Just Another Day in Paradise

From Freedom Rides to Flash Mobs: The Legacy of the Civil Rights Movement

It's been a long couple of weeks here at Stuff Black People Don't Like as we count down to Amazon.com finally listing Hollywood in Blackface in paperback form on its site. It is already available in Kindle form, the future of books.

We'll be back tomorrow in full force, but we just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Mother's Day: call your mom if you haven't already.

A couple of quick thoughts:

Sacramento is screwed. The first time a Black person gets electrocuted attempting to steal copper wires from the City's street lights, they will sue the city for millions. They'll become a hero to millions of downtrodden people everywhere, like the Freedom Riders glorified in this Washington Post article that graced the above-the-fold front page of the Sunday edition. That article laments the fact that many school districts in the nation are just as segregated now as they were when the misnamed Freedom Riders rode into the South for justice; the article does this, however, without mentioning the disproportionate number of disruptions caused by Black students that lead to disciplinary actions and immediate white flight from the area.

Once a school district goes 20 percent Black, "for-sale" signs will litter once desirable properties.

Having grown up in the era of Black-Run America (BRA), we here at SBPDL have no memories of Jim Crow save for the persistent reliance on black-and-white images from that racist epoch, photos affixed to some article designed to drum up sympathy for every new measure enacted that places Black interests above all others.

We live in a country where Black people are always able to ask "And Then?" when it comes to what concession will next be made, since every problem Black people claim to face has it origins in white racism.The continued deification of those who participated in the Civil Rights movement grows increasingly frantic with each passing year, and the article in the Post was no exception:

The Freedom Riders have gone on to become social workers, software developers, teachers, preachers and shopkeepers. Two of them serve in Congress, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Rep. Bob Filner (D-Calif.).

One of the youngest of the riders, Hezekiah Watkins, is now 63 years old and lives across town from Lovelady in Jackson. He has found himself thinking the same thing when he looks at his 21-year-old daughter, Kristie. In recent weeks, as he has given interviews and speeches about his experience during the rides, he has juxtaposed his teenage years with hers.

“A lot of times, she feels as though somebody owes her. I’m always asking, ‘What are you owed and by whom?’ ” Watkins said. “I talked to all of my kids about the ’60s and what we went through. They’ll just look at me like, ‘It’s not relevant.’ My thing has always been this: You’re standing on a banana peel, and any given day you could slip.”

 From the Freedom Rides to Flash Mobs. Black-Run America is about to slip on that banana peel.

With that, we invite all readers to contribute the craziest story from their hometown or from other parts of the country that transpired this week (and weekend). Could it be looting in Memphis from the horrible floods that ravage the city like a rampaging rebel army? Post the link in the comments section; anything goes.

Do you like Phil Collins?