligned.\n\nHe's been waiting for this\, and he snatches at it.\n\nVoice: We prepared to move down and pay our old acquaintance the B ritish a visit.\n\nI doubt not that their wish was not to have so many of us come at once\, as their accommodations were rather scanty.\n\nThey thou ght the fewer\, the better.\n\nWe thought the more\, the merrier.\n\nJosep h Plumb Martin.\n\n♪ Narrator: On September 28\, 1781\, at 5 A.M.\, the French and American armies\, now 18\,000 strong\, started toward Yorktown. \n\nThe allies established a crescent-shaped encampment around the town-- the French on the left\, the Americans on the right.\n\nWashington and Roc hambeau set up headquarters just a few hundred yards apart.\n\n♪ The two commanders rode forward to reconnoiter.\n\nWashington had long understood Yorktown's strategic limitations and the hole the British had dug for the mselves.\n\n♪ 800 to 1\,000 yards from Yorktown stood an outer line of t renches and redoubts\, their bases bristling with abatis\, sharpened logs meant to repel invaders.\n\n♪ Black laborers could be seen struggling to complete an inner ring around the town.\n\n♪ Swamps and marshy creeks m ade a direct assault impractical.\n\nThe allies didn't have time to starve the defenders\, either.\n\nThe French fleet was due to return to the Cari bbean within weeks.\n\nA traditional\, European-style siege seemed to be t he answer.\n\nWashington left its planning to the French.\n\nThe Americans were \"totally ignorant of the operations of a siege\,\" Rochambeau said. \n\nHe had taken part in 14 of them.\n\n♪ At dawn on September 30\, Fren ch and American troops edged cautiously toward the outermost British defen ses\, expecting stiff resistance.\n\nInstead\, they found them empty.\n\nC ornwallis\, outnumbered 3 to 1\, had pulled his men back into town.\n\nLen gel: Cornwallis makes a fatal mistake.\n\nHe's exhausted.\n\nHe's depresse d.\n\nA commander who otherwise is very effective is just not at his best. \n\nNarrator: For 5 days and nights\, allied soldiers worked to transform the abandoned British positions into their own strongholds and to bring up the artillery\, equipment\, and entrenching tools needed to dig their fir st parallel trench and begin the siege.\n\n♪ British artillery hurled sh ot and shells at the Americans and Frenchmen as they worked.\n\n[Men shout ing] Sarah Osborn\, the wife of a New Jersey corporal\, was one of the wom en who carried beef\, bread\, and hot coffee to the men as they dug.\n\nOn e day\, she remembered\, George Washington happened by and asked her if sh e wasn't afraid of the British cannonballs.\n\n\"No\,\" she said\, \"It wo uld not do for the men to fight and starve\, too.\"\n\n[Distant explosion] When the parallel was complete\, it stretched for more than a mile\, a tr ench 10 feet wide and nearly 4 feet deep.\n\n♪ At 3:00 in the afternoon on October 9\, the French opened fire.\n\nTwo hours later\, Washington was given the honor of touching off the first American cannon.\n\n[Man shouti ng] Narrator: All along the allied lines\, cannon and mortars began firing into Yorktown.\n\n♪ Voice: The remainder of the night passed in a dread ful slaughter.\n\nSeveral parts of the garrison were in flames on this nig ht\, and the whole discovered a view awful and tremendous.\n\nBartholomew James.\n\nVoice: It was as if one witnessed the shock of an earthquake.\n\ n3\,600 shot by the enemy were counted in this 24 hours.\n\nThese were fir ed at the city into our lines and against the ships in the harbor.\n\nPriv ate Johann Conrad Doehla.\n\n♪ Narrator: By the night of October 11\, th e allies had begun digging a second parallel\, but before the noose could be tightened completely\, two enemy redoubts\, Numbers Nine and Ten\, had to be taken.\n\nThe American target was redoubt Number Ten.\n\nThe men wer e from Lafayette's force.\n\nAlexander Hamilton was in command.\n\nJoseph Plumb Martin and his company led the way.\n\n♪ Voice: We advanced beyond the trenches and lay down on the ground to await the signal.\n\nOur watch word was \"Rochambeau\,\" a good watchword\, for being pronounced \"Rocham beau\,\" it sounded\, when pronounced quick\, like \"Rush on\, boys.\"\n\n [Martin] [Cannon fires] Narrator: When the signal was given\, Martin and h is fellow soldiers rushed forward.\n\nRight behind them came Rhode Islande rs\, including many free Black men or former slaves.\n\n♪ The moment the y reached the abatis\, the redoubt's defenders began firing down into them .\n\n♪ Voice: But there was no stopping us.\n\nI forced a passage at a p lace where I saw our shot had cut away some of the abatis.\n\nWhile passin g\, a man at my side received a ball in his head and fell under my feet\, crying out bitterly.\n\nThe fort was taken and all quiet in a short time.\ n\n[Martin] ♪ Narrator: Lafayette sent a dispatch to a French officer in the column assigned to capture Redoubt Number 9\, saying his men were in his redoubt.\n\n\"Where are you?\"\n\n\"Tell the Marquis I am not in mine\ ,\" the French officer replied\, \"but will be in 5 minutes.\"\n\n[Cannon fires] Voice: There was no mercy that night.\n\nComplaints and groans coul d be heard everywhere.\n\nSomeone called out here\, another there\, beggin g to be killed for the love of God\, as the redoubt was strewn with the de ad and wounded\, so much so that we had to walk on them.\n\nGeorg Daniel F lohr.\n\nNarrator: The allies lost no time in rolling their big guns into both redoubts and opening fire on Yorktown.\n\nFriederike Baer: It was abs olutely horrific.\n\nThere was no moment to rest.\n\nThere was no place to hide.\n\nFor days\, there was continuous bombardment.\n\n[Shells whooshin g] ♪ Narrator: Cornwallis knew his cause was hopeless\, but he could not seem to bear what Banastre Tarleton called \"the mortification of a surre nder.\"\n\n♪ [Snare drum playing] At about 10:00 in the morning on Octob er 17\, 1781\, a drummer boy appeared on a British parapet\, beating his d rum\, the signal that Cornwallis wished to negotiate.\n\nWhen the thunder of the guns drowned out the drumming\, an officer climbed up next to the b oy and waved a white handkerchief.\n\nVoice: He might have beat away till doomsday if he had not been sighted by men on the front lines\, but when t he firing ceased\, I thought I had never heard a drum equal to it\, the mo st delightful music to us all.\n\nEbenezer Denny.\n\n[Snare drum continues ] Narrator: The Battle of Yorktown was over.\n\nThe Patriots and their Fre nch allies had won.\n\n♪ The world would never be the same.\n\n♪ Surre nder negotiations went on for a day and a half.\n\nCornwallis wanted his B ritish and German soldiers free to sail home.\n\nWashington refused.\n\nHe recalled the disrespectful way Patriot General Benjamin Lincoln and his m en had been treated after the fall of Charles Town.\n\nUntil a formal peac e was reached\, the surrendering soldiers were to remain in the United Sta tes as prisoners of war.\n\nCornwallis had little choice but to agree.\n\n ♪ As the British and Germans marched out of what was left of Yorktown-- their flags cased\, their numbers reduced by wounds and disease-- they had orders to avoid even looking at the victorious Americans.\n\nOnly the Fre nch\, they'd been told\, were worthy opponents.\n\nWashington and Rochambe au waited on horseback.\n\nLord Cornwallis was nowhere to be seen.\n\nHe c laimed to be ill\, but\, as a professional soldier\, he may simply have be en too humiliated at having to surrender his army to a group of rebels to make an appearance.\n\nCornwallis' second in command\, General Charles O'H ara\, stood in for him and tried to surrender his sword to General Rochamb eau.\n\nRochambeau refused to accept it.\n\n\"We are subordinate to the Am ericans\,\" he said.\n\n\"General Washington will give you orders.\"\n\nWa shington wouldn't accept it\, either.\n\nHe passed O'Hara on to his second in command\, Benjamin Lincoln\, who formally accepted the sword and then handed it back\, as custom dictated.\n\n♪ Conway: The ultimate humiliati on-- not only having to surrender to the Americans\, but having to surrend er to the second in command of the Americans.\n\n♪ Voice: With what sold iers in the world could one do what was done by these men?\n\nOne can perc eive what an enthusiasm which these poor fellows call liberty can do.\n\nW ho would have thought a hundred years ago that out of this multitude of ra bble would arise a people who could defy kings?\n\nJohann Ewald.\n\n[Churc h bell ringing] Voice: This is a blow\, my Lord\, which gives me the most serious concern\, as it will\, in its consequences\, be exceedingly detrim ental to the King's interest in this country.\n\nHenry Clinton.\n\nNarrato r: When the Prime Minister\, Lord North\, finally heard about the surrende r at Yorktown 5 weeks after it happened\, he staggered around as if he'd b een hit by a musket ball\, waving his arms and crying out again and again\ , \"Oh\, God\, it is all over.\"\n\n♪ In a speech to Parliament\, King G eorge III said that\, while recent events in Virginia had been \"unfortuna te\,\" he remained determined to fight on \"to restore my deluded subjects to that happy and prosperous condition which they formerly derived from.. .obedience to the laws\,\" but Britain had grown weary of the war.\n\n♪ Some 50\,000 British\, German\, and Loyalist troops had lost their lives i n North America.\n\nThe British national debt had doubled.\n\nOther battle fields seemed more important-- in the Caribbean\, where they would soon de stroy Admiral de Grasse's fleet\; in the Mediterranean\, where they still held Gibraltar\; and in India\, where they continued to expand their empir e.\n\n♪ On February 27\, 1782\, Parliament voted to halt all offensive a ctivity in North America.\n\nLord North's government fell.\n\nAlan Taylor: Could they have kept the war going from a purely military perspective?\n\ nSure\, but politically\, the will to fight vanishes\, so the pro-war admi nistration is toppled\, and the King is forced to accept a new government with a new political coalition that is committed to negotiating a peace se ttlement with the American rebels.\n\n♪ Voice: Alas\, what remains of Yo rktown now\, what had given it its high privilege\, that of being accessib le from every quarter\, proved its greatest misfortune.\n\nIts excellent h arbor rendered it the port of all others most favorable for an invading en emy.\n\nToo soon did they avail themselves of it\, and this Eden became de solate.\n\nBetsy Ambler.\n\nNarrator: Betsy Ambler and her family never re turned to Yorktown\, settling permanently in Richmond.\n\n♪ Not long aft er the surrender\, slaveholders began turning up at Yorktown\, eager to re claim the surviving runaways who had fled to the British.\n\nWashington se t up two fortified posts where slaves were to be kept under guard until th eir owner came to claim them.\n\nPatriot troops were encouraged to help tr ack them down.\n\n♪ \"The Negroes looked condemned\,\" one militiaman re membered\, \"for the British had promised them their freedom.\"\n\n♪ 5 e nslaved people captured at Yorktown were returned to Thomas Jefferson.\n\n Two more\, both women\, were returned to George Washington's Mount Vernon. \n\n♪ Washington's army soon moved north.\n\nRochambeau's men marched up to Boston the following year and sailed away.\n\n♪ Cornwallis' defeated men were marched to prison camps in the interior.\n\nEager to get them ba ck\, Parliament finally recognized captured Americans as prisoners of war. \n\nRedcoats and rebels alike could expect to be exchanged.\n\nJennifer Kr eisberg: [Vocalizing \"Amazing Grace\"] After 7 months of suffering aboard the prison ship the \"Jersey\,\" James Forten was released\, emaciated bu t lucky to be alive.\n\n♪ He walked all the way home to Philadelphia fro m New York\, most of the way barefoot.\n\nHe astonished his mother on arri val.\n\nShe had long since given him up for dead.\n\n♪ After the war\, F orten would build a great fortune making sails for the American merchant f leet and use part of those earnings to fund the abolitionist movement.\n\n When decades later\, a friend urged him to apply for one of the pensions b eing granted to war veterans\, Forten refused.\n\n\"I was a volunteer\, si r\,\" he said.\n\nHe didn't want money.\n\nHe wanted citizenship.\n\n♪ V oice: Our country asserts for itself the glory of being the freest upon th e surface of the globe.\n\nShe proclaimed freedom to all mankind.\n\nThe b rightness of her glory was radiant\, but one dark spot still dimmed its lu ster.\n\nSo much is doing in the world to ameliorate the condition of mank ind\, and the spirit of freedom is marching with rapid strides and causing tyrants to tremble.\n\nMay America awake from the apathy in which she has long slumbered.\n\nShe must sooner or later fall in with the irresistible current in the cause of liberty.\n\nJames Forten.\n\nJasanoff: Loyalists knew the war was lost\, and the question for them became\, \"What's gonna happen to us next?\"\n\nand--given the violence\, this insurgency\, counte rinsurgency\, back and forth\, down-and-dirty fighting in the countryside- - Loyalists had every reason to fear that now that the Patriots were in ch arge\, they were gonna find themselves on the rough end of recriminations. \n\n[Pounding on door] Narrator: Everywhere\, Patriots were seeking reveng e on men and women who had once been their neighbors and fellow subjects o f the King.\n\n\"The mob\,\" one Loyalist wrote\, \"now reigns... fully an d uncontrolled.\"\n\n[Gunshots and shouting] In Georgia\, Patriots hunted down and killed Loyalists who had sought sanctuary in the swamps.\n\n♪ O ther Loyalists were exiled and their property confiscated.\n\n♪ Voice: I cannot say I look back with regret at the part I took from motives of loy alty\, from love to my country as well as duty to my sovereign\, and\, not withstanding my sufferings\, I would do it again if there was occasion.\n\ nJohn Peters.\n\n[Church bell ringing] Narrator: John Peters and his wife Ann settled in Nova Scotia.\n\nMost Loyalists would choose to stay despite the danger and take their chances\, hoping to resume their old lives in t he new country\, but thousands decided to leave.\n\nThey huddled together in the last British strongholds of New York City\, Charles Town\, and Sava nnah\, waiting for ships to be found to take them away.\n\nJasanoff: In an incredible gesture at the end of the American Revolution\, the British go vernment offers continuing protection to American Loyalists\, and I don't know of any other precedent for this kind of mass evacuation of civilians organized by a government\, and particularly by the military\, with a view to helping these refugees get started with a new life somewhere else outs ide the place that they had always called home.\n\nNarrator: General Guy C arleton\, who had replaced Henry Clinton as commander of British forces\, was expected to move more than 30\,000 troops with their mountains of supp lies as well as 60\,000 Loyalists and 15\,000 enslaved people out of the U nited States.\n\nCarleton began that summer with Savannah.\n\nSome 3\,000 Whites and perhaps 5\,000 Blacks sailed to other British colonies.\n\nChar les Town was next-- almost 11\,000 people\, Black and White.\n\nMost of th em ended up in Jamaica and the Bahamas.\n\nOnly New York remained in Briti sh hands.\n\n♪ Meanwhile\, in Paris\, Benjamin Franklin\, John Adams\, J ohn Jay\, and Henry Laurens were trying to work out a permanent peace.\n\n Ignoring their instructions to include the French\, whose assistance had e nsured their astonishing victory\, the American envoys decided to negotiat e alone with British emissaries.\n\n\"Let us be honest and grateful to Fra nce\,\" John Jay said\, \"but let us think for ourselves.\"\n\n♪ They ha d a draft treaty within a week.\n\nIts terms were generous to the American s\, so generous they would cause the new British government to fall\, as w ell.\n\n♪ It declared the 13 former colonies \"to be free\, Sovereign an d independent states\" and set expansive boundaries\, stretching all the w ay from the Great Lakes to Florida and from the Appalachians westward to t he Mississippi\, a territory larger than England\, France\, and Spain put together.\n\nBritish troops were to be withdrawn with \"all convenient Spe ed\" and were barred\, the agreement said\, from \"carrying away any Negro es or other Property of the American Inhabitants.\"\n\n♪ This provisiona l treaty was signed by the American and British negotiators on November 30 \, 1782.\n\nA final comprehensive treaty would not come for another 9 mont hs.\n\n♪ Joseph Ellis: There's a consensus at the end among the negotiat ors\, including the Brits\, that we're witnessing the creation of an Ameri can empire.\n\n♪ de Rode: Some people would say the British lost the war \, but then they won the aftermath\, and France lost that period.\n\nThey could not reinvent themselves in order to prevent their collapse.\n\nThe p romise of the American Revolution was\, of course\, a promise of democracy \, of equality\, of liberties\, of all these new concepts at a time where in Europe\, there were only monarchies.\n\nThe republic had won against th e monarchy.\n\nIt inspired many.\n\nNarrator: The American Revolution woul d be the opening signal for more than two centuries of revolution\, first in Europe\, then in the Caribbean\, South America\, Asia\, and Africa.\n\n Baer: The ideas are very powerful.\n\nWhen they're talking about liberty\, when they're talking about equality\, when they're talking about opportun ity\, the freedom from oppression\, the American Revolutionary movement se rved as a model for other societies and communities around the world.\n\ n♪ Narrator: But in early 1783 at the Continental Army's winter encampme nt at Newburgh\, New York\, things were not going well.\n\nAn unsigned man ifesto began circulating among Washington's officers openly calling for a mutiny.\n\nIf peace really came\, they would refuse to disarm and be free to use the army to force Congress and the states into providing the back p ay they were owed.\n\n[Approaching hoofbeats] On March 15\, at a meeting t o hear more about the conspiracy\, officers heard horse's hooves.\n\n[Hors e whinnies] The door flew open.\n\nWashington and his aides entered.\n\nTh e general stepped to the lectern.\n\n♪ He spoke for 20 minutes\, urging his officers to resist drowning \"our rising empire in blood.\"\n\nMost sh ifted in their seats\, unconvinced.\n\n♪ Then Washington asked if he cou ld read a letter from a Virginia congressman who had pledged support for t he army.\n\nHe stumbled over the first words\, paused\, and pulled a pair of spectacles from his coat.\n\nVoice: Gentlemen\, you must pardon me.\n\n I have grown gray in your service and now find myself growing blind.\n\n[W ashington] ♪ Narrator: The rest of the letter didn't matter.\n\nMany off icers\, hard men made harder still by battle\, were openly weeping.\n\nThe mutiny was over before it could begin.\n\n♪ Voice: The unparalleled per severance of the armies of the United States\, through almost every possib le suffering and discouragement for the space of 8 long years\, was little short of a standing miracle.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nNarrator: As the Co ntinental Army began to disband\, Washington tried again to persuade Congr ess to provide his men with at least 3 months' back pay in cash\, but the best they could do was issue a blizzard of paper certificates\, vaguely pr omising to redeem them one day.\n\n♪ Voice: Some of the soldiers went of f for home the same day their fetters were knocked off.\n\nOthers stayed a nd got their final settlement certificates\, which they sold to procure de cent clothing and money sufficient to enable them to pass with decency thr ough the country and to appear something like themselves when they arrived among their friends.\n\nI was among those.\n\n♪ When the country had dr ained the last drop of service it could screw out of the poor soldiers\, w e returned to drift like old\, worn-out horses.\n\nJoseph Plumb Martin.\n\ n♪ Ellis: That group of people are ordinary Americans\, below the level of ordinary\, and they won the war because they never left.\n\nThey stayed .\n\nThat was it.\n\nThey refused to leave\, and\, um... um... you can sou nd pretty patriotic\, but I don't think you can be patriotic enough about them.\n\n♪ Voice: We had lived together as a family of brothers for seve ral years--had shared with each other the hardships\, dangers\, and suffer ings incident to a soldier's life\; had sympathized with each other in tro uble and sickness-- and now we were to be parted forever\, as unconditiona lly separated as though the grave lay between us.\n\n[Martin] ♪ [Gulls s quawking] Narrator: By the spring of 1783\, more than 30\,000 Loyalists an d almost as many British and German troops still remained in New York City \, all waiting for ships to take them away\, so many people that General C arleton could not tell George Washington precisely when they would all be gone.\n\nSoldiers shipped out for home or the West Indies.\n\nSome Loyalis ts planned to sail to Quebec or the Bahamas\, but the overwhelming majorit y-- nearly 30\,000 American men\, women\, and children-- resolved to begin their new lives like John and Ann Peters had\, to the north in Nova Scoti a.\n\nOf the more than 3\,000 Black people who had also found sanctuary in New York\, half were considered the property of Loyalists and so would ha ve to accompany their owners wherever they chose to go... ♪ but most of the rest were runaways\, like Harry Washington\, who had been the property of George Washington\, and Boston King\, who had been promised that if th ey fled their Patriot owners\, they would be free.\n\nThat freedom now see med in peril.\n\n♪ Voice: Peace was restored between America and Great B ritain\, which issued universal joy among all parties except us who had es caped from slavery and taken refuge in the English army\, for a report pre vailed at New York that all slaves were to be delivered up to their master s.\n\nThis dreadful rumor filled us all with inexpressible anguish and ter ror\, especially when we saw our masters coming and seizing upon their sla ves in the streets of New York or even dragging them out of their beds.\n\ nMany of the slaves had very cruel masters so that thoughts of returning h ome with them embittered life to us.\n\nFor some days\, we lost our appeti te for food\, and sleep departed from our eyes.\n\nBoston King.\n\nNarrato r: From his headquarters up the Hudson\, George Washington continued to in sist every runaway be returned to his or her owner.\n\nGeneral Carleton re fused.\n\n\"National Honour\,\" he told Washington\, required him to make good on official British pledges made to persons of \"any complexion.\"\n\ nVoice: The English had compassion upon us in the day of distress.\n\nIn c onsequence of this\, each of us received a certificate from the commanding officer at New York\, which dispelled all our fears.\n\n[King] ♪ Narrat or: Carleton decreed that any enslaved person who had left a Patriot owner and served behind the British lines for 12 months was free.\n\nDisputes b etween runaways and owners or slave catchers determined to return them to slavery were adjudicated by a committee of 4 British officers and 3 Americ ans who met weekly at Fraunces Tavern on Pearl Street.\n\n♪ Voice: I cam e from Virginia.\n\nI was with Lord Dunmore\, washing and ironing in his s ervice.\n\nI came with him to New York and was in service with him till he went away.\n\nMy master came for me.\n\nI told him I would not go with hi m.\n\nHe took my money and stole my child from me and sent it to Virginia. \n\nJudith Jackson.\n\n♪ Narrator: Judith Jackson won the right to go to Nova Scotia\, but she stayed on in New York\, frantically trying to recov er her daughter until she was forced to sail without her.\n\n♪ [Man shou ts] Narrator: There were more tense moments at dockside.\n\nBefore any ves sel carrying Black passengers\, slave or free\, could leave New York\, Bri tish and American inspectors demanded to see their certificates and entere d their names and descriptions in separate ledgers... Rhiannon Giddens: [V ocalizing \"Dean Cadalan Samhach\"] ♪ Narrator: but once underway\, Bost on King\, Harry Washington\, and all the hundreds of other free persons th e British allowed to sail north were filled\, as King wrote\, \"with joy a nd gratitude.\"\n\n♪ In the end\, Nova Scotia proved cold and unforgivin g.\n\nBlack refugees were not made welcome.\n\n♪ Both men would eventual ly join nearly 1\,200 other African Americans who emigrated again\, this t ime to Sierra Leone in West Africa\, where they founded a new British colo ny with a new capital city they called Freetown.\n\nVoice: If we had the m eans of publishing to the world the many acts of treachery and cruelty com mitted by them on our women and children\, it would appear that the title of Savages would with much greater justice be applied to them than to us.\ n\nOld Smoke.\n\nNarrator: The 150\,000 Native Americans who lived in the vast territory that was now the United States were not so much as mentione d in the treaty.\n\nKreisberg: [Vocalizing \"Grief\"] Voice: We were struc k with astonishment at hearing we were forgot.\n\nWe could not believe it possible such firm friends and allies could be so neglected by England\, w hom we had served with so much zeal and fidelity.\n\nThayendanegea\, Josep h Brant.\n\nThe losers in the negotiation of Paris are the Native American s.\n\nI mean\, it would be hard-pressed to say that they'd be better off i f the British had won\, but they probably would have.\n\n♪ Narrator: The contributions Native Americans had made to winning American independence would soon be forgotten\, too\, including Oneidas\, Tuscaroras\, Delawares \, Catawbas\, and the Indian community at Stockbridge\, Massachusetts.\n\n ♪ Voice: In this late war\, we have suffered much.\n\nOur blood has been spilled with yours\, and many of our young men have fallen by the side of your warriors.\n\n♪ Almost all those places where your warriors have le ft their bones\, there our bones are seen also.\n\n[Stockbridge petitioner s] ♪ Philip Deloria: The Stockbridge Indians\, their home\, their land i s gonna go away.\n\nThey're not gonna be able to hold on to that\, and the y are moved to New York.\n\nThen they end up in Wisconsin.\n\nLike so many tribes\, right\, they end up being kicked around and moved from place to place.\n\nThis is\, of course\, the story of Native people relative to the United States.\n\n♪ Voice: Beloved men and warriors of the United State s\, we\, the women of the Cherokee Nation\, now speak to you.\n\nWe are mo thers and have many sons\, some of them warriors and beloved men.\n\nOur c ry is all for peace.\n\n♪ This peace must last forever.\n\nLet your wome n hear our words.\n\n[Delegation of Cherokee Women] [Drum and rattle playi ng] Narrator: There would be no peace.\n\nAs the United States moved inexo rably westward\, Native nations would continue to fight for their independ ence for another century.\n\n♪ Native Americans would not become citizen s of the United States until 1924\, and their struggle to remain sovereign would never end.\n\n♪ ♪ At 1:00 in the afternoon on November 25\, 178 3\, George Washington-- \"straight as a dart\,\" an eyewitness recalled\, \"and as noble as he could be\"-- led a procession of soldiers and civilia ns down Bowery Lane and Queen Street\, west across Wall Street\, and then down Broadway.\n\n[Fireworks pop and crackle] The British were finally gon e.\n\nWashington was back in the city he had been forced to abandon in 177 6.\n\nNew Yorkers celebrated for days with illuminations\, bonfires\, and fireworks... [Fireworks continue] and now George Washington had one more d uty to perform.\n\nHe would ride to Annapolis\, Maryland\, where the Confe deration Congress was now meeting\, and formally resign his commission.\n\ n[Trumpet playing \"Amazing Grace\"] Ellis: He knew what he was doing.\n\n He walks away from power.\n\nHe's not gonna be a Cromwell.\n\nHe's not gon na be a Caesar.\n\nHe's not gonna be what Napoleon is gonna become.\n\nHe could have easily become dictator head\, and he had no interest in that wh atsoever.\n\n♪ Narrator: Accompanied by two military aides and his ensla ved companion William Lee\, Washington set out right away for Mount Vernon \, hoping to be home for Christmas Eve.\n\n♪ Voice: These are the times that tried men's souls\, and they are over\, and the greatest and complete st Revolution the world ever knew gloriously and happily accomplished.\n\n As United States\, we are equal to the importance of the title\, but other wise we are not.\n\nOur union is the most sacred thing and that which ever y man should be most proud and tender of.\n\nOur great title is Americans. \n\nThomas Paine.\n\n[Drum roll] Narrator: The war had brought the states together\, but peace soon threatened to tear them apart.\n\nSmall states c ontinued to fear large ones.\n\nNorthern and Southern states jockeyed for dominance and quarreled over borders.\n\nVermonters had already declared t hemselves a separate republic.\n\nNorth Carolina's Overmountain settlers w ere seeking to secede and form their own state called Franklin.\n\n[Gunfir e] Elsewhere\, farmers turned to violence to protest state taxes they cons idered unreasonable.\n\nIn Massachusetts\, protest became insurrection\, S hays' Rebellion put down only after former comrades in arms fired on each other.\n\nA \"cloud of evils\,\" George Washington wrote\, \"was threateni ng the tranquility of the Union.\"\n\n♪ Voice: Our situation is truly de licate and critical.\n\nOn the one hand\, we stand in need of a strong Fed eral Government founded on principles that will support the prosperity and union of the states.\n\nOn the other\, we have struggled for liberty and made lofty sacrifices at her shrine\, and there are still many among us wh o revere her name too much to relinquish the rights of man for the dignity of government.\n\nMercy Otis Warren.\n\n♪ Narrator: The new Congress\, created by the Articles of Confederation\, was toothless\, saddled with co lossal debts\, and incapable of collecting taxes with which to pay them of f.\n\nChristopher Brown: It's not hard to imagine at all Britain\, France\ , and Spain picking off individual states to create sort of commercial all iances or political alliances and military alliances\, as client states\, and all kinds of things.\n\nSounds crazy\, but it's no more crazy to have actually created a federal government that would actually work\, and famou sly\, a lot of British observers throughout the 1780s-- \"Just give them a few years.\n\nIt's all gonna fall apart.\"\n\nPhilbrick: One of the lesso ns Washington learned during the American Revolution is that without a pow erful central government\, nothing effective could happen.\n\nThe frustrat ions he experienced trying to get these 13 colonies to work in unison and failing every time in the Continental Congress taught him that something h ad to change.\n\n♪ Narrator: In late May 1787\, 55 delegates met in Phil adelphia to draw up a constitution.\n\nNearly half owned slaves.\n\n30 had served in the war.\n\nGeorge Washington lent his prestige by agreeing to preside over the convention.\n\n♪ 4 months later\, they had hammered out a 4-page document.\n\nTo devise a government that the American people cou ld agree to live under demanded historic compromises-- some creative\, som e tragic.\n\n♪ The Constitution delineated which powers fell to the cent ral government and which remained with the states\, a system of shared sov ereignty they called federalism.\n\nThe architects of the Constitution div ided the federal government into 3 branches-- the legislative\, executive\ , and judicial-- in a delicate balance by which each was meant to check th e others to ensure against overreach that could result in tyranny.\n\nThey feared that a demagogue might incite citizens into betraying the American experiment.\n\nAlexander Hamilton was concerned that an \"unprincipled\" man would \"mount the hobby horse of popularity\" and \"throw things into confusion.\"\n\n\"In a government like ours\,\" he would write\, no one is \"above the law.\"\n\n[Bell rings] Voice: I wish the Constitution which i s offered had been made more perfect\, but I sincerely believe it is the b est that could be obtained at this time\, and as a constitutional door is opened for amendment hereafter\, the adoption of it is\, in my opinion\, d esirable.\n\n[Washington] Bailyn: They were trying to create a system in w hich you could have a sufficiently powerful government that could work pro perly for its own people and the great powers of the world and still retai n the freedoms of the individual\, and that is the great issue that runs a ll the way through the Revolution.\n\nIt's a struggle between the possibil ities of power and of liberty.\n\n♪ Narrator: In order for the Constitut ion to take effect\, the individual states had to ratify it.\n\nThat would foster one of the most extensive public debates in history.\n\n♪ Gordon -Reed: The people who created the American Revolution and created the Amer ican nation assumed that Americans would be involved\, that they would be active citizens\, not subjects.\n\nBeing a citizen requires the kind of pa rticipation in the democracy that keeps it vibrant.\n\n♪ Narrator: In th e end\, all 13 states did ratify the Constitution\, but before consenting to live under the new federal government\, the American people wanted to e nshrine the liberties they had won in the Revolution.\n\nThe Constitution was almost immediately amended with a Bill of Rights guaranteeing freedom of worship and the separation of church and state\, freedom of speech and assembly\, the right to keep and bear arms\, trial by jury\, and a ban on cruel and unusual punishment.\n\nJames Madison\, who wrote the Bill of Rig hts\, called the Constitution \"nothing more than the draft of a plan\, \" nothing but a dead letter\, \"until life and validity were breathed into i t by the voice of the people.\"\n\n♪ Vincent Brown: The idea that govern ment derives its authority from the consent of the governed was pretty rad ical.\n\nIt's still pretty radical.\n\nIf we take the words of the Declara tion of Independence\, written by Thomas Jefferson-- \"All men--\" let's s ay men\, women-- \"are created free and equal\,\" right-- Jefferson clearl y didn't take that seriously as a slaveholder\, but I do\, and I think it' s incumbent on all of us to take those words from Jefferson and make them real in our own lives\, even if they weren't real in his.\n\n♪ Narrator: When the time came to choose the first president under the Constitution\, George Washington was the only choice and won the vote of every single el ector.\n\n♪ He was inaugurated in New York City on April 30\, 1789.\n\nJ ohn Adams\, the first vice president\, thought the chief executive should have a royal\, or at least a princely\, title\, but for Washington\, Presi dent of the United States was honor enough... [People cheering] and when h e left the presidency in 1797\, King George himself paid tribute.\n\nBy su rrendering first his military and then his political power\, he said\, Geo rge Washington had made himself \"the greatest character of the age.\"\n\n ♪ Voice: Our government daily acquires strength and stability.\n\nThe un ion is complete.\n\n♪ Nothing hinders our being a very happy and prosper ous people\, provided we have wisdom rightly to estimate our blessings and hearts to improve them.\n\nAbigail Adams.\n\nRhiannon Giddens: [Vocalizin g \"Amazing Grace\"] Voice: I will not believe our labors are lost.\n\nI s hall not die without a hope that light and liberty are on steady advance.\ n\n♪ And even should the cloud of barbarism and despotism again obscure the science and liberties of Europe\, this country remains to preserve and restore light and liberty to them.\n\nIn short\, the flames kindled on th e 4th of July\, 1776\, have spread over too much of the globe to be exting uished by the feeble engines of despotism.\n\nThomas Jefferson.\n\n♪ Atk inson: America is predicated on an idea that should act as a pole star for us to provide true north\, telling us what it is that we think we can do as a people.\n\n♪ The perpetual challenge of the American experiment is to draw on those aspirational ideals and make them our own\, hand them off to our children and our grandchildren\, and to use that as a propulsion s ystem for being the nation that those forebears thought we could become.\n \n♪ Voice: The American war is over\, but this is far from being the cas e with the American Revolution.\n\nOn the contrary\, nothing but the first act of the great drama is closed.\n\nIt remains yet to establish and perf ect our new forms of government.\n\n♪ Patriots\, come forward!\n\nYour c ountry demands your services.\n\nHear her proclaiming\, in sighs and groan s\, in her governments\, in her finances\, in her trade\, in her manufactu res\, in her morals\, and in her manners\, \"The Revolution is not over!\" \n\nBenjamin Rush.\n\n♪ ♪ ♪ Announcer: Scan this QR code with your s mart device to dive deeper into the story of \"The American Revolution\" w ith interactives\, games\, classroom materials\, and more.\n\n♪ Announce r: \"The American Revolution\" DVD and Blu-ray\, as well as the companion book and soundtrack\, are available online and in stores.\n\nThe series is also available with PBS Passport and on am*zon Prime Video.\n\n♪ Announ cer: The American Revolution caused an impact felt around the world.\n\nTh e fight would take ingenuity\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide of history and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nBank of America.\n\nAnnouncer: Major f unding for \"The American Revolution\" was provided by The Better Angels S ociety and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion F oundation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.\n\nMajor funding was also p rovided by David M. Rubenstein\, the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment\, and by Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Schwarzman\, and Kenneth C. Griffin wi th Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditional support was provided by The Arthur Vini ng Davis Foundations\, the Pew Charitable Trusts\, Gilbert S. Omenn and Ma rtha A. Darling\, the Park Foundation\, and by Better Angels Society membe rs: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Founda tion\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the Kissick Family Foundation\, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jennifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund\, and these additional members .\n\n\"The American Revolution\" was made possible with support from the C orporation for Public Broadcasting\, and Viewers Like You.\n\nThank You.\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://www.pbs.org/video/the-american-revolut ion-episode-6-the-most-sacred-thing/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n DECLARATION OF IND EPENDENCE\n\n\n\n Note: The following text is a transcription of the Stone Engraving of the parchment Declaration of Independence (the document on d isplay in the Rotunda at the National Archives Museum.) The spelling and p unctuation reflects the original.\n\nIn Congress\, July 4\, 1776\n\nThe un animous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America\, When in the Course of human events\, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another\, and to assume among the powers of the earth\, the separate and equal station to which t he Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them\, a decent respect to t he opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.\n\nWe hold these truths to be self-evident\, that all men are created equal\, that they are endowed by their Creator w ith certain unalienable Rights\, that among these are Life\, Liberty and t he pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights\, Governments are in stituted among Men\, deriving their just powers from the consent of the go verned\, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of the se ends\, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it\, and to institute new Government\, laying its foundation on such principles and o rganizing its powers in such form\, as to them shall seem most likely to e ffect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence\, indeed\, will dictate that Go vernments long established should not be changed for light and transient c auses\; and accordingly all experience hath shewn\, that mankind are more disposed to suffer\, while evils are sufferable\, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long tra in of abuses and usurpations\, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism\, it is their right\, it is their duty\, to throw off such Government\, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies\; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter th eir former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations\, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this\, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.\n\nHe has refus ed his Assent to Laws\, the most wholesome and necessary for the public go od.\n\nHe has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressi ng importance\, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained\; and when so suspended\, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.\n\nHe has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of lar ge districts of people\, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature\, a right inestimable to them and formi dable to tyrants only.\n\nHe has called together legislative bodies at pla ces unusual\, uncomfortable\, and distant from the depository of their pub lic Records\, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.\n\nHe has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly\, for o pposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.\n\n He has refused for a long time\, after such dissolutions\, to cause others to be elected\; whereby the Legislative powers\, incapable of Annihilatio n\, have returned to the People at large for their exercise\; the State re maining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from witho ut\, and convulsions within.\n\nHe has endeavoured to prevent the populati on of these States\; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalizat ion of Foreigners\; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither\, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.\n\nHe has obstructed the Administration of Justice\, by refusing his Assent to L aws for establishing Judiciary powers.\n\nHe has made Judges dependent on his Will alone\, for the tenure of their offices\, and the amount and paym ent of their salaries.\n\nHe has erected a multitude of New Offices\, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people\, and eat out their s ubstance.\n\nHe has kept among us\, in times of peace\, Standing Armies wi thout the Consent of our legislatures.\n\nHe has affected to render the Mi litary independent of and superior to the Civil power.\n\nHe has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution\, and unacknowledged by our laws\; giving his Assent to their Acts of preten ded Legislation:\n\nFor Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:\ n\nFor protecting them\, by a mock Trial\, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:\n\nFor cutti ng off our Trade with all parts of the world:\n\nFor imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:\n\nFor depriving us in many cases\, of the benefits o f Trial by Jury:\n\nFor transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for preten ded offences:\n\nFor abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neigh bouring Province\, establishing therein an Arbitrary government\, and enla rging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrum ent for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:\n\nFor tak ing away our Charters\, abolishing our most valuable Laws\, and altering f undamentally the Forms of our Governments:\n\nFor suspending our own Legis latures\, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.\n\nHe has abdicated Government here\, by declari ng us out of his Protection and waging War against us.\n\nHe has plundered our seas\, ravaged our Coasts\, burnt our towns\, and destroyed the lives of our people.\n\nHe is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death\, desolation and tyranny\, alr eady begun with circumstances of Cruelty &\; perfidy scarcely parallele d in the most barbarous ages\, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilize d nation.\n\nHe has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the h igh Seas to bear Arms against their Country\, to become the executioners o f their friends and Brethren\, or to fall themselves by their Hands.\n\nHe has excited domestic insurrections amongst us\, and has endeavoured to br ing on the inhabitants of our frontiers\, the merciless Indian Savages\, w hose known rule of warfare\, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages \, sexes and conditions.\n\nIn every stage of these Oppressions We have Pe titioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince\, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant\, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.\n\nNor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittis h brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their leg islature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity\, and we have conjured th em by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations\, which\ , would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must\, the refore\, acquiesce in the necessity\, which denounces our Separation\, and hold them\, as we hold the rest of mankind\, Enemies in War\, in Peace Fr iends.\n\nWe\, therefore\, the Representatives of the united States of Ame rica\, in General Congress\, Assembled\, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions\, do\, in the Name\, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies\, solemnly publish and dec lare\, That these United Colonies are\, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States\; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the Bri tish Crown\, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain\, is and ought to be totally dissolved\; and that as Free and Independent States\, they have full Power to levy War\, conclude Peac e\, contract Alliances\, establish Commerce\, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of t his Declaration\, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Provide nce\, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives\, our Fortunes and our sa cred Honor.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL\n\n\n\n https://www.archives.gov/foun ding-docs/declaration-transcript\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251121 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The American Revolution PBS Documentary Episode 1 DTSTAMP:20251118T010116Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:587-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The American Revolution\n\n A Film By\n\n Ken Burns\, Sar ah Botstein &\; David Schmidt\n\n\n\n In Order to Be Free (May 1754 – May 1775)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n VIDEO - ends ability to view 12/15/2025 \n\ n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Announc er: Major funding for \"The American Revolution\" was provided by The Bett er Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Cri mson Lion Foundation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.\n\nMajor funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein\, the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment\, and by Better Angels Societ y members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Schwarzman\, and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditional support was provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations\, the Pew Charitable Trusts\, Gilbert S. O menn and Martha A. Darling\, the Park Foundation\, and by Better Angels So ciety members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Miche lson Foundation\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the Kissick Family Foundation\, Dia ne and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jennifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund\, and these additio nal members.\n\n\"The American Revolution\" was made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting\, and Viewers Like You.\n\nT hank You.\n\nAnnouncer: The American Revolution caused an impact felt arou nd the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenuity\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide of history and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nBank of America.\n\ n♪ Voice: From a small spark\, kindled in America\, a flame has arisen n ot to be extinguished.\n\nWithout consuming\, it winds its progress from n ation to nation\, and conquers by a silent operation.\n\nMan finds himself changed and discovers that the strength and powers of despotism consist w holly in the fear of resisting it\, and that\, in order to be free\, it is sufficient that he wills it.\n\nThomas Paine.\n\n[Explosion] [Drum beatin g slow rhythm] Voice: We know our lands are now become more valuable.\n\nT he White people think we do not know their value\, but we are sensible tha t the land is everlasting.\n\nCanasatego\, Spokesman for the Six Nations.\ n\n[Woman singing in Native American language] Narrator: Long before 13 Br itish colonies made themselves into the United States\, the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy-- Seneca\, Cayuga\, Onondaga\, Tuscarora\, Oneid a\, and Mohawk-- had created a union of their own that they called the Hau denosaunee-- a democracy that had flourished for centuries.\n\nVoice: We h eartily recommend union.\n\nWe are a powerful confederacy.\n\nAnd by your observing the same methods our wise forefathers have taken\, you will acqu ire fresh strength and power.\n\nTherefore\, whatever befalls you\, never fall out one with another.\n\n[Canasatego] ♪ Narrator: In the spring of 1754\, the celebrated scientist and writer Benjamin Franklin proposed that the British colonies form a similar union.\n\nHe printed a cartoon of a s nake cut into pieces above the dire warning \"Join\, or Die.\"\n\nA few we eks later at Albany\, New York\, Franklin and other delegates from 7 colon ies agreed to his Plan of Union-- and then went home to try and sell it.\n \nBut when the plan was presented at the colonial capitals\, each of the i ndividual legislatures rejected it because they did not want to give up th eir autonomy.\n\n[Cannonfire] The plan died\, but the idea would survive.\ n\n20 years later\, \"Join\, or Die\" would be a rallying cry in the most consequential revolution in history.\n\n♪ Voice: We are in the very mids t of a revolution the most complete\, unexpected\, and remarkable of any i n the history of nations.\n\nObjects of the most stupendous magnitude\, an d measures in which the lives and liberties of millions yet unborn are int imately interested\, are now before us.\n\nJohn Adams.\n\n[Explosion] Narr ator: The American Revolution was not just a clash between Englishmen over Indian land\, taxes\, and representation\, but a bloody struggle that wou ld engage more than 2 dozen nations\, European as well as Native American\ , that also somehow came to be about the noblest aspirations of humankind. \n\nIt was fought in hundreds of places\, from the forests of Quebec to th e backcountry of Georgia and the Carolinas\; from the rough seas off Engla nd\, France and in the Caribbean\, to the towns and orchards of Indian Cou ntry.\n\n[Gunshots] The fighting would take place on roads and in villages and cities\; by woods and fields\, and along waterways with old American names: the Susquehanna\, the Tennessee\, and the Ohio\; the Oriskany\, the Catawba\, and the Chesapeake\; and along waters with newer names: the Cha rles\, the Hudson\, and the Schuylkill\; the Brandywine\, the Cooper\, and the Ashley\; and finally the York.\n\nThe war grew out of a multitude of grievances lodged against the British Parliament by British subjects livin g an ocean away in 13 otherwise disunited colonies.\n\nIt was also a savag e civil war that pitted brother against brother\, neighbor against neighbo r\, American against American\, killing tens of thousands of them.\n\n[Gun fire] Voice: However great the blessings to be derived from a revolution i n government\, the scenes of anarchy\, cruelty\, and blood\, which usually precede it\, and the difficulty of uniting a majority in favor of any sys tem\, are sufficient to make every person who has been an eyewitness recoi l at the prospect of overturning empires.\n\nAbigail Adams.\n\nNarrator: T he American Revolution was the first war ever fought proclaiming the unali enable rights of all people.\n\nIt would change the course of human events .\n\n♪ Man: It's our creation myth\, our creation story.\n\nIt tells us who we are\, where we came from\, uh\, what our forebears believed\, and\, and\, and what they were willing to die for.\n\nThat's the most profound question any people can ask themselves.\n\nWoman: What the American Revolu tion gave the United States was an actual idea of a moment of origin\, whi ch many other countries in the world don't have.\n\nAnd it has invested th ese particular years of these particular people with a set of stakes that are so far beyond what any set of events and any set of people can plausib ly carry that it has made the way that Americans think about this period v ery unreal and detached.\n\nMan: One of the most remarkable aspects of the Revolutionary War is that you had such different places come together as one nation.\n\nI'm not sure there is a state\, anywhere in the world\, in the late 18th century\, that has as wide variety of people who inhabit it\ , um\, and so\, it really is actually kind of remarkable\, the way that th at nation ends up cohering\, not around culture\, not around religion\, no t around ancient history.\n\nIt was coming together around a set of purpos es and ideals for one common cause.\n\n[Soldier shouting orders] Voice: Ev ents like these have seldom\, if ever before\, taken place on the stage of human action.\n\nFor who has before seen a disciplined army formed from s uch raw materials?\n\nWho that was not a witness could imagine that men wh o came from the different parts of the continent\, strongly disposed to de spise and quarrel with each other\, would become but one patriotic band of brothers?\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\n♪ [Gunfire] Voice: We have great rea son to believe you intend to drive us away.\n\nWhy do you come to fight in the land that God has given us?\n\nWhy don't you fight in the old country and on the sea?\n\nWhy do you come to fight on our land?\n\nShingas\, Len ape Nation.\n\n♪ Narrator: For several generations\, violent conquest an d Old-World diseases had decimated Native populations between the Atlantic Ocean and the Appalachian Mountains\, where\, by the middle of the 18th c entury\, 13 distinct British colonies were established south of French Can ada and north of Spanish Florida.\n\nNow\, as land speculators and settler s eyed the Ohio River Valley beyond the Appalachians\, the paramount quest ion became who would control the North American interior.\n\nBoth Protesta nt Britain and Catholic France-- ancient enemies that had already fought 3 wars in North America-- claimed the region.\n\nSo did a host of Indian na tions who had lived and farmed and hunted there for hundreds of generation s.\n\nIn 1754\, to solidify Britain's claim\, the Royal Colony of Virginia dispatched militia to protect their interests in the Ohio Country.\n\nThe small force of militiamen and a handful of Native allies surrounded a gro up of unsuspecting French soldiers... Man: Fire!\n\n[Gunfire] and fired in to them.\n\nNearly half of the Frenchmen were killed or wounded.\n\nThe re st surrendered.\n\nAccording to one of the Indians with the Virginians\, t he militia's 22-year-old commander had been the first to shoot into the en emy's encampment.\n\nIf so\, George Washington fired the very first shot o f a global conflict that would come to be called the Seven Years' War and set the stage for the American Revolution.\n\nSoon after his surprise atta ck\, a French and Indian force surrounded Washington and his men\, forcing him\, for the first and only time in his life\, to surrender.\n\nA less p rominent young man's military career might have ended there\, but Washingt on was given a second chance the following year as aide-de-camp to General Edward Braddock\, the British commander sent to dislodge the French at Fo rt Duquesne.\n\nBraddock was confident his red-coated British regulars cou ld easily defeat anyone who stood between him and the fort.\n\n[Gunfire] B ut on July 9\, 1755\, a much smaller French and Indian force overwhelmed t hem.\n\nThe British panicked.\n\nBraddock was mortally wounded.\n\nThe Com mand fell to Washington.\n\nTwo horses were shot from under him.\n\nMusket balls ripped through his hat and jacket.\n\nHe ordered a retreat and mana ged to get most of his men safely off the battlefield.\n\nWashington learn ed two valuable lessons: British troops were not invincible\, and there wa s no shame in retreating if you could live to fight another day.\n\nHe was hailed as a hero and given overall command of Virginia's militia.\n\nBut after his appeal for a Royal commission in the British Army was rejected\, he retired from military service in 1758 and returned to his plantation a t Mount Vernon\, filled with resentment at how the British had treated him .\n\nMan: And he comes to view the people in London as people who have a c ondescending view of Americans.\n\nThey think of him as inferior.\n\nThey didn't give him a commission.\n\nI mean\, when Washington is told that he didn't get a commission\, he doesn't think that means he's inferior.\n\nHe thinks that means the British are really stupid.\n\nVoice: There can be n o sufficient reason given why we\, who spend our blood and treasure in def ense of the King's Dominions\, are not entitled to equal preferment.\n\nWe can't conceive that being Americans should deprive us of the benefits of British subjects.\n\n[Washington] [Cannonfire] Man: The Seven Years' War\, against Britain's imperial rivals\, France and Spain\, is fought not only in North America.\n\nIt's fought in the Caribbean\, it's fought in Africa \, it's fought in India\, it's fought in the Philippines.\n\nSo\, even tho ugh it starts in the Ohio backcountry\, with a dispute between colonists a nd the French and their Indian allies\, it mushrooms into a global campaig n that touches Europe and all parts of the world.\n\nThe American colonies are just one piece on a broad\, global Imperial chessboard as far as Brit ish policymakers are concerned.\n\nNarrator: Remembered in North America a s the French and Indian War\, the fighting went on for years until a serie s of British victories\, won by regulars and colonial troops\, ended the F rench Empire's presence on the continent\, gave Britain Spanish Florida\, and more than tripled the lands claimed by England's King.\n\nMan: France transfers to Britain all of its territory in North America.\n\nBut it's a little bit like the Greek myths\, you know\, never wish for something too much 'cause you might get what you wished for.\n\nThe British\, in North A merica\, have been hoping and praying for the defeat of the French for 80 years.\n\nAnd now they're victorious.\n\nChurch bells are ringing.\n\nThis is the moment we've all hoped for.\n\nAnd then it all begins to go to hel l in a hand basket.\n\n♪ Woman: Britishness in America is just everywher e.\n\nIn Boston\, the Town House sits at the center of Queen and King Stre ets.\n\nThe London Bookshop was around the corner.\n\nThe Crown Coffee Hou se.\n\nThe sort of ideal of\, uh\, fashion\, of political currency\, of th e basis of one's rights and that sense of home.\n\nThey talk about Britain even when they have never been there as home.\n\nNarrator: On Saturday\, December 27\, 1760\, a British frigate anchored in Boston harbor.\n\nIt br ought with it big news.\n\nKing George II had died in October.\n\nHis 22-y ear-old grandson now reigned as George III.\n\nCrowds cheered.\n\nBostonia ns were proud to be part of what had become the most far-flung empire on E arth.\n\nMan: In the 18th century\, the belief was\, who in the world has got it right?\n\nOnly one people on Earth-- the British.\n\nThey have a mi xed constitution\, constitutional monarch\, House of Lords\, an elected Ho use of Commons.\n\nYou got an element of democracy\, element of aristocrac y\, element of monarchy.\n\nThe 3 of them will check and balance each othe r and produce the perfect combination.\n\nVincent Brown: We tend to think of the British Empire in America as the 13 North American colonies that be came the United States.\n\nBut Great Britain actually had 26 colonies in A merica.\n\nAnd\, by far\, the most important of those\, the most profitabl e\, the most militarily significant\, and the best politically connected o f those colonies were those colonies in the Caribbean.\n\nThe territories that tended to have the most slaves\, and exploit enslaved labor most inte nsively\, tended to be the most profitable colonies.\n\nSo\, if you look a t North America\, for example\, Massachusetts is the least profitable colo ny in North America and it's got the smallest percentage of slaves in its territory.\n\nThe most profitable colony in North America is South Carolin a.\n\nThen\, when you get to a place like Jamaica or Barbados\, where 90% of the population is enslaved\, then you're really talking.\n\nThat's wher e the money is being made and that's also why that's where the Royal Navy warships are concentrated.\n\nNarrator: But the 13 contiguous colonies tha t clung to the Atlantic seaboard were the most populous.\n\nThe colonists' numbers had doubled every 25 years.\n\nBy 1763\, the population-- Black a nd White-- had reached almost 2 million.\n\nChristopher Brown: And those s ettlers produce for the Empire\, but they also consume.\n\nThey provide ma rkets.\n\nThey purchase goods that are manufactured in Britain.\n\nIt's th e fastest-growing part of the British economy\, is the trades with North A merica.\n\nMan: The British Empire expanded enormously as a result of the Seven Years' War.\n\nThere's real anxiety that unless this empire is tied together more tightly\, by central control and direction\, it will start t o fragment\, in much the same way as the Roman Empire was assumed to have collapsed.\n\nNarrator: For more than 150 years\, London had treated its N orth American colonies with what one British politician would call \"salut ary neglect.\"\n\nEach colony was part of the King's dominions\, but in mo st of them\, legislatures\, elected by propertied White men\, made laws\, levied taxes\, and decided how they'd be spent.\n\nSlavery was legal every where\, from New Hampshire to Georgia.\n\nMany of the Black people living in the colonies had been born there or in the Caribbean.\n\nBut tens of th ousands were from West Africa-- captured from what is now Senegal\, Gambia \, and Gabon\; Angola\, Congo\, and the Ivory Coast\; Nigeria\, Cameroon\, and Ghana.\n\nChristopher Brown: I think it's easy to underestimate the s heer diversity and variety\, um\, in the colonies.\n\nClose to the majorit y of the population in the southern colonies are African.\n\nThere are Fre nch Huguenots\; there are Germans.\n\nThere's Scots.\n\nThere's Scots-Iris h.\n\nThere are Native people\, not just on the frontiers\, but actually l iving in the heart of the 13 colonies.\n\nMan: Most of the population of N orth America is Indigenous.\n\n70%\, 80% of the continent is still control led by Indigenous people\, politically\, economically\, and militarily.\n\ nIt's not a separate place\, it's not this timeless space where Native peo ple are sort of existing in harmony with nature and that they have no inte rest in the outside world.\n\nNative people want the good stuff that Europ eans are bringing.\n\nEuropeans want the wealth that they can get from Nat ive people.\n\nNative powers are as important to the global market economy as a place like Virginia or a place like New York.\n\nVoice: If there is a country in the world where concord\, according to common calculation\, w ould be least expected\, it is America.\n\nMade up as it is of people from different nations\, speaking different languages\, and more different in their modes of worship\, it would appear that the union of such a people w as impracticable.\n\nThomas Paine.\n\nNarrator: In Britain\, 2% of the pop ulation-- lords and lesser gentry-- owned 2/3 of all the land\, and most p eople had for centuries lived \"dependent\" lives\, either as tenant farme rs\, working land belonging to aristocrats\, or as landless laborers worki ng for an employer.\n\nFor most free White men in the colonies\, North Ame rica was a land of opportunity.\n\nTaylor: The people who are coming from Northern Britain\, as well as a lot of Scots-Irish\, often are bringing th e resentments that they'd been pushed off their lands by landlords.\n\nAnd so\, there's a great sensitivity about any kind of financial exaction tha t could be a slippery slope leading to the kinds of dependence that they h ad escaped from.\n\nNarrator: The colonies were overwhelmingly agricultura l.\n\nJust 3 seaport towns-- Philadelphia\, Boston\, and New York-- were h ome to more than 10\,000 people.\n\nAnd 2 out of 3 farmers were independen t\, proud owners of their land.\n\nOthers were indentured servants\, hopin g that once they fulfilled their contract\, that they\, too\, could prospe r on their own.\n\nWoman: For Americans\, land and liberty are completely intertwined.\n\nWhite Americans see their liberty as being founded on not being a peasant on somebody's else's land.\n\nPreserving\, promoting that liberty for White Americans\, to them\, means taking Native land.\n\nThere is no other answer.\n\nCalloway: American colonists had been looking forw ard to the glorious day when the French and their Indian allies would be d efeated\, and British subjects would sweep over the Appalachian Mountains\ , looking for land.\n\nWoman: Maps at the time show the colonies extending well into the interior.\n\nWe often see maps as benign\, as descriptive\, as without argument.\n\nBut they're aspirational\, in many ways.\n\nThey' re an argument rather than a conclusion.\n\nDuVal: Hundreds of Native nati ons still are completely intact\, completely independent.\n\nIn the north\ , is the powerful Haudenosaunee League\, the Six Nations\, including the M ohawks and the Senecas.\n\nTo their south are the Shawnees\, who have reta ken the Ohio Valley in recent years and formed a huge confederacy that str etches from the Delawares\, or the Lenapes\, in the east to the powerful n ations\, including the Anishinaabe of the Great Lakes.\n\nSouth of there a re the Chickasaws\, the Cherokees\, the Choctaws\, the Creek Confederacy\, or the Muscogees\, and hundreds of other smaller nations.\n\nThese are na tions that fight against each other\, but also that increasingly\, by the late 18th century\, are making some larger confederacies\, in part to try to fight against settlers who have been moving onto their land in recent y ears.\n\n[Thunder] Narrator: Beginning in the spring of 1763\, in what was called Pontiac's War\, warriors from at least a dozen Native nations over ran many of the British forts along the Great Lakes and in the Ohio Valley and raided settlements\, killing or capturing 2\,000 colonists and drivin g out some 4\,000 more.\n\nMany colonists responded by killing any Indian they encountered.\n\nCalloway: The Brits look at this situation and say\, \"OK\, we've just inherited all of this empire.\n\n\"How on earth are we g onna stop this kind of thing happening again and again\, and again?\"\n\nN arrator: The British concluded that Native Americans and colonists needed to be separated\, at least for a time\, and so\, in 1763\, a Royal Proclam ation declared all the territory beyond the Appalachians off-limits to set tlement or speculation.\n\nMan: That prohibits White settlers from moving into these interior worlds\, the same interior worlds that many colonists felt like they had just fought for.\n\nAnd many settlers become outraged t hat\, uh\, the British Crown has any form of imperial\, um\, recognition o f these Indigenous populations.\n\nA kind of racial animus has formed in t he aftermath of the Seven Years' War\, in which many British settlers come to resent all Indians.\n\nChristopher Brown: It's not because the British Government is especially concerned about Native Americans.\n\nIt's becaus e they don't want Americans spreading out\, where they'll be even more dif ficult to control.\n\nPart of British policy is British settlers will stay near the coast.\n\nAnd part of the colonists' answer is\, \"No.\n\nSorry\ , we're not doing that.\"\n\nNarrator: London hoped the Proclamation would pacify the frontier.\n\nInstead\, it infuriated those would-be settlers p oised to move west and frustrated land speculators who saw fortunes to be made there.\n\nCalloway: And that is a huge slap in the face and a blow to those elite colonial Americans who've been indulging in this investment.\ n\nWho are these people?\n\nHousehold names: Benjamin Franklin\, Thomas Je fferson\, Patrick Henry\, George Washington.\n\nNarrator: After abandoning his dream of serving as an officer in the British Army\, George Washingto n had married an enormously wealthy widow\, Martha Dandridge Custis\, and had made himself still wealthier speculating in western lands.\n\nHe saw n o reason to stop.\n\nThe law was only a temporary measure to \"quiet the m inds of the Indians\,\" he said\, and he directed his land agent to defy t he Proclamation and \"secure [for him] some of the most valuable Lands\" b eyond the Appalachians.\n\nMan: I think the American Revolution was all ab out land.\n\nIt's easy to make the political kinds of arguments\, but I th ink underpinning all of that was the possibility of expansion\, um\, was t he conflict with Indian people.\n\nNarrator: Now to enforce the hated law and to police the frontier\, the British government resolved to station an army of 10\,000 men in North America.\n\nThe cost would be enormous-- som e 360\,000 British pounds a year.\n\nLondon did not have the money.\n\nYea rs of war on 4 continents had doubled the national debt.\n\nBritain was in the midst of a postwar depression\, and British consumers were already bu rdened with higher taxes than were the subjects of any other European mona rch.\n\nThe average British subject paid 26 shillings a year in taxes\; th e average New Englander paid just one.\n\nSo\, some bright spark has the i dea\, \"Well\, let's tax the American colonists.\"\n\nRight?\n\nThey shoul d pay their share because\, after all\, we fought the war for them\, and t his is to defend them.\n\nNarrator: In 1764\, the Prime Minister\, George Grenville\, proposed a series of 3 parliamentary statutes\, all meant to m ake the colonies help pay for their own defense.\n\nThe Currency Act\, whi ch forbade the colonists from issuing their own money\, angered the tobacc o-growing gentry of Virginia\, who were especially hard-hit.\n\nThe Sugar Act imposed taxes on imports from the Caribbean\, and to enforce it\, the British Navy dispatched 44 ships to stop smuggling\, enraging New Englande rs\, whose economy had long profited from it.\n\nThe rest of the colonies were largely unaffected.\n\nLondon assumed Americans were too disunited\, too divided by self-interest\, to ever be able to present a united front.\ n\nBut now\, Grenville introduced a third tax-- the Stamp Act.\n\nIt would affect nearly every colonist in every colony.\n\nNo one would be able to obtain a license or a loan\, transfer land or draft a will\, earn a diplom a\, purchase a newspaper\, or even buy a deck of cards unless it was print ed or written on English-made paper that bore a stamp embossed by the Roya l Treasury\, for which they would have to pay.\n\nFor the very first time\ , Parliament planned to tax the 13 colonies directly.\n\nThe Stamp Act was scheduled to go into effect on November 1\, 1765.\n\nTaylor: Colonists sa id\, \"No taxation without representation.\"\n\nWhat they meant was\, no t axation except by our elected Legislature\, here in our particular colony. \n\nThese taxes were very small\, but the fear was\, \"If we give into thi s precedent\, \"if we pay the small Stamp Tax now\, what will they do in t he future?\"\n\n[Gavel banging] Narrator: In the Virginia House of Burgess es\, Patrick Henry introduced a series of resolutions asserting that only the General Assembly of that colony had the \"right and power to lay taxes \" on its people.\n\nHenry went on to declare that just as Julius Caesar h ad his assassin Brutus\, George III should understand that some American r esister was sure \"to stand up in favor of his country.\"\n\nWhen some del egates shouted \"Treason!\"\n\nothers who were present remembered he respo nded\, \"If this be treason\, make the most of it!\"\n\n[Gavel banging rap idly] In Boston\, 42-year-old Samuel Adams helped rally the opposition aga inst implementation of the Stamp Act.\n\nA failure as a brewer and as a co llector of local taxes\, Adams was a master of propaganda.\n\nHis mission\ , he once explained\, was to \"keep the attention of [my] fellow-citizens awake to their grievances.\"\n\nVoice: If our trade may be taxed\, why not our lands?\n\nWhy not the produce of our lands and everything we possess or make use of?\n\nIf taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our havi ng a legal representation where they are paid\, are we not reduced from th e character of free subjects to the miserable state of tributary slaves?\n \n[Samuel Adams] Woman: In terms of masters of communication\, Samuel Adam s was really up there.\n\nHe has an amazing ability to translate a concept into easily digested words.\n\nAnd\, therefore\, to make\, um\, what seem --what could seem like fairly abstract ideas very vital and very urgent\, and he's tireless.\n\nSo\, he's able to produce page after page after page \, new offenses\, new crimes\, new injustices.\n\nNarrator: Pamphleteers t ook up the cause\, declaring the Stamp Act illegitimate.\n\nMost of the co lonies' 24 weekly newspapers-- the businesses that would be hit hardest--f ollowed suit.\n\nThose that didn't faced being shut down by their journeym en and apprentices.\n\nTaylor: Newspapers are very important.\n\nThe colon ial public is more literate than any other people in the world outside of Scandinavia.\n\nThere's also word of mouth\, conversation\, absolutely ess ential.\n\nMan: It became very common to discuss how you govern people and how people are free.\n\nThese ideas had filtered into the general populat ion.\n\nNarrator: Those ideas now led to protests in the streets.\n\nIn Bo ston\, in August of 1765\, a crowd formed-- made up of men and a handful o f women\, free Blacks and runaway slaves\, poorly paid or unemployed worke rs who resented the rich\, and apprentices in their off-hours\, just looki ng for trouble.\n\nThey hanged in effigy the local man designated to becom e distributor of stamps and went on to invade the home of the lieutenant g overnor\, destroying everything in sight and carrying off all of his furni ture and 900 British pounds in cash.\n\nIn Newport\, Rhode Island\, anothe r mob surrounded the stamp distributor\, forced him to resign\, and to lea d them in chants of \"Property and Liberty.\"\n\nIn Charleston\, South Car olina\, White anti-Stamp Act protestors marched through the streets chanti ng\, \"Liberty!\"\n\nBut when enslaved South Carolinians echoed their crie s\, frightened enslavers called out the militia to patrol the street.\n\nT he Maryland appointee was driven from Annapolis with only the clothes on h is back.\n\nBy the time the Stamp Act was supposed to go into effect\, non e of the 13 colonies had an official in place willing to enforce it.\n\nSc hiff: Part of our Revolution I think we have largely sanitized.\n\nI think we've forgotten much of the street warfare\, of the anarchy\, of the prov ocations that took place.\n\nVoice: A black cloud seems to hang over us.\n \nIt appears to me that there will be an end to all government here\, for the people are all running mad.\n\nJames Parker.\n\nNarrator: When a crowd surrounded the British Army headquarters in New York City\, General Thoma s Gage made sure his men held their fire\, for fear\, he said\, that 50\,0 00 angry colonists would swarm into the city and start a civil war.\n\nGen eral Gage was in charge of all British soldiers in North America.\n\nHe ha d been sent to maintain peace on the frontier.\n\nInstead\, he had found h imself at loggerheads with colonists convinced they were being denied thei r rights as Englishmen.\n\nGage understood what was happening.\n\nVoice: T he spirit of democracy is strong amongst them.\n\nThe question is not of t he inexpediency of the Stamp Act or the inability of the colonies to pay t he tax\, but that it is contrary to their rights and not subject to the le gislative power of Great Britain.\n\n[Gage] Conway: Thomas Gage was marrie d to an American.\n\nHe owned land in the colonies.\n\nHe was\, in many wa ys\, embedded within colonial society.\n\nSo\, he was particularly relucta nt\, I think\, to engage in conflict.\n\nTaylor: In the colonial world and the European world\, democracy had a bad name.\n\nIt was a synonym for \" anarchy.\"\n\nIt had a reputation as being turbulent\, as a system exploit ed by ruthless politicians called \"demagogues\"-- people who pandered to the passions of common people in order to whip them up and get them to do passionate things\, and to get government to serve them and to prey upon t he property of more wealthy people.\n\nSo\, democracy is not the aspiratio n that creates the Revolution.\n\nThe Revolution creates the conditions fo r people to aspire to have a democracy.\n\nNarrator: Meanwhile\, hundreds of merchants in New York\, Boston\, and Philadelphia pledged to boycott Br itish goods until the Stamp Act was repealed.\n\nTo keep up the opposition \, some lawyers\, merchants\, and skilled craftsmen established an associa tion\, the Sons of Liberty\, and soon had chapters from Portsmouth\, New H ampshire to Charleston\, South Carolina working together.\n\nVoice: The co lonies until now were ever at variance and foolishly jealous of each other \; they are now united for their common defense against what they believe to be oppression\; nor will they soon forget the weight which this close u nion gives them.\n\nDr.\n\nJoseph Warren.\n\nNarrator: The colonies now ac counted for 1/3 of Britain's trade.\n\nWith the boycott\, some manufacture rs were forced to close their doors.\n\nThousands of workers lost their jo bs.\n\nThe town councils of 27 English trading and manufacturing towns ple aded for repeal.\n\nBy mid-February 1766\, the British cabinet was looking for a way out of the impasse.\n\nIt asked Benjamin Franklin\, then living in London as a lobbyist for Pennsylvania\, to appear before the House of Commons\, hoping that hearing from the best-known American on Earth would help.\n\nFranklin patiently answered 174 questions.\n\nWhat had been the c olonists' attitude toward Great Britain before the Stamp Act was enacted?\ n\nVoice: The best in the world.\n\nThey had not only a respect but an aff ection for Great Britain\; for its laws\, its customs\, its manners\, and even a fondness for its fashions\, which greatly increased the commerce.\n \n[Franklin] Narrator: \"Would the colonies now accept a compromise?\"\n\n he was asked.\n\n\"No\,\" he answered.\n\n\"It was a matter of principle.\ "\n\n\"Might a military force compel the colonists to pay the tax?\"\n\n\" No\,\" Franklin said.\n\nVoice: Suppose a military force is sent into Amer ica.\n\nThey will find nobody in arms.\n\nWhat are they then to do?\n\nThe y cannot force a man to take stamps who chooses to do without them.\n\nThe y will not find a rebellion.\n\nThey may indeed make one.\n\n[Franklin] [\ "Rule Britannia\" playing] Narrator: 8 days after Franklin's testimony\, t he House of Commons voted to repeal the Stamp Act.\n\nBritish workers woul d return to their factories.\n\nMerchant vessels set sail again for the co lonies.\n\nWhen the news reached America in April\, the Sons of Liberty di sbanded\; their rights as Englishmen seemed to have been restored.\n\nNew York commissioned a statue of King George\, wearing a Roman toga\, to be p laced on the Bowling Green at the tip of Manhattan.\n\nBut beginning in th e summer of 1767\, the British government\, still struggling with war debt \, would win passage of 5 new laws--the Townshend Acts.\n\nOne of them esp ecially angered colonists.\n\nIt imposed new taxes on 4 items manufactured in England-- glass\, lead\, paper\, and painter's colors-- and on a fifth item\, tea\, grown in China but re-exported from Britain and loved by the colonists\, rich and poor alike.\n\nNewspaper editors and pamphleteers de nounced the new taxes.\n\nA revived and more militant Sons of Liberty call ed for a new boycott of British goods.\n\nWomen\, who normally played a su bordinate role in public life and had almost no legal rights\, joined the resistance by the thousands as \"Daughters of Liberty.\"\n\nWoman: Crisis changes people.\n\nAnd it gave women different ideas about what they shoul d be doing.\n\nDuVal: Women were the main consumers in colonial society an d they were the ones who made sure the boycotts worked.\n\nWomen stopped d rinking tea.\n\nWomen started making their own fabric.\n\nWomen started ma king toys for their children.\n\nAnd they didn't just stop buying British things and start making their own things\; they publicized it.\n\nTaylor: One of the key forms of political theater during the Resistance Movement w ould be for a local minister to invite the women of the community to come down to the church and to spend the day spinning and weaving cloth.\n\nAnd it would be a competition to see which community could produce the most h omespun.\n\nIt would be published in the newspaper.\n\nAnd these women wou ld be praised as great American Patriots for having produced so much homes pun cloth.\n\nDuVal: And reporters would report\, \"The ladies of Boston\, \"The ladies of New York \"are the most patriotic.\n\nThey are at the for efront of this protest movement.\"\n\nIf women hadn't done that\, the prot est movement and eventually the Revolution would have gone nowhere.\n\nVoi ce: Let the Daughters of Liberty nobly arise\, And though we've no voice b ut a negative here\, Stand firmly resolved and bid them to see\, That rath er than freedom\, we'll part with our tea.\n\nHannah Griffitts.\n\nVoice: I wish to see America boast of Empire-- of Empire not established in the t hralldom of nations but on a more equitable base.\n\nThough such a happy s tate\, such an equal government\, may be considered by some as a Utopian d ream\; yet\, you and I can easily conceive of nations and states under mor e liberal plans.\n\nMercy Otis Warren.\n\nNarrator: The political philosop her and historian Mercy Otis Warren would publish plays and poems that sat irized Royal officials with names like Judge Meagre and Sir Spendall.\n\nN o woman played a more important role in promoting resistance.\n\nTensions with England continued to grow.\n\nIn Boston\, in June of 1768\, a ship ca lled the \"Liberty\" was seized by the Royal Navy.\n\nIts owner\, John Han cock\, was the richest merchant in the city\, a prominent member of the So ns of Liberty-- and a practiced smuggler.\n\nA big\, angry crowd formed at the wharf.\n\nVoice: The mobs here are very different from those in Old E ngland.\n\nThese Sons of Violence are attacking houses\, breaking windows\ , beating\, stoning\, and bruising several gentlemen belonging to the Cust oms.\n\nAnn Hulton.\n\nVoice: The town has been under a kind of democratic al despotism for a considerable time.\n\nAnd it has not been safe for peop le to act or speak contrary to the sentiments of the ruling demagogues.\n\ nThomas Gage.\n\nNarrator: On orders from London\, General Gage sent two r egiments of regulars from Nova Scotia\, not to defend Boston\, but to poli ce it.\n\nMost Bostonians were appalled.\n\nWoman: An army during wartime makes sense.\n\nOf course\, you need that.\n\nBut an army during peacetime is a standing army.\n\nAnd if you have an army during peacetime\, the thi nking is that its only use is to turn on poor\, innocent subjects.\n\nVoic e: To have a standing army!\n\nGood God!\n\nWhat can be worse to a people who have tasted the sweets of liberty?\n\nThings are come to an unhappy cr isis.\n\nAll confidence is at an end.\n\nAnd the moment there is any blood shed\, all affection will cease.\n\nReverend Andrew Eliot.\n\nVoice: The s pirit of emigration to America\, which seems to be epidemic through Great Britain\, is likely to depopulate the Mother Country\, and leave our ancie nt kingdom the resort of owls and dragons\, and other solitary animals\, w ho shun the light\, and seem displeased at the human race.\n\n\"The Edinbu rgh Amusement.\"\n\n[Bell tolling] Narrator: The steadily rising tensions between England and its North American colonies did not slow the steady st ream of English\, Scots-Irish\, German\, and a small number of Jewish immi grants eager to carve out new lives within the North American interior.\n\ nChristopher Brown: Part of what really sets the North American experience apart is just how many European settlers are coming to North America.\n\n [Horse nickers] And they keep coming.\n\n15\,000 a year.\n\nA kind of empi re was already in view.\n\nNarrator: Thousands of new arrivals and America n-born colonists poured down the Great Wagon Road that ran all the way fro m Philadelphia to the Carolinas.\n\nThe backcountry there was already the home of Native peoples\, including the Catawbas and Cherokees.\n\nVoice: U pon the whole\, it is the best country in the world for a poor man to go t o and do well.\n\nAnd the farther they go back in the country\, the land t urns richer and better.\n\nHere\, a man of small substance\, if upon a pre carious footing at home\, can\, at once\, secure to himself a handsome\, i ndependent living\, and do well for himself and posterity.\n\nAll modes of Christian worship are here tolerated.\n\n\"Scotus Americanus.\"\n\nTaylor : Colonial America is a very Protestant place.\n\nAnd it's founded when th e norm in Europe was that whoever your sovereign was got to set what the r eligion should be.\n\nNarrator: Congregationalism was the established chur ch in nearly all New England colonies.\n\nThe official religion in much of the South was the Church of England.\n\nBut those who belonged to other f aiths resented being forced by colonial legislatures to pay the salaries o f clergymen who did not minister to them.\n\nNone were more resentful than the backcountry settlers in the Carolinas-- Baptists\, Presbyterians\, Lu therans\, Methodists.\n\nTaylor: And what they hear from their ministers a bout whether resisting their sovereign or supporting their sovereign is th e right thing to do as a Christian duty\, that will matter a lot.\n\n[Drum beating rhythmically] Voice: I was born in Boston in America in the year 1760.\n\nIn the time I was at school\, the troubles began to come on.\n\nA nd I was told the day of judgment was near at hand\, and the moon would tu rn into blood\, and the world would be set on fire.\n\nJohn Greenwood.\n\n Narrator: Shortly before noon on Saturday\, October 1\, 1768\, 8-year-old John Greenwood left his home in Boston's North End and hurried toward the waterfront.\n\nThere\, riding at anchor in a great arc\, he saw 14 British warships\, their cannon trained upon the city.\n\nBoats swarmed between t he ships and the end of Long Wharf\, ferrying hundreds of British red-coat ed regulars.\n\nGeneral Gage's occupying army had arrived.\n\nThe crowds t hat lined the street were for the most part silent and sullen.\n\nBut it w as not the history being made that impressed young John Greenwood that day .\n\nIt was the irresistible music played by Afro-Caribbean men and boys i n colorful uniforms.\n\nVoice: I was so fond of hearing the fife and drum played by the British that somehow or another\, I got an old split fife\, and fixed it by puttying up the crack to make it sound\, and then learned to play several tunes.\n\nI believe it was the sole cause of all my travai ls and disasters.\n\n[Greenwood] [Fife playing upbeat tune] Narrator: Befo re long\, the boy was playing well enough to become a fifer for a local mi litia.\n\n\"The flag of our company\,\" he remembered\, \"was an English f lag.\"\n\nThey would not be English forever.\n\nHalf the newly arrived tro ops were housed in barracks on Castle Island\, but orders from London had been clear.\n\nIt was \"His Majesty's pleasure\,\" they said\, that the re st of the troops \"be quartered in that town.\"\n\n[Man shouting orders] F or 17 months\, Boston was an occupied city.\n\nThe rattle of drums awakene d residents every morning.\n\nPassersby were routinely stopped and searche d.\n\nMany soldiers had brought their wives and children\; others courted Boston girls\, or were pursued by them.\n\n40 troops were married during t he occupation\, and more than 100 of their offspring were baptized.\n\nBut some soldiers got drunk\, robbed people\, insulted women\, profaned the S abbath.\n\nThere were brawls\, stabbings\, suits and countersuits.\n\nFrom London\, Benjamin Franklin was concerned.\n\nVoice: Some indiscretion on the part of Boston's warmer people\, or of the soldiery\, may occasion a t umult.\n\nAnd if blood is once drawn\, there is no foreseeing how far the mischief may spread.\n\n[Franklin] Narrator: On the evening of March 5\, 1 770\, there were tussles between Bostonians and British soldiers all acros s the city.\n\nAt the Royal Customs House\, a crowd of young men surrounde d a lone sentry and pelted him with snowballs and chunks of ice.\n\nConvin ced a city-wide uprising was underway\, Captain Thomas Preston raced sever al armed grenadiers to the scene.\n\nMore snowballs and rocks and oyster s hells greeted them.\n\nThey fixed bayonets.\n\n[Bells tolling] Zabin: Some body starts ringing the church bells\, which in Boston is a sign for fire. \n\nSome people are bringing buckets to be part of a bucket brigade.\n\nSo me people are drawn by the noise.\n\nIt's very hard\, in fact impossible\, to know what happened\, which is that somebody yells\, \"Fire.\"\n\n[Gunf ire] All we know really is that when the smoke cleared\, there are 5 peopl e dead or dying.\n\nNarrator: The first was a tall dock-worker-- part Nati ve-American\, part African-American-- named Crispus Attucks.\n\nThe second was a ropemaker named Samuel Gray\, who was standing next to Attucks.\n\n The third was James Caldwell\, a sailor who was in town\, it was said\, to call upon the girl he hoped to marry.\n\nThe terrified crowd began to sca tter.\n\nJohn Greenwood's older brother Isaac was there\, too\, and escape d unharmed\, but a ricocheting ball hit their friend Samuel Maverick in th e back.\n\nHe died in agony the following morning.\n\nMaverick\, an appren tice\, had shared a bed in the Greenwood home with the now 9-year-old John \, who recalled that after his friend's death\, he deliberately slept in p itch-black darkness\, hoping \"to see his spirit.\"\n\nZabin: People start arguing\, already\, even before they go to bed\, about what happened.\n\n Paul Revere creates probably the most famous engraving of the 18th century \, which he titles the \"Bloody Massacre.\"\n\nThe British Army is very an xious to try to spin this as a story of self-defense... but the language o f massacre is the one that holds.\n\nNarrator: A fifth man\, a leathermake r named Patrick Carr\, would die several days later.\n\n10\,000 mourners a ccompanied the coffins of the dead to the Old Granary Cemetery.\n\nVoice: The Fatal Fifth of March can never be forgotten.\n\nThe horrors of that dr eadful night are but too deeply impressed on our hearts-- when our streets were stained with the blood of our brethren\; and our eyes were tormented with the sight of the mangled bodies of the dead.\n\nJoseph Warren.\n\nNa rrator: Not everyone was grieving.\n\nAn Anglican clergyman\, Mather Byles \, asked a fellow cleric\, \"Which is better\, \"to be ruled by one tyrant 3\,000 miles away or by 3\,000 tyrants not a mile away.\"\n\n[Gavel bangi ng rapidly] Captain Preston was found not guilty of ordering his men to fi re.\n\nThe other 8 soldiers were put on trial separately.\n\nSamuel Adams' younger cousin\, John Adams\, risking his reputation\, served as the sold iers' attorney.\n\nMost of his clients were acquitted as well.\n\nTwo were found guilty of manslaughter.\n\nThey were branded on their right thumbs so that if they were ever charged with another crime\, they could not make a claim of innocence again.\n\nThe British government was relieved by the outcome of the trials.\n\nMost of the regulars were withdrawn to Castle W illiam-- their harbor fortress.\n\nOnce again\, American colonists had for ced the British to back down and Parliament had already repealed all but o ne of the Townshend Acts.\n\nOnly the duty on tea remained.\n\n♪ Voice: Yorktown stood unrivaled in Virginia\; its commanding view\, its vast expa nse of water\, its excellent harbor.\n\nIt was the seat of wealth and eleg ance\, one of the most delightful situations in America\, at least\, my in fantine imagination painted it so.\n\nBetsy Ambler.\n\nNarrator: Betsy Amb ler was 6 years old in 1771-- the oldest child in a prominent Yorktown\, V irginia family.\n\nA young Thomas Jefferson had once hoped to marry her mo ther\, Rebecca\, but she had married Jacquelin Ambler instead.\n\nHe insis ted that all his daughters get a proper education.\n\nHe was a planter and merchant in Yorktown\, the bustling deepwater port near Virginia's coloni al capital at Williamsburg.\n\nOn Yorktown docks\, enslaved Africans enter ed America\, and the tobacco they harvested went out to the world.\n\nThou gh Betsy's father was the Royal Collector of Customs\, he and his family h ad grown more and more sympathetic to their neighbors' calls for liberty.\ n\nVoice: Young as I was\, the word \"liberty\" so constantly sounding in my ears seemed to convey an idea of everything that was desirable on Earth .\n\nTrue\, that in attaining it\, I was to see every comfort abandoned.\n \n[Ambler] Voice: Thomas Hutchinson\, Governor of Massachusetts: There is now a disposition in all the colonies to let the controversy with the king dom subside.\n\nHancock and most of the party are quiet and all of them ab ate of their virulence\, except Samuel Adams.\n\n[Hutchinson] Narrator: Fo r 2 years\, Samuel Adams kept up a steady stream of essays\, in which he w arned again and again that the lull was only temporary\, that Parliament r emained bent on imposing tyranny.\n\n♪ Kamensky: Those who have interest s in keeping the political story alive and growing\, have to really work t o keep it front and center\, to define the problem as something present in the minds of ordinary people.\n\nWhy would I care about this as a--as a w oman?\n\nWhy would I care about this as a small farmer?\n\n[Sawing] Narrat or: In 1772\, events beyond Boston gave Adams the ammunition he needed to spread his radical message throughout the colonies.\n\nIn April\, when a s awmill owner in New Hampshire was charged with commandeering pine trees ea rmarked for the masts of royal warships\, a mob drove the British official s who came to arrest him out of town.\n\n[Fireball] In June\, when the \"G aspée\,\" a British customs schooner\, ran aground while chasing smuggler s\, angry Rhode Islanders set it afire.\n\nAnd that fall\, Adams learned t hat beginning the following year\, the British Treasury would use the reve nue from tea to pay the salaries of the most important Massachusetts offic ials\, including all the colony's judges.\n\nThe judges' first loyalty wou ld now be to the Crown\, not the colonists.\n\nThere would be no way to en sure impartial justice.\n\nAdams drafted a fiery response.\n\nVoice: Among the natural rights of the colonists are these: First\, a right to life\; secondly\, to liberty\; thirdly to property\; together with the right to s upport and defend them in the best manner they can.\n\n[Samuel Adams] ♪ Narrator: Printed copies of his writings were sent to town meetings throug hout the colony.\n\nSo-called Committees of Correspondence soon linked adv ocates of resistance in more than 100 Massachusetts towns and districts.\n \nEventually\, their network would spread into other colonies.\n\nSchiff: \"Committees of Correspondence\" is an effort to try to bring all of the c olonies onto the same page\, to make them feel as if they have a common ca use\, words which had really not been used before.\n\nAnd it's through tho se committees that\, essentially\, the Revolutionary spirit diffuses itsel f throughout the colonies.\n\nVoice: Let not the iron hand of tyranny ravi sh our laws and seize the badge of freedom.\n\nIs it not high time for the people of this country explicitly to declare whether they will be freemen or slaves?\n\nSamuel Adams.\n\nVoice: I need not point out the absurdity of your exertions for liberty\, while you have slaves in your houses.\n\nI f you are sensible that slavery is\, in itself\, and in its consequences\, a great evil\, why will you not pity and relieve the poor\, distressed\, enslaved Africans?\n\nCaesar Sarter.\n\nKamensky: Slavery as a metaphor is in the conversation from the beginning.\n\nEverywhere there's slavery\, t here are people thinking about freedom.\n\nNothing shows the desire for fr eedom like the struggles of subject peoples.\n\nVoice: I\, young in life\, by seeming cruel fate Was snatch'd from Afric's fancy'd happy seat: What pangs excruciating must molest\, What sorrows labour in my parent's breast ?\n\nSteel'd was that soul and by no misery mov'd That from a father seiz' d his babe belov'd: Such\, such my case.\n\nAnd can I then but pray Others may never feel tyrannic sway?\n\nPhillis Wheatley.\n\nNarrator: Phillis W heatley\, who was stolen from Senegambia in West Africa and taken to Massa chusetts as a young girl\, was renamed for the slave ship the \"Phillis\" that brought her and the Wheatley family that bought her.\n\nIn Boston\, t he Wheatleys saw to her education\, and as a teenager\, still enslaved\, h er \"Poems on Various Subjects\, Religious and Moral\" won favor on both s ides of the Atlantic.\n\nIt was the first published book by an African-Ame rican writer.\n\nVoice: How well the cry for liberty\, and the reverse dis position for the exercise of oppressive power over others agree\, I humbly think it does not require the penetration of a philosopher to determine.\ n\n[Wheatley] Voice: I wish most sincerely there was not a slave in the pr ovince.\n\nIt always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me-- fight ourse lves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as g ood a right to freedom as we have.\n\nYou know my mind upon this subject.\ n\nAbigail Adams.\n\nVoice: Ye men of sense and virtue-- Ye advocates for American liberty-- Bear a testimony against a vice which degrades human na ture and dissolves that universal tie of benevolence which should connect all the children of men together in one great family.\n\nThe plant of libe rty is of so tender a nature that it cannot thrive long in the neighborhoo d of slavery.\n\nBenjamin Rush.\n\nChristopher Brown: Part of what happens in the years before the American War is that liberties are kind of broken out of a national context.\n\nThese are not English liberties.\n\nThese a re transcendent liberties.\n\nThese are liberties that all individuals hav e by the nature of being human.\n\n[Waves crashing] Man: Heave away!\n\nVo ice: The Americans have made a discovery\, or think they have made one\, t hat we mean to oppress them.\n\nWe have made a discovery\, or think we hav e made one\, that they intend to rise in rebellion.\n\nOur severity has in creased their ill behavior.\n\nWe know not how to advance.\n\nThey know no t how to retreat.\n\nSome party must give way.\n\nEdmund Burke.\n\nNarrato r: In October of 1773\, 7 ships set out from Plymouth\, England for North American ports.\n\nThe cargo hold of each was filled with crates of tea.\n \nIt all belonged to the Crown- chartered East India Company\, which was o n the brink of bankruptcy.\n\nTo save the company\, Lord North\, the Prime Minister\, had won passage of a new Tea Act\, designed to undercut smuggl ing and reduce the cost of tea.\n\nKamensky: It seemed to Parliament like a \"Win-Win-Win.\"\n\nShore up the East India Company\, take it more in-ho use as a governmental organization\, and give Americans cheaper\, non-smug gled tea at the same time.\n\nNarrator: But colonial merchants who had pro fited handsomely from smuggling portrayed the new law as yet another assau lt on American rights.\n\nJohn Adams wrote that immediate resistance was n ecessary because of its \"attack upon a fundamental principle of the [Brit ish] constitution.\"\n\nNo American had consented to the tea tax\; therefo re\, no American need pay it.\n\nGovernment-appointed tea agents were to b e persuaded-- or coerced--into refusing to receive any tea.\n\nIn Charlest on\, South Carolina\, the Sons of Liberty \"convinced\" an agent not to ac cept the shipment meant for him.\n\nIn Philadelphia\, the Governor of Penn sylvania talked a ship's captain into sailing back to Britain.\n\nIn Bosto n\, when 3 of the ships loaded with tea arrived\, thousands of Bostonians and supporters from outlying towns gathered at the Old South Meeting House and declared that the tea should remain on board and be sent back to Brit ain.\n\nOn December 16\, 1773\, hundreds looked on from shore as between 5 0 and 60 men-- rich as well as poor-- all crudely disguised as Native Amer icans\, climbed into boats and headed for the ships.\n\nDeloria: They dres s like Indians\, kinda.\n\nIt's an expression of what it is to be American .\n\nWhen you claim to be Indian\, you're claiming to be here\, aboriginal \, part of this continent.\n\nAnd you're drawing a really bright line betw een yourself and the Mother Country.\n\n[Crates smashing\; people shouting ] Narrator: The men banged open 342 crates and poured more than 46 tons of tea into the harbor.\n\n[Splashing] No other property was disturbed.\n\nA nd when one of the boarders was seen filling his coat pockets with fistful s of tea\, he received a \"severe bruising.\"\n\nTaylor: This is an assaul t on the property of the East India Company\, and it's an assault upon the pride and the power of Parliament.\n\nSo\, it's a very big deal.\n\nProte sting taxes is one thing.\n\nDestroying private property worth thousands o f pounds sterling\, that's something else.\n\nNarrator: In Manhattan\, the King had grown so unpopular in some quarters that royal officials thought it prudent to surround his statue with an iron fence.\n\nA law warning of the dire consequences for anyone who dared deface the statue... [Gunshot] did not prevent one New Yorker from firing a musket ball through its chee k... [Gunshot] and another one through its neck.\n\n♪ Voice: The study o f the human character opens at once a beautiful and a deformed picture of the soul.\n\nWe there find a noble principle implanted in the nature of ma n.\n\nBut when the checks of conscience are thrown aside\, or the moral se nse weakened\, humanity is obscured.\n\nMercy Otis Warren.\n\nVoice: The m ost shocking cruelty was exercised a few nights ago upon a poor old man na med Malcolm.\n\nThere's no law that knows a punishment for the greatest cr imes beyond what this is\, of cruel torture.\n\nAnn Hulton.\n\nNarrator: I n Boston\, in January of 1774\, a small boy on a sled accidentally ran int o a minor customs official named John Malcolm\, who cursed and threatened to beat him.\n\nWhen George Hewes\, who had helped dump the tea into Bosto n harbor\, tried to intervene\, Malcolm knocked him unconscious with his c ane.\n\n[People shouting] Malcolm was hauled from his house.\n\nHe was str ipped nearly naked\, hot tar was poured over him\, scalding his flesh\, an d then he was covered with feathers.\n\n♪ Jasanoff: Tarring and featheri ng is something that has come down to us as an almost kind of comical thin g because you see these people with chicken feathers on them\, but this is hideous stuff.\n\nBoiling pitch is poured onto somebody's skin.\n\nThe bu rns are unbelievable.\n\nAnd it's all part\, also\, of a kind of spectacle of violence that is a really important part of this.\n\nAnd this is why t he feathers are put on\, in part.\n\nIt's that you are trying to humiliate and shame the victim.\n\n[Shouting continues] Narrator: Hundreds jeered a s Malcolm was pulled through the freezing streets for 5 hours.\n\nHis assa ilants stopped here and there to whip him.\n\nIt would be 8 weeks before h e was able to leave his bed.\n\n♪ Voice: Boston has been the ringleader of all violence and opposition to the execution of the laws of this countr y.\n\nBoston has not only therefore to answer for its own violence but for having incited other places to tumults.\n\nLord North\, Prime Minister.\n \nNarrator: Lord North hoped\, he said\, to make America lie \"prostrate a t his feet.\"\n\nThey \"must fear you\,\" he added\, \"before they will lo ve you.\"\n\nNow that they had destroyed Crown property\, it was clear tha t much of America was not afraid.\n\nNorth would do his best to change tha t.\n\nIn the process\, he would try to end every vestige of self-rule priz ed by the people of Massachusetts.\n\nFirst\, the Prime Minister convinced the Parliament to repeal that colony's long-standing charter\, then disso lved the elected assembly again and limited each town and village to just one town meeting a year.\n\nThe port of Boston would be closed until all i ts residents had paid in full for the tea just 60 of them had destroyed.\n \nThat came to nearly 5 British pounds per taxpayer-- more than a craftsma n made in a month.\n\nIt means no ships going in\, no ships going out\, no work for sailors\, no work for merchants.\n\nIt means hunger in Boston.\n \nNarrator: British officers were also now empowered to commandeer vacant homes and barns to quarter their troops.\n\nAmericans would denounce the n ew laws as the \"Intolerable Acts.\"\n\n♪ In England on leave\, General Gage was summoned by George III.\n\nHe told the King what he wanted to hea r.\n\nThe people of Massachusetts pretended to be \"lyons\,\" he said.\n\n But if England sent in enough troops\, they would undoubtedly \"prove very meek.\"\n\nGeneral Gage was given a new title-- Governor of Massachusetts in addition to Commander-in-Chief-- and a new mission: to enforce the new Acts\, end Boston's resistance\, and demonstrate to all the colonies the folly of defying their King and Parliament.\n\nGage and 4 fresh regiments set sail for Boston in mid-April\, 1774.\n\n[Sheet flapping] Christopher B rown: The British Government sees this as a police action\, that if they c an punish Boston and shut down Massachusetts\, contain the rebellion\, tha t the other colonies would get the message and that order could be restore d with some grumbling.\n\nI think the British Government is genuinely surp rised\, um\, to see the ways that the other 12 colonies rally to Massachus etts' cause.\n\nTaylor: You are not gonna have an American Revolution unle ss you have Virginia onboard.\n\nAnd the leaders of Massachusetts understo od this.\n\nIt was not going to be easy.\n\nThere were deep prejudices bet ween the two regions because of the differences in their ethnic mix and in the nature of their cultures.\n\nAnd they hadn't previously had any kind of trust for one another.\n\nNarrator: But in Virginia\, the House of Burg esses declared a day of \"fasting\, humiliation and prayer\" in solidarity with the people of Massachusetts.\n\nAnd when the royal governor Lord Dun more declared the very idea an insult to the King and dissolved the assemb ly\, its members reconvened in Williamsburg's Raleigh Tavern.\n\nThe Virgi nians warned that \"an attack made \"on one of our sister colonies is an a ttack made on all British America\" and called for a \"Continental Congres s\" to meet in Philadelphia in September to see how the colonies might res ist together.\n\nAll the 13 colonies except Georgia-- where people were af raid to lose British protection in the event of an Indian war-- agreed to take part.\n\nThe Prime Minister's effort to intimidate the other colonies by punishing Massachusetts had instead begun to unite them.\n\n[Bell toll ing] Voice: Lebanon\, Connecticut.\n\nYesterday\, the bells of the town ea rly began to toll a solemn peal\, and continued the whole day.\n\nThe shop s in town were all shut and silent.\n\nOur brethren in Boston are sufferin g for their noble exertions in the cause of liberty-- the common cause of all America-- and we are heartily willing to unite our little powers for t he just rights and privileges of our country.\n\n[Lebanon Town Meeting] ♪ Narrator: Now news of a new offense by the King's ministers-- The Queb ec Act-- would bind them still more tightly together.\n\nJasanoff: The Bri tish decide that it would make sense to grant a degree of civil liberties to those French-speaking Catholics in Quebec in order to integrate them in to British governance and make sure that they have a population that can s ort of live with British authority.\n\nNarrator: Protestants\, who equated the Papacy with despotism\, were outraged.\n\nThe Act also extended Quebe c's borders west and south\, adding to the fury of land speculators and wo uld-be settlers.\n\nDuVal: To British colonists\, the Quebec Act was anoth er slap in the face.\n\nThe British Government is looking more and more\, with each of these acts\, like the problem\, instead of the protector that it's supposed to be.\n\n♪ Narrator: That summer\, beginning in Western Massachusetts\, in town after town\, crowds of angry armed men forced the resignations of the councilors\, judges\, and magistrates appointed by Gen eral Gage.\n\nJuries refused to serve.\n\nCourts closed down.\n\nWhen Gage learned that rebels in the towns surrounding Boston had quietly begun to remove some of the precious gunpowder every town was allotted for its defe nse\, he sent 250 soldiers to the stone powder-house in Charles Town to co nfiscate it.\n\nAngry colonists saw the raid as yet another provocation.\n \n[Horse nickers] The Massachusetts Assembly defiantly reconstituted itsel f and soon set about creating a clandestine provincial fighting force\, te ns of thousands strong.\n\nMan: March!\n\nThere had been organized town mi litias in New England since the earliest days in case of trouble with Indi ans.\n\nEvery man between the ages of 16 and 60 was expected to arm himsel f and take part.\n\n[Horse nickers] It was also now suggested that each to wn assign a quarter of its militiamen to a special company\, ready to act\ , they said\, at \"a minute's warning.\"\n\nNeighboring colonies followed the Massachusetts example.\n\n[Tapping] The Connecticut Assembly urged eve ry town to double its supply of gunpowder\, ball\, and flints.\n\nRhode Is land ordered all militia officers to make their men ready to \"march to th e assistance of any Sister Colony\" whenever they were needed.\n\nVoice: T he line of conduct seems now chalked out.\n\nThe New England governments a re in a state of rebellion.\n\nBlows must decide whether they are to be su bject to this country or independent.\n\nKing George III.\n\n♪ Voice: Ph iladelphia-- The regularity and elegance of this city are very striking.\n \nIt is situated upon a neck of land about 2 miles wide between the River Delaware and the River Schuylkill.\n\nAnd the uniformity of this city is d isagreeable to some.\n\nI like it.\n\nFront Street is near the river\, the n 2nd Street\, 3rd\, 4th\, 5th\, 6th\, 7th\, 8th\, 9th.\n\nThe cross stree ts are named for forest and fruit trees-- Pear Street\, Apple Street\, Wal nut Street\, Chestnut Street\, et cetera.\n\nJohn Adams.\n\n[Bell tolling] Narrator: In the autumn of 1774\, when 12 colonies sent delegates to the Continental Congress\, Philadelphia was the logical place to assemble.\n\n It was home to some 40\,000 people and was the most populous city in Briti sh America-- larger than New York\, more than twice the size of Boston.\n\ nThe delegates met in the newly constructed Carpenters' Hall\, hoping to d evelop a common means of resistance while still somehow remaining within t he Empire.\n\nIt would not be easy.\n\nAdjacent colonies quarreled over bo rders.\n\nSmall ones feared domination by large ones.\n\nAnd half the dele gates were lawyers\, fond of arguing.\n\nVoice: This assembly is like no o ther that ever existed.\n\nEvery man in it is a \"great man\"-- an orator\ , a critic\, a statesman--and therefore every man upon every question must show his oratory\, his criticism\, and his political abilities.\n\n[John Adams] [Men arguing] Schiff: You have a group of men who have hailed from essentially different countries\, who observe different religions\, who co nform to different habits\, who are really meeting each other for the firs t time.\n\nNo one is really sure what to do\, at first.\n\nIs this meant t o be a negotiation?\n\nIs this meant to be another boycott effort?\n\nIs t his meant to be some kind of serious rupture with the Mother Country?\n\nV oice: Their plan is to frighten and intimidate.\n\nBut supposing the worst \, you have nothing to fear from anyone but the New England provinces.\n\n As for the Southern people\, they talk very high\, but it's nothing more t han words.\n\nTheir numerous slaves in the bowels of their country and the Indians at their backs will always keep them quiet.\n\nThomas Gage.\n\nNa rrator: General Gage assured London the Congress was a \"motley crew\,\" u nlikely to achieve anything.\n\nThe \"motley crew\" included some of the c olonies' leading political figures-- Samuel and John Adams from Massachuse tts\; John Jay\, a young attorney from New York\, convinced some solution short of war with the Mother Country must still be found\; and Patrick Hen ry\, who argued that ties with Britain had already been severed.\n\n\"The distinctions between Virginians\, Pennsylvanians\, New Yorkers and New Eng landers\, are no more\,\" Henry said.\n\n\"I am not a Virginian\, but an A merican.\"\n\nBut a fellow delegate from Virginia spoke for many.\n\n\"Ind ependency\" was not the wish of any \"thinking man in all North America.\" \n\nVoice: I shall not undertake to say where the line between Great Brita in and the colonies should be drawn\, but I am clearly of opinion that one ought to be drawn.\n\nThe crisis is arrived when we must assert our right s or submit to every imposition that can be heaped upon us\; till custom a nd use will make us as tame and abject slaves as the Blacks we rule over w ith such arbitrary sway.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nEllis: Most people in 17 74 would say they're British.\n\nThey wouldn't say they're Americans.\n\nT he change happens in '75\, '76\, and the major source of it is a thing tha t's created called the \"Continental Association.\"\n\nThe Association is an engine for creating revolution.\n\nNarrator: The Continental Associatio n was not a committee\, but a phased program that forbade Americans from i mporting British goods as of December 1\, 1774\, from consuming British go ods as of March 1\, 1775\, and barred them from exporting American goods t o Britain beginning on September 10th-- if London still had not given in t o their demands.\n\nAmong the so-called \"British goods\" the delegates in tended to boycott were enslaved Africans-- whom they agreed not to import after December 1\, 1775.\n\nThe delegates made plans to hold a second Cont inental Congress in Philadelphia in 6 months.\n\n\"We must change our Habi ts\,\" John Adams wrote\, \"our Prejudices\, our Palates\, \"our Taste in Dress\, Furniture\, Equipage\, Architecture\, et cetera.\"\n\nTo make sure Americans did so\, every community was expected to establish its own Comm ittee of Safety in order to \"attentively observe the conduct of all perso ns.\"\n\nBy the spring of 1775\, some 7\,000 men had been elected to serve on such committees throughout the colonies\, tasked with spying on their neighbors\, opening their mail\, poring over merchants' records in search of suspicious transactions.\n\nMost of those suspected of failing to obser ve the boycott or who were overheard criticizing resistance were ostracize d\, their names and supposed crimes printed in the local newspaper\, their neighbors forbidden even to speak with them.\n\n[Men shouting] Ellis: Eve ry town\, every hamlet\, every village has a Committee of Safety and Inspe ction.\n\nAnd they go house to house.\n\nYou have to take a \"Loyalty Oath .\"\n\nThere's millions of conversations.\n\nAnd that's when the change ha ppens.\n\nVoice: If we must be enslaved\, let it be by a King at least\, n ot by a parcel of upstart\, lawless committeemen.\n\nIf I must be devoured \, let me be devoured by the jaws of a lion\, and not gnawed to death by r ats and vermin.\n\nReverend Samuel Seabury.\n\nNarrator: Harassed\, shamed \, shunned\, censored\, sometimes attacked\, opponents of resistance-- cal led \"Loyalists\"-- saw the Committees of Safety as more tyrannical than P arliament could ever be.\n\nNathaniel Philbrick: There was a sense of brut ality that went with the Patriot cause that said\, \"No\, you are wrong\, and we are right.\"\n\nTo be a Loyalist didn't mean that you were evil.\n\ nIt just meant that you felt a great sense of loyalty to the country that had made the prosperity that was the American colonies at this point possi ble.\n\nTaylor: The Loyalists are essentially the conservatives.\n\nThey'r e the people who believe in law and order.\n\nThey don't like mobs.\n\nThe y don't like committees telling them what to do.\n\n[Thunder] They don't s ee King George III as a tyrant.\n\nVoice: We are preparing for war.\n\nTo fight with whom?\n\nNot with France and Spain\, whom we have been used to think our natural enemies-- but with Great Britain\, our parent country.\n \nMy heart recoils at the thought.\n\nAndrew Eliot.\n\n[Sea gulls crying] Voice: If a civil war commences between Great Britain and her colonies\, e ither the Mother Country\, by one great exertion\, may ruin both herself a nd America\, or the Americans\, by a lingering contest\, will gain an inde pendency.\n\nAnd in this case and whilst a new\, a flourishing\, and an ex tensive empire of freemen is established on the other side of the Atlantic \, you will be left to the bare possession of your foggy islands.\n\nCatha rine Macaulay.\n\nNarrator: General Gage now warned London: \"The whole Co ntinent has embraced the cause of the town of Boston.\"\n\nVoice: If you t hink 10\,000 men sufficient\, send 20\,000.\n\nYou will save both blood an d treasure in the end.\n\nA large force will terrify and engage many to jo in you.\n\nA middling one will encourage resistance and gain no friends.\n \n[Gage] Narrator: But General Gage was sent far fewer men than he'd hoped for.\n\nAnd he was ordered to move decisively against the rebels and arre st their leaders.\n\nSamuel Adams and John Hancock had fled Boston and fou nd refuge with friends in Lexington\, a small town-- just 750 people and 4 00 cows-- on the road to the larger town of Concord\, some 18 miles northw est of Boston.\n\n[Drums beating rhythmically] Gage planned to send troops through Lexington to Concord\, where he had been told arms and provisions meant for a sizeable rebel army were hidden.\n\nSuccess would depend on t he strictest secrecy.\n\n[Dog barking] Late on the evening of April 18\, 1 775\, 700 British regulars were awakened\, not told where they were going\ , and silently marched through the dark empty streets of Boston.\n\nA flee t of boats was waiting to row them across the Charles River to the Cambrid ge marshes.\n\nFor all the care the British had taken to keep their plans secret\, Dr.\n\nJoseph Warren\, one of Boston's leading rebels\, got wind of it.\n\nYou don't move 1\,000 men out of Boston in the middle of the nig ht without arousing a response.\n\nAmerican rebel leaders send warning.\n\ nTwo men\, William Dawes and a silversmith named Paul Revere\, are sent in different routes to alert Samuel Adams and others in Lexington that the B ritish\, in fact\, are coming.\n\nNarrator: Before the two men left\, Reve re saw to it that 2 lanterns appeared in the belfry of the Old North Churc h just long enough to alert sympathizers on the mainland that the regulars were crossing by water to Cambridge\, not marching overland through Roxbu ry.\n\n[Racing hoofbeats] Voice: Time will never erase the horrors of that midnight cry\, when we were roused from the benign slumbers of the season with the dire alarm\, that 1\,000 of the troops of George III were gone f orth to murder the peaceful inhabitants of the surrounding villages.\n\nHa nnah Winthrop.\n\n♪ Narrator: Just after midnight on the morning of Apri l 19\, 1775\, Revere reached Lexington and the house where Adams and Hanco ck were hiding.\n\n\"The Regulars are coming out!\"\n\nhe shouted.\n\nThe two rebel leaders fled into the night.\n\n[Bell tolling] Lexington's milit iamen\, summoned from their beds\, dressed\, gathered up whatever weapons they happened to own\, and hurried to the town green.\n\nTheir commander w as Captain John Parker\, a farmer\, who\, like many of his 70 men\, had fo ught alongside the British in the French and Indian War.\n\n♪ Then\, sho rtly before dawn\, someone spotted 6 companies of redcoats-- about 250 men --approaching at a rapid clip.\n\nOn horseback in the lead was Major John Pitcairn\, a Scottish veteran with nothing but scorn for colonists.\n\nCap tain Parker knew he could not stop the British\, but he wanted to impress them with his men's resolve.\n\nParker told them not to fire first.\n\nA B ritish officer shouted\, \"Throw down your arms\, ye villians\, ye rebels\ , and disperse.\"\n\nAtkinson: They begin to disperse.\n\nMany of them tur n their backs and start to walk away.\n\n[Click\, gunshot] A shot rings ou t.\n\nNo one knows where the shot came from.\n\nMan: Fire!\n\n[Gunshots] T hat leads to promiscuous shooting... mostly by the British.\n\n[Heavy gunf ire] It's not a battle.\n\nIt's not a skirmish.\n\nIt's a massacre.\n\nNow blood has been shed.\n\nNow the man on your left has been shot through th e head.\n\nYour neighbor on the right has been badly wounded.\n\nYou can't put that genie back in the bottle.\n\nNarrator: 8 militiamen died on the Lexington Green.\n\n9 more were wounded.\n\nThe rest fled.\n\nAtkinson: Th e fact that the British have fired on their own people\, which is how it's viewed by the Americans\, causes an outrage that takes it to a new level in terms of resistance\, a feeling that\, um... \"They're killing us\, and the only thing \"that we can do in response is to kill them as quickly as we can in numbers as profound as we can.\"\n\n[Gunfire] Man: Charge!\n\nN arrator: The British resumed their march toward Concord\, now just 6 1/2 m iles away.\n\n[Bell tolling] Meanwhile\, other riders fanned out across th e countryside to spread word of what had happened.\n\nMilitiamen from near by towns rushed toward Concord.\n\n\"It seemed as if men came down from th e clouds\,\" one man said.\n\nIt was not memories of the Stamp Act or the tax on tea that rallied them.\n\n\"We always had governed ourselves\,\" on e man remembered\, \"and we always meant to.\"\n\nIn Acton\, 6 miles to th e west of Concord\, 40 Minutemen gathered at the home of their commander\, Captain Isaac Davis\, a 30-year-old gunsmith.\n\nVoice: My husband said b ut little that morning.\n\nHe seemed serious and thoughtful.\n\nAs he led the company from the house\, he turned himself round and seemed to have so mething to communicate.\n\nHe only said\, \"Take good care of the children \,\" and was soon out of sight.\n\nHannah Davis.\n\n[Gunfire] Narrator: Th e British seized 2 bridges spanning the Concord River and spread throughou t the town.\n\n[Glass breaks] They entered houses\, broke into barns and o utbuildings.\n\nMost of the arms and provisions they'd hoped to find had e ither been shifted elsewhere or successfully hidden.\n\nBut they did smash open 60 barrels of flour and destroyed several wooden gun carriages befor e setting it all ablaze.\n\nAtkinson: The decision is made by the American commanders on the scene that we're not gonna fight in Concord.\n\nWe will retreat across the Concord River\, across the North Bridge\, and we will wait for them on the other side.\n\nNarrator: By then\, some 450 militiame n were clustered together on a hillside overlooking the North Bridge\, sti ll under strict orders not to fire upon the King's troops unless fired upo n.\n\nBut when they saw smoke rising from town\, they concluded that Conco rd itself was burning.\n\nAt North Bridge\, the American soldiers\, the mi litiamen\, see this and they say to each other\, \"They're burning down ou r town.\n\nAre we gonna let them burn down our town?\"\n\nAnd that's when they march to the bridge.\n\nNarrator: 3 companies of British regulars now guarded the bridge.\n\nIsaac Davis\, the gunsmith from Acton\, was picked to head the column sent towards it.\n\nSuddenly\, without orders\, a redc oat fired his musket.\n\nThe front line of British troops followed with a ragged volley.\n\nA musket ball tore through Isaac Davis' chest\, severing an artery and spraying blood on two men coming up behind him.\n\nAbner Ho smer\, another member of his company\, was shot through the head.\n\n\"God damn them\,\" a militia captain shouted.\n\n\"Fire men\, fire!\"\n\n[Rapi d gunfire] At least 8 redcoats were hit\, including 4 officers.\n\nThe Bri tish began to back away\, then to run.\n\nWhen one wounded soldier struggl ed to his feet and tried to follow\, a militiaman split his skull with a h atchet.\n\nThe British regulars regrouped and began the long march back to Boston.\n\nVoice: Before the whole had quitted the town\, we were fired o n from houses and behind trees.\n\nAnd before we had gone half a mile\, we were fired on from all sides\, but mostly from the rear\, where people ha d hid themselves in houses till we had passed and then fired.\n\n[John Bar ker] [Gunfire continues] Atkinson: Every step of the way becomes more inte nse.\n\n[Click\, gunshot] The sound of bullets winging around them.\n\nThe sound of bullets hitting soldiers\, this deep thud\, as if you're beating a rug... [Gunfire continues] screams of men who've been wounded in the Br itish column.\n\n[Horse nickers] And it's beginning to look as though the column could be destroyed.\n\nNarrator: The British were in complete disar ray as they staggered into Lexington.\n\nBut now filling the road ahead of them were more than 1\,000 much-needed reinforcements.\n\n[Cannonfire] Tw o British cannon swept the Lexington Green\, and one ball smashed through the wall of the meetinghouse.\n\nSeveral houses were set on fire\, but the redcoats were still outnumbered and under relentless attack.\n\nThey resu med their retreat to Boston.\n\n[Gunshot] Voice: We retired for 15 miles u nder an incessant fire\, which like a moving circle surrounded us and foll owed us wherever we went.\n\nIt was impossible not to lose a good many men .\n\nGeneral Hugh Percy.\n\nConway: The retreat from Concord was a truly h orrifying event for many British soldiers.\n\nIt would have been a fairly traumatic experience\, to put it mildly\, to be shot at from all sides by people you didn't believe were going to shoot at you.\n\nNarrator: In the village of Monatomy\, the fighting was house-to-house.\n\nA militiaman nam ed Amos Farnsworth remembered entering a home to find a pool of blood that half-covered his shoes.\n\nVoice: The bloody field at Monatomy was strewe d with mangled bodies.\n\nWe met one affectionate father with a cart\, loo king for his murderd son\, and picking up his neighbors who had fallen in battle.\n\nHannah Winthrop.\n\nNarrator: In Boston\, crowds watched as the redcoats straggled back.\n\nThe British had suffered 273 casualties\, inc luding 73 dead.\n\n♪ 95 Americans had been hit over the course of the da y\, 49 of them fatally.\n\nFamily members moved along the road looking for missing sons and brothers and fathers.\n\nIn Acton that evening\, Hannah Davis and her 4 children looked on as men of her husband Isaac's militia c ompany carried his corpse through her door.\n\nVoice: He was placed in my bedroom till the funeral.\n\nThe bodies of Abner Hosmer\, one of the compa ny\, and of James Hayward\, who was killed in Lexington in the afternoon\, were brought by their friends to the house\, where the funeral of the thr ee was attended together.\n\n[Davis] ♪ Narrator: As April 19th drew to a close\, some 14\,000 armed men from 58 Massachusetts towns and villages w ere converging on Boston.\n\nAnd as the news of the bloodshed spread\, the y would soon be joined by more men from Rhode Island\, New Hampshire\, and Connecticut\, until a 10-mile semicircle of hundreds of campfires stretch ed from Roxbury to Chelsea\, cutting off Boston.\n\nGeneral Gage ordered h is men to dig in and prepare for a siege.\n\nAtkinson: The British are pre tty secure in Boston because they have enough firepower\, they have enough manpower to prevent the Americans from pushing them out of Boston.\n\nAnd they have the Royal Navy.\n\nBut they are\, essentially\, surrounded.\n\n It's not a true siege because they've got passage in and out of Boston Har bor.\n\nThey can bring in supplies.\n\nThey can bring in reinforcements\, as need be.\n\nBut they can't get outside of Boston proper.\n\nSo\, the Br itish Empire\, in New England\, at this point\, consists of about 1 square mile of Boston itself.\n\n♪ Voice: When I reflect and consider that the fight was between those whose parents but a few generations ago were brot hers\, I shudder at the thought.\n\nAnd there's no knowing where our calam ities will end.\n\nJohn Andrews.\n\nAtkinson: War never follows the script that you have written for it when you set out to make war.\n\nThe British objective is\, first and foremost\, to suppress the rebellion.\n\nIt's to teach the rascals a lesson.\n\nIt's to force them to acknowledge the prim acy of Parliament and the authority of the King.\n\nAnd so\, now the decis ion has been made that we will use force.\n\nAnd there's a presumption tha t it won't take much... but it's gonna go on for 8 years-- 8 years\, blood \, treasure\, catastrophe\, really\, for the British Empire.\n\nSo\, uh\, those initial shots on Lexington Green\, on the morning of April 19\, 1775 \, are going to have profound repercussions.\n\n[Birds chirping] Voice: Th e whole country was in a commotion\, and nothing was talked of but war\, l iberty\, or death.\n\n[Greenwood] [Scraping] Narrator: John Greenwood was 14 that April.\n\nHis father had sent him away 2 years earlier to Falmouth -- now Portland--Maine to learn cabinet-making as an apprentice to an uncl e.\n\nBut when news of Lexington and Concord reached him\, he asked to be allowed to return to Boston to make sure his parents and siblings were saf e.\n\nHe was worried that they \"would all be killed by the British.\"\n\n It would take him 4 1/2 days to walk the 100 miles to Boston.\n\n[Men talk ing and laughing] Voice: As I stopped at the taverns\, out came my fife\, and I played them a tune or two.\n\nThey used to ask me where I came from and where I was a-going to.\n\nI told them I was a-going to fight for my c ountry.\n\nThey were astonished such a little boy and alone should have su ch courage.\n\n[Greenwood] Narrator: When John reached Charles Town\, he h oped to take a ferry to Boston\, but a sentry stopped him.\n\nNo one was a llowed into the besieged city.\n\nZabin: It's terrifying to be a civilian in Boston\, regardless of your political affiliation.\n\nEspecially women and children are just looking for any way out.\n\nSomething like 12\,000 p eople of a town of about 16\,000 manage to leave.\n\nNarrator: Unable to f ind his parents among the refugees\, Greenwood was invited by 2 young mili tiamen to share their quarters in Cambridge--the empty\, looted home of a Loyalist clergyman who'd fled to the British.\n\nHis friends urged him to enlist in their company as a fifer\, and he agreed.\n\nVoice: They told me it was only for eight months\, and that I would have eight dollars a mont h\, and that they would quick drive the British from Boston\, and then I c ould have an opportunity of seeing my parents.\n\n[Greenwood] [Waves crash ing] Voice: Britain has found means to unite us.\n\nGeneral Gage drew the sword\; and a war is commenced\, which the youngest of us may not see the end of.\n\n[Franklin] Narrator: Benjamin Franklin returned home from Londo n in time to attend the Second Continental Congress that began meeting at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia just 3 weeks after Lexington and Concord.\n\nDelegates from all 13 colonies now attended\, but they rem ained split between those still hoping for reconciliation and those\, like John Adams\, convinced a revolution was now inevitable.\n\nVoice: The can cer is too deeply rooted\, and too far spread to be cured by anything shor t of cutting it out entire.\n\n[John Adams] [Flames crackling] Narrator: F rom Boston\, British General Hugh Percy sent a warning to his superiors in London.\n\nVoice: Whoever looks upon the Americans as an irregular mob wi ll find himself much mistaken.\n\nThey have men amongst them who know very well what they are about.\n\nYou may depend upon it\, that as the rebels have now had time to prepare\, they are determined to go through with it.\ n\n[Percy] [Hammer striking metal] Voice: What a scene has opened upon us. \n\nIf we look back\, we are amazed at what is past.\n\nIf we look forward \, we must shudder at the view.\n\nOur only comfort lies in the justice of our cause.\n\nAll our worldly comforts are now at stake-- our nearest and dearest connections are hazarding their lives and properties.\n\nGod give them wisdom and integrity sufficient to the great cause in which they are engaged.\n\nAbigail Adams.\n\n♪ [Theme music playing] [Theme music play ing] ♪ Announcer: Next time on \"The American Revolution\"... [Gunfire] Bunker Hill... Stephen Conway: 40%.\n\nThat's horrendously high casualty r ate for the British Army.\n\nAnnouncer: a rare opportunity... Annette Gord on-Reed: In the chaos of war\, they found a way to escape their situation. \n\nAnnouncer: and the most important words in American history.\n\nVoice: We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.\n \n[Thomas Jefferson] Announcer: when \"The American Revolution\" continues next time.\n\n♪ Announcer: Scan this QR code with your smart device to dive deeper into the story of \"The American Revolution\" with interactive s\, games\, classroom materials\, and more.\n\n♪ Announcer: \"The Americ an Revolution\" DVD and Blu-ray\, as well as the companion book and soundt rack\, are available online and in stores.\n\nThe series is also available with PBS Passport and on am*zon Prime Video.\n\n♪ Announcer: The Americ an Revolution caused an impact felt around the world.\n\nThe fight would t ake ingenuity\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the ti de of history and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nBank of America.\n\nAnnouncer: Major funding for \"Th e American Revolution\" was provided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation and t he Blavatnik Family Foundation.\n\nMajor funding was also provided by Davi d M. Rubenstein\, the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, t he Lilly Endowment\, and by Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Schwarzman\, and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Cata lyst.\n\nAdditional support was provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Founda tions\, the Pew Charitable Trusts\, Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling \, the Park Foundation\, and by Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist a nd Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Foundation\, Jacqueli ne B. Mars\, the Kissick Family Foundation\, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jennifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Full erton Family Charitable Fund\, and these additional members.\n\n\"The Amer ican Revolution\" was made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting\, and Viewers Like You.\n\nThank You.\n\n\n\n\n URL\n\ n https://www.pbs.org/video/the-american-revolution-episode-1-in-order-to- be-free/\n\n  \n\n\n\n CONSTITUTION\n\n\n\n Note: The following text is a transcription of the Constitution as it was inscribed by Jacob Shallus on parchment (the document on display in the Rotunda at the National Archive s Museum.) The spelling and punctuation reflect the original.\n\nWe the Pe ople of the United States\, in Order to form a more perfect Union\, establ ish Justice\, insure domestic Tranquility\, provide for the common defence \, promote the general Welfare\, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ou rselves and our Posterity\, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.\n\nArticle. I.\nSection. 1.\nAll legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States\ , which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.\n\nSection . 2.\nThe House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen eve ry second Year by the People of the several States\, and the Electors in e ach State shall have the Qualifications requisite for Electors of the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature.\n\nNo Person shall be a Represe ntative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years\, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States\, and who shall not\, when elected\, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.\n\n Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several St ates which may be included within this Union\, according to their respecti ve Numbers\, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of fr ee Persons\, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years\, and ex cluding Indians not taxed\, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of th e Congress of the United States\, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years\, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Represen tatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand\, but each State sh all have at Least one Representative\; and until such enumeration shall be made\, the State of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three\, Mass achusetts eight\, Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations one\, Connecticu t five\, New-York six\, New Jersey four\, Pennsylvania eight\, Delaware on e\, Maryland six\, Virginia ten\, North Carolina five\, South Carolina fiv e\, and Georgia three.\n\nWhen vacancies happen in the Representation from any State\, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.\n\nThe House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers\; and shall have the sole Power of Impeachment .\n\nSection. 3.\nThe Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State\, chosen by the Legislature thereof\, for six Ye ars\; and each Senator shall have one Vote.\n\nImmediately after they shal l be assembled in Consequence of the first Election\, they shall be divide d as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of th e first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year\, of t he second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year\, and of the third Cl ass at the Expiration of the sixth Year\, so that one third may be chosen every second Year\; and if Vacancies happen by Resignation\, or otherwise\ , during the Recess of the Legislature of any State\, the Executive thereo f may make temporary Appointments until the next Meeting of the Legislatur e\, which shall then fill such Vacancies.\n\nNo Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years\, and been nine Yea rs a Citizen of the United States\, and who shall not\, when elected\, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.\n\nThe Vice Pres ident of the United States shall be President of the Senate\, but shall ha ve no Vote\, unless they be equally divided.\n\nThe Senate shall chuse the ir other Officers\, and also a President pro tempore\, in the Absence of t he Vice President\, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of t he United States.\n\nThe Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impea chments. When sitting for that Purpose\, they shall be on Oath or Affirmat ion. When the President of the United States is tried\, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.\n\nJudgment in Cases of Impeachment sh all not extend further than to removal from Office\, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor\, Trust or Profit under the United S tates: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment\, Trial\, Judgment and Punishment\, according to Law.\n\nSecti on. 4.\nThe Times\, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators an d Representatives\, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature t hereof\; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regula tions\, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.\n\nThe Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year\, and such Meeting shall be on the f irst Monday in December\, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day .\n\nSection. 5.\nEach House shall be the Judge of the Elections\, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members\, and a Majority of each shall cons titute a Quorum to do Business\; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day\, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members \, in such Manner\, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.\n\ nEach House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings\, punish its Member s for disorderly Behaviour\, and\, with the Concurrence of two thirds\, ex pel a Member.\n\nEach House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings\, and from time to time publish the same\, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require Secrecy\; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall\, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present\ , be entered on the Journal.\n\nNeither House\, during the Session of Cong ress\, shall\, without the Consent of the other\, adjourn for more than th ree days\, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.\n\nSection. 6.\nThe Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services\, to be ascertained by Law\, and paid o ut of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases\, except Treason\, Felony and Breach of the Peace\, be privileged from Arrest durin g their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses\, and in goin g to and returning from the same\; and for any Speech or Debate in either House\, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.\n\nNo Senator or Representative shall\, during the Time for which he was elected\, be appoi nted to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States\, which shall have been created\, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encrea sed during such time\; and no Person holding any Office under the United S tates\, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office .\n\nSection. 7.\nAll Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the Hou se of Representatives\; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendmen ts as on other Bills.\n\nEvery Bill which shall have passed the House of R epresentatives and the Senate\, shall\, before it become a Law\, be presen ted to the President of the United States\; If he approve he shall sign it \, but if not he shall return it\, with his Objections to that House in wh ich it shall have originated\, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal\, and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideratio n two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill\, it shall be sent \, together with the Objections\, to the other House\, by which it shall l ikewise be reconsidered\, and if approved by two thirds of that House\, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases the Votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and Nays\, and the Names of the Persons voting for a nd against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respecti vely. If any Bill shall not be returned by the President within ten Days ( Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him\, the Same sha ll be a Law\, in like Manner as if he had signed it\, unless the Congress by their Adjournment prevent its Return\, in which Case it shall not be a Law.\n\nEvery Order\, Resolution\, or Vote to which the Concurrence of the Senate and House of Representatives may be necessary (except on a questio n of Adjournment) shall be presented to the President of the United States \; and before the Same shall take Effect\, shall be approved by him\, or b eing disapproved by him\, shall be repassed by two thirds of the Senate an d House of Representatives\, according to the Rules and Limitations prescr ibed in the Case of a Bill.\n\nSection. 8.\nThe Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes\, Duties\, Imposts and Excises\, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United Stat es\; but all Duties\, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States\;\n\nTo borrow Money on the credit of the United States\;\n\ nTo regulate Commerce with foreign Nations\, and among the several States\ , and with the Indian Tribes\;\n\nTo establish an uniform Rule of Naturali zation\, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the Un ited States\;\n\nTo coin Money\, regulate the Value thereof\, and of forei gn Coin\, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures\;\n\nTo provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the U nited States\;\n\nTo establish Post Offices and post Roads\;\n\nTo promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts\, by securing for limited Times t o Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings a nd Discoveries\;\n\nTo constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court\ ;\n\nTo define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas \, and Offences against the Law of Nations\;\n\nTo declare War\, grant Let ters of Marque and Reprisal\, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land a nd Water\;\n\nTo raise and support Armies\, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years\;\n\nTo provide and maintain a Navy\;\n\nTo make Rules for the Government and Regulation of th e land and naval Forces\;\n\nTo provide for calling forth the Militia to e xecute the Laws of the Union\, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions\ ;\n\nTo provide for organizing\, arming\, and disciplining\, the Militia\, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States\, reserving to the States respectively\, the Appointment of the Officers\, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress\;\n\nTo exercise exclusive Legislati on in all Cases whatsoever\, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles s quare) as may\, by Cession of particular States\, and the Acceptance of Co ngress\, become the Seat of the Government of the United States\, and to e xercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Leg islature of the State in which the Same shall be\, for the Erection of For ts\, Magazines\, Arsenals\, dock-Yards\, and other needful Buildings\;—A nd\n\nTo make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying in to Execution the foregoing Powers\, and all other Powers vested by this Co nstitution in the Government of the United States\, or in any Department o r Officer thereof.\n\nSection. 9.\nThe Migration or Importation of such Pe rsons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit\, shal l not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight h undred and eight\, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation\, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.\n\nThe Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended\, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.\n\nNo Bill of Attainder or e x post facto Law shall be passed.\n\nNo Capitation\, or other direct\, Tax shall be laid\, unless in Proportion to the Census or enumeration herein before directed to be taken.\n\nNo Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles e xported from any State.\n\nNo Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: no r shall Vessels bound to\, or from\, one State\, be obliged to enter\, cle ar\, or pay Duties in another.\n\nNo Money shall be drawn from the Treasur y\, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law\; and a regular State ment and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shal l be published from time to time.\n\nNo Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them\, shall\, without the Consent of the Congress\, accept of any present\, Emolument\, Office\, or Title\, of any kind whatever\, from any King\, Prince\, or foreign State.\n\nSection. 10.\nNo State shall enter in to any Treaty\, Alliance\, or Confederation\; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal\; coin Money\; emit Bills of Credit\; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts\; pass any Bill of Attainder\, e x post facto Law\, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts\, or grant any Title of Nobility.\n\nNo State shall\, without the Consent of the Con gress\, lay any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports\, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing it's inspection Laws: and the net Pr oduce of all Duties and Imposts\, laid by any State on Imports or Exports\ , shall be for the Use of the Treasury of the United States\; and all such Laws shall be subject to the Revision and Controul of the Congress.\n\nNo State shall\, without the Consent of Congress\, lay any Duty of Tonnage\, keep Troops\, or Ships of War in time of Peace\, enter into any Agreement or Compact with another State\, or with a foreign Power\, or engage in Wa r\, unless actually invaded\, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay.\n\nArticle. II.\nSection. 1.\nThe executive Power shall be vest ed in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Offic e during the Term of four Years\, and\, together with the Vice President\, chosen for the same Term\, be elected\, as follows\n\nEach State shall ap point\, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct\, a Number of Electors\, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to w hich the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Represen tative\, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United S tates\, shall be appointed an Elector.\n\nThe Electors shall meet in their respective States\, and vote by Ballot for two Persons\, of whom one at l east shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves. And the y shall make a List of all the Persons voted for\, and of the Number of Vo tes for each\; which List they shall sign and certify\, and transmit seale d to the Seat of the Government of the United States\, directed to the Pre sident of the Senate. The President of the Senate shall\, in the Presence of the Senate and House of Representatives\, open all the Certificates\, a nd the Votes shall then be counted. The Person having the greatest Number of Votes shall be the President\, if such Number be a Majority of the whol e Number of Electors appointed\; and if there be more than one who have su ch Majority\, and have an equal Number of Votes\, then the House of Repres entatives shall immediately chuse by Ballot one of them for President\; an d if no Person have a Majority\, then from the five highest on the List th e said House shall in like Manner chuse the President. But in chusing the President\, the Votes shall be taken by States\, the Representation from e ach State having one Vote\; A quorum for this Purpose shall consist of a M ember or Members from two thirds of the States\, and a Majority of all the States shall be necessary to a Choice. In every Case\, after the Choice o f the President\, the Person having the greatest Number of Votes of the El ectors shall be the Vice President. But if there should remain two or more who have equal Votes\, the Senate shall chuse from them by Ballot the Vic e President.\n\nThe Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Elector s\, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes\; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.\n\nNo Person except a natural born Citizen\, or a Citizen of the United States\, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution\, shall be eligible to the Office of President\; neit her shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attaine d to the Age of thirty five Years\, and been fourteen Years a Resident wit hin the United States.\n\nIn Case of the Removal of the President from Off ice\, or of his Death\, Resignation\, or Inability to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office\, the Same shall devolve on the Vice Presid ent\, and the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal\, Death\ , Resignation or Inability\, both of the President and Vice President\, de claring what Officer shall then act as President\, and such Officer shall act accordingly\, until the Disability be removed\, or a President shall b e elected.\n\nThe President shall\, at stated Times\, receive for his Serv ices\, a Compensation\, which shall neither be encreased nor diminished du ring the Period for which he shall have been elected\, and he shall not re ceive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States\, or a ny of them.\n\nBefore he enter on the Execution of his Office\, he shall t ake the following Oath or Affirmation:—\"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United Stat es\, and will to the best of my Ability\, preserve\, protect and defend th e Constitution of the United States.\"\n\nSection. 2.\nThe President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States\, and of the Militia of the several States\, when called into the actual Service of the United States\; he may require the Opinion\, in writing\, of the prin cipal Officer in each of the executive Departments\, upon any Subject rela ting to the Duties of their respective Offices\, and he shall have Power t o grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States\, exc ept in Cases of Impeachment.\n\nHe shall have Power\, by and with the Advi ce and Consent of the Senate\, to make Treaties\, provided two thirds of t he Senators present concur\; and he shall nominate\, and by and with the A dvice and Consent of the Senate\, shall appoint Ambassadors\, other public Ministers and Consuls\, Judges of the supreme Court\, and all other Offic ers of the United States\, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise pro vided for\, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers\, as they think proper \, in the President alone\, in the Courts of Law\, or in the Heads of Depa rtments.\n\nThe President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that m ay happen during the Recess of the Senate\, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.\n\nSection. 3.\nHe shall fr om time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union \, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge ne cessary and expedient\; he may\, on extraordinary Occasions\, convene both Houses\, or either of them\, and in Case of Disagreement between them\, w ith Respect to the Time of Adjournment\, he may adjourn them to such Time as he shall think proper\; he shall receive Ambassadors and other public M inisters\; he shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed\, and s hall Commission all the Officers of the United States.\n\nSection. 4.\nThe President\, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States\, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for\, and Conviction of\, Trea son\, Bribery\, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.\n\nArticle. III.\nS ection. 1.\nThe judicial Power of the United States\, shall be vested in o ne supreme Court\, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from ti me to time ordain and establish. The Judges\, both of the supreme and infe rior Courts\, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour\, and shall\, at stated Times\, receive for their Services\, a Compensation\, which sha ll not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.\n\nSection. 2.\nT he judicial Power shall extend to all Cases\, in Law and Equity\, arising under this Constitution\, the Laws of the United States\, and Treaties mad e\, or which shall be made\, under their Authority\;—to all Cases affect ing Ambassadors\, other public Ministers and Consuls\;—to all Cases of a dmiralty and maritime Jurisdiction\;—to Controversies to which the Unite d States shall be a Party\;—to Controversies between two or more State s\;— between a State and Citizens of another State\,—between Citizens of different States\,—between Citizens of the same State claiming Lands under Grants of different States\, and between a State\, or the Citizens t hereof\, and foreign States\, Citizens or Subjects.\n\nIn all Cases affect ing Ambassadors\, other public Ministers and Consuls\, and those in which a State shall be Party\, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdictio n. In all the other Cases before mentioned\, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction\, both as to Law and Fact\, with such Exceptions\, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.\n\nThe Trial of all Crimes\, except in Cases of Impeachment\, shall be by Jury\; and such Tri al shall be held in the State where the said Crimes shall have been commit ted\; but when not committed within any State\, the Trial shall be at such Place or Places as the Congress may by Law have directed.\n\nSection. 3.\ nTreason against the United States\, shall consist only in levying War aga inst them\, or in adhering to their Enemies\, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Wi tnesses to the same overt Act\, or on Confession in open Court.\n\nThe Con gress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason\, but no Attai nder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood\, or Forfeiture except duri ng the Life of the Person attainted.\n\nArticle. IV.\nSection. 1.\nFull Fa ith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts\, Records\, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by ge neral Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts\, Records and Proceedin gs shall be proved\, and the Effect thereof.\n\nSection. 2.\nThe Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citize ns in the several States.\n\nA Person charged in any State with Treason\, Felony\, or other Crime\, who shall flee from Justice\, and be found in an other State\, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled\, be delivered up\, to be removed to the State having Juris diction of the Crime.\n\nNo Person held to Service or Labour in one State\ , under the Laws thereof\, escaping into another\, shall\, in Consequence of any Law or Regulation therein\, be discharged from such Service or Labo ur\, but shall be delivered up on Claim of the Party to whom such Service or Labour may be due.\n\nSection. 3.\nNew States may be admitted by the Co ngress into this Union\; but no new State shall be formed or erected withi n the Jurisdiction of any other State\; nor any State be formed by the Jun ction of two or more States\, or Parts of States\, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.\n\nTh e Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and R egulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the Uni ted States\; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States\, or of any particular State.\n\ nSection. 4.\nThe United States shall guarantee to every State in this Uni on a Republican Form of Government\, and shall protect each of them agains t Invasion\; and on Application of the Legislature\, or of the Executive ( when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.\n\nArt icle. V.\nThe Congress\, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary\, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution\, or\, on the Ap plication of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States\, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments\, which\, in either Case\, shal l be valid to all Intents and Purposes\, as Part of this Constitution\, wh en ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States\, o r by Conventions in three fourths thereof\, as the one or the other Mode o f Ratification may be proposed by the Congress\; Provided that no Amendmen t which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Sect ion of the first Article\; and that no State\, without its Consent\, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.\n\nArticle. VI.\nAll Deb ts contracted and Engagements entered into\, before the Adoption of this C onstitution\, shall be as valid against the United States under this Const itution\, as under the Confederation.\n\nThis Constitution\, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof\; and all Tr eaties made\, or which shall be made\, under the Authority of the United S tates\, shall be the supreme Law of the Land\; and the Judges in every Sta te shall be bound thereby\, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any S tate to the Contrary notwithstanding.\n\nThe Senators and Representatives before mentioned\, and the Members of the several State Legislatures\, and all executive and judicial Officers\, both of the United States and of th e several States\, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation\, to support this Constitution\; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualific ation to any Office or public Trust under the United States.\n\nArticle. V II.\nThe Ratification of the Conventions of nine States\, shall be suffici ent for the Establishment of this Constitution between the States so ratif ying the Same.\n\nThe Word\, \"the\,\" being interlined between the sevent h and eighth Lines of the first Page\, The Word \"Thirty\" being partly wr itten on an Erazure in the fifteenth Line of the first Page\, The Words \" is tried\" being interlined between the thirty second and thirty third Lin es of the first Page and the Word \"the\" being interlined between the for ty third and forty fourth Lines of the second Page.\n\nAttest William Jack son Secretary\n\ndone in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thou sand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independance of the United States of America the Twelfth In witness whereof We have hereunto subscrib ed our Names\,\n\nG°. Washington\nPresidt and deputy from Virginia\n\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL\n\n\n\n https://www.archives.gov/founding-do cs/constitution-transcript\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251116 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 24 10/23/2025 DTSTAMP:20251023T233123Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:563-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n One is financially wealthy\, always growing fi scal wealth based on arithmetic manipulation plus flexibility supported by the most powerful military in humanity \, but also always needing bailout s. Always too big too fail\, even though it fails a lot. \n\n\n\n The oth er is losing jobs\, losing investment\,has a balooning populace. But hasn' t led to riots\, it is holding on to hope. \n\n\n\n NYC is clearly showin g this. \n\n\n\n Eric Adams a few years ago stated New York City has a bu stling economy\, job growth is unlike ever before. But\, this article admi ts that for ten years in a row\, over one hundred thousand children in New York City were homeless. Now\, out of ten million\, one hundred thousand is one percent. One percent of the cities populace is homeless. That isn't anything to cry doom for\, but every member of said one percent has paren ts who are not financially able to provide better\, which means three perc ent. Again\, no need to cry doom but if the labor market in New York City is so vibrant\, then get the parents of the homeless children jobs. But he re likes the worse part. I know many in New York City who have what will b e called good jobs and they are moving into places because of lotteries. E very single person that gets a lottery can't afford to live in that place on their own financial footing. Then you add adults living with older adul ts\, parents/uncles/et cetera. What is the point? The strategy of building new buildings has never lowered the rent. Freezing the rent doesn't lower the rent. \nMamdani who has the lead to be next mayor of New York City + Cuomo or Sliwa trailing him \, don't have a financial plan that is viable . \nI repeat\, none of the current candidates for the mayor of NYC have a financial plan that is viable for New York City. So whomever wins will on ly be adding on to more financial chaos in New York City. \nIn defense th is was not built today\, it was built in the 1970s. I repeat in the Econom ic Corner\, the following industries in the USA from the 1970s to 2025 com pletely failed at least once\, ledgers were blood red at least once\,  bu t not one of these industries at any time went through the proper financia l result of industrial failure\, which is liquidation and sale of all asse ts to cover debts and market vacuums to filled by others. \nBanking Indus try\nAutomotive Industry\nElectronics Industry\nReal Estate Industry\nDot Com Industry\nBitcoin Industry\nFilm Industry\n\nOffline or online I recal l so many times Black people told me \, concerning a failing or failed Bla ck owned business\, they have to get it together\, they got to learn how t o play the game. \nWhile whole white industries are failing multiple time s and getting friendly loans from the federal government. \nGoldman Sachs failed everybody. That company should be under. The White Jew failed. The Film industry failed\, this is why 20th century fox was bought by Disney while paramount side discovery side warner bros are all looking to be boug ht by a holding firm. That is called failure. \n\nNow some will suggest w hite financial failure is not black financial failure and I argue that get s to the center of my point. Black people in the USA are in an environment \, where we haven't enslaved other human beings or murdered other human be ings to create generational wealth. Black people in the USA are in an envi ronment were we are telling ourselves to have an inhuman financial ability while non Blacks are literally proving themselves to be terrible at busin ess throughout many sectors but have the saving grace of the federal gover nment to bail them out regardless of their financial quality. So then look ing at Black people in the USA who are homeless\, how should they look at the USA? at their situation in the USA? \n\nWhen your black neighbor/elde r who never had the money to financially support you is telling you about having improper work ethics and a lack of intellect \, the non blacks who were born in financial safety or better are destroying entire industries w ith the ultimate safety neck\, backed by the usa military. The word inequa l is not enough for this scaling variance. \n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n URL\n\n http s://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/education/2025/10/17/more-than-150-000-nyc-st udents-were-homeless-during-the-last-school-year\n\n\n\n More than 150\,00 0 NYC students were homeless during last school year\nBY Jillian Jorgensen New York City\nPUBLISHED 6:00 AM ET Oct. 20\, 2025\n\nMore than 154\,000 students were homeless at some point during the last school year\, continu ing a decade-long trend and amounting to one in seven public school studen ts.\n\n“This is the tenth year in a row where over 100\,000 kids were id entified as homeless last school year. This is the first year it was over 150\,000 students experiencing homelessness. These numbers obviously are v ery troubling\,” said Jennifer Pringle\, project director at Advocates f or Children\, which compiles the annual data.\n\nWhat You Need To Know\nFo r the 10th year\, more than 100\,000 students were homeless under the fede ral definition of the word last school year\n\nMore than 65\,000 students spent at least one night during the last school year in a city shelter\n\n Those students face barriers to getting an education\, including difficult y getting to school and high rates of chronic absenteeism\nAmong those stu dents:\n\n65\,000 spent time living in homeless shelters\n82\,000 were dou bled up — sharing someone else’s housing after losing their own \n7\, 000 were living in motels\, hotels or otherwise without stable housing\n “While the city continues to focus on addressing the affordability crisi s\, the homelessness crisis\, we can't lose sight of the educational needs of young people experiencing homelessness now\,” Pringle said.\n\nPring le says homeless students face significant barriers to having success in s chool\, and 67% of students in shelters are chronically absent.\n\n“That means that 67% of students living in shelters miss more than 10% of the s chool year. That is roughly a month of school\,” she said.\n\nStudents h ave a federal right to remain in their school when they become homeless\, which can help provide stability at a difficult time. But the city routine ly moves children into shelters far from their schools.\n\n“Forty percen t of families are placed in shelter in a different borough from where they go to school — not just neighborhood\, not community school district\, different borough. That poses all sorts of challenges for families\,” sh e said. “Long commutes\, meaning parents can't work. They can't look for permanent housing because they're busy spending their day\, taking their child back and forth to school.”\n\nStudents are entitled to transportat ion back to their old school\, but many wait weeks for the city to set up busing or endure long commutes to their old schools\, leading them to be l ate or absent. \n\n“We hear from families\, you know\, it's mid-October \, who are still waiting for a school bus\, still waiting\,” she said.\n \nPringle says the next mayor should make these students a priority.\n\n “This can't just be: ‘New York City Public Schools\, you figure it o ut.’ It needs to be a multi-agency approach\, all working together\, las er-focused on how can we ensure better supports for students experiencing homelessness.”\n\nAn education department spokeswoman pointed to efforts the city has made to better support these students\, including more than 350 dedicated staff for supporting students in temporary housing\, some ba sed in shelters. \n\n“Education is key to breaking the cycle of homeles sness\, and we will continue to strengthen our trauma-informed\, cross-age ncy and data-driven strategies to help students and families thrive\,” t he spokeswoman\, Chyann Tull\, said.\n\nA City Hall spokesman said Mayor E ric Adams has been clear that every child deserves a place to call home.\n \n“Through tailored support in our schools and innovative programs throu gh our city agencies\, we’re working every single day to address homeles sness and ensure our students have the resources they need to thrive\,” the spokesman said.\n\nThe Department of Homeless Services says it has bee n focusing on placing families closer to support systems\, and that the ci ty was able to increase the percentage of students currently living in she lters in their youngest child’s school borough to 81% in the last fiscal year.\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n From a parents mouth\n\n URL\n\n http s://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/education/2025/10/17/one-family-s-experience- navigating-public-school-while-homeless\n\n  \n\n\n\n One family's experi ence navigating public school while homeless\nBY Jillian Jorgensen New Yor k City\nPUBLISHED 8:00 PM ET Oct. 20\, 2025\n\nKezie Thomas knows what lif e is like for the 65\,000 students in city schools who lived in a homeless shelter at some point last year.\n\nShe watched her daughter live through it as they bounced around the shelter system.\n\n“My daughter was like\ , moved every semester\, and it's really messing up her\, you know? She's finding it hard to build relationships with friends\, you know. She's find ing it hard to focus. She is falling asleep because she's tired from the c ommute\, coming home at this hour. After six in the evening and waking up at five in the morning\,” she said.\n\nWhat You Need To Know\nKezie Thom as now has permanent housing — but when she was living in a shelter\, sh e often faced long commutes to her child's school\n\nWhen she was finally assigned a school bus\, the bus was often late or did not show up at all\n \nHer child struggled with the frequent moves — but is now doing much be tter attending a school close to her apartment\nLast school year\, 154\,00 0 students were homeless for at least a night. About 65\,000 students spen t some amount of time living in a city homeless shelter. Another 82\,000 w ere doubled up\, sharing someone else’s housing after losing their own. And 7\,000 were living in motels\, hotels\, or otherwise\, without stable housing.\n\nThomas and her family became homeless after a marketing busine ss she ran began to struggle a few years after the pandemic hit\, promptin g her first to crash with friends and family and ultimately enter shelter. \n\nThey were often placed in shelters far from her daughter’s school. T hat prompted Thomas to change her child’s school at least five times ove r the years she was in and out of shelter.\n\n“The final shelter that I stayed at before being placed in permanent housing\, it was like an hour a nd 15 minutes almost to get to her school. And that was a disaster\,” sh e said.\n\nAt first\, Thomas had to bring her older child to school via pu blic transit — with a baby in tow. \n\n“I'm doing my best to try to c ommute to get on the trains for this long hours\, raise up the stroller up and down the train\, some of the stations don't even have\, like\, you kn ow\, elevators\,” she said.\n\nEventually\, she was assigned a yellow sc hool bus to bring her to school. But that didn’t solve much.\n\n“There [were] many days that the school bus would not show up. They would not ev en let you know that they're not showing up\,” she said. “Then when I finally call into the company\, the bus company\, they will just take the — create the ticket number\, and they'll just do that over and over and over. And you really don't know if they're looking into the problem.”\n\ nNow\, she’s in permanent housing and moved her child one more time -- t o a school that’s just four minutes away.\n\n“She loves it. For the fi rst time in forever\, she says that she loves her friends\, she loves the teachers. She's doing well\,” Thomas said of her fifth-grader.\n\nShe sa ys her religious faith is what got her through her time in shelter. And no w\, she wants to advocate for other women in her position. She also wants the candidates running for mayor to understand what it’s like for famili es like hers — and to be accountable when the city's systems fail.\n\n “When it comes along electoral time\, you see the mayor\, the government \, everybody\, you know\, they’re campaigning\, ‘Vote for me. I'm goin g to do this\, I'm going to do that.' But as soon as that is over\, they c an't even be reached\,’” Thomas said. “These people don't even know what it feels like. I'm pretty sure they don't even know what it feels lik e.”\n\nShe described calling the bus company and getting nowhere.\n\n“ You just deal with whatever happened today\, and you just move on. And I t hink that is very unfair\,” she said. “The people that are in shelters \, most people think that homeless people are like\, you know\, bums or th ey don't have an education or they have nothing going for them. But that's not the case. Everybody hits a break in life\, you know\, and that's what happened. That's my story\, because I'm coming from a background of degre es and running a business and\, you know\, and it's a humbling moment and having to go through that. It taught me a lot\, and it just empowered me e ven more to educate my daughter.” \n\n\n\n\n Prior Edition\n\n\n\n http s://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/562-economic-corner-23/\n\n\n\n Economic Cor ner\n\n\n\n The Two Economies of the USA have a simple problem. \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11979-economiccorner024/\n\n\n \n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/562-economic-co rner-23-10232025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events /event/569-economic-corner-25/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARIES\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n COMMENTS\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   On 10/24/2025 at 1: 10 AM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing had it right in pr oselytizing that Black folks should not procreate or marry until they are at least 30 years old.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n have you or anyone else who foll ows Welsing asked her the following questions? \n\n\n\n 1) does she want the black dos population in the usa to get old and die? \n\n\n\n 2) does she prosyletize to non black dos woman\,including black recent immigrant w omen plus all non black women from wherever: who don't speak english in th e usa\, are not college educated\, on welfare \, are not thrity\, or have three or better children not to have children fr which NYC has millions?\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 10/24/2025 at 1:10 AM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I h ope that Black folks will find a way to build wealth despite the handicap of legacy of slavery over four centuries and obstacles built into the syst em of racism white supremacy.\n\n\n\n Black people in the usa have nonviol ently built wealth in the usa nonviolently having the legacy of enslavemen t + jim crow forcing most of said wealth to come through individual effort s. \n\n\n\n The question to you as I ask others in the this forum\, is wh at do you want from the black populace in the usa to be satisfied? I defin e satisified as a situation where you Profd no longer have a complain to t he black populace in the usa. I will ask the specific question at the end of my comment. \n\n\n\n I asked @Pioneer1 a while back\, what will it t ake for him to be satisfied\, meaning the same as you\, concerning the iss ue of illegalities\, for Pioneer continually suggest one instance of illeg ality from one individual in the black populace in the USA is too much and shows urgency. His answer was until the black populace commits no illegal ities he will have a complaint. \n\n\n\n Now Pioneer in my reading has ne ver displayed the same passion to non black or non black doser illegalitie s in the usa. His variance in approach suggest they are allowables or acce ptables to him. \n\n\n\n So Profd\, what will satisfy you financially con cerning the black populace or specifically\, the black dos populace in the usa? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Posted Sunday at 12:23 AM\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n \n well her death is convenient in that sense\, but glad she has those who still follow her thinking positively.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This is the econ omic corner\, build more isn't a goal. \n\n\n\n How many more Black busin esses do you want to see? The answer can't be infinite\, can't be everywhe re overwhelming\, the USA is not a black country nor are the nonblacks abs ent the means to harm/destroy black business. \n\n\n\n If you can't give a count\, what about a percentage? What percentage of business in the usa do you need Black business to increase as? What percentage of Black busine ss in the usa do you want to increase to? \n\n\n\n Present goals. \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n Posted Monday at 04:38 AM\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   On 10/ 26/2025 at 7:54 AM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Words of wisdom do not die.\n\n \n\n and lies tend to live at the fountain of youth\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n    On 10/26/2025 at 7:54 AM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Black financial institu tions can extend favorable lines of credit to Black start-up businesses in every major Black cities around the country. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Once su ccessful\, we can diversify into other types of businesses too i.e. invest ments.\n\n\n\n I see your goal now. At the moment\, in  2025 more black i nvestment firms exist than in decades past\, maybe in the history of the u sa \, or the european colonies preceding so from a mere growth perspective black owned financial instutitions are growing\, are greater in quantity now than ever before. \n\n\n\n So\, your goal is for the current growth o f black owned financial instutitions: investment firms\, credit unions\, b anks\, to expand ... at a rate never known in the history of the usa...\n\ n\n\n Ideally possible\, the problem with the expanse your speaking of is it needs something money can't buy. Belief\, Love ... in the usa. circa fi fty million black people in the usa today\, don't have a lot of inspiratio n. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  @Chevdove \n\n\n\n \n On 11/18 /2025 at 10:58 PM\, Chevdove said:\n \n\n \n \n our Black upper class s ectors are ignoring the poverty stricken Black population but all the whil e\, bragging about a good economy. \n \n \n\n\n\n they always have\, if you look at black people complaining about other black people it started i n the 1800s from the most well off black people complaining that black peo ple not well off had some erroneous behavior. This is why MLK jr for all o f his nonviolence\, for his nepobaby upbringing\, was never made head of t he southern black leadership conference\, because he comprehended that bla ck fiscal poor majority in the black populace in the usa have a financiall y inequal situation in the usa\, built over centuries\, that financially c an not be deemed irrelevant. People talk about money but then want to disr egard financial advantage whites have.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pr ofD\n\n\n\n \n On 11/18/2025 at 11:32 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Wh y should a homeless person want to bring a child into the world and not be ing able to provide for them?\n \n \n\n\n\n question\, do you think our e nslaved forebears should had children? based on your words\, they shouldn' t have wanted to bring children into this world far more than any other bl ack people. And I do think it is a convenience if you suggest they were no t able to choose to do so. My question is about their intent not ability.\ n\n\n\n \n On 11/19/2025 at 6:51 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n A world war won't be as many boots on the ground.  Drones and other hi-tech sh8t will be used to *fight*.\n \n \n\n\n\n no a war between usa and china wi ll have many boots on the ground\, many boots. Remember\, the wars the usa has fought since the end of the russian/usa armistice wars were never aga inst a nuclear power. this is why \, the usa will not put boots on the gro und for ukraine. it isn't because the usa can't but the inevitable clash o n the ground will swallow ukraine and lead to a true war\, not these larg skirmishes the usa has with iraq/afghanistan/kosovo and company\n\n\n\n \n On 11/19/2025 at 6:51 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Most Black folks work for white-owned companies and businesses.\n \n \n\n\n\n do you hones tly think the usa which has mostly white people in it\, will have most bla ck people not working for white firms\n\n\n\n \n On 11/20/2025 at 10:20 P M\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Power is acquired through various forms of war which according to NF Jr. is an area of human activity. \n \n \n\n\ n\n thank you for this quote. Pioneer at times speaks about black people w ith such a disdain\, it bends historical reality. If a homeless black chil d with only the clothes on their back reads pioneers words they will think they can walk into a town where no blacks exist\, or a town of mostly whi tes like nyc\,  and through their intelligence own every business \, own all the land\, in the town and non blacks will simply have succumbed to th e intellectual powers of themselves just some clearly brilliant strategy.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/20/2025 at 10:20 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \ n \n Those elders just worked hard to provide a better life for their o ffspring and figured a good education and job would make life easier for t hem. They meant well.\n \n \n\n\n\n thank you again. I have said it befor e\, Black History throughout humanity from the late 1400s to today is not simple. It isn't something for a financial ledger\, this is complicated. I t isn't failure and your wrong or failure and your stupid. I can speak for my bloodline and say\, I had multiple business owners in my bloodline and things were not and are not a simple matter of out chessing non blacks.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n \n On 11/19/2025 at 5:29 PM\, Pione er1 said:\n \n\n \n \n If we ARE smart enough\; then why haven't we?\n \n \n\n\n\n It is interesting you don't use the word powerful\, you use s mart\, like a chessboard game\, not power\, which is why Black descended o f enslaved are here. war is why\, war is about power. intelligence has val ue but it is a bloody mess.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/19/2025 at 5:59 P M\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n What is there to fear from someone you' re clearly superior in intelligence to?\n \n \n\n\n\n A bullet can come f rom anyone. What makes you think intelligence can stop a bullet from a foo l ?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/19/2025 at 9:32 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\ n \n \n Indians came way over from India and establish nearly a monopol y on 7/11s and motels...lol.\n \n \n\n\n\n 7/11 is a japanese firm\, it i sn't indian\, anyone can open up 7/11 s and from my eyes\, 7/11s aren't th e most popular convenience stores among black people. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/ 20/2025 at 9:53 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n But after the 60s when we had a LEGAL RIGHT to open up our own businesses and buy up property pr etty much anywhere we pleased.....\n \n \n\n\n\n did you know black peopl e in the usa were still enslaved to whites in the 1970s? Alice wasn't alon e. you make black history in the usa like a fantasy.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/20/ 2025 at 10:55 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n War is A way of establis hing power\, but not the only way.\n \n \n\n\n\n for the record\, war is the way whites europeans did it and it worked pretty well from them everyw here in humanity. Cause those other ways you talk about don't get the same results as war based on current human history. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n O n 11/20/2025 at 10:55 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n Many immigrant c ommunities have power in the United States and they didn't get it from war or mass violence.\n\n Jews and Asians didn't use war to gain the econom ic and political power they have in America.\n \n \n\n\n\n I know people in many non black immigrant communities. I have not heard them speak of th emselves as powerful. If anything I have heard of them pleading for whites to be nice to them. \n\n\n\n White jews are white people\, they do not c ount. They are part of the white collective that enslaved black people \, which is war.  White asians did use war\, Japan was the only non white eu ropean imperial power during the first two imperial white european wars ye s? china is a nuclear power\, the tides of immigration into the usa that o ccured after they became a nuclear power is based on that. India is a nucl ear power\, the indian government never signed the non proliferation treat y\, and their immigration into the usa has only strengthened since then.  \n\n\n\n Why do you think north korea/iran are doing it? why do you think israel already did it ? you think gaining a nuclear weapon isn't about war . And yes\, once a country has a nuclear weapon it changes the status of t hat country and their citizens all over the world. that is why Iran wants one so bad\, you would call iran stupid and they should focus on tricking the usa. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY COMMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD\n\n\n \n \n On 11/21/2025 at 11:39 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n However\, t hose who had a choice could have abstained from bringing children into suc h a world.\n \n \n\n\n\n Yeah and humanity couldn't exist today. The blun t truth is\, if every human being in a disfavorable situation chose to abs tain from procreation\, humanity wouldn't exist.\n\n\n\n I argue based on human history that the shouldn't have children if in disfavorable situatio n: enslaved/serf/refugee/or similar applies to most of the parents in huma n history so... it whlle I comprehend the logic you state which i heard ot her black people as well as non black people state before\, it is an unnat ural position based on human history.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 11:39 A M\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n A war between the US and China is unlikely in our lifetime.  I still believe such a war would be a hi-tech affair i f it comes to pass.  Not necessarily nuclear either.\n \n \n\n\n\n your correct\, no one knows the timing or the tools or the rules.  I gamble th e timing or tools or rules will be different. But... I think your rules ga mble is a better bet. usa/china at the moment is more likely to become ano ther global proxy war\, like USa/USSR where the pair use others to avoid a straight confrontation. That will definitely allow nuclear avoidance and keep their involvement a tool based on while as in the third white europea n imperial war\, most call the cold war\, the militaristically lesser coun tries involved take on huge  losses in lives that aren't touted as war lo sses between the two major powers\, though in function they are.\n\n\n\n \ n On 11/21/2025 at 11:39 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Interdependence does not absolve humans from personal responsibility and accountability.   As an adult\, we are expected to make rationale decisions.  Our surviv al is dependent upon it.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n Beyond the histori c and systemic issues\, a huge part of our dysfunction as Black folks lies in decision-making\; personal responsibility and accountability. \n \n\ n \n  \n \n\n \n As Black folks\, we cannot continue to do selfish \, reckless and/or unproductive sh8t and expect positive results.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n The reality is that nobody and nothing else is goin g to save or take care of Black folks.  We have to fend and fight for our selves.\n \n \n\n\n\n Have you checked out the american revolution series from PBS which I posted? \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/week/2025- 11-21/?id=7\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I ask because as like the vietnam war docum entary or the civil war documentary or the jews in the holocaust documenta ry. Burns team don't allow philosophy to go over truth. I even argue that from the declaration itselfpeople in the usa have tried to have philosophy go over truth. Not to undo truth or speak lies but the emphasis is a hope fulness.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n For me\, your opening statement in the phrase displays it fully.\n\n\n\n Interdependence does not absolve humans from pe rsonal responsibility and accountability... is a more elegant way of sayin g\, collectivism is not greater than individualism. \n\n\n\n And individu alism for me is the heart of statian/of the usa philosophy.\n\n\n\n When a black person says I got mine get yours\, that is individualism. It isn't suggesting a black person doesn't comprehend the collective situation but they are placing greater value in the individual power or role. \n\n\n\n When a black or non black person says slavery was legal\, that is individu alism. It isn't suggesting enslavement is good or positive  but whatever is under the law at a given moment allows an individuals passions or drive to act.\n\n\n\n When an immigrant today says I came to the USA to work\, that is individualism. It isn't suggesting they aren't breaking a law\, or are welcomed by the people in the usa or are faithful to the country they left\, it is saying that an individual actions are more important than a collectives laws[the laws in the usa ] \, average intent [the people in th e usa ]or average perspective[the people in the country they left]\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And the rest of your argument makes \,to me\, logical sense\, if you accept that initial point. \n\n\n\n The same goes to pioneer. Pion eers position starts with \, no black individual or group has any external reason in modernity/today to be hindered. Once you start there the rest o f pioneer's points make perfect sense. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And as I have said\, i think the black populace in the usa has always had this battle ov er collectivist and individualist\, lets be blunt\,\n\n\n\n the black peop le who fought for the creation of the usa were ardent individualist. from the over ninety percent of black people enslaved to the public proclamatio ns of non blacks fighting to cede from the english empire\, no collective reason exist to support the founding of the usa BUT an individualist reaso n does exist. The usa at its infancy stated to nonblacks\, specifically wh ites christian european males\, that they have an individual freedom no ma tter the collective situation and the blacks who supported the usa saw in that the potential for expansion to all individuals. \n\n\n\n the black p eople who fought against the creation of the usa were ardent collectivist. The number of black people that whites colonist stopped from joining the english is testament to that. It isn't that the english aren't enslavers o r like blacks\, but the collective good of black people in the english col onies which most black people knew would happen if england won and in para llel the collective horror of black people in the english colonies which m ost black people knew would happen if england lost was the reasoning. And i cheap hindsight the black people who fought against the creation of the usa were correct. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n As a historical note\, one thing th e documentary made me give greater value to is the variance of whites in t he english colonies. \n\n\n\n Quietly\, the english colonies were already not english. what do I mean? \n\n\n\n The english error was that\, they thought in terms of being english but the english colonies were already \" white\" not english or german or french or spanish or russian but \"white\ " . The english didn't comprehend the identity of the coloist wasn't engli shman with non english. it was in the modern vernacular\, white people. Ye s\, the wealthiest were english\, anglicans right. but the overall white p opulace was already not english\, and the proof today is most white americ ans are actually german americans not anglo americans. so yes english is t he language and anglophilia is strong but white culture in the usa isn't e nglish. \n\n\n\n And that is where the english empire made the mistake wh ich is why after the usa they ended enslavement and made the commonwealth culture\, which was designed to widen the identity of being english in the same way the usa was born with a \"white\" identity. \n\n\n\n The lesson is a mixed peoples culture even if you haven't labeled them is real once it manifest. \n\n\n\n I think in parallel\, the modern USA is going throu gh a similar reality. \n\n\n\n The immigrant populace of the usa today ha s become a multiracial body that is only human\, not white or black or chr istian or muslim or latino or anglo or sino ... they are only united in be ing human +individuals. \n\n\n\n The white populace of the usa can embrac e a white collectivism which includes today white women\, white asians\, w hite latinos\, white muslims\, which extends from the origin of the usa wh o believe in individualism\, but have a collective tinge based on phenotyp e. but said white populace is having a problem with the modern immigrant b lock  stemming from the immigration act of 1964  \, which includes white s/blacks/transgenders/females/old/chinese/arabs/nigerians/jamaicans/and al l\, who equally believe in individualism but embrace a human collectivism over any branch in humanity and that is being exposed in the presidencies or Schrumpt the mayoralty of Mamdani...\n\n\n\n But both of them represent growing factions that are willing to split over ideas. and that is where even hochul\, a woman\, shows the role of individuals or small groups in b etween the Old Wnite and the New Rainbow. I think DOSers and Indigenous pe ople are the two primary smaller groups \, not in the whites\, not in the modern immigrant. \n\n\n\n But as in the past\, need to make careful choi ces. In the past both of those groups went against the white colonist and supported the english which led to failure. \n\n\n\n I can't say whether it is wiser as a group to support the modern immigrants or white nationali sts \, I think some individuals in the Black Descended of enslaved have al ready decided who they will support in the coming internal war in these st atian lands\, however that war manifest. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 1:26 PM\, ProfD sai d:\n \n\n \n \n Exactly.  Cold wars and proxy wars between super power countries enable them to maintain the balance of power over the rest.\n \n \n\n\n\n Plus\, maintain themselves as they are limited in reach. the s o called cold war didn't happen because the usa + ussr wanted to maintain a balance of power over the rest\, it happened because the usa couldn't af ford to continue a war against an honest opponent\, the usa at the end of the second white imperial war\, world war 2\, were logistically at a limit and the ussr didn't have the nuclear option. IT wasn't strategic desire f rom either as much as logistical demand.\n\n\n\n My reason for suggesting a proxy war between china + the usa isn't that they will be in strategic l eague with each other which is your wordings allusion. \n\n\n\n Modern Ch ina was born from global imperialism\, people forget china at the time bef ore maos' ascendence had been dominated not just by White European powers but the usa + japan so many chinese and I Argue most view outsiders no mat ter who they are \, including fellow asians\, including fellow people not white european \, as untrustworthies based on their near\, 1900s \, histor y. China militaristically seems to be very wary of the kind of imperialism the usa has. They still know what full blown imperialism is and don't wan t it. They want resources but they don't want an alliance system that the european countries like to do. The chinese I argue are like a true nuclear powered japan. the japanese don't kill others in japan but they don't car e for others really\, they like visitors or tourists but not immigrants. C hina is the same\, they don't mind visitors at all but not immigrants. \n \n\n\n The USA has been looking for a replacement for the ussr since the e nd of the commonly called cold war. \n\n\n\n so \, between the USA's desi re and China's resource need alongside the chinese lack of global ambition s\,  I can see a proxy but it will not be as potent as against the ussr .  \n\n\n\n I argue the better bet for what the usa want which will serv e china better is a proxy war between the European Union and Russia. In th at way the usa + china can not be publicly labaled the active parties whil e fueling either side. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 1:26 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n To me\, it is not about placing higher value on individualism. \n \n \n\n\n\n So many black people in the usa talk ab out dubois when younger's double mind /perspective philosophy. but \, I ar gue\, black people do it to ourselves\, by how we speak. \n\n\n\n I do wi sh I comprehended why black people who clearly in their discourse favor in dividualism\, always say what I just quoted you as saying. \n\n\n\n why? I don't see any shame in individualism. I think of ida be wells\, harriet tubman\, FRederick douglass\, web dubois when younger\, booker t washingto n\, marcus garvey\, that period. So many in that period in their personal lives had an individualism\, but were so wary of saying to other black peo ple to just fend for themselves. I know many people in the black populace in the usa love the middle ground thinking. That is how many have tried to keep black homes alive when one son wants to go to harvard and the other son wants to kill whites. But\, I wish you would admit it is. It is the ne xt step. and I don't see any shame. Do I concur? no. But\, I comprehend yo ur individualism. I do. But\, why try to suggest the village is more. I th ink that is where many black people go dysfunctional. Personal Accountabil ity\, yes\, but t has borders.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 1:2 6 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n A winning sports team is a collective o f gifted and/or talented individuals.  Everyone on the team has a persona l responsibility to train and prepare to be the very best.\n \n \n\n\n\n the one flaw in your analogy is any... most sports teams in modernity \, w hether winning or not\, are a collective of individuals who have willingly chosen to work together. That is a key difference. When you look at the b lack populace in NYC\, as the cheapest example I can give. yes\, the black populace in NYC is a collective\, yes the black populace in NYC is a coll ective of individuals BUT the black populace in NYC isn't a collective of individuals who chose to work together. some in that collective have chose n to work together. That is a huge element profd\,  that ruins your analo gy. This goes back to what I meant about the million man march. The millio n man march had a collective of black individuals WHO CHOSE to work/come t ogether. The million man march was the sports team\, not the black populac e in the USA.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And agan\, you mention music. Then you fu lly well know\, that a band is not just a collection of individuals\, they CHOOSE to be together. And what happens when one band member doesn't choo se to work together anymore\, regardless of the reason \, they leave the b and. You can not say blacks or non blacks choose to be together. collectiv es of individuals\, but they don't choose. when a black child is born\, ri ght now\, they are an individual in a black collective\, but they haven't chosen to work with anyone. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n You like many black peopl e give whites more credit than they deserve. Alot of circumstances\, and a lot more unadmitted luck\, are part of their journey\, like all human grou ps\, which I wish non white europeans would admit more in discourse . you make them too machiavellan\, that isn't them\, they wish it was them. Mayb e black people\, especially many or most in the usa\,  wish black people were that machiavellan\, but that never happens in reality. No group is ev er that organized\, not even the falsely praised by many white jew\, ala t heir history. \n\n\n\n The creation of the usa alone proves this. If Fran ce didn't get involved the way they did the usa never happens. And the usa didn't force france of that time to do anything. France made choices. Gov ernments do all the time\, and it always plays out someway. Look at Cuba.   Cuba should be looking like somalia. Yes\, Fidel made choices\, Cuban c itizens made choices. but the bay of pigs could had led to fidel being mur dered. Maybe an assasin could had killed fidel. Maybe a general could had played the benedict arnold. these little things are not just choices but l uck. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And thank you... thinking on our discourse I com prehend now why black people like you say what I quoted penultimately. But your wrong\, whites don't do individualism + collectivism together cohesi vely. No one does. That is why humanity is as  it is now. Most groups in humanity don't allow individualism thus people leave groups and come to th e one government that embraces individualism over collectivism\, the usa. But\, the usa as the white populace in it has always proven\, from the fou nding to the war between the states to modernity\, don't do collectivism w ell. Too many Black people give non blacks too much credit\, maybe cause o f envy or frustration at our situation or a mix of both. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n I argue kemet had the best collectivism\, thousands of years in a cont inual culture\,  but they had luck too\, the tools in humanity were not a s plentiful\, in parallel\, once the age of true rulers of the nile ended\ , conciding with the era of tools:) kemet was never the same. kemet requir ed a technological naivety that they saw end with the hellenistic age and the growing white european power which is all about tools use. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 a t 3:47 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n There is no shame in individualism .  The key is understanding how it can be beneficial to the collective.\n \n \n\n\n\n well all philosophies have a positive or negative element. I ndividualism at its core is anti collective. Collectivism at its core is a nti individual.  for me\, individualism doesn't have to be to the betterm ent of any collective in the same way collectivism doesn't have to allow f or individualism. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 3:47 PM\, Prof D said:\n \n\n \n \n A sports teams is a collective built on individual s who either work together or find something else to do.\n \n\n \n  \ n \n\n \n Same thing applies to your labeling of tribes which I interp ret to be a collective of like-minded individuals.  They each have a per sonal responsibility to carry their own weight within the tribe/collective .\n \n \n\n\n\n exactly\, the tribes within the black populace are made u p of individuals who choose to work together\, but not the black populace overall. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 3:47 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \ n The Million Man March was a moment in time back in 1995.  Black men f rom all over the US came together.  They did not leave Washington DC with a plan of action and milestones to be accomplished.\n \n \n\n\n\n no the y didn't nor did the people who organized the event who were mostly black want them too leave with a plan of action or milestone which is equally im portant. \n\n\n\n I will be blunt\, if I organize a gathering in NYC for black men to show solidarity\, a Black Man March\,  and the black men sho w up and show solidarity\, then after the event if the black men weren't g uided I will say online\, cable television\, whereever\, I am to blame. Ca use in my view\, I will be to blame. The black men did their part by comin g. It was up to me to organize\, not them. I called for the gathering\, bl ack men in nyc didn't. I did\, so I am accountable. I am responsible. They did all they had to do by coming and showing solidarity.\n\n\n\n \n On 1 1/21/2025 at 3:47 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n In a circular way\, I t hink we are getting to Black folks having a choice as individuals to formi ng collectives.\n \n \n\n\n\n all humans have that choice\, tribalism has no bounds\, ask latinos this past two years:)  they have been given a st atian lesson in assessing the true quality of your collective\, what tribe s truly exist and what individuals are looking out for themselves regardle ss of any group\, these past two years. I think it has stunned some:) but they are young\, it takes time to gain the experience of the native americ an or the Black DOSer.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 3:47 PM\, ProfD said:\ n \n\n \n \n IMO\, there is a level of coordination among white folks t hat enables them to maintain power over non-white folks.\n \n \n\n\n\n I think the coordination of white european wealthy has been supplanted by a level of coordination among the multiracial financially wealthy \, this is partly because of china but also the various 1%'s who exist in all countr ies or all minority populaces in countries\, like the DOS whose black weal thy are a clear example\,  including the haiti's of the world.  I will a rgue\, Schrumpft ascendecny is part of this. Whites\, especially fiscally poor whites\,  in the USA who were raised on a quality in white unity in usa realize its gone\, they want to get it back but history proves that wi ll fail. Said poor whites were so busy doing everything they could to harm black people in the 1900s\, making sure the civil rights act didn't benef it us with as many blockades or harms or similars  as possible that fisca lly rich whites found a new paradigm of multiracial fiscal wealthy unity\, wich is the basis of the global economy\, thus why schrumpft is trying to go to a one to one system which will force all the 1%'s in little countri es to change as they rely on the global system or protection and products.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 3:47 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n That's why Chinese and Russians haven't overthrown their leaders.\n \n \n\n\n\n Your wrong there my friend.\n\n\n\n Chinese people have no r eason to overthrow the chinese government\, not one reason. The chinese go vernment absent taking others people\, absent enslaving other people\, whi le making selfish individualist all over the world fiscally wealthy for re sources or trade deals\, is second only to the usa in the true militaristi c power field. China has a single party but that party is used to infighti ng. Whereas the donkeys or elephants are dysfunctional when they infight\, leading to no laws and a stuck government\, the wings of the dragon/the s ingle party\, fight each other but the winners dictate the policy. When yo u look at Mamdani's mayorality\, it reminds me of deng xioping \, when he came about he was from a wing of the chinese community party\, he side oth ers petitioned polled\, made allegiances with important members and he gai ned the lead role and the strategy changed. China's government is of its p eople\, it isn't in the way the usa likes\, it is another model\, but it i nvites activity and grassroots change\, just not the way the usa does it.  \n\n\n\n Russia I want to say is complicated.  PEople forget russia had two government systems before putin.\n\n\n\n 1. You had the gorbachev att empt\, which I need to study more\, to administratively go into a USa styl e fiscal capitalist system from the soviet USSR system but between preside nt Reagan and Bush and bad luck it fell apart. I am certain gorbachev was right\, he wasn't trying to continue the third white european imperial war commonly called the Cold War\, but he realized that many russians were lo oking for a hard move into fiscal capitalism and he comprehended the peopl e of russia weren't ready for that. Gorbachev allowed the breakup of the s oviet union with checkoslovakia/poland and others leaving. He helped germa ny reunite. But internally the oligarchs and others were hammering led by the usa who was probably looking for russia to lose its way completely.  The one thing Gorbachev needed was patience and no one had it. The funny t hing is 2013 most parts of the former soviet union said the dissolution wa s a bad thing:)  \n\n\n\n 2.  The oligarchal Yeltsin era... I always sa y\, one of the biggest problems with how people outside the usa view the u sa's financial success\, is most seem to always cut out the raw truths of the first people and the black dosers as mandatory elements of financial s uccess. Whites were able to kill people for land. that is a huge part of w ealth in the usa. Harvard and yale have nothing to do with that. enslaveme nt is a huge part of wealth in the usa. it isn't an accident that the usa founders enslaved others while fighting for their freedoms. Fiscal capital ism always requires losers\, auto losers\, a peoples who can be abused leg ally\, not large enough to overtake the majority but large enough to leech off of. The oligarchs came in and grabbed all the natural resources of ru ssia but they didn't have a first peoples\, they didn't have any enslaved populace\, so the fiscal capitalism had imbalance. they got their money bu t the russian majority wasn't prepared for the financial blowback and abse nt the very large welfare system of the soviets which made it where rent/f ood/electricity/schooling/healthcare was all taken care of for all. Now un der the oligarchs rents/food prices/healthcare costs\, everything became a bill\, a total opening up of russia as a marketplace\, and russia couldn' t find enough abusable people to make it work. Chechnya was an attempt but it wasn't enough of them for that\, and no new land was available. I neve r forget telling a russian in the new york city\, the problem with russian s and most idolizers of the usa is when they look at the usa they see the big buildings of downtown manhattan\, or the huge highway systems and forg et the many small towns near the mississippi river with no electricity or good running water\, they forget the native american reservations or appal achain poor whites who live near toxic or radioactive waste. The usa has n ever helped all in it\, it has always been a place where many are hurt in it\, but those who are doing well give it a pass casue the money is so goo d. The oligarchs didn't have a way to mirror the honest financial assessme nt of the usa and thus putin.\n\n\n\n 3. Yes putin has installed himself. but part of putin's strength is the failure of the prior two governments a nd the reality that russia in the soviet era had better services for the c ommon person in russia. So\, putin has that reality. Russians don't want t o go back to the oligarchs. they know what the fiscal rich running things is. They hate it. Putin recognizes he has to live long enough to make the change stick\,generational. the old soviet model russia doesn't have the r esources for\, he can't provide that level of welfare. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n So you say overthrow but into what\, you think the usa is a goal? the us a is the best country in the world if one is looking at individual success \, but collective success\, the usa is the worst in the world. Even whites themselves see this now. ala Schrumpt. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 3:47 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Surely\, those wh o favor individualism will form their own tribes and/or break off and move to a country like the US that embraces it.\n \n \n\n\n\n it is a rare i do it\, but I will defend the usa and say  there is only one usa. No othe r country/government has individualism like it\, all other countries/gvern ments are managed by a majority collective\, the usa is run by a union of individuals\, not all fiscally wealthy\, it may seem the same but it isn't . The union of individuals in the usa are not connected by money but by in dividualism\, an individualist ruleset. one rule is each individual in hum anity is welcome. another rule is any collective can be harmed for the sak e of an individual. it is the second rule that many don't want to admit to .  It is the black christian alone in the church who opposes the group of blacks trying to enact revenge\, it is the rich white man who leeches off of all others. It is the native american who joins the us military while their peers roam the usa as stateless. Individuals are the key\, the moder n immigrants are all people who left their larger populaces for their indi vidual benefit. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD\n \n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 5:53 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n My point was that in both China and Russia\, the people have no reason or desire t o overthrow or kick out their leaders because as a mostly homogeneous soci ety\, they are apparently fine with their governance.\n \n \n\n\n\n but a re they mostly homogenous? \n\n\n\n I have never lived in either country but I know Russia has gypsies/cossasks/turks/mongolians/chechyans/ and man y others not just the descendents of the rus or vandals. \n\n\n\n They ma y not be phenotpyically as variant but they are culturally variant.\n\n\n\ n China is mostly han chinese but. the ugyars the tibetans the various sou th east asian peoples whom the chinese government officially recognizes. M aybe phenotypically similar but are culturally variant.\n\n\n\n For me the reasons are not because either country is homogenous but that the governm ental reasons i stated\n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 5:53 PM\, ProfD said:\ n \n\n \n \n Therein lies the reason the US is considered the great exp eriment and a melting pot. \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n In its 250 yea rs of existence\, this patch quilt country consisting of people from all o ver the globe has become the most powerful nation on the planet.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n Seems far more people want to immigrate to the US ve rsus those who want to leave.😁😎\n \n \n\n\n\n haha you use sweet wo rds for the usa. I prefer the words the anamoly. and bent rainbow. If anyt hing what the usa is experiencing today/2025  is the first true melting. the usa before was merely a bent rainbow\, never really mixing but jumbled in.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n anyway:) \n\n\n\n Yes\, it has become the most po werful. Alot of that militaristic truth has little to do with its governme nt or its demographic composition and more to do with england's influence in the usa historically\, its geography which is underrated by many. the u sa borders two oceans\, that saved the usa from many conflicts when it did n't have the military to battle anyone. I will be blunt\, if the usa was c loser to england\, it doesn't cede. it is that simple. but barring all the luck and it had a lot. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Lastly... that has always bee n true\, remember\, the USA at the time of its founding while legally an e nglish domain\, was in truth\, a white european domain. White europeans no t just in england/but in france/spain/portugal/holland/germany/italy all s aw the usa as this mythic land \, a myth that non whites like yourself per petuate with your language. France/Portugal/Spain all had domains larger d omains but for them\, this was a pure money thing. take as much as you can \, put it on a boat and send it to europe. \n\n\n\n England\, the parent of the usa\, was the one who said lets let whole families of the criminal/ poor/wicked of england come to the english north american colonies and onc e said whites realized all you had to do was kill a native american commun ity and land is yours well... all of europe wanted it. and so all of europ es peasants came. \n\n\n\n When people like you say how so many come to t he usa and so few want to leave... as if the usa wasn't really a murdering violent land grab for whites from 1492 to the early 1900s. Hawaii was the last state and its indigenous were killed and their lands were taken. yea h\, people do love coming to the usa\, ask the native american\, they know all about it. And as for the non white europeans who have come more stron gly over the years\,well  traitors really. And humanity is always full of benedict arnolds. \n\n\n\n so yeah. as for leaving it. \n\n\n\n The onl y populace that in majority wanted to leave was Black DOSers and white peo ple wouldn't allow that until the day in which Black people just succumbed to white control. Remember Black people tried hard to leave the usa befor e the 1900s many times but white people were serious about us not leaving. so please remember\, your words make it seem... I admit as one who has tu tored black children I realize sadfully that many things black adults say when it comes to our populace are just not adequate for black children to read or hear because they are lies or unevens\, which really setup black c hildren to have to relearn later the truth and I despise that. \n\n\n\n W hen black people whose parents are business owners say they didn't know ce rtain things about the black populace in the usa\, I always think to mysel f\, the parents lied for a reason and when I think you and pioneer and oth ers in this forum in all earnest I comprehend why their parents sounded li ke you two. I get why. I oppose it and I am thankful my black parents rais ed me in a house of truth\, even if the truth isn't pleasant or convenient .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But yeah\, the usa is the king country today\, withou t question. And when the usa dies and it will die one day because all thin gs die\, there are no exemptions\, it will be remembered better than it de serves and the reason why is because what the future will focus on as the future usually does isn't the holistic truth\,[this si why people speak of rome the way they do\, empires are never remembered for their cruelty\, t heir deliverances of pain\, they are remembered all the positives they did which are small drops to the negatives they performed over whole peoples who are dead] it isn't the long history books written by the acolytes or d escendents or relations of Richard Murray \, no it will be the quaint stat ements\, the quaint positions. \n\n\n\n And I think the function of the u sa is good for all other countries. I call it fidel's law\, send the usa y our traitors\, your schemers\, your liars\, your beggars\, you murderers\, your filth. Send the usa all the Me-ist . It is better for communities to get rid of dangerous individualist. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMME NT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 7:45 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n In other words\, they would do th e VERY OPPOSITE of what Charlie Kirk did.\n \n \n\n\n\n was MLK  jr unin telligent? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 7:45 PM\, Pioneer1 sa id:\n \n\n \n \n You have HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of Black people still l egally enslaved in America's prison system.\n \n \n\n\n\n so if slavery n ever ended then why did you suggest some time in the 1960s was some turnin g point?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 7:45 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\ n \n\n \n \n Were the CONDITIONS the same as when the White Europeans w ent to war?\n \n \n\n\n\n yes \, war is always the same really. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 7:45 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n a sign of h umility and intelligence.\n\n They know who's buttering their bread in A merica and they're kissing to them.\n \n \n\n\n\n that's humility and int elligence to you\, ok:)\n\n\n\n \n On 11/21/2025 at 7:45 PM\, Pioneer1 sa id:\n \n\n \n \n How does any of this disprove or contend with anything I've said?\n \n \n\n\n\n to bad you don't compehend\, maybe one day you will\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @ProfD \n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/2025 at 11:16 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n We've had freedom of choice and agency over our bodies for a couple centuries.\n \n \n\n\n\ n that isn't true in the usa. 1980 was when slavery ended in the usa. it i sn't about the laws it is about the environment. The great tragedy of tuls a in my view is that black people living today will say the black people d uring tulsa's time were free\, but that is freedom? yeah start business\, go to college\, and at any moment the white populace could wipe you out an d every single municipal level from the federal government to tulsa city c ouncil would be in on the coverup. that's freedom? we weren't free in our choices. MLK said it best himself. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/202 5 at 11:16 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Even animals know how to preve nt their offspring from a life of of pain and/or suffering. \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n A mother will euthanize those incapable of surviving on their own. A father will do the same thing.\n \n \n\n\n\n what non human s are you referring to? nonhumans trust nature to do that. they don't do t hat. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/2025 at 11:45 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n \n \n \n Rhetorically\, I wonder what happened to any additional offspr ing and the parents.\n \n \n\n\n\n I know exactly what happened\, in one of my posts posted or one I have set up but haven't had time to share\, th e chinese government allowed the sale of the extra children illegally\, me aning illegal in chinese law like when the usa federal government allows i llegal immigration\,  through traffickers who made a fortunes selling chi nese kids to white people all over the world\, who were not orphans. \n\n \n\n The chinese government shut the majority of traffikers down\, using s ome of the biggest offenders as scapegoats\, ala madoff in the usa similar ly PLUS opening up the child allowance.  To me the traffikers made the mi stake of thinking this would last forever. that is a foolish hustle to thi nk will last forever. I know that in eastern europe the traffiking of blon des is big to all the rich asians who are looking for.. various things\, b ut they don't go too far\, or the governments will step in. The government s already know all the crimes but they all allow certain levels of all cri mes under a cap or within some limit. Some chinese traffikers got too gree dy\, were too confident governments wouldn't step in. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Chevdove \n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/2025 at 11:17 AM\, Chevdove said:\n \n\n \n \n You are not the only Black American that thinks in this way\, so collectively\, yes this kind of belief does hurt us\, imo.\n \n \n\n\n\n Well the issue is centrism. Many\, not most\, black people want to be cen trists. It is the old adage\, I married a white woman\, went to harvard\, live in the hamptons\, but I am blacker than black still. Many Black peopl e in the usa\, and definitely descended of enslaved fear the internal sham e\, not external\,  of being a white agent.  \n\n\n\n The slave revolts prove\, most black people have a distrust of black people who have a posi tive or more positive relationship with whites or the usa  but how else c an a black person succeed in the usa absent a positive relationship with t he usa or whites:) \n\n\n\n So\, it becomes an impossible task. But one m any black people venture to\, and thus modernity. \n\n\n\n As I have said in this forum many times\, most black people want black betterment but th e problem is the intricacies of how said black betterment is defined. As f rederick Douglas said\, \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Profd + Pioneer say today. It isn't a new thing. The problem is\, nonblack peoples actions have alway s made it very challenging for a majority of blacks to trust nonblacks or the usa. And absent trust to non blacks or the usa\, a black person tryin the middle will never be trusted by most blacks. \n\n\n\n This is why I t ry to emphasize black people in tribes do more in those tribes. Cause most in any tribe are similar thinking so the trust is there. If a black athei st goes to a black church it will be very hard to regale on anything. \n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/2025 at 1:2 6 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n As it relates to procreation\, it has b een over 200 years since Black folks were forced to breed to children.\n \n \n\n\n\n but black people were enslaved to whites outside the incarcera tion system in the 1970s\, they were forced to breed... ok\, you can argue it was illegal by whites at that time but it was happening\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n \n On 11/23/2025 at 1:26 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Among cert ain animals\, after giving birth\, the mother will look over her offspring . If she deems that it is incapable of survival\, she will euthanize it.\n \n \n\n\n\n which ones\, i want to know\, please educate\, cause i don't recall any that do that. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/23/2025 at 1:26 PM\, ProfD s aid:\n \n\n \n \n Right. If/when I'm in a church or religious setting f or whatever reason\, I don't offer anything. Now\, if they ask what I thin k...it's on and popping.🤣😎\n \n \n\n\n\n hahaha part of  me will l ike to see that scenario\, from a distance:)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\ n\n\n\n I love that you quoted an incomplete statement:) convenient\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n @ProfD Alice was in the 1960s. By her own ad mittance she wasn't alone. The white man who owned her wasn't the only whi te person acting just like he was. She admitted children and adults were p art of the group of enslaved blacks. \n\n\n\n I don't have photographs or listings to prove. I don't have and will more than likely never have ledg er-man what you need to prove the obvious truth. I wish I did have photogr aphs. I don't have the money to perform investigative reporting for all th e incidents of slavery in the usa after the civil rights act of 1963\, for whichever ones records haven't been completely destroyed by now. Hell\, e veryone in New York city knows some white jewish women are enslaved to the ir husbands in 2025. \n\n\n\n When that latino guy could have three women in a basement and a child that was born from one of his rapes \, be disco vered circa 2010 or something by the merest chance\, not law enforcement w ork. I know\, absent any proof\,  post Alice in the 1970s other black peo ple were enslaved. I trust the genocide of the usa. I trust the enslavemen t of the usa. I trust the legal criminality of the usa. I trust the paper trail protecting of crimes of the usa. I trust the true nature of the usa.  \n\n\n\n So to your question\, I can provide nothing. Your 100% correct. And as said elsewhere our experiences give us different perspectives. \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n 24 min utes ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n 1) how they got away with it\n \n \n\n\n\n You know part of how already. The full how requires details \, in this case more than likely very lost\, even though cases like this have s ome pattern. Alice's case at the least explains what you already know in p art.\n\n\n\n USA is a very large country geographically\, a person with la nd in a remote place that does enough to sate the taxation or real estate bureaucracy will not be bothered by other municipal agencies unless someth ing like a highway or big project involves said land. Again\, Castro prove s how very possible this is in 1970s. He kidnapped white women in 2003 to 2004 and kept them till 2014. that is ten years. And these are women who a re not born enslaved. And the only reason he got caught was he made a mist ake of leaving his door open and it wasn't a test but he forgot and then o ne went to neighbors with her daughter she had in captivity. Which means t hat white girl was born enslaved like Alice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wik i/Ariel_Castro_kidnappings  In the 1970s NYC had a famous couple of rich white guys who were recluse. Their financial situation was settled so the y just lived in a mansion. No one bothered them. The government knew throu gh taxes or et cetera they were there but if they had a child in that hous e\, who would know? Unless someone saw them take a child in and report it \, who would know in the 1970s? Today in 2025 I argue it is significantly harder to live unseen so to speak but in 1970s. And I will add\, if a whit e man had a black family and killed them 1975\, who would know? He could b ury the bodies\, countryside will swallow them. He could get old and die a nd no one will know. If the blacks were born enslaved like Alice\, no miss ing persons. Law enforcement will not suspect or bother a white man in the countryside\, unless said white man abducts someone or government needs t he land.  \n\n\n\n Enslaved black people \, born enslaved\, can't read o r write\, Alice couldn't. All the other black people around her were simil ar. These weren't black people who were working in a mill or going home fr om working at a hospital and grabbed and became this\, these black people were always enslaved. That is born enslaved which means some poor black wo man had a baby enslaved circa 1940s while black people are fighting for th e USA during the commonly called world war 2. Alice had to have a mother. If a house is remote enough\, a car/boat/train may be heard but not seen. 1970s air travel was far from what it is today. What would enslaved people think an airplane is? If their white master calls it the devil or an ange l\, how could they prove otherwise\, since they are enslaved. \n\n\n\n Th e power of people in the usa naysaying or covering negativities concerning the usa aside no proof that can dispel their position. In my life\, many Blacks + nonblacks in the usa have one thing in common. They are excusers for the usa and can do it cause so many of their positions have no proof at least easily available. In the vietnam war documentary\, soldiers at vi etnam admitted they saw fingers of people worn as necklaces\, were fired u pon by usa air force. Did many missions in cambodia which was supposed to not happen. Saw tons of very negative acts committed to unarmed people. Bu t\, no photos\, no transcripts. A soldier in that same documentary said he saw no criminal behavior whatsoever from us soldiers. Of course\, no one has proof that can dispute him so... To this day in NYC\, some people blac k + nonblack still say Black people burned the bronx\, which is a 100% lie . I happen to know for sure that people in the street knew it was whites\, I argue white jews since they owned the buildings and reaped the money fr om insurance. Today most accept it was whites but no proof exist. And many black people in NYC in the 1970s literally believed black people burned t heir own buildings they lived in\, all based on news reporting which itsel f was based on rigged phone calls or just general negative bias or some ag enda. But no proof to anything so... I remember when I told people black t owns in the 2000s had no running water. And many didn't believe cause it w as just me talking. Showed articles then belief. But to be blunt\, the art icles didn't have photographs. I bet many people think twenty five years l ater\, no black town like that exist in the usa. they need proof again. An d that maintains the cycle of naysaying usa's negativities.\n\n\n\n You kn ow how. Everybody black in the usa in their minds\, where the truth may be covered but never dead or nonexistent\,  know how. It isn't a pretty tal e.  Obama was born 1961 which means the real life Black woman Alice is ba sed on was enslaved when Obama future president of the USA was born. Alice was enslaved during the time of the march on washington. MLK jr was plead ing for all in the USA to judge by content of character not color of skin while a white man was daily raping a black woman whom was born enslaved.  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251023 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Jimmy Cliff born 1944 DTSTAMP:20251125T045627Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:602-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Love Jimmy Cliff\, did it all. stayed jamaican.. black st ar:) \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n Reggae Night\n\n written by La T oya Jackson+ Amir Bayyan\n\n Lyrics\n\n\n\n Yeah\, man\, Reggae night\nYou live and you love\nSo turn on your light\nMake it shine bright\nNow liste n to this\nJam it\nReggae night\nWe come together when the feeling's right \nReggae night\nAnd we'll be jamming till the morning light\nMmm\, hmm\, o h\, oh\nPenny Reel just called\nGot to get my things\, got to catch this r ide\nGot to look my best\nCause I know they'll be mashing it up tonight\nM mm\, hmm\, oh\, oh\nReggae night\nWe come together when the feeling's righ t\nReggae night\nAnd we'll be jamming till the morning light\nMmm\, hmm\, oh\, oh\nYou will find it happens only once a year\nSo don't miss out on t his session here\, oh\nThere'll be people coming from the North and South and East and West\nSo you better look your best\, man\nNow lightning strik es at eight\nSo you better not be late\nFor this rub-a-dubbing\, rockin'\n Jammin'\, fun\, fun loving\, yeah\nReggae night\nWe come together when the feeling's right\nMmm\, hmm\, oh\, oh\nReggae night\nAnd we'll be jamming til the morning light\nYou will find it happens only once a year\nSo take advantage of this festive cheer\nMake we bring we family\nAnd let's tell s ome friends\nAnd everyone will have a jam\, jam session\nOoh\, yeah\nComin ' out\nRibbit\nVery nice style\nRam it\nOh ohoh\nReggae night\nOh ohoh\nRe ggae night\nOh ohoh\nReggae night\nOh ohoh\nReggae night\nOh ohoh\nReggae night\nOh ohoh\nKeep on rockin' down\nOh ohoh\nReggae night\nOh ohoh\nRegg ae night\nReggae night\nWe come together when the feeling's right\nMmm\, h mm\, oh\, oh\nReggae night\nAnd we'll be jamming till the morning light\nM mm\, hmm\, oh\, oh\nReggae night\nWe come together when the feeling's righ t\nMmm\, hmm\, oh\, oh\nReggae night\nAnd we'll be jamming till the mornin g light\nMmm\, hmm\, oh\, oh\nOh ohoh\nReggae night\nOh ohoh\nReggae night \nOh ohoh\nReggae night\nOh ohoh\nReggae night\nOh ohoh (Ram it\, jam it)\ nOh ohoh (Whoo\, yeah\, yeaht)\nOh ohoh (Hoo)\nOh ohoh (Yeah)...\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3Uh24QiJUI\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Sufferin in the land\n\n written by Jimmy Cliff\n\n Lyrics\n\n\n\n (Jimmy Cliff)\nDa-da-dai-dai\, da-da-dai\, da-da-dai ...\nS uffering in the land\nIt is plain to see we're in a terrible situation\nSu fferin' in the land\nNearly half of the world on the verge of starvation\n Sufferin' in the land\nAnd the children are crying for more education\nSuf ferin' in the land\nLet's singin'\nDa-da-dai-dai ...\nSuffering in the lan d\nThe rich get richer and the poor get poorer\nSufferin' in the land\nEve rything's gettin' higher and the time gettin' tougher\nSufferin' in the la nd\nThey're making guns and bombs to set the world on fire\nSufferin' in t he land\nI'm singin'\nDa-da-dai-dai ...\nSuffering in the land\, Lord\nDa- da-dai-dai ...\nSuffering in the land\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.you tube.com/watch?v=j1h6OR60dBk\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Many Rivers to Cros s\n\n written by Jimmy Cliff\n\n Lyrics\n\n\n\n Many rivers to cross\nBut I can't seem to find my way over\nWandering\, I am lost\nAs I travel along the white cliffs of Dover\nMany rivers to cross\nAnd it's only my will th at keeps me alive\nI've been licked\, washed up for years\nAnd I merely su rvive because of my pride\nBut the loneliness won't leave me alone\nIt's s uch a drag to be on your own\nMy woman left and she didn't say why\nWell\, I guess I have to try\nMany (many) rivers to cross (rivers to cross)\nBut just where to begin? I'm playing for time\nThere'll be times (many) I fin d myself (rivers to cross)\nThinking of committing some dreadful crime\nYe s\, I got many (many) rivers to cross (rivers to cross)\nBut I can't seem to find my way over\n(I've got) wandering\, I am lost (many rivers to cros s)\nAs I travel along the white cliffs of Dover\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https ://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjW5f7i5EwE\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n You Can Get It If You Really Want\n\n written by Jimmy Cliff\n\n Lyrics\ n\n\n\n You can get it if you really want\nYou can get it if you really wa nt\nYou can get it if you really want\nBut you must try\, try and try\nTry and try\nYou'll succeed at last\nHm-hm-mm\nLook here\nPersecution you mus t bear\nWin or lose\, you've got to get your share\nGot your mind set on a dream (oh)\nYou can get it\, though harder they seem now\nYou can get it if you really want\nYou can get it if you really want\nYou can get it if y ou really want\nBut you must try\, try and try\nTry and try\nYou'll succee d at last\nI know it\nListen\nRome was not built in a day\nOpposition will come your way\nBut the hotter the battle you see (oh-oh)\nIt's the sweete r the victory\, now\nYou can get it if you really want\nYou can get it if you really want\nYou can get it if you really want\nBut you must try\, try and try\nTry and try\nYou'll succeed at last\nYou can get it if you reall y want\nYou can get it if you really want\nYou can get it if you really wa nt\nBut you must try\, try and try\nTry and try\nYou'll succeed at last\n( You can get it if you really want) I know it\n(You can get it if you reall y want) don't I show it?\n(You can get it if you really want) so don't giv e up now\n(You can get it if you really want)\nKeep on trying\n\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg7qsW8qboE\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n The Harder They Come\n\n written by Jimmy Cliff\n\n Lyrics\n\n \n\n Well\, they tell me of a pie up in the sky\nWaiting for me when I die \nBut between the day you're born and when you die\nThey never seem to hea r even your cry\nSo as sure as the sun will shine\nI'm gonna get my share now\, what's mine\nAnd then the harder they come\nThe harder they fall\, o ne and all\nOoh\, the harder they come\nThe harder they fall\, one and all \nWell\, the oppressors are trying to keep me down\nTrying to drive me und erground\nAnd they think that they have got the battle won\nI say forgive them Lord\, they know not what they've done\n'Cause\, as sure as the sun w ill shine\nI'm gonna get my share now\, what's mine\nAnd then the harder t hey come\nThe harder they fall\, one and all\nOoh\, the harder they come\n Harder they fall\, one and all\nAnd I keep on fighting for the things I wa nt\nThough I know that when you're dead you can't\nBut I'd rather be a fre e man in my grave\nThan living as a puppet or a slave\nSo as sure as the s un will shine\nI'm gonna get my share now\, what's mine\nAnd then the hard er they come\nThe harder they fall\, one and all\nOoh\, the harder they co me\nHarder they fall\, one and all\nHey\, the harder they come\nThe harder they fall\, one and all\nHey\, the harder they come\nThe harder they fall \, one and all\nHey\, the harder they come\nThe harder they fall\, one and all\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vyoVstgJgE\n\n\ n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Wonderful World\, Beautiful People\n\n written by Ji mmy Cliff\n\n Lyrics\n\n\n\n Hey\, yeah\, wonderful world\, beautiful peop le\nYou and your girl\, things could be pretty\nBut underneath this\, ther e is a secret\nThat nobody can repeat\nTake a look at the world\nAnd the s tate that it's in today\nI am sure you'll agree\nWe all could make it a be tter way\nWith our love put together\nEverybody learn to love each other\n Instead of fussing and fighting\nCheating\, backbiting\nScandalizing and h ating\nBaby\, we could have a\nWonderful world\, beautiful people\nYou and your girl\, things could be pretty\nBut underneath this\, there is a secr et\nThat nobody can repeat\, yeah you know\nMan and woman\, girl and boy\n Let us try to give a helping hand\nThis I know and I'm sure\nThat with lov e we all could understand\nThis is our world\, can't you see?\nEverybody w ants to live and be free\nInstead of fussing and fighting\nCheating backbi ting\nScandalizing and hating\nYeah\, we could have a\nWonderful world\, b eautiful people\nYou and your girl\, things could be pretty\nBut underneat h this\, there is a secret\nThat nobody can repeat\nYeah\, yeah\, now\nTal king 'bout the\nWonderful world\, beautiful people\nYou and your girl (tak ing 'bout you)\, things could be pretty (taking 'bout me)\nWonderful world (taking 'bout me solely)\, beautiful people (apparently someday)\nWonderf ul world (we all could do)\, beautiful people (end with singing)\nWonderfu l world (have a little bit of now)\, beautiful people (do what you can)\nW onderful world (have a little bit of now)\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://you tu.be/zCJYl9Irayk?si=2HM0EF6e05Ww_fN6\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n THE HARD ER THEY COME\n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzCv8-AJywc\n\n\n\n \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Directed by Perry Henzell\nWritten by \nPerry Henzell\n Trevor D. Rhone\nProduced by \nPerry Henzell\nUncredited:\nChris Blackwell \nStarring Jimmy Cliff\nCinematography \nPeter Jessop\nDavid McDonald\nFra nklyn St. Juste\nEdited by \nReicland Anderson\nJohn Victor-Smith\nRichard White\nMusic by \nJimmy Cliff\nDesmond Dekker\nThe Slickers\nThe Maytals\ nProduction\ncompany \nInternational Films Inc.\nDistributed by New World Pictures\nRelease dates \n5 June 1972 (Kingston\, Jamaica)[1]\n1972 (VIFF) \n8 February 1973 (United States)\nRunning time 109 minutes[2]\nCountry Ja maica\nLanguages \nJamaican English\nJamaican Patois\nBudget J$400\,000[3] or $150\,000[4]\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n Jimmy Cliff was in a film called Club Pa radise 1986 directed by Harold Ramis aka Egon from Ghostbusters\n\n https: //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_Paradise\n\n\n\n Ramis said\, \"We thought Cl ub Paradise had a good chance at the box office. But we were the fourth Ca ribbean comedy out that year\, and none of them did any business. The cast ing ended up being diametrically opposed to what was intended. It was inte nded for Bill Murray and John Cleese\, with Bill as the laid-back guy and Cleese as the over-the-top guy\, and we ended up with Robin Williams and P eter O'Toole\, with O'Toole as the laid-back guy and Robin the over-the-to p guy. The polarities shifted\, and it was probably not as interesting or as solid as it might have been if Bill and Cleese were there.\"\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250730 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 27 11/12/2025 DTSTAMP:20251113T025535Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:586-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Economic Corner 27\n\n\n\n \n\n The New York City busines sman in SChrumpft\n\n\n\n The office of the president has a statistical ar m whose sole purpose is to keep the president \, whomever it is\, informed on the numbers. Now I have always said Schrumpft isn't elephant or donkey and this interview is the proof. He is an independent. Financially\, if S chrumpft is independent than both parties have misplayed him. The elephant s have been waiting on him to fall on his face\, but his original premise that he had in the elephant primary still holds true. In said primary he s aid\, everyone else is a liar and he will shake things up. He never promis ed to bring back the agrarian society or make job markets of gold. The don keys have been waiting on him to fold\, but they keep miscalculating they are the more engaged party when it comes to overall voting or multiracial participation so waiting for schrumpft to flinch or fall exposes the weakn ess in the donkeys collective which is its huge size. ala https://aalbc.c om/tc/events/event/584-the-shutdown-ends-potentially/  . \n\n Schrumpft has in his blurting way exposed problems in the USA that go to not only it s heritage but how its heritage is perceived\, by most. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n Points\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n Party of Governance\n \n \n He used the phrase \"The Republicans\" so Schrumpft didn't place himse lf with the republicans.\n \n \n \n \n The Elephants\n \n \n Sch rumpft is correct\, the Elephants have become like the Black One Percent o r the Black Self Haters and only have quality complaining about others but never themselves. Ala why Schrumpft is the only elected official in my li fetime I ever heard say the following truth: Black Elected Leaders failed the Black populace in the USA. Schrumpft was 100% correct\, I said it coun tless times. Black elected officials are full of shit. What Schrumpft didn 't say is the problem in the Black populace is\, the solution requires Bla ck people to pull away. Some suggest black elected officials need to be ta ken to task but the usa system has never had any elected official be contr olled by a voting mass\, that is a USA myth. The problem is the approach B lack people in the USA had since 1865 to the USA or the Non Blacks in it i s dysfunctional\n \n \n \n \n Labor Quality\n \n \n He said\, \" You don't\" concerning having talented people\,  he didn't say we but sai d you. As a black person who has heard or read many black person chagrin b lack people's education which I have always contested\, because education doesn't equal influence or power\, Schrumpft just outed the educational qu ality of the white populace in the usa. \n \n \n \n \n Being comforta ble living about others\, not liking others\, living about others. \n \n \n Schrumpft is no fan of non whites but he was raised in New York C ity and like anyone who was raised in NYC\, your relationship to integrati on is more complex than those raised outside NYC in the USA. Georgia made six hundred Koreans seem like a takeover and Schrumpft thought and thinks that is silly. NYC has over a million Asians and is still dominated by whi te Europeans. Why couldn't the white populace in the state of Georgia hand le six hundred Koreans. \n \n \n \n \n best fiscal point\n \n \n Schrumpft suggest people have been waiting on unemployment lines for fiv e years. Five years. The private sector in the USA is worthless. The priva te sector can talk about what it needs but when people have been on an une mployment line looking for paid labor and the firms of the usa can't provi de anything\, I think the private sector has to be looked at. \n \n \n \n\n\n\n I told people Schrumpft is not crazy... greedy\, crude\, full of biases\, liar\, wild gambler\, uncaring risk taker\, mob starter ... yeah to all of those\, but crazy\, no\, Craziness is a rarer commodity than mo st humans thinks\, disagreement/Discordia is not craziness.\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n The Incorrect Transcript\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n There is never going to be a country like what we have right now. The republicans have to talk about it Laura.\n \n \n Does that mean the h-1b visa thing will not be a big priority for your administration? If you want to raise wages for Ame rican workers \, you can't flood the country with tens of thousands or hun dreds of thousands of foreign workers\n \n \n I agree but we also have to bring in talent\n \n \n we have plenty of talented people\n \n \n no yo u don't\, no you don't\n \n \n we don't have talented people here\n \n \n No\, you don't have certain talents and people have to learn\, you can't take people off an employment line and say\, I am going to put you into a factory and we're gonna make missiles.\n \n \n Why didn't we ever do it before? When you and I were growing up.\n \n \n Let me give you an exampl e. In Georgia\, they waited cause they wanted illegal immigrants out. They had people from south korea that made batteries all their lives. Making b atteries isn't an easy thing\, it is very complicated\, it is very dangero us\, alot of explosions \, alot of problems. They had like 500 600 people\ , early stages. To make batteries and teach people how to do it. Well\, th ey wanted them to get out of the country. You are going to need that Laura . I know you and I disagree on this. You can't just say a country is comin g in and is going to invest ten billion dollars to build a plant and take people off an unemployment line who haven't worked in five years \, and th en they are going to start making missiles. It doesn't work that way\n \n\ n\n\n SOURCES\n\n\n\n https://x.com/AFpost/status/1988416554984497358\n\n\ n\n https://x.com/Acyn/status/1988407251078680651\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prior Edition\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/583-economic-corner-26/ \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n None\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n ht tps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/583-economic-corner-26-11082025/\n\n\n\n N EXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/600-economic-corner- 28-11232025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARIES\n\n\n\n CONTENT\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251112 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Islam and Christianity sitting in a Black tree DTSTAMP:20251123T173751Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:599-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n A question was raised about religion adherents of differe nt tribes in the village\, the following was my reply\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \ n\n hahah @Pioneer1 namaste:) never all:)\n\n\n\n In your experience it s eems black people who are \, what some call\, devout\, gardless to the rel igion they adhere to\, fit a lifestyle model you accept as positive. ok\n\ n\n\n At the end of the day with the tens of millions of black people in t he usa alone\, the experiences black people have with religions or the rel igious\, gardless of their adherences\, is a wide thing. IT isn't hard to find a black person whose had a very negative experience with someone who calls themselves devout. Now you can argue\, as you suggest in your commen t\, that the issue is who is devout who is in the spirit of a particular r eligion. But\, I will argue history proves that argument\, while honest\, one that only manifest as an unending rabbit hole in terms of results. \n \n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n The fiscally wealthy rarely have a personal adherenc e of zeal for any religion... while they use the communal influence or fin ancial halls of religious clerics and their places of worship to potent ef fects. The fiscally poor tend to have a personal adherence for a religion. .. while they rarely use the churchs halls or communal ability to improve their finances. \n\n\n\n Since you are a Statian I can see the logic of y our separation of church and state position to the religiously devout in t he black populace. \n\n\n\n But I don't think the answer needs to be exod uses from religion as much as changes into how the fiscal poor relate to r eligion. As any harlemite knows \, harlem is full of churches\, and every sunday all the black church members whose kin used to live in harlem and u sed church funds to aid their particular church group have a higher level of fiscal wealth\, ala the Black one percent. But\, the fiscal poor who wi ll chagrin speaking ill of god and use the churches midweek\, spend most o f their time laboring\, to make ends meet\, to buy food\, they don't use t he church for non spiritual affairs. \n\n\n\n The fiscal poor need to emb race the church as a place of commerce\, cause the fiscally wealthy arguab ly\, use the church too much as a place of commerce\, and yes I know jesus overthrew the money changers.. but\, anyway\n\n\n\n I end with\, as you a re also an individualist\, your solutions speak to that line of thinking. but as I am a communalist\, I have to say the clerics\, preachers/pastors/ imams are really most to blame over members of the flock\, cause they have the power and have a better crowd to influence their financial behavior o r how they live through various places of worship. \n\n\n\n And you have given me a good addiiton for an edition of the Economic Corner I am formul ating\, I have some others editions I have already written up completely b ut thank you.\n\n\n\n @harry brown the questions of who is worse among th e abused? who is worse among the inheritors of a negative culture? are val id for the history book but dysfunctional for getting results. \n\n\n\n T he question is\, how do religious populaces\, gardless to the religion \, improve their positive functionality internally plus externally? Specifica lly\, to the global black village how do the black populaces in what I wil l call the six religious zones\, improve: \n\n\n\n USa+Canada\n\n\n\n Sou th of the USA [Caribbean+Mexico+South America]\n\n\n\n Continent [ Africa] \n\n\n\n Asia [Iran to the Phillipines]\n\n\n\n Europe\n\n\n\n Australia+ Oceania\n\n\n\n Blacks in Australia+Oceania \, like the aborigine who are first peoples to australia while also black\, don't have a religious issue simply because the abuse they have survived and are still under is quite potent. In my eyes\, they are still in the enslaved phase of the Black his tory book.  PRe Slavery/Slavery[Complete and then Jim Crow]/Integration\ n\n\n\n The aborigine is in a Jim Crow phase. Yes\, they are not completel y enslaved but the shackles are there\, australia mocks the aborigine as a free peoples. \n\n\n\n Blacks in Asia \, like the habshi or kalo in indi a \, the negrito who are also first peoples of asia while also black\, the kokuchin in japan are in the jim crow phase. The problem with Black Asian s in Asia is that outside White European power\, they have to also deal wi th White Asian power so it is a double. Yes\, they are not completely shac kled in irons\, but they are in late 1800s jim crow\, which even by white european accounts was worse than complete enslavement. Yes even though sla very is illegal in jim crow [jim crow eras defining aspect]\, whites histo rically use legal means to make so many legal non physical shackles it is from a functional perspective harder. because while blacks can fight to il legalize slavery\, it is hard illegalizing negatively engineered fiscal en vironments. \n\n\n\n Blacks in Africa are in the jim crow phase\, the end of colonialization was the boundary in africa between the complete slaver y phase and the jim crow slavery phase. But like in asia\, Jim crow of afr ica is hard. Because yes\, black countries exist but their entire design i s a jim crow. And because of that\, and the fact that unlike in the other continents where an integration era will eventually come\, the next era af ter jim crow has to be a black power phase so it is very challenging to ge t from a jim crow country to a black power country.\n\n\n\n South of the U SA has a form of integration.  The legacy of the conquistador\, the east india company\, the caribbean black states\, is south of the USA historic ally has been better for blacks in terms of opportunity\, and arguably sti ll is. BUt\, south of the usa is very tied to the idea of clans\, lineages . I argue if a black person has money south of the usa they will deal with less restrictions than in the usa. But\, the black populace south of the USA never had the jim crow battle because they already had a form of the i ntegration so once complete enslavement ended they were into said form of integration.\n\n\n\n Europe never had a robust slavery phase. And because blacks are the most minor in Europe \, they have a form of integration. Th e problem in Europe is unlike the USA which allows for individualism to bi nd varying peoples\, European countries don't have that. And\, they are al so not in the same place culturally when it comes to multiracial situation s. so\, I argue europe is as good as it will get until the EU goes from an articles of confederation form to a constitution form. Right now the EU i s an articles of confederation style so they have a union without military bite and absent the desire to bond tighter\, and the USA doesn't help bec ause Europeans like history and they can see that the constitution dwindle d states cultures in the usa such that now\, whereas each state in the usa was supposed to be self sufficient\, they all are welfare states to the f ederal government in modernity so... \n\n\n\n The USA as First People lan ds before 1492 was pre slavery\, from 1492 to 1980 in which the usa went f rom white european colonies to indepenent white european colonies in a ega l union was the slavery era [ complete from 1492 to 1965 jim crow from 196 5 to 1980] and then integration which is the only phase in which the usa e xisted at the beginning is from 1980 to today. \n\n\n\n So\, what is my p oint? any slavery situation deletes the discussion between variants of bla ck christians because black people are enslaved. So\, of the six regions t hat leaves three. \n\n\n\n USA+Canada\n\n\n\n Europe\n\n\n\n South of the USA\n\n\n\n Now in those three regions where does religion sit? \n\n\n\n In South of the USA \, religion is powerful. Religious communities have r eal power. The separation of church and state does not exist\, don't let a nyone fool you. The zeal or fanatacism possible in South of the USA is the kind that burns the vestial virgins alive\, if you know your Roman imperi al history. So I will make south of the USA exempt from your argument\, no t cause black people are enslaved\, but because the potency of religion is too strong to treat like something that can be easily bent or allow for p eaceful discourse.\n\n\n\n In Europe\, the french would say the religion o f the state has replaced religions and this is  a parademographic truth. part demograph\, image of the people\, truth. what do i mean? The sad rea lity of religion in Europe is immigrants brought a fervor to religion that has hurt  the religion of the state. One of the most negative legacies or heritages of the white european imperial era which I argue we are at th e end of is the religiosity in humanity.  White european empires [muslim + christian] forced religion onto those they conquered \, used religion t o control those they conquered\, even before they conquered them or after they lost total control such that religion is embedded in many human popul aces. Such that when they immigrated to europe\,  they were never going to join the religion of the state. Now\, in time I think the religion of t he state will win out\, but it needs more time in europe. to that end\, bl acks in england and france whose bloodlines were before the second white e uropean imperial war commonly called world war 2  tended to mulatto them selves such that they are usually disconnected to the post world war 2 imm igrant populaces whose quantity allowed for a maintenance of phenotype. So in europe\, the equivalent to Black DOSers are smaller in quantity but al so have become a mulatto demographic. they are like the coloreds in south africa\, not white or black but at this time their own branch. So the reli gious of the modern black immigrants are only amongst themselves \, they d on't have descended of enslaved variant in Europe of any significant size. \n\n\n\n LAstly\, that leaves the USA:) \n\n\n\n So after eliminating thr ee because black people in said regions are still enslaved. One through th e religious environment not allowing for a religious tolerances. One throu gh the lack of a comparable Black Descended of Enslaved populace\, it leav es the USA+ Canada. In the USA + Canada who are worse adherents of religio n Black Descended of Enslaved of Black Modern Immigrants post 1965 ?\n\n\n \n Honestly I don't think either can stand on a hill above the other. But how can both improve \, I have some ideas. \n\n\n\n What they both have i n common is a big place in their community. \n\n\n\n The reality is the B lack 1% in the USA today are tied to churches. It isn't an accident that O bama was a member of a church in his rise. Nearly all Black DOSers or Blac k people with influence in the DOS part of the black populace in the usa h as some ties to a black church. \n\n\n\n The reality is the Black 1% in e ach country in Africa are tied to religious groups. Every knows if you wan t something done\, go to the religious groups in any African country and t hat will help gets things quicker than the fiscal marketplace. Build a chu rch\, build a mosque and the pastors or imams will find allies for your ca use through the bureaucracy of the country. \n\n\n\n It isn't an accident that Malcolm + MLK were never the leaders of the most prominent organizat ions representing their particular religious molds: the nation of islam + the southern black christian leadership conference. \n\n\n\n IT was becau se malcolm + MLK had a pan black view to the black populace even as men wh o were both preachers to a particular religion\, even though their backgro unds were quite varied. MAlcolm was the son of a Garveyite Christian Homes teader. The Black Homesteaders were about owning land\, but also isolation from whites. Not total separation but isolation\, they didn't trust integ rated communities\, and the Garveyites were the best black financial movem ent in Black history in the USA or the white european colonies that preced ed it. So Malcolm came from a pan black communal financial independence he ritage. The nation of islam was and is an isolationist religious group wit hin the black populace. If you are not a member of the nation of islam\, e ven while black\, the nation of islam probably will not help you. \n\n\n\ n MLK was a nepo baby\, the son of the son of a preacher\, the wealthiest black family in the local region. We blacks forget that the black church i n each black community in the the usa was usually the fiscal center or fis cal wealthiest. Adam Clayton Powell jr\, Abysinnian BAptist Church has the oldest Black money in harlem. Their eldership is a very powerful group. R emember the elders of the Abysinnian Baptist Church told Adam CLayton Powe ll jr who was the son of a preacher who was the son of a preacher at the s ame church that he had to stop his wife Hazel scott from touring and makin g more money than him and even though he was a member of the house of repr esentatives\, he did what they said and hael scott... battled but eventual ly gave in to the pressures. But MLK gardless of his background\, didn't e mbrace the bootstrap\, I got mine get yours\, blacks are hurting blacks mo re philosophies that many or most black pastors had and maybe still have t oday. \n\n\n\n Sequentially\, MAlcolm nor MLK were ever head of the most important organizations in guiding the larger religious communities they w ere the face of. \n\n\n\n So\, I see two issues with Black religious grou ps whether Descended of enslaved or modern immigrant in the USA. \n\n\n\n 1. They have to both be about Pan Black\, helping another black person ha s to not be contingent on them joining your church or mosque. ... I will e ven add the Black Jews as another who have a very proselytizing position. When you look at Historical Black Colleges\, or the financially wealthy bl ack churches it is clear\, they don't mind helping black as long as black is a member. That has to change\, and change from within... so... \n\n\n\ n 2. They have to also be brave. I haven't yet found the list of black chu rch leaders who voted on what the black church should emit to the larger b lack populace in the fist few years after the war between the states ended . I heard it was one vote that led to the black church going nonviolent\, but the historical value is clear regardless of the exact names of the peo ple or their scenarios. The stance to integration the black church had sin ce 1865 wasn't the most positive functional stance black people needed bef ore 1980. I argue the homesteaders strategy was the most positive function al stance for the black churches to take pre 1980\, but...I also know that Frederick Douglass \, Ida B Well and others weren't keen on homesteading. They wanted to integrate. and so it was an internal battle in the black p opulace and the black side that favored what was safer about whites won ov er the side that favored what was better for blacks. Nothing is easy\, it is cheap to judge from 2025 on 1865 so I will not suggest cowardice or the simplicity of hindsight on them. But\, the results are here.  The black places of worship have to be brave. And lets be blunt\, the history of th e USA proves\, many Blacks or non Blacks in the USA talk a big talk about adhering to the law \, and bootstraps until they are financially needy and then they show their true colors and kill and cheat and harm many others for their sole gain. And if they don't get caught and find financial footi ng go right back to their adhering to the law feces. Again\,  The black places of worship have to be brave.\n\n\n\n I never forget all sharpton sa ying that when he started his movement various black groups came about loo king to swing him their way\, he chose the nonviolent integration path thr ough influence from coretta scott king\, but to his credit he didn't say t he other paths were wrong\, he said he made a choice. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL to comment\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12056-african-christian s-african-american-christians/#findComment-77851\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251123 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 26 11/08/2025 DTSTAMP:20251108T220859Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:583-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Economic Corner 26\n\n\n\n Mamdani's affordability plans\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n After the Two thousand and twenty five New York City ma yoral election\, I suggested one idea for Mamdani\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My Pr eface\n\nI made a suggestion when Obama became president\, that he should had spent his time improving the efficiency of the federal bureaucracy\, a s president he could do that with no input from anyone else. PResidents ca n't control the economy of the world\, they can't protect peoples in state s\, they can't make laws that are everlasting. \n\nPresidents legal parame ters allow them to manipulate the executive branch bureaucracy\, and mold the war machine with no input from any other. \n\nThat didn't happen. Obam a meddled in finance and healthcare and made the bureaucracy worse and mad e the war machine worse.\n\nMy Idea for Mamdani\n\nThe mayor of NYC can't control or manipulate the price of food[private industry]. the cost of uti lities[private industry]. the global real estate industries interwoven sys tem[private industry]. the employers reaction to modern computing power[th at is private industry]\, get money to finance the city[that is the govern or]. The reality is the modern global fiscal capitalistic structure NYC wa s placed firmly in through decades of actions that can not be undone in fo ur years or eight years or twelve years. The mayor of NYC can improve the bureaucracy of NYC\, for example manipulating the NYPD into another organi zation. \n\nBut the mayor can also pass laws\, unlike the president who ha s been given legal powers by the congress. the mayor has the greater power in NYC\, and so to the affordability push\, I say make an affordability s cale law.\n\nWhat do I mean? \n\nButter cost eight dollars for four sticks . Which means two sticks cost four dollars. One stick costs two dollars. A half of a stick cost one dollar. \n\nBut most stores only sell packs of f our or two. So\, the affordability law is needed to get customers the abil ity to scale down what is sold to them. \n\nFor example\, for butter\, why can't customers have a half a stick of butter available for one dollar? L iterally have the stores\, the delis + supermarkets \, be within a legal r ight to sell goods when applicable in a more affordable way. \n\nThe mayor can't lower the cost of butter\, but in NYC with so many relying on EBT/S nap/Food pantries including federal workers who haven't been paid\, forcin g businesses to sell products more affordably i think is something he coul d had said he was going to do during the campaign. \n\nMaybe I am too seri ous or to honest\, but I have never comprehended why anyone in government in a post or applying for a post provides pie in the sky or hopes or possi bilities. All government post in human history have rules\, even kings or queens. The rules dictate what you can do. So\, just tell people with what you will be able to do in a position what you will do. \n\nWell that is i t\, my one idea to push. BAsed on Obama+AOC + Ohlan+.. Adams plus many oth ers\, the odds are mamdani's agenda will be nothing as I suggest. But\, I gave a functional idea. \n\n\n\n\n referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/e vents/event/578-nyc-election-day-2025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Mamdani seems de termined to implement city owned stores\, after my thoughts are a series o f articles with information or other opinions concerning the topic.\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The problem Mamdani's plan has is the one the Soviet Union had. The Soviet Union tried to convince a hum anity that had spent four hundred and fifty years watching white europeans exit europe and dominate all other human beings with a system of fiscal c apitalism making haves and have nots everywhere\, including in europe that sharing wealth is good\, fiscal equality is safe. But human history has t aught quite the opposite. Greed is good\, fiscal inequality is safe. Most in humanity speak french or english or spanish or arabic or portuguese not because the empires of france/england/spain/portugal/caliph were sharing peoples going throughout humanity making they neighbor better. It is becau se said empires\, murdered/killed/eliminated/enslaved all others to leech off of them\, so that the few at the top of each empire in their european country could live a life of luxury and guarantee said luxury to their chi ldren. The American Continent is the culmination of the fiscal capitalism of said empires \, including the caliphates\, with the USA as the crown je wel. A country started on fiscal capitalistic crimes and generating fiscal capitalistic crimes and welcoming fiscal capitalistic criminals every yea r of its existence. Based on 2025\, mission accomplished. \n\n\n\n Govern ment owned stores Mamdani likes because it disallows private industries gr eed or market manipulations if they are not greedy but merely adhere to ma rket flows from influencing the cost of items in a store into being unaffo rdable\, which is what is happening right now. \n\n\n\n But\, when the go vernment competes with the private sector it always has insurmountable adv antages and fiscal capitalistic owners react by deleting private owned sto res. But for the record the alternative some suggest will not work either. A walmart in a region in NYC will definitely kill the small grocers too. While fiscal capitalists are correct that government owned entities tax ad vantages or market exemptions are beyond most privately owned enterprises to handle\, said fiscal capitalist are incorrect to suggest a large public ly traded firm that owns a global chain of stores will not blow away small businesses. \n\n\n\n This is why I suggested a law. Get the deli/grocers /supermarkets to sell their goods in a leaner way. And you can use the six ty million as a tax balance for each store\, allowing the market time to a djust to the leaner way goods are sold in nyc to match the affordability n eeds. \n\n\n\n And part of Mamdani's support for his government owned sto res comes from the culture\, what is grown\, of socialism in New York City in modernity. Quietly in New York City you have a multiphenotypical \, mu ltiracial mulatto\, group of people who all look at socialism neutral to p ositive. And I comprehend the logic. Socialism says two things that the in dividualism in the places like NYC in the USA needs. One\, socialism says each individual is of equal value across all measures. Fiscal capitalism t reats each individual based on their wealth. Two\, socialism allows for id entity to be fluid\, the identity is human\, the religion of the state. Th e white european imperial heritage the usa and its european colonial prede cessors was founded on for all the legal changes from 1492 through 1776 to 2025 hasn't died and doesn't have space for the multiracial populace plac es like NYC in the USA has in it today. \n\n\n\n But Mamdani has to compr ehend a simple truth. \n\n\n\n While he had a huge multiracial voting mel ting pot of people under forty who embrace socialism\, he has to be very c areful how he implements it. Cause the USA is fully embedded into fiscal c apitalism\, not merely heritagewise\, what is carries\, but also in the la rger global financial context and NYC as the biggest city in the USA with any financial failure will be judged harshly by its peers in New York Stat e or elsewhere in NYC. \n\n\n\n I don't know whom he considers the best a nd the brightest\, cause anyone can fail anything \, even with a computers help\, but if he wants to do his stores\, and not a law which I suggested \, he has to figure out how to make a store compete while also boosting th e larger economy of stores? \n\n\n\n He has suggested his stores will not do lotto or liquor or other items and I think that is interesting. Basica lly he take the market that the stores are failing in and give them what t hey succeed in. Stores will have to get smaller and some will be eliminate d but not destroyed. It is rough but \, you only have four years and in tr uth\, only one year to do what you want so... \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Zohran Mamdani wants to build government supermarkets. America already has them\n \n By Nathaniel Meyersohn\, CNN\n\n Published 6:00 AM EDT\, Mon June 30\, 2025\n\n\n\n New York\nCNN\n — \nZohran Mamdani\, the favorite to become New York City’s next mayor after winning the Democratic primary\, has a contentious plan to create a network of city-owned grocery stores. But it ’s less radical than critics portray\, some food policy and grocery indu stry experts say.\n\nMamdani has proposed five municipally owned stores\, one in each New York City borough\, to offer groceries at lower prices to customers with limited access to supermarkets. In some New York City neigh borhoods\, more than 30% of people are food insecure.\n\nThe proposal has been blasted as a “‘Soviet’ style disaster-in-waiting\,” “fa rcical” and “economically delusional.” John Catsimatidis\, the owner of New York City-based supermarket chain Gristedes\, threatened to close stores if Mamdani is elected. (Catsimatidis is a two-time Republican candi date for mayor.)\n\nBut Mamdani is drawing on government-owned and subsidi zed models that already exist in the United States\, such as the Defense D epartment’s commissaries for military personnel\, public retail markets that lease space to farmers and chefs\, and city-owned stores in rural are as such as St. Paul\, Kansas. Atlanta is opening two municipal grocery sto res later this year after struggling to draw a private grocery chain. Madi son\, Wisconsin\, and rural Venice\, Illinois\, also plan to open municipa lly owned stores.\n\n“This is more common than people are aware of\,” said Nevin Cohen\, director of the City University of New York’s Urban F ood Policy Institute. “There’s a wide spectrum of food retail establis hments that could be created by or with the support of city government.” \n\nMamdani has not released all the details of his plan yet\, and it’s not clear what role New York City would play in the opening or operation o f grocery stores. Would it build stores? Lease them out to a private compa ny or a non-profit? Would the employees be on the city’s payroll?\n\nMam dani’s campaign did not respond to CNN’s requests for more details of the proposal.\n\nBut a government-owned supermarket “concept is sound” and can take a “variety of formats\,” Cohen said. “Rather than givi ng incentives to private supermarkets without the assurance of low prices\ , a city-focused program that puts affordability front and center is a bet ter approach.”\n\nYet municipal-owned stores have recently closed in sev eral towns\, such as in Baldwin\, Florida. Chicago also shifted its effort from building city-owned stores to a city-run public food market\, despit e a study showing stores were “necessary\, feasible and implementable. ” These cities’ struggles underscore the challenges of government step ping into the grocery business amid fierce resistance from the private sec tor.\n\nIndustry representatives say government-owned stores will compete with private businesses and unfairly disadvantage grocers\, local bodegas and other stores in New York. If government stores drive out other food re tailers\, it would also hurt the problem it’s trying to solve.\n\n“Thi s proposal seemingly could use taxes paid by business\, and use that money to compete against said business\, which is an alarming precedent to set\ ,” said Michael Durant\, the CEO of Food Industry Alliance\, a trade ass ociation.\n\n‘Policy experimentation’\nPrivately owned grocery stores already run on slim 1% to 3% margins\, according to industry estimates. Go vernment stores would be able to offer low-cost groceries because they wou ld not have to pay rent or property taxes\, according to Mamdani.\n\n“Th ey will buy and sell at wholesale prices\, centralize warehousing and dist ribution\, and partner with local neighborhoods on products and sourcing\, ” the campaign said on its website. Many companies already buy from whol esalers\, have centralized warehouses and partner with local communities\, however.\n\nHis proposal would cost $60 million\, Mamdani said in an inte rview on the podcast “Plain English” released last week. Mamdani argue d his proposal would be cheaper than an existing city program that provide s tax breaks and subsidies for supermarkets to open in underserved areas\, but does not include any requirements for food to be below certain prices .\n\nIn many cities\, grocers and other retailers governments recruited ha ve closed in low-income areas after their tax incentives expired or they s truggled to make a profit.\n\n“This is a proposal of reasonable policy e xperimentation\,” Mamdani said. “If it is not effective at a pilot lev el\, it does not deserve to be scaled up. But I believe it can be effectiv e. I think that there’s far more efficiency to be had in our public sect or.”\n\nAdvocates for independent grocers and small chains say that stro nger antitrust enforcement would be a better solution to help lower food p rices and spur competition.\n\nBut Errol Schweizer\, a veteran of the groc ery industry who publishes the newsletter “The Checkout Grocery Update ” and has written in support of a public grocery sector\, said Mamdani ’s proposal would address a failing in the market. Government-owned groc ery stores would not compete directly with bodegas and convenience stores\ , which typically do not sell fresh produce and meat.\n\n“New York has a great grocery sector\,” he said. “It could be a backstop for cash-str apped New Yorkers.”\n\nOther experts\, however\, say that for government stores in New York City to be successful\, they must draw from customers with a wider range of incomes. This would help them maintain broader polit ical support and offset bigger losses from lower-performing stores.\n\n“ A network of stores can be really effective if you’re placing them in di fferent areas. You’re creating a chain of stores to support one anothe r\,” said Erion Malasi\, the Illinois director of policy and advocacy at the non-profit Economic Security Project. He is working with Venice\, Ill inois\, a historically Black community that received a $2.4 million grant from the state to open a municipally owned store.\n\nPublic option for gro ceries\nRural areas have often been the site of government-owned grocery s tores in the past. It’s harder for sparsely populated towns to draw a pr ivate chain\, find a distributor to service the store and labor to operate it\, and have a large enough customer base to sustain it.\n\nBut more cit ies are trying to open stores in neighborhoods with limited access. Cities can leverage their scale to buy from suppliers and city-owned land.\n\nAt lanta recently approved $8.2 million in incentives to a small grocer to op erate two stores on city land in low-income\, predominantly Black neighbor hoods. Azalea Market is set to open this year and also offer cooking demon strations\, nutrition workshops and other resources for families.\n\nAtlan ta Mayor Andre Dickens told CNN that the city created tax incentives and l ow-cost land to draw national chains\, but it couldn’t find a taker.\n \n“We said that if they’re not going to help us build it\, we’ll bui ld it ourselves\,” he said.\n\nDickens believes government taking a role in offering affordable groceries is similar to investing in other public goods\, such as housing\, education and health care.\n\n“We should be in vesting in the public good\, from the urban farmer all the way to the inde pendent grocer. People need to eat.”\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n referral\n\n h ttps://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/06/30/business/zohran-mamdani-grocery-stores?u tm_source=chatgpt.com\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH)\n\n\n\n The Department of City Planning is proposing to upd ate and expand the FRESH food stores program\, which supports convenient\, accessible grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. The update would bring the FRESH program to more communities across the city\, among other changes to ensure FRESH stores are evenly distributed and financially viab le.\n\nUpdate: June 2025\nAs part of City of Yes for Families\, NYC is lau nching FRESH III\, an initiative to improve and expand the FRESH program t o bring fresh food to even more New Yorkers. If you are interested in lear ning more\, please contact FRESH_info@planning.nyc.gov\n\nOverview\nThe FR ESH food stores program supports convenient\, accessible grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. FRESH has brought healthy food options within walking distance of 1.2 million New Yorkers and counting since the program launched in 2009.\n\nWhat is FRESH?\nThe Food Retail Expansion to Support Health Program (FRESH) was created in 2009 in response to a citywide stud y\, Going to Market. This study highlighted the lack of neighborhood groce ry stores providing fresh food options in several New York City communitie s. Its goal is to encourage stores in these communities that provide a ful l range of grocery products including fresh meat\, fruit and vegetables.\n \nGet FRESH facts and figures in our February 2023 report here\n\nThe FRES H zoning incentives program gives property owners the right to construct s lightly larger buildings in mixed residential and commercial districts if they include a FRESH supermarket.\n\nA separate FRESH tax benefits program is administered by the NYC Economic Development Corporation. Read more ab out FRESH tax benefits here.\n\nGet Involved\nFRESH encourages partnership s with organizations that want to provide fresh food to their communities\ , including traditional grocery stores\, food co-ops\, food hubs\, pantrie s\, and others.\n\nCommunity advocates\, property owners\, supermarket ope rators\, and anyone interested in food equity can get in touch with FRESH_ Info@planning.nyc.gov to learn more about the FRESH zoning incentive progr am. For more information on the FRESH tax benefits program please complete this form.\n\n2021 FRESH Expansion\nFRESH eligibility expanded in Decembe r 2021 to encourage supermarkets in even more areas of New York City that are still underserved. Encouraging the development of full-sized supermark ets empowers consumers\, increases access\, and may provide additional foo d options through increased competition.\n\nSince 2009\, the FRESH zoning program has applied to:\n\nBronx Community Districts 1 through 7\nBrooklyn Community Districts 3\, 4\, 5\, 8\, 9\, 16 and 17\nManhattan Community Di stricts 9 through 12\nQueens Community Districts 12\nIn 2021 FRESH expande d to:\n\nBronx Community Districts 8 and 9\nBrooklyn Community Districts 1 \, 2\, 12 and 13\nQueens Community Districts 1\, 3\, 4 and 14\nStaten Isla nd Community District 1\n\nIMAGE LINKED BELOW\n\nThe expansion areas are b ased on City Planning’s Supermarket Needs Index\, which shows neighborho ods that are still underserved by high-quality grocery stores.\n\nNote: Th ese expansion areas applied only to the FRESH zoning incentives program. T he tax benefits program did not expand to the areas indicated above.\n\nPr event Clustering of FRESH Supermarkets\n\nSome communities have seen clust ering of FRESH supermarket applications\, which may exceed the intent of F RESH to fill gaps in the local grocery environment. This may make it diffi cult for stores to prosper. The FRESH update adds specific criteria an app licant must follow to create a new FRESH store near an existing location. These new criteria would limit the potential for oversaturation.\n\nChange s to Window Installation Requirements\n\nCurrently\, FRESH food stores are required to have windows on half of any wall that faces the street. This requirement\, however\, has proven to be impractical and difficult for exi sting buildings that are trying to renovate to be a FRESH supermarket.\n\n Therefore\, for renovations to an existing building to construct a FRESH s upermarket\, building owners will no longer have to replace existing walls with windows – removing a potentially expensive step in the process.\n\ nChanges to Parking Rules\n\nSince the FRESH update proposes to expand the program into more lower density residential zoning districts\, it is impo rtant to propose new rules that are appropriate for the characteristics of these neighborhoods.\n\nThe FRESH update provides a waiver from required parking for up to 10\,000 square feet of FRESH retail area in lower densit y residential districts.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n referral\n\n https://www.nyc .gov/content/planning/pages/our-work/plans/citywide/food-retail-expansion- support-health-fresh\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Foo d Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Access to affordable\, quality food is critical to building strong neighborhoods. Th e Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program brings healthy a nd affordable food options to communities by lowering the costs of owning\ , leasing\, developing\, and renovating supermarket retail space.\n\nSince launching in 2009\, 32 projects have received FRESH tax incentives across five boroughs. 30 projects have completed construction and are open to th e public. These supermarkets represent over 1.1 million square feet of new or renovated space\, an investment of $177 million private capital into N ew York City's economy\, and have created over 1\,400 new jobs\, and retai ned more than 600 jobs.\n\nTax Benefits\n32\nProjects received benefits to date\n\nFRESH provides tax breaks for supermarket operators and developer s seeking to build or renovate new retail space to be owned or leased by a full-line supermarket operator. \n\nBuilding Taxes: May be stabilized at pre-improvement real estate tax amounts for up to 25 years (with benefits phasing out at not more than 20 percent per year\, starting in year 21). \ nLand Taxes: May be fully abated for up to 25 years (with benefits phasing out at not more than 20 percent per year\, starting in year 21). \nSales Taxes: City and state sales taxes may be waived on materials used to const ruct\, renovate\, or equip facilities. \nMortgage Recording Taxes: May be reduced from 2.8 percent to 0.3 percent for project mortgages. \n\nApplic ation Considerations\n1.1M\nSquare feet of new or renovated space expected to be provided by these supermarkets\n\nAll benefits\, including FRESH\, are discretionary. NYCIDA will assess the need for financial assistance an d the economic impact of the proposed project. From application deadline u ntil benefit closing\, expected timeline is 6 months. Stores that benefit from the program must be located in an eligible area (see below map) and p rovide: \n\nA minimum of 5\,000 square feet of retail space for a general line of food and nonfood grocery products intended for home preparation\, consumption\, and utilization. \nA minimum of 30 percent of retail space d edicated to perishable goods that may include dairy\, fresh produce\, fres h meats\, poultry\, fish\, and frozen foods. \nAt least 500 square feet of retail space for fresh produce. \n\n2\,049\nJobs retained or created thro ugh FRESH\n\nAdditional factors considered by NYCIDA include (without limi tation): \n\nSize of capital investment. \nJobs retained and/or created\, average wages and benefits. \nNeighborhood. \nOverall financial picture of applicant(s). \nFor developer projects\, tenanting strategy and timeline. \nEnvironmental review.\n\n$177M\nThe amount of private capital invested into NYC's economy through FRESH\n\nThe FRESH program tax incentive progra m is administered by the New York City Industrial Development Agency (NYCI DA) and the FRESH zoning benefit program is administered by the New York C ity Department of City Planning (DCP). All NYCIDA benefits are discretiona ry and companies must request NYCIDA assistance prior to entering into any property lease\, acquisition\, or renovation contract unless such contrac ts are contingent upon NYCIDA assistance.\n\nFRESH Focus AreasEmpty headin g\nCertain neighborhoods around the city can benefit even more from invest ment in supermarket construction and renovation. The areas listed below ar e most in need of food retail investment\, based on how much currently exi sts and the surrounding population.\n\nThe BronxEmpty heading\nCo-Op City/ Wakefield\nGrand Concourse\nHunts Point\nVan Cortlandt Village\nBrooklynEm pty heading\nBorough Park/Bensonhurst\nBrownsville\nConey Island\nFlatbush \nManhattanEmpty heading\nInwood\nWashington Heights\nQueensEmpty heading\ nAstoria/LIC\nFar Rockaway\nJamaica\nStaten IslandEmpty heading\nStapleton \n\n\n\n\n\n\n https://edc.nyc/program/food-retail-expansion-support-healt h-fresh\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Zohran Mamdani is pushing for New Yo rk City-run grocery stores. Here's what he envisions.\n\n Story by Jeff Ca pellini \n\n\n\n Zohran Mamdani championed the idea of New York City-run grocery stores throughout his successful campaign for mayor. He has said h e views it as an opportunity to address affordability and to give the publ ic a choice.\n\nBut in a city where capitalism reigns supreme\, Mamdani's proposal has faced significant opposition. The democratic socialist's road to having it adopted will hinge on a variety of factors\, including City Council and state support.\n\nMamdani has said his plan \"is part of a vis ion of a public option for produce\, an understanding that for far too man y New Yorkers\, groceries are out of reach\, and the importance in city go vernment of reasonable policy experimentation.\"\n\nMamdani's city-run gro cery store plan\nThe initiative\, which Mamdani says will cost $60 million \, would put at least one city-run store in each borough\, focusing on foo d deserts\, or areas with limited access to full-service supermarkets\, an d is not about making a profit. It counts on the city covering rent and pr operty taxes to pass savings to consumers.\n\n\"The job of city government is not to tinker around the edges while 1 in 4 children across our city g o hungry\,\" Mamdani said.\n\nAs outlined on his campaign website\, Mamdan i says the city would buy and sell goods at wholesale prices\, centralize warehousing and distribution\, and collaborate with local neighborhoods on product selection and sourcing.\n\nAs for how he would pay for the progra m\, New York City already subsidizes private grocery store owners to the t une of millions of dollars per year. Mamdani has said he would redirect th at money to stores the city controls.\n\nMamdani has also stated that furt her funding of the plan\, along with his other democratic socialist polici es\, would be generated by increasing the corporate tax rate to 11.5% and instituting a flat 2% tax rate for individuals earning $1 million or more. \n\nPotential roadblocks\nMamdani will almost certainly need to use the po wer and influence of his office to help the city-run grocery stores plan g ain traction\, but that likely won't be enough to get it across the finish line. Political expert J.C. Polanco\, a professor at the University of Mo unt Saint Vincent in the Bronx\, says convincing members of the City Counc il to go along with it could prove to be difficult.\n\n\"The problem will be here is that you have supermarkets\, delis and bodegas that are part of the fabric of the community. In order for a city councilmember to vote fo r this to happen\, they would have to look at their deli\, bodega and supe rmarket in their districts and say I know this store will compete with you and it doesn't need to worry about profits\, but I'm going to vote for it anyway\,\" Polanco said.\n\nPolanco said the odds of having City Council support for city-run grocery stores is \"very little\, considering that th ese city councilmembers have dozens of bodegas in their districts.\"\n\nSo me owners of private grocery stores have spoken out against Mamdani's prop osal. Billionaire supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis\, for example\, ha s said it is incompatible with New York City's market economy.\n\n\"New Yo rk City is a capitalist city -- look what happened in Kansas City?\" Catsi matidis said\, referring to the recent closure of that city's government-o wned grocery store. \"These types of grocery stores just don't work.\"\n\n Mamdani has turned some opponents into allies\nMamdani was asked back in A ugust if he's concerned about the hefty criticism his plan has generated. He said he is in no way trying to trample on private supermarket\, delicat essen and bodega owners.\n\n\"I am interested in working with each and eve ry New Yorker\, and I've actually spoken with a number of grocery store ow ners and made clear to them that I both recognize and I appreciate the wor k that they have done. The fact is that they are a critical part of our co mmunities\,\" Mamdani replied.\n\nIt's important to note that some members of the opposition have changed their tune about Mamdani\, if not his groc ery stores proposal. Just a few months before the election\, the United Bo degas of America blasted his plan\, calling the idea foolish and saying it will be harmful to private businesses.\n\nHowever\, less than a week befo re Mamdani won the election\, the president of the group stood behind the then-Democratic nominee\, saying he wants to make the city affordable for everyone.\n\n\"We are proud to stand by Zohran Mamdani\, a candidate who u nderstands the struggle of everyday New Yorkers\,\" UBA President Radahmes Rodriguez said.\n\nIn addition\, Gov. Kathy Hochul\, who has often spoken out about free enterprise\, did end up endorsing Mamdani for mayor\, whic h opens the door to her perhaps being amenable to the idea of city-run gro cery stores down the road.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n referral\n\n https://www.m sn.com/en-us/news/us/zohran-mamdani-is-pushing-for-new-york-city-run-groce ry-stores-here-s-what-he-envisions/ar-AA1PXbbi\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Economis t torches Mamdani's city-run grocery plan as doomed experiment that will c ost taxpayers\n\n Story by Kristine Parks \n\n\n\n As New Yorkers head to the polls\, one economist is raising the alrarm about Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani's plan for city-run groceries\, calling it a feel-g ood fix that flouts basic economics.\n\n\"It sounds very good on paper – ‘free’ always does\,\" Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley\, an economics p rofessor and vice president of academic affairs at The Fund for American S tudies\, said in an interview with Fox News Digital.\n\nMamdani\, a self-d escribed Democratic socialist who is the frontrunner in Tuesday's mayoral race\, argues these stores are needed to address food deserts and give wor king-class New Yorkers more access to affordable groceries. The pilot prog ram\, which would launch five stores in the city – one in each borough – is a key part of his progressive platform to lower costs for New York ers\, that also includes freezing the rent and higher corporate taxes.\n\n Bradley predicts that Mamdani’s plan\, while well-intentioned\, won't wo rk because it replaces market signals\, like prices\, property rights and profit motive\, with \"bureaucratic decision-making.\"\n\nMAMDANI APPEALS TO NON-DEMOCRATS WITH GENERAL ELECTION PUSH\, VOWS GOVERNMENT CAN MEET VOT ERS' 'MATERIAL NEEDS'\n\n\"The problem is believing that the economy is an engineering project\,\" she explained. \"That when we put smart\, well-in tentioned people in charge of that project\, we can kind of redirect thing s in certain ways and get the outcomes that we want.\"\n\nThe results of t his plan\, she says\, have already been seen in other U.S. cities who've t ried it. Similar programs in Kansas City\, Missouri\, and Florida collapse d\, despite millions in taxpayer funding.\n\n\"These stores have failed to remain open\,\" she said\, referring to a Kansas City store that closed i ts doors in August after struggling with empty shelves and crime.\n\nAccor ding to Bradley\, the issue is built into the system itself: if stores sel l their products at below market prices\, customers rush to buy everything and stores can't keep shelves stocked.\n\n\"So you might be able to stock it and open it on day one\, but these stores have failed to remain open\, \" she argued. \"Not only that\, but they're plagued by theft because the grocery stores don't have the same incentives that a Walmart has for loss prevention.\"\n\nBradley said history offers even starker warnings. Centra l planners who tried to control prices and supply in the collapsed Soviet Union and Venezuela resulted in people waiting in long lines and empty she lves.\n\n\"All these types of problems are a feature of this type of syste m. It's not a bug\, right? It's baked in\,\" she said.\n\nThe economist pr aised the candidate for trying to address the huge problem of high costs o f living for New Yorkers. She said there are better ways to lower food cos ts\, suggesting one way would be allowing a big box store like Walmart to open in New York City\, which would provide more access to cheaper groceri es.\n\nMamdani's campaign says the stores will not pay rent or property ta x\, and he will redirect some of the $140 million in private grocery store tax breaks to finance the pilot program.\n\n\"Food prices are out of cont rol. Nearly 9 in 10 New Yorkers say the cost of groceries is rising faster than their income. Only the very wealthiest aren’t feeling squeezed at the register\,\" his campaign website states. \"With New York City already spending millions of dollars to subsidize private grocery store operators (which are not even required to take SNAP/WIC!)\, we should redirect publ ic money to a real 'public option.'\"\n\nMamdani defended the plan when co nfronted about the failed Kansas City experiment in a September interview. \n\n\"[W]e have to prove not only the efficacy but the excellence of this idea\,\" he told CNN. \"Because for every one example that you can point t o\, there’s another of another municipality today considering opening a city-run grocery store. But to me\, the most important thing is the outcom e. This is something I believe will work. We will bring the best and the b rightest to deliver it\, and it will be five stores at the cost of $60 mil lion\, which is less than half the city’s already spending on subsidizin g corporate supermarkets.\"\n\nBradley countered that the proposal is stil l a costly experiment that could burden taxpayers and divert funds from mo re effective projects.\n\nThe economist noted the candidate's rise in popu larity comes at a time when younger Americans have more favorable attitude s towards socialism than previous generations. She believes that economic realities need to be taught to Americans early on.\n\n\"We're not doing a great job of teaching economics\,\" she said. \"We need to do a better job of that\, of at early ages\, showing people that economics in some ways p resents laws that are just as real as the laws of physics. So I could say I don't like gravity\, I don't believe in gravity\, but gravity is my real ity. And economics presents us with realities that are just as important t o obey.\"\n\n\"There's no such thing as a free lunch\,\" she said. \"We ne ed to advocate for policies that make things more accessible and more affo rdable. I think what economics shows is that markets do a really good job [at that]\,\" she said\, pointing to the array and volume of goods offered in the average grocery store in the U.S.\n\nUltimately\, Bradley said\, a ffordability comes not from government control but from more competition i n the marketplace.\n\n\"What we want people to be able to do is just stret ch their budgets further\, she added. \"And I think the way we do that is more competition in the market for groceries rather than less.\"\n\nMamdan i's campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.\n\ nFox Business' Amanda Macias contributed to this report.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n referral\n\n https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/economist-torches-m amdanis-city-run-grocery-plan-as-doomed-experiment-that-will-cost-taxpayer s/ar-AA1PNLDj\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Forum post\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/t opic/12031-economiccorner26/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prior Corner\n\n\n\n https ://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/569-economic-corner-25/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PO ST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12031-economiccorner26/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/569-economic-corne r-25-10272025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/ev ent/586-economic-corner-27/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARIES\n\n\n\n COMMEN TS\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n I notice one thing in your comme nt\, one great absence\, a positive suggestion. Your comment is full of co mplaint and judgement\, but lacks any ideas to solve anything\, now the re ason is one of two things. \n\n\n\n You don't have one\, for whatever rea son. \n\n\n\n You can't share one\, for whatever reason. \n\n\n\n The on ly thing I dislike in your comment is the lack of positive suggestion. Not unexpected but still I dislike it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Now\, to your comme nt...\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I thought my writing was clear\, unfortunate that it engendered such a poor reading from you or that you misread it so poor ly.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n F irst of all Richard\, is that Mamdani's plan....or YOUR plan?\n\n The th read in the link seems to suggest it is YOUR plan that you PROPOSED to him .\n \n \n\n\n\n To aid in clarity\,\n\n\n\n My suggestion is a law that a llows stores to sell food in more affordable quantities . \n\n\n\n Mamdan i's plan is government owned stores to sell food affordably. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n You remove the c heap ghetto food and replace it with healthy fresh food that is more expen sive and a lot of people will have problems with THAT.\n \n \n\n\n\n Your right\, people without money don't care for expensive food. If all you ha ve is fifty cents\, i imagine two dollar foods will be problematic to acqu ire\, unless of course one is able to steal but then of course\, some peop le in this forum COUGH Pioneer1 talk so much about the existence of those who break the law\, i guess the people who can't afford food can't break t he law to get it\, so I guess\, they should starve\, I mean who would have a problem with starving.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 s aid:\n \n\n \n \n So will those grocery stores actually be OWNED by the City of New York\, or will they be private stores SUBSIDIZED by the City of New York?\n\n Because like Section 8....why should the government pic k and choose who THEY decide to subsidize and make rich?\n\n They are pi cking CERTAIN stores and giving them millions of dollars to feed the peopl e mean while OTHER stores don't get that same benefit\, which means it's a ctually TARGETED VAMPIRE CAPITALISM. \n \n \n\n\n\n Please learn to read better\, the articles in the post clearly state in Mamdani's plan they wi ll be government owned stores\, not subsidized. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n And even if NYC actually OWNS these grocery stores\, will the managers and employees be city workers?\n \n \n\n\n\n Your first question that wasn't answered in the economic cor ner post. Well done\,  I don't know\, if I was in mamdani's inner circle I would know. But Mamdani is still fleshing out this idea. As the Economic Corner stated\, his plan has many detractors of various types for various reasons. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said :\n \n\n \n \n Will NYC ensure that there is no discrimination in who g ets to manage and run these stores?\n \n \n\n\n\n I will assume no merely because ensuring no discrimination exists has never happened anywhere in the entire usa\, your asking NYC to do what has never happened in the USA before in its circa 250 year history or before in the european colonial er a. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/9/2025 at 8:16 AM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \n\n \n \n The Mayor Elect is of Indian descent.\n\n We know that Indians own a di sproportionate number of 7-11s\, corner stores\, and even bodegas around t he nation.....so this is bound to benefit them.\n \n \n\n\n\n Well in NYC is a different demographic makeup in terms of business ownership. NYC is more complex. remember\, NYC is the only city in the usa with a populace f rom every government. I have seen so many mixed couples: jew/muslim \; sou th american/african\; chinese/mexican and their various mixed babies\, NYC is going through a mulattozation.  I have never seen a 7-11 in this part of the city. And around here\, corner stores are owned by a variance: afr icans/arabs/latinos for the most part. What may surprise you is around her e\, most of the non corporate eating entities are owned by black folk: DOS /cAribbean/Continental combined. And around here\, black folk have been in terbreeding longer than elsewhere in the USA\, meaning you see alot of Bla ck couples that are mixes from within a black perspective. Corporate eater y is defined as Mcdonlads and the like.  Indians aren't the biggest popul ace in this part of NYC \, when you see them they tend to work in stores. I don't think I have been to a store an indian owns around here\, in this section of harlem for a long while. I recall one 99 cent store but the loc ation became closed and has been closed ever since. The property owner pro bably wants to much and so it isn't worth it. NYC is really a hard place f or a corner store.  People like you assume alot of habits that at least i n nyc aren't the truth. Most people go to the supermarket or have their fo od shipped. Fresh direct is making a killing. The people who have money ju st get the grocery to them and the rest of us shop at the supermarket. The local store... got it rough. I argue if it wasn't for the larger real est ate market\, not wanting nyc to have a huge mound of vacant areas\, the lo cal stores in NYC would be mostly gone. PEople shop at the supermarket. Th e only real money local stores get is kids\, who want their candies\, and the late shift people\, when the supermarket is closed and they may want s omething and after a long day of work too tired for home cooking. But even then the local store is not the option most get\, the place that gets the most late night money is a franchise \, owned by a black woman \, from th e islands\, she does make some lovely beef stew. but she is open all day. i have seen lines of the late shift outside her stores. \n\n\n\n And \, i repeat\, Mamdani didn't get the asian vote as a block\, many indians didn 't vote for him. He did only get 50% of the cities vote. It wasn't by acci dent. When he was in the ny state assembly he never had one law that truly aided indians https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/363-zohran-mamdani-legis lation/   as you suggest this will. and to be blunt\, repeating what is in the economic corner post\,  the business owning community in nyc is i n majority against this plan of Mamdani's. And as I said in the post I com prehend why Mamdani is going this way. After Obama+ AOC \, Mamdani knows t o be successful he cant' court his community\, which Obama showed is vital in seats like Mayor. But\,Mamdani also knows that Obama + OAC have many d etractors in their own community who feel they didn't do or haven't done e nough for \"their people\" even though the Obama type candidates don't vie w themselves as part of a hyphenated group in the usa\, they view themselv es as Frederick Douglass stated in the 1800s\, as part of a composite nati on of individuals\, overcoming heritage based rigidities\, while culturall y fluid. Emphasizing individualism bound in the idea of individual rights+ freedoms alongside others under the law. Mamdani \, taking Obama's stylism \, doesn't want to be the mayor of the indians or asians in NYC but the ma yor of the city. But Mamdani needs results so he is being more forceful th an obama or fellow obamite elected officials in trying to get something do ne. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n comment referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/top ic/12031-economiccorner26/#findComment-77503\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Posted ju st now\n\n\n\n @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\ n However what law is STOPPING them from doing this already?\n\n\n\n \n\n If a supermarket wants to only sell ONE stick of butter or even HALF a sti ck of butter at a time\, as long as it's properly handled and packaged...a re they not allowed to?\n\n\n\n Pioneer\, where are you from? You do reali ze that supermarket chain owners sign contracts with stipulations? Legal a greements are sometimes signed for certain food items with stipulations on how to care. Let alone that city/state/federal laws may state what can or can not happen? The FDA doesn't allow the interstate sale of butter so... what other laws are there. Where are you from? Do you own a business? \n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pioneer1 said:\n\n\n\n It's not a ma tter of better READING because I didn't bother reading the entire thing in the first place....lol.\n\n\n\n so that is why you ask questions answered  in the post\, well thank you\, i now fully comprehend the quality of you r statements in the forum. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   9 hours ago\, Pionee r1 said:\n\n\n\n \n\n -Will suppliers get their contracts through bidding with the city\, like construction contractors do?\n\n \n\n -We know there are Black farmers.\n\n Who will ensure THEY get their fair share of the c ontracts as suppliers?\n\n \n\n -Again\, who ensures that AfroAmericans ge t our fair share of jobs....including management positions....in these sto res?\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n\n Mamdani hasn't even got his plan accepted.   and like before all you offer is judgement\, no ideas\, no positive qua lity. You are like one of those rush limbaugh style podcasters just throug h text. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n comment referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc /topic/12031-economiccorner26/#findComment-77523\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMEN T\n\n\n\n  @Pioneer1\n\n\n\n \n On 11/10/2025 at 2:23 PM\, Pioneer1 said :\n \n\n \n \n People have other things to do\, besides come on here an d read a whole 6 page THESIS on something that can be summed up in 3 parag raphs.\n \n \n\n\n\n this made me laugh\, even enough. I will only add th e following... so often online humans chime in on affairs of governance or complex communal human relation \, but\, the lack of effort in the detail s \, in the wordy thesis \, only supports the internets overall poor quali ty in discourse.\n\n\n\n \n On 11/10/2025 at 2:23 PM\, Pioneer1 said:\n \ n\n \n \n So besides having a funny-ass name\, what makes HIM any diffe rent than the other characters who occupied that seat?\n \n \n\n\n\n I wa s taught that each individual in humanity is unique and you can only know what one will do when they do it. But\, to your question\, he is no differ ent than AOC\, the one from the central park five representing harlem in t he city council\, the brooklyn or queens borough presidents\, a bunch of p eople who got elected on platforms of bloated promises who are gambling th e voting population will be willing to support their continual bids. I arg ue\, Deblasio + Adams were the end of an era for mayor of NYC. from Lindse y to Adams NYC mayors overall have been variations of centrism. trying to be a kind of middle\, each favoring different things so a tilt but overall central. \n\n\n\n Mamdani in my gamble to the future will legally/functi onally be a centrist but his rhetoric will be left. Although a key part to Mamdani is the governor and president\, what either of them do has a huge role to play. Hochul is a centrist. She doesn't hate expanded government welfare but she wants to keep the fiscal capitalistic dream alive\, the id ea that fiscal capitalism can work even in a usa unlike at any time before \, where the populace has the most universal rights\, even the native amer ican has rights\, where the populace has the most variance of fiscal wealt h\, more non whites or more non males or more non christians have money\, significant sums than any time before in New York State. So fiscal capital ism in the usa has never had to deal with the environment it has now. So I think Mamdani is different in important ways but will not act different l argely because his superiros\, governor+president will not let him.\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251108 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 25 10/27/2025 DTSTAMP:20251027T171616Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:569-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Two big financial issues have come to my realization. \n \n\n\n 1) Some Black people want the current financial growth in the black populace in the usa to move faster than warranted. \n\n\n\n 2) Too many Black people can't simply say the USA is a failed financial state. YEs \, most powerful military in the world\, welfare lifelining every single fail ed white owned industry in the usa. But\, when any fiscal environment unde r a flag is as terrible as the usa\, that doesn't show signs of an environ ment worth doing business. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And I want to add\, the co ndition of NYC + Los Angeles I should had added. Los Angeles was built on the film industry. All those props \, set designers\, Los ANgeles was buil t on the film industry\, barely any films are made in los angeles\, where is the mayor of los angeles? this is the second largest city in the usa an d it let its biggest industry disappear? how is that good business? NYC ha d every industry you can name in its bounds\, now it is a real estate den\ , trying to figure out how to turn a failed real estate system into collec tive wealth. Detroit with cars\, how can I forget. The USA's big cities\, have all gone to ruin\, all led by whites all led by MIT/HArvard /Yale peo ple. What does matriculation have to do with it? \n\n\n\n Black people in the usa for some reason\, keep suggesting the usa is a positive place for businesses and if you are honest\, it isn't. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The fol lowing is the complete comment\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  @KENNETH \n\n\n\n Wel l I have said in this forum already\, in 2025 Black people in the usa have more business ownership or collective wealth than in the USA in times pas t. Using the Black History Book\, through enslavement from 1492 to 1865 th rough jim crow from 1865 to 1980 Black people were financially stymied in overhwhelming majority by whites\, this is a financial fact. So from 1980 to 2025 Black people after fighting through white terrorism/oppression to have unprecedented opportunity in majority\, has led to an ever increasing rise in black business ownership or personal wealth from 1980 to today an d growing. \n\n\n\n So from my view\, what your talking about is accelera tion. You want Black people in 2025 to be inspired as in times past as a c ollective. We taught ourselves to read in the late 1800s on will alone. We marched and rallied for legal changes that would influence how the usa wo rks with may black people being murdered in the 1960s. Shirley CHisholm sa id black folks in the usa need a financial focus today. But where is the i nspiration to come from. \n\n\n\n From 1980 to 2025 Black ownership had m oments to lead greatly financially and they all fell.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n B lack Entertainment Television was black owned\, the majority owner who was black sold the company from under the other black owners\, that undercut black owned media  outlets ever since. Johnson could had reached for a co nsortium of black people to own BET\, provided corporate rules. But he did n't. HE just sold it to whites who themselves are looking to sell their co mpany to a holding firm this very year. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The man who o wned BET and sold it started the CHarlotte Bobcats. Sold it to Black man\, Michael Jordan\, who then sold it to white people. Black people say why w e don't own sports team all the time. We owned one  and it was sold to wh ites. Jordan couldn't find a set of black owners to buy the team? \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n As I Said in this forum\, the million man march could had bee n used to make a political march into a financial agency. Over a million b lack men marched on washington for guidance to the black community in the usa. the black people who led that march didn't provide anything. whose fa ult is that? they could had made a website and gave each man who was willi ng to give one dollar a ticket/card and said\, when you go back home\, use this card to access the website and vote on how we want to use a million dollars\, and every year with one dollar\, each million man wil lbe part o f a financing to something n the black community in the usa. But\, the mil lion man march doesn't even have a website .\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In the har lem I live when the HArlem EMpowerment Zone which was advertised as financ ially beneficial to HArlem which at that time was still majority black\, o nly one blac owned business in harlem received funding and that was cause that business knew someone. HArlem at that had an all black elected repres entative body fromc ity council to state assembly to stt senate to house o f represnentatives. All f those blac elected officials couldn't demand bla ck owned busineses have a greater cut\, with the clintons as the supposed spearheaders of the money? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n George bush jr started the national african american museum\, but Obama was president through most o f its administration. Why couldn't obama open up the management of that mu seums' creation to more black people\, with varying views and beliefs. The national african american musuem was made with a black 1% in control\, th e black 1% have never viewed the back populace in the usa properly in my v iew. They have always viewed the black 99% as erroneous/lazy/wrong and tha t matters in the narrative fo black history which that museum displays. \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What is my point? \n\n\n\n from 1980 to 2025 Black lea ders  in the usa had moments to guide to inpsire black people to work wit h each other for positive goals but usually they end up teaching the lesso n of individualism. And so.... from BET to the NAtional African American M useum the lesson isn't black people in the usa need to work together in th e age of integration\, the lesson taught is black individuals in the usa i n the age of integreation earn the right to do as they see fit regardless to the black community or blakc collectives betterment in the usa. And so how can you expect black people living in a black town in mississippi with out water\, near poisonous landfills to have this great black on black fin ancial belief when black people who are millionaires and billionaires are selling to non blacks or not doing anything to the village's betterment?  \n\n\n\n Yeah steward and smith \, steward a savvy businessman in the righ t place at the right time started as  reseller of technology\, rode the d ot com wave \, which busted. Smith a chemist fortunate to have some patent s and invests in software firms at the right time\, has grown as all softw are investment firms have. Congrats to both\, both hire and employ black p eople.  Well done to both. But\, I also provided examples of others who s old their firms. \n\n\n\n In conclusion\, I already stated black business in the usa  is growing\, this is financial fact. But you are looking for acceleration and  you have to really look at the field fo black wealthy people who aren't leading the way to such an explosion and it is financial ly irresponsible to suggest black people who have only been able to be par t of the usa's financial environment since the 1980s to erase the lag from 1492 to 1980 caused by whites. \n\n\n\n thus the financial growth will b e slow until some black billionaire or elected official leads much better\ , offering guidance that can convince black people to take huge risks. \n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 10/26/2025 at 9:45 AM\, KENNETH said:\n \n\n \n \n Charles Rangel defeated Adam Clayton Powell in New York in the 1970 D emocratic Party primary for Congress. \n \n \n\n\n\n I happen to know ab out this. Adam Clayton Powell jr had lost connection with the rising set o f younger black elected officials. It wasn't the people clamoring for rang el \, Rangel hadn't did anything to warrant all of that. But rangel /dinki ns/patterson whose son is blind and the guy that recently passed away who was in the ny senates\, three of them from harlem without question\, I don t think patterson was but I am uncertain.   had formed a little union wh o would run harlem and black politics in nyc for decades\, that is what ha ppened. Powell jr alienated himself from the new generations and they oust ed him. One thing black people have to do is stop telling false histories. I know I may sound like I am attacking you but I am not. I can't stand wh en anyone tells false history. \n\n\n\n I comprehend that many\, I don't think most\, black people in the usa view voting as a symbol of freedom. B lack people like yourself of Profd or Pioneer I think view voting as the w ill of the people. But\, the black people of harlem didn't vote to have th e nypd as the drug kingpins of harlem in the 1970s they didn't vote to hav e the nyc/nys/us government defund everything it could in harlem in the 19 70s?  Under rangel\, who represented all of harlem  all that happened? s o... Black people didn't vote for change. The black elected official commu nity in NYC had a coup over powell and others led by four black men and th ey succeeded in their coup. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 10/26/2025 at 9:45 AM\, KENNETH said:\n \n\n \n \n But blacks must be persistent and thin k differently about the challenges we face. We might try and fail doing di fferent things. However failure is guaranteed if we do nothing at all. Now is the time a kind of black pragmatism that includes advocacy\, protest\, national\, state\, local government\, entrepreneurial\, human\, and commu nity development.\n \n \n\n\n\n I think blacks have been persisitent sinc e 1492 in this country. I don't think persistence is the issue in our dial og or failure to try new things. I think the issue is scale. You like othe rs seem to want a grandiose scale that I don't think is even remotely warr anted. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @umbrarchist the truth is \, the USA military is the real value fo the usa economy\, it is that plain and simple. The n umbers all prove me right. \n\n\n\n From 1980 to 2025 what iindustry didn 't have a total collapse in the usa? can you name any? \n\n\n\n Real esta te industry had three collapses. \n\n\n\n Automotive industry had two col lapses. \n\n\n\n Military contractors\, arms makers\, had a collapse.\n\n \n\n Airplane firms had three collapses in a history of collapses going ba ck to pan am in the 1960s 1970s. \n\n\n\n Banks had three collapses the b iggest was a complete failure that even the banks couldn't algorithm their way out of. \n\n\n\n Dot com websites collapse\, before the bust steward made his fortune before the bust.\n\n\n\n The collapse of various pension funds from workers who had put money into those funds\, which became tota lly lost. \n\n\n\n The collapse of various womens soccer league teams. \ n\n\n\n The collapse of various hashtag currencies\, like bitcoin.\n\n\n\n The collapse of various financial trading environments at least three maj or ones: enron/madoff [madoff was a scapegoat] are two\n\n\n\n What is my point? \n\n\n\n Black people in the usa keep talking about finance like t he USA is some sort of successful place. The USA in my opinion\, in the bl ack history age of integration in the usa from 1980 to 2025 has been a com plete financial failure that has only been kept alive because of a militar istic quality no one else has\, and I can give examples in 1980 to 2025 fr om other white government to prove my point. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n When the whites who run hong kong\, the eurasian billionaires\, mishandled the eco nomy of Hong Kong\, they couldn't just pump money back into it. \n\n\n\n What happened is simple. At one time\, Hong Kong had seventy percent of th e incominc traffic to mainland china\, today it has ten percent or less. T heir neighbor macau focused on gambling and is striving. Hong Kong's white leaders mismanaged hong kong\, but unlike the usa who has a military whic h allows welfare lifelines to be given to entire failed industries\, hong kong has to accept the consequences\, the negative sequences from poor fin ancial management.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n When the whites who run Argentina\, the mestizo rich\, mishandled the economy of argentina and their entire ba nking system collapsed\, argentina couldn't just write their entire bankin g system a check and ward off other countries calling in for debt with the ir military power\, they had to accept the consequences\, the negative seq uences from poor financial management. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The USA's econ omy is completely mishandled\, but the power of the usa miitary is so grea t that it allows the usa the ability to have forty strong years of failed industries across the board have their financial meltdowns paid for by the federal government. Thus maintaining the community of fiscally rich in th e usa who in truth all went broke multiple times. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n THe Covid 19 scenario is again\, another financial colla pse. The USA military allows financial failure from its wealthiest\, the n on blacks\, to not be rewarded with closure or termination as in liquidati on as in a free financial market\, but with welfare life lines as in a... militaristic empire\, then how can the blacks treat finance as if it is re ally a numbers game? It isn't a numbers game but a militaristic powers gam e. Black people in the usa lack militaristic power the most.\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Referral URL for comment\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11970-wh at-if-we-focused-on-local-development/#findComment-77213\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n Prior Edition \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/563-economic-c orner-24/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n NONE\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n \n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/563-economic-corner-24-10232025/\ n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/583-economi c-corner-26/\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251027 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 23 10/23/2025 DTSTAMP:20251023T232002Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:562-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n My Thoughts\n\n  \n\n\n\n I don't know much and I a sked those in the Japanese internet their thoughts. But what is known... N ippon/Japan has a lot of issues. Japan does not need population growth ove rall but in sectors it does. A number of businesses in agriculture for exa mple\, lack a next generation. Japan like korea or Taiwan/Formosa sits in the unenviable position of between the two biggest militaristic powers in modern/as of this writing humanity. \nShe says she wants to increase Nipp ons militaristic position as well as its financial position. Well\, in wha t way? Everyone wants to walk the road to gold\, but do you have a map\, d o you have shoes\, do you have a way of finding the road or is it just wal king aimlessly? \nYeah\, another elected official in humanity in a govern ment deemed important in many sources has a president that mirrors the way s of Schrumpft. Yeah. This is again\, not an error\, this is a result of t he USA's cold war victory playing out. When the United States of America w on the cold war\, it didn't do what it should had and that was reorganize the global order it made\, instead it maintained said order. But said orde r was based on having an enemy\, a militaristic + financial opponent\, the soviet union. Absent an opponent calling out the lies in the usa\, having a viable arms race\, why maintain a global system of dysfunctional immigr ation laws/dysfunctional hiring practices/dysfunctional  financial market s. Since the cold war ended\, the dot com industrial crash/ the real estat e industrial crash /the banking industry crash / the automotive industrial crash/various bitcoin crashes. All this points to a financial reality. Th e larger canvas is financially poor or desperate and it isn't the fault of so called Artificial Intelligence\, it isn't the fault of laziness\, it i sn't the fault of capitalism \, it is the fault of poor governance. \n\nG overnance matters\, it isn't economics\, it isn't finance\, but it matters and it isn't about finance. One of the problems in modernity is the view that money /finance controls government. No\, government controls governme nt. Like the congress of the USA who has ceded powers to the president of the USA for over one hundred years\, the elected officials in the USA have ceded governing responsibility to the fiscal entrepreneurs. The arrangeme nt is simple. We keep you alive and allow you to act freely and you fix yo ur issues. The problem is the assumption the fiscal entrepreneurs are that smart or that purposed.\n\nNippon automakers literally took jobs away fro m their own labor market to have the right to sell cars in the USA. That i s why Japanese cars are made in the USA\, so they have the right to be sol d in the USA. That was a terrible decision.  Japan who once led the world in electronics\, who supposedly had the best education system\, [Remember Black folk when you were a kid of a certain age and someone chimed in abo ut Japanese kids?] are not leading today? Is that because the Japanese wer en't the smartest? Or is it because the government + business owners manag ement hurt them in the same way \, the USA's government plus business owne rs actions led to the weakening of the electronics industry of the USA com pared to others. \n\nHer three predecessors had a year each. That wasn't an accident. Nippon has problems. They can't be willed away with a firm st ance. She has alot of governing to do and unlike the USA \, Japan's parlia mentary system means she has to get results now\, she can't give herself t ime to rest and plan out through a term. \n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/sanae-takaichi-becomes-japan s-first-female-prime-minister/ar-AA1ORG86?ocid=BingNewsSerp\n\n  \n\n\n\n Sanae Takaichi becomes Japan's first female prime minister\nStory by Arat a Yamamoto\nTOKYO — Lawmakers in Japan elected hardline conservative San ae Takaichi as prime minister on Tuesday\, making her the first woman in m odern times to lead the key U.S. ally.\n\nTakaichi\, 64\, the new leader o f the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)\, was elected by lawmakers in the lower house of parliament by a vote of 237-149 over her closest riv al\, Yoshihiko Noda\, leader of the liberal opposition Constitutional Demo cratic Party. She was also elected by upper house lawmakers in a second vo te of 125-46 after falling one vote shy of a majority in the first round.\ n\nThough her election is a milestone in a country where women are severel y underrepresented in government\, Takaichi enters office with a fragile c oalition and facing a number of pressing challenges\, including a visit ne xt week by President Donald Trump.\n\nA protege of assassinated former Pri me Minister Shinzo Abe\, Takaichi advocates a stronger military\, tougher immigration policies and the revision of Japan’s pacifist constitution. She is a veteran politician who has served as minister of economic securit y\, internal affairs and gender equality.\n\nEarlier this month Takaichi w as elected leader of the LDP\, which has governed Japan almost uninterrupt ed since World War II\, after running unsuccessfully in 2021 and 2024. Her ascension to prime minister was thrown into doubt\, however\, after a cru cial partner\, the centrist party Komeito\, left the LDP coalition.\n\nTo ensure her victory\, the LDP signed a deal on Monday with the Osaka-based Japan Innovation Party\, or Ishin\, that will pull its coalition further t o the right.\n\nEven with the alliance\, Takaichi faces an uphill battle i n parliament\, where she falls short of a majority in both houses after th e LDP suffered major losses in recent elections amid voter anger over part y corruption scandals and the rising cost of living.\n\n“She emerges fro m this a diminished leader from the get-go\,” said Jeff Kingston\, a pro fessor of Asian studies and history at Temple University’s Japan campus. \n\nTakaichi also faces an early test next week with the arrival of Trump\ , who is making his first trip to Asia since returning to office. He is ex pected to visit Malaysia and Japan before continuing on to South Korea\, w hich is hosting a major summit of Asia-Pacific economies.\n\n“She does n’t have a whole lot of time to get ready for a slew of diplomatic activ ity\,” Kingston said. “But I think job one is the Japanese economy.” \n\nArata Yamamoto reported from Tokyo\, and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong. \n\nThis article was originally published on NBCNews.com\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\ n URL\n\n https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/world/asia/sanae-takaichi-jap an-prime-minister.html\n\n  \n\n\n\n Japan Has a New Leader\, and She’s a Heavy Metal Drummer\nSanae Takaichi\, a fan of Iron Maiden\, had an imp robable rise to power. Like her mentor\, Shinzo Abe\, she is expected to l ead Japan to the right.\n\nBy Javier C. Hernández\nJavier C. Hernández w ent to Nara Prefecture to trace Sanae Takaichi’s rise to power\, intervi ewing classmates\, supporters and acquaintances.\n\nPublished Oct. 21\, 20 25\nUpdated Oct. 23\, 2025\, 10:49 a.m. ET\nLeer en español\nAs a young w oman in the late 1970s\, Sanae Takaichi commuted six hours a day by bus an d train from her parents’ home in western Japan to attend university. Sh e was a fan of heavy metal music and Kawasaki motorcycles who yearned to m ove out. But her mother insisted at first that she stay home\, forbidding her from living in a boardinghouse before marriage.\n\n“I dreamed of hav ing my own castle\,” Ms. Takaichi wrote in a 1992 memoir.\n\nOn Tuesday\ , Ms. Takaichi won election as Japan’s prime minister\, the first woman to do so in the nation’s history. It was the pinnacle of an improbable r ise in politics and a milestone in a country where women have long struggl ed for influence.\n\nMs. Takaichi\, 64\, who grew up near the ancient Japa nese capital of Nara\, defies easy labels. She once spoke bluntly about th e challenges of working in politics as a woman in Japan\, yet she is now t he leader of the traditionalist\, male-dominated Liberal Democratic Party. She has expressed concern about Japan’s reliance on the United States\, but has also said she hopes to work closely with President Trump. She is an amateur drummer who idolizes bands like Iron Maiden and Deep Purple\, y et she also wears blue suits to pay homage to her other hero\, the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.\n\nMs. Takaichi\, a protégée o f Shinzo Abe\, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister\, who was assassin ated in 2022\, is expected to move Japan farther to the right\, responding to a recent populist wave that bears some similarities to Mr. Trump’s M AGA movement. She has embraced hawkish policies on China\; pushed the mess age that “Japan is back”\; played down Japan’s atrocities during Wor ld War II\; and promised to more strictly regulate immigration and tourism .\n\n“She wants to make Japan strong and prosperous for the people of Ja pan and for the world\,” said Yoshiko Sakurai\, a prominent journalist a nd activist who has supported Ms. Takaichi. “She is open to the outside world. But she also understands that we have to be really good Japanese. W e have to know our own culture\, traditions\, philosophy and history.”\n \nMs. Takaichi will face her biggest test yet as she deals with fresh unce rtainty about Japan’s military and economic alliance with the United Sta tes. She is expected to meet next week in Tokyo with Mr. Trump\, who has r attled Japanese officials with tariffs and suggestions that the country sh ould pay more for the presence of American troops in the region.\n\nWhile many Japanese politicians come from wealthy\, elite circles\, Ms. Takaichi grew up in humble circumstances in Nara Prefecture\, an area teeming with temples\, shrines\, dense forests and rolling green hills. Her mother wor ked for the police department\, and her father worked at a car parts maker .\n\nMotoko Shimada\, a childhood friend of Ms. Takaichi’s\, recalled he r pigtailed classmate sharing homemade onigiri\, or rice balls\, and rolle d omelets with students who had forgotten their lunchboxes on a school tri p.\n\n“She was very smiley and very reserved\,” Ms. Shimada said. “S he didn’t have this strong-woman image. But she was able to notice when someone was not blending in well or struggling\, and she was able to help them.”\n\nFrom a young age\, Ms. Takaichi seemed aware of the pressures facing Japanese women. Her mother told her to be a “crimson rose\,” Ms . Takaichi recalled in a 2024 biography by Eiji Ohshita\, asking her to “retain feminine grace while possessing the thorns to confront wrongdoin g.”\n\nHer parents pressured her to attend Kobe University\, a state sch ool about 50 miles northwest of her hometown\, even though she had won adm ission to elite private institutions in Tokyo. They felt their daughter di d not need a university education because she was a girl\, Ms. Takaichi ha s said in interviews\, and they wanted to save up to support her younger b rother. (Ms. Takaichi declined\, through a representative\, to be intervie wed for this article.)\n\nAfter graduation\, Ms. Takaichi attended the Mat sushita Institute of Government and Management\, a renowned training groun d for young politicians and business leaders. In the late 1980s\, she took an interest in the United States\, Japan’s chief economic competitor at the time\, securing an internship in the office of former Rep. Patricia S chroeder of Colorado\, a Democrat and ardent feminist.\n\nMs. Takaichi had been moved by Ms. Schroeder’s tearful speech in 1987 announcing she wou ld not run for president. Ms. Takaichi sent Ms. Schroeder a telegram\, enc ouraging her to run again someday and offering her help.\n\nIn Washington\ , Ms. Takaichi was an energetic presence\, peppering aides with questions about the inner workings of Congress and American foreign policy — and d eveloping a love of peanut butter. There was no hint of her conservative v iews on defense or social issues at the time\, said Andrea Camp\, a former aide to Ms. Schroeder.\n\nWhen she returned to Japan\, Ms. Takaichi worke d as an author and a television personality\, developing a reputation as a pugnacious debater. In 1993\, she began her political career\, winning el ection to Parliament as an independent from Nara on a platform of politica l reform. Her father put his retirement savings toward her campaign.\n\nIn the Diet\, Japan’s Parliament\, Ms. Takaichi soon discovered the isolat ion of being a woman in politics. Her male colleagues were sometimes dismi ssive\, she recalled\, and they often conducted business at saunas and soc ial clubs\, where it wasn’t feasible to meet with female lawmakers.\n\ n“It’s really difficult for a woman to meet a man one-on-one\,” she told The Associated Press in 1993. “People are watching\, and I don’t want some strange scandal being invented. We can’t use the hours after 5 p.m.”\n\nDuring her early years in Parliament\, she forged an enduring alliance with Mr. Abe\, a lawmaker from an elite family with a nationalist ic worldview. The two found common ground on issues like increasing milita ry spending and adding a more patriotic tone to history textbooks.\n\nWhen Mr. Abe was elected to his first stint as prime minister in 2006\, he app ointed Ms. Takaichi to his cabinet\, making her one of the most visible wo men in Japanese politics. He reappointed her in 2012\, at the beginning of his second term\, which lasted eight years. She became a fierce defender of his policies\, including efforts to revise Japan’s Constitution to un fetter its military after decades of postwar pacifism\, and his economic p rogram\, which emphasized cheap cash and government stimulus efforts.\n\nM s. Takaichi tried to persuade Mr. Abe to run again in 2021\, but he declin ed. When she entered the race\, he threw his support behind her. “Ms. Ta kaichi is the true star of the conservatives\,” Mr. Abe said at the time . She lost that race and fell short in another bid in 2024.\n\nWhen Mr. Ab e was assassinated outside a train station in Nara\, while giving a stump speech\, Ms. Takaichi was devastated. She said at the time that she had “never felt so physically and mentally down.”\n\n“I have to work ver y hard from today\,” she wrote on social media\, “otherwise I’d have to apologize to him.”\n\nPHOTO\nMs. Takaichi with Shinzo Abe\, left\, i n 2014. The two found common ground on issues like increasing military spe nding and revising Japan’s textbooks to provide a more nationalistic vie w of World War II.Credit...Toru Hanai/Reuters\n\nWhen Shigeru Ishiba annou nced in September that he would resign as prime minister\, after a series of embarrassing electoral defeats for the L.D.P.\, Ms. Takaichi raised her hand again to lead her party. She beat four men\, riding a wave of suppor t among rank-and-file party members with a message about turning people’ s “anxieties into hope.”\n\nAs her profile has risen\, Ms. Takaichi’ s private life has come under scrutiny. She married Taku Yamamoto\, anothe r L.D.P. politician\, in 2004. They divorced in 2017 — Ms. Takaichi has said that the couple had heated political arguments at home — before rem arrying in 2021. That time\, Mr. Yamamoto took Ms. Takaichi’s surname\, a rare gesture in Japan’s patriarchal culture.\n\nIn Kashihara City in N ara\, Ms. Takaichi’s hometown\, which has a population of about 125\,000 \, her friends and supporters have celebrated her ascent\, praying for her success at local temples and sending white orchids to her district office .\n\nNara has featured prominently in her political life. During the recen t campaign\, she accused tourists of kicking the cherished deer of Nara Pa rk. She drew criticism for the remark\, which some saw as xenophobic.\n\nY ukitoshi Arai\, Ms. Takaichi’s former hairdresser in Nara\, helped pione er the cropped hairstyle that she has made famous. He said he wanted her e yes and ears to be visible to show that she was seeing and hearing the peo ple she met. He said he felt that Ms. Takaichi retained the qualities of p eople from the Kansai region in central Japan: humor and humility. He once gave her a bottle of shampoo that Ms. Thatcher was said to have liked whi le visiting Tokyo.\n\n“I don’t think she’s an ‘iron lady\,’” h e said\, referring to a nickname given by the British media to Ms. Thatche r. “Her vibe is that of a Kansai woman.”\n\nAfter her victory this mon th in the L.D.P.’s leadership election\, Mr. Arai texted his former clie nt to remind her to take care of herself.\n\nMs. Takaichi responded two da ys later. “The battle begins now\,” she wrote.\n\nKiuko Notoya contrib uted reporting from Nara Prefecture and Hisako Ueno from Tokyo.\n\nJavier C. Hernández is the Tokyo bureau chief for The Times\, leading coverage o f Japan and the region. He has reported from Asia for much of the past dec ade\, previously serving as China correspondent in Beijing.\n\nA version o f this article appears in print on Oct. 22\, 2025\, Section A\, Page 4 of the New York edition with the headline: Takaichi Presents New Package for Familiar Hard-Right Conservatism. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subsc ribe\n\n\n\n\n I ask people in Japan what do they think\n\n https://ameblo .jp/rmhearth/entry-12940637395.html\n\n\n\n Prior Edition\n\n https://aalb c.com/tc/events/event/553-economic-corner-22-10222025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NOTE: she is the first prime minister of nippon to not come from a dynasty \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Economic Corner 23\n\n\n\n Sanae Takaichi becomes Nipp ons first female prime minister Oct 21st 2025\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11978-economiccorner023/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/553-economic-corner-22-10222025/\n\ n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/563-economic- corner-24/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTARIES\n\n\n\n COMMENTS\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 10/24/2025 at 1:19 AM\, ProfD said :\n\n\n\n Considering the US/Japan relationship\, I'd imagine PM Takaichi will work within joint interestsnof both countries.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n there is a very old saying which I find always holds up true\, no one can serve two masters. \n\n\n\n What historical evidence do you have/suggest of any country that is subservient to another\, like Nippon to the USA\, having a leader who served successfully the interest of the subservient co untry + the master country?\n\n\n\n Posted Monday at 04:18 AM\n\n\n\n @Pr ofD\n\n\n\n I can't recall any moment in my life where any one voted for a n elected official and they got what they wanted... in my eyes\, they get what they settle for\, that isn't what you want. \n\n\n\n Posted Monday at 01:38 PM\n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n in the usa the voters\, black nonblac k or other\,  have never demanded anything. the system doesn't allow for voters to demand anything. The parliamentary system allows voters to deman d\, because the vote isn't the be all end all. In a parliamentary system\, majorities are made by various voting blocks through parties of governanc e\, and the second something goes against a voting block\, they leave the majority\, and if large enough\, that will force a revoting. The USA syste m is built on faith\, not demand. The voters are placing someone based on faith in the usa. thus why so few across the board in the usa vote. which elected officials in the usa warrants faith in their actions? oddly enough \, the schrumpt people will say schrumpt and I argue\, letting honesty ove rcome my negative bias to him\, the argument can be made. \n\n\n\n Obama + Biden both as presidents arguably had more willing to put faith in them but didn't reward anyone's faith \, thus schrumpft came after both. \n\n\ n\n Locally\, this is the problem with NYC. It has had from Koch to MAmdan i\, eight terms of elephant mayors \, four terms of donkey mayors. Elephan t mayors focus on specific groups\, catering to the wealthy harder. Donkey s try to cater to the larger masses. But the problem is\, providing for th e larger masses is hard. NYC has been mismanaged for a very long time\, so the damage is not little and doing for all is... not a little task\, thus every single donkey mayor when they leave office is under a sorrow\, why? cause the people who voted for them are never satisfied\, cause the faith is never rewarded. the elephant mayors\, focus on the rich \, upper and l ower rich\, who are all colors/genders/religions/et cetera in nyc . the ma sses know this and absent alternative\, don't vote. None of the above\, it is a real thing. I can tell you value voting very highly\, but the system in the usa isn't built for voting to have value and the proof is in recen t history as much as the past. from sea to shining sea. The reason Schrump t took over the republican party wasn't because of black people. it was wh ite elected officials failings. \n\n\n\n And while money does aid elected officials getting elected\, look at all the nepotisms in the usa governme nt today. Many of these people come from money\, the issue is their qualit y as people. They aren't really in government to government\, they are in it\, because it is one of the best labor markets in the usa today. Far saf er than fiscal firms. You can be a senator for life\, and all you have to do\, is talk and play the media game well every four years. That is the us a system. I Don't know what country you seem to think the usa is. \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n the marches in the 1960s wasn't from the act of voting\, that was called advocacy \, that isnt' the same thing. \n\n\n\n How can you v ote your interest when your interest can't be guaranteed in the usa system through voting?\n\n\n\n And yes\, fiscal operators strong enough influenc e\, but that is a very expensive game. The two major parties work in the b illions. \n\n\n\n Posted 15 hours ago\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\ n   On 10/27/2025 at 4:55 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n If voters formed bl ocks\, they could make demands of politicians. The system is good at keepi ng it from happening.\n\n\n\n Voting blocks have never demanded anything i n the usa\, that is a myth/lie. Voting blocks rarely exist as well \,the u se of voting blocks as some grand strategy is a myth/lie. \n\n\n\n Now if I am wrong give me an example in usa history?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 1 0/27/2025 at 4:55 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n What gave you that impression ?\n\n\n\n because of your choice of words or usage of voting as an action\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 10/27/2025 at 4:55 PM\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n PO TUS OJ built his MAGA following by promising he would do certain things... primarily make America hyper-white nationalist.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Of cour se\, white folks in the opposition party benefit too. That's why they don' t really do anything to stop POTUS OJ. \n\n\n\n I remember exactly what s chrumpft did to build his following and none of it was specific promises o r claiming to make the usa hyper white nationalist. \n\n\n\n His built hi s movement by blindsiding the party of abraham lincoln POAL\, and in the p rimary did two things: \n\n\n\n 1) called everyone else in government \, POAL or party of andrew jackson POAJ  a liar\, which is a functional trut h. for decades both POAL+ POAJ members from federal to city council lie\, he called them all out. They both do nothing and blame the complexities of government or each other which is a lie\, government is not complex and t he two parties as many have said did have a symbiotic relationship pre sch rumpft. \n\n\n\n 2) he said he would shake things up. He never promised a nything specific  and when he faced hillary clinton he continued the same strategy against the POAL field in the POAL primary. He called her a liar based on her record or the record of the POAJ and said the same old same old\, will lead to the same place\, which is historically true in the past sixty years in the usa from the time of schrumpfts first election. I don' t think schrumpft has ever done anything to make the USA hyper white natio nalist. I Live in NYC it isn't hyper white nationalist. It is a city poorl y run\, which has a city council mostly made of women i think ... and soon to have another first time category of mayor in mamdani. When he campaign ed against harris\, it was the same thing\, harris is incompetent and do y ou want to go back to the old stuff \, and he won handily. \n\n\n\n But r emember was it Schrumpft who led the harlem empowerment zone that didn't e mpower at all the majoirty populace in harlem at that time\, black people? no it was the clintons /charlie rangel/inez dickens/and a bunch of other black elected officials to harlem. Was it schrumpft who was the attorney g eneral of california and aided in putting black men in prison with negativ e uneven policies\, no it was kamala harris.  Was it schrumpts who used t rillions of dollars for making computer chips in new york state as the cen ter of a plan to supposedly help all of the usa\, no it was biden. Was it schrumpt who forgave the entire begging banking industry included goldman sachs whose supposed to be such a brainiac financial firm with an welfare check absent demands? no that was Bush jr +Obama. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Wel l in the schrumpf era\, what I have noticed isn't people benefitting stayi ng in government it is people leaving\, between the POAL+ POAJ I argue the exodus from people representing both parties is the only constant. The ha wks+ fiscal conservatives+ religious folk+ libertarians+reform party in th e POAL are gone\, they have been replaced by schumpfts folk. while the rep resentatives of the POAJ in the bureaurcracy have made e huge exodus from USAID to the CDC to many other places where the POAJ has expanded the bure aucracy with their people. \n\n\n\n   On 10/27/2025 at 4:55 PM\, Prof D said:\n\n\n\n Sure. FBA/ADOS want full access to their birth-rights.\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I am fortunate enough to have talked to various black peo ple in the community older than me\, who were actually there\, they never said what you said. I have never heard any of them speak of birth rights. many of them are dead\, but none spoke of birth rights. They spoke of righ ts. The language they used suggest to me it was less an statian/american t hing than a human thing. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   On 10/27/2025 at 4:55 P M\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Black folks have accesss to billions collectivel y. You know the rest.\n\n\n\n yeah I do\, i also know that no populace in the usa\, including the white jew has ever pooled their money like that\, so I ponder why the black populace in the usa should be the first? \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\,  ProfD said:\n\n\n\n There's a huge number of poor people in the USA. If t hey formed a block and made demands\, I believe it would be effective.\n\n \n\n It would be effective in getting someone elected\, 100% \, but it wou ld not be effective in demanding anything once their elected. That is the issue. Remember\, George Washington\, white man\, first president\, owner of blacks\, a majority of whites\, poor or rich\, wanted him to be king. H e could had\, but he chose to term limit himself. he did that\, it wasn't the voting blocks desire\, and that sets the tone in the usa ever after\, once elected you are free to do what you want. Which means you are free to listen to others\, you are free to work for the voting base that got you elected.... but\, you are also free to listen to no one\, you are also fre e to work against the voting base that got you elected  COUGH BLACK ELECT ED REPRESENTATIVES \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n OK. I 've never specifcally typed that voting accomplishes anything. \n\n\n\n e ven point\, I made myself an ass\n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n\n From MAGA (hyper-white nationalism) to deporting illegal immigrants to reducing federal government to fighting crime were promises made.\n\n\ n\n Yes\, in the course of things he did BUT the base wasn't those things. That is my point.  Schrumpt didn't start with those things. He used Rush Limbaughs podcast/radio method. LEt the audience tell you want to rant.  \n\n\n\n Schrumpft started with only two things: everyone in government is a liar\, and I will shake things up. \n\n\n\n Then \,as the supporters s howed thier old great granfathers confederacy flag he added\, white nation alism\, as they got on twitter about speaking spanish\, got to rid of the immigrants\, and defunding the government had many supporters in various f ields of his early supports. He is resounding\, and I am not suggesting he didn't make promises\, but that wasn't how he started this thing\n\n\n\n I Argue Schrumpft is mimicking\, even in hand gestures\, william shatner f rom the intruder. The difference is\, schrumpft\, has modern telecommunica tions as well as a legacy of failure from the elephants or donkeys to make it easier. In the 1950s 1960s many whites in rural areas still believed t he elected officials would do for them\, but by 2025\,  many of those sa me whites don't feel the people in government have done for them or their parents or grandparents. Which is hnest. WHite people in the countryside h ave been begging for a return to the farms\, a strengthening of manufactur ing before either of us was born\, did it happen? Now I comprehend all the stated reasons but again\, that doesn't deny it didn't happen but was con tinually promised. SO this meant while shatner's character falls\, Schrump ts had and has it very easy. but like shatner all he is doing is resoundin g. That is the key to the strategy from getting elected to podcast\, just resonate the anger of the people absent doing anything about it or having any sort of plan or solution. the rest does itself. the peoples anger only grows and other people who refute the anger\, don't have solutions but cr eate a cyclical banter complaining about other complaining. \n\n\n\n http s://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Intruder_(1962_film)\n\n\n\n \n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said: \n\n\n\n The MAGA movement is code for it.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Here's a newsflash for you...NYC does not repr esent the pulse of the USA.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Big Apple likes to beli eve it's a big deal...it's not.\n\n\n\n your not comprehending my point. Y our correct\, The USA is way bigger than NYC\, your correct... but the USA is way bigger than MAGA too. \n\n\n\n Schrumpft isn't making the usa hyp er white nationalist\, hyper white nationalist merely exist in the usa\, i t isn't the same thing. \n\n\n\n And what does this culminate tooo\,... r egionalisty. My point for mentioning NYC is regionality\, not some sort of centrism. The USA has many regions\, a country of three hundred million p lus people has many regions. MAGA isn't strong or noticeable everywhere\, maybe where you are\, even enough\, but not everywhere.\n\n\n\n   5 hour s ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Semantics. FBA/ADOS folks want their birth-r ights.\n\n\n\n by semantics are you suggesting an implication not verbally stated by many black people older than you are I?  well... I am not tryi ng to change your mind to anything\, I admit that again cause I see in our dialogs I border on prosyletization. But I can't suggest what people don' t say. I have never been a fan of the suggestion of overuse of coded langu age. And maybe I don't comprehend what you mean by birth rights\, but for me\, it is just rights. \n\n\n\n   5 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n I know Jews received a windfall of money post-holocaust. Israel receives a chunky allowance from the USA every year too.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Still\, research how much Jews own and the amount of wealth it has generated.\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Jews aren't going broke through gross consumerism. Their churches are not raising billions of dollars just to enrich the pastors an d his flunkies.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n FBA/ADOS should pool their money becaus e whenever white folks decide to pull the rug from underneath paying for t heir labor...many of our people will be worse off.\n\n\n\n Expand  \n\n\n \n I also know that white jews are a very tiny populace of the white popul ace in the usa\, I also know that all the tiny populaces in the usa's vari ous demographics are more financially successful than the largers. \n\n\n \n white jews are more financially successful than the white italisn or wh ite germans/poor white trash or white irish. But white jews are also far s maller.\n\n\n\n I know that black ethiopians are more financially successf ul than black DOSers but again\, far smaller populace. \n\n\n\n I know th at white japanese are more financially successful than white chinese\, but again\, far smaller populace. \n\n\n\n all larger populaces in any demog raphic in the usa are financially negative compared to a smaller populace in that same demographic. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n White people have already p ulled the rug for paying for white labor\, that is how schrumpft won... yo u keep suggesting a secret alliance among whites that doesn't exist in mod ernity. The reason being is the unity of the past among whites relied on b locking access to wealth. But BLack DOSers while sacrificing alot of our c ommunities or lives or goals or dreams using nonviolence to integrate to w hites\, with the help of the soviet union calling the usa out and gaining international traction\, successfully got whites in the usa to share wealt h and once that happened\, white power as it was had problems. which has l ed to today. White people in all white towns all over the usa have only kn own white power and fear integration with the nonwhite\, fear sharing of w ealth with the nonwhite\, fear fiscal competition with the non white all b ecause they comprehend correclty\, that all of said fears will lead to gre ater chances of fiscal poverty. Black people\, especially DOSers are used to fiscal poverty ala from its ultimate form being enslaved\, we don't get scared at the same rates being fiscally poor like whites. Schrumpft uses this. And that is how the pro anti jewish battle in the white populace in the usa has grown. The judeochristian union started in the 1960s based on the idea of a pan white identity in the usa\, which suit\, white women/whi te latinos like blanco puerto ricans/white asians like han chinese who all used the 1960s to grow their wealth in the white mold  BUT\, it also mea nt non white financial growth and then the corporations \, many with wealt hy white jews in administration started moving jobs outside the usa\, and the rest is history. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251023 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 22 10/22/2025 DTSTAMP:20251022T194154Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:553-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n United States Postal Service 2025 \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n The United States Postal Service in the USA compared to other mod els\n\n you can't compare denmark to canada. yes\, denmark is getting rid of letter shipping. but postnord has a functional monopoly on the postal s ervice in scandanavia denmark/sweden/finland and another. And by postnord' s admission\, they are ending letters\, not mail. mail is letters+ package s. packages are on the rise. letters are on the decline\, not mail though\ , and this is part of the argument in the usa or canada\, that mail has ri sen\, not in letters but in packages \, and to be blunt\, the post office should had been where the internet was designed through. the internet lite rally uses addresses but the people implementing it never though to go thr ough the post office. Government officials biggest flaw is when they don't make functional laws that forsee problems. Lyndon B Johnson's speech on t he immigration act is why in 2025 immigration is the issue it is.  I quot e Lyndon B Johnson October 03\, 1965 speaking on the just passed Immigrati on Act of 1965. \n\n\n\n \n\n \"It does not affect the lives of millions. It will not reshape the structure of our daily lives\, or really add impo rtantly to either our wealth or our power. Yet it is still one of the most important acts of this Congress and of this administration. For it does r epair a very deep and painful flaw in the fabric of American justice. It c orrects a cruel and enduring wrong in the conduct of the American Nation.\ "\n\n  \n\n\n\n What? \n\n Allowing millions of hungry or fiscally poor people to enter any human populace under any government is going to affect the lives of everyone in said populace. It will reshape the lives of ever yone in said populace. It will add\, in white peoples case it did\,  or d iminish\, in Black descended of enslaved's case it did\, their fiscal weal th or power. In 2025 the immigrant populace herded into the usa has never corrected any wrongs in the usa\, but has added more by their existence. N ow\, in 2025\, who has the answers to all the various desires in all the v arious races in the usa? \n\n Immigration Act speech \n\n https://aalbc. com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2785&\;type=status\n\n Kerner Commission \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status= 2685&\;type=status\n\n\n\n \n\n The Post office should never had compet ition. \n\n I quote the brookings report\, for it mirrors what I have sai d time and again.\n\n\n\n \n\n \"First\, we highlight how market forces an d the postal service’s obligation to provide quality nationwide mail ser vice at uniform rates contribute to the financial challenges faced by the postal service.\"\n\n  \n\n\n\n Read the primary mission statement of the United States postal service\n\n\n\n \n\n \"The Postal Service shall have as its basic function the obligation to provide postal services to bind t he Nation together through the personal\, educational\, literary\, and bus iness correspondence of the people. It shall provide prompt\, reliable\, a nd efficient services to patrons in all areas and shall render postal serv ices to all communities. (39 U.S. Code\, Section 101)\"\n\n  \n\n\n\n The problem with postal services is that they are at heart\, socialist or com munist entities. That mission statement says nothing about financial profi t. It is all about having a federal system that can cut through any bounda ries to reach any and all peoples in the usa.  The idea is\, everyone who has a home can get mail: letters+packages+ other. It is a equal system. T he problem is \, fiscally wealthy people\, usually whites\, have always wa nted to take the profitable sector of the postal industry. And that imbala nce is the heart of the problem. \n\n\n\n \n\n \"FedEx reported $35 billi on in debt in 2024.  USPS also already faces considerable competition fro m private companies\, such as am*zon\, FedEx\, and UPS\, in delivery of it s competitive—and profitable—products\, such as parcels.\"\n\n  \n\n\ n\n But it started with UPS. UPS was started as a specialty delivery servi ce in 1907. Not faster but more secure than the postal service.\n\n FedEx was started in  1971 for urgent shipping. Way faster for businesses. \n\ n UPS and FedEx have never been about sending mail to a town of ten people . It has never been about letters to santa claus from fiscally poor childr en. \n\n support\n\n https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ckg8jllq283o\n\n s upport\n\n https://www.brookings.edu/articles/return-to-sender-what-privat ization-might-mean-for-the-future-of-the-usps/\n\n in amendment\n\n potent ially\, the tragedy of post offices is they serve an important function\, they allow populaces under any government the ability to community absent electricity. This is why nearly every country with a certain level of weal th has a post office. The problem is\, government officials in most govern ments in humanity whether elected or not\, don't make functional laws. The y make philosophical or fiscally lobbied laws. Both of which do one thing\ , kick problems down the road. When the road ends\, all that is left is so me form of chaos because the decades or centuries to actually do something that is financially or organizationally feasible has passed. \n\n referr al\n\n https://discord.com/channels/1238281346833715283/123865468909728982 8/1425878435011629066\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prior Edition\n\n\n\n https://aal bc.com/tc/topic/11653-economiccorner021/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n THE United Sta tes Postal Service 2025\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topi c/11975-economiccorner022/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com /tc/events/event/322-economic-corner-21-06032025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/562-economic-corner-23/\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n COMMENTARIES\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @profd\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I have q uestions to you\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n By your studying\,  when did the \"sys tem of capitalism\" begin in humanity? I noticed in past dialogs you use t hat to refer it as a power over the government of the usa\, maybe over hum anity? am I wrong that you referred as i said? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In you r assessment\, do other systems besides fiscal capitalism have competition ? and what are the other systems?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL\n\n\n\n https://a albc.com/tc/topic/11975-economiccorner022/#findComment-77152\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n made statements so I replied outside continuity\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 10/22/2025 at 5:09 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n There is always competition under a syste m of capitalism. \n \n \n\n\n\n This is his opening statement. So what a re the questions automatically? \n\n\n\n Is he suggesting other systems h umans have employed are bereft of competition? \n\n\n\n If so \, he is wr ong. If not\, then why mention this?\n\n\n\n Competition isn't the issue\, quality is. Two people can always play chess\, but in certain game rooms one can not sit across another unless they have achieved a certain quality . \n\n\n\n In this case\, The post office of the usa was made to sit acro ss private firms whose qualities were negative in comparison. Yes\, they a re competitors but it is like someone who has been playing chess for over fifty years sitting across from someone who never even heard of the game c hess. Yes\, the private firms will get stronger like any person just start ing a game will\, but the superior competitor\, in this case\, the post of fice\, will get weaker against such opposition by default. Cause the oppos ition doesn't offer a challenge except long term. \n\n\n\n Now\, this mea ns the government allowed a dysfunctional competition. \n\n\n\n \n On 10 /22/2025 at 5:09 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n It is hard to predict ne w and emerging technologies and how it affects the way we do things.\n \n \n\n\n\n This is a lie. This was Tesla's entire point. Edison and Westing house simply wanted to use technology for financial profit\, but Tesla wan ted to not only make technology but guide its use. It is not hard at all t o guide the use of technology to positive ends. What is hard is blockading financially greedy from using technology absent concern of its use for fi nancial profit\, and abset that concern creates environments of abuse + mi suse. \n\n\n\n I lived to see programming become potent enough to be deem ed artificial intelligence\, in no way is this era hard to predict. The pr oblem is the usa has a system of slavery which is designed to make profit regardless of the condition of others\, and in such a system\, the use of programming power has been abused + misused while making money. \n\n\n\n \n On 10/22/2025 at 5:09 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n The pony expres s was replaced by faster forms of transportation.  Trains and other vehic les worked out great for the postal service.  The postal service employed millions of people directly and indirectly too.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n As mentioned above\, the United Parcel Service (UPS) was started ove r 100 years ago as a delivery service.   That business took off especial ly as gross consumerism ramped up. \n \n \n\n\n\n Is he suggesting techn ological change requires new firms? if so \, that has no basis in truth. T he train is still the most efficient transportation system even with the a utomotive or aeroplane markets subsidies. BAsed on what he said\, so far i n his argument\, automotives + aeroplanes should be more efficient. \n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 10/22/2025 at 5:09 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n While the postal service could handle billions of pieces of mail and parce ls annually\, larger packagers and faster delivery times required somethin g different.  A demand and convenience private companies were more than w iling to fulfill under a system of capitalism.\n \n \n\n\n\n Why did they require something different? And even if they did\, why did that demand a n allowance for private companies. In my eyes\, his equation doesn't add u p. If the post office needed a branch for faster delivery or larger packag es\, why couldn't the government develop a service within the post office for that? what he is saying is the government of the usa\, which had and h as many engineers in it\, couldn't develop a system for quicker delivery t o the needs of financially above average customers? I wonder how many beli eve that?   I don't see why fiscal capitalism has anything to do with th is. He is suggesting that fiscal capitalism as implemented in the usa can' t tell businesses not to compete against a government agency? if that was true\, the us military would have competition now. Cause war is very profi table. But... \n\n\n\n \n On 10/22/2025 at 5:09 PM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n IMO\, long before the internet and mail\, personal computers shou ld have been viewed as the technology that would drastically the alter the way we collect and store information (data) but also how we communicate.  \n \n\n \n  \n \n \n\n\n\n I want to say\, in cheap hindsight he i s correct. But why do I say cheap hindsight\, because his point misses as in the other sections of his argument the governments role in all of this. Government is designed to govern\, not make money\, not make war\, not ma ke peace\, not share wealth\, but to govern. \n\n\n\n The truth is\, the problem with this issue is the people in the usa government are not engine ers. Most of the people in the usa government have one of four educational backgrounds: lawyers/business administration/soldiers/doctors. But what i s the problem? IS it education? no. Being educated isn't a reflection of w hat one is experienced in studying. Being educated is a measure of knowled ge through experience. \n\n\n\n Now similar to the personal computer and the internet is the car and the automotive roads or the train and the trai n tracks. They each drastically changed how people in the usa communicate\ , store data. So let's look at the four educational backgrounds concerning : the transcontinental railroad(s) whose parts are still in use\, the hig hway system with elements like Route 66\, the interstate which is still be ing added to and deleted the use of route 66 o other parts of the highway system. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What are lawyers experienced in studying? the law and the processes of legal environments. \n\n\n\n In what arenas do lawyers experience help or hurt in government? Lawyers are helpful in matt ers of the law\, its adherence. Lawyers are best to uncover an aspect of a law that will coincide with another law\, thus making legal loopholes or collisions. That is helpful. Important tool to preserve the strength of th e law. But\, doesn't clean up the law.  Lawyers are hurtful in matters wh ere criminal or dysfunctional activity can occur through the law. \n\n\n\ n Let's relate: what experience do lawyers have in implementing transconti nental railroads\, highway systems\, interstate highway systems\, or elect ronic internets. Do they have experience making trains or cars or computer s? no. So\, maybe the implementation of these technologies would had been better if the elected officials were not dysfunctional. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n Next \, what are business administrators experienced in studying? using accountancy or counting\, making averages\, developing statistics. \n\n\ n\n In what arenas do business administrators experience help or hurt in g overnment? Business administrators help in assessing numbers around a laws use. Making statistics. \n\n\n\n That is helpful. Important tool of guid ance. But terrible for implementation. Business administrators are hurtful in functionalizing holistic solutions\, averages or statistics by default are designed to accept negligibilites. But efficient law can't do that.  \n\n\n\n Let's relate. What experience to business administrators have in implementing transcontinental railrods\, highway systems\, interstate high way systems\, or electronic internets? Do they have experience crafting tr ains cars or computers? no. the people who craft said items or craft the m achines that craft said items are engineers or craftspeople. So \, maybe t he implementation of these technologies would had been better if the elect ed officials were not dysfunctional. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Next \, what are soldiers experienced in studying? weapons management+ tactics on mock fie lds of battle+ coordination with other human beings. \n\n\n\n In what are nas do soldiers experience help or hurt in government? Soldiers are great in war\, preparing for war\, preparing other human beings for war. That is helpful. But too often not great for peace. Soldiers are hurtful comprehe nding libertarian/ not the usa school of governing though but the word use sense as in free thought. The law always allows potential for free though ts or actions and soldiers are poorly suited to see or react to that or im plement sight or reaction into the law. \n\n\n\n Let's relate. What exper ience do soldiers have in implementing transcontinental railroads\, highwa y systems\, interstate highway systems or electronic internets? They may h ave done it for the militaries needs. But do they have experience implemen ting said systems for a use outside the military? rarely. Do they have exp erience crating trains cars or computers for non militaristic use? no. The people who craft said items for nonmilitaristic use are not soldiers usua lly. Usually disdain the chain of command culture. So maybe the implementa tion of these technologies would had been better if the elected officials were more accustomed.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Next\, what are doctors experienc ed in studying? individual and collective illness+ remedies+ measures of h ealth.\n\n\n\n In what arenas do doctors experience help or hurt in govern ment? Doctors are best in assessing potential damage to health or symptoms of illness. That is helpful. But doctors can be too rigid to their findin gs. The health of an individual or group doesn't have to mirror what any s tudy suggest and that dissimilarity can lead to worse health for an indivi dual or group\, that is the essence of medical malpractice.\n\n\n\n Let's relates. What experience do doctors have in implementing transcontinental railroads\, highway systems\, interstate highway systems or electronic int ernets? no. Do they have experience crafting trains cars or computers? no. Too often engineers develop the doctors tools with input from the doctor.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The point? engineers are better suited in government cause they prefer action not laws\, and are used to building/destroying/r ebooting systems. Their great weakness unlike the others is their flexibil ity. Where the lawyer wants to maintain the law\, the engineer says lets c onsider what the law doesn't handle. Where the business administrator want s to calculate the influence of the law\, the engineer wants to design the law to handle all potential situations. Where the soldier wants the law t o be implemented \, the engineer questions if the law is needed. Where the doctor is measuring the risk of health\, the engineer is focused on the p urpose. \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251022 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 21 - 06/03/2025 DTSTAMP:20250603T124404Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:322-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n What is the counter plan to Schrumpts? Is it t he prior status quo?  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Did you think the end of the t hird white european imperial war/ cold war would not eventually lead to a major change in the relation of governments?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n A question \, and Schrumpft\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Question\n\n\n\n What are Black owned luxury goods? To a restate\, what products do wealthy blacks buy that are luxury from black owned firms?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Schrumpft\n\n\n\n I have had time to consider Schrumpft and when I look at his presidency what ar e his financial goals? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Internal- in the usa. \n\n\n\ n \n Manipulate customers in the U.S.A. to buy products made in the usa. Tariffs by default raise prices outside a country with the purpose of maki ng products cheaper internally. \n \n \n Manipulate firms in the USA to buy more natural resources in the usa while growing/manufacturing more pro ducts in the usa. Tariffs by default raise the prices of external natural resources or foreign manufactured/grown goods\, with the purpose of making domestic natural resources+domestic made goods cheaper. \n \n \n Reduce the populace of non usa citizens to colleges or universities in the usa. The USA has educated more foreigners than any other government from the ni neteen hundreds to today. \n \n \n Reduce the bureaucratic size of the u sa\, all federal workers have long scale benefits in healthcare that are e xpensive. Cutting the laborforce of the federal bureaucracy is why automot ive companies in the private sector wanted to reduce their own workforce w hose healthcare and long term benefits are expensive.\n \n \n Embrace bit coin as the alternative and future currency in humanity. Whomever can get hashtag currencies called cryptocurrencies to work will have an entire alt ernative currency they can start and control \, like the dutch with the st ock market. \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n External- outside the usa\n\n\n\n \n Reduce military expenditures from the USA in Europe or Asia. The USA spend s a lot of money policing humanity. Reducing this cost is huge. \n \n \n Delete the USA's role as the center of the global economy network and get the USA to have a one to one financial relationship to all other governme nts. \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In Conclusion\n\n\n\n When I look at Schrumpf ts financial activities\, what he wants to do is undo the Franklin Deleano r Roosevelt built imperial model for the USA. \n\n\n\n FDR as president w as the one who started the idea of the USA financing enemies: england/fran ce/germany/japan/italy/russia during the bloodshed of the second white eur opean imperial war/SWEIW\, commonly called world war two. The following pr esidents\, from Kennedy to Johnson continued the strategy of embracing int erwoven internationalism. In the 1960s\, firms in the usa started their re moving of domestic manufacture to foreign countries\, as in latin america and then in Nixon in China. The same presidents from Kennedy to Obama embr aced the idea of giving foreign students education in the usa. And from Ei senhower the military industrial complex grew\, but the federal bureaucrat ic industrial complex has grown whether The party of andrew jackson\, the donkeys[democratic party of governance] or the party of abraham lincoln\, the elephants[republican party of governance]. Which was used originally t o buffer the inability of state governments\, as all fifty state governmen ts were dominated by the white christian male populaces in said states\, t o allow non white\, non male\, non christian populaces protection/opportun ities somewhere in the USA where the private sector was near completely bl ockaded plus state governments\, as said\, were near completely blockaded as well. The USA also since FDR \, has been policing humanity\, not wildly \, but enough to make sure all the little land governments in humanity who are financially best suited for the interwoven internationalism\, not be attacked or dominated by militaristically potent neighbors. Now the reason FDR started all these trends was the third white european imperial war\, commonly called the cold war. The Soviet Union's argument to all countries and peoples was the USA is a continuation of the fiscal slaving culture t hat stemmed from western europe. So the USA financed enemies/interwove its economy to others/built manufacturing plants in foreign countries/embrace d foreigners into being usa citizens or going to school in the usa all to get the college of governments to side with the USA over the Union of Sovi et Socialist Republics/USSR and they did. This required an ever growing fe deral bureaucracy\, in military expenditures for international security or the wildly growing populace in the usa. The USA won the third white europ ean imperial war. But the cost was the growth of Western Europe into the E uropean Union\, China into a world power aside a geographic neighborhood w ith financially potent Japan or India. So\, the victory against the Soviet Union created new competitors. \n\n\n\n Schrumpft wants to undo that tra in from FDR to modernity to kill the competitors. The reasons are not hate ful but are a cold strategy which many said in the 1900s. If the USA pulls out of investing in foreign countries \, most have no where to turn and t he European Union plus China or Russia don't have the means or will to pro vide the same level of aid or sharing fiscal activity. If the USA pulls ou t of giving foreign students education\, the EU or China will not or can n ot support the horde of hopeful migrant college students. Lessening the fe deral bureaucracy will save money long term and force the states in the un ion to improve relating to their multiracial populaces. \n\n\n\n What Sch rumpft wants to do is return humanity to as close a state to how it was at the end of the SWEIW\, where all of Europe outside Russia was destroyed a nd had no vitality. All of East asia was destroyed and had no vitality. SC hrumpft doesn't want to go to war to destroy foreign governments\, he want s to perform a cold war with the rest of humanity by evacuating the USA fr om the system it centers\, knowing the European Union or China don't have the will or means or desire or infrastructure to support the college of co untries as the USA has done since FDR and will force all countries even in anger to relate mostly to the USA. \n\n\n\n The USA will go from being t he center of a complex web\, where parts of the web can grow as a centroid \, to being the center of a solar image\, where no matter how bright a ray is no ray touches another. \n\n\n\n As the images suggest to go from a c omplex web to a set of solar rays\, all the pieces between fall off and di e\, but the center survives and potentially thrives\, that is Schrumpfts p lan\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11507-eco nomiccorner020/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Question of Black Luxury + Schrumpft\n\ n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11653-economiccorner021/ \n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/206-econo mic-corner-20-02262025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/ events/event/553-economic-corner-22-10222025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250603 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 20 - 02/26/2025 DTSTAMP:20250226T071744Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:206-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Economic Corner - Space Mineral Race\n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS\ n\n I must first say the parts below. \n\n\n\n \n FISCAL NOTES FROM THE ARTICLE OR FROM CITATIONS- quick notes to look at\, all financial info is there\n \n \n CITATION NOTES FOR ARTICLE ELEMENTS- for persons or organiz ations\n \n \n BASE ARTICLE - the main article that inspired this edition \n \n \n INVESTIGATED FINDINGS - other articles I found that are valuable to share\n \n\n\n\n Now... to my thoughts\n\n The history of mineral rush es throughout human history is clear\, 99% who venture for mineral riches end in failure\, so the money in the space mining industry is  and will b e in the support system to mining. SpaceX and others who have affordable w ays to reach outer space will profit on the profiteers. The biggest challe nge legally will be on claims to asteroids and ownership of content back t o earth. Currently no international framework exist and with the governmen ts of USA/China/Russia all in rattle the saber mode\, the legal environmen t for space mining will offer opportunities. The 1% who strike it rich wil l change whole industries on Earth for the mineral resources brought to ea rth will literally augment the quantity and sequentially value of mineral resources on Earth.\n\n Extreme attention need to be made on the managemen t of satellites \, routes into deep space. Depending on the legal scenario \, money can be made by leasing out space in outer space\, for use by spac e miners or others trying to get their project to work most efficiently.\n \n Black countries need to focus on food grown in space. As wealth from ou tside earth joins earth\, it will lead to excess\, and that will need high er demands of food from population growth.\n\n\n\n FISCAL NOTES FROM THE A RTICLE OR FROM CITATIONS\n\n\n\n \n Cost of Brokkr-1 not mentioned public ly\n \n \n Details to Brokkr-1 not mentioned publicly\n \n \n Rideshare on SpaceX is 1.1 million dollars for 200 kilogram slots\n \n \n Astroforg e raised $55 million in funding [ https://www.astroforge.com/updates/firi ng-on-all-cylinders-announcing-40m-and-mission-3 ] fifteen million is fro m private or unlisted. Forty million is from : Nova Threshold {citation :  https://www.gaebler.com/VC-Investors-FAE25306-F35B-4688-AB64-AF128C7CDA3 A-Nova-Threshold } \, SevenSevenSix{https://sevensevensix.com/}\, initia lized {https://initialized.com/}\, Jed McCaleb {http://jedmccaleb.com/ \ ; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jed_McCaleb}\, Y Combinator { https://ww w.ycombinator.com/ } \, Uncorrelated Ventures { https://www.uncorrelated .com/ } \, Soma Capitol { https://somacap.com/ } \, 468 capitol { http s://468cap.com/ } \, Day one ventures { https://www.dayoneventures.com/  } \, L2 Ventures { https://www.l2v.com/ } \n \n \n Matthew Gialich s tated [goto \"The CEO of Astroforge Matthew Gialich said\" below] the busi ness model of Astroforge relies on SpaceX customer prices.\n \n \n Cost o f Odin - not mentioned publicly\n \n \n Cost of Using undisclosed dishes in  India\, South Africa\, Australia and the United States- not publicly stated\n \n \n The financial goal is to get rare metals in the Platinum G roup [goto \"Platinum Group Metals : \" below]\n \n \n From Mitch Hunter- Scullion\, paraphrase: 117\,000 tons of platinum is about 680 years of glo bal supply\, 1\,000 tons of platinum  is the next half century of mobile phones\n \n \n From Joel C. Sercel industrial steps: 1) living off land i n space - early energy from space [ https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11498-econ omiccorner017/ ]  2) export products back to earth [ Platinum group meta ls] 3) affordable automated systems will be built for work outside earth 4 ) factories will turn asteroids into products sent back to earth \n \n \n intermittent steps - 1a) high speed internet service will mostly come fr om outer space with hundreds of thousands of satellites 1b) data processin g will need to move into space[the biggest cost of data processing on eart h is power\, solar power in space will make it cheaper] 1c) energy  beame d from space to earth [ maybe earlier than the others] 1d) space products will be built from material in space 2a) space mining will take off with a n off earth infrastructure [ rocket propellant from moons or asteroids\; a steroid or moon rocks to build structures\;] efficient methods will win 2b ) real estate will be the most important industry [ first tourism\, then p eople who want freedom ]\n \n \n The U.S. Commercial Space Launch Competi tiveness Act (H.R.2262) focuses on making guidelines\, but focuses on priv ate public sector\, doesn't speak of penalties\, doesn't speak of continge ncies\, doesn't speak of legal scenarios like ownership claim disputes\, i t brings no clarity on potential international conflicts\, it speaks of de signing plans for safety and management. So financially the lack of clarit y legally will make future investments value unknown based on the unknown legal climate. The act sets up space as an international wild west in spac e.\n \n\n\n\n CITATION NOTES FOR ARTICLE ELEMENTS\n\n\n\n \n Astroforge [  https://www.astroforge.com/ \; https://www.linkedin.com/company/astrof orge/ ] - name of firm attempting to land and mine on asteroid. Only the Rosetta spacecraft of the European Space Agency has achieved a landing on an asteroid before it was on asteroid 21 Lutetia.\n \n \n Ashton Meginnis [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashton-meginnis-b2927440/ ]\n \n \n Wesle y Tunelius [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/wesley-tunelius/ ]\n \n \n Ben Fields [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjaminozerfields/ ] \n \n \n M att Gialich [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-gialich/ ]\n \n \n Da vid Gump [ https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgump/ ARTICLE: https://www. linkedin.com/pulse/asteroid-mining-next-revolution-after-low-cost-launch-d avid-gump/]\n \n \n Deep Space Industries [ https://www.linkedin.com/com pany/deep-space-industries-inc/ ]- sold of in 2019 \, never reached an as teroid\n \n \n Astroforge Demonstration [ https://www.astroforge.com/upd ates/an-update-on-mission-1-mission-2-same-name-new-vehicle-new-standard-f or-space-exploration \; video: https://youtu.be/K83Jp3V_hac?t=340  ]  \n \n \n Athena lander from Intuitive Machines [ https://investors.intui tivemachines.com/news-releases/news-release-details/intuitive-machines-im- 2-mission-lunar-lander-encapsulated-and ]\n \n \n NASA’s Lunar Trailbl azer [ https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/lunar-trailblazer/ ]\n \n \n L icense from the Federal Communications Commission [ https://www.astroforg e.com/updates/fcclicense {International Telecommunications Union defines deep space as greater than 2 million kilometers from Earth. }]\n \n \n Pa rt 5 Experimental Licensing from Federal Communications Commission [ http s://www.fcc.gov/space/part-5-experimental-licensing \; Code for PART 5— EXPERIMENTAL RADIO SERVICE (method to obtain license) {https://www.ecfr.go v/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-5} \; OET Experimental Lice nsing System { https://apps.fcc.gov/oetcf/els/index.cfm} ] \n \n \n Ast eroid 2022 OB5 [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_OB5 ]\n \n \n Uncon firmed - potentially Astroforge is the only public firm preparing to go to an asteroid\, this does not count completely private or government ventur es\n \n \n Stephanie Jarmak [ https://sjarmak.com/ ] \n \n \n Platinu m Group Metals : ruthenium\, rhodium\, palladium\, osmium\, iridium\, and platinum. (resistant to corrosion found raw in nature/noble\, low quantity on earth/rare\, conducts heat or electricity well/metal)[ https://en.wik ipedia.org/wiki/Platinum_group ] \n \n \n Mitch Hunter-Scullion (he loo ks like a bond villain)[https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitch-hunter-scullion- 2aa921a3/?originalSubdomain=uk]\n \n \n Asteroid Mining Corporation (Thei r mission I quote: Use Space technology to disrupt Earth markets \, Use Ea rth revenue to unlock Space markets)\;(Bond Villainy confirmed) [ https:/ /www.asteroidminingcorporation.co.uk/ ]\n \n \n Joel C. Sercel (cohagen alert)[ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelsercel/ ] \n \n \n TRansAstra [ https://transastra.com/ ]\n \n \n Video Interpretation of TransAstra bag grabbing an asteroid\n \n \n   \n \n  \n \n \n \n Unconfirme d - Joel C. Sercel states \"not enough P.G.M.s in asteroids to justify tha t as a stand-alone business\"\n \n \n U.S. Commercial Space Launch Compet itiveness Act (H.R.2262)  [ pdf https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW -114publ90/pdf/PLAW-114publ90.pdf \; html text https://www.govinfo.gov/c ontent/pkg/PLAW-114publ90/html/PLAW-114publ90.htm \; article https://www .geekwire.com/2015/asteroid-riches-president-obama-signs-space-resource-bi ll-into-law/ ] \n \n \n Michelle Hanlon [ https://www.forallmoonkind.o rg/ ] \n \n \n Benjamin Weiss [ https://eaps.mit.edu/people/faculty/be njamin-weiss/ ]\n \n \n Lindy Elkins-Tanton [ https://lindyelkinstanton .com/ ]\n \n\n\n\n UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR BASE ARTICLE\n\n https://www. nytimes.com/2025/02/23/science/astroforge-launch-asteroid-mining.html\n\n\ n\n BASE ARTICLE\n\n Earth’s 1st Asteroid Mining Prospector Heads to the Launchpad\n\n The dream of mining metals in deep space crashed and burned in the 2010s. AstroForge’s Odin mission to survey a potentially metalli c asteroid is packed and ready to lift off.\n\n\n\n By Jonathan O’Callag han\n\n Jonathan O’Callaghan reported on AstroForge in 2023 when its ast eroid mining mission’s destination was a secret.\n\n\n\n Image\n\n Three Astroforge workers in hairnets and blue gloves give a thumbs up to the ca mera as they pose next to a small spacecraft in a large white facility.\n\ n From left\, Astroforge personnel Ashton Meginnis\, Wesley Tunelius\, and Ben Fields with Odin during final assembly testing.Credit...Astroforge\n\ n\n\n Feb. 23\, 2025\n\n A private company is aiming to heave a microwave oven-size spacecraft toward an asteroid later this week\, its goal to kick off a future where precious metals are mined around the solar system to c reate vast fortunes on Earth.\n\n\n\n “If this works out\, this will pro bably be the biggest business ever conceived of\,” said Matt Gialich\, t he founder and chief executive of AstroForge\, the builder and operator of the robotic probe.\n\n\n\n That may sound familiar: A decade ago\, news s tories were aflutter about the wealth promised by asteroid mining companie s. But things didn’t quite work out.\n\n\n\n “We blossomed three or fo ur years too early for the big gold rush of investor enthusiasm for space projects\,” said David Gump\, the former chief executive of Deep Space I ndustries\, one of the earlier batch of would-be asteroid miners. Eventual ly the money dried up\; Deep Space Industries was sold off in 2019 and nev er reached an asteroid.\n\n\n\n AstroForge is betting on things being diff erent this time around. The California company has already launched a demo nstration spacecraft into Earth orbit and raised $55 million in funding. N ow the company is set to actually travel toward a near-Earth asteroid in d eep space.\n\n\n\n AstroForge’s second robotic spacecraft\, called Odin\ , is bundled into a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will also launch a private ly built moon lander and a NASA-operated lunar orbiter as soon as Wednesda y from Florida. About 45 minutes after the launch\, Odin will separate and begin its solo journey into deep space\, while the moon missions — the Athena lander from Intuitive Machines and NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer — t ake off on their own separate journeys.\n\n\n\n No commercial company has ever launched an operational mission beyond the moon\, and AstroForge is t he first company to receive a license from the Federal Communications Comm ission that allows it to transmit from deep space. AstroForge will communi cate with the spacecraft using undisclosed dishes in India\, South Africa\ , Australia and the United States.\n\n\n\n At first\, AstroForge kept its target asteroid a secret\, fearing competitors. But in January\, the compa ny announced the destination\, an object called 2022 OB5. Mr. Gialich said he was more confident of AstroForge’s advantage.\n\n\n\n “We’re the only one that’s actually doing anything\,” he said. “Who else is pr eparing to go to an asteroid?”\n\n\n\n Asteroid 2022 OB5 is small\, no m ore than 330 feet across\, about the size of a football field. AstroForg e’s science team assessed the asteroid by using telescopes\, including t he Lowell Observatory and the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona\, to es timate its metallic content. They believe that 2022 OB5 is an M-type\, a c lass of asteroids comprising 5 percent of known space rocks that may have a high amount of metal. The analysis of the asteroid has not yet been publ ished.\n\n\n\n Image\n\n A view looking into two very large mirrors of a g round-based space telescope at dusk.\n\n The Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona\, which helped Astroforge’s science team assess Asteroid 2022 OB 5.Credit...Joe McNally/Getty Images\n\n\n\n Stephanie Jarmak\, a planetary scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics\, said the c ompany’s analysis was plausible.\n\n\n\n “There are several different ways to determine whether it’s an M-type or not\,” she said\, includin g studying the asteroid’s brightness\, or albedo. A higher brightness su ggests the presence of more metal. She lauded the company for being more o pen about its target asteroid. “I thought that was really nice\,” she said.\n\n\n\n M-type asteroids are thought to be rich in metals such as ir on and nickel. These could be useful as a resource for construction in spa ce\, perhaps to build new spacecraft and machinery. However\, some M-types may also be rich in more valuable platinum group metals\, or P.G.M.s\, us ed in devices such as smartphones. The windfall would be huge if these cou ld be mined in abundance and brought to Earth.\n\n\n\n “A single one-kil ometer-diameter asteroid\, if it was platinum-bearing\, would contain abou t 117\,000 tons of platinum\,” said Mitch Hunter-Scullion\, the founder and chief executive of the Asteroid Mining Corporation in Britain. His com pany is taking a slower approach and plans to demonstrate technologies on the moon later this decade.\n\n\n\n “That’s about 680 years of global supply. You’re talking about centuries of platinum demand from a single asteroid\,” Mr. Hunter-Scullion said. “Even if you get 1\,000 tons of platinum\, you’re sitting there with the next half century of mobile pho nes.”\n\n\n\n Not everyone is convinced that so much valuable metal will be found inside M-type asteroids.\n\n\n\n “There’s not enough P.G.M.s in asteroids to justify that as a stand-alone business\,” said Joel C. Sercel\, the founder and chief executive of TransAstra\, a company that is developing a giant bag that could be used to grab and extract resources f rom asteroids in the future. The company will test a small mock-up of the technology aboard the International Space Station following a launch to th e station this summer.\n\n\n\n The legalities of mining asteroids and sell ing their resources remain uncertain.\n\n\n\n In 2015\, President Obama si gned a law allowing asteroid resources to be sold on Earth. But no one has yet put this law to the test.\n\n\n\n “Is AstroForge going to make a cl aim? Does the fact they reach this asteroid before anybody else mean nobod y else can go to it?” asked Michelle Hanlon\, a law professor specializi ng in space at the University of Mississippi. “It’s going to be intere sting to see the international reaction.”\n\n\n\n Image\n\n Looking up a t the payload of a SpaceX rocket just before encapsulation.\n\n Odin\, low er right\, will be hitching a ride with the Athena lander from Intuitive M achines aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.Credit...SpaceX\n\n\n\n Odin will arrive in late 2025 after a journey of about 300 days to 2022 OB5. The ast eroid follows an orbit around the sun similar to Earth’s. The probe will fly past the asteroid at a distance of 0.6 miles\, using two black-and-wh ite cameras to snap pictures. Zooming by the object at thousands of miles per hour\, the spacecraft will have an encounter that will last five and a half hours.\n\n\n\n “And it’s probably only the last 10 minutes tha t we’re getting pictures bigger than a pixel\,” Mr. Gialich said.\n\n\ n\n The goal is for these pictures to be enough to tell if the asteroid is metallic.\n\n\n\n “Hopefully it looks shiny\,” Mr. Gialich said. Howe ver\, it’s very possible that any metal could be mixed into the astero id’s soil and not be visible.\n\n\n\n “I’m not sure how much composi tional information they can get purely from images\,” Dr. Jarmak\, the p lanetary scientist\, said.\n\n\n\n Craters on the surface may hint at hidd en metal though\, Mr. Gialich said\, adding: “We expect to see cracking on the surface” that could be indicative of metallic content.\n\n\n\n Th e spacecraft will also precisely track the asteroid’s position in space during the flyby. Doing so could allow the density of the asteroid to be c alculated\, based on its gravitational tug on the spacecraft. Higher densi ty would hint at more metallic content.\n\n\n\n Success is not guaranteed. AstroForge’s first mission\, Brokkr-1\, was launched into low-Earth orb it in April 2023 to test the company’s planned asteroid refining technol ogy. But the mission encountered problems and burned up in the atmosphere. Mr. Gialich said that AstroForge had improved its technologies on the Odi n spacecraft by relying on components produced in-house.\n\n\n\n Vestri\, the third mission of AstroForge\, will be its most ambitious. That spacecr aft\, the size of a refrigerator\, will be designed to land on an asteroid as soon as next year\, possibly even 2022 OB5 if the metallic content is confirmed. Vestri’s landing legs would be equipped with magnets designed to stick to the surface of the asteroid and be capable of estimating how many P.G.M.s are present.\n\n\n\n Image\n\n The Odin spacecraft rests on a small platform in light from the sun at the edge of a large facility.\n\n Testing Odin’s solar arrays with natural sunlight from the loading bays at AstroForge’s facility in SealBeach\, Calif.Credit...Astroforge\n\n\n \n It’s unclear how successful this mission will be. “If it’s made o ut of solid metal it will stick\,” said Benjamin Weiss\, a planetary sci entist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. However\, many astero ids are known to be rubble piles\, essentially collections of rocks held t ogether loosely by gravity\, such as the asteroid Bennu that was visited b y NASA’s ORISIS-REx spacecraft.\n\n\n\n “They are barely held togeth er\,” Dr. Weiss said\, meaning that the magnets might just end up pullin g a few rocks away from the surface as the lander drifts away.\n\n\n\n Onl y one spacecraft\, the Rosetta spacecraft from the European Space Agency\, has visited a suspected M-type asteroid before\, a flyby of the asteroid 21 Lutetia in 2010. The presence of metal at that time was inconclusive. A much more capable mission\, NASA’s $1.2 billion Psyche spacecraft\, is currently on its way to an asteroid bearing the same name by 2029. Astrono mers think the asteroid may be a fragment of a failed planet’s core and is rich in metal.\n\n\n\n Results from the Odin mission’s analysis of 20 22 OB5 could be a tantalizing tease for Psyche. “If it turns out it’s made of solid metal\, that would support the idea that some of these large r bodies like Psyche could be the cores of differentiated bodies\,” Dr. Weiss said.\n\n\n\n Lindy Elkins-Tanton at Arizona State University\, the principal investigator on Psyche and also an adviser to AstroForge\, said that the opportunities afforded by commercial deep space missions like Odi n are exciting\, enabling small and fast missions at low cost. “It’s g oing to be a bit of a game-changer\,” she said.\n\n\n\n Others are more focused on what Odin means for asteroid mining in the present tense.\n\n\n \n “It’s probably the highest achievement in the sector so far\,” Mr . Hunter-Scullion of Asteroid Mining Corporation said. Mr. Sercel of Trans Astra also applauded the company.\n\n\n\n “We’re gung-ho for AstroForg e and wish them the best of luck\,” he said. “We’re behind them 100 percent.”\n\n\n\n Now there’s just the small matter of the launch and journey to the asteroid\, and the hope that what Odin finds will lead to t he riches long touted from asteroid mining.\n\n\n\n “If we make it\, I ’m popping champagne\,” Mr. Gialich said.\n\n\n\n INVESTIGATED FINDING S\n\n\n\n Brokkr-1 mission\n\n Uniform Resource Locator\n\n https://youtu. be/K83Jp3V_hac?t=340\n\n Video\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n SUB TRANSCRIPT\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Brokkr-1 mission\n5:44\nup what are the chances it finds an asteroid and then I guess subsequently what's the chances that it comes b ack so\n5:51\nbroker one went up to show that we could mine an asteroid in space it is just in low earth orbit it is not going outside\n5:56\nof Ear th's gravity well it is orbiting the Earth right now and we'll start exper imentation with it shortly to show\n6:01\nthat we can refine what we expec t to be one of these asteroids right this ball of iron with very high conc entrations of\n6:07\npgms on it okay so there's some low earth orbit aster oid um we brought up our own asteroid oh I\n6:15\ngot it right that this c an work in space yep nobody has been able to really\n6:21\nrefine in space right and that's a big process of what we need to do so we want to prove that in a very cheap easy to\n6:27\nuse 6u cubesat which to be fair SpaceX still has the transporter missions that's what we went on and those are a \n6:32\nfraction of the costs that we could have even got to space 10 year s ago so uh what is that called ballpark to send\n6:37\nsomething up these days um obviously we're under ndas with a lot of these companies we can't talk about well you can go look on spacex's website\n6:43\nright a Ridesh are slot is about 1.1 million dollars to send I I believe those are 200 ki logram slots got it okay\n6:49\nso there's standard ticket prices a millio n bucks it's very affordable we're not talking about tens or hundreds of\n 6:55\nmillions of dollars but the key to your Innovation is you're going t o do the\n7:01\nmining in space so does that mean this I mean uh I'm sorry to be a near right here but does that mean there's like a\n7:07\ndrill bi t on this thing and it's going to drill in take a sample and then process it and say hey this is dust oh\n7:13\nthis is Platinum let the dust flake off and just only\n7:18\nbring Platinum back so the way we do it is we go out to the asteroid we dock with the asteroid use the right word there rig ht these are\n7:24\nvery small bodies they're about 30 meters in diameter uh so we're talking very very small rocks that we're docking\n7:29\nwith w e use a process of directly heating the surface till it vaporizes so there is no actual mechanical Parts here\n7:36\nthis is all done with with a la ser we vaporize the surface we collect that vapor and then we sort it and and this\n7:42\nis essentially the experiment we're testing out in low ear th orbit we've proven it to work in our thermal vacuum Chambers on Earth u h that allows us to\n7:49\nsort out Platinum from stuff we don't care abou t right iron Cobalt other trace minerals in these asteroids and then we\n7 :55\nbring back only the Platinum Group Metals now the reason for that is bringing back is still expensive and\n8:01\nweight in space means a lot we only want to bring back the stuff that's worth a lot of money we are kind of limited on\n8:06\nwhat we can bring back so that's how we do it so the lasers pick out the good stuff\n8:12\nyou sorted out then how does it get back because every time I see something come back it burns up these aster oids burn up\n8:19\nbefore they hit so how is your vehicle designed so tha t it can bring back the\n8:26\npayload and how many ounces is it going to bring back yeah so I mean our vehicle has a heat\n8:31\nshield on it and t he nice thing about our heat shield is we're not bringing back humans we'r e not bringing back really experiments we're bringing back\n8:37\nraw Comm odities right this is a block of metal which means we come in a lot hot an d heavier than really any other\n8:42\nspacecraft there's a lot of uh pres idents for doing this before NASA has done deep space return multiple time s so we really understand the\n8:48\nphysics behind deep space return it a ll comes down to sizing the heat shields correctly got it on average with our\n8:54\nprojections right now and our trajectories we can bring back ri ght around a thousand kilograms of Platinum Group Metals per Mission so th at's what\n9:01\nRaymond will bring back uh what is a thousand kilograms u m it's about a ton it's a metric ton\n9:07\nwow pgm's permission you can b e able to bring a ton back okay so how big is your vehicle is it like the size of the\n9:12\nvehicle a car it's not that big the vehicles that we wi ll mine with are about 200 kilograms\n9:18\nwhat's the size of them she sa id the the the the asteroids were about 100 feet wide or something so the vehicle itself\n9:24\nis ten feet the size of a mini fridge it is not a bi g vehicle when you look at it\n9:30\nyeah well Platinum is very very dense right so kind of weight is very very high so we store this metal right be hind the heat shield it's volumetrically\n9:36\nactually not that much mat erial that we bring back if you can tell from the\n9:41\npodcast lately we 've been doubling and tripling down on Founder University launch in fact i t's basically the future\n9:48\nof our Venture Capital firm and that's awe some because I'm working with a couple of hundred early stage Founders\n9: 53\nreally early and getting to see what tools they use you know what tool they show up with most they show up with\n9:59\nSquarespace they put up t heir first website instantly quickly with Squarespace and it's beautiful a nd it\n10:04\nmakes them look like a million bucks the thing you may not b e aware of is that Squarespace beyond the beautiful templates that make yo ur company look\n10:11\nlike a million bucks and that work on mobile it's not just a pretty website it\n10:16\nis a powerful e-commerce platform now and they have member areas what's a member area you know people like to s ell\n10:22\ncontent now and premium content it's a big business well they have that built in to Squarespace and they don't take\n10:29\nyou know dou ble digit percentages of your Revenue like those other platforms do and th ey also have appointment\n10:34\nscheduling so you know if you're doing a business where you're a consultant you want to charge for your time well y ou\n\n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n The CEO of Astroforge Matthew Gialich said [  https://youtu.be/K83Jp3V_hac?si=3bxF2s0s9e2HxiNQ ] \n\n SUB TRANSCRIPT \n\n\n\n 24:43\nhope to do at the end of this year and none of this would have been possible if SpaceX hadn't figured out how to do what they do abs olutely not let's be honest\n24:50\nabout this Elon led the way here he sh owed that you know if he got the money for building Falcon 1 through Falco n 9 and dragon that there was a huge kind of\n24:56\npot of gold at the en d of that rainbow and this really allowed VC to open up to say uh holy sh these companies can\n25:03\nactually exist and they're possible and I mean again 20 years ago I think we would have been laughed out of every room b ecause it just wasn't feasible to\n25:10\ndo in fact you saw this right pl anetary resources and Deep Space Industries the two asteroid mining compan ies that came\n25:15\nbefore us they're cost models were just so much high er than ours are now to go try to do the same thing I mean I those\n25:22\ nboth of those Founders have been awesome and been very helpful to us and I think their timing was just off I think the timing is now for this to ha ppen due to\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Building Civilization in Space | Joel C. Sercel\n\n URL\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBZ3GaNeUbo\ n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n 0:00\nsome people think that we can go into\n0:01\nspace by just launching everything from\n0:03\ nthe earth and going out and living on\n0:05\nwhat we brought that's paten tly absurd\n0:08\nthat would be like what if the original\n0:11\nsettlers that came to North America\n0:13\nbrought all of their food and all of\n0: 17\ntheir housing with them on ships it\n0:19\nwouldn't be able to last yo u have to be\n0:21\nable to grow your own food and live off\n0:23\nthe lan d of where you're going so space\n0:25\nmining to a first approximation is just\n0:27\nlearning how to live off the land in\n0:29\nspace as we settl e space and then as we\n0:32\ndo that we will be\n0:34\nexporting products back to the Earth the\n0:37\nfirst products that we'll be exporting\n0:39 \nback to the Earth are is the information\n0:42\nand energy that comes fr om satellites\n0:43\nthat are built in space out of space\n0:45\nresources but later we'll be bringing\n0:47\nback precious metals like Platinum Gro up\n0:49\nMetals which are you know often more\n0:51\nvaluable than gold a nd then\n0:53\neventually as manufacturing becomes\n0:55\nfully automated with robots we'll\n0:58\nessentially have giant robotic factories\n1:01\nt hat consume asteroids turn them into\n1:03\nmanufactured goods and Export that all\n1:06\nthe way to the Earth internet in space\n1:08\nis starting to vastly outperform\n1:10\ninternet here on the earth that's step\n1:12\n one and over the next five years or so\n1:15\nwe'll see that a massive pro liferation\n1:17\nof that where the number of people\n1:19\ngetting their high-speed internet from\n1:20\nspace will grow\n1:23\nexponentially as we have tens of\n1:25\nthousands and then maybe a hundred\n1:27\nthousand or hundreds of thousands of\n1:28\nsatellites in Earth orbit\n1:30\nall conn ecting and as the Global\n1:32\nCommunication Network just goes into\n1:34 \nspace because there are fundamental\n1:35\nreasons why it's better to pu t Comm in\n1:37\nspace than on the ground data processing\n1:40\nwill need to move into space right now\n1:42\ntoday on the earth the biggest cost o f\n1:44\ndata processing is power but very\n1:47\nquickly it's actually be coming cheaper\n1:49\nto generate power in space than on the\n1:50\nground because in up in space you don't\n1:52\nhave to deal with weather and cli mate\n1:55\nday night cycles all that sort of thing\n1:57\nshortly\n1:58\n thereafter it'll be actually coste\n2:00\neffective to generate power in s pace and\n2:02\nbeam the power down to the Earth about\n2:05\nthe time tha t happens it will be more\n2:06\ncost effective to build the satellites\n2 :09\nand infrastructure in space out of\n2:11\nmaterial harvested in space rather than\n2:13\nlaunched up from the earth that's when\n2:16\nspace mi ning really starts to take off\n2:18\nin a huge way we'll use rocket\n2:20 \npropellant harvested from the Moon and\n2:22\nthe asteroids to get aroun d CIS lunar\n2:24\nspace we'll use elements that are\n2:27\nreadily abunda nt in asteroids that are\n2:29\nnot abundant on the moon to build some\n2: 31\naspects of the structures other things\n2:33\nwill be made out of luna r materials so\n2:35\nthere'll be a complex space economy\n2:38\nwhere all this is optimized by the\n2:40\nInvisible Hand of Adam Smith a factor\n2: 43\nthat cannot be ignored is the importance\n2:45\nof real estate real es tate will be the\n2:47\nultimate killer app in space that is\n2:49\nsometi mes people just want to have a\n2:52\nplace to live where nobody else is\n 2:54\nspying on them or intruding on their\n2:57\nactivities real estate w as the big play\n2:59\nthat led led to the settlement of North\n3:01\nAmer ica the pilgrims were here for\n3:03\nfreedom and to be able to live the t he\n3:05\nway they wanted to initially the real\n3:08\nestate play will be tourism space hotels\n3:10\nand then as it becomes more and more\n3:12\nc ost- effective people start to bring\n3:14\ntheir families and live perman ently in\n3:15\nspace space mining especially things\n3:18\nlike going aft er Platinum Group metals\n3:19\nfrom asteroids makes no sense based on\n3: 23\nthe economics of 2010 or 2015 it was\n3:27\njust too expensive to get into space too\n3:29\nexpensive to make spacecraft too\n3:30\nexpensive to get around its space but\n3:32\nthe big change that's happening now is\n3 :35\naffordability and with affordability it\n3:37\nmakes sense there's a\ n3:40\nhuge reduction in the cost of getting\n3:42\ninto space and buildin g space Hardware\n3:44\nthat's coming on the space Hardware side\n3:47\nwe 're going from the military industrial\n3:49\ncomplex building Exquisite s pace\n3:51\nHardware that cost upwards of a\n3:53\nmillionar a kilogram to build so that\n3:55\nmeans that a spacecraft that weighs on\n3:58\nthe or der of th000 kilog or so could\n4:01\ncost on the order of a billion dolla rs\n4:04\nto spacecraft on that order costing as\n4:09\nmuch as a high-end sports\n4:11\ncar so as costs come down the number of\n4:15\nbusiness mod els that can make sense in\n4:17\nspace and the activities in space that\n 4:20\ncan close the business pro\n4:24\nproposition\n4:26\nexponentiate th ree years ago I was\n4:29\ninvited as a consultant to advise some\n4:31\ni nvestors on rockets and I said hey\n4:35\nwithin a few years we'll be laun ching\n4:37\nFalcon 9es 100 times a year they laughed\n4:40\nthey actually \n4:42\nlaughed SpaceX is launching more than\n4:44\n100 Falcon 9es this y ear and Starship is\n4:48\na huge leap Beyond Falcon 9 and the cost\n4:51\ nfor launch into space with Starship is\n4:54\ngoing to collapse even more and then\n4:57\nJeff Bezos and blue origin are planning\n5:00\nto launch new Glen for the first time\n5:02\nwithin a matter of weeks we have two\n5 :05\nheavy launch Vehicles both massively re\n5:10\nreusable as we get the race to the\n5:12\nbottom end price all kinds of new\n5:13\nbusiness mode ls emerge so the big\n5:16\nrevolution that leads to massive changes\n5:19 \nin space industrialization is low single\n5:23\ndigits of years\n\n\n\n\ n \n\n Prior Edition : https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11503-economiccorner019 /\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n space mining\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc. com/tc/topic/11507-economiccorner020/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https: //aalbc.com/tc/events/event/202-economic-corner-19-02232025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/322-economic-corner-21-0 6032025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250226 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 16 - 02/22/2025 DTSTAMP:20250222T233209Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:199-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n White south africans making a public statement against im migration to the USA is interesting. In a humanity where most in south Ame rica/Africa/asia/western Europe/Caribbean are looking to travel to wealthi er shores in USA or Western Europe\, the white European minorities in land s with mostly non white European peoples want the opposite. To the white E uropeans in South Africa\, they are an ideal case of loving a convenient f inancial environment. While South Africa's growth is clearly to Black sout h africans\, white south africans will rather the land or generational wea lth their forebears took for them then to build up in even competition new lives in a usa absent first people/native American land to steal or black africans able to be ripped from their home and enslaved.\n\n Many Black D OSers\, not Black Willing Immigrants\, in the United States of America\, s uggest the USA is the best country to build wealth but based on the white south African\, is that true? \n\n Now any can argue \, white south afric ans are not in the same situation as Black Descended of Enslaved to the US A. \n\n And\, that is true\, as said above white south africans forebears relationship to south Africa is as an unwanted willing immigrant by the f irst peoples of what will become south Africa and a financial allowance or opportunity supported by arms totally in their favor.\n\n Black descended of enslaved to the u.s.a. relationship to what will become the u.s.a. is as a unwilling/enslaved immigrant by the invading peoples who took the lan d that will be the u.s.a. or the greater American continent from it's Firs t peoples and were using said enslaved immigrants to support their financi al grandeur. \n\n No the two situations are not the same but to black des cended of enslaved people who leave the usa to betterment\, you can see wh y it is usually individual. \n\n It is hard getting a group of people to financially prosper as a minority absent the ability to commit crimes lega lly. \n\n When you look at whites in south Africa or white jews in Palest ine or white jews/italians in the usa you see the modern examples of this ability of a minority populace to thrive aside the ability to commit crime s or abuses to a larger populace absent the said majority populace ability to violently retaliate.  Whites in south Africa took black peoples land\ , forced black people to work for them. White jews in Palestine was given arms by the usa\, was given a legal authority by the british against pales tinean desires as Palestine was a british protectorate.White jews/Italians in the usa made the founding fortunes of their communities during prohibi tion\, as whites being completely free to operate illegally and criminally in liquor sales or gang violence while white governments aided or abetted all their crimes while the same white governments hammered all attempts b y blacks to operate illegally or criminally. \n\n So\, it is clear what b lacks descended of enslaved from the American continent groups always lack ed in the past making said groups financial reality in modernity inevitabl e. \n\n\n\n URL referral\n\n https://www.msn.com/en-xl/africa/top-stories /no-thanks-white-south-africans-turn-down-donald-trump-s-immigration-offer /ar-AA1yKIns?ocid=BingNewsSerp&\;cvid=da5dfcd61408487b9d92241179cc6bcd& amp\;ei=28\n\n ARTICLE TEXT\n\n 'No thanks'\, white South Africans turn do wn Donald Trump's immigration offer\n\n What you need to know:\n\n Trump o n Friday signed an executive order to cut US aid to South Africa\, citing an expropriation act that President Cyril Ramaphosa signed last month aimi ng to redress land inequalities that stem from South Africa's history of w hite supremacy.\n\n The order provided for resettlement in the US of \"Afr ikaners in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination\" as refugees.\n\n Thank you for reading Nation.Africa\n\n US President Dona ld Trump's offer to rehouse white South Africans as refugees fleeing perse cution may not spur quite the rush he anticipates\, as even right-wing whi te lobby groups want to \"tackle the injustices\" of Black majority rule o n home soil.\n\n Trump on Friday signed an executive order to cut US aid t o South Africa\, citing an expropriation act that President Cyril Ramaphos a signed last month aiming to redress land inequalities that stem from Sou th Africa's history of white supremacy.\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\ n a map of first people losses\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-r ichardmurray/?status=2844&\;type=status\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prior Editio n: https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11488-economiccorner015/\n\n\n\n \n\n Minor ity Strength in fiscal capital allowance\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalb c.com/tc/topic/11497-economiccorner016/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n http s://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/197-economic-corner-15-02172025/\n\n\n\n NEX T EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/200-economic-corner-17 -02222025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250222 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 15 - 02/17/2025 DTSTAMP:20250218T021854Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:197-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Financial Federalism\n\n\n\n This edition of the Economic Corner has three articles in the following chronological order\, after my thoughts\n\n 1) The legality of the Executive branch in the second term o f Schrumpf\n\n 2) The need for efficiency in the Federal Government and ho w it became ever more inefficient in the nineteen hundreds\n\n 3) The fail ure of presidencies before Schrumpfs first term from elephants or donkeys to diminish the federal governments bureaucracy while make it a better ope rator.\n\n\n\n Financially\, the Black populace in the usa has a heritage in the united states of America few mention\; it is the following. \n\n O nly the federal government in the united states of America has been positi ve in some course of time to the black populace in the usa as a bureaucrat ic body. I restate\, each town/city/county/state in the usa have provided negative environments\, legal or communal\, for black people\, averaging o ut their history. \n\n This means the federal government of the usa relat es to Black people in the usa\, especially Black Descended Of Enslaved (BD OS)\, other than non blacks\, especially whites\, in the usa. Whites of Eu ropean descent talk of the usa\, but tend to relate to the town\, the city \, the county\, the state because even though the federal government prote cts/defends the overall system\, the specificity of local law\, the flexib ility of local law\, provided and provides to whites of European descent o pportunity/safety/comfort. While for blacks \, said towns/cities/counties/ states provide horror/abuse/terror. \n\n\n\n Said heritage\, led to a fed eralism in the black populace in the usa unlike any other demographic in t he usa. Said federalism is an advocate of greater bureaucracy in the feder al government to undo state/county/city/town governments negativity. The m ore the federal government can watch/penalize the lower ranked municipalit ies the better. \n\n I think of two black women. Years ago\, one said to me privately\, she lives in the Midwest region\, that only the federal gov ernment has ever supported the black people in her region. It isn't imposs ible to live there\, she does\, but it is never welcoming\, never with eas e\, always with a barrier.  And more recently\, the other said on local n ews in NYC\, that maybe the states need to go in the united states of Amer ica. The only person I ever heard publicly say the states in the union nee d to all go\, was a black person\, for honesty's sake said person is a she . \n\n\n\n When I think of these two points\, it exposes why Whites despi se or fear or dislike ever expanding federal bureaucracy. White people's l ocal power requires local strength or local allowance. Black towns exist\, but they exist in White counties. Black counties exist \, but they exist in White States. So all majority black \, in populace\, municipal zones in the united states of America\, exist within a larger municipal zone lower than the federal government majority white. \n\n\n\n The situation of Bl ack Farmers proves this reality more than anything else. [ https://aalbc. com/tc/topic/11483-economiccorner014/ ] United States America system allo ws for local empowerment\, but for Blacks who never had control of a state within the union\, such local power has never existed. \n\n\n\n So\, wit h the Federalism in the Schrumpf era which is to diminish/lessen/delete an y place where Black presence has been or can be aided. For example\, the D epartment of Education is a large reason why in many states\, the funds to Black schools exist. States like Mississippi had for years and some argue still now managed ways to have black schools non funded. Not underfunded\ , none funded. If a school gets no government money but is a public school it is financially a private school. But the problem is\, the black popula ce in Mississippi for example don't have the financial means to support al l that children need. Ivy League schools still get federal money and they have huge private endowments so federal money shouldn't be deemed a negati ve when given to all white organizations in the usa. But living under a st ate\, like Mississippi\, influences black financial reality.\n\n\n\n The Q uestion is simple\, with no governmental aspect aiding Black people [no fe deral\, no state\, no county\, no city]\, what does the black business own er in the usa do? Black buying power has a serious problem\, most of the f irms have always been white. I challenge any Black person in the usa to go one whole month without buying something from a white owned firm. How do you eat? How do you buy clothes?  How do you wash clothes ? How can you d o this in a city? \n\n\n\n To the Articles below\n\n 1) I said to another the president of the usa already has a post at their privy\, it is called the white house chief of staff which came from the Presidents Personal Se cretary. So having Musk as a person at their privy isn't illegal. And the constitution doesn't say a limit exists to a person at the president's pri vy and by extension\, the D.O.G.E. is equivalent to the Staff at the White House Chief of Staff. The issue isn't illegality but change. Not change y ou need believe in but change you are living in. \n\n 2) Again\, a majori ty of whites in the 1960s despised the advance of federalism but the same whites local environments is what led the Kerner Commission\, with only on e black person in leadership\, to suggest to Lyndon B Johnson\, a complete overhaul of the usa is needed. Johnson wasn't amused but what the Kerner Commission exposed is the problem I say in hindsight.  [ Kerner Commissio n- https://1drv.ms/b/c/ea9004809c2729bb/Ea852rXxcnFEteIzm8I5Y0IBOmiGCYl_r T1lsPKEio-5mg?e=OiDxRo \; https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurra y/?status=2685&\;type=status ] \n\n 3) It is clear the impotency of P residents from Reagan to Biden\, old elephant or donkey\, to make the gove rnment more efficient opened the door to Scrumptf. Many said they would an d never did. They all kept growing the federal government and \, yes made some important administrative elements\, but the overall inefficiency grew and grew aided by a congress \, which in reflecting the multiracial popul ace of the usa\, became deadlocked.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Is Trump Acting Ill egally\n\n U.R.L.\n\n https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/constitutional-sch olar-on-whether-trumps-actions-are-executive-overreach\n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n \n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n Geoff Bennett:\nThe first weeks of the Trump administration have brought dramatic changes to the shape\, scope a nd function of the federal government.\nOur new series On Democracy is tak ing a step back to look at big questions about the institutions\, norms an d laws that have shaped the country and the challenges they face today.\nI lya Shapiro is director of constitutional studies at the conservative-lean ing Manhattan Institute and the author of \"Lawless: The Miseducation of A merica's Elites.\"\nThanks for being here. Appreciate it.\n*\nIlya Shapiro \, Manhattan Institute:\nGreat to be with you.\n*\nGeoff Bennett:\nWell\, as we sit here and speak\, we have got another case that is raising questi ons about the rule of law in this new Trump era.\nAt least seven prosecuto rs and officials have stepped down over the DOJ order to dismiss corruptio n charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams. Danielle Sassoon\, who was Ma nhattan's top federal prosecutor\, she describes an explicit quid pro quo\ , whereby the Trump DOJ would dismiss the criminal charges against Adams i n exchange for his support for President Trump's agenda.\nWhat questions d oes all of this raise for you?\n*\nIlya Shapiro:\nWell\, I think it's a di sagreement of political judgment between different prosecutors. The U.S. a ttorney disagrees with what her superiors say. The principals are denying that there's a quid pro quo\, so we don't quite have evidence of that. And Eric Adams\, for the last year or so\, has been moving in a direction to crack down on illegal immigration anyway.\nSo I don't know whether he'd be behaving differently in the first place. But\, ultimately\, this is a jud gment call. And the U.S. attorneys\, whether in the Southern District of N ew York\, which sometimes thinks of itself as its own sovereign\, Sovereig n District\, they sometimes call it\, doesn't get to make that call at the end of the day.\nAnd if the superiors decide that the underlying evidence is flimsy or the prosecution itself was politically motivated and doesn't serve the purposes of justice\, that's their call to make. And\, ultimate ly\, the voters will evaluate that.\n*\nGeoff Bennett:\nThe deputy A.G. in his letter explaining why the case against Adams should be dropped\, he c ited the need for Adams to help with Donald Trump's immigration policy. An d then Adams and the immigration czar\, Tom Homan\, were on FOX News this morning.\nAnd Homan said: \"If he doesn't come through\, I will be in his office up his butt saying\, where the hell is the agreement we came to?\"\ nI mean\, hardly anything about this is subtle. I mean\, how is this not a breach of…\n*\nIlya Shapiro:\nI don't know if that agreement means the dropping of the prosecution. It might be an agreement of\, here's how we c an help New York\, because clearly there's a crisis\, a law and order cris is in New York\, and Adams wants to prolong his political career in some w ay.\nThe primary is coming up\, what have you\, and he wants to clean it u p. And so there's some agreement. It may involve the quid pro quo that eve ryone's talking about\, but it could just mean here's what I will do\, ope n up Rikers\, what have you\, and we will send you federal funds or we wil l send you more law enforcement. I don't know what the agreement might be. \nBut Adams wants to work with this administration on the illegal immigrat ion problem.\n*\nGeoff Bennett:\nSo\, in your view\, this is not\, so far as we know\, a fundamental breach of justice?\n*\nIlya Shapiro:\nWe don't have — there's no evidence in the record\, a prosecutor would say\, to s ay that. There are allegations\, and you could make a case.\nBut on the fa ce of what has come out\, the dueling letters and what have you\, this is just a disagreement on prosecutorial discretion.\n*\nGeoff Bennett:\nPresi dent Trump\, the Trump administration\, they have frozen domestic spending \, frozen foreign aid without congressional approval. They have dismantled USAID\, threatened to dismantle the Education Department.\nThere are disp assionate observers who look at this and say that this is textbook executi ve overreach. How do you see it?\n*\nIlya Shapiro:\nWell\, executive overr each is when you're creating new programs out of thin air\, like Barack Ob ama with his pen and phone government with DACA or DAPA or all of these ot her things\, or President Biden forgiving student loans that was blocked b y the Supreme Court\, said\, I will do it another way\, or vaccine mandate s\, all of these things that are creating new authorities that didn't exis t.\nHere\, they're putting a pause on spending. They're reorganizing the e xecutive branch\, which is within the executive's power.\n*\nGeoff Bennett :\nWhy not go through Congress\, as the framers intended? He's got a plian t House Republican majority\, a Senate majority as well.\nAnd if you legis late this\, the impact would be enduring. Why not?\n*\nIlya Shapiro:\nWell \, it depends what the \"this\" is. I do hope that the Trump administratio n goes to Congress and asks for restructuring of these various agencies an d things like that\, because if it's all done through executive action\, t hen\, as we see\, you live by the executive action\, you die by it\, and t he next Democratic president will just reverse it.\nSo it would take an ac t of Congress to eliminate the USAID or to eliminate the Department of Edu cation\, but reorganizing certain things\, shifting funding priorities\, a uditing the accounting and the finances and things like that\, that all is fully within the purvey of the government\, including of DOGE.\n*\nGeoff Bennett:\nI want to ask you about Elon Musk\, because President Trump\, by all outward appearances\, has given him a fairly broad mandate.\nAny caus e for concern about the lack of checks on Musk's actions and the fact that he is in many ways the arbiter of his own conflicts of interest\, given h is very lucrative government contracts?\n*\nIlya Shapiro:\nWell\, the conf lict of interest is a political story. I mean\, if the administration take s political hits for having a lax conflict of interest policy for Presiden t Trump himself\, for example\, that's a judgment call for the voters to m ake\, ultimately\, in the midterms coming up and what have you.\nMusk is a special government employee\, which means he has authority to run this. H e has his tech gurus\, these guys with spreadsheets and green eye shades a nd whatever else that are identifying money that looks like it's mismanage d\, misspent. Again\, not saying Congress had spent that on this\, but we' re not going to do that. That's not the case.\nWhether it's discretion by the agency\, they're looking at things that this administration might have different priorities.\n*\nGeoff Bennett:\nThere have been arguments\, as you well know\, that we are either in or that we're approaching a constitu tional crisis. I'd imagine you would disagree with that.\nBut what to you would signal a constitutional crisis? What to you would signal that this d emocratic experiment is in peril?\n*\nIlya Shapiro:\nWell\, it's interesti ng that you say democratic experiment\, because when the executive branch\ , when the bureaucracy does not implement the directives of the political leadership that's responsible to the voters\, that's a problem.\nI mean\, a constitutional crisis is something like one branch going and doing thing s that are not within its authority that courts are telling it to stop and to do\, ignoring court orders. Trump has said he's not going to ignore co urt orders. He's going to appeal them and he's taking it to the Supreme Co urt. And\, almost certainly\, most of these things won't get to the Suprem e Court.\nCertain things\, he might win on. Certain things\, he might lose on\, but that's the process. The American people are not buying this lang uage that is simply an indication from the left that they don't like this restructuring of government\, the new priorities\, all of these certain th ings. Fair enough. That's a political argument to be had\, but this is not any sort of a constitutional crisis.\n*\nGeoff Bennett:\nIlya Shapiro wit h the Manhattan Institute\, thanks for coming in.\n*\nIlya Shapiro:\nThank you.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n What should be made efficient in the federal go vernment?\n\n U.R.L.\n\n https://www.pbs.org/video/philip-k-howard-and-wil l-marshall-awjvp6/\n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n - Are Don ald Trump and Elon Musk dismantling the Deep State or doing something else ?\n\nThis week on \"Firing Line.\"\n\n- The people voted for major governm ent reform.\n\nAnd that's what people are gonna get.\n\nThey're gonna get what they voted for.\n\n- We've already found billions of dollars of abuse \, incompetence\, and corruption.\n\n- [Margaret] Some people are saying t hat Trump's newly-established Department of Government Efficiency is movin g fast and breaking things.\n\n- We have this unelected branch of governme nt\, which is the bureaucracy.\n\nSo it's just something we've gotta fix.\ n\n- [Margaret] But will this blitz on the bureaucracy really make governm ent more efficient?\n\n- So Musk is right\, in my view\, that it's broken\ , but he's not really focusing on fixing it.\n\n- [Margaret] Attorney and author Philip Howard has championed the cause of government efficiency for decades\, with books including \"The Death of Common Sense.\"\n\n- Well\, the tragically-missed opportunity here is that Elon Musk could have done us a lot of good.\n\n- [Margaret] Will Marshall is the founder and preside nt of the Progressive Policy Institute\, and has recently written that Dem ocrats need a DOGE of their own.\n\nI sat down with these two reform advoc ates before a student audience at Hofstra University to discuss what DOGE is getting right\, what it's getting wrong\, and whether America is careen ing toward a constitutional crisis.\n\n- [Announcer] \"Firing Line\" with Margaret Hoover is made possible\, in part\, by Robert Granieri\, Vanessa and Henry Cornell\, the Fairweather Foundation\, Peter and Mary Kalikow\, Cliff and Laurel Asness\, the Meadowlark Foundation\, and by the following .\n\nCorporate funding is provided by Stephens Inc. - Philip Howard and Wi ll Marshall\, welcome to Hofstra University\, and this episode of \"Firing Line.\"\n\n- Thank you.\n\n- Listen\, Philip\, in November\, you called i n the Wall Street Journal for Elon Musk\, not to hobble government\, but t o make it work again.\n\nSince Trump established the Department of Governm ent Efficiency\, Musk has moved to gut USAID\, gained access to Treasury p ayment systems\, and has worked to eliminate the employment of tens of tho usands of federal workers.\n\nYou have spent your life thinking\, and writ ing\, and talking about how to make government work better.\n\nIs this wha t you had in mind?\n\n- No.\n\nMusk is focusing on cutting what government does that he thinks is stupid.\n\nHe's not focusing on changing and impro ving how government works\, which I think is the bigger opportunity.\n\nMo st of Americans think government needs major overhaul.\n\nSo Musk is right \, in my view\, that it's broken\, but he's not really focusing on fixing it.\n\nEfficiency means actually being responsive and delivering the goods to the public that the public needs.\n\n- How do you know he's not focuse d on fixing it?\n\n- Because that's not what he's doing.\n\nHe's focused o n cutting costs\, cutting people\, which I don't think is actually going t o add up to much in the way of cost.\n\nWhereas\, for example\, if he chan ged the way the Defense Department procured new weaponry\, he could save\, pick a number\, a third of the money that's spent\, by getting rid of all the red tape processes that take years and deliver poor products with too much delay.\n\n- Will\, you have recently written in The Hill that Democr ats need a plan for fixing government that's their own.\n\nYou said\, quot e\, \"Before Democrats dismiss DOGE as just MAGA trollery\, it's fair to a sk\, what is their plan for making government more efficient and effective ?\n\nInexplicably\, that plank is missing from the platform of the party t hat believes in active government.\"\n\nShould Democrats have their own ve rsion of DOGE?\n\n- Absolutely\, or not DOGE\, they should absolutely have their own plan to make government work better.\n\nThe public demand for t hat is palpable and it's nothing new.\n\nWe all know that trust in governm ent's been tanking\, really since the '60s.\n\n21% of people trust the fed eral government to do the right thing most of the time.\n\nSo to not have a set of ideas that is responsive to a public that wants deep change in go vernment is a sort of political malpractice.\n\n- Given the speed and ruth lessness\, perhaps efficiency\, at which DOGE is operating\, or which Elon Musk is operating\, will there be a government to reform?\n\n(Will chuckl es) - Yeah.\n\n- When he's finished.\n\n- It'll survive\, I mean\, what's happening now is that there are lawsuits proliferating all over the landsc ape.\n\nThere're gonna be a million checkpoints here\, and I think this is going to slow down.\n\nBut this is the shock and awe phase\, and I think we're gonna pass through it pretty quickly because reality is beginning to intrude.\n\nThese are real lives\, these are real functions.\n\nWe have d eep investments here.\n\nI'm a government reformer\, but this is not the w ay to go about it.\n\nElon Musk is a great entrepreneur\, but this isn't t he private sector\, this is the government\, and it's not an optional thin g.\n\nI don't have to buy a Tesla\, but I've gotta get services from my go vernment.\n\n- This isn't something you can change\, in my view\, by pruni ng the jungle.\n\nYou can't just clip\, here and there\, the red tape.\n\n You actually have to go back to a system which the framers contemplated in the Constitution\, where law provides a framework of goals\, and principl es\, and accountability\, and checks and balances\, but real people make c hoices\, and they're politically accountable.\n\nToday in Washington\, you can't find a real person who has authority to give a permit.\n\nAnd that' s the reason we never get permits.\n\n- How did we end up in a place where it was the process that hamstrung us?\n\n- It was a change in legal philo sophy.\n\nWe came out of the '60s feeling guilty for lots of good reasons. \n\nWe woke up to racism\, pollution\, lots of other things.\n\nSo we want ed to create a system where there were no more abuses of authority\, and i t just doesn't work.\n\nNow you have no authority\, and so you have a gove rnment that's increasingly paralyzed by the kind of stuff that Will's writ ten about and others\, by this red tape state.\n\nAnd the goal is not to\, in my view\, to get rid of government.\n\nThe goal is actually to pull it back so we can do it\, pull the law back so it can do its job.\n\n- Your solution is for government to unshackle itself from laws and regulations t o empower individuals to make decisions and use their judgment.\n\n- Withi n the framework of law.\n\nAnd courts would only get involved when an offi cial transgresses those boundaries.\n\n- So then\, how are individuals hel d accountable?\n\n- Well\, any way you want\, but by someone.\n\n- For the ir judgment.\n\n- By someone above them.\n\n- No\, no\, no\, that's where we get hamstrung by this process\, right?\n\nBecause there's so much proce ss\, and the process is ultimately what takes any sort of agency away from individuals to make these decisions.\n\n- That's right.\n\nSo if you go t o a\, say to give a permit for a transmission line\, you can't have 16 age ncies bickering over whether to give the permit.\n\nOne agency has to have the authority to make the decision\, and that's subject to the approval o f the White House in a democracy.\n\nToday\, you get 16 agencies bickering about it around the table\, and it goes on for years.\n\n- And it's uncle ar who has the ultimate authority.\n\n- Well\, no one has the ultimate aut hority.\n\n- Well\, so then isn't this what Musk is trying to fix?\n\nAnd how do you keep Musk?\n\nI mean\, if the idea is to give an individual the authority to make the decision\, isn't that what Musk is doing?\n\n- Well \, Musk is taking the authority himself to tear apart agencies\, but he's not trying to change the operating structure to give anybody else the auth ority.\n\nThe problem with government is that the people inside it have be en disempowered by all this process and all these procedures.\n\nThey're a lso not accountable\, by the way.\n\nSo the American public is.\n\n- Musk has a bad theory.\n\nThe theory is that there's waste everywhere\, there's abuse\, there's fraud.\n\nHe calls AID\, our foreign aid agency\, a crimi nal organization.\n\nNow I have my criticisms of AID\, they could be refor med\, should be\, but they're basically doing good humanitarian work aroun d most of the world\, they're not a criminal organization.\n\nBut why does this freelance billionaire get to come and superimpose his judgements on what's working and what's not?\n\nThere's no theory of change here.\n\nThe re's no good analysis of where we're failing.\n\nIt's just he's bringing t he entrepreneur's methodology\, which is I'm gonna cut everything by 60%\, wipe the slate clean\, and we're gonna start over\, and that'll yield eff iciencies.\n\nIt's not the way it works in the public sector.\n\n- Right\, and what's\, where's the vision for the day after these changes?\n\nHow's government gonna work better after Musk finishes going through all these agencies?\n\nAnd so again\, I think what's missing here is not the diagnos is that it's broken.\n\nIt is broken\, it is paralyzed\, and broken\, and wasteful\, and not delivering things.\n\nBut the proper cure is to actuall y let it do its job.\n\nPull back the red tape\, let there be permits\, le t Defense Department officials use their judgment and be accountable up th e chain of authority for whether they do a good job or not.\n\n- We have f etishized process\, and legal obstacles\, and veto points\, and everybody having their say.\n\nAnd it all adds up to a retreat from the exercise of public authority.\n\nBut that's not what Musk is talking about.\n\nHe's ju st getting rid of whole agencies he doesn't happen to like.\n\nIt's all on a whim\, there's no analysis\, there's no predicate being laid for any of these changes.\n\n- Both of you have been critical of certain processes\, review processes.\n\nOne of them is environmental review processes.\n\nYo u've both written about how environmental review processes actually have i nhibited government efficiency\, and in doing so\, have actually made outc omes for the environment worse.\n\nHow do you account for environmental pr iorities in a more efficient way that doesn't inhibit a project from actua lly moving forward?\n\n- Well\, I mean\, the problem here is more politica l.\n\nWe have a lot of folks on the Democratic side who do not want to tak e away the permitting.\n\nThey don't want to relax the permitting process because they think that's their best protection against environmentally ru inous things.\n\nBut what they don't understand is that if you can't upgra de and modernize your energy grid\, you're building in higher pollution.\n \nYou're not laying the framework for a cleaner grid.\n\nAnd that's happen ing all over the country.\n\nIt's not just the grid\, it's everything on t he environmental side.\n\n- Well\, delays are bad for the environment.\n\n We need new transmission lines to take power from the solar\, wind farms i n the Midwest to Chicago.\n\nWell\, you can't get a permit for it.\n\nAnd every permit is not\, it's not a question of legal compliance\, it's a que stion of trade-offs.\n\nAre the benefits of the transmission line worth th e harm of cutting through a pristine forest?\n\nThat's not a legal questio n\, that's a political question.\n\n- And it's a judgment question.\n\n- I t's a judgment call.\n\nAnd we've\, and so the purpose of environmental re view\, as it was initially enacted\, was to have a few months of review in dozens of pages that would alert the public to the fact that there are th ese issues that are political in nature that are gonna be decided.\n\nInst ead\, it's become this years-long\, no pebble left unturned kind of proces s that virtually never\, never ends.\n\nAnd we have to make trade off judg ements in order for the country to move forward.\n\n- You've written\, Phi lip\, that\, quote\, \"Rebuilding government requires not just a wrecking ball\, but trust.\"\n\nPolls suggests that Musk is losing the public's tru st.\n\nIn a recent YouGov poll\, only 13% of Americans\, and 26% of Republ icans\, said they want Musk to have a lot of influence in the Trump admini stration.\n\nSo can an initiative like DOGE survive if it doesn't have the trust of the American people\, Philip?\n\n- One\, no\, and two\, it also can't survive if he doesn't have the trust of people who work for governme nt.\n\nOne of the biggest problems in government today is if you make a de cision to give a permit\, there's always somebody who doesn't like it.\n\n - Yeah.\n\n- So they will attack you.\n\nSo in my view\, what senior civil servants need is\, not to live in fear\, but to have cover for important decisions.\n\nThey need to be\, to feel that the people in charge\, Musk o r whomever\, will actually protect them when they make decisions.\n\nAnd s o no organization works in an atmosphere of distrust\, whether it's govern ment or society.\n\n- We need radical disruptors.\n\nWe need 'em in the en trepreneurial sectors of our economy\, that's what we want.\n\nBut that's not what we\, that's not how you fix government's problems\, for the reaso ns we just talked about.\n\nAnd Elon Musk doesn't really know what he's tr ying to do.\n\nHe wants to cut $2 trillion in spending.\n\nWell\, that's a nice goal.\n\nIf you got rid of every single federal employee\, 2.3 milli on of them\, you would cut 5% of public spending and you wouldn't come any where near that goal.\n\nSo he doesn't even really have an understanding\, I think\, of the end game.\n\nThe end game seems to be here just disrupti on for its own sake\, sowing fear\, telling employees they're no longer wa nted\, tell 'em to stay home\, sort of putting down whole agencies as wort hless.\n\nAnd again\, pretending that the problem is waste\, fraud\, and a buse\, which is a really kind of simple-minded understanding of what's wro ng with government.\n\nHe thinks that there's just waste in large quantiti es lying around that he's gonna excise through this radical surgery.\n\n- There's one area with hundreds of billions of dollars in savings that requ ires major overhaul\, which is in the healthcare administration area.\n\nA nd if Musk and Trump really wanted to save big amounts of money\, they wou ld simplify the healthcare reimbursement and regulatory system\, because 3 0% of the healthcare dollar goes to administration\, which is over $1 mill ion per every American doctor in red tape.\n\nThat system is crazy.\n\nAnd it needs to be completely\, basically replaced.\n\n- Well\, there is wast e all across the government\, okay.\n\nBut it isn't sitting there in large piles that you can just go into a room and find.\n\nYou have\, it's like Elaine Kamarck\, who was the re-inventor-in-chief for Bill Clinton\, said\ , \"It's like fat marbled in the steak.\"\n\nAnd so the point is\, you hav e to go and find it.\n\nAnd the people that know where it is are the peopl e who work in government.\n\nSo if you go in there and you attack them and say they're worthless\, and they're idiots\, and they have to get going a nd pack up\, and we're gonna shut their agency down because we don't need it\, and everything they've been doing for 15 years is worthless\, well\, they're not gonna be very cooperative to you.\n\nSo if you were serious ab out trying to find pockets of waste\, or even fraud\, these are the people that could help you find it.\n\nSo again\, it's just a marker of seriousn ess to me.\n\nIf you were serious about changing government\, you wouldn't go about it by attacking everybody in sight.\n\n- As Will said\, it can't be done by just by amputation.\n\nIt needs to be done somewhat more surgi cally.\n\nAnd I will say that the biggest supporters of my somewhat radica l reform efforts have been the senior civil servants.\n\nThey want more au thority to manage the civil servants below them.\n\nThey want more authori ty to cut through the process and get permits.\n\nThey actually want to do these things.\n\nAnd they exist in this red tape jungle that doesn't allo w them to.\n\n- Why do you think that is?\n\nWhy do you think they are the ones who are most eager to see reform?\n\n- These are the senior executiv e service\, which are the top civil servants\, are people who have general ly devoted their lives to public service and are experts in specific areas .\n\nAnd they actually get\, their life work is making.\n\n- You're saying they're serious people.\n\n- These agencies happen and deliver the goods\ , and they can't do what they feel is necessary.\n\n- Over the course of A merican history\, there have been several attempts to reform government\, starting in 1883 with the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act that establis hed the modern civil service.\n\nAnd there was the Taft Commission\, there were two Hoover Commissions\, the Grace Commission under Ronald Reagan's presidency\, and then of course\, the National Performance Review\, in whi ch you participated\, and you both contributed under President Clinton's p residency.\n\nWhat can Elon Musk learn\, if he wanted to learn from Americ an history\, from these previous efforts?\n\n- Well\, what I would hope he would learn is that he's right that periodically government has to be reo rganized to look at if it's meeting its goals and to change how it meets i ts goal.\n\nWhat's happened through history is\, actually\, you've had cha nges in operating philosophy over the years.\n\nThe last real change in ph ilosophy was in the 1960s.\n\n- So what was the change in that governing p hilosophy\, Phil?\n\n- The change in philosophy was don't trust anyone to use their judgment\, because human judgment is fallible.\n\nAnd we need to create a new system that will guarantee that all choices are correct.\n\n Let everyone who complains have a hearing.\n\nAnd the result of that is pa ralysis.\n\nSo I think the solution is to actually change our operating ph ilosophy and go back to the one that the framers contemplated\, which is o ne based on human responsibility.\n\nLaw sets goals\, law sets guardrails\ , law sets a hierarchy of authority to make sure that people don't do stup id things\, but people make decisions.\n\nLaw can't govern.\n\nAnd we've c reated this massive system over the\, only in the last 50 years\, on the p remise that actually we can make government into a kind of a software prog ram.\n\n- Will\, do you agree with Phil's diagnosis of the governing philo sophy that changed in the '60s.\n\n- I think I partially agree with it.\n\ nIt clearly did.\n\nWe got a lot more liberal process-oriented attempts to protect citizens against abuses of government power\, which was\, governm ent was getting bigger\, and it was intruding itself in more parts of Amer ican life.\n\nAnd in the '60s\, we radically expanded government under the Great Society\, and we have been doing that ever since.\n\nAnd so it just became a more intrusive thing with tentacles everywhere.\n\nAnd that just built this kind of resistance\, has built antagonism from the public that now saw government trying to do too much\, trying to spend too much\, and trying to direct them too much.\n\nAnd so I do think it has to do with th e scope of government's responsibilities\, and we need to have a serious c onversation about that.\n\n- We have a question from one of our Hofstra Un iversity students\, Mark Lussier.\n\n- Hello\, my name is Mark\, I'm from Connecticut\, and one of my senators\, Chris Murphy\, said that we are in the midst of a constitutional crisis.\n\nI wanna know if you agree\, and t he step\, and I also want to know the steps that the other two branches ca n take to address that\, and their odds of succeeding at addressing it.\n\ n- Are we in a constitutional crisis?\n\nLet me add to that\, actually.\n\ nWhere are the other branches of government?\n\nWe know that the judiciary is exerting itself\, but why couldn't these reforms be legislated and the n signed in by the executive branch?\n\n- That's a very good question.\n\n - Are we in a constitutional crisis?\n\n- Oh\, yes\, we are.\n\nI mean\, I wrote a piece this week about ruling by decree.\n\nIt's un-American\, the re's no basis for it in American history and no basis for it in the Consti tution.\n\nThe president can't just make policy willy nilly across the who le scope of what federal government does.\n\nThat's why the courts are get ting involved.\n\nWe've got a raft of lawsuits.\n\nI think a lot of this i s gonna slow down.\n\nBut the point is the courts are doing their job.\n\n Who's not doing its job is Congress\, and it's because it's under Republic an control.\n\nHe's got them absolutely cowed\, and they're not raising ob jection to his taking over the power of the purse\, which is clearly deleg ated to the legislative branch.\n\nSo yes\, that's a crisis.\n\n- Phil\, d o you think we're in a crisis?\n\n- Well\, we're certainly building toward s one\, and now we have Trump saying that maybe the courts don't have auth ority.\n\nAnd if they really disavow court rulings\, then we will have a c onstitutional crisis.\n\n- Do you have anything you wanna follow up on wit h\, Mark?\n\nI wanna make sure you're fully answered because you had a cou ple of different questions.\n\n- Actually\, one piece was what's the likel ihood of them succeeding and like being able to address those concerns of a crisis\, if we get to that point?\n\n- Well\, hey Phil\, you said we're getting there.\n\nYou think we're there\, you said we're getting there\, e specially if they just defy the court orders\, then we'll be there.\n\n- R ight.\n\n- So then what?\n\n- Well\, here's what scares me.\n\nSuppose he defies the courts\, in other words\, the court's are the only thing that a re\, is the only source of resistance now to Trump's imperial will.\n\nWha t if he just says\, \"No\, I'm not gonna do what the court's prescribed.\" \n\nThe other possibility is that the higher courts\, the Supreme Court\, might side with him on some of these issues.\n\n- Well\, you know\, I do t hink they're gray areas\, and I've written about this in large arguments a nd such about the scope of executive power.\n\nBut whatever gray areas the re are\, you still have to respect the rule of law in this country.\n\nAnd I believe that the rule of law is a foundation that most Americans believ e in\, and that once you abandon it or disavow it\, then we really are in trouble as a society\, and we have to sort of come together and do somethi ng different.\n\n- Let me ask you both this.\n\nIn 1990\, William F. Buckl ey Jr's original \"Firing Line\" hosted a debate that was titled\, \"Gover nment Is Not the Solution\, It's the Problem.\"\n\nAnd of course\, borrowi ng from Ronald Reagan's line\, listen to this defense of government from n one other than George McGovern.\n\n- This debate proposition reminds me of Groucho Marx's observation that marriage is the chief cause of divorce.\n \n(audience laughs) The answer is not to abolish marriage\, but to strive for better marriages.\n\nAnd so it is with government.\n\nGovernment has c aused some problems\, no question about that.\n\nAnd I've spoken out again st some of those problems.\n\nBut it has also come up with some inspired s olutions.\n\n- Right\, so the question is\, is DOGE's attempt to fix gover nment an example of getting rid of divorce by abolishing marriage?\n\n- I' d say\, so far\, yes.\n\nAnd while it's true that\, and Musk is right\, th e government isn't working very well\, to the point that government is the problem\, government should get out of people's daily lives.\n\nI mean\, much of the resentment that got Trump elected was government telling peopl e how to talk\, how to get along in the workplace\, how you run the local school.\n\nAnd I do think government is the problem when it gets in our da ily lives.\n\nBut I think government\, in a crowded\, global\, really fear ful environment of warring powers and such\, government is incredibly impo rtant to make government strong.\n\nWe can't be strong abroad if we're wea k at home.\n\nSo we need to make government work better\, not get rid of i t.\n\n- Will.\n\n- Well\, you know\, the problem with what Mr. McGovern sa id is that it's not about whether you like government or you dislike gover nment.\n\nI mean\, it's a necessary evil\, as Jefferson said\, we're gonna have it.\n\nAnd so the question is how can you make it a better servant o f the popular will\, but also how you constrain what it does so that it do esn't try to do everything\, which when it tries to do that\, it doesn't d o anything well.\n\n- Last question to both of you.\n\nIf you had one piec e of advice you would offer to Elon Musk to get it right\, if there were s till an opportunity for him to correct course\, what would it be?\n\n- I'd say focus on how government makes decisions.\n\nIf you can streamline gov ernment decisions\, give people authority to take responsibility\, you wil l save countless billions\, probably hundreds of billions of dollars\, and make government much more responsive to public needs.\n\n- Will.\n\n- Wel l\, the tragically-missed opportunity here is that Elon Musk could have do ne us a lot of good.\n\nIf Trump had sent him over to the Pentagon\, for e xample\, and said\, \"Modernize this.\n\nLet's get software\, let's get mo dern IT\, let's get AI working.\"\n\nThis is something he actually knows h ow to do.\n\nAnd what he's been set on is tasks that he doesn't know how t o do\, doesn't understand even how to define the problems properly.\n\n- O kay\, so that's your analysis.\n\nWhat's your advice for Elon Musk?\n\n- G o back to the private sector and leave us a alone\, please.\n\n- All right \, all right.\n\n(laughs) With that\, Will Marshall and Phil Howard\, than k you for joining me on \"Firing Line\,\" here at Hofstra University.\n\n- Thank you.\n\n- Thank you.\n\n(audience applauds) - [Announcer] \"Firing Line\,\" with Margaret Hoover is made possible in part by Robert Granieri\ , Vanessa and Henry Cornell\, the Fairweather Foundation\, Peter and Mary Kalikow\, Cliff and Laurel Asness\, the Meadowlark Foundation\, and by the following.\n\nCorporate funding is provided by Stephens Inc. (intense mus ic) (intense music continues) (gentle music) (peaceful music) - You're wat ching PBS.\n\n\n\n\n \n\n Executive Power usage\n\n URL\n\n https://www.pb s.org/newshour/show/capehart-and-continetti-on-trump-pushing-the-limits-of -executive-power\n\n VIDEO\n\n must click the link above to see\n\n TRANSC RIPT\n\n\n\n Geoff Bennett:\n\nFrom Elon Musk gaining unprecedented access to sensitive government information\, to Democrats trying to build what t hey call a bigger and better party\, we turn tonight to the analysis of Ca pehart and Continetti.\n\nThat's Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart and Matthew Continetti with the American Enterprise Institute. D avid Brooks is away this evening.\n\nIt's good to see you both.\n\nMatthew Continetti\, American Enterprise Institute:\n\nGood to see you.\n\nGeoff Bennett:\n\nSo\, Donald Trump and his allies are making quick progress tow ard their stated goal of the deconstruction of the administrative state. W e have got takeovers and the hollowing out of major government agencies\, offering severance agreements to government workers\, pausing federal gran ts and loans\, which\, of course\, is now tied up in the courts.\n\nJonath an\, are the shockwaves being felt across the government signs of a super committed new administration shaking up the status quo\, or are we witness ing the full assault on the limits of executive power?\n\nJonathan Capehar t:\n\nBoth\, Geoff. Both.\n\nRemember\, Donald Trump campaigned. He told u s this is what he was going to do. Project 2025 is all about doing what is happening right now. And so they are trying to deconstruct\, as I think o f Steve Bannon\, who said\, the administrative state.\n\nAnd they are — as I said last week\, President Trump and Elon Musk\, in particular\, are taking a wrecking ball to the federal government by sowing\, sure\, chaos and confusion and fear. But he's following through on what he promised to do.\n\nGeoff Bennett:\n\nHow do you see it\, Matt?\n\nMatthew Continetti:\ n\nI think Jonathan's right. This was a promise made\, promised kept\, as they like to say in Trump world.\n\nAnd I think what's important to unders tand about Trump and how he's going about these initial weeks is\, he want s to deliver results. Trump always feels as though the political class tha t preceded him talked a big game\, but never accomplished anything.\n\nSo we had the Grace Commission during Reagan. We had Al Gore's reinventing go vernment. We had the commissions dealing with the debt and taxes during th e Obama years. Nothing happened. And so here he is. Elon Musk says he want s to treat the federal government like a new acquisition. Well\, Donald Tr ump says\, go for it. Let's see what happens.\n\nGeoff Bennett:\n\nWhat ab out the question Democrats are raising\, Jonathan? Where are the guardrail s? Who's going to stop any of this? Democrats in Congress obviously don't have any power. Republicans in Congress are moving in lockstep with this a dministration.\n\nThe courts have stepped in where they deem appropriate\, but obviously can't keep up with the velocity of the Trump administration . Is there any guard against his instinct to wield\, to really claim and w ield expansive power?\n\nJonathan Capehart:\n\nWell\, see\, here's the thi ng.\n\nRight now\, the courts are the only guardrail. And I think people n eed to understand that the courts operate on a timetable that is completel y different than the rest of us. And we just have to appreciate that. The fact that citizens and lawmakers and organizations have gone to court to s top President Trump on a whole host of things\, from birthright citizenshi p to the buyout plans\, that is right now sort of the\, for lack of a bett er saying\, court of last resort.\n\nIn the old days\, Geoff and Matthew\, it used to be that Congress would be the backstop\, would be the entity\, the legislative branch standing up for its prerogatives and saying\, Mr. President\, no\, we are the ones who decide what agencies come and go. We are the ones who decide what the budget will be.\n\nBut\, instead\, the MA GA Republicans who were there in Congress\, from Speaker Johnson on down\, they're happy. They're happy to go along with what President Trump and El on Musk are doing\, which is why they are silent on a whole host of things that even 10 years ago would have had Congress up in arms.\n\nGeoff Benne tt:\n\nHow do you view Congress really abdicating their role\, ceding thei r power to the executive?\n\nMatthew Continetti:\n\nWell\, I think this pr ocess of ceding power to the executive is decades in the making\, and it's bipartisan.\n\nCongress has really just become an investigatory body that delegates tremendous authority to the executive branch of government and the bureaucracy. And we now see the results when you have Trump come in hi s second term wanting to leave a profoundly changed government in his wake when he departs the Oval Office.\n\nAnd you see that\, because of acts of Congress\, Congress' own denial of its role\, the president has enormous power to wield. And let's remember\, when President Obama said he had a pe n and a phone\, the first Trump administration used a lot of executive ord ers. Joe Biden tried to cancel student debt through executive order.\n\nTh is process we're seeing is long in the making. And I think one reason Wash ington is stunned is that you have an outsider in Elon Musk actually punch ing the delete button on some of these programs.\n\nGeoff Bennett:\n\nJona than\, Matthew raised the question I was going to ask you\, because that's what I have heard from Republicans this past week\, that Democrats can't in good faith criticize Donald Trump\, when Joe Biden tried to unilaterall y without Congress waive $400 billion worth of student loan debt. And when the Supreme Court said no\, you can't do that\, he basically shrugged and then tried to do it via piecemeal approach.\n\nJonathan Capehart:\n\nThis is like comparing apples and cannonballs.\n\nWhat we're seeing coming fro m the Trump administration is executive orders uprooting and upending the federal government. And what makes this all the more galling and terrifyin g for a lot of people is that he has delegated a lot of power to someone w ho was elected to no office\, to someone who was not confirmed by the Sena te.\n\nHe is accountable to no one\, except for maybe\, except for maybe P resident Trump. And President Trump has already said\, well\, he will only do things that we want him to do. Well\, so far\, Elon Musk is doing ever ything that Donald Trump wants to do.\n\nThat is what is so terrifying abo ut this moment\, is that you have an unelected person\, who also happens t o be the wealthiest person in the world\, and also the wealthiest person i n the world who owns a huge social media megaphone\, and is able to manipu late the information that the people on that huge platform receive.\n\nTha t's what is so dangerous about what is happening now. And as we're trying to compare President Biden's executive order on student loans and what Don ald Trump is doing\, Donald Trump is destroying. President Biden signed an executive order and\, yes\, pushed the limits of executive action\, but t o the benefit of people who were drowning in student debt.\n\nHe did it in order to help people\, not to destroy the government that the American pe ople depend on for a whole host\, a whole host of things.\n\nGeoff Bennett :\n\nLet's shift our focus back to Elon Musk for a second\, because\, Jona than\, we actually have the sound that you mentioned.\n\nHere is how Presi dent Trump responded to a reporter's question about whether he gave Elon M usk any red lines.\n\nQuestion:\n\nIs there anything you have told Elon Mu sk he cannot touch?\n\nDonald Trump\, President of the United States: Well \, we haven't discussed that much. I will tell him to go here\, go there. He does it. He's got a very capable group of people\, very\, very\, very\, very capable. They know what they're doing. They will ask questions and t hey will see immediately if somebody gets tongue-tied that they're either crooked or don't know what they're doing.\n\nGeoff Bennett:\n\nSo\, Matt\, it would appear that Elon Musk has a fairly broad mandate\, in that it's not spelled out at all\, I mean\, if you take into account what President Trump is saying there.\n\nMatthew Continetti:\n\nI think President Trump h as told Elon Musk\, let's change the government\, let's slim it down\, let 's dramatically reduce the federal work force. And if you need to go fast and break things\, as they say in Silicon Valley\, to do that\, that's fin e.\n\nI will say that if Elon Musk were the health care czar or the energy czar coming up with big plans for government spending or to combat global warming\, I'd think there'd be a lot less uproar in Washington\, D.C. It' s the fact that he has the goal of changing the federal government and lim iting it\, at a time when we have record deficits and debts\, that I think is angering a lot of people who are invested in the current system.\n\nGe off Bennett:\n\nIn the time that remains\, I want to return to this open q uestion about the path forward for Democrats\, because\, Jonathan\, you wr ote a column for The Washington Post this past week\, the thesis of which is that the Democratic Party's issue isn't rooted in policy. It's rooted i n perception.\n\nTell us more about that and whether Ken Martin\, the newl y elected head of the DNC\, can effectively change that.\n\nJonathan Capeh art:\n\nWell\, the perception of the Democratic Party is it's filled with elites who only care about niche issues and don't listen to the rest of us .\n\nAnd\, as everyone knows\, in a lot of instances\, perception is reali ty. I was one of three people\, MSNBC anchors\, who hosted the last DNC fo rum. And there were two instances that happened that sort of put this perc eption in high relief. One was a question asking for a commitment to dedic ated seats for transgender folks within the party to be — the serve with in the party in the governing structure.\n\nAnother was protesters who wer e loudly screaming about climate change and getting big money out of polit ics\, something that everyone on that stage was for. And yet no one wanted to listen to what they had to say.\n\nAnd what was great about — good a bout those two moments that were instructive\, Faiz Shakir\, a friend of \ "PBS News Hour\,\" was the only person the stage who did not raise his han d on the transgender question. There was also one on the question for seat s for Muslim DNC members.\n\nHe said\, I don't think we should be dividing people up by identity. We should focus on people who are up for the missi on and the program of the DNC and have them bring their identity to the ta ble.\n\nHe's absolutely right. And then with the protesters\, Jason Paul s aid\, this is the way people in the country view the Democratic Party\, an d that is our problem.\n\nThat's why I say the policy isn't the problem. D emocrats have policies that address the American people's issues. It's the perception. And that is what Ken Martin has to do. And we're about to fin d out if he's able to do it\, to change that perception.\n\nGeoff Bennett: \n\nJonathan Capehart and Matthew Continetti\, thanks again for being with us. I appreciate it.\n\nJonathan Capehart:\n\nThanks\, Geoff.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prior Economic Corner : https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11483-econ omiccorner014/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n Financial Federalism\n\n\n\n POST U RL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11488-economiccorner015/\n\n\n\n PRIOR E DITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/195-economic-corner-14-02 152025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/199 -economic-corner-16-02222025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250217 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 11 - What should you see after a Deepseek? 0 1/28/2025 DTSTAMP:20250129T005434Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:167-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n DeepSeek and the quality of usa finance\n\n MY THOUGHTS\n \n 600 billion dollars. Nvidia lost 17th percent of its value in a day . L ike many USA firms or industries outside military products\, they are weak from the 1900s to today.  \n\n DeepSeek said it cost 5 million dollars t o produce a product rivaling any comparative computer program in storage/s peed/calculation at  1/20th of the cost. So this proves the value of the usa firms is incorrect. which is my issue. Tesla was given such a high val ue. The USA's financial environment allows for a bloating of firms\, like Nvidia\, like Tesla that to be blunt\, have each lost huge market shares w hich they shouldn't. The fact that the best electric cars are made in chin a exposes Tesla's management to me. The fact that Nvidia who was part of a n industry that biden gave billions of investment to and are playing catch up exposes the chip industry in the usa. The fact that OpenAI and Anthropi c isn't open source\, and have been outed for their financial dysfunction\ , demanding such investment while not making the code public exposes them.  \n\n Yes\,  I will use this economic corner to share DeepSeek informati on as best I can. But my agenda is actually not about DeepSeek but the fin ancial argument that the USA has a problem in the investment in technologi es. There are those who believe that the one world has already been create d and the USA is really the binder to all governments\, in that mindset\, no one is competing because the usa is really\, the interchange between al l governments. Human history proves fissures that are wanted\, eventually become real\, even if it takes a long time. The lesson in Chinese industri es to all non white European governments\, is to consider how they researc h \, how they approach technological development. Is it about the Massachu setts institute of technology M.I.T. \, is it about Stanford\, is it about nepotism? I remember being a college student and I remember so often it w as blacks who graduated from an oxford or an M.I.T. that would be given op portunities but didn't have the imagination or passion to do well with the m. And the reason is simple\, as anyone non white european knows\, many pe ople\, including many asians that go to college in the usa are more intere sted with the appearance of intellect than being an ambitious creative. An d for the record\, the black people two generations earlier than mine\, in my bloodline\, earned multiple degrees or graduated from the ivy league s chools\, so my position is not about not going to an ivy league school or gaining multiple degrees\, which i find so many black people love to sugge st in a very enslaved way when another black person speaks of imaginations speaks of passion. Getting degrees for too many Black Descendent of Ensla ved people is a Keeping up with the Jones act\, to compare to other blacks in a view display to whites\,  not an important act to creativity or lea rning. The second article below may convince you\, of my point in this eco nomic corner\, which has been uttered by many Black DOSers since the end o f the war between the states in the usa. \n\n I quote the first article b elow\, and the source article the quotes are from are present.\n\n\n\n Lia ng told Chinese tech publication 36Kr that the decision was motivated by s cientific curiosity\, not a desire to make a profit. “I couldn’t find a commercial reason to start DeepSeek even if you asked me\,” he said. “Because it’s not commercially viable. Basic research has a very low return on investment. When OpenAI’s early investors gave it money\, they probably didn’t think about the return they would get. Rather\, they re ally wanted to do this business.”\n\n ...\n\n While OpenAI o1 costs $15 per million incoming tokens and $60 per million outgoing tokens\, the Deep Seek Reasoner API based on the R1 model offers $0.55 per million incoming tokens and $2.19 per million outgoing tokens.\n\n ...\n\n To train its mod els\, the High-Flyer hedge fund purchased more than 10\,000 NVIDIA H100 GP Us before the US export restrictions were introduced in 2022. Billionaire and Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang recently told CNBC that he estimates that DeepSeek now has about 50\,000 NVIDIA H100 chips that they cannot talk abo ut precisely because of US export controls. If this estimate is correct\, then compared to the leading companies in the AI industry\, such as OpenAI \, Google\, and Anthropic\, this is very small. After all\, each of them h as more than 500\,000 GPUs.\n\n ...\n\n  This also calls into question th e feasibility of the Stargate project\, an initiative under which OpenAI\, Oracle\, and SoftBank promise to build next-generation AI data centers in the United States\, allegedly willing to spend up to $500 billion.\n\n\n\ n \n\n Deepseek provides detailed technical reports explaining how the mod els work\, as well as code that anyone can look at and try to copy.\n\n Co de on hugging face\n\n https://huggingface.co/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1\n\n\ n\n The code on GitHub\n\n https://github.com/deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-R1\n\n\ n\n referral\n\n https://fortune.com/2025/01/27/deepseek-just-flipped-the- ai-script-in-favor-of-open-source-and-the-irony-for-openai-and-anthropic-i s-brutal/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ARTICLES\n\n\n\n Where DeepSeek came from and who is behind the AI lab that shocked Silicon Valley\n\n Taras Mishchenko \n\n Editor-in-Chief of Mezha.Media. Taras has more than 15 years of exper ience in IT journalism\, writes about new technologies and gadgets.\n\n\n\ n 28.01.2025 at 09:56\n\n A new artificial intelligence model DeepSeek-R1 from the Chinese laboratory DeepSeek appeared as if from nowhere. For the general public\, the first mentions of it began to appear in the media onl y last week\, and now it seems that everyone is talking about DeepSeek. Mo reover\, in just a week\, the DeepSeek app has overtaken the well-known Ch atGPT in the US App Store rankings. The model has also skyrocketed to the top downloadson the Hugging Face developer platform\, asdevelopers are rus hing to try it out and understand what this release can bring to their AI projects. So\, logical questions arise: where did DeepSeek come from\, who is behind this startup\, and why has it made so much noise. I will try to answer them in this article.\n\n\n\n Where DeepSeek came from\n\n Given t he history of Chinese tech companies\, DeepSeek should have been a project of giants like Baidu\, Alibaba\, or ByteDance. But this AI lab was launch ed in 2023 by High-Flyer\, a Chinese hedge fund founded in 2015 by entrepr eneur Liang Wenfeng. He made a fortune using AI and algorithms to identify patterns that could affect stock prices. The hedge fund quickly gained po pularity in China\, and was able to raise more than 100 billion yuan (abou t $15 billion). Since 2021\, this figure has dropped to about $8 billion\, but High-Flyer is still one of the most important hedge funds in the coun try.\n\n\n\n As High-Flyer’s core business overlapped with the developme nt of AI models\, the hedge fund accumulated GPUs over the years and creat ed Fire-Flyer supercomputers to analyze financial data. In the wake of the growing popularity of ChatGPT\, a chatbot from the American company OpenA I\, Liang\, who also holds a master’s degree in computer science\, decid ed in 2023 to invest his fund’s resources in a new company called DeepSe ek\, which was to create its own advanced models and develop general artif icial intelligence (AGI).\n\n\n\n Liang told Chinese tech publication 36Kr [ https://36kr.com/p/2272896094586500 ] that the decision was motivated by scientific curiosity\, not a desire to make a profit. “I couldn’t find a commercial reason to start DeepSeek even if you asked me\,” he sa id. “Because it’s not commercially viable. Basic research has a very l ow return on investment. When OpenAI’s early investors gave it money\, t hey probably didn’t think about the return they would get. Rather\, they really wanted to do this business.”\n\n\n\n According to Liang\, when h e assembled DeepSeek’s R&\;D team\, he also didn’t look for experie nced engineers to build a consumer-facing product. Instead\, he focused on doctoral students from top universities in China\, including Peking Unive rsity\, Tsinghua University\, and Beihang University\, who were eager to p rove themselves. Many of them had published in top journals and won awards at international academic conferences\, but had no industry experience\, according to Chinese technology publication QBitAI. [ https://www.qbitai. com/2025/01/241000.html \; identity of workers at DeepSeek] \n\n\n\n “ Our main technical positions are mostly filled by people who graduated thi s year or within the last one or two years\,” Liang said in an interview in 2023. He believes that students may be better suited for high-investme nt\, low-return research. “Most people\, when they are young\, can fully commit to a mission without utilitarian considerations\,” Liang explain ed. His pitch to potential employees is that DeepSeek was created to “so lve the world’s toughest questions.”\n\n\n\n Liang\, who is personally involved in DeepSeek’s development\, uses the proceeds from his hedge f und to pay high salaries to top AI talent. Along with TikTok owner ByteDan ce\, DeepSeek is known in China for providing top compensation to AI engin eers\, and staff are based in offices in Hangzhou and Beijing.\n\n\n\n Lia ng positions DeepSeek as a uniquely “local” company\, staffed by PhDs from leading Chinese universities. In an interview with the domestic press last year\, he said that his core team “didn’t have any people who ca me back from abroad. They are all local… We have to develop the best tal ent ourselves.” DeepSeek’s identity as a purely Chinese LLM company ha s earned it popularity at home\, as this approach is fully in line with Ch inese government policy.\n\n\n\n This week\, Liang was the only representa tive of China’s AI industry chosen to participate in a highly publicized meeting of entrepreneurs with the country’s second-in-command\, Li Qian g. Entrepreneurs were told to “focus on breakthroughs in key technologie s.”\n\n\n\n Not much is known about how DeepSeek started building its ow n large language models (LLMs)\, but the lab quickly opened their source c ode\, and it is likely that\, like many Chinese AI developers\, it relied on open source projects created by Meta\, such as the Llama model and the Pytorch machine learning library. At the same time\, DeepSeek’s particul ar focus on research makes it a dangerous competitor for OpenAI\, Meta\, a nd Google\, as the AI lab is\, at least for now\, willing to share its dis coveries rather than protect them for commercial gain. DeepSeek has not ra ised funds from outside and has not yet taken significant steps to monetiz e its models. However\, it is not known for certain whether the Chinese go vernment is involved in financing the company.\n\n\n\n What makes the Deep Seek-R1 AI model unique\n\n In November\, DeepSeek first announced that it had achieved performance that surpassed the leading-edge OpenAI o1 model\ , but at the time it only released a limited R1-lite-preview model. With t he release of the full DeepSeek-R1 model last week and the accompanying wh ite paper\, the company introduced a surprising innovation: a deliberate d eparture from the traditional supervised fine-tuning (SFT) process that is widely used for training large language models (LLMs).\n\n\n\n SFT is a s tandard approach for AI development and involves training models on prepar ed datasets to teach them step-by-step reasoning\, often referred to as a chain of thought (CoT). However\, DeepSeek challenged this assumption by s kipping SFT entirely and instead relying on reinforcement learning (RL) to train DeepSeek-R1.\n\n\n\n According to Jeffrey Emanuel\, a serial invest or and CEO of blockchain company Pastel Network\, DeepSeek managed to outp ace Anthropic in the application of the chain of thought (CoT)\, and now t hey are practically the only ones\, apart from OpenAI\, who have made this technology work on a large scale.\n\n\n\n At the same time\, unlike OpenA I\, which is incredibly secretive about how these models actually work at a low level and does not provide the actual model weights to anyone other than partners like Microsoft\, these DeepSeek models are completely open a nd permissively licensed. They have released extremely detailed technical reports explaining how the models work\, as well as code that anyone can l ook at and try to copy.\n\n\n\n With R1\, DeepSeek essentially cracked one of the holy grails of AI: getting models to reason step by step without r elying on massive teacher datasets. Their DeepSeek-R1-Zero experiment show ed something remarkable: using pure reinforcement learning with carefully designed reward functions\, the researchers were able to get the models to develop complex reasoning capabilities completely autonomously. It wasn ’t just problem solving-the model organically learned to generate long c hains of thought\, check its own work\, and allocate more computational ti me to more complex problems.\n\n\n\n In this way\, the model learned to re vise its thinking on its own. What is particularly interesting is that dur ing training\, DeepSeek observed what they called an “aha moment\,” a phase when the model spontaneously learned to revise its chain of thought mid-process when faced with uncertainty. This sudden behavior was not expl icitly programmed\, but arose naturally from the interaction between the m odel and the reinforcement learning environment. The model literally stopp ed itself\, flagged potential problems in its reasoning\, and restarted wi th a different approach\, all without being explicitly trained to do so.\n \n\n\n DeepSeek also solved one of the main problems in reasoning models: language consistency. Previous attempts at chain-of-thought reasoning ofte n resulted in models mixing languages or producing incoherent output. Deep Seek solved this problem by smartly rewarding language consistency during RL training\, sacrificing a slight performance hit for a much more readabl e and consistent output.\n\n\n\n As a result\, DeepSeek-R1 achieves high a ccuracy and efficiency. At AIME 2024\, one of the toughest math competitio ns for high school students\, R1 achieved 79.8% accuracy\, which is in lin e with OpenAI’s o1 model. At MATH-500\, it reached 97.3%\, and at the Co deforces programming competition\, it reached the 96.3 percentile. But per haps most impressively\, DeepSeek was able to distill these capabilities d own to much smaller models: their 14 billion-parameter version outperforms many models several times its size\, showing that reasoning power depends not only on the number of parameters but also on how you train the model to process information.\n\n\n\n However\, the uniqueness of DeepSeek-R1 li es not only in the new approach to model training\, but also in the fact t hat it is the first time a Chinese AI model has gained such great populari ty in the West. Users\, of course\, immediately went to ask it questions a bout Tiananmen Square and Taiwan that were sensitive to the Chinese govern ment\, and quickly realized that DeepSeek was censored. Indeed\, it would be futile to expect a Chinese AI lab to not comply with Chinese law or pol icy.\n\n\n\n However\, many developers consider this censorship to be an i nfrequent extreme case in real-world use that can be mitigated by fine-tun ing. Therefore\, it is unlikely that the issue of ethical use of DeepSeek- R1 will stop many developers and users who want to get access to the lates t AI development and essentially for free.\n\n\n\n Of course\, for many\, the security of the data remains a question mark\, as DeepSeek-R1 probably stores it on Chinese servers. But as a precautionary measure\, you can tr y the model on Hugging Face in sandbox mode [ https://huggingface.co/deep seek-ai/DeepSeek-R1 ] \, or even run it locally on your PC if you have th e necessary hardware. In such cases\, the model will not be fully function al\, but it will remove the issue of data transfer to Chinese servers.\n\n \n\n How much did it cost to develop DeepSeek-R1?\n\n To train its models\ , the High-Flyer hedge fund purchased more than 10\,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs b efore the US export restrictions were introduced in 2022. Billionaire and Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang recently told CNBC that he estimates that Deep Seek now has about 50\,000 NVIDIA H100 chips that they cannot talk about p recisely because of US export controls. If this estimate is correct\, then compared to the leading companies in the AI industry\, such as OpenAI\, G oogle\, and Anthropic\, this is very small. After all\, each of them has m ore than 500\,000 GPUs.\n\n\n\n According to NVIDIA engineer Jim Fan\, Dee pSeek trained its base model\, called V3\, with a budget of $5.58 million over two months. However\, it is difficult to estimate the total cost of t raining DeepSeek-R1. The use of 60\,000 NVIDIA GPUs could potentially cost hundreds of millions of dollars\, so the exact figures remain speculative .\n\n\n\n Why DeepSeek-R1 shocked Silicon Valley\n\n DeepSeek largely disr upts the business model of OpenAI and other Western companies working on t heir own closed AI models. After all\, DeepSeek-R1 not only performs bette r than the best open-source alternative\, Llama 3 by Meta. The model trans parently shows the entire chain of thought in its answers. This is a blow to the reputation of OpenAI\, which has hitherto hidden the thought chains of its models\, citing trade secrets and the fact that it does not want t o embarrass users when the model is wrong.\n\n\n\n In addition\, DeepSee k’s success emphasizes that cost-effective and efficient AI development methods are realistic. We have already determined that in the case of a Ch inese company\, it is difficult to calculate the cost of development\, and there may always be “surprises” in the form of multi-billion dollar g overnment funding. But at the moment\, DeepSeek-R1\, with a similar level of accuracy to OpenAI o1\, is much cheaper for developers. While OpenAI o1 costs $15 per million incoming tokens and $60 per million outgoing tokens \, the DeepSeek Reasoner API based on the R1 model offers $0.55 per millio n incoming tokens and $2.19 per million outgoing tokens.\n\n\n\n However\, while DeepSeek’s innovations are groundbreaking\, they have by no means given the Chinese AI lab market leadership. As DeepSeek has published its research\, other AI model development companies will learn from it and ad apt. Meta and Mistral\, a French open-source model development company\, m ay be a bit behind\, but it will probably only take them a few months to c atch up with DeepSeek. As Ian LeCun\, a leading AI researcher at Meta\, sa id: “The idea is that everyone benefits from the ideas of others. No one is “ahead” of anyone and no country is “losing” to another. No on e has a monopoly on good ideas. Everyone learns from everyone.”\n\n\n\n DeepSeek’s offerings are likely to continue to lower the cost of using A I models\, which will benefit not only ordinary users but also startups an d other businesses interested in AI. But if developing a DeepSeek-R1 model with fewer resources does turn out to be a reality\, it could be a proble m for AI companies that have invested heavily in their own infrastructure. In particular\, years of operating and capital expenditures by OpenAI and others could be wasted.\n\n\n\n The market doesn’t yet know the final a nswer to whether AI development will indeed require less computing power i n the future\, but it is already reacting nervouslywith a drop in shares o f NVIDIA and other suppliers of AI data center components. This also calls into question the feasibility of the Stargate project\, an initiative und er which OpenAI\, Oracle\, and SoftBank promise to build next-generation A I data centers in the United States\, allegedly willing to spend up to $50 0 billion.\n\n\n\n But on the other hand\, while American companies will s till have excess capacity for the development of artificial intelligence\, China’s DeepSeek\, with the US export restrictions on chips still in pl ace\, may face a severe shortage. If we assume that resource constraints h ave indeed pushed it to innovate and allowed it to create a competitive pr oduct\, the lack of computing power will simply prevent it from scaling\, while competitors will catch up. Therefore\, despite all the innovation of DeepSeek\, it is still too early to say that Chinese companies will be ab le to compete with Western AI tech giants\, even if we put aside the issue s of censorship and data security.\n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://mezha.media/en/ articles/where-deepseek-came-from-and-who-is-behind-the-ai-lab-that-shocke d-silicon-valley\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Question and Answer excerpts from 疯狂的幻方：一家隐形AI巨头的大模型之路\n\n ...\n\n 36Kr: What deductions and assumptions have we made about the business mod el?\n\n\n\n Liang Wenfeng: What we want now is that we can share most of o ur training results publicly\, so that it can be combined with commerciali zation. We hope that more people\, even a small app\, can use large models at a low cost\, instead of technology only in the hands of some people an d companies\, forming a monopoly.\n\n ...\n\n 36Kr: In any case\, it's a b it crazy for a commercial company to do a kind of research exploration wit h unlimited investment.\n\n\n\n Liang Wenfeng: If you have to find a comme rcial reason\, it may not be found\, because it can't be done.\n\n\n\n Fro m a business point of view\, basic research has a very low return on inves tment. When OpenAI's early investors invested money\, they must not have t hought about how much return I would get back\, but really wanted to do it .\n\n\n\n What we are more certain now is that since we want to do this an d have the ability\, we are one of the most suitable candidates at this po int in time.\n\n ...\n\n 36Kr: How would you see the competitive landscape of large models?\n\n\n\n Liang Wenfeng: Large manufacturers definitely ha ve advantages\, but if they can't be applied quickly\, they may not be abl e to continue to adhere to them\, because they need to see results.\n\n\n\ n The top startups also have solid technology\, but like the old wave of A I startups\, they have to face commercialization problems.\n\n ...\n\n 36K r: Talents for large-scale model entrepreneurship are also scarce\, and so me investors say that many suitable talents may only be in the AI labs of giants such as OpenAI and FacebookAI Research. Do you go overseas to poach this kind of talent?\n\n\n\n Liang Wenfeng: If you are pursuing short-ter m goals\, it is right to find someone with existing experience. But if you look at the long term\, experience is not so important\, but basic abilit y\, creativity\, passion\, etc. are more important. From this point of vie w\, there are many suitable candidates in China.\n\n\n\n 36Kr: Why isn't e xperience so important?\n\n\n\n Liang Wenfeng: You don't have to be able t o do this by someone who has done this. High-Flyer's principle of recruiti ng people is to look at ability\, not experience. Our core technical posit ions are basically mainly fresh graduates and those who have graduated for one or two years.\n\n\n\n 36Kr: Do you think experience is an obstacle wh en it comes to innovating business?\n\n\n\n Liang Wenfeng: When you do som ething\, experienced people will tell you without thinking that you should do it\, but people without experience will repeatedly explore and think s eriously about what should be done\, and then find a solution that is in l ine with the current actual situation.\n\n\n\n 36Kr: High-Flyer has entere d the industry from a layman with no financial genes at all\, and has beco me the head in a few years\, is this recruitment rule one of the secrets?\ n\n\n\n Liang Wenfeng: Our core team\, even myself\, didn't have quantitat ive experience at the beginning\, which is very special. It can't be said to be the secret of success\, but it's one of the cultures of High-Flyer. We don't deliberately shy away from experienced people\, but it's more abo ut ability.\n\n\n\n Take the sales position as an example. Our two main sa les officers are both amateurs in this industry. One was originally engage d in the foreign trade of German machinery categories\, and the other was originally written in the background of the brokerage. When they enter the industry\, they have no experience\, no resources\, no accumulation.\n\n\ n\n And now we may be the only big private equity firm that can focus on d irect sales. Doing direct selling means that there is no need to divide th e fees to the middlemen\, and the profit margin is higher under the same s cale and performance\, and many companies will try to imitate us\, but the y do not succeed.\n\n\n\n 36Kr: Why are many families trying to imitate yo u\, but they are not successful?\n\n\n\n Liang Wenfeng: Because that's not enough for innovation to happen. It needs to match the culture and manage ment of the company.\n\n\n\n In fact\, they couldn't do anything in the fi rst year\, and only in the second year did they start to make some progres s. But our assessment criteria are different from those of ordinary compan ies. We don't have KPIs and we don't have so-called tasks.\n\n\n\n 36Kr: W hat are your assessment criteria?\n\n\n\n Liang Wenfeng: We are not like o rdinary companies\, we value the number of orders placed by customers\, an d our sales sales and commissions are not good at the beginning\, but will encourage sales to develop their own circles\, meet more people\, and hav e greater influence.\n\n\n\n Because we believe that an honest salesperson who can be trusted by customers may not be able to get customers to place orders in a short period of time\, but it can make you feel that he is a reliable person.\n\n URL\n\n https://36kr.com/p/2272896094586500\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prior entry\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11445-economicco rner010/\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11447-economiccor ner011/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/16 6-economic-corner-10-online-divestiture- 01282025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n \n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/193-economic-corner-12-02122025/\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250128 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 10 - online divestiture? -  01/28/2025 DTSTAMP:20250129T005332Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:166-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n TikTok is the first non usa website to be the biggest eso cial website in online humanity. If bytedance sells TikTok wholesale it is a financial mistake Bytedance should sell tiktokusa not tiktok. In Europe /South America/Africa/Asia tiktok is the big leader in the world\, selling it completely to a usa buyer is a usa win. It is like the Japanese autom akers making manufacturing plants in the usa\, when they through competiti on won the economic car market\, it is a usa win. Make TikTokusa TTU and m ake sure tiktokusa has contractual arrangements that demand an integration /association with TikTok.\n\n Profd \, a member of aalbc cited below\, sai d\n\n The next 4 years could be a wild ride in that regard as oligarchs ge t to pick and choose freedoms.\n\n This morning\, I saw the handful of fac es of people who could buy ByteDance i.e. TikTok.  None of them were Blac k.\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11431-tiktok-service-restored-ban-suspen ded/#findComment-71294\n\n\n\n Here is my issue. I don't mind a black buye r\, though I think financially it is better to have a collection of black owners working together as a group. But for me the larger issue is the arg ument focuses on buying tiktok\, instead of investing in a better online s ervice for black people. \n\n\n\n The film industry of Nigeria\, commonly called Nollywood needs an online interface like a tiktok\, I rather inves t in that. \n\n\n\n I know my words may seem like an attack to PRofd but they are not. My entire life\, I have always heard the most financially ca pable blacks always emphasize investing in non black enterprises and never a word to owning a black owned enterprise. In my life\, all to often\, it is black people who are financially least capable or incapable who talk a bout owning black and not investing in non black. The internet is a huge p lace. Tiktok was not born because chinese were selling to the usa\, tiktok is a clone of a chinese website to chinese people. \n\n\n\n I rather a s et of black investors invest in AALBC than tiktok. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Pr ior Post\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11444-economiccorner009/\n\n\n \n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11445-economiccorner010/\n\n\n\ n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/165-economic-cor ner-09-media-properties-dictate-01282025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/167-economic-corner-11-what-should-you-see- after-a-deepseek-01282025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250128 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 09 - media properties dictate? - 01/28/2025 DTSTAMP:20250129T005238Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:165-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n What she misses is a crossroads of three things. First\, the studios want to maximize profit\, which means they want to use media p roperties they already own and attract the most sales. Second\, the proper ties studios own are quite old\, decades old\, centuries old and tend to b e created by white people of european descent filled with mostly character s described in appearance or culture as white of european descent\, which has the problem of not being as attractive to non whites than non white ch aracters. Third\, the modern buyers of media content are not overwhelmingl y \, overwhelmingly meaning seventy five percent or more \, of white Europ ean descent and the studios want to cater to them. \n\n The three element s show the problem. The studios always want to save money+ not risk money\ , which means the studios are not going to buy new non white European char acters or use lesser known non white European characters that many\, inclu ding many non whites of European descent\, don't know. \n\n So with the d esire to maximize profits + risk least investment revenue this means chang ing white European characters they already own into non white European cha racters is most efficient.\n\n This is what I think many\, Black or non bl ack are missing.  When I think on most popular movies in the last thirty years\, few are of a new property. Every star wars/star trek/marvel/dc fil m is of an old property. Every biopic is of an old property\, that being a famous person. Little that makes the most money is new\, is unheard of.  \n\n Even nosferatu which has made a splash is again\, is old. So\, if old properties are the fans are buying\, and all the old characters owned by studios is white\, simple arithmetic to save money or risk less revenue is to change characters already owned to fit the non white European buyer.  \n\n And again\, prove the studios wrong\, not with artistic judgement vid eos or human communal statement videos but by sales. \n\n Consider DC has access to Milestone and yet\, it never occurred to them to give milestone characters their own movies. Here is a comic imprint made by non white Eu ropeans\, mostly blacks\, that has a gallery of non white European charact ers made by non white Europeans. DC made birds of prey changing white Euro pean descent characters. \n\n Marvel treats black panther as their non wh ite world movies. Black panther 1 had more black people in an action sci f i adventure than ever before. black panther 2 added first peoples of the A mericas taking namor the submariner and changing his character's design dr amatically. But this was cheaper\, and the profits prove the studios right . \n\n The biggest problem with this issue is\, and I can speak of this a s a writer. New characters or lesser known characters haven't proven to ha ve big money legs. Notice I didn't say they couldn't they haven't proven i t. \n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czf2k-WJ6iU\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n MY COMMENT\n\n The problem the studios have is they want to always save m oney + risk the least revenue developing+ gain the most buyers in modernit y which has many more buyers not of white european descent than ever befor e\, and based on financial results of films\, year in and year out\, it on ly leads to one conclusion and that is race swapping. To restate my point\ , the financial returns of the film industry prove their race swapping act ions correct\, against other options. \n\n\n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n 0:00\nb efore we get started I have a brand new\n0:02\nshort film that is releasin g on this\n0:04\nchannel very soon I love this short film\n0:06\nI think i t's the best one I've done yet\n0:07\nand I really need your guys' help fo r\n0:09\nfeedback for this short film so if when\n0:12\nI drop it which is going to be before\n0:14\nthe end of January I would really\n0:16\napprec iate if you would give it a watch\n0:18\nand please I highly recommend you watch\n0:21\nthis short film to the end because it's\n0:23\nthe best one I've done so far so without\n0:25\nfurther Ado let's get on to the video\n 0:27\none of the big controversial things\n0:29\nthat's been going on and talked about a\n0:31\nlot for years now is racebending\n0:34\ncharacters a nd I haven't really thrown\n0:37\nmy hat in the ring to talk about it yet\ n0:39\nother than saying you know talking about\n0:41\nthings like Batman cape Crusader that\n0:43\njust because you race bend a character\n0:45\ndo es not mean that the show is going to\n0:47\nbe bad or that it needs to af fect\n0:49\nanything but there were a couple maybe\n0:52\nthree things tha t I read and that had\n0:54\nhappened that made me finally want to\n0:57\n make this video because something really\n1:00\ngot under my skin regardin g this entire\n1:03\nconversation now race bending characters\n1:06\nit's very controversial does it ever\n1:08\naffect story is it wrong to ever ra ce\n1:10\nbend a character we've seen it happen a\n1:13\nlot with some ver y iconic characters\n1:15\nlately that they get race Bend and it\n1:17\nca uses a lot of tension and infighting\n1:20\nover this now when I was growi ng up\n1:22\nthere were a lot of projects that did\n1:25\nhave technically race bent characters\n1:27\nthat I loved one of my favorite movies\n1:30\ ngrowing up and what I think might even\n1:31\nbe the best adaptation of C inderella\n1:34\never was with Brandy and Whitney Houston\n1:37\nwhen they did the Roger and Hammerstein\n1:39\nor Stein's version of it and that wa s an\n1:41\ninsanely successful movie when it aired\n1:44\non TV and I lov ed watching it growing up\n1:46\nalso in my teen years getting into the\n1 :49\nAvengers and all that you had Samuel L\n1:51\nJackson as Nick Fury an d that is a race\n1:53\nbent version of the character from the\n1:56\ncomi cs but everyone seemed to love\n1:58\nSamuel Jackson as Nick I don't remem ber\n2:00\nthere being any sort of controversy over\n2:03\nit and so you c an see that in the past\n2:06\nthere were these times when race bending\n2 :08\na character would not be a big deal and\n2:12\nmost people I think ju st assumed you\n2:13\nmust have gotten the right person for\n2:15\nthe rol e and would go from there but\n2:18\nhowever I would like to point out for \n2:19\nsomething like Nick Fury in uh The\n2:22\nAvengers I don't doubt t hat there was\n2:24\nsome conversation behind the scenes\n2:26\ngoing on a bout you know the Avengers the\n2:28\noriginal six were six white people l et's\n2:30\nget somebody in here who's non-white\n2:32\nsomebody like a hi gh caliber actor so um\n2:36\nwe can maybe get a different sort of\n2:38\n audience because Hollywood has had that\n2:39\nthinking of for decades tha t they need\n2:41\nto introduce non-white characters to get\n2:44\ndiffere nt demographics to hopefully\n2:46\nwatch their film so that was the way i t\n2:49\nwas it wasn't really seen as a big deal\n2:51\nand I think we jus t went through a\n2:53\nperiod of time when racebending any sort\n2:55\nof character like it it didn't really\n2:57\nseem to anger people enough or make that\n3:01\nmuch of a controversy for Hollywood when\n3:03\nthey did it for example you had Jessica\n3:05\nAlba as a Latina actress um playing Sue\n3:09\nstorm who's a white character they did\n3:11\nmake her wear mak eup to whiten her face\n3:14\na bit and that would not fly today you\n3:16 \nhad oh I can't remember the name but\n3:18\nMichael Clark Duncan but he did a RAC\n3:20\nbement version of Kingpin for Ben\n3:23\nAffleck Daredevi l and then you have um\n3:26\night Shyamalan decided for whatever\n3:28\nr eason to get white actors to play the\n3:30\ncharacters in his Avatar movi e which I\n3:34\ndefinitely do not approve of because you\n3:37\nknow you should have gotten Asians to\n3:39\nplay Asian characters but anyway uh fo r\n3:42\nwhatever reason he got away with it at\n3:43\nthe time and so I t hink that that just\n3:45\nshows that there was a time in history\n3:48\nw here race bending was just like for\n3:50\nwhoever it was being done to it was not\n3:52\nseen as such a huge deal that it would\n3:54\nprevent it f rom happening in the first\n3:55\nplace and this was after a time where\n3 :57\ndecades ago it used to be very difficult\n3:59\nfor for a non-white a ctor to get a good\n4:01\nrole it there there were very very\n4:03\nlimite d roles back then decades ago and\n4:06\nif you go and listen to actors do ing\n4:08\ninterviews it was very limiting the\n4:10\nkinds of roles they were offered if you\n4:11\nweren't a white person so we can see how\n4:13\ nit's changed over time but now uh the\n4:17\nrace bending of White charac ters has\n4:19\nbecome super controversial and why is\n4:23\nthat well bec ause they've pushed it so\n4:25\nhard and they've pushed it in such a way\ n4:27\nthat it's in ently cause tension like\n4:31\nfor example um another thing I can say\n4:34\ngrowing up is that there used to be some\n4:36\nca rtoon characters that occasionally\n4:37\nwould be raceman like Liz Allen from\n4:40\nspectacular Spider-Man that cartoon in\n4:42\nthe original uh comic she is a Caucasian\n4:45\nblonde girl and they made her a Latina\n4: 48\nin the cartoon and I never had a problem\n4:51\nwith that I enjoyed th at version of Liz\n4:53\nAllen and I never heard anyone who\n4:54\ndidn't have a problem with that and why\n4:57\nwell Liz Allen that look for the\n 4:59\ncharacter it isn't as well known and so\n5:01\nI don't think people notice it as much\n5:03\nalso there was justification and once\n5:05\nagai n they've been trying to\n5:07\ndiversifying things like that for years\n5 :08\nnow but there was justification for Liz\n5:10\nAllen because she was another white\n5:13\nblonde character from Spider-Man she had\n5:15\nthe s ame look as Gwen Stacy so changing\n5:18\nher per race making her look dif ferent\n5:20\nthat it just it just act added an actual\n5:23\ndiversity to the cast so that every\n5:25\ncharacter had their distinct look\n5:26\ndi fferent ethnic background and I think\n5:28\nthat that really worked anoth er\n5:30\ncharacter that was race bent in a\n5:32\ncartoon X-Men evolution Amara AKA magma\n5:35\nshe was a character who was another\n5:37\nCaucasi an blonde from the comics but\n5:39\nthere were already a lot of Caucasian \n5:41\nblondes on the New Mutants team that she\n5:43\noriginated from an d they made her Latina\n5:46\nin X-Men evolution and once again\n5:48\npro bably trying to diversify with that I\n5:50\nthought it worked though you know it was\n5:52\nhelpful the characters all have their\n5:54\ndistinct l ooks I actually really like\n5:56\nthat version of Amara so you see in the \n5:58\npast it can work and not cause\n6:01\ncontroversy so how did race bending\n6:03\ncharacters start to become so\n6:05\ncontroversial for a co uple different\n6:06\nreasons number one you'll notice when it\n6:08\ncome s to characters like magma or Liz\n6:11\nAllen these were characters that weren't\n6:13\nvery well known or I would even say in\n6:15\nthe case of N ick Fury it was a\n6:17\ncombination of even Nick Fury wasn't\n6:19\nthat well known also um back then they\n6:21\ndidn't do race bending as much th ey\n6:23\ndidn't push it as hard I don't think\n6:25\nthat people expected anything other than\n6:27\nthey probably just got the right actor\n6:29\n for the role\n6:30\nbut the problem that has happened these\n6:32\ndays is they have been doing it to more\n6:34\nand more iconic characters like Ma ry\n6:37\nJane Watson that is a character who is\n6:39\nvery very iconical ly a redhead a white\n6:43\nredhead that is an iconic look for the\n6:45\n character it is really it really defines\n6:48\nher so when you did that w hen you cast\n6:51\nZena as the character in culture\n6:53\nMichelle Jones but she's sort of pseudo\n6:55\nMJ it caused a lot of backlash and this\n 6:58\nis what you see\n7:00\nwhen they race Bend characters that are\n7:02 \nmore wellknown why well because people\n7:04\nhave an expectation for th e character to\n7:07\nlook like they do in the source material\n7:09\nwhen it's that iconic like I would say\n7:12\nthe same thing and I've talked a bout\n7:13\nthis before when it comes to like you\n7:15\nknow Brandy and C inderella I love that\n7:17\nmovie I love her take on Cinderella\n7:19\nCi nderella is a story that's been told\n7:21\nby every culture every ethnici ty it\n7:23\nreally doesn't matter fairy tales can be\n7:25\na lot more lo ose than that and I would\n7:27\nsay the same for a lot of the fairy tals\ n7:30\nfrom Disney but and while I would say\n7:33\nplease like no one sho uld attack the\n7:34\nactors and actresses over this stuff I\n7:37\ndo thi nk that Disney has set up their\n7:39\nactors and actresses up to fail whe n\n7:42\nthey choose to race Ben characters in\n7:44\ntheir liveaction Dis ney movies why well\n7:47\nbecause while you can tell a new story\n7:50\nw ith these characters and these versions\n7:52\nbut there with the Disney L ive Action\n7:54\nremakes with the people who watch them\n7:56\nthey want the whole thing with them is\n7:58\nthat they're shot for shot remakes of\ n8:00\nthe original they're supposed to be\n8:01\nremakes of the original so when you set\n8:03\nup the expectation that this is Ariel\n8:05\nfor ex ample in the RAS B that character\n8:08\nthen you start to cause controver sy\n8:11\nthere is why doesn't this character look\n8:13\nthe way she does in the original and\n8:15\ndoes it matter that much well in this\n8:18\nc ase when I'm talking about the little\n8:19\nmermaid no it doesn't there's no reason\n8:21\nwhy someone couldn't play a good version\n8:23\nof uh Th e Little Mermaid that's a\n8:26\ndifferent race but the problem with it\n8 :28\nis that here's what happens you'll get a\n8:30\ncharacter like Mary J ane or Ariel or\n8:33\nwhoever it is you'll get a character\n8:34\nwhere p eople have a certain expectation\n8:36\nof how they're supposed to look uh based\n8:39\non how they were from the source and\n8:41\npeople might be critical because it\n8:43\ndoesn't look the way that it does in the\n8:44\ nsource and that's just fandom you know\n8:47\nlike fans want things to lo ok the way\n8:49\nthey were in The Source material they\n8:50\nwant events to play out the way they did\n8:52\nin the material uh we'll have more\n8 :54\nexamples of that in a minute but like\n8:56\nthat is a part of fandom when they\n8:57\nthings are iconic from the mat material\n9:00\nThe Sourc e material they want that to be\n9:01\nreflected and here's what I've seen \n9:03\nhappen over and over and over again in\n9:05\nthe past decade is t hat they will they\n9:07\nwill race been an iconic character\n9:09\npeople will get upset by it and then the\n9:12\nresponse will be like you're jus t racist\n9:15\nlike the only reason why you could\n9:17\npossibly dislike this change or find it\n9:19\nquestionable or just not be really into\n9: 22\nit is because you're are racist you just\n9:25\ncannot stand seeing a black person get a\n9:28\nrole like this get a big role like this\n9:31\na nd that is the only reason why you\n9:33\ndon't like it and so because dis liking\n9:36\nsomething like that gets you called a\n9:37\nracist you know that's a very\n9:40\ninflammatory terrible word to call\n9:42\nsomeone or to be accused of that in\n9:45\ninvites anger that invites Anger from\n9: 47\nthe people who initially perhaps just\n9:49\nwanted a character to loo k the way they\n9:51\ndid in the source material and now all\n9:53\nof a s udden they are in have been called\n9:55\nan inflammatory term that create s anger\n9:57\nthat feeds it back to more anger at the\n10:00\nperson that they cast in the role where\n10:02\nit was race bent which indeed I I\n10 :04\nimagine I can I don't have to imagine\n10:06\nthe people who' have be en casting these\n10:08\nroles do not like having anger pushed\n10:10\nbac k at them so that will come back to\n10:12\nthe way that they communicate with the\n10:14\nfan base or the audience and so on and\n10:17\non and on it goes on like that and the\n10:19\ntensions rise now once again be befor e\n10:22\nit wasn't really controversial to race\n10:25\nbenen characters so much now part of it\n10:27\nonce again is happening because they\n10:29 \nstarted doing it to more and more iconic\n10:30\ncharacters they start d oing more\n10:31\nfrequently and the other problem is they\n10:34\ngrandst and about it so much because once\n10:36\nagain I think before people woul d just\n10:38\nassume that if you got a role it was\n10:40\nbecause you we re the right person for\n10:41\nthat role but now Hollywood has just\n10:4 4\ngrandstand it so much about look at us\n10:47\nwe we put uh non-white c haracters in\n10:50\nthis project we're putting more\n10:51\ndiversity mor e non-white characters look\n10:53\nat us aren't we good people aren't\n10 :55\naren't people just going to be so happy\n10:57\nto be represented it' s always BR\n10:59\nstanding from Hollywood posturing about\n11:01\nhow go od they are doing this stuff and\n11:02\nthe more they've talked about it the\n11:04\nmore they've called attention to it it's\n11:06\nmade people r ealize this is not just\n11:08\nhappening because they happen to find\n11: 10\nthe right person for the role it's\n11:12\nhappening because they have institutions\n11:14\nbehind the scenes that demand this\n11:15\nthey're d oing this because of agendas\n11:18\nnot because they just found the perso n\n11:20\nfor the role and that once again blows\n11:22\nit up to be much more than just you\n11:24\nwanted to see this character look the\n11:26\nw ay it was in The Source material it\n11:27\nstarts to become about modern- day\n11:30\npolitics it starts to become about\n11:32\nagenda pushing it s tarts to become about\n11:34\nsomething so much bigger than that there\n11 :36\npeople are now seeing that these things\n11:37\nare not happening jus t because they\n11:39\nfound the right person for the role and\n11:41\ntha t makes you think you know you could\n11:43\nhave gotten the right person for the\n11:44\nrole maybe or the person who looks the\n11:47\nway you wan ted that character to if they\n11:49\ndidn't have these institutions if th ey\n11:51\nweren't posturing about this and once\n11:53\nagain that feeds more tension that is\n11:56\nall that has happened with this stuff is\n11: 57\nfeeding more tension to the point where\n12:00\nwe now see explosions if ever any person\n12:03\nis playing a race bent character whereas\n12:05 \nbefore it didn't used to be such a big\n12:08\ndeal now I've been of the opinion for\n12:10\nyears that it doesn't it shouldn't\n12:12\nmatter tha t much race spending a\n12:14\ncharacter usually if it doesn't affect\n12: 16\nthe story if they found the right person\n12:18\nfor the role like onc e again Jeffrey\n12:20\nWright playing Commissioner Gordon he\n12:22\ndid such a great job at that character\n12:25\nas that character but some thin gs have\n12:28\nmade me change my mind a little bit\n12:30\nbecause of the hypocrisy I see and these\n12:33\nare some of the things that made me wan t\n12:35\nto make this video for example the other\n12:37\nday I was talki ng about how I do not\n12:39\nunderstand why people want Kiki Palmer\n12:4 1\nto play Rogue not because of her race\n12:44\nbut because I just don't see the\n12:46\ncharacter in her maybe she's been in\n12:48\nsomething tha t I haven't seen where she\n12:49\nreminds people of the character I just\ n12:51\ndon't see it and the point of me saying\n12:53\nthat it's not abou t her race is me\n12:55\nsaying that if there was an actress that\n12:57\n just completely embodied the role and\n12:58\nshe happened to be A differe nt race then\n13:00\nI could understand it but I didn't\n13:02\nunderstand this one and someone under\n13:04\nthat Community post wrote that um it i t\n13:08\nshould it that race never matters to a\n13:11\nwhite character s tory that it rarely\n13:13\never is relevant to a white character\n13:14\n story and that that's why it's okay to\n13:17\nrace Bend White characters obviously\n13:19\nthat's what we're talking about here\n13:20\nbecause in this day and age they would\n13:22\nnever dare to try to race Bend uh or\n 13:25\noutright race bend a black character and\n13:29\nthat got under my skin a little bit\n13:31\nbecause I'm like but it has happened\n13:33\nwhe n it's relevant to the story Snow\n13:35\nWhite that was a big one they ha d to go\n13:38\nin and you they already revealed this in\n13:40\nthe inter national trailer completely\n13:42\nchanged the story to explain a differe nt\n13:44\nreason why she's called Snow White\n13:46\nbecause they had to ca cast a brown\n13:48\nactress to play her because um for a\n13:51\nchara cter who's described as Skin as\n13:53\nwhite as snow that's how she's def ined\n13:55\nas but Disney in the day and age when\n13:57\nthis was made j ust would not have a\n13:59\nwhite lead as this character so they had\n14: 02\nto change it to honor the day I was born\n14:06\nmy father named me Sn ow White and this\n14:09\nis an example a prime example where they\n14:12\ nhad to change the story because they\n14:14\ncouldn't cast a white actor for the\n14:15\ncharacter and it got nothing but\n14:17\nridicule once aga in I don't know what\n14:19\nthey're thinking about this it got\n14:20\nno thing but ridicule this decision\n14:22\nanother example they did is the\n 14:24\nFantastic Four uh years ago they cast\n14:27\nMichael B Jordan to p lay Johnny dorm and\n14:29\nthat creates problems because uh\n14:31\nInvis ible Woman They cast as a blonde\n14:34\nwhite woman like she was in the c omics\n14:36\nbut um they're supposed to be biological\n14:39\nbrother and sister but they had to\n14:40\nchange that for Fant for stick because\n14 :43\nthey couldn't have four white leads and\n14:45\nif you think that thi s isn't happening\n14:46\nthis has been a major conversation stuff\n14:49\ nhappening behind the scenes in Hollywood\n14:51\nthat is part of the reas on why they had\n14:53\nsuch a hard time casting for the new\n14:54\nFanta stic 4 is they're having a hard\n14:56\ntime with a movie that has four wh ite\n14:59\ncharacters as they are in the comics and\n15:02\nthey can't ha ve that they can't have a\n15:04\nmovie with four white leads anymore but\ n15:06\nyou see it did change the source\n15:08\nmaterial this does happen when you're\n15:09\nchanging the source material for me\n15:12\npersonall y though it's like you know\n15:14\ntrue diversity in real life is sometim es\n15:17\nimbalanced like in the 90s and and the\n15:20\nthese are shows I grew up with Loving\n15:22\nFamily Matters all black m cast Fresh\n15:25 \nPrince all black main cast I think\n15:27\nsometimes they brought in a w hite\n15:28\ncharacters like a villain or something I\n15:29\ndidn't care Disney was really patting\n15:31\nitself on the back of being like we\n15: 33\nhired an all Asian uh cast for Mulan and\n15:36\nI'm like yeah you sho uld have because\n15:38\nMulan is set in China centuries ago you\n15:41\nk now sometimes you're going to have it\n15:43\nwhere your cast is dispropor tionately\n15:45\nblack or Asian or white in fact that's\n15:48\njust the way it is that's what diversity\n15:49\ntruly looks like we don't all have \n15:52\nperfectly uh uh quotas filled out in\n15:55\nreal life that's jus t the way it is and\n15:57\nif you're not a racist that shouldn't\n15:59\n bother you that's just the way life is\n16:02\nso it's like there shouldn' t be a\n16:03\nproblem if you just happen to have four\n16:06\nwhite leads for Fantastic 4 as is\n16:08\naccurate to the source material cuz\n16:10\ nthere's other stuff like black panther\n16:12\nthat should be a black man cast like\n16:14\nthat's what true diversity looks like\n16:16\nbut you k now that comment that person\n16:18\nmade bothered me because it's like no \n16:20\none would ever say that blade or cyborg\n16:24\nshould ever be A different race and I\n16:26\nwould agree cuz those are who the\n16:27\ncha racters are so it's like for example\n16:29\nwith Rogue yeah I would like I could\n16:33\nlike in the past I could completely\n16:34\nunderstand you found the right person\n16:35\nfor the role the the super official\n16:37 \nraces the change but you found the right\n16:38\nperson so it's fine but I'm like yeah I\n16:41\nwould like Rogue to hopefully be played\n16:43\nb y a white actress why because she's\n16:46\nbeen white in the comics for 4 0 years\n16:49\nyeah that that because it's accurate to\n16:51\nthe source material I would like sorg to\n16:53\nbe black because that's accurate to the\n16:55\nsource material in terms of race\n16:56\nspending there has b een controversy\n16:58\nabout colorism about are they hiring\n17:01\nlight brown skinned actors to play Black\n17:04\ncharacters uh there's been som e\n17:06\ncontroversy about that like Sunspot in\n17:08\nthe various adapt ations he's had he's\n17:10\nsupposed to be black in the comics and\n17:12 \nit's important to his character and his\n17:13\norigin for him to be bla ck and fans of\n17:15\nthat character have been upset that he's\n17:17\nal ways lighter brown skin and AD ad\n17:19\nadaptations and I would agree wi th them\n17:22\nwhy because I know what Sunspot is\n17:24\nsupposed to be in the comics people want\n17:26\nstorm to be cast by a darker skin\n17:29 \nblack actress and I'm like yes because\n17:32\nshe while storm and the c omics was born\n17:35\nin Harlem she grew up in I think she\n17:37\nmoved to Cairo Egypt she grew up in\n17:39\nKenya for a time like that should be the\n17:41\ncharacters now from that I think that\n17:43\nit's okay for s omeone to also say I\n17:45\nwould like this character to be white\n17:48\ nsolely because that's the way that they\n17:50\nare in the source materia l and that's\n17:52\nfine because all this race bending has\n17:55\ndone i s it's caused tension it's caused\n17:57\nhate to the actors that they do it to\n18:00\nit's caused a lot of division and and\n18:02\nthings blowing up out of proportion to\n18:04\nbecome even bigger than just a simple\n18 :06\ncasting in a show you know here's the\n18:08\nreal big Crossroads of thinking is for a\n18:11\nlong time I've always been like you know\n18:13\ nif you've just found the right person\n18:14\nfor a role then race bendin g is okay but\n18:17\nthe problem is that it only ever goes\n18:19\nRunway like back in the day when they\n18:21\ncast uh mostly non-puerto Ricans i n fact\n18:24\nonly one Puerto Rican to play a Puerto\n18:25\nRican charac ter in Westside Story um uh\n18:28\none could also say that the actors did a\n18:30\ngood job with their roles but would it\n18:32\nbe was it still right for them to take\n18:34\nroles away from Puerto Ricans no and so\n18 :37\nthat's sort of the crossroads I come to\n18:39\nwith my thinking on t his stuff is that\n18:41\nthere is a double standards with it and\n18:44\n recently the latest controversy over Ray\n18:46\nspending came over the up coming\n18:47\nSpider-Man cartoon where Norman and\n18:49\nHarry Osborne a re black and all I saw\n18:52\nfor this was ridicule not from white\n18:55 \npeople so much but black people I just\n18:57\nsaw so many people on You Tube or Twitter\n19:00\nand these accounts of from black people\n19:02\nma king fun of this because they don't\n19:04\nactually want it and it was a completely\n19:06\nan unnecessary change and I watched a\n19:08\nvideo tha t was actually from a black\n19:10\nperson and and he said something that\ n19:12\nreally stuck out to me in it and it was\n19:15\nthat um they keep saying this doesn't\n19:16\nmatter it doesn't matter it doesn't\n19:18\naf fect the story so why should it bother\n19:19\nyou and he said if it doesn 't matter\n19:22\nthen why do it and it's insulting\n19:24\nbecause it mak es me feel as a black\n19:27\nperson that you don't see me me as\n19:29\nl egitimate unless I have to have\n19:30\nsomething else that came from a wh ite\n19:32\nperson it's annoying and there's going\n19:34\nto be people sa ying oh it doesn't matter\n19:36\ncalling demingo is a good actor and he's \n19:38\nvoicing the character you are 100% right\n19:41\nso if it doesn't matter why do it and\n19:45\nand that's the whole thing with this\n19:46\ nrace bending is so many times it's been\n19:49\nuh forced and unnecessary and people see\n19:52\nthat and all it's done is drive up\n19:53\ntension so here is my proposal How about\n19:56\nif a character is supposed to be black\n19:58\nthen cast a black person if a character\n20:00\nis supposed to be white cast a white\n20:02\nperson and that way you won't have so\n2 0:04\nmuch tension from groups and and all\n20:06\nthis infighting and arg uing and and you\n20:09\ndon't have to focus so much on people's\n20:12\nr ace all the time and I think that's\n20:14\nwhere we're headed right now y ou can\n20:15\nreally see how Disney has been affected\n20:18\nby this and the Tangled live action\n20:20\nremake and I am completely against a\n20: 22\ntangled liveaction remake but all of the\n20:24\nthe rumored castings for it has then\n20:26\nSabrina Carpenter or Florence Pew so a\n20:29\nwhi te blonde woman to play a white\n20:31\nblonde woman good fine I think tha t\n20:34\nDisney has learned from the Snow White\n20:36\nmovie that it is just ridiculous to\n20:37\nforce it when it doesn't make sense and\n20:39\ nat this point you know it's it is a\n20:41\nlittle crazy because as I sai d race\n20:44\nbending used to not be a big deal he\n20:45\nused to get aw ay with it used to be able\n20:47\nto do it it used to not be a big deal t o\n20:49\nsee a non-white person play a\n20:51\ntraditionally white charac ter but they\n20:53\nmade it a problem they made it so that\n20:56\nnow pe ople see it as Force they see it\n20:58\nas just agenda pushing they don't see it\n21:00\nas natural to the story they don't\n21:02\nassume that the person must have gotten\n21:03\nit because they were right for the role\n 21:05\nthey've spoiled it in effect because a\n21:08\nlot of this stuff th at we've been seeing\n21:09\nthis activism in media is just there and\n21: 12\nit just spoils the very thing that\n21:13\nthey're trying to promote s o um yeah\n21:16\nthat's my stance on Race bending\n21:17\ncharacters I th ink once again you could\n21:19\nhave gotten away with this uh once upon\n 21:22\na time I think that there is a big\n21:24\nminutia in it and it jus t kind of\n21:25\ndepends on the standards of the day\n21:27\nabout um wha t is considered morally\n21:29\nacceptable or not but at this point it\n21 :31\nwould just be best to cast people the\n21:34\nway they were from The Source material\n21:35\nso you won't have such a fury about it\n21:38\nbut that's all I got for you guys today\n21:39\nare you mad about me I was ne rvous about\n21:41\ntalking about this topic but I figure my\n21:44\nmaneu ver ears resolution going forward\n21:46\nis to not be so scared of talkin g about\n21:48\nthese hot button topics and the more\n21:50\nthat we talk about it and they're just\n21:52\nnormal about it I think the less the\n21 :54\npeople out there who will just scream\n21:56\nracist at you will be a ble to be\n21:58\nprominent but that's all I got for you\n22:00\nguys toda y what do you think of this\n22:01\nvideo yell at me in the comments thank \n22:03\nyou patrons as always for supporting me\n22:05\neven as I'm cover ing these topics uh\n22:07\nonce again new short film coming out\n22:08\ns oon and I will see you guys next time\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prio r Post\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11424-economiccorner0 08/\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11444-economiccorner00 9/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/144-eco nomic-corner-8-january-15th-2025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aal bc.com/tc/events/event/166-economic-corner-10-online-divestiture- 0128202 5/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250128 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 6 - January 6th 2025  DTSTAMP:20250118T184102Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:142-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The Cellist  states something few state\, London has no toll to get into the city so when they did congestion pricing that was the first toll into London. New York City is full of tolls. \n\n And the com parisons to Singapore which is a wealthy city state\, or stocklhom which i s the only city in a low populace country full of natural resources\, are dysfunctional to new York city which is the largest city in a country with over three hundred million people.\n\n And Oren Barzilay admitted that EM S workers live in shelters\, they are not on welfare\, but they don't make enough to live outside the shelters.\n\n\n\n ...\n\n\n\n What are my poin ts?\n\n\n\n 1) no two places in humanity are financially the same. Applyin g governmental policy to two different places will never yield the same re sult.\n\n\n\n 2) the true financial condition of cities isn't in mayor's s peeches or investments in stadiums. It is in the quality of life to the lo west wage workers. Eric Adams suggest New York City is financially flying high\, then if so why not pay the emergency medical service workers more? why not make congestion pricing void for them? You claim to have money ear ned but you don't use it \, can only mean you are hoarding it. when govern ments do that\, it means illegal money transactions in the bureaucracy.\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Congestion pricing and the Broadway community\ n\n By Roberto Araujo New York City\n\n PUBLISHED 2:18 PM ET Dec. 30\, 202 4\n\n\n\n Broadway musician Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf plays the cello in the Br oadway musical “The Great Gatsby.\"\n\n\n\n She drives into Midtown Manh attan from her home in Hartsdale\, New York.\n\n\n\n “We lived in Inwood before we bought this house\, and we spent\, the idea was to be able to t ake the Metro-North\, which we did up until the pandemic. We always took t he train\,” Dorman-Phaneuf said.\n\n\n\n “But then in the pandemic\, t he trains home went away and they still haven’t come back. So even thoug h I wish we could be taking the train\, on a weekday\, there were just\, t here’s a train at 10:30\, and then there’s a train at 11:44. So if we get done at 10:35 at work\, the next train is 11:44\, and that means I’d get home at 12:40\,” she said. \"And that's just untenable\, you know\, to have to wait an hour for a train.\"\n\n\n\n In a statement\, the MTA s aid\, “Schedules are based on current ridership data of more than 200\,0 00 daily riders who use Metro-North. As Metro-North’s ridership continue s to grow\, the railroad is constantly monitoring ridership patterns and t rends to see what future adjustments may be necessary.” \n\n\n\n https: //ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/on-stage/2024/12/30/congestion-pricing-and-the- broadway-community\n\n official link\n\n https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/ on-stage/2024/12/30/congestion-pricing-and-the-broadway-community?cid=shar e_clip\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Drivers react to day one of congestion pricing\n\n By Noorulain Khawaja Manhattan\n\n PUBLISHED 2:14 PM ET Jan. 0 5\, 2025\n\n\n\n Some New Yorkers thoughts to Congestion pricing\n\n https ://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2025/01/05/drivers-react-to-day-one-of-co ngestion-pricing\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Port Authority tolls will increase alongside congestion pricing\n\n https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/20 25/01/05/port-authority-tolls-increase-alongside-start-of-congestion-prici ng\n\n\n\n \n\n Local EMS union encourages workers to request reassignment out of congestion relief zone\n\n Local Union 2507 sent a notice to their members that included a reassignment request form.\n\n Heather Fordham\n\ n Jan 3\, 2025\, 10:30 PM\n\n Updated 2 days ago\n\n\n\n The local union t hat represents the city's EMS and paramedics is now encouraging their memb ers assigned to stations in the congestion relief zone to request reassign ments.\n\n Local Union 2507 sent a notice to their members that included a reassignment request form.\n\n The union represents 4\,100 emergency medi cal technicians and paramedics that travel from all parts of the city — and even outside of the state\, to be on the city's front lines.\n\n Under congestion pricing\, those who live outside of 60th Street in Manhattan w ill have to pay a toll beginning at $9 for cars during peak periods in ord er to get to stations located in downtown Manhattan.\n\n Union president O ren Barzilay said Friday while they fought for exemptions and discounts at public hearings\, ultimately\, they were not included in the groups eligi ble.\n\n \"My men and woman\, they live in their cars\, they live in their families or friends' houses. They sleep on couches\, they sleep at statio ns because they can't afford to go back and forth every day. This will mor e than likely be the nail in the coffin\, they will likely resign\, or dem and to be transferred to another station\,\" Barzilay said.\n\n Barzilay d id not have an exact number\, but said some workers have already submitted reassignment forms and they expect the number to increase once the toll g oes into effect on Jan. 5.\n\n “Mark my words\, it will likely have a la rge\, negative impact on public safety that will soon enough lead to a rus h by Albany and City Hall’s countless and well-paid government funded sp in doctors to point the blame and fingers at each other\, as they always d o. Actions speak louder than words and this tax is a lose-lose for the FDN Y EMS and public safety\,” Barzilay added.\n\n https://brooklyn.news12.c om/local-ems-union-encourages-workers-to-request-reassignment-out-of-conge stion-relief-zone\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n murders in NYC\n \n 375 in 2024 \n\n 390 in 2023\n\n shootings in NYC\n\n 1091 in 2024 \n \n 1150 in 2023\n\n\n\n New York Ctiy has ten million people \, ten percen t is one million\, one percent is one hundred thousand. a tenth of one per cent is ten thousand. a hundredth of one percent is one thousand\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Piror Entry \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11402-economic corner005/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/1140 5-economiccorner006/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/ev ents/event/141-economic-corner-5-january-4th-2025 /\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\ n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/143-economic-corner-7-january-14 th-2025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250106 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 7 - January 14th 2025 DTSTAMP:20250118T184225Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:143-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n The porn industry has always been active or alive\, t he key is where is it legal or allowed to be legal. The financial beauty o f onlyfans or similar\, plus why the video porn industry diminished\, is t he privacy or intimacy of onlyfans or similar\; they are alot more safe fo r women\, are not on the street thus are safe from law enforcement of the street\, or  all the visual desires men have can be sated for a price. So meone asked an interesting question\, cited below. The problem with the ge neral video market and this goes to the larger issue with fiction \, is hu manity is in a cinema verite era. Life film. Yes\, a person can watch a fr ee film but seeing the live action is the thrill\, this is unique\, this i s personal\, this isn't for the exact mass consumption and that plays into the ego of the male buyers\, or buyers in general. \n\n The key isn't t he porn in itself\, you can get that for free\, the key is the personaliza tion of the porn. I recall a pole dancer\, a black woman with a very suppl e athletic body\, once said\, though i paraphrase\, the key isn't dancing on the pole\, but getting the customer to think you are dancing on the pol e for him. \n\n Yes\, a porn star in a movie can sleep with ten men with penile implants pounding away and do it smiling with giddy sounds\, a gre at performance\; but it isn't one to one\, it isn't personal. A porn star on onlyfans\, who doesn't have the physical condition to handle multiple p enile implanted men pounding\, or is unskilled as a thespian to provide th e sound or face for convincing joyous revelry \, can offer that personaliz ation \, that illusion to one to one\, like the phone sex but with visual media\, that a recorded film to the masses can't. \n\n I was unable to c onfirm the numbers but this explains a big path for all the arts commercia lly. Art that somehow interacts with customers is the commercial key in th e near future. Kim Kardashian and similar in the past who were in many way s mocked comprehended the power of the future of cinema verite\, where the recorded will be manipulatable\, the common can be generated through comp uter programming\, it gives greater value to the real\, even if the real i s scripted or engineered. \n\n A QUESTION\n\n This can’t be real. Do people realize that they have free porn sites??\n\n https://x.com/Ohearn2 2/status/1878118399676486068\n\n VIDEO\n\n VIDEO TRANSCRIPT\n\n 1.4 Mil lion women in the United States of America are active users of onlyfans\n\ n 1.2 million are between 18 and 24\n\n I decided to google the number o f onlyfans workers\n\n And when i tell you guys this number\, I want you to remember\, sex work is an industry for young women\, and so the majorit y of this number will come from gen z\n\n I found out 1.4 Million women i n the United States of America are active users of onlyfans\n\n 1.2 milli on are between 18 and 24\n\n What percent of women\, how many women in th e usa are between 18 to 24. I find out roughly ten million women. So \, ju st from onlyfans members\, ten percent of women in that age group are only fans members. So there is only ten million women between 18 to 25. Then i decided to think more about the consumers. who is consuming onlyfans. And \, I found out that 82 million American men subscribe to onlyfans. To thin k about that number is. How many people are in the united states of Americ a? 165 million men are in the usa. So they are telling me 82 million from 162 million are subscribed to onlyfans. Of the 82 million men subscribed t o onlyfans 90 percent are married. And 87 % users are male \, and 68% of u sers are white. So the average onlyfans customer is a white married man\n\ n VIDEO CITATION\n\n https://x.com/OfficialTrigga7/status/18780502257528 87458\n \n\n \n VIDEO ORIGINAL\n\n https://www.tiktok.com/@justpearlythi ngspodcast/video/7454375207340444974?is_from_webapp=1&\;sender_device=p c&\;web_id=7453919654784943662\n \n\n \n REFERRED FROM\n\n Former WNB A star Liz Cambage retired\n\n  &\; joined  Onlyfans &\; says she made more money her first week on onlyfans than her entire WNBA career\n\ n https://x.com/DailyLoud/status/1877850539615989897\n \n\n \n Prior ent ry\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11405-economiccorner006/\n \n\n \n  \ n \n\n \n \n \n\n\n\n \n \n  \n \n \n\n \n \n  \n \n \n\n\n\n P OST URL\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11422-economiccorner007/\n\n\n\n PR IOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/142-economic-corner- 6-january-6th-2025 /\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/ev ents/event/144-economic-corner-8-january-15th-2025/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\ n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250114 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 4 - December 17th 2024 DTSTAMP:20251122T073050Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:598-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Mufasa has yet to come out but what can be gathered from the end of the year. \n\n\n\n The highest grossing films\, top ten\,  ma de in 2024 were all continuations of a prior film in some fashion\, and th at includes mufasa\, if it has similar financial results. \n\n\n\n The ma rket outside the usa embraces cartoon films more. Films from the usa that display a distinctly usa cultural appeal don't have wings outside the usa.  \n\n\n\n The far east asian [China/Taiwan/South Korea/Russian] market st ands alone as a rival to the usa domestic market. To restate\, a film can do well domestically in south korea/China/taiwan/russia  and not do well outside either and be listed in the highest grossing films\, just like fil ms of the usa. The chinese films make up the majority of the films in the far east asian and they cover a range of styles\, not overwhelmed by one g enre\, but comedy seems to be the link between all the entries from the fo ur sources in the far east asian group. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n All but one f ilm was made in the usa. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_in_film ]\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Discounting the chinese market \, if you compa re USA based revenue to outside USA based revenue\, which films have diffe rences in position [ https://www.boxofficemojo.com/year/world/2024/  ]\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Advantage to market outside the usa \n\n\n\n Alien Rom ulus\, out of the picture in the usa 10th outside the usa \, difference of INF \, anti usa\n\n\n\n Joker Folie a deux out of the picture in the usa 17th outside the usa \, difference of INF \, anti usa\n\n\n\n Garfield mov ie out of the picture in the usa 18th outside the usa \, difference of IN F \, anti usa\n\n\n\n Detective COnan out of the picture in the usa 20 th outside the usa \, difference of INF \, anti usa\n\n\n\n Venom the last d ance 16th in the usa 8th outside the usa\, difference of eight\, anti usa\ n\n\n\n Gladiator 2\, 14th in the usa  9th outside the usa\, difference o f five\, anti usa\n\n\n\n Dune part 2 is 7th in the usa while 4th outside the usa\, diffference of three\, anti usa\n\n\n\n Godzilla Kong new empire is 9th in the usa and  6th outside the usa\, difference of three\, anti usa\n\n\n\n Kung Fu panda 4 is 10th in the usa while 7th  outside the usa \, difference of three\, anti usa\n\n\n\n Kingdom of the planet of the ap es\, 12th in the usa  11th \, outside the usa\, difference of one\, anti usa\n\n\n\n The Wild Robot 15th in the usa  14th outside the usa\, differ ence of one\, anti usa\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Advantage to market in the usa\n \n\n\n Twisters is 8th in the usa and out of the picture outside the usa\, difference of INF \, pro usa\n\n\n\n GHostbusters frozen empire 18th in t he usa out of the picture outside the usa\, difference of INF\, pro usa\n\ n\n\n Wicked is 4th in the usa while 15th outside the usa\, difference of eleven\, pro usa\n\n\n\n Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is 6th in the usa while 1 6th outside the usa\, difference of ten\, pro usa\n\n\n\n A quiet place da y one 17th in the usa  19th outside the usa\, difference of two\, pro usa \n\n\n\n Bad Boy ride or die  11th in the usa  12th  outside the usa\, difference of one\, pro usa\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Chinese produced films\, are dispersed throughout. It seems china has the only domestic market that can truly provide revenu e to challenge the wealth possible in the usa. [ https://www.the-numbers. com/box-office-records/worldwide/all-movies/cumulative/released-in-2024 ] \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LAst edition\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/top ic/11358-economiccorner003/\n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/ topic/11377-economiccorner004/\n\n\n\n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc .com/tc/events/event/597-economic-corner-3-december-8th-2024/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDIITON\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/141-economic-corner-5-j anuary-4th-2025 /\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241217 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 2 - December 7th 2024 DTSTAMP:20251122T072335Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:596-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Steven Zhang was the president of a football club called Inter Milan. What he did matters for one reason. His situation exposes the low quality of ownership in humanity. \n\n\n\n A set of sport steams sig ned a contract to make their own league\, it has alot of precedent. But on ly one club made sure it had a provisional clause to exit the contract upo n conditions unfavorable to the club. The question heading this post is t he key\, please answer in comments.\n\n\n\n Josep Bartomeu- the now legall y fallen former president of FC Barcelona for his financial activities. A ndrea Agnelli the now excommunicado former president of Juventus because h e signed said contract in my view. The glazers\, inheritors of first alli ed\,  who own Manchester United\, the Red sox owners who own Liverpool\, stan kroenke married to a walton who own Arsenal\, United Arab Emirates  royals who own manchester city\, Florentino Perez\, the president of Real Madrid is an gambler. The russian Roman Abramovic the owed owner of chels ea\, he was owed over a billion by the firm he created.\n\n\n\n A various set of owners accepted a contract that bound their firms to an action abse nt any provisions to exit. People will speak f greed but Zhang signed it t o. Isn't Zhang as greedy\, but what does greed have to do with positive fi scal quality actions. I say nothing Zhang didn't want to risk money. \n\n \n\n The articles below state the simple truth \, the sponsors to the club s were not told of the contract\, and the breach of contract with  the sp onsors is imminent. And all but one president was smart enough to protect his firm while being greedy. \n\n\n\n Like the NBA who didn't make a prov ision for streaming for assessing a bidder and thus allowed discovery chan nel to sue them  for absent streaming they could bid equally to am*zon I think\, the soccer clubs presidents minus one have acted terribly as fisca l operators with teams of lawyers. \n\n\n\n I really wonder the managemen t of many very wealthy sporting organizations. Many poor people suggest th e rich are genius or collected with extreme organization\, but these event s prove otherwise.\n\n\n\n Zhang demanded a clause say if any sponsor of I nter Milan  disagree to the deal \, Inter Milan can exit  with no penalt y. No one can defend financial dysfunction like signing a contract that yo u can't get out. That is like black people who couldn't read contracts wit h whites in the usa.  immediately after the war between the states. Zhang showed Greed but how can greed lead you to risk your own money. I thought greed meant you wanted more wealth but didn't want to lose wealth.\n\n\n\ n So the financial league will have to exist at some point between the clu bs involved as they signed the contract \, one hundred and twenty pages ab sent a clause for them to get out. And comprehend some of these clubs vote for their president. So Real MAdrid or FC Barcelona if a president doesn' t want it or ask the fans to vote to stay in the financial league\, it is null and void because of former presidents binding the club forever into t his agreement. The clubs who are owed by usa folk or just fiscally wealthy people that didn't have a clause seem willing to risk their clubs. For if the sponsors sue for breach of contract... it can be the death of the clu bs who signed. \n\n\n\n The clubs like Bayern Munich owned by Qatari ultr a billionaires plus Bayern Munich owed in the german system\, said no caus e neither of them were willing to sing the fate of their clubs absent a po sitive environment. And when the financial league became public the enviro nment went very negative. Fans all over europe rioted or marched against t he clubs . Other clubs like West Ham in England spoke against them. Sponso rs to clubs or leagues publicly spoke against. But none of the signers out side one could leave cause their owners//presidents wealthy people were ig norant/stupid/inefficient/self harming/ or similar and didn't make a claus e or clauses to their own protection to save their money.  \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n THESE ARTICLES or FRAGMENTS CITE MY POINT\n\n\n\n Why Inter are the only team that formally quit the Super League\n\n ByLorenzo Bettoni\n\n M ar 4\, 2022 13:39\n\n\n\n Inter have officially abandoned the Super League project thanks to a clause included in their contract with the organizers of the breakaway competition.\n\n\n\n The Nerazzurri were part of the 12 elite European clubs that announced the Super League less than a year ago. It collapsed within 48 hours with Premier League giants quitting the proj ect\, followed by Inter\, Milan and Atletico Madrid.\n\n\n\n Juventus\, Re al Madrid and Barcelona are still involved and the Old Lady’s President Andrea Agnelli insisted yesterday that the Super League ‘did not fail. ’\n\n\n\n However\, he added that the contracts signed one year ago are still valid for 11 of those 12 clubs.\n\n\n\n “UEFA knew that I as Juven tus president was working on something different\,” said Agnelli.\n\n\n\ n “The Super League is a collective work of 12 teams\, not one person. T welve clubs signed a 120-page contract and it is still binding for 11 of t hose clubs.”\n\n\n\n According to COPE\, Inter are the only team that ha s formally managed to quit the competition. The Serie A champions had a cl ause that allowed them to pull away from the project if it didn’t gain t he support of all of their sponsors.\n\n\n\n https://football-italia.net/i nter-quit-super-league-thanks-to-contract-clause/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n …\n \n Fans are opposed to the new league\, and aren’t interested in watchin g it\n\n Our snap poll shows just how strongly fans feel\, with nearly eig ht in ten (79%) of those who follow football opposed to the new league\, i ncluding over two thirds (68%) who “strongly oppose” the ESL’s creat ion.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Opposition is highest among fans of the left-behind Premier League teams\, with 88% of those following a team outside the big six opposed to the European Super League\, compared to 76% of fans of the big six themselves.\n\n\n\n Only 14% of football fans are in favour of the new league. Even among fans of the big six set to be part of the ESL\, fe wer than a fifth (19%) support of its creation.\n\n\n\n As well as being o pposed to the new league’s creation\, only a fifth of those who follow f ootball (21%) expressed an interest in watching ESL matches when the seaso n begins.\n\n\n\n While some three in ten supporters of the English sides taking part (31%) are interested in watching\, two thirds (68%) are not.\n \n\n\n \n\n\n\n Among fans of Premier League teams outside the big six\, i nterest is even lower\, with only 13% interested in watching compared to e ight in ten (83%) who are not interested in tuning in.\n\n\n\n In fact\, t hree quarters of fans (76%) would rather their team not join the European Super League\, including a similar proportion of those who support one of the big six clubs acting as founding members (74%).\n\n\n\n Chairman of th e European Super League\, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has said the new competition would “help football at every level” and their “ responsibility as big clubs is to respond to [fan’s] desires”. However \, fans don’t see the creation of the European Super League as being eit her motivated by what fans want to see\, nor as good for lower level clubs .\n\n\n\n The vast majority of football followers think that the 12 foundi ng clubs have been motivated more by financial gain (89%)\, with just 3% t hinking that the creation of the European Super League is being driven mor e by fan’s desires\, while some 5% think both motivations have played a part.\n\n …\n\n\n\n https://yougov.co.uk/sport/articles/35361-snap-poll- football-fans-overwhelmingly-reject-euro\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n All six Englis h football clubs that joined the European Super League have failed to form ally leave it\, amid claims by organisers that the competition will “eve ntually relaunch in modified form”.\n\n\n\n The so-called big six stated that they were withdrawing from the ESL after its launch backfired in Apr il. However\, the clubs — Manchester City\, Manchester United\, Liverpoo l\, Arsenal\, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea — remain co-owners and share holders of a holding company in Spain with clubs from Spain\, France and I taly.\n\n\n\n Several of the clubs acknowledged yesterday they were still part of the European Super League Company but said they were determined to leave. Yet two senior sources close to the venture claim there is “no m echanism” for them to withdraw\, and that the league is waiting to be re launched in modified form.\n\n\n\n They said all 12 of the original breaka way clubs had to agree unanimously to dissolve the entity and that any clu b leaving unilaterally faced unlimited fines.\n\n\n\n Organisers believe t he owners of the clubs accept that the football world faces a financial cr isis exacerbated by Covid-19 and that in due course they will relaunch a c ompromise version of the Super League.\n\n\n\n “The owners know this is not the end — it’s just the beginning\,” a senior source said. “We will resume dialogue\, whether this year or next year. It’s just financ ial gravity. Football can’t survive in its current form.”\n\n\n\n Flor entino Pérez\, the president of Real Madrid\, has said the 12 clubs that joined the league have “binding contracts”. Real Madrid\, Barcelona an d Juventus have not abandoned it.\n\n\n\n Arsenal said: “We have been ab solutely clear we are withdrawing from the ESL. This is subject to a legal process which is under way.”\n\n\n\n Manchester United said: “The clu b has no intention to revisit the Super League concept. Any suggestion oth erwise is simply an attempt to mislead our fans.”\n\n\n\n When the ESL p lan was rushed out at the end of April\, the government threatened legisla tion to block it. After an intense backlash from fans and the media\, nine clubs — the six English sides\, AC Milan\, Inter Milan and Athletico Ma drid — dropped out\, leaving Real Madrid\, Barcelona and Juventus.\n\n\n \n The three clubs have said they are within their rights to form a new co mpetition\, as a result of which they would withdraw from the Uefa-run Cha mpions League\, Europa League and Europa Conference League.\n\n\n\n Uefa a nd Fifa\, the European and world governing bodies\, united in opposition t o the Super League\, saying that the participating teams would be banned f rom their domestic leagues and their players from international competitio n.\n\n\n\n Super League representatives believe that Uefa and Fifa are bre aching EU competition laws by preventing the clubs from breaking away. A c ase has been filed with the European Court of Justice with the aim of esta blishing whether the two governing bodies do indeed have the exclusive rig ht to organise competitions. The hearing could take up to two years.\n\n\n \n A source close to the Super League said: “It’s our belief we will w in that case based on precedent in other sports and it will pave the way f or the Super League to eventually relaunch in a modified form.”\n\n\n\n https://www.thetimes.com/article/football-super-league-is-not-dead-just-re sting-gbrp00dpv\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Economic Corner 001\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n POST URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11353-economiccorner002/\n\n\n \n PRIOR EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/595-economic-co rner-1-december-3rd-2025/\n\n\n\n NEXT EDITION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/t c/events/event/597-economic-corner-3-december-8th-2024/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241207 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Economic Corner 3 - December 8th 2024 DTSTAMP:20251122T072621Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:597-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n A writer for the Home Box Office show The Watchman said h e didn't comprehend why writers write stories assuming another season. Tha t truth can be applied to many government officials. From Eric Adams city of yes\, to Nancy Pelosi's affordable care act elected officials in modern ity love policies that extend beyond their time in office. The fiscal ques tion of value to the economic corner\, is the financial wisdom in policy t hat assumes government officials in the future will support the policy as intended or at all. \n\n\n\n I argue policy with fiscal actions beyond a time of office is one hundred percent financially inappropriate. Why? it i s a financial gamble. And gambling is never the best financial strategy.  \n\n\n\n The proof is\, all the actions Biden is taking to use up money or place money for certain projects in the bureaucracy may not work. \n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n ARTICLE\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The last actions the Biden admini stration will take before Trump takes over the White House\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n By  FATIMA HUSSEIN\, MATTHEW DALY and COLLIN BINKLEY\n\n\n\n Upda ted 5:24 AM EST\, November 15\, 2024\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n WASHINGTON (AP) — Biden administration officials are working against the clock doling ou t billions in grants and taking other steps to try to preserve at least so me of the outgoing president’s legacy before President-elect Donald Trum p takes office in January.\n\n\n\n “Let’s make every day count\,” Pr esident Joe Biden said in an address to the nation last week after Vice Pr esident Kamala Harris conceded defeat to Trump in the presidential race. \n\n\n\n Trump has pledged to rescind unspent funds in Biden’s landmark climate and health care law and stop clean-energy development projects .\n\n\n\n “There’s only one administration at a time\,” Transportati on Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters at a news conference Thursday. “That’s true now\, and it will also be true after January 20th. Our re sponsibility is to make good use of the funds that Congress has authorized for us and that we’re responsible for assigning and disbursing througho ut the last three years.”\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But Trump will control more than the purse strings come January. His administration also can propose new regulations to undo some of what the Biden administration did through the rule-making process.\n\n\n\n Here are some of the moves the Biden admi nistration is taking now:\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Getting infrastructure spendi ng out the door\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Biden administration officials hope tha t projects funded under the $1 trillion infrastructure law and $375 billio n climate law will endure beyond Biden’s term and are working to ensure that money from the landmark measures continues to flow.\n\n\n\n On Friday \, Buttigieg announced over $3.4 billion in grants for projects designed t o improve passenger rail service\, help U.S. ports\, reduce highway deaths and support domestic manufacturing of sustainable transportation material s.\n\n\n\n ”We are investing in better transportation systems that touch every corner of the country and in the workers who will manufacture mater ials and build projects\,″ he said. “Communities are going to see safe r commutes\, cleaner air and stronger supply chains that we all count on .″\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Speeding up environmental goals\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Announcements of major environmental grants and project approvals have sp ed up in recent months in what White House officials describe as “sprint ing to the finish” of Biden’s four-year term.\n\n\n\n The Environmenta l Protection Agency recently set a nationwide deadline for removal of lea d pipes and announced nearly $3 billion to help local water systems compl y. The agency also announced that oil and gas companies for the first time will have to pay a federal fee if they emit dangerous methane above cer tain levels.\n\n\n\n The Energy Department\, meanwhile\, announced a $544 million loan to a Michigan company to expand manufacturing of high-quality silicon carbide wafers for electric vehicles. The loan is one of 28 deals totaling $37 billion granted under a clean-energy loan program that was r evived and expanded under Biden.\n\n\n\n “There is a new urgency to get it all done. We’re seeing explosions of money going out the door\,” sa id Melinda Pierce\, legislative director of the Sierra Club. Biden and his allies ”really want to finish the job they started.”\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n Ukraine aid\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh t old reporters this week that Biden wants to “spend down the authority th at Congress has allocated and authorized before he leaves office. So we’ re going to work very hard to make sure that happens.”\n\n\n\n The Biden administration would have to rush $7.1 billion in weapons — $4.3 billio n from the 2024 supplemental and $2.8 billion that is still on the books i n savings due to the Pentagon recalculating the value of systems sent — from the Pentagon’s stockpiles in order to spend all of those funds obli gated before Trump is sworn in.\n\n\n\n There’s also another $2.2 billio n available to put weapons systems on long-term contracts. However\, recen t aid packages have been much smaller in size\, around $200 million to $30 0 million each.\n\n\n\n Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has said the funds are already obligated\, which should make them harder to take back because the incoming administration would have to reverse that.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n Pressure to quickly confirm judicial picks\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Another pr iority for the White House is getting Senate confirmation of as many fede ral judges as possible before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.\n\n\n\n The Senate this week voted 51-44 to confirm former prosecutor April Perry as a U.S. District Court judge in northern Illinois. More than a dozen pe nding judicial nominees have advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committ ee\; eight judicial nominations are awaiting committee votes and six are w aiting for committee hearings.\n\n\n\n Trump has urged Republicans to oppo se efforts to confirm judicial nominees. “No Judges should be approved d uring this period of time because the Democrats are looking to ram through their Judges as the Republicans fight over Leadership\,” he wrote on so cial media site X on Nov. 10\, before congressional Republicans chose thei r new leaders.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Student loan forgiveness\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n The Education Department has been hurrying to finalize a new federal r ule that would cancel student loans for people who face financial hardship . The proposal — one of Biden’s only student loan plans that hasn’t been halted by federal courts — is in a public comment period scheduled to end Dec. 2.\n\n\n\n After that\, the department would have a narrow win dow to finalize the rule and begin carrying it out\, a process that usuall y takes months. Like Biden’s other efforts\, it would almost certainly f ace a legal challenge.\n\n\n\n Additionally\, the Biden administration has room to speed up student loan cancellation for people who were already pr omised relief because they were cheated by their colleges\, said Aaron Ame nt\, an Education Department official for the Obama administration and pre sident of the National Student Legal Defense Network.\n\n\n\n Education Se cretary Miguel Cardona could decide that case and others rather than hand them off to the Trump administration\, which is expected to be far friendl ier to for-profit colleges. “It’s a no-brainer\,” Ament said. “T here’s a good number of cases that have been sitting on Cardona’s desk . It’s hard to imagine that those would just be left untouched.”\n\n\n \n Trump has not yet said what he would do on student loan forgiveness. H owever\, he and Republicans have criticized Biden’s efforts.\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n https://apnews.com/article/elections-trump-transition-biden-tax-sp ending-2c27fb2239640fdb667f274215b712fa\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Prior Episode\n \n\n\n Economic Corner 2\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Post URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc .com/tc/topic/11358-economiccorner003/\n\n\n\n Prior Edition\n\n\n\n https ://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/596-economic-corner-2-december-7th-2024/\n\n\ n\n Next Edition\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20241208 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The American Revolution PBS Documentary Episode 5 DTSTAMP:20251118T053607Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:591-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The American Revolution\n\n A Film By\n\n Ken Burns\, Sar ah Botstein &\; David Schmidt\n\n\n\n The Soul of All America (December 1777 – May 1780)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n T RANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n Announcer: Major funding for \"The American Revolution\" was provided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jon athan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation and the Blavatnik Family Fou ndation.\n\nMajor funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein\, the R obert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment\, an d by Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Sc hwarzman\, and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditional sup port was provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations\, the Pew Charita ble Trusts\, Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling\, the Park Foundation\ , and by Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Foundation\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the Kissic k Family Foundation\, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jen nifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund\, and these additional members.\n\n\"The American Revolution\" was m ade possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting\, a nd Viewers Like You.\n\nThank You.\n\nAnnouncer: The American Revolution c aused an impact felt around the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenuity\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide of history a nd set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to d o?\n\nBank of America.\n\n[Cannon fire] ♪ Voice: I have of late lost a g reat many intimate friends.\n\nThe numbers of fine young men from 15 to 5 and 20 with loss of limbs hurts me beyond conception\, and I every day cur se Columbus and all the discoverers of this diabolical country.\n\nIn what manner the Parliament will act on this occasion we cannot conceive.\n\nMa jor John Bowater.\n\n♪ Voice: You cannot--I venture to say\, you cannot conquer America.\n\nMy lords\, in 3 campaigns\, we have done nothing and s uffered much.\n\n[Gavel bangs] You may swell every expense and every effor t\, pile and accumulate every assistance you can buy or borrow\, traffic a nd barter with every little pitiful German prince that sells and sends his subjects to the shambles of a foreign country.\n\nYour efforts are foreve r vain and impotent.\n\nIf I were an American\, as I am an Englishman\, wh ile a foreign troop was landed in my country\, I never would lay down my a rms-- never\, never\, never.\n\n[Men shouting] William Pitt\, Earl of Chat ham.\n\n[Gavel bangs] ♪ [Distant cannon fire] ♪ [Fife and drums playin g] Jane Kamensky: The American Revolution is\, on the one hand\, an intens ely local war\, and\, on the other hand\, a great global war.\n\nAs a glob al war\, the American Revolution continues the series of wars among empire s for the prize of North America.\n\nBritain\, Spain\, France are all seek ing some form of victory or advantage... ♪ but the beginning of 1778\, t he rebellious United States' cause is at the thread end of its ability to continue to exist.\n\n♪ Voice: There comes a soldier\, his bare feet are seen through his worn-out shoes\, his legs nearly naked from the tattered remains of an only pair of stockings\, his breeches not sufficient to cov er his nakedness.\n\nHis whole appearance pictures a person forsaken and d iscouraged.\n\nDr.\n\nAlbigence Waldo\, surgeon\, First Connecticut Infant ry.\n\n♪ Narrator: The weary Continentals whom George Washington led int o winter quarters at Valley Forge in December of 1777\, were\, a visitor\, said\, just \"a skeleton of an army.\"\n\nThey'd been fighting and marchi ng for months\, but many hadn't been paid since August.\n\nNearly 3\,000 o f them were officially unfit for duty.\n\nOver the next 6 months\, 2\,500 soldiers would die\, mostly from typhus\, typhoid\, influenza\, and dysent ery.\n\nClothing was so scarce that when a man died\, what was left of his uniform was washed and carefully preserved so that another member of his unit might be at least a little warmer.\n\n♪ Voice: I am now convinced t hat unless some great change takes place\, this army must inevitably be re duced to one or the other of these things-- starve\, dissolve\, or dispers e in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can.\n\nGeorge Wa shington\, headquarters at the Valley Forge.\n\n♪ Narrator: Valley Forge took its name from an abandoned ironworks that stood at the intersection of a small creek and the Schuylkill River some 20 miles northwest of Phila delphia.\n\nWashington himself called it \"a dreary kind of place\,\" but he chose it because it was close enough to Philadelphia to move quickly ag ainst British foragers when they dared venture out of the city and far eno ugh from it to make surprise attacks unlikely.\n\nPennsylvania legislators complained that instead of withdrawing to Valley Forge\, Washington shoul d be about the business of recapturing Philadelphia.\n\nVoice: I can assur e those gentlemen that it is a much easier and less distressing thing to d raw remonstrances in a comfortable room by a good fireside than to occupy a cold\, bleak hill and sleep under frost and snow without clothes or blan kets.\n\nIt would give me infinite pleasure to afford protection to every individual and to every spot of ground in the whole of the United States.\ n\nNothing is more my wish\, but this is not possible with our present for ce.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\n[Canon fire in distance] ♪ [Fire crackling] Voice: I'd experienced what I thought sufficient of the hardships of mili tary life the year before\, but we were now absolutely in danger of perish ing\, and that too in the midst of a plentiful country.\n\nJoseph Plumb Ma rtin.\n\n[Horse neighs] Narrator: Private Joseph Plumb Martin had survived the Battles of Long Island\, Kips Bay\, the disaster at Germantown\, and the siege of Fort Mifflin\, and he was still just 17.\n\n♪ Now huddled i n tattered canvas tents at Valley Forge\, soldiers went for days with noth ing to eat but fire cakes-- just flour and water baked on hot stones.\n\nS everal days went by when many soldiers had no food at all.\n\nThere was ta lk of mutiny.\n\nRick Atkinson: The apparatus of war supporting the army h as come unglued.\n\nAll of these support functions that help keep an army thriving\, keep it healthy\, have really begun to implode.\n\nNarrator: Co ngress\, still in exile in York\, Pennsylvania\, told Washington to comman deer food and fodder from the surrounding countryside\, but he resisted\, worried it might turn civilians against the cause.\n\nInstead\, he tried t o purchase everything his men needed\, but the steady depreciation of Cont inental currency made that problematic.\n\nWilliam Hogeland: Nothing like the American Revolutionary War had been fought.\n\nNo public project like it had been undertaken before\, and it was incredibly expensive.\n\nWhat h appens with a paper currency if it isn't well-supported and isn't handled properly is\, it depreciates wildly against gold and silver.\n\nIt was use less as a currency\, and in that sense\, the Congress went broke.\n\n♪ S tephen Conway: The British Army\, on the contrary\, has lots of hard cash\ , and lots of Americans who are not politically interested one way or the other see opportunities for commercial benefit-- selling products\, sellin g goods and services to the British Army.\n\nNarrator: Washington's army w as dwindling again.\n\nMen simply went home.\n\nHundreds enlisted in Loyal ist regiments.\n\nOthers joined roving outlaw bands that looted isolated f armhouses.\n\nStill others made their way to Philadelphia to surrender\, h oping they would be treated better as prisoners of war than as soldiers at Valley Forge.\n\nWashington's officers were leaving\, too.\n\nVoice: The number of resignations in the Virginia Line is induced by officers finding that every man who remains at home is making a fortune whilst they are sp ending what they have in the defense of their country.\n\nThomas Nelson.\n \n♪ Narrator: Over the coming months\, more than 500 of Washington's off icers would resign.\n\nTo add to his troubles\, some members of Congress a nd a handful of commanders had begun whispering that he had proved himself weak and indecisive in battle.\n\nIf the Revolution were to succeed\, som e argued\, command of the Continental Army should pass to Horatio Gates\, who had recently accepted the surrender of an entire British army at Sarat oga.\n\n♪ Voice: I did not solicit this command\, but accepted it after much entreaty.\n\nAs soon as the public gets dissatisfied with my service\ , I shall quit the helm with as much satisfaction and retire to a private station with as much content as ever the weariest pilgrim felt upon his sa fe arrival in the Holy Land.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nNarrator: Until that moment came\, Washington would work tirelessly\, first to maintain\, and then to improve his army.\n\nShelter came first.\n\nHe ordered the men to cut down trees\, dismantle farmers' outbuildings and fences\, and bang tog ether row upon row of log huts\, perhaps 2\,000 of them\, each one 14 by 1 6 feet and meant to house 12 men.\n\n♪ Valley Forge would for a time be the fourth largest city in America-- 20\,000 men\, women\, and children fr om all 13 states.\n\nFor many\, English was not their native language.\n\n They spoke German\, Irish\, Scots\, Welsh\, Dutch\, Swedish\, French\, Moh ican\, Oneida\, Wolof\, Kikongo\, and more.\n\nNearly 10% were African Ame rican\, most of whom served alongside whites in integrated regiments.\n\nS ome 60 men were enrolled in a brand-new all-Black company belonging to the First Rhode Island Regiment.\n\nThe state legislature promised those who were enslaved their freedom at war's end and pledged to pay compensation t o those whose property they had been.\n\n♪ Among the Native American sol diers and scouts at Valley Forge were Tuscaroras\, Oneidas\, as well as Mo hicans and Wappingers from Stockbridge\, Massachusetts.\n\n♪ The hundred s of women who lived among the soldiers did the men's laundry\, nursed the sick and wounded\, and cared for an unknown number of children.\n\nWhen m en went to war\, they were gone and so was whatever pay they were going to get\, and many women just could not survive on their own\, and so it was actually better for everybody when women traveled with the armies.\n\n♪ Narrator: Martha Washington joined her husband at Valley Forge.\n\nAt leas t 8 servants-- men and women\, white and Black\, enslaved and free-- lived alongside the Washingtons in a stone house they rented from the family of the mill owner who had built it.\n\n8 of General Washington's closest aid es were crowded in there\, as well\, among them\, two especially idealisti c young officers in their early 20s-- John Laurens and the Marquis de Lafa yette.\n\n♪ Iris de Rode: As soon as Lafayette arrived\, he starts to lo ok around and get inspired by everything he sees\, and he's young\, and he 's excited to be in this new country in what\, to him\, is the New World\, and he's going to explore and understand.\n\nHe really starts to believe in the cause for equalities\, for liberties.\n\n♪ Narrator: John Laurens of South Carolina was the son of Henry Laurens\, the current president of Congress and one of the biggest slave traders in North America.\n\nFrom V alley Forge\, the young Laurens wrote to his father.\n\nVoice: I would sol icit you to seed me a number of your able-bodied men slaves instead of lea ving me a fortune.\n\nI would bring about a twofold good.\n\nFirst\, I wou ld advance those who are unjustly deprived of the rights of mankind\, and I would reinforce the defenders of liberty with a number of gallant soldie rs.\n\n♪ My dearest friend and father\, I hope that my plan for serving my country and the oppressed Negro race will not appear to you the chimera of a young mind\, but a laudable sacrifice of private interest to justice and the public good.\n\nJohn Laurens.\n\nNarrator: Henry Laurens rejected his son's proposal.\n\nFreeing some slaves\, he said\, would simply \"ren der Slavery more irksome to those who remained in it.\"\n\n♪ [Wind blowi ng] In February\, the bad conditions at Valley Forge grew still worse.\n\n Some 1\,000 soldiers would sicken and die that month.\n\nVoice: I was call ed to relieve a soldier thought to be dying.\n\nHe was an Indian\, an exce llent soldier.\n\nHe has fought for those very people who disinherited his forefathers.\n\nHaving finished his pilgrimage\, he was discharged from t he war of life and death.\n\nHis memory ought to be respected more than th ose rich ones who supply the world with nothing better than money and vice .\n\nDr.\n\nAlbigence Waldo.\n\n[Chickens clucking] Narrator: Desperate to feed his hungry men\, Washington now organized what was called the Great Forage\, more than 1\,500 men in all\, to scour the countryside in eastern Pennsylvania\, western New Jersey\, Delaware\, and Maryland\, seizing wha tever they could find and handing out promissory notes in exchange.\n\n♪ Voice: The militia and some regular troops on one side\, and Loyalist ref ugees with the Englishmen on the other\, were constantly roving about\, pl undering and destroying everything in a barbarous manner.\n\nEverywhere di strust\, fear\, hatred and abominable selfishness were met with.\n\nRevere nd Nils Collin.\n\n♪ Narrator: Nils Collin was a Swedish missionary sent to America to serve as rector of the Swedish Church in Swedesboro\, New J ersey.\n\nSince he considered himself a subject of the Swedish monarch\, h is conscience would not allow him to swear allegiance to the British king or to ally himself with the Patriot cause.\n\nHe vowed to remain neutral\, but bands of American and British soldiers and their sympathizers took tu rns occupying the town\, seizing livestock and provisions\, and punishing those who stood in their way.\n\n♪ Voice: Many members of the congregati on suffered injury in various ways by this frenzy.\n\nDr.\n\nOtto's house was burnt down by Loyalist refugees.\n\nJames Stillman lost most of his ca ttle.\n\nSutherland\, a Scotchman\, together with a young Swede\, Hendrick son\, were taken to New York as prisoners.\n\n♪ On the opposite side\, t he militia pillaged the following-- Jacob and Anders Jones\, who had trade d with the English\; a sea captain\, Jan Cox\, whose beds were cut up and his China\, tea tables\, and bureaus smashed.\n\nFrom all this it is appar ent how terrible this civil war raged\, party hatred flamed in the hearts of my people.\n\nSome would not go to church because the sight of their en emy aroused the memory of the evils they had suffered.\n\nNils Collin.\n\n Vincent Brown: Given the choice to fight for the Patriot cause or join the British effort to suppress the Patriots\, most people stood to the side.\ n\nMost people tried to let it pass.\n\nThey tried to get out of the way.\ n\nKamensky: It's common individuals\, ordinary individuals asking the que stion that I think we all ask about politics every day-- \"What does this have to do with me?\"\n\n♪ Voice: Girls at the age of 12 and 13 require a mother's care.\n\nA girl of 13\, left without an advisor and fancying he rself a woman\, stands on a precipice that trembles beneath her.\n\nBetsy Ambler.\n\nNarrator: Betsy Ambler and her younger sister Mary spent that w inter in Winchester\, Virginia.\n\nThey were left with an aunt and uncle w hile their parents and little sisters headed southeast to avoid the cold.\ n\nBetsy spent much of her time trying to win the attention of \"charming young...\" Continental \"officers.\"\n\n\"Here\,\" she said\, \"was a fine field open for a romantic girl.\"\n\nVoice: Early in the spring\, our goo d father returned.\n\nAnd though he treated us himself as children\, he sa w that we had been considered of an age to attract too much attention.\n\n Betsy Ambler.\n\nNarrator: The Ambler family would be reunited\, and they would be returning to Yorktown\, what Betsy called her \"beloved birthplac e.\"\n\nHer father's finances had been hit hard by the war.\n\nHe and his two daughters had to make the long\, dusty trip home in a wagon\, not a co ach.\n\n\"We were rather ashamed of our cavalry\,\" Betsy remembered.\n\nV oice: The only possible good from the entire change in our circumstances w as that we were made acquainted with the manner and situation of our count ry\, which we otherwise should never have known.\n\nWe were forced to indu stry and to endeavor by amiable and agreeable conduct to make amends for t he loss of fortune.\n\nBetsy Ambler.\n\nNarrator: When the Amblers finally got to Yorktown\, they settled not in \"our former mansion\,\" she recall ed\, but in a much smaller house on the edge of town.\n\n[Birds chirping] Voice: My imagination frequently recurs to that enchanting spot situated o n a little eminence overlooking a smiling meadow\, where a gentle stream m eandering round the sloping hill was lost in one of the noblest rivers in our country.\n\nHere\, my sister and myself often wandered\, gathering wil dflowers to adorn our hair\, till we almost fancied ourselves heroines.\n\ nBetsy Ambler.\n\n[Officer saying commands] Christopher Brown: Washington had this really interesting quality of being able to project authority and confidence and allowing that to spill out into others\, so that they acqu ired authority and confidence by being in his orbit.\n\nI think he had the effect of pulling out some of the best in the people who were around him. \n\nNarrator: To provide his army with the reliable logistical support it desperately needed\, Washington insisted that Congress appoint as quarterm aster general the officer he trusted most-- Nathanael Greene\, but Greene was a fighting general.\n\nHe knew there was more combat ahead and wanted to be in on what he called \"the mischief.\"\n\nAtkinson: Greene says\, no body in history has ever heard of a \"quartermaster.\"\n\nHe doesn't want the job\, but he takes the job.\n\nLike Washington\, he's got a brain buil t for executive action\, and he's good at being the quartermaster.\n\nNarr ator: Thanks to Nathanael Greene's mastery of logistics and Washington's a ppeals to state governors\, by the end of March 1778\, herds of cattle and sheep were plodding toward Valley Forge from several directions\, along w ith wagon trains filled with everything from barrels of nails to brand-new uniforms and crates of bayonets and muskets.\n\n[Snare drum playing] Now that his men were better fed\, clothed\, and equipped and their ranks were swelling as fresh recruits\, recalled regulars\, and returning convalesce nts all converged on Valley Forge\, Washington wanted every man in his new ly reorganized army to undergo formal military training to end what he cal led the confusion that had too often undercut its performance on the battl efield.\n\nThe man he picked to oversee that task was a newcomer to Americ a-- Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben .\n\nVoice: Never before or since have I had such an impression of the anc ient fabled God of War as when I looked on the baron.\n\nThe trappings of his horse\, the enormous holsters of his pistols all seemed to favor the i dea.\n\nHe seemed to me a perfect personification of Mars.\n\nPrivate Ashb el Green.\n\nNarrator: Steuben claimed to be a baron\, a lieutenant genera l in the Prussian Army\, and a close aide to Frederick the Great.\n\nHe re ally was a baron\, though a penniless one\, and he had served in Frederick 's headquarters for a time\, but his army career in Europe had been cut sh ort by an accusation that he had taken familiarities with young boys.\n\nI n America\, he said\, he wanted to put his \"talents in the arts of war in the service of a republic.\"\n\n♪ Steuben was hot-tempered\, and his En glish was initially limited to a single word--\"goddamn.\"\n\nVoice: When some movement or maneuver was not performed to his mind\, he began to swea r in German\, then in French\, and then in both languages together.\n\nWhe n he had exhausted his artillery of foreign oaths\, he would call to his a ides\, \"Come and swear for me in English.\n\nThese fellows won't do what I bid them.\"\n\nPeter Stephen Du Ponceau.\n\nEdward Lengel: Baron von Ste uben is really a comical figure when he arrives at camp.\n\nThe men make f un of him\, but he is a man who you need pulling the men together and givi ng them a sense of common purpose.\n\nAfter the men have drilled with him for a little while\, they stop laughing.\n\n[Man shouting orders] Narrator : But for all his bluster\, Steuben grasped the character of the men he wa s to work with.\n\n\"The genius of this nation is not to be compared... wi th the Prussians\, Austrians or French\,\" he wrote to an old friend back home.\n\n\"You say to your soldier\, 'Do this\,' and he does it\,\" but he re\, \"I am obliged to say\, \"'This is the reason why you ought to do tha t\,' and then he does it.\"\n\n♪ Steuben taught the men to march at a \" common step\" of 75 paces a minute and a \"quick step\" of 120 paces\, to move in columns rather than straggle in single file\, to shift into battle line and back again when under fire\, to load and fire musket volleys mor e quickly\, and to become proficient with the bayonet\, the weapon that ha d once terrified them when in British or Hessian hands.\n\nAs skills impro ved\, so did morale.\n\n♪ By spring\, the danger of mutiny had eased.\n\ nSo had the mutterings about Washington's leadership.\n\nHe was\, it was c lear\, indispensable to the cause of liberty.\n\n♪ That year\, a German- language almanac published in Lancaster\, Pennsylvania\, would call Washin gton Des Landes Vater-- \"the Country's Father.\"\n\n♪ He was the glue t hat held people together.\n\nThese 13 colonies had to come together\, and he was the person to do it.\n\nWe would not have had a country without him .\n\nI don't know\, actually.\n\nI mean\, you know-- God\, I can't believe I'm saying this because I'm not a huge fan of \"great man\" theories of h istory or explanations of history\, but let's put it this way.\n\nIt's eas y to see the American effort for independence failing without Washington's leadership.\n\n♪ [Gull squawks] Narrator: After midnight on April 23\, 1778\, 31 sailors and Marines from the 20-gun Continental Navy sloop \"Ran ger\,\" tossing in the Irish Sea\, climbed into two longboats and began ro wing toward the port of Whitehaven on the western coast of England.\n\nThe ir Scottish-born commander knew these waters well.\n\nHe'd begun his seafa ring career there as a 13-year-old apprentice seaman named John Paul Jr.\n \nIn the intervening years\, he had sailed aboard slave ships\, risen to c ommand merchant vessels\, and then\, after killing a crewman\, fled to Ame rica.\n\nThere\, he changed his name to John Paul Jones and volunteered to join the fledgling Continental Navy.\n\nVoice: I resolved to make the gre atest efforts to bring to an end the barbarous ravages to which the Englis h turned in America by making good fire in England of shipping.\n\nJohn Pa ul Jones.\n\nNarrator: When Jones' men reached the Whitehaven wharf\, they found more than 200 vessels moored in its harbor.\n\nAs Jones worked to g et a fire going aboard a boat loaded with coal\, angry townspeople raced t o the waterfront.\n\nVoice: I stood between them and the ship of fire with a pistol in my hand and ordered them to retire\, which they did with prec ipitation.\n\nThe flames had already caught the rigging and begun to ascen d the main mast.\n\nIt was time to retire.\n\nJohn Paul Jones.\n\nNarrator : Jones and his men made it back to the Ranger and sailed away.\n\n[Cannon fire] The next day\, they engaged a British warship\, the \"Drake\,\" and after a battle that Jones remembered as \"warm\, close\, and obstinate\,\ " captured it and its crew and brought it into the French port of Brest.\n \nJones understood his impact on British public opinion.\n\nMothers began warning their children to be good\, or the fearsome \"Pirate\" John Paul J ones would get them.\n\n♪ Voice: What was done is sufficient to show tha t not all their boasted navy can protect their own coasts and that the sce nes of distress which they have occasioned in America may soon be brought home to their own doors.\n\nJohn Paul Jones.\n\n♪ Voice: What a miraculo us change in the political world-- the government of France an advocate fo r liberty\, espousing the cause of Protestants\, and risking a war to secu re their independence\; Britain at war with America\, France in alliance w ith her.\n\nThese\, my friend\, are astonishing changes.\n\nElbridge Gerry .\n\nNarrator: It had taken nearly 3 months for word of the new military a lliance with France to reach Washington.\n\nThe French would be sending so ldiers and the fleet.\n\nHis army would no longer be alone.\n\n\"This...gr eat... glorious...news\,\" he said\, \"must put the independency of Americ a out of all manner of dispute.\"\n\n[Snare drum playing] Washington was e ager now to test his newly disciplined army against the enemy.\n\nVoice: T he enemy imagined Philadelphia to be of more importance to us than it real ly was and to that belief added the absurd idea that the soul of all Ameri ca was centered there and would be conquered there.\n\nThomas Paine.\n\n ♪ Narrator: The British\, German\, and Loyalist troops penned up in Phil adelphia had had a hard winter\, too.\n\nThey had subsisted on half-ration s.\n\nWounded troops occupied every public building in town except the Sta te House\, where the Declaration of Independence had been signed\, which w as crowded with Patriot prisoners.\n\n♪ 1777 had ended badly for the Bri tish.\n\nGeneral Burgoyne had surrendered an entire army at Saratoga.\n\nG eneral Howe might have occupied Philadelphia\, and his subordinates still held New York City and Newport\, but they controlled little else\, and now \, with the French joining the war\, Britain would be required to defend a ll its imperial holdings-- in India\, Africa\, Ireland\, the Mediterranean and the Caribbean\, as well as in North America.\n\nKathleen DuVal: The F rench decide to enter the war\, and that changes everything for Britain.\n \nBritain knows that Spain and the Netherlands may be next.\n\nSuddenly\, those 13 colonies that were rebelling are kind of the small potatoes of th e war.\n\nThey could lose their profitable plantation islands.\n\nThey cou ld lose Jamaica.\n\nThe stakes are big in this war\, and the 13 colonies h ave become just a tiny corner of it.\n\n♪ Narrator: Lord North\, the Bri tish prime minister\, dispatched peace commissioners to America that sprin g\, armed with a series of concessions aimed at ending the fighting\, ever ything the Americans had been demanding for years.\n\nAll they had to do w as renounce independence.\n\nWhat they're offering is basically terms that would have been acceptable to the colonists in 1774 or 1775.\n\nNarrator: Congress would not hear of it.\n\nThe very idea of dependence\, its presi dent\, Henry Laurens\, said\, \"is inadmissible.\"\n\nBritish negotiators responded with a warning.\n\nAmericans could now expect far harsher treatm ent than any they had yet received\, and they had appointed a new commande r to deliver that treatment.\n\nVoice: On the 10th of May\, Sir Henry Clin ton arrived at Philadelphia\, relieving Sir William Howe as commander in c hief.\n\nCaptain Johann Ewald.\n\nAtkinson: Henry Clinton is a formidable military officer.\n\nHe's had a lot of combat experience\, but he's a very \, very difficult personality.\n\nHe's easily aggrieved.\n\nHe carries his grievances and grudges with him.\n\nHe will be the British commander in c hief longer than any other general in the American Revolution\, for 4 year s.\n\nNarrator: General Henry Clinton\, who had been fighting in America s ince Bunker's Hill\, had hoped to be relieved.\n\nInstead\, he would be as ked to do at least as much as his predecessor had been asked to do and to do it with far fewer men.\n\nHis new orders were to send 8\,000 of his sol diers to protect British interests in Florida and the Caribbean.\n\nHe was to leave the rest of the New England and Mid-Atlantic states in Patriot h ands for the most part and eventually mount seaborne assaults on the 4 Sou thern Colonies.\n\nClinton concluded he first had to get his army back to New York\, which meant evacuating Philadelphia that had been taken just 9 months earlier.\n\nMost of his men\, he decided\, would have to march to N ew York.\n\nHe had too few ships to carry his entire army as well as some 3\,000 Loyalists now eager to leave with him.\n\nVoice: All of the loyal i nhabitants who had taken our protection lamented that they now had to give up all their property.\n\nBrave people who have rendered such good servic e to the King are being left behind.\n\nGod alone knows what will happen t o them.\n\nJohann Ewald.\n\nMaya Jasanoff: Philadelphia has its population turned inside out a couple of different times in the Revolution.\n\nNew Y ork City has its population turned around\, a kind of back-and-forth of Lo yalist and Patriot residents\, depending on which army is in charge\, and when an army leaves\, the population that had come in order to live under their protection have to sort of fumble and figure out what it is that the y're going to do next.\n\n♪ Voice: Philadelphia\, June 18th.\n\nThis mor ning when we arose\, there was not one redcoat to be seen.\n\nColonel Gord on and some others had not been gone a quarter of an hour before the Ameri cans entered the city.\n\nElizabeth Drinker.\n\nNarrator: To act as milita ry governor of Philadelphia\, George Washington selected General Benedict Arnold\, still suffering from war wounds so severe that he could not mount a horse.\n\nHe was to restore order and preserve tranquility.\n\nPhiladel phia was now almost unrecognizable.\n\nRetreating redcoats had looted home s\, desecrated churches\, felled orchards for firewood\, and in the houses they had used as barracks\, cut holes in the floor to serve as privies.\n \nReturning Patriot refugees were enraged at what had been done to their c ity and were eager to punish anyone who had collaborated with the occupier s.\n\nThe homes and property of scores of accused Tories would be confisca ted.\n\n23 men were tried for treason.\n\nTwo Quakers were hanged.\n\nNath aniel Philbrick: Philadelphia was divided between the Loyalists and the Pa triots\, who were at each other's throats.\n\nIt would have required someo ne of great tact and sympathy to keep the lid on this city.\n\nThat was no t Arnold.\n\nNarrator: By June 18\, 1778\, most of Clinton's army was in N ew Jersey and had begun its march toward New York\, some 90 miles away.\n\ nThey moved in two great columns-- more than 18\,000 soldiers\, nearly 2\, 000 noncombatants\, 46 artillery pieces\, and 5\,000 horses.\n\nThe next m orning\, George Washington led his army out of Valley Forge for the first time in months and began shadowing the British as they moved east\, lookin g for an opportunity to strike.\n\nAtkinson: Washington has decided that h e is not going to directly intercept this column\, which is very strong.\n \nHe wants to nick at them and--and peck at them from the rear and make li fe miserable for them and watch for an opening.\n\nNarrator: Once again\, New Jersey militia made the British passage as painful as possible\, felli ng trees across the roads\, destroying bridges\, flooding streams to make fording difficult\, and picking off individual soldiers by ambush.\n\n♪ Voice: The whole province was in arms\, following us with Washington's arm y\, constantly surrounding us on our marches and besieging our camps.\n\nE ach step cost human blood.\n\nJohann Ewald.\n\n[Thunder] Narrator: The wea ther added to their misery-- heat that soared above 90 degrees\, sudden do wnpours that turned sandy roads into bogs\, followed by dense humidity\, s warms of mosquitoes\, and still more heat.\n\n20 British soldiers died of heat exhaustion on a single day.\n\nAs many as 500 men are thought to have deserted during the march\, most of them Hessians\, blending into German- speaking communities nearby.\n\n[Birds chirping] ♪ On the morning of Jun e 24\, 1778\, Americans otherwise disconnected by the vastness of their co ntinent witnessed an otherworldly phenomenon at roughly the same time as t he moon eclipsed the sun.\n\n♪ Indians and Spanish colonists in Mexico a nd Texas saw it first.\n\nWhen it reached Spanish New Orleans and British Mobile\, the flags of empire flew in sudden darkness for more than 4 minut es.\n\nThe total eclipse lasted even longer for the Muscogee Creeks on the Chattahoochee River and for the \"Maroon\" communities of self-emancipate d former slaves hidden in the Great Dismal Swamp.\n\n♪ When mid-morning darkness descended on the Virginia capital at Williamsburg\, \"Lightening buggs were seen as at Night.\"\n\n♪ The same darkness briefly enveloped Washington's army as it followed the British into New Jersey.\n\n\"Had thi s happened upon such an occasion in \"olden time\,\" Private Joseph Plumb Martin remembered\, \"it would have been considered ominous\, either of go od or bad fortune\, but we took no notice of it.\"\n\n♪ Martin had been detached from his Connecticut regiment and assigned to join fast-moving li ght infantry with orders to follow the enemy closely enough to capture str agglers and welcome deserters.\n\nThe day after the eclipse\, Clinton deci ded to head east towards Sandy Hook\, a Loyalist stronghold from which roy al transports could ferry his men to New York.\n\nHe merged his two divisi ons into one column\, and\, he recalled\, hoping that \"Mr.\n\nWashington might possibly be induced to commit himself\" to battle\, \"[I placed] the elite of my army between him and my [supply train]... to defend it from i nsult.\"\n\nHe put General Charles Cornwallis in charge of that force.\n\n ♪ At Hopewell\, Washington convened a council of war.\n\nGeneral Nathana el Greene\, back in the field\, was eager for a fight.\n\nVoice: If we suf fer the enemy to pass through the Jerseys without attempting anything upon them\, I think we shall ever regret it.\n\nPeople expect something from u s\, and our strength demands it.\n\nNathanael Greene.\n\nNarrator: But mos t commanders urged caution.\n\nMajor General Charles Lee-- Washington's se cond in command\, captured two years before and only recently exchanged-- was especially adamant in his opposition.\n\nSending Americans against Bri tish regulars would be \"criminal\,\" he said\, but when Washington decide d to send forward 4\,500 troops anyway\, Lee insisted seniority required t hat he lead them.\n\nIf he weren't given command\, he said\, he would be \ "disgraced.\"\n\nWashington relented and ordered Lee to follow Cornwallis' elite rearguard and look for an opportunity to attack.\n\n♪ [Indistinct conversation] Narrator: The British left their encampment around Monmouth Court House well before dawn on Sunday\, June 28th.\n\n[Gunfire] By mid-m orning\, Lee's men had formed west of the British line\, trying piecemeal to attack and dislodge Cornwallis' forces.\n\nAll their efforts proved fut ile.\n\n[Shouting and gunfire] Narrator: As the Patriots struggled in the increasingly brutal heat\, Clinton sent an entire division to reinforce Co rnwallis.\n\nMore than 10\,000 British\, German\, and Loyalist troops coun terattacked.\n\nAtkinson: Things go south in a hurry for the Americans.\n\ nLee loses control\, and the next thing you know\, this American advance g uard\, the vanguard that's supposed to be attacking\, is fleeing.\n\nLenge l: They're confused.\n\nThey begin falling back\, but then Washington appe ars.\n\nThe knowledge of his presence causes the retreat to stop instantan eously without even having said a word.\n\nThose who witnessed this moment said that it was like a bolt of electricity shot through the forces once they realized that Washington was there.\n\nVoice: His presence stopped th e retreat.\n\nHis fine appearance on horseback\, his calm courage gave him the air best calculated to excite enthusiasm.\n\nHe rode all along the li nes amid the shouts of the soldiers\, cheering them by his voice and examp le.\n\nMarquis de Lafayette.\n\nLengel: Washington gives some orders.\n\nT he men get back into line... [Gunshot] and they face down the British atta ck\, and they don't break.\n\nMan: Fire!\n\n♪ [Men shouting commands] Na rrator: General Steuben's training had paid off.\n\nThe British launched a series of assaults.\n\nGeneral Henry Clinton himself led one of them\, sw ord in hand.\n\n♪ Colonels Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr both had ho rses shot out from under them\, but the Americans held.\n\nAtkinson: Washi ngton places his defenses in a way that stops the British assault.\n\nHe's got good ground for his artillery.\n\nHe's hammering the British.\n\n[Men shouting] ♪ Narrator: The artillery duel continued for two hours.\n\nIn fantry on both sides sought whatever cover they could.\n\nVoice: With the thermometer at 96\, what could be done in a hot pine barren loaded with ev erything that the poor soldier carries?\n\nIt breaks my heart that I was o bliged under those cruel circumstances to attempt it.\n\nGeneral Henry Cli nton.\n\n♪ Narrator: Finally\, at around 3:45\, Clinton ordered a stop t o the firing.\n\nWith his supply train now well on its way towards Sandy H ook and safety\, he reluctantly began to withdraw his exhausted troops.\n\ nWashington's men were worn out\, too.\n\nThe heat\, Joseph Plumb Martin r emembered\, was like \"the mouth of [an]...oven.\"\n\n[Insect buzzing] Voi ce: It was generally understood the battle was to be renewed at the dawn o f day\, but at the dawn of day\, I heard the shout of victory-- \"The Brit ish are gone.\"\n\nDr.\n\nWilliam Read.\n\n♪ Narrator: The Battle of Mon mouth had left some 362 of Washington's men and 411 of Clinton's dead\, wo unded\, or missing.\n\nCorpses\, swollen and blackening in the heat\, spra wled everywhere.\n\nBoth sides claimed victory.\n\n♪ Clinton's column re ached Sandy Hook without serious interruption and embarked for Staten Isla nd.\n\nHis objective was to get his army to New York\, and he had done so. .. ♪ but when the fighting ended\, Washington's men held the field.\n\n\ "It is glorious for America\,\" a New Jersey colonel wrote his wife.\n\nAt least one British officer admitted his army had endured \"a handsome flog ging.\"\n\nAlthough there would be fierce fighting and many skirmishes in New England and the Mid-Atlantic states\, Monmouth would be the last major battle fought in the North during the American Revolution... ♪ and it w ould be more than 3 years before George Washington would personally lead h is troops into battle again.\n\n♪ Serena Zabin: What he learns over the course of the war is that there are other ways to perform his leadership t hat's not actually by doing something big and bold but that waiting and ho lding back and containment can also be a way of showing his strength.\n\n[ Clock ticking] Voice: Cruel as this war has been and separated as I am on account of it from the dearest connection in life\, I would not exchange m y country for the wealth of the Indies\, or be any other than an American. \n\nAbigail Adams.\n\n♪ Stacy Schiff: One of the great blessings here is how much time John spends in Philadelphia with Abigail back in Massachuse tts because from that\, we have really the most detailed\, richest corresp ondence of the Revolutionary years.\n\nNarrator: In the summer of 1778\, A bigail and John Adams were apart\, as they almost always were during the w ar.\n\nShe was at their home in Braintree\, Massachusetts\, managing the h ousehold\, and he was newly arrived in Paris\, sent by Congress to join Be njamin Franklin and the American delegation to France.\n\n♪ There\, on t he Fourth of July\, Adams and Franklin hosted a modest celebration on the second anniversary of American independence.\n\nVoice: We had the honor of the company of all the American gentlemen and ladies in and about Paris w ith a few of the French gentlemen in the neighborhood.\n\nThey were not mi nisters of state\, nor ambassadors\, nor princes\, nor dukes\, nor peers\, nor marquises\, nor cardinals\, nor archbishops\, nor bishops.\n\nJohn Ad ams.\n\nNarrator: Thousands of miles west of Paris in Philadelphia\, where the Continental Congress had just returned from exile\, General Benedict Arnold presided over a feast and entertainment for the city's political\, military\, and merchant leaders.\n\nThey were interrupted by what one of t hem called \"a crowd of the vulgar\" outside mocking the pretensions of th e wealthy.\n\nDuVal: I think the American Revolution creates an idea that there is no class in the United States\, that we\, in our founding moment\ , decided to do away with that.\n\nIt's not true.\n\nThere have always bee n wide varieties in wealth and power in the United States\, and there were more opportunities in the colonies than there were in Europe\, but some o f the opportunity\, some of the promise of the United States\, is built on slavery and taking Native land.\n\n♪ Narrator: Late the same evening of July 4th\, in the heart of the continent\, Virginia militia under Lieuten ant Colonel George Rogers Clark reached British-held Kaskaskia\, a mostly French-speaking village on the Mississippi River.\n\nMan: Ready!\n\n[Gunsh ots] Narrator: In the dead of night\, Clark's men overwhelmed the town's d efenses.\n\nWoman: [Vocalizing] Narrator: The next morning\, he notified t he terrified townspeople that the King of France had joined the Americans. \n\nClark guaranteed they would be free to practice their Catholic faith\, since all religions would be tolerated in America\, provided they agreed to bow to the authority of the United States.\n\nIt was a bloodless start to what would become Clark's bloody campaign to conquer Indian country eas t of the Mississippi.\n\n[Snare drum playing] [Gulls squawking] The French fleet Washington had been waiting for finally appeared off New York in th e week after Independence Day-- 12 ships of the line\, 4 frigates\, and ov er 4\,000 French marines\, all commanded by Vice Admiral Charles Henri\, C omte d'Estaing\, a veteran of warfare against Britain in India and Sumatra .\n\nDe Rode: D'Estaing is a French aristocrat.\n\nHe considers himself qu ite superior to these American \"ragtag\" army and is looking at them and thinks\, \"How am I gonna work with these people?\"\n\nBecause he thought\ , \"I'm the French admiral.\n\nI know what to do here\, so they better lis ten to me.\"\n\nNarrator: Washington hoped a coordinated attack with this new French force could trap Clinton in New York\, take back the city\, and \, by so doing\, persuade Britain that further prosecution of the war was hopeless.\n\nBecause d'Estaing had convinced himself that his heaviest shi ps would run aground trying to enter New York Harbor\, he decided to move against the British garrison at Newport\, Rhode Island\, instead.\n\nIt wa s to be a coordinated assault with American ground forces under General Jo hn Sullivan\, but neither commander spoke the other's language.\n\nSulliva n\, the son of Irish indentured servants\, loathed aristocrats like the Fr ench commander\, who\, in turn\, found Sullivan crude and inept.\n\n[Canno n fire] It all went wrong.\n\nWithout informing the French\, Sullivan adva nced a day earlier than had been planned.\n\nWhen a British fleet appeared offshore\, d'Estaing sailed out to do battle... [Thunder] but a howling s torm scattered and seriously damaged both fleets.\n\nDe Rode: 18th-century warfare is mainly based on the weather.\n\nYou could have no alternative. \n\nIf there is a big storm coming in\, you can't do anything besides gett ing just wiped away.\n\nAdmiral d'Estaing had to go for repairs in Boston. \n\n[Cannon fire] Lengel: The French\, in essence\, leave the Americans in the lurch.\n\nSullivan is barely able to extract his forces from what cou ld have been a catastrophe.\n\n♪ Narrator: The first joint French-Americ an operation had failed.\n\nOnce the repairs were finished in Boston\, d'E staing would set sail for the French West Indies without even bothering to tell Washington he was leaving.\n\nFrench ships would be available to the Americans only during the late summer and early fall\, when hurricanes th reatened the Caribbean.\n\nThe American Revolution was important to France only when its successes deepened Britain's failures and Washington knew h e could not win the decisive battle without French help.\n\nLengel: Anti-F rench feeling runs so high after this that Lafayette said he never at any point in the war felt that his life was at so much risk as it was when he walked down the streets of Boston after this catastrophe at Rhode Island.\ n\nHe thought he was gonna be strung up.\n\n[Man shouts] ♪ Voice: I\, wi th some of my comrades who were in the Battle of White Plains in the year '76\, saw a number of the graves of those who fell in that battle.\n\nSome of the bodies had been so slightly buried that the dogs or hogs or both h ad dug them out of the ground.\n\nHere were Hessian skulls.\n\nPoor fellow s!\n\nThey were left unburied in a foreign land.\n\nThey had perhaps as ne ar and dear friends to lament their sad destiny as the Americans who laid buried near them.\n\nThey should have kept at home.\n\nJoseph Plumb Martin .\n\n♪ Narrator: By the fall of 1778\, Washington's army was arrayed in an arc from Middlebrook\, New Jersey\, to Danbury\, Connecticut.\n\nHe wou ld remain within striking distance of New York City\, determined to recapt ure the place he had been forced to abandon in 1776.\n\n[Shouting and gunf ire] For months\, his and Clinton's armies had probed one another's lines. \n\nOn a single summer afternoon near Kingsbridge\, a Maryland patrol ambu shed a German unit\, killing 6 and wounding 6 more\, and Loyalist cavalry ambushed and hacked to death most of the Stockbridge Indians who had been with Washington's army since 1775.\n\nThey \"have fought and bled by our s ide\,\" Washington said.\n\n\"We consider them as our friends and brothers .\"\n\n♪ Voice: On the great road from New York to Boston\, not a single solitary traveler was visible from week to week or from month to month.\n \nThe world was motionless and silent.\n\nChaplain Timothy Dwight.\n\n♪ Narrator: Before the Revolution\, Westchester County in New York had been one of the wealthiest in the colonies\, but for nearly two years now\, it had been a part of what was called the \"Neutral Ground\,\" uncontrolled b y either army but plundered by both again and again.\n\n♪ Roving bands o f lawless raiders prowled the countryside rustling livestock\, extorting c ash\, looting and burning homes\, raping women.\n\nVoice: This year has no t been a very glorious one to America.\n\nOur enemies\, however\, have not hing to boast of since they have not gained one inch of territory more tha n they possessed a year ago and are at least Philadelphia out of pocket.\n \nWhat the winter may produce I know not.\n\nI wish it would give us peace but do not expect it.\n\nAbigail Adams.\n\nWomen: ♪ Sit down\, servant\ , sit down... ♪ Taylor: It's pretty clear the British are not gonna win the war in New England.\n\nThey're not gonna get enough popular support\, probably not gonna win the war in the Middle Atlantic region either.\n\nWo man: ♪ I know you tired... ♪ Taylor: The great potential place where t heir relatively more reduced forces can have more leverage is the South\, so the goal is just see what you can retain.\n\nYou probably can't keep al l of these 13 colonies.\n\nMaybe you can keep the most valuable of these c olonies.\n\nWoman: ♪ I know you're mighty tired... ♪ Conway: The South ern Colonies are seen as an integrated part of an economic system that gen erates great power and wealth for Britain\, so keeping the Southern Coloni es with their ability to provision the West Indian islands\, and particula rly their plantation economies\, is seen as a vital British interest\, and that\, more than anything else\, is why the war shifts to the South from 1778.\n\nWoman: ♪ Sit down ♪ Narrator: After General Clinton learned t he French fleet had sailed away from Boston\, he prepared for the invasion of the South that London had ordered him to undertake.\n\n♪ Jasanoff: A nother reason that the British pursue a Southern strategy after Saratoga i s that they assume that there are many more Loyalists in the South who wil l come to their aid.\n\nThere was also\, of course\, the question of the e nslaved population.\n\nVoice: A great majority of the inhabitants of North and South Carolina are loyal subjects.\n\nIt is also well known that the principal resources for carrying on the rebellion are drawn from the labor of an incredible multitude of Negroes in the Southern Colonies.\n\nBut th e instant that the King's troops are put in motion in those colonies\, the se poor slaves would be ready to rise upon their rebel masters.\n\nMoses K irkland.\n\nSo the Southern Strategy was to recapture the Southern Colonie s one by one\, starting with Georgia\, and move up the coast\, and in each place\, they hoped to put Loyalists in charge\, and that way\, the Britis h Army could continue moving north.\n\nNarrator: from New York\, General C linton sent a squadron south to try to capture Savannah\, the capital of G eorgia and its only city of any size.\n\n♪ With the help of an African A merican river pilot named Sampson\, the British fleet sailed up the Savann ah River and began disembarking below the city at dawn on December 29\, 17 78.\n\n♪ Some 700 Continental troops and 150 local militia were waiting. \n\nThe British commander saw that a direct assault was certain to be bloo dy.\n\n♪ Then Quamino Dolly\, an elderly enslaved man\, led part of the British force through a swamp that allowed them to get behind the startled Americans and open fire.\n\n[Gunfire] The Patriots panicked.\n\nBritish t roops chased them through the town.\n\n83 Americans were killed and 30 mor e drowned trying to swim across the Yamacraw Creek.\n\n453 surrendered.\n\ nThe British lost just 7 dead.\n\n♪ Over the weeks that followed\, The B ritish captured Augusta and reimposed royal rule in Georgia.\n\n\"I have\, \" their commander boasted\, \"ripped one star and one stripe from the reb el flag.\"\n\n[Bird squawks] Voice: My disposition always active\, I could not content myself at home while my fellow countrymen were fighting the b attles of my country.\n\nJohn Greenwood.\n\n♪ Narrator: In January of 17 79\, the teenaged fifer John Greenwood decided to try something new.\n\nHe would sign onto a Boston privateer\, hoping both to strike more blows at the British and to make a fortune for himself.\n\nHe chose the 18-gun\, 13 0-man \"Cumberland\" because its commander was Captain John Manley\, who h ad been the most successful sea raider in the Continental Navy for years a nd who was now a civilian only because there were too few naval vessels fo r him to have one to command.\n\nAtkinson: The Americans have no navy to s peak of.\n\nCongress asks that 13 frigates be built.\n\nNone of those frig ates really get into action in a meaningful way.\n\nThe British have 400 w arships.\n\nWhat the Americans do have are privateers.\n\nPhilbrick: Priva teers made warfare a for-profit endeavor\, and so you had countless sailor s in New England and up and down the coast\, volunteering to go out in pri vateers\, take British vessels\, and make them money from what they got fr om them.\n\nNarrator: Profits from privateering attracted a host of Revolu tionary leaders\, including Generals Nathanael Greene\, Henry Knox\, and G eorge Washington himself.\n\nInvestors shared the profits from the sale of captured cargo with the officers and men who took them\, like the crew of the \"Cumberland\,\" John Greenwood's ship.\n\nVoice: Every ship had the right or took it to wear what kind of fancy flag the captain pleased.\n\nC aptain Manley's flag was a very singular one\, with a pine tree painted gr een and under the tree the representation of a large rattlesnake cut into 13 pieces\, then in large black letters\, \"Join or Die.\"\n\nJohn Greenwo od.\n\n[Cannon fire] Narrator: Over the course of the Revolution\, some 1\ ,700 American privateers are thought to have prowled the seas\, capturing nearly 2\,000 British vessels.\n\nJohn Greenwood and the \"Cumberland\" se t out for the Caribbean\, the most profitable hunting ground.\n\nAmericans had already seized so many British merchant ships that they had reduced t he sugar trade by 2/3.\n\n♪ The \"Cumberland's\" voyage went smoothly at first.\n\nThey easily commandeered a British ship loaded with soldiers an d wine.\n\nA few days later\, they came within sight of the port of Bridge town on the island of Barbados... but the next morning\, a British Navy fr igate called the \"Pomona\" bore down on them with 36 guns and a crew of 3 00.\n\n[Cannon fire] British cannonballs tore through the \"Cumberland's\" sails and rigging.\n\nOne shot went \"through and through\" the hull\, Gr eenwood remembered\, causing the whole ship to shudder.\n\nThere was nothi ng else to do but surrender.\n\n♪ The Americans spent 5 grim months in t he Bridgetown jail before they were exchanged.\n\n♪ John Greenwood would serve on at least 4 more privateers before the Revolution ended.\n\nHe wa s captured and imprisoned 3 more times and somehow survived it all.\n\n♪ After the war\, John Greenwood would become a prominent Manhattan dentist .\n\nHis most celebrated patient was his old commander\, George Washington \, for whom he fashioned dentures of human and horse's teeth and ivory fro m a hippopotamus.\n\n[Bird squawks] Voice: You ask me\, \"Can the enemy co ntinue to prosecute the war?\"\n\nI answer\, \"Can we carry on the war muc h longer?\"\n\nCertainly\, no.\n\nThe true point of light\, then\, in whic h to place and consider this matter is not simply whether Great Britain ca n carry on the war\, but whose finances-- theirs or ours-- is most likely to fail.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nNarrator: General Washington spent the f irst 5 weeks of 1779 in Philadelphia\, summoned there by Congress.\n\nIt w as not a happy visit.\n\n\"I never was much...afraid of the enemy's arms\, \" Washington wrote a friend\, but he did fear that people were wearying o f the war that had gone on for 4 years and still had no end in sight\, and Congress seemed mired\, he said\, in \"party disputes and personal quarre ls.\"\n\nThe value of Continental currency was melting \"like snow before a hot sun\,\" he complained\, so that \"a wagon load of money will scarcel y purchase a wagon load of provisions.\"\n\nChristopher Brown: On both the North American side and on the British side\, there is an exhaustion that is settling in and an economic reality for both-- the American side\, the question of coming up with the resources every year to be able to fight t he war-- uniforms\, guns\, paying the men\, replacing the ones who die\, r eplacing the ones who desert.\n\nBritain has the money\, but it starts to look a little bit like a sunk-cost problem.\n\n\"Are we going to continue to pour money into an effort when there's no end in view?\"\n\n♪ Hogelan d: One of the critical ways by which the Revolutionary War was funded was debt.\n\nThere were a number of ways to raise money\, but the best ways we re to borrow\, so you had to go to lenders\, largely a merchant class\, bu t also planters and even some prosperous farmers.\n\nIt was a bit of a ris ky speculation because getting paid back and getting your interest paid wo uld depend upon winning this extremely unlikely war.\n\nNonetheless\, that was a pretty good way of raising money to fight the Revolution\, and it c reated an entire class of American lenders with strong interests in creati ng a very strong government because that was the only way they could see t hemselves getting paid their interest.\n\n♪ Voice: Shall we at last beco me the victims of our own abominable lust of gain?\n\nForbid it\, heaven.\ n\nForbid it all.\n\nOur cause is noble.\n\nIt is the cause of mankind\, a nd the danger to it springs from ourselves.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\n♪ V oice: When we took up the hatchet and struck the Virginians\, our nation w as alone and surrounded by them\, and after we had lost some of our best w arriors\, we were forced to leave our towns\, and now we live in the grass as you see us\, but we are not yet conquered.\n\nDragging Canoe.\n\n♪ C olin Calloway: Indian Country is a mosaic of multiple Indigenous nations\, each one of whom is pursuing its own interests and its own foreign policy .\n\nWoman: [Singing in Native language] Narrator: In the Ohio River Valle y\, the Delawares and their Shawnee allies had a long\, contentious histor y with their expansionist neighbors.\n\nWhen the Revolution began\, both n ations struggled to stay out of it\, but after Virginia militiamen violate d a truce\, most Shawnees sided with the British.\n\nIn 1778\, White Eyes\ , a Delaware war chief who leaned toward supporting the United States\, we nt to Pittsburgh to negotiate with the Americans.\n\n♪ The resulting Tre aty of Fort Pitt seemed like a landmark agreement.\n\nPhilip Deloria: The Fort Pitt Treaty is a really formal\, legalistic document.\n\nAn article n ear the end of the treaty says\, \"Oh\, and by the way\, when this is all over\, \"Indians can have a state like other states\, and the Delaware\"-- this is the treaty with the Delaware-- \"the Delaware will be the head of the state\,\" and so it's making this very interesting promise of the poss ibility that Indian people could be part of the American republic.\n\nNarr ator: White Eyes was made a colonel in the Continental Army and accompanie d an American expedition against the British at Fort Detroit... [Gunfire] but somewhere along the way\, Patriot militiamen killed him.\n\nWith his d eath\, the Americans had lost their best Indian ally in the Ohio Country\, and the promise of the treaty was forgotten.\n\n[Horse neighs] In a counc il at Detroit\, a delegation of Shawnees and Delawares promised the Britis h that they would take up the tomahawk\, \"sharpen\" it\, \"and strike aga inst our Common Enemy.\"\n\nCalloway: The British have been telling them a ll along\, \"Don't trust the Americans because the Americans are out to ta ke your land and to kill you.\"\n\nVoice: I always knew they were for open war but never before could get a proper excuse for exterminating them.\n\ nTo excel them in barbarity is the only way to make war and gain a name am ong the Indians.\n\nThe cries of the widows and the fatherless on the fron tiers required their blood from my hands.\n\nGeorge Rogers Clark.\n\n♪ M ichael Witgen: George Rogers Clark is an Indian fighter and an Indian hate r.\n\nHe imagines himself as sort of seeking justice for white settlers wh o've died on the frontier at the hands of Native people\, and he imagines himself as sort of the avenging angel of these communities.\n\nThere is\, to be sure\, lots of violence in this backcountry\, in part because white settlers are squatting on Native territory.\n\n♪ Narrator: In February o f 1779\, Clark led his Virginians east from the Mississippi to take Britis h outposts and destroy any Indians who dared support the enemy.\n\nHis fir st target was Fort Vincennes on the Wabash River in what is now Indiana.\n \nThere\, he had 4 bound Indian captives lined up in full view of the fort and then hacked to death.\n\nClark warned that if Vincennes did not surre nder\, all its defenders would suffer the same fate.\n\nThe British comman der gave up.\n\nThen Clark sent an ultimatum to any Indians tempted to mak e war on American settlers.\n\nVoice: I don't care whether you are for pea ce or war\, as I glory in war.\n\nThis is the last speech you may ever exp ect.\n\nThe next thing will be the tomahawk\, and you may expect in 4 moon s to see your women and children given to the dogs to eat while those nati ons that have kept their words with me will flourish and grow like the wil low trees on the riverbanks.\n\nGeorge Rogers Clark.\n\nNarrator: Your \"N ame Strikes Terror to both English and Indians\,\" one of Clark's captains told him\, but \"if there's not a stop put to Killing Indian friends\, we must Expect to have all foes.\"\n\nClark would not listen.\n\nNative peop le from the Smoky Mountains to the Great Lakes were now coming together to forget former quarrels and unite against the United States.\n\nCalloway: Most Native Americans recognize that the new United States represents an e xistential threat to them\, their way of life\, and their sovereignty\, so it makes sense for Indian people-- for most Indian people-- to side with the British as the best bet to preserve their own independence and protect their land.\n\nNarrator: By the spring of 1779\, hundreds of people\, Ind ians and settlers\, had been killed in the West.\n\n♪ Deloria: There's a randomness to this\, as well.\n\n\"Those Indians killed some people over there\, so we're gonna kill these Indians\,\" but they didn't have anythin g to do with it\, so you never quite know who's gonna come after you\, and you never know what the logic is\, and there's\, most of the time\, not a logic about why kill that person and not kill this person\, so it's very uncertain kind of terrain\, and I think it breeds an intense kind of viole nce that happens here.\n\n♪ Narrator: A Shawnee boy named Tecumseh\, one of the war's many refugees\, would never forget the devastation that the American Revolution had brought to his country\, but for him and his peopl e\, the Revolution was just one chapter in their struggle for independence .\n\nThat war would rage on for decades.\n\n♪ [Gulls squawking] Voice: I f the enemy have it in their power to press us hard this campaign\, I know not what may be the consequence.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nNarrator: Like Washington\, British General Clinton was stretched thin\, too\, and could only take small-scale actions.\n\n[Cannon fire] In May of 1779\, he ordere d raids in the Chesapeake Bay to destroy Virginia shipyards\, dry docks\, and tobacco warehouses.\n\n17 ships were needed just to carry the loot bac k to New York.\n\nA few weeks later\, he dispatched ships to sail up the H udson and capture two forts-- at Stony Point and Verplanck's Point.\n\nThe ease with which those forts fell convinced Washington to strengthen forti fications 10 miles to the north at a narrow curve in the river called West Point.\n\nWashington believed West Point \"the most important post in Ame rica.\"\n\nThe Polish engineer Colonel Tadeusz Kosciuszko was given the ta sk of designing a series of interlocking fortifications on both sides of t he river.\n\nAn enormous chain weighing 65 tons and covered by gun batteri es at both ends had been installed to block hostile passage.\n\n♪ In ear ly July\, Clinton ordered another expedition against the Patriot privateer ing that had taken such a toll on British shipping\, burning Norwalk\, Fai rfield\, and New Haven.\n\n♪ It had been more than a year since the Batt le of Monmouth.\n\nWashington remained eager to take back New York\, but h e didn't have the men or the ships.\n\nStill\, he understood it would be d amaging to his army's reputation if he did not strike back somewhere\, so on the night of July 15th\, he ordered General Anthony Wayne and a hand-pi cked force of 1\,350 men to attack Stony Point on the Hudson.\n\nUnder the cover of darkness\, they took it.\n\n[Musket fire] [Sword is drawn from s cabbard] \"The fort &\; garrison are ours\,\" Wayne reported back to Wa shington at 2:00 in the morning.\n\n\"Our officers &\; men behaved like men who were determined to be free.\"\n\n♪ Meanwhile\, when enslaved Af rican Americans from New England to Georgia learned that summer that Gener al Clinton had issued a proclamation promising \"refuge\" within the Briti sh Army to \"any Negro\" who was \"the property of a Rebel\,\" many of the m began to see the British flag as a symbol of hope.\n\n♪ Like Lord Dunm ore before him\, Clinton was no abolitionist.\n\nHe decreed that any Black man captured while serving with the rebel army was to be sold as a slave\ , and the profit divided among his captors.\n\nThe British commander's mot ives were exclusively military-- to strip rebels of their human \"property \" and assemble a big workforce to support his army... but for many Black Americans\, their war was about ending slavery for themselves\, their chil dren\, and their children's children.\n\nVincent Brown: We know that about 15\,000 Black people actually joined the British or ran away to the Briti sh lines versus about 5\,000 ultimately entering the Patriot cause\, and t hat's because\, for many of those enslaved people\, the British represente d freedom.\n\nThe Patriots did not.\n\nThat's a hard story to tell to Amer icans.\n\n♪ Man: Fire!\n\n[Cannon fire] [Men shouting] Narrator: In June 1779\, King Carlos III of Spain joined France in the war against England. \n\nHis goal was to recapture for his empire everything Spain had lost to Britain during the Seven Years' War and to add to it\, as well\, including Gibraltar\, the British-held spit of land that controlled the narrow entr ance to the Mediterranean.\n\n♪ For the Spanish king\, like the French k ing\, the American Revolution was useful only to undercut Britain.\n\nChri stopher Brown: This is not about securing American independence.\n\nThis i s about cutting Britain's economic commercial might down to size\, but it' s risky\, though\, especially for Spain\, because Spain has a empire in th e Americas that looks a little bit like Britain's North American empire on ly much larger and many\, many\, many more people.\n\nAnd so you encourage a colonial independence movement in the British Empire\, who's to say you r own people won't get the same idea?\n\nNarrator: Given the sudden wideni ng of the global war\, the opposition in Parliament called upon King Georg e to direct measures for restoring peace to America.\n\nHe would not hear of it.\n\nVoice: The present contest with America I cannot help seeing as the most serious in which any country was ever engaged.\n\nStep by step\, the demands of America have risen.\n\nIndependence is their object.\n\nSho uld America succeed in that\, the West Indies must follow.\n\nIreland must soon be a separate state.\n\nThen this island would be reduced to itself and soon would be a poor island indeed.\n\nKing George III.\n\n[Gull squaw king] Voice: \"London Morning Post.\"\n\nJohn Paul Jones resembles a Jack o' Lantern to mislead our mariners and terrify our coasts.\n\nHe's no soon er seen than lost.\n\n♪ Narrator: John Paul Jones was now in command of another ship-- a slow\, battered French merchant vessel.\n\nHe fitted it o ut with 40 old French guns\, gathered a 320-man crew from 8 different coun tries\, and renamed it the \"Bonhomme Richard\" after the French version o f Benjamin Franklin's \"Poor Richard's Almanack.\"\n\n♪ In August\, the \"Richard\" and several smaller warships sailed all the way around the Bri tish Isles in search of merchant prizes.\n\nJones took 17 ships\, captured 100 British sailors\, and locked them up below his decks.\n\n♪ Late in the afternoon on September 23rd\, just off the chalk cliffs of Flamborough Head\, Jones caught up with a convoy of some 40 British supply ships.\n\n He signaled his squadron to form a line of battle.\n\nWhen they failed to respond\, the \"Bonhomme Richard\" alone engaged the \"Serapis\,\" the lar ger of the two Royal Navy escort ships.\n\nCommanded by Richard Pearson\, a veteran sailor\, the British vessel was a fast\, new 44-gun frigate.\n\n [Cannon fire] As the battle began\, hundreds of English villagers lined th e cliffs\, hoping to see a British man-of-war destroy the dreaded rebel th ey called \"Pirate Jones.\"\n\n[Men shouting] Narrator: A British broadsid e caused cannon on the \"Richard's\" lower gun deck to explode\, killing m en and putting the rest of the battery out of action.\n\nAt one point\, th e \"Serapis\" rammed the \"Richard.\"\n\nTheir rigging became entangled\, and before the British ship could break free\, Jones ordered his men to th row grappling hooks\, locking the two ships together gunport to gunport.\n \n[Cannon fire] Their crews fired into each other at point-blank range.\n\ nThe \"Bonhomme Richard\" took the worst of it-- half the crew dead or wou nded\, fires raging everywhere\, decks slippery with blood\, seawater rush ing in through holes blasted in the hull-- but then a sailor high in the \ "Richard's\" rigging managed to lob a grenade down the main hatchway of th e British ship.\n\n[Explosions] It set off explosions from one end of the \"Serapis\" to the other.\n\n[Explosions continue] Half its crew were dead or wounded.\n\nCaptain Pearson surrendered.\n\nJones clambered aboard the British warship and sailed it into neutral Dutch waters.\n\nThe \"Bonhomm e Richard\" sank the next day.\n\nIn Paris\, John Paul Jones was hailed as a hero.\n\nHe met Louis XVI and his queen\, Marie Antoinette\, and when h e heard that George III had knighted Captain Pearson for fighting so valia ntly\, Jones was unimpressed.\n\n\"Should I have the good fortune to fall in with him again\,\" he said\, \"I'll make him a lord.\"\n\n♪ [Rattle a nd drum playing] Voice: We do not mean to let the enemy penetrate into our country\, for we well know that as far as they set their foot\, they will claim the country is conquered.\n\nOld Smoke.\n\nJennifer Kreisberg: [Sin ging \"Grief\" in Native language] Narrator: Back in the summer of 1777\, the British and their Mohawk and Seneca allies had prevailed over their en emies in their ambush near Oriskany Creek.\n\n[Gunfire] Over the months th at followed\, New York and Pennsylvania saw raid after raid\, skirmish aft er skirmish.\n\nPatriots drove Loyalists from their homes.\n\nLoyalists an d their Indian allies burned settlements at Cherry Valley and in the Wyomi ng Valley.\n\nHundreds died on both sides.\n\nAtkinson: It has gotten to t he point where Washington is under intense pressure from Congress\, from t he state of New York\, from the state of Pennsylvania\, to do something ab out it\, and because the war has kind of gone fallow in the North after Mo nmouth\, he agrees that he will put together a punitive expedition against the Indians led by one of his major generals\, John Sullivan\, to drive t hem away from the frontier.\n\n♪ Calloway: One of the things that I thin k is always on Washington's mind during this war is the end of the war\, s o Washington basically realizes\, \"We're gonna win independence because F rance is in the war\, \"Spain's in the war\, and we need to make sure \"th at we can present a legitimate and robust claim to western land.\"\n\nOne of the foundational truths of American history is that this is a nation bu ilt on Indian land\, and Washington would not dispute that\, I think\, for a minute.\n\nNarrator: Washington's orders to General Sullivan in May of 1779 had been clear and uncompromising.\n\nVoice: The immediate objects ar e the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the captu re of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible.\n\nIt will be es sential to ruin their crops now in the ground and prevent their planting m ore that the country may not merely be overrun\, but destroyed.\n\nYou wil l not by any means listen to any overture for peace before the total ruin of their settlements is affected.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nNarrator: The C ontinental Army invaded from 3 sides.\n\nIn early August\, Colonel Daniel Brodhead led 600 men northward from Fort Pitt to destroy the Seneca villag es along the upper Allegheny River.\n\nSullivan and 3 Continental brigades started north along the Susquehanna\, while another moved west from the M ohawk Valley.\n\nAt the end of the month their combined forces-- 4\,500 me n--began marching north.\n\n♪ Witgen: They don't find destitute villages or scattered villages of savage people.\n\nThey find what\, to them\, are undoubtedly easily recognizable prosperous villages.\n\nThey're cedar-pla nked buildings\, multiple-story buildings\, often with chimneys\, often wi th glass windows.\n\n[Child speaking] Witgen: These people have material w ealth that they've accumulated over the years\, and they have houses that look like something that people on the Eastern Seaboard would inhabit.\n\n [Gunfire] ♪ Narrator: On August 29th\, some 600 Senecas\, Mohawks\, Cayu gas\, Delawares\, and Loyalists tried to halt the invasion and were defeat ed.\n\n♪ Voice: We sent out a small party to look for some of the dead I ndians.\n\nThey found them and skinned two of them from their hips down fo r boot legs-- one pair for the major\, the other for myself.\n\nLieutenant William Barton.\n\n[Man shouting orders] Voice: Our brigade destroyed abo ut 150 acres of the best corn that I ever saw-- some of the stalks grew 16 feet high-- besides great quantities of beans\, potatoes\, pumpkins\, cuc umbers\, squash\, and watermelons\, and the enemy looking at us from the h ills.\n\nLieutenant Erkuries Beatty.\n\nVoice: There is something so cruel in destroying the habitations of any people\, however mean they may be\, that I might say the prospect hurts my feelings.\n\nDr.\n\nJabez Campfield .\n\nNarrator: When some soldiers asked General Sullivan if he wouldn't at least spare fruit orchards that had taken years to grow\, he refused.\n\n \"The Indians\,\" he said\, \"shall see that there is malice enough \"in o ur hearts to destroy everything that contributes to their support.\"\n\n ♪ Deloria: The Sullivan expedition ends up mapping New York for future s ettlement.\n\nEverybody kind of moves through New York and says\, \"Wow.\n \nThese apple orchards are so great\, \"these cornfields are so fantastic\ , I'm coming back here at the end of this\,\" right?\n\nAnd so in many way s\, it is not only a military campaign.\n\nIt's a scouting expedition for future settlement.\n\nNarrator: The troops torched village after village-- Catherine's Town\, Appletown\, Cayuga Town\, Kanadaseaga\, Canandaigua\, Honeoye.\n\nBy then\, Sullivan was within miles of Little Beard's Town\, w hich he had been told was the grand capital of Indian Country.\n\nLittle B eard's Town was the home of Mary Jemison\, who had been adopted years earl ier by Senecas after her Irish parents had been killed during a raid.\n\nV oice: He was about to march to our town when our Indians resolved to give him battle on the way.\n\nThey sent all the women and children into the wo ods.\n\nAnd then\, well-armed\, they set out to face the conquering enemy. \n\nMary Jemison.\n\n♪ Narrator: A scouting party of 26 Continentals\, g uided by an Oneida scout and commanded by Lieutenant Thomas Boyd\, was adv ancing ahead of the main column on September 13th\, when they stumbled int o a Seneca and Loyalist ambush.\n\n[Gunfire] 16 men were encircled.\n\n14 were killed and scalped.\n\nBoyd and another man were captured.\n\n♪ The next day\, Sullivan's main army reached Little Beard's Town.\n\nVoice: On entering the town\, we found the body of Lieutenant Boyd and another rifl eman in a most terrible\, mangled condition.\n\nThey was both stripped nak ed and their heads cut off.\n\nErkuries Beatty.\n\nNarrator: Sullivan's me n buried what was left of their companions\, looted and burned all 128 dwe llings in Little Beard's Town\, and then spent 8 hours methodically uproot ing and destroying crops.\n\nBy the end\, Sullivan reported to Washington that his army had burned a total of 40 towns.\n\nFarther to the west\, Col onel Brodhead had destroyed 10 more.\n\n♪ Most of the Seneca refugees ma de their way to Fort Niagara on Lake Ontario\, where some 5\,000 men\, wom en\, and children belonging to a host of nations huddled together in muddy camps.\n\n♪ Voice: We of the Six Nations have been much cast down by th e great loss we have sustained.\n\nBut yet we do not despair.\n\nWe are de termined to persevere in the cause we have engaged in.\n\nWe hope to be ab le to survive the winter\, and then we mean once more to meet our enemies and see whether we are to live or die.\n\nAnd if such is the will of the G reat Spirit\, we will leave our bones with those of the rest of our brethr en\, rather than evacuate our country or give our enemies room to say we f led from them.\n\nTwethorechte.\n\n♪ Narrator: The damage Patriot campai gns did to Seneca\, Cayuga\, Onondaga\, and Mohawk homelands was profound and permanent.\n\nSome Haudenosaunee would come to call George Washington \"the Town Destroyer\" and would remember the American Revolution as \"the Whirlwind.\"\n\n♪ [Waves breaking] In the late summer of 1779\, both Ge orge Washington and British General Henry Clinton believed that the long-a waited all-out American assault on British-occupied New York City could fi nally be just weeks away.\n\nEach had learned that the French fleet was sa iling back north from the West Indies.\n\nNeither was sure where it was he aded.\n\nClinton ordered all British troops to withdraw from occupied Newp ort to strengthen New York's defenses.\n\nWashington readied plans for a s iege of the city and called upon 5 neighboring states to provide him with more militia\, but French Admiral d'Estaing never came.\n\nInstead\, he ap peared at the mouth of the Savannah River with 32 warships to join forces with southern Patriots who had already retaken Augusta and were eager to r ecapture the rest of Georgia.\n\n♪ Aboard were 4\,000 French troops\, in cluding 750 \"free men of color\,\" Black and mixed-race troops from what would one day be called Haiti.\n\n♪ While d'Estaing waited for his Ameri can allies to join the siege\, he surrounded Savannah with heavy artillery and demanded its surrender.\n\nThe outnumbered British refused\, stalling for time until reinforcements of their own could reach the city.\n\nAs th ey braced for an attack\, redcoats and Loyalist troops and scores of Savan nah's free and enslaved residents had time to complete two defensive lines around the city.\n\n[Cannon fire] After Continentals and Patriot militiam en arrived from Charleston\, d'Estaing led a direct assault on October 9th .\n\nSome Americans became mired in a rice field.\n\n[Shouting and gunfire ] French troops in white uniforms proved easy targets.\n\nBritish guns sen t grapeshot\, nails\, and chunks of iron tearing through the attackers.\n\ nThe ditch\, a British officer remembered\, was chock full of their dead.\ n\n[Gunfire continues] De Rode: For the French-American alliance\, it is q uite the defeat.\n\nPeople do lose their trust in the availabilities of th e French to help the Americans.\n\nThey were very happy to have signed an alliance with them\, but the first campaigns\, plural\, completely failed. \n\nNarrator: D'Estaing\, who had been wounded twice\, sailed away to Fran ce.\n\nThe American commander General Benjamin Lincoln limped back to Patr iot-controlled Charleston.\n\nVoice: You know the importance of Charleston .\n\nIt is the bond that binds 3 states to the authority of Congress.\n\nI f the enemy possessed themselves of this town\, there will be no living fo r honest Patriots.\n\nDavid Ramsay.\n\n♪ Atkinson: The winter of 1779-17 80\, probably the harshest winter in North America in the 18th century.\n\ n♪ New York Harbor froze over solidly.\n\nYou could drag cannon from the tip of Manhattan Island to Staten Island.\n\nYou could cross the Hudson R iver on foot\, and the winter was all the worse in Upstate New York for th e Indians.\n\nVoice: That winter was the most severe that I have witnessed since my remembrance.\n\nThe snow fell about 5 feet deep and remained so. \n\nAlmost all the game upon which we depended perished and reduced us alm ost to starvation.\n\nMary Jemison.\n\n♪ Narrator: For General Washingto n and most of his army at winter quarters in and around Morristown\, New J ersey\, the temperature rarely rose above zero.\n\nIt was \"cold enough to cut a man in two\,\" Joseph Plumb Martin remembered.\n\n♪ Joseph Ellis: The winter in New Jersey at Morristown was worse than Valley Forge.\n\nTh e enthusiasm for the war had begun to wane years before\, and it continued to wane each year.\n\nVoice: We were absolutely literally starved.\n\nI d id not put a single morsel into my mouth for 4 days except a little black birch bark.\n\nI saw several of the men roast their old shoes and eat them \, and I was afterwards informed that some of the officers killed and ate a favorite little dog that belonged to one of them.\n\nJoseph Plumb Martin .\n\nNarrator: To add to their misery\, the men of Joseph Plumb Martin's 8 th Connecticut Regiment had not been paid for months.\n\nBy spring\, they had had enough.\n\n♪ Voice: The men now saw no other alternative but to starve to death or break up the army.\n\nThis was a hard matter for the so ldiers to think upon.\n\nThey were truly patriotic.\n\nThey loved their co untry\, and they had already suffered everything short of death in its cau se.\n\nWhat was to be done?\n\n[Joseph Plumb Martin] Narrator: The 4th and 8th Connecticut Regiments planned to desert.\n\nWhen a colonel tried to t alk them out of it\, someone stabbed him with a bayonet.\n\nA Pennsylvania regiment was rushed in to surround them\, and its colonel managed to talk the men into staying on.\n\nIn the end\, Martin wrote\, \"We were unwilli ng to desert \"the cause of our country when in distress.\n\nWe knew her c ause involved our own.\"\n\n♪ Voice: This is the most important hour Bri tain ever knew.\n\nIf we lose it\, we shall never see such another.\n\nHen ry Clinton.\n\nNarrator: It had now been 21 months since General Clinton w as ordered to take the Carolinas.\n\nOn the day after Christmas 1779\, lea ving enough of a force behind to defend New York\, Clinton finally sailed south for Charleston.\n\nAtkinson: Every farthing of the wealth in South C arolina is built on the back of slavery.\n\nThat's one of the reasons why South Carolina and the other Southern states have robust militias.\n\nIt i s not to repel foreign invaders.\n\nIt's to suppress potential slave insur rections.\n\nNarrator: Charleston was one of the largest cities in the Uni ted States\, home to 12\,000 people\, half of them enslaved.\n\nIf it coul d be captured\, the British believed\, a Loyalist majority in the Carolina s would rally to the Crown.\n\nLengel: Charleston has resisted British att acks before.\n\nThere's a sense of confidence that it'll be able to resist British attacks again.\n\nAmericans are almost delusional about it.\n\nTh ey don't look the facts in the face of how vulnerable Charleston really is .\n\nThe geography is impossible.\n\nCharleston is really out on a limb.\n \nThe British are gonna cut this place off\, and they're gonna capture it. \n\nCongress\, instead of recognizing this fact\, they keep sending more a nd more men to defend Charleston.\n\nThey send the best that the Continent al Army has.\n\nIt's a mistake.\n\n♪ Narrator: Some 30 miles southwest o f the city on February 11\, 1780\, Clinton began landing his troops.\n\nAs the British army marched toward Charleston\, first hundreds\, then thousa nds of enslaved men\, women\, and children fled their plantations to join them.\n\n♪ It would be more than a month before Clinton's forces could f orm a line a mile and a half north of the rebel fortifications and begin a European-style siege.\n\n♪ More British troops from New York and Savann ah would swell the British army to more than 10\,000\, roughly twice as la rge as the force with which Patriot General Benjamin Lincoln hoped somehow to defend the city.\n\nDesperate for reinforcements\, Lincoln suggested a rming enslaved men and was told no.\n\nWhites feared giving weapons to Bla ck people\, and\, besides\, slave owners did not want their property kille d or maimed in battle.\n\nMilitia from the backcountry were also reluctant to come to the crowded city.\n\nThey feared smallpox and were unmoved by the plight of planters and merchants whose wealth and political power they had long resented.\n\n♪ On April 1\, 1780\, the British began construct ing the first of a series of parallels\, sequential support trenches that would allow them to inch closer and closer to the city.\n\n♪ A week late r\, British warships forced their way into Charleston Harbor and took comm and of it.\n\nGeneral Clinton called upon the rebels to surrender in order to save the town and its people from what he called \"havock and desolati on.\"\n\nGeneral Lincoln refused.\n\nMan: Fire!\n\nNarrator: The British o pened fire.\n\n[Cannon fire] The Americans fired back.\n\nMan: Fire!\n\nNa rrator: The guns would continue day and night for a month.\n\n[Men shoutin g] ♪ As each blasted at the other\, the British parallels moved closer t o the American lines-- 800 yards... 450 yards... 250.\n\n♪ There was no escape.\n\nGeneral Lincoln asked that his surrendering men be granted the usual honors of war\, but General Clinton refused: Rebels deserved no such honors.\n\n♪ Lengel: When Charleston falls\, it's a body blow to the Re volution and to the American cause.\n\nIt's a humiliation because we've lo st not only Charleston\, but we've lost some of the best troops that we ha ve\, and the British in their surrender terms really drive home that humil iation.\n\n♪ Narrator: It was the worst defeat suffered by the Patriots during the Revolution.\n\nAn entire army was captured\, 5\,618 men by Clin ton's count\, including Benjamin Lincoln and 6 other generals\, along with more than 300 cannon\, 376 barrels of gunpowder\, and 5\,916 muskets.\n\n ♪ Hundreds of South Carolinians streamed into the occupied city from the countryside\, eager now to swear allegiance to the Crown.\n\n♪ Voice: T o Lord Germain-- With the greatest pleasure\, I report to your Lordship th at the inhabitants from every quarter declare their allegiance to the King \, and offer their services in arms in support of his government.\n\nIn ma ny instances\, they have brought prisoners\, their former oppressors or le aders\, and I may venture to assert that there are few men in South Caroli na who are not either our prisoners or in arms with us.\n\nHenry Clinton.\ n\n[Birds chirping] Narrator: General Clinton and 4\,000 troops returned t o New York\, leaving General Charles Cornwallis in command of the southern theater.\n\nA few more such victories\, British commanders believed\, and the Loyalty to the Crown of all the Southern Colonies would be reconfirme d.\n\n\"The English lion\,\" a German officer wrote\, \"has awakened from his sleep.\"\n\n♪ Voice: Unless Congress is vested with powers competent to the great purposes of war\, our cause is lost.\n\nWe can no longer dru dge on in the old way.\n\nI see one head gradually changing into 13.\n\nI see one army branching into thirteen-- and am fearful of the consequences of it.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\n[Wind blowing] ♪ ♪ Announcer: Next tim e on \"The American Revolution\"... The shock of treason.\n\nJoseph Ellis: He was the last person Washington ever thought would have betrayed him.\n \nAnnouncer: The South explodes in battle.\n\nVincent Brown: It's sometime s brother against brother in this backwoods warfare.\n\nIt's an ugly confl ict.\n\nAnnouncer: And a new nation rises.\n\nVoice: Who would have though t that out of this multitude of rabble would arise a people who could defy kings?\n\n[Johann Ewald] [Men shouting] Announcer: Don't miss the conclus ion of \"The American Revolution\" next time.\n\n♪ Announcer: Scan this QR code with your smart device to dive deeper into the story of \"The Amer ican Revolution\" with interactives\, games\, classroom materials\, and mo re.\n\n♪ Announcer: \"The American Revolution\" DVD and Blu-ray\, as wel l as the companion book and soundtrack\, are available online and in store s.\n\nThe series is also available with PBS Passport and on am*zon Prime V ideo.\n\n♪ Announcer: The American Revolution caused an impact felt arou nd the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenuity\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide of history and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nBank of America.\n\ nAnnouncer: Major funding for \"The American Revolution\" was provided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.\n\nMajor funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein\, the Robert D. and Patr icia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment\, and by Better Angel s Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Schwarzman\, and Ke nneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditional support was provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations\, the Pew Charitable Trusts\, Gilb ert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling\, the Park Foundation\, and by Better A ngels Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, T he Michelson Foundation\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the Kissick Family Foundati on\, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jennifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund\, and these additional members.\n\n\"The American Revolution\" was made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting\, and Viewers Like Y ou.\n\nThank You.\n\n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://www.pbs.org/video/the-american -revolution-episode-5-the-soul-of-all-america/\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251120 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The American Revolution PBS Documentary Episode 4 DTSTAMP:20251118T053533Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:590-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The American Revolution\n\n A Film By\n\n Ken Burns\, Sar ah Botstein &\; David Schmidt\n\n\n\n Conquer by a Drawn Game (January 1777 – February 1778)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n Announcer: Major funding for \"The American Revoluti on\" was provided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.\n\nMajor funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein\, t he Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment\ , and by Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A . Schwarzman\, and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditional support was provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations\, the Pew Cha ritable Trusts\, Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling\, the Park Foundat ion\, and by Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Foundation\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the Ki ssick Family Foundation\, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jennifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerton Family Charit able Fund\, and these additional members.\n\n\"The American Revolution\" w as made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting \, and Viewers Like You.\n\nThank You.\n\nAnnouncer: The American Revoluti on caused an impact felt around the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenui ty\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide of histo ry and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nBank of America.\n\n[Musket fire] ♪ Voice: Mankind have ever b een so prone to yield implicit obedience to that authority to which they h ave long been accustomed that there are few examples of resistance\, unles s the wanton abuse of power has rendered it necessary.\n\nWhen this is the case\, the feelings of the man and the patriot are awakened\, and both th e peasant and the statesman are urged to struggle even in blood.\n\nNo suf fering which Britain can inflict will reduce America to submission.\n\nThe thunder of their artillery may lay waste the cities\, but the spirit of t he people is unconquerable.\n\nMercy Otis Warren.\n\n♪ We think about th e kind of anticolonial\, insurgent uprisings\, independence movements of t he 20th century\, and think of those as being sort of the Third World figh ting back against the sort of imperial colonial powers.\n\nYou don't alway s recognize the fact that the United States actually started that.\n\n♪ Voice: England is the natural enemy of France.\n\nShe is an enemy at once grasping\, ambitious\, unjust\, and perfidious.\n\nThe invariable and most cherished purpose in her politics has been\, if not the destruction of Fr ance\, at least her overthrow and her ruin.\n\nCharles Gravier\, Comte de Vergennes.\n\nNarrator: The Comte de Vergennes\, the French foreign minist er\, was determined to avenge his country's humiliating defeat in the Seve n Years' War.\n\nHe had already persuaded Louis XVI to open French ports t o American merchants for the selling of American goods and the buying of F rench ones\, and even to provide some funds with which the Americans could purchase guns and ammunition\, provided they did so in secret.\n\n♪ Wom an: The French needed to reorganize their army.\n\nThey were reforming the ir navy.\n\nSo they did start to send clandestine weapons\, they started t o send money\, they started to send uniforms to the \"insurgents\" in Amer ica because they didn't want to have an open warfare against the British a t the time\, yet.\n\n♪ Narrator: At the end of 1776\, the Continental Co ngress had sent 70-year-old Benjamin Franklin\, the most widely admired Am erican on earth\, to try to talk France into providing much more help.\n\n Franklin understood that the Americans could not compete with the British Army and Navy unless France entered the war\, and that the French would no t dare do so unless the Americans showed that they could win.\n\nThe last time he had heard from America\, prospects did not look bright.\n\nThe \"D eclaration of Independence\" had proved American seriousness\, but the inv asion of Canada had been a disaster\, and British forces had defeated Wash ington on Long Island\, then driven him out of New York City.\n\nAfter a s ecret meeting with Vergennes in Paris in January of 1777\, Franklin promis ed that if France and its ally Spain were to join the Americans\, Britain would be reduced to a state of \"weakness and humiliation.\"\n\nBut contin uing reports of American defeats were not encouraging\, and Vergennes refu sed to meet again.\n\nHe also feared that the thirteen former colonies wou ld never come together as a nation.\n\nPublicly\, Franklin remained optimi stic\, but privately\, he was anxious for better news from home that might persuade the French to join the American Revolution.\n\nVoice: Those who live under arbitrary power do nevertheless approve of liberty and wish for it.\n\n'Tis a common observation here that our cause is the cause of all mankind\, and that we are fighting for their liberty in defending our own. \n\n[Franklin] ♪ Narrator: Though Benjamin Franklin did not yet know it\ , George Washington's army had stunned the British and lifted Patriot spir its by taking the garrison at Trenton\, New Jersey\, on the day after Chri stmas 1776.\n\n[Officer shouts command] Voice: Though the rebels seem to b e ignorant of the precision\, order\, and even of the principles by which large bodies are moved\, they possess some of the requisites for making go od troops\, such as extreme cunning\, great industry\, and a spirit of ent erprise upon any advantage.\n\nThough it was once the fashion of this army to treat them in the most contemptible light\, they are now become a form idable army.\n\nLieutenant William Harcourt.\n\n♪ Narrator: But now the British were on the move again.\n\nGeneral William Howe sent General Charl es Cornwallis and some 9\,000 redcoats and Hessians to recapture Trenton a nd trap the rebel army against the Delaware River.\n\nWashington decided t o fight rather than retreat.\n\nTo do otherwise\, he said\, would be to de stroy the \"dawn of hope.\"\n\nOn January 2\, 1777\, he posted 1\,000 men along the road from Princeton\, a college town twelve miles away\, with or ders to slow Cornwallis' column until evening.\n\nThe Patriots contested e very inch of ground as they fell back through Trenton to join most of Wash ington's army arrayed on the south side of the Assunpink Creek.\n\nAt dusk \, when the advance guard of Cornwallis' column started across the lone st one bridge over the Assunpink\, American artillery opened up on them with what Henry Knox proudly called \"great vociferation.\"\n\nThree times\, th e redcoats tried to cross the bridge.\n\nThree times\, American fire hurle d them back.\n\nPerhaps one hundred Americans would be killed or wounded b efore darkness fell\, but the British lost three times as many.\n\nCornwal lis called a halt.\n\nHis forces still outnumbered Washington's\, and the creek was fordable upstream.\n\n\"We'll go over\,\" Cornwallis reportedly told his commanders\, \"and bag him in the morning.\"\n\nWashington ordere d a small detachment to stay on their hillside that night\, tending campfi res and banging entrenching tools to make the enemy believe they were digg ing in.\n\nMeanwhile\, the rest of his army would slip silently away\, fol lowing unguarded back roads to get behind Cornwallis and attack his rear g uard at Princeton.\n\nAt dawn\, two British regiments on their way to rein force Cornwallis saw Americans marching toward them.\n\nThe British \"were as much astonished\,\" Patriot General Henry Knox would write to his wife Lucy\, \"as if an army had dropped perpendicularly upon them.\"\n\n[Canno nfire] The British fired their cannon\, then charged with fixed bayonets.\ n\nThe American Commander\, General Hugh Mercer's\, horse was shot out fro m under him.\n\nHe fought with his sword as long as he could before being mortally wounded by British bayonets.\n\nHis men began to fall back.\n\nWa shington once again galloped to the front\, ignoring the bullets flying al l about him\, exhorting his men to stand and fight.\n\nOne of his aides co vered his eyes\, fearful of seeing his commander shot from his saddle.\n\n Man: He's really lucky.\n\nBullets are going all around him\, everybody el se is dying\, he's never scratched.\n\nHe assumes he's never going to be k illed.\n\nNow\, there's probably a lot of people in war that assume that a nd they get killed.\n\nAnd we never hear about them.\n\nHe doesn't believe in God in the total Christian sense\, but he believes in Providence.\n\nP rovidence.\n\nHe really thinks the gods\, or God\, is on our side and his side.\n\nNarrator: Washington's men held.\n\nVeteran Continentals joined t hem.\n\nNow it was the Americans' turn to charge.\n\n[Soldiers shouting] \ "I never saw men\" look \"so furious as they did\,\" one remembered.\n\nVo ice: The fate of this extensive continent seemed suspended by a single thr ead.\n\nBut happy for us\, happy for unborn millions\, that we had a gener al who knew how to take advantage\, and by a masterful maneuver frustrated the designs of the enemy.\n\nLieutenant Samuel Shaw.\n\nMan: George Washi ngton was no military colossus.\n\nHe was no Frederick the Great or Napole on.\n\nHis natural instincts\, I think\, were to preserve the Americans in tact so they could fight another day.\n\nBut this caution was occasionally complemented by boldness.\n\nFor the most part\, Washington saw his prima ry task as holding the Continental Army together\, because it represented the rebellion.\n\nWithout the Continental Army\, there would be no United States.\n\nNarrator: Seventy Americans had been killed or wounded in the B attle of Princeton\, but the enemy had lost another 450-- killed\, wounded \, or captured.\n\nBy the time Cornwallis realized Washington had fooled h im at Assunpink Creek that morning\, it had been too late to catch him.\n\ nAnd when he and the rest of his army reached Princeton that evening\, Was hington and his army had vanished again.\n\n♪ Voice: Everyone was so fri ghtened that it was completely forgotten even to obtain information about where the Americans had gone.\n\nBut the enemy now had wings\, and\, it wa s believed\, had flown to the mountains of Morristown.\n\nCaptain Johann E wald.\n\nNarrator: Morristown\, New Jersey\, a tiny village in the heart o f the thickly forested Watchung Mountains\, would be Washington's winter h eadquarters for the next five months.\n\nIt was out of reach of the Britis h Navy but well suited for raiding British outposts and for keeping an eye out for a British advance from New York.\n\nMost of the troops who had of fered to stay after Trenton went home as soon as their reenlistment was up .\n\nBy the end of January\, Washington had fewer than 3\,000 Continentals in his camp.\n\nBut encouraged by Patriot victories at Trenton and Prince ton and angered by the excesses of British occupation\, New Jersey militia men now rallied to him.\n\nVoice: They are actuated by resentment now.\n\n And resentment coinciding with principle is a very powerful motive.\n\nJoh n Adams.\n\nNarrator: Whenever British foraging parties ventured from thei r outposts\, Patriots attacked them... [Musket fire] at Maidenhead and Qui bbletown\, Bound Brook and Drake's Farm\, Piscataway and English Neighborh ood\, and at least 50 other places.\n\nThat winter\, more British and Hess ian troops were killed fighting over forage than would fall in battle.\n\n Voice: The British lost men who were not easily replaced.\n\nThe rebel los s was soon repaired by drafts from the militia.\n\nIt inured them to hards hips\, and it emboldened them to look a British or a Hessian soldier in th e eye\, whose very face would make a hundred of them run after the Battle of Brooklyn.\n\nJustice Thomas Jones.\n\nNarrator: And now New Jersey Loya lists found themselves the targets of vengeful Patriots.\n\nAt Morristown\ , Patriots hanged two Loyalist officers\, and got 33 of their men to enlis t in the Continental Army by threatening to hang them\, too.\n\nGeneral Ho we's hope of pacifying the state had brought civil war instead.\n\n[Musket fire] If one thinks of this as a British Empire and British subjects\, wh o are contending for their rights\, right\, then it's a civil war.\n\nThen it's family against family\, sometimes brother against brother.\n\nIt's h ard to tell who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.\n\nThis is a p redicament that is incredibly fraught and incredibly difficult for people to sort out.\n\nWoman: This inability to really figure out who is the enem y here is a problem.\n\nThey're marching through the countryside\, and the y don't know.\n\n\"This farm\, is this farm-- are these Loyalists?\n\n\"Ar e there rebels in there?\n\nAre they going to shoot at us out of the windo w\,\" which does happen.\n\nWho do you trust?\n\nNarrator: The frequent at tacks forced the British to abandon most of their New Jersey outposts.\n\n Winter would end in frustration and failure.\n\nVoice: The next will be a trying campaign.\n\nAnd as all that is dear and valuable may depend upon t he issue of it\, let us have a respectable army\, such as will be competen t to every exigency.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nNarrator: Spring was coming. \n\nArmies would soon be again on the move.\n\nAnd Washington wanted to be ready for whatever the British were planning next.\n\nCongress had come b ack to Philadelphia\, but while they were in exile in Baltimore\, it had b ecome clear that expecting delegates to make instant decisions about the b attlefield was impractical.\n\nThey had voted to grant General Washington total control over his army for a period of six months and authorized him to imprison without trial suspected Loyalists or anyone who refused to sup ply his army.\n\nSome delegates had feared that affording Washington such powers would make him a dictator\, betraying the principles for which they were supposed to be fighting.\n\nGeneral Nathanael Greene sought to reass ure them.\n\nVoice: I can see no evil nor danger to the states in delegati ng such powers to the general.\n\nThere was never a man who might seem mor e safely trusted\, nor a time when there was a louder call.\n\n[Greene] ♪ Narrator: Most of Washington's new recruits signed on for three years and a ten-dollar bonus\, but those who signed up for the duration of the w ar were promised a twenty-dollar bonus\, and 100 \"free\" acres of Indian land when the war was over.\n\nMan: When we think about what was offered t o the Continental soldier\, Indian land at the end of it all-- that land h asn't been taken\, ceded\, bought.\n\nThat land is still Indian land\, rig ht?\n\nIt tells you that the entire Revolution is premised on the future p ossibility.\n\nNarrator: These soldiers were different from the men who ha d rallied after Lexington and Concord.\n\nMost of them had been farmers an d artisans\, propertied men with taxes to pay\, creditors to appease\, cro ps to sow and harvest.\n\nFrom now on\, the Continental Army would be made up predominantly of the poorest of the poor-- jobless laborers and landle ss tenants\, second and third sons without hope of an inheritance\, debtor s and British deserters\, indentured servants and apprentices\, felons hop ing to win pardons for their service\, immigrants from Ireland\, and immig rants from Germany\, or their descendants who had never learned English.\n \nJohn Adams had worried that only \"the meanest\, idlest\, most intempera te and worthless men\" in America could ever be persuaded to serve more th an a year.\n\nBut victory would be impossible without them.\n\nWhen patrio tic speeches and free rum failed to attract enough recruits\, some states instituted drafts.\n\nNames were drawn from a hat.\n\nMarried men were exe mpted.\n\nPropertied draftees wanting to avoid service could hire substitu tes at fees to be negotiated with their replacements.\n\nEpping\, New Hamp shire\, managed to avoid sending any of its men to war by paying men from neighboring villages to go.\n\nSouth Carolina advertised for \"vagrants an d idle disorderly persons.\"\n\nThousands of African Americans\, enslaved and free\, served alongside Whites in units from New England all the way s outh to Georgia.\n\nSome volunteered\, some were drafted.\n\nMany stood in for their gun-shy enslavers.\n\nConnecticut and Rhode Island would later promise enslaved recruits their freedom when the war ended.\n\nFrom 1777 o nward\, the American Revolution\, begun in part to defend the interests of property-owners\, would be fought mostly by men who owned little or no pr operty at all.\n\n♪ Voice: Montreal.\n\nTwo deserters from the rebel cou ntry informed me that my property had been seized\, and that my wife and t he children had been turned out of my house and sent off through the woods \, snowstorms\, and bad roads.\n\nJohn Peters.\n\nNarrator: To escape pers ecution and fight for his king\, the Vermont Loyalist John Peters had fled to Canada in 1776\, leaving behind his wife Ann and their six children.\n \n[Knock on door] After his defection\, Patriots seized his home and evict ed his family.\n\nCarrying their infant son\, Ann Peters managed to get ev eryone all the way to Lake Champlain\, where they were spotted by a Britis h boat and carried north to a rendezvous with John.\n\nThey were \"naked a nd dirty\,\" he remembered\, but safe.\n\nIn the weeks that followed\, Joh n Peters began to recruit American Loyalists for a new regiment-- the Quee n's Loyal Rangers.\n\nHe would command it\, and his now-15-year-old son\, John Jr.\, would be among the first to sign up.\n\n♪ Voice: The smallpox has made such headway in every quarter that I find it impossible to keep it from spreading through the whole army.\n\n[Washington] Narrator: As fre sh recruits made their way into the Continental Army camps\, some carried with them smallpox\, the scourge that had threatened the army from the beg inning of the Revolution.\n\nWashington had always resisted ordering inocu lation\, because it took men out of action for weeks.\n\nBut now he decide d to run the risk.\n\nVoice: I have determined not only to inoculate all t he troops now here that had not had smallpox but shall order the doctors t o inoculate the recruits as fast as they come in.\n\n[Washington] Ellis: T he British troops were less vulnerable to smallpox because they had been e xposed more to it in Scotland and Ireland and England.\n\nWashington made a decision that to serve in the Continental Army\, you had to first underg o inoculation.\n\nAnd that was probably the single most important military decision he made.\n\nNarrator: Private Joseph Plumb Martin reenlisted and received his inoculation that spring along with 400 other Connecticut rec ruits at a Continental Army supply depot at Peekskill in the Hudson Highla nds.\n\nHe had been just 15 when he first joined the Connecticut militia.\ n\nAfter enduring combat\, cold\, hunger\, and a bout of near-fatal illnes s\, Martin had decided he'd had enough and left his militia regiment in De cember.\n\nBut life on his grandparents' farm soon bored him\, and when lo cal draftees thought he might be talked into serving in their place in the Continental Army\, they began bidding against one another.\n\nVoice: I th ought I might as well endeavor to get as much for my skin as I could.\n\nI forget the sum.\n\nThey were now freed from any further trouble\, at leas t for the present\, but I was again a soldier.\n\n[Martin] Narrator: By th e middle of May\, Washington's force at Morristown had grown to nearly 12\ ,000 men.\n\nVoice: There is a clock calm at this time in the political an d military hemispheres.\n\nThe surface is smooth and the air serene.\n\nNo t a breath\, nor a wave.\n\nNo news\, nor noise.\n\nJohn Adams.\n\n♪ Voi ce: By what means\, may I ask\, do you expect to conquer America?\n\nIf yo u could not effect it in the summer\, when our army was less than yours\, nor in the winter\, when we had none\, how are you to do it?\n\nYou cannot be so insensible as not to see that we have two-to-one the advantage of y ou\, because we conquer by a drawn game and you lose by it.\n\nThomas Pain e.\n\n♪ Narrator: In London\, Lord George Germain\, the secretary of sta te for America\, was embarrassed by how long the war was taking and concer ned about growing opposition to it in Parliament.\n\nGermain found the set backs at Trenton and Princeton \"extremely mortifying\,\" thought Sir Guy Carleton's failure to capture Fort Ticonderoga the previous autumn inexcus able\, believed the Howe brothers' repeated offers of pardons to rebels \" sentimental\,\" and insisted they instead force Americans to undergo what he called \"a lively experience of losses and sufferings.\"\n\nConway: Run ning of the war largely comes down to Lord George Germain\, who is coordin ating and orchestrating military operations from Britain.\n\nIn logistical terms\, fighting a war 3\,000 miles from the home islands was a major ent erprise in the days of sailing ships.\n\nChristopher Brown: When the Briti sh government gets information about what's happening on the ground\, they 're already weeks out of date.\n\nAnd then they're issuing orders for thin gs that will happen two to three months in the future.\n\nYou can think ab out what that means for actually making decisions.\n\nNarrator: General Jo hn Burgoyne\, a dashing favorite of the King\, had persuaded Germain to pl ace him in charge of an army in Canada\, promising to succeed in a second invasion of the Colonies\, where General Carleton had failed.\n\nVoice: I do not conceive any expedition can be so formidable to the enemy or so eff ectual to close the war as an invasion from Canada by Ticonderoga.\n\n[Bur goyne] Narrator: Burgoyne proposed a three-pronged attack.\n\nHe would lea d an army south to seize Ticonderoga and then move on to take Albany\; to the west\, a smaller diversionary force would advance via Lake Ontario and the Mohawk River Valley\, rallying support among Indians and Loyalists as they went\; finally\, Sir William Howe was to lead his army up the Hudson from New York to complete the juncture of the three forces\, isolating Ne w England.\n\nGeneral Howe had other plans.\n\nVoice: I am fully persuaded the principal army should act offensively to get possession of Philadelph ia\, where the enemy's chief strength will certainly be collected.\n\nThe rebels are at present buoyed up by hopes of assistance from France.\n\nIf that door were shut by any means\, it would\, in my opinion\, put a stop t o the rebellion.\n\n[Howe] ♪ In 18th-century European wars\, the capture of an enemy's capital city usually brought the war to a close.\n\nOf cour se\, America had no capital city in the sense of Paris in France or London in Britain.\n\nBut it did have Philadelphia\, which was seen as the polit ical headquarters of the rebellion.\n\nHowe became obsessed with the captu re of Philadelphia and the defeat of Washington's army.\n\nNarrator: Becau se Lord Germain had failed to reconcile the two incompatible strategies\, his two commanders-- Howe and Burgoyne-- would plan two distinct campaigns in which neither would support the other.\n\nThere would be no rendezvous on the Hudson.\n\nBut Burgoyne was so sure of success that even before he set sail\, he had bet the opposition leader in Parliament a sizeable sum that he would \"be home victorious by Christmas Day\" 1777.\n\nVoice: If t he frenzy of hostility should remain\, the messengers of justice and of wr ath await them in the field\, and devastation\, famine\, and every concomi tant horror that a reluctant but indispensable prosecution of military dut y must occasion.\n\n[Burgoyne] ♪ Narrator: By the time he reached Quebec \, Burgoyne had convinced himself that thousands of Native Americans would join his army.\n\nIn fact\, no more than 500 men answered his call-- Moha wks\, Algonquins\, Abenakis\, and Wyandots-- drawn from seven villages alo ng the St.\n\nLawrence River.\n\nThey joined him for many reasons: to seek the honors of war\, to receive British goods in payment of their service\ , and out of an eagerness to settle old scores with the hated people they called Bostonians.\n\nMan: The Hudson River Valley\, the Mohawk River Vall ey\, the Adirondack Mountains\, Lake Champlain\, and up to the St.\n\nLawr ence River Valley\, that's been the battlefield for the colonial powers fo r centuries.\n\nAnd our people were swept up in it\, and a lot of what hap pened had more to do with what kings and queens in Europe were deciding.\n \nA major chess tournament happened here\, and we were the pawns.\n\nNarra tor: On June 20\, 1777\, Burgoyne's enormous army began moving south on La ke Champlain.\n\nScores of birch bark canoes paddled by Native Americans c ame first.\n\nThey were followed by Royal Navy warships and 200 bateaux ca rrying more than 6\,500 British and German regulars\, Loyalist troops\, an d French-speaking Canadians\, along with a number of children and hundreds of women.\n\nFort Ticonderoga\, on the west side of the lake\, was Burgoy ne's first target.\n\nIt was now linked by a floating bridge to a separate hilltop fortification on the east side called Mount Independence.\n\nDete rmined to take both outposts\, Burgoyne sent forces down each side of the lake by land.\n\nHe expected he would have to mount a full-scale siege\, b ut a British officer quickly spotted a fatal flaw in the rebel defenses.\n \nAbout a mile southwest of Ticonderoga stood a hill that overlooked both forts.\n\nIt remained undefended.\n\nIf British guns could be hauled to th e high ground\, both Fort Ticonderoga and Mount Independence would be comp letely exposed.\n\nWhen astonished Patriots spotted redcoats peering down from the hill on the afternoon of July 5th\, American General Arthur St.\n \nClair ordered both fortifications abandoned.\n\nThe next morning\, Briti sh troops raised the King's colors above Fort Ticonderoga.\n\n♪ The Amer icans fled in two directions\, with Burgoyne's men right behind them.\n\nA fter hours of tramping in the heat\, those Patriots heading east called a temporary halt at a tiny deserted frontier settlement called Hubbardton.\n \n[Bugle music] Voice: The morning after our retreat\, orders came very ea rly for the troops to refresh and be ready for marching.\n\nSome were eati ng\, some were cooking\, and all in a very unfit posture for battle.\n\n[M usket fire\, men shouting] Then there was a cry: \"The enemy are upon us!\ "\n\nEbenezer Fletcher\, 2nd New Hampshire.\n\nNarrator: Ebenezer Fletcher was a sixteen-year-old from New Ipswich\, New Hampshire.\n\nAs the menaci ng line of redcoats moved closer\, firing volleys as they came\, the 2nd N ew Hampshire fired back and then began to seek cover.\n\nVoice: Many of ou r party retreated into the woods.\n\nI made shelter for myself and dischar ged my piece.\n\nBut before I had time to reload it\, I received a musket ball in the small of my back and fell with my gun cocked.\n\n[Fletcher] Na rrator: Elsewhere\, the fighting intensified.\n\nIn the fierce combat that followed\, the Americans more than held their own against some of Britain 's best-trained professional soldiers.\n\nIn the end\, the British won\, b ut they were too tired to pursue the retreating Americans.\n\nThough in gr eat pain\, Ebenezer Fletcher decided to escape\; he slipped away into the forest\, eluded hungry wolves and bands of Loyalists\, and eventually made it home to New Ipswich\, New Hampshire.\n\nOnce he healed\, he would retu rn to serve out his three-year enlistment in the Continental Army.\n\n♪ Voice: It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods o r no god.\n\nIt neither picks my pocket\, nor breaks my leg.\n\n[Thomas Je fferson] [Bell ringing] Narrator: Most of the revolutionaries belonged to Protestant denominations\, but there were Catholics and Jews among them\, too\, as well as Muslims\, whose faith had crossed the Atlantic on slave s hips.\n\nCentral to the philosophy of some of the most influential creator s of the United States was their belief in a Supreme Being but one who did not interfere in the affairs of men or distinguish between faiths.\n\nThe y were deists\, and they believed it was each individual's responsibility to lead a virtuous life\, which could only come from tolerance and a lifet ime of learning: the pursuit of happiness.\n\n♪ Man: The revolutionaries believed that the American people would have to be educated.\n\nWithout e ducation\, there could be no virtue in the populace\, and without virtue i n the populace\, the government would fail.\n\nRepublics are based on auth ority coming from the bottom up\, not like monarchies from the top down.\n \nSo you require an educated\, virtuous-- they use that term over and over \, drawing it from antiquity-- virtuous population to sustain a republican government.\n\nVoice: Our sister states of Pennsylvania and New York have long subsisted without any established religion at all.\n\nThey have made the happy discovery that the way to silence religious disputes is to take no notice of them.\n\nLet us\, too\, give this experiment fair play.\n\nT homas Jefferson.\n\n♪ Voice: To Lord Germain\, I have the honor to infor m your Lordship that the enemy were dislodged from Ticonderoga and Mount I ndependence\, and were driven\, on the same day\, beyond Skenesborough on the right and to Hubbardton on the left.\n\nGeneral John Burgoyne.\n\n♪ Narrator: The armies had been moving at a dizzying pace.\n\nBurgoyne's for ces had reached Skenesborough by July 9th\, but they had now outrun their gigantic supply train.\n\nBurgoyne decided to send his guns by water\, sou th on Lake George.\n\nBut his men were to march through the woods to Fort Edward on the east bank of the Hudson just 23 miles away.\n\nGeneral Phili p Schuyler\, commander of the Continental Army's Northern Department\, sen t axmen into the woods to slow Burgoyne's overland advance.\n\nHe would le t the forest fight for him.\n\nThe narrow path between Skenesborough and F ort Edward ran along a twisting stream called Wood Creek.\n\nThe Americans felled trees every few feet on both sides of the road so that their tangl ed branches made the path impassable\; they also destroyed some 40 crude b ridges that crossed and recrossed the creek and used boulders to flood the boggy ground that surrounded it.\n\nIt would take Burgoyne's men three ex hausting weeks to turn the path into a road their wagons could navigate.\n \nAnd he was still a long way from his main objective--Albany.\n\n♪ Voic e: O the American war!\n\nI heard\, I saw\, I felt\, smelled\, and tasted its woes for ninety-two long months: famines\, sores\, sicknesses\, plague s\, battles\; houses ransacked and burned\; towns depopulated\; gardens ma de graves.\n\nRoger Lamb.\n\nNarrator: Among the men in Burgoyne's army wa s Irish-born Corporal Roger Lamb\, who kept his memories alive in watercol ors and in print.\n\n♪ By now\, 400 more Native Americans from the Great Lakes-- Fox\, Menominee\, Ojibwe\, Potawatomi\, Sauk\, and Ho-Chunk-- had joined Burgoyne.\n\nHis Indian allies attacked retreating Patriot forces. \n\nIn one instance\, they killed 22 men and scalped their corpses to terr ify those sent out in search of them.\n\nVoice: This strikes a panic in ou r men which is not to be wondered at\, when we consider the hazards they r un by being fired at from quarters\, and the woods so thick they can't see three yards before them\, and then to hear the cursed war whoop\, which m akes the woods ring for miles.\n\nGeneral John Glover.\n\nNarrator: Settle rs were attacked\, too\, with little regard for their loyalties.\n\nA youn g woman named Jane McCrea\, on her way to meet her Loyalist fiancé\, was killed.\n\nAnd when her scalp was brought into Burgoyne's camp\, he threat ened to hang the perpetrator.\n\nDeloria: We don't really know much about Jane McCrea.\n\nShe seems to have had reddish-brown hair and been an avera ge person.\n\nBut very quickly\, Jane McCrea becomes a blonde and she has very long\, beautiful hair.\n\nAnd she's pure and fair.\n\nAnd she's been plucked out of life right in her prime.\n\nDarren Bonaparte: It was just t oo captivating and tragic and scary a thing.\n\nThat became part of the pr opaganda aspect of the war.\n\nIt was used against us.\n\nDeloria: What ha ppens is the American propagandists are not simply attacking Indians\; the y're using it to attack the British themselves and British policy.\n\nIt's that the British sponsor Indian warfare that kills Jane McCrea\, and that becomes a very\, very powerful piece of cultural argument.\n\nNarrator: H undreds of Patriot soldiers continued to flee southward.\n\nBy the end of July 1777\, most of what was left of the American forces in the area had w ithdrawn to Saratoga\, a small cluster of houses north of Albany.\n\nVoice : To General Washington\, our army is weak in numbers.\n\nI foresee that a ll this part of the country will soon be in their power unless we are spee dily and largely reinforced.\n\nGeneral Schuyler.\n\nNarrator: Washington had been shocked to learn of Ticonderoga's fall\, but he also shared Natha nael Greene's view that \"General Burgoyne's triumphs \"may serve to bait his vanity and lead him on to his total ruin.\"\n\nTo try to bring on that ruin\, Washington took a calculated risk and sent some of his best office rs north-- General Benedict Arnold\, whose \"conduct and bravery\" he grea tly admired\, as well as Colonel Daniel Morgan and his sharpshooting front iersmen from Virginia.\n\nVoice: General Washington is certainly a most su rprising man\, one of nature's geniuses\, a heaven-born general if there i s any of that sort.\n\nThat a Negro-driver should\, with a ragged banditti of undisciplined people\, the scum and refuse of all nations on Earth\, s o long keep a British general at bay-- it is astonishing.\n\nIt is too muc h.\n\nNicholas Cresswell.\n\nNarrator: Burgoyne remained confident he woul d capture Albany.\n\nHe assured Lord Germain that the obstacles the Patrio ts were placing in the path of his army were merely acts of \"desperation and folly.\"\n\nHe had once hoped to join forces with General Howe on the Hudson River\, but Howe was already headed for Philadelphia.\n\n♪ Man: G eneral Howe can't go overland through New Jersey because the Americans are strong enough that they could really harass the column that he has to sen d down there.\n\nSo\, he decides to send his force by ship.\n\nNarrator: W ith favorable winds\, it should have taken the fleet a little over a week. \n\nBut winds died or blew the wrong way.\n\nLightning storms split masts and ripped sails.\n\nWater and provisions ran low.\n\nInstead of trying to sail up the Delaware River under Patriot guns\, the British would go stil l further south and approach Philadelphia via the Chesapeake Bay.\n\nVoice : I wish we could but fix upon their object.\n\nTheir conduct is really so mysterious that you cannot reason upon it so as to form any certain concl usions.\n\n[Washington] Narrator: When Washington finally got word that th e British had entered the Chesapeake\, he realized where they were headed and hurried his army to defend Philadelphia.\n\n♪ Voice: I think there c an be no doubt that Howe aims at this place.\n\nHe gives us an opportunity of exerting the strength of all the middle states against him\, while New York and New England are destroying Burgoyne.\n\nNow is the time.\n\nNeve r was so good an opportunity for my countrymen to turn out and crush that vaporing\, blustering bully to atoms.\n\nJohn Adams.\n\n[Crows cawing] Nar rator: By early August\, General Burgoyne was in trouble.\n\nHe had reache d the Hudson at Fort Edward\, but he was still 50 miles from Albany.\n\nHe would press on\, but to do that\, he needed more provisions.\n\nWhen he h eard that only a handful of militia were guarding a sizable rebel depot at Bennington\, he ordered nearly 800 men-- British\, German\, Native-Americ an\, French-Canadian\, and Loyalist troops-- to seize it.\n\n[Bagpipe musi c] The men spoke at least five different languages.\n\nTheir commander\, L ieutenant Colonel Friedrich Baum\, was certain his disciplined forces had nothing to fear from what he called \"uncouth militia.\"\n\nBaer: Baum doe s not know English.\n\nHe doesn't really know the terrain.\n\nThere is som e confusion about where they're going\, who they're dealing with.\n\nThey go out towards Bennington\, and they are met by a large number of American s that had assembled there that they just had not anticipated.\n\nNarrator : There were far more than \"a handful\" of militiamen\; some 1\,800 New E nglanders and New Yorkers were waiting for them.\n\nFour miles west of Ben nington\, Colonel Baum spread his force in a wide arc with two strong poin ts-- a hastily-built redoubt atop a forested 300-foot hill in the center\, manned by British and German troops\, and a second redoubt on a less loft y hill defended by John Peters\, who had led his Queen's Loyal Rangers sou th from Canada back to near his old home in Vermont.\n\nOn August 16th\, a t 3:00 in the afternoon\, the Patriot commander\, John Stark of New Hampsh ire-- a hard-fighting veteran of Breed's Hill\, Trenton\, and Princeton-- sent his men forward.\n\n[Musket fire\, soldiers shouting] Narrator: The G ermans were quickly outflanked and outnumbered.\n\nBaum urged his dragoons to try to cut their way out through the swarming militia.\n\nMoments late r he fell\, mortally wounded.\n\nMeanwhile\, in and around the Loyalist re doubt\, old friends battled one another.\n\nVoice: As the rebels were comi ng up\, I observed a man fire at me\, which I returned.\n\nHe loaded again as he came up crying out\, \"Peters\, you damned Tory\, I have got you.\" \n\nI saw that it was a rebel captain\, Jeremiah Post\, an old schoolfello w and playmate and a cousin of my wife's.\n\nHe rushed on me with his bayo net\, which entered just below my left breast but was turned by the bone.\ n\nThough his bayonet was in my body\, I felt regret at being obliged to d estroy him.\n\n[Weapon fires] Colonel John Peters\, Queen's Loyal Rangers. \n\n[Musket fire] Narrator: All afternoon\, the battle went back and forth .\n\nThe Patriots eventually prevailed.\n\nWounded and with his son by his side\, John Peters led the survivors of his regiment back to Burgoyne's A rmy.\n\nFew of Colonel Baum's men escaped death\, injury\, or capture.\n\n Prisoners were packed into the Bennington Meeting House\, many badly wound ed.\n\nVoice: They were in all stages of suffering\, and some were dying.\ n\nSome of their fellow soldiers who were less seriously wounded would go to a dying comrade\, and\, kneeling by his side\, would clasp their hands\ , bow their heads\, and swaying their bodies up and down\, would mutter pr ayers in their own language.\n\nAnd when death came to him\, they would pa ss to another.\n\n[Woman] Narrator: At Bennington\, Burgoyne had lost near ly 15% of his army\, and he had accomplished nothing.\n\nAssurances about the near universality of Loyalist sentiments were dead wrong.\n\nVoice: Th e country now abounds in the most active and most rebellious race of the c ontinent\, and hangs like a gathering storm upon my left.\n\n[Burgoyne] ♪ Voice: Resolved that the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes \, alternate red and white\, that the union be thirteen stars\, white in a blue field\, representing a new constellation.\n\n[The Flag Resolution] ♪ Narrator: During a short meeting devoted mostly to fiscal matters\, t he Continental Congress had called for a new flag to represent their new c ountry.\n\nBut two years later\, the committee of Congress overseeing the Army still regretted that there was as yet no \"national standard.\"\n\nSo me militia companies and privateers designed their own banners and had the ir wives and daughters make them.\n\nAlthough artists often included the S tars and Stripes in their postwar romantic renderings of Revolutionary eve nts\, it is not known ever actually to have been flown by the Continental Army above a battlefield\, nor does anyone know who made the first one.\n\ n♪ Voice: We know the Indians now to have the highest notions of liberty of any people on Earth-- a people who will never consider consequences wh en they think their liberty likely to be invaded\, though it may end in th eir ruin.\n\nGeorge Croghan.\n\nNarrator: The Haudenosaunee was a centurie s-old union comprised of the Six Nations-- Seneca\, Cayuga\, Onondaga\, Tu scarora\, Oneida\, and Mohawk.\n\nEach was allowed to act in its own inter est\, but they were expected to act together in matters affecting them all .\n\nThey likened their confederacy to a \"great longhouse.\"\n\nThe Senec as were the keepers of its western door\, the Mohawks--the eastern door.\n \nAt the center was Onondaga\, where representatives met around the Great Council Fire.\n\nMan: Normally you hammer things out until everybody says\ , \"OK\, this is what we will do.\"\n\nAnd that had endured\, right?\n\nBa ttered and bruised and bombarded through colonial wars and all the rest of it.\n\nThat had endured.\n\nAnd then the Revolution occurs.\n\n[Cannon fi ring] Bonaparte: For us\, the Mohawk people\, it was survival.\n\nPeriod.\ n\nAnd you didn't know which side was going to be the best choice.\n\nWe k ind of gravitated mostly to the British because they had kind of won our r espect\, beating the French\, and pretty much having our interests when th ey dealt with the regular colonists.\n\nVoice: The disturbances in America give great trouble to all our nations.\n\nThe Mohawks\, our particular na tion\, have on all occasions shown their zeal and loyalty to the Great Kin g.\n\nThayendanegea.\n\nNarrator: No Mohawk man identified more closely wi th the British than Thayendanegea\, who was also known as Joseph Brant.\n\ nHis sister Molly had married the British superintendent of Indian affairs \, and her connections helped Brant make his name among the English.\n\nHe had fought for the Crown in the French and Indian War at 15\, attended an English mission school\, and\, in 1776\, traveled to London\, where he re affirmed his people's loyalty to Britain in an audience with King George I II.\n\nMany of the Indian people in this time are kind of anonymous to us in some ways because we don't have accurate representations of them\, but one of the major exceptions is Joseph Brant\, who had his portrait painted not once but many\, many times.\n\nThis is the 18th century.\n\nNot just anybody got their portrait painted.\n\nTo have your portrait painted multi ple times was unusual.\n\nI think he controlled his space.\n\n\"I confound your stereotypical images of savage Indians.\"\n\nNarrator: Brant had fou ght against the Patriots at the Battle of Long Island\, then began traveli ng from town to town within the Six Nations\, urging the young men to join him.\n\nIt was imperative\, he told them\, to \"defend\" our \"lands and liberty against the rebels \"who\, in a great measure\, began the rebellio n to be sole Masters of the Continent.\"\n\nBut suspicious of the way Bran t seemed to move between the Indian and British worlds\, more traditional leaders resented this minor chief's ambition to lead them into war\, and p referred to hold back until it seemed clear Britain was headed for victory .\n\nAnd so\, when Brant assembled his armed Volunteers\, only a handful w ere from the Six Nations.\n\nPerhaps 80% of them were Loyalist settlers di sguised as Indians.\n\n♪ In early August\, Brant's men were with British forces as they initiated the second part of Burgoyne's grand scheme to se ize the Hudson and cut off the New England states.\n\nThey started by layi ng siege to Fort Stanwix\, a Patriot outpost far west on the Mohawk River\ , a crucial meeting place that connected the Great Lakes with the East.\n\ nThe British had believed the fort was only thinly defended and in disrepa ir.\n\nActually\, it was held by some 600 Continental soldiers\, and they had been strengthening the fortifications at the urging of some Oneidas\, who made their homes in the valley and did not share Joseph Brant's enthus iasm for the Crown.\n\nThe American Revolution was about to plunge the onc e-united Six Nations into a civil war of their own.\n\nCalloway: Many Onei das were closer to the Americans.\n\nSome are intermarried.\n\nOneida peop le were\, in many cases\, surrounded by American colonists.\n\nNarrator: W hen an 800-man Patriot militia column commanded by General Nicholas Herkim er reached Oriska\, an Oneida settlement on Oriskany Creek just eight mile s from the embattled Fort Stanwix\, sixty Oneida chiefs and warriors joine d them.\n\nThey were ready to fight alongside their White neighbors and he lp thwart the British invasion.\n\nJoseph Brant and his men were waiting f or them\, alongside hundreds of other Mohawks\, Senecas\, and Loyalists.\n \n[Woman singing in Native American language on soundtrack] On the morning of August 6\, 1777\, as Herkimer's long column filed into a ravine and be gan splashing across a stream\, Loyalists fired from above\, while hundred s of Native Americans allied with the British ran down among the startled men\, wielding tomahawks\, clubs\, and scalping knives.\n\n♪ Bonaparte: It was a slaughter.\n\nIt was horrific what happened.\n\nAnd even the Nati ve people who survived the war said they'd never experienced anything like that.\n\n♪ Narrator: Perhaps as many as 400 Patriot militia lay dead\, including some 30 of their Oneida allies.\n\nAlmost 100 of the British for ces had been killed or wounded\, 65 of whom were Indians.\n\nThe Mohawks a nd Senecas were accustomed to warfare that yielded far fewer casualties\, and were stunned.\n\nVoice: There\, I have seen the most dead bodies all o ver it that I never did see\, and never will again.\n\nI thought\, at the time\, the bloodshed a stream running down on the descending ground.\n\nAn d yet some living crying for help\, but have no mercy on to be spared of t hem.\n\nChainbreaker.\n\n♪ Bonaparte: We look back on the Battle of Oris kany as one of those points where the Longhouse seemed to be burning-- the all-time worst-case scenario\, where we're actually killing each other in combat.\n\nFor what?\n\nFor what?\n\nFor somebody else can claim our land ?\n\n[Musket fire] Narrator: Fort Stanwix continued to hold out.\n\nBritis h artillery proved too light to damage the fort's reinforced walls.\n\nThe n word came that General Benedict Arnold and a large force of Continentals were on their way to break the siege.\n\nBritain's Native American allies decided to go home.\n\nThey wanted time to mourn their dead.\n\nWithout t hem\, the cause was lost.\n\nThe British withdrew their remaining forces a nd returned to Canada.\n\nThe other army Burgoyne had once hoped would mee t him at Albany would not be there.\n\nMeanwhile\, General Horatio Gates\, the new commander of the Continental Army's Northern Department\, was met hodically gathering his forces near the village of Saratoga to stop Burgoy ne.\n\n♪ [Horse clopping] Voice: Philadelphia is the asylum of the disaf fected.\n\nThe very air is contagious.\n\nThe Quakers in general are wolve s in sheep's clothing.\n\nAnd while they shelter themselves under the pret ext of contentious scruples\, they are the more dangerous.\n\nPhilip Schuy ler.\n\nNarrator: Philadelphia may have been the place where the Patriots were trying to form a national government\, but its citizens were deeply d ivided.\n\nI think one of the really great examples of the difficulties of any kind of sort of neutral place is what happens to the Quakers over the course of the war.\n\nThe Quakers are famously pacifist.\n\nAnd that's no t good enough in Revolutionary America.\n\nNarrator: When the first annive rsary of American independence was celebrated in the city that July\, Patr iots had called upon homeowners to place candles in their windows as a sym bol of fidelity to the cause.\n\nThomas and Sarah Fisher's home on Second Street remained dark that evening\, and suffered fifteen broken windows.\n \nThe Fishers were Quakers and therefore officially neutral.\n\nTheir fait h\, one believer explained\, held that \"setting up and putting down of ki ngs and governments is God's peculiar prerogative.\"\n\nPatriots routinely raided their shops and warehouses to supply the Continental Army.\n\nBut the Fishers were defiant: they would not accept Continental money or pay a ny tax that supported the war\, and they refused to denounce King George I II.\n\nOn August 23rd\, the Fishers rode out to Stenton\, Sarah's family's country estate near Germanton.\n\nVoice: On the road\, we heard the disag reeable news that Washington's army is to march that way.\n\nWe met number s of wagons and light horsemen\, and\, on our getting to Stenton\, found G eneral Washington's bodyguard had taken possession of our house.\n\nThey b ehaved civil\, were very quiet.\n\nAnd Washington appeared extremely grave and thoughtful.\n\n[Sarah Fisher] ♪ Narrator: On August 24th\, Washingt on paraded his men through the streets of Philadelphia.\n\nHe hoped to per suade its citizens that his army would be able to defend them.\n\nMany in the crowd cheered\; others remained stone-faced.\n\nAmong the officers rid ing alongside Washington that day was a Frenchman\, Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier-- the Marquis de Lafayette.\n\nCongress had just m ade him a major general.\n\nHe was just nineteen years old.\n\nVoice: The welfare of America is intimately bound up with the happiness of humanity.\ n\nShe is going to become the deserving and sure refuge of virtue\, of hon esty\, of tolerance\, of equality\, and of a tranquil liberty.\n\n[Lafayet te] Woman: Lafayette comes without a word of English but just with a sense that the American continent is the continent on which he will make his na me\, on which he stakes his glory\, and with a willingness to essentially do anything that needs to be done for the sake of American independence.\n \nNarrator: Europe was momentarily at peace\, and Lafayette was just one o f many young officers-- from France\, Bavaria\, Prussia\, and Poland-- all eager to show what they could do on the battlefield in the New World.\n\n But Lafayette stood out.\n\nHe was so rich\, he bought the ship in which h e and a dozen other would-be officers had crossed the ocean.\n\nThe young man's military experience was minimal\, but his father had been killed by British artillery when he was two.\n\n\"To injure England is to serve my c ountry\,\" he said.\n\nAnd he was determined to become a real major genera l\, commanding a division of his own.\n\nde Rode: To George Washington\, L afayette was interesting.\n\nHe had personal money with him that he could invest to buy uniforms\, to buy supplies.\n\nHe had a very important netwo rk at the French Court because he was\, himself\, from a very powerful fam ily.\n\nSo\, if he could advocate for the cause of the American Revolution in France\, it could create very important support from Versailles.\n\nNa rrator: Washington liked him from the first\, but would not consider givin g him a command until he had seen how he fared in battle.\n\nUntil then\, he said\, Lafayette was to join his staff\, to consider himself part of hi s military family.\n\n♪ Voice: I feel in a most painful situation betwee n hope and fear.\n\nThere must be fighting and very bloody battles\, too\, I apprehend.\n\nWhy is man called humane when he delights so much in bloo d\, slaughter\, and devastation?\n\nEven those who are styled civilized na tions think this little spot worth contending for\, even to blood.\n\nAbig ail Adams.\n\n♪ Narrator: On August 25th\, after five miserable weeks at sea\, General Howe's 16\,000-man army finally began to disembark near the mouth of the Elk River in Maryland.\n\nAtkinson: This is in the middle of the summer.\n\nIt's broiling hot.\n\nThese men have been on the ships for weeks.\n\nThe horses are dying by the scores.\n\nBut they disembark at th e head of the Chesapeake Bay.\n\nAnd now they're looking for the Americans .\n\nVoice: Almost every movement of the war in North America is an act of enterprise\, clogged with innumerable difficulties.\n\nA knowledge of the country\, intersected\, as it everywhere is\, by woods\, mountains\, wate rs\, or morasses\, cannot be obtained with any degree of precision.\n\nGen eral William Howe.\n\nNarrator: To block the enemy's advance on Philadelph ia\, George Washington interposed his 14\,000-man army along Brandywine Cr eek\, some 30 miles west of the city.\n\nThe bulk of his force guarded Cha d's Ford\, prepared to face Howe's army in the open.\n\nWashington made su re his men understood what was at stake.\n\nVoice: If the enemy is overthr own\, the war is at an end.\n\nOne bold stroke will free the land from dev astations and burnings.\n\nIf we behave like men\, this campaign will be o ur last.\n\n[Washington] Narrator: General Howe\, now encamped near the vi llage of Kennet Square\, was eager for a climactic battle\, too.\n\nHe did n't think he could end the rebellion at one blow\, but if he could destroy Washington's army and then seize Philadelphia\, he would surely make that objective much easier.\n\nHis plan was to divide his army and flank Washi ngton's\, just as he had on Long Island the previous summer.\n\nA little l ess than half his force\, commanded by the German General Knyphausen\, was to move toward Chad's Ford and keep Washington's army pinned down there\, braced for an all-out attack.\n\nMeanwhile\, the rest of General Howe's f orce\, led by General Cornwallis and Howe himself\, would move north as qu ietly as possible to attack the right flank of the rebel army.\n\nThat att ack was to be the signal for Knyphausen at Chad's Ford to storm across the Brandywine.\n\nIf all went as planned\, General Howe would be able to tra p Washington's army between the two forces.\n\nWashington\, again\, misrea ds the ground.\n\nHe has made tactical errors earlier in the war at the Ba ttle of Long Island\, and he makes another one at Brandywine.\n\nHe believ es that there are no fords up Brandywine Creek that the British can get ac ross securely to outflank the Americans.\n\nThat's not true.\n\nThere are fords up there.\n\nThe British find them.\n\nThe British are well-informed .\n\nThere are a number of Loyalists who are acting as guides\; they're pr oviding information about the terrain\, about the topography\, about\, \"H ere on the map is where you can get around these American positions.\"\n\n ♪ Narrator: At daybreak on September 11\, 1777\, Generals Howe and Cornw allis set out on what would be a twisting seventeen-mile march to get behi nd the Americans.\n\nA dense morning fog screened their movements.\n\nGene ral Knyphausen and his column began moving east soon after\, along the Gre at Post Road toward Chad's Ford.\n\n[Cannon and musket fire] Forward eleme nts of the American Army had felled trees across the road.\n\nRiflemen hid den in the woods fired into the enemy's ranks.\n\nAmerican guns across the creek lobbed shells among them.\n\nBut by midmorning\, Knyphausen's men h ad driven the American advance troops back across the Brandywine\, ready t o storm across the creek when the signal was given.\n\nAt his headquarters \, General Washington was unsure what was happening.\n\nAnd so\, he settle d in for what he believed would be an all-out frontal assault across Chad' s Ford\, just as Howe wanted him to.\n\nMeanwhile\, Howe and Cornwallis' m en had waded across two waist-deep fords far upstream and marched for hour s in intense heat without a break.\n\nThe weary British and German troops halted on the bare slopes of Osborne's Hill to rest.\n\nThey stayed there long enough for Washington to finally learn of the coming attack on his fl ank and order three brigades to leave their positions along the river and form a defensive line at another hill on which the Birmingham Meeting Hous e stood: John Sullivan's men from Maryland and Delaware\, William Alexande r's from Pennsylvania and New Jersey\, and Adam Stephen's Virginians-- som e 3\,000 soldiers.\n\n[Cannon and musket fire] At around 4:00 in the after noon\, Howe ordered his much larger force forward in three perfectly disci plined columns.\n\nAmerican marksmen fired into them from an apple orchard .\n\nAmerican artillery tore through their ranks.\n\nThe redcoats kept com ing.\n\nSullivan's brigade broke and ran\, but the others held firm.\n\nVo ice: There was a most infernal fire of cannon and musketry\, the most ince ssant shouting.\n\n\"Incline to the right!\"\n\n\"Incline to the left!\"\n \n\"Halt!\"\n\n\"Fire!\"\n\n\"Charge!\"\n\nThe balls plowing up the ground .\n\nThe trees crackling over one's head.\n\nThe branches riven by the art illery.\n\nThe leaves falling as in autumn by the grapeshot.\n\n[British s oldier] [Soldiers shouting] Man: A battle like Brandywine saw suffering at every corner.\n\nIt was a hellscape in so many different ways.\n\nCannonb alls ripping through the forest\; splinters killing men\, just taking off arms\, legs.\n\n[Cannons firing] Narrator: The outnumbered Americans were driven back five times\, and five times managed to surge forward again bef ore they finally broke.\n\nHad General Nathanael Greene and his reinforcem ents not raced some four miles in less than forty-five minutes to cover th eir retreat\, it might have become a rout.\n\nBack at Chad's Ford\, the so und of the fighting on Birmingham Hill had been the signal for General Kny phausen to send his army streaming across the Brandywine.\n\nThe remaining Patriots could not hold.\n\nWashington ordered a retreat.\n\n♪ Night fe ll.\n\nGeneral Howe lamented that if he had more time\, he could have brou ght about the rebel army's \"total overthrow.\"\n\nAtkinson: The Americans \, only by the grace of darkness\, get away.\n\nThe British can't chase th em any further in the dark.\n\nIt's a serious defeat for the Americans.\n\ nIt is going to open the gateway toward Philadelphia.\n\n♪ Voice: We exp erienced another drubbing.\n\nBut we did\, I think\, as well as could be e xpected.\n\nI saw not a despairing look\, nor did I hear a despairing word .\n\nWe had our solacing words always ready for each other: \"Come\, boys\ , we shall do better another time.\"\n\nSuch was the spirit of the times.\ n\nCaptain Enoch Anderson.\n\n♪ Narrator: The spirit of the times was no t universal\, as Washington's beaten army stumbled through the dark.\n\nHu ndreds of men melted away into the countryside and headed home\, making an accurate count of casualties impossible.\n\nBut more than 1\,000 American s are thought to have been killed\, wounded\, or taken captive during the Battle of Brandywine\, roughly twice as many casualties as the British had suffered.\n\nVoice: Our Americans\, after holding firm for considerable t ime\, were finally routed.\n\nWhile I was trying to rally them\, the Engli sh honored me with a musket shot\, which wounded me slightly in the leg.\n \nBut the wound is nothing.\n\nThe ball hit neither bone nor nerve\, and a ll I have to do for it is to lie on my back for a while.\n\nMarquis de Laf ayette.\n\n♪ [Waves breaking\, ship's rigging creaking] Voice: I needed all my courage and tenderness to keep my resolution of following my husban d.\n\nBesides the perils of the sea\, I was told that we would be exposed to be eaten by the savages\, and that people in America lived upon horse f lesh and cats.\n\nBaroness Friederike Riedesel.\n\nNarrator: When German G eneral Friedrich Adolph Riedesel left Europe in 1776 to join General Burgo yne's northern campaign\, he had left his pregnant wife and two small daug hters at home.\n\nBut as soon as she could\, after her third daughter was born\, Baroness Riedesel crossed the Atlantic with all three girls.\n\nIn mid-August\, she caught up with her husband and Burgoyne's army at Fort Ed ward.\n\nVoice: In the beginning\, all went well.\n\nWe cherished the swee t hope of a sure victory and of coming into the promised land.\n\nAnd when on the passage across the Hudson\, General Burgoyne exclaimed\, \"The Eng lish never lose ground\,\" our spirits were greatly exhilarated.\n\n[Baron ess Riedesel] Narrator: On September 13\, 1777\, two days after Washington 's defeat at the Battle of the Brandywine\, General Burgoyne's army in New York began streaming across the Hudson near Saratoga on a bridge of boats covered with planks.\n\nOfficers and men\, women\, children\, horses\, ca ttle\, wagons\, field-pieces-- it took three days for it all to cross.\n\n Waiting for them some 10 miles south of Saratoga were General Horatio Gate s' 6\,900 Continentals and 1\,300 militia\, dug in along Bemis Heights\, a broad plateau anchored on the right by the Hudson River and sheltered on the left by craggy wooded bluffs.\n\nColonel Tadeusz Kosciuszko\, a Polish volunteer for the Americans\, had chosen the site and laid out brigade en campments\, breastworks\, and artillery emplacements all along the Heights for 3/4 of a mile.\n\nPatriot cannon commanded the river road to Albany.\ n\nOfficers had a clear view of the rough terrain across which the British would have to march-- deep ravines and dense woods\, broken here and ther e by half-cleared farmers' fields.\n\nMost of Burgoyne's Native scouts had left him by now\, so while he knew the Americans were somewhere ahead of him\, he had no way of knowing how many they were or precisely how they we re positioned.\n\nOn September 19th\, he resolved to find out and then try to drive through the rebel lines.\n\nHe divided his force into three colu mns.\n\nScottish General Simon Fraser\, with nearly 3\,000 troops\, set ou t to pinpoint his enemy's flank\, hoping to locate high ground from which to fire on the rebels.\n\n2\,200 soldiers under German General Riedesel ap proached along the river road.\n\nBurgoyne himself led the middle column-- some 1\,700 soldiers--to assault what he guessed was the center of the Am erican lines.\n\nWatching from Bemis Heights\, General Gates was content t o wait.\n\nThis was his first battlefield command\, and he was a careful\, cautious man.\n\nBoth Fraser's and Riedesel's columns stalled\, but Burgo yne's men managed to make it through the forest to a clearing named Freema n's Farm\, where General Benedict Arnold and Daniel Morgan's riflemen went out to engage them.\n\n[Musket fire] Atkinson: General Burgoyne asks for reinforcements.\n\nRiedesel\, who's a very fine commander\, immediately se nds some reinforcements up from the river to hit the Americans in the Amer ican right flank.\n\nAnd this successfully stops the American momentum.\n\ nThis First Battle of Saratoga\, the Battle of Freeman Farm\, it's a draw\ , basically.\n\nYou can say that the British have been successful in that they have held onto the ground\, but for the most part\, it's inconclusive .\n\nNarrator: Burgoyne had not located the main rebel positions on Bemis Heights\, and had lost 591 men\, nearly twice as many as the Patriots had lost\, and\, unlike General Gates\, Burgoyne had no realistic prospect of replacing them.\n\n♪ Voice: I was an eyewitness of the whole affair and shivered at every shot\, for I could hear everything.\n\nI saw a great num ber of wounded.\n\nAnd what was still more harrowing\, they even brought t hree of them into the house where I was.\n\n[Baroness Riedesel] ♪ Woman: Imagine what a battlefield looks like after a battle.\n\nIt has a lot of bodies.\n\nIt has a lot of blood and gore.\n\nAnd it was the job of women to go in and take care of those bodies\, to clean them up\, to identify th em\, if they could\, to see over the burial of bodies.\n\nPart of the work of war is dealing with death.\n\nVoice: Although we repulsed them with lo ss\, we ourselves were much weakened.\n\nThe bodies of the slain were scar cely covered with the clay.\n\nAnd the only tribute of respect to fallen o fficers was to bury them by themselves\, without throwing them in the comm on grave.\n\nSo destruction comes with rapid wings\, and ruin rushes on li ke a whirlwind to sweep the best officers\, and sometimes almost entire ba ttalions\, from their strongest foundations.\n\nRoger Lamb.\n\n♪ Voice: Harassed and exhausted by perpetual change from bad to worse\, my poor aff licted mother consented to go beyond the mountains to Winchester.\n\nIt wa s indeed a new world to us-- rude and wild as nature had made it.\n\nBetsy Ambler.\n\n♪ Narrator: Betsy Ambler and her family from Yorktown\, Virg inia\, had been on the move since the war began\, trying to find a place t hat suited her mother's frail health and was safe from the British.\n\nFor decades\, Winchester\, Virginia\, in the Shenandoah Valley\, had been an important waystation on the Great Wagon Road that settlers followed throug h the backcountry from Philadelphia to the Carolinas.\n\nBecause it was so far inland\, Winchester served new purposes: it was a relatively safe pla ce for storing military supplies and materiel\; a safe haven for refugees\ ; and a place to house prisoners of war.\n\nSuspected Loyalists were often exiled to Winchester\, too.\n\nVoice: We not unfrequently made acquaintan ce with agreeable men who were condemned to banishment in this dreary plac e on account of \"disaffection\,\" as it was called\, to the great cause o f liberty.\n\nAmongst those proscribed\, genteel Quakers from Philadelphia were numerous.\n\n[Ambler] Narrator: One of those Quakers was Sarah Fishe r's husband Thomas.\n\nAs British troops advanced on Philadelphia\, Congre ss and the local authorities had convinced themselves that he and seven ot her wealthy Quakers were communicating with the enemy.\n\nThey had them ar rested\, and when they again refused to swear allegiance to the new govern ment\, loaded them into wagons and sent them off under guard to Winchester .\n\n♪ Now alone in Philadelphia\, Sarah Fisher had two small boys to ca re for and was nearly eight months' pregnant.\n\nVoice: I feel forlorn and desolate\, and the world appears like a dreary desert\, almost without an y visible protecting hand to guard us from the ravenous wolves and lions t hat prowl about for prey\, seeking to devour those harmless innocents that don't go hand-in-hand with them in their cruelty and rapine.\n\n[Fisher] Narrator: Her husband's only crime\, Sarah Fisher said\, was that he saw h imself as a subject of Britain.\n\nBut she was cheered to see that rebels and their sympathizers\, including all the members of the Continental Cong ress\, were now fleeing the city in fear of the enemy's approach after the American defeat at Brandywine.\n\nVoice: People in very great confusion\, some flying one way and some another\, as if not knowing where to go or w hat to do.\n\nWagons rattling\, horses galloping\, women running\, childre n crying\, delegates flying\, and altogether the greatest consternation\, fright\, and terror that can be imagined.\n\n[Fisher] ♪ Narrator: George Washington still hoped somehow to keep the British from occupying Philade lphia.\n\nHe ordered General Anthony Wayne and his Pennsylvania division t o attack the rear of the advancing army.\n\nBut local Loyalists alerted Ge neral Howe that Wayne and his men were camped near the Paoli Tavern\, and he sent 1\,700 soldiers to deal with them.\n\n♪ As they approached throu gh the woods on the night of September 20th\, they were ordered to remove the flints from their muskets for fear someone's gun would go off and aler t the sleeping rebels.\n\nThey fixed bayonets and exploded out of the tree s with what a British officer remembered: \"such a cheer as made the wood echo.\"\n\n[Sound of musket fire\, bayonets stabbing\, soldiers shouting] Voice: The light infantry bayoneted every man they came up with.\n\nAnd th e cries of the wounded formed altogether one of the most dreadful scenes I ever beheld.\n\nEvery man that fired was instantly put to death.\n\nLieut enant Martin Hunter.\n\nNarrator: At least 53 Patriots were stabbed to dea th\, and more than 200 were wounded or captured.\n\nAmericans would rememb er it as the Paoli Massacre.\n\nWashington gave up hope of holding Philade lphia.\n\n♪ Six days after the massacre\, September 26\, 1777\, General Cornwallis led 3\,000 victorious British troops into Philadelphia.\n\nVoic e: About 10 o'clock\, the troops began to enter.\n\nA band of music played a tune\, which I afterwards understood was called \"God save Great George Our King.\"\n\nThen followed the soldiers\, no wanton levity\, or indecen t mirth\, but a gravity well becoming the occasion on all their faces.\n\n Sarah Fisher.\n\nNarrator: General Howe\, with 8\,000 more troops camped i n Germanton\, made his headquarters at Stenton\, Sarah Fisher's country ho me that had only a few weeks before been occupied by George Washington.\n\ nAt Brandywine\, General Howe had repeated the tactics that had won the Ba ttle of Long Island.\n\nNow Washington hoped to repeat his successful surp rise attack on Trenton by hitting Howe at Germanton in early October.\n\nW ashington's plan was ambitious and complicated.\n\nSuccess would depend on dividing his 11\,000-man force into four separate columns to undertake mi les-long marches at night on poorly marked roads so as to arrive simultane ously on the town's northern and western edges at precisely 5 A.M.\n\non O ctober 4th.\n\nThen\, at dawn\, they were to storm into town on four diffe rent roads.\n\nIt would be the first time during the Revolution that Washi ngton dared hurl his army against the main British force.\n\n[Musket fire] John Sullivan's and Anthony Wayne's columns swiftly swept aside British p ickets north of the town.\n\nWayne's men found themselves face-to-face wit h the British Light Infantry\, the same soldiers who had massacred so many of their comrades at Paoli just two weeks earlier.\n\nVoice: Our people p ushed on with their bayonets and took ample vengeance for that night's wor k.\n\nThe rage and fury of the soldiers were not to be restrained.\n\n[Gen eral Anthony Wayne] Narrator: The Americans continued to push the British back through the town\, driving them from one fenced yard to the next.\n\n Voice: Fortune smiled on our arms.\n\nThe enemy were broke\, dispersed\, a nd flying in all quarters.\n\nWe were in possession of their whole encampm ent.\n\n[Wayne] Narrator: In the face of the advancing Americans\, British Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Musgrave ordered half his regiment-- between 10 0 and 120 soldiers-- to duck inside the largest house in Germanton\, the h ome of Benjamin Chew\, the Loyalist ex-chief justice of Pennsylvania.\n\nI ts walls were two feet thick.\n\nMusgrave directed his men to block the do or and ground-floor windows with furniture.\n\nDownstairs\, his men were t o bayonet anyone who dared try to enter while others fired into the passin g rebels from the upstairs windows.\n\nAtkinson: Washington is advised\, \ "Bypass them.\n\nGo around them.\n\nIsolate them.\n\nKeep the momentum goi ng.\"\n\nNarrator: But Henry Knox insisted that the house had to be taken right away.\n\n\"It would be unmilitary\,\" he said\, \"to leave a castle in our rear.\"\n\nWashington agreed.\n\n[Cannons firing] Artillery blew in the front door and damaged statuary in the garden\, but bounced harmlessl y off the walls.\n\nContinentals from New Jersey repeatedly stormed the ho use and were cut down on the lawn and front steps.\n\nAs the siege at the Chew House went on\, the bulk of the American force streamed past\, contin uing to drive the British back.\n\nA Patriot victory seemed likely.\n\nVoi ce: About this time came on perhaps the thickest fog known in the memory o f man\, which\, together with the smoke\, brought on almost midnight darkn ess.\n\nIt was not possible to distinguish friend from foe at five yards d istance.\n\n[Elias Dayton] Narrator: When the men who had penetrated the f arthest heard the furious gunfire still coming from the Chew House\, they believed the enemy had somehow gotten behind them.\n\nNow it was the Patri ots who began to fall back.\n\nGeneral Cornwallis himself led the countera ttack.\n\nHis troops freed Musgrave's men from the Chew House and drove th e Americans back along the roads they'd followed into town.\n\nThe British had won...again.\n\n♪ Voice: I rode over the battlefield\, and with sur prise and admiration approached the house\, which the brave Colonel Musgra ve had defended.\n\nDuring the battle\, some thirty defenders were killed and wounded.\n\nI counted seventy-five dead Americans.\n\nThe rooms of the house were riddled by cannonball and looked like a slaughterhouse because of the blood splattered around.\n\nThere\, the entire English army was sa ved.\n\nJohann Ewald.\n\nFor the Americans\, what had been a sure victory- - it looked like they were going to drive the British back into Philadelph ia--becomes a fairly significant defeat.\n\nWashington gets away again\, b ut there are hundreds of casualties.\n\nThe British capture quite a few Am ericans.\n\nAnd what had been a glorious morning turns into a very grim ev ening.\n\nNarrator: Reporting to Congress\, Washington tried to put the be st face he could on his humiliating defeat.\n\nVoice: Upon the whole\, it may be said the day was rather unfortunate than injurious.\n\nWe sustained no material loss of men and brought off all our artillery\, except one pi ece.\n\nThe enemy are nothing the better by the event.\n\nAnd our troops\, who are not in the least dispirited by it\, have gained what all young tr oops gain by being in actions.\n\n[Washington] He is very good at\, I thin k\, the key tactic for an insurrectionary force\, which is living to fight another day\, and successfully plays a long game of just not being crushe d.\n\nEllis: Washington's not a great field commander\, but he's resilient \, and he understands the kind of war he's fighting.\n\nAt some point\, he reaches the insight-- and it's a basic insight-- he doesn't have to win.\ n\nThe British have to win.\n\nHe only has not to lose.\n\n♪ Voice: The colonies had grown up under constitutions of government so different\, the re was so great a variety of religions\, they were composed of so many dif ferent nations\, their customs\, manners\, and habits had so little resemb lance\, their intercourse had been so rare\, and their knowledge of each o ther so imperfect that to unite them in the same principles of theory and the same system of action\, was certainly a very difficult enterprise.\n\n John Adams.\n\n♪ Narrator: After fleeing Philadelphia\, the Continental Congress reconvened in a small county courthouse in York\, Pennsylvania.\n \nThe delegates had taken just 27 days of discussion the previous year to declare American independence\, but it would take them 526 days to fashion the Articles of Confederation.\n\nThey were meant in part to demonstrate to France that the thirteen former colonies could act effectively together \, but the result was not a government.\n\nWoman: They needed to have a wa y to pay for wars\; they needed to run wars.\n\nThey needed to possess Nat ive lands\; they needed to redistribute those lands.\n\nBut the Articles h ad so much political compromise that it wasn't a functional centralized go vernment.\n\nNarrator: By design\, the Articles of Confederation were weak and constrained.\n\nEach state remained a more or less independent republ ic jealously guarding its own sovereignty and freedom.\n\nCongress had no power to tax\, which meant it couldn't pay the soldiers in the Continental Army.\n\nAnd before the Articles could even become operative\, they neede d to be ratified by all the states.\n\nThat would take another 39 months.\ n\n♪ Voice: The armies were so near that not a night passed without firi ng.\n\nNo foraging party could be made without great detachments to cover it.\n\nI do not believe either officer or soldier ever slept during that i nterval.\n\nGeneral John Burgoyne.\n\nNarrator: For eighteen days after th e Battle of Freeman's Farm near Saratoga\, the American and British armies strengthened their defenses and skirmished constantly but remained precis ely where they had been when the shooting stopped.\n\nMeanwhile\, Loyalist refugees continued to stream into the British camp\, forcing Burgoyne to reduce rations by a third.\n\nDesertions\, especially among German troops\ , rose so fast that Baron Riedesel promised his soldiers ten guineas for e very would-be deserter they brought back and five guineas if he had to be shot for resisting.\n\nAt 11:00 in the morning on October 7th\, Burgoyne l ed some 1\,500 men out of his camp and formed a long\, thin line across tw o unharvested wheat fields just west of Freeman's Farm\, redcoats on the r ight\, Germans in the center\, elite British grenadiers on the left.\n\nWh ile some of his men harvested the wheat his encampment desperately needed\ , Burgoyne and several of his officers climbed onto the roof of a log cabi n with spyglasses\, trying to see if there was a way around the rebel left .\n\nTall trees blocked them from seeing anything useful\, but Americans p atrolling the no man's land saw them.\n\n[Musket fire] Shots were exchange d.\n\nFrom Bemis Heights\, General Gates now ordered Daniel Morgan's corps and Brigadier General Enoch Poor's brigades to attack the British on both flanks.\n\nBritish General Fraser was killed.\n\nThe redcoats crumbled.\n \nThen Benedict Arnold galloped onto the battlefield.\n\nHe seemed to be e verywhere\, leading a charge against the British center\, racing between t he armies through a swarm of musket balls to rally another regiment so tha t they could sweep the defenders from two fortified cabins.\n\nHe urged th e exhausted men on to seize a redoubt manned by some 200 German grenadiers .\n\nVoice: You cannot conceive how men looked.\n\nAnd at first it appeare d to me that if the order came for us to march\, I could not do it.\n\nNat haniel Bacheller.\n\nNarrator: But when Arnold gave the order\, Bacheller and his comrades climbed to their feet and moved forward again\, shouting as they rushed toward the front of the redoubt.\n\nArnold rode around it\, forced his way inside\, and demanded that its defenders surrender.\n\nMos t did surrender or fled\, but one fired a musket ball that shattered Arnol d's left leg\, the same leg that had been wounded at Quebec two years befo re\, and killed his horse\, which fell on him.\n\nUnable to move\, Arnold continued to shout orders until the fighting died down and he could be car ried from the field.\n\n\"Arnold was our fighting general\,\" one of his m en remembered.\n\n\"He was as brave a man as ever lived.\"\n\nPhilbrick: I think it's safe to say that Benedict Arnold should be regarded as the her o of Saratoga.\n\nIt was really an aggressive move at the end that sealed the victory for the Americans.\n\nNarrator: The British stumbled back to S aratoga\, carrying their wounded with them.\n\n[Cannons firing] Voice: Oct ober 10th--Saratoga.\n\nA frightful cannonade began\, principally directed against the house in which we had sought shelter\, probably because the e nemy believed that all the generals made it their headquarters.\n\nAlas!\n \nIt harbored none but wounded soldiers or women.\n\nWe were finally oblig ed to take refuge in a cellar.\n\nMy children laid down on the earth with their heads upon my lap.\n\nMy own anguish prevented me from closing my ey es.\n\nEleven cannonballs went through the house\, and we could plainly he ar them rolling over our heads.\n\nOne poor soldier\, whose leg they were about to amputate\, had the other leg taken off by another cannonball in t he very middle of the operation.\n\n[Baroness Riedesel] [Cannons firing] N arrator: Militiamen continued to stream into Gates' army\, its numbers now swollen to 17\,000.\n\nBy October 13th\, the Americans had Burgoyne's arm y completely surrounded.\n\nVoice: Every hour\, the position of the army g rew more critical and the prospect of salvation grew less and less.\n\nEve n for the wounded\, no spot could be found which could afford them a safe shelter.\n\nThe sick and wounded would drag themselves along into a quiet corner in the woods\, and lie down to die.\n\nGeneral Riedesel.\n\n♪ Con way: Saratoga was a body blow to the British.\n\nIt was clear that all of the old assumptions\, that the British Army was a professional force that would sooner or later prevail over the amateurish Americans\, all those as sumptions were undermined.\n\nThe amateurish Americans had actually beaten the British.\n\nFor the British\, this was not just a military defeat\; i t was a psychological blow of very considerable proportions.\n\nNarrator: That afternoon\, Burgoyne gathered his staff.\n\nThey were trapped\, witho ut food or forage.\n\nThey voted to begin negotiations with General Gates. \n\n♪ For three days\, messages flew back and forth between the camps.\n \nVoice: During the time of the cessation of arms\, a soldier in the 9th R egiment named Maguire came down to the bank of the river with a number of his companions\, who engaged in conversation with a party of Americans on the opposite shore.\n\n♪ Maguire suddenly darted like lightning from his companions\, and resolutely plunged into the stream.\n\n[Water splashing] At the very same moment\, one of the American soldiers\, seized with a si milar impulse\, resolutely dashed into the water from the opposite shore.\ n\nThe wondering soldiers on both sides beheld them eagerly swim towards t he middle of the river\, where they met.\n\nThey hung on each other's neck s and wept.\n\nThey were brothers.\n\nOne was in the British and the other in the American service\, totally ignorant until that hour that they were engaged in hostile combat against each other's life.\n\nRoger Lamb.\n\n ♪ Narrator: On the morning of October 17th\, Gates' generous terms were accepted.\n\nHe and Burgoyne met between their respective lines and shook hands.\n\nBurgoyne presented his sword to Gates-- who handed it back\, as dictated by military custom.\n\nTo his dying day\, Burgoyne would blame ot hers for his defeat-- Lord Germain\, General Howe\, his Loyalist German an d Native allies-- everyone but himself.\n\nVoice: All the army gave up and surrendered themselves prisoners of war to our men.\n\nSuch a thing was n ever heard of.\n\nSuch a sight was never seen before\, so many men giving in to us.\n\nExult\, oh\, Americans and rejoice and praise the Lord\, who hath done wonderful things for you.\n\nEzra Tilden.\n\nNarrator: An entire British army had been forced to lay down its arms-- one lieutenant genera l\, two major generals\, three brigadiers\, 350 commissioned and staffed o fficers\, 5\,900 other ranks\, and some 600 women and children.\n\nAlong w ith them\, the Americans seized 30 artillery pieces\, 60 wagons\, 1\,500 s words\, 3\,400 bayonets\, and 4\,600 muskets and rifles.\n\nBurgoyne's Can adian and Loyalist auxiliaries were to be permitted to make their way nort h to Canada\, while more than 6\,000 British and German prisoners were to be marched to Boston and sent home from there to Europe\, pledged never to return.\n\nBut when they got there\, they learned that Congress had refus ed to ratify Gates' agreement with Burgoyne.\n\nAfter months housed in mak eshift camps\, they were sent south.\n\nVoice: I never had the least idea that the creation produced such a sordid set of creatures in human figure- - poor\, dirty\, emaciated men\, great numbers of women\, who seemed to be the beasts of burden\, and children\, some very young infants who were bo rn on the road.\n\nHannah Winthrop.\n\nNarrator: The prisoners would event ually be marched more than 600 miles to Charlottesville\, Virginia\, and s till later to other camps in Virginia\, Maryland\, and Pennsylvania.\n\nMa ny died.\n\nHundreds escaped.\n\nSome would rejoin the British army at New York\; others joined the Continental Army or simply disappeared into the populace.\n\nBy the time the remaining prisoners from Saratoga were releas ed in 1783\, only a few of the 6\,000 would be left.\n\n♪ [Distant bird cawing] Voice: Everything is almost gone of the vegetable kind\, butchers obliged to kill fine milk cows.\n\nOne woman walked two miles out of town only for an egg.\n\nSuch is the dreadful situation we are reduced to.\n\nS arah Fisher.\n\nNarrator: At first\, Philadelphia Loyalists had welcomed B ritish troops into their city.\n\nBut as it grew colder that autumn\, home owners would be forced to take officers into their homes\, whether they wa nted to or not and\, as Sarah Fisher wrote\, there were soon \"very bad ac counts \"of the licentiousness of the English officers deluding young girl s.\"\n\nSarah Fisher felt especially isolated and alone\, but she soon gav e birth to a baby daughter\, whom she named Hannah\, after her late mother .\n\nAmerican patrols made foraging in the surrounding countryside dangero us for British troops.\n\nProvisions grew increasingly scarce.\n\nPrices s oared.\n\nGeneral Howe had to find a way for the Royal Navy to ferry food\ , supplies\, and equipment up the Delaware River to Philadelphia.\n\nAmeri can forces occupied two forts--Fort Mifflin on Mud Island\, and Fort Merce r at Red Bank on the New Jersey side.\n\nFor weeks\, the British worked to destroy them.\n\nThe besieged Americans\, Thomas Paine wrote\, had nothin g \"to cover them but their bravery.\"\n\nJoseph Plumb Martin had been amo ng the last Americans to evacuate Fort Mifflin.\n\nVoice: Every private so ldier in an army thinks his particular services as essential to carry on t he war he's engaged in\, as the services of the most influential general.\ n\nAnd why not?\n\nWhat could officers do without such men?\n\nNothing at all.\n\n[Distant explosions] Great men get great praise\, little men nothi ng.\n\n[Martin] Narrator: Both forts fell.\n\nThe Delaware was now open to British shipping.\n\nHowe's army could safely spend the winter in Philade lphia.\n\nIn December\, George Washington would lead his army into winter quarters\, a hilly\, wooded\, remote place northwest of Philadelphia calle d Valley Forge.\n\n[Distant bell tolling] In France\, Benjamin Franklin ha d heard little of what was happening in America for seven long weeks.\n\nT hen\, on December 4th\, a rider clattered into his courtyard\, shouting he had important news.\n\nFranklin hurried out to greet him.\n\n\"Sir\,\" he asked\, \"is Philadelphia taken?\"\n\n\"Yes\, sir\,\" the courier answere d.\n\nFranklin\, dejected\, turned to go back inside.\n\n\"But\, Sir\,\" t he rider said.\n\n\"I have greater news than that.\n\n\"General Burgoyne a nd his whole army are prisoners of war.\"\n\nJust a few months earlier\, F ranklin had written that only \"a small matter\" would be needed to bring France into the war with Britain.\n\nClearly\, the surrender of an entire British army was a large matter.\n\nThe Comte de Vergennes\, the French Fo reign Minister\, whose newly rebuilt navy was now ready for war\, saw the victory at Saratoga and the former colonies' tentative steps toward formin g a central government as the best evidence so far that a French-American alliance might defeat the British.\n\nLouis XVI agreed.\n\n\"America is tr iumphant\,\" he said\, \"and England beaten.\"\n\nAlan Taylor: Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga is a crushing blow\, and it impresses the French.\n\ nBut the French are also impressed by George Washington's survival.\n\nHe' s still hanging in there.\n\nHis army is still fighting.\n\nThe British ma y force their way into Philadelphia\, but they have not destroyed Washingt on's army.\n\nde Rode: It's quite a risk to send your army to fight with a n army that might never win.\n\nBut there's more to the story\, because th e French are not just waiting for the victory.\n\nThey're waiting for thei r own army to be ready.\n\nFinally\, their navy was ready\, their army was ready.\n\nThey were strong enough again and felt confident that this was the right moment to join the rebels.\n\nNarrator: In Paris\, on February 6 \, 1778\, French and American commissioners would sign two treaties.\n\nTh e first recognized the independence of the United States of America and es tablished commercial relations between the two countries.\n\nThe second\, the Treaty of Alliance\, promised full support for the American cause from the French Army and Navy\, as well as its Treasury.\n\n♪ Schiff: The im portance of the French alliance\, just in entirely practical terms\, we're talking about what would today be $25 billion to $30 billion in aid.\n\nW e're talking about a war effort that the colonies could not have provided for themselves.\n\nAnd the idea that a foreign power bankrolled that effor t and that it would have impossible without them\, that's the chapter we d on't like to think too much about because our sense of our independence is that it's something that we achieved on our own.\n\nNarrator: Although it would be nearly three months before the news crossed the Atlantic\, an up rising among British subjects in North America was about to ignite another global war.\n\n♪ ♪ Announcer: Next time on \"The American Revolution\ "... Winter at Valley Forge.\n\nVoice: This army must inevitably starve or disperse in order to obtain subsistence.\n\n[George Washington] Announcer : Alliances are formed... Colin Calloway: The new United States represents an existential threat.\n\nAnnouncer: and the French enter the war.\n\nKat hleen DuVal: Britain knows that Spain and the Netherlands may be next.\n\n The stakes are big in this war.\n\nAnnouncer: When \"The American Revoluti on\" continues next time.\n\n♪ Announcer: Scan this QR code with your sm art device to dive deeper into the story of \"The American Revolution\" wi th interactives\, games\, classroom materials\, and more.\n\n♪ Announcer : \"The American Revolution\" DVD and Blu-ray\, as well as the companion b ook and soundtrack\, are available online and in stores.\n\nThe series is also available with PBS Passport and on am*zon Prime Video.\n\n♪ Announc er: The American Revolution caused an impact felt around the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenuity\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide of history and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nBank of America.\n\nAnnouncer: Major fu nding for \"The American Revolution\" was provided by The Better Angels So ciety and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Fo undation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.\n\nMajor funding was also pr ovided by David M. Rubenstein\, the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment\, and by Better Angels Society members: E ric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Schwarzman\, and Kenneth C. Griffin wit h Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditional support was provided by The Arthur Vinin g Davis Foundations\, the Pew Charitable Trusts\, Gilbert S. Omenn and Mar tha A. Darling\, the Park Foundation\, and by Better Angels Society member s: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Foundat ion\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the Kissick Family Foundation\, Diane and Hal B rierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jennifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine D ebs\, The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund\, and these additional members. \n\n\"The American Revolution\" was made possible with support from the Co rporation for Public Broadcasting\, and Viewers Like You.\n\nThank You.\n\ n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://www.pbs.org/video/the-american-revolution-episode- 4-conquer-by-a-drawn-game/\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251119 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The American Revolution PBS Documentary Episode 3 DTSTAMP:20251118T053520Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:589-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The American Revolution\n A Film By\n Ken Burns\, Sarah B otstein &\; David Schmidt\n\n\n\n The Times That Try Men’s Souls (Jul y 1776 – January 1777)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n Announcer: Major funding for \"The American Revolut ion\" was provided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie an d Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation and the Blavatnik Famil y Foundation.\n\nMajor funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein\, the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment \, and by Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Schwarzman\, and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditiona l support was provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations\, the Pew Ch aritable Trusts\, Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling\, the Park Founda tion\, and by Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perr y and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Foundation\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the K issick Family Foundation\, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher an d Jennifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerton Family Chari table Fund\, and these additional members.\n\n\"The American Revolution\" was made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcastin g\, and Viewers Like You.\n\nThank You.\n\nAnnouncer: The American Revolut ion caused an impact felt around the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenu ity\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide of hist ory and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nBank of America.\n\nVoice: The plan laid down for our education was entirely broken in upon by the war.\n\nInstead of morning lessons\, w e were to knit stockings\; instead of embroidering\, to make homespun garm ents\; and in place of the music of the harpsichord\, to listen to the lou d\, clanging trumpet and never-ceasing drum\, for in every direction that we traveled-- and heaven knows we left but little of Virginia unexplored-- we heard naught but the din of war.\n\nOur late peaceful country now beca me a scene of terror and confusion.\n\nBetsy Ambler.\n\n[Men shouting] ♪ Maya Jasanoff: Our images of the American Revolution tend to be images of men in wigs in wood-paneled rooms\, and that helps to reinforce an image of the American Revolution as just a war about ideals.\n\nI think that we really do a disservice to...history and to the experiences of the people w ho lived through it when we paper over the violence of the American Revolu tion with this set of very idealized images that we have of the Founding F athers signing documents in Philadelphia.\n\nThe United States came out of violence.\n\n♪ [Sea gulls crying] Voice: I peeped out at the bay and sa w something resembling a wood of pine trees trimmed.\n\nI declare at my no ticing this that I could not believe my eyes\, but judge you of my surpris e when\, in about 10 minutes\, the whole bay was full of shipping as ever it could be.\n\nI do declare that I thought all London was afloat.\n\nPriv ate Daniel McCurtin.\n\n♪ Narrator: On Saturday morning\, June 29\, 1776 \, Colonel Henry Knox\, whose artillery had convinced the British to flee Boston\, was breakfasting with his wife Lucy on the second floor of a comm andeered mansion at Number 1 Broadway when he\, too\, spotted the British ships that Private McCurtin had seen as they approached New York Harbor un opposed.\n\n[Bell ringing] Voice: My God\, you can scarcely conceive of th e distress and anxiety-- the city in an uproar\, the alarm guns firing\, t he troops repairing to their posts.\n\n[Henry Knox] Narrator: Martha Washi ngton and other officers' wives\, including Lucy Knox and her infant daugh ter\, were sent away from the city for their safety.\n\nThe Royal Navy anc hored off Staten Island and began to disembark some 10\,000 British regula rs.\n\nCrowds of local Loyalists cheered them as they stepped ashore.\n\nS tephen Conway: The Royal Navy\, as one contemporary put it\, was the \"Can vas Wings of the British State.\"\n\nIt enabled the British to appear off the coastline almost anywhere unhindered.\n\n♪ Voice: We expect a very b loody summer at New York\, as it is here\, I presume\, the grand efforts o f the enemy will be aimed\, and I am sorry to say that we are not\, either in men or arms\, prepared for it.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\n♪ ♪ Narrat or: By the summer of 1776\, the Revolution\, which began as a quarrel over the rights of British subjects\, had become a war for American independen ce\, and as that revolution spread throughout the colonies\, thousands of Americans\, patriots and Loyalists alike\, would be driven from their home s.\n\n11-year-old Betsy Ambler of Yorktown\, Virginia\, and her family had been among the earliest refugees.\n\nHer mother suffered from what Betsy called \"a nervous malady.\"\n\nIn 1775\, the constant talk of war and Yor ktown's vulnerability to an attack by water had so terrified her mother th at her father decided to move the family\, Betsy said\, \"and seek a safe retreat for her.\"\n\nThe Amblers were more fortunate than most displaced families.\n\nThey and their relatives owned farms and plantations worked b y enslaved people scattered across the state.\n\nThey settled first in a s mall house in the tiny village of New Castle in Hanover County.\n\nIt was there that Betsy's mother gave birth to another daughter--Lucy.\n\nSince L ucy \"made her appearance just after the declaration\,\" Betsy recalled\, their father called her \"his only independent child.\"\n\nNow a fully com mitted patriot\, Betsy's father had lost his paid position as Collector of Royal Customs\, and a Royal Navy blockade would soon choke off the shippi ng on which his profits as a merchant had been made.\n\nVoice: The war\, t hough it was to involve my immediate family in poverty and perplexity of e very kind\, was for the foundation of independence and prosperity for my c ountry\, and what sacrifice would not an American\, a Virginian\, at the e arliest age\, have made for so desirable an end?\n\nBetsy Ambler.\n\n♪ V oice: What to do with this city puzzles me.\n\nIt is so encircled with dee p\, navigable water that whoever commands the sea must command the town.\n \nGeneral Charles Lee.\n\nNarrator: George Washington had assigned a forme r British officer\, General Charles Lee\, to fortify New York City and its surroundings.\n\nThe Patriot commanders feared they could not hold the to wn for long but hoped to make the British pay the highest possible price f or its capture.\n\nSince no one could say where or when British attacks wo uld come\, Washington had been forced to scatter his army and its 121 cann on all around the harbor.\n\nRick Atkinson: New York is an archipelago.\n\ nIt's a confluence of islands.\n\nIt's a problem.\n\nIf you don't control the naval approaches in and around New York\, you cannot properly defend N ew York.\n\nNarrator: New York was one of the best natural harbors on the Atlantic seaboard\, and although the town still occupied just a single squ are mile at Manhattan's southern tip\, it was the second-largest city in t he newly created United States and the gateway to the Hudson River.\n\nIf the British commander\, General William Howe\, could capture it\, his forc es would be free to ascend the river and divide rebellious New England fro m the rest of the states.\n\nNathaniel Philbrick: This whole war\, in many ways\, is a water campaign.\n\nIt's who controls the coast\, but it's als o who controls the rivers and the lakes.\n\nThis is where the fighting wou ld be\, wherever water provided you with a way to get into the interior of the country.\n\n[Splash] Narrator: Both the British and the Americans had considered New York and the farming communities that bordered it to be Lo yalist strongholds.\n\nFor weeks\, Patriots had prowled the streets\, roug hing up Loyalists.\n\nThousands fled with what belongings they could carry .\n\nHundreds more were arrested.\n\nSeveral dozen were hauled away to Sim sbury\, Connecticut\, and imprisoned in an abandoned copper mine 70 feet b elow the Earth that the Patriots called the Catacomb of Loyalty.\n\n[Gavel bangs] A Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies\, chaired by the attorney John Jay\, held daily inquisitions.\n\n40 men\, including the Mayor of New York City\, were jailed for plotting to assassinate George W ashington.\n\nA member of Washington's own personal guard was found to be involved and hanged while 4 brigades of troops looked on.\n\n[Sandbag thum ps\, rope creaks] The city had been home to 25\,000 people.\n\nBy the summ er of 1776\, just 5\,000 of them would remain\, and those Loyalists left b ehind had learned to keep their opinions to themselves.\n\nVoice: To see t he vast number of houses shut up\, one would think the city almost evacuat ed.\n\nTroops are daily coming in.\n\nThey break open the houses they find shut up to quarter themselves.\n\nNecessity knows no law.\n\n[Unidentifie d Loyalist] Narrator: Continental soldiers and militiamen from 10 states c ontinued to stream into town.\n\nEventually\, there would be more than 20\ ,000 of them in and around New York.\n\nThey moved into abandoned houses\, tore up parquet floors for firewood\, and hurled refuse from the windows. \n\nDespite a 10 P.M.\n\ncurfew\, troops flocked to a warren of West Side brothels built on land owned by Trinity Church.\n\nCustomers called it the Holy Ground.\n\n♪ On the afternoon of July 12th\, 2 British warships sl ipped their anchors off Staten Island\, moved into the harbor past the tip of Manhattan\, and began sailing up the Hudson.\n\n[Cannonfire] Voice: Th e cannon from the city did but very little execution\, as not more than ha lf the number of the men belonging to them were present.\n\nThe others wer e at their cups\, and at their usual place of abode on the Holy Ground.\n\ nLieutenant Isaac Banks.\n\nNarrator: Later that same evening\, a still-la rger British fleet\, more than 100 vessels\, began streaming through the n arrows and into New York Harbor.\n\nIts commander was General William Howe 's elder brother Vice Admiral Richard Howe.\n\nBoth had once expressed sym pathy for the colonists\, and both had been empowered to negotiate with re bel leaders and issue pardons in hopes of avoiding further bloodshed\, but while the Admiral was crossing the Atlantic\, Congress had declared Ameri can independence.\n\n[Men shouting] Voice: We learned the deplorable situa tion of His Majesty's faithful subjects\, that they were hunted after and shot at in the woods and swamps to which they had fled to avoid the savage fury of the rebels.\n\nWe also heard that the Congress had now announced the colonies to be independent states.\n\nThat proclaims the villainy and madness of these deluded people.\n\n[Ambrose Serle] ♪ Voice: To my dear Betsey\, my wife-- It is hard to be quite happy when one full half\, at le ast\, of both body and soul is left at home\, but\, believe it\, I am not more mortal here in the neighborhood of the British cannon than I should b e was I happy in your peaceful\, loving arms.\n\nTill my God calls me\, I am immortal.\n\nPhilip Vickers Fithian.\n\nNarrator: Philip Vickers Fithia n of Cohansey\, New Jersey\, was a newly married 28-year-old Presbyterian clergyman\, recently appointed chaplain of a militia brigade.\n\nHe was a graduate of the College of New Jersey at Princeton\, where his classmates had included Aaron Burr and James Madison.\n\nAfter college\, he spent a y ear as a tutor on a Virginia plantation\, where\, seeing the inhuman cruel ty of slavery up close\, he introduced the owner's children to the work of the enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley.\n\nIn New York\, Fithian found himsel f sleeping on the floor of a Loyalist's abandoned home\, conducting prayer meetings twice a day and afterwards visiting the hospitals filled with me n dying from dysentery.\n\nAmen.\n\nAmen.\n\nVoice: Here I must daily visi t among many in a contagious disorder\, but I am not discouraged nor dispi rited.\n\nI am willing to hazard and suffer equally with my countrymen sin ce I have a firm conviction that I am in my duty.\n\n[Fithian] Friederike Baer: When we really take a look at what these regiments were like\, we se e a lot of individuals who are not carrying arms-- including women\, inclu ding children\, including servants\, medical personnel\, chaplains-- and t here are all kinds of individuals there that are essential parts of these armies that are doing essential labor\, without whom\, I think\, the army couldn't operate.\n\nVoice: August 1st-- There is a report pretty well con firmed that near 40 sail of the enemy came in this afternoon and are joini ng the fleet.\n\nWe are all uncertain.\n\n[Fithian] Narrator: The ships th at came in that day were straggling in from a failed British expedition in South Carolina.\n\nThe Royal governors of the southern colonies\, who had all been driven to ships anchored off their coasts\, continued to insist that the rebellion had been stirred up by only a tiny minority of radicals \, that the overwhelmingly loyal populace of their colonies would take up arms in support of the Crown\, provided help was sent.\n\nIn June\, Britis h warships had converged on Charleston Harbor\, where their 262 guns opene d fire on a rebel fort on Sullivan's Island.\n\n[Cannonfire] More than 7\, 000 cannonballs were fired.\n\nMost that hit their target were absorbed by the fort's sturdy palmetto walls.\n\nWithin the fort\, Patriot Colonel Wi lliam Moultrie ordered his men to \"distress [the enemy] in every shape to the utmost of your powers.\"\n\nThey did.\n\nThey had just 31 guns\, but they proved deadly accurate\, toppling masts\, riddling hulls\, blowing sa ilors and sea captains apart.\n\nThe British flagship alone was hit 70 tim es\, and 111 crewmen were killed or maimed.\n\nBy evening\, the battered f leet pulled away.\n\n\"We never had such a drubbing in our lives\,\" one B ritish sailor remembered.\n\nIt took 3 weeks to repair the damage to their ships before they made their way back north to join the forces threatenin g New York.\n\nThe British would not attempt to recapture a southern colon y again for 2 1/2 years.\n\n♪ [Insects chirping] Voice: It seems to be t he intention of the White people to destroy us as a people\, but I have a great many young fellows that would support me\, and we are determined to have our land.\n\nTsi'yu-gunsini.\n\n♪ Narrator: In the summer of 1776\, Cherokee warriors led by Tsi'yu-gunsini\, \"Dragging Canoe\" in English\, began attacking frontier settlements west of the Appalachians on land now claimed by Virginia and the Carolinas.\n\nThe Royal Proclamation of 1763 had expressly barred colonists from purchasing or moving onto Indian lands west of the Appalachians\, but British officials had been powerless to en force it or to keep some Native Americans\, including Dragging Canoe's own father\, from leasing or selling land to settlers and speculators.\n\nKat hleen DuVal: We think of the Revolution as a war against empire\, but it v ery quickly becomes a war for empire.\n\nOne war aim of the American Revol ution is to take the Ohio Valley and the South.\n\nThat's what Americans w anted.\n\nThe British government had kept them from taking Native lands\, so for the Shawnees and the Delawares\, Cherokees\, and many other people\ , the American Revolution was a war to protect these places against an ene my they already knew quite well.\n\nVoice: Our Shawnee nation\, from being a great people\, are now reduced to a handful.\n\nThe red people\, who we re once masters of the whole country\, hardly possess ground enough to sta nd on.\n\nThe lands where but lately we hunted are now thickly inhabited a nd covered with forts and armed men\, and wherever a fort appears\, there will soon be towns and settlements.\n\n[Shawnee Delegate] DuVal: In May 17 76\, a delegation of Shawnees\, Delawares\, Anishinaabe\, and Haudenosaune e came to the Cherokee town of Chote.\n\nThey said\, \"Enough is enough.\n \n\"We've had year after year \"of illegal settlement coming onto our land s.\n\n\"Now a war has come \"that has divided those settlers from their go vernment.\n\nThis is the time to strike.\"\n\nVoice: It is better to die l ike men than to diminish away by inches.\n\nThe Cherokees have a hatchet.\ n\nTake it up and use it immediately.\n\n[Shawnee Delegate] Narrator: Brit ish agents still in Indian country\, who had armed the Cherokees to fight the rebels\, now urged them to be patient and wait until British troops co uld join them.\n\nDragging Canoe would not listen to the British or to the elders of his father's generation\, who had urged diplomacy.\n\nHe rallie d the young men and went to war.\n\n[Flames crackling] They killed and sca lped settlers in the Carolina and Virginia backcountry\, burned their cabi ns and crops\, and drove off their livestock.\n\nColin Calloway: The resul t is\, as the older chiefs feared it would be\, that those American coloni es immediately send armies into Cherokee country.\n\nSome of the American leaders actually say in as many words\, \"This is just what we were waitin g for.\n\n\"Now we have justification \"for launching a full-scale assault on the Cherokees and to drive them out and take their land.\"\n\n♪ Voic e: Nothing will reduce those wretches so soon as pushing the war into the heart of their country\, but I would not stop there.\n\nI would never ceas e pursuing them while one of them remained on this side of the Mississippi .\n\nThomas Jefferson.\n\n♪ DuVal: There are thousands of militiamen in South Carolina\, North Carolina\, Virginia\, Georgia ready to join the Rev olution\, ready to fight Britain\, but the British aren't there.\n\nThere are no British there to fight.\n\nWho's there to fight?\n\nThe Cherokees.\ n\nNarrator: Some 6\,000 militiamen stormed through Cherokee country.\n\nT hey destroyed 36 towns\, including Dragging Canoe's own village.\n\nPhilip Deloria: This is meant to be instructive to other tribes.\n\n\"If you thi nk you're gonna keep a British alliance\, \"guess what we're gonna do?\n\n \"We're gonna come and burn everything.\n\n\"We're gonna destroy your fiel ds.\n\n\"We're gonna destroy your corn.\n\n\"We're gonna destroy all your stored-up food.\n\n\"We're gonna wage total war on those people.\n\nLet's teach all Native people a lesson about what's coming.\"\n\n♪ Narrator: I n the end\, older Cherokee leaders would sue for peace and be forced to ce de another 5 million acres.\n\nMaggie Blackhawk: The colonists wanted to p ossess that land exclusively\, and it's a vision that is Western\, as cont rasted to Native people\, who had a more spiritual or more engaged relatio nship to land.\n\nNarrator: Unlike his elders\, Dragging Canoe would not s urrender.\n\nWith hundreds of men and their families\, he managed to escap e westward to settle along the Chickamauga Creek in what is now Tennessee\ , where he remained defiant.\n\n\"I could not hear their talks of peace\,\ " Dragging Canoe said.\n\n\"My thoughts and my heart are for war.\"\n\n♪ Imperial powers were advancing all across North America in 1776-- Russia along the Alaska coast\, Spain in what became San Francisco Bay\, the Lako ta in the Black Hills\, and the Comanches on the Southern Plains.\n\nOn Au gust 12th off Staten Island in New York\, Britain\, the world's greatest n aval power\, landed 107 more ships.\n\nAboard them were 8\,600 hired Hessi an troops.\n\nEverything about the German soldiers was intended to intimid ate-- their tightly fitted uniforms that made the wearers seem bigger than they were\, the whiskers many grew when most men were clean-shaven\, the helmets worn by their grenadiers and fusiliers that added a foot to their height\, and the reputation for ferocity so widespread that some Americans believed them cannibals with a special taste for babies.\n\nBaer: I think it is an effective propaganda tool.\n\n\"They will plunder our homes.\n\n They will burn our village.\n\nThey will rape our women.\"\n\nThese kind o f portrayals really show up frequently\, especially in the spring of '76 b efore the first Germans even set foot on American soil.\n\n[Sea gulls cryi ng] Voice: Peace will not be restored in America until the rebel army is d efeated.\n\nShould the enemy offer battle in the open field\, we must not decline it.\n\nGeneral William Howe.\n\nNarrator: General William Howe and his brother Richard were in joint command of the largest seaborne assault force Britain had ever assembled-- 24\,000 soldiers\, including the 8\,60 0 Hessians\, and 400 ships manned by some 10\,000 sailors and marines.\n\n ♪ At dawn on August 22nd\, 4\,000 British and Hessian troops crossed the narrows and came ashore at Gravesend on the southeastern edge of Long Isl and\, boatloads of assault troops.\n\nVoice: The enemy have now landed on Long Island.\n\nThe hour is fast approaching on which the honor and succes s of this army and the safety of our bleeding country depend.\n\nGeorge Wa shington.\n\n♪ Narrator: More troops continued to land.\n\nSoon\, more t han 20\,000 British\, Hessian\, and Loyalist soldiers occupied a tent city that sprawled for 8 miles just beyond the beach.\n\nGeneral Washington re minded his men of the dismissive things British officers had said of them. \n\nNow they would have a chance to prove them wrong\, provided they remai ned cool but determined.\n\nVoice: Remember that you are free men fighting for the blessings of liberty\, that slavery will be your portion and that of your posterity if you do not acquit yourselves like men.\n\n[Washingto n] ♪ Narrator: Washington knew an attack was coming somewhere\, but he w orried that the British landing on Long Island was merely a diversion\, an d so he divided his army.\n\nMost would stay in Manhattan\, while some 8\, 000 men\, many of them ill-trained militia\, were posted on Long Island\, where Washington's most trusted general\, Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island \, had strengthened the series of forts and earthworks that ran from Red H ook to Wallabout Bay.\n\nMost of the defenses were concentrated near the l ofty cliffs closest to Manhattan called Brooklyn Heights after the tiny vi llage of Brooklyn that stood just behind them.\n\nWashington and his gener als believed that if the British were to seize that high ground\, their gu ns would command the city\, much as rebel guns had commanded Boston and it s harbor earlier that year\, but Nathanael Greene had fallen ill and was s oon replaced by Major General Israel Putnam of Connecticut\, whose fightin g spirit was not matched by strategic sense or knowledge of the terrain.\n \nBetween the Brooklyn Heights fortifications and the British encampment r an a rugged\, forested ridge called the Gowanus Heights.\n\n4 passes cut i n or around it-- Gowanus\, Flatbush\, Bedford\, and Jamaica.\n\nWith Washi ngton's approval\, Putnam ordered 3\,000 of his men to dig in and hold the ridge and 3 of the passes.\n\nUnaccountably\, the Jamaica Pass remained v irtually unguarded.\n\nWashington makes a number of serious tactical mista kes when he's commander of the American military and none more serious tha n at Long Island.\n\nHe'd been a surveyor.\n\nHe should have known the val ue of completely understanding the ground that you're trying to defend.\n\ nHe doesn't.\n\nHe doesn't go and explore the ground toward Jamaica\, whic h is the far end of this glacial feature\, and doesn't recognize that he c an be outflanked by the British.\n\nNarrator: The Battle of Long Island be gan in the early-morning hours of August 27\, 1776\, and it started with a skirmish over watermelons.\n\n♪ Around midnight\, Pennsylvania pickets at the Red Lion Inn on the far right of the American lines had dimly glimp sed two shadowy figures in a melon patch.\n\nThey were British foragers ou t in front of a large force of redcoats and hoping for a treat before they were sent against the enemy.\n\n[Gunfire] The Pennsylvanians opened fire. \n\nA few minutes later\, a British musket volley from the woods sent the Americans running back to camp.\n\nWith the British attack underway\, Gene ral William Alexander was ordered to organize a force to try and stop it.\ n\nAlexander and 1\,600 men took up positions south of a salt marsh and mi ll pond next to Gowanus Creek as 5\,000 British troops advanced toward the m.\n\nWith no trees or stone walls for cover\, American and British forces stood in line\, European style\, and fired musket volleys and artillery a t one another.\n\n\"Both the balls and shells flew very fast\,\" a Marylan d soldier remembered\, \"now and then taking off a head.\"\n\n♪ Meanwhil e\, in the center of the American lines\, British cannonfire ripped throug h the trees above the ridgeline\, where several hundred troops under New H ampshire General John Sullivan guarded the Flatbush and Bedford passes.\n\ nHessian and Highland regiments advanced toward them with fixed bayonets\, retreating several times under furious American fire.\n\nWatching from a fort on Cobble Hill\, Washington was pleased with the way the fighting was going so far.\n\nBoth fronts seemed to be holding\, but he also sent for reinforcements from Manhattan.\n\n[Fife playing] Voice: Our sergeant major informed us that the regiment was ordered to Long Island.\n\nIt gave me a rather disagreeable feeling\, as I was pretty well-assured I should have to sniff a little gunpowder.\n\n[Gunfire] The horrors of battle then prese nted themselves to my mind in all their hideousness.\n\n\"I must come to i t now\,\" thought I. Joseph Plumb Martin.\n\nNarrator: Private Joseph Plum b Martin of the Connecticut militia was just 15 years old that summer\, 1 of 7 children of a small-town minister so quarrelsome\, he could not hold on to a congregation.\n\nMartin had wanted to enlist since Lexington and C oncord.\n\nOn July 6\, 1776\, he remembered\, he'd taken \"up the pen\, \" loaded it with the fatal charge [of ink]\, \"[and] wrote my name.\n\n[N]ow I was a soldier in name at least\, if not in practice.\"\n\nBefore the bo ats carrying Martin and his fellow soldiers could cross the East River to Brooklyn\, the tide of battle had begun to turn.\n\nThe British attacks on the American right and center\, which Washington's army seemed to have th warted\, had turned out to be mere demonstrations meant to occupy troops w ho might otherwise have defended against the main British assault.\n\nThat would soon begin on the American left.\n\nThe British had slipped through the undefended Jamaica Pass.\n\n12 hours earlier\, leaving their campfire s burning to confuse the Patriots\, General Henry Clinton had led some 10\ ,000 British and German soldiers north along a dirt road grandly called th e King's Highway.\n\nThey moved in silence\, guided by 3 Loyalist voluntee rs.\n\n♪ Atkinson: This is Clinton's idea.\n\nHe's persuaded Howe that t his is the right way to do it.\n\n\"Don't attack frontally.\n\n\"You don't want another Bunker Hill.\n\nGo around them\,\" so he leads-- it's a bett er part of 10\,000 men in the dark of night very quietly\, as quiet as 10\ ,000 men pulling artillery guns with horses can be.\n\nNarrator: The plan worked perfectly.\n\nThe British column\, nearly 2 miles long\, made it th rough the pass and reached the village of Bedford\, well behind American l ines and just 2 miles from the main fortifications on and around Brooklyn Heights.\n\n[2 cannon shots] General Clinton ordered 2 guns fired in quick succession\, the signal for British troops besieging the American right a nd center to move forward simultaneously\, trapping John Sullivan's men in between.\n\nSullivan ordered his gunners to turn their field pieces aroun d to fire at the enemy\, now rushing at them from behind\, but as they str uggled to do so\, Hessian grenadiers and Highland Scots swarmed up and ove r the Gowanus Heights\, firing and bayoneting as they came.\n\nIt was a ro ut.\n\nVoice: Blood\, carnage\, fire.\n\nMany\, many\, we fear\, are lost. \n\nSuch a dreadful din my ears never before heard.\n\nPhilip Fithian.\n\n [Gunfire] Atkinson: Muskets are mostly inaccurate beyond 80 yards and hope less beyond 120 yards\, so a lot of the killing is done with a bayonet\, a nd the bayonet is a nasty way to kill.\n\nIt's a nasty way to die.\n\nThis is really eyeball to eyeball\, nose to nose.\n\nIt's very intimate\, and that kind of intimacy is horrifying.\n\nNarrator: Hundreds of Americans su rrendered\, including General Sullivan.\n\n\"Their fear of the Hessian tro ops was indescribable\,\" the German commander General Heister remembered. \n\nVoice: When they caught only a glimpse of us\, they surrendered immedi ately and begged on their knees for their lives.\n\nI am surprised that th e British troops have achieved so little against these people.\n\n[Heister ] ♪ Voice: We soon landed at Brooklyn.\n\nWe now began to meet the wound ed men\, another sight I was unacquainted with\, some with broken arms\, s ome with broken legs\, and some with broken heads.\n\n[Martin] Narrator: T he fighting Joseph Plumb Martin was about to witness would prove the last and bloodiest of the day.\n\n[Gunfire and shouting] ♪ 3 British columns were now converging on General Alexander and his men on the American right .\n\nHe did his best to rally them\, but the number of attackers steadily grew.\n\nAlexander fell back\, and finally\, rather than see his command d estroyed\, he urged his men to retreat to the village of Brooklyn across t he tidal marshes that flanked Gowanus Creek.\n\nVoice: Such as could swim got across.\n\nThose that could not swim sunk.\n\nThe British were pouring the canister and grapeshot upon the Americans like a shower of hail.\n\nM any of them were killed in the pond and more were drowned.\n\n[Martin] Nar rator: To provide cover for his desperate men and to occupy the British tr oops firing at them from inside and around an old stone house\, Alexander led some 400 soldiers from Maryland into the enemy guns again and again.\n \nFewer than a dozen of them made it safely back to the American lines.\n\ nAlexander himself was forced to surrender.\n\n\"The slaughter was horribl e\,\" a Hessian chaplain wrote.\n\n\"I went over the battlefield among the dead\, who mostly had been hacked and shot all to pieces.\"\n\nAt least 2 00 Americans had been killed\, and perhaps a thousand more were captured.\ n\nWashington watched this final carnage through his spyglass.\n\nBy noon\ , it was all over.\n\nThe British believed they had won what one general c alled a \"cheap and complete victory.\"\n\nAtkinson: Washington's heartbro ken because he recognizes instantly what a catastrophe this has been.\n\nT he only saving grace is that enough of them pull back to form sort of an i nner defense around Brooklyn that gives the British pause.\n\nThey pull ba ck within those defenses.\n\nNow they've got their backs to the East River .\n\nThings are about as dire as they could possibly be.\n\nNarrator: Wash ington and the bulk of his battered army\, crowded now inside the defenses on Brooklyn Heights\, expected that at any moment\, the British would mou nt an all-out assault aimed at destroying them.\n\nGeneral William Howe's officers urged him to finish what he had begun\, but instead of ordering a n assault\, Howe stood down.\n\nHe knew his brother Richard's fleet was ab out to enter the East River and prevent the rebels from escaping by water. \n\nThe Americans were astonished.\n\n\"General Howe is either our friend or no general\,\" Israel Putnam said.\n\n\"He had our whole army in his po wer.\"\n\n[Thunder\, raining] Meanwhile\, a storm blew in and continued of f and on for the next 2 days.\n\nIt kept Admiral Howe's fleet from enterin g the East River.\n\nBy the middle of the second day\, Washington decided to try to withdraw his army to Manhattan.\n\nWashington sends out orders t hat every boat\, every fishing smack\, every canoe\, everything that float s that can be found be brought very secretly and very quietly to the landi ng\, very close to where Brooklyn Bridge now is on the Brooklyn side.\n\nN arrator: To man his mismatched flotilla\, he would call on 2 regiments of seasoned mariners and fishermen\, Black and White and Native American\, fr om Massachusetts coastal towns.\n\nColonel John Glover of Marblehead led o ne of the regiments.\n\nAs darkness fell\, Washington ordered his men to b egin moving silently down from the Heights to the ferry landing regiment b y regiment.\n\nVoice: I seized my musket and fell into the ranks.\n\nWe we re strictly enjoined not to speak or even cough.\n\nAll orders were commun icated in whispers.\n\nJoseph Plumb Martin.\n\n♪ Atkinson: A providentia l breeze comes up that allows them to raise sails and get across the East River\, and then an even more providential fog rolls in\, and it obscures what's happening.\n\n♪ Narrator: All through the night\, John Glover and his men from Marblehead sailed or rowed or paddled back and forth undetec ted\, ferrying more than 9\,000 men as well as horses\, artillery\, and ba ggage wagons to safety in Manhattan.\n\nAtkinson: When dawn breaks\, the B ritish realize everyone's gone.\n\nThey see the last of the boats disappea ring across the river in the traces of fog.\n\n[Cannonfire] And they fire a few shots pointlessly at this retreating gaggle\, including Washington i n one of the last boats\, and the Americans escape to Manhattan Island and get away to fight another day.\n\n♪ Narrator: The Battle of Long Island was the largest battle of the American Revolution.\n\nIt had been a devas tating defeat for George Washington and the Patriot cause\, but his army w as still alive.\n\n♪ [Birds chirping] Voice: Braintree\, Massachusetts-- The best accounts we can collect from New York assure us that our men fou ght valiantly.\n\nWe are no ways dispirited here.\n\nIf our men are all dr awn off and we should be attacked\, you would find a race of Amazons in Am erica.\n\nAbigail Adams.\n\n♪ Narrator: Every army engaged on either sid e in the Revolution would be accompanied by a moving village of civilians- - men\, women\, and children.\n\nMost of the women were soldiers' wives wh o cared for the wounded and washed and cooked and mended for the troops.\n \nSome sold provisions\, including rum.\n\nGeorge Washington often resente d feeding all the women and children\, but he also understood\, he said\, that he had somehow to provide for them \"or lose by Desertion-- perhaps t o the Enemy-- some of the oldest and best Soldiers in the Service.\"\n\nWo men acted as spies\, and a handful disguised themselves and fought as men until they were found out\, but most made their contributions to the war e ffort away from the battlefield.\n\nVoice: Preston\, Connecticut-- Dear hu sband\, I hope that I shall have the pleasure of your company at home this winter.\n\nThe anxieties of the mind cannot be accounted for\, especially when ties of flesh and blood bind them.\n\nMy only comfort now is at pres ent in the dear\, little pledges of our love--our children.\n\nWhen I see them\, I see my dear when so glorious a cause calls him from my arms.\n\nM y country\, o my country.\n\nYour affectionate wife till death\, Lois.\n\n ♪ Narrator: With sons and husbands and fathers away\, some women turned their homes into boarding houses to pay the bills.\n\nOn farms\, women alr eady caring for children and households now slaughtered hogs\, cut and sta cked firewood\, harvested wheat\, and brought it to market.\n\nVoice: The men say we have no business with political matters\, it is not in our sphe re\, but I won't have it thought that we are capable of nothing more than minding the dairy\, visiting the poultry house\, and all such domestic con cerns.\n\nOur thoughts can soar aloft.\n\nWe can form conceptions of thing s of higher nature.\n\nEliza Wilkinson.\n\n♪ Voice: Can you be surprised that the Negroes should endeavor to recover their freedom when they daily hear at the tables of their masters how much the Americans are applauded for the stand they are making for theirs?\n\n[John Purrier] [Rhiannon Gidd ens singing \"Dean Cadalan Samhach\"] ♪ Jane Kamensky: The liberty talk that proliferates through British America originates in coffee houses and across dining tables.\n\nIt surfaces in letters and in pamphlets.\n\nThose pamphlets are excerpted in newspapers and travel up and down the coast.\n \nEven letters\, like newspapers\, are read aloud\, so we know that the la nguage of liberty is contagious and is leaky\, leaky in that there are pla nter-class people in Jamaica saying\, \"You know\, this stuff is kind of h ot\, \"so watch it when you're talking \"because you know all those Black and Brown people \"who are standing\, serving around the edges of your roo m\, they have ears.\"\n\n[Giddens continues singing \"Dean Cadalan Samhach \"] Voice: The signal was to be given first by discharging a gun at Batche lors Hall Plantation.\n\nThey were then to rise in general rebellion and a ttack the several estates\, and put to death all the White people they cou ld.\n\nSam.\n\n♪ Narrator: That same summer of 1776 in Northwestern Jama ica\, enslaved men\, women\, and children living on 47 different plantatio ns secretly conspired to overthrow their enslavers\, hoping their rebellio n would spread across the whole island and unite the people of African des cent living there\, including Igbos\, Creoles\, and Coromantees.\n\nThe pl anned revolt was an unintended consequence of the American Revolution.\n\n The American ban on trade with the British had denied enslaved Jamaicans t he food they needed to survive.\n\nThen London ordered almost half the sol diers who policed the island to sail northward to strengthen General Howe' s forces in New York.\n\nTheir departure was supposed to be the signal for enslaved people to rise up\, but before the plot could get underway\, a c hild was discovered emptying his overseer's pistol and was made to reveal what he knew of the conspiracy.\n\nThe Royal governor declared martial law .\n\nThe revolt was crushed.\n\n135 people were put on trial.\n\n17 were e xecuted.\n\n11 were beaten\, and 45 were torn from their families and depo rted to other islands... [Giddens singing \"Angola\"] Narrator: but that s ummer and fall\, there were other sporadic uprisings or rumors of uprising s among enslaved workers on other British islands-- Saint Kitts\, Montserr at\, Antigua\, Barbados-- all of them striking fear in American slaveholde rs.\n\nVincent Brown: Slave rebellions were usually unsuccessful\, so you wonder\, why would you fight?\n\nSlavery was so incredibly horrifying.\n\n It was a regime of terror\, right\, that was very\, very difficult to with stand.\n\nPeople can abuse\, rape\, torture\, murder enslaved persons with out consequences\, so if you just imagine that situation and that kind of desperation\, it becomes clearer why\, when given an opportunity\, you wou ld fight against that.\n\n♪ [Birds chirping] Narrator: On September 11\, 1776\, 3 delegates of the Continental Congress-- John Adams of Massachuse tts\, Edward Rutledge of South Carolina\, and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsyl vania-- made their way to a Loyalist's house on Staten Island for a meetin g with Admiral Howe\, who was hoping to persuade the Congress to negotiate a peace.\n\n♪ Howe did what he could to reassure the delegates that all could still be forgiven if only the Americans would abandon independence. \n\n\"If America should fall\,\" he told the delegates\, \"[I] should feel and lament it like the loss of a brother.\"\n\n\"[W]e will do our utmost\ ,\" Franklin answered\, \"to save Your Lordship that mortification.\"\n\n\ "They met.\n\nThey talked.\n\nThey parted\,\" Admiral Howe's secretary sai d\, \"and now nothing remains but to fight it out.\"\n\nThere was no going back.\n\nHowe apologized to his visitors for wasting their time.\n\nChris topher Brown: The British government throughout the first few years of the war really thought that a show of force would bring the majority of Ameri cans to their senses and that the instigators\, the provocateurs\, the one s who were responsible for the uprising would be captured\, killed\, or th eir neighbors would just say\, \"Enough.\n\nWe don't actually want to go t o war with our own nation.\"\n\n♪ Voice: On our side\, the war should be defensive.\n\nWe should on all occasions avoid a general action or put an ything to the risk unless compelled by a necessity into which we ought nev er to be drawn.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nNarrator: Back in New York City\, Washington again expected another British attack and again didn't know wh ere or when it was likely to come\, so again he divided what was left of h is forces.\n\nLeaving behind General Putnam and some 3\,500 men to hold th e city itself\, General Washington led most of his troops north toward the tiny village of Harlem.\n\nMilitiamen were posted along the East River op posite Long Island.\n\nJoseph Plumb Martin found himself with 500 Connecti cut troops at Kips Bay.\n\nAt the same time\, 5 British frigates sailed up the river and anchored on the opposite shore.\n\nAt 11:00 in the morning on September 15th\, they opened fire.\n\n[Cannonfire] Voice: I thought my head would go with the sound.\n\nI made a frog's leap for the ditch and la y as still as I possibly could and began to consider which part of my carc ass was to go first.\n\nWe kept the lines till they were almost leveled up on us\, when our officers gave the order to leave.\n\n[Martin] Narrator: A s Martin and his comrades ran\, 4\,000 enemy troops began coming ashore at Kips Bay\, among them Hessians who bayoneted several wounded Americans an d mutilated the dead.\n\nVoice: Our people were all militia\, and the demo ns of fear and disorder seemed to take full possession of all and everythi ng that day.\n\n[Martin] [Gunfire] Narrator: Then General Washington seeme d to appear out of nowhere\, ordering his stampeding men to form a defensi ve line.\n\n\"Take the walls\,\" he bellowed.\n\n\"Take the cornfield.\"\n \nThey kept running.\n\n\"Are these the men with which I am to defend Amer ica?\"\n\nWashington was known for being aloof\, terse\, stoical\, but\, \ "Those who have seen him strongly moved\,\" a friend remembered\, could \" bear witness that his wrath was terrible.\"\n\nHe seemed stunned and urged his horse forward toward the oncoming Hessians.\n\nAn aide snatched his h orse's bridle and led his commander out of harm's way.\n\nColonel John Glo ver and his regiment from Marblehead\, Massachusetts\, which had just made Washington's escape from Long Island possible\, rushed up and were able t o slow the British advance... [Gunfire] but many Patriots did not stop run ning until they reached the safety of strongly fortified American position s on the plateau known as Harlem Heights.\n\nThe British were slow to foll ow the fleeing rebels.\n\nGeneral Howe wanted to wait until thousands more troops were ashore on Manhattan Island.\n\nThe delay gave General Putnam time to lead his men north out of New York City to join Washington in Harl em.\n\nThe British entered the abandoned city in triumph.\n\nVoice: The Ki ng's forces took possession of the place\, incredible as it may seem\, wit hout the loss of a man.\n\nA woman pulled down the rebel standard upon the fort and\, after trampling it underfoot with the most contemptuous indign ation\, hoisted up in its stead His Majesty's flag.\n\nAmbrose Searle\, Se cretary to Admiral Howe.\n\nJasanoff: New York City becomes the great Brit ish stronghold of the American Revolution.\n\nOnce the Continental Army is driven out\, the Patriots don't want to stick around\, and they tend to g o\, too.\n\nMeanwhile\, the Loyalists come into the city.\n\nPeople stream in from the countryside to take shelter\, and the city becomes this kind of garrison town.\n\nNarrator: Hundreds of Loyalists would formally reaffi rm their allegiance to George III by signing a document they called their Declaration of Dependence.\n\nOver the coming weeks\, more Loyalists poure d into the city\, now eager to take up arms in the King's cause.\n\n[Fifes and drums playing] Voice: It is the cause of truth against falsehood\, of loyalty against rebellion\, of legal government against usurpation.\n\nIn short\, it is the cause of human happiness.\n\nCharles Inglis.\n\nNarrato r: Over the course of the war\, as many as 50\,000 Americans volunteered t o serve in Loyalist militia companies or in provincial units attached to t he British Army-- the King's American Regiment\, the Queen's American Rang ers\, the Prince of Wales' American Volunteers\, the Royal Highland Emigra nts\, and the British Legion.\n\nEveryone knew someone who fought for the other side.\n\nEven Benjamin Franklin's son William\, the deposed Royal Go vernor of New Jersey\, remained faithful to his king and was imprisoned fo r it.\n\n[Distant cannonfire] Voice: Had I been left to the dictates of my own judgment\, New York should have been lain in ashes.\n\nTo this end\, I applied to Congress but was absolutely forbid.\n\nProvidence--or some go od\, honest fellow-- has done more for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\n[Flames crackling] Voice: September 21 \, 1776.\n\nWe are a good deal alarmed at a fire that must have spread ama zingly\, for though we are 6 1/2 miles from the town\, we could see a pin on the ground by the light of the blaze.\n\nLoftus Cliffe.\n\nNarrator: Ne w York City was on fire.\n\nThe next morning\, Irish-born Lieutenant Loftu s Cliffe\, who had already survived 3 battles\, went for a walk through th e still-smoldering streets.\n\nVoice: I cannot paint the misery of a very pretty town near as large as Cork now reduced.\n\nTwo churches\, the gover nor's house\, and several other fine buildings are in ruins\, being set af ire in different places at once in the dead of last night.\n\nTheir design was to destroy the town.\n\nO Washington\, what have you to answer for?\n \n[Cliffe] Narrator: The origins of the fire remained a mystery\, but Gene ral Howe was convinced it had been set by rebels\, and the next day when s oldiers brought before him an American spy captured behind British lines\, he showed no mercy.\n\nHowe ordered Captain Nathan Hale\, a member of an elite espionage unit organized by George Washington\, to be hanged the fol lowing morning.\n\nAs he went to the gallows\, a British officer remembere d\, Hale \"behaved with great composure and resolution.\"\n\nAbove his bod y\, British soldiers hung a sign labeled\, \"George Washington\,\" the man they all blamed for setting fire to New York City.\n\n♪ Alan Taylor: A lot is riding on George Washington's performance not only in the battlefie ld\, but in his relationship with Congress and his relationship with the s tates\, his relationship with his soldiers.\n\nGeorge Washington understan ds that his role is not just military.\n\nIt's also political.\n\nHe has t o project dignity.\n\nHe has to project authority.\n\nHe has to also do th is while projecting deference to Congress.\n\nHe cannot become a dictator. \n\n♪ Voice: We have been sent into life at a time when the greatest law givers of antiquity would have wished to have lived\, when\, before the pr esent epocha\, had 3 millions of people full power and a fair opportunity to form and establish the wisest and happiest government that human wisdom can contrive.\n\n[Gavel bangs] John Adams.\n\n♪ Narrator: As Washington and Howe faced off against one another in New York\, in Philadelphia\, th e Continental Congress had been laboring to adopt Articles of Confederatio n\, meant to formally bind all 13 states together while also guaranteeing the independence of each\, a first tentative step toward a permanent gover nment for the new United States.\n\n♪ Taylor: When we think about our Am erican Revolution\, we\, of course\, think about independence from Britain \, and that's a big deal\, but we also need to think about this is the for mation of republican government\, and it's also the formation of our union of our states\, and all 3 of those were enormous gambles.\n\nThey were un precedented.\n\nThere had never been the foundation of a republic out of a revolution... [Gavel bangs] and these 13 colonies had had bitter rivalrie s with one another\, and so forming a union out of these states was gonna be as difficult as achieving independence from Britain.\n\n[Gavel banging rapidly] Narrator: Congress debated draft articles for weeks on the first floor of the Pennsylvania State House\, where they had just declared indep endence in July.\n\nThey were held up over a host of issues\, including ap portionment\, boundary disputes\, taxation\, and autonomy of the individua l states.\n\nCongress was a disputatious assembly and not necessarily an e fficient assembly through these years.\n\nYes\, they are running a war.\n\ nYes\, they are founding a nation\, but there's also a tremendous amount o f infighting.\n\nThere's a tremendous amount of inertia.\n\nThere are more committees than anyone could count\, and there were secret committees.\n\ nFor example\, the first person sent to France to solicit aid from the Fre nch for the Revolution is sent without the knowledge of the rest of Congre ss.\n\nAs John Jay will later say to George Washington\, \"There is as muc h intrigue in Congress \"as there is at the Vatican\, and as little secrec y as there is in a boarding school.\"\n\n♪ Narrator: Meanwhile\, upstair s in the same building\, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania held a conventio n of its own to establish its government.\n\nSimilar meetings were being h eld in other states.\n\nAll of the new constitutions would guarantee freed om of the press\, fair trials\, and due process under law and made sure po wer rested not with autocratic governors\, but with legislators elected by propertied men.\n\nPennsylvania took things a step further.\n\nThey creat ed the most egalitarian constitution in the new United States with a Bill of Rights and a one-house legislature elected by taxpaying workingmen as w ell as property owners\, all of which worried many of the delegates downst airs.\n\nWilliam Hogeland: Pennsylvania had a radical constitution where a lmost any White\, free man could vote and stand for office\, which had nev er happened before pretty much anywhere.\n\nPeople were committed to using the revolution to make it a real social revolution\, a real economic revo lution\, and get free\, working people-- men\, White men-- a say in govern ment\, which was a radical idea at the time.\n\nJohn Adams wasn't for that .\n\nSamuel Adams wasn't for that.\n\nRichard Henry Lee wasn't for that.\n \nWhen John Adams read that constitution\, his response was\, quote\, \"Go od God!\"\n\n♪ Voice: In the new code of laws\, I desire you would remem ber the ladies and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancest ors.\n\nDo not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands.\n\ nRemember\, all men would be tyrants if they could.\n\nIf particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies\, we are determined to foment a re bellion and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation.\n\nAbigail Adams.\n\nVoice: There will be no end of it.\n\nNew claims will arise.\n\nWomen will demand a vote.\n\nLads from 12 to 21 will think their rights not enough attended to\, and every man w ho has not a farthing will demand an equal voice with any other in all act s of state.\n\nIt tends to confound and destroy all distinctions and prost rate all ranks to one common level.\n\nJohn Adams.\n\nHogeland: It's a mis conception to think of the founders as being pro-democracy\, but I think i t's also a misconception to think that their failure to be democratic is s ome sort of flaw or error or something they just kind of missed.\n\nThey w ere very adamantly opposed to democracy.\n\nDemocracy came to America\, wi th all of the problems that came with it\, not as a direct purpose of the American Revolution\, really\, but as an unintended consequence.\n\nNarrat or: By the time Pennsylvania had ratified its constitution\, the debates o ver the Articles of Confederation downstairs in Congress had become so hea ted\, the prospect of compromise seemed so remote that the delegates agree d to table the subject.\n\nFrustrated and worried about his sick wife\, Th omas Jefferson returned home to Virginia\, the place he still called \"my country.\"\n\n[Birds chirping] ♪ Voice: Camp near Kingsbridge-- Amidst a ll the distress and ruins of this dreadful war\, I am yet alive and yours. \n\nOur enemies pursue us close from place to place.\n\nI pray God daily t hat you\, my dear wife\, forever may you be happy.\n\nPhilip.\n\nNarrator: Days after writing to his wife\, Chaplain Fithian fell victim to dysenter y\, the disease that had killed so many of the men whose last moments he'd filled with prayer.\n\nHe was carried to a hospital tent.\n\nThere was no thing anyone could do.\n\n♪ Voice: October 8th-- This morning about 10:0 0\, Mr.\n\nFithian closed his eyes upon the things of time and is gone to a spiritual world.\n\nAndrew Hunter.\n\n♪ [Bells tolling] Narrator: News of the American defeat on Long Island at the end of August did not reach London till October 10th.\n\nIt was greeted with what one courtier called \"an extravagance of joy.\"\n\nThe King promised General Howe a knighthood .\n\nNow that the Americans had seen how futile it was to defy British reg ulars\, they would surely come to their senses and sue for peace.\n\nNot a ll Englishmen shared that view.\n\n♪ Voice: London.\n\nTo the printer of the \"Public Advertiser\"-- Sir\, I find that the late action at Long Isl and has made a considerable impression upon the Public\; the Friends of Mi nistry thinking everything gained\, the Friends of America everything lost .\n\nBecause the last action was in our favor\, we think we are to succeed in the next\, but liberty takes a great deal of killing\, and the courage of freemen is the same thing on both sides of the Atlantic.\n\nThe Americ ans are daily improving in Arms and in Hatred.\n\nWe see only the Beginnin g of Sorrows\;-- Benefit to neither-- Misery to both.\n\n[The Public Adver tiser] Voice: Ticonderoga appears to be the last part of the world that Go d made\, and I have some ground to believe it was finished in the dark\, t hat it was never intended that man should live in it is clear\, for the pe ople who have attempted to make any stay have\, for the most part\, perish ed by pestilence or the sword.\n\nGeneral Anthony Wayne.\n\nNarrator: By t he fall of 1776\, only half of the 11\,000 Americans who manned Ticonderog a and Crown Point on Lake Champlain were fit for duty.\n\nThe smallpox thr eat was lifting\, but thousands still suffered from other diseases.\n\nMor ale was further weakened by antagonism among men from the supposedly Unite d States.\n\nNew Englanders brawled with Pennsylvanians so often that they had been sent to the opposite shore to set up a separate fortification on a hilltop called Mount Independence.\n\nAfter the American retreat from Q uebec City in early 1776\, a British drive down the Hudson seemed inevitab le.\n\nBefore British General Guy Carleton's army could even reach the Hud son\, he had to sail south and seize the two American forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga\, and before he could do that\, he had to put together a fleet at the lake's northern end.\n\nThat had taken months.\n\nCalloway: T his water route is a corridor.\n\nIt's been called the Warpath of Nations\ , where Indian warriors from Canada had raided down the Champlain Valley\, down the Hudson River\, and so this was-- this was like an open door.\n\n Narrator: The Americans had just 4 ships with which to oppose the British fleet.\n\nMany more were needed.\n\nTiconderoga's commander\, a former Bri tish major named Horatio Gates\, appointed his most enterprising officer t o get the job done.\n\nBenedict Arnold was still limping from the wound he 'd received at Quebec and was still angry at having been accused of steali ng supplies during the retreat from Montreal.\n\nGates had dismissed Arnol d's detractors.\n\n\"Men of little merit are ever jealous of those who hav e a great deal.\"\n\nVoice: The enemy will soon have a considerable naval force.\n\nI make no doubt of their soon paying us a visit.\n\nI beg that a t least 100 good seamen may be sent to me as soon as possible.\n\nBenedict Arnold.\n\nNarrator: Arnold transformed the tiny settlement of Skenesboro ugh\, 20 miles below Ticonderoga\, into a bustling shipyard.\n\nHe had hop ed for a fleet of at least 30 vessels but had to settle for just 15.\n\nVo ice: I intend to come up as high as Isle Valcour\, where is a good harbor and where we shall have the advantage of attacking the enemy in the open l ake.\n\n[Arnold] Narrator: When the British flotilla finally started south on Lake Champlain\, Carleton commanded nearly twice as many vessels as Ar nold did\, armed with more than twice as many guns\, manned by 700 seasone d crewmen\, and carrying 10\,000 British and German troops and 400 Native allies.\n\nArnold and his fleet were waiting for them in a cove hidden beh ind Valcour Island.\n\n[Cannonfire] As Carleton's fleet slid past\, 4 Amer ican ships moved out onto the lake to engage the British\, Arnold personal ly directing the guns of his flagship-- the \"Congress.\"\n\n[Gunfire] By evening\, the fleets had fought to a standoff.\n\nThe Americans had lost 2 vessels but succeeded in blowing up a British gunboat.\n\nAs darkness fel l\, Carleton ordered his fleet to keep the Americans trapped so that he co uld destroy them the following day... ♪ but at 7:00\, while fog covered the lake and Carleton and his officers were dining below deck\, Arnold for med his battered ships into a single line and then ordered them with muffl ed oars and in complete silence to glide slowly past the British squadron. \n\n♪ When Carleton finally caught up with them\, they began a running b attle that went on for 2 days.\n\nBritish firepower took a steady toll.\n\ nArnold eventually ordered his flagship and 4 other vessels run aground in Button Mould Bay and set on fire.\n\nHe and his men escaped into the fore st.\n\nWhen they reached Crown Point\, Arnold realized the fortifications there could not withstand a serious British attack and ordered them burned to the ground.\n\n[Flames crackling] \"At 4:00 [in the] morning\, I reach ed [Ticonderoga]\,\" Arnold recalled\, \"exceedingly fatigued and unwell\, having been without sleep or refreshment for near 3 days.\"\n\nVoice: It has pleased Providence to preserve General Arnold.\n\nFew men ever met wit h so many hairbreadth escapes in so short a space of time.\n\nHoratio Gate s.\n\nPhilbrick: The battle was not a victory for the Americans\, but it i s one of the great slugfests of naval warfare\, and it happens on a lake.\ n\nIt convinced the British that it was gonna be much more difficult to ta ke Ticonderoga than they thought.\n\nNarrator: The American force at Ticon deroga had grown to 15\,000\, and its fortifications had been strengthened .\n\nCarleton now believed a long siege would be needed to take it.\n\nThe n it began to snow.\n\nOnce the lake froze\, provisioning his forces would be difficult\, and a retreat would be impossible.\n\nCarleton turned arou nd and withdrew\, eventually going into winter quarters at Quebec City far to the north.\n\nThe British began to plan a second\, more significant in vasion for the next spring.\n\n[Digging] [Man grunts] Voice: The rebels ha ve taken positions upon amazing\, strong hills and works they have all the way to Kingsbridge.\n\nTheir soldiers would rather work than fight.\n\nOu rs would rather fight than work\, but General Howe was determined to not r un our heads against their works.\n\nLoftus Cliffe.\n\nNarrator: For the b etter part of a month\, Washington's and Howe's armies warily faced one an other at Harlem Heights\, \"as quiet\,\" an American lieutenant recalled\, \"as if they were a thousand miles apart.\"\n\nWith little to do\, soldie rs on both sides went into the surrounding countryside\, where they plunde red homes\, terrified civilians\, and then burned their houses to cover up their crimes.\n\nBaer: Plunder is more or less an accepted part of warfar e in the 18th century.\n\nThe British\, the Hessian\, and the American gen erals all worry about that.\n\nWashington worries about that.\n\nHis men p lunder\, and he's like\, \"Can you stop?\n\nPlease don't do this.\n\nYou'r e alienating the people.\"\n\nNarrator: \"Militiamen\,\" Washington compla ined to Congress\, \"were undisciplined\, disobedient\, \"liable to run in stead of fight\, 'hurtful' to the cause.\"\n\nTo make matters worse\, the 12-month enlistments in the Continental Army\, begun in Boston the previou s winter\, would soon be running out.\n\nAt the end of the year\, Washingt on would again have to raise and train a whole new army.\n\nHe understood that appeals to patriotism alone would no longer work.\n\n[Shouting] Voice : When men are irritated and the passions inflamed\, they fly hastily and cheerfully to arms\, but after the first emotions are over\, to expect tha t they are influenced by any other principle than those of interest is to look for what never did and\, I fear\, never will happen.\n\n[Washington] Narrator: Congress agreed to authorize 88 new battalions.\n\nThe number ea ch state was to provide depended on their free populations.\n\nThe states would never come close to meeting those goals.\n\nVoice: The policy of Con gress has been the most absurd and ridiculous imaginable\, pouring in mili tiamen who come and go every month.\n\nPeople coming from home with all th e tender feelings of domestic life are not sufficiently fortified with nat ural courage to stand the shocking scenes of war\, to march over dead men\ , to hear without concern the groanings of the wounded.\n\nI say few men c an stand such scenes unless steeled by habit or fortified by military prid e.\n\nNathanael Greene.\n\n♪ Narrator: On October 11th\, 150 vessels thr eaded their way up the East River and into Long Island Sound with 4\,000 B ritish and Hessian troops.\n\nTheir objective was to get behind Washington 's forces in Northern Manhattan.\n\nTo avoid that\, Washington began a ful l-scale retreat\, following the west bank of the Bronx River for 18 miles north toward the seat of Westchester County-- White Plains.\n\n[Cannonfire ] By the time the British forces got there on October 28th\, the American line stretched for 3 miles through the village\, anchored on the right by the lightly defended Chatterton Hill.\n\n[Gunfire] General Howe sent 2 col umns up the slope.\n\nPatriot militiamen predictably scattered\, but the C ontinentals held.\n\nAs the British approached\, a Connecticut colonel tol d his men\, \"Fire at their legs.\n\n\"One man wounded is better than a de ad one\, \"for it takes two more to carry him off\, and there is 3 gone\,\ " but British artillery took a fearful toll.\n\nVoice: A cannonball cut do wn Lieutenant Young's Platoon\, which was next to that of mine.\n\nThe bal l first took the head of Smith--a stout\, heavy man-- and dashed it open.\ n\nThen it took off Chilson's arm.\n\nIt then took Taylor across the bowel s.\n\nWhat a sight that was to see.\n\nThere was men with their legs and a rms and guns and packs all in a heap.\n\nPrivate Elijah Bostwick.\n\nNarra tor: At day's end\, Washington retreated east of White Plains.\n\nAgain Ge neral Howe made only a halfhearted effort to follow.\n\nBaer: The British essentially let Washington escape once again.\n\nOpportunities to just end this war right now are being wasted.\n\nVoice: Is it through incapacity o r by design of our commander that so many great opportunities are let slip ?\n\nI am inclined to adopt the latter.\n\nCaptain William Bamford.\n\n♪ Conway: There are moments when General Howe in particular seems to hold b ack from delivering the final knockout blow.\n\nThere's that feeling\, the very torn and conflicted feeling\, about whether the Americans are truly enemies or misguided subjects who need to be encouraged to come back into the fold.\n\n[Horse neighs] Narrator: As Howe headed back towards Manhatta n\, Washington crossed the Hudson and headed south.\n\nHe thought it most likely that Howe planned to race across New Jersey and capture Philadelphi a before winter set in.\n\nHe had again misjudged his adversary.\n\nHowe a ctually wanted to take 2 forts on opposite sides of the Hudson that blocke d British ships from going upriver-- Fort Lee in New Jersey and Fort Washi ngton on Manhattan Island\, a crude\, star-shaped earthwork 265 feet above the river.\n\nFort Washington would come first.\n\n[Cannonfire] British g uns pounded the fort and the long line of trenches and redoubts that surro unded it.\n\nThe British troops who attacked from the south and east had c omparatively little trouble driving the defenders back behind the fort's w alls\, but Hessian troops under the command of General Wilhelm von Knyphau sen coming at them from the north had a much tougher task\, climbing a roc ky hillside covered by the tangled branches of felled trees and so steep t hat they had to grab at bushes to pull themselves up\, all under steady fi re from above.\n\nVoice: Before us\, beside\, and upon one another\, we sa w our unfortunate comrades shattered\, dead on the Earth in their own bloo d.\n\nEven the air seemed filled with fear.\n\nLieutenant Johann Friedrich von Bardeleben.\n\nNarrator: Margaret Corbin\, a Pennsylvania artilleryma n's wife\, was standing near her husband when he was mortally wounded.\n\n She stepped in and kept up such deadly fire that her position became a tar get for Hessian guns.\n\nGrapeshot eventually hit her jaw and breast and r endered her left arm useless.\n\n3 years later\, she would become the firs t woman to receive a lifetime disability pension but at half the rate woun ded men received.\n\nAmerican muskets eventually clogged from overuse.\n\n The defenders fell back and were forced to surrender\, nearly 3\,000 men.\ n\nThe British renamed Fort Washington Fort Knyphausen after the victoriou s German general.\n\nAs the battered captives made their 12-mile march sou th to New York City\, British soldiers and Loyalists lined the road\, jeer ing and cursing.\n\nOfficers were often paroled after pledging not to take up arms again\, but enlisted men were given no such option.\n\nInstead\, they were prodded into makeshift prisons already overcrowded with hundreds of prisoners taken at Quebec\, Long Island\, and Kips Bay.\n\n♪ There w ere no blankets\, little firewood\, and sometimes no food.\n\nRats scuttle d over the muddy straw that covered the floors.\n\nVoice: The men's appear ance in general resembled dead corpses more than living men.\n\nIndeed\, g reat numbers had already arrived at their long home\, and the remainder ap peared far advanced on the same journey.\n\nCaptain Jabez Fitch.\n\nNarrat or: Thousands of American prisoners would die by the end of 1776.\n\nBy th en\, the British had begun packing the prisoners into disused transport sh ips anchored in the East River.\n\nConditions there would prove worse than those on land.\n\nAtkinson: They die of exposure.\n\nThey die of malnutri tion.\n\nThey die of disease-- smallpox\, typhus\, typhoid\, dysentery.\n\ nWe have our own prison ships near Albany\, where British soldiers and Loy alists are kept in very awful conditions.\n\nIt's a deplorable part of the story of the American Revolution.\n\n♪ Narrator: Early on November 20\, 1776\, some 5\,000 British and Hessian troops crossed the Hudson and bega n struggling up the slippery\, 440-foot rock face of the New Jersey Palisa des\, so steep the Patriots had not believed anyone could climb it.\n\nThe British commander was General Charles Cornwallis\, who then ordered his m en to start marching south toward Fort Lee\, 6 miles away.\n\nGeneral Nath anael Greene had already begun to evacuate it when the enemy took Fort Was hington.\n\nNow he ordered everyone remaining to leave immediately.\n\n♪ Voice: The rebels fled like scared rabbits.\n\nNot a rascal of them could be seen.\n\nThey have left some poor pork\, a few greasy proclamations\, and some of that scoundrel \"Common Sense\" man's letters\, which we can r ead at our leisure.\n\n[British officer] ♪ Narrator: By evening\, Greene and most of his 2\,000 men managed to link up with Washington's force at New Bridge on the Hackensack River.\n\nVoice: They marched 2 abreast\, loo ked ragged\, some without a shoe to their feet and most of them wrapped in their blankets.\n\nThe next evening\, the British encamped on the other s ide of the Hackensack.\n\nWe could see their fires about 100 yards apart g leaming brilliantly in the gloom of the night\, extending for more than a mile along the river.\n\nReverend Theodore Roneyn.\n\nNarrator: As his arm y retreated across the state\, followed by Cornwallis with a far larger fo rce\, Washington hoped somehow\, somewhere to offer battle\, but Cornwalli s had orders from General Howe to avoid confrontation.\n\nFrom Howe's vant age point\, there was no need for another major battle.\n\nThe rebel army was shrinking daily.\n\nWhat one officer called \"the devil of desertion\" had infected Washington's ranks.\n\nMen were simply drifting away into th e countryside.\n\nWhen Washington called upon the states for 5\,000 more t roops\, he was met mostly by silence.\n\nHis aide-de-camp Joseph Reed expr essed the General's continued frustrations.\n\nVoice: When I look round an d see how few of the numbers who talked so largely of death and honor are around me\, I am lost in wonder.\n\nYour noisy Sons of Liberty are\, I fin d\, the quietest in the field.\n\n[Joseph Reed] ♪ Narrator: To compound things\, Washington's second in command-- General Charles Lee\, who had be en stationed in Westchester County with a sizable force-- responded to Was hington's repeated requests to hurry to his aid with one excuse after anot her.\n\nLee was scornful of Washington\, hoped someday to replace him as c ommander in chief\, and saw himself as not subject to Washington's orders. \n\nOn November 30th\, the British issued a proclamation aimed at restorin g their rule in New Jersey.\n\nAnyone willing to swear \"peaceable obedien ce to His Majesty\" within 60 days would receive \"a free and General Pard on.\"\n\nMore than 3\,000 New Jersey residents took them up on the offer\, and hundreds answered the call for Loyalists to fight alongside the Briti sh regulars.\n\nNew Jersey's Patriot government fled\, but while General H owe was offering pardons\, his soldiers were demanding provisions from civ ilians.\n\n[Pounding on door] Edward Lengel: The people who were really at the sharp end of the sword were the civilians\, and if you think from the point of view of somebody\, say\, a mother of a family-- who's on her far m\, you know that the very little that you have to survive can be destroye d in an instant.\n\n[Glass shattering] Voice: Tories lead the relentless f oreigners to the houses of their neighbors and strip poor women and childr en of everything they have to eat or wear\, and after plundering them in t his sort\, the brutes often ravish the mothers and daughters and compel th e fathers and sons to behold their brutality.\n\nNathanael Greene.\n\nConw ay: As an army is advancing and occupying new territories\, dreadful thing s happen.\n\nWe see lots of instances of rape and sexual assault of women. \n\nSadly\, this is not unusual in all wars.\n\nNarrator: Mary Campbell of Hunterdon County\, New Jersey\, told a judge what British troops had done to her.\n\nVoice: Mary Campbell\, wife of Daniel Campbell\, sayeth that s ometime in December\, a number of soldiers belonging to the King of Great Britain's army came to the house of her father.\n\nTwo of them seized hold of her arms and dragged her out of the house to an old shop near the dwel ling house\, broke open the door\, and pulled her in against all her cries and entreaties and swore if she did not hold her tongue\, they would run her through with a bayonet.\n\n3 of said soldiers successively had knowled ge of the body of this deponent\, she being 5 months and upwards advanced in her pregnancy at that time.\n\nHer mark\, Mary M. Campbell.\n\n♪ Narr ator: At Pennington\, 16 women fled into the woods to escape British soldi ers\, only to be dragged back and repeatedly assaulted.\n\nSuch behavior\, one British officer admitted\, was \"calculated to lose you friends and g ain you enemies.\"\n\nIt did\, and people soon began taking revenge.\n\nNe w Jersey militiamen took up arms again less out of devotion to the revolut ionary cause than out of anger at what was being done to them and their fa milies.\n\n[Gunshot] Voice: It is now very unsafe for us to travel in New Jersey.\n\nThe peasants meet our men alone or in small unarmed groups.\n\n They have their rifles hidden in the bushes or ditches and the like.\n\nWh en they see one or several men belonging to our army\, they shoot them in the head\, then quickly hide their rifles and pretend they know nothing.\n \nCaptain Friedrich von Munchhausen.\n\n♪ ♪ Voice: No lads ever show g reater activity in retreating than we have.\n\nOur soldiers are the best f ellows in the world at this business.\n\nLieutenant Colonel Samuel Webb.\n \nNarrator: Hackensack\, Acquackanonk\, Newark\, Spanktown\, New Brunswick \, Princeton\, Trenton.\n\nIn 12 days\, the Americans fell back some 70 mi les.\n\nOn December 2nd\, Washington began to take his army across the Del aware River into Pennsylvania.\n\nThe news continued to be bad for the Pat riot cause.\n\nGeneral Henry Clinton landed 7\,000 British and Hessian reg ulars at Newport\, Rhode Island\, without firing a shot.\n\nLike New York City and New Jersey\, Rhode Island seemed likely lost.\n\nBritish forces w ere now just 60 miles from Philadelphia\, and the roads leading out of the city were choked with frightened refugees.\n\nCongress denied what it cal led the \"false and malicious\" rumors that it was planning to leave town and then fled to Baltimore.\n\nGeneral Charles Lee had finally given in to Washington's entreaties and had been slowly leading his force across New Jersey.\n\nOn the evening of December 12th\, he slipped away from his enca mpment to an isolated tavern in Basking Ridge.\n\nA Loyalist tipped off th e British.\n\nDragoons surrounded the building and seized the Continental Army's second in command.\n\nOne Hessian captain was exultant-- \"We have captured... the only rebel general whom we had cause to fear\"-- but then General Howe abruptly called off his campaign.\n\nWinter was coming.\n\nTh e Continental Congress was on the run.\n\nThere would be plenty of time th e following year\, he was certain\, to destroy what was left of Washington 's army and permanently end the rebellion.\n\n♪ While Howe and most of h is army withdrew to New York\, he left behind a chain of 17 garrisons stre tching from the Hudson to the Delaware.\n\nAtkinson: Things can hardly loo k darker than they look for Washington and his army and the hopes of the c ause in December of 1776.\n\nAs he gets into Pennsylvania and he's looking back across the Delaware River\, his options are very\, very limited.\n\n He's been evicted from New York.\n\nHis army is down to maybe 3\,000 men.\ n\nHe writes his brother at one point and says\, \"I think the game is pre tty near up.\"\n\nHe doesn't let his men know that he's feeling that despo ndent\, but he's feeling pretty glum.\n\n♪ Narrator: But now his army ha d begun to grow again.\n\nGeneral William Alexander\, who had been freed f rom British captivity\, arrived with a thousand ragged reinforcements.\n\n A thousand Philadelphia militia appeared.\n\nGeneral John Sullivan\, also exchanged\, brought in 2\,000 more men who had served under the captured G eneral Lee.\n\nOn December 22nd\, the 16-year-old fifer John Greenwood and some 600 other New Englanders also staggered into camp.\n\nWashington's a ppeals for help had reached all the way to Ticonderoga\, and these men had been on their way for nearly a month.\n\nWashington now had about 6\,000 men fit for duty.\n\nThe question was what he might do with them in the 10 days remaining before their enlistments ran out and most of his best-trai ned soldiers went home.\n\nVoice: Our cause is desperate and hopeless if w e do not take the opportunity of the collection of troops at present to st rike some stroke.\n\nDelay with us is now equal to total defeat.\n\nJoseph Reed.\n\nNarrator: Washington decided to strike the garrison at Trenton\, New Jersey\, manned by some 1\,500 Hessians under the command of Colonel Johann Rall.\n\nMost of the little town's inhabitants had fled\, and their homes had been turned into barracks.\n\nWashington outlined a bold and am bitious plan of attack that called for 3 simultaneous crossings of the ice -choked Delaware\, all to be launched on Christmas night.\n\n[Drums beatin g rhythmically] 1\,800 Pennsylvanians and Rhode Islanders were to cross do wnriver near Bristol and march toward a second Hessian outpost at Burlingt on.\n\n800 Pennsylvania militia were to cross and hold the bridge over Ass unpink Creek and keep the Hessians from escaping once the battle began.\n\ nIn the main attack\, Washington himself would lead 2\,400 Continentals ac ross the river at McConkey's Ferry and then begin the 9-mile march south t oward their target.\n\nVoice: None knew but the first officers where we we re a-going.\n\nI never heard a soldier say anything nor ever saw him troub le himself about where they led him or where he was.\n\nIt was enough to k now that he must go wherever the officer commanded him.\n\nThrough fire an d water\, it was all the same\, for it was impossible to be in a worse con dition than what they were in.\n\nJohn Greenwood.\n\n♪ Narrator: Thomas Paine\, who had been with Washington's army as it retreated across New Jer sey\, had just published a new essay meant to restore sagging morale calle d \"The American Crisis.\"\n\nBy the time Washington's army got underway o n Christmas\, patriots up and down the river had read and been inspired by it.\n\nVoice: These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldie r and the sunshine patriot will\, in this crisis\, shrink from the service of their country\; but he that stands by it NOW\, deserves the love and t hanks of man and woman.\n\nTyranny\, like hell\, is not easily conquered\; yet we have this consolation with us\, that the harder the conflict\, the more glorious the triumph.\n\n[Paine] Narrator: A freezing rain began to fall at dusk as the Americans clambered into the ferry boats and cargo ves sels that made up Washington's hastily assembled fleet.\n\n♪ The river w as fast-running and filled with swirling\, jagged pieces of floe ice.\n\nS omehow\, Colonel John Glover and his Massachusetts sailors from Marblehead \, the same men who had rescued Washington's army after the Battle of Long Island and stopped the British advance following Kips Bay\, now managed t o get all 2\,400 men\, some 50 horses\, and 18 field pieces across safely. \n\nJohn Greenwood was among the first to step ashore.\n\nVoice: We had to wait for the rest to cross\, so we began to pull down the fences and make fires to warm ourselves\, for the storm came on so fast that it rained\, hailed\, and snowed and froze and blew a hurricane\, so much so\, when I t urned my face toward the fire\, my back was a-freezing.\n\nBy turning roun d and round\, I kept myself from perishing.\n\n[Greenwood] Narrator: Washi ngton hoped that the landing would be completed by midnight so that his me n could reach Trenton before dawn\, but the last boat did not scrape ashor e till 3:00 in the morning.\n\nAnd though Washington did not know it yet\, ice had prevented the two other forces from getting across the river.\n\n If Trenton were to be taken\, it would be up to Washington's force alone.\ n\nAs he and his men finally started toward the town\, the driving snow\, fierce cold\, and hardship of hauling 18 guns along a frozen\, rutted road slowed the advance.\n\nVoice: When we halted in the road\, I sat down on a stump of a tree and was so benumbed with cold\, I wanted to go to sleep. \n\nAnd if I had\, unnoticed\, I should have been frozen to death without knowing it\, but\, as good luck always attended me\, Sergeant Madden came to me and aroused me up and made me walk about.\n\n[Greenwood] Narrator: T wo other soldiers did fall asleep and froze to death.\n\nAt a crossroads\, the column split in two.\n\nWashington went with Nathanael Greene and tur ned left for the Pennington Road.\n\nJohn Sullivan and his men\, including John Greenwood\, continued to the right along the River Road.\n\nEach col umn reached its assigned position outside the still-dozing town just befor e 8:00.\n\n[Men shouting] Nathanael Greene's men began the attack\, chargi ng out of the snow-filled woods.\n\n\"The storm continued with great viole nce\,\" one officer recalled\, \"but was in our backs and consequently in the faces of the enemy.\"\n\n[Gunfire] Hessian pickets spotted them throug h the snow\, opened fire\, then fell back as remaining townspeople watched in terror.\n\nVoice: In the gray dawn came the beating of drums and the s ound of firing.\n\nThe Hessian soldiers quartered in our house hastily dec amped.\n\nAll was uproar and confusion.\n\nMartha Reed.\n\n♪ Narrator: T he German soldiers formed up as best they could\, prepared to fight\, but Henry Knox had positioned cannon and howitzers at the upper end of King an d Queen Streets that ran through the heart of the town\, and when the Germ an commander Johann Rall mounted his horse and ordered his men to charge i nto them\, Knox remembered\, \"these [guns]\, in the twinkling of an eye\, cleared the streets.\"\n\nSome Hessians scattered.\n\nBrief\, fierce fire fights followed.\n\nVoice: My mother and we children hid in the cellar to escape the shots that fell about the house.\n\nOur next-door neighbor was killed on his doorstep\, and a bullet struck the blacksmith as he was in t he act of closing himself in his cellar\, and many other townspeople were injured by chance shots.\n\n[Martha Reed] [Gunshot] Narrator: As Nathanael Greene's column drove through town from the north\, John Sullivan's colum n moved in from the south.\n\nVoice: They made a full fire right at us\, b ut I did not see that they killed anyone.\n\nOrders were given to charge b ayonets and rush on.\n\nAs we came within pistol shot\, they fired again p oint blank at us.\n\nWe dodged\, and they did not hit a man.\n\nBefore the y had time to load again\, we were within 3 feet of them.\n\nThey broke in an instant and ran like so many frightened devils.\n\n[Greenwood] Narrato r: Colonel Rall was shot from his horse\, mortally wounded.\n\nVoice: Fina lly\, they were driven through the town into an orchard beyond.\n\nThe poo r fellows saw themselves completely surrounded.\n\nHenry Knox.\n\n♪ Narr ator: It was all over in less than 45 minutes.\n\n♪ 22 Hessians lay dead or dying in the snow.\n\n83 more were wounded.\n\n900 were captured.\n\nJ ust 2 Americans had died-- those frozen before the battle began\, and only 5 were wounded\, including an artilleryman from Virginia named James Monr oe\, whose life was saved when a local doctor managed to stop the bleeding .\n\n♪ As the Hessian prisoners were marched to Philadelphia\, Washingto n issued a broadside declaring that since they were not volunteers\, but f orced into this war\, they should be seen not as enemies\, but as innocent people.\n\n♪ Baer: The Americans decided very early on to treat German prisoners well.\n\nThat is a strategic decision\, portraying these soldier s as the innocent victims of the contract of two despots.\n\nThey are bein g sent\, sold by their rulers for money to fight in the war that does not concern them.\n\nIn other words\, they are victims of tyranny\, kind of li ke we are.\n\nNarrator: Perhaps 1/4 of the 23\,000 Hessian soldiers who su rvived the war would choose to stay on afterwards and become citizens of t he new nation they'd fought against creating\, and many of those who retur ned home would come back again\, this time with their families.\n\n♪ Voi ce: The small scale of our maps deceived us.\n\nAs the word \"America\" ta kes up no more room than the word \"Yorkshire\,\" we seem to think the ter ritories they represent are much of the same bigness\, though Charleston i s as far from Boston as London from Venice.\n\nWe have undertaken a war ag ainst farmers and farmhouses scattered through a wild waste of continent.\ n\n[British commentator] [Bells ringing] Voice: Philadelphia-- This affair has given new life and spirits to the cause and has lowered the crests of the Tories in this place\, who looked upon the matter as settled and were hourly expecting the King's troops to arrive without molestation.\n\nThin gs begin to wear a better aspect.\n\nGeneral Washington's army has now bec ome respectable.\n\nReverend David Griffith.\n\nNarrator: Washington's arm y may have become respectable\, but it was still about to disintegrate.\n\ nThe Continental regiments from New England-- his most disciplined\, most seasoned soldiers-- were all planning to go home in just 5 days\, leaving him with 1\,400 men with which to face what he feared would be a swift rep risal from the enemy.\n\nHe now had to persuade as many of them as he coul d to remain with him at least a little longer.\n\n♪ On New Year's Eve at Trenton\, Washington asked that all his depleted regiments assemble so th at he could speak to them.\n\nHe praised his men for their courage\, one s ergeant recalled\, and \"in the most affectionate manner entreated us to s tay\,\" but when he finished\, and the drums beat for volunteers\, not a s ingle man stepped forward.\n\nWashington spoke again.\n\n♪ Voice: My bra ve fellows\, you have done all I asked you to do and more than can reasona bly be expected\, but your country is at stake\, your wives\, your houses\ , and all that you hold dear.\n\nYou have worn yourselves out with fatigue and hardships\, but we know not how to spare you.\n\nIf you will consent to stay only one month longer\, you will render that service to the cause of liberty and to your country\, which you probably never can do under any other circumstances.\n\nThe present is emphatically the crisis which is t o decide our destiny.\n\n[Washington] ♪ Narrator: \"This time\,\" the se rgeant remembered\, \"the soldiers felt the force of the appeal.\n\n\"One said to another\, 'I will remain if you will.'\n\n\"A few stepped forward\ , \"and their example was immediately followed by nearly all who were fit for duty.\"\n\nIn the end\, more than half the New England troops agreed t o fight on for 6 weeks.\n\nOn New Year's Day 1777\, supplemented by scatte red militia and 4 fresh regiments of Continentals from Pennsylvania\, Geor ge Washington again commanded some 6\,500 men.\n\nJohn Greenwood was not a mong them.\n\n♪ Voice: I had the itch then so bad that my breeches stuck to my thighs\, and I had a hundred lice on me.\n\nI told my lieutenant I was going home.\n\nSays he\, \"My God\, you are not\, I hope\, going to le ave us\, \"as you are the life and soul of us.\n\nYou are to be promoted.\ "\n\nI told him I would not stay to be a colonel.\n\n[Greenwood] Narrator: 20 months earlier\, 14-year-old John Greenwood had walked all the way fro m Maine to Massachusetts and joined the American cause\, hoping it would s omehow help him get back to his parents in British-occupied Boston.\n\nNow he would tramp more than 300 miles back home\, where his father saw to it that the boy's clothes were baked in the oven\, and he himself was fumiga ted with sulfur before he could re-enter the home he'd yearned for for so long.\n\nFor now\, the Revolution would have to go on without him\, but it would go on\, thanks to the sacrifices he and his fellow soldiers had mad e and the victory they had won when no victory had seemed possible.\n\n♪ [Drum beating rhythmically] [Rhiannon Giddens humming \"Amazing Grace\"] ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Hmm ♪ ♪ Mm-hmm ♪ ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm mm mm ♪ ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ Announcer: N ext time on \"The American Revolution.\"\n\nBrandywine... Nathaniel Philbr ick: Brandywine was a hellscape in so many ways.\n\nAnnouncer: Germantown. .. and the pivotal battle of Saratoga.\n\n[Gunfire and shouting] Native pe oples are divided.\n\nDarren Bonaparte: We're killing each other.\n\nFor w hat?\n\nSo somebody else can claim our land?\n\nAnnouncer: and the strateg y of a general.\n\nJoseph Ellis: Washington reaches the insight-- he doesn 't have to win.\n\nHe only has not to lose.\n\nAnnouncer: When \"The Ameri can Revolution\" continues next time.\n\n♪ Announcer: Scan this QR code with your smart device to dive deeper into the story of \"The American Rev olution\" with interactives\, games\, classroom materials\, and more.\n\ n♪ Announcer: \"The American Revolution\" DVD and Blu-ray\, as well as t he companion book and soundtrack\, are available online and in stores.\n\n The series is also available with PBS Passport and on am*zon Prime Video.\ n\n♪ Mm ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ ♪ ♪ Mm ♪ [Bagpipes stop\, drums continu e] ♪ ♪ Announcer: The American Revolution caused an impact felt around the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenuity\, determination\, and hope f or a new tomorrow to turn the tide of history and set the American story i n motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nBank of America.\n\nA nnouncer: Major funding for \"The American Revolution\" was provided by Th e Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with t he Crimson Lion Foundation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.\n\nMajor f unding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein\, the Robert D. and Patric ia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment\, and by Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Schwarzman\, and Kenn eth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditional support was provided b y The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations\, the Pew Charitable Trusts\, Gilber t S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling\, the Park Foundation\, and by Better Ang els Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Foundation\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the Kissick Family Foundation \, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jennifer Caldwell\, Jo hn and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerton Family Charitable Fund\, and these a dditional members.\n\n\"The American Revolution\" was made possible with s upport from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting\, and Viewers Like You .\n\nThank You.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://www.pbs.or g/video/the-american-revolution-episode-3-the-times-that-try-mens-souls/\n \n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251118 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The American Revolution PBS Documentary Episode 2 DTSTAMP:20251118T012025Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:588-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The American Revolution\n A Film By\n Ken Burns\, Sarah B otstein &\; David Schmidt\n\n\n\n An Asylum for Mankind (May 1775 – J uly 1776) \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n TRANSCRIPT\n\n\n\n Announcer: Major funding for \"The American Revolutio n\" was provided by The Better Angels Society and its members Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation and the Blavatnik Family Foundation.\n\nMajor funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein\, th e Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the Lilly Endowment\, and by Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schmidt\, Stephen A. Schwarzman\, and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst.\n\nAdditional support was provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations\, the Pew Char itable Trusts\, Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling\, the Park Foundati on\, and by Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist and Amy Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Foundation\, Jacqueline B. Mars\, the Kis sick Family Foundation\, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N.\n\nFisher and Jennifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerton Family Charita ble Fund\, and these additional members.\n\n\"The American Revolution\" wa s made possible with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting\ , and Viewers Like You.\n\nThank You.\n\nAnnouncer: The American Revolutio n caused an impact felt around the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenuit y\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide of histor y and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power t o do?\n\nBank of America.\n\n[Insects chirping\, loon calling] [Splashing] Narrator: Before dawn on May 10th\, 1775-- less than a month after Lexing ton and Concord-- some 85 New Englanders rowed across the southern end of Lake Champlain\, keeping silent\, muskets primed.\n\nTheir objective was a dilapidated\, star-shaped fortress called Ticonderoga\, built by the Fren ch 20 years earlier and now occupied by 50 British soldiers and 24 women a nd children.\n\nIf they could capture it\, they might be able to stop Brit ish troops from attacking from the north\; to provide American forces with a staging area should they ever choose to invade Canada\; and to take pos session of dozens of artillery pieces that the rebel forces ringing Boston desperately needed.\n\nThe men slipped silently onto the shore.\n\nThe Br itish surrendered without a shot.\n\nSo did the 9 redcoats stationed at Cr own Point\, a smaller outpost nearby.\n\nThe Americans had two commanders. \n\nOne was Colonel Ethan Allen\, the hard-drinking leader of the \"Green Mountain Boys\,\" a band of vigilantes who had spent years defending their settlements in the Vermont region of northwestern New England against New Yorkers who also claimed the land.\n\nThe other was a newly promoted 34-y ear-old Connecticut militia colonel.\n\nHe was descended from a distinguis hed New England family that had fallen on hard times.\n\nAble but arrogant \, sensitive to slights\, he would become one of the most important comman ders of the American Revolution.\n\nHis name was Benedict Arnold.\n\n♪ W illiam Hogeland: Once it's a shooting war\, as with Lexington and Concord\ , it's a war.\n\nThere's no doubt about that.\n\nBut independence was not\ , in any way\, officially on the table as a goal of the Americans at that point.\n\nThe idea of independence was still controversial.\n\nThe officia l position was that the fight was essentially for redress\, for \"Let's ge t back to the way things used to be.\n\nBack when things were good\, when you left us alone.\"\n\nNarrator: The blood shed at Lexington and Concord had deepened the divisions among Americans from Georgia to New Hampshire.\ n\n\"Loyalists\,\" those who remained faithful to the Crown and hoped His Majesty's troops would soon restore law and order\, dismissed those whose sympathies lay with the militiamen surrounding Boston as \"rebels.\"\n\nTh e \"rebels\" called themselves \"Patriots\"-- or \"Whigs\" after British c hampions of constitutionally guaranteed rights-- and vilified their Loyali st neighbors as \"Tories.\"\n\nAlan Taylor: The term \"Patriot\" is a very old one that pre-exists the Revolution.\n\nIt applies to people who belie ve that they are the defenders of liberty against power.\n\nNow\, \"rebel\ " is a term that the British will use\, and the Loyalists will use\, to ap ply to the people who call themselves the \"Patriots.\"\n\nSo\, to be a re bel means that you are rejecting the legitimate authority of your sovereig n\, King George III of the British Empire.\n\nVoice: That we are divorced is to me very clear.\n\nThe only question is concerning the proper time fo r making an explicit declaration in words.\n\nSome people must have time t o look around them\, before\, behind\, on the right hand\, and on the left \, then to think\, and after all this\, to resolve.\n\nOthers see at one i ntuitive glance into the past and the future\, and judge with precision at once.\n\nBut remember you can't make 13 clocks strike precisely alike at the same second.\n\n[Ticking] John Adams.\n\n♪ Taylor: I think the great est misconception about the American Revolution is that it was something t hat unified Americans and that it was just a war of Americans against the British.\n\nIt leaves out the reality that it was a civil war among Americ ans.\n\nVoice: I tremble at the thoughts of war\; but of all wars\, a civi l war!\n\nOur all is at stake.\n\nSarah Mifflin.\n\nNarrator: In the sprin g of 1775\, a Philadelphia woman named Sarah Mifflin wrote to a British of ficer who had been her friend before the shooting began.\n\nHe had suggest ed that the whole thing was just a minor disagreement.\n\nVoice: It is not a quibble in politics.\n\nIt is this plain truth\, which the most ignoran t peasant knows\, that no man has a right to take their money without thei r consent.\n\nI know this\, that as free I can die but once\, but as a sla ve I shall not be worthy of life.\n\nSarah Mifflin.\n\n♪ Narrator: Some 20\,000 militiamen from towns all over Massachusetts--and from Connecticut \, New Hampshire\, and Rhode Island as well-- had poured into the series o f impromptu camps that kept the British caged in Boston.\n\nThey were unit ed in their anger at the redcoats but very little else.\n\nThey were milit iamen\, not professional soldiers\, expected to meet immediate crises\, no t take part in prolonged campaigns.\n\nFew had uniforms.\n\nMany had never been more than 50 miles from home.\n\nTheir first loyalty was to the town s from which they came and the neighbors whom they had elected as their of ficers.\n\nOnce the shooting stopped and it became clear that the British were not going to attack them\, they began drifting home to plant their cr ops.\n\nIn overall charge of this dwindling\, disorganized force was Gener al Artemas Ward\, the commander of the Massachusetts militia.\n\nFrom his headquarters in Cambridge\, he understood that if there were to be any hop e of holding their own against the British\, he needed a paid\, recruited army-- and he needed it fast.\n\n♪ Voice: Wherever you go\, we will be b y your sides.\n\nOur bones shall lie with yours.\n\nWe are determined neve r to be at peace with the redcoats while they are at variance with you.\n\ nIf we are conquered\, our lands go with yours.\n\nBut if we are victoriou s\, we hope you will help us to recover our just rights.\n\nCaptain Solomo n Uhhaunauwaunmut.\n\nNarrator: Among the troops who arrived in Cambridge was a company of Native Americans from Stockbridge\, Massachusetts.\n\nPhi lip Deloria: Stockbridge is a community of multiple tribes\, which has a l ong history of surviving colonization\, in part through adopting Christian ity and adopting certain kinds of strategic ways of being in relation with colonists.\n\nThey come over from Western Massachusetts and they're part of the Siege of Boston.\n\nNed Blackhawk: Most Indigenous powers stay rela tively on the sidelines of the conflict during the early years.\n\nBut man y Native communities\, particularly those who have lived with settlers for generations\, come to share loyalties and sensibilities.\n\nAnd so\, many decide that it's in their best interest to join the Revolutionary forces and take up arms against the British Empire.\n\nNarrator: The presence of the Stockbridge men among the rebels\, General Thomas Gage\, the commander -in-chief of the British Army in North America\, said\, freed him to call upon other Native Americans to join his forces and fight for the Crown.\n\ nEnslaved New Englanders were not recruited by either side.\n\nThe Massach usetts Provincial Congress insisted it was engaged in a struggle for freed om from British \"slavery.\"\n\nEnlisting them\, it said\, would be \"inco nsistent.\"\n\nBut free African-Americans were welcome-- and at least 35 a nd perhaps as many as 50 men of color had fought at Lexington and Concord and more would soon be engaged in the next\, far bigger battle with the Br itish.\n\nBlack\, White\, and Native American soldiers would serve in regi ments more integrated than American forces would be again for almost two c enturies.\n\nVoice: What?!\n\n10\,000 peasants keep 5\,000 King's troops s hut up!\n\nWell\, let us get in\, and we'll soon find elbow room.\n\nGener al John Burgoyne.\n\n♪ Narrator: On May 25th\, 1775\, a Royal Navy friga te threaded its way into Boston harbor.\n\nAboard were British reinforceme nts and 3 major generals.\n\nJohn Burgoyne was the showiest and the most s elf-assured of the three.\n\nA playwright as well as a soldier\, eager alw ays for advancement\, he was dismissive of the rebels besieging Boston\, w hom he called a \"rabble in arms\, flushed with insolence.\"\n\nHenry Clin ton had spent 6 boyhood years in New York\, where his father had been the Royal Governor.\n\nHe was soft-spoken\, retiring\, insecure.\n\nWilliam Ho we had once expressed sympathy with the American cause\, but he now saw an opportunity to burnish his reputation as a soldier.\n\nThey had been sent to bolster General Gage\, whom the King's Ministers now saw as overly tim id.\n\nThe commanders all agreed that if they could seize the heights at D orchester and Charlestown\, they could break the rebel siege.\n\nRick Atki nson: There are two pieces of high ground that the British have to worry a bout.\n\nOne is Dorchester Heights.\n\nAnd the other is the high ground on the Charlestown Peninsula\, including Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill.\n\nIf you put cannon on either the Charlestown Peninsula or on Dorchester Heigh ts\, you would be able to bombard British forces in Boston.\n\nThe British decide that they are going to seize Charlestown first.\n\nNarrator: The P atriots got wind of the plan\, and Colonel William Prescott was ordered to seize and fortify Bunker's Hill\, the highest prominence on the Charlesto wn peninsula.\n\nAs Prescott and his men got there\, however\, it was some how decided that they should instead build their fort on the crest of anot her\, lower hill that came to be called Breed's Hill.\n\nBut it was within range of both the warships in the harbor and a British battery in Boston' s North End.\n\nPrescott's men went to work with picks and shovels trying to make as little noise as possible so as not to alert the British.\n\nBut when dawn broke on June 17th\, 1775\, the redoubt was only half-finished. \n\n♪ A 20-gun British Navy ship opened fire on the hilltop.\n\nA cannon ball tore the head off a private named Asa Pollard.\n\nTo steady his men\, Prescott leaped onto the unfinished parapet and bellowed at the warships\ , \"Hit me if you can!\"\n\nBritish General Howe was certain that the hill would \"easily be carried.\"\n\nAs soon as the mid-afternoon tide came in \, Howe would personally accompany a large force to the eastern tip of the Charlestown Peninsula.\n\n[Explosions] The British stepped up their canno nade\, the roar so loud it rattled windows in Braintree\, 10 miles away\, where Abigail Adams wondered whether \"the day--perhaps the decisive day-- is come\,\" she wrote\, \"on which the fate of America depends.\"\n\nPresc ott rushed to strengthen his left flank\, ordering some of his men to dig a ditch and form a 165-foot breastwork and assigning others to strengthen a rail-and-stone fence that ran all the way down to the bluff overlooking the Mystic River beach.\n\nLooking up at the American positions\, General Howe believed the hill could be taken by what was called a \"turning\" mov ement.\n\nWhile one column assaulted the redoubt from the left and another \, led by Howe himself\, attacked the rail fence head-on\, a third would s lip along the undefended Mystic River beach\, get behind the rebels\, turn their line\, and destroy them.\n\nSuch attacks had worked well against di sciplined armies in Europe.\n\nStacy Schiff: No one expects that a bunch o f country farmers with muskets are going to hold off a trained army who ha ve orders from an actual general in Boston.\n\nThere is a real disbelief t hat a bunch of ragtag colonists are going to manage to hold their own agai nst trained soldiers.\n\n[Explosions] Narrator: When the column on the lef t neared Charlestown and came under fire from Americans hidden in abandone d buildings\, British ships set the town ablaze with incendiary shells.\n\ nThen\, at around half past 3\, Howe's redcoats started up the right side of the hill.\n\nTall\, fearsome grenadiers formed the first rank\; behind them came the Foot Infantry.\n\nBut the men had to dismantle wooden fences and stone walls that blocked their climb.\n\nTheir uniforms were woolen.\ n\nThe sun was hot.\n\nAnd\, like the anxious New Englanders waiting for t hem on the hilltop\, some had never been in battle.\n\nAtkinson: The notio n that the British Army is this battle-tested\, experienced force\, they'r e good.\n\nThere's no doubt about it.\n\nTheir officers are good.\n\nThey' re very disciplined\, for the most part.\n\nBut they are as scared and as new to this as the Americans are.\n\n[Indistinct shouting\, explosion] Nar rator: As Howe's force continued their ascent\, British light infantry on the far right started their flanking maneuver along the narrow beach\, ben t on getting behind the American defenses\, sure they could get there unop posed.\n\nBut Colonel John Stark of New Hampshire and 60 of his militiamen were waiting for them.\n\nHe had seen that the beach was open to a flanki ng attack and directed his men to build a barricade.\n\nWhen the British g ot within range\, the Patriots opened fire.\n\n[Gunfire] The light infantr y disintegrated.\n\nThe New Hampshire men kept firing until the stunned su rvivors began to retreat toward their boats.\n\nBehind them lay nearly 100 dead and wounded\, lying\, Stark recalled\, \"as thick as sheep in a fold .\"\n\nMeanwhile\, at the top of Breed's Hill\, Prescott and his officers reassured their men: the redcoats could never reach them if they held thei r fire till they came close.\n\n90 yards out\, a stone wall stopped the Gr enadiers.\n\nAs they laid down their arms and worked to tear apart the wal l\, the Patriots fired their muskets.\n\n[Gunfire] British officers urged their men to keep advancing.\n\nInstead\, the soldiers stayed where they w ere and tried to shoot back.\n\nThe Americans had cover.\n\nThe British ha d none.\n\nThe redcoats broke and retreated down the slope.\n\nGeneral How e let his lines regroup\, then ordered them back up the hill\, in hopes of driving through the gap between the breastwork and the rail fence.\n\nHe would go with them.\n\nThis time\, the Patriots behind the fence waited ti ll the Grenadiers got within 50 yards before opening fire.\n\n[Gunfire] It was hard to miss.\n\nScores of British soldiers fell\, dead\, dying\, scr eaming in pain.\n\n[Gunfire] Atkinson: They deliberately target the Britis h officers and they can recognize them in part because they're all wearing red coats\, right\, but the officers are wearing coats that are almost ve rmillion in hue because they can afford the more expensive dyes that make those coats pop.\n\n[Gunfire] The British\, frankly\, think this is unfair .\n\nTrying to target officers\, there's something unseemly about it.\n\nB ut the Americans are not going to stop throughout the whole war.\n\n[Indis tinct shouting\, gunfire] Narrator: The Americans cheered\, hoping General Howe had had enough.\n\n[Gunfire] Atkinson: Every one of his staff office rs is killed or wounded.\n\nHowe will come back down the hill\, unharmed\, remarkably.\n\nBut he's got blood all over his stockings from the men who 've been shot on either side of him.\n\nNarrator: The teenage fifer John G reenwood had been away that day.\n\nWhen he heard the guns\, he hurried ba ck to rejoin his regiment.\n\n♪ Voice: Everything seemed to be in the gr eatest terror and confusion.\n\nI felt very much frightened and would have given the world if I had not enlisted for a soldier.\n\nThen\, I saw a Ne gro man\, wounded in the back of his neck.\n\nI saw the wound very plain a nd the blood running down his back.\n\nI asked him if it hurt him much as he did not seem to mind it.\n\nHe said no\, and that he was only a-going t o get a plaster put on it and meant to return.\n\nImmediately\, you cannot conceive what encouragement it gave me.\n\nI began to feel from that mome nt brave and like a soldier.\n\nJohn Greenwood.\n\n♪ Narrator: From the Boston waterfront\, townspeople\, including John Greenwood's brother Isaac \, watched as British soldiers rowed wounded regulars from Charlestown.\n\ nThey were \"obliged\,\" he said\, \"to bail the blood out like water.\"\n \nAnd when they started back toward Charlestown again with fresh troops\, \"the soldiers\,\" Isaac remembered\, \"looked as pale as death when they got into the boats\, \"for they could plainly see their brother redcoats m owed down like grass.\"\n\nAt the bottom of Breed's Hill\, General Howe wa s determined to come at the Americans one more time.\n\nUp above\, Colonel Prescott knew his men had little powder left and that many of their muske ts were fouled from so much firing.\n\nThis time\, in order to make each s hot count\, he insisted his men wait until their targets were within 30 ya rds.\n\n[Indistinct shouting\, gunfire] \"As fast as the front man was sho t down\, the next stepped forward into his place\,\" one militiaman recall ed.\n\n\"It was surprising how they would step over their dead as though t hey had been logs of wood.\"\n\n[Gunfire] \"We fired till our ammunition b egan to fail\,\" another militiaman remembered\, \"then our firing began t o slacken-- and at last it went out like an old candle.\"\n\nBritish marin es with bayonets began climbing over the parapets.\n\nSome Americans hurle d rocks or swung their muskets like clubs.\n\nOthers clawed their way out of the redoubt and ran.\n\nIt was all over in a matter of minutes.\n\nThe Patriots had been driven from Breed's Hill.\n\n115 Americans had been kill ed and another 305 wounded.\n\n♪ Atkinson: The British succeed in that t hey drive the Americans off of the Charlestown Peninsula.\n\nThey take Bre ed's Hill.\n\nThey take Bunker Hill.\n\nBut it has been a\, a pyrrhic vict ory of the first order.\n\nIt's 4 of the most awful hours of combat in Ame rican military history.\n\nThere are 1\,000 British casualties that day.\n \nThere are 220-some British dead.\n\nStephen Conway: 40% of the attacking force was killed or injured.\n\n40%.\n\nThat's horrendously high casualty rate.\n\nIt is the highest casualty rate for the British Army until the f irst day of the Somme in 1916.\n\nIt is unbelievably bloody.\n\nAnd that h as a really profound impact.\n\nNarrator: \"The loss we have sustained\,\" General Gage admitted\, \"is greater than we can bear.\"\n\nDuring the fi nal struggle\, two prominent men had been killed.\n\nAs Major John Pitcair n encouraged his British Marines to climb over the walls\, he'd been shot through the chest and fell\, dying\, into the arms of his son.\n\nHe was s o hated by New Englanders because he had led the British troops at Lexingt on Green that at least 4 different men would subsequently claim to have fi red the fatal shot.\n\nDr.\n\nJoseph Warren\, the president of the Massach usetts Provincial Congress\, whom the British considered the most \"incend iary\" of all the rebel leaders\, had insisted on joining the men defendin g Breed's Hill and was shot in the head.\n\nThe British officer in charge of the burial detail boasted that they had \"stuffed the scoundrel \"with another Rebel into one hole and there he and his seditious principles may remain.\"\n\nVoice: Saturday gave us a dreadful specimen of the horrors of civil war.\n\nYou may easily judge what distress we were in to see and he ar Englishmen destroying one another.\n\nGod grant the blood already spilt may suffice.\n\nBut this we cannot reasonably expect.\n\nReverend Andrew Eliot.\n\n♪ Narrator: When the news of the battle--remembered as the Bat tle of Bunker Hill-- eventually made its way to London\, the King proclaim ed \"The deluded People\" of America were in a state of \"open and avowed rebellion.\"\n\nAnyone who now aided their cause was a traitor.\n\nGeneral Gage had been right-- the rebellion would never be crushed without overwh elming force.\n\nBut Gage was soon called home\, replaced as commander-in- chief by General William Howe.\n\nFor almost 3 years\, Howe would lead the struggle to try to put down the rebellion-- and carefully avoid ordering any more frontal assaults against entrenched Americans.\n\n♪ Britain\, a t the expense of 3 millions\, has killed 150 Americans this campaign\, whi ch is 20\,000 pounds a head.\n\nAnd at Bunker's Hill\, she gained a mile o f ground.\n\nDuring the same time\, 60\,000 children have been born in Ame rica.\n\nFrom these data\, calculate the time and expense necessary to kil l us all\, and conquer our whole territory.\n\nBenjamin Franklin.\n\n♪ [ Thunder] Voice: Unhappy it is to reflect that a brother's sword has been s heathed in a brother's breast\, and that the once happy and peaceful plain s of America are either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by slaves.\ n\nSad alternative!\n\nBut can a virtuous man hesitate in his choice?\n\nG eorge Washington.\n\nNarrator: On July 2nd\, 1775\, Private Phineas Ingall s of Andover\, Massachusetts\, noted in his diary that it \"rained\" and t hat \"a new general from Philadelphia\" had arrived in Cambridge.\n\nThat new general was George Washington of Virginia\, the commander of the Conti nental Army the Congress in Philadelphia had just created.\n\nHis arrival meant that the New England war in which Phineas Ingalls and his fellow mil itiamen had joined was about to become an American war.\n\nJane Kamensky: Washington is a figure toward whom people naturally turn for leadership.\n \nIt is clear\, by the time the Continental Army is signed into being in t he late spring of 1775\, that its commander-in-chief can be nobody else.\n \nThere's something about his presence that makes him the inescapable choi ce.\n\nNarrator: The Second Continental Congress had been meeting since Ma y\, and it was obvious from the first that 43-year-old George Washington w ould command its new army.\n\nHe had led troops during the French and Indi an War\, and he was from Virginia\, the wealthiest and most populated colo ny.\n\nNew England delegates\, eager to ensure that colony's support for t he war\, favored naming a Virginian.\n\nWashington was also one of America 's richest men\, the beneficiary of the work of scores of indentured serva nts and more than 100 enslaved people at his plantation on the Potomac Riv er-- Mount Vernon.\n\nThey grew tobacco and wheat\, corn and flax and hemp \, milled flour\, distilled whiskey\, caught\, salted\, and sold fish.\n\n And to the West\, he had amassed tens of thousands of acres of Indian land s.\n\nWashington has this vision of the future in which...America's future is not to the East\, not towards Europe.\n\nIt's to the West.\n\nHe does see the future and the next century as something in which we should focus on the consolidation of the continent.\n\nHogeland: What defines his early career is an amazing focus\, a ruthless and intense focus\, on his own in terests\, which makes him exactly like every other member of his class.\n\ nIt's just that he became George Washington.\n\nNarrator: Washington consi dered outward evidence of ambition unseemly\, but his appearance alone mad e him stand out in Philadelphia.\n\nHe was about 6'3\" when the average he ight of the men he would lead into battle was around 5'7\"\, and he alone among the delegates appeared each day dressed as a soldier.\n\nWashington will remain\, I think\, endlessly fascinating.\n\nPartly because he was so mysterious\, so reserved in his manner\, frequently\, and didn't give up a lot of what was going on in his gut.\n\n♪ Ellis: He was naturally a pe rson who created space around himself\, and pity anybody that enters that space that's not invited.\n\nMartha gets into that space.\n\nLafayette get s into that space.\n\nMaybe Hamilton gets into that space.\n\nVoice: He ha s so much martial dignity in his deportment that you would distinguish him to be a general and a soldier from among 10\,000 people.\n\nThere is not a king in Europe that would not look like a \"valet de chambre\" by his si de.\n\nBenjamin Rush.\n\nHe's got a brain built for executive action.\n\nH e's willing to take responsibility.\n\nHe's got an adhesive memory.\n\nHe is\, according to Thomas Jefferson\, the greatest horseman of his age.\n\n He's built to lead other men in the dark of night\, which is a rare and va luable trait in any commander.\n\nVoice: I am now embarked on a tempestuou s ocean\, from whence\, perhaps\, no friendly harbor is to be found.\n\nNa rrator: Washington accepted that he and his army would be subordinate to t he civilian control of Congress\, but he did not yet see himself as a revo lutionary.\n\nHe still hoped to lead what he called \"a loyal protest\,\" as if George III might somehow overrule Parliament and restore the rights of British colonists.\n\nOn his way to Cambridge\, he met a dispatch rider who carried a letter that told of the terrible bloodletting that had take n place on Breed's Hill.\n\n♪ Atkinson: He shows up in Cambridge in earl y July\, 1775\, as a Virginian commanding\, almost exclusively\, New Engla nd militiamen.\n\nHe doesn't know what to make of them\; they don't know q uite what to make of him.\n\nHe has nothing good to say about New Englande rs\, privately.\n\nThey're almost from different countries.\n\nBut his job is to take this gaggle\, this cluster of militia forces\, and to form the m into a national army.\n\nNarrator: Washington thought he'd be commanding a 20\,000-man force\; in fact\, he had fewer than 14\,000 men fit for ser vice.\n\nHe was assured he would have 15 tons of precious gunpowder\; ther e were just 5.\n\nOn August 6th\, a company of 96 riflemen from Virginia a rrived\, concrete evidence that Americans beyond New England would volunte er to fight.\n\nThey had marched nearly 500 miles in 3 weeks.\n\nTheir lea der was Captain Daniel Morgan\, a big\, brawling one-time wagoner whose ba ck bore the scars of a lashing he'd received during the French and Indian War after he'd knocked unconscious a British officer who had insulted him. \n\nMore riflemen soon followed\, from Pennsylvania and Maryland as well a s more Virginians.\n\nTheir rifles were far more accurate than the smooth- bore muskets most Patriots used\; their grooved barrels spun a ball\, maki ng it fly straighter and truer.\n\nA British soldier would call them \"the most fatal widow-and-orphan makers in the world.\"\n\nBut the riflemen we re also frontiersmen.\n\nThey sounded different from New Englanders\, dres sed differently\, disliked discipline of any kind.\n\nTaylor: So what's go ing to come out of this Revolution is attempts to create an American natio nal identity.\n\nAnd somebody like George Washington becomes quite eloquen t in trying to persuade people\, \"You're not Carolinians\,\" \"You're not New Yorkers\,\" \"You're not New Englanders.\"\n\n\"We're all Americans.\ "\n\nNarrator: Always at Washington's side\, throughout the Revolution\, w as William Lee\, the enslaved servant he had brought with him from Mount V ernon.\n\nKamensky: I think we have to understand Washington as both the f igurehead without whom American liberty would not have survived.\n\nAt the same time\, he's an enslaver of 317 men\, women\, and children.\n\nHe act ed as an enslaver in the ways that enslavers did.\n\nHe bought and sold pe ople.\n\nHe broke up families.\n\nDo not look for gilded statues of marble men.\n\nThey were not that and neither are we and neither is anybody at a ll.\n\n♪ Narrator: Washington was impatient\, eager to get at the enemy. \n\nIn September\, he proposed mounting a water-borne attack on Boston.\n\ nHis officers talked him out of it.\n\nAtkinson: Washington has got a lot to learn.\n\nBecause he's been out of uniform for 16 years\, there's a lot he does not know.\n\nHe knows very little about artillery.\n\nHe knows ve ry little about fortification.\n\nHe knows nothing about continental logis tics.\n\nSo\, he brings a stack of books with him.\n\nNathaniel Philbrick: Typically\, Washington\, before he would make a big decision\, would canv ass his major generals as to what to do.\n\nAnd inevitably\, he would do w hatever Nathanael Greene suggested.\n\nNarrator: General Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island\, a Quaker who came to see pacifism as impractical in the face of what he called \"this business of necessity\,\" hoped the British might make a move so that the Americans\, he said\, could \"sell them anot her hill at the same price\" as they had paid taking Breed's Hill.\n\n♪ But the British didn't dare mount an attack on Washington's forces\, eithe r.\n\nThe memory of the last battle was too fresh.\n\nThe standoff would c ontinue for another 6 months.\n\n♪ In Boston\, soldiers and civilians al ike suffered.\n\nThere was too little firewood: regulars ripped pews from churches and demolished whole houses trying to keep warm.\n\nOf 40 transpo rt vessels dispatched from England and Ireland to provision the town\, 32 never made it--blown off-course by unfavorable winds all the way to the We st Indies or seized by Patriots.\n\nVoice: What\, in God's name\, are ye a ll about in England?\n\nHave you forgot us?\n\nFor we have not had a vesse l for 3 months with any sort of supplies.\n\nAnd\, therefore\, our miserie s are become manifold.\n\nBritish Officer.\n\n♪ Voice: In 1770\, I built a house\, dam\, saw\, and grist mills on the west side of the Connecticut River.\n\nHere I was in easy circumstances\, and as independent as my min d ever wished.\n\nJohn Peters.\n\nNarrator: Before the war\, Yale-educated John Peters had been the most respected man in the small settlement of Mo retown in Vermont\, where he lived with his wife Ann and their children.\n \nIn 1774\, his neighbors had picked him to represent them in the First Co ntinental Congress.\n\nBut when Peters got to Philadelphia and sensed the other delegates \"meant to have a serious rebellion\,\" he refused to take part and left for home.\n\nOn the way back\, suspicious Patriots detained him 4 times-- in Wethersfield\, Hartford\, Springfield\, and finally in M oretown itself\, where \"another mob threatened to execute him\,\" he reme mbered\, \"as an enemy to Congress.\"\n\nHis own father\, a colonel in Con necticut's rebel militia\, urged his fellow Patriots to use \"severity\" o n his son to make him \"a friend to America.\"\n\n[Indistinct shouting] Vo ice: The mob again and again visited me.\n\nThey confined me to the limits of the town and threatened me with death if I transgressed their orders.\ n\n[John Peters] Narrator: Even then\, Peters refused to betray his \"King and Conscience.\"\n\nInstead\, he put his head down and hoped to stay out of the fight.\n\nVoice: I little thought the troubles would be so great\, or if they did\, would last so long.\n\nI endeavored to be quiet\, but it would not do.\n\nThe madness of the people was daily growing.\n\n[John Pe ters] ♪ Atkinson: Lake Champlain is this 90-mile-long teardrop that exte nds from the Canadian border down almost to the Hudson River.\n\nIf you co ntrolled Lake Champlain\, you controlled the most obvious entry point into New York from the north\, and into Canada from the south.\n\nEverything e lse is wilderness.\n\n♪ Philbrick: The Americans saw an opportunity.\n\n If they could take Montreal\, if they could take Quebec\, and have command of the St.\n\nLawrence\, they would have the British right where they wan ted them.\n\nNarrator: In the late summer of 1775\, some 1\,200 New York a nd New England troops assembled on the Ile aux Noix\, just inside the Prov ince of Quebec.\n\nTheir commander Richard Montgomery had orders from the Continental Congress to \"take immediate possession\" of the British garri son at Montreal and then keep moving north.\n\nThe ultimate goal was to el iminate the province as a military threat and perhaps adopt it as the 14th American Colony.\n\nThey did not expect much opposition: there were just 700 British regulars in the whole province.\n\nNow George Washington calle d for a complementary expedition through the forests of the Maine province of Massachusetts to surprise and capture Quebec City on the St.\n\nLawren ce River.\n\nTo lead it\, Washington chose Benedict Arnold.\n\nAtkinson: B enedict Arnold is the finest tactical commander on either side in the firs t couple of years of the war.\n\nHe's conspicuously gifted in being able t o motivate men\, tactically\, under difficult circumstances\, to do what h e wants them to do.\n\nNarrator: Arnold had emerged from the capture of Fo rt Ticonderoga with a mixed reputation: he had quarreled with rival office rs and become so incensed at having his expenses questioned that he simply left the militia and went home.\n\nBut after his wife died\, he left his 3 sons with his sister and joined Washington's Continental Army.\n\n\"An i dle life under my present circumstances\,\" he told a friend\, \"would be but a lingering death.\"\n\nQuebec\, Washington believed\, was certain to be \"very easy prey.\"\n\nBut \"not a moment's time is to be lost\,\" he a dded.\n\nConway: The Americans were not hostile to the concept of empire.\ n\nOn the contrary\, they were great enthusiasts for it.\n\nThey called it the \"Continental Army\" and the \"Continental Congress\" for a good reas on.\n\nThey had ambitions to incorporate Canada\, Florida\, and the whole of the continent of North America.\n\nNarrator: On September 25th\, from a boatyard on the Kennebec River in Maine\, Benedict Arnold and his 1\,100- man force set out for Canada.\n\n♪ Voice: Failure to punish the people o f the 4 New England governments for their many rebellious and piratical ac ts\, only encouraged them to go to greater lengths.\n\nI determined to des troy some of their towns and shipping.\n\nVice Admiral Samuel Graves.\n\nN arrator: In October\, Vice Admiral Samuel Graves\, commander-in-chief of H is Majesty's North American Station\, announced he planned to lay waste to the ports of Marblehead\, Salem\, Cape Ann\, Ipswich\, Newburyport\, Port smouth\, Saco\, Falmouth\, Machias.\n\nAll of them were bases from which p rivateers-- Patriot raiders--menaced British shipping.\n\nGraves dispatche d Lieutenant Henry Mowat and 4 warships to carry out his orders.\n\nMowat began with Falmouth-- now Portland\, Maine.\n\n[Bells tolling] Mowat gave the nearly 2\,000 townspeople two hours\, he said\, to \"remove without de lay the Human Species\" before the bombardment began\, then agreed to reco nsider provided the townspeople turned over all their arms and gunpowder b y the following morning.\n\nWhen they didn't\, British ships opened fire.\ n\n[Cannon fire] The cannonade went on for more than 7 hours\, firing more than 3\,000 rounds of shot and hollow balls filled with combustible mater ial.\n\nIn mid-afternoon\, landing parties rowed ashore.\n\nThey hurled to rches into the doors and windows of homes and shops.\n\n[Clatter] News of Falmouth's destruction spread fast.\n\nPorts up and down the coast braced for the next attack.\n\nWashington and Congress had both already begun arm ing ships to seize enemy cargoes to supply the army.\n\nNow Congress voted to commission 13 frigates for a new Continental Navy.\n\nPhilbrick: To ha ve a navy in the late 18th century was to have a fleet of ships that were the most sophisticated machines in the world at that time.\n\nThey were ve ry expensive.\n\nAnd they required all sorts of economic power and technol ogy to create.\n\nGreat Britain had that.\n\nThe colonies really didn't.\n \nAnd\, so\, to go against this huge naval power was kind of an insane tas k to even contemplate.\n\nNarrator: The most successful Patriot commander was John Manley\, a sea captain from Marblehead.\n\nHe managed to seize 7 British vessels before the end of the year\, including an ordnance ship\, its hold filled with 100\,000 flints\, 2\,000 muskets\, and 30\,000 cannon balls-- all of it badly needed by the Continental Army.\n\n♪ British Adm iral Graves ultimately decided against attacking any more ports.\n\nBut th e damage was done.\n\nVoice: The savage and brutal barbarity of our enemie s is a full demonstration that there is not the least remains of virtue\, wisdom\, or humanity in the British.\n\nTherefore\, we expect soon to brea k off all kind of connection with Britain\, and form into a Grand Republic of the American United colonies.\n\n\"The New England Chronicle.\"\n\n♪ Voice: In every human breast\, God has implanted a principle\, which we c all love of freedom.\n\nIt is impatient of oppression\, and pants for deli verance.\n\nI will assert\, that the same principle lives in us.\n\nPhilli s Wheatley.\n\n♪ Narrator: George Washington made his Cambridge headquar ters in the handsome home of a Loyalist who had fled to England.\n\nOne mo rning\, not long after he had moved in\, he noticed a 6-year-old African-A merican named Darby Vassall swinging on the gate.\n\nVassall remembered sa ying he had been born in the house and his parents had worked there.\n\nWa shington urged him to come inside and get something to eat\; he had plenty of chores for him to do.\n\nWhen Darby asked what sort of wages he could expect\, Washington thought the question impertinent and \"unreasonable.\" \n\nDarby Vassall lived to be a very old man and\, when asked\, he liked t o say that in his experience\, George Washington \"was no gentleman\,\" si nce he'd expected a boy to work for free.\n\nWashington was also shocked t o see Black soldiers encamped alongside their White neighbors.\n\nUnconvin ced they could ever make good soldiers\, Washington persuaded the Massachu setts Provincial Congress to enlist no more of them\, though dozens had fo ught on Breed's Hill.\n\nChristopher Brown: I think that Washington was co ncerned about what it might mean for slavery and slaveholding.\n\nI think he was alert to the ways that it could end up eroding the institution.\n\n Narrator: Enslaved African-Americans constituted just 2% percent of the po pulation of New England\, but 40% of Virginians were held as slaves\, and planters like Washington lived in constant fear that they would rise up ag ainst them-- as enslaved people had risen up on the British island of Jama ica 3 times in the last 15 years.\n\nVoice: When you make men slaves you d eprive them of half their virtue\, and compel them to live with you in a s tate of war.\n\nAre there no dangers attending this mode of treatment?\n\n Are you not hourly in dread of an insurrection?\n\nOlaudah Equiano.\n\nNar rator: The growing talk of \"liberty\" had appealed to those who had the l east of it and craved it most.\n\nFrom New England to South Carolina\, ens laved people offered to help the British if they were granted freedom.\n\n In November of 1775\, Virginia's Royal Governor Lord Dunmore\, who had bee n forced to flee with some 300 soldiers\, sailors\, and Loyalists to ships anchored in the Chesapeake Bay\, issued a Proclamation that seemed to con firm the slaveholders' worst nightmares.\n\nIt promised freedom to any ens laved man owned by a rebel who was willing to take up arms and help suppre ss the uprising.\n\nAtkinson: Britain is the biggest slave-trading nation on earth.\n\nNevertheless\, the British believe that if they can convince enough slaves to abandon their masters in the South\, to take up arms agai nst the American rebels\, that this is a manpower pool that can also deran ge the economies of the Southern states.\n\nIt's not that the British are anti-slavery\, by any means\, in the 1770s\, right?\n\nTheir colonies in t he Caribbean are their most profitable colonies in the Americas.\n\nThey a re firmly committed to slavery.\n\nBut\, opportunistically\, when they thi nk that they can encourage slaves to rise up against rebelling colonists\, they'll do so.\n\nAnnette Gordon-Reed: For enslaved people\, this was a w ay of getting out of a situation that seemed intractable.\n\nAnd it gave t hem an impetus to get involved in all of this.\n\nIn the sort of chaos of war\, they found an opportunity\, a way to escape their situation.\n\nVoic e: \"The Virginia Gazette.\"\n\nBe not then\, ye Negroes\, tempted by this proclamation to ruin yourselves.\n\nWhether you will profit by my advice\ , I cannot tell.\n\nBut this I know\, that whether we suffer or not\, if y ou desert us\, you most certainly will.\n\nNarrator: Dunmore's Proclamatio n helped drive Southern slaveholders to the side of the revolutionaries.\n \nEdward Rutledge of South Carolina spoke for many: Lord Dunmore's proclam ation tends \"in my judgment\, \"more effectually to work an eternal separ ation \"between Great Britain and the Colonies than any other expedient.\" \n\nDunmore says that he only wants the slaves of rebels to join him.\n\nN ot clear exactly how you can tell them apart\, or whether there's any kind of census going on of who do you belong to.\n\nNarrator: Dunmore was not an abolitionist\; he did not free any of the 57 human beings he held in sl avery himself\; the Patriots would capture them all and sell them to fund their cause.\n\nVoice: Wednesday.\n\nLast night after going to bed\, Moses \, my son's man\, Joe\, Billy\, Postillion\, John\, Mulatto Peter\, Tom\, Panticore\, Manuel\, and Lancaster Sam all ran away to Lord Dunmore.\n\nLa ndon Carter.\n\nNarrator: Now runaways streamed to the governor's ships\, silently slipping along the rivers and tidal creeks that opened into the C hesapeake Bay.\n\n87 men\, women\, and children from a single Virginia pla ntation fled to Dunmore.\n\n[Dogs barking] Voice: Ran off last night from the subscriber: a Negro man named Charles\, who is a very shrewd\, sensibl e fellow\, and can both read and write.\n\nThere is reason to believe he i ntends an attempt to get to Lord Dunmore.\n\nHis elopement was from no cau se of complaint\, or dread of whipping but from a determined resolution to get liberty\, as he conceived.\n\n\"The Virginia Gazette.\"\n\nNarrator: \"There is not a man among them\,\" George Washington's farm manager warne d him\, \"but would leave us if they believed \"they could make their esca pe.\n\nLiberty is sweet.\"\n\nHe was right.\n\nThe first enslaved person t o escape Mount Vernon was named Harry Washington.\n\nBorn somewhere near t he Gambia River in West Africa\, he was captured\, carried across the ocea n\, and\, in 1763\, purchased by George Washington.\n\nFreedom was never f ar from his mind.\n\nIn 1771\, he had tried to escape but was caught and b rought back.\n\n4 years later\, he saw his chance.\n\nErica Dunbar: Follow ing Lord Dunmore's proclamation\, Harry Washington knew that this would be an opportunity\, and he joined the British against the people who had onc e owned him.\n\nNarrator: George Washington called Lord Dunmore a \"Monste r\,\" and an \"arch-traitor to the rights of humanity.\"\n\nVoice: If that man is not crushed before spring\, he will become the most formidable ene my America has.\n\nHis strength will increase\, as a snowball\, by rolling \, and faster.\n\nNothing less than depriving him of life or liberty will secure peace to Virginia.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nNarrator: Scores of run aways were caught and brutally punished\; some were killed\, others sold o ff to compensate their enslavers.\n\nBut some 800 men would make it to Dun more's growing fleet\, along with roughly the same number of women and chi ldren.\n\nMen found fit for duty were enlisted in a special unit called \" Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment.\"\n\nThey were commanded by White officers b ut paid a wage for the first time in their lives.\n\nVoice: The proclamati on has had a wonderful effect.\n\nThe Negroes are flocking in from all qua rters.\n\nAnd had I but a few more men here\, I would march immediately to Williamsburg\, by which I should soon compel the whole colony to submit.\ n\nLord Dunmore.\n\nNarrator: Bolstered by reinforcements\, Dunmore occupi ed Norfolk and ordered a stockade built at the Great Bridge over the Eliza beth River to block the only road to town from the South.\n\nSome 700 Patr iots dug in across the river\, and on December 9\, 1775\, when Dunmore's t roops charged across the bridge to dislodge them\, more than 100 of his me n\, Black and White\, were killed.\n\n\"They fought\, bled\, and died like Englishmen\,\" one man remembered.\n\nDunmore's makeshift army-- includin g what was left of the Ethiopian regiment-- fled back to sea.\n\nWith them went scores of Loyalist families from in and around Norfolk\, most of the m Dunmore's fellow Scots.\n\nHe now commanded a floating city--including r afts on which the poorest struggled to survive.\n\nBrown: Dunmore's Procla mation turns the conflict\, in Virginia\, into a genuine crisis.\n\nBut it does help clarify differences\, right?\n\nIt establishes that there is on e side of this conflict that is unevenly committed to slavery.\n\nAnd then there's another side\, our side\, which is fully committed to it.\n\nAnd for some Patriots\, that's all they need to know.\n\nIt creates a sense th at this is an existential conflict in a way that it had not before.\n\nVoi ce: These lords of themselves\, these kings of me\, these demigods of inde pendence.\n\nIt has been proposed that the slaves should be set free\, an act which\, surely\, the lovers of liberty cannot but commend.\n\nHow is i t that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of Negroes? \n\nDr.\n\nSamuel Johnson.\n\n♪ [Indistinct shouting] Voice: Connecticut wants no Massachusetts man in her corps\; Massachusetts thinks there is n o necessity for a Rhode Islander to be introduced into hers.\n\nCould I ha ve foreseen what I have\, and am like to experience\, no consideration upo n earth should have induced me to accept this command.\n\n[George Washingt on] [Indistinct shouting] Narrator: Now George Washington faced for the fi rst time the problem that would haunt him again and again: when enlistment s expired at the end of the year\, most of his army was simply going to me lt away.\n\n♪ To fill out his ranks\, Washington persuaded the governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire to send him a total of 5\,000 militiam en.\n\nThe newcomers were so sullen\, veteran soldiers called them the \"L ong-Faced People.\"\n\nWashington asked Congress if Indian units could ser ve in his army.\n\nWhile they debated the issue\, many Native people did j oin the ranks.\n\n5 sons of a Mohegan woman named Rebecca Tanner would die fighting for the Patriots over the course of the war.\n\n♪ In December\ , Washington changed his mind about enlisting African-Americans.\n\nHis de sperate need for men was part of it.\n\nBut there were also appeals from B lack veterans themselves or from their officers.\n\n\"It has been represen ted to me\,\" Washington wrote to the Continental Congress\, \"that the fr ee Negroes who have \"served in this Army are very much dissatisfied at be ing discarded.\"\n\nThey could now re-enlist.\n\nKamensky: Washington brin gs to Cambridge the \"hard no\" of a Virginia planter.\n\nBut he is also w illing to revise himself.\n\nTo think about the whole of the potential fig hting force and whether Black men can play a role within it.\n\nI think ma ny people\, most people from his station\, would have started where he sta rted and have gone no further.\n\nSo\, I think he does have a sort of flex ibility as a commander\, which is the only thing that the commander of an insurrectionary force can have.\n\nNarrator: Though the decision remained unpopular\, by the end of the war\, some 5\,000 African-Americans had serv ed in the Continental Army.\n\nA lot of these decisions about who to fight for\, who to align with\, are deeply\, deeply local.\n\nThey're not neces sarily about high ideals at all\, right?\n\nSo\, when people think there's an opportunity with the British\, they may align with and run off to Brit ish lines.\n\nBut when the Patriot Army kind of opens its ranks to Black p eople\, there are lots of Black people who think they can gain advantage\, concession\, and even\, one day\, some status from fighting for the Patri ots.\n\nIt's not a question of who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.\n\nIt's what can I get from making this decision\, right now\, in thi s place\, at this time\, among these people.\n\nNarrator: Washington's new army--an ill-assorted mix of soldiers who'd decided to stay on\, raw recr uits\, and short-term militiamen-- now numbered around 8\,000 men.\n\nBut only 2/3 were fit for duty.\n\nThose men were still cold\, still poorly ar med\, still poorly paid-- but also still able to keep the British trapped in Boston.\n\nVoice: It is not in the pages of history perhaps to furnish a case like ours.\n\nTo maintain a post within musket shot of the enemy fo r 6 months together\, without powder\, and at the same time to disband one Army and recruit another\, within that distance of 20-odd British regimen ts\, is more than probably ever was attempted.\n\n♪ [Thunder] Voice: At the most moderate computation\, this rebellion will cost Great Britain 10 millions of treasure and 20\,000 lives.\n\nWhat then\, in the name of wond er\, is the object of the war?\n\nAre we to throw away so much treasure an d so many lives to gain a point which\, when gained\, is not worth 1% on o ur money?\n\nThe \"Public Advertiser.\"\n\nMaya Jasanoff: In the British P arliament\, there are debates taking place.\n\nThere are people lining up on one side who say\, \"You know\, we ought to actually \"grant the coloni es more autonomy.\n\n\"We ought to loosen the strictures \"that we've plac ed on them.\n\n\"We ought to think about ways that they might be represent ed.\"\n\nNarrator: The war in North America was not universally popular in England.\n\nThe colonies were 3\,000 miles away.\n\nThe theater of war wo uld be far larger than any the British Army had ever encountered before.\n \nIt was sure to be costly and bloody and likely to be prolonged.\n\nThe A rmy chief and England's most distinguished naval commander would both refu se to take part in the war.\n\nThe Lord Mayor and aldermen of the City of London appealed to the King to reconsider.\n\nIt was far better to give th e Americans their \"rights and liberties\,\" they said\, than impose \"the dreadful operations of your armaments.\"\n\nBut the new Secretary of Stat e for America\, Lord George Germain\, remained determined to crush the reb ellion-- and to do it with a single\, all-out campaign.\n\nIf the war drag ged on\, King George himself feared that Britain's old Catholic enemies\, France and Spain\, might be persuaded to support the rebel cause.\n\nVoice : The rebellious war now levied is become more general\, and is manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire.\n\nThe object is too important\, the spirit of the British nation too high\, the resources with which God hath blessed her too numerous\, to give up so man y colonies which she has planted with great industry\, nursed with great t enderness\, and protected and defended at much expense of blood and treasu re.\n\n[King George III] Atkinson: King George was not an ogre.\n\nHe was not a tyrant.\n\nContrary to the stereotype that most Americans have of hi m\, he's actually a pretty extraordinary man.\n\nConway: He was a very gre at constitutional monarch.\n\nIn fact\, in 1775\, he declares\, \"I'm figh ting the war of the legislature.\"\n\nIn other words\, he's fighting for P arliament's rights over the American colonies.\n\nNot his own rights\, Par liament's rights.\n\nBut once the war starts\, he sees himself as the comm ander-in-chief with a responsibility to make sure the war is run efficient ly and effectively.\n\nNarrator: The British Navy was the largest on earth \, but the all-volunteer British Army numbered fewer than 50\,000 officers and men on paper.\n\nAnd it was still smaller in reality\, just 1/3 of th e size of the French Army\, and scattered across the world from Ireland to India\, the Mediterranean to the Caribbean.\n\n\"Unless it rains men in r ed coats\,\" one official warned\, \"I know not where we are to get all we shall want.\"\n\nEllis: The British should have recognized that this was going to be extremely difficult and perhaps unwinnable conflict.\n\nThey w ere confident of two things.\n\nThey had invincible military power.\n\nAnd \, therefore\, there was no need for them to compromise.\n\nAnd secondly\, that any compromise of Sovereignty\, of Parliament's Sovereignty\, was go ing to encourage independence on the part of the Americans.\n\nThey had a kind of \"Domino\" theory: if we lose American colonies\, then we lose Can ada\, then we lose the Caribbean.\n\nSo that George III and his Ministers really believe that nothing less than the future of the British Empire is at stake.\n\n[Bird cawing] Voice: Our commander\, Arnold\, was of a remark able character.\n\nBrave and beloved by the soldiery\, he possessed great powers of persuasion.\n\nPrivate John Joseph Henry.\n\n♪ Narrator: Bened ict Arnold and his men had made slow progress on their way up the Kennebec River as part of the American invasion of Canada.\n\nTheir provisions had been packed into 220 flat-bottomed \"bateaux\,\" built for them at George Washington's orders.\n\nAll Arnold knew about the forests his men were ab out to penetrate came from a crude 15-year-old British map that seemed to suggest Quebec City was 180 miles away and could be reached in just 20 day s.\n\n♪ The real distance turned out to be 270 miles.\n\n[Wind blowing] Nothing could have prepared Arnold for the ordeal he and his men were abou t to endure.\n\n[Water spraying] The Kennebec turned out to be punctuated by waterfalls and rapids.\n\nSubmerged rocks tore the bottoms of their boa ts.\n\nWithin 72 hours\, 1/4 of their provisions were lost or ruined.\n\nI n the mornings\, wet clothes were glazed with ice\, one man wrote\, thick as a pane of glass.\n\nOn the 10th day\, Arnold began rationing the remain ing food-- just salt pork and flour.\n\nIt snowed on the 19th day and rain ed relentlessly for days afterwards.\n\nThen\, it snowed again.\n\nPhilbri ck: America is this huge continent.\n\nThere's tornadoes\, there's hurrica nes\, there's winter storms.\n\nTurns of weather that we know are coming f or weeks on end hit the people of the 18th century completely by surprise. \n\nThey're not just fighting each other.\n\nIn a profound way\, they are fighting the American climate and geography and topography.\n\nThis is a d ifficult place to conduct a war.\n\n♪ Narrator: After a month of hardshi p\, the officer leading the battalion that had been bringing up the rear d eclared the mission suicidal\, turned his 300 men around\, and started for home with many of the remaining provisions.\n\n♪ Arnold's men were now forced to subsist on candles\, tree bark\, and soup made by boiling rawhid e.\n\nOne company killed and ate their captain's Newfoundland dog.\n\n♪ Of the 1\,100 men who set out from Cambridge\, more than 1/3 had turned ba ck\, been escorted home as invalids\, or died along the way.\n\n[Bell ring s] Finally\, 45 days after setting off--not 20-- Arnold's men saw the spir es and walls of Quebec City looming across the St.\n\nLawrence River.\n\nP hilbrick: No one\, particularly the British\, can believe that suddenly th ey are there.\n\nArnold\, because of this\, would have a reputation now.\n \nHe would be known as the \"American Hannibal\" for his ability to move m en over mountains\, to achieve seemingly impossible things.\n\nNarrator: M eanwhile\, American forces led by General Montgomery had easily taken Mont real.\n\nThen\, with 300 of his men\, Montgomery set out along the St.\n\n Lawrence to meet up with Arnold.\n\nTogether\, they planned their assault on Quebec City.\n\nThey realize that they've got a hard decision to make.\ n\nWe either attack now\, or many of our men are going to leave.\n\nTheir enlistments are up.\n\nThey're cold.\n\nIt's mid-winter in Canada.\n\n♪ Narrator: There were only some 300 British regulars stationed in the forti fied city.\n\nSo\, General Guy Carleton\, the royal governor of Canada\, o rdered every able-bodied man within its walls to prepare for battle.\n\nAn yone who refused had to leave or be prosecuted as a spy.\n\nThe city's ram parts were soon guarded by some 1\,800 men.\n\nThe American plan called fo r two small\, noisy diversionary feints to draw defenders away from the at tack's real targets.\n\nMeanwhile\, Arnold and his men would circle around Quebec City from the north\, while General Montgomery would approach from the south.\n\nTogether\, they would storm the citadel's steep walls.\n\ n♪ Voice: Dear Father\, if you receive this letter\, it will be the last this hand will ever write you.\n\nHeaven only knows what will be my fate. \n\nBut whatever it may be\, I cannot resist the inclination I feel to ass ure you that in this cause I feel no reluctance to venture a life\, which I consider as only lent to be used when my country demands it.\n\nYour ver y affectionate son\, John Macpherson.\n\n[Wind blowing] Voice: The storm w as outrageous.\n\nCovering the locks of our guns with the lapels of our co ats and holding down our heads... [Gunshot] we ran in single file.\n\nJohn Joseph Henry.\n\nNarrator: The Americans launched their attack at 4 in th e morning on December 31st\, 1775\, under the cover of a howling blizzard. \n\nMany men had pinned to their hats slips of paper with the words\, \"Li berty or Death.\"\n\n[Gunfire] Everything went wrong.\n\n[Gunfire] The div ersionary attacks fooled no one.\n\nArnold's men came under merciless fire from the ramparts above-- and the enemy had placed formidable barricades in their way.\n\n[Gunfire] When a ricocheting bullet fragment tore through Arnold's left leg\, he had to be carried back to camp.\n\nCaptain Daniel Morgan of Virginia took over.\n\nHe managed to lead his men past one barri cade only to be blocked by another.\n\nHe tried 4 times to scale it\, then decided to wait for Montgomery and his men to break through.\n\n♪ But M ontgomery never made it.\n\n[Gunshot] Within moments of making his way int o the city\, he\, John Macpherson\, and 11 others were killed.\n\n[Gunfire ] Voice: The enemy\, having the advantage of the ground in front\, a vast superiority of numbers\, and dry and better arms\, gave them an irresistib le power.\n\nAbout 9:00 a.m.\, it was apparent to all of us that we must s urrender.\n\nJohn Joseph Henry.\n\n♪ Narrator: 30 Americans lay dead.\n\ n389 were taken prisoner\, including Daniel Morgan.\n\n♪ Arnold\, though badly wounded\, was not captured and vowed to try to take the city again before it could be reinforced.\n\nVoice: I have no thoughts of leaving thi s proud town\, until I first enter it in triumph.\n\nProvidence which has carried me through so many dangers\, is still my protection.\n\nBenedict A rnold.\n\n♪ Voice: I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature\, and that power\, whether vested in many or a few\, is ever gras ping\, and like the grave cries give\, give.\n\nYou tell me of degrees of perfection to which humane nature is capable of arriving\, and I believe i t\, but at the same time lament that our admiration should arise from the scarcity of the instances.\n\nWhen I consider these things\, I feel anxiou s for the fate of our monarchy\, or democracy\, or whatever is to take pla ce.\n\nAbigail Adams.\n\nNarrator: On New Year's Day\, 1776\, George Washi ngton ordered a new \"Continental Union\" flag raised atop Prospect Hill o verlooking occupied Boston.\n\nThe British Union Jack still filled its upp er left-hand corner.\n\nBut its 13 red and white stripes\, he said\, were intended as a \"compliment to the United Colonies.\"\n\nWith the exception of the city of Boston\, Patriots now controlled each of the 13 colonies.\ n\nSeveral other royal governors had\, like Dunmore\, fled to ships offsho re.\n\nBut people within the colonies remained deeply divided.\n\nSome of the free population favored independence.\n\nOthers were appalled at the t hought of breaking with the King.\n\nAbandoning Britain\, one Virginian wr ote\, would \"dissolve the bands of religion\, of oaths\, of laws\, \"of l anguage\, of blood\, which hold us united under the influence of the commo n parent.\"\n\nStill others remained \"disaffected\,\" favoring neither si de\, hoping somehow to carry on with their lives while their fellow-Americ ans-- suspicious of their neutrality-- fought things out.\n\nBut events we re changing minds.\n\nGordon-Reed: What happened in the run-up to all of t his gave people a sense that they might be able to make it on their own.\n \nThey were different from the people in Great Britain.\n\nThey realized t hat they were moving apart.\n\nVoice: If we must erect an independent gove rnment in America\, a republic will produce strength\, hardiness\, activit y\, courage\, fortitude\, and enterprise.\n\nBut there is so much rascalit y\, so much venality and corruption\, so much avarice and ambition\, such a rage for profit and commerce among all ranks and degrees of men\, even i n America\, that I sometimes doubt whether there is public virtue enough t o support a republic.\n\nJohn Adams.\n\nTaylor: The leaders of the America n Revolution need popular support.\n\nThe leaders of the American Revoluti on are going to have to make promises that there's going to be greater soc ial mobility\; there's going to be greater respect for common people\; the re is going to be broader political participation in the future than there has been in the colonial past by loosening up structures of authority\, i ncluding structures of religious authority.\n\nIf you're making this Revol ution and you need the support of thousands of common people\, men and wom en\, what's in it for them?\n\nGordon Wood: Up to the 18th century\, peopl e assumed that everything will always remain the same.\n\nBut the idea tha t you could take charge and change your culture\, that's what--that's the fundamental basis of the Enlightenment\, that man can be changed.\n\n♪ V oice: The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth.\n\n'Tis not the af fair of a city\, a country\, a province\, or a kingdom\, but of a continen t.\n\nEverything that is right or natural pleads for separation.\n\nEvery spot of the old world is overrun with oppression.\n\nFreedom hath been hun ted round the globe.\n\nO!\n\nreceive the fugitive\, and prepare in time a n asylum for mankind.\n\n♪ We have it in our power to begin the world ov er again.\n\nA situation similar to the present hath not happened since th e days of Noah until now.\n\nThe birthday of a new world is at hand.\n\nTh omas Paine.\n\n♪ Narrator: On January 9th\, 1776\, a slender pamphlet ti tled \"Common Sense\" was published in Philadelphia-- the most important p amphlet in American history.\n\nIt was signed simply \"an Englishman.\"\n\ nIts author\, a recent newcomer to America\, was 38-year-old Thomas Paine. \n\nThe son of a Quaker corset-maker and his Anglican wife\, Paine had fai led at his father's profession\, lost his first wife and their child in ch ildbirth\, been fired from his post as tax collector\, endured the collaps e of a second childless marriage\, and had seen his possessions auctioned off to pay his debts.\n\nDuring his 8-week voyage from Britain\, he'd cont racted typhus\, and when his ship reached Philadelphia\, he had to be carr ied off\, half-dead.\n\nBut Paine was a master with words\, skillfully wea ving the latest Enlightenment philosophy with biblical references that eve ryone knew.\n\nAnd he was a violent foe of aristocracy and monarchy.\n\nSc hiff: It's a much more radical document than anything that had preceded it .\n\n\"Common Sense\" takes off like an accelerant through the colonies.\n \nEveryone reads it.\n\nNarrator: Excerpts from \"Common Sense\" appeared in newspapers throughout the colonies.\n\nThe pamphlet would sell tens of thousands of copies.\n\nTaylor: It is an unprecedented bestseller.\n\nWith the exception of the Bible in the colonies\, no book has been read as wid ely as \"Common Sense\" is.\n\nBernard Bailyn: It was a wholesale attack o n the entire world of Britain\, political\, cultural.\n\nAnd it's in slam- bang prose.\n\nNo American pamphleteer wrote that kind of really tough ext reme language.\n\nHogeland: It just made people listen and made people thi nk at a time when the Congress would never have thought of attacking the K ing\, personally\, King George III\, the \"Crown of England.\"\n\nThey wer e always like\, \"Oh\, he's not really getting it.\n\n\"It's Parliament th at's our problem.\n\nThe King needs to help us.\"\n\nHe just called the Ki ng a \"beast\,\" in print.\n\nHe was the working-class intellectual.\n\nHi s politics were radically democratic\, in many ways.\n\nAnd that made him different from the other famous Founders.\n\nVoice: Hereditary succession is an insult and an imposition on posterity.\n\nFor all men being original ly equals\, no one by birth could have a right to set up his own family in perpetual preference to all others forever.\n\nOne of the strongest natur al proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings is that nature disappr oves it\, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by g iving mankind an ass for a lion.\n\nThomas Paine.\n\nBailyn: That pamphlet did stir people's minds about the possibility of a different kind of worl d.\n\nVoice: \"Common Sense\" struck a string which required a touch to ma ke it vibrate.\n\nThe country was ripe for independence\, and only needed somebody to tell the people so.\n\nPrivate Ashbel Green.\n\nHogeland: Some of the Founders\, and others\, thought this is the moment we can start ov er again.\n\nWe can actually begin the world anew.\n\nAnd it must have bee n\, you know\, wildly exciting at the time.\n\nAnd I think it still excite s us\, that we are the product of a revolutionary moment where the world t urned upside down.\n\nVoice: My countrymen will come reluctantly into the idea of independency.\n\nI find \"Common Sense\" is working a wonderful ch ange in the minds of many men.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\n♪ Narrator: Not all minds were changed.\n\nHannah Griffitts\, the Philadelphia poet who in 1768 had urged American women to boycott British goods\, was horrified.\n \nKamensky: The idea that to reform the Empire by not buying tea or import ed cloth would lead to this crazy question of independence was an impossib le thing for her to countenance.\n\nPaine is where a lot of people get on the revolutionary road.\n\nIt's where she gets off.\n\nNarrator: For some Americans\, \"Common Sense\" confirmed their worst fears.\n\nVermont Loyal ist John Peters\, who continued to receive death threats from his Patriot neighbors\, had reached a breaking point.\n\nVoice: Often mobbed and once imprisoned by the malcontents\, I quitted my family\, property\, and offic es\, and fled to Canada\, to avoid personal danger and to support the Brit ish cause against its enemies.\n\n[John Peters] Voice: The want of guns is so great that no trouble or expense must be spared to obtain them.\n\n[Ge orge Washington] Atkinson: Washington has got Boston surrounded.\n\nThe pr oblem is\, he doesn't have the big guns necessary to make the British in B oston really feel threatened.\n\nHe's got some artillery\, but not enough. \n\nThey tend to be smaller field guns.\n\nHe knows that at Ticonderoga\, which is several hundred miles away\, there are more than 80 British guns that have been captured by Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen.\n\nAnd he tell s Henry Knox\, \"Go to Ticonderoga\, bring back whatever you can.\"\n\n♪ Narrator: Henry Knox was a big\, amiable\, 25-year-old Boston bookseller who had learned all he knew about artillery and military engineering from volumes he'd stocked in his shop and from his service in the Boston militi a.\n\nHe'd earned Washington's admiration for overseeing the construction of fortifications at Roxbury.\n\nAtkinson: Washington\, who's got a very g ood eye for subordinate talent\, recognizes that this guy\, he doesn't eve n have a uniform at the time\, has something about him that Washington fin ds appealing\, and the potential that Henry Knox evinces is something that Washington recognizes immediately.\n\nNarrator: Before setting out\, Knox wrote a letter to his pregnant wife Lucy\, who had fled Boston\, leaving her Loyalist parents and siblings behind.\n\nVoice: Keep up your spirits\, my dear girl\, and don't be alarmed when I tell you that the General has ordered me to go to the westward as far as Ticonderoga.\n\nDon't be afraid \, there is no fighting in the case.\n\nI am going upon business only.\n\n Henry Knox.\n\nNarrator: Knox made his way to the captured forts and found 55 guns worth transporting-- 39 field pieces\, 14 mortars\, and two howit zers-- all weighing more than 64 tons.\n\n♪ Knox's task was somehow to m ove them 300 miles down into the Hudson Valley\, across the Berkshires\, a nd all the way to Boston.\n\nHe had horses and ox teams haul the guns over land to the northern end of Lake George.\n\nFrom there\, a small fleet of barges and boats ferried them more than 30 miles against howling winds to Fort George at the southern end.\n\n♪ Voice: I have made 42 exceeding st rong sleds and have provided 80 yoke of oxen to drag them as far as Spring field\, where I shall get fresh cattle to carry them to camp.\n\nWe shall have a fine fall of snow\, which will make the carriage easy.\n\nHenry Kno x.\n\n♪ Narrator: The snow for which Knox hoped proved unpredictable\, s ometimes too light for his sleds to glide over\, sometimes too heavy for t hem to move at all.\n\n♪ Crossing the Berkshires\, oxen hauled the canno n up and over mountains so tall that from their summits\, Knox remembered\ , \"We might almost have seen all the kingdoms of the earth.\"\n\n♪ Wher ever they went\, farmers and townspeople turned out to see them.\n\nVoice: We reached Westfield\, Massachusetts\, and found that very few\, even amo ng the oldest inhabitants\, had ever seen a cannon.\n\nWe were great gaine rs by this curiosity.\n\nFor while they were employed in remarking upon ou r guns\, we were with equal pleasure discussing the qualities of their cid er and whiskey.\n\nJohn P. Becker.\n\nNarrator: As the ox train lumbered o n\, Knox hurried ahead alone to Cambridge.\n\nHe reported to Washington th at over the next few weeks\, all the artillery he'd been promised would be at his disposal.\n\n♪ When the last of Knox's cannon reached Washington 's army\, England's hold on Boston was doomed.\n\nAtkinson: It's one of th e most extraordinary expeditions in American military history.\n\nHe appea rs back in Cambridge\, says\, \"Boss\, I'm here.\n\n\"I've brought back 50 guns.\n\n\"They're parked right outside of town.\n\nThey're available whe never you need them.\"\n\nWashington says\, \"You're my man.\"\n\nAnd he p uts Knox in charge of Continental Artillery.\n\n[Drumbeat] Narrator: On th e night of March 4th\, 1776\, some 3\,000 men and 300 teams worked to put 20 or more heavy guns in place on Dorchester Heights.\n\n[Drumbeat] Voice: March 5th.\n\nThis morning at daybreak\, we discovered two redoubts on th e hills on Dorchester Point\, and two smaller works on their flanks.\n\nTh ey were all raised during the night\, with an expedition equal to that of the genie belonging to Aladdin's wonderful lamp.\n\nFrom these hills they commanded the whole town\, so that we must drive them from their post\, or desert the place.\n\n[British Officer] Narrator: Unwilling to sacrifice a ny more men\, General Howe decided to leave Boston for Halifax in Nova Sco tia\, where he hoped to regroup.\n\n♪ With him went 10\,000 soldiers and their dependents as well as 1\,100 Loyalist men\, women\, and children wh o would have to build new lives in a new place.\n\nAmong them were Henry K nox's in-laws.\n\n\"I have lost\,\" his wife Lucy wrote\, \"my father\, mo ther\, brother\, and sisters.\"\n\n♪ Voice: How horrid is this war?\n\nB rother against brother and the parent against the child.\n\nWho were the f irst promoters of it\, I know not.\n\nBut God knows.\n\nAnd I fear they wi ll feel the weight of His vengeance.\n\n♪ Tis pity\, the little time we have to spend in this world\, we cannot enjoy ourselves and our friends\, but must be devising means to destroy each other.\n\nLucy Knox.\n\n♪ Nar rator: With the evacuation of Boston\, no British garrison now remained an ywhere in the rebellious colonies.\n\nSerena Zabin: I think it surprises e verybody that the Patriots are having some successes.\n\nSo much so that e veryone's convinced that it's either the support of God or the virtue of t he cause that is helping them win.\n\nOne of their favorite metaphors is t he Battle of Jericho.\n\nThey're sure that all it takes is for this army t hat has right on its side to show up and blow a trumpet\, and the walls ar e just going to fall down.\n\nNarrator: Some Americans believed the war wa s over.\n\nThe Massachusetts legislature thanked George Washington for his service and wished him \"Peace and Satisfaction of Mind\" in his retireme nt.\n\nBut Washington knew better.\n\nHe informed Congress that he would \ "immediately repair to New York\, with the remainder of the Army.\"\n\nHe was sure that Howe's next move would be to attack that strategically impor tant port.\n\nBy mid-April\, 1776\, he and his wife Martha\, and several m embers of their household\, were in residence there.\n\nMeanwhile\, Congre ss sent a Connecticut businessman named Silas Deane to Paris to secretly b uy munitions and supplies-- and to look into the possibility of forging an alliance with France.\n\nSchiff: Two questions\, really\, conjoin at this point.\n\nOne question is\, if we're going to make ourselves independent\ , if we're going to somehow create a nation\, which is a truly novel and d estabilizing concept\, how are we going to do that?\n\nWe have absolutely no means with which to do so.\n\nSo\, we will have to enlist the aid of a foreign power.\n\nAnd then comes the question of a Declaration.\n\nAnd the question is\, which needs to happen first.\n\n♪ Voice: Independence is the only bond that can tie and keep us together.\n\nEvery day convinces us of its necessity.\n\nInstead of gazing at each other with suspicious or d oubtful curiosity\, let each of us hold out to his neighbor the hearty han d of friendship.\n\nAnd let no other name be heard among us\, than those o f a good citizen\; an open and resolute friend\; and a virtuous supporter of the Rights of Mankind\, and of the Free and Independent States of Ameri ca.\n\nThomas Paine.\n\n♪ [Thunder] Voice: Language cannot describe\, no r imagination paint\, the scenes of misery the soldiery endure\, continual ly groaning and calling for relief\, but in vain.\n\nThe most shocking of all spectacles was to see a large barn crowded full of men with this disor der\, many of which could not see\, speak\, or walk.\n\nDr.\n\nLewis Beebe .\n\nNarrator: That spring\, colonists on both sides of the fighting were ravaged by a common enemy: \"Variola major\"--smallpox.\n\nHighly infectio us\, the virus had scarred\, blinded\, or killed hundreds of thousands in North America over the past 2 1/2 centuries.\n\n♪ The American Revolutio n coincided with a continent-wide epidemic that would last for 7 years and take some 100\,000 more lives--Black\, White\, as well as Native American .\n\nColin Calloway: When armies are marching back and forth\, this is pri me environment for the spread of diseases.\n\nAnd one of the largest\, or at least best documented\, smallpox epidemics\, and it may be epidemics\, plural\, happens at the time of the American Revolution.\n\nSmallpox was t he dread disease of humanity.\n\nNarrator: There were just two weapons aga inst smallpox: isolating its victims to keep them from infecting others or inoculating the still unaffected by deliberately implanting live virus in to an incision in hopes that the infection they contracted would neither p rove fatal nor infect anyone else before it conferred immunity.\n\nGeorge Washington knew the disease firsthand\; he'd been permanently scarred by i t as a young man.\n\nBut he initially rejected inoculation for his soldier s: if he imposed it universally\, his whole army would have been incapacit ated for weeks\; if he employed it piecemeal and just one still-infectious inoculated soldier was released too early\, he might infect his whole com pany.\n\nInstead\, anyone showing smallpox symptoms was isolated in a spec ial hospital with guards posted to keep visitors out.\n\n[Seagulls crying] Meanwhile\, aboard Lord Dunmore's floating city in the Chesapeake Bay\, t he men of his Ethiopian Regiment and their families\, packed together on s mall\, segregated vessels\, were without immunity and not inoculated until the disease was already raging among them.\n\nSo was typhus.\n\nVoice: Th e fever has proved a very malignant one and has carried off an incredible number of our people\, especially the Blacks.\n\nHad it not been for this horrid disorder\, I am satisfied I should have had 2\,000 Blacks with whom I should have had no doubt of penetrating into the heart of this colony.\ n\nLord Dunmore.\n\n♪ Narrator: In late May\, Dunmore moved his ramshack le fleet north to Gwynn's Island\, lured there by the presence of some 400 cows with which he hoped to help feed his followers.\n\nBut smallpox and typhus came with him.\n\nRunaways continued to find their way to Dunmore\, 6 or 8 a day--and died almost as fast.\n\n[Gunshot] Eventually\, under fi re from Virginia militiamen onshore\, Dunmore and his fleet would be force d to sail away from the island.\n\n[Gunshot] They left behind hundreds of sick African-American men\, women\, and children.\n\nA Virginian who reach ed the island a day or two later never forgot what he saw.\n\nVoice: On ou r arrival\, we were struck with horror at the number of dead bodies\, in a state of putrefaction\, without a shovelful of earth upon them\; others g asping for life\; and some had crawled to the water's edge\, who could onl y make known their distress by beckoning to us.\n\nSuch a scene of cruelty my eyes never beheld\; for which the authors never can make atonement in this world.\n\n[Virginia Militiaman] ♪ Narrator: Dunmore's experiment in emancipation had ended in disaster.\n\nBut over the 7 years of fighting t hat followed\, tens of thousands of enslaved people would flee to the Brit ish\, believing that the King's representatives were more likely than the Revolutionaries to fulfill their hopes for liberty.\n\n♪ Gordon-Reed: Op ting for freedom is a gamble.\n\nAnd it makes people take all kinds of ris ks.\n\nThe notion that you would be in a situation where your children\, a nd your children's children\, and your children's children's children woul d be enslaved\, I can understand wanting to risk death to prevent that.\n\ n♪ Narrator: That same spring\, smallpox would end the American dream of capturing Canada\, as well.\n\nFor more than 4 months\, Benedict Arnold\, now promoted to general\, had continued to blockade Quebec City\, hoping he could mount a successful second assault before spring temperatures thaw ed the ice blocking the St.\n\nLawrence\, and the British could land reinf orcements.\n\nBut by May\, nearly half of those Americans who remained wer e sick.\n\nThen\, Royal Navy warships and transports arrived\, filled with thousands of fresh troops-- and thousands more were on the way.\n\nThe Am ericans took flight.\n\nBritish forces\, led by General Guy Carleton and G eneral John Burgoyne\, pursued them-- soon supported by Native American al lies.\n\nDarren Bonaparte: For us\, my people living on the St.\n\nLawrenc e\, the British rallied us and said\, \"We've got Americans invading.\n\nT hey're going to kill all of you.\"\n\nWe sent 100 of our warriors to help the British drive the Americans out of the Montreal area.\n\nNarrator: One by one\, the Americans abandoned their outposts.\n\nReinforcements added to their numbers\, but 3/4 of the newcomers had no immunity to smallpox.\n \nVoice: The road ran alongside of the river opposite the city of Montreal \, and we could plainly see the red-coated British soldiers on the other s hore.\n\nSo close were they upon us that if we had not retreated as we did \, all would have been prisoners\, for they were in numbers as 6-to-our-on e\, and we\, moreover\, nearly half-dead with sickness and fatigue and lac k of clothing.\n\nJohn Greenwood.\n\nNarrator: The young fifer John Greenw ood was among those reinforcements when Arnold ordered his men to abandon Montreal.\n\nNearly 2\,000 fell ill.\n\nEventually they crowded onto Ile a ux Noix\, waiting their turn to be ferried south on Lake Champlain to Crow n Point and Ticonderoga.\n\n♪ 20 to 60 men fell ill every day\, and 15 t o 20 died.\n\nTwo great pits were dug in which the dead were heaped each e vening\, one man recalled\, \"with no other covering but the rags in which they died.\"\n\nBy the end of June\, 10 months after the American invasio n of Canada began\, it was over.\n\n12\,000 Americans had taken part.\n\nS ome 5\,000 of them had been killed\, wounded\, taken prisoner\, died of di sease\, or deserted.\n\nThe survivors were now encamped back on the shores of Lake Champlain where the campaign had started.\n\n♪ Voice: Our army at Crown Point is an object of wretchedness to fill a human mind with horr or.\n\nOur misfortunes in Canada are enough to melt a heart of stone.\n\nT he smallpox is 10 times more terrible than Britons\, Canadians\, and India ns together.\n\nJohn Adams.\n\n♪ Narrator: \"Our affairs are hastening t o a crisis\,\" John Hancock\, the president of the Continental Congress.\n \nwarned\, \"and the approaching campaign \"will in all probability determ ine forever the fate of America.\"\n\nFrance had by now quietly pledged to provide some arms and money-- but open support would require the Congress to cut all ties to Britain.\n\n\"Every day\,\" John Adams wrote to a frie nd\, independence \"rolls in upon us like a torrent.\"\n\nOn May 15th\, Co ngress called upon all 13 colonies to form their own governments.\n\nBy ad opting new constitutions\, the colonies would turn themselves into soverei gn States.\n\n♪ The next day\, delegates learned that the British\, desp erate and without European allies\, had hired thousands of foreign troops to help crush the rebellion.\n\nSome German princes had agreed to provide them--for a price.\n\nMost came from Hessen-Kassel and Hessen-Hanau\, so t he Americans would call them all \"Hessians.\"\n\n\"O Britons\,\" one Rhod e Islander lamented\, \"how art you fallen that you hire foreigners to cut your children's throats.\"\n\nVoice: The British nation have proceeded to the last extremity.\n\nAnd we should expect a severe trial this summer\, with Britons\, Hessians\, Indians\, Negroes\, and every other butcher the gracious King of Britain can hire against us.\n\nJosiah Bartlett\, New Ham pshire.\n\nFriederike Baer: The Americans are using the British Government 's decision to hire foreign soldiers in the war against British subjects\, if they look at this as a civil war to some extent.\n\nThey're using this as a tool to rile up resistance against Britain\, to mobilize men to\, ba sically\, take up arms against these invaders\, and ultimately to support independence.\n\n[Gavel banging] Narrator: On June 7th\, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia introduced resolutions in Congress declaring that \"these Uni ted Colonies are &\; of right \"ought to be free &\; independent Sta tes absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown.\"\n\n♪ Meanwhile\ , a letter to a Pennsylvania newspaper signed only \"Republicus\" declared that it was time for independent Americans \"to call themselves by some n ame\"-- and proposed the \"United States of America.\"\n\n♪ A 5-man comm ittee was named to produce a document setting forth the reasons for making such a momentous decision.\n\n33-year-old Thomas Jefferson of Virginia wa s assigned to write the first draft.\n\n♪ He would draw from Aristotle\, Cicero\, John Locke\, and the Virginia Declaration of Rights\, written by his friend George Mason.\n\nBut his goal\, he said\, was to distill what he called \"an expression of the American mind.\"\n\n♪ He worked in a re nted room on Market Street\, fueled by cups of tea brought to him by his 1 4-year-old valet\, Robert Hemings-- the son of an enslaved servant\, Eliza beth Hemings\, and Jefferson's father-in-law.\n\nVoice: When in the course of human events\, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the pol itical bands which have connected them with another\, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws o f nature and of nature's God entitle them\, a decent respect to the opinio ns of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel the m to the separation.\n\n♪ We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal\; that they are endowed by their Creator with ce rtain inalienable rights\; that among these are life\, liberty\, and the p ursuit of happiness.\n\n[Thomas Jefferson] Wood: Everything that we believ e in comes out of the Revolution.\n\nOur ideas of liberty\, equality\, it' s the defining event of our history.\n\n\"All men are created equal.\"\n\n That is the most famous and important phrase in our history.\n\nIf we don' t celebrate it\, we have no reason to be a people.\n\nAnd Lincoln knew tha t.\n\nAnd that's why he says\, \"All honor to Jefferson.\"\n\n♪ Narrator : Thomas Jefferson was proposing something altogether new and radical in t he world.\n\nIt was the American people's \"right\,\" he argued\, it was \ "their duty\"-- to \"throw off\" tyranny and learn to govern themselves.\n \nVoice: That to secure these rights\, governments are instituted among me n\, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed\, that whe never any form of government becomes destructive of these ends\, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it\, and to institute new gove rnment\, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power s in such form\, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.\n\n[Thomas Jefferson] Narrator: Since no one had authority over anyone else by birthright\, Jefferson was affirming that all legitima te power came from the people themselves-- even if he\, the owner of hundr eds of human beings\, could never make that truth a reality in his own lif e.\n\nGordon-Reed: His relationship to slavery is foundational.\n\nFrom th e beginning to the end\, this institution bounded his life\, even though h e knew it was wrong.\n\nHow could you know something is wrong and still do it?\n\nWell\, that is the human question for all of us.\n\n♪ Taylor: Th e Declaration of Independence\, we remember it\, primarily\, from its open ing preamble\, the most famous sentences in our history\, quoted ever sinc e as a mandate for expanding liberty for other people.\n\nBut most of the document is something else.\n\nIt is a list of crimes allegedly committed by the King.\n\nThat means that when the Patriot leaders decide that they want independence\, then they must persuade their people in the colonies\, now states\, that the King has forfeited his just authority.\n\nThe purpo se of the Declaration of Independence is to declare the King is no longer sovereign.\n\nNarrator: Throughout history\, most people had been subjects \, living under authoritarian rule.\n\n\"All experience hath shewn\,\" Jef ferson wrote\, \"that mankind are more disposed to suffer\, while evils ar e sufferable.\"\n\nGeorge III himself\, not the Parliament\, was now the e nemy.\n\nThe Declaration denounced him as \"unfit to be the ruler of a fre e people\,\" guilty of 18 \"injuries and usurpations\,\" all meant to esta blish\, it read\, \"absolute tyranny.\"\n\nIt charged that he had invaded \"the rights of the people\,\" sent \"swarms of officers to harass\" them\ , imposed a standing army in peacetime\, levied taxes without the colonist s' consent\, and was now waging war against them.\n\n♪ Dunmore's Proclam ation had deepened fears of slave uprisings\, and reports that the governo r of Canada had enlisted Native people to resist the invasion there furthe r inflamed Congress.\n\nIn the 18th and final charge against the King\, Je fferson did all he could to exploit their fury.\n\nVoice: He has excited d omestic insurrections amongst us and has endeavored to bring on the inhabi tants of our frontiers\, the merciless Indian Savages\, whose known rule o f warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages\, sexes\, and cond itions.\n\n[Thomas Jefferson] Narrator: Proclaiming the equality of \"all men\" was a genuinely revolutionary idea\, but that equality was not yet e xtended to Native Americans\, enslaved or free Blacks\, the poor\, or any woman.\n\nJefferson's original list of \"injuries\" had also included the charge that George III was somehow responsible for the Atlantic slave trad e.\n\nHe called it \"cruel war against human nature itself.\"\n\nThe other delegates refused to adopt that charge.\n\n♪ The Declaration of Indepen dence was formally ratified on July 4th\, 1776-- just 1\,337 words that en ded with the phrase\, \"We mutually pledge to each other our lives\, our f ortunes\, and our sacred honor.\"\n\n♪ When Rhode Island delegate Stephe n Hopkins\, who had palsy\, signed the document\, he is said to have remar ked\, \"My hand trembles\, but my heart does not.\"\n\n[Crowd cheering] It was first read aloud to a cheering crowd in the State House yard at Phila delphia on July 8th.\n\nIt was soon published in 29 newspapers\, and greet ed by parades and celebratory volleys of gunfire throughout the newly Unit ed States.\n\n[Gunfire] Voice: Boston\, Massachusetts-- when Colonel Craft s read the proclamation\, great attention was given to every word\, and ev ery face appeared joyful.\n\nThe King's arms were taken down from the Stat e House and every vestige of him from every place in which it appeared and burned in King Street.\n\nThus ends royal authority in this state\, and a ll the people shall say\, \"Amen.\"\n\nAbigail Adams.\n\n[Crowd cheering] Narrator: On July 9th\, in New York\, General Washington ordered the Decla ration read to his troops.\n\nHearing the list of George III's alleged cri mes so angered the men that a number of them raced down Broadway to Bowlin g Green\, tied ropes to the statue of the King\, and pulled it to the grou nd.\n\n♪ Pieces of the shattered statue were dispatched by wagon to Litc hfield\, Connecticut\, where Patriots melted the gilded lead into bullets- - 42\,088 of them.\n\n♪ Far to the north at Fort Ticonderoga\, the batte red survivors of the failed invasion of Canada were assembled so that the Declaration could be read to them.\n\nWhen it was over\, an eyewitness sai d\, \"The language of every man's countenance was\, \"Now we are a people\ ; we have a name among the states of the world.\"\n\n♪ Among those who h eard the Declaration read at Ticonderoga was private Lemuel Haynes\, a fre e African-American from Granville\, Massachusetts.\n\nHe understood right away what it might mean for people like him--and wrote an essay entitled: \"Liberty Further Extended.\"\n\n♪ Voice: Liberty is a jewel which was h anded down to man from the cabinet of heaven.\n\nIt hath pleased God to ma ke \"of one blood all nations of men for to dwell upon the face of the ear th.\"\n\nAnd as all are of one species\, therefore\, we may reasonably con clude that liberty is equally as precious to a Black man as it is to a Whi te one\, and bondage equally as intolerable to the one as it is to the oth er.\n\n[Lemuel Haynes] Maggie Blackhawk: The Declaration of Independence w as deeply significant to people at the margins.\n\nIt gave them a space of moral argument.\n\nIt gave them a space of legal argument that could be l everaged to reshape United States democracy and become a part of it.\n\nAn d we are going to push every lever we had to be able to make this democrac y real\, and to make these visions\, these values\, real rather than hypoc ritical.\n\n♪ Voice: London\, \"The Gentleman's Magazine.\"\n\nThe Ameri can Declaration reflects no honor upon either the erudition or honesty of its authors.\n\n\"We hold\,\" they say\, \"these truths to be self-evident .\n\nThat all men are created equal\"?\n\nEvery plowman knows that they ar e not created equal.\n\nIt certainly is no reason why the Americans should turn rebels.\n\nAtkinson: King George was determined that the Americans n ot be permitted to break away.\n\nHe believes\, and his senior ministers b elieve\, that this slippery slope of an American insurrection will only le ad to the dissolution of the British Empire.\n\nThe sun never sets on the British Empire.\n\nThat phrase was coined in 1773.\n\nAnd George is determ ined it's never going to set as long as he is the monarch.\n\n♪ Narrator : And the King had sent a great fleet to New York--with thousands of troop s-- to prevent that from ever happening.\n\n♪ ♪ ♪ Announcer: Next ti me on \"The American Revolution\"... Battleground: New York.\n\nRick Atkin son: Washington makes a number of tactical mistakes\, none more serious th an at Long Island.\n\nAnnouncer: Women continue to be at the heart of the resistance.\n\nVoice: If our men are all drawn off and we should be attack ed\, you would find a race of Amazons in America.\n\n[Abigail Adams] Annou ncer: And the reality of war.\n\nMaya Jasanoff: The United States came out of violence.\n\nAnnouncer: When \"The American Revolution\" continues nex t time.\n\n♪ Announcer: Scan this QR code with your smart device to dive deeper into the story of \"The American Revolution\" with interactives\, games\, classroom materials\, and more.\n\n♪ Announcer: \"The American R evolution\" DVD and Blu-ray\, as well as the companion book and soundtrack \, are available online and in stores.\n\nThe series is also available wit h PBS Passport and on am*zon Prime Video.\n\n♪ Announcer: The American R evolution caused an impact felt around the world.\n\nThe fight would take ingenuity\, determination\, and hope for a new tomorrow to turn the tide o f history and set the American story in motion.\n\nWhat would you like the power to do?\n\nBank of America.\n\nAnnouncer: Major funding for \"The Am erican Revolution\" was provided by The Better Angels Society and its memb ers Jeannie and Jonathan Lavine with the Crimson Lion Foundation and the B lavatnik Family Foundation.\n\nMajor funding was also provided by David M. Rubenstein\, the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Family Foundation\, the L illy Endowment\, and by Better Angels Society members: Eric and Wendy Schm idt\, Stephen A. Schwarzman\, and Kenneth C. Griffin with Griffin Catalyst .\n\nAdditional support was provided by The Arthur Vining Davis Foundation s\, the Pew Charitable Trusts\, Gilbert S. Omenn and Martha A. Darling\, t he Park Foundation\, and by Better Angels Society members: Gilchrist and A my Berg\, Perry and Donna Golkin\, The Michelson Foundation\, Jacqueline B . Mars\, the Kissick Family Foundation\, Diane and Hal Brierley\, John H.N .\n\nFisher and Jennifer Caldwell\, John and Catherine Debs\, The Fullerto n Family Charitable Fund\, and these additional members.\n\n\"The American Revolution\" was made possible with support from the Corporation for Publ ic Broadcasting\, and Viewers Like You.\n\nThank You.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://www.pbs.org/video/the-american-revolution-epis ode-2-an-asylum-for-mankind/\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251117 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Shutdown ends... POTENTIALLY DTSTAMP:20251110T080658Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:584-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n @pioneer1 had a post in the forum about the shutdown when I read eight donkeys joined the elephants to sign the elephant plan to co ntinue running the government.\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12033-playin g-games-with-snap-benefits/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my comment\n\n\n \n the eight donkeys did it\, i said this was a game of chicken and the do nkeys flinched. the eight are aleady being crminalze so we will see\n\n\n\ n coment referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12033-playing-games-w ith-snap-benefits/#findComment-77524\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n another comment\n\ n\n\n @ProfD  yeah\n\n\n\n he senate have confirmed so it is up to the ho use and the republican was made in the house so case closed. \n\n\n\n I d o think the focus should be schumer's leadership. Regardless of what one t hinks of the donkey's or elephants\, schumer is supposed to be the leader of the donkeys in the senate and some broke ranks\, technically only seven broke ranks. Angus King is an independent from maine\, not a donkey. but  Jeanne Shaheen\, D-N.H.\, and Maggie Hassan\, D-N.H. \,Dick Durbin of Il linois\; John Fetterman of Pennsylvania are all northeasters while Cathe rine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada are not.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n h ttps://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/584-the-shutdown-ends-potentially/\n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n comment refferal\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12033-pla ying-games-with-snap-benefits/#findComment-77536\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Se nate deal with the elephants was struck by Independent Sens. Angus King\, I-Maine\, and Donkeys Jeanne Shaheen\, D-N.H.\, and Maggie Hassan\, D-N.H. Joining them to support the measure were Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen of Nevada\; Dick Durbin of Illinois\; John Fetterman of Pennsylvani a\; Tim Kaine of Virginia.\n\n\n\n Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky an elephant voted against.\n\n\n\n url\n\n Senate passes bill to reopen the government \, as 8 Democrats break with their party\n\n https://www.msn.com/en-us/new s/politics/senate-passes-bill-to-reopen-the-government-as-8-democrats-brea k-with-their-party/ar-AA1Qbm4P?ocid=BingNewsSerp\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Democr ats rebel after 8 senators cut a deal to end the shutdown without ACA fund s\n\n https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/democrats-rebel-8-senators -cut-deal-end-shutdown-aca-funds-rcna242994\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Eight Senat e Democrats break ranks with party leadership to end historic government s hutdown\n\n https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/eight-senate-democrats -break-ranks-with-party-leadership-to-end-historic-government-shutdown/ar- AA1Q9fNn?ocid=BingNewsSerp\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The Donkeys who voted for th e bill in the House\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n Jared Golden - Maine\n \n \n A dam Gray - California\n \n \n Marie Gluesenkamp Perez - Washington\n \n \ n Don Davis - North Carolina\n \n \n Henry Cuellar - Texas\n \n \n Tom Suozzi - New York\n \n\n\n\n The Elephants who voted against the bill in t he House\n\n\n\n \n Thomas Massie- Kentucky \n \n \n Greg Steube- Flori da\n \n\n\n\n referral\n\n\n\n https://x.com/Warriortotruth/status/1988785 089883566299\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MAssie did it cause he always votes to go against increased spending\, while Steube did it to block the profiteering of lawsuits for artic freeze\n\n https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-new s/us-news/why-thomas-massie-greg-steube-voted-against-ending-government-sh utdown-explained-101762999217799.html\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251110 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Movies That Move We DTSTAMP:20251113T024511Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:585-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970)\n\n https://youtu.be/G xlrRyUDXxY?si=ZAwP2qBUWZLWmBMA\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n my thoughts\n\n 6:37 right\, hope and hustle are together especially as black people were never supported. before 1865 we were over 90% enslaved to other human bei ngs. Then after 1865 we were never given focused assistance from the gover nment. Black people post 1865 have never been given any assistance beyond what can be obtained as a citizen of the USA. so this created the hope/hus tle balance. \n\n 9:16 Interesting that heat of the night was three years earlier. \n\n 10:03 The problem with merit in the united states of Ameri ca is that merit has never been the basis of worth. The NYPD wasn't starte d by citizens trying to get rid of criminal activity in their community. T he NYPD was started by Boss Tweed for the purpose of gaining votes + an al legiant arm of New York City government. He achieved it by giving the Iris h gangs badges. We Blacks talk about merit a lot\, as if we don't live in the USA or know the USA. And I comprehend the country you are fighting to make happen argument. The USA has a system that allows for systemic change over time and from 1776 to 2025 the USA has changed in various ways. But\ , Ossie Davis is making the old argument that Black people should approach the USA as the country they want it to be\, and I argue\, that has cost b lack people. \n\n 10:57 Yes\, the 1970s was the end of what I call the en slavement era. The 1980s was the beginning of what I call the integration era\, and cotton is the symbol of that. \n\n 12:37 The proof in my histor ical measure is the role of women who needed the 1980s to have the ability to truly financially standalone.\n\n 14:36 I think both. She had to do bo th\, fight to gain something for herself\, autonomy\,  while also be atta che to this guy\, through the system she lives in. O'Malley can't hate the player\, has to embrae the game. This is the reality of women at that tim e. Remember Ruby Dee is Ossie Davis's wife and I think Ruby Dee would make Ossie Davis have an idea of how a woman living with a man thinks of some things. \n\n 15:03 love Purlie Victorious and you mentioned it. I saw th e play with Leslie Odom. Ossie Davis did write the play. Didn't know about the film\, gone are the days. Ossie Davis eulogy concerning Malcolm. \n\ n 16:23 Didn't know it was in the 30s in the original text. That is intere sting plus valid\, wise by Davis.\n\n 17:17 Cotton comes to Harlem isn't r elevant to Harlem but is relevant to the Black experience still. Because t he core issue is getting to a functional multiphenotypical community. It i s one thing to have a city of people who look every which way\, it is anot her for all of those peoples to not only have individual allowance but als o have growth within their communities. NYC's problem in the 1930s/1970s/t oday is the ability of individuals to grow has strengthened\, the black po pulace in NYC has more wealthy individuals in it than ever before\, more b lack owned businesses than ever before. BUT\, the black community is argua bly weaker than ever before. Weaker in that the mechanics of collective po wer are farther away. And so black individuals still have to go through hu rdles with the non black every which way and the black community has to de al with constant attacks from the agenda of the non black.\n\n 17:21 Blaxp loitation was simultaneously with the mob movie that had complaints from m any Italians and yet\, the godfather and et cetera are some of the best fi lms. Italians never said their community had problems even though the movi es involving characterizations of the Italian mob [godfather/scarface/] sh owed a cruel violent crime culture. \n\n 20:18 I can't think of a film wi th a black cop taking charge outside an Oscar Micheaux film \, but I can't think of the scene directly. But I know in one of his\, a black cop is he lping a black woman do something. \n\n 22:00 Blaxploitation's influence i s huge in soundtracks. Hollywood had the musicals but from 1970s onward th e placement and use of Black music in films/television/commercials has bee n on a constant rise. And every decade you see jester films of Black peopl e whether produced or written by black people or not. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My Comment\n\n\n\n Was O’Malley exposing the system — or just gaming it?\nhope and hustle\, I think are inevitably intertwined when one seeks g rowth noncriminally against a group that historically or modernly uses cri minal activity whether legal or not for their own agenda. \nMerit\, at th e end of the day\, many black people physically live in the current  usa but philosophically live in the usa they want to be tomorrow.\nwomen's emp owerment\, I think most female characters in fiction are both\, trying to empower self while also living in a man's world. Women today in the USA ar e unlike any women in recent history anywhere when it comes to individual rights/protections/abilities\nOssie Davis did write the play\, Purlie Vict orious\nCotton comes to Harlem is relevant in that minority populaces will always have in any fiscal capitalistic setting those among them looking t o make money regardless of the detriment to said minority populace. Minori ty populaces will always have in any bureaucratic environment made by a ma jority those among them trying to be bridges into the bureaucracy. \nBlax ploitation - eddie murphy once said no one wants to see that today\, but i argue whenever films have one of the two following elements: \nthe joyou s black jester-formerly jim crow(norbit/dont drink juice in south central/ baps) \, \nor the black communal plight films(juice/do the right thing/bo yz in the hood)\nthese are no different than most of the films of the 1970 s involving black thespians that were mortly\,written/directed/produced by whites commonly called blaxploitation\nBlack Cops in film\, i can only th ink of a black cop in an oscar micheaux film. i think he was a ranger or m ountie or a role in that field\, but your right it was uncommon. I wonder how many black people wanted to be cops through these films.\nTo O'Malley\ , he cheated the village but overall\, it is both\, let's be blunt\, the u sa wasn't born by legal fiscal operation and great ledgerwork. The usa was born from thieves/killers/cheaters not really hustlers but people far far worse. To my knowledge omalley killed no one\, in the very city harlem si ts in\, rockefeller who is known to have killed white oilmen has a whole c enter to his name. Carnegie who is known to have stolen land and murdered competition has various buildings with this name and an endowment with it. The roosevelts is the name of an old dutch family when new york was enw a msterdam who was part of a land owning caste upstate new york \, that had a sharecropping system for white farmrs for the purpose of keeping them as lifelong tenants. If white people who murdered entire indigenous peoples and enslaved as many as possible have their names lauded why is OMalley a great sinner\, for his wee hustle.\n\n\n\n\n \n\n comment referral\n\n htt ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxlrRyUDXxY&\;lc=UgzkjnVo7IPWs1g6xyh4AaABA g\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251112 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:NYC Election Day 2025 DTSTAMP:20251104T210948Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:578-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n I have said the following so many times\, it sickens me. What matters isn't winning the election. What matters is what you do once elected.\n\n\n\n Obama/Olhan/Ocasio Cortez are all the same. They were ele cted based on demographic changes and their party of andrew jackson (POAJ)   peers not realizing the demographic changes or underestimating the abil ity to generate a large voting output. \n\n\n\n Mamdani is the same\, as the three mentioned. But\, the key is after you win what will you do?\n\n\ n\n Obama gave the banking industry a pass and didn't demand from the heal th industry and the results were negative. Olhan + Ocasico Cortez tried a green new deal that was dysfunctional. Now Mamdani promises to lower the c ost of living while being a mayor who doesn't have the ability to. Do peop le really think Eric Adams/Bill DeBlasio/ even Bloomberg wouldn't have lik ed to make NYC more affordable while doing all of what they did. It isn't because they didn't care or know\, it is because it is not about the mayor alone. And the governor has a whole state to deal with who will not accep t favors for NYC absent favors for albany and all others in the state.\n\n \n\n Mamdani as I said a long time ago will be mayor of NYC\, the first as ian/muslim/even one of the generation names as he is 34 but he will have a terrible time at it\, and what happens next? \n\n\n\n The key to me is w ill the voters who vote now vote four years from now with the same gusto. I think many will. Not because of Mamdani but demographic shifts. It isn't an accident that Mamdani is in his 30s and Sliwa and Cuomo are in their 6 0s. The 40s and 50s are the non believers. But the 30s and youngers in the city are the children of immigrants in a city now mostly of immigrant sto ck. The native american is dead. The old whites have moved out or died les sening their population. The Black Descended of Enslaved have moved out or died lessening their population. Leaving Immigrants and their children. P Eople who came to a USA much different than before founded or when founded or during the war between the states or during the great white european i mperial war. The modern immigrant came to the USA built by FDR/MLK and com pany. A USA full of biases but safe\, secure\, allowing for individualism unlike any country in humanity. and so\, in 2025\, the modern immigrant po pulace starting in 1965\, has become large enough to stake a claim. It is a claim of ideals. A claim of the USA. Not the USA that murdered the First Peoples. Not the USA designed by White Europeans for their sole benefit. Not the USA built on enslaved Black folk. The USA with the potential to be a human country. And while every reformation has a counterreformation\, a nd the fifty states are not the same\, and no city in the USA is like NYC. I think in NYC the claim of the immigrant populace\, a true rainbow of in dividuals bound to the allowance of individualism over religion/phenotype/ gender/language/....maybe age/individual allowance will be a different vot ing block. Will it mean Mamdani does great as mayor? no. Being great in a bureaucracy like any team activity isn't about one person. Schrumpft will make it very hard. But\, a claim will be made and two USA's  I argue are officially born. \n\n\n\n Mamdani on one side/SCrumpft on the other. \n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n mamdani legislation\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event /363-zohran-mamdani-legislation/\n\n\n\n problem with legislators in the u sa\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/499-the-problem-with-legislators- in-the-usa/\n\n\n\n bernie sanders\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/5 04-bernie-sanders-is-a-fiscal-capitalistic-opportunist/\n\n\n\n The latest Economic Corner\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/569-economic-corner -25/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Fran Lebowitz joins ‘On Stage’ for a sharp and unfiltered conversation\n\n https://ny1.com/nyc/a ll-boroughs/on-stage-episodes/2025/10/31/fran-lebowitz-joins--on-stage--fo r-a-sharp-and-unfiltered-conversation\n\n\n\n Some thoughts\n\n She found it interesting\, that people in Stockhom Sweden were interested in the may oral race in New York City. \n\n I concur that people like new faces. Oba ma/Schrumpt/Mamdani all used the position of one who . \n\n She didn't vo te for Mamdani though praised him. She admitted what I said\, you can't ma ke free buses. Mamdani's stated positions don't fit. \n\n She made an int eresting point on New York City\, she likes NYC because this is the only c ity where all are able to live in it. She is correct. NYC has become this city of mostly individuals devoutly or modestly within a country of hardco re tribes. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n PROPOSITIONS 1/2/3/4/5\n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS \n\n 1 New York City is not part of Essex county\, I don't comprehend why NYC is voting on Essex county which is at the northernmost part of the sta te.\n\n 2+3+4 I have lived through the Real Estate industry of NYC and I c an say with 100% surety that the real estate industry is the most wicked o r ugly thing I have ever seen. I really despise the real estate industry i n NYC and these three propositions don't lower the damn rent\, nor do they punish the real estate industry for the crimes it has done. \n\n 5 No on e explains how the DEpartment of City Planning will consider all the borou ghs... the reason why each Borouch has its own mapping plan is the borough s aren't the same\, they have different peoples\, different situations...  \n\n 6 I think instead of changing the date of elections it is better fo r the elected officials of NEw York City to simply get results\, which 99% of them never do. They make a ton of laws and make a ton of speeches.\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n SHORT EXPLANATION\n\n\n\n Ballot proposal No. 1\nAmendment to allow Olympics sports complex in Essex County on state forest preserve land.\n\nThis proposal\, to be voted on across New York state\, would all ow the expansion of new ski trails in the Olympic Sports Complex in Essex County\, New York. The Olympic Sport Complex is in state forest preserve l and. This proposal would also require New York State to add 2\,500 acres o f protected forest land to Adirondack Park. \n\nBallot proposal No. 2\nFa st-track affordable housing to building more affordable housing across the city.\n\nThis proposal would create two new processes to fast-track certa in affordable housing projects. The first process is for publicly financed affordable housing projects. The second process is for affordable housing projects in the 12 community districts with the lowest rates of affordabl e housing development. \n\nA “yes” vote creates two processes to fast -track affordable housing projects. \n\nA “no” vote keeps the seven-m onth review process\, with input from the local Community Board\, local Bo rough President\, CPC\, City Council\, and mayor. \n\nBallot proposal No. 3\nSimplify review of modest housing and infrastructure projects. \n\nTh is proposal would create a faster review process for certain land use proj ects\, like smaller projects to change how land is used and to prepare the city for extreme weather or other future challenges. For most of these pr ojects\, the proposed process would remove final review by the City Counci l. \n\nBallot proposal No. 4\nEstablish an Affordable Housing Appeals Boa rd with City Council\, borough\, and citywide representation. \n\nNYCVote s says this proposal would change the current land use review process when the City Council rejects or changes an affordable housing project. The pr oposal would create an Affordable Housing Appeals Board comprised of the l ocal Borough President\, Speaker of the City Council\, and mayor.\n\nThe p roposal would allow the Appeals Board to reverse the City Council’s deci sion with a two-to-one vote. \n\nBallot proposal No. 5\nCreate a digital city map to modernize city operations.\n\nThis proposal would make the Dep artment of City Planning (DCP) responsible for creating\, maintaining\, an d digitizing a single city map.\n\nBallot proposal No. 6\nMove local elect ions to presidential election years to increase voter participation. \n\n This proposal would move election dates for city offices to the same year as federal presidential elections. \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DETAILS\n\n \n\n 2025 General Election \nBALLOT PROPOSALS\nABSTRACT OF PROPOSAL NUMBER ONE\, AN AMENDMENT\n Amendment to Allow Olympic Sports Complex In Essex C ounty on State Forest \nPreserve Land\n The proposal amends the State Cons titution. It permits new Nordic ski and \nbiathlon trails in the forest pr eserve. Development there requires Constitutional \npermission. That is be cause the facility is in the Adirondack forest preserve. It is \npart of a n Olympic Sports Complex in North Elba. North Elba is in Essex County\, \n New York. The project touches up to 323 acres. The facility covers 1\,039 acres. \nThis use is offset. 2\,500 new acres are added to the forest pres erve. The New York \nLegislature must approve the offset. If not\, the pro ject will not happen.\n FORM OF SUBMISSION OF PROPOSAL NUMBER ONE\, AN AME NDMENT\n Amendment to Allow Olympic Sports Complex In Essex County on Stat e Forest \nPreserve Land\n Allows skiing and related trail facilities on s tate forest preserve land. The site is \n1\,039 acres. Requires State to a dd 2\,500 acres of new forest land in Adirondack \nPark.\n A yes vote auth orizes new ski trails and related facilities in the Adirondack forest \npr eserve.\n A no vote does not authorize this use.\n 1\nQuestion 2\n Propose d Charter Amendment: Fast Track Affordable Housing to Build More Affordabl e \nHousing Across the City\n Fast track publicly financed affordable hous ing. Fast track applications delivering affordable \nhousing in the commun ity districts that produce the least affordable housing\, significantly \n reducing review time. Maintain Community Board review.\n “Yes” fast tr acks applications at the Board of Standards and Appeals or City Planning \ nCommission. “No” leaves affordable housing subject to longer review a nd final decision at City \nCouncil. \n2\nBallot Question 2\n Proposed Cha rter Amendment: Fast Track Affordable Housing to Build \nMore Affordable H ousing Across the City\n Abstract\n This proposal would create two new fas t-track public processes for affordable \nhousing: the Board of Standards and Appeals (BSA) Zoning Action for Affordable \nHousing Projects and the Affordable Housing Fast Track. \nFirst\, the proposal would enable publicl y financed affordable housing to be \napproved by the BSA after review by the affected Community Board. BSA would \nbe required to make findings rel ating to neighborhood character and programmatic \nnecessity. \nSecond\, t he amendment would establish an expedited land use review process\nwith re view by the affected Community Board\, affected Borough President\, and \n the City Planning Commission– for zoning changes that deliver affordable \nhousing in the 12 community districts with the lowest rate of affordabl e housing\n production.\n BSA Zoning Action for Affordable Housing Project s\n How it works: Currently\, the BSA has the power to waive zoning requir ements to \nfacilitate certain affordable housing developments\, but that authority is limited to \nprojects that can meet stringent standards relat ing to hardship\, uniqueness\, and \neconomic infeasibility. Projects that cannot meet these standards instead must go \nthrough the Uniform Land Us e Review Procedure (ULURP) – a seven-month\n review process that begins with advisory opinions from the affected Community \nBoard and Borough Pre sident\, followed by review and votes at the City Planning \nCommission an d City Council.\n This proposal would empower the BSA to issue project-spe cific approvals for \npublicly financed affordable housing that meet the r equired findings after a 60-day \nreview by the affected Community Board a nd a 30-day review with a public \nhearing held by the BSA. Projects that do not meet the findings may receive one \n60-day extension for additional studies or project modifications to seek approval at \na second hearing. \nWhat types of housing are eligible: This new action would be available t o \ncompanies organized exclusively to develop housing projects for person s of low \n3\nincome\, including Housing Development Fund Companies– the legal vehicle for \nvirtually all publicly financed affordable housing pr ojects in New York City. \nWhat factors must the Board of Standards and Ap peals consider: In order to \napprove affordable housing pursuant to the f ast-track process\, the BSA would be \nrequired to make findings related t o neighborhood character and programmatic \nnecessity. The first finding e nsures the project does not clash with the surrounding\n neighborhood char acter. The second finding establishes that a project requires \nzoning wai vers in order to proceed and that the City or another governmental entity\ n intends to provide financial backing. \nAffordable Housing Fast-Track\n How it works: Currently\, affordable housing is produced unevenly througho ut the \nCity\, with 12 community districts adding as much housing as the other 47 \ncombined over the course of the last 10 years. To address this\ , the Affordable \nHousing Fast Track proposal creates an expedited approv al process for projects \nthat deliver affordable housing in the community districts that produce the least\n affordable housing. Under the proposal \, the City would assess the rate of \naffordable housing production in ea ch community district every five years\, and \nthen fast-track projects th at include permanently affordable housing in the 12 \nCommunity Districts with the lowest such rates. \nThese 12 Community Districts would be calcul ated by measuring the total number \nof affordable dwelling units created over the past five years divided by the total \nnumber of all dwelling uni ts at the start of the five-year period. This formula \nmeasures the growt h rate of affordable housing. Those twelve community districts \nwould be determined by the Department of City Planning every five years.\n What typ es of applications are eligible: To be eligible for this fast-track \nproc edure\, an application must include permanent affordable housing under the \nCity’s Mandatory Inclusionary Housing program and must be located in one of the \ntwelve community districts with the lowest rate of affordable housing production. \nThe Department of City Planning would be required t o confirm that a primary \npurpose of the application is to facilitate add itional housing and affordable \nhousing. \nWhat is the new process for re viewing these affordable housing rezoning \napplications: \n4\nToday\, rez oning applications typically go through ULURP– a seven-month review \npr ocess that begins with successive advisory opinions from the affected \nCo mmunity Board and Borough President\, followed by review and votes at the \nCity Planning Commission and City Council.\n The proposed amendment woul d include the same opportunity for Community \nBoard review as exists toda y\, but with Borough President review occurring \nconcurrently. The City P lanning Commission would have 30 days to review– or \n45 days for applic ations that require more extensive environmental review – and \nhold a f inal vote. (This element of the proposal would become effective if this \n ballot question is approved\, regardless of whether ballot question 3\, wh ich also \nproposes an expedited land use review procedure\, is approved.) \n In determining whether to approve such a rezoning application\, the Cit y Planning \nCommission would be required to make findings regarding the a dequacy of \nexisting transportation\, sewer and other infrastructure\, as well as consistency with \nthe City’s fair housing plan (the Charter al ready requires the City to develop such a \nplan to analyze citywide data relating to fair housing).\n The proposal would also require the Departmen t of City Planning and the Office of \nManagement and Budget to consider t he list of the 12 Community Districts that \nproduce the least affordable housing and the fair housing plan in the preparation of \nthe City’s pre liminary 10-year capital strategy.\n Implementation: This proposed amendme nt would take effect immediately.\n 5\nQuestion 3\n Proposed Charter Amend ment: Simplify Review of Modest Housing and Infrastructure Projects\n Simp lify review of modest amounts of additional housing and minor infrastructu re projects\, \nsignificantly reducing review time. Maintain Community Boa rd review\, with final decision by \nthe City Planning Commission.\n “ Yes” simplifies review for limited land-use changes\, including modest h ousing and minor \ninfrastructure projects. “No” leaves these changes subject to longer review\, with final decision by \nCity Council.\n 6\nBal lot Question 3\n Proposed Charter Amendment: Simplify Review of Modest Hou sing and \nInfrastructure Projects\n Abstract\n This proposal would create an Expedited Land Use Review Procedure (ELURP) \nfor certain land use cha nges and projects\, including modest increases in housing \ncapacity\; acq uisitions\, dispositions\, and certain City Map changes related to \naffor dable housing\; and infrastructure and resiliency projects\, like raising the grade \nof a street and adding solar panels on public property. \nHow it works: Currently\, rezoning applications and other land use actions\, \ nregardless of size\, must go through the City’s Uniform Land Use Review \nProcedure (ULURP)– a seven-month review process that begins with advi sory \nopinions from the affected Community Board and Borough President\, followed by \nreview and votes at the City Planning Commission and City Co uncil. \nThis proposal would create an alternative procedure for certain r ezoning \napplications and other land-use actions. This new process would retain the same \n60-day review period for the Community Boards and a publ ic hearing\, with \nconcurrent Borough President review. The City Planning Commission would then\n have 30 days to hold a public hearing and vote on the application. The City \nPlanning Commission’s decision would be fin al\, with no subsequent review by the \nCity Council.\n For dispositions o f City property to Housing Development Fund Companies – the \nentity for virtually all publicly financed affordable housing projects in New York \ nCity – final approval would be made by the City Council instead of the City \nPlanning Commission.\n What types of projects are eligible for this expedited procedure? This \nexpedited review procedure is reserved for sp ecifically enumerated applications. \nThese generally include applications relating to modest zoning changes for housing\n (rezoning to districts wi th a standard height of not more than 45 feet in lower\ndensity areas and increases in housing capacity up to 30% in medium- and high\ndensity areas )\; dispositions\, acquisitions\, and certain City Map changes for \naffor dable housing\; acquisitions and site selections for resiliency projects a nd open \n7\nspace\; sale of City property that is undevelopable and unusa ble\; acquisitions for \nvoluntary flood buyouts\; and leases for solar en ergy on public land. \nOnly projects that categorically lack potential sig nificant adverse environmental\n impacts on communities are eligible for t he expedited procedure described in this \nballot question. If a project b y its size or nature requires an environmental impact \nstatement under st ate and local law\, it will remain subject to the Uniform Land Use \nRevie w Procedure in order to receive a more extensive public and environmental \nreview.\n Implementation: This proposed amendment would take effect imme diately. \nHowever\, it would not apply to applications that have been fil ed with the \nDepartment of City Planning pursuant to the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure \nand certified as complete before the effective date. \ n8\nQuestion 4\n Proposed Charter Amendment: Establish an Affordable Housi ng Appeals Board with Council\, \nBorough\, and Citywide Representation \n Establish an Affordable Housing Appeals Board with the Council Speaker\, l ocal Borough \nPresident\, and Mayor to review Council actions that reject or change applications creating \naffordable housing.\n “Yes” creates the three-member Affordable Housing Appeals Board to reflect Council\, bo rough\, \nand citywide perspectives. “No” leaves affordable housing su bject to the Mayor’s veto and final \ndecision by City Council.\n 9\nBal lot Question 4\n Proposed Charter Amendment: Establish an Affordable Housi ng Appeals \nBoard with Council\, Borough\, and Citywide Representation\n Abstract\n This proposal would create an Affordable Housing Appeals Board\ , consisting of \nthe affected Borough President\, the Speaker of the City Council\, and the Mayor.\n This new Appeals Board would have the power to review and reverse decisions by \nthe City Council that disapprove or mod ify land-use applications that directly \nfacilitate the creation of affor dable housing. The Appeals Board would replace the \nexisting Mayoral veto \, and the Council override of that veto\, for these types of \nland-use a pplications.\n This new Appeals Board aims to strike a balance between loc al\, boroughwide and \ncitywide perspectives on the production of affordab le housing. It does so by \nempowering the Speaker\, affected Borough Pres ident and Mayor to review and\n reverse City Council decisions on land use matters affecting the development of \naffordable housing — but only if two out of the three members agree.\n How it works: Currently\, certain l and use actions\, including rezoning applications\, \nspecial permits\, an d others\, must go through the City’s Uniform Land Use Review \nProcedur e (ULURP)– a seven-month process that begins with advisory opinions \nfr om the affected Community Board and Borough President\, followed by review \nand votes at the City Planning Commission and City Council. The Mayor m ay veto \nthe Council’s action\, and that veto is subject to an override by the Council.\n Under the proposal\, the Affordable Housing Appeals Boa rd would have the power \nto review and reverse actions of the City Counci l that disapprove or modify \napplications that directly facilitate the de velopment of affordable housing. While \nmuch of ULURP – from the commun ity board through City Council – would \nremain unchanged\, the Appeals Board would be empowered to conduct a final \nreview of these land-use app lications. Land-use applications that do not relate to \nthe development o f affordable housing are not subject to the Appeals Board.\n The Appeals B oard would consist of three members: the Speaker of the Council\, \nthe af fected Borough President\, and the Mayor (or a designee of each member). I f \nat least two of the three members agree\, the Board would be empowered to reverse \n10\na Council disapproval or modification of a land-use appl ication that would directly \nfacilitate the development of additional aff ordable housing. \nWhich land-use actions would be subject to the Affordab le Housing Appeals \nBoard? The Affordable Housing Appeals Board would com e into play only for \nULURP applications and zoning text amendments that would directly facilitate the \ncreation of affordable housing. These incl ude rezoning applications that are \nrequired to deliver affordable housin g under the City’s Mandatory Inclusionary \nHousing program\, as well as related actions that directly facilitate the creation of \naffordable hou sing\, such as parking special permits that reduce or remove off\nstreet p arking requirements that can hinder the development of affordable housing. \nIn addition\, the Appeals Board may review only applications where the land \nincluded in the application is located in a single borough. Changes not affecting \naffordable housing or affecting more than one borough\, i ncluding citywide \nchanges\, would continue to receive the same review as they do today. \nWhen could the Affordable Housing Appeals Board act? Onl y applications that \nfacilitate the creation of affordable housing that a re disapproved or approved with \nmodifications are eligible for review by the Affordable Housing Appeals Board. If \nan application is approved by the Council absent modifications\, the Board would \nlack jurisdiction to review an application. In addition\, no land use action would \nautomatica lly go to the Appeals Board. Instead\, an applicant must either appeal the \nCouncil’s decision or the Appeals Board can “call up” – or requ est review of – an \napplication. The Appeals Board would be empowered t o approve an application or \nreverse one or more of the modifications mad e by the Council only with the \nagreement of at least two of the three me mbers. \nImplementation: The proposed Charter amendments establishing the Affordable \nHousing Appeals Board would take effect immediately.\n 11\nQu estion 5\n Proposed Charter Amendment: Create a Digital City Map to Modern ize City Operations\n Consolidate borough map office and address assignmen t functions\, and create one digital City \nMap at Department of City Plan ning. Today\, the City Map consists of paper maps across five \noffices.\n “Yes” creates a consolidated\, digital City Map. “No” leaves in p lace five separate map and \naddress assignment functions\, administered b y Borough President Offices.\n 12\nBallot Question 5\n Proposed Charter Am endment: Create a Digital City Map to Modernize City \nOperations\n Abstra ct\n This proposal would require the City to consolidate and digitize the City Map. \nCurrently\, the Charter assigns administration of the City Map \, which consists of \nmany separate paper maps\, to five separate Borough President Topographical \nBureaus. This proposal would replace the existi ng\, decentralized paper City Map \nwith a single City Map administered by the Department of City Planning (DCP)\n and would also provide for the di gitization of the City Map. Under the proposal\, \nDCPwould also assume re sponsibility for address assignment.\n What is the City Map: The City Map establishes the legally defined locations of \nstreet lines\, widths\, nam es\, and legal grades\, as well as the locations of mapped \nparkland and public places. Today\, the City Map consists of five different sets\, one \nfor each borough\, totaling over 8\,000 individual paper maps. Certain h ousing\, \ninfrastructure\, and other projects require confirmation of pub lic jurisdiction as \nrepresented on the City Map before they can move for ward\, a process that can take \nmonths or years when it relies on paper m aps.\n How it works: The proposal would centralize administration of the C ity Map at \nDCPand mandate a single City Map that covers the entire City\ , rather than paper \nmaps limited to each borough. The proposal would als o require the City Map to be \ndigitized. It would also centralize adminis tration of address assignment with the \nDepartment of City Planning\, ins tead of leaving address assignment to the five \nBorough President Topogra phical Bureaus.\n Implementation: The transfer of address assignment from the Borough President \nTopographical Bureaus to the Department of City Pl anning would take effect on\n January 1\, 2027.\n The City Map would be co nsolidated into one single document by January 1\, 2028\, \nor a later fea sible date to be determined by the City Planning Commission.\n The City Ma p would be digitized by January 1\, 2029\, or a later feasible date to be \ndetermined by the Department of City Planning. \n13\nQuestion 6\n Propos ed Charter Amendment: Move Local Elections to Presidential Election Years to Increase \nVoter Participation\n Move the City’s primary and general election dates so that City elections are held in the same \nyear as Feder al Presidential elections\, when permitted by state law.\n “Yes” moves City elections to the same year as Federal Presidential elections\, when permitted by \nstate law. “No” leaves laws unchanged.\n 14\nBallot Que stion 6\n Proposed Charter Amendment: Move Local Elections to Presidential Election \nYears to Increase Voter Participation\n Abstract\n This propos al would make changes to the timing of elections held for the offices of \ nMayor\, Public Advocate\, Comptroller\, Borough President\, and City Coun cil \nMembers to move the City’s primary and general election dates to e ven-numbered \nyears\, upon a required change to State law. \nHow it works : Currently\, elections for City office are held in odd-numbered years. \n This proposal would provide for even-year elections that coincide with the federal \npresidential elections. A Charter amendment is required to move the election \ncalendar to even years and to provide for a one-time trans ition in which elected \nofficials would serve a term of three years (as o pposed to the usual four years). A \nchange to the State Constitution\, wh ich requires that all city officers be elected in \nodd-numbered years\, i s also necessary before New York City may shift its local \nelections to e ven years. If the necessary changes to state law occur\, elections for \nC ity office would occur in the same year as the federal presidential electi ons. \nOne-time transition from odd-year to even-year elections: A shift t o even-year \nelections on the presidential cycle would\, when it goes int o effect\, require a one\ntime transition in which elected officials would serve a term of three years\, instead \nof the typical four years. The ti ming of this one-time transition cycle would depend \non whether and when a State law is enacted to permit New York City to move its \nelections to even years. \nCouncilmember two-year terms: Currently\, the Charter provid es for a shortened \ntwo-year term every 20 years for City Councilmembers in order to coordinate City \nCouncil terms after a redistricting\, which is required after every decennial census. \nAs a result\, every two decade s\, the City holds elections for City Council but not for \ncitywide or bo roughwide elected officials. Under the proposed system\, these \nperiodic two-year terms would be eliminated\, so that Councilmembers serve only \nf our-year terms. As a consequence\, there will sometimes be a longer delay in the \nuse of new district lines following a redistricting than there is today\, but this \nchange ensures that elections for City Council occur d uring cycles with the higher \n15\nturnout that is expected to be associat ed with elections held in even-numbered \nyears.\n If a State law authoriz ing the City to hold elections for City office in even\nnumbered years tak es effect during a two-year term\, that term would be either \nshortened t o one year or extended to three years\, depending on the precise timing \n of the State law. This one-time transition would enable the switch to hold ing \nelections for City office in even-numbered years. \nImplementation: This proposal would take effect upon the effective date of a \nState law a uthorizing the City to hold elections for City office to occur in even\nnu mbered years. \n16\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n DETAILS REFERRAL\n\n https://vote. nyc/sites/default/files/pdf/Ballot_Proposals/GE2025/Ballot_Proposals_2025_ English_r1a_WEB.pdf\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n REFERRAL\n\n https://www.nbcnewyork .com/news/politics/nyc-ballot-questions-what-are-they/6413813/\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 93% of voting\n\n\n\n https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/ election-day-2025?msockid=2423737518666ffa14b265e519726e69\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n forum post\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12023-nyc-mayral-th oughts-a-conclusion/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENTS\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n URL\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY THOUGHTS TO IT \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/5/2025 at 11:02 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n It is a done deal.  N YC Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani won in a landslide. \n \n \n\n\n\n It wasn 't a landslide\, MAmdani won 50% of voting after 93% of votes came in . An d I can say\, many didn't vote. NYC has over ten million people \, many di d not vote. MANY ok\, I even asked various immigrant peoples. They didn't vote. Maybe they couldn't. OK\, these were strangers\, but I asked\, many didn't vote. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 11/5/2025 at 11:02 AM\ , ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n If successful\, rent freeze\, free buses\, a ffordable healthcare\, more teachers and other things will benefit the cit izens of NYC.\n \n \n\n\n\n Successful... the word I rather use is possib le. It is interesting ProfD chose that. I Ask all of you who may read this \, focus on results in your prose concerning government. Every single gove rnmental officials fails and succeeds all the time\, it isn't a sum .\n\n\ n\n But functionality can be clearly defined. \n\n\n\n First\, the mayor of New York City doesn't have these powers. I don't know who said the mayo r of New York City is a king... who started this narrative about doing all this stuff as mayor? So many offline and online have said what profd said and I don't get where any of these people got that from \, where that nar rative began\, does anyone know? I even argue\, like Obama that Mamdani ha s an excellent media team that really does all of that very well. \n\n\n\ n De blasio rent freezed for eight years \, didn't lower the rent. I find it funny that NYC in recent memory had a mayor who rent freezed and yet\, it doesn't seem to be known by anyone at least in admittance\, maybe it is a secret I am unaware of in some fashion.\n\n\n\n The Mayor doesn't contr ol the buses\, or the MTA\, the governor does and if the governor gives fr ee buses to NYC\, the governor will have to give free transport to all of New York State\, while of course paying all the transit workers\, and this is with no guarantee of federal money. Hochul is not crazy. \n\n\n\n The Mayor of NYC is not in control of healthcare plans... where does all this come from? Maybe I am stupid but I don't comprehend why so many in NYC or outside of it\, keep saying similar to profd\,  BLoomberg was/is a billi onaire \, had three terms and had no control whatsoever over these things\ , how is mamdani going to ? what? \n\n\n\n And where is the money to hire the teachers going to come from? \n\n\n\n Mamdani's public legislative r ecord in the ny assembly which I cited above\, in which nothing he did cam e from some hidden corner . Mamdani likes legislations that have the gover nment spending money\, but the problem is\, the usa government has to be w illing to print that money. \n\n\n\n I don't see how Mamdani will accompl ish any of these things with the power of a mayor\, unless he has some min d control job and he is going to get the governor of new york state + pres ident of the usa to bend to his will... cause he needs the president of th e usa + governor of NYC to make all those things happen. \n\n\n\n \n On 11/5/2025 at 11:02 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n The white media is los ing their minds over Mayor-Elect Mamdani because he seemingly came out of left field.  Showed up like a unicorn.  He doesn't  fit the red or blue narrative. \n \n \n\n\n\n It is interestin\,  NYC media hasn't been sh ocked but NYC media went through AOC. Maybe outside NYC\, white owned medi a is incapable of handling this moment\,  but mamdani is a muslim\, and f or many christians in the usa\, well\, the reality of a muslim being mayor of a big city is... crusaderish.  NYC media has had one question which I have had\, how is he going to accomplish? The laws exists\, how is he goi ng to change the laws? I find it interesting that a non black is not quest ioned on how by even black people... well ok. \n\n\n\n Mamdani's campaign success had the same roots of Obama/OCasio cortez/Olhan ground game. AOC had the exact same scenario\, opponent was a white old donkey who didn't c omprehend the demographic changes. Obama likewise\, in that his old white was a white woman. \n\n\n\n I ask all who may read this\, Does scrhumpt f it the red or blue narrative\, if red was supposed to mean war hawk mainta ining the international order\, I don't think schrumpft fits that as he is trying to dismantle the old international order? Does obama fit the red o r blue narrative\, Obama made ICE\, is that showing an opennes to the othe r in blue? Did Bush jr fit the red or blue narrative\, bush jr made the af rican american museum not obama\, does that fit a white power narrative in red? Did Mr Clinton fit the red or blue narrative \, he is the one who ma de the unevenly applied welfare to work program so no blue equality as wel l as the one who governed the dot com bubble into its inevitable disaster\ , not really blue techie . I have mentioned how the dichotomy argument in the USA is one of those historic public lies in the usa. Ever since the us a had two parties from the early 1800s\, they each created the dichotomy a dvertisement campaign. whether their names are whigs or federalist or what ever\, they have maintained that ad campaign a long time\, but it was a ne ver a true representation of anything. were the first people in this count ry ever red or blue? of course not. were Black DOSers ever red or blue? of course not. \n\n\n\n Both first peoples+Black DOSers historically have a lways been two seperate entities that didn't have the militaristic power t o state themselves properly. But not having the ability to advertise your trueself doesn't mean your not your true self. Again\, Frederick Douglass/ WEBDUbois/MLK j were arguably the most engages\, integrationary \,black le aders and all were booed by a majority of black people during their life t ime\, which proves black people were never donkey or elephant\, red or blu e and to be blunt\, no one in the usa was or is. \n\n\n\n But I repeat wh at MAmdani is\, a fiscal capitalist. People keep trying to make him some u nique agent\, he isn't. \n\n\n\n All legislators are wisely judged by onl y one thing\, their legislation\, not speeches\, not their racial makeup[p henotype/money/geographic ancestry/religion/party of governance affiliatio n] \n\n\n\n Mamdani is a fiscal capitalist whose primary desire is to use the military might of the usa to make wealth to support various municipal projects in the usa. \n\n\n\n I even remember someone saying in big medi a years back \, a so called leftist democrat\, that the usa can just print money to finance all it needs. Which functionally means\, use the usa mil itary power to print as much money and provide as much money as needed to make the economy of the usa run. And that is mamdani. fiscal capitalism th rough government. \n\n\n\n I Don't think it is democratic socialism at al l or communism or religious fervor or any of the many claims people give t o mamdani. \n\n\n\n But I think if he is smart he take after the two cand idates he is very much alike SCrumpft + Obama.\n\n\n\n He said he wanted t o make history\, so did obama +schrumpft. But if he is smart\, go schrumpf ts route\, focus on a voting base and what the mayor can do. \n\n\n\n The mayor's greatest power is hiring or firing people in NYC governmnet and m anipulating the bureaucracy of NYC. he doesn't control budgets of any sort \, every mayor for decades eveyr year goes to albany and begs for money. That is not money any mayor of NYC controls. NYC mayor doesn't control the schools\, NY State does. the mayor doesn't control healthcare\, NYState a nd the federal government does. \n\n\n\n I said years ago obama should ha d polished the federal governments bureaucracy \, many black people online called me crazy or other negatives\, not mean spirited but in firm opposi tion but in cheap hindsight i was right. \n\n\n\n Because schrumpft is pr esident\, a position the congress of the usa has empowered over a century\ , he can do many things\, but a mayor of nyc can't and hochul will be comp elled to restrain nyc by the other cities or the counties of new york stat e and she as governor has the power to do it. \n\n\n\n referral\n\n\n\n h ttps://www.dayonefor.nyc/scope-of-mayoral-power/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n \n On 11/5/2025 at 11:02 AM\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Democrats were never all-in on Mayor-Elect Mamdani.  Now\, they will be studying hi s recipe to pick and choose the ingredients and type of candidates needed to win future elections in certain areas.😎\n \n \n\n\n\n well here is the problem\,NYC is unqiue. MAmdani has in NYC the only populace of a majo r city in the usa with such a mix of peoples.  all white towns or all bla ck ones or native american reservations can't be approached like nyc. STac y Abrams arguably proved what mamdani did now already failed in some place s in the usa... if any remembers her legendary ground game\, better than m amdani's... but nyc is so different than the state of georgia. \n\n\n\n a lso the lack of voting in NYC\, i repeat\, media keeps saying more people voted now than in sixteen years but here is the problem nyc is over ten mi llion people easy. ten percent of ten million is one million so ten percen t of nyc's populace voting \, and the bronx still had a very low turnout w hich media aren't reporting. I say in sport all the time\, don't overestim ate failure or underestimate success. What that means is\, all to often \, especially in government or fiscal activity\, black people have a way of blowing up failures into christian raptures\, while making successes seem like quiet balances of nature. \n\n\n\n The usa has a populace of over th ree hundred million\, in my lifetime no election in any position has ever garnered fifty percent or better\, which means no election has ever been a s potent a win or failure as suggested and their lies the true problem. \ n\n\n\n NYC has alot of problems\, serious problems\, and mamdani/cuoma/sl iwa/AOC/Schrumpft/Olhan/Obama/Clintons/the surpreme court\, none of these people have the answer\, they don't even have the ability to work together to find an answer together... so... I find it telling how many people lov e to suggest the era change and not assess the modernity evenly. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n comment referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12023-nyc- mayral-thoughts-a-conclusion/#findComment-77385\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Posted  Wednesday at 05:54 PM\n\n\n\n  a drop of seriousness\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n @ProfD \n\n\n\n The short answer\, Mamdani will not be de blasio 2.0 in any way\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ...\n\n\n\n The long answer....\n\n\n\n What do es Lindsey to Mamdani have in common? \n\n\n\n The problems of NYC are be yond the office of mayor to solve. \n\n\n\n Lindsey->\;Koch->\;Dinkin s->\;Guiliani->\;Bloomberg->\;De Blasio->\;Adams->\;Mamdani all couldn't actually repair the problems of the city. They each put bandages on select problems\, but each bandaid always erased eventually onto a wors e wound. \n\n\n\n Lindsey allowed the gypsy cabs\, made the knapp report to clean up law enforcement. But the governor\, rockefeller\,  made rjike rs. The governor didn't use his power to keep business in Nyc or new york state. he allowed the federal funds to support the white flight\, lindsey had no way to stop that.\n\n\n\n Koch didn't make the roaring 80s of NYC o r the urban plight of the 80s\, Reagan did. Reagan defunded schools\, publ ic works projects which negatively influenced all the non white regions in nyc during koch's time\, while reagan also gave money to big business whi ch led to the big building boom downtown manhattan during koch's time and the expansion of banking operations. koch simply set up ny city law enforc ement to have free reign on abusing the poor who were inevitable\, startin g NYC law enforcement's infatuation with being protected.\n\n\n\n Dinkins was denied by the banks the prior mayors had agreements with through the c ity to do business. Dinkins also had the unenviable task of coming after t hree terms of koch so dinkins in everything he was trying to do was deemed radical because the city had twelve years of one way. \n\n\n\n Guiliani expanded the reagan idea by selling the buildings nyc owned to private or forcing them into becoming coops. But guiliani wasn't why the rents were g etting higher and food more expensive or the labor market in the city was getting too narrow. The real estate industry had been allowed through the federal government to prop itself up and maintain its value in very artifi cial ways. And he wasnt to blame for the dot com bubble which influenced r eal estate. \n\n\n\n Bloomberg gave real estate everything they wanted\, more and more buildings\, he opened up brooklyn to the modern highrise\, h e wanted to do the same to bronx or queens but all the implosions of vario us industries\, from banks to automotive to whatever. Bloomberg emphasized the charter school movement\, attacking harlem's schools like guiliani at tack harlem's residentials. \n\n\n\n De Blasio rent froze and supported p ublic schools but he came after twenty years of guiliani+bloomberg who sup ported the real estate industries agendas and law enforcement. and then th e building collapse happened\, another age of corporate consolidation star ted so downtown was unhappy\, but the city didn't have any industry outsid e real estate/banking\, which none of the prior mayors worked for or were allowed to do in circa thirty two years. \n\n\n\n Adams comes in and says he will make nyc safer\,but that is by spending on law enforcement but al l his labor numbers are hogwash. the city has for ten years\, over one hun dred thousand homeless children in public school. Adams didn't find their parents jobs so the job growth he mentioned is not functional\, just stati stical games. \n\n\n\n MAmdani wants affordability\, but while the mayor can lower the rent he can't force the cost of utilities to go lower\, he c an't force the various coops or private buildings that have been ushered i n before him to lower their rent. He doesn't control the management of int ernational trade which nyc relies on as nyc will never have the ability to feed itself\, a population of way over ten million people in a city geogr aphic space far smaller than los angeles. Consider los angeles has about a fourth of nyc's populace but at least double nyc's landmass. \n\n\n\n Ma mdani simply joins the ranks of mayors who are bandaid men. Whatever they choose to focus on will look good for a while but the external forces will render mute. \n\n\n\n The casinos is a state issue. Marijuana is a state issue. The real estate industry in the city because guiliani+bloomberg pr ivatized so much is beyond any mayor's control.  This is why the fast tra ck is being considered. But \, my parents say it best\, and they have live d through multiple housing booms. Housing booms never lower the rent. And the reason why is the business of real estate isn't about places to live b ut investments. So many people in NYC own properties as investment\,s they don't live there\, they don't want to build anything there\, they simply want tenants to leech through rents or sell for some financial goal per so me personal plan. Add the underreported and ballooning nyc populace. Those three factors mean new buildings can never lower the rent. I even expect legal action against the fast track program. What media may not have told those outside nyc is that\, many regions of nyc\, blockade new buildings w hile pushing new buildings into the poorest regions. The wealthy black com munity in Queens has never had a alcoholics anonymous where they are. so\, i can see legal action. Schrumpft will support it to breed chaos and then .... Food is totally out of the control of mayor. When the sars cov 2 happ ened\, NYC was at the mercy of the international trade of goods. ... maybe mamdani can try to tax foods that have ny state alternatives. New york st ate does have some food producers but do they make enough... bloomberg and de blasio tried to get the wind farm but that is  behind schedule/in lim bo before schrumpft and with schrumpt... maybe dead\, I don't know\, so en ergy is going to rise\, nuclear power is no unless someone comes up with f usion or fission but figures out how to make the pipes for the molten salt reactors of fission. the cost of living  is going to rise. Maybe mamdani can try tax incentives\, but as a legislator in the state assembly he did n't seem a big tax incentive man. he seemed to be a tax eliminator man. An d MAmdani has no control over the shutdown battle\, which is a battle of b links. the donkeys + elephants have plans on the congress floor\, neither will sign the one the other made\, so the shutdown is until one decides to sign the one the other made. MAmdani has no control over that\, but the e bt and snap is huge for nyc's elderly and fiscally poor populace. the NYPD are always up for the policing bit but\, mamdani has never been in a situ ation where he has to govern the nypd while also utilize them\, if he make s a mistake\, he will deemed a traitor by many of his voters. I don't know where jobs will come from\, the schools in nyc are tyring to have job ini tiatives cause they see\, that graudates aren't getting job to such a quan tity that it will influence how people view going to college. \n\n\n\n Th e city have problems. Mamdani will never be De Blasio 2-0 but he is Mamdan i 1.0 already. \n\n\n\n If MAmdani is lucky before next year the federal government finds some sort of balance. If he is unlucky\, Mamdani will be entering the job of mayor with a city boiled over or about to boil over. . .. Adams I must say has a huge role. The modulation between adams and mamd ani is also huge. Usually the new mayor comes in like a storm\, but that I don't think is a wise way for mamdani to come in. \n\n\n\n We shall see . \n\n\n\n My final issue are his voters. If MAmdani starts bad\, this wi ll be a very long four years for him. He can't afford to start bad. The me dia alone will cricify him but it will test his supporters. Maybe they wil l remain faithful\, hopeful\, but... \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n comment referral \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12023-nyc-mayral-thoughts-a-conclusion /#findComment-77391\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @ProfD @Pioneer1 @Mel Hopkins \n\n\n\n Well here is an idea being posi tive. \n\n\n\n My Preface\n\n\n\n I made a suggestion when Obama became p resident\, that he should had spent his time improving the efficiency of t he federal bureaucracy\, as president he could do that with no input from anyone else. PResidents can't control the economy of the world\, they can' t protect peoples in states\, they can't make laws that are everlasting.  \n\n\n\n Presidents legal parameters allow them to manipulate the executiv e branch bureaucracy\, and mold the war machine with no input from any oth er. \n\n\n\n That didn't happen. Obama meddled in finance and healthcare and made the bureaucracy worse and made the war machine worse.\n\n\n\n My Idea for Mamdani\n\n\n\n The mayor of NYC can't control or manipulate the price of food[private industry]. the cost of utilities[private industry]. the global real estate industries interwoven system[private industry]. the employers reaction to modern computing power[that is private industry]\, get money to finance the city[that is the governor]. The reality is the mo dern global fiscal capitalistic structure NYC was placed firmly in through decades of actions that can not be undone in four years or eight years or twelve years. The mayor of NYC can improve the bureaucracy of NYC\, for e xample manipulating the NYPD into another organization. \n\n\n\n But the mayor can also pass laws\, unlike the president who has been given legal p owers by the congress. the mayor has the greater power in NYC\, and so to the affordability push\, I say make an affordability scale law.\n\n\n\n Wh at do I mean? \n\n\n\n Butter cost eight dollars for four sticks. Which m eans two sticks cost four dollars. One stick costs two dollars. A half of a stick cost one dollar. \n\n\n\n But most stores only sell packs of four or two. So\, the affordability law is needed to get customers the ability to scale down what is sold to them. \n\n\n\n For example\, for butter\, why can't customers have a half a stick of butter available for one dollar ? Literally have the stores\, the delis + supermarkets \, be within a lega l right to sell goods when applicable in a more affordable way. \n\n\n\n The mayor can't lower the cost of butter\, but in NYC with so many relying on EBT/Snap/Food pantries including federal workers who haven't been paid \, forcing businesses to sell products more affordably i think is somethin g he could had said he was going to do during the campaign. \n\n\n\n Mayb e I am too serious or to honest\, but I have never comprehended why anyone in government in a post or applying for a post provides pie in the sky or hopes or possibilities. All government post in human history have rules\, even kings or queens. The rules dictate what you can do. So\, just tell p eople with what you will be able to do in a position what you will do. \n \n\n\n Well that is it\, my one idea to push. BAsed on Obama+AOC + Ohlan+. . Adams plus many others\, the odds are mamdani's agenda will be nothing a s I suggest. But\, I gave a functional idea. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Comment referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12023-nyc-mayral-thoughts-a-co nclusion/#findComment-77442\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Posted just now\n\n\n\n @P rofD\n\n\n\n   10 minutes ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\n\n Businesses can eit her scale products to be more affordable and/or EBT/SNAP benefits \n\n\n\ n can be increased to more adequately cover costs of products and goods.\n \n\n\n remember\, ebt/snap are all federal issues\, the mayor of nyc has n o power over those benefits\, but getting businesses in nyc to scale produ cts he can do\, at least get a law made and I think enough support exists in nyc for that to happen. The detractors will be the grocers who will tax hit or an overhead cost increase with this action. But\, the growing line s of people i see on the food pantry I don't think will mind. In this way those people who may have pennies here or there can go to the stores and b uy something. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   10 minutes ago\, ProfD said:\n\n\ n\n There is no good reason for the wealthiest country on the planet for a ny of its citizens to be poor\, hungry or homeless. Especially when it com es to women\, children and senior citizens. \n\n\n\n It's funny profd\, I have heard black people offline say that my entire life. and I have never once believed it to be true. the usa was built on the european colonies w hich themselves were built on the death of the first peoples. That is the truth\, I don't know about good or bad reasons but I know true reasons. an d they are what they are. the heritage of the usa is genocide is enslaveme nt\, we all know this \, black people should know and yet... is it hope? i s that what I miss? Is it communicating hope? is that the basis of that op inion which so many black people utter all the time. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Comment referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/12023-nyc-mayral-thoug hts-a-conclusion/#findComment-77444\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251104 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Black Individualism 10/23/2025 DTSTAMP:20251024T025709Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:564-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n As I am a known Communalist through my various multilogs in AALBC\, it is clear I prefer strong community over strong individuals. Not everybody is going to be strong all the time. But\, sharing strength c an help the whole group survive storms no individual can handle alone.\n\n \n\n ... but having said that\, the heritage of the Black populace in the usa and the european colonies that preceded it is Nonviolent Individualism . No DOSers from the USA are not like DOSers from Haiti whose heritage is militant communalism. \n\n\n\n I don't care for nonviolent individualism but I comprehend it is the true heritage of black people in the usa led by DOSers\, who are the largest percentage of black people in the usa. \n\n \n\n Take out the First Peoples of the USA who have their own specific iss ues with this place\, everyone else in the usa never had to deal with ensl avement or jim crow to the extent of black people. Not white jews not chin ese\, not mexicans. All three were abused? yes\, 100% but while abused nev er enslaved\, never at the full cruelty of jim crow. So black people in as sessing ourselves\, must embrace our unique situation first. \n\n\n\n Bla ck Individualism has limits helping the group but allows black individuals a flexibility which can be useful. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL TO COMMENT\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11970-what-if-we-focused-on-lo cal-development/#findComment-77177\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n COMMENT\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n @KENNETH if you want the honey and not the pot\, just scroll to my conclusion\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 10/21/2025 at 4:52 PM\, KENNETH said :\n \n\n \n \n There are Black majority cities in America like Atlanta\ , Detroit\, Baltimore\, and even Jackson Mississippi. What if Black politi cians at the municipal level began working with wealthy black entrepreneur s to develop and diversity local economies especially disadvantaged neighb orhoods ? Think about it.\n \n \n\n\n\n Idealistically it is a positive t hing. But let me use NYC to explain my counter point.\n\n\n\n Is NYC a bla ck city? no\n\n\n\n Is NYC a white city? yes\n\n\n\n does NYC have more di sadvantaged communities than any other city in the USA? yes\n\n\n\n does N YC have disadvantaged white communities? yes\, more than any other city in the USA? yes\n\n\n\n Why can't NYC's white elected officials align with w hite businesses to aid white communities that are disadvantaged? \n\n\n\n Because the cost is very high. Aiding the poor is not financially cheap.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n How does NYC get money every year? the mayor of NYC whomever they are goes to Albany and begs. The federal governments welfare money to states are more vital to every state in the union\, including ca lifornia. But the federal government gives its money to states\, not citie s\, ala when atlanta/detroit/new orleans are any town/village/city that wa s or is black wants money... they have to beg a white states\, thus...\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n What is my point?  overall it is very expensive to financ e poverty. It requires losing a fortune. Black people with money\, correct ly\, are the least interested in losing money. Remember\, the fiscal wealt hy Black populace don't come from Indian Killers or Enslavers\, they come from enslaved black folk like fiscally poor black people. They are not int erested in losing their money. And yes\, you have to give up your fortune to improve disadvantaged neighborhoods. Remember andrew carnegie of new yo rk\, he gave up his fortune and built many of the libraries that are all o ver the world\, but that wasn't cheap. He needed every penny. \n\n\n\n Re member in the late eighteen hundreds\, circa 1865\, the black populace of the usa was denser than ever after\, and that is why white people in black states/louisiana/mississippi/south carolina or white people in white stat es everywhere else\, cut open pregnant black women. State power matters in the usa.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 10/21/2025 at 4:52 PM\, KENNETH said:\ n \n\n \n \n What if we pooled public and private resources to replicat e what Geoffrey Canada did with the Harlem Children's Zone in New York Cit y ?  After all a good start early in life in a livable environment comes before any kind of academic achievement or entrepreneurial success. Right?   \n \n \n\n\n\n HArlem Children Zone and the larger field of charter s chools had support from the government of NYC and NY state. Remember\, mos t charter schools didn't have to build new buildings\, the government allo wed most to use buildings they did not buy for repurpose or use public sch ool buildings spaces. That is a financial advantege brought by the governm ent. Second \, across all phenotypes most children in NYC\, black/non blac k/ male/female go to public schools. The charter school movement was never about the mass education of any group of children. It was about making an other layer for parents who wanted their kids to go to a school like styve sant or bronx science but the seats are filled\, so charter schools became a second tier. But remmeber one thing\, when a child fails in a charter s chool\, you know where they go... public school. So Canada\, whom I ... Ca nada has said many things but I know the truth. His movement was about a p articular sections of parents having their own zone. \n\n\n\n Now why doe s this matter? what your talking about isn't about helping a section of th e disadvantaged but you want to help a whole disadvantaged community\, you have to find actions that actually help a whole disadvantaged community. In the USA those are not easy to find.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n On 10/21/202 5 at 4:52 PM\, KENNETH said:\n \n\n \n \n Secondly\, what if black busi ness people and politicians formed public/private partnerships to seek out new sources of investment like Chinese\, Middle Eastern\, and West Africa n ? \n \n \n\n\n\n This like your first is idealistically correct. The p roblem is\, unlike the USA who spent most of the  nineteen hundreds revit alizing completely war torn  or fiscally mired countries[japan/england/fr ance/germany/spain/portugal /italy/korea/china/mexico /canada ] to gain th eir allegiance against the soviet union \, losing the financial advantage the usa had over all of them. Said countries are not interested in any fis cal deal that will not return something of equal value. Sequentially\, the Black DOS populace or even the larger black populace in the usa don't hav e mineral access\, don't have aquaspheres\, don't have anything physical t o trade with. China gives money throughout afirca/south america/south east asia for minerals/resources. West Africans wealthy pay for high end europ ean goods. DOSers don't have any luxury brand businesses. The Middle Easte rners sometimes give for long shots or long term investments\, but a welfa re line around the world exist to them. As I type this comment\, people fr om every community in humanity are in saudi arabia\, qatar \, or united ar ab emirates begging for the oil barons to give them money. \n\n\n\n I thi nk some DOSers plans may reach them but many want their money. \n\n\n\n \ n On 10/21/2025 at 4:52 PM\, KENNETH said:\n \n\n \n \n Third\, maybe we need real democracy in black politics which means independent thought a nd action that challenges the Black Democratic Leadership Establishment. I 'm not saying move to the Republican Right. But demand more from our so ca lled leaders. If you can't provide viable solutions to problems like crime \, violence\, poverty\, academic failure\, and the racial wealth gap then you get voted out. \n \n \n\n\n\n Another Ideal. positive. But I have a little history with this topic in the forum here.\n\n\n\n You say demand m ore from so called  leaders\, being a poor leader\, one who doesn't get p ositive results\, doesn't mean your not a leader.\n\n\n\n But then you wan t leaders to provide viable solutions. \n\n\n\n Here is the issue. In the usa no system exist for any voter to demand anything from any elected off icials. That is the difference between a parliamentary system and the stat ian system. In the usa's entire history voting is a gamble. The gamble is\ , if I vote for you\, will want to stay in the position so you will do for the voter\, the trick is\, I am guaranteeing you a set of time\, even if you do nothing for the voter. So\, there is no way to demand anything in t he usa system. White people don't demand votes. Poor whites don't demand v otes. Rich white people buy votes\, that isn't even demanding\, that is pa ying for a service. Which black people don't have the money to do. \n\n\n \n The problem with providing a viable solution is a strategy can only be considered a solution after implementation. No matter how intricate or wel l spoke a plan\, no plan is worth anything until it is implemented. \n\n\ n\n So\, I comprehend what your asking\, but the legal system in the usa d oesn't allow for either. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n A little history:) of me and one of my solutions\,a  black party of governance.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Th e Black community in the USA need an alternative to Black officials from t he Party of Andrew Jackson or Abraham Lincoln 2022\n\n https://aalbc.com/t c/topic/9211-the-black-community-in-the-usa-need-an-alternative-to-black-o fficials-from-the-party-of-andrew-jackson-or-abraham-lincoln/\n\n commenta ry\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=1890&\;t ype=status\n\n\n\n What Blacks haven't done?\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/prof ile/6477-richardmurray/?status=1929&\;type=status\n\n\n\n Immigration o n African Americans\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?s tatus=1941&\;type=status\n\n\n\n Black PArty of Governance Post\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=1945&\;type=status \n\n\n\n Detroit and the state of a Black Party of Governance\n\n https:// aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2124&\;type=status\n\n\ n\n Black Women and the two main parties of governance in the usa\n\n http s://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2137&\;type=status\ n\n\n\n The lessons in 1865 not learned\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6 477-richardmurray/?status=2549&\;type=status\n\n\n\n Shirley Chisholm p roved the college of black elected officials isn't serious\, that is why s he left them\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2 571&\;type=status\n\n\n\n With the 250 year anniversary of the USA mayb e black people should celebrate radically\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/pro file/6477-richardmurray/?status=2776&\;type=status\n\n Multivisions in parties of governance\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/ ?status=2148&\;type=status\n\n\n\n Specific needs\n\n https://aalbc.com /tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2238&\;type=status\n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n \n On 10/21/2025 at 4:52 PM\, KENNETH said:\n \n\n \n \n So what 's keeping us from doing these things ? \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n 1 . We don't live together and aren't forced to work and strive together ins pite of our class\, political\, or status differences the way Jim Crow and DeFacto residential segregation forced us too. \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n 2. Middle and upper income blacks have their own priorities even am ong individuals that differ from poor and workingclass  blacks. Race\, bl ackness\, and struggling against racism don't matter as much anymore or in the same way to all black people. \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n 3. Bla ck business and professional people aren't necessarily always concerned wi th advancing black people collectively. Elected officials and political in siders often benefit themselves and their cronies. And the Black Capitalis t is no different from the white one if he's a major player. The Black Cap italist is about maximizing profit. They only help other blacks if there's money to be made.\n \n\n \n  \n \n \n\n\n\n To 1 \, Your correct bl ack people don't live as close together as in the late 1800s \, but the re ason why isn't self inflicted\, remember when you were a kid and they show ed black people hanging in jim crow\, that wasn't a joke. Black elders to their forever dishonor don't like to admit the reason black people left th e south was fear based on white terrorism. It is that simple. And like tod ay\, even back then\, many black people\, DOSers in particular\, are unwil ling to accept violent action. Jim Crow's purpose was not merely to harm b lack people but to make our communities suffer at the hands of whites so w e would break up. whites succeeded\, it is not easy undoing that damage.\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n To 2 + 3 In defense they never have\, even in the late 1 800s there were black tribes nonviolently fighting each other. And remembe r when the usa was founded most free blacks fought against\, so... the mos t free\, most financially wealthy blacks have always been split in themsel ves and at some level to the larger populace of black people. I argue the problem today is the nonviolent\, self determination mantra black people p reached to black people has succeeded\, the problem is\, it isn't enough t o reach certain levels of growth as a populace. Black individualism made t he modern usa. Black financial wealth has grown in the usa despite histori cal financial disadvantages strictly to black people \, persistent  gover nmental limits specifically to blacks . That is black individuals fighting . BUT\, individualism has limits. I will even be nice and say\, the Black people like frederick douglass in the past\, hoped\, dreamed\, that Blac I ndividualism would carry black people to a day when the greater USA embrac ed individualism the same way. the two problems are\, most whites still en joy and desire the power one can have access to with communal strength ove r other communities. And most non Black people of color came late to the p arty so to speak\, so they carry a communal nature from the countries they come from and thus it will take their bloodlines more time to reach the i ndividualism that exist in the white anglo saxon protestant slavemaster/bl ack descendend of enslaved/first peoples commonly called the native americ an.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN CONCLUSION\n\n\n\n To municipal power\, the quic kest idea is to get the fiscally wealthy black to support a campaign of br eaking up the states in the union. why? no matter what any city in the usa does\, if the state government to the state it is in wants to stall or st op\, they can and that is that. \n\n\n\n I rephrase\, if you get a willin g black city\, and willing black fiscal entrepreneurs\, a white state gove rnment can use its power to hold up anything in the courts. So\, your firs t idea needs state power. Get the wealthy behind that. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n To private public pooling\, great idea but you need to have a specific g oal that actually helps a wide swath of black people. At the end of the da y\, many of the initiatives that helped black people in the usa from 1865 to today\, didn't help a wide array\, they helped black people in specific places or with specific means or specific scenarios. When the usa gave na tive american land to white settlers\, the condition of the white settler didn't matter. Find a specific thing that can help across the board of bla ck people. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n To the money outside the USA\, the most co mmon invester will want to see an automatic return of wealth or near term wealth growth. You have to find something that the Black populace in the U SA has that can do that. Keep looking you will find it. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n The best strategy to increase the rate of results in the usa system tha t maintains the philosophical line of black voters is to emphasize parliam entarianism. Most Black people in the usa are :not radical enough\, not an ti usa enough\, not anti white enough\, too pro individual\, to accept a B lack party of governance. But parliamentarianism is the best solution for your desire to get better results. Make it where the time of voting isn't enough. The reason why both major parties of governance in the usa are fil led with do nothings is because the only time of consequence is the voting time. Not the time in office. Make the time in office consequence and it will change the rate of results. You will have opposition but I think it i s doable. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n When you assess the black populace in the u sa \, never forget\, that our timeline isn't whites. Black people were ens laved before during and after independence. \n\n\n\n IF you look at the u sa from a important moments for Black people\, 1492 to 1865 is one whole e ra of enslavement. White people have the french-indian war and independenc e and war of 1812  but from 1492 to 1865 remember\, over 95% of black peo ple in the usa are completely enslaved. Over 95% of black people in the us a from 1492 to 1865 were born\, lived and died enslaved. No\, house in mar tha's vineyard\, no lincoln hat\, no wage\, no sailor on a whaling ship. I know you know black history. But one of the problems with black history t hroughout humanity is the timelines for non blacks we black people conside r speaking of ourselves. \n\n\n\n That means 95% of black people were ens laved for almost 400 years. And what came after the period of enslavement from 1492 to 1865 in Black Statian history? the period of Jim Crow. Now wh at is Jim Crow? Most will say Jim Crow is segregation\, but that isn't tru e. Segregation is the white view of Jim Crow. The Black view is how long i t took for black people to nonviolently integrate with the white populace in the usa. \n\n\n\n Jim crow is from 1865 to 1980. It took over a hundre d years for Black people to nonviolently integrate with whites. Why? that was the black plan. When 1865 hit\, a bunch of black church elders made a vote on what to do\, cause whites were already killing black people after the war between the states for revenge or to take land or to force to shar ecrop or to scare us into fleeing. So black churches new. Black churches\, voted on the side of nonviolence. [I am working on finding the names of w ho voted] Remember at 1865 Black churches were the undisputed black leader ship in the usa with a totally devoted populace. And what did black people do while whites guted pregnant black women/made up laws to place black me n in prison for life to rebuild the south/placed black children in electri c chairs/had black people fight in the spanish american war+world war one + world two all awhile no black person could open a bank account\, use the bathroom\, use the bus \, own land\, in 99% of places in the usa/black co mmunities in the cities north and west were completely defunded by white g overnments/law enforcement agencies throughout the usa made money off of p eddling drugs to black people sometimes by force while also making money b y putting us in jail for the drugs they dumped into our communities .. bla ck people nonviolently and individually suffered the blows embraced all th e insults and pains and inequalities and never hurt white people while kep t trying to be part of the systems they didn't want us to. With the help o f the soviets\, some mistakes in administration by whites\, by 1980 Jim Cr ow was officially a little old man. Not dead\, but no longer a major facto r in the lives of most black people which is how he started in 1865 with w hat whites call the nadir of american race relations.  Remember Alice was in the 1970s. \n\n\n\n Now we are in the integration era. Black people c ollectively or individually  survived enslavement from 1492 to 1865 gaini ng no money no wealth losing many traditions by whip by shackle. Black peo ple's collectives were shattered by Jim Crow from 1865 to 1980 but Blac in dividualism was able to thrive. Now from 1980 to 2025 and the near term\, black people have to catch up to whites who have from 1492 to 1980 a near five hundred year head start on being statian absent any of the financial advantages of stolen land from other human beings or enslavement of other human beings and we have to compete with immigrant populaces including som e that are black  who are smaller in populace\, for example ethiopian ame ricans are 380\,000 people far less than the forty million DOSers\,  so e asier to move in fiscal capitalism allowed to pronounce and embrace the cu ltures they came with whereas DOSers were not allowed in enslavement of ji m crow to cherish our cultures publicly. So... yes Black people in the usa today have a high level of individualism\, but it isn't for nothing. It i s unwarranted. Slavery nor Jim Crow were a joke\, and we didn't do it to o urselves\, and four hundred years is not going to be undone in forty sorry . Anyone black tell you that is a liar. When you see a nigerian/chinese/wh ite jew say Blacks don't know how to do this or that. Remind them that\, N igerians ancestors were not in the slave boats\, nigerians ancestors didn' t have to deal with enslavement from 1492 to 1865 nor jim crow from 1865 t o 1980. There wasn't a day in british west africa where 95% of Black peopl e were told they couldn't have their culture. Where they had to live chain ed up. Chinese and white jews were starting businesses from 1492 to 1980 i n the usa\, in places black people were not allowed or could not. \n\n\n\ n Yes\, Black Individualism is high\, that is how Black DOSers survived no nviolently. Give ourselves a hand. It wasn't easy. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251023 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Thonet bending wood process DTSTAMP:20251023T220207Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:561-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Thonet bending wood process\n\n Literature\n\n https://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Bentwood\n\n\n\n https://www.worthpoint.com/dictionary /p/furniture-furnishings/german/german-furniture-style-bentwood\n\n\n\n ht tps://michaelthonet.eu/the-bentwood-process-a-revolutionary-technique-in-f urniture-design/\n\n\n\n Video\n\n Soak in steam for five hours\n\n Three minutes to shape wood before it dries and breaks\, using metal strips and clips\n\n Seventy degrees celsius for twenty hours\n\n https://www.youtube .com/watch?v=rN8fGWCqTSU\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n basic version of above\ n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sUti5yG7iU\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n more details\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BDTkm3xOcQ\n\n\n\n \n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Cooking in a bentwood box\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=OAi1duTiBgo\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n bendingwood three ways: glue stri ps and fit[ anywood but messy]\, steam rod and clamp[cleanist but not all wood + need steambox+season shift]\, series of incisions on a rod and clam p[quick to do \, especially for art\, but not structurally strong]\n\n htt ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q8avgDQZ5Y\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My de sign of a bentwood chair for Sudowoodo\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/eve nt/372-sudowoodo-at-the-library-for-charity-07032025/\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251023 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Peter Cushing on calling the work he does Fantasy DTSTAMP:20251023T215026Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:560-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Peter Cushing on calling the work he does Fantasy\n\n\n\n Horror isn't a term you like is it?\n\n It isn't that I object to it\, I just feel it is the wrong adjective as applied to the films I do \, cause horror to me is say a film like the godfather or anything to do with war w hich is real and can happen and unfortunately no doubt will happen again s ometime but the films that dear Christopher lee and I do are really fantas y  and I think fantasy is a better better adjective. I don't object to th e term horror \, just the wrong adjective.\n\n https://www.youtube.com/wat ch?v=Bh96B1zJ1FA\n\n\n\n Full Text\n\n\n\n  0:05\npeter cushing you're kn own to pretty\n0:08\nwell everyone in this country for your\n0:09\nroles i n horror films but horror isn't a\n0:12\nterm you like isn't it isn't a di et a\n0:15\ngood I just feel it's the wrong\n0:17\nadjective as applied to the films I do\n0:20\nbecause harder to me is say a film like\n0:23\nThe Godfather or anything to do with war\n0:26\nwhich is real can happen unfor tunately\n0:27\nno doubt what happened again sometime\n0:30\nbut the fill the deer Christopher Lee\n0:33\nand I do oh really\n0:34\nfantasy and I th ink fantasy is a better\n0:36\nbetter attitude I don't protect to the\n0:3 8\nterm hard does the wrong adjective I\n0:40\nlike fantasy films but they 're fairly\n0:42\nrecent part of your career how did you\n0:44\nstart out in the acting profession how\n0:47\nlong have we got\n0:49\nwell I did sta rted wedding the carnal\n0:54\ntheater in those days was run by by Bill\n0 :59\nFraser it became so famous of what's\n1:01\nfamous now that I think h e's he became\n1:05\nnationwide now and when he played in\n1:07\nBootsy an d snatch but I was in an office\n1:10\nbefore that I was in the coastal\n1 :12\nentirely urban district council offices\n1:14\nas a surveyors assista nt was my title\n1:18\nbut I was really nothing more than a\n1:19\nglorifi ed office boy did you enjoy I\n1:21\ndon't attend the I suppose so really\ n1:25\nwell yeah I wasn't cut out for off his\n1:28\nlife at all I'd alway s wanted to be an\n1:30\nactor right from when I used to watch\n1:32\nTom Mix and dates tommix believe is the\n1:35\nsort of John Wayne of nine\n1:4 4\nyou\n1:46\n[Music]\n\n\n\n\n \n\n Video\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251023 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Why do black people hate talking about colorism? asked by mo mentswithmani DTSTAMP:20251023T214308Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:559-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n My Answer\n\n I can't speak for all and I know all black people don't hate talking about colorism. so I will answer with the follow ing... the past-the speech\, present-absent concern over future or past\, future- how to solve... the past is simple\, talking about colorism is bla ck people talking about black people . But from early 1500s to late 1970s I argue Black people in the usa were not free from white oppression enough to feel free to talk about ourselves among ourselves. before 1865 this wa s absolutely true and between sharecropping/prisons/experimentations/crimi nal labor environments after 1865 it took over one hundred years to nonvio lently overcome that. So\, from my view a majority of black people have on ly been free in the usa from 1980.  the present- in the year 2025 what/wh o is stopping a black person from talking to another black person about co lorism outside their self? no one outside working hours. Many labors tend to have rules on what employees discuss. So whatever the reason today\, th e why any black person isn't allowed to talk about colorism among other bl ack people are primarily themselves.  For those black people who hate tal king about colorism\, they either have bad experiences talking about it an d shy away\, or dislike the topic and don't want to. the future- Black peo ple from home to home have to rear black children to speak on internal com munal issues\, like colorism. second parents and black adults need to make sure black children hear them talking about colorism or other issues in t he black populace in the usa\, positively or at least absent vitriol. When we adults argue wildly in front of children we teach them a bad method fo r communicating when topics are unpleasant or not easy\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n momentswithmani Original Poster\n\n Thank you for your contribution. I ju st find it weird because black men will gaslight black women when we are t he most vocal about colorism\, due to misogynoir playing a role in their p rivilege. Black men will view colorism as a preference + claim it’s “a ll about character”\, when that same energy isn’t given to darker skin ned black women and we either end up waiting years and decades to be chose n\, get divorced from our partners\, or we never get married. I rarely see representation of darker skinned black women with a black man who looks l ike them and they were together till death does them part.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n my reply\n\n @momentswithmani yeah and with so many negative actons to darker skin in our community world wide\, a hard nut to crack\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n url \n\n https://www.tumblr.com/momentswithmani/78506956714065920 0/why-do-black-people-hate-talking-about-colorism?source=share\n\n\n\n  \ n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251023 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:the black superhero paradox DTSTAMP:20251023T213855Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:558-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n the black superhero paradox\n\n https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=kYzQdGuirRY\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY COMMENT\ n\n nice video:) One thing is that the black populace in the usa has survi ved mostly nonviolently/law abidingly/self incriminatingly through a lot o f white violence/oppresion/terrorism to be more financially profitable tod ay and that helps black creators. At the end of the day\, the artist of an y populace are mostly funded by the populace themselves.\n\n IN AMENDMENT\ n\n Well\, here is my problem with your argument. Did black people start w ith eisner's interpretation and other white artist interpretation? For me\ , the black superhero is only defined by black creators and I have a probl em with black people who seem very willing to treat white interpretations of black people as valid. I don't care that white people viewing depiction s of black people by white artist see a negative interpretation of black p eople. The question in my mind is\, why do black people care when white pe ople see negative depictions of black people by white artist? \n\n ...\n\ n you talk about not isolating other communities while focusing on uplifti ng the black community but what you really mean is not isolating white rea ders. And I argue\, if a white writer is making a black character\, that b lack character isn't designed for black readers and if a black writer is m aking a white character\, that white character isn't designed for white re aders. Again the problem here is the idea of universalism. We humans are a ll one and the same\, we do not exist\, humans are not the same\, communit ies are not the same and what is better for one community is not mandatori ly better for another.\n\n ...\n\n 12:56 Dubois is correct but here is the problem. The maker of the youtube video\, most black or white artist publ icly state they are not propogandist and if anything publicly despise the notion of being a propogandist. The positive phenotypical integrationist z eal among those in the black or non black populaces in the usa is based on the idea that some non propaganda ideal is possible. \n\n ...\n\n 14:22 exactly\n\n ...\n\n 14:53 love Milestone\n\n 17:08 exactly\, the reality i s\, black created comics must be financed by black people but black people just didn't have the money but do now but just rely on your own\n\n ...\n \n 22:18 ok\, if go woke go broke isn't true\, what is it that the woke ar tist who made money did correct financially that the woke artist who didn' t make money did incorrectly financially\n\n Was Bitter Root being image n ot DC or Marvel matter?\n\n Was Bitter Root simply better written or drawn than other comics? \n\n Was Bitter Root wiser in genre choices?\n\n  \n \n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251023 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:ninth gates film review DTSTAMP:20251023T213126Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:557-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n ninth gates film review- enjoy:)\n\n https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=tN6m_HHck9Q\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n a funny comment\n\n fr om @crabbieappleton\n\n The true horror of the Ninth Gate was Corso touchi ng those incredibly valuable and delicate old books without gloves and cha in-smoking while handling them.\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN6m_H Hck9Q&\;lc=UgxalJYsKQu5lyf4ckl4AaABAg\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n nine gate soun dtrack\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/521-october-favorite-films-mu sics/\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251031 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Djavan Caetano Viana DTSTAMP:20251023T205904Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:556-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Djavan Caetano Viana born january 27th 1949\n\n https://e n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djavan\n\n\n\n Djavan - 1976 - A Voz\, O Violão\, A Música de Djavan (Full Album)\n\n https://youtu.be/QBc7lHK0uzk?si=MJEkzQ8 3ICQzYJLz\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A _Voz\,_o_Violão\,_a_Música_de_Djavan\n\n\n\n Djavan: Ao Vivo (1999) | Á lbum Completo\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYC8FF10y2M\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Soul Food To Go \n\n lyrics written by Djavan\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My\, my\n\n Oh the feelin'\n\n Of the sound\n\n Preciou s and real and\n\n Ooo that's nice\n\n Whip up some steamin' jazz\n\n The pot is on the stove\n\n It's cookin'\n\n Want some more\n\n We always save some\n\n Art nouveau\n\n For special patrons\n\n You look nice\n\n Do you believe in jazz\n\n Kansas City to Brazil\n\n It even gets you hot in you r home\n\n Kansas City to Brazil\n\n I say blow your top\n\n Blow your own \n\n Ooo ooo ah\n\n This be-bop's too much\n\n I know you know\n\n Hip hop \n\n Never stop\n\n I'll pour you tasty funk\n\n We got\n\n Cool and hot\n \n Just for you\n\n The pleasures of the soul\n\n Come on\n\n Come in\n\n And check it out\n\n Ooo c'est si bon\n\n Ooo ooo ah\n\n This be-bop's too much\n\n I know you know\n\n Hip hop\n\n Never stop\n\n I'll pour you tas ty funk\n\n We got\n\n Cool and hot\n\n Just for you\n\n The pleasures of the soul\n\n Come on\n\n Come in\n\n And check it out\n\n Soul food to go\ n\n Yeah\, yeah yeah...\n\n written by  Djavan Caetano Viana\n\n\n\n http s://youtu.be/vKFJK7q3t-M?si=q_au9G66J0QJtceg\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Djavan Sou ld food to go \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Manhattan transfer cover\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250127 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Dungeons and Dragons\, Celts and Vikings DTSTAMP:20251023T203216Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:555-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n Dungeons and Dragons theme\n\n https://youtu.b e/8f-vCEaJZPQ?si=zdNib8GEXu-YdhWO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n intro\n\n ht tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHnsMKQJBDA\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n The irish used slings mostly\, not bows and arrows. They didn't have a unified army\, nor was the terrain of ancient Ireland good for finding arrow hear s nor was the resources for bow making affordable. but Slings were. \n\n https://irishimbasbooks.com/bows-and-chariots-in-ancient-ireland-the-facts -and-the-fantasies/\n\n\n\n \n\n slings in history\n\n https://www.warhist oryonline.com/war-articles/sling-weaponry-ancient-warfare.html\n\n\n\n \n\ n staff sling\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSHD8RG_mSo\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n viking truth\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/514-viking-arche ry-truth-shadversity-larsanderson23/\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251023 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Vesta Williams born DTSTAMP:20251022T232308Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:554-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Vesta Williams\n\n\n\n December 1st 1957 to Septemer 22nd 2011\n\n  \n\n\n\n Her work in the film Posse is so underrated\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Tell Me\n\n Written by Vesta Williams (as Vesta) and Louis Russ ell\n\n Performed by Vesta Williams (as Vesta)\n\n A&\;R [Direction] – Kevin Evans\n\n Acoustic Guitar – John Jorgenson\n\n Bass – Nathan East\n\n Drums – Harvey Mason\n\n Engineer [Assistant] – Nazeeh Islam \, Rajean DeGrandmaison\n\n Harp – Dino Soldo\n\n Keyboards\, Arranged B y – Tim Heintz\n\n Mixed By – Charlie Watts (2)\n\n Producer – Vesta *\n\n Producer [Additional] – Phillip Biff Vincent*\n\n Producer\, Keybo ards\, Arranged By\, Mixed By – Michael Eckert\n\n\n\n Lyrics \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Tell me\nwhat's on your mind \, baby\nTell Me\nIf the loving i s strong\nTell! Me!\nWhat's on your mind\, baby\nTell Me\nIf the loving is strong oh\nTell Me\nIf the loving is strong\nYou got!\nA simple way of ta lking to me baby\nYou got\nmy heart on a string\nYou! Got!\nthe simple way of loving me baby\nTell me\nThat you love me\, again!\nTell me\nThat you love me\, again!\nI got this funny \nfeeling\nDe-ep in-si-de\nThat tells m e \, you\, could love me\nEven mo-re\, an\nAnd I got to kno-w!\nYou got!\ nA simple way of loving me baby\nYou! got!\nMy heart on a stri-ng\nYou got !\nA simple way of loving me baby\nTell me!\nThat you\, want me\, again\nB aby baby baby\nTell me\nThat you\, want me\, again\nBaby baby baby baby\nT ell me \nthat you\, \nYo-[mellisma]-u!\nYo-[mellissma-scatting]-u!\nYou [S catting]\n[Scatting]\n[Scatting]\n[Scatting modulate through four octaves] \nTell me \nThat you\nTell me that you want me baby\nTell me that you need me baby\nTell me! ye-ah!\nTell me that you\nWant me\, again\nTell me\, th at you\nwant me\, again\n[Scatting]\n[Scatting two octaves]\n[Scatting fou r octaves]\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LIVE\, lovely voice\ n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Special \n\n\n\n Lyrics from Vesta Williams\, Attala Za ne Giles\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Ooh... oh... oh\nOoh... ooh...\nYeah\nOoh... o oh... ooh\nNever thought I'd find a lover\nWho could love me like no other \, Sugar\nNow I'm spellbound in your hands\nYou're more than twice a man\n And I love you\nThe more I'm in your arms the more I need you\nI look in y our eyes I feel you\nThe way you hold me\, feels so right\, (So right)\nTh e way you make me feel is oh so special\nMy baby and I just gotta let you know\, feels so right\nYou make me feel so special\, darlin'\nOn and on it \, gettin' stronger\nYou just make me feel so special\nNights of passion\, filled with moonlight\nMakes the moments with you so right\, baby\nYou ha ve made my life so grand\nDon't know how glad I am that I have your love\n The more I'm in your arms\, the more I need you\nNo matter where I am I fe el you\nThe way you kiss me it feels so good (So good)\nI love the way you make me feel so special\, darlin'\nAnd I just gotta let you know\nThat it feels so right\nYou make me feel so special\, darlin'\nOn and on feeling stronger\nOh... oh... oh... oh... oh\nOoh\, ooh\, yeah\n(Oh... oh... oh... )\nOoh\, the more I have your love\, the more I need you\nIf I had to chan ge the world\, I would to keep you\nThe way you love me\, don't ever stop (Oh\, oh)\nThere's no one who could make me feel so special\, baby\nAnd I just gotta let you know\nThat it feels so right\nYou make me feel so speci al\, baby\nOn and on gettin' stronger\nOh... oh... oh... oh... oh\nSpecial (Special)\nSpecial\, special (Yes\, you are\, baby)\nSpecial (Yeah)\nYou make me feel so special (You make me feel so good)\nSpecial (Baby)\nSpecia l (I\, I\, I\, I\, I\, I\, I\, I\, I) special\n(Special\, hey)\nYou make m e feel so special (Special\, baby\, ooh\, ooh)\nSpecial\, baby\,\nFeels so right you make me feel so special\n(Special\, baby\, bay\, oh\, oh)\nMy l ove (My love)\,\nAnd it feels so right when you oh\, oh\, oh\, oh\, oh\, o h)\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Sweet Sweet Love\n\n\n\n Lyric s from Vesta Williams\, Attala Zane Giles\, William Matthew Osborne\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n Oh-oh\, oh (oh-oh)\nOh\, oh (oh-oh)\nOh (ooh) oh-oh\nOoh\nI remember I was scared\nLove especially\nI fell in love with you\nStole my heart in such a way\nWhat you did to me\nCan't explain\n(How you kiss me) how you kiss me\n(When you kiss me) kiss me\n(Feel so good) baby\, it feel s so good\n(How you hold me) hold me\, babe\n(When you hold me) hold me\n( Love's so good) love's so good\nWell\, there are so many ways (so many thi ngs I do)\nI gotta make me feel just with your\nSweet\, sweet love (I love you\, yes\, I do)\nSweet\, sweet love (wanna spend my life with you)\nSwe et\, sweet love (I need you every day)\nSweet\, sweet love (you're in my h eart to stay)\nSweet\, sweet love (ooh)\nLove is wrong in many ways\nStood the test of time\nStronger everyday\nNo one loves me like you do\nI found in you love so true\, oh\n(How you touch me) touch me\, babe\n(When you t ouch me) touch me\n(Feel so good) oh\, it feels so good\n(There's no other ) there's no other\n(Other lover) other lover\n(You're so good) you're so good\nYou're all I ever wanted (all that I'll ever need)\nI'll ever need w ith your\nSweet\, sweet love (I love you\, yes I do\, oh)\nSweet\, sweet l ove (I wanna be right here with you\, baby)\nSweet\, sweet love (you're in my heart to stay)\nSweet\, sweet love (I love you more every day)\nSweet\ , sweet love (oh\, yeah)\nOh\, oh (oh\, oh) oh\, oh\nOoh\nYou're all I eve r wanted (all that I ever need)\nAll that I ever need\nWith your (sweet\, sweet love) oh\nBaby\, baby (sweet\, sweet love)\nI need your sweet\, swee t love\, oh\, yeah (sweet\, sweet love)\nOh\, all that I ever need (sweet\ , sweet love)\nYou're all I ever need\, yeah (sweet\, sweet love)\nYou're my baby (oh)\, sweet\, sweet love (yeah)\nYou're my honey (oh)\, sweet\, s weet love (yeah)\nYou're my baby (hey)\, sweet\, sweet love\nSweet\, sweet love (oh\, baby your)\nYou're my baby (my baby)\, sweet\, sweet love (my sweet)\nYou're my honey (honey\, yeah)\, sweet\, sweet love\nYou're my bab y (oh\, oh)\, sweet\, sweet love\nSweet\, sweet love (oh\, yeah)\nOh-oh\, oh-oh\, oh-oh-oh (ooh)\nSweet\, sweet love (sweet baby)\nOh-oh-oh-oh (swee t\, sweet love)\nSweet love\, ooh\, ooh\nSweet\, sweet love (oh\, yeah\, y ou sweet little\, boy)\nYou're my baby\, sweet\, sweet love\n\n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Congratulations\n\n\n\n Lyrics from  Vesta Williams\,Tena Clark\,Gary Prim\n\n\n\n Saw an old friend on the street\nShe said today's your wedding\nMy heart stopped\nThe tears dropped \nSaw my whole life pass me by\nI had to see you\, baby\nI never ran so fa st before\nI rushed inside the chapel door\nYou were waitin' all alone\nYo u turned around and heard me call\nCongratulations\nI thought it would hav e been me\nStandin' here with you\nCongratulations\nI hope you're happy\n' Cause as long as I can breathe\nYou'll always be the one for me\, oh-oh\nW hy was I the last to know?\nI thought that we were special\nMy soul shakes \nMy heart breaks\nAs I turn and walk away\nI can't believe it's over\nWe really never said goodbye\nThought we'd give it one more try\nFelt our lov e was here to stay\nAnd now today's your wedding day\nCongratulations\nI t hought it would have been me\nStandin' here with you\nCongratulations\nI h ope you're happy\n'Cause as long as I can breathe\nYou'll always be the on e for me\, oh\nCongratulations\, baby\nI hope she makes you happy\nBecause you didn't even say goodbye\, and hey\nI thought it should have been me\, oh-oh-oh\nBut as long as I can breathe\nYou'll always be the one for me\n 'Cause as long as I can breathe\nYou'll always be the one for me\nCongratu lations\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Once Bitten Twice Shy\n\n\n\n Lyrics from Vesta Williams\, Dean Paul Gant\n\n\n\n You r name is Dracula\nYou suck the life right out of me\nWith a thing called reality\nWhy didn't I fall for you?\nYou took my space and made it yours\n Now my mind's playin' tricks on me\nWho's to blame?\nI'm havin' a dream\, I can't wake up\nThat's what I keep tellin' myself\, oho\, oho\nThere's no shame\nIn losin' control\, I'm crackin' up\nThat's what the doctors keep tellin' me\nI keep screamin'\nOnce bitten\, twice shy\nKeep one eye open f or the bad guy\nI keep screamin'\nOnce bitten\, twice shy\nAnd be suspicio us when the moon's high\nYour eyes are cold as ice\nI feel them starin' st raight through me\nWith a hint of intensity\nWhy must it be this way?\nWhy am I here tied up today?\nIn a room full of past [Incomprehensible]\nWho' s to blame?\nI'm havin' a dream\, I can't wake up\nThat's what I keep tell in' myself\, oho\, oho\nThere's no shame\nIn losin' control\, I'm crackin' up\nThat's what the doctors keep tellin' me\nI keep screamin'\nOnce bitte n\, twice shy\nKeep one eye open for the bad guy\nI keep screamin'\nOnce b itten\, twice shy\nAnd be suspicious when the moon's high\, high\, high\, yeah\nWho's to blame?\nI'm havin' a dream\, I can't wake up\nThat's what I keep tellin' myself\, oho\, oho\nThere's no shame\nIn losin' control\, I' m crackin' up\nThat's what the doctors keep tellin' me\nI keep screamin'\n Once bitten\, twice shy\nKeep one eye open for the bad guy\nI keep screami n'\nOnce bitten\, twice shy\nAnd be suspicious when the moon's high\, high \nOnce bitten\, twice shy\nOnce bitten\, twice shy\n(You took my love and made me crazy)\n(Now everything's so hazy)\nOnce bitten\, twice shy\n(Ooh\ , you know you're no good\, you're no good\, no)\nOnce bitten\, twice shy\ nOnce bitten\, twice shy\n(Your name is Dracula)\n(You chained me up and l ocked my gate to you)\n\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n She is the background voice on Anita Baker's \"You Bring Me Joy\"\, it was not written by someon e black.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Ride of Your Life\n\n Written by Mario Van Pee bles\n\n Performed by Vesta Williams (as Vesta)\n\n A&\;R [Direction] – Kevin Evans\n\n Engineer [Assistant] – Rajean DeGrandmaison\n\n Mix ed By – Charlie Watts (2)\n\n Producer – Mario Van Peebles\n\n Produce r [Additional] – Phillip Biff Vincent*\n\n Producer\, Keyboards – Mich ael Eckert\n\n\n\n Lyrics\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I WILL HAVE TO MAKE IT MYSELF \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251201 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Ballad of the Harp Weaver by Edna St. Vincent Millay publish ed in Vanity Fair June 1922 DTSTAMP:20251019T004010Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:547-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n THE BALLAD OF THE HARP-WEAVER\n\n\n\n by  Edna St. Vinc ent Millay\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \"Son\,\" said my mother\,\n\n When I was kn ee-high\,\n\n \"You've need of clothes to cover you\,\n\n And not a rag ha ve I.\n\n\n\n \"There's nothing in the house\n\n To make a boy breeches\,\ n\n Nor shears to cut a cloth with\n\n Nor thread to take stitches.\n\n\n\ n \"There's nothing in the house\n\n But a loaf-end of rye\,\n\n And a har p with a woman's head\n\n Nobody will buy\,\"\n\n And she began to cry.\n\ n\n\n That was in the early fall.\n\n When came the late fall\,\n\n \"Son\ ,\" she said\, \"the sight of you\n\n Makes your mother's blood crawl\,— \n\n\n\n \"Little skinny shoulder-blades\n\n Sticking through your clothes !\n\n And where you'll get a jacket from\n\n God above knows.\n\n\n\n \"It 's lucky for me\, lad\,\n\n Your daddy's in the ground\,\n\n And can't see the way I let\n\n His son go around!\"\n\n And she made a queer sound.\n\ n\n\n That was in the late fall.\n\n When the winter came\,\n\n I'd not a pair of breeches\n\n Nor a shirt to my name.\n\n\n\n I couldn't go to scho ol\,\n\n Or out of doors to play.\n\n And all the other little boys\n\n Pa ssed our way.\n\n\n\n \"Son\,\" said my mother\,\n\n \"Come\, climb into m y lap\,\n\n And I'll chafe your little bones\n\n While you take a nap.\"\n \n\n\n And\, oh\, but we were silly\n\n For half an hour or more\,\n\n Me with my long legs\n\n Dragging on the floor\,\n\n\n\n A-rock-rock-rocking\ n\n To a mother-goose rhyme!\n\n Oh\, but we were happy\n\n For half an ho ur's time!\n\n\n\n But there was I\, a great boy\,\n\n And what would folk s say\n\n To hear my mother singing me\n\n To sleep all day\,\n\n In such a daft way?\n\n\n\n Men say the winter\n\n Was bad that year\;\n\n Fuel wa s scarce\,\n\n And food was dear.\n\n\n\n A wind with a wolf's head\n\n Ho wled about our door\,\n\n And we burned up the chairs\n\n And sat upon the floor.\n\n\n\n All that was left us\n\n Was a chair we couldn't break\,\n \n And the harp with a woman's head\n\n Nobody would take\,\n\n For song o r pity's sake.\n\n\n\n The night before Christmas\n\n I cried with the col d\,\n\n I cried myself to sleep\n\n Like a two-year-old.\n\n\n\n And in th e deep night\n\n I felt my mother rise\,\n\n And stare down upon me\n\n Wi th love in her eyes.\n\n\n\n I saw my mother sitting\n\n On the one good c hair\,\n\n A light falling on her\n\n From I couldn't tell where\,\n\n\n\n Looking nineteen\,\n\n And not a day older\,\n\n And the harp with a woma n's head\n\n Leaned against her shoulder.\n\n\n\n Her thin fingers\, movin g\n\n In the thin\, tall strings\,\n\n Were weav-weav-weaving\n\n Wonderfu l things.\n\n\n\n Many bright threads\,\n\n From where I couldn't see\,\n\ n Were running through the harp-strings\n\n Rapidly\,\n\n\n\n And gold thr eads whistling\n\n Through my mother's hand.\n\n I saw the web grow\,\n\n And the pattern expand.\n\n\n\n She wove a child's jacket\,\n\n And when i t was done\n\n She laid it on the floor\n\n And wove another one.\n\n\n\n She wove a red cloak\n\n So regal to see\,\n\n \"She's made it for a king' s son\,\"\n\n I said\, \"and not for me.\"\n\n But I knew it was for me.\n \n\n\n She wove a pair of breeches\n\n Quicker than that!\n\n She wove a p air of boots\n\n And a little cocked hat.\n\n\n\n She wove a pair of mitte ns\,\n\n She wove a little blouse\,\n\n She wove all night\n\n In the stil l\, cold house.\n\n\n\n She sang as she worked\,\n\n And the harp-strings spoke\;\n\n Her voice never faltered\,\n\n And the thread never broke.\n\n And when I awoke\,—\n\n\n\n There sat my mother\n\n With the harp again st her shoulder\n\n Looking nineteen\n\n And not a day older\,\n\n\n\n A s mile about her lips\,\n\n And a light about her head\,\n\n And her hands i n the harp-strings\n\n Frozen dead.\n\n\n\n And piled up beside her\n\n An d toppling to the skies\,\n\n Were the clothes of a king's son\,\n\n Just my size.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n https://en.wikisource.org/wik i/The_Harp-Weaver/The_Ballad_of_the_Harp-Weaver\n\n\n\n LARGER REFERRAL\n\ n\n\n https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Harp-Weaver\n\n\n\n BACKSTORY\n\n \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edna_St._Vincent_Millay\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\ n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250601 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Jerry Lawson's birthday DTSTAMP:20251018T235303Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:546-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n He was born 1940 December 1st\n\n\n\n To learn more click the link to the Black Games Elite post or just read on\n\n\n\n https://aa lbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/341-jerry-lawson-82nd-2022-december-1st/\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n CONTENT\n\n\n\n Jerry Lawson\n\n\n\n Play and Create a game\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n https://g.co/doodle/pky25gd\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n VIDEOS OFT a company he founded\n\n\n\n https://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/ articles/videosoft/videosoft.html\n\n\n\n from the website above\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ATARI VCS/2600 VideoSoft\n\n\n\n By Daryl Lytle\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n Back on December 15th\, 2010\, Scott Stilphen announced that not only had 6 \"long lost\" Atari VCS prototype games by VideoSoft been found\, bu t that 100 boxed copies of each were available to buy! In February of 2011 \, I wrote up reviews of all 6 games (which can be found on this site - li nks are at the end).\n\n \n\n Of the three non-3D games\, they claim that two of the three - Atom Smasher and S.A.C. Alert - are complete. I conside r all three of three non-3D games complete. The game\, Depth Charge was su pposed to also have a second level that was similar to Sega's Sub Scan 3D (minus the 3D). This game can stand on it's own as a completed game. You c an make your own decision on this. All three non 3D games were fun. I enjo yed them and I will continue to play these games for quite some time.\n\n \n\n As far as the 3D games are concerned\, first and foremost Genesis 3D is a great little game. The 3D was decent\, and it was in the same game pl ay vein as Tempest. This is the only 3D game that was also considered comp leted. It has a decent replay value because it was challenging and fast-pa ced. It was a lot of fun to play the Ghost Attack 3D game. I really wish t his title would have been completed back in the early 80s\, but I'm really happy the fact that the people who put this together went ahead and made a menu driven 16K multi-cart and put all three levels on it for the sake o f completeness. That made it worth the hefty price tag it carries. There i s a little replay value with this title. The third 3D title\, Havoc 3D\, w ould have been a great title had it been completed. Unfortunately\, due to the fact that you can only play this game once and have to reset it\, it doesn't give it a lot of replay value. The 3D games are a really cool set of games/demos. They are more of a novelty set of games\, something differ ent and fresh.\n\n \n\n As for the 3D effect\, I find that if the room is dark and I sit approx 7 feet away from my 36-inch regular CRT TV\, I can s ee the 3D effect. There are so many things that can play a factor in 'seei ng' the 3D effect\, (or messing it up)\, so it's not going to work for eve ryone. Many things play a factor in getting the 3D effect to work properly . People's vision (or lack of)\, the type of screen you are using (CRT\, L ED\, LCD\, Plasma\, Monitor)\, brightness and contrast of the screen you a re using\, and the brightness in the room. It took me a while testing diff erent things to get this right with the different games\, so I don't think of this as something that will work for everyone. Some people are going t o try one title\, it may not work for them and they are going to throw the game in their collection and say\, \"The 3D sucked\; it didn't work\". Th at's to be expected. If you aren't willing to try some different combinati ons\, you may have issues. In all fairness\, this isn't exactly Disney/Pix ar's REAL3D that you see in the theatres these days. It was tricky to see the red/blue 3D in the theaters back in the 70s and 80s (I remember Creatu re from the Black Lagoon this way) but it did work.\n\n \n\n Still\, I bel ieve these titles are absolutely worthy of any collector's shelf. I know t hat they are steeper in price individually as opposed to other titles\, but purchased as a set\, not so much. If you buy as a set it's the equiva lence to buying a $35.00 game and paying $5.00 priority shipping\, per tit le\, (or $40.00 a title shipped)\, which isn't that bad. If your budget do esn't allow for it\, grab one or two or wait for the ROM images to be rele ased.\n\n \n\n I would like to thank all of the people who made these titl es available to the public possible after being buried for all these years . A find of this magnitude (c’mon SIX titles!!!) is a once in a lifetime thing. Especially considering that the people who programmed these titles \, Jerry Lawson to name one\, is a classic gaming icon and did a lot of go od things for the CG community. These were the first 2600 titles to attemp t a blue/red 3D effect and for the technology they were working with at th e time\, this isn't all that bad. As for the question of\, \"Why didn't th ey finish the other titles before they released them?\" Who wouldn't have wanted that to happen? But that isn't as practical as it sounds\, that alo ne could have driven the cost up even more and taken years more to release . I can appreciate it being released as the original author left it at the time. As far as I’m concerned\, we got four completed games and two pla yable demos. I\, for one\, am a very happy camper. I purchased two complet e sets (#5 and #99) - one for the collection and one to play.\n\n \n\n Che ck out my reviews of each game\, and 2600 Connection's video footage of ea ch:\n\n\n\n 3-D Genesis\n\n 3-D Ghost Attack\n\n 3-D Havoc\n\n Atom Smashe r\n\n Depth Charge\n\n S.A.C. Alert\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https:// www.ataricompendium.com/archives/reviews/3d_genesis.html\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n 3-D Genesis\n\n\n\n By Daryl Lytle\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I really like this game. It is a bit of a Tempest clone. Set in the future\, the planet is o verrun with huge insects that fight for survival. The enemy has been pushe d into a deep crevice. You are the scorpion like warrior that must battle the oncoming waves of insects and destroy anything that crawls out of the deep void to threaten the planet. The select button will chose a one or tw o player game and fire to start. You control the scorpion like creature mu ch like the 'crawler' in Tempest. You must fire upon any insects trying to crawl out of the void. Moving left or right will maneuver your player aro und the outer edge of the playfield. Enemies will climb up the walls towar ds you. If one reaches the outer rim\, it can knock a section of the outsi de wall away. If you move over that area\, you will fall into the pit! The re is also a creature that's called a 'rail snail' that shows as a yellow section of grid of the outer rim of the void and is constantly moving arou nd the edges that you must contend with. It will kill you if you touch it\ , but for a brief second prior to it changing direction\, it will emit a c ouple tones and you can touch it\, which gives you the ability to either: fill in one of the sections of the grid that the other insects tore away a nd bridge the gap so you can continue along the rail\, or it will give you a one-time immunity from being touched by another one of the insects. Use it however you feel is best. You get three lives per game\, and when you touch another creature\, you fall into the void and lose one life. You wil l also lose a life if you accidentally fall into the void due to the 'rail snail' removing a section of the grid. There are 8 waves to defeat\, and after each wave\, your wave counter will flash letting you know that you c leared that wave. After the 8 waves\, the game continues on\, though your counter never goes higher than 8 waves. The game is a lot of fun\, it's pr etty frantic. The 3D effect is pretty good\, the enemies scale from small to big the closer they get to help give it the needed effect. Good sounds accompany the action. It has decent graphics and great game play. This def initely has a good replay value.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n \n\n\n https://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/reviews/3d_ghost_attack.ht ml\n\n\n\n 3-D Ghost Attack\n\n\n\n By Daryl Lytle\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This is one of the games that I would have absolutely loved to have been compl eted and released back in the day. This game was going to be a three level game. Thankfully\, all three levels of this game were included in one car t making it a 16k cart for completeness. A nice menu allows you to cycle b etween each level you want to play. You can start on level one and work yo ur way to the third level or play each level individually. The first level you start outside the haunted mansion. There are ghosts moving back and f orth throughout the mansion and you have to shoot them all to move on to l evel two. As you press the fire button\, it will flash where you are shoot ing on the screen so you know where you are aiming. Moving the joystick ei ght ways will move your gun sites around the screen. The second level take s place in the graveyard where once again\, you must shoot all the ‘nast ies’ and then proceed to level three. Level three you are staring into t he portal to the ghost world. You must shoot as many specters as possible before they escape into our world. This pretty much ends your tour of the haunted mansion. Ok 3D effects\, the third level ghosts scale towards you to help the effect. Cool sound effects\, cool graphics\, ok replay value a nd ok game play.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n https://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/reviews/3d_havoc.html\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 3-D Havoc\n\n\n\n By Daryl Lytle\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This would have a very promising 3D asteroids type game. Looking out of the ship's fr ont view\, you are to blast as many asteroids as possible. Once you've bla sted approximately a dozen asteroids\, you will start the next level of th e game. This is a first-person perspective scenario that looks like you ar e flying through a tunnel. Once you blast a few more asteroids\, you get a \"HERO\" screen with a bunch of shipmates jumping up and down congratulat ing you on your successful mission. Unfortunately this is where the game p retty much ends. You start the tunnel level. You can shoot\, but you can n ot hit anything. The difficulty switch will cycle your shields either on o r off. The manual states that the gauges at the bottom of the screen unfor tunately do not work. There is a Fuel\, GRed\, and Shield gauge. There als o looks like at the top of the screen some type of scanner that doesn't ap pear to work. It cycles colors as the game continues\, but this may have b een something that just wasn't completed in the game. This could have just been there for special effects. Not sure. The 3D in this game is alright\ , some scaling. Decent sounds and graphics\, game play is ok and has a lit tle replay value.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n https://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/reviews/atom_smasher.html\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Atom Smasher\n\n\n\n By Daryl Lytle\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Now this is a unique game.  This is a one or two player game.  You can opt f or: player vs. player\, player vs. computer\, and even computer vs. comput er!  In the Atomic Arena\, you and a partner take on unstable atomic part icles.  The object of the game is to blast these atomic particles out of the arena's moving doors and score points.  If you get touched by one of these\, you start to 'melt'.  You can melt several times before it's ‘A dios Muchachos’.  If you succeed moving the particles out of the arena\ , you move to the next level of the game.  In this arena you will simply struggle to survive.  You can only move vertically along the walls of the arena to avoid contact with the atoms.  Whatever your condition is from the first level will carry on to this level.  This adds a little more cha llenge to this level.  Hang in as long as you can to make it past this le vel.  Left hand players rejoice! At the main screen you have the option o f picking 'right-handed or left-handed player' via the Difficulty switches which is very unique\, I believe a 2600 first.  Said and done\, this is a fun and challenging game.  It has good game play\, good sound and graph ics and a good replay value.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n https://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/reviews/depth_charge.html\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Depth Charge\n\n\n\n By Daryl Lytle\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This is a solid sea battle style game. The point of view is through the glass of a periscope. Once again\, the controls are tight\, and handle pretty go od. The Select button will cycle through game variations. You can choose b etween guided or fixed torpedoes and the number of torpedoes you start wit h can be 30\, 60\, or 90. You control the crosshairs of the targeting sigh t. When you press fire\, the crosshairs appear\, when you release the fire button your torpedoes tear through the water towards the enemy. Blow up t he ships and you score points. Some ships are fast\, others are slow. Some will sink with one correctly placed shot and some take multiple shots to destroy. You have a status section at the bottom of the screen that displa ys information showing when you are Ready\, Armed\, Fired and Loading. Hol ding the fire button down will cycle between your score and how many torpe does you have left. Once you are depleted of your torpedoes\, \"00\" will be displayed and you will hear a loud tone. That is when the game comes to an end. At this point even though you can control your crosshairs\, you a re simply waiting for the next cruiser to finish you off. The game will al so end if you are blown out of the water\, displayed by a beautiful explos ion\, and then it's\, \"You sank my battleship!\" Good game play\, sound i s good\, graphics are good and has a decent replay value.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.ataricompendium.com/archives/r eviews/sac_alert.html\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n S.A.C. Alert\n\n\n\n By Daryl Lyt le\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n This is a cool arcade flight combat game. Handles re ally good\, controls are tight. It’s a one player game. Hit select switc h to cycle between land and sea missions. Once you take off\, you take on both ground and air targets. You can see your bullets rip into enemies. Pl anes not only come straight at you\, but also zoom across the screen. Ther e are ground targets you can engage\, tanks\, factories\, ground to air mi ssiles\, ships\, etc. When you see the landing strip on the ground (or in the sea missions\, a carrier) head right for it and you can land to refuel and repair your jet. The next level begins over new territory\, terrain c hanges and ground enemies can fire at you. You have a small HUD that shows Altitude\, Score and Fuel. Warning lights on the left and right side of t he HUD flash and sound off when necessary\, i.e. if you get too low in alt itude and might crash\, or if your fuel gets below 20 units or when your j et takes on too much damage. Enemy hits show on your cockpit glass. If you crash\, the screen turns black and you can replay that mission\, if you h ave remaining jets. When the game ends\, you get ranked\, \"Crew\, Pilot\, Ace\" and rated \"0-9\". Good game play\, sound is above par\, graphics a re solid. Has a good replay value.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n INTERVIEW WITH LAWSON\n\n\n\n  https://www.vintagecomputing.com/ index.php/archives/545/vcg-interview-jerry-lawson-black-video-game-pioneer \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n VC&\;G Interview: Jerry Lawson\, Black Video Game Pioneer\n\nFebruary 24th\, 2009 by Benj Edwards\n\nIn late 2006\, I recei ved a large collection of vintage computer magazines from a friend. For da ys I sat on my office floor and thumbed through nearly every issue\, findi ng page after page of priceless historical information. One day\, while ra pidly flipping through a 1983 issue of Popular Computing\, I encountered a photo that stopped me dead in my tracks.\n\nThere I discovered\, among a story on a new computer business\, a picture of a black man. It might seem crazy\, but after reading through hundreds of issues of dozens of publica tions spanning four decades\, it was the first time I had ever seen a phot ograph of a black professional in a computer magazine. Frankly\, it shocke d me — not because a black man was there\, but because I had never noti ced his absence.\n\nThat discovery sent my mind spinning with questions\, chiefly among them: Why are there so few African-Americans in the electron ics industry? Honestly\, I didn’t know any black engineers or scientists to ask. I tried to track down the man in the magazine\, but all my leads ended up nowhere. I’d have to put the matter aside and wait for another opportunity to address the issue.\n\nFast forward a few months later\, and I’m standing on the showroom floor of Vintage Computer Festival 9.0. A s I spend a few minutes thumbing through a vendor’s large array of cartr idges for sale\, I hear a voice from behind.\n\n“Do you have any Videoso ft cartridges? Color Bar Generator?”\n\nI turn around and notice a larg e black man in a wheelchair\, hair graying at the edges. He seems out of p lace. I scan the crowd — yep\, he’s the only black guy here. Fascina ting — what’s his story? Instead of bumbling through a few impromptu q uestions and making a fool out of myself\, I decide to research his identi ty first.\n\nAs it turns out\, the man I encountered that day was Gerald A. Lawson (aka Jerry)\, co-creator of the world’s first cartridge-based video game system\, the Fairchild Channel F. Naturally\, he was attendin g VCF 9 to give a presentation called\, “The Story of the Fairchild Chan nel F Video Game System.”\n\nJerry Lawson (L) discusses Fairchild Channe l F schematics at VCF 9.0.\n\nBeing one of only two black men (I know of) deeply involved in the industry’s earliest days\, Jerry Lawson is a stan dout figure in video game and computer history. He’s a self-taught elect ronics genius who\, with incredible talents\, audacity\, and strong guidan ce from his parents\, managed to end up at the top of his profession despi te the cultural tides flowing against him.\n\nGrowing up in America\, a la nd of endless diversity\, we tend to fall into certain cultural grooves — well-defined paths of cultural history — that both unite and separat e us. We get comfortable with those grooves and use them as the basis of o ur assumptions about behavior within certain age groups\, socioeconomic cl asses\, and ethnicities. Despite this ingrained cultural momentum\, there are still people who manage to skip those grooves and chart their own cour se\, ignoring any conventions that get in their way. Jerry Lawson is one o f them\, and he’s got an important story to tell.\n\nThis interview took place on February 6th\, 2009 over the telephone.\n\n[Update (04/11/2011):  Jerry Lawson passed away on April 9\, 2011 at the age of 70.]\n\n[Upda te (2015): Read my in-depth account of the creation of the Fairchild Cha nnel F and the invention of the video game cartridge at FastCompany.]\n\n [Update (2017): If you enjoy this interview\, check out my interview wit h Ed Smith\, another early black video game pioneer.]\n\nEarly Life\n\nBen j Edwards: For history’s sake\, when and where were you born?\n\nJerry Lawson: December 1940. I grew up in Queens\, New York City.\n\nBE: How d id you get into electronics?\n\nJL: I started very young. I went to schoo l\, but I was an amateur radio guy when I was thirteen. I was always a sci ence guy since I was a little kid.\n\nBE: Do you have a family history in engineering?\n\nJL: I found out only later in life that my grandfather w as a physicist. Because he was black\, the only place he could work was th e post office. He was a postmaster. He went to some school in the south — I don’t know which one it was.\n\nBE: Did your father do anything l ike that too?\n\nJL: My father was a brilliant man\, but he was a longsho reman. He could work three days a week on the docks and make as much money as most people did in six days. He was a science bug — he used to read everything about science.\n\nBE: He probably encouraged you to do experim enting when you were a kid.\n\nJL: Yeah\, he did. In fact\, some of the t oys I had as a child were quite unusual. Kids in the neighborhood would co me see my toys\, because my dad would spend a lot of time giving me someth ing\, like the Irish Mail. The Irish Mail was a hand car that operated on the ground. It was all metal\, and you could sit on it. You steered it wi th your feet\, and it had a bar in the front\, and the bar with a handle. You’d crank it\, and it would give you forward or backward motivation\, depending on which way you start with it.\n\nI was probably the only kid i n the neighborhood who knew how to operate it\, so I used to leave it out all night sometimes. I’d find it down the block\, but no one would take it\, because they didn’t know how to operate it.\n\nBE: So that must ha ve been in the 1940s then.\n\nJL: It was in the ’40s\, yep. I also had an amateur radio station in the housing project in Jamaica\, New York. Wha t happened was\, I tried to get my license\, and the management wouldn’t sign for it. And it was really hard for me as a kid to research literatur e and the public things I could find\, but I found that it said if you liv ed in a federal housing project\, you didn’t need their permission. Hot diggity! So I got my license\, passed the test\, and I built a station in my room. I had an antenna hanging out the window.\n\nI also made walkie-ta lkies\; I used to sell those. I did a bunch of things as a kid. My first l ove started out as chemistry\, and then I ended up switching over to elect ronics\, and I continued on and even got a first class commercial license — in fact\, I worked a little while in a radio station as chief engineer .\n\nBE: Did you attend college?\n\nJL: Yes\, I did. I went to Queens Co llege\, and I also went to CCNY.\n\nBE: Did you study electronics there?\ n\nJL: Before I had studied electronics\, I had pretty much been into ele ctronics all the way around. When I was 16 or 17 years old\, I used to rep air TVs at different shops I would go to. I did what they called “dealer ship work.” And I used to also fix TVs by making house calls. It was a p lace that had opened up in Jamaica\, New York that was called Lafayette Ra dio. And I used to spend almost every Saturday at Lafayette Radio. Lafayet te Radio was a huge electronics store. They had tube testers\, capacitors\ , resistors — you name it\, they had it. And my mother used to give me a small allowance\, and I’d go down and buy parts.\n\nThere were two othe r electronics stores — one was called Peerless\, and the other was calle d Norman Radio. My budget would say\, well\, I could only afford a capacit or this week\, so I’d buy a capacitor. I could only afford a socket\, an d I’d save my money up for a socket. How ’bout a tube? And I ended up building my transmitter from scratch.\n\nFirst Computer Encounters\n\nBE:  What was the first computer you ever used?\n\nJL: The first computer I ever used was known as the [Forest?] 65L. It was the world’s first milit arized\, solid-state computer. It was designed by ITT\, and I went to a tr aining school for it. Built inside a mountain. They were like the push-but ton war machines you see in the movies. Remember the movie Fail-Safe? That was that machine.\n\nBE: What brought you to see that computer?\n\nJL:  I was working for Federal Electric — ITT. Federal Electric was their div ision of field sales people that went around different parts of the world and did developments and projects. I was hired by them originally to go to Newfoundland to put a radar set back online — to finish the installatio n and adapt the modifications so it could be put online and used. My first love was imagery and radar. Computers were simple stuff.\n\nBE: To fast forward a little bit\, before I get off your history with computers\, do y ou remember the first personal computer you ever used in the 1970s?\n\nJL:  Two of them — that is funny\, because I had an Altair. And before that \, I also had — Fairchild gave me a DEC PDP-8. I put the PDP-8 back int o work. In fact\, the PDP-8 is a story in itself — that ended up running a school in my garage. With the PDP-8\, I had two tape units\, the tape c ontroller\, a high speed tape reader\, and all the maintenance boards and backup spares for it. My garage became a service depot.\n\nDEC said I had the only operating PDP-8 — straight 8 — west of the Mississippi. And t hey asked me if they could run classes in my garage on it. As a result — my PDP-8 had a control unit on it called the TC01. And the TC01 didn’t have all the maintenance updates on it. They said it would cost about ten grand to update it\, and I said\, “Well heck\, I’m not paying ten gr and.” So they said — for them having the class in my garage with the g uys there — they would do the updates for free. They did. The whole upda tes for free.\n\nMy neighbor came over one day\, and the funniest part of it was he walked in\, and — it was not just the computer\, it was the co mputer and all the stuff that went with it. The unit itself was about\, oh \, eight feet by six feet\, and about three feet deep. And it sat in my ga rage\, and I even ran a special power line to it. And he walked in one day and he saw it running\, and it was running what we called the exercise ro utine\, which was a maintenance routine I used to run on it. And he saw th ese tape reels running back and forth\, and lights going on and off\, and he looked at me and he said\, “Is that what I think it is?” I said\, “What do you think it is?” He said\, “Is that a computer?”\n\ n“Yeah.”\n\nAnd he said\, “You got a computer in your garage?” \n\n“Yeah.”\n\n“Did you get one when you bought the house?” [laugh s]\n\nBE: What year was that?\n\nJL: That was ’72\, I think — ’7 0 or ’72\, around in there.\n\nBE: That’s really early for having a c omputer in your garage.\n\nJL: I had an ASR-33 teletype machine too. Th at was the output for it — printer input and output. And my daughter use d to love to come in run this one little thing — she knew how to hook th e speaker next to the data line\, and it played a song. She would go load that in — and she new how to load it — so it would play that song.\n\ nBE: Did you play any games on it?\n\nJL: Lunar Lander. It was all text\ , no graphics.\n\nEarly Electronics Career\n\nBE: Take me through your ea rly electronics career. Besides ITT\, where else did you work before Fairc hild?\n\nJL: I worked for Grumman Aircraft\, Federal Electric\, and PRD E lectronics.\n\nPRD Electronics was the job I went to when I left New York. That was a computerized test facility called [VAS]\, and we used the 1218 UNIVAC Computer. I went to programming school for the 1218\, and we wrote software for it\, and we all wrote a part of it which was a compiler that we called VTRAN.\n\nI used to hate programming. It was a drudgery I reall y hated to do. We had two methods of writing programs: one was what we cal led “ELP\,” an English language program\, then we had to convert it to a thing called VTRAN\, which was our own language we developed.\n\nI work ed for PRD about 4-5 years\, I guess\, and I transferred to a company call ed Kaiser Electronics\, which was out in Palo Alto.\n\nBE: When you were working for Grumman and those places\, was that on the East Coast\, or had you already gone to California?\n\nJL: On the East Coast. When I went to Kaiser\, that was the first time I went west.\n\nBE: What what was Kaise r’s main business?\n\nJL: Kaiser was doing military electronics — par ticularly the displays. They did the head’s up display (HUD) for the A-6 A Grumman aircraft. They also did the VDI\, which was the vertical display indicator. The HUD was a system that shined on the pilot’s canopy so yo u wouldn’t have to watch the turn-bank indicator\, speed\, what have you . The vertical display indicator was something that was on the dash\, whic h was a scope tube\, like a TV image\, that let you see — for instance\, if you had plotted a course\, whether you were turning away from that cou rse\, whether you were on course\, whether you were flying upside down. Li ttle goodies. What the ground texture was. The HUD would just show you ins truments. The VDI would show you the ground return — in other words\, if it was jungle you were flying over\, or mountains.\n\nAfter Kaiser\, I ki cked around the semiconductor industry for a while. I was in between marke ting\, and I was also in engineering applications.\n\nBE: How were the jo b prospects for a black engineer in those days? Did your race affect that in any way?\n\nJL: Oh yeah\, it always did. It could be both a plus and a minus. Where it could be a plus is that\, in some regard\, you got a lot of\, shall we say\, eyes watching you. And as a result\, if you did good\, you did twice as good\, ’cause you got instant notoriety about it.\n\nC onsumer Electronics and Fairchild\n\nBE: Do you think that people in the aerospace industry and military defense had a lot of influence in computer development? Was there any cross-pollination between folks like you who w ent from working on military electronics to consumer products?\n\nJL: Yea h\, because what happened was we got to use technologies that were not\, s hall we say\, consumer-type stuff. But yet\, we were on the leading edge o f pushing the state of the art so that things would become more practical. For example: there was no [DB-9] connector for high volume use in compute rs. The DB-9 connector originally cost an arm and a leg. But when the comp uter and consumer industries came along\, it became plastic\, it became hi gher volume\, and it became a reality to use. Before then\, it was used in military all the time. That was a cross-over kind of a thing.\n\nThe semi conductor content got cheaper and cheaper because of volume. The military components were not that high volume\, but they were very stressful\, they were high-reliability parts. But however\, you take that same part and us e it over and over again in a consumer product — you know\, one of the t hings I used to always say\, I said\, “Military was good training for co nsumer\, because consumer products actually have to be stronger than milit ary.” Everybody said\, “Get out of here!” I said\, “Nah. Just thin k about it for a second.” I said\, “If I did a military product\, I ca n train the individual how to use it. If he decides to tamper\, destroy\, or mal-use it\, I can bring him up to charges\, can’t I? I can insist th at he reads\, that he’s trained in how to turn and turn it off\, right ?” They said\, “Yeah.” “Try that with a consumer.”\n\nBE: Inste ad they hit it with a hammer and dunk it in the toilet\, right?\n\nJL: Ye ah\, I’ll tell you what happened. The first year we put out the Fairchil d video game\, I made the mistake of going to work the day after Christmas . The day after Christmas in the consumer business is called “Hell day .” Why it’s called “Hell day” is because that is when everything c omes back to the store\, and the person couldn’t use it.\n\nSo I start g etting calls — there’s nobody in the factory except the guard and me . I’m there in the plant to take care of some paperwork. He starts trans ferring calls to me. They had one guy call me\, and he wanted to know wher e the batteries go. I said\, “There is no batteries.” He took the thin g apart looking for a battery in there!\n\nOne guy called up and said\, “Dog urine hurt the game.” The dog lifted his leg and peed on it!\n\nA nd one of the things that really cracked me up is that I was starting to g et really jaded by answering the phone\, right? One woman called up\, real ly irate\, and she said\, “My game hums! Do you know why?” And I s aid\, “‘Cause it doesn’t know the words\, lady.”\n\nBE: Good answ er.\n\nJL: And even the guard said\, “All right\, Jerry\, I won’t giv e you any more calls.” I said\, “That’s a good idea.” [laughs]\n\ nBE: That’s a great story. So how did you end up at Fairchild?\n\nJL:  Fairchild was gonna start this brand new thing called freelance engineerin g. They wanted somebody to be able to go around and help customers with de signs. I was available\, and they knew I was an apps guy. They gave me two opportunities. They said\, “You could either go inside in our linear de partment and work there in marketing\, or you can go in the field. If you go in the field\, it’s a brand new deal\; you’re the first guy.” And I said\, “Yeah\, I’ll take that.”\n\nWhen I was there for the first six months\, I said\, “You know\, there’s a problem here. The problem is that Fairchild is not known for being helpful for customers. And I’v e got an image to overcome: how the heck to break down that image they hav e.”\n\nMe and a sales guy got together\, and I wrote a proposal called “Take Fairchild to the Customer.” And the heart of that proposal was a 28-foot van — mobile home. And I wanted to tear it down and put in pro duct demos\, literature — a laboratory on wheels. They went for it. I we nt to a company called Formetrix\, and they built the inside of it\, and i t looked like something from James Bond. It even had a rear-projection scr een that came out of the ceiling. It turned out to be an overwhelming succ ess\, so they came back to me and said\, “We want you to do it again.” \n\nSo I went to FMC\, and they had a brand new coach they built. The rear -end was the Bradley differential for a tank. It had a 485 cubic inch engi ne\, a 50-gallon gas tank\, four air condition units\, and it drove like a car. The wheels were in tandem\, next to each other. That thing was somet hin’ else.\n\nOne time\, my daughter wanted to ride in it. I said\, “O h\, ok.” So I got her in it. The guys at FMC said they had just tried ou t a brand new cruise control for it. I said\, “Oh that’s nice.” They said\, “Let us know how you like it.”\n\nI got out on the highway and pushed the cruise control\; it took over. I went to disengage\, and it wo uldn’t disengage. And I went\, “Oh my god.” I slammed on the brakes\ , and it was riding the brakes. I came around\, and there was a truck and some cars parked at a light\, and I was trying to figure out which one of these vehicles I’m going to rear end\, right? Just then\, I reached down and pulled all the wiring out. It cut the engine off.\n\nI brought it bac k in a slow walk and said\, “You clowns.” And I told them what happene d and they said\, “Oh my God\, it didn’t disengage?” I said\, “N o.”\n\nThere at the Beginning — Atari and Apple\n\nBE: What year did you start working at Fairchild?\n\nJL: 1970\, I think.\n\nBE: What were Fairchild’s main products at the time?\n\nJL: Oh\, they had everything: memories\, linear devices. They had LED devices. They were a full-line se miconductor place. They even had a microprocessor they brought out called the F8\, which is the one I incorporated into the game. Two kinds of games : I made a game in my garage called Demolition Derby in oh\, ’73? ’7 2?\n\nBE: When you did that\, had you seen Pong or any other games?\n\n JL: When they started to work on Pong\, there was a gentleman — I went in to see him one time\, and he worked at a company called “Syzygy.” The guy’s name was Alan Alcorn. The name of the two other guys were Nol an Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was the beginning of Atari.\n\nBE: Did yo u know those guys?\n\nJL: Yep\, very well.\n\nBE: Did you help them with any projects?\n\nJL: Not really — I tried to sell Alan a character gen erator. He showed me the way he was doing it\, which was much simpler\, an d I said\, “Heck\, there’s no sense using a character generator.” ‘Cause what he did was he decoded segments to make block lettering\, num bering for score keeping [in Pong]. He really didn’t have need for anyt hing else that was character oriented.\n\nThe first Pong machine was put into a beer joint. And Alan told me the first week that thing was in\, co ins were flopping out on the floor. The game I did using the F8 microproce ssor was put into a pizza parlor down in a place called Campbell\, Califor nia. And one of the features that it had was a coin jiggle function.\n\nOn e of the things the [Atari] guys were telling me was that kids were coming in with piezoelectric shockers and shocking the machine to give them free games. Or they would take in a wire and jiggle it down in the coin slot. So he said he would love to have a way where that wouldn’t happen anymor e.\n\nWhat we did was take coins — it goes through the coin device and i t hits a microswitch. It stays on the microswitch for a certain period of time before it drops down\, right? We’d time that point of time that it would go through the microswitch\, so the microprocessor on board would kn ow whether it was a coin or somebody jiggling the switch. That was the way we had a coin defeat for it.\n\nBE: Was that for your Demolition Derby? \n\nJL: Yeah\, that was for mine.\n\nBE: When was the first time you saw a video game? Was it Pong\, or…\n\nJL: No\, it was Nolan’s game ca lled Computer Space. It looked like a big phone. And there was some talk about a game that was kept at the student union at Stanford — I never di d see that one\, though. It used a computer and some graphics functions — way too expensive to be in a consumer product.\n\nBE: It’s really i nteresting that you were there at the birth of arcade games.\n\nJL: I was also there when two gentlemen showed up — we used to have a computer cl ub [The Homebrew Computer Club –ed.] that was in the Stanford Linear Accelerator auditorium once a month. And the two guys that used to come t here all the time with their little toys — one guy was named Steve Jobs\ , and the other guy was named Steve Wozniak. There during the beginning.\ n\nBE: Did you attend any of those computer club meetings?\n\nJL: Yes\, I went to most of them.\n\nBE: Did you talk to Steve Jobs and Wozniak bac k then?\n\nJL: I was not impressed with them — either one\, in fact. Wh at happened was that when I had the video game division [at Fairchild]\, a nd I was the chief engineer\, I interviewed Steve Wozniak for a job to wor k for us. Well\, my guys were kind of impressed with him at first\, and I said I wasn’t. Never had been.\n\n[Update (2021): In a 2017 interview o n my Culture of Tech podcast\, Steve Wozniak denied that he ever applied to work at Fairchild and has no memory of ever meeting Lawson or seeing h im at the Homebrew Computer Club. This doesn’t mean it didn’t happen\, but Wozniak doesn’t remember it.]\n\nBE: Were you the only black guy a t those computer club meetings?\n\nJL: Yes.\n\nBE: Did you know any othe r black people in that field at the time?\n\nJL: There was a guy who was around that time\, and he’s dead now. His name was Ron Jones. He ended u p pushing all kinds of side things. He was around. He was not in the indus try\, per se.\n\nBE: So you said you weren’t impressed with Wozniak at the time. What was your impression of Jobs and Wozniak back then?\n\nJL:  Jobs was kind of a sparkplug. He was more business — he was more “push -this\, push-that” kind of a thing. I think that his motivation is still there\, the same way. He’s the sparkplug of Apple\, right? Wozniak neve r was. But the guy who was the real hero that never gets mentioned is a gu y named Mike Markkula. Mike Markkula was a multi-millionaire. In fact\, he was one of the original founders of Intel. He also built Incline Villag e in Tahoe\, and he ran Apple for a while.\n\nBE: Mike gave them their f irst investment — their first seed money\, right?\n\nJL: Yes\, he did. He is filthy rich\, but a good guy. Really good guy.\n\nBE: What position were you interviewing Steve Wozniak for at Fairchild?\n\nJL: Just as an engineer. We had a bunch of engineers that were already there.\n\nBE: Wha t year was that?\n\nJL: It was about the same time\, ’73 or ’74.\n\n BE: So he just didn’t get the job or you picked somebody else? Is that what happened?\n\nJL: He was going to go away to — [his HP division] wa s moving to Corvallis [Oregon]. He was working for HP\, and he was looking for a job to get away from HP. That was before they even started Apple up . Before they were on their own.\n\nVideo Games at Fairchild\n\nBE: Lets get back to your career at Fairchild. How did the whole video game thing a t Fairchild get started?\n\nJL: I did my home coin-op game first in my ga rage. Fairchild found out about it — in fact\, it was a big controversy that I had done that. And then\, very quietly\, they asked me if I wanted to do it for them. Then they told me that they had this contracted with th is company called Alpex\, and they wanted me to work with the Alpex people \, because they had done a game which used the Intel 8080. They wanted to switch it over to the F8\, so I had to go work with these two other engine ering guys and switch the software to how the F8 worked. So\, I had a secr et assignment\; even the boss that I worked for wasn’t to know what I wa s doing.\n\nI was directly reporting to a vice president at Fairchild\, wi th a budget. I just got on an airplane when I wanted to go to Connecticut and talk to these people\, and I wouldn’t have to report to my boss. And this went on\, and finally\, we decided\, “Hey\, the prototype looks li ke it’s going to be worth something. Let’s go do something.” I had t o bring it from this proof of performance to reality — something that yo u could manufacture. Also\, a division had to be made\, so I was working w ith a marketing guy named Gene Landrum\, and sat down and wrote a business plan for building video games.\n\nI was the number one employee. My set t ask was to work on the prototype and hire a bunch of people to work with m e\, most of which came from Fairchild. In fact\, the big man asked me\, “Where did these people come from?” And I said\, “They were working here all the time.” He said\, “They were?” I said\, “Mmm hmm. All they needed was a reason to do something.” I just went out and talked to them.\n\nSo\, it was an interesting thing\, because the memory we used — 4K RAMS\, dynamic RAMs — I would use four of them per system. Now\, in making the pricing up\, I used to go to MOS (even though Fairchild also made these things)\, and they were throwing out the ones that weren’t p assing their tests. And I would go up there — literally with a little re d wagon and two cardboard boxes — and I would load them up with RAMs: th ey’re throw outs\, they’re garbage. And I’d take them to an outside test lab\, and I got 90% yield out of their garbage can.\n\nSo I was sitti ng there going\, “Great\, it’s for free!” [MOS] heard I was doing it for free\, so they got in there and decided\, “Uh uh\, you’re going t o pay for them!” I said\, “You dirty rats.”\n\nSo the vice president I was working for\, Greg\, gets involved and said “I’ll take care of the negotiations over this.” He got in there and did a great negotiator job of two dollars per unit that we had to pay.\n\nWell\, one day I got ti red of taking my engineers off their work to prove that the parts MOS were delivering were garbage\, or no good. I was getting really pissed at them . Finally\, one day they couldn’t deliver anything. So I asked for permi ssion to go to Intel\, who made the part too. One day\, I walked into the vice presidents office and I said\, “Want to see something?” He said \, “What?” “Look at this. You are paying two dollars a piece for gar bage that we can’t get. I can get them from Intel for a dollar ten.”\n \nHe said\, “What?”\n\n“Uh huh\, you’re being taken.”\n\nBE: An d he was the one who did the negotiating\, right?\n\nJL: Yeah\, right. I kept trying to tell him when I was in the ranks\, “You know\, our pricin g is way too high. That’s one of the reasons why we get our lunch taken out. You don’t know how to make product cheap enough.”\n\nThe First Ca rtridge System\n\nBE: When you started that video game prototype at Fairc hild\, was it always intended to be a home product\, like a video game con sole for a TV set?\n\nJL: It was always intended to be a home game.\n\nBE : Had you seen the Magnavox Odyssey?\n\nJL: Yep.\n\nBE: And you perhaps wanted to do a product like that?\n\nJL: Nope.\n\nThe Odyssey was a joke \, as far as I’m concerned. It was the plug board thing — it had no in telligence. And it had overlays\, remember? They put things the screen to play different games. What was paramount to our system was to have cartrid ges. There was a mechanism that allowed you to put the cartridges in witho ut destroying the semiconductors. The mechanical guys that worked on that did a very good job.\n\nBE: So that was a big issue at the time: plugging and unplugging a cartridge might…\n\nJL: …cause an explosion on the semiconductor device — break down static charge\, that kind of thing. We were afraid — we didn’t have statistics on multiple insertion and wha t it would do\, and how we would do it\, because it wasn’t done. I mean\ , think about it: nobody had the capability of plugging in memory devices in mass quantity like in a consumer product. Nobody.\n\nBE: It was comple tely new then\, wasn’t it?\n\nJL: Yeah. We had no idea what was going t o happen. And then we also had to stop putting [the chips] in packages. We had to put them on little boards where we’d put the chip down and we’ d bond the chip to the board\, then put a glob top on it. The package was a waste.\n\nBE: Whose idea was it to do the cartridge in the first place? \n\nJL: I always had that idea. We had a lot of people that did.\n\n[Edit or’s Note – 2/21/2015 – We now know that the initial idea for a vid eo game cartridge actually came from two men\, Wallace Kirschner and Lawr ence Haskel\, who worked for Alpex Computer Corporation and licensed the t echnology to Fairchild.\n\nAfter Fairchild licensed Alpex’s technology\, a team that included Ron Smith\, Nick Talesfore\, and Jerry Lawson refin ed the technology and turned it into a practical\, commercial product.\n\n So the credit for the first cartridge should technically be shared among t hese five men — and not by Lawson alone\, as many have misinterpreted si nce I published this interview in 2009.]\n\nBE: It seems that — from wh at I know\, RCA released a system that had cartridges around the same time as the Channel F.\n\nJL: RCA was behind us. In fact\, it was a piece of junk. I’ll tell you a funny story about RCA. We introduced our game\, an d RCA followed six months later in the Winter CES show. At that show in Ch icago\, RCA presented their Studio II. I had an invitation that said\, “ Hey\, the RCA game is here.” Well\, I wanted to see that. It was being s hown in a suite. And I went up to the suite and walked in. They had their game there\, and this guy looks up and sees me with a Fairchild badge on\, right? And I’m 6’6″\, 280 pounds. This clown charged me and tried t o wrestle me to the ground. And I banged him on his head! I said\, “If y ou want me to leave\, I’ll leave!”\n\nAnd what I saw was a laugh. They had this game — it was in black and white. It looked horrible. So\, the next day\, he came down to our booth. And when he came down to our booth\ , I jumped the counter\, heading for him. And he started running! [laughs] I said\, “Ah\, there he goes.”\n\nBE: You said that Channel F had al ready been released\, right?\n\nJL: Oh yeah. Well\, the biggest part of g etting the Channel F released was getting through the FCC. That was a job in itself. It was the first microprocessor device of any nature to go thro ugh FCC testing. And I — believe me\, I got some gray hairs over that. T he FCC was really hard on us. And Al Alcorn came down — it was funny whe n they first saw it — Al\, Nolan\, and the [Atari] president then — at the Chicago show. They came down to me and said\, “Lawson! It’s cool\ , except the only thing we dig is the hand controllers.” And Al told me\ , he said\, “Oh\, boy\, that little noise you’ve got there on the scre en\, boy\, you’re really going to have to get rid of that — you’re g onna have trouble with the FCC.”\n\nAnd I had to leave the show early to go to the FCC. Because the FCC — oh boy — it cost\, at that point\, a thousand dollars\, and the spec they had was one microvolt per meter of s purious signals you couldn’t overcome. And if you had any more than that \, you were in trouble.\n\nThe problem was — Texas Instruments\, years l ater\, couldn’t make that spec. So guess what they did? They lobbied and got them to change the law. I was so mad\, I couldn’t see straight. ‘ Cause that was what keeping a lot of people from jumping in the market\, i ncluding RCA. They couldn’t pass the test.\n\nWe had to put the whole mo therboard in aluminum. We had to make an aluminum case for it\, we had to have bypasses on every lead going in and out of the thing. It was unreal\, some of the stuff we had to do. We had a metal chute that went over the c artridge adapter to keep radiation in. Each time we made a cartridge\, the FCC wanted to see it\, and it had to be tested.\n\nBE: Wow. Every single cartridge?\n\nJL: Every single cartridge.\n\nBE: By ’77\, when the At ari VCS was released\, do you think they had to get their cartridges teste d\, or was that out the window?\n\nJL: I’m sure they had to.\n\nBE: Wh at did you think about the Atari VCS when it came out?\n\nJL: The VCS had some good features in it\, but by and large\, as far as for graphical dis play\, it was substandard. They had ways of doing things with — you use things known as sprite technology. They could make high resolution charact ers\, but they couldn’t put a bunch of stuff on the screen at the same t ime. So\, as a result — one of the games they tried to compete with us\, and they did a very bad job\, was Blackjack. Blackjack looked horrible .\n\nOf course\, they did things that tried to offset that. You can’t bl ame them for that\, right? And their first game had a beautiful sky and ob jects running across it. It looked very cool. But it really wasn’t anyth ing. But it was the best graphic looks that the game [could do]. Ours look ed like little players\, and things\, you know.\n\nBE: How much total RAM did the Channel F have in it?\n\nJL: 16K [kilobits]\n\n[Editor’s Note: As it turns out\, the Channel F had 64 bytes of main RAM and 16 kilobits (or 2 kilobytes of video RAM). During the interview\, I misunderstood that Lawson was speaking of kilobits and not kilobytes.]\n\nBE: Really? 16K? That was a lot at the time. I think the VCS had 128 bytes of RAM.\n\nJL : See\, our memory was used as a screen. The screen was memory. What you were doing when you played our game\, you were actually putting symbology in a memory\, and that memory was being displayed on screen. What you look ed at when you were looking at the screen was an array of memory so-many-b its high by so-many-bits deep. In fact\, when we had to move a character a round\, we had a thing we called “self-erasing characters.” Now what w e would do is black out a square — say eight by eight — and around tha t eight by eight would be a border or background\, and the symbology was p ut inside of it. So every time it moved\, it would automatically erase the previous position. If we hadn’t done it that way — like we tried to f ill it in — each time we moved it\, we’d have to erase the last positi on it was in. If we did it that way\, we ended up having objects that look like they’re jumping around and flashing.\n\nA lot of little things we used to do were different. Our hand controllers were special. They were an alog equivalent\, but they were digital. And somebody asked how we did tha t. Well\, we would drive the objects. In other words\, when the [switch] c losed in a direction\, we would send the object in that direction. We’d send it fast\, then we’d slow it down\, so that it would have a kind of a hysteresis curve. We needed to do that for the human factors of using th e hand controllers.\n\nThe hand controllers had a lot of — nobody has du plicated one yet. They’ve used them in other things. The hand controller had eight positions: up\, down\, left\, right\, forward and backward left and right. Eight positions.\n\nBE: Do you know the history of Atari’s joystick and how it compared to the Fairchild hand controller? Who made th e first home console joystick? Was it Fairchild?\n\nJL: Yep. Ours was dig ital. Digital meaning there was no fixed position. If you had a regular ha nd controller that is run with resistors or pots\, you move the hand contr oller and leave it alone\, that object would say\, “OK\, I’m staying i n that position.” Ours would not. In other words\, every time you’d mo ve it\, and let go\, it would stay where it is However\, the hand controll er would be back in neutral position again. So you had to get used to that operation\, knowing how to operate it.\n\nBE: Who designed the controlle r for the Channel F?\n\nJL: I designed the prototype. The original contro ller was designed by a guy named Ron Smith. Mechanical guy. The case of th e controller was designed by a guy named Nicholas Talesfore\, an industria l designer.\n\nBE: What was your official title or position when you were working on the Channel F?\n\nJL: I was director of engineering and marke ting for Fairchild’s video game division. I was in charge of all the new cartridges\, how they were made\, and what the games were.\n\nBE: What w as the atmosphere of your office like at Fairchild when you were developin g the Channel F?\n\nJL: Well\, I was always considered to be a renegade. I mean\, I had many people from Fairchild’s operation up in Mountain Vie w come down and tell me how to operate a business. I’d send ’em home w ith their tails wagging.\n\nOne of the things I told them\, very simply\, was that some of the biggest problems any company has in development is ha ving all these tin gods that come down and tell you how to do things. And one of the reasons they can never develop anything is because of these tin gods. It’s not enough to say\, “Here’s a business. Run this busin ess.” You have all these people telling you what you should do and how y ou should do it.\n\nIBM was smart enough that when they developed the PC\, they put a whole group in Boca Raton and left them alone. If they hadn’ t\, they wouldn’t ever had a PC. It would have come out looking like a m achine that needed to be in somebody’s office\, not somebody’s home.\n \nBE: Did you have any contact with Ralph Baer or Magnavox in the ’70 s?\n\nJL: I met Ralph Baer maybe 6-7 years ago — maybe more than that — at the Classic Gaming Expo. I met him there on a panel. In fact\, wha t they did is that I was a big secret a lot of times\, because people didn ’t know who I was. And what happened was they had me come there introduc ed by this Japanese guy that was with the group\, and he said\, “You guy s want to meet the person who started the cartridge business? Jerry\, stan d up.” And I stood up and joined them on the dais.\n\nIn fact\, there’ s one cartridge that’s really funny. The guy paid — we did a cartridge when I had my own company called Videosoft. It was a 2600 cartridge — i t was a color bar generator.\n\nBE: Like a TV test pattern kind of thing? \n\nJL: Yep. At the vintage show in San Jose\, a guy comes up to me and h e says\, “Hey! You’re Videosoft\, aren’t ya? You got any more of tho se Color Bar cartridges?” I said\, “Nah\, I haven’t got one.” He f ound one at the show\, and he came up to me and said\, “Autograph this f or me?” I said\, “Yeah\, sure.” He got a silver ink pen\, and I auto graphed it. The next day\, I was giving a talk from the dais\, and another guy said\, “Hey\, did you autograph a cartridge yesterday?” I said\ , “Yeah. Why\, did you buy it?” He said\, “Yeah. Since it’s got yo ur autograph on it\, I paid $500 for it.” Holy Jesus\, right? My wife wa s sitting there going\, “You got any more of those?” [laughs]\n\nBE:  Yeah\, that would be a good business to get into.\n\nImpact of Race on Pro fession\n\nBE: Did you experience any difficulties in your career because of your race?\n\nJL: Oh yeah. There’s two ways I used to experience it . First of all\, I’m a big guy. So not too many people confronted me fac e to face. But I’ve had instances where I’ve walked into places where they didn’t know I was black.\n\nI’ll give you an example. Not that th e guy was a racist\, but a guy named John Ellis\, who was one of the Atari people. In about\, oh\, 1996 or 7\, a law firm in Texas hired me as a con sultant. And they were going to sue Nintendo. And they told me they want t o bring John Ellis in too\, ’cause he’s from Atari\, and I go\, “Oh\ , fine.” They said\, “You know John Ellis?” I said\, “I know Joh n — very well.”\n\nSo the next day\, John comes in the room\, sees me\ , and says\, “Hi Jerry.” And he looked kind of strange. I said\, “ What’s the matter with you\, John?” He said\, “I’ve always known y ou as Jerry Lawson. I didn’t know you were the same video game guy Jerry Lawson — I didn’t know you were black!” And I said\, “Huh?” H e said\, “Al Alcorn\, Nolan Bushnell\, talked about you — all of them talked about you — Joe Keenan. But they never said you were black.” I said\, “Well\, I am.” He said\, “I don’t know whether they did you a favor or not.” I said\, “Well I don’t go around telling everybo dy I’m black.” I just do my job\, you know?\n\nWith some people\, it ’s become an issue. I’ve had people look at me with total shock. Parti cularly if they hear my voice\, because they think that all black people h ave a voice that sounds a certain way\, and they know it. And I sit there and go\, “Oh yeah? Well\, sorry\, I don’t.”\n\nBE: Why do you thi nk there’s so few black people working in engineering?\n\nJL: I think w hat has happened is that engineering is a thing that has never really appe aled to black people directly\, because they’ve never had…\n\nYou see\ , I grew up in a different environment. My mother — she invented busing . When she went to a school\, she would interview the teachers\, the princ ipal\, and if they didn’t pass her test\, I didn’t go to that school. She once put me in a school called P.S. 50. Turns out Mario Cuomo went to that school. He was a little older than me\, and I didn’t know him at th e school\, but he went to the same school. My mother — now get this no w — the school was 99% white. My mother was the president of the PTA.\n\ nWe didn’t even live in the neighborhood. I had a phony address\, I used to go halfway cross town to go to school and to go home. I went up ’til the 6th grade\, then I went to a junior high school that turned out to be really bad. I was in there for six months\, and my mother came to school one day. She talked to the principal\, talked to the teacher\, and walked in the classroom. She nodded toward me\, and I go\, “Oh well\, that’ s it.” And I wasn’t going to stay in that school. So I went to another school.\n\nBut one of the things she had long since said was that the bla ck kids were put under an aroma of “you can’t do something.” It was something that she felt would not help them with any kind of inspiration t o go anywhere. When I was in P.S. 50\, I had a teacher in the first grade — and I’ll never forget that — her name was Ms. Guble. I had a pict ure of George Washington Carver on the wall next to my desk. And she sai d\, “This could be you.” I mean\, I can still remember that picture\, still remember where it was.\n\nNow\, the point I’m getting at is\, this kind of influence is what led me to feel\, “I want to be a scientist. I want to be something.” Now\, I went to another black school and talked to kids who were in the neighborhood\, and they did nothing like this. The y never went out anywhere\, they never knew anything. The kids I worked wi th\, and went around with\, and played with — they did different things\ , right? They were looking through microscopes. They’d go outside in a f ield — do something\, right? These would not do that. All they did was p lay baseball or football.\n\nSo I think my mother had a lot to do with it. She was very effective at the board of education\, because she would tell them off. She’d tell ’em\, “Look. My school needs this\, and th at’s it.” She’d long since found that the squeaky wheel gets all the oil. She was president of the PTA for about four years.\n\nBE: And that was in the 1950s?\n\nJL: The ’50s\, yeah. So anyhow\, my mother was ver y key to that. In fact\, she died a very young age. It was the part of the eulogy I gave her about some of the things she had accomplished.\n\nI rem ember as a kid\, I wanted to get an atomic energy kit. Gilbert Hall of Sci ence made one. It had a Geiger counter and a Wilson cloud chamber. A hundr ed bucks. My mother tried to get it for me for Christmas\, but finally sat down and told me\, “I can’t do it.” I understood. But she got me a radio receiver\, a [Hallicrafters] S-38. That’s what got me into amateur radio. From then on\, I built converters\, antennas\, everything else. Th at is the heart of what I started out with.\n\nI ran into one black man wh o did help me\, and his name was Cy Mays. Cy worked as a motorman in the s ubway system in New York. He was a buddy of one of the guys who ran Norman Radio. And I used to come in to Norman Radio and — I used to have a red baseball cap — and they said\, “Red Cap’s here!” And he came out and saw me and said\, “Why you getting all this stuff?” I said\, “I just got my license.”\n\n“You just got your ham license?”\n\n“ Yeah.”\n\n“Have you got a car or some kind of conveyance\, or someth ing?”\n\nI said\, “Yeah\, my dad does.”\n\nHe said\, “Ok\, here’ s my address. Come around this Sunday.”\n\nHe had more stuff in his gara ge and his basement…it was like going through a goodie land. “Take wha tever you need.”\n\nBE: What advice would you give to young black men o r women who might be considering a career in science or engineering?\n\nJL : First of all\, to get them to consider it in the first place. That’s key. Even considering the thing. They need to understand that they’re in a land by themselves. Don’t look for your buddies to be helpful\, becau se they won’t be. You’ve gotta step away from the crowd and go do your own thing. You find a ground\, cover it\, it’s brand new\, you’re on your own — you’re an explorer. That’s about what it’s going to be like. Explore new vistas\, new avenues\, new ways — not relying on every one else’s way to tell you which way to go\, and how to go\, and what yo u should be doing.\n\nYou’ll find some people out there that will help y ou. And they’re not always black\, of course. They’re white. ‘Cause when you start to get involved in certain practices and certain things you want to do\, you’re colorless.\n\nIn fact\, one of the funny stories ab out is that for years\, people heard me on the radio\, and didn’t know I was black. In fact\, Hal — a good friend of mine who just passed way — took me to what is called a “bunny hunt.” A bunny hunt is where a guy has a hidden transmitter\, and you try to locate where he is. The peop le trying to find him all go to a diner and talk to each other\; they call it “having an eyeball.” Well\, I went with Hal one time\, and a bunch of guys all over the diner came down to see him. One of them says\, “He y Hal\, how ya doing?” And Hal says\, “Oh\, fine.” And he said\, “ How are you\, sir?” And I said\, “I’m fine.” And he said\, “What did you say?”\n\n“I said ‘I’m fine.'”\n\nAnd he goes\, “Jerry ? K2SPG Jerry?” He went running down the end of the bar and came back wi th everybody. And they all went\, “You’re Jerry?” I was like\, “Ye ah. And this one girl\, she said\, “Oh God\, I had a picture of you — I was in love with your voice.”\n\n“Oh\, you were?”\n\n“And I had a picture of you\, and you were about 5’7″\, blond hair and blue eye s.”\n\n“God\, you’re way off on that\, aren’t you?” [laughs]\n\ nBE: So I guess you have to be brave in some ways to be a black scientist . It seems like it would go against the tide of culture.\n\nJL: The point of anything by yourself is that you have to be brave to go by yourself\, don’t you? You’re not going to get reinforcement from peers\, right? E xcept for the new peers you find as a result of going through this.\n\nI m ean\, normally\, the guys on the corner that go play basketball are not go nna be your buddies in that. And that’s how they mark things too. It’s unfortunate that they all think they’re gonna be members of the NBA. I try to tell them\, “be.”\n\nBE: How many kids do you have?\n\nJL: Tw o: a son and a daughter.\n\nBE: Did any of them follow you into engineeri ng or something similar?\n\nJL: One is now following me\, and that’s in teresting. He went through Morehouse in Atlanta and graduated as a program mer. Computer science. Just recently\, he decided to go back\, because he wanted to do electronics. He’s taking his master’s and he’s becoming an A-student at Georgia Tech. And he calls me — he does microprocessor work now and all these things that really appeal to him\, and he says\, “You know\, pop? I like this stuff\, and my wife calls me Little Jerry .”\n\nMy daughter — she was an athlete that kinda blew it. ‘Cause wh at happened\, is when she was ready to go to the Olympics\, she got all fo uled up. The girl that she was racing against ended up in the Olympics — but she beat ’em all. She has three track &\; field records at the h igh school she went to\; they still stand.\n\nBE: How do you feel about O bama as President?\n\nJL: Let me put it this way: Obama was the best qual ified guy\, period\, of any color. Obama was put in that office position n ot because he’s black\, but because he’s the best qualified\, and a lo t of white people put him there. If it wasn’t for the white people\, he wouldn’t have been there\, because the black people can’t put you in t hat office. If anybody thinks that because he’s black\, he’s going to turn around and make everything black\, he’s not. It’s not his way. An d his heritage is half-white anyhow\, right? So it’s not even that — e ven if he was an all-black man\, he still wouldn’t do that.\n\nObama is needed because\, all of a sudden — I think — it’s amazing how much p eople have changed their attitude about what’s going on in this world. I’m hoping that he can straighten out a lot of things with his attitude . Because one of the things that the government does\, or the man at the t op does\, is to set the tone of what’s gonna happen.\n\nLawson Today\n\n BE: What are you up to these days?\n\nJL: Well\, I used to work with Sta nford in the mentor program\, working with kids to put two satellites in s pace already. Other than that\, I do laser work\, and I’m getting ready to write my book.\n\nBE: Have you played any video games since the 1970s? Have you kept up with video games?\n\nJL: I don’t play video games tha t often\; I really don’t. First of all\, most of the games that are out now — I’m appalled by them. They’re all scenario games considered wi th shooting somebody and killing somebody. To me\, a game should be someth ing like a skill you should develop — if you play this game\, you walk a way with something of value. That’s what a game is to me.\n\nIf I was to say intelligence was a weight and say\, “Let’s take intelligence\, we igh it in pounds\, and say it’s a hundred pounds.” The way we measure intelligence today is if I have a hundred pounds of intelligence and I get from you 99 pounds\, you’re considered bright\, right? My feeling is wh at “bright” is or what “genius” is — if I give you a hundred pou nds of intelligence\, you give me back 120. That means you take what you ’ve taken and gone beyond that. You’ve learned other things\, correlat ed the pieces\, and put it together and added something to it. That’s ge nius.\n\nAnd what’s wrong many times today is that we don’t have any b asis for teaching that correctly. See\, we’re taking away from childre n’s imaginations. Video games today — they don’t even want to see an ything unless the graphics are completely high-toned\, right? It used to b e\, “Oh\, well that looks like a car.” Well\, looks like one\, you kno w? No\, they want to see a car\, they want to see wheel spinners on it\, a nd all the detail — infinite detail.\n\nBE: How has being a designer on the Fairchild Channel F changed your life?\n\nJL: It made me go into bus iness for myself — I can tell you that. Videosoft I had for a couple yea rs\, I started that. We did cartridges for the 2600 and for Milton Bradley .\n\nAlso\, I remember one time I was in Las Vegas\, walking down the stri p. A black kid came up to me and said\, “Are you Jerry Lawson?” I sa id\, “Yeah.” He said\, “Thanks.” And shook my hand and walked on p ast me. And I thought I may have inspired him.\n\nMy son actually nominate d me as a fellow at the Computer Museum. Whether or not it goes anywhere\ , I don’t know. But I feel that I’ve got to get that done. I’m writi ng my story because I think that when kids go there — black kids — and they see somebody black\, it will make a big difference on them.\n\n—\ n[ Update: 2/21/2015 – For more on the creation of the Channel F\, r ead “The Untold Story of the Invention of the Game Cartridge” by Benj Edwards at FastCompany.com. ]\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n VIDEOSOFT GAME LISTING\ n\n\n\n https://gdri.smspower.org/wiki/index.php/Video_Soft\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n Video Soft (incorporated on May 7\, 1982\, as Video-Soft\, Inc.) was based in Santa Clara\, California\, and founded and headed by Jerry Lawso n [1]\, previously the chief engineer behind the Fairchild Channel F syst em. The company made games for Amiga\, CBS\, Mattel\, Milton Bradley\, and Parker Brothers. [2]\n\n\n\n Research Methods: Online resources\n\n\n\n 2600\n\n\n\n 3-D Genesis (unreleased) (Amiga) [Dan McElroy\, Jerry Lawso n]\n\n\n\n 3-D Ghost Attack (unreleased) (Amiga) [Mike Glass\, Jerry Laws on]\n\n\n\n 3-D Havoc (unreleased) (Amiga) [Frank Ellis\, Jerry Lawson]\n \n\n\n Atom Smasher (unreleased) (Video Soft)\n\n\n\n Color Bar Generator Cart (US Publisher: Video Soft) [Dan McElroy\, Jerry Lawson]\n\n\n\n Dep th Charge (unreleased) (Amiga) [Jerry Lawson]\n\n\n\n Golf Diagnostic [D an McElroy\, Jerry Lawson]\n\n\n\n For use with an interactive golf simula tor\n\n\n\n In Search of the Golden Skull (unreleased) (Mattel) [Jerry La wson] [3]\n\n\n\n Mogul Maniac (US Publisher: Amiga)\n\n\n\n Off Your Ro cker (unreleased) (Amiga) [Frank Ellis]\n\n\n\n S.A.C. Alert (unreleased ) (Amiga) [Jerry Lawson]\n\n\n\n Scavenger Hunt (unreleased) (Amiga) [Mik e Glass]\n\n\n\n Spitfire Attack (US/CA Publisher: Milton Bradley) [Frank Ellis] [4]\n\n\n\n Strafe (unreleased) (Amiga)\n\n\n\n Surf's Up (unre leased) (Amiga) [Chip Curry]\n\n\n\n Atari 8-bit\n\n\n\n Mogul Maniac (US Publisher: Romox)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n secondary listing\n\n https://www.di gitpress.com/video-game-guide/?title=&\;dollars_loose=&\;dollars_com plete=&\;scarcity_loose=&\;scarcity_complete=&\;Designer=&\;De veloper=Video+Soft&\;Mfr=&\;PartNo=&\;Released=&\;mode=Search\ n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251201 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Reborn Sep 13th - Halloween theme!  DTSTAMP:20251018T225117Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:545-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Reborn Sep 13th - Halloween theme! \n\n https://alledria hurt.com/\n\n\n\n Referral\n\n https://sistaghoul.substack.com/p/oh-so-i-g uess-were-doing-a-thing\n\n\n\n My Comment\n\n Perfect timing before Hallo ween! It's alive! Now you know what it feels like to be god!:) haha\n\n No w it will demand you make a bride of website:) \n\n first congrats on ten years and counting:) I will share on my newsletter\n\n consider getting a website with AALBC if you ever have problems with your current setup\n\n https://aalbc.com/authors/\n\n and here is how it is set up \n\n https:// aalbc.com/advertise/authorprofiles.php\n\n\n\n referral\n\n https://sistag houl.substack.com/p/oh-so-i-guess-were-doing-a-thing/comment/160778693\n\n \n\n \n Oh\, so I guess we're doing a thing... by Sista Ghoul\n \n\n \n In which the new website is unveiled\n \n Read on Substack\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250913 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:OCTOBER Favorite films + musics DTSTAMP:20250924T031841Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:521-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Someone asked me to give old horror films i recommend and are my favorites... I added some good to watch\, what say you?\n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n Recommended\n\n The Seventh Victim- 1943- you may enjoy this one\ , I saw this for the first time recently. The end is electric\, a human ho rror or is it?:) I want to know if you think this is more frightening than rosemary's baby?\n\n The Uninvited 1944- I despise that the studios deman ded the ending where the ghost is revealed. it is the films only blemish.  \n\n The Innocents 1961- the chiaroscuro in this film is brilliant\, plu s the story shows how human horror can be. A favorite of mine but i recomm end.\n\n The Haunting 1963 - the chiaroscuro in this film\, is brilliant\n \n Kuroneko 1968 - it is romantic so may be one of the best to watch with a partner. the beginning is so straight forward\n\n The Wicker Man- 1973- you thought you could come her\, a man alone\, and defeat all of us\, bril liant. Outside the introductory message which is temporally brilliant\, th e ego of the cop guy\,... in the wicker man it is the arrogance to go into horror\, that is the trick for me. Alot of other films these people didn' t know or didn't want but here\, this guy walks into it. the horror of hum an arrogance. A Favorite of mine but I recommend.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Favor ite\n\n The Body Snatcher 1945- I love the plot\, every character has valu e\, every character has purpose\, for me it is great writing\, and I love when human horror blends with supernatural horror.\n\n Isle of the Dead 19 45 - again Luten\, The premise is great\, the reason why they are in this little island works\, and the rest is magic. \n\n Invasion of the Body Sn atcher 1956- it is campy but classic. it is a classic example of how a wri ter can make a premise that doesn't require non humans creature to still h ave creatures. \n\n The Masque of the Red Death 1964 - I just love hearin g Vincent Price say\, I was a worshipper of Satan when no one else was:) c lassic. \n\n The Devil Rides Out 1968 - thank god... yes\, it is he you m ust thank:) the fact that a character actually explains the supernatural i n this film.is underrated. yes\, the special effects are campy.\n\n Night of the Living Dead 1969 - the action of this horror film\, great use\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n Not Recommended or Favorite but a good watch\n\n Phantom of the opera 1925 - You need to see the restored version\, i got to see it on turner classic movies. The end is great cause it exposes the truth\, that many miss\, the phantom's real weapon isn't his face but his manipulation of the emotions of the masses\, their fear. \n\n Cat People 1942- Val Le wton. As a fellow writer you may be interested to know that Luten wrote ma ny screenplays that were never made. He produced cat people but he was inv olved in all his films production.\n\n The Picture of Dorian Grey 1945- if you are fan of angela lansbury \, cry:) \n\n Night of the hunter 1955 hu man horror\, very tense\, not spooky\, a crime drama but man\n\n House on Haunted Hill 1959 - the plot is lovely\n\n Carnival of SOuls 1962- great h ook at the end\n\n Onibaba 1964- great blend of magic and human horror\n\n Second 1966- another human horror\, it is human society that is the horro r\, nice angular cinematography\n\n Event Horizon 1997 liberate tuteme:) h ahaah not old\, but consider it\, love the premise. \n\n The autopsy of J ane Doe 2016- not old\, not black and white\, but the use of light and sha dow and the premise\, considering who the criminal really is:)  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Referral\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurr ay/?status=2745&\;type=status\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n EMBED CODE\n\n \n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MUSIC\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v =v64doSu--T4 \n\n\n\n Video\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n TIME INDEX\n\n\n\n Vocalise i s sung by Sumi Jo and performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic\n\n\n\n Complete Film Score Presentation\n\n1 - Main Title 0:00:00\n2 - Dean Cor so 0:03:31\n3 - The Balkan Press Building 0:04:22\n4 - First Perusal 0:04: 55\n5 - The Girl At The Library 0:05:29\n6 - Menace 0:08:14\n7 - Liana Tel fer 0:08:40\n8 - Liana Berserk 0:11:38\n9 - Corso Finds Bernie 0:12:03\n10 - Corso's Flight 0:14:30\n11 - Second Perusal 0:15:14\n12 - The Girl On T he Train 0:15:41\n13 - Interrupted Solo 0:17:22\n14 - Comparing Editions 0 :17:42\n15 - Road Menace 0:19:41\n16 - Girl In The Hotel Lobby 0:20:26\n17 - Telephone Call 0:22:08\n18 - Fargas' Body 0:22:51\n19 - The Burning Boo k 0:23:22\n20 - Third Perusal And Walk To Kessler's 0:23:52\n21 - Waiting Out The Stalker 0:25:15\n22 - The Stalker And The Girl 0:26:21\n23 - Blood y Nose 0:27:54\n24 - Hiding The Book 0:29:05\n25 - Frieda Kessler's Book 0 :30:57\n26 - Book In Flames 0:33:40\n27 - The Book Is Gone 0:34:10\n28 - T he Telfer Woman! 0:34:41\n29 - Following Mrs. Telfer 0:35:55\n30 - St Mart in 0:37:05\n31 - The Blond Man's Demise 0:41:17\n32 - Boris Kills Liana 0: 43:00\n33 - Pursuing Balkan 0:43:53\n34 - A Stop At The Inn 0:45:44\n35 - The Fortress 0:47:02\n36 - Balkan's Failure 0:49:14\n37 - Consumation 0:53 :07\n38 - The Engraving 0:54:44\n39 - Corso's Reward 0:55:20\n40 - Vocalis e 0:56:20\n\nOriginal Soundtrack Album\n\n41 - Vocalise ~ Theme From The N inth Gate ~ 1:00:13\n42 - Opening Titles 1:04:10\n43 - Corso 1:07:42\n44 - Bernie is Dead 1:11:07\n45 - Liana 1:15:38\n46 - Plane To Spain (Bolero) 1:18:41\n47 - The Motorbike 1:23:30\n48 - Missing Book / Stalking Corso 1: 24:48\n49 - Blood On His Face 1:29:30\n50 - Chateau Saint Martin 1:30:43\n 51 - Liana's Death 1:34:48\n52 - Boo! - The Chase 1:37:27\n53 - Balkan's D eath 1:41:56\n54 - The Ninth Gate 1:45:49\n55 - Corso and the Girl 1:47:02 \n56 - Vocalise ~ Theme from The Ninth Gate ~ (Reprise) 1:50:23\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n \n\n October is horror eternall y 🙂 nosferatu 1922 https://youtu.be/ImNx0zIBwIw?si=LSkMzHmeMVM0gobY  w hite zombie 1932 https://archive.org/details/WhiteZombie house on haunted hill 1959 https://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/house-on-haunted-hill little shop of horrors 1960 https://archive.org/details/TheLittleShopOfHorrors19 60_765 carnival of souls 1962 https://youtu.be/vNYg4YWkp0k?si=gORT03Ji01Xl FPI1 The last man on earth 1964 https://youtu.be/Vv2WUewBx8U?si=-0qxOuQATH 2Db-Ak\n\n\n\n \n\n Titular Titans month! The title warned you about them: ) but you still hang around them \, why?\n\n\n\n Svengali 1931\n\n https:/ /publicdomainmovie.net/movie/svengali\n\n\n\n The phantom of the opera 192 5\n\n https://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/the-phantom-of-the-opera-0\n\n\n \n the hands of orlac 1924\n\n https://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/the-han ds-of-orlac-1924\n\n\n\n dr jekyl and mr hyde 1913 \n\n https://publicdom ainmovie.net/movie/dr-jekyll-and-mr-hyde-1913\n\n\n\n frankenstein 1910 \ n\n https://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/frankenstein-2\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n what about maniacal madmen month:) M^3 \n\n Bloody pit of horror 1965\n\n https://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/bloody-pit-of-horror-0\n\n\n\n The go lem 1920 \n\n https://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/the-golem\n\n\n\n the m onster maker 1964\n\n https://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/monster-maker-th e\n\n\n\n the most dangerous game 1932\n\n https://publicdomainmovie.net/m ovie/the-most-dangerous-game\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Some others\, you or other s can use\n\n cat and the canary 1927 \n\n https://publicdomainmovie.net/ movie/the-cat-and-the-canary\n\n\n\n japanese\n\n atomic rulers of the wor ld 1964 \n\n https://publicdomainmovie.net/movie/atomic-rulers-of-the-wor ld\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250930 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251002 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Revolution Will Be DTSTAMP:20251016T231849Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:544-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Someone somewhere cited The Revolution Will Not Be Telev ised in a quick graphic.\n\n\n\n MY REPLY\n\n I told someone else somewher e\, the issue is guidance. All movements need a destination. Absent a dest ination\, a movement is bound to fail\, meaning it will not move the world around the movement to somewhere. \n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n yeah gil scott h eron:) .. I said somewhere else\, the usa will be 250 years old next year\ , that is a quarter of a thousand years. not a little bit of time. I don't see the revolution today\, I think more of the time the roman empire chan ged location from roma to nova roma/constantinople. A time of change or up heavel\, but alot of it wasn't the people of the roman empire which stretc hed from modern spain to syria uprising as much as after some chaos\, the government remade itself to fit the people who lived under it. I think the usa is in that situation. The United States of America was founded by fir st people/native American slaughtering black African enslaving financially wealthy white European outcast. Said outcast developed a legal system tha t allowed for governmental flexibility more than any other at the time. Bu t\, the flexibility wasn't and isn't  impervious to being used to maintai n rigid orders/systems/structures. The white power order [white is top\, w hite is best\, white is right\, white is normal and not white are the oppo sites]\, the systems of inequality applied across all forms of race [pheno typical/gender/age/religion/ancestry/fiscal quality and all other] \, the structures of slavery from the prisons to the hospitals to the schools tha t allow the control of various people legally\, to their detriment\, are n ot as they were\, have the same level of potency or presence\, when the US A was founded. No\, Richard has never been shackled or called boy by white s. But while said orders/systems/structures exist they are weaker than eve r before in the usa or the European colonies that preceded it\, and must e mbrace coexistence with new orders/systems/structures. Within the USA regi onal varieties of the orders/systems/structures will need to be embraced b y all under one roof. Orders not based on whiteness but on wealth\, allowi ng all who are financially wealthy the same privileges as white males when wealthy. Systems of inequality will remain but applied across fewer forms of race. phenotype\, gender? no. religion somewhat\, age\,fiscal quality? yes. Structures of slavery will have to be replaced with structures of po verty. Yes keeping people poor. The USA is not becoming Star Trek\, but th e fabric of its populace is more varied than ever before in the past\, mor e financially potent across all racial lines than ever before \, more lega lly present /represented/demanding than ever before across all racial line s. So the federal government has to use its flexibility to reflect that. W ill it? I don't know. Will I gamble it will? I gamble the USA will break a s the people in it will not use the flexibility within the legal code to c hange the government to suit them. \n\n The people outside the usa in man y countries biggest issue is the strategic view of immigration\, the age o f the usa from the end of world war two to today has made immigration a be tter choice than scuffling to make ones country better. It is easier for a small family to move than to be part of a movement. The uprising outside the usa will require a change of minds. Cause\, at the moment\, it will ne ver be easier to change Mexico/Nigeria/India than immigrate away from said places to a country like the USA\, unless the USA closes up shop. Scrumpt is trying to get that to happen to support the old oders/systems/structur es trying to hold on to dominance in the usa. I don't see long term that h appening. Though\, a big part of that is how the states are managed. For h istorical precedence\, the articles of confederation did precede the const itution and its entire design was based on the idea that the states only u ndeniable unifying factor was self defense\, which is still true today.   But such a change will require a change in the quality of elected official s in the usa at the which I do not see at any level. \n\n\n\n Gil Scott H eron- The Revolution Will Not Be Televised\n\n LYRICS\n\n\n\n You will not be able to stay home\, brother\nYou will not be able to plug in\, turn on and cop out\nYou will not be able to lose yourself on skag\nAnd skip out for beer during commercials\, because\nThe revolution will not be televise d\nThe revolution will not be televised\nThe revolution will not be brough t to you by Xerox in four parts\nWithout commercial interruptions\nThe rev olution will not show you pictures of Nixon blowing a bugle\nAnd leading a charge by John Mitchell\, General Abrams\, and Spiro Agnew\nTo eat hog ma ws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary\nThe revolution will not be televis ed\nThe revolution will not be brought to you by the Schaefer Award Theatr e\nAnd will not star Natalie Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Jul ia\nThe revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal\nThe revolution wil l not get rid of the nubs\nThe revolution will not make you look five poun ds thinner\, because\nThe revolution will not be televised\, brother\nTher e will be no pictures of you and Willie Mays\nPushing that shopping cart d own the block on the dead run\nOr trying to slide that color TV into a sto len ambulance\nNBC will not be able to predict the winner\nAt 8:32 on repo rt from 29 districts\nThe revolution will not be televised\nThere will be no pictures of pigs\nShooting down brothers on the instant replay\nThere w ill be no pictures of pigs\nShooting down brothers on the instant replay\n There will be no pictures of Whitney Young\nBeing run out of Harlem on a r ail with a brand-new process\nThere will be no slow-motion or still lifes of Roy Wilkins\nStrolling through Watts in a red\, black\, and green liber ation jumpsuit\nThat he has been saving for just the proper occasion\nGree n Acres\, Beverly Hillbillies\, and Hooterville Junction\nWill no longer b e so damn relevant\nAnd women will not care if Dick finally got down with Jane\nOn Search for Tomorrow\, because black people will be in the street\ nLooking for a brighter day\nThe revolution will not be televised\nThere w ill be no highlights on the eleven o'clock news\nAnd no pictures of hairy armed women liberationists\nAnd Jackie Onassis blowing her nose\nThe theme song will not be written by Jim Webb or Francis Scott Keys\nNor sung by G len Campbell\, Tom Jones\, Johnny Cash\nEngelbert Humperdinck\, or The Rar e Earth\nThe revolution will not be televised\nThe revolution will not be right back after a message\nAbout a white tornado\, white lightning\, or w hite people\nYou will not have to worry about a dove in your bedroom\nThe tiger in your tank\, or the giant in your toilet bowl\nThe revolution will not go better with Coke\nThe revolution will not fight germs that may cau se bad breath\nThe revolution will put you in the driver's seat\nThe revol ution will not be televised\nWill not be televised\nWill not be televised\ nWill not be televised\nThe revolution will be no re-run\, brothers\nThe r evolution will be live\n\n\n\n\n \n\n URL\n\n https://youtu.be/vwSRqaZGsPw ?si=8aq4usxHRcXjL_wF\n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251016 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Membership First\, Individualism for all others\, is the pro blem with tribes in the Black populace in the USA or greater humanity DTSTAMP:20251016T231309Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:543-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n 19 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n I attended the Million Man March.  It was great to see so many pos itive AfroAmerican Black men of all ages\;  fathers and sons\, uncles\, c ousins\, etc.\, from all over the USA standing together in fellowship. \n \n\n \n  \n \n \n\n\n\n exactly \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n 19 hours a go\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n A great financial investment opportunity was lost post-Million Man March.\n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n 19 hours ag o\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n To your point\, there was no long-term pla n or follow-up after the Million Man March. \n \n \n\n\n\n amen\, I can only add one thing \, the designers of the million man march\, the nation of islam/farrakhan have to be blamed for the lost opportunity + no long te rm plan or follow up. \n\n\n\n And I can see why \, cause though I have n o proof\, I will gamble a reshare online that\, the nation of islam + farr akhan saw the million man march as a membership drive. Which in my view is a dysfunctional plan but I can see it with them. the Nation of Islam's pr imary problem from the time of malcolm has always been that they are membe rship first help second. Malcolm was help first\, help second. Malcolm did n't feel a black person had to be a nation of islam member to be helped no r did the black populace in the usa need to revolve around the nation of i slam and his exile i argue gives proof to my point. \n\n\n\n Black men in modern times were not going to all join the nation of islam through this event. \n\n\n\n \n 19 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Black chur ches are missing a huge investment opportunity considering they collective ly  receive $10-$19 billion dollars per year.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \ n A fraction of that money could go into building a Black banking instit ution. A source of wealth that could be used for other investments.\n \n \n\n\n\n I second you again\, and instead of a bank\, why not a credit uni on. again\, banks by law have a more complex legal situation  which is de signed to be challenging. Credit unions are simpler to start\, more simple in their financing. \n\n\n\n I will even go further and say\, with most black churches protestant\, why can't they form a credit union where each black church is a member? they could had did that decades ago. Black churc hes + black colleges are the earliest black institutions in the usa post w ar between the states\, 1865. The first time black people in the usa have some form of true collective freedom. So the fact that black churches don' t have a financial institution made up of themselves is telling to their a dministration. They are in competition with each other to such a level\, t hey can't unite. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In conclusion\, and it goes to the s ame problem with the nation of islam\, the black religious groups in the u sa\, are very tribal. Membership first\, everything else second. I see thi s every sunday. In harlem today\, with all the strangification or white re entry\, the black churches still get their sunday folk who don't live in h arlem to come in and wear their hats and carrying on. MEmbership first\, e verything else second. And I don't mind the tribalism. BUT\, these same pe ople then complain about the village all the time.  If you are about your tribe so much that you can only help someone in the village when they are a member of your tribe\, fine \, acceptable\, BUT  bitching about the vi llage is unacceptable when you aren't willing to help anyone unless it is for tribal gain. And they are not alone. When the HArlem EMpowerment Zone was started with Charlie Rangel \, the house representative of harlem\, a senior house member\, black\, supported by the clintons\, only one black o wned business in harlem got any money from that initiative\, that was Mr. Copelands\, who spirit flew years ago and whose restaurants have been out of business for years as well. He said so on a show called like it is with gil noble\, also no longer on television as Mr. Noble\, spirit also flew. I comprehend the white man runs the USA. But\, 70/30. Harlem hasn't start ed any black owned nation wide franchises. I will  apologize for Black Ha rlem. But that doesn't mean black owned businesses like Mr. Copelands\, th at were around for decades\, couldn't be considered on equal footing\, in the HArlem Empowerment Zone\, by Black elected officials who all spoke pos itively of the Harlem Empowerment Zone. ... Said officials all also receiv ed alot of money for themselves... this is why SHirley CHisholm left... an yway\, I don't mind tribes helping themselves\, membership first. But\, th e black people need to do better speeches\, from nation of islam/black chu rches/black elected officials who have failed to plan positively or effect ively for the village\, exposes that all three relate to the village as me mbership first\, individualism second. Once you become a member of their t ribe\, they can do \, if you are not a member\, you are on your own and th ey are free to berate your failings\, while never helping\, even when they can. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CITATION\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/119 39-mejorando-la-raza/#findComment-76971\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251016 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Any one in a leadership position who doesn't offer an effect ive plan to those they are leading will lead the led to negativity DTSTAMP:20251015T003626Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:541-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n On 10/12/2025 at 3:52 PM\, ProfD sai d:\n \n\n \n \n Maintaining status quo is a form of complacency. \n \ n \n\n\n\n well\, very few human beings in human history choose to change the way of things absent a path or something they can see. \n\n\n\n This is the problem with the million man march\, black lives matter... women li ves matter\, the modern immigrant populace in the usa today.\n\n\n\n MAny say\, we need to change this or that. and ok\, but then when the masses as k\, what do we need to do\, and where are we going? no one can answer. \n \n\n\n And up in the air isn't good enough. \n\n\n\n Again\, Ireland and haiti. Yes\, Haiti's goal was to be free... but their was specifics. Haiti must become a black republic. So a black army has to kill the french/span ish/usa/british to make that happen and that is what the haitian army did\ , they defeated the french/spanish/usa/english. The usa tried to take tous saint thinking it would unravel haiti but dessalines steppped in\, a lesso n many countries in the 1900s outside the white european didn't learn. Tha t isn't just black people need to be better.\n\n\n\n Yes the IRA was only a few hundred people and most irish in ireland were opposed to the IRA at some level or in some fashion. Yes\, the IRA wanted irish freedom from but they were specific. Ireland must become a republlic. They didn't have the irish populace supporting them for arms so\, terrorization is the plan. T errorize the english into giving up ireland. It isn't just irish people ne ed to be better. \n\n\n\n To be blunt\, too often\, people especially tho se in leadership positions in the usa say\, people need to be better but o ffer no specificity. \n\n\n\n And to our multilog here\, and it is fortun ate\, you communicate into it\, the various tribes in the black populace i n the usa rarely have leadership that offers specifics. \n\n\n\n My best example is always Black republicans. Black republicans always tell everyon e else black they are doing wrong or bad or some negative\, but when asked how to get these masses\, not a black individual\, from the current place to a better place\, they have no answer\, but individualism. and individu alism isn't a collective plan. \n\n\n\n Going back to the million man mar ch\, telling over a million black men looking for communal guidance\, whic h i know from first hand accounts\, and getting a bunch of individual spee ches\, is dysfunctional. All these black men know they need individual bet terment\, but what they are looking for is the plan for the group. \n\n\n \n And speaking of tribes\, sometimes a tribe is situational. The black me n at the million man march were a tribe for that event. the people behind it like farrakhan were so against function/specifics/ or continuing the vi be\, the million man marchers don't have a website or anything. Those mill ion men could had been asked to each give a dollar a year\, and each have an equal valued vote in where to use it. And men giving their million man march membership as inheritance to another black man. \n\n\n\n That is fr om 1995 to 2025\, thirty years of funding one project each year with a mil lion dollars a year. \n\n\n\n No the black populace in the usa isn't runn ing the usa now with that\, but\, I argue even that small bit of communal planning is something far better than telling black men freely chose to be part of this to be good fathers. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So \, yeah\, I comp rehend your argument against complacency\, but I have to make it clear. To o often people don't offer a destination for the status quo and I call tha t very negative leadership. \n\n\n\n And to cut away from the village for a second\, it goes into really\, alot of arguments in modern humanity. \ n\n\n\n Macau compared to Hong Kong proves my point. One chinese city stat e\, with a semi autonomous government is having a great time\, the other i sn't? why? it isn't status quo complacency\, it is negative leadership in hong kong and positive leadership in macau. \n\n\n\n When biden spent two trillion dollars on his development package and Scrumpft became president \, people complained but\, when you have a populace of over three hundred and fifty million people and your grand investment strategy is to make com puter chips in new york state\, well... \n\n\n\n Saying people don't comp rehend or people are complacent dodges the simple truth. You made a negati ve plan or had no plan and in the history of humanity that tends to lead t o negative situations. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Comment referral \n\n\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11939-mejorando-la-raza/#findComment-76903\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251014 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Do Black DOSers and those not Black DOSers comprehend the un iqueness in Black DOS heritage in the usa or elsewhere? DTSTAMP:20251012T191447Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:540-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  @ProfD \n\n\n\n \n 1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Violence is a path to freedom and power. Those who want it badly en ough will do what they have to do.\n \n \n\n\n\n never forget\, the major ity of Black leadership from the late 1800s\, rightly or wrongly\, has alw ays emphasized that nonviolence is a path to freedom and power equal to vi olence and guided the black masses in that way. And the black masses in th e usa\, the DOS forebears mostly embraced that\, rightly or wrongly. \n\n \n\n And always remember profd\, I know i say the following a lot\, but it seems to me many black people don't cognize the following\, when the usa was founded most Black people were against the creation of the USA. \n\n\ n\n Maybe I should rephrase the DOS heritage in the USA has always been a duopoly. But the majority in the past and I argue\, absent some polling pr oof\, still in modernity an anti white + anti statian/usa . The minority w as in the past and I argue today\, pro integration+pro usa. \n\n\n\n What is my point? Black people and I think Pioneer is a clear example of this have a problem embracing the uniqueness of Black DOS heritage in the USA. We are not from a willing immigrant peoples\, we are not a first peoples t o these lands\, and we have historically hated this place or the white peo ple in it. \n\n\n\n I don't think that vibe has ever left. And so in that context Black DOSers have done brilliantly in the usa \, in a nonviolent context\, because I argue most of us really don't care for this place.\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n \n 2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Violence as a form of self-defense is absolutely necessary when diplomacy fails.\n \n \n\n\n\n yes\, but look at the history of resistance. Haiti won their fre edom but it was from a violence larger than self defense. Ireland won thei r freedom but it was a level of violence beyond self defense. What peoples in humanity in an impotent position used violence as self defense and act ually won? who? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n 2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n Several forms of post traumatic stress disorder PTSD) to include cognitive dissonance seems to have been passed along and ingrained in the psyche of the descendants of slaves.\n \n \n\n\n\n I don't think so as I said earlier in this comment\, I think it is a simpler answer\, but one th at cuts far worse. Black people's heritage in the usa is to be divided in terms of the usa. PRofd \, think on the minority of free blacks who fought to create the usa\, and then think on the majority of free blacks who fou ght to stop the usa from being created. Think on those two groups. That is serious friction. No bridge can bridge that. Remember\, these are two peo ples who are part of a larger minority in the black populace in the europe an colonies called free blacks\, the majority of black people are enslaved who slave revolts prove only had two things in mind\, kill whites and esc ape as far as possible. Consider the two groups of free blacks. Think abou t the free blacks fighting for the creation of the usa. Think about them. No constitution\, no congress\, the majority of white people have publily said they support enslavedment of black people upon success so the black p eople fighting for the creation of the usa are fighting literally for an i dea. They are fighting for their present or a guarantee\, they are literal ly buying into a philosophy\, that the usa will get better\, but it first has to start.  Think about the free blacks fighting against the creation of the usa. think about them. No country to run to. no land to escape to\, the british belatedly\, not initially promised them freedom but never the larger black populace. So these are black people fighting for a status qu o that will keep most black people enslaved in the usa\, thus initially th e black loyalist are fighting to upend the plans of the local whites. This is revenge.\n\n\n\n So on the one side you have a free blacks fighting to get revenge against a personal foe\, and on the other side you have free blacks fighting for a unproveable belief.  \n\n\n\n It isn't PTSD it is a heritage that many Black DOSers parents never explained to them because it isn't simple or pretty or analagous to any other in the usa. \n\n\n\n Remember\, Black DOSers in the USA history timeline had four parts\, and t hey don't match whites. \n\n\n\n 1. Blissful Isolation [most of africa wa s to far away to be meddled in extremely so only distant traffic with euro pe or asia\, Black DOSers free forebears from ancient times live ]\n\n\n\n 2. Abrahamic slave period[ islam first and christianity second spend cent uries making the continent of africa a slave traffic den\, black dosers fi rst enslaved forebears are forced to the usa and elsewhere  during this t ime and their descendents remain enslaved until the next phase ]\n\n\n\n 3 . the laws of Freedom [ in the usa it is the end of the war between the st ates and the 13th amendment\, in haiti it was earlier with the victory of jena jacques dessalines\, in brasil it was later with the golden law. but all black dosers in the american continent have a law of freedom date\, wh ere their first taste of freedom in some fashion exist \; in the usa \, th is period ends with jim crow ]\n\n\n\n 4. the second phase of freedom [ in the usa it is the 1980s. jim crow has finally died enough to not be a fac tor in a majority of black peoples lives. from the 1980s to now is the sec ond phase. What will determine the third phase? we will see. in the caribb ean it is varied\, in haiti their second phase stated  earlier and had a negative tone with the suzerainty to the usa\, but in jamaica. in jamaica it started with the commonwealth period ]\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n See the diffe rence\, it isn't ptsd\, it is a historical reality that Black DOSers are n ot along the same historical line as whites or non black DOSers in general . And I think many black people are in denial or were never educated prope rly by their parents simple because the truth was painful. As finding your roots\, the show\,  proves\, the usa is full of people\, of all kinds\, who rarely were told the truth by their parents and the reasons aren't an accident. the truth rarely gives the answers that make you fee better. why pioneer and many black people like him are so adamant that the usa is the home of black dosers\, because if the usa isn't\, that is a frightening r eality he and i think many black dosers have always dreaded to cognize. \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n 2 hours ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n suggests that Black folks have found a comfortable place within the system of racis m white supremacy.😎\n \n \n\n\n\n It doesn't suggest comfort\, Black p eople have never been comfortable in the usa. The black lives matter prote st proved one thing\, the youngest generations of black people in the usa   are not comfortable. Now are they willing to suffer ? yes\, but that is black heritage in the usa\, again. Black people today suffer but we don't suffer as bad as in the past\, that is the improvement. does it mean we a re comfortable ? no! profd\, that kind of talk i argue criminalizes black people for convenience. We are not comfortable\, we are angry. but we are used to dealing with pain. that is the Black DOS heritage. I know it isn't as glitzy as starting businesses with zeal  or immigrating with dreams\, but it is the truth. \n\n\n\n Black DOSers have always had two camps in our populace concerning the usa and both were extremes\, largely because t hey were forced to be. And that heritage\, yes Black DOS heritage clearly needs to be embraced more cause we don't seem to use it enough in discours e. \n\n\n\n Pioneer says black people regardless of anything need to embr ace the usa which insults the majority of Black DOS heritage\, centuries o ld heritage. \n\n\n\n You profd\, suggest black people are happy\, which insults Black history in the usa at the least\, because we are willing to suffer and survive\, which is part of Black DOS centuries old heritage. \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n In conclusion\, I have said it before. I have never lik ed the usa or felt myself apart of it. But\, I do comprehend Black peoples history in it. In a blunt way. Clarence Thomas exist in the heritage of b lack people who were willing without any guarantees of freedom or any proo f of a better tomorrow to fight for the creation of the usa next to those who owned them. There have always been DOSers like that and always will.  Assata Shakur\, rest her soul\,  exists in the heritage of Black people who fought even as a minority populace in the black populace in the usa ag ainst white people and the usa\, like the black loyalist\, who like her di ed in a far away place never seeing their dream fulfilled. These two group s have no merging place\, no bridge can be made. \n\n\n\n so\, when you s peak of black people being comfortable\, who are you talking about? black people like assata shakur? they exist today. you aren't speaking of peopl e like clarence thomas because black people like him have always viewed th e usa as their home\, even under oppression. ala Frederick Douglass. Dougl ass was enslaved saw white violence annihilate black people\, yet he embra ced the usa wholeheartedly. And as he said in his speeches [ https://aalb c.com/tc/blogs/entry/357-frederick-douglass-our-composite-nation/  ] the potential is what he believes in. And for him the potential already has th e structure in the constitution. \n\n\n\n When Pioneer speaks of the USA being Black peoples? is he speaking about the usually trickles but sometim es flows of black DOSers who leave the usa every decade from when the usa was european colonies? is he speaking about some from the exodusters \, wh o wanted their own state? and oddly enough he sounds like frederick dougla ss\, who also couldn't accept other black views to black life. Douglass li ke Pioneer has decided all Black DOSers are Statian/american regardless of how they feel about themselves? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I know I have said e verything time and again in this forum\, but I only do it because i think it matters. Black people\, all of us\, have to start speaking from our his tory. Stop speaking of us through the views of others. We are not the blac k people from nigeira or ethiopia who all came to the usa willingly. We ar e not the white jew who was never financially blockaded from anything in t he usa. We are not the white asians who similarly have always been allowed to own businesses in the usa\, plus were never enslaved. Black DOSers are unique. A negative uniqueness? true\, sadly. A negative uniqueness hard f or a black parent to explain to a black child without lying or absenting t he truth\, trying to guide that young life to embrace the usa or their non black neighbor positively? yes\, very hard. A negative uniqueness hard fo r non blacks who don't have the same problems to cognize or make positive room in their plans for while the populace of the usa becomes ever more mi xe? yes\, not an easy table.\n\n\n\n But it is the truth. Black DOSers can choose to be Statian\, but we can choose not to be. Neither is wrong or r ight. Black DOSers have a heritage of suffering\, which was earned by havi ng to suffer alot. The native American has suffered the most and yet has n ever once had a group try to truly hurt this country. The native american isn't comfortable\, neither are DOSers but both have survived a long time in pain\, it teaches you to deal with it in ways\, other people of color\, can't. That is why \, white cubans in florida are who they are. Why chine se americans are who they are? Cuba has the highest literacy \, the best h ealth care system and white cubans suggest it is hell. All because Fidel t ook their homes away\, some of their lives. But they haven't lost their la nguage\, their culture and were mostly allowed to leave freely. imagine if white cubans had been enslaved and had their culture blockaded? Chinese i n the usa call china a bad country for not having elections. china has mor e female business owners than any country in humanity. china is second onl y to the usa in financial potency. the chinese americans freely came to a country that used a war as a cover for an experiment on high powered weapo ns on asians who live pretty close to china. Imagine if the chinese americ ans was enslaved. Yes\, Black DOSers are used to suffering in the usa. sad but true. We don't crack under pressure like other non white europeans \, people of color. Look at the news. As white europeans in the usa tighten the immigrant noose\, more and more immigrants are unraveling. Can't take the heat. Black DOSers are used to far worse than what they are growing th rough. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I don't care for the condition of Black people in the usa\, but I comprehend it. I ask all of you to comprehend better B lack DOSers village in the usa. Not what you want from it\, but comprehend it. Comprehend how black people have guided themselves today\, which you guys rarely ever say. It isn't about the whites. Today it is about Black p eople\, but how we manage ourselves from over one hundred and fifty years ago. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n and I end on an even keel. Rememeber like minded black people. Profd \, @Pioneer1 I ask this of all in this forum \, time and again. \n\n\n\n Find like minded. We three are not like minded. yes\ , we all want black betterment\, but 99% of black people want that. But th e definition to that betterment\, the path is not the same\, and let's emb race that. Most whites in the usa ended up supporting the creation of the usa with a minority not. but black people had three groups\, not two when the usa was founded\, and two of those groups were opposed to the usa or w hites in general. And no\, time doesn't erase as some humans foolishly sug gest. Hell\, ask the white jew about the power of time's erasure in german y. White jews had been in germany since the time of Charlemagne. yet\, whi te christians in germany clearly were not persuaded by time to find some c ommon ground. So why should black people expect our heritage of trivision\ , not division that is two trivision is three\, go away because of the qua ntity of black people in the federal military or the historical note of a black president. It doesn't work that way. Find your people fellas\, and I wish you the best. I really do. And I wonder why you haven't found your p eople. What are you doing wrong that you don't have a better black group a round your views. Are you not looking? Are you only complaining? Are you n ot willing to make hard choices? \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251012 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Indigenous People's Day DTSTAMP:20251012T022510Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:539-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n I want to honor the legend of Jonas Caballo. Who fought a gainst the USA in the Seminole wars in Florida\, fought again the White an d non Black indigenous citizens or residents in the USA in the trail of te ars\, fought the borderland groups on either side of the USA /Mexico borde r to find a home for his people\, that still exist in northern mexico \, t oday.\n\n One of my favorite ancestors. \n\n\n\n Columbus day is the seco nd monday in october\, so indigenous peoples day has to be the same day\, but the second monday in october is one day from october 8th to october 14 th \, every year.\n\n\n\n His descendants are considered indigenous tribe\ n\n https://www.milenio.com/estados/declaran-pueblo-indigena-tribu-negros- mascogos\n\n\n\n TEXT\n\n\n\n The Negro Mascogos Tribe is declared an indi genous people\n\nThe governor of Coahuila emphasized that this is importan t primarily because they deserve it and it is a commitment that Mexico has made regarding human rights.\nAna Ponce\nSaltillo\, Coahuila / 09.05.2017 14:57:24\n\nGovernor Rubén Moreira Valdez issued the decree declaring th e Negro Mascogos Tribe an Indigenous People of Coahuila.\n\nIn the communi ty of \"Nacimiento de los Negros Mascogos\" in Múzquiz\, the governor met with this tribe and representatives from different levels of government t o make the appointment.\nHe emphasized that it is important primarily beca use they deserve it\, and because it is a commitment Mexico has made regar ding human rights and to providing dignified conditions for Afro-descendan t peoples. [OBJECT]\n\n\"Normally\, people think about the states of Oaxac a\, Guerrero\, and Veracruz\, where there are Afro-descendant settlements\ , but the north is rarely mentioned\, and today we have to feel proud of t hat\,\" he said.\n\n\"Today\, the history of the Mascogo people\, as well as the Kickapoo\, the Chinese emigration\, and the caravaners\, is already in our textbooks\, in the third-grade textbook\,\" he added.\n\nMoreira V aldez said he hopes that after this decree\, people will be able to access benefits from the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples and considered that this is the fight that must be started\, since the Mascogo deserve t o receive the resources that the country allocates to indigenous tribes.\n \n\"It's not a concession\, it's not a matter of whether you want it or no t. It's there in their budgets. And they've delayed this allocation for on e reason or another. But I hope that with this decree\, for the 2018 budge t\, the Mascogos will be included among those communities that receive res ources\, because they deserve them\, that's true\,\" he specified.\n\n\"Bu t also because Coahuila contributes much more to the budget than it receiv es. Of what we contribute\, we should be receiving 40 percent\, 30 percent of what we contribute. If we have access to those resources\, we will sur ely improve in this regard\,\" he emphasized. \n\n\n\n\n Some thoughts on the Mascagos\n\n https://letraslibres.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/convi vio-zaid-mex.pdf\n\n\n\n TEXT\n\n\n\n Mascogos \nby Gabriel Zaid \n\nThe M ascogos arrived in Mexico fleeing from American slavery. The current inhab itants have lost some typically black features\, but they adhere to their traditional festivals\, songs\, clothing\, and dishes with a certain affir mative militancy of their identity.\n\nA few Black people arrived in Mexic o with Hernán Cortés. They continued arriving from the Antilles\, and al most three centuries later (in 1810)\, there were 10\,000 Black people and 624\,000 Afro-mestizo people\, compared to 15\,000 Europeans\, 3.7 millio n Indigenous people\, and 1.8 million other mestizos\, for a total of 6.1 million inhabitants. In Coahuila\, the total did not reach 17\,000 in 1803 (Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán\, The Black Population of Mexico. Ethnohistoric al Study\, 3rd ed.\, revised and expanded\, Fondo de Cultura Económica\, 1989\, pp. 19 and 233). Mexico had a president of Black\, Indigenous\, and Spanish descent: Vicente Guerrero (almost two centuries before Barack Oba ma assumed the presidency of the United States). Not only that: President Guerrero decreed the abolition of slavery in 1829 (decades before the Unit ed States Congress did so in 1865). During that 36-year period\, seeking r efuge in Mexico was an opportunity to escape slavery or persecution.\nRefu gees arrived illegally. But in 1852\, John Horse (leader of the Black Masc ogos\, who was of Black\, Indigenous\, and Spanish descent\, like Presiden t Guerrero) and Wild Cat (leader of the Seminoles) obtained permission fro m President Mariano Arista to settle in El Nacimiento\, Coahuila\, near th e border\, in exchange for defending it from Apache and Comanche raids.\nI n that rural town in the municipality of Múzquiz\, located in the valley where the Sabinas River rises\, President José Joaquín Herrera had grant ed the same permission to the Kickapoo two years earlier.\nSome call the M ascogos Black Seminoles\; however\, they are not Seminoles\, although the two ethnic groups were once neighbors and eventually interbred. The Mascog os are Black people who arrived\, the Seminoles\, Indians who were there a nd welcomed the Mascogos. The Mascogos were slaves\, the Seminoles were no t. The Mascogos performed forced labor on sugarcane\, cotton\, and rice pl antations\, while the Seminoles were small farmers. The Mascogos were flee ing their owners\, who wanted them recaptured alive for the plantations\; the Seminoles were fleeing settlers\, who wanted them dead to ensure the d ispossession of their lands (\"The best Indian is a dead Indian\").\nIt is unknown how many Mascogos arrived in Mexico\, perhaps half a thousand. To day there are about three hundred. According to\ncensus data compiled by p ueblosamerica.com (search for Mascogos on this site)\, in 2020 there were 270 Mascogos\, with a 2% illiteracy rate\, seven years of schooling\, pipe d water\, electricity\, a television\, and a refrigerator. There are also Mascogos in Texas and Oklahoma.\nAccording to Belem Concepción Muñiz Est rada (August 24\, 2023\, by phone in Saltillo)\, there is a floating popul ation of Mascogos that varies greatly depending on whether they go to work in other locations or return. She conducted interviews in El Nacimiento i n 2014 and wrote the book cited below\, as well as the article \"The Black Mascogos of Múzquiz\, Coahuila\, and Their Self-Sustaining Community\" ( online)\, where she points out\, among other things\, the support the Masc ogos receive from the Coahuila government for reforesting walnut trees. Th ey speak Spanish\, English\, and (the older ones) Mascogo. They have gradu ally dissolved as an ethnic group through marriage. In the videos\, you ca n see that the older ones speak English\, the younger ones\, Spanish\; and that typically Black skin\, face\, and hair are not predominant. However\ , they cling to their traditional songs\, clothing\, and dishes\, with a c ertain militant affiliation with their identity\, which attracts tourists. \nLike Black people in the United States\, they have celebrated Juneteenth \, Juneteenth Day\, since 1866. In 2021\, President Biden declared it a na tional holiday.\nThe Mascogo sing in English (not Spanish or Mascogo)\, in a choir\, a cappella (without musical instruments)\, clapping their hands to mark the rhythm. Their songs are indeed spiritual.\nA few books in Spa nish have the word Mascogos\nin the title\; about twenty in English have B lack Seminoles. On YouTube\, there are about twenty videos in Spanish (und er mascogos) and fifty in English (Black Seminoles). There are Wikipedia p ages in Spanish\, English\, and Arabic under Mascogos\,\nand also (in a do zen languages) under Black Seminoles.\nE. F. Nava López transcribes the C oahuila recording\nof \"A Religious Song of the Black Mascogos\" (Annals o f Anthropology\, July-December 2016) in Mascogo\, English\, and\nSpanish\, with musical score. The lyrics are the beginning of the Christian Creed.\ n\nSong lyrics\, transcribed from English and translated into\nSpanish:\nP ACKING MY SUITCASE\nI'm packing my suitcase.\nI'm getting ready to leave.\ nLord: I'm packing my suitcase.\nI'm getting ready to leave.\nMy mother ha s gone\,\nand she was ready to leave.\nMy mother has gone\,\nand she was r eady to leave.\nLord: I'm packing my suitcase\,\nI'm getting ready to leav e.\nMy father has gone\,\nand he was ready to leave.\nand he was ready to leave.\nMy sister has gone\,\nand she was ready to leave.\nMy sister has g one\,\nand she was ready to leave.\nLord: I'm packing my suitcase\,\nI'm g etting ready to leave.\nSource: Belem Concepción Muñiz Estrada et al.\, Negros\nmascogos. An Odyssey to Birth\, Saltillo: Universidad\nAutonomous de Coahuila\, 2020\, p. 111. The song was transcribed and translated by Pa ulina del Moral. The complete book is online.\nHIS NAME\nHis name is malas ta.\nI don't know.\nHis name is malasta.\nI don't know.\nHis name is malas ta.\nI don't know.\nNEW YEAR\nThe year has passed.\nHappy New Year.\nHappy New Year.\nVery happy\, happy New Year.\nVery happy\, happy New Year.\nTH E GOOD PATH\nOh\, please tell me\nhow long it's been since I took\nthe pat h of God.\nOh\, please tell me\nhow long it's been since I took\nthe path of God\,\nand I won't turn back\nuntil Judgment Day.\nSource: Mascogo Song s\, in English\, documentary video by\nKarla Rivera Téllez\, Ministry of Culture of the Government of\nCoahuila\, 2020. Available on YouTube.\nTher e is a Mascogo Cookbook from Coahuila\, 2nd ed.\, National Council for Cul ture and the Arts\, Indigenous and Popular Cuisine Collection #51\, 2014\, compiled by Paulina del Moral and Alicia Siller V. ~\nGABRIEL ZAID is a p oet and essayist. His most recent book is Translated Poems (El Colegio Nac ional\, 2022).\n\n\n\n\n And more\n\n\n\n https://www.eluniversal.com.mx/a rticulo/estados/2016/09/19/mascogos-siempre-listos-para-partir/\n\n\n\n TE XT\n\n\n\n Mascogos. Always ready to leave\nMestizaje wiped out the pure A fro-descendant population in Coahuila\, who arrived fleeing slavery in the United States.\n\nLucía Vázquez (center) is 85 years old and the last p ure Afro-descendant in the community of El Nacimiento\, Múzquiz\, Coahuil a (FRANCISCO RODRÍGUEZ)\nStates\n| 09/19/2016 |\n03:10 |\nUpdated\n09/19/ 2016 08:03\n\nLucía Vázquez is 85 years old and at times bursts into tea rs because she's convinced that when she dies\, no one will sing to her. S he wanders around her house or sits outside with a blank stare\, a stare t hat has been deteriorating for the past two years\, just like her hearing. Lucía is the last pure Black woman in the community of El Nacimiento\, i n the municipality of Múzquiz\, in the state of Coahuila\, a community of African descent that arrived in Mexico in the 19th century.\n\nLucía is wearing a long white dress. She is sitting in a rocking chair outside her house\, on the road that crosses the community of 55 houses\, home to abou t 300 residents\, some still descendants of Black Seminoles who arrived in Mexico in 1850.\n\nThey are called Mascogos\, but Lucía reproaches: \"Wh o knows where they got the name Mascogos? Before\, they were just Black pe ople.\" With her\, a pure race that settled in the El Nacimiento colony in 1852 will end\, when the Mexican government gave 7\,022 hectares to them\ , the Kickapoo tribe\, and the Seminole Indians in exchange for protecting the border from the Apache and Comanche raids that were ravaging settleme nts. It will end because she married a man from Palaú\, a town in the coa l mining region\, with whom she had seven children. “There were no more Black people\; they had all left\,” Lucía says\, as if trying to justif y herself. “My children are pure Cuarterones\,” she says.\n\nWith the exception of Lucía\, the rest of the Black population in El Nacimiento is the result of a mixture of races. “I married a Mexican\, he married a M exican woman\,” they often say\, as if they weren't also born in Mexico. For the Mascogo community\, the El Nacimiento colony is like a nation wit hin a nation.\n\nJust as no one—according to Lucía—told her the story of the arrival of Black people to Mexico\, no one has promoted capeyuye\, a cappella singing accompanied by applause\; most are sung at funerals\, Christmas\, and New Year's. \"Who's going to sing to me? Before\, they wer e little Black people\, but I'm the only one left\,\" she laments.\n\nA co mmunity with history\n\nThe community of El Nacimiento is located 30 kilom eters from the municipal seat in Múzquiz\, a mining municipality in Coahu ila. At the entrance\, there is a sign that reads: Black Mascogos and Semi noles.\n\nFrancisco Cázares\, coordinator of Popular Cultures of Coahuila \, explains that the Mascogos arrived with the Kickapoos and in a kind of alliance with the Seminole indigenous group.\n\nHe mentions that they fled persecution by the United States government and slavery in the mid-19th c entury\, and that it was not until the agrarian redistribution that they w ere granted the territory as an ejido.\n\nIn the United States\, they are recognized as Black Seminoles. When they arrived in Coahuila\, they began to be called Mascogos\, apparently because of the Muskogee language they s poke. “They came from Florida. There are versions that say the Mascogos were slaves of the Seminoles\, because at that time\, Native Americans had the right to own slaves. Other versions—including the main one—explai n that they formed military allies\, hence the name Black Seminoles\,” e xplains Cázares Ugarte.\n\nShe says they are considered runaway slaves\, that is\, rebel slaves who escaped from slave-owning regions.\n\nYolanda E lizondo\, president of the Friends of the Culture of Múzquiz\, Coahuila A .C. Trust\, has another version. She says that the Black Seminoles lived w ith the Seminole Indians as a formal group\, who united when the United St ates government decided to send all the tribes to a large reservation in O klahoma. She claims they were free Black people and that on their way to M exico\, they were joined by runaway slaves.\n\n“There were Black Seminol es in Florida\, but not as slaves\; they accepted these Black slaves and n aturally they mingled\,” she explains. Some historians explain that the term “cimarrón” referred to groups of African descendants who maintai ned a status of freedom by living in the desert and mountains.\n\nIn El Na cimiento\, when residents are asked what their parents or grandparents tol d them\, the African descendants say little. “I hear comments now that t hey were slaves\, but I don't remember\,” says Estela Vázquez Núñez\, 77.\n\nHowever\, the community holiday is June 19—Juneteenth Day in the United States—the day the slaves of Galveston\, Texas\, learned they we re free.\n\nThe community of El Nacimiento celebrates in a walnut grove wh ere they prepare the few remaining traditional dishes: soske (corn atole)\ , tetapún (sweet potato bread)\, pumpkin or piloncillo empanadas baked on steel\, and mortar bread\, mainly. The women wear long dresses with white beads\, an apron\, and a headscarf. However\, many don't even know why th ey celebrate. \"It's the day of the black child\,\" \"it's celebrated when they arrived\,\" \"it's celebrated because that's when they were given th e land\,\" are some of the comments from the community.\n\n\"These are gro ups that have a more open attitude toward issues of racial mixing. They ar e people with less protection over their race\,\" explains Francisco Cáza res\, of Popular Cultures.\n\nThey were rented out as mules.\n\nHomero Vá squez is a tall\, lanky old man. He sits in a rocking chair outside his ho use. Hanging from it is a Mexican flag missing the red part. He is the son of Teodoro Vásquez\, who told him that Black people came from Florida fl eeing the war and slavery. “They were rented out as mules\,” he says h is father told him.\n\nHomero says his father told him that in the 1930s\, many people came to the area to farm\, and that since then\, people began mixing with Mexicans\, which is why English is no longer spoken. His moth er came from Parral\, Chihuahua\, at the age of 15.\n\nHis father told him that there was a severe drought that forced people to leave the colony\, and that many went to Brackettville\, Texas\, where there is a cemetery fo r Black Seminoles who served in the US Army between 1879 and 1914\, in a u nit called the Seminole Negro Indian Scouts.\n\n“My grandmother there wa s named Tina Goren\, but here she was called Carmen Flores. They used a di fferent name for each reservation\,” says Homero\, who of his nine child ren\, five live in the United States.\n\nHomer takes out of his house a la rge portrait of John Horse\, the great Afro-Seminole leader\, son of a Bla ck mother and a Seminole Indian father. According to history\, he led the longest and most massive slave escape in the history of the United States. He arrived in Mexico with Gato del Monte\, the Seminole chief\, and Papik ua\, the Kickapoo chief. In Mexico\, he was awarded the rank of colonel in the Army.\n\nMany people left\n\n\"I'm a mere descendant. My father was a clean Black man\,\" says Ricardo González Núñez\, known as Chito\, a m an who is about to turn 80 and has served more than 20 years as a judge of the ejido. Chito leaves his house slowly\, with the top buttons of his sh irt undone. \"I was putting aloe vera on my bones because they hurt a lot\ ,\" he says. In his house\, there are about ten chickens\, roosters\, and a peacock. He sits in a rocking chair.\n\nMost houses have a backyard wher e they raise animals. There are no houses joined together. Most people are engaged in agriculture\, although no young people are seen in the neighbo rhood.\n\nChito says that life used to be different. “There was a lot of black people\,” he says. He owns goats and sells the milk. “It’s do wn. There’s no money\,” he complains. He produces about 100 liters eve ry three days and sells it in Múzquiz for 1.60 pesos per liter. He studie d until fourth grade.\n\nHe mentions that among the Mascogos\, his father left him the tradition of behaving well and respecting others. His mother was a blonde from Chihuahua.\n\nChito was a cowboy in the United States. H e remembers that many people left because \"they had to make a living.\" H e suffered the segregation of Black people in the United States\, when the y had to ride in the back of buses. He has four children\, two of whom liv e as slaves in the United States. They work in restaurants. \"They're the ones who help us\,\" he says. \"We all have children of slaves here. Some come in with permission and stay. There's no life here\,\" he adds.\n\n\"W hat did your father tell you about their ancestors?\" he is asked.\n\n\"Th at they were fleeing slavery. Their grandparents told my father\,\" he rep lies.\n\n\"Do you feel Mexican or Mascogo?\"\n\n\"You have to be Mexican. Black\, but Mexican\,\" he says.\n\nChito\, like his father\, also married a woman who was not of Black descent. “I knew her in my life\,” she s ays.\n\nI'm packing my suitcase.\n\nMargarita González Núñez is 78 year s old and also feels the sadness of those songs that are being lost. “Ev en though I don't understand them\, I know they're saying goodbye\, that t hey're singing to the dead\,” she says\, standing next to her daughter N arcedelia. “Now all that's left is food and clothing\,” she laments ab out the loss of traditions.\n\nWith Doña Mague is Dulce Robles Herrera\, the great-granddaughter of Lucía Vázquez\, the last pure Black woman in the community.\n\n“Aren't you leaving like the other young people?” Du lce is asked.\n\n“No\, I don't like it. There [in the United States] are the police. They're alone. I have my family here\,” she defends.\n\nDul ce says that Abuelita Lucía\, as she calls her\, starts to cry when she's with her. “She cries a lot because she says no one will sing to her. Sh e wants a Black woman to sing to her\,” Dulce comments.\n\nIn the backgr ound of the conversation\, Mascogo Soul plays\, an album recorded by the l ast women who knew the capeyuye. Songs like \"It's Maybe My Last Time\" an d \"Glory in the Heaven\" are featured\, melodies with repetitive phrases. The song \"I'm Packing Now\" is heard\, a song about escaping slavery tha t was often sung on slave plantations:\n\nI'm packing my suitcase\n\nI'm g etting ready to leave\n\nI'm packing\n\nand I'm ready to leave\n\nLord\, I 'm packing my suitcase\n\nI'm getting ready to leave\n\nMy mother is gone\ n\nand she was ready to leave\n\nMy mother is gone\n\nand she was ready to leave…\n\n\n\n\n wiki\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Horse\n\n\ n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251008 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20251015 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Black Building Wealth today\, spurred by profd DTSTAMP:20251007T213459Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:535-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n POST URL\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY COMMENT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n  @ProfD\n\n\n\n \n 1 hour ago\, ProfD said:\n \n\n \n \n True.  Mo st wealth has been stolen. \n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n However\, the Middle Easterners have managed to turn black gold aka oil into a vast amou nt of wealth.\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n Black folks can start buildin g wealth as a group by:\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n 1) owning our talen ts and abilities\, intellectual property\n \n\n \n 2) using a Black ba nk\n \n\n \n 3) supporting Black businesses\n \n\n \n 4) buying sp orts franchises\n \n\n \n 5) investing in land and real estate\n \n\n \n 6) buying stocks and bonds\n \n\n \n  \n \n\n \n Putting m oney to work is the best way to generate wealth in the absence of having n atural resources to sell.\n \n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n And all the middle eas terners black gold has the blood of middle easterners on it shed by other middle easterners. \n\n\n\n I support all your points to nonviolent finan cial growth. but I have to say\, whites whether they be arab/asian/latino/ african/male/female/christian/muslim/ or others have intentionally killed each other for financial gain. The gold rush\, the oil rush\, the manifest destiny land grabs\, prohibition era liquor fortunes\, first stock market era\,  all had mostly white people killing white people while total comp licity by law enforcement\, once the first people/native americans were el iminated for the land if needed.  One thing I rarely read or hear black p eople say\, especially in the american continent\, is that we in modernity don't have that strong a heritage of murder for financial gain. I argue w ith no true proof\, only personal experience or views that most black on b lack financial crimes happen today than ever before. Whereas for whites th ey killed each other in the near past way more than today for fiscal wealt h. \n\n\n\n Black people in the usa at the least were enslaved and financ ially penniless permanently while whites were killing each other for land or oil or gold or liquor. So Black people have started our internal wars o ver money in the 1900s. Consider madam cj walker was the wealthiest black person in the usa\, lived in Urban harlem\, think on that. She was blocks from poor black people. She wasn't in a scenario like downtown manhattan's gilded age where rich people had houses lined up next to each other. \n\ n\n\n If you consider black people in the usa started to be attested by wh ites as financially wealthy in the 1900s then based on usa history with th e european colonies\, the first phase of usa history\, starting in the 150 0s whites [european/asian/latin/male/female/arab/muslim/christian/ or othe r] had four hundred years to become financially wealthy by any means neces sary while blacks have only been allowed to become financially wealthy wit hin the law from in the 1900s. That is a variance. \n\n\n\n And\, to @Pio neer1 initial point\, the culture of white latin americans trying to beco me pure white stems from the simple fact that unlike the english european colonies that brought white women along\, the spanish/french/portuguese co lonies were overhwhelmingly male\, so latin american whiteness is primaril y mestizo\, the spawn of a white european and an indios female \, indios b eing first people/native american. It is minority mulatto\, the spawn of a white european and a black african woman. Mestizo or mulatto children wer e and are taught in the castas of latin america or its modern derivatives that whiteness could be achieved through a mating structure. Even though g enetic lineage doesn't matter how many matings are forced\, a human beings lineage is never deleted. so\, the mating concept is perpetual because it 's goal can never be achieved\, but its goal is always emphasized. \n\n\n \n Now that the neutral truth or history is out of the way\, \n\n\n\n to the positive\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n I like your nonviolent financial calls. Th ey each have positive value. I will mention warnings alongside the positiv es.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1) owning our talents and abilities\, intellectua l property\n\n\n\n In modernity with the internet\, owning your creativity is huge. I don't know the numbers but any artists knows \, intellectual p roperty theft in various fashions is rampant today\, rampant. So I concur to this as a modern importance. It was important in the past\, but with th e modern internet\, the ability to make profit off of intellectual propert y theft is much quicker than the past. My warning is\, the law around inte llectual property is really messy. It isn't an accident that the fiscal we althiest media firms spend so much money or effort redesigning characters so that they can gain copyright on a newer version. Or that many of said f irms don't release media that has public domain characters \, cause the ab ility to legally deny others to profit is... a task\, and since most court cases end up settling out of court\, well\, the expense is to high.\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n 2) using a Black bank\n\n\n\n I want to be more specific\, n ot a black bank. but a Black Credit Union. I have nothing against Black Ba nks but credit unions are easier to start and more focused in their design . Credit Unions will allow financially applicable segments of the black co mmunity to have a bank for themselves. When I look at the fiscal wealthies t black community in any city in the usa\, that being los angeles\, they s hould have a credit union for themselves and to my knowledge they do not. I assume similar for the atlanta black fiscal elite. The black fiscal elit e in new york city to be blunt\, should have it as well. But\, I rather bl ack people of wealth in small regions make credit unions and then new blac k money can join whenever they can. Financially poor black people can't af ford the extra fees or limitations of small banks\, especially in context with pensions or similar financial tools. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 3) supporti ng Black businesses\n\n\n\n As someone whose household members have always supported black owned businesses\, I do support\, buying black. But\, I d o think black people need to imagine how to own their own businesses mores o. From Jacobs to Famous to Lighthouse to Make My Cake to Jumbo to Charlie 's to King Barka to various laundromats or hair salons \, multiple Black b usinesses exist in Harlem that have thrived for decades to recently opened .  But New York City proves starting a firm requires more thought. I have witnessed multiple chinese owned restaurants fall in recent years\, but I also recognized one chinese restaurant survive and thrive well. why? The one that thrived well is near columbia universty and was getting tons of a sian customers even when i was a kid. My point is\,the black dance school \, liquor gallery\, all failed. The black architect seems to be stable. Bu t NYC is hard. Some business will never honestly work in NYC unless the av erage wealth increases at a rate above the average in the usa or the cost of living decreases at a rate below the average in the usa. \n\n\n\n So s upport black businesses but I rather hope black businesses focus on being efficient. instead of a dance school maybe you can operate in a school. in stead of a gallery maybe you can get a church to be the host of a gallery and your wine\, harlem has many black churches that do nothing most of eve ry day\, that are locked up or gated.  I know churches members have issue s with certain activities but be a business person and make it work. Contr acts\, figure it out. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Jacobs\n\n\n\n https://www.jaco brestaurant.com/jacob-soulfood-restaurant-locations.php\n\n\n\n Famous\n\n \n\n https://www.famousfishmarketnyc.com/\n\n\n\n Lighthouse\n\n\n\n https ://www.lighthousefishmarket.com/\n\n\n\n Makemycake\n\n\n\n https://www.ma kemycake.com/\n\n\n\n Jumbo \n\n\n\n https://www.sugarhilljumbos.com/\n\n \n\n Charlie's \n\n\n\n https://www.charlespanfriedchicken.com/locations\ n\n\n\n King Barka - don't hate\, websites cost money\n\n\n\n https://www. restaurantji.com/ny/new-york/king-barka-/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 4) buying spo rts franchises\n\n\n\n Not for me. In a soccer community elsewhere members were talking about owning a sports team and if I was a multi billionaire (meaning I have three hundred billion dollars in a bank account\, not incl uding stock evaluations/bonds/partial investments in firms or dividends fr om investments or stock)  I wouldn't invest one penny in sports clubs. I have said it in this forum before. I am not sold on sports franchises. \n \n\n\n The business model for sports franchises is simple. You buy a franc hise and over time the speculators\, the people who see\,  continually st ate the value of the franchise is worth more\, based on the increased ad r evenue and real estate value of the club. It is the NFL model\, which is a pplied to all sports today. But here is the problem. \n\n\n\n In the EPL\ , english premier league\, the pandemic caused a catastrophic stop of the epl\, where franchises had to take out ten million dollars a week or more\ , let alone the financial money pit of other teams. The problem with sport s franchises is any investment in them has to assume\, a financially posit ive environment\, where sponsors will be able to pay increasing fees\, fan s will be able to buy increasingly expensive content\, the real estate val ue with grow. But I can't assume a financially positive environment will e xist for any firm all the time\, and sports franchises in negative financi al environments are some of the worst properties to own. If anything\, the best time to buy or start a sports franchise is when the economy is at it s lowest\, because you are buying or starting on the cheap and you should be able to ride the bad times. The example is the NY Giants\, the white fa mily who owns them were bookkeepers\, they bought the giants for a hundred dollars or thousand dollars in bad times.  so... buy sports franchise \, not for me\, not now \, maybe if the shutdown continues for three years\, all the unpaid rents of federal workers and utility bills and etcetera ma y shake the market enough to cause problems. Al the most profitable sports teams have situations that matter. The yankees\, Real madrid have a legac y that requires time + success. The New York Knicks or rangers have an exc ellent location far better than most including the yankees. Like every NFL team\, MAnchester United and every other epl team have a sponsorship deal that is totally disconnected to athletic merit. But is a closed system to new clubs for the most part.\n\n\n\n Yes\, the saudis now own newcastle u nited\, the qataris own paris saint germain\, the emirates own manchester city and nyfc\, redbull own various sporting enterprises. But the oil lord s invest because they want to keep their currency low. If the oil lords do n't spend they accumulate so much wealth their currency will have to rise in value which will only help the usa as most countries currencies are peg ged to the dollar. This is why during the covid 19 they were the only set of countries looking to spend\, they had the money to spend and didn't wan t their currencies to skyrocket as other economies were falling during the covid 19. As for redbull\, well\, they have basically found a way to use the NFL model in all sports. They use specualtion and marketing to get an advertising industry to finance their ventures which allows them to skim o ff the top and market manipulate. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 5) investing in lan d and real estate\n\n\n\n rough\, as someone who was born and raised in NE w York City\, land and real estate seem very wise long term BUT during the covid 19\, many small business failed which meant many offices struggled. It is only because the city/state/federal government provided a bunch of financial crutches that the real estate industry didn't implode. But\, aga in\, that is bad fiscal capitalism. Based on revenue in my lifetime\, all the banks in the usa should had closed permanently\, all the investment ho uses in the usa should had closed permanently\, all but the ford motor com pany should be around as car manufacturers (I will never forget how ford w anted to not get the government aid but the government demanded they get a id\, )\, all the airlines in the usa should had closed permanently\,most f ood production firms should had closed permanently\,  most real estate pr operties in nyc should had been bought by the city government way under ma rket value for inability to pay debts.\n\n\n\n Too often in the usa\, the federal/state/city governments  provide welfare to failing businesses\, w hich is dysfunctional. People complain about unemployed people getting wel fare but welfare to the unemployed serves the function of maintaining a ce rtain quality of life for the unemployed\, which helps peace amongst the m asses. But welfare to firms spits at the important function of being able to fail in free market capitalism. When a firm fails that means it was mis managed. Every firm in the usa in my lifetime who was given welfare to sur vive did it to itself. \n\n\n\n AT&\;T sold Warner bros under market v alue to the discovery channel because it was unprofitable. It was a failur e. AT&\;T demanded discovery channel accept all the warner bros debt\, so AT&\;T had clean books with all of its profitable branches. \n\n\n\ n The mergers of firms isn't because firms are making money\, they merge b ecause they are failing. \n\n\n\n The banks who take all races of peoples homes every day or treat Blacks or First peoples/native americans negativ ely compared to white customers crawled and begged in washington d.c. in t heir tailored suits far more sinfully in my mind than any \"shaniqua\" in an urban black neighborhood to the welfare office. \n\n\n\n So not for me . If you want to invest in land or real estate go ahead\, but if you don't have a wise way to turn that land or real estate into revenue then your p laying the common game today in the usa of tax breaks and tax liens and fa lse speculations and overall market  gambles that... not for me. \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n 6) buying stocks and bonds\n\n\n\n I always think of that whi te man standing with the car. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The stock market craches don't include the bitcoin crashes\, which they should cause it is the same situation. \n\n\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stock_market_crash\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n When anyone invest in a trading environment the key isn't their investment\, the key is when they pull out. I recall in New York cit y\, many bitcoin billionaires who professed in local media\, NY Times and Wall Street Journal\, how they don't need money\, they have bits\, they ar e living it up... and then some time later\, they looked like a modern var iant of the man above or below:) in their case\, holding a mop or holding a sign by themselves. \n\n\n\n Black people invested in the freedman's ba nk\, that frederick douglass spoke for... black people of the late 1800s i n the usa \, most of DOSers who had any money lost all their money in the implosion of the freedman bank. So invest? yeah ok. But.. people look at s ome pension funds and say you see\, invest. but many and i argue most pens ion funds in the usa went belly up. If you are so inclined only invest in stocks or bonds\, perishable revenue or income. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n bitco in crashes\n\n\n\n https://www.webopedia.com/crypto/learn/biggest-bitcoin- crashes/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n someone assessed the grey scale and made a col or version. ahh chrysler\, internals are worthless\, but the cabin\, nice: ) \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN CONCLUSION\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Of the si x\, I think 2 with adjustment +3 with focus  have the best value overall. 1 has legal issues which are mighty. 4+5+6 are all true gambles. They eac h require a situation or environment which is not certain. \n\n\n\n  \n\ n\n\n Black Credit Union\, yeah\, I like that idea. focused\, small\, reli es on true financial quality. gives great leeway once you pay the legal fe es\, protects from operations of other or larger banks. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n More black people own business in the usa today than ever before \, hol istically. But\, too many black businesses fail in the usa as well\, you h ave to think more on the financial reality of the industry you are in. It can't be village save me. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY COMMENT REFERRAL URL\n\n \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11939-mejorando-la-raza/#findComment-76710 \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251007 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Artist!!! Another charity is here! DTSTAMP:20251006T011559Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:533-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n from the project creator \n\n\n\n This project will be s ending shoeboxes to underprivileged children for Christmas packed full of goodies like school and art supplies\, toys and other goodies! We have a v ery special canvas which is \"The Floor\".\n\n\n\n Due Nov 5th\n\n\n\n joi n @Charity-Guild to stay informed on deviantart if you are not on discord\ , but you don't need to be on discord to take part.\n\n\n\n I really enjoy all the charity art I did. And it saddens me.. angers me\, when many arti sts... well... all the energy people put in online complaining about nothi ng\, arguing about nothing\, take some of your precious impotent bitching time and draw to help somebody.\n\n\n\n JOIN THE CHARITY- YOU PAY BY CREAT ING\, it isn't hard to draw is it?\n\n\n\n https://docs.google.com/forms/d /e/1FAIpQLSeNN51nuHtME5HmISjs473bVvUkLeyYmqLbfC8Fbr_dQ2fZJw/viewform?pli=1 &\;pli=1\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n More information\n\n\n\n https://discord.co m/channels/619731511716872205/972156466511355914/1424467684434645145\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n Sudowoodo charity gallery- yes a dedenne is present\, someon e in the home wanted to take part\, and I could do two\, but I couldn't ge t them to draw so I drew for them\n\n\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/hddev iant/gallery?q=sudowoodo\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n first submission\n\n\n\n from @ninjaschicken\n\n\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/ninjaschicken/art/Collab -art-1249342103\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n FORUM POST\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/top ic/11943-artist-another-charity-is-here/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251005 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Earliest Sword and Soul question? DTSTAMP:20251002T010137Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:527-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n https://www.mvmediaatl.com/group/sword-and-sou l/discussion/05f8116f-53fa-4698-be89-23f5ce62d1d5\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CONTE NT\n\n\n\n What is the earliest sword and soul from descended of enslaved in the american continent?\n\n\n\n Does myths or legends of haiti count?\n \n\n\n does john henry count?\n\n\n\n does sword and soul have to have a s owrd?\n\n\n\n some examples of mine that I think may count\n\n\n\n https:/ /www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/gallery/94457407/scary-set-2\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251001 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Anniversary of the first peanuts comic strip DTSTAMP:20250927T180132Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:526-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n 1950 Peanuts debuted - notice how the characters look dif ferent. One of the problems today is when an artist starts a comic\, peopl e want the character to be in a \"final\" state but most toons\, the chara cters changed over time. Look at the smurfs\, originally in the Johann and Peewee strip but then flushed out. Look at charlie brown originally?  I see too many artists who are unwilling to submit work with the idea that i t can change. It doesn't have to be finalized. I think great lessons are i n this. \n\n https://peanuts.fandom.com/wiki/October_1950_comic_strips\n\ n\n\n October 2nd 1950 \n\n\n\n (The first ever Peanuts comic strip. C harlie Brown\, Patty and Shermy appear. Patty would not be named until the end of the month and Shermy would not be named until December 18\, 1 950. The gag in this strip is recycled from the Li'l Folks strip from M ay 29\, 1949. This strip is adapted in Happiness Is a Warm Blanket\, Char lie Brown)\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 3rd\n\n\n\n  (Patty\, having her first speaki ng role\, is reciting the traditional nursery rhyme \"What Are Little Boys Made Of?\" Schulz had previously referenced the rhyme in the Li'l Folks  comic strip from October 17\, 1948. This is also the first time Shermy is absent)\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 4th\n\n\n\n (The first appearance of Snoopy\, the first wordless comic and the first time Charlie Brown is absent)\n\n\ n\n \n\n\n\n 5th\n\n\n\n  (This is the first time two characters speak in a full sentence)\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 6th\n\n\n\n (Patty’s 5th appearance i n a row)\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 7th\n\n\n\n  (The first time Charlie Brown spea ks and the first time Patty is absent)\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 9th\n\n\n\n (The f irst time Shermy shows any affection towards Patty)\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n 10th\ n\n\n\n (The first interaction between Charlie Brown and Snoopy)\n\n\n\n \ n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251002 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:15 underrated 1970s sci fi films and banned films DTSTAMP:20250927T051202Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:525-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n 15 underrated 1970s sci fi films\n\n https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=FM_mgmy0dN0\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1974 the conversation\n\n On e of Gene Hackman's greatest roles. \n\n When you think about a film like the matrix\, what makes the conversation so much more frightening is that coppola doesn't involve the fantastical elements and leaves it all into h umanity. Hackman's character Karl is Neo but absent anywhere to go or any abilities to gain while in a system only going to get stronger. The fact t hat hackman later played in enemy of the state about the same topic and re ceived much better acclaim shows you how good the conversation is.\n\n One thing is the end of the conversation \, when hackman's surveillance turns out to be erroneous and he is in shock to a friend but then when he picks up a phone his watchers profess he is being watched and his watchers admi t to him it is a holistic surveillance. The failure of the individual to c ompete next to the state in the business of surveillance  is the closing theme of the story.  Their is also a movie with Sandra Bullock around ide ntity control\, which is similar to Hackman's old film and similarly didn' t get the accolades for the raw approach. \n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=huYQ7x0v9E8\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1970 colossus\, the forbin pro ject\n\n James Hong citing. The key is access. \n\n Funny how Wargames an d the Terminator both have as their main premise computers being given acc ess to nuclear arsenals\, cause humans don't trust humans or humans don't act quick enough on command. But there lies the true story for me. It is t he fact that in colossus/wargames/the terminator a computer program is giv en access to what it shouldn't. The enemy isn't the computer programs abil ities. The enemy is the human hubris that gives computer's the access to p ower the computer should not have. \n\n\n\n https://vimeo.com/584593423?f l=pl&\;fe=vl\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n\n \n\n 1972 Silent Running\n\n And the ro le of space exploration in preserving the earth. The myth is that once hum anity figures out how to go outside earth and extract everything or use ev erything earth can be a paradise forgetting the inefficient human systems will get in the way. \n\n\n\n https://ok.ru/video/5844487178779\n\n\n\n \ n\n\n\n \n\n 1973 Soylent Green \n\n I concur about resource based social structures. The fact that soylent green has no resistance movements is un derrated. The percent of people who have knowledge is being reduced to a l evel where not enough people know anything to have movements. Most of the people with knowledge are old. And expensive computer systems are not arou nd either. Computer games for the rich. Computer systems in manufacturing\ , developing soylent green exist but they are unable to do anything or int erfere with anything of a grand design\, because they are designed well.  \n\n\n\n https://archive.org/details/soylent-green-1973_20210310\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1975 Rollerball\n\n The role of sport in modernity. The key is the efficiency of human systems and how sport is one of the last and m aybe only activity human beings enjoy that requires humans. humans enjoy w atching humans fight to the death. In rollerball the AI is a computer trap ped in a room with data. It isn't connected to nuclear weapons and in roll erball it seems people don't carry around computer systems of a certain le vel of advanced interaction. And yet\, the corporations have specific mach ines for surveillance and more. The problem is of ideas. It isn't that hum anity hasn't found a balance\, it is that the balance through technology d emands total control or adherence to a system of life.\n\n\n\n \n\n 1975 D eath Race 2000\n\n This is reality television's future. From \"Big Brother \" to \"Naked and Afraid\" to \"Jackass the movie\" to \"Real Housewives\" to \"The Kardashian clan\" Reality TV which is the most scripted\, is des igned to give viewers the distant pleasures of viewing\, safe in that they are never hurt while active in that they participate in the action sequen ce. Death Race like Roller ball is a world where the system of business ha sn't made poverty\, but the human need to have more has been sated by an a thletic competition designed to allow the closest to complete depravity.\n \n\n\n https://youtu.be/-1SEgbolSF4?si=Y6oJKaLqAjXYweP3\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \ n\n 1975 the stepford wives\n\n As I typed\, robotic bodies while electron ic simulation systems are ever nearer. No laws exist to even remotely guid e humans\, especially males from desiring pseudo female slaves and the fil m correctly shows what happens to real women in a disadvantaged situation when men can replace them with someone perfect to their intentions. Not as nature intended. I argue the remake with the bioelectrical controlling ch ip misses the brutality of the original film. In the remake the women can be saved with a change in the circuit but in the original film\, the women once truly replaced are killed to make way for the robotic woman. \n\n\n \n https://youtu.be/UiqinUpRQgU?si=63Pxk3Sv4AA1czfn\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1973 Westworld \n\n Like Death race or Rollerball\, Westworld is a world where poverty isn't the problem but entertainment gives humans the ability to not get involved in questioning the larger system. How is wealth distr ibuted. As in rollerball or death race\, we don't see what goes on in the poorer regions in humanity\, which is the frightening reality of westworld \, a playground for the haves while no consideration to the have nots who are clearly blockaded from all thought or media exposure.\n\n\n\n https:// youtu.be/PzlbMrpF7qA?si=RyFzDj0SJhkLjTtv\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1978 The bo ys from Brazil \n\n Genetic engineering requires environmental controls a nd to what lengths can the wealthy use to dictate who is born \, what trai ts survive. What damage can be done to humanity by humanity when genetic e ngineering becomes feasible to humans most fantastical desires.\n\n\n\n ht tps://youtu.be/3UKWdOEEFMs?si=hnNQLTWduVeQ-kmT\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1978 Coma \n\n Organ harvesting is real. This is known in prisons or in poor c ountries. Coma shows this. The tragedy is how people don't want to face th is\, like soylent green. What if you need a human being to help you live\, not to feed. The desperation to live by the rich has no bounds. Vampires.  \n\n\n\n https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x9m08cm\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1976 Network \n\n Mad as hell. Audience likes dictate over quality. It i sn't about guiding to betterment but selling any subject or content to pro fit. Nothing is sacred when anything can be sold. \n\n\n\n https://youtu. be/A64rR5Dp07s?si=lHAKbcO42cgV4E4y\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://you tu.be/_RujOFCHsxo?si=Tom5kBIplsPI0cbF\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1977 Cap ricorn One \n\n The key is providing an illusion is more important than t he truth. Like Network media dictates events and so controlling media is e ver more important. Such that the efficiency of the system will slowly deg rade to a point where no one will be ready. \n\n\n\n https://youtu.be/fMJ wIeXYE0g?si=-FZ_4QLDWmV9HZsc\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1974 Dark Star \n\n Th e corporatization of space travel. Will be a true wild west of the future. Not the myth of cowboys vs Indians\, but the reality of people fighting e ach other \, surviving the elements \, while either are paving the way for the rich to remove both of them once the moon/mars or other outer areas a re settled\, just like the west. \n\n\n\n https://www.dailymotion.com/vid eo/x8tb80s\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1976 Logan's Run\n\n This is a dysfunctio nal plan of human preservation. Humanity outside the dome is dying\, while humanity in the dome is in a loop. But the dome is dying. At some point n o humanity will exist outside the dome and the loop inside the dome will d ie out in ignorance and impotency. In the original book\, the rival to Log an 5 is a very old man kept young by cosmetic surgeries\, who takes logan and \"wife\" to a ship where humanity actually exists off earth. Thus\, Lo gan's run is really a test in the book to see who is truly ready to be fre e. \n\n\n\n https://ok.ru/video/1820870576820\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1977 The Island Dr. Moreau \n\n Dr Moreau himself \, a scientist who has place d himself far from human communities\, while he is trying to do better tha n nature\, with no thought to the community he creates. A lone human enter s his private space and automatically creates chaos. Dr Moreau at heart wa nts to make a super race\, a perfect race\, as if anything made by humans can be perfect. Dr Moreau made his own tomb on an island nailed by the bod ies of his inventions and didn't  realize it was an inevitable failure th at one drop of external human input destroyed. \n\n\n\n https://ok.ru/vid eo/250508675650\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n 15 banne d hollywood films\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr2Qn7G41xo\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Freaks 1932\n\n It is a good film. Yes\, it is in sulting to midgets dwarves or various natural humans who do not have a com mon form. Yes\, it is a revenge film. But what is wrong in any of it? The truth is\, many humans do treat other humans as said midgets or others wer e treated in the film. Said treatment was and is not a lie. so\, again\, i t is insensitive\, but it isn't a lie and I find greater insult in the nee d for people to not see the truth in their negative actions. And also the truth in warranted revenge. Revenge is negative\, but it is not eternally unwarranted. Sometimes revenge is earned by the cruelty of those who are r evenged upon\, ala white Europeans have earned revenge by indigenous peopl es of the Americas\, the first peoples often called native americans.\n\n The funny thing about freaks is\, in film\, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein wh om in literature is of a beautiful human form\, is depicted as a \"freak\" while the creatures creator Frankenstein\, in literature a obsessive infa tuated egoist\, is treated as a scientist of good will who made a mistake.  \n\n\n\n https://archive.org/details/freaks-1932-colorized-movie-720p-hd \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Island of Lost Souls 1932\n\n This film treats More au correctly. Moreau is a man of knowledge who has found him a place on ea rth where he can become god with his intellect. And of course\, as moreau is only human the inevitable fall from his attempt at godhood occurs. Agai n\, the white audience of that time\, which accepted\, the annihilation of black towns and experimenting on black people\, didn't like to see its ac tions. Denial. why should films support denial ? People in modernity say t hey want to escape when they watch films. but that isn't my desire when i see a film. I like my life\, i am merely peering into a world\, I don't wa nt to escape into it. The audience has been trained to want to escape beca use of the lies \, the banning of films like island of lost souls supports .\n\n The Sign of the Cross 1932\n\n Films about history are always in the situation of the sign of the cross. I grew up in a home where history was taught with one tenet in mind\, truth\, not desire or want or convenience or ease. Truth. when some or many black people today suggest they don't w ant to see slavery to whites in a film\, what are they really saying? they can't stomach the truth? or worse\, they rather ignore or blockade the tr uth of an unquestioned majority of black people\, ninety nine percent\, fo r the truth of an unquestioned minority of black people\, the one percent of black people living giddy or happy in some varying integration with whi tes. why? What pains black people today in the truth of the past? IS it th at black people today know that while they live in the light of what the o ld minority wanted\, they live in a way the old majority would had attacke d\, spit on\, burned with all their souls. \n\n When any populace in huma nity can't face the violence from their forebears or the misery their fore bears lived\, they are weak.\n\n\n\n https://ok.ru/video/746986867202\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Scarface 1932\n\n Still the best scarface for me. His sister in this film is completely brilliant. The most potent thin g about scarface 1932 in comparison to the al pacino scarface is the histo rical honesty. Miami in the 1970s was never what scarface presented\, but the mob violence in new York city or Chicago was what Muni's scarface disp layed correctly. People in New York City talk about gang violence as if to day is some grandiose\, the greatest era of gang violence new York city ha d was mostly white Italian/irish/jewish and totally above control. But peo ple from whites to non whites suggest modernity is some parallel example.  It is a lie. I notice no one has ever showed the two scarfaces back to b ack \, at least in recent memory\n\n\n\n https://archive.org/details/scarf ace-1932_202109\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Ecstacy 1933 \n\n I neve r saw this one\, but a young hedy lamar. Prelolita lolita:) The lolita boo k is 1955 and the lolita film 1962 by stanley Kubrick are decades after es tacy. \n\n\n\n https://ok.ru/video/3554222213830\n\n\n\n \n\n The Story o f Temple Drake 1933 \n\n From Faulkner sanctuary\, i never saw this one. This is the film that was used in the legal system for the censors. I need to view it. \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Babyface 1933 \n\n Barbara Stanwyck can a ct. But beyond that\, Babyface is again\, truth. In modernity the real hou sewives show is a set of babyfaces? Bill gates and Jeff Bezos wives are ba byfaces. Women use the skill in the bed chamber and in intimacy with men t o get men to give to them and hope on a better ride if feasible. This is i ntimacy as a job\, which is very common today. Babyface was at a time when women didn't have the opportunities today\, to own a bank account or a ho use or even vote in a lot of scenarios. \n\n\n\n https://ok.ru/video/2837 08426915\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Tarzan and his mate 1934\n\n his mate:) for me\, Tarzan which was written as a mythos in literature for white Europea n peoples enjoyment and ego against the black African or others in general \, merely continued its literary role in film. why ban it?\n\n Reefer madn ess 1936\n\n This movie is a lovely truth on how nazi Germany isn't the on ly country that made propaganda\, film for quick consumption while little thought\n\n Marijuana 1936\n\n Reefer madness part 2\n\n The Outlaw 1943\n \n This is one of the films targeted by the code\, and the director respon ded by buying into the media hype making it more scandalous than it was. T he problem with self righteousness in any art field is\, it is never warra nted. \n\n\n\n https://youtu.be/I7T0tfieOf0?si=ykqFAeKRqa4my-Zu\n\n\n\n \ n\n\n\n \n\n Mom and Dad 1945\n\n Nice idea\, separate showing for men and women. That is ahead of the curve\, still today \, making variants of fil ms for genders is not done or embraced. but i think it can be functional.\ n\n Song of the South 1946\n\n haha!:) zipity do daa\, ziptity yeah! reall y... ah boy\, where do I begin. I think Disney should show song of the sou th before black panther all the time. It shows how film firms work. The So ng of the south was to cater to the majority ticket buying audience which was mostly white and infatuated with happy negroes as underlings. Black Pa nther was to cater to a global audience where black ticket buyers have the money to carry a film on its own while non black ticket buyers are willin g to pay to see a ninety nine percent black cast film. The key is who can buy tickets not respect or truth.\n\n Never forget song of the south was a huge money maker for disney\n\n Lost Boundaries 1949\n\n After 1934 Imita tion of life with real life yella or mulatta\, who called herself black\, Fredi Washington\, and before Human stain 2003 or  Free State of Jones 20 16 or Passing 2021 there was Lost Boundaries. The funny thing about passin g is how many whites were and still are fearful of the claim against black ancestry. White people have killed against that claim.\n\n video\n\n http s://youtu.be/z26VL_0EQks?si=tM7ud-X_3ZQ9ffwq\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Boundaries ] \n\n The Moon is Blue 19 43\n\n Otto Primenger was great by putting the film forward absent the pro duction code's judgement.\n\n\n\n https://archive.org/details/MoonIsBlue\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 1932 was a great year\, the last of top down independent cinema in the usa. \n\n\n\n more 1970s films\n\n htt ps://aalbc.com/tc/profile/6477-richardmurray/?status=2760&\;type=status \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20251001 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:KWL Live Q&A: The Writer’s Toolbox with Becca Puglisi DTSTAMP:20250927T003116Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:524-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n KWL Live Q&\;A: The Writer’s Toolbox with Becca Puglisi\n\n https://www.kobo.com/kobo-writing-life/blog/kwl-live-q- a-the-writers-toolbox-with-becca-puglisi\n\n\n\n youtube\n\n https://www.y outube.com/watch?v=AnOemMdLEGI\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n12 :17\nplan will put alot of work\nif you don't then you will write and the editing. \n12:19\nWhat are your thoughts to a prime antagonist who isn't the most powerful and is a subject to another whomthey can't defeat?\nI co ncur\, the writer for the anime \"black clover\" said he developed all the characters \n12:21\nYou have to make sure the protagonist can overcome\n 12:30 \nshow outward clues for emotions\n12:34 emotional wound thesaurus\ , is a primer on character\, explores how a character will develop habits/ biases from fear of something not recurring again\n12:40 for a character\, each book in a series should have a different arc. focus on one problem p er book\n12:44 most important marketing tactic?\nshe does the financing he r friend does the marketing. \nKnow how to find your audience? and then b e true to what your audience wants?\n12:48 she compartmentalizes\, she wor ks when kids are at school\, she is with family when kids are home. \nsaf eguard writing time\nit helps that she works with her friend angela\, ange la lives in Canada\, she in florida but it helps having someone who gets i t\, family loves you but they usually don't get it. \n12:54 what do you w ish you knew when you started?\nI wish i knew how long it will take to bec ome financially viable\nit takes 10\,000 hours to master anything\n12:59 w here can we find you\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n https://writershelpingwriters.net/\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n https://onestopforwriters.com/\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250925 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Assata Shakur spirit flew 09/26 in the year 2025 DTSTAMP:20250926T224031Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:523-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n Assata Shakur spirit flew 09/26 in the year 2025 \n \n correction she was born July 16\, 1947\, so she was 78.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\ n\n \n\n\n\n from Essence Magazine\n\n We are saddened to report that Assa ta Shakur\, revolutionary\, activist\, and author\, has passed away. \n\n Born JoAnne Chesimard\, she rose as a leading member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army\, fighting for justice and freedom.  \n\n A political exile in Cuba since 1984\, her life embodied resistance\, resilience\, and the unyielding pursuit of liberation. Her legacy lives o n in the generations she inspired to stand tall in the face of oppression. \n\n The best way to honor here is with a quote we all should by: \n\n “It is our duty to fight for our freedom.  It is our duty to win. We mu st love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”\n\n Rest in power\, Assata.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n https://www.essen ce.com/cuba-says-returning-assata-shakur-us-off-the-table/\n\n\n\n Cuba Sa ys Returning Assata Shakur to U.S. Is 'Off the Table'\nAssata Shakur has b een living in Cuba since 1977\, when she escaped imprisonment after she wa s convicted of killing a U.S. state trooper\nBy Taylor Lewis · Updated Oc tober 27\, 2020\nDespite improved relations between the United States and Cuba\, Cuban officials have no plans to turn American fugitive Assata Shak ur over to the U.S.\n\nShakur\, the first woman to be placed on the FBI’ s most wanted list\, has been at large since 1977\, four years after she w as arrested on charges of killing a New Jersey State Trooper. However\, ma ny believe that Shakur\, who had strong affiliations with the Black Panthe r Party\, was framed by COINTELPRO\, an anti-liberation government organiz ation. After the shooting\, her fingerprints were never found on the gun\, and there was no trace of gunpowder on her hands. With the help of the Bl ack Panthers\, Shakur escaped prison and fled to Cuba\, where she has been living freely ever since. Cuba officially granted her political asylum in 1984\, though the United States is determined to see her back on American soil\, issuing multiple warrants for her arrest. \n\nPresident Obama ann ounced in December that the two countries have restored relations\, even r eleasing political prisoners from both sides. But\, the chances that Cuba will agree to turn over Shakur are slim. Earlier this week\, Gustavo Machi n\, deputy director for American affairs at the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs\, told Yahoo! News\, “I can say it is off the table. There are v ery serious doubts about that case. We consider that a politically motivat ed case against that lady.”\n\nThe U.S. has not responded to Machin’s statement.\n\n\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n https://www.essence.com/assata-shakur-fac ts-call-return-from-cuba/\n\n\n\n 8 Things to Know About Assata Shakur and the Calls to Bring Her Back from Cuba\nBy Paula Rogo · Updated October 2 6\, 2020\nEvery few years\, it’s not uncommon to see Assata Shakur’s n ame back in the news headlines.\n\nShakur is a revolutionary Black icon\, whose legend has evolved into making her a patron saint of Black rebellion in the last half-century. The Queens\, N.Y\, native has been living in Cu ba for over 30 years\, after having escaped from the prison where she was serving a sentence for allegedly killing a New Jersey state trooper in 197 3.\n\n5399089366001\nIn 2017\, President Trump announced that the US would impose new limits on US travelers to Cuba\, adding that the US would cons ider lifting those and other restrictions only after certain changes were made — including returning American fugitives like Shakur.\n\n“The har boring of criminals and fugitives will end\,” Trump said to Cuba. “You have no choice. It will end.”\n\nCuba pushed back\, refusing to hand he r over\, and adding another chapter to Shakur’s revolutionary life. The island has long been a haven for African-Americans who’ve committed “p olitical crimes” or domestic “terrorism” (In the 1960s\, Black Panth ers such as Eldridge Cleaver\, Huey Newton and Raymond Johnson all spent t ime in Cuba).\n\nA mystic lore now surrounds Shakur\, both in her four-dec ade evasion of law enforcement — she was the first woman to ever make th e FBI’s most wanted terrorist list — as well as her proximity to hip-h op royalty — she is step-aunt and godmother to the late Tupac Shakur.\n\ nHere are eight things to know about her:\n\n1. What’s in a Name?\n\nSha kur was born Joanne Deborah Chesimard\, in Jamaica\, Queens. She changed h er name to Assata Shakur in 1971. “The name JoAnne began to irk my nerve s\,” she writes in her autobiography. “I had changed a lot and moved t o a different beat. I didn’t feel like no JoAnne\, or no Negro\, or no A merikan. I felt like an African woman. My mind\, heart\, and soul had gone back to Africa but my name was still stranded in Europe somewhere.”\n\n 2. The Revolution\n\nArticle continues after video.\nShakur joined the Bla ck Panthers in the late 1960s while in her 20s\, but eventually became dis illusioned with the direction of the organization and left. She then becam e a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA)\, another militant Black org anization that believed in open resistance.\n\n3. Her Alleged Crimes\n\nOn May 2\, 1973\, Shakur and two members of the BLA were pulled over by stat e troopers in New Jersey. State Trooper Werner Foerster and one BLA member were killed. While police maintain that Shakur is responsible in Foerster ’s death\, she has consistently denied the accusation. In 1977\, Shakur was convicted on one murder charge and six assault charges and sentenced t o life in prison. But there is much evidence to suggest the trial was not fair\; her lawyer called the trial “a legal lynching and a kangaroo cour t.”\n\nShe escaped in 1979 with the assistance of BLA members posing as visitors to the prison.\n\n4. Fidel Steps In\n\nShakur was granted asylum by Fidel Castro in 1984.\n\n5. FBI’s Most Wanted\n\nIn May 2013\, the 40 th anniversary of her arrest\, she became the first woman ever to be named on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list. There is a $2 million federal and state reward for her arrest.\n\n6. Extradition\n\nOver the years\, po liticians have called for her extradition from Cuba\, including Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey\, and most recently President Trump.\n\n7. ‘She Is Innocent’\n\nMany prominent Black thinkers and leaders have also main tained her innocence. Angela Davis\, for example\, has said that Shakur is a little threat to the U.S. government:\n\n“Assata is not a threat. She is innocent\,” she has said. “People really don’t know the details and are not aware of the extent to which [Shakur] was targeted by the FBI and the COINTEL programme.”\n\n8. Hip-Hop Loves Her\n\nShakur is an icon within hip-hop lore\, having been cited in songs like Public Enemy’s “Rebel Without A Pause” to Common’s “A Song for Assata.” Being t he godmother and step-aunt to Tupac Shakur also adds to her intrigue.\n\n\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n from NewsOne\n\n\n\n Activist\, revolutionary\, Black P anther Party leader and member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA)\, Assata Olugbala Shakur\, has died at age 78\, according to her daughter\, Kakuya Shakur\, meaning the ancestors have gained a fierce warrior in the fight against white supremacy. May she rest in power. ✊🏾\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n https://newsone.com/6489574/revolutionary-fighter-for-black-libe ration-assata-shakur-dies-at-78/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Revolutiona ry Fighter For Black Liberation Assata Shakur Dies At 78\nBlack Liberation Party member Assata Shakur\, born JoAnne Deborah Byron\, has died at the age of 78\, according to family members.\n\nSource: Delphine Fawandu / Del phine Fawandu\nActivist\, revolutionary\, Black Panther Party leader and m ember of the Black Liberation Army (BLA)\, Assata Olugbala Shakur\, has di ed at age 78\, according to her daughter\, Kakuya Shakur\, meaning the anc estors have gained a fierce warrior in the fight against white supremacy.\ n\nShakur\, born JoAnne Deborah Byron on July 16\, 1947\, in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens\, New York\, was the sister of fellow Black liberat ion movement icon Mutulu Shakur\, who died in 2023 at 72\, and the godmoth er and step-aunt of late legendary rapper and actor Tupac Shakur\, whose m other\, Afeni\, was Mutulu’s wife.\n\nAssata represents one of the most iconic names associated with the Black Panthers and the fight to truly lib erate Black people from white overseers.\n\nThat is how Black American peo ple see and celebrate her.\n\nFor America\, she’s a far more controversi al figure\, and to many\, she’s a notorious criminal who broke out of pr ison and fled the country after murdering a police officer\, an act that k ept her on the FBI’s Most Wanted List and New Jersey’s Most Wanted Lis t until her dying day. According to EBSCO Knowledge Advantage\, she was th e first woman to be placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.\n\nOn May 2\, 1973\, Shakur and two other BLA members were pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike by State Trooper Werner Foerster and another highway officer. A confrontation occurred between the officers and Shakur’s group\, which r esulted in a shootout that left Forrester and another individual dead. In 2019\, FBI’s Special Agent in Charge Gregory Ehrie characterized the sho oting as “a heinous execution of a law enforcement officer\, cut and d ry.”\n\n“This is without dispute\,” Ehrrie continued.\n\nOh\, but th is certainly has been disputed.\n\nIn fact\, supporters of Shakur have and continue to argue that the trial was flawed\, citing a lack of physical e vidence and eyewitness inconsistencies\, and the history of efforts by law enforcement\, including the FBI\, to undermine and outright sabotage the civil rights movement and Black power movements.\n\nAt any rate\, Shakur e scaped from prison in 1979 and ultimately sought asylum in Cuba\, where sh e lived out her life.\n\nAs written by our sister site\, Bossip:\n\nBut de spite the government’s efforts to silence her\, Assata Shakur’s words and work lived on. Her 1988 autobiography Assata became a blueprint for re sistance and self-determination\, widely studied by activists\, scholars\, and young people searching for a voice in the struggle. Her life inspired movements like Assata’s Daughters in Chicago\, and her name was shouted in protests in Ferguson and across the world. Assata was a human rights a ctivist and freedom fighter who stood in solidarity with oppressed people worldwide — and for that\, her legacy will endure.\n\n“People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression\, the more your tol erance for it grows. After a while\, people just think oppression is the n ormal state of things. But to become free\, you have to be acutely aware o f being a slave\,” Shakur once said\, according to her book\, Assata: An Autobiography.\n\nIn honor of her legacy\, here’s the beautiful tribute to Assata Shakur\, her story and her legacy\, “A Song for Assata\,” b y Common.\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaqXrT9bU10\nRest well\, Assata \, and be free.\n\n\n\n\n A SONG FOR ASSATA by COMMON\n\n https://www.yout ube.com/watch?v=HaqXrT9bU10\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n https://newso ne.com/2436064/angela-davis-fbi-assata-shakur/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Angela D avis: FBI Targeting Assata Shakur ‘Reflects Very Logic Of Terrorism’ [ VIDEO]\nIn an interview from 2013\, Angela Davis and Lennox Hinds\, Assata Shakur's attorney\, discuss Assata being added to the FBI's Most Wanted l ist.\n\nWritten by\nKirsten West Savali\nPublished on\nSeptember 26\, 2025 \n\nUPDATE — Friday\, Sept. 26\, 2025\, 11:12 a.m. EST: Assata Shakur jo ined the ancestors on Thursday\, Sept. 25\, 2025. In rememberance of her l ife and her work to liberate Black people\, NewsOne is republishing this a rticle and video about her being placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.\n \nIn an interview on Democracy Now with Amy Goodman and Juan González\, D avis said that the FBI placing Shakur on its “Most Wanted Terrorists” list\, the first  woman to be so designated\, “reflects the very logic of terrorism.”\n\n“It seems to me that this act incorporates or reflec ts the very logic of terrorism\,” Davis says. “I can’t help but thin k that it’s designed to frighten people who are involved in struggles to day. Forty years ago seems like it was a long time ago. In the beginning o f the 21st century\, we’re still fighting around the very same issues — police violence\, healthcare\, education\, people in prison.”\n\nDav is was joined by Lennox Hinds\, Assata Shakur’s attorney since 1973 and professor of criminal justice at Rutgers University\, who also said the ac t is politically motivated:\n\n“This is a political act pushed by the st ate of New Jersey\, by some members of Congress from Miami\, and with the intent of putting pressure on the Cuban government and to inflame public o pinion\,” Hinds says. “There is no way to appeal someone being put on the terrorists list.”\n\nShakur\, formerly Joanne Chesimard\, was a memb er of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army\, and the first wo man placed on the “Most Wanted Terrorists” list. Shakur\, the godmothe r of slain Hip-Hop artist\, poet\, actor and activist\, Tupac Shakur\, is only the second person from inside the United States to be placed on the l ist. In an unexpected move\, the state of New Jersey announced it was addi ng $1 million to the FBI’s $1 million reward for her capture.\n\nThough the politically accepted version of events vilifies Shakur\, please read b elow for the facts.\n\nLiberation News reports:\n\nShakur was falsely conv icted of having killed an officer on May 2\, 1973. While driving on the Ne w Jersey Turnpike\, Assata\, Zayd Shakur\, and Sundiata Acoli were stopped by state troopers\, allegedly for having a “faulty taillight.” A shoo tout ensued where one state trooper killed Zayd Shakur\, and another troop er\, Werner Foerster\, ended up dead. Shakur was charged with both murders \, despite the fact that the other trooper\, James Harper\, admitted he ki lled Zayd Shakur.\n\nAssata had been\, following police instructions\, sta nding with her hands in the air\, when she was shot by Trooper Harper more than once\, including a bullet to the back. Trooper Harper lied and said he had seen Shakur reach for a gun\, a claim he later recanted. He also cl aimed she had been in a firing position\, something a surgeon who examined her said was “anatomically impossible.” The same surgeon said it wa s “anatomically necessary” for her arms to have been raised for her to receive the bullet wounds she did. Tests done by the police found that Sh akur had not fired a gun\, and no physical or medical evidence was present ed by the prosecution to back up their claim that she had fired a gun at T rooper Harper.\n\nWhile she was in trial proceedings\, the state attempted to pin six other serious crimes on her\, alleging she had carried out ban k robberies\, kidnappings and attempted killings. She was acquitted three times\, two were dismissed and one resulted in a hung jury.\n\nShakur was put on trial in a county where because of pre-trial publicity 70 percent o f people thought she was guilty\, and she was judged by an all-white jury. Without any physical evidence to present\, the prosecution had to rely to tally on false statements and innuendo aimed at playing on the prejudices of the jury pool against Black people\, political radicals\, and Black rev olutionaries in particular. Finally\, after years behind bars\, the state secured her conviction for the Turnpike shooting.\n\nIn 1979\, Shakur esca ped from jail and fled to Cuba where she received political asylum and has lived ever since.\n\nShe once wrote\, “I am a 20th century escaped slav e. Because of government persecution\, I was left with no other choice tha n to flee from the political repression\, racism and violence that dominat e the U.S. government’s policy towards people of color.”\n\nhttps://yo utu.be/ZCuj2pvFPY4?si=iv61Mja2MPAKZy5A\n\nIt speaks to the hypocrisy of th e United States that there are police officers who have not only killed un armed\, innocent people\, but are roaming free and lauded for their braver y. Based on the criteria\, there are certain police departments who should be characterized as domestic terror cells. But instead\, the FBI is going after a 65-year-old revolutionary who isn’t even guilty and — by inte rnational law — has the right to seek political asylum.\n\nIt is amazi ng — and pathetic — how swiftly the FBI felt compelled to frame the do mestic terrorism conversation around a Black revolutionary living in Cuba\ , instead of two White men from Boston.\n\nTiming is everything — and th e timing of this travesty of justice speaks volumes.\n\nTo show your suppo rt and say Hands Off Assata Shakur\, sign the Change.org here.\n\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Angela Davis and Assata Shakur's Lawyer Denounce FBI's Adding of Exiled Activist to Terrorist List\n\n https://youtu.be/ZCuj2pvFPY4?si=i v61Mja2MPAKZy5A\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n In 1987\n\n\n\n \n\n refe rral\n\n https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/assata-shakur-black-liberatio n-army-figure-activist-dies-78-rcna233919\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250716 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Movies That Move We- Sounder 1972 DTSTAMP:20250924T033024Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:522-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n Movies That Move We- Sounder\n\n https://www.youtube .com/watch?v=o9WlL2KAjlg\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n My Thoughts To t he Minutes\n\n Movies That Move We\, the third generation:) \n\n Lis + Ki m+ Manda with Nike looking at Sounder.\n\n Manda/Kim/Nike/Lis\n\n\n\n 2:10 interesting that Kim had to read The Secret Garden. \n3:22 Nike question \, a question of a black family written by a white man?\nLis: don't feel i t is well received\nKim: if he grew up in a family different than him\, or have a different  . But \nManda: a product of the time. He had editors. the gaze in the story is for a certain audience. \n6:14 Nike couldn't fi nd any interviews. She cites a note: \"fifty years ago i learned to read a t a round table at a country school house\, the teachers name was Charles jones. After school he worked for my father and in the summer he drove a h ay rake and a mowing machine. He had a deep rich voice and he loved to tel l stories\, I have never forgotten them. Out of the stories he told me and the boy who sat next to me in the round table came the story in this book \"\n7:42 Nike didn't like the unnamed characters\n10:20 Swampy the dog had no other roles in a movie:) \n11:21 Nike asked what do you think about t he dog?\nKim\, she liked the dog in the book becoming part of the family.  \n17:14 Nike\, is this a radical story?\nLis\, the screen writer was bla ck for the film did that make a difference. \nKim\, felt the film was tam e.\nManda\, she turned it on and told her kids to go away.\n22:45 The perf ormance of Cicely Tyson \n24:54 In the book\, the author didn't have the ability to write the energy \, so in the movie\, a black woman was able to bring life in it.\n27:11 in 1972 women couldn't have a credit card on the ir own in the united states of America\, good point by Nike.\n28:29 Lis\, good point\, god is the higher male and the pastor used god in that part.\ n29:55 Nike\, when the boy went to the teachers house \, he felt she was r ich\ngood question about whether he got that from a first hand source\n31: 32 Nike\, what are your thoughts on the education scene?\nKim\, excited bu t sad. The teacher was considered rich for having her own home. A simple t hing. \nManda\, in the book\, we saw his progression. he lamented he coul dn't read. In the movie he already can. And in the book the teacher was an older white guy\, while the teacher was a younger black female.\n33:48 Ov erview call from Nike\n34:19 Manda\, ask\, does the movie exist as a recla mation of the story. \n37:56 The ending\, \nin the book the father was p aralyzed very badly while in the movie\, it was made more gentle.\n39:15 G ood point that the father and dog died in the book at the end.\n39:42 Nike asked how did it feel\nKim mentioned how she never lived in such a financ ially poor housing as the black characters in the book and she was spoiled as a child and when she was subjected to stories like this\, she said tha nk god i am not in this situation.\n41:36 Unike Sounder roots was very vis ible with the violence. \n41:56 before Roots what story was the media sta ndard?  \n43:28 Nike can't recall to many films with a black child at the center.\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n Sounder 2 suppos edly was barely released which i argue is how the film industry producers historically kill films they don't want any to see but were forced from wh atever reason to produce. Think John carter of mars for disney. IT was mad e \, but Disney killed that film in advertising in the media mechanics of what a film needs. And Disney did it cause they bought MArvel and didn't w ant to waste any future money on a john carter series \n\n link\n\n https ://books.google.com/books?id=X7ZYsnTPIhwC&\;lpg=PA78&\;vq=annazette% 20chase&\;pg=PA78#v=onepage&\;q&\;f=falseembed\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n referral\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part_2\,_Sounde r\n\n\n\n The Dandridge Sisters n 1940 Irene\n\n https://youtu.be/CTeabecj _4o?si=BQ2qgnGQ6_1bTeYs\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Bright Road\n\n Directed by     Gerald Mayer\n\n Screenplay by    Emmet Lavery\n\n Based on    \"See How They Run\"\n\n 1951 short story Ladies' Home Journal\n\n by M ary Elizabeth Vroman\n\n Starring    Dorothy Dandridge\n\n Philip Hepbu rn\n\n Harry Belafonte\n\n Barbara Ann Sanders\n\n https://youtu.be/278qbM mPpPI?si=eqML-s-coYm5Wmwo\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/w iki/Bright_Road\n\n\n\n Four Shall Die is a 1940 American supernatural cri me film directed by William Beaudine. It features Dorothy Dandridge in her first credited film role.\n\n It says in the black cinemaconnection that the film is presumed lost. Damn!\n\n https://blackcinemaconnection.com/201 8/10/29/four-shall-die/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n My Comment\n\n\n\n Nike\, you d on't like stories with characters absent a name?\nLis\, the problem is\, t he producer of the film was white and controlled what could be done or emi tted\, to this day producers dictate the parameters of artistic expression of directors/thespians or others?\nManda\, what later films are inspired by Sounder's stylistic conversions from book to screenplay\, if any?\nMand a ask is the film a reclamation.  I argue\, yes absent deviating from bei ng an intended feel good story. \nA sounder 2? \nMy first question to yo u four is\, with so many people\, black in particular\, desiring not to se e films involving enslavement of blacks to whites\, in the usa in particul ar\, or seeing black struggle in an environment controlled by the non blac k\, does Sounder fit the desire of some film goers \, black or non black\, to see a film absent black suffering or black struggle?\n My second ques tion to you four is\, the film industry ever since the code came in has al ways pushed films based on literature to be less violent\, less fornicativ e\, less depictive of negativities than the books themselves\, the two opp ositions to that are the Frankenstein films and Glory from spielberg\, whe re Frankenstein is written as a creature fully functional or pleasant in a ppearance as a human male\, the movies make the creature\, crude\, disgust ing looking\, incapable to be with a woman\, OR the fifty third regiment m ostly made up of free black men who can read but are depicted more negativ ely in terms of their status or condition. But\, from fifty shades to Soun der to lord of the flies\, to journey to the west to the statian film adap ations of \"men who hate women\" ninety nine percent of films are never al lowed to go as far as books. So my question is\, what do you say to that? Has the film going audience in the usa been trained to expect a lighter to uch on violent scenes\, so much that to do as the books most violent parts will be unacceptable? \nKim\, roots was made in 1977\, five years after \, and Manda's question is interesting. If Sounder had not been made\, wou ld Roots be made?\nI think Roots is interesting cause even though Roots is well known \, it isn't something shown alot today. And I argue it is beca use it isn't uplifting. Overall it doesn't allow non blacks to think of th e usa as this country of egalitarianism\, not does it allow blacks to thin k of the usa as some wanted home by their forebears\, who were forced to i mmigrate. \nNanda\, asked before Roots what was the film dealing with the past of blacks in the USA considered the \"standard\" and I argue Sounder was it. \nNike\, check out the film Bright Road with Dorothy Dandridge\, the question I pose to all four of you is\, if no \"Bright Road\" 1953 ha ppened would there be a Sounder film?\n\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n referral\n\n htt ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9WlL2KAjlg&\;lc=UgwTgyYJo5BPjxYaWzB4AaABA g \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250923 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Ghibli vs Disney criminal school DTSTAMP:20250921T003024Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:520-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Ghibli vs Disney concerning \"evil doers\"\n\n https://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=O5DpniToXq4\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my comment\n \n One missed on thing about Zeniba. While many consider her good because she welcomes chihero and company\, has her guide \, lantern\, help them th rough the dark forest about her home. Is hugging and gentle and kind. What is missed to the parallel between Zeniba side Yubaba is the negativities\ , maybe not evil\, in Zeniba. Yubaba lives close to the gates to the livin g world\, so she can actually interact with those who may become lost. Yub aba is like a community organizer of various spirits who have become lost or need a balanced life. Zeniba lives very far so much so even leaving at the early morning by train she can only be reached at night. She doesn't o ffer any assistance even though she can reach Yubaba's lands as she proved with the paper airplane creatures. Zeniba has never had a child meaning s he has never opened herself up to certain kinds of relationship. Zeniba ma y not have what people can an evil aspect\, but she has her own negativity \, which i think is missed in ghibli's \"good\" characters at times. \n\n in amendment\n\n so @Miguelmunuera2601 are you saying the best writing st rategy is to do the nippon 4 act in the jeudeo christian three act.\n\n \n \n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250920 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Black Woman who are physically common - Mayowa's world DTSTAMP:20250920T233212Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:519-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n dark skin women are liked when they are physically except ional\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWVcDaKJVww\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \ n\n\n\n my comment\n\n you made me laugh \"excuse me white woman\, would y ou please ...\" ahh she is a DOS interesting so many assumed she is from t he continent. If you ever go to the southern states and see black towns yo u will see very dark skin black people. good point on lizzo\, the idea tha t black women whose faces are never deemed more beautiful than white women 's  in white owned media\, has to have a body that no male can deny they want to screw is the allusion. And black entertainers especially musicians don't make it better when in their videos talking about the best women to screw\,  they have so many women who are not black  or yella black wome n. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n DO YOU KNIT?\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250920 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Denzel Washington Fame and The Plantation House Unused In Ho rror DTSTAMP:20250920T231847Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:518-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n so that’s why this scene made Denzel a star\n\n ht tps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdEjh41DCLo\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my c omment\n\n the problem with glory is the film while a work of fiction spea ks true on a lot of things. But the most important thing it says is\, the union won but it wasn't that the union or the confederacy were heroes. but a few of the seeds in that time will start to modulate the usa into the f unctional multiracial populace it is today\, over three hundred million\, more racial variance than any other populace under any other government. A s Speilberg suggested using O fortuna [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O_Fo rtuna \; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nthojvLZoNY&\;list=RDnthojvLZo NY&\;start_radio=1 ] about the inevitability of fate. Most well known i n film audiences concerning King Arthur which is a call back to a fantasy past. In Glory\, O Fortuna \, refers to the \"glorious\" fate of the usa g oing forward where blacks and non blacks will fight together moreover in t he coming years and moreso beyond the time of the war between the states. So even as the 54 mostly fall \, what they begin will be something unseen. A time unseen before. [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz3sZiVAO0k \; NO TE: charging fort wagner - https://jameshorner-filmmusic.com/glory-an-anal ysis-of-the-complete-score/ ]\n\n\n\n The Most Terrifying Trope in Modern Horror (That No One Will Touch)\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPyiNg AXEKg\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my comment\n\n Never heard of Swallow Ba rn from John Kennedy [ https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/swallow-ba rn-1832/ \, under pen name Mark Littleton] \, thanks. Aunt Phillis's Cabin [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aunt_Phillis%27s_Cabin ] thanks again.\n \n I knew of Dixon but I didn't know he was a pastor\, hilarious. The Leop ard's spots[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Leopard%27s_Spots ] / The C lansman [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clansman:_A_Historical_Romance _of_the_Ku_Klux_Klan ] / The Traitor [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_T raitor_(Dixon_novel) ] \n\n You may enjoy\n\n KLAN IS DENOUNCED BY 'THE C LANSMAN'\; Thomas Dixon Blames It for Riots and Bloodshed and Demands It B e Throttled.\n\n Jan. 23\, 1923\n\n [ https://www.nytimes.com/1923/01/23/a rchives/klan-is-denounced-by-the-clansman-thomas-dixon-blames-it-for-riots .html ] \n\n Within Our Gates from Micheaux is lovely\n\n [ https://www.y outube.com/watch?v=h1E0NrcnwAE ] \n\n [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wit hin_Our_Gates ] \n\n Charles Chesnutt\n\n If anyone ever finds the Conjur e Woman I wonder.\n\n [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conjure_Woman_(f ilm) \; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conjure_Woman \; ] \n\n before passing by nella larsen [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passing_(novel) ]  and devil in a blue dress by walter mosley [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wi ki/Devil_in_a_Blue_Dress ] there was the house behind the cedars\n\n [ htt ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_Behind_the_Cedars  \; https://en.wik ipedia.org/wiki/The_House_Behind_the_Cedars_(book) ]\n\n The Foxes of HArr ow - odd the book doesn't have a wiki page.\n\n [ https://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/The_Foxes_of_Harrow ] \n\n Computers can be coded to not make conne ctions\, though people may not realize it.\n\n Good point on comedy being the way to attack the southern plantation. Yeah\, comedy is a tool looking at Get Out\, I am not a comedic writer. \n\n Sons of Ingagi - first scie nce fiction film to have an all black cast\n\n [ https://archive.org/detai ls/SonOfIngagi1940 \; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Ingagi ] \n\n Consider watching the Blood of Jesus\, written and directed by spencer wil liams \n\n [ https://archive.org/details/blood_of_jesus \; https://en.wik ipedia.org/wiki/The_Blood_of_Jesus ] \n\n Nice shout for the innocents\, true horror classic\n\n [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpFEXmmiAt0 \;  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innocents_(1961_film) ] \n\n John P K ennedy mentored Poe\, wow. \n\n Funny how it took to the 1990s for lake L anier to be revealed to still have graves.\n\n Good point on slave narrati ves. A unique DOS genre \, like Negro Spirituals.\n\n [ https://en.wikiped ia.org/wiki/Incidents_in_the_Life_of_a_Slave_Girl \; https://gutenberg.org /ebooks/11030 ] \n\n Good point on how Victorian mansions and antebellum homes were made at the same time\, while the European Victorian broke down and haunted while antebellum became wedding spaces.\n\n Never heard of th e Changeling\n\n [ https://youtu.be/WA-taJ2Ui30?si=HtwWlEGrRer5YrBw \; htt ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Changeling_(film) ] \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n CL OTEL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/496-clotel-or-the-presidents -daughter-a-narrative-of-slave-life-in-the-united-states-by-william-well-b rown/\n\n\n\n ANd To see more work\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/clubs/7-do s-earliest-literature/\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250920 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:medieval fantasy is or not from Puto Mikel DTSTAMP:20250920T224717Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:517-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n medieval fantasy is or not\n\n https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=B6jtEbn2s-w\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my comment\n\n Interesting p oints. well done. I like ivanhoe. Good point\, gawain and the green knight has more in common with narnia not lord of the rings when it comes to a r eal setting that interacts with the fantastic. I get your point. Folkloris m needs to be stated more often. Good points\, dragons/elves/magic women w ith items are not confined to european medeival. You convinced me\, fantas y is the genre\, not medieval fantasy. 18:56 good point the problem is the way in which history books assess history. 19:57 good quote\, people didn 't go to sleep ancient and wake up medieval. As i say\, the roman empire d idn't die when most think it did. 22:55 funny 23:14 great point\, technolo gy doesn't arrive at the same time everywhere. 24:31 good point on using c ommunication methods as a determinent. 26:52 good point inhow in east asia \, they are talking about who is running things\, in that case\, 28:47 goo d point\, most people in europe durin the time called the middle ages had a greater religiosity than most fantasy novel labeled medieval have. 32:04 funny how he went from constantine to the ottomans. 35:54 what about euro pean fantasy as a label for lord of the rings/song of ice and fire or simi lar. 39:23 yes more finesse is needed in how people construct history 43:1 7  great point \, thousand of years and now tech change 45:58 thank you\, some wars are inevitable  46:04 great point cause george rr martin once said\, what about the orcs how are orc children. so Song of ice and fire i s historical fantasy while lord of the rings is fantasy based on multiheri tage folklore 53:03 hmm good points\, using time or who is in charge is a better label \n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n Excalibur silent film edit\n\n https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MjyYEQtr3A\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250920 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Wayne Lewis of Atlantic Starr born April 13th DTSTAMP:20250920T224151Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:516-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Wayne Lewis of Atlantic Starr born April 13th\, In 1957\n \n\n\n Wayne Lewis- of Atlantic Starr who cowrote Always\n\n https://www.a l.com/news/2025/06/pop-singer-in-iconic-rb-group-who-co-wrote-popular-wedd ing-song-dead-at-68.html\n\n\n\n song\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= dM-CiPKZF4g\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LYRIC\n[Verse 1: Wayne Lewis and B arbara Weathers]\nGirl\, you are to me\nAll that a woman should be\nAnd I dedicate my life\nTo you\, always\nThe love like yours is rare\nIt must ha ve been\nSent from up above\nAnd I know you'll stay this way\nFor always\n [Pre-Chorus: Wayne Lewis and Barbara Weathers\, Barbara Weathers]\nAnd we both know\nThat our love will grow\nAnd forever\nIt will be\nYou and me\, hey\n[Chorus: Wayne Lewis and Barbara Weathers]\nOoh\, you're like the sun \nChasin' all of the rain away\nWhen you come around\nYou bring brighter d ays\nYou're the perfect one\nFor me and you\nForever will be\nAnd I will l ove you so\nFor always\n[Verse 2: Wayne Lewis and Barbara Weathers]\nCome with me\, my sweet\nLet's go make a family\nAnd they will bring us joy\nFo r always\nOh\, boy\nI love you so\nI can't find enough ways\nTo let you kn ow\nBut you can be sure I'm yours\nFor always\n[Pre-Chorus: Wayne Lewis an d Barbara Weathers\, Barbara Weathers]\nAnd we both know\nThat our love wi ll grow\nAnd forever\nIt will be\nYou and me\, hey yeah\n[Chorus: Wayne Le wis and Barbara Weathers]\nOoh\, you're like the sun\nChasing all of the r ain away\nWhen you come around\nYou bring brighter days\nYou're the perfec t one\nFor me and you\nForever will be\nAnd I will love you so\nFor always \n[Bridge: Barbara Weathers]\nHey\, yeah\n[Chorus: Wayne Lewis and Barbara Weathers]\nOoh\, you're like the sun\nChasing all of the rain away\nWhen you come around\nYou bring brighter days\nYou're the perfect one\nFor me a nd you\nForever will be\nAnd I will love you so\nFor always\n[Outro: Wayne Lewis and Barbara Weathers]\nOoh\, ooh\nI will love you so\nFor always\nO oh\, ooh\nI will love you so\nFor always\nOoh\, ooh\nI will love you so\nF or always\n\n\n\n\n \n\n lyrics from\n\n David Lewis Wayne Lewis\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Funny how they wrote one of the most well known romantic songs of the late 1970s early 1980s while also one of the best if not most well known cheating couple song\n\n song\n\n\n\n SECRET LOVERS\n\n https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=uzwQ-PNJtPg\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n song with stag e intro\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe2UXqFo0DY\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n LYRICS\n[stage intro]\n- San Bernardino! (crowd cheering)\ncan we talk? [laughter]\nOkay. Right now I'd like to tell you a story\, okay?\ nBut in order for me to tell you the story\, you must\,\nyou just must use your imagination.\nOkay\, ladies. (gentle music)\nOkay\, first\, imagine\ nthat this is the finest man\nyou have ever seen in your life!\n(crowd che ering) Whoo!\nIs he fine or what? (crowd cheering)\nBut he's mine.\nAnd I love him.\nBut on my way to rehearsal\,\nI saw this man.\nWhoo-whee!\nAnd girlfriend\, let me tell you\,\nhe was finer than my man was!\nSo I wanted to mess around with him a little bit.\nYou know what I'm saying?\nBut I c ouldn't leave my man\,\ncould I? - No.\n- So in order to have my cake and eat it too\,\nI had to keep him a secret.\nDo we have any secret lovers ou t here in the house tonight? (crowd cheering)\nThis is for you.\n[official song]\nHere we are\, the two of us together\nTakin' this crazy chance to be all alone\nWe both know that we should not be together\n'Cause if we're found out\, it could mess up both our happy homes\n\nI hate to think abou t us all meetin' up together\n'Cause as soon as I look at you\, it will sh ow on my face\, yeah\nThen they'll know that we've been loving each other\ nWe can't let 'em know\, no\, no\, no\, we can't leave a trace\n\nSecret l overs\, yeah\, that's what we are\nWe shouldn't be together\nBut we can't let go\, no\, no\n'Cause we love each other so (ooh)\n\nSittin' at home\, I do nothin' all day\nBut think about you and hope that you're okay\nHopin ' you'll call before anyone gets home\nI wait anxiously alone by the phone \n\nHow could something so wrong be so right?\nI wish we didn't have to ke ep our love out of sight\, yeah\nLivin' two lives just ain't easy at all\n But we gotta hang on in there or fall\n\nSecret lovers\, yeah\, that's wha t we are\nTryin' so hard to hide the way we feel\n'Cause we both belong to someone else\nBut we can't let it go\n\n'Cause what we feel is\, oh\, so real\nSo real\, so real\n\nYou and me\, are we fair?\nIs this cruel? Or do we care?\nCan they tell what's in our minds?\nMaybe they've had secret lo ve all of the time\n\nIn the middle of makin' love we notice the time\nWe both get nervous 'cause it's way after nine\nEven though we hate it\, we k now it's time that we go\nWe gotta be careful so that no one will know\n\n Secret lovers\, yeah\, that's what we are\nTryin' so hard to hide the way we feel\n'Cause we both belong to someone else\nBut we can't let it go\n\n 'Cause what we feel is\, oh\, so real\nSo real\, so real\nSo real\, so rea l\nSongwriters: Wayne I. Lewis\, David E. Lewis\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250413 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Robert Redford died DTSTAMP:20250920T223122Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:515-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Robert redford for me is underrated as someone who perfor med all the roles you can in film making. Thespian- the one who acts/Direc tor- the manager of the collective artwork that is film making/Producer- t he financier all films need as a collective work in an unfree medium\n\n\n \n list of his film activities: actor/director/producer\n\n https://en.wik ipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Redford_filmography\n\n\n\n FILMS AS THESPIAN I NOT E\n\n 1972 the candidate - a film so poignant it is devastating. My advice is to see \"A Face In The Crowd\" 1957 with Patricia Neal with this and b e amazed.  Ever since this film Redford never left the theme of the hidde n or not publicly acknowledged government in various ways.  I will note t he following Candidate films CFers\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_C andidate_(1972_film)\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N97 UYGGzNU\n\n \n\n 1973 the sting - I must admit here\, I think of me and my father.\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sting\n\n\n\n https://www.y outube.com/watch?v=_nAIb_J9T5M\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n A note to film making \n\n https://youtube.com/shorts/m4xM8lmKEp4?si=tX2nzOyx4hgboqGV\n\n\n\n SC OTT JOPLIN's Ragtime music was the soundtrack. Marvin Hamlisch said so muc h himself\, when he received an award for the score. And I will add\, Haml isch placement of Joplin's songs\, was excellent. \n\n Solace\n\n https:/ /youtu.be/Pod_Rwrx_q0?si=CRMmkW9AMnngT8d-\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n The Album\ n\n https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kM5FA8Zvu40Aqvw1dtsHKBxM JDjbsqhW0\n\n\n\n 1974 the great Gatsby - my father always loved the cinem atography of this one\, he said that DiCaprio film is... not the same leve l\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Gatsby_(1974_film)\n\n\n\n h ttps://youtu.be/deg7g3Z5AHI?si=Ov4_mfG1z7BKtHQt\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1975 three days of the condor -CFers\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_D ays_of_the_Condor\n\n\n\n 1976 all the president's men -CFers\n\n https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_the_President%27s_Men_(film)\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n ex cerpt\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmLNzZsEgA4\n\n \n\n 1980 Brubak er -CFers\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brubaker\n\n\n\n https://www.y outube.com/watch?v=scA0vHUcmLM\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1984 the natural \n\ n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Natural_(film)\n\n\n\n Final at bat!\n \n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i94ldGNNSQ0\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1985 out of Africa  - my parents love the cinematography of this one\n\n https ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_Africa_(film)\n\n\n\n The Flight Scene\n\n https://youtu.be/KDogVwHqixQ?si=tiD7zdvu7D6F8ivW\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 19 93 the classe americaine - I am going to have to look at this film and see how it dubs. It is an interesting concept. I quote the wiki\n\n La Classe américaine (French pronunciation: [la klas ameʁikɛn]\; lit. 'America n Class')\, also known as Le Grand Détournement (The Great Détournement) \, is a 1993 French television film\, written and directed by Michel Hazan avicius and Dominique Mézerette. It consists exclusively of extracts of o ld Warner Bros. films\, put together and dubbed with new lines so as to cr eate an entirely new film that is a parody of Citizen Kane.\n\n https://en .wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Classe_am%C3%A9ricaine \n\n\n\n https://www.youtube .com/watch?v=W8sop56DBUs\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n The director is making his first animated\n\n https://youtu.be/Lm7DyvJHxRE?si=EzY9sWrWUG379lg7\n\n\n\ n \n\n\n\n \n\n 2001 the last castle \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T he_Last_Castle\n\n\n\n clip\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4yyQMt8Gl o\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 2015 truth \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tru th_(2015_film)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n FILMS AS DIRECTOR I NOTE\n\n 1980 ordina ry people  donal Sutherland was brilliant to\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Ordinary_People \n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdjlLq1tqmU \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1988 the Milagro beanfield war \n\n https://en.wik ipedia.org/wiki/The_Milagro_Beanfield_War \n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=uuaKVk4hNAY\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 1992 a river runs through it \ n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_River_Runs_Through_It_(film)\n\n\n\n h ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsIolBViUmc\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 2007 lion s for lambs \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_for_Lambs\n\n\n\n On e of the many good dialogs\n\n https://youtu.be/V1hQuzJPRDA?si=WrgI1IBRpxr NfkcP\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n 2010 the conspirator - this is my favorite fil m of his as a director\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conspirator\n \n\n\n https://youtu.be/wXjFAN73Zmg?si=JE7dtwB-AZdL5794\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \ n\n 2012 the company you keep - laboeuf was good in this\n\n https://en.wi kipedia.org/wiki/The_Company_You_Keep_(film)\n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.c om/watch?v=FZ4CTyDwoPM \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n films as producer\n\n 2002 skinwalkers \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinwalkers_(2002_film)\n\ n\n\n Trailer\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqQycRMpMMo\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n Series on PBS incomplete\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYk 6Q8lybo8&\;list=PL9PyRItII8cuOh1ohYJtq2OPSe1Ytmtak\n\n\n\n 2013 the mar ch  can't find this anywhere online\, not even a trailer\n\n https://en.w ikipedia.org/wiki/The_March_(2013_film)\n\n\n\n television \n\n Nothing i n the dark twilight zone episode \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nothi ng_in_the_Dark\n\n\n\n Redford on Nothing In The Dark\n\n https://www.yout ube.com/watch?v=JuuAEEj1fq0\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Redford on Butch C assidy\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PP8yZi8UsM4\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250916 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Viking Archery Truth Shadversity + Larsanderson23 DTSTAMP:20250920T202859Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:514-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n viking aiming early attempts  Shadversity\n\n https://ww w.youtube.com/watch?v=wmGORk9z5zQ\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Lars Anderso n Viking Archery video\n\n short\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rii-o WSsU4s\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n long\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_UOfqXL3 SM\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my comment shadversity\n\n\n\n I think you two had good fun with this one. I did learn something. What is clear is\, as the common technique changed over time\, the media interpretation of th e past simply ignored the common technique used in the past. I think that is very interesting. I wonder how many techniques were done differently in various martial arts in the past\, that most people today don't recognize . I do think the run test is the one that really makes the case for this s tyle. You can't run with your arms level to your shoulders faster than you can with your arms parallel to the side of the torso. \nI argue\, Viking archery wasn't weird. It was styled for people who shot while running and close chaotic combat\, which you guys didn't test. \nThe standing style is best for the large armies\, the lines of archers in the roman empire/Ke met empire/Chinese empire. But\, the Rus/Varangians/Vikings/northmen were raiding peoples. The Varangians and Rus and Danes and Normands eventually became kingdoms or empires\, but the raiding by Northmen occurred from tes tament to the muslim governments before during and after the formation of kingdoms by Northmen. My point being\, the Northmen liked to raid\, more t han have a huge standing army and I think it reflects how the structure of organizations like the holy roman empire born from a hybrid roman/northma n culture was a set of principalities fighting themselves raiding\, and th e dissolution of the Carolingian empire after Charlemagne died between his sons who raided each other. Raiding culture allows for an army to be the raiding force but I bet alot of raids not all from northmen were far fewer people\, and not as absolutely devastating to the raided. So that an army was usually more an alliance of raiders/Vikings/pirates than a regimented army under one crown. \nAnyway\, I wish you guys would had made the foll owing test\, on your first attempts with the Viking style. \n Take a thi rty pound bow on the run and try to hit a target middle of the run while r unning\, perpendicular to the path of the run\, and after release keep run ning.\nAnd take a hundred pound bow on the run and try to hit a target mid dle of the run while running\, perpendicular to the path of the run\, and after release keep running. \nThen try the same two run's above but have an option of three targets and randomly select one. I bet the advantage of the lower pound bow or the Viking style will occur. \nWhat I think it wi ll prove is\, while the standing arms up style is better for more poundage standing still in a line of bowfolk or aiming from safe distances to targ ets\, the running style is better suited for a mobility demanded random ob stacle environment where one may be alone at times or using a random arrow and unable to stand and shoot.\nRaiding is war\, but it is another form o f war. Raiding isn't campaigns of one big army against another big army\, raiding can be a group\, attacking a town in another country. In that envi ronment mobility is key. you can't stay and set up camp cause the town wil l get reinforcements that the group can't handle. \n\n\n\n\n \n\n comment url\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmGORk9z5zQ&\;lc=Ugz1DcSkrkdKL ciwUdl4AaABAg\n\n\n\n my comment lars Anderson long version\n\n very infor mative thank you. The question I have is about European media. The paintin gs show the truth\, but later on the styles changed. Were people in europe ashamed cause when  I think on the northman method\, I realize \, anyone can see it suits a raiding culture. not really large lines of bowfolk. Ma ybe people in europe descended from vikings were ashamed of the raiding cu lture of the vikings? any thoughts. I can make a modern example. In the US A many white people speak of the earliest and early white european settler s as farmers who just happened to have muskets. Colonial Williamsburg eras es all violent actions to indigenous people of the americas from european settlers and their descendents. It is shame. \n\n https://www.youtube.com /watch?v=g_UOfqXL3SM&\;lc=UgyFbqqi8q-Vw3Cy3sV4AaABAg&\;pp=0gcJCSMANp G00pGi\n\n\n\n good one\, but also add\, the people telling them they were wrong\, never tried to bow while running their fastest in a gauntlet with random targets. \n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_UOfqXL3SM&\;lc =UgxIPp_NaiJSfa0eO294AaABAg.AMiV_GmzeTwAN7li5gdfT-&\;pp=0gcJCSMANpG00pG i\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250920 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Sonny Rollins born Sep 7th DTSTAMP:20250920T201618Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:513-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Sonny Rollins born and raised in harlem\n\n\n\n \n\n http s://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonny_Rollins\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n St. Thomas\n\n\n\ n Tenor Sax : Sonny Rollins Piano : Kenny Drew Bass : Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen Drums : Albert \"Tootie\" Heath\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watc h?v=v4DTR0I7xhA\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Oleo \n\n\n\n with Miles Davis + Bags' Groove\n\n\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aflCJy8NY1c\n\n\n\ n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Doxy\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWreJOSbIQQ\n \n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Airegin\n\n https://youtu.be/v7PU7e6ZJe4?si=aM41z R-SbaQqwnvW\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Sony Rolins on being a jazz musician\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fnw9ddw6Lk\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n 0:00\n\n the life of a jazz musician is a\n\n 0:02\n\n dif ficult life because you want to play\n\n 0:05\n\n you want to be you want to get to the\n\n 0:08\n\n inner spirit and sometimes you drink or\n\n 0:1 0\n\n you use drugs or you smoke a lot you do\n\n 0:13\n\n all these thing s to try to get this\n\n 0:16\n\n Spirit out so uh a jazz musician it's\n\ n 0:21\n\n it's it's a difficult it's a difficult\n\n 0:24\n\n existence a nd a lot of the great\n\n 0:27\n\n people that I've known and that in\n\n 0:31\n\n history they kind of overindulge and\n\n 0:34\n\n they never sort of able to\n\n 0:38\n\n balance their their musical life with\n\n 0:41\n\ n their personal\n\n 0:42\n\n life\n\n 0:43\n\n [Music]\n\n 0:45\n\n um ma ybe it's NE maybe it's not\n\n 0:48\n\n necessary to do that that's anothe r\n\n 0:51\n\n question I don't know but I'd like to\n\n 0:54\n\n see youn g musicians coming up that don't\n\n 0:59\n\n smoke and that don't drink t o excess and\n\n 1:02\n\n don't use drugs and don't sort of\n\n 1:05\n\n d ebilitate themselves I think that's\n\n 1:10\n\n where we should go I thin k that's what\n\n 1:13\n\n guys should be doing I don't think you\n\n 1:15 \n\n have to drink and use drugs to play good\n\n 1:19\n\n jazz but that's been the model for so\n\n 1:23\n\n long that a lot of guys get uh caught up\n\n 1:27\n\n in that you know\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Rollins is the only on e alive who is an adult musician in this photo\, fitting he is a Harlemite \n\n A Great Day In Harlem from Art Kane 1958\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org /wiki/A_Great_Day_in_Harlem\n\n\n\n \n\n Musicians in the photograph\n\n R ed Allen\n\n Buster Bailey\n\n Count Basie\n\n Emmett Berry\n\n Art Blakey \n\n Lawrence Brown\n\n Scoville Browne\n\n Buck Clayton\n\n Bill Crump[17 ]\n\n Vic Dickenson\n\n Roy Eldridge\n\n Art Farmer\n\n Bud Freeman\n\n Di zzy Gillespie\n\n Tyree Glenn\n\n Benny Golson\n\n Sonny Greer\n\n Johnny Griffin\n\n Gigi Gryce\n\n Coleman Hawkins\n\n J. C. Heard\n\n Jay C. Higg inbotham\n\n Milt Hinton\n\n Chubby Jackson\n\n Hilton Jefferson\n\n Osie Johnson\n\n Hank Jones\n\n Jo Jones\n\n Jimmy Jones\n\n Taft Jordan\n\n Ma x Kaminsky\n\n Gene Krupa\n\n Eddie Locke\n\n Marian McPartland\n\n Charle s Mingus\n\n Miff Mole\n\n Thelonious Monk\n\n Gerry Mulligan\n\n Oscar Pe ttiford\n\n Rudy Powell\n\n Luckey Roberts\n\n Sonny Rollins\n\n Jimmy Rus hing\n\n Pee Wee Russell\n\n Sahib Shihab\n\n Horace Silver\n\n Zutty Sing leton\n\n Stuff Smith\n\n Rex Stewart\n\n Maxine Sullivan\n\n Joe Thomas\n \n Wilbur Ware\n\n Dicky Wells\n\n George Wettling\n\n Ernie Wilkins\n\n M ary Lou Williams\n\n Lester Young\n\n\n\n Interactive\n\n http://www.seewa h.com/a-great-day-in-harlem/\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250907 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Bovine Feces of Charlie Kirk plus others in the history of the USA like him of all colors DTSTAMP:20250913T051143Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:500-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n First the two drops of lies aka bovine feces.\n\n Followe d by my blankets of truth aka a minority only accept\n\n\n\n Bovine Feces Ball 1\n\n Charlie Kirk said \"What's so important to our country is to fi nd out disagreements respectfully. Because when people stop talking\, that 's when violence happens\"\n\n\n\n Blanket 1\n\n our country\, who is our\ , the native American? immigrants freely to the usa? \n\n Let's go to the history book. When did the USA or the European colonies it was born from have respectful disagreements \, where talking happened instead of violenc e? \n\n Did the illegal plus unwanted white European colonist and their d escendents\, respectfully disagree or talk instead of use violence to the indigenous or first people of the modernly called American continent? No\, they killed/harmed the indigenous or first people before and after the fo unding of the USA to 2025 and odds after.\n\n Did the illegal plus unwante d white European colonist and their descendents\, respectfully disagree or talk instead of use violence to the enslaved people of Africa the unwilli ng immigrants ripped from their homes elsewhere and their descendents? Not \, they and their forebears bought/kept enslaved/harmed the enslaved peopl e from Africa and their descendents  before and after the founding of the USA to 2025 and odds after. \n\n So based on USA history\, before and af ter the founding of the United States of America\, on the exact same land\ , the respectful disagreements never occurred in ninety nine percent of th e interactions between White Europeans and their descendents to First peop les and their descendents or Enslaved African and their descendents. Now W ounded Knee was 1890. Wounded Knee was when the US military\, slaughtered hundreds of the Lakota people under US government planning. Nineteen usa s oldiers were given the medal of honor for attacking/killing/harming indige nous peoples on their ancestral land absent the means to defend themselves . \n\n In 1973 \, at Wounded Knee\, the American Indian Movement occupied Wounded Knee again\, after the USA government used its powers to undermin e their community using the likes of Dick Wilson. Multiple native american s were killed and a black man with them Perry Ray Robinson\, whose clan on ly learned of his death officially in 2014 through the freedom of informat ion act. \n\n Between Wounded Knees in 1963 White Europeans blew up a chu rch using nineteen sticks of dynamite injuring twenty two and killing four little girls. \n\n So before the founding of the USA to the 1970s I have provided truth\, that the usa was never a country of respectful disagreem ents and violence was always first over any verbal communication. People n ever stopped talking as Kirk suggest most disrespectfully to the truth. Wh ite people never talked only committed violent action. And non white Europ eans\, starting with the first peoples and seconded by the descended of en slaved\, have lived from the European colonial era to now\, forced to talk to whites because of their own militaristic impotency\, albeit having ear ned a 100% right to commit violence to white Europeans. Violence in the US A has always been first\, that is the essence of the USA. \n\n\n\n Bovine Feces Ball 2\n\n Then someone else wrote in amendment to him \n\n \"I do n't consider myself a political person but these words are true specially after what happened yesterday in Utah and what happened today 24 years ago in New York\, DC and Pennsylvania. This senseless violence must stop. The United States has forgotten the foundations on which this country was fou nded on LIFE\, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Somewhere along the l ine it that was lost and it has led to horrible acts against those who hav e different opinions or values. The enemy is within our borders and it's o ur fellow Americans because we are no longer willing to agree to disagree and unite for the improvement of everyone not just specific groups.\"\n\n\ n\n Blanket 2\n\n Do you know that political person translates to person o f the people. When someone says they are not a political person but then s peak on the people... you got problems. \n\n Second bovine feces consider s Kirk's words true. Now I just refuted Kirk's entire claim\, so what does that say about the person who just supported Kirk's claim? \n\n Are they are liar? 100% But why are they lying? They are not lying to be intention al\, they are lying because they are in denial. \n\n I was in New York Ci ty \, downtown Manhattan\, at Water street when 9/11 happened. It wasn't s enseless violence. The USA military\, private/public/other\,  killed and is still killing people throughout all humanity every day. A few people wa nted to strike back\, hijacked a plane and struck\, the same way the USA s truck and still strikes\, every day. Eye for an eye isn't senseless. It is negative. yes. But it isn't senseless. Don't tell me that between two str angers\, the one who burned the others home\, shouldn't have their home bu rned. If you have the right to attack me\, I have the right to attack you. The only reason why First Peoples plus their descendents and Enslaved Afr icans plus their descendents didn't and don't attack whites because of a d esire to disagree respectfully or inability to see white people listening. The First Peoples plus their descendents and Enslaved Africans plus their descendents didn't and don't attack whites with enough trouble because of feat plus impotency. That is it. Both of the abused people from before th e USA was founded to 2025\, are simply afraid of whites plus militaristica lly or physically weak. That is it. \n\n Life\, Liberty \, and the pursui t of happiness was never a founding of the United States of America\, thos e were three fantasies advertised by excellent salesman to their kin and t hose like them in the future. Who were the founding fathers? White Europea ns but also unwanted and illegal immigrants\, as every single immigrant in the USA after the original white europeans\, including enslaved africans who were forced to immigrate by whites. are illegal by any native American tribe's provision and unwanted by any native American tribes people. The person who spoke the second bovine feces is an willing immigrant who as th ose white founders knew would do everything to justify or defend themselve s by trying to sell the advertisement based on a complete lie. And the lie s compound\, based on the second bovine feces anyone without truth will th ink the usa started as some multiracial civil union. where peaceful commun ication led functional administration and somehow\, time just withered the decency away. \n\n The USA was never and is not decent\, not a we\, not a family\, just a set of strangers who have to suffer each other for most are too impotent to get anything else and the rest are to addicted to a co nvenience they can't find anywhere else\, all under a set of rich who are descended from the human enslavers of all humanity.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN CONCLUSION\n\n Everything I said above is worthless to power. Truth is imp ortant\, it is most excellent in history books\, most valuable in communic ation. but it doesn't lead to results in government. Truth never saved any body's life. Power saves lives... and takes them. I don't have the power t o save anybody's life\, most don't. But\, I can offer one action that can be very functional in the USA's future. \n\n All the people in the USA\, no matter their race [phenotype/gender/religion/language/tribalism/party o f governance/financial status/fiscal model adherence/indigenous status/ or other] who make points like the two who commented the bovine feces must s top. Said people must stop. Being positive is a positive thing\, but livin g a lie as truth makes the future bound to failure. For the greatest power a lie as truth has is the damage the truth in the future forces to anythi ng built on said lie. The lie of a usa family\, a we\, a heritage of civil ity in the united states of america\, is why wounded knee happened twice\, why four little girls were blown up in a church. \n\n And I am not insen sitive. I comprehend illegal plus unwanted immigrants starting from the wh ite Europeans before the USA was founded to today come for their individua l betterment. My forebears had children while enslaved in the USA \, don't tell me you come to the USA for children after 1965\, if enslaved people can have children anybody can anywhere. you immigrate for yourself\, and c hildren\, whether they like it or not have to deal with it. And some child ren do positiviely and  some negatively. But\, holding onto the old lies has to stop. It isn't helping anything. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\ n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdzIl9eG3CI\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT 2\n\n\n\n Ava Raine\, Dwayne “The Rock” Jo hnson’s daughter\, faces criticism and threats for recent comments about Charlie Kirk’s death: “If you want people to have kind words when you pass\, you should say kind words while you’re alive.”\n\n https://x.c om/Raindropsmedia1/status/1967006500498665555\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250912 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:King of Fantasy weapons\, banning real weapons - shadversity DTSTAMP:20250913T070846Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:507-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n King of Fantasy weapons\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=KvcCIDJj-NQ\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n my comment\n\n Are you going to do a king of fantasy bows? \n\n What about King of Fantasy Bos? I imagin e Monkey Kings Bo that can extend is the winner.\n\n What about King of Fa ntasy Chakrams? I imagine Xena's wins\, though her Chakram that can split into two \"brass knucle\" esque I thought was the coolest chakram she had.  \n\n What about King of Fantasy spears?\n\n What about king of fantasy a rmor\, split between chain mail and plate?\n\n In Amendment\n\n Why Aragon fights like that?\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcjohYgAQQw\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n The Lord of the Rings SWORD you've Probably NEVER See n!\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO0zmB9ai1Y\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n restricting weapons will not deny opportunity to get dangerous weapon s\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgtX4NgU8OA\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\ n\n my comment\n\n I am glad you guys mentioned that a piece of thick wood is dangerous\, for some reason people don't realize a metal pipe or a thi ck piece of rectangular wood can kill someone. Can you imagine a piece of wood \, like a baseball or cricket bat with nails driven in\, then it beco mes like the Macuahuitl . and thanks for still finding the time in compari sons to give weapons history.\n\n comment referral\n\n https://www.youtube .com/watch?v=lgtX4NgU8OA&\;lc=UgwFW7xGXWtTmzHmsel4AaABAg&\;pp=0gcJCS MANpG00pGi\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n TOPIC: double blade sword\n\n https://www.yo utube.com/watch?v=X1xk04EoUE0\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n my comment\n\n\n \n Tyranth said what if the double blade was curved\, i hope you try that one day.  But what about a double bladed knife or even really short sword \, where the distance between blades was really small.It wouldn't be neede d to kill anyone but since a knife is for cutting\, thrusting\, not necess arily blade on blade action or getting through armor\, maybe the multiblad es add an extra level of danger.\n\n comment referral\n\n https://www.yout ube.com/watch?v=X1xk04EoUE0&\;lc=UgylOfRTFzHg2F0fcGZ4AaABAg\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250913 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Money is not absent Merit DTSTAMP:20250913T072117Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:509-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n I saw a post about a white person named Pasterski and it was an ugly lie about the role of money with merit in modern humanity\n\n\ n\n MY COMPLETE THOUGHT\n\n Marty Steinberg  your assertion is correct\, but I want to go deeper\, the original post doesn't mention money at all. Why? The post is suggesting something very ugly\, and untrue\, that a simp le penniless homeless child in nyc\, hungry most of the year\, if they sim ply\, focus on engineering and physics  and have determination will be ab le to have a plane right on the sidewalk. I don't know where they will get the metal from or the ability to mold the metal\, or the rubber \, or the glass or any of the tools to cut and mold any of these things\, let alone the paper needed to make a draft cause they are Explicitve homeless and o n the expletive street they can't have a computer because they are on the street\, and a child needs to be in a warm loving home first... I have bee n fortunate to have parents as a child who not only believed in me but wer e able to support me. But I am not going to suggest to anyone that  mere belief is enough. that is a lie. And I find it sad that so many people in the usa love to chime this belief bullshit. Money is crucial. Her father s ince the original post didn't want to say it https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki /Sabrina_Gonzalez_Pasterski is an attorney + electrical engineer. I wasn't able to find out his law firm or the firm he engineered for but it seems he lives at Oxford Ave\, Chicago Ridge\, IL 60415 and that is in https://e n.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worth_Township\,_Cook_County\,_Illinois Not homeless\ , not penniless. \n\n MY COMMENT IN THE REFERRAL\n\n Marty Steinberg  yo ur assertion is correct\, but I want to go deeper\, the original post does n't mention money at all. Why? why is money not warranting any mention at all in this post? no justification exist to not mention money. Cause don't tell me that the homeless children I have seen in NYC who are hungry and sleep outside can simply mirror sabrina pasterski by picking up a book the y don't even have or can afford or should choose over something to eat. \ n\n THE POST CONTENT\n\n  \n\n\n\n Pasterski’s interest in engineering and physics emerged early\, demonstrated by her decision to construct a wo rking airplane while still in her teens. The project required not only tec hnical knowledge but also persistence and discipline\, qualities that woul d characterize her later academic career. Flying the plane she had built h erself at 16 made her the youngest American to achieve such a milestone\, gaining early recognition for her abilities.\n\nHer academic journey was e qually remarkable. At MIT\, Pasterski pursued physics\, completing her deg ree in three years with the institution’s highest possible GPA. Her work there reflected a focus on theoretical physics and quantum field theory\, subjects that would guide her into advanced research.\n\nAfter MIT\, she entered Harvard University for doctoral studies\, specializing in high-ene rgy physics. Her research focused on topics such as black holes\, particle physics\, and fundamental symmetries of the universe. This field demands mastery of advanced mathematics and theoretical models\, underscoring the depth of her academic contributions.\n\nPasterski’s trajectory from teen age aircraft builder to physicist illustrates how early technical curiosit y can lead to advanced scientific achievements. Her path highlights the in terconnectedness of engineering skill\, intellectual discipline\, and scie ntific research in shaping careers that push the boundaries of knowledge.\ n\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250913 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Writing Too Real from Sylvester Stallone DTSTAMP:20250913T071352Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:508-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n I have been there Stallone\, I rarely write fantasy \, wi th enough fantasy \n\n https://youtu.be/KONu5mxxPZA?t=3498\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n 56:53\nand it kills me because that's why I like up endings because l ife usually doesn't end that way so why do you have\n56:59\nto go out and spend money and see it and feel bad because I feel bad enough walking in h ere I don't need you to make\n57:05\nit worse that's my simple philosophy it doesn't exactly go along with true art\n57:11\nbut I never said I was g oing to make true art yeah and it's ironic that with that period of not wo rking and being in\n57:18\nthe you know the movie theater for so many hour s you came back by writing Rocky baloa right which was basically\n57:24\nt he thing that started you in the first place so you went back to the first thing that you got you to the top and\n57:30\nwhen you're at the bottom a gain you brought Rocky back into the picture and you said it was your most proud work by\n57:36\nfar because uh nobody wanted to do it I I felt so w orthless and I was so embarrassed to be\n57:44\nyour father tell you the t ruth because you didn't even know what I did basically for a living we saw your Spy\n57:51\nKids Toy Maker what does my father do for a living just wanders around looking\n57:57\ndepressed and I realized you you people tha t you thought were your friends and\n58:04\nnot your friends when the good times go away that's when you find out your\n58:10\nfamily is so importan t cuz I'm telling you the ship sailed on me it was pretty\n58:15\nbad it w as pretty bad but I took all that in and I thought you\n58:21\nknow if thi s is if I'm done and I thought I was it was definitely done phone wasn't r inging it was done and I\n58:28\nwas so embarrassed because people did not understand Rocky 5 Rocky five was\n58:34\nabout one of the more real situ ations that you're so desperate to not be a\n58:42\nfailure for your famil y that Rocky basically gave up his family because he wanted to get Glory a gain even if it was\n58:49\nthrough another man that he for you know his s on he gave up wife he was this and\n58:56\nthat and I wasn't I was not sma rt enough to realize that's not what people wanted\n59:02\nto see because that's what happens right you know that's a little too real right\n59:10\n and I said if I can just go back and do one more because I never thought I 'd\n59:15\never do another movie again but in my fantasy I want to do Rock y B Bo which is\n59:21\nabout loss about grief which is is the hardest thi ng in the world to live with\n59:26\ngirls I swear to you oh [ __ ] it it' s it's\n59:38\nhard I think anyway yeah I don't know why all of a sudden g et traumatic like\n59:44\nthat you know some [ __ ] just comes up and you I said how can I write a story\n59:51\nthat I portray that kind of sad you know what I mean and but in the end it's you\n59:58\npurge yourself of it and that's what Rocky Balo is about he loses his wife he loses everything and people have they\n1:00:06\nyou know they they that's what they experi ence but in the end he purges himself with what he says I want to get\n1:0 0:13\nrid of this old pain and put in some new pain I don't want that thos e memories\n1:00:18\nanymore and it worked it really worked well and uh th at's my proudest moment\n1:00:24\nbecause nobody wanted to do it and they actually said you're done Ro's done I'm going\n1:00:31\nthese are people t hat represented me that were like I paid lots of money to\n1:00:38\nand I went wow you really are yeah on your own and I want your girls to know tha t your best friend has got to be you\n1:00:47\nI'm serious it's great to h ave best friends and parents or whatever but you then I got and I did that thing I told\n1:00:53\nyou about in the mirror and I sh you come back you fight you get off your knees you stop feeling sorry for\n1:00:59\nyoursel f and you write the best words you've ever written and I think it is by\n1 :01:04\nfar Rocky one I think has the element of surprise but Rocky 6 is t he best I I I I\n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Full Video\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n First Int erview\n\n https://youtu.be/666OF8M-cJQ?si=J-i7bY34P8jhzp-a\n\n\n\n Second Interview\n\n https://youtu.be/KONu5mxxPZA?si=WP6z3915mjHgerOg\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250913 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Captian Marvel truth  DTSTAMP:20250913T070217Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:506-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Captian Marvel truth \n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=xyMYj9R8YDY\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n You could had excerpted the \"They Li ve\" sunglasses realization scene:) \n\n What can MArvel do to get the pe ople who are angry about the lack\, and it is a lack of female characters? Or is the answer the Xmen female characters are coming? \n\n What are yo ur thoughts on Sylvie from the Loki show?\n\n I oppose your position on th e people behind the scenes. Did Chris Claremont have passion for Ms. Marve l when he was writing her? she wasn't Wonder Woman from an age perspective or media clout. I think writers simply failed\, and that is ok. Writers h ave the right to fail. I think the writers (most of whom are women) for sh e hulk/ms marvel/Wonder woman in film or streaming in the last ten years\, or similar female comic book characters\,  simply failed.  \n\n to your question\, are we\, we meaning a \"united humanity\" or comic book fandom \,  going to avoid tokenism? \n\n What is the parallel to tokenism? It i s admitting + embracing a majority. tokenism in media is when a character has an aspect rarely viewed in a certain way. Black Lightning for example. The first character described as black in a non black owned comic [black owned comic books had black headliner characters pre milestone] book firm to headline a comic. That is tokenism. What is the parallel? DC comics adm itting to the growing number of potential black comic book buyers they sim ply don't have a black comic book headliner and will not. \n\n There are going to be women who say they want more female superheroes\, to be as var ious as the male superheroes\, and various not just in success but failure . DC+ Marvel can simply say\, we don't have the female headliner character s for that. \n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n Her words in the video show the problem . The producers\, people with the money\, are giving their money to people who can convince them of market trends. Black panther could had been made in the 1960s / without question 1970s but it was till now because the sta tistics show the average wealth and purchasing power of blacks in the movi e going market alongside their viewing habits warrants a black panther. Th e studios thought women would go all in for women\, especially after DC \, to be blunt\, botched wonder woman. Linda Carter is only a few years diff erence from Christopher Reeves and Wonder Woman unlike superman had a 1970 s hit show. Superman one was made in the late 1970s. So\, DC was able to m ake the superman movies with christopher reeves\, make a supergirl movie\, make the batman movies with keaton  though never gave adam west's batman anything \, and Linda Carter with a successful wonder woman show before t he first superman movie with christopher reeves\, who she is extremely nea r in age too\, was given nothing. So\, Marvel felt women moviegoers wanted superheroes. Captain MArvel made over a billion dollars from a 175 millio n dollar budge. The Green Lantern movie made 200 million \, it broke even. No one hates green lantern for that really bad film. Was the writing the best? no. but\, male superhero films that were poor and I argue far worse than Captain Marvel movie didn't lead to their characters being hated or t he actors in the roles being deemed unpleasant. \n\n So to avoid tokenism \, I think an admittance of bias [both positive or negative] + truth have to occur. \n\n Marvel + DC were started at a time where negative biases e xisted which meant most superhero comics are males\, it is that simple. So today\, making movies on popular characters will be mostly male character s. Milestone comics whom I love more than DC or Marvel\, never had a femal e character be the headliner of a comic. So\, I think comic book firms jus t have to be honest and say\, we don't have too many female characters tha t we can headline for movies. Cause the reality is\, the modern audience i s popularity driven. yeah\, Kpop demon hunters\, but here is the problem u sing them as a yardstick. They never went to theaters. they were in the ne tflix ecosystem only\, which has a particular membership demographic. Mill ions of people \, though it may shock folks\, do not have netflix. Now you can argue\, Marvel + DC need to learn from Netflix and work through their streaming services\, which all the companies want to do or are trying to do I think\, but that is a whole other argument\, because streaming servic es don't have to deal with the customer base of movie theaters. \n\n I th ink the industrial change is coming where firms will work through their st reaming services and then when things click take them to streaming and sel l blue ray and all of that. Which will allow for affordable testing to occ ur. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT 2\n\n The rape of ms marvel from carol strickland\n\n https://carolastrickland.wordpress.com/ms-marve l/\n\n\n\n FULL TEXT\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n So I was reading this issue of Ave ngers\, #200 to be precise. Ms. Marvel had suddenly become pregnant — ho w she didn’t know — and the pregnancy had lasted only three days\, but apparently this was full-term. In issue #200 we had the grand birth and t he revelation of Marcus (the grown baby-no-more) who said he’d wooed Ms. Marvel and won her over and impregnated her with him and la-de-da\, was n’t it romantic. All the Avengers said\, “Ah!” and Ms. Marvel left w ith Marcus to a happily-ever-after ending.\n\nBut I didn’t get it. Here Ms. Marvel had been kidnapped\, held for “weeks\,” according to the na rrative provided by Marcus himself\, and not been won over even though Mar cus had done the A-B-C of stereotypical male-mindset romance: given her ni ce clothes\, serenaded her with history’s best musicians. Why\, I bet he even gave her candy and flowers. At no time is love or respect — not ev en “like” — mentioned. But apparently she hadn’t been won over bec ause he says\, “with a boost from Immortus’ [mind] machines” (which he had access to)\, Ms. Marvel finally became his (and we may think of thi s being the truly possessive use of the word). At which point he impregnat ed her using non-technical techniques without her knowledge of what he was truly doing.\n\nOkay\, class\, anyone see anything wrong with this?\n\nAp parently the guy wanted foreplay before he raped her. I don’t know why h e couldn’t have artificially impregnated her if he just had to use her b ody. Maybe in some sick way he thought he was in love with Ms. M.\n\nBut t he point is\, it was rape and obvious rape at that. The writer had to go a n extra\, knowing step to add that line about mind control. If he’d just left that off\, it would have merely been a fanboy romance\, where the bl onde and buxom heroine is swept off her feet by flowers and candy (no need for romance or love)\, and readily agrees to anything and everything the hero (or fanboy in clever disguise) wants.\n\nBut time went by and NO ONE said anything about the rape! Not one word besides how some readers were s o happy that Ms. M had finally found a good man. \n\nI wanted to barf.\n\n Granted\, I don’t presently condone the very vehement tone of the articl e — really\, I don’t know how many Cokes I’d had before writing this \, but I bet you money I’d been reading a lot of feminist literature tha t had me all fired up — but besides the tone I have to agree still with my sentiments of that January in 1980 within the pages of LoC #1…\n\nThe Rape of Ms. Marvel\n\nby Carol A. Strickland\n\nAm I just overly sensitiv e\, or what? I know that I have a tendency to shoot my mouth off about the role of women in comics\, but shouldn’t everyone be concerned when a co mic displays a struttingly macho\, misogynist storyline that shreds the fe male image apart with a smirk — and rewards the one who did the shreddin g? I should think that such a story would create an uproar in fandom — b ut where is there even a whisper of discontent?\n\nI realize that females are only a small part of comics readers and fandom\, but it should not jus t be the women who raise the roof over such a story. It should be everyone . Isn’t everyone entitled to respect as a human being? Shouldn’t they be against somthing that so self-consciously seeks to destroy that respect and degrade women in general by destroying the symbol of womankind?\n\nCo uld it be that the great masses of fandom actually approved of a travesty like Avengers#200: “The Child is Father To…”?\n\nIn that issue\, an all-male Marvel staff\, presided by Jim Shooter and watched by the Comics Code\, slaughtered Marvel’s symbol of modern women\, Ms. Marvel. They pr esented her as a victim of rape who enjoyed the process\, and even wound u p swooning over her rapist and joining him of her “free” will. Such a storyline might have fit into the 1950s\, when people actually believed su ch a thing was possible — I mean\, they thought that women invited and e njoyed rape back then — but to present such a storyline today shows a co llection of medieval minds at work. Or at vicious play. For such a storyli ne to pass throug the echelons of editor\, editor-in-chief\, and Comics Co de can only be a crime.\n\nFor those not familiar with Ms. Marvel\, or onl y familiar with her from her unsatisfying stint with the Avengers\, let me explain who she is relative to circumstance and character:\n\nMost people know\, if they don’t truly understand\, that women have been stomped on by the comics industry ever since there were comics. From the sniveling L ois Lane of Action#1 right through today’s so-called “liberated” her oines (you can tell who they are by their low-cut or see-through costumes and stolen dialogue from the outdated Feminine Mystique)\, the male-domina ted comics industry has gone out of its way to preserve the macho male and weak (or vicious) female image\, ensuring the small percentage of females in their reading audience.\n\nYou’d think that in the comics of the 198 0s there would be zillions of characters who were themselves first\, women second\, and adventurers always. But look closer\; where are they? Wonder Woman is a preaching man-hater with a memory that has more holes in it th an her lover has lives\, if that’s possible. She is a symbol of modern w omanhood\, supposedly\, and that makes her an interesting character. Now t hink — name a male comics character who is a symbol of manhood: there is none! That’s because a male comics writer realizes that a symbol cannot be of real interest to a reader. But becauase women are all aliens from a nother planet\, it’s all right to make them symbols\, especialy if they are misshapen cliches drawn from maligners of the women’s movement\, the people who designate females who want to be themselves as “bra-burner s\,” an archaic and never-correct term.\n\nBlack Canary is less than a s hadow of her man\, the ultra-macho Green Arrow. The Invisible “Girl” w himpers and complains from the nearest corner while her menfolk do the fig hting. The Wasp dreams of new costumes and new hunks to pester. Supergirl cries over a broken date.\n\nThese are the stalwarts of comicdom’s femal es. The truly liberated women\, those Tigras and Elasti-Girls and Black Wi dows\, are resigned to limbo or just prolonged neglect. As of this moment in the comics industry\, only Chris Claremont is portraying a modern woman — and he manages to do it with every one of them entrusted to his care. People may not agree with all that he is doing\, but they must agree that he is lightyears beyond the other writers (even Jo Duffy\, who is next in line to him)\, and that is a very sad picture of comics. This is the Nine teen-Eighties\, folks. But who would believe it\, to look at the state of comics?\n\nBack in ’72 Marvel had created a trio of books designed to ho ok the female audience: the insipid Night Nurse\, the violent and poorly-w ritten Shanna the She-Devil\, and the interesting Claws of the Cat\, writt en by Linda Fite and drawn (in its first issue) by Marie Severin and Wally Wood. The Cat was a fascinating character\, even if she was a bit heavy-h anded in places. But like many a TV series\, the book was given only a few shots to make it. Cat #4 was the last issue. The concept was later reinca rnated as the vapid Hellcat\, whose costume-derived powers were never expl ained. The original Cat’s powers came from scientific treatment and trai ning\, but the Hellcat merely put on her emblemless costume to be super. I suppose women can’t really be expected to train at anything\, but must rely on chance to give them the skills they need to make it in the real wo rld.\n\nIn 1974 the Cat was revamped in a different fashion: she was mutat ed into a horror-genre Cat creature named Tigra. When given a solo shot in Marvel Chillers a year later\, she surprised everyone by becoming a styli sh\, snappy-pattered heroine whose future could have been bright. But she was bogged down in a five-issue continued story\, and if anything will los e a reader’s interest faster than a multiple-issue tryout story\, I do n’t know what it is. Tigra and the Cat-People have been forgotten by Mar vel except in two team-up stories since then. Surely such a sparkling\, we ird hero should be popular in today’s menagerie of sought-after non-huma ns like the X-Men\, Hulk\, et al.\n\n1976. Marvel decided to try to cash i n on the “liberation craze” yet again with a new spin-off from the pop ular Captain Marvel to be called Ms. Marvel. She would\, like the Cat\, be a symbol of the liberated woman. They plastered the words “This Female Fights Back!” on the cover and bared a lovely blonde woman’s navel — thus began Ms. Marvel. For the same number of beginning issues\, both the Cat and Tigra had Ms. M beat hands down. But for some reason Ms. Marvel s tuck with it. There was a shuffle of writers\; Chris Claremont admits that he didn’t give Ms. Marvel his entire attention at first. Thus it was th at Marvel’s own origin remained a jumbled mess until almost her twentiet h isuse.\n\nOnce Mr. Claremont settled into his job\, though\, Ms. Marvel began to do things. Things few\, if any\, women characters (or men\, for t hat matter!) had done before. While her first adventures had been composed of the obligatory fight scenes upon more fight scenes\, now her stories b egan to have plots\, now her life as a hero was being tied into her life a s a civilian. By the time Carol covered her navel in a Cockrumized costume \, the comic had hit new heights of interest in plotline and artwork. Noti ce I didn’t add “for a heroine” there. That’s because Chris Clarem ont and Dave Cockrum were both looking at Ms. Marvel as a person — a bea utiful\, female person\, yes\, but a super-hero above all! There is only o ne drawback to this duo of issues: that existing artwork was changed from showing Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel’s alter-ego) in sensible desert-explor ing wear to having her in a midriff-exposing blouse. The Word was to make her more sexy\, attract more male readers not so they’d get hooked on Ms . Marvel’s electric characterization\, but so the comic could become a C ode-approved girlie mag.\n\nMs. Marvel was mature\, powerful\, intense and sure of herself.\n\nAnd two issues later she was cancelled. Now she start ed to pal around with the Avengers as a fighting companion\, and later\, a s a replacement for the Scarlet Witch. Under the writing of Jim Shooter\, Ms. Marvel suddenly developed a pushy\, intimidating quirk to her nature. Mr. Shooter\, whose portrayal of females has not changed one iota since hi s writing as a fourteen-year-old in the mid-1960s\, has a Gerry Conway-ish quality to his work. No\, no\, Mr. Conway is not the only or worst writer to do this\; he is simply the most consistent\, when it comes to portrayi ng any female who does not cower in the corner or behind her man when thin gs get rough\, to categorize her as 1) pushy — and usually hypocritical\ , 2) over-sexed\, and/or 3) a castrating manhater. Ms. Marvel was granted the character trait of oversexed pushiness as she proclaimed Wonder Man a “hunk” and that she’d really like to get to know him better — heh\ , heh.\n\nWith Shooter giving up the writer’s role in order to edit The Avengers\, David Michelinie stepped in and Ms. Marvel became one of the su per-gang\; a normal super-hero\, although one to stop action with an “im portant” message about liberation. Many writers do this for some reason. I suppose they don’t realize that example has always been a better teac her than preaching. Most comics females today do a lot of preaching. This is why most female characters today are uninteresting and frail.\n\nWith a landmark issue coming\, big number 200\, staff wondered: what to do for t he occasion? It was decided that Ms. Marvel would have a baby. Michelinie said that it would be the Supreme Intelligence’s kid\, since the Supremo r has always wanted a Kree-Terran hybrid. This would natually lead to an i ntriguing adventure\, a climax to the years of scheming through countless comics for the Supremor\, and a probable end to the Supremor himself\, onc e Ms. Marvel beat him up for what he did to her — and her child.\n\nAh — but Jim Shooter said no! What If #20: “What if the Avengers Fought the Kree-Skull War without Rick Jones?” had ended its tale with the imag inary/parallel world Supremor merging his intelligence with the inert form of Mr. Jones to become himself his precious hybrid. Jim Shooter\, editor- in-chief of the Marvel Multiverse\, proclaimed that the story would be too much alike and too soon after the What If? story. He didn’t bother to l ook at the many times in which the Supremor’s plans have infiltrated a h alf-dozen titles within as many months in years past\, with no complaint f rom readers.\n\nInstead Mr. Shooter came up with a wonderful plan of his o wn for Ms. Marvel’s anticipated Happy Event. He would make magic number 200 a landmark in bad taste. He would portray a rape that would be applaud ed and rewarded by all who had news of it.\n\nTo my way of thinking\, this shows questionable judgment on Mr. Shooter’s part.\n\nBut let the finis hed product help you decide. For those of you who either missed it or chos e to forget it as quickly as possible\, the plot went something like this: \n\nMs. Marvel is three days pregnant at the start of the the issue\, and is about to give birth to a full-term baby. For some reason the Avengers d o not call in an obstetrician\, but leave their most powerful member in th e unspecialized hands of mentor Tony Stark’s good buddy\, Dr. Don Blake. I suppose Blake won’t bill them the way an obstetrician would.\n\nIn a male-fairytale version of birth\, Ms. Marvel delivers in a non-birthing so rt of way (I don’t understand it either. Let’s look at the physical pr ocesses involved–!) There is no pain\, no labor\, no logic… All the wh ile Ms. Marvel is exposed to the other Avengers without shred number one o f privacy during the non-birth birth.\n\nVarying scenes show us that the s tory is well-written. It is merely the plot that is the blot of blots on t his work. The Wasp\, not knowing that the baby’s father is unknown even to Ms. Marvel\, congratulates her on the delivery and baby. We see its mot her: exhuasted\, humiliated: “I’ve been used!” she snarls. “That isn’t my baby!” Later she refers to it as “that thing.” There is no trace of maternal instinct that any other conventional heroine would ha ve been oozing\, even at such an inauspicious time. It is a scene well don e. Yet compare the concept of this\, the rejecting\, angry\, raped mother with the final image of Ms. Marvel. The change is heinous. It and the plot line spoil everything in their wake.\n\nThe story goes on: the child\, a b oy who names himself Marcus\, develops at an ever-increasing rate\, passin g quickly through childhood to become a young adult. He explains his origi n\, starting with his real father\, a man Ms. Marvel never coupled with: I mmortus.\n\nThe mere use of such a character is controvertible in itself\, for in well-known previous Avengers plotlines\, Immortus killed Kang\, hi s earlier self. Mark Gruenwald has explained that the Immortus who killed Kang was clearly a parallel Immortus\, for if Kang were killed\, there wou ld be no Immortus around to kill him. Yet Marcus (and an editorial note) c learly remembers his father as the Immortus who killed off his earlier sel f.\n\nI’ll pass the Bayer as I continue…\n\nAnyway\, before this Immor tus-who-could-not-have-existed popped into existence\, he had become anxio us for a “mate.” Not a lover\, not a wife\, just a “mate” from goo d old Terra. Knowing that mortals can’t exist in his home of Limbo\, he created a sort-of semi-Limbo\, rescued a victim of a Terran sea disaster — a woman who could be Carol Danvers’ twin — and\, in Marcus’ w ords\, “through a combination of gratitude and the subtle manipulation o f my father’s ingenious machines\, the woman fell in love with him.” S ubtle manipulations. Equals brainwashing. Equals brain control. Immortus c ouldn’t get this unnamed woman into bed with him\, so he changed her per sonality and took her against her will. Equals rape.\n\nIt seems mortals c an’t spend too much time in semi-Limbo\, although Marcus has been there all his life. His unnamed mother vanished when he was a boy to go to her d eath in the real world. Marcus was left with only his father\, a wonderful role model\, being a rapist and such.\n\nDaddy vanished (when he killed h imself off a few millenia before)\, and Marcus was left alone. Not particu larly liking semi-Limbo\, he decided to go to Earth. He concocted a scheme by which he could be unnaturally born on Earth\, speeded up in growth\, a nd thus be able to prevent the destruction his presence in normal space wo uld eventually create. He coldly chose the mother of the thing that would be himself: “The powerful combination of Kree and human strengths\, woul d be the perfect vessel\,” he decided\, and chose the perfect double of the only human woman he had ever known and loved: his unnamed mother. Of c ourse\, his old-fashioned father and mother taught him you can’t reach a woman on a level as a human being\; he couldn’t explain his plight and let her decide if she wanted to go through with his crazy idea or not\; he wouldn’t even consider that she might have a better idea for getting hi m to Earth. Instead he went about wooing her: poetry\, clothes and music h e furnished\, thinking that those are the only things women are interested in. When Ms. Marvel didn’t respond\, as he explains to her in the prese nt\, “…Finally\, after relative weeks of such efforts — and admitted ly\, with a subtle boost from Immortus’ machines — you became mine.” \n\nThis is not hidden between the lines. Little kids can read the obvious fact: he raped Ms. Marvel. The artwork goes to great lengths — two clos e-up panels — to show Ms. Marvel’s ecstacy during the pseudo-mating.\n \nAh ha. Another lesson to be learned from comics. It’s okay to rape. Wo men enjoy rape.\n\nImmediately after implanting himself in some sort of ps eudo-scientific fashion into Ms. Marvel’s womb\, machinery teleported he r to her jet\, seconds after the time she had been abducted by Marcus. The machinery also wiped out her recent memory — better to leave these fema les ignorant\, right? Marcus couldn’t care less about the feelings of a woman who suddenly found herself pregnant — and giving birth — for no apparent reason.\n\nThis is not Marcus’ fault. He is ignorant of human f eelings\, being brought up by the equally unfeeling Immortus.\n\nThe expla nation of Ms. Marvel’s rape is made to Carol\, Thor\, Iron Man and Hawke ye. It is obvious that Immortus’ machines have renewed their effect upon Ms. Marvel. Remember the angry rape victim at the beginning of the story? Now with a glisten in her eye and sob in her heart\, she tenderly strokes the rapist’s cheek and tells him that she will return with him to his h ome. She even adopts his Oedipal way of speaking. Of all the times Marcus refers to her directly\, it is as “Carol” three times\, “my love” once\, and “mother” three times. From Marcus being “that thing\,” he is now “my child” to Carol. And she’s going home to play a differ ent kind of house with him. Aren’t the kids eating this up?!\n\nOne shou ld think that the other Avengers who have heard this story and see Ms. Mar vel’s sudden reversal in attitude toward Marcus would stop her from goin g back\, knock some sense into her… anything. But look at this carefully -chosen audience: Hawkeye — Marvel’s answer to the neanderthal Green A rrow\, a psychological sickie (catch his last act with Death Bird). He pro bably gets a kick out of Ms. Marvel’s Getting Her Due. Iron Man — ak a “playboy” Tony Stark. In keeping with his public image\, Tony choose s to avoid the implications of this event. And Thor — if anyone can matc h Jim Shooter’s medieval thinking\, it is he.\n\nThe story ends with Ms. Marvel and Marcus teleporting to semi-Limbo. Iron Man begins to have seco nd thoughts: “We’ve just got to believe that everything worked out for the best\,” he temporizes. He isn’t convinced\, but he won’t make a scene.\n\nMr. Macho\, Hawkeye\, turns sloppy John Wayne sentimental: “T hat’s all we can do\,” he says. “Believe… and hope that Ms. Marvel lives happily ever after.” It is a fitting end to this male fantasy. A desirable woman/mother figure is raped and then chooses to be the lover of her rapist/son. Raping is manly. Women love to be raped. Perversion is wo nderful for kids and other people of taste to read.\n\nThe story would be almost laughable if it weren’t written in such earnest. Someone really b elieves this tripe\, maybe. Or someone just wants to have some fun.\n\nMay I ask a stupid question? Where is the Comics Code during all this? Ther e’s their stamp on the cover\, covering the “S” in AVENGERS — but where are they? This dirty joke that someone at Marvel dreamed up is all o ut in the open — not a bit of it is between the lines to be hidden from the innocents who make up such a large proportion of the audience. And the entire plot is a deadly insult to every woman.\n\nThe bottom line to Aven gers #200 is blatant irresponsibility\, with every nuance of immaturity th at that word provides. “Misogynist” is also a very applicable word. Bu t instead of either\, we’ll probably see the words “collector’s item : rape issue” next to the number 200 in the Avengers column in next ye ar’s Price Guide\, with an inflated price to match it.\n\nIf it takes a second round of witch hunts to rid four-color standard comics of trash lik e this — count me in! \n\nThe Aftermath\n\nOkay\, we can all agree that the issue depicted rape\, and that it was deliberately thrown in\, probabl y to get back at a “liberated” woman.\n\nAnd that there was no negativ e reaction to it except\, seemingly\, mine.\n\nI never saw the next issue of LoC\, but it seems to me that someone did loan me issue #3\, and I reme mber reading reactions to my article that\, summed up\, told me that I nee ded to get laid to get my head on straight. So I continued to think that I was the only one who had recognized this as rape\, had recognized the fac t that rape is a bad thing\, and that Marvel was the personification of th e Anti-Christ. Well\, that they needed to improve\, let’s put it that wa y.\n\nAnd then came Avengers Annual #10\, 1981\, written by Chris Claremon t.\n\nIn the story\, Spider-Woman rescues Carol Danvers\, who has been min d-wiped by Rogue (this was back in the days when Rogue was a middle-aged h ick maniac instead of a sweet young Southern waif). The X-Men get called i n (it was an Annual\, after all) and Carol winds up recuperating at Profes sor Xavier’s\, where the Avengers pay her a visit.\n\nTo my extremely pl easant surprise\, Carol berates them for leaving her in the lurch. Althoug h the word “rape” is never used\, the story did concentrate on that “subtle boost from Immortus’ machines” line to heavily imply it. It actually seems to sink in to some of the Avengers’ minds that rape might not be good. That a woman might be injured in many ways by it.\n\nIt was great to know that others had seen Ms. Marvel’s plight and had apparentl y been as pissed off as I had about it.\n\nThen one day in a fit of X-Men frenzy\, I bought and actually read The X-Men Companion II (of course I ha d volume 1 as well)\, copyright Fantagraphics Books\, Inc. 1982\, and drop ped the book in shock when I got to page 23 of the Chris Claremont intervi ew. He’s talking about the portrayal of women in comics:\n\nAvengers #19 9\, where Carol Danvers is introduced to the Avengers\, and they’re told that in two days she has become eight months pregnant by an unknown fathe r\, or by force of persons unknown\, and the reaction of the entire crowd\ , men and women both\, is to the effect of: “Can I babysit?” “Can we knit booties?” “Can I make cookies for the baby?” “Oh you must be so happy?” and my reaction was\, “What an insensitive crowd of boor s.” Actually\, my reaction was a lot stronger than that. But how callous ! How cruel! How unfeeling! Considering that these people must have seen M s. Marvel only a couple of days before\, or even a couple of months before . She wasn’t pregnant then. How could she be eight months pregnant now? Now\, if that had been the point David [Michelinie] was trying to make\, t hat these other Avengers are callous boors\, okay then\, I may disagree wi th the point\, but if he followed through on it\, it would have made sense . But it seemed to me\, looking at the story\, looking at the following st ory\, that he was going for: “This is how you respond to a pregnancy.” \n\nAs Carol [Strickland] pointed out in her article in LOC [#1]\, women t end to get very short shrift in comics. They are either portrayed as wallf lowers or as supermacho insensitive men with different body forms\, who al most invariably feel guilty about their lack of femininity. And it’s alw ays seemed to me that\, why does this have to be exclusive? Can you not ha ve a woman who is ruthless and capable and courageous and articulate and i ntelligent and all the other buzz-words – heroic when the need arises\, and yet feminine and gentle and compassionate\, at others? That was what I tried to do with Ms. Marvel. I tried to create a character who had all th e attributes that made her a top-secret agent yet at the same time was a c ompassionate\, warm\, humorous\, witty\, intelligent\, attractive woman.\n \nOf course\, Star Trek: The Next Generation did a story where they Ms. Ma rveled Deanna Troi\, giving her an instant pregnancy. But this time the en tity that did it wasn’t human\, didn’t know anything about humans\, an d so it was forgiveable\, although she seemed entirely too calm\, too acce pting of the whole ordeal to me. But then I never really did understand Tr oi much anyway. She was so wishy-washy until the very final seasons. (Oh\, how I wished she could be more like her mother!)\n\nAnd of course\, DC Co mics had its own liberated female super-heroine\, the equivalent of Ms. Ma rvel: Power Girl. So what did they do? Impregnated her without her knowing who the father was. Oh\, they left off the rape bit (though it was entire ly involuntary on her part) but they added incest – weren’t they cute? \n\nYou win some\, you lose some. But most of the time you just hope that some people will grow up. Apparently some comics writers still don’t kno w (1) that women are human and (2) which century we’re living in.\n\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250913 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Ask Eddie August 28th 2025 film noir foundation DTSTAMP:20250913T064944Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:505-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Ask Eddie August 28th 2025\n\n LINK\n\n https://www.tumbl r.com/communities/filmnoirpigeons/post/793249785900630016/in-case-you-miss ed-it-last-night-on-facebookfnf\n\n\n\n VIDEO\n\n\n\n https://www.tumblr.c om/filmnoirfoundation/793249397131657216/in-case-you-missed-it-last-night- on-facebookfnf\n\n\n\n\n \n\n MY COMMENT\n\n Vincent + IDa Lupino in suspe nse \n\n Fletcher - sorry wrong number\n\n https://archive.org/details/44 0601\n\n the suspense project\n\n https://archive.org/details/the-suspense -project\n\n\n\n Good comment on royalty checks\n\n Censor\n\n https://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Censor_(2021_film)\n\n\n\n Night and the City\n\n https ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_and_the_City\n\n\n\n https://archive.org/de tails/nightandthecity1950?msockid=4d8768708c5211f0b9d67b73563c63d2\n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n This Lucille Fletcher script is beloved by many Suspense fans for many reasons. A widowed musician\, played by Vincent Price befri ends a woman\, played by Ida Lupino. They are romantically attracted to ea ch other by their mutual love of music.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250828 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Bernie Sanders is a fiscal capitalistic opportunist DTSTAMP:20250913T063741Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:504-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n I repeat\, Bernie Sanders is a fiscal capitalistic opport unist... who masquerades as a socialist or green or some extreme devout li beral when he functionally appears as a chaos agent no other than SChrumpf t in effectiveness.\n\n\n\n \n\n from PBS\n\n https://www.pbs.org/newshour /politics/nobody-likes-him-hillary-clinton-says-of-presidential-candidate- bernie-sanders\n\n\n\n WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton says “nobody likes” her former presidential rival Bernie Sanders\, even as the Vermon t senator remains entrenched among the front-runners in the Democratic rac e\, with the Iowa caucus beginning in less than two weeks.\n\nIn an interv iew with “The Hollywood Reporter” published Tuesday\, Clinton was aske d about a comment she makes in an upcoming documentary where she says Sand ers was “in Congress for years” but\, “Nobody likes him\, nobody wan ts to work with him\, he got nothing done.”\n\nClinton replied that the criticism still holds and refused to say she’d endorse him this cycle if he wins the party’s nomination\, adding: “It’s not only him\, it’ s the culture around him. It’s his leadership team. It’s his prominent supporters.”\nSanders’ campaign said Tuesday it didn’t have a comme nt about Clinton’s remarks.\n\nHer comments may ultimately energize Sand ers loyalists who believed the Democratic establishment rigged the 2016 pr imary in her favor. That could be especially helpful with this cycle’s I owa caucuses looming on Feb. 3. Many polls show Sanders among the leaders with former Vice President Joe Biden\, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg\, the former mayor of South Bend\, Indiana.\n\nBut Cli nton also blamed Sanders’ supporters for fostering a culture of sexism i n politics — a charge that is especially sensitive now\, given that Sand ers’ top progressive rival in the 2020 race\, Warren\, has accused him o f suggesting a woman couldn’t win the White House during a private meeti ng between the two in 2018.\n\nSanders has denied that\, but Warren refuse d to shake his outstretched hand after a debate last week in Iowa and both candidates accused the other of calling them “a liar.” Warren has ste adfastly denied to comment further\, but the 78-year-old Sanders said Sund ay that while sexism was a problem for candidates\, so were other factors\ , like advanced age — touching off another online firestorm.\n\nIn the i nterview\, Clinton attacked a cadre of online Sanders supporters known gen erally as the “Bernie Bros\,” many of whom were sharply critical of Cl inton’s 2016 campaign for their “relentless attacks on lots of his com petitors\, particularly the women. And I really hope people are paying att ention to that because it should be worrisome that he has permitted this c ulture.”\n\nClinton further suggested that Sanders was “very much supp orting it” and said\, “I don’t think we want to go down that road ag ain where you campaign by insult and attack and maybe you try to get some distance from it\, but you either don’t know what your campaign and supp orters are doing or you’re just giving them a wink.”\n\n“I think tha t that’s a pattern that people should take into account when they make t heir decisions\,” Clinton said.\nHis feud with Warren has overshadowed a series of clashes between Sanders and another 2020 rival\, Biden\, for an op-ed penned by one of the senator’s supporters suggesting that the for mer vice president was corrupt.\n\n“It is absolutely not my view that Jo e is corrupt in any way. And I’m sorry that that op-ed appeared\,” San ders told CBS.\n\nThe op-ed\, published in “The Guardian” newspaper by Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout\, claims Biden “has pe rfected the art of taking big contributions\, then representing his corpor ate donors at the cost of middle- and working-class Americans.”\n\n\n\n\ n\n\n It is a sad truth from Robert f Kennedy jr\, an excerpt\n\n \"Mitch McConnell &\; Bernie Sanders built careers in DC while America got sick er\, fatter\, and more dependent on Big Pharma. \n\n The longest-serving senators are also the biggest failures. \"\n\n https://x.com/RobertKennedy Jc/status/1965156222979784823\n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n I repeat what I sai d elsewhere about Mandela... Bernie Sanders talks a good talk to the masse s of fiscally poor people who have time or are angry enough to listen. But \, his results are not good\, and when I look at Mamdani \, Ocasio Cortez. .. so many legislators are simply not good at leading or improving legisla tive bodies. That on the reverse side said legislatures only seem to reall y hurt the executive branch. No one may want to hear it but Bernie Sanders cost Hillary CLinton the election and I can't see how he thought he would beat her. At the end of the day\, Sanders has nothing to show for his tim e in Congress except being the far left rant guy. It is Mr. Smith lives in Washington. Every session\, for the past fifty years\,  he makes a sweat y tear eyed speech but it never leads to any legislation. \n\n IN AMENDME NT\n\n https://x.com/FranksBlueHot/status/1965050848633053363 referring t o a trveor jackson article\n\n\n\n I remember when Obama ran and won and I thought \, if he won\, he would have to succeed\, get results\, because i f he didn't no one after him could play the hope card and that is all the donkeys[party of Andrew Jackson ] have done since Obama. Biden was a hope president. Old PApa Joe\, remember. Biden didn't offer a plan. Biden offer ed the hope that he damage of the past\, some spurred by Schrumpt would be gone. Instead it got worse. Schrumpts presidencies were made by Obama + Bi den\, and it is funny how both in various ways\, alongside Bernie Sanders blocked Hillary Clinton\, who tried twice and never got the chance I think she should had. I still think what I said in the past was true. Clinton p resident\, Obama vice president \, gets eight years and then Obama \, mayb e biden vice president\, gets eight years. The donkeys gambled Obama first and messed it up. \n\n  \n\n\n\n Trevor Jackson article \n\n\n\n https ://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/09/25/how-to-blow-up-a-planet-abundance-k lein-thompson/\n\n\n\n excerpt\n\n\n\n What happened to the future? When d id we lose it\, and what has taken its place? Political scientists have fo und a continual decline in visions of a shared transformative future since the early 1980s. Around the world\, in party manifestos\, inaugural speec hes\, and programmatic policy documents\, principled statements about an o pen-ended future have given way to numerical targets like GDP growth achie ved\, emissions reduced\, or people deported. The political right has been more interested in returning to an imaginary glorious past\; consequently \, the change has been most pronounced on the left\, where the politics of an alternative liberatory future have ceded to the policies of technocrat ic governance and market discipline.\n\nThis story fits the interregnum of the 1990s and 2000s\, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the slide of social democratic parties into neoliberalism. When Francis Fukuyama de clared the “end of history\,” he was looking ahead to a melancholy tim e when we would be “jaded by the experience of history.” The conflict over the best way to organize human society had ended\, and liberal capita list democracy would remain triumphant\, but the future appeared to be an empty stretch\, without passion\, without struggle.\n\nThe financial crisi s of 2008 did not recover the future so much as reveal that its absence wa s an ideological project. Writing in the aftermath of the crash\, the radi cal cultural critic Mark Fisher diagnosed a phenomenon he called “capita list realism\,” meaning “the widespread sense that not only is capital ism the only viable political and economic system\, but also that it is no w impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it.” Elsewhere he wrote that the future had been “foreclosed\,” and the metaphor was ap t: we had been evicted from it\, and now it belonged to the banks.\n\nBut nothing has depleted the future quite like climate change. As target after target has been passed and promise after promise broken\, the time remain ing to avert global catastrophe has been squandered. There is no noncatast rophic future left\, and in fact it’s already here. How\, in conditions of runaway climatic disaster\, can the future be recovered? What visions o f a shared transformative future are possible\, and what happens to emanci patory politics\, and to democracy itself\, without them?\n\nAbundance\, b y two American journalists\, provides one answer. American liberals in pos itions of governance should commit to deregulation\, which the authors bel ieve will unleash the power of the market and of technology to provide che ap and plentiful housing\, energy\, and medicine. They define the “abund ance” they seek as a “state in which there is enough of what we need t o create lives better than what we have had\,” and they believe it is “important to imagine a just—even a delightful—future and work backw ard to the technological advances that would hasten its arrival.”\n\n\n\ n\n ...\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250913 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Vixen cosplay by Nita Roze Nitatherebel DTSTAMP:20250913T062723Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:503-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Vixen cosplay by Nita Roze Nitatherebel\n\n\n\n \n\n Nita Roze Nitatherebel \n\n on tiktok\n\n https://www.tiktok.com/@nittaroze.c om\n\n on youtube\n\n https://www.youtube.com/@nittaroze\n\n on instagram\ n\n https://www.instagram.com/nittaroze/\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250913 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Nelson Mandela needed in todays time from Osasu Obayiuwana DTSTAMP:20250913T052043Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:502-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Nelson Mandela\n\n https://x.com/osasuo/status/1965143159 471833302\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n From a distance\, I think Mandela was a d ifferent man in temperament from life experiences\,features when youngest\ ,agenda as a president compared to schrumpft. But Mandela made mistakes as president of south africa. Osasu\, what was Mandela's biggest mistake as president of SA?\n\n my sharing\n\n @osasuo makes a great point that what differs from a president/man like Mandela compared to a president/man like schrumpft is not merely humility. But to have a custom \, that survived a nd grew from painful prison\, to recognize all in a blood feud live on the ground. what say you?\n\n IN AMENDMENT  \n\n well... from a distance I think Mandela as a person is vastly different from Schrumpft. As a woman f rom south africa said\, Mandela went into jail with a traditional robe and came out in a european suit. Mandela survived prison\, changed but not de leted. Schrumpft has (1/5) never had to face a similar challenge plus unli ke Mandela before Mandela's imprisonment\, Shrumpft never fought for the b etterment of others against oppressors\, only his greed or mobstarting(2/5 ) Mandela also post prison fought against black people including his wife and children who didn't want the integration mandela staked his remaining life/reputation/hopes on(3/5) But after three drops of honey I must say th e pot is Schrumpft+Mandela have one thing in common\, neither know how to make the path the populace in their respective country needs/needed. a kin d heart never saved anybody(4/5) and a hateful heart never killed anybody. Results is what governors need more than their manners or temperaments be ing good or bad. (5/5)\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250909 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:What’s Your Writing Length Superpower? from Alicia McCalla DTSTAMP:20250913T051614Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:501-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n What’s Your Writing Length Superpower? (Take the Quiz)\ n\n https://aliciamccalla.substack.com/p/whats-your-writing-length-superpo wer\n\n\n\n My comment\n\n\n\n I chose to base my answers on what is publi cly available for people to read with my work. \n\n\n\n \n 1. What word count feels most like home?\n \n \n A. 2K–7K (short\, sharp\, done )\n \n \n I said A though it is A to C for me\, in terms of overall \, most of my public work is A so A\n \n \n \n \n 2. How do you see s tories in your head?\n \n \n A. One burst\, one scene\, one punch of meaning\n \n \n I first thought to say C cause I tend to see most of my work holistically\, from novel length to flash fiction\, but based o n available work \, I chose A but I have completed work where I saw from A to E in all earnest\n \n \n \n \n 3. What gives you the biggest dopam ine hit?\n \n \n A. Finishing lots of small\, complete stories\n \ n \n I am not a fan of manufactured cliffhangers so no B\, i know a n umber of writers do that intentionally. I do like C but I will say A as I have multiple collections of short stories. E type is the one I have never made.  I can't stand telenovelas or soap operas\, the unendings\, or the very popular unending black urban fictions. aka Power. \n \n \n \n \n 4. Which format excites you most?\n \n \n This one I couldn't answ er. I enjoy them all. In various contest or challenges I have participated into I enjoyed making each type. and I have been fortunate to enjoy readi ng each type:  flash fictions/serial comics/ mass market adventures/stand alone novels/ multi book epics. The one style I don't care for is\, biogr aphy. I don't like biographies as a genre. Nor do I want to write a biogra phy or have a biography written about me. \n \n \n \n \n 5. How do yo u treat cliffhangers?\n \n \n Another challenge\, I think it depends on the story. If I have a horror story or someone commissions a tale. It' s great. But cliffhangers aren't needed for all stories. I think romantic tales don't warrant cliffhangers alot of times. \n \n \n It is a c ase by case or story by story scenario. You don't have that option so I ha ve no answer.\n \n \n \n \n 6. How do you feel about novellas (12K–2 5K)?\n \n \n C. Perfect (that’s my sweet spot)\n \n \n Anot her hard one.  It is case by case again for me. If a story is a flash fic tion it is. I look at each tale I write as individual. If it is going to b ecome as long as a war and peace\, then it is. If it is going to be as lon g as a berenstein bears book then it is. Commercially \, I will say I can do a novella a week so I will say my answer is C\, it will take me longer than seven days to do something longer than a novella. I don't know if it is a sweet spot but commercially\, for time\, i think it is correct. \n \n \n \n \n 7. What’s your relationship with characters?\n \n \n B. Love returning (watching them grow across episodes)\n \n \n Th is is funny cause I am finishing stories differed by genre/tone/type with various characters. \n \n \n I chose B simply because it matches m y thoughts most. But\, i have written comedic or horror or romance and  t hey didn't have the same characters or character development. \n \n \n \n \n 8. What’s your natural writing rhythm?\n \n \n C. Compact: finish a book in weeks or a month\n \n \n C is usual but I remembe r two years for a story\, a screenplay. Here was the challenge\, how to ge t Dupin to solve the case of the Cask of Amontillado? And i wrote it twice in that time but... anyway:) \n \n \n \n \n 9. What format do you pr efer to read?\n \n \n Hard one for me\, I am still waiting for the w inds of winter\, and trying to still keep the memory of all the prior book s in my head. I loved a series in heavy metal magazine called.. I can't re member\, but it was a spoof of dungeons and dragons\, and it was so funny: ) they attacked everything while having a cohesive honest story. it was bl ack and white. I will always love the People can fly from Virignia Hamilto n. I love the original Blood Syndicate from Milestone comics. I read the O dyssey of Homer as a kid and enjoyed it. It is not structured as well as a thousand and one knights. I read a knight of the seven kingdoms from mart in and arguably was my most enjoyable in his world\, but it also had illus trations which are so cool:) I also illustrate. So A to E... E is rare to see sold in modernity. I can read certain genres in various forms. I would n't like overly melodramatic works whether a short story or epic.  \n \ n \n \n \n 10. What makes you break out in hives?\n \n \n To be bl unt\, I haven't felt that way as a writer ... yet. I imagine if i had a co mmission to do a melodramatic telenovela or biographical work\, even biogr aphical fiction\, i would have challenges\, hives:) \n \n \n \n \n Th ree A's Two C's and one B and four None of the aboves.\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n I am called The Sprinter:) haha And so I concur\, cause most of my publ ic work are poetries/short stories. But it is about where a story takes me . If I see something valuable I will venture into it\, but I try not to pu sh drama into characters lives\, that is a bad habit of some writers. One of my favorite anime is Black Clover and the writer for Black Clover said publicly\, he wanted every character to have value. And when you see the c artoon you recognize that\, but it isn't pushed. \n\n The old prince savi ng the princess character doesn't have to have a father who has never beli eved he will amount to anything and a mother who is secretly a dragon and an opposing kingdom wants to kill him led by the chamberlain of his kingdo m. Pushing drama is ok if you want to do it\, but I don't do that. I like the idea of a prince who is raised in a loving home by his parents the kin g and queen who love each other and gotten old together safely with a dece nt army protecting their realm and good traffic/trade being aided by the c hamberlain who likes to serve in his role and is ready for retirement. No drama. The prince just simply heard a woman was in a toward covered by a t oxic slug demon so he ventured to save her. HE didn't even know she was a princess cause her kingdom was put under a parallel spell by a tree after woodcutters didn't heed the royal decree to leave a certain forest alone. So\, now the drama. princess has to remain a certain age so she will be of a different time period. the spell that changed the kingdom did what? ok\ , I thought of the smurfs. clearly the tree has to be surrounded by a fore st or it will keep hurting people which is silly. this isn't a comedy. so there. Drama occurs\, but it shouldn't be forced. \n\n\n\n \n\n COMMENT R EFERRAL\n\n https://substack.com/profile/56304731-richard-murray/note/c-15 4420014\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n\n \n What’s Your Writing Lengt h Superpower? (Take the Quiz) by Alicia McCalla\n \n\n \n Find Out Your S trengths\n \n Read on Substack\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250910 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Problem With Legislators in the USA DTSTAMP:20250913T050811Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:499-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The Problem With Legislators in the USA\n\n https://x.com /Rebeccablack/status/1965883778506936510\n\n\n\n my thoughts\n\n Ocasio-Co rtez isn't shallow. This guy kennedy is wrong. But I wish more people incl uding those in the party of Andrew Jackson would admit how elections work. AOC wasn't some great legislator\, she wasn't some champion advocate. She didn't have any successes as an advocate of high reknown. I live in NYC\, I know exactly how she won. The white guy who was a democrat who had the seat\, underestimated the demographic shift in his district. He courted th e white vote in that district which no longer had the voting power. AOC co rrectly\, very unshallow\,very wise\, courted the latin American vote whic h had become the majority by a distance. And she won. AOC is part of a num ber of elected officials in New York City or New York State who basically rided a demographic shift wave to success. They didn't need to be great le gislators. This is part of Mamdani now. The problem is\, once you get elec ted\, you now need to be a legislator who gets results and in the current environment\, that is a challenge. Because tribalism is locked in most leg islative branches in the usa. So making laws is a challenge because either you need people from another party of governance to vote for you who will not or you need people from your own party of governance but a different branch to vote for you who will not. \n\n my comment\n\n AOC isn't shallo w. I concur @Rebeccablack  the true problem the entire field of legislato rs in the usa has\, is the current environment means any legislator who wa nts to make laws has to get votes from another party or another wing of th eir own party\, both hard to come by\n\n https://x.com/Thetenner10/status/ 1966232498511433817\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250912 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Angelique Noire birthday DTSTAMP:20250908T230057Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:497-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n A cool person\, lovely model\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n INFO FOR PHOTO\n\n\n\n • My love @thepinupnoire at the Swann awards 2023 in Paris\, at the Automobile club de France\, Concorde square.\n\n\n\ n •• Pic by @thestoryalist\n\n\n\n ••• Dandy Magazine celebrated its 20th anniversary with an AMAZING event/Gala.\n\n\n\n https://thepinup noire.tumblr.com/post/730999305775824896\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n if yo u want your own \, I do commissions \n\n\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/h ddeviant/commission/Microcalligraphy-signatures-1487995\n\n\n\n Complete I nformation on Calligraphy post\n\n\n\n Calligraphy Mirror - Angelique Noir e 09/08/2019 - RMWorkCalendar - African American Literature Book Club\n\n\ n\n  \n\n\n\n Her tumblr archive- really great images and not just of her \n\n\n\n https://thepinupnoire.tumblr.com/archive\n\n\n\n Her images on he r husbands tumblr\n\n\n\n https://guillaume-bo.tumblr.com/search/angelique \n\n\n\n \n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250715 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Bois Caïman from Chevelin Pierre DTSTAMP:20250905T044906Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:495-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Bois Caïman (Aug. 1791) is remembered as a secret night gathering of enslaved people in northern Haiti where they vowed to fight f or freedom. Led by figures like Cécile Fatiman (often written “Fatima ”)\, it’s widely seen as the spark of the Haitian Revolution the only successful slave uprising\, which led to Haiti’s independence in 1804. I n this artwork\, Fatiman stands with a ritual knife and a black pig\, whil e rebels hold torches behind her symbols of the oath and the uprising that followed.\n\n https://www.tiktok.com/@chevelin_illustration/video/7538579 529476902174?cid=NzU0MDA4OTg1OTI4NjQwMTgyMg \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n @chev elin_illustration Aujourd’hui\, nous commémorons la cérémonie du Boi s Caïman \; le premier congrès du peuple haïtien\, acte fondateur de no tre marche vers la liberté. Parmi les figures marquantes de cette nuit en flammée\, Fatima se dresse dans la mémoire comme l’une des protagonist es\, porteuse du feu sacré et du serment qui allait changer l’Histoire. Illustration réalisée par @chevelin_pierre pour l’exposition « Rési stantes invisibles » de @bohioayiti. #BoisCaïman #HistoireHaïtienne #R ésistantesInvisibles #ChevelinIllustration #BohioAyiti #Mémoire #capcu t ♬ Trailer Intro - Stanislav Barantsov\n \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250814 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Twilight Zone Season 2 Finale: \"You Might Also Like\" B reakdown & Easter Eggs! DTSTAMP:20250905T045342Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:496-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The Twilight Zone Season 2 Finale: \"You Might Also Like\ " Breakdown &\; Easter Eggs!\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kaF_V7 50Z9w\n\n\n\n EMBED\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n MY COMMENT\n\n the most upbeat e pisode is \"A SMall Town\" reminiscent of the twilight zone episodes like the man in the bottle\n\n the episode \"a  traveler\" has the best use of a people rarely on tv\, in this case indigenous reminding me of a big tal l wish\n\n the epidoe \"meet in the middle\" reminds me of a number of twi light zone episodes with men behaving badly \, the chaser \n\n the blurry man was a nice ode to rod\, like a world of his own\n\n I think the varian ce in episodes in the original twilight zone occured in the peele variant.  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250905 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:How Publishing Has Changed Since 2015 - Jane Friedman DTSTAMP:20250905T044612Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:494-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n How Publishing Has Changed Since 2015\n\n URL\n\n https:/ /janefriedman.com/how-publishing-has-changed-since-2015/\n\n\n\n MY THOUGH TS \n\n All should check out the insight sections to audiobooks/paperbook s/ . They are good.\n\n HEre are some examples\n\n\n\n \n Audiobook\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/audio-revenue-predicted-to-overtake-eboo k-sales-by-2023/\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/this-studio-turns -successful-self-published-novels-into-hit-audiobooks/\n \n \n \n \n P aper book\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/major-media-coverage-does nt-sell-books-like-it-used-to/\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/bin dery-books-a-case-study-in-combining-traditional-industry-marketing-online -influencer-strength-to-launch-debut-novels/\n \n \n \n \n Direct Sale s\n \n \n Quote [ For authors who are able to look beyond book sales and even write beyond the book ]\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/ the-many-moving-parts-behind-brandon-sandersons-record-breaking-kickstarte r-campaign/\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/how-authors-can-sell-b ooks-direct-to-reader/\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/a-small-pub lisher-doubles-revenue-during-the-pandemic/\n \n \n \n \n Hybrid or Co llaborative\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/key-book-publishing-pat h/\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/imho-a-nuanced-look-at-hybrid-p ublishers/\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/imho-authors-equity-is- for-the-elite-not-for-you/\n \n \n https://janefriedman.com/imho-th e-self-publishing-scene-includes-agents-all-around/\n \n \n \n\n\n\n   \n\n\n\n MY COMMENT\n\n I can't wait for the \"What Hasn't Changed?\" if y ou have a way to at commentors to your blog\,through their email specifica lly\, that will be cool. Sometimes people follow you or your newsletter\,b ut have specific desires. \n\n\n\n Someone offline said they wanted to re ad an audiobook of mine\, so I know audiobooks are doing it\, because no o ne ever asked to read an ebook before offline to me\, and no one has still . But it is clear audiobooks are the way\, and that makes sense. The way h uman beings like to act offline\, an audiobook allows someone to walk the street and look up but still not have to read. It is that middle ground? b etween text and video in some ways. For text or video both need your eyes.  \n\n\n\n I know quite a few fellow artists who have crowdfunded but do y ou have to be a certain level of popularity first? I think so. The people i know who crowdfunded successfully in video/music/comic books have all do ne many conventions\, have many email lists and a larger network than me.  \n\n What markers of popularity should one look for before they try a ki ckstarter\, if any?\n\n \"For authors who are able to look beyond book sal es and even write beyond the book\" I have to admit\, I learned this as we ll\, I am just not as fast in the self selling as other artists\, but I am getting there. \n\n\n\n In retrospect this was inevitable. The creative aspect of being an artist in any medium will never change\, that is about displaying what comes from one's soul through some method to be experience d by all. But\, the commercial aspect to modern\, of the now not better or worse\, art stems from the change from an industry based on patronage\, h aving a father\, a financial benefactor. To one in which the artist is als o the fiscal operator. Not merely because they want to but because they mu st. And this is going to make the world of art change\, commercially. I be t one day\, writers of a certain level of popularity will accept payment b y other writers to put small stories into their books\, as a kind of paid assistance. If that isn't already happening.\n\n\n\n Lastly\, though not l eastly\, thank you for your efforts Jane Friedman. You have helped me see the industry better. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Referral\n\n https://www.linkedi n.com/posts/janefriedman_how-publishing-has-changed-since-2015-jane-activi ty-7369442214227259392-xnR5?utm_source=share&\;utm_medium=member_deskto p&\;rcm=ACoAAC9jwHcBhMdyfurNH2JmdlAPjJgXHivmWR8\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n MY C OMMENT TO THE REFERRAL\n\n Thank you Jane Friedman you have been helpful f rom the first post I read of yours. It heard of you through Kobo first and have been reading your insights ever since. \n\n Hope you have greater p rescience in the ten years to come and more positive changes in the litera ry industry in said time. \n\n I ask all who have learned from her or hav e good wills to spare to leave an inspiring comment to her postaluminumal journey.\n\n the following is mine\n\n https://janefriedman.com/how-publis hing-has-changed-since-2015/#comment-69309\n\n\n\n  \n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250905 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:DualMask work in progresses ladies DTSTAMP:20250905T040007Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:492-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n \n\n\n\n Work in progress 2 Which is your favorite?\ n\n the center + bottom right  are the best covers for any mens magazine. That pose in the center\, male fantasy. And all men love a woman to do a little ball play:) \n\n\n\n but my personal favorite is the left center. It is a battle axe\, the axe blade doesn't need to be so bearded cause the cutting motion from the top of the axe will get the area and less weight makes it easier to swing. The pike can be more dense which will make it be tter for armor. the short handle is slick making it ideal for close combat \, but the chain \, I like  it \, you can swing this ax and use as a whip gaining very nice distance:) \n\n\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/dualmas k/art/WIPs-set-2-1234842324\n\n\n\n \n\n I couldn't resist\n\n\n\n https:/ /www.youtube.com/watch?v=M36j_mu6L-c\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n WIP set 1\, have all been completed\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/dualm ask/art/WIPs-1232689278\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n an earlier sketch card\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/dualmask/art/Sketch-Card-Plans-122199 0444\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n AND EN EXTRA TREAT!!\n\n\n\n Babes w ith no buttons an October Challenge\n\n\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/dua lmask/art/October-Art-Challenge-991195683\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n OF all the works\, which is your favorite row? \n\n\n\n I cho se mine as the banner image from the following\, top row in each image is 1\n\n\n\n wip 1 - row 3\n\n\n\n WIp 2- row 2\n\n\n\n october - row 6\n\n\n \n sketch card- row 2\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250904 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:No\, THIS is WORST FILM of 2025! (War of the Worlds Remake) DTSTAMP:20250905T034507Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:491-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n No\, THIS is WORST FILM of 2025! (War of the Worlds Remak e)\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbH3fux3Thoembed\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n my comment\n\n Is this funnier than the Room? \n\n Worst Film List\ n\n https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/503248/15-worst-movies-ever-made\n \n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250904 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Final Fantasy- A Nollywood Film DTSTAMP:20250905T034109Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:490-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Final Fantasy- A Nollywood Film\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n video\ n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgsAPZ7kL9Y\n\n\n\n Embed\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n Starring Stan Nze \, Chy Nwakanma\,Scarlet Gomez\, Thelma Iheana cho\, Alez Ayalogu\, Uche Inyamah\n\n Directed by Chidi Udensi\n\n Produce d by Thelma Iheanacho\n\n Production manager Emeka Adibe\n\n Continuity Ce nt Micah Duke\n\n Soundman Ifeanyi Ochuba\n\n Cinematography : Jide Otutu + Tareotu III Fidel\n\n Soundtrack Tareotu IV Kennedy\n\n A.D. 1 Jide Otut u\n\n A.D. 2 John Ugoji\n\n Story by Thelma Iheanacho\n\n Editor Chidi Ude nsi\n\n Screenplay Chidi Udensi\n\n Executive producer Matthew Gbinije\n\n Executive producers Thelma Iheanacho + Chidi Udensi\n\n Distributed Mogso n Production +  Movienatics Entertainment\n\n \n\n Referral\n\n https://w ww.linkedin.com/posts/thelma-victoria-iheanacho-964368121_watch-and-share- this-scintillating-drama-activity-7363838381488750594-vOQd?utm_source=shar e&\;utm_medium=member_desktop&\;rcm=ACoAAC9jwHcBhMdyfurNH2JmdlAPjJgX HivmWR8\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250904 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:KWL Live Q&A – Multiple Streams of Income with Lisa Lang B lakeney DTSTAMP:20250905T032011Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:489-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n KWL Live Q&\;A – Multiple Streams of Income with Lis a Lang Blakeney\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpjzgWx2B0w\n\n\n\n AR TICLE\n\n\n\n https://www.kobo.com/kobo-writing-life/blog/kwl-live-q-a-mul tiple-streams-of-income-with-lisa-lang-blakeney\n\n\n\n EMBED\n\n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n THOUGHTS\n\n 3:00 Blakeney was in journalism but wanted to be a writer before. 2013 seriously writing\, 2015 first novel\n\n 5:00 Took her a long time to write the first book\, she wasn't sure. Had a lot of nonfi ction. The first book she had been writing for a long time.\n\n 6:00 Her t alk at romance author mastermind was invigorating\n\n 7:00 Why did she go wide? For many authors the easiest route is to be exclusive. She originall y selected the easiest path which was a mistake. The first book was pulled from am*zon cause it had a racy title\, it shocked her. So her series was obliterated overnight. That was when she decided to go wide. \n\n LISA's BOOKS ON KOBO\n\n https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/search?query=lisa+lang+blake ney&\;ac=1&\;acp=lisa+lang+blakeney&\;ac.author=lisa+lang+blakene y&\;sort=Temperature&\;fclanguages=en\n\n\n\n 9:00 All income stream s add up\, it is not as hard as you think\n\n 10:00 When she went wide fir st\, she looked for other authors going wide. The good thing is many niche community groups exist. She just learned that even in am*zon you can put your books in libraries. Being active in writing groups to seek informatio n. When she works with new authors the first thing she finds is they are i solated\, they don't speak to other authors. She feels you have to do that . \n\n 12:00 Wide for the win is a great group\n\n you will start with th e big five: Kobo/Apple/Google/Barnes and Noble/am*zon\n\n https://www.kobo .com/us/en/p/writinglife\n\n\n\n https://press.barnesandnoble.com/\n\n\n\n https://authors.apple.com/publish\n\n\n\n https://support.google.com/book s/partner/answer/3289675?hl=en\n\n\n\n 14:00 if it is overwhelming to be o n all five\, then use an aggregator\n\n 15:00 Multiple streams of income m ean \, for google work on SEO of books\, for kobo or barnes and nobles tha t means promotions.\n\n 19:00 For apple you have to wait but for others it is top of the month\n\n 20:00 It all starts with the building of the news letter\n\n 21:00 always have a part in your newsletter like your treating someone as if they have been their for the first time\n\n 22:00 Best way t o get kobo is to mention in your newsletter\n\n 25:00 Audio was more expen sive than translation\n\n 28:00 Germany has been her most profitable trans lated genre for her\, and in romance. She translates in French/Italian\n\n Translations\n\n https://lisalangblakeney.com/translations/\n\n\n\n 29:00 If money is the goal and it doesn't seem overwhelming. All translations i s the same as English\, just having someone translate.\n\n 31:00 she found her first translator through a referral . Looking reviews\, asking who th ey worked before\, and you pull the trigger. \n\n 34:00 In France many bo oks are translations of English while in holland many still read english. She earned her money in translation quicker than in audio. \n\n 35:00 Don 't translate until it sells in English\n\n 36:00 What is setting smart goa ls? The downside of all the groups  is you get a ton of information. \n\ n Take time and give specific tasks for days\n\n 39:00 She loves marketing while she has to be in the zone to write. so the journey is unique for al l writers.\n\n 42:00 How important is direct revenue? I didn't have huge h opes for a direct store. But she did it. Loe and behold direct sales is a big deal. She doesn't put half the energy some authors do and it is her se cond biggest income stream and stems from the newsletter. \n\n 45:00 she sets monthly goals\, then her direct sales store is the lever to make magi c happen\n\n Her ebooks sell the most from direct sales\n\n 46:00 when she found out she was a six figure author it was an accident. She spends more time now auditing herself and having revenue + writing goals. \n\n 48:00 she will release 4 books a year. \n\n 49:00 we all started on book funne l\, the support was there for writers or readers. That is unheard of today .\n\n 50:00 she hasn't done a kickstarter.\n\n 51:00 Her newsletter really started growing with actual people who are going to read it?\n\n Every ti me you write a book\, you need to make bonus material. \n\n 52:00 What do you wish you knew when you started? If you want to sustain a business you have to find more eyes. One thing about the business of writing\, early a dopting of things helps you. \n\n 57:00 she has a place for kobo writers to grow\n\n https://lisalangblakeney.com/kobo-live/\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250904 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Ne Zha and the need for quiet in films DTSTAMP:20250905T031502Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:488-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Ne Zha\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwBIY-EK7h8\n\ n\n\n my comment\n\n Thank you for introducing Ne Zha's origins. \n\n Yes \,  I see how Ne Zha has transformed into a new character.\n\n I wonder N e Zha did outside China in non Asian audiences. Do you know a way to find out?\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Movies need to be quiet\n\n https://www.youtube .com/watch?v=xEAQm8Op3Hw\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n Milius + Donner were purpo seful film storytellers who came from a time where quiet was common in mor e movies than meets the eye. \n\n But so many directors were raised on mo vies that were never quiet\, it has formed their artistic sense. \n\n I l ike Dungeons and Dragons honor among thieves and the last guardians movie too.\n\n YEs\, peter Jackson is a purposeful storyteller as well. He can k now what silence says. \n\n Good point on Inside Out 2. Did Inside Out 1 have more silence?\n\n I already subscribed but I am paying attention. The problem then is the execs. But that is an old problem in Hollywood or fil m making. How do you get money from the coiffeurs of the Hollywoods of the world absent the influence of the coiffeurs owners?\n\n Forbes statistics are brilliant. 1200 malls closed in twenty years. \n\n I had to research what a lifestyle center is\, it seems to me\, just a tiny mall. \n\n 5\, 700 movie theaters shut down.\n\n Excellent industrial assessment. simple/ honest/straight forward\n\n My question to you is \, with the modern cultu re in the usa cementing\, even though you are raised in north America\, ha ve you ever considered going to china? \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\ n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250904 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Bohemian rhapsody in Zulu DTSTAMP:20250905T030903Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:487-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Enjoy\n\n\n\n https://youtu.be/gbljPQbxtTQ?si=aon1HSmo2V8 -EWgK\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n REFERRAL\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \ n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250904 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:DS9 Fan Hate Mail DTSTAMP:20250905T030633Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:486-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Deep Space Nine is my favorite Star Trek show and yes\, I love Sisko but it is the storytelling + characters. I think it is the bes t series in that way. \n\n\n\n and yes I love Discovery\, and yes I love Michael Burnham\, but it is the voyage. Discovery went more unknown places than any star trek since VOyager while absent Voyager's overall storyline which I think hurt the show... Voyager should never had made it back home \, and started a federation in the delta quadrant. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n h ttps://youtu.be/DxgDqv-Uqnw?si=1AQQ8wiDCJQKhOfz\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\ n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250904 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Paths of Bimshire: Book One- Path of The Hunt from Shawn All eyne DTSTAMP:20250825T220659Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:469-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Paths of Bimshire: Book One- Path of The Hunt June 2\, 20 22\n\n\n\n \"As you know\, my Path is one of the most feared of the Paths\ , and for good reason.\"\n\n\n\n A young boy has entered The Year of The T urning\, the year when it will be determined if he possesses enough power to be deemed worthy of a Path. Few people believe in him\, including himse lf. But on the ceremonial day of The Threshold\, family secrets held by hi s stoic father will be revealed that will not only change the life of the boy forever\, but the very reality of his home of Bimshire.\n\n\n\n In thi s Afro-Caribbean steampunk fantasy-adventure we are thrust into the world of Bimshire\, a magical island full of fantastical creatures\, wondrous si ghts\, and people possessing numerous gifts in the form of The Paths. The entire Nation forms a society based off of these Paths\, and life can be e xtremely rewarding\, or extremely difficult\, depending on your Path...or if you even have one. When one household reveals a dark secret\, the entir e Nation is thrown into upheaval and an epic quest begins.\n\n\n\n Join in on this immersive\, dark and addictive coming of age fantasy tale set in a mythical version of Barbados\, as a father and son must learn to underst and\, and save\, each other.\n\n\n\n https://a.co/d/7OgsGH4\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250602 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Sword from Shawn Alleyne DTSTAMP:20250825T220551Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:468-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The Sword May 14\, 2023\n\n\n\n \"The Woman in Black star ed at the Little Girl as the buildings burnt all around them.\"\n\n\n\n A Swordslinger has a chance encounter with a little girl that will change bo th of their lives forever.\n\n\n\n Artist and Writer Shawn Alleyne takes u s on another ride in his AfroFiction series of worlds. This time we enter a sci-fi Western frontier in a short story of death\, discovery and destin y.\n\n\n\n https://a.co/d/hAz9Kmq\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250514 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Boomerang film soundtrack 1992 DTSTAMP:20250818T004321Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:465-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n \"End of the Road\" (performed by Boyz II Men) Babyface\, LA Reid\, Daryl Simmons\n\n\n\n [Intro: Michael McCary]\n\n Gi rl\, you know we belong together\n\n I have no time for you to be playin' with my heart like this\n\n You'll be mine forever\, baby\, you just see\n \n\n\n [Verse 1: Nathan Morris]\n\n We belong together\n\n And you know th at I'm right\n\n Why do you play with my heart\n\n Why do you play with my mind?\n\n Said we'd be forever\n\n Said it'd never die\n\n How could you love me and leave me\n\n And never say goodbye?\n\n\n\n [Pre-Chorus: Wany á Morris]\n\n When I can't sleep at night without holding you tight\n\n G irl\, each time I try\, I just break down and cry\n\n Pain in my head\, oh \, I'd rather be dead\n\n Spinnin' around and around\n\n\n\n [Chorus: All] \n\n Although we've come to the end of the road\n\n Still\, I can't let go \n\n It's unnatural\, you belong to me\, I belong to you\n\n Come to the e nd of the road\n\n Still\, I can't let go\n\n It's unnatural\, you belong to me\, I belong to you\n\n\n\n [Verse 2: Shawn Stockman]\n\n Girl\, I kno w you really love me\n\n You just don't realize\n\n You've never been ther e before\n\n It's only your first time\n\n Maybe I'll forgive you\, mmm\n\ n Maybe you'll try\n\n We should be happy together\n\n Forever\, you and I \n\n\n\n [Pre-Chorus: Wanyá Morris]\n\n Will you love me again like you l oved me before?\n\n This time\, I want you to love me much more\n\n This t ime instead\, just come to my bed\n\n And baby\, just don't let me\, don't let me down\, oh\n\n\n\n [Chorus: All\, Wanyá Morris]\n\n Although we've come to the end of the road (End of the road)\n\n Still\, I can't let go (The end of the road and I know I can't let go\, baby)\n\n It's unnatural\ , you belong to me\, I belong to you (I don't know what I'm gonna do)\n\n Come to the end of the road (I don't know what I'm gonna do 'cause I know I've come to the end of the road\, the end of the road)\n\n Still\, I can' t let go (Oh my God\, oh my God\, help me out a little bit\, baby)\n\n It' s unnatural\, you belong to me\, I belong to you\n\n\n\n [Interlude: Micha el McCary\, Shawn Stockman]\n\n Girl\, I'm here for you\n\n All those time s at night when you just hurt me\n\n And just ran out with that other fell a\n\n Baby\, I knew about it\, I just didn't care\n\n You just don't under stand how much I love you\, do you?\n\n I'm here for you\n\n I'm not out t o go out and cheat all night (Maybe I'll forgive you\, baby)\n\n Just like you did\, baby\, but that's alright\n\n Heh\, I love you anyway (Maybe yo u'll try)\n\n And I'm still gonna be here for you 'til my dying day\, baby \n\n Right now\, I'm just in so much pain\, baby (We should be happy toget her forever)\n\n 'Cause you just won't come back to me (You and I)\n\n Wil l you? Just come back to me (Yeah\, yeah)\n\n\n\n [Interlude: Michael McCa ry\, All]\n\n (Lonely) Yes\, baby\, my heart is lonely\n\n (Lonely) My hea rt hurts\, baby\n\n (Lonely) Yes\, I feel pain too\n\n (Lonely) Baby\, ple ase\n\n\n\n [Pre-Chorus: Wanyá Morris]\n\n This time instead\, just come to my bed\n\n And baby\, just don't let me down\n\n\n\n [Chorus: All\, Wan yá Morris]\n\n Although we've come to the end of the road (We've come to the end of the road)\n\n Still\, I can't let go (I know I just can't let g o\, no)\n\n It's unnatural\, you belong to me\, I belong to you (No\, no\, no\, no\, no\, no\, no\, no)\n\n (I don't know what I'm gonna do)\n\n Com e to the end of the road (I don't know what I'm gonna do 'cause I know I'v e come to the end of the road\, the end of the road)\n\n Still\, I can't l et go (Oh my God\, oh my God\, help me out a little bit\, baby)\n\n It's u nnatural (Baby)\, you belong to me (Baby)\, I belong to you (Baby)\n\n Alt hough we've come to the end of the road\n\n Still\, I can't let go (Alrigh t\, alright\, alright)\n\n It's unnatural\, you belong to me\, I belong to you (It's unnatural\, you belong to me\, I belong to you\, woah)\n\n Come to the end of the road (Although we've come to the end of the road)\n\n S till\, I can't let go (I know I just can't let go\, no)\n\n It's unnatural \, you belong to me\, I belong to you (No\, no\, no\, no\, no\, no\, no\, no)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \"Love Shoulda Brought You Home\" (perform ed by Toni Braxton) Bo Watson\, Babyface\, Daryl Simmons\n\n\n\n [Verse 1] \n\n Should I even listen?\n\n Should I even try?\n\n Will I just be heari ng the same old lines\, baby?\n\n See\, it doesn't matter\n\n What you say this time\n\n 'Cause our whole relationship is built on one lie\n\n You s ay things aren't the way they seem\n\n But still\, you can't come straight with me\n\n How can you think that you're in love\n\n When you don't know the meaning of it?\n\n\n\n [Chorus]\n\n Love shoulda brought you\n\n Brou ght you home last night\n\n You shoulda been with me\n\n Shoulda been righ t by my side\n\n Baby\n\n If you cared anything for me\n\n Then love would a brought you to me last night\n\n\n\n [Verse 2]\n\n Gotta hand it to you\ n\n You had me there for a while\n\n I was so in love with you\, I couldn' t see past your smile\n\n Now I smell the coffee\n\n I got a wake-up call\ n\n And it left the message that you just don't care at all\n\n You can't expect me to believe that\n\n She does not mean anything\n\n You say that you love only me\n\n Your kind of loving\, my darling\, I just don't need\ n\n\n\n [Chorus]\n\n Love shoulda brought you\n\n Brought you home last ni ght\n\n You shoulda been with me\n\n Shoulda been right by my side\n\n Bab y\n\n If you cared anything for me\n\n Then love woulda brought you to me last night\n\n Love shoulda brought you\n\n Brought you home last night\n\ n You shoulda been with me\n\n Shoulda been right by my side\n\n Baby\n\n If you cared anything for me\n\n Then you woulda been sincere\n\n And I wo uldn't be in tears\n\n And love woulda brought you to me last night\n\n\n\ n [Bridge]\n\n Oh\, baby\, why?\n\n Why do men think\n\n That love's just for the moment\n\n Not overtime?\n\n Please tell me why\n\n Why should I t hink that you're gonna be sincere?\n\n Are you deserving?\n\n Don't blame me if I just don't believe it\n\n Just don't believe that you'll always be here\n\n\n\n [Chorus]\n\n Love shoulda brought you\n\n Brought you home l ast night\n\n You shoulda been with me\n\n Shoulda been right by my side\n \n Baby\n\n If you cared anything for me\n\n Then love woulda brought you to me last night\n\n Love shoulda brought you\n\n Brought you home last ni ght\n\n You shoulda been with me\n\n Shoulda been right by my side\n\n Bab y\n\n If you cared anything for me\n\n Then love woulda brought you to me last night\n\n Love shoulda brought you\n\n Brought you home last night\n\ n You shoulda been with me\n\n Shoulda been right by my side\n\n Baby\n\n If you cared anything for me\n\n Then love woulda brought you to me last n ight\n\n Love shoulda brought you\n\n Brought you home last night\n\n You shoulda been with me\n\n Shoulda been right by my side\n\n Baby\n\n If you cared anything for me\n\n Then love woulda brought you to me last night\n \n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \"I'd Die Without You\" (performed b y P.M. Dawn) Attrell Cordes\n\n\n\n Is it my turn to wish you were lying h ere\n\n I tend to dream you when I'm not sleeping\n\n Is it my turn to fic tionalize my world\n\n Or even imagine your emotions to tell myself anythi ng\n\n Is it my turn to hold you by your hands\n\n Tell you I love you and you not hear me\n\n Is it my turn to totally understand\n\n To watch you walk out of my life and not do a damn thing\n\n\n\n (If I have to give awa y) the feeling that I feel\n\n (If I have to sacrifice) oh\, whatever baby \, whatever baby.\n\n (If I have to take apart) all that I am\n\n Is there anything that I would not do\,\n\n 'Cause inside I'd die without you\n\n Yeah baby\, 'cause inside I'd die without you\n\n 'Cause inside I'd die wi thout you\n\n\n\n Oh\, I apologize for all the things I've done\n\n But no w I'm underwater and I'm drowning\n\n Is it my turn to be the one to cry\n \n Isn't it amazing how some things just completely turn around\n\n So tak e every little piece of my heart (piece of my heart\n\n So take every litt le piece of my soul (every little piece of my soul)\n\n Take every little piece of my mind\n\n 'Cause if you're gone... inside...\n\n I'd die withou t you...\n\n\n\n (If I have to give away) the feeling that I feel\n\n (If I have to sacrifice) whatever baby\, whatever baby.\n\n (If I have to take apart) all that I am (all that I am)\n\n Is there anything that I would n ot do\,\n\n 'Cause inside I'd die without you\n\n 'Cause inside I'd die wi thout you\n\n 'Cause inside I'd die without you (I'd die without you) (I'd die without you)\n\n 'Cause inside I'd die without you (I'd die without y ou) (I'd die without you)\n\n 'Cause inside I'd die without you (I'd die w ithout you) (I'd die without you)\n\n 'Cause inside I'd die without you (I 'd die without you) (I'd die without you)\n\n 'Cause inside I'd die withou t you (I'd die without you) (I'd die without you)\n\n 'Cause inside I'd di e without you (I'd die without you) (I'd die without you)\n\n\n\n \n\n  \ n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n ENDING NOTE\n\n\n\n Marcus Miller produced th e original score for the film\, while Antonio \"L. A.\" Reid and Kenn eth \"Babyface\" Edmonds worked on the soundtrack. With such a wealth of new material\, director Hudlin said\n\n\n\n Sometimes we used score\, som etimes we'd use a song by L.A. and Face\, or sometimes Marcus would take s ome of the songs they had written and do score interpolations of it. For e xample\, one of the songs\, \"Love Shoulda Brought You Home\"\, is a great example. That came from a line of dialogue where Halle is furious with Ed die\, says \"love should've brought your ass home last night\,\" slaps him . At that time\, L.A. leans over to me and goes \"that's a great song titl e.\" I said\, \"great idea.\" They write a song\, \"Love Shoulda Brought Y ou Home\". I said\, \"well\, who we going to get to sing it?\" And they sa id \"well you know\, we've got this great young singer who sang the demo\, Reggie. If you like the demo then we can use her.\" And I said \"great\, let's use her.\" So that was Toni Braxton's debut. And I remember when I finally met Toni at Babyface's wedding\, L.A. said\, \"you owe your career to this guy\, he gave you your big break\,\" which was really sweet\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250701 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Hajime Miura (clinched his eigth title)– 3A World YoYo Cha mpion – World YoYo Contest 2025 DTSTAMP:20250817T211057Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:464-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Hajime Miura (clinched his eigth title)– 3A World YoYo Champion – World YoYo Contest 2025\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e Dkv-vkml1Q\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n interview\n\n https://ww w.instagram.com/worldyoyocontest/p/DMseSGwIbPw/?img_index=3\n\n\n\n his yo yo\n\n https://yoyorecreation.jp/team/243\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250810 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Eight Times till Cat Nights begins Good News DTSTAMP:20250817T030955Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:463-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n A POEM TO HONOR the ninth night a witch turns into a cat\ , which is the beginning of Cat Nights August 17th\, The eight days before a witch can turn into a cat and turn back\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n A Seventeent h Witch\n\n\n\n It was a quiet morning\, in an eighth seventeenth\n\n\n\n Miss Sarah\, a witch\, had a really long day\n\n\n\n A witch\, that she is \, that she is\n\n\n\n The clouds full from night dings\, all seem calm un derneath\n\n\n\n Miss Sarah\, wait an encounter\, in the street\n\n\n\n A witch\, that she is\, that she is\n\n\n\n A tree crack begin a sing\, mash es like titans teeth\n\n\n\n Miss Sarah\, now no human feet\, but purring\ n\n\n\n A witch\, that she is\, that she is\n\n\n\n A girl cry\, I am fall ing! shouts from anger bequeath\n\n\n\n Miss Sarah\, know hands weave crue l from the lightning\n\n\n\n A witch\, that she is\, that she is\n\n\n\n C at shade\, spells from lightning cling\, in nights eighth seventeenth\n\n\ n\n Miss Sarah\, four legged\, know where the light land\n\n\n\n A witch\, that she is\, that she is\n\n\n\n Through parks\, dodge wild cans\, runni ng\, past bright cars underneath\n\n\n\n Miss Sarah\, absorb the cruelty f ore the street\n\n\n\n A witch\, that she is\, that she is\n\n\n\n Boom! s he leap side hot white bling\, she fall on concrete teeth  \n\n\n\n Miss Sarah... feel wet licks and a quiet warmth\n\n\n\n A witch\, that she is\, that she is\n\n\n\n Eyes open to soeur earrings\, We Won! now eighth eigh teenth\n\n\n\n Miss Sarah\, in the pawed coven\, knew the price\n\n\n\n A witch\, that she is\, that she is\n\n\n\n A teen wait for a purring\, caus e her mother bequeath\n\n\n\n Miss Sarah\, in her daughter's arms\, now ho me\, safe\n\n\n\n A witch\, that she is\, that she is\n\n\n\n No image thr ough tweet will bring\, witch pride last seventeenth\n\n\n\n Miss Sarah\, side sisters\, saved all\, quietly\n\n\n\n A witch\, that each is\, that e ach is\n\n\n\n If you see a black\, purring\, rubbing\, please don't seeth e\n\n\n\n Miss Sarah\, or sister maybe\, just friendly\n\n\n\n A witch\, t hat she is\, that she is\n\n\n\n from\n\n Richard Murray\n\n\n\n If you wa nt to enjoy more poetry from me\, consider the following work\n\n Poetry o r More - Audiobook series\n\n\n\n Poetry or More- complete text only\n\n\n \n  \n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/261-good-news-blog-stories- through-a-year/page/2/?tab=comments#comment-943\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Info \ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Cat Nights begin on August 17th - display any text or a rt concerning cats. <\;Cat Nights begin on August 17. This term harks ba ck to the days when people believed in witches. A rather obscure old Irish legend said that a witch could turn herself into a cat eight times\, but on the ninth time (August 17)\, she couldn’t regain her human form. This bit of folklore also gives us the saying\, “A cat has nine lives.” Be cause August is a yowly time for cats\, this may have prompted the specu lation about witches on the prowl in the first place. Also\, nights contin ue to get longer. Cats\, crepuscular creatures\, are nocturnal hunters. Th eir superior night vision means that the nights belong to them\n\n\n\n CIT ATION\n\n\n\n https://www.almanac.com/fact/cat-nights-begin-the-term-cat-n ights-holiday\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250809 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250818 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Do Theaters need to be owned by the Film Makers again? DTSTAMP:20250816T133201Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:461-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n ‘Captain America: Brave New World’ Flopped at the Box Office\, but It’s Breaking Records on Streaming Platforms\n\n I think w hat this shows is the theater business model is in trouble. \n\n I quote the article\n\n Even though the film did not perform well in theaters\, it ’s finding new life on streaming. On Disney+\, Captain America: Brave Ne w World has stayed in the Top 10 in the U.S. for an impressive 56 days str aight.\n\n This information was reported recently and shows that people ar e still interested in the movie\, just mostly after it hits streaming plat forms.\n\n This trend isn’t too surprising. Superhero movies still have big audiences\, but lately many fans prefer to wait for them to be availab le at home. Streaming services like Disney+ make it easy to watch these fi lms over and over\, which can give movies a second chance after a slow the ater run.\n\n https://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/news/captain-america-brave- new-world-flopped-at-the-box-office-but-it-s-breaking-records-on-streaming -platforms/ar-AA1JO0tv?ocid=BingNewsSerp\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Superman and w hy theaters are dead\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbjN0xDN45E\n\n\n \n MY COMMENT\n\n thank you\, I said it for years. When theaters were take n from the film studios that was when theaters went on this road. Theaters originally were owned by the film studios so that they were like the stre aming services studios own today.  Because theaters are separate financia l entities\, as well as cable/t.v./blue ray - dvd\, I think studios see a return to their era when they owned theaters\, so they had all the profits \, and the rest can get lean. 18:06 thank you\n\n Apple doesn't own the th eater. It has been discussed but it hasn't happened. One thing you missed is how from when the film studios owned theaters to today\, the quantity o f theaters has lessened. In NYC many many theaters closed from the past to now. And that matters in that\, who is going to go miles to a theater. A movie theater must be local\, it is an offline business. With so many movi e theaters closed or closing\, many people don't live near a theater which ends their viability. \n\n COMMENT URL\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch ?v=hbjN0xDN45E&\;lc=UgxMNrpl5Iq-izWXPax4AaABAg\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\ n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250816 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Shannon the Blackfish with MAyowa's World DTSTAMP:20250816T133733Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:462-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n Shannon Sharpe's Anti-Blackness was His First Downfa ll.\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIABN6WQx4Q\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my comment\n\n You saw it coming:) \n\n I enjoyed liste ning to a black womens voice speak of Shannon's dialog:) \n\n Exactly\, f rom white written \"Immitation of Life\" to Black written \" Devil in a bl ue dress\" by walter Mosely or even better \"Passing\" by Nella Larsen or some short stories from her friend plus fellow mulatta Alice Dunbar Nelson \, female mullatoes biggest attraction to most men in the United States of America historically is their bodies. The white man fetishes the black he abuses. The black man fetishes the white he wants to abuse. Both men are in denial to their passions. The woman true self is iirelevant. And it is interesting that Zora Neale Hurston + Nella Larsen + Alice Nelson who in m y opinion are all great writers\, but whose literary works were chastised by black male writers when originally published for having opinions differ ent than them. Zora Neale Hurston to her view of the Southern Black town\, while Larsen or Nelson to their view of the Black populace pertaining to colorism and the role of the Black women whether dark as the night or unde niably yella. \n\n 8:04 Yes\, many black people \, especially DOSers as J ames Baldwin said of his father\, hate whites\, heaven for them is absent white people\, their public vision of jesus. It is a deep hatred that has only manifested for most black people privately. \n\n 9:16 exactly\, the whole point of MeToo was from Black Women to say that they are not getting the same legal or media treatment as white women in similar scenarios and this scenario with Shannon sharp is the proof MeToo's original short term goal\, to get attention to legal affairs and media inequally treating bla ck women with the long term goal of Black women being treated equally to w hite women\, is far from coming to pass.  \n\n 11:48 You have such a ser ious tone in this video \, correctly\, so but I did love when you let an a ccent out to emphasize Shannon needed the village to step in:) \n\n Plus your correct\, the great Bill Russell once said\, that Black Athletes are pampered \, they have not lived regular lives. So add the common Black inn er dislikes to whites and men's desire to have a weaker person to abuse wh ich is commonly a female to the life of an athlete and... danger. \n\n I end with\, you have very pretty hair\, face... and body:)\n\n 1800s Black Statian Literature\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/446-1800s-black-s tatian-fiction%C2%A0-free-to-read/\n\n\n\n Blackfish\n\n https://aalbc.com /tc/events/event/266-come-now-blackfish-05082025/\n\n\n\n Bill Russell on Athletes\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/449-bill-russell-born-1934/ \n\n\n\n REFERRAL\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIABN6WQx4Q&\;lc= UgwzvnJI6Rg1rQ6pnAN4AaABAg\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250816 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Experience between Cruise side Cavill DTSTAMP:20250816T132936Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:460-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n MY THOUGHTS\n\n\n\n the one word I didn't see in the post or comments is experience and that to me is the point cruise made to cavi ll. you can be young and studied but you need experience for these stunts. Jackie chan nor Tom cruise jumped off of buildings in the new first of fu ry or risky business... they both grew through experience\, yes training\, yes studying\, yes conditioning\,  but experience matters and to me that is the source of cruise's statement to cavill. has cavill really had stun t experience to build up to a drop of the height mentioned? I recall Keann u reeves saying\, with each john wick film he gets better. yes\, training\ , yes studying\, but experience is a great thing and I argue the greatest to know yourself. And experience doesn't require books or teachers\, it re quires opportunity. And yes opportunity to fail\, but whether you succeed or fail you will learn. And to the care to the film or the collective art project and the various people paying their rent through it\, I think Crui se has more experience than most in producing/directing/starring/preproduc tion preparing a movie to be made in the usa that has stunts that insuranc e companies detest. I am not suggesting a calamity can't happen. Highly Ex perienced stunt workers always get killed or badly injured in the history of film making. But I think cruise's experience should be treated with con fidence. Ray Harryhausen's finest film is arguably clash of the titans and yet\, he has decades of experience to build that film . Experience isn't some safety net. No. All things are possible in nature no matter how well anyone prepares. History proves that. But experience has great value and c ruise has that and his comments to cavill prove he thinks cavill needs mor e experience\, which is a very responsible thing to display.\n\n ARTICLE E XCERPT\n\n On the set of Mission: Impossible – Fallout\, Henry Cavill wa s eager to prove himself by performing the jaw-dropping HALO jump stunt al ongside Tom Cruise. But when Cavill asked to jump from 25\,000–30\,000 f eet\, Cruise looked him straight in the eye and said\, “Henry\, I know e xactly how you feel\,” before firmly warning\, “I can’t let you do it.” The reason? The stunt demanded specific\, intense training\, and o ne wrong move could have been fatal—for both of them. Cavill reluctantly backed down\, joking\, “I was like ‘OK\, fine. I’ll sit this one ou t\, Mr. Cruise.’” Curious how Cruise’s dedication sets the bar for H ollywood stunts? Click to read more!\n\n ARTICLE URL\n\n https://tinseltow ntales.com/news/92891\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250816 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:European Castles truth + the X bows from shadversity DTSTAMP:20250816T035520Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:459-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Movies have LIED to you about what’s INSIDE castles\n\n Interesing\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aIW6PvjGqs\n\n\n\n  \n\n \n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n IN AMENDMENT\n\n Elements of architecture\n\n CON STRUCTION\n\n What is cement? a binder\, in the past limestone\, today the most commercially used is Portland cement\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wi ki/Cement\n\n What is plaster? a binder + water [ binder is cement] it is meant to make smooth surfaces\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plaster\n\ n What is Mortar? sand+binder+water [ binder is cement] it is meant as a b inder for brick work\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortar_(masonry)\n\ n What is Concrete? aggregate+binder+water [ binder is cement\, aggregate are stone pieces ground to some level ] to make bricks or large structures \n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete\n\n TEXTILES\n\n What are Text ile arts? any art involving textiles: sew \, knit\, crotchet\, felt\,\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_arts\n\n What is a Tapestry? It is a textile made as a design\, usually to be seen on one side\n\n https://en. wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapestry\n\n What is Brocade? IT is a textile made as a design \, usually to be seen on either side\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Brocade\n\n What is Brocade? IT is a textile made as a design \, usua lly for clothing\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesi_(tapestry)\n\n Wha t is embroidery? A design stiched into a fabric\n\n https://en.wikipedia.o rg/wiki/Embroidery\n\n What is Applique? pieces of cloth stiched on anothe r to make a pattern [painting with cloth pieces to form an image]\n\n http s://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appliqué\n\n WALLPAPER\n\n What is Wallpaper? P aper glued to walls to show a pattern or image\n\n https://en.wikipedia.or g/wiki/Wallpaper\n\n What is Wallpaper paste? glue for wallpaper\n\n https ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallpaper_paste\n\n JUST FOR YOUR VIEWING\n\n ena meled steel homes\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lustron_house\n\n enam eling\n\n https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitreous_enamel\n\n\n\n What is TH AT?! - Avatar fire and ash STUPID X BOW TESTED!\n\n https://www.youtube.co m/watch?v=kkBZ19AE7IQ\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250815 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Superhero Movies a Duet with jesterbell + nerdrotic DTSTAMP:20250816T023543Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:458-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n \n\n Superhero movies are dead and it may be a good thing \n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3KaHmnXJuo\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n I wish you would had mentioned Blade. It all started with Blade\, as Stan Le e said\, a not well known comic book \, that did great for a Black Thespia n. And from that the industry jumped in\, but it was fresh. The reality is no film genre dies. People say Westerns are dead\, but they are not dead. No COntry For Old Men is a western. The film industry can't rely on weste rns as a genre to support the whole industry. People say Musicals are dead \, but they are not dead\, Lala Land is a musical. The film industry can't rely on musicals as a genre to support the whole industry. Superhero film s for a time was relied on by the film industry in the usa but now that is over. But no film genre is ever dead. From Film Noir to Slasher to Romanc e all film genres continue\, with fewer entries but infinite possibilities .  And the USA film genre isn't alone. Wuxia films and Gun fight films no longer are crutches for Hong Kong cinema but are still being made. So all film industries have these ebb and flows. \n\n The challenge in my eyes is the role of the theater. When television first came on the scene it mea nt a cheaper more private alternative to theaters for an ever growing numb er. But\, theaters were not allowed to be owned by Film studios. I think w ith streaming/cable/tv the theater is in trouble but it will allow the the aters to go back into the hands of film makers\, which it should never had been forced from by the government. I comprehend that film studios owning theaters meant independent films didn't have a place to show but independ ent films were not blockaded from owning theaters nor were theaters blocka ded from not being owned by film makers. But\, nothing beats seeing a film on the big screen it is another experience and really changes the interpr etation of the craft for film viewers. so while I wish you had mentioned b lade for the superhero genre\, I concur that the life of films and the ind ustry will be fine. \n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3KaHmnXJuo&\ ;lc=Ugy8H6hVKZl6ZAZPrtR4AaABAgbanner image\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Ban ner made by ChristianP7676\n\n\n\n https://www.deviantart.com/christianp76 76/art/Blade-1999-Wallpaper-1143658177\n\n\n\n \n\n Why Fantastic Four Was Doomed To Fail\n\n https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYrC79v7fNs\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n I have heard or read many since Avengers endgame say that cas ting originally male characters as female is a negative factor in every si ngle marvel film made that did it. I know you have never said casting alon e is the reason for any of the weakenend receptions to any marvel film\, b ut do you really feel that the decision to cast non white males\, in comic book worlds mostly filled with white male characters in popular roles\, w ould garner bigger audiences from non white males. I admit\, I can see it \, but I am not sure. How are you so certain? \n\n Your final point is th at the Superhero Movie era is over\, not superhero movies but their positi on as the industrial which was bound to happen. Westerns/Musicals went thr ough this and Hollywood survived and thrived eventually. \n\n I wish you had mentioned Sinner \, in my opinion the biggest winner this summer\, and what does it have different than Superman or Fantastic Four\, 2025. \n\n It isn't a reboot. So audiences can't be tired of the reboots to the film .\n\n It is a relatively small budget film\, well done. So while it doesn' t have all the wow moments only possible with a larger budget\, it can get greater return on people who simply like it. And the special effects are done well even if they are not grandiose. \n\n It has an original story\, so no one can argue about characters being changed as every character is original. \n\n It is naturally multiracial so many different humans based on various racial categories: age/phenotype/gender/language/body size/fin ancial level are present in the story naturally\, not forced\, so various people can see representations of their community in the film within the s torytelling.\n\n It doesn't have to gather the largest audience to make a profit or be lauded. Large budget films demand a large audience to make a profit or be lauded\, that gets complicated. Small budget films absent tot al global fandom can win. \n\n\n\n lastly\, \n\n I think Disney 20th Cen tury Films is the tentacle of Disney to look out for in the future\, as be ing the biggest tentacle. \n\n COMMENT URL\n\n https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=vYrC79v7fNs&\;lc=UgzrtXuIky5lJ70sLIJ4AaABAg\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250815 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:AKA Contrarian Birthday DTSTAMP:20250812T212519Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:457-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n @aka Contrarian thoughts when 91 \, remember her well and if you never knew her read on and be inspired.\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/ tc/topic/11759-reflections/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n my comment\n\n\n\n https:// aalbc.com/tc/topic/11759-reflections/#findComment-75452\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250818 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Mammoth pictures sage 32 12th screenwriting contest final de adline october 29th 2025 DTSTAMP:20250812T204943Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:456-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Mammoth pictures sage 32\n\n submissions open winners ann ounced January 30th \n\n maybe pinnochio\n\n\n\n Mammoth pictures sage 32 \n\n submissions open winners announced January 30th \n\n submission\n\n https://www.stage32.com/happy-writers/contests/12th-Annual-Search-for-New- Blood-Screenwriting-Contest\n\n\n\n Important Dates to Be Aware Of\n\n\n\n Super Early Bird Deadline: August 14th\, 2025\n\n\n\n Early Bird Deadlin e: September 10th\, 2025\n\n\n\n Regular Deadline: October 8th\, 2025\n\ n\n\n Final Deadline: October 29th\, 2025\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Quarterfinal ist Announcement: December 12th\, 2025\n\n\n\n Semifinalist Announcement : January 2nd\, 2026\n\n\n\n Finalist Announcement: January 16th\, 2026 \n\n\n\n Winner Announcement: January 30th\, 2026\n\n\n\n article\n\n htt ps://variety.com/2025/film/news/mammoth-pictures-stage-32-horror-developme nt-1236482160/\n\n\n\n \n\n INFO\n\n The Grand Prize Winning screenwriter will get into a script development incubator and packaging fast track with Stage 32 &\; Mammoth Pictures\, the producers behind the successful ho rror/thrillers THE NIGHT\, PARALLEL\, and more!\n\n The Grand Prize Winnin g screenwriter will receive:\n\n\n\n Mammoth Pictures Talent Incubator pla cement for script development and packaging with Mammoth Pictures (THE NIG HT\, PARALLEL)\n\n Career Accelerator Prize Package ($4\,000 value) includ ing script development\, career consulting\, writer branding\, and compreh ensive education resources\n\n Personal Mentorship Track with dedicated 1: 1 career development sessions from our success team\n\n Industry Marketing Campaign promoting winner to our exclusive roster of 2\,500+ managers\, a gents\, producers\, and executives\n\n Strategy Partnership where Stage 32 and Mammoth Pictures executives collaborate to prepare your project to ta ke directly to market\n\n\n\n Our Finalists will receive:\n\n\n\n Our Fina lists will receive a Career Momentum prize package valued at $1\,500\, inc luding Career Development\, a Writer Branding Workshop and an Education pa ckage\, and will have your logline featured in a Stage 32 Look Book sent t o over 2\,500+ top entertainment industry executives\, giving your work un paralleled exposure!\n\n\n\n But that’s not all! Everyone who makes the Semi-Finals will receive a Career Breakthrough prize package valued at $1\ ,000\, our Quarterfinalists will receive a Career Elevation prize package valued at $500\, and all Entrants will get a prize package valued at $100! \n\n What Type of Scripts Are We Looking For?\n\n\n\n We are looking for F eature scripts like:\n\n\n\n BRING HER BACK\, TALK TO ME\, FINAL DESTINATI ON\, SCREAM\, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER\, M3GAN\, WOLFMAN\, TERRIFIE R\, SMILE\, WATCHERS\, CUCKOO\, IT'S WHAT'S INSIDE\, V/H/S\, NIGHT SWIM\, LONGLEGS\, 5 NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S\, EVIL DEAD\, LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL\, THANKSGIVING\, FRIDAY THE 13TH\, FEAR STREET\n\n\n\n As well as TV pilot s cripts like:\n\n\n\n AMERICAN HORROR STORY\, STRANGER THINGS\, FROM\, THE WALKING DEAD\, SUPERNATURAL\, EVIL\, PENNY DREADFUL\, THE TERROR\, THE LAS T OF US\, RESIDENT EVIL\, WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS\, TWISTED METAL\, GOOS EBUMPS\, THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE\, THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER\, LOR E\, HAUNTED\n\n\n\n But that's not all\, we want to see all new\, unique a nd fresh ideas that we haven't seen before!\n\n\n\n For the last 13 years\ , Stage 32 Contests have led to dozens of success stories including writer s getting representation\, sold\, optioned\, staffed\, given writing assig nments and getting produced. No other contest opens more doors and we want to do the same for you.\n\n\n\n If you have an horror story that needs to be told\, now is the time to show us what you've got\, because our goal i s to amplify your voice\, give you the access Stage 32 is known for\, and take your writing career to the next level!\n\n\n\n Submit Now\n\n Full na me\n\n Email address\n\n Please make sure you use the same email address a s the one you use to sign in to Stage 32\, otherwise you won't have access to your webinar.\n\n Promo code:\n\n Enter your promo code\n\n Yes! I wan t to receive coverage notes on my screenplay and have the option to submit a new draft for only $99! 12th Annual Search for New Blood Screenwriting Contest Screenwriting Contest ?\n\n Yes! I want to receive discounted cove rage notes on my screenplay after the quarterfinalists have been announced for only $49! 12th Annual Search for New Blood Screenwriting Contest ?\n\ n Yes! I want the option to send an updated draft later for only $39! 12th Annual Search for New Blood Screenwriting Contest ?\n\n Yes! I want to be eligible for a mentorship opportunity with Producer Ethan Erwin (ORPHAN: FIRST KILL)\, Producer Jonathan Barkan (SKINAMARINK)\, or Story Analyst Mi chael Schulman of am*zon Studios for only $29.99! ?\n\n My script is over 120 pages (add $20)\n\n I have read and agree to the Terms and Guidelines. \n\n - or -\n\n $49.50\n\n TOTAL PRICE:\n\n\n\n \n\n  \n\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250812 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Moonlight and MAwazo 2025 summer contest ends august 31st 20 25 DTSTAMP:20250812T200626Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:455-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n https://www.moonlightandmawazo.com/submissions\n\n Work m ust be submitted in PDF format via the website.\n\n The submission must ra nge between 1\,500 and 7\,500 words. Submissions must be in Times New Roma n\, double-spaced and 12-point font. Anything outside of this range will b e automatically disqualified. Broken files or non-PDF files will not be ju dged.\n\n You may submit up to 3 story entries. Each submission will need its own entry form and  $25 entry fee. Students and Seniors 65+- $15 entr y fee. Each submission will be considered under its own merit. All entry f ees are non-refundable.\n\n LinkedIn\n\n https://www.linkedin.com/in/moonl ight-and-mawazo-98aa782a5/\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250812 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:FIYAH's SINNERS SAINTS HAINTS exclusive issue submission sta rted 2025 DTSTAMP:20250811T023806Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:453-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n FIYAH's SINNERS SAINTS HAINTS exclusive issue submission\ n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Here at FIYAH\, it’s no secret that we LOVE horror— and y’all are damn good at writing it! Inspired by the film SINNERS\, we want to celebrate the Southern Gothic renaissance with a special issue.\n \n\n\n From August 20th to August 31st\, FIYAH is accepting submissions fo r SINNERS\, SAINTS\, AND HAINTS. This issue is exclusive to reprinted stor ies\, i.e. stuff that has already appeared in other magazines. (If you hav e original fiction and poetry\, please save it for a future issue!) Eden R oyce and Shakeema Smalls will serve as guest editors for prose and poetry. \n\n\n\n This banger’s gonna drop October 31st\, just in time to close o ut Black Speculative Fiction Month. Please see our website’s Submissions page for more info.\n\n\n\n SUBMISSION GUIDELINES\n\n https://fiyahlitmag .com/submissions/\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250820 DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20250901 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The problem with List - Black 100 Films from the Black Movie Hall of Fame DTSTAMP:20250810T233807Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:451-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n I have said multiple times\, I find labels are rarely wel l thought out in the USA\, The list of 100 best black films by a supposed black organization [has to be financed and populated by blacks to be a bla ck organization] includes films\, not even directed or written by blacks.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n 6. “Claudine” (1974)  - directed by a nonblack man\, and I like Claudine\n\n 10. “Carmen Jones” (1954) - based on a n onblack theatrical play\n\n 21. “Richard Pryor: Live in Concert” (1979 ) How do you lump a live comedy show next to a fiction? \n\n 22.  “S haft” (1971) - story written by a white man\n\n 31.  “Glory” (1989) - written directed and financed by whites \n\n 32.  “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018) - a black version of a white character\n\n 6 3.  “Black Orpheus” (1959) based on a white mythology\, directed by a white man... and I like Orfeu Negro\n\n\n\n The Oldest is \n\n 50. “Wi thin Our Gates” (1920) \, personally happy 35.  “The Emperor Jones” (1933)  made it\, fewer black people know Paul Robeson today\, which is telling cause Paul Robeson more than Malcolm or Martin or many other Black men was a Black man of many talents registered by whites\n\n But within o ur gates is placed 50... the thing about white movie list is white movie l ist go reverse\, the oldest get preference on top\, the youngest go to the bottom. Within Our Gates is not better than the Heat of the Night... ok.  \n\n\n\n And for me\, to see Black Girl from Ousmane Sembene is ok\, but \, Emitai or Ceddo alone are better than most of the movies on this list. I will be blunt\, Black Girl is good but Emitai or Ceddo are top 5 based on story and quality. And then the damn princess and the damn frog made it ... and I don't see any films from India\, a number of Indians from India are Kalo's/Habshi/Blacks \, And a film from Kemet/Egypt I recall about a c leaning woman\, a Nuba and has what I call a mamluk friend\, whose husband goes to jail but he kills a man who hurt his wife while in jail... nahhh this list.  I am not your negro is beneath friday ok I am glad 57.  “ Sonkofa” (1993) and 29.  “Watermelon Man” (1970) and 90.  “Daugh ters of the Dust” (1991) made it \, cause some of the films many black p eople haven't seen or heard of. \n\n\n\n   \n\n 86.  “Bamboozled” (2000) is a criminal entry for me and the The Blood of Jesus 1941 from SPe ncer Williams not being on is a criminal absene for me. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n They show fun facts and say Sidney poitier is in six films\, well let u s list them\n\n 26.  “A Raisin in the Sun” (1961)\n\n 37.  “Lilies of the Field” (1963)\n\n 43.  “In the Heat of the Night” (1967)\n \n 69.  “To Sir\, With Love” (1967) for the record the black writer o f the book hated this movie\, anyway\n\n 85.  “Uptown Saturday Night” (1974) the first of the cosby poitier triology\n\n 95.  “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967)\n\n\n\n this is Rich's best six sidney poitier films\n\n A Warm December 1973\n\n Buck and the Preacher 1972\n\n For Lov e of Ivy1968\n\n The Long Ships 1964\n\n Paris Blues 1961\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n \n And then Denzel WAshington is in more than any other thespian. Ok\, but lets look at the top three with a Denzel Washington movie up there\n\n 1. “Malcolm X” (1992)\n\n 2. “Black Panther” (2018)\n\n 3. “Do The Right Thing” (1989)\n\n\n\n And as a writer\, who mostly writes origina l stories\,  inspired from a wide swatch of Black fiction\, including bef ore the 1900s\, I see these three films as indicative of the commercial pr oblem for a black writer like me. \n\n The first film is a biopic\, I des pise biographies ninety nine percent fo the time. Do I love Brother Malcol m\, son of a Garveyite\, best male black leader in the 1900s ... 100% do I think he's biopic from spike lee should be higher than fifty ? no.  But it makes sense\, black people in the usa in particular are a boring people s. We like soap operas/telenovelas/cheap drama... biopics are that\, cheap dramas. Malcolm's life can be read and important points known\, seeing th e dramatized version is really just that. \n\n Black panther\, written by a non black originally\, produced by a non black firm to gather modern bl ack movie going dollars which are bigger than ever before. ok... I still l ove Milestone better than DC or Marvel and... my favorite comic in Milesto ne comic is blood syndicate but ok.  Black people love black white charac ters either black characters that are phenotypical versions of non black c haracters or black characters that come from non black imaginations. I ten d to write neither. \n\n Finally... Do the right thing... nice cast\, god o scenes but what is it really? Urban Drama\, when you see the power serie s\, which is financially very profitable\, you see Do the right thing. The intro to Do The Right THing has a dance sequence by a mulatta woman. The end is a neutral ending with a reconciliation amidst or within an imbalanc ed or uneven city\, that being New York City. The idea is a neutral embrac e of the usa\, black pride to grow but integrated peace to live aside the non black determined. Very statian but I am not so sure how many black peo ple in the usa in the past or now\, truly believe that path\, but simply a bet it because of impotency.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n But I have experience with these things. For me\, what matters after looking at a list is how it was made. Who voted? Yeah ok\, somebody made a list\, that is nice\, but how was it constructed\, who voted?  I didn't vote\, the village didn't vote. Most times in the usa list of the best are always made by a group that do esn't reflect all or even evenly. And that is whether black or non black.  \n\n I went to the team page and see two people\, so these two people ma de this list\, that explains everything. \n\n https://blackmoviehalloffam e.org/our-team/\n\n\n\n And then I finally saw the following\n\n\n\n https ://blackmoviehalloffame.org/the-critic-lists/\n\n\n\n Black Critics made t his list\, ok. Black Film Critics/judges like most film judges have a huge bias based on their employer or their own personal taste and all of these critics are based in the usa \, applying themselves to a list of a global ly existing thing like Black film so ok. I comprehend. I get the 100 and i t is fine. It isn't indicative of the black populace\, but should be title d\, the BLACK STATIAN FILM CRITICS 100 BEST BLACK MOVIES\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\ n IN AMENDMENT\n\n\n\n I wish they would had not made a list. That would h ad been better in my view. Stop making lists\, stop trying to tell people what is best or what is better. Stop trying to make complex histories in t he arts or away from the arts structured in some order of supposed value. I see this in AALBC all the time\, people post their views and want to ran k \, which I sadly have done as well. But\, I try to not do it\, and if I owned or managed a supposed Black organization I will spend time making so mething that makes all black people feel welcomes\, equal. For example\, i nstead of a all time black 100 list\, why not a map. \n\n\n\n Why not a m ap of films involving Black people\, not black films\, films involving Bla ck people\, which includes Black Films (produced by/directed by/writtenby /starring mostly black people) plus non Black Films (produced by /directed by/written by/starring mostly non black people).\n\n\n\n In this way\, it can grow and all are equal. \n\n\n\n If anyone is willing to make map th ese films  for fun\, and join me\, just send me a message. Let's have fun . \n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n I end with \, I hope the renovation of the theater in misouri goes well\, it will be done February 28th 2026 \, but I am not a fan of Afro Americana\, and I find the placement of black things away from the black geographic distribution of black people in the usa states is... saddening. \n\n\n\n I will be blunt\, the black populace in the usa shou ld have only three locals for all things: New York City/Los Angeles/New Or leans... New York city for the north east which includes the northern sout h (maryland/virginia) and the north center (detroit\,chicago\, cleveland)\ n\n\n\n Los Angeles for the west coast blacks as the black populace in the usa has a huge gap in its geographic distribution.\n\n\n\n New Orleans fo r the confederate south and neighbors(missouri/tennessee/texas /florida/ca rolinas)\n\n\n\n Kansas City come on\, that isn't a black center\, look at this map. Black people can live anywhere in the usa today\, it doesn't me an the black populace is centered everywhere\, come on. It can't be for mo st black people when it isn't at a central point.\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n Missour i doesn't even have a majority black county\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n I wonder how many Black children will be able to make the trip to the Black Movie Hall of Fame outside Kansas City?\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n REFERRAL\n\n https://aalbc .com/tc/topic/11758-the-100-best-black-movies-ever/\n\n\n\n COMMENTARY\n\n \n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11758-the-100-best-black-movies-ever/#find Comment-75435\n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250810 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Tananarive Due + Steven Barnes The Three Lies of Writing Hor ror DTSTAMP:20250809T011425Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:450-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n I will try and post a video if something is made public.  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Forum post\n\n\n\n Tananarive Due teaching and givin g an excerpt - Black Literature - African American Literature Book Club\n\ n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Now for anyone writing a book or screenplay\, this is a great opportunity to learn from Tananarive Due\, writer of the R eformatory and the cowriter of the Twilight Zone episode \" A Small Town\" side her husband Steven Barnes. \n\n\n\n From Steven Barnes of Lifewriti ng\n\n People have called Tananarive the \"Queen of Black Horror.\" Her la test book\, THE REFORMATORY\, has sold more copies than anything in her ca reer - and we're in post-production on our first horror short film\, THE K EEPER.\n\n We've taught thousands of writing students\, and we're ready to expose three lies that keep writers struggling to reach their dreams to w rite horror that haunts and sells.\n\n Why ‘talent’ is a myth (and wha t actually sells 100K+ books).\n\n The one thing more important than goals .\n\n The shocking truth about \"solitary genius.\"\n\n Free live webinar: The Three Lies of Writing Horror\, August 13th at 8p ET / 5p PT\n\n Stay to the end for an exclusive peek at her upcoming new novel. (She'll read a n excerpt!)\n\n Reserve Your Spot Now - www[dot]freehorrortalk[dot]com\n\n CLICK THE FOLLOWING LINK TO RESERVE\n\n https://diamondhour.aweb.page/p/3 b0523f7-6884-4da0-80ea-db2a72b132e2\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n If there is a video I will try and place it\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250813 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Thoughts to \"Adaptation\" from Jess of the Shire DTSTAMP:20250802T233258Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:437-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Thoughts to \"Adaptation\" from Jess of the Shirt\n\n htt ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5Bpgmt1NuQ\n\n\n\n my comment\n\n excellent video\, I concur\, judgement of faithful comparison is used negative. Yes\ , religion is the problem\, the thing read again isn't sacre sanct. To you r point\, the echo chamber structure of the modern world wide web\, and ho w people collaborate in the echo chambers\, makes the solitary read more e njoyable to those who desire an echo chamber more than the collective art construct of films where varied voices one does not want get a say. Where would King Arthur rule if not for adaptation?\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n \n\n IN AME NDMENT\n\n I always try to see what a fellow artist is trying to do. Even in movies I dislike the most\,  like cw fields birth of a nation\, which is an adaption\, i see what fields wanted to achieve. And although I don't like the book either\, I comprehend the author's arguments or points as a n artist should to any other artist work. If anything my negative issue is n't adaptations but forced reboots. Never continuing a story\, always rebo oting is tiresome for me. I think stories can be changed or repaired in th eir storytelling quality through continuing the story.... I have given mys elf time to think and when I think on Songs of the South from disney\, whi ch is an adaption of uncle remus tales from chandler which itself is an ad aption from spoken folk tales from black people. I don't care for the vari ation of the stories\, or the uncle remus character but the movie wasn't c reated to be enjoyed black people. The film was designed to get white kids to enjoy and comfort white parents. It wasn't meant for nonwhites who at that time didn't have the fiscal potency of today. ala Disney making Black panther in modern times. \n\n ANOTHER COMMENT\n\n @marocat4749  I think for some making howl not an \"ugly duckling \" hurt. many enjoy  that in the books aside of the hatter women's more strong willed natures as a gro up. It is only teased in the film. But I enjoyed the books+ the film. I li ke what they did with the witch of the waste in the film.Miyazaki to his d efense doesn't like the all bad or all good characters... and lastly\, whi le the castle is a smoke stack in the book\, i enjoy the flying frog in th e film \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250801 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:National Association of Black Bookstores Officially Launches DTSTAMP:20250806T191553Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:448-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n From @Troy\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\n\n\n \n\n NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK BOOKSTORES OFFICIALLY LAUNCHES TO CHAM PION BLACK LITERARY CULTURE\n\n\n\n \n\n Sacramento\, CA (August 4\, 2025) — Inspired by the legacy of the country's first Black-owned bookstores and the remarkable individuals behind them\, the official launch of the Na tional Association of Black Bookstores (NAB2) took place today. As a first -of-its-kind national organization\, NAB2 has been built to unify\, elevat e\, and empower Black-owned bookstores across the country.\n\n\n\n \n\n NA B2 is a nonprofit collective created to promote literacy\, amplify Black voices\, and preserve Black culture by increasing the visibility\, sustain ability\, and impact of Black bookstores and booksellers. The organizati on represents a powerful step toward creating long-term infrastructure and collective advocacy for one of the most vital cultural cornerstones of Bl ack America.\n\n\n\n \n\n “For decades Black bookstores have been the co nnective tissue in communities across the nation. Many of us have talked f or years about the power of collective action and now\, with the founding of NAB2 we have the ability to institutionalize policies and practices th at will allow for the further growth and flourishing of these important in stitutions”— Blanche Richardson\, Founding Board Member and Owner\, M arcus Books\n\n\n\n \n\n The organization’s inaugural board includes tra ilblazers from some of the country’s most historic and impactful Black b ookstores. Many of these are now being led by third\, fourth and fifth gen eration family member bookstore owners including Marshall’s Music and B ooks (Jackson\, MS)\, Hakim’s Bookstore (Philadelphia\, PA)\, Marcus Books (Oakland\, CA)\, and Source Booksellers (Detroit\, MI). NAB2’s multi-tiered membership model invites bookstore owners\, professional boo ksellers\, and at-large industry allies\, authors\, publishers\, and distr ibutors\, to join in shaping a national agenda rooted in equity\, culture\ , and commerce.\n\n\n\n \n\n “My mother\, Mother Rose\, founded and ran  Underground Books in Oak Park. My involvement in the National Associati on of Black Bookstores is deeply personal. It’s a way for me to honor h er legacy and ensure that the stories\, voices\, and spaces she cherished continue to thrive\,” said Kevin Johnson\, Founder\, National Associati on of Black Bookstores.\n\n\n\n \n\n The core priorities of the organizati on are as follows:\n\n  \n\n\n\n \n Elevating the Black bookstore commun ity by offering professional resources\, increased visibility\, and a str ong network of support\;\n \n \n Expanding representation in the booksel ling industry by supporting long-term financial sustainability and growth\ ;\n \n \n Leveraging economies of scale to benefit both current and futu re Black bookstores and booksellers\;\n \n \n Serving as a collective voi ce for Black bookstores through advocacy and public engagement\;\n \n \n Educating the public about the rich history and enduring legacy of Black bookstores in America.\n \n\n\n\n \n\n Structured with a full board of di rectors\, advisory board\, and general membership body\, NAB2 plans to co nvene virtually and in person throughout the year\, with key events slated during Black Lit Weekend in New York (August 15–16) and the Sacramento Black Book Fair (September 12–13).\n\n\n\n \n\n For more information\, t o become a member\, or to support NAB2\, visit www.nab2.org or follow @n ab2blk on social platforms.\n\n\n\n \n\n About the National Association of Black Bookstores (NAB2)\n\n\n\n \n\n The National Association of Black Bo okstores (NAB2) is the first and only national organization dedicated to e mpowering Black-owned bookstores and booksellers. Founded in 2025\, NAB2 e xists to promote literacy\, amplify Black voices\, and preserve Black cult ural heritage by strengthening the visibility\, sustainability\, and impac t of Black bookstores across the United States. Through advocacy\, educati on\, strategic partnerships\, and a unified membership network\, NAB2 supp orts Black literary spaces as engines of community\, commerce\, and cultur al change. Learn more at www.nab2.org and follow @nab2blk on social plat forms.\n\n\n\n \n\n Media Contact:\n\n Pristina Alford\n\n Alford &\; C o. Public Relations\n\n pristina@alfordandco.com\n\n\n\n USE THE FOLLOWING QRCODE TO SHARE TO ANY BLACK BOOKSTORE YOU KNOW TO SIGN THEM UP\n\n\n\n \ n\n\n\n URL\n\n\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/topic/11761-national-association- of-black-bookstores-officially-launches\n\n\n\n \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250804 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:WHy Freedom? Open call for African Filmmakers DTSTAMP:20250806T172259Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:447-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n OPEN CALL for African Filmmakers: WHY FREEDOM? (Africa Ed ition)🎬🌍\n\n Submit by August 12th 2025\n\n\n\n https://mydocubox.or g/\n\n\n\n \n\n\n\n In partnership with THE WHY\, DOCUBOX EADFF is calling on filmmakers across the continent to pitch short documentaries (5–15 m in) that explore freedom\, from your perspective\, in the context you know best. Political\, personal\, social\, economic\, or environmental — all interpretations are welcome.\n\n \n\n With democracy and individual freed oms under increasing pressure\, this series is part of a global effort to spotlight the many lived realities of what freedom looks like\, feels like \, or is still being fought for.✊🏽✨\n\n \n\n From grounded reflecti on to bold perspective\, we’re looking for 6 clear\, compelling narrativ es — anchored in voices you’re well-positioned to share\, with real co nnection to the people\, places\, or moments at their core.\n\n \n\n Call Details:\n\n 🔹 $7\,000 USD production grant\n\n 🔹 Online Story devel opment lab\n\n 🔹 5-day Physical Editing Lab Mentorship in Nairobi (Dec 2025)\n\n 🔹 Global distribution via THE WHY Foundation\n\n \n\n ***Dead line: 12 August 2025***\n\n \n\n “To be free is not merely to cast off o ne’s chains\, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedo m of others.” — Nelson Mandela 💫\n\n \n\n If your story questions w hat freedom is\, or isn’t \, in your context\, we want to hear it.\n\n \ n\n Apply now via link the in bio or via submission.mydocubox.org\n\n \n\n #WHYFreedom #Docubox #AfricanFilmmakers #OpenCall\n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250806 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:1800s Black Statian Fiction -FREE TO READ DTSTAMP:20250806T010813Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:446-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n 1800s Black Statian Fiction \n\n\n\n Growing up in the h ome of my parents I had from a child 1800s Black Literature. and I read it and it shaped my thinking towards media. One of the reasons why I don't g et excited about white fiction largely is because I was raised with a more honest comprehension of Black Fiction\, which most black people when chil dren are not. And to be blunt\, not sacred but secular. One of the things I realized as an adult is how religious many black homes are. Christianity /ISlam/Judaism/Buddhism/Vodun/Yoruba or other\, Black people tend to be ra ised in a faith based home\, so alot of literature involving Black people tend to encircle faith based living so relibious text/spiritual text/self help/biographical books... but fiction tends to not be on the shelf. I fig ured in the African American Literary Book club someone should place publi c variants of work that is freely available but indicative of Black People in the 1800s or before. \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Negro Spirituals + Work Song s [Originally Predating the USA\, the modern form comes from the circa 186 5 variants of either\, as whites successfully eliminated most record of bl ack life from being created or if it was created]\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc /blogs/entry/498-negro-spirituals-work-songs/\n\n\n\n Bars Fight 1746 from Lucy Terry\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/348-bars-fight-from-lucy- terry/\n\n\n\n Hope Of Liberty 1829 + Poetical Works 1845 from George M Ho rton\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/485-george-m-horton-remembering- juneteenth/\n\n\n\n Le Mulâtre 1837 from Victor Séjour \n\n https://aal bc.com/tc/blogs/entry/495-le-mul%C3%A2tre-from-victor-s%C3%A9jour-two-vers ions-split-by-an-essay/\n\n\n\n Clotel 1853 from William Well Brown\n\n ht tps://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/496-clotel-or-the-presidents-daughter-a-nar rative-of-slave-life-in-the-united-states-by-william-well-brown/\n\n\n\n T he Garies and their friends 1857 from Francis Johnson Webb\n\n https://aal bc.com/tc/blogs/entry/497-the-garies-and-thier-friends/\n\n\n\n Blake 1861 from Martin Delaney\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/494-weekly-%C2%A 0anglo-african-and-%C2%A0the-pine-and-palm%C2%A0-excerpts-from-1861%E2%80% 931862blake-or-the-huts-of-america-a-tale-of-the-mississippi-valley-the-so uthern-united-states-and-cuba-from-martin-delany/\n\n\n\n Shuffle ALong 19 21 from Eubie Blake [Yes not 1800s and not the earliest Black stageplay\, I have a book of early black stageplays\, it hasn't been made electronic\, but ]\n\n https://aalbc.com/tc/blogs/entry/478-my-search-for-shuffle-alon g/\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NOTE: the following are in my personal collection an d I haven't seen their contents publicly available. \n\n Les Cenelles [in teresting essay: https://64parishes.org/entry/les-cenelles \; a book on th e gens de colour : https://www.gutenberg.org/files/20554/20554-h/20554-h.h tm ]\n\n Every Tongue Got To Confess [Collected by Zora Neale Hurston \, a very informative and fun read\, exposing many fables and tales of Black p eople pre war between the states]\n\n\n\n AMENDMENT: an interesting read\n \n Spiritual Folk songs about the USA  [ https://www.gutenberg.org/files/ 59884/59884-h/59884-h.htm ]\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250805 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Negro Spirituals + Work Songs DTSTAMP:20250806T005615Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:445-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n  \n\n\n\n The Negro Spirituals predate the USA\, as do t he Work Songs. Imagine what has been lost is how the NEgro Spirituals plus work songs changed from the early 1500s to circa 1865\, when the war betw een the states ended. I don't even know how that knowledge can be obtained as written records for black art were not allowed by the white enslavers. ....\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n NEGRO SPIRITUALS\n\n\n\n The Project Gutenberg eBo ok of Religious Folk-Songs of the Southern Negroes\nThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the wo rld at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it \, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg Lice nse included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are no t located in the United States\, you will have to check the laws of the co untry where you are located before using this eBook.\nTitle: Religious Fol k-Songs of the Southern Negroes\n\nAuthor: Howard Washington Odum\n\nRelea se date: March 8\, 2012 [eBook #39078]\n\nLanguage: English\n\nCredits: Pr oduced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at\nhttp://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images\ngenerously made available by The Int ernet Archive.)\n\n*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RELIGIOUS FOLK -SONGS OF THE SOUTHERN NEGROES ***\nReligious Folk-Songs\nOF THE\nSouthern Negroes\n \n\nBy HOWARD W. ODUM\nFellow in Psychology\, Clark University\ n\n \n\nA DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF\nCLARK UNIVERSITY\, WOR CESTER\, MASS.\, IN PARTIAL\nFULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE\nDEGRE E OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY\, AND ACCEPTED\nON THE RECOMMENDATION OF G. STAN LEY HALL\n\n \n\nReprinted from the Am. Jour. of Religious Psy. and Ed.\nJ uly\, 1909. Vol. 3\, pp. 265-365.\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\n[Pg 1]\n\nRELIGIOUS FO LK-SONGS OF THE SOUTHERN NEGROES[1]\n\nBy HOWARD W. ODUM\nFellow in Psycho logy\, Clark University.\n\nTo know the soul of a people and to find the s ource from which flows the expression of folk-thought is to comprehend in a large measure the capabilities of that people. To obtain the truest expr ession of the folk-mind and feeling is to reveal much of the inner-conscio usness of a race. And the knowledge of those evidences which are most repr esentative of race life constitutes the groundwork of a knowledge of socia l and moral tendencies\, hence of social and moral needs. The student of r ace traits and tendencies must accept testimony from within the race\, and in the study of race character the value of true expressions of the feeli ngs and mental imagery cannot be overestimated. Thus it is possible to app roximate knowledge of a race. To bring a people face to face with themselv es and to place them fairly before the world is the first service that can be rendered in the solution of race problems.\n\nTo preserve and interpre t the contributions of a people to civilization is [Pg 2]to add to the sci ence of folk-history. Posterity has often judged peoples without having so much as a passing knowledge of their inner life\, while treasures of folk -lore and song\, the psychic\, religious\, and social expression of the ra ce\, have been permitted to remain in complete obscurity. Likewise peoples have lived contemporaneously side by side\, but ignorant of the treasures of folk-gems that lay hidden and wasting all about them. The heart and so ul of the real people are unknown\, science is deprived of a needed contri bution\, and the world is hindered in its effort to discover the full sign ificance of the psychological\, religious\, social and political history o f mankind. That which is distinctly the product of racial life and develop ment deserves a better fate than to be blown away with changing environmen t\, and not even remain to enrich the soil from which it sprang. Justice t o the race and the scientific spirit demand the preservation of all intere sting and valuable additions to the knowledge of folk-life. The successful study of the common development of the human intellect in primitive thoug ht is thus advanced. The exact form of expression itself constitutes a con tribution to knowledge and literature.\n\nThe value and importance of folk -lore are gladly recognized. Its successful study and a more comprehensive recognition of its worth have revealed new problems and new phases of tho ught. Not only its relation to civilization as an historical science and a s it bears definitely upon peoples of modern cultural areas is recognized\ , but its essential value in the study of psychological\, anthropological\ , and sociological conditions has called forth the most careful study that has been possible to give it. On the scientist’s part\, knowledge has b een increased\, while on the other hand\, the peoples of the world have be come more united in the appreciation of the kindred development of human t hought. The vast contributions to folk-science and their relation to scien tific interest\, bear testimony to this truth. And perhaps even more with folk-song\, a greater work is to be done. As a part of folk-lore it repres ents less of the traditional and more of the spontaneous. Its collection a nd study is now being pursued with more zeal and with marked success. And the hope may well be expressed that with the growing interest in folk-song may come an increased knowledge of all that is nearest and truest to the phyletic as well as the genetic concept of a people\, and that with this k nowledge may come effective efforts toward race adjustment and new aids in the solution of race problems.\n\n[Pg 3]The situation of the Southern neg ro is unique. His problems are peculiarly intricate. The problem of the re lations between the whites and blacks is far-reaching. Social conditions a re changing and it is of paramount importance that every step taken shall be well founded and in the right direction. The political\, the social\, a nd the economical position of the negro\, his education\, his religion\, h is tendencies—these are themes that demand definite and accurate compreh ension above all else. Truths have too often been assumed. Passion and pre judice have often hindered the attainment of noble ends which were earnest ly sought. A true knowledge of actual conditions\, if properly set forth\, must convince the sincere observer as to the proper relations which shoul d exist between the two races. Nothing else should do it\; nothing else ca n do it. And any evidences that will assist in fixing the real status of t he negro should be welcomed by both the whites and the blacks\; progress m ay then be encouraged from the proper starting point. In revealing much of what he is rather than what he appears to be\, the folk-songs of the Sout hern negro are superior to any superficial study made from partial observa tions. The insight into negro character gained from their folk-songs and p oetry accompanied by careful and exhaustive concrete social studies may be accepted as impartial testimony. And on the other hand\, the changing eco nomic and educational conditions\, the increasing influence of the white m an upon the negro\, and the rapid progress that is being made on every han d in the South indicate that if the present-day folk-songs of the negro ar e to be preserved\, they must be collected now. Should they be permitted t o become a lost record of the race?\n\nIn the present work some of the pop ular songs that are current among the negroes of the Southern States are g iven. They are highly representative. They may be classified into two gene ral divisions: The religious songs or spirituals\, and the secular songs. The secular songs are again divided into two classes\, the general social songs\, and work-songs\, phrases and “shanties”. For the most part col lections of negro folk-songs in the past have been limited to the old spir ituals. The present-day religious songs and the social productions are equ ally interesting and valuable. The particular nature and characteristics o f these songs are discussed in connection with the examples. They are flex ible and have various forms\, they consist of broken and unbroken melodies \, they have stately and rapid minor cadences. Musical notes[Pg 4] can giv e only a skeleton of the real melody that accompanies the words\; the pecu liar qualification of the negro singers to render their melodies defies ar t to exactly symbolize it. The words of the songs are given as they are su ng\, and the reader must needs employ an imagination kindred in vividness to that which is reflected in the songs themselves if he would comprehend their essential qualities. The characteristic quality is often found in an improvised arrangement of words which makes the dominant feeling that of mingling words and cadencies successfully. The meaningless phrases and ref rains do not hinder the expression of feeling through the minor chords. Si mple emotion\, inherent melody\, and colloquial language are combined with fine and differentiating imagery and humor in an under-meaning common to the folk-song. An element of melancholia may be felt underlying many of th e songs. But with all alike\, vigor of expression\, concreteness and natur alness of mental imagery\, and simplicity of language and thought are comb ined with striking folk-art. The negro’s projective mental imagery assum es that the hearer’s comprehension can easily grasp the full picture of description\, moral maxims\, and dramatic dialogues\, all combined in a si ngle verse\, and that he can do it without confusion. Here may be seen muc h of the naked essence of poetry with unrefined language which reaches for the negro a power of expression far beyond that which any modern refineme nt of language and thought may approach. Rhythm\, rhyme\, and the feeling of satisfaction are accompanying inherent qualities. The natural poetic sp irit and the power of the imagination in the negro are worthy of study.\n\ nIn addition to these general qualities of the negro folk-songs\, it need only be suggested here that the best conception of his religious\, moral\, mental and social tendencies is reflected in them. That which the negro w ill not reveal concerning his religion\, his religious songs tell better t han he could possibly do. His social nature and unconscious ideals bubble out from his spontaneous social songs. In the expression of his natural fe elings and emotions he gives us the reactions of his primitive thought wit h environment. That which is subsequently treated at length may be anticip ated in the approach to a careful consideration of the fullest spirit of t he negro folk-songs\, namely\, that it is important to note that the facul ty of the negro to think\, not exactly as the white man\, or to think in t erms of modern[Pg 5] science and literature\, but in terms of his own psyc hological conditions\, is pronounced. The negro is a part of a nation at t he same time that he is a distinct people\; he\, perhaps\, has more anthro pological importance than historical standing. His present status is an es sential consideration of each of these relations to the civilization of to -day. The emotions\, the religion\, social aspirations and ideals—in fin e\, the character of a people is accustomed to be expressed in their liter ature. The negro has no literature save that of his folk-song and story. M ay these not speak for him\, both the good and the bad\, in the following chapters?\n\nThe work here presented is not exhaustive but representative. The songs are not those of a single plantation\, community or section of the Southern States. They are not the songs of the coast negroes or of the river type. But they are sung popularly as much in Georgia as in Mississi ppi\, as much in Florida as in Tennessee. They are distinctly the represen tative average songs that are current among the common mass of negroes of the present generation. They belong to the negroes who have been constantl y in contact with the whites and to those who have had less association wi th the refinement and culture of the white man. They have been collected c arefully and patiently under many difficulties. Many of them are sung only when the white man does not hear\; they are the folk-song of the negro\, and the negro is very secretive. Not only are they not commonly known by t he whites but their existence is only recognized in general. They are as d istinct from the white man’s song and the popular “coon songs” as ar e the two races.\n\nThe scope of investigation is large and the field is a broad one\; the supply of songs seems inexhaustible. Yet the student may not collect them hurriedly. He who has not learned by long observation and daily contact with Southern conditions the exact situation will make litt le progress in gathering valuable data. While all contributions to the tot al of negro folk-songs have been very valuable\, still it is true that the y have been too long neglected and the studies made have been too partial. The nature of the negro’s songs is constantly changing\; the number is continually increasing. They should be studied as the conditions of the ne groes are investigated. They are the product of our soil and are worthy of a distinct place in literature. In the following work the effort is made to present the best of the negro’s[Pg 6] songs and to interpret impartia lly the exact spirit of their essential qualities. In the following pages the effort is made to note many of the negro’s mental characteristics as studied in the interpretation of the scope\, meaning and origin of his so ngs\, and the essential qualities of his religion as found in the analysis of his\n\n \n\nReligious Songs and Spirituals.\n\nThe religious songs of the negro have commonly been accepted as characteristic music of the race. The name “spirituals” given them long years ago is still current\, wh ile these songs\, composed by the negroes\, and passing from generation to generation with numerous modifications\, retain many of their former char acteristics. In former days the spirituals were judged to be the most beau tiful production of the race and the truest representation of the negro’ s real self. Some of these songs have been published\, and for a time thei r emotional beauty and simplicity of expression won for the negro a defini te place in the hearts of those who had not hitherto known him. He was oft en judged by these songs alone\, reported only imperfectly and superficial ly\, and forthwith came many expressions of delight and enthusiasm for the future possibilities of the negro. These expressions indicate not only th e power of the singing of negro spirituals upon those who heard them\, but also many of the characteristics of the old and present-day spirituals.\n \nThe following expressions represent a summary of past judgments and crit icism of negro spirituals.[2] The hymns of a congregation of “impassione d and impressible worshippers” have been “full of unpremeditated and i rresistible dramatic power.” Sung “with the weirdest intonations”\, they have indeed appeared “weird and intensely sad”—“such music\, touching and pathetic\, as I have never heard elsewhere”\, “with a mys tical effect and passionate striving throughout the whole.” And again\ , “Never\, it seems to me\, since man first lived and suffered\, was his infinite longing and suffering uttered more plaintively.” Besides being a relaxation to the negroes these quaint religious songs were “a stimul us to courage and a tie to[Pg 7] heaven.” Or again\, “I remember that this minor-keyed pathos used to seem to me almost too sad to dwell upon\, while slavery seemed destined to last for generations\; but now that their patience has had its perfect work\, history cannot afford to lose this po rtion of the record. There is no parallel instance of an oppressed race th us sustained by the religious sentiment alone. These songs are but the voc al expression of the simplicity of their faith and the sublimity of their long resignation.” Such songs “are all valuable as an expression of th e character and life of the race which is playing such a conspicuous part in our history. The wild\, sad strains tell\, as the sufferers themselves could\, of crushed hope\, keen sorrow and a dull\, daily misery\, which co vered them as hopelessly as the fog from the rice swamps. On the other han d the words breathe a trusting faith in rest for the future to which their eyes seem constantly turned. The attitude is always the same\, and\, as a comment on the life of the race\, is pathetic. Nothing but patience for t his life—nothing but triumph for the next.” “One can but feel that t hese quaint old spirituals with their peculiar melodies\, having served th eir time with effectiveness\, deserve a better fate than to sink into obli vion as unvalued and unrecorded examples of a bygone civilization.” Many have thought that these songs would pass away immediately with the passin g of slavery and that the old system of words and songs “could not be pe rpetuated without perpetuating slavery as it existed and with the fall of slavery its days were numbered.” And “if they be found neither touchin g in sentiment\, graceful in expression\, nor well balanced in rhythm\, th ey may at least possess interest as peculiarities of a system now no more forever in this country.”\n\nThe negro found satisfaction in singing not only at church but perhaps even more while he performed his daily tasks. Those who heard the old slaves sing will never forget the scenes that acco mpanied the songs. After the lighter songs and brisk melodies of the day w ere over the negroes turned toward eventide to more weird and plaintive no tes. The impressions of such singing have been expressed: “Then the mela ncholy that tinges every negro’s soul would begin to assert itself in dr eamy\, sad and plaintive airs\, and in words that described the most sorro wful pictures of slave life—the parting of loved ones\, the separation o f mother and child or husband and wife\, or the death of those whom the he art cherishes. As he drove his lumbering ox-cart[Pg 8] homeward\, sitting listlessly upon the heavy tongue behind the patient brutes\, the creaking wheels and rough-hewn yokes exhibiting perhaps his own rude handiwork\, th e negro slave rarely failed to sing his song of longing. What if his words were rude and its music ill-constructed? Great poets like Schiller have e ssayed the same theme\, and mighty musicians like Beethoven have striven t o give it musical form. What their splendid genius failed adequately to ex press\, the humble slave could scarce accomplish\; yet they but wrought in the same direction as the poor negro\, whose eyes unwittingly swam in tea rs\, and whose heart\, he scarce knew why\, dissolved in tenderness as he sang in plaintive minor key one or another of his songs.”\n\nThe above q uotations have been given promiscuously\, and while others might be added\ , these suffice to give the general attitude toward the songs of the negro es in the ante-bellum days and since. One other will be added\, giving the expression of a present-day negro leader toward the songs of the slave\, as the best interpretation that has come from within the race. In his intr oduction to Twenty-four Negro Melodies by Coleridge-Taylor in The Musician s Library\, Booker Washington says: “The negro folk-song has for the neg ro race the same value that the folk-song of any other people has for that people. It reminds the race of the ‘rock whence it was hewn\,’ it fos ters race pride\, and in the days of slavery it furnished an outlet for th e anguish of smitten hearts. The plantation song in America\, although an outgrowth of oppression and bondage\, contains surprisingly few references to slavery. No race has ever sung so sweetly or with such perfect charity \, while looking forward to the ‘year of Jubilee.’ The songs abound in scriptural allusions\, and in many instances are unique interpretations o f standard hymns. The plantation songs known as the ‘Spirituals’ are t he spontaneous outbursts of intense religious fervor\, and had their origi n chiefly in the campmeetings\, the revivals and in other religious exerci ses. They breathe a child-like faith in a personal father\, and glow with the hope that the children of bondage will ultimately pass out of the wild erness of slavery into the land of freedom. In singing of a deliverance wh ich they believed would surely come\, with bodies swaying\, with enthusias m born of a common experience and of a common hope\, they lost sight for t he moment of the auction-block\, of the separation of mother and child\, o f sister and brother. There is in the plantation songs a[Pg 9] pathos and a beauty that appeals to a wide range of tastes\, and their harmony makes abiding impression upon persons of the highest culture. The music of these songs goes to the heart because it comes from the heart.”\n\nIt will th us be seen that emphasis has been placed almost entirely upon the emotiona l beauty of the negro songs. They have been portrayed as the exponents of sadness in the race\, and the feelings of the black folk have been describ ed with no little skill. Observation for the most part has been made by th ose who have heard the negro songs but have not studied them. No careful a nalysis has been attempted. Perhaps casual observers have been mistaken as to the intensity of the emotions expressed and have given undue emphasis to its practical relation and effect upon the individual and upon the race . The judgment of those who have not known the negro\, and to whom his sin ging is a revelation\, leads to sweeping generalizations. On the other han d\, those who have known the negroes in many walks of life\, and have come to know him better than any others\, have often emphasized a single phase of the negro folk-song. There can be no doubt as to the beauty and weirdn ess of the negro singing\, but a careful analysis of the general emotional feeling predominating\, together with careful interpretation of all thing s concerned\, make comparisons less dangerous and expressions less extrava gant. Slavery has passed\, four decades of liberty for the slave people ha ve signalized the better civilization\, and there still remains among the negroes the same emotional nature\, the same sad\, plaintive\, beautiful\, rhythmic sorrow-feeling in their songs.\n\nSome of the qualities of the n egro’s emotions as seen in his singing will be noted subsequently. Omitt ing for the present this feature of his songs\, and qualifying the stateme nt by interpreting his nature and environment\, it may be affirmed that al l that has been said of the spirituals is true. They are beautiful\, child like\, simple and plaintive. They are the negro’s own songs and are the peculiar expression of his own being\; much may be said concerning them. M any of the spirituals are still popular among the negroes\, and often take the place of the regular church hymns. The less intelligent negroes sing them\, and they are sung freely by the more intelligent class. Ministers o f all denominations take advantage of their peculiar power to sway the fee lings of the negroes into accustomed channels. Many of the old[Pg 10] spir ituals that were common in slavery are still current and are sung with but little modification\; others are greatly modified and enlarged or shorten ed. Traces of the slave songs may be found in the more modern spirituals t hat have sprung up since the war. The majority of the songs have several v ersions\, differing according to localities\, and affected by continual mo dification as they have been used for many years. Some have been so blende d with other songs\, and filled with new ideas\, as to be scarcely recogni zable\, but clearly the product of the negro singers. Besides the old and the mixed songs\, there are many that are entirely new\, arising out of va rious circumstances and developing with successive renditions.\n\nThe spir ituals current among the Southern negroes to-day are very much like those that were sung three or four decades ago. The differences may be seen in t he comparisons that follow in the examples given: There are more rhymed wo rds in the present-day negro song than there was in the earlier ones\; con sequently there is often less meaning in a line or stanza. The tendency se ems to be more toward satisfactory sound impression than for spontaneous f eeling expression as in the older spirituals. Meaning and words in general are often sacrificed in the effort to make rhyme\, to make the song fit i nto a desired tune\, to bring about a satisfying rhythm\, or to give promi nent place to a single well-sounding word or phrase. It would thus seem th at the religious songs composed in the usual way by the negroes of the pre sent generation have less conviction\, and more purposive features in thei r composition. The dialect of the older songs is purer than those of the p resent-day negro. One finds little consistency in the use of dialect in th e songs that are sung now\; rarely does one hear the lines repeated in exa ctly the same form. Dialect or the common form of the word\, it would seem \, is used according as feeling\, the occasion\, or the necessity for rhym e or rhythm permits or demands. Many of the negro songs that are the most beautiful in their expression would appear expressionless were they robbed of their dialect and vividness of word portrayal. The imagery and dialect give the songs their peculiar charm\; the more mechanical production that is apparently on the increase may be sung to the same melody\, but the so ng itself has little beauty. However\, the negroes themselves prefer the o ld songs and almost invariably return to the singing of the more primitive ones that have become a part of their heritage.[Pg 11] In those cases whe re the tunes differ from the old melodies\, the song has assumed a charact eristic nature\, either from its origin and composition\, from constant us age by the negroes\, from local qualities\, or from unusual combinations. And in these original creations of the negro religion are found the truest expression of nature and life as it is reflected in the negro of to-day\; it is not the expression of complex life\, but of simple longing. In the outbursts of joyous song and melody the note of victory is predominant\; i n the sadder-toned songs\, sung in “plaintive\, rhythmic melody”\, the prevailing note is that of appeal. In either case there is some sort of c onviction back of the song\, and it becomes the expression of primitive hu man life. They set forth the more simple thoughts of an emotional and imag inative worship. They magnify the personal and the spectacular in religion . They satisfy the love of melody\, rude poetry\, and sonorous language. S imple thought is expressed in simple rhyming phrases. Repetition of simila r thoughts and a single chorus\, with simple and pleasing music which lend s itself easily to harmonious expression\, are characteristic. The music i s specially adapted to the chorus-like singing which is produced by the cl ever and informal carrying of many parts by the singers. The song often re quires a single leader\, and a swelling chorus of voices take up the refra in. It is but natural that these songs should be suited to protracted serv ices as good “shoutin’ songs” or “runnin’ speerichils.” The sa me rhythm makes them pleasing to the toilers who are disposed to sing reli gious songs while they work and promotes a spirit of good fellowship as we ll as being conducive to general “good feelin’.” The united singing of children is also beautiful. Throughout these characteristic songs of th e negro\, the narrative style\, the inconsequential\, disjointed statement s\, the simple thought and the fastidious rhymes are all expressive of the negro’s mental operations.\n\nAll of the negro’s church music tends t o take into it the qualities of his native expression—strains minor and sad in their general character. The religious “tone” is a part of the song\, and both words and music conform to the minor key. The negroes deli ght in song that gives stress and swell to special words or phrases that f or one reason or another have peculiar meanings to them. For the most part \, all religious songs are “spirituals” and easily merge into satisfyi ng melodies when occasion demands. With the idea gained from[Pg 12] the mu sic of the songs must be joined the church scenes and its personalities fr eely mingled with the music. The preaching\, praying\, singing and with it shouting and unity of negro worship—perfection of rhythmic sing-song\, these with the throbbing instinct of the people make the negro music what it is. The negroes sing their regular denominational hymns with the same f eeling\, often\, as they do the spirituals\, and while mention must be mad e of their church hymns as such\, they often reach in singing them a clima x similar to their most fervent outbursts\, and freely mingle them with th e old songs. In addition to the tune in which the hymn is written the negr o puts his own music into the singing\, and his own interpretation into th e words. This together with the “feeling-attitude” which is unconsciou sly his\, and the satisfaction which he gets from his singing\, places neg ro church music in a class of its own. A glance at the part which singing plays in the negro’s church services will aid in the interpretation of h is songs.\n\nChurch services are opened with song\; a leader may occupy hi s place at a central table or chair\, select a song and begin to sing. Or they may wait for the “speerit” and a leader from the pews may begin t o sing\, others join in the song\, while the congregation begins to gather in the church. The leader often lines his song aloud\, reading sometimes one\, sometimes two lines\, then singing. He often puts as much music-appe al into the lining of the song as he does in the singing. The rhythmical\, swinging tone of the reader adds zest to the singing which follows. Most of the negroes who sing know a great many songs—in fact\, all of their r egular songs—if they are given a start by the leader. On the other hand\ , the congregation often gives the leader a start when he lags\, and both together keep the song going until they are ready to stop singing or to be gin another song.\n\nIf the service is prayer meeting or a class meeting t he leader usually continues the songs throughout the singing part of the e xercises\; at regular preaching services the preacher reads the regular hy mns and leaves the beginning and the final songs to the leaders. In the cl ass meeting\, the general congregation led by song-leaders sing\, as a rul e\, while the class leaders are engaged with their classes. Now a woman on this side\, now a man or woman on the other side of the church begins the song and others join in the doleful tunes\; so too\, while collections ar e being made the singing is kept up continuously. The[Pg 13] process is th e same: a leader begins to sing\, another joins in the singing\, then anot her and another until the majority of those present are singing. Most negr oes who attend church participate in the singing\, although many will not do so regularly\, preferring to remain quiet for a time\, then to burst ou t into song. The negroes have been proverbial for their good singing\, and undoubtedly they have won a deserved reputation. A group of five or ten n egroes singing at a mid-week prayer meeting will often appear the volume o f song equivalent to that of many times their number of white people singi ng. The comparison\, however\, is not a fair one\, for the music is entire ly different. One can scarcely appreciate the singing of the negroes until he has heard them on various occasions and in different capacities. Let h im listen on a quiet Sunday evening from a position on a hill to the singi ng of four negro congregations\, each clearly audible. It would appear to be the rhythmical expression of deep human feeling and longing in an unres trained outburst of ten thousand souls. Inside the church one may watch th e leaders as they line the songs and listen to their rich\, tremulous voic es\; he may see the others respond and listen to the music of each peculia r voice. The voice of the leader seems to betray great emotions as he read s the lines and begins to sing. He appears literally to drink in inspirati on from the songs while his soul seems to be overflowing as he sings the w ords telling of grace and redemption. However\, he manifests the same kind of emotion when he sings one song as when singing another\, the same emot ion when he reads the words wrongly as when he has read them correctly\; i t makes little difference to him. He is consumed with the music and with t he state of feeling which singing brings to him. After all\, perhaps one f eeling dominates his whole being while he sings\, and there can be no song to him which does not accord with this.\n\nA complete analysis of the neg ro church music in its detail is worthy of the efforts of any one who coul d describe it. And while the folk-song is of more importance in the presen t work than the music of these same songs\, a few further details that are apparently characteristic of the negroes will not be amiss. The singing b egins slowly and with time-honored regularity but is followed by the agree able and satisfying effect made by the joining in of varied voices. Many t imes the singers begin as if they would sing a simple subdued song\, or a hymn with its written music. But in a short while\, apparently not[Pg 14] being able to resist the impulse to give their feelings full sway\, their voices fall into that rhythmical swing peculiar in a large degree to the n egroes\; all measures alike become stately. The average negro is proud of his stylish choir because it represents a step towards a model which the n egroes wish to follow: but they do not like the choir’s singing as well as their own informal song. In general the negro’s song will characteriz e his natural self wherever he sings or hears it sung\; he is loath to giv e it up. And while some pastors have testified that there were no members in their church who would not sing the church songs\, it is very evident t hat many of the younger negroes do not enter fully into the spirit of the old songs and they must necessarily undergo radical changes and rapidly pa ss away.\n\nBefore coming to the further study of the negro spirituals\, i t will be well to inquire into the nature of the favorite standard church hymns commonly used by the negroes in their church services. A comparison may then be made with the popular folk-songs. The favorite songs and most common themes sung by the negroes may best be seen at their prayer meeting s or class meetings\, or at such gatherings as require no formality. One m ay attend week after week and hear the same songs and feel the same pathos emanating from the songs which the worshippers have learned to sing and l ove. They enjoy singing of heaven and rest and luxury where ease abounds a nd where Sabbaths have no end. They love to sing the praises of the Delive rer who shall free them from life’s toils. They have chosen the “goo d old” songs that have vividness and concrete imagery in them\; they hav e placed a new feeling into them and a different interpretation. The meani ng of the words and the sentiment of the song are transcended by the expre ssion in the singing. The accustomed manner\, together with their responsi ve feeling\, absorb whatever of pure devotion might have existed in their attitude—the sinking itself becoming devotion. The negro looks always to some future state for happiness and sings often:\n\nThis earth\, he cries \, is not my place\;\nI seek my place in heaven.\n\nThe negroes sing with a peculiar faith the common stanzas of their hymns: “We’ve seen our fo es before us flee\,” “We’ve seen the timid lose their fears”\, “We’ve seen the prisoners burst their chains”\,[Pg 15] “We’ve s een the guilty lose their stains.” So\, too\, they conceive\, as of old\ , of the eternal rest and sing\, with its full stanzas:\n\nHow sweet a Sab bath thus to spend\,\nIn hope of one that ne’er shall end.\n\nThe singin g of these hymns is beautiful and impressive\, testifying to the truth tha t their favorites appeal to the fitness of worship and accord with the ide al of rhythmical perfection as expressed in the feeling of the worshipper. \n\nThe general state of feeling which accompanies the song thus has much to do with the song itself. The singing with its results is the most satis fying and agreeable part of the worship to the negro’s nature. It satisf ies his social wants and relieves to some extent his child-like psychophys ical cravings. His worship is music to his soul\, whether it be in the wor d-music of the sermon and prayer\, or in the natural outburst of his song\ , or in the rhythm of all combined. It is all freedom from restraint and t he gratification of impulse and the experience of sustained languor. Altho ugh the negro expends a great deal of energy in his singing\, it is nevert heless rest for him as he feels it. Unrestrained expression goes far towar d relieving him of his troubles\, sometimes real\, sometimes imaginary. Wh at the negro imagines to be total confession and contrite submission has a very soothing effect upon him\; the songs reach the climax of this state of feeling. Many negroes may be seen\, with their heads resting backward a nd eyes closed\, singing vigorously their favorite songs\; often they lean forward\, sway back and forth\, apparently in a complete state of passivi ty. Tears and shouts of joy are not inconsistent with the saddest strains of pathos. Their senses are all turned toward the perception of one attitu de\, and besides a wonderful tranquility of feeling\, they also feel and s ee visions. At such a time the negro is at ease and is at liberty to give full expression to his feelings among his own people\, without incentive t o action and without interruption. Is it surprising that after a day’s w ork\, while he has passed the hours away in emptiness of thought or in mis guided thinking and with perverted notions\, he finds sweet rest in some m elodious songs and rhythmic verses as he rests his body in the pew? Is it surprising that he is unwilling to leave the church until a late hour or t hat he does not tire of singing? For what has he to attract him at home wh ere he[Pg 16] unwillingly begins to think of work again? It is little surp rising that after the outburst of song and shouts which reveals so much of the negro’s nature that his attitude is one of listlessness and apathy when he has finished.\n\nThis revelation of emotions which the negro shows in his singing but manifests the reality of his religion. And although th e greater part of his feeling in religion is pleasurable excitement\, it i s\, nevertheless\, for this very reason the one reality in life to him. A study of the emotional element does not\, then\, detract from the beauty a nd value of the negro’s song\; it does aid in interpreting that part of his songs that arise spontaneously and also shows something of their origi n and growth. Indeed without a knowledge of the negro’s nature and envir onment\, one would scarcely realize the fullest appreciation of his folk-s ongs. In proportion as the investigator becomes acquainted with the people and circumstances which have furnished unique folk-songs\, to that degree will he be eager to search out their origin and be able to interpret them intelligently as they are fundamentally related to the race.\n\nThe negro has found much material upon which to base his songs and many sources fro m which he has selected a wide range of subject-matter. His religion is of ten synonymous with his song\, and he has sung with little restraint the v arious religious experiences common to such a religion. The sermon and pra yers\, even the songs themselves suggest new themes for an imaginative and religious being to sing. So\, too\, the Church\, the Christians and the “world” have furnished themes for his song. Sin\, evil and the devil are ever-present subjects for religious thought. The scenes of everyday li fe form continuous allegories to be imaged with the assistance of the negr o’s definite self-feeling. But perhaps nowhere has the negro found more acceptable subject-matter for his song than in the Scriptures\; his songs abound in references to scriptural characters and often portray individual s and scenes with unusual concreteness. A perusal of the negro’s songs t hus reveals the most common themes\, but it is more difficult to locate th e accidental circumstances which gave rise to particular forms of a song\, or to ascertain the temperamental nature which originated many of the bes t known spirituals. In general\, it may be said that the folk-song of the negroes has found its rise in every phase of negro life. It is scarcely po ssible to trace the origin of the first spirituals and plantation songs.[P g 17] The American negroes appear to have had their own songs from the ear liest days of slavery. And while their first songs were undoubtedly founde d upon the African songs as a basis\, both in form and meaning\, little tr ace of them can be found in the present songs: negro folks produce spontan eous song. The linguist and the anthropologists are able to find the paral lel and apparent origin of many words\, that have been used by the Souther n negroes in their lore and song\, among the peoples of Africa\, but there is now no practical relation between these words and the meaning of the w ords in their present usage. The origin of folk-song has always been an in teresting theme\, proving full of fascination for him who finds it\, nymph -like\, vanishing from his grasp. Still the song of a people is ever prese nt and appear\, almost like myths\, to have sprung into life in some way a nd at some time which no one can exactly tell. Many a bard of the common l ife has intensified their meaning and made them a part of that life.\n\nHo wever\, many of the negro folk-songs may be explained when one has observe d the negro in many walks of life\, or has found the origin from which the y arose. Many of the old spirituals were composed in their first forms by the negro preachers for their congregations\; others were composed by the leaders of the church singing: others were composed by the slaves in the v arious walks of life\, while still others were first sung by the “mamm ies” as they passed the time in imaginative melody-making and sought har mony of words and music. A great many of these songs never became current because they lacked the pleasurable features that appealed most to the neg roes. Those that proved satisfactory were seized upon and their growth and popularity dated from the moment they were heard. With the negroes of to- day songs have arisen in much the same way. The difference of environment must necessarily make a difference in the nature of the songs\; at the sam e time the coloring of present-day life is much in evidence in some of the old songs composed by the slaves but sung by the negroes of the present g eneration. Some suggestions as to the natural origin and growth of negro s ongs may be both interesting and valuable.\n\nThe negroes have always been known as full of feeling and very expressive. Their natures demand not on ly some expression of their emotions but this expression must be easy and rhythmic\, at the same time that it is intense and continuous. The negro ’s musical nature[Pg 18] easily turns these expressions into melody\, an d a word\, phrase or exclamation becomes a song in itself. The song is com pleted by the imaginative mind and the sense of fitness in sound. Worshipp ers often follow the preacher through his sermon in a mental state of song and when he has finished they burst out into song\, singing no other than an elaborate sentence which the preacher has used in his sermon. When thi s is joined to a familiar chorus and tune\, and then varied\, a song has o riginated. Sometimes the song is remembered and sung again\; sometimes\, l ike the words of the preacher\, it simply becomes a part of the satisfacti on of the hour and is forgotten. A negro preacher recently reached a clima x in his discourse in the phrase\, “Oh\, with the wings of the morning\, I’d fly to that heavenly land.” He repeated this a number of times an d made gestures with his arms suggestive of flying. His black robe added t o the forcefulness of the suggestion and the impression became a part of t he song of that church. So with praying\, the pathetic appeal and word-mus ic of a p-l-e-a-s-e My Lo-rd is often the inspiration for a song when a ha ppy phrase from the prayer becomes an addition to a song that follows. Eve n more than preaching and praying\, shouting gives rise to song among the negroes\; during exciting times in worship the negroes often sing unheard of songs nor do they ever recall them again. It is indeed a mixed scene of song and motion\, each contributing largely to the other\, while the spec tator looks on in wonderment at the astonishing inventiveness of the worsh ippers. The general motion\, expressions of the face\, words and harmonies \, rests and rhythm\, sense of fitness and even of humor\, repetition—th ese make an occasion that defies limitation to its expression. If a single personality dominates the whole in an expression that appeals to the pres ent sense of fitness\, he is the author of a new song. Such a personality in the person of a visiting minister recently shouted out during such a sc ene: “Oh\, the hearse-wheel a-rollin’ an’ the graveyard opening—h- a\, ha\,” but got no further for his refrain was taken up by the chorus and the next day was a new version of the well-known song.\n\nSuch occasio ns might be cited in great numbers. Not infrequently a negro who has assum ed the position of song leader sings a line while the others join in with a chorus of singing and shouting. When the leader has given all the lines that he knows\, he will often continue in the simplest manner possible\, a s if he had known them for a long[Pg 19] time\, to improvise lines\, which often have little meaning\, but which fit into the tune and sound well. T his process may be continued indefinitely\, sometimes with repetition of l ines already uttered but slightly varied and the emphasis placed on the di ffering particular. It thus happens that the songs need not have a limit. The necessity of the occasion becomes the cause for the invention of the s ong. Itinerant worshippers are often thus gratified to sing to new congreg ations. As a rule the negroes always give attention and respect to strange rs so that the man or woman who comes to them is at liberty to sing old or new songs\, and they often become skilled in improvising songs. The new s ongs are then learned and begin their history as folk-song. Again\, negroe s often feel themselves called upon to introduce new features into some of their songs and conceive of various novelties. The negro’s feeling towa rd leadership puts a premium upon such a practice. In this effort\, a song that is little known among the negroes will be changed in some particular s\, printed on a sheet of paper and distributed as the song of brother or sister So and So. The song may be found in a hymn book. However\, songs en tirely new and the efforts of their own poetic attempts are often thus cir culated. This gives rise to a new class of negro spirituals\, examples of which may be seen in the following pages.\n\nA number of popular spiritual s apparently had their rise in the effort of the church to satisfy the phy sical cravings of the negroes. The church deemed the fiddle and the dance instruments of the devil\, and although the negro was and is passionately fond of dancing\, he was forbidden by the church to do so. The church need ed some kind of substitute for the rhythm and excitement of the dance that would satisfy and still be “in the Lord.” Consequently marching servi ces were often instituted. The benches were piled up together and marching room left for the worshippers. They had various orders for this service a nd many forms of it have been known to exist. Sometimes they marched two b y two\, a “sister and brother in the Lord”\, sometimes they marched si ngly\, and at other times they marched in a general “mix-up.” At first they followed a leader to a simple melody\, keeping step and working into a rhythmic swing. Then as they became more excited they became more expre ssive and with the elaboration of the march into a dance their songs becam e marching songs. Often they thus marched\, with intervals for rest\, unti l the hours of[Pg 20] the morning. Sometimes they all sang\; sometimes the leader sang the leading part and all joined in the chorus with more satis factory effect. In the march the negroes swayed back and forth\, to and fr o\, and found the usual satisfaction that comes from absolute lack of rest raint. As the songs given in the following pages indicate\, the negroes of ten imagined themselves to be the children of Israel\, while their marchin g songs represented Moses leading them out from under the bondage of Phara oh\, or they considered themselves as marching around the wall of some bes ieged city. Victory would be theirs sooner or later. This is not confined to the songs composed by the slavery negroes\, but is common in the later songs. Such scenes are often portrayed by negro preachers of the present d ay and very appropriate applications\, as they think\, are made. The march songs that have been found current to-day were composed since the war. Of ten the negroes enacted similar scenes without the formal putting away of the benches in the church\, and the same general results were the outcome. Shouting scenes in negro worship to-day are very much similar to the old marches except that they are more promiscuous. The “strange\, sweet harm onies and melodies” of the old songs are still good shouting songs.\n\nI ndividuals have composed spirituals while at work or while wandering from place to place\, as a simple outgrowth of the circumstances. The expressio n\, so common in negro songs\, “O my Lord”\, seems to have been introd uced into a number of songs in this way. The single expression repeated it self forms a favorite melody that is often sung. A group of negroes sing w hile working\; one sings a new verse of the song: “Where you git dat ?” “I made hit maself\, didn’t you know I’m a songster?” And he did make it\, and thus gratified\, tries other attempts\; with him others begin and they have become “songsters”. Negroes\, in order to verify a boast that they know a certain song to exist\, have been known to compose on the moment just such a song\, mixing all sorts of songs together with the ideas that arise. Others who have been offered an attractive price for songs have composed them without scruples of conscience and when asked to sing them\, have done so with perfect ease. They were paid for the songs\ , thinking that they had “fooled that white man”\, who valued his song thus composed as much perhaps as an old spiritual that was still current. What the negro composed accidentally he learned to sing\, and thus[Pg 21] introduced a real song in his community\, which was to be soon carried to other localities. The negro is going to sing whether he has a formal song or not. The following song originated with two negro laborers\, apparentl y in a dialogue. The lines may be sung to any tune and put to any chorus.\ n\nThe church bell a ringin’\, how sweet I do declar’.\nWhy don’t yo u go to meetin’ an’ pray all day long?\nI’m goin’ to church an’ pray all day long.\nOf course I’m a sinner but prayin’ might do me goo d\nAn’ if I do succeed I sure will tell the news.\n\nAnother song that w as composed spontaneously in the effort to dignify his conversation is the following. It will be seen that for the most part it is composed of phras es common to other songs\, and it is only the combination that is new.\n\n Walk right and do right an’ trust in the Lord—\nLay down all yo’ sin ful ways an’ trust in the Lord.\n\nI am goin’ to trust in the Lord\,\n I am goin’ to trust in the Lord\,\nI’m goin’ to trust in the Lord ti ll I die.\n\nMy God he’s a wonderful God an’ trust in the Lord\,\nHe w ill answer yo’ prayers don’t care wher’ you are\,\nAn’ trust in th e Lord.\n\nThe next example was composed by a negro man after he had recen tly “come through.” He always loved to talk of what he had seen\, what he knew would happen and how he could get out of difficulties. Along with this he had an unusually imaginative mind and told many ingenious stories . Here is the song:\n\nThe devil come down to the worl’ one day\nAn’ I heard him holler\, hoo-ray\, hoo-ray!\nCome out\, I’m havin’ a holida y.\n\nThat was the word I heard him say\,\nBut I knowed if I danced to his holiday\,\nThere’d be something doing an’ the devil to play.\n\nThe a bove song is difficult to classify. It would seem to be very much like som e rhymes that the negro had seen published in a newspaper but for all his purposes it was a good song and it mattered little where he had obtained t he ideas. It was indeed his own song. One[Pg 22] other example of an effor t to compose a new song shows the tendency of the negro to mix his serious themes with ridiculous expressions.\n\nThere was a man by the name of Cy\ ,\nHe never prayed an’ he never try\,\nSo when ole Cy was come to die\,\ nHe hollow out\, “in hell I’ll cry.”\n\nIn hell ole Cy did cry\,\nIn hell ole Cy did cry\,\nIn hell ole Cy did cry\,\nNow don’t you die like ole Cy die.\n\nThe song is a variation of two or three secular songs and becomes a religious song because of its chorus. It is actually sung in the churches. The “author” continued\,\n\nOle Cy did lead a mighty bad li fe\,\nHe was always after some other man’s wife\,\n\nwhich clearly showe d the trace of the secular element\; this phrase is applied to many of the notorious characters in the negro secular songs. Still there was an oppor tunity for the moral and the song represents the peculiar gratification wh ich the negroes find in having composed something more or less original.\n \nEnough has been said to give a definite idea concerning the actual and p ossible origin of some of the negro folk-songs. Further examples will be g iven when the discussion of the negro’s secular song has been reached. T he psychology of negro music and song is not difficult to explain in the l ight of the facts already suggested. His plaintive appeals in prayer\, his emotional and religious nature\, his primitive expression\, his love of r hythm and melody\, his feelings and misguided imagination\, his interpreta tion of life and Scripture\, his faith in dreams and visions quickly exagg erated into fabrications\, his whole nature but reveals within him what we call the musical nature of the race. With the negro\, motion and song ins tinctively go together. Systematic movement is more conducive to singing t han a careless\, haphazard motion. Movement and song give rhythm that is n ot to be found under other circumstances. Regularity and rhythm in movemen t\, emphasis and rhythm in music\, these give the negro songs essential pl easure-giving qualities that appeal strongly to the negro’s entire being . If his music is primitive and if it has much of the sensuous in it\; if his songs and verse are full of primitive art having[Pg 23] many qualities of possible worth\, nevertheless they are not thereby rendered less disti nct.\n\nIn no way can a better insight into the negro’s religion be obta ined than by a careful study of his songs. An analysis of those songs that have been preserved will give us at once a better conception of his folk- songs and his religion. The references are reproduced in their exact forms in order that they may serve as an aid in the study of the verse containe d in the common songs of the negroes from the time of slavery to the prese nt day. Only the chief conceptions which have been portrayed in negro song are here given\; further analysis may be made in connection with the song s themselves. The devil is prominent in the religious songs of the negroes . He is the constant terror and proverbial enemy of the race. He is alive\ , alert\, and concrete. He represents the demon trickster incarnate in the form of a man. He is the opposite of God but always less powerful. He is the enemy against whom the battle is always on\; it is a personal battle\, but he is usually outwitted or disappointed. Here are some pictures of “Old Satan” as found in the songs of the slave and the negro of to-day :[3]\n\nEf you want to see ole satan run\,\nJes’ fire off dat gospel gun .\n\nOle satan is a liar an’ conjurer\, too\,\nAn’ if you don’t mi nd he’ll conjure you.\n\nOther forms are\n\nAn’ if you don’t mind he’ll cut you in two\,\nAn’ if you don’t mind he’ll cut you throug h.\n\nOle satan lak a snake in the grass\,\nAlways in some Christian’s p ath\,\n\nor\n\nIf you don’t mind he’ll git you at las’.\n\nOle satan weahs a mighty loose ole shoe\,\nIf you don’t min’ gwine a slip it on you.\n\nOle satan like dat hunting dog\,\nHe hunt dem Christians home to God.\n\nO shout\, shout\, de debbil is about\,\nO shut yo’ do’ an’ k eep him out.\n[Pg 24]\nAll de debbils in hell can’t pluck me out\,\nAn ’ I wonder what satan’s a grumblin’ erbout\,\nHe’s boun’ in hell an’ can’t get out\,\nBut he shall be loose an’ hab his way\,\nY onder at de great reserection day.\n\nI went down de hillside to make a on e prayer\,\nAn’ when I get dere ole satan wus dere\,\nO what you think h e said to me?\nSaid\, “Off frum here you better be.”\n\nOld satan tole me to my face\,\n“I’ll git you when a you leave this place\;”\nO br other dat scere me to my heart\,\nI was ’feared to walk a when it wus da rk.\n\nI started home but I did pray\,\nAn’ I met ole satan on de way\;\ nOle satan made a one grab at me\,\nBut he missed my soul an’ I went fre e.\n\nI tell you brother you better not laugh\,\nOle satan’ll run you do wn his path\,\nIf he runs you lak he run me\,\nYou’ll be glad to fall up on yo’ knee.\n\nWe shout so fas’ de debbil look\,\nAn’ he gits away wid his cluven foot.\n\nOle satan is mad an’ I am glad\,\nHe missed the soul he thought he had.\n\nWhat make ole satan hate me so?\n’Cause he go t me once an’ let me go.\n\nOle satan tole me not to pray\;\nHe want my soul at jedgement day.\n\nI wrestle wid satan and wrestle wid sin\,\nStepp ed over hell an’ come back agin.\n\nOle satan tremble when he sees\,\nTh e weakest saint upon his knees.\n\nGo ’way satan I doan min’ you\;\nYo u wonder\, too\, you can’t come through?\n\nOh brother\, breth’ren\, y ou better be engaged\,\nFor de debbil he’s out on a big rampage.\n\nI pl ucked one block out o’ satan’s wall\,\nI heard him stumble an’ saw h im fall.\n\nOle satan thought he had me fas’\,\nBroke his chain an I’m free at las’.\n\nI met ole satan in my way\;\nHe say\, young man\, you too young to pray.\n[Pg 25]\nThe devil tries to throw down everything that ’s good\,\nHe’d fix a way to confuse the righteous if he could\,\nThan ks be to God-er-mighty he can’t be beguiled\,\nOle satan will be done fi ghting after awhile.\n\nThe negroes have many other phrases which they app ly to satan and picture him in other relations. “Ole satan is a mighty b usy ole man\, an’ throw rocks in my way.” “What makes ole satan foll ow me so? Satan ain’t got nothin’ fer to do with me.” As a busy man he also has his “shield and sword”\, not only gives trouble but gets i nto trouble. Says the negro: “I heard de debbil howlin’ when I come out’n de wilderness an’ I gib de debbil battle.” “Now stan’ back \, satan\, an’ let me go by ... why doan de debbil let a me be?” “Ol e satan mighty busy\, he follow me night an’ day. Ole satan toss ball at me\, he think the ball hit my soul\, the ball for hell an’ me for heave n.” “Ole satan gettin’ in mighty rage”\, for “satan’s ca mp’s afier.” “Satan mount de iron gray hoss an’ ride half way to p ilot bar.” But “We’ll shout ole satan’s kingdom down\, gwine a pul l down satan’s kingdom\, gwine a win ag’in de debbil.” Victory is th e negro’s for he exclaims: “I saw dem bindin’ satan”\, and “I sa w ole satan’s kingdom fallin’.” But while satan is a great schemer a nd is very busy and “wash his face in ashes”\, “put on leather apr on”\, his greatest attribute is the liar. The negro cannot give too insi stent warning:\n\nWhen I got dere Cap’n satan wus dere.\nSayin’ “You ng man\, dere’s no use to pray\,\nFor Jesus is daid an’ God gone awa y.”\nAn’ I made ’im out a liar an’ went on my way.\n\nWith these p ictures and warnings the negro song gives a final bit of advice. “If you ain’t got de grace ob God in yo’ heart\, den de debbil will git y ou sho’”\, then the singer rests securely in the knowledge that he is filled with the grace that holds against the devil.\n\n“King Jesus” wa s the original name most commonly given to Christ in the spirituals. Besid es this He was the bosom friend of the negro. He comes in to intercept sat an and to save the individual from hell. He is very real and no one is mor e vividly described than He. He bears many relations to his people.\n\nNow my Jesus bein’ so good an’ kind\,\n[Pg 26]My Jesus lowered his mercy down\,\nAn’ snatch me from de doors of hell\,\nAn’ took me in with him to dwell.\n\nOh\, Jesus tole you once befo’\nTo go in peace and sin no mo’.\n\nI heard o’ my Jesus many one say\,\nCould move po’ sinner’ s sins away.\n\nDen Jesus he come ridin’ by\,\nGib me wings to ride an ’ fly.\n\nJesus Christ the first and las’\,\nNo man wuks lak him\;\nHe built a platform in de air\,\nHe meets de saints from eve’where.\n\nVir gin Mary had one son\,\nThe cruel Jews had him hung.\n\nMe an’ my Jesus goin’ live at ease\,\nMe an’ my Jesus goin’ do as we please.\n\nIf y ou want er die like Jesus died\,\nFold yo’ arms an’ clasp yo’ eyes.\ n\nI tell you breth’ren an’ I tell you twist\,\nMy soul done anchored in Jesus Christ.\n\nUp on de hillside King Jesus spoke\,\nOut of his mouth come fire an’ smoke.\n\nYer say yo’ Jesus set you free\;\nWhy don’t you let yo’ neighbors be?\n\nOther shorter lines give equally concrete pictures and mention equally definite attributes.\n\nYou’ll see my Jesus come to wake up de nations underground.\nKing Jesus died for every man.\n An’ de son He set me free.\nI got my Jesus as well as you.\nIf you want to see Jesus go in de wilderness.\nGwine serve my Jesus till I die.\nI cal l my Jesus king Emanuel.\nHe pluck my feet out’n de miry clay.\nHe sot d em on de firm rock of age.\nChrist hab bought yo’ liberty.\nKing Jesus ’ settin’ in de kingdom.\nDe win’ blow eas’ an’ de win’ blow wes’ from Jesus.\nOh yonder comes my Jesus\, I know him by his shinin ’.\nHear my Jesus when he call you? Hear my Jesus callin’?\nI’m go in’ to hebben where my Jesus dwell.\nO I walk and talk with Jesus.\n[Pg 27]Jesus loosen de man frum under de groun’.\nJesus ain’t comin’ her e to die no mo’.\nThe son of man he dunno where to lay his weary head.\n \nSee what wonder Jesus done:\nJesus make dumb to speak.\nJesus make de cr ipple walk.\nJesus gib de blin’ deir sight.\nJesus do mos’ anything.\n I want to do (or die) like Jesus.\nJesus stan’ on de udder side Jordan.\ nJesus settin’ on de water side.\nJesus is our captain\, Jesus got de he llum.\nJesus mount (ride) a milk-white hoss.\nYou had better follow Jesus. \nDaddy Peter set out for Jesus.\nJesus will bring you milk an’ honey.\n Mas’ Jesus is my bosom friend.\nGwine follow King Jesus\, I really do be lieve.\nKing Jesus he was so strong\, my Lord\, till he jar down de walls ob hell.\nGwine to write to my Jesus.\nKing Jesus settin’ in de heaven.\ nKing Jesus on de mountain top.\nO Jesus is a mighty man. Ride in kind Jes us\, who set po’ sinner free.\nFor Jesus came an’ lock de do’.\nDe J ews kill po’ Jesus.\nJesus call you—Jesus waitin’.\nI wus los’ in de wilderness\; Jesus hand me de candle down.\nMas’ Jesus gib me little broom fer to sweep my heart clean.\nJesus fed me when I was hungry\, he cl othed me when I was naked\, he gave me drink when I was dry.\nJesus rose a n’ flew away on Sunday morning.\nChrist was there four thousand years ag o\, drinking of the wine.\nJesus he wore the starry crown. Did you see Jes us when he wore the starry crown?\nJesus he wore long white robe.\nKing Je sus speaks an’ de chariot stops.\nKing Jesus is the Rock.\nWell did you say you love Jesus?\nJesus done bless my soul an’ gone to glory.\nWon’ t you ride on Jesus? O yes.\nI look fer Jesus all o’ my days.\nJesus is a listening all the day long.\n\nThe scenes of the crucifixion seem to imp ress the negroes very forcibly and their songs abound in references to His suffering. Some of these expressions are full of feeling\, and are touchi ng in their sentiment.\n\nThey nail my Jesus down\n[Pg 28]They put him on the crown of thorn (thorny crown).\nO see my Jesus hangin’ high!\nHe loo k so pale an’ bleed so free:\nO don’t you think it was a shame\,\nHe h ung three hours in dreadful pain?\n\nNext to Jesus and often synonymous wi th Him is God. He is “My Lord”\, “My God”\, “Lord God-er-mig hty”\, and “king Jehobah”\, and represents the personal God and the ruler of the world.\n\nUpon de mountain Jehobah spoke\,\nOut o’ his mout h come fire an’ smoke.\n\nMy God a walkin’ down hebbenly road\,\nOut o’ his mouth come two edged sword.\n\nIf yo’ find yo’ way to God\,\ nThe gospel highway mus’ be trod.\n\nDe father he look upon de Son an’ smile\,\nDe Son he look on me\,\nDe Father redeem my soul from hell\,\nDe Son he set me free.\n\nI’m a chile of God wid my soul set free.\nFor Ch rist hab bought my liberty.\n\nI’m goin’ home fer to see my Lord.\nMy Lord did give me ease.\nEver since my Lord set me free.\nI believe it for God he tole me so.\nO my Lord’s comin’ ag’in\,\nIt may be las’ tim e. I don’t know.\nI goin’ to do all I can fer my Lord\; I goin’ to m ourn\, pray\, weep all I can fer my Lord.\nThe Lord is a listenin’ all t he day long.\nMy Lord is a talkin (preachin’) at de jedgement day.\nDe L ord goin’ to wake up the dead.\nMy Lord come down wid de key an’ unloc k de jail house do’.\nO\, my Lord’s a doctor in a weary lan’\;\nMy Lord’s a preachin’ and teachin’\, and walkin’ in a weary lan’.\ nMy Lord calls me by the thunder\; by the lightning.\nDat mus’ be my Lor d in the cloud.\n\nMy Lord says there’s room enough.\nI’m goin’ to t ell God ’bout my trials.\nThank God-a-mighty\, My God’s been here.\nWh en I talk I talk wid God.\n\nGwine to chatter wid de Fadder.\nMy Fadder ca ll an’ I mus’ go.\nMy righteous Lord shall fin’ you out.\nLook to de Lord wid a tender heart.\n[Pg 29]O de Lord He plant de garden dere and ra ise de fruit for you to eat.\nO de Lord He comfort sinner.\nGod did go to Moses house an’ tell him who He wus.\nGod an’ Moses walked and talke d an’ God did sho’ him who He wus.\n\nGod sits in Heaven an’ answers prayer.\nI gwine tell God how you sarved me.\nLook in my God’s right ha nd.\nHis chariot wheels roll round.\nGod’s goin’ call dem chilluns fru m de distant lan’.\nMy Lord’s a-ridin’ all the time.\nDe Lord has be en here an’ de love come tricklin’ down.\nMe an’ my God goin’ to walk an’ talk.\nO God don’t talk lak a nat’ral man.\nMy Lord God-er mighty come a steppin’ down\, come a steppin’ down on a sea ob glass.\ n\nHeaven for the negro is an eternal resting place where he shall occupy the best place. It is a place of glory and splendor in the material sense. Nor does he think that he will fail to miss his home when he dies. Hell i s a place for thieves and sinners and liars\, but such persons are far rem oved from him. His religion is the panacea for all evils and all sins\, an d when he has the “love of God in his heart” nothing can doom him\, fo r has he not been “washed in the blood of the lamb?” and had not the “blood done sign his name”? His ideas of heaven are those which his m ind naturally conceives of as applying to a home\; his conclusions from th e Scriptures are not unusual. A few of the references to heaven will give a better conception of the negro’s reality and vividness of interpretati on.\n\nI want to go to heaven when I die\,\nTo shout salvation as I fly.\n \nYou say yer aiming fer de skies\,\nWhy don’t yer quit yer tellin’ li es.\n\nI hope I git dere bye an’ bye\,\nTo jine de number in de sky.\n\n When I git to heaven gwine to ease\, ease\,\nMe an’ my God goin’ do as we please\,\nSettin’ down side o’ de holy Lamb.\n\nWhen I git to heav en goin set right down\,\nGwin-er ask my Lord fer starry crown.\n\nNow wai t till I gits my gospel shoes\,\nGwin-er walk ’bout heaven an’ carry d e news.\n\nWe’ll walk up an’ down dem golden streets\,\nWe’ll walk a bout Zion.\n[Pg 30]\nGwine sit in de kingdom\, I raly do believe\, where s abbaths have no end.\nLook way in de heaven—hope I’ll jine de band —Sittin’ in de kingdom.\nI done bin to heaven an’ I done bin’ trie d.\nDere’s a long white robe in de heaven for me\,\nDere’s a golden cr own\, golden harp\, starry crown\, silver slippers in heaven for me I know .\nO yes I’m gwine up to see my Lord\; gwine all de way up to see my rob e\; O de heaven is shinin’\, shinin’.\nGwine shout in hebben\, gwine h ab a big meetin’.\nIf you want to go to heaven come along wid me.\nTake my flight up to de skies in de mornin’.\nO de heaven gates are open.\nGw ine up to heaven where my Jesus dwells.\nMy Jesus walkin’ de hebbenly ro ad.\nDe bell is ringin’ in odder bright worl’.\nIf you touch one str in’ de whole hebben ring.\nDe sun gib light in de hebben all round.\nI w ish I wus in de kingdom settin’ side o’ my Lord.\nNo more hard trial i n de kingdom\; no more tribulation\, no more parting\, no more quarreling\ , backbiting in de kingdom\,\nNo more sunshine fer to bu’n you\; no more rain fer to wet you.\nEv’y day will be Sunday in heaven.\nSweet music i n heaven jes beginning to roll.\nGoin feast off’n milk an’ honey.\n\nT he negro does not dwell upon thoughts of hell as he does of heaven. Even i f he has “stepped over hell an’ come back ’gain\,” he does not rev eal so much of its character. Some conceptions\, however\, are definite en ough.\n\nO hell is deep an’ hell is wide\,\nO hell ain’t got no bottom or side.\n\nI’d rather pray myself away\,\nThan live in hell an’ burn one day.\n\nO when I git to hebben\, I’ll be able to tell\,\nHow I shun ned dat dismal hell.\n\nEv’y since my Lord done set me free\,\nDis ole w orl’ bin a hell to me.\nWhen I come to find out I’s on de road to hell \, I fleed to Jesus.\n\nThe negro song finds little satisfaction in his va rious ideas of hell. “This ole world’s a hell to me\,” says the negr o\; but “hell is a dark and dismal place\,” so that the only immediate conclusion which he[Pg 31] can reach is that he must “shun de gates of hell” and make for the home beyond the Jordan.\n\nA rich variety of refe rences to scriptural characters is seen in the majority of the negro spiri tuals\, both of the past and of the present. The negro portrays the conduc t of heroes in the past with imaginative skill. Their songs are often runn ing-stories of scripture\, in which the effort is made to include as many characters as possible and at the same time draw conclusions which have su itable morals\, but these songs may be better studied in the examples that follow. Some of the typical references to the Scriptures will show the av erage interpretation given them by the negroes.\n\nO\, sisters\, can’t y ou help me sing\,\nFor Moses’ sister did help him.\n\nWhere wus Ezekiel when de church fell down?\nDown in de valley wid his head hung down.\n\nEz ekiel said he spied de train a comin’\,\nHe got on board an’ she never stop runnin’.\n\nGod made Adam an’ Adam wus first\,\nGod made Adam out o’ the dust o’ the earth.\n\nWell God show Noah de rainbow sign\,\ nNo more water but fire nex’ time.\n\nMose live till he got old\,\nBurie d in de mountain so I’m told.\n\nMary wept and Martha mourned\,\nJesus C hrist laid de corner stone.\n\nMary wore the golden chain\,\nEvery link wa s in Jesus’ name.\n\nJudas was a deceitful man—\nWell he betrayed the innercent lam’.\n\nJohn wrote a letter an’ he wrote it in haste\,\nIf yer want to go to heaven\, you better make haste.\n\nJohn declar he saw a man\,\nWid seben lamps in his right han’.\n\nThe negroes wonder “whe r’s sister Mary\, Martha\, Brudder Moses\, brudder Daniel (and the other s) gone.” So\, too\, “Sister Hannah\, Hagar\, brudder Moses” and the rest “took dey seat.” And again\, “Wondah whar good ole Daniel\, doubtin’ Thomas\, sinkin’ Peter” and others. Moses “smote de wat er” and the negro says:\n\nI want to go where Moses trod\,\nFor Moses go ne to de house o’ God.\n\n[Pg 32]Peter is commanded again and again to “go ring dem bells”\; “Daddy Peter go to Jesus”\, “Fisherman Pe ter out at sea”\, the latter perhaps being the origin of “sinkin’ Peter.” Elijah is one of the favorites of the Old Testament. “Elijah g wine ride in de chariot in de mornin’”\, and Isaiah who “mounted on de wheel o’ time” is a kindred character to Ezekiel and Elijah. Jaco b’s ladder and struggle is vivid enough to be sung. “I’m gwine climb up Jacob’s ladder”\; “Rastlin’ Jacob\, let me go.” “Jacob t remblin’ on a limb.” Noah’s victory is the common theme. “Dey call Brudder Noah a foolish man”\, but that makes no difference for “de Lo rd tole Noah fer to build him ark”\, and “de ole ark a moverin.” The negro remarks characteristically: “God placed Adam in de garden\, ’ was ’bout de cool o’ day.” Gabriel is proverbial and the attitude of the singer is always ready “fer to hear Gabriel blow his horn.” “ Don’t you hear Gabriel’s trumpet in de mornin’”? “Little David p lay on de harp” has been a shining example for many another “David” who loved to blow on his harp. “Father Abraham sittin’ down side o’ de holy Lamb”\, is almost synonymous with Christ. Prominent among the cl ear impressions made by the Scriptures is that of the delivery of Daniel\, the Hebrew children and Jonah. However\, one must read the songs in order to get the full significance of the references.\n\nAlthough the negro bas es everything in his religion upon the Bible\, and his songs and sermons a nd exhortations abound in quotations from the “Holy word”\, he has com paratively little to say of the Bible itself as a book. He thinks sometime s that it is a “cumpass” and also bases his convictions on the truth o f the Bible. He asks “How do you know? For my Bible hit tell me so.”\n \nFor in dat Bible you will see.\nJesus died fer you an’ me.\nMatthew\, Mark\, Luke an’ John\nTell me where my Master’s gone.\n\nGo read de fi fth of Matthew\nAn’ read de chapter through\,\nIt is de guide to Christi ans\nAn’ tell ’em what to do.\n\nNow take yo’ Bible an’ read it th rough\,\nAn’ ev’y word you fin’ is true.\n\nAs the Bible is the comp ass\, so sometimes the Holy Ghost is thought[Pg 33] of as the pilot. The H oly Ghost is too vague for the negroes to fathom and is not tangible enoug h for their imaginations. But he says: “If this ain’t de holy Ghost I don’t know”\, but goes little further.\n\nJust as the negro expects to talk and walk with God and Jesus\, so he looks forward to seeing the an gels in Heaven. He wants to see them with their white robes and hear them sing\; he even says they mourn. “Bright angels hoverin’ on de water by de light”\, are but a part of the angel band which he hopes to join. “Join de hebben wid de angels” is his watchword and by it he sees in h is child-like fancy all the beauties of ideal creatures.\n\nI’m gwine to keep a climbin’ high\,\nTill I meet dem angels in de sky.\n\nDem pooty angels I shall see—\nWhy doan de debbil let a me be?\n\nO when I git to heaven goin’ sit an’ tell\,\nThree archangels gwine er ring dem bells. \n\nTwo white angels come a walkin’ down\,\nLong white robes an’ starr y crown.\n\nWhat’s dat yonder dat I see?\nBig tall angel comin’ after me.\n\nThe negro makes a terrible picture of the day of judgment. For him it means everything that could possibly happen at the end of the world. It is the destruction of the sinner and the glory of the righteous. Nor does he hesitate to affirm that the Christian in heaven will shout amen to the sinner’s damnation. The sinner will see his mother and friends in heave n while he is doomed to hell. It serves as a warning theme for the song mo re than it indicates reality of thought. But here is a part of his picture :\n\nMy Lord what a morning when de stars begin to fall\,\nYou’ll see de worl’ on fire\,\nYou’ll see de moon a bleedin’ an’\nDe moon will turn to blood\,\nDen you’ll see de elements a meltin’\,\nYou’ll see de stars a fallin’\,\nO yes\, de stars in de elements a fallin’\,\nA n’ de moon drips way in blood\,\nWhen God goin’ call dem childuns from de distant lan’\,\nDen you see de coffins bustin’\,\n[Pg 34]Den you s ee de bones a creepin’\,\nDen you see po’ sinner risin’\,\nDen you h ear de tombstones crackin’\,\nAn’ you see de graves a bustin’\,\nH ell an’ seas gwine give up their daid\,\nDen you see de forked lighten in’\,\nDen you hear de rollin’ thunder\,\nEarth shall reel an’ totte r\,\nHell shall be uncapped\,\nDe dragon be loosed\,\nDon’t you hear the m sinners cryin’?\n\nSuch a scene vividly told of at a revival and sung to the associations of the moment is too much for the average negro\; the sinner cries for mercy and turns to a Christian\; the latter sings: “Far e you well po’ sinner” and\n\nA mighty sea of glass mingled wid fier\, \nGood-bye\, brother\, I’m goin’ higher.\n\nAlong with the scenes whic h are associated with the resurrection and judgment go the sadder strains of the “mourners”\; “weepin’ mournin’\, cry’n’”—these wi ll be much in evidence. A study of the songs that follow will give some id ea of the emotional nature of the themes and music. The negroes sing sympa thy. “Weepin’ Mary\, weep no mo’”—“Mary wept\, Martha crie d”\, why can’t they too? “Now ain’t dis hard trial and tribulati on?” He sings often in his songs of hard times and trials. “When you s ee me\,” he says\, “pity me.” “Nobody knows de trubble I seen” but “I boun’ to leave dis worl’\; Fare you well\, dere’s a better day comin’.” His prayers are more pathetic than his songs\; his appea ls interpret the spirit of song and of worship. But one would scarcely loo k for a more pathetic wail than that of the negro who sings\n\nSometimes I hangs my head an’ cries\,\nBut Jesus goin’ to wipe my weep’n’ eye s.\n\nIf the negro loves to mourn and if his songs are full of sadness and pathos\, he also loves to shout and vigorously defends the right to shout as much as he pleases. His songs have many “Hallelujahs” in them\; ma ny notes of victory may be read in the songs of his choice. They often sin g\, however\, the songs which should be the most joyous in the same sad an d plaintive tone of the sadder ones. They forget the words. In many\, howe ver\, the shouting takes away any sadness and these livelier songs voice t he light and sensuous emotions equally[Pg 35] as well as the more serious ones tell of hardships. The negro maintains that always and everywhere\, “You’ll hear the Christian shout.” “De richest man I ever seed\, his heart was fill wid Jesus an’ Holy Ghost.” “I got de glory in m y soul” he says and\n\nI real’y do b’lieve widout a doubt\,\nDat de church hab a mighty right to shout.\n\nI tell you what I lak de bes’\,\n It is dem shoutin’ Mefodes’.\n\nIf the negro’s mother and sister and father and preacher and the others\, as the songs put it\, “died a shou tin’\,” why he is “goin’ die shoutin’ too.”\n\nGwine hab hap py meetin’\,\nGwine shout in hebben\,\nGwine shout an’ nebber tire\,\n O slap yo’ han’s chilluns\,\nO pat yo’ feets chilluns\,\nI feels de spirit movin’\nO now I’m gittin’ happy.\n\nOf true love and devotion to God one finds little definite and concrete expressions as compared wit h other themes. The negro is constantly affirming his love for “his Je sus” and offering his eternal allegiance in a general way. But in the av erage instance the testimony is subordinated to some special word or phras e which receives the greater part of the significance in the song. What do es he mean when he asks: “Does yo’ love continue true?” or when he i nsists: “I wants to know\, does you love yo’ Jesus?” The negroes are often heard to say that they want to do something “for the Lord”. In the same way they sing “I goin’ to weep all I can for my Lord\, I go in’ pray all I can for my Lord\, I goin’ do all I can for my Lord.” In each case the relation of the negro and his God are ideal and he concei ves of his own deeds as being\, not the practical every-day life\, but as coming in the future when there will be nothing unpleasant about them. It was doubted if the negro’s ideas of God and Heaven and his relation to t hem were truly expressed in his songs. A series of experiments were made w ith negro children\, wherein questions were answered by them at the time t hey were given\, others being carried to their homes or teachers. Their id eas of hell and heaven\, God and the angels are almost identical. Perhaps some of them were gained from[Pg 36] the songs\; some of them were certain ly not\; all seemed to agree with each other and with those of the race in a remarkable way.\n\nNature contributes something to the negro spirituals . Certain parts of nature are symbolic and serve to convey the picture of a vivid imagination as nothing else can do. The wonders of God and the ter rors of the judgment must be seen in their relation and effect upon the fo rces of nature. Certain natural phenomena inspire awe and reverence\; they add thus to the conception of his religious fear. Other references to nat ure convey\, as they only could\, pleasing features of life\, hence of hea ven and God. The negro refers to the “break o’ day”\, the “set tin’ o’ the sun”\, the “cool o’ de evenin’” and each is very expressive. Morning and evening are common\; he prays in the evening perh aps\; in the morning he is going to heaven. The hillside\, the mountain an d mountain top\, the valley\, signify and typify the experiences of the Ch ristian of the past and present\; the heavenly breeze comes from the valle y. The negro sees a paradise and a wilderness\, a sunshine and a storm. Bu t\n\nDere’s a tree in paradise\,\nChristians call de tree ob life\,\n\na nd he faithfully believes “I specs to eat de fruit off’n dat tree”. The earth trembles and is jarred\; the sky is “shook.” The river is “chilly an’ cold\, wide an’ deep.” The “rock” is better than t he miry clay and “nebber mind de sun—see how she run.” The stars\, m oon\, and world fall\, bleed\, and burn. The thunder and the lightning are in the stormy cloud\; Jesus may be\, too. Satan is a snake in the grass a nd a hunting dog. Young lambs and “de sheep done know de road.” The su mmer\, spring\, flowers and the field are mentioned. The negro wishes he h ad wings like Noah’s dove. He is sometimes awed:\n\nI looked toward dat northern pole\,\nI seed black clouds of fire roll.\n\nWith his vivid imagi nation the negro feels much of the thought expressed in the folk-song. Thu s sin and the sinner are intimately connected with life and death\, religi on and repentance. How skillfully the songs express the folk-feeling may b etter be inferred in the further analysis of the following\n\n [Pg 37]\n\n Types of Negro Spirituals.\n\nAn exact classification of negro songs\, eit her as to subject-matter or as to form\, is scarcely possible. There is li ttle unity of thought in their content\; their metres conform to no consis tent standards. A single favorite stanza\, regardless of its meaning\, is constantly being sung in a dozen different songs. It is a distinct folk-so ng\; and it matters little to which one it belongs\; it serves its purpose in any one of them. So in the form of the verse\, a single tune is adapte d to lines that differ widely in length\; likewise a single line is not in frequently made to fit into any tune that is desired. Again\, no final ver sion of any song can be given. The lines are rarely sung in exactly the sa me form. There are ordinarily as many versions of a line as there are comb inations of the words without spoiling the effect of the rhyme or emphatic word. The stanzas have no order of sequence\, but are sung as they occur in the mind of the singer\; a song does not have a standard number of stan zas\, but the length depends upon the time in which it is wanted to sing t hat particular song. In the songs that follow the most common versions are given. In giving the dialect no attempt is made at consistency\; for the negro of the present generation has no consistency of speech. He uses “t he” and “de”\, “them” and “dem”\, “gwine ” and “goin’”\, “and” and “an’”\, together with many oth er varied forms\, which will be noted in a later chapter\; nor does it mat ter that each of the forms is used in the same line or stanza. In the old songs that are here quoted for comparisons\, the exact form of speech in w hich they have been published is used. In the miscellaneous songs gathered here and there\, what may be called the average dialect is used. The song s that form the basis of this work are those that are found among the pres ent-day negroes of the South\; in many cases the corresponding song of ear lier days is given in order that a better study of the folk-songs may be m ade and the many points of resemblance noted. In all instances the basis o f the chapter is the present-day song\, and these should not be confused w ith those that have already been published. The words of the chorus and re frain are italicized. Further particulars will be pointed out in connectio n with the several songs.\n\nPerhaps no better beginning can be made towar ds general classification of the religious songs of the negroes than by in troducing some[Pg 38] that combine several characteristics\, but still hav e a general theme predominating. Sin is an important factor in the religio us life of the negro and his songs refer to it in many forms. The three ge neral tones which pervade the theme are: A note of victory over sin and th e conception of it as being in the past or belonging to some other person\ ; the conception of sin as being present and the singer as being in its gr asp\; and thirdly\, the “sinner-man” himself and warnings given him. T he very popular song\, “All my Sins Done Taken Away” is typical of the first class mentioned above. There is no reason why the stanzas given bel ow should come in the order presented\, except that they are heard in this arrangement as much as in any other. The stanzas consist of two rhymed li nes with the refrain. These\, however\, are usually extended to four\, the first two and refrain being sung slowly and in a more or less plaintive t one\, while the repetition of the same lines with the rhymed line and refr ain are rapid and joyous. The common version follows.\n\nI’m goin’ to heaven an’ I don’t want ter stop\,\nYes\, I’m goin’ to heaven an’ I don’t want ter stop\,\nAll o’ my sins done taken away\, taken away\;\nI’m goin’ to heaven an’ I don’t want ter stop\,\nAn’ I don’t want ter be no stumblin’ block\,\nAll my sins done taken away\, taken away.\n\nInstead of repeating the chorus line at the end of the fir st two lines that are sung\, the negroes often vary the song by repeating the last half of the line\, as in the following stanza:\n\nWell “M” fo r Mary\, an’ “P” for Paul\,\nWell “M” for Mary\, an’ “ P” for Paul\,\nAn’ “P” for Paul\;\nWell “M” for Mary a n’ “P” for Paul.\n“C” for Chris’ who died for us all\,\nAll o’ my sins done taken away\, taken away.\n\nThe chorus is again varied f rom “all my sins” to “all o’ my sins” or “all of my sins\, ” “done taken away\,” or “bin taken away\,” while the entire lin e is sometimes changed in a single stanza. Sometimes it is sung as given a bove\; at other times the line goes: “All my sins done taken away\, bi n’ taken away\,” or omitting either “done” or “bin” it is sung equally well as “All my sins taken away\, taken away\,” while in the grand chorus at the climax of song the chorus goes:\n\n[Pg 39]Yes all o’ my sins bin taken away\,\nYes all my sins done taken away\,\n\nYes all o’ my sins done taken away\,\nYes all my sins done taken away\,\nGlory\, glory to His name-e\,\nAll my sins done taken away\, taken away.\n\nThis last chorus may be repeated whenever the singers do not think of words to fit in with the songs\, although this is rarely necessary. The following s tanzas are sung in the same manner as those just given.\n\nIf I had er die d when I wus young\,\nI never would a had dis rist to run\,\nAll o’ my s ins done taken away\, taken away.\n\nWell you oughter bin dere to see de s ight\,\nThe peoples come runnin’ both cullud an’ white.\n\nMy feet got wet in de midnight dew\,\nAn’ de mornin’ star was a witness\, too.\n\ nIf you doan b’leave I bin redeem\,\nJes follow me down to Jordan stream .\n\nWhen a sinner see me it make him laugh\,\nThank God-a-mighty\, I’m free at las’.\n\nMary wept an’ Martha mourned\,\nMary wept all ’roun d the throne.\n\nMary wept an’ Martha mourned\,\nAll because deir brothe r done daid an’ gone.\n\nMary wept an’ Martha cried\,\nAll ’cause de y brother done gone an’ died.\n\nI’m goin’ to ride on de mornin’ t rain\,\nAll don’t see me goin’ ter hear me sing.\n\nI’m gwine to hea ven on eagle’s wing\,\nAll don’t see me goin’ ter hear me sing.\n\nM y mother’s sick an’ my father’s daid\,\nGot nowhere to lay my weary head.\n\nI went down in de valley to pray\,\nMy soul got happy an’ I sta yed all day.\n\nA number of other versions are common. Instead of “Mary wept all ’round the throne” is sung “all ’round God’s hebbenly throne.” Instead of the morning star as a witness the old songs have it “angels witness too.” Instead of in the valley\, the old songs also had “on de mountain” and also inserted “I didn’t go dere to sta y.” This[Pg 40] version is sung in some of the songs still. “The Sabba th has no End” is the name of a favorite somewhat similar to “All my s ins done taken away.” It has a number of forms for the chorus.\n\nI went down in de valley\,\nI didn’t go ter stay\,\nMy little soul got happy\n An’ I like to a stayed all day.\n\nI thought I had religion\, I b’liev e\nI thought I had religion\, I b’lieve.\nI thought I had religion\, I b’lieve\,\nDat Sabbath hath no end.\n\nI wouldn’t be a sinner\,\nTell you de reason why—\nFeard de good Lord might call me\,\nAn I wouldn’t be ready ter die.\n\nGwine rock trubbel over\, I b’lieve\,\nRock trubbe l over\, I b’lieve\,\nRock trubbel over\, I b’lieve\,\nDat Sabbath has no end.\n\nOle Satan’s mighty busy\,\nFixin’ up his snares\,\nHe’ll ketch all dem mourners\,\nIf dey don’t keep deir prayers.\n\nYer better get ready\, I b’lieve\nYer better get ready\, I b’lieve\,\nYer better get ready\, I b’lieve\,\nDat Sabbath has no end.\n\nThe singer is a lit tle more definite in his convictions in “I am de light uv de Worl’”. He is no longer a sinner and looks forward to the time when he will “cr oss de ribber.”\n\nHallaluyer\, good Lord\,\nI am de light uv de worl’ \,\nHalleluyer\, good Lord\,\nI am de light uv de worl’.\n\nEver since m y Lord done sot me free\,\nDis ole worl’ bin a hell to me\,\nI am de lig ht uv de worl’.\n\nI looked toward dat Northern pole\,\nI seed black clo uds of fier roll\,\nI am de light uv de worl’.\n[Pg 41]\nI gwine ’clar e de word\,\nI am de light uv de worl’\,\nI’m gwine ’clar de word\,\ nI am de light uv de worl’.\n\nDer ain’t but one train on dis track\,\ nGoes straight to heaven an’ run right back.\nI am de light uv de worl ’.\n\nEver since I bin in de worl’\,\nI am de light uv de worl’\,\nE ver since I been in de worl’\,\nI am de light uv de worl’.\n\nWhen I c ross Jordan I’ll be free\,\nGwine a slip an’ slide dem golden streets\ ,\nI am de light uv de worl’.\n\n’Way up in de kingdom\, Lord\,\nI am de light uv de worl’\,\n’Way up in de kingdom\, Lord\,\nI am de light uv de worl’.\n\nThe negro is not troubled because he cannot see his Lord \; he has heard Him speak and believes that He has gone “on to glory.” His personal relation with Jesus is satisfactory and he sings His praises often as he tells of his own experiences. Says he:\n\nOne day\, one day\, while walkin’ along\,\nJesus done bless my soul\;\nI heard a voice an ’ saw no one\,\nJesus done bless my soul.\n\nO go an’ tell it on de mo untain\,\nJesus done bless my soul\;\nO go an’ tell it in de valley\,\nJ esus done bless my soul.\n\nHe done bless my soul an’ gone on to glory\, Good Lord\,\nJesus done bless my soul\;\nDone bin here an’ bless my sou l an’ gone on to glory.\nJesus done bless my soul.\n\nIn one of the old plantation songs a similar idea is given of the blessing\, but in a differ ent version.\n\nOne day when I wus walkin’ along\, Oh yes\, Lord\,\nDe e lement opened\, an’ de Love came down\, Oh yes\, Lord\,\nI never shall f orget dat day\, Oh yes\, Lord\,\nWhen Jesus washed my sins away\, Oh yes\, Lord.\n\nAnother chorus inquired: “O brothers where were you? O sisters [Pg 42] where were you? O sinners\, O Christians\, O mourners\, etc.\, whe re were you?” for “My good Lord’s bin here\, bin here\, bin here\; M y good Lord’s bin here\, An’ he blessed my soul an’ gone.” So the negro exhorters often conclude their services\, saying that the Lord has b een to the meeting and gone. Said one deacon who was exhorting for a large collection: “De good Lord’s done bin with us to-night—I knows he ha s\, done been here an’ gone\, an’ now we wants to git down to bizness\ , I wants some money.”\n\nAgain\, the negro fresh and enthusiastic from his religious experience and having “come through” sings with some rel ief:\n\nI have been tryin a great long while\,\nLord\, I jus’ got over o n yo’ side.\n\nLord\, I jus’ got over-er\,\nLord\, I jus’ got over\, \nLord\, I jus’ got over-er\,\nI jus’ got over on yo’ side.\n\nI p ray’d an’ I pray till I come over\,\nLord\, I jus’ got over on yo’ side.\n\nSo also he “weeps” and he “mourns” and “cries” til l he “gets over on the Lawd’s side.” Then he sings “O de sunshin e\,”\n\nO the sunshine\, O the sunshine\,\nO sunshine in my soul this mo rnin’\,\nYes the sunshine\, the sunshine\,\nYes sun shine in my soul.\n\ nDown in the valley\, down on my knees\,\nSunshine in my soul\,\nThere I m et that heavenly breeze\,\nSunshine in my soul.\n\nOle devil like a snake in the grass\,\nSunshine in my soul\,\nHe’s always in some sister’s pa th\,\nSunshine in my soul.\n\nWhile the song is also sung at times with mo re dialect\, it lends itself more readily to the above form. Very much mix ed and somewhat similar to those already given is “Bless the Name.”\ n\nI’ve got to go to judgment\, I don’t know how soon\,\nLord bless th e name\, Lord bless the name\,\nI’ve got to go to judgment to hear my si ns\,\nLord bless the name\, Lord bless the name.\n[Pg 43]\nMy Jesus fed me when I’s hungry\, gave me drink when I’s dry\,\nLord bless the name\, Lord bless the name\,\nMy Jesus clothed me when I was naked\,\nLord bless the name\, Lord bless the name.\n\nIn the same song and with the same tun e are sung the shorter lines that follow. The chorus is often sung “Lo r’ bless the name”\, and is a form of the phrase “Bless the name of the Lord.” It is used as a refrain after each line or it may be omitted. \n\nMary wept and Martha mourned\,\nLord bless the name\, Lord bless the n ame\,\nJesus Chris’ laid the corner of stone\,\nLord bless the name\, Lo rd bless the name.\n\nMary wore the golden chain\,\nEvery link was in Jesu s’ name.\n\nYou may talk about me just as you please\,\nI’ll talk abou t you when I git on my knees.\n\nGod made man an’ man was sure\,\nThere was no sin an’ his heart was pure.\n\nGod made Adam an’ Adam was first \,\nGod made Adam out o’ the dust o’ the earth.\n\nThe old slave songs also had other interpretations of man’s creation which differ slightly in particular from the last stanza quoted. One form occurs in\n\nGod made man an’ he made him out o’ clay\,\nSettin’ on de golden altar\,\nA n’ he put him on de earth but he did not stay\,\nSettin’ on de golden altar.\n\nA favorite chorus for the old spiritual was: “What you gwine d o when de lamp burns down?” So there was also another version of the wee ping of Mary and Martha:\n\nMary wept an’ Martha cried\,\nTo see deir Sa viour crucified\,\nWeepin’ Mary weep no mo’\,\nJesus say he gone bef o’.\n\nIt proves an interesting task to follow the development and chang es in a song that has survived from slavery days. In “Free\, free my L ord”\, one of the verses was quite a puzzle. During the recent summer th e following stanza was heard:\n\n[Pg 44]The moon come down like a piper’ s stem\,\nThe sun ’fuse to shine\,\nAn’ ev’y star disappear\,\nKing Jesus set me free.\n\nInquiry was made in order to see if the words had no t been misunderstood. The older negroes gave this version and insisted tha t it was correct\, but none of them could explain what it meant. It was th ought that perhaps it was a figure applied to the moon’s rays or that th e loss of the sun might have meant the peculiar appearance of the moon. An yway\, they maintained\, this was the “way we got de song an’ guess it must be right.” The words of the original song were\,\n\nThe moon run d own in purple stream\,\nThe sun forbear to shine\,\nAn’ ev’y star disa ppear\,\nKing Jesus shall be mine\,\n\nof which there seemed to be several versions. Other verses that are found to-day are:\n\nAs I went down in de valley one day\,\nI fell upon my knees\,\nI begged and cried fer pardon\, \nThe Lord did give me ease.\n\nFree\, free\, my Lord\,\nFree\, free\, my Lord\,\nFree\, free\, my Lord\,\nTo march de heaven’s highway.\n\nThe Lo rd called Moses\,\nMoses refuse to answer\,\n\nFree\, free\, etc.\n\nMy mo ther look at de son an’ smile\,\nMy Father look at me\,\nMy mother turn my soul from hell\,\nKing Jesus set me free\,\n\nis an unusual variation a nd interpretation of the old song\; just how and when the negro inserted t he idea of mother would be difficult to ascertain\; perhaps it came from “master\,” or more likely it was introduced by them while they interp reted father and son as names of the ordinary members of a human family. T he original form seems to have been\,\n\nDe Father\, he looked on de Son a nd smiled\,\n[Pg 45]De Son\, he looked on me\;\nDe Father\, he redeemed my soul from hell\;\nAn’ de Son\, he set me free.\n\nThe chorus\, too\, ha s been much confused and is given as “Children light on dat cross\, God bless you forever mo’.” The song is not a common one among the negroes and is not known\, apparently\, among the younger ones. In contrast with this favorite of the older negroes may be given a favorite of the younger generation\, “Glad I got religion.” The repetition represents pretty w ell the relative depth of the feeling which the convert feels. But he love s to sing it for its pleasing sound and for the faith it gives him in his own religious state. The song is a long and continued chorus and may well be taken as a type of the song which reflects the negro’s feeling of imm unity from sin.\n\nI’m so glad\, so glad\; I’m so glad\, so glad\,\nGl ad I got religion\, so glad\,\nGlad I got religion\, so glad.\n\nI’m so glad\, so glad\; I’m so glad\, so glad\,\nI’m glad all over\, so glad\ ,\nI’m glad all over\, so glad.\n\nI’m so glad\, so glad\; I’m so gl ad\, so glad\,\nGlad I bin’ changed\, so glad.\nGlad I bin’ changed\, so glad.\n\nAnd so he continues singing\; he is glad that he is goin’ to heaven\, he is glad that he is not a sinner\, glad he has been set free\, and many other such states. Then when he has finished he begins all over again\, if he wishes and sings: “Sister\, ain’t you glad? Brother\, ain’t you glad?” and goes through with as many of these as he wishes\, preacher\, mourner\, auntie\, and the others.\n\nThe “sinner-man” is the theme for many verses of the negro favorites. Directed at him are warn ings and admonitions. He is told what he must do and when\; how he must do and why. He is told of the experiences of the Christians and he is told o f the doom of the damned. The negro rejoices over his own safety and boast s of the sinner’s destruction\; at the same time he constantly refers to the “po’ sinner” in a sympathetic way. But the sinner must be warne d:\n\nGod knows it’s time\, it’s time\, it’s time\,\nThat a sinner w as makin’ up his min’\nIt’s time\, it’s time he was makin’ up his min’ to die.\n\nA sinner was walkin’ off his time\, his time\,\n An’ when my God call him he did not have the time\,\nGod know it was tim e\, it was time\, it was time for him to die.\n\n[Pg 46]Again the words of the righteous to the sinner are driven home by repetition\, and\, by a da rk and dismal picture\,\n\nO hell is deep an’ hell is wide\,\nO hell is deep an’ hell is wide\,\nO hell is deep an’ hell is wide\,\nO hell a in’t got no bottom or side.\n\nWell before I lay in hell all day\, hell all day\,\nWell before I lay in hell all day\, hell all day\,\nWell before I lay in hell all day\, hell all day\,\nI goin’ to sing an’ pray myse lf away\, self away.\n\nO sinner don’t you let this harves’ pass\, h arves’ pass\,\nO sinner don’t you let this harves’ pass\, harves’ pass\,\nO sinner don’t you let this harves’ pass\, harves’ pass\,\nD o you die an’ got to hell at las’\, hell at las’.\n\nThe sinner may be a gambler or a dancer or a rogue or a drunkard. But each name has the s ame signification in the religious phraseology of the negro song. There ar e various ways of repenting and of serving the Lord just as there are as m any ways of offending and sinning against him. “Workin’ on the Build ing” appeals to the average negro.\n\nIf I wus a sinner man\, I tell you what I’d do\,\nI’d lay down all my sinful ways an’ work on the buil ding\, too.\n\nI’m workin’ on the building fer my Lord\,\nFer my Lord\ , fer my Lord\,\nI’m workin’ on the building fer my Lord\,\nI’m wo rkin’ on the building\, too.\n\nIf I wus a gamblin’ man\, I tell you w hat I’d do\,\nI’d lay down all my gamblin’\, an’ work on the build ing\, too.\n\nIf I was a ho-munger\, I tell you what I’d do\,\nI’d lay down all my munglin’ and work on the building\, too.\n\nAnd so he sings for the dancer and the drunkard and the “cussin’ man.” So in anothe r song the negro sings of the sinners and mourners.\n\nIf I wus a mourner jus’ like you\,\n‘u-m-u’\,\nI’d go to church an’ try to come thru’\,\n‘um-u’.\n\nWhen I was a mourner\, um-u’\, jus’ lak you \,\nI prayed an’ prayed till I come thru\, um-u’.\n\nUpon de mountain King Jesus spoke\, um-u’\,\nOut of his mouth come fier an smoke\, um-u ’.\nNow mourner won’t you please come on\, um-u’\,\nAn’ join us in that heavenly lan’\, um-u’.\n\n[Pg 47]In the “Downward road is cr owded” a mournful picture is given of the sinner who failed to repent. H is example is held up for the contemplation of those who are following in his steps.\n\nYoung people who delight in sin\,\nI tell you what I lately seen\,\nA po’ godless sinner die\,\nAn’ he said: “In hell I soon ’ll lie.”\n\nHark\, the downward road is crowded\, crowded\, crowded\, \nYes the downward road is crowded with onbelievin’ souls.\n\nHe call hi s mother to his bed\,\nAn’ these is the dyin’ words he said\,\nMother\ , mother\, I long farewell\,\nYour wicked son is damned in hell.\n\nHe dan ce an’ play hisself away\,\nAn’ still put off his dyin’ day\,\nUntil at las’ ole death was sent\,\nAn’ it ’us too late fer him to repent .\n\nThey also sing of mother and sister being called to the bedside. The old plantation song of the same name had a similar chorus but the stanzas were quite different.\n\nWhen I wus a sinner\,\nI loved my distance well\, \nBut when I come to fin’ myself\,\nI was hangin’ over hell.\n\nOle Satan’s might busy\,\nHe follers me night an’ day\,\nAn’ every whe re I ’pinted\,\nDere’s something in my way.\n\nThe Lord will come to j udge the world and wake up the dead. It is the supreme ambition of the sin ger to be ready to meet his Lord when He comes. Just what form the Lord wi ll take the negro does not say\; perhaps it will be in a cloud or fire or He will come as in the days of Moses. “My Lord’s comin’ again” giv es a general conception.\n\nO my Lord’s comin’ again\,\nO my Lord’ s comin’ again\,\n(Talk about it:)\nYes my Lord’s comin’ again\,\nIt may be las’ time\, I don’t know.\n\nWell he’s comin’ to judge t he worl’\,\nWell he’s comin’ to judge the worl’\,\n[Pg 48](Talk ab out it:)\nYes my Lord’s comin’ to judge the worl’\,\nIt may be las ’ time\, I don’t know.\n\nWell you had better put off lyin’ shoes\,\ nWell you better put off lyin’ shoes\,\n(Talk about it:)\nBetter put off lyin’ shoes\,\nFor it may be las’ time\, I don’t know.\n\nAnd so he sings “Better put off dancin’ shoes”\, “better put off gambli n’ shoes”. For the sinner’s shoes will not be suitable to “walk on the cross”. He sings: “God’s goin’ to wake up the Dead” and mak es a beautiful melody out of the simple repetition.\n\nGoin’ to wake up the dead\,\nGoin’ to wake up the dead\,\nGod goin’ to wake up the dead \,\nWho’s a sleepin’ in the grave\,\nGod is goin’ to wake up the dea d.\nYou had better min’ my brother how you walk on the cross\,\nGod’s goin’ to wake up the dead\;\nIf yo’ right foot slip\, then yo’ soul be los’\nGod goin’ wake up the dead.\n\nThen “you better min’ my s ister\, my brother\, my mother\, my preacher” are sung. The old song con tained words similar to the lines just given\, with the chorus: “De youn g lambs mus’ fin’ de way”:\n\nMy brudder better mind how you walk on de cross\,\nFor yo’ foot might slip an’ yo’ soul git lost\,\n\nBett er mind dat sun\, and see how she run\,\nAn’ mind don’t let her catch ye wid yer works undone.\n\nBut the sinner sometimes gets confused\, it wo uld seem\; sometimes he heeds the preacher’s warnings\, sometimes he sco ffs at them. Often he does not hear them. More rarely he inquires into con ditions. In the lines which follow the negroes make each a stanza\, repeat ing three times. It perhaps represents the retort of the “sinner man.” \n\nSome goin’ thru’ Jordan\, some tryin’ to go ’round.\nThe M ef’dis’ they say sprinklin’\, de Baptis say’ baptize.\nNow Lord th e sinner man so hard to believe\,\nNow Lord sinner man want you to show hi m de way\n\nBut the sinner gets little reply to his inquiries. “Time is comin’ when sinner mus’ die” and there is none so pitiable as the lo st sinner.\n\n[Pg 49]Sinner\, die\, sinner die\,\nSinner dies wid his head hung down\,\nSinner die\, sinner die\,\nSinner die in de midnight dew.\n\ nSinner die\, sinner die\,\nSinner die\, with achin’ heart\,\nSinner die \, sinner die\,\nSinner die with weary min’.\n\nStump’ty up an’ st ump’ty down\,\nTime is comin’ when sinner mus’ die\,\nHurry home\, h urry home\;\nTime is a comin’ sinner mus’ die.\nDon’t you let that s inner change yo’ min’\,\nTime is comin’ sinner mus’ die.\nHurry ho me\, hurry home\;\nTime is comin’ sinner mus’ die.\n\nThe plantation s ong of some years ago\, sometimes called “O sinner\, you better get re ady”\, had the same line refrain\, “Time is a comin’ dat sinner mus’ die.” The repetition of “sinner die”\, is a new addition. In the old song were lines similar to those quoted:\n\nO sinner man you bette r pray\,\nFor it look a like judgment every day.\n\nI heard a lumb’ring in de sky\,\nDat make a me tink my time was nigh.\n\nI heard of my Jesus a many one say\,\nCould ’move poor sinner’s sins away.\n\nYes\, I’d r ather pray myself away\,\nDan to lie in hell an’ burn a one day.\n\nI th ink I heard my mother say—\n’Twas a pretty thing to serve the Lord.\n\ nO when I git to heaven I’ll be able fer to tell\,\nO how I shun dat dis mal hell.\n\nIn addition to the line-refrain which was sung after each lin e of the song\, an additional chorus followed at intervals\; this chorus h ad “ready my Lord” where the new one has a short line\, “Hurry hom e”.\n\nOh\, sinner\, you’d better get ready\, ready my Lord\,\nOh\, si nner\, you’d better get ready.\n\nAn interesting type of song is that in which an imaginary conversation is carried on between two parties. If the song is correctly[Pg 50] rendered the leader or one part of the chorus si ng the first part or take the words of one of the speakers\, while the oth er chorus take up the other speaker’s words. Both then join in the grand refrain\, which in the following song is “Lord\, I’m on my way”.\n\ nSinner\, what you goin’ to do\nWhen de devil git you?\nWhat you goin’ do\nWhen de devil git you?\nWhat you goin’ do\nWhen de devil git you?\n Lord\, I’m on my way.\n\nI’m goin’ run to the rocks.\nWell\, they can’t hide you.\nGoin’ run to the rocks—\nThey can’t hide you\;\nR un to the rocks\,\nWell\, they can’t hide you\,\nLord\, I’m on my way. \n\nI’m goin’ to run to the water\;\nAn’ water goin’ to cry “f ire”\,\nGoin’ to run to the water\,\nAn’ water cry “fire”\,\nRun to the water\,\nAn’ water cry “fire”\,\nLord\, I’m on my way.\n\n And so the sinner will then “run to the mountain\,” and “De mountain fly open” or “De mountain cry mercy.” The sinner must needs be hope less at his death and there is neither mercy nor pity for him. It is the i dea of the negro that at the great day “we won’t be bothered with them any mo’”. A sad picture he makes of the poor\, and forsaken man who d ies “with achin’ heart”\, with “weary min’”\, and with his “ head hung down”. Consequently it is not surprising to find appeals of al l sorts made to the sinner man\; now he is told of his doom\, now of possi ble salvation\, now of the joys of being saved\, now of immediate satisfac tion. Sung like the above song is “Come\, sinner\, come”.\n\nWon’t y ou come\, won’t you come?\nCome\, sinner\, come\;\nGreat day of wrath is comin’\,\nCome\, sinner\, come.\n\nLook over yonder what I see\;\nCome\ , sinner\, come\;\nTwo tall angels comin’ after me\,\nCome\, sinner\, co me.\n\n[Pg 51]In the same manner he sings\, “Won’t you come an’ se e yo’ Lord?” and “Ole Satan like a snake in de grass\, Always in som e sister’s path\,” “Ole Satan weahs mighty loose ole shoe\, Ef you don’t min’ gwine slip it on you”. “Up on hill side King Jesus spo ke\, Out of his mouth come fier an’ smoke”\, “Down in de valley\, do wn on my knees\, Ask de Lord to save me if He please”\, and others. The plantation song asked\,\n\nO whar you runnin’\, sinner?\nI do love de Lo rd\;\nDe Judgment day is comin’\,\nI do love de Lord\;\n\nYou’ll see d e worl’ on fire\,\nI do love de Lord\;\nYou’ll see de element a melt in’\,\nI do love de Lord.\n\nBesides these stanzas there were sung the v arious other warnings such as have been given in the idea of Judgment and Resurrection already noted. In the old slave song the sinner asks:\n\nMy L ord\, My Lord\, what shall I do?\nAn’ heaven bell ring an’ praise God. \n\nWhat shall I do for hiding place?\nI run to de sea but de sea run dry. \nI run to de gate but de gate shut fast.\nNo hiding place for sinner dere .\nFor I am gone an’ sent to hell.\n\nInstead of the regular refrain whi ch is sung by the chorus of voices in response to a line by the leader\, t he negroes often respond with “um-m’” in a general mingling of chant \, humming\, and “amens”. For the most part they do this with closed l ips\; the volume is surprisingly strong\, however\, and makes a stirring e ffect. The meaning of the expression is something like “Yes?” or “Of course\, we know it is true” or “Sure\, you talkin’ brother”. The singer says: “I look for Jesus all my days”\, and the chorus answer s\, “um-u’” and he then continues\,\n\nAn’ when I found him this i s what he said\,\num-u’\nYo’ sin forgiven an’ you soul set free\,\ num-u’\n\nI pray all night\, an’ I pray all day\, um-u’ um-u’\,\nT hen my Lord taken my sins away\, um-u’\, um-u’.\n[Pg 52]\nNex’ day \, nex’ day while walkin’ along\, um-u’\, um-u’\,\nI heard a voi ce an’ saw no one\, um-u’\, um-u’\,\nIt said\, sinner man\, you bett er come home\, um-u’\, um-u’.\n\nOne day I was walkin’ long dat lone some road\, um-u’\, um-u’\,\nKing Jesus spoke unto me an’ lifted off dat load\, um-u’.\n\nAgain\, “Brother\, you’d Better be a Prayi n’”\, while mostly repetition makes a long song when sung to its lim it. “Sister”\, “Sinner”\, “Backslider”\, “Mourner”\, “ Children”\, each serves to make a complete stanza of eight lines:\n\nBro ther you’d better be a prayin’\,\nBrother\, you’d better be a pray in’\,\nMy brother\, you’d better be a prayin’\,\nAn’ I’ll be car ried above\,\nAn’ I’ll be carried above\,\nAn’ I’ll be carried a bove\,\nI’ll see king Jesus in his reign\,\nAn’ I’ll be carried abov e.\n\nThe chorus song\, “Wheel in middle of Wheel” is most likely a va riation of the old song “Wheel in a wheel” which was “run by love\, by faith\,” and was sometimes conceived as a chariot wheel upon which “gwine take a ride\, On de chariot wheel”\, for “de chariot’s co min’\, O my Lord”. Sometimes the wheel was conceived as being a “Lit tle wheel a-turnin’ in my heart”\, in which case it signified some sor t of feeling. The phrase means nothing more than a chorus in the present-d ay song.\n\nO sinner man\, how can it be?\nWheel in de middle of wheel\,\n If you don’t serve God\, you can’t serve me\,\nWheel in de middle of w heel.\n\nIn the wheel\, in the wheel\,\nWheel in de middle of wheel\,\nIn the wheel\, in the wheel\,\nWheel in the middle of wheel.\n\nWell don’t you know it’s prayin’ time?\nWheel in middle of wheel\;\nLay down yo ’ way an’ go to God\,\nWheel in middle of wheel.\n\nWell don’t you k now it’s mournin’ time?\nWheel in middle of wheel\;\nHe’ll hear yo ’ prayers an’ sanctify\,\nWheel in middle of wheel.\n\n[Pg 53]Jesus an d God are represented as “Listenin’ all the day long”\, and the sinn er is directed to pray. The plantation songs called to him: “Where you g oin’ sinner? O come back\, don’t go dat way.” And one of the singers affirmed that “about the break o’ day” his sins were forgiven and “his soul set free.” The song “Jesus is a listenin’” seems at s ome time to have been considerably corrupted. The negroes have sung it: “I’ve been a listenin’ all day long\, and all night long\, to hear s ome sinner pray.” However\, the correct version now seems to be:\n\nJesu s is a listenin’ all the day long\,\nHe keep listenin’ all the day lon g\,\nHe keep listenin’ all the day long\,\nFor to hear some sinner pray. \n\nIf I was a sinner I would please him\,\nI would pray an’ pray a day\ ,\nAn’ when I got to heaven\,\nSo he could say he heard me pray.\n\nBut in “Bear yo’ Burden\, sinner”\, another version is given of the same idea. This song is a popular one\, while the figures used give a definite conviction.\n\nThe Lord is a listenin’ all the day long\,\nBear yo’ b urden sinner\,\nIf you will only pray\, he will bear you on\,\nBear yo’ burden in the heat o’ the day.\n\nBear yo’ burden\, sinner\,\nBear y o’ burden\, sinner\,\nBear yo’ burden in the heat o’ the day.\n\ nI’m goin’ home fer to see my Lord\,\nBear yo’ burden\, sinner\, \nAn’ don’t you wish you could go ’long\,\nBear yo’ burden\, let i n the heat.\n\nThe way to bear yo’ burden is to get down on yo’ knees\ ,\nBear yo’ burden\, sinner\, let in the heat\,\nAsk God to forgive you if you please\,\nBear yo’ burden in the heat of the day.\n\nThis last st anza is an improvisation made by a young negro of some twenty-five years\, although he claimed that it belonged to the song that was regularly sung\ , maintaining that they only forgot to sing it in the church on that speci al occasion. “True Religion” gives one view of the requisites of him w ho will be saved. The song[Pg 54] is based in form on a current secular so ng\, and belongs to the class of colloquies.\n\nWell you must have that tr ue religion\,\nYou must have true religion an’ yo’ soul converted\,\nY ou must have that true religion.\nOr you can’t cross there.\n\nWhere are you goin’\, sinner\,\nWhere are you goin’\, I say?\nI goin’ down to de river of Jorden\,\nAn’ you can’t cross dere.\n\nHe continues\, “ Where are you goin’ gambler\, backslider\, drunkard\, liar\, hypocrite ?” and answers each with\, “An’ you can’t cross there\,” while t he entire chorus\, “You must have that true religion\,” is often repea ted after each. The sinner is asked still other questions\, one of which i s given in the song “Waitin’”.\n\nWhy does you tarry\, sinner\,\nWhy does you wait so long?\nFor my Lord is a waitin’\,\nWhy don’t you com e to His call?\n\nHe is waitin’\, Lord\,\nHe is waitin’\, Lord\,\nHe i s a-waitin’ fer the good Lord\,\nTo come\, My Lord.\n\nBut when my Lord get here\,\nYou want have time to pray at all\,\nFor he is goin’ to judg e you\,\nAn’ hell you be bound.\n\nThe negro preacher often rebukes his flock for talking about each other in uncomplimentary terms. Sometimes the “sisters” who do not like the preacher retort variously\, “I heard you talkin ’bout So and So\, you know I did” or “We gwine talk ’bo ut you\,” or “Yes\, you knows it.” Slander and gossip are fast runne rs and the average negro assumes that somebody is talking about him or som ething which he has done. Out of this has grown the song “Talk about m e” and others.\n\nYes\, I know you goin’ talk ’bout me\,\nYes\, I kn ow you goin’ talk ’bout me\,\n\nFor you talk ’bout my father when he’s on his knees a prayin’\,\nAn’ I know you goin’ talk ’bout m e.\n\nSo likewise he sings “I know you’re goin talk about me” becaus e[Pg 55] “you talk about my mother when she’s on her bed a-dyin’”\ ; he actually sings father\, brother\, mother\, sister\, mourner\, preache r\, to both “on his knees a prayin’”\, and “on bed a dyin’.” A very popular stanza which is regularly sung in a number of songs goes: “You may talk about me just as you please\, I’m goin’ to talk about you when I git on my knees.”\n\nThe old slave and plantation song aske d: “Who’ll jine de Union?” saying\, “Say\, ef you belong to de u nion ban’\, den here’s my heart an’ here’s my hand.” There have been societies known as “The Union” or “Union Band” both in the ch urch and outside. The name “Union” itself is a favorite one among the negro societies and organizations. It was thought in the old days that a u nion band would march to heaven and that these only would be enabled to re ach the destination. It is almost certain that a number of references in t heir songs referred to the Union army in and after the war. However\, the exact origin of the song as it is now sung has not been found\, but appear s to be a general corruption of several old songs.\n\nGet in the Union\, J esus is a listenin’\,\nGet in the Union\, Jesus die.\nWell\, won’t you get in the Union?\nJesus is a listenin’\, Jesus die.\n\nWhere was Ezeki el when the church fell down?\nDown in de valley wid his head hung down.\n \nHypocrite\, hypocrite\, God do despise\,\nTongue so keen till he will te ll lies.\n\nUpon the mountain Jehober spoke\,\nOut of his mouth come fier an’ smoke.\n\nWith this chorus are sung also as already given\, “Satan \, the snake in the grass”\, “Ole satan weah mighty loose ole shoe”\ , etc. The “Hallelujah” so common among the old songs is less frequent ly heard now: it will be found to some degree in the shouting songs and so ngs of heaven.\n\nNot the least among the warnings to the sinner were to b e reckoned the times when “Gable” should blow his horn. “Gable” ha s been proverbial among the negroes\; Gabriel and the trumpet are\, howeve r\, significant in the same way among the whites in vulgar reference. Many ideas of “Gable’s” trumpet have appeared in the negro songs. Someti mes it is “blow louder\, Gable.” “How loud mus’ I blow?”[Pg 56] Reference has already been made to these lines. The song “Blow\, Gable\, blow” has changed considerably from the old plantation songs of the sam e name.\n\nBlow Gable\, at the judgment\,\nBlow Gable\, at the judgment ba r.\nFor my God is a talkin’ at the judgment\,\nFor my God is a talkin’ at the judgment bar.\n\nNow won’t you blow Gable at the judgment?\nFor my God is a preachin’ at the judgment bar.\n\nNow won’t you blow Gable at the judgment bar?\nWell\, I’m goin’ to meet my preacher at the jud gment bar.\n\nIn the same manner\, making a four-line stanza of each one\, are sung\, “Goin’ to meet brother\, mother\, sister\, etc.”\, and also “My God is a walkin’\, tryin’\, etc.\,” at the judgment bar. So\, too\, it is “prayin’ time\, mournin’ time\, singin’ time\, shoutin’ time\, tryin’ time\, etc.\, at the judgment bar.” This son g may be given as the last one of the class peculiar to warnings and admon itions to sinners. It closes with still other verses that give vivid pictu res of the judgment bar.\n\nWell\, sinners\, keep a prayin’ at the judgm ent bar.\nWell\, it’s too late to pray at the judgment bar.\nWhy didn’ t you take heed at the judgment?\nSome come crippled at judgment.\nOh\, I look fer my mother\, brother\, sister\, at de judgment.\n\nBoth the sinner and the seeker has a “hard time” during some time in his experience. The duties of everyday life\, too\, often seem hard. Now on his knees\, no w shouting\, now sorrowful and now glad\, the negro comes from “hanging over hell” to die and “set by de Fadder’s side.” The average negro appears to pity himself\, and his song intensifies the feeling. The songs that follow may be classed as those that give the state of uncertainty an d doubt\, together with pity mingled now and then with the note of triumph . In “Oh\, what a hard time”\, sisters\, brothers\, children\, preache rs\, seekers—all have the same difficulties.\n\nOh\, what a hard time\, Oh\, what a hard time\,\nOh\, what a hard time—All God’s children have a hard time.\nOh\, what a hard time\, oh\, what a hard time\,\nOh\, what a hard time\, my Lord had a hard time\, too.\n\nSo in another division wil l be given the song “My Trouble is Hard”\,[Pg 57] the idea of which se ems to be derived from the old plantation songs\, though the new song is e ntirely different from the old ones. The plantation negroes used to sing “Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen”\, in which they were “someti mes up\, sometimes down\, sometimes almost to de groun’.” Others sun g it “Nobody knows the trouble I see\, or I’ve had”\, and asked: “ Brother\, sister\, preacher\, will you pray for me?” In the same patheti c tone the “Sinner man” gives another phase of the feeling.\n\nMy mo ther’ n yo’ mother both daid an’ gone\,\nMy mother’ n yo’ mother both daid an’ gone\,\nMy mother’ n yo’ mother both daid an’ gon e\,\nPo’ sinner man he so hard to believe.\n\nMy folks an’ yo’ folks both daid an’ gone\,\nPo’ sinner man he so hard to believe.\n\nMy bro ther ’n yo’ brother both daid an’ gone\,\nPo’ sinner man he so har d to believe.\n\nIn the same way “my sister”\, etc.\, completes the so ng\, with favorite lines\, “Down in de valley”\, “Upon mountain Jeho ber spoke”\, etc.\, being inserted as often as they desire. “Hanging o ver hell” gives more intensity to the feeling of the sinner. He says:\n\ nWhen I wus hangin’ over hell\, over hell\,\nWhen I wus hangin’ over h ell\, over hell\,\nWell\, I had no one to pity poor me\, poor me.\n\nWell\ , my mother sick an’ my father daid\, father daid\,\nWell\, my mother si ck an’ my father daid\, father daid\,\nWell\, I ain’t got no one to pi ty poor me\, poor me.\n\nWell\, I ain’t got no one to pray for me\, to p ray for me.\n\nI ain’t got no one to feel for me\, feel for me.\n\nLikew ise he has no one to “cry” for him\, to “mourn” or to “care” f or him. It will be noticed that the negroes insert the word “well” fre quently. There is no regularity or rule for its use\; it apparently gives the song a more plastic turn and makes it seem more conversational. In som e of their songs they insert in the same way\, “says”\, and “er”\, “a”\, “an”\, at will. The struggle is well represented by the song “Keep inchin’ along”\, which was also common in the old plantation melodies\; the chorus is the same\, while the words are entirel y different from the older song.\n\n[Pg 58]Keep er-inchin’ erlong\, keep er-inchin erlong\,\nJesus’ll come bye’m bye\,\nKeep er-inchin’\, ke ep er-inchin erlong\,\nJesus’ll come bye’m bye.\n\nDe road is rocky he re below\,\nBut Jesus’ll come bye’m bye\,\nBut Jesus leads me as I go\ ,\nJesus’ll come bye’m bye.\n\nSometimes I hangs my head an’ cries\, \nBut Jesus’ll come bye’m bye.\nAn’ He gwi’ wipe mer weepin’ eye s\,\nBut Jesus’ll come bye’m bye.\n\nUh\, run ’long mourner an’ git yo’ crown\,\nBy yo’ Father’s side set down.\n\nI’m glad th at I’m bo’n ter die\,\nFrum trouble here my soul gwi’ fly.\n\nIn the same hopeful strain the negro sings “Boun’ ter cross Jord’n in dat Mornin’\,” which has a large number of stanzas\, none of which have an y similarity of meaning to the general theme.\n\nYonder come er sister all dressed in black\,\nShe look lak er hipercrit jes’ got back\,\nI’m boun’ ter cross Jord’n in dat mornin’.\n\nCross me over\,\nGreat Jeh over\,\nMy Lord\, I’m boun’ ter cross Jord’n in dat mornin’.\n\nSe e dat Christian on his knees\,\nHe’s gwin’ ter cross dem jasper seas \,\nI’m boun’ ter cross Jord’n in dat mornin’.\n\nSwing low chario ts in er line\,\nCarry me ter glory in due time\,\nI’m boun’ ter cross Jord’n in dat mornin’.\n\nAin’t but the one thing grieve my min’\ nSister goin’ to heaven an’ leave me behin’\,\nI’m boun’ ter c ross Jord’n in dat mornin’.\n\nIt is a favorite theme of the negroes t o sing much of their “Lord” and “God”. Much has been noted of the names and attributes which Deity holds in the negro’s songs. As his frie nd the negro believes that God is always true\; consequently he sings his loyalty to Him. The old plantation song “Tell Jesus” had as its chor us: “Tell Jesus done done all I can\, Tell Jesus done done all I can\, T ell Jesus done done all I can\, I can’t do no more”. Very much like it is the song[Pg 59] “For my Lord” that is much in demand among the pre sent-day negroes.\n\nI goin’ to do all I can fer my Lord\,\nI goin’ to do all I can fer my Lord\,\nI goin’ to do all I can fer my Lord\,\nI go in’ to do all I can fer my Lord\,\nI do all I can till I can’t do no m ore\,\nI goin’ do all I can fer my Lord.\n\nIn the same way he sings “ I goin’ weep all I can till I can’t weep no more”\, “I goin’ pra y all I can till I can’t pray no more”\, and “sing” and “m ourn” and “work” for his Lord. The phrases “till I can’t do no mo’”\, and the others are characteristic of the negro’s prayers. He usually closes his church prayers\, “Now Lord\, when we’s done pr ayin’ an’ can’t pray no mo’\; when we’s done meetin’ an’ can’t meet no mo’”\, etc. The closing scene\, the final act of life \, seems to appeal to the negro with wonderful dramatic power. It is in th e end that he himself will be great\; it is then that God and Jesus and th e angels will be made manifest\, and it is there in the new home that his condition will be one of ease and rest\, at the same time that it is one o f prominence. He sings “Gwi’ lay down my life fer my Lord”.\n\nDe Lo rd giv’ me mer trumpet an’ tole me ter blow\,\nHe giv’ me mer cummis sion an’ tole me ter go.\n\nFer my Lord\, fer my Lord\,\nFer my Lord\, g wi’ lay down my life fer my Lord.\n\nYou can hinder me here but you ca n’t hinder me dere\,\nFor de Lord in Heaven gwi’ hear my prayer.\n\nDe enemy’s great but my Cap’n is strong\,\nU’m fightin’ fer de cit y an’ de time ain’t long.\n\nWhen I git dar I’ll be able fer to tell \,\nHow I whipped ole Satan at de door ob hell.\n\nMer head got wet wid de midnight dew\,\nDat mornin’ star was shinin’ too.\n\nSo again the neg ro magnifies his Lord in “a weary Lan’” and makes both a striking pi cture and a pleasing song. His Lord is not only “a walkin’ in a wear y lan’”\, but he is also a “doctor”\, a “preacher” and a “ shelter”. Thus he pictures him “walkin’” “talkin’” “ preachin’”\, and “healin’” in the weary land.\n\nMy Lord’s a walkin’ in the weary lan’\,\n[Pg 60]In a weary lan’\, in a weary lan’\,\nYes\, my Lord walkin’ in weary lan’\,\nHe’s a shelter in a mighty storm.\n\nLikewise he is a healer in a mighty storm or in the time of storm. It is but natural that the negro should call upon the Lord to r emember him. The old plantation song “Do Lord remember me” was apparen tly based upon the idea of being remembered at Christmas times\; indeed th e negroes always ask to be remembered at such a time by the “whitefolk s”. They were always remembered and often their homes were made happy. T he song asked: “O do Lord remember me\, O do Lord remember me\, O do rem ember me until de year roll round\, Do Lord remember me.” The song now c urrent is most likely not the same song but an entirely different one.\n\n Do my Lord remember me\,\nDo my Lord remember me\,\nDo my Lord remember me \,\nDo Lord remember me.\n\nUpon de housetop an’ can’t come down\,\nDo Lord remember me.\nUpon de house an’ can’t come down.\nDo Lord rememb er me.\n\nWhen I am hungry do feed me Lord\,\nDo Lord remember me.\nWhen I am thirsty do give me drink\,\nDo Lord remember me.\n\nThe negroes someti mes call the following song the “riddle song”\, asking “who is the Rock”\, while the answer comes back\, like the Psalmist\, “King Jesus is the Rock”.\n\nLead me to the Rock\, lead me to the Rock\,\nLead me t o the Rock that is higher an’ higher.\nO\, Lead me to the Rock\,\nYes\, lead me to the Rock that is higher an’ higher.\n\nKing Jesus is the Rock \, yes\, King Jesus is the Rock\,\nKing Jesus is the Rock that is higher a n’ higher\,\nO King Jesus is the Rock\,\nYes\, King Jesus is the Rock th at is higher an’ higher.\n\nStanding on the Rock\, yes standing on the R ock\,\nStanding on the Rock that is higher an’ higher.\nO\, standing on the Rock\,\nYes\, standing on the Rock that is higher an’ higher.\n\nAs Jesus is the Rock so the negroes have sung “Dere’s no one[Pg 61] lak ’ Jesus”. The chorus-line was common in the old songs\; the verses of the song of to-day are different.\n\nI think I heard a rumblin’ in de sk y\,\nDar’s no one lac Jesus.\nIt mus’ be mer Lord passin’ by\,\nDa r’s no one lac Jesus.\n\nStan’ still\, walk study\, keep de faith\,\ nDar’s no one lak’ Jesus.\n\nSister Mary went up on de mount’n top \,\nDar’s no one lak’ Jesus.\nShe sung a li’l song an’ she never d id stop\,\nDar’s no one lak’ Jesus.\n\nShe argued wid de Fadder an’ chatter’d wid de Son\,\nDar’s no one lak’ Jesus.\nShe talk’d erbou t the ole worl’ she cum frum\,\nDar’s no one lak’ Jesus.\n\nThe song “Gi’ me Jesus” was said to have been the product of “over-fre e spirit and super-religiousness” just after the war. The negro claims t hat the white man took him at his word when he sang\, “Gi’ me Jesus\, You may have all this worl”\, and has left him nothing in this world but Jesus. At least this is one view of the song\, which is represented as a bargain which the white man wants the negro to keep. The song is a typical and well known one\, said to have been first sung by a blind negro preach er.\n\nIn de mornin’ when I rise\,\nIn de mornin’ when I rise\,\nIn de mornin’ when I rise\,\nGiv’ me Jesus.\n\nGiv’ me Jesus\,\nGiv’ me Jesus\,\nYou may hab’ all dis worl’\,\nGiv’ me Jesus.\n\nEf it’s midnight when I rise\,\nEf it’s midnight when I rise\,\nEf it’s midnig ht when I rise\,\nGiv’ me Jesus.\n\nJes’ fore day when I cried\,\nGi v’ me Jesus.\n\nWhen I wade death’s cold stream\,\nGiv’ me Jesus.\n\ nThe negro says that if you love Jesus\, it seems to him that you[Pg 62] “can’t keep it”\, and that you are duty bound to let the world know it. The custom is a common one of asking “members” at the class meeti ng and revival services whether or not they “love the Lord”. It is the duty of the class leader to see to the religious welfare of the members. The song “Love the Lord” represents this phase of worship.\n\nWell\, d id you say that you love Jesus?\nDid you say that you love the Lord?\n\nYe s\, I say that I love Jesus.\nYes\, I say I love the Lord.\n\nAll I wants to know is\, “Does you love Jesus?”\nAll I wants to know is\, “Does you love the Lord?”\n\nYes\, I say that I love Jesus\,\nYes\, I say I lo ve the Lord.\n\nIf you love Jesus\, you can’t keep it\,\nAll I want to k now is\, “Does you love the Lord?”\n\nYes\, my mother\, I love Jesus\, \nYes\, my mother\, I love the Lord.\n\nThe chorus then varies from “Yes \, I say” to “Yes\, my mother”\, “Yes\, my sister”\, “Yes\, my brother”.\n\nIn striking contrast to his earthly life\, the negro sin gs of his heavenly home. It will be seen in the study of his social songs that home plays a small part in their subject matter. It is true that the negro has little love of home or devotion to loved ones. Perhaps for this very reason he expects to have a better home in the beyond. He wants that which is ideal and impractical\; he wants that which will come without eff ort. If in slavery days he had no home\, it was natural that he should loo k to Heaven for his home. This conception\, intensified by the negro’s e motional nature and self-pity\, is still prominent. Not only is his home t o be a happy one\, but it is to be exclusive\; only the fortunate\, of who m he is the chiefest\, may go there. This class of songs—of Heaven and h ome—is perhaps as large as any. The negro sings:\n\nI got a home where l iars can’t go\,\nDon’t you see?\nJus’ between the heaven an’ earth \,\nWhere my Saviour bled an’ died\,\nI got a home where liars can’t g o\,\nDon’t you see?\n[Pg 63]\nI got a home where sinners can’t go\,\ nDon’t you see?\nJus’ between the earth an’ sky\,\nWhere my Saviour bleed an’ die\,\nDon’t you see?\n\nWhen the earth begin to shake\,\n Don’t you see?\nYou better get a ticket or you’ll be late\,\nDon’t y ou see?\n\nIn the same way the singers repeat\, using the words “drunkar ds\,” “hypocrits”\, and other sinners. Sometimes instead of saying “I got a home where the drunkards can’t come”\, the sinner will s ay “where the drunkards can’t find me”. Another version of the same song is found in different localities:\n\nI got a home in the Rock\,\nDo n’t you see?\nJust between the heaven an’ earth\,\nWell\, yes\, I got a home in the Rock\,\nDon’t you see?\n\nJudas was a deceitful man\,\nD on’t you see?\nWell he betrayed the innercent Lam’\,\nWell he lost a h ome in the Rock\,\nDon’t you see?\n\nWell the sun refuse to shine\,\nD on’t you see?\nThe sun refuse to shine\,\nAn’ the sun refuse to shine\ ,\nDon’t you see?\n\nGod don’t talk like a natural man\,\nDon’t you see?\nGod don’t talk like a natural man\,\nHe talk so sinners can unders tan’\,\nDon’t you see?\n\nWell I don’t want to stumble\,\nDon’t yo u see?\nWell I don’t want to fall\,\nI read that writin’ on de wall\,\ nDon’t you see?\n\nThe “Home in the Rock” and the “Rock of ages” mean little to the negroes\; they are suitable terms and appeal to their sense of sound. Like other peoples\, the negroes have inserted them into t heir religion as forceful symbols. Interesting comparisons may be made[Pg 64] in a later chapter. The chorus of “Heaven” hummed in a monotone\, with lips sometimes closed\, makes a beautiful song\, and one that appeals much to both old and young negroes.\n\nYou got a robe\, I got a robe\,\nA ll God’s children got a robe\,\nGoin’ try on my robe an’ if it fits me\,\nGoin’ to wear it all round God’s heaven.\n\nHeaben—heaben\, ev’ybody goin’ to heaben\nAn’ I’m goin’ dere\, too.\n\nGambler s dere an’ gamblers here\,\nI’m so glad dat God declare\,\nDere ain’ t no gamblers in heaven.\n\nThis version and wording is rather that of the children\, who are very fond of singing it. They continue “Heaven so hi gh you can’t go over it”\, “Heaven so low you can’t go under i t”\, “Heaven so deep you can’t go through it”\, and “Heaven so w ide you can’t go round it”. The most common form of the song is a vari ation of the above. Sinners\, gamblers\, dancers\, liars\, drunkards are e verywhere\, but not in Heaven.\n\nWell there are sinners here and sinners there\,\nAn’ there are sinners everywhere\,\nBut I thank God that God de clare\,\nThat there ain’t no sinners in heaven.\n\nHeaven\, Heaven\,\nEv erybody talkin’ ’bout heaven an’ goin’ there\,\nHeaven\, Heaven\ ,\nGoin’ to shine all ’round God’s heaven.\n\nWell there are drunkar ds here an’ drunkards there\,\nAn’ there are drunkards everywhere\,\nB ut I’m so glad that God declare\,\nThere ain’t no drunkards in heaven. \n\nHeaven\, Heaven\,\nPreachers all preachin’ ’bout heaven an’ go in’ there\,\nHeaven\, Heaven\,\nGoin’ to shine all ’round God’s he aven.\n\nAs has been indicated\, many of the negro songs consist of single lines repeated in couplets or by fours in order to give length to the sin ging. The most simple sentences that could be devised may serve as a good song. The negro happens to think of an ordinary truth\; he then sings it t o his tune and chorus.\n\n[Pg 65]I’m goin’ to be a Christian if I keep a prayin’ on\,\nI goin’ to be a Christian if I keep a prayin’ on\,\ nI goin’ to be a Christian\, I’m goin’ to be a Christian\,\nI goin ’ to be a Christian if I keep a prayin’ on.\n\nAn’ when I git religi on\, I goin’ to keep a prayin’ on.\n\nI goin’ to see my Jesus if I k eep a prayin’ on.\n\nI goin’ to see my mother if I keep a prayin’ on .\n\nIn the same way he is “going to see” his father\, brother\, maste r\, preacher\, singing each line four times\, altering them as he desires and putting in any chorus that appeals to his fancy. The next song shows a typical variation of a line\, and the negro sometimes sings the second ve rsion with more determination than the first.\n\nLord\, I want to go to he aven fer to stan’ my trials\,\nLord\, I want to go to heaven fer to st an’ my trials\,\nYes\, I want to go to heaven fer to stan’ my trials\, \nGreat Judgment day.\n\nWell\, I’m goin’ to heaven fer to stan’ my trials\,\nAn’ I’m goin’ to heaven fer to stan’ my trials\,\nYes\ , I’m goin’ to heaven fer to stan’ my trials\,\nGreat Judgment day.\ n\nThe darkeys used to sing\, “Hail\, hail\, hail\, I’m gwine jine sai nts above\, I’m on my journey home”. So\, too\, in many of their songs the “promise Lan’” was held out as the goal of future happiness. So it is to-day. “On my journey home” and “Goin’ to Heaven” repres ent the common conception.\n\nSister when you pray you mus’ pray to de L ord\,\nFor I hab some hopes ob glory\,\nI feel like\, I feel like I’m on my journey home\,\nI feel like\, I feel like\, I’m on my journey home.\ n\nI’ll away\, I’ll away to de promise lan’\,\nMy Father calls me\ , I mus’ go\,\nTo meet Him in de promise lan’.\n\nI have a father in t he promise lan’\,\nGo meet him in de promise lan’\,\nI feel like\, I f eel like I’m on my journey home\,\nI feel like\, I feel like I’m on my journey home.\n\nSo\, too\, the singer has a mother\, a sister\, an aunti e and others in the “promise lan’”. Likewise he says instead of “s ister when you pray\,” etc.\, brother\, member\, mourner\, sinner\, prea cher\, and the others.[Pg 66] As a rule morning signified to the negroes t he time for going to heaven and for the resurrection. The morning star shi ning as a witness to his conversion\, and the midnight dew typified the ea rly morning time of his religion. “In the morning” is sung as of old.\ n\nI have been tempted\, O yes\,\nAn’ I have been tried\, O yes\,\nI hav e been to the river an’ been baptize\,\nAn’ I want to go to heaven in the morning.\n\nWon’t you ride on Jesus?\nRide on Jesus\, ride on crowni ng King\,\nFor I want to go to heaven in the morning.\n\nIf you see my mot her\, O yes\,\nPlease tell her for me\, O yes\,\nThat the angels in heaven done change my name\,\nAn’ I want to go to heaven in the morning.\n\nSo if you see “brother John\, sister Nancy\,” and others makes the song complete. The song once so popular\, “Yes\, I’ll be dere\, When gen’ ral roll call” is still heard occasionally. Many of these songs have bee n corrupted and changed\, consolidated and revised into new songs. Such a song is “Study war no mo’”\, which combines the old camp meeting\, “down by the river side”\, and a new element of peace\, the origin of which is not known.\n\nWell there’s goin’ to be a big camp meetin’\ ,\nWell there’s goin’ to be a big camp meetin’\,\nWell there’s g oin’ to be a big camp meetin’\,\nDown by the river side.\n\nWell\, I ain’t goin’ to study war no mo’\,\nWell\, I ain’t goin’ to stud y war no mo’\,\nWell\, I ain’t goin’ to study war no mo’.\n\nWell such a shoutin’ an’ prayin’\nDown by the riverside.\n\nWell I goin ’ to meet my sister\,\nDown by the riverside.\n\nWell the brothers got t o shoutin’\,\nDown by the riverside.\n\nSaid the old singers: “Some o’ dese mornin’s\, hope I’ll see my mother\, hope I’ll jine de b an’\, hope I’ll walk bout Zion\, Talk wid de angels\, Talk my trouble over” while they looked “away to hebben”. Now the negro sings:\n\n[P g 67]Gwine to weep\, gwine to mourn\,\nGwine to git up early in de morn\,\ nFo’ my soul’s goin’ to heaven jes’ sho’s you born\,\nBrother Ga briel goin’ to blow his horn.\n\nGoin’ to sing\, goin’ to pray\,\n Goin’ to pack all my things away\,\nFo’ my soul’s goin’ to heave n jes’ sho’s you born\,\nBrother Gabriel gwine ter blow his horn.\n\ n“Pray come an’ go wid me” sings the Christian\, for “I’m on my journey home to the New Jerusalem”. If refused he says\, “Now don’t let me beg you to follow me\, for I’m on my journey home”\, and finall y he sings\, “Well\, brother come an’ go wid me.” If the sinner need s other exhortation he may listen to the mixed song “Dry bones goin’ t o rise ergain”\, in which there is first warning\, then hope of glory.\n \nSome go ter meetin’ to sing an’ shout\,\nDry bones goin’ ter rise again\;\nFore six month deys all turned out\,\nDry bones goin’ ter rise again.\nO little chillun\, O little childun\,\nO lit’le childun\, dry bo nes goin’ rise ergin.\n\nTalk erbout me but taint my fault\,\nDry bones goin ter rise ergin\;\nBut me an’ Godermighty goin’ walk an’ talk\,\ nDry bones goin’ ter rise ergin.\n\nEf you want ter go to heaven when yo u die\,\nDry bones goin’ rise ergin\;\nJes’ stop yo’ tongue from t ellin’ lies\,\nDry bones goin’ ter rise ergin.\n\nIn the old plantatio n song Ezekiel was represented down in a valley “full of bones as dry as dust” and\n\nHe gib de bone a mighty shake\,\nFin’ de ole sinners too dry to quake\,\n\nDeath for the Christian is shouting: death for the sinn er is doom. “When I git to heaven\, goin’ shout on my knees” gives a n accurate picture of what the negro conceives to be happiness. But he not only expects to shout while on earth and when he gets home\, but even whe n he dies. For says he\,\n\nMy mother dies a shoutin’\, an’ I goin’ die shoutin’\, too\,\nYes\, my mother died a shoutin’ an’ I goin’ die shoutin’\, too.\n[Pg 68]\nMy mother died a shoutin’\, my mother di ed a shoutin’\,\nYes\, my mother died a shoutin’ an’ I goin’ die shoutin’\, too.\n\nStill his mother is not the only one who has died sh outing\; he sings in the same way of father\, preacher\, brother\, sister and others\; the slave song included “Missus” and “Marster” or “Massa”. But shouting must not be all. The negro and his brothers\, s isters\, mother are all to die “mournin’”\, and “prayin’”. I n “Join de Heaven wid de Angels” the rich voice of one or two leaders and the swelling chorus produce an effect scarcely surpassed.\n\nO join on \, join my Lord\,\nJoin de heaven wid de angels\;\nO join on\, join my Lor d\,\nJoin de heaven wid de angels.\n\nWhat kin’ er shoes is dem you wear ?\nJoin de heaven wid de angels\;\nDat you kin’ walk upon de air\,\nJoin de heaven wid de angels.\n\nOh\, God don’t talk like a nat’al man\,\n Join de heaven wid de angels\;\nHe talk to de sinner\, he understan’\,\n Join de heaven wid de angels.\n\nI’m Baptis’ bred an’ I’m Bapt is’ bo’n\,\nJoin de heaven wid de angels\;\nAn’ when I die dey’s a Baptis’ gone\,\nJoin de heaven wid de angels.\n\nJes’ so de tree fa ll jes’ so it lie\,\nJoin de heaven wid de angels\;\nJes so de sinner lib’ jes’ so he die\,\nJoin de heaven wid de angels.\n\nThe song has b een found in several forms among which one has it that John is to be in de heavens with the angels. In fact the probable origin of “join on” see ms to have been “John saw de heaven wid de angels”. In one of the old songs the singer answers\,\n\nDem shoes I wears is gospel shoes\,\nView de lan’\, view de lan’\;\nAn’ you can wear dem if you choose\,\nView de lan’\, view de lan’.\n\nThere are other references\, too\, besides the above\, to the denominations of the negro churchmen. It has already b een seen that the negro likes “bes’” the “shoutin’ Mefodes ’”. So he says “There’s fire in de[Pg 69] eas’ an’ fire in d e wes\; An’ fire among de Methodes’”. He is loyal and proclaims: “ Methodist\, Methodist is my name\, Methodist till I die\, I’ll be baptiz e in the Methodist name\, An’ I’ll lib’ on the Methodist side”. In the same way he is Baptist and Presbyterian\; the Baptist is the favorite church of the negro\, however\, and there are more Baptists than all othe r denominations combined.\n\nThe “Angel Band”\, while a very simple so ng in which the chorus constitutes the greater part\, is one of the most b eautiful that the negroes sing. The tune is a variation of a well-known hy mn used by the whites. The power of the song seems to lie in the tender in terest which centres about the vivid portrayal of the little angels in the heavenly band. The chorus is repeated after each stanza\, while each stan za itself is the repetition of a single line. From one to ten\; from ten t o twenty and so on to one hundred is ordinarily sung\, thus making a lengt hy song. The children love to sing the chorus\; two forms are ordinarily f ound\, varying the monotony enough to please the negro.\n\nDere’s one li ttle\, two little\, three little angels\,\nDere’s four little\, five lit tle\, six little angels.\nDere’s seven little\, eight little\, nine litt le angels\,\nDere’s ten little angels in de band.\nDere’s leben\, de re’s twelve\, dere’s thir’een little angels\,\nDere’s fourteen\, dere’s fifteen\, dere’s sixteen little angels.\nDere’s seventeen\ , dere’s eighteen\, dere’s nineteen little angels\,\nDere’s twenty l ittle angels in de band.\n\nThe “little” in the chorus is preferred to the “dere’s” as a rule\, apparently serving to describe the angels. The stanzas of the song are equally as unlimited and as simple as the cho rus. “Sunday morning” is the common factor to all of the verses\; some times it is omitted.\n\nJesus rose on Sunday mornin’\,\nJesus rose on Su nday mornin’\,\nJesus rose on Sunday mornin’\,\nOn Sunday mornin’ so soon.\n\nHe rose an’ flew away on Sunday mornin’.\n\nMy mother died o n Sunday mornin’.\n\nOh wasn’t that sad on Sunday mornin’?\n\nDe re’s goin’ to be a big camp meetin’ on Sunday mornin’.\n\nDere ’s goin’ to be a mournin’ on Sunday mornin’.\n[Pg 70]\nMourners go t to shoutin’ on Sunday mornin’.\n\nI’m goin’ away to leave you on Sunday mornin’.\n\nWell\, my sister’s goin’ to heaven on Sunday m ornin’.\n\nWhile this form of the song may be continued indefinitely\, o ther verses may also be inserted. Instead of the “On Sunday mornin’” is often substituted “Fer to see my Lord”.\n\nWell\, my sister’s goin’ to heaven fer to see my Lord\,\nTo see my Lord\, to see my Lord\;\ nWell\, my sister’s goin’ to heaven fer to see my Lord\,\nWhat’s de onbelievin’ soul?\n\nAnd so he continues with preacher\, brother\, mothe r\, auntie and any others that he wishes to enumerate. As a shouting song or as a “collection” song\, it is not surpassed.\n\nThe negro’s fanc ies of the “Heaven’s bright home” are not exceeded by the world’s fairy tales. There are silver and golden slippers\; there are crowns of st ars and jewels and belts of gold. There are robes of spotless white and wi ngs all bejewelled with heavenly gems. Beyond the jasper seas he will outs hine the sun\; the golden streets and the fruit of the tree of life are fa r superior to any golden apples or silver pears of a Mother Goose. In fact the negro’s fairy stories centre on heaven\; the children’s definitio ns of heaven consisted entirely of pictures of splendor and glory. To this place the negro imagines he will go and who knows but that he may fly the re?\n\nSome o’ dese mornin’s bright an’ fair\,\nWay in de middle of de air\;\nGwi’ hitch on my wings an’ try de air\,\nWay in de middle of de air.\n\nCome over\, den\, John saw de holy number\,\nWay in de middle of de air\;\nJohn saw de holy number\,\nWay in de middle of de air\;\n\nIf yer wanter dream dem heavenly dreams\,\nWay in de middle of de air\;\nLay yo’ head on Jord’n’s stream\,\nWay in de middle of de air.\n\nI got a book goin’ read it thru’\,\nWay in de middle of de air\,\nI got my Jesus well as you\,\nWay in de middle of de air.\n\n[Pg 71]With a golden “band all round his waist\, An’ de palms ob victory in a-his hands” \, the negro sings in reality: “Pray come an’ go wid me”\, for so vi vid is his picture that he has been known to start up a post or pillar in the church\, saying\, “Good bye brothers\, I’m gone”. His songs make much of flying\; different from that just quoted he repeats:\n\nOne morni n’ soon\,\nOne mornin’ soon\, my Lord\,\nOne mornin’ soon\,\nI goi n’ try the air\,\nI goin’ try the air\,\nPray come an’ go wid me.\n\ nWell I got on my travellin’ shoes\,\nWell I got on my travellin’ shoe s\,\nWell I got on my travellin’ shoes\,\nPray come an’ go wid me.\n\n He sings\, too\, “I goin’ to put on my long white robe”\, “We’ll try on de slippah shoe an’ wear de golden belt”. Again he sings of hi s doings in the morning\, noontime\, and midnight.\n\nIn the morning—u m-u’\,\nIn the morning—um-u’\,\nIn the morning—um-u’\,\nI goin ’ put on my golden shoes.\n\nIn the midnight—um-u’\,\nIn the midni ght—um-u’\,\nIn the midnight—um-u’\,\nI goin’ put on my long whi te robe.\n\nTalk about it—um-u’\,\nTalk about it—um-u’\,\nTalk a bout it—um-u’\,\nI goin’ wear that starry crown.\n\nThe angels and J esus wear the starry crown and long white robes\; there will be no separat ing line between us and God in the new world. “Oh how I long to go dere\ , too”\, sang the old negroes. Now he pictures again the appearance of J esus.\n\nJesus\, he wore the starry crown\,\nJesus he wore the starry crow n\,\nJesus he wore the starry crown\, starry crown.\n\nHow does you know h e wore the crown?\nHow does you know he wore the crown?\nHow does you know he wore the crown? wore the crown?\n[Pg 72]\nFor the Bible it tell me so\ ,\nFor the Bible it tell me so\,\nFor the Bible it tell me so\, tell me so .\n\nThen\, too\, Jesus “he wore the long white robe\, for the Bible it tell me so.” More than the world or riches or dress the singer claims he values the treasures of heaven. In this assertion he is doubtless sincere \, both because he is thinking only of his religious state while he sings\ , and because he has little opportunity for obtaining these earthly riches . Says he:\n\nI don’t care fur riches\,\nNeither dress so fine\,\nJes’ giv’ me my long white robe\,\nAn’ I want my starry crown.\n\nFor my L ord done bin here\,\nDone bless my soul an’ gone away.\n\nPo’ man go in’ to heaven\,\nRich man goin’ to hell\,\nFor po’ man got his starr y crown\,\nRich man got his wealth.\n\nThis “ole worl’ bin a hell to me” indicates the contrast between the everyday life of the world and t hat which the negro will enjoy after death. In his eagerness and impatienc e to rest in the “promise lan’\,” the negro does not always think ki ndly of the world and he does not care even though “Death is in dis lan’.”\n\nEver since my Lord has set me free\,\nDeath is in dis lan’ \,\nThis ole worl’ bin a hell to me\,\nDeath is in dis lan’.\n\nI’m so glad death is in dis lan’\,\nI’m so glad death is in dis lan’.\n\ nO run ’long mourner ’n git yo’ crown\,\nDeath is in dis lan’\,\ nBy yo’ father’s side set down\,\nDeath is in dis lan’.\n\nSome er d ese mornin’s bright and fair\,\nDeath is in dis lan’\,\nGwin’r hitch on my wings an’ try de air\,\nDeath is in dis lan’.\n\nIf the negro e xpects to go to heaven and there mingle with God\, the angels and his love d ones\, he also expects to sing in all the glory[Pg 73] and splendor imag inable. The negroes used to sing of “jinin’ de association\, climbin ’ Jacob’s ladder\, climbin’ higher an’ higher\, sittin’ down at de welcome table\, feastin’ off’n milk an’ honey\, tell God how you served me\, jine de big baptizin”\, after which “den my little soul gw ine shine.” So they sang of a mother\, father\, brother in heaven who “outshines de sun”\, and ended by declaring that when they got to he aven “we will outshine de sun.” In very much the same way the negroes sing to-day in one of their favorites\, “Goin’ to Outshine de Sun.”\ n\nWell\, my mother’s goin’ to heaven\,\nShe’s goin’ to outshine t he sun\, O Lord\,\nWell\, my mother’s goin’ to heaven\,\nShe’s goi n’ to outshine the sun\,\nYes\, my mother’s goin’ to heaven to outsh ine the sun\,\nAn’ it’s way beyon’ the moon.\n\nYou got a home in th e promise lan’\,\nGoin’ to outshine the sun\, O Lord\,\nAn’ it’s w ay beyon’ the moon.\n\nThe crown that my Jesus give me\,\nGoin’ to out shine the sun\, my Lord\,\nAn’ it’s way beyond the moon.\n\nGoin’ to put on my crown in glory\,\nAn’ outshine the sun\, O Lord.\n’Way be yon’ de moon.\n\nOther verses sing of putting on slippers\, long white r obe\, in each case the singer is to “outshine the sun.” The dazzling s plendor of it all makes anticipation full of staying qualities\; it makes the picture one of reality because of the vigor of an imaginative power. W ho knows if the negroes often dream of the grandeurs of the sky?\n\nThe ne gro uses many figures and symbols in his religion. He can see the chariot wheel and the chariot of fire taking him to heaven as easily as Elijah. He can imagine that he\, too\, can ascend even as Christ and the angels. Bes ides these methods he has the Gospel Train and the Ship of Zion. The train has much fascination for the negro: much will be seen of this in his soci al songs. It is but natural that he should bring it into his religious son gs. The negro often goes to meet the train at the station\, even when sick . It is a great social event of a Sunday. So again\, he wishes to go on an excursion\; few things can hinder him. Very much in the same strain is th e religious song\, “When the train come along.”\n\n[Pg 74]Well\, I may be sick an’ cannot rise\,\nBut I meet you at de station when de train c ome along.\n\nWhen de train come along\,\nWhen de train come along\,\nI’ ll meet you at de station when de train come along.\n\nWell\, I may be bli nd an’ cannot see\,\nBut I’ll meet you at de station when de train com e along.\n\nWell\, I may be lame and cannot walk\,\nBut I’ll meet you at de station when de train come along.\n\nWhile no mention is made of the e xact kind of train\, it is generally understood to mean the Gospel train. This song also has a popular variant which is used in a secular way. In ei ther case it expresses in a very forceful way the importance of meeting th e train. In proportion as a picture resembles real life or magnifies that which has been imaged\, to that degree does it bring home its truth to the negro’s mind. The negro continues to sing of the train on which he is t o ride into the Kingdom. Says he:\n\nI am talkin’ ’bout the same train \,\nSame train that carried my father\,\nSame train.\n\nSame train that ca rried my mother\,\nSame train\,\nSame train will be back to-morrow\,\nSame train.\n\nSame train will be here to-morrow\,\nSame train\,\nWell you bet ter be ready\,\nIt’s the same train.\n\nThe “same train” also carrie d his brother\, sister\, preacher and others. But the train which will com e back to-morrow will not wait always. One must not only be at the station but must also have a ticket. There is plenty of room\, according to the n egro’s conception\, but there is not plenty of time. It would be a wistf ul negro that looked upon the train pulling out for heaven and he all alon e is left behind. He sings\,\n\nWell you better git yo’ ticket\,\nWell y ou better git yo’ ticket\,\nWell you better git yo’ ticket\,\nBye and bye.\n[Pg 75]\nThere’s a great day er comin’\,\nThere’s a great day er comin’\,\nThere’s a great day er comin’\,\nBye and bye.\n\nFor th e train it’s er comin’\,\nFor the train it’s er comin’\,\nFor the train it’s er comin’\,\nBye and bye.\n\nI am sure God is ready\,\nI am sure God is ready\,\nI am sure God is ready\,\nBye and bye.\n\nInstead of the chorus just given he often sings: “I sure God am ready\,” and “I sho’ God is ready.” With this in view he is willing and glad for the train to come along. If he is ready\, all the better for him to be on his journey. So he continues in another song and at another time:\n\nIf G od was to call me I would not care—um-u’\,\nFor he done move away my f ears—um-u’.\n\nI’m goin’ to heaven\, an’ I’m goin’ fo’ long—um-u’\,\nAll don’t see me will hear my song—um-u’.\n\nWhen de gospel train come ’long—um-u’\,\nThat’s the train carry me home—um-u’.\n\nWake up\, sinner\, you will be too late—um-u’\,\nG ospel train done pass yo’ gate—um-u’.\n\nIn the old plantation songs the exhortation was given to “Git on board little children\, dere’s r oom for many a mo’.” So also they sang:\n\nDe gospel train’s a com in’\,\nI hear it jus’ at hand\,\nI hear de car wheels rumblin’\,\n An’ rollin’ thru de land.\n\nI hear de train a comin’\,\nShe’s c omin’ round de curve\,\nShe’s loosened all her steam an’ brakes\,\ nAn’ strainin’ eb’ry nerve.\n\nDe fare is cheap an’ all can go\,\n De rich an’ pore are dere\,\nNo second class abord dis train\,\nNo diffe rence in de fare.\n\nIn addition to the above stanzas the Jubilee singers added others. They heard the bell and whistle and “she’s playin’ all her steam an’[Pg 76] power.” The rhyme and imagery of the old song st ruck a more responsive chord than the present song\; this is due to the fa ct that the negro of to-day sings his railroad songs and enjoys them in hi s secular music. There he pictures the train with such vividness that the train may be easily heard and seen in his imagination. Other verses of the Gospel Train as it was sung by the Jubilee singers are:\n\nThere’s Mose s and Noah and Abraham\,\nAnd all the prophets\, too\,\nOur friends in Chr ist are all on board\,\nO what a heavenly crew.\n\nWe soon shall reach the station\,\nO how we then shall sing\,\nWith all the heavenly army\,\nWe ’ll make the welkin ring.\n\nShe’s nearing now the station\,\nO sinner \, don’t be vain\,\nBut come an’ get your ticket\,\nAnd be ready for t he train.\n\nNo signal for the other train\,\nTo follow on the line\,\nO s inner\, you’re forever lost\,\nIf once you’re left behind.\n\nWhile th e song as reported by the Jubilee singers does not possess the mere charac teristics of form and dialect\, it nevertheless appeals to the negroes and it is sometimes sung. One of the fears of the negro is that others may go to heaven and he be left behind. This\, as has been indicated\, constitut es the sum total of misery. So he has a number of songs in which he expres ses this feeling and prays that he may not be left behind in the race of l ife for the eternal goal. One of the most touching of these songs represen ts the negro as an orphan who is unwilling to stay alone in the world:\n\n My muther an’ my father both are daid\, both are daid\,\nMy muther an’ my father both are dead\,\nMy mother an’ my father both are dead\,\nGoo d Lord\, I cannot stay here by merself.\n\nI’m er pore little orphan chi le in de worl’\, chile in de worl’\,\nI’m er pore little orphan chil e in the worl’\,\nI’m a pore little orphan chile in de worl’\,\nGood Lord\, I cannot stay here by merself.\n[Pg 77]\nDe train done whistled an ’ de cars done gone\, cars done gone\,\nDe train done whistled an’ de cars ere gone\,\nDe train done whistled an’ de cars ere gone\,\nEzekiel\ , I cannot stay here by merself.\n\nMy brothers an’ my sisters are all g one\, all gone\,\nMy brothers an’ my sister’re all gone\, all gone\,\n My brothers an’ sisters all are gone\,\nMer Jesus\, I cannot stay here b y merself.\n\nGit me ticket fer de train\, fer de train\,\nGit me ticket f er de train\,\nI got mer ticket fer de train\,\nThank God\, I ain’t gwin e stay here by merself.\n\nVery much like the song just given the negroes used to sing: “Dar’s room in dar\, room in dar\, room in de heaven\, L ord\, I can’t stay behin’”. So\, too\, “I can’t or don’t want to stay here no longer” are common and classic verses of negro song. Aga in they sang the “good news” because “De chariot’s comin’\, I do an want her to leave a-me behind\, Gwine get upon dat chariot\, Carry me h ome”. In a prayer the negro sang: “Jesus\, don’t leave me behind”. In his songs to-day the negro says:\n\nDear brother\, don’t you leave\, \nDear brother\, don’t you leave\,\nThis ole world’s a hell to me.\n\n This ole world’s a hell to me\,\nThis ole world’s a hell to me.\n\nYes \, I bleedzed to leave this world\,\nYes\, I bleedzed to leave this world\ ,\nSister\, I’s bleedzed to leave this world\,\nFor it’s a hell to me. \n\nWhile the old negroes used to sing “Oh brother\, sisters\, mourners\ , don’t stay away\, For my Lord says there’s room enough”\, the mode rn negro sings “You can’t stay away”.\n\nSister\, you can’t stay a way\,\nSister\, you can’t stay away\,\nSister\, you can’t stay away\, stay away.\n\nMy Lord is a callin’ an’ you can’t stay away\,\nMy Lor d is a callin’ an’ you can’t stay away\,\nYes\, my Lord is a cal lin’ an’ you can’t stay away\,\nAn’ you can’t stay away.\n\nKing Jesus is a ridin’ an’ you can’t stay away\,\nO preacher\, you can ’t stay away.\n\n[Pg 78]There have been a great many versions of the son g “Ole Ship of Zion”\, none of which differ materially. The four or fi ve versions most common in the slave and plantation song represented the S hip of Zion somewhat as follows: “She has landed many a thousand\, She c an land as many more\, Do you think she will be able\, For to take us all home? You can tell ’em I’m comin’ home”\, “Dis de good ole ship of Zion\, An’ she’s maken’ fer de promise lan’. She hab angels fer de sailors. An’ how you know dey’s angels? Dat ship is out a sail in’ she’s a sailin’ mighty steady. She’ll neither reel nor totte r\, She’s a sailin’ ’way cold Jordan. King Jesus is de captain\, c aptain”. “De gospel ship is sailin’\, O Jesus is de captain\, De ang els are de sailors\, O is yo’ bundle ready? O have you got yo’ ticke t!” Another version has “her loaded down with angels”\; Another “w id a-bright angels”. Another asks what ship is that “you’re enlist ed upon”? and answers that it is the “Good ship of Zion”\, which “ sails like she’s heavy loaded”\, and “has King Jesus for the capta in”\, and “the Holy Ghost is de pilot” The coast negroes had many so ngs that originated in ideas suggested by the boats. To-day the river negr oes have songs of their own\, but they do not go into the church songs. Th e Old Ship of Zion\, however\, is sung\, but only as a remnant of the form er song\, less elaborate.\n\nThis ole ship is a reelin’ an’ a rockin ’\,\nThis ole ship is a reelin’ an’ a rockin’ rockin’ rockin ’\nMakin’ fer de promise lan’.\n\nWhile the negro sings\, he sees th e ship reelin’ an’ rockin’\, and repeats these phrases enough and in a rhythmic manner\, so that he imitates the imagined motion of the ship. The other stanzas of the song are practically the same as those of the ear lier days.\n\nO my Lord\, shall I be the one?\nO my Lord\, shall I be the one?\nO my Lord\, shall I be the one?\nMakin’ for the promise lan’?\n\ nYes\, ’tis that good ole ship of Zion\, of Zion\,\nYes\, ’tis that go od ole ship of Zion\, of Zion\,\nYes\, ’tis that good ole ship of Zion\, \nMakin’ for the promise lan’.\n\nO the ship is heavy loaded\, loaded\ , loaded\,\nMakin’ for the promise lan’.\nIt’s loaded with many er t housand\, thousand\, thousand\,\nMakin’ fer the promise lan’.\n\n[Pg 79]“This ole worl’s a rollin’” is most likely a figure of the shi p and modelled on the same song. However\, it conveys a different idea\, o ne of judgment and the end of the world. The negro sings:\n\nWell the ole worl’ is a rollin’\, rollin’\, rollin’\,\nYes\, the ole worl’ is rollin’\, rollin’ away.\n\nWell ain’t you goin’ to get ready?\n Yes\, ain’t you goin’ to get ready? for it’s rollin’ away.\n\nWell get on board little children\, children\, children\,\nWell get on board\, for this ole worl’s rollin’ away.\n\nHe sings for the sinner\, mourne r\, and all his friends and relatives to get on board the world as she rol ls away. It reminds one somewhat of the song once current among the negroe s: “O de ole ferry boat stan’ a-waitin’ at de landin’\, Chilluns we’se all gwine home”. The same feeling of motion and the end of the world as is indicated in the moving of the train\, ship\, and the world it self is also reflected in the opening of the graveyards and the rolling of the hearse wheel. The same rhythmic effect of motion and words give a str ikingly appropriate attitude to the singer.\n\nO the lightening flashin’ an’ the thunder rollin’\, rollin’\, rollin’\,\nO the lightening flashin’ an’ thunder rollin’\, rollin’\, rollin’\,\nO the lig ht’ning flashin’ an’ thunder rollin’\,\nLawd\, I know my time ai n’t long\; Lawd\, I know my time ain’t long.\n\nThe hearse wheel rol lin’ an’ graveyard openin’\, openin’\, openin’\,\nThe hearse w heel rollin’ an’ graveyard openin’\, openin’\, openin’\,\nThe he arse wheel rollin’ an’ the graveyard openin’\,\nLawd\, I know my t ime ain’t long\, my time ain’t long.\n\nAnd very much like the above s ong is “Every Day”. However\, it is so similar to other songs that one concludes that it is only a putting together of what the singer already k new. The Bahama negroes have a song\, “If hev’ry day was judgment da y”\, that is almost exactly the same in meaning as this one. The song\, however\, is a powerful one and seems to be gaining in popularity.\n\nWell the hearse wheel rollin’\,\nEvery day\, every day\,\nCarryin’ yo’ b rother to the graveyard\,\nEvery day\, every day—move\, Zion\, move.\n\n Well ain’t it a pity\, pity?\n[Pg 80]Every day\, every day\,\nWell ain ’t it a pity\, ain’t it a pity?\nEvery day\, every day\, move\, Zion\, move.\n\nWell they’re carryin’ a sinner\, sinner\,\nEvery day\, every day\,\nYes\, they’re carryin’ a sinner\,\nEvery day\, every day\, mov e\, Zion\, move.\n\nMove\, Zion\, move\, for you got to go to judgment\,\n Every day\, every day\,\nMove\, Zion\, move\, for you got to go to judgmen t\,\nEvery day\, every day\, move\, Zion\, move.\n\nThe getting of mail\, and especially of letters\, usually means much to the negroes\; perhaps si mply because they receive little mail. To have a letter from a distinguish ed person is superlative honor and the recipient usually makes the fact kn own generally. Just how the negro conceived of receiving letters from God\ , or why he imagined the angels and apostles as writing letters does not a ppear clear. One gets a letter\, another reads it\; one writes a letter an d all know its contents. Such a reference is found in a number of songs\, that serve as a warning or admonition.\n\nWell my mother got a letter\, O yes\,\nWell she could not read it\, O yes\,\nWhat you reckon that letter s aid?\nThat she didn’t have long to stay here.\n\nWon’t you come\, wo n’t you come?\nWon’t you come an’ get ready to die?\nWon’t you com e\, for my Lord is callin’ you?\n\nHow do you know that my Lord is cal lin’\, O yes?\nIf you look at this letter\, O yes\,\nYou see it come fro m the Hebrews\, O yes\,\nWon’t you come\, for my Lord is callin’ you.\ n\nPerhaps the idea of the letter came from the epistles of the New Testam ent. John and Peter wrote letters\; Mary and Martha read them. The letters of the Hebrews and Ephesians are spoken of. The idea “It just suits m e” seems to have sprung up from satisfaction in reading the “word” o r in hearing the sermon and praying in the usual way.\n\nJohn wrote a lett er and he wrote it in haste\,\nAn’ it jus’ suit me:\nJohn wrote a lett er and he wrote it in haste\,\nAn’ it jus’ suit me.\n[Pg 81]\nJohn wro te a letter and he wrote it in haste\,\nIf yer want to go to heaven yer be tter make haste\,\nAn’ it jus’ suit me.\n\nI’ll tell you a little th ing that was in that letter\,\nAn’ it jus’ suit me.\nI’ll tell you a little thing that was in John’s letter\,\nThe Holy Ghost came to make u s better\,\nAn’ it jus’ suit me.\n\nIn the same form and repetition ar e sung other stanzas\, all of which “suit” the negroes pretty well.\n\ nIf this isn’t the Holy Ghost I don’t know\,\nI never felt such a love befo’\,\nBut it jus’ suit me.\n\nO my brother\, you oughter been at d e pool\,\nTo see me put on my gospel shoes\,\nAn’ it jus’ suit me.\n\n Ezekiel said he spied the train a comin’\,\nWe got on board an’ she ne ver stopped runnin’\,\nAn’ it jus’ suit me.\n\nThis kind er religion is better than gold\,\nIt’s better felt than ever told\,\nAn’ it ju s’ suit me.\n\nI tell you a little thing you can’t do\,\nYou can’t s erve God and the devil\, too\,\nBut it jus’ suit me.\n\nWhen trouble is done an’ conflict have passed\,\nI rise to reign in peace at last\,\nA n’ it jus’ suit me.\n\nBy this time the singers are happy enough and t he preacher joins them in shouting\, “Yes\, brethren\, it just suits m e.” It is gratifying to the negroes that their sins have been “washed in the blood of the Lamb”\, as indeed it ought to be. Perhaps they give it its undue prominence without thought\; for they have no conception of t he seriousness of their claims. The negro singers have exhibited a charact eristic specimen of their word combinations\, concrete pictures\, and theo logical principles in their song\, “De blood done sign my name.”\n\nO de blood\, O de blood\,\nO de blood done sign my name\;\nO Jesus said so\, Jesus said so\,\n[Pg 82]O de blood done sign my name.\n\nI believe it for God he tole me\,\nThat the blood done sign my name\,\nI believe it for Go d he tole me\,\nThat the blood done sign my name\,\nYes\, the blood done s ign my name.\n\nHow do you know so\, God he said so\nThat the blood done s ign my name.\n\nWell it’s written in de Kingdom\,\nThat the blood done s ign my name.\n\nWell in de Lamb’s book it is written\,\nThat the blood d one sign my name.\n\nWell the wheels a turnin’\, wheels a turnin’\,\nB lood done sign my name.\n\nI’m boun’ for glory\, boun’ for glory\,\n The blood done sign my name.\n\nOn de mountain\, on de mountain\,\nThe blo od done sign my name.\n\nIn the valley\, in the valley\,\nBlood done sign my name.\n\nBut the Christian does not have an easy time after his convers ion. Satan is always at hand and ready to lead him away if there is a chan ce. The negro’s idea of satan and the devil has been noted. In his march songs the negro imagines that he is marching against his foe\; this foe i s sometimes satan himself. “The other world is not lak’ dis” is a ty pical marching song.\n\nI er’s walkin’ ’long de oder day\,\nDe udd er worl’ is not lak’ dis\,\nI met ole satan on de way\,\nDe udder wo rl’ is not lak’ dis\,\nHe said\, “Young man\, you’re too young t o pray”\,\nDe udder worl’ is not lak’ dis.\n\nTell all dis worl’\, \nTell all dis worl’\,\nTell all dis worl’\,\nDe odder worl’ is no t lak’ dis.\n\nAs I went down in de valley to pray\,\nDe udder worl’ i s not lak’ dis\,\nI met a little looker on de way\,\nDe udder worl’ is not lak’ dis\,\nHe said: “Look out fer de Judgment day”\,\nDe udd er worl’ is not lak’ dis.\n\n[Pg 83]Another marching song that is a ro using one is “Goin’ down to Jord’n”. It represents\, like the one just given\, the attributes of satan and his relation to the Christian. Th e scene as pictured\, the army marching on down to Jordan\, the imaginary foe\, and the rhythm of the song make it a favorite.\n\nHalleluyer to the Lam’\,\nGoin’ on down to Jordan\,\nLord God’s on that givin’ h an’\,\nGoin’ on down to Jordan.\n\nGoin’ down to Jordan\,\nGoin’ d own to Jordan\,\nI got my breas’plate\, sword an’ shield\,\nGoin’ do wn to Jordan\,\nBoldly mar chin’ thru’ the field\,\nGoin’ on down to Jordan.\n\nI plucked one block out’n satan’s wall\,\nGoin’ on down to Jordan\,\nI heard him stumble an’ saw him fall\,\nGoin’ on down to Jordan.\n\nOle satan’s a liar an’ a conjurer\, too\,\nGoin’ on down to Jordan\,\nIf you don’t mind he’ll conjure you\,\nGoin’ down to Jo rdan.\n\nOle satan mad an’ I am glad\,\nHe missed a soul he thought he h ad.\n\nOle satan thought he had me fast\,\nBroke his chain an’ I’m fre e at last.\n\nI’ve landed my feet on Jordan’s sho’\,\nNow I’m free forever mo’\,\nGoin’ on down to Jordan.\n\nSomething has been observe d about the negro’s attitude toward the crucifixion. The old songs asked : “Wus you dere when dey crucified my Lord? When dey put the crown of th orns on?” and other scenes. In some of the songs the negroes sang “I w us dere when”\, etc.\, while still others only affirm the facts. The son gs of the present generation of negroes are less vivid and less full of fe eling for the suffering of the Master. Some of the verses are similar to t hose of the plantation songs.\n\nHe carried his cross\, he carried his cro ss\,\n[Pg 84]Up Zion hill\, up Zion hill\,\nHe carried his cross\, he carr ied his cross\,\nUp Zion hill\, up Zion hill\,\nHe carried his cross up Zi on hill\, Zion hill\, Zion hill.\n\nThey put on him the thorny crown (3)\, \nThen they nail my Jesus down\,\nThey nail him down\, nail him down\, nai l him down\,\nThey lif’ the cross high in the air (3)\,\nTo show the w orl’ how they nail him there\,\nHow they nail him there\, nail him there \, nail him there.\n\nA peculiar corruption of this song represents the pr odigal son as being in the place of Christ\; now it is the prodigal\, now it is the Lord. It indicates the manner of the development of many of thes e songs\, and shows something of the insignificance of the words on the mi nds of the singers. He sings with his holy laugh:\n\nYes\, the prodigal so n come home\, ha\, ha\,\nYes\, the prodigal son come home\, ha\, ha\,\nThe prodigal son come home by hisself.\n\nAn’ they nail him to the cross\, ha\, ha\,\nAn’ they nail him to the cross\, ha\, ha\,\nAn’ they nail h im to the cross on that day.\n\nAn’ the blood come runnin’ down\, ha\, ha\,\nThe blood come runnin’ down\, ha\, ha\,\nAn’ the blood come r unnin’ down\, on that day.\n\nAn’ they kill the fat’nin’ calf\, ha \, ha\,\nAn’ they kill the fat’nin’ calf\, ha\, ha\,\nThey kill th e fat’nin’ calf on that day.\n\nAn’ they carried my Lord away\, ha\, ha\,\nAn’ they carried my Lord away\, ha\, ha\,\nThey carried my Lord a way\, by hisself.\n\nPaul and Silas\, Peter and John are models for proper contemplation. One of the old songs represented Peter and Paul as bound i n jail. “Togedda dey sung\, togedda dey prayed\, De Lawd he heard how de y sung an’ prayed. Den humble yo’selves\, de bell done rung.” “P aul an’ Silas bound in jail\, The Christians pray both night and day\, ” represented another song\, one version of which has survived and is cu rrent to-day. Most of the song consists in repetitions.\n\nPaul and Silas bound in jail\,\nPaul and Silas bound in jail\,\nPaul and Silas bound in j ail\,\nPaul and Silas bound in jail.\n[Pg 85]\nPaul did pray one mournful prayer (4).\n\nDon’t you wish you could pray like Paul?(4)\n\nHe prayed an’ the good Lord set him free (4).\n\nAnother version prays for the ang els to come down and unlock the door of the jail. It has a striking parall el among the secular songs and might have been composed with the idea of t he negro in jail as being rescued.\n\nCome down angel with the key\,\nCome down angel with the key\,\nMy Lord\, angel\, come down with the key.\n\nU nlock the door for me-e-e\,\nUnlock the door for me-e-e\,\nMy Lord\, unloc k the door for me.\n\nPaul and Silas is in jail\,\nPaul and Silas is in ja il\,\nMy Lord\, Paul and Silas is in jail.\n\nUnlock the jail-house door\, \nUnlock the jail-house door-oor\,\nMy Lord\, unlock the jail house door.\ n\nAmong those of the Bible who have been the special subject of song\, No ah has a prominent place. References to him have been made already. He is always the hero of the flood. In most of the songs wherein a special chara cter has an important part\, it is in the chorus or refrain. So in “Foht y days an’ nights”\, a general mixture of songs and ideas\, Noah and t he flood make the chorus.\n\nDey calls bro’ Noah a foolish man\,\nFohty days an’ nights\,\nHe built de ark upon de lan’\,\nFohty days an’ ni ghts.\n\nEn\, ho\, ho\, didn’t it rain?\nO yes\, you know it did.\nHo\, ho\, didn’t it rain?\nO yes\, you know it did.\n\nOle Satan wears a iron shoe\,\nHit’s fohty days an’ nights\,\nEf you don’t mind gwine slip it on you\,\nFohty days an’ nights.\n\nSome go to meetin’ to put on p retense\,\nFohty days an’ nights\,\nUntil de day ob grace is spent\,\nFo hty days an’ nights.\n[Pg 86]\nSome go to meetin’ to sing an’ shout\ ,\nFohty days an’ nights\,\nFo’ six months dey’ll be turned out\,\nF ohty days an’ nights.\n\nI tell you brother an’ I tell you twice\,\n It’s fohty days an’ nights\,\nMy soul done anchored in Jesus Christ\,\ nFohty days an’ nights.\n\nIf you git dar befo’ I do\,\nForty days a n’ nights\,\nLook out fer me I’se comin’ too\,\nFohty days an’ nig hts.\n\nYou baptize Peter an’ you baptize Paul\,\nIt’s fohty days an ’ nights\,\nBut de Lord-God-er-mighty gwine baptize all\,\nIt’s fohty days an’ nights.\n\nAnother version in one of the old songs says: “Som e go to church to laugh and talk\, but dey knows nuthin’ ’bout de Chri stian’s walk”. “De Ole Ark a-moverin’” was the title of a planta tion song which gave the story of Noah and the flood. Noah and his sons “went to work upon dry lan’”\, and everything went according to the original “plan”.\n\nJes’ wait a little while\, I’m gwine tell yo u ’bout de ole ark\,\nDe Lord told Noah for to build him an ole ark\,\nD en Noah and his sons went to work upon dry lan’\,\nDey built dat ark j es’ accordin’ to comman’\,\nNoah an’ his sons went to work upon de timber\,\nDe proud begin to laugh the silly to point de finger\,\nWhen de ark was finished jes’ accordin’ to plan\,\nMassa Noah took his family both animal an’ man\,\nWhen de rain begin to fall and de ark begin to r ise\,\nDe wicked hung round wid der groans and der cries\,\nFohty days and fohty nights de rain it kep’ a fallin’\,\nDe wicked clumb de trees an’ for help dey kep’ callin’\,\nDat awful rain she stopped at las ’\, de waters dey subsided\,\nAn’ dat ole ark wid all aboard on Ararat rided.\n\nThis is the picture which the plantation and slave negro has ma de for his satisfaction. The present-day song that apparently originated i n the above song is less elaborate\, having only portions of the old song\ , and not being much in demand. It\, too\, is called “Didn’t it rain ?”\n\nGod told Noah ’bout de rainbow sign—\n[Pg 87]Lawd\, didn’t i t rain?\nNo more water but fier nex’ time—\nO didn’t it rain? Hallel uyer.\n\nO didn’t it rain\, O didn’t it rain?\nHalleluyer\, didn’t i t rain?\nSome fohty days an’ nights.\n\nWell it rain fohty days an’ ni ghts widout stoppin’\,\nLawd\, didn’t it rain?\nThe sinner got mad ’ cause the rain kept a droppin’\,\nO didn’t it rain? Halleluyer.\n\nAmo ng the most interesting of all the negro spirituals are those which have b een composed in recent years. These are significant in their bearing upon the temperament and religion of the present-day negro. These songs are eff orts at poetry\, while at the same time they unite biblical story with son g. How they are often begun and for what purposes they are composed was me ntioned in the previous discussion concerning the origin of negro songs. F urther analysis of the form may be made in the study of the negro’s ment al imagery. The following song\, which gets its name from the chorus\, is entitled “My Trouble is Hard”\, and was composed by “Sister Bowers ”. It was printed on a single sheet for distribution\; each person who c ontributed to the collection was entitled to a copy\, or a copy could be h ad for a nickel. She sung her new song to the crowds wherever she went\, a nd then was given a pro-rata of the collections. With the chorus repeated after each stanza\, as the negroes always do\, it becomes a song of unusua l length:\n\nI know a man that was here before Christ\,\nHis name was Adam and Eve was his wife\,\nI’ll tell you how this man lived a rugged life\ ,\nJust by taking this woman’s advice.\n\nMy trouble is hard\, O yes\,\n My trouble is hard\, O yes\,\nMy trouble is hard\, O yes\,\nYes indeed\, m y trouble is hard.\n\nWhilst you are sitting on your seat\,\nLet me tell y ou something that is sweet\,\nWhen all God’s people in glory meet\,\nThe y will slip and slide the golden street.\n\nStop young man\, I’ve someth ing to say\;\nYou know you’re sinful and why don’t you pray?\nYou’re sinning against a sin-venged God\,\nWho has power to slay us all.\n[Pg 88 ]\nO Lord\, aint it a pity—ain’t it a shame—\nTo see how my Lord and Saviour was slain?\nI hate to call the murderer’s name\,\nI know they a re dead but left the stain.\n\nRead the Scriptures and be content\,\nYou a re bound to know what Jesus meant\,\nJohn was here before his advent\;\nSt ood in the wilderness and cried “Repent”.\n\nChrist called his apostle s two by two\,\nHe particularly told them what to do\,\nPreach my gospel a s I command you\,\nAnd I’ll be with you all the way through.\n\nJust me tell you what David done\,\nOld man Jesse’s youngest son:\nHe slayed Gol iath that mighty one\,\nOle Saul pursued him but he had to run.\n\nOle Sau l pursued poor David’s life—\nIt’s a mighty good thing he had a wife \,\nThey went to his house and did surround\nAnd she took a rope and let h im down.\n\nGod called Jonah in a powerful way\,\nHe told old Jonah just w hat to say\;\nTell them people if they don’t pray\,\nI’ll destroy the city of Nineveh.\n\nJust let me tell you how this world is fixed\,\nSatan has got it so full of tricks\,\nYou can go from place to place\,\nEverybod y’s runnin’ down the colored race.\n\nAlmost equally interesting i s “That’s another Witness for my Lord.” It will be noticed in these songs that references and phrases taken from the old songs are often used\ , but in different combinations. They thus lose their former worth. It wil l be interesting\, too\, to compare the negro’s religious conceptions of the Bible and God as expressed in these songs with those expressed in the older productions: Has he advanced in his theology?\n\nRead in Genesis\, you understand\,\nMethuselah was the oldest man\,\nLived nine hundred and sixty-nine\,\nDied and went to heaven in due time.\n\nMethuselah is a witn ess for my Lord\,\nMethuselah is a witness for my Lord.\n\nYou read about Sampson from his birth\,\n[Pg 89]Strongest man that lived on the earth\,\n ’Way back yonder in ancient times\,\nHe slayed three thousand of the Phi listines.\n\nSampson he went wanderin’ about\,\nFor his strength hadn’ t been found out\,\nHis wife dropped down upon her knees\,\nSaid: “Samps on\, tell me where your strength lies\, please.”\n\nDelila’ talked so good and fair\;\nHe told her his strength lie in his hair\;\n“Shave my h ead just as clean as your hands\,\nAnd my strength’ll be like a nachual man’s.”\n\nWasn’t that a witness for my Lord?\nWasn’t that a witne ss for my Lord?\n\nIsaiah mounted on de wheel o’time\,\nSpoke to God-er- mighty way down the line:\nSaid\, “O Lord\, to me reveal\,\nHow can this vile race be healed?”\n\nGod said: “Tell the sons of men\,\nUnto th em’ll be born a king\,\nThem that believe upon his Way\,\nThey shall res t in the latter day.”\n\nIsaiah was a witness for my Lord\,\nIsaiah was a witness for my Lord.\n\nThere was a man amongst the Pharisees\,\nNamed N icodemus and he didn’t believe\,\nHe went to the Master in the night\,\n And told him to take him out er human sight.\n\n“You are the Christ\, I’m sure it’s true\,\nFor none do de miracles dat you do\,\nBut how ca n a man\, now old in sin\,\nTurn back still and be born again?”\n\nChris t said\, “Man\, if you want to be wise\,\nYou’d better repent and be b aptized\;\nBelieve on me\, the Son of Man\,\nThen you will be born’d aga in.”\n\nWasn’t that a witness for my Lord?\nWasn’t that a witness fo r my Lord?\n\n“After ’While” gives a slightly different form of vers e\, but with somewhat the same characteristics in other respects as those just given. There is little regularity in the metrical arrangement\, but i t makes a good song.\n\nThe worl’ is full of forms and changes\,\nIt’s just now so confuse\,\n[Pg 90]You will find some danger\nIn everything yo u use:\nBut this is consolation to every blood washed child\,\nGod’s g oin’ to change our station after while.\n\nAfterwhile\, afterwhile\,\n God’s goin’ to change our station\, afterwhile.\n\nThe devil tries to throw down\nEverything that’s good\,\n\nHe’d fix a way to confine\nThe righteous if he could\,\nThanks be to God almighty\, he cannot be beguile d\,\nOle satan will be done fightin’ afterwhile.\n\nSome men and women w ho help the world along\,\nBy constantly complaining of everything that’ s done\,\nThey want to be called Christians and all their badness hide\,\n God’s goin’ to open the secret afterwhile.\n\nPreachers in their sermo ns stand up and tell the truth\,\nThey’ll go about and murmur with sland er and abuse\;\nThey want the whole arrangement to suit their selfish styl e\,\nGod’s goin’ to rain down fire afterwhile.\n\nIn a general mixture of old song and new song\, of old traits and new traits\, the negro sings a beautiful song which he has called: “Whar’ shall I be?” The usual imagery is seen.\n\nMoses lived til he got old\,\nWhar’ shall I be?\nBu ried in de mountain\, so I’m told\,\nWhar’ shall I be?\n\nWhar’ shal l I be when de fust trumpet sounds?\nWhar’ shall I be when it sounds so loud?\nWhen it sound so loud that it wake up the dead\,\nWhar’ shall I b e when it sounds?\n\nWell God showed Noar de rainbow sign\,\nWhar’ shall I be?\nNo more water but fire nex’ time\,\nWhar’ shall I be?\n\nMathe w\, Mark\, Luke and John\,\nWhar’ shall I be?\nTole me whar’ my Saviou r gone\;\nWhar’ shall I be?\n\nJohn declar’d he saw a man\,\nWhar’ s hall I be?\nWid seben lamps in his right han’\,\nWhar’ shall I be?\n\n [Pg 91]The exact meaning of the following song could not be ascertained. I t is apparently derived from some idea of the scriptural invocation and bl essing upon the disciples. It is said to have a special message to the pre acher\, and is sometimes represented as being the words of God\; at other times the encouragement of a friend and the reply.\n\nGo and I will go wit h you\;\nOpen your mouth and I’ll speak for you\;\nIf I go and tell them what you say they won’t believe me.\n\nShout and I shout with you\;\nTh row out your arms and I catch you\;\nIf they see you going with me\, they won’t believe on you.\n\nSo it’s go and I go with you\;\nOpen your mou th and I speak for you\,\nShout and I shout with you\,\nThrow out your arm s and I catch you\,\nIf I go and tell them what you say they won’t belie ve me.\n\nAnother song of the modern type seems to appeal to the negroes v ery strongly. Again he is seeing a vivid picture of the Christ in the long years ago. But just where he gets the exact ideas by which to make the co mbinations is a little doubtful. Perhaps he gets the central thought from the miracle of Cana.\n\nIf my mother ask you for me\, tell her I gone to G allerlee\,\nI ought to a been there four thousand years ago\,\nTo drink of the wine.\n\nDrinkin’ of the wine\, drinkin’ of the wine\,\nDrinkin ’ of the wine\, Drinkin’ of the wine\,\nChrist was there four thousand years ago\,\nDrinkin’ of the wine.\n\nYou may mourn\, sinner\, mourn\, the Lord help you to mourn\,\nChrist was there four thousand years ago\,\n Drinkin’ of the wine.\n\nSo\, too\, you may moan\, weep\, cry\, pray\, b rother\, sister\, father\, mother\, backslider\, and any others that the s inger happens to think of\, and the chorus\, “Drinkin’ of the wine\, ” is the favorite refrain. Again in “The Blind Man” the picture is o ne of confusing the scriptural scenes with those of the present\, and of p lacing himself in the stead of the central character of the story.\n\nWell the blind man stood by the grave and cried\,\nWell the blind man stood by the wave and cried\,\nYes\, the blind man stood by the wave and cried.\n[ Pg 92]\nHe cried\, “O Lord\, don’t you hear po’ me?”\nHark\, the b lind man stood by the wave and cried\,\nHe cried\, “O Lord\, don’t you hear po’ me?”\n\nBrother don’t you hear the blind cries\, blind cri es?\nBrother don’t you hear the blind cries\, blind cries?\nO brother\, don’t you hear the blind cries?\n\nJesus he give de blind man sight\, bl ind man sight\,\nJesus he give de blind man sight\, blind man sight\,\nYes \, Jesus he give de blind man sight.\n\nHe also sings “sister\, don’t you hear\,” etc.\, brother\, father\, preacher. A peculiar modification of “Walking in the Light” is the song of the same name among the negro es\, which seems to have its origin in the scriptural injunction\, “Ye a re the light of the world.”\n\nLet yo’ light shine all over the world\ ,\nWalkin’ in the light\, beautiful light.\n\nMos’ wonderful light\, s hine by night\,\nLet yo’ light shine all over the world.\n\nI am the lig ht\, most pitiful light\,\nLet yo’ light shine all over the world.\n\nFo llow the light\, mos’ beautiful light\,\nLet yo’ light shine all over the world.\n\nSinner\, what you gwine do when the lamp stops burnin’\,\n Let yo’ light shine all over the world?\n\nThe negro prays to be remembe red at Calvary\; so\, too\, he asks to remember Calvary and the Lord. A si ngle fragment of the old song remains:\n\nO Lord remember me\, remember Ca lvary\,\nFor without any doubt and you remember the Lord\,\nI pray thee\, Lord\, remember me\,\nO Lord\, remember me\, remember Calvary.\n\nThe “P ilgrim’s song” that has been considered so beautiful is still a favori te\; the words of the stanzas differ little. It may be called a standard h ymn of the negroes. There is a story that Bishop Allen\, the founder of th e A. M. E. church\, composed the song on his dying bed. He was very well e ducated and a man of considerable ability and feeling. While the sadly hop eful words of the song are of a higher type than the average spiritual\, a nd while its metrical form is far above the usual\, the song still combine s many of the ideas and phrases of the favorite spirituals of the slaves. One of these songs\,[Pg 93] “I hope my mother will be there\, In that be autiful world on high”\, embodies the same sentiment and in similar word s. Another\, “Give ’way Jordan\, I want to go across to see my Lord. I heard sweet music\, I wish dat music would come here”\, represents the other part of the song. The Pilgrim’s song as it is found is:\n\nI am a poor way-faring stranger\,\nWhile journeying through this world of woe\,\n But there is no sickness\, toil\, nor danger\,\nIn that bright world to wh ich I go.\n\nI’m going there to see my classmates\,\nThey said they’d meet me when I come\,\nI’m just a going over Jordan\,\nI’m just going over home.\n\nI know dark clouds’ll gather round me\,\nI know my road is rough and steep\,\nYet there bright fields are lying just before me\,\nWh ere God’s redeemed and vigils keep.\n\nI’m going there to see my mothe r\,\nShe said she’d meet me when I come\,\nI’m just going over Jordan\ ,\nI’m just a going over home.\n\nI’ll soon be free\, free every trial \,\nMy body will sleep in the old churchyard.\nI’ll quit the cross of se lf-denial\,\nAnd enter in my great reward.\n\nI’m going there to see my mother\,\nShe said she’d meet me when I come\,\nI’m just a going over Jordan\,\nI’m just going over home.\n\nThe only differences in the versi ons of the old song and its present form is the substitution of “But” for “yet”\, “and” for “their”\, and “free” for “from”\, “drop” for “quit” in the various lines. Very much in the same class of song is “Steal Away”. The present version is much t he same in general as the old\, of which there were several\, differing on ly in minor details. There is in some of the church song books a version o f the song\; however\, the most common verses now sung are:\n\nO the green trees a-bowin’\,\nAn’ po’ sinner stan’ tremblin’\,\nWell the tr umpet soun’ in my soul\,\nAn’ I ain’t got long to stay here.\n[Pg 94 ]\nO steal away\, steal away\,\nO steal away to my Jesus\,\nSteal away\, s teal away\,\nFor I ain’t got long to stay here.\n\nMy Lord is a callin ’\,\nPo’ sinner he can’t answer\,\nWell\, the trumpet sound in my so ul\,\nAn’ I ain’t got long to stay here.\n\nOne of the most beautiful and at the same time simple and pathetic songs of the negroes is “Heal m e\, Jesus”. Here the negro is at his typical best in prayer: without pre tension\, without reserve\, claiming nothing\, he simply pleads for his de sire.\n\nO Lord\, I’m sick an’ I want to be healed\,\nO Lord\, I’m s ick an’ I want to be healed\,\nO Lord\, I’m sick an’ I want to be he aled\,\nO Lord\, I’m sick an’ I want to be healed.\n\nHeal me Jesus\, heal me Jesus\,\nAlong the heavenly way\,\nHeal me Jesus\, heal me Jesus\, \nAlong the heavenly way.\n\nO Lord\, I’m blind an’ I want to see\,\nO Lord\, I’m blin’ an’ I wan’ ter see\,\nO Lord\, I’m bli n’ an’ I wan’ ’er see\,\nHeal me Jesus along the heavenly way.\n\n O Lord\, I’m crippl’d an’ I wan’ ’er walk\,\nO Lord\, I’m crippl’d an’ I wan’ ’er wa-a-a-l-k\,\nO Lord\, I’m cri-p-p-l-e -d an’ I want ’er walk\,\nHeal me Jesus along the heavenly way.\n\nO L ord\, I’m deaf an’ I want to hear\, etc.\n\nThe negroes are great beli evers in dress and uniform. Color\, too\, appeals to them as significant a nd the more strikingly distinct the color\, the stronger impression it mak es upon their imaginations. Chief among all others is the white which the angels wear\; gold and purple\, too\, are concerned with the heavens. Amon g men red and black are strongest. This idea of color dressing has become interwoven in many of their songs. The rhyme helps to give the picture its vividness. The following song\, with its variants\, is still sung with co nsiderable zest.\n\nWho is that yonder all dressed in red?\n[Pg 95]I heard the angels singing\;\nIt look like the children Moses led\,\nI heard the angels singin’.\n\nDown on my knees\,\nDown on my knees\,\nI heard the a ngels singing.\n\nWell who that yonder all dressed in black?\nI heard the angels singing\;\nIt look like it’s de mourner jus’ got back\,\nI hear d the angels singing.\n\nYes’ who’s that yonder all dressed in blue?\n It look like the children just come through.\n\nInstead of “mourners j us’ got back” the negroes sing “a sister\, a sinner\, a hypocrite\, etc.\, jus’ got back”. Once the negroes sang: “Who’s that yonder a ll dressed in black? Must be children of the Israelites”\, which is the common version for the answer to “Who’s all them come dressed in whi te?” The songs almost invariably have a different chorus for the differe nt versions and combinations. In one of the old songs\, the above verses w ere sung to the chorus\n\nOh\, what you say\, John?\nOh\, what you say\, J ohn?\nOh\, what you say\, John?\nDe ressurection drawin’ nigh.\n\nwith t his last line as a refrain after each line of the song\, just as above in “I heard the angels singing”. In another of the old songs the chorus w as:\n\nGo\, Mary\, an’ ring de bell\,\nCome\, John\, and call de roll\,\ nI thank God.\n\nThe negro visualizes with a good deal of satisfaction. He imagines that he can see the things about which he sings. So they have im agined seeing the people dressed in white\, black\, red and blue\; so he i magined that he could see “two tall angels comin’ after me”\, or “ big tall”\, “long tall”\, “band of angels” or whatever form the song has taken. So the negroes have told wonderful stories about the whale and the gourd vine\; about the “cutter worm” as well as Jonah. The ol d song\, modified and adapted with characteristic phraseology and expressi on still appeals to the negro. The “Big fish” and “Sherk” represen ts the terror of the sea to the negro. One old darkey explained this fact by saying that it was because the negroes were terrified[Pg 96] as they we re brought over from Africa\, and that they saw the whales and “fishes ” in “de sea” and that “de race hain’t nebber got ober it yet” . Another ascribes the fear and imagination much to the biblical story of the whale and Jonah. Perhaps neither determines to any marked degree this feeling. However\, the song “Big fish swallow Jonah”\, which has made such a hit in its paraphrases and in the glee clubs\, and variously\, is s till current in this form:\n\nLord\, the big fish\, big fish\, big fish\, swallow ole Jonah whole\,\nThe big fish\, the big fish\, the big fish swal low ole Jonah\;\nThe big fish\, big fish\, big fish\, swallow ole Jonah wh ole.\n\nOle Jonah cried\, “Lord save my soul”\,\nOle Jonah\, ole Jonah \, ole Jonah cried “save my-save-m-y-y”\,\nOle Jonah cried “Lord sav e my soul”.\n\nIn the same manner are sung other lines:\n\nLord\, the go urd vine\, gourd vine\, gourd vine growed over Jonah.\nWell\, the cutter w orm\, cutter worm\, cutter worm cut that vine down.\n\nIn addition to Jona h—and the last two stanzas are not common in the old songs—“Peter on the sea”\, “Gabriel\, blow your trump”\, “Daniel in the lion’ s den”\, are sung. Those who have heard the latest form of this song ren dered would scarcely imagine that it was a very appropriate church song.\n \nIt has been stated that the negro makes a song his own by the simple act of singing it. If he is free and unrestrained at the same time that he is thoroughly wrought up\, he adds enough to his song or changes its version sufficiently to make it almost unique. In the common tunes sung by both w hite and black people\, the negro’s rhythm and graceful passing from one line to another\, together with the insertions of shouts and “amens” renders them distinct. A number of the favorite “old time” religious s ongs are thus rendered by the negroes. They are the old “stand-by” hym ns. The nature of some of them was indicated in the first chapter. The fol lowing songs will serve to illustrate the common practice of singing among the “spiritualists”.\n\nIn “The old-time Religion” there are as m any versions as the singer can make combinations. It is “Gi’ me dat ol e-time religion”\, or it is “’Tis that ole time religion”\, or i t is “Was that ole-time\, etc.\,” or “Will be the old time religio n”. In the same way it may[Pg 97] be “good enough”\, “It’s goo d enough”. It is\, was\, will be good enough for “mother\, my mother\, my ole mother\, father\, brother\, sister\,” and all the list of biblic al names\, chiefest among whom are Paul and Silas\, Peter and John. So aga in\, it is “good when dying\, living\, mourning\, sinking\, praying\, ta lking”. It is good “when in trubble\, when de worl’s on fier\, when the lightening flashes\, when the thunder rolls\, when the heavens are mel ting\, when the stars are falling\, when the moon is bleeding\, when the g rave yards are opening”\, and all other times that are conceived as bein g a part and factor in destiny. Likewise the chorus or the lines may be su ng with additional “Yes”\, “sure”\, “well”\, “Uh”\, and va rious other expressions that are the product of the moment.\n\nOne who has heard the song “Bye and bye we’ll go and see them”\, rendered in an effective way must recognize its power and beauty. It is pre-eminently a song for the emotions\, and suggests scenes of the past and of the future\ ; it brings back memories that have been forgotten and forms emotions and conceptions that have not before existed. To the negro it is all this—in so far as he is able to grasp the better emotions—but it is mostly a me dium through which he can sing his rhythmic feeling off. And with the addi tional interpretations and additions both in words and in expression\, it is scarcely surpassed by any of his spirituals. The simplest form is exact ly the same as that of the regular song: “Bye and bye\, we’ll go and s ee them”\, From this the negroes vary to “Bye and bye I’m a goin’ to see him\, them\, her”. To this chorus they nearly always add in alter nate lines “Well it’s”\, “Well”\, “An’” and such expressio ns\, thus:\n\nBye an’ bye I’m goin’ to see them\,\nBye an’ bye I’m goin’ to see them\,\nWell\, it’s bye an’ bye I’m goin’ to see them\,\nOn de oder shore.\n\nThese expressions inserted or omitted at pleasure\, serve to give an additional rhythm to the song that seems othe rwise to be lacking. The verses of the song\, like many others\, are pract ically unlimited. Each is repeated three or six times as the singers prefe r\, with the refrain “On the other shore” added at the end of each sta nza. The negroes sing not only of a brother\, sister\, father\, mother\, a untie\, preacher and friends\, but they also sing of Paul and Silas and Da niel and Moses\; they are at liberty to use any name that comes to mind. A nd they[Pg 98] manifest as much feeling and emotion about meeting Moses or Noah or Abraham as they do about a dear old mother. Not only will they me et these loved ones but there will be scenes “over yonder.”\n\nI’m g ot a brother over yonder-on the other shore.\nI’m goin’ to meet my bro ther over yonder.\nTryin’ time will soon be over\, on the other shore.\n Well\, it’s mournin’ time will soon be over\, on the other shore.\nC ryin’ time will soon be over.\nPrayin’ time will soon be over\, etc.\n Shoutin’ time will soon be over\, etc.\n\nIf necessary they then turn to the sinner and sing: “Sinnin’ time\, gamblin’ time\, etc.\, will so on be over.” The old plantation song\, instead of saying\, “Brother Da niel over yonder\,” had it\, “Wonder where is good ole Daniel? Bye a n’ bye we’ll go an’ meet him\, ’Way over in de promise lan’. W onder where’s dem Hebrew children? Wonder where’s doubtin’ Thomas? W onder where is sinkin’ Peter?” This form is apparently not sung to-day .\n\nIn the same way the negroes have modified the comparatively new songs that have been successful among the evangelists the country over. One wou ld scarcely recognize even the tunes at first hearing\, while the verses a re usually entirely different. The chorus\, as a rule\, remains the same\, save for the variations already mentioned. One or two songs may be taken as illustrations. “When the Roll is Called up yonder” appealed to the negroes for many reasons. Most of the churches sing it\, and sing it “ro using” well. Their chorus is beautiful and the parts\, though carried in formally\, make a splendid effect. But the negro does not sing the prescri bed stanzas. After singing the chorus\, with such additions as he feels di sposed to make\, and after two or three\, perhaps one\, of the written ver ses\, he sings his own song:\n\nWhen the roll is called up yonder\, I’ll be there.\nBy the grace of God up yonder\, I’ll be there.\nYes\, my hom e is way up yonder\, an’ I’ll be there.\nI got a mother way up yonde r\, I’ll be there.\nI got a sister way up yonder\, I’ll be there.\n\nA nd without limitations he sings this new song into his old and favorite th emes\, often inserting stanzas and words that belong to the oldest existin g negro spirituals in the same verse with the evangelist’s best efforts. Another may illustrate further: “Blessed be the Name of the Lord”\, h as a great many variations\, some of which would never[Pg 99] be recognize d without considerable study and investigation. At first the searcher is i nclined to wonder at the distance the singer has got from his original\, b ut the evolutionary steps make the process quite clear. The negroes love t o sing blessing to the Lord\; much of the basic principle of their theolog y is based upon gratitude for the final deliverance of bondage from work a nd suffering. It is not surprising\, then\, that this song should become a favorite. One of the present versions\, most commonly sung is:\n\nIf you git there before I do\,\nBlessed be the name of the Lord\,\nTell my God I’m a comin’ too\,\nBlessed be the name of the Lord.\n\nI turn my eyes toward de sky\,\nBlessed be the name of the Lord\,\nI ask the Lord for wi ngs to fly\,\nBlessed be the name of the Lord.\n\nAnd encouraged by the ha ppy putting in to this new song an old verse\, the singer proceeds to put in as many as he wishes\; then in his desire for rhythm and his habit of r epetition\, together with the cries of “amen” or “Lord” the chorus often becomes: “My Lord\, blessed be the name of the Lord.” The outco me of such a chorus may be seen in the song already cited: “Lor’ bless the Name.”\n\nIn the effort to make new songs or to appropriate songs t hemselves\, the negroes are thus constantly introducing various songs into their worship. The most common method\, that of having the song printed o n a single sheet for distribution\, has already been mentioned. And as was there suggested\, these songs are often verses taken at random from song books or poems\, and put into song form. In most cases such songs are vari ed in such a way that the song may both meet the demand for a song of its kind and at the same time appear original. Some\, indeed\, are purely orig inal productions\, some of which have been cited. Just between the “spir ituals” and the standard hymns are these innovation songs. They show wel l the circumstances which they represent. The effort is often made by memb ers of the younger generation of negroes to substitute the new songs\, tog ether with the standard hymns for the old spirituals. They represent a ste p forward\; young educated negroes do not like to be heard singing the sim ple spirituals. They claim that they are songs of the past\, and\, as such [Pg 100] only\, are they beautiful. The following song\, given in the exac t form in which it was distributed\, will serve to illustrate.\n\nBLESSED HOPE.\nBy Rev. W. E. Bailey.\nBlessed hope that in Jesus is given\,\nAll o ur sorrow to cheer and sustain\,\nThat soon in the mansions of heaven\nWe shall meet with our loved ones again.\n\nBlessed hope\, blessed hope\,\nWe shall meet with our loved ones again\,\nBlessed hope\, blessed hope\,\nWe shall meet with our loved ones again.\n\nBlessed hope in the word God has spoken\,\nAll our peace by that word we obtain\,\nAnd as sure as God’s word was never broken\,\nWe shall meet with our loved ones again.\n\nBless ed hope how it shines in our sorrows\,\nLike the star over Bethlehem’s p lain\,\nWe will see our Lord ere the morrow\,\nWe shall meet with our love d ones again.\n\nBlessed hope the bright star of the morning\,\nThat shall herald his coming to reign\,\nHe will come and reward all the faithful\,\ nWe shall meet with our loved ones again.\n(Sung by Rev. J. T. Johnson.)\n \nSuch a song is neither sung to an old melody nor a new tune\; it is not a spiritual\; it is scarcely native nor yet borrowed. It represents the ge neral result that comes from a free intermingling of all. To such a song t here may be any number of tunes\; likewise there are a great many such son gs introduced and may be sung alike to simple tunes. A tune is as easily s elected and rendered as are the words\; words are as easily improvised\, o r written with some care\, as the melodies are natural. But they appeal le ss strongly to the negroes as a rule for the simple reason that “they don’t put a feelin’ in you like the old songs.”\n\nThus the negro’ s religion is dependent upon feeling\; song facilitates and intensifies th e feelings\, and song is the essential joy of much of the negro’s life. Whenever and wherever occasion demands religious manifestation\, the song is the prerequisite. Not only at the[Pg 101] church\, but at lodge celebra tions\, funerals and memorial services\, the song begins the process of “putting a feelin’” in the congregation. Again\, the stress of the negro’s religion is placed upon the supernatural and the life that lies beyond his present sphere. A religious attitude is scarcely conceived by the negro without the fundamental conception of the next world. Thus is li fe contrasted with heaven and hell\; the sinner and the righteous are but temporary\; so will the souls of all one day sing with Jehovah the songs t hat the angels love\; and there will be feeling there\, too. It is thus th at the central themes of the negro’s religious songs reveal both his rel igious nature and his mental attitude\, together with the emotional charac teristics that predominate. And it is easily seen that the negro’s image ry and imagination are scarcely surpassed. His religious fervor depends up on the reality of such imagery\; the folk-song reflects this imagery as no thing else does. Again\, the negro’s sense of sin is ever present in a f eeling of guilt in the struggle between himself and the real or the imagin ary\; consequently he insures himself against a final sense of guilt by st rong declarations of his righteousness as opposed to the sinner’s state. His sense of sin thus becomes less practical\; it is rather an imaginativ e expression of a religious feeling. As the clearest exponent of the negro ’s real self\, the folk song reveals the heart of his psychic nature\; i t is indeed a witness to the fact that “’Ligion’s so sweet”. Does he not sing well and truthfully?\n\nI jus’ got home f’um Jordan\,\nI jus’ got home f’um Jordan\,\nI jus’ got home f’um Jordan\,\n’ Ligion’s so-o-o sweet.\n\nMy work is done an’ I mus’ go\,\nMy work i s done an’ I mus’ go\,\nMy work is done an’ I mus’ go\,\n’Ligi on’s so-o-o sweet.\n\n \n\n \n\n \n\nFootnotes:\n\n[1] This paper presen ts in substance the contents of Chapters I and II of a study on “Negro F olk-Song and Character\,” with other chapters as follows: Chapter III\, The Negro’s Social and Secular Songs\; Chapter IV\, Types of Social Song s among the Negroes\; Chapter V\, Work Songs and Phrases\; Chapter VI\, Th e Negro’s Mental Imagery\; Chapter VII\, Negro Character as Revealed in Folk-Songs and Poetry.\n\n[2] See Atlantic Monthly\, Vol. XIX\, pp. 685 se q.\, Scribners\, Vol. XX\, pp. 425 seq.\, Lippincott’s\, Vol. II\, 617 s eq.\n\n[3] For verses not found in the present-day negro spirituals\, see Slave Songs in the United States\, W. F. Allen\, New York\, 1867\, The Jub ilee Singers\, New York\, 1873\, Plantation and Cabin Songs\, New York\, 1 892.\n\n*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RELIGIOUS FOLK-SONGS OF THE SOUTHERN NEGROES ***\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one—th e old editions will be renamed.\nCreating the works from print editions no t protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States c opyright in these works\, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distri bute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyrig ht royalties. Special rules\, set forth in the General Terms of Use part o f this license\, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ el ectronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. 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If you are not located in the United States\, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.\nTitle : Negro workaday songs\n\nAuthor: Howard Washington Odum\n\nGuy Benton Joh nson\n\nRelease date: November 18\, 2022 [eBook #69378]\n\nLanguage: Engli sh\n\nOriginal publication: New Caledonia: University of North Carolina Pr ess\, 1926\n\nCredits: Tim Lindell\, Harry Lamé\, Jude Eylander and the O nline Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Am erican Libraries.)\n\n*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEGRO WORKA DAY SONGS ***\nPlease see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this tex t.\n\nThe cover image and music transcriptions have been created for this e-text and are in the public domain.\n\nCover image\nTHE UNIVERSITY OF NOR TH CAROLINA\nSOCIAL STUDY SERIES\n\nNEGRO WORKADAY SONGS\nTHE UNIVERSITY O F NORTH CAROLINA\nSOCIAL STUDY SERIES\nThe Negro and His Songs $3.00\nFolk Beliefs of the Southern Negro 5.00\nNegro Workaday Songs 3.00\nSouthern P ioneers 2.00\nLaw and Morals 2.00\nThe Scientific Study of Human Society 2 .00\nSystems of Public Welfare 2.00\nRoads to Social Peace 1.50\nThe Count ry Newspaper 1.50\nChildren’s Interest in Reading 1.50\nNEGRO WORKADAY S ONGS\n\nBY\n\nHOWARD W. ODUM\, Ph.D.\n\nKenan Professor of Sociology and D irector of\nthe School of Public Welfare\, University of\nNorth Carolina\n \nAND\n\nGUY B. JOHNSON\, A.M.\n\nInstitute for Research in Social Science \,\nUniversity of North Carolina\n\nLogo Lux Veritas\nCHAPEL HILL\nTHE UNI VERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA PRESS\nLONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD\nOXFORD UNIVERSI TY PRESS\n1926\n\n[vii]\n\nCopyright\, 1926\, By\nThe University of North Carolina Press\nALL RIGHTS RESERVED\n\nPresses of\nEdwards &\; Broughto n Company\nRALEIGH\n\n[viii]\n\nA vast throng of Negro workaday singers\, mirrors of a race\n\nWorkingmen in the Southern United States from highway \, construction camp\, from railroad and farm\, from city and countryside\ , a million strong\n\nA half million migrants from the South\, Eastward\, Northward\, Westward\, and some South again\n\nNegro offenders in thousand fold in local jails\, county chain gangs\, state and federal prisons\n\nA horde of Southern casual laborers and wanderers down that lonesome road\n \nA brown black army of “bad men”—creepers and ramblers and jamboree breakers\, “travelin’ men” de luxe\n\nItinerant full-handed musicia ners\, music physicianers and songsters\, singly\, in pairs\, quartets\, a lways moving on\n\nA host of women workers from field and home and factory at once singers and subjects of the lonesome blues\n\nA swelling crescend o\, a race vibrato inimitable\, descriptive index of group character\, fol k urge and race power\n\n[ix-\nx]\n\nPREFACE\nNegro Workaday Songs is the third volume of a series of folk background studies of which The Negro and His Songs was the first and Folk-Beliefs of the Southern Negro was the se cond. The series will include a number of other volumes on the Negro and l ikewise a number presenting folk aspects of other groups. The reception wh ich the first volumes have received gives evidence that the plan of the se ries to present scientific\, descriptive\, and objective studies in as int eresting and readable form as possible may be successful in a substantial way. Since the data for background studies are\, for the time being\, prac tically unlimited\, it is hoped that other volumes\, appearing as they bec ome available and timely\, may glimpse the whole range—from the Negro “bad man” to the æsthetic in the folk urge.\n\nIn this volume\, as in previous ones\, the emphasis is primarily social\, although this indicate s no lack of appreciation of the inherent literary and artistic values of the specimens presented. Indeed\, so far as possible\, all examples of fol k expression in this volume are left to tell their own story. The type mel odies and musical notations are presented separately with the same descrip tive purpose as the other chapters\, and they are not offered as a substit ute for effective harmonies and musical interpretation. For the purposes o f this volume\, however\, the separate chapters on the melodies and phono- photographic records with musical notations are very important. It is also important that they be studied separately\, but in the light of the prece ding chapters\, rather than inserted in the text to detract from both the social and artistic interpretation of the songs enumerated.\n\n[xi]\n\nThe Seashore-Metfessel phono-photographic records and musical notations mark an important contribution to the whole field of interpretation of Negro mu sic. There may be an outstanding contribution both to the musical world an d to the whole interpretation of Negro backgrounds in the possible thesis that the Negro\, in addition to his distinctive contribution to harmony\, excels also in the vibrato quality of the individual voice. These studies were made at Chapel Hill and at Hampton by Dr. Carl E. Seashore and Dr. Mi lton Metfessel of the University of Iowa\, under the auspices of the Insti tute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina th rough a special grant of the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial. Full ackn owledgment to them is here made.\n\nIt should be kept constantly in mind t hat this volume\, like The Negro and His Songs\, is in no sense an antholo gy or general collection\, but represents the group of songs current in ce rtain areas in North Carolina\, South Carolina\, Tennessee and Georgia\, d uring the years 1924-25. Of course all of this collection cannot be includ ed in this volume\; and no doubt many of the most important or most attrac tive specimens extant have escaped us at this time. It is also important t o note that in this volume\, as in the previous one\, all specimens listed \, except lines or references otherwise designated\, were taken directly f rom Negro singers and do not represent reports from memory of white indivi duals. So far as we know none of the songs in this collection has been pub lished\, although there are countless variations\, adaptations and corrupt ions of the modern blues and jazz songs represented in the group. The song s\, however\, were all[xii] sung or repeated by actual Negro workers or si ngers\, and much of their value lies in the exact transcription of natural lines\, words\, and mixtures. The collection is still growing by leaps an d bounds. In this volume every type is represented except the “dirty doz en” popular models and the more formal and sophisticated creations.\n\nS ince this volume presents a series of pictures of the Negro as portrayed t hrough his workaday songs it is important that all chapters be read before any final judgment is made. Even then the picture will not be complete. I t has not been possible\, of course\, to make any complete or accurate cla ssification of the songs. They overlap and repeat. They borrow sentiment a nd expression and repay freely. Free labor song becomes prison song\, and chain gang melody turns to pick-and-shovel accompaniment. The chapter divi sions\, therefore\, are made with the idea of approximating a usable class ification and providing such mechanical divisions as will facilitate the b est possible presentation.\n\nThe reader who approaches this volume from t he point of view of the technical student of folk song will likely be disa ppointed at what he considers the lack of discrimination displayed by the authors in admitting so many songs which cannot be classed as strictly fol k songs. We have frankly taken the position that these semi-folk songs\, c rude and fragmentary\, and often having only local or individual significa nce\, afford even more accurate pictures of Negro workaday life and art th an the conventional folk songs. While we have spared no effort to make the collection valuable for folk song students\, we have approached the work primarily as sociologists.\n\n[xiii]\n\nFor assistance in recording the ty pe melodies in Chapter XIV we are specially indebted to Mr. Lee M. Brooks\ , and for many of the songs of women to Mrs. Henry Odum. We wish to thank Mr. Gerald W. Johnson for his goodness in going over much of the manuscrip t and making valuable suggestions. To Dr. L. R. Wilson\, Director of the U niversity of North Carolina Press\, we are much indebted for coöperation and suggestions.\n\nChapel HillH. W. O.\nJanuary\, 1926G. B. J.\n\nCONTENT S\nCHAPTER PAGE\nI. Background Resources in Negro Songs and Work 1\nII. Th e Blues: Workaday Sorrow Songs 17\nIII. Songs of the Lonesome Road 35\nIV. Bad Man Ballads and Jamboree 47\nV. Songs of Jail\, Chain Gang\, and Poli cemen 71\nVI. Songs of Construction Camps and Gangs 88\nVII. Just Songs to Help With Work 118\nVIII. Man’s Song of Woman 135\nIX. Woman’s Song o f Man 152\nX. Folk Minstrel Types 166\nXI. Workaday Religious Songs 188\nX II. The Annals and Blues of Left Wing Gordon 206\nXIII. John Henry: Epic o f the Negro Workingman 221\nXIV. Types of Negro Melodies 241\nXV. Types of Phono-photographic Records of Negro Singers 252\n Bibliography 265\nInde x to Songs 271\nNEGRO WORKADAY SONGS\n\n[1]\n\nCHAPTER I\nBACKGROUND RESOU RCES IN NEGRO SONG AND WORK\nTo discover and present authentic pictures of the Negro’s folk background as found in his workaday songs is a large a nd promising task of which there are many phases. Here are spontaneous pro ducts of the Negro’s workaday experiences and conflicts. Here are reflec tions of his individual strivings and his group ways. Here are specimens o f folk art and creative effort close to the soil. Here are new examples of the Negro’s contributions to the American scene. Here is important mate rial for the newer scientific interest which is taking the place of the ol d sentimental viewpoint. And here is a mine of descriptive and objective d ata to substitute for the emotional and subjective attitudes of the older days.\n\nIt is a day of great promise in the United States when both races \, North and South\, enter upon a new era of the rediscovery of the Negro and face the future with an enthusiasm for facts\, concerning both the new er creative urge and the earlier background sources. Concerning the former \, Dr. Alain Locke recently has said:[1] “Whoever wishes to see the Negr o in his essential traits\, in the full perspective of his achievement and possibilities\, must seek the enlightenment of that self-portraiture whic h the present development of the Negro culture offers.” One of the best examples of that self-portraiture is that of the old spirituals\, long neg lected\, but now happily the subject of a new race dedication and apprecia tion. Now comes another[2] master index of race temperament and portrayal\ , as found in some of the Negro’s newer creations. No less important\, f rom the viewpoint of sheer originality and poetic effort as well as of ind ices of traits and possibilities\, are the seemingly unlimited mines of wo rkaday songs\, weary blues\, and black man ballads. In a previous volume[2 ] we presented a sort of composite picture from two hundred songs gathered two decades ago and interpreted with something of prophetic evaluation. I n this volume of Negro Workaday Songs is presented a deeper mine of source material\, rich in self-portraiture and representative of the workaday Ne gro.\n\n[1]The New Negro\, edited by Alain Locke.\n\n[2]The Negro and His Songs\, by Howard W. Odum and Guy B. Johnson.\n\nIn his Peter the Czar\, v iolent story of “lashed sentences\,” perfectly suited to the depiction of primitive character\, Klabund pictures vividly a certain Great Enemy a bout whose “shivering shoulders lay a rainbow like a silken shawl.” Di gging to the syncopated rhythm of song and fast-whirling pick\, a Negro wo rkman sings of another rainbow\, equally vivid and shoulder-draped\, more concrete\, personal\, and real:\n\nEv’ywhere I look this\,\nEv’ywhere I look this mo’nin’\,\nLooks like rain.\nI got rainbow\nTied ’round my shoulder\,\nAin’t gonna rain\,\nLawd\, ain’t gonna rain.[3]\n[3]Mus ical notation will be found in Chapter XIV.\n\nIn addition to the poetic i magery in this seemingly unconscious motor-minded product\, one may glimps e evidences of simple everyday experience\, wishful thought\, childlike fa ith\, workaday stolidity\, physical[3] satisfaction\, and subtle humor. Bu t he can find still more humor and experience\, with a good bit of metapho r thrown in for good measure\, in the “feet rollin’” stanza of anoth er wanderer’s song of the road:\n\nI done walk till\,\nLawd\, I done wal k till\nFeet’s gone to rollin’\,\nJes’ lak a wheel\,\nLawd\, jes’ lak a wheel.\nResourcefulness\, humor\, defense mechanism\, imagination\, all might be found in the spectacle of a group of Negroes singing over and over again on a hot July day the refreshing lines\,\n\nOh\, next winter g onna be so cold\,\nOh\, next winter gonna be so cold\,\nOh\, next winter g onna be so cold\,\nFire can’t warm you\, be so cold.\nWith the thermomet er around a hundred\, and the work of digging at hand\, this song of “pa rts\,” with some of the singers using the words\, “be so cold\, be so cold” as an echo\, undoubtedly had peculiar merit.\n\nPerhaps there have been few\, if any\, lines of poetry more popular than Wordsworth’s “T he light that never was on sea or land.” The Negro worker sings of a mor e earthly yet equally miraculous light to guide his pathway\, when he comp lains\,\n\nNow ev’y time I\,\nTime I start ’round mountain\,\nMy light goes out\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, my light goes out.\nI’m gonna buy me\,\nBuy m e magnified lantern\,\n[4]\nIt won’t go out\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, it won’t go out.\nHow much of symbolism is to be found in the Negro’s workaday so ngs? How much subjective imagery\, how much unconscious allegory? There ar e abundant examples of the free use of symbolism in his love songs and pop ular jazz appeals. But what does he mean when he sings\,\n\nEver see wild cat\nHug a lion\, Lawd\, Lawd?\nMy ol’ bear cat\nTurn to lion\, Lawd\, L awd.\nEver see lion\nRun lak hell\, Lawd\, Lawd?\nOr contrast this simple individual song\, with its humor and easy-going rhythm\, with the power an d appeal of group singing. Here is a goodly party of two-score white folk\ , seated at twilight under the trees in a grove\, joyous guests at a turke y dinner near the old colonial home. There is merriment. Song and jest\, t oast and cheer abound. The waiters have gone. Then from the kitchen door c omes the song of Negroes\, beginning low\, rising in volume\, telling of t he sinking of the Titanic. What is it in that final harmony of “God move d upon the waters\,” sung by a Negro group\, which silenced the merrymak ers into willing recognition that here may be perfect art and perfect effe ct? Does this Negro minstrel type\, rendered thus in native setting\, beco me for the moment the perfect expression of folk spirit and folk art?\n\nH undreds of verses dedicated to the business of moving about give evidence that the trail of the black knight of the road is strewn with spontaneous[ 5] song\, often turned into polished phrase. A favorite stanza has long be en descriptive of being “on road here few days longer\, then I’ll be g oing home.” Sung again and again\, the song takes on a new form but lose s nothing of its emphatic meaning:\n\nI’m gonna row here\,\nI’m gonna row here\nFew days longer\,\nThen I’ll be gone\,\nLawd\, I’ll be gone. \nFor\, says the worker\, “If I feel tomorrow like I feel today\, I’m gonna pack my suitcase and walk away\,” and “reason I’m workin’ he re so long\, hot flambotia and coffee strong.”\n\nFollowing the trail of the workaday Negro\, therefore\, one may get rare glimpses of common back grounds of Negro life and experience in Southern communities. Here were th e first real plantings of the modern blues\, here songs of the lonesome ro ad\, here bad man ballads\, here distinctive contributions in songs of jai l and chain gang\, here songs of white man and captain\, here Negro Dr. Je kyls and Mr. Hydes. Here are found new expressions of the old spirituals a nd remnants still surviving. Here man’s song of woman is most varied and original\, and woman’s song of man is best echoed from days and nights of other times. Here are reflected the epics of John Henry\, Lazarus\, Dup ree\, and the others. Here are folk fragments\, cries and “hollers\,” songs to help with work\, physical satisfaction and solace\, the “Lawdy- Lawdy” vibrato of evening melancholy and morning yodel. Here may be foun d the subliminal jazz\, rare rhythm and movement\, coöperative harmony as characteristic as ever the old spirituals revealed. Nevertheless\, too mu ch emphasis[6] cannot be placed upon the danger of over-interpretation\, f or while the workaday songs provide a seemingly exhaustive supply of mirro r plate for the reflection of folk temperament and struggle\, too much ana lysis must not obscure their vividness or the beauty and value of their in trinsic qualities.\n\nIt is important to note the extent to which the nota ble popular blues of today\, more formal embodiment of the Negro’s worka day sorrow songs\, have come from these workaday products. Here are true d escendants of the old worshipers who sang so well of the Rock in a weary l and. And echoing from Southern distances\, from Memphis and Natchez\, from New Orleans and Macon\, from Charleston and Atlanta\, and from wayside ro ads and camps\, from jail and chain gang\, come unmeasured volume of harmo ny\, unnumbered outbursts of song\, perfect technique of plaintive appeal. Many of the most plaintive lines of blues yet recorded were gathered deca des ago from camp and road in Mississippi before the technique of the mode rn blues had ever been evolved. Eloquent successors to the old spirituals with their sorrow-feeling\, these songs of the lonesome road have gathered power and numbers and artistic interpretation until they defy description and record. Today the laborer\, the migrant\, the black man offender cons titute types as distinctive and inimitable as the old jubilee singers and those whom they represented. Wherever Negroes work\, or loaf\, or await ju dgment\, there may be heard the weary and lonesome blues so strange and va ried as to reveal a sort of superhuman evidence of the folk soul. No amoun t of ordinary study into race backgrounds\, or historical annals of Africa n folk\, or elaborate anthropological excursions can give so simply and co mpletely the story of this Negro quest for expression\,[7] freedom\, and s olace as these low-keyed melancholy songs.\n\nAnd what names and lines\, w ords and melodies\, records and improvisations of the new race blues! Plai ntive blues\, jolly blues\, reckless blues\, dirty dozen blues\, mama blue s\, papa blues\,—more than six hundred listed by one publisher and produ cer. Here they are—the workaday sorrow songs\, the errant love songs\, t he jazz lyrics of a people and of an age—as clearly distinctive as the o ld spirituals. And how like the road songs and the gang lines\, straight u p from the soil again\, straight from the folk as surely as ever came the old spirituals.\n\nSamples of the growing list of blues\, some less elegan t\, some more aggressive\, will be found in Chapter II. And of course we m ust not forget the bad man blues: Dangerous Blues\, Evil Blues\, Don’t M ess With Me Blues\, Mean Blues\, Wicked Blues\, and most of all the Chain Gang Blues\, Jail Blues\, and the Cell-bound Blues.\n\nAll boun’ in pris on\,\nAll boun’ in jail\,\nCol’ iron bars all ’roun’ me\,\nNo one to pay my bail.\nAnd the singer presents\, as one of his standard versions of many songs\, a regular weekly calendar:\n\nMonday I was ’rested\,\nT uesday I was fined\,\nWednesday I laid in jail\,\nThursday I was tried\,\n Friday wid chain gang band\,\nSaturday pick an’ shovel\,\nSunday I took my rest\,\nMonday wanta do my best.\n[8]\n\nPerhaps the most common concep t found in the chain gang and road songs and appearing here and there in a ll manner of song is the concept of a letter from home\, the inability to go home without “ready money\,” the attempt to borrow from the captain \, or to get a parole.\n\nEvery\, every mail day\,\nI gits letter from my mother\,\nCryin’\, “Son\, come home\,\nLawdy\, son\, come home.”\n I didn’t have no\,\nNo ready-made money\,\nI couldn’t go home\,\nLawd\ , couldn’t go home.\nA constant source of song is the conflict between a ctual conditions and desirable ends\, between life as it is and ideals of wishful dreaming. “I want to go home\,” says the workman\, but “I don’t want no trouble wid de walker.” The resulting product is absence from home\, absence of trouble with the captain or walker\, and abundance of song.\n\nI don’t want no trouble\,\nI don’t want no trouble\,\nI don’t want no trouble wid de walker.\nLawd\, Lawd\, I wanta go home.\nM e an’ my buddy jes’ come\,\nMe an’ my buddy jes’ come\,\nMe an’ my buddy jes’ come here.\nLawd\, Lawd\, wanta go home.\nAgain and again the Negro wanderer portrays home\, parents\, brothers and sisters\, friend s\, as the most highly esteemed of life’s values—striking paradox to t he realism of his practice. Idealism in song and dreams\, in workaday song s as well as spirituals\,[9] alongside sordidness in living conditions and physical surroundings\, appear logical and direct developments from the t ype of habitation which the Negro common man has ever known.\n\nThe Negro “bad man” who sings sorrowfully of his mother’s admonitions and his own mistakes\, glories also in the motor-imaged refrain:\n\nIn come a nigg er named Billy Go-helf\,\nCoon wus so mean wus skeered uf hisself\;\nLoade d wid razors an’ guns\, so they say\,\n’Cause he killed a coon most ev ery day.\nA later chapter is devoted to this notable character\, the “ba d man\,” whose varied pictures represent a separate Negro contribution. Here are new and worthy Negro exhibits to add to the American galaxy of fo lk portraits: Railroad Bill alongside Jesse James\, the Negro “bad man ” beside the Western frontiersman\, and John Henry by Paul Bunyan. For f rom the millions of Negroes of yesterday and as many more today\, with the ir oft-changing and widely varying economic and social conditions\, has co me a rare and varied heritage of folk tradition\, folk character\, and fol k personality. Much of this might remain forever unknown and unsung were i t not for the treasure-house of Negro song\, the product of a happy facili ty for linking up the realities of actual life with wishful thinking and i maginative story.\n\nOf the grand old “saints\,” white haired “Unc les” and “Aunties\,” we have viewed from near and far scores of inim itable examples. Of the thousands of musicianers\, songsters and workers\, and those who sing “down that lonesome road\,” recent epochs have mir rored many. But what of the real and mythical jamboree breakers and bad me n\, or of Po’ Lazarus and[10] Stagolee\, or of John Henry\, “forehande d steel-drivin’ man” and ideal of the Negro worker?\n\nHere are rare f olk figures silhouetted against a sort of shifting race background with it s millions of working folk and wanderers moving suddenly and swiftly acros s the scene. A brown-black army of ramblers\, creepers\, high flyers\, sta ndin’ men\, all-night workers\, polish men\, “stick and ready” from the four corners of the States—Lazarus\, Billy Bob Russel\, Shootin’ B ill\, Brady\, Dupree\, and the others. And then John Henry\, stately and s trong in contrast\, noble exponent of sturdy courage and righteous struggl e\, faithful to death.\n\nJohn Henry went to the mountain\,\nBeat that ste am-drill down\;\nRock was high\, po’ John was small\,\nHe laid down his hammer an’ he died\,\nLaid down his hammer an’ he died.\nA chapter o n “Man’s Song of Woman” will make but a small beginning of a large t ask. Its sequel must be deferred until the lover’s specialisms can be pu blished with a liberal usage of the psychiatrists’ terminology. A chapte r on “Woman’s Song of Man” ought also to have a companion sequel in the book of Negro symbolism. A chapter on “Workaday Religious Songs” c an present only a small portion of those now being sung\, but will be repr esentative of the present heritage of the old spirituals. A chapter on the miscellaneous fragments\, “hollers\,” lines\, incoherent and expres sive “Lawdy-Lawd-Lawds” gives one of the best pictures of the Negro wo rkaday character and habits. Some of these types make a very good safety v alve for the Negro singer\; in a different way their plainness may restrai n the enthusiast from setting too much “store” by all the Negro’s so ngs. The characters of John Henry and[11] Left Wing represent two types\, one the mythical and heroic\, the other the real and commonplace\, both ty pical of the Negro’s idealism and his actual life. The examples of “mo vement and imagery” are as characteristic of the Negro workaday experien ce as were the harmonies and swaying of the old spirituals. They are indic es to guide judgment and interpretation of the Negro temperament. In each of these chapters\, it will be understood\, only enough material is presen ted to illustrate the case\, including\, however\, always the most represe ntative specimens which the authors have been able to collect within their field and time limit. Much that is similar will necessarily await publica tion in volumes in which the chief objective will be preservation and comp leteness rather than interpretation.\n\nMany pictures of the workaday Negr o are presented in this volume through the medium of his songs. They are s ilhouetted\, as it were\, at first against a complex background of Negro l ife and experience. The pictures are vivid\, concrete\, distinct\, often c omplete. But most of all\, perhaps\, they have been moving pictures. From the first glimpse of the Negro singer with his “feet’s gone to rolli n’ jes’ lak a wheel\,” to the last great scene of John Henry dying w ith the “hammer in his hand\,” there is marvelous movement alongside r are imagery. Sometimes rhythm and rhyme\, but always movement\, have domin ated the Negro’s chief characterizations. And this movement in the worka day songs is as much a distinctive feature as were the swaying bodies\, th e soothing rhythm\, and swelling harmony of the old spirituals. Picture th e Negro workingman in his song and story life and you picture him on the m ove.\n\nIt is scarcely possible to describe this element of movement in th e Negro workaday songs. And yet[12] the mere citation and classification o f representative examples will suffice to point out the particular qualiti es of action which might justify the added element of epic style\, if one remembers that the singer’s concept of the heroic\, while very real\, is not exalted in the Greek sense. There are those who do not feel that the Negro’s workaday songs are characterized by the qualities of poetry\; ye t do they not arouse the feelings and imagination in vivid and colorful la nguage? The type of language used—that is the Negro’s own. In the same way there can be no doubt of his songs emphasizing the quality of action\ ; his heroes and principal figures\, like his language\, reflect his conce pts and tell his stories. Whether epic or heroic\,\n\nI’m the hot stuff man\,\nFrom the devil’s land\,\nI’m a greasy streak o’ lightning\, \nDon’t you see\, don’t you see?\nhas plenty of action and imagery in it. And it is characteristic of much of the Negro workaday style of talk\, imagination\, and thought.\n\nMany of the pictures are vivid because of t he action concept and the rhyming metaphors.\n\nIn come a nigger named Sli ppery Jim\,\nNone of de gals would dance wid him\,\nHe rech in his pocket an’ drew his thirty-two\,\nDem niggers didn’t run\, good Gawd\, dey fl ew.\nThere was also a woman\, one Eliza Stone\, from a bad\, bad land\, wh o threatened to break up the jamboree with her razor but who also “jumpe d in de flo’\, an’ doubled up her fist\, say ‘You wanter test yo’ nerve jes’ jump against this.’” Note further a varying reel of movin g characters and scenes.\n\n[13]\n\nPolice got into auto\nAn’ started to chase that coon\,\nThey run ’im from six in the mo’nin’\,\nTill sev en that afternoon.\nThe coon he run so bloomin’ fas’\nTill fire come f rom his heels\,\nHe scorched the cotton an’ burnt the corn\,\nAn’ cut a road through farmers’ fiel’s.\nThe continuous search after the worka day folk song will always provide one of the most important guides to the “discovery” of the Negro. The task of finding and recording accurately the folk expression is a difficult one under most circumstances. Under ce rtain circumstances it is an easy task\, and always an interesting one. If we keep a record of efforts\, taken at random\, as experimental endeavor\ , in a cross country visit through North Carolina\, South Carolina\, Tenne ssee and Georgia\, about ten per cent\, at best\, of the requests for song s will be successful. There are other times\, when setting and procedure a re worked out well\, when almost one hundred per cent success would be att ained. In most instances the Negro is at his “best” when being urged t o coöperate in the rendering of his folk songs. By his “best” is mean t that he reveals a striking nature and strong personality\, whether in af firming stoutly that he knows no songs now or that he has forgotten what h e used to know. He protests vigorously that he does not sing well enough\, that he cannot say the words of songs unless he can sing\, that he cannot sing unless others are singing\, that he has to be in the spirit of the s ong\, or that he will get some songs together and bring them in\, or that he will bring a quartet or a pal. Rarely ever does he “produce” if let alone with only a first approach. Nor can he be blamed. He is entirely wi thin his own self-protecting domain\, so that his attitude may be put[14] down\, not only as a characteristic one but also as a commendable one. He has his own fun\, too\, in the situation. In general there are several typ es from which little success may be expected. The more educated and sophis ticated Negro not only does not as a rule coöperate\, but looks with cons iderable condescension upon those who seek his help. There are many who be lieve that all songs desired are for immediate transcription to printed mu sic or phonograph record. These are of little assistance. Others feel that some hidden motive is back of the request. Still others for various reaso ns do not coöperate. Nor will the Negro student or musician himself find ready coöperation among his common folk who feel constrained to withhold their folk art from the learned of their own race.\n\nPerhaps the most str iking observation that comes from the whole experience is the seemingly in exhaustible supply of songs among the workaday Negroes of the South. We ha ve yet to find a “bottom” or a limit in the work songs among the crowd s of working men in one community. Just as often as there is opportunity t o hear a group of Negroes singing at work\, just so often have we found ne w songs and new fragments. There is so far no exception to this rule. Like wise we have yet to find an individual\, whose efforts have been freely se t forth in the offering of song\, whose supply of songs has been exhausted . Time and time again the approach has been made\, with the response\, “ Naw\, sir\, cap’n\, I don’t know no songs much\,” with an ultimate r esult of song after song\, seemingly with no limit. Partly the singer is h onest\; he does not at the time\, think of many songs nor does he consider himself a good singer\; but when he turns himself “loose” his capacit y for memory and singing is astonishing.\n\n[15]\n\nThe same general rule with reference to dialect is used in this volume as was the case in The Ne gro and His Songs.[4] There can be no consistency\, except the consistency of recording the words as nearly as possible as rendered. Words may occur in two or three variations in a single stanza and sometimes in a single l ine. The attempt to make formal dialect out of natural speech renders the product artificial and less artistic. We have therefore followed the gener al practice of keeping the dialect as simple as possible. Dialect\, after all\, is a relative matter. It is the sort of speech which is not used in one’s own section of the country. As a matter of fact\, much of what has passed as Negro dialect is good white Southern usage\, and there is nothi ng to justify the attempt to set aside certain pronunciations as peculiar to the Negro simply because a Negro is being quoted. Consequently we have refrained from the use of dialect in all cases where the Negro pronunciati on and the usual white pronunciation are the same or practically the same. If the reader will grasp the basic points of difference between Negro and white speech and will then keep in mind the principle of economy\, he wil l have no difficulty in following the peculiarities of dialect.\n\n[4]The Negro and His Songs\, pp. 9-11\, 293-94. There is a good discussion of dia lect in James Weldon Johnson’s Book of American Negro Spirituals\, pp. 4 2-46.\n\nThe principle of economy will be found to operate at high efficie ncy in Negro speech. It will nearly always explain the apparent inconsiste ncies in dialect. For example\, the Negro often says ’bout and ’roun ’ for about and around. But he might vary these to about\, aroun’\, ’round\, and around in a single song\, depending upon the preceding and succeeding sounds. He would say\, “I’ll go ’bout two o’clock\,” but he[16] also would say\, “I went about two o’clock\,” because in the former case it is easier to say ’bout than about\, while in the latt er the reverse is true.\n\nRhythm is also related to dialect. In ordinary speech most Negroes would say broke for broken\, but if the rhythm in sing ing called for a two-syllable sound they would say broken rather than brok e.\n\nVery few of the popular songs which we heard twenty years ago are fo und now in the same localities. The places that knew them will know them n o more. The same disappearing process is going on now\, only more rapidly than formerly because of the multitude of blues\, jazz songs\, and others being distributed throughout the land in millions of phonographic records. One of the first tasks of this volume is\, therefore\, to take cognizance of these formal blues\, both in their relation to the workaday native cre ations and as an important segment of the Negro’s music and his contribu tion to the American scene. In the next chapter we shall proceed\, therefo re\, to discuss the blues.\n\n[17]\n\nCHAPTER II\nTHE BLUES: WORKADAY SORR OW SONGS\nNo story of the workaday song life of the Negro can proceed far without taking into account the kind of song known as the blues\, for\, ne xt to the spirituals\, the blues are probably the Negro’s most distincti ve contribution to American art. They have not been taken seriously\, beca use they have never been thoroughly understood. Their history needs to be written. The present chapter is not a complete statement. It merely presen ts some of the salient points in the story of the blues and offers some su ggestions as to their rôle in Negro life.\n\nBehind the popular blues son gs of today lie the more spontaneous and naïve songs of the uncultured Ne gro. Long before the blues were formally introduced to the public\, the Ne gro was creating them by expressing his gloomy moods in song. To be sure\, the present use of the term “blues” to designate a particular kind of popular song is of recent origin\, but the use of the term in Negro song goes much further back\, and the blue or melancholy type of Negro secular song is as old as the spirituals themselves. The following song might be t aken at first glance for one of the 1926 popular “hits\,” but it dates back to the time of the Civil War.[5]\n\n[5]Allen\, Ware\, and Garrison\, Slave Songs of the United States\, p. 89. This note is appended: “A ver y good specimen ... of the strange barbaric songs that one hears upon the Western steamboats.”\n\nI’m gwine to Alabamy\,—Oh\,\nFor to see my m ammy\,—Ah.\n[18]\nShe went from ole Virginny\,—Oh\,\nAnd I’m her pic kaniny\,—Ah.\nShe lives on the Tombigbee\,—Oh\,\nI wish I had her wid me\,—Ah.\nNow I’m a good big nigger\,—Oh\,\nI reckon I won’t git bigger\,—Ah.\nBut I’d like to see my mammy\,—Oh\,\nWho lives in Ala bamy\,—Ah.\nVery few of the Negro’s ante-bellum secular songs have bee n preserved\, but there is every reason to suppose that he had numerous me lancholy songs aside from the spirituals. At any rate\, the earliest authe ntic secular collections abound in the kind of songs which have come to be known as the blues. The following expressions are typical of the early bl ues. They are taken from songs collected in Georgia and Mississippi betwee n 1905 and 1908\, and they were doubtless common property among the Negroe s of the lower class long before that.[6]\n\n[6]This collection was publis hed by Howard W. Odum in the Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 24\, pp. 255-94\; 351-96.\n\nWent to the sea\, sea look so wide\,\nThought about m y babe\, hung my head an’ cried.\nO my babe\, won’t you come home?\nI got the blues\, but too damn mean to cry\,\nOh\, I got the blues\, but I ’m too damn mean to cry.\nGot nowhar to lay my weary head\,\nO my babe\, got nowhar to lay my weary head.\nI’m po’ boy long way from home\,\nO h\, I’m po’ boy long way from home.\nEver since I left dat country far m\,\nEv’ybody been down on me.\n[19]\n\nHere are blues in the making. Th is is the stuff that the first published blues were made of\, and some of it sounds strikingly like certain of the latest blues records issued by th e phonograph companies. About 1910 the first published blues appeared\, an d since that time they have been exploited in every imaginable form by mus ic publishers and phonograph companies.[7] The inter-relations between the formal blues and the native blues will be discussed later. At present it is necessary to take up certain questions concerning the nature of the blu es.\n\n[7]W. C. Handy is credited with having published the first blues (M emphis Blues\, 1910) and with having had much to do with their popularizat ion. He is still writing songs. His works include Memphis Blues\, St. Loui s Blues\, Beale St. Blues\, Joe Turner Blues\, Yellow Dog Blues\, Aunt Hag ar’s Blues\, and others.\n\nWhat are the characteristics of the native b lues\, in so far as they can be spoken of as a type of song apart from oth er Negro songs? The original blues were so fragmentary and elusive—they were really little more than states of mind expressed in song—that it is difficult to characterize them definitely. The following points\, then\, are merely suggestive.\n\nIn the first place\, blues are characterized by a tone of plaintiveness. Both words and music give the impression of lonel iness and melancholy. In fact\, it was this quality\, combined with the Ne gro’s peculiar use of the word “blues\,” which gave the songs their name. In the second place\, the theme of most blues is that of the love re lation between man and woman. There are many blues built around homesickne ss and hard luck in general\, but the love theme is the principal one. Som etimes the dominant note is the complaint of the lover:\n\n[20]\n\nGoi n’ ’way to leave you\, ain’t comin’ back no mo’\,\nYou treated m e so dirty\, ain’t comin’ back no mo’.[8]\nWhere was you las’ Satt aday night\,\nWhen I lay sick in bed?\nYou down town wid some other ol’ girl\,\nWusn’t here to hol’ my head.[9]\nSometimes it is a note of lon ging:\n\nI hate to hear my honey call my name\,\nCall me so lonesome and s o sad.[10]\nI believe my woman’s on that train\,\nO babe\, I believe my woman’s on that train.[11]\nAt other times the dominant note is one of d isappointment:\n\nI thought I had a friend was true\;\nDone found out frie nds won’t do.[12]\nAll I hope in this bright worl’\,\nIf I love anybod y\, don’t let it be a girl.[13]\n [8]The Negro and His Songs\, p. 184. \n\n [9]Ibid.\, p. 185.\n\n[10]Ibid.\, p. 224.\n\n[11]Ibid.\, p. 222.\n\ n[12]Ibid.\, p. 250.\n\n[13]Ibid.\, p. 181.\n\nA third characteristic of t he blues is the expression of self pity.[14] Often this is the outstanding feature of the song. There seems to be a tendency for the despondent or b lue singer to use the technique of the martyr to draw from others a reacti on of sympathy. Psychologically speaking\, the technique consists of ratio nalization\, by which process the singer not only excuses his shortcomings \, but attracts the attention and sympathy of others—in imagination\, at least—to[21] his hard lot. The following expressions will make the poin t clear.[15]\n\n[14]For a discussion of this subject\, see Lomax\, “Self -pity in Negro Folk Song\,” Nation\, vol. 105\, pp. 141-45.\n\n[15]Illus trations are taken from The Negro and His Songs unless otherwise indicated .\n\nBad luck in de family\, sho’ God\, fell on me\,\nGood ol’ boy\, jus’ ain’t treated right.\nPoor ol’ boy\, long ways from home\,\n I’m out in dis wide worl’ alone.\nOut in dis wide worl’ to roam\,\ nAin’t got no place to call my home.\nNow my mama’s dead and my swee t ol’ popper too\,\nAn’ I ain’t got no one fer to carry my troubles to.\nIf I wus to die\, little girl\, so far away from home\,\nThe folks\, honey\, for miles around would mourn.\nNow it is apparent to any one famil iar with the folk songs of various peoples that the blues type\, as it has been described above\, is not peculiar to the Negro\, but is more or less common to all races and peoples. So far as subject matter and emotional e xpression are concerned\, the lonesome songs of the Kentucky mountaineer\, of the cowboy\, of the sailor\, or of any other group\, are representativ e of the blues type. If this be so\, then why was it that the Negro’s so ng alone became the basis for a nationally popular type of song? The answe r to this question is\, of course\, far from simple. For one thing\, the w hole matter of the Negro’s cultural position in relation to the white ma n is involved. The Negro’s reputation for humor and good singing is also important. Perhaps\, too\, the psychology of fads would have to be consid ered. But\, speaking in terms of the qualities of the songs themselves\, w hat is there about them to account for the superior status enjoyed by the Negro’s melancholy songs?\n\n[22]\n\nTo begin with\, the Negro’s pecul iar use of the word “blues” in his songs was a circumstance of no mean importance. Much more significant\, however\, was the music of the blues. The blues originated\, of course\, with Negroes who had access to few ins truments other than the banjo and the guitar. But such music as they broug ht forth from these instruments to accompany their blues was suited to the indigo mood. It was syncopated\, it was full of bizarre harmonies\, sudde n changes of key and plaintive slurs. It was something new to white Americ a\, and it needed only an introduction to insure its success.\n\nBut there is still another feature of the blues which is probably responsible more than any other one thing for their appeal and fascination\, and that is th eir lack of conventionality\, their naïveté of expression. The Negro was tes no time in roundabout or stilted modes of speech. His tale is brief\, his metaphor striking\, his imagery perfect\, his humor plaintive. Express ions like the following have made the blues famous.\n\nLooked down the roa d jus’ far as I could see\,\nWell\, the band did play “Nearer\, My God to Thee.”\nWell\, I started to leave an’ I got ’way down the track\ ;\nGot to thinkin’ ’bout my woman\, come a-runnin’ back.\nWish to Go d some ol’ train would run\,\nCarry me back where I came frum.\nI laid i n jail\, back to the wall:\nBrown skin gal cause of it all.[16]\n[16]See P errow\, “Songs and Rhymes from the South\,” Journal of American Folk-L ore\, vol. 28\, p. 190.\n\nWhen the first published blues appeared\, the p roblem for the student of Negro song began to become complicated. It is no longer possible to speak with certainty of the folk blues\, so entangled are the relations[23] between them and the formal compositions. This inter -relation is itself of such interest and importance that it demands the ca reful attention of students of folk song. Only a few points can be touched upon in the present work\, but an attempt will be made at least to indica te some of the ramifications of the subject.\n\nThere is no doubt that the first songs appearing in print under the name of blues were based directl y upon actual songs already current among Negroes.[17] Soon after Handy be gan to issue his blues\, white people as well as Negroes were singing them heartily. But a song was never sung long in its original version alone. T he half-dozen stanzas of the original often grew to a hundred or more\, fo r many singers took pride in creating new stanzas or adapting parts of oth er songs to the new one. Sometimes publishers would issue second and third editions\, incorporating in them the best of the stanzas which had sprung up since the preceding edition. Thus\, even before the phonograph became the popular instrument that it is today\, the interplay between folk creat ions and formal compositions had become extremely complex.\n\n[17]See Jame s Weldon Johnson\, The Book of American Negro Poetry\, pp. x-xiv\; and Dor othy Scarborough\, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs\, pp. 269-70.\n\nIn th e last ten years the phonograph record has surpassed sheet music as a conv eyor of blues to the public. Sheet music\, however\, is still important. I n fact\, practically every “hit” is issued in both the published and p honographed form. But the phonograph record obviously has certain advantag es\, and it is largely responsible for the present popularity of the blues . Most of the large phonograph companies now maintain special departments devoted to the recording[24] of “race blues.” They employ Negro artist s\, many of whom have already earned national reputations\, and they adver tise extensively\, especially in the Negro press.\n\nIn spite of the extre mes to which exploitation of the blues has gone in recent years\, there is often an authentic folk element to be found in the present-day formal pro ductions. Some of the phonograph artists are encouraged by their employers to sing blues of their own making. When the artist has had an intimate ac quaintance with the life of his race and has grown up among the blues\, so to speak\, he is often able to produce a song which preserves faithfully the spirit of the folk blues. The folk productions of yesterday are likely to be found\, albeit sometimes in versions scarcely recognizable\, on the phonograph records of today. That this is the case is indicated by the fo llowing comparison of a few of the lines and titles of songs collected twe nty years ago with lines and titles of recent popular blues songs.\n\nLine s and Titles of Songs Collected Twenty Years Ago[18] Lines and Titles of R ecent Popular Blues\nLaid in jail\, back to the wall. Thirty days in jail with my back turned to the wall.\nJailer\, won’t you put ’nother man i n my stall? Look here\, mister jailer\, put another gal in my stall.\nBaby \, won’t you please come home? Baby\, won’t you please come home?\nWon der where my baby stay las’ night? Where did you stay last night?\nI got my all-night trick\, baby\, and you can’t git in. I’m busy and you can’t come in.\nI’ll see her when her trouble’s like mine.[25] I’m gonna see you when your troubles are just like mine.\nSatisfied. I’m sa tisfied.\nYou may go\, but this will bring you back. I got what it takes t o bring you back.\nJoe Turner Joe Turner blues.\nLove\, Kelly’s love. Lo ve\, careless love.\nI’m on my las’ go-’round. Last go-’round blue s.\n[18]See Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 24\; also The Negro and H is Songs.\n\nWhen a blues record is issued it quickly becomes the property of a million Negro workers and adventurers who never bought it and perhap s never heard it played. Sometimes they do not even know that the song is from a record. They may recognize in it parts of songs long familiar to th em and think that it is just another piece which some songster has put tog ether. Their desire to invent a different version\, their skill at adaptin g stanzas of old favorites to the new music\, and sometimes their misunder standing of the words of the new song\, result in the transformation of th e song into many local variants. In other words\, the folk creative proces s operates upon a song\, the origin of which may already be mixed\, and pr oduces in turn variations that may later become the bases of other formal blues. A thorough exposition of this process would take us far beyond the limits of this volume\, but the following instances are cited to illustrat e generally the interplay between the folk blues and the formal blues.\n\n Here is a specimen captured from a Negro girl in Georgia who had just retu rned from a trip to “Troit\,” Michigan.\n\nWhen you see me comin’\nT hrow yo’ woman out de do’\,\n[26]\nFor you know I’s no stranger\,\ nFor I’s been dere once befo’.\nHe wrote me a letter\,\nNothin’ in i t but a note.\nI set down an’ writ him\,\n“I ain’t no billy goat.” \nStandin’ on de platform\,\nWorried in both heart an’ soul\;\nAn’ befo’ I’d take yo’ man\nI’d eat grass like a Georgia mule.\nI lov e my man\nLak I love myse’f.\nIf he don’t have me\nHe won’t have nob ody else.\nNow this song is a mixture of several popular blues. The first stanza is from the House Rent Blues\, and is sung practically the same as on the phonograph record. The second stanza is from the Salt Water Blues a nd is like the original except for the repetition in the original of the f irst two lines. The third stanza is also from the Salt Water Blues\, but i t is a combination and variation of two stanzas which go as follows:\n\nSi ttin’ on the curbstone\,\nWorried in both heart an’ soul\;\nLower th an a ’possum\nHidin’ in a ground-hog hole.\nI wrote my man\,\n“I a in’t nobody’s fool\;\nAn’ befo’ I’d stand your talkin’\nI’d eat grass like a Georgia mule.”\nThis girl does not worry over the lack of consistent meaning in the third stanza of her song. Furthermore\, as fa r as she is concerned\, “soul” and “mule” rhyme about as well as “fool” and “mule.” The fourth[27] stanza of her song\, finally\ , is taken from Any Woman’s Blues\, there having been\, however\, a slig ht variation in the second line. The original is:\n\nI love my man\nBetter than I love myself\;\nAn’ if he don’t have me\,\nHe won’t have nobo dy else.\nThus in a single song we have examples of the processes of borro wing\, combining\, changing\, and misunderstanding through which formal ma terial often goes when it gets into the hands of the common folk. The comp osite of four stanzas presented above has no very clear meaning in its pre sent form\, but at that it is about as coherent as any of the blues from w hich it was assembled.\n\nLeft Wing Gordon\, whose story is told in Chapte r XII\, is a good study in the relation of folk song and formal blues. Lef t Wing’s repertoire is practically unlimited\, for he appears to have re membered everything that he has ever heard. One of his favorite expression s is\n\nYou don’t know my mind\,\nYou don’t know my mind\;\nWhen you s ee my laughin’\,\nI’m laughin’ to keep from cryin’.\nThis comes fr om You Don’t Know My Mind Blues\, a popular sheet music and phonograph p iece today. Left Wing sings dozens of stanzas\, some evidently from the pu blished versions\, some of his own making\, ending each one with “You don’t know my mind\,” etc. Nearly all of his songs showed this sort of mixture of formal and folk material.\n\nAs an example of the misunderstan ding\, deliberate twisting of the words of a phonograph blues\, or lapse[2 8] of memory\, the following instance may be cited. In the Chain Gang Blue s this stanza occurs.\n\nJudge he gave me six months\n’Cause I wouldn’ t go to work.\nFrom sunrise to sunset\nI ain’t got no time to shirk.\nA Southern Negro on a chain gang recently sang it thus:\n\nJudge he give me sentence\n’Cause I wouldn’t go to work.\nFrom sunrise to sunset\nI d on’t have no other clean shirt.\nExamples of this kind might be multipli ed indefinitely\, but these will suffice. In the notes on the songs in the various chapters of this book will be found comments bearing upon the rel ation of formal blues and folk songs.\n\nThus it is clear that in many cas es there is a complex inter-relation and interaction between the folk song and the formal production. But the tendency has been on the whole for the latter to get further and further away from folk sources. Few authors now attempt to do more than imitate certain features of the old-time blues. I n order to understand more clearly the present situation\, it is necessary to consider for a moment the blues as they are manufactured today.\n\nThe re are at least three large phonograph companies which give special attent ion to Negro songs. They will be designated herein as “A\,” “B \,” and “C.” The following table\, compiled from data obtained from the general “race record” catalogs of these three companies\, gives an idea of the importance of the blues.\n\n[29]\n\nBrand\nof\nRecord Total\n No. of\nTitles\nin\nCatalog No.\nReligious\nand\nClassical\nTitles No.\nSe cular\nTitles Titles\nContaining\nWord “Blues”\n Number Percent age\nof Secular\nSongs\n“A” 592 34[19] 558 263 43\n“B” 430 90[20] 340 154 40\n“C” 298 44[19] 254 108 42\n[19]No classical titles listed. \n\n[20]Includes 28 classical titles.\n\nIn this table only those titles i ncluding the word “blues” have been counted as blues. If the term were expanded to include all songs which are now popularly known as blues\, it would be found that upwards of seventy-five per cent of the total number of secular songs listed in the catalogs would fall in this class. The “A” catalog bears the title\, “A” Race Records—The Blue Book of Blues\; the “B” catalog follows titles like Oh\, Daddy\, Brown Baby\, Long Lost Mama\, etc.\, with the explanation\, “blues song” or “blue s record”\; and the “C” catalog bears the title\, “C” Race Rec ords—The Latest Blues by “C” Colored Artists. Certainly the popular notion among both whites and Negroes now is that practically every Negro s ong which is not classed as a spiritual is a blues. The term is now freely applied to instrumental pieces\, especially to dance music of the jazz ty pe\, and to every vocal piece which\, by any stretch of the imagination\, can be thought of as having a bluish cast.\n\nA survey of the titles in th e three catalogs mentioned above yields some interesting data concerning t he nature of the formal blues. For one thing\, there are sixty or seventy titles of the place or locality type. Southern states and cities figure pr ominently in this[30] kind of blues\, although the popularity of Northern localities is on the increase. The favorite states are Alabama\, Georgia\, Louisiana\, Mississippi\, Texas\, and Virginia. The chief titles for thes e states are as follows:\n\nAlabama\nAlabama Blues\nBirmingham Blues\nMobi le Blues\nSelma Bama Blues\nBama Bound Blues\nGeorgia\nAtlanta Blues\nDeca tur Blues\nGeorgia Hunch\nGeorgia Blues\nLouisiana\nLake Pontchartrain Blu es\nLou’siana Low-down Blues\nNew Orleans Hop Scop Blues\nNew Orleans Wi ggle\nShreveport Blues\nMississippi\nMississippi Blues\nOle Miss Blues\nMi ssissippi Delta Blues\nTexas\nDallas Blues\nHouston Blues\nRed River Blues \nWaco Texas Blues\nSeawall Special Blues\nVirginia\nVirginia Blues\nHampt on Roads Blues\nNorfolk Blues\nThere are also\, to name only a few others\ , Arkansas Blues\, Florida Blues\, California Blues\, Carolina Blues\, Oma ha Blues\, Michigan Water Blues\, Memphis Blues\, Tulsa Blues\, St. Louis Blues\, Salt Lake City Blues\, Wabash Blues\, and Blue Grass Blues. Finall y there are foreign titles\, such as London Blues and West Indies Blues. T itles\, of course\, are not to be taken as accurate indices of the content s of the songs. As a matter of fact\, most of the songs bearing titles of the locality type really deal with the relation of man and woman.\n\nAnoth er feature of the formal blues is their tendency to specialize in certain slang expressions. “Sweet[31] mama\,” “sweet papa\,” “daddy\ ,” “jelly roll\,” and a few other expressions have been thoroughly p opularized among certain classes\, white and Negro\, by the blues songs. B y actual count\, titles containing one or more of the words\, “mama\ ,” “daddy\,” “papa\,” “baby\,” constitute twenty-five per ce nt of the total number of secular titles in the catalogs referred to above .\n\nIt is to be expected that a very large proportion of these present-da y blues (using the term now in the broad sense as it is popularly used) de als with the relation of man and woman. In fact\, if the locality types\, most of which are based on the love relation\, and the “mama-papa” typ e were eliminated from the count\, there would be a mere handful left. The following titles will give some impression of the nature of the songs whi ch deal with the man-woman relation.[21]\n\n[21]Any one who is acquainted with the slang and vulgarity of the lower class Negro will suspect immedia tely that there are often double meanings in titles like those listed here . Such is the case. Negro songs writers and phonograph artists usually hav e had intimate acquaintance with Negro life in all of its forms\, and they have doubtless come across many a song which was too vulgar to be put int o print\, but which had certain appealing qualities. Often a melody was to o striking to be allowed to escape\, so the writer fitted legitimate verse s to it and\, if it was at all possible\, preserved the original title. Th us it comes about that many of the popular Negro songs of today—and whit e songs\, too\, as for that—have titles that are extremely suggestive\, and are saved only by their perfectly innocuous verses. The suggestiveness of the titles may also be one explanation of why these songs have such a tremendous appeal for the common folk\, black and white. It may be that in these songs\, whitewashed and masked though they be\, they recognize old friends.\n\nLeave My Sweet Papa Alone\nI’ve Got a Do-right Daddy Now\nMi streated Mama\nSlow Down\, Sweet Papa\, Mama’s Catching up With You\nSwe et Smellin’ Mama\nBlack but Sweet\, O God\nHow Do You Expect to Get My L ovin’?[32]\nHe May Be Your Man\, but He Comes to See Me Sometimes\nChang eable Daddy\nGo Back Where You Stayed Last Night\nHow Can I Be Your Sweet “Mama” When You’re “Daddy” to Some One Else?\nYou Can Have My Ma n if He Comes to See You Too\nThat Free and Easy Papa of Mine\nYou Can’t Do What My Last Man Did\nMistreatin’ Daddy\nIf I Let You Get Away With It Once You’ll Do It All the Time\nDaddy\, You’ve Done Put That Thing on Me\nI’m Tired of Begging You to Treat Me Right\nMy Man Rocks Me With One Steady Roll\nDo It a Long Time\, Papa\nNo Second Handed Lovin’ for M ine\nI Want a Jazzy Kiss\nI’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down\nBeale Stre et Mama\nBig Fat Mama\nLonesome Mama\nYou’ve Got Everything a Sweet Mama Needs but Me\nIf You Don’t Give Me What I Want I’m Gonna Get It Somew here Else\nMama Don’t Want Sweet Man Any More\nIf You Sheik on Your Mama \nMean Papa\, Turn in Your Key\nTake It\, Daddy\, It’s All Yours\nHow Lo ng\, Sweet Daddy\, How Long?\nYou Can Take My Man but You Can’t Keep Him Long\nCan Anybody Take Sweet Mama’s Place?[33]\nYou Don’t Know My Min d\nBaby\, Won’t You Please Come Home?\nThen there are innumerable miscel laneous titles and sentiments. One may have the Poor Man Blues\, Red Hot B lues\, Through Train Blues\, Railroad Blues\, Crazy Blues\, Stranger Blues \, Don’t Care Blues\, Goin’ ’Way Blues\, Bleedin’ Hearted Blues\ , Cryin’ Blues\, Salt Water Blues\, Mountain Top Blues\, Thunderstorm Bl ues\, Sinful Blues\, Basement Blues\, House Rent Blues\, Reckless Blues\, and even the A to Z Blues. Here again however\, titles are misleading\, fo r practically all songs bearing such titles really deal with the man-woman theme.\n\nIt may be worth mentioning that the majority of these formal bl ues are sung from the point of view of woman. A survey of titles in the “A\,” “B\,” and “C” catalogs shows that upwards of seventy-fiv e per cent of the songs are written from the woman’s point of view. Amon g the blues singers who have gained a more or less national recognition th ere is scarcely a man’s name to be found.\n\nIt is doubtful whether the history of song affords a parallel to the American situation with regard t o the blues. Here we have the phenomenon of a type of folk song becoming a great fad and being exploited in every conceivable form\; of hundreds of blues\, some of which are based directly upon folk productions\, being dis tributed literally by the million among the American people\; and the Negr o’s assimilation of these blues into his everyday song life. What the ef fects of these processes are going to be\, one can only surmise. One thing is certain\, however\, and that is that the student of Negro song tomorro w will have to know what was[34] on the phonograph records of today before he may dare to speak of origins.\n\nWhether the formal blues have come to stay or not\, it is impossible to tell at present. Possibly they will und ergo considerable modification as the public becomes satiated and the Negr o takes on more and more of the refinements of civilization. That their pr esent form\, however\, is acceptable to a large section of Negro America i s indicated by the fact that the combined sales of “A\,” “B\,” and “C” blues records alone amount to five or six millions annually.\ n\nThe folk blues will also undergo modification\, but they will always re flect Negro life in its lower strata much more accurately than the formal blues can. For it must be remembered that these folk blues were the Negr o’s melancholy song long before the phonograph was invented. Yet the for mal songs are important. In their own way they are vastly superior to the cruder folk productions\, since they have all of the advantages of the art ificial over the natural. They may replace some of the simpler songs and t hus dull the creative impulse of the common Negro folk to some extent\, bu t there is every reason to suppose that there will be real folk blues as l ong as there are Negro toilers and adventurers whose naïveté has not bee n worn off by what the white man calls culture.\n\nThe plaintiveness of th e blues will be encountered in most of the songs of this volume. It is pre sent because most of the songs were collected from the class of Negro folk who are most likely to create blues. In the next chapter certain general songs of the blues type have been brought together but the note of lonesom eness and melancholy will be struck in the songs of the other chapters as well\, especially in those dealing with jail and chain gang\, construction camp\, and the relation of man and woman.\n\n[35]\n\nCHAPTER III\nSONGS O F THE LONESOME ROAD\nThe blues par excellence are\, of course\, to be foun d in those songs of sorrow and disappointment and longing which center aro und the love relation.[22] But the song of the “po’ boy long ways from home” who wanders “down that lonesome road” is rich in pathos and p laintiveness. The wanderer is not unlike the old singer who sang\,\n\nSome times I hangs my head an’ cries\nI’m po’ little orphan chile in de worl’\nSometimes I feel like a motherless chile\nNobody knows de troubl e I’ve had\nThis ol’ worl’s been a hell to me\nI’m rollin’ throu gh an unfriendly worl’\n[22]See Chapters VII and VIII for the songs of t his type. This chapter deals with more general lonesome songs.\n\nTypical of the lonesome note in the present-day songs of the wanderer are the foll owing lines:\n\nI’m gonna tell my mama when I git home\nHow people treat ed me way off from home\nFreezin’ ground wus my foldin’ bed las’ nig ht\nGot up in the mornin’\, couldn’t keep from cryin’\nMy shoes all wore out\nMy clothes done tore to pieces\nTrouble gonna follow me to my gr ave\nBad luck in family\, sho’ God\, fell on me\nAin’t got nuthin’ t o eat\nSick all night on de street\nI been mistreated all my days[36]\nP o’ boy got nowhere to lay his head\nWell\, rock was my pillah las’ nig ht\nClothes all wet\, feet on the ground\nPo’ boy\, dey don’t give me no show\nLaw’\, I’m so worried I don’t know what to do\nI’m gonna ketch dat train\, don’t know where it’s from\nThe workhouse settin ’ ’way out on lonesome road\nAlways wanderin’ about\nNowhere to lay my head\nDis po’ man’s life is misery\nPocketbook was empty\, my heart was full of pain\nIn the “Annals and Blues of Left Wing Gordon”[23] w ill be found something of the story of one representative of all those bla ck folk who sing down the lonesome road. Left Wing had traveled the loneso me road in at least thirty-eight states of the union. His type is legion. Here is another whose parents died before he was eight years of age. Thenc e to Texas\, and Louisiana\, across Mississippi to Georgia\, then down to Florida\, back through South Carolina to his home state\, North Carolina. Abiding there shortly\, thence to Maryland and Washington\, to St. Louis\, thence to Ohio\, thence to New York\, back to Philadelphia\, across again to Ohio\, then the war and camp\, and armistice and more travels\, with p eriods of “doing time.” Then back again to the lonesome road.\n\n[23]S ee Chapter XII.\n\nNowhere is self-pity in the plaintive song better expre ssed than in the forlorn Negro’s vision of himself\, the last actor in t he wanderer drama\, folks mourning his death\, hacks in line\, funeral wel l provided for.[37] Sometimes reflecting on his hard life\, he pictures hi s own funeral!\n\nLook down po’ lonesome road\,\nHacks all dead in line\ ;\nSome give nickel\, some give a dime\,\nTo bury dis po’ body o’ mine .\nPerhaps he will jump into the sea or off the mountain or lay his head o n a railroad track. Then folks will miss him and mourn his tragic end. He feels that he has more than his share of trouble and hard luck. Sometimes he sings that he cannot keep from crying:\n\nI can’t keep from cryin’\ nLook down dat lonesome road an’ cry\nYou made me weep\, you made me moa n\nWoke up in de mornin’\, couldn’t keep from cryin’\nI got de blu es an’ can’t keep from cryin’\nThe following songs show this note of hard luck\, weeping\, and self-pity:\n\nShip My Po’ Body Home\n\nIf I s hould die long way from home\nShip my po’ body home.\nAx fer a nickel\, ax fer a dime\,\nAx fer a quarter\, ship my po’ body home\,\nLawd\, ship my po’ body home.\nAin’t got no money\,\nAin’t got nothin’ to eat \,\nSick all night on de street\;\nIf I die long way from home\nShip my po ’ body home.\n[38]\n\nPity Po’ Boy\n\nPity a po’ boy\nStray ’way f rom home\,\nPity a po’ boy\nStray ’way from home.\nIf I ever gits back \,\nI sho’ never mo’ to roam\;\nIf I ever gits back\,\nI sho’ neve r mo’ to roam.\nI Rather Be in My Grave\n\nI lef’ my rider standin’ in back do’ cryin’\,\n“Lawd\, please don’t leave me behin’.”\n You mistreat me\, you drove me from yo’ do’\,\nGood book say you got t o reap what you sow.\nI’m goin’ ’way\, Lawd\, I’m goin’ ’way \,\nI ain’t comin’ back\, Lawd\, at all.\nIf my mind don’t change\, Lawd\,\nIf my mind don’t change\, I ain’t comin’ back.\nWoke up this mornin’\, blues all around my bed\,\nSnatch up my pillow\, blues all un der my head.\nI’m feelin’ blue\, mama\, feel blue you know\,\nI feel b lue all day long.\nLawd\, I’m worried now\, Lawd\,\nBut I won’t be wor ried long.\nI feel like train\, mama\,\nAin’t got no drivin’ wheel.\nI rather be daid in six foot o’ clay\,\nI rather be in my grave.\nThrow M yself Down in de Sea\n\nGoin’ up on mountain top\,\nLord\, goin’ up on mountain top\,\nO Lord\, goin’ up on mountain top\,\nThrow myself down in de sea.\n[39]\nThrow myself down in sea\,\nO Lord\, throw myself down i n sea\;\nGoin’ up on mountain top\,\nThrow myself down in sea.\nPo’ Ni gger Got Nowhere to Go\n\nPo’ nigger got nowhere to go\,\nPo’ nigger g ot nowhere to go\,\nPo’ nigger got nowhere to go\,\nNothin’ but dirt a ll over de flo’.\nClothes am dirty rags\,\nClothes am dirty rags\,\nClot hes am dirty rags\,\nStuff in dirty bags.\nBeds am ragged an’ ol’\,\nB eds am ragged an’ ol’\,\nBeds am ragged an’ ol’\,\nNo money to b uy no mo’.\nI Wish I Was Dead\n\nOver de hill is de po’ house\,\nPleas e don’t let me go.\nA place to sleep\, somethin’ to eat\,\nI don’t a st no mo’\,\nI don’t ast no mo’.\nMy clothes am done tore to pieces\ ,\nMy shoes am all wo’ out\;\nGot nobody to do my patchin’\,\nAlways w anderin’ about\,\nAlways wanderin’ about.\nAin’t got nobody to love me\,\nNowhere to lay my head.\nDis po’ man’s life am a misery\,\nLawd\ , Lawd\, how I wish I was dead\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, how I wish I was dead.\n[4 0]\n\nTrouble All My Days[24]\n\nTrouble\, trouble\,\nBeen had it all my d ays.\nTrouble\, trouble\,\nGot to mend dis nigger’s ways.\nTrouble\, tro uble\,\nI believe to my soul\nTrouble gonna kill me dead.\nTrouble\, troub le.\nBut I’s gwine away\,\nTo rid trouble off my min’.\nBut I’s gwin e away\,\nTo rid trouble off my min’.\nFair brown\, fair brown\,\nWho ma y yo’ regular be?\nIf you got no regular\,\nPlease take a peep at me.\nT rouble\, trouble\,\nBeen had it all my day\;\nBelieve to my soul\nTrouble gonna kill me dead.\nSay\, look here\, man\,\nSee what you done done\;\nYo u done made me love you\,\nNow you tryin’ to dog me ’roun’.\n[24]Thi s song is very much like a popular phonograph record\, Downhearted Blues. Cf. also Trouble\, Trouble Blues.\n\nI Can’t Keep From Cryin’[25]\n\nI received a letter that my daddy was dead\,\nHe wasn’t dead but he was s lowly dyin’.\nJust to think how I love him\,\nI can’t keep from cryi n’.\nI followed my daddy to the buryin’ ground\,\nI saw the pall-beare r slowly ease him down.\nThat was the last time I saw my daddy’s face.[4 1]\nI love you\, sweet daddy\, but I just can’t take your place.\n[25]A somewhat condensed version of a phonograph song\, Death Letter Blues.\n\nP o’ Little Girl Grievin’\n\nPo’ little girl grievin’\,\nPo’ littl e girl grievin’\,\nLawdy\, Lawdy\, po’ little girl grievin’\,\nPo’ little girl grievin’.\nLittle girl wid head hung down\,\nLittle girl wi d head hung down\,\nLawdy\, Lawdy\, little girl wid head hung down\,\nI’ m sorry for little girl wid head hung down.\nSorry yo’ man\,\nSorry yo ’ man\,\nLawdy\, Lawdy\, sorry\nYo’ man done left you.\nStandin’ at station weepin’\,\nStandin’ at station weepin’\,\nLawd\, standin’ at station weepin’\n’Cause her man done gone.\nDon’t treat me lak us ed to\,\nDon’t treat me lak used to\,\nLawd\, girl don’t treat me lak used to\,\nDon’t treat me lak used to.\nLawd\, I don’t know why\,\nLaw d\, I don’t know why\,\nLawdy\, Lawdy\, I don’t know why\,\nDon’t tr eat me lak used to.\nIt won’t be long\,\nIt won’t be long\,\nLawdy\, L awd\, it won’t be long\,\nLawd\, it won’t be long.\nThe old line\, “po’ boy ’long way from home\,” is still a favorite. In the Neg ro’s songs and stories of wanderings\, home and father and mother are th emes of constant appeal\, apparently much in contrast to the[42] Negro’s actual home-abiding experiences. The old spirituals sang mostly of the he avenly home of dreams and ideals as opposed to the experience in which “ this ol’ world been a hell to me.” In his wanderer song of today the N egro’s wish-dream to be back home appears an equally striking contrast. Nowhere in the workaday songs is childlike and wishful yearning so marked as in these constant songs of homesickness and of the desire for something that is not.\n\nAlways accompanying the singer’s dreams of home is his contrasting forlorn condition in the present hour. It would be difficult t o find better description of situations than that in which he pictures him self as tired and forsaken on the lonesome road. Parts of this picture may be gathered from the following lines taken here and there from his songs: \n\nTake\, oh\, take me\, take me back home\nMy sister’s cryin’ back h ome\nIf I die long way from home\nMy home ain’t here an’ I ain’t got to stay\nO Lord\, captain\, won’t you let me go home\nDaddy sick\, mamm y dead\,\nGoin’ back South\, dat’s where I’m bound.\nEvery mail day I gits letter from my mother\,\nSayin’\, “Son\, son\, come home.”\ nI’m one hundred miles from home\nAn’ I can’t go home this way.\nI didn’t have no ready-made money\,\nI couldn’t go home.\nA place to sl eep\, something to eat\,\nI don’t ast no mo’.\nLook down dat lonesome road an’ cry\n[43]\n\nA variety of songs of home or home-folk\, of surce ase from work\, will be found wherever Negroes sing. This fact is recogniz ed by the publishers of blues when they advertise\, “These blues will ma ke every Negro want to hurry back home.” The plaintive longing for home\ , alongside expressions of weeping and self-pity\, is the theme of most of the following songs of the road:\n\nI’m Goin’ Home\, Buddie\n\nAll ’round the mountain\, Buddie\,\nSo chilly and cold\, Buddie\,\nSo chilly and cold\, Buddie\,\nBut I’m goin’ home\, Buddie\, I’m goin’ home .\nTake this hammer\, Buddie\,\nCarry it to the boss\, Buddie\,\nCarry it to the boss\, Buddie\,\nTell him I gone home\, Buddie\, I gone home.\nI go t a wife\, Buddie\,\nWith two little children\, Buddie\,\nWith two little children\, Buddie\,\nTell ’em I’m comin’ home\, Buddie\, I’m com in’ home.\nThat Ol’ Letter\n\nThat ol’ letter\,\nRead about dyin’\ ;\nBoy\, did you ever\,\nThink about dyin’?\nThen I can’t read it\nNow for cryin’\,\nTears run down\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, tears run down.\nPo’ Ho meless Boy\n\nIn de evenin’ de sun am low\,\nIn de evenin’ de sun am l ow\,\nIn de evenin’ de sun am low\,\n[44]\nDis po’ homeless boy got no where to go\,\nDis po’ homeless boy got nowhere to go\,\nNowhere to go.\ nDaddy sick\, mammy daid\,\nDaddy sick\, mammy daid\,\nPo’ boy got nowhe re to lay his haid\,\nPo’ boy got nowhere to lay his haid\,\nLay his hai d.\nClothes all wo’\, feet on de groun’\,\nClothes all wo’\, feet on de groun’\,\nGoin’ back down South\, dat’s where I’s boun’\,\ nGoin’ back down South\, dat’s where I’s boun’\,\nWhere I’s bo un’.\nHome in a two-room shack\,\nHome in a two-room shack\,\nHome in a two-room shack\,\nCook in de fire\, pipe in de crack\,\nCook in de fire\, pipe in de crack\,\nPipe in de crack.\nTake Me Back Home\n\nTake me\, oh\, take me\,\nTake me back home.\nMy mammy’s weepin’\, daddy’s sleep in’\,\nIn de ol’ grave yard.\nTake me\, oh\, take me\,\nTake me back h ome.\nPlease\, Mr. Conductor\n\nWhen I left home mother was ill\,\nAnd she needed the doctor’s care\,\nThat’s the reason I came to the city\,\ nI’ll pay you my fare next time.\nPlease\, Mr. Conductor\,\nDon’t put me off this train.\nThe best friend I have in this world\nIs waiting for m e in pain.\n[45]\n\nCaptain\, I Wanta Go Home\n\nWhen I call on captain\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\nHe ast me what I need.\nCaptain\, captain\, I tol’ captai n\,\nLawd\, I wanta go back home.\nHe tol’ me\, Lawd\, why you want to g o home\, Shine?\nSay you got to make your time.\nCaptain call me ’bout h alf pas’ fo’\,\nCaptain\, Lawd\, I wouldn’t go.\nWant me to go in ki tchen\,\nDraw water\, make fire.\nCaptain\, captain\, what make you call m e so soon?\nPoor Shine\, Lawd\, captain\, wish I was home.\nI went out on road\nWid pick and shovel\, too.\nI pick a lick or two\,\nCaptain\, can’ t I go back home?\nCaptain\, captain\, won’t you take me\,\nLawd\, Lawd\ , captain\, won’t you take me back?\nMy home ain’t here\, captain\,\ nAn’ I ain’t got to stay.\nO Lawd\, captain\, captain\, Lawd\,\nWon’ t you let me go home?\nWill I Git Back Home?\n\nLaw’\, I do wonder\,\n Law’\, I do wonder\,\nLaw’\, I do wonder\,\nWill I git back home\, huh ?\nWill I git back home\, huh?\nWell cuckoo\, cuckoo\,\nKeep on hollerin ’\,\nAn’ mus’ be day\, Law’\,\nMus’ be day.\n[46]\nWell whistle\ , whistle\,\nKeep on blowin’\,\nAn’ time ain’t long\,\nUhuh\, time ain’t long.\nLawd\, Lawd\, I’m on My Way\n\nAin’t had nothin’ to eat\,\nAin’t had nowhere to sleep\,\nFreezin’ ground wus my foldin’ bed\,\nBut I’m on my way\,\nO Lawd\, I’m on my way.\nWhat makes you ho ld yo’ head so high?\nAny way you hold yo’ head\,\nThat’s way you go nna die\,\nThat’s way you gonna die.\nI sho’ don’t want to go\,\nB ut I’m goin’ up country\nSingin’ nothin’ but you\;\nI’m goin’ up country\,\nSingin’ nothin’ but you.\nGoin’ Down Dat Lonesome Road [26]\n\nGoin’ down dat lonesome road\,\nOh\, goin’ down dat lonesome r oad\,\nAn’ I won’t be treated this-a way.\nSprings on my bed done brok en down\,\nAn’ I ain’t got nowhere to lay my head.\nNow my mamma’s d ead an’ my papa\, too\,\nAn’ it left me alone wid you.\nAn’ you caus e me to weep an’ you cause me to moan\,\nAn’ you cause me to leave my happy home.\nLongest train I ever saw\nWas nineteen coaches long.\nDarli n’ what have I done to you?\nWhat makes you treat me so?\nAn’ I won’ t be treated this-a way.\n[26]For the music of this song\, see Chapter XIV . A song of this name has been found in the Kentucky mountains\, and a pho nograph record (Lonesome Road Blues) based on it has recently appeared. Cf . also The Lonesome Road in Miss Scarborough’s On the Trail of Negro Fol k-Songs\, p. 73.\n\n[47]\n\nCHAPTER IV\nBAD MAN BALLADS AND JAMBOREE\nTher e is this fortunate circumstance which contributes to the completeness and vividness of the Negro portraits as found in workaday songs: the whole pi cture is often epitomized in each of several characters or types of singer s and their songs. Thus the picture may be viewed from all sides and from different angles\, with such leisure and repetition as will insure accurat e impressions. One of these types is the “po’ boy long way from home ” singing down “that lonesome road\,” as represented in the previous chapter. Whether in his ordinary daily task\, or on his pilgrimages afar\ , or in the meshes of the law\, this singer approaches perfection in the d elineation of his type. Another type is that to be found in the story of L eft Wing Gordon as presented in Chapter XII\, and of John Henry in Chapter XIII. Likewise\, the songs of jail and chain gang\, the songs of women an d love\, and the specialized road songs all embody that fine quality of fu ll and complete reflection of the folk spirit in the Negro’s workaday li fe and experience.\n\nThere is perhaps no type\, however\, which comes mor e nearly summarizing certain situations\, experiences\, and backgrounds th an the Negro “bad man\,” whose story will make an heroic tale of consi derable proportions. In many ways the “bad man from bad man’s land” is a favorite. He is eulogized by the youngsters and sung by the worker by the side of the road. One preacher even described Christ as a man who wou ld “stand no foolin’ wid.” “Jesus such great man\, no one lak him. Lord\, he could pop lion’s head[48] off jes’ lak he wus fryin’-size chicken an’ could take piece o’ mountain top and throw it across the world.” And as for that other bad man\, “Nicotemus\,” why Jesus\, wh en he got through with him\, had him following behind a donkey like any ot her slave.[27] There was that other young Negro who “was no comfort to p reacher\, but was a hawk like pizen. Mens like him and wimmin belonged to him wid his winnin’ ways.” In a previous volume[28] we pointed out som e of the characteristic experiences and modes of the Negro bum\, “bully of this town\,” Railroad Bill\, Stagolee\, Brady\, and the others\, of t wenty years ago. Since that time the tribe has apparently not diminished a nd flourishes well in the atmosphere of modern life\, migration\, and the changing conditions of race relations. Of the statistical and environmenta l aspects of the Negro criminal much will be reported in another study.[29 ] In this chapter we are concerned with the portrait of a type\, perhaps i nexorably drawn into the maelstrom of his day and turned into an inevitabl e product. He is no less an artist than the wanderer\, the “travelin’ man\,” or Left Wing Gordon. He is the personification of badness mixed w ith humor\, of the bad man and the champion of exploits. We have already r eferred to the Negro who “wus so mean wus skeered of hisself\,” compet itor to that other one whose\n\n... eyes wus red an’ his gums wus blue\, \n’Cause he wus a nigger right through and through.\nThere were still ot her companions to these in Slippery Jim\, Slewfoot Pete\, and Ann-Eliza St one\, “mean wid[49] her habbits on” and breaking up the “jamboree. ”[30] A common phrase\, indeed\, threatened always to “break up dis ja mboree” in exchange for slighting one’s “repertation.”\n\n[27]Cite d by Dr. E. C. L. Adams of Columbia\, S. C.\n\n[28]The Negro and His Songs \, page 164 seq.\n\n[29]A study of Negro crime directed by J. F. Steiner\, for the Institute for Research in Social Science\, at the University of N orth Carolina.\n\n[30]See Swan and Abbot\, in Eight Negro Songs\, New York \, 1923.\n\nMany are the bad men\, and vivid the descriptions. Said one\, “Lawd\, cap’n\, take me till tomorrow night to tell ’bout dat boy. Eve’ybody skeered uv him. John Wilson jes nachelly bully\, double j’i nted\, awful big man\, didn’t fear ’roun’ nobody. Would break up e v’y do he ’tended. Go to picnic\, take all money off’n table. Coul dn’t do nothin’ wid him. Seen feller shoot at him nine times once an ’ didn’t do nothin’ to him\, an’ he run an’ caught up wid fell er an’ bit chunk meat out o’ his back\, ... but one man got him wid br itch loader an’ stop ’im from suckin’ eggs.”\n\nWe have found no b lack bad-man ballads superior to the old ones\, Railroad Bill\, Stagolee\, That Bully of this Town\, Desperado Bill\, Eddy Jones\, Joe Turner\, Brad y\,[31] and the others. And yet\, the current stories sung on the road are more accurate portrayals of actual characters and experiences\, and perha ps less finished songs\, less formal rhyme. Take Lazarus\, for instance\, a hard luck story\, portraying something of Negro sympathy\, burial custom \, general reaction. Here is a character more to be pitied than censured\, according to his companions. Listen to three pick-and-shovel men\, tracin g “po’ Lazarus” from the work camp where he\, poor foolish fellow\, robbed the commissary camp and then took to his heels. Thence between the mountains where the high sheriff shot him down\, back to the camp and bury ing ground\, with mother\, wife\,[50] brothers\, sisters\, comrades weepin g\, attending the funeral\, where they “put po’ Lazarus away at half pas’ nine.”\n\n[31]The Negro and His Songs\, pages 196-212.\n\nBad Ma n Lazarus\n\nOh\, bad man Lazarus\,\nOh\, bad man Lazarus\,\nHe broke in d e commissary\,\nLawd\, he broke in de commissary.\nHe been paid off\,\nHe been paid off\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\nHe been paid off.\nCommissary man\, \nCommissary man\,\nHe jump out commissary window\,\nLawd\, he jump out co mmissary window.\nStartin’ an’ fall\,\nO Lawd\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\nCommiss ary man startin’ an’ he fall\,\nO Lawd\, Lawd\, Lawd.\nCommissary man swore out\,\nLawd\, commissary man swore out\,\nLawd\, commissary man swor e out\nWarrant for Lazarus.\nO bring him back\,\nLawd\, bring him back\,\n O Lawd\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\nBring Lazarus back.\nThey began to wonder\,\nLawd\ , they began to wonder\,\nLawd\, they began to wonder\nWhere Lazarus gone. \nWhere in world\,\nLawd\, where in world\,\nLawd\, where in world\nWill t hey find him?\n[51]\nWell\, I don’t know\,\nI don’t know\,\nWell\, Law d\, Lawd\,\nWell\, I don’t know.\nWell\, the sheriff spied po’ Lazarus \,\nWell\, the sheriff spied po’ Lazarus\,\nLawd\, sheriff spied po’ L azarus\nWay between Bald Mountain.\nThey blowed him down\,\nWell\, they bl owed him down\,\nWell\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\nThey blowed him down.\nThey shot po ’ Lazarus\,\nLawd\, they shot po’ Lazarus\,\nLawd\, they shot po’ La zarus\nWith great big number.\nWell\, forty-five\,\nLawd\, great big forty -five\,\nLawd\, forty-five\,\nTurn him roun’.\nThey brought po’ Lazaru s\,\nAnd they brought po’ Lazarus\,\nLawd\, they brought po’ Lazarus\n Back to the shanty.\nBrought him to de number nine\,\nLawd\, brought him t o number nine\,\nLawd\, they brought him to the number nine\,\nLawd\, they brought po’ Lazarus to number nine.\nOl’ friend Lazarus say\,\nLawd\, old friend Lazarus say\,\nLawd\, old friend Lazarus say\,\n“Give me coo l drink of water.\n“Befo’ I die\nGood Lawd\, ’fo’ I die\,\nGive me cool drink of water\,\nLawd\, ’fo’ I die.”\n[52]\nLazarus’ mother say\,\nLawd\, Lazarus’ mother say\,\n“Nobody know trouble\nI had with him\,\n“Since daddy died\,\nLawd\, since daddy been dead\,\nNobody know the trouble I had\nSince daddy been dead.”\nThey goin’ bury po’ Laz arus\,\nLawd\, they goin’ bury ol’ Lazarus\,\nThey goin’ bury po’ Lazarus\nIn the mine.\nAt half pas’ nine\, O Lawd\,\nGood Lawd\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\nGoin’ bury po’ Lazarus\nAt half pas’ nine.\nMe an’ my budd y\,\nLawd\, me an’ my buddy\,\nWe goin’ over to bury him\,\nHalf pas ’ nine.\nHalf pas’ nine\,\nO Lawd\, Lawd\, half pas’ nine\,\nWe go in’ over to bury him\,\nHalf pas’ nine.\nLazarus’ mother say\,\n“L ook over yonder\,\nHow dey treatin’ po’ Lazarus\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, Law d.”\nThey puttin’ him away\,\nLawd\, they puttin’ him away\,\nLawd\, they puttin’ Lazarus away\,\nHalf pas’ nine.\nIt would be difficult t o find a scene and setting more appealing than this ballad being sung by a group of workingmen in unison\, with remarkable harmony\, fine voices\, i nimitable manner. “Doesn’t this singing[53] hinder you in your work? ” we asked one of the pick-and-shovel men\, just to see what type of rep ly he would make. With first a slow look of surprise\, then a sort of pity for the man who would ask such a question\, then a “Lawdy-Lawd-Cap’ n” outburst of laughter\, “Cap’n dat’s whut makes us work so much better\, an’ it nuthin’ else but.” And one of the group acted the pa rt of the “shouter” very much like the hearers in the church. He would sing a while\, then dig away in silence\, then burst out with some exhort er’s exclamation about the song\, giving zest to the singing\, contrast to the imagery\, authority to the story. Once as the singers recorded the shooting of Lazarus\, he shouted\, “Yes\, yes\, Lawd\, Lawd\, I seed ’ em\, I wus dere”\; and again when they sang of his mother weeping\, “Y es\, Lawd\, I wus right dere when she come a-runnin’. I know it’s tr ue.” Taken all in all\, the sorrowful story of Lazarus\, with its painst aking sequence and its melody as sung on this occasion\, it is doubtful if ever Negro spiritual surpassed it in beauty and poignancy.\n\nThe above v ersion was heard at Danielsville\, Georgia. A similar but shorter one\, cu rrent in North Carolina\, is called Billy Bob Russell. “Reason why dey c alls it dat is Billy Bob Russell an’ Lazarus been buddies for years\, pr etty mean boys til dey gits grown. Billy Bob Russell\, he’s from Georgia an’ I think Lazarus act sorta like robber or highway robber or someth in’\, follow road camp all time.”[32]\n\n[32]Other Negroes affirm that Billy Bob Russell was a white man\, a Georgia construction foreman and a very noted one.\n\n[54]\n\nBilly Bob Russell\n\nCap’n tol’ high sherif f\,\n“Go an’ bring me Lazarus\,\nBring him dead or alive\,\nLawd\, bri ng him dead or alive.”\nEve’ybody wonder\nWhere in world dey would fin d him\,\nThen I don’t know\,\nCap’n\, I don’t know.\nLazarus tol’ high sheriff\,\nHe had never been ’rested\nBy no one man\,\nLawd\, Lawd\ , by no one man.\nThen they found po’ Lazarus\nIn between two mountains\ ,\nWid his head hung down\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, wid his head hung down.\nShoot po’ Lazarus\,\nCarried him over to shanty\,\nLawd\, shoot po’ Lazarus\ ,\nCarried him over to shanty.\nLazarus’ sister she run\nAn’ tol’ he r mother\nThat Lazarus wus dead\,\nLawd\, Lazarus wus dead.\nThen Lazarus tol’ high sheriff\,\n“Please turn me over\nOn my wounded side\,\nLawd\ , on my wounded side.”\nLazarus tol’ high sheriff\,\n“Please give me drink water\nJes’ befo’ I die\,\nLawd\, jes’ befo’ I die.”\n[55 ]\nLazarus’ mother\,\nShe laid down her sewin’\,\nShe wus thinkin’ b out trouble\nShe had had wid Lazarus.\nIn contrast to the more finished rh yming stanzas of Railroad Bill and the earlier heroic epics\, note the sim ple\, vivid ballad-in-the-making type of unrhymed song so common as a type of pick-and-shovel melody. Note the accuracy of the picture\, its truenes s to actual workaday experience\, the phrase description. Such a song in t he making and in the rendering defies description or competition as a folk -mirror. Differing somewhat and yet of the same general sort of characteri zation is the current story of Dupree\, versions of which have been taken from Asheville\, North Carolina\, and various other places in Georgia and North Carolina. One of the most interesting aspects of this Dupree song is that it may be compared with the Atlanta ballad of the white Frank Dupree as popularly sung on the phonograph records. The story of the white culpr it warns his young friends in the usual way and asks them to meet him in h eaven. His crime was\, first\, snatching a diamond ring for his sweetheart \, then shooting the policeman to death\, then fleeing but coming back bec ause he could not stay away from his “Betty.” There is little similari ty of expression between the white version and the Negro one. Here is the more finished of the Negro songs.\n\nDupree\n\nDupree was a bandit\,\nHe w as so brave and bol’\,\nHe stoled a diamond ring\nFor some of Betty’s jelly roll.\n[56]\nBetty tol’ Dupree\,\n“I want a diamond ring.”\nDu pree tol’ Betty\,\n“I’ll give you anything.”\n“Michigan water\nT aste like cherry wine\,[33]\nThe reason I know:\nBetty drink it all the ti me.\n“I’m going away\nTo the end of the railroad track.\nNothing but s weet Betty\nCan bring me back.”\nDupree tol’ the lawyer\,\n“Clear me if you can\,\nFor I have money to back me\,\nSure as I’m a man.”\nThe lawyer tol’ Dupree\,\n“You are a very brave man\,\nBut I think you wi ll\nGo to jail and hang.”\nDupree tol’ the judge\,\n“I am not so bra ve and bol’\,\nBut all I wanted\nWas Betty’s jelly roll.”\nThe jud ge tol’ Dupree\,\n“Jelly roll’s gonna be your ruin.”\n“No\, no\, judge\, for that is\nWhat I’ve done quit doin’.”\nThe judge tol’ Dupree\,\n“I believe you quit too late\,\nBecause it is\nAlready your fa te.”\n[33]See phonograph record\, Michigan Water Blues.\n\nIn striking c ontrast to the Dupree just given is one sung by a young Negro who had been in the chain gang[57] a number of times and whose major repertoire consis ted of the plaintive chain gang songs. Here the singer has translated the version into his own vernacular\, varying lines\, eschewing rhyme\, carryi ng his story through the regular channels of the prison type. The lines ar e given exactly as sung\, repetitions and irregularities constituting thei r chief distinction. And yet something of the same story runs through it. It is perhaps a little nearer the Atlanta version\, and the singer adds st ill another interpretation that Dupree and Betty had quarreled and as a re sult Dupree had killed her and hidden her body in the sawdust. An interest ing local color is that Dupree was sent to Milledgeville\, Georgia\, where as a matter of fact is situated the combined state prison and hospital. H ere\, then\, is the song with its mixed imagery and reflection of a certai n mentality.\n\nDupree Tol’ Betty\n\nBetty tol’ Dupree\nShe want a dia mond ring\;\nBetty tol’ Dupree\nShe want a diamond ring.\nDupree tol’ Betty\,\nGonna pawn his watch an’ chain\;\nDupree tol’ Betty\,\nGonna pawn his watch an’ chain.\nDupree left here cold in han’\,\nDupree lef t here cold in han’\,\nBut when he git back to Georgia\,\nHe was wrapped up all in chains.\nDupree tol’ Betty\,\n“Gonna git that diamond rin g.”\nBetty tol’ Dupree\,\n“If you stay in love with me\,\n[58]\nHu rry an’ git that diamond ring\;\nIf you stay in love with me\,\nHurry an’ git that diamond ring.”\nDupree tol’ Betty\,\nHe git that diamon d ring\;\nDupree tol’ Betty\,\nHe git that diamond ring\,\nHe went to th e pawnshop\nAn’ snatched the diamond ring\,\nHe went to the pawnshop\n An’ snatched the diamond ring.\nHigh-sheriff come git Dupree\,\nTook him in the jail.\nLawd\, jail keeper come and git Dupree\,\nTook him to the j ail.\nLawd\, jail keeper took Dupree\nAn’ put him in his cell\,\nLawd\, jail keeper took Dupree\nAn’ put him in his cell.\nDupree ask the sherif f\nWhat he had done\,\nLawd\, Dupree ask the sheriff\nWhat he had done.\nS heriff tol’ him\nHe had snatched diamond ring\,\nSheriff told him\nHe ha d snatched diamond ring.\nDupree say he ain’t killed no man.\nJailer t ol’ him take it easy\,\n’Cause he done snatched the diamond ring\,\n ’Cause he done snatched the diamond ring.\nHe say\, “I aint got no c ase ’gainst you\nBut I bound to put you in jail.”\nHe say\, “I aint got no case ’gainst you\nBut I bound to put you in jail.”\nDupree laid in jail\nSo long they tried to hang him\;\nThey tried to take him to cour t\n[59]\nAn’ taken him back again\,\nJudge give him the same old sentenc e\,\nLawd\, judge give him the same old sentence.\nSay\, “Dupree you kil l that po’ little girl\nAn’ hid her in the sawdust.\nDupree\, we got h angin’ for you\,\nSorry\, Dupree\, we got to hang po’ you.”\nThey tr y to take him to Milledgeville\,\nLawd\, tried to take him to Milledgevill e\,\nPut him in a orphans’ home\,\nLawd\, to keep him out of jail.\nA po pular bad man song of many versions is the Travelin’ Man. No one has eve r outdistanced him. A long story\, rapidly moving\, miraculously achieving \, triumphantly ending\, it represents jazz song\, phonograph record\, ban jo ballad\, quartet favorite\, although it is not easy to capture. Three v ersions have been found in the actual singing\, one by a quartet which cam e to Dayton\, Tennessee\, to help entertain the evolution mongers\; anothe r by Kid Ellis\, of Spartanburg\, South Carolina\, himself a professed tra veling man\; a third by a North Carolina Negro youth who had\, however\, m igrated to Pennsylvania and returned after traveling in seven or eight oth er states of the union. The South Carolina version\, which is given here\, is of the Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’ type of vaudeville and ballad mixtu re.\n\nTravelin’ Man\n\nNow I jus’ wanna tell you ’bout travelin’ man\,\nHis home was in Tennessee\;\nHe made a livin’ stealin’ chickens \nAn’ anything he could see.\nChorus:\nHe was a travelin’ man\,\nHe ce rtainly was a travelin’ man\,\n[60]\nHe was mos’ travelin’ man\nThat ever was in this lan’.\nAnd when the law got after that coon\,\nHe cert ainly would get on the road.\nAn’ if a train pass\, no matter how fas’ \,\nHe certainly would get on boa’d.\nHe was a travelin’ man\,\nWas se en for miles aroun’\,\nHe never got caught\, an’ never give up\nUntil the police shot him down.\nThe police shot him with a rifle\,\nAn’ the b ullet went through his head\,\nThe people came for miles aroun’\nTo see if he was dead.\nThey sent down South for his mother\,\nShe was grieved an d moved with tears\,\nThen she open the coffin to see her son\,\nAn’ the fool had disappeared.\nThe police got in an auto\nAn’ started to chase that coon\,\nThey run him from six in the mornin’\nTill seven that after noon.\nThe coon ran so bloomin’ fast\nThat fire come from his heels\;\nH e scorched the cotton an’ burnt the corn\nAn’ cut a road through the f armer’s’ fields.\nThe coon went to the spring one day\nTo get a pail o f water\;\nThe distance he had to go\nWas two miles and a quarter.\nHe got there an’ started back\,\nBut he stumbled an’ fell down\;\nHe went to the house and got another pail\,\nAn’ caught the water ’fore it hit t he ground.\nThe coon stole a thousand dollars\,\nWas in broad open day tim e.\n[61]\nI ast the coon if he wa’n’t ashame\nTo commit such an awful crime.\nThey put the coon on the gallows\nAn’ told him he would die\;\nH e crossed his legs an’ winked his eye\nAnd sailed up in the sky.\nThe co on got on the Titanic\nAn’ started up the ocean blue\,\nBut when he saw the iceberg\,\nRight overboa’d he flew.\nThe white folks standin’ on t he deck\,\nSaid “Coon\, you are a fool.”\nBut ’bout three minutes af ter that\nHe was shootin’ craps in Liverpool.\nFor the rest of this pict ure of the bad man the simple presentation of songs and fragments in suffi cient numbers to illustrate main types will suffice. His name is legion\, and he ranks all the way from the “polish man” to the “boll-weevil n igger\,” much despised of the common man of the better sort. Bad men com e into peaceful and industrious communities and disturb the peace. They fl ow in from other states to add to the number of offenders\, yet in spite o f their numbers and character\, the church throng\, the picnic\, the funer al and other social occasions seem to have much fewer murders and fracases than formerly. If the bad man can be turned into song and verse\, with th e picture of adventure and romance becoming more and more mythical\, the N egro will profit by the evolution. For the present\, however\, here are sa mples of the portrayals most commonly sung\, with apologies to all improvi sators\, minstrel artists\, and white-folk imitators of Negro verse.\n\n[6 2]\n\nBolin Jones\n\nBolin Jones wuz\nA man of might\,\nHe worked all day\ nAnd he fit all night.\nO Lawsy\, Lawsy\,\nHe’s a rough nigger\,\nHan’ to his hip\,\nFingers on de trigger.\nLay ’em low\,\nLay ’em low\,\nW hen Bolin’s ’round\,\nMind whar you go.\nRoscoe Bill\n\nI’m de rowdy from over de hill\,\nI’m de rowdy called Roscoe Bill\,\nRoscoe Bill\, R oscoe Bill\,\nWhen I shoots I’m boun’ to kill.\nI’m Roscoe Bill\nDat never gits skeered\,\nGoes frum shack to shack\,\nTries de udder man’s bed.\nI’m Roscoe Bill\,\nDe man of might\,\nPlum tickled to death\nWhen I raise a fight.\nI’m Roscoe Bill\nDat de women all foller.\nTakes what dey got\,\nDen steals deir dollar.\nLayin’ Low\n\nLayin’ low\, never k now\nWhen de cops about.\nShootin’ crap on my gal’s lap\,\nI’ve got to go my route.\n[63]\nLayin’ low\, never know\,\nWhen de p’liceman’ s walkin’ about\,\nWalkin’ in\, stalkin’ about\,\nDat p’licema n’s walkin’ about.\nDon’t Fool Wid Me\n\nDark town alley’s too sma ll a place\nFor me and that cop to have a fair race.\nI lay low till de ni ght am dark\,\nDen dis here nigger is out for a lark.\nHan’s up\, nigger \, don’t fool wid me\,\nI put nigger whar he ought-a be.\nCreepin’ ’Roun’\n\nWork in de mornin’\,\nIn de evenin’ I sleep.\nWhen de d ark comes\, Lawd\,\nDis nigger got to creep.\nChorus:\nCreepin’ ’rou n’\,\nCreepin’ in\,\nCreepin’ everywhere\nA creeper’s been.\nEats in de mornin’\,\nIn de evenin’ I looks ’roun’.\nWhen de dark comes \, Lawd\,\nA chocolate gal I’ve foun’.\nShootin’ Bill\n\nDere’s a nigger on my track\,\nDere’s a nigger on my track\,\nDere’s a nigger o n my track\,\nLet de undertaker take him back.\nI’m a man shoots de two- gun fire\,\nI’m a man shoots de two-gun fire\,\nI’m a man shoots de tw o-gun fire\,\nI’se got a gal who’s a two-faced liar.\n[64]\nWhen I sho ots\, I shoots to kill\,\nWhen I shoots\, I shoots to kill\,\nWhen I shoot s\, I shoots to kill\,\nDat’s why dey fears Shootin’ Bill!\nI Am Ready For de Fight\n\nWhen at night I makes my bed\,\nWhen at night I makes my bed\,\nWhen at night I makes my bed\,\nPuts my feets up to de head.\nIf de y hunts me in de night\,\nIf dey hunts me in de night\,\nIf dey hunts me i n de night\,\nI am ready fer de fight.\nI sleeps wid one year out\,\nI sle eps wid one year out\,\nI sleeps wid one year out\,\nGot to know when dem rounders ’bout.\nUp an’ down dis worl’\,\nUp an’ down dis worl ’\,\nUp an’ down dis worl’\,\nLookin’ fer dat tattlin’ gal.\nSli m Jim From Dark-town Alley\n\nSlim Jim wus a chocolate drop\,\nSlim Jim wu s a chocolate drop\,\nSlim Jim wus a chocolate drop\nFrom dark-town alley. \nSlim Jim drapped down a cop\,\nSlim Jim drapped down a cop\,\nSlim Jim d rapped down a cop\nIn dark-town alley.\nHy Jim\, hey Jim\, we got you at l as’\,\nHy Jim\, hey Jim\, we got you at las’\,\nHy Jim\, hey Jim\, we got you at las’\nIn dark-town alley.\n[65]\nDe jails kotch him at las’ \, dat chocolate drop\,\nDe jails kotch him at las’\, dat chocolate drop \,\nDe jails kotch him at las’\, dat chocolate drop\nFrom dark-town al-l ey.\nDem bars wus strong\, but Chocolate melted away\,\nDem bars wus stron g\, but Chocolate melted away\,\nDem bars wus strong\, but Chocolate melte d away\,\nBack to dark-town alley.\nI’m a Natural-bo’n Ram’ler\n\n I’m a natural-bo’n ram’ler\,\nI’m a natural-bo’n ram’ler\,\n I’m a natural-bo’n ram’ler\,\nAn’ it ain’t no lie.\nI travels ab out on Monday night\,\nI travels about when de moon is bright.\nI travels about on Tuesday\, too\,\nI travels about when got nuthin’ else to do.\n I travels about on Wednesday mo’n\,\nBeen travelin’ ever since I bee n bo’n\,\nOn Thurs’ I rambles ’round de town\,\nDey ain’t no Jan e kin hol’ me down.\nFriday ketches me wid my foot in my han’\,\nI’m de out-derndest traveler of any man.\nSaturday’s de day I rambles fo’ sumpin to eat\,\nAn’ Sunday de day dis ram’ler sleeps.\nI’m de Hot Stuff Man\n\nI’m de hot stuff man\nFrum de devil’s lan’.\nGo on\, ni gger\,\nDon’t you try to buck me\,\nI’m de hot stuff man\nFrum de de vil’s lan’.\nI’m a greasy streak o’ lightnin’\,\nDon’t you s ee?\nDon’t you see?\nDon’t you see?\n[66]\nI can cuss\, I can cut\,\nI can shoot a nigger up.\nGo on\, nigger\,\nDon’t you try to buck me\,\ nI’m de fas’est man\,\nCan clean up de lan’.\nI’m a greasy strea k o’ lightnin’\,\nCan’t you see?\nI’m a greasy streak o’ lig htnin’\,\nCan’t you see?\nReuben[34]\n\nDat you\, Reuben?\nDat you\, R euben?\nDen dey laid ol’ Reuben down so low.\nSay ol’ Reuben had a wif e\,\nHe’s in trouble all his life.\nDen dey lay Reuben down so low.\nDat you Reuben?\nDat you Reuben?\nDen dey laid Reuben down so low.\nSays ol ’ Reuben mus’ go back\,\nWhen he pawn his watch an’ hack.\nDen dey l aid Reuben down so low.\nSays ol’ Reuben mus’ be dead\,\nWhen he laid upon his bed.\nDen dey laid Reuben down so low.\nDat you Reuben?\nDat you Reuben?\nDen dey laid Reuben down so low.\n[34]We are told that this song is common among the whites of Western North Carolina.\n\nBloodhoun’ on M y Track\n\nBloodhoun’ from Macon right on my track\,\nRight on my track\ , right on my track.\nBloodhoun’ from Macon right on my track\,\nWonder who gonna stan’ my bon’?\n[67]\n\nBuffalo Bill\n\nI’m de bad nigger\ ,\nIf you wants to know\;\nLook at dem rounders\nIn de cemetery row.\nShoo t\, nigger\,\nShoot to kill\,\nWho’s you foolin’ wid?\nMy Buffalo Bill ?\nBuffalo Bill\nWus a man of might\,\nAlways wore his britches\nTwo sizes too tight.\nSplit ’em nigger\,\nRide ’em on a rail\;\nI’ve got de m on to\nPay yo’ bail.\nDat Leadin’ Houn’\n\nDere’s a creeper hangin’ ’roun’\,\nI’m gwiner git ’im I be boun’.\nDen dey put dat feller in de groun’\nAn’ I be listenin’ fer dat houn’\,\nDat leadin’ houn’.\nAll aroun’ here\,\nAll aroun’ here\,\nWhat does I keer?\nListenin’ fer dat leadin’ houn’.\nSteal in home middle o’ de night\,\nGive dem folksies sich a fright.\nSay\, “Feed me\, woman\, t reat me right\,”\nBut she send fer de sheriff\nAn’ de leadin’ houn ’.\nOutrun Dat Cop\n\nHi lee\, hi lo\, happy on de way\,\nHi lee\, hi lo \, outrun dat cop today.\nHi lee\, hi lo\, watch his shirt-tail fly\,\nHi lee\, hi lo\, ’splain to you by and by.\n[68]\n\nDon’t You Hear?\n\n Don’t you hear dat shakin’ noise?\nDon’t you hear dat creepin’ ’roun’?\nDon’t you hear dat stefly walkin’?\nDat’s dat man I la id down\, laid down.\nCan’t you hear dem bones a-shakin’?\nCan’t you hear dem dead man’s moan?\nCan’t you see dem dead man’s sperrits? \nCan’t you see dat man ain’t gone?\nI’s a Natural-bo’n Eastman\ n\nI’s a natural-bo’n eastman\,\nAn’ a cracker jack\,\nI’s a nat ural-bo’n eastman\nAn’ a cracker jack\,\nOn de road again\,\nOn de roa d again.\nI Steal Dat Corn\n\nI steal dat corn\nFrom de white man’s barn \,\nDen I slips aroun’\,\nTells a yarn\,\nAn’ sells it back again.\nI steal dem chickens\nFrom de white man’s yard\,\nDen I tells dat man\nI ’s workin’ hard\,\nAn’ I sells ’em back again.\nI steal de melons\ nFrom his patch\,\nIt takes a smarter man dan him\nFer ter ketch\,\nAn’ I sells ’em back again.\n[69]\n\nI’m de Rough Stuff\n\nI’m de rough stuff of dark-town alley\,\nI’m de man dey hates to see.\nI’m de rough stuff of dis alley\,\nBut de womens all falls for me.\nLawd\, Lawd\, how dey hates me!\nLawd\, Lawd\, how dey swear!\nLawd\, Lawd\, how dey hates m e!\nLawd\, Lad\, what-a mo’ do I care?\nI Ain’t Done Nothin’\n\nWent up to ’Lanta\,\nWho should I meet?\nForty-leben blue coats\nComin’ do wn de street\,\nForty-leben blue coats\nComin’ down de street.\nI ain’ t done nothin’\,\nWhat dey follerin’ after me?\nI ain’t done nothin\ ,\nCan’t dey let me be?\nWhen He Grin\n\nHis head was big an’ nappy\ ,\nAn’ ashy wus his skin\,\nBut good God-a’mighty\, man\,\nYou forget it when he grin.\nHis nose wus long an’ p’inted\,\nHis eyes wus full o’ sin\,\nBut good God-a’mighty\, man\,\nYou forget it when he grin.\ nHis foots wus long an’ bony\,\nAn’ skinny wus his shin\,\nBut good God-a’mighty\, man\,\nYou forget it when he grin.\n[70]\nHe’d fight te n\,\nHe could sin\, always win\,\nBut good God-a’mighty\, man\,\nYou for get it when he grin.\nShot My Pistol in the Heart o’ Town[35]\n\nO Lawd\ ,\nShot my pistol\nIn the heart o’ town.\nLawd\, the big chief hollered\ ,\n“Doncha blow me down.”\nO Lawd\,\nWhich a-way\nDid the po’ gal go ?\nShe lef’ here runnin’\,\nIs all I know.\nO Lawd\,\nWhich a-way\nDo the Red River run?\nLawd\, it run east and west\nLike the risin’ sun.\nB lack gal hollered\,\nLike to scared my brown to death.\nIf I hadn’t had my pistol\nI’d a-run myself.\nO Lawd\,\nJes’ two cards\nIn the deck I love\nLawd\, the Jack o’ Diamonds\nAn’ the Ace o’ Clubs.\nO Lawd\,\n Stopped here to play\nJes’ one mo’ game.\nLawd\, Jack o’ Diamonds\nP etered on my han’.\n[35]For music see Chapter XIV.\n\n[71]\n\nCHAPTER V\ nSONGS OF JAIL\, CHAIN GANG\, AND POLICEMEN\nNot all Negro “bad men” a chieve an abiding place in jail or chain gang. Not all Negroes in jail or chain gang are “bad men”—not by long odds. And yet the prison popula tion of the South contains abundant representations of both major and mino r Negro offenders\, although the indications are that the ratio of Negroes to whites is decreasing rapidly. And if one wishes to obtain anything lik e an adequate or accurate picture of the workaday Negro he will surely fin d much of his best setting in the chain gang\, prison\, or in the situatio ns of the ever-fleeing fugitive from “chain-gang houn’\,” high sheri ff or policeman. “I ain’t free\, Lawd\, I ain’t free\,” sings the prisoner who bemoans the bad luck in which he had “nobody to pay my fi ne.” Never did the old spiritual\, as in “Go down\, Moses\, tell ol’ Pharaoh\, let my people go\,” express more determined call for freedom than the Negro singer behind the bars. Yet the Negro prisoner combines adm irable humor with his wailing song:\n\nI Ain’t Free\n\nDe rabbit in de b riar patch\,\nDe squirrel in de tree\,\nWould love to go huntin’\,\nBut I ain’t free\,\nBut I ain’t free\,\nBut I ain’t free\,\nWould love t o go huntin’\,\nBut I ain’t free\, ain’t free.\n[72]\nDe rooster’s in de hen house\,\nDe hen in de patch\,\nI love to go shootin’\nAt a ol’ shootin’ match\;\nBut I ain’t free\,\nBut I ain’t free\,\nBu t I ain’t free\,\nAt a ol’ shootin’ match\,\nBut I ain’t free\, ain’t free.\nOl’ woman in de kitchen\,\nMy sweetie hangin’ ’ro un’\,\n’Nudder man gonna git ’er\,\nI sho’ be boun’\,\n’Caus e I ain’t free\,\n’Cause I ain’t free\,\n’Cause I ain’t free\, \n’Nudder man ’ll git ’er\,\n’Cause I ain’t free\, ain’t free. \nDig in de road band\,\nDig in de ditch\,\nChain gang got me\,\nAn’ de boss got de switch\nI ain’t free\,\nI ain’t free\,\nI ain’t free\,\n Chain gang got me\,\nAn’ I ain’t free\, ain’t free.\nThis chapter ma kes no approach to the study of the Negro criminal. That will be done in t he scientific inquiries which are now being made at length and in later st udies of the Negro bad man. What the chapter attempts is simply to give fu rther pictures of the Negro workaday singer as he is found behind prison b ars\, or with ball and chain\, or in humorous workaday retrospect or prosp ect of experiences what time he pays the penalty for his misdoings. For th ese prison and road songs\, policeman and sheriff epics\, jail and chain[7 3] gang ballads constitute an eloquent cross-section of the whole field of Negro songs. Many are sung even as the ordinary work songs\; others are i mprovised and varied. One may listen to high-pitched voices\, plaintive an d wailing\, until the haunting melody will abide for days. The prisoners s ing of every known experience from childhood and home to “hard luck in t he family\, sho’ God\, fell on me.” One youngster about twenty-one yea rs of age\, periodic offender with experience on the chain gang and in jai l\, sang more than one hundred songs or fragments and the end was not yet. They cannot be described\; selections are not representative. And yet\, l isten for a while:\n\nJail House Wail\n\nThe jail’s on fire\, Lawd\,\nTh e stockade’s burnin’ down.\nWell\, they ain’t got nowhere\,\nLawd\, to put the prisoners now.\nTaken prisoners out o’ jail\, Lawd\,\nCarri ed ’em to county road.\nSay\, I ruther be in chain gang\nThan be in jail all time.\nSay\, jailer keep you bound down\,\nLawd\, say jailer dog you ’roun’.\nSays if I had my way wid jailer\,\nI’d take an’ lock him in cell.\nI’d take key an’ tie it on door\,\nAn’ go long way from he re\, Lawd\, Lawd.\nSays jail keeper tol’ me\, Lawd\,\nGonna help me get back home.\nWhen time come to be tried\,\nJail keeper lied on me.\n[74]\nI told my mother not to worry at all\,\nLawd\, not to worry at all.\nLawd\, goin’ to road\, mama\,\nTryin’ to make good time.\nMama\, she cried a ll night long\,\nO mama\, she cried all night long.\nWell\, she wiped her tears off\,\nSay\, son\, she won’t cry no more.\nMama come to the road\, Lawd\,\nSee her son on the gang.\nI tol’ her not to bother\,\nLawd\, ca use I got short time.\nOnce on the gang or in the jail continuous song is not unusual. Waking folk with song in early morning\, chanting after meal time\, plaintive in the evening\, the Negro lives over his past life\, giv es expression to his feelings\, and plans the new day\, “standin’ on r ock pile with ball an’ chain\,” or “standin’ on rock pile\, with h ammer in my hand.” He sings of past days\, sorrows that some other man w ill get his girl\, boasts a woman in the white man’s yard—\n\nMy gal s he bring me chicken\,\nMy gal she bring me ham\,\nMy gal she bring me ever ything\,\nAn’ she don’t give a damn.\nSometimes he is more cheerful an d sings\, “cawn pone\, fat meat\, all I gits to eat\, better’n I git a t home\,” “Rings on my arms\, bracelets on my feet\, stronger’n I ha s at home!” And with bunk for a bed and straw for his head\, he sings\ , “baby\, baby\, let me be.” How could he help falling into the hands of the officers anyway?\n\n[75]\n\n’Tain’t as Bad as I Said\n\nGood God a’-mighty!\nWhat’s a fellow gonna do\,\nWhen ol’ black mariah[36 ]\nCome a-sailin’ after you?\nGood God a’-mighty!\nMy feet’s got win gs\,\nDey can take dis ol’ body\nLak she on ’iled springs.\nGood God a’-mighty!\nShe’s right ’roun’ de corner\,\nSho’s you bohn\,\ nDis nigger’s a goner.\nGood God a’-mighty!\n’Tain’t bad as I said \,\nThree square meals a day\nAn’ bunk fer a bed.\n[36]“Black Mariah ” is frequently encountered in Negro songs. It refers to the patrol wago n.\n\nThe songs that follow will illustrate further the Negro’s story of his prison life\, his desire for freedom\, his efforts to escape\, his at titude toward the policeman\, jailer and sheriff\, and his humorous interp retation of various situations in which he finds himself. Vivid pictures t hey are.\n\nIf I Can Git to Georgia Line\n\nIf I can git to Georgia line\, \nIf I can git to Georgia line\,\nLawd\, if I can git to Georgia line\,\nG eorgia\, murderer’s home.\nMonday I was ’rested\,\nTuesday I was fined \,\nWednesday I laid in jail\,\nThursday I was tried.\n[76]\nIf I can git to Georgia line\,\nLawd\, if I can git to Georgia line\,\nO Lawd\, if I ca n git to Georgia line\,\nGeorgia\, murderer’s home.\nDon’t ask about i t\,\nIf you do I cry.\nDon’t ask about it\,\nIf you do I cry.\nWhat did redbird\, redbird\nSay to crow\, crow?\nYou bring rain\, rain\,\nI bring s now\, snow!\nFriday wid chain gang band\,\nSaturday pick an’ shovel\,\nS unday I took my rest\,\nMonday want to do my best.\nEvery\, every mail day \,\nMail day\, I gits a letter\,\nCryin’\, “Son\, come home\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, come home.”\nI didn’t have no\,\nNo ready money\,\nI couldn’t go home.\nNo\, no\, couldn’t go home.\nI’m on road here\nJust a few d ays longer\,\nThen I’m goin’ home\nLaw’\, Law’\, I’m goin’ hom e.\nGot Me in the Calaboose\n\nGot me in the calaboose\,\nGot me in the ca laboose\,\nGot me in the calaboose\,\nAin’t nobody turn me loose.\nHit ’s bad\, bad on the inside lookin’ out\,\nHit’s bad\, bad on the ins ide lookin’ out\,\n[77]\nHit’s bad\, bad on the inside lookin’ out\, \nThis po’ boy know what he’s talkin’ about.\nMy gal come to the bar and done peep in\,\nMy gal come to the bar and done peep in\,\nMy gal com e to the bar and done peep in\,\nShe say\, “Honey man\, where you been ?”\nWhen I git out I ain’t gonna stay here\,\nWhen I git out I ain’t gonna stay here\,\nWhen I git out I ain’t gonna stay here\,\nAin’t le t nobody treat me dis way.\nPo’ boy\, don’t give me no show\,\nPo’ b oy\, don’t give me no show\,\nPo’ boy\, don’t give me no show\,\nA in’t gonna be bossed around no mo’.\nI Don’t Mind Bein’ in Jail\n\ nI never turn back no more\,\nLawd\, I never turn back no more\,\nEvery ma il day I gets letter from my mother\,\nSay\, “Son\, son\, come home.”\ nI been fallin’ ever since Mary was a baby\,\nAn’ now she’s gone.\ nI’m nine hundred miles from home\nAn’ I can’t go home this way.\nI wish I was a contractor’s son\,\nI’d stand on the bank and have the wo rk well done.\nIf he don’t work\, I’ll have him hung\,\nLawd\, if he don’t work\, I’ll have him hung.\nI wish I had a bank of my own\,\n I’d give all the po’ workin’ men a good happy home.\nShe used to be mine\, look who’s got her now.\nSho’ can keep her\, she don’t mean n o good to me no mo’.\nI laid in jail\, back turned to the wall\,\nTold t he jailer to put new man in my stall.\nI don’t mind bein’ in jail\nIf I didn’t have to stay so long.[37]\n[37]This stanza is found in somewhat different form in the popular song entitled Jail-House Blues.\n\n[78]\n\n Chain Gang Blues[38]\n\nStandin’ on the road side\,\nWaitin’ for the b all an’ chain.\nSay\, if I was not all shackled down\nI’d ketch that wes’ boun’ train.\nStandin’ on the rock pile\nWid a hammer in my ha nd\,\nLawd\, standin’ on rock pile\,\nGot to serve my cap’n down in no -man’s land.\nThe judge he give me sentence\n’Cause I wouldn’ go to work.\nFrom sunrise to sunset\nI have no other clean shirt.\nAll I got is lovin’\,\nLovin’ an’ a-sluggin’\,\nSay I feels just like a stepchi ld\,\nJust gi’me the chain gang blues.\nOh\, my captain call me\nAn’ m y gal work in white folks’ yard.\nI believe I’ll go there too\,\n’Ca use I got the chain gang blues.\nMy gal she bring me chicken\,\nMy gal she bring me ham\,\nMy gal she bring me everything\,\nAn’ she don’t give a damn.\nMy gal she got a molar\nRight down below her nose\,\nShe got teet h in her mouth\nI’d swear to God was gold.\nMy gal she cried las’ nigh t\,\nShe cried the whole night long\;\nShe cried because judge sentence me \,\n’Cause I had to go so long.\n[79]\nMy gal she cried all night\,\nI t old her not to worry at all.\nI’m goin’ on the chain gang\,\nI ’ spec’ I’ll be back in the fall.\n[38]The first four stanzas of this so ng\, except for some slight variations\, are also found in Chain Gang Blue s\, a popular phonograph piece.\n\nAll Boun’ in Prison[39]\n\nHey\, jail er\, tell me what have I done.\nGot me all boun’ in prison\,\nTryin’ to ’bide dis woman’s time\,\nTryin’ to ’bide dis woman’s time.\ nChorus:\nAll boun’ in prison\,\nAll boun’ in jail\,\nCol’ iron ba rs all ’roun’ me\,\nNo one to go my bail.\nI got a mother and father\n Livin’ in a cottage by de sea.\nI got a sister and a brother\, too\,\nWo nder do dey think o’ po’ me.\nI walked in my room de udder night\,\nMy man walked in and began to fight.\nI took my gun in my right han’\,\nTo ld de folks I’m gonna kill my man.\nWhen I said dat\, he broke a stick ’cross my head.\nFirst shot I made my man fell dead.\nDe paper comed ou t and strowed de news\,\nDas why I say I’s got de cell-bound blues.\n[39 ]Cf. phonograph record\, Cell Bound Blues.\n\nI Went to de Jail House\n\nO Lawd\, Lawd\, good Lawd\, Lawd\,\nI went to de jail house\, fell down on my knees.\nI ask that jailer\, “Captain\, give me back my gal.”\nJaile r told me\, “Sorry\, brother\, she said her las’ goodbye.”\nLawd\, I went to judge to ask for a fine.\nJudge say\, Lawd\, he ain’t got no ti me.\n[80]\nLawd\, I laid in jail so long\,\nAin’t got no home at all.\nG ood lawd\, look-a here\, jail keeper\,\nWon’t you put another gal in my stall?\nSay\, I been here so long\,\nDon’t know what I’ll do.\nJudge G onna Sentence Us So Long\n\nSay\, brother\, we better get ready to leave j ail\,\n’Cause judge gonna sentence us so long.\nJudge gonna sentence us so long\,\nWe ain’t gonna come back here no mo’.\nLawd\, we have laid in jail so long\,\nLawd\, we have laid in jail so long.\nSay\, judge sente nce me so long\,\nHe ain’t had no mercy on us.\nLawd\, captain\, come an’ got me\,\nTaken me to road to work.\nLawd\, taken me out one morni n’\,\nTaken me out so soon.\nTold captain didn’t know how to work.\nTo ld me\, “Shine\, get down that line.”\nI told the court\, Lawd\, “Ra ther be layin’ in jail\nWid my back turned to de wall.”\nI am worried\ , pretty mama\,\nBut I won’t be worried long.\nThought I rather be in my grave\nThan be treated like a slave.\nSay\, rather be in Birmingham\nEati n’ pound cake and all.\nSay\, these women in Georgia\nKeep you in troubl e all the time.\n[81]\nSay\, you better catch your train\,\nGo to Alabama bound.\nI am leavin’ here\, rider\,\nSho’ don’t want to go.\nBut I ’spect I have to leave here\,\nOr I’ll be in chain gang\, too.\nGonna git me a black woman\,\nPlay safe all the time.\nFor your brown skin woma n\nKeep you in trouble all the time.\nMy Man He Got in Trouble\n\nMr. T. B luker\,\nDon’t work my man so hard\,\n’Cause he’s po’ player\,\n Ain’t never had no job.\nOh\, my man he got in trouble\,\nHe didn’t ha ve no friend at all.\nThey carried him to jail house\,\nLocked him up in c ell.\nI asked the judge be light on him.\nJudge told him not bring nothi n’ like that\,\nJudge give him six months in jail\,\nLawd\, judge give h im six months in jail.\nCaptain put him on the road.\n“Captain\, how lon g have I got?”\nCaptain say to the shine\,\n“Eat your supper and run o n down the line.”\nCaptain say\, “Git your supper\,\nLawd\, and change your clothes.”\nCaptain say\, “Git your supper\,\nGit your chains and balls.”\n[82]\n\nThe Judge He Sentence Me\n\nI laid in the jail with my back to the wall\,\nI laid in the jail with my back to the wall\,\nPrayed to the Lord that\nBig rock jail would fall.\nThe judge he sentence me\, L awd\,\nGive me twelve long months.\nThe judge he sentence me\, Lawd\,\nGiv e me twelve long months.\nDen captain come take me to de road.\nI ask the captain what I gonna do.\nCaptain told me to pick and shovel too.\nI rathe r be dead\, Lawd\, and in my grave.\nCaptain told me\,\nSay\, “Lawd\, yo u ain’t gonna work\,\nLawd\, you ain’t gonna work nowhere else\nBut on this chain gang.”\nSay\, “If I let you go home this time\,\nYou be ri ght back in jail.\nWhen judge gets you again\nGonna give you five long yea rs.”\nSay\, “If you don’t quit drinkin’\nAn’ don’t quit ki llin’\, robbin’ and stealin’\,\nYou gonna git life time\nAn’ in ch ain gang\, too.”\nTold captain\, “I ain’t robbin’ no trains\,\nI s wear to God I ain’t kill no man.”\nLawd\, I told the captain\, “I ain’t robbin’ no trains\,\nSwear to God I ain’t kill no man.”\nI G ot a Letter\, Captain\n\nI got a letter\, captain\,\nSay\, Lawd\, come hom e\,\nLawd\, captain\, come home\,\nLawd\, say\, son\, come home.\n[83]\nI don’t have\, I don’t have\,\nLawdy\, I don’t have\,\nLawdy\, no read y-made money\,\nAn’ I can’t go home.\nI got a gal\, Lawd\,\nStays righ t in town.\nI got a gal\, Lawd\,\nStays right in town.\nLawd\, street car run\nRight by her door\,\nLawd\, she don’t have to walk\nNowhere she go. \nSay she take a walk up town\,\nLawd\, she take a walk up town.\nWell\, s he got in town\, Lawd\,\nAn’ come back home.\nWell\, she caught street c ar\nAn’ come back home.\nLawd\, she got street car\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, an ’ come back home.\nPrisoner’s Song[40]\n\nWished I had some one to lov e me\,\nSome one to call me their own\,\nBecause I’m tired of livin’ a lone\,\nLawd\, I’m tired of livin’ alone.\nI has a gran’ ship on de ocean\,\nFilled wid silver an’ gold\;\nAn’ befo’ my darlin’ should suffer\,\nDat ship will be anchored an’ go.\nI’ll be carried to de ja il tomorrow\,\nLeavin’ my po’ darlin’ alone\,\nWith the cold prison bars all around me\nAn’ my head on a pillow of stone.\n[84]\nIf I had wi ngs lak an angel\,\nOver dese prison bars I would fly.\nAn’ I would fly to the arms of my po’ darling\,\nAn’ dere I’d lay down and die.\n[40 ]Except for a few minor variations\, this is the now popular Prisoner’s Song. It was of folk origin\, however.\n\nWoke up Wid My Back to the Wall\ n\nO Lawd\, I woke up in the morning\,\nWoke up wid my back to the wall.\n O Lawd\, I woke up in the morning\,\nWoke up wid my back to the wall.\nI t ook a peep out at the bars\nO Lawd\, I thought I was home.\nLawd\, I heard a key rattlin’\,\nHigh-sheriff comin’ in.\nThought I heard a sheriff comin’\,\nLawd\, bring my breakfas’ to me.\nThought I see my coffin\,\ nLawd\, rollin’ up to my do’.\nLawd\, he say\, “Dat gal say she do n’t want you no mo’.”\nLawd\, I lay right down\, hung my head and cr ied.\nLawd\, he say\, “Dat gal say she don’t want you no mo’.”\nLa wd\, I laid right down in jail and cried.\nLawd\, I’m so awful worried t ill I don’t know what to do.\nWell\, I mistreated Daddy\, he hangs ’ roun’ me day and night.\nHe wakes me in the mornings\,\nHe moans when I am sleepin’.\nHe makes me swear\, Lawd\,\nHave no other man but you.\nIn the Negro’s prison songs is revealed again that dual nature which sings of sorrowful limitations alongside humorous and philosophical resignation . Here are scenes of the lonesome road illuminated by entertainment of rar e quality. “I’m in jail now\,” he sings\,[85] “but jes’ fer a day.” “I ain’t got no parole\, but I’m a-comin’ back.” It is true that he has only corn bread and fat meat to eat but that’s “be tter’n I has at home.” And then with genuine humor he sings also of th e iron cuffs about his hands which also are “stronger’n I has at hom e.”\n\nBetter’n I Has at Home\n\nCawn pone\, fat meat\,\nAll I gits to eat—\nBetter ’n I has at home\,\nBetter ’n I has at home.\nCotton s ocks\, striped clothes\,\nNo Sunday glad rags at all—\nBetter ’n I git s at home\,\nBetter ’n I gits at home.\nRings on my arms\,\nBracelets on my feet—\nStronger ’n I has at home\,\nStronger ’n I has at home.\n Bunk fer a bed\,\nStraw under my head—\nBetter ’n I gits at home\,\nBe tter ’n I gits at home.\nBaby\, baby\, lemme be\,\nChain gang good enoug h fer me—\nBetter ’n I gits at home\,\nBetter ’n I gits at home.\n I’m Comin’ Back\n\nI write you a letter\nSayin’\, “Come back hom e.”\nI sent you a message\,\n“Honey\, don’t you roam.”\nComin’ b ack\, comin’ back\,\nHound on my track\, yes baby\,\nI’m comin’ back .\n[86]\nWent to de gov’nor\,\nAst a parole.\nDat man he answered\,\n“ Not to save yer soul.”\nComin’ back\, comin’ back\;\nAin’t got no parole\,\nBut I’m comin’ back.\nLawd\, Lawd\, I’m comin’ back\,\nH ounds on my track\,\nOl’ clothes on my back\,\nOl’ woman in my shack.\ nNo parole\, but\nI’m comin’ back.\nGoin’ Back to de Gang\n\nDe nigh t wus dark\, de guard wus gone\,\nI slipped dat chain off’n my laig\,\nD e night wus dark\, an’ de rain hit poured.\nDis nigger astray wid nowher e to board.\nI’s hungry and cold\, nowhere to go\,\nWhen de niggers see dese clothes\, dey shets de do’.\nOut all night\, de dawgs am comin’\, \nGoin’ back to de gang\, tired o’ bummin’.\nShin up a tree\, no tim e to be los’\,\n’Cause here’s de dawgs\, and\, golly\, de boss!\nDem Chain Gang Houn’s\n\nI ain’t no possum\, I ain’t no squir’l\,\nBu t I can shin de highes’ tree in all de worl’\,\nWhen I hear dem houn ’s\, dem chain gang houn’s.\nHear dem ol’ houn’s\, soun’ goes up to heav’n\,\nIf dey’s one dawg\, dey mus’ be ’lev’n.\nOh\, dem houn’s\, dat ol’ lead houn’.\n’Tain’t good fer a nigger’s health to stay on de ground.\nHear dem houn’s\, dem chain gang houn’s. \nCome git me\, boss\, come take me down\,\nAnything’s better’n de cha in gang houn’.\n[87]\n\nShoot\, Good God\, Shoot!\n\nDe jedge and de jur y\nThought ’twas a shame.\nDey called me up dere\,\nAxed me my name.\nMy God a-mighty\,\nWhat’s a feller gwiner do\,\nWhen a nigger gits his wif e\nAn’ my wife\, too?\nShoot\, good God\, shoot!\nOl’ Black Mariah\n\n Look over de hill\, see what’s a-comin’\,\nOl’ black mariah\, natc hel-bo’n hummin’.\nDrive up to de do’\, grab me by de collar\,\nGood Lawd\, man\, ain’t got time to holler.\nJes’ Fer a Day\n\nI’m ’hi nd de bars\, but jes’ fer a day\,\n’Cause walkin’ out de do’ ain ’t de only way.\nI’ve got a saw\, and I work like de devil\,\nAll t’ ings in dis case am sho’ on de level.\nAll Us Niggers ’hind De Bars\n\ nI got a gal\, you got a gal\,\nAll us niggers got a gal.\nHe fool ’ro un’\, I fool ’roun’\,\nAll us niggers fool ’roun’.\nI got a razo r\, he got a razor\,\nAll us niggers got a razor.\nI ’hind de bars\, h e ’hind de bars\,\nAll us niggers ’hind de bars.\n[88]\n\nCHAPTER VI\n SONGS OF CONSTRUCTION CAMPS AND GANGS\nIn the old days—and sometimes in more recent years—there were characteristic and unforgettable scenes of groups of Negroes singing in the fields. Here was a picture of late aftern oon in the cotton field\, the friendly setting sun a challenge to reviving energies\; rows of cotton clean picked\, rivalry and cheerful banter\, fa ster picking to the row’s end\, sacks and baskets full for weighing time \; group singing\, now joyous\, then the melancholy tinge of eventide\, Sw ing Low\, Sweet Chariot\, Since I Laid My Burden Down or Keep Inchin’ Er long. Another picture is vivid: A spring morning\, a few Negroes following mule and plow\, many chopping cotton to the accompaniment of song\, all m aking rhythm of song\, movement\, and clink of hoe resound in rare harmony \, duly interspersed with shouts and laughter. Or the morning yodel or “ cornfield holler\,” with its penetrating vibrato\, Ya-a-ee-ah—oo-a-e e-ou—indescribable either in words\, sound\, or musical notation.[41] Or wagons lumbering on cold mornings\, drivers and workers on the way to fie ld or mill\, songs echoing across the hills. And there were the other grou p scenes: the roustabouts on the levee\, the singers around the cabins\, t he groups in the kitchen. Many of these scenes\, of course\, in modified f orm may yet be found and songs of their setting are still to be heard\, bu t they do not constitute the most commonly abounding characteristic workad ay songs of the present.\n\n[41]The phono-photographic record of such a yo del is given in Chapter XV.\n\n[89]\n\nModern scenes\, however different\, are no less impressive. Whoever has seen a railroad section gang of five score Negroes working with pick and shovel and hammer and bars and other t ools\, and has heard them singing together will scarcely question the effe ctiveness of the scene. Likewise steel drivers and pick-and-shovel men sin g down a road that is anything but “lonesome” now. Four pickmen of the road sing\, swinging pick up\, whirling it now round and round and now do wn again\, movement well punctuated with nasal grunt and swelling song. An other group unloading coal\, another asphalt\, another lime\, or sand\, si ng unnumbered songs and improvisations. Another group sings as workers rus h wheelbarrows loaded with stone or sand or dirt or concrete\, or still ag ain line up on the roadside with picks and shovels. And of course there ar e the songs of the chain gangs already described\, but nevertheless gang s ongs of the first importance. All these singers constitute the great body of workers and singers who sing apparently with unlimited repertoire. The selections in this chapter\, as in the others\, are representative in that they were taken directly from Negro singers and workers in the South duri ng 1924 and 1925.\n\nAmong the most attractive of all the Negro workaday s ongs are those sometimes called “free labor gang songs\,”[42] of which there are many. Some of these are reserved for Chapter VII in which many miscellaneous examples of songs to help with work are given. Other samples have been included in the “Songs of the Lonesome Road.” Examples of t he melodies are given in Chapter XV. It will be understood\, of course\, t hat other songs such as John Henry\,[90] Jerry on the Mountain\, Lazarus\, are sung in this capacity\, although classified primarily in other groups for the sake of better illustration.\n\n[42]The Negroes use the term “f ree labor” to distinguish ordinary work from convict labor.\n\n“Free L abor” Gang Song\n\nCap’n\, did you hear ’bout\nAll yo’ men gonna l eave you\,\nNex’ pay day\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, nex’ pay day?\nEv’y mail d ay\,\nMail day\, I gits letter\,\nFrom my dear ol’ mother\,\nShe tell me \, “Son\, come home.”\nThat ol’ letter\,\nRead about dyin’.\nBoy d id you ever\nThink about dyin’?\nThen I can’t read it\nNow for cryin ’\,\nTears run down\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, tears run down.\nJes’ wait till\n I make these few days I started\,\nI’m goin’ home\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, I ’m goin’ home.\nEverywhere I\nLook this morning\,\nLook lak rain\,\nLa wd\, Lawd\, look lak rain.\nI got rainbow\nTied all ’roun’ my shoulder \,\nAin’t gonna rain\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, ain’t gonna rain.\nMike an’ Je rry\nCome down main line Southern\,\n[91]\nDidn’t stop to get\nNo water neither coal.\nI done walk till\nFeets gone to rollin’\nJes’ lak a whe el\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, jes’ lak wheel.\nNow ev’y time I\,\nTime I start ’round mountain\,\nMy light goes out\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, my light goes out .\nI’m gonna buy me\nMagnified lantern\,\nIt won’t go out\,\nLawd\, La wd\, it won’t go out.\nI got a wife\,\nTwo-three children in mountain\,\ nCryin’ fer bread\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, cryin’ fer bread.\nO Lawd\, Mamie\n \nO Lawd\, Mamie\,\nPoke yo’ head out window\,\nJes’ to see me fall\,\ nLawd\, jes’ to see me fall.\nI been fallin’\nFrom my shoulder\,\nLawd \, I been fallin’\nAll day long.\nO Lawd\, Mamie\,\nIf I make it\nYou sh all have it\,\nIf it’s all in gold.\nI been fallin’\nEv’y since Mami e wus baby\,\nNow she’s grown\,\nLawd\, now she’s grown.\n[92]\nWhen w e meet my\nLittle curly headed woman\,\nBow yo’ head\,\nO Lawd\, an’ t ip yo’ hat.\nIf I make it\nThrough July an’ August\,\nO Lawd\, I’ll be a man\,\nO Lawd\, I’ll be a man.\nHe-i-Heira\n\nHe-he-heira!\nLook ho w my captain stan’\,\nStand more like a farmer\nThan he do a railroad ma n!\nOh\, oh\, oh!\nIf I had listen to what mama said.\nI’d be at home no w\,\nLawd\, in mama’s bed.\nHe-i-heira!\nBelieve I will\nTake my pick\,\ nLawd\, over on the hill.\nGoin’ up town\,\nHurry right back\,\nGonna se e Corinne\nWhen she ball that jack.\nOh\, oh\, Lawd\, oh\,\nGoin’ on up town\,\nBuy my gal a hat\,\nLawd\, buy my gal a hat.\nShe brought it back\ , Lawd\,\nLaid it on the shelf\nEvery time she turn around\nMakes her want er jazz.\nGoin’ up town\, Lawd\,\nGonna walk in the yard\;\n[93]\nTwo-an d-a-half hours to work\,\nWork ain’t hard.\nO you\, down\, boys\,\nYes\, we goin’ down.\nO you\, down\, boys\,\nYes\, we goin’ down.\nI don’ t know\,\nBut believe I will\nMake my home\nIn Jacksonville.\nSection Boss \n\nYonder come the engine\nRingin’ o’ the bell\;\nEngineer on the rig ht\,\nFireman on the left.\nSee the engine makin’ time\,\nSee the engine er gone.\nFall off the car\,\nThrow off the tools.\nThrow off the tools\,\ nLet the engine go by.\nIf I could run like he runs\,\nI’d run an’ nev er stop.\nSee the train makin’ up speed\,\nSee the cars go ’long.\nIf I had wings like that engine\,\nI could run an’ fly.\nI could pull the b ell\,\nI could blow the whistle\,\nI could pull the bell\,\nAn’ let the engine run.\nIf I could run like he runs\,\nI never would quit\,\nI’d al ways railroad\nI’d always run an’ fly.\n[94]\n\nThe mind of the worker and wanderer is perhaps reflected better in his annals of the day’s wor k as expressed in his “captain” songs than anywhere else. Some of th e “captain” songs have been sung until they are on the verge of folk s ongs\; some approach the haven of the blues\, and many more are in the for mative stage. The examples immediately following in this chapter are combi nations of all three\, with the predominating mode that of combination and improvisation. Some of them are clearly songs of the chain gang as well a s of free labor construction work. That they are fairly accurate portrayal s of the worker and his task\, of the captain and his ways\, of the though ts and customs of the worker and singer will be evident to any one who kno ws the field. To the uninitiated the laborer is merely a laborer\, silent\ , reserved\, certainly keeping back from the white man his innermost thoug hts\, wishes\, and feelings. But hear him sing—hear him repeat the forma l songs\, hear him make new ones.\n\nO Captain\, Captain[43]\n\nO captain\ , captain\,\nWhere you been so long?\nO captain\, I been at home\nAn’ do ne got in trouble again.\nO captain\, captain\,\nWon’t you be kind?\nD on’t work me so hard\,\nCaptain\, I been used to light work.\nO captain\ , captain\,\nI ain’t used to no hard work.\nO captain\, captain\,\nWon ’t you be light on me?\n[95]\nO captain\, captain\,\nIf you be light on me\,\nWhen I git back home\nI won’t be hard on you.\nO captain\, captain \,\nWhere we gonna work?\n“Oh\, we goin’ down the road\,\nPick and sho vel dirt.”\nO captain\, captain\, call me\nAn’ I didn’ hear\;\nCapta in took me back\nTo bodyguard.\nO Lawd\, captain\, captain\,\nOn the side of the bank\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, buddy\,\nI’m too tired to work.\nO captain\ , captain\,\nI done got too hot\nCaptain\, O Lawd\, captain\,\nLet po’ S hine rest.\nCaptain\, O Lawd\, captain\,\nI set down on a bank\,\nO Lawd\, captain\, captain\,\nSet down on a bank.\nO captain\, captain\,\nI cannot work no longer\,\n’Cause I’s done\, O Lawd\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, I’s don e.\nO captain\, captain\,\nPo’ boy done got too hot\,\nO Lawd\, captain\ , captain\,\nAn’ I couldn’t make it go.\nCaptain\, captain\,\nYou got letter from my mother\,\nCaptain\, captain\,\nRead it all the way through. \n[96]\nLawd\, she say\, “Son\,\nLawd\, come back home.”\nLawd\, Lawd\ , she say\,\n“Son\, come back home.”\nCaptain\, captain\,\nAin’t got no ready money.\nCaptain\, O Lawd\, captain\,\nWon’t you loan me some?\ nSittin’ in dining room\,\nO Lawd\, captain\,\nSittin’ in dining room\ nIn yo’ chair.\nO Lawd\, captain\,\nI aint too dumb\,\nHear yo’ back d oor slam\,\nLawd God a-mighty.\nI got a letter\,\nLetter from my brown.\nM y brown she dyin’\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, Lawd.\nI got a letter\,\nLetter from my rider.\nMy rider was dyin’\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, Lawd.\nLawd\, gonna follo w\nMy brown\, Lawd\, Lawd.\nGonna follow my brown\nTo buryin’ groun’.\ n[43]This song and some others in this chapter are excellent illustrations of the chain gang sentiment becoming mixed with ordinary “free labor” gang songs.\n\nI’m Goin’ Back Home\n\nI can jerry\,[44] I can jerry\n All around the mountain.\nLord\, I can jerry\, I can jerry\nAll the way ho me.\n[97]\nLord\, I see my gal a-comin’\,\nLord\, to bring me my dinner. \nLord\, I see my gal a-comin’\,\nLord\, I’m goin’ home.\nLord\, she brought me something\,\nLord\, she brought me something good.\nLord\, she brought me good dinner\,\nDidn’t know what it was.\nLord\, I’m gonna buy me rubber-tire hack\,\nLord\, I’m gonna buy me rubber-tire hack\,\nL ord\, I’m gonna buy me rubber-tire hack\,\nGoin’ home\, take me right back.\nI’m tired workin’\, Lord\,\nLord\, I’m tired workin’.\nGo in’ buy me rubber-tire hack\,\nTake me back home.\nLord\, captain stan din’\,\nHe may hear me sing\,\nLord\, some old day\nI’m goin’ back h ome.\nLord\, I reckon I’ll sell my\,\nLord\, I reckon I’ll sell my rub ber-tire hack\nAn’ buy me a Ford\, Lord\,\nBuy me a Ford.\nLord\, captai n told me\,\nO Lord\, captain told me\,\nTime to go to dinner\,\nLord\, we ’re goin’ back home.\nLord\, I got back home\nAn’ had my dinner.\nLo rd\, I went and et\,\nLord\, I got back home.\nThen ’bout half pas’ on e\nCaptain call us all\,\nSay we got a-go back\,\nLord\, say we got a-go b ack to work.\n[98]\nLord\, some o’ these mornings\,\nLord\, some o’ th ese mornings\,\nCaptain ain’t gonna hear me sing\n’Cause I’m goin’ back home.\nSunshine in my back door\,\nLord\, sunshine in my back door\, \nSome o’ these mornings\, Lord\, captain\,\nI’m goin’ back home.\nL ord\, my gal cryin’ all day\,\nLord\, my gal cryin’ all day.\nLord\, s he made a pallet on floor\n’Cause she’s feelin’ right bad.\nCaptain say\, “O Shine\,\nWhen you go home\,\nSay\, Shine\, you comin’ back? ”\nYes\, captain\, O Lord\, captain.\nYonder come my girl\,\nComin’ do wn the track.\nBring me good cool water\,\nKeep cool all day long.\nI got sun low ’cross the field\,\nI got sun low ’cross the field plowin’.\ nLord\, Lord\, he tol’ me\,\nO Lord\, it was too hot.\nLord\, took out t he mules\,\nLord\, I took out my mules\nAn’ went straight home\,\n’Cau se it was too hot.\n[44]The meaning of this expression is uncertain. In ot her songs it appears as “Hikin’ Jerry” or “Mike and Jerry.” Ther e is a tradition among the Negro workers that two large mules\, named Mike and Jerry\, broke loose from their driver and hiked a remarkable distance in one day. If this was the origin of the song\, then “I can Jerry” i s a result of misunderstanding.\n\nMy Home Ain’t Here\, Captain\n\nH-e-y - L-a-w-d\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\nO Lawd\, Lawd\, captain.\nMy home ain’t here\ , captain\,\nAn’ I ain’t got to stay.\nI’m goin’ back home\, cap tain\,\nI’m long time sinner\, goin’ back home.\n[99]\nOl’ Aunty Din ah had candy wagon\,\nI ast her could I be her driver.\nLawd\, Lawd\, to l’ me “No\,”\nLawdy\, Lawd\, tol’ me “No.”\nO captain\, capt ain\, what’s matter now?\nAin’t thing matter\, but I ain’t gwine.\nW oke up dis mornin’ ’bout half pas’ fo’\,\nCap’n call me\, bu t I jes’ ain’t gonna go.\nO Lawd\, captain\, captain\,\nHow long you g onna hold dis job?\nLawd\, captain you look jes’ lak new man\nComin’\, Lawd\, on dis job.\nCap’n\, captain\, will you send me some water\,\n Ain’t had none since dis long mornin’.\nAll I hate ’bout captain\, L awd\,\nHe want to take me by de tent.\nCaptain\, captain\, do you drink co ’n liquor?\n“Yes\, by God\, but I ain’t got none now.”\nCaptain\, captain\, when you go to town\,\nBring me back a God-damn dram.\nCaptain\, captain\, I won’t let on\,\nLawdy\, O Lawdy\, captain\, I won’t let o n.\nO Lawd\, captain\, captain\, O Lawd\,\nWon’t you let me go home?\nCa ptain tol’ me I have to wait\,\nO Lawd\, till I work out my time.\nCapta in call me an’ I laugh\,\nCap’n get shoe shine off my britches.\nO cap tain\, don’t think hard of me\,\nO Lawd\, captain\, I don’t mean no ha rm.\nCaptain\, captain\, don’t mean no harm\,\nJes’ won’t carry on n o fun.\n[100]\nCaptain\, what kin’ o’ state you come from?\nCome from country or come from town?\nCaptain say\, “I come out o’ town\,\nLawdy \, I’ll lay yo’ body down.”\nCaptain\, captain\, you look mo’ lak farmer\nThan you look lak guard man.\nCaptain\, I’ll Be Gone\n\nO Lawd\, captain\, hurry\, hurry?\nCaptain\, you can’t take my time.\nWhat’s t he use o’ hurryin’?\n’Cause I got a life time.\nCaptain\, captain\, what time o’ day?\nCaptain\, captain\, what time o’ day?\nSay he look at Waterbury\,\nThrow his watch away.\nLawd\, captain\, captain\, did you hear\,\nLawd\, captain\, did you hear about it?\nAll your men gonna leave you\,\nAll your men gonna leave you on next pay day.\nOn next pay day\, La wd\,\nOn next pay day\, Lawd.\nCaptain\, all your men gonna be gone\nOn ne xt pay day.\nCaptain gonna call me some of these mornings\,\nLawd\, I’m gonna be gone.\nCaptain gonna call me\, go back home\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, I’ ll be gone.\nWake up one mornin about half pas’ fo’\,\nAsk captain cou ld I git drink of water.\nWake up one mornin’ about half pas’ fo’\,\ nAsk captain could I git drink of water.\nCaptain tol’ me to git my pick and shovel\,\nGit on down the line.\nCaptain tol’ me to git my pick and shovel\,\nGit on down the line.\n[101]\nLawd\, captain carried me to the road\,\nTol’ me I had to work.\nTol’ my captain I couldn’t pick and shovel\,\nCaptain told me have to carry me back to camp.\nI ask the captai n how long I got.\nCaptain told me git my shovel\,\nSay\, “Git on down t he line\,\nLawd\, git on down the line.”\nSay I went to road\, captain.\ nCaptain put chains all ’round my legs.\nI tol’ captain no use to chai n me\,\n’Cause ain’t gonna run no mo’.\nCaptain say\, “Yes\, I kno w you won’t run\,\n’Cause I gonna chain you good.”\nLawd\, say\, “ Yes\, I know you won’t run\,\n’Cause I gonna chain you good.”\nCapta in\, captain\, little too hard on me\,\nLawd\, captain little too hard on me.\nCaptain\, captain\, I’ll be glad to git home\;\nI’ll never come t his way no mo’.\nCaptain called water boy\,\nWater boy begun to laugh.\n Cap’n got shoe shine\nOff water boy’s pants.\nCaptain mus’ be big\,\ nWeighs two-fifty pounds.\nCaptain\, Lawd\, mus’ be big\,\nWeighs two-fi fty pounds.\nCaptain\, captain\, good long ways\,\nLawd\, captain\, come f rom Chicago.\nI ask the captain the time of day\,\nSay\, “None of you da mn business to know.”\nIf I’d A-Known My Cap’n Was Blin’[45]\n\n If I’d a-known my cap’n was blin’\, darlin’\,\nIf I’d a-known my cap’n was blin’\, darlin’\,\nIf I’d a-known my cap’n was bl in’\nI wouldn’ a-went to work till ha’f pas’ nine\, darlin’.\n [102]\nCap’n\, cap’n\, you must be cross\, darlin’\,\nCap’n\, ca p’n\, you must be cross\, darlin’\,\nCap’n\, cap’n\, you must be c ross\,\nFive-thirty an’ you won’t knock off\, darlin’.\nWhen I’m late an’ behin’\, darlin’\,\nWhen I’m late an’ behin’\, dar lin’\,\nWhen I’m late an’ behin’\,\nI can’t go to work till ha’f pas’ nine\, darlin’.\nWhy I love my cap’n so\, darlin’\,\nW hy I love my cap’n so\, darlin’\nWhy I love my cap’n so\,\nAsk him f or a dollar an’ he give me fo’\, darlin’.\n[45]For music see Chapter XIV.\n\nI Tol’ My Cap’n That My Feet Was Col’[46]\n\nI tol’ my cap’n that my feet was col’.\n“God damn yo’ feet\, let the car whe el roll.”\nCap’n\, cap’n\, old Ben won’t pull.\n“God damn his so ul\, put the harness on the bull.”\nCap’n Morgan and Bill Dolin come t o line this track\,\nPick it up and shake it back.\nCap’n\, cap’n the track is wet.\n“Knock ’er right on\, black boy\, till the evenin’ su n do set.”\nCap’n\, cap’n\, can you tell\nThe track is slick and col d as hell?\nCaptain\, Captain\, Let Wheelers Roll\n\nCaptain\, captain\, l et wheelers roll\,\nCaptain\, captain\, Lawd\, let wheelers roll.\nTold my captain hands an’ feet wus cold\,\nSay\, “You ought-a warm ’em be fo’ you come here.”\nCaptain call me early in mo’nin’\,\nCall me t o shake six-hoss plow.\nI told my captain\, captain\,\nI could not shake d is plow.\n[103]\nO captain\, captain\, what time you gonna quit?\n“’ Tain’t none o’ yo’ business when I quit.”\nGonna buy me ticket\, l ong as my long right arm\,\nGonna catch dat train call Cannon Ball.\nGoi n’ to Atlanta\, gonna spend de night\,\nGonna catch dat train dey call W estern Sight.\nGoin’ to New York an’ I aint comin’ back\,\nLawd\, I ain’t gonna come back at all.\nSay\, I’m in trouble\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\ nI don’t know when I’ll be back.\nSay\, if you want to see me\, Lawd\, \nYou’ll have to come where I am.\nSay\, I’m long way off\, mama\,\n I ain’t comin’ back at all.\nHave you ever seen risin’ sun\,\nSeen risin’ sun turn over?\nLawd\, makes me feel low down\,\nLawd\, lak I’ m on my las’ go-’round.\nLawd\, I hate to see you go\,\nMake me feel s o low down.\nLawd\, Lawd\, have you ever seen\,\nLawd\, wild cat hug a lio n?\nSay\, hug him so hard\, Lawd\,\nWild cat hug him so hard.\nLawd\, capt ain\, I’m workin’ on road\,\nAn’ I’m in trouble again.\nLawd\, y ou won’t come see me\,\nAn’ I’m workin’ in chains.\nLawd\, I’m not comin’ home no mo’\,\nO Lawd\, I’m not comin’ home no mo.\n Now I don’t want you here no mo’\,\nYo’ hair look lak curry comb.\n[ 104]\nI got brown woman better’n you\,\nLawd\, I don’t want you no m o’.\n[46]For music see Chapter XIV.\n\n’Way up in the Mountain\n\n’W ay up in the mountain\nDiggin’ coal\,\nAll I hates about diggin’ coal\ ,\nI can’t find my parole.\nPeach and honey\,\nRock and rye\,\nYou can l ine track\nIf you try.\nGoin’ up Church Street\,\nComin’ down Main\,\n Huntin’ for a woman\nThat ain’t got no man.\nTrottin’ Liza\,\nShe co me a-trottin’\nBy one this mornin’\nWith ’er head rag on.\nBlues on my mind\,\nBlues all ’round my head.\nI dream last night\nThat the man I love was dead.\nI went to the graveyard\,\nFell down on my knees.\nI ask the grave-digger\nTo give me back my railroad man.\nThe grave-digger\,\nHe looked me in the eye and said\,\n“I’m sorry to tell you\,\nBut yo’ good man is dead.”\nThirty days in jail\nWith my back turned to the wall .\nPlease\, Mr. Jailer\,\nPut another man in my stall.\n[105]\nI don’t m ind stayin’ there\nBut I got to stay so long\, so long\,\nEver’ friend I had\nDone shook hands an’ gone.[47]\n[47]This stanza and the precedin g one are also found in a popular song\, Jail-House Blues.\n\nDon’t You Give Me No Cornbread\n\nI don’t want no cornbread\, black molasses\,\nSu pper time\, O my Lawd\, supper time.\nDon’t you give me cornbread\, blac k molasses\,\nSupper time\, O my Lawd\, my supper time.\nDon’t let the ’gaiter\nBeat you to the pone\,\nGive you mo’ trouble\nThan days done gone.\nPut ’em up solid\nAn’ they won’t come down.\nWhen I gets in Illinois\nI won’t be bothered with the lowland boys.\nJohn the Baptist\, he declare\nThat none but the righteous\nWill be there\nIn the mornin’\ , oh\, when I rise.\nI got a woman\nOn Jennielee Square\;\nIf you would di e easy\,\nLet me ketch you there.\nThe reason I stay\nWith captain so long \,\nEver’ morning he give me\nBiscuits to rear back on.\nLittle Evaline\ nSittin’ in the shade\,\nFigurin’ on the money\nI done made.\n[106]\nC aptain got a lugger\nTryin’ to play bad\,\nI’m goin’ to take it in t he mornin’\nIf he makes me mad.\nJuly’s for the Red-bug\n\nJuly’s fo r the red-bug\,\nAugust for the fly\,\nI’m diggin’ for the bottom\,\nB ottom must be dry.\nI ask my captain\nWhat was the time of day.\nCaptain g ot so mad\,\nThrew his watch away.\nI told my captain\,\nCaptain\, my feet was cold.\n“Doggone your feet\, Lawd\,\nLet the wheelbar’ roll.”\nI told my captain\,\nJust to keep down trouble\,\nI reckon I must obey.\nHe re come the chain gang boss.\nBut after all there are no workaday songs su perior to the gang songs\, heave-a-horas\, steel-driving songs\, short pic k-and-shovel songs\, and the scores of other short specimens which accompa ny special tasks requiring hard work\, team unison\, or continuous effort. There is\, of course\, no attempt here to present even an approach to exh austive lists. We have so far found no intimation of where the number of s uch songs will stop. But the examples which follow are adequate to continu e the portraiture of the Negro as he works and as he sings.\n\n[107]\n\nBo ys\, Put Yo’ Hands on It\n\nO boys\, put yo’ hands on it\,\nO boys\, p ut yo’ hands on it\,\nWhen I say go\, boys\, go!\nO boys\, put yo’ han ds on it\,\nO boys\, when I holler set it on time\,\nEverybody goes around .\nSay pick up\, boys\, pick up high\,\nGoin’ line that track steel\,\nO boys\, pick it up high.\nSay\, boys\, when you get back here\,\nPick up t hat steel\,\nSay\, put your hands on it.\nSay\, boys\, put your hands on i t\,\nEverybody goin’ to jump at it.\nSet it in the bed\, boys.\nSay\, bo ys\, raise your hand higher\,\nSays\, boys\, raise your hand higher\,\nEve rybody goin’ to jump at it.\nNever Turn Back[48]\n\nNo mo’\, oh\, no mo’!\nNo mo’\, oh\, never no mo’!\nMy Lord\nBe here.\nI will never\ nTurn back\,\nNever turn back\nNo mo’\, no mo’.\nIf you get there\nB efo’ I do\,\nOh\, you can tell ’em\nI’m comin’ too.\nI will never turn back\,\nNever turn back no mo’.\n[108]\nAn’ I would never turn ba ck\,\nNever turn back no mo’.\nJesus my all\nTo heaven is gone\,\nAn’ whom may I fix\nMy hopes upon?\nNo mo’\, no mo’\,\nNo mo’\, never\, my Lawd\,\nI would never turn back\,\nNever turn back no mo’.\n[48]Here a spiritual theme is used as a gang song.\n\nNo More\n\nNo—more\,\nNo— more\,\nNo—more\,\nO—Lord.\nO—Lord\,\nO—Lord\,\nO—Lord\,\n No—more\,\nI’m—through\,\nI’m—through\,\nI’m—through\,\n O—Lord.\nO—Lord\,\nO—Lord\,\nO—Lord\,\nI’m—through.\nI ’m—tired\,\nI’m—tired\,\nI’m—tired\,\nO—Lord.\nO—Lord\ ,\nO—Lord\,\nO—Lord\,\nI’m—tired.\n[109]\nI’m—goin ’\,\nI’m—goin’\,\nI’m—goin’\,\nO—Lord.\nO—Lord\,\nO— Lord\,\nYes\, O—Lord\,\nI’m—tired.\nAll Right\n\nAll—right\,\nO— Lord\,\nAll—right\,\nPush—on.\nAll—right\,\nO—Lord\,\nLet’s— go\,\nLittle—mo’.\nAll—right\,\nO—Lord\,\nGet—it—over\,\ nLet’s—go.\nAll—right\,\nO—Lord\,\nGet—around—it—boys\ ,\nLet’s—go.\nAll—right—boys\,\nPick—it—up\,\nGang—aro und—it\,\nLet’s—go.\nHelp Me Drive ’Em[49]\n\nO King’s Mountai n\,\nO King’s Mountain\,\nO King’s Mountain\,\nSo high!\n[110]\nO run here\, buddy\,\nO run here\, buddy\,\nO run here\, buddy\,\nO boy!\nO help me drive ’em\,\nO help me drive ’em\,\nO help me drive ’em\,\nAll d ay!\n[49]This is an example of a steel-driving song. As the driver raises his hammer he sings a line\, then stops singing for a moment\, brings the hammer down with a grunt\, then sings another line\, and so on. The techni que is the same as the digging technique described in some detail in Chapt er XIV.\n\nI Belong to Steel-drivin’ Crew\n\nO shake ’em up\, buddy\ ,\nAn’ I’ll drive ’em down\;\nO shake ’em up\, buddy\,\nAn’ I’ll drive ’em down\;\nI belong to steel-drivin’ crew\,\nLawd\, I be long to steel-drivin’ crew.\nO lovin’ buddy\,\nWhere you been so long? \nO lovin’ buddy\,\nWhere you been so long?\nI belong to steel-drivin’ crew\,\nLawd\, I belong to steel-drivin’ crew.\nO Buckeye Rabbit\n\nThe rabbit run\, the rabbit jumped\,\nThe rabbit skipped the river.\nO buckey e rabbit\, hey\, hey!\nO buckeye rabbit\, Susan!\nO buckeye rabbit\, hey\, hey!\nThe rabbit skipped the river!\nU—h\, U—h\, Lawdy[50]\n\nU—h \, u—h\, Lawdy\,\nI wonder why\nI got to live\nFer de by an’ de by.\n[ 111]\nU—h\, u—h\, Lawdy\,\nDon’t you bother me.\nI’m always mighty happy\nWhen I’m on a spree.\nU—h\, u—h\, Lawdy\,\nU—h\, u—h\, Lawdy\,\nU—h\, u—h\, Lawdy\,\nU—h\, Lawdy\, u—h\, Lawdy\, po’ m e!\n[50]This is an example of a pick song\, although it could be used\, of course\, for almost any kind of rhythmic work. For a description of the s inging-digging technique see Chapter XIV.\n\nThis Ol’ Hammer\n\nThis o l’ hammer\, hammer\nMus’ be loaded\;\nThis ol’ hammer\, hammer\nMu s’ be loaded\;\nThis ole’ hammer\, hammer\nMus’ be loaded\;\nDo bear down\,\nDo bear down.\nBitin’ spider\, where did\nYou leave Trottin’ Sallie?\nBitin’ spider\, where did\nYou leave Trottin’ Sallie?\nBiti n’ spider\, where did\nYou leave Trottin’ Sallie?\nIn Birmingham\, O L awd\,\nIn Birmingham.\nWe Are Clambin’ Jacob’s Ladder[51]\n\nGet ’em over yonder\,\nGet ’em long\,\nGet ’em short.\nLord\, get ’em over yonder\,\nGet ’em over yonder.\nWe are clambin’\, clambin’\nJacob’ s ladder\,\nJacob’s ladder.\nOh\, we are clambin’ Jacob’s ladder\, \nAlmos’ home\, yes\, almos’ home.\nEvery little roun’ gets[112]\nHi gher and higher\,\nHigher and higher.\nEvery little roun’ gets higher an d higher\,\nAlmos’ home\, home\, almos’ home.\n[51]Here a theme from a spiritual is made to do service as a pick song.\n\nReason I Stay on Job S o Long[52]\n\nReason I stay on job so long\,\nLawd\, dey gimme flamdonies\ nAn’ coffee strong.\nReason I love my captain so\,\n’Cause I ast him f or a dollah\,\nLawd\, he give me fo’.\nReason why I love Boleen\,\nShe k eeps my house\nAn’ shanty clean.\nWhy I like Roberta so\,\nShe rolls her jelly\nLike she do her dough.\n[52]For music see Chapter XIV.\n\nHot Flam botia an’ Coffee Strong\n\nReason I stay on job so long\,\nOh\, reason I stay on job so long\,\nO Lawd\, reason I stay on job so long:\nHot flambo tia an’ coffee strong.\nHot flambotia an’ coffee strong\,\nYes\, Lawd\ , hot flambotia an’ coffee strong.\nO Lawd\, hot flambotia an’ coffee strong\,\nReason I stay on job so long.\nI’m Goin’ On[53]\n\nI’m gon na row here\,\nI’m gonna row here\,\nI’m gonna row here few days longe r\,\nThen\, Lawd\, I’m goin’ on.\n[113]\nOh\, I’m gonna row here\,\n Lawd\, I’m gonna row here\,\nYes\, Lawd\, I’m gonna row here few days longer\,\nThen I’m goin’ on.\nYes\, Lawd\, I’m goin’ on\,\nThen\, Lawd\, I’m goin’ on\,\nYes\, Lawd\, I’m gonna row here few days long er\,\nThen I’m goin’ on.\n[53]This song has been heard also as “I’ m on road here few days longer” and “I’m gonna roll here few days longer.” “Row” may well be a corruption of “road” or “roll .”\n\nI Don’t Want No Trouble With de Walker[54]\n\nI don’t want no\ ,\nWant no trouble with de walker.\nI don’t want no\,\nWant no trouble w ith de walker.\nI wanta go home\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, I wanta go home.\nOh\, me an’ my buddy\nJes’ came here this mornin’.\nWanta go home\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, wanta go home.\nI can drive it\,\nDrive it long as anybody.\nWanta go home\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, wanta go home.\nCap’n\, did you hear about\,\n Hear about two your womens gonna leave you?\nWanta go home\,\nLawd\, Lawd\ , wanta go home.\nI’m gonna roll here\,[55]\nRoll here a few days longer .\nI’m goin’ home\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, I’m goin’ home.\n[114]\nCap ’n an’ walker\,\nWalker been raisin’ san’.\nCap’n told walker\nH e could git ’im another man.\nLawd\, dey got my buddy\,\nBuddy an’ his forty-fo!\nNext ’lect’ocution\nDey’ll git him sho’.\n[54]This is a pick song commonly heard around Chapel Hill\, N. C. The “walker” ref ers to the walking boss or overseer on the job. The first two lines of eac h stanza are repeated as shown in the first stanza. For music see Chapter XIV.\n\n[55]See footnote\, p. 112.\n\nI Don’t Want No Cornbread[56]\n\nI don’t want no\,[57]\nWant no cornbread\, peas\, an’ molasses\;\nI d on’t want no\,\nWant no cornbread\, peas\, an’ molasses\,\nAt supper t ime\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, at supper time.\nOh\, hand me down a\nCan o’ corn an’ tomatoes\,\nFor my meal\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, for my meal.\nMy little wo man\,\nShe don’t treat me like she used to.\nNo she don’t\,\nLawd\, La wd\, no she don’t.\nShe used to feed me\,\nFeed me on biscuits an’ but ter\nFor my meal\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, for my meal.\nShe used to give me\,\nGiv e me lots o’ huggin’ every mornin’.\nNow she don’t\,\nLawd\, Lawd\ , now she don’t.\n[56]This is sung to the same tune as the preceding son g\, I Don’t Want No Trouble With the Walker\, the music of which is give n in Chapter XIV.\n\n[57]All of the stanzas have this form\, first two lin es always repeated.\n\n[115]\n\nTurning from the songs of construction or railroad gangs\, some of the mixed songs\, partly remnants of former years \, partly products of sophistication\, may be cited. There are many songs about the white man and the captain\, excellent samples of which have alre ady been cited in this chapter. Some were given in The Negro and His Songs and many more are to be found. Indeed\, songs about the white man may wel l constitute a separate chapter in a later volume. A stock joke among the older Negroes used to be that of telling how the white man always brought “nigger out behind.” The modern singer\, albeit not always in joking m ood\, still thrusts “at” his “captain” or “boss” or “whi te man.” “Captain\,” he sings\, “you look mo’ lak farmer than ra ilroad man\,” and with considerable glee asks\, “Captain\, captain\, w here’d you come frum?” On the other hand\, reminiscent of farm days an d echoing current life\, he still sings:\n\nNiggers plant the cotton\,\nNi ggers pick it out\,\nWhite man pockets money\,\nNiggers does without.\nIn another song the Negro complained that no matter if he worked all the time \, “Boss sho’ bring nigger out behin’.” So now in some Georgia sce nes he sings:\n\nNothin’ to Keep\n\nUp at fo’ ’clock\,\nWork till da rk\,\nWages han\,’\nI’m de man.\nTwelve a month an’ boa’d\,\nLawd\ , twelve a month an’ boa’d.\nHope I die\,\nMo’ I try\,\nI comes out\ n[116]\nOwin’ boss mo’\,\nI comes out\,\nLawd\, owin’ boss mo’.\nP lenty to eat\,\nPlace to sleep\,\nAll night to stray about\;\nBut nothin ’ fer a feller\,\nLawd\, nothin’ fer\nA feller to keep.\nEverybody Cal l Me the Wages Man\n\nEarly in the spring I’m plowin’ my lan’\,\nEar ly in the spring I’m plowin’ my lan’\,\nEarly in the spring I’m plowin’ my lan’\,\nEverybody calls me the wages man\,\nBaby\, baby.\nN ext down de row with guano horn\,\nNext down de row with guano horn\,\nNex t down de row with guano horn\,\nNever work so hard since I’ve been born \,\nBaby\, baby.\nLittle bit later I swings de hoe\,\nLittle bit later I s wings de hoe\,\nLittle bit later I swings de hoe\,\nI’se de nigger dat l eads de row\,\nBaby\, baby\, baby.\nSack an’ basket all that I pick\,\nS ack an’ basket all that I pick\,\nSack an’ basket all that I pick\,\nN ever stop for nothin’\, even if you sick\,\nBaby\, baby.\nWhite man in s tarched shirt settin’ in shade\,\nWhite man in starched shirt settin’ in shade\,\nWhite man in starched shirt settin’ in shade\,\nLaziest man that God ever made\,\nBaby\, baby.\n[117]\n\nMissus in de Big House\n\nMis sus in de big house\,\nMammy in de yard.\nMissus holdin’ her white hands \,\nMammy workin’ hard\,\nMammy workin’ hard\,\nMammy workin’ hard.\ nMissus holdin’ her white hands\,\nMammy workin’ hard.\nOl’ marse ridin’ all time\,\nNiggers workin’ ’roun’.\nMarse sleepin’ day t ime\,\nNiggers diggin’ in de groun’\,\nNiggers diggin’ in de groun ’\,\nNiggers diggin’ in de groun’.\nMarse sleepin’ day time\,\nNig gers diggin’ in de groun’.\n[118]\n\nCHAPTER VII\nJUST SONGS TO HELP W ITH WORK\nIn some respects it is unfortunate that classification of the Ne gro workaday songs must be attempted\, for\, strictly speaking\, accurate classification is not possible. There is much overlapping apparent in most of the best types. There are mixed pictures in the majority and a cross i ndex would be necessary for any sort of complete analysis. And yet the tot al picture is clearer when the songs are grouped according to prevailing t hemes\, as has been done in other chapters on the wanderer songs\, the bad man ballads\, chain gang and jail songs\, favorites of the construction g ang\, songs of woman\, songs of man\, and religious remnants. In each of t hese classes it is readily seen that there is abundance of new material of great value. And yet\, after these attempts at classification\, there are scores of songs\, some the favorites of the present day\, some among the most attractive\, which appear best as simple work songs\, sung as an inte gral physical part of the Negro’s workaday efforts. These songs are not simply the “miscellaneous” and “all others” group. They are more t han that\; they are the songs for song’s sake\, expression for express ion’s sake\, and “hollerin’ jes’ to he’p me wid my work.”\n\nT his chapter\, therefore\, presents a varied group of songs\, many of which \, for simple spontaneity\, imagery\, and creative art might well represen t the choice of the collection. Among these are the lyric types like those quoted in Chapter I\, figures of a “rainbow ’round my[119] shoulder s\,” the “feet rollin’ lak a wheel\,” the winter song in summer\, and many other fragments of similar quality. There are fragments\, pick-an d-shovel songs\, driving songs\, mostly short\, which are sung perhaps mor e often than any others by the group of workers. This chapter will present \, first\, some of the miscellaneous and more artistic songs that are most difficult to classify except as “just songs to help with work.” Then will follow certain types\, corruptions from blues\, jazz and minstrel\, b ut sung on any and all occasions\, one as well as another\, in the kitchen \, on the road\, in the field\, in the alley\, in the barber shop\, or on the street. Then\, finally\, there will be the group of incoherent words a nd lines\, senseless for the most part and merely expressive of feeling an d effort. In addition to these there are still more than one hundred misce llaneous songs\, improvisations\, fragments and other collected items whic h must await a special collection of this sort.\n\nOne of the most attract ive of all the work songs is Mule on the Mountain\, in which the title con stitutes the bulk of the song. It is a pick-and-shovel favorite repeated o ver and over with variations and exclamations. The simplest form of this s ong is as follows:\n\nMule on the Mountain\n\nMule on mountain\nCalled Jer ry\,\nI can ride ’im\nAny time I want to\;\nLawd\, I can ride ’im\nAny time I want to.\nIn the following version this simple stanza has taken se ven others for companions\, thus making a lengthy pick song.\n\n[120]\n\nI Got a Mulie[58]\n\nI got a mulie\,\nMulie on the mountain\, call ’im Je rry.\nI got a mulie\,\nMulie on the mountain\, call ’im Jerry.\nI can ri de ’im\,\nRide ’im any time I want to\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, all day long.\n Lawd\, this ol’ mountain\,\nMountain must be hanted\,\nMy light goes out \,\nLawd\, Lawd\, my light goes out.\nI’m gonna buy me\,\nBuy me a magni fied lantern.\n’Twon’t go out\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, won’t go out.\nI’m gonna buy me\,\nBuy me a winchester rifle\,\nBox o’ balls\,\nLawd\, Lawd \, box o’ balls.\nI gonna back my\,\nBack myself in the mountains\nTo pl ay bad\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, to play bad.\nMike an’ Jerry[59]\nMust be a gaso line burner\;\nDidn’t stop here\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, didn’t stop here.\nMi ke an’ Jerry\nHiked from Jerome to Decatur[60]\nIn one day\,\nLawd\, Law d\, in one day.\n[121]\nDidn’t stop here\, Lawd\,\nTo get no coal\, neit her water\,\nHiked on by\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, hiked on by.\n[58]For music see Chapter XIV.\n\n[59]See footnote\, p. 96.\n\n[60]Probably refers to Rome a nd Decatur\, Georgia. The distance between these two places is about a hun dred miles\, a pretty good “hike” for the mules if they made it in one day!\n\nVery much after the same manner and type is the pick-and-shovel s ong\, Lookin’ over in Georgia\, which apparently has nothing specific as its historical base and no more sense to it than Mule on the Mountain. An d yet it is one of the prettiest of Negro songs when accompanied by group movement\, rhythm\, and harmony.\n\nLookin’ Over in Georgia\n\nWell I ca n stan’\,\nLookin’ ’way over in Georgia\;\nWell I can stan’\,\ nLookin’ ’way over in Georgia\;\nWell I can stan’\,\nLookin’ ’wa y over in Georgia\,\nO-eh-he\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\nShe’s burnin’ down\,\nLa wd\, she’s burnin’ down.\nFor sheer artistry\, however\, one would hav e to search a long time to find a superior to the following verses\, sung by a young Negro workingman\, on platform and swing\, washing the brick wa lls of a newly constructed university building.\n\nBear Cat Down in Georgi a\n\nI’ll be back here\,\nI’ll be back here\,\nLawd\, Lawd\,\nI’ll b e back here.\nBear cat\, Lawd\,\nBear cat\, Lawd\,\nTurn to lion\nDown in Georgia.\n[122]\nLook-a yonder\,\nLook-a yonder\,\nLawd\, Lawd\,\nDown in Georgia.\nEver see bear cat\nTurn to lion\,\nLawd\, Lawd\,\nDown in Georgi a?\nMy ol’ bear cat\,\nMy ol’ bear cat\nTurn to lion\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, Lawd.\nEver see a bear cat\nHug a lion\,\nLawd\, Lawd\,\nDown in Georgia?\ nIf I make it\,\nIf I make it\,\nLawd\, Lawd\,\nDown in Georgia.\nLord\, I been fallin’\,\nLord\, I been fallin’\,\nLawd\, Lawd\,\nFrom my pla ce.\n’Fo’ long\, Lawd\,\nYes\, ’fo’ long\, Lawd\,\nI’ll be bac k here\,\nI’ll be back here.\nScarcely less mixed and informal is the de lightful song Shoot that Buffalo sung in low undertone suitable to any sor t of work such as digging\, cutting\, laying rock\, unloading coal or grav el\, or doing domestic duties. The melody of this “song just to help wit h work” is presented in Chapter XIV.\n\n[123]\n\nShoot That Buffalo\n\nW ent down to Raleigh\,\nNever been there befo’\,\nWhite folks on the feat her-bed\,\nNiggers on the flo’.\nChorus:\nShoot that buffa-\,\nShoot tha t -lo\,\nShoot that buffalo.\nWent down to low groun’\nTo gather up my c orn\,\nRaccoon sot the dogs on me\,\n’Possum blowed his horn.\nLas’ ye ar was a bad crop year\,\nEv’ybody knowed it.\nI didn’t make but a bus hel o’ corn\nAn’ some damn rascal stoled it.\nI had ol’ back-band\,\ nIt was made out o’ leather\;\nKept me all the doggone time\nKeepin’ i t sewed together.\nOne of the bad man songs listed in Chapter IV was Dupre e\, of which two versions were presented. The following song was sung by a young Negro recently from the chain gang. It purports to be a song made u p by Dupree while in prison. As a matter of fact it is a composite jumble composed largely while being sung. It illustrates well the general situati on in which any song of any sort will do just as well as any other.\n\nDup ree’s Jail Song\n\nI don’t want no coal-black woman for my regular\,\n Give me brown\, Lawd\, Lawd\, give me brown.\nBlack woman study evil\,\nTh at’s why I want brown\, yes\, yes\, give me brown.\n[124]\nI’m gonna r oll here a few days longer\,\nThen I’m goin’ home\, yes\, then I’m goin’ home.\nDon’t you hear those rein-deers cryin’?\nBut it ain’ t gonna rain\, no\, no\, ain’t gonna rain.\nIf it rain I can’t see Bet ty\,\nThat’s why it ain’t gonna rain.\nEvery mail day I get a letter\n Saying\, “Daddy\, come home\, yes\, yes\, daddy\, come home.”\nSome of these days I’ll see Betty\,\nAn’ it won’t be long\, no\, no\, it won’t be long.\nIf I could see her just one mo’ time\,\nMy mind would be changed all the time.\nThe jailer told Dupree\, “Just be good\,”\nA nd he surely would\, yes\, yes\, he surely would.\nDupree was the best man in the pen\nJust to get that thing\, yes\, yes\, that thing.\nAnother ill ustration of the common promiscuity of these current songs adapted as a pa rt of the physical effort of work is the following mongrel song of the sel f-styled bad man who mixes metaphors and lines to his own satisfaction.\n\ nI’m Goin’ out West\n\nWhen you see me comin’\nWid my new shine on \,\n’Cause I got my col’-iron burner[61]\nUnder my ol’ left arm.\nLa wd\, I goin’ out West\,\nGoin’ out ’mongst the robbers.\nSay\, if I don’t get back\,\nLawd\, don’t worry at all.\n[125]\n’Cause the We stern men call theirself bad\,\n’Cause the Western men call theirself ba d.\nSay\, when they get unruly\,\nSay\, I got their water on.\nSay\, my ga l lay down\,\nLay down and cried\n’Cause I’s goin’ out West\,\nBut I’m satisfied.\nSay\, I grab an’ hug an’ kiss her\,\nSay\, don’t worry at all\,\n’Cause I’m goin ’way from here\,\nGoin’ to kill so me rowdy men.\nI reach down an’ kiss my gal\,\nKiss an’ hug her all da y long\,\nLawd\, she make me so much worry\nI had to leave home.\n[61]That is\, his pistol.\n\nThe selections that follow are typical of the large n umber of miscellaneous songs of almost every imaginable mixture and variet y. They are examples of corruptions and also of the song-making process an d of the insignificance of words and meaning in the workaday song.\n\nJuli a Long\n\nO Lawd\, Aunt Julia!\nJulia Long\, Julia Long!\nO Lawd\, Aunt Ju lia!\nJulia Long\, Julia Long.\nJulia Long\, dead and gone\,\nJulia Long\, Julia Long!\nO Lawd\, Aunt Julia!\nJulia Long\, Julia Long!\nJulia Long I used to know\,\nJulia Long\, Julia Long.\nO Lawd\, Aunt Julia!\nJulia Lon g\, Julia Long!\n[126]\n\nTurn Yo’ Damper Down\n\nWhen you see me comi n’\nRaise yo’ winder high\,\nWhen you see me leavin’\nHang yo’ h ead an’ cry.\nI got lovin’\nWay a rabbit hug a houn’\,\nAn’ if you two-time me\, daddy\,\nTurn yo’ damper down.\nCasey Jones[62]\n\nCasey was goin’ about ninety-four\,\nAn’ he forgot to blow.\nCasey told the fireman he’d better jump\,\nFor there’s two locomotives that’s about to bump.\nChorus:\nCasey Jones\, marchin’ to the cabin\,\nMarchin’ to the cabin with the orders in his hand.\nCasey said before he died\,\n“T hree mo’ roads I want to ride.”\nThe fireman ask him what could they b e\,\n“Southern Pacific an’ the Santa Fe.”\nCasey told his children \,\n“Go to bed and hush your cryin’\,\nYou have another papa\nOn the S alt Lake Line.”\n[62]Casey Jones is still heard occasionally. The versio n given here is somewhat below par\, but represents the sort of thing a wo rker is likely to sing. Note that Casey wants to ride “three mo’ roa ds\,” but names only two. Also\, in the last stanza\, Casey\, instead of his wife\, is represented as speaking to the children.\n\nWash My Overhal ls\n\nWash my overhalls\,\nSearch my overhalls\,\nStarch my overhalls\,\nW ash ’em clean\,\n’Cause I’m goin’ to ketch de train.\n[127]\nListe n at dis fireman blow de train.\nIf I don’t ring dat bell\,\nYou ring it fer yo’self\;\nIf you don’t ring it\,\nWon’t be no fault o’ mine. \nDove Came Down by the Foot of My Bed\n\nDove came down by the foot of my bed\,\nBy the foot of my bed\,\nBy the foot of my bed\,\nDove came down b y the foot of my bed\,\nAnd he carried the news that I was dead.\nI’m go ing away one day before long\,\nOne day before long\,\nOne day before long .\nI’m going away one day before long\,\nAnd I won’t be back before ju dgment day.\nIf you don’t believe I’ve been redeemed\,\nI’ve been re deemed\,\nI’ve been redeemed.\nIf you don’t believe I’ve been redeem ed\,\nJust follow me down by Jordan stream.\nDig my grave and dig it deep\ ,\nDig it deep\,\nDig it deep.\nDig my grave and dig it deep\,\nAnd cover me up with a linen sheet.\nTell my mother if she wants to see me\,\nIf she wants to see me\,\nIf she wants to see me\,\nTell my mother if she wants to see me\,\nShe must ride that horse in the battlefield.\nHe Wus de Gov ’nor of Our Clan\n\nHe wus de gov’nor of our clan\,\nHe wus a rough- an’-tumble man\,\nHe wus a rough-an’-tumble man.\nHe pull his pistol an’ a feller drap\,\nHe make his money playin’ crap\,\nHe make his mo ney playin’ crap.\n[128]\n\nI Got Chickens on My Back\n\nI got chickens on my back\,\nAn’ the white folks on my track\,\nI am hunting for a shan ty\,\nGod knows\, nobody knows.\nI am hunting for a shanty\,\nGod knows\, nobody knows.\nI Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Make a Fool Out o’ Me\n\nI’v e been all over the U. S. A.\,\nI’ve seen most everything\;\nI’ve shot craps with the president\,\nPlayed cards with the queen and king.\nBut I ain’t gonna let nobody\,\nNobody make a fool out o’ me.\nIf you give y our gal everything she needs\,\nYou will spend the winter in your B. V. D. ’S.\nI ain’t gonna let nobody\,\nNobody make a fool out o’ me.\nOn My Las’ Go-’Round[63]\n\nI had it in my head to join the U. S. A.\,\n But instead of gettin’ better I got still worse.\nEvery time I hear some church bell ringin’\,\nI begin to think I was on my las’ go-’round. \nO I believe I am on\, I think I am on\,\nI know I am on my las’ go-’ round.\nSo when I am dead\, wear no black\,\nWhen Gable blows his trumpet I’ll rush on back.\n[63]There are now popular songs entitled Last Go-’ Round Blues and I’m on My Last Go-’Round\, but they do not resemble th is song. For an older version\, see The Negro and His Songs\, p. 180.\n\nB erda\, You Come too Soon\n\nO Lord\, Berda\, you come too soon\,\nFound a man in my saloon.\nBerda walked out screamin’ an cryin’\,\nGirls on fr ont street skippin’ an’ flyin’.\nBerda\, you come too soon\,\nBerda\ , you come too soon.\n[129]\n\nRain or Shine\n\nI hoes an’ I plows\nIn a ll kinds o’ weather\,\nI got to keep a-goin’\n’Cause I can’t do no better.\nRain or shine\,\nSleet or snow\,\nWhen I gits done dis time\,\nW on’t work no mo’.\nEmpty or full\,\nSleep or ’wake\,\nI’m gwine to de party\,\nDance fer dat cake.\nWho’s Goin’ to Buy Your Whiskey?\n \nWho’s goin’ to buy your whiskey\nWhen I’m gone away from you?\nW ho’s goin’ to do your holdin’\nWhen I’m gone from you\, Lawd\, L awd?\nWho’s goin’ to bring you chicken\nFrom the white folks’ house\ nWhen I’m gone away from you?\nYou Calls Me in de Mornin’\n\nYou me in de mornin’\,\nYou calls me in de night\,\nAn’ you is de cause o’ me \nLosin’ my life.\nMy home ain’t here\, I don’t have to stay.\nWhen I leaves don’t wear no black\,\nDo\, I sho’ gonna come creepin’ back \,\nDo\, I sho’ gonna come creepin’ back.\nDig-a My Grave Wid a Silver Spade\n\nDig-a my grave wid a silver spade\,\nLet me down wid a golden ch ain.\nOh\, who’s gonna dig-a my grave?\nLet me down wid a golden chain.\ nYonder come mudder\,\nLook lak mudder comin’ on.\nOh\, who’s gonna di g-a my grave?\n[130]\n\nYonder Come de Devil\n\nYonder come de devil\,\nYo nder come de devil\,\nKetch him\, devil\, ketch him\,\nKetch him\, devil\, ketch him.\nHe done sin\, he done sin\,\nHe done sin\, he done sin.\nKetc h him\, devil\, ketch him\,\nKetch him\, devil\, ketch him.\nDem Turrible Red Hot Blues[64]\n\nNothin’ new\,\nHer name wuz Sue\,\nI got de turribl e\nRed hot blues\,\nOh\, dem turrible red hot blues.\nI got a pal\,\nThis gal is Sal\,\nBofe got de turrible red hot blues\,\nOh\, dem turrible red hot blues.\n[64]Compare Red Hot Blues\, a popular phonograph and sheet mus ic piece.\n\nDas ’Nough Said\n\nHit rains\, hit hails\,\nDifferent sorts o’ wedder\,\nHit rains\, hit hails\,\nWusser de better.\nSteal up to de back do’\nDen on to de bed\,\nLawsy\, lawsy\, mister\,\nDas ’nough sa id.\nDiamond Joe\n\nDiamond Joe wants a sack of flour\,\nDiamond Joe wants a sack of flour\,\nDiamond Joe he don’t work by de hour.\nDrive on\, Di amond Joe.\nSometimes he works in de country\,\nSometimes he works in de t own\,\nSometimes he has a good notion\nTo jump in de river an’ drown.\nD rive on\, Diamond Joe.\n[131]\n\nHe Run Me In\n\nTalkin’ ’bout yo’ g hosts\, let me tell:\nI thought I drapped dat nigger in dat well\nBut he r un me in\, yes\, Lawd\, he run me in.\n’Tain’t no fun I’s here to te ll\nWhen a dead nigger gits out’n an ol’ fiel’ well\nAn’ runs me i n\, yes\, Lawd\, he run me in.\nHe ain’t got no arms\, he ain’t got no haid\,\nI didn’t stop an’ count dem tracks I made\,\n’Cause he run me in\, yes\, Lawd\, he run me in.\nI believes in a ghost an’ I believes in a hant\nDis here nigger sho’ ain’t no saint\,\n’Cause he run me in\, yes\, Lawd\, he run me in.\nDe Goat’s Got a Smell\n\nDe goat’s go t a smell\,\nDe skunk’s got a stink\,\nBut de black gal\nGot a ’culiar odor.\nDe black gal\, de balmoral\,\nDey bofe got a ’culiar odor.\nGood by Sookie\n\nGoodby\, Sookie\, good by\, Sal\,\nYou struts about in dat ba lmoral.\nGoodby\, Sookie\, good by\, Sal\nI’s leavin’ dis hot town wid dat yallow gal.\nOut in de Cabin\n\nOut in de cabin\, banjo pickin’ low \;\nOut in de cabin\, banjo pickin’ low.\nUp in de big house\, singin’ soft an’ low\;\nUp in de big house dancin’ to an’ fro.\nI lubs my m issus\, I lubs ol’ marse\;\nI lubs my white folks mo’ an’ mo’\ ,\nMo’ an’ mo’.\n[132]\n\nDarlin’ Get on de Road\n\nDarlin’\, wh en you see me comin’\,\nHang your head an’ cry.\nWhen you see me lea vin’\,\nGet on the road.\nDarlin’\, get on the road\,\nDarlin’\, get on the road.\nWhen you see me cryin’\,\nHang you head in shame.\nWhen y ou see me smilin’\,\nYou know I am the same.\nSo let us get on the road\ ,\nDarlin’\, get on the road.\nI’m Gonna Have Me a Red Ball All My Own \n\nLawd\, lissen\, I believe I go to town\nAn’ ketch the Red Ball.[65]\ nAn’ I walked up to get in.\nWhat you reckin’ the man said to me?\n“ No nigger can ride the Red Ball.”\nSo I turned around an’ went back ho me\nAn’ began to paint my face.\nBut I forgot to paint my neck an’ han ds.\nSo I went back an’ tried him again.\nDidn’t have no luck. An’ I’m\nGonna get me a mule an’ name him Red Ball\,\nAn’ I can ride ju st the same.\nI’m gonna have me a Red Ball all my own.\n[65]A fast freig ht train.\n\nGreat Scots\, You Don’t Know What to Do\n\nBull frog sitt in’ on mantel-piece\,\nGreat scots\, you don’t know what to do\,\nClap ped his hand in a pan of grease\,\nGreat scots\, you don’t know what to do.\nI’m going down in new town to live.\n[133]\nLook out\, ladies\, let him by\,\nYou don’t know what to do\,\nHere he comes with a greasy eye\ ,\nGreat scots\, you don’t know what to do.\nI’m going down in new tow n to live.\nChicken Never Roost too High fo’ Me[66]\n\nOl’ massa’s c hicken\nLive in the tree\,\nChicken never roost\nToo high fo’ me.\nWent out strollin’\,\nSee what I can see.\nChicken never roost\nToo high fo ’ me.\nEver since the Yankee\nSet-er me free\,\nChicken never roost\nToo high fo’ me.\nThey think the old lady\nAn’ me agree.\nChicken never r oost\nToo high fo’ me.\nI’s in jail\,\nNot long till I’m free\,\nChi cken never roost\nToo high fo’ me.\n[66]In a somewhat different version\ , this song was popular as a minstrel some twenty years ago.\n\nStewball W as a Racer[67]\n\nStewball was a racer\,\nMollie was too.\nMy mist’iss b ets by hundred\,\nMy master bets by thousands.\n[134]\nI bet you mo’ cas h money\nOl’ Stewball won.\nRun on\, ol’ Stewball\,\nMollie done run.\ n[67]This is a fragment of a song\, Skewball\, which used to be almost an epic among the Negroes. Its origin probably goes back to an old Irish song . For a discussion of this point\, see Scarborough\, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs\, pp. 61-4.\n\nShanghai Rooster\n\nShanghai rooster done lost all his feathers\,\nShanghai pullet eat by her betters.\nYou gits de gizza rd\, I eats the breast\,\nGot to save the preacher all the rest.\nChicken wid a preacher don’t stand no show\,\nWhen the preacher is about chicken gotta go.\nWent over to fishin’ on a little stream\,\nAll I got is a no d and dream.\nCatch Miss Catfish by the snout\,\nLed Miss Catfish all abou t.\n[135]\n\nCHAPTER VIII\nMAN’S SONG OF WOMAN\nThere is probably no the me which comes nearer being common to all types of Negro songs than the th eme of the relation of man and woman. It is the heart and soul of the blue s. The Negro bad man is often pictured as being bad because of a woman. Th e jail and chain gang songs abound in plaintive references to woman and sw eetheart\, and the worker in railroad gang and construction camp often sin gs to his “cap’n” about his woman. Likewise\, in the songs of woman\ , man plays the leading rôle. These man and woman songs are of such signi ficance that special attention must be given to them as a type of Negro so ng in order to round out the picture of Negro workaday life which this vol ume is trying to present. In this chapter and the one following\, therefor e\, there have been brought together examples of songs which deal primaril y with the relation of the sexes.\n\nConflicts\, disagreements\, jealousie s and disappointments in the love relation have ever been productive of so ng. They are the chief source of “hard luck” songs or blues\, and the Negro’s naïve way of singing of his failure and disappointments in love is what has made the blues famous. Sometimes his songs portray vividly\, often with a sort of martyr-like satisfaction\, his difficulties with wome n. At times his song is defiant. At other times it is merely a complaint. Again\, it is despondent\, in which case he is going “to jump in the riv uh an’ drown” or “drink some pizen down” or do[136] something else calculated to make the woman sorry that she mistreated him. Some of the “hard luck” stories of the Negro man are told in the following group of songs.\n\nLawd\, She Keep on Worryin’ Me\n\nLawd\, Lawd\, she keep on worryin’ me\,\nLawd\, captain\, she keep on worryin’ me.\nLawd\, she cry all night long\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, she cry all night long.\nMama\, the mo ’ I pet her\, Lawd\,\nThe mo’ I pet her the mo’ she cries.\nLawd\, I gonna give her mouf full o’ fist\nAn’\, Lawd\, she won’t cry no m o’.\nCaptain\, captain\, I don’t bother nobody\,\nWorks every day as bes’ I can.\nCaptain\, look like you could make her\,\nLawd\, leave me alone.\nCaptain\, she say she love me\nLike school boy love his pie.\nLawd \, she say I leave her alone\,\nLawd\, ain’t got no friends at all.\nMy Girl She’s Gone and Left Me\n\nMy girl\, she’s gone and left me\,\nShe left me all alone\,\nShe promised that she would marry me\nThe day that s he left home.\nSo kiss me\, all you brown skins\nAnd all you yellows\, too .\nI would give anything in this wide\, wide world\nJust because I do love you.\n[137]\n\nBrown Gal Baby Done Turn Me Down\n\nI’s goin’ down to de rivah\,\nJump in an’ drown\,\nDat brown gal baby\nDone turn me down\, \nDone turn me down.\nGoin’ down to de drug sto’\,\nPisen I drink down \,\nDen dey take de news\nTo my baby brown\,\nTo my baby brown.\nCall up d e doctah\nMighty quick\,\nTell my brown baby\nI sho’ is sick\,\nI sho’ is sick.\nDen my black baby\nCome hurryin’ ’roun’\,\nShe sho’ be sorry\nShe turn me down\,\nShe turn me down.\nI Brung a Gal From Tennessee \n\nAin’t yer heard my po’ story?\nDen listen to me:\nI brung a gal fr om Tennessee\nTennessee\, Tennessee\nI brung a gal from Tennessee.\nAin’ t yer heard my po’ story?\nDen listen to me:\nDat Georgia gal set de pol ice on me.\nTennessee\, Tennessee\,\nI brung a gal from Tennessee.\nDon’ t Wanta See Her No Mo’\n\nI ain’t never seed her befo’\,\nI ain’t never seed her befo’\,\nI ain’t never seed her befo’\,\nDon’t want a see her no mo’\, baby.\n[138]\nShe say\, “Come on\, go to my house \,”\nShe say\, “Come on\, go to my house\,”\nShe say\, “Come on\, go to my house\,”\nShe ain’t nuffin but a roust-about\, baby.\nShe s ’arch my pockets through\,\nShe s’arch my pockets through\,\nShe s’a rch my pockets through\,\nDen say\, “I ain’t got no need of you\, ba by.”\nDon’t e’r wanta see her no mo’\,\nDon’t e’r wanta see her no mo’\,\nDon’t e’r wanta see her no mo’\,\nNever had seed h er befo’\, baby.\nI’s Havin’ a Hell of a Time\n\nI’s a-havin’ a hell of a time\,\nI’s a-havin’ a hell of a time\,\nI’s a-havin’ a hell of a time\,\nLivin’ wid dese two women o’ mine.\nDe po’ boy\, d ey got no mercy at tall\,\nDe po’ boy\, dey got no mercy at tall\,\nDe po’ boy\, dey got no mercy at tall\,\nDey lock in de room\, he sets out in de hall.\nAin’t gonna stay here no mo’\,\nAin’t gonna stay her e no mo’\,\nAin’t gonna stay here no mo’\,\nDe creepers all ’r oun’ my do’.\nGoin’ back down to Georgia lan’\,\nGoin’ back down to Georgia lan’\,\nGoin’ back down to Georgia lan’\,\nWhere women don’t have jes’ one man.\nYer don’t haf to have no clo’es\,\nYe r don’t haf to have no clo’es\,\nYer don’t haf to have no clo’es\, \nDe women don’t never lock deir do’s.\n[139]\n\nLawdy\, What I Gonna Do?\n\nU—h\, Lawdy\, what I gonna do?\nU—h\, Lawdy\, what I gonna do ?\nU—h\, Lawdy\, what I gonna do?\nBeen havin’ jes’ ol’ lady\, but now I got two\, baby!\nU—h\, Lawdy\, ol’ lady got rough\,\nU—h\, La wdy\, ol’ lady got rough\,\nU—h\, Lawdy\, ol’ lady got rough\,\nSay\ , hell in fire\, she sho’ got ’nough\, baby!\nU—h\, Lawd\, ol’ un bring in de meat\,\nU—h\, Lawd\, ol’ un bring in de meat\,\nU—h\, La wd\, ol’ un bring in de meat\,\nDis new gal of mine she got all de sweet \, baby!\nU—h\, Lawdy\, dem rations am good\,\nU—h\, Lawdy\, dem ratio ns am good\,\nU—h\, Lawdy\, dem rations am good\,\nHave sech a good time \, if de ol’ woman would\, baby!\nSome o’ Dese Days\n\nSome o’ dese days\,\nHit won’t be long\,\nMammy gonna call me\nAn’ I be gone.\nSo me o’ dese nights\,\nAn’ I don’t kere\,\nMammy gonna want me\nAn ’ I won’t be here.\nSome o’ dese days\nIn de by an’ by\,\nYou wo n’t have no’n’ t’eat\,\nDen you gonna cry.\nSome o’ dese days\ nWhile I’s here to home\,\nBetter feed me an’ pet me\,\nDon’t\, I’ s gonna roam.\n[140]\n\nYou Take de Stockin’\, I Take de Sock\n\nYou tak e de stockin’\, I take de sock\, honey\,\nYou take de stockin’\, I tak e de sock\, baby\,\nYou take de stockin’\, I take de sock\,\nTake you al l night to wind dat clock\, honey.\nYou take de garter an’ I take de str ing\, honey\,\nYou take de garter an’ I take de string\, baby\,\nYou tak e de garter an’ I take de string\,\nYou gits de money\, I don’t git a thing\, honey.\nYou take de slipper\, I take de shoe\, honey\,\nYou take d e slipper\, I take de shoe\, baby\,\nYou take de slipper\, I take de shoe\ ,\nI don’t kere now whut you gonna do\, honey.\nYou take de boot an’ I take de laig\, honey\,\nYou take de boot an’ I take de laig\, baby\,\nY ou take de boot an’ I take de laig\,\nYou ain’t nuffin but a rotten ai g\, honey.\nPull off Dem Shoes I Bought You\nA\n\nGoin’ up de country\,\ nDon’t you wanta go?\nGit me out my\nRag time clo’es.\nPull off dem sh oes I bought you\,\nPull off dem socks I bought you\,\nPull off dat hat I bought you\,\nYou know you have mistreated me.\nTore up all my clo’es\;\ nPull off dat wig I brung you\,\nLet yo’ devilish head go bal’.\nB\n\n Mary\, Mary\, when I met you\nYou didn’t have no clo’es at all.\nNow I ax you kindly\, Miss Mary\,\nGive me dem shoes\, stockin’s\, an’ dat petticoat\,\nAn’ dat dress an’ hat\, an’ las’ dat wig\,\nAn’ l et yo’ head go bal’.\n[141]\n\nMammy-in-Law Done Turn Me Out\n\nKeep o n a-worryin’\,\nWhat’s it all about?\nMammy-in-law\nDone turn me out.\ nDon’t bring in no sugar\,\nDon’t bring in no meat\,\nDon’t never br ing in\nNothin’ to eat.\nMammy-in-law done turn me out.\nDon’t bring i n no rations\,\nDon’t bring in no dough\,\n’Nother man hang around h er do’.\nMammy-in-law done turn me out.\nDe Women Don’t Love Me No M o’\n\nDe women don’t love me no mo’\,\nI’s a broke man from po ’ man’s town.\nDe women don’t love me no mo’\,\n’Cause I can’t buy her stockin’s an’ a gown\,\n’Cause I can’t buy her stocki n’s an’ a gown.\nI don’t kere\, don’t matter wid me\,\nI don’t l ove to work no mo’.\nGot to have money\, got to have clo’es\,\nDon’t \, a feller can’t make no show.\nDe gal love de money\nAn’ de man love de gal\;\nIf dey bofe don’t git what dey wants\,\nIt’s livin’ in he ll.\nThe Negro man runs true to masculine style when he philosophizes upon the subject of woman. Needless to say\, his philosophy is often the resul t of his failure to get along with the other sex. When he is “down” on womankind the burden of his song is that woman is the cause of most of th e trouble in the world. He avows that\n\nWoman is a good thing an’ a bad thing\, too\,\nThey quit in the wrong an’ start out bran’ new.\n[142] \n\nOr he declares that he will never again have anything to do with women :\n\nAll I hope in dis bright worl’:\nIf I love anybody\, don’t let it be a girl.\nOne of his strong points is giving advice to others in order that they may avoid his mistakes. “Listen to me\, buddy\,” he says\, “let me tell you what a woman’ll do.”\n\nDon’t never git one wo man on yo’ min’\,\nKeep you in trouble all yo’ time.\nDe Woman Am De Cause of It All and the songs immediately following it are typical of the songs of the woman-hater. Dey Got Each and de Other’s Man is as clever a bit of cynicism as one could want.\n\nDe Woman Am de Cause of It All\nA\ n\nDe woman am de cause of it all\,\nDe woman am de cause of it all\,\nShe ’s de cause of po’ Adam’s fall\,\nDe woman’s de cause of it all.\n Bill and John fall jes’ de same\,\nBill and John fall jes’ de same\,\n De onliest difference\, dey ain’t got po’ Adam’s name\,\nBut de woma n am de cause of it all.\nShe strips yo’ pocket book\,\nShe strips yo’ pocket book\,\nDen tells de police you a damn crook\,\nDe woman am de cau se of it all.\nWorkin’ in de gang\, ’out no frien’\,\nWorkin’ in d e gang\, ’out no frien’\,\nNobody comes\, brings nuffin’ in\,\nDe wo man am de cause of it all.\n[143]\n\nB\n\nDe woman is de cause of it all\, \nShe’s de cause of Daddy Adam’s fall.\nOl’ Daddy Adam\, Ol’ Mudde r Eve\,\nTakin’ all dese years to bring in de sheaves.\nOl’ Miss Eve didn’t have no showin’\nWidout heaps of stags to keep her goin’.\ nIf dey’d been twenty stags in de Garden of Eden\,\nDe devil and de sarp ent sho’d got beaten.\nIf Dere’s a Man in de Moon[68]\n\nIf dere’s a man in de moon\,\nDere’s a woman hangin’ roun’.\nIf dere’s a man in de moon\,\nShe nag at ’im\, I be boun’.\nMan in de moon\, man in de moon\,\nWonder if dat man’s a coon\,\nWonder if dat man’s a coon\,\nW onder if dat man’s a coon\,\nDat man in de moon.\nGo fer a walkin’ out at night\,\nSee dat woman pickin’ a fight.\nMan in de moon\, man in de moon\,\nWonder if dat man am a coon\,\nWonder if dat man am a coon\,\nWond er if dat man am a coon\,\nDat roun’ face man in de moon.\n[68]Probably derived from the song If the Man in the Moon Were a Coon\, which was a pop ular minstrel several years ago.\n\nA Vampire of Your Own\n\nIf you want t o have a vampire of your own\,\nLet these loose women alone.\nFix up your wife you have at home\,\nAn’ you’ll have a vampire of your own.\n[144] \nStop spendin’ your money on other women\,\nAn’ your friends\, you ha ve not any.\nGo home at night\, treat your own wife right\,\nAn’ you’l l have a vampire of your own.\nDey Got Each and de Udder’s Man\n\nSee tw o passenger trains\, Lawd\,\nRunnin’ side by side.\nSee two womens\, see two womens\,\nStan’ an’ talk so long.\nBet yo’ life dey got\nEach a nd de udder’s man.\nThe Negro man is at his best when he sings of his “gal” or his “baby.” Sometimes his song is boastful of the qualiti es of his “gal.” Sometimes he compares the merits of the brown girl an d the yellow girl or of the black and the yellow and casts his vote for hi s favorite color. Again\, he sings the story of his courtship\, and he cou nts it a never-to-be-too-much-talked-about experience to have been driven away from his sweetheart’s house by an irate father. In My Jane the love r characterizes his “gal” with enviable terseness and humor.\n\nMy Jan e\n\nMy Jane am a gal dat loves red shoes\,\nMy Jane am a gal dat loves si lk clo’es.\nMy Jane am a gal what loves plenty money\,\nShe can devil a feller till it ain’t even funny.\nMy Jane am a gal dat loves heaps o’ men\,\nGits what you got an’ dat’s yo’ en’.\nMy Jane am a gal love s to frolic all night\,\nWon’t cook fer a feller\, not even a bite.\nMy Jane’s a gal gits all she can\,\nIf you ain’t got it\, she hunts anoth er man.\nMy Jane am a gal drive a feller to de bad\,\nBut Jane’s\, hell- o-mighty\, bes’ gal I ever had!\n[145]\n\nMy Gal’s a High Bo’n Lady\ n\nMy gal she’s a high bo’n lady\,\nShe’s dark but not too shady\,\n All de mens fall fer dat\nHigh bo’n gal o’ mine!\nChorus:\nShe’s a h igh bo’n baby\,\nShe’s a high bo’n lady\,\nShe’s a brown dat suits my eye.\nDe mens dey calls her cutie\,\nDat gal a natural bo’n beauty\, \nAll de same I’s in de ring\nFer dat high bo’n brown o’ mine.\nIf Y ou Want to See a Pretty Girl\n\nRubber is a pretty thing\,\nYou rub it to make it shine.\nIf you want to see a pretty girl\,\nTake a peep at mine\, take a peep at mine.\nTalkin’ about a pretty girl\,\nYou jus’ ought-a see mine.\nShe is not so pretty\nBut she is jus’ so fine.\nShe gives me sugar\,\nShe gives me lard\,\nShe works all the while\nIn the white folk s’ yard.\nHoney Baby\n\nIf I could lay my head on yo’ sweet breas’\, \nHoney baby\, I could fin’ sweet res’.\nSweet res’\, sweet res’\, \nHoney baby\, I could fin’ sweet res’.\nIf I could set down in your l ap\,\nBaby mine\, I could have a nap.\nGood nap\, sweet nap\,\nHoney baby\ , I could have a nap.\n[146]\n\nGive Me a Teasin’ Brown\n\nIf ’twant f er de ter’pin pie\nAnd sto’-bought ham\,\nDese country women\nCouldn ’t git nowhere.\nSome say\, give me a high yaller\,\nI say\, give me a t easin’ brown\,\nFor it takes a teasin’ brown\nTo satisfy my soul.\nFor some folksies say\nA yaller is low down\,\nBut teasin’ brown\nIs what I’s crazy about.\nYou Take de Yaller\, I Take de Black\n\nYaller gal’ s yourn\nAn’ de black gal’s mine\,\nYou never can tell\nWhen de yaller gal’s lyin’.\nGive me a chocolate drop\,\nShe’s white on de inside\ ,\nBlack on de back.\nShe don’t cause a feller\nTo ride de railroad trac k.\nYou take yaller\,\nI take de black\,\nHurry up\, nigger\,\nCome out’ n dat shack.\nDat chocolate\nGal am mine.\nLong\, Tall\, Brown-skin Girl\n \nI’m Alabama boun’\,\nLong\, tall\, brown-skin girl.\nI’m Alabama boun’\,\nI’m Alabama boun’.\n[147]\nI have a mule to ride\nTo that long\, tall\, brown-skin girl.\nI have a mule to ride\,\nI have a mule to ride.\nShe is on the road somewhere\,\nShe is a long\, tall\, brown-skin g irl.\nShe is on the road somewhere\,\nShe is on the road somewhere.\nYou c an leave me here\nWith my long\, tall\, brown-skin girl.\nYou can leave me here\,\nYou can leave me here.\nI Got a Gal an’ I Can’t Git Her\n\nI got a gal an’ I can’t git her\,\nI got a gal an’ I can’t git her\, \nI got a gal an’ I can’t git her\,\nMammy won’t lemme see ’er\, can’t even go wid her.\nWent to de house\, I wus lovin’ sick\,\nWent to de house\, I wus lovin’ sick\,\nWent to de house\, I wus lovin’ sic k\,\nI got over dat spell\, Lawd\, mighty quick.\nDaddy had a pistol\, mam my had a gun\,\nDaddy had a pistol\, mammy had a gun\,\nDaddy had a pistol \, mammy had a gun\,\nTotin’ my stuff roun’ de corner\, Lawd\, wus fun .\nI Went to See My Gal\n\nI went to see my gal at half pas’ fo’\nHe r ol’ fool daddy met me at de do’.\n“I come to git a match\,” so s ays\, says I.\n“Write it on yo’ tombstone\, by and by.”\nI kicked up dirt\, I kicked up san’\,\nLawd\, I kicked up everything but dry lan’ .\nYou ax me did I run?—No\, Lawd\, I flew.\nI’s a mighty black nigger \, he skeered me blue.\n[148]\n\nBaby\, Why Don’t You Treat Me Right\n \nI’m goin’ down to the rivuh\,\nI’m goin’ to jump overboard an’ drown\,\nBecause the girl I love\,\nI can’t see her all the time.\nChor us:\nBaby\, why don’t you treat me right\,\nSo that I can love you all t he night?\nThen you will be my sweet little wife.\nBaby\, why don’t you treat me right?\nI’m coming to see you tomorrow night\,\nI want everythi ng to be just right\,\nI’m coming to get my own\,\nAn’ I want that shi ne to leave you alone.\nDey’s Hangin’ ’Roun’ Her Do’\n\nDe y’s a-hangin’ ’roun’ her do’\,\nDey’s never done dat befo’ \,\nFer she’s wearin’ her aprons low.\nLawdy\, Lawdy\, I don’t wanta go\,\nAll dese niggers hang ’roun’ her do’\,\n’Cause she’s wearin’ ’em hangin’ low.\nUnfaithfulness in love is another great so urce of song. “Somebody stole my gal” is a common tale\, and the seque l\, “I’m gonna git dat man\,” is equally common. The “creeper\,” the man who “fools wid another man’s woman\,” is the most despised of all Negro characters. Says the Negro man\,\n\nA sarpent crawls on his b elly\,\nA cat wallers on his back\;\nDe meanest varmint in de worl’\nIs de creeper in my shack.\nIn the following group of songs the man pays his respects to the unfaithful woman and to the “creeper.”\n\n[149]\n\nA C reeper’s Been ’Roun’ Dis Do’\n\nYou don’t think I don’t know \nA creeper’s been ’roun’ dis do’\, dis do’.\nA sarpent crawls o n his belly\,\nA cat wallers on his back\,\nDe meanest varmint in dis worl ’\nIs de creeper in my shack.\nMy woman say hit’s her brother\,\nDen s ay hit’s her daddy\, too\;\nIf dat midnight creeper don’t stay ’way\ ,\nI know what I’s gonna do.\nMy han’s am long\,\nMy fingers am strong and slim\,\nWhen I gits through wid dat creeper’s neck\nDey won’t be creeps lef’ in him.\nDew-drop Mine\n\nKeep me\, sleep me\, close on yo ’ heart\,\nTell me\, angel Susie\, never mo’ to part.\nMy black baby\, you got no wings\,\nBut\, my black baby\, you got better things.\nAngel m ine\, you quit lyin’\nIn de bed wid dat udder man\,\nDew-drop mine\, I ’s a cryin’\nFer you\, but I’s spyin’.\nAngel mine\, dis I know\,\ nYou don’t love me no mo’.\nDew-drop mine\, dis I know\,\nA midnight c reeper come in my do’.\nHe Tuck Her Away\n\nI sho’ got to fight\, I’ s got to use de knife\,\n’Cause dat stray done got my wife.\nOh\, he tuc k her away\, he tuck her away.\n[150]\n\nI Got My Man\n\nLook out\, nigger \, hol’ up yo’ han’.\nWaited long time\, but I got my man.\nYou got de gal\, I got you\,\nDevil git us bofe ’fore we gits through.\nHome Aga in\, Home Again[69]\n\nHome again\, home again\,\nCrazy to git back.\nWhen I gets dere\,\nFinds a stray man in my shack\,\nFinds a stray man in my s hack\,\nFinds a stray man in my shack\,\nHome again\, home again\,\nFinds a stray man in my shack.\nHome again\, home again\,\nAxe handle in de yard \,\nWhales dat nigger over de head.\nNow I’s workin’ hard\,\nNow I’s workin’ hard\,\nNow I’s workin’ hard\,\nHome again\, home again\, \nNow I’s workin’ hard.\nDe chain gang got me\, an’ de coal mine\, t oo\,\nBut\, Lawd\, what’s a po’ nigger gonna do\nWhen a creeper comes creepin’ in\,\nWhen a creeper comes creepin’ in\,\nWhen a creeper come s creepin’ in?\nHome again\, home again\,\nWhen a creeper comes a-cree pin’ in.\n[69]Cf. Home Again Blues\, a popular phonograph piece.\n\nI’ s Done Spot My Nigger\n\nHan’ on my gun\,\nFinger on de trigger\,\nI’s goin’ to jail\n’Cause I’s done spot my nigger.\n[151]\nMy woman don e fool me\,\nEverything gone wrong\;\nI ain’t never gonna live\nTo sing dis song.\nJedge an’ jury\nSentenced me to hang\,\nJes’ as lieve to go dere\nAs to go to de gang.\nHe Got My Gal\n\nCome up Whitehall\,\nRun out ’Catur\,\nI’se boun’ fer to fin’ dat\nBig black waiter.\nChorus:\ nHe got my gal\, he got my gal\,\nHe got my gal\, he got my gal\,\nI bou n’ now to git dat man.\nHe give her money\,\nHe give her fine wear\;\nBu t when I finds dat waiter\,\nWatch out fer his hair.\nShe’s Got Another Daddy\n\nBill Snipe’s wife couldn’t buy no coffin\,\nBut ’hin’ her veil I seen her laughin’.\nShe’s got another daddy\, Lawd\,\nShe’s got another daddy.\nBill’s wife rid ’hin’ de hearse\,\nShe rid in a hack\,\nI kotch her grinnin’ at her new daddy\nOut’n a crack.\nShe’s got another daddy\, Lawd\,\nShe’s got another daddy.\n[152]\n\nCHAPTER IX\nWOMAN’S SONG OF MAN\nWoman’s song of man is in most respects paral lel to man’s song of woman. Her themes are about the same. She sings of her “man” or “daddy\,” of her disappointments and failures in love \, of her unfaithful lover\, and of her own secret amours.\n\nIt will be n oticed that woman’s song conforms quite closely to the blues type as it is popularly known today. In Chapter I examples of the “mama” blues ti tles were given and in Chapter II it was pointed out that the majority of the formal blues of today deal with the sex theme. Furthermore\, most of t hese blues are sung from the point of view of woman. Consequently\, as son gs that may be remembered and sung from day to day\, they appear more acce ptable to woman than to man. Perhaps this explains why the influence of th e formal blues is encountered so frequently in the kind of songs with whic h this chapter is concerned. At any rate\, it is becoming increasingly dif ficult to find a song of woman on the man theme which does not show the in fluence of the popular blues.[70]\n\n[70]After consulting dozens of popula r pieces\, in both sheet music and phonograph record form\, we have been a ble to trace some of these songs to them\, but we feel sure that the influ ence of the formal blues is present in many other songs in this and other chapters\, even though we have failed so far to locate the direct evidence . We have omitted many songs that were clearly of formal origin\, although the singers insisted that they were entirely original.\n\nWoman’s song of man frequently concerns itself with “the other woman\,” the rival i n the case. The first two songs given here are only indirectly concerned w ith man\, but they are of interest because they[153] touch upon the “con flict of color” within the Negro community. They are only samples of a v oluminous literature of “chocolate” versus “yellow\,” or “bl ack” versus “brown\,” which is to be found in the songs of the Negro .\n\nDe Mulatto Gal\n\nDe mulatto gal got yaller skin\, yaller skin\,\nDe mulatto gal got yaller skin\, yaller skin\,\nDe mulatto gal got yaller ski n\, yaller skin\,\nDe mulatto gal got yaller skin\,\nDen she got a devilis h grin\, daddy.\nDe mulatto gal got kinky hair\, kinky hair\,\nDe mulatto gal got kinky hair\, kinky hair\,\nDe mulatto gal got kinky hair\, kinky h air\,\nDe mulatto gal got kinky hair\,\nAlways wears her big laigs bare\, daddy.\nDe mulatto gal got white-gray eyes\, gray eyes\,\nDe mulatto gal g ot white-gray eyes\, gray eyes\,\nDe mulatto gal got white-gray eyes\, gra y eyes\,\nDe mulatto gal got white-gray eyes\,\nAn’ dat’s a gal dat ne ver lies\, daddy.\nDe mulatto gal got great big laigs\, big laigs\,\nDe mu latto gal got great big laigs\, big laigs\,\nDe mulatto gal got great big laigs\, big laigs\,\nDe mulatto gal got great big laigs\,\nShe’s de gal makes de men beg\, daddy.\nDe mulatto gal got great big hips\, big hips\,\ nDe mulatto gal got great big hips\, big hips\,\nDe mulatto gal got great big hips\, big hips\,\nDe mulatto gal got great big hips\,\nShe’s de gal got kissin’ lips\, daddy.\nDe Chocolate Gal\n\nDe chocolate gal got gre asy hair\, greasy hair\,\nDe chocolate gal got greasy hair\, greasy hair\, \nDe chocolate gal got greasy hair\, greasy hair\,\nShe is de gal can cuss an’ rare\, daddy.\n[154]\nDe chocolate gal got col’ black eye\, black eye\,\nDe chocolate gal got col’ black eye\, black eye\,\nDe chocolate gal got col’ black eye\, black eye\,\nShe am de gal what steals an’ li es\, daddy.\nDe chocolate gal got thick black skin\, black skin\,\nDe choc olate gal got thick black skin\, black skin\,\nDe chocolate gal got thick black skin\, black skin\,\nShe de kin’ of gal what go to de pen\, daddy. \nDe chocolate gal she got big laigs\, big laigs\,\nDe chocolate gal she g ot big laigs\, big laigs\,\nDe chocolate gal she got big laigs\, big laigs \,\nShe am de gal what cries an’ begs\, daddy.\nDe chocolate gal got hea vy hips\, heavy hips\,\nDe chocolate gal got heavy hips\, heavy hips\,\nDe chocolate gal got heavy hips\, heavy hips\,\nShe’s de gal got lyin’ l ips\, daddy.\nSongs like those just given are varied to suit the color of the singer. If the black girl has an off-color rival\, she sings that it i s the yellow girl who “steals an’ lies\,” who “cries an’ beg s\,” who “can cuss an’ rare\,” and so on.\n\nIn the next few songs woman sings of her “man.” Her appellations\, “my man\,” “my daddy\,” “sweet papa\,” “chocolate drop\,” “Black Jack\,” a nd others\, are an interesting study in themselves. I’s Dreamin’ of Yo u has simplicity and a note of tenderness which approaches the better type of love song. The other songs are quite crude\, but it should be remember ed that they are characteristic only of the Negro woman of the lower class .\n\nI’s Dreamin’ of You\n\nI’s dreamin’ of you\,\nI’s dreamin ’ of you\,\nI’s dreamin’ of you\nEvery night.\n[155]\nI’s thinki n’ of you\,\nI’s thinkin’ of you\nI’s thinkin’ of you\nAll rig ht.\nI’s wantin’ of you\,\nI’s wantin’ of you\,\nI’s wantin’ o f you\nDay an’ night.\nOn de Road Somewhere\n\nOn de road somewhere\,\nI got a long\, tall chocolate-drop\nOn de road somewhere.\nDon’t you leav e me here\,\nDon’t you leave me here\,\nIf you will leave me here\,\nLea ve me dime fer beer.\nOn de road somewhere\,\nOn de road somewhere\,\nI go t a long\, tall chocolate-drop\nOn de road somewhere.\nMy Black Jack\n\nWh en I gits to heaven I don’t wanta stay\nWidout my Black Jack live out da t way.\nBlack Jack’s a rounder\, but I don’t kere\,\nAll us need to be happy is a bed an’ a cheer.\nDaddy Mine\n\nOver de fiel’ an’ ’cro ss de line\,\nI got a daddy dat I call mine.\nDaddy mine\, daddy mine\,\nK eep me cryin’ all de time.\nAin’t got no heart\, ain’t got no mon\,\ nBut\, God\, I loves dat daddy lak fun.\nDaddy mine\, daddy mine\,\nI got a daddy dat I calls mine\,\nDaddy mine\, daddy mine.\n[156]\n\nMy Man Am a Slap-stick Man\n\nMy man am a slap-stick man\,\nMy man dance wid de band. \nHis head am nappy\,\nHis feetsies is long\;\nNone o’ dese things\nMake my man wrong.\nMy man’s a slap-stick man.\nMy man am a slap-stick man\, \nMy man dance wid dat yaller gal.\nHer head am nappy\,\nHer feet am long\ ;\nAll o’ dese things\nMake dat gal dead wrong.\nMy man’s de slap-stic k man.\nDon’t You Two-time Me\n\nIf you gonna be my honey\nDon’t you t wo-time me.\nIf you gonna be my papa\,\nBetter have one man ’stead of th ree.\nDon’t you two-time\,\nTry to two-time me.\nCan Any One Take Sweet Mama’s Place?[71]\n\nCan any one take sweet mama’s place?\nI ain’t g ood lookin’\,\nAin’t got no curly hair\,\nBut my mama give me someth in’\nTake me each an’ everywhere.\nCome here\, sweet papa\,\nLook me i n de face\,\nIs dere anybody can take yo’ mama’s place?\nDe Mississipp i River\nIs so deep and wide\,\nCan’t see my good brown\nFrom de other s ide.\n[71]Cf. phonograph record\, Can Anybody Take Sweet Mama’s Place?\n \n[157]\n\nBut the chief theme in woman’s song\, as in man’s\, is trou ble. Sometimes the dominant note is disappointment:\n\nDat nigger o’ min e don’t love me no mo’\,\nDat ungrateful feller don’t love me no m o’.\nSometimes it is regret:\n\nI wish I was single again\,\nOh\, I wish I was single again.\nAgain the key-note is one of despondency:\n\nDone so l’ my soul to de devil\,\nAn’ my heart done turned to stone.\nAnd it i s usually the “other woman” who is at the bottom of the trouble.\n\nHe don’t send me no hearin’—\nI knows another gal’s dere an’ I ’s fearin’.\nDat sly\, ’ceitful\, lyin’ gal\,\nYes\, Lawd\, she st ole my man away.\nThese “hard luck” songs of woman are presented in th e next group. It is here that one finds the closest relation between folk songs and the formal blues.\n\nWhen I Wore My Ap’on Low\n\nWhen I wore m y ap’on low\,\nWhen I wore my ap’on low\,\nWhen I wore my ap’on low\ ,\nBoys would pass by my do’.\nNow I’m wearin’ it to my chin\,\nNo w I’m wearin’ it to my chin\,\nNow I’m wearin’ it to my chin\,\nBo ys all pass and dey won’t come in.\n[158]\n\nI Done Sol’ My Soul to de Devil[72]\n\nI done sol’ my soul\,\nDone sol’ it to de devil\,\nAn’ my heart done turned to stone.\nI got a lot o’ gol’\,\nGot it from de devil\,\nBecause he won’t let me alone.\nHe says he can make me happy\n An’ give me back my man\nIf you follow me in sin\,\nAn’ I wus so blue he took me in.\nLook what a fool I am.\nDone sol’ my soul\,\nDone sol’ it to the devil\,\nAn’ my heart done turned to stone.\nI live down in d e valley\nBy a hornet’s nest\,\nWhere de lions\, bears\, and tigers\nCom e to take deir rest.\n[72]Very similar to phonograph piece\, Done Sold My Soul to the Devil.\n\nI Got a Letter From My Man[73]\n\nI got a letter fro m my man\,\nMy man’s dyin’\, Lawd\, Lawd.\nI’m goin’ down track\, never look back\,\nGoin’ where my man fell dead.\nI’m gonna follow my man\,\nLawd\, gonna follow him to the buryin’ groun’.\nBut I’m so so rry\, Lawd\,\nBut I just can’t take your place.\nWell\, captain\, told y ou about my man\,\nSay\, I’m goin’ away\, can’t stay behind.\n[159]\ nSay\, I’m goin’ away\, captain\,\nLawd\, I done lef’ this town.\n Say\, I’m goin’ home\, captain\, an’\, captain\,\nI won’t be here so long.\nSay\, I’m goin’ away\, Lawd\, Lawd\,\nSay\, I’m on my way home.\nO Lawd\, captain\, tell me what’s matter now\,\nNothin’ matter\ , jus’ leavin’ the town.\nCaptain\, captain\, I’m goin’ away so lo ng\,\nYou make me think o’ my man.\nSay\, captain\, captain\, don’t be so hard on me\,\nO Lawd\, I don’t do nothin’ but wash an’ iron all day.\nSay\, captain\, captain\, I can’t work so hard\,\nO Lawd\, I can ’t wash an’ iron so hard.\nSay\, captain\, when you call my name\,\nYo u make me think\, Lawd o’ my man.\nSay\, captain\, I ain’t got no hu sban’\,\nLawd\, captain\, you got my man.\n[73]This song represents the lament of a construction-camp woman. The sentiment of the first four stanz as is found\, in a very different form\, in the phonograph piece\, Death L etter Blues.\n\nI Ain’t No Stranger\n\nI ain’t no stranger\,\nI ain’ t no stranger\,\nI jes’ blow into your town.\nI didn’t come here\,\nI didn’t come here.\nTo be dawged around.\nLook-a here\, daddy\,\nLook-a h ere\, daddy\,\nSee what you done done.\nDone made me love you\,\nDen tryin ’ to throw me away.\nSee dem crazy fellows\, daddy?\nGo to jail about ’em\,\nBut I wont go in—\n[160]\n\nWhat Can the Matter Be?[74]\n\nWhat can the matter be\, O dear\, what can the matter be?\nWhat can the matter be\, O dear\, Johnnie is so long at the fair.\nHe promised to bring me a ring an’ a locket\nAn’ all the nice things you wear in your pocket.\nH e promised to bring me a bunch of blue ribbon\nTo wear on my pretty brown hair.\nHe said if I’d love him he never would leave me\,\nBut now I have chased him I hope he won’t grieve me\,\nI love him so dearly I hope he won’t leave me\,\nBut Johnnie is so long at the fair.\nO dear\, what can the matter be?\nJohnnie is so long at the fair.\n[74]This song\, which is probably of white origin\, has a wide distribution. The present version i s from North Carolina. The song is mentioned in Pound’s syllabus\, Folk Song of Nebraska and the Central West. Perrow gives a version in Journal o f American Folk-Lore\, vol. 28\, p. 169.\n\nWorried Anyhow[75]\n\nWhen de man dat I love says\nHe didn’t want me no mo’\,\nI thought it was de h ardest word\nI ever heard befo’.\nWhen de blues overtake you\,\nI’s can’t beat a deal\,\nIf it wusn’t fer my mother\nAn’ de man I loves. \nI give myself to de sick\nAn’ my soul to de God above.\nIf you quit me \, daddy\,\nIt won’t worry me now\,\nBecause when we are together\nI am worried anyhow.\n[75]Cf. phonograph record\, Worried Anyhow Blues.\n\n[161 ]\n\nDere’s Misery in Dis Lan’\n\nI got a man an’ a sweetheart\, too \,\nI got a man an’ a sweetheart\, too\,\nI got a man an’ a sweetheart \, too\,\nDere’s misery in dis lan’\, dis lan’.\nCan’t please my man an’ my sweetheart\, too\,\nCan’t please my man an’ my sweethear t\, too\,\nCan’t please my man an’ my sweetheart\, too\,\nDere’s mis ery in dis lan’\, dis lan’.\nMy man makes money an’ my sweetheart ma kes none\,\nMy man makes money an’ my sweetheart makes none\,\nMy man ma kes money an’ my sweetheart makes none\,\nDere’s misery in dis lan’\ , dis lan’.\nMy sweetheart makes love an’ my man makes none\,\nMy swee theart makes love an’ my man makes none\,\nMy sweetheart makes love an ’ my man makes none\,\nDere’s misery in dis lan’\, dis lan’.\nDat Chocolate Man\n\nI ain’t never goin’ to be satisfied\,\nAll day an’ night I cried.\nDat big Bill o’ mine he hide\nFrom me\, yes\, from me.\n My ol’ haid it’s weary\,\nMy ol’ heart it’s dreary\nFor dat chocol ate man.\nI wonder where dat slim Bill’s gone\,\nI can’t do nothin’ but set an’ mo’n.\nDat big Bill stray from me\,\nYes\, he stray from m e.\nMy bed it’s lonesome an’ col’\,\nI can’t sleep to save my soul .\nDat big Bill o’ mine\,\nHe’s got dat yaller gal.\nMy ol’ haid i t’s achin’\,\nMy ol’ heart it’s breakin’\nFor dat chocolate man. \n[162]\n\nDem Longin’\, Wantin’ Blues\n\nI loves dat bully\, he sho ’ looks good to me\,\nI always do what he wants me to.\nDen he don’t s eem satisfied.\nI got de blues\,\nYes\, Saro\, I’s got dem wantin’ blu es\,\nDem longin’\, wantin’ blues.\nHe don’t send me no hearin’\,\ nI know another gal’s dere an’ I’s fearin’.\nHe don’t seem satis fied.\nNow I got de blues\,\nYes\, Lawd\, I got dem wantin’ blues\,\nDem longin’\, wantin’ blues.\nDat Nigger o’ Mine Don’t Love Me No M o’.\n\nUp an’ down de street\, ain’t got no show\,\nDat nigger o’ mine don’t love me no mo’.\nNo mo’\, no mo’\, no show\, no show\ ,\n’Cause dat ungrateful feller don’t love me no mo’.\nStroll to de corner\, cop in sight\,\nGonna kill dat man\, he ain’t treat me right.\n No mo’\, no mo’\, no show\, no show\,\n’Cause dat ungrateful felle r don’t love me no mo’.\nI Don’t Love Him No Mo’.\n\nIf I don’t come back\,\nIf I don’t come back\,\nPut de cop on dat\nBlack man’s tr ack.\nHe’s a rough-neck black\,\nKeep de p’liceman on his track\,\nP ut ’im in de jail house\,\nKeep ’im dere.\nI don’t love him no mo’ \,\nSo I don’t care.\n[163]\n\nI Wish I Was Single Again[76]\n\nWhen I w as single I was livin’ at my ease\,\nNow I am married a drunker to pleas e.\nI wish I was single again\,\nI wish I was single again.\nWhen I was si ngle\, fine shoes I wo’\,\nNow I am married\, my feet on the flo’.\nI wish I was single again\,\nI wish I was single again.\nThe water is to bri ng\, the flo’ to sweep\,\nThe children are cryin’ and nothin’ to eat .\nI wish I was single again\,\nI wish I was single again.\nWash their lit tle faces\, tuck them in their bed\,\nIn comes that drunken man—I wish h e was dead.\nI wish I was single again\,\nI wish I was single again.\n[76] Cf. Campbell &\; Sharp\, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachi ans\, p. 256\; also phonograph record version\, I Wish I Was a Single Girl .\n\nDere’s a Lizzie After My Man\n\nDere’s a Lizzie after my man\,\ nDere’s a Lizzie after my man\;\nShe git ’im if she can\,\n’Cause I kotch her holdin’ his han’\,\nDis-a mawnin’\, dis evenin’ more ’ n late.\nHer face am powdered white\,\nHer face am powdered white\;\nHer h air am greasy an’ slick\,\nOn my man she try to work ’er trick\,\nDis- a mawnin’\, dis evenin’ more ’n soon.\nShe comed ’roun’ to my do’\,\nShe comed ’roun’ to my do’\;\nDen I ripped offen her skirt\ ,\nDen I tore offen his shirt\,\nDis-a mawnin’\, dis evenin’\, more ’n soon.\n[164]\n\nDat Sly Gal\n\nDat sly gal\,\nOh\, dat sly\, ’ceitf ul\, lyin’ gal\,\nShe leads dat long tearful prayer\nWid her head proppe d on my chair.\nShe stole my man away\,\nYes\, Lawd\, she stole my man awa y.\nI Don’t Feel Welcome Here\n\nI’s goin’ down de road\nWhere I can get better care.\nI believe I’ll go\n’Cause I don’t feel welcome he re.\nI’s goin’ to ketch dat train\,\nDont’ kere where it’s from\ ,\n’Cause I ain’t gonna stay here\nAn’ be made no stumblin’ block. \nI landed here one night\nWhen de clock wus strikin’ nine\,\nLookin’ fer dat woman\nDat had stole dat man o’ mine.\nI hunts dat woman high\,\ nI hunts dat woman low\,\nI’s gonna rip dat woman\nFrom her mouf clean d own befo’.\nOccupied\n\nCoon\, coon\, coon\, great big yaller coon\,\nHe sets all night jis’ outern my do’.\nHe says\, “Please lemme res’ dere jis’ once mo’\,”\nBut\, Lawd\, it’s occupied\,\nBut\, Lawd\ , it’s occupied.\nDat coon’d be hot if he knowed de troof\,\nDat a cho colate-drop lef’ over de roof.\nBut he wanta come in once mo’\nAn’ b e occupied\,\nAn’ be occupied.\n[165]\n\nI’m Gonna Get Me Another Man\ n\nMy man ain’t treatin’ me right\,\nHe haven’t been home this wee k.\nI’m goin’ get me another man\nAn’ let that black kinky-headed ba stard go.\nHe don’t love me an’ he don’t mean me no good.\nI’m a b rown-skin woman an’ tailor-made\,\nI believe I can get me a man in anybo dy’s town.\nThe man I love an’ am wild about\,\nHe is brown-skin\,\nGo t curled hair an’ tailor-made hisself.\nI Got Another Daddy\n\nLeavin’ here\, I sho’ don’t wanta go.\nGoin’ up de country\,\nBrown-skin\ , I can’t carry you.\nDon’t write me no letters\,\nDont’ sen’ me n o word\,\nI got another daddy\nTo take your place.\n[166]\n\nCHAPTER X\nFO LK MINSTREL TYPES\nOne of the most interesting of all the Negro’s secula r songs is the folk minstrel type. This minstrel song is similar to the or iginal minstrel\, in which one or more wandering musicians and songsters t ravel from place to place rendering song and music with varied accompanime nts. Sometimes one singer goes alone\, sometimes two\, sometimes a quartet te. They are entertainers in the real sense that they exhibit themselves a nd their art with all the naturalness and spontaneity possible. Furthermor e\, such minstrels are not infrequently ingenious in composing new verses and adapting them to old tunes or to newly discovered ones. Such songs are also well adapted to social gatherings and to various special occasions. They should be distinguished from the black-face type of vaudeville song a nd the minstrel show\, although of course the song of the traveling show m ust inevitably influence the minstrel type a great deal. For sheer type-po rtraiture\, however\, the minstrel Negro and his song must undoubtedly be presented if the whole picture is to be complete.\n\nTypical scenes are th e singing on special gala occasions\, such as fairs\, holidays\, and picni cs\, at resorts of the whites\, on the road or on street corners. Such sin gers also accompany many a patent-medicine man or other street-corner vend er of wares. Sung in this way\, of course\, are many of the ordinary secul ar creations\, but in general the minstrel type is[167] more finished and formal\, with more of rhyme and something of the ballad technique\, with m uch of the humor and entertaining qualities implied in its kind. Most of t hese songs would repay special study on the part of the student of folk so ngs and ballads who wishes to trace origins and developments. While all th e songs we have listed are Negro songs in the sense that they are sung muc h and regularly by Negroes\, with the special artistic expression and mann er common to them\, they are\, of course\, often much mixed with similar s ongs originating elsewhere. In the case of It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’\ ,[77] for instance\, the origin of course is a common one\, and many of th e scores of verses are sung alike by white and Negro minstrels\, with only minor distinctions due to manner and situation. And yet of the several hu ndred verses which are even now extant\, some are very clearly of Negro or igin\, exhibiting something of the Negro’s traditional phrases and his b lues. A Negro quartette singing It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’ is undoubte dly singing a Negro song. Among the songs in the previous volume which are adapted to the minstrel type of singing are Railroad Bill\, Lilly\, Stago lee\, Eddy Jones\,[78] and some of the more recently composed religious ty pes.\n\n[77]No verses of It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’ are given in this volume\, although our collection included several score. They are scarcely within the bounds of the present collection.\n\n[78]See The Negro and His Songs\, pp. 196\, 198\, 205\, 228.\n\nOne of the most attractive of all t he Negro songs we have heard was That Liar\, sung by two elderly Negro men at Columbia\, South Carolina\, through the courtesy of Dr. E. L. C. Adams . The main part of the song is always chanted by the leader in recitative sing-song very much after the fashion of a sermon when the minister has re ached his emotional climax. Then upon reaching the chorus\, he suddenly tu rns into rapid[168] song\, accompanied by his companion. They sing the cho rus with the usual accompaniment of “Oh” or “Lawd” or “Let me tell you.” The song\, with some variations and repetitions\, is good for almost an hour’s entertainment. It is also a very good shouting song.\n \nThat Liar[79]\n\nJes’ let me tell you how a liar will do.\nAlways co min’ with somethin’ new\,\nHe’ll steal yo’ heart with false preten se\,\nMakin’ out like he’s yo’ bes’ frien’\;\nAn’ when he find s out you believe what he say\,\nThen that liar gonna have his way.\nHe’ ll bring you news ’bout women and men\,\nMake you fall out with yo’ bes’ frien’.\nChorus:\nIf you don’t want to get in trouble\,\nIf y ou don’t want to get in trouble\,\nIf you don’t want to get in trouble \,\nYou better let that liar alone.\nWhen a liar takes a notion his friend s to improve\,\nHe lay around de neighbors and git de news.\nNearly every day when you look out\,\nSee that liar come to yo’ house\,\nTell you sic h lies surprise yo’ min’\nAn’ mix a little truth to make it shine. \nAn’ when he git his news fix jes’ right\,\nThat liar gonna cause a f ight.\nWhen everything’s in perfect peace\,\nHere come that liar with hi s deceit\,\nMake believe that he love you so well\,\nTill every day he mus t come an’ tell.\n“Let me tell you\, my sister\, if you jes’ knew\nW hat a certain somebody tell me ’bout you.”\nHe studies up lie and tell it so smooth\,\nUntil you think undoubtedly must be true.\nHe’ll bring you out to trace de tale\,\nAn’ if you don’t mind you’ll be put in j ail.\n[169]\nA hypocrite and liar both keep up a fuss\,\nDey both very bad \, but a liar’s the wuss\;\nHe’ll come to yo’ house in powerful rush \,\nSay\, “I can’t stay long for I must go to my work\,\nI jes’ come to tell you what somebody say.”\nThen he’ll take a seat an’ stay al l day.\nHe’ll tell you some things that’ll cause you to pout\,\nThen a t las’ he’ll force you out.\nHe knows that he owes you\, an’ if you ask him for pay\,\nHe’ll fall out wid you and stay away.\n[79]Cf. The so ng given by Ballanta in his St. Helena Island Spirituals\, p. 72.\n\nSung in very much the same way is the War Jubilee Song\, itself a type of popul ar traveling song. It was the favorite of the same two singers\, both note d songsters of the Columbia environs\, and they claimed to have learned it from a traveling Negro secretary of the Y. W. C. A.\, who came from Flori da immediately after the World War. Here again the chorus was sung with ef fective variations\, “Now I’m so glad\,” or “You know I’m so glad\,” or “I declare I’m so glad\,” and many others.\n\nWar Jubi lee Song\n\nWhen the U. S. got in de war\nWus de saddes’ day I ever saw. \nRegistration day began to start\nAn’ it come near breakin’ all mot hers’ heart.\nChorus:\nNow I’m so glad\, I’m so glad\,\nNow I’m so glad\, I’m so glad\,\nNow I’m so glad\, I’m so glad\nJesus brought peace all over dis lan’.\nYou know\, I declare\,\nJesus brought peace al l over dis lan’.\nBut God who called us here below\nTol’ de boys\, “ Get ready\, with you I’ll go.”\nJes’ take me over in Germany lan ’\nAn’ I will conquer every man.\n[170]\nWhen time fer train to roll\, \nUncle Sam had boys under his control\,\nAn’ when town bell begin to ri ng\nSome tried to be happy and begin to sing.\nSome from Newport News\, so I am tol’\,\nAn’ some in France where it was col’.\nJes’ carry me over in de lan’ of France\nWhere every soldier will have a fightin’ c hance.\nThat vessel leave New York with thousands on board\,\nSteam ship c arry such a heavy load.\nLawd\, I’m over in very strange lan’\,\nWid a ll soldiers walk han’ in han’.\nAn’ no good Christian did not fear \,\n’Cause Jesus Christ was engineer\,\nEngineer standin’ at chariot w heel\nBackin’ up children on battle fiel’.\nReason why war did last so long\,\nSo many people was livin’ wrong\,\nJes’ goin’ round runni n’ down colors and race\nAn’ oughter been beggin’ fer little mo’ g race.\nWhilst dey wus fightin’ great noise wus heard\,\nSmoke wus flyi n’ jes’ lak a bird\,\nMen were dyin’ wid thousands of groans\,\nNow peace declared an’ boys at home.\nUncle Sam he made and signed a decree\ nFor American nation to ben’ de knee.\nGod sits in Heaven an’ answers prayer\,\nAn’ dey had to stop fightin’ over there.\nWe put ourselves a s debt to God\,\nWe say we’d follow where he trod\,\nBut de way got dark and we couldn’t see\nJes’ who de winner of war would be.\nBut de Chri stians prayed until dey cried\,\nHypocrite say dat dey had lied.\nBut in d eir heads dey had a doubt\,\nBut when peace was declared\, Lawd\, dey want ed to shout.\n[171]\n\nOne of the most entertaining songs in all the reper toire of the Negro’s aggregate creations is Mr. Epting\, sung by four Ne gro pick-and-shovel men with such zest and harmony as we have rarely heard . It is apparently a parody on the war song Good Morning\, Mr. Zip\, and w ith this particular quartette of workers would make a hit on any stage. In the singing\, the largest member of the group dances a jig and exclaims i n his big bass voice\, “Lawd\, Lawd\, I feels funny when I sings this so ng. Lawd\, Lawd\, I can’t keep still\, it gives me such a funny feelin ’. Whoopee! Singin’ ’bout white man gives me funny feelin’.” In addition to the verses sung here the singer may substitute for whiskey and cocaine such words as gun\, woman\, policeman\, work\, and other forces w hich may be calculated to lead to the demise of these slanderers of Mr. Ep ting.\n\nGood Morning\, Mr. Epting\n\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYour ha ir just nappy as mine.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYou belong to the K. K. kind.\nWell\, ashes to ashes\,\nWell\, dust to dust\,\nShow me a woman\ nThat you can trust.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYour hair just nappy as mine.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYour hair just kinky as mine.\nGood m orning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYou belong to the K. K. kind.\nWell\, ashes to ashe s\,\nWell\, dust to dust\,\nShow me a woman\nThat you can trust.\nGood mor ning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYour hair just kinky as mine.\n[172]\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYour hair just as black as mine.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\ ,\nYou belong to the K. K. kind.\nWell\, if whiskey don’t kill me\,\nWel l\, cocaine must\,\nShow me a woman\nThat you can trust.\nGood morning\, M r. Epting\,\nYour hair just black as mine.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nY our hair just black as mine.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYou belong to t he K. K. kind.\nPistol don’t kill me\,\nWell\, cocaine must\,\nShow me a woman\nThat you can trust.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYour hair just a s black as mine.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYour hair just short as min e.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYou belong to the K. K. kind.\nWell if wh iskey don’t kill me\,\nWell\, cocaine must\,\nShow me a woman\nThat you can trust.\nGood morning\, Mr. Epting\,\nYour hair just as short as mine.\ nThe old song Raise a Rukus Tonight is now a popular one in various forms\ , those given here representing Georgia\, Tennessee and North Carolina. Th ere are many other versions and fragments\, but these will suffice to indi cate the type and mixture so common at present. One may easily see the sim ilarity to the old song but also its corruption by such modern types[173] as It Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’. Wring Jing\, while not a “rukus” ch orus\, is so much of the same sort as to make its comparison of value. The other much varied and corrupted types are also valuable for comparative p urposes.\n\nRaise a Rukus Tonight\nA\n\nMy ol’ master promise me\,\nRais e rukus tonight\;\nBefore he died he’d set me free\,\nRaise rukus tonigh t.\nChorus:\nCome along\, chillun\, come along\,\nWhile the moon is shinin g bright\,\nGet on board\, down the river float\,\n’Cause we gonna raise a rukus tonight.\nHis hair come out and his head turned bal’\,\nRaise r ukus tonight\;\nHe got out o’ notion dyin’ at all\,\nRaise rukus tonig ht.\n’Scuse me\, mister\, don’t get mad\,\nRaise rukus tonight\;\n’C ause you look like sumpin the buzzards had\,\nRaise rukus tonight.\nLook a t that nigger\, ain’t he black?\nRaise rukus tonight\;\nGot hair on his head like a carpet tack\,\nRaise rukus tonight.\nBlack cat settin’ on ch imney jam\,\nRaise rukus tonight\;\nIf that ain’t hot place\, I’ll be damn\,\nRaise rukus tonight.\nWay down yonder on chit’lin’ switch\,\nR aise rukus tonight\;\nBull frog jump from ditch to ditch\,\nRaise rukus to night.\n[174]\nBull frog jump from bottom of well\,\nRaise rukus tonight\; \nSwore\, by God\, he jumped from hell\,\nRaise rukus tonight.\nRaise a Ru kus Tonight\nB\n\nSome folks say preacher won’t steal\,\nRaise rukus ton ight\;\nI caught two in my corn fiel’\,\nRaise rukus tonight.\nOne had a bushel\, one had fo’\,\nRaise rukus tonight\;\nIf that ain’t steali n’ I don’t know\,\nRaise rukus tonight.\nMy ol’ missus promised me\, \nRaise rukus tonight\;\nWhen she died she’d set me free\,\nRaise rukus tonight.\nShe live so long ’til she got bal’\,\nRaise rukus tonight\;\ nShe got out notion dyin’ at all\,\nRaise rukus tonight.\nSo come along\ , chillun\, come along\,\nWhere moon shine bright tonight\;\nGet on board before boat gone\,\nGonna raise rukus tonight.\nRaise a Rukus Tonight\nC\n \nCome on\, niggers\,\nWhile the moon is shining bright\,\nGet on the boat \,\nDown the river we’ll float\,\nWe’re gonna raise a rukus tonight.\n Come on\, little chillun\,\nWhile the moon is shining bright\,\n[175]\nW e’re gonna raise cornbread\nAn’ sweet potatoes tonight\,\nRaise rukus tonight.\nMy ol’ missus promised me\,\nRaise rukus tonight\,\nWhen she d ied she’d set me free.\nWe’re gonna raise a rukus tonight\,\nGonna rai se a rukus tonight.\nMy ol’ master promised me\,\nGonna raise a rukus to night\,\nWhen I grew to be a man\nHe’d give me a horse’s rein.\nGonna raise a rukus tonight.\nWring Jing Had a Little Ding\n\nIf I live to see n ext fall\,\nWring Jing had a little ding\,\nAin’t goin’ to have no lov er at all\,\nWring Jing had a little ding.\nMy ol’ missus promised me\,\ nWring Jing had a little ding\,\nWhen she died she’d set me free\,\nWrin g Jing had a little ding.\nWhen she died she died so po’\,\nWring Jing h ad a little ding\,\nShe left me sittin’ on de kitchen flo’\,\nWring Ji ng had a little ding.\nBull frog jumped into bottom of well\,\nWring Jing had a little ding\,\nSwore\, by golly\, he jumped in hell\,\nWring Jing ha d a little ding.\nMy ol’ missus had a mule\,\nWring Jing had a little di ng\,\nHis name was Martin Brown\,\nWring Jing had a little ding.\nEvery fo ot that Martin had\,\nWring Jing had a little ding\,\nWould cover an acre of groun’\,\nWring Jing had a little ding.\n[176]\n\nGwine to Git a Home By an’ By\n\nMy ol’ missus promised me\,\nGwine to git a home by an ’ by\,\nWhen she died\, she’d set me free\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ by.\nShe did live till she got bal’\,\nGwine to git a home by an ’ by\,\nAnd she never died at all\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ by.\nC horus:\nDen O dat watermelon!\nLamb of goodness\, you must die\;\nI’m gw ine to jine de contraband\, chillun\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ by.\nA shoo-fly cut a pigeon wing\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ by\;\nA rattle snake rolled in a ’possum’s skin\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ by.\n Cow path crooked gwine through the wood\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ by \,\nMissus says I shan’t\, I says I should\,\nGwine to git a home by a n’ by.\nSister Sue and ol’ Aunt Sallie\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ by\,\nBoth live down in shin-bone alley\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ b y.\nName on de house\, name on de do’\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ by \,\nBig green spot on de grocery sto’\,\nGwine to git a home by an’ by .\nThere are many songs of the mule\, some of which are old and being revi ved\, some of which have been made new by the phonograph records. The firs t illustration here was sung with remarkable effect at the Dayton\, Tennes see\, Scopes trial\, with hundreds of whites and Negroes standing around t he quartette of Negroes[177] who came for the occasion. Most of their song s were of the stereotyped sort\, such as Ain’t Gonna Rain No Mo’. The mule song is the best illustration of the minstrel type given in this volu me. The other mule songs are presented largely for comparison\, and are no t particularly valuable. One of these\, exhorting Miss Liza to keep her se at\, is similar to the version collected twenty years ago in Mississippi.[ 80]\n\n[80]See The Negro and His Songs\, p. 235.\n\nGo ’Long Mule\n\nI ’ve got a mule\, he’s such a fool\nHe never pays no heed\;\nI built a fire ’neath his tail\,\nAn’ then he showed some speed.\nChorus:\nGo ’long\, mule\,\nDon’t you roll dem eyes\;\nYou can change a fool\, but a doggone mule\nIs a mule until he dies.\nDrove down to the graveyard\,\n Some peaceful rest to fin’\;\nBut when a black cat crossed my path\nI su re did change my min’.\nMy gal’s ol’ man don’t like me much\,\nH e’s got a heart o’ flint\;\nLast night I saw him buy a gun\nAn’ I ca n take a hint.\nI bought some biscuits for my dog\nAn’ put them on the s helf\;\nTimes got so hard I shot the dog\nAn’ ate them up myself.\nBoth Rufus Akes an’ Rastus Payne\nGot married down in Gaines\;\nAn’ now the y say the Georgia woods\nAre full of Akes an’ Paynes.\n[178]\nA cowslip ain’t no kind o’ slip\nTo slip upon a cow\;\nThat’s why a catfish ne ver answers\nTo a cat’s meow.\nA man in Georgia pulled a gun\nAn’ took a shot at me\;\nJust as he took the second shot\nI passed through Tenness ee.\nBill Jones was taken ill while callin’\nOn his gal Salome.\nWhat re ally caused his illness was\nHer husband who came home.\nThey say some one ’s been stealin’ things\,\nIt’s kind-a newsed aroun’\;\nI swear I don’t know who it is\,\nBut I am leavin’ town.\nI’m goin’ to the river now\nTo lay me down and die\,\nAn’ if I find the water’s wet\ nI’ll wait until it’s dry.\nMy gal invited me to dine\,\nI went prepar ed to eat\;\nBut all she placed upon my plate\nWas chicken necks and feet. \nThey’re gonna hold a meetin’ there\nOf some society.\nThere’s ’l even sheets upon the line\,\nThat’s ten too much for me.[81]\n[81]Eviden tly refers to a Ku Klux Klan meeting.\n\n[179]\n\nHump-back Mule\n\nIf you want to sneeze\,\nTell you what to do\,\nGet some salt an’ pepper\,\nPu t it in yo’ shoe.\nRidin’ hump-back mule\,\nRidin’ hump-back mule\,\ nIf you want to see pretty yaller gal\,\nShe’s ridin’ a hump-back mule .\nOl’ massa bought pretty yaller gal\,\nBought her from the South\,\nSh e wrapped her hair so tight\nShe couldn’t open her mouth.\nRidin’ hump -back mule\,\nRidin’ hump-back mule\,\nIf you want to see pretty yaller gal\,\nShe’s ridin’ a hump-back mule.\nCarried her to blacksmith shop\ nTo have her mouth made small\,\nShe back her years and open her mouth\nAn ’ swallowed shop and all.\nRidin’ hump-back mule\,\nRidin’ hump-back mule\,\nIf you want to see pretty yaller gal\,\nShe’s ridin’ a hump-b ack mule.\nNiggers plant de cotton on hill\,\nNiggers pick it out\,\nWhite man pocket money\,\nNigger does without.\nRidin’ hump-back mule\,\nRi din’ hump-back mule\,\nIf you want to see pretty yaller gal\,\nShe’s r idin’ a hump-back mule.\nWhoa\, Mule\n\nI hear dem sleigh bells ringin ’\, snow am fallin’ fas’\,\nI’s got dis mule in de horness\, got h im hitched at las’.\nLiza\, get yo’ bonnet\, come an’ take a seat\,\ nGrab up dat robe you’re sittin’ on an’ cover up yo’ feet.\n[180]\ nChorus:\nWhoa\, mule\, whoa I say!\nKeep yo’ seat\, Miss Liza Jane\, an’ hold on to de sleigh.\nWhoa\, mule\, whoa I say!\nKeep yo’ seat\, Miss Liza Jane\, an’ hold on to de sleigh.\nWhat’s dis mule a-roamin ’ for? He ain’t got half a load.\nWhen you catch dis mule a-roamin ’\, jus’ give him all de road.\nDon’t get scared at nothin’\, you stay here today\,\nLiza\, help me hold dis mule\, or else he’ll get away .\nWatch dis mule a-goin’\, goodness how he can sail!\nWatch his big ear s floppin’\, see him sling his tail.\nGoin’ down to de ’possum\, Liz a\, you keep cool\,\nI ain’t got time to kiss you now\, I’s busy with dis mule.\nA Nigger’s Hard to Fool\n\nA Georgia nigger an’ a Georgia m ule\,\nDese two asses is hard to fool.\nMight fool a white man\,\nMight fo ol his mother\,\nMight fool his sister\,\nAn’ you might fool his brother \;\nBut a nigger’s hard to fool\,\nBut a nigger’s hard to fool.\nA Geo rgia yaller gal\nAn’ a Georgia black\nKin always dog\nA feller’s track \,\nBut he’s hard to fool.\nYes\, Lawd\, a nigger’s hard to fool.\nA G eorgia road’s red\,\nBottom lan’ black\,\nA Georgia nigger\nIs a crack er jack\,\nAn’ he’s hard to fool.\nYes\, Lawd\, a nigger’s hard to f ool.\n[181]\n\nI’m Fishin’ Boun’\n\nLook ’cross the fiel’\, see the sun comin’ down\,\nDis is de day to be layin’ ’roun’.\nBait in de can\, hook on de stick\,\nI’m done too lazy to hit a lick\,\nI’m f ishin’ boun’\, I’m fishin’ boun’.\nLazies got me\, an’ I don ’t keer\,\nStomach’s empty\, but who’s gonna fear?\nBait in de can\, hook on de stick\,\nFishin’ spell done got me\, I can’t hit a lick\ ,\nI’m fishin’ boun’\, I’m fishin’ boun’.\nCome on fellers\, wid yo’ luck in yo’ han’\nWe’s gonna eat minners out de fryin’ pan\,\nBait in de can\, hook on de line\,\nIf I don’t go to fishin’\, nigger\, I’ll be dyin’\,\nI’m fishin’ boun’\, I’m fishin’ boun’.\nStretch flat on yo’ belly wid yo’ back in de air\,\nLook o ut fo’ yo’ hook\, Lawd\, he’s bitin’ dere!\nBait in de can\, hook on de stick\,\nI’m plum’ so hungry\, I’m most nigh sick\,\nI’m f ishin’ boun’\, I’m fishin’ boun’.\nCo’n Bread\n\nCo’n brea d\, co’n bread\,\nFeed dis nigger on co’n bread.\nWhite man eats biscu it\,\nNigger eats pone\;\nNigger he’s de stronges’\nJes’ sho’s y ou bo’n.\nCo’n bread\, co’n bread\,\nGive dis nigger greasy co’n b read.\nPut on de skillit\,\nPo’ in de grease\,\nDon’t make a little\,\ nBut a great big piece.\nCo’n bread\, co’n bread\,\nAll lazy niggers l oves co’n bread.\n[182]\nSif’ out de bran an’\nDrap in de pone\,\nLa wd knowed whut he’s doin’\nWhen he made dat co’n.\nCo’n bread\, co’n bread\,\nGive dis nigger plenty co’n bread.\nYou loves Emma an’ \nI loves Jake.\nYou is de nigger\nSome greasy co’n bread to bake.\nCo ’n bread\, co’n bread\,\nBlack greasy nigger eats co’n bread.\nOne han’ in de hopper\,\nDe udder in de sack\,\nOl’ black nigger wid\nRed lips to smack.\nCo’n bread\, co’n bread\,\nBlack greasy nigger eats co’n bread.\n’Taters in de hill\,\nMeal in de bag\,\nHome-made sirup\ nIn de old black keg.\nCo’n bread\, co’n bread\,\nBlack lazy nigger ea ts co’n bread.\nAshes in de corner\,\nFire in de middle\;\nWoman cooks r ations\,\nMan sets an’ whittles.\nCo’n bread\, co’n bread\,\nFeed di s nigger on co’n bread.\nOther songs which are current through the singi ng of the minstrel type\, or distributed widely on printed sheets in much the same way as the “mule” songs\, are No Coon But You\, De Co’t Hou se in De Sky\, and[183] Hi-Jenny-Ho\, sent us by Mr. J. D. Arthur of Tenne ssee. The Pullman Porter is a little more sophisticated\, but represents a type of humor and easy-going vaudeville style.\n\nNo Coon But You\n\nAs I was strollin’ down the street\,\n“Who did you meet?”\nA yellah gal I chanced to meet.\n“What did you say?”\nSaid I\, “My little honey\, now who’s\nyou gwine to meet?\nMay I have the pleasure of walkin’\ndo wn the street\nWith the one I long so for? You are\nthe apple of my eye. ”\nAn’ then she turned her sparklin’ eyes\nan’ quickly said to me: \nChorus:\n“No coon but you\, babe\, no coon but you\,\nNo coon but you\ , babe\, will ever do.\nNo coon but you\, babe\, no coon but you\,\nNo coo n but you will ever do.”\nAs we were passin’ down the street\,\n“Wha t happened then?”\nHer Sunday babe we chanced to meet.\n“What happened then?”\nHe grabbed me by the shoulder\, he quickly\nturned me ’roun ’.\nSaid I\, “Look out here\, nigger\, I’ll fall\nyou to the gro un’.”\nBut he took away my yellah gal\, an’ as\nthey passed me by\,\ nI heard him say\, “Now who’s your babe?” an’\nthen she said to him:\n“No coon but you\, babe\,” etc.\n[184]\nThat very same night the re was a ball.\n“Where\, nigger\, where?”\nDown at the Black Fo’-H undred’s Hall\,\n“S’pose you were there?”\nYes\, I took along my r azuh\, an’ gave\nit such a swing\,\nI cut that yellah nigger right under \nhis left wing.\nAn’ as they carried out his corpse\nI heard the people say\,\n“Now who’ll be her babe?” an’ then\nshe said to me:\n“No coon but you\, babe\,” etc.\nDe Co’t House in de Sky\n\nI’s got a n otion in my head\nAs when you come to die\,\nYou’ll stand a ’zaminatio n\nIn de co’t house in de sky.\nYou’ll be astonished at the questions\ nThat the angels gwine to ax\,\nWhen they get you on the witness stan’\n An’ pin you to the facts.\nDen yo’ eyes will open wider\nThan they eve r done befo’\,\nWhen they ax you ’bout the chicken scrapes\nWhat happe ned long ago.\nChorus:\nTo de co’t house in de sky\nI will raise my wing s an’ fly\,\nAn’ stan’ the ’zamination\nIn de co’t house in de s ky.\nNow de angels on de picket line\nAlong the milky way\nKeeps watchin ’ what you’re doin’\nAn’ hearin’ what you say.\nNo matter what you’re gwine to do\,\nNo matter whar you’re gwine\,\nThey’s mighty apt to find it out\nAn’ pass it long de line.\n[185]\nDen often in de me etin’-house\nYou make a fuss or laugh\,\nDen the news it goes a kiti n’\n’Long the golden telegraph.\nDen de angel in de office\,\nWhat is settin’ by the gate\,\nJes’ reads the message with a look\nAn’ claps it on de slate.\nOh\, you’d better do yo’ duty\, boys\,\nAn’ keep yo’ conscience clear\,\nAn’ keep a-lookin’ straight ahead\nAn’ watchin’ whar you steer.\n’Cause after while the time will come\nTo jo urney from dis lan’\,\nDey’ll take you ’way up in de air\nAn’ plac e you on de stan’.\nDen you’ll have to listen mighty close\nAn’ answ er mighty straight\,\nIf you ever ’spects to enter\nThrough that pretty golden gate.\nOh\, you’d better stop yo’ foolin’\,\nThat’s a place you can’t slide by\,\nWhen you stan’ the ’zamination\nIn de co’t house in de sky.\nHi\, Jenny\, Ho\, Jenny Johnson\n\nOnce I loved a yaller gal\, she said she’d marry me\,\nHi\, Jenny\, ho\, Jenny\, ho\, my Jenn y Johnson!\nSaw her eatin’ apples at a huckleberry bee\,\nHi\, Jenny\, h o\, Jenny Johnson!\nTook her to a ball an’ we never did get back\nTill t he break of morn\, when you hear the chickens quack.\nShe wouldn’t take the cars\, so I took her in a hack\;\nHi\, Jenny\, ho\, Jenny Johnson!\nCh orus:\nHi\, Jenny\, ho\, Jenny\, come along with me\,\nHi\, Jenny\, ho\, J enny\, ho\, my Jenny Johnson!\nSweeter than the honey at a huckleberry bee \,\nHi\, Jenny\, ho\, Jenny Johnson!\n[186]\nO my darling Jenny\, she’s the sweetest girl in town\,\nHi\, Jenny\, ho\, Jenny\, ho\, my Jenny Johns on!\nCaptivates the neighborhood for miles an’ miles aroun’\,\nHi\, Je nny\, ho\, Jenny Johnson!\nSaid she loved another an’ it broke my heart in two\,\nAn’ I had to get it mended with a little piece of glue\;\nShe gave me back my locket an’ a little silver shoe\,\nHi\, Jenny\, ho\, Jen ny Johnson!\nNow my Jenny’s married to a little yaller coon\,\nHi\, Jenn y\, ho\, Jenny\, ho\, my Jenny Johnson!\nTake care for Jenny’s hubby\, f or he’ll kill you mighty soon\,\nHi\, Jenny\, ho\, Jenny Johnson!\nWooly -headed pickaninnies runnin’ roun’ the flo’\,\nFor they say there’ s only two\, but I wish they had a sco’\;\nI’m gwine away to China\, so I’ll never see her mo’\,\nHi\, Jenny\, ho\, Jenny Johnson!\nPullma n Porter\n\nRuns from California\nPlumb up to Maine.\nI’s a Negro porter \nOn de pullman train.\nPullman train\,\nPullman train\,\nI’s de Negro p orter\nOn de pullman train.\nBraid on the cap an’\nButtons in a row\,\nO n that blue uniform\nRight down the fo’.\nIn pullman train\,\nPullman tr ain\,\nI’s a Negro porter\nOn de pullman train.\nIt’s a tip right here \nAn’ a tip right thar\,\nTip all along\nUp an’ down de pullman car.\n [187]\nPullman train\,\nPullman train\,\nI’s a Negro porter\nOn de pullm an train.\nPocket full o’ money\,\nStomach full o’ feed\,\nWhat next i n the worl’\nDo a fellow need?\nPullman train\,\nPullman train\,\nI’s a Negro porter\nOn de pullman train.\nKitty Kimo[82]\n\nDar was a frog liv ed in a spring\,\nHe had such a cold dat he could not sing\,\nI pulled him out an’ frowed him on de groun’\,\nOl’ frog he bounced an’ run aroun’.\nChorus:\nCamo\, kimo\, daro\, war\,\nMy high\, my ho\, my rumst ipumstididdle\,\nSoot bag\, pidly-wickem\, linch ’em\, nip cat\,\nSing s ong\, Polly\, won’t you kime\, oh?\nMilk in de dairy\, nine days ol’\, \nRats an’ skippers are gettin’ hol’\;\nA long-tailed rat in a bucke t of souse\,\nJes’ come from de white folks’ house.\nIn North Carolina de niggers grow\,\nIf de white man only plant his toe.\nWater de ground w ith ’bacco smoke\,\nAn’ up de nigger’s head will poke.\nWay down Sou th in Cedar street\,\nDere’s where de niggers grow ten feet\,\nDey go to bed\, but ’tain’t no use\,\nDeir feet hang out for a chicken’s ro os’.\n[82]Cf. Scarborough\, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs\, pp. 156-7 .\n\n[188]\n\nCHAPTER XI\nWORKADAY RELIGIOUS SONGS\nMany a laborer\, altho ugh singing his full quota of secular songs\, still finds his workaday sol ace best in his favorite heritage of church and religious melodies. There is surcease of sorrow in the plaintive\n\nYes\, Lawd\, burden down\, burde n down\,\nO Lawd\, since I laid my burden down.\nAnd the appeal for relief from present difficulties\, so eloquently expressed in the previous chapt ers\, finds its counterpart in this favorite of many workers of the presen t day.\n\nDo\, Lawd\, remember me\,\nDo\, Lawd\, remember me\,\nWhen I’m in trouble\,\nDo\, Lawd\, remember me.\nWhen I’m low down\,\nDo\, Lawd\ , remember me.\nOh\, when I’m low down\,\nDo\, Lawd\, remember me.\nDo n’t have no cross\,\nDo\, Lawd\, remember me\,\nDon’t have no crown\,\ nDo\, Lawd\, remember me.\nThere seems to be an impression abroad to the e ffect that the making of Negro spirituals stopped long ago. On the contrar y\, it is quite probable that more spirituals are being made today than du ring the days of slavery. As a matter of fact the old spirituals have neve r been[189] static. It is no longer possible to speak of the “pure” or “original” version of Swing Low\, Sweet Chariot\, of Roll\, Jordan\ , Roll\, or any other of the old favorites. If any one is in doubt of this \, let him compare the words and music of the spirituals as they were reco rded by Allen and others in 1867 with the records of the same songs later made by Fenner and Work and with the recent versions in James Weldon Johns on’s Book of American Negro Spirituals. Or let him compare the songs as they are sung at Hampton with the same songs as they are sung at Tuskegee or at Fisk. The spirituals\, like all other folk songs\, are dynamic. Some times in the process of constant change there appear variations which are so unlike the parent songs as to constitute virtually new songs. In this w ay the old spirituals have been the inspiration for untold numbers of new religious songs.\n\nAmong the lowly Negro folk of the South the making of spirituals is still a reality. Every community has its “composers.” Of ten they are supposed to possess some special gift of the “spirit.” Fr om sermon\, prayer\, and crude folk wisdom they draw ideas and inspiration for their compositions. Sometimes the results are pathetic\, but not infr equently there springs up a song which would compare favorably with the ol d spirituals.\n\nIt is not the purpose of this chapter to present the old spirituals or merely their newer variations\, but rather to give some of t he more unsophisticated religious songs of the workaday Negro as they are sung today in the South\, by the same groups and individuals whose songs a nd verbal pictures this volume presents. They are not the kind of songs wh ich are usually sung in the Negro churches\, for many of them have only in dividual or local significance\, while others show distinct secular touche s.\n\n[190]\n\nBiblical themes continue to find a place in the Negro’s r eligious songs. Moses and Pharaoh and Noah and the ark are still the favor ites. Here are a few of the workaday religious songs now current in the So uth. Pharaoh’s Army Got Drownded is a favorite with children\, and is of ten sung by them as a sort of reel. The three songs following it were sung by a woman in Georgia who is known locally as Sanctified Mary Harris. She claims that they are her own compositions and says that she composes only when she in “under de spirit.”\n\nPharaoh’s Army Got Drownded\n\nMa ry\, don’t you weep an’\, Marthie\, don’t you moan\,\nMary\, don’t you weep an’\, Marthie\, don’t you moan\;\nPharaoh’s army got drown ded\,\nO baby\, don’t you weep.\nI thinks every day an’ I wish I could \nStan’ on de rock whar Moses stood\;\nOh\, Pharaoh’s army got drownde d\,\nO baby\, don’t you weep.\nIf you git dere befo’ I do\,\nTell de Cap’n I’s a-comin’ too\;\nPharaoh’s army got drownded\,\nO baby \, don’t you weep.\nIf I had wings lak de angels have\,\nI never be caug ht drivin’ in anudder cab\;\nPharaoh’s army got drownded\,\nO baby\, don’t you weep.\nBaby\, don’t you weep an’\, baby\, don’t you moa n\,\nYou has to go to heaven wid yo’ buryin’ clothes on\;\nPharaoh’s army got drownded\,\nO baby\, don’t you weep.\n[191]\n\nGonna Turn Back Pharaoh’s Army\n\nWhen de children wus in bondage\nDey cried unto de La wd\,\n“O turn back Pharaoh’s army.”\nHallelu!\nChorus:\nGonna turn b ack Pharaoh’s army\,\nHallelu!\nYes\, a-gonna turn back Pharaoh’s army \,\nHallelu!\nI write to Marse Jesus\nTo send some valiant solders\nJus’ to turn back Pharaoh’s army\,\nHallelu!\nWhen Moses smit de water\nThe children all cross over\,\nDen dey turn back Pharaoh’s army\,\nHallelu!\ nDidn’t Ol’ Pharaoh Get Lost?\n\nGod spoke to Moses\, “Pharaoh now\, \nFer I have harden Pharaoh’s heart to me\,\nFer he will not bow.”\nCh orus:\nDidn’t ol’ Pharaoh get lost\, get lost!\nDidn’t ol’ Pharaoh get lost in de Red Sea?\nMoses went unto Pharaoh\nAn’ did whut de Lawd said how\,\nBut God had harden Pharaoh’s heart\,\nHe would not let dem g o.\nWho Built de Ark?\n\nDe very fust thing dat Nora done\,\nHe cut this t imber down.\nDe very next thing dat Nora done\nHe huded it all aroun’.\n [192]\nChorus:\nWho built de ark? Nora\, Nora.\nWho built de ark? Nora a n’ his Lawd.\nWho built de ark? Nora\, Nora.\nWho built de ark? Nora a n’ his Lawd.\nNora said to de rovin’ bird\,\n“Go bring me a grain of san’.”\nDe rovin’ bird cried\, “O Lawd\,\nI can’t find no lan’.”\nThe old songs had much to say about trouble\, the struggle wi th sin and the devil\, and the warning to the sinner man. Favorite lines u sed to be:\n\nNobody knows de trouble I’ve seen\nI’m a-rollin’ throu gh an unfriendly worl’\nO my good Lawd\, keep me from sinkin’ down\nWe are climbin’ Jacob’s ladder\nMy sins so heavy I can’t get along\nSi nner\, what you gonna do?\nO sinner\, don’t you let dis harves’ pass\n Perhaps Satan and the terrors of hell and judgment are not pictured as fre quently and as vividly as they used to be\, but they are still a vital par t of Negro song. The following songs portray the struggle with sin\, the w arning to the sinner\, and the superior status of the sanctified as oppose d to the sinner.\n\nGood Lawd\, I Am Troubled\n\nTroubles makes me weep an ’ moan\,\nGoin’ where troubles be no mo’\;\nGood Lawd\, I am trouble d.\nTroubles meet me at de do’\,\nGoin’ where troubles be no mo’\;\n Good Lawd\, I am troubled.\n[193]\nTroubles up and troubles down\,\nTroubl es never makes me frown\;\nGood Lawd\, I am troubled.\nWe Will Kneel ’Ro un’ de Altar\n\nLawd\, help me to be mo’ humble\,\nLawd\, help me to b e mo’ humble\,\nIn dat great gittin’-up mornin’\,\nLawd\, help me be mo’ humble in dis worl’.\nChorus:\nWe will kneel ’roun’ de alta r on our knees\,\nWe will kneel ’roun’ de altar on our knees\,\nWe wil l kneel ’roun’ de altar\nTill we view de risin’ sun.\nO Lawd\, have mercy on me.\nLawd\, help me be mo’ faithful\,\nLawd\, help me be mo’ faithful in dis worl’.\nWe will see God’s risin’ sun\,\nLawd\, help me be mo’ humble in dis worl’.\nLawd\, help de widders an’ de orphan s in dis worl’\,\nLawd\, help de widders an’ de orphans in dis worl’ .\nIn dis great gittin’-up mawnin’\,\nLawd\, help the widders an’ de orphans in dis worl’.\nDe Devil’s Been to My House[83]\n\nDe devil’ s been to my house today\, today\,\nDe devil’s been to my house today\, today\,\nLawd\, de devil’s been to my house today\, today\,\nDe devil’ s been to my house today\, today.\nI kicked him out my do’ today\, today \,\nI kicked him out my do’ today\, today\,\nLawd\, I kicked him out my do’ today\, today\,\nI kicked him out my do’ today\, today.\n[194]\n I’s goin’ sin-huntin’ today\, today\,\nI’s goin’ sin-huntin’ t oday\, today\,\nLawd\, I’s goin’ sin-huntin’ today\, today\,\nI’ s goin’ sin-huntin’ today\, today.\n[83]The next three songs are compo sitions of Sanctified Mary Harris. Have Everlastin’ Life has little orig inality\, however.\n\nJes’ Behol’ What a Number!\n\nYonder comes my si ster\nWho I’s loves so well.\nBy her disobedience\nShe have made her bed in hell.\nChorus:\nJes’ behol’ what a number!\nJes’ behol’ what a number!\nJes’ behol’ what a number\nFrom every grave-yard.\nI looks u nto de eas’\,\nI looks unto de wes’\,\nI see de dead a-risin’\nFrom every grave-yard.\nHave Everlastin’ Life\n\nBetter min’\, my sister\, how you walk on de cross\,\nHave on everlastin’ life\,\nYour foot might slip an’ your soul get los’\,\nHave everlastin’ life.\nChorus:\nOh\, he dat believe\, oh\, he dat believe\,\nHe shall have on everlastin’ li fe.\nHe dat believe on de father an’ de son\nShall have everlastin’ li fe.\nDe tallest tree in paradise\,\nHave everlastin’ life\,\nDe Christia n call it de tree of life\,\nPut on everlastin’ life.\n[195]\n\nThe Sanc tified\n\nSay\, who’s gonna ride my father’s horse?\nSay\, who’s gon na ride my father’s horse?\nSay\, who’s gonna ride my father’s horse ?\nThank God\, the sanctified.\nSay\, none can ride but the sanctified\,\n Say\, none can ride but the sanctified\,\nSay\, none can ride but the sanc tified\,\nThank God\, the sanctified.\nSay\, Paul he rode with the sanctif ied\,\nSay\, Paul he rode with the sanctified\,\nSay\, Paul he rode with t he sanctified\,\nThank God\, the sanctified.\nNo sinner rides with the san ctified\,\nNo sinner rides with the sanctified\,\nNo sinner rides with the sanctified\,\nThank God\, I’m sanctified.\nWhat You Gonna Do?\n\nSinner \, what you gonna do\nWhen de world’s on fi-er?\nSinner\, what you gonna do\nWhen de world’s on fi-er?\nSinner\, what you gonna do\nWhen de wo rld’s on fi-er?\nO my Lawd.\nBrother\, what you gonna do? etc.\nSister\, what you gonna do? etc.\nFather\, what you gonna do? etc.\nMother\, what you gonna do? etc.\nI Love Jesus\n\nDark was de night an’ cold was de gr oun’\nOn which de Lawd had laid\;\nDrops of sweat run down\,\nIn agony h e prayed.\n[196]\nWould thou despise my bleedin’ lam’\nAn’ choose de way to hell\,\nStill steppin’ down to de tomb\,\nAn’ yet prepared n o mo’?\nI love Jesus\,\nI love Jesus\,\nI love Jesus\,\nO yes\, I do\,\n Yes\, Lawdy.\nSave Me\, Lawd\n\nLawd\, have mercy\, Lawd\, have mercy.\nLa wd\, have mercy\, Lawd\, have mercy.\nSave po’ me\,\nSave po’ sinner\, \nSave po’ sinner\,\nSave po’ sinner\,\nSave me\, Lawd.\nI am a-dyin ’\,\nI am a-dyin’\,\nI am a-dyin’\,\nSave me\, Lawd.\nO Lawd\, bless me\, O Lawd\, bless me\,\nO Lawd\, bless me\, O Lawd\, bless me.\nSave po ’ me\,\nSave po’ sinner\,\nSave po’ sinner\,\nSave po’ sinner\,\nS ave me\, Lawd.\nParting and death are the subjects of the saddest songs th at the Negro sings. The following songs awaken thoughts of the old folk sa ying their goodby’s at the last service of a revival meeting or parting after a long-hoped-for family reunion. I Bid You a Long Farewell is one of the favorites of Aunt Georgia Victrum\, age eighty-three\, of Jasper Coun ty\, Georgia.\n\n[197]\n\nI Bid You a Long Farewell\n\nMother\, meetin’ is over\,\nMother\, we mus’ part.\nIf I never see you no mo’\,\nI love you in my heart.\nChorus:\nI bid you a long farewell\,\nBrother\, I bid y ou a long farewell.\nIf I never see you no mo’\nI bid you a las’ farew ell.\nBrother\, meetin’ is over\,\nBrother\, we must part.\nIf I never s ee you no mo’\,\nI love you in my heart.\nI Don’t Want You All to Grie ve After Me\n\nI don’t want you all to grieve after me\,\nI don’t want you all to grieve after me.\nOh\, when I’m dead an’ buried in my co l’ silent tomb\,\nI don’t want you all to grieve after me.\nAn’ I wi ll walk through the valley in peace\,\nAn’ I will walk through the valle y in peace.\nOh\, when I’m dead an’ buried in my col’\, silent tomb\ ,\nI don’t want you all to grieve after me.\nMy dear mother\, don’t yo u grieve after me\,\nMy dear mother\, don’t you grieve after me.\nOh\, w hen I’m dead an’ buried in my col’\, silent tomb\,\nI don’t want y ou all to grieve after me.\nMy ol’ uncle\, don’t you grieve after me\, etc.[84]\n[84]And so on for father\, sister\, brother\, etc.\, etc.\n\nWh en I’s Dead an’ Gone\n\nHe is a dyin’-bed maker.\nJesus met a woman at de well\,\nAn’ she went runnin’ home\nAn’ tol’ her friends\,\ n“A man tol’ me all I ever done.”\n[198]\nThe friends dey come a r unnin’ with de woman\,\nSaw Jesus settin’ on de well\,\nHe said he cou ld give de livin’ water\nAn’ save yo’ soul from hell.\nHe is a dyi n’-bed maker.\nWhen I’s dead an’ gone\nSomebody gonna say I’s lost \,\nBut dey ought-a go down by Jordan\nAn’ see whar Jesus led me ’cros s.\nWhen I’s dead an’ gone\,\nI don’t want you to cry\;\nJus’ go o n down to de ol’ church\nAn’ close my dyin’ eye.\nWhen Jesus hangi n’ on de cross\,\nHis mudder began to moan.\nHe looked at his dear ’ci ples\nAn say\, “Take my dear mudder home.”\nAngels Lookin’ at Me\n\n Dig my grave wid a silver spade\,\nAngels lookin’ at me.\nOh\, look-a de re\, look-a dere\,\nOh\, look-a dere\, look-a dere\,\nAngels lookin’ at me.\nDrive me dere in a cerriage fine\,\nAngels lookin’ at me.\nOh\, loo k-a dere\, look-a dere\,\nOh\, look-a dere\, look-a dere\,\nAngels looki n’ at me.\nLet me down wid a silver chain\,\nAngels lookin’ at me\, et c.\nAll dem sinners can moan an’ weep\,\nAngels lookin’ at me\, etc. \nI’s settin’ in heaven in a golden cheer\,\nAngels lookin’ at me\, etc.\n[199]\n\nYou Mus’ Shroud My Body\n\nPray\, mother\, pray fer me\,\ nPray\, Lawd\, until I die.\nYou mus’ shroud my body\, Lawd\,\nAn’ lay it away.\nChorus:\nI hear Jerusalem moan\,\nYou mus’ shroud my body\, L awd\,\nAn’ lay it away.\nPray\, sister\, pray fer me\,\nPray\, Lawd\, un til I die\,\nYou mus’ shroud my body\, Lawd\,\nAn’ lay it away.\nBut d eath holds no terror for the Negro. He maintains that death’s stream “ chills the body but not the soul\,” and he believes that\n\n’Way up in the Rock of Ages\nIn God’s bosom gonna be my pillah.\nAs of old\, heave n is the greatest theme of his religious song. He used to sing:\n\nWhen I git to heaven gonna ease\, ease\,\nMe an’ my God gonna do as we please.\ nNow wait till I gits my gospel shoes\,\nGonna walk about heaven an’ spr ead the news.\nDere’s a long white robe in de heaven for me.\nNo more ha rd trials in de kingdom.\nGonna feast off milk an’ honey.\nNow he sings: \n\nI wants to go to heaven\, set in de angel’s seat\;\nI wants to go to heaven\, eat what de angels eat.\n[200]\nI’s gonna be in my home in hea ven\nWhen I lay my burden down.\nI’m swingin’ in de swinger\,\nGonna s wing me home to heaven.\nI’s gonna bathe my weary soul in paradise.\nBut let the songs speak for themselves. Among them are some which might now b e famous if they had only been born seventy years ago.\n\nI Never Will Tur n Back\n\nJesus my all to heaven is gone\,\nI never will turn back\nWhile de heaven’s in my view\,\nHe who I fix my heart upon.\nI never will turn back\nWhile heaven’s in my view.\nChorus:\nI never will\,\nI never will \,\nI never will turn back\nWhile de heaven’s in my view.\nWhile de heav en’s in my view\nMy journey I prosue.\nI never will turn back\nWhen heav en’s in my view.\nWhen I Lay My Burden Down\n\nGlory\, glory\, halleluja h\, when I lay my burden down\,\nGlory\, glory\, hallelujah\, when I lay m y burden down\,\nGlory\, glory\, hallelujah\, when I lay my burden down\,\ nI gonna be in heaven when I lay my burden down.\nGlory\, glory\, halleluj ah\, I’s goin’ to my home on high\,\nGlory\, glory\, hallelujah\, I’ s goin’ to my home on high\,\nGlory\, glory\, hallelujah\, I’s goin’ to my home on high\,\nI’s gonna be in my home in heaven when I lay my b urden down.\n[201]\n\nSince I Laid My Burden Down\n\nI been shoutin’\,\n I been shoutin’\nSince I laid my burden down\;\nI been shoutin’\,\nI b een shoutin’\nSince I laid my burden down.\nChorus:\nGlory\, glory\, hal lelujah\,\nSince I laid my burden down\;\nGlory\, glory\, hallelujah\,\nSi nce I laid my burden down.\nI been prayerin’\,\nI been prayerin’\nSinc e I laid my burden down\;\nI been prayerin’\,\nI been prayerin’\nSince I laid my burden down.\nIn de Mornin’ Soon\n\nSister Sal she got on her travelin’ shoes\,\nIn de mornin’ soon\,\nIn de mornin’ soon\,\nIn d e mornin’ soon.\nYes\, I’s goin’ to bury my weary soul\nIn de morn in’ soon.\nSinners\, I hates to leave you here\,\nSinners\, I hates to l eave you here\,\nSinners\, I hates to leave you here\,\n’Cause I goin’ to go to paradise\nIn de mornin’ soon.\nSome o’ dese days jes’ abou t noon\,\nSome o’ dese days jes’ about noon\,\nSome o’ dese days j es’ about noon\,\nI’s goin’ to bathe my weary soul in paradise\nIn d e mornin’ soon.\n[202]\n\nOh\, de Gospel Train’s A-Comin’\n\nOh\, de gospel train’s a-comin’\,\nGoodby\, good by\, good by.\nOh\, de gospe l train’s a-comin’\,\nGoodby.\nOh\, de gospel train’s a-comin’\,\n Oh\, de gospel train’s a-comin’\,\nOh\, de gospel train’s a-comin’ \,\nGoodby.\nOh\, she’s comin’ ’roun’ de curve\,\nGoodby\, good by \, good by.\nOh\, she’s comin’ ’roun’ de curve\,\nGoodby.\nOh\, de train am heavy loaded\, etc.\nOh\, sinner have you got you ticket? etc.\n Oh\, she’s boun’ straight way to heaven\, etc.\nCan’t you change you way o’ livin? etc.\nOh\, Marse Jesus am de captain\, etc.\nOh\, de ride am free to heaven\, etc.\nSome o’ These Days\n\nI’m a-goin’ to cros s that river Jordan\,\nI’m a-goin’ to cross that river Jordan\, hal-lu -yah!\nI’m a-goin’ to cross that river Jordan\,\nI’m a-goin’ to cr oss that river Jordan some o’ these days.\nI’m a-goin’ to sit down side o’ my Jesus\,\nI’m a-goin’ to sit down side o’ my Jesus\, ha l-lu-yah!\nI’m a-goin’ to sit down side o’ my Jesus\,\nI’m a-goi n’ to sit down side o’ my Jesus some o’ these days.\nI’m a-goin’ to tell him how I love him\,\nI’m a-goin’ to tell him how I love him\ , hal-lu-yah!\nI’m a-goin’ to tell him how I love him\,\nI’m a-goi n’ to tell him how I love him some o’ these days.\n[203]\nI’m a-go in’ to wear them golden slippers\,\nI’m a-goin’ to wear them golden slippers\, hal-lu-yah!\nI’m a-goin’ to wear them golden slippers\,\n I’m a-goin’ to wear them golden slippers some o’ these days.\nI Want s to Go to Heaven\n\nI wants to go to heaven\,\nJine de angels’ ban’\; \nI wants to go to heaven\,\nStan’ where de angels stan’.\nI wants to go to heaven\,\nHave some angel wing\;\nI wants to go to heaven\,\nSee de Jesus King.\nI wants to go to heaven\,\nShout lak de angels shout\;\nI wan ts to go to heaven\nAn’ walk about.\nI wants to go to heaven\,\nSet in d e angels’ seat\;\nI wants to go to heaven\,\nEat what de angels eat.\nI wants to go to heaven\,\nWeep when de angels weep\;\nI wants to go to heav en\nSleep where de angels sleep.\nWhen I Git Home\n\nGonna shout trouble o ver\nWhen I git home\,\nGonna shout trouble over\nWhen I git home.\nNo m o’ prayin’\, no mo’ dyin’\nWhen I git home\,\nNo mo’ prayi n’ an’ no mo’ dyin’\nWhen I git home.\n[204]\nMeet my father\nWhen I git home.\nMeet my father\nWhen I git home.\nShake glad hands\nWhen I g it home\,\nShake glad hands\nWhen I git home.\nMeet King Jesus\nWhen I git home\,\nYes\, I meets King Jesus\nWhen I git home.\nI’s Gonna Shine\n \nI’s gonna shine\nWhiter dan snow\,\nWhen I gits to heaven\nAn’ dey m eets me at de do’.\nOh\, shine\, I will shine\,\nHow dey shine\, glory s hine\,\nWhen I gits to heaven\nAn’ dey meets me at de do’.\nShine\, God a’-mighty shine\,\nAll de sinners shine in de row\;\nBut I’ll be d e out-shinedest\nWhen dey meets me at de do’.\nOh\, shine\, de brudders shine\,\nDey sisters shine ever mo’\,\nWhen we all gits to heaven\nAn’ dey meets us at de do’.\nI’s Swingin’ in de Swinger[85]\n\nI’s swingin’ in de swinger\,\nThank God.\nI’s swingin’ in de swinger\,\n Thank God.\n[205]\nIt’s a bran’ new swinger\,\nThank God.\nIt’s a bran’ new swinger\,\nThank God\,\nThank God.\nGoin’ to swing me to hea ven\,\nThank God.\nGoin’ to swing me to heaven\,\nThank God\,\nThank God .\nKing Jesus in de swinger\,\nThank God.\nKing Jesus in de swinger\,\nTha nk God\,\nThank God.\n[85]The idea for this novel song probably came from Swing Low\, Sweet Chariot. It is another composition of Sanctified Mary Ha rris\, as are also the two remaining songs in this chapter.\n\nGoodby\, Si ng Hallelu\n\nGoodby to sin an’ sorrow\,\nGoodby\, sing hallelu.\nFarewe ll\, sinner\, I see you no mo’\,\nGoodby\, sing hallelu.\nGoodby\, hypoc rite\, you Beelzebub\,\nGoodby\, sing hallelu.\nI’m goin’ away\, I’l l meet you in heaven\,\nGoodby\, sing hallelu.\nFarewell\, mother\, I meet you in de mawnin’\,\nGoodby\, sing hallelu.\nI Calls My Jesus King Eman uel\n\nO King Emanuel\,\nI calls my Jesus King Emanuel.\nKing Emanuel\, he ’s a mighty ’Manuel\,\nI calls my Jesus King Emanuel.\nSome calls him Jesus\,\nBut I call my Jesus King Emanuel.\nBecause his power so great and strong\,\nI calls my Jesus King Emanuel.\n[206]\n\nCHAPTER XII\nTHE ANNAL S AND BLUES OF LEFT WING GORDON\nHere is a construction camp which employs largely Negro workers. In four years 8\,504 laborers were employed and th ere was an average labor turnover of once each month\, or forty-eight diff erent sets of men working on the buildings and road under construction dur ing that time. This camp employed men from different Southern states in th e order named: North Carolina\, South Carolina\, Virginia\, Tennessee\, Ge orgia\, Florida\, Alabama\, Texas\, Mississippi\, Louisiana\; while stragg lers represented eleven states outside the South. Why this turnover? Why d o men travel from state to state? Of what sort are they? How many road cam ps and construction groups throughout the South duplicate this record? Wha t are the experience\, history\, difficulties of the Negro worker by the r oadside? Why does he quit his job? Where will he go for the next?\n\nThe e ntire story of the casual laborer will\, of course\, have to be told elsew here in thorough studies of migration and case studies of many individuals . It is a remarkable story\, sometimes unbelievable. It is not the purpose of this chapter to go into the matter of causes\, but to present a pictur e of the workaday songster as a sort of cumulative example of the whole st ory of this volume. It is true that his early home life\, his training\, h is experience\, his relation to the whites\, have all influenced him great ly. It is true also that there is often slack work\, poor conditions of ho using and work\, little recreation\, small wages\, and always a[207] call to some better place. But we are concerned with these here only as they ar e a part of the background of the picture. Here is a type perhaps more rep resentative of the Negro common man than any other. Now a youngster of eig ht\, father and mother dead\, off to Texas to an uncle\, then—“po’ m istreated boy”—he goes to Louisiana\, then to Mississippi\, then to Ge orgia\, across South Carolina\, back home to North Carolina\, then off to Philadelphia\, to Pittsburg\, to Ohio\, to Chicago\, then back to the East and Harlem and back South again. He is typical of a part of the Negro mov ement of the decade. But there is continuously a stream of moving laborers from country to town\, from town to town\, from city to city\, from state to state\, from South to North. Here is hardship\, but withal adventure\, romance\, and blind urge for survival.\n\nAs an example of this worker an d songster we present John Wesley Gordon\, alias Left Wing[86] Gordon\, co mmonly called “Wing.” He is very real\, and one could scarcely imagine a better summary of the lonesome road\, if made to order. Recent popular volumes portraying the species hobo show no wanderers arrayed like these b lack men of the lonesome road. Walt Whitman’s\n\nAfoot and light-hearted I take to the open road\nHealthy and free\, the world before me\,\nThe lo ng brown path before me\, leading wherever I choose\nwould seem a gentle t aunt to Left Wing Gordon on the red roads of Georgia or on the Seaboard ro ds in “sweet ol’ Alabam’.” He had\, at the last writing\, given ex cellent tale of working\, loafing\, singing his way[208] through thirty-ei ght states of the union\, with such experience and adventure as would make a white man an epic hero. “You see\, boss\, I started travelin’ when I wus ’leven years ol’ an’ now I’ll be thirty this comin’ August 26th. I didn’t have no father an’ mother\, so I jes’ started somewh eres. I’d work fer folks\, an’ they wouldn’t treat me right\, so I m oved on. An’\, Lawd\, cap’n\, I ain’t stopped yet.” And so he ha dn’t\, for when on the morrow we came to put the finishing touches on hi s story\, a fellow laborer said\, “Law’\, boss\, Wing done gone to Phi ladelphia.”\n\n[86]So called because he had lost his right arm.\n\n“Wi ng\,” who started from St. Joseph in Missouri\, lost his arm at eighteen years of age. He gives the following concrete data about some of the plac es where he has worked and loafed. What story might have been written if w e had taken the states alphabetically\, asking him for full details\, with plenty of time\, one can only imagine. Here is the order in which he volu nteered information about the different states\, in the geography of which he appears to be something of a scholar. The phraseology belongs to Wing and the inconsistencies remain as in his Iliad.\n\nLouisiana. Worked on bo at some an’ saw-mill some.\n\nFlorida. Worked on hard roads.\n\nAlabama. Worked in steel plants six miles from Birmingham.\n\nTexas. Didn’t do n othin’ in Texas\, had a little money to spend.\n\nArkansas. Worked a t H—— Hotel at New Port\, fellow runnin’ name Jack N——.\n\nMisso uri. Worked on boat.\n\nIllinois. Sold papers in Chicago\, started mowin ’ lawns\, white-washin’ fences\, brushin’ furniture\, an’ worked i n packin’ house.\n\n[209]\n\nWyoming. Had a little money in Cheyenne a n’ didn’t have nothin’ to do.\n\nNebraska. At Omaha worked at pack in’ house.\n\nIowa. Worked in mines and on railroad.\n\nCanada. Worked a t government camp ’cross from Detroit\, an’ broom factory at Montreal. \n\nMichigan. Worked at Ford factory at district on P. &\; M. railroad out north of Detroit.\n\nKansas. In harvest fields ’bout 37 miles from L eavenworth—Naw sir\, never been in Leavenworth prisons.\n\nNorth Carolin a. On a job.\n\nArizona. Didn’t do nothin’ much.\n\nSouth Carolina. On hard roads an’ Southern Power Company.\n\nGeorgia. Comin’ in a hurry\ , never fooled ’round there much. Did work in saw mill eight miles out f rom Waycross two weeks.\n\nTennessee. Out at Knoxville and Maysville at ma loominum plant.\n\nMississippi. In boats at Vicksburg and Natchez.\n\nVirg inia. Worked most everywhere—Richmond at Broad Meadows\, 1227 Brook Aven ue.\n\nNew York. Out at Bessemer plants stirrin’ pots.\n\nWashington. At Alexandria\, Virginia side.\n\nOhio. Worked for Mayor of Bridgeport\, nam ed C. J—.\n\nWest Virginia. At coal mines.\n\nPennsylvania. Worked in Pi ttsburg steel mills eight miles from Pittsburg.\n\nMaryland. I’s in Balt imore\, had boat carry us out an’ bring us back\, Double A flashlight fa ctory at 47 cents a hour.\n\nNew Jersey. Cross from New York\, four miles from Nooark\, work on Hansack River.\n\nWisconsin. Used to work out o’ M ilwaukee\, butler on C. B. &\; Q. road\; eight miles out but we stayed in Milwaukee.\n\n[210]\n\nConnecticut. Used to ketch boat an’ go over to New Haven\, Hartford\, Thomasville\, eight miles out from Springfiel’\, Massachusetts.\n\nMassachusetts. Springfiel’ and Boston\, too. Didn’t work none in Boston but had sister there.\n\nRhode Island. Never stopped there but I could walk all over that little state. Hartford is capital.\n\ nNorth Dakota. Wiped up engine on Great Northern\, 237 miles from Minneapo lis.\n\nSouth Dakota. Worked out in Aberdeen in wheat fields\, harvest for Al T——\, mostly carried water.\n\nCalifornia. When war was goin’ on \, time of government camp at Los Angeles an’ Sacramento an’ Miles Cit y.\n\nWing was also a great songster. “When de ‘Wing Blues’ come out \, dat’s me\,” he would say. His chief refrain was always\n\nO my babe \, you don’t know my min’\,\nWhen you see me laughin’\,\nLaughin’ to keep from cryin’\,[87]\nof which he had many versions. This chorus wa s easily adapted to a hundred songs and varied accordingly. “When you se e me laughin’\, I’m laughin’ just to keep from cryin’\,” o r “I’m tryin’ to keep from cryin’\,” or “When you think I’m laughin’\, I’m cryin’ all the time.” There were his other ve rsions\, such as\n\nO my babe\, you don’t know my min’\,\nWhen you thi nk I’m lovin’ you\nI’m leavin’ you behin’\,\nwith its similar va riety\, such as “I’m leavin’ to worry you off my min’\,” or “W hen you think I’m leavin’[211] I’m comin’ right behin’.” Win g claimed a “Blues” for every state and more\; if there was none alrea dy at hand\, he would make one of his own. There were the various Southern blues\, the Boll Weevil Blues\, Cornfield Blues\, Gulf Coast Blues\, Atla nta Blues\, Alabama Blues\, Birmingham Blues\, Mississippi Blues\, Louisia na Low Down\, Shreveport Blues\, New Orleans Wiggle\, Norfolk Blues\, Virg inia Blues\, Oklahoma Blues\, Memphis Blues\, Wabash Blues\, St. Louis Blu es\, Carolina Blues\, Charleston Blues\, and many others.\n\n[87]One of th e most popular blues today is a piece called You Don’t Know My Mind Blue s. We have evidence\, however\, which tends to show that numerous vulgar v ersions of the same title were current among the Negroes long before the f ormal song was published.\n\nIt must be admitted that Wing’s blues were mixed and of wonderful proportions. He could sing almost any number of blu es\, fairly representative of the published type\, with\, of course\, the typical additions\, variations\, and adaptations to time and occasion.\n\n Ohio\, Ohio\, West Virgini\, too\,\nDe blues dis nigger’s had only very few.\nWhat you gonna do?\nLawd\, what you gonna do?\nWhen I come from New York\,\nWalkin’ ’long the way\,\nPeople pick me up\nJes’ to get me t o pay\,\nAin’t my place to live\,\nAnyway you can’t stay here.\nO Illi nois Central\,\nWhat can you spare?\nFo’ my baby’s in trouble\nAn’ I ain’t dere.\nHey\, Lawdy\, Lawdy\, I got crazy blues\,\nCan’t keep from cryin’\,\nThinkin’ about that baby o’ mine.\nLawd\, I woke up d is mornin’\,\nFound my baby gone\,\nMissed her from rollin’\nAn’ t umblin’ in my arms.\n[212]\nO Lawd\, if I feel tomorrow\nLak I feel to-d ay\,\nGood God\, gonna pack my suitcase\,\nLawd\, an’ walk away.\nI’d rather be in jail\,\nStandin’ like a log\,\nThan be here\nTreated like a dog.\nCreek’s all muddy\,\nPond’s gone dry\,\nI never miss my baby\nT ill she said goodby.\nWell\, I went to graveyard\nAn’ looked in my bab y’s face\,\nSaid\, “I love you\, sweet baby\,\nJes’ can’t take yo’ place.”\nWhistle blowed on\,\nChurch bell softly toned\;\nWell\, I had good woman\nBut po’ girl dead an’ gone.\nWell\, I woke up dis mo rnin’\,\nHad blues all ’round my bed\;\nI believe to my soul\nBlues go nna kill me dead.\nO baby\, you don’t know my min’.\nWhen you think I’m laughin’\,\nLaughin’ to keep from cryin’\,\nLaughin’ to keep from cryin’.\nWing called that the Louisiana Blues\, and certainly for the time being it was so. And for Georgia\, although in his narrative he h ad given the Empire State of the South the usual Negro reputation of quick passage\, he sang a mixed blues.\n\n[213]\n\nDear ol’ Georgia\, my hear t is sinkin’\nAn’ my way come blinkin’ to you\,\nIf you ever leave G eorgia any length o’ time\,\nYo’ heart come blinkin’\, no other way but you\,\nCan’t be no other way.[88]\nThen for Alabama\, Tennessee\, Fl orida\, California\, Virginia\, there were other fragments\, besides numer ous formal versions.\n\nAlabama\, Tennessee\,\nI wrote my mother letter.\n Don’t write back to me\,\nReason I tell you\, I got de ’fo’-day blue s.\nI got de Florida blues\,\nHey\, mama\, hey\, baby\, I got de crazy blu es\,\nHey\, baby\, you don’t know my min’\,\nWhen you think I’m le avin’\, I’m comin’ all the time.\nI ain’t got no money\,\nNo place to stay.\nHey\, baby\, hey\, honey\,\nI got de Florida blues.\nI got Elgi n watch\nMade on yo’ frame.\nHey\, baby\, hey\, honey\,\nI got Florida b lues.\nCalifornia ridden\,\nDon’t think I’m didden\,\nDe reason I’m tellin’ you\,\nI have no place to stay.\nMother an’ father dead\,\nDon e gone away\,\nI’m a lonesome boy\,\nGot nowhere to stay.\n[214]\nHey\, mama\, hey\, baby\,\nI got de ’fo’-day blues.\nI’m California ridden \,\nI got de California blues.\nCalifornia in U. S.\,\nDat is where my lov e lie\,\nAn’ she will treat me best\,\nYou all take Alexander for ol’ plaything\,\nBut Alexander no name for you.\nO baby\, you don’t know my min’\,\nWhen you think I’m lovin’ you\, I’m leavin’ you behin’ .\n[88]This and many other of Wing’s stanzas have no clear meaning as fa r as we can tell. Sometimes his songs give the impression that he has lear ned the titles of numerous popular blues and has woven as many of them as possible into each stanza.\n\nBefore continuing Left Wing’s story\, givi ng something more of the scope of his adventures\, perhaps the best furthe r introduction will be the exact record of some of his songs in the order in which he gave them. Wing had practically no variation in his tunes and technique of singing. A high-pitched voice\, varied with occasional low to nes\, was the most important part of his repertoire. But what variation in words and scenes\, phrases and verses\, the recording of which would exha ust the time and endurance of the listener and call for an ever-recording instrument! For certainly the effort to transcribe everything Wing gave le ft the visitor amazingly exhausted\, marveling at the jumbled resourcefuln ess of the singer\, wishing for some new type of photography which would r egister the voice\, looks\, experience\, and inimitable temperament of thi s itinerant camp follower.\n\nAnna yo’ peaches\, but I’s yo’ man.\nH ow I wonder where you goin’ to-day\,\nThat my mother an’ father have n owhere to stay.\nWould you take them in\, oh\, would you take them in?\nHo w I love you\, how I love you\,\nWould you take me in\, would you take me in?\nAnna yo’ peaches\, but I’s yo man\,\nWould you take me in\, would you take me in?\n[215]\nLawd\, I woke up dis mornin’\,\nCouldn’t keep from cryin’\,\nThinkin’ about that\nLovin’ babe o’ mine.\nO my ba be\, you don’t know my min’\,\nO you don’t know my min’.\nWhen you think I’m laughin’\,\nI’m cryin’ all de time.\nReason I love yo u so\,\n’Cause my heart is true\,\nReason I love you so\,\nI’m goi n’ ’way.\nI’m goin’ ’way to worry you off my min’.\nReason I t hink you worry\,\nI’m ’way all the time\,\nI got de ’fo’-day blues .\nYou put yo’ coat on yo’ shoulder\,\nYou want to walk away\,\nYou go t yo’ lovin’ baby\,\nYou want a place to stay.\nWell\, I love you\, ba by\,\nGod knows I do.\nReason I love you\,\nYo’ heart is true.\nReason I love you\,\nGot de weary blues.\nDiffering slightly in tone\, Wing sets o ut on a new song only to swing back again to the same lonesome blues\; ind eed he makes his technique and his whines as he goes\, the result blending into a remarkable product.\n\nEddy Studow been here\,\nYou got de so long well\,\n’Cause I feel you sinkin’\,\nEasin’ down to hell\,\nO sweet baby\, you don’t know my min’\,\n’Cause when you think I’m la ughin’\, I’m cryin’.\n[216]\nIf you don’t b’lieve I’m sink in’\,\nJes’ look what a hole I’m in.\nIf you don’t b’lieve I lov e you\,\nJes’ look what a fool I been.\nO sweet baby\, you don’t know my min’.\nWhen you think I’m lovin’ you\, I’m leavin’ you behi n’.\nO baby\, jes’ ship my clo’es out in valise\,\nO baby\, jes’ s hip my clo’es out in valise.\nReason I tell you ship ’em\,\nYo’ hear t I don’t believe.\nThought I woke up yesterday\,\nMy heart was very sic k\,\n’Cause reason I love you.\n’Day’s nearer pay day.\nThe reason I love my lovin’ baby so\,\nOh\, reason I love my lovin’ baby so\,\n’ Cause if she make five dollars\nShe sho’ bring her father fo’.\nYes\ , it’s hey\, sweet baby\,\nYou don’t know my min’.\n’Cause it’s hey\, sweet baby.\nYou don’t know my min’.\nWhen you think I’m lau ghin’\,\nLaughin’ jes’ to keep from cryin’.\nO Lawd\, what you gon na say\,\nI need de woman for de money\,\nI got no place to stay.\nFor de reason I love my lovin’ baby so\,\nWhen she make eight dollahs\,\nSho’ bring her father fo’.\nRuther see you dead\,\nFloatin’ in yo’ grave \;\nRuther see you dead\,\nLawd\, floatin’ in yo’ grave.\nThan be here \, Lawd\,\nTreated dis a-way.\n[217]\nGeech had my woman\nAn’ two or thr ee mo’\;\nOh\, de Geech had my woman\nAn’ two or three mo’.\nHe’s a hard headed man\nAn’ won’t let me go.\nI wake up dis mornin’\,\nFe et half-way out de bed\,\nLawd\, I wake up dis mornin’\,\nOh\, de blues you give me\nSho’ gonna kill me dead.\nLeft Wing’s story of his wander ings does not omit\, of course\, the woman part of his “lovin’ wor l’.” Try as he might to sing of other experiences\, inevitably he woul d swing back to his old theme.\n\nI ruther be dead\nIn six feet o’ clay\ ,\nThan to see my baby\,\nLawd\, treated dis a-way.\nWell\, I love my baby \,\nI tell the worl’ I do\,\nBut reason I love her\,\nHer heart is true. \nGonna lay my head\nOn some ol’ railroad iron\,\nDas de only way\, baby \,\nTo worry you off my min’.\nI went to depot\,\nI looked up on de bo a’d\,\nMy baby ain’t here\,\nBut she’s somewhere on de road.\nBut I’m goin’ to town\,\nGoin’ to ask chief police\,\nFo’ my baby done quit me\nAn’ I can’t have no peace.\n[218]\nAn’ I’m goin’ away\ , baby\,\nTo worry you off my min’\,\n’Cause you keep me worried\nAn ’ bothered all de time.\nI wonder whut’s de matter\,\nLawd\, I can’t see.\nYou love some other man\, sweet woman\,\nAn’ you don’t love me. \nBefo’ I’d stay here\nAn’ let these women mistreat me\,\nI’d do l ike a bull frog\,\nJump in de deep blue sea.\nWing\, however\, does not ju mp into the deep blue sea\, although like the other traditional bull frog he does jump from place to place. Concerning the women about whom he sings \, he affirmed\, “Can’t count ’em\, take me day after tomorrow to count ’em. Find fifteen or twenty in different cities. New Orleans best place to find most fastest\, mo’ freer women\,—person find gang of ’ em in minute.\n\n“But I had some mighty fine women. Fust one was Abbie J ones\, ’bout —— Ioway Street. Nex’ was in M——\, Missouri\, Jen nie Baker\, Susan Baker’s daughter. Nex’ one St. Louis\, lady called B ulah Cotton\, Pete Cotton’s daughter. Nex’ one was in Eas’ St. Louis \, her name Sylvia Brown. Nex’ I had in Poplar Bluff\, one dat took my m oney an’ went off\, Effie Farlan\, had father name George Farlan. Nex’ Laura\, she’s in Memphis\, Tennessee\, she’s ’nother took my mone y an’ gone. Jes’ lay down\, went to sleep\, jes’ took money an’ go ne. Wake up sometimes broke an’ hongry\, they jes’ naturally take my m oney. Nex’ woman was at Columbia\, S. C.\, ’bout las’ regular one I had\, Mamie Willard\, mother an’ father dead. Sweethearts I can git plen ty of if I got money. If I[219] ain’t got none I’se sometimes lonesome \, but not always\, ’cause sometimes dey feel sorry fer you an’ treat you mighty fine anyway.”\n\nWing tells some remarkable stories\, evident ly products of the perfect technique of appeal and approach\, in which for mality and easy-going ways are blended with great patience and persistence . This series of adventures alone would make a full sized volume albeit th ere is no need to publish it abroad. Typical\, however\, are the chant ver ses below.\n\nI seed a pretty brown\,\nLawd\, walkin’ down the street\,\ nI sided long up to her\,\nSaid\, “Lady\, I ain’t had nothin’ to e at.”\nLawd\, she don’t pay me no min’\,\nWalkin’ wid her head hung high.\nBut still I knows\nI’ll git dat gal by an’ by.\nSo I walks up behin’ her\,\nAnd asts her good an’ polite\,\n“Miss\, can you tell m e\nWhere po’ boy can stay tonight?”\nStill she don’t pay me no m in’\,\nAn’ she’s movin’ on her way\,\nI asks her\, “Good Lawd\, lady\,\nWhere can po’ boy stay?”\nI ast her to tell me\nIf she knows g irl name Sady\,\n’Cause if she does\,\nI’s her man Brady.\nCo’se I don’t know no Sady\nAn’ I could git place to stay\,\nBut I wants to s tay wid dis lady\,\nSo I walks on her way.\n[220]\nSo she takes me to her home\nAn’ makes me pallet on de flo’\;\nAn’ she treats me\, baby\,\n Better ’n I been treated befo’.\nWing says he never stays in any place more than three weeks\, “leastwise never mo’ ’n fo’.” Sometimes he walks\, sometimes he rides the rods\, sometimes when money is plentifu l he rides in the cars. He has had his tragic and his comic experiences. T he spirit of the road is irrevocably fixed in him and he can think in no o ther terms. Some day a Negro artist will paint him\, a Negro story teller will tell his story\, a “high she’ff” will arrest him\, a “jedge ” will sentence him\, a “cap’n” will “cuss” him\, he will “r ow here few days longer\,” then he’ll be gone.\n\n[221]\n\nCHAPTER XII I\nJOHN HENRY: EPIC OF THE NEGRO WORKINGMAN\nLeft Wing Gordon was and is a very real person\, “traveling man” de luxe in the flesh and blood. No t so John Henry\, who was most probably a mythical character. Whatever oth er studies may report\, no Negro whom we have questioned in the states of North Carolina\, South Carolina and Georgia has ever seen or known of John Henry personally or known any one who has\, although it is well understoo d that he was “mos’ fore-handed steel-drivin’ man in the world.” S till he is none the less real as a vivid picture and example of the good m an hero of the race.\n\nAlthough\, like the story of Left Wing\, the John Henry ballad carries its own intrinsic merit\, this song of the black Paul Bunyan of the Negro workingman is significant for other reasons. It is\, first of all\, a rare creation of considerable originality\, dignity and i nterest. It provides an excellent study in diffusion\, and\, as soon as th e settings\, variations\, comparisons\, and adaptations have been complete d\, will deserve a special brochure. For the purposes of this volume\, how ever\, we shall present simply the John Henry ballad in the forms and vers ions heard within the regions of this collection\, with some comparative e vidence of the workingman’s varied mirror of his hero. John Henry is sti ll growing in reputation and in stature and in favor with the Negro singer \, ranging in repute from the ordinary fore-handed steel-driving man to a martyred president of the United States struck down\, with the[222] hammer in his hand\, by some race assassin. One youth reminiscent of all that he had heard\, and minded to make his version complete\, set down this:\n\nW hen John Henry was on his popper’s knee\,\nThe dress he wore it was red\ ;\nAnd the las’ word he said\,\n“I gonna die with the hammer in my h and.”\nWe have found a few Negroes who were not clear in their minds abo ut Booker T. Washington\, but we have found none in North Carolina\, South Carolina\, and Georgia who had not heard something some time about John H enry. In other places\, however\, in Mississippi and Maryland\, for instan ce\, we understand he is not so well known. To trace the story of the ball ad to its origin[89] is a difficult task and one awaiting the folk-lorist\ ; but to gather these samples of this sort of nomad ballad is a comparativ ely easy and always delightful task.\n\n[89]Prof. J. H. Cox traces John He nry to a real person\, John Hardy\, a Negro who had a reputation in West V irginia as a steel driver and who was hanged for murder in 1894. We are in clined to believe that John Henry was of separate origin and has become mi xed with the John Hardy story in West Virginia. We have never found a Negr o who knew the song as John Hardy\, and we have no versions which mention the circumstance of the murder and execution. For Cox’s discussion and s everal versions of John Hardy\, see his Folk-Songs of The South\, pp. 175- 188\; also Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 32\, p. 505 et seq. Biblio graphies will be found in these references.\n\nThere are many versions of the common story. Some hold that John Henry’s “captain” made a large wager with the boss of the steel-driving crew that John Henry could beat the steam drill down\, and that John Henry did succeed but died with the l ast stroke of his hammer. Others claim that the wager was John Henry’s o wn doing and that he never could stand the new-fangled steam contraption. Leastwise he died with the hammer in his hand\, some claiming in the mount ain drilling stone\, others in railroad cuts or tunnels[223] of various ro ads recently under construction. But in all cases the central theme is the same: John Henry\, powerful steel-driving man\, races with the steam-dril l and dies with the hammer in his hand.\n\nOf the fragments or variations of John Henry there seems to be no end. One at Columbia\, South Carolina\, sets the standard of conduct as at par with John Henry and affirms that “If I could hammer like John Henry\, I’d bro-by\, Lawd\, I’d bro- by\,” which was interpreted to mean the act of passing by the whole proc ession of steel drivers. An Atlanta version represented John Henry as sitt ing on his mother’s knee\, whereupon she “looked in his face an’ s ay\, ‘John Henry\, you’ll be the death o’ me’.” Another fragment from an old timer\, self-styled “full-handed musicianer\,” described John Henry as a steel driver who “always drove the steel” and always “beat the steam drill down\,” and added that if he could drill like J ohn Henry he would “beat all the steam drills down.” While most of the versions limited John Henry to steel driving on mountain or railroad\, ne vertheless there seems to be a general idea that he took turns at being a railroad man\, not in the sense of working on the railroad section gangs b ut as an engineer\, perhaps a skilled one. Part of this is the natural sto ry centering around the logical outcome of a railroad man\, and part is co rruption of the Casey Jones and other noted engineer songs. One opening st anza has it\,\n\nJohn Henry was a little boy\,\nHe was leanin’ on his fa ther’s knee\,\nSay\, “That big wheel turnin’ on Air Line Road\,\nWil l sure be death o’ me\,”\nwhile still others thought the K. C. or Fris co or C. &\; O. roads would be fatal. In the colloquial story\, part of [224] which is given later\, John Henry usually told his mother and friend s\, just as did Jagooze and the other railroad men\, about his proprietary powers in the noted railroads across the continent. Then there were the r eferences to his firemen and “riders” and the fear of a wreck. Sometim es\, as indicative of the changing form\, the singer switches off from the standard John Henry lines to some other\, like “goin’ up Decatur wid hat in my hand\, lookin’ for woman ain’t got no man.”\n\nFor the mos t part\, however\, the versions are rather consistent. The chief differenc es have to do with minor details. The main story is always the same. We ar e now presenting a dozen or more versions of the song\, beginning with wha t may be called the purer or more composite versions and ending with versi ons that have strayed far from the simple story of John Henry. The first i s a common Chapel Hill version\, but even that is varied almost as often a s it is sung by different groups. In this and the other versions\, John He nry’s wife or woman becomes in turn Delia Ann\, Lizzie Ann\, Polly Ann\, or whatever other Ann may be thought of as representing an attractive per son. Sometimes John Henry carried her in the “palm of his hand\,” as i ndeed he is also reported to have carried his little son. When a child\, J ohn Henry also sat on his father’s knee as well as his mother’s. Somet imes it was seven-\, sometimes nine-\, sometimes ten-pound hammer that wou ld be the death of him. Sometimes it was the C. &\; O. tunnel\, sometim es steel\, sometimes the hammer which was going to bring him down.\n\n[225 ]\n\nJohn Henry[90]\nA\n\nJohn Henry was a steel-drivin’ man\,\nCarried his hammer all the time\;\n’Fore he’d let the steam drill beat him dow n\,\nDie wid his hammer in his han’\,\nDie wid his hammer in his han’. \nJohn Henry went to the mountain\,\nBeat that steam drill down\;\nRock wa s high\, po’ John was small\,\nWell\, he laid down his hammer an’ he d ied\,\nLaid down his hammer an’ he died.\nJohn Henry was a little babe\n Sittin’ on his daddy’s knee\,\nSaid\, “Big high tower on C. &\; O . road\nGonna be the death o’ me\,\nGonna be the death o’ me.”\nJohn Henry had a little girl\,\nHer name was Polly Ann.\nJohn was on his bed s o low\,\nShe drove with his hammer like a man\,\nDrove with his hammer lik e a man.\n[90]The music of this version is given in Chapter XIV. For the m usic of a version of John Hardy\, see Campbell and Sharp\, English Folk-So ngs From The Southern Appalachians\, p. 87. There is available also a very good phonograph version of John Henry.\n\nB\n\nJohn Henry was a little bo y\nSittin’ on his papa’s knee\,\nSay\, “Papa you know I’m boun’ to die\,\nThis hammer be the death of me.”\nJohn Henry say one day\,\n “Man ain’t nothin’ but a man\,\nBefo’ I’ll be dogged aroun’\ nI’ll die wid de hammer in my han’.”\n[226]\nJohn Henry said to his captain\,\n“Man ain’t nothin’ but a man.\nBefo’ I work from sun to sun\nI’d die wid de hammer in my han’.”\nJohn Henry was a steel -drivin’ man\,\nCarried hammer all time in his han’\;\nBefo’ he let you beat him down\nHe’d die wid de hammer in his han’.\nJohn Henry had a little girl\,\nName was Polly Ann.\nJohn Henry was on his dyin’ bed\, O Lawd\,\nShe drove with his hammer like a man.\nJohn Henry went up to th e mountain\nTo beat that steel drill down\;\nBut John Henry was so small\, rock so high\,\nLaid down his hammer an’ he died.\nC\n\nJohn Henry was a steel-drivin’ man.\nHe drove so steady an’ hard\;\nWell\, they put J ohn Henry in head to drive\,\nHe laid down his hammer an’ he cried.\nUp stepped girl John Henry loved\,\nShe throwed up her hands and flew\,\nShe ’clare to God\,\n“John Henry\, I been true to you.”\n“O where did you get yo’ new shoes from\,\nO’ dat dress dat you wear so fine?”\ n“I got my shoes from a railroad man\,\nMy dress from a driver in de min e.”\nJohn Henry had a little wife\,\nDress she wore was blue\,\nAn’ sh e declare to God\,\n“I always been true to you.”\n[227]\nJohn Henry wa s a little boy\nSittin’ on his papa’s knee\,\nHe said to his papa\, “Drivin’ steel\nIs gonna be the death of me.”\nD\n\nJohn Henry was a coal black man\,\nChicken chocolate brown\;\n“Befo’ I let your steame r get me down\,\nI die wid my hammer in my han’\, Lawd\, Lawd.”\nJohn Henry had a pretty little woman\,\nShe rode that Southbound train\;\nShe s topped in a mile of the station up there\,\n“Let me hear John Henry’s hammer ring\, Lawd\, Lawd.”\nJohn Henry sittin’ on the left-han’ s ide\nAn’ the steam drill on the right\;\nThe rock it was so large an’ John Henry so small\,\nHe laid down his hammer an’ he cried\, “Lawd\, Lawd.”\nJohn Henry had a pretty little woman\,\nHer name was Julie Ann\, \nShe walked through the lan’ with a hammer in her han’\,\nSayin’\ , “I drive steel like a man\, Lawd\, Lawd.”\nJohn Henry had a little w oman\,\nHer name was Julie Ann\;\nJohn Henry took sick on his work one day \,\nAn’ Julie Ann drove steel like a man\, Lawd\, Lawd.\nJohn Henry had a pretty little boy\,\nSittin’ in de palm of his han’\;\nHe hugged a n’ kissed him an’ bid him farewell\,\n“O son\, do the best you can\, Lawd\, Lawd.”\nJohn Henry was a little boy\nSittin’ on his papa’s k nee\,\nLooked down at a big piece o’ steel\,\nSaying\, “Papa\, that’ ll be the death o’ me\, Lawd\, Lawd.”\n[228]\nJohn Henry had a pretty little woman\,\nThe dress she wore was red\,\nShe went down the track an ’ never did look back\,\nSayin’\, “I’m goin’ where John Henry fe ll dead\, Lawd\, Lawd.”\nJohn Henry had a pretty little girl\,\nThe dres s she wore was blue\,\nShe followed him to the graveyard sayin\,’\n“Jo hn Henry I’ve been true to you\, Lawd\, Lawd.”\nE\n\nJohn Henry had a little wife\,\nName was Julia Ann\;\nJohn Henry got sick on his dyin’ be d\,\nJulia drove steel like a man\,\nO Lawd\, Julia drove steel like a man .\nJohn Henry had a little woman\,\nThe dress she wore was red\,\nWent dow n the track\, never look back\,\n“Goin’ where my man is dead\,\nLawd\, goin’ where may man is dead.”\nJohn Henry was a little boy\nSittin’ on his father’s knee\,\nSay\, “Ten-pound hammer gonna be the death o’ me\,\nLawd\, gonna be the death o’ me.”\nJohn Henry went up to th e rock\,\nCarried his hammer in his han’\,\nRock was so tall\, John Henr y was so small\,\nLaid down his hammer an’ he died.\nLawd\, laid down hi s hammer an’ he died.\nJohn Henry had a little woman\nAn’ she always d ressed in blue\,\nShe went down track\, never look back\,\nSay\, “John H enry I’m always true to you\,\nLawd\, I’m always true to you.”\n[229 ]\nJohn Henry on the right side\,\nSteam drill on the lef’\;\n“Bef o’ I’ll let you beat me down\nI die wid de hammer in my han’\,\nLa wd\, I’d die wid de hammer in my han’.”\n“Who gonna shoe yo’ pre tty little feet\,[91]\nWho gonna comb yo’ bangs?\nWho gonna kiss yo’ r ose-red lips\,\nWho gonna be yo’ man?\nLawd\, who gonna be yo’ man ?”\n“Sweet Papa gonna shoe yo’ pretty little feet\,\nSister gonna comb yo’ bangs\,\nMama gonna kiss yo’ rose-red lips\,\nJohn Henry gonn a be yo’ man\,\nLawd\, John Henry gonna be yo’ man.”\n“Where you g et them high top shoes\,\nThat dress you wear so fine?”\n“Got my shoes from a railroad man\,\nMy dress from a worker in mine\,\nLawd\, my dress from worker in mine.”\nJohn Henry said to his captain\,\n“Man is not hin’ but a man\,\nBefo’ I let this rock beat me down\nI’d die wid de hammer in may han’\,\nLawd\, I’d die wid de hammer in my han’.”\n [91]Stanzas of this kind are frequent in John Henry. They came originally from the old English ballad\, The Lass of Roch Royal. See Child\, The Engl ish and Scottish Popular Ballads\, No. 76.\n\nF\n\nJohn Henry had a little woman\,\nThe dress she wore was red\;\nShe went on down the railroad trac k\,\nSay\, “Goin’ where John Henry fall dead.”\nJohn Henry said to h is captain\,\n“Lawd\, a man ain’t nothin’ but a man\,\nBefo’ I let a man beat me down\nI’d die wid de hammer in my han’.”\n[230]\nJohn Henry said to his woman\,\n“Who gonna shoe yo’ little feet?\nWho gonn a kiss yo’ rosy cheeks?\nWho gonna be yo’ man?\n“Where you get them high top shoes\,\nThat dress you wear so fine?”\n“Got my shoes from a railroad man\,\nMy dress from a man in the mine.”\nG\n\nJohn Henry said to his captain\,\n“Captain\, befo’ you leave this town\,\nIf you give me another drink of your corn\nI’ll beat yo’ steel drill down.”\nHam mer on the right side\,\nBucket on the lef’\,\n“Befo’ I let you beat me down\nI hammer myself to death.”\nJohn Henry up on the mountain top\ ,\nSay\, “Man ain’t nothin’ but a man\,\nBefo’ I let you beat me down\nI’d die wid de hammer in my han’.”\nJohn Henry was a little b oy\,\nHe set on his mother’s knee\,\nCryin’\, “O Lord\, nine-pound h ammer\nGonna be the death o’ me.”\nH\n\nJohn Henry had a little wife \nAn’ he carried her in the palm of his han’\,\nHe hug an’ kiss he r an’ bid her farewell\nAn’ told her do the bes’ she can.\nChorus:\n John Henry was a steel-drivin’ man\,\nJohn Henry was a steel-drivin’ m an\,\nJohn Henry was a steel-drivin’ man\,\nJohn Henry was a steel-dri vin’ man.\n[231]\nJohn Henry was a little boy\nSittin’ on his mother ’s knee\,\nSay\, “Tunnel on C. &\; O. road\nGonna be the death o’ me.”\nJohn Henry said to his shaker\,[92]\n“Shaker\, you better p ray\;\nIf I make this six-foot jump\,\nTomorrow ’ll be yo’ buryin’ day.”\nJohn Henry had a little woman\,\nName was Polly Ann\,\nShe took a big hammer an’ went to the hills\,\nPolly Ann drive steel like a man.\ n[92]The “shaker” is the man who holds the drill upright and turns it between the strokes of the hammer.\n\nI\n\nJohn Henry told his captain\,\n “Hand me down my time\,\nI can make more money on Georgia Southern Road\ nThan I can on old Coast Line.”\nJohn Henry told his captain\,\n“Man ain’t nothin’ but a man\,\nBefo’ I let you beat me drivin’ stee l\nI’d die wid de hammer in my han’.”\nJohn Henry had a little woman \,\nThe dress she wore was red\,\nLas’ word I heard her say\,\n“Goin ’ where my man fall dead.”\nJohn Henry told his captain\,\n“Captain\ , when you go to town\,\nBring me back a ten-pound hammer\nSo I can drive this steel on down.”\nJ\n\nJohn Henry told his captain\,\n“A man ain ’t nothin’ but a man\,\nBefo’ I work from sun to sun\nI’d die wid de hammer in my han’.”\n[232]\nJohn Henry had a little woman\,\nDress she wore was red\;\nGoin’ down railroad weepin’ and cryin’\,\nGoin ’ where John Henry fall dead.\nSay\, I ain’t gonna work much longer\,\ nAin’t gonna work on no farm\;\nAn’ I’m gonna stay here till pay-day \,\nAin’t gonna do nobody no harm.\n“Where’d you git them pretty lit tle shoes?\nWhere’d you git that dress so fine?”\n“Got my shoes from a railroad man\,\nDress from a man in the mine.”\n“Who’s gonna sh oe yo’ pretty little feet?\nWho’s gonna comb yo’ bangs?\nWho’s gon na kiss yo’ rosy cheeks?\nWho’s gonna be yo’ man?\n“Papa gonna s hoe yo’ pretty little feet\,\nSister gonna comb yo’ bangs\;\nMama gonn a kiss yo’ rosy cheeks\,\nJohn Henry gonna be yo’ man.”\nJohn Henry had a little woman\,\nName was Polly Ann\;\nJohn Henry got sick an’ coul dn’t hit a lick\,\nPolly Ann hit steel like a man.\nJohn Henry told his captain\,\n“Captain\, when you go to town\,\nOh\, bring me back a nine-p ound hammer\nSo I can drive this steel on down.”\nJohn Henry was a littl e boy\nSettin’ on his papa’s knee\,\nSay\, “The tunnel on the L. &am p\; N.\nGonna be the death o’ po’ me.”\nJohn Henry had a little girl \,\nName was Nellie Ann\;\nJohn Henry took sick an’ had to go home\,\nEv ery day po’ Nellie drove steel like a man.\n[233]\nJohn Henry had a litt le pistol\,\nHe carried it around in his han’\nWell\, look way over in S outhwest\,\nYou will find a steel-drivin’ man.\n“Who gonna buy yo’ p retty little shoes?\nWho gonna be yo’ man?\nWho gonna buy yo’ dress so fine?\nWhile I’m in some distant lan’?”\nJohn Henry bought a pistol \,\nPut it up in forty-fo’ frame\,\nHe look over in Southwest\,\nSpied t hat steel-drivin’ man.\nJohn Henry’s wife settin’ on do’-step cr yin’\,\nSay\, “Where po’ John Henry gone?”\nJohn Henry’s wife settin’ on do’-step cryin’\,\nSay\, “Where po’ John Henry gone ?”\nJohn Henry’s wife said to his chillun\,\n“Little chillun\, don ’t you worry none\,\n’Cause mama goin’ down to steel-drivin’ place \nWhere po’ daddy done gone.”\nChildren come runnin’ and cryin’\ ,\n“Mama\, what we gonna do?\nNews done reach gran’ma’s do’\,\nPap a done fall stone dead.”\nPeople went up in the mountain\,\nSay mountain was fallin’ in.\nJohn Henry say it was sad mistake\,\n“Nothin’ but my hammer in the win’.”\nJohn Henry say to his captain\,\n“Man ain ’t nothin’ but a man\,\nOh\, befo’ I let steel drill beat me down\nI die wid de hammer in my han’.”\nJohn Henry say to his captain\,\n“I have been with you ninety-nine-years\,\nAn’\, captain\, you don’t hur ry nobody\,\nBut always hurry me.”\n[234]\n\nK\n\nJohn Henry was a littl e boy\,\nWas settin’ ’roun’ playin’ in the san’\,\nTwo young lad ies come a-ridin’ by\,\nSay\, “I want you to be my man.”\nJohn Henry was a little boy\,\nSettin’ on his mamy’s knee\,\nSay\, “Dat ol’ nine-poun’ hammer\nGonna be the death o’ me.”\nJohn Henry was a crue l boy\,\nNever did look down\;\nBut when he start to drivin’ steel\nHe e ver-mo’ did drive it down.\nJohn Henry went to cap’n Monday\nAll worri ed in his min’\,\nSay\, “Give me a heavy axe\,\nLet me tear dis ol’ mountain down.”\nJohn Henry told the captain\,\n“Cap’n\, when you go to town\,\nBring me back a ten-poun’ hammer\nAn’ I lay dis ol’ se v’n-poun’ down.”\nJohn Henry went to captain\,\n“What mo’ you wa nt me to have?\nSay\, han’ me drink o’ ol’ white gin\,\nAn’ I’ll be a steel-drivin’ man.”\nJohn Henry had a little woman\,\nThe dress she wore was red\,\nShe went down de track\, never look back\,\nSay\, “I goin’ where my man fall dead.”\n“Who gonna shoe my pretty little fe et?\nMommer gonna glove my han’.\nPopper gonna kiss my rosy cheeks\,\nJo hn Henry gonna be my man.”\n[235]\nJohn Henry went to captain\,\nSay\, “Man ain’t nothin’ but a man.\nBefo’ I let you beat me down\nI di e wid de hammer in my han’.”\nJohn Henry had a little woman\,\nName wa s Lizzie Ann.\nSay she got her dress from man in mine\nAn’ her shoes fro m railroad man.\nJohn Henry on right\,\nSteam drill on lef’\,\n“Befo ’ I let steam drill beat me down\nI’ll drive my fool self to death.\ n“I drill all time\,\nI drill all day\,\nI drill all way from Rome\nTo D ecatur in one day.”\nJohn Henry say\,\n“Tell my mother\nIf she want to see me\,\nBuy ticket all way to Frisco.”\nJohn Henry on way to Frisco\, \nWid orders in his han’\,\nSay\, “All you rounders who want to flirt\ ,\nHere come a woman wid a hobble-skirt.”\nJohn Henry say to his captain \nBefo’ he lef’ town\,\n“If you give me ’nother drink o’ y o’ co’n\,\nI’ll beat yo’ steel drill down.”\nIt would take a lar ge volume to record all of the ways in which John Henry is known to the Ne gro worker and singer. He is known far and wide in song and story and he i s the hero of hundreds of thousands of black toilers. Negroes who do work that requires rhythmic movements\, such as digging or driving steel\, natu rally like to dwell upon the thought of the great[236] John Henry\, and th ey make work songs about the great hero. The four songs which follow are n ot only good examples of this kind of work song\, but reveal something of the worker’s feeling for John Henry.\n\nDis Here Hammer Kill John Henry\ n\nDis here hammer\, hammer\nKill John Henry\,\nKill John Henry\;\nDis her e hammer\, hammer\nKill John Henry\,\nCan’t kill me\,\nO Lawd\, can’t kill me.\nIf I Could Hammer Like John Henry\n\nIf I could hammer like John Henry\,\nIf I could hammer like John Henry\,\nLawd\, I’d be a man\,\nLa wd\, I’d be a man.\nIf I could hammer like John Henry\,\nIf I could hamm er like John Henry\,\nI’d bro-by\, Lawd\,\nI’d bro-by.\nNine-poun’ h ammer kill John Henry\,\nNine-poun’ hammer kill John Henry\,\nWon’t ki ll me\,\nLawd\, won’t kill me.\nI been hammerin’\,\nAll ’roun’ mou ntain\,\nWon’t kill me\, babe\,\nLawd\, won’t kill me.\nHeard Mighty R umblin’\n\nHeard mighty rumblin’\,\nHeard mighty rumblin’\,\nHeard m ighty rumblin’\nUnder the groun’.\n[237]\nWell\, heard mighty rumbli n’\,\nUnder the groun’\,\nUnder the groun’\,\nMus’ be John Henry turnin’ aroun’.\nUp on the mountain\,\nUp on the mountain\,\nWell\, u p on the mountain\,\nHeard John Henry cryin’.\nHeard John Henry cryin’ \,\nHeard John Henry cryin’\,\nWell\, I heard John Henry cryin’\,\ n“An’ I won’t come down.”\nJohn Henry Was a Man o’ Might\n\nJohn Henry was a man o’ might\,\nJohn Henry was a man o’ might\,\nJohn Hen ry was a man o’ might\,\nHe beat de iron man down.\nJohn Henry had a ham mer han\,’[93]\nAn’ he beat de iron man down.\n“Lawd\, Lawd\, boss \,” he cried\,\n“De iron man too much fo’ me.”\nAn’ dey laid Joh n Henry low\,\nHe won’t swing dat hammer no mo’.\nJohn Henry was big an’ strong\nBut de iron man brung ’im down.\nJohn Henry was big an’ brown\nBut de iron man brung him down.\nJohn Henry say\, “I got to go\, \nI can’t swing de ball no mo’.”\nJohn Henry was a mighty man\,\nA n’ he swing dat hammer.\n[93]The first line of each stanza is sung three times as indicated in the first stanza.\n\n[238]\n\nIn story John Henry ’s deeds often assume magnificent proportions. Indeed\, the stories abou t him are in many respects more interesting than the songs\, for the stori es usually have more range and reflect more imagination than the songs. Oc casionally one can find a Negro who will tell the story simply and without exaggeration\, but one usually gets a version which is more or less embel lished with the legendary attributes and attainments of John Henry. In the following story\, John Henry is credited with such powers as would make h im a close rival of Paul Bunyan himself.[94]\n\n[94]This story was recorde d at Chapel Hill\, N. C.\, but\, as far as we can tell it came originally from Stone Mountain\, Ga. It is given as nearly as possible in the words i n which it was told.\n\n“One day John Henry lef’ rock quarry on way to camp an’ had to go through woods an’ fiel’. Well\, he met big black bear an’ didn’t do nothin’ but shoot ’im wid his bow an’ arre r\, an’ arrer went clean through bear an’ stuck in big tree on other s ide. So John Henry pulls arrer out of tree an’ pull so hard he falls bac k ’gainst ’nother tree which is full o’ flitterjacks\, an’ first t ree is full o’ honey\, an’ in pullin’ arrer out o’ one he shaken d own honey\, an’ in failin’ ’gainst other he shaken down flitterjacks . Well\, John Henry set there an’ et honey an’ flitterjacks an’ set there an’ et honey an’ flitterjacks\, an’ after while when he went t o git up to go\, button pop off’n his pants an’ kill a rabbit mo’ ’n hundred ya’ds on other side o’ de tree. An’ so up jumped brown baked pig wid sack o’ biscuits on his back\, an’ John Henry et him too .\n\n“So John Henry gits up to go on through woods to camp for supper\ , ’cause he ’bout to be late an’ he mighty hongry for his supper. Jo hn Henry sees lake down hill and thinks he’ll git him a drink o’ water \, cause he’s thirsty\, too\, after eatin’ honey an’ flitterjacks an’[239] brown roast pig an’ biscuits\, still he’s hongry yet. An’ so he goes down to git drink water an’ finds lake ain’t nothin’ but lake o’ honey\, an’ out in middle dat lake ain’t nothin but tree full o’ biscuits. An’ so John Henry don’t do nothin’ but drink d at lake o’ honey dry. An’ he et the tree full o’ biscuits\, too. \n\n“An’ so ’bout that time it begin’ to git dark\, an’ John Hen ry sees light on hill an’ he think maybe he can git sumpin to eat\, caus e he’s mighty hongry after big day drillin’. So he look ’roun’ a n’ see light on hill an’ runs up to house where light is an’ ast peo ple livin’ dere\, why’n hell dey don’t give him sumpin’ to eat\, ’cause he ain’t had much. An’ so he et dat\, too.\n\n“Gee-hee\, h ee\, dat nigger could eat! But dat ain’t all\, cap’n. Dat nigger could wuk mo’ ’n he could eat. He’s greates’ steel driller ever live\, regular giaunt\, he wus\; could drill wid his hammer mo’ ’n two steam drills\, an’ some say mo’ ’n ten. Always beggin’ boss to git ’im bigger hammer\, always beggin’ boss git ’im bigger hammer. John Henry wus cut out fer big giaunt driller. One day when he wus jes’ few weeks ol’ settin’ on his mammy’s knee he commence cryin’ an’ his mom mer say\, “John Henry\, whut’s matter\, little son?” An’ he up a n’ say right den an’ dere dat nine-poun’ hammer be death o’ him. An’ so sho’ ’nough he grow up right ’way into bigges’ steel d riller worl’ ever see. Why dis I’s tellin’ you now wus jes’ when he’s young fellow\; waits til’ I tells you ’bout his drillin’ in mountains an’ in Pennsylvania. An’ so one day he drill all way from Ro me\, Georgia\, to D’catur\, mo’ ’n a hundred miles drillin’ in one day\, an’ I ain’t sure dat wus his bes’ day. No\, I ain’t sure da t wus his bes’ day.\n\n“But\, boss\, John Henry wus a regular boy\, no t lak some o’ dese giaunts you read ’bout not likin’ wimmin[240] a n’ nothin’. John Henry love to come to town same as any other nigger\, only mo’ so. Co’se he’s mo’ important an’ all dat\, an’ c o’se he had mo’ wimmin ’an anybody else\,’some say mo’ ’n ten\ , but as to dat I don’t know. I means\, boss\, mo’ wimmen ’an ten men\, ’cause\, Lawd\, I specs he had mo’ ’n thousand wimmin’. An ’ John Henry wus a great co’tin’ man\, too\, cap’n. Always wus dat way. Why\, one day when he settin’ by his pa’ in san’ out in fron t o’ de house\, jes’ few weeks old\, women come along and claim him fe r deir man. An’ dat’s funny\, too\, but it sho’ wus dat way all his life. An’ so when he come to die John Henry had mo’ wimmin\, all dress ed in red an’ blue an’ all dem fine colors come to see him dead\, if i t las’ thing they do\, an’ wus mighty sad sight\, people all stand in’ ’roun’\, both cullud an’ white.”\n\nOf course\, no Negro bel ieves that the foregoing story is true. But there are innumerable stories which stay within the bounds of possibility—though not always probabilit y\, to be sure—and which are thoroughly believed by the Negroes who tell them. One of the most widespread of these\, and at the same time interest ing and artistic\, was concluded as follows by a North Carolina Negro work man:\n\n“An’ John Henry beat dat ol’ steam drill down\, but jes’ a s he took his las’ stroke he fell over daid wid de hammer in his han’. Dey buried him dere in de tunnel\, an’ now dey got his statue carved in solid rock at de mouth o’ de Big Ben’ tunnel on de C. &\; O.—das right over dere close to Asheville somewhere. No\, I ain’t never been d ere\, but dere he stan’\, carved in great big solid rock wid de hammer i n his han’.”\n\n[241]\n\nCHAPTER XIV\nSOME TYPICAL NEGRO TUNES\nWe hav e pointed out again and again the utter futility of trying to describe acc urately the singing of a group of Negroes when they are at their best. A g roup of twenty workers singing\, carrying various parts\, suiting song to work\, and vying with one another for supremacy in variations and innovati ons—this is a scene which defies musical notation and description. And y et the picture which we have tried to present in this volume would certain ly be incomplete without the addition of some of the simple melodies of ty pical workaday songs. They are added\, therefore\, merely as final touches to the picture rather than as attempts to reproduce the complex harmonies of Negro songs.\n\nHeretofore the spirituals have received most of the at tention of those who were working toward the preservation of Negro music. The secular songs have nothing like the standardization of words and music that the spirituals have\, simply because they have not been preserved. I t is inevitable\, however\, that due attention will be given to Negro secu lar music. Indeed much has recently been done toward that end.[95] But the task of recording the majority of Negro secular tunes is yet to be done. It is to be hoped that the forthcoming volume of secular songs which is be ing edited by James Weldon Johnson will go a long way toward giving the Ne gro’s secular music the place which it deserves.\n\n[95]For a discussion of the recent collections of Negro songs\, see Guy B. Johnson\, “Some R ecent Contributions to the Study of American Negro Songs\,” Social Force s\, June\, 1926.\n\n[242]\n\nAny one who has tried to record the music of Negro songs knows that it is very difficult to do more than approximate th e tunes as they are actually sung. Several reasons may be cited to account for this. In the first place\, there are slurs and minute gradations in p itch in Negro songs which it is impossible to represent in ordinary musica l notation. Some of these effects can be reproduced on a stringed instrume nt\, but they cannot be shown on a musical scale which is only divided int o half-step changes of pitch. A notation in the form of curved lines would come nearer representing the Negro’s singing than does the system of de finite notes along a staff. It is what the Negro sings between the lines a nd spaces that makes his music so difficult to record.\n\nAnother factor w hich must be reckoned with is the inconsistency of the singer. When the re corder thinks that he has finally succeeded in getting a phrase down corre ctly and asks the singer to repeat it “just one more time\,” he often finds that the response is quite different from any previous rendition. Re quests for further repetition may bring out still other variations or a re turn to the previous version. Again\, after the notation has been made fro m the singing of the first stanza of a song\, the collector may be chagrin ed to find that none of the other stanzas is sung to exactly the same tune . The variations are not marked. They are elusive and teasing\, and they a dd beauty to the song.\n\nHow often the song collector wishes for some ins trument which will record group singing in its native haunts! He cannot ho pe to catch by ear alone all of the parts—and there are undoubtedly six or eight of many of these songs—that go into the making of those rare ha rmonies which only a group of Negro workers[243] can produce. If he coaxes the singers to keep repeating their song\, some of them become self-consc ious and drop out. Perhaps the whole group will refuse to sing any more. I f perchance he gets one or two singers to give him some special help\, he gets but a suggestion of the group effect. He must be contented with secur ing the leading part of the song and harmonizing it later as best he can.\ n\nSo these rare work harmonies have never been faithfully reproduced in m usical notation.[96] Rather than give an artificial harmonization to the t unes recorded in this chapter\, we are presenting only the leading part of each song.\n\n[96]The nearest approach ever made to accurate recording of such songs is found in the work of the late Natalie Curtis Burlin. See he r Negro Folk Songs\, Hampton Series\, vols. III and IV.\n\nSince several o f the songs in this chapter are work songs\, let us examine for a moment t he technique of the worker-singer. Many work songs\, of course\, are not r eally work songs except in the sense that they are sung during work. When the work is such that it does not necessitate continuous rhythmic movement s\, one song is about as good as another. But rhythmic movements\, being e specially adapted to song accompaniment\, have given rise to a distinct ty pe of work song. Digging\, hammering\, steel-driving\, rowing\, and many o ther kinds of work fall in the rhythmic class. The technique for all of th ese is practically the same.\n\nLet us take digging as an example\, since it is a very common type of Negro labor in the South. Typical pick-song pa tterns are as follows:\n\nI got a rainbow\,\nRainbow ’roun’ my shoulde r\;\nI got a rainbow\,\nRainbow ’roun’ my shoulder\;\n’Tain’t gonn a rain\,\nLawd\, Lawd\, ’tain’t gonna rain.\n[244]\nWell\, she asked m e\nIn her parlor\nAn’ she cooled me\nWid her fan\;\nLawd\, she whispered \nTo her mother\,\n“Mama\, I love\nThat dark-eyed man.”\nNow in the ty pe of song illustrated by the first of the above patterns the strokes of t he pick are not all of equal length. The rhythm of the song demands a shor t stroke alternated with a longer stroke. In the second type of song\, how ever\, the meter is such that all of the strokes of the pick may be of equ al length. At the end of each line there is a cæsura or pause. This repre sents the time during which the worker swings his pick from the upright po sition to the ground. When the pick strikes the ground\, the worker gives a grunt\, loosens the pick\, and raises it. It is during this loosening an d upward movement that he sings. The down-stroke calls for much more effor t than raising the pick\, so he rarely ever sings on the down-stroke. The time required for a digging stroke is\, however\, shorter than the time re quired for loosening and raising the pick\, so that ordinarily the pauses in the song are relatively brief.\n\nIt is in a group that the work song i s to be heard at its best. When a group is digging and singing\, picks are swung in unison. On a few occasions we have observed that one or two men took their strokes out of unison in order to sing certain exclamations or echoes during the pauses in the singing of their companions. This\, howeve r\, is a rare procedure\, for the most striking variations in both music a nd words can be introduced without breaking the unison of the strokes.\n\n [245]\n\nTo call a song a pick song does not mean that it is not also a go od song for general purposes. I Got a Rainbow\, I Don’t Want No Trouble Wid de Walker\, and other pick songs are quite effective when sung as solo s with guitar accompaniment. On the other hand\, many general songs can ea sily be converted into pick songs by slight changes in meter.[97]\n\n[97]F or other discussions of work songs\, see Natalie Curtis Burlin\, Negro Fol k Songs\, vols. III and IV\; Dorothy Scarborough\, On the Trail of Negro F olk Songs\, chapter VIII\; R. Emmet Kennedy\, Mellows\; Odum and Johnson\, The Negro and His Songs\, chapter VIII.\n\nA few of the tunes presented i n the following pages are the older Negro secular tunes. Stagolee and Rail road Bill are rarely heard now\, but they were common twenty years ago\, a nd their music is included in the present collection for whatever its pres ervation may be worth. The words of Stagolee\, Railroad Bill and She Asked Me in de Parlor are reprinted in full from The Negro and His Songs\, but only the first stanzas of the other songs are given\, since the rest of th e words can be found in the preceding chapters of the present volume. The songs in every case are written in the key in which they were sung.\n\nSta golee\n\nMusical score\nStag-o-lee\, Stag-o-lee\, What’s dat in yo’ gr ip? “Noth-in’ but my\n\nSunday clothes\, I’m gonna take a trip.” O h\, dat man\, bad man\, Stagolee done come.\n\n\nStagolee\, Stagolee\, wha t’s dat in yo’ grip?\nNothin’ but my Sunday clothes\, I’m gonna to take a trip\,\nOh\, dat man\, bad man\, Stagolee done come.\n[246]\nStago lee\, Stagolee\, where you been so long?\nI been out on de battle fiel’ shootin’ an’ havin’ fun.\nOh\, dat man\, etc.\nStagolee was a bully man\, an’ ev’ybody knowed\nWhen dey seed Stagolee comin’ to give Sta golee de road.\nStagolee started out\, he give his wife his han’\;\n“G oodby\, darlin’\, I’m goin’ to kill a man.”\nStagolee killed a m an an’ laid him on de flo’\,\nWhat’s dat he kill him wid? Dat same ol’ fohty-fo’.\nStagolee killed man an’ laid him on his side\,\nW hat’s dat he kill him wid? Dat same ol’ fohty-five.\nOut of house an ’ down de street Stagolee did run\,\nIn his hand he held a great big s mok’n’ gun.\nStagolee\, Stagolee\, I’ll tell you what I’ll do\;\ nIf you’ll git me out’n dis trouble I’ll do as much for you.\nAin’ t it a pity\, ain’t it a shame?\nStagolee was shot\, but he don’t want no name.\nStagolee\, Stagolee\, look what you done done:\nKilled de best ol’ citerzen\, now you’ll have to be hung.\nStagolee cried to de jur y\, “Please don’t take my life\,\nI have only three little children an’ one little lovin’ wife.”\nRailroad Bill\n\nMusical score\nRail-r oad Bill might-y bad man\, Shoot dem\n\nlights out de brake-man’s han’ \, Was look-in’ for Rail-road Bill.\n\n\nRailroad Bill mighty bad man\,\ nShoot dem lights out o’ de brakeman’s han’\,\nWas lookin’ fer Rai lroad Bill.\n[247]\nRailroad Bill mighty bad man\,\nShoot the lamps all of f de stan’\,\nAn’ it’s lookin’ fer Railroad Bill.\nFirst on table\ , next on wall\;\nOl’ corn whiskey cause of it all\,\nIt’s lookin’ f er Railroad Bill.\nOl’ McMillan had a special train\;\nWhen he got there was shower of rain\,\nWus lookin’ fer Railroad Bill.\nEv’ybody tol’ him he better turn back\;\nRailroad Bill wus goin’ down track\,\nAn ’ it’s lookin’ fer Railroad Bill.\nWell\, the policemen all dressed in blue\,\nComin’ down sidewalk two by two\,\nWus lookin’ fer Railroad Bill.\nRailroad Bill had no wife\,\nAlways lookin’ fer somebody’s lif e\,\nAn’ it’s lookin’ fer Railroad Bill.\nRailroad Bill was the wo rst ol’ coon:\nKilled McMillan by de light o’ de moon\,\nIt’s look in’ fer Railroad Bill.\nOl’ Culpepper went up on number five\,\nGoin ’ bring him back\, dead or alive\,\nWus lookin’ fer Railroad Bill.\nSh e Asked Me in de Parlor\n\nMusical score\nWell\, she asked me in her par-l or An’ she cooled me wid her fan\,\n\nAn’ she whis-pered to her moth-e r\, “O Ma\, I love that dark-eyed man.”\n\n\nWell\, she ask me in her parlor\nAn’ she cooled me wid her fan\,\nAn’ she whispered to her moth er\,\n“Mama\, I love that dark-eyed man.”\n[248]\nWell\, I ask her mot her for her\nAn’ she said she was too young.\nLawd\, I wished I never ha d seen her\nAn’ I wished she’d never been born.\nWell\, I led her to d e altar\,\nAn’ de preacher give his comman’\,\nAn’ she swore by God that made her\nThat she never love another man.\nJohn Henry\n\nMusical sco re\nJohn Hen-ry was a steel-driv-in’ man\, Ca’d his hammer all the\n\n time\,... An’ be-fo’ he’d let the steam-drill beat him down\,\n\nDie with the hammer in his han’\, Die with the hammer in his han’.\n\n\ nGoin’ Down That Lonesome Road\n\nMusical score\nGoin’ down that lone- some road\, Oh\, goin’ down that lone-some\n\nroad\, An’ I won’t be treat-ed this-a way. Springs on my\n\nbed done brok-en down\, An’ I ai n’t got no-where to lay my head.\n\n\n[249]\n\nShoot That Buffalo\n\nMus ical score\nWent down to Raleigh\, Was nev-er there be-fo’\, White folks on de feather bed\,\n\nNig-gers on de flo’. Shoot dat buf-fa\, shoot da t lo\, Shoot dat buf-fa-lo.\n\n\nI Got a Rainbow\nA\n\nMusical score\nOh\, ev-’ry-where I\, where I look this morn-in’\, It looks like\n\nrain\, Lawd\, O my Lawd\, looks like rain\, it looks like rain\, Lawd\, O my Law d\,\n\nlooks like rain\, Oh\, ev-’ry-where I\, where I look this morn- in’.\n\n\nI Got a Rainbow\nB\n\nMusical score\nOh\, ev-’ry-where I\, W here I look dis morn-in’\, Oh\, ev-’ry-where I\,\n\nWhere I look dis m orn-in’\, It look like rain\, Lawd\, Lawd\, looks like rain.\n\n\nI Do n’t Want No Trouble Wid de Walker\n\nMusical score\nOh\, I don’t want no\, Want no trouble wid de walk-er\; Oh\, I don’t want no\,\n\nWant no trouble wid de walker. Wanta go home\, Lawd\, Lawd\, wanta go home.\n\n\n[ 250]\n\nReason I Stay on de Job So Long\n\nMusical score\nReason I stay on de job so long\, Gimme flam-donies an’ de cof-fee strong.\n\n\nTol’ M y Cap’n That My Feet Was Col’\n\nMusical score\nTol’ my cap’n that my feet was col’\, “God damn yo’ feet\, let the car wheel roll.”\ n\n\nIf I’d Known My Cap’n Was Blin’\n\nMusical score\nIf I’d a-kn own my cap’n was blin’\, dar-lin’\,\n\nIf I’d a-known my cap’n was blin’\, dar-lin’\, If I’d a-known my\n\ncap’n was blin’\, I wouldn’-a went to work till half-pas’ nine\, dar-lin’.\n\n\nI Got a Muley\n\nMusical score\nI got a mul-ey\, Mul-ey on the mountain\, call him Jer-ry\; Oh\, I can\n\nride him\, Ride him an-y time I wanta\, All day long\, Lawd\, Lawd\, all day long.\n\n\nShot My Pistol in the Heart of To wn\n\nMusical score\nO - o - o - h\, L - a - a - w-d\, Shot my pis-tol\n\n in de heart o-town\,......... Lawd\, de big Chief holled\, “Don’t you blow me down.”\n\n\n[252]\n\nCHAPTER XV\nTYPES OF PHONO-PHOTOGRAPHIC REC ORDS OF NEGRO SINGERS\nWe have referred often in these pages to the wealth of material found in the great variety and number of the Negro’s songs. We have appraised the collections which have been published and those whi ch are to come as valuable source material for the study of folk life and art and especially for their value in the portrayal of representative Negr o life. Adequate analysis and presentation of these values will be possibl e only after a number of the other collections have been completed and com prehensive studies made.\n\nThere are other values not yet presented. For example\, the scientific study of the Negro’s musical ability has barely begun\, but it promises much. The work of Professor Carl E. Seashore and others has resulted in the formulation of various tests and methods for st udying musical talent and singing ability. Many valuable studies have been reported from various psychological laboratories. One of the latest devel opments in this field is the phono-photographic method of recording voices . In this method the phono-photographic machine makes it possible to take pictures of sound waves of all kinds. Among other things\, it registers th e most delicate variations in pitch\, variations which are often too subtl e for the human ear to perceive. In short\, it gives a picture of exactly what a voice or a musical instrument does.\n\nNaturally this method of sou nd wave analysis may be of untold value in the study of the human voice. I t[253] enables the singer to see his voice in detail. It furnishes the sci entist with data for the study of the qualities which make a voice good or poor. It opens up many possibilities\, both practical and theoretical\, a s a method of voice analysis.\n\nOf special interest and importance is the application of this method to the study of Negro singers and Negro voices . It was therefore a fortunate turn of circumstances which made it possibl e for the authors of this volume to join Professor Seashore and Dr. Milton Metfessel of the University of Iowa in making extensive phono-photographi c studies of various Negro singers during the fall of 1925\, with headquar ters at the University of North Carolina Institute for Research in Social Science. Professor Seashore was able to coöperate personally in the work at Hampton\, while Dr. Metfessel remained throughout the entire period of the study.[98]\n\n[98]Dr. Metfessel\, using the perfected machine which lo ng years of work at the University of Iowa psychological laboratories have produced\, was successful in obtaining a large number of satisfactory rec ords. He also took moving pictures of the singers. Needless to say\, we ar e indebted to him for the material of this chapter.\n\nAmong the types of Negro singers whose voices were subjected to the phono-photographic proces s were practically all of the common types which we have been recording in the pages of this volume and of The Negro and His Songs. There were the t ypical laborers\, working with pick and shovel. There was the lonely singe r\, with his morning yodel or “holler.” There were the skilled workers with voices more or less trained by practice and formal singing. There wa s the more nearly primitive type\, swaying body and limb with singing. The noted quartet from Hampton Institute\, as well as individual singers ther e\, coöperated. Men and women from the North Carolina College for Negroes represented other types. Quartets[254] and individuals from the high scho ols at Chapel Hill and Raleigh\, North Carolina\, were still other types. Finally the voices of one hundred and fifty Negro children from the Orange County Training School at Chapel Hill and the Washington School at Raleig h were recorded. Types of songs included in the experiments were the gang work song\, the pick-and-shovel song and various other work songs\, the yo del\, the “1926 model laugh\,” the blues\, formal quartet music\, spir ituals\, and children’s songs. It would thus appear that both the select ions and the numbers were adequate to make a valuable beginning in a new p hase of the subject.\n\nThe results of this study will be published fully later. The present chapter is in no sense a report of the results. It is i ntended merely to describe the phono-photographic study\, to give some exa mples of records obtained during the study\, and to indicate certain possi bilities of this method as a scientific means of research into Negro singi ng abilities and qualities.\n\nThe following explanation will suffice to a cquaint the reader with the method of reading the photographic records pre sented in this chapter. Along the left side of each graph are the notes of the scale in half steps. When the heavy line which represents the voice r ises or falls one space on the graph\, the voice has changed a half tone i n pitch. Time value is shown along the bottom of the graph. The vertical b ars occurring every 5.55 spaces along the bottom mark off intervals of one second.\n\nIf one were to sing a perfectly rigid tone\, its photographic record would be a horizontal straight line. Such a thing is very rare\, ho wever\, in any type of singing\, for most sustained tones photograph as mo re or less irregular wavy lines. Indeed\, a voice whose sustained tones ph otographed as a straight line would[255] not produce as good tones as one with rapid and regular variations of the vocal cords. A good singing voice possesses what is called the vibrato. In terms of the photographic record s\, the pitch vibrato consists of a rise and fall of pitch of about half a tone about six times a second. In Figure I are given samples of tones pho tographed by Seashore and Metfessel from the singing of Annie Laurie by Lo well Welles. The first represents the singing of the word “dew” in the line\, “Where early fa’s the dew.” The second is the word “and” from the line\, “And for bonnie Annie Laurie.” The vibrato is present in both tones. Note how the voice line varies above or below the note E o n “dew” and F-sharp on “and\,” sometimes as much as a quarter of a tone. Note also the smoothness and regularity of the pitch fluctuations. It is this smoothness of the vibrato which characterizes good singing.\n\n Singing photograph\n“AND” F♯\n\n“DEW” E\n\nFig. I\n\nTo illustra te their scope\, methods\, and possibilities three specimens of photograph ic records of Negro voices are presented: a song\, I Got a Muley\,[99] by[ 256] Odell Walker\; a yodel or “holler\,” as it is commonly called\, b y Cleve Atwater\; and Cleve’s “1926 Model Laugh.”\n\n[99]The tune is slightly different from the music of the song of the same name given in C hapter XIV. It is variously called I Got a Mule on the Mountain\, I Got Mu le Named Jerry\, I Got a Muley\, Jerry on Mountain.\n\nFigure II is the ph otographic notation of I Got a Muley. The music of the song as best it can be represented in ordinary notation is given below. Several interesting t hings are revealed by the song picture in Figure II.[100] For one thing\, we have here a picture of some of those elusive slurs which are so common among Negro singers. Take the words “muley on a mount’n” in Figure I I-A\, for example.\n\nMusical score\nI GOT A MULEY\, MULEY ON A MOUNT’N CALL ’IM JERRY\; I GOT A MULEY\,\n\nMULEY ON A MOUNT’N CALL’IM JERRY . I CAN RIDE HIM\, RIDE’IM ANY TIME I\n\nWAN’ UH\; I CAN RIDE HIM RI DE’IM ANY TIME I WAN’UH\, LAWD\, LAWD\, ALL DAY LONG.\n\n\nWhen one he ars these words as they were sung by Odell Walker\, one is apt to feel tha t with the exception of the last syllable of “mount’n” they are all sung on the same pitch. The graph shows that this is not so. There are rea lly drops in pitch of one and a half or two whole tones at two places in t his phrase. Or take the word “ride\,” as it occurs in the phrase\, “ride ’im any time I wan’ uh\,” which phrase occurs twice in the song. One can tell while listening to the song that there is some sort of slur present\, but it is impossible to tell by means of the ear alone exac tly what is happening. The graph reveals the fact that the singer[257] act ually begins the word “ride” between D-sharp and E and carries it as h igh as G-sharp. The outstanding tone heard\, however\, is G-sharp. Other p itch changes not shown in the ordinary musical notation may be easily dete cted by the reader.\n\n[100]A measure on the graph is equivalent to approx imately nine spaces on the horizontal scale. Note that the singer did not keep accurate time. His measures range from six to twelve spaces.\n\nThe v ibrato is present in places in the record of this song. In section A there is a trace of it on the word “muley” the first time it occurs. In sec tion B there is an approach to it on the word “Jerry.” In section C it occurs on the word “ride” the first time it appears. In section D the re is a tendency toward it on “Lawd\, Lawd\,” but it shows best in “long”\, the last word of the song. A comparison with the examples of artistic singing in Figure I shows that our Negro workman’s vibrato is rough and irregular and that it does not maintain a steady general pitch l evel as does Welles’s vibrato. It must be borne in mind\, however\, that this particular song does not afford good opportunities for sustained ton es and that the Negro singer’s vibrato might have shown to better advant age on a different song.\n\nIn Figure III is a picture of a yodel or “ho ller.” It is the sort of thing which one hears from field hands as they go to work in the morning\, or from some gay-spirited pick-and-shovel man as he begins digging on a frosty morning.\n\nNo attempt is made to include the ordinary musical notation of the yodel\, for it would give but a sugg estion of the vocal idiosyncrasies involved in the execution of the yodel. The most remarkable thing about this record is the sudden changes of pitc h which it portrays. In Figure III-A just at the beginning of the fifth se cond interval the voice takes a sudden drop. Then it rises from F to G in the octave above in about a third of a second. In section B of the yodel\, near the end of the fifth second interval\, the same spectacular rise occ urs\, this time from F-sharp to G-sharp in about one-tenth of a second. St ill more remarkable are the several rapid rises and falls in pitch in sect ion C. In the production of such sudden changes the vocal cords must under go a snap. Even in speech\, where pitch changes are very rapid\, such sudd en ascents and descents do not occur.\n\n[258]\n\nChart\nFig. II-A\n\nChar t\nFig. II-B\n\n[259]\n\nChart\nFig. II-C\n\nChart\nFig. II-D\n\n[260]\n\n Chart\nFig. III-A\n\nChart\nFig. III-B\n\n[261]\n\nChart\nFig. III-C\n\nCh art\nFig. III-D\n\n[262]\n\nChart\nFig. IV-A\n\nChart\nFig. IV-B\n\n[263]\ n\nIt is also interesting to note that the vibrato is present at times in the yodel. It is fairly plain on C-sharp along the middle of section A and still better on G at the end of the same section. It also shows at the en d of section B\, continuing into section C\; and the yodel ends with a sem i-vibrato. There is an approach to it in several other places. The vibrato of our Negro worker\, however\, is rather erratic and wavering in compari son with the vibrato of the vocal artist in Figure I. Yet one must remembe r that our subjects\, both in Figure II and Figure III\, were Negro worker s whose voices have never had a touch of formal training.\n\nIn Figure IV we have a photographic record of a hearty Negro laugh. Its musical quality is at once evident. In the first three seconds of the laugh there is an u nusual effect. It would not be called a vibrato because the pitch changes are too rapid and too extensive to give the vibrato effect. Near the begin ning of the fifth second of the laugh the voice breaks up into a series of interrupted speech sounds. During the sixth second it suddenly becomes mu sical again and remains so for about two seconds. Then\, after a rest\, (s ee section the speech sounds reappear and continue intermittently to the end of the laugh. These observations indicate some of the possibilities of the phono-photographic method of studying Negro voices and Negro songs. W hen the complete results of[264] the recent study are ready for publicatio n we may have data which will make it possible to compare scientifically t he voices of different kinds of Negro singers as well as the voices of Neg ro and white singers. Other studies and correlations may be made through t he articulation of the moving pictures of the singers\, their faces\, thei r bodily movements\, their emotional expressions\, and whatever reactions the camera may reveal. In nearly all instances where phono-photographic re cords were made of Negro voices in the recent study\, moving pictures were made of the singers. In addition to these\, moving pictures were made of groups of workmen while singing. Some remarkable examples of skill in move ment\, of coördination of song with work\, of mixture of humor\, pathos\, and recklessness with work and song were brought to light. These have bee n incorporated into a series of three reels. Some of these pictures of fac ial expression during singing will be included in the report of the study when it is published in complete form. Many interesting questions may find their solutions if the scientific method is applied to the study of Negro singing ability. Is the vibrato a native endowment? Is the vibrato more f requent among Negroes than among whites? At what age does it appear in the voice?[101] What other qualities cause the rank and file of Negroes to ex cel as singers? Is the Negro’s capacity for harmony greater than the whi te man’s? Is his sense of rhythm better? These are some of the questions which science should be able to answer in the near future. [101]A study o f the voices of white and Negro school children now being made by Milton M etfessel and Guy B. Johnson may throw some light upon some of these questi ons. [265] SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY[102] [102]This bibliography is not intend ed to cover all that has been written on Negro songs. It includes referenc es to actual collections of songs and to a few other contributions which a re of value to the serious student of Negro songs. Dozens of merely apprec iative articles have been omitted. For a larger bibliography one may consu lt the latest issue of the Negro Year Book. BOOKS Abbot\, F. H.\, and Swan \, A. J.\, Eight Negro Songs. Enoch &\; Sons\, New York\, 1923. Eight s ongs from Bedford County\, Virginia. Explanatory comments and notes on dia lect are given for each song. Allen\, W. F.\, and others\, Slave Songs of the United States. New York\, 1867. Words and music of 136 songs are given . Armstrong\, M. F.\, Hampton and Its Students. New York\, 1874. Fifty pla ntation songs. Ballanta\, N. G. J.\, St. Helena Island Spirituals. G. Schi rmer\, New York\, 1925. A collection of 115 spirituals from Penn School\, St. Helena Island. This island is off the coast of South Carolina\, and it s semi-isolation makes it an interesting field for the study of Negro song s. Ballanta’s work is prefaced by a valuable but somewhat pedantic discu ssion of Negro music. Burlin\, Natalie Curtis\, Negro Folk-Songs. G. Schir mer\, New York\, 1918-19. Four small volumes of Negro songs recorded at Ha mpton Institute. Volumes I and II are spirituals\, volumes III and IV are work songs and play songs. These songs are of special value in that the la te Mrs. Burlin came nearer than any one else to the accurate reproduction of Negro songs in musical notation. Campbell\, Olive Dame\, and Sharp\, Ce cil J.\, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians. The student wh o is interested in the origin of Negro songs and their relation to English folk songs will find valuable data in this book. Cox\, J. H.\, Folk Songs of the South. Harvard University Press\, 1924. Most of these songs are so ngs of the whites of the mountains\, but they are particularly valuable in that they throw light on the origin of many Negro songs. Fenner\, T. P.\, Religious Folk Songs of the American Negro. Hampton Institute Press\, 192 4. (Arranged in 1909 by the Musical Directors of Hampton Normal and Indust rial Institute[266] from the original edition by Thomas P. Fenner. Reprint ed in 1924.) This volume contains the words and music of 153 religious son gs. Fenner\, T. P.\, and Rathbun\, F. G.\, Cabin and Plantation Songs. New York\, 1891. Old Negro plantation songs with music. Hallowell\, Emily\, C alhoun Plantation Songs. New York\, 1910. A number of songs with music col lected from the singing of Negroes on the Calhoun plantation. Harris\, Joe l Chandler\, Uncle Remus\, His Songs and Sayings. New York\, 1880. Nine so ngs. Harris\, Joel Chandler\, Uncle Remus and His Friends. New York\, 1892 . Sixteen songs. Higginson\, Thomas Wentworth\, Army Life in a Black Regim ent. Boston\, 1870. Chapter IX of this book is devoted to Negro spirituals as they were sung in Col. Higginson’s regiment during the Civil War. Ho bson\, Anne\, In Old Alabama. New York\, 1903. Ten dialect stories and son gs. Johnson\, James Weldon\, The Book of American Negro Spirituals. Viking Press\, New York\, 1925. A collection of sixty-one spirituals. Most of th ese songs have been published in other collections\, but the musical arran gements in this volume are new. While the melodies of the old songs are re tained intact\, an effort has been made to improve the rhythmic qualities of the accompaniments. The preface of the book is devoted to the origin\, development\, and appreciation of Negro spirituals. Kennedy\, R. Emmet\, B lack Cameos. A. &\; C. Boni\, New York\, 1924. A collection of twenty-e ight stories\, mostly humorous\, with songs interwoven. The words and musi c of seventeen songs are given. Kennedy\, R. Emmet\, Mellows: Work Songs\, Street Cries and Spirituals. A. &\; C. Boni\, New York\, 1925. Several spirituals and street songs from New Orleans. The author includes charact er sketches of his singers. His discussion of the relation of Negro songs to printed ballad sheets is especially interesting. Krehbiel\, H. E.\, Afr o-American Folk Songs. G. Schirmer\, New York and London\, 1914. A careful study of Negro folk songs from the point of view of the skilled musician. Songs and music[267] from Africa and other sources are analyzed and compa red with American Negro productions. The music of sixty or more songs and dance airs is given. Marsh\, J. B. T.\, The Story of the Jubilee Singers. Boston 1880. An account of the Jubilee Singers\, with their songs. Odum\, Howard W.\, and Johnson\, Guy B.\, The Negro and His Songs. University of North Carolina Press\, Chapel Hill\, 1925. A study of the origin and chara cteristic of Negro songs from the historical and sociological point of vie w. The words of 200 songs are given. The songs are discussed under three g eneral classes: spirituals\, social songs\, and work songs. Peterson\, C. G.\, Creole Songs from New Orleans. New Orleans\, 1902. Pike\, G. D.\, The Jubilee Singers. Boston and New York\, 1873. Sixty-one religious songs. S carborough\, Dorothy\, On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs. Harvard Universit y Press\, Cambridge\, 1925. One of the most important contributions yet ma de to the study of Negro songs. This book presents some 200 secular songs\ , including the music of most of them. Especially interesting is the chapt er on “The Negro’s part in the Transmission of Traditional Songs and B allads.” The lack of any sort of index somewhat decreases the value of t he book for purposes of reference and comparison. Talley\, Thomas W.\, Neg ro Folk Rhymes. Macmillan\, New York\, 1922. This volume contains about 35 0 rhymes and songs and a study of the origin\, development\, and character istics of Negro rhymes. Besides a general index of songs\, a comparative i ndex is included. Work\, John Wesley\, Folk Songs of the American Negro. F isk University Press\, Nashville\, 1915. The words of fifty-five songs and music of nine\, together with a study of the origin and growth of certain songs. PERIODICALS Adventure Magazine. The files of this magazine for the last few years should be of considerable interest to the student of folk song. A department called “Old Songs That Men Have Sung” is conducted by Dr. R. W. Gordon\, a Harvard-trained student of folk song. Many of the songs printed in this department are Negro songs or Negro adaptions. [268] Backus\, E. M.\, “Negro Songs from Georgia\,” Journal of American Fol k-Lore\, vol. 10\, pp. 116\, 202\, 216\; vol. 11\, pp. 22\, 60. Six religi ous songs. Backus\, E. M.\, “Christmas Carols from Georgia\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 12\, p. 272. Two songs. Barton\, W. E.\, “H ymns of Negroes\,” New England Magazine\, vol. 19\, pp. 669 et seq.\, 70 6 et seq. A number of songs with some musical notation and discussion. Ber gen\, Mrs. F. D.\, “On the Eastern Shore\,” Journal of American Folk-L ore\, vol. 2\, pp. 296-298. Two fragments\, with a brief discussion of the Negroes of the eastern shore of Maryland. Brown\, J. M.\, “Songs of the Slave\,” Lippincott’s\, vol. 2\, pp. 617-623. Several songs with brie f comments. Cable\, George W.\, “Creole Slave Songs\,” Century\, vol. 31\, pp. 807-828. Twelve songs with some fragments\, music of seven. Clark e\, Mary Almsted\, “Song Games of Negro Children in Virginia\,” Journa l of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 3\, pp. 288-290. Nine song games and rhymes . Cox\, J. H.\, “John Hardy\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 32 \, p. 505 et seq. Here will be found Cox’s discussion of the John Hardy or John Henry story\, together with several versions of the song. Garnett\ , L. A.\, “Spirituals\,” Outlook\, vol. 30\, p. 589. Three religious s ongs. However\, they appear to have been polished considerably by the writ er. Haskell\, M. A.\, “Negro Spirituals\,” Century\, vol. 36\, pp. 577 et seq. About ten songs with music. Higginson\, T. W.\, “Hymns of Negro es\,” Atlantic Monthly\, vol. 19\, pp. 685 et seq. Thirty-six religious and two secular songs\, with musical notation. Lemmerman\, K.\, “Improvi sed Negro Songs\,” New Republic\, vol. 13\, pp. 214-215. Six religious s ongs or improvised fragments. Lomax\, J. A.\, “Self-pity in Negro Folk S ong\,” Nation\, vol. 105\, pp. 141-145. About twenty songs\, some new\, others quoted from Perrow and Odum\, with discussion. “Negro Hymn of Day of Judgment\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 9\, p. 210. One rel igious song. [269] Niles\, Abbe\, “Blue Notes\,” New Republic\, vol. 4 5\, pp. 292-3. A discussion of the significance of the blues and the music of the blues. The style is somewhat too verbose and technical for the ave rage reader. Odum\, Anna K.\, “Negro Folk Songs from Tennessee\,” Jour nal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 27\, pp. 255-265. Twenty-one religious an d four secular songs. Odum\, Howard W.\, “Religious Folk Songs of the So uthern Negroes\,” Journal of Religious Psychology and Education\, vol. 3 \, pp. 265-365. About one hundred songs. Odum\, Howard W.\, “Folk Song a nd Folk Poetry as Found in the Secular Songs of the Southern Negroes\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 35\, pp. 223-249\; 351-396. About 120 songs. Odum\, Howard W.\, “Swing Low\, Sweet Chariot.” Country Gentle man\, March\, 1926\, pp. 18-19\, 49-50. Several religious songs with discu ssion. Odum\, Howard W.\, “Down that Lonesome Road.” Country Gentleman \, May\, 1926\, pp. 18-19\, 79. Several secular songs\, music of six\, som e new and some quoted from The Negro and His Songs and from the present co llection. Peabody\, Charles\, “Notes on Negro Music\,” Journal of Amer ican Folk-Lore\, vol. 16\, pp. 148-52. Observations on the technique of th e Negro workman in the South\, with some songs and music. Perkins\, A. E.\ , “Spirituals from the Far South\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vo l. 35\, pp. 223-249. Forty-seven songs. Perrow\, E. C.\, “Songs and Rhym es from the South\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 25\, pp. 137-1 55\; vol. 26\, pp. 123-173\; vol. 28\, pp. 129-190. A general collection c ontaining 118 Negro songs\, mostly secular. Redfearn\, S. F.\, “Songs fr om Georgia\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 34\, pp. 121-124. One secular and three religious songs. Speers\, M. W. F.\, “Negro Songs and Folk-Lore\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 23\, pp. 435-439. One religious and one secular song. Steward\, T. G.\, “Negro Imagery\,” N ew Republic\, vol. 12\, p. 248. One religious improvisation\, with discuss ion. [270] Thanet\, Octave\, “Cradle Songs of Negroes in North Carolin a\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 7\, p. 310. Two lullabies. Tru itt\, Florence\, “Songs from Kentucky\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore \, vol. 36\, pp. 376-379. Four white songs\, one of which contains several verses often found in Negro songs. Webb\, W. P.\, “Notes on Folk-Lore o f Texas\,” Journal of American Folk-Lore\, vol. 28\, pp. 290-299. Five s ecular songs. [271] INDEX TO SONGS PAGE A Creeper’s Been ’Roun’ Di s Do’ 149 A Nigger’s Hard to Fool 180 A Vampire of Your Own 143 All Boun’ in Prison 79 All Right 109 All Us Niggers ’hind de Bars 87 Angel s Lookin’ at Me 198 Baby\, Why Don’t You Treat Me Right? 148 Bad Man L azarus 50 Bear Cat Down in Georgia 121 Berda\, You Come Too Soon 128 Bette r’n I Has at Home 85 Billy Bob Russell 54 Bloodhoun’ on My Track 66 Bo lin Jones 62 Boys\, Put Yo’ Hands on It 107 Buffalo Bill 67 Can Any One Take Sweet Mama’s Place? 156 Captain\, Captain\, Let Wheelers Roll 102 C aptain\, I’ll Be Gone 100 Captain\, I Wanta Go Home 45 Casey Jones 126 C hain Gang Blues 78 Chicken Never Roost Too High fo’ Me 133 Co’n Bread 181 Creepin’ ’Roun’ 63 Daddy Mine 155 Darlin’\, Get on de Road 1 32 Das ’Nough Said 130 Dat Brown Gal Baby Done Turn Me Down 137 Dat Choc olate Man 161 Dat Leadin’ Houn’ 67 Dat Nigger o’ Mine Don’t Love Me No Mo’ 162 Dat Sly Gal[272] 164 De Chocolate Gal 153 De Co’t House in de Sky 184 De Devil’s Been to My House 193 De Goat’s Got a Smell 1 31 De Mulatto Gal 153 De Woman Am de Cause of It All A 142 B 143 De Women Don’t Love Me No Mo’ 141 Dem Chain Gang Houn’s 86 Dem Longin’\, Wantin’ Blues 162 Dem Turrible Red Hot Blues 130 Dere’s a Lizzie After My Man 163 Dere’s Misery in Dis Lan’ 161 Dew-Drop Mine 149 Dey Got Ea ch and de Udder’s Man 144 Dey’s Hangin’ ’roun’ Her Do’ 148 Dia mond Joe 130 Didn’t Ol’ Pharaoh Get Lost? 191 Dig-a My Grave Wid a Sil ver Spade 129 Don’t Fool Wid Me 63 Don’t Wanta See Her No Mo’ 137 Don’t You Give Me No Cornbread 105 Don’t You Hear? 68 Don’t You Two- time Me 156 Dove Came Down by the Foot of My Bed 127 Dupree 55 Dupree’s Jail Song 123 Dupree Tol’ Betty 57 Everybody Call Me the Wages Man 116 “Free Labor” Gang Song 90 Give Me a Teasin’ Brown 146 Go ’Long Mu le 177 Goin’ Back to de Gang 86 Goin’ Down Dat Lonesome Road[273] 46 G onna Turn Back Pharaoh’s Army 191 Good Lawd\, I Am Troubled 192 Good Mor ning\, Mr. Epting 171 Goodby\, Sing Hallelu 205 Goodby\, Sookie 131 Got Me in the Calaboose 76 Great Scots\, You Don’t Know What to Do 132 Gwine t o Git a Home By an’ By 176 Have Everlastin’ Life 194 He Got My Gal 151 He-i-Heira 92 He Run Me In 131 He Tuck Her Away 149 He Wus de Gov’nor o f Our Clan 127 Help Me Drive ’Em 109 Hi\, Jenny\, Ho\, Jenny Johnson 185 Home Again\, Home Again 150 Honey Baby 145 Hot Flambotia an’ Coffee Str ong 112 Hump-back Mule 179 I Ain’t Done Nothin’ 69 I Ain’t Free 71 I Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Make a Fool Out o’ Me 128 I Ain’t No Stran ger 159 I Am Ready For de Fight 64 I Belong to Steel-drivin’ Crew 110 I Bid You a Long Farewell 197 I Brung a Gal From Tennessee 137 I Calls My Je sus King Emanuel 205 I Can’t Keep From Cryin’ 40 I Done Sol’ My Soul to de Devil 158 I Don’t Feel Welcome Here 164 I Don’t Love Him No M o’ 162 I Don’t Mind Bein’ in Jail 77 I Don’t Want No Trouble Wid d e Walker[274] 113 I Don’t Want No Cornbread 114 I Don’t Want You All t o Grieve After Me 197 I Got a Gal an’ I Can’t Git Her 147 I Got a Lett er\, Captain 82 I Got a Letter From My Man 158 I Got a Muley 120 I Got Ano ther Daddy 165 I Got Chickens on My Back 128 I Got My Man 150 I Love Jesus 195 I Never Will Turn Back 200 I Rather Be in My Grave 38 I Steal Dat Cor n 68 I Tol’ My Cap’n That My Feet Was Col’ 102 I Wants to Go to Heav en 203 I Went to de Jail House 79 I Went to See My Gal 147 I Wish I Was De ad 39 I Wish I Was Single Again 163 If Dere’s a Man in de Moon 143 If I Can Git to Georgia Line 75 If I’d A-known My Cap’n Was Blin’ 101 If You Want to See a Pretty Girl 145 I’m a Natural-bo’n Ram’ler 65 I’m Comin’ Back 85 I’m de Hot Stuff Man 65 I’m de Rough Stuff 69 I’m Fishin’ Boun’ 181 I’m Goin’ Back Home 96 I’m Goin’ Home \, Buddie 43 I’m Goin’ On 112 I’m Goin’ Out West 124 I’m Gonna G et Me Another Man 165 I’m Gonna Have Me a Red Ball All My Own 132 In de Mornin’ Soon[275] 201 I’s a Natural-bo’n Eastman 68 I’s Done Spot My Nigger 150 I’s Dreamin’ of You 154 I’s Gonna Shine 204 I’s Ha vin’ a Hell of a Time 138 I’s Swingin’ in de Swinger 204 Jail House Wail 73 Jes’ Behol’ What a Number 194 Jes’ Fer a Day 87 John Henry ( See Chapter XIII) 221-240 Judge Gonna Sentence Us So Long 80 Julia Long 12 5 July’s for the Red-bug 106 Kitty Kimo 187 Lawd\, She Keep on Worryin ’ Me 136 Lawd\, Lawd\, I’m on My Way 46 Lawdy\, What I Gonna Do? 139 L ayin’ Low 62 Left Wing Gordon (See Chapter XII) 206-221 Long\, Tall\, Br own-skin Girl 146 Lookin’ Over in Georgia 121 Mammy-in-law Done Turn Me Out 141 Missus in de Big House 117 Mule on the Mountain 119 My Black Jack 155 My Gal’s a High Bo’n Lady 145 My Girl She’s Gone and Left Me 136 My Home Ain’t Here\, Captain 98 My Jane 144 My Man Am a Slap-stick Man 156 My Man He Got in Trouble 81 Never Turn Back 107 No Coon But You 183 No More 108 Nothin’ to Keep[276] 115 O Buckeye Rabbit 110 O Captain\, Capt ain 94 O Lawd\, Mamie 91 Oh\, de Gospel Train’s A-comin’ 202 Occupied 164 Ol’ Black Mariah 87 On de Road Somewhere 155 On My Las’ Go-’roun d 128 Out in de Cabin 131 Outran Dat Cop 67 Pharaoh’s Army Got Drownded 190 Pity Po’ Boy 38 Please\, Mr. Conductor 44 Po’ Homeless Boy 43 Po ’ Little Girl Grievin’ 41 Po’ Nigger Got Nowhere to Go 39 Prisoner ’s Song 83 Pull off Dem Shoes I Bought You 140 Pullman Porter 186 Rain o r Shine 129 Raise a Rukus Tonight A 173 B 174 C 174 Reason I Stay on Job S o Long 112 Reuben 66 Roscoe Bill 62 Save Me\, Lawd 196 Section Boss 93 Sha nghai Rooster 134 She’s Got Another Daddy 151 Ship My Po’ Body Home 37 Shoot\, Good God\, Shoot! 87 Shoot That Buffalo 123 Shootin’ Bill[277] 63 Shot My Pistol in the Heart o’ Town 70 Since I Laid My Burden Down 20 1 Slim Jim From Dark-town Alley 64 Some o’ Dese Days 139 Some o’ These Days 202 Stewball Was a Racer 133 ’Taint as Bad as I Said 75 Take Me Ba ck Home 44 That Liar 168 That Ol’ Letter 43 The Judge He Sentence Me 82 The Sanctified 195 This Ol’ Hammer 111 Throw Myself Down in de Sea 38 Tr avelin’ Man 59 Trouble All My Days 40 Turn Yo’ Damper Down 126 U-h\, U -h\, Lawdy 110 War Jubilee Song 169 Wash My Overhalls 126 ’Way Up in the Mountain 104 We Are Climbin’ Jacob’s Ladder 111 We Will Kneel ’Ro un’ de Altar 193 What Can the Matter Be? 160 What You Gonna Do? 195 When He Grin 69 When I Git Home 203 When I Lay My Burden Down 200 When I Wore My Ap’on Low 157 When I’s Dead an’ Gone 197 Who Built de Ark? 191 Wh oa\, Mule 179 Who’s Goin’ to Buy Your Whiskey? 129 Will I Git Back Hom e?[278] 45 Woke up Wid My Back to the Wall 84 Worried Anyhow 160 Wring Jin g Had a Little Ding 175 Yonder Come de Devil 130 You Calls Me in de Mornin ’ 129 You Mus’ Shroud My Body 199 You Take de Stockin’\, I Take de S ock 140 You Take de Yaller\, I Take de Black 146 Transcriber’s Notes The text has been transcribed verbatim from the source document\, including i nconsistencies and (phonetic representations of) dialects and speech and p ejorative and offensive language. Page 29\, table: the percentages are as printed in the source document\, but appear to be off slightly for brand C and by several percentage points for brands A and B. Page 255\, The first represents ...: first and second are reversed compared to the illustratio n. Changes made: Footnotes have been moved to under the song or text parag raph in which they are referenced. Some minor inconsistencies and obvious typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected silently. Several contractions such as aint’\, dont’ and wont’ etc. have been changed to ain’t\, don’t and won’t etc. Text in a dashed box was not presen t in the text as such\, but has been transcribed from the accompanying ill ustration. Page 25: Love\, careless\, love changed to Love\, careless love . Page 30: Lake Ponchartrain Blues changed to Lake Pontchartrain Blues. Pa ge 66: I’m a greasy streak o’ lightin’ changed to I’m a greasy s treak o’ lightnin’ (last verse but one). Page 111: trottin’ Sallie c hanged to Trottin’ Sallie (second verse). Page 226: O dat dress dat you wear so fine? changed to O’ dat dress dat you wear so fine? *** END OF T HE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEGRO WORKADAY SONGS *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed. Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that n o one owns a United States copyright in these works\, so the Foundation (a nd you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permissio n and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules\, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license\, apply to copying and distribu ting Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENB ERG™ concept and trademark. 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This website inc ludes information about Project Gutenberg™\, including how to make donat ions to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation\, how to help pr oduce our new eBooks\, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter to hea r about new eBooks.\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n URL\n\n https://www.gutenberg.org/c ache/epub/69378/pg69378-images.html\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250101 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:The Weekly Anglo African to Pine and Palm excerpts and Part 1 of Blake from Martin Delaney DTSTAMP:20250805T233807Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:443-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n The Weekly Anglo African to Pine and Palm excerpts and Pa rt 1 of Blake from Martin Delaney born 1812\n\n\n\n excerpts from the 1800 s black newspaper and a part of the 1800s black fictional novel\, serializ ed through the paper\, all is explained in the post.\n\n\n\n https://aalbc .com/tc/blogs/entry/494-weekly- anglo-african-and- the-pine-and-palm -e xcerpts-from-1861–1862blake-or-the-huts-of-america-a-tale-of-the-mississ ippi-valley-the-southern-united-states-and-cuba-from-martin-delany/\n\n\n\ n  \n\n DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20250506 RRULE:FREQ=YEARLY;INTERVAL=1 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Francis Johnson Webb born 1828 DTSTAMP:20250806T001859Z SEQUENCE:0 UID:444-7-c3fe8195a3dde498d013e477e2142422@aalbc.com ORGANIZER;CN="richardmurray":noreply@aalbc.com DESCRIPTION:\n Francis Johnson Webb was a grandson of Aaron Burr\, yes t he one who shot Hamilton.\n\n\n\n Webb wrote The Garies and Their Friends  (1857)\n\n\n\n  \n\n\n\n Language: English\n\nCredits: Produced by Suza nne Shell\, Beth Scott and PG Distributed Proofreaders\n\n*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GARIES AND THEIR FRIENDS ***\nProduced by Suz anne Shell\, Beth Scott and PG Distributed Proofreaders\n\nTHE GARIES\nAND \nTHEIR FRIENDS\nFrank J. Webb\n\n1857\n\nPreface by Harriet Beecher Stowe \n\nTO THE\nLADY NOEL BYRON\nTHIS BOOK\nIS\, BY HER KIND PERMISSION\,\nMOS T AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED\,\nWITH PROFOUND RESPECT\,\nBY HER GRATEFUL FRI END\,\nTHE AUTHOR.\nPREFACE.\nThe book which now appears before the public may be of interest in relation to a question which the late agitation of the subject of slavery has raised in many thoughtful minds\; viz.—Are th e race at present held as slaves capable of freedom\, self-government\, an d progress?\n\nThe author is a coloured young man\, born and reared in the city of\nPhiladelphia.\n\nThis city\, standing as it does on the frontier between free and slave territory\, has accumulated naturally a large popu lation of the mixed and African race.\n\nBeing one of the nearest free cit ies of any considerable size to the slave territory\, it has naturally bee n a resort of escaping fugitives\, or of emancipated slaves.\n\nIn this ci ty they form a large class—have increased in numbers\, wealth\, and stan ding—they constitute a peculiar society of their own\, presenting many s ocial peculiarities worthy of interest and attention.\n\nThe representatio ns of their positions as to wealth and education are reliable\, the incide nts related are mostly true ones\, woven together by a slight web of ficti on.\n\nThe scenes of the mob describe incidents of a peculiar stage of exc itement\, which existed in the city of Philadelphia years ago\, when the f irst agitation of the slavery question developed an intense form of opposi tion to the free coloured people.\n\nSouthern influence at that time stimu lated scenes of mob violence in several Northern cities where the discussi on was attempted. By prompt\, undaunted resistance\, however\, this spirit was subdued\, and the right of free inquiry established\; so that discuss ion of the question\, so far from being dangerous in Free States\, is now begun to be allowed in the Slave States\; and there are some subjects the mere discussion of which is a half-victory.\n\nThe author takes pleasure i n recommending this simple and truthfully-told story to the attention and interest of the friends of progress and humanity in England.\n\n(Signed) H .B. Stowe.\n\nANDOVER\, U.S.\,\nAugust 17\, 1857.\n\nFROM LORD BROUGHAM.\n I have been requested by one who has long known the deep interest I have e ver taken in the cause of Freedom\, and in the elevation of the coloured r ace\, to supply a few lines of introduction to Mr. Webb's book.\n\nIt was the intention of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe to introduce this work to the British public\, but I am truly sorry to learn that a severe domestic affl iction\, since her return to America\, has postponed the fulfilment of her promise.\n\nI am\, however\, able to state her opinion of the book\, expr essed in a letter to one of her friends.\n\nShe says:—\"There are points in the book of which I think very highly. The style is simple and unambit ious—the characters\, most of them faithfully drawn from real life\, are quite fresh\, and the incident\, which is also much of it fact\, is often deeply interesting.\n\n\"I shall do what I can with the preface. I would not do as much unless I thought the book of worth in itself. It shows what I long have wanted to show\; what the free people of colour do attain\, a nd what they can do in spite of all social obstacles.\"\n\nI hope and trus t that Mr. Webb's book will meet with all the success to which its own mer it\, and the great interest of the subject\, so well entitle it. On this\, Mrs. Stowe's authority is naturally of the greatest weight\; and I can on ly lament that this prefatory notice does not come accompanied with her fu rther remarks and illustrations.\n\n4\, Grafton-street\, July 29\, 1857.\n \n* * * * *\n\nNote.—Since the above was written\, the preface by Mrs. S towe has been received. It was deemed best\, however\, to still retain the introduction so kindly given by Lord Brougham\, whose deep interest in th e freedom and welfare of the African race none feel more grateful for than does the author of the following pages.\n\nCONTENTS\n1.—In which the Re ader is introduced to a Family of Peculiar Construction\n\n2.—A Glance a t the Ellis Family\n\n3.—Charlie's Trials\n\n4.—In which Mr. Winston f inds an Old Friend\n\n5.—The Garies decide on a Change\n\n6.—Pleasant News\n\n7.—Mrs. Thomas has her Troubles\n\n8.—Trouble in the Ellis Fam ily\n\n9.—Breaking up\n\n10.—Another Parting\n\n11.—The New Home\n \n12.—Mr. Garie's Neighbour\n\n13.—Hopes consummated\n\n14.—Charlie at Warmouth\n\n15.—Mrs. Stevens gains a Triumph\n\n16.—Mr. Stevens mak es a Discovery\n\n17.—Plotting\n\n18.—Mr. Stevens falls into Bad Hands \n\n19.—The Alarm\n\n20.—The Attack\n\n21.—More Horrors\n\n22.—An Anxious Day\n\n23.—The Lost One Found\n\n24.—Charlie distinguishes him self\n\n25.—The Heir\n\n26.—Home again\n\n27.—Sudbury\n\n28.—Charl ie seeks Employment\n\n29.—Clouds and Sunshine\n\n30.—Many Years after \n\n31.—The Thorn rankles\n\n32.—Dear Old Ess again\n\n33.—The Fatal Discovery\n\n34.—\"Murder will out\"\n\n35.—The Wedding\n\n36.—And the Last\n\nCHAPTER I.\nIn which the Reader is introduced to a Family of p eculiar Construction.\n\nIt was at the close of an afternoon in May\, that a party might have been seen gathered around a table covered with all tho se delicacies that\, in the household of a rich Southern planter\, are reg arded as almost necessaries of life. In the centre stood a dish of ripe st rawberries\, their plump red sides peeping through the covering of white s ugar that had been plentifully sprinkled over them. Geeche limes\, almost drowned in their own rich syrup\, temptingly displayed their bronze-colour ed forms just above the rim of the glass that contained them. Opposite\, a nd as if to divert the gaze from lingering too long over their luscious be auty\, was a dish of peaches preserved in brandy\, a never-failing article in a Southern matron's catalogues of sweets. A silver basket filled with a variety of cakes was in close proximity to a plate of corn-flappers\, wh ich were piled upon it like a mountain\, and from the brown tops of which trickled tiny rivulets of butter. All these dainties\, mingling their vari ous odours with the aroma of the tea and fine old java that came steaming forth from the richly chased silver pots\, could not fail to produce a ver y appetising effect.\n\nThere was nothing about Mr. Garie\, the gentleman who sat at the head of the table\, to attract more than ordinary attention . He had the ease of manner usual with persons whose education and associa tions have been of a highly refined character\, and his countenance\, on t he whole\, was pleasing\, and indicative of habitual good temper.\n\nOppos ite to him\, and presiding at the tea-tray\, sat a lady of marked beauty. The first thing that would have attracted attention on seeing her were her gloriously dark eyes. They were not entirely black\, but of that seemingl y changeful hue so often met with in persons of African extraction\, which deepens and lightens with every varying emotion. Hers wore a subdued expr ession that sank into the heart and at once riveted those who saw her. Her hair\, of jetty black\, was arranged in braids\; and through her light-br own complexion the faintest tinge of carmine was visible. As she turned to take her little girl from the arms of the servant\, she displayed a fine profile and perfectly moulded form. No wonder that ten years before\, when she was placed upon the auction-block at Savanah\, she had brought so hig h a price. Mr. Garie had paid two thousand dollars for her\, and was the e nvy of all the young bucks in the neighbourhood who had competed with him at the sale. Captivated by her beauty\, he had esteemed himself fortunate in becoming her purchaser\; and as time developed the goodness of her hear t\, and her mind enlarged through the instructions he assiduously gave her \, he found the connection that might have been productive of many evils\, had proved a boon to both\; for whilst the astonishing progress she made in her education proved her worthy of the pains he took to instruct her\, she returned threefold the tenderness and affection he lavished upon her.\ n\nThe little girl in her arms\, and the boy at her side\, showed no trace whatever of African origin. The girl had the chestnut hair and blue eyes of her father\; but the boy had inherited the black hair and dark eyes of his mother. The critically learned in such matters\, knowing his parentage \, might have imagined they could detect the evidence of his mother's race \, by the slightly mezzo-tinto expression of his eyes\, and the rather Afr ican fulness of his lips\; but the casual observer would have passed him b y without dreaming that a drop of negro blood coursed through his veins. H is face was expressive of much intelligence\, and he now seemed to listen with an earnest interest to the conversation that was going on between his father and a dark-complexioned gentleman who sat beside him.\n\n\"And so you say\, Winston\, that they never suspected you were coloured?\"\n\n\"I don't think they had the remotest idea of such a thing. At least\, if they did\, they must have conquered their prejudices most effectually\, for th ey treated me with the most distinguished consideration. Old Mr. Priestly was like a father to me\; and as for his daughter Clara and her aunt\, the y were politeness embodied. The old gentleman was so much immersed in busi ness\, that he was unable to bestow much attention upon me\; so he turned me over to Miss Clara to be shown the lions. We went to the opera\, the th eatre\, to museums\, concerts\, and I can't tell where all. The Sunday bef ore I left I accompanied her to church\, and after service\, as we were co ming out\, she introduced me to Miss Van Cote and her mamma. Mrs. Van Cote was kind enough to invite me to her grand ball.\"\n\n\"And did you go?\" interrupted Mr. Garie.\n\n\"Of course\, I did—and what is more\, as old Mr. Priestly has given up balls\, he begged me to escort Clara and her aun t.\"\n\n\"Well\, Winston\, that is too rich\,\" exclaimed Mr. Garie\, slap ping his hand on the table\, and laughing till he was red in the face\; \" too good\, by Jove! Oh! I can't keep that. I must write to them\, and say I forgot to mention in my note of introduction that you were a coloured ge ntleman. The old man will swear till everything turns blue\; and as for Cl ara\, what will become of her? A Fifth-avenue belle escorted to church and to balls by a coloured gentleman!\" Here Mr. Garie indulged in another bu rst of laughter so side-shaking and merry\, that the contagion spread even to the little girl in Mrs. Garie's arms\, who almost choked herself with the tea her mother was giving her\, and who had to be hustled and shaken f or some time before she could be brought round again.\n\n\"It will be a gr eat triumph for me\,\" said Mr. Garie. \"The old man prides himself on bei ng able to detect evidences of the least drop of African blood in any one\ ; and makes long speeches about the natural antipathy of the Anglo-Saxon t o anything with a drop of negro blood in its veins. Oh\, I shall write him a glorious letter expressing my pleasure at his great change of sentiment \, and my admiration of the fearless manner in which he displays his conte mpt for public opinion. How he will stare! I fancy I see him now\, with hi s hair almost on end with disgust. It will do him good: it will convince h im\, I hope\, that a man can be a gentleman even though he has African blo od in his veins. I have had a series of quarrels with him\,\" continued Mr . Garie\; \"I think he had his eye on me for Miss Clara\, and that makes h im particularly fierce about my present connection. He rather presumes on his former great intimacy with my father\, and undertakes to lecture me oc casionally when opportunity is afforded. He was greatly scandalized at my speaking of Emily as my wife\; and seemed to think me cracked because I ta lked of endeavouring to procure a governess for my children\, or of sendin g them abroad to be educated. He has a holy horror of everything approachi ng to amalgamation\; and of all the men I ever met\, cherishes the most un christian prejudice against coloured people. He says\, the existence of \" a gentleman\" with African blood in his veins\, is a moral and physical im possibility\, and that by no exertion can anything be made of that descrip tion of people. He is connected with a society for the deportation of free coloured people\, and thinks they ought to be all sent to Africa\, unless they are willing to become the property of some good master.\"\n\n\"Oh\, yes\; it is quite a hobby of his\,\" here interposed Mr. Winston. \"He mak es lengthy speeches on the subject\, and has published two of them in pamp hlet form. Have you seen them?\"\n\n\"Yes\, he sent them to me. I tried to get through one of them\, but it was too heavy\, I had to give it up. Bes ides\, I had no patience with them\; they abounded in mis-statements respe cting the free coloured people. Why even here in the slave states—in the cities of Savanah and Charleston—they are much better situated than he describes them to be in New York\; and since they can and do prosper here\ , where they have such tremendous difficulties to encounter\, I know they cannot be in the condition he paints\, in a state where they are relieved from many of the oppressions they labour under here. And\, on questioning him on the subject\, I found he was entirely unacquainted with coloured pe ople\; profoundly ignorant as to the real facts of their case. He had neve r been within a coloured church or school\; did not even know that they ha d a literary society amongst them. Positively\, I\, living down here in Ge orgia\, knew more about the character and condition of the coloured people of the Northern States\, than he who lived right in the midst of them. Wo uld you believe that beyond their laundress and a drunken negro that they occasionally employed to do odd jobs for them\, they were actually unacqua inted with any coloured people: and how unjust was it for him to form his opinion respecting a class numbering over twenty thousand in his own state \, from the two individuals I have mentioned and the negro loafers he occa sionally saw in the streets.\"\n\n\"It is truly unfortunate\,\" rejoined M r. Winston\, \"for he covers his prejudices with such a pretended regard f or the coloured people\, that a person would be the more readily led to be lieve his statements respecting them to be correct\; and he is really so p ositive about it\, and apparently go deaf to all argument that I did not d iscuss the subject with him to any extent\; he was so very kind to me that I did not want to run a tilt against his favourite opinions.\"\n\n\"You w rote me he gave you letters to Philadelphia\; was there one amongst them t o the Mortons?\"\n\n\"Yes. They were very civil and invited me to a grand dinner they gave to the Belgian Charge d'Affaires. I also met there one or two scions of the first families of Virginia. The Belgian minister did no t seem to be aware that slavery is a tabooed subject in polite circles\, a nd he was continually bringing it forward until slaves\, slavery\, and bla ck people in general became the principal topic of conversation\, relieved by occasional discussion upon some new book or pictures\, and remarks in praise of the viands before us. A very amusing thing occurred during dinne r. A bright-faced little coloured boy who was assisting at the table\, see med to take uncommon interest in the conversation. An animated discussion had arisen as to the antiquity of the use of salad\, one party maintaining that one of the oldest of the English poets had mentioned it in a poem\, and the other as stoutly denying it. At last a reverend gentleman\, whose remarks respecting the intelligence of the children of Ham had been partic ularly disparaging\, asserted that nowhere in Chaucer\, Spencer\, nor any of the old English poets could anything relating to it be found. At this\, the little waiter became so excited that he could no longer contain himse lf\, and\, despite the frowns and nods of our hostess\, exclaimed\, 'Yes i t can\, it's in Chaucer\; here\,' he continued\, taking out a book from th e book-case\, 'here is the very volume\,'[*] and turning over the leaves h e pointed out the passage\, to the great chagrin of the reverend gentleman \, and to the amusement of the guests. The Belgian minister enjoyed it imm ensely. 'Ah\,' said he\, 'the child of Ham know more than the child of She m\, dis time.' Whereupon Mrs. Morton rejoined that in this case it was not so wonderful\, owing to the frequent and intimate relations into which ha m and salad were brought\, and with this joke the subject was dismissed. I can't say I was particularly sorry when the company broke up.\"\n\n[Footn ote * See Chaucer\, \"Flower and the Leaf.\"]\n\n\"Oh\, George\, never min d the white people\,\" here interposed Mrs. Garie. \"Never mind them\; tel l us about the coloured folks\; they are the ones I take the most interest in. We were so delighted with your letters\, and so glad that you found M rs. Ellis. Tell us all about that.\"\n\n\"Oh\, 'tis a long story\, Em\, an d can't be told in a minute\; it would take the whole evening to relate it all.\"\n\n\"Look at the children\, my dear\, they are half asleep\,\" sai d Mr. Garie. \"Call nurse and see them safe into bed\, and when you come b ack we will have the whole story.\"\n\n\"Very well\;\" replied she\, risin g and calling the nurse. \"Now remember\, George\, you are not to begin un til I return\, for I should be quite vexed to lose a word.\"\n\n\"Oh\, go on with the children\, my dear\, I'll guarantee he shall not say a word on the subject till you come back.\"\n\nWith this assurance Mrs. Garie left the room\, playfully shaking her finger at them as she went out\, exclaimi ng\, \"Not a word\, remember now\, not a word.\"\n\nAfter she left them Mr . Garie remarked\, \"I have not seen Em as happy as she is this afternoon for some time. I don't know what has come over her lately\; she scarcely e ver smiles now\, and yet she used to be the most cheerful creature in the world. I wish I knew what is the matter with her\; sometimes I am quite di stressed about her. She goes about the house looking so lost and gloomy\, and does not seem to take the least interest in anything. You saw\,\" cont inued he\, \"how silent she has been all tea time\, and yet she has been m ore interested in what you have been saying than in anything that has tran spired for months. Well\, I suppose women will be so sometimes\,\" he conc luded\, applying himself to the warm cakes that had just been set upon the table.\n\n\"Perhaps she is not well\,\" suggested Mr. Winston\, \"I think she looks a little pale.\"\n\n\"Well\, possibly you may be right\, but I trust it is only a temporary lowness of spirits or something of that kind. Maybe she will get over it in a day or two\;\" and with this remark the c onversation dropped\, and the gentlemen proceeded to the demolition of the sweetmeats before them. And now\, my reader\, whilst they are finishing t heir meal\, I will relate to you who Mr. Winston is\, and how he came to b e so familiarly seated at Mr. Garie's table.\n\nMr. Winston had been a sla ve. Yes! that fine-looking gentleman seated near Mr. Garie and losing noth ing by the comparison that their proximity would suggest\, had been fiftee n years before sold on the auction-block in the neighbouring town of Savan ah—had been made to jump\, show his teeth\, shout to test his lungs\, an d had been handled and examined by professed negro traders and amateur buy ers\, with less gentleness and commiseration than every humane man would f eel for a horse or an ox. Now do not doubt me—I mean that very gentleman \, whose polished manners and irreproachable appearance might have led you to suppose him descended from a long line of illustrious ancestors. Yes —he was the offspring of a mulatto field-hand by her master. He who was now clothed in fine linen\, had once rejoiced in a tow shirt that scarcely covered his nakedness\, and had sustained life on a peck of corn a week\, receiving the while kicks and curses from a tyrannical overseer.\n\nThe d eath of his master had brought him to the auction-block\, from which\, bot h he and his mother were sold to separate owners. There they took their la st embrace of each other—the mother tearless\, but heart-broken—the bo y with all the wildest manifestations of grief.\n\nHis purchaser was a cot ton broker from New Orleans\, a warm-hearted\, kind old man\, who took a f ancy to the boy's looks\, and pitied him for his unfortunate separation fr om his mother. After paying for his new purchase\, he drew him aside\, and said\, in a kind tone\, \"Come\, my little man\, stop crying\; my boys ne ver cry. If you behave yourself you shall have fine times with me. Stop cr ying now\, and come with me\; I am going to buy you a new suit of clothes. \"\n\n\"I don't want new clothes—I want my mammy\,\" exclaimed the child \, with a fresh burst of grief.\n\n\"Oh dear me!\" said the fussy old gent leman\, \"why can't you stop—I don't want to hear you cry. Here\,\" cont inued he\, fumbling in his pocket—\"here's a picayune.\"\n\n\"Will that buy mother back?\" said the child brightening up.\n\n\"No\, no\, my little man\, not quite—I wish it would. I'd purchase the old woman\; but I can 't—I'm not able to spare the money.\"\n\n\"Then I don't want it\,\" crie d the boy\, throwing the money on the ground. \"If it won't buy mammy\, I don't want it. I want my mammy\, and nothing else.\"\n\nAt length\, by muc h kind language\, and by the prospect of many fabulous events to occur her eafter\, invented at the moment by the old gentleman\, the boy was coaxed into a more quiescent state\, and trudged along in the rear of Mr. Moyes e—that was the name of his purchaser—to be fitted with the new suit of clothes.\n\nThe next morning they started by the stage for Augusta. Georg e\, seated on the box with the driver\, found much to amuse him\; and the driver's merry chat and great admiration of George's new and gaily-bedizen ed suit\, went a great way towards reconciling that young gentleman to his new situation.\n\nIn a few days they arrived in New Orleans. There\, unde r the kind care of Mr. Moyese\, he began to exhibit great signs of intelli gence. The atmosphere into which he was now thrown\, the kindness of which he was hourly the recipient\, called into vigour abilities that would hav e been stifled for ever beneath the blighting influences that surrounded h im under his former master. The old gentleman had him taught to read and w rite\, and his aptness was such as to highly gratify the kind old soul.\n\ nIn course of time\, the temporary absence of an out-door clerk caused Geo rge's services to be required at the office for a few days\, as errand-boy . Here he made himself so useful as to induce Mr. Moyese to keep him there permanently. After this he went through all the grades from errand-boy up to chief-clerk\, which post he filled to the full satisfaction of his emp loyer. His manners and person improved with his circumstances\; and at the time he occupied the chief-clerk's desk\, no one would have suspected him to be a slave\, and few who did not know his history would have dreamed t hat he had a drop of African blood in his veins. He was unremitting in his attention to the duties of his station\, and gained\, by his assiduity an d amiable deportment\, the highest regard of his employer.\n\nA week befor e a certain New-year's-day\, Mr. Moyese sat musing over some presents that had just been sent home\, and which he was on the morrow to distribute am ongst his nephews and nieces. \"Why\, bless me!\" he suddenly exclaimed\, turning them over\, \"why\, I've entirely forgotten George! That will neve r do\; I must get something for him. What shall it be? He has a fine watch \, and I gave him a pin and ring last year. I really don't know what will be suitable\,\" and he sat for some time rubbing his chin\, apparently in deep deliberation. \"Yes\, I'll do it!\" he exclaimed\, starting up\; \"I' ll do it! He has been a faithful fellow\, and deserves it. I'll make him a present of himself! Now\, how strange it is I never thought of that befor e—it's just the thing\;—how surprised and delighted he will be!\" and the old gentleman laughed a low\, gentle\, happy laugh\, that had in it so little of selfish pleasure\, that had you only heard him you must have lo ved him for it.\n\nHaving made up his mind to surprise George in this agre eable manner\, Mr. Moyese immediately wrote a note\, which he despatched t o his lawyers\, Messrs. Ketchum and Lee\, desiring them to make out a set of free papers for his boy George\, and to have them ready for delivery on the morrow\, as it was his custom to give his presents two or three days in advance of the coming year.\n\nThe note found Mr. Ketchum deep in a dis puted will case\, upon the decision of which depended the freedom of some half-dozen slaves\, who had been emancipated by the will of their late mas ter\; by which piece of posthumous benevolence his heirs had been greatly irritated\, and were in consequence endeavouring to prove him insane.\n\n\ "Look at that\, Lee\,\" said he\, tossing the note to his partner\; \"if t hat old Moyese isn't the most curious specimen of humanity in all New Orle ans! He is going to give away clear fifteen hundred dollars as a New-year' s gift!\"\n\n\"To whom?\" asked Mr. Lee.\n\n\"He has sent me orders\,\" re plied Mr. Ketchum\, \"to make out a set of free papers for his boy George. \"\n\n\"Well\, I can't say that I see so much in that\,\" said Lee\; \"how can he expect to keep him? George is almost as white as you or I\, and ha s the manners and appearance of a gentleman. He might walk off any day wit hout the least fear of detection.\"\n\n\"Very true\,\" rejoined Ketchum\, \"but I don't think he would do it. He is very much attached to the old ge ntleman\, and no doubt would remain with him as long as the old man lives. But I rather think the heirs would have to whistle for him after Moyese w as put under ground. However\,\" concluded Mr. Ketchum\, \"they won't have much opportunity to dispute the matter\, as he will be a free man\, no do ubt\, before he is forty-eight hours older.\"\n\nA day or two after this\, Mr. Moyese entertained all his nephews and nieces at dinner\, and each wa s gratified with some appropriate gift. The old man sat happily regarding the group that crowded round him\, their faces beaming with delight. The c laim for the seat of honour on Uncle Moyese's knee was clamorously dispute d\, and the old gentleman was endeavouring to settle it to the satisfactio n of all parties\, when a servant entered\, and delivered a portentous-loo king document\, tied with red tape. \"Oh\, the papers—now\, my dears\, l et uncle go. Gustave\, let go your hold of my leg\, or I can't get up. Amy \, ring the bell\, dear.\" This operation Mr. Moyese was obliged to lift h er into the chair to effect\, where she remained tugging at the bell-rope until she was lifted out again by the servant\, who came running in great haste to answer a summons of such unusual vigour.\n\n\"Tell George I want him\,\" said Mr. Moyese.\n\n\"He's gone down to the office\; I hearn him s ay suffin bout de nordern mail as he went out—but I duno what it was\" —and as he finished he vanished from the apartment\, and might soon afte r have been seen with his mouth in close contact with the drumstick of a t urkey.\n\nMr. Moyese being now released from the children\, took his way t o the office\, with the portentous red-tape document that was to so greatl y change the condition of George Winston in his coat pocket. The old man s at down at his desk\, smiling\, as he balanced the papers in his hand\, at the thought of the happiness he was about to confer on his favourite. He was thus engaged when the door opened\, and George entered\, bearing some newly-arrived orders from European correspondents\, in reference to which he sought Mr. Moyese's instructions.\n\n\"I think\, sir\,\" said he\, mode stly\, \"that we had better reply at once to Ditson\, and send him the adv ance he requires\, as he will not otherwise be able to fill these\;\" and as he concluded he laid the papers on the table\, and stood waiting orders respecting them.\n\nMr. Moyese laid down the packet\, and after looking o ver the papers George had brought in\, replied: \"I think we had. Write to him to draw upon us for the amount he requires.—And\, George\,\" he con tinued\, looking at him benevolently\, \"what would you like for a New-yea r's present?\"\n\n\"Anything you please\, sir\,\" was the respectful reply .\n\n\"Well\, George\,\" resumed Mr. Moyese\, \"I have made up my mind to make you a present of——\" here he paused and looked steadily at him fo r a few seconds\; and then gravely handing him the papers\, concluded\, \" of yourself\, George! Now mind and don't throw my present away\, my boy.\" George stood for some moments looking in a bewildered manner\, first at h is master\, then at the papers. At last the reality of his good fortune br oke fully upon him\, and he sank into a chair\, and unable to say more tha n: \"God bless you\, Mr. Moyese!\" burst into tears.\n\n\"Now you are a pr etty fellow\,\" said the old man\, sobbing himself\, \"it's nothing to cry about—get home as fast as you can\, you stupid cry-baby\, and mind you are here early in the morning\, sir\, for I intend to pay you five hundred dollars a-year\, and I mean you to earn it\,\" and thus speaking he bustl ed out of the room\, followed by George's repeated \"God bless you!\" That \"God bless you\" played about his ears at night\, and soothed him to sle ep\; in dreams he saw it written in diamond letters on a golden crown\, he ld towards him by a hand outstretched from the azure above. He fancied the birds sang it to him in his morning walk\, and that he heard it in the ri pple of the little stream that flowed at the foot of his garden. So he cou ld afford to smile when his relatives talked about his mistaken generosity \, and could take refuge in that fervent \"God bless you!\"\n\nSix years a fter this event Mr. Moyese died\, leaving George a sufficient legacy to en able him to commence business on his own account. As soon as he had arrang ed his affairs\, he started for his old home\, to endeavour to gain by per sonal exertions what he had been unable to learn through the agency of oth ers—a knowledge of the fate of his mother. He ascertained that she had b een sold and re-sold\, and had finally died in New Orleans\, not more than three miles from where he had been living. He had not even the melancholy satisfaction of finding her grave. During his search for his mother he ha d become acquainted with Emily\, the wife of Mr. Garie\, and discovered th at she was his cousin\; and to this was owing the familiar footing on whic h we find him in the household where we first introduced him to our reader s.\n\nMr. Winston had just returned from a tour through the Northern State s\, where he had been in search of a place in which to establish himself i n business.\n\nThe introductions with which Mr. Garie had kindly favoured him\, had enabled him to see enough of Northern society to convince him\, that\, amongst the whites\, he could not form either social or business co nnections\, should his identity with\, the African race be discovered\; an d whilst\, on the other hand\, he would have found sufficiently refined as sociations amongst the people of colour to satisfy his social wants\, he f elt that he could not bear the isolation and contumely to which they were subjected. He\, therefore\, decided on leaving the United States\, and on going to some country where\, if he must struggle for success in life\, he might do it without the additional embarrassments that would be thrown in his way in his native land\, solely because he belonged to an oppressed r ace.\n\nCHAPTER II.\nA Glance at the Ellis Family.\n\n\"I wish Charlie wou ld come with that tea\,\" exclaimed Mrs. Ellis\, who sat finishing off som e work\, which had to go home that evening. \"I wonder what can keep him s o long away. He has been gone over an hour\; it surely cannot take him tha t time to go to Watson's.\"\n\n\"It is a great distance\, mother\,\" said Esther Ellis\, who was busily plying her needle\; \"and I don't think he h as been quite so long as you suppose.\"\n\n\"Yes\; he has been gone a good hour\,\" repeated Mrs. Ellis. \"It is now six o'clock\, and it wanted thr ee minutes to five when he left. I do hope he won't forget that I told him half black and half green—he is so forgetful!\" And Mrs. Ellis rubbed h er spectacles and looked peevishly out of the window as she concluded.—\ "Where can he be?\" she resumed\, looking in the direction in which he mig ht be expected. \"Oh\, here he comes\, and Caddy with him. They have just turned the corner—open the door and let them in.\"\n\nEsther arose\, and on opening the door was almost knocked down by Charlie's abrupt entrance into the apartment\, he being rather forcibly shoved in by his sister Caro line\, who appeared to be in a high state of indignation.\n\n\"Where do yo u think he was\, mother? Where do you think I found him?\"\n\n\"Well\, I c an't say—I really don't know\; in some mischief\, I'll be bound.\"\n\n\" He was on the lot playing marbles—and I've had such a time to get him ho me. Just look at his knees\; they are worn through. And only think\, mothe r\, the tea was lying on the ground\, and might have been carried off\, if I had not happened to come that way. And then he has been fighting and st ruggling with me all the way home. See\,\" continued she\, baring her arm\ , \"just look how he has scratched me\,\" and as she spoke she held out th e injured member for her mother's inspection.\n\n\"Mother\,\" said Charlie \, in his justification\, \"she began to beat me before all the boys\, bef ore I had said a word to her\, and I wasn't going to stand that. She is al ways storming at me. She don't give me any peace of my life.\"\n\n\"Oh yes \, mother\,\" here interposed Esther\; \"Cad is too cross to him. I must s ay\, that he would not be as bad as he is\, if she would only let him alon e.\"\n\n\"Esther\, please hush now\; you have nothing to do with their qua rrels. I'll settle all their differences. You always take his part whether he be right or wrong. I shall send him to bed without his tea\, and to-mo rrow I will take his marbles from him\; and if I see his knees showing thr ough his pants again\, I'll put a red patch on them—that's what I'll do. Now\, sir\, go to bed\, and don't let me hear of you until morning.\"\n\n Mr. and Mrs. Ellis were at the head of a highly respectable and industriou s coloured family. They had three children. Esther\, the eldest\, was a gi rl of considerable beauty\, and amiable temper. Caroline\, the second chil d\, was plain in person\, and of rather shrewish disposition\; she was a m ost indefatigable housewife\, and was never so happy as when in possession of a dust or scrubbing brush\; she would have regarded a place where she could have lived in a perpetual state of house cleaning\, as an earthly pa radise. Between her and Master Charlie continued warfare existed\, interru pted only by brief truces brought about by her necessity for his services as water-carrier. When a service of this character had been duly rewarded by a slice of bread and preserves\, or some other dainty\, hostilities wou ld most probably be recommenced by Charlie's making an inroad upon the new ly cleaned floor\, and leaving the prints of his muddy boots thereon.\n\nT he fact must here be candidly stated\, that Charlie was not a tidy boy. He despised mats\, and seldom or never wiped his feet on entering the house\ ; he was happiest when he could don his most dilapidated unmentionables\, as he could then sit down where he pleased without the fear of his mother before his eyes\, and enter upon a game of marbles with his mind perfectly free from all harassing cares growing out of any possible accident to the aforesaid garments\, so that he might give that attention to the game tha t its importance demanded.\n\nHe was a bright-faced pretty boy\, clever at his lessons\, and a favourite both with tutors and scholars. He had witha l a thorough boy's fondness for play\, and was also characterised by all t he thoughtlessness consequent thereon. He possessed a lively\, affectionat e disposition\, and was generally at peace with all the world\, his sister Caddy excepted.\n\nCaroline had recovered her breath\, and her mind being soothed by the judgment that had been pronounced on Master Charlie\, she began to bustle about to prepare tea.\n\nThe shining copper tea-kettle was brought from the stove where it had been seething and singing for the las t half-hour\; then the tea-pot of china received its customary quantity of tea\, which was set upon the stove to brew\, and carefully placed behind the stove pipe that no accidental touch of the elbow might bring it to des truction. Plates\, knives\, and teacups came rattling forth from the close t\; the butter was brought from the place where it had been placed to keep it cool\, and a corn-cake was soon smoking on the table\, and sending up its seducing odour into the room over-head to which Charlie had been recen tly banished\, causing to that unfortunate young gentleman great physical discomfort.\n\n\"Now\, mother\,\" said the bustling Caddy\, \"it's all rea dy. Come now and sit down whilst the cake is hot—do put up the sewing\, Esther\, and come!\"\n\nNeither Esther nor her mother needed much pressing \, and they were accordingly soon seated round the table on which their re past was spread.\n\n\"Put away a slice of this cake for father\,\" said Mr s. Ellis\, \"for he won't be home until late\; he is obliged to attend a v estry meeting to-night.\"\n\nMrs. Ellis sat for some time sipping the frag rant and refreshing tea. When the contents of two or three cups one after another had disappeared\, and sundry slices of corn-bread had been deposit ed where much corn-bread had been deposited before\, she began to think ab out Charlie\, and to imagine that perhaps she had been rather hasty in sen ding him to bed without his supper.\n\n\"What had Charlie to-day in his di nner-basket to take to school with him?\" she inquired of Caddy.\n\n\"Why\ , mother\, I put in enough for a wolf\; three or four slices of bread\, wi th as many more of corn-beef\, some cheese\, one of those little pies\, an d all that bread-pudding which was left at dinner yesterday—he must have had enough.\"\n\n\"But\, mother\, you know he always gives away the best part of his dinner\,\" interposed Esther. \"He supplies two or three boys with food. There is that dirty Kinch that he is so fond of\, who never tak es any dinner with him\, and depends entirely upon Charlie. He must be hun gry\; do let him come down and get his tea\, mother?\"\n\nNotwithstanding the observations of Caroline that Esther was just persuading her mother to spoil the boy\, that he would be worse than ever\, and many other similar predictions. Esther and the tea combined won a signal triumph\, and Charl ie was called down from the room above\, where he had been exchanging tele graphic communications with the before-mentioned Kinch\, in hopes of recei ving a commutation of sentence.\n\nCharlie was soon seated at the table wi th an ample allowance of corn-bread and tea\, and he looked so demure\, an d conducted himself in such an exemplary manner\, that one would have scar cely thought him given to marbles and dirty company. Having eaten to his s atisfaction he quite ingratiated himself with Caddy by picking up all the crumbs he had spilled during tea\, and throwing them upon the dust-heap. T his last act was quite a stroke of policy\, as even Caddy began to regard him as capable of reformation.\n\nThe tea-things washed up and cleared awa y\, the females busied themselves with their sewing\, and Charlie immersed himself in his lessons for the morrow with a hearty goodwill and persever ance as if he had abjured marbles for ever.\n\nThe hearty supper and perse vering attention to study soon began to produce their customary effect upo n Charlie. He could not get on with his lessons. Many of the state capital s positively refused to be found\, and he was beginning to entertain the s age notion that probably some of the legislatures had come to the conclusi on to dispense with them altogether\, or had had them placed in such obscu re places that they could not be found. The variously coloured states bega n to form a vast kaleidoscope\, in which the lakes and rivers had been ent irely swallowed up. Ranges of mountains disappeared\, and gulfs and bays a nd islands were entirely lost. In fact\, he was sleepy\, and had already h ad two or three narrow escapes from butting over the candles\; finally he fell from his chair\, crushing Caddy's newly-trimmed bonnet\, to the inten se grief and indignation of that young lady\, who inflicted summary vengea nce upon him before he was sufficiently awake to be aware of what had happ ened.\n\nThe work being finished\, Mrs. Ellis and Caddy prepared to take i t home to Mrs. Thomas\, leaving Esther at home to receive her father on hi s return and give him his tea.\n\nMrs. Ellis and Caddy wended their way to wards the fashionable part of the city\, looking in at the various shop-wi ndows as they went. Numberless were the great bargains they saw there disp layed\, and divers were the discussions they held respecting them. \"Oh\, isn't that a pretty calico\, mother\, that with the green ground?\"\n\n\"' Tis pretty\, but it won't wash\, child\; those colours always run.\"\n\n\" Just look at that silk though—now that's cheap\, you must acknowledge— only eighty-seven and a half cents\; if I only had a dress of that I shoul d be fixed.\"\n\n\"Laws\, Caddy!\" replied Mrs. Ellis\, \"that stuff is as slazy as a washed cotton handkerchief\, and coarse enough almost to sift sand through. It wouldn't last you any time. The silks they make now-a-day s ain't worth anything\; they don't wear well at all. Why\,\" continued sh e\, \"when I was a girl they made silks that would stand on end—and one of them would last a life-time.\"\n\nThey had now reached Chestnut-street\ , which was filled with gaily-dressed people\, enjoying the balmy breath o f a soft May evening. Mrs. Ellis and Caddy walked briskly onward\, and wer e soon beyond the line of shops\, and entered upon the aristocratic quarte r into which many of its residents had retired\, that they might be out of sight of the houses in which their fathers or grandfathers had made their fortunes.\n\n\"Mother\,\" said Caddy\, \"this is Mr. Grant's new house— isn't it a splendid place? They say it's like a palace inside. They are gr eat people\, them Grants. I saw in the newspaper yesterday that young Mr. Augustus Grant had been appointed an attache to the American legation at P aris\; the newspapers say he is a rising man.\"\n\n\"Well\, he ought to be \,\" rejoined Mrs. Ellis\, \"for his old grand-daddy made yeast enough to raise the whole family. Many a pennyworth has he sold me. Laws! how the po or old folk do get up! I think I can see the old man now\, with his sleeve s rolled up\, dealing out his yeast. He wore one coat for about twenty yea rs\, and used to be always bragging about it.\"\n\nAs they were thus talki ng\, a door of one of the splendid mansions they were passing opened\, and a fashionably-dressed young man came slowly down the steps\, and walked o n before them with a very measured step and peculiar gait.\n\n\"That's you ng Dr. Whiston\, mother\,\" whispered Caddy\; \"he's courting young\nMiss Morton.\"\n\n\"You don't say so!\" replied the astonished Mrs. Ellis. \"Wh y\, I declare his grandfather laid her grandfather out! Old Whiston was an undertaker\, and used to make the handsomest coffins of his time. And he is going to marry Miss Morton! What next\, I'd like to know! He walks exac tly like the old man. I used to mock him when I was a little girl. He had just that hop-and-go kind of gait\, and he was the funniest man that ever lived. I've seen him at a funeral go into the parlour\, and condole with t he family\, and talk about the dear departed until the tears rolled down h is cheeks\; and then he'd be down in the kitchen\, eating and drinking\, a nd laughing\, and telling jokes about the corpses\, before the tears were dry on his face. How he used to make money! He buried almost all the respe ctable people about town\, and made a large fortune. He owned a burying-gr ound in Coates-street\, and when the property in that vicinity became valu able\, he turned the dead folks out\, and built houses on the ground!\"\n\ n\"I shouldn't say it was a very pleasant place to live in\, if there are such things as ghosts\,\" said Caddy\, laughing\; \"I for one wouldn't lik e to live there—but here we are at Mr. Thomas's—how short the way has seemed!\"\n\nCaroline gave a fierce rap at the door\, which was opened by old Aunt Rachel\, the fat cook\, who had lived with the Thomases for a fab ulous length of time. She was an old woman when Mrs. Ellis came as a girl into the family\, and had given her many a cuff in days long past\; in fac t\, notwithstanding Mrs. Ellis had been married many years\, and had child ren almost as old as she herself was when she left Mr. Thomas\, Aunt Rache l could never be induced to regard her otherwise than as a girl.\n\n\"Oh\, it's you\, is it?\" said she gruffly\, as she opened the door\; \"don't y ou think better break de door down at once-rapping as if you was guine to tear off de knocker—is dat de way\, gal\, you comes to quality's houses? You lived here long nuff to larn better dan dat—and dis is twice I've b een to de door in de last half-hour—if any one else comes dere they may stay outside. Shut de door after you\, and come into de kitchen\, and don' t keep me standin' here all night\,\" added she\, puffing and blowing as s he waddled back into her sanctum.\n\nWaiting until the irate old cook had recovered her breath\, Mrs. Ellis modestly inquired if Mrs. Thomas was at home. \"Go up and see\,\" was the surly response. \"You've been up stars o ften enuff to know de way—go long wid you\, gal\, and don't be botherin' me\, 'case I don't feel like bein' bothered—now\, mind I tell yer.—He re\, you Cad\, set down on dis stool\, and let that cat alone\; I don't le t any one play with my cat\,\" continued she\, \"and you'll jest let him a lone\, if you please\, or I'll make you go sit in de entry till your mothe r's ready to go. I don't see what she has you brats tugging after her for whenever she comes here—she might jest as well leave yer at home to darn your stockings—I 'spect dey want it.\"\n\nPoor Caddy was boiling over w ith wrath\; but deeming prudence the better part of valour\, she did not v enture upon any wordy contest with Aunt Rachel\, but sat down upon the sto ol by the fire-place\, in which a bright fire was blazing. Up the chimney an old smoke-jack was clicking\, whirling\, and making the most dismal noi se imaginable. This old smoke-jack was Aunt Rachel's especial protege\, an d she obstinately and successfully defended it against all comers. She tur ned up her nose at all modern inventions designed for the same use as enti rely beneath her notice. She had been accustomed to hearing its rattle for the last forty years\, and would as soon have thought of committing suici de as consenting to its removal.\n\nShe and her cat were admirably matched \; he was as snappish and cross as she\, and resented with distended claws and elevated back all attempts on the part of strangers to cultivate amic able relations with him. In fact\, Tom's pugnacious disposition was clearl y evidenced by his appearance\; one side of his face having a very battere d aspect\, and the fur being torn off his back in several places.\n\nCaddy sat for some time surveying the old woman and her cat\, in evident awe of both. She regarded also with great admiration the scrupulously clean and shining kitchen tins that garnished the walls and reflected the red light of the blazing fire. The wooden dresser was a miracle of whiteness\, and r anged thereon was a set of old-fashioned blue china\, on which was display ed the usual number of those unearthly figures which none but the Chinese can create. Tick\, tick\, went the old Dutch clock in the corner\, and the smoke-jack kept up its whirring noise. Old Tom and Aunt Rachel were both napping\; and so Caddy\, having no other resource\, went to sleep also.\n\ nMrs. Ellis found her way without any difficulty to Mrs. Thomas's room. He r gentle tap upon the door quite flurried that good lady\, who (we speak i t softly) was dressing her wig\, a task she entrusted to no other mortal h ands. She peeped out\, and seeing who it was\, immediately opened the door without hesitation.\n\n\"Oh\, it's you\, is it? Come in\, Ellen\,\" said she\; \"I don't mind you.\"\n\n\"I've brought the night-dresses home\,\" s aid Mrs. Ellis\, laying her bundle upon the table\,—\"I hope they'll sui t.\"\n\n\"Oh\, no doubt they will. Did you bring the bill?\" asked Mrs. Th omas.\n\nThe bill was produced\, and Mrs. Ellis sat down\, whilst Mrs. Tho mas counted out the money. This having been duly effected\, and the bill c arefully placed on the file\, Mrs. Thomas also sat down\, and commenced he r usual lamentation over the state of her nerves\, and the extravagance of the younger members of the family. On the latter subject she spoke very f eelingly. \"Such goings on\, Ellen\, are enough to set me crazy—so many nurses—and then we have to keep four horses—and it's company\, company from Monday morning until Saturday night\; the house is kept upside-down continually—money\, money for everything—all going out\, and nothing c oming in!\"—and the unfortunate Mrs. Thomas whined and groaned as if she had not at that moment an income of clear fifteen thousand dollars a year \, and a sister who might die any day and leave her half as much more.\n\n Mrs. Thomas was the daughter of the respectable old gentleman whom Dr. Whi ston's grandfather had prepared for his final resting-place. Her daughter had married into a once wealthy\, but now decayed\, Carolina family. In co nsideration of the wealth bequeathed by her grandfather (who was a maker o f leather breeches\, and speculator in general)\, Miss Thomas had received the offer of the poverty-stricken hand of Mr. Morton\, and had accepted i t with evident pleasure\, as he was undoubtedly a member of one of the fir st families of the South\, and could prove a distant connection with one o f the noble families of England.\n\nThey had several children\, and their incessant wants had rendered it necessary that another servant should be k ept. Now Mrs. Thomas had long had her eye on Charlie\, with a view of inco rporating him with the Thomas establishment\, and thought this would be a favourable time to broach the subject to his mother: she therefore commenc ed by inquiring—\n\n\"How have you got through the winter\, Ellen? Every thing has been so dear that even we have felt the effect of the high price s.\"\n\n\"Oh\, tolerably well\, I thank you. Husband's business\, it is tr ue\, has not been as brisk as usual\, but we ought not to complain\; now t hat we have got the house paid for\, and the girls do so much sewing\, we get on very nicely.\"\n\n\"I should think three children must be something of a burthen—must be hard to provide for.\"\n\n\"Oh no\, not at all\,\" rejoined Mrs. Ellis\, who seemed rather surprised at Mrs. Thomas's uncomm on solicitude respecting them. \"We have never found the children a burthe n\, thank God—they're rather a comfort and a pleasure than otherwise.\"\ n\n\"I'm glad to hear you say so\, Ellen—very glad\, indeed\, for I have been quite disturbed in mind respecting you during the winter. I really s everal times thought of sending to take Charlie off your hands: by-the-way \, what is he doing now?\"\n\n\"He goes to school regularly—he hasn't mi ssed a day all winter. You should just see his writing\,\" continued Mrs. Ellis\, warming up with a mother's pride in her only son—\"he won't let the girls make out any of the bills\, but does it all himself—he made ou t yours.\"\n\nMrs. Thomas took down the file and looked at the bill again. \"It's very neatly written\, very neatly written\, indeed\; isn't it abou t time that he left school—don't you think he has education enough?\" sh e inquired.\n\n\"His father don't. He intends sending him to another schoo l\, after vacation\, where they teach Latin and Greek\, and a number of ot her branches.\"\n\n\"Nonsense\, nonsense\, Ellen! If I were you\, I wouldn 't hear of it. There won't be a particle of good result to the child from any such acquirements. It isn't as though he was a white child. What use c an Latin or Greek be to a coloured boy? None in the world—he'll have to be a common mechanic\, or\, perhaps\, a servant\, or barber\, or something of that kind\, and then what use would all his fine education be to him? Take my advice\, Ellen\, and don't have him taught things that will make h im feel above the situation he\, in all probability\, will have to fill. N ow\,\" continued she\, \"I have a proposal to make to you: let him come an d live with me awhile—I'll pay you well\, and take good care of him\; be sides\, he will be learning something here\, good manners\, &\;c. Not t hat he is not a well-mannered child\; but\, you know\, Ellen\, there is so mething every one learns by coming in daily contact with refined and educa ted people that cannot but be beneficial—come now\, make up your mind to leave him with me\, at least until the winter\, when the schools again co mmence\, and then\, if his father is still resolved to send him back to sc hool\, why he can do so. Let me have him for the summer at least.\"\n\nMrs . Ellis\, who had always been accustomed to regard Mrs. Thomas as a miracl e of wisdom\, was\, of course\, greatly impressed with what she had said. She had lived many years in her family\, and had left it to marry Mr. Elli s\, a thrifty mechanic\, who came from Savanah\, her native city. She had great reverence for any opinion Mrs. Thomas expressed\; and\, after some f urther conversation on the subject\, made up her mind to consent to the pr oposal\, and left her with the intention of converting her husband to her way of thinking.\n\nOn descending to the kitchen she awoke Caddy from a de licious dream\, in which she had been presented with the black silk that t hey had seen in the shop window marked eighty-seven and a half cents a yar d. In the dream she had determined to make it up with tight sleeves and in fant waist\, that being the most approved style at that period.\n\n\"Five breadths are not enough for the skirt\, and if I take six I must skimp the waist and cape\,\" murmured she in her sleep.\n\n\"Wake up\, girl! What a re you thinking about?\" said her mother\, giving her another shake.\n\n\" Oh!\" said Caddy\, with a wild and disappointed look—\"I was dreaming\, wasn't I? I declare I thought I had that silk frock in the window.\"\n\n\" The girls' heads are always running on finery—wake up\, and come along\, \nI'm going home.\"\n\nCaddy followed her mother out\, leaving Aunt Rachel and Tom nodding at each other as they dozed before the fire.\n\nThat nigh t Mr. Ellis and his wife had a long conversation upon the proposal of Mrs. Thomas\; and after divers objections raised by him\, and set aside by her \, it was decided that Charlie should be permitted to go there for the hol idays at least\; after which\, his father resolved he should be sent to sc hool again.\n\nCharlie\, the next morning\, looked very blank on being inf ormed of his approaching fate. Caddy undertook with great alacrity to brea k the dismal tidings to him\, and enlarged in a glowing manner upon what t imes he might expect from Aunt Rachel.\n\n\"I guess she'll keep you straig ht\;—you'll see sights up there! She is cross as sin—she'll make you w ipe your feet when you go in and out\, if no one else can.\"\n\n\"Let him alone\, Caddy\,\" gently interposed Esther\; \"it is bad enough to be comp elled to live in a house with that frightful old woman\, without being ann oyed about it beforehand. If I could help it\, Charlie\, you should not go .\"\n\n\"I know you'd keep me home if you could—but old Cad\, here\, she always rejoices if anything happens to me. I'll be hanged if I stay there \,\" said he. \"I won't live at service—I'd rather be a sweep\, or sell apples on the dock. I'm not going to be stuck up behind their carriage\, d ressed up like a monkey in a tail coat—I'll cut off my own head first.\" And with this sanguinary threat he left the house\, with his school-books under his arm\, intending to lay the case before his friend and adviser\, the redoubtable and sympathising Kinch.\n\nCHAPTER III.\nCharlie's Trials .\n\nCharlie started for school with a heavy heart. Had it not been for hi s impending doom of service in Mr. Thomas's family\, he would have been th e happiest boy that ever carried a school-bag.\n\nIt did not require a gre at deal to render this young gentleman happy. All that was necessary to ma ke up a day of perfect joyfulness with him\, was a dozen marbles\, permiss ion to wear his worst inexpressibles\, and to be thoroughly up in his less ons. To-day he was possessed of all these requisites\, but there was also in the perspective along array of skirmishes with Aunt Rachel\, who\, he k new\, looked on him with an evil eye\, and who had frequently expressed he rself regarding him\, in his presence\, in terms by no means complimentary or affectionate\; and the manner in which she had intimated her desire\, on one or two occasions\, to have an opportunity of reforming his personal habits\, were by no means calculated to produce a happy frame of mind\, n ow that the opportunity was about to be afforded her.\n\nCharlie sauntered on until he came to a lumber-yard\, where he stopped and examined a corne r of the fence very attentively. \"Not gone by yet. I must wait for him\,\ " said he\; and forthwith he commenced climbing the highest pile of boards \, the top of which he reached at the imminent risk of his neck. Here he s at awaiting the advent of his friend Kinch\, the absence of death's head a nd cross bones from the corner of the fence being a clear indication that he had not yet passed on his way to school.\n\nSoon\, however\, he was esp ied in the distance\, and as he was quite a character in his way\, we must describe him. His most prominent feature was a capacious hungry-looking m outh\, within which glistened a row of perfect teeth. He had the merriest twinkling black eyes\, and a nose so small and flat that it would have bee n a prize to any editor living\, as it would have been a physical impossib ility to have pulled it\, no matter what outrage he had committed. His com plexion was of a ruddy brown\, and his hair\, entirely innocent of a comb\ , was decorated with divers feathery tokens of his last night's rest. A ca p with the front torn off\, jauntily set on one side of his head\, gave hi m a rakish and wide-awake air\, his clothes were patched and torn in sever al places\, and his shoes were already in an advanced stage of decay. As h e approached the fence he took a piece of chalk from his pocket\, and comm enced to sketch the accustomed startling illustration which was to convey to Charlie the intelligence that he had already passed there on his way to school\, when a quantity of sawdust came down in a shower on his head. As soon as the blinding storm had ceased\, Kinch looked up and intimated to Charlie that it was quite late\, and that there was a probability of their being after time at school.\n\nThis information caused Charlie to make ra ther a hasty descent\, in doing which his dinner-basket was upset\, and it s contents displayed at the feet of the voracious Kinch.\n\n\"Now I'll be even with you for that sawdust\,\" cried he\, as he pocketed two boiled eg gs\, and bit an immense piece out of an apple-tart\, which he would have d emolished completely but for the prompt interposition of its owner.\n\n\"O h! my golly! Charlie\, your mother makes good pies!\" he exclaimed with ra pture\, as soon as he could get his mouth sufficiently clear to speak. \"G ive us another bite\,—only a nibble.\"\n\nBut Charlie knew by experience what Kinch's \"nibbles\" were\, and he very wisely declined\, saying sadl y as he did so\, \"You won't get many more dinners from me\, Kinch. I'm go ing to leave school.\" \"No! you ain't though\, are you?\" asked the aston ished Kinch. \"You are not going\, are you\, really?\"\n\n\"Yes\, really\, \" replied Charlie\, with a doleful look\; \"mother is going to put me out at service.\"\n\n\"And do you intend to go?\" asked Kinch\, looking at hi m incredulously.\n\n\"Why of course\,\" was the reply. \"How can I help go ing if father and mother say I must?\"\n\n\"I tell you what I should do\,\ " said Kinch\, \"if it was me. I should act so bad that the people would b e glad to get rid of me. They hired me out to live once\, and I led the pe ople they put me with such a dance\, that they was glad enough to send me home again.\"\n\nThis observation brought them to the school-house\, which was but a trifling distance from the residence of Mrs. Ellis.\n\nThey ent ered the school at the last moment of grace\, and Mr. Dicker looked at the m severely as they took their seats. \"Just saved ourselves\,\" whispered Kinch\; \"a minute later and we would have been done for\;\" and with this closing remark he applied himself to his grammar\, a very judicious move on his part\, for he had not looked at his lesson\, and there were but ten minutes to elapse before the class would be called.\n\nThe lessons were d roned through as lessons usually are at school. There was the average amou nt of flogging performed\; cakes\, nuts\, and candy\, confiscated\; little boys on the back seats punched one another as little boys on the back sea ts always will do\, and were flogged in consequence. Then the boy who neve r knew his lessons was graced with the fool's cap\, and was pointed and st ared at until the arrival of the play-hour relieved him from his disagreea ble situation.\n\n\"What kind of folks are these Thomases?\" asked Kinch\, as he sat beside Charlie in the playground munching the last of the apple -tart\; \"what kind of folks are they? Tell me that\, and I can give you s ome good advice\, may-be.\"\n\n\"Old Mrs. Thomas is a little dried-up old woman\, who wears spectacles and a wig. She isn't of much account—I don' t mind her. She's not the trouble\; it's of old Aunt Rachel\, I'm thinking . Why\, she has threatened to whip me when I've been there with mother\, a nd she even talks to her sometimes as if she was a little girl. Lord only knows what she'll do to me when she has me there by myself. You should jus t see her and her cat. I really don't know\,\" continued Charlie\, \"which is the worst looking. I hate them both like poison\,\" and as he conclude d\, he bit into a piece of bread as fiercely as if he were already engaged in a desperate battle with aunt Rachel\, and was biting her in self-defen ce.\n\n\"Well\,\" said Kinch\, with the air of a person of vast experience in difficult cases\, \"I should drown the cat—I'd do that at once—as soon as I got there\; then\, let me ask you\, has Aunt Rachel got corns?\" \n\n\"Corns! I wish you could see her shoes\,\" replied Charlie. \"Why you could sail down the river in 'em\, they are so large. Yes\, she has got c orns\, bunions\, and rheumatism\, and everything else.\"\n\n\"Ah! then\,\" said Kinch\, \"your way is clear enough if she has got corns. I should co nfine myself to operating on them. I should give my whole attention to her feet. When she attempts to take hold of you\, do you jist come down on he r corns\, fling your shins about kinder wild\, you know\, and let her have it on both feet. You see I've tried that plan\, and know by experience th at it works well. Don't you see\, you can pass that off as an accident\, a nd it don't look well to be scratching and biting. As for the lady of the house\, old Mrs. what's-her-name\, do you just manage to knock her wig off before some company\, and they'll send you home at once—they'll hardly give you time to get your hat.\"\n\nCharlie laid these directions aside in his mind for future application\, and asked\,\n\n\"What did you do\, Kinc h\, to get away from the people you were with?\"\n\n\"Don't ask me\,\" sai d Kinch\, laughing\; \"don't\, boy\, don't ask me—my conscience troubles me awful about it sometimes. I fell up stairs with dishes\, and I fell do wn stairs with dishes. I spilled oil on the carpet\, and broke a looking-g lass\; but it was all accidental—entirely accidental—they found I was too ''spensive\,' and so they sent me home.\"\n\n\"Oh\, I wouldn't do anyt hing like that—I wouldn't destroy anything—but I've made up my mind th at I won't stay there at any rate. I don't mind work—I want to do someth ing to assist father and mother\; but I don't want to be any one's servant . I wish I was big enough to work at the shop.\"\n\n\"How did your mother come to think of putting you there?\" asked Kinch.\n\n\"The Lord alone kno ws\,\" was the reply. \"I suppose old Mrs. Thomas told her it was the best thing that could be done for me\, and mother thinks what she says is law and gospel. I believe old Mrs. Thomas thinks a coloured person can't get t o Heaven\, without first living at service a little while.\"\n\nThe school bell ringing put an end to this important conversation\, and the boys rec ommenced their lessons.\n\nWhen Charlie returned from school\, the first p erson he saw on entering the house was Robberts\, Mrs. Thomas's chief func tionary\, and the presiding genius of the wine cellar—when he was truste d with the key. Charlie learned\, to his horror and dismay\, that he had b een sent by Mrs. Thomas to inquire into the possibility of obtaining his s ervices immediately\, as they were going to have a series of dinner partie s\, and it was thought that he could be rendered quite useful.\n\n\"And mu st I go\, mother?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yes\, my son\; I've told Robberts that you shall come up in the morning\,\" replied Mrs. Ellis. Then turning to R obberts\, she inquired\, \"How is Aunt Rachel?\"\n\nAt this question\, the liveried gentleman from Mrs. Thomas's shook his head dismally\, and answe red: \"Don't ask me\, woman\; don't ask me\, if you please. That old sinne r gets worse and worse every day she lives. These dinners we're 'spectin t o have has just set her wild—she is mad as fury 'bout 'em—and she snap s me up just as if I was to blame. That is an awful old woman\, now mind I tell you.\"\n\nAs Mr. Robberts concluded\, he took his hat and departed\, giving Charlie the cheering intelligence that he should expect him early next morning.\n\nCharlie quite lost his appetite for supper in consequence of his approaching trials\, and\, laying aside his books with a sigh of r egret\, sat listlessly regarding his sisters\; enlivened now and then by s ome cheerful remark from Caddy\, such as:—\n\n\"You'll have to keep your feet cleaner up there than you do at home\, or you'll have aunt Rach in y our wool half a dozen times a day. And you mustn't throw your cap and coat down where you please\, on the chairs or tables—she'll bring you out of all that in a short time. I expect you'll have two or three bastings befo re you have been there a week\, for she don't put up with any nonsense. Ah \, boy\,\" she concluded\, chuckling\, \"you'll have a time of it—I don' t envy you!\"\n\nWith these and similar enlivening anticipations\, Caddy w hiled away the time until it was the hour for Charlie to retire for the ni ght\, which he\, did with a heavy heart.\n\nEarly the following morning he was awakened by the indefatigable Caddy\, and he found a small bundle of necessaries prepared\, until his trunk of apparel could be sent to his new home. \"Oh\, Cad\,\" he exclaimed\, rubbing his eyes\, \"how I do hate to go up there! I'd rather take a good whipping than go.\"\n\n\"Well\, it is too late now to talk about it\; hurry and get your clothes on—it is qui te late—you ought to have been off an hour ago.\"\n\nWhen he came down s tairs prepared to go\, his mother \"hoped that he was going to behave like a man\,\" which exhortation had the effect of setting him crying at once\ ; and then he had to be caressed by the tearful Esther\, and\, finally\, s tarted away with very red eyes\, followed to the door by his mother and th e girls\, who stood looking after him for some moments.\n\nSo hurried and unexpected had been his departure\, that he had been unable to communicate with his friend Kinch. This weighed very heavily on his spirits\, and he occupied the time on his way to Mrs. Thomas's in devising various plans to effect that object.\n\nOn arriving\, he gave a faint rap\, that was respo nded to by Aunt Rachel\, who saluted him with—\n\n\"Oh\, yer's come\, ha s yer—wipe your feet\, child\, and come in quick. Shut the door after ye r.\"\n\n\"What shall I do with this?\" timidly asked he\, holding up his p ackage of clothes.\n\n\"Oh\, dem's yer rags is dey—fling 'em anywhere\, but don't bring 'em in my kitchen\,\" said she. \"Dere is enuff things in dere now—put 'em down here on this entry table\, or dere\, long side de knife-Board—any wheres but in de kitchen.\"\n\nCharlie mechanically obey ed\, and then followed her into her sanctuary.\n\n\"Have you had your brea kfast?\" she asked\, in a surly tone. \"'Cause if you haven't\, you must e at quick\, or you won't get any. I can't keep the breakfast things standin g here all day.\"\n\nCharlie\, to whom the long walk had given a good appe tite\, immediately sat down and ate a prodigious quantity of bread and but ter\, together with several slices of cold ham\, washed down by two cups o f tea\; after which he rested his knife and fork\, and informed Aunt Rache l that he had done.\n\n\"Well\, I think it's high time\,\" responded she. \"Why\, boy\, you'll breed a famine in de house if you stay here long enou gh. You'll have to do a heap of work to earn what you'll eat\, if yer brea kfast is a sample of yer dinner. Come\, get up\, child! and shell dese 'er e pease—time you get 'em done\, old Mrs. Thomas will be down stairs.\"\n \nCharlie was thus engaged when Mrs. Thomas entered the kitchen. \"Well\, Charles—good morning\,\" said she\, in a bland voice. \"I'm glad to see you here so soon. Has he had his breakfast\, Aunt Rachel?\"\n\n\"Yes\; and he eat like a wild animal—I never see'd a child eat more in my life\,\" was Aunt Rachel's abrupt answer.\n\n\"I'm glad he has a good appetite\,\" said Mrs. Thomas\, \"it shows he has good health. Boys will eat\; you can 't expect them to work if they don't. But it is time I was at those custar ds. Charlie\, put down those peas and go into the other room\, and bring m e a basket of eggs you will find on the table.\"\n\n\"And be sure to overs et the milk that's 'long side of it—yer hear?\" added\nAunt Rachel.\n\nC harlie thought to himself that he would like to accommodate her\, but he d enied himself that pleasure\; on the ground that it might not be safe to d o it.\n\nMrs. Thomas was a housekeeper of the old school\, and had a scien tific knowledge of the manner in which all sorts of pies and puddings were compounded. She was so learned in custards and preserves that even Aunt R achel sometimes deferred to her superior judgment in these matters. Carefu lly breaking the eggs\, she skilfully separated the whites from the yolks\ , and gave the latter to Charlie to beat. At first he thought it great fun \, and he hummed some of the popular melodies of the day\, and kept time w ith his foot and the spatula. But pretty soon he exhausted his stock of tu nes\, and then the performances did not go off so well. His arm commenced aching\, and he came to the sage conclusion\, before he was relieved from his task\, that those who eat the custards are much better off than those who prepare them.\n\nThis task finished\, he was pressed into service by A unt Rachel\, to pick and stone some raisins which she gave him\, with the injunction either to sing or whistle all the time he was \"at 'em\;\" and that if he stopped for a moment she should know he was eating them\, and i n that case she would visit him with condign punishment on the spot\, for she didn't care a fig whose child he was.\n\nThus\, in the performance of first one little job and then another\, the day wore away\; and as the hou r approached at which the guests were invited\, Charlie\, after being take n into the dining-room by Robberts\, where he was greatly amazed at the di splay of silver\, cut glass\, and elegant china\, was posted at the door t o relieve the guests of their coats and hats\, which duty he performed to the entire satisfaction of all parties concerned.\n\nAt dinner\, however\, he was not so fortunate. He upset a plate of soup into a gentleman's lap\ , and damaged beyond repair one of the elegant china vegetable dishes. He took rather too deep an interest in the conversation for a person in his s tation\; and\, in fact\, the bright boy alluded to by Mr. Winston\, as hav ing corrected the reverend gentleman respecting the quotation from Chaucer \, was no other than our friend Charlie Ellis.\n\nIn the evening\, when th e guests were departing\, Charlie handed Mr. Winston his coat\, admiring t he texture and cut of it very much as he did so. Mr. Winston\, amused at t he boy's manner\, asked—\n\n\"What is your name\, my little man?\"\n\n\" Charles Ellis\,\" was the prompt reply. \"I'm named after my father.\"\n\n \"And where did your father come from\, Charlie?\" he asked\, looking very much interested.\n\n\"From Savanah\, sir. Now tell me where you came from \,\" replied Charles.\n\n\"I came from New Orleans\,\" said Mr. Winston\, with a smile. \"Now tell me\,\" he continued\, \"where do you live when yo u are with your parents? I should like to see your father.\" Charlie quick ly put his interrogator in possession of the desired information\, after w hich Mr. Winston departed\, soon followed by the other guests.\n\nCharlie lay for some time that night on his little cot before he could get to slee p\; and amongst the many matters that so agitated his mind\, was his wonde r what one of Mrs. Thomas's guests could want with his father. Being unabl e however\, to arrive at any satisfactory conclusion respecting it\, he tu rned over and went to sleep.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\nIn which Mr. Winston finds an old Friend.\n\nIn the early part of Mr. Winston's career\, when he worked as a boy on the plantation of his father\, he had frequently received gre at kindness at the hands of one Charles Ellis\, who was often employed as carpenter about the premises.\n\nOn one occasion\, as a great favour\, he had been permitted to accompany Ellis to his home in Savanah\, which was b ut a few miles distant\, where he remained during the Christmas holidays. This kindness he had never forgotten\; and on his return to Georgia from N ew Orleans he sought for his old friend\, and found he had removed to the North\, but to which particular city he could not ascertain.\n\nAs he walk ed homewards\, the strong likeness of little Charlie to his old friend for ced itself upon him\, and the more he reflected upon it the more likely it appeared that the boy might be his child\; and the identity of name and o ccupation between the father of Charlie and his old friend led to the beli ef that he was about to make some discovery respecting him.\n\nOn his way to his hotel he passed the old State House\, the bell of which was just st riking ten. \"It's too late to go to-night\,\" said he\, \"it shall be the first thing I attend to in the morning\;\" and after walking on a short d istance farther\, he found himself at the door of his domicile.\n\nAs he p assed through the little knot of waiters who were gathered about the doors \, one of them turning to another\, asked\, \"Ain't that man a Southerner\ , and ain't he in your rooms\, Ben?\"\n\n\"I think he's a Southerner\,\" w as the reply of Ben. \"But why do you ask\, Allen?\" he enquired. \"Becaus e it's time he had subscribed something\,\" replied Mr. Allen. \"The funds of the Vigilance Committee are very low indeed\; in fact\, the four that we helped through last week have completely drained us. We must make a rai se from some quarter\, and we might as well try it on him.\"\n\nMr. Winsto n was waiting for a light that he might retire to his room\, and was quick ly served by the individual who had been so confidentially talking with Mr . Allen.\n\nAfter giving Mr. Winston the light\, Ben followed him into his room and busied himself in doing little nothings about the stove and wash -stand. \"Let me unbutton your straps\, sir\,\" said he\, stooping down an d commencing on the buttons\, which he was rather long in unclosing. \"I k now\, sir\, dat you Southern gentlemen ain't used to doing dese yer things for youself. I allus makes it a pint to show Southerners more 'tention da n I does to dese yer Northern folk\, 'cause yer see I knows dey'r used to it\, and can't get on widout it.\"\n\n\"I am not one of that kind\,\" said Winston\, as Ben slowly unbuttoned the last strap. \"I have been long acc ustomed to wait upon myself. I'll only trouble you to bring me up a glass of fresh water\, and then I shall have done with you for the night.\"\n\n\ "Better let me make you up a little fire\, the nights is werry cool\,\" co ntinued Ben. \"I know you must feel 'em\; I does myself\; I'm from the Sou th\, too.\"\n\n\"Are you?\" replied Mr. Winston\, with some interest\; \"f rom what part!\"\n\n\"From Tuckahoe county\, Virginia\; nice place dat.\"\ n\n\"Never having been there I can't say\,\" rejoined Mr. Winston\, smilin g\; \"and how do you like the North? I suppose you are a runaway\,\" conti nued he.\n\n\"Oh\, no sir! no sir!\" replied Ben\, \"I was sot free—and I often wish\,\" he added in a whining tone\, \"dat I was back agin on the old place—hain't got no kind marster to look after me here\, and I has to work drefful hard sometimes. Ah\,\" he concluded\, drawing a long sigh\ , \"if I was only back on de old place!\" \"I heartily wish you were!\" sa id Mr. Winston\, indignantly\, \"and wish moreover that you were to be tie d up and whipped once a day for the rest of your life. Any man that prefer s slavery to freedom deserves to be a slave—you ought to be ashamed of y ourself. Go out of the room\, sir\, as quick as possible!\"\n\n\"Phew!\" s aid the astonished and chagrined Ben\, as he descended the stairs\; \"that was certainly a great miss\,\" continued he\, talking as correct English\ , and with as pure Northern an accent as any one could boast.\n\n\"We have made a great mistake this time\; a very queer kind of Southerner that is. I'm afraid we took the wrong pig by the ear\;\" and as he concluded\, he betook himself to the group of white-aproned gentlemen before mentioned\, to whom he related the incident that had just occurred.\n\n\"Quite a sever e fall that\, I should say\,\" remarked Mr. Allen. \"Perhaps we have made a mistake and he is not a Southerner after all. Well he is registered from New Orleans\, and I thought he was a good one to try it on.\"\n\n\"It's a clear case we've missed it this time\,\" exclaimed one of the party\, \"a nd I hope\, Ben\, when you found he was on the other side of the fence\, y ou did not say too much.\"\n\n\"Laws\, no!\" rejoined Ben\, \"do you think I'm a fool? As soon as I heard him say what he did\, I was glad to get of f—I felt cheap enough\, now mind\, I tell you any one could have bought me for a shilling.\"\n\nNow it must be here related that most of the waite rs employed in this hotel were also connected with the Vigilance Committee of the Under-ground Railroad Company—a society formed for the assistanc e of fugitive slaves\; by their efforts\, and by the timely information it was often in their power to give\, many a poor slave was enabled to escap e from the clutches of his pursuers.\n\nThe house in which they were emplo yed was the great resort of Southerners\, who occasionally brought with th em their slippery property\; and it frequently happened that these disappe ared from the premises to parts unknown\, aided in their flight by the ver y waiters who would afterwards exhibit the most profound ignorance as to t heir whereabouts. Such of the Southerners as brought no servants with them were made to contribute\, unconsciously and most amusingly\, to the escap e of those of their friends.\n\nWhen a gentleman presented himself at the bar wearing boots entirely too small for him\, with his hat so far down up on his forehead as almost to obscure his eyes\, and whose mouth was filled with oaths and tobacco\, he was generally looked upon as a favourable spe cimen to operate upon\; and if he cursed the waiters\, addressed any old m an amongst them as \"boy\,\" and was continually drinking cock-tails and m int-juleps\, they were sure of their man\; and then would tell him the mos t astonishing and distressing tales of their destitution\, expressing\, al most with tears in their eyes\, their deep desire to return to their forme r masters\; whilst perhaps the person from whose mouth this tale of woe pr oceeded had been born in a neighbouring street\, and had never been south of Mason and Dixon's[*] line. This flattering testimony in favour of \"the peculiar institution\" generally had the effect of extracting a dollar or two from the purse of the sympathetic Southerner\; which money went immed iately into the coffers of the Vigilance Committee.\n\n[Footnote *: The li ne dividing the free from the slave states.]\n\nIt was this course of cond uct they were about to pursue with Mr. Winston\; not because he exhibited in person or manners any of the before-mentioned peculiarities\, but from his being registered from New Orleans.\n\nThe following morning\, as soon as he had breakfasted\, he started in search of Mr. Ellis. The address was 18\, Little Green-street\; and\, by diligently inquiring\, he at length d iscovered the required place.\n\nAfter climbing up a long flight of stairs on the outside of an old wooden building\, he found himself before a door on which was written\, \"Charles Ellis\, carpenter and joiner.\" On openi ng it\, he ushered himself into the presence of an elderly coloured man\, who was busily engaged in planing off a plank. As soon as Mr. Winston saw his face fully\, he recognized him as his old friend. The hair had grown g rey\, and the form was also a trifle bent\, but he would have known him am ongst a thousand. Springing forward\, he grasped his hand\, exclaiming\, \ "My dear old friend\, don't you know me?\" Mr. Ellis shaded his eyes with his hand\, and looked at him intently for a few moments\, but seemed no wi ser from his scrutiny. The tears started to Mr. Winston's eyes as he said\ , \"Many a kind word I'm indebted to you for—I am George Winston—don't you remember little George that used to live on the Carter estate?\"\n\n\ "Why\, bless me! it can't be that you are the little fellow that used to g o home with me sometimes to Savanah\, and that was sold to go to New Orlea ns?\"\n\n\"Yes\, the same boy\; I've been through a variety of changes sin ce then.\"\n\n\"I should think you had\,\" smilingly replied Mr. Ellis\; \ "and\, judging from appearances\, very favourable ones! Why\, I took you f or a white man—and you are a white man\, as far as complexion is concern ed. Laws\, child!\" he continued\, laying his hand familiarly on Winston's shoulders\, \"how you have changed—I should never have known you! The l ast time I saw you\, you were quite a shaver\, running about in a long tow shirt\, and regarding a hat and shoes as articles of luxury far beyond yo ur reach. And now\,\" said Mr. Ellis\, gazing at him with admiring eyes\, \"just to look at you! Why\, you are as fine a looking man as one would wi sh to see in a day's travel. I've often thought of you. It was only the ot her day I was talking to my wife\, and wondering what had become of you. S he\, although a great deal older than your cousin Emily\, used to be a sor t of playmate of hers. Poor Emily! we heard she was sold at public sale in Savanah—did you ever learn what became of her?\" \"Oh\, yes\; I saw her about two months since\, when on my way from New Orleans. You remember ol d Colonel Garie? Well\, his son bought her\, and is living with her. They have two children—she is very happy. I really love him\; he is the most kind and affectionate fellow in the world\; there is nothing he would not do to make her happy. Emily will be so delighted to know that I have seen your wife—but who is Mrs. Ellis?—any one that I know?\"\n\n\"I do not know that you are acquainted with her\, but you should remember her mother \, old Nanny Tobert\, as she was called\; she kept a little confectioner y—almost every one in Savanah knew her.\"\n\n\"I can't say I do\,\" repl ied Winston\, reflectively.\n\n\"She came here\,\" continued Mr. Ellis\, \ "some years ago\, and died soon after her arrival. Her daughter went to li ve with the Thomases\, an old Philadelphia family\, and it was from their house I married her.\"\n\n\"Thomases?\" repeated Mr. Winston\; \"that is w here I saw your boy—he is the image of you.\"\n\n\"And how came you ther e?\" asked Ellis\, with a look of surprise.\n\n\"In the most natural manne r possible. I was invited there to dinner yesterday—the bright face of y our boy attracted my attention—so I inquired his name\, and that led to the discovery of yourself.\"\n\n\"And do the Thomases know you are a colou red man?\" asked Mr. Ellis\, almost speechless with astonishment.\n\n\"I r ather think not\,\" laughingly rejoined Mr. Winston.\n\n\"It is a great ri sk you run to be passing for white in that way\,\" said Mr. Ellis\, with a grave look. \"But how did you manage to get introduced to that set? They are our very first people.\"\n\n\"It is a long story\,\" was Winston's rep ly\; and he then\, as briefly as he could\, related all that had occurred to himself since they last met. \"And now\,\" continued he\, as he finishe d his recital\, \"I want to know all about you and your family\; and I als o want to see something of the coloured people. Since I've been in the Nor th I've met none but whites. I'm not going to return to New Orleans to rem ain. I'm here in search of a home. I wish to find some place to settle dow n in for life\, where I shall not labour under as many disadvantages as I must struggle against in the South.\"\n\n\"One thing I must tell you\,\" r ejoined Mr. Ellis\; \"if you should settle down here\, you'll have to be e ither one thing or other—white or coloured. Either you must live exclusi vely amongst coloured people\, or go to the whites and remain with them. B ut to do the latter\, you must bear in mind that it must never be known th at you have a drop of African blood in your veins\, or you would be shunne d as if you were a pestilence\; no matter how fair in complexion or how wh ite you may be.\"\n\n\"I have not as yet decided on trying the experiment\ , and I hardly think it probable I shall\,\" rejoined Winston. As he said this he took out his watch\, and was astonished to find how very long his visit had been. He therefore gave his hand to Mr. Ellis\, and promised to return at six o'clock and accompany him home to visit his family.\n\nAs he was leaving the shop\, Mr. Ellis remarked: \"George\, you have not said a word respecting your mother.\" His face flushed\, and the tears started i n his eyes\, as he replied\, in a broken voice\, \"She's dead! Only think\ , Ellis\, she died within a stone's throw of me\, and I searching for her all the while. I never speak of it unless compelled\; it is too harrowing. It was a great trial to me\; it almost broke my heart to think that she p erished miserably so near me\, whilst I was in the enjoyment of every luxu ry. Oh\, if she could only have lived to see me as I am now!\" continued h e\; \"but He ordered it otherwise\, and we must bow. 'Twas God's will it s hould be so. Good bye till evening. I shall see you again at six.\"\n\nGre at was the surprise of Mrs. Ellis and her daughters on learning from Mr. E llis\, when he came home to dinner\, of the events of the morning\; and gr eat was the agitation caused by the announcement of the fact\, that his fr iend was to be their guest in the evening.\n\nMrs. Ellis proposed inviting some of their acquaintances to meet him\; but to this project her husband objected\, saying he wanted to have a quiet evening with him\, and to tal k over old times\; and that persons who were entire strangers to him would only be a restraint upon them.\n\nCaddy seemed quite put out by the annou ncement of the intended visit. She declared that nothing was fit to be see n\, that the house was in a state of disorder shocking to behold\, and tha t there was scarce a place in it fit to sit down in\; and she forthwith be gan to prepare for an afternoon's vigorous scrubbing and cleaning.\n\n\"Ju st let things remain as they are\, will you\, Caddy dear\,\" said her fath er. \"Please be quiet until I get out of the house\,\" he continued\, as s he began to make unmistakeable demonstrations towards raising a dust. \"In a few moments you shall have the house to yourself\, only give me time to finish my dinner in peace.\"\n\nEsther\, her mother\, and their sewing we re summarily banished to an upstairs room\, whilst Caddy took undivided po ssession of the little parlour\, which she soon brought into an astonishin g state of cleanliness. The ornaments were arranged at exact distances fro m the corners of the mantelpiece\, the looking-glass was polished\, until it appeared to be without spot or blemish\, and its gilt frame was newly a dorned with cut paper to protect it from the flies. The best china was bro ught out\, carefully dusted\, and set upon the waiter\, and all things wit hin doors placed in a state of forwardness to receive their expected guest . The door-steps were\, however\, not as white and clean as they might be\ , and that circumstance pressed upon Caddy's mind. She therefore determine d to give them a hasty wipe before retiring to dress for the evening.\n\nH aving done this\, and dressed herself to her satisfaction\, she came down stairs to prepare the refreshments for tea. In doing this\, she continuall y found herself exposing her new silk dress to great risks. She therefore donned an old petticoat over her skirt\, and tied an old silk handkerchief over her head to protect her hair from flying particles of dust\; and thu s arrayed she passed the time in a state of great excitement\, frequently looking out of the window to see if her father and their guest were approa ching.\n\nIn one of these excursions\, she\, to her intense indignation\, found a beggar boy endeavouring to draw\, with a piece of charcoal\, an il lustration of a horse-race upon her so recently cleaned door-steps.\n\n\"Y ou young villain\,\" she almost screamed\, \"go away from there. How dare you make those marks upon the steps? Go off at once\, or I'll give you to a constable.\" To these behests the daring young gentleman only returned a contemptuous laugh\, and put his thumb to his nose in the most provoking manner. \"Ain't you going?\" continued the irate Caddy\, almost choked wit h wrath at the sight of the steps\, over which she had so recently toiled\ , scored in every direction with black marks.\n\n\"Just wait till I come d own\, I'll give it to you\, you audacious villain\, you\,\" she cried\, as she closed the window\; \"I'll see if I can't move you!\" Caddy hastily s eized a broom\, and descended the stairs with the intention of inflicting summary vengeance upon the dirty delinquent who had so rashly made himself liable to her wrath. Stealing softly down the alley beside the house\, sh e sprang suddenly forward\, and brought the broom with all her energy down upon the head of Mr. Winston\, who was standing on the place just left by the beggar. She struck with such force as to completely crush his hat dow n over his eyes\, and was about to repeat the blow\, when her father caugh t her arm\, and she became aware of the awful mistake she had made.\n\n\"W hy\, my child!\" exclaimed her father\, \"what on earth\, is the matter wi th you\, have you lost your senses?\" and as he spoke\, he held her at arm 's length from him to get a better look at her. \"What are you dressed up in this style for?\" he continued\, as he surveyed her from head to foot\; and then bursting into a loud laugh at her comical appearance\, he releas ed her\, and she made the quickest possible retreat into the house by the way she came out.\n\nBushing breathless upstairs\, she exclaimed\, \"Oh\, mother\, mother\, I've done it now! They've come\, and I've beat him over the head with a broom!\"\n\n\"Beat whom over the head with a broom?\" aske d Mrs. Ellis.\n\n\"Oh\, mother\, I'm so ashamed\, I don't know what to do with myself. I struck Mr. Winston with a broom. Mr. Winston\, the gentlema n father has brought home.\"\n\n\"I really believe the child is crazy\,\" said Mrs. Ellis\, surveying the chagrined girl. \"Beat Mr. Winston over th e head with a broom! how came you to do it?\"\n\n\"Oh\, mother\, I made a great mistake\; I thought he was a beggar.\"\n\n\"He must be a very differ ent looking person from what we have been led to expect\,\" here interrupt ed Esther. \"I understood father to say that he was very gentlemanlike in appearance.\"\n\n\"So he is\,\" replied Caddy.\n\n\"But you just said you took him for a beggar?\" replied her mother.\n\n\"Oh\, don't bother me\, d on't bother me! my head is all turned upside down.\nDo\, Esther\, go down and let them in—hear how furiously father is knocking!\nOh\, go—do go! \"\n\nEsther quickly descended and opened the door for Winston and her fat her\; and whilst the former was having the dust removed and his hat straig htened\, Mrs. Ellis came down and was introduced by her husband. She laugh ingly apologized for the ludicrous mistake Caddy had made\, which afforded great amusement to all parties\, and divers were the jokes perpetrated at her expense during the remainder of the evening. Her equanimity having be en restored by Winston's assurances that he rather enjoyed the joke than o therwise—and an opportunity having been afforded her to obliterate the o bnoxious marks from the door-steps—she exhibited great activity in forwa rding all the arrangements for tea.\n\nThey sat a long while round the tab le—much time that\, under ordinary circumstances\, would have been given to the demolition of the food before them\, being occupied by the elders of the party in inquiries after mutual friends\, and in relating the many incidents that had occurred since they last met.\n\nTea being at length fi nished\, and the things cleared away\, Mrs. Ellis gave the girls permissio n to go out. \"Where are you going?\" asked their father.\n\n\"To the libr ary company's room—to-night is their last lecture.\"\n\n\"I thought\,\" said Winston\, \"that coloured persons were excluded from such places. I c ertainly have been told so several times.\"\n\n\"It is quite true\,\" repl ied Mr. Ellis\; \"at the lectures of the white library societies a coloure d person would no more be permitted to enter than a donkey or a rattle-sna ke. This association they speak of is entirely composed of people of colou r. They have a fine library\, a debating club\, chemical apparatus\, colle ctions of minerals\, &\;c. They have been having a course of lectures d elivered before them this winter\, and to-night is the last of the course. \"\n\n\"Wouldn't you like to go\, Mr. Winston?\" asked Mrs. Ellis\, who ha d a mother's desire to secure so fine an escort for her daughters.\n\n\"No \, no—don't\, George\,\" quickly interposed Mr. Ellis\; \"I am selfish e nough to want you entirely to myself to-night. The girls will find beaux e nough\, I'll warrant you.\" At this request the girls did not seem greatly pleased\, and Miss Caddy\, who already\, in imagination\, had excited the envy of all her female friends by the grand entree she was to make at the Lyceum\, leaning on the arm of Winston\, gave her father a by no means af fectionate look\, and tying her bonnet-strings with a hasty jerk\, started out in company with her sister.\n\n\"You appear to be very comfortable he re\, Ellis\,\" said Mr. Winston\, looking round the apartment. \"If I am n ot too inquisitive—what rent do you pay for this house?\"\n\n\"It's mine !\" replied Ellis\, with an air of satisfaction\; \"house\, ground\, and a ll\, bought and paid for since I settled here.\"\n\n\"Why\, you are gettin g on well! I suppose\,\" remarked Winston\, \"that you are much better off than the majority of your coloured friends. From all I can learn\, the fr ee coloured people in the Northern cities are very badly off. I've been fr equently told that they suffer dreadfully from want and privations of vari ous kinds.\"\n\n\"Oh\, I see you have been swallowing the usual dose that is poured down Southern throats by those Northern negro-haters\, who seem to think it a duty they owe the South to tell all manner of infamous lies upon us free coloured people. I really get so indignant and provoked somet imes\, that I scarcely know what to do with myself. Badly off\, and in wan t\, indeed! Why\, my dear sir\, we not only support our own poor\, but ass ist the whites to support theirs\, and enemies are continually filling the public ear with the most distressing tales of our destitution! Only the o ther day the Colonization Society had the assurance to present a petition to the legislature of this State\, asking for an appropriation to assist t hem in sending us all to Africa\, that we might no longer remain a burthen upon the State—and they came very near getting it\, too\; had it not be en for the timely assistance of young Denbigh\, the son of Judge Denbigh\, they would have succeeded\, such was the gross ignorance that prevailed r especting our real condition\, amongst the members of the legislature. He moved a postponement of the vote until he could have time to bring forward facts to support the ground that he had assumed in opposition to the appr opriation being made. It was granted\; and\, in a speech that does him hon our\, he brought forward facts that proved us to be in a much superior con dition to that in which our imaginative enemies had described us. Ay! he d id more—he proved us to be in advance of the whites in wealth and genera l intelligence: for whilst it was one in fifteen amongst the whites unable to read and write\, it was but one in eighteen amongst the coloured (I wo n't pretend to be correct about the figures\, but that was about the relat ive proportions)\; and also\, that we paid\, in the shape of taxes upon ou r real estate\, more than our proportion for the support of paupers\, insa ne\, convicts\, &\;c.\"\n\n\"Well\,\" said the astonished Winston\, \"t hat is turning the tables completely. You must take me to visit amongst th e coloured people\; I want to see as much of them as possible during my st ay.\"\n\n\"I'll do what I can for you\, George. I am unable to spare you m uch time just at present\, but I'll put you in the hands of one who has ab undance of it at his disposal—I will call with you and introduce you to Walters.\"\n\n\"Who is Walters?\" asked Mr. Winston.\n\n\"A friend of mine —a dealer in real estate.\"\n\n\"Oh\, then he is a white man?\"\n\n\"Not by any means\,\" laughingly replied Mr. Ellis. \"He is as black as a man can conveniently be. He is very wealthy\; some say that he is worth half a million of dollars. He owns\, to my certain knowledge\, one hundred brick houses. I met him the other day in a towering rage: it appears\, that he owns ten thousand dollars' worth of stock\, in a railroad extending from t his to a neighbouring city. Having occasion to travel in it for some littl e distance\, he got into the first-class cars\; the conductor\, seeing him there\, ordered him out—he refused to go\, and stated that he was a sha reholder. The conductor replied\, that he did not care how much stock he o wned\, he was a nigger\, and that no nigger should ride in those cars\; so he called help\, and after a great deal of trouble they succeeded in ejec ting him.\" \"And he a stockholder! It was outrageous\,\" exclaimed Winsto n. \"And was there no redress?\"\n\n\"No\, none\, practically. He would ha ve been obliged to institute a suit against the company\; and\, as public opinion now is\, it would be impossible for him to obtain a verdict in his favour.\"\n\nThe next day Winston was introduced to Mr. Walters\, who exp ressed great pleasure in making his acquaintance\, and spent a week in sho wing him everything of any interest connected with coloured people.\n\nWin ston was greatly delighted with the acquaintances he made\; and the kindne ss and hospitality with which he was received made a most agreeable impres sion upon him.\n\nIt was during this period that he wrote the glowing lett ers to Mr. and Mrs.\nGarie\, the effects of which will be discerned in the next chapter.\n\nCHAPTER V.\nThe Garies decide on a Change.\n\nWe must no w return to the Garies\, whom we left listening to Mr. Winston's descripti on of what he saw in Philadelphia\, and we need not add anything respectin g it to what the reader has already gathered from the last chapter\; our o bject being now to describe the effect his narrative produced.\n\nOn the e vening succeeding the departure of Winston for New Orleans\, Mr. and Mrs. Garie were seated in a little arbour at a short distance from the house\, and which commanded a magnificent prospect up and down the river. It was o vershadowed by tall trees\, from the topmost branches of which depended la rge bunches of Georgian moss\, swayed to and fro by the soft spring breeze that came gently sweeping down the long avenue of magnolias\, laden with the sweet breath of the flowers with which the trees were covered.\n\nA cl imbing rose and Cape jessamine had almost covered the arbour\, and their i ntermingled blossoms\, contrasting with the rich brown colour of the branc hes of which it was constructed\, gave it an exceedingly beautiful and pic turesque appearance.\n\nThis arbour was their favourite resort in the afte rnoons of summer\, as they could see from it the sun go down behind the lo w hills opposite\, casting his gleams of golden light upon the tops of the trees that crowned their summits. Northward\, where the chain of hills wa s broken\, the waters of the river would be brilliant with waves of gold l ong after the other parts of it were shrouded in the gloom of twilight. Mr . and Mrs. Garie sat looking at the children\, who were scampering about t he garden in pursuit of a pet rabbit which had escaped\, and seemed determ ined not to be caught upon any pretence whatever.\n\n\"Are they not beauti ful?\" said Mr. Garie\, with pride\, as they bounded past him. \"There are not two prettier children in all Georgia. You don't seem half proud enoug h of them\,\" he continued\, looking down upon his wife affectionately.\n\ nMrs. Garie\, who was half reclining on the seat\, and leaning her head up on his shoulder\, replied\, \"Oh\, yes\, I am\, Garie\; I'm sure I love th em dearly—oh\, so dearly!\" continued she\, fervently—\"and I only w ish\"—here she paused\, as if she felt she had been going to say somethi ng that had better remain unspoken.\n\n\"You only wish what\, dear? You we re going to say something\,\" rejoined her husband. \"Come\, out with it\, and let me hear what it was.\"\n\n\"Oh\, Garie\, it was nothing of any co nsequence.\"\n\n\"Consequence or no consequence\, let me hear what it was\ , dear.\"\n\n\"Well\, as you insist on hearing it\, I was about to say tha t I wish they were not little slaves.\"\n\n\"Oh\, Em! Em!\" exclaimed he\, reproachfully\, \"how can you speak in that manner? I thought\, dear\, th at you regarded me in any other light than that of a master. What have I d one to revive the recollection that any such relation existed between us? Am I not always kind and affectionate? Did you ever have a wish ungratifie d for a single day\, if it was in my power to compass it? or have I ever b een harsh or neglectful?\"\n\n\"Oh\, no\, dear\, no—forgive me\, Garie —do\, pray\, forgive me—you are kindness itself—believe me\, I did n ot think to hurt your feelings by saying what I did. I know you do not tre at me or them as though we were slaves. But I cannot help feeling that we are such—and it makes me very sad and unhappy sometimes. If anything sho uld happen that you should be taken away suddenly\, think what would be ou r fate. Heirs would spring up from somewhere\, and we might be sold and se parated for ever. Respecting myself I might be indifferent\, but regarding the children I cannot feel so.\"\n\n\"Tut\, tut\, Em! don't talk so gloom ily. Do you know of any one\, now\, who has been hired to put me to death? \" said he\, smiling.\n\n\"Don't talk so\, dear\; remember\, 'In the midst of life we are in death.' It was only this morning I learned that Celeste —you remember Celeste\, don't you?—I cannot recall her last name.\"\n\ n\"No\, dear\, I really can't say that I do remember whom you refer to.\"\ n\n\"I can bring her to your recollection\, I think\,\" continued she. \"O ne afternoon last fall we were riding together on the Augusta-road\, when you stopped to admire a very neat cottage\, before the door of which two p retty children were playing.\"\n\n\"Oh\, yes\, I remember something about it—I admired the children so excessively that you became quite jealous.\ "\n\n\"I don't remember that part of it\,\" she continued. \"But let me te ll you my story. Last week the father of the children started for Washingt on\; the cars ran off the track\, and were precipitated down a high embank ment\, and he and some others were killed. Since his death it has been dis covered that all his property was heavily mortgaged to old MacTurk\, the w orst man in the whole of Savannah\; and he has taken possession of the pla ce\, and thrown her and the children into the slave-pen\, from which they will be sold to the highest bidder at a sheriff's sale. Who can say that a similar fate may never be mine? These things press upon my spirit\, and m ake me so gloomy and melancholy at times\, that I wish it were possible to shun even myself. Lately\, more than ever\, have I felt disposed to beg y ou to break up here\, and move off to some foreign country where there is no such thing as slavery. I have often thought how delightful it would be for us all to be living in that beautiful Italy you have so often describe d to me—or in France either. You said you liked both those places—why not live in one of them?\"\n\n\"No\, no\, Emily\; I love America too much to ever think of living anywhere else. I am much too thorough a democrat e ver to swear allegiance to a king. No\, no—that would never do—give me a free country.\"\n\n\"That is just what I say\,\" rejoined Mrs. Garie\; \"that is exactly what I want\; that is why I should like to get away from here\, because this is not a free country—God knows it is not!\"\n\n\"O h\, you little traitor! How severely you talk\, abusing your native land i n such shocking style\, it's really painful to hear you\,\" said Mr. Garie in a jocular tone.\n\n\"Oh\, love\,\" rejoined she\, \"don't joke\, it's not a subject for jesting. It is heavier upon my heart than you dream of. Wouldn't you like to live in the free States? There is nothing particular to keep you here\, and only think how much better it would be for the chil dren: and Garie\,\" she continued in a lower tone\, nestling close to him as she spoke\, and drawing his head towards her\, \"I think I am going t o—\" and she whispered some words in his ear\, and as she finished she s hook her head\, and her long curls fell down in clusters over her face.\n\ nMr. Garie put the curls aside\, and kissing her fondly\, asked\, \"How lo ng have you known it\, dear?\"\n\n\"Not long\, not very long\,\" she repli ed. \"And I have such a yearning that it should be born a free child. I do want that the first air it breathes should be that of freedom. It will ki ll me to have another child born here! its infant smiles would only be a r eproach to me. Oh\,\" continued she\, in a tone of deep feeling\, \"it is a fearful thing to give birth to an inheritor of chains\;\" and she shudde red as she laid her head on her husband's bosom.\n\nMr. Garie's brow grew thoughtful\, and a pause in the conversation ensued. The sun had long sinc e gone down\, and here and there the stars were beginning to show their tw inkling light. The moon\, which had meanwhile been creeping higher and hig her in the blue expanse above\, now began to shed her pale\, misty beams o n the river below\, the tiny waves of which broke in little circlets of si lver on the shore almost at their feet.\n\nMr. Garie was revolving in his mind the conversation he had so recently held with Mr. Winston respecting the free States. It had been suggested by him that the children should be sent to the North to be educated\, but he had dismissed the notion\, well knowing that the mother would be heart-broken at the idea of parting with her darlings. Until now\, the thought of going to reside in the North had never been presented for his consideration. He was a Southerner in almost all his feelings\, and had never had a scruple respecting the ownership of slaves. But now the fact that he was the master as well as the father of his children\, and that whilst he resided where he did it was out of his p ower to manumit them\; that in the event of his death they might be seized and sold by his heirs\, whoever they might be\, sent a thrill of horror t hrough him. He had known all this before\, but it had never stood out in s uch bold relief until now.\n\n\"What are you thinking of\, Garie?\" asked his wife\, looking up into his face. \"I hope I have not vexed you by what I've said.\"\n\n\"Oh\, no\, dear\, not at all. I was only thinking whethe r you would be any happier if I acceded to your wishes and removed to the North. Here you live in good style—you have a luxurious home\, troops of servants to wait upon you\, a carriage at your disposal. In fact\, everyt hing for which you express a desire.\"\n\n\"I know all that\, Garie\, and what I am about to say may seem ungrateful\, but believe me\, dear\, I do not mean it to be so. I had much rather live on crusts and wear the coarse st clothes\, and work night and day to earn them\, than live here in luxur y\, wearing gilded chains. Carriages and fine clothes cannot create happin ess. I have every physical comfort\, and yet my heart is often heavy—oh\ , so very heavy\; I know I am envied by many for my fine establishment\; y et how joyfully would I give it all up and accept the meanest living for t he children's freedom—and your love.\"\n\n\"But\, Emily\, granted we sho uld remove to the North\, you would find annoyances there as well as here. There is a great deal of prejudice existing there against people of colou r\, which\, often exposes them to great inconveniences.\"\n\n\"Yes\, dear\ , I know all that\; I should expect that. But then on the other hand\, rem ember what George said respecting the coloured people themselves\; what a pleasant social circle they form\, and how intelligent many of them are! O h\, Garie\, how I have longed for friends!—we have visitors now and then \, but none that I can call friends. The gentlemen who come to see you occ asionally are polite to me\, but\, under existing circumstances\, I feel t hat they cannot entertain for me the respect I think I deserve. I know the y look down upon and despise me because I'm a coloured woman. Then there w ould be another advantage\; I should have some female society—here I hav e none. The white ladies of the neighbourhood will not associate with me\, although I am better educated\, thanks to your care\, than many of them\, so it is only on rare occasions\, when I can coax some of our more cultiv ated coloured acquaintances from Savannah to pay us a short visit\, that I have any female society\, and no woman can be happy without it. I have no parents\, nor yet have you. We have nothing we greatly love to leave behi nd—no strong ties to break\, and in consequence would be subjected to no great grief at leaving. If I only could persuade you to go!\" said she\, imploringly.\n\n\"Well\, Emily\,\" replied he\, in an undecided manner\, \ "I'll think about it. I love you so well\, that I believe I should be will ing to make any sacrifice for your happiness. But it is getting damp and c hilly\, and you know\,\" said he\, smiling\, \"you must be more than usual ly careful of yourself now.\"\n\nThe next evening\, and many more besides\ , were spent in discussing the proposed change. Many objections to it were stated\, weighed carefully\, and finally set aside. Winston was written t o and consulted\, and though he expressed some surprise at the proposal\, gave it his decided approval. He advised\, at the same time\, that the est ate should not be sold\, but be placed in the hands of some trustworthy pe rson\, to be managed in Mr. Garie's absence. Under the care of a first-rat e overseer\, it would not only yield a handsome income\, but should they b e dissatisfied with their Northern home\, they would have the old place st ill in reserve\; and with the knowledge that they had this to fall back up on\, they could try their experiment of living in the North with their min ds less harassed than they otherwise would be respecting the result.\n\nAs Mr. Garie reflected more and more on the probable beneficial results of t he project\, his original disinclination to it diminished\, until he final ly determined on running the risk\; and he felt fully rewarded for this co ncession to his wife's wishes when he saw her recover all her wonted seren ity and sprightliness.\n\nThey were soon in all the bustle and confusion c onsequent on preparing for a long journey. When Mr. Garie's determination to remove became known\, great consternation prevailed on the plantation\, and dismal forebodings were entertained by the slaves as to the result up on themselves.\n\nDivers were the lamentations heard on all sides\, when t hey were positively convinced that \"massa was gwine away for true\;\" but they were somewhat pacified\, when they learned that no one was to be sol d\, and that the place would not change hands. For Mr. Garie was a very ki nd master\, and his slaves were as happy as slaves can be under any circum stances. Not much less was the surprise which the contemplated change exci ted in the neighbourhood\, and it was commented on pretty freely by his ac quaintances. One of them—to whom he had in conversation partially opened his mind\, and explained that his intended removal grew out of anxiety re specting the children\, and his own desire that they might be where they c ould enjoy the advantages of schools\, &\;c.—sneered almost to his fa ce at what he termed his crack-brained notions\; and subsequently\, in rel ating to another person the conversation he had had with Mr. Garie\, spoke of him as \"a soft-headed fool\, led by the nose by a yaller wench. Why c an't he act\,\" he said\, \"like other men who happen to have half-white c hildren—breed them up for the market\, and sell them?\" and he might hav e added\, \"as I do\,\" for he was well known to have so acted by two or t hree of his own tawny offspring.\n\nMr. Garie\, at the suggestion of Winst on\, wrote to Mr. Walters\, to procure them a small\, but neat and comfort able house\, in Philadelphia\; which\, when procured\, he was to commit to the care of Mr. and Mrs. Ellis\, who were to have it furnished and made r eady to receive him and his family on their arrival\, as Mr. Garie desired to save his wife as much as possible\, from the care and anxiety attendan t upon the arrangement of a new residence.\n\nOne most important matter\, and on which depended the comfort and happiness of his people\, was the se lection of a proper overseer. On its becoming known that he required such a functionary\, numbers of individuals who aspired to that dignified and h onourable office applied forthwith\; and as it was also known that the mas ter was to be absent\, and that\, in consequence\, the party having it und er his entire control\, could cut and slash without being interfered with\ , the value of the situation was greatly enhanced. It had also another irr esistible attraction\, the absence of the master would enable the overseer to engage in the customary picking and stealing operations\, with less ch ance of detection.\n\nIn consequence of all these advantages\, there was n o want of applicants. Great bony New England men\, traitors to the air the y first breathed\, came anxiously forward to secure the prize. Mean\, weas en-faced\, poor white Georgians\, who were able to show testimonials of th eir having produced large crops with a small number of hands\, and who cou ld tell to a fraction how long a slave could be worked on a given quantity of corn\, also put in their claims for consideration. Short\, thick-set m en\, with fierce faces\, who gloried in the fact that they had at various times killed refractory negroes\, also presented themselves to undergo the necessary examination.\n\nMr. Garie sickened as he contemplated the motle y mass of humanity that presented itself with such eagerness for the attai nment of so degrading an office\; and as he listened to their vulgar boast ings and brutal language\, he blushed to think that such men were his coun trymen.\n\nNever until now had he had occasion for an overseer. He was not ambitious of being known to produce the largest crop to the acre\, and hi s hands had never been driven to that shocking extent\, so common with his neighbours. He had been his own manager\, assisted by an old negro\, call ed Ephraim—most generally known as Eph\, and to him had been entrusted t he task of immediately superintending the hands engaged in the cultivation of the estate. This old man was a great favourite with the children\, and Clarence\, who used to accompany him on his pony over the estate\, regard ed him as the most wonderful and accomplished coloured gentleman in existe nce.\n\nEph was in a state of great perturbation at the anticipated change \, and he earnestly sought to be permitted to accompany them to the North. Mr. Garie was\, however\, obliged to refuse his request\, as he said\, th at it was impossible that the place could get on without him.\n\nAn overse er being at last procured\, whose appearance and manners betokened a bette r heart than that of any who had yet applied for the situation\, and who w as also highly-recommended for skill and honesty\; nothing now remained to prevent Mr. Garie's early departure.\n\nCHAPTER VI.\nPleasant News.\n\nOn e evening Mr. Ellis was reading the newspaper\, and Mrs. Ellis and the gir ls were busily engaged in sewing\, when who should come in but Mr. Walters \, who had entered without ceremony at the front door\, which had been lef t open owing to the unusual heat of the weather.\n\n\"Here you all are\, h ard at work\,\" exclaimed he\, in his usual hearty manner\, accepting at t he same time the chair offered to him by Esther.\n\n\"Come\, now\,\" conti nued he\, \"lay aside your work and newspapers\, for I have great news to communicate.\"\n\n\"Indeed\, what is it?—what can it be?\" cried the thr ee females\, almost in a breath\; \"do let us hear it!\"\n\n\"Oh\,\" said Mr. Walters\, in a provokingly slow tone\, \"I don't think I'll tell you t o-night\; it may injure your rest\; it will keep till to-morrow.\"\n\n\"No w\, that is always the way with Mr. Walters\,\" said Caddy\, pettishly\; \ "he always rouses one's curiosity\, and then refuses to gratify it\;—he is so tantalizing sometimes!\"\n\n\"I'll tell you this much\,\" said he\, looking slily at Caddy\, \"it is connected with a gentleman who had the mi sfortune to be taken for a beggar\, and who was beaten over the head in co nsequence by a young lady of my acquaintance.\"\n\n\"Now\, father has been telling you that\,\" exclaimed Caddy\, looking confused\, \"and I don't t hank him for it either\; I hear of that everywhere I go—even the Burtons know of it.\"\n\nMr. Walters now looked round the room\, as though he mis sed some one\, and finally exclaimed\, \"Where is Charlie? I thought I mis sed somebody—where is my boy?\"\n\n\"We have put him out to live at Mrs. Thomas's\,\" answered Mrs. Ellis\, hesitatingly\, for she knew Mr. Walter s' feelings respecting the common practice of sending little coloured boys to service. \"It is a very good place for him\,\" continued she—\"a mos t excellent place.\"\n\n\"That is too bad\,\" rejoined Mr. Walters—\"too bad\; it is a shame to make a servant of a bright clever boy like that. W hy\, Ellis\, man\, how came you to consent to his going? The boy should be at school. It really does seem to me that you people who have good and sm art boys take the very course to ruin them. The worst thing you can do wit h a boy of his age is to put him at service. Once get a boy into the habit of working for a stipend\, and\, depend upon it\, when he arrives at manh ood\, he will think that if he can secure so much a month for the rest of his life he will be perfectly happy. How would you like him to be a subser vient old numskull\, like that old Robberts of theirs?\"\n\nHere Esther in terrupted Mr. Walters by saying\, \"I am very glad to hear you express you rself in that manner\, Mr. Walters—very glad. Charlie is such a bright\, active little fellow\; I hate to have him living there as a servant. And he dislikes it\, too\, as much as any one can. I do wish mother would take him away.\"\n\n\"Hush\, Esther\,\" said her mother\, sharply\; \"your mot her lived at service\, and no one ever thought the worse of her for it.\"\ n\nEsther looked abashed\, and did not attempt to say anything farther.\n\ n\"Now\, look here\, Ellen\,\" said Mr. Walters. (He called her Ellen\, fo r he had been long intimate with the family.) \"If you can't get on withou t the boy's earning something\, why don't you do as white women and men do ? Do you ever find them sending their boys out as servants? No\; they rath er give them a stock of matches\, blacking\, newspapers\, or apples\, and start them out to sell them. What is the result? The boy that learns to se ll matches soon learns to sell other things\; he learns to make bargains\; he becomes a small trader\, then a merchant\, then a millionaire. Did you ever hear of any one who had made a fortune at service? Where would I or Ellis have been had we been hired out all our lives at so much a month? It begets a feeling of dependence to place a boy in such a situation\; and\, rely upon it\, if he stays there long\, it will spoil him for anything be tter all his days.\"\n\nMrs. Ellis was here compelled to add\, by way of j ustifying herself\, that it was not their intention to let him remain ther e permanently\; his father only having given his consent for him to serve during the vacation.\n\n\"Well\, don't let him stay there longer\, I pray you\,\" continued Walters. \"A great many white people think that we are o nly fit for servants\, and I must confess we do much to strengthen the opi nion by permitting our children to occupy such situations when we are not in circumstances to compel us to do so. Mrs. Thomas may tell you that they respect their old servant Robberts as much as they do your husband\; but they don't\, nevertheless—I don't believe a word of it. It is impossible to have the same respect for the man who cleans your boots\, that you hav e for the man who plans and builds your house.\"\n\n\"Oh\, well\, Walters\ ,\" here interposed Mr. Ellis\, \"I don't intend the boy to remain there\, so don't get yourself into an unnecessary state of excitement about it. L et us hear what this great news is that you have brought.\"\n\n\"Oh\, I ha d almost forgotten it\,\" laughingly replied Walters\, at the same time fu mbling in his pocket for a letter\, which he at length produced. \"Here\,\ " he continued\, opening it\, \"is a letter I have received from a Mr. Gar ie\, enclosing another from our friend Winston. This Mr. Garie writes me t hat he is coming to the North to settle\, and desires me to procure them a house\; and he says also that he has so far presumed upon an early acquai ntance of his wife with Mrs. Ellis as to request that she will attend to t he furnishing of it. You are to purchase all that is necessary to make the m comfortable\, and I am to foot the bills.\"\n\n\"What\, you don't mean E mily Winston's husband?\" said the astonished Mrs.\nEllis.\n\n\"I can't sa y whose husband it is\, but from Winston's letter\,\" replied Mr.\nWalters \, \"I suppose he is the person alluded to.\"\n\n\"That is news\,\" contin ued Mrs. Ellis. \"Only think\, she was a little mite of a thing when I fir st knew her\, and now she is a woman and the mother of two children. How t ime does fly. I must be getting quite old\,\" concluded she\, with a sigh. \n\n\"Nonsense\, Ellen\,\" remarked Mr. Ellis\, \"you look surprisingly yo ung\, you are quite a girl yet. Why\, it was only the other day I was aske d if you were one of my daughters.\"\n\nMrs. Ellis and the girls laughed a t this sally of their father's\, who asked\nMr. Walters if he had as yet a ny house in view.\n\n\"There is one of my houses in Winter-street that I t hink will just suit them. The former tenants moved out about a week since. If I can call for you to-morrow\,\" he continued\, turning to Mrs. Ellis\ , \"will you accompany me there to take a look at the premises?\"\n\n\"It is a dreadful long walk\,\" replied Mrs. Ellis. \"How provoking it is to t hink\, that because persons are coloured they are not permitted to ride in the omnibuses or other public conveyances! I do hope I shall live to see the time when we shall be treated as civilized creatures should be.\"\n\n\ "I suppose we shall be so treated when the Millennium comes\,\" rejoined W alters\, \"not before\, I am afraid\; and as we have no reason to anticipa te that it will arrive before to-morrow\, we shall have to walk to Winter- street\, or take a private conveyance. At any rate\, I shall call for you to-morrow at ten. Good night—remember\, at ten.\" \"Well\, this is a str ange piece of intelligence\,\" exclaimed Mrs. Ellis\, as the door closed u pon Mr. Walters. \"I wonder what on earth can induce them to move on here. Their place\, I am told\, is a perfect paradise. In old Colonel Garie's t ime it was said to be the finest in Georgia. I wonder if he really intends to live here permanently?\"\n\n\"I can't say\, my dear\,\" replied Mrs. E llis\; \"I am as much in the dark as you are.\"\n\n\"Perhaps they are gett ing poor\, Ellis\, and are coming here because they can live cheaper.\"\n\ n\"Oh\, no\, wife\; I don't think that can be the occasion of their remova l. I rather imagine he purposes emancipating his children. He cannot do it legally in Georgia\; and\, you know\, by bringing them here\, and letting them remain six months\, they are free—so says the law of some of the S outhern States\, and I think of Georgia.\"\n\nThe next morning Mrs. Ellis\ , Caddy\, and Mr. Walters\, started for Winter-street\; it was a very long walk\, and when they arrived there\, they were all pretty well exhausted. \n\n\"Oh\, dear\,\" exclaimed Mrs. Ellis\, after walking upstairs\, \"I am so tired\, and there is not a chair in the house. I must rest here\,\" sa id she\, seating herself upon the stairs\, and looking out upon the garden . \"What a large yard! if ours were only as large as this\, what a delight ful place I could make of it! But there is no room to plant anything at ou r house\, the garden is so very small.\"\n\nAfter they were all somewhat r ested\, they walked through the house and surveyed the rooms\, making some favourable commentary upon each.\n\n\"The house don't look as if it would want much cleaning\,\" said Caddy\, with a tone of regret.\n\n\"So much t he better\, I should say\,\" suggested Mr. Walters.\n\n\"Not as Caddy view s the matter\,\" rejoined Mrs. Ellis. \"She is so fond of house-cleaning\, that I positively think she regards the cleanly state of the premises as rather a disadvantage than otherwise.\" They were all\, however\, very wel l pleased with the place\; and on their way home they settled which should be the best bedroom\, and where the children should sleep. They also calc ulated how much carpet and oilcloth would be necessary\, and what style of furniture should be put in the parlour.\n\n\"I think the letter said plai n\, neat furniture\, and not too expensive\, did it not?\" asked Mrs. Elli s.\n\n\"I think those were the very words\,\" replied Caddy\; \"and\, oh\, mother\, isn't it nice to have the buying of so many pretty things? I do so love to shop!\"\n\n\"Particularly with some one else's money\,\" rejoin ed her mother\, with a smile.\n\n\"Yes\, or one's own either\, when one ha s it\,\" continued Caddy\; \"I like to spend money under any circumstances .\"\n\nThus in conversation relative to the house and its fixtures\, they beguiled the time until they reached their home. On arriving there\, Mrs. Ellis found Robberts awaiting her return with a very anxious countenance. He informed her that Mrs. Thomas wished to see her immediately\; that Char lie had been giving that estimable lady a world of trouble\; and that her presence was necessary to set things to rights.\n\n\"What has he been doin g?\" asked Mrs. Ellis.\n\n\"Oh\, lots of things! He and aunt Rachel don't get on together at all\; and last night he came nigh having the house burn ed down over our heads.\"\n\n\"Why\, Robberts\, you don't tell me so! What a trial boys are\,\" sighed Mrs.\nEllis.\n\n\"He got on first rate for a week or two\; but since that he has been raising Satan. He and aunt Rachel had a regular brush yesterday\, and he has actually lamed the old woman t o that extent she won't be able to work for a week to come.\"\n\n\"Dear\, dear\, what am I to do?\" said the perplexed Mrs. Ellis\; \"I can't go up there immediately\, I am too tired. Say to Mrs. Thomas I will come up this evening. I wonder\,\" concluded she\, \"what has come over the boy.\" \"M other\, you know how cross aunt Rachel is\; I expect she has been ill-trea ting him. He is so good-natured\, that he never would behave improperly to an old person unless goaded to it by some very harsh usage.\"\n\n\"That's the way—go on\, Esther\, find some excuse for your angel\,\" said Caddy \, ironically. \"Of course that lamb could not do anything wrong\, and\, a ccording to your judgment\, he never does\; but\, I tell you\, he is as ba d as any other boy—boys are boys. I expect he has been tracking over the floor after aunt Rachel has scrubbed it\, or has been doing something equ ally provoking\; he has been in mischief\, depend upon it.\"\n\nThings had gone on very well with Master Charlie for the first two weeks after his i ntroduction into the house of the fashionable descendant of the worthy mak er of leathern breeches. His intelligence\, combined with the quickness an d good-humour with which he performed the duties assigned him\, quite won the regard of the venerable lady who presided over that establishment. It is true she had detected him in several attempts upon the peace and well-b eing of aunt Rachel's Tom\; but with Tom she had little sympathy\, he havi ng recently made several felonious descents upon her stores of cream and c ustards. In fact\, it was not highly probable\, if any of his schemes had resulted seriously to the spiteful protege of aunt Rachel\, that Mrs. Thom as would have been overwhelmed with grief\, or disposed to inflict any sev ere punishment on the author of the catastrophe.\n\nUnfortunately for Mrs. Thomas\, Charlie\, whilst going on an errand\, had fallen in with his anc ient friend and adviser—in short\, he had met no less a person than the formerly all-sufficient Kinch. Great was the delight of both parties at th is unexpected meeting\, and warm\, indeed\, was the exchange of mutual con gratulations on this auspicious event.\n\nKinch\, in the excess of his del ight\, threw his hat several feet in the air\; nor did his feelings of ple asure undergo the least abatement when that dilapidated portion of his cos tume fell into a bed of newly-mixed lime\, from which he rescued it with g reat difficulty and at no little personal risk.\n\n\"Hallo! Kinch\, old fe llow\, how are you?\" cried Charlie\; \"I've been dying to see you—why h aven't you been up?\"\n\n\"Why\, I did come up often\, but that old witch in the kitchen wouldn't let me see you—she abused me scandalous. I wante d to pull her turban off and throw it in the gutter. Why\, she called me a dirty beggar\, and threatened to throw cold water on me if I didn't go aw ay. Phew! ain't she an old buster!\"\n\n\"Why\, I never knew you were ther e.\"\n\n\"Yes\,\" continued Kinch\; \"and I saw you another time hung up b ehind the carriage. I declare\, Charlie\, you looked so like a little monk ey\, dressed up in that sky-blue coat and silver buttons\, that I liked to have died a-laughing at you\;\" and Kinch was so overcome by the recollec tion of the event in question\, that he was obliged to sit down upon a doo r-step to recover himself.\n\n\"Oh\, I do hate to wear this confounded liv ery!' said Charlie\, dolefully—\" the boys scream 'Johnny Coat-tail' aft er me in the streets\, and call me 'blue jay\,' and 'blue nigger\,' and lo ts of other names. I feel that all that's wanting to make a complete monke y of me\, is for some one to carry me about on an organ.\"\n\n\"What do yo u wear it for\, then?\" asked Kinch.\n\n\"Because I can't help myself\, th at's the reason. The boys plague me to that extent sometimes\, that I feel like tearing the things into bits—but mother says I must wear it. Kinch \,\" concluded he\, significantly\, \"something will have to be done\, I c an't stand it.\"\n\n\"You remember what I told you about the wig\, don't y ou?\" asked Kinch\; and\, on receiving an affirmative reply\, he continued \, \"Just try that on\, and see how it goes—you'll find it'll work like a charm\; it's a regular footman-expatriator—just try it now\; you'll se e if it isn't the thing to do the business for you.\" \"I'm determined to be as bad as I can\,\" rejoined Charlie\; \"I'm tired enough of staying th ere: that old aunt Rach is a devil—I don't believe a saint from heaven c ould get on with her\; I'm expecting we'll have a pitched battle every day .\"\n\nBeguiling the time with this and similar conversation\, they reache d the house to which Charlie had been despatched with a note\; after which \, he turned his steps homeward\, still accompanied by the redoubtable Kin ch.\n\nAs ill luck would have it\, they passed some boys who were engaged in a game of marbles\, Charlie's favourite pastime\, and\, on Kinch's offe ring him the necessary stock to commence play\, he launched into the game\ , regardless of the fact that the carriage was ordered for a drive within an hour\, and that he was expected to fill his accustomed place in the rea r of that splendid vehicle.\n\nOnce immersed in the game\, time flew rapid ly on. Mrs. Thomas awaited his return until her patience was exhausted\, w hen she started on her drive without him. As they were going through a qui et street\, to her horror and surprise\, prominent amidst a crowd of dirty boys\, she discovered her little footman\, with his elegant blue livery c overed with dirt and sketches in white chalk\; for\, in the excitement of the game\, Charlie had not observed that Kinch was engaged in drawing on t he back of his coat his favourite illustration\, to wit\, a skull and cros s-bones.\n\n\"Isn't that our Charlie?\" said she to her daughter\, surveyi ng the crowd of noisy boys through her eye-glass. \"I really believe it is —that is certainly our livery\; pull the check-string\, and stop the car riage.\"\n\nNow Robberts had been pressed into service in consequence of C harlie's absence\, and was in no very good humour at being compelled to ai r his rheumatic old shins behind the family-carriage. It can therefore be readily imagined with what delight he recognized the delinquent footman am idst the crowd\, and with what alacrity he descended and pounced upon him just at the most critical moment of the game. Clutching fast hold of him b y the collar of his coat\, he dragged him to the carriage-window\, and hel d him before the astonished eyes of his indignant mistress\, who lifted up her hands in horror at the picture he presented. \"Oh! you wretched boy\, \" said she\, \"just look at your clothes\, all covered with chalk-marks a nd bespattered with lime! Your livery is totally ruined—and your knees\, too—only look at them—the dirt is completely ground into them.\"\n\n\ "But you haven't seed his back\, marm\,\" said Robberts\; \"he's got the p irate's flag drawn on it. That boy'll go straight to the devil—I know he will.\"\n\nAll this time Charlie\, to his great discomfiture\, was being shaken and turned about by Robberts in the most unceremonious manner. Kinc h\, with his usual audacity\, was meanwhile industriously engaged in traci ng on Robbert's coat a similar picture to that he had so skilfully drawn o n Charlie's\, to the great delight of a crowd of boys who stood admiring s pectators of his artistic performances. The coachman\, however\, observing this operation\, brought it to a rather hasty conclusion by a well direct ed cut of the whip across the fingers of the daring young artist. This so enraged Kinch\, that in default of any other missile\, he threw his lime-c overed cap at the head of the coachman\; but\, unfortunately for himself\, the only result of his exertions was the lodgment of his cap in the topmo st bough of a neighbouring tree\, from whence it was rescued with great di fficulty.\n\n\"What shall we do with him?\" asked Mrs. Thomas\, in a despa iring tone\, as she looked at Charlie.\n\n\"Put him with the coachman\,\" suggested Mrs. Morton.\n\n\"He can't sit there\, the horses are so restive \, and the seat is only constructed for one\, and he would be in the coach man's way. I suppose he must find room on behind with Robberts.\"\n\n\"I w on't ride on the old carriage\,\" cried Charlie\, nerved by despair\; \"I won't stay here nohow. I'm going home to my mother\;\" and as he spoke he endeavoured to wrest himself from Robberts' grasp. \"Put him in here\,\" s aid Mrs. Thomas\; \"it would never do to let him go\, for he will run home with some distressing tale of ill-treatment\; no\, we must keep him until I can send for his mother—put him in here.\"\n\nMuch to Mrs. Morton's d isgust\, Charlie was bundled by Robberts into the bottom of the carriage\, where he sat listening to the scolding of Mrs. Thomas and her daughter un til they arrived at home. He remained in disgrace for several days after t his adventure\; but as Mrs. Thomas well knew that she could not readily fi ll his place with another\, she made a virtue of necessity\, and kindly lo oked over this first offence.\n\nThe situation was\, however\, growing mor e and more intolerable. Aunt Rachel and he had daily skirmishes\, in which he was very frequently worsted. He had held several hurried consultations with Kinch through the grating of the cellar window\, and was greatly che ered and stimulated in the plans he intended to pursue by the advice and s ympathy of his devoted friend. Master Kinch's efforts to console Charlie w ere not without great risk to himself\, as he had on two or three occasion s narrowly escaped falling into the clutches of Robberts\, who well rememb ered Kinch's unprecedented attempt upon the sacredness of his livery\; and what the result might have been had the latter fallen into his hands\, we cannot contemplate without a shudder.\n\nThese conferences between Kinch and Charlie produced their natural effect\, and latterly it had been sever al times affirmed by aunt Rachel that\, \"Dat air boy was gittin' 'tirely too high—gittin' bove hissef 'pletely—dat he was gittin' more and more aggriwatin' every day—dat she itched to git at him—dat she 'spected n othin' else but what she'd be 'bliged to take hold o' him\;\" and she comp orted herself generally as if she was crazy for the conflict which she saw must sooner or later occur.\n\nCharlie\, unable on these occasions to rep ly to her remarks without precipitating a conflict for which he did not fe el prepared\, sought to revenge himself upon the veteran Tom\; and such wa s the state of his feelings\, that he bribed Kinch\, with a large lump of sugar and the leg of a turkey\, to bring up his mother's Jerry\, a fierce young cat\, and they had the satisfaction of shutting him up in the wood-h ouse with the belligerent Tom\, who suffered a signal defeat at Jerry's cl aws\, and was obliged to beat a hasty retreat through the window\, with a seriously damaged eye\, and with the fur torn off his back in numberless p laces. After this Charlie had the pleasure of hearing aunt Rachel frequent ly bewail the condition of her favourite\, whose deplorable state she was inclined to ascribe to his influence\, though she was unable to bring it h ome to him in such a manner as to insure his conviction.\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n Mrs. Thomas has her Troubles.\n\nMrs. Thomas was affected\, as silly women sometimes are\, with an intense desire to be at the head of the ton. For this object she gave grand dinners and large evening parties\, to which we re invited all who\, being two or three removes from the class whose membe rs occupy the cobbler's bench or the huckster's stall\, felt themselves at liberty to look down upon the rest of the world from the pinnacle on whic h they imagined themselves placed. At these social gatherings the conversa tion never turned upon pedigree\, and if any of the guests chanced by acci dent to allude to their ancestors\, they spoke of them as members of the f amily\, who\, at an early period of their lives\, were engaged in mercanti le pursuits.\n\nAt such dinners Mrs. Thomas would sit for hours\, mumbling dishes that disagreed with her\; smiling at conversations carried on in v illanous French\, of which language she did not understand a word\; and ad miring the manners of addle-headed young men (who got tipsy at her evening parties)\, because they had been to Europe\, and were therefore considere d quite men of the world. These parties and dinners she could not be induc ed to forego\, although the late hours and fatigue consequent thereon woul d place her on the sick-list for several days afterwards. As soon\, howeve r\, as she recovered sufficiently to resume her place at the table\, she w ould console herself with a dinner of boiled mutton and roasted turnips\, as a slight compensation for the unwholesome French dishes she had compell ed herself to swallow on the occasions before mentioned. Amongst the other modern fashions she had adopted\, was that of setting apart one morning o f the week for the reception of visitors\; and she had mortally offended s everal of her oldest friends by obstinately refusing to admit them at any other time. Two or three difficulties had occurred with Robberts\, in cons equence of this new arrangement\, as he could not be brought to see the pr opriety of saying to visitors that Mrs. Thomas was \"not at home\,\" when he knew she was at that very moment upstairs peeping over the banisters. H is obstinacy on this point had induced her to try whether she could not tr ain Charlie so as to fit him for the important office of uttering the fash ionable and truthless \"not at home\" with unhesitating gravity and decoru m\; and\, after a series of mishaps\, she at last believed her object was effected\, until an unlucky occurrence convinced her to the contrary.\n\nM rs. Thomas\, during the days on which she did not receive company\, would have presented\, to any one who might have had the honour to see that vene rable lady\, an entirely different appearance to that which she assumed on gala days. A white handkerchief supplied the place of the curling wig\, a nd the tasty French cap was replaced by a muslin one\, decorated with an i mmense border of ruffling\, that flapped up and down over her silver spect acles in the most comical manner possible. A short flannel gown and a dimi ty petticoat of very antique pattern and scanty dimensions\, completed her costume. Thus attired\, and provided with a duster\, she would make unexp ected sallies into the various domestic departments\, to see that everythi ng was being properly conducted\, and that no mal-practices were perpetrat ed at times when it was supposed she was elsewhere. She showed an intuitiv e knowledge of all traps set to give intimation of her approach\, and woul d come upon aunt Rachel so stealthily as to induce her to declare\, \"Dat old Mrs. Thomas put her more in mind of a ghost dan of any other libin ani mal.\"\n\nOne morning\, whilst attired in the manner described\, Mrs. Thom as had been particularly active in her excursions through the house\, and had driven the servants to their wits' ends by her frequent descents upon them at the most unexpected times\, thereby effectually depriving them of the short breathing intervals they were anxious to enjoy. Charlie in parti cular had been greatly harassed by her\, and was sent flying from place to place until his legs were nearly run off\, as he expressed it. And so\, w hen Lord Cutanrun\, who was travelling in America to give his estates in E ngland an opportunity to recuperate\, presented his card\, Charlie\, in re venge\, showed him into the drawing-room\, where he knew that Mrs. Thomas was busily engaged trimming an oil-lamp. Belying on the explicit order she had given to say that she was not at home\, she did not even look up when his lordship entered\, and as he advanced towards her\, she extended to h im a basin of dirty water\, saying\, \"Here\, take this.\" Receiving no re sponse she looked up\, and to her astonishment and horror beheld\, not Cha rlie\, but Lord Cutanrun. In the agitation consequent upon his unexpected appearance\, she dropped the basin\, the contents of which\, splashing in all directions\, sadly discoloured his lordship's light pants\, and greatl y damaged the elegant carpet.\n\n\"Oh! my lord\,\" she exclaimed\, \"I did n't—couldn't—wouldn't—\" and\, unable to ejaculate further\, she fai rly ran out of the apartment into the entry\, where she nearly fell over C harlie\, who was enjoying the confusion his conduct had created. \"Oh! you limb!—you little wretch!\" said she. \"You knew I was not at home!\"\n\ n\"Why\, where are you now?\" he asked\, with the most provoking air of in nocence. \"If you ain't in the house now\, you never was.\"\n\n\"Never min d\, sir\,\" said she\, \"never mind. I'll settle with you for this. Don't stand there grinning at me\; go upstairs and tell Mrs. Morton to come down immediately\, and then get something to wipe up that water. O dear! my be autiful carpet! And for a lord to see me in such a plight! Oh! it's abomin able! I'll give it to you\, you scamp! You did it on purpose\,\" continued the indignant Mrs. Thomas. \"Don't deny it—I know you did. What are you standing there for? Why don't you call Mrs. Morton?\" she concluded\, as Charlie\, chuckling over the result of his trick\, walked leisurely upstai rs. \"That boy will be the death of me\,\" she afterwards said\, on relati ng the occurrence to her daughter. \"Just to think\, after all the trouble I've had teaching him when to admit people and when not\, that he should serve me such a trick. I'm confident he did it purposely.\" Alas! for poor Mrs. Thomas\; this was only the first of a series of annoyances that Char lie had in store\, with which to test her patience and effect his own deli verance.\n\nA few days after\, one of their grand dinners was to take plac e\, and Charlie had been revolving in his mind the possibility of his find ing some opportunity\, on that occasion\, to remove the old lady's wig\; f eeling confident that\, could he accomplish that feat\, he would be permit ted to turn his back for ever on the mansion of Mrs. Thomas.\n\nNever had Mrs. Thomas appeared more radiant than at this dinner. All the guests whos e attendance she had most desired were present\, a new set of china had la tely arrived from Paris\, and she was in full anticipation of a grand triu mph. Now\, to Charlie had been assigned the important duty of removing the cover from the soup-tureen which was placed before his mistress\, and the little rogue had settled upon that moment as the most favourable for the execution of his purpose. He therefore secretly affixed a nicely crooked p in to the elbow of his sleeve\, and\, as he lifted the cover\, adroitly ho oked it into her cap\, to which he knew the wig was fastened\, and in a tw inkling had it off her head\, and before she could recover from her astoni shment and lay down the soup-ladle he had left the room. The guests stared and tittered at the grotesque figure she presented\,—her head being cov ered with short white hair\, and her face as red as a peony at the mortify ing situation in which she was placed. As she rose from her chair Charlie presented himself\, and handed her the wig\, with an apology for the accid ent. In her haste to put it on\, she turned it wrong side foremost\; the l aughter of the guests could now no longer be restrained\, and in the midst of it Mrs. Thomas left the room. Encountering Charlie as she went\, she a lmost demolished him in her wrath\; not ceasing to belabour him till his o utcries became so loud as to render her fearful that he would alarm the gu ests\; and she then retired to her room\, where she remained until the par ty broke up.\n\nIt was her custom\, after these grand entertainments\, to make nocturnal surveys of the kitchen\, to assure herself that none of the delicacies had been secreted by the servants for their personal use and r efreshment. Charlie\, aware of this\, took his measures for an ample reven ge for the beating he had received at her hands. At night\, when all the r est of the family had retired\, he hastily descended to the kitchen\, and\ , by some process known only to himself\, imprisoned the cat in a stone ja r that always stood upon the dresser\, and into which he was confident Mrs . Thomas would peep. He then stationed himself upon the stairs\, to watch the result. He had not long to wait\, for as soon as she thought the serva nts were asleep\, she came softly into the kitchen\, and\, after peering a bout in various places\, she at last lifted up the lid of the jar. Tom\, t ired of his long confinement\, sprang out\, and\, in so doing\, knocked th e lamp out of her hand\, the fluid from which ignited and ran over the flo or.\n\n\"Murder!—Fire!—Watch!\" screamed the thoroughly frightened old woman. \"Oh\, help! help! fire!\" At this terrible noise nearly every one in the household was aroused\, and hurried to the spot whence it proceede d. They found Mrs. Thomas standing in the dark\, with the lid of the jar i n her hand\, herself the personification of terror. The carpet was badly b urned in several places\, and the fragments of the lamp were scattered abo ut the floor.\n\n\"What has happened?\" exclaimed Mr. Morton\, who was the first to enter the kitchen. \"What is all this frightful noise occasioned by?\"\n\n\"Oh\, there is a man in the house!\" answered Mrs. Thomas\, her teeth chattering with fright. \"There was a man in here—he has just spr ung out\,\" she continued\, pointing to the bread-jar.\n\n\"Pooh\, pooh— that's nonsense\, madam\,\" replied the son-in-law. \"Why an infant could not get in there\, much less a man!\"\n\n\"I tell you it was a man then\,\ " angrily responded Mrs. Thomas\; \"and he is in the house somewhere now.\ "\n\n\"Such absurdity!\" muttered Mr. Morton\; adding\, in a louder tone: \"Why\, my dear mamma\, you've seen a mouse or something of the kind.\"\n\ n\"Mouse\, indeed!\" interrupted the old lady. \"Do you think I'm in my do tage\, and I don't know a man from a mouse?\"\n\nJust then the cat\, whose back had got severely singed in the melee\, set up a most lamentable cate rwauling\; and\, on being brought to light from the depths of a closet int o which he had flown\, his appearance immediately discovered the share he had had in the transaction.\n\n\"It must have been the cat\,\" said Robber ts. \"Only look at his back—why here the fur is singed off him! I'll bet anything\,\" continued he\, \"that air boy has had something to do with t his—for it's a clear case that the cat couldn't git into the jar\, and t hen put the lid on hissef.\"\n\nTom's inability to accomplish this feat be ing most readily admitted on all sides\, inquiry was immediately made as t o the whereabouts of Charlie\; his absence from the scene being rather con sidered as evidence of participation\, for\, it was argued\, if he had bee n unaware of what was to transpire\, the noise would have drawn him to the spot at once\, as he was always the first at hand in the event of any exc itement. Robberts was despatched to see if he was in his bed\, and returne d with the intelligence that the bed had not even been opened. Search was immediately instituted\, and he was discovered in the closet at the foot o f the stairs. He was dragged forth\, shaken\, pummelled\, and sent to bed\ , with the assurance that his mother should be sent for in the morning\, t o take him home\, and keep him there. This being exactly the point to whic h he was desirous of bringing matters\, he went to bed\, and passed a most agreeable night.\n\nAunt Rachel\, being one of those sleepers that nothin g short of an earthquake can rouse until their customary time for awaking\ , had slept soundly through the stirring events of the past night. She cam e down in the morning in quite a placid state of mind\, expecting to enjoy a day of rest\, as she had the night before sat up much beyond her usual time\, to set matters to rights after the confusion consequent on the dinn er party. What was her astonishment\, therefore\, on finding the kitchen s he had left in a state of perfect order and cleanliness\, in a condition t hat resembled the preparation for an annual house-cleaning.\n\n\"Lord\, bl ess us!\" she exclaimed\, looking round\; \"What on yarth has happened? I raly b'lieve dere's bin a fire in dis 'ere house\, and I never knowed a wo rd of it. Why I might have bin burnt up in my own bed! Dere's de lamp brok e—carpet burnt—pots and skillets hauled out of the closet—ebery ting turned upside down\; why dere's bin a reg'lar 'sturbance down here\,\" sh e continued\, as she surveyed the apartment.\n\nAt this juncture\, she esp ied Tom\, who sat licking his paws before the fire\, and presenting so alt ered an appearance\, from the events of the night\, as to have rendered hi m unrecognizable even by his best friend.\n\n\"Strange cat in de house! Ma king himself quite at home at dat\,\" said aunt Rachel\, indignantly. Her wrath\, already much excited\, rose to the boiling point at what she deeme d a most daring invasion of her domain. She\, therefore\, without ceremony \, raised a broom\, with which she belaboured the astonished Tom\, who ran frantically from under one chair to another till he ensconced himself in a small closet\, from which he pertinaciously refused to be dislodged. \"W on't come out of dere\, won't you?\" said she. \"I'll see if I can't make you den\;\" and poor Tom dodged behind pots and kettles to avoid the blows which were aimed at him\; at last\, thoroughly enraged by a hard knock on the back\, he sprang fiercely into the face of his tormentor\, who\, comp letely upset by the suddenness of his attack\, fell sprawling on the floor \, screaming loudly for help. She was raised up by Robberts\, who came run ning to her assistance\, and\, on being questioned as to the cause of her outcries\, replied:—\n\n\"Dere's a strange cat in de house—wild cat to o\, I raly b'lieve\;\" and spying Tom at that moment beneath the table\, s he made another dash at him for a renewal of hostilities.\n\n\"Why that's Tom\,\" exclaimed Robberts\; \"don't you know your own cat?\"\n\n\"Oh\,\" she replied\, \"dat ar isn't Tom now\, is it? Why\, what's the matter wid him?\"\n\nRobberts then gave her a detailed account of the transactions of the previous night\, in which account the share Charlie had taken was gre atly enlarged and embellished\; and the wrathful old woman was listening t o the conclusion when Charlie entered. Hardly had he got into the room\, w hen\, without any preliminary discussion\, aunt Rachel—to use her own wo rds—pitched into him to give him particular fits. Now Charlie\, not bein g disposed to receive \"particular fits\,\" made some efforts to return th e hard compliments that were being showered upon him\, and the advice of K inch providentially occurring to him—respecting an attack upon the under standing of his venerable antagonist—he brought his hard shoes down with great force upon her pet corn\, and by this coup de pied completely demol ished her. With a loud scream she let him go\; and sitting down upon the f loor\, declared herself lamed for life\, beyond the possibility of recover y. At this stage of the proceedings\, Robberts came to the rescue of his a ged coadjutor\, and seized hold of Charlie\, who forthwith commenced so br isk an attack upon his rheumatic shins\, as to cause him to beat a hurried retreat\, leaving Charlie sole master of the field. The noise that these scuffles occasioned brought Mrs. Thomas into the kitchen\, and Charlie was marched off by her into an upstairs room\, where he was kept in \"durance vile\" until the arrival of his mother.\n\nMrs. Thomas had a strong likin g for Charlie—not as a boy\, but as a footman. He was active and intelli gent\, and until quite recently\, extremely tractable and obedient\; more than all\, he was a very good-looking boy\, and when dressed in the Thomas livery\, presented a highly-respectable appearance. She therefore determi ned to be magnanimous—to look over past events\, and to show a Christian and forgiving spirit towards his delinquencies. She sent for Mrs. Ellis\, with the intention of desiring her to use her maternal influence to induc e him to apologize to aunt Rachel for his assault upon her corns\, which a pology Mrs. Thomas was willing to guarantee should be accepted\; as for th e indignities that had been inflicted on herself\, she thought it most pol itic to regard them in the light of accidents\, and to say as little about that part of the affair as possible.\n\nWhen Mrs. Ellis made her appearan ce on the day subsequent to the events just narrated\, Mrs. Thomas enlarge d to her upon the serious damage that aunt Rachel had received\, and the u rgent necessity that something should be done to mollify that important in dividual. When Charlie was brought into the presence of his mother and Mrs . Thomas\, the latter informed him\, that\, wicked as had been his conduct towards herself\, she was willing\, for his mother's sake\, to look over it\; but that he must humble himself in dust and ashes before the reigning sovereign of the culinary kingdom\, who\, making the most of the injury i nflicted on her toe\, had declared herself unfit for service\, and was at that moment ensconced in a large easy-chair\, listening to the music of he r favourite smoke-jack\, whilst a temporary cook was getting up the dinner \, under her immediate supervision and direction. \"Charlie\, I'm quite as hamed of you\,\" said his mother\, after listening to Mrs. Thomas's length y statement. \"What has come over you\, child?\"—Charlie stood biting hi s nails\, and looking very sullen\, but vouchsafed them no answer.—\"Mrs . Thomas is so kind as to forgive you\, and says she will look over the wh ole affair\, if you will beg aunt Rachel's pardon. Come\, now\,\" continue d Mrs. Ellis\, coaxingly\, \"do\, that's a good boy.\"\n\n\"Yes\, do\,\" a dded Mrs. Thomas\, \"and I will buy you a handsome new suit of livery.\"\n \nThis was too much for Charlie\; the promise of another suit of the detes ted livery quite overcame him\, and he burst into tears.\n\n\"Why\, what a ils the boy? He's the most incomprehensible child I ever saw! The idea of crying at the promise of a new suit of clothes!—any other child would ha ve been delighted\,\" concluded Mrs. Thomas.\n\n\"I don't want your old bu tton-covered uniform\,\" said Charlie\, \"and I won't wear it\, neither! A nd as for aunt Rachel\, I don't care how much she is hurt—I'm only sorry I didn't smash her other toe\; and I'll see her skinned\, and be skinned myself\, before I'll ask her pardon!\"\n\nBoth Mrs. Thomas and Charlie's m other stood aghast at this unexpected declaration\; and the result of a lo ng conference\, held by the two\, was that Charlie should be taken home\, Mrs. Ellis being unable to withstand his tears and entreaties.\n\nAs he pa ssed through the kitchen on his way out\, he made a face at aunt Rachel\, who\, in return\, threw at him one of the turnips she was peeling. It miss ed the object for which it was intended\, and came plump into the eye of R obberts\, giving to that respectable individual for some time thereafter t he appearance of a prize-fighter in livery.\n\nCharlie started for home in the highest spirits\, which\, however\, became considerably lower on his discovering his mother's view of his late exploits was very different from his own. Mrs. Ellis's fondness and admiration of her son\, although almos t amounting to weakness\, were yet insufficient to prevent her from feelin g that his conduct\, even after making due allowance for the provocation h e had received\, could not be wholly excused as mere boyish impetuosity an d love of mischievous fun. She knew that his father would feel it his duty \, not only to reprimand him\, but to inflict some chastisement\; and this thought was the more painful to her from the consciousness\, that but for her own weak compliance with Mrs. Thomas's request\, her boy would not ha ve been placed in circumstances which his judgment and self-command had pr oved insufficient to carry him through. The day\, therefore\, passed less agreeably than Charlie had anticipated\; for now that he was removed from the scene of his trials\, he could not disguise from himself that his beha viour under them had been very different from what it ought to have been\, and this had the salutary effect of bringing him into a somewhat humbler frame of mind. When his father returned in the evening\, therefore\, Charl ie appeared so crest-fallen that even Caddy could scarcely help commiserat ing him\, especially as his subdued state during the day had kept him from committing any of those offences against tidiness which so frequently exa sperated her. Mr. Ellis\, though very strict on what he thought points of duty\, had much command of temper\, and was an affectionate father. He lis tened\, therefore\, with attention to the details of Charlie's grievances\ , as well as of his misdemeanours\, and some credit is due to him for the unshaken gravity he preserved throughout. Although he secretly acquitted h is son of any really bad intention\, he thought it incumbent on him to mak e Charlie feel in some degree the evil consequences of his unruly behaviou r. After giving him a serious lecture\, and pointing out the impropriety o f taking such measures to deliver himself from the bondage in which his pa rents themselves had thought fit to place him\, without even appealing to them\, he insisted on his making the apologies due both to Mrs. Thomas and aunt Rachel (although he was fully aware that both had only got their des erts)\; and\, further\, intimated that he would not be reinstated in his p arents' good graces until he had proved\, by his good conduct and docility \, that he was really sorry for his misbehaviour. It was a severe trial to Charlie to make these apologies\; but he well knew that what his father h ad decided upon must be done—so he made a virtue of necessity\, and\, ac companied by his mother\, on the following day performed his penance with as good a grace as he was able\; and\, in consideration of this submission \, his father\, when he came home in the evening\, greeted him with all hi s usual kindness\, and the recollection of this unlucky affair was at once banished from the family circle.\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\nTrouble in the Ellis F amily.\n\nSince the receipt of Mr. Garie's letter\, Mrs. Ellis and Caddy h ad been busily engaged in putting the house in a state of preparation for their reception. Caddy\, whilst superintending its decoration\, felt herse lf in Elysium. For the first time in her life she had the supreme satisfac tion of having two unfortunate house-cleaners entirely at her disposal\; c onsequently\, she drove them about and worried them to an extent unparalle led in any of their former experience. She sought for and discovered on th e windows (which they had fondly regarded as miracles of cleanliness) sund ry streaks and smears\, and detected infinite small spots of paint and whi tewash on the newly-scrubbed floors. She followed them upstairs and downst airs\, and tormented them to that extent\, that Charlie gave it as his pri vate opinion that he should not be in the least surprised\, on going up th ere\, to find that the two old women had made away with Caddy\, and hidden her remains in the coal-bin. Whilst she was thus engaged\, to Charlie was assigned the duty of transporting to Winter-street her diurnal portion of food\, without a hearty share of which she found it impossible to maintai n herself in a state of efficiency\; her labours in chasing the women abou t the house being of a rather exhausting nature.\n\nWhen he made the visit s in question\, Charlie was generally reconnoitred by his sister from a wi ndow over the door\, and was compelled to put his shoes through a system o f purification\, devised by her for his especial benefit. It consisted of three courses of scraper\, and two of mat\; this being considered by her a s strictly necessary to bring his shoes to such a state of cleanliness as would entitle him to admission into the premises of which she was the temp orary mistress.\n\nCharlie\, on two or three occasions finding a window op en\, made stealthy descents upon the premises without first having duly ob served these quarantine regulations\; whereupon he was attacked by Caddy\, who\, with the assistance of the minions under her command\, so shook and pummelled him as to cause his precipitate retreat through the same openin g by which he had entered\, and that\, too\, in so short a space of time a s to make the whole manoeuvre appear to him in the light of a well-execute d but involuntary feat of ground and lofty tumbling. One afternoon he star ted with his sister's dinner\, consisting of a dish of which she was parti cularly fond\, and its arrival was therefore looked for with unusual anxie ty. Charlie\, having gorged himself to an almost alarming extent\, did not make the haste that the case evidently demanded\; and as he several times stopped to act as umpire in disputed games of marbles (in the rules of wh ich he was regarded as an authority)\, he necessarily consumed a great dea l of time on the way.\n\nCaddy's patience was severely tried by the long d elay\, and her temper\, at no time the most amiable\, gathered bitterness from the unprecedented length of her fast. Therefore\, when he at length a ppeared\, walking leisurely up Winter-street\, swinging the kettle about i n the most reckless manner\, and setting it down on the pavement to play l eap-frog over the fire-plugs\, her wrath reached a point that boded no goo d to the young trifler.\n\nNow\, whilst Charlie had been giving his attent ion to the difficulties growing out of the games of marbles\, he did not o bserve that one of the disputants was possessed of a tin kettle\, in appea rance very similar to his own\, by the side of which\, in the excitement o f the moment\, he deposited his own whilst giving a practical illustration of his view of the point under consideration. Having accomplished this to his entire satisfaction\, he resumed what he supposed was his kettle\, an d went his way rejoicing.\n\nNow\, if Caddy Ellis had a fondness for one d ish more than any other\, it was for haricot\, with plenty of carrots\; an d knowing she was to have this for her dinner\, she\, to use her own point ed expression\, \"had laid herself out to have a good meal.\" She had even abstained from her customary lunch that she might have an appetite worthy of the occasion\; and accordingly\, long ere the dinner hour approached\, she was hungry as a wolf. Notwithstanding this fact\, when Charlie made h is appearance at the door\, she insisted on his going through all the accu stomed forms with the mat and scraper before entering the house\; an act o f self-sacrifice on her part entirely uncalled for\, as the day was remark ably fine\, and Charlie's boots unusually clean.\n\nHe received two or thr ee by no means gentle shoves and pokes as he entered\, which he bore with unusual indifference\, making not the slightest effort at retaliation\, as was his usual practice. The fact is\, Charlie was\, as lions are supposed to be\, quite disinclined for a fight after a hearty meal\, so he followe d Caddy upstairs to the second story. Here she had got up an extempore din ing-table\, by placing a pasting board across two chairs. Seating herself upon a stool\, she jerked off the lid of the kettle\, and\, to her horror and dismay\, found not the favourite haricot\, but a piece of cheese-rind\ , a crust of dry bread\, and a cold potatoe. Charlie\, who was amusing him self by examining the flowers in the new carpet\, did not observe the look of surprise and disgust that came over the countenance of his sister\, as she took out\, piece by piece\, the remains of some schoolboy's repast.\n \n\"Look here\,\" she at last burst forth\, \"do you call this my dinner?\ "\n\n\"Yes\,\" said Charlie\, in a deliberate tone\, \"and a very good one too\, I should say\; if you can't eat that dinner\, you ought to starve\; it's one of mother's best haricots.\" \"You don't call this cold potatoe and cheese-rind haricot\, do you?\" asked Caddy\, angrily.\n\nAt this Char lie looked up\, and saw before her the refuse scraps\, which she had indig nantly emptied upon the table. He could scarcely believe his eyes\; he got up and looked in the kettle\, but found no haricot. \"Well\,\" said he\, with surprise\, \"if that don't beat me! I saw mother fill it with haricot myself\; I'm clean beat about it.\"\n\n\"Tell me what you've done with it \, then\,\" almost screamed the angry girl.\n\n\"I really don't know what has become of it\,\" he answered\, with a bewildered air. \"I saw—I saw—I—I—\"\n\n\"You saw—you saw\,\" replied the indignant Caddy\, imitating his tone\; and taking up the kettle\, she began to examine it mo re closely. \"Why\, this isn't even our kettle\; look at this lid. I'm sur e it's not ours. You've been stopping somewhere to play\, and exchanged it with some other boy\, that's just what you've done.\"\n\nJust then it occ urred to Charlie that at the place where he had adjusted the dispute about the marbles\, he had observed in the hands of one of the boys a kettle si milar to his own\; and it flashed across his mind that he had then and the re made the unfortunate exchange. He broke his suspicion to Caddy in the g entlest manner\, at the same time edging his way to the door to escape the storm that he saw was brewing. The loss of her dinner—and of such a din ner—so enraged the hungry girl\, as to cause her to seize a brush lying near and begin to belabour him without mercy. In his endeavour to escape f rom her his foot was caught in the carpet\, and he was violently precipita ted down the long flight of stairs. His screams brought the whole party to his assistance\; even Kinch\, who was sitting on the step outside\, threw off his usual dread of Caddy\, and rushed into the house. \"Oh\, take me up\,\" piteously cried Charlie\; \"oh\, take me up\, I'm almost killed.\" In raising him\, one of the old women took hold of his arm\, which caused him to scream again. \"Don't touch my arm\, please don't touch my arm\; I' m sure it's broke.\"\n\n\"No\, no\, it's not broke\, only sprained\, or a little twisted\,\" said she\; and\, seizing it as she spoke\, she gave it a pull and a wrench\, for the purpose of making it all right again\; at th is Charlie's face turned deathly pale\, and he fainted outright.\n\n\"Run for a doctor\,\" cried the now thoroughly-alarmed Caddy\; \"run for the do ctor! my brother's dead!\" and bursting into tears\, she exclaimed\, \"Oh\ , I've killed my brother\, I've killed my brother!\"\n\n\"Don't make so mu ch fuss\, child\,\" soothingly replied one of the old women: \"he's worth half a dozen dead folk yet. Lor bless you\, child\, he's only fainted.\"\n \nWater was procured and thrown in his face\, and before Kinch returned wi th the doctor\, he was quite restored to consciousness.\n\n\"Don't cry\, m y little man\,\" said the physician\, as he took out his knife and ripped up the sleeve of Charlie's coat. \"Don't cry\; let me examine your arm.\" Stripping up the shirt-sleeve\, he felt it carefully over\, and shaking hi s head (physicians always shake their heads) pronounced the arm broken\, a nd that\, too\, in an extremely bad place. At this information Charlie beg an again to cry\, and Caddy broke forth into such yells of despair as almo st to drive them distracted.\n\nThe physician kindly procured a carriage\, and saw Charlie comfortably placed therein\; and held in the arms of Kinc h\, with the lamenting and disheartened Caddy on the opposite seat\, he wa s slowly driven home. The house was quite thrown into confusion by their a rrival under such circumstances\; Mrs. Ellis\, for a wonder\, did not fain t\, but proceeded at once to do what was necessary. Mr. Ellis was sent for \, and he immediately despatched Kinch for Dr. Burdett\, their family phys ician\, who came without a moment's delay. He examined Charlie's arm\, and at first thought it would be necessary to amputate it. At the mere mentio n of the word amputate\, Caddy set up such a series of lamentable howls as to cause her immediate ejectment from the apartment. Dr. Burdett called i n Dr. Diggs for a consultation\, and between them it was decided that an a ttempt should be made to save the injured member. \"Now\, Charlie\,\" said Dr. Burdett\, \"I'm afraid we must hurt you\, my boy—but if you have an y desire to keep this arm you must try to bear it.\"\n\n\"I'll bear anythi ng to save my arm\, doctor\; I can't spare that\,\" said he\, manfully. \" I'll want it by-and-by to help take care of mother and the girls.\"\n\n\"Y ou're a brave little fellow\,\" said Dr. Diggs\, patting him on the head\, \"so then we'll go at it at once.\"\n\n\"Stop\,\" cried Charlie\, \"let m other put her arm round my neck so\, and Es\, you hold the good hand. Now then\, I'm all right—fire away!\" and clenching his lips hard\, he waite d for the doctor to commence the operation of setting his arm. Charlie's m other tried to look as stoical as possible\, but the corners of her mouth would twitch\, and there was a nervous trembling of her under-lip\; but sh e commanded herself\, and only when Charlie gave a slight groan of pain\, stooped and kissed his forehead\; and when she raised her head again\, the re was a tear resting on the face of her son that was not his own. Esther was the picture of despair\, and she wept bitterly for the misfortune whic h had befallen her pet brother\; and when the operation was over\, refused to answer poor Caddy's questions respecting Charlie's injuries\, and scol ded her with a warmth and volubility that was quite surprising to them all .\n\n\"You must not be too hard on Caddy\,\" remarked Mr. Ellis. \"She fee ls bad enough\, I'll warrant you. It is a lesson that will not\, I trust\, be thrown away upon her\; it will teach her to command her temper in futu re.\"\n\nCaddy was in truth quite crushed by the misfortune she had occasi oned\, and fell into such a state of depression and apathy as to be scarce ly heard about the house\; indeed\, so subdued was she\, that Kinch went i n and out without wiping his feet\, and tracked the mud all over the stair -carpet\, and yet she uttered no word of remonstrance.\n\nPoor little Char lie suffered much\, and was in a high fever. The knocker was tied up\, the windows darkened\, and all walked about the house with sad and anxious co untenances. Day after day the fever increased\, until he grew delirious\, and raved in the most distressing manner. The unfortunate haricot was stil l on his mind\, and he was persecuted by men with strange-shaped heads and carrot eyes. Sometimes he imagined himself pursued by Caddy\, and would c ry in the most piteous manner to have her prevented from beating him. Then his mind strayed off to the marble-ground\, where he would play imaginary games\, and laugh over his success in such a wild and frightful manner as to draw tears from the eyes of all around him. He was greatly changed\; t he bright colour had fled from his cheek\; his head had been shaved\, and he was thin and wan\, and at times they were obliged to watch him\, and re strain him from tossing about\, to the great peril of his broken arm.\n\nA t last his situation became so critical that Dr. Burdett began to entertai n but slight hopes of his recovery\; and one morning\, in the presence of Caddy\, hinted as much to Mr. Ellis.\n\n\"Oh\, doctor\, doctor\,\" exclaim ed the distracted girl\, \"don't say that! oh\, try and save him! How coul d I live with the thought that I had killed my brother! oh\, I can't live a day if he dies! Will God ever forgive me? Oh\, what a wretch I have been ! Oh\, do think of something that will help him! He mustn't die\, you must save him!\" and crying passionately\, she threw herself on the floor in a n agony of grief. They did their best to pacify her\, but all their effort s were in vain\, until Mr. Ellis suggested\, that since she could not cont rol her feelings\, she must be sent to stay with her aunt\, as her lamenta tions and outcries agitated her suffering brother and made his condition w orse. The idea of being excluded from the family circle at such a moment h ad more effect on Caddy than all previous remonstrances. She implored to h ave the sentence suspended for a time at least\, that she might try to exe rt more self-command\; and Mr. Ellis\, who really pitied her\, well knowin g that her heart was not in fault\, however reprehensible she was in point of temper\, consented\; and Caddy's behaviour from that moment proved the sincerity of her promises\; and though she could not quite restrain occas ional outbursts of senseless lamentation\, still\, when she felt such fits of despair coming on\, she wisely retired to some remote corner of the ho use\, and did not re-appear till she had regained her composure.\n\nThe cr isis was at length over\, and Charlie was pronounced out of danger. No one was more elated by this announcement than our friend Kinch\, who had\, in fact\, grown quite ashy in his complexion from confinement and grief\, an d was now thrown by this intelligence into the highest possible spirits. C harlie\, although faint and weak\, was able to recognize his friends\, and derived great satisfaction from the various devices of Kinch to entertain him. That young gentleman quite distinguished himself by the variety and extent of his resources. He devised butting matches between himself and a large gourd\, which he suspended from the ceiling\, and almost blinded him self by his attempts to butt it sufficiently hard to cause it to rebound t o the utmost length of the string\, and might have made an idiot of himsel f for ever by his exertions\, but for the timely interference of Mr. Ellis \, who put a final stop to this diversion. Then he dressed himself in a sh ort gown and nightcap\, and made the pillow into a baby\, and played the n urse with it to such perfection\, that Charlie felt obliged to applaud by knocking with the knuckles of his best hand upon the head-board of his bed stead. On the whole\, he was so overjoyed as to be led to commit all manne r of eccentricities\, and conducted himself generally in such a ridiculous manner\, that Charlie laughed himself into a state of prostration\, and K inch was\, in consequence\, banished from the sick-room\, to be re-admitte d only on giving his promise to abstain from being as funny as he could an y more. After the lapse of a short time Charlie was permitted to sit up\, and held regular levees of his schoolmates and little friends. He declared it was quite a luxury to have a broken arm\, as it was a source of so muc h amusement. The old ladies brought him jellies and blanc-mange\, and he w as petted and caressed to such an unparalleled extent\, as to cause his de lighted mother to aver that she lived in great fear of his being spoiled b eyond remedy. At length he was permitted to come downstairs and sit by the window for a few hours each day. Whilst thus amusing himself one morning\ , a handsome carriage stopped before their house\, and from it descended a fat and benevolent-looking old lady\, who knocked at the door and rattled the latch as if she had been in the daily habit of visiting there\, and f elt quite sure of a hearty welcome. She was let in by Esther\, and\, on si tting down\, asked if Mrs. Ellis was at home. Whilst Esther was gone to su mmon her mother\, the lady looked round the room\, and espying Charlie\, s aid\, \"Oh\, there you are—I'm glad to see you\; I hope you are improvin g.\"\n\n\"Yes\, ma'am\,\" politely replied Charlie\, wondering all the tim e who their visitor could be.\n\n\"You don't seem to remember me—you oug ht to do so\; children seldom forget any one who makes them a pleasant pro mise.\"\n\nAs she spoke\, a glimmer of recollection shot across Charlie's mind\, and he exclaimed\, \"You are the lady who came to visit the school. \"\n\n\"Yes\; and I promised you a book for your aptness\, and\,\" continu ed she\, taking from her reticule a splendidly-bound copy of \"Robinson Cr usoe\,\" \"here it is.\"\n\nMrs. Ellis\, as soon as she was informed that a stranger lady was below\, left Caddy to superintend alone the whitewashi ng of Charlie's sick-room\, and having hastily donned another gown and a m ore tasty cap\, descended to see who the visitor could be.\n\n\"You must e xcuse my not rising\,\" said Mrs. Bird\, for that was the lady's name\; \" it is rather a difficulty for me to get up and down often—so\,\" continu ed she\, with a smile\, \"you must excuse my seeming rudeness.\"\n\nMrs. E llis answered\, that any apology was entirely unnecessary\, and begged she would keep her seat. \"I've come\,\" said Mrs. Bird\, \"to pay your littl e man a visit. I was so much pleased with the manner in which he recited h is exercises on the day of examination\, that I promised him a book\, and on going to the school to present it\, I heard of his unfortunate accident . He looks very much changed—he has had a very severe time\, I presume?\ "\n\n\"Yes\, a very severe one. We had almost given him over\, but it plea sed God to restore him\,\" replied Mrs. Ellis\, in a thankful tone. \"He i s very weak yet\,\" she continued\, \"and it will be a long time before he is entirely recovered.\"\n\n\"Who is your physician?\" asked Mrs. Bird.\n \n\"Doctor Burdett\,\" was the reply\; \"he has been our physician for yea rs\, and is a very kind friend of our family.\"\n\n\"And of mine\, too\,\" rejoined Mrs. Bird\; \"he visits my house every summer.\nWhat does he thi nk of the arm?\" she asked.\n\n\"He thinks in time it will be as strong as ever\, and recommends sending Charlie into the country for the summer\; b ut\,\" said Mrs. Ellis\, \"we are quite at a loss where to send him.\"\n\n \"Oh! let me take him\,\" said Mrs. Bird—\"I should be delighted to have him. I've got a beautiful place—he can have a horse to ride\, and there are wide fields to scamper over! Only let me have him\, and I'll guarante e to restore him to health in a short time.\"\n\n\"You're very kind\,\" re plied Mrs. Ellis—\"I'm afraid he would only be a burthen to you—be a g reat deal of trouble\, and be able to do but little work.\"\n\n\"Work! Why \, dear woman\,\" replied Mrs. Bird\, with some astonishment\, \"I don't w ant him to work—I've plenty of servants\; I only want him to enjoy himse lf\, and gather as much strength as possible. Come\, make up your mind to let him go with me\, and I'll send him home as stout as I am.\"\n\nAt the bare idea of Charlie's being brought to such a state of obesity\, Kinch\, who\, during the interview\, had been in the back part of the room\, makin g all manner of faces\, was obliged to leave the apartment\, to prevent a serious explosion of laughter\, and after their visitor had departed he wa s found rolling about the floor in a tempest of mirth.\n\nAfter considerab le conversation relative to the project\, Mrs. Bird took her leave\, promi sing to call soon again\, and advising Mrs. Ellis to accept her offer. Mrs . Ellis consulted Dr. Burdett\, who pronounced it a most fortunate circums tance\, and said the boy could not be in better hands\; and as Charlie app eared nothing loth\, it was decided he should go to Warmouth\, to the grea t grief of Kinch\, who thought it a most unheard-of proceeding\, and he re garded Mrs. Bird thenceforth as his personal enemy\, and a wilful disturbe r of his peace.\n\nCHAPTER IX.\nBreaking up.\n\nThe time for the departure of the Garies having been fixed\, all in the house were soon engaged in t he bustle of preparation. Boxes were packed with books\, pictures\, and li nen\; plate and china were wrapped and swaddled\, to prevent breakage and bruises\; carpets were taken up\, and packed away\; curtains taken down\, and looking-glasses covered. Only a small part of the house was left in a furnished state for the use of the overseer\, who was a young bachelor\, a nd did not require much space.\n\nIn superintending all these arrangements Mrs. Garie displayed great activity\; her former cheerfulness of manner h ad entirely returned\, and Mr. Garie often listened with delight to the qu ick pattering of her feet\, as she tripped lightly through the hall\, and up and down the long stairs. The birds that sang about the windows were no t more cheerful than herself\, and when Mr. Garie heard her merry voice si nging her lively songs\, as in days gone by\, he experienced a feeling of satisfaction at the pleasant result of his acquiescence in her wishes. He had consented to it as an act of justice due to her and the children\; the re was no pleasure to himself growing out of the intended change\, beyond that of gratifying Emily\, and securing freedom to her and the children. H e knew enough of the North to feel convinced that he could not expect to l ive there openly with Emily\, without being exposed to ill-natured comment s\, and closing upon himself the doors of many friends who had formerly re ceived him with open arms. The virtuous dignity of the Northerner would be shocked\, not so much at his having children by a woman of colour\, but b y his living with her in the midst of them\, and acknowledging her as his wife. In the community where he now resided\, such things were more common \; the only point in which he differed from many other Southern gentlemen in this matter was in his constancy to Emily and the children\, and the mo re than ordinary kindness and affection with which he treated them. Mr. Ga rie had for many years led a very retired life\, receiving an occasional g entleman visitor\; but this retirement had been entirely voluntary\, there fore by no means disagreeable\; but in the new home he had accepted\, he f elt that he might be shunned\, and the reflection was anything but agreeab le. Moreover\, he was about to leave a place endeared to him by a thousand associations. Here he had passed the whole of his life\, except about fou r years spent in travelling through Europe and America.\n\nMr. Garie was s eated in a room where there were many things to recall days long since dep arted. The desk at which he was writing was once his father's\, and he wel l remembered the methodical manner in which every drawer was carefully kep t\; over it hung a full-length portrait of his mother\, and it seemed\, as he gazed at it\, that it was only yesterday that she had taken his little hand in her own\, and walked with him down the long avenue of magnolias t hat were waving their flower-spangled branches in the morning breeze\, and loading it with fragrance. Near him was the table on which her work-baske t used to stand. He remembered how important he felt when permitted to hol d the skeins of silk for her to wind\, and how he would watch her stitch\, stitch\, hour after hour\, at the screen that now stood beside the fire-p lace\; the colours were faded\, but the recollection of the pleasant smile s she would cast upon him from time to time\, as she looked up from her wo rk\, was as fresh in his memory as if it were but yesterday. Mr. Garie was assorting and arranging the papers that the desk contained\, when he hear d the rattle of wheels along the avenue\, and looking out of the window\, he saw a carriage approaching.\n\nThe coachman was guiding his horses with one hand\, and with the other he was endeavouring to keep a large\, old-f ashioned trunk from falling from the top. This was by no means an easy mat ter\, as the horses appeared quite restive\, and fully required his undivi ded attention. The rather unsteady motion of the carriage caused its inmat e to put his head out of the window\, and Mr. Garie recognized his uncle J ohn\, who lived in the north-western part of the state\, on the borders of Alabama. He immediately left his desk\, and hastened to the door to recei ve him.\n\n\"This is an unexpected visit\, but none the less pleasant on t hat account\,\" said Mr. Garie\, his face lighting up with surprise and pl easure as uncle John alighted. \"I had not the least expectation of being honoured by a visit from you. What has brought you into this part of the c ountry? Business\, of course? I can't conceive it possible that you should have ventured so far from home\, at this early season\, for the mere purp ose of paying me a visit.\"\n\n\"You may take all the honour to yourself t his time\,\" smilingly replied uncle John\, \"for I have come over for you r especial benefit\; and if I accomplish the object of my journey\, I shal l consider the time anything but thrown away.\"\n\n\"Let me take your coat \; and\, Eph\, see you to that trunk\,\" said Mr. Garie. \"You see everyth ing is topsy-turvy with us\, uncle John. We look like moving\, don't we?\" \n\n\"Like that or an annual house-cleaning\,\" he replied\, as he picked his way through rolls of carpet and matting\, and between half-packed boxe s\; in doing which\, he had several narrow escapes from the nails that pro truded from them on all sides. \"It's getting very warm\; let me have some thing to drink\,\" said he\, wiping his face as he took his seat\; \"a jul ep—plenty of brandy and ice\, and but little mint.\"\n\nEph\, on receivi ng this order\, departed in great haste in search of Mrs. Garie\, as he kn ew that\, whilst concocting one julep\, she might be prevailed upon to mix another\, and Eph had himself a warm liking for that peculiar Southern mi xture\, which liking he never lost any opportunity to gratify.\n\nEmily hu rried downstairs\, on hearing of the arrival of uncle John\, for he was re garded by her as a friend. She had always received from him marked kindnes s and respect\, and upon the arrival of Mr. Garie's visitors\, there was n one she received with as much pleasure. Quickly mixing the drink\, she car ried it into the room where he and her husband were sitting. She was warml y greeted by the kind-hearted old man\, who\, in reply to her question if he had come to make them a farewell visit\, said he hoped not: he trusted to make them many more in the same place.\n\n\"I'm afraid you won't have a n opportunity\,\" she replied. \"In less than a week we expect to be on ou r way to New York.—I must go\,\" continued she\, \"and have a room prepa red for you\, and hunt up the children. You'll scarcely know them\, they h ave grown so much since you were here. I'll soon send them\,\" and she hur ried off to make uncle John's room comfortable.\n\n\"I was never more surp rised in my life\,\" said the old gentleman\, depositing the glass upon th e table\, after draining it of its contents—\"never more surprised than when I received your letter\, in which you stated your intention of going to the North to live. A more ridiculous whim it is impossible to conceiv e—the idea is perfectly absurd! To leave a fine old place like this\, wh ere you have everything around you so nice and comfortable\, to go north\, and settle amongst a parcel of strange Yankees! My dear boy\, you must gi ve it up. I'm no longer your guardian—the law don't provide one for peop le of thirty years and upwards—so it is out of my power to say you shall not do it\; but I am here to use all my powers of persuasion to induce yo u to relinquish the project.\"\n\n\"Uncle John\,