History Doesn’t Repeat Itself…

My Dear Friends,

In a recent coffee klatsch with my new very best friend, Voltaire, he reminded me, “Sally-Jane…

In light of this very wise and prescient statement, I am all too aware of how little we know of American History.  Of course, it didn’t help that history books until a recent time had a very one-sided version of what happened before, during and after the founding of these United States of America.

I am old enough to remember that my history books taught that many American Indian tribes were our enemies, but not how the enmity originated.

I don’t remember reading about President Andrew Jackson forcing them off their ancestral lands in the East onto the infamous march West… The Trail of Tears.

I don’t remember reading about President Andrew Johnson shredding Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation promises, aided and abetted by Confederate officers and soldiers into proclaiming Jim Crow as the law of the South and founding the KKK.

I could go on but I think I would rather present you with a cornucopia of gifted artists and writers who will, through document and performance, enlighten your way .

It has been spoken.  It has been written.  You cannot grow… You cannot know…

Where do I come from…?

How did I get here…?

Read on MacEveryone….  

Don’t ask me why I chose this book, She Would Be King: A Novel by Wayétu Moore. I knew nothing about it.  Maybe because I was celebrating my bookstore having finally  come out of its pandemic hibernation.  And the title was definitely quirky.  I chose a winner.  The author is black and beautiful and she writes like a dream.  In fact dreams have a lot to do with this magically and very realistic story.  I never understood what it meant to read a book of magic realism.  I’m not sure I do now but I am beginning to understand this category mixes the reality of the founding of Liberia in the 19^th Century and the fantastical but oh, so real journey of the three main characters towards their destiny.  Their imprint is indelible in my psyche, my soul, but most of all, my spirit. 

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In the PBS program, Twilight: Los Angeles, award-winning director Marc Levin weaves, Anna Deavere Smith’s powerful one-woman theater piece of the same name with news footage and interviews to create a portrait of rage, sorrow, loss, and battered hope surrounding the 1991 Rodney King beating, the violent aftermath of the 1992 verdict, and the lasting impact of the L.A. riots on America’s conscience.

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I have a confession to make. I am usually not a podcast listener.  But I have an investigative reporter feeding me with brilliant podcasts.  She also happens to be my daughter.  

Here is what Dianne wrote to me about Jonathan Capehart’s podcast with Carol Anderson about her book White Rage:  The Unspoken Truth of our Racial Divide.

“Mom, Bottom line is all these policies that have kept black people down have kept all of us down in many ways.”

From the mouths of babes… she was one once… I have the pictures.

Love, Sally-Jane

P.S. The best way to combat all racial inequalities is to use your voting power!!

P.P.S. Keep your sense of humor and your distance…

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr: “The other America” 1967

My Dear Friends,

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By accident or fate, take your pick, I YouTubed upon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaking at Stanford – “The other America” 1967 – a year before he was murdered.

This is part of the history we need to know.  

For me, it was as if he was alive and writing about the race relations of today, hopefully, not tomorrow.

Listen, my friends, just LISTEN.

Love, Sally-Jane

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee where he was shot on April 4, 1968.

Phooey! You are NOT Powerless!

My dear friends, 

I don’t know about you but with recent events, I have been witness to friends and relatives clucking of tongues, sighing, and head shaking, saying things like… “This is terrible.”  “Shocking!”  “What can I do?  I feel so powerless.”  Then, like the air going out of a balloon, nada!  We are not only tongue tied. We are idea tied.

Give me a break! You know about David slinging rocks at Goliath, right?  You heard how Joshua outplayed Louis Armstrong at the battle of Jericho, right?  Please my friends, use these metaphors to create a new reality of what you, you alone, can do.

Here is an example of what one citizen of the town of Northampton, MA did upon hearing that the town council in response to the recent protests was voting to increase the budget of the police department. OK, OK, so there is a whiff of nepotism in the air, the writer, Pamela Schwartz is my daughter.  Hey, leave us not forget, it’s my Blog and I gave myself permission.  All right?  All right!

So read on and hopefully we all can understand the many ways that we, as individuals, can make a difference and try to change this racist world we live in.

Click Here to Read Pamela’s Letter to Northampton Town Council

There is no quick fix.  There is, however, a very easy and simple way to slow our country’s downward spiral.  VOTE!        

If you are in doubt about the uselessness of your vote, please go to your PBS Streaming Channel (It’s as easy as it is important to add this app to your TV) and Tune in to the PBS Documentary ‘PBS’ American Experience: “The Vote”

Cluck your tongues, sigh, shake your heads, but understand, the VOTE, is in your not really powerless hands.  Right?  Of course, right!

P.S. I leave you with a quote from Margaret Mead who struggled against world opinion and condemnation to provide safety and health for women and children …

P.P.S. And here’s another example of creative citizenry:

Me? A Racist? You’ve got to be kidding!!

I feel compelled to send this to my near and dear.  I am going to do something I rarely do – allow you to determine for yourselves what you think and feel about the two articles I am sending.  The first by Courtney Ariel titled:  For Our White Friends Desiring to be Allies

The second is an opinion piece by George Will from The Washington Post.

It so happens that the second article is a major solution to the problems of the first article.. that solution is VOTE!

Regardless of your party affiliation, please remember a vote for anyone other than the democratic candidate, whoever he or  she may be.  … would count as a vote for “you know who”. 🙀😬

Love, Sally- Jane

P.S. I cannot force you to listen to Reimagining Policing in the Wake of COntinuing Police Violence with President Obama at 5 pm ET on June 3… But, just know there will be a quiz after the program. 

P.P.S. For those interested in understanding the difference between the peaceful protests and the violence and looting, Google Boogaloo Bois.