https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/24/us/roe-kavanaugh-collins-notes.html
Poor, innocent Susan Collins, led down the primrose path by a wily judge.
Still looking for that MLK quote, but here’s another good one:
«Negroes are human, not superhuman. Like all people, they have differing personalities, diverse financial interests and varied aspirations. There are Negroes who will never fight for freedom. There are Negroes who seek profit for themselves alone from the struggle. There are even some Negroes who will go over to the other side. These facts should distress no one. Every minority and every people has its share of opportunists, traitors, freeloaders and escapists. The hammer blows of discrimination, poverty and segregation must warp and corrupt some. No one can pretend that because a people may be oppressed, every individual member is virtuous and worthy. The real issue is whether in the great mass the dominant characteristics are decency, honor and courage.»
https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/holdings/mlk/transcript
(I believe they are.)
Looking for a particular MLK quote and ran across this one. I feel like it’s still true today.
“Whites, it must frankly be said, are not putting in a similar mass effort to reeducate themselves out of their racial ignorance. It is an aspect of their sense of superiority that the white people of America believe they have so little to learn. The reality of substantial investment to assist Negroes into the twentieth century, adjusting to Negro neighbors and genuine school integration, is still a nightmare for all too many white Americans…These are the deepest causes for contemporary abrasions between the races. Loose and easy language about equality, resonant resolutions about brotherhood fall pleasantly on the ear, but for the Negro there is a credibility gap he cannot overlook. He remembers that with each modest advance the white population promptly raises the argument that the Negro has come far enough. Each step forward accents an ever-present tendency to backlash.”
Where Do We Go From Here: 1967
Well, friends, Erika and I going on a pilgrimage of remembrance, essentially, to places around Charleston, SC. I’ll be posting what we’re up to on a 24(+)-hour delay, but today was Day 0: meet the other 200 folks going on this pilgrimage. Most of the folks are Black (various shades — how is it that we still use the one-drop rule when assigning adjectives?1), but there’s a handful of white folks, too.
Tonight, we had our first meal together, met our pilgrimage leaders, and received a cowrie shell. The symbolism of the cowrie shell is that it is something valuable that we must dig deep for.2 We each pulled our cowrie shell out of a tank of water (the deity had “buried” the cowrie shells deep in the ocean), and will keep it for the duration of the pilgrimage (if not longer, really). It was a little bit like a baptism.
After the meal, we had the great good fortune to be waylaid by a woman who thought we might be interested to learn a new card game, because she thought we might have children who might be interested in it. She was right about the first part: we were interested to learn it. It’s a simple multi-player solitaire-type game that up to seven players can play, called Kings in the Corner. Τhe only difference between the Wikipedia rules and the rules she taught us is that you always start your turn by drawing, no matter what. We had a great time playing a few hands, and I’m truly grateful she sought us out to play, in a room full of 200 people. (We also played with a couple of other willing strangers, so it wasn’t just the three of us.) I’m looking forward to playing a few more times during this pilgrimage.
1Speaking of automatically assigning people things, I have already made my first mistake: I met a Black woman who told me she went to school in Durham, and I automatically guessed NCCU. Nope. Duke. In spite of my intentions, my habits/reflexes betrayed me, and I’m ashamed.
2Cowrie shells were once widely used as money in Africa, but legend has it that the people were too free with spending them and an African deity decided to remind the people of the value of the cowrie shells (and their natural resources) by burying them deep in the ocean. So, now, one must dig deeply for what is valuable.
And so it begins.
I really hope Dominion wins its lawsuit(s) and absolutely crushes Mike Lindell flat.
Made me chuckle. 🙂
Ozark ending: 😦
Here, Read This 