Having worked as a children's librarian for nearly a decade... and interacting with black children, families and schoolteachers (and their white counterparts) there is something I noticed. Though elementary school may not have "Critical Race Theory" being promoted in their hallways, there is an obsession with other racial matters, specifically- the slavery era.
Though there are plenty of books about famous black inventors, athletes, military leaders and blacks in different historical eras... such as the 1920s (Harlem Renaissance), 1800s Buffalo Soldiers, 1700s-1800s Free People of Color, WWII overseas and home-front blacks... plus, modern setting books with blacks; these are not books that are sought.
Books about slavery seem to be the only thing on their reading lists.
If not about slavery... then books about discrimination were always requested. This is the only perspective so many youngsters are getting.
When the School Library Journal came out with a list of "diverse" children's books... there are titles about slave ships, Jim Crow Mississippi and the like. Everything about school and the library books is focused on American slavery; and the white-black dynamic of it.
Oh, and this same list has a children's book about a little black Muslim girl who lives in Mauritania, Africa... and who wants to wear a head-to-toe covering like the other "grown up Muslim women."
My jaw dropped when I saw that. Especially, reviews about the book says it is a "positive portrayal" of Islamic culture. Seriously?
In the 21st Century... Mauritania still has black slavery- as in black people being bought, sold and owned by black Muslim and Arab Muslim people. Countless women instead of wanting to be covered, wish to live their lives NOT as 3rd class citizens and be free of body coverings. Many more want a stop to female genital mutilation and would like to have educations. This is Mauritania TODAY.
This book is promoted as being "diverse" and be all touchy feely about wonderful Muslim Africa and Islam. Islam for the past 1400 years has had continual slavery- mostly targeting black people.
This is promoted as being "diverse", though not a very honest look at Muslim Africa and little girls who live there. YET, plenty of books about American slavery... which ended of course in the 1860s.
There was listed a book about black girls in Sudan... but I don't know if it mentions slavery or the fact of Islamic involvement. Slavery still exists... and is not discussed in a book about happy Muslim girls who desire to be covered head to toe in a nation where slavery is rampant.
In a place where slavery ended generations ago, America... and the main group that was enslaved has made tremendous strides in all aspects of society... well, that slavery is a "constant image" while the positive strides are many times ignored... in children's books, lesson plans and more.
No wonder those black kids are "worried" about slavery- parents, teachers, institutions are all re-enforcing the slavery era to these children. While places like Muslim controlled Mauritania are Islamic paradises for black females.
Black History Month
The lessons of resentment and hostility.
Every February, America celebrates how racist white people commit relentless acts of racism against helpless black people. All during Black History Month.
But even during this holiest of racial times, black mob violence continues. Maybe even because of the month.
Let’s take a tour of Black History Month 2014. Starting in Baton Rouge: Another old white dude is murdered. His name is John Bannon. The 53-year sports fan moved to Baton Rouge from his native Indiana so he could be close to his beloved LSU Tigers football team. [322]
And his Harley too: He kept it in his living room because he did not have a garage. Can’t do much Harley-riding in Indiana in the winter.
It was 9:30 on a Friday night in early February. Bannon was a few blocks from his home when witnesses say he encountered the 19-year old Windall Lavel Herring and a 15-year old accomplice. They punched him in the face. His head hit the ground. He lingered for a few weeks, then died.
The Advocate in Baton Rouge says the two teens attacked Bannon in an attempted robbery, or to see who could hit harder or possibly for another reason, police spokesman Cpl. L’Jean McKneely said.
Whatever. At this point what difference does it make?
Like lots of other victims of black on white crime, Bannon had a family. And yes, they are trying to figure out why their grandfather, father, brother, uncle and friend is dead. Like most victims of black on white crime, they have no idea that black on white murder happens 50 times more often than white on black.
If all they knew about interracial violence was what they read in their local media, they might “know” the opposite. That the Knockout Game is a “myth.” That somehow, Trayvon Martin proved it was “open season on black people.”
And “Trayvon will certainly live on in the hearts and minds of the thousands of Americans who were touched by his death.” So sayeth Grio.[323]
By February 2014, Jordan Davis had replaced, however briefly, Trayvon Martin as the national poster boy for white on black violence. And Michael Dunn was its chief villain. Dunn was convicted of killing Davis for playing his music too loudly.
Check out this headline from Salon during Black History Month. “Michael Dunn and open season on black teenagers: The onslaught of white murder.” [324]
Meanwhile, Black Central was raging that the conviction of Dunn on lesser charges of manslaughter was just another reason for black Americans to take to the streets. No Justice No Peace, cried the magazine.[325]
And The Daily Beast declared the verdict just another example of “America’s Racist Heritage.” [326]
Want some more reaction from Black media: There’s tons of it:
Let’s hear The Root: “The Jordan Davis case led some parents to give their kids “the talk.” But doing so absolves white people of their responsibility to unlearn stereotypes that scare them.” [327]
The Detroit Free Press declared “white fear trumps black life.”[328]
Time Magazine offered a primer on “How not to lose another Jordan Davis.”[329]
Jet asked: Is your child next? [330]
The Nation offered: “Jordan Davis wasn’t the last, and the system that produced their murders will outlast our anger. In response to their deaths, we survivors of racism and white supremacy produce elegant eulogies and fiery protests. We scream “Murder! Lynching!” We desperately reaffirm for ourselves and our children the value of black life in a country that declares us worthless.”[331]
This was all just six months after Oprah told the BBC about “terrorism against black people en masse,” in America. And “how the problem would not be solved until older Americans with more racist tendencies die off.”
All during Black History Month.
Back to Dunn: The conviction of Dunn and the tsunami of this apparently ever present phenomena of white on black violence was a hot topic at thousands of black history forums at schools and libraries and television shows across the country that month.
The spreading epidemic of black mob violence against white people was not.
Back to the tour. Back to the reality of how black on white violence is astronomically, exponentially (help me out here with some more words) out of proportion:
A few days before the attack on Bannon, a group of black people beat, stabbed and robbed an 86-year old veteran at home in Chickasaw, Alabama. Like Bannon, he lingered for a few days, then died. Three black people with long criminal histories have been charged in connection with the attack. [332]
In Stamford, Conn., a black mob attacked a school administrator in the middle of the day on a busy street and left him with a broken neck and other injuries. [333]
In Detroit, a father and son and one other person were tortured, killed and robbed. Then set on fire. Four black people have been arrested.[334]
In Philadelphia, police released a video of five black people who stabbed and robbed a convenience store owner. He lived. This is just one of se
veral robberies of convenience stores caught on video in the Philadelphia area in the same week. [335]
In Minneapolis, 69-year-old Thomas Sonnenberg thought he was helping a black man and his girlfriend escape from people who were trying to hurt him. They shot him in the head instead. He died.[336]
In New Orleans, a group of black people ambushed a bike rider and hit him in the face with an aluminum bat. They fractured his skull. Police say there were four similar incidents in that neighborhood, that night. The first victim suffered a shattered jaw and missing teeth. They lived. [337]
In St. Petersburg, three bicyclists were attacked over a one-week period on a popular bike trail. They lived. All the suspects are black. [338]
In a suburb of Indianapolis, police are looking for “four black males who got out of a white SUV and started knocking on windows and doors, trying to get inside” a car belonging to 19-year-old Kyle Jobin. He was at a gas station. They shot him dead. [339]
In St. Cloud, Minnesota, Jesse Smithers received a ten-year sentence after pleading guilty in the killing of Colton Gleason. Smithers was part of a group of six black people who stopped a car, got out and attacked Gleason. Smithers will be eligible for release in five years. Lots of Gleason’s friends still cannot get over it and they remember him on a Facebook page.[340]
Friends and family of the killer sneered and mocked the dead man’s family in and out of court. All during Black History Month.
In Troy, New York, more than a hundred black people did not like it when the bouncers at a club suggested they might be happier smoking copious amounts of marijuana elsewhere. So the black people attacked them. So much for the whole docile marijuana user thing.
A series of 911 calls shows the fights at the club getting bigger, more frequent and more violent. Then it moved outside, where the black people attacked police. Six cops would end up in the hospital. And black ministers, during black history month, cried racism.
Then came a first, probably in the history of the world: A reporter for an NPR affiliate uttered the following phrase: “But could certain individuals be looking to find racism where there is none?” [341]
We’ll hear more about that case.
In Rochester, more than 100 black students were fighting, screaming, rioting, attacking police, and creating mayhem. It was not -- repeat, not -- part of the black history month festivities, they claim.
Inserting a “they claim” disclaimer is a reporter’s way of calling bullshit.
All this black mob violence happened at a school named for Frederick Douglass, the former slave who risked his freedom and his life to learn how to read. [342]
And of course a plethora of Knockout Games: In Johnson City, Tennessee, a mob of black people punched Matthew Brookshire and left him unconscious in the street.[343]
In Cambridge, Massachusetts, a couple of the local hipsters were victims of a Knockout Game attack. On video.[344]
In Brooklyn, the site of widespread attention for the dozens of examples of black mob violence directed against Orthodox Jews, the February case of the Knockout Game received scant notice outside of the Jewish press. But the Israel National News covered it: [345]
“A young yeshiva student was attacked as he was on his way home. He was attacked just a few feet from the entrance to his home. He struck the Jewish man several times on his head, without saying a word, the student said later. Eventually the student lost consciousness and fell down on the sidewalk. He regained consciousness to find himself lying face down on the cold sidewalk. Amazingly, his attacker was still there.”
In Johnson City, Tennessee, witnesses say a group of black people attacked Matthew Brookshire and left him unconscious and bleeding. He lived, but he is in critical condition. [346]
For those worried about all this violence violating the sanctity of Black History Month, worry not: USA Today has your back. Melanie Eversley, a long-time honcho at the National Association of Black Journalists who now labors for USA Today, says the “knockout game is a myth.” [347]
Just like Santa Clause. Or expecting black reporters to cover black racial violence.
In Albany, New York, five black people taunted the security guard at the library, finally attacking him. No one was arrested. But they were asked to leave the library.[348]
Hmmm, maybe the trolls have a point: Maybe this is just good old fashioned hate the white guy violence. Message to the trolls: That is what the Knockout Game is.
In Salisbury, Maryland, four black people who were part of large-scale black mob violence at the beach were found guilty of assault. One was pregnant at the time of the crime. [349]
In Norfolk, Virginia, some were surprised to hear about the black mob violence on Valentine’s Day at Victoria’s Secret. Not at the violence: The Galleria at Military Circle has been the site of dozens of episodes of racial lawlessness over the last two years. Most unreported in the newspaper. The surprise was that the mall was still open.
This case of Black History Month violence began in the Victoria’s Secret lingerie store, but ended outside with gunshots.[350]
In Tampa, hundreds of black people were fighting, rampaging, destroying property, attacking patrons, assaulting vendors, stealing cell phones and creating mayhem at the Florida State Fair.
The local paper never really got around to covering it. At least for a while. But they did find the time and space to run a story about a local celebrity who would have celebrated his birthday that same day in a month so important to black history.
Trayvon, of course.[351]
In Brooklyn, during Black History Month 2014, “Hundreds of teenagers run wild inside of Kings Plaza Shopping Center.” That is how CBS described it. [352] That means threatening, assaulting, destroying property, creating mayhem and I am running out of ways to say this in an original way. The residents of Brooklyn were not as patient as the reporters were with the “unruly teenagers.”
Nor were they in any mood to overlook the regular intense black mob violence around this crime magnet. “Everyone says young kids, youths, teens. No one is pointing out that the race of these youths is black which is a cause for concern because the neighborhood is mixed. If it were Asians doing this the media would’ve made the observation by now. Why is the news not reporting?” [353]
And by hundreds, they mean at least four. As in 400.
And oh yeah, that happened before at Christmas. Kwanzaa. And if Kings Plaza Mall sounds familiar, that is where the 10 black kids attacked the white couple in broad daylight, calling them lots of nasty racial names. But that was October, so that does not count, at least for this chapter.
In Macon, Georgia, 30 black people assaulted five white people, including a mother and infant. They lived. One of the TV news stations called it “a fight.” One of the locals said race had nothing to do with it: “People get jumped everyday,” said Jon’Shea JS Jenkins on his Facebook page. “The fact that they are white means nothing.” [354]
That would be true if there were groups of white people systematically, frequently and dangerously attacking black people. There’s not. So that’s not.
In Baltimore, two black people are under arrest for killing Kimberly Leto with a knife during a burglary. One of the suspects was charged with a burglary six months before in the same house. Just a few days before Leto’s death, an editor for the Baltimore Sun was assaulted in the same neighborhood. His skull is fractured. Ten teeth missing. One black man arrested. John Fogg will live. Probably. [355]
Meanwhile, the other editors of the Baltimore Sun who were not almost killed insist that Baltimore is safe. Or at least safer than it was a few years ago -- when they insisted it was safe then too. But that was before they had a black mayor who looked upon Trayvon Martin as a hero.
In Cleveland, a black mob attacked a disabled army veteran. They first saw him on a bus, then followed him when he left it. They kicked him, punched him, and knocked him down -- all the while saying ‘Knock that boy out! White boy. Cracker. Knock that white boy out. He lived.
[356]
And oh yeah: The reporters say “teen mobs” do that a lot in Cleveland, before, during and after Black History Month. Though they never seem to get around to writing about it.
The Hudson Reporter published an account of a white man in Hoboken who was “struck once on the left side of his face by a man he could only describe as African-American and 5 feet 10 inches tall, said the police report. Another man was with the alleged perpetrator. The victim fell to the ground, and apparently asked his attacker why he had assaulted him, to which the assailant only said, “What are you going to do about it?” He lived. [357]
In Waynesboro, Virginia, five black people and one white woman have been charged with abducting and murdering police captain Kevin Quick. [358]
That number would grow to ten. But that part happened after Black History Month,
In Chicago, three black people tried to rob an off duty police officer. The video shows them approaching the cop and pulling a gun as he pumped gas. He turned over his wallet with one hand, and with the other, pulled his gun and shot the assailant in the face. He died. [359]
In Detroit, one month before Black History Month, the black chief of police told residents of the black city that police could no longer protect them. So they’d better get a gun. Five months after Black History Month, more than a dozen people did just that.
Crimes like burglary, carjacking and robberies are down 30 to 37 percent. This will give all of us something to talk about next February.
Let’s finish up in Kansas City. By now, locals know black mob violence at Country Club Plaza is a Kansas City tradition. Or even a rite of passage: Hundreds of black people go to the plaza and fight, destroy property, invade surrounding businesses, stop traffic, defy police, threaten tourists, get pepper sprayed, stay out past curfew, hurt people, blame it on the cops, then go home. Then brag about it on Twitter.
And next week, or the week after, do it again.
For five years it has been a “perennial problem.” The episode during Black History Month was not much different than the others. About 150 black people left a nearby movie theater, and soon after started fighting and creating a “ruckus.”
'Don't Make the Black Kids Angry': The hoax of black victimization and those who enable it. Page 17