Mean Mister Brownsville: America~Still Racist After All These Years!

Barack Obama, Trayvon Martin

On the evening of the George Zimmerman verdict, Nena and I went to the pool.  Actually, Nena went straight for the hot tub, while I entered the pool, joining two couples from Florida who were discussing the verdict.  "Do you think "Stand Your Ground" is a good law?" I asked, directing my question to one of the female nurses closest to me.

"Damn straight!" answered her Budweiser-bellied husband from across the pool.  "It will make those motherfuckers think twice."  I lowered my voice to exclude the buffoon while engaging the three closest in observations about the trial.  None of us made any converts, but our conversation was, at least, respectful.  Racism in America.

Later that night, I flipped on the TV to catch Craig Ferguson of CBS's The Late, Late Show.  Ferguson, a naturalized American originally from Scotland, is capable of near genius, scattershot monologues, going in complete circle back to an obvious theme, but usually ending with:  "It's a great day for America!"  This night, he simply said his catchphrase didn't fit.  It was not a great day for America, an obvious reference to the Florida verdict.

York, the Black Slave on
the Lewis & Clark Expedition

Obligatory in my so-called schooling was a study of Washington State history.  It was all totem poles and tee pees or Big-Houses as native Americans used the abundant wood in the Northwest to build.  While studying the Yakima, the Lummi, the Quinault, the Skohomish, the Snoqualmie, Nez Perce and the Puyallup, we also learned about the trek lead by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the so-called Lewis & Clark expedition.  In school we learned how the travelers crossed the continent with the benevolent assistance of native Americans, especially the Nez Perce, to finally reach the mouth of the Columbia River at the Pacific Ocean.  We did not learn about York, the one black man on the trip, the guy who saved Captain Lewis from a grizzly bear, scouted, hunted  and treated the sick with field medicine.

While 30 of the 31 brave travelers received a hero's welcome from the president, land AND money, York received nothing.  He was a slave of Lieutenant Clark.  Although he asked for his freedom on his return, that was denied.  He got nothing but a beating for insolence.  Racism in early America.

While Clark later claims he had freed York, historians disagree, theorizing that he escaped.  Zenas Leonard in Narratives of the Adventures of Zenas Leonard(1839) writes about York:

"In this village we found a negro man, who informed us that he first came to this country with Lewis & Clark — with whom he also returned to the State of Missouri, and in a few years returned again with a Mr. Mackinney, a trader on the Missouri river, and has remained here ever since - which is about ten or twelve years. He has acquired a correct knowledge of their manner of living, and speaks their language fluently. He has rose to be quite a considerable character, or chief, in their village; at least he assumes all the dignities of a chief, for he has four wives, with whom he lives alternately."

Not only did I not know that a black man accompanied Lewis & Clark,  I had no idea that a black man played for Seattle University.  I would hook up my crystal set to the kitchen faucet as a ground.  I could get KIRO, KOMO and KJR.  One of those stations broadcast the SU games.  "Baylor scores!"  the announcer would say.  I had no earthly idea what Elgin Baylor looked like.  I just knew that he scored almost every time down the floor.

Bill Russell

What I did see on TV were Boston Celtics games.  I was fascinated by the articulate superstar Bill Russell.  When he became player-coach with the media peppering him with questions, it was the same man among boys scenario that played out on the court.  Russell was the mental health professional guiding the media through their neuroses.  What was not known at the time was that Russell returned home from games to find smeared feces, racial epithets and other racist bullshit on the walls of his Boston home.  For years Russell kept silence on this abuse, enduring it, but never giving his enemies the satisfaction of knowing they had hurt him.  Racism in America.

What kind of bullshit is a "Stand Your Ground" law?  If I want to attack an enemy, let him get the best of me, then shoot him in the heart, do I get off?  "Stand Your Ground" in Texas would certainly mean that Mexican Nationals trespassing on your property could be shot on sight.  You know all they want is to rape, rob and pillage and you are soooo scared!

Nena and I lived in Little Rock, Arkansas for over 30 years.  When we still went to church, we intentionally chose a large black church in the ghetto.  Most of the time, we were the only non-blacks in the congregation. For ten years we socialized, conversed and picked the brains of 400 or so folks who had escaped slavery.  Bill Perkins, as articulate as Obama, who drove beer truck, taught me to not dumb myself down for the audience.  Keith Wine, a former Black Panther, turned us on to Hugh Masekela, Miriam Makeba and other African artists.  But, still there were stories, many stories.  Racism in America.