The past as prologue in education, politics, and social justice
Ol' Hobbs's Monday Musings
President Humphries mourned in Tallahassee
As Florida A&M University said goodbye to President Emeritus Frederick S. Humphries this past weekend, the post funeral Repasts allowed me to reflect upon the past and pray about the future of this internationally renowned University, HBCU's in general, and Black people across the Diaspora.
As to my reflections, I was on campus the day before the president's wake chatting it up with FAMU Police Chief Terrance Callaway, VP of Technology Rob Seniors, Ronnie Mackey from the Office of Student Activities, and a father that we all met from Maryland who was escorting his daughter to orientation. Now, each of us is a member of Generation X and as we scanned all of the entering freshman walking across the Quad for orientation, we reminisced about our own days in high school and college and most crucially, the impact that our parents generation—the one that grew up during Jim Crow—had upon our lives.
As the talk continued, I found my mind drifting back in time to the spot where we stood—right outside of the old "Orange Room" greasy spoon near the “Nupe stoop,” and how many of the men and women who inspired me as a child literally growing up on the FAMU campus, including President Humphries, are no longer within the realm of the living. Zoning back in, I heard Chief Callaway say "we are the elders, now"—a profound reminder that we must pass on to our youth the same wisdom, confidence, and mores that we learned from our elders.
Two days later, I sat as rapt attention as my old FAMU High schoolmate and Morehouse Brother Laurence Humphries, in a brilliant eulogy of his father (where he uncannily displayed many of the same facial and hand gestures that his father used while speaking), told a worldwide audience about his father's desire to see Florida A&M thrive with programs and offerings that will set the trajectory for knowledge in the sciences and the social sciences for decades to come, inclduing a proposed George Floyd Memorial Institute for Justice!
Indeed, as Leon County School Board Member Darryl Jones reminds in his latest op/ed, the final wishes of President Humphries are our collective charge to keep...
Media coverage of Haiti is devoid of context
The world was shocked last week following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, and as the "why" continues to be sorted out with an investigation that will soon have American law enforcement involvement, one thing that has frustrated me as I have read articles in the mainstream press is how Haiti is consistently portrayed as the "Western Hemisphere's poorest nation" without any context provided as to how such poverty came into existence.
While history books touch upon the fact that Haiti became the first Independent Black Republic after Gen. Touissant L'Overture routed the French on the Island in 1804, most history books conveniently omit the fact that starting in the mid-1820s, that France demanded the payment of billions of francs to prevent a full-scale invasion—a debt that was not settled until 1947. These history books rarely mention white fears in the United States that similar revolts would happen in the South, thus the tacit support of the American government to allow the French to extract such huge sums from Haiti despite the "Monroe Doctrine" that in theory, was a warning to European powers to prevent their meddling in Western Hemisphere affairs. The history books remain relatively silent on the fact that the still relatively young United States considered "annexing" the Island of Hispaniola (which includes Haiti) in the 1860s, or that in 1915, U.S. Marines, under the commands of the virulently racist U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, invaded Haiti and established a puppet government that protected the separate invasion of American businesses seeking to exploit the material and labor wealth of Haiti. An American occupation, I remind, that remained in total control of Haiti until 1934, when President Franklin Roosevelt called the troops home.
Ergo, the Hobbservation Point points out these oft omitted facts so that our readers can know the truth that political and economic instability in Haiti are the byproducts of European and American colonizers who never forgave Touissant and the formerly enslaved Blacks for soundly defeating their white oppressors and in reprisal, replaced one form of oppression with another—economic oppression—from that point forward!
Skyrockets in flight
The kid in me, the one who loved all things Star Wars and sat in wonder each time the Space Shuttle was televised launching from Cape Canaveral in the 1980s, was delighted to see billionaire Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic take off into outer space for a few minutes yesterday afternoon.
Now, I have no intentions of ever purchasing a ticket to ride on Branson's ship (I barely enjoy flying in our own atmosphere), nor will I fly on any of the ships that will enter outer space under the banner of Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin or Elon Musk’s SpaceX. But I do mark yesterday's groundbreaking occasion on this website to signal to my descendants who just may fly (or inhabit) distant planets or celestial bodies someday that their ancestor, just ten months shy of his 50th birthday, was giddy like his 5-year old self while watching and reading coverage of Branson's journey!
What social justice allies sound like
If you have not watched Paige Bueckers play basketball, you should—the young woman has game! Her talents in high school were so prodigious that she drew the attention and fandom of one of the greatest to grace the courts, the late Kobe Bryant!
This past weekend, Bueckers won the ESPN “ESPY” award for “Women's Collegiate Athlete of the Year.” While well deserved, her comments during her acceptance speech showed her respect for her Black teammates and opponents and more crucially, what a white ally looks and sounds like in the struggle for equality.
Said Bueckers, "With the light that I have now as a white woman who leads a Black-led sport and celebrated here...They don’t get the media coverage that they deserve. They’ve given so much to the sport, the community and society as a whole and their value is undeniable...So to Maria Taylor, Robin Roberts, Maya Moore, Odicci Alexander. To all the incredible Black women in my life and on my teams. To Breonna Taylor and all the lives lost, and to those names who are not yet learned, but I hope to share, I stand behind you and I continue to follow you, follow your lead and fight for you guys so I just want to say thank you for everything."
Amen and congrats, young Sister in the Struggle!
Racism in high places
U.S. Army General Troy Middleton will be forever enshrined in the annals of history for his role in the late 1944 "Battle of the Bulge (Bastogne)," the bloody offensive by the German Army that would exact a devastating toll on the Allied Army that while victorious, suffered massive losses during frigid winter conditions in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium.
While some Black soldiers (including gravediggers) were among the "Battered Bastards of Bastogne" and shortly after World War II, were fully integrated into the American military by President Harry Truman's executive order, when Gen. Middleton, a Mississippi native, returned to private life as an educator and eventual President of Louisiana State University, he quickly retreated to his Jim Crow segregation loving ways.
Above is a letter that then LSU President Middleton wrote to Dr. Harry Ransom, the Chancellor of the University of Texas, in 1961, one that highlights how his school was dealing with the push for civil rights and equal educational access for Blacks. Middleton stated that, "Though we did not like it, we accepted Negroes as students. At no time has a Negro occupied a room with a white student. We keep them in a given area and do not permit indiscriminate occupancy...Our Negro students have made no attempt to attend social functions, participate in athletic contests, go in the swimming pool, etc. If they did, we would, for example, discontinue the operation of the swimming pool...Should a Negro request to participate in athletics, I think I could find a good excuse why he would not participate."
In 1961, my father, Charles, was a senior political science major and starting guard for a Florida A&M University football team that won the Black College and Associated Press Small College National Championship, and my mother, Vivian, was a freshman English major at FAMU...a reminder to me that America's segregationist "past" isn't that far past...
Lest we forget!
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Just like palestine, all african countries and actually all peoples and countries the US looks down on, context is not just ignored in the news, but actively left out!