January 2021 – Portrait of Justice

January 28, 2021January 28, 2021

In “Cross”, Hughes uses the myriad meanings for the word “cross” to convey several different messages to the reader. The poem shows the difficulty of being a mixed-race person born to a black mother and a white father, and how the identity of this person causes them existential torment and angst. Hughes shows that being the product of black and white parentage raises more questions for the child of those parents than answers.

The speaker mentions that “My old man’s a white old man / And my old mother’s black”[1]. The speaker is mixed or mulatto, which substantiates that the speaker is a Cross: “a person or thing that is intermediate in character between two others”.[2] “Cross” can mean “to interbreed”[3]; the speaker is the product of two people in society who belong to antithetical cultures and places in the racial caste system. Further, the word “shack” supports this definition of the word “cross” that is used in the poem regarding interracial sex, as shack can mean “to have illicit sexual relations”.[4] Despite laws against interracial relationships,[5] it was commonplace for slave owners to rape their slaves and have mixed race or mulatto children.[6] In fact, African Americans today descend from such relationships during slavery and have “excess European male and West African female ancestry”;[7] genetic DNA studies reveal that “African Americans in the US typically carry segments of DNA shaped by contributions from peoples of Europe, Africa, and the Americas.”[8] The “excess European male” ancestry further confirms the regularity in which white men fathered children with black slave women; the nature of these relationships were specifically to “shack” up. A “shack” can also mean “a rough cabin; shanty”;[9] as the speaker mentions that their “ma died in a shack.”[10] Perhaps the poem is also influenced by Langston Hughes’ own ancestry:

“James Mercer Langston Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri, on February 1, 1902, the second son of James Nathaniel Hughes and Carrie Mercer Langston Hughes…Both of James Nathaniel Hughes’ male grandparents were white, his female grandparents black. On the paternal side, he was descended from Sam Clay, a whiskey distiller of Scottish origin who lived in Henry County, Kentucky, and on the maternal side from Silas Cushenberry, a Jewish slave trader from Clark County, Kentucky. Langston’s mother, who preferred to be called Carolyn, had been born on January 1873 on a farm near Lawrence, Kansas. Her paternal grandfather was Ralph Quarles, a wealthy Louisiana County, Virginia, planter, who had attained the rank of Captain in the Revolutionary War. Her grandmother, Lucy Langston, was his half-Indian, half-Negro housekeeper. Carrie’s father, Charles Howard Langston, was the second of three sons born to Ralph and Lucy. The Louisiana County court record shows that in 1806 Quarles declared Lucy and her heirs, including a daughter Maria, free and “clear of the claims of all persons whatsoever.” The three sons grew up on their father’s Virginia plantation, and when he died in 1834—the year of Lucy’s death also—his will provided for their education and, upon reaching the age of twenty-one, financial independence.”[11]

Hughes’ ancestry is reflective of the speaker’s heritage, with paternal European and maternal African ancestry. Although the speaker questions where they’ll die because they are “neither white nor black”,[12] mulatto children were usually considered by society to be closer to black than white when the conditions were that the father was white and the mother was a black slave (the typical case). This is substantiated as all of Langston Hughes’ mulatto grandparents were still enslaved when they were born. However, Hughes’ maternal great-grandfather did eventually free his children upon his death and provided for their education. That slave owners sometimes did these acts of kindness does not suggest that they are somehow redeemed of their evil, corrupt, and licentious actions towards slave women or their general cruelty. Still, the occasional act of freeing the children does show that sometimes being mulatto would place a person in an incredibly unique position in society. They would much more often have the opportunity of being freed due to familial connections. Thus, the speaker’s question of where they will die is an existential one that also reflects the nature of who exactly they are in society—are they slave or free, white or black, and can they become rich or will they stay poor? The answer is usually that they are slaves, black, and poor, yet being mulatto also means that these things can change. Some mulatto people were able to pass for white and ascend to places in white society that no darker skinned black person could ever hope to attain. As Allyson Hobbs notes in A Chosen Exile, “Passing illuminates the ways that African American identities function as an intangible space of imagination or a set of symbols to which people feel powerful attachments.”[13] Thus, even if the speaker chose to pass for white to make life substantially easier, they would be abandoning their black identity, culture, and people. They find themselves in an impossible position. Langston Hughes similarly found himself conflicted with his father when he chose to fully embrace his blackness and celebrate black pride; he wrote the poem “Passing”, which criticizes those who rejected their blackness for what he considered material wealth and social convenience.[14]

One of the definitions for the word “Cross” is “a structure or monument in the form of a cross, set up for prayer, as a memorial, etc.”[15] In the poem, the speaker talks about the death of both their black mother and their white father: “My old man died in a fine big house” and “My ma died in a shack”.[16] Here, “cross” can refer to a memorial or structure that is present on the graves of the parents when they die. Further, “cross” particularly carries a religious meaning, and it can also mean “the crucifixion of Jesus as the culmination of His redemptive mission”;[17] the speaker shows in the second stanza that he is musing about death and the afterlife: “If I ever cursed my black old mother / And wished she were in hell, / I’m sorry for that evil wish / And now I wish her well.”[18] Cross also means “to move, pass, or extend from one side or place to another”;[19] death is the ultimate form of “crossing over”[20] according to Christianity and many religions. The speaker believes that beyond death there is an afterlife, and they express regret for cursing their father and wishing that their mother was in hell. This regret is indicated to have come suddenly because the speaker’s parents have both died, and now the speaker is closer to death as they have become older. When the speaker was younger, it did not trouble them to curse and condemn their parents to hell because of the troubled circumstance of being mulatto in a racist, slave owning society. The speaker feels “cross”, which means “angry and annoyed”[21] at the life they feel thrusted into by their parents, and they are forever stuck. However, as they grew in age and both their parents died, they began to question death. The speaker’s expression for sorrow and regret does not emanate from a genuine feeling of remorse; rather the speaker seems to be motivated by the fear of their own mortality and the realization that they will die just like both of their parents. However, even death cannot truly connect or empathize the speaker with his parents because they end the poem with the lines, “I wonder where I’m gonna die / Being neither white nor black?”[22] Even though death would seem like the one thing that would unify the speaker with his mother and father because everyone experiences it or will experience it, the liminality of being a mixed race slave still separates the speaker from both parents.

Ultimately, the poem “Cross” offers no answers for the speaker of the poem, but it does show that being a mixed-race person in society (in particular American society) leaves one feeling like they do not belong. The burden of being mulatto is their “cross”[23] to bear. The feeling of anguish and strife of not belonging to a particular group is only supplemented by the fear of choosing sides (or the fear that one cannot even choose a side). Although society would usually treat mulatto slaves as black, their appearance and ancestral connections sometimes offered them the opportunity to cross[24] over into white society. However, when doing so, mulatto people risked abandoning their family and culture, leaving many plagued by their decision.

[1] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Cross. p 914. 1926.

[2] Cross. Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cross?s=t . Accessed January 27, 2021.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Shack. Dictionary.com https://www.dictionary.com/browse/shack?s=t. Accessed January 27, 2021.

[5] The Rape of Recy Taylor. Directed by Nancy Buirski. Produced by Nancy Buirski, Claire L. Chandler, Beth Hubbard, Susan Margolin. Written by Nancy Buirski. December 8, 2017 (Limited release). March 20, 2018 (Streaming). https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_rape_of_recy_taylor

[6] Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Root. “Exactly How “Black” is Black America. February 11, 2013. 12:32 A.M. Accessed January 27, 2021. https://www.theroot.com/exactly-how-black-is-black-america-1790895185 .

[7] Genome-wide patterns of population structure and admixture in West Africans and African Americans

Katarzyna Bryc, Adam Auton, Matthew R. Nelson, Jorge R. Oksenberg, Stephen L. Hauser, Scott Williams, Alain Froment, Jean-Marie Bodo, Charles Wambebe, Sarah A. Tishkoff, and Carlos D. Bustamante. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Jan 12; 107(2): 786–791.Published online 2009 Dec 22. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0909559107

PMCID: PMC2818934. PMID: 20080753. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2818934/ .

[8] The Genetic Ancestry of African Americans, Latinos, and European Americans across the United States

Katarzyna Bryc, Eric Y. Durand, J. Michael Macpherson, David Reich, and Joanna L. Mountain. Am J Hum Genet. 2015 Jan 8; 96(1): 37–53. doi: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2014.11.010. PMCID: PMC4289685. PMID: 25529636. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4289685/ .

[9] Shack. Dictionary.com.

[10]The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Cross. p 914. 1926.

[11] Langston Hughes: Before and Beyond Harlem ; a Biography. 1983. 1992. Faith Berry. Carol Publishing Group. A Citadel Press Book. Chapter 1, p 1-2.

[12] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Cross. p 914. 1926.

[13] A Chosen Exile. Allyson Hobbs. 2014. Harvard University Press. P 16. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Chosen_Exile/HaOmBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=slaves%20passed%20for%20white

[14] A Chosen Exile. Allyson Hobbs. 2014. Harvard University Press. P211-212, 214. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Chosen_Exile/HaOmBAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=langston%20hughes

[15] Cross. Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cross?s=t . Accessed January 27, 2021.

[16] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Cross. p 914. 1926.

[17] Cross. Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cross?s=t . Accessed January 27, 2021.

[18] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Cross. p 914. 1926.

[19] Cross. Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cross?s=t . Accessed January 27, 2021.

[20] Ibid.

[21] Ibid.

[22] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, Cross. p 914. 1926.

[23] Cross: “Any misfortune, trouble”. Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cross?s=t .

[24] Cross: “to move, pass, or extend from one side to the other”. Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/cross?s=t .

January 22, 2021January 22, 2021

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”: Connection and Unity

BY C HUES

1/22/2021

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is a poem by Langston Hughes which reveals themes of Pan-Africanism and Double Consciousness, and is influenced by the works, writings, and speeches of W.E.B. Dubois. The poem heavily uses biblical imagery and language to convey its message about the connection between African Americans to America and Africa. The four rivers mentioned in the poem show an epic journey of African Americans and how history has forever connected black Americans to their roots.

Langston Hughes’ poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (published in 1926)[1] is dedicated to W.E.B. Dubois.[2] Why does Hughes dedicate this poem to Dubois? W.E.B Dubois was an African American “historian, educator, and activist…in later life became increasingly interested in Pan-Africanism.”[3] Pan-Africanism is defined as “the idea or advocacy of a political alliance or union of all the African nations.”[4] However, DuBois’ beliefs were initially in “a leadership of those referred to as the ‘Talented Tenth’, those who had received the benefit of Higher Education,” and Dubois further expressed that “The Negro race, like all races, is going to be saved by its exceptional men.”[5] However, his viewpoint was widely criticized for its elitism, and DuBois changed his views by 1915: “The Pan-African Movement when it comes will not, however, be merely a narrow racial propaganda. Already the more far-seeing Negroes sense the coming unities: a unity of the working classes everywhere, a unity of coloured races, a new unity of men.”[6] This unity suggests not merely “a political alliance or union of all the African nations”,[7] but more so a connection between African Americans and other people of African descent around the world. Pan-Africanism, as Dubois implies, is about the African diaspora and the connection that black people from everywhere share and use to strengthen themselves politically, socially, and economically. Pan-Africanism suggests a connection not only to sub-Saharan Africa, but to all of Africa. In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, Hughes delves into Pan-Africanism. The speaker of the poem says, “I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.”[8] The Nile river appears often in the Old Testament in the Bible; it holds a special connection to African Americans because of its role in the Book of Exodus.[9] Many descendants of the African diaspora and Pan-Africanists have found solace and connection with the story of Exodus because of its slave narrative; Bob Marley, a Jamaican Pan-Africanist singer and songwriter, composed a song “Exodus”, which related the struggle of black people to escape from slavery with that of the biblical tale of the Israelites escaping from slavery in Egypt: “Exodus refers to a general [skill at] moving away from incoming disasters, governed by passovers; and preparing for each change in due season.”[10] Similarly, Hughes invokes the Nile to connect to the Exodus that African Americans undertook by overcoming slavery, leading to a change and a new season. This change (and connection between Africa and America for African Americans) is substantiated by the comparison of the Nile (a river in Africa)[11] to the Mississippi River (in America, which runs through New Orleans): “Abraham Lincoln’s decision to end slavery was partly inspired” by his visits to New Orleans in 1829 and 1831, a time in which “New Orleans was also a major center of the domestic slave trade.”[12][13] In the poem, the speaker says that he has seen the Mississippi River’s “muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.” This line corroborates the “change due season”[14] that an Exodus engenders. In Exodus 7: 17-18, Moses (through God) turns the Nile river from water into blood when confronting Pharaoh: “With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood.”[15] This verse also correlates to the lines in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, which read “I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.”[16] In Exodus 7:14-15, “the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. 15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the river. Confront him on the bank of the Nile”.[17] The speaker of the poem connects the Nile and the Mississippi to himself as a “Negro” because both rivers are tied to the legacy of slavery; both rivers represent the “Double Consciousness” of being both African and American.[18] As W.E.B. DuBois notes, “One ever feels his twoness,-an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.”[19]

The speaker’s mention of the Euphrates River suggests the African American connection to the Earth’s beginnings; the Euphrates is not an African river or an American river but the speaker discusses it because of its biblical significance in the allegory or parable of Adam and Eve. The Euphrates River is mentioned in Genesis 2:13-15, when God speaks to Adam, “13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[a] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”[20] The speaker says, “I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.”[21] “Dawn” can mean “The first appearance of daylight” or also generally refer to “the beginning or rise of anything; advent.” The lines about the Euphrates directly contrast with the lines, “I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down / to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden / in the sunset.”[22] The lines about the Euphrates start off the poem, and the lines about the Mississippi end the poem. This is significant because it signifies the journey of African Americans from the beginning of time to the end of slavery. Also, the lines about the Euphrates mentions “dawns”, but the lines about the Mississippi talk of “sunsets”. The word “sunset” is an antonym for dawn[23] and the speaker uses their antithetical meanings to convey the full journey of African Americans (at the time of the poem’s publication).

The speakers says, “I built my hut near the Congo”;[24] the Congo River is “a river in Central Africa”.[25] It is partially located in what is now The Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire.[26] Most African Americans can trace some of their ancestry to the Congo; slaves were regularly stolen from the Congo and other nearby West and Central African regions.[27] Through the Congo to the Mississippi, the speaker establishes “genetic links between individuals in the Americas and populations across Atlantic Africa, yielding a more comprehensive understanding of the African roots of peoples of the Americas.”[28] The speaker replies that the Congo “lulled [him] to sleep”;[29] the word lull means “to put to sleep or rest by soothing means.”[30] The speaker denotes a time before slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, prior to the slave traders’ invasion of West Africa and the start of their evil, torturous methods. This line shows that the history of African Americans runs deeper than their time in America and recalls a time of solace and peace. The line about the Congo relates to the line mentioning the Euphrates because they both speak of beginnings; the Congo represents the origin of many ancestors of African Americans, and the Euphrates represents the origin story of Adam and Eve.

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers” is a powerful poem that links African Americans to Africa and embraces W.E.B. DuBois’ vision of African unity and interconnectedness. Hughes uses the four rivers in the poem as symbols for connection and togetherness. Just as the rivers have a deep history that relates or is ingrained in African American history and culture, the speaker is part of a deep culture that connects him to events and time periods beyond his years. Ultimately, the poem signifies the historical strife and struggles of African Americans, along with the victories for justice that they have gained throughout time.

[1] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. P 913.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Dictionary.com. Pan-Africanism. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pan-africanism?s=t . Accessed January 22, 2021.

[5] Pan-Africanism: A History. 2018. Hakim Adi. Chapter 3 p 1. Bloomsbury Publishing. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pan_Africanism/mQ5kDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bob+marley+pan+africanism&printsec=frontcover.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Dictionary.com. Pan-Africanism. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pan-africanism?s=t . Accessed January 22, 2021.

[8] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. 1926. P 913.

[9] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%207%3A16%2D18&version=NIV. Biblegateway.com Exodus 7:17-18. NIV.

[10] Vivien Goldman. The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Album of the Century. 2007. Crown Publishing. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Book_of_Exodus/d2qJ2HfGv24C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=exodus. P 136.

[11]Dictionary.com. Nile. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/nile?s=t . Accessed January 22, 2021.

[12] The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery. Eric Foner. 2011. P 10. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Fiery_Trial_Abraham_Lincoln_and_Amer/4b8m7cv3wTIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Abraham+Lincoln+New+Orleans+slavery&pg=PA10&printsec=frontcover

[13] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. 1926. P 913.

[14] Vivien Goldman. The Book of Exodus: The Making and Meaning of Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Album of the Century. 2007. Crown Publishing. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Book_of_Exodus/d2qJ2HfGv24C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=exodus. P 136.

[15] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%207%3A16%2D18&version=NIV. Biblegateway.com Exodus 7:17-18. NIV.

[16] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. 1926. P 913.

[17] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%207%3A14%2D16&version=NIV. Biblegateway.com

Exodus 7:14-15. NIV.

[18] W.E.B. DuBois. The Souls of Black Folks. 2020. Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Souls_of_Black_Folk/nv7oDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=double%20consciousness.

[19] Ibid.

[20] https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis%202%3A13%2D15&version=NIV. Biblegateway.com. Genesis 2:13-15. NIV.

[21] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. 1926. P 913.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Dictionary.com. Dawn. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/dawn?s=t.

[24] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. 1926. P 913.

[25] Dictionary.com. Congo. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/congo?s=t. Accessed January 22, 2021.

[26] Ibid.

[27] ARTICLE| VOLUME 107, ISSUE 2, P265-277, AUGUST 06, 2020. Genetic Consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Americas. Steven J. Micheletti, Kasia Bryc, Samantha G. Ancona Esselmann, 23andMe Research Team,

Sandra Beleza, Joanna L. Mountain. Published:July 23, 2020 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2020.06.012. https://www.cell.com/ajhg/fulltext/S0002-9297(20)30200-7 .

[28] Ibid.

[29] The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 5th Ed. Margaret Ferguson, Mary Jo Salter, Jon Stallworthy. W. W. Norton Company, Inc. 2005. Langston Hughes, The Negro Speaks of Rivers. 1926. P 913.

[30] Dictionary.com. Lull. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lull#. Accessed January 22, 2021.

January 19, 2021

MARTIN WAS A KING

MARTIN WAS A KING, NOT A JUDGE

BY C HUES

PUBLISHED 1/18/21

As we arrive on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this year, there seems to be an increasing confusion in much of the American consciousness as to who Martin Luther King, Jr. was. After a mob of terrorists invaded the Capitol building, vandalized government property, and physically assaulted and tortured several police officers, we now enter a day celebrating a man who stood for the antithesis of this assault. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a nonviolent Civil Rights leader, activist, and protester, but his image and legacy has been distorted and warped into that of the judge and jury of black America. When George Floyd was murdered by police, subsequent protests began throughout the country in response. Afterwards, some white Americans questioned whether Dr. King would support a protest that involved rioting (even though most protesters were peaceful).[1] Some African Americans have also invoked the name of Dr. King whenever black Americans believe that other black people behave in a disgraceful manner.

In James Forman, Jr.’s Locking Up Our Own, he discusses how an African American judge sentenced a black youth in Washington, DC (given the alias Brandon in the book to protect his identity) in 1995 to six months in juvenile detention for marijuana possession and firearm possession (his first arrest), and used Martin Luther King, Jr.’s legacy to castigate and patronize the boy: “[Y]ou can go to school, study hard, live your dreams. It isn’t easy—I know that. But it is possible. And people fought, struggled, and died for that possibility. Dr. King died for that, son.[2] The truth is that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s primary criticism was of the bigotry of white supremacists and the passivity and silence of white liberals.[3] Those same white people who smugly asked whether King would approve of African Americans rioting over police murders of black and brown people were conveniently silent when white terrorists flooded the Capitol. Whereas Black Lives Matter protests have been virtually universally peaceful, “protests” by white supremacists usually transform into violent and deadly affairs. Ironically, years after Brandon’s case, many of the white supremacists and terrorists who led an insurrection and assault against the Capitol faced less prison time than a black teenager who was arrested for marijuana and handgun possession.[4] A nonviolent drug and gun charge destroyed a black teenager’s life in Washington, DC, yet many of the white supremacists and terrorists who invaded Washington, DC and assaulted police faced less time than a minor who was charged with a first time nonviolent offense.[5] Martin Luther King Jr.’s criticisms were never historically directed toward the “Brandons” of America; instead they had always been directed to white supremacists; if King were alive today Donald Trump would most likely be a frequent target of said criticism. Trump provoked and instigated the assault on the Capitol, which is the latest attack in a series of hateful, racist, and violent incidents that Trump has engendered through his inane fabrications and copious, unsubstantiated prevarications (the most recent rooted out of baseless allegations of election fraud).[6] In King’s “A Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, the reverend mentions,

“[W]hen you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policeman curse, kick, brutalize, and even kill your black brothers and sisters with impunity…then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into an abyss of injustice where they experience the bleekness of corroding despair.”[7]

As one can see by King’s remarks, he vehemently opposed police brutality and violence; he would not be critical of Black Lives Matter protesters who also adamantly oppose police brutality. King would be dissatisfied with the racism and violence that is still carried out by some cops today, and he would be disgusted with President Trump and Bill Barr[8] ordering police to attack peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters for a photo op:

“When Attorney General William P. Barr strode out of the White House gates for a personal inspection early Monday evening, he discovered that protesters were still on the northern edge of the square. For the president to make it to St. John’s Church, they would have to be cleared out. Mr. Barr gave the order to disperse them. What ensued was a burst of violence unlike any seen in the shadow of the White House in generations. As he prepared for his surprise march to the church, Mr. Trump first went before cameras in the Rose Garden to declare himself “your president of law and order” but also “an ally of all peaceful protesters,” even as peaceful protesters just a block away and clergy members on the church patio were routed by smoke and flash grenades and some form of chemical spray deployed by shield-bearing riot officers and mounted police.”[9]

Trump surely and further proved himself the “Law and Order” candidate when he orchestrated a terrorist attack on the Capitol, leading his own supporters to attack police. Indeed, Trump frequently boasts that he is both a man of “Law and Order” and a deeply religious man, despite being accused of rape by numerous women and also admitting on tape about the copious rape and sexual assault that he has committed.[10][11] King was critical of hypocritical, white supremacist leaders such as Trump who considered themselves as both religious and complying with the law, stating “I have been so greatly disappointed with the white Church and its leadership…I have heard numerous religious leaders of the South call upon their worshippers to comply with a desegregation decision because it is law.”[12] These leaders discriminated against African Americans simply because of the color of their skin, despite the fact that white and black Americans are related, as substantiated by genetic DNA studies: “An estimated 82.1% of ancestors to African-Americans lived in Africa prior to the advent of transatlantic travel, 16.7% in Europe, and 1.2% in the Americas.[13][14] Martin Luther King, Jr. had Irish ancestry in addition to his sub-Saharan African ancestry,[15] yet he was regularly opposed by some white Americans who shared ancestors from some of the same places.

Ultimately, Martin Luther King, Jr. was a man who opposed white supremacy and police brutality; he was not the spokesperson for Black America or the judge and jury for how black people should act. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for the rights that black Americans were denied, and he stood against demagogues and leaders who used lies and fear. King denounced white supremacists who claimed to be religious and representative of “Law and Order”; politicians such as Donald Trump are the type of evil men that King would rebuke and criticize for their hypocrisy and bigotry.

[1] How Trump’s Idea for a Photo Op Led to Havoc in a Park.

When the history of the Trump presidency is written, the clash with protesters that preceded President Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square may be remembered as one of its defining moments. By Peter Baker, Maggie Haberman, Katie Rogers, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Katie BennerVideos by Haley Willis, Christiaan Triebert and David Botti. Published June 2, 2020. Updated Sept. 17, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/02/us/politics/trump-walk-lafayette-square.html?searchResultPosition=8

[2]https://www.google.com/books/edition/Locking_Up_Our_Own/3NEjDQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=locking+up+our+own&printsec=frontcover. Forman, James. Locking Up Our Own. p 4-6.

[3] http://okra.stanford.edu/transcription/document_images/undecided/630416-019.pdf. A Letter From a Birmingham Jail. p 9.

[4] Treat the Attack on the Capitol as Terrorism: Failing to do so simply because most of the rioters are white and regard themselves as “patriots” would be deeply unjust. Michael Paradis. January 17, 2021.

[5] Ibid.

[6] https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/14/politics/william-barr-out-as-attorney-general/index.html. Attorney General William Barr resigns.

By Allie Malloy, Devan Cole, Christina Carrega and Kevin Liptak, CNN. Updated 4:30 AM ET, Tue December 15, 2020. Trump tweets about Bill Barr’s departure from White House.

[7] http://okra.stanford.edu/transcription/document_images/undecided/630416-019.pdf. A Letter From a Birmingham Jail. P 6-7.

[8] https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/14/politics/william-barr-out-as-attorney-general/index.html. Attorney General William Barr resigns.

By Allie Malloy, Devan Cole, Christina Carrega and Kevin Liptak, CNN. Updated 4:30 AM ET, Tue December 15, 2020. Trump tweets about Bill Barr’s departure from White House

[9] How Trump’s Idea for a Photo Op Led to Havoc in a Park

[10] https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/13/politics/trumps-actions-increase-legal-jeopardy/index.html. Trump’s actions in last days as President increase his legal jeopardy. CNN Digital Expansion 2019, Kara Scannell

By Kara Scannell, CNN. Updated 9:38 AM ET, Wed January 13, 2021.

[11] https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/25/opinions/biden-harris-overturn-trump-strongman-misogyny-ben-ghiat/index.html.

[12] http://okra.stanford.edu/transcription/document_images/undecided/630416-019.pdf. A Letter From a Birmingham Jail. P .

[13] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/28/science/african-american-dna.html?partner=msft_msn. Tales of African-American History Found in DNA. By Carl Zimmer. May 27, 2016

[14] https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006059. The Great Migration and African-American Genomic Diversity

Soheil Baharian,Maxime Barakatt,Christopher R. Gignoux,Suyash Shringarpure,Jacob Errington,William J. Blot,Carlos D. Bustamante,Eimear E. Kenny,Scott M. Williams,Melinda C. Aldrich,Simon Gravel

Published: May 27, 2016.

[15] The Social Life of DNA. Alondra Nelson. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Social_Life_of_DNA/Xd7YCwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=Martin%20Luther%20King%20Ireland . p 160-161.

Month: January 2021

NAMES

CROSS: THE LIMINAL STATE

“The Negro Speaks of Rivers”: Connection and Unity

MARTIN WAS A KING