With such an intriguing title, I figured this would be well worth the time. Fascinating and unbelievable at the same time.
Two thoughts. One serious: I wonder how much Truman's integration of the military helped bring the walls down. My dad was stationed in Germany in the early fifties and I have his color slides of an Easter egg hunt one year. Some of the black NCO's in the neighborhood had wives who I believe were Filipino, at any rate not black. I doubt they'd have been happy with Virginia law when they went home.
Second, unserious: you're probably aware of it, but Dennis Hopper had quite a soliloquy about Sicilian racial heritage in the movie "True Romance."
Great question. As I've written before, one of the reasons my father was never sent overseas during WWII was that he had such good rapport with the African American troops at Camp Lee, VA. He was an instructor of military law and quartermaster-related stuff, and it wasn't easy to find someone whom the black troops liked and trusted. 10 or 15 years ago, two women, wives of African American generals at Fort Lee, wrote a little book about what it was like to be an African American soldier in Petersburg mid-century. My mother was extremely proud that the authors cited the store that she and Dad owned was one of the rare places in town where everyone was treated the same.
And I don't remember having seen "True Romance," but I'll look into it.
Anyone with a lick of sense could read this and wonder what "Progressives" (not just them, of course, but especially them) are 100% convinced of that is simply not true? We really do learn nothing from history, do we?
Any time I see either entomology or etymology in a headline or subject line I feel compelled to read the article to just see if the correct almost-homophone was used.
Nice read. I'm glad I don't have to pay extra for the art work and music. I am new here. Is each article a triple play....great story, great art work and great music? Can you get photos of the wayward cokehead's art work so we can compare? Just to see how much the Grayboes should be making.
I actually felt some of that same pride from my colored brothers from childhood. They all moved north about the time I went to off college. We'd see each other from time to time when they came back for funerals and such. One of them became the pastor of a mega church in the Indianapolis area. He told my brother how much he appreciated the old photos of us riding horses. [My Dad foolishly tried cattle ranching for a few years, so we had horses.]
Curtis said it meant a lot to spend a fair amount of time riding horses. At the time we were just kids living in the country with no idea the outside world didn't operate like that. Your parents understood how the outside world operated, so I get a bit emotional over someone finding a place of refuge from it.
PS I never cared for Paganini, but I'm going to give him a try on your youtube channel. You seem to play a host of instruments well. Had I played and composed as well, I should have done well.....maybe without enduring such a long stretch of peanut butter or tomato sandwiches.
PPS An important note. I have only subscribed to a few substackers, but you are the only one who told me "thanks". The love of my life would beam if she still existed.
Excellent piece. I am continually reminded by articles like this to be wary of attempts to engineer, organize, and order societies of humans. Those in power always clothe themselves in moral justifications, but, as my roommate, who realized he was a master at self deception, used to say, "Rationalize equals rational lies. "
Speaking of Pocahantas, here we are in 2023 using DNA to determine racial classification to virtue signal, play the victim role, etc. Exhibit A: Senator Elizabeth Warren.
And how long till someone says benefits should accrue to someone who shows up that way on a DNA test? Interesting thing is that the blood quantum test was a white man's invention--with the specific white man being Chief Justice John Marshall. Before a key ruling, Indians viewed membership in the tribe to be akin to America's view of citizenship. Someone with zero Indian ancestry could become a member of a tribe. The Supreme Court made it about blood quantum, to the dismay of many tribes. Interesting paradox with some of the reparations proposals. One iteration of California's plan held that to be eligible, you had to show that you were descended from a slave in the United States (and not, for example, in the Caribbean). Barack Obama would not be eligible for reparations through his father's line, because the father was African. However, he and all of his white relatives would be eligible for reparations because his white mother had an ancestor in the 17th century who was the subject of a landmark legal case in Colonial Virginia. His 11xgreat-grandfather, John Punch, was an indentured servant who was enslaved for life in 1640 after trying to escape. By some metric, he is regarded as the first person explicitly held in lifelong slavery in America. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ancestry-website-obamas-mother-descended-first-us-slave-flna916516
With such an intriguing title, I figured this would be well worth the time. Fascinating and unbelievable at the same time.
Two thoughts. One serious: I wonder how much Truman's integration of the military helped bring the walls down. My dad was stationed in Germany in the early fifties and I have his color slides of an Easter egg hunt one year. Some of the black NCO's in the neighborhood had wives who I believe were Filipino, at any rate not black. I doubt they'd have been happy with Virginia law when they went home.
Second, unserious: you're probably aware of it, but Dennis Hopper had quite a soliloquy about Sicilian racial heritage in the movie "True Romance."
Glad the article lived up to the title. :)
Great question. As I've written before, one of the reasons my father was never sent overseas during WWII was that he had such good rapport with the African American troops at Camp Lee, VA. He was an instructor of military law and quartermaster-related stuff, and it wasn't easy to find someone whom the black troops liked and trusted. 10 or 15 years ago, two women, wives of African American generals at Fort Lee, wrote a little book about what it was like to be an African American soldier in Petersburg mid-century. My mother was extremely proud that the authors cited the store that she and Dad owned was one of the rare places in town where everyone was treated the same.
And I don't remember having seen "True Romance," but I'll look into it.
Anyone with a lick of sense could read this and wonder what "Progressives" (not just them, of course, but especially them) are 100% convinced of that is simply not true? We really do learn nothing from history, do we?
Any time I see either entomology or etymology in a headline or subject line I feel compelled to read the article to just see if the correct almost-homophone was used.
Hope I got it right. :)
Nice read. I'm glad I don't have to pay extra for the art work and music. I am new here. Is each article a triple play....great story, great art work and great music? Can you get photos of the wayward cokehead's art work so we can compare? Just to see how much the Grayboes should be making.
I actually felt some of that same pride from my colored brothers from childhood. They all moved north about the time I went to off college. We'd see each other from time to time when they came back for funerals and such. One of them became the pastor of a mega church in the Indianapolis area. He told my brother how much he appreciated the old photos of us riding horses. [My Dad foolishly tried cattle ranching for a few years, so we had horses.]
Curtis said it meant a lot to spend a fair amount of time riding horses. At the time we were just kids living in the country with no idea the outside world didn't operate like that. Your parents understood how the outside world operated, so I get a bit emotional over someone finding a place of refuge from it.
PS I never cared for Paganini, but I'm going to give him a try on your youtube channel. You seem to play a host of instruments well. Had I played and composed as well, I should have done well.....maybe without enduring such a long stretch of peanut butter or tomato sandwiches.
PPS An important note. I have only subscribed to a few substackers, but you are the only one who told me "thanks". The love of my life would beam if she still existed.
Thanks! I do try to offer some art and music with each post. As for sending a special thanks to paid subscribers--my mamma taught me right. :)
This article is sobering. In light of world events, what we need is less discrimination rather than more.
Indeed!
Excellent piece. I am continually reminded by articles like this to be wary of attempts to engineer, organize, and order societies of humans. Those in power always clothe themselves in moral justifications, but, as my roommate, who realized he was a master at self deception, used to say, "Rationalize equals rational lies. "
Oh, Lord, I love that piece of wordplay. Thanks.
Speaking of Pocahantas, here we are in 2023 using DNA to determine racial classification to virtue signal, play the victim role, etc. Exhibit A: Senator Elizabeth Warren.
And how long till someone says benefits should accrue to someone who shows up that way on a DNA test? Interesting thing is that the blood quantum test was a white man's invention--with the specific white man being Chief Justice John Marshall. Before a key ruling, Indians viewed membership in the tribe to be akin to America's view of citizenship. Someone with zero Indian ancestry could become a member of a tribe. The Supreme Court made it about blood quantum, to the dismay of many tribes. Interesting paradox with some of the reparations proposals. One iteration of California's plan held that to be eligible, you had to show that you were descended from a slave in the United States (and not, for example, in the Caribbean). Barack Obama would not be eligible for reparations through his father's line, because the father was African. However, he and all of his white relatives would be eligible for reparations because his white mother had an ancestor in the 17th century who was the subject of a landmark legal case in Colonial Virginia. His 11xgreat-grandfather, John Punch, was an indentured servant who was enslaved for life in 1640 after trying to escape. By some metric, he is regarded as the first person explicitly held in lifelong slavery in America. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ancestry-website-obamas-mother-descended-first-us-slave-flna916516