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Who will you commemorate on Memorial Day?


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Who will you commemorate on Memorial Day?

 

Who will you commemorate on Memorial Day?  One hundred years ago on May 31, 1921, the federal government of the United States allowed the state of Oklahoma, including the National Guard, local police, political officials and vigilantes to destroy the Greenwood District in the city of Tulsa.  Recently, several survivors from that massacre spoke before congress recalling their experience as children and the need for justice.  Those who spoke included Ms. Viola Fletcher, age 107, Mother Lessie Benningfield Randle, age 106, and Mr. Hughes Van Ellis, age 100, a WW II veteran and the brother of Ms. Fletcher.  This weekend, these survivors along with the city of Tulsa will commemorate the rich legacy of the Greenwood community, the lives lost and reignite the fight for social justice and economic freedom.  Tulsa was not the only American city to experience the horrors of Anti-Colored, Anti-Negro, Anti-Black domestic terrorism.  Although, Tulsa was the first city in America to have a bomb dropped on it’s Black citizens.  The behavior pattern of anti-black hatred has been a common thread throughout the republic called the United States from its inception.  In 1857, the Supreme Court decided that former slaves were not entitled to be ‘citizens,’ therefore ‘respect’ was not warranted.  Eight years later, a group of former slaves did something no other group had done in the history of the United States. They started a memorial for dead veterans.  On May 1, 1865, former slaves in Charleston SC started the first Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day.  According to ‘Time’ magazine and the Library of Congress, those former slaves dug up 257 dead Union Soldiers who had been buried in a mass grave of a confederate prison camp. The article stated that they wanted to give the soldiers a proper burial and gratitude for fighting for their freedom.  https://time.com/5836444/black-memorial-day/ https://www.history.com/news/memorial-day-civil-war-slavery-charleston  In conjunction with the burial; the community of former slaves held a parade of 10,000 people, led by 2800 children who marched, sang and celebrated the lives of the dead.    

 

Who will you commemorate on Memorial Day? As we join with the city of Tulsa to commemorate the community of Greenwood, it is befitting to remember other cities who experienced a similar fate as Tulsa, by lifting up veterans of the last century who fought in foreign wars only to return to the United States to be assassinated/murdered.  We commemorate the following veterans, civil right activists and communities in a litany for their service as Social Justice Advocates and Economic Freedom Fighters:       

 

Leader:  For Sergeant Edgar Caldwell, who died by public (hanging), Anniston, AL, December 13, 1918. 

All:         We honor and remember you

 

Leader:  For the veterans assassinated during 1919 ‘Red Summer

               Robert Truett, Army veteran who was murdered (lynched) in Louise, MS on July 15, 1919.

               Clinton Briggs, WWI veteran, who was murdered (lynched) in Pine Bluff, AR on September 1, 1919.

               Charles Lewis, Private, US Army, who was murdered (lynched) in Fulton County KY, December, 1919.

All:         We honor and remember you

 

Leader:  For the communities that were terrorized during 1919 ‘Red Summer’ 

               Charleston, SC, May 10, 1919, when a mob of white sailors stole guns and began shooting black people at will.

               Bisbee, AZ, July 3, 1919, when the Buffalo Soldiers defended themselves against white supremacy forces.

               Washington, DC, July 19, 1919, when former military veterans defended themselves and their community.

               Chicago, IL, July 27, 1919, when a child was stoned and drowned.

               Elaine, AR, September 30, 1919, when black farmers attempted to defend themselves against a mob.

All:         We honor and remember you

 

Leader:  For the communities that were terrorized in the 1920’s

                Ocoee, FL, November 2-3, 1920. When prosperous black farming families were forced to flee after being 

              attacked. 

              Tulsa, OK, (Greenwood District), May 31-June 1, 1921, where 100 veterans attempted to defend their 

              community. 40 blocks in the community were destroyed; including lives, homes, hospitals, schools, 

              churches and 150 businesses. 

              Rosewood, FL, January 1, 1923.  When the survivors were forced to flee after being attacked. 

              Catcher, AR, December 29, 1923. When the survivors were forced to flee after being attacked. 

All:        We honor and remember you

 

Leader:  For the community that was terrorized in the 1930’s

               Chicago, IL, May 30, 1937, Memorial Day Massacre. When unarmed striking steelworkers were murdered.

All:         We honor and remember you

 

Leader:  For the veterans who were murdered in the 1940’s

               Timothy Hood, WWII veteran, US Marine was murdered in Bessesmer, AL on February 8, 1946.

               Maceo Snipes, WWII veteran was murdered in Butler, GA on July, 18, 1946.

               Two Black men found lynched near Moore Ford Bridge, one a WWII Veteran, Walton & Oconee GA, July

               25, 1946.

              J.C. Farmer, WWII veteran was murdered by a mob of 20 white men on August 3, 1946.

All:        We honor and remember you

 

Leader:  For the veterans and political activists who were assassinated in the 1950’s

               George Washington Lee, was (politically) assassinated in Belzoni, MS on May 7, 1955.

               Lamar ‘Ditney Smith, WWI Veteran, was assassinated in Lincoln County, MS on August 13, 1955.

               Luther Jackson, Korean War Veteran, was murdered in Philadelphia, MS on October 30, 1959. 

All:         We honor and remember you

 

Leader:  For the veterans and political activists who were assassinated in the 1960’s

               Cpl. Roman Ducksworth, Jr, Military Police, was killed in Taylorsville, MS, April, 9 1962.

               Medgar Evers, WWII Veteran/Civil Rights Activist was assassinated in Jackson, MS on June 12, 1963.

               Clyde Kennard, Korean War Veteran, was assassinated in Hattiesburg, MS on July 4, 1963.

               Louis Allen, WWII Veteran, was ambushed and assassinated in Liberty, MS after conversation with the 

               FBI was leaked to White Supremacists on January 31, 1964. 

               Clifton Walker, Korean War Veteran, was murdered in Wilkinson County, MS on February 28, 1964.

               Lt. Col Lemuel Penn, WWII Vet, DC Assistant Superintendent was assassinated in DC on July 11, 1964.

               Malcolm X, was (politically) assassinated in Manhattan, New York City, NY on February 21, 1965.

               Jimmie Lee Jackson, Vietnam Veteran/Civil Rights Activist was shot by a AL state trooper on February 18, 

               1965 and died on February 26, 1965. His death inspired the first Selma to Montgomery voting rights march 

               on March 7, 1965.

              Samuel Leamon Younge, Jr., Enlisted U.S. Navy, was murdered on January 3, 1966.

               Martin Luther King, Jr., was (politically) assassinated in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968.

               Edwin T. Pratt, was (politically) assassinated in Shoreline, WA on January 26, 1969.

               Fred Hampton, was (politically) assassinated in Chicago, IL on December 4, 1969. 

All:         We honor and remember you

 

Leader: For the political activists who were assassinated in the in 1970’s

              Melvin X, was (politically) assassinated in Los Angeles on June 6, 1970.

              Leon Mercer Jordan, was (politically) assassinated in Kansas City, MO on July 15, 1970.

All:        We honor and remember you

 

As we continue in the memorial day tradition of remembrance that was started by our Ancestors, we remind future generations how to honor and respect freedom fighters when an event necessitates, ‘If We Must Die’ as stated in a poem by Claude McKay, written during the 1919 Red Summer.    

 

 

If We Must Die

BY CLAUDE MCKAY

 

If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursèd lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!

Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!

What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

 

Iad2bfree@outlook.com

May 29, 2021

 

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