Grieving Part of Black History Month Celebration
By: Terry Donnelly
The problem with writing about Black History is that it
doesn’t make for pleasant reading. February is the month chosen to celebrate
Black History, and there is a lot to fete, but the American portion of African-Americans
in history remains pretty dismal.
The theme that holds the story together over nearly 400
years is murder.
During the early 17th century the first black
captives were brought to American ports and sold into slavery. For 250 years
blacks were owned by white landowners and treated as chattel–chattel that could
be legally destroyed on any whim.
After the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil War, freed
slaves were citizens and their continued slaughter had to become more creative.
In 1937 Abel Meeropol, a New York high school teacher, wrote
a poem titled “Strange Fruit”. He added music and Billie Holiday famously began
singing the mournful song in 1939. The strange fruit in the song was
recognition of the hundreds of black men lynched and left hanging in trees
along the roadsides in the Confederate South.
There was no abatement of black homicide in the former slave
owning states, and to make matters worse, the grievous acts were not
publicized, investigated, or punished.
Starting in 1955 the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement
first addressed the publicity problem when Chicago teenager Emmett Till was
murdered in Money, Mississippi for whistling at a white woman. His mother made
the call to display his grotesquely beaten body for all to see. Photos that ran
in the northern newspapers started to draw attention to what was still common
activity in the South. The murdering brothers were well known, but never stood
trial.
Dr. Martin Luther King and his contemporaries learned
quickly that newspaper and even better, television coverage would bring
awareness to their plight and plea for equal rights. In 1964 the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of several alphabet named groups organized
to protest for voting rights and call for the repeal of Jim Crow laws, spawned
a program in which northern college students could come to Mississippi for a
Freedom Summer to help advocate for voter registration, equal treatment, and
education. On the heels of the mainly white student volunteers came the press
to report on the activity.
No sooner had the volunteers arrived than three of the
members, Andrew Goodman, James Chaney, and Mickey Schwerner were murdered on
June 21. The boys had been investigating a church burning and were arrested for
speeding on their way back to the base camp. They were released from jail late
at night and were immediately kidnapped by Ku Klux Klan members. All three were
shot dead. Andy Goodman had only been in Mississippi for 24 hours.
Without police assistance, volunteers began a search for the
missing boys, hoping to find them alive. The search took six weeks. As the
summer program was ending, President Johnson sent in some 250 FBI agents with
cash in their pockets to bribe locals to assist in finding the boys' bodies.
They did so on August 4th. The three, two white New Yorkers, and a
black local, were murdered because they were working for civil rights.
This story is bad enough, but the story that filled the six
weeks the manhunt was conducted is even more astonishing. As many people began
turning over rocks and looking in ponds for the missing boys they began to find
other bodies. A decomposing carcass would be found and determined not to be one
of the boys. There was general relief to think the three may still be alive.
Not just one body, but body after body of black men were found. The count was
mounting. Each negative ID was met with relief that it was not one of the boys
until the searchers realized they were finding dozens of tortured and murdered
citizens who had never been found, and there was no one being held responsible
for any of them.
Seven men, including one sheriff’s deputy, were convicted in
federal court on an obscure federal law in the case of the three Freedom
Workers. The lesson was learned that if tried for murder in local courts the
men would not have been convicted. Jail time is jail time.
Fast-forward to the 21st century and we find that
little has changed. In 2012 George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin
because the armed Zimmerman claimed he felt threatened by the unarmed teenager.
In fact, Martin was found in a non-black community. His presence was unwanted
and punishable by death. A judge and jury agreed that Zimmerman had done
nothing illegal when he fired his gun into the chest of the boy who had gone
for a walk.
Ending this week is the first trial of Michael Dunn. Dunn,
who is 47 and white, is claiming he too felt threatened in 2012 by a group of
black teenagers in a car playing loud music. Dunn didn’t like the music, let
his feelings be known, and an argument ensued. 17-year-old Jordan Davis
challenged Dunn with nothing more than words. Dunn opened fire into the car
killing Davis.
Davis’ only crime was having a big mouth. His punishment was
execution.
Dunn claimed he saw a gun, but none was found. Saying he saw
a gun and claiming he felt threatened even though no one got out of either car,
is the ticket to freedom provided by Stand Your Ground laws in 23 states. Thankfully, because Dunn
fired several rounds into the SUV, he will serve time on three counts of
attempted second-degree murder and one of firing into an occupied car. But, the
murder charge resulted in a hung jury. Florida will try again, but there is
little to suggest another jury hearing similar testimony will find making a
decision about a white man killing a black man any easier than the first one.
Dunn isn’t going to jail for murder, but, jail time is jail time.
Black history month offeers a lot to celebrate. My brethren
of color have proudly overcome much and are rightfully putting more and more
accomplishments and people to celebrate on the resume. This was a hard column
to write, but we must understand the wicked in the world to better enjoy celebrations
of the good.
Read more about the
Civil Rights movement in Terry Donnelly’s historical novel, First You Hear
Thunder. Contact Terry through the MCJ or go to Amazon or Barnes and
Nobel online for a copy.
