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Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Mississippi Man Tells Life Story; Online Historical Fiction Novella
In the early morning hours of last Sunday, I was google-ing around to learn more about Mississippi Mafia connections. And then I ran into an online novella written by Mississippian Jerry Lowerys ...
* * *
Now who could put this down? I surely could not and kept reading this neat little online novel. When I finished, I had to learn more and emailed the author with some questions.
Jerry Lowerys emailed me back quickly and said he had "...almost forgotten about having an email address dedicated to the Mississippi Mafia story."
He wrote it, Lowerys said, about 5 years ago, basing it "loosely on my growing up in South East Mississippi."
Most of the characters in the story are associated with characters that he knew or knew of...
"...The rolling store owner was a person who became one of the richest men in the county. The saw mill worker was a man who worked at my Grandfathers sawmill. The people at the honkey-tonk were real. The song, were songs that I use to hear sang by Blacks, who worked for my Grandfather. I believe that they were early blues songs. The Inn was a real place. The character you referred to was indeed based on Emmett Teal [sp]. The...sheriff was a man I grew up with."
Lowerys adds that "...a lot of the story was based on incidents that took place while I was growing up in Mississippi. The story of the hangings of the two black youths was a horrible true story. This story was also told in a book by Gale Graham whom you might have heard of. The story of the man in the Cadillac doling out soft drinks to the road workers was true."
Lowerys didn't choose to go down the same life path as many of his story's characters do, but instead aligned himself with the Civil Rights Movement, a brave thing for him to do, especially back then.
Close family member, he writes, "...often attended KKK meetings. My mother was on the jury that convicted the men who were involved in the “Mississippi Burning” incident. I grew up believing that Whites were superior to Blacks."
You can read Lowery's "The Mississippi Mafia" by going to his website at http://mimafia.home.mchsi.com/. It's a free read and simply fascinating when you consider the author and his own life story.
* * *
It's hot in Mississippi in July. Sweat was popping up on Clinton Moody's face as he climbed into his government issued blue Chevrolet. As he drove out into the hot murky morning he rolled his window down and turned the vent fan on high. There were not too many government issued vehicles equipped with air conditioners in the sixties. It was only eight o'clock but the temperature was already in the eighties.
As Clinton drove out of his drive way and into the street, he pondered the telephone conversation he had received last evening. It was from Betty Taylor,the secretary of the regional FBI office. Joesph Robertson the director wanted to see him at ten o'clock the following morningy. Clinton didn't really think too much of the call as he normally got weekly summons to discuss ongoing investigations. Little did he know what was in store for him this morning.
In 1962 Clinton was a two year veteran with the FBI. He had attended Jones County Junior College in Ellisville on a football scholarship. He then graduated from the University Of Southern Mississippi, where he also played football. He majored in Chemistry and graduated in 1960 with a 3.9 grade point average. Although recruited by several industries in Mississippi, he chose instead to accept a position with the FBI. Chemistry along with physics and mathematics majors are heavenly recruited by the FBI. They are consider as great analysist which is required in FBI work.
* * *
Now who could put this down? I surely could not and kept reading this neat little online novel. When I finished, I had to learn more and emailed the author with some questions.
Jerry Lowerys emailed me back quickly and said he had "...almost forgotten about having an email address dedicated to the Mississippi Mafia story."
He wrote it, Lowerys said, about 5 years ago, basing it "loosely on my growing up in South East Mississippi."
Most of the characters in the story are associated with characters that he knew or knew of...
"...The rolling store owner was a person who became one of the richest men in the county. The saw mill worker was a man who worked at my Grandfathers sawmill. The people at the honkey-tonk were real. The song, were songs that I use to hear sang by Blacks, who worked for my Grandfather. I believe that they were early blues songs. The Inn was a real place. The character you referred to was indeed based on Emmett Teal [sp]. The...sheriff was a man I grew up with."
Lowerys adds that "...a lot of the story was based on incidents that took place while I was growing up in Mississippi. The story of the hangings of the two black youths was a horrible true story. This story was also told in a book by Gale Graham whom you might have heard of. The story of the man in the Cadillac doling out soft drinks to the road workers was true."
Lowerys didn't choose to go down the same life path as many of his story's characters do, but instead aligned himself with the Civil Rights Movement, a brave thing for him to do, especially back then.
Close family member, he writes, "...often attended KKK meetings. My mother was on the jury that convicted the men who were involved in the “Mississippi Burning” incident. I grew up believing that Whites were superior to Blacks."
You can read Lowery's "The Mississippi Mafia" by going to his website at http://mimafia.home.mchsi.com/. It's a free read and simply fascinating when you consider the author and his own life story.
* * *
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Early CORE Volunteer's Daughter Asks 'Where Are We Going?'
Linda Keita has a story to tell. It's an important account of her mother's life and helps us to understand where we have been with respect to civil rights, and where we are going.
"My Mother Susie Mae Young Thomas was born in Tulsa Oklahoma 1930 during her school years she had grown tired of being treated different. around 1962 she join C.O.R.E in San Bernardino Ca. 1963 she help lead a boycott against the San Bernardino School District because they had opened a new all White High School in which they decied to take the buses from the areas that serve Black Student to make them available for the student in the all white district for the new high school.
"She was also a Commenter for a local Black newspaper named the Precint Reporter in which she expressed her views on racism. She was a Blues Jazz singer as well as an Actress . During the time she was involved with C.O.R.E my 1st grade year I attended Freedom School I remember the Freedom Marches, however I could not discern what discrimination was or what this was all about myself I was only 6 years old .
"The children did participate in these events as well. I grew up going to predominatly white schools living in mixed nieghborhoods and althought there where some issues in race it never affected me at a personal level. I played with white children we were diverse in every aspect and were taught to look beyond skin color.
"What I remember mostly was all the white people that partcipated in those marches, so I'v gone through my life looking at race through a rose lens not seeing race. My life has not been perfect educationally, but I struggled by trying to peice it together to make the most of it.
"I became a Nurse about 10 years ago shortly afterwards my mother passed away. About 5 years ago Susan I moved into Oregon and began working as a Nurse (LPN) I was met with discriminatory actions from co-workers and had lost 5 jobs in 4 years something that had not happend to me in the past it was hard for me to think I was being discriminated against.
"Finally I realized that is what had been going on. 2007 I was hired for a job fulltime and after starting work I was not placed full time the employer in turn hired several white nurses after me and placed them full time. I complained verbally about my schedules and they did nothing , so I wrote them a letter explaining I felt it was due to my race that I was not placed fulltime, within a week of the letter I was being written up alleging I had attendance problems.
"I recieved a negative performance evaluation when I complained to the Corporation about my treatment at work no one ever fix the problem so I filed a complaint with EEOC who dismissed and gave me a right to sue letter. I could not find an Attorney so I had to go file the case on my own shortly after Attorneys started to pay attention to me, my case is now being followed by a Attorney.
"This issue has turned me into a civil rights activist . At this time I am unemployed my last employer found out about my discrimination law suit and fired me, it has been 6 months without employment now, and it has been very hard for me to find job.
"If not for the civil rights movement I would have not had any law to apply to this matter. I am using Title 7 as amended 1964 to pursue this case thank God for my Mother and the work she had done or I would have not had knowledge to fight them back."
* * *
"My Mother Susie Mae Young Thomas was born in Tulsa Oklahoma 1930 during her school years she had grown tired of being treated different. around 1962 she join C.O.R.E in San Bernardino Ca. 1963 she help lead a boycott against the San Bernardino School District because they had opened a new all White High School in which they decied to take the buses from the areas that serve Black Student to make them available for the student in the all white district for the new high school.
"She was also a Commenter for a local Black newspaper named the Precint Reporter in which she expressed her views on racism. She was a Blues Jazz singer as well as an Actress . During the time she was involved with C.O.R.E my 1st grade year I attended Freedom School I remember the Freedom Marches, however I could not discern what discrimination was or what this was all about myself I was only 6 years old .
"The children did participate in these events as well. I grew up going to predominatly white schools living in mixed nieghborhoods and althought there where some issues in race it never affected me at a personal level. I played with white children we were diverse in every aspect and were taught to look beyond skin color.
"What I remember mostly was all the white people that partcipated in those marches, so I'v gone through my life looking at race through a rose lens not seeing race. My life has not been perfect educationally, but I struggled by trying to peice it together to make the most of it.
"I became a Nurse about 10 years ago shortly afterwards my mother passed away. About 5 years ago Susan I moved into Oregon and began working as a Nurse (LPN) I was met with discriminatory actions from co-workers and had lost 5 jobs in 4 years something that had not happend to me in the past it was hard for me to think I was being discriminated against.
"Finally I realized that is what had been going on. 2007 I was hired for a job fulltime and after starting work I was not placed full time the employer in turn hired several white nurses after me and placed them full time. I complained verbally about my schedules and they did nothing , so I wrote them a letter explaining I felt it was due to my race that I was not placed fulltime, within a week of the letter I was being written up alleging I had attendance problems.
"I recieved a negative performance evaluation when I complained to the Corporation about my treatment at work no one ever fix the problem so I filed a complaint with EEOC who dismissed and gave me a right to sue letter. I could not find an Attorney so I had to go file the case on my own shortly after Attorneys started to pay attention to me, my case is now being followed by a Attorney.
"This issue has turned me into a civil rights activist . At this time I am unemployed my last employer found out about my discrimination law suit and fired me, it has been 6 months without employment now, and it has been very hard for me to find job.
"If not for the civil rights movement I would have not had any law to apply to this matter. I am using Title 7 as amended 1964 to pursue this case thank God for my Mother and the work she had done or I would have not had knowledge to fight them back."
* * *
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Remember When Rockfordians Marched For Civil Rights in 1965?
Rev. James Reeb, Unitarian Minister Killed in Selma March
The Selma-to-Montgomery, Ala., voting rights march sparked demonstrations in many cities, including Rockford. About 350 people in Rockford marched March 13, 1965, from St. James Catholic Church to Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church to memorialize the Rev. James Reeb, a Unitarian minister from Boston who died after being beaten in the Selma march.
Story continued --
* * *
“Remembering a Unitarian Universalist Hero: The James Reeb Story”[1]
by Reverend James Kubal-Komoto
Saltwater Unitarian Universalist Church
Des Moines, Washington
January 21, 2007
On Monday, this nation acknowledged Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It was a day to acknowledge, remember, and celebrate the life of one of the 20th century’s great moral leaders and the values and vision for which he stood.
There could have been no better time for us to do this. As this country’s president inanely called for an escalation of the war in Iraq only days earlier, a war in which so many have already unnecessarily suffered and tragically died, there could have been no better time for us to remember a man who changed the world through his commitment to non-violence.
This morning, however, I want to talk about the life of a man who may be less familiar to you than King, and that is a man named James Reeb.
I don’t think King would mind, for Reeb was a man that King held in high esteem, and their lives were also deeply interconnected.
But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me tell you the story of Jim Reeb’s life, and let me begin at the beginning.
He was born on January 1, 1927 - - 80 years ago this month - - outside Wichita, Kansas. His parents were both religiously devout, and his mother’s first pregnancy had ended in a still birth, so before the birth, his mother prayed, “O Lord, if thou wilt heal me and give me another child, I will give him to thee. Whatever you may wish to use him for, that he shall do. Where you need him, there he shall go.”
Jim was born healthy, and became the center of his parents’ life, which was not an easy one. The Great Depression began when he was still and small child, and work was not easy to come by for his father. The family was poor. To make matters worse, Jim was a sickly child, once suffering from rheumatic fever, and as a result, was often schooled by his mother at home. He was also cross-eyed. Too young to have an operation, he started wearing glasses when he was less than two.
During his second year of high school, his family moved to Casper, Wyoming. His teachers remember him as being very serious, neat, courteous, and considerate, and while not unpopular among his classmates, he wasn’t popular either.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Mississippi's Scott Sisters: Just Another 'Mississippi Goddam'
Jamie and Gladys Scott could be freed by a pardon from Gov.Haley Barbour.
You might have recently read about two sisters who are being help in a Mississippi prison after receiving life sentences for a robbery involving $11. How could this be, one might ask?
Facebook Civil Rights Cold Cases group member Damond Wilson shares this story:
"The two Scott sisters are each doing two life sentences for a crime that say they didn't commit. It allegedly involved a robbery in which two individuals were robbed of $11 in which no one was hurt.
"It all started when these two sister's car broke down about 15 yrs. ago, causing them to accept a ride from two white males. Subsequently, these men wanted sexual favors from these females. However, they refused. Some time later, they were robbed by another couple of males. Prosecutors insisted that the two sisters were involved but they maintain they were never present during the robbery. Witnesses including the real perpetrators later recanted, stating they lied at the trial due to pressure from law enforcement.
"The actual robbers only did a couple of years for the crime and are now free. One of the sisters is now dying from kidney failure. The other sister offered to give her one of her kidneys but the Corrections Dept. has refused them from doing this. This is extremely troubling. I plan to write a letter to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder concerning this matter."
Thank you, Damond. You can read more about the Scott Sisters at this site: http://bit.ly/d6PjDu.
This won’t be the first time Mississippi has conducted itself in this manner, when it comes to black prisoners. Clyde Kennard of Hattiesburg was arrested September 15, 1959 for illegal possession of liquor and speeding. This happened shortly after Kennard was rejected the second time for admission to Mississippi Southern College, now the University of Southern Mississippi.
While Mississippi Sovereignty Commission records show authorities once considered placing dynamite in his car (and a Hattiesburg lawyer offering to run him out of the country), the state finally succeeded in its quest to punish the poultry farmer and U. S. Army veteran when thirteen months later, on November 21, 1960 Kennard was convicted on charges of stealing chicken feed. He was sentenced to Parchman Penitentiary for the maximum penalty of seven years.
NAACP leader Medgar Evers heard of the verdict and told a reporter Kennard’s conviction was “a mockery of justice” for which Evers was arrested, charged with contempt and sentenced to thirty days in jail. The Supreme Court later overturned the conviction. But Kennard was literally beaten and worked to death at Parchman and after becoming seriously ill, he was diagnosed with cancer by the University of Mississippi Hospital.
Returned to Parchman, Kennard was dragged out to work in the fields each day despite his growing weakness. Prison authorities canceled his appointment for a medical checkup and he was not allowed to see his lawyer, Jess Brown. The Jackson attorney asked to receive Kennard’s medical reports but never got them. Tougaloo students mobilized to try and free Kennard, a friend of one of their instructors.
The story was picked up nationally as Dick Gregory and Dr. Martin Luther King demanded Kennard’s release. Finally, in 1963, Governor Barnett ordered Kennard’s release, concerned over potential bad publicity for the state if Kennard died at Parchman. Kennard underwent surgery in Chicago and soon died at Billings Hospital, shortly after he was paroled.
Was it an administrative oversight? Or was it deliberate negligence because of his connection with school integration? These questions, asked by Kennard’s attorney, were never answered. “No one can say for sure. You have to draw your own conclusions,” Jess Brown said.
Clyde Kennard died at the age of thirty-six on July 4, 1963.
Footnote: In one 1959 memorandum found in Mississippi Sovereignty Commission files, commission investigator Zack VanLandingham tells of a conversation he had with a Hattiesburg lawyer, Dudley Connor, about Kennard in the late 1950s.
"If the Sovereignty Commission wanted that Negro out of the community and out of the state they would take care of the situation," VanLandingham quoted Connor as saying. "And when asked what he meant by that, Connor stated that Kennard's carcould be hit by a train or he could have some accident on the highway and nobody would ever know the difference."
In another memo, written by VanLandingham to Gov. J.P. Coleman in 1959, the investigator relates a conversation he had with John Reiter, a campus police officer. "Reiter had several weeks ago told me that when Kennard was attempting to enter Mississippi Southern College in December 1958 that he had been approached by individuals with possible plans to prevent Kennard's going through with his attempt," he wrote.
"One of the plans was to put dynamite to the starter of Kennard's Mercury. Another plan was to have some liquor planted in Kennard's car and then he would be arrested."
So for the Scott Sisters, it appears to be just one more chapter of Mississippi Goddam.
Listen to a show on the Scott Sisters that includes "Mississippi Goddam."
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2009/09/17/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Civil Rights; 'A Nice Way to Learn About Life'
Tom Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Justice Department, visited Seattle's Washington Middle School on Wednesday to watch students participate in an anti-bullying program.
Perez asked one class what it had learned and a boy said, be nice to people, which prompted Perez's definition of the field he has worked in for most of his career.
His current job is to enforce the country's civil-rights laws, and he is traveling to let people know "the civil-rights division is open for business again" after several low-profile years.
More --
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Roslyn Brock named NAACP chairman, marking generation change
By Krissah Thompson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 20, 2010; 4:36 PM
The NAACP has selected health-care administrator Roslyn M. Brock as its chairman, marking the culmination of a generational shift for the historic civil rights organization. For the first time in NAACP's history, both its president and chair are too young to have personally experienced legalized segregation.
Brock, 44, takes the helm from civil rights pioneer Julian Bond. She will guide the association along with Benjamin Jealous, who at 37 is the youngest president in NAACP's history.
Continue --
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 20, 2010; 4:36 PM
The NAACP has selected health-care administrator Roslyn M. Brock as its chairman, marking the culmination of a generational shift for the historic civil rights organization. For the first time in NAACP's history, both its president and chair are too young to have personally experienced legalized segregation.
Brock, 44, takes the helm from civil rights pioneer Julian Bond. She will guide the association along with Benjamin Jealous, who at 37 is the youngest president in NAACP's history.
Continue --
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