Fannie Lou Hamer's recount of her experience as well as he biography give a brief glimpse into what life was as an African American in the South during Jim Crow. I can not imagine living her life or growing up in these times, because how she and so many others managed not to fight back hatred with more hatred is both noble and incredibly difficult for me to imagine. What strikes me most is that aside from the fact that I think it is crazy that trying to exercise her rights made her a target, I hate even more that there are still people out there that feel this way. We live in 2020, and while I don't think this exact situation could take place in this exact way, there are still so many current examples that, if they were to be recounted would sound like they came out of the 1960s, but in reality happened in the last few years. When people refer to systemic racism, this is the sort of thing they are looking at. A system that would allow for unlawful arrest of individuals who broke no laws, and that allowed for the use of excessive force, as well as what I would consider a form of torture, not only for Mrs. Hamer, but for the other men involved as well. I think the strength she exudes is underrated because she endured all of these abuses but still did not allow any of it to keep her from speaking up and speaking out.
- Oct 2020
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I was carried out of that cell into another cell where they had two Negro prisoners. The State Highway Patrolmen ordered the first Negro to take the blackjack. The first Negro prisoner ordered me, by orders from the State Highway Patrolman for me, to lay down on a bunk bed on my face, and I laid on my face. The first Negro began to beat, and I was beat by the first Negro until he was exhausted, and I was holding my hands behind me at that time on my left side because I suffered from polio when I was six years old. After the first Negro had beat until he was exhausted the State Highway Patrolman ordered the second Negro to take the blackjack.
This makes me absolutely sick to my stomach. Can you imagine the idea of being forced to punish someone, then being the person to receive said punishment. I can't even imagine the damage, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally for each of the individuals involved.
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when I went to get in the car, when the man told me I was under arrest, he kicked me.
What strikes me as really sad is that in this time period that is being referenced, this behavior was not unexpected or shocking in any manner. However, with social media, and a plethora of videos readily available to be viewed, this sort of behavior is still an issue. I will say, though, that even if it was a bogus charge, were the police not still supposed to say why they were being arrested? I'm just trying to understand what the thought process was because from this recounting, she was arrested just for being present.
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We was met in Indianola by Mississippi men, highway patrolmens, and they only allowed two of us in to take the literacy test at the time. After we had taken this test and started back to Ruleville, we was held up by the City Police and the State Highway Patrolmen and carried back to Indianola, where the bus driver was charged that day with driving a bus the wrong color.
One of the craziest things that strikes me right off the bat is when people try to make it seem as though racism has not been a problem in the U.S in a very long time. What Mrs. Hamer is describing here happened in 1962.... that really wasn't that long ago. As a frame of reference, my dad is in his 60s, and this event happened when he was about 10 years old. Also, can we talk about how ridiculous it is that the bus driver was charged with driving a bus the wrong color???
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- Sep 2020
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The theory of the Share Our Wealth Society is to have enough for all, but not to have one with so much that less than enough remains for the balance of the people.
Again, I appreciate the sentiment of redistributing wealth so that even though some are still richer the rest, everyone gets something. However, that's in theory only. Even if somehow this could be done, I don't think it would help the situation. I think we'd see prices inflate, people working the system, and use of loopholes by that top percent of the wealthy that would eventually put the system right back where it started.
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It is impossible for the United States to preserve itself as a republic or as a democracy when 600 families own more of this Nation’s wealth—in fact, twice as much—as all the balance of the people put together. Ninety-six percent of our people live below the poverty line, while 4 percent own 87 percent of the wealth.
Ok, now while I am not a fan of socialism, this is actually a valid point. We might not want to admit it, but money is power, especially here in the US. The top 1% does own almost all the wealth, and because of that, they also control just about everything. We call ourselves a republic, a democracy, but in fairness, as Mr. Long states, how can that be preserved, truly, if a very few own almost all the wealth?
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We have to limit fortunes. Our present plan is that we will allow no one man to own more that $50,000,000. We think that with that limit we will be able to carry out the balance of the program. It may be necessary that we limit it to less than $50,000,000. It may be necessary, in working out of the plans that no man’s fortune would be more than $10,000,000 or $15,000,000. But be that as it may, it will still be more than any one man, or any one man and his children and their children, will be able to spend in their lifetimes; and it is not necessary or reasonable to have wealth piled up beyond that point where we cannot prevent poverty among the masses.
So again, this passage sounds very socialist in nature. My question is How exactly would you go about making this a reality? It kind of makes me think of politics today. I won't lie, I like the idea Bernie Sanders proposed with regard to getting rid of all the student debt. While that would benefit me as an individual, I understand why some people were very much against it. The same question I had for him, that I have for Huey Long is: How would you make this work? For the people who had mountains of debt, but found a way to pay them off, would you give them some money back for their troubles? I think the idea of making sure everyone gets a fair chance is amazing- in theory. In reality, I don't think it's that simple.
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Every man a king, so there would be no such thing as a man or woman who did not have the necessities of life, who would not be dependent upon the whims and caprices and ipsi dixit [unproved assertion] of the financial barons for a living. What do we propose by this society? We propose to limit the wealth of big men in the country. There is an average of $15,000 in wealth to every family in America. That is right here today.
So far, as I'm reading, this sounds a lot like a plan to make America a socialist society. Now, while there is a part of me that understands and even empathizes with the idea to an extent (mainly that as a country of abundance, we should not have so many people struggling to make it while some others have more than they can do with in a lifetime), I think this is too radical an idea. While I don't believe there should be so many people struggling, part of what being American is is that attitude of pulling oneself up by the bootstraps. The "American Dream" that we're so well known for, that so many people aspire to, is based on the idea that anyone with enough hard work and dedication can make it.
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These movements are not, to be sure, direct results of Mr. Washington’s teachings; but his propaganda has, without a shadow of doubt, helped their speedier accomplishment. The question then comes: Is it possible, and probable, that nine millions of men can make effective progress in economic lines if they are deprived of political rights, made a servile caste, and allowed only the most meagre chance for developing their exceptional men? If history and reason give any distinct answer to these questions, it is an emphatic No.
After reading the excerpts from both Mr. Washington and Mr. Dubois, I'm more inagreement with the assessment that Mr. Dubois makes regarding Booker T Washington and his teachings. The teachings of Mr. Washington seem to, in my opinion, continue that slavery mindset in which black people should be grateful for whatever they get, and not make whites around them uncomfortable by trying to reach above the invisible social lines drawn by the ways of southen society. I agree with Mr. Dubois, however, that while Mr. Washington is not single-handedly responsible for black people's lack of political power, civil rights and higher education, his way of thinking and teaching I believe were instrumental in the establishment of the South as it came to be known following the civil war. Instead of trying to empower blacks, I think he still had the slave mentality that essentially wanted blacks to continue being subservient and grateful when in reality they were essentially being put back into a revised, slightly more subtle form of slavery. After all, a rose by any other name...
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The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing.
I don't agree with this sentiment at all. I find it interesting that Washington makes this statement. To suggest that blacks are unwise for seeking social equality. To me, how can you be free, truly, if you are placed in the position of a "second class" citizen or less than anyone else you must interact with daily? Then when he goes on to say that "No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized", I again feel he kind of misses the mark. The wealth of the South was made on the backs (literally) of black individuals, and yet for the entire era of slavery and decades following that, blacks continue to be ostracized even if to a slighlty lesser degree.
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