The Rush to Judgment for the Confederate Flag - Feeding a Media and Political Frenzy

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So here we are, turning a tragedy into a media circus by convincing the public that the only way to address the tragic mass murder in South Carolina is to banish that evil Confederate flag forever.  However, do our so-called media experts, social advocates, and political opportunists really have their historical facts in order?

The flag they are removing from South Carolina, Alabama, and Virginia was not the Confederate Flag.  No, this is a case of mistaken identity common within the liberal media when fact checking seems to be a lost art.  By the way, if that flag really was such a heinous and demonic symbol, why did the most popular Democrat of modern times, Bill Clinton, use it prominently in his presidential campaign?  Where was the liberal media in 1992?

No, they have it all wrong.  Yes, the flag flying over South Carolina has no business being there.  Not because it was the symbol of slavery in the South during the Civil War, which it was not, and not because it was a flag used in various forms by Confederate military regiments from the various southern states during the Civil War, which is true.

No, we should take it down because a few politicians hijacked the battle flag of courageous Southern and ultimately American soldiers.  The politicians hated the federal government, hated integration, and hated equality, and were the same politicians who tried to change history by making that flag a symbol of hatred.  By the way, those politicians were acting 100 years after the Civil War.

Ironically, the same politicians were all Democrats.

In 1948, Strom Thurmond's States' Rights Party adopted the Battle Flag of Northern Virginia as a symbol of defiance against the federal government. What precisely required such defiance?

At the time, the Democratic Party platform contained a progressive component on civil rights.  The opponents to the platform feared it gave the president far too much power over the states to enforce civil rights laws in the South.

In 1956, Georgia adopted its version of the same battle flag, not the flag of the Confederacy, to protest the Supreme Court's ruling against segregated schools, in Brown v. Board of Education.

The flag first flew over a state capitol in 1961 when Governor George Wallace raised it over the grounds of the legislature in Alabama to defy President Kennedy and his efforts to integrate Alabama schools.

In fact his intent was quite specifically to link more aggressive efforts to integrate the South with the trigger of secession 100 years before — namely, the storming of occupied Fort Sumter by federal troops. Fort Sumter, you might recall, is located at the mouth of Charleston Harbor.

Opposition to civil rights legislation, to integration, to miscegenation, to social equality for black people — these are the major plot points that make up the flag's recent history. Not Vietnam. Not opposition to Northern culture or values. Not tourism. Not ObamaCare. Not anything else.

What was the real Confederate Flag?

  

Designing a Confederate flag was one of the first orders of business for the new Confederate government. To take care of this, the Committee on the Flag and Seal was formed. South Carolinian William Porcher Miles was elected to chair the new committee. Miles put forward his own design for the flag, but he soon ran into opposition when the committee asked for public input on the new flag. The prevalent opinion was that the new flag should resemble the "old" United States flag. One of the designs submitted by the public began to gain some traction...

The new design had been submitted by a German-American artist named Nicola Marschall. Marschall was born in St. Wendel, Germany, and moved to Alabama in 1849. When the committee solicited suggestions for the new flag, Mary Clay Lockett, the wife of a friend, pushed Marschall to submit a design. After some consideration, Marschall submitted a design said to be largely based on the Austrian flag.

His design was adopted as the new Confederate flag over Miles's design, largely because Marschall's was recognizably similar to the U. S. flag. The new flag was soon popularly known as the "Stars and Bars" in an obvious nod to U. S. "Stars and Stripes."

The "Stars and Bars" originally had seven stars representing the seven original seceded states. More stars were added as more states were claimed by the Confederacy until the thirteenth and final star was added in late 1861. 

Similarity to the U. S. flag was what made the first Confederate flag popular, but it is also what eventually brought about its demise...

Second and Third National Flags

Eventually, the Confederacy grew tired of having a flag that could easily be confused with their enemy's flag. So, the Committee on the Flag and Seal started work on a new design. Everyone agreed that the new design should incorporate the, now popular, battle flag...

In May of 1863, the second national Confederate flag was unveiled. The new design placed the battle flag in the upper left corner of the flag, and called for the body of the flag to be white. This new flag was commonly referred to as the "Stainless Banner." Unfortunately, this flag met with problems as well.

It was soon realized that, unless there was a strong wind to keep the "Stainless Banner" outstretched, the new flag tended to look like a white flag of truce. When the flag hung limply, it was easy to miss the battle flag in the corner. In time, it was decided that this problem should be remedied...

The third national Confederate flag was unveiled in March of 1865, only weeks before Lee's surrender. This design simply called for a vertical red bar to be added to the outer end of the "Stainless Banner." The new flag was dubbed the "Bloodstained Banner," and served as the national Confederate flag until the Confederacy was dissolved.

Origin of Confederate Battle Flag

When most people think of a Confederate flag, the design that pops into their mind is more like this flag.

This flag is in fact the Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, and it came about as a direct result of the similarity of the "Stars and Bars" to the "Stars and Stripes."

The battle flag design is, in fact, the original design suggested by William Miles for the national flag. Even though his committee had rejected his design, Miles did not give up hope of finding a use for his flag. That hope would be rewarded at the First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run)...

This was the fist major battle of the civil war, and most of the Confederate units involved simply carried the new national flag. Here is where the problem with having a flag similar to that of your enemy was fully realized. After dealing with the confusion on the battlefield caused by his flags, the Confederate commander, General P. G. T. Beauregard, was anxious to find a solution...

William Miles just happened to be one of Beauregard's aides, and he told the General about his design that had been rejected. Beauregard liked the idea, and the Committee  on the Flag and Seal was asked to change the national flag. They rejected the idea...

Knowing the importance of this problem, General Beauregard suggested to his superiors that a uniform battle flag, that could not be confused with the U. S. flag, should be adopted. In the end, Miles's design was adopted as the official Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, and it went on to become the most popular and enduring symbol of the Confederacy.

Regarding the use of the Confederate battle flag, eleven states officially seceded and joined the Confederacy, but the battle flag also included stars for the slave states of Kentucky and Missouri because they formed Confederate governments in exile.  Each state and often each general selected their own version of a battle flag and use was restricted to the actual fighting regiments.

Today what we call the Confederate Flag was never the Confederate Flag of the Southern Confederacy, but 100 years later a version of this battle flag was hijacked and used for a far more sinister use.

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America in Flames - A New Reality or Revisiting the Past

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 We Shall Overcome

The pictures and videos on television could almost move one to tears.  Little towns and big cities are going up in flames over the death of yet another Black man at the hands of the police.

No doubt, there is discrimination between races.  Then there is discrimination within races.  Then there is discrimination between nationalities within a race.  Throw in language, wealth, religion, income, memberships, schools, and health care discrimination, all within the same race, and you start to get the picture.

However, even though we are not equal in all the areas I mentioned, to name just a few, our Declaration of Independence and Constitution guarantee us equal opportunity, and to have equal protection under the law.

We are free to pursue whatever our hearts desire as long as we respect the right of everyone else to do the same.

Unfortunately, much of the freedom and equality incorporated into our Founding documents was a framework for the future of our nation and did not even exist when the documents became law.

Foresight, intuition, premonition, prophecy, common sense, and good luck are all vital elements in the drafting of constitutional documents that must guide a nation far into the future.  Ours worked pretty well most of the 239 years we have been here.

However, since humans are the only life form capable of excessive greed, obsessed with physical and psychological possession, and intoxicated with the thirst for control, we hit occasional speed bumps on the road to perfection.

The scenes of Baltimore in flames, seems like the typical fictional show we see every day on television.  I suppose it is certainly the best of the reality shows, which conveniently blend fact and fiction blurring the lines between.

Here are some observations from a concerned citizen, me.

No doubt, our television and social media fan the flames of dissent with 24/7 coverage, cameras in the faces of everyone, their failure to be honest about "live" news footage versus incessant reruns of the same fires, force or criminal behavior, and their inability to verify most of what they are told by on-the-scene witnesses.

Last night I watched the same building burn down over 25 times and they never mentioned it was a rerun.  They have "Breaking" News Alerts of stuff that happened the night before.  Reporters take sides when caught up in the emotion of the scene and stop being objective.

So yes, the media certainly fans the flames of dissent.

The media, government officials, consultants, and activists all gravitate to the spotlight when such violence breaks out.  Then they proceed to say some rather stupid things.  When all these mouthpieces for the public speak their piece, a lot of time has elapsed and the result is a different result than the peace they claimed to advocate.

Another thing that bothers me is when we have 45 million Blacks in America, why is the Reverend Al Sharpton the only spokesperson for all 45 million people.  I know some incredibly articulate and intelligent Black people who could say something meaningful and hopeful to those caught in the middle of riots.  Surely, we can do better than just ask Al.

I wonder if the media is too young to remember all the times this has happened before, even in our lifetimes.  They act as if they never saw such a sight before.  Expecting them to do research might be out of the question.  Assuming they know history is even more absurd.

I am a Baby Boomer, in high school at the beginning of the 1960's.  By the end of that one decade, there were Civil Rights riots, Academic Freedom riots, anti-war riots, riots over the use of drugs, riots when political leaders were assassinated, and riots after students were killed in other riots.

We had marches and massive protests against everything.

When I went to college, I knew I would be going to war in Vietnam.  So, I joined the Reserve Officers Training Program (ROTC), at the University of Arizona in order to be ready to face death.

One day, bricks came crashing through the ROTC headquarters building as over 1,000 students stormed the place to protest the war and draft.  My classmates were in the crowd.

Later in the '60's I worked for the mayor in Omaha, Nebraska when there were riots again with college students over tuition and curriculum and race riots after the killing of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  After the death of Dr. King, the nation was in flames from Los Angeles to New York.

There were more race riots in Omaha when a policeman was lured to a suitcase bomb and killed by Black Panthers.  For a time it was a toss up whether you were safer in the neighborhoods where the stores were on fire, than you would be outside the riot zone where vigilantes in trucks cruised around looking for potential victims to get even.

Hatred can be a powerful thing.

When I joined the Office of the President and then Congress in 1973, the Wounded Knee takeover by the AIM Native American movement flared up on the Pine Ridge Sioux reservation.  This time there was fighting between the tribal council and traditional leaders and AIM took over the site of the original Wounded Knee massacre in 1890.  Before it ended an FBI agent was killed and U.S. Marshal was paralyzed from the waist down, both worked out of the same federal building where I worked.

Ironically, there is a thread common in most of these incidents.  The most serious involve the destruction of property and deaths, which typified those involving race relations.  Race riots were the most destructive, because there was a willingness to destroy the very places needed to serve the low income.

The same is true today.  Nothing has changed much in the past fifty years.

Many of the years from 1964 to 1975, I worked for the government.  In my career, I worked for mayors, city councils, county boards, governors, House members, Senate members, and the Executive Office of the President.  I worked for the administrative branch, legislative branch, and occasionally for the judicial branch of government, and often worked in the campaign operations.

My role was strategy and policy development and implementation.  In short, I identified the need, developed a solution, and determined how to get it done.  I made things work that helped people.

When I started out in government, President Lyndon Johnson had signed and implemented the Civil Rights Act and Economic Opportunity Act, the latter of which became the core of his War on Poverty.

I was fortunate to work with a number of agencies on programs like the National Alliance of Businessmen jobs program, Keep America Beautiful efforts, and so called poverty programs such as Head Start, Legal Services for the poor, and many others.

Back then, like now, there was virtually no hope for most young, Black teenagers.  If they did not finish high school there was a better than 50% chance of spending most of your life in jail.  Teen unemployment was through the roof while the drug culture was sweeping through the ghettos.

For the next several years I learned of the world of the forgotten or invisible Americans and it would take me to areas like Chicago, Minneapolis, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Falls River, MA, Albuquerque, and searching for ways to protect programs, understand the problems, and work to develop solutions.

There were times I was the only white person in meetings with hundreds of Blacks but I was determined to learn what to do to help the urban communities.  We tried many things, some worked, and some did not.  Then we determined which programs were too corrupt or too ineffective and had another battle trying to get rid of them.

People forget we spent billions and billions of dollars on poverty, jobs, job training, economic development, housing, education, health care, food, and criminal justice reform during the 1960's and 1970's.  Some programs worked great like Head Start.  Others worked great but were controversial like legal services.  There were many efforts to eliminate all the programs, as the Vietnam War grew ever larger across the ocean.

With over five million Americans sent to fight in Vietnam, 1.3 million causalities, and 58,209 dying there was pressure to transfer massive amounts of money to defense spending.  The competition for money was great among the different interests.

Sometimes, seemingly good projects like low-income high-rise housing in the ghetto in time failed miserably, and by the 1980's we spent millions of dollars to get rid of what did not work.  We faced that in Jersey City when I worked for the governor of New Jersey and it took several years to tear down a series of dilapidated high rises where drug dealing, prostitution, gangs, and other elements of the dark side flourished.

In the end, the programs most controversial or ones that did not work were eliminated first, and as poverty lost out to law enforcement, wars, and financial affairs of the public, even the good programs were cutback.

Many people cared, tried to help out, and even contributed to major milestones in the war on poverty, and some were even White.

One was a friend of mine from Shenandoah, Iowa.  In my opinion there were two great brother acts from that little town in Southwestern Iowa, the Everly Brothers (Don and Phil), and the Offenburger brothers, Dan, Tom, and Chuck.

Dan Offenburger was a close friend and we both showed up in Omaha, Nebraska in around 1968.  Dan was a graduate of Creighton University in Omaha and worked for the school rising from intramural director to Athletic Director and pulling off the miracle of landing Willis Reed, NBA superstar with the Knicks, as head basketball coach for the Creighton Blue Jays.

From my position in the Mayor's Office and the fact one of the mayors I worked for was a Creighton graduate, we were deeply involved in anything to help the Jesuits.  As I progressed into being a newspaper reporter for the Omaha World Herald then working for congress and the office of the president, we would meet often at the Omaha Press Club.

Dan had two brothers he never stopped talking about, Chuck, who was a near legendary writer and columnist for my favorite newspaper, the Des Moines Register, and Tom, who had recently resigned (1966) from being the Chicago Bureau chief for U.S. News and World Report.  Tom left one of the great jobs in journalism to become the press secretary for Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., when America was about to go up in flames.

Because on my work with programs intended to break the cycle of poverty, Dan introduced me to his brother, who would go on from working with Dr. King, to working for and with the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young for more than a decade, and  the wife of Dr. King, Coretta Scott King.

Andrew Young would later travel to Shenandoah, Iowa to deliver the eulogy for Tom.  Young called him a highly revered man and said Tom "interpreted the Civil Rights Movement," turning "a hostile press into seekers of the truth."

After the murder of his boss in April of 1968, riots swept the nation, primarily in black urban areas. At least 110 cities experienced violence and destruction in the next few days, resulting in roughly $50 million in damage. Of the 39 people who died, 34 were black. The worst riots were in Chicago, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. Over 22,000 federal troops and 34,000 national guard were sent to aid local police -- the largest ever called to deal with domestic civil disturbance. In many cities, the devastation was so great that it left a permanent scar, which is still evident, decades later.

In Baltimore, the 1968 riots cost six people their lives, injured 700, and destroyed about 1,000 small businesses.  People burned down their own infrastructure and their own neighborhoods.

It was the worst social unrest in America since the Civil War.

Just two months earlier Tom had drafted a letter articulating the need for the King non-violent movement, a letter approved by Dr. King.  In the letter, Tom said frustrations were growing across the nation because of the failure of our government and society to start meaningful, massive assaults against economic exploitation and racial injustice.

Tom asked the question do you think our nation can escape violence by the continued suppression of poor people.  He outlined the goals of Dr. King in seeking decent jobs and income for all people, and help rebuilding the slums.   

On April 4, 1968, the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., Tom's close friend and boss, took place when Dr. King was age 39.

We have an opportunity to build on history.  Unlike previous occasions, we must address the issues Tom raised of economic exploitation and racial injustice.  We must finally finish the war on poverty by learning from our experience, creating new solutions, and maintaining the fight long after the media has stopped reporting.

Once upon a time America was not afraid to make mistakes when it came to the good of the people.  That spirit, courage, and faith must live in people, all people, and then yes, We Shall Overcome.

By the way, We Shall Overcome, those are the words inscribed on the gravestone of Tom Offenburger.  He was a white journalist, friend, and press secretary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Tom was the man who interpreted the Civil Rights movement to the "hostile" press of America.  His life proved that we all must care about the plight of the poor.  His work proved we all have different ways to contribute to such a worthy cause.   

{Note photos are from the riots of 1967 Detroit and nationwide in 1968.}

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Race Baiting in America - The Lingering Cottage Industry

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 

What a shame that in a nation of laws and equality one can find race baiting as a sport reaching new highs or lows depending on your perspective.

 

The Zimmerman trial in Florida in which a jury dismissed all charges against the defendant, George Zimmerman, ruling self-defense, has demonstrated once again how some American traditions transcend politics, time and truth.
 

“I have decided to stick to love...Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 

Race baiting, that age old practice of proving people are inherently prejudiced even when they are not, is alive and well.

You notice, I trust, that I did not mention discrimination or equal opportunity because while I believe we have made great progress in our history, we are far from a society when there is only one race, mankind.

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"
 

                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

When you have cottage industries whose purpose seems to be more oriented toward prolonging race hatred, and inciting repressed fears, than helping society as a whole work to eliminate racism against everyone, you still have a problem.

"Let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all their scintillating beauty."
 

                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 

Here in America there are two distinct groups who never hesitate to use race baiting for their own purposes.  There are the so called advocates of an issue, those self-appointed mouth pieces for the invisible oppressed and repressed Americans.

These are the parasites who feed off parasites, grasping at any straw in the wind, no matter how remote from the truth it may be, in order to prolong their own interests like foundations, fund raising, consulting fees, kickbacks and the other benefits of the great American machine of capitalism.

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word."

                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 

Did I forget to mention the chauffeured limousines available to them, private jets on loan, significant tax deductible donations to their favorite charity?  What about the thousands of dollars in honorarium fees for speaking and the seven course gourmet dinner parties to help the super rich learn about the hatred and fear they missed in their finishing schools?
 

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”
                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 

These people have often taken extremely worthwhile causes and hijacked them for their own purposes.  The pioneers of the American Civil Rights movement, people like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave their lives to help wipe out racism and hatred.  Today's so called leaders use racism and fear to turn people against people.  They bring shame to the memory and work of such martyrs.

 

As for the parasites the parasites feed off of, they are the media, whether mainstream, main street, network, cable, Internet, wire service virtual, blogs or just plain stupid.
 

"When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."

                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 

Back in the 1960's when Civil Rights had a cause and purpose, the most radical advocates for and against the civil rights movement were known as hate mongers and even bomb throwers.  But they did throw bullets and bombs.

 

Today's mouthpieces, whether from the special interests out to protect their special interest or the lawyers who created all the victim's non-profit funds that seem to pay huge salaries to lawyers to watch over the money to the media.

"Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies - or else?  The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation."
                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ah the media.  The only parasite class to give up all pretense of hiding the truth behind some sanctimonious purpose of serving the higher good.  No more lies about being "objective", "unbiased" or "truthful".

Today the media serves many masters and the truth is not one of them.  First and foremost in the media mind is corporate profits and profits only come from ratings in television and lies on the Internet.
 

It is in the best interest of the media ratings that all things good fail, all laws are subject to ridicule, any old storm must be transformed into a major natural disaster in the making, and sex sells. 

“Let no man pull you so low as to hate him.”

                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
 

The more the public is upset the higher the ratings and the more opportunity to exploit hapless victims and their families and the more victims trust funds can be created.
 

Of course thanks to the media packaging of trials and the public response to jury and court rulings, the on camera reporters are so lame, apparently, that they need all kinds of bogus "experts" beside them to help hype the lies being spun to gain more viewers, higher ratings, and more advertising revenue.

Why have the very institutions whose people helped bring well deserved recognition to Dr. King now employed people and tactics that have sold out the very principles Dr. King stood for in the name of racial equality?

“Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.
 

                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Fear and hatred empower racism and no one advocates fear and hatred more than the parasites who use human capital to make money.  They share the Greed Masters Hall of Infamy in American culture.

Did you know that the Southern Poverty Law Center, one of the pioneers of the Civil Rights movement, has named 31 people as martyrs in the civil rights history of America.  Of the 31 there were 8, or 25%, who were white ranging from housewives to ministers to college students to plain old people.

Here is a sampling of the martyrs who gave their lives for others.
 

Southern Poverty Law Center

Civil Rights Martyrs

 

May 7, 1955 · Belzoni, Mississippi
Rev. George Lee, one of the first black people registered to vote in Humphreys County, used his pulpit and his printing press to urge others to vote. White officials offered Lee protection on the condition he end his voter registration efforts, but Lee refused and was murdered.

September 30, 1962 · Oxford, Mississippi
Paul Guihard, a reporter for a French news service, was killed by gunfire from a white mob during protests over the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi.

April 23, 1963 · Attalla, AlabamaWilliam Lewis Moore, a postman from Baltimore, was shot and killed during a one-man march against segregation. Moore had planned to deliver a letter to the governor of Mississippi urging an end to tolerance.

 

June 12, 1963 · Jackson, Mississippi

Medgar Evers, who directed NAACP operations in Mississippi, was leading a campaign for integration in Jackson when he was shot and killed by a sniper at his home.

 

 

September 15, 1963 · Birmingham, Alabama

Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley were getting ready for church services when a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, killing all four of the school-age girls. The church had been a center for civil rights meetings and marches.

April 7, 1964 · Cleveland, OhioRev. Bruce Klunder was among civil rights activists who protested the building of a segregated school by placing their bodies in the way of construction equipment. Klunder was crushed to death when a bulldozer backed over him.

 

June 21, 1964 · Philadelphia, Mississippi
James Earl Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Henry Schwerner, young civil rights workers, were arrested by a deputy sheriff and then released into the hands of Klansmen who had plotted their murders. They were shot, and their bodies were buried in an earthen dam.

 

 

March 11, 1965 · Selma, Alabama

Rev. James Reeb, a Unitarian minister from Boston, was among many white clergymen who joined the Selma marchers after the attack by state troopers at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Reeb was beaten to death by white men while he walked down a Selma street.

March 25, 1965 · Selma Highway, Alabama

Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a housewife and mother from Detroit, drove alone to Alabama to help with the Selma march after seeing televised reports of the attack at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She was driving marchers back to Selma from Montgomery when she was shot and killed by a Klansmen in a passing car.

June 10, 1966 · Natchez, Mississippi

Ben Chester White, who had worked most of his life as a caretaker on a plantation, had no involvement in civil rights work. He was murdered by Klansmen who thought they could divert attention from a civil rights march by killing a black person.

February 8, 1968 · Orangeburg, South Carolina
Samuel Ephesians Hammond Jr., Delano Herman Middleton and Henry Ezekial Smith were shot and killed by police who fired on student demonstrators at the South Carolina State College campus.

 

April 4, 1968 · Memphis, Tennessee

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a Baptist minister, was a major architect of the Civil Rights Movement. He led and inspired major non-violent desegregation campaigns, including those in Montgomery and Birmingham. He won the Nobel peace prize. He was assassinated as he prepared to lead a demonstration in Memphis.

 

Viola Liuzzo family

 

"I want to be the white man's brother, not his brother-in-law."
 

                                                Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Definition of COTTAGE INDUSTRY

 

1.  an industry whose labor force consists of family units or individuals working at home with their own equipment

 

2.  a small and often informally organized industry

 

3.  a limited but enthusiastically pursued activity or subject cottage industry for feminist academics — Wendy Kaminer

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