Some of Barack Obama's critics say "He is too nice", "He is too accommodating to his enemies", "He needs to be forceful in his words", "He needs to get angry at those Republicans who are so blatantly disrespectful".....
And to you I say, he can not....Even before President Obama was born, this is what Blacks were taught, this is how you acted if you wanted to be safe, be accepted in a dangerously hateful and racist South, this was life or death for Blacks.......
"Integrated Bus Suggestions"
19 December 1956
[Montgomery, Ala.]
[Montgomery, Ala.]
On 17 December the Supreme Court rejected city and state appeals of Browder v. Gayle and ordered Montgomery's buses desegregated. Three days later, when the court order arrived by mail, the MIA held two mass meetings to formally call the bus boycott to an end and prepare for the next day when the protesters returned to the buses. After several weeks of nonviolent training sessions, King and Glenn Smiley prepared these guidelines for mass distribution.This is a historic week because segregattion on buses now been declared unconstitutional. Within a few days the Supreme Court Mandate will reach Montgomery and you will be re-boarding integrated buses. This places upon us all a tremendous responsibility of maintaining, in face of what could be some unpleasantness, a calm and loving dignity befitting good citizens and members of our Race. If there is violence in word or deed it must not be our people who commit it.
For your help and convience the following suggestions are made. Will you read, study and memorize them so that our non-violent determination may not be endangered. First, some general suggestions:
1. Not all white people are opposed to integrated buses. Accept goodwill on the part of many.NOW FOR SOME SPECIFIC SUGGESTIONS:
2. The whole bus is now for the use of all people. Take a vacant seat.
3. Pray for guidance and commit yourself to complete non-violence in word and action as you enter the bus.
4. Demonstrate the calm dignity of our Montgomery people in your actions.
5. In all things observe ordinary rules of courtesy and good behavior.
6. Remember that this is not a victory for Negroes alone, but for all Montgomery and the South. Do not boast! Do not brag!
7. Be quiet but friendly; proud, but not arrogant; joyous, but not boistrous.
8. Be loving enough to absorb evil and understanding enough to turn an enemy into a friend.
1. The bus driver is in charge of the bus and has been instructed to obey the law. Assume that he will cooperate in helping you occupy any vacant seat.THE MONTGOMERY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION
2. Do not deliberately sit by a white person, unless there is no other seat.
3. In sitting down by a person, white or colored, say "May I" or "Pardon me" as you sit. This is a common courtesy.
4. If cursed, do not curse back. If pushed, do not push back. If struck, do not strike back, but evidence love and goodwill at all times.
5. In case of an incident, talk as little as possible, and always in a quiet tone. Do not get up from your seat! Report all serious incidents to the bus driver.
6. For the first few days try to get on the bus with a friend in whose non-violence you have confidence. You can uphold one another by a glance or a prayer.
7. If another person is being molested, do not arise to go to his defense, but pray for the oppressor and use moral and spiritual force to carry on the struggle for justice.
8. According to your own ability and personality, do not be afraid to experiment with new and creative techniques for achieving reconciliation and social change.
9. If you feel you cannot take it, walk for another week or two. We have confidence in our people. GOD BLESS YOU ALL.
THE REV. M. L. KING, JR., PRESIDENT
THE REV. W. J. POWELL, SECRETARY
20 comments:
Sue - With all due respect this is not pre 1965. While racism remains in pockets of America (as it does in all countries)it is not the reason President Obama acts and or reacts as he does in my judgement.
While I have issues with his policies I know he is both intelligent and has fairly good political instincts. He, like all politicians must deal with the realities of the Congress and Senate they report to.
The President is calculating, as all presidents are, and he is listening to advisers and business execs that are presumably more expert in their fields than the President.
It is just my opinion but I think referring to the racist practices of the past and associating it with the President actions today is just more victim-hood mentality and does not serve the President well.
Obama has been able to climb to the level he has achieved not because he sees himself as damaged by racism but rather because of his ability to rise above the stereotypes placed on blacks by the lkiberal democratic left, many of which are of his own race. As I said, he has risen above that BS.
For this I respect the man, even while disagreeing with his policies.
Thank you, Sue, for this, on the commemoration of Martin's statue on the mall.
Right on! The struggle continues. Progress has been made. There are those who resent the progress of the last fifty years.
RN, I'm referring to the presidents personality and the way he carries himself. I have alot of Black friends on FB and they agree with my assessment.
This small piece of MLK's writings is to show how they carried themselves in order to stay alive. Sad isn't it, to have to constantly look over your shoulder?
Anyway, not a racism piece...
you're welcome FJ. Like I told RN, this isn't meant to show racism but to show why I believe Barack Obama is the man he is. Just my opinion...
I disagree with RN-USA's assessment that racism remains in "pockets" of America.
When we witness a popular GOP black candidate running for president saying the current president isn't a real African-American because he grew up in Kenya, and because he has no slavery in his background, we're hearing race brought into the discussion. Cain also stated that he, not Mr. Obama, is a REAL black man.
Mr. Cain brought Mr. Obama's race into the conversation, that's racism.
Can you imagine anyone in the presidential race calling Mitt Romney's skin color into question and bragging he or she is more of a white person than Romney?
No. A black man mocking Mr. Obama over the skin coloring of his mother and father is about as stupid as it gets. Everytime Cain makes outrageous statements, we get further insight to his character and lack thereof.
Here are his remarks from USAToday:
"Cain was asked about his statement at a Tea Party rally in March that the mainstream news media are "doubly scared that a real black man might run against Barack Obama."
"A real black man is not timid about making the right decisions," Cain tells the magazine. As for Obama, Cain goes on to say "it is documented that his mother was white and his father was from Africa. If he wants to call himself black, fine. If he wants to call himself African American, fine. I'm not going down this color road."
No, Cain doesn't want to go down "this color road," except when he does in order to score racially divisive points.
"If [Martin Luther King, Jr.] were alive today, I believe he would remind us that the unemployed worker can rightly challenge the excesses of Wall Street without demonizing all who work there; that the businessman can enter tough negotiations with his company’s union without vilifying the right to collectively bargain. He would want us to know we can argue fiercely about the proper size and role of government without questioning each other’s love for this country, with the knowledge that in this democracy, government is no distant object but is rather an expression of our common commitments to one another."- BHO
I think this says it nicely.
I think it's totally impossible for white people to fully appreciate how generations of racism impacts on the psyche of African Americans to this day - and for generations to come.
Our buses are still segregated..... all the dumb Polaks have to sit in the back and the dumb Norwegians get to sit in the front. But every other day they have to reverse the order.
Makes riding the bus amusing....
.... kinda like the US Congress.
Yeah, and the stubborn sweed's are stuck in the middle.
but seriously... what Leslie said..
//I think it's totally impossible for white people to fully appreciate how generations of racism impacts on the psyche of African Americans to this day //
.. a good friend is African American, retired college administrator..
he echoes that sentiment.
it is especially difficult for white Americans who grew up in areas with little or no minorities.
but on my previous comments, they were not all that inane. Growing up in almost 100% white areas of Wisconsin.. folks would still find a nationality or religious group to discriminate against. German Catholics would not socialize with Norwegian Lutherans in rural area....The Poles did not get along with the Germans in the industrialized cities.. man is a funny animal
Xenophobia and divisiveness have been nurtured in American culture.
No wonder racism still exists. Fortunately the world is getting smaller through the internet and social media. I'm hopeful each new generation is less racist and xenophobic than their parents.
Well SK, at least with Cain you guys can finally shut up about conservatives being racist. What's the matter? Liberals can talk race but conservatives can't??
Herman Cain is nothing but a TOOL for the Wingnuts and the Koch-suckers.... they think putting up a Black candidate will attract more Blacks to the Republican party! That's hysterical! Blacks are more intelligent than that, they are not pawns...give it up, the man is a loser, he is stooooooopid and unelectable! He's trying to sell his book, just like a male Palin...idiot..
Cain knows NO MORE than Palin, Bachmann, Perry, all teabaggers, when it comes to foreign policy. I can't wait for the nominee to debate Pres. Obama!!
"Well SK, at least with Cain you guys can finally shut up about conservatives being racist. What's the matter? Liberals can talk race but conservatives can't??"--common sense
Again, a conservative is clueless. We're criticizing Cain on his policies and on bringing Mr. Obama's race into the discussion.
If you are honest, you will understand the difference between that and the TPers who marched with photo-shopped posters of Obama as an African witch doctor. I also have on my blog, documentation of tee shirts with nooses on them and watermelons on the WH front lawn, photos of Mr. and Mrs. Obama set up in a book shop's window in Fla. next to pictures of apes.
Those racist images came from conservatives.
If you, common sense, can find that sort of racist garbage on Herman Cain by Liberals, please produce it.
The people you associate with have a real problem with race. One guy named Herman Cain doesn't expunge that shame.
@ okjimm...
"German Catholics would not socialize with Norwegian Lutherans in rural area....The Poles did not get along with the Germans in the industrialized cities.. man is a funny animal"
Cultures, and people in general tend to group together and socialize with those of the same nationality, religion, race etc. It has been that way for a very long time.
Indeed humankind, even with all its reasoning abilities still retains some primate attributes and tendancies. Within the animal kingdom at large we see the same.
One has to wonder if humankind will ever achieve a state of true harmony amongst all of humankind.
We'll just have to keep reaching for the higher plain.
First of all great post Sue, thank you!
Now, I kinda busted my Husband out to FB so I might as well do it here to:
Do you know why Republicans love Herman Cain? They love to see a black man bash black people.
My husband knows this too and has used it with every white friend I have. Dummy me didn't even know he was doing it until finally one of my kids explained it to me. (I call myself terminally white.). My husband uses it to measure up people, and more often than not he is disappointed. Everybody loves my husband, he is so nice, he is so friendly...and he is playing every single one of them. He grew up in the south during desegregation and he was hurt a lot. His brothers tease him about coming home from school crying everyday...for years, they say. But he learned to cope and finished school and hey, even married a white woman...but he still has his defences and still plays his games with white folk. So I kinda smile when I read some crazy thing that Herman Cain said about black people, I wonder if he is playing the game too?
I hadn't thought of that Shaw, liberals portraying Cain in a racist manner...I haven't seen a single example of it and the hundreds of Facebook liberals sites would surely have ONE picture, if we were the type to do such a thing. It's amazing even with all the evidence of racism the wingnuts still deny doing it!
I always love your stories and insight Mary, thanks! We know the republicans don't embrace Cain as "one of them". He is either dumb as a doorknob or in it for his book sales and doesn't give a flying fuck as long as he makes money! Sounds like Palin!
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