HAPPY BLACK INDEPENDENCE DAY - June 19th (Juneteenth)

Think of Juneteenth as black Independence Day.

On Monday, June 19, 1865, the Union Gen. Gordon Granger stood in Galveston, Texas and informed a group of residents that the world as they'd known it had come to an end: All slaves were now free.

The newly liberated slaves began celebrating immediately. They commemorated that day every year after, giving rise to Juneteenth, a celebration that is now observed throughout the United States.

There are several parallels between the Fourth of July and Juneteenth. Both celebrate American freedom and independence and feature the same kinds of activities: outdoor picnics with games, races, barbecue and red soda pop—a Juneteenth staple. For Juneteenth, there are typically speeches, rodeos, dances, church services and readings from the Emancipation Proclamation.

Juneteenth became such a large and important holiday that in 1872 ex-slaves in Houston purchased land for parks devoted to hosting the celebrations. As Texans migrated, they took their Juneteenth traditions with them to Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and California.

But it wasn't until 1980 that June 19 became Emancipation Day in Texas, a paid state holiday. In 1997, Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and former Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., sponsored a resolution honoring Juneteenth. Today, 17 states have formal observations of the date. Sen. Barack Obama and Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill., have both supported calls to make Juneteenth a national holiday.

Ironically, many slaves earned their freedom long before June 19, 1865. In the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary emancipation order on Sept. 22, 1862 that would free slaves in the rebel Confederate states if those states did not return to the Union by Jan. 1, 1863.

The final Emancipation Proclamation was issued on Jan. 1, 1863.Slaves living in Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, West Virginia and Missouri remained in bondage, as did slaves who lived in Union-controlled territory until the passage of the 13th amendment to the Constitution.

With each Union victory, however, the news of earlier emancipation traveled across the South, and eventually all the slaves were freed—launching celebrations across the calendar.

Celebrations of black independence caught on across the country, including Oregon,which was a free state, and in Gallia County, Ohio, where the day has been observed since Sept. 22, 1863, a year after Lincoln's first emancipation order.

Genealogist Joyce Reese McCollum recalled the stories she heard from her father about the May 8 celebrations in Lamar County, Ala. Her father recalled "a big barbecue, games for the kids, people coming in and giving speeches," said McCollum, who is the co-director of the Africana Heritage Project, an all-volunteer research project and Web site hosted by the Africana studies department at the University of South Florida. "Of course, they'd have little school kids giving speeches and talking about Frederick Douglass.

"Clifford Robinson created the Web site Juneteenth. com to serve as a clearinghouse for Juneteenth events. "We've taken it as a celebration to honor and acknowledge our accomplishments and achievement, over the past 142 years," he said. "Certainly it sprang from the emancipation celebration, but the celebration itself has taken on a much broader meaning."

To read more about Juneteenth: Juneteenth, Texas State Library and Archives Commission Juneteenth. com , a Web site that promotes the holiday and serves as a clearinghouse for Juneteenth events.

Africana Heritage Project

"The African American Experience in Ohio: 1850 -1920," The Oregon History Project,

"Grand Emancipation Celebration"

Q&A: Word Picnic = Pick-a-nig / Pick-a-nigger?

Q: Is it true that the word picnic originally came from the word pick-a-nig or pick-a-nigger? Apparently, a black person was randomly "picked" and hanged for the entertainment of whites. The whites, including families, ate from box lunches while enjoying the barbaric act. If this is true we should stop using the word picnic, replacing it with outing or gathering.

A: Your question has several components; we will address each component. The etymology of the word picnic does not suggest racist or racial overtones. Picnic was originally a 17th Century French word, picque-nique. Its meaning was similar to today's meaning: a social gathering where each attendee brings a share of the food. The French piquer may have referred to a leisurely style of eating ("pick at your food") or it may, simply, have meant, "pick" (pic). The nique was probably a silly rhyming compound (as in English words like hoity-toity), but may have referred to an obsolete word meaning "a trifle." The literal meaning of picque-nique, which became our picnic, is "each pick a bit." A 1692 edition of Origines de la Langue Francoise de Menage mentions pique-nique. This suggests that the word had been used for some time in France. The term picnic does not appear in the English language until around 1800.

It is clear that picnic was not derived from "pick-a-nigger," "pick-a-nig," or similar racist phrases. However, some of the almost 4,000 blacks who were lynched between 1882 and 1962 were lynched in settings that are appropriately described as picnic-like. Phillip Dray, a historian, stated: "Lynching was an undeniable part of daily life, as distinctly American as baseball games and church suppers. Men brought their wives and children to the events, posed for commemorative photographs, and purchased souvenirs of the occasion as if they had been at a company picnic." 2 Bray did not exaggerate. At the end of the 19th century, Henry Smith, a mentally challenged 17-year-old black male, was accused of killing a white girl. Before a cheering crowd of hundreds, Smith was made to sit on a "parade float" drawn by four white horses. The float circled numerous times before the excited crowd tortured, then burned Smith alive. 3 After the lynching the crowd celebrated and collected body parts as souvenirs.

Often the lynch mob acted with haste, but on other occasions the lynching was a long-drawn out affair with speeches, food-eating, and, unfortunately, ritualistic and sadistic torture: victims were dragged behind cars, pierced with knives, burned with hot irons or blowtorches, had their fingers and toes cut off, had their eyes cut out, and were castrated -- all before being hanged or burned to death. One Mississippi newspaper referred to these gruesome acts as "Negro barbeques."

In many cases -- arguably in most cases -- lynch mobs had a particular target and confined their heinous aggression to a specific person. Blacks were lynched for a variety of accusations, ranging from murder, and rape (often not true), to trying to vote, and arguing with a white man. In 1938, a white man in Oxford, Mississippi declared that it was "about time to have another lynching. When the niggers get so they are not afraid of being lynched, it is time to put the fear in them." 5 There were many blacks lynched randomly, to send a message of white supremacy to black communities. As noted by Dominic J. Capeci, a historian, when it came to lynching, "one black man served as well as another."

We often think of a mob as an insane, bloodthirsty collection of adult male ruffians. However, respectable community leaders, including police, often lynched blacks. Although women and children were not typically the active aggressors they were often in the audience; and, they, too, celebrated. There were "secret lynches," but there were many done publicly -- and planned. Of course, news of an impending lynching traveled fast. Lynching was a brutal attempt to reinforce white supremacy, but it was also entertainment -- and food was present. According to Dray:

"While attendees at lynchings did not take away a plate of food, the experience of having witnessed the event was thought incomplete if one did not go home with some piece of cooked human being; and there is much anecdotal evidence of lynch crowds either consuming food and drink while taking part in the execution, or retiring en masse immediately afterward for a meal or, in the case of a notorious immolation in Pennsylvania in 1911, ice cream sundaes."

In 1903 a black man was lynched in Greenville, Mississippi. A white writer said, "Everything was very orderly, there was not a shot, but much laughing and hilarious excitement…It was quite a gala occasion, and as soon as the corpse was cut down all the crowd betook themselves to the park to see a game of baseball."

The claim that the word picnic derived from lynching parties has existed in Black American communities for many years. Although many contemporary etymologists smugly dismiss this claim, it should be noted that there is a kernel of truth in this month's question. The word picnic did not begin with the lynching of black Americans; however, the lynching of blacks often occurred in picnic-like settings.

Dr. David PilgrimCurator, Jim Crow MuseumJanuary 2004

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/question/jan04.htm

SAMMY DEVIL JR. - The Candy Man Was A Satanist

SAMMY DEVIL JR. - The Candy Man Was a Satanist

(This article is so strange...I had to repost it - MBA)

Temple of Set founder Michael Aquino and the Church of Satan's founder and high priest, Anton Lavey, in San Carlos, California, after he had become a Warlock IIº in the church. Photo courtesy of Dr. Michael A. Aquino. Says Aquino: "I remember Sammy as a very gentle and good-hearted man who was habitually curious and adventurous - which explains much of his career as well as his somewhat daring (for a professional performer) dalliance with Satanism. He stood up for his own integrity and stood by his friends throughout his life."

by Jake Austen

http://www.viceland.com/int/v15n5/htdocs/sammy-devil-jr.php

If nobody else is willing to say this out loud, I’ll step up to the plate. Barack Obama is totally ripping off Sammy Davis Jr. I’m willing to overlook their general similarities (cross-racial appeal, Amazon brides, chain smoking), but the senator’s appropriation of Sammy’s mantra is what really gets my goat. What’s worse, this alleged master orator is actually guilty of motto misquoting.

Quite frankly, Obama’s “Yes, We Can” is a hackish catchphrase that invokes the empty sloganeering of the old politics he decries, and its bland meaninglessness makes a glut of unwatchable celebrity YouTube videos inevitable. But Sammy’s sublime ‘Yes, I Can” is a pledge that genuinely means something. “I Can” represents Davis’ refusal to recognize barriers, be they Jim Crow policies, societal norms, or sodomy laws. And “Yes” is basically what Sammy would say if anyone offered him anything.

All that Mr. Entertainment needed to partake in a new vice was an invitation. From clichéd descents into drug addiction to rebellious embraces of Republican politicians, he took everything to an obsessive extreme. Sure, everyone wacks off to porn, but after the nanosecond-long “porno-chic” trend of the 1970s (when Deep Throat had celebrities lined up to appreciate Linda Lovelace’s big-screen talents and it was cool for couples to go to porn theaters on dates), Sammy spent years in shame-free indulgence, screening 35 mm porn prints at parties, visiting adult-movie sets where he treated the actresses like Hollywood royalty, and, according to her biography, taking fellatio lessons from Ms. Lovelace herself. As Sammy explained in his 1989 memoir, Why Me?, “I wanted to have every human experience.

”There’s no better example of this than Sammy’s dabblings in Satanism. Christian by birth, Jewish by choice, Sammy started his personal relationship with Satan during a 1968 visit to the Factory, a nightclub he partially owned. He was invited to a party by a group of young actors sporting red fingernails, signifying their allegiance to the Church of Satan. Founded in 1966 by Anton LaVey, a horror fan with a background in carnival work, ghostbusting, and nightclub organ, the San Francisco-based ministry combined LaVey’s interests in ancient paganism, a media-savvy flair for publicity, and a philosophy of indulgence over abstinence.

When Sammy arrived at the party (whose theme he summarized as “dungeons and dragons and debauchery”), all attendees were wearing hoods or masks. The centerpiece of the “coven” was a naked woman chained spread-eagle on a red-velvet-covered alter. Davis was confident though that human sacrifice was not on the menu that evening. “That chick was happy,” he wrote, “and wasn’t really going to get anything sharper than a dildo stuck in her.”

Not all the Satanists at that orgy would be so lucky. As Sammy was getting stoned and serviced, one of the ritual’s leaders tilted back his hood, revealing himself as Jay Sebring, the singer’s barber. Hollywood’s all-time greatest hetero hairdresser, Sebring was responsible for the shaggy style sported by Jim Morrison, helped get Bruce Lee on TV, and was engaged to actress Sharon Tate. During the Manson Family’s infamous 1969 massacre, Sebring would be bound to Tate, shot, then stabbed seven times. His bio on the website for Sebring International (his still-active haircare company) fails to mention his Satanism, though until recently the company’s logo was an ankh, a symbol frequently used by occultists.

Sammy continued to attend Satanic orgies and eventually joined the Church of Satan, though the chronology of his association presented in Why Me? deviates from the one offered by estranged LaVey associate Michael Aquino in his 1983 history of the church. Aquino’s account is supported by numerous Satanic interoffice memos, though it should be noted that the one time fourth-degree Satanic priest was known for creating documents he claimed to have transcribed from conversations with high-profile supernatural demons (his 1970 Diabolicon quotes Satan, Asmodeus, and Leviathan).

In 1972, after several years of partying with hooded hedonists, Sammy decided to put all his eggs in Beelzebub’s basket by reinventing himself as the star of the first satanic sitcom. Though far worse ideas have made it onto network schedules, it is fair to say that the feature-length NBC pilot for Poor Devil (aired Valentine’s Day 1973) is genuinely fucked. Inverting the story of Clarence the angel from It’s A Wonderful Life, it features Davis as a bumbling coal-shoveling demon who is offered a chance to move up in hell (and to finally fuck Satan’s fine black secretary) if he can successfully procure the soul of a San Francisco accountant played by Jack Klugman. After 73 minutes of Sammy’s bumbling attempts to fulfill Klugman’s bitter revenge fantasies, the one-eyed devil with a heart of gold takes pity and lets his client out of his contract, returning to his sulfuric furnace with a comedic shrug.

Even without the satanic overtones, this is a profoundly disturbing film, with Sammy employing that creepy “innocent” voice he utilizes in the talk-sing opening of “Candy Man,” and the soulless sitcom non-funniness rendered even more sinister by the lack of a laugh track. But what makes this show stand out is the “realism” of hell. There have been plenty of comical pop-culture devils (Hot Stuff, the comic-book devil of mudflap and tattoo fame, Bedazzled), but never with this detail. Not only is Lucifer played by the genuinely evil Christopher Lee (who opted not to notch down the Hammer horror vibe), but his imposing office features a gigantic inverse pentagram behind his desk, framed by walls of lurid, glittering flames. Each devil wears a pentagram pendant, and Lee casually gestures to his minions using a devil horn salute. And just in case there was any ambiguity that this show was turning a sympathetic horn to Satanism, at one point Klugman, in search of Sammy, lunges for the phone book declaring, “I’ll call the Church of Satan downtown, they’ll know how to contact him.”

Upon seeing Poor Devil, an excited Aquino drafted a letter to LaVey, calling the show a “magnificent commercial for the church.” It was decided to offer Davis an honorary second-degree Church of Satan membership. LaVey’s sorceress wife, Dianne, pondered, “Wonder what Mr. Davis would think about being a black, Jewish, Satanic Warlock?”

He apparently thought pretty well of it. Davis extended an invitation to a Bay Area concert, where he gleefully accepted a membership certificate, card, and a IIÞ Baphomet medallion, which he wore during his performance. After the show, Davis invited Aquino and LaVey’s daughter Karla to dinner, where he discussed his interest in the occult, and assured them that the Poor Devil shout-out was no coincidence. Soon after, LaVey himself struck up a friendship with Davis, who began appearing in public with a painted fingernail. When Sammy was in the Bay he would reserve front-row seats for LaVey’s entourage and flashed them the Sign of the Horns during the show. In private conversations, Davis revealed a deep, passionate interest in the Satanic philosophies and LaVey reportedly considered making him a senior official of the Church.

But it was not to be. The first blow to the ascension of Satanic Sammy was Poor Devil not being picked up as a series because, in addition to sucking, the pilot reportedly received a good deal of protest from religious groups. One can only wonder what the series would have been like. Would Klugman continuously vacillate between heaven and hell, ultimately accepting Sammy as his satanic slave every week? Or would it be a series of celebrity soul-sellers, a Love Boat on the River Styx?

The world will never know, nor shall this mortal realm know what a Sammy-led Church of Satan might have wrought. Early on, LaVey decided to keep Davis’s entourage at arm’s length, branding Samala’s PR chief David Steinberg “a professional Jew” bent on separating Sammy from the Dark One. And by 1974, probably without Steinberg’s influence, Davis decided to move on. In Why Me? he offers that “one morning after a ‘coven’ that wasn’t all fun and games… I got some nail polish remover and I took off the red fingernail.”

In a New York Post advance excerpt from his 1980 memoir Hollywood in a Suitcase (subsequently edited out of the final edition) Sammy placed his devilish experiences in the context of his “Yes, I Can” philosophy. “It was a short lived interest, but I still have many friends in the Church of Satan… I say this to only show that however bizarre the subject I don’t pass judgment until I have found out everything I can about it. People who can put up an interesting case will often find that I’m a willing convert.”

And he often was. And until a certain politician gets the pronouns in his buzz phrase right, I’m voting for Sammy.

Special MLK Tribute by BEMultiMedia

Special MLK Tribute by BEMultiMedia

Barack Obama Leaves Trinity, Michael Pfleger: Dr Boyce Speak

Barack Obama Leaves Trinity, Michael Pfleger: Dr Boyce Speak