As chattel slaves, for 400 years, Blacks were consigned to the lowest race-based caste-like ranks of American society.  Considered to be mere property belonging to the same class of “farm animals” such as cows, pigs, horses, and dogs, the slaves’ Black Jobs consisted of sun up to sun down drudgery performed for no pay.  Their “fringe benefits” were to survive another day without experiencing gross inhumanity such as [1] severe whippings that ripped open their flesh; [2] castrations for giving a master the “wrong” look; [3] rapes while still a child; and, in some cases, [4] deaths via various forms of torture.  For example, as reported by Stephanie E. Jones-Rogers in They Were Her Property (Yale University Press, 2019), “When another formerly enslaved woman forgot to refer to her mistress’s eight-or nine-year old daughter as ‘Miss,’ her mistress put her ‘in a stock and beat’ her.  While she was in the stocks, the woman twisted her leg until it broke, and even then, continued to beat her until she was satisfied her point had been made” (page 6).  

 After the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, Black Jobs were those permitted by legal race-based segregation.  Bottom line, for the most part, Blacks did not work in nor make use of facilities owned by Whites.  If they did, they used separate facilities, e.g., separate toilets, water fountains, bus seating, etc.  One unanticipated outcome of race-based segregation is that Blacks were forced to create their own jobs, e.g., Black beauty shops, barbers, farmers, morticians, recreation centers, and roadside assistance  (See Black Entrepreneurs during the Jim Crow Era -- The Henry Ford Blog - Blog - The Henry Ford).

Nevertheless, even the most “enlightened” Whites kept Blacks out of certain jobs.  For example, from Harvard’s beginnings in 1636 to centuries later, there were no professorial and/or administrative jobs for Blacks.  Hence, America began the separate and unequal Historically Black Colleges and Universities beginning  with Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1837.  Jobs remain so segregated in higher education that at Pitt, for example, Black faculty presence hovers around a mere 4%! (See University Times, November 30, 2023).   Indeed, throughout America’s historically White institutions of higher education, there are only token numbers of Black faculty and senior administrators.  

As a direct consequence of systemic, race-based, caste-like American forces, Blacks have not had an equal opportunity to hold equal numbers of jobs  [1] in City Governments, State Assemblies, Congress, or elected Executive offices; [2] jobs in STEM related occupations; [3] as health professionals; [4] as commercial pilots; [5] CEOs of major corporations; [6] lawyers; [7] or any profession for which postsecondary education is required, especially a college education.  As with the formal Jim Crow era, today Blacks are often found in jobs that require the “sweat of their brow,” e.g., on basketball courts and football fields which are reminiscent of the forerunner slave economy consisting of White owners and “overseers” (coaches) along with disproportionate number of Black players (workers).

To be sure and, as slowly as it happens to be, Blacks are securing jobs in an increasingly wide array of fields.  Most notably, at the moment, a Black woman seeks to become President of the United States of America.  As this drama plays out, we will witness all of America’s original sin’s remnants in play.  We will witness a convicted White male felon using racial and misogynistic slurs against a Black woman who has served in Congress and as Vice President of the United States.  

The White male, patriarchal script does not include President of the United States as a job for a Black woman. However, the tide for change is more than rising!  All should learn how to say President Kamala Harris because it is now the case that Black Women are for Harris; White Women are for Harris; Black Men are for Harris; White Dudes are for Harris; Indian Americans are for Harris; young voters in Won’t PAC Down are for Harris; some former Nikki Haley voters are for Harris; “Childless Cat Ladies” are for Harris;  Divine Nine members are for Harris; and there is a Republicans for Harris campaign.  Truly we are witnessing a moment when Black Jobs will be radically redefined.  And if there is a Black person who believes the racist fiction uttered by Trump regarding Black jobs, please consider the questions posed by a popular social media post:  [1] When, if ever, did you, as a Black person, lose a job to an illegal immigrant?  [2] When, if ever, did you lose a job to a White person who was less qualified than you?  

Finally, regarding the truth about Black jobs, do know that a critically important Black job has been to make America what it ought to be, i.e., as Nicloe Hannah Jones stated, “Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written.  Black Americans have fought to make them true.” August 14, 2019).  Let us continue this Black jobuntil victory is won!

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

August 8, 2024

Senator Art Haywood (D-4  in partnership with Chad Dion Lassiter, MSW- Executive Director of the PA Human Relations Commission (PHRC), hosted a press conference to announce the release of The ENOUGH Report. This report details the traumatic experiences of on-campus hate and harassment on PA State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) campuses and lists concrete demands to address this matter. Senator Haywood and Executive Director Lassiter were joined by PASSHE Chancellor Greenstein, West Chester University President Dr. Fiorentino, Senator Schwank, Senator Comitta, Rep. Nelson, and Liv S., a Pennwest student.

In August 2020, the SpotlightPA report titled “Condemn, Discuss, Repeat” highlighted racism at PASSHE schools, prompting a campaign led by students and alumni, supported by Senator Art Haywood. Identifying deficiencies, they pressured for reforms, leading to Chancellor Daniel Greenstein’s positive response. The “ENOUGH: Listening Tour” provided a platform for Black and Brown students to share experiences, aiming to build on progress and ensure a discrimination-free learning environment. Although strides have been made, there is ongoing work to eliminate racism’s impact on academic achievement for Students of Color in Pennsylvania’s schools. The report covers student perspective, university actions, and an overview of the ENOUGH Tour timeline. 

This effort has become even more urgent since the US Supreme Court put our nation in reverse by ending affirmative action in college admissions. College admissions officers and recruiters are being told to wear the same blinders that prevented them from seeing Black talent for centuries,” says 

Senator Haywood continues, “All students should be in an environment that is conducive to learning and free from discrimination. That is why I designed the ENOUGH Listening Tour. Ultimately, Pennsylvania’s leaders and institutions should respect the dignity of all students. The work to ensure that dignity is intact for Pennsylvania’s Students of Color continues with this report in hopes that one day the work will no longer be required.”

“One of the takeaways from this report is that while more and more students of color are attending schools in the state system, they often feel isolated, alienated, and unsupported,” said Executive Director Lassiter. “They face microaggressions and discrimination from other students, faculty, and sometimes the surrounding community. Students also told us about the lack of mental health resources to help deal with the problems they face. “

Lassiter added, “Senator Haywood and I are thankful to the students and alumni who opened up and spoke with us. Being vulnerable shows a high level of courage. The feedback we received will go a long way to help ensure all students can learn in an environment that is free from discrimination.”

State Senator Carolyn Comitta (D-19 and a member of the West Chester University Council of Trustees) says, “Racism is unacceptable. This report helps provide a path to move forward in a positive direction. The good news is we have partners within PASSHE who are committed to ending racism on campuses. Now, we must all work together to do just that.”

Senator Schwank (D-11) says, “It is vital that our state-owned universities remain safe havens where all students can depend on to pursue a higher education. I commend Senator Haywood for his exemplary leadership in addressing racial abuse and inequities on our campuses. As a member of the PASSHE Board of Governors, I am fully committed to utilizing this report when we are considering the changes we want to see on our state-owned campuses.”

Rep. Pielli (D-156) adds, “I’m glad to see that there have been efforts made here at West Chester University, but this report is just the beginning. We have to keep going. We must keep recruiting not only students of color but also professors and staff in order to have a more diverse environment where everyone feels safe and secure. 

Rep. Nelson (D-154) says, “What’s truly meaningful for our students is the agency they have when they find their voice and their ability to reach out to the legislators who are standing with them.” Rep. Nelson continues, “Unfortunately, there is another amazing community of students who are not necessarily black and brown who are also dealing with the scourge of racism on campus. As Saturday, January 27, was Holocaust Memorial Day, I think it is important that we use this report to build a broad coalition that will continue to stand united against racism and hatred of all forms on our campuses and throughout our communities. These are the moments where we are supposed to reach out and find common cause.”

In response to the report finding, Senator Haywood calls for the development of a standard code of conduct that prohibits racial harassment, standardized processes for incident reporting and response, adaptation of best practices for retaining students of color, and for each campus to create a Title VI office to enforce anti-discrimination. The PHRC will also partner with PASSHE to provide training and outreach to staff and students.

To view the report in full visit www.SenatorHaywood.com/ENOUGH

Legislation to expand and strengthen Pennsylvania’s anti-hate crimes statutes won bipartisan passage out of the Pennsylvanian House Tuesday, putting Pennsylvania on track to take action amid a nationwide spike in criminal activity fueled by hatred.

State Reps. Dan Frankel and Napoleon Nelson, sponsors of the bill package, called on the Senate to act quickly to signal to all vulnerable groups that Pennsylvania’s state government stands with them.

“The conflict in Israel has Jewish and Muslim Pennsylvanians feeling afraid – afraid to leave home, afraid to practice their faith, afraid to gather with their communities at a time when such events would bring them the most comfort,” said Frankel, D-Allegheny. “The vast majority of Pennsylvanians want this commonwealth to be a welcoming, diverse place for all, and that is the call legislators answered today.”

Frankel noted that once the legislative package becomes law, Pennsylvania will join the majority of states that acknowledge the growing scourge of attacks on Americans for who they are, how they look or who they love.

Nelson said, “Look at the headlines about what’s happening at our colleges, and you’ll see why kids don’t feel safe on campus – especially if they’re black, brown, Jewish, Muslim … the list of groups experiencing the rise in ethnic intimidation continues. I wish I could say our legislation will help eradicate hate. It won’t – that’s a different conversation. But House Bill 1024 and House Bill 1025 would help us better understand and recognize ethnic intimidation, which often goes unreported.

“Even when a report is made, police often fail to properly categorize it as a hate crime. We must strengthen reporting and training processes for school staff and police officers to help correct this, so we can collect the data to help us understand the indicators and experiences that lead young folks to embrace hateful ideology.”

The legislative package includes:

• HB 1027 – New Protections under Ethnic Intimidation Statute (Frankel, Nelson) would amend Pennsylvania’s Ethnic Intimidation Statute to ensure protections for victims targeted because of their race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, ancestry, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, age and disability, including autism. The bill would also provide victims with a civil cause of action against offenders. The bill passed 116-86.
   
• HB  1024 – Hate Crime Training for Law Enforcement (Frankel, Nelson) would provide our law enforcement officials with the tools they need to properly investigate, identify and report hate crimes. The bill passed 112-90.
   
• HB 1025 – Reporting System for Educational Institutions (Nelson, Frankel) would require postsecondary institutions to offer online and anonymous hate crime reporting options for students and employees. The bill would also encourage training for K-12 school employees in identifying and addressing hate incidents. The bill passed 111-91.

Legislation to expand protections to cover LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities was signed into law by a Republican governor more than 20 years ago, but the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled the changes unconstitutional on technical grounds in 2008.

Companion legislation has been introduced by Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa.

House passage of the legislation comes almost exactly five years after an antisemitic attack took the lives of 11 people in their synagogues in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh.

ATTENTION EDITORS/ASSIGNMENT DESKS: Video of Frankel speaking on the legislation is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/qv6jlce5m7rcxje2t81ef/103123-Frankel-HB-1027.mp4?rlkey=p98ljaapfnmmwy0ixqqpu9cfs&dl=0, and video of Nelson speaking on the legislation is available here: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/5xmcaqjli3fex2c43xw3p/103123-Nelson-1025.mp4?rlkey=zpd06bczpt7khiw54wxfczz6n&dl=0

Theft of land, ideas and natural resources, along with manipulation of the truth, contribute to a key strategy that undergirds America’s systemic, upper-class, White male, patriarchal, sexist, and racist society. Thus, for example, colonialists told lies regarding [1] the conquest of “uncivilized” people in America and the “development” of the victims’ land by privileged White men; [2] the bringing of African “servants” to America to “save their pagan souls;” and [3] the “God-ordained” reservation of women to kitchens and roles such as child-bearing housewives. 

In the case of Blacks, there is also a long history of Black creativity followed by White theft and exploitation. For example, regarding the theft and exploitation of Black music, Steven J. Underwood wrote the following: “Black music is always less-than until it such time as Whiteness has had the opportunity to infiltrate the culture supporting it and figured out how to perform it themselves. Rap music’s “renaissance” in the ’90s hadn’t occurred until the rise of Eminem as the industry’s latest bad boy and residential Aryan… We’ve heard of the true colors of Elvis Presley and the seldom sung truth of the Beatles’ sound and the Benny Goodmans and the Rolling Stones, the Zootsuiters, the Blue-eyed souls and more… ” The Long History of Creative Theft in Black Music and Arts (cassiuslife.com) 

In 2023, a growing theft and vicious exploitation of Black creativity involves racist right wingers’ use of the term woke. By way of a brief background, the scholar Tony Thorne indicated that the term woke“…began appearing in the 1940s and was first used by African Americans to literally mean becoming woken up or sensitised to issues of justice…”  What is the history of the word ‘woke’ and its modern uses? | The Independent.  As indicated in the same article, woke“…started becoming a politicised word in 2014, after the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement…”  

Essentially,  stay woke was a call for Blacks and other oppressed people to be conscious of the systemic sources of oppression and, in turn, determine what must be done for it to be overthrown. Because of woke’s profound implications for realizing equity and social justice, ultra conservative, far right, and often ignorant Whites stole woke and began using it as an omnibus term for everything with which they disagree. A leading offender is Ron DeSantis. 

In an Editorial Board article by the Miami Herald, it was stated, “DeSantis, as we all know, absolutely loves the term ‘woke.’ He slaps it on anything he thinks could be used to stir up his base of voters, mostly white and mostly Republican, who are worried about losing their primacy in the world. For the past two years, that has been an ever-widening universe of targets: critical race theory, Disney, former Hillsborough County State Attorney Andrew Warren, school books, school board members, drag queens, a National Hockey League job fair, the NCAA, diversity training at businesses, Democrats, the New College of Florida, coursework at universities, lessons from teachers, Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and banks that dare to use socially and environmentally conscious factors for investing.”  DeSantis hates ‘woke’, but his view may not play so well in the rest of America | Opinion (msn.com) Indeed, DeSantis’ and others’ use of woke is reminiscent of the dangerous demagoguery known as McCarthyism. 

In terms of how libelous labelling can be a threat against American democracy, we should never forget the early 1950s when the ultra-conservative, right-wing, racist Senator Joe McCarthy convinced many Americans that “communists” were lurking everywhere, from classrooms to federal government offices to the US Army. The “Great Red Scare,” a campaign devoid of facts and “supported” merely by public accusations resulted in hundreds of citizens being wrongly persecuted, including people such as W. E. B. DuBois, Lena Horne, Langston Hughes, Paul Robeson, Elmer Bernstein and Charlie Chaplin. 

The rhetorical theorist Richard Weaver considered the foregoing use of “communist” to be the quintessential “God term” during the 1950s, i.e., for some audiences, a word that stood for everything evil –the same tactic used today by DeSantis and others with the term woke. More than that, the political exploitation of woke is akin to the rhetorical style of telling “Big Lies” as was the case with Adolf Hitler’s accusations against Jews.

Recall that the “Big Lie” is essentially a propaganda technique whereby a known falsehood is repeated often enough for it to become believable by gullible people who, in turn, believe they must take action against the enemy/evils. In the immediate instance, the Big Woke Lie is a call to arms against groups such as Blacks as well as other people of color; Critical Race Theorists; LGBTQ+ people; women who wish to be liberated from patriarchy; citizens who would like to have their rights to vote respected; people seeking health care benefits equivalent to members of Congress; and anyone else who poses a threat to the Maga Machine.  Accordingly, now more than ever, those pursuing equity and social justice must stay woke as well as remain politically active!

From pre-K through higher education, now is the time for faculty, staff, students, parents, and administrators to resist inappropriate involvement of elected officials in public education. There must be a unified stance against elected officials who threaten education budget cuts because of Big Woke Lies regarding books written by authors such as the internationally recognized James Baldwin and Toni Morrison.  

The Big Woke Lie is so vicious and non-compromising that even a woman’s right to make decisions about her body qualifies for wokeness! Thus, for example, we must stop the Big Woke Lie that supports a pregnant woman being forced to “…choose between carrying a fetus that lacks a skull and the top of its head (as a result of a rare condition called acrania) to term, or traveling several states over for a legal abortion, since Louisiana has banned abortion with very narrow exceptions” (See, story by Kylie Cheung, Aug 16, 2022).

Most recently, we witnessed the Big Woke Lie in one of its most absurd forms when Andy Kessler wrote in the March 13, 2023 Wall Street Journal the following possibility for the Silicon Valley Bank failure: “SVB notes that besides 91 percent of their board being independent and 45 percent women, they also have ‘1 Black,’ ‘1 LGBTQ+,’ and ‘2 Veterans.’ I’m not saying 12 white men would have avoided this mess, but the company may have been distracted by diversity demands.” 

In sum, the current Big Woke Lie is a linguistic descendant of “…‘politically correct,’ ‘cancel culture’ and ‘metropolitan liberal elite’ as terms conservatives use against opponents. …it functions as a trigger word or ‘dog whistle,’ in that as soon as you say it you no longer need to say anything else… The word will be accepted by your base, rejected by your opponents and no further discussion will take place.” (See Matthew Crowley, March 8, 2023). 

Those true believers so easily persuaded by the Big Woke Lie are often the same racist folks who, before legal segregation was ended, rallied to phrases such as “your home is your castle” and “separate but equal.”  They are often the “poorly educated” folks who are loved by and easily whipped into a frenzy when a former U.S. President utters, “make America great again.” The spreaders of the Big Woke Lie are precisely who Martin Luther King, Jr. had in mind when he stated, “nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

March 15, 2023

BLACKS BRUTALLY BEATING BLACKS

The old woman across the way
is whipping the boy again
and shouting to the neighborhood
her goodness and his wrongs.
…She strikes and strikes the shrilly circling
boy till the stick breaks
in her hand.  

...well, it is over now, it is over,
and the boy sobs in his room,
And the woman leans muttering against
a tree, exhausted, purged—
avenged in part for lifelong hidings
she has had to bear.

-Robert Hayden-

1962

As an octogenarian, I have an abiding love for my parents having provided me with a worldview that includes things such as hard work, thrift, holding high standards, ongoing education, the pursuit of truths beyond things that can be seen, respect for elders, providing service to others, and an abiding appreciation for life in all of its forms. Throughout grade school and my early teens, I hated my parents for the “medicine” they often administered to me, something they called a “skinning” to “beat the devil” out of me. Using a thick belt, their “skinnings” left my skin with welts that lasted days, sometimes broken skin in need of the available balm, i.e., Vaseline. Hence, after watching the video of 5 Black Memphis Scorpion Squad police officers’ brutal beating of Tyre Nichols, I wondered if the police officers had been beaten severely when they were children. Afterall, victims of significant abuse often become abusers and perpetuate a culture of abuse. 

In the case of Blacks’ brutal life threatening and sometimes life taking beatings of other Blacks, we witness a sick outcomes of centuries’ long racist-induced practices, the horrible results that occur when  colonized/enslaved Blacks are “mis-educated” regarding the inferiority of Blacks as lesser human beings. Such beatings flow from “gaslighted” Black adults accepting as truth the need to brutally beat Blacks as a normative mode of conduct. For example, within many segments of the Black community, there are folks who offer biblical and other “rationales” for not sparing the rod and spoiling our children; Black adults making Black children obtain switches and other instruments for beating Black children “within an inch of their lives;” Black adults whuppin their children with belts, brushes, backs of their hands, and extension cords, as well as fists, and sticks; --all of this and more because of the sick belief that violence is essential to Black childrearing given Black children’s alleged inherent evil nature. 

So sick is the cultural acceptance of Black adults beating Black children that, later in life, some Black adults speak fondly of the parental inflicted brutal beatings that “kept them out of trouble.” However, within her truth telling book regarding “why whuppin children won’t save Black America,” Stacey Patton (2017) wrote, “…The belief that we need to whup our kids to keep them in line is deeply grounded in our collective psyche, in much the same way that racists believe black folks are culturally deficient and police officers disproportionately see us reaching for guns when we’re actually reaching for IDs.” 

Given the widespread racist-induced miseducated belief lurking in the Black community regarding the need to brutally beat Black bodies, the conduct of the Memphis Scorpion Squad should come as no surprise. As Attorney Ben Crump said, “We have learned from reports this week that the 5 now-fired officers involved in Tyre’s death were members of the Memphis Police Department’s SCORPION squad, which stands for Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in our Neighborhoods.  …But the “why” of Tyre Nichols's death is found in this policing culture itself, not something Tyre personally did. And his running in fear for his life in-between a series of beatings was an affront to the officers, who wanted to show Tyre and the city of Memphis that as a team they can take anyone down. No one escapes the Scorpions. 

Whatever happened to Tyre, there was a cultural mindset to it, and it’s not unique to Memphis. From Baltimore to Chicago and D.C., units like the SCORPION unmarked cars - regardless of what the units are named - cause terror in minority communities. In 2017, eight detectives in Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) were convicted of robbery and racketeering. In Chicago in 2004, a similar roving unit had to be disbanded when officers were accused of robberies and home invasions. In Washington, D.C., the ACLU has testified in court about hundreds of jump-outs they call illegal and examples of racial profiling. And in Memphis just a few days before Tyre Nichols was beaten, another Black male in the same community says he was also subjected to excessive force by a group of SCORPION officers. (See article by Jackson Brown Updated: 11:01 PM CST January 26, 2023).

I neither know what justice would be for Tyre Nichols nor what differences will be made by passing the H.R. 1280- George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, along with prayer and peaceful protest. However, I do know that [1] the roots of Memphis Scorpion Squads were nourished by the slave holders who reduced Blacks to property that they could control by any form of brutality they deemed appropriate including murder; [2] members of the KKK beat, burned, bombed, eviscerated, and hung Black bodies; [3] the original American police officers were not formed to “serve and protect” Blacks but to capture them and return them to slave holders, to support chattel slavery; and [4] the modern iterations of Slave Patrols in all too many ways support systemic racism. 

I also know that it is way past time for Black adults to quit whuppin their children within an inch of their lives; for highly educated Black “Divine Nine” folks to end all forms of “hazing;” for all forms of Black-on-Black violence to end and, in doing so, become a collective model for ending violence throughout America. Let us reduce the enemies within in order to prepare better for the enemies outside and, as Margaret Walker wrote,

…For my people standing staring trying to fashion a better way

   from confusion, from hypocrisy and misunderstanding,

   trying to fashion a world that will hold all the people,

   all the faces, all the adams and eves and their countless generations;

   Let a new earth rise. Let another world be born. Let a

   bloody peace be written in the sky. Let a second

   generation full of courage issue forth; let a people

   loving freedom come to growth. Let a beauty full of

   healing and a strength of final clenching be the pulsing

   in our spirits and our blood. Let the martial songs

   be written, let the dirges disappear. Let a race of men now

   rise and take control.

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

January 31, 2023

  In memory of Mary McLeod Bethune, Hallie Quinn Brown, Anna Julia Cooper, 

Fanny Jackson Coppin, Charlotte Forten Grimke, bell hooks, Mary Jane Patterson, 

and other Black women educators/liberators.

“…Silencing happens when, for white people, hearing the truth is too much; when the truth hangs so painfully heavy on their shoulders that they’d rather get rid of the weight, than actually face the issue head on. …when the truth is held up, it reflects the false securities that our society rests on: the elitism, the capitalism, the racism, the ableism, the sexism, the homo/transphobia, the xenophobia, the anti-blackness.  And the people who benefit from those systems have a hard time letting go of their privilege within those realms. To escape these truths, silencing has very often been the answer…” (When White People Are Uncomfortable, Black People Are Silenced, by Rachel Elizabeth Cargle, 2019). 

White slave masters silenced resolute male slaves by castrating and or hanging them. “Sassy” enslaved women were silenced by beating and raping them as well as selling their children to another slave master. After chattel slavery ended, some White men donned their robes and hoods before they silenced “uppity” Blacks by burning and bombing their homes as well as churches. Maiming, murder, and other malfeasance were preferable to White racists acknowledging their crimes against humanity.

In keeping with their long history of using violence, radical insurrectionists followed their irrational leader’s call to silence members of Congress on January 6, 2021. More than a year later while seeking to silence critics, the Republican Party deemed the January 6th event to be “legitimate political discourse.”  Moreover, by “rebuking” them, the Party sought to silence Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois (See New York Times, February 4, 2022). 

Of primary concern herein is some elected officials’ and their constituents’ efforts to silence those who would teach the truth about slavery, systemic racism, and other forms of oppression in America. Over the past year, school board meetings increasingly became the venues for ill-informed “anti-CRT,” anti-facemask wearing,” and homo/transphobic folks to engage in violent disruptive acts. For example, Ms. Jessica L. Miley, the University of Pittsburgh’s 2004 Omicron Delta Kappa Senior of the Year, needed a police escort to her car after she spoke on behalf of LGBQT children at a Virginia Beach school board meeting. 

As reported by Sara Gregory (Virginia Pilot, October 9, 2021), “Shortly after she arrived at her first school board meeting, Jessica Miley watched a man with his hand on the knife in his waistband scream expletives at a security officer. She was still wiping away tears when the meeting started. Outside, a crowd kept from entering because of COVID protocols flanked the entrance and chanted ‘let us in.’ After Miley finished speaking, security insisted on walking her to her car. The officer shone his flashlight on her tires to check for tampering. He told the mother of two to get in her car, lock the doors, turn on the headlights and waste no time leaving. That’s exactly what she did.”

Across the country, members of state legislatures have joined the campaign to silence equity and social justice advocates. As Cathryn Stout and Thomas Wilburn indicated, “…So far, at least 36 states have adopted or introduced laws or policies that restrict teaching about race and racism. With 2022 state legislative sessions underway, new legislation is in the pipeline.” In Pennsylvania, several Republican State Representatives sponsored House Bill 1532 to limit how schools could teach about racism.  For details, see (Educators say teaching about race could be at stake in governor’s race - Chalkbeat Philadelphia).

Fortunately, as the equity and social justice silencers engaged higher education, faculty groups at institutions such as Ohio State University, the University of Alabama, and the University of Texas, Austin passed resolutions in opposition to outside interference with academic freedom, particularly interference coming from state legislatures. As Gene Nichol noted, “…external efforts to alter or curtail expression, research, teaching, or publication, or to impose a regime of orthodoxy upon them, threaten the integrity of strong universities and of vibrant constitutional democracies. Such interference thus sins against both our public academic institutions and our appropriately heralded form of government.” (See, Political Interference with Academic Freedom and Free Speech at Public Universities, Washington Post, February 21, 2022). 

When it comes to protecting the autonomy and freedom of inquiry by educators focused on “the elitism, capitalism, racism, ableism, sexism, homo/transphobia, xenophobia, and anti-blackness” that ail America, Trustees, Principals, Presidents, Chancellors, Chief Academic Officers, faculty members, and students must  vigorously resist all forms of silencing. Now is not the time for education leaders to act like “shrinking violets,” i.e., to engage in placation; cower in the face of fiscal threats; or, in sum, be silenced by opponents of academic freedom. If anyone is considering the abdication of their responsibilities by being silenced, then consider the following lines of verse.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I did not speak out;
I was not a Jew.
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak out.

-Friedrich Gustav Martin Niemöller-

Addendum: Since the publication of the foregoing, the following announcement was made: "Teachers need our support; they need our trust; they need to have the freedom to exercise their professional judgment.” NCTE authored a “Freedom to Teach” statement in collaboration with the National Council for the Social Studies, the NCTM - National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Science Teaching Association, and the National Coalition Against Censorship to voice our support of teachers and their freedom to exercise their professional judgment.  Read the Freedom to Teach statement: https://ncte.org/freedom-teach-banning-books/  March 15, 2022  

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

March 3, 2022

From its inception until today, America has been a racist, sexist, patriarchal, caste-like society as defined by the White “founding fathers” and sustained by subsequent generations of privileged White men. As such, it has been the structural enforcement of systemic discrimination, not “biological destiny” that contributed to no woman having served as President of the United States and only one known Black man to have done so. 

White men do not systematically earn higher salaries than all other men and women because they have an “inherent acumen” for functioning in a capitalistic society. Rather, many White men and their successors benefitted in extraordinary ways from doing things such as [1] stealing the land of Indigenous Americans; [2] profiting for centuries from the free labor of enslaved Africans; [3] suppressing the right to vote among women and people of color; and [4] implementing immigration policies and practices that benefitted particular groups of Europeans.

Periodically, scholars articulate theories that, in an earthquake fashion, severely shake the foundations of the world view on which the American White, male, racist, patriarchal, sexist, and caste-like society is based. When the theories sufficiently rattle these oppressive foundations by exposing the evils from which they were built, then one political response is the “dumbing down” of the theories.

Herein, “dumbing down” refers to the deliberate oversimplification of liberating theories in order to appeal in a simplistic fashion to those of low intelligence and/or education. Dumbing down is also a sloganeering, propaganda-like way to attack the scholars who articulated the theories as well as the content itself in order to defend the White, male, racist, sexist, patriarchal, and cast-like American society. Those proselytized are told that they must act against the evil scholars and their theories in order to achieve glorious goals such as “make America great again;” “restore traditional values;” and “maintain the moral fiber” of America.

We witnessed “dumbing down” decades ago when “Feminist Theory” was articulated. In response to the valid critiques of the various ways in which patriarchy, sexism, and homophobia oppressed women and others, “dumbing down” took place, for example, by labelling “feminists” as [1] “anarchists” who were determined to “destroy family values;” [2] “bra-burning” women who hated men; and [3] radical women who wanted to destroy the “sacred” institution of marriage. “Dumbing down” critics of feminism decried notions such as “women’s and men’s ways of thinking.” And woe unto the “feminists” who declared that not only was a “woman’s place” not limited to a male-dominated home, but a woman’s place was wherever she wanted it to be.

“Dumbing down” of theories that critique the “White male powers that be” is not just a matter of simple ignorance on the parts of the perpetrators. Rather, what is also operative is what Martin Luther King Jr. perhaps had in mind when he stated, “There is nothing more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” as evidenced, for example, by a school board that sought to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) because it would make children feel rejected, sow divisions among the students, and cause some students to believe they were victims of oppression because of their color (See, The Pilot, May 11, 2021). As noted in the article, “Few speakers addressed the tenets of Critical Race Theory directly…”

Worse than sincere ignorance is deliberate lying about CRT for political purposes as was the case when Ted Cruz, a Harvard Law graduate, stated, “Let me tell you right now, critical race theory is bigoted, it is a lie, and it is every bit as racist as the Klansmen in white sheets.” Whereas Cruz has every reason to be aware of CRT’s basic tenets, others in the forefront of “dumbing down” CRT such as POTUS 45, Marjorie Taylor Green, and their propagandized followers have probably never read a paragraph of the voluminous scholarly CRT literature written by distinguished intellectuals such as Derrick Bell, Kimberle Crenshaw, and Richard Delgado. 

Those who have read a minimal amount of CRT literature know that CRT consists of undeniable basic propositions such as [1] racism has been and continues to be a systemic factor that impacts our educational, economic, legal, political and social systems in ways that contribute to race-related disparities in health, wealth and all other critically important indices relating to quality of life; and [2] as advanced by Kimberle Crenshaw, intersectionality is an analytic frame whereby multiple factors such as race, sex, religion, caste, and gender can be used to account for advantages and disadvantages in American society.  

Instead of a “well-informed citizenry,” we find ourselves in the presence of the “dumbing down” CRT with one diabolical outcome being a new “lunatic fringe” that seeks to ban the teaching of CRT from public schools as well as throughout higher education.  Indeed, “Banning CRT” might well become the “MAGA” slogan for forthcoming elections at all levels of American society. Sadly, some of those seeking to ban CRT are as ignorant as those who hated “Obamacare” but, at the same time, signed up for benefits from the Affordable Care Act. Indeed, “dumbing down” CRT can be as negatively impactful as in the case of the deadly consequences stemming from ignoring the science associated with the Coronavirus.

Regardless to whether it is simple or sincere ignorance and/or devious politically-inspired, essentially the “dumbing down” of CRT is a desperate attempt to maintain the caste-like society that was built on the foundations of Indigenous American genocide, the American holocaust of slavery, and ongoing racist, sexist, patriarchal policies and practices. As these horrendous foundational walls are attacked, of course those who benefitted most from the oppressive system are screaming the loudest. However, as in the biblical story “when the priests blew the rams horn, the army shouted, the walls came tumbling down, the people charged straight in, and they took the city,” the articulation of CRT is but the latest intellectually- inspired “blowing of the ram’s horn” that will help Americans tear down the walls of oppression.  Therefore, folks must “stay woke” regarding the “dumbing down” of CRT lest they be duped by “wolves in sheep’s’ clothing” purporting to defend American democratic ideals.

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban View

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

July 21, 2021

“…Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher

…Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration

Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to my nation

… Fear in the air, tension everywhere…”

-The Temptations-

When it comes to police killing Blacks, the realization of justice demands that we not be victims of gaslighting, i.e., “…a form of psychological abuse where a person or group makes someone question their sanity, perception of reality, or memories…” (Jennifer Huizen, July 14, 2020).  For example, gaslighting would have succeeded if police murdered a Black person(s) and, subsequently, Blacks and others accepted the excuse that the police officer(s) were confused when they committed their heinous crimes.  Consider the following “balls of confusion.”  

• In 1999, Bronx resident Amadou Diallo was unarmed but plainclothes police officers were allegedly confused  when they fired 41 bullets into Diallo.  This so-called confusion took place as Diallo, age 22, stood in a well-lighted area.  

• In 2014, a Cleveland police officer, Timothy Loehmann, arrived on the scene and, within minutes, shot and killed 12-year-old Tamir Rice because Loehmann claimed he confused Rice’s toy gun for a real gun.

• In 2018, Dallas police officer Amber Guyger murdered Botham Jean while he was in his apartment eating ice cream, after she supposedly confused his apartment for hers.

• In 2020, Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old woman was guilty of no crime when confused Louisville police officers  Brett Hankison and Jonathan Mattingly and Officers Myles Cosgrove executed a “no knock” warrant at the wrong home; broke down her front door; awakened Ms. Taylor from her sleep; and murdered her with eight shots.  

• In March 2021, a Chicago police officer Eric Stillman was supposed to be confused when he shot and killed 13-year-old Adam Toledo, after Toledo had raised his hands without a gun in his hand.  Gaslighting the public, Stillman was said to be confused as he made a “split-second” decision, notwithstanding the fact that the gun in question was on the ground a few feet from Toledo.

• In April, 2021, Daunte Wright, a 19-year-old, was killed by police officer Kimberly Potter during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.  Officer Potter Wright said she confused her Taser with her Glock.  Coming to her defense, former Brooklyn Center Police Chief, Tim Gannon, attempting to gaslight the public by telling reporters, “This appears to me, from what I viewed in the officer's reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright." 

It would take a tome to tell the extent of allegedly confused cops killing Blacks and, therefore, we can only take momentary solace in the guilty verdict for the vicious cop who murdered George Floyd.  

One convicted cop does not aggrieve centuries of police killing innocent Blacks.  Woke folks must remain in control of their faculties by  remembering “…Black people in America are constantly at risk of state-sponsored violence and death. Police still exist to uphold White supremacy and have been empowered by laws and the courts to inject themselves into Black life for any reason, no matter how minor – even expired registrations. And as long as police continue to act as this occupying force and mechanism for social control in Black communities – horrific acts of police violence will be commonplace…” (Paige Fernandez, Policing Policy Advisor, National Political Advocacy Department, ACLU).  

We must never forget the fact that today’s police abuse of Blacks is rooted in the South where “Slave Patrols” were created to “(1) to chase down, apprehend, and return to their owners, runaway slaves; (2) to provide a form of organized terror to deter slave revolts; and, (3) to maintain a form of discipline for slave-workers who were subject to summary justice, outside of the law, if they violated any plantation rules.  Following the Civil War, these vigilante-style organizations evolved in modern Southern police departments primarily as a means of controlling freed slaves who were now laborers working in an agricultural caste system, and enforcing "Jim Crow" segregation laws, designed to deny freed slaves equal rights and access to the political system…” (Gary Potter, 2013).  

Regarding contemporary Minnesota and alleged police confusion related to deadly choke holds, note that W. Lehren and Andrew Blankstein indicated that as of June 1, 2020, Minnesota police had used “neck restraints” 237 times and that three-fifths of the victims rendered unconscious were Black.  One victim was “…a 17-year-old fleeing from a shoplifting incident. Another involved a traffic stop where the suspect was deemed "verbally non-compliant."  Historically, lest we forget, “neck restraint” is a euphemistic term for the extreme tactic previously known as “lynching.”

No amount of “diversity and inclusion” rhetoric/workshops/sensitivity sessions/virtual meetings, etc. will change the forgoing systemic pathology.   A million public pronouncements full of pathos post the finding of guilt regarding the murder of George Floyd will abate the modern modes of murder of Blacks by police.  What is needed with all deliberate speed is a complete reimagining of what it means to serve as a police officer.  Hopefully, many more convictions of confused cops will serve as a catalyst for this endeavor.  If this does not occur, then the May and June 2021 nightly news will be filled with efforts to gaslight ongoing killings of Blacks and, once again, we are likely to experience a long, hot summer.

“If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursèd lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!”

-Claude McKay-

Jack L. Daniel

Co-founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

April 27, 2021

“I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,

When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore, 

When he beats his bars and he would be free’

It is not a carol of joy or glee,

But a prayer that he sends from his heart’s deep core,

A plea, that upward to Heaven he flings-

I know why the caged bird sings.”

-Paul Laurence Dunbar-

Wearily we watch as “Black babies face double the risk of dying before their first birthday” (see Gaby Galvin, August 1, 2019).  Tragically, Black teens have the highest probability of becoming a homicide victim.  The most gifted Black child’s life can be halted when a wanton bullet finds its deadly mark.  Black men know that jogging while wearing a “hoodie” and a Covid-19 protective mask could contribute to them being murdered.  Like Sandra Bland, days after a traffic stop arrest, a Black woman can be found dead in a cell, or, as with Breonna Taylor, be aroused from sleeping and murdered during a “botched” police raid.

Far too many Black lives are ones in which hopes are routinely dashed; excruciating pain is daily delivered; spirits are constantly broken; and life is like trying to breath inside a stifling vault.  For no other reason than being Black, these harsh things and more are strapped on Blacks’ backs and, in turn, contribute to the rapid rise in mental illness among Blacks (See Cordilia James and Petersen Pedersen in the Wall Street Journal, July, 21, 2020). 

More than a century after Dunbar wrote the above poem, my father-in-law (Nathaniel S. Colley, Sr.) experienced what all highly accomplished Blacks know, i.e., that “doing the right things” does not provide him/them with a pass to escape the deleterious fate of being born Black in America.  He did his undergraduate work at Tuskegee; earned his law degree from Yale; served as an army officer during World War II; was a NAACP Western Region general counsel; and, while assisting President John F. Kennedy, he agreed to take part in an inspection of military troops stationed in Japan.  

While in Japan, a Japanese citizen sought to understand the extent of White American racism by asking, “Mr. Colley, if you go to Mississippi, will they also put dogs on you too?”  My father-in-law said, “Yes, if I go to Mississippi, they’ll put dogs on me too!”  For the rest of his life, Colley Sr. reminded himself and others that neither his Tuskegee and Yale degrees nor his many distinguished trial lawyer accomplishments would prevent “dogs from being put on him too”  ---that Malcolm X spoke truth when he asked and answered, “What do Whites call a Negro with a PhD?  A Nigger!”

Recently, I had a reminder that “dogs could be put on me too.  The rear deck of my home is about 15 feet from the water that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay.  An armed White police officer walked past my home many evenings and spoke to me as I sat on my deck.  His seemingly friendly “hellos” caused me to have a lapse in judgment, but I was reminded of who I was when I went down to the boardwalk to fish.  

As the White officer approached, I said “Hello,” and he said, “Excuse me, do you live here?” I said “Yes” and, pointing to my home, I added, “I speak to you from that deck behind us when you pass by each evening.”  He said, “Oh and, by the way, you have to move your stool off the boardwalk.  There are no chairs allowed on the boardwalk.”  Noticing the gun strapped on the officer’s hip, I knew being a Black man was in play, not “Dr. Jack L. Daniel, the emeritus Vice Provost and Distinguished Service Professor.”  Hence, I said nothing and moved my stool.  

After the officer left, I thought about what could have happened had I gotten angry, jumped up and asked, “How can you ask me if I live here when, after so many evenings, you passed by my home and spoke to me?”  In minutes, the story could have become, “After fearing for his life, officer accidentally shoots angry man who was breaking the law on residential boardwalk,” followed shortly thereafter with “#Jack L. Daniel, say his name.”

If you are Black in America, then you don’t drive your car; walk down the street; barbecue in a public park; enter your own apartment late at night; fall asleep in the reception area of a dorm hall; attempt to cash a check with “Dr.” in front of your name; or engage in any normal activity without the nagging realization that you could become a fatal statistic.  You can’t be stopped at a red light without the possibility of a White male throwing lighter fluid on you and setting you on fire as was done recently to a Black woman in Wisconsin.  Even in death, as was the case for Congressman John Lewis, racist derived inhumanity was put on full display when, in  their “tributes to John Lewis,” Republican Congressman Marco Rubio and Senator Dan Sullivan mistakenly posted pictures of themselves and Elijah Cummings.  

Notwithstanding the woes of being Black in America, we of good faith will continue to do as John Lewis commanded, i.e., “get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and redeem the soul of America.”  We will do so  because we know, as John Legend sang, “One day when the glory comes; It will be ours, it will be ours; One day… When the war is won; When it's all said and done; We'll cry glory, oh glory.”

Jack L. Daniel

Co-Founder, Freed Panther Society

Contributor, Pittsburgh Urban Media

Author, Negotiating a Historically White University While Black

July 29, 2020