Remembering Selma.

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07 Mar 2015, 3:42 pm

Today is the anniversary of the civil rights march at Selma, credited with being a major occurrence in the eventual redemption of America's soul. Happily, the President and the marchers with him will not be meeting with the same kind of brutal response that Dr. King's party had.

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cyberdad
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11 Mar 2015, 12:52 am

Kraichgauer wrote:

Boggles my mind how only 4-5 decades have elapsed since that event. The United States is one of the most developed countries in the world yet even there the majority of people cling to primitive tribalism based on such trivial things like the color of one's skin.

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11 Mar 2015, 1:55 am

Oh, I think there has been a lot of progress, just the same. While it's absolutely untrue that racism has been eradicated, which is popular for the right to say (when they're not screaming about reverse racism from blacks and other minorities), Americans have made tremendous strides in regard to race relations. But still, the fight for equality and liberty goes on.

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11 Mar 2015, 1:39 pm

My brother was there; he was a real political "firebrand" around that time (it didn't last).

He wound up disapointed. He said, before the march, it was all brotherhood and hope, but that after it was: "Go home "wh***y", we don't need you now."

Damn politicians, no matter their color, can ruin anything.

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12 Mar 2015, 1:27 am

Kraichgauer wrote:

Agree with what you've said. My post went both ways, tribalism is not just the Caucasian right wing clinging to their privileges, it's also African Americans, Asian Americans and Latin Americans who seem to define themselves as a "race" rather than as individuals. This type of thinking is primitive.

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12 Mar 2015, 1:46 am

cyberdad wrote:

The United States is one of the most developed countries in the world yet even there the majority of people cling to primitive tribalism based on such trivial things like the color of one's skin.

People are inherently racist, just as they are inherently tribal/social (the Middle East being the perfect example of tribalism).

You can't take away millions of years of evolution over a century.

The US is pretty good in comparison to most of the world though. I doubt it's any worst than us/Oz.

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12 Mar 2015, 2:50 am

cyberdad wrote:

Kraichgauer wrote:

Most certainly - unfortunately.

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12 Mar 2015, 6:25 am

While some people actually remember the Selma to Montgomery marches (and events at the Pettus bridge), most people actually remember only what they've been told.

Also, it seems that more people claim to have been in the Selma to Montgomery marches than people who actually took part - the "Woodstock Syndrome".

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12 Mar 2015, 7:35 am

Fnord wrote:

And what is it that they were told?

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12 Mar 2015, 8:37 am

Kraichgauer wrote:

Fnord wrote:

While some people actually remember the Selma to Montgomery marches (and events at the Pettus bridge), most people actually remember only what they've been told. Also, it seems that more people claim to have been in the Selma to Montgomery marches than people who actually took part - the "Woodstock Syndrome".

And what is it that they were told?

It seems to depend on who does the telling and who is being told. The people I've spoken to as having been there all seem to have had different experiences. They can't even agree on what time of day it was or which direction they were moving when they crossed the Pettus bridge!

(South-East, on Highway 80, just outside of Selma.)

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12 Mar 2015, 10:26 am

Fnord wrote:

Kraichgauer wrote:

Fnord wrote:

While some people actually remember the Selma to Montgomery marches (and events at the Pettus bridge), most people actually remember only what they've been told. Also, it seems that more people claim to have been in the Selma to Montgomery marches than people who actually took part - the "Woodstock Syndrome".

And what is it that they were told?

In all honesty, as that had been so long ago, such little details could be easily misremembered.

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12 Mar 2015, 11:02 am

Kraichgauer wrote:

In all honesty, as that had been so long ago, such little details could be easily misremembered.

That's true. I was in a huge anti-nuclear march in Manhattan in the early 1980s. I recall marching to manhattan from some place in Brooklyn or Queens, but not exactly where.

I recall coming into times square from the east and then turning north and heading up toward central park, then going into the park from Central Park West somewhere north of the Great Lawn. There was a concert in the park, but the stage was behind a hill and some trees from where we sat. I can recall hearing the disembodied sound of Jackson Browne floating through the trees.

I don't really recall how we left. And if someone told me the details of how we got from Queens to Midtown or Times Square to central park were a bit different than I recall, I wouldn't be surprised. There were a bunch of Buddhist marchers with annoying little drums that made it hard for me to think....

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12 Mar 2015, 11:15 am

ZenDen wrote:

Hi, ZenDen----so nice to "see" you!!

It's so COOL that your brother was there!! I'm so sorry he had that experience, though. It is the same nowadays, as well. In my experience I have seen white people side with black people in disputes, or whatever, and while the discussion is taking place, it's all "See, HE'S on MY side"----but, as soon as the discussion ends, the black person just turns-around, for instance, and totally ignores the white person----excluding them from any more involvement, in ANY conversation. I think white people are thinking they're going to make a friend, maybe----or, at the very least, they think they're showing black people that "I'm not like other white people....."; or, the ol' "I have a black friend....." "routine". It's not appreciated because it's not genuine, and the black people KNOW this----KNOW that the white person is just trying to kiss-butt (NOT that that is what your brother was doing----just, what is happening nowadays, IMO).

Adamantium wrote:

There were a bunch of Buddhist marchers with annoying little drums.....

Hare Krishnas, maybe?

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12 Mar 2015, 11:44 am

Campin_Cat wrote:

ZenDen wrote:

In my experience I have seen white people side with black people in disputes, or whatever, and while the discussion is taking place, it's all "See, HE'S on MY side"----but, as soon as the discussion ends, the black person just turns-around, for instance, and totally ignores the white person----excluding them from any more involvement, in ANY conversation.

Selma was before my time, but I have heard people in parents' generation who were involved in SNCC and CORE and that was not the way of it with most of them. The media always wants to focus on the black members of CORE and SNCC, but it wasn't like that.

There were always A-holes like Sonny Carson in NYC, but it's a mistake to mistake them for the norm. There are plenty of bigoted black people--stupidity and prejudice seem like general human characteristics evenly distributed among all the diverse people of the earth.

Quote:

Adamantium wrote:

There were a bunch of Buddhist marchers with annoying little drums.....

Hare Krishnas, maybe?

No, these guys were definitely buddhist. The drums were a bit like this:

The typical Hare Krishnas have deeper tablas that bother me less--it's the sharp, high sounds that press the reset button in my head.

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12 Mar 2015, 11:37 pm

Campin_Cat wrote:

ZenDen wrote:

Adamantium wrote:

There were a bunch of Buddhist marchers with annoying little drums.....

Hare Krishnas, may be?

Knowing my bro there may have been some butt (of the female kind) kissing involved.

But I also noted an absence of the NAACP in other issues back then, notably during the'68 Democratic Convention in Chicago, although to be fair this followed closely on the heels of the riots in the same city earlier in the year (when my best friend was "mowed down" by Chicago cops).

But more recently I noticed their absence during the Occupy (Wall Street) demonstrations as well. It appears the black politicians in power are no different since Dr. King died, especially the great pretender Jesse Jackson. They're just in it for the money and glory.

Or maybe I'm just bitter?

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13 Mar 2015, 2:37 am

Adamantium wrote:

There were a bunch of Buddhist marchers with annoying little drums.....

Hare Krishnas, maybe?

No, these guys were definitely buddhist. The drums were a bit like this:

The typical Hare Krishnas have deeper tablas that bother me less--it's the sharp, high sounds that press the reset button in my head.[/quote]

I thinks it's a form of prayer wheel rather than a drum. It's used to reach a state of meditation.

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