RACIAL PROFILING IN CANADA

Murphy Browne © November 2017

"Profiling and the power to criminalize behavior amount to an ability to criminalize any individual, and especially to criminalize a person's sense of justice, personal dignity and self-respect - that is a person’s sense of his/her humanity. Profiling and its attendant aggressiveness signify that the police have arrogated to themselves the power to determine who will be human, whose sense of themselves as human will be respected, whose autonomy and independence will go unpunished and whose not.

”

Excerpt from the 2003 published book “The Rule of Racialization: Class, Identity, Governance” by Steve Martinot

The brutal beating of an African Canadian teenager by a White police officer and the officer’s brother to the point where the youth suffered broken bones and the imminent loss of one eye suggests that the two White men did not see/view this young African Canadian as human. Profiling as analyzed by White American professor Steve Martinot is one of several reasons why the very troubling and inappropriate School Resource Officers (SRO) Program at the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) should end.

The program is concentrated in schools with large populations of African Canadian and other racialized students. The history of the overwhelmingly white Toronto Police Force and the African Canadian community is historically one of confrontation and hostility. Anti-African racism is a fact of life and has been since the kidnapped six year old African child who was given the name Olivier LeJeune was sold in Quebec in 1628. The inhumane practice of holding generations of Africans in slavery, buying and selling them and their children continued here in the Great White North until August 1, 1834. During those 206 years of enslavement of Africans in Canada the system was as brutal as any that has been ascribed to the USA or any Caribbean island. In Canada enslaved Africans were bought and sold with advertisements appearing in newspapers as far away as cities throughout the USA with White people in Canada seeking to buy enslaved Africans from their American cousins.

When the British retreated to Canada after their defeat at the hands of their American cousins many of them brought to British North America (BNA) the Africans they had enslaved in the USA. The violence that White people used to keep enslaved Africans “in check” during slavery transferred to the manner in which the policing system of the 21^st century is enacted on the bodies of African Canadians. The dehumanizing of African bodies during slavery has led to the mindset of Africans not feeling pain like White people (https://news.virginia.edu/content/study-links-disparities-pain-management-racial-bias) and (http://www.pnas.org/content/113/16/4296.full?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Proc_Natl_Acad_Sci_U_S_A_TrendMD_0) This is also the mindset that bedevils our community when White people in authority consider African American/African Canadian children to be older than they are with corresponding treatment robbing them of their childhood (http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/03/black-boys-older.aspx) and (https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2014/03/cops-tend-to-see-black-kids-as-less-innocent-than-white-kids/383247/) It is bad enough that African Canadian youth are subjected to racial profiling as they traverse/negotiate on an everyday basis and are subjected to the daily racist micro-aggressions as they “breathe while Black.” In the education system some African Canadian children as young as four years old are racially profiled as they innocently try to make sense of their new realities in the schools they attend. Imagine how anxiety making it is to be confronted by armed men and women as these students try to get an education. It is traumatic for many students. They are also being conditioned through their formative years to obey and be obeisant to these White men and women in uniforms who are armed to the teeth. In “The Rule of Racialization: Class, Identity, Governance” Martinot also wrote that: “Under profiling and the criminalization of dignity and self-respect, obeisance to the police is the inverse of obedience to the law – just as profiling is the inverse of law enforcement. In law enforcement, a crime is discovered and the police then look for a suspect who might possibly have committed it. Profiling means that a suspect is discovered and the police then look for a crime for the person to have possibly committed."

That is a reality on the streets of Toronto and of course would be transferred to the school experience for African Canadian students in schools with the SRO Program. Under constant surveillance the risk of criminalization is multiplied and leads to the infamous “school to prison pipeline.”

African Canadian communities in major Canadian cities, including Halifax (https://globalnews.ca/news/3778740/un-report-on-racism-validates-african-nova-scotian-experience-senator/), (https://globalnews.ca/news/3768196/un-report-slams-nova-scotia-education-systems-treatment-of-african-nova-scotians/) Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal have complained for decades about racial profiling in schools and elsewhere.

Having armed men and women in schools would also exacerbate the high rate of “Push out/drop out” of African Canadian students. There have been numerous studies done, reports, recommendations and even books written documenting the negative effects of a White supremacist system on the lives/health of racialized people. The United Nations (UN) has consulted with racialized communities and the results have been publicized yet a program like the SRO Program has been in place for an entire decade! Racial profiling continues unabated; and here we are almost at the end of 2017, the third year of the UN declared International Decade for People of African Descent and the various levels of government have done nothing. Next year and the following year as politicians court our votes, the various levels of government in Canada must be made to realise that “Black Lives Matter.”

Murphy Browne © November 2017

BLACK AWARENESS DAY (DIA DA CONSCIENCIA NEGRA) IN BRAZIL

Murphy Browne © November 2014
Thursday, November 20, 2014


BLACK AWARENESS DAY (DIA DA CONSCIENCIA NEGRA) IN BRAZIL
 
Angola, Congo, Benguela Monjolo, Cabinda, Mina Quiloa, Rebolo
Here where the men are
There’s a big auction
They say that in the auction,
There’s a princess for sale
Who came, together with her subjects
Chained on an oxcart
To one side, sugarcane
To the other side, the coffee plantation
In the middle, seated gentlemen
Watching the cotton crop, so white
Being picked by black hands
When Zumbi arrives
What will happen
Zumbi is a warlord
A lord of demands
When Zumbi arrives, Zumbi Is the one who gives orders


Excerpt from "Zumbi" composed and sung by African Brazilian singer Jorge Ben Jor released in 1974 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db2_TWq7nfs)


“Black November” is celebrated in the city of Salvador in the Brazilian state of Bahia which has the largest number of African Brazilians. Black Awareness Day ("Dia da Consciência Negra") has been celebrated in Brazil every year on November 20, since 1960. On November 20 the enslavement of Africans and other injustices since the abolition of slavery are discussed and the contributions of African Brazilians are recognized and celebrated. November 20 was chosen as Dia da Consciência Negra/Black Awareness Day to remember the transition of Zumbi a famous Brazilian Maroon leader. Zumbi dos Palmares (1655-1695) the last leader of the famous Palmares Quilombo was beheaded on November 20, 1695 by the Portuguese and his head publicly displayed both as a warning to enslaved Africans and proof that Zumbi was not immortal. In 2011 Dilma Rousseff the President of Brazil signed into law a bill that makes November 20 a Brazilian National Holiday although many Brazilian states had previously recognized November 20 with a public holiday.


Zumbi who posthumously has risen to the status of National Hero to many Brazilians and even has a Brazilian airport (Zumbi dos Palmares International Airport) named in his honour and a postage stamp (2008) commemorating his memory was once the bane of the Portuguese colonizers/enslavers in Brazil. Zumbi was born a free African in the community of Palmares where Africans had established a free Maroon community (quilombo) in 1594. Palmares was the most successful community of quilombos established by Africans who fled enslavement in Brazil and survived and thrived for 100 years. Combined forces of Dutch and Portuguese attacked the Palmares community as the presence of Africans living free in a country where White people enslaved millions was a beacon of hope to enslaved Africans. During one of these attacks 6 year old Zumbi was kidnapped by a group of Portuguese who sold him to a Catholic priest. When he was 15 years old Zumbi escaped and returned to Palmares where by the time he was in his early 20s he was a respected military strategist and a leader in the community. In 1678, the Portuguese governor negotiated a deal with the leader of Palmares. The deal was a cessation of hostilities between the White inhabitants and the people of Palmares if they would agree to move from the location they had settled since 1594 and that they would capture and return any enslaved Africans who fled to their community seeking freedom. The leader of Palmares agreed but Zumbi wisely refused to agree to those terms. The Portuguese proved to be deceitful and enslaved the Africans who believed their promises and left the safety of Palmares. Mary Karasch a White American historian wrote in her article “Zumbi of Palmares: Challenging the Portuguese Colonial Order” published 2013 in "In The Human Tradition in Colonial Latin America" edited by Kenneth J. Andrien: “The Portuguese were not to be trusted, and to live in peace with them would only lead to re-enslavement. To preserve their freedom they had to resist and fight for their people and their own way of life.”


With Zumbi’s refusal to leave Palmares (where Africans had lived as free people for more than 80 years) and his supporters’ determination to defend their territory and their freedom the Portuguese renewed their attacks on Palmares. Zumbi as the new leader of Palmares led the fight against the Portuguese. In her 2013 published article “Zumbi of Palmares: Challenging the Portuguese Colonial Order” Mary Karasch also wrote “What is clear from the documentation is that a newly unified and revived Palmares under the leadership of Zumbi took the offensive. One wonders if the particularly raided plantations where their former comrades had been reenslaved. For a period of thirteen years (1680-1693) Luso-Brazilian expeditions were ineffectual in stopping Palmarino attacks.”
On January 6, 1694 Palmares suffered a surprise attack because of a careless sentry who failed to warn Zumbi of an approaching army of Portuguese. Although Zumbi and his followers from Palmares fought valiantly, they were surrounded and outnumbered. The Portuguese destroyed the Palmares Quilombo, captured 510 Africans and sold them in Bahia.


Zumbi and a few others from Palmares escaped and continued the fight. Zumbi was eventually betrayed by one of his trusted men who bargained Zumbi’s life for his own with the Portuguese. Zumbi was killed in the ensuing fight on November 20, 1695 and his body was delivered to the officials of the city council of Porto Calvo. In her “Zumbi of Palmares: Challenging the Portuguese Colonial Order” Mary Karasch writes: “An examination revealed fifteen gunshot wounds and innumerable blows from other weapons; after his death he had been castrated and mutilated. The last degradation by his enemies occurred in a public ceremony in Porto Calvo, in which his head was cut off and taken to Recife, where the governor had it displayed on a pole in a public place. His objective was to destroy the belief that Zumbi was immortal.”


Although Palmares was one of several quilombos established by Africans in Brazil, the Quilombo of Palmares was the largest with a population of 30,000 and lasted longer than any other (100 years) from 1594 to 1694. Some of Zumbi’s followers who escaped the carnage visited upon them by the Portuguese attack on Palmares escaped to live in other quilombos and enslaved Africans also continued to flee until slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888. Some of the quilombos were so well hidden that they were never discovered by the Portuguese and the inhabitants lived in freedom and seclusion. In one case the inhabitants of a quilombo (Remanso, Bahia) were unaware until they were discovered in the 1960s that slavery had been abolished for more than 80 years! Since 1988, the quilombos have received protective status under Brazil’s constitution in an attempt to maintain the distinctive culture, history and language developed by these communities.


During the November 20 recognition of Zumbi’s contribution to Brazilian culture and history many events take place at Zumbia National Park which has a monument created in his honour. In spite of the special day to honour Zumbi and the recognition of his place in Brazil’s history, African Brazilians continue to experience oppression in a White supremacist culture.


In his 1989 published book “Brazil, Mixture Or Massacre?: Essays in the Genocide of a Black People” African Brazilian scholar and historian Abdias do Nascimento wrote: “On the whole in this pretentious concept of ‘racial democracy,’ there lies deliberately buried the true face of Brazilian society: only one of the racial elements has any rights or power – whites. They control the means of dissemination of information, educational curriculum and institutions, conceptual definitions, aesthetic norms and all other forms of social/cultural values.” Nascimento who transitioned on May 23, 2011 was a Pan-Africanist who played a significant role in raising awareness among African Brazilians and also wrote "Racial Democracy in Brazil, Myth or Reality?: A Dossier of Brazilian Racism" (1977), "Race and ethnicity in Latin America – African culture in Brazilian art" (1994), "Orixás: os deuses vivos da Africa" (Orishas: the living gods of Africa in Brazil) (1995) and "Africans in Brazil: a Pan-African perspective" (1997.) Recognition of Zumbi would not be complete without recognition of Nascimento as the African Brazilian activist scholar who has been described as a “militant Pan-Africanist” and spent his life raising awareness of the struggle of African Brazilians to navigate a White supremacist culture/system.


Murphy Browne © November 2014

CHINUA ACHEBE NOVEMBER 16, 1930 - MARCH 21, 2013

 

Murphy Browne © November 2014

Friday, November 14, 2014

CHINUA ACHEBE NOVEMBER 16, 1930 - MARCH 21, 2013

"People say that if you find water rising up to your ankle, that's the time to do something about it, not when it's around your neck. The last four or five hundred years of European contact with Africa produced a body of literature that presented Africa in a very bad light and Africans in very lurid terms. The reason for this had to do with the need to justify the slave trade and slavery."

Quote from Chinua Achebe Nigerian (Igbo) author of the classic novel "Things Fall Apart" published 1958

Chinualumogu Achebe was born on November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria. He was the fifth of 6 children born to Janet Anaenechi Iloegbunam and Isaiah Okafo Achebe. The name "Chinualumogu" means "God will fight on my behalf" and since Achebe was born during the British colonization of Nigeria his parents probably thought their child would need the intervention of the Almighty to survive the imposition of a foreign power in their land. Achebe who transitioned on March 21, 2013 was an acclaimed novelist who published several books about the negative effects of European colonization, domination and exploitation of Africans.

In his first book "Things Fall Apart" published in 1958 Achebe introduced Okonkwo the Igbo leader whose life and the lives of his people are devastated by the arrival of the Europeans and the destruction of the traditional way of life. In chapter 7 of "Things Fall Apart" in this allegory of the arrival of the colonizers from Britain, Achebe writes: "And at last the locusts did descend. They settled on every tree and on every blade of grass; they settled on the roofs and covered the bare ground. Mighty tree branches broke away under them." At the end of "Things Fall Apart" as "things are falling apart" for the Igbo leaders facing the domination of the White colonizers, 2 of the central characters (Obierika and Okonkwo) have this conversation: "“Does the white man understand our custom about land?” “How can he when he does not even speak our tongue? But he says that our customs are bad; and our own brothers who have taken up his religion also say that our customs are bad. How do you think we can fight when our own brothers have turned against us? The white man is very clever. He came quietly and peaceably with his religion. We were amused at his foolishness and allowed him to stay. Now he has won our brothers, and our clan can no longer act like one. He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart.”"

Achebe's depictions of the social and psychological damage that accompanied the imposition of Western customs and values upon traditional African society are probably the reason he was never awarded a Nobel Prize for Literature. When asked by Onuora Udenwa of "Quality Weekly" how he felt about never winning a Nobel Prize, he reportedly replied: “My position is that the Nobel Prize is important. But it is a European prize. It’s not an African prize. It’s not a Nigerian prize. Those who give it, Europeans who give it are not responsible to us. They have their reasons for setting it up. They have their rules for determining who should get it. Literature is not a heavyweight championship.”

Achebe was uncompromising in his stance on challenging conventional Western perceptions of Africans and provided alternatives to the negative stereotypical images of Africa constructed by European authors. On February 18, 1975 while he was a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Achebe presented a Chancellor’s Lecture at Amherst entitled “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’” where he deconstructed the racism in Conrad’s novel and described Conrad as “a thoroughgoing racist” (http://kirbyk.net/hod/image.of.africa.html) That lecture has been described as “one of the most important and influential treatises in post-colonial literary discourse.” In "Things Fall Apart" Achebe describes in vivid language through various characters the damaging and ruinous effects of European imposition on African culture, civilization and society which continued in the 1960 sequel "No Longer at Ease." In his 1964 published book "Arrow of God" Achebe also wrote about traditional Igbo culture clashing with European Christian missionaries and colonial government policies as the British Empire prevailed in Africa. "A Man of the People" published in 1966 and "Anthills of the Savannah" published in 1987 are also powerful stories told by an African about Africans and African culture. In one of his essays published in "Morning Yet on Creation Day" in 1975, Achebe explained in "The Novelist As Teacher": “I would be quite satisfied if my novels (especially the ones I set in the past) did no more than teach my readers that their past – with all its imperfections – was not one long night of savagery from which the first Europeans acting on God’s behalf delivered them.” Achebe also wrote in an essay entitled "The Role of the Writer in a New Nation" which was published in "Morning Yet on Creation Day" in 1975: "The worst thing that can happen to any people is the loss of their dignity and self-respect. The writer's duty is to help them regain it by showing them in human terms what happened to them, what they lost. There is a saying in Ibo that a man who can't tell where the rain began to beat him cannot know where he dried his body. The writer can tell the people where the rain began to beat them"

With the publication of “Things Fall Apart” in 1958, Achebe revolutionized the telling of African stories and set the standard for successive generations of African authors/writers, including Buchi Emecheta and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Achebe was the founding editor of the "Heinemann African Writers Series" (established in 1962) which provided a forum for many African writers who came of age after their countries’ independence from European colonizers. His collection of poems "Beware Soul Brother" was published in 1972 and won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize.

Achebe born on November 16, 1930 was born during a time when Africans were agitating for their independence from European colonization. Nigeria had been occupied by Britain since the arrival of the “Royal Niger Company” which was founded by a group of White men in 1879 as the “United African Company” renamed the “National African Company” in 1881 and then the “Royal Niger Company” in 1886. Whatever name the group gave themselves their purpose was always to exploit the Africans and the resources. On January 1, 1900, the “Royal Niger Company” transferred the territories it occupied to the British Government and was paid £865,000. No Africans were consulted during the transaction. In the 1920s several Nigerians joined other Africans on the continent and in the Diaspora began organizing in a Pan-African movement to liberate Africans from European domination and the attendant racism to which Africans were subjected in White supremacist cultures. The Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey founded the “Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League” (UNIA-ACL) in 1914 in Jamaica and expanded the organization after immigrating to the USA in 1916. The influence of Garveyism with his (Garvey’s) philosophy of “Africa for Africans at home and abroad” galvanized the Pan-African movement and influenced generations of African and Caribbean leaders.

 

In 1923 Olayinka Herbert Samuel Heelas Badmus Macaulay established the Nigerian National Democratic Party (Nigeria’s first political party) which successfully contested three Lagos seats in the Legislative Council. Macaulay came to be regarded as the “father of modern Nigerian nationalism" in spite of the British colonialist efforts to suppress the movement. Macaulay was jailed twice by the British as he agitated for African self-rule in Nigeria. Macaulay led protests in Lagos over water rates, land issues and exposed British corruption of their “mishandling” of railway finances. In 1918 Macaulay successfully handled the cases of chiefs whose land had been taken by the British in front of the Privy Council in London. As a result of his campaigning, the colonial government was forced to pay compensation to the chiefs. On June 23, 1923 he established Nigeria’s first political party the “Nigerian National Democratic Party.” Macaulay like many other African leaders who campaigned for independence from European domination was a Pan-Africanist. 

 

In a letter to Garvey in June 1919 (http://wyatt.elasticbeanstalk.com/mep/MG/xml/mg080008.html) Macaulay expressed his support of Garvey’s initiative to establish a shipping company “The Black Star Line.” Macaulay ended his letter to Garvey with these words: "With the most heartfelt prayer for the success of "The Black Star Line," and in the fervent hope that the undertaking will be conducted upon lines based on strict moral rectitude, fair and healthy competition qualified by the most scrupulous and resolute Self-determination, I remain Your Fellowman of the Negro Race, H. Macaulay" Although he was not a politician Achebe was as much an activist as the people who agitated for African freedom from colonization. He used his talent as a writer to educate and agitate and his work has been recognized by universities in Britain, Canada, Nigeria and the United States with honorary degrees.

 

Murphy Browne © November 2014

RUBY NELL BRIDGES NOVEMBER 14, 1960

Murphy Browne © November 2010


RUBY NELL BRIDGES NOVEMBER 14, 1960

Fifty years ago on November 14, 1960, 6-year-old Ruby Nell Bridges became a symbol for the Civil Rights movement and made history as the first African American student to enter the William Frantz Elementary School in New Orleans. Bridges' historic journey to school was immortalized in Norman Rockwell's painting "The Problem We All Live With," which appeared on the cover of Look Magazine on January 14, 1964. In the painting, a small African American girl with neatly braided hair tied with white ribbons, wearing a white dress, white socks and shoes is walking with four white men, two in front and two behind. The men are so much taller than the child that their faces are not seen; only their arms and legs. On the arm of each man is an armband with the words “Deputy U.S. Marshal.” Over the little girl’s head the word “ni--er” is scrawled and there is evidence that someone has violently thrown eggs and tomatoes that smashed against the wall. All this violence unleashed by a white mob because a six year old African American child was going to her first day of grade one class at the previously all white William Frantz Elementary School in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans. The same area where Hurricane Katrina touched down in 2005 and the world again witnessed the mistreatment of Africans in America.


Although the Supreme Court of the USA had ruled against segregated public schools in 1954 with the Brown v Board of Education decision, New Orleans had not desegregated its schools even though in 1956, Federal District Court Judge, J. Skelly Wright, ordered the Orleans Parish School Board to design an effective plan for the desegregation of New Orleans' public schools. The Bridges (Abon and Lucille) were forced by the segregation law to send their child to Johnson Lockett Elementary School, for her kindergarten year, where the student body and staff were African American even though it was farther from their home than the all white William Frantz School.


During the spring of 1960, members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) informed the Bridges their child was one of the few to pass a test the school Board had administered to choose African American children to attend two all white schools and she had been chosen to attend the William Frantz School. Of the six children chosen to integrate the schools, two decided to stay in their old schools and the other three were assigned to McDonough 19 which left 6 year old Ruby Bridges the lone African American child to integrate William Frantz Elementary School on November 14, 1960. On November 14, 1960, four girls, accompanied by United States Marshals, integrated the two schools; Leona Tate, Tessie Prevost, Gaile Etienne entering McDonough 19 and Ruby Bridges entering William Frantz Elementary.


While Bridges’ mother believed this was an opportunity to make a difference, her father had some reservations including fear for his child’s safety. In an article published in a March 2000 edition of Guideposts, Bridges wrote: My mother was all for it. My father wasn't. "We're just asking for trouble," he said. He thought things weren't going to change, and blacks and whites would never be treated as equals. Mama thought I would have an opportunity to get a better education if I went to the new school - and a chance for a good job later in life. My parents argued about it and prayed about it. Eventually my mother convinced my father that despite the risks, they had to take this step forward, not just for their own children, but for all black children."


Bridges also remembered that on November 14, 1960, that first day of school, the Federal Marshals drove the car in which she and her mother travelled the five blocks to the new school. While in the car one of the Marshals explained that when they got to the school two of the Marshals would walk in front and two behind the mother and child for protection on both sides. She wrote that as the car pulled up to the school her mother said to her "Ruby Nell, don't be afraid. There might be some people upset outside, but I'll be with you." That was the only preparation she received before being confronted by a vicious mob of white men and women as she and her mother hurried up the stairs between the four Marshals. Walter Cronkite reported the incident for the evening news and Americans witnessed the horrible scenes of mostly white women in a murderous frenzy because one small child entered a school where their children attended but the words that were screamed at that child were muffled. In his travelogue "Travels with Charley: In Search of America," John Steinbeck who witnessed the scene on November 14, 1960 at William Franz Elementary School wrote of the blood thirsty mob: "I’ve seen this kind bellow for blood at a prize fight, have orgasms when a man is gored in the bull ring, stare with vicarious lust at a highway accident, stand patiently in line for the privilege of watching any pain or any agony."


Adult white men and women took time out of their days to terrorise a small African American child for the entire school year. Describing the scene he witnessed at the William Franz Elementary School Steinbeck also wrote: "The show opened on time. Sound of sirens. Motorcycle cops. Then two big black cars filled with big men in blond felt hats pulled up in front of the school. The crowd seemed to hold its breath. Four big marshals got out of each car and from somewhere in the automobiles they extracted the littlest Negro girl you ever saw, dressed in shining starchy white, with new white shoes on feet so little they were almost round. Her face and little legs were very black against the white.
The big marshals stood her on the curb and a jangle of jeering shrieks went up from behind the barricades. The little girl did not look at the howling crowd but from the side the whites of her eyes showed like those of a frightened fawn. The men turned her around like a doll, and then the strange procession moved up the broad walk toward the school, and the child was even more a mite because the men were so big. Then the girl made a curious hop, and I think I know what it was. I think in her whole life she had not gone ten steps without skipping, but now in the middle of her first skip the weight bore her down and her little round feet took measured, reluctant steps between the tall guards. Slowly they climbed the steps and entered the school."


From Steinbeck’s description, the white women were especially vicious in expressing their hatred of the six year old: "No newspaper had printed the words these women shouted. It was indicated that they were indelicate, some even said obscene, On television the sound track was made to blur or had crowd noises cut to occur. But now I heard the words, bestial and filthy and degenerate. In a long and unprotected life I have seen and heard the vomiting of demoniac humans before. Why then did these screams fill me with a shocked and sickened sorrow?"


Because of the angry mob Bridges did not get to class on the first day of school, November 14, 1960, she and her mother spent the day in the principal’s office where they witnessed furious white men and women taking their children out of the school. Bridges wrote of her recollections from that day and the following day: “We spent that whole day sitting in the principal's office. Through the window, I saw white parents pointing at us and yelling, then rushing their children out of the school. In the uproar I never got to my classroom. The marshals drove my mother and me to school again the next day. I tried not to pay attention to the mob. Someone had a black doll in a coffin, and that scared me more than the nasty things people screamed at us.” On the second day she did enter a classroom because one teacher agreed to teach her even though no white parents would allow their children to sit in the classroom with her. Bridges spent her entire grade one year protected by Federal Marshals, she was the only child in the classroom and she was never allowed to leave the class even for recess.
Meanwhile the white mob, mostly women, continued to riot outside the school, swearing, throwing objects and threatening death to the six year old https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL8VMM_Xiws.


It is almost unbelievable that the women, many of them mothers of children the same age as the then 6 year old Bridges, vowed to murder the child simply because she entered the same school as their children. One woman promised to poison Bridges which prompted the decision to not allow her to eat anything that was not prepared at home. The family suffered repercussions because of their decision to have their child integrate the all white school. Abon Bridges was fired from his job and his parents who were tenant farmers in Mississippi were thrown off the land by the white farmer/owner for whom they had worked for 25 years.


The family received a great deal of support from the African American community in their New Orleans neighbourhood. Speaking of the support the family received, during an interview aired on PBS Bridges said: “I don't think that my parents could have gone through what they did without the whole community coming together. We had friends that would come over and help dress me for school. Even when I rode to school, there were people in the neighborhood that would walk behind the car. I actually didn't live that far from school, and so they would actually just come out and walk to school with me.”


In 1999 Ruby Bridges Hall established the Ruby Bridges Foundation to “promote the values of tolerance, respect and appreciation through educational programs.” One of the projects she plans is the repair and restoration of the William Frantz Elementary School which was damaged in the Hurricane Katrina disaster. She hopes to re-open the school in 2012 with a Civil Rights Museum as part of it. As the Honourable Robert “Bob” Nesta Marley sang: "We’re the survivors, the black survivors."


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In defiance of the desegregation law, the white people of New Orleans did more than terrorize Ruby Bridges, Leona Tate, Tessie Prevost, Gaile Etienne and their families. The Knights of White Christians was a New Orleans group that published and distributed the following leaflet:
“Death Stalks Our Land With Black Plague,” Knights of White Christians, New Orleans, August 1960
We call upon the white Christian manhood and womanhood of our native southland to fight and prove your loyalty to your forefathers who created this country with their courage, work, sacrifice and blood. The purity of the white race must be protected and preserved—Our racial dignity, southern heritages, and traditions as well as our rights guaranteed by the Constitution of our country cannot and will not perish from this earth. No power on earth can bring death to our white race and the southern Legion of Honor cause which we love so well – more than life – enough to defy and fight communism, tyranny and persecution, spearheaded by the black plague of racial integration, without fear of personal sacrifice or death.
Almighty God created segregation and in his name we would prefer to die than submit to mulatto mongrelization and the indoctrination, regimentation and mental slavery of a government of tyranny.
You are born alone – must die alone – must face the King of Kings alone – so – make your own decision.
United we stand and lead on to victory – divided we fall victims to black plague and Communism. . . .
Our No. 1 plank in our battle for survival program is the weapon used by the N.A.A.C.P. – BOYCOTT NEGROES. Do not employ Negroes – Do not deal with or patronize stores, business places, restaurants, churches, T.V. advertised products, sporting events, etc., that sponsor or promote racial integration.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Numerous Letters to the Editor were sent to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, protesting the desegregation of the two public schools, including:
New Orleans Times-Picayune, November 21, 1960
To the Editor:
A day that will live in the archives of New Orleans as its “Black Monday” of the 20th century, engulfed this city of the historic South on the 14th of November.
In direct violation of the state and federal constitution, a federal judge has assumed dictatorial powers over the city as well as the state of Louisiana. Never in the annals of American history has a so-called governing body of the United States, in the representation of the federal courts, intervened themselves . . . as in New Orleans.
If this nation is to enjoy the liberty and freedom of a democracy, then first of all, its leaders should renew the ideology of a democracy. . . .
As Louisiana speaker J. Thomas Jewell, in deliverance of his classic piece of oratory before the House of Representatives, said on the 14th of November:
“The courts are traditionally the guardian of liberty. They have the right to pass upon the actions of the lawmakers of Louisiana and every other state. They can render opinions regarding the constitutionality of laws passed by Congress itself. But no power on earth – including the federal court – can assume unto itself the right to prejudge the actions of the Legislature.”
These words are symbolic of the very meaning of American democracy. This nation was built upon foundations of strength, faith and determination – not upon the whimsical theories of dreamers. The strength of a country lies first of all in the patriotic health and moral stamina of that nation, not in an idea of liberalistic philosophy.
Lloyd F. Fricke, Jr.
Metairie, LA

  +++++++++++++++++++++++
Jack Howard, the mayor of Monroe, Louisiana, sent the following telegram to the legislative delegation from Monroe on Sunday, November 13, 1960. It was published in the Monroe Morning Herald on November 14, 1960
“Ouachita Men Strongly Back School Action”
Monroe Morning Herald, November 14, 1960
The white citizens of Monroe and Ouachita Parish are supporting you and the governor one thousand percent. Let’s battle the U.S. courts to the bitter end and learn once and for all whether the state of Louisiana, its legislature and its governor are going to run the affairs of our state or whether or not traitors like Skelly Wright and a Communist Supreme Court is going to take over, and run our state. We are supporting you all the way and ask that no stone be left unturned in this all important fight to preserve our traditional way of life. If we lose this fight then we have lost it all. Keep up the good work.


Murphy Browne © November 2010

NAKUMBUKA I REMEMBER

Murphy Browne © November 2017

“Nakumbuka Day is a day to freely and openly grieve the trauma of the genocide of African peoples through enslavement, and its continued after-effects. This event will feature a number of artists and performers to help students, staff, faculty, and community members process this trauma through collective, artistic mediums. Nakumbuka, a Kiswahili word meaning "I remember," is a day of remembrance for the Maafa, a Kiswahili word that means "great disaster or devastating occurrence" and refers to the genocide of African peoples through enslavement, including the Middle Passage. Nakumbuka Day will feature collective ritual healing ceremonies including African drumming, poetry, dancing, spoken word, singing, and a personal reflection ceremony.”

Excerpt from the webpage of Occidental College in Los Angeles for Nakumbuka Day, November 11, 2017 https://www.oxy.edu/events/nakumbuka-day

Nakumbuka Day has been commemorated/recognized on November 11 for close to three decades. The commemoration of Nakumbuka Day was the brainchild of Jomo Nkombe, a Tanzanian who lived in Toronto and pioneered the idea in 1990. Nkombe asked Charles ‘Mende’ Roach an activist lawyer/jurist to take the idea of Nakumbuka Day to the 1992 World Pan African Movement Conference which was held in Nigeria. During the August (1st – 8th) 1992 World Pan African Movement Conference in Badagry, Nigeria the observance of “Nakumbuka Day” as a day of Remembrance was established. Africans from various countries on the continent and the Diaspora who attended that conference were encouraged to return to their communities and establish the observance of Nakumbuka Day on November 11 of each year.

Nakumbuka Day was promoted in Nigeria by Naiwu Osahon. In the USA, Nakumbuka Day was initiated at San Diego State University, California on November 11, 1994 by Baye Kes-Ba-Me-Ra and Adande Ima-Shema-Ra of the Pan African Associations of America. In Toronto the Nakumbuka Day observance began in the 1990’s and in 2003 Charles Roach went to Kingston, Jamaica and with Jamaican writer/educator Basil “Ku-Soonogo” Lopez, established the first Nakumbuka Day Ceremony at Mico College. Charles Roach who transitioned on October 2, 2012 was the driving force behind the annual Nakumbuka Day Remembrance in Toronto. The Nakumbuka Day ceremonies in Toronto organized by Nkombe and Roach were usually street processions called “Bwagomoyo to Ujiji.” The participants dressed in African clothing and some symbolically wore shackles. At the end of each procession there would be the symbolic “breaking of chains” and the reciting of a pledge to lifelong struggle for the liberation of Africa and African people. The Nakumbuka Day ritual involved saying/recognizing the names of ports from which enslaved Africans were taken with the response "Nakumbuka!"

Observing Nakumbuka Day reminds us that we should never dismiss, minimize or simplify the approximately four hundred years of devastation and horror visited upon our ancestors during their enslavement. On Nakumbuka Day we must remember those African ancestors who were killed as they resisted their enslavement in various ways. Some resisted by waging armed resistance against the Europeans who kidnapped them while others resisted by fleeing, breaking tools or poisoning their enslavers. Nakumbuka Day is a time to reflect, read and share our history especially with the next generation. We must remember and strategize ways to ensure “never again.”

The horror and inhumane brutality of the Maafa, must never be repeated, never forgotten. The result of the Maafa devastated many communities on the African continent including centuries of underdevelopment. The more than 400 years theft of the human resources of the continent did irreparable harm to its people and its people of the Diaspora. During the Maafa Africans were ripped away from their families and in many cases worked to death solely for the enrichment of European individuals and nations. They were not killed quickly but slowly worked to death until their bodies just gave out. In an article “Slaves Worked to Death” from the “New York Daily News” published on Sunday, July 20, 1997 White American journalist Mark Mooney wrote: “The first phase of a $20 million study of slave skeletons from the city's recently discovered African Burial Ground indicates that many of them even children were literally worked to death. A heartbreaking example of the stunted, horrific lives led by many of the slaves is the medical history of a 6-year-old boy known only as No. 39. The boy's teeth and bones tell his age and a medical history that includes malnutrition, anemia from birth, serious infections, indications of unusually developed muscles from heavy lifting and fractures of his neck bones indicating major trauma from carrying large loads on his head. His tale is one of 427 being sorted out by Howard University's African-American Burial Ground Project. The 427 sets of human remains were unearthed near City Hall six years ago during excavation for a new federal building. The site is believed to be the graveyard for as many as 20,000 slaves. After black activists protested, the remains were turned over to the project, headed by anthropologist Michael Blakey, and the site declared a U. S. National Historic District. Most of the adult skeletons show lesions on arm, leg and shoulder bones, where muscles were torn away under strain from overwork.”

Africans were destroyed during the more than 400 years enslavement by Europeans, during colonization, neocolonization, apartheid, racial segregation and cultural assimilation. It has resulted in deep spiritual pain of unmeasured effects on Africans worldwide. The horror of the Maafa is compounded by the inability of its victims to express their grief without embarrassment. There has never been any emotional, psychological or spiritual closure or repair to the trauma that was experienced. Every day should be a day of remembering, repairing and reawakening our collective African consciousness. During this UN declared International Decade for People of African Descent we need to insist that the emotional, psychological and spiritual damage/trauma that continues to bedevil our communities is addressed. Reparations now!!

Murphy Browne © November 2017

REMEMBRANCE DAY IN CANADA 2010

Murphy Browne © November 2010
REMEMBRANCE DAY IN CANADA 2010


Colored men!
Your King and Country need you!
Now is the time to show your patriotism and loyalty.
Will you heed the call and do your share?
Your Brothers of the Colonies have rallied to the Flag and
are distinguishing themselves at the Front.
Here also is your opportunity to be identified in the Greatest
War of History, where the Fate of Nations who stand for Liberty
is at stake.


Excerpt from advertisement posted in the September 1916 issue of The Atlantic Advocate


The advertisement placed in The Atlantic Advocate encouraging African Canadian men to enlist in the military came after hundreds of African Canadians were turned away when they first tried to enlist in 1914. By 1916 the military higher-ups were ready to accept the services of African Canadians because the war had been raging for two years and the Allies had suffered heavy casualties. The authorities realised that they may have been a bit hasty when they told eager African Canadian men willing to enlist that the war was a “white man’s war” and there was no place for “coloured men” in what was essentially a European tribal conflict. In 1914 when the first major European tribal conflict of the 20th century broke out white Canadian recruiters turned away African Canadians and other racialized men who were eager to become involved in the battles raging throughout Europe.


The history books tell us that the cause of what became known as the Great War or the War to end all Wars was the killing of Franz Ferdinand (first in line to the Austro-Hungarian throne) and his wife. The unfortunate Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie were killed on June 28, 1914 by a group of disgruntled Serbs and war broke out between Austria and Serbia. Apparently the disgruntled Serbs were part of a group opposed to the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and seized the opportunity to get rid of the next in line for the throne when the couple visited Sarajevo (capital city of Bosnia-Herzegovina.) After hostilities broke out between Austria-Hungary and Serbia other Europeans quickly picked sides (Britain, Russia and France on the Serbian side with Italy and Germany on the Austro-Hungarian side) and the war was on. By the conclusion of this “War to end all Wars” in 1918 there were more than 30 countries involved including the countries that had been colonized by the Europeans.


The advertisement urging “colored men” to enlist to serve King and Country is reproduced in the 1987 published book The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret written by Calvin Ruck. Documenting the struggles to contribute as they faced white supremacist policies and the contributions of African Canadians to the War, Ruck writes: “From the onset of World War I African-Canadians began to volunteer to serve their country in the conflict overseas. Many who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) were turned away at the recruitment offices. In November 25, 1915 Lieutenant-Colonel George W. Fowler, Commanding officer of the 104th Battalion, requested permission to discharge twenty black recruits on the basis of race. He wrote I have been fortunate to have secured a very fine class of recruits and I did not think it fair to these men that they should have to mingle with Negroes. This rejection was met with protest in the African-Canadian community.” The Canadian military was eventually forced to include large numbers of African Canadian recruits after enormous casualties among the white men fighting in Europe. However, these men served in a segregated African Canadian battalion where they were forced to serve under the jurisdiction of white officers.


Although African Canadians have been actively involved in every armed conflict in Canadian history there is no recognition of this fact. In The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret, Ruck writes: “Black Canadians have a long and honourable tradition of patriotism, sacrifice and heroism in the British and Canadian armed forces. From the American Revolution (1775-1783) to the Korean War (1950-1953), Blacks fought, bled and died on behalf of Empire, King and Country.” As quiet as it is kept, Africans have been living in this country since the 1600s (enslaved and free) and many African Canadians can trace their family’s history in Canada back seven and eight generations. In 2001, members of the African Canadian population who could trace the history of their ancestors in Canada back several generations represented significant numbers in the overall African Canadian population in several provinces. In New Brunswick (41%), in Newfoundland and Labrador (22%), in Nova Scotia (57%), in Prince Edward Island (31%) and in Quebec (31%). In spite of this history it is disappointing how little is known about the history and contributions of African Canadians because that history is not included in the curriculum from which Canadian children are taught.


On November 11, when there are images of those who are remembered and praised for fighting to maintain democracy and liberty for the free world those images hardly include racialized people. There is usually no mention of the African Canadian men who Calvin Ruck wrote about in "The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret." African Canadian men returned from fighting for Liberty, King and Country to find that their living conditions had not improved. They still were treated as third class citizens in the country of their birth where their ancestors’ blood, sweat and tears had contributed to the wealth and privileges that others could enjoy. In his book The Black Battalion, 1916-1920: Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret, Ruck acknowledges this by writing: “Following the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918, Black soldiers were sent home. They returned, without fanfare, to their homes in cities, towns and villages across the country – from Cape Breton Island in the East to Vancouver Island in the West. The Blacks who were prepared to serve and die in defence of freedom came home to many of the same restrictions they had left behind. The Great War did not end all wars, it did not make the world safe for democracy, and it did not signal an end to racial prejudice. Blacks were still subjected to segregated housing, segregated employment and even some segregated graveyards.”


On Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 11:00 a.m. we will once again pause to remember the men and women who served in various capacities and even lost their lives during the several armed conflicts in which Canada as a colony of the British Empire and as a sovereign nation were involved. Ruck wrote with great optimism: “The authorization on July 5, 1916, of a segregated Black battalion exposed the latent prejudice in this country. In all likelihood, such a discriminatory policy shall never again be repeated. The Human Rights Act of the late seventies and more recently, the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which prohibit discrimination based on race, colour etc., apply to all facets of Canadian society, including the armed forces.”


Ruck who transitioned to join the ancestors on October 19, 2004, would have been very disappointed to see the recent image of a white man dressed as a member of the KKK leading another white man in blackface with a rope around his neck at an event held in a Legion Hall where they won first prize for their “costume.” The fact that people at the event did not understand that the “costume” was racist illuminates how far we have come since the days when African Canadians were relegated to third class citizen status in this country. The following quote from an African Canadian man who attended the event at the Legion Hall in Campbellford, Ontario which appeared in an article from one of the white daily newspapers speaks to the harm that we experience when subjected to such racist incidents: “When I saw it and put down my beer and left and was walking out — I never felt as alone as I have in my life,” Mark Andrade said of the troubling spectacle he witnessed at a Campbellford, Ont., legion on Saturday night.


Murphy Browne © November 2010

WHITE SUPREMACY IN EDUCATION

Murphy Browne © October 2017


Friday 13th October 2017
Dear Parents/Carers
As you are aware Class 2N will be performing their Black History Month song in assembly next week on Friday.
Children will be dressing up in clothing that children would have worn during slavery. All clothing must be plain with no modern patters or modern brand names. Even a white shirt or blouse that looks dirty or torn is a good costume.
Girls: Old dresses or blouses with trousers that look dirty and worn out. A small straw hat or cloth/fabric for head-wrap.
Boys: Old t-shirts/shirts that look dirty and worn out. A small straw hat or beret.
It might be an idea to not wash these clothes and stain them with tea or coffee to look more authentic.

Excerpt from a letter sent home to parents of a “primary school” in Britain.


During the week of October 15-24, 2017 there was a bit of a kerfuffle over a letter sent home to parents of an elementary school in Britain asking that children dress as enslaved Africans for a school performance. October is African Heritage/Black History Month in the UK and as in Canada during February some schools or individual teachers in schools recognize the significance of the African presence in the country. The letter went “viral” on social media and also appeared in British newspapers. The headmaster of the school apologized and disavowed all knowledge of the offending letter. The headmaster claimed that the letter had not been seen by senior staff members before it was sent home with students. A letter of explanation was subsequently been sent home to parents apologizing for the original letter. African British "poet, writer, lyricist, musician and naughty boy" Benjamin Zephaniah was then invited to visit the school. Hundreds of people commented online about the letter and its “insensitive” or “racist” content. Many people were surprised that in 2017 there are educators who are “unaware” of the impropriety of asking children to dress and perform as enslaved Africans.


A similar occurrence in the USA was not surprising. On Thursday October 19, 2017 school officials in Bridgewater apologized because of an image that could kindly be described as “insensitive.” The image was of a kneeling African American child tethered by two leashes held by two smiling White children and a smiling White teacher. The teacher apparently felt that this White supremacist image was appropriate to share with parents of her students. Someone shared the image on Facebook and the offensive image went “viral” across social media. Ironically the photograph from the US was taken on October 13, 2017 the same day as the offending letter (about children dressing as “slaves”) was sent home to the parents in the UK. Derek Swenson, superintendent of the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School District, posted a statement on the school department’s Facebook page, where he wrote that the school district “sincerely apologizes” to “students, staff, and the broader community.” African American lawyer Rahsaan Hall who is the Director of the Racial Justice Program for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Massachusetts thinks that the photograph is “pretty disturbing” especially in a school district that is not diverse. According to state data the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional District is 87.4 % White, 3.9 % African-American, 2.3 % Asian and 2.7 % Hispanic. In the “disturbing” classroom photo of smiling faces, the kneeling tethered little girl is the only racialized person. One has to wonder how this child felt and how she and her parents are dealing with this.


In her 1998 published book “Beyond Heroes and Holidays” African Canadian educator Enid Lee wrote: “Racism is the use of institutional power to deny or grant people and groups of people rights, respect, representation and resources based on their skin color. Racism in action makes Whiteness a preferred way of being human. By whiteness I am referring to the civilization, language, culture and the skin color associated most often with European-ness. Racism is reflected in a hierarchy in which beauty, intelligence, worth and things associated with Whiteness are at the top.” That was 19 years ago and in 2017 Canada “Racism is the use of institutional power to deny or grant people and groups of people rights, respect, representation and resources based on their skin color.” It may be as subtle as a White female teacher constantly harassing a male elementary school African Canadian child or it can be as blatant as White teachers calling the police to handcuff and shackle a six year old African Canadian girl child. The “White is right” mindset proliferates the system when dealing with White supremacist educators abusing their “authority” over African Canadian students and parents.

To their credit the Peel District School Board (PDSB) has at least made efforts to address the White supremacist culture that manifested itself in many ways last year. The Board has been working with African Canadian author/educator/historian Natasha Henry who has conducted workshops to “build awareness of the implications of the persistence of a Eurocentric perspective in the curriculum and the far-reaching effects on racialized and non-racialized students.” Henry is also involved in the PDSB initiative “We Rise Together – Peel District School Board’s Action Plan to Support Black Male Students.” Laudable as a start but much remains to be done. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) is lagging behind in addressing the White supremacist culture that allows teachers to harass African Canadian parents and students with impunity. They need to contact Natasha Henry because of the work she has done and is doing at the PDSB.


Murphy Browne  © October 2017

IT HAS BEEN ONE YEAR SINCE WE LAID PAPA TO REST

IT HAS BEEN ONE YEAR SINCE WE LAID PAPA TO REST

“Memories don't leave like people do, they always stay with you.” Since Papa transitioned a little more than a year ago, I have come to realize that when someone you love leaves the physical plane, you do not just say goodbye to him at the time he passes away but every time you remember. At times it is like being enveloped by a heavy blanket of grief. The tears flow for what seems like hours. The memories can come at any moment just “out of the blue.” I still occasionally wake up in the morning thinking this is a nightmare and Papa is not really gone then reality hits. Yes he is really gone. We all know that our parents will transition at some point but not so soon. Knowing that it will happen “someday” and the reality of saying goodbye to a body lying still and so cold to the touch are worlds apart. Knowing that you are touching that beloved face that you knew your whole life for the last time is overwhelming. I could not stand quietly by and watch as he disappeared from view as they closed the casket as they pushed him out of sight and closed him up. That was really not me bawling like that was it? I just seemed to stand outside my body and watch the woman who just a few minutes before had been sharing some hilarious memories of life with Papa, singing some of his favourite songs as I shared with the other mourners in the church, now standing in the cemetery behaving in a way that her ancestors surely frowned on. They were such a dignified bunch and they were all around us in the cemetery. Those dignified Jonas generations who I had heard so many stories about like Kelly Murphy Jonas my great grandfather whose dignified behaviour was legendary in the family and in the village. My father’s relatives are great storytellers. It must be hereditary or a skill honed for survival during the enslavement of our ancestors. Throughout that cemetery is the history of my paternal ancestors and now Papa is part of that history. Cold comfort. He should be here sharing those amusing amazing stories of his people.

Sometimes in the midst of my grief I am bitter, I have conversations with Papa and I ask him why he had to give up and leave me (us.) Okay sometimes it is all about me! Why did you have to leave me so abruptly? Would you have held on a bit longer if I had shared with you that I was planning to travel to Guyana the very next month to spend time with you? We had shared such good laughs and conversations in June (admittedly limited as a result of the stroke he suffered in 2012) just a few months before. Papa was in fairly good spirits because all his children were in Guyana as he had requested and he knew we were fighting to recover his house and property from the thieves who had defrauded him. I just know those criminals will pay for what they did to Papa. Karma!

“Memories don't leave like people do, they always stay with you.” I thought the grief would have lessened a year later but it hasn’t. My heart is sometimes so heavy and the pain feels unbearable. I was in a store just last week chatting with two ladies I had never met before when somehow the conversation turned to losing parents. Right there amidst strangers the floodgates opened and the tears were flowing. That is so not me with public expressions of emotion! When will this stop? I was very young when my mother transitioned and I can remember weeping when I was in class and other people being alarmed. I should be able to control that now that I am a grandmother. Thankfully I have not dissolved into inconsolable weeping in the presence of my grandchildren.

I am grateful/thankful that Papa lived as long as he did because without a mother he is all that we had. I am thankful that the occasions of my grief becoming so overwhelming and suffocating that sometimes I was convinced that I was going to breathe my last have lessened. I still have to deal with the reality that Papa is gone. For the first years of my life it seemed that Papa was the most important person in my life even though I had a mother and grandparents no one was more important than Papa. He was the one who helped me with homework even after coming home from working long shifts as a policeman. As a child I never gave that much thought but he must have been tired sometimes and not want to be bothered but he was always there to help. Papa took time to drive me to several ranches across the Rupununi Savannahs so that I could interview members of the Melville family when I had a school assignment to research that family. There were no computers and no internet around when I was 14. One of my best memories is Papa “rescuing” me from the floodwaters at Kitty Methodist School when I was in Prep A (Grade one.) Sitting on Papa’s shoulders as he strode out of the school yard while school mates with not so tall fathers looked on enviously is not something a girl forgets. As I write this I am chortling at the memory! Okay I am tempted to laugh uproariously at the memory but I am using the computer at a Public Library. Whenever that memory hits I also remember a poem by Javaka Steptoe: “In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall: African Americans Celebrating Fathers.” There are so many memories of Papa that stay with me even though he is gone. At this one year anniversary of laying my beloved Papa to rest I take comfort in the memories. “Memories don't leave like people do, they always stay with you.”